Charlie Cates
Do You Have Weak Ankles?
When I was 14 I rolled both of my ankles within a couple weeks of eachother. “You must have weak ankles,” is what my coach told me. The solution? Bilateral ankle braces.
Charlie Cates
Squatting For Bigger Arms? Think Again.
“Why are we squatting? I want bigger arms.”
“Well, if you do heavy lifts for your legs, you will produce a greater base of anabolic hormones to work off of later and that will allow you to build bigger arms.”
As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, I swear I have had this conversation with almost all of my male clients at some point in time. Unfortunately, the advice I gave is dead wrong. Check out why in my review of literature for this study!
Charlie Cates
Your Check Engine Light
As a personal trainer and MAT™ Specialist in Schaumburg, I am often telling people that they need to get their body tuned up with Muscle Activation Techniques™. Why? Because much like our cars need to get tuned up so they keep running well, our bodies need the same attention. And just like our car’s check engine light that will illuminate when something is off, our body has a check engine light as well – pain, fatigue, exhaustion, achy muscles, sore joints, etc.
Charlie Cates
One Exercise Tip To Rule Them All
As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, if there was one exercise tip I would want everybody to know, it is this: when you are performing an exercise, focus on squeezing the muscles that you are trying to challenge instead of focusing on something outside of your body such as moving the weight.
Charlie Cates
Six Tips for a “Six-essful” Life of Exercise
Looking for tips to help make exercise part of your daily routine? As personal trainers in Schaumburg, Charlie and Julie are well-versed on the difficulties that often come up with adopting exercise into an everyday lifestyle. Because of that, they have put together six tips to help you exercise consistently not just for a few months, but for life.
Charlie Cates
Why You Should Stop Counting Reps
One of the biggest exercise myths is that a designated number of repetitions need to be performed in order to get specific results. For example, if you perform 1-3 reps of an exercise you are working on power, 3-5 is for strength, 8-12 is for building muscle, and 15+ is for endurance. As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, I am often debunking this myth.
Charlie Cates
Muscle-Building Tips – Perform As Many Reps As You Can
In my last post on the four exercise necessities for building muscle, the first point I brought was that when lifting weights you should be performing repetitions until you cannot perform another one. As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, I realize this is very difficult to do, especially if you do not have a trainer, spotter, or workout partner to help you.
Charlie Cates
Building Muscle: Four Exercise Necessities
As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, I see a number of papers, books, and articles written on building muscle. In fact, this is probably one of the most frequently discussed subjects within mainstream fitness.
However, a lot of these publications and discussions miss the boat on what actually needs to happen from an exercise-conditions standpoint. And honestly, it is really not as complicated as some sources make it out to be.
Charlie Cates
Five Principles to Help You Exercise For Life
One thing I am seeing in the exercise industry is a lack of specificity. In particular, specificity when it comes to exercise design and prescription for an individual. This bleeds over into many areas – the type of exercise, the dosage of the exercise, the speed/tempo at which the exercise is performed, the tools used to perform the exercise. In fact, almost everything in the exercise industry is the complete opposite of specific. One size fits most programs; group fitness classes; semi-private training; exercise DVDs, books, and online programs; and exercise tips given to the masses are all examples of this.
Charlie Cates
My Current View On Exercise
Throughout my life, I have held many views on exercise. Initially, I was a sports performance guy. Anything that could improve my performance from an athletics standpoint was worth doing. That was the lens I viewed exercise through. Shortly after that I started focusing on two things: size and strength. Read more…