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Human Physiology

The human body has not fundamentally changed in the last 200,000 years or so.

The desire to be thin is a uniquely modern concept. In the past being thin was not a choice. It was a consequence of your conditions, of famine and the forced activity needed to survive. As food production has become easier (at least in the developed part of the world) the need to struggle for sustenance is gone. Along with the struggle is the scarcity of food. We find our selves with excessive food and the absence of stress to obtain it; thus the problem.. Our bodies are not designed for excessive living. In fact our bodies are really not designed to live much beyond 40 to 50 years. All the human body is designed to do is survive. From our bodies perspective it sees times of lots of food and rest as a time to prepare for the hard times that are surly coming. And how does our body prepare? Generally by getting fat.

Speed, and strength are not natural priorities for the human body. Our minds may think it is; but our bodies do not care. All the body wants is ready supplies of energy it can break down to feed that cellular process. If that supply is in the form of fat, protein or carbohydrates the body really does not care. In fact if your body had it's druthers it would take nearly all it's energy in fat form. Maybe this is why we all love Ben and Jerry's so. The human body endeavors to exist in the simplest form possible to survive; which is of course a large fat blob. You see just maintaining muscle; just having the stuff stuck to your bones causes the body extra work. It takes calories just to keep muscle around. Compare that to a gram of fat which takes nothing to maintain. From the bodies perspective fat is pure profit. So why is it our ancestors where not manatee like slugs; as so many of us are today?

The reason that our ancestors were not sloth's is because they would not have survived the environment they were in with out strength, and speed. The environment forced the body to adapt to stresses with increased muscle power. Remove the stresses, you remove the adaptation, remove the adaptation and television suddenly becomes really important. For us to get our body to lose fat, to build muscle, to gain power, we need to trick our bodies into believing that such adaptation is necessary to survival. Given the appropriate motivation our bodies will produce. But remember your body will only do what it has to for survival's sake. Your butt does not care how it looks in jeans; so to create change your body must believe it is necessary for survival.

STRESS + REST = ADAPTATION

The formula given above is the principle behind stimulating muscle growth. The stress must be significant enough to cause adaptation; but not so much that it causes injury. Muscle failure it the target in the weight room. Generally in the beginning you only need one set to this point. Different routines take different apporaches to muscle failure. One set to burn out, 5 sets of power reps, 3 sets of 20, 2 sets or 3 and so on and so on. There are as many fomulas in the gym as there are people in the gym. Which is best. Well that depends on you and your goals. One thing to remember however that what is working for you today may need to change 6 weeks from now. However when going for strength and force adaptation you must push the muscle until it fails. There is pain, the muscle screams and then stops working. The body then announces to the brain "That sucked - was that absolutely necessary?"

The brain replies "Yes, I'm afraid it was old boy."

Body "Well hell; I'm going to do something about this; we're going to be ready next time."

And in preparation for the 'next' time the body gets stronger. Stress again, again the body adapts. Eventually this process breaks down because were mortal; but for about 50 years we need not feel that way.

Rest along with a beneficial diet is every bit as important as stress. The first 48 hours are recovery time. Extreme stress during this period can lead to injury and over training. The next 48 to 72 hours is where the real fun begins; the growth period. A common mistake among weight lifter is not allowing enough recovery time between lifts. In my youth I lifted every day, hitting the same muscles over and over again. Subsequently I never saw much progress. Instead I was always fatigued. I personally never try to hit the same body part in the weight room more then once every four days. I also try to give my self a 24 to 48 hours between trips to the weight room. The body will address stress before growth. Weight lifting puts great stress on all parts of your body during the first 24 hours of the recovery phase. . What good does a rest day do for your arms is you never give your body a break. Kidney's need love too.

Another element of lifting that is vitally important is the brain. Mental visualization precedes physical actualization in nearly all endeavors. If your at the gym with a negative attitude or feeling defeated it is time to go home. You can struggle through fatigue, soreness or being tired; but a negative mind set is a killer. On the other hand a good attitude in the gym is lightning. Go with a good attitude you will lift more, lift longer and meet your goals. Before your working set take a second and visualize performing the lift - see your self successfully reaching failure; so to speak.

Remember that the first goal of weight lifting for grapplers is to gain strength. We are not trying to look pretty like body builders. Better the grotesque figure of a power lifter then the hollow body of a puffed up 'Adonis.' Grappling is not a pretty martial art. That is why all the movie stars are Kung Fu artist while we have to content ourselves with simply having the world's most effective martial art. To obtain strength find a weight that you can move between 5 to 8 times (8 to 12 for the legs). This is just an estimate, do not get caught up on a number. I do not even count when I lift. I know I'm done when I can't move the weight any further; when I have reached muscle failure. If I can move the weight with good form more then eight times without hitting failure I add more weight. Always add in small doses. Weight training is a process measured in inches; not yards.

Now get in the gym and force that body to adapt!