Personal Training
Reader Question, Happy Birthday Roomie and New Workout Product!
I want to start today by addressing a question I recieved from a reader (I LOVE these emails, keep them comin’!)
I had a question from you- actually from my husband! What is the benefit of doing leg press? I know it works hams, quads, and the glutes, but do you recommend it as a core leg exercise? THANK YOU!
-Yelena (http://www.onehealthyapple.blogspot.com)
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Hey Girl!
sorry it took me a little while to get to your question regarding the leg press. The leg press machine definately has some great benefits including
- The machine provides proper positioning and safety.
- Maximal weight can be used to overload the target muscle group (quads).
- Minimal stabilizer and assistant muscle involvement increases emphasis on the quads.
- Limited involvement of glutes and hamstrings leads to concentrated quad development.
- Foot plate allows you to shift the emphasis on the leg muscles by changing foot position.
The leg press is an all around great exercise and also suitable for those who have low back problems, however I would call a ‘core’ leg exercise the squat (if this person had no low back problems) The reason for this being the following. The leg press is usually designed at either a sled which sits at 45 degree angle or a lever. In all cases, some of the weight gets borne by the machine. You may be loading 400 pounds, but your muscles are feeling only 200. In other words, eight plates on the machine are only four plates worth of effective weight. And by the time you’re finished loading and unloading, you could have done an extra set or two of squats.
As a side note to all fixed joint machines (like the leg press) they just aren’t as effective either compared to their free weight counterparts because they’re designed to target individual muscle groups. This actually reduces the total amount of muscle involved in moving the weight. The leg press, for instance only works 1 muscle group (the quads) but the free weight squat works many muscles such as quads, hamstrings, abs, back. This leads to increase in strength and also increase in metabolism
The squat not only works your quadraceps but it also works your back, thigh, butt and core. When you are performing barbell squats you are recruiting more muscles to help you stay balanced, this is not only to mention that the squat tends to be a more effective exercise.
I would suggest that for your husband to build leg strength and growth, it is important to perform a wide variety of exercises including the leg press and the squat into his routine. I would definately not stick with the leg press alone, or the squat alone. Try a variety of execises such as single legged leg press, squat, step ups, walking lunges, stationary lunges, deadlift, hamstring curls etc.
I hope this helps!
Naomi
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How is everyones Tuesday going? Mine is just fab, I got out of work at 1 (remember, I start at 5am, so it works out) I woke up with some major DOMS today from my workout with my trainer yesterday, he did some killer glute and abductor work using the ankle cables. It was an awesome workout!! I want to talk about last night’s dinner FIRST because it was special since it was one of my roommates birthdays! My other roommate and I decided that we wanted to cook for her, so thats just what we did!
- Roasted Soy honey ginger salmon
- Roasted broccoli and cherry tomatoes
- Kashi pilaf (this stuff is awesome!! I had never tried it before)
- Fruit sorbet parfait’s with ginger snap cookies!
I eyeballed everything!
- Soy sauce
- honey mustard marinade
- fresh ginger
- honey
- garlic
Marinated skin side up!
Roasted at 375 for about 30 minutes. This was sweet, salty, moist and delicious! (Go me!!)
This was the pilaf I mentioned earlier. My roommate loves this stuff so she insisted we used it
Oops, sorry blurry! This is equal parts chicken stock and pilaf. It takes about 25 minutes but its SO worth it! this is nutty and grainy and a bit crunchy, which I loved!
Roasted broccoli and cherry tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper!
My plate (yes I went back for seconds!)
Parfait assembly line
Layers of diced fresh strawberries, blackberries, mango sorbet, vanilla yogurt and ginger snap cookies!
It was an AWESOME birthday celebration!!
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This morning I stuck with cardio to wind out the lactic acid from my legs!
45 minutes ellipticizing, 563 calories later, I was feeling good!
post workout protein. This was 3 egg whites nuked in the mirco with cinnamon. I think I have mentioned it before but I love and prefer my eggs ‘sweet’ style rather than savory! all I needed was some SF syrup!
- 1/3 C oatbran with frozen berries, cinnamon and crunchy PB
Empire apple at around 11:00
Chobani with Kays cereal and loads of cinnamon!
I made a glorious tofu salad sandwich on light whole wheat. I mixed a chunk of raw tofu with some smoked paprika and cottage cheese until it blended all together. I threw it between two slices of arnold light 100% whole wheat bread, lettuce and hummus
I made a HUGE salad for lunch. Packed with romaine, red pepper, snap peas, broccoli and some left over tofu salad.
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Played around with my camera settings for a bit
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And now, a new product!
I recieved a product a few weeks back, but have yet to share it with you all. This product is called the “Gymboss” Here is a little about the Gymboss
WHY GYMBOSS ?
Price: at only $19.95, the Gymboss is much more affordable compared to other watches/timers that can cost well over $100.
Size: the Gymboss is the size of a pager, so it can go wherever you go. Whether you’re traveling for business and don’t feel like sitting in your hotel room or you want to exercise at the beach, this timer takes up very little space.
Features: if you are interval training or using a stopwatch for sprints, the Gymboss has you covered as it provides both functions.
Accuracy: why worry about constantly looking at the clock to see when to resume your workout? Gymboss allows you to precisely time your work-to-rest time ratios, allowing you to concentrate on your muscle group instead of the clock.
Goals: whether you want to shed pounds or increase your reps in a given time period, this timer will help you reach your fitness objectives.
Simplicity: the Gymboss offers a simple, easy to use 3-button setup that allows you to quickly change interval times for different workouts.
Alarms: the timer has a vibration function that lets you know when to start and stop, even when using headphones or an iPod. Gymboss also has a long as well as short beeper alert for when you’re in a noisy gym.
Time constraints: accurate timing gives your workout structure within the workout, thus giving you control of the overall duration of each session. This leaves you more time for many of the other things life may throw at you.
Interval Jog (~60%) Sprint (~90-95%)
1) 60 sec– 30 sec2) 60 sec– 30 sec3) 60 sec– 30 sec4) 60 sec– 30 sec5) 60 sec– 30 sec
Repeat cycle 3 times for a 20 minute HIIT workout
Repeat cycle 3 times for a 20 minute HIIT workout
Set gymboss to intervals of 01:00 and 00:30 on Auto mode for 3 rounds. Jog for 1 minute and sprint 30 seconds for a great HIIT workout!
So simple and so easy to use!
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- Did you workout today? what did you do?
- What is your favorite Kashi Product?
- What is one creative thing to do with an eggplant? (besides eggplant parm!)
last chance to enter my GIVEAWAY!
