The coach always asks the people to activate the muscles before fitness, but some people equate the muscle activation with the warming up. It takes more than 10 minutes to run and warm up before fitness. But when we do strength training, we actually need to do some related muscles relax and activate.

What is muscle activation?

In fact, the term “activation” refers to stimulating muscles so that they can better exert their strength and functions.

Muscle activation means: awakening and activating the proprioceptors in the muscles, thereby adjusting the working state of the muscles, and improving the awareness and movement of the muscles.

Muscle activation does not only exist in the warm-up phase, in fact it can run through your entire training process.

Why do muscle activation?

Muscles have contractility and toughness. Inactive muscles are mainly manifested in muscle shortening, hyperextension, lengthening, and atrophy, which affect the effect of fitness.

01  The body exerts force compensation in order to maintain balance

No matter whenever, our body must maintain balance. In daily life, some of our bad habits, bad standing and sitting posture will cause our muscle strength to be imbalanced. Some muscles remain tense all year round and over-participate in physical activity. At the same time, there will be some muscles that should be involved in activities but have been lazy for a long time.

For example, the abdominal muscles and erector spinae maintain our core balance. Taking a sedentary party as an example, sitting for a long time every day, the abdominal strength is insufficient, and you will not use the abdominal force and forget the abdominal contraction function, so in order to maintain the balance, it is necessary to use the erector spinae muscles of the back to withstand greater pressure.As time passes, the waist cannot stand, also cause lumbago.

02  Poor joint compensation due to insufficient muscle tone

Muscles are flexible and resilient. However, some long-term postures cause muscle hyperextension or shortening, which will reduce its tension. The direct consequence is that the joints involved in the under-tension muscles have insufficient flexion and extension capabilities.

Taking the sedentary people as an example, long-term sitting causes the iliopsoas muscles to be compressed, and the hip muscles and hamstrings are elongated. The muscle tension in these two parts is insufficient, which ultimately leads to insufficient hip flexion ability. When doing squats, in order to squat down, the lumbar spine compensatory bends, causing the pelvis to turn over, which is easy to cause back pain. The heavier the weight, the greater the damage to your lumbar spine.

Just like when we lift heavy objects, the best way is to squat down and lift heavy objects. Some people have insufficient hip flexion ability and can only bend over to lift heavy objects, which will cause damage to the lumbar spine.

03  Incorrect muscle power, the training effect is greatly reduced

Compensation also reduces the stimulation of the target muscle, and some muscle balance is lost.

For example, the dumbbell fly did not exercise the high deltoid muscle, but the upper trapezius muscle got more exercise, which led to its abnormal development.

For another example, when you sit for a long time, the buttocks are loose and there is no sense of strength, the leg muscles will replace the buttocks, causing the leg muscles to be used too much, so when many girls go to practice the buttocks, only the thighs can feel, but the buttocks are basically not get it, the last is fat legs without buttocks.

How to activate muscles in different conditions?

Muscle inactivation is usually manifested in muscle shortening, hyperextension, lengthening, and atrophy. In response to different problems, the muscles are effectively activated.

Stretch and massage the tight and shortened muscles to restore their proper length and toughness, such as stretching the iliopsoas with long lunges, stretching the erector spinae with Dabai, and massaging the calves.

Perform isolation training or static training on excessively elongated muscles to restore the muscles to their original state, such as stimulating the buttocks muscles with the glute bridge, V-shaped support, and curling to stimulate the abdominal muscles.

Many people use 20 minutes to activate their muscles before training. Don’t look at the warm-up and just the seemingly useless movements, but just because these movements protect your joints and protect your muscles, so take care to spend some time on muscle activation and you will get unexpected results.

In addition to madman fitness enthusiasts who continue to exercise every day, most people have stopped fitness programs to a greater or lesser extent.

Not only that, sometimes we have to stop training for some time because of injuries, illness, overtime, busy work, etc.

The disconnection time is Read more

 

 

Many of us have been longing for a six pack for years. A lot of us think that this is one dream that we can’t achieve in this lifetime. But did you know that you can get six pack in just a month?

As they say, nothing is impossible. Getting a six pack in just a month is achievable. But of course, you need to invest time and effort in achieving this. A six pack requires hard work, and if you put in the work, you will surely have one.

With that in mind, how to get a six pack in one month? Read on to find out!

Five Steps on How to Get a Six Pack in a Month

As mentioned, getting a six pack requires hard work. In addition to hard work, you need to do some research to ensure that you’re doing the right workout for your body type. Here are some steps that you should take to help you with your six-pack journey.

Step 1. Calculate your body fat percentage.

The first thing you need to do is assess your body fat percentage. If the percentage is too high, you will not develop any abs no matter how frequently you work out.

It is a must that you calculate your body fat percentage. You can do this by getting vital measurements and necessary information like your weight, height, and age. You need to enter all this information in an online BMI calculator.

The recommended body fat percentage for men is 6-13%. Women should have a 12-20% body fat percentage. If your body fat percentage is higher than recommended, you may need to lose weight first.

You can do this by sticking to a healthy and balanced diet and doing cardiovascular workouts like jogging, swimming, running, cycling, jump rope, rowing, or elliptical.

Step 2.  Perform exercises that can build your rectus abdominis muscle.

The rectus abdominis muscle is the muscle in your tummy area, responsible for the visibility of your six pack. If you want your six pack to show, you should work out this muscle.

Lucky for you, many exercises were developed for this muscle. These include the following:

Crunches: 3 sets (10-12 reps each)

Planks: 5 reps

Sit-Ups: 3 sets (10-12 reps each)

Hanging Leg Lifts: 3 sets (10-12 reps each)

Chin-Ups: 2 sets (10 reps each)

If you have an ab machine at home, using it at least twice a week can also help build your rectus abdominis muscles.

Step 3. Do workouts that can strengthen your inner core muscles.

In addition to rectus abdominis, another muscle that can also aid in developing your six pack is your inner core muscles. These muscles would be the stepping stone of your six pack. With that in mind, here are some of the exercises that you can try:

Bridges: 2 sets (12 reps each)

Side Planks: 5 reps

Flutter Kicks: 3 sets (20 reps each)

Keep in mind that you should not perform these workouts on the same day that you conduct your rectus abdominis muscle workouts. It would help if you let your abdominal muscles rest first before you take on these exercises. You can do this on a separate day within the week.

Step 4. Up your protein intake.

If you want to get six pack fast, you need to combine both diet and exercise. In addition to working out, you also need to increase your protein intake. This is because protein can help speed up the weight loss process. Not only that, but it can also promote faster muscle growth.

If you want to get a six pack in just a month, you would have to consume at least 0.38 g per pound of your body weight daily. To achieve this, you would need to include protein-rich foods (fish, yogurt, eggs, nuts, cheese, etc.) in your diet.

Step 5. Rest.

Yes, getting a six pack would require some rest days too. The muscles must be repaired so they can grow, and it is during your rest days that the muscles recover and repair. If you don’t rest, your muscles won’t have adequate time to recover, so their growth will be hindered.

With that said, you must allow at least 48 hours of rest in between your workout sessions.  

Final Words

Getting a six pack may seem impossible, but you can do it. You just gotta put in the workday in and day out. We have already provided you all the tips and steps needed on how to get a six pack in a month. It’s now up to you to put this into practice and turn your dream into reality.