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goooooooood morning...woke up before alarm clock went off..shut it off an slept thru workout...so no cardio workout this morning...but gonna cut grass this morning...so will still get a workout...since ive been lifting weights on a 3 day a week routine followed by cardio those days then i have been more tired an with summer here there is more to do thru the days...so im thinkin...3 days in the gym thru the week is enough ...one of those play it by ear an see how it goes...my upper legs are alittle sore this morning...but its a good sore...well...short journal today...but need to get my act in gear...try an get that grass mowed before it gets to hot today...95 tomow...sheww...glad i decided to cut it today...have a great one...
Hey, what's up? Welcome to The Intense Workout Newsletter!
This week, I'll be answering 2 common reader's questions, one involving doing cardio and weight training in the same workout, and the other about correcting a size and/or strength imbalance between your left and right arm or leg.
Here we go...
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Which Goes First: Cardio or Weight Training
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Question: If I'm doing both cardio and weight training in the same workout, which should I do first?
Answer: Here's a quick excerpt from a section of The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide where I answer this very question...
If you are going to do cardio and weight training together during the same workout, weight training should pretty much always be done first.
The main reason why is just simple common sense. If you are doing two types of exercise back to back, the one you do first will always have some degree of negative impact on the one you do second.
So, from both a safety and performance standpoint, it just makes more sense to be in your freshest/strongest/least fatigued state when doing things like squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, etc. as opposed to sitting on a bike or jogging on a treadmill.
There may be some exceptions (like if your main goal in life is to just get really good at doing cardio), but in the majority of cases weights should be done before cardio.
And by the way, virtually every other question you have about cardio (like which type burns the most fat, how to figure out how much you need to do, etc.) is also covered in The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide.
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One Side Is Bigger/Stronger Than The Other
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Question: I noticed that one of my arms (or legs) is a little bigger and stronger than the other. What can I do to make both sides equal?
Answer: Having one arm or leg that is a bit bigger and/or stronger than the other is a pretty common problem. In fact, some people even notice one shoulder or one side of their chest is bigger than the other. The cause of this can be any number of reasons, but let's focus less on what caused it and more on how to correct it.
There's 3 things you can do to fix (or at least help fix) this problem:
1. Switch to dumbbell/unilateral exercises.
If one side is stronger than the other, that stronger side will pretty much always take over during an exercise where both sides are being used together. For example, a barbell curl.
If your right arm is stronger than your left, your right arm will do more work during those curls than your left arm will. You probably won't even realize it, it will just naturally happen.
The way around this is to start replacing your bilateral exercises (where both sides are used simultaneously, like a barbell curl) with unilateral exercises (where both sides are used individually, like a dumbbell curl).
Doing this guarantees that each side will do an equal amount of work. You can replace barbell exercises with the dumbbell version of those same exercises, replace squats and leg presses with split squats and single leg presses, etc.
2. Always start with the weaker side.
There's a damn good reason why you have a stronger side. Whether you realize it or not, you give it special treatment over the other side.
You know, it's the side you use most often in your day to day activities, it's the side you prefer to hold/carry/move/lift things with, and it's probably the side you like to use first when doing a unilateral exercise.
The problem with that last part is that you are at your strongest and freshest with whatever side you use first, and you are at least slightly weaker/fatigued with the side you use second.
For this reason, whenever you do an exercise where you train one side and then the other, always start with your weaker side. It's the side that deserves the special treatment.
3. Let your weaker side dictate what your stronger side does.
When you follow the 2 steps mentioned above, you may notice that your stronger side is STILL your stronger side.
Meaning, you may lift 30lbs for 8 reps on an exercise with your weak side, but then go on to lift 30lbs for 10 reps with your stronger side. If you keep allowing that to happen, your weaker side will never catch up to your stronger side.
What you need to do is let your weaker side dictate what you allow your stronger side to do.
Meaning, if you can only do 8 reps with your weak side, then you should only do 8 reps with your stronger side... even if you could have done more. Doing this will give your weak side a chance to finally catch up to your strong side, at which point you can allow both sides to progress equally from that point on.
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The End
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I hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter. As always, if you have a question you'd like to see answered in a future newsletter, just send me an email with the subject "newsletter question" and ask away. There's a good chance I'll answer it in an upcoming newsletter.
That's about it. I'll see you next week.
- The Intense Workout
E-mail: IntenseWorkout@gmail.com
Website: www.Intense-Workout.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/IntenseWorkout
got this newsletter an thought i would add it on today...just got it..so here it is..
Diet Calendar Entry for 02 June 2011:
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720 kcal
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Fat: 25.59g | Prot: 88.34g | Carb: 30.13g.
Breakfast: coburn farms shredded pizza cheese, weber kick'n chicken seasoning, jalapeno, scrambled eggs. Lunch: coburn farms shredded pizza cheese, savory collection fat free ranch dressing, weber kick'n chicken seasoning, lettuce. Dinner: oscar meyer salami, 100% Whole Wheat Bread-toast. Snacks/Other: Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Protein Shake after workout, great value whipped topping after workout, Tap Water. more...
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