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Fitness: Keep it simple in the weight room

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3 weeks ago

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There are lots of exercise variations designed more to gain Instagram followers than pack on muscle or build strength. Photo by Astarot /Getty Images/iStockphoto

The internet is full of trainers showing off fancy variations of basic weight-training exercises. One-legged squats, bicep curls with multiple grip changes, push-ups with varied hand and leg positions and lunges with jumps or twists are just some of ways exercises are changed in the name of improved results. But do changes in grip or body position really make you stronger?

Admittedly, not all exercise variations are done with the promise of bigger, stronger muscles. Some modifications are designed to accommodate injury, sport specific movements, limitations in range of motion or a specific piece of equipment. But there are lots of exercise variations designed more to gain Instagram followers than pack on muscle or build strength.That’s not to say there’s no benefit to adding variety to your weight-training routine. Varying the speed, amount of weight/resistance and number of repetitions and sets are all effective ways to challenge a muscle or group of muscles. But when it comes to modifying exercises that target the same muscle group, the jury is still out as to whether familiarity is more effective than variety.

Typically, the more complicated the exercise, the more likely the exerciser will have to decrease the amount of weight, number of repetitions or jeopardize technique to accommodate the added difficulty. And since overloading the targeted muscles is the No. 1 principle of strength training, decreasing the intensity of the set can diminish results.

When does variety go from being the spice of life to more trouble than it’s worth? It’s a question Brazilian researchers tackled by comparing the results of two nine-week strength training programs, one that maintained the same list of exercises for each muscle group and another that varied the exercises. The workout program was performed three times a week on non-consecutive days and included upper, lower and core body exercises. The study subjects, all males between 18-35 years with previous experience in the weight room, performed the same number of sets and repetitions (3 sets of 8-12 exercises with 90-120 seconds between exercises and sets).

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The basic list of exercises (bench press, front lat pull down, bicep curl, tricep extension, leg press and lying leg curl was repeated by group one for the length of the study. Group two, had a different list of exercises for each of the three weekly workout days (bench press to incline bench press and decline bench press, front lat pull down to back lat pull down and narrow grip lat pull down, bicep curl to preacher curl and incline dumbbell curl, tricep extension to cable seated triceps extension and triceps kickback pulley, leg press to half squat and hack squat machine, lying leg curl to seated leg curl and seated unilateral leg curl).At the end of the nine-week study, there were no significant differences in strength gains between the two groups.

“From a practical point of view, our results suggest that maintaining or varying the exercises for the same muscle group throughout a resistance training program promotes similar adaptations to maximum dynamic strength,” the researchers said.Given sticking with the same exercises offered similar results as changing them up there’s something to be said for the KISS Principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), especially when it comes to strength training. Simple exercises are easily mastered, which makes experimenting with other ways to vary your workout routine a lot less complicated. Adding weight, varying the speed or directional plane (the path the weight travels) or making small adjustments in body position are all good options when done one at a time, but exercises that try to do too much offer too little return.

There’s a lot of hype about changing an exercise to target specific parts of a muscle, but there’s little science behind its effectiveness. Getting stronger is all about increasing the intensity of your workout in small progressive steps. So, while it’s tempting to try some of the exercises showcased by fitness influencers on social media, the benefits are questionable — especially if the overall intensity of your workout diminishes while you try and master the intricacies of the movement.That said, learning new exercises and changing up your routine can keep your workout fresh. Just remember the changes don’t need to be huge. Don’t venture too far out of your comfort zone, keeping in mind technique is king. An Instagram-worthy exercise done poorly isn’t just ineffective, it could lead to injury. Many a back, knee and shoulder has felt the effects of an ill-timed or poorly executed twist, swing or lift.

Keep your exercise selection simple, effective and challenging and leave the fancy variations to those who make a living by the number of likes and shares. For all of us expected to show up to work every morning, get the kids in and out their car seats and roll heavy garbage cans to the curb, the KISS Principle delivers more than enough strength.

 

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New image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows thousands upon thousands of stars in a galaxy 17 million light years away – Yahoo Canada

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2 hours ago

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June 5, 2023

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Every single dot you see is a star. There are thousands upon thousands of stars in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

  • The James Webb Space Telescope snapped a new image of a galaxy 17 million light-years away.

  • Thousands upon thousands of stars are visible, many of which are concentrated in the galaxy’s heart.

  • JWST is peering into the hearts of many galaxies to help scientists better understand star formation.

With the power of the James Webb Space Telescope, we can peer into the mysterious hearts of galaxies. And that’s exactly what you’re seeing here, in this new image from Webb of the galaxy NGC 5068.

NGC 5068 is located about 17 million light-years from Earth. For perspective, the Milky Way’s neighborhood of galaxies called the Local Group, is 5 million light-years away. So, this galaxy is beyond what we might consider close.

Each individual dot of white light you can see is a star, per Mashable. NASA said there are thousands upon thousands of stars in this image. And many of them are hanging out at the galaxy’s center, which you can see in the upper left as a bright bar of white light.

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Skitched photo showing a red circle pointing to the center of galaxy NGC 5068.Skitched photo showing a red circle pointing to the center of galaxy NGC 5068.

The bright bar in the upper left of the image is where the most stars are concentrated.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

This region appears so bright because that’s where most of the stars are concentrated. That’s also where all the action is.

James Webb peers into the hearts of many galaxies to uncover their secrets

Most galaxies have an ultra-bright center due to warm dust that’s heated by massive bursts of star formation, according to the Harvard Smithsonian. And it’s this star formation that astronomers are interested in studying more with the help of JWST.

In fact, NGC 5068 is just one in a series of other galaxies Webb is observing for a project to help us better understand star formation. Webb has also taken images of the spiral galaxy IC 5332:

Picture of a spiral galaxy taken from James Webb Space Telescope. The spirals look like spider webs dotted by pink gaseous regions throughout the image.Picture of a spiral galaxy taken from James Webb Space Telescope. The spirals look like spider webs dotted by pink gaseous regions throughout the image.

The James Webb Telescope is peering into the hearts of many galaxies to help astronomers gain a better understanding of star formation, especially in the turbulent environments of galactic cores.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST Teams

And the heart of galaxy M74, aka the “Phantom Galaxy”:

Blue heart of the Phantom Galaxy seen from the Webb Telescope.Blue heart of the Phantom Galaxy seen from the Webb Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope sees objects in infrared wavelengths, which allows it to peer past obstructive light that would otherwise block our ability to see into the hearts of galaxies.ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team./J. Schmidt

The James Webb Space Telescope has the advantage of seeing in the infrared.

Infrared wavelengths are too long for the human eye to detect. But they’re especially important for studying in space because they allow JWST to peer past obstructive visual light that would otherwise block our ability to see into the hearts of galaxies and their bustling environments of star formation.

“By observing the formation of stars in nearby galaxies, astronomers hope to kick-start major scientific advances with some of the first available data from Webb,” NASA said.

Watch a video of NGC 5068 below:

Read the original article on Business Insider

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ESA – Nicolas Bobrinsky on innovation and risk management | ESA Masterclass – European Space Agency

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June 5, 2023

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Innovation is triggered by many drivers. One of these is the constant need for ESA to develop innovative solutions, such as unique spacecraft technologies.

In this first video, Nicolas recalls how he and his team had to think outside the box to find a solution for ESA to communicate with Ulysses. The spacecraft was flying around the north pole of the Sun, which is much farther in deep space than satellites had been launched up to that point.

The success of this solution motivated the decision to build ESA’s first deep-space communications antennas in New Norcia, in Australia, thus enabling many ESA scientific firsts in deep-space exploration.

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The antennas would, some decades after, be critically important receivers for the messages sent by the very distant Rosetta probe, on its quest to find and land on the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and other ESA science and exploration missions such as Mars Express, Venus Express and Cassini-Huygens.

With 35 years of experience at ESA, Nicolas Bobrinsky is the former Head of Ground Systems Engineering & Innovation Department. He initiated and further managed the Space Situational Awareness and later the ESA Space Safety Programme.

In four episodes of this new series of ESA Masterclass, Nicolas takes us through major events in his career at ESA, covering cornerstone missions, first attempts, overcoming technical challenges, leading diverse teams and solving the unexpected problems that are part of any space endeavour. 

Access all episodes of ESA Masterclass with Nicolas Brobinsky.

Access all ESA Masterclass videos.


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Behind Galactic Bars: Webb Telescope Unlocks Secrets of Star Formation

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13 hours ago

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June 4, 2023

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This image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068 is a composite from two of the James Webb Space Telescope’s instruments, MIRI and NIRCam. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

 

<span class=”glossaryLink” aria-describedby=”tt” data-cmtooltip=”

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NASA
Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is &quot;To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.&quot; Its core values are &quot;safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion.&quot; NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”]”>NASA’s <span class=”glossaryLink” aria-describedby=”tt” data-cmtooltip=”

James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It covers longer wavelengths of light, with greatly improved sensitivity, allowing it to see inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today as well as looking further back in time to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”]”>James Webb Space Telescope has captured a detailed image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068. Part of a project to record star formation in nearby galaxies, this initiative provides significant insights into various astronomical fields. The telescope’s ability to see through gas and dust, typically hiding star formation processes, offers unique views into this crucial aspect of galactic evolution.

A delicate tracery of dust and bright star clusters threads across this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The bright tendrils of gas and stars belong to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, whose bright central bar is visible in the upper left of this image – a composite from two of Webb’s instruments. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson revealed the image on June 2 during an event with students at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland.

 

In this image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, from the James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI instrument, the dusty structure of the spiral galaxy and glowing bubbles of gas containing newly-formed star clusters are particularly prominent. Three asteroid trails intrude into this image, represented as tiny blue-green-red dots. Asteroids appear in astronomical images such as these because they are much closer to the telescope than the distant target. As Webb captures several images of the astronomical object, the asteroid moves, so it shows up in a slightly different place in each frame. They are a little more noticeable in images such as this one from MIRI, because many stars are not as bright in mid-infrared wavelengths as they are in near-infrared or visible light, so asteroids are easier to see next to the stars. One trail lies just below the galaxy’s bar, and two more in the bottom-left corner. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

 

NGC 5068 lies around 20 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This image of the central, bright star-forming regions of the galaxy is part of a campaign to create an astronomical treasure trove, a repository of observations of star formation in nearby galaxies. Previous gems from this collection can be seen here (IC 5332) and here (M74). These observations are particularly valuable to astronomers for two reasons. The first is because star formation underpins so many fields in astronomy, from the physics of the tenuous <span class=”glossaryLink” aria-describedby=”tt” data-cmtooltip=”

plasma
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, along with solid, liquid, and gas. It is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons. It was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”]”>plasma that lies between stars to the evolution of entire galaxies. By observing the formation of stars in nearby galaxies, astronomers hope to kick-start major scientific advances with some of the first available data from Webb.

NGC 5068 Webb NIRCam

This view of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, from the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument, is studded by the galaxy’s massive population of stars, most dense along its bright central bar, along with burning red clouds of gas illuminated by young stars within. This near-infrared image of the galaxy is filled by the enormous gathering of older stars which make up the core of NGC 5068. The keen vision of NIRCam allows astronomers to peer through the galaxy’s gas and dust to closely examine its stars. Dense and bright clouds of dust lie along the path of the spiral arms: These are H II regions, collections of hydrogen gas where new stars are forming. The young, energetic stars ionize the hydrogen around them, creating this glow represented in red. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team

 

The second reason is that Webb’s observations build on other studies using telescopes including the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories. Webb collected images of 19 nearby star-forming galaxies which astronomers could then combine with Hubble images of 10,000 star clusters, spectroscopic mapping of 20,000 star-forming emission nebulae from the <span class=”glossaryLink” aria-describedby=”tt” data-cmtooltip=”

Very Large Telescope
The Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is a visible and infrared wavelength telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is the world’s most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”]”>Very Large Telescope (VLT), and observations of 12,000 dark, dense molecular clouds identified by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). These observations span the electromagnetic spectrum and give astronomers an unprecedented opportunity to piece together the minutiae of star formation.

With its ability to peer through the gas and dust enshrouding newborn stars, Webb is particularly well-suited to explore the processes governing star formation. Stars and planetary systems are born amongst swirling clouds of gas and dust that are opaque to visible-light observatories like Hubble or the VLT. The keen vision at infrared wavelengths of two of Webb’s instruments — MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) — allowed astronomers to see right through the gargantuan clouds of dust in NGC 5068 and capture the processes of star formation as they happened. This image combines the capabilities of these two instruments, providing a truly unique look at the composition of NGC 5068.

The James Webb Space Telescope stands as the apex of space science observatories worldwide. Tasked with demystifying enigmas within our own solar system, Webb will also extend its gaze beyond, seeking to observe distant worlds orbiting other stars. In addition to this, it aims to delve into the cryptic structures and the origins of our universe, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of our position within the cosmic expanse. The Webb project is an international endeavor spearheaded by NASA, conducted in close partnership with the <span class=”glossaryLink” aria-describedby=”tt” data-cmtooltip=”

European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration and study of space. ESA was established in 1975 and has 22 member states, with its headquarters located in Paris, France. ESA is responsible for the development and coordination of Europe’s space activities, including the design, construction, and launch of spacecraft and satellites for scientific research and Earth observation. Some of ESA’s flagship missions have included the Rosetta mission to study a comet, the Gaia mission to create a 3D map of the Milky Way, and the ExoMars mission to search for evidence of past or present life on Mars.

” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”]”>European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.

 

 

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