Muscle tone, “Muscle joy” and muscle atrophy

Muscles - an amazing invention of nature, they allow us to move. Without their help, it is impossible to move either an arm, a leg, or even a little finger. While you are young, you don’t need to spend a lot of effort to keep your muscles toned. But the older you get, the longer and more intense your training should be. After all, with age there is a gradual weakening, amyotrophy (there is no need to be afraid of this word, it only speaks of the natural process of withering, and it begins much earlier than we are used to thinking). With atrophy, the cells of various organs, including muscles, are gradually replaced with fat. Even the thinnest adults, and even more so the elderly, have a higher body fat content than in childhood and adolescence.

Regular exercise will help delay the aging process. strength gymnastics. But you must admit, you can only study every day at the current pace of life and workload at home, in your room. After all, there is often simply not enough time for special classes in the gym.

As a video example, we present you training options at home:

v/XwT6HP2YXew

v/B2G45UbPNSM

v/4x2nLs4EmlE

Such activities are especially important for people of mental work. The image of a skinny, pale, weak scientist is a thing of the past. Today's scientists engage in mountaineering, hiking, running, tennis and other sports, fully understanding how good physical training, including strength training, can be to improve their performance.

Strong muscles will help you survive in difficult situations, such as during natural disasters or attacks by hooligans, when a very quick physical response is needed. Developed muscles are also a guarantee against mental breakdowns, neuroses, and exhaustion of the nervous system. The fact is that various conflict situations generate pockets of stagnant excitation in the cerebral cortex, which are fueled by more and more new stresses. Working muscles create a new focus of excitation in the brain. It can be called positive - you experience pleasant emotions, cheerfulness, and a surge of strength. These impulses begin to spread to neighboring parts of the cerebral cortex and suppress stagnant foci of unpleasant excitation. A feeling of cheerfulness immediately comes, as the famous academician I. P. Pavlov said, "muscular joy".

Every person who thinks about their health and the beauty of their body should experience this joy every day, but first of all men, who are weakening more and more. Back in the 60s of our century, it was believed that if you do push-ups while lying on the floor 30 times, you will receive a rating of “satisfactory,” 45 — “good,” 60 — “excellent.” Now, to get an “excellent” rating, it’s enough to do push-ups... 30 times.

Certainly, indoor gymnastics classes will not give a significant increase in muscle mass, which is so often desired by young people who want to improve their figure, but becoming 2-3 times stronger and maintaining a reliable muscle corset for many years will definitely help. Train every day for at least half an hour, and you won’t be afraid of any muscle atrophy!

For exercises to be beneficial, you need to know how to perform them correctly: load during training there should be adequate your physical condition. Otherwise, you risk harming your health.

Many of the exercises that we offer you for training in the room can be performed in two modes - dynamic And static (isometric). As a rule, most sets of exercises, be it morning exercises or even sports training, are composed of dynamic exercises (flexion and extension of the arms, lifting the torso, legs from a lying position, etc.). But training without static exercises will be less varied and effective. Moreover, many exercises performed in isometric mode can become control tests characterizing your physical condition. This is why it is necessary to combine dynamic exercises with static ones, this will help you quickly increase your strength.

If you only engage in dynamics, then at a certain stage of training, strength stops increasing or its increase will be very insignificant. In this case, static exercises will give tangible results. When they are executed, the muscle tone, which is difficult to achieve in another training mode. The principle of isometric strength training is to excite a certain (if possible continuous and maximum) tension in the working muscle or their group and maintain this constant tension for the certain time we need.

For those who have just started training, we recommend that the main emphasis be placed on exercises in a dynamic mode, including approximately 60-70% dynamics and only 30-40% statics in the training. As strength increases, the volume of static exercises can be increased to 50-60% in one workout. For women, it is advisable to perform most exercises in a dynamic mode.

Static exercises must be performed with such effort that the maximum tension is maintained for no more than 5-8 s. In some cases it can be increased to 20 s. We recommend repeating each static exercise 4-5 times, alternating it with short (5-20 s) relaxation and rest.

Concerning dynamic exercises, then the number of them to complete depends on your preparation. For example, if you are able to do, say, 10 push-ups, then you should perform at least 4-6 push-ups in one set. And the number of approaches for beginners should be from 1 to 3. Over time, in the future this number can be increased to 4-6. Remember the principle of gradualism.

How to structure your workout? We offer you exercises from which you can select those that are most suitable for you and create a set of exercises for personal independent training. This is not difficult to do. You just need to have a good idea of ​​why you need certain exercises. If you have some small flaw (weak legs or arms, etc.), then it is advisable to create a set of exercises only for the belt of the upper and lower extremities. For example, in one of the workouts you thoroughly load only the flexor muscles, and in the next - the extensors.

If you decide that your workouts will become daily and long-lasting, and the intensity and volume of the load will increase from session to session, then the exercises should be selected so that in one of the workouts you work out various muscles of the upper extremities, and in the next - the lower extremities. This allows the muscles to recover after exercise.

If you yourself feel that you are not ready for such serious work, then training in a circular system will be acceptable for you, which it is advisable to do 2 to 4 times a week. Its essence is that you choose, say, 5-6 exercises for different muscle groups: muscles of the neck, chest, back, legs. Having completed one exercise for the neck muscles, you then load the muscles of the chest, back and legs, as if completing one circuit. Then you repeat these exercises again in the same sequence. As a result, you complete 1-3 laps per workout. This system is good when you have just started training or have had a long break from training.

Still, the most convenient workout in the room is one that consists of exercises for all major muscle groups, worked in one session. It is not difficult to create such a set of exercises. Perform the exercises exclusively in the following sequence: first for the neck muscles, then for the muscles of the upper limbs and shoulder girdle, then for the muscles of the back, chest, abdomen, and finish with exercises that develop the muscles of the legs.

But this, of course, is not all that needs to be taken into account when drawing up an individual set of exercises. It is very important to find out which physical activity level You can handle it. And this depends on many factors. Let's list them:

1. on the number of exercises and the content of your complex. The greater the number of exercises for the main muscle groups in a complex, the more effectively they affect the body as a whole. Optimally, this is 15-25 different exercises. The exercises chosen by you (or your trainer) must be performed in a certain thoughtful sequence: from simple and easy to more complex and difficult. The best option is when they seem to transform into each other: if you started with the muscles of the neck, you cannot immediately switch to exercises that develop the muscles of the legs. There should be a kind of chain reaction throughout your body - a wave of movements transmitted from one muscle to another;
2. on the number of repetitions. Any exercise can be performed from just once to the maximum. But the more adequately you choose the load that matches your strengths, the effect will be greater. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine in advance how many times you need to repeat this or that power movement and, in accordance with individual sensations, constantly increase their number;
3. on the intensity of the exercises (for exercises performed in dynamic mode). Previously, as a rule, you performed exercises at a consistently chosen pace, that is, at some constant speed. I think there is no need to explain that the effect will be completely different from: a) soft, smooth and slow execution of the movement (which is allowed at the beginning of classes) than from b) fast, explosive and energetic execution. Therefore, as the intensity of training increases, the load also increases. Usually they begin to perform the exercise more slowly, and then gradually increase its intensity to the limit. This peak is different for each student, depending on his physical fitness;
4. on the size of rest intervals. By slowly reducing the intervals between exercises, you thereby increase the load. Along with this, training time is saved and in the same 20-30 minutes you can do a significantly larger number of exercises. However, don't rush to force your training;
5. on the level of external load. In this case, the external load in relation to the trained muscles can be the weight of your own body, the help of a partner, and the weights available in the apartment (books, chair, etc.). The stress on the abdominal muscles, for example, when you simply lift your legs from a supine position or lift them with a load (a heavy book), is not comparable. The greater the weight of the load or the more powerful the counteraction of the sparring partner (in static conditions), the more physical tension the muscle works. Therefore, the greater the weight or resistance, the greater the load;
6. from your volitional efforts. When performing strength exercises, the psychological and emotional attitude is extremely important. It is necessary to prepare yourself for the fact that the training will bring not only joy, especially in the initial stages. You must learn to overcome fatigue, reluctance, laziness and even pain. If you are positive and ready to overcome all this, then the lesson will be easier for you.

For those who at first find it difficult to compose themselves set of exercises to develop strength at home, we offer approximate sets of exercises for women and men for all major muscle groups - you will learn more about them in the following articles in this section...