Health and Fitness

In my previous article, I spoke about movement patterns and compound exercises. Here, I'll talk about specific muscle groups and how to target each of them. The major muscle groups can be classified as Legs Hamstrings Quadriceps Calves Glutes Back Latissimus Dorsi Rhomboids Trapezius Erector Spinae Chest Pectoral major Pectoral minor Shoulders Anterior deltoid Posterior deltoid Lateral deltoid Arms Biceps Triceps Forearms Abdominals Rectus abdominis (The top blocky layer visible to us) Transverse abdominus (Beneath the rectus abdominus) Obliques (Side abs) Compound exercises usually work 3+ muscle groups. For example, a standing shoulder press mainly works the anterior and lateral deltoids, triceps, traps and a little bit of the pectoral major. The latissimus dorsi and glutes act as a stabilizer. A barbell row mainly works the rhomboids, latissimus

Credits: T-Nation Now that you've decided to embark on the journey of getting fitter and stronger, it's time to learn about what types of exercises to perform. Just doing 100 push-ups, 100 crunches, 100 squats and running 10 kilometres everyday isn't going to get you significantly stronger or looking like a Greek god. One Punch Man lied to you. In this article, rather than talking about exercises to target specific muscle groups, I'll talk about compound exercises and functional movements. In my next article, I'll talk about isolation exercises for every major muscle. Compound exercises are multi-joint exercises that use multiple muscles/muscle groups. It is possible to use significantly higher loads for these exercises due to the fact that larger and more muscle groups are involved in moving the weight. Isolation exercises are those that target a specific muscle. They are usually lighter and are done in order to further stimulate muscle growth in

You've been working out for a few months now. While you've seen good progress, it isn't as much as you'd like. You hoped by now you would have a physique comparable to those fitness models on the billboards. The truth is, it takes time to see significant change. We're constantly bombarded with transformations of celebrities for movie roles. Within 3-6 months, they go from unfit and untrained to looking pretty damn good. While they do certainly work very hard for this, it's much easier when it’s your job to look good for a role. They have a nutritionist to cook their meals, a trainer with a very specific exercise regimen and are being paid a lot (this is probably the best motivation one could have) to get in shape. Most of these celebrities also use steroids to get faster results. Their hormone profile is closely monitored by doctors and as a result they will face no health issues due to steroid usage. This is why we normal folk shouldn't ex

In this article, I'll talk about weight/muscle gain. People usually think that losing weight is very difficult. I would argue that while it isn't easy, it isn't as difficult as putting on muscle. By following a proper diet and workout routine, shedding fat will occur. Building muscle or gaining weight isn't so straightforward. Progressive overload, sleep, volume, eating enough calories, stress and genetics affect the ability to put on muscle. Some people see faster progress as compared to others. This could be due to a better hormone profile, better eating habits, sleep and could just be plain old effort put in. The best person to compare yourself to is you. As long as you are progressing over time, you don't need to compare yourself to other people. Skinny people or ectomorphs or "hard-gainers" are usually so since they don't eat enough. They either think they eat a lot more than they do, or they just don't have the appetite to

We know that exercising leads to fat loss and muscle gain. But how exactly is the muscle built? What are the factors that influence the rate at which you can build muscle and how can you optimize it? How does our body increase muscle size seemingly out of nowhere by performing resistance exercises? What is the upper limit to muscle growth? The human body is extremely complex and intelligent. It readily adapts to the environment encompassing it. We can acclimatize to a wide range of temperature and humidity. We are constantly responding in physiological ways to changes in temperature, infections, pollution, mechanical stress etc. These changes usually occur over the span of a few days to several months. How exercise affects muscles During resistance training, our body is experiencing an external mechanical stress. When we do this often enough, the body realizes that to respond to this external stimuli more effectively, it must become more efficient at that partic

If you've asked people around you what their top priorities were, eating healthy and fitness would be very low on their list. And it’s difficult to blame them. Indians generally tend to have lower quality of food readily available to them, have highly stressful jobs and long working hours. This, coupled with our extremely curbed knowledge on a balanced diet, culminates into the obesity epidemic India is advancing towards. Our food is very rich in carbohydrates. Grains (wheat, ragi, rice, millets etc.), lentils (commonly known as dal), sweets, vegetables and fruits, legumes (such as green gram, beans) and dairy have a lot of carbohydrates. Dal which supposedly has a “lot” of protein, in fact has double the amount of carbohydrates as compared to protein. An average adult should be getting at least 60 g of protein a day. However, most of us wouldn’t cross 20-30g per day with our carb loaded diets. People who exercise regularly, especially those who perform resistance traini

Remember your dad telling you about the importance of setting goals? That if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail? Most of us want to look good. Six pack abs, broad shoulders and nice arms. Some of us want to be able to run a marathon or do 25 pullups in one go or lift heavy things. Some of us just want to remain healthy and be able to run when we're 70 years old.  Rich Froning Jr, CrossFit athlete My goal is to look like a Greek God, run like Usain Bolt and lift like Pyrros Dimas (widely considered as one of the greatest Olympic weightlifters of all time. Seriously, just google this guy). Something like Rich Froning Jr, winner of the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 CrossFit games. I know I will never achieve any one of these. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t aspire to get there. Breaking the 10 second barrier in the 100m dash was considered impossible in the early parts of the 1900s. Yet, people believed. And finally at the 1968 Olympics at Mexico, Jim Hines ran t

Now that you know what to put into your mouth, let’s talk about exercise. Exercise plays a key role in maintaining good health and fitness. It boosts your energy, improves your mood, promotes better sleep and improves your overall quality of life. Being fit requires you to exercise. As long as your diet is good, weight loss will be the least of your concerns. You’ll be more focused on how you can improve at the sport/fitness activity you have taken up. Depending on what your goals are, you’ll have to tailor your workouts. Here, I’ll talk about the different types of exercise and their effects on the body. Physical exercise can be broadly classified into three types: 1.        Aerobic exercise 2.        Anaerobic exercise 3.        Flexibility Aerobic Aerobic exercises cause the body to use more oxygen and primarily make use of carbohydrates and a smaller amount of fat. This includes all forms of exercise which can be done repetitive

So, in my last article, I spoke about the science behind weight loss. Now I’ll tell you how to use this knowledge to achieve your goals. In this article, I'll be specifically talking about weight loss. Do you want to know the secret to losing weight? The one so called ‘tip’ that dieticians and personal trainers hate? Eat less and move more. That’s literally it. Did you expect something else? Sadly, like the answer to most things in life, there isn’t any shortcut. However, you can optimize your habits such that it becomes significantly easier to achieve your goals. So here are what you need to do to start shedding that fat. 1.        Eat at a caloric deficit. Calculate your TDEE and subtract 500 from it. This is how many calories you must be eating every day. Irrespective of what diet you follow, a caloric deficit is required to lose weight. The body is a very complex machine. So just eating fewer calories isn’t necessarily the healthiest way to lose weight.