by Charles Remington

Created on: December 28, 2006   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

THREE MISSING LINKS TO EXERCISE PERFORMANCE

If you were not born with the perfect body, you can create one, with the help of three exercise techniques that are commonly over looked. With all the advances in fitness technology and training knowledge, there remain three principles of exercise performance that are ageless. Results keep us motivated, with the right mix of form, intensity and recuperation you'll build a foundation to your weight training routine that will be hard to beat.

Perfect Form

Learning how to use proper form will speed up your results and help to avoid injuries. To develop good technique you must understand that weight training is a two-part movement. Part one is called the concentric phase (shortening of muscle), or positive phase movement of an exercise. This is where the weight is lifted and the muscle group being isolated is contracted. The concentric movement should be an explosive movement taking 1-2 seconds to complete. At the end of the movement you flex the muscle and hold it for one second, creating an isometric effect (holding contraction of muscle). Part two is called the eccentric phase (lengthening of muscle) or negative phase movement of the exercise. This is where the weight is lowered back to the starting position and the muscle recoils. The eccentric phase should be a slower movement, taking 2-4 seconds to complete.

To fully appreciate the importance of the two part movements, you must understand the effect it has on the muscles. The muscles are made up of millions of fibers called myofibrils. During the positive phase the myofibrils contract and use ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as energy for their contraction. The amount of ATP is depleted with the completion of each repetition. When the myofibrils reach a state of ATP exhaustion the muscle experiences momentary muscle failure. The effect the positive movement has on the muscle fibers is to increase the strength and endurance of the fiber's ability to contract. However, it plays a secondary role in the growth of the muscle. The myofibrils lack the ability to increase in numbers, which would lead to an increase in muscle size. During the negative phase movement most of the damage to the myofibrils occurs, especially if the muscle is worked to momentary muscle failure. This damage activates surface cells on the myofibrils called satellite cells. The satellite cells form together and create immature myofibril called myocytes. As these new myocytes mature, they fuse together with

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