Aplyft Blog

Cardiovascular training can elicit positive benefits by increasing caloric expenditure, improving VO2max, increasing fat oxidation (depending on intensity and duration), and decreasing body mass (via increasing daily caloric expenditure), amongst other things. However, we must take into account that most gym endurance training equipment (e.g., treadmill, elliptical) and wearable calorie counters have shown inaccurate results in regard to estimating total caloric expenditure.

Utilizing all 3 techniques mentioned in a varied and progressive manner throughout this period of training with equipment limitations can likely allow you to achieve a sufficient stimulus for continued progress, or maintenance of adaptations, in a more efficient manner.

The aim of this article is to give some guidance for those who have had their training turned upside down by the necessary restrictions put in place to slow the spread of Covid 19. Every situation is going to be a little different based on your location, finances, space availability etc. but hopefully something within this article will resonate with you and be applicable to your situation.

As practitioners, we should aspire to embody evidence-based practice in our coaching. Originating from the medical field, evidence-based practice can be envisioned as a three-legged stool, with each leg representing a pillar of the evidence-based model

Fiber is a non-digestible form of carbohydrates. But, there are different types of fiber. These include soluble and insoluble fibers. Both are inherently non-digestible and tend to be good for overall health but there are distinct differences between the two. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and has been shown to be beneficial in lowering blood cholesterol. Soluble fiber can exert this effect by binding to bile acids (which are found in your stomach, secreted by your gallbladder, and needed to make cholesterol) and removing them from the body

Interestingly, individuals who regularly perform moderate amounts of exercise tend to acquire less infections compared to sedentary individuals, on average. So, this isn’t to say that regular exercise negatively affects immune function.

This is an article on how to improve your Bench Press - Powerlifting

For powerlifting training, it is common for coaches to prescribe “top sets” followed by “back off” sets. For example, a top set could be a set of 1 repetition at RPE 8 (2 repetitions in reserve). This could be followed by back off sets such as 4 sets of 6 repetitions at 75% of the lifter’s 1 repetition maximum (1RM).

More than 25% of people aged 65 years and older will fall each year. Falls are the most common cause of both traumatic brain injury and fractures in older adults and are the leading cause of unintentional death for this population. Falls ,and a fear of falling, can diminish a person’s ability to lead a full and independent life, or worse, continue living at all. Although 1 in every 4 older adults falls each year, falling is not a part of normal aging. As a medical provider we have a large body of knowledge and skills to reduce these risks and help return the power to the patient/client to reduce their risk of falls.1,2 The key word here is power, which to some may already resonate from your physics 101 course in college. Power is, simply put, the rate at which work is performed. So, does that mean you should do a task at a faster rate to increase your power? Well the answer is: yes and no.

Creatine monohydrate is one of the most well-researched supplements in the sport nutrition supplement industry. Multiple training studies have shown that groups who supplemented creatine monohydrate gained more muscle and/or strength than groups who didn’t.

It’s hard to get too in-depth in 2,000 words, but hopefully that goes to show you that athlete monitoring isn’t some complicated affair. To recap the process of implementing an athlete monitoring program, get a handle on your athletes’ training load, the responses to that load, and the variability of the data you’re collecting. Use these data to answer questions posed by your coaching staff or to satisfy your own curiosity. From there, you can steer the development of your athlete monitoring program via both sport-specific and context-specific factors. Regardless of your chosen methods, keep your eyes on the ultimate prize: improving your athletes’ performance and keeping them healthy.

In my opinion, there are three criteria that must be met for one to be deemed a fitness expert. 1.) a strong professional background and education within the area of Exercise Science or closely related field, 2.) a nationally accredited certification, and 3.) adequate personal experience practicing what you preach. I understand that accomplishing all three of these aspects can be difficult especially when considering where you currently are in life. However, one needs to meet a minimum of two of the criteria to even consider the designation.

In the physics sense of the word, energy can be defined as the ability to do work.According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can change forms.Energy can be categorized as kinetic or potential energy.Kinetic energy is the energy of movement. For example, the motion of molecules.Potential energy is stored energy which is of particular importance to this post.In human biology, potential energy can be better understood considering the energy stored in chemical bonds of atoms within molecules.An example of potential energy in the human body is the energy stored in the covalent chemical bonds of triglyceride molecules in fat cells.

Carbohydrate consumption before and during a training session can improve training session performance. Post-training session consumption can improve liver and muscle glycogen resynthesis rates and magnitudes. I tend to recommend ~50-70% of daily carbohydrate intake around training sessions (pre-, intra-, and post-training), and modestly different levels on rest days given less glycogen reduction from training.

“Am I properly progressing my training and how do I know?” “What exactly is the principle of overload and how does it apply to me?” Proper answers to questions like these are critical to a productive training process absent of or limited in the occurrence of injury. Although more writing on this is sure to follow, I’d like to start by clearly defining some terms and discussing the difference between external and internal training load to help begin to answer these and related questions in future posts. So, this post is meant to be a concise overview that provides some key operational definitions and brings attention to the difference between external and internal training load in order to get us started. I’ll then conclude with some practical variables to consider monitoring to help you start putting these concepts to work for you.

Due to the prevalence of alcohol consumption in popular and sport culture, the authors of this study sought to determine the effect of alcohol intake on rates of myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) following strenuous exercise accompanied by carbohydrate (CHO) or protein ingestion (PRO).

The purpose of this study was to evaluate muscular adaptations between low-, moderate-, and high-volume resistance training (RT) protocols in resistance-trained men.

Many people who resistance train for strength, physique, or sport performance purposes train to momentary muscular failure, or very close to it, thinking that this practice is necessary to maximize results. However, a number of studies suggest otherwise. This recent study from Carroll et al. provides further evidence that training to failure is suboptimal for improving power (e.g., jumping ability) or strength (e.g., peak force during a strength test).

When training for hypertrophy it has been commonly understood that 8-12 reps is the best rep range. There has been a ton of research over the years that suggests this, and logically it makes sense. This rep range promotes the two main drivers of hypertrophy, mechanical tension and metabolic stress. Because of this, anything less than 60% of 1RM has been seen as less than optimal.

Have you ever wondered how often you should change up your routine or exercise selection to maximize results? Practically, being able to identify when better results can be obtained through a different training strategy is critical to the optimal training process.

As powerlifting has grown in popularity and competitiveness, lifters have naturally looked for training advantages. Over the last few years, increasing training frequency has been one of the most popular ways to try to improve results. I’ve been training powerlifters for around 6 years now, and I can tell you without a doubt, that there is not a one size fits all training frequency for each lifter. There isn’t even an optimal training frequency that fits an individual lifter all the time. However, we can determine that training each lift more than once per week is almost always better than training once per week.

Simply, a deload week should involve a notable decrease in training volume and intensity, with the specifics being determined by the nature of training in the weeks prior. Practically, volume and intensity, or perceived effort, should be decreased by ~50%, on average, and training should resemble what many would refer to as “active recovery”. Similar movement patterns should occur so that blood flow distribution is specific to the tissues needing it the most. I am actively researching deloading strategies from a study involving extreme volumes of resistance training in young men hopefully to be published soon. Preliminary data indicate that deloading is a powerful fatigue management tool and can augment adaptations to training.

I’ve been a ’horse girl’ pretty much all my life. From the age 5 to 26 I spent most of my time in the stable. In the horse world a lot depends on money. If you are wealthy you have better conditions to succeed. I’m not raised in a rich family, which meant that I had to work a lot to even get up on a horse. It’s been many years hard physical labor. Today I’m very grateful for all these years because it has given me my work ethics, the knowledge that nothing comes for free and a real attitude. That’s a big part of me.

This is a short and sweet post on some of the scientific research related to supplemental whey protein of relevance to fitness-related endeavors. For a more extensive discussion, please see Hulmi et al. Proteins are composed of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Amino acids contain the chemical element nitrogen. This makes proteins unique to carbohydrates and fats. A typical human body consists primarily of protein and water, where proteins are critical in providing structure to tissues and support a host of physiological processes necessary for health and performance. In relation to human physiology, amino acids are categorized as essential (EAA) or non-essential (NAA) to attain through the diet. This is because our cells cannot manufacture the amino acids characterized as EAA, whereas the NAA can be synthesized.

The pursuit of a great physique or increased strength involves many factors that affect the eventual outcome. Nutrition is one of the most important influential factors in this process and, in particular, energy or calorie balance. Calorie balance can be defined as the result of calories consumed vs calories expended over the course of a 24 hour period. A calorie is a unit of heat energy. A calorie (i.e., technically a kilocalorie, but referred to as a calorie herein) is defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius.

It seems clear that heavier loads are generally more effective for improving muscle size and strength on a per-repetition basis. However, this post will briefly describe some important caveats and considerations pertaining to the above in hopes of providing you with some practical implications. In my opinion, it is critical to a successful training process to appreciate the concept that there is a time to “go heavy” and a time to “go light”. Understanding when lifting heavy or light is appropriate and why can provide powerful fatigue management capabilities and result in more successful training outcomes.

The 6th World Classic Powerlifting Championships is being held from 6 June until 17 Junein Calgary, Canada. This is one of the biggest Championships in the IPF, there will be 750 lifters from 52 nations competing for the gold! There is 429 male and 321 female lifters, which makes it one of the biggest Championships ever held in North America. Lifters, coaches and officials have come from all over the world from nations like New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Ireland, Iran, USA and of course the host nation Canada. The Championships includes the Master lifters which is lifters from 40+ years old, Sub-Juniors & Junior lifters competes from 10 June and the Open lifters starts 14 June!

I whole heartily believe that making attempts is what wins titles. If you’re a contender, you have to make attempts and as many of them as possible. End of story. Why? Duh. More attempts made means a bigger total and totals win meets. World records do not win meets. Co-efficients and arbitrary mile stone numbers do not win meets. Big totals win meets, which means every attempt matters, every kilo matters.

Load selection for any individual exercise should fit within the puzzle of the overall training process; where some pieces are larger or smaller than others, but the right pieces fit together to form the picture of a successful training outcome. Practically, this means neither heavy loads nor light loads are always the best option for either hypertrophy or strength. Planning periods of training to address this concept is known as periodization. Periodization can be simply defined as planned variation in training to reduce injury potential, prevent stagnation, and realize performance or aesthetic peaks at desired time points.

In every gym across the world, people have consistently asked the following question: How do I squat? Follow the 7 simple steps below to achieve the perfect and safest Barbell Squat.

First, it’s important to calculate the amount of energy you expend at rest (i.e., resting metabolic rate or RMR). Although more advanced equations can allow for more accurate calculations, generally, multiplying your bodyweight in pounds by 11 can get you pretty close to the true value (e.g., RMR = 200 x 11 = 2200 calories). Figuring out how much of a deficit is warranted to maximize fat loss while minimizing lean tissue loss is primarily related to: a) how much energy you expend, and b) how much energy you consume.

Counting the calories of a meal might be a frustrating and complicated task for a lot of people, let’s break it down to its simplest forms.Technically speaking, a calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water to 1 °C. We use calories to track how much energy we spent (or gained) during the day.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature examining the effects of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training (RT) on strength and hypertrophy outcomes.