Different Types of Pull-Ups

Cathy posted a comment on the last post, wondering about the different types of pull-up grips. She asked how they vary with regards to muscles targeted and level of difficulty.

Any pull-up variation will involve contraction of the back mucles (mainly the latissimus dorsi, or lats - these are the muscles that offer a V-taper to one's back when well-developed) and biceps. When you take a wide-grip on a pullbar, you are relying on your back muscles to do almost all of the work, placing your biceps in a position where they aren't able to assist the movement efficiently. Without the help of your arms, the wide-grip pull-up is the most challenging variation, and intensely targets the back.

As you narrow your grip, bringing the hands in to shoulder width, to a neutral grip (hands facing each other), or to a chin-up grip (hands facing you, supinated), you are increasing the help/activation of the biceps in the order listed. By recruiting the help of the arms, you are increasing your ability to perform more repetitions. As you move your hands in, the pull-up will feel less challenging overall, though you may feel more of a burn in your biceps.

March Book Review: Strength Training Anatomy

Strength Training Anatomy

Frederic Delavier

Despite the meathead-looking dude on the front cover, this is my favorite strength-training reference book for men and women alike. Inside you'll find over 100 exercises broken down by body part: 21 for arms, 17 for shoulders, 14 chest, 20 back, 18 legs, 10 buttocks and 15 abdomen. 

Usually when people learn exercises for a certain muscle group, they learn one or two moves tops. If I were teaching someone chest exercises, I might show him/her a Bench Press and a Dumbbell Fly. But soon, these two exercises may become boring. Delavier's book provides such a thorough listing of exercises for each body part that even a well-versed body builder could probably find at least one fresh idea for a workout. 

Not only does Strength Training offer pages of exercises, it also explains variations on those exercises where appropriate. For example, when performing a Triceps Push-down on the cable, what's the difference between using a bar or the rope as an attachment? How does a push-up change when you narrow the stance of your hands? When lunging, does it make a difference if you take a big step or a small one? These peripheral questions are addressed alongside the main exercise. As further side notes, Delavier covers common errors in form (i.e. rounding the back while squatting) in addition to common weight-lifting injuries. 

The illustrations are phenomenal. Paging through, you may feel like you are reading a book specifically for body builders. Admittedly, there are some thick guys and gals pictured. But most importantly, the visual connection of the muscle group working during a given exercise is well-depicted. I was happy to see that men and women were used as models, perhaps helping to dispel the myth about females "bulking up" from strength training. Although, it didn't seem like a coincidence that the Buttocks, Legs and Abdominal sections were female dominated, while the upper body sections were shown using all male models. Hmmmm...too many sociology classes in college maybe...

One final thought...the publisher of Strength Training, Human Kinetics, is a great resource for exercise-related reading. My exercise physiology text from college came through them, in addition to other selections on my bookshelf like Lore of Running, Jumping Into Plyometrics, Strength Ball Training, and Yoga Anatomy. If you end up browsing a store like Borders for a book, I'd recommend checking the spine for the Human Kinetics logo or shopping directly from their website: www.humankinetics.com. 

February Book Review: In Defense of Food

January Book Review: Mindless Eating

Boom!

Yesterday at Muscle Group, I made the mistake of saying, "Boom!" as my foot touched down to demonstrate the pictured side step-up. I had to endure a wall full of people mocking me for 30 seconds, shouting, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" as they stepped.

Even though we lost a few expected attendees to Hillary Clinton's appearance at Temple, we kicked off the spring workout season with a strong effort. Shout-outs to Cathy, Emily, John Adams, Angie and the Dans.

Go Vertical

This weekend was all about fitness outside the gym...but inside the rock gym. I went climbing once when I was about 12. My mom and I went to Philly Rock Gym in King of Prussia, where she did little climbing but spent the day as my belayer. This time, my BFF, Dan, and I went to Go Vertical on Delaware Avenue to frolic away a Friday afternoon that we both did not have to work. 

On the way, Dan asked me, "Linds, I've known you for 5 years...why are we just now going rock climbing?" I couldn't say, other than the fact that I needed to change things up even if it was only for a day. In the world of strength training, we tend to move in patterns. Someone who asks, "Am I doing this right?" is asking whether or not they are following the correct movement pattern for that exercise. That's all fine and dandy, but going through the motions can get boring. Rock climbing seemed like a fun way to explore creative movement patterns but stay within the realm of muscular strength and endurance. 

So here's the scoop on indoor rock climbing...

Very fun. Go with one of your friends and you are sure to have a laugh about how ridiculous s/he looks in a harness, you will learn to trust other each even more as your partner is protecting you from going Kersplat! on the gym floor when you lose your grip, and you will feel like Spiderman scaling the walls and hanging from ropes. 

Not very cheap. This sport is not for the poor or inexperienced, to do regularly anyway. We went during off-peak hours so our day pass rate was reduced from $17 to $14. Oh, but wait. Then we had to pay $10 each for equipment rental, and since we needed a 20-minute belaying lesson, that was another $20-something each. Then we found out we could get 2 additional day passes if we paid an extra $12 for the 2-hour belaying lesson. What? But we did it. When Dan looked at the website and saw the day pass rate, he thought we'd be paying $14 each. Turned out it was $65 each. Woops! (Of course, if you became invested in your climbing habit, you could buy your own gear and take part in Go Vertical's membership options. Plus, you only need to take a belaying lesson once.)

Very challenging. My forearms were so pumped after scaling a few walls - and attempting a few others - that I chuckled thinking of weight lifters who actually train their forearms! There are different routes up the wall, each labeled with colored tape to show the specific course, and each denoting a certain rating of difficulty: 4 being doable for Dan and Linds, 12 being the most challenging and unthinkable for Dan and Linds. As amateur climbers, we had varying success within levels 4-6. I found that when I got stuck somewhere, I wasted a lot of time hanging out, growing tired, and trying to figure out what to do next whereas, as we saw on our return trip Sunday (with our freebie passes!), the more experienced climbers seem to conserve their energy by gripping the rocks less urgently, pausing when appropriate, and moving faster at challenging points in the course. 

A little scary. The first time you climb and the first time you belay will probably be a little scary, if not very scary. Trust that your instructor knows what s/he is doing and won't let you try anything stupid. Plus, once you see how easy it is to be the belayer, you will start to feel much more confident as a climber. Still, we both made it to the top of walls that were about 5-6 stories high and couldn't wait to be lowered to the ground from such a height.

A little time consuming. They recommend making a belaying appointment for first timers which can take 20 minutes or 2 hours. Even if you know how to belay, they are probably going to ask that you show them your skills, which may take 20-30 minutes to get someone's attention. Then you are free to climb for the day so it really depends on how quickly your body recovers. Dan and I spent 3 hours the first day and 2 the second. 

A little intimidating. When we went on Sunday, the climbing subculture had emerged from their day jobs. We kind of felt like tools in our "Go Vertical" harnesses and smelly rental shoes, having trouble navigating the level 5 courses with all the experienced folks blazing up the wall. So we encountered a few why-are-you-on-my-wall?-you-stink looks, but there were plenty of down-to-earth climbers, happy to see new people trying the sport, who instilled a sense of belonging. 

Shiver by the River

A few folks in Reading, PA must have been looking for fitness outside the gym - in the dead of winter - when they started Shiver by the River, a "no frills" winter race series. Once a month, from December through March, 400 or so runners take to the 5K course that winds through a residential Reading neighborhood and then shoots back down along the Schuylkill River. Participants have the option of doing the loop once for the 5K or twice for the 10K.

Last Sunday, I was part of two mother-daughter combinations running the 10K. My mom, Cathy, and I drove in from Philly to meet Clare and her daughter, Liz. Everyone except for me is currently training for the Broad Street Run, and after seeing how strong everyone ran the Shiver, I am optimistic that Broad Street will yield similar results, if not better.

Clare's number is posted as she was the catalyst for the Broad Street training process that landed us all in Reading for a 10K trial of sorts. After running the 10-miler over a decade ago, Clare has returned to running with aspirations to complete it once again. Her daughter, Liz, has recently taken up running pretty seriously as a high school senior and I believe Shiver by the River was her first race ever. Shout-outs for Liz - very cool. And as for Cathy, she is looking to place in her age group (60-64) this year at Broad Street. (Note to Mom: If there is prize money, remember who came to Reading with you!)

But back to Shiver on the River, this is definitely a race I would come back to. It was $8 to register, or $25 for the series. There were heated bathrooms with sinks (no port-a-potties) and really nice volunteers. Handfuls of M&Ms and goldfish are waiting for you at the finish. And it's a good excuse to spend time with your family.

Reducing Blood Pressure Through Exercise

A woman at work recently shared with me that she has had above normal blood pressure (BP) readings at her last few doctor's visits. Her physician is giving her several months to see if she can lower her BP through lifestyle changes before prescribing medication.

The American College of Sports Medicine makes the following recommendations for reducing hypertension through exercise:

• Perform mainly aerobic activities that involve large muscle groups.
• Exercise at moderate intensities (about 50-85% Max Heart Rate) seems to reduce BP as much as, if not more than, exercise at higher intensities. Click here for more information about calculating target heart rate.
• Frequency of aerobic training: 3-7 days/week. However, because blood pressure may remain reduced for several hours after aerobic exercise, working out every day may provide the most optimal BP control.
• Duration of training session: 30 to 60 minutes
• Resistance training is not recommended as the primary form of exercise training for reducing BP, but should be combined with aerobic training. Resistance training regimens should incorporate incorporate lower resistance with higher repetitions.

My Acupuncturist Thinks I'm Possessed

Last Saturday I tried acupuncture for the first time. What got me there was a combination of curiosity and convenience. When clients ask for my opinion of acupuncture, I want to have first-hand experience so I can speak intelligently about it. "Oh Stacey did that and she LOVES it," feels a little pathetic if people are asking me for advice and a professional opinion. I was intrigued, too, by the idea of lying around on a table with needles sticking out of me.

But as most know, acupuncture ain't free, and (oddly) the PGW bill is not dwindling, so scheduling an appointment "just to see what it was like" never seemed opportune. However, my massage therapist's wife, Marnie, is nearly finished a grad program at the Won Institute, which runs a student clinic featuring $30 acupuncture appointments. So I tried it...

The appointment lasted about 2 hours - this is standard anywhere you go for a first appointment. Marnie, assisted by another student, interviewed me for the first hour, taking a detailed physical and mental health inventory. Marnie now knows of my battle with depression, the three hip surgeries from my early teens, and the color of my menses. (Hey, she took it there, not me. And boys, they will ask you about your *area* too!) While I entered this treatment with no specific complaints, some people come to acupuncture with a certain need - i.e. please cure my headaches. Regardless, they are going to take a complete look at you. Western medicine will give you a pill for the headaches. Chinese medicine is going to dig a little deeper, so patience will be important.

After the interview, Marnie did a brief physical exam. She checked my pulse from somewhere near my wrist, though I understand this to be completely different from the heart rate I might check with clients. (Apparently, we have pulses that correspond to our other organs...pretty cool.) Then she looked at my tongue, don't know why. Later, she poked around my abdomen to see how my organs were doing - good! - and felt different parts of my body for temperature differentiation. Because this is a student clinic, a licensed acupuncturist came in to double check some of these tests, namely my pulse.

At this point, she left the room to draw up plans for my needle stickin'. The procedure she selected had a lot to do with our interview, though at the time, I had no idea what they were trying to do with me or what to expect. Emily (my gf) goes to acupuncture regularly to treat her allergies. She told me she can't feel the needles at all when they go in, so I am hanging out on the massage table, nice and relaxed...

Listen, I'm not gonna lie...the needles hurt me. They put seven in me, all in the front of my body. I was relaxed for the first one and terrified for the next six. I'm not typically scared of needles unless they're in my mouth, but because I was expecting the kind of needles you don't feel, the needle insertion process was an anxious one for me. Marnie said that the response is different for everyone. She herself winces a bit while Emily's sitting there like, "Is it in yet? Did you put the needle in?" Even I can say the three needles that went in my right side (my feminine side) hurt more than my left, which didn't bother me much. I wonder if there is an implication here that it hurts me to be lady-like...hmmm.

The needles stayed in for about 20 minutes. While the insertion of them was scary for me, the effects were sweet. Your body naturally releases endorphins in response to a treatment so I felt a little high. It's like taking codeine without the need to mask any pain in the first place. I remember feeling a certain lightness. Worries and thoughts passed through without me needing to stew on them - which, for me, is worth about 1,000 needle sticks! As nice as a 20-minute stress relief session is, it was what happened after the needles were removed that made me want to return to the clinic.

Marnie removed the needles, which I did not feel. (I remember thinking, "This is what I thought they would feel like on the way in.") She said she was going to grab her supervisor so that they could take another count of my pulse, and she walked out. Laying there on the table, I felt relaxed and clear-headed, and then all of the sudden, like a wave, tears started to pour from the inside-out. I wasn't trying to hold them back but I don't think I could have if I tried. It felt so cleansing to let them drain from me. Marnie and company came in to find me wiping my eyes, apparently not surprised by the results.

The treatment they performed was called Internal Dragons, used to rid the body of possession. I think this can be mistaken through a western viewpoint as a form of exorcism. But from my thorough research (cough - Google search - cough) and chatting with Marnie for a few minutes about it, it seems possession in my case had more to do with the stagnant state of my spirit and feeling as though I had little control over it. Indeed, in our interview I mentioned slipping into bouts of depression, brought on by something small, yet feeling unable and ill-equipped to lift myself out these moods. The Dragons treatment is used to drive out the "devils" that are possessing you. Perhaps my tears were a measure of relief that Marnie was through sticking me, or maybe it was the escape, the release, of whatever had a hold of me. In any event, I'm convinced that acupuncture will bring positive results for me. My next appointment is Friday...

PS - The picture shows my ankle with a pen mark where they stuck me. I know it's dumb and boring. I'll try to get Marnie to take one next week when all the needles will be in my back, making for a G-rated picture.