The Hamstring squat thats not just for Bodybuilders

Anaerobic v.s. Aerobic the future almost here!

The word fitness is hard to define without the extreme boredom of quoting the dictionary we may as well say it can mean a lot of different. A marathon runner is considered fit, a 60 meter sprinter is considered fit, a body builder looks fit, a thin person looks fit. What is strange is that all of these different people are very different in physical make-up which shows that fitness is indeed a strange term to nail down. The most successful way to analyse fitness is to break it into two categories Anaerobic fitness and Aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness can be described as the muscles ability to perform a repetitive exercise with maximal speed and power. Aerobic power can be described as the heart and lungs ability to provide a constant supply of oxygen to the muscles over an extended period of time. So what is the best kind of fitness. I see many people jogging for miles and miles in pursuit of some kind of fitness many killing themselves getting up an 6 a.m. to go running just to achieve this goal. Going back to the unfortunate truth that appearances are everything in modern day life the reality is that long distance running has the effect of increasing leg mass and decreasing upper body mass creating a sort of pear shape. This is in stark contrast to the perfect egg timer shaped figure. Whereas the smarter trainer might spend three hours a week in the gym and one sprint session and achieve that figure with ease. Going back some years in Athletics, the main source of fit science aerobic training was the norm however as time goes on the focus is shifting away from solely aerobic training to a mix of Aerobic and Anaerobic development using a more intelligent form of weight lifting. So it can be said that while a certain amount of Aerobic ability is most definitely necessary the main source of physical advantage is borne through anaerobic fitness using strength conditioning. Hammerstep the hamstring expert check it out at www.inno-v8.com.

The squat is known to be the most powerful generator of leg power, strength and size. Many trainers often say that the squat is the most important leg exercise, but this strategy can often lead to muscular development problems as I myself found out the hard way. The first big issue lies with the fact that during a two legged squat the force of the weight compresses the body from the barbell to the shoulders down through to your feet to the ground. This has the negative effect of placing the majority of the bending force on the mid region. If like many people, you have a poor level of strength in the lower abdominal region you will not be able to use your core strength to offset this effect and much of the strain may end up being transferred to your lower back. A lot of lifters choose to use squat belts which does alleviate the problem but also compounds the absence of strength in the lower abdominal area. And so if unlucky you may do some harm to your lower back muscles or worse slipped discs. The second big issue is the disproportionate effort placed on the quadriceps muscles by comparison to the hamstring muscle. Even when many try to offset this problem by using other exercises that are more hamstring focused they find that they all involve a lot of lower back effort. It is impossible to do so many exercises that involve lower back work and this generally leads one exercise and muscle inevitably suffers. The result of this is the much increased chances of knee injuries like anterior cruciate ligament damage, strains or tears. The third issue is the level of friction on the knee joint during the movement. Because of the way the joints move during these exercises there is a large amount of friction that usually results in a shortage of sinovial fluid in the knee (dry knee joints) and if untreated this can permanently damage knee cartilage. So what is the solution to this problem? One legged squats focus on one leg reducing weight needed and therefore reducing compression which also uses more of the Hamstring as it has a much more balanced, extended natural range of movement. In regard to the knee problem it is better to use a reverse one leg lunge because the movement does not place much pressure on the knee. During the reverse the knee does not go over the toes (maximal point of friction). But it is all in all easy to argue that the reverse lunge is a more effective functional squat and one to prioritise on your leg day! And for the most functional effective hamstring dominant squat Hammerstep is one to look at, check it out on www.inno-v8.com.

The Hamstring! It hasn’t been easy until now.

The Hamstring muscle is definitely one of the most problematic muscles and one of the hardest to heal and also increase in size and strength. It’s a common site to see sprinters and other sports athletes pull up with hamstring strains and tears that involve lengthy recoveries Where the big problems really lies in regard to the hamstring is not the lack of actual strength of the Hamstring, it’s the relative strength of it by comparison to the Quadriceps muscle. Modern forward sloping footwear (high heels, runners, leather shoes) combined with more effective quadriceps exercises can make getting the quad/hamstring balance very hard to achieve. Also the fact that many of today’s Hamstring exercises are only variations of back exercises that do not have an effective natural range of movement relying on heavy back strain, or with leg curls they only focus on one part of the hamstring- the flexion part of the muscle. Using this exercise can often result in the common knee problems that plague many people today in sports and everyday life. As human bodies we stand upright and we require certain muscles to be in tension all of the time to maintain this upright position and it is important to realise the need to ensure that they must be stretched and exercised with a lot of care, because if you are unfortunate and injury does occur it means that this constant tension will inhibit recovery in the way other muscles that are not in constant tension recover. Hammerstep uses a reverse lunge squat that maximises the effort on the hamstring using a very natural range of movement while minimising the strain on the back. If you are curious and you would like to find out more check out www.inno-v8.com.

Just why are we all of us doing our Acl’s?

The Anterior cruciate injury is probably now one of the more common and definitely one of the most serious injuries plaguing people in sport today. So why is this injury becoming more and more frequent in the sporting world today? The answer to what causes it is a simple an imbalance between the strength of the quadriceps muscle to the hamstring muscle, but what causes this is a more interesting and more complex question which requires more debate. So we know that having one muscle stronger (hamstring) than the other (quadriceps) will alter the stress load on one part of the ligament of the knee to the other. The result of this is an imbalanced amount of weight on a ligament or ligaments resulting in a strain or tear. This is a simple mechanical principal and requires no real debate! So to get down to the real issue, what is the everyday cause of this? Where weight lifting is concerned the obvious answer is an over development of one muscle against another during a weight lifting routine. But what about those who do not engage in body building or strength conditioning but still suffer from this problem. In my opinion we are wearing the problem in our everyday life. Shoes are a modern addition to human development and while they are a valuable addition they are doing more harm to us than we think!. Shoes nowadays all have forward sloping heels some with a steeper slope than others, this has the effect of placing more effort on the quadriceps and stress on the front of the knee less on the hamstring and rear of the knee. It also slightly distorts our posture from perpendicular to the ground to slightly forward tilting. This you may think might not have any damaging effect on the non-sport playing individuals but it most certainly does. Many studies relate the poor level of hamstring activation and slip related injuries in older women to their choice of footwear over long periods of time. Also the gradual deterioration of posture as one gets older often can be attributed to the effects of the forces of gravity as a result of being in forward tilting shoes for extended periods of time. Also the fact that women in sports also have a much higher rate of Acl and knee damage can be attributed to the fact that women are more inclined to wear higher heels than men. Many companies have recognised these problems caused by these types of footwear but this biggest social stumbling block associated with this is if I choose to wear flat shoes, my friends are immediately an inch or more taller, and unfortunately in today’s society appearance is still king. Hammerstep the hamstring expert www.inno-v8.com.

Bodybuilders lets get some serious leg mass

During the research for hammer step I took it upon myself to find several bodybuilders to use the product what struck me initially was the number of them who failed to maintain balance during a reverse lunge squat! This is a very telling sign of a poor Hamstring base as when an individual has poor hamstrings by comparison to the quadriceps they often struggle to perform a reverse lunge. After conversations with many of them it soon became apparent that many of the struggled to make genuine increases in this area. Many bodybuilders seem to increase large amounts of muscle mass but do not consider the muscular imbalances they maybe causing. It soon became obvious that there was indeed a large gap between what current methods that many are using and what Hammerstep could achieve. However I must say that many of them in true macho male fashion had a lot of advice to make it better but as I suggested I would take their free sample of back they were very keen to hold on to it. If anybody is curious about how hammer step works feel free to check out our video at www.inno-v8.com.

High heels the long-term effects ladies!

Most girls growing up spend years looking up at their sisters, mothers and aunts doll themselves up on a Saturday night and yearn for the make up the heels and the dress. But all is not as it seems girls not many of us consider what today’s actions will have on tomorrow. Let me tell you girls that the simple fact is high heels are a long term health risk. The simple fact is that to have correct posture you must stand somewhat perpendicular to the ground. High heels elevate the heel forcing the body to tilt slightly forward and over time this can ruin posture causing back problems, poor hamstring activation rates and knee problems. Many of these problems are not apparent, but delving deeper comparing female athletes to male athletes, female athletes are eight times more likely to suffer ACL damage as a result of poor hamstring strength. Also studies of older women attribute a much larger rate of slip related injuries to a lack of hamstring activation. Also ladies this slight tilt can reduce the natural muscle activation rate of the lower abdominal area causing reduced tone and often increased fat storage. So it is important to consider that the next time you go strolling down the street remember that you may be doing more damage than you think. Hammerstep the hamstring expert check it out at www.inno-v8.com

Weight lifting using natural ranges of movement

Weight lifting as originally conceived was concerned mainly with generating strength and power for the achievement of an dominant physical presence. The notion of size and physical performance was not strongly related. From those early strongman days through to the Arnie days right up to the modern day Ronnie and Jay days of Bodybuilding society has set perameters of what the perfect built body is. People admired huge arms and chest but also admired small thin tone tummies. Huge thighs but poor calf muscles and almost flat arches. Fortunately as Biomechanical knowledge and developments advance the real power of functional weight lifting is truly being unlocked. More and more there is a progressive trend towards athletes are drifting away from more traditional older bodybuilding exercises to more advanced bio mechanically intelligent excercises that facilitate more functional, natural ranges of movement generating power and strength in proportion to normal biomechanical movements. The 2 legged squat does by no means represents the real movement of running and therefore will not develop leg muscles accordingly in proportion and so will not make for equivalent increases in performance. The Glut and Quadriceps muscles use a disproportionately large amount of effort with low emphasis on the Hamstring. The bench press does not replicate the forward and rearward action movement of the arms during movement of the exercise. The leg curl focuses on the flexion aspect of the hamstring rather than the rearward pull on the leg, this can often lead to strains and injury. In fact it is probably fair to say most traditional excercises tend to focus on increasing muscle size alone almost no concern to the biomechanical impact of these exercise.
This fact is that many types of uneducated weight lifting can be a dangerous pursuit for budding sports enthusiasts. Many suffer ACL injuries and ankle injuries and lots of other problems caused by poor weight lifting. On the positive side there is now an increasing trend where functional fitness is becoming the training of choice for athletes and the sepration of bodybuilding to strength conditioning will lead to a more competitive sporting world. Hammerstep is a new solution to functional hamstring training, check it out at www.inno-v8.com.