Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity, I am sure if you are even slightly interested in fitness, you would have heard of this term in recent years. But how many people actually understand what it means? In fact, everybody should be learning more about insulin sensitivity, because it can make a huge difference in building muscle, losing fat, and even managing the risk of having a list of chronic diseases!

What does it mean to be insulin sensitive, and what is the condition of insulin resistance? How do these affect our bodies? Which one should we prefer? And how can we achieve it?

Insulin sensitivity is actually a very deep topic, and we can literally discuss it for weeks non-stop. Today we are only going to go through the basics so you would not get overwhelmed and bored.

How do our bodies work?

Since the way how insulin works in our bodies can be extremely abstract and complicated, we are going to use a metaphor today to first introduce you how insulin works in our bodies.

What is insulin?

Insulin is a hormone produced when our bodies sense that the glucose level in our blood is above baseline (our bodies prefer the glucose level in the bloodstream to remain its baseline level, anything above or below is not optimal), insulin signals insulin receptors shovelling glucose from the bloodstream into our muscles and organ where glucose can be utilised.

Think of our bodies as gardens, our muscles and other functional cells as plants in the gardens, glucose in the blood (aka blood sugar) as weeds in the gardens, and ourselves as insulin receptors.

Optimal Insulin Sensitivity

The way how it is suppose to work is that whenever we see weeds growing in our gardens, we would pick out the weeds, put them into a fertiliser processor, which will turn the weeds into fertiliser, which will be used to fertilise our plants. As a result, our plants are strong and healthy, and our gardens looks nice and bright without excessive weeds.

Usually when we ingest carbohydrates (and protein as well to a certain extent), the carbohydrates are broken down to glucose and enter the bloodstream, insulin is be produced, insulin receptors take the signal and shovel those glucose into our muscles and other functional cells so that they can be utilised. As a result, our muscles are strong, our organs are healthy, and our bodies work perfectly.

Insulin Resistance

On the other hand, if there are weeds popping out too often outpacing us picking up them out, we would start out doing what we are suppose to do, for a while. But sooner or later, we are going to be demotivated because it seems like an impossible task to clear the weed, and be like "Screw it, this is ridiculous!" We may still be picking weeds out here and there and process them as fertiliser, but far from an efficient manner since our motivation is gone as we are getting used to having weeds in our gardens. As a result, there is no nutritients for our plants, and our gardens look ugly and dull because they are full of weeds.

When we ingest high GI (>70) carbohydrates too often, the glucose in our blood is constantly elevated, our insulin receptors will eventually be fed up and start slacking. Insulin is still produced, but our insulin receptors become less responsive. As a result, our bodies and organs would not get the optimal nutrition to function, and the excessive glucose in the bloodstream will be deposited as fat and other undesirable substances, which can ultimately lead to type II diabetes!

In short, being insulin sensitive allow us to make the most out of our dietary intake in fuelling our muscles and organs, and thus gaining muscle and losing fat easier. On the contrary, being insulin resistance lead us to inefficient utilisation of our dietary intake which can lead to sub-optimal functioning of our bodies while building up fat and increasing risk of chronic diseases.

The Problem

In the standard modern day diet of most developed countries, the issue is that people are exposed to high GI (>70) food and snacks so often. Especially when someone is living a very busy life, choices out there for quick meal options are limited. High GI (>70) food itself is not a bad thing, but consuming too much high HI food too often will cause the glucose level in the bloodstream to be constantly elevated and developed into insulin resistance.

Improving Our Insulin Sensitivity

To improve our insulin there are actually a lot of ways doing so, today I am going to introduce you the 2 most effective and doable ones.

Exercising

Exercising itself serves the function of reversing insulin resistance since exercising can improve the ability of our muscles absorbing glucose from the bloodstream. Exercising also helps with losing weight if you are overweight, and being overweight is directly connected to decreased insulin sensitivity.

Diet

As mentioned above, the major cause of people nowadays developing insulin resistance is that there are too many high GI (>70) foods so readily available around us. Consuming high GI (>70) foods too much in amount too often constantly elevates our glucose level in the bloodstream, which is the leading cause of obesity and different chronic diseases.

Clean Eating

The most simple way to fix the problem is to take a list of high GI (>70) foods away from our diets. Our goal here is to take out all simple sugars and refined starches out of our diets. A general rule of thumb is that when it comes to food, if it is white, it is a no-go. When it comes to drinks, your best option is water and nothing else. Sauces are usually hidden sources of sugar as well, especially when you are dining out since most sauces has been enhanced by the use of sugar to make them more tasty. Take these out of your diet and your body will thank you millions!

Intermittent Fasting

Of course it would be great if you are very passionate about healthy eating and can eliminate high GI foods (>70) from your diets, but for most of us busy individuals living in a city having full time jobs, it is simply very difficult to find convenient low GI meal choices in stores or restaurants as we never know exactly what has been put into the food. Most of the time pre-packaged and restaurant meals are flavoured by sauces loaded with sugar or even sugar itself! And most people simply don't have the time to prepare a few meals daily for themselves. Luckily, there is a very innovative group of diet protocols came out in recent years that can allow us to eat relatively without restrictions on most days or during most times of a day but still be able to control our insulin sensitivity! That is intermittent fasting. There are a lot of intermittent fasting protocols out there and I have personally tested most of them out, below I will briefly introduced 2 protocols that I found the most effective and the easiest to follow.

1. 16/8 

This intermittent fasting protocol is popularised by Martin Berkhan, a Swedish fitness specialist. This is a daily fasting protocol. Followers would have 16 hours of fasting period and 8 hours of feeding period daily. Most people who follow this protocol choose to start their 8 hour feeding window at lunch hour till dinner. They can eat normally during this feeding window until satisfied (not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill), and simply skip breakfast everyday.

2. 5:2

This is a twice a week fasting protocol. Followers has to pick two days within a week to just have one single nutritious meal with about a quarter of their daily calorie requirement, but are allowed to eat with minimal restriction (again, not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill) during the rest of the week.

We will have an article talking more in-depth about both intermittent fasting protocols mentioned above! Stay tuned!

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The Wonder of Simplicity

Since the emergence of Google, it has become an extremely easy task to get our hands on a workout program. The issue though, is which one to trust? Probably because we are in the age of information overload, and there are simply too many options out there, people seem to have an illusion that the more the better.

When choosing a program, most people are in favour of programs with the most complexities. The more phases the program has, the more exercises it includes, and the more sets and reps variations it uses, the better the program is. Is this really true? Does a program have to confuse the hell out of a person to be effective? Does a person really need a program that requires a track sheet or else he would otherwise not remember what he has to do on a particular day?

Faster Progression

The fact is, for a majority of gym goers, simple programs work better for us. Complex split routines do have their values, but those are for advance individuals. Simple total body routines allow a faster progression rate for beginner and even some intermediate lifters.

Experienced lifters require more stimuli for any particular part of their bodies to trigger growth since their bodies are already used to hitting weights regularly, and our bodies would not change unless they have a need to adapt. Thus, they have to increase the volume of workouts for each particular body part. This is the main reason why they need to use split routines, as one workout session would not be long enough for them to work enough volume for all body parts. This is not the case for beginners and even some intermediate lifters, they have enough time to get sufficient stimuli for their entire body in a single session as their bodies require less stimuli to trigger growth than experienced lifters.

Recovery

As I have mentioned above, an efficient workout for beginner lifters and intermediate lifters would require a lot less weight and volume than an efficient workout for experienced lifters. Our goal here is to trigger growth while not giving our bodies excessive stress that would hinder recovery so that we can train again and trigger another wave of growth as soon as possible. The minimum amount of stress needed for experienced lifters to grow is simply higher than that of beginner lifters and intermediate lifters, beginner and even some intermediate lifters often times can recover from an efficient workout for them in as few as 1 to 2 days; experienced lifters on the other hand may need a full week to recover from a workout efficient for them. Thus, beginner trainers can recover faster and have a faster progression rate! The sooner you recover, the sooner you can train and grow again.

Growth Hormone

When doing full body workouts, our bodies produce more growth hormone than doing workouts that only involve a fewer body parts. This is quite self explanatory, as the more muscle you work, the more growth hormone your body produces.

Focus On The Main Lifts

In a lot of programs we see a lot of assistance work such as dumbbell flys for the chest and triceps extensions for the triceps. Why not just do the bench press and work both muscle groups at the same time? First you can save time, and you also get more stimulation from the heavier load you can use. There are generally two reasons for assistance work, the first reason is to add volume to the program without excessive stress to the CNS (Central Nervous System) that would overtax the body which does more harm than good; the second reason is to fine-tune our bodies. For beginners and even some intermediate lifters, the volume needed to trigger growth can be attained only by doing the main lifts without overtaxing the bodies, and there is not anything yet to be effectively fine-tuned. So assistance exercises can be often times very unnecessary before getting into the experienced stage.

Law of Diminishing Marginal Return

The longer we have worked out, the slower we can progress optimally. Being a beginner is a status we should treasure. We should train as long as we can progressing in a beginner's manner as that is the way how we can progress the fastest. There is a really great beginner program, Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe that I recommend. I highly recommend it to anybody that has not tried it even if you have already lifted for a couple of years. You will see your strength skyrocketing and the size will also follow. Find it online and check it out!

If the program does not sound like something for you, I still recommend you doing simple workouts with the following principles until you can progress no longer (adding weights in each session).

1. perform full body workouts
2. perform 1 to a maximum of 2 exercise(s) for each body part in a single workout
3. keep the volume low by only doing 3 - 5 sets of 5 - 8 reps (start by doing 5 sets of 8 reps and gradually drop the volume when you cannot add weight until you are doing 3 sets of 5)
4. only choose compound movements such as bench press, squats, deadlift, military press and pull ups

You will be astonished by your progression! Enjoy the wonder of simplicity!

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Sweet Corn & Chestnut Ris'oat'to

The Sweet Corn & Chestnut Ris'oat'to is a perfectly healthy yet hearty dish for the autumn incorporating two of the best ingredients of this season! Just like any of our signature Ris'oat'tos at Urban Fitness HK, the creamy texture of the dish can be attained without any added oil or butter! Other nutritional benefits of using oats over rice include higher fiber content and lower GI. Prepare this recipe as the perfect side dish for this autumn!

gluten free, low fat, low GI, high fiber, vegan

Serves 3 - 4

150g whole rolled oats
400mL harvest corn soup
250mL water
100g peeled chestnuts (approximately 150g with shells)
1 small purple onion (approximately 150 - 200g)
few cloves of garlic
salt to taste (half a tsp recommended)

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes (depending of the size and type of chestnut you get, the boiling time might have to be increased to up to 10 minutes, the idea is to have the chestnuts cooked to a soft texture that can be mashed)

2. chop the onion, mince the garlic, and peel the chestnuts as shown in the picture below 

3. heat up a non-stick wok at high heat
4. toss in the garlic and half of the onion into the wok, stir occasionally to ensure even heating, and stir-fry until browned
5. pour in the water, then the soup, and toss in the peeled chestnuts, add salt to taste (make sure not to add too much salt as this is a primarily sweet dish and just a little bit of salt can enhance the sweetness from the corn soup as well as the chestnuts)
6. stir to mix the soup evenly, and start mashing the chestnuts in the soup with a spoon to your desired chunkiness, bring the soup back to boil and let it boil for two minutes while mashing the chestnuts, then toss in the oats
7. turn down to low heat, keep stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking and prevent sticking
8. when mixture is half absorbed by oats, toss in the other half of the onion, keep stirring occasionally
9. cook to your desired consistency and enjoy!

Tips:

*Reason why I add the onion in two batch is to add an extra texture to the dish, the function of the first half is to give taste to the soup, and the function of the second half is to add a crunch to the dish

*Remember to add the water before adding the soup or the heat of the wok may burn the soup

*If boiling and peeling the chestnuts is too much work, packaged pre-cooked and peeled chestnuts can also be used to replace raw chestnuts in the recipe, they can normally be found in most supermarkets and convenient stores in Hong Kong

Nutritional Breakdown:

Calories: 850kcal
Protein: 30g
Fat: 10g
Net Carbohydrates: 160g
*net carbs does not include fiber as fiber cannot be digested by human bodies and thus provides no calories for us
Fiber: 20g

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The Truth About Cholesterol

Cholesterol, one of the most evil terms known in today's health and fitness world. A lot of us watch what we eat because of cholesterol. No longer enjoying eggs with yolks, restricting usage of cheese in various recipes, and taking some seafood completely out of our diets. But do most of us really know what cholesterol is and how does it actually affect our bodies?

Is it a true evil or just misunderstood? Today we are going to reveal the true nature of cholesterol and what it does to our bodies.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol, unlike common perception, is not one definite substance. Cholesterol actually combine with proteins in our blood stream becoming different types of lipoproteins.

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

LDL is known as the "bad" cholesterol. It is responsible for all the negative effects cholesterol has on our bodies we have commonly heard of. Not all LDL particles are the same though. LDL particles actually come in different sizes and large LDL particles should not be much of our concern. Only small LDL particles can potentially squeeze through the lining of our arteries, oxidise, and cause damage and inflammation. In short, only the amount of small LDL particles is directly proportional to the risk of heart diseases.

High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)

As oppose to LDL, HDL is known as the "good" cholesterol. It helps our bodies getting rid of LDL and triglycerides. Think of HDL as the cleaner of our arteries.

Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)

VLDL rarely appears in our body check reports as there is no simple and direct way to measure the level of VLDL yet. It is very similar to LDL that they contain mostly fat and not much protein.

Triglycerides

This is a type of fat carried by VLDL. It is converted from excess calories, alcohol, or sugar in our bodies and can be stored as fat throughout our bodies.

Truth About Cholesterol

Cholesterol is actually very essential to our health as cholesterol makes up important parts of our cells and hormones. Without cholesterol, our bodies would not be able to function. We would not have a body at all without cholesterol as it is a vital component of our cell membranes!

What Really Matters?

Too many people nowadays are over-concerned about their total cholesterol level. The truth is that unless it is way above, I am talking about over 300 here, there is no reason to worry about it. We should also note that different organisations have intentionally lowered the "safety cholesterol level" in favour of drugs marketing.

What we should really be looking at are the HDL to total cholesterol ratio and the triglyceride to HDL ratio. When dividing our HDL by our total cholesterol level, the ideal should be above 24%; and when dividing our triglyceride by our HDL, the ideal should be less than 2. This is what truly matters when monitoring our cardiovascular health.

Dietary Cholesterol and Body Cholesterol

Eating less cholesterol to monitor our cholesterol level, sounds like it makes complete sense, right? Not quite, what actually happens is that in average, 75% of the cholesterol in our bodies are produced with only 25% from our dietary intake. And guess what, because of our bodies' adaptive nature, when we increase our dietary cholesterol intake, our bodies lower its cholesterol production; in contrast, when we decrease our dietary cholesterol intake, our bodies increase its cholesterol production!

There have been very well-designed cholesterol feeding studies done by universities and health organisations where subjects were fed commonly demonised healthy whole foods (such as whole eggs) daily and had their cholesterol levels monitored. In general, around 75% of the subjects did not experience any noticeable cholesterol level difference before or after the experiment. While approximately 25% of the subjects, later labelled as "hyper-responders" did experience an increase in total cholesterol, the ratio of LDL to HDL though (what actually matters as we have explained above), remained the same. In addition to that, their LDL levels increased due to an increase in size of LDL particles instead of an increase in numbers of LDL particles. As previously mentioned, only small LDL particles are potentially harmful to our cardiovascular health. In other words, for this 25% of the subjects, consuming more dietary cholesterol from natural whole foods actually improved their cholesterol levels!

The good news? All those abandoned indulgences such as whole eggs, cheese, and steak can come back to our diets! Feel no guilt from enjoying a whole egg omelette for breakfast or coupling a glass of red wine with a nice piece of steak!

What Should We Be Watching?

If dietary cholesterol is not what we should be looking at, what factors should we be monitoring and how can we better our cholesterol levels?

Weight

Being overweight increases the tendency of having a high LDL level and losing weight automatically helps lowering our LDL while increasing our HDL. So if you are overweight and have to improve your cholesterol level, instead of looking at your dietary cholesterol intake, start looking at your total caloric intake and exercising to lose weight!

Exercise

Not only can exercising benefit overweight individuals to lose weight for improving their cholesterol levels, exercising itself can lower LDL and raise HDL in general for every single person!



Diet

I have just brought justice to those long misunderstood healthy high cholesterol whole foods earlier. On the other hand, there are indeed foods that can worsen our cholesterol. Two no-nos out there that would both directly and indirectly impact our cholesterol towards the dark side are added sugars, and trans-fat. There is one category of food commonly include both of these evil factors, processed foods. It is the best to stay away from processed foods and make up preferably our entire diets with healthy whole foods.

Alcohol 

Excessive alcohol consumption can have serious impact on the health of our livers and heart muscles, which will eventually lead to high blood pressure, and raising triglycerides. Thus, monitor our alcohol consumption to make sure it does not do harm to our cholesterol levels is vital.

Stress

Stress is another factor that can affect our cholesterol levels. In the world of health and fitness, not only regarding our cholesterol levels, stress is a big enemy in general. Make sure to relax ourselves every once in a while especially when working through tough periods in the year. Some common ways of relieving stress includes exercising, and meditating. Find something that suit you the best is the most important part!

Cholesterol is indeed something we should monitor, but we should thoroughly understand what it is and monitor it in the correct way instead of having irrational fear for it! Have no hesitation enjoying your whole egg omelette for breakfast from now on! 

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Healthy Chicken @ 87 Wellington Street, Central

Quick and healthy choices for eating out while I am on the run, this is what I have missed ever since I returned to Hong Kong from New York. New York was full of places where there are salad bars with healthy veggies and sides I could pick from to accompany a main dish of my choice at affordable prices. The best part of these places is that the entire process cost me less than 10 minutes because everything is ready made! It's so hard to find such places in Hong Kong though, places here are either healthy but expensive, or affordable but unhealthy, and preparing our own food does not really go hand in hand with Hong Konger's busy lives.

Just a few days ago, I found a problem solver in the Central area which just had their grand opening last week!

Healthy Chicken, located just by the escalator has brought me back the convenience I used to get in New York, a wide variety of veggies and sides to choose from after choosing a chicken main!

They have  2 types of beans: black and pinto; 3 types of rice: brown, tomato, and spinach; 2 types of cheese: white cheddar and monterey jack; and a ton of veggies including GUACAMOLE! They also have a five types of sauces ranging from different levels of spiciness.

They offer different types of chicken at different portion sizes, I was pleased that they offer chicken legs and chicken wings separately since they usually have to come with the breast. Skinless chicken breast which would be the most healthy choice is also available.

A variety of healthier options of drinks including the less common coconut water!

I got a quarter chicken meal, and intentionally chose the breast when I was offered breast or leg, as the breast is the true test of whether the chicken is made moist or not. Normally we only get to choose one type of rice but as this was the first time I was having a meal there, they were kind enough to let me sample all three of them so I know which one I like next time. Also had all the veggies on the list, and some pinto beans (buried under the salad), but I opt out the cheese as I am not a big fan of it. Chose the yellow sauce which was listed as the most spicy option.

The chicken was actually really moist and I did not even need the sauce to enjoy it! I only took one bite with the skin but it was crispy and completing worth indulging if I did not have a competition in 2 weeks! All 3 types of rice were amazing and I will defintely have a hard time choosing only one on my next visit. The texture of the brown rice was very different from the tomato rice and spinach rice. The brown rice was drier just like how it is in Chinese fried rice, while the spinach and tomato rice were very creamy and sticky, the rice really absorbed the flavours as well. The sauce though, was not as spicy as I expected, I guess that would suit the preference of the locals better. It was a great meal mixing everything together, a great boom of flavour and texture combining the chicken, the salad, the beans, and the rice. I will for sure be a regular customer here before I get fed up with chicken (I don't think this day will ever come lol).

Another great thing about this joint is that they list the calories of their food items on the menu which is rather rare in Hong Kong! I think it is a smart move though given the health awareness in Hong Kong is rising in recent years. The values are also pretty accurate.

Here is an approximate breakdown of the meal I had from my judgement:

Calories: 500kcal (I did not have the skin of the chicken)

Protein: 55g (primarily from the chicken and some from the beans, veggies, and rice)
Fat: 5g (only minimal amount of fat from the 1 bite of chicken skin I had)
Net Carbohydrates: 60g (complex carbs from the beans and rice which were perfect for my post-workout)
*net carbs does not include fiber as fiber cannot be digested by human bodies and thus provides no calories for us
Fiber: 10g (from the beans and veggies, beans actually have a ton of fiber in them if you did not know!)

Another thing worth noting is that although this joint seem to mainly cater to take-aways, they do have a few seats available and they even have 3 stations with chargers for different electronic devices, awesome for today's ridiculously short battery lives! Sometimes I do miss my indestructible Nokia 3310.

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Green Curry Japchae (Korean Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Noodles)

Japchae is a classic Korean dish. It is made of Korean sweet potato noodles (a.k.a. starch noodles or Korean vermicelli) stir-fried with a variety of vegetables. The Korean sweet potato noodles is a very healthy alternative to other types of noodles and pastas. It is only made of water and sweet potatoes. This type of noodles also gives us a unique texture to add some variety to our diets! The only downside of the dish is that traditionally it requires the Korean barbecue sauce which contains a substantial amount of brown sugar. Today, I am introducing you a healthy version of japchae with a spicy kick! 

Infusing Korean and Thai food, the green curry japchae takes sugar out of the equation and is a perfect dish for some complex carbohydrates after workouts!

gluten free, low fat, low GI, vegan option, paleo

Serves 3 - 4

200g dried Korean sweet potato noodles
200g lean pork (optional)                    *this recipe can be made vegan without the pork
1 small purple onion (approximately 150 - 200g)
1 red bell pepper (approximately 100 - 150g)
1 yellow bell pepper (approximately 100 - 150g)
1 small batch of enoki mushrooms (approximately 100 - 150g)
2 tbsp green curry paste (can be increased to your liking, this is quite a mild dose)
150 mL water
few cloves of garlic
some ginger
salt to taste (1tsp recommended)

1. boil a pot of water for the noodles, add the noodles into boiling water, cook for 6 minutes
2. chop the onion, slice the pork and bell peppers, mince the garlic and ginger, as well as cutting off the root part of the enoki mushrooms as shown in the picture below
3. drain the cooked noodles, flush them immediately with cold water for 1 minute and put it in a pot of cold water, heat up a non-stick wok at high heat at the same time
4. toss in the ginger, garlic, and half of the onion until slightly browned
5. toss in the sliced pork and cook until half cooked
6. pour in the water, add the green curry paste and salt to taste
7. drain the noodles and add the bell peppers, enoki mushrooms, and the other half of the onion
8. stir all the ingredients together until they are mixed evenly
9. serve and enjoy when the liquid is mostly absorbed and evaporated!

Tips:

*The process of flushing the noodles with cold water immediately after draining them from the hot water is vital, this increases the chewy texture of the noodles, and putting them in cold water afterwards before further using them keeps them from sticking together

Nutritional Breakdown:

Calories: 1150kcal
Protein: 50g
Fat: 5g
Net Carbohydrates: 225g
*net carbs does not include fiber as fiber cannot be digested by human bodies and thus provides no calories for us
Fiber: 10g

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The Ultimate Chest Builder - Dips

"Hey buddy, how much do you bench?" If you have been in the gym regularly even just for a few weeks, I am sure you wouldn't be unfamiliar with this saying. The bench press has such an importance in the gym goers' minds that there is a National Bench Press Day created for it. The bench press is no doubt a great upper body strength indicator and everyone would agree that it is a chest exercise, but is it really THE BEST chest builder out there?

Most guys bust out sets after sets of bench presses for bigger pecs, is that really the right thing to do? Today I am going to introduce you a the dips as the ultimate chest builder, include it in your training routine, and get better pecs, period.

Do not get me wrong, I love the bench press, I even participate in bench press competitions, but it is simply not the best exercise out there if your main focus is to get thicker and wider pecs.

Anterior Deltoid Stimulation = Pectoralis Majors Stimulation

In the bench press, your anterior deltoids (front shoulder) actually receive the same stimulation as your pectoralis majors (chest) do. In other words, the bench press is as much of a front shoulder movement as a chest movement. And unless you have a very special anatomy, your pectoralis majors are going to be far bigger (and stronger) than your anterior deltoids, which means your anterior deltoids are going to give up on you before your pectoralis majors do. Thus, we cannot train our pectoralis majors to their full potential in the bench press as our anterior deltoids would limit us doing so.

Rotator Cuff Health

Another thing about the bench press is that is it not exactly the best exercise for our shoulder health as it actually decreases shoulder flexibility. Excessive bench pressing work without sufficient overhead pressing work to balance it out would ultimately lead to shoulder injuries in the long run. Shoulder injuries is a pain in the ass as all compound movements for the upper body require shoulders to participate. Having injuries means that you would have to take a step back in your training and thus sacrifice continuous progressions.

And how does the dips do a better job in building our chest? Read on!

Anterior Deltoid < Pectoralis Majors Stimulation

Unlike the bench press, the downward pushing motion of the dips takes a big part of our shoulders out of the equation. In the dips, we can really target our chest and work them to the max. I don't usually feel my chest especially tired comparing to other muscle groups after multiple sets of heavy bench presses, but the fatigue in my chest would stick with me after only a couple sets of heavy weighted dips.

Load

An important factor of stimulating muscle growth is the load we are using. Most people can potentially lift more weight in the dips than in the bench press. The dips actually has a very similar movement pattern as the decline bench press, and most people can lift more weight in the decline bench press than the flat bench press. My 1RM flat bench press right now would be somewhere around 115kg (255lbs) but I can do 3 sets of 5 weighted dips with 75kg (165lbs) on a belt which results in 310lbs total weight given my bodyweight is 145lbs at the moment! A larger load means more stimulation for the muscles, and thus more muscle growth!

Functionality

The functionality of the dips is a lot higher than that of the bench press. In the bench press, we are stabilised on the bench which take a lot of the stabilisation work off our core; in the dips though, as our bodies are hanging mid-air, we have to engage our core and stabilise the body throughout the movement. Also, in contrary to the bench press which reduces our shoulder flexibility, the dips can increase our shoulder flexibility if done right, this can benefit our training in the long-term by preventing injuries.

Start Doing The Dips

When first starting to incorporate dips into your training routine, it is a good idea not to rush onto the weighted dips as most people who are not used to doing the dips lack the shoulder flexibility of performing the dips properly. For the purpose to increasing muscle mass and strength, I recommend doing 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 12 reps bodyweight dips to start with, work on increasing your shoulder flexibility by tracking your range of motion and progress to performing full range of motion dips (armpit close to hand). Once you are able to perform full range of motion dips, you can start adding weight to your dips. One thing to note though, is that I recommend only reaching parallel (or just below that) once you start doing weighted dips in order to avoid excess stress on the shoulders in case the weight you are progressing to in the future will be massive. Add weight to your belt slowly for say 2.5lbs to 5lbs a week initially and stay in the low rep range (5-12) for maximal muscle growth!

From now on, instead of asking how much people bench, maybe we should start concerning about how much do they dip!

164lbs weighted dips x 5 @ 145lbs bodyweight

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