Hello, Ines!
For a while, I’ve been training the way you recommend. But I have a question. When I do lat pull downs, am I supposed to pull down in front or behind my neck?
That’s a wonderful question! Every time I see somebody pulling down behind their neck, something dies inside of me.
Pulling down behind your neck SHOULD BEFORBIDDEN! When you perform these movement, you are supposed to stay tight in your belly, to have straight back, and to never allow your chest to flare up( do not proudly stick your chest out, as if you just got a new pair of boobs).
Unfortunately a lot of people have mobility issues and this leads to inability to perform the movement ( pulling down behind the neck), by keeping your back straight and your belly tight. Usually, the lack of enough mobility in your shoulders, forces you to compensate by allowing your chest to flare up and your belly to loosen. This loads your lower back in a way that might hurt it and it puts your shoulders in an unpleasant position, where the risk of an injury is higher. That’s why when you do lat pull downs, pull IN FRONT!
If you’ve missed my post about the three movements that you should never include in your training program check it out HERE.
Ines, for the past two weeks I’ve been trying to eat a high-fat, low-carb diet, but I have some troubles. I know that I should be stressing my body and that it is better if I switch up my diet every two weeks. How am I supposed to achieve this change, so I can make sure that my body is not going to adapt?
The thing with diets and variety, which is supposed to lead to some kind of stress, is just another myth. This right there is the root of the problem. That your nutrition is not your lifestyle, but just a short term fix, which changes according to the latest diet trends.
If you switch up your diet every two weeks, do not wonder why your weight is constantly going up and down.
Besides that, if you are supposed to switch your diet every two weeks, I am curious would that mean that at the beginning of the month your body needs particular food groups, then at the second half of the month another food group and so forth?
If you want to get long term results in the way you feel and the way you look, I have an advice for you! Never read another women’s magazine and never read another popular website for women, where the articles about workouts and nutrition are being written, the way horoscopes in the newspapers are written- with a huge dose of imagination and absolutely no knowledge or experience!
As a beginning, clean your nutrition from all modern, processed foods. Eat just real food. Train with weights and let the time and your personal experience show you which foods are the best for you and how much of them you are supposed to eat!
Ines, I was going through the sample workouts on your blog and I noticed that you do more pulling movements, than pushing. Why? What does it depend on?
There isn’t one single answer that would fit all. Everything depends on the trainee, his goals, muscle imbalances, weaknesses and strengths and so on. But if I am supposed to give a particular answer, it would be as follows.
Nowadays, led by our sedentary life and the character of the activities we perform, most people have muscle imbalances, which are a consequence of weak, lengthened back muscles and tight muscles on the front of the shoulder and the chest. Just think about the average person, who spends all day on the desk, with his shoulders rolled forward and his back leaned.
That’s why I always do more sets of pulling movements, than I do of pushing.
This contributes to the balance between pushing and pulling movements, which allows me to decrease the imbalance and improve my posture. This is one of the reasons why I do more sets of pulling movements, than of pushing!
P.S. If you liked this post, please take a minute and share it with your friends! I’d greatly appreciate it!
