High intensity or high volume? Posted by Mike Furci (01/18/2010 @ 9:31 am) 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.? Remember, if you’re training with 100% intensity and you’re not making gains, you’re not recovering. More is only better when it comes to sex and money.???????? Posted in: Arms, Back, Bodybuilding, Chest, General training, Legs, Power lifting, Weight training, Workout programs, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci Tags: Building muscle, High intensity training, high intensity weight training, How to gain muscle, muscle building, Tips for more muscle, Tips to gain muscle, Tips to put on Muscle, Weight training, weight training routines, weight training workouts, Workout tips to gain muscle
Training Frequency Posted by Mike Furci (06/13/2009 @ 11:00 am) How often can, or more importantly, should I train per week? Optimum recovery time between training sessions is essential if one is going to continue to make progress. Training frequency, which is determined by ones recovery ability, is often a forgotten part of most training protocols. It never ceases to amaze me how many people train for months and years experiencing little or no success, and never consider the fact they may be doing too much.
Don’t be so concerned with how many training sessions you can handle per week. Be more concerned about the optimal amount. More is not always better. In fact, when somebody comes to me for advice because they’ve stopped making progress, usually I either reduce the workout volume or add days off. There is no reason in going to the gym if you’re not going to make progress. In every workout, if you have fully recovered, and you come ready to work, you should make progress, which is gauged by your strength. How can anyone get stronger every workout? One can only bench press so much. Eventually, you have to hit a plateau. This is true. If one stays with the same exercises, the same number of reps and the same number of sets, progress may eventually stop. If the proper changes aren’t made at the right time, eventually the body adapts to the stimulus. And this is where the “art” of program design comes to play. It’s easy to follow a workout. The real challenge is assuring the stimulus is sufficient and more importantly, you recovery from workout to workout so that progress continues over a long period of time. Sometimes this entails having the discipline to deviate from something that is not working. If you’re not making progrss, and you’re training with all out intensity, try taking an extra day off. Posted in: Abs, Arms, Back, Bodybuilding, Chest, Endurance, Exercise, General fitness, General training, Legs, Neck, Power lifting, Running, Specific workouts, Swimming, Weight training, Workout programs Tags: adding muscle, Building muscle, how many training sessions per week?, How often can I train?, how often should one train?, lifting weights, muscle building, muscle building exercises, muscle building programs, muscle building routines, muscle building tips, muscle building tips advice, optimal amount of training, Tips for more muscle, Tips to gain muscle, Tips to put on Muscle, Training frequency, Weight Lifting advice, Weight lifting tips, Weight training, weight training routines, weight training workouts, working out, workout myths
The Skinny Guy Workout Posted by Anthony Stalter (04/13/2009 @ 9:42 pm) If you?re a hard gainer, you?ve likely tried all kinds of workouts trying to add size to your frame. But as Men?s Fitness.com points out, your problem probably lies somewhere in between working out too much and not eating enough. MF.com highlights three exercises to do for all hard gainers, as well as some dieting tips to help pack on the muscle. WORKOUT Perform these exercises three days per week, resting at least a day between sessions. Vary the sets and reps, too. On Day 1, complete five sets of five reps for each lift, resting two minutes between sets. On Day 3, do four sets of 10, resting 90 seconds. On Day 5, do three sets of 15 reps with 60?90 seconds’ rest in between.
1.Squat Set up a barbell on the supports of a squat rack. Step underneath the bar, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and let the bar touch your upper traps. Grab the bar with your hands as close together as is comfortable. Nudge the bar off the rack, take three steps backward, and stand with your feet a bit wider than shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly outward [1]. Take a deep breath and bend your hips back as far as you can, keeping the arch in your lower back. Then bend your knees and lower your body as far as you can (try to squat to where your thighs are at least parallel to the floor) [2]. Explode back upward to the starting position. That’s one rep. 2. Clean and Press Set a barbell on the floor, crouch down, and grab it with hands shoulder-width apart. Your lower back should be in its natural arch [1]. Explosively stand up and shrug the bar, coming up onto the balls of your feet. As the bar rises to chest level, flip your wrists over so that your palms face the ceiling and your upper arms are in the bottom position of a shoulder press [2]. From here, press the bar straight overhead [3]. Reverse the motion to return the weight to the floor. That’s one rep. If you feel your back is rounding when you pull the weight off the floor, perform the exercise by starting with the bar at just above knee height, and “muscle” the weight up from there. 3. Pullup Grab a pullup bar with an overhand grip, hands outside shoulder width. Allow your body to hang [1]. Pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar [2], and then lower yourself back to the starting position. That’s one rep. Depending on how many reps you need to do, you can add weight using a belt or holding a dumbbell between your feet (you may need to do this on the five sets of five day). You can also use an elastic exercise band to help you perform more reps (such as on the 10- and 15-rep workout days). You can get a jump stretch band that works great for this at elitefts.com.
Check out MF.com?s tips for eating for more muscle. Posted in: Bodybuilding, Exercise, General training, Nutrition, Specific workouts, Sports Health and Fitness, Weight training, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci Tags: Deit tips to gain muscle, How to gain muscle, How to put on weight when you're skinny, Tips to gain muscle, Tips to put on Muscle, Workout tips to gain muscle, Workouts for hard gainers, Workouts for skinny guys
The Push-up. Switch it up. Posted by Mike Furci (03/30/2009 @ 11:13 am) Do you train at home and feel there is not enough variety? To help switch things up, change what muscles you stimulate during push-ups by changing hand and foot positions. A study conducted by scientists from the University of Athens compared standard push-ups (hands shoulder width apart, legs supported on toes) with modified push-ups (?women?s push-ups,? with legs supported on knees), hands wider than shoulder width, hands together, hands above the chest, and hands below the chest. Women?s push-ups decreased the overall load by about 15%. The wider hand position stimulated the pecs more, while the triceps were targeted more with a narrow hand position. Next time you do push-ups, decide which body parts you want to stimulate more and position your hands accordingly. (J Strength Cond Res, 19:146-151, 2005)
If you want to increase the difficulty of the movement above that of a standard push-up, use a stability ball. Start with the ball just below your knees. To make the movement more difficult move the ball towards your feet making sure to keep your body rigid and straight throughout the movement. Posted in: Arms, Chest, General fitness, General training Tags: Building muscle, Chest, gain muscle, home workouts, increase pushups, muscle building, perfect pushup, perfect pushup workout, push-up, pushup routines, pushup workout program, pushup workouts, standard push-ups, tips for gaining strength and muscle, Tips for more muscle, Tips to gain muscle, Tips to put on Muscle, training at home, Triceps, varying your hand position to change the muscles worked
Q and A with Mike Furci Posted by Mike Furci (03/23/2009 @ 11:08 am) 
Q: Mike, I was told to do dumbbell flys on an incline bench (35-40 degrees). wrong? better? worse? A: Better? No. Different? Yes. As the angel of the incline starts to go beyond 30% the only difference is the degree to which the deltoids are used. And while we’re on the subject of angled benches, don’t even bother with decline bench. It is a myth that it stimulates the bottom portion of the pec muscles more than the flat bench. Also, if you’re performing different angles to change the shape of your pecs, it’s not going to happen. Your shape is genetically predetermined. Train with 100% intensity and stick with the basics.
Read the rest @ Q&A Posted in: Arms, Bodybuilding, Chest, Foods products, General training, Protein, Weight training Tags: angle of the incline bench, Building muscle, building size, Building strength, building your chest, changing the shape of your chest, chest training, decline bench, dumbell flys, Headlines, How to gain muscle, incline bench, muscle building programs, Q & A, tips for gaining strength and muscle, Tips to gain muscle, Tips to put on Muscle, Weight Lifting advice, weight lifting technique, Weight lifting tips, Weight training, weight training programs, weight training routines, weight training workouts, Workout tips to gain muscle
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