Halevy Life

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admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:39:08 +0000

Snap Out of Your Plateau

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 16:52:07 +0000

View the original article at: http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness-evolved/snap-out-of-your-plateau

Snap Out of Your Plateau

Is your training in a rut? Here’s how to break out of it and reach new gains

by Bari Lieberman

You’ve been pumping iron like it’s your job and while gains were huge the first few months, you’ve seem to hit a brick wall in terms of muscle growth. Don’t worry, you’re not alone (even the best of trainers get trapped in a rut)—there is a solution.

“I’m not a natural bencher and was stuck for months. At first I tried to push through, doing the same thing over and over,” says Jeff Halevy, fitness expert and CEO of New York-based Halevy Life. “Then finally I thought, what would I do if I was my own client? I implemented some shoulder stability drills, changed movement patterns and results skyrocketed after about 7-8 weeks.”

The first step to create gains and move past a plateau is to understand what’s causing you to stall in the first place—a plateau means that the body has ceased to adapt to current stimuli. “As beginners we’re able to continuously take the weight up from workout to workout. Then, all of the sudden, progress stalls,” Halevy says. “Our body has adapted all it’s going to do to a given stimulus. So the question now becomes, ‘how do I change this so that my body continues to adapt?’”

To continue seeing gains you’ll have to start implementing changes to your current routine. This can be anything from modifying set and rep structure, to shortening rest periods (or introducing interval work) and mixing up the order and type of exercises performed. Keep a journal of your workouts to help track progress.

“One mistake guys make is checking to see if they’ve made progress too often. Don’t check your max bench once a week, the natural course of training is about 4-6 weeks,” Halevy says.

A great way to jumpstart results is to change the tempo of a lift. “For most exercises I like to keep the concentric phase to a one count, but playing with the eccentric phase (the negative, or downward/lowering movement in a bicep curl) tempo, by as much as five seconds can yield incredible strength gains.”

Halevy suggests incorporating these two simple exercises to start seeing results again:

Squat: Substitute with box squat

Squat down to a seated position on a bench (or step that’s about knee height) [A].
Pause for a second, then stand up [B].

This is a tough variation of the squat but can help you break out of a plateau because muscles have elasticity and a natural rebounding effect, like a rubber band. When you sit down half way through a squat, you lose that rebound reaction of the muscle, forcing it to exert even more strength.

Bench press: Build strength with external shoulder rotation
Lots of guys get stuck on the bench press because the support musculature isn’t up to speed for a progression in load (adding more weight). To progress, more shoulder stability is needed, and this can be accomplished by doing external rotation. In my opinion, this is best done with a dumbbell, one arm at a time.

Grab a dumbbell and sit on a bench with your knee raised
Place your elbow on your knee so that your forearm is level with the floor [A].
Rotate your forearm backward until it points to the ceiling [B]. Reverse the motion to return to the starting position. That’s one rep.
Aim to do roughly the same number of reps with a dumbbell that’s 10 percent of the weigh you intend to bench. For example, if you want to bench 250 pounds for 5 reps do external rotation with a 25 pound dumbbell for 5 reps.
Related articles:

Five Energy-Zapping Foods [1]

Three Easy Tricks to Fight Diabetes [2]

The 9 Best Fitness Apps [3]

Links:
[1] http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/296
[2] http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/abs_and_health/295
[3] http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/new_moves/565

One Month of Personal Training for $156!!!

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:40:31 +0000

**GET YOUR 30/30 ON WITH GILT CITY’S SPECIAL OFFER HERE**

From Gilt City:

The trees are flowering, the mercury is rising and people are smiling once again. This means one thing: it’s time to unearth that beach body that’s been buried for so many months.

Better make time for Halevy Life 30/30.

A brand-new program, Halevy Life 30/30 offers up customized, semi-private personal training sessions for an uncommonly affordable price. Gilt City members can work out their bodies while relaxing their wallets with eight sessions—with the initial monthly-access and fitness-assessment fees waived.

Jeff Halevy’s regime promises fitness—fast—to those who are short of those elusive urban luxuries, time and excess discretionary income.

Offered at Halevy Life’s conveniently located Midtown East flagship, the sessions are designed by Halevy himself and are each available several times daily. His approach may be populist, but his workouts are serious: come prepared to sweat. He calls his unique methodology “Mind, Movement and Metabolics,” and it promises a cohesive approach to long-term health and well-being, in addition to quick results for your physique.

This approach is also known as “fitness for the people.”

Become one of those people.

It’s time to commit to fit—today.

A Familiar Ring

There’s a reason Jeff Halevy’s name rings a bell. He pops up on TV all the time, he’s graced the pages of Forbes, Men’s Healthand Self, and the Daily News considers him one of the city’s “star fitness and nutrition experts.”

Breaking It Down

Your first session—otherwise known as the first day of the rest of your life—will cost less than a third of your monthly Metrocard. And we promise there won’t be train traffic or weekend service outages.

Marquee Names

When Jeff Halevy isn’t designing your personal training session, he’s working with brands like adidas and vitaminwater, as well as a roster of personal-training clients that includes celebrities and even various royals. If he can whip a princess into shape, think about what he might do for you.

— Frank Gargione, Gilt City Editor

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admin — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:14:43 +0000

GET YOUR #LETSMOVE FITNESS QUESTIONS ANSWERED LIVE NOW!

Check Out Elle Macpherson’s MUFFIN TOP! Even Models Have Love-Handles!

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:33:33 +0000

Elle Macpherson's Muffin Top via www.hollywoodlife.com

Don’t you hate those annoying love-handles on your hips that REFUSE to go away? We spoke with fitness experts to find out how to get rid of them for good! Continue reading here

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admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:18:07 +0000

GET YOUR FITNESS QUESTIONS ANSWERED LIVE NOW!

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:03:50 +0000

GET YOUR FITNESS QUESTIONS ANSWERED LIVE NOW!

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:56:37 +0000

GET YOUR FITNESS QUESTIONS ANSWERED LIVE NOW!

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:50:29 +0000

GET YOUR FITNESS QUESTIONS ANSWERED LIVE NOW!

Very interesting opinion of latest chronic fatigue syndrome study

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:40:09 +0000

Every Wednesday afternoon for the last 10 years I’ve slung a government ID badge around my neck and walked up to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where I set aside my identity as a psychiatrist who studies meditation and take on the role of guest researcher in a group of scientists charged by Congress with studying chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS.