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If you’re having a hard time getting your abs to come in, make sure you’re not passing by the squat rack on your way to the exercise mat to do countless crunches. Squats and deadlifts essentially work your abs just as well (if not more) than standard crunches. If you’re looking for a solid ab routine to supplement into your workout, try this one from Men’s Fitness.com. It’s basic and you can do it on your off days. Filed under: Workout programs and Specific workouts and Abs and Xternal Fitness and Xternal Furci Comments: None |
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It’s no secret that when most guys decide to start lifting weights, they do it to try and improve on one of these three muscle groups: their chest, arms and/or abs. Well, Bullz-Eye.com fitness editor Mike Furci has you covered on one of those three muscle groups in his two-part guide: Nine weeks to bigger arms. In part one, Mike discusses how to train your biceps, with a focus on four fundamental principles: variety, concentration, form (not poundage) and work the muscles from all angles. Mike also details the exercises, tempo and sets you should use to help develop your biceps. In part two, Mike writes about triceps and once again gives you the exercises, tempo and sets you need to complete your goal of bigger arms. Now all you need to do is get to work. Filed under: Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Bodybuilding and Specific workouts and Arms Comments: None |
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If you are approaching 40 years of age or beyond, you are probably starting to realize you can no longer train like you did in your twenties. I learned this lesson the hard way. At 36, I tore both quadriceps in seven places. Thank God the MRI revealed they were mainly fascia tears not requiring surgery. None-the-less, I had to walk with crutches for a week. 18 weeks later, I tore my right hamstring. At 38, I had to have my triceps reattached. At 39, I partially (20%-25%) tore my right pec, but opted not to get surgery. After that last injury I finally threw in the towel. I thought my days of pushing my body with high intensity workouts were over. Although, all the areas had been injured in previous years, I still trained in fear because none of these injuries had any preceding symptoms. Consequently, my training took on a very slow tempo with insufficient loads. This type of training left feeling like shit, physically and mentally. Why train at all if I can’t train hard. Instead of training smart and doing what I should do for my body, I was too concerned with how I wanted to train. Almost to the day, a year after I tore my pec, I was so frustrated with my lack of progress, I decided something had to give. I ended up going back to the basics. I came to the realization I had to train myself as I would any other client. I had to concern myself with what my body could and needed to do. The first thing I did was give up exercises that caused me pain no matter how much I loved performing them. One of these, unfortunately, was the barbell squat. With 2 bulging disks it’s not worth the pain or the risk. The second change I made was incorporating more functional exercises into my workouts. These mainly included unilateral exercises and a few stability exercises. Perhaps the biggest change I’ve made is the way I approached my work sets. Since I am no longer competing, there is no need for me to walk that tight rope between training with 100% intensity and injury. Don’t get me wrong, I still perform my sets to failure, but will not train through pain. I also stopped doing any kind of cheating at the end of my set to push the limits. In order to make gains one has to pushing the limits, but it has to be wrangled in. For this to happen, the goals you set that govern drive must be adjusted to your current capabilities. I have reached a point where I take my time with my goals by practicing wisdom not ego. Through training smarter, I found a renewed vigor and enjoyment I had 20 years ago. Filed under: Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Bodybuilding and Motivation Comments: 1 Comment |
Although I would recommend a lower volume, higher intensity approach, the above article has some great info on getting the job done with quality instead of quantity. I’m glad to see articles in mainstream magazines debunking the myth that more is better. Filed under: General fitness and Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Bodybuilding and Specific workouts Comments: 1 Comment |
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Common knowledge tells us that if we want to pack on muscle, weights – and therefore a gym for most of us – are necessary to accomplish our goals. However, using weights doesn’t need to be the end-all-be-all to get in shape. Here’s an article by Men’s Health.com that shows you five ways to get stronger without lifting weights. In the article, you’ll find ways to add stress to your muscles doing the simplest of movements, develop better balance, and incorporate multiple muscle groups while doing exercises like lunges, sit ups and pushups. I’m not encouraging anyone to ditch your weight lifting routine for this workout, instead incorporate this into your regular regime as a way to maximize your gains. Filed under: Exercise and General fitness and Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Xternal Fitness and Xternal Furci Comments: None |
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Being a writer, the majority of my day is spent sitting at a desk and starring at a computer all day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – I love my job. The only problem is sitting at a desk all day is apparently limiting my gains in the gym, and now I am complaining. I stumbled onto this article at MSN.com about posture in reference to your shoulders and chest. Human instincts tell us to slouch forward while typing or reading at a computer and with that, our heads also come forward, putting more weight on our neck, upper back and shoulders. Our chest is also affected:
Now why the hell are we going to log so much time on the bench press if we’re just going to waste that effort the next six or so hours sitting behind a desk? The article recommends doing “10 standing shoulder retractions every hour when working at a computer.” Stand and pull your shoulder blades together – while also keeping your head and shoulders above your pelvis – for 3 seconds. This movement forces your chest muscles to extend, which prevents them from becoming permanently shortened. The article also gets into ways to strengthen the muscles around our shoulders (i.e. rear delts, rotator-cuff, scapular), which we tend to ignore because we don’t see them when we look for gains in the mirror. Doing some of these recommended exercises will in turn grow the muscles will can check out in the mirror, as well as keep our posture straight so that doesn’t effect our workout gains. Plus, as a general rule of thumb, you should always be working out the surrounding muscles in every group, not just your shoulders. Filed under: General fitness and Workout programs and Men's Health and Wellness and Chest and Medical Issues for Men and Xternal Fitness and Xternal Furci Comments: 2 Comments |
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It’s often understated just how effect dumbbells can be to one’s workout. While a complete workout should tailor to barbell, machine and dumbbell exercises, the benefits of packing your routine with dumbbell movements are highly beneficial. Just some of the key benefits to using dumbbells: · Range of motion. Unlike most barbell exercises, which lock you into a fixed plane of movement, dumbbells require more of the smaller, stabilizing muscle groups to come into play. When you strengthen and build the stabilizing muscle groups, you can max the value of doing core exercises such as the bench press and squat. · Isolation. When using dumbbells, you’re more apt to target the muscle group you’re trying to workout. When using a barbell during exercise, people have the tendency to overcompensate on one side just to get the bar moving. Dumbbells force you to isolate the muscle group you’re working out. ·Relatively inexpensive. Anyone looking to build a home gym or someone who just doesn’t have the time to get to the gym can benefit from a couple of inexpensive dumbbells. Depending on weight, dumbbells usually only range from $20 to $100, so there’s no excuse not to have a couple stored under the bed for quick workouts if you can’t get to the gym. As previously noted, a complete workout should have exercises ranging in barbells, dumbbells and machines, but don’t be afraid to overload your routine with dumbbell movements. Click here to learn more information on dumbbell workouts and their benefits. Filed under: Exercise and General fitness and Workout programs and Weight training and General training Comments: None |
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As a beginner – or even if you’re experienced – nothing can be more embarrassing than jumping up on a bar and only banging out one pull-up. In fact, the average person approaches the pull-up bar like he or she is about to steal something, looking around to see if anyone else is watching before hammering out a sloppy, uncontrolled couple of sets. Well, stop it, because you’re only hurting yourself by not maximizing the value the pull-up can bring. Your latissimus dorsi (back) is the biggest muscle in your body and if you want a V-shape torso, the pull-up can’t be viewed as the red headed stepchild of your workout any longer. Here is an article from Men’s Health magazine dedicated to mastering the pull-up. It has a step-by-step guide on helping you improve add reps to your pull-up routine. It doesn’t matter if you can do 0 to 1 reps or 8 to 12, this article should help you maximize the benefits of the pull-up. Here’s a taste of what the article offers. For the entire column, click here.
Filed under: Uncategorized and Exercise and Workout programs and Weight training and Bodybuilding and Specific workouts and Back and Xternal Fitness and Xternal Furci Comments: None |
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The question, “What’s best workout for building strength and muscle?” has been the subject of heated debates for years. My answer is always the same. There is no one workout that is the best. There is no one workout that works for all. However, there are training principles that do apply to everybody. Anatomically and physiologically we are identical. A bicep is a bicep and has the exact same function from person to person. An aorta is an aorta. Our anatomical structures may have different shapes and sizes, but they all function the same. This holds true for all tissues in our bodies from blood to hormones. If this weren’t true medicine could not exist. How could an anesthesiologist do his job if everybody were different? Therefore, in order to get bigger, stronger muscles the same stimulus is needed. That stimulus is short, intense training sessions. Why short? Because we have known for centuries the body can either train long or train hard. A perfect example is to compare distance runners to sprinters. Because of the types of training, one is emaciated looking and one is muscular. Remember you can not sprint a mile. Is it difficult to run a mile, yes? But it is essentially impossible to run a mile with 100% intensity. The other factor one needs to take into consideration for building bigger, stronger muscles is recovery. How much or how often can you train? Or better yet, how much “should” you train? Here is where the differences in genetics lie. Our muscles need the exact same stimulus in order to cause a chain of events that forces them to adapt by making bigger stronger muscles. However, the rate at which we are able to recover from these intense bouts is as different as the shapes and sizes of our bodies. So what are you to do? If you’re training using the typical muscle building routine, which is 3 or more working sets per exercise and 4 or more sessions a week, and not getting anywhere, change it. First, reduce your sets per exercise by half and only train each body part once a week. If you still don’t make gains or you plateau after a short, while reduce your sets again. If you’re not making gains, you’re not recovering. More is only better when it comes to sex and money. Filed under: Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Bodybuilding and Power lifting Comments: None |
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Time under tension is a great tool to use when trying to make gains in size and strength. It’s well accepted that in order for one to stimulate muscle to induce gains the optimum time under tension is 20 – 60 seconds for the vast majority of people. In the April 2007 issue of Ironman magazine William Litz has written an article on extending time under tension using partial, burns and X-reps. Let me start by addressing the before and after pictures included on the second page of the author. Underneath the pictures it states, “William Litz took his physique from a soft 220 to a hard, abs blazing 210 in only eight weeks using X-reps partials and stretch overload.” Does he really think the readers of this magazine are that deficient in their reasoning ability they wouldn’t see how ludicrous the caption under the pictures is? In a word, YES. Remember that magazines primarily exist to sell product and could care less about dispensing valid training advice. Most of what is found in muscle magazines is nonsense filler, like this article. In this worthless article Litz states, “Why burns fell out of favor is beyond me. It clearly produced amazing builds in the decades before chemical warfare.” Yet performing burns and partials for over ten years proved ineffective for him. He used partials and burns sice the early 90’s, but didn’t make “ab blazing” gains until using X-reps, which are a variation of partials and burns. Litz also claims new research indicates that bottom, or stretch position burns are more beneficial, but to keep variety alive. No research is sited in the article. Litz would like you to keep in mind that stretch position partials can activate a lot of fibers and may even lead to fiber splitting, if such a phenomenon exists. It may lead to, if such a phenomenon exists? Are you kidding me? You could actually transport yourself from place to place within seconds if such a devise existed. The fact is, we humans have a finite ability to recover from physical stress. Stress induced by high intensity training is no exception. There is no reason what-so-ever to take a set beyond momentary positive failure. In fact, partials, negatives and other forms of extending sets fell out of favor because they do more to over-train individuals than anything else. Top bodybuilders are always sited as proof a certain training program works, but what about the 10’s of thousands who use these vary programs and get nowhere. You can not force growth. If your progress has come to a halt, you’re not recovering. Using partials and burns should only be used by advanced lifters wth low frequency. Pushing beyond, doing more without allowing recovery, will only exacerbate the problem. Filed under: Workout programs and Weight training and General training and Bodybuilding and Magazine Hype Comments: None |
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