Training with Hand Grips Every Day

Q

"Hello!

I want to ask if it is okay to train with hand grippers everyday [for training grip strength and forearms] ? I find that the hand gripper is not very stressful so I was wondering if i can train with it every day without injuring myself?

Thanks!

Pete"

A

Yes, I would say a person can train with hand grips every day - if you are using a lighter weight hand grip.

I would not advise overdoing it on repetitions with the heavier hand grips, just as a precaution. If you start to feel pain in the forearm muscles it is a sign to take a break for a day and let your muscles recuperate. Most grip exercise enthusiasts only do grip exercises 3 times per week, giving themselves ample time in-between to grow new muscle tissue.

Muscle growth only happens when the body has ample time to repair. If you overdo it by exercising a specific muscle every day you actually hamper growth by damaging muscle tissue which is still under construction.

To use an analogy it is like driving a bulldozer through a group of gazebos before they are even half way constructed. This isn't such a big deal if you are using light weight hand grips, but when using heavier hand grips there will be a lot more damage.

I also have to caution you against overdoing the repetitions. 50 to 100 repetitions on three days per week is ENOUGH to promote serious muscle growth. Going over 100 by a ridiculous number and doing the exercises every day will result in muscle fatigue and cause more damage than you intended.

There are a number of companies that sell heavy duty hand grips for people who are really into "grip training". The companies include:

• IronMind Captains of Crush
• Mash Monsters
• Atomgripz
• Fat Bastard Barbell Company
• Warren Tetting

On Amazon.com the one with the highest (and the most) reviews is the "Captains of Crush Hand Gripper" which sells for roughly $26.

The "Captain" brand offers 11 different types of hand grips for people looking to challenge themselves at different levels.

However I will note that at ALL of the Captains of Crush Hand Grippers are in the moderate to heavy resistance brackets. Ranging from 60 lbs of resistance up to 365 lbs of resistance (which is just ridiculous).

If you are just getting into gripping exercises to build your forearm strength I recommend starting lower - buy something closer to 30 lbs of resistance.

Or, if you think you really up to the challenge of 60+ lbs, then I recommend trying them in a store before buying - to see if you can even squeeze it for 10 consecutive times.

After all it would be a complete waste of your money if your purchased hand grips so hard to squeeze that you can't even do more than 1 repetition of a full squeeze.

Another type of hand grip on the market I recommend trying is Grip Pro Strength Trainer hand grips...

Unlike normal hand grips, the Grip Pro are round donut shaped pieces of rubber, which is more comfortable for your hands.

They're also good for beginners. The advantage of the Grip Pro is that they are relatively inexpensive, only $10 - and they give you three different levels, 30 lbs, 40 lbs, and 50 lbs in one set. This way even beginners can challenge themselves over time.

If the person really gets into grip exercises they will no doubt eventually want to try something more heavy duty, in which case they can go buy one of the "Captains of Crush Hand Gripper" hand grips and challenge themselves more, but otherwise I recommend the Grip Pro for beginners.

A person, even a strong person, might think their grip is already strong enough to challenge themselves with heavier resistance hand grips, but unless you have forearms like Pop-Eye I don't recommend it.

The Benefits of Marching or Speed Walking

The Benefits of Marching or Speed Walking

#1. Burn more calories in less time.

#2. Activate muscles you use less often.

#3. Easy to do and build endurance.

#4. Builds speed and endurance significantly faster than walking.

#5. You can take your dog with you during your march / speed-walk.

#6. Hiking trips and hill climbs will feel a lot easier than they used to.

#7. Your endurance during other activities will be boosted.

#8. You don't need to dress up as much for a march or speed-walk. Just grab your shoes and go.
Comfortable walking shoes are best. You don't need special running shoes or hiking boots.

#9. You won't feel out of breathe - and you can carry on a conversation while walking.

#10. For extra fun try singing military marching songs.

I don't know what I've been told.
Marching in the winter isn't that cold.

July Exercise Motivation Quotes

"If you don't control your life then life will control you. Grab life by the horns and never let go."
-Charles Moffat

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
-Bruce Lee

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
-Bruce Lee

"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."
-Bruce Lee

"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
-Bruce Lee

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."
-Bruce Lee

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
-Bruce Lee

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."
-Bruce Lee

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
-Bruce Lee

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
-Jimmy Johnson
 
"Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped."
-African Proverb
 
"Practical life teaches us that people may differ and that both may be wrong: it also teaches us that people may differ and both be right. Anchor yourself fast in the latter faith, or the former will sweep your heart away."
-Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
 
"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time."
-Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."
-John Lennon
 
"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts."
-Charles Dickens
 
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
 
"It's better to fight for something than against something."
-Author Unknown
 

"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise."
-Author Unknown 

"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving."
-Albert Einstein
 
"Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise."
-Mary Kay Ash 

Save $$$ on your gym membership

With summer officially here, many people want to step up their fitness level by joining a gym. But gym memberships are expensive and many gyms abuse your credit card / bank info and keep charging you after you cancel your membership. So how do you save money but still get access to a gym?

Here are some good ways to get a gym membership without burning a hole in your pocket.

Campus Gyms

University and college fitness centres are often much cheaper than a regular gym and they won't rip you off by overcharging your credit card like a big box gym will. If you're an university or college student, you probably already have access to a gym on campus that you might not have realized is available. Admission might already be included in your student tuition, or you might qualify for a hefty discount. If you are a former student then graduates can also qualify for an alumni discount, so don't be afraid to ask.

Ask your Employer

Some companies offer fitness benefits - such as discounts on gym memberships or fitness equipment, exercise classes, or they might even have facilities in your office building. Take advantage of these employee discounts and freebies.

Negotiate with a Local Gym

Some gyms are willing to negotiate a better rate if you can prove that there's a cheaper, comparable gym elsewhere. Do your research by checking out your local gyms to compare membership fees, contract length, early termination penalties, hours of operation, types of equipment and classes available, as well as the little things like locker and towel fees.

Always Pay Cash

Never give a big box gym like Extreme Fitness, GoodLife Fitness, etc your credit card or bank information. No matter what discount offer they might give tempt you with. Just tell them you prefer to pay with cash and if they insist on getting your credit card or bank info then start walking for the door.

Ask for a discount

If you are a student, a senior, a family of 2 or more, or a foreign visitor then ask for a discount rate. eg. If you are just visiting Toronto for 6 months, ask for truncated rate on the regular 12 month contract. A shorter term contract will save you money in the long run and you won't be locked into a contract - and remember, pay cash even on a contract.

Don't pay for what you don't use

Gyms often offer a wide range of amenities, such as dance classes, martial arts, pools, saunas, hot tubs, massages, towel service, personal trainers, and more. The more that a gym offers the more expensive the membership will be. However if you don't need all that go to a gym that has only what you need and see the huge price difference.

Try the gym before you buy

Get the free membership for 1 day, 3 days or 7 days - whatever the gym is offering. If after the trial period you don't like the gym and / or feel it is overcharging then you can always buy fitness equipment for yourself and train at home.

Use the gym as an add-on to your routine

Your gym should not be your only means of exercise. It should compliment your jogging, cycling, rollerblading, home exercises / weightlifting, yoga, sports and whatever else you do. Thus if you only go to the gym once every two weeks you can save a bundle by only getting one-day passes at your local gym - and only paying for the days you use. If you start to go there more often - like every day or 3 times per week, then get the monthly membership.

Splitting an Arrow Down the Middle

Splitting an arrow down the middle is something usually only seen in movies. It is very for archers to do it. Usually it is by accident, not on purpose.

What is more likely to happen, especially with modern arrows, is for an arrow to damage the nock of another arrow and then keep going. Or the arrow might strike another arrow on the shaft, possibly denting or breaking the shaft.

Or, like in the photo below, it might hit the nock and drive in far enough that it stays there.

In order to actually split an arrow lengthways - down the whole shaft - it would need to be following:

#1. The arrow would need to be made of wood.

#2. The arrowhead would need to be razor sharp (typically made for hunting).

#3. The shot would have to go not only at the right spot, but also drive inwards at the right angle. A degree or two up or down and the arrow which just damage the arrow it is hitting without driving its way down the shaft.

Fixing a Crooked Nose using Nose Exercises

Q

"Hi!

I found your nose exercise page this morning. Cannot wait to try them. Are there exercises for my crooked nose? Picture attached. 

Thank you.

Steff"

SEE NOSE EXERCISES TO SEE THE PAGE SHE IS TALKING ABOUT.

PHOTO OMITTED FOR PRIVACY'S SAKE

A

Hey Steff!

Is it the bone or cartilage that is crooked or just the muscles that are imbalanced? Usually it is just the muscles that are imbalanced (one set of muscles on one side is stronger than the other). However if you've suffered and injury to your nose (such as being punched there really hard) it could be the bone or cartilage that is the problem.

If you feel the bone with your fingers in the top of your nose and anything feels off centre, you will know which it is.

With crooked noses its usually the nose tip area which is crooked, which means it is the muscles that are too strong on one side and too weak on the other. So what you need to do is "equalization exercises" to correct those muscles. It is a bit like weightlifting / resistance training for your nose.

The exercises I recommend you do are:

#1. Squinting the Nose <-- This is the really important one for fixing a crooked nose, although the others help too to keep things "balanced".

#3. The Nose Shaper

#4. Nose Narrowing

And nose wiggling wouldn't hurt either.

Do #1 twice per day, #3 and #4 once per day, nose wiggling will help too, although that is easier to do with a mirror. Keep doing all of them every day for a month and you should start to see results. Keep doing that for several months and the nose muscles on each side should balance themselves out.

Note: If you underwent nose surgery very recently I would wait 2 weeks before starting the exercises. Your nose will need time to heal first.

Sincerely,
Charles Moffat
CardioTrek.ca

Want to learn more on this topic? Visit the NOSE EXERCISES post.



PERSONALIZED HELP

I am getting a lot of requests from people wanting personalized advice about their nose and what nose exercises they should do, how often they should do them, special circumstances,  etc. My advice is to follow the instructions listed above and on other posts I have made about nose exercises.

If you are contacting me asking me for personalized help - basically asking for my services in aiding you with your nose exercises, then I will need to charge you my personal training rate ($50 per hour) for my services.

I know this is not the answer many of you are looking for. I have already answered many of the frequently asked questions in the comments section of various nose exercise posts, and answered many emails from people asking for help with their nose exercises - but I am a busy person and the emails have reached a point where I need to start charging for this service because I cannot answer all of them.

Best of luck with your nose exercises!

DIY Fusion Workout

Lots of Toronto gyms offer fusion workouts.

But maybe you don't feel comfortable exercising in front of other people.

Maybe you have time constraints.

Maybe you just prefer to workout at home for any number of reasons.

Thus being able to create your own fusion workout at home - instead of going to a Toronto gym - means that you can control which exercises you are doing and the environment you are doing them in.

Fusion workouts are great for trying more than one style of activity at a time, but they are also used to maximize results in one of the most time efficient ways available.

Focusing on a single exercise all the time gets boring and gets very little results because there is only so much muscle tissue your body can grow in one body part during a night's rest - but a variety of exercises allows you to grow muscle tissue in multiple locations by focusing on different muscle groups.

It makes the workout much more enjoyable because you have more variety with what you are doing, it raises your endurance level, and improves the speed of your progress by using exercises which double or triple up on different muscles groups.

Examples of Fusion Style Workouts:
-Strength training and then running every five to ten minutes. for example, work out your chest and back, then run. Go back to strength training and do some squats and lunges, then run. Next, work biceps and triceps, then run again. This will allow a great weight workout, cardiovascular training for great fat burning, and it builds endurance. Do some stretches afterwards to maintain your flexibility.

-Weight Training and Yoga. It's great to stretch after every strength exercise, so use yoga poses to get stretching in, and improve your yoga practice.

-Alternate Skipping or Jumping Jacks with Pushups, Situps, Chin-ups and other body weight exercises. No equipment necessary and you get both cardio and weight training. For fun add in shadow boxing or dancing with the music on your stereo turned up really loud. :)

You can really do almost anything you want with fusion workouts because they're very flexible. Just get out all of your exercise equipment and spend 5 to 10 minutes on each exercise.

Swagger while you Walk

An 150 lb person walking on level ground, at a slow pace of less than 2 mph burns 136 calories per hour.

However if they swagger while they walk (swinging their arms a lot more, moving their sides and shoulders with their arms in a macho swagger) they will burn 150 calories per hour.

The reason is because swaggering engages the obliques side muscles as you twist your body every step you take. It is a small twist, but it shifts the weight of your upper torso on a constant basis - and thus counts in a small way as resistance training, as the obliques are effectively being used to twist the weight of the upper torso.

A person who walks with a swagger 2 hours per day will burn 10,199 extra calories per year compared to a person who doesn't who doesn't swagger.

That is a difference of roughly 2.9 lbs of fat per year.

Over a 10 year period a person who constantly walks with a "confident swagger" in theory, assuming two hours of "swaggering" per day, will be roughly 29 lbs of fat lighter than a person who doesn't swagger at all.

And they would have stronger obliques, and to a lesser extent stronger abs, shoulders and arm muscles.

The big thing really is whether a person can use those oblique muscles while they walk and get used to having a constant swagger. In the beginning it would be difficult to walk like that all the time (because your obliques would get sore), but after a week or two of walking like that regularly your oblique muscles would grow stronger and your body would become more accustomed to it. So yes, with regular practice a person could develop a constant swagger.

I will note however that deliberately swaggering while you walk at first feels a bit silly. (And you might wonder if other people are watching you and thinking if you are doing that on purpose or if you really do walk around like you own the place.)

Honestly, who cares? It is your body! If you want to lose fat, grow stronger obliques over a longer term period, then absolutely go ahead and do this as an exercise. Another side benefit to obliques is that they improve your balance and flexibility. Useful for many activities.

The end result is that you gain a lot of physical benefits from swaggering - and losing weight and becoming stronger, you will likely feel more confident and feel like swaggering anyway.

Using Playground Equipment as your Personal Gym

Tired of paying gyms to exercise there?

Playground equipment is free.

Better yet some parks now have playground equipment designed for adults who want to exercise. Use them! Or encourage your local politicians here in Toronto to support adding more adult exercise equipment.

I think someone should create a charity dedicated towards collecting money to add more adult exercise equipment to Toronto parks and recreation areas. And if successful, the charity could expand to the rest of Ontario and Canada so people can all benefit from such exercise equipment.

The photos below are just a sample of what you can do.

Exercise Wisdom from Bruce Lee

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
-Bruce Lee

"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."
-Bruce Lee

"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
-Bruce Lee

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."
-Bruce Lee

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
-Bruce Lee

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."
-Bruce Lee

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
-Bruce Lee