Muscle & Fitness : Best ways to train Traps.

Don’t get lulled into a shrug-induced coma. Here are some tips on how to spice up your trap training.

In a confrontation on the street, big traps are much more intimidating than big biceps,” says Josh Bryant, MFS, CSCS, owner of JoshStrength.com and co-author of the e-book Metroflex Gym Powerbuilding Basics. But defending your date’s honor, while admirable, shouldn’t be your sole motivation for training traps. According to Bryant, effective training of these fan-shaped muscles on your upper back helps keep the shoulder girdle in alignment, provides postural strength on heavy squats and deadlifts, and offers a boost when benching massive weight. Shrugs are great, but they’re not the only way to build your traps. Bryant explains.

1. SHRUG IN TENS

Shrugs are still the most fundamental exercise you can do for traps, but Bryant likes to add spice to his workouts. With dumbbell shrugs, Bryant says he likes a 10-10-10 approach. “Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand, arms at your sides,” he says. “Do 10 shrugs with the right side, then 10 with the left and finish with 10 bilateral shrugs. This greatly increases the time under tension.”

 2. SHRUG LIKE ATLAS

One of the reasons people skip shrugs or relegate them to the end of their workout is because the movement seems too slight or subtle to matter. These people haven’t tried power shrugs. “Power shrugs use the same hip drive that you would do a clean with, but the weight is heavy, so you just violently shrug it up,” Bryant says. “You want to try to make your traps hit your ears. Bill Starr stated in The Strongest Shall Survive that if your traps aren’t sore after a day of power shrugging, you didn’t do it right.  You should eventually try to use more than your deadlift max with this movement for multiple repetitions. This is a great trap builder.”

3. CHANGE PLANES

The standing shrug is great for building trapezius height, but to increase overall thickness, you need to add variety to your angle of pull with scapular retraction. “On a seated row, grasp a narrow-grip handle with your arms fully extended,” Bryant says. “Pull your shoulder blades together. This will build the middle traps and give a denser look. This is one of my favorite prehab movements for big benchers.”

4. PULL. PUSH.

The functional opposite of scapular retraction is scapular protraction. Bryant likes performing protraction to work the traps in a different way while building his strength chain on the bench. “Hand spacing should be the same as your regular bench-press grip,” he says. “Lower the bar with straight arms by dropping the shoulders down toward the bench and crunching the shoulder blades together. Then force the bar upward by spreading the shoulder blades out, as in a lat spread, while raising the shoulders off the bench. The bar will travel only three or four inches either way. This is a great way to add thickness to the midtraps and directly benefit your bench numbers.”

5. ROW

Shrugs for the traps are, by nature, isolation moves — movement is only occurring at the shoulder and without the benefit of other muscle groups. The upright row, however, is a multi-joint movement that provides “a high level of activation in the traps,” Bryant says. This move, which also uses your biceps, forearms, middle and rear delts, is a great move for building total upper-body mass.

Why Alcohol is More Worse For You Than Your Men.

Alcohol in any amount can be dangerous to anyone but it affects women more than men, with increased health risks like liver and heart diseases and infertility for them, according to experts.

According to Monika Jain, a senior hepatologist with Fortis Hospital, "the female physiology is such that it allows for greater toxicity with lesser amounts of alcohol and in lesser time, as compared to males."

"A woman's body doesn't break down the alcohol as quickly as a man's body does. This results in greater levels of alcohol in blood, resulting in greater toxicity," Jain said.

 "The enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) which breaks down the alcohol in stomach is produced in smaller quantities in women resulting in slower action as compared to men," Jain added.

According to a publication by the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism(NIAAA), women who drink heavily face greater health risks than men who drink heavily, with women alcoholics being more prone to liver disease, heart damage and brain damage.

Amongst the other problems, the report claims, chronic heavy drinking can lead to menstrual problems, infertility, and early menopause while drinking during adolescence can interfere with puberty, growth, and bone health.

But the most vulnerable are the pregnant women who drink because in their case, even the unborn child is at risk from alcohol, which is a teratogen, a substance that can harm a foetus.

"Alcohol consumption by pregnant women can induce problems like Fetal Alcohol Disorder(FAD) and Abruption," Shivani Gour, a gynecologist and director of Isis hospital, told IANS.

"FAD is a major problem with ill-effects ranging from mental retardation to delayed physical growth. Any amount of alcohol consumed by an expecting mother is enough to harm the unborn child. And then there is abruption, which means premature detachment of the placenta," she added.

"The women are more vulnerable to alcohol because of increased percentage of fat as well as estrogen, which delays alcohol breakdown and increases alcohol toxicity in women," said Gour.

However, the damage is not just physical.

Beyond the physiological ill-effects, the NIAAA report claims heavy drinking can make a woman more vulnerable to violence, including sexual assault and they are twice as likely as men to die from .

Men's Fitness: Supersets What Are They.

Supersets are exercise pairings performed without resting between. They can be planned to boost a single body part with two different exercises or for opposing muscles such as the chest and back. There are many good reasons to add supersets to your routine. They can help you improve calorie burn, save time in the gym and even speed muscle development. With so many reasons to include supersets in your exercise routine are there any reasons to pass on what seems like a short cut to fitness success?

•Supersets save time:

Do more for your body in less time with supersets. Eliminating time between exercises means fitness fits more easily into even the most time crunched schedule. Think you don’t have enough time to work out? Turns out you actually do. Work in a 25 minute superset routine three times each week.

• Boost Metabolism:

Supersets are heart smart. Less rest time means your heart gets more of a work out. Keeping your heart rate elevated helps burn more calories and boost metabolism. The good news is the burn continues even after your workout.

• Boost Muscle Production:

Supersets encourage the production of lactic acid, which fuels the muscles and helps them maintain strength and endurance. Another benefit of supersets is the greater challenge they place on the body compared with straight sets. That challenge can mean more muscle growth.

•Supersets Get Results:

Use them to zero in your focus on targeted muscles. For example a superset for your abs would pair exercise ball crunches (these are performed by lifting your body from the ball rather than from the floor) with V sit-ups (also called jack-knife sit ups are performed by extending arms and legs and raising them all so that your body comes to form a “V” shape). To work your back and biceps do bent over rows (stand with legs hip width apart and knees slightly bent, lean forward from the hips and bring the dumbbells toward your chest).

•Try Antagonistic Supersets to Burn Fat Faster

Add antagonistic supersets such as bicep curls and tricep pushdowns to your workout. The first exercise pulls the muscle and the second pushes the opposite muscle which helps you burn more calories.

So back to our original question – with so many entries in the win column for supersets is there any reason to be wary of them? Yes. Even when it comes to supersets there can be too much of a good thing. If not paired properly or performed with too much weight you risk injury.

Supersets can be your secret weapon for fast fitness results. Just be sure you stay on track by proceeding with caution. Do not work through pain and avoid using weights that are too heavy.

How To Relieve Pain , Increase Strength & Balance Easily.

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Easiest Way Lose Weight Quickly For Women.

Eating less fat and doing more exercise is the simplest and the straightest way to slimming, says a new study that vindicates a common sense approach to weight loss.

Scientists at Harvard Medical School, Boston surveyed 4,000 obese adults and found those who followed the common sense advice were much more likely to lose weight than those who adopted fad slimming regimes, went on liquid diets or bought costly weight-loss supplements.

Christina Wee, who helped compile the study at Harvard, said: "There are lots of fad diets out there as well as expensive over-the-counter medications that have not necessarily been proven to be effective. So it's very encouraging to find that most of the weight-loss methods associated with success are accessible and inexpensive."

Researchers found 41 percent of those who cut their fat intake were more likely to have shed five percent of their body weight in under a year than those who went on liquid diets, used non-prescription dieting supplements or followed popular slimming regimes, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported.

 And if they exercised more than usual, they were almost 30 percent more likely to lose the weight. Although five percent weight loss may not sound significant, experts say it is enough to delay the onset of diabetes in an obese person, according to the Daily Mail.

And the 'Not Rocket Science' diet helped many volunteers shed more weight, with 37 percent of those who cut down on fat more likely to lose a tenth of their body weight, while exercising boosted their chances by 6 percent.

How To Keep your Mind Cool With Yoga.

There are more ways to cool down in the hot summer months than switching on the air conditioner. Pranayam and meditation are known to help you stay cool when outdoors and hydrated round the clock.

1. Chandrabedhan pranayam:

Sit in any meditative posture on the floor keeping your back straight and shoulders relaxed. With your right thumb, close the right nostril and breathe in from the left nostril. Next, close the left nostril with your right index and middle finger, and breathe out from the right nostril.

•Benefit: Heat makes us fly off the handle easily. Chandrabedhan pranayam has a cooling effect on the nervous system and on the nadis (energy pathways). This pranayam reduces body heat, high blood pressure and has a calming effect on the mind. It also induces muscular relaxation and promotes emotional well-being.

2. Sheetkari pranayam:

Sit in a comfortable posture on the floor; keep your back straight, shoulders relaxed, hands on your knees and close your eyes. Now put your lower and upper teeth together and put your tongue between the gap of the teeth. Then, separate your lips while baring your teeth; breathe in from your mouth and exhale through your nose.

•Benefit: Those who live very stressful lives and experience tiredness or lethargy must practise this form of pranayama. It helps reduce anger, anxiety and stress. It is also beneficial to the skin.

3. Sheetali pranayam:

Sit in any meditative or a comfortable position. Close your eyes and breathe normally. Put your tongue on the lower lip, then roll your tongue and inhale deeply from your mouth. Now, slowly close your mouth and exhale through your nose.

•Benefit: The sheetali pranayam helps cool down your body. It has a great energising, soothing, relaxing and cooling effect on all the nerve channels and the entire body. This asana purifies the blood and expels toxins. It also helps cool you down if you're angry or in a bad mood.

4. Shavasana:

Lie down on your back with arms on your side. Now slowly move your legs apart, keeping your heels inside and toes outside. Keep your hands away from the body, palms facing upwards. Close your eyes, loosen and relax all the muscles in the body and breathe normally.

•Benefit: Shavasana helps combat mental and physical fatigue. It also relaxes the nerve network and improves breathing.

How To Build Your Dream Body on Low Budget.

The costs of getting into shape can really add up. Gym memberships, supplements and trainers typically carry high price tags, designed to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Building muscular arms and legs shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg. Take the frugal approach to muscle building, and beef up your biceps as well as your wallet.

• Step 1

Find a cheap training arrangement. You shouldn’t have to pay $75, $60 or even $50 per month for a gym membership. According to the "Pittsburgh Business Times," lower-priced facilities are increasing in popularity, offering membership rates between $10 and $20 per month. You can also save big by building your own gym, especially if you bargain shop. You can even go to a local playground and bulk up with pull-ups, dips and push-ups on the jungle gym equipment.

•Step 2

Skip the supplements. Sports supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry, according to "Sports Illustrated," with many of these compounds being unproven. Before taking a gamble on possibly false promises, take a good look at your nutritional program. If your diet is high in protein and complex carbohydrates, your muscles should be getting everything they need to grow.

•Step 3

Buy healthful food in bulk. Use “price club” type supermarkets to stock up on muscle-building foods once a month. Buy lots of non-perishables such as pasta, canned tuna and oatmeal. Buy and store bags of frozen chicken breasts. With fewer shopping trips, you’ll also save money on gas.

• Step 4

Split a trainer. If you want the results of a personal trainer while controlling the cost, you are not alone. The American Council on Exercise has noted the trend of small-group training as a way to maximize results while saving money. By training with a small group of two to five people, you can get the guidance you need without the high price of one-on-one training.