Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Muscle & Fitness Hers South Africa

PULSE TRAINING THE RIGHT WAY TO ROW To get the most out of a rowing session, it’s essential to get your form right from the start. Think about breaking your movements down into four simple steps: 1 Catch: In the first part of the stroke, keep your arms straight, holding the bar with your upper body leaning forward from the hips with your shins vertical. 2 Drive: Push through your legs until they are fully extended, keeping your torso upright. Your arms should be pulled into your body, with the handle just below your bra line. 3 Finish: Now bring your torso back and finish pulling the bar towards your body. Think legs, body, arms, in that order. Pause slightly at the end. 4 Recovery: This is the opposite of…

WANT TO FIRM up and burn those holiday kilograms away? Make speed variance your secret sweat weapon. When your to-do list is long, now is the time to get creative with your cardio, combining it with strengthbuilding moves so you can maximise both your time and effort. Trainer, fitness model, and author of YES MAM! Your Muscle As a Motivator Nicole Chaplin designed this series of strength-plyo circuits to make every workout count and to “push you into a higher fat-burning zone,” she says. Plus, you’ll burn out your muscles without even thinking about it. 1 DUMBBELL CHEST FLYE 2 PUSH-UP WITH ALTERNATING SIDE-PLANK ROTATION 3 BARBELL BICEPS CURL 4 TRX BICEPS CURL 5 CABLE TRICEPS EXTENSION 6 TRX TRICEPS EXTENSION 7 ONE-MINUTE BICYCLE 8 LOWER-BACK EXTENSION ON A SWISS BALL OR MACHINE 1: UPPER-BODY SHRED CIRCUIT…

PULSE TRANSFORMATION LOOKING AT at 21-year-old Mauri Reyene Peterson, you’d never guess the battles she’s had to fight to achieve the shape she’s in. Peterson, who lives in San Marcos, CA, works as a personal trainer at Equinox Fitness and is a nationally ranked NPC bikini competitor. But reaching and maintaining this super fit lifestyle hasn’t been easy. Peterson has loved working out since her early teens, when her mother bought her a membership to a local gym. But around this time, she began passing out in school. Doctors chalked it up to low blood sugar, but when one fainting spell was followed by a seizure, she was rushed to the ER, where a cardiologist discovered she had prolonged QT/ Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). The chronic condition occurs when…

PULSE BEAUTY GOING FOR A BRISK RUN, taking a spin on the ice rink — there are plenty of things to love about winter, but what it does to your skin isn’t one of them. “The weather is colder and drier and there’s less humidity and moisture in the air”, says Vanessa Hernandez, consulting celebrity aesthetician for L’Oreal Paris. Plus, constantly moving from the colder outdoors to the heated indoors can dry skin out. Using a humidifier while you sleep and drinking at least eight glasses of water a day can help keep skin hydrated, says Whitney Bowe, MD, a dermatologist based in New York City. But for certain dry spots you may need to consider a little TLC with these strategies. DRY SPOT: FACE SOFTEN UP: Can’t get your…

• YOUR CORE muscles engage with every push, pull, turn, and step you take. That's why they respond so well to new challenges. It's also why crunches are so boring and ineffective. "To work the abdominal muscles you have to do more than just flex and extend the trunk — you need to move through a variety of planes of motion and even incorporate resistance and force", says Julia Ladewski, CSCS, a strength coach and fitness expert based in Highland, IN, USA. Using tools like kettlebells and medicine balls for resistance, and exercise balls and sliders to create instability opens you up to a whole new set of stimuli, she adds. Try adding these moves to your regular routine - or put them all together for one rock-solid workout that’s…

We had been hearing that the new Macan would embrace the electric future long before the Taycan even existed. Thanks to the Taycan blazing Porsche’s EV trail, we now semi-prepared to accept the news that Porsche’s smallest SUV, and best-selling model in markets like the UK, will never see the likes of an internal combustion engine again. It’s a very Tesla-esque situation and in a global market that’s currently backpedaling on some of its EV promises, it’s a brave, fully-committed move. It’s all part of Porsche’s bigger ambition to have electrified at least 80% of its model range by 2030. If the Audi e-tron, with which it competes, looks a little non-descript, the Macan is visually more sporty with headlights that mimic those from the Taycan and a wrap-around lightbar.…

Lower-body workouts are intense for good reason. Those powerful muscles can generate a lot of force, so you need exercises that get them fully engaged and exhausted. But a heavy lifting day doesn’t necessarily translate to a balanced lower body. Classic squats, deadlifts, and lunges can sometimes disproportionately work the quads and hamstrings and leave the glutes undertrained, explains fitness coach Tim Gardner, who counts IFBB bikini pro Janet Layug among his clients. The solution? While he’ll often separate out quads and hamstrings in training, this combined workout does it all. “The routine is structured to pre-exhaust the leg muscles,” says Gardner. “We start out targeting the quads, then transfer to the hamstrings, and back to the quads, adding in some glute isolation. We build up to higher-rep finishing sets,…

CARLY HORRELL IFBB FIGURE PRO AND 2016 GOVERNOR’S CUP CHAMPION “When I go through my shoulder training I make sure I focus on each delt (anterior, lateral, and posterior), treating all three as separate workouts. This helps me create complete symmetry all the way around. The goal is to have beautifully capped shoulders to help achieve an hourglass physique.” TRISET 1 1. Seated Machine Singlearm Shoulder Press (4X12) 2. Plate Front Raise (4X15) 3. Standing Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise (4X20) TRISET 2 1. Rear-delt Flye on Pec Deck (3X15) 2. Bentover Dumbbell Flye (3X12) 3. Cable Cross Flye (3X15) SUPERSET 1 1. Incline Dumbbell Front Raise (3X12) 2. EZ-bar Reverse-grip Front Raise (3X12–15) SUPERSET 2 1. Cable Upright Row (STRAIGHT BAR; 4X12–15) 2. Leaning Barbell Side Lateral Raise (4X10–12) FINISHER 1. Seated Reverse Shoulder Press (5X12, 10, 10, 8, 8) CYDNEY…

〉 ROPE JUMPING BASIC BOUNCE (2 MINUTES) Keep feet close together, knees slightly bent, elbows close to ribs, turning rope with wrist and lightly bouncing off feet, jumping only about three centimetres off the ground. 〉 PANTHER CRAWL (1 MINUTE) Begin on all fours, crawling forward with left hand and right leg, then alternate sides. Keep back straight and knees low to ground throughout. 〉 ROPE JUMPING SKI JUMP/BELL JUMP (ALTERNATE 15 SECONDS EACH FOR A TOTAL OF 2 MINUTES) • Ski jump: Do three basic bounce jumps to get started. On the third jump, hop laterally to the right, pushing off outside of left foot. On the next revolution, hop laterally to the left, pushing off the outside of right foot. Keep the range of motion small to start.…

PULSE CLEAN KITCHEN ChocolateHazelnut Protein Cheesecake MAKES 8 SERVINGS What has been off-limits is now ready for the spotlight. This cheesecake is an indulgent mix of hazelnuts, chocolate, and graham crackers without the guilt! Think of it like your grandma’s recipe—but better. INGREDIENTS ¾ cup graham crackers ¼ cup coconut oil 2 cups plain, low-fat Greek yoghurt 2 cups extra-light cream cheese ½ cup chocolate protein powder 1 tbsp chocolatehazelnut spread (low sugar if possible) 2 tbsp roasted hazelnuts, chopped DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 2. Place crackers in a blender and blend until finely crushed. (Or you can put them in a sandwich bag and mash with a rolling pin.) 3. Melt oil in the microwave for 1 minute, then pour it over crushed crackers. Stir together until…

YOUR WRIST IS one of your skeleton’s most complex structures. “Most joints have two or three bones, but the wrist has eight — so it’s like having eight marbles that all have to work together to allow your wrist to move”, explains Michelle Carlson, MD, a hand and upper-extremity surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. When you consider that your wrist is the bridge between whatever weight you are holding and the muscles in the rest of your body, it’s no wonder that it can get strained during a training session. The most common complaint among active women is tendonitis in the wrist, although arthritis can also develop — even among younger patients. “Tendonitis can occur if you don’t hold the wrist in the correct position”,…

1 GET A DOG (OR JOIN A FRIEND) 〉 TAKING FIDO FOR A WALK 20 MINUTES TWICE A DAY CAN HELP YOU SHED MORE THAN FIVE KILOGRAMS A YEAR. 2 | SQUAT HEAVY 〉 Adding weight without compromising your form recruits more muscle fibres, so you’ll get stronger while burning more fat. 3 | GO FAST 〉 Run 10 90-metre sprints to burn up to 500 calories. 4 | TAKE YOUR TIME 〉 Wait 20 minutes before going up for a second helping. 5 | USE A BLUE DINNER PLATE 〉 Studies show the colour blue has an appetite-suppressing effect (as opposed to red and yellow plates). 6 | LOAD UP ON FIBRE 〉 Lentils, beans, edamame, and pears are all great sources to help you stay full between meals and…

Recipes TIP: Glycaemic index, a measure of how high blood sugar rises and how long it remains high, depends on the quality and quantity of carbs you eat. In most cases, lower GI foods are better— except post-workout, when higher GI foods can replenish muscle glycogen stores. • FOR TOO LONG, carbohydrates has been a bad word. We’ve embraced the idea that cutting out most forms of carbs from our diets will help us lose weight and build muscle. And certainly, eliminating the most processed forms — white flour, white rice, plain pasta — can go a long way toward helping you reach your fat-loss goals. But as an active woman, you can’t afford to fear carbohydrates. In fact, the right type and amount can make a huge difference in your…

PULSE FIT IN 5 WITH PAIGE How it works: Do the sequence as many times as possible for five minutes. Rest 10 seconds at the end of each cycle. 〉 Weighted Towel Push Place weight on a folded towel. Get into a deep squat and push top of weight while duck-walking forward for 30 seconds in a deep squat. 〉 Single-leg Curl Lie face-up on floor, knees bent, placing towel under right foot. Hold weight over chest with arms extended. Lift hips. Keeping hips stable and glutes tight, extend right leg, using towel to slide foot out and back. Do 15 reps per side, keeping weight lifted. 〉 Weighted Towel Pull Reverse the Towel Push by duck-walking backwards, pulling for 30 seconds. 〉 Towel Slide Reverse Lunge with Rotation Place…

FOR BETTER WORKOUTS Beet-Apple Juice Naturally occurring nitrates in beets and spinach can increase muscularcontraction force and help your muscles use oxygen more efficiently to generate the energy needed to keep up the pace. 2 medium-size beets 2 red-skinned apples 1 medium carrot 2 cups spinach ½ English cucumber ½ lemon, peeled 1 - centimetre piece fresh ginger PER SERVING Calories: 167, Fat: 1g, Carbs: 42g, Protein: 4g CHEF'S TIP TO MAKE EACH JUICE, SLICE THE INGREDIENTS TO THE SIZE NEEDED TO FIT THROUGH THE FEED TUBE OF YOUR JUICER, TWO TO FIVE CENTIMETRES, FOR MAXIMUM JUICE EXTRACTION. RUN ALL THE INGREDIENTS THROUGH THE JUICER. SERVE IMMEDIATELY OVER ICE, OR CHILL IN THE REFRIGERATOR UNTIL READY TO DRINK. ALL JUICES SERVE TWO. (Not shown) FOR MORE BRAIN POWER Blueberry-Cabbage Juice…

The supercar circle might be getting bigger, but it’s also getting harder to make the cut. These days 500hp will see you falling short, ending up somewhere in boulevard-cruising GT land, or in uber-hot hatch clubs. Yet that’s exactly where the Aston Martin Vantage used to dwell, although its brand cachet and looks made sure not too many were aware of this ignominy. For 2025 Aston Martin has decided to stuff the Vantage’s pants with a few extra pairs of AMG socks. In simple terms, beat the competition by offering the biggest horsepower package. What sort of competition? A fine selection of four-wheel’d rockets including the Mercedes AMG GT, Porsche 911 Turbo, and Lamborghini Huracan Evo. Now Aston Martin’s entry-level model has usurped its rivals in the power stakes. It…

NIKE METCON 2 Get the most out of your CrossFit workouts with these lightweight but durable shoes. The Metcon 2s are designed to give you better stability when lifting weights, plus the flat platforms and firm rubber heels give you the stability you need for explosive lifting. They also feature zero-drag heel clips that are great for exercises such as handstand push-ups (R1 800, nike.com) ADIDAS POWERLIFT.3 Designed specifically for Olympic weightlifting workouts, the Powerlift.3 features a combination of materials that work perfectly together. The end result is a lightweight, durable, anti-slip shoe that provides a wide, stable base to kill it in the gym. (R1 200, adidas.com) REEBOK RBK WRIST WRAP Wrists can become overloaded when you’re trying to set your next PR. Sidestep injury by wearing these wraps…

• YOU KNOW protein is essential to help you perform at your best, but all forms of this nutrient are not created equal. In fact, every form of protein has its own specific purity, absorption rate, and level of effectiveness. And with supplement brands continuing to create their own twists to their protein blend, it’s important to understand how these different forms function. PURITY: CONCENTRATE VS. ISOLATE Most proteins have both a concentrate and isolate form. The main difference: How much pure protein you’ll find in each powder. A concentrate is generally made up of 70 to 80% pure protein, with the remaining calories coming from fats or carbs. A protein isolate is purer, with any-where from 85 to 95% of the powder coming from protein. ABSORPTION RATES Different forms…