Don't Use Phones During Training

"Don't use phones during training" - Charles Poliquin.

Many people are now starting to speak of this, but like many topics, Charles was way ahead of his time explaining the reasons as to why you shouldn't use your phone during training.

Don’t use your phone while you train. If you keep your phone in your pocket or in contact with your body while you train to listen to music then you could be lowering your androgens by as much as 31%. You do not want to be making 31% less testosterone. Most of us are already deficient so you want to optimize this as much as possible.

Close contact with your phone all day is bad for you anyway not just while you train, so you should try to limit the amount of time you spend on that device.

In Finland, where Nokia comes from, they have the most brain cancer in the world due to their use of mobile phones. There is a direct correlation between the time you spend beside your mobile phone and cancer.

Do not sleep with it next to your head. Put it on flight mode if you use it for an alarm and put it as far away from you as possible.

Another problem with phones is that the constant looking for updates, messages, likes or comments depletes your dopamine. Well, to lift big weights you need dopamine, so checking your phone constantly means you are wasting the most important neurotransmitter for neural drive.

Mobile phones are a training killer. You should stay away from them.

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Limit radiation emitted by your phone

 

Limit Radiation Emitted By Your Phone

Another reason to try to limit the radiation emitted by your phone.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4074720/

This study looked at the impact of mobile phone radiation on sperm quality. The researchers selected 32 healthy men with normal semen parameters. They divided each sperm sample into two portions. One portion was placed in a thermostat, while the other portion was placed near a mobile phone in standby/talk mode. After 5 hours, they evaluated the sperm samples for motility and DNA fragmentation.

The results showed that the group exposed to electromagnetic radiation from the mobile phone had a lower number of spermatozoa with progressive movement and a higher number of non-progressively moving spermatozoa compared to the group without exposure. The DNA fragmentation was also significantly higher in the exposed group.

The study concluded that there is a correlation between mobile phone radiation exposure, DNA fragmentation, and decreased sperm motility. It suggests that mobile phone radiation can have a negative impact on sperm quality.

Pay Attention to Your Rest Periods

Rest periods between sets would be one of the most neglected aspects of training and program design. The whole training affect can be changed depending on how long you rest, so I think it is an important part of training that you should pay more attention to. The length of the rest period affects the recovery between sets and the hormonal responses to a training session.

The basic principle is, lower the reps and the higher the load, the longer the rest. Higher reps and lighter load, you need less rest.

In general, when training for maximal strength (1-5 reps at 85% or more) longer rest periods are warranted to allow time for the central nervous system to recover. Typically, larger muscle mass is being used in strength phases and the exercises tend to require more coordination such as when performing cleans or snatches. Two to four minutes is the general recommendation but there are many factors that can influence this as well. The strength of the athlete being one. For example, I have heard of world class powerlifters and strongman competitors resting a minimum of 8 minutes between sets, and some recommend even more. For most of us 2-4 minutes will be fine. This should allow enough time to prevent fatigue and allow you to perform repeated efforts at a high intensity. You should get stronger each set (up to a point) when training for maximal strength. If you aren’t experiencing this in your sessions, maybe your rest period is too short. On the other hand, if you are waiting too long, you may not see the benefits either as the post-tetanic facilitation effect might be lost, basically your nervous system may calm down too much before performing the next set.

For hypertrophy and body composition, the rest periods are shorter. You are looking to create more metabolic demands with this type of training, compared to strength training where a large emphasis is on the nervous system. Shorter rest periods, when using multi-joint movements, will also create more lactic acid, which has been said to increase growth hormone. This will lead to more fat loss over time. Kraemer and his colleagues determined that the highest growth hormone, beta-endorphin, and cortisol concentrations were observed when 10RM multiple sets (3 sets) of exercises were performed separated by a short (1-minute) rest. Testosterone was responsive to both higher intensities (5RM with 3 min rest) and also lower intensities with a shorter rest (10RM with 1 min rest).

There are many factors at play but the takeaway is to pay attention to your rest periods and match them to your goal.

When training for pure speed or power, then full recovery should be allowed between sets. This type of training is about quality, not quantity. Often, these sessions turn into speed endurance type workouts simply because there isn't enough rest given between sets.

Another problem area I see is with hypertrophy and body comp training. If you rest too long, results will be minimized. As the workout starts to get hard, people want to extend their rest periods more and more. It is important to stick to them to get the training response you are after. Resting too long in this case will change the adaptations that will take place.

Strength training isn’t impacted as much because you have more leeway and most people rest too long as it is.

Lack of Sleep and It's Impact on Hormone Levels

If you aren't getting enough quality sleep each night, the chances of you having optimal hormonal levels are quite low. Lack of sleep can decrease thyroid, testosterone, and growth hormone.

Poor sleep for just one week can lower testosterone by 10-15%. This was sleeping 5 hours per night in young healthy men. I know a lot of people who are running off 5-6 hours of sleep and wonder why they aren't able to build mass or gain as much strength as they like. Something as simple as sleep is more than likely the issue.

If you throw in alcohol along with lack of sleep, which a lot of people do on Friday and Saturday nights and you will see enormous impacts on your hormonal levels. You will not perform well in the gym or at training for your sport come Monday and chances of injury are much higher.

You will never maximize your results with less than optimal testosterone levels. You have to get your lifestyle in order.

I have harped on about the importance of sleep a lot but it is because without it, you are missing out on huge performance gains. Instead of arguing over whether you should take 5g of creatine pre-workout, during, or post, you would be much better off prioritizing your sleep. But people love to look for excuses instead of just doing what is required. It is simple but takes discipline. Get all the basic things in place and do them consistently for 10 years.

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