Stretching By Power Yoga

Have you dabbled in martial arts? If you ask this question to most people, they will give you some answer resembling "I took a Tae Kwon Do class at the YMCA, or I took Karate back in high school." Now, don't get me wrong; there's nothing bad about this. I am just bringing it up because it's such a norm in America. On the other hand, this minor experience isn't worth much in the real world either. In fact most people don't really have a clue what most self-defense and fighting arts are really like. Nor do they understand the hardcore training that's necessary. Take yoga for example. This is commonly thought of as a calm and relaxing regime that involves a lot of stretching. Does that sound about right? Well, you've probably never encountered power yoga or the real deal as some call it. It can be an overwhelming workout.

It's time for some power yoga, folks. This is a great way to get in shape. Not only does it offer exercise for the entire body, it also promotes blood circulation via stretching. This is a great way to stay in good shape as you age. Remember you want to age gracefully; not quickly. With power yoga comes a lot of devotion. This goes the same for any decent fitness regime or martial art. I have known a lot of martial artists in my day and most of them definitely do not train to fight or defend themselves. Now you may be wondering what I'm talking about. Maybe you take a particular martial art and think you've got skills. Well, let me ask you a few things. Do you train daily? Are you in good shape? Do you always work to improve and avoid becoming complacent? Do you spar with other regularly? Do you spar realistically with practitioners of other arts regularly? If you don't do these things, then you're probably not too effective with your art. That's just reality. If you don't put it to use, and instead just go through drills in a dojo or kwoon, you're probably not very good. How can you possibly know you can do it for real? This is why I always emphasize taking it to the next level. The same goes for boxing, Muay Thai, karate, judo or power yoga.

Learn all you've ever wanted to know about power yoga on the World-Wide-Web. You can even acquire DVDs on power yoga now days. Learn from the pros while you practice these regimes with your friends and family. Contemporary power yoga will definitely keep you in good shape.

TalkAboutFitness.Com provides readers with the latest reviews, articles,commentaries and write-ups on all power yoga, blood circulation, martial art related subjects

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth!

When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?

Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.

But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesnt allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle wont change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.

By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.

One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.

Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.

Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.

Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles arent pumped, just stretch normally.

You can find instructions for stretching at:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Stretching1.htm

One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of" at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com.K#