Hurt Predictor
Whether it’s hot air balloon trips in Tornado alley or just dunking a cookie in your tea for an irresponsibly long period of time – it’s easy to spot an accident waiting to happen. But what about your body and does it have a tell? Yes, says a paper in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and it all starts with squats. They found that when trainers did a visual assessment of athletes overhead squats and single leg squats, those who fared poorly were more likely to get injured. Video your form, critique yourself or have a more experienced friend look it. Take the corrective steps you need to crush the perfect form and you’ll shore up your defenses against the whip of any unexpected pops and clicks.
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research level 4/6
Double Teamed Gains
Supplement stacks are the heart and soul of improvements and there may be another marriage worth consummating into your routine. A new paper in the journal Biomolecules found when people took creatine monohydrate (0.04g/kg/day) and beta-hydroxy beta-methlybutyrate – aka HMB – (3g/day) for 10 weeks their testosterone levels dramatically jumped up. Increases in this hormone will give more zing to your muscle building and recovery efforts and perhaps give you a bit more squiggle in your night time mojo.
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research level 4/6
44-38
The percentage decrease in upper respiratory tract infections in athletes who took bovine colostrum, the milk a cow produces two days after giving birth. It’s full of growth agents too that will assist with muscle gains
5 trials were looked at
152 participants in total were looked at
Source: BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
Systematic Review
Research level: 5/6
Super Man
Superset are baseline for increasing your workout intensity because doing back to back sets of anything is a two for one special that’s always been a muscle bargain. There are only a few superset permutations on offer, so here’s how to maximize their effectiveness.
Agonist – Antagonist Supersets (AA)
You’ll work opposing muscle groups like chest and back or quads and hamstrings
Alternate – Peripheral Supersets (AP)
You work non-competing muscle groups where’d you do squats then pull-ups
Similar Biomechanical Supersets (SB)
You work the same muscle using new moves like chest press and chest flyes
The Superset Verdict
Which is better? A paper in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research got lifters to try the supersets above and found AA supersets improved training efficiency. SB protocols created the biggest reductions in mean velocity and power, but there wasn’t much difference between AA and AP for those measurements. So AA and AP are going to exhaust you to similar degrees, don’t hold back in going after the big ticket lifts until your muscles cry uncle.
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research level 4/6
