28 Days To Rebuild

Coming into spring, our body has recovered from the long days and unforgiving miles that we trek during hunting season. The mountain creates a yearning for us to return year after year for the love the hunt. That feeling of being exhausted and absolutely beside yourself with excitement all at the same time, while the adrenaline flowing makes hard mountain miles a joy to overcome.

Staying mountain tough does not come easy. The key to year-round health fitness is consistency. Developing a strong foundation of strength, joint stability and endurance prepares you for times on the mountain when our packs are heavy and the climbing is intense.

Building A Strong Foundation

There are many philosophies to subscribe to when it comes to training- this article is dedicated to the fundamentals of foundational muscular strength development.

Biomechanics

The first consideration to all weight training application is injury reduction. If we injure ourselves in the gym, then we are not going to function optimally on the mountain or in some cases not at all. In order to reduce the occurrence of injury and maximize our time spent weight training, we must employ the use of proper biomechanics. This is the basis for weight training.

Biomechanics refers to the correct positioning of the skeletal system during a range of motion, thereby reducing the occurrence of injury and tearing of ligaments. Biomechanics must be learned. If you do not know proper lifting techniques, consider hiring a reputable personal trainer to teach you.

Lifting correctly maximizes the workload being applied to that specific muscle. Workload or weight causes the teardown in the muscle that ignites growth. You can’t tear the muscle down unless you train effectively. When muscles are subjected to a maximum workload that they cannot overcome- they have to adapt and grow.

Full Range Contractions

During your weight training sessions, the implementation of full range contractions will maximize muscular hypertrophy, thereby increasing the effectiveness of your strength training session. The key here is that your muscle remains fully contracted throughout the entire range of motion in a controlled manner.

As an example, imagine flexing or contracting your bicep- that is the same engagement that you would maintain while doing a set of dumbbell curls. Muscular contraction should remain constant throughout the concentric and eccentric range of motion.

Concentric- raising the weight or the shortening phase of the movement.

Eccentric- lowering the weight or the lengthening phase of the movement.

Little known fact- when muscle breaks down, it does more so on the eccentric or lengthening phase.  That means to build your best, you must be conscious of holding the contraction in the muscle even harder during the eccentric phase of the movement. Try not to let gravity take control and hold onto the muscular contraction.

Full range contractions ensure that your muscles never rest and they run out of the ability to remain contracted at an accelerated rate. When you can no longer maintain that muscular contraction throughout the entire range of motion, then you are at failure. Muscular failure is the root of growth and adaptation.

Save Time

Consistency is key for strength and cardiovascular training, get in- get out- get it done.

Muscular development can occur within a broad repetition range (6-15), however strength gains are accelerated when you train to failure within the 6-8 repetition range. If you can do more than 8 reps without reaching muscular failure, then you should consider adding more weight. The only resting period you should get is just enough time to grab another weight in either the progressive climb (adding weight) or regressive (removing weight) and should not exceed one minute in duration. Your goal is failure-The more time under tension your muscle experiences, the faster it will reach failure. In other words, don’t stand around and talk between sets. Stay focused, stay in the game. Get in- get out- get it done.

With this type of training, you only need to do one warm up set and then go right to the heavy weights.  In most cases, two sets to failure is more than adequate and is very effective for muscular gains, toning and shaping. After two sets to failure, move on to the next body part. One exercise per body part with two sets at failure is all that you need. The muscle has reached failure- now you just need to fuel your cells correctly, get some rest and allow it to repair and grow.

Example-

Barbell Curl

*The weight amount listed below is an arbitrary number for demonstration purposes only.

Progressive Model-

Warm Up Set of 10 reps 60#

135#- Get 8 reps- not at failure

150#- Fail at 7^th rep- This is your first set to failure.

150#- Fail at 6^th rep- Exercise complete.

 

Example Regressive-

Warm Up Set of 10 reps 60#

150#- Fail at 8 reps

150#- Fail at 6 reps

Drop the weight in half

75#- Strive for 15 reps or to failure

Drop the weight in half

50#- Strive for 15 reps or to failure

Drop the weight in half

25#- Strive for 15 reps or once you hit 15 reps, you are DONE with the muscle group.

 

Using the Wilderness Athlete *Guide and Tracker to journal your lifting sessions will allow you to better identify starting points for loading weight for your lift during each session. This also affords you the opportunity to monitor strength gains accurately.

 

Example 4 Day Strength & Cardiovascular Training Schedule-

Monday- Day 1- Chest, Biceps, Triceps

Tuesday- Day 2- Thighs, Hamstrings, Calves- Cardiovascular Training

Wednesday- Day 3- Back, Shoulders, Abdominals- Cardiovascular Training

Thursday- Day 4- Cardiovascular Training

Friday Day 5- Chest, Biceps, Triceps- Cardiovascular Training

Saturday- Day 6- Cardiovascular Training

Sunday- Day 7- Off

 

 

It All Starts With Attitude

The mountain taxes our mind as much or more as our body- mental toughness must also be trained. Staying mountain tough year round can be uncomfortable it requires sacrifice and effort. You are going to get bruises, you are going to be sore and you are going to have inflammation to contend with; It’s all part of the deal but there are ways to minimize it.

The 28 Day Rebuild Program from Wilderness Athlete is a one-stop purchase that will help you build muscle, increase strength and build endurance.

Included in the 28 Day Rebuild Program:

* 28 Day Workout Program + Digital Access

* 28 Day Meal Plan

* Guide & Tracker

* Brute Strength (x2)

* Brute Force

* Midnight Build

* Hydrate & Recover

* Energy & Focus

* High Performance Multi-Vitamin

* Complete Probiotic

* Omega 3 Fish Oil

* Green Infusion

* Included in the Wilderness Athlete 28 Day Rebuild Program

Rebuild & Recover

Before you hit the gym, supercharge your workout with Wilderness Athlete *Brute Force Pre-Workout drink, boosting with 120mg of caffeine, amino acids and herbal extracts.

What you breakdown in the gym during your weight training will grow during rest periods. Rest is important for muscular growth, strive to get eight hours of sleep every night. In addition to sleep, give each body part at least 2 days rest after training before you train that muscle group again.

There are different levels of soreness, you do not want to over train so intensely that you avoid the gym for a week or so that you cannot sit on the toilet or put your hands over your head to wash your hair. Your goal, is light to moderate muscle soreness.

There are a couple of kinds of soreness:

AMS or acute muscle soreness- This type is caused by the build-up of lactic acid or other biochemicals as a result of strength training.

DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness- This is typically a result of micro tears in the tendon sheathes and/or muscle tissue itself due to repeated eccentric contractions that take place during strength training.

For immediate relief of DOMS, rest of the muscle is key, however, cardiovascular exercise can help increase blood flow to the muscles which can speed up the reduction of soreness. Other easy remedies include applying ice, stretching/yoga or gentle massage.

Muscle recovery truly begins while you sleep, Wilderness Athlete *Midnight Build infuses nutrients and adaptogens into the repair process that your body is under during sleep helping to reduce muscular soreness and improves natural testosterone production.

*Omega 3 Fish Oil is a great natural anti-inflammatory when taken once daily. If lifting causes you sore joints, look at prevention first- a good healthy joint supplement like Wilderness Athlete Joint Advantage will protect and lubricate your joints and as a bonus- Joint Advantage- has built in natural botanical extracts that are anti-inflammatories.

Fueling Recovery

A clean diet comes second to mental fortitude. If you don’t have the mind that pushes you into the gym driving and motivating your workouts, you have nothing and if you are doing the work, you want the results which will only happen if you to fuel your body with a clean consistent meal plan and plenty of rest. Balanced clean eating will allow your body to repair, rebuild and recover from your weight training while affording your body all around optimal performance. You can literally feel and see the difference with consistent clean eating.

The addition of the Wilderness Athlete *Complete Probiotic will speed up natural food digestion within your body, restore gut health, fortify your immune system ensuring that you are intaking into your cells the bioavailable nutrients from your meals while enhancing fat loss and improving your all-around health.

Because food functions as a drug within your body and how the food you eat is processed will have a significant effect on how you feel. The Wilderness Athlete complete meal plan that comes with the 28 Day Rebuild Program will give you a solid starting point to know what, when and how much to eat.

In order to replace spent cellular nutrients, primarily glucose and BCAA’s (branched chain amino acids- Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine) after a workout it is really important to consume a balanced meal consisting of complete protein, complex carbohydrates and plant derived fat no later than one hour following your training session. Wilderness Athlete *Brute Strength post workout shake is fortified with creatine and BCAA’s and 20 grams of complete protein, giving your body exactly what it needs to boost strength gains and minimize muscular soreness.

Eating fruits and vegetables is not always on the top of everyone’s meal planning, so Wilderness Athlete made them easy to consume with *Green Infusion which delivers 6 servings of fruits and vegetables in a metabolism-enhancing blend of super greens, super fruits, vegetable extracts, apoptogenic herbs, and probiotics.

Hydration is also important and most of us fall short when it comes to drinking enough water; drink no less than 3 liters of water every day and make 5 liters your goal. The addition of Wilderness Athlete *Hydrate & Recover during or following your workout will replace lost electrolytes, BCAA’s, and 1000mg of Vitamin C.

The inclusion of Wilderness Athlete’s Complete *Multi-Vitamin into your daily routine will offset any nutrient deficiencies in your diet. This will help to ensure that nutrients are reaching your muscles and cells to aid in recovery and growth.

You can Reboot your lifestyle in 28 days weather your goal is burning fat, increasing muscular strength or endurance. And, Wilderness Athlete has everything that you need to help in your journey.