Dealing with Injuries During Training -by Thanh Le

Whether you are warming up, or hitting it hard, injuries are bound to happen. I’ve had my fair share of injuries and I’m also dealing with some as you guys read this – some of them short term and some that have been bothering me for years and still bother me daily. Just because you have an injury, that shouldn’t be an excuse to stop training.

In my 10+ years of training, I’ve endured a number of injuries from minor sprains and strains, to tendonitis requiring cortisone shots, to injuries requiring surgery.  I’ve had 2 major surgeries. The first one was an Arthroscopic Shoulder surgery to repair a SLAP tear, and the second was a lumbar discectomy to repair a ruptured and herniated disc in my lower back that was causing major nerve pain and numbness down both legs. At this very moment, I’m dealing with a herniated disc in my neck causing numbness and loss of strength in my left arm.

I’m not complaining though, just giving you guys a little insight on what I deal with and what a lot of athletes deal with. People tend to give excuses and reasons as to why they can’t train. I’m not a doctor by any means, and any pain or injury should be evaluated by a trained professional.  The human body is an amazing machine; it is constantly repairing and recovering. You can aid your body in muscle repair with PROLAB’s BCAA Plus, Glutamine, and Whey Isolate as well as help reduce delayed on set muscle soreness.   If you have an injury, take a few days off to recover and come back training smarter.

So people ask me why I still train and why I still do all of this even with the pain. The answer…Because I Love it! I love the feeling of an intense training session. I love being able to help people reach their fitness goals. I love inspiring and motivating people. The feeling of accomplishment and being able to get someone into living a fit lifestyle is amazing. That drives me and motivates me to keep going.

Some tips to help reduce and prevent injuries:

• Warm up  light and stretch
• Start off with light cardio to get the blood flowing and muscles flexible
• Modify exercises if they cause more pain. (changing grips, limiting ROM, etc)
• Strengthen muscles around the injury.
• Rest

Big Back Training -by Thanh Le

A lot of beginner’s disregard their back in training and therefore don’t fully hit it as they should or even at all. Back is my favorite to train and since it is the largest muscle group in the body and very complex, it can be trained a variety of ways. You can train different angles, grips, and weights. Having a big back with a small waist will give you the look of being bigger than you are and give you that wonderful v-taper!

One of my back workouts is below, and I usually change this up every week or two.

Lat Pulldown – 2 warmup sets x 15 reps (squeeze and force blood into your muscles)

Lat Pulldown – 4 sets x 10-12 reps

T-Bar Row – 2 sets (overhand grip) X 12 reps, 2 sets(underhand grip) x 12 reps

Dumbbell Rows – 4 sets x 10-12 reps (increasing weight for each set)

Low Cable Row – 4 sets x 10-12 reps (pulling down and close to your stomach)

Rope Pulldown – 7 sets x 12reps (30sec rest in between)

I always end my workouts with a PROLAB Whey Isolate Shake with some Glutamine and BCAA.

2012 NPC Maryland State/East Coast Classic finally here! -by Thanh Le

Wow, I can’t believe my first contest is only a few days away. It has all come so fast since I first decided that I was going to compete. Changing my diet, adding in cardio, increasing my workouts, and definitely changing up supplementation regime are a few of the things that I’ve had to do.

Changing up my diet is one of the harder things that I’ve had to do. I have a major sweet tooth, and cutting out all the simple carbs and sugars was difficult for the first couple of weeks. I’ve increased the amount of daily protein by eating bigger portions of steak, fish, and chicken and the only complex carbs that I take in are my oats in the morning, sweet potatoes or brown rice for lunch and dinner, and the rest are veggies. I carb cycle, so I would do 3-4 low carbs days(about 50g-100g), and then a carb load day(300g+). I have other influences that try to get me off track, but when it comes to prep, you have to stay strong.

Instead of my normal workouts where I focus on just one major body part, I do several body parts during my workout. The low carb days don’t give me enough energy I need, so I take my PROLAB Quick Fire and do a circuit like training session. I jump from one body part to the next with little rest, and pump and engorge the muscles with blood. This gives me a full pump and a cardio like session. On top of that, I’ll add another 30-45min of cardio either in the same workout, or I come back later. I pretty much live in the gym.

My daily supplement regime currently looks like this:

Morning: PROLAB Whey Isolate, Glutamine, Cuts II Gold, and ThermoFire

Lunch: PROLAB Cuts II Gold and ThermoFire

PreWorkout: PROLAB QuickFire, Whey Isolate, Glutamine, BCAA Plus, and Beta Alanine Extreme

PostWorkout: PROLAB Whey Isolate, BCAA Plus, and Glutamine

Conquer Plateaus & Promote Size with Proper Supplementation -by Charles Turner

Making adjustments is crucial when trying to reach your fitness goals. Over the past couple months I’ve had to make adjustments to my training in order to work around a shoulder issue that has been plaguing me for quite some time.  With slight adjustments to my training regimen, I’m happy to say that my shoulder is close to 100%.

While I’ve made adjustments to my training I’ve also made a few adjustments to my nutrition which have allowed me make some awesome gains over the past few weeks. Listed below are some of the things I’ve done that have made a huge difference.

– I started consuming one serving of PROLAB Essential Whey first thing in the morning upon waking.  After fasting/ sleeping for 8 hours your body is screaming for amino acids and you want to take in some whey to put your body in an anabolic state.

– I make my early morning meal and post workout meal the two highest carbohydrate meals of the day. In the morning I make sure to consume plenty of good complex carbs in order to fuel my training later that day. Post Workout I’ve been consuming extra carbohydrates to refill glycogen stores and help speed up recovery after a grueling training session.  I cut carbs after 6pm in order to control my blood sugar and aid in fat loss.

-Pre Workout I consume a shake consisting of 1 serving PROLAB Whey Isolate, 5 grams of Creatine Monohydrate, and 8 capsules Beta Alanine Extreme (capsules opened and emptied into shake) mixed in 12 oz. of water. This mix has given me increased endurance, strength, and recovery between sets. I’ve been powering through my workouts in about 45 min. It’s added a new level of intensity to my training.

– Post workout I consume a shake consisting of 1 ½ scoops PROLAB Whey Isolate, 2 scoops Glutamine, 1 serving BCAA Plus capsules (capsules open and mixed into shake for increased absorption) mixed in 20 oz. and PowerAde for glycogen replenishment. I’ve noticed faster recovery, less muscle soreness and harder and fuller muscles after each workout.

While these adjustments seem very minor, sometimes it only takes a few minor tweaks in order to get your body to blast through a training plateau. I always suggest assessing your training/nutrition every six weeks to ensure you are on track and getting the gains you want.

Shoulders & Back with Malcolm Marshall

Today we’re featuring two of Malcolm’s favorite workouts (1) shoulders and (2) back.

Shoulders

WARM UP:                                                                                                                                         10 side raises, 10 shoulder press, 10 front rotators, 10 front raises= 1 set x 3 sets total

EXERCISE ONE:  Superset barbell rows narrow grip and wide grip with barbell Military presses – 4sets of 12 reps – 12 reps rows 12 reps military press

EXERCISE TWO:  Barbell front raises 4 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE THREE:   Drop Set lateral raises 5 sets of 10 reps

Back

EXERCISE ONE:  Chin ups – 4 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE TWO:  Bar bell rows – 4 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE THREE:  T bar Rows – 4 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE FOUR:  Hammer Strength Pull downs – 3 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE FIVE:  Wide grip Lat Pull downs – 3 sets of 12 reps

EXERCISE SIX:  Seated cable pull downs – 4 sets of 12 reps

I always supplement my post workouts with PROLAB’s Essential Whey Protein and Glutamine within 45 minutes from the end of my workouts.

Maintaining Muscle Gains by Malcolm Marshall

Maintaining a bodyweight of 300lbs+ is no easy task. Between normal everyday activity and intense training taking in enough quality calories to preserve hard earned muscle can become a full time job. The body is very efficient in many ways but the bodies tendency to burn muscle as fuel when your available glycogen stores have been spent is tough for a bodybuilder or anyone trying to maintain muscle mass. Simply adding additional meals when you are already consuming 5-6 meals per day just isn’t possible in most situations.

This is where PROLAB’s Whey Isolate and Glutamine play a critical role in me preserving my muscle size and bodyweight. The importance of a fast digesting protein such as Whey Isolate is a quick and efficient way to maintain appropriate levels of protein in the body.

Tips:

• In the morning your body has been without protein for the 6-8 hours that you have been sleeping. A Whey Isolate shake in the morning is a great way to provide your body with much needed protein.
• An immediate post-workout Whey Isolate shake is a great way to provide your body with the necessary protein to begin muscle repair.

Glutamine is a very important amino acid that can readily be converted   into usable fuel during intense workouts. By loading my body with additional glutamine I do not worry about sacrificing reps or intensity. Since it is flavorless I add this to my protein shake or any beverage that I may have.

Lift hard, lift heavy, but also be smart about protecting the weight gain that you have worked so hard to achieve. Whey Isolate and Glutamine from PROLAB are two smart choices in staying 300lbs+.

Charles Turner: Training Around Injuries

Though I don’t have any bodybuilding shows planned in the next few months, I will be taking this time to make improvements to my physique – bringing up lagging body parts, make adjustments to my training and nutrition, as well as recover from a couple nagging injuries.

I’ve been dealing with a shoulder impingement off and on for the past few years. In order to continue to train and make gains I find you have to train smarter. I find by slightly changing angles during my shoulder workout, it prevents any unnecessary stress to the area. A couple examples would be keeping my hands facing to the side of my body during dumbbell presses and front lateral raises.

To help alleviate any pain and speed up the recovery process I supplement with 20g glutamine, 2000mg Vitamin C, 3-5 grams fish oil and  a joint supplement containing glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM daily.

Currently I’m targeting months of September or October to step back on stage. Then again it could be sooner, just depends on how I’m progressing.

This month I will be conducting an in store demo Saturday April 12, 2012 at the Vitamin Shoppe in City of Industry Ca.  This is a great opportunity to come out and learn about all the awesome products PROLAB has to offer. Not only that I will be giving out free training and nutrition advice- teaching you to get the most of your workouts in the shortest time possible.