Better Pushups?

Scientists from New Zealand studied people who performed push-ups on a Swiss-ball instead on the floor. What they determined was that doing this exercise with this particular equipment made the triceps work 30 percent more than the regular push-ups.

The reason is it takes a lot more work for the triceps to do all the stabilization work, which ultimately leads to involving more muscle fibers into the movement. The bigger percentage of the muscle recruited, the better the chances for strength and muscle growth.

Excessive Testosterone Consequences

Researchers from the Yale University found that abnormal levels of the mail sex hormone testosterone in the blood cause damage to the brain cells. For this to happen, however, your blood levels of testosterone must be 10 times the normal levels or higher. This can be only achieved if you are on steroids.

Quite the opposite, it turned out that estrogen – the female sex hormone protects the brain cells.

So, I suppose athletes who are into natural bodybuilding needn’t worry about their brains self-destructing. The rest – keep this study in mind.

Which Is Better – Fast or Slow Reps?

Scientists from the University of Connecticut performed a study to find out whether slow or fast speed for rep execution is more beneficial. Here is in brief what they found: Performing the reps fast was superior in aspects like peak force, power, number of reps completed and total volume.

Moreover, the participants in the study reported that when performing the reps slower the effort put into each rep seemed a lot greater.

Based on this latest research it is advisable that you perform each repetition with maximum speed. This will ensure increase in all the mentioned above aspect.