MrTrainer Newsletter   Week of April 2, 2001   Keeping you up-to-date every single week! Trainer's Corner How Wide? People often ask me how wide they should grip the barbell during bench presses. The answer depends on what muscle areas they are trying to target. A grip on the barbell wider than your shoulders will decrease triceps involvement and target your pectorals more. A grip on the barbell about shoulder-width apart will target the triceps more than a wider grip, often called a "close-grip" bench press. NEVER grip the bar with less than 10 inches between your hands or you'll risk damaging your wrists. Narrow grips will usually reduce the amount of weight you can bench press due to the poor leverage of the arms. Please note that regardless of the grip you take, the triceps, pectoralis, and shoulder muscles are always involved, and that grip width changes only the emphasis of these three muscles. It is a good idea to vary your grip width for prevention of repetitive stress injuries and for maximum stimulation of the muscle fibers.   Doc Talk Oxygen Oxygen is the vital gas we breathe, although it only comprises 21% of the air that fills our lungs. The other 79% is made up of other gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, xenon, etc. A common misconception is that higher altitudes contain less oxygen. That isn't true. The concentration of oxygen at the top of Mt. Everest is still 21%. However the pressure of the oxygen is much lower, so it isn't "pushed" across your lung membranes as easily. Therefore, climbers use supplemental oxygen to enrich the amount that they inhale, to compensate for the lower pressures. Training at higher altitudes stimulates the bone marrow to make more red blood cells--this is a trick athletes use to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of blood when they return to compete at sea level. But this only works to a point--if the red cell content gets too high, the viscosity (or thickness) of the blood increases, making it more difficult for your heart to pump the blood. Hyberbaric chambers are like the opposite of Mt. Everest. They are sealed chambers where a certain level of oxygen can be pushed into the body at higher pressures. They are used for a variety of medical purposes where high tissue levels of oxygen are needed (treating "the bends" in diving, deep tissue infections or burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning--to name a few). What about these oxygen "bars" where people pay to breathe in extra oxygen? Although I don't doubt that you do in fact receive higher oxygen levels, the real question is: who cares? If you are a normal, healthy person your blood oxygen saturation is probably 99-100% on "room air" oxygen anyway. I may not be a mathematician, but if you're already at 100%, that's it--that's as high as you can go. If, on the other hand, you have a heart or lung condition that requires oxygen, you should be under the care of a physician, not a 17 year-old at the mall. Save your money and work out instead.   About MrTrainer newsletter is a weekly publication. Trainers Corner is written by Matthew Beeners, ACE certified personal trainer. Doc Talk is written by William L. Harrison, M.D. THIS COLUMN IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY—IT IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE THE ADVICE OF YOUR PERSONAL PHYSICIAN. Copyright (C) 2001 MrTrainer. All Rights Reserved.   Did you know? The most vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables are the healthiest. Favorite Links Get Your Six Pack Eat Right Common Myths Past Newsletters User Q&A Please Note: Forward this newsletter to everyone you know. It is my goal to get people thinking about their health. Some day they may thank you for it. Coming soon to the website: "Workout Shortcuts" and "The Skinny on Bodyfat."   http://www.mrtrainer.com

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