NO HILL FOR A CLIMBER

June 28, 2011Read John 6

"Then Jesus climbed a mountain..." --John 6:3

A friend of mine, Betty Gutierrez of Fitness on Fire Ministries in Grapevine, Texas, can often be heard telling her class that "Jesus would climb mountains to pray, so we know He was healthy." Her message makes me think...Jesus wasn't healthy for health's sake, but for Heaven's. In order to pray, he climbed. In order to worship, he walked. His body simply got His soul where it needed to go. His health on earth was in direct response to His purpose.

At PrayFit, we believe that our health is not so much about how we want to look, but more about what we need to do. The more fit we are, the better we live, move and serve. Our health should enable our purpose, not get in the way. To think, Jesus was often out of breath for us...when was the last time we were out of breath for Him? But then again...we don't have to climb mountains to pray.

--J.P.

DID YOU KNOW?

According to the CDC, more than 60 percent of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. And approximately 25 percent of U.S. adults are not active at all.

What are you doing in your home, school, community or church to help improve these daunting statistics? Tell us what works for you. Your fitness testimony could change a life. And if we can help, please let us know. We're here.

PRAY BIG

March 21, 2011 "Pray big and give God the ball. He can make our impossible shots with our eyes closed."

--Jimmy Pena

Workout of the Week: Push/Pull

Workouts come in many shapes, sizes and styles. But if you're a traditional weight training kind of gym-goer, you may want to try this 20-minute upper body workout. By training opposing muscle groups in succession, you'll be able to condense your workout while maintaining higher levels of strength from your first rep to last.

What works best for you in this case is the fact that a muscle will be stronger if its antagonist, or opposing muscle group, is contracted immediately before it. Not many techniques in the gym allow for a particular muscle to be able to make a gain in strength by indirect means like the push-pull routine. So if you do a bench press followed by a bent-over row, you’ll be stronger on the bent-over row and vice versa. The reason behind the increase in strength of the second muscle group is because there is an innate limitation of an agonist by its antagonist.

When training opposing muscle groups in this fashion it’s important to not take the first exercise to failure. Doing so will not allow you to benefit from the technique with as much success. Rather, the first exercise in the superset should be done with lighter weight with 3-4 reps. Then you rest about a minute before beginning the next exercise, increasing the weight for a heavy set (4-6 reps for example).

Exercise Incline Bench Press and High Row Barbell Overhead Press and Lat Pulldown Decline Bench Press with Low Row Triceps Pressdown and Cable Curl

Note: Do four sets of each superset, performing 3-4 reps of the first exercise and 6-8 reps of the second exercise.

Please email us questions at [email protected] or make your comments here! For more workouts, visit our FITNESS page.