Showing posts with label weight training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight training. Show all posts

Athletic Body in Balance DVD Review

Athletic Body in Balance DVD
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This should be required reading for athletes as well as coaches. The author does an excellent job in defining the "weakest link" as a cause of injury or tissue failure, and distinguishing between the too-often blamed "over-training" and the real culprit, improper training. Stability is emphasized, as it should be, as the basis for effective movement. (As my Burmese boxing coach once told me, it does no good to launch a rocket from a bamboo pad.) Other good points of emphasis, among many, are the need to relax to maintain fluidity with speed, and to "be quick but don't forget to stick." Again, in boxing we were always told to stick and move, but too often the person advising this had no idea of how to go about it, let alone teach someone else to do it. Gray Cook does. Throughout the book, his prose is effective, his explanations are clear and concise, and his recommended goals are accompanied by explicit step-by-step instructions to achieve them. For poviding the reader an understanding of athletic movement and training and actual how-to for practice and execution, this book tops my list.

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You work out and train hard. You know you can reach that next level of performance. But are you doing all that you can to get there? Adding absolute strength and power often creates muscle imbalances and mobility limitations that cause injuries and limit skill training. The Athletic Body in Balance DVD is the first of its kind to show how to identify and correct muscle imbalances, mobility restrictions, and stability problems.

Host Gray Cook is a physical therapist and sports conditioning expert who has proven the effectiveness of his approach through the performances of athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, and Reebok® University's sports training system. Cook's methods detect where conditioning is breaking down and reveals how to get your body back on track. Included in the DVD are five assessment tests to help you find the imbalances in movement patterns, sample corrective exercises to improve mobility and stability, and ways to integrate these exercises into a regular training program. The tests include

-deep squat—assessing the mobility and stability of the hips, knees, and ankles

-hurdle steps—evaluating bilateral mobility and stability of the hips, knees, and ankles

-in-line lunge—determining hip mobility and stability, quadriceps flexibility, and ankle and knee stability on both sides of the body

-straight leg raise—gauging hamstring flexibility

-seated rotation—measuring uppertrunk stability during a combined upper- and lower-body movement

Move more efficiently and achieve real gains in performance with the Athletic Body in Balance DVD.

Human Kinetics DVDs are coded for universal playback and can be played in all regions of the world.


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Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985) Review

Pumping Iron II: The Women  (1985)
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This short documentary explores the world of competitive female bodybuilding during the early 1980's. This film is true to the era with heavy makeup, spandex, bad hair and a moonwalk included during a posing routine. The film ponders the the level of acceptable muscularity that a woman should posess and examines the judging of a competitor who at the time was bigger than any other woman who ever stood on the competitive stage -- Australian power lifter Bev Francis. By current standards, Bev would fit right in and might actually be on the small side as compared to other female professional bodybuilders, but by 1983's standards, she was considered a freak. Neither the judges nor the competitors could come to a consensus about the ideal. The first Ms. Olympia Rachel McLish was more along the lines of what the public expected of female bodybuilders -- sleek, with some definition and feminine. McLish and the others look more like today's fitness competitors. Carla Dunlap had considerable size, but was still smaller than Francis who she said "Has muscularity that most men would envy."
Female bodybuilding is still a fringe activity, and this film shows some of what the pioneers endured in the early days. And much like today, the officials and trainers are mostly male.
I enjoyed this movie for its camp value, but it's also a nice history lesson for female physique competitors.

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Dan John: Olympic Lifting for Beginners Review

Dan John: Olympic Lifting for Beginners
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I'm a big fan of Dan John's work in general, but I think the title of this video can be pretty misleading. Please, if you are a beginning weightlifter, DO NOT buy this video thinking it is going to teach you how to lift. The market for this video is the experienced weightlifting coach who is looking for some interesting new ideas to throw into training beginners. Dan John tends to be pretty scattered. He does not lay out sequential programs. He's more into anecdotes and throwing ideas out there and leaving it up to the viewer integrate them into a useable program. If you have some experience coaching and are looking for some new things to throw in, this video is for you. If you are a beginner looking for a systematic approach for learning the lifts or teaching the lifts, Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes by Greg Everett would be a MUCH better choice.
That being said, I found the video interesting. The style of weightlifting he presents conflicts significantly with the style in which I was trained. (He emphasizes getting the weight as far back on the heel as possible during the first and second pulls.) His ideas are, none the less, interesting and provocative even if I don't always agree with them.

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In this 80-minute DVD, Dan taught: * Olympic lifting overview * Snatch positions * Push jerk * Split jerk * The Jerk * Overhead squat * Goblet squat * Shoulder mobility * Putting weights overhead * Hamstring lengthening * Romanian deadlift stretch * Wrist flexibility

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Minna Lessig - Total Body Toning - 1 Minute Workout (2006) Review

Minna Lessig - Total Body Toning - 1 Minute Workout (2006)
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This DVD is really the cure to workout boredom. It's over 120+ one minute exercises vary each time to put in the DVD, so you'll even begin to look forward to seeing which one is chosen each time. You can vary both the length of your workout and the intensity - which various time intervals and a beginning and advanced skill level. You can also choose to focus on a specific area - such as upper body, lower body, and total body. I've read some of the reviewers say they didn't find this one challenging, but I found that I did - especially when I played the DVD for at least 20 minutes or more. I liked the options to workout in less time as well, as sometimes it's just a nice compliment to another workout. This DVD offers so much variety I'd say it would fit nicely into any routine.

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Just answer three simple questions and you could enjoy a different workout EVERY DAY for the rest of your life!1 MINUTE WORKOUT: Total Body Toning with Minna Lessig is the most versatile and complete workout system ever to be released on one DVD!It's as easy to use as 1, 2, 3!This revolutionary DVD prompts you to pick your target area, your level of intensity and your workout length, and then creates a customized and unique circuit-training workout designed to meet your particular fitness goals. With over 115 different one-minute segments in its database, this DVD can create virtually limitless exercise combinations to keep your workouts fresh and help you avoid those frustrating workout plateaus.Even if you pick the same three answers every time, you may still never get the same workout twice! Intelligently designed, each unique circuit-training workout will elevate the heart rate while strengthening the muscles to provide maximum results.1 Minute Workout also includes multiple warm-ups and cool-downs, as well as‘Fast Track Workouts' – a great option on those days when you're really crunched for time and want to do a quick and effective total body workout.Special Features include a seven-minute Bonus Stretch Segment, Tips and Techniques for each trouble zone and How to Get the Most out of this Program.

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Iron Man Magazine: Critical Mass Bodybuilding Beginner and Intermediate Review

Iron Man Magazine: Critical Mass Bodybuilding Beginner and Intermediate
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I purchased this DVD recently and I'm really impressed with it. Even though I'm not a bodybuilder or aspiring to be one, I am seriously into staying in shape (I'm just past my mid forties and have been continuously training for over 20 years.) Weight training is a significant part of my fitness program and I figure that if I'm going to do it I want to use the best and most efficient resources available. This POF approach is an interesting and apparently scientific approach. I also use X-reps (extended reps) in my training as well which is advocated by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson, the creators of POF training.
I believe they started using the X-reps later on, probably after this DVD was filmed so it's not part of this particular DVD. Still, it's not hard to incorporate X-reps into one's training. My understanding of X-reps is to use partials at the end of a full range of motion set to extend the exercise by working in a strong range. I like these better than forced reps because you have to totally control the weight which also seems less likely to cause injury.
Anyway, this DVD explains the primary priciples of POF (Positions of flexion)training. These involves using midrange, stretch and contracted positions (in that order). The stretch position is supposed to stimulate something called the myotatic reflex which is supposed to shock the muscle by putting it into an emergency mode which stimulates a stronger contraction.The DVD then goes through all the primary bodyparts showing how to train them using the POF technique.
I've originally found out about POF training by reading quite a few articles and interviews w/ Holman and Lawson. I was really intrigued by what they had to say, so when I saw this DVD I immediately ordered it.
It is well filmed and demonstrated. It is also very well organized. It first shows the various approaches of POF to the specific body part (midrange, stretch and contracted), then it goes on to show various routines you can use to hit that bodypart.
I like the fact that it lays out the material, shows a couple of variations of exercises, then summarizes each chapter for each bodypart.
There's one technical observation I wanted to point out regarding the audio of the program. Sometimes the voiceover is a bit distorted. I'm not sure if there is too much bass mixed into the speaking voice or if it was recorded at too hot a signal, but it breaks up slightly from time to time. This doesn't effect the efficacy of the program, it's certainly more than clear enough, it's just an observation I wanted to pass along so that if someone orders it they know to expect it rather than being suprised by it. The whole program doesn't seem this way, mostly it seems to be in the beginning segments.


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Explosive Lifting for Sports DVD - 30 Exercises for More Power and Strength Review

Explosive Lifting for Sports DVD - 30 Exercises for More Power and Strength
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Good quality recording. Recommend for someone with absolutely no basic understanding of the olympic lifts. Do not get this if you are looking to refine your technique. And the 30 excercise thing? About 25 of them are variations of the pull. Underestandable since that is the most important part of the lifts, but misleading. The other 5 are the snatch, clean, jerk, squat and deadlift. If you would like to buy my copy for half price, e-mail me.

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Become a more powerful athlete by including the snatch, clean,jerk, and their variations in your sports training program. TheExplosive Lifting for Sports DVD brings to life the safest, mosteffective learning progressions for all of these lifts. Just as important,it outlines key technical adjustments and exercise options for athletes ofvarious body types. Learn how to perform each lift correctly withstep-by-step instructions for developing the power you need to excel inyour sport.Human Kinetics DVDs are coded for universal playback and can be played inall regions of the world.

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