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to heavier weights and intensities will help you build a broad stable base to place even more
muscle on top of This is in line with the oftenforgotten personal trainers maxim straighten
the body before strengthening it
The common wisdom in personal training which empirical studies have reinforced is that
muscle typically atrophies at half the rate it took to develop This means that your gains from six
months of squats will completely disappear a year after you stop squatting To me the takeaway
message is clear If you gain a lot of muscle from intense training over three months you cannot
expect to keep it for long So dont plan to work out this way But if you gain muscle steadily over
three years it will resist atrophy for six years Instead of stressing the body plateauing early
and struggling to maintain envision your workout goal as a slow and steady climb
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
This is consistent with a popular weight training routine known as pyramid training
where you start with very light weights and progress steadily toward heavier weights You will
find that starting lower than bodyweight then using bodyweight and then progressing through
very light weights will condition your postural muscles with exercise volume as opposed to
intensity For many exercises even bodyweight is too much In my opinion less than of the
population is ready for pushups Ninetyfive percent of people will accrue unnecessary damage
from pushups myself included Instead they need to spend a few months doing pushups on
their knees or simply lowering themselves to the ground from pushup position working the
negative
CPOE
Illustration Pushup progression A Pushups on the shins and knees B Pushups on the knees
C Lowered pushups and finally traditional pushups
Global bodily adaptations to low weights will scaffold a highly balanced system that you
can later apply toward heavier weights to achieve surprising results This takes advantage of the
aforementioned SAID principle specific adaptation to imposed demands Again this is how
apes farmers mechanics and lumberjacks develop strength But this doesnt just apply to
lifting weights The same goes for jogging swimming aerobics Program Peace exercises and
anything else Dont base your exercise duration or intensity on arbitrary factors Instead work
out from within your frailty until none of your postural muscles are hypertonic and they all
cooperate seamlessly Then resume traditional fullbody workouts
Starting with lowintensity and focusing on antirigidity has another benefit Recall from
Chapter that dormant muscles cannot recover adequately after a workout They are resistant
to growth and strengthening because muscles afflicted with trigger points never rest and can
never fully heal Thus dormant muscles are equivalent to untapped reservoirs that are full of
growth potential Antirigidity allows you to tap into them Once you convert dormant muscle
to supple and tensionfree muscle they will be very responsive to exercise From there you will
be ripe for a total body transformation
In my twenties would visit a nutritional supplement store The clerks would always tell
me look man if you want to gain muscle you have to take weight gainer For a long time
believed they were right and that needed protein supplementation and hundreds of
additional calories every day to put on muscle mass This isnt true The real constraint that
keeps you from putting on additional muscle is the muscle tension It is dormant muscle that is
responsible for the performance plateaus and diminishing returns Once you use antilaxity and
antirigidity to rebuild this muscle back into your posture you will find that it will not fluctuate
with exercise or diet Because it moves when you do and its tone is reinforced by simply
standing around it resists atrophy and does not require overeating
Chapter Combine Antirigidity with Exercise
Practice Antirigidity Following Exercise
After almost all forms of conventional exercise dormant muscle becomes further strained
After a jog you go home and your knees hurt a little or your lower back feels stiff and this
accrues with interest over time It doesnt have to be this way Engaging these areas with anti
rigidity exercises directly after a workout is the best way for you to release them It provides
fresh blood to the collateral and stabilizing muscles stiffened by the activity For every minute
of training you should perform a minute of antirigidity
After you do three sets of bench press do minutes of antirigidity for the neck shoulders
and upper back A yoga pose like downward dog is excellent Whatever you choose shift your
shoulders as you alternate between twisting flexing and extending the neck Youll discover
that the increased circulation from a weight lifting or a cardio workout will allow you to
contract more deeply into dormant muscle
You can also use the antirigidity and yoga positions pictured in the previous chapter as
counter poses Counter poses are used in yoga to activate complementary and antagonistic
muscles after a pose For instance a twist to the left follows a twist to the right and forward
bends usually follow backbends According to yoga practitioners this neutralizes the spine
lengthening it and calming the nervous system With practice you can identify the best
counterposes to neutralize the tension created by your exercise routine
How to Breathe When Lifting Light Weights
Why are some people strong while others are weak Why are some people muscular while
others are not Most scientists would say that testosterone exposure and genetics determine
these characteristics but believe these explanations are secondary to a more primary process
This process involves the ability to contract muscles without recruiting the distressed breathing
response Naturally athletic and muscular people had childhoods conducive to combining
exercise with unimpeded breathing In other words adults with big biceps were kids that
learned to sustain hardy bicep contractions without impeding their breathing But you dont
have to be a kid to internalize this The truth is we worked on this in Exercises when
we combined paced breathing with antilaxity
In the same vein you want to breathe very deeply while pumping iron Most physical
therapists and personal trainers recommend breathing out when major muscles are shortening
the lifting action in a curl and breathing in during the lengthening the lowering action of the
curl For a bench press this would involve breathing out while lifting the bar away from your
chest and breathing in while dropping the weight to your chest This is not bad advice as it
keeps you from holding your breath or breathing at even shorter intervals However
when using low weight it is beneficial to breathe at even longer intervals
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Breathing Activity Diaphragmatic Breathing at the Gym
The next time you lift light weights start off breathing out for an entire repetition flexion
and extension and then in for the next repetition Perform a few sets in this way Next
inhale for two reps and then exhale for two reps This is an advanced technique but will
become much easier as you complete the breathing retraining outlined in Chapters and
As long as you are breathing deep complete breaths you should get plenty of air Breathing
at longer intervals convinces your nervous system that weightlifting is not traumatic allowing
your body to adapt to the challenge rather than resisting it Deep breathing convinces the
body that holding those pound dumbbells in the air is safe easy and the new normal
Lifting heavy weights is stressful on the body and mind and anything stressful will provoke
shallow breathing The physical exertion involved in lifting heavy weights makes it very difficult
to concentrate on breathing diaphragmatically Lifting definitely contributed to my breathing
dysfunction A high proportion of weightlifters breathe shallowly and like racehorses are often
highstrung They are doing the opposite of the Program Peace method pairing intense
muscular contractions with distressed breathing and further traumatizing them Also keep in
mind that the anxiety involved in this puts you into a state of catabolism where proteins are