Muscle Build Your Muscle Building Workouts

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I have 2 muscle building videos for you today. One is from Vince De Monte at No Nonsense Muscle Building. Vince (formerly skinny Vinny) is the guy known for taking the skinniest of guy's and packing muscle on them.


The second is from Sean Nalewanyj of Muscle Gain Truth. Sean understands the process of muscle building completely. he knows that building muscles is not easy at all. A quote from his book reads like - "Building muscle is one of the simplest things to understand but one of the most difficult to implement".


Muscle Building Exercises & Tips For Skinny Guys
Grab The #1 Best Selling Muscle Building Program at www.VinceDelMonteWorkout.com This Is TheSite That Includes The Most Powerful & Effective Muscle Building Workouts For Skinny Hard Gainers. You Are Guaranteed To Build Up To 41 Pounds Of Lean Muscle ...





The #1 Muscle Building Workout Tool
 www.MuscleGainTruth.com Learn how to build muscle and gain weight with these free natural bodybuilding tips. Improve your health, increase your energy, skyrocket your confidence and feel better than e...




Fact: 95% of people who begin a muscle building program will NEVER see any significant results! Learn how to avoid these fatal bodybuilding pitfalls and finally achieve the ripped, rock-solid physique you deserve...

Be one of the 5% yeah it takes work alot of work but it is well worth it when you start seeing the results.

If you are Serious about Building Muscle then these two guys can help you big time.

Building Muscle Workouts 6 Reasons Your Not Building Muscle

6 Reasons You’ve STOPPED Building Muscle, Part I (Today 1-3)


By Joel Marion and Vince Del Monte

Training your butt off but not really getting anywhere? Put on “some” muscle, but can’t seem to add any more? Simply not progressing fast enough? If you can relate to any of those scenarios, then you’re going to love this 2 part article as we’re getting ready to unleash six BIG reasons why you’ve stopped building muscle.

Reason #1: Lack of Frequency

The old adage of training a muscle once per week to allow for recovery is DEAD. If you’re not training a muscle multiple times each week, you’re simply NOT going to make optimal gains, period.

But, let’s go back and dissect the “reasoning” of this whole philosophy.

If you train, and train hard, you’re likely to get sore. Conventional wisdom tells you that you should wait until you’re no longer sore to train again. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom is faulty here.

You see, if you don’t train your body to improve it’s recovery capacity by training when you’re sore, then you’re body has no reason to improve it’s recovery capacity.

Want to train a muscle 3 times per week and reap double or triple gains? Then you need to teach your body to recover faster by training more frequently.

Beyond that, let’s further bury the myth that training a muscle while sore hampers recovery.

•Nosaka K, Clarkson P.M. Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc., 27(9):1263-1269,1995.

•Smith LL., Fuylmer MG., Holbert D., McCammon MR., Houmard JA., Frazer DD., Nsien E., Isreal RG. The impact of repeated bout of eccentric exercise on muscular strength, muscle soreness and creatine kinase. Br J Sp Med 28(4):267-271, 1994.

•T.C. Chen, Taipei Physical Education College, and S.S. Hsieh, FACSM,. The effects of a seven-day repeated eccentric training on recovery from muscle damage. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp. S71, 1999.

All 3 of these studies came to the same conclusion: training a sore muscle does NOT adversely affect recovery. In fact, when done properly, doing so can actually speed up the recovery process by shuttling nutrient rich blood to recuperating muscle tissue.

Here’s the deal: The more frequently you can stimulate a muscle to grow, the more it will grow. Sounds simple, and it is.

One small caveat, however: obviously when upping training frequency you can potentially run in to the problem of “overreaching” or burning yourself out. The important thing is to listen to your body and train as frequently as possible. If you’re motivated to train and feel “good”, then have at it.

Reason #2: You’re muscles don’t have enough “room” to grow

Huh? Not enough “room”? Allow us to explain.

All muscle is bound by connective tissue called fascia, which surrounds individual muscle fibers (endomysium), groups of fibers (perimysium), and entire muscles (epimysium). This fascia tissue is continuous with the tendon and functions to conduct the forces generated by the contractile proteins actin and myosin through the tendon, to the bone.

Here’s the problem: these “protective coverings” that surround all muscle tissue lack elasticity. Meaning, when a muscle grows and fills the “bag”, trying to shove more muscle into the same size bag becomes difficult.

Think of a hot water bottle that holds 16 ounces of water. Now fill it with 20 ounces of water. Go ahead; do it!

What do you mean you can’t?

You see, no matter how hard you try to fit 20 ounces into a 16 ounce hot water bottle, it aint gonna happen, not unless you somehow stretch the bottle so it can hold more water.

Well, it’s the same thing with fascia tissue; it can only hold in so much muscle, and when the lining gets full, the rate of growth is dramatically decreased.

Enter “regulatory feedback”.

Essentially, you very well may be stimulating your muscles to grow through proper diet and training, but if the surrounding fascia tissue is not expanding at the same rate, you can bet your bottom dollar that your brain will respond by putting the kabosh on growth.

Fortunately, there are several things you can do to “stretch” this fascia tissue and avoid this form of regulatory feedback — we’ll teach you those in another article this week.



Reason #3: Muscular Imbalances

While we’re on the topic of regulatory feedback, it’s fitting to address another major initiator of R.F. activity, and that’s muscular imbalances.

Simply put, your body wants things to be symmetrical and even, and when they aren’t, it will prevent further adaptations from taking place that will ultimately throw things even further out of whack.

For example, let’s say your training is full of pressing movements, which has caused your chest to experience significant growth. On the other hand, you don’t do a whole lot for your back…no rowing or heavy pulling movements, leaving your back rather weak and underdeveloped.

The body’s response: no more growth until you bring your back up to speed.

And this is true across the board, over virtually all muscle groups.

Have you ever seen someone with huge biceps and puny triceps? No, it simply doesn’t happen because your body doesn’t let it happen.

Why?

One is the issue of injury. Large pecs and an underdeveloped back put a huge strain and pull on the back and result in poor posture and ultimately injury, especially if things were to get really out of whack (which the body won’t allow).

The other is the issue of symmetry. It’s almost as if your body wants to prevent you from looking like a moron. Thank you, body. It won’t let your biceps grow too much beyond your triceps, even if you work your biceps every day.

Bottom line: you need to correct imbalances to prevent regulatory feedback from stopping you dead in your tracks. We’ll share some strategies for correcting imbalances in another article later in the week.

Wrap Up

In today’s article, we discussed several reasons why you may not be getting it as fast as you want it.

Bottom line, there ARE things holding you back from building muscle, and in order to achieve your goals you need to understand and learn how to correct each one. If you don’t, it’s going to be a long, frustrating road, and that’s the last thing we want to see you deal with.

As mentioned, in another article this week we’re going to provide practical and strategic solutions for all the “problems” mentioned in this 2 part article. Today we covered 3 biggies, and in Part II  we’ve got 3 more coming your way.

Until then, train hard and train smart.

Building Muscle Workouts for a FREE report click here => Maximize Your Muscle

7 Muscle Building Diet Guidelines

As you probably know, adding muscle is not as simple as eating a
surplus of calories or following a "See Food" Diet i.e see food,
eat it.

Many obstacles arise in the quest of igniting big muscle gains:

1. Not gaining muscle fast enough.

2. Not gaining any weight at all.

3. Gaining fat instead of muscle.

I just posted a complete article on 7 reliable ways to add
muscle, without fat.

Please go to Fat Burning Diets And Workouts for your dieting guidelines to build maximum muscle.

Building Muscle Sets Reps And Intensity

A common weight training mistake (and this goes for whether your training for maximum muscle building or fat loss) I've seen over and over again with so many people over the years and to advanced weight trainers it should be obvious, but for most beginner/intermediate people, I've noticed that they make this mistake in the gym MOST of the time...

It is your sets and reps and using your highest level of intensity..

Let me explain...

One of the main reasons for lack of progress in most workouts is that most people are not performing their reps and sets to challenge their body enough. I'm not referring to rest periods between sets either (although that is definitely part of the equation).

For example, many people see a routine in a magazine or online and let's say the workout calls for 4 sets of 6 reps of a given exercise... and they just choose a random weight (or a weight that they "think" they are comfortable with) and do 4 sets of 6 reps.

But THAT'S where the major mistake comes in, because they didn't even train remotely close to muscular failure. In reality, they could have completed 4 sets of 12 reps or more with the weight they chose to do for 4 sets of 6 reps... and then they wonder why they're not seeing results!

The answer is simple... they're not seeing results because they didn't challenge the body enough and therefore, the body has no reason to need to improve.

The right way to do it is... If the routine calls for 4 sets of 6 reps, then you should barely be able to complete the sixth rep. Form should still stay good, but it should be a challenge to complete that 6th rep, and a 7th rep would be pretty much impossible.

Now THAT'S how you train to challenge your body and force it to adapt to the stress. And that means you get results and your body CHANGES for the better over time.

Now it's a little more complicated than that, because there are dozens of other factors that come into play that determine whether you will effectively make progressions in the gym, based on sets, reps, intensity level, rest and recovery, nutrition, etc.

And once you get into advanced training, you will literally be exhausted with your chest heaving for breaths if you hit the rep range on some exercises with the right weight and intensity from just 1 SET.
For example, if I'm using a heavy enough weight, even as little as 4 reps of heavy deadlifts can leave my entire body exhausted and I'll be gasping for air for 30-40 seconds after that set (and I'm in pretty damn good shape too)... and that was just from 4 REPS!

But that is a great example of how hard I challenged my body to do those 4 reps and stay in good form... because I chose a weight that was extremely hard for me to complete 4 reps.

Sounds crazy, because most people only think of "cardio" as something that can make you gasp for air and have your heart beating out of your chest... but training with weights at a high enough intensity and challenging weight using the right exercises is actually creating MORE of a reason for your body to respond and change.

Give me a marathoner and have them do a super high intensity set of clean & presses, or heavy 1-arm snatches (or even 20-rep barbell squats) and that marathoner will be on the floor gasping for air if they worked hard enough on the weight training sets.

If you think this is one of the mistakes you've been making in the gym, jack up that intensity and use heavier weights that actually CHALLENGE YOUR BODY, and you just may start to see some more dramatic results with your body!

Weight Training Workouts: Squats Building Muscle And Losing BodyFat

Heavy squats are numero uno for helping your entire body gain muscle at warp speed as well as a great way to skyrocket your fat loss around the clock and speed up your metabolism.

Heavy leg work causes a surge in the release of your growth hormones like no other exercise can. The heavy weights sitting on your back tax the entire body intensely. Your legs and entire back side support the load unlike any other exercise.

You can squat with high reps or low reps, heavy weight or light weight. You can squat with various tools in various positions. A barbell or a heavy sandbag on your back is awesome for building muscle.

Muscle being added to your quads, hips, glutes, hamstrings, lats and lower back cover a large area of your body. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism revs, even when you are NOT training, helping you burn more calories around the clock compared to a weak, skinny individual (or fat and weak individual).

I have performed heavy barbell squats for heavy singles or up to 5 reps, I have also performed high rep back squats up to 50 reps! Talk about brutal!

Try throwing a sandbag on your back, walk 10 yards and squat 2 reps, repeat until you can no longer walk or until you squatted 20 reps.

This workout is not for sissies, only the strong and mentally tough will survive.

Try squats for heavy sets of 3, or several sets of 10, or 1 gut busting set of 20 – 30 reps. The high rep squats will leave you exhausted and wiped out on the floor for a good 10 minutes afterwards.

The question is, how badly do you want to pack on rugged muscle and transform yourself into a ripped and rugged beast?

If you want it badly enough, then I have the answer for you below.


Follow the Underground Blue Print for Packing on Mounds of Rugged Muscle and Serious Strength while losing tons of BodyFat at warp speed. Click HERE for Details.

Weight Training Workouts:Undergroud Chest Training Secrets

An Insane Exercise That Builds A MASSIVE Chest!

By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson

In This Chest Training Article:

Why breaking all the rules when it comes to training your chest can lead to greater muscle growth
A "dangerous" exercise for defeating your underdeveloped UPPER CHEST...and how to do it SAFELY!


I hesitate to even write this article for 3 reasons…

One, because it's one of my SECRET weapons for building a massive chest;

Two, I've historically saved it for the EXCLUSIVE privilege of my clients in the Optimum Anabolics Program ( www.optimumanabolics.com); and

Three, because any knucklehead who doesn't follow my instructions to the letter could SERIOUSLY injure himself!

With that said, I'm going to throw caution to the wind and let you in on one of the most advanced chest building exercises you'll ever use.

But I MUST warn you…

It breaks one of the most important safety rules of working out (although I'll show you a safe way around this later on)!

Well, here goes…

My guess is that you're currently busting your ass on the flat and incline bench presses, pressing the bar up in the air from mid-chest level, in an attempt to really pack on some mass to your pecs.

But have you ever heard of pressing to the NECK ?

OUCH ! Just thinking of that bar crashing down on my Adam's apple makes me want to dial 9-1-1 .

But first let's discuss the benefits of this popular exercise from the master of muscle, Vince Gironda, and then I'll tell you how to avoid having to dust off your will.

Your pectoralis major actually is made up of four separate divisions which require different movements to effectively train them.

While the regular bench press can target the mid-chest area pretty well, it falls short of expectation in developing the upper and interior chest regions.

Failure to properly train these areas can mean a poorly developed chest due to uneven growth.

On the other hand, performing a flat bench pressing movement to the NECK area actually forces your UPPER and INTERIOR , as well as EXTERIOR regions of your chest to pull together like never before in a team effort to REALLY pack on the mass!

Here's how to do it SAFELY …

ALWAYS use either a Smith Machine with a SPOTTER . IMPORTANT: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ATTEMPT TO USE A REGULAR STRAIGHT BAR, EVEN WITH A SPOTTER AND WHEN YOU USE THE SMITH MACHINE, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS USE A SPOTTER!!!

A spotter should be someone you KNOW understands how to “spot” someone, preferably someone you've worked out with before.

If you don't have a spotter, use a set of DUMBBELLS to be safe.

Keep the amount of weight much LOWER than usual until you learn how to perform the movement properly.

On a FLAT bench (the exercise is actually LESS effective using an incline bench), with a MEDIUM grip, and starting from the “up” position, SLOWLY lower the bar (or dumbbells) to neck level, keeping your elbows pointing out AWAY from the body.

Focusing on contracting your chest muscles, raise the bar/dumbbells as quickly as safely possible back to the start position.

Perform 3 sets of 8-15 reps.

By REALLY hitting these hard to reach areas and ALSO calling upon the larger areas of your chest to perform this movement, you can stimulate MANY more muscle fibers resulting in explosive growth for the entire chest region.

Give it a try, be safe, and oh yeah, one more warning…

This one's gonna make you hurt the next day!

Underground Chest Training Secrets

Get That Six Pack Abs Look: Interval Training And Weight Training

Get That Six Pack Abs Look - Interval Fat Loss Training And Weight Training

Despite the misleading infomercials, the perfectly chiseled fitness models in the
commercials did NOT get their perfect body and six pack abs by using that Carb
contraption they got their perfect bodies and six pack abs through REAL interval fat loss training, weight training and REAL nutrition strategies.

Forget What The Infomercials And Celebrity Diet Gurus Tell You They Don't Work.

Interval Fat Loss Training And Weight Training Work.
.
You should know by now that spot reduction is a myth. You don't get six pack abs or lose body fat by doing 1000's of crunches No amount of ab exercises or using the ab gadjets will get you six pack abs or serious loss of body fat

.Only by interval fat loss training, weight training and healthy eating will you burn off that unwanted body fat that will then allow your abs to show.

Interval Fat Loss Training and Weight Training Workouts Efficient and Effective for losing body fat to get that six pack abs look.

Six pack abs and permanent body fat loss are obtained with the use of interval fat loss training with the use of compound exercises.

What are compound exercises? They are exercises that use multiple muscle groups for Interval Fat Loss Training and Weight Training.

*Squats
*Deadlifts
*Bench Presses
*Cleans
*Clean and Presses
*Pull-ups
*Dips
*Mountain Climbers
*Burpees

For the ultimate in lean muscle gain and to lose body fat for that six pack abs look these are the exercises you should be using. You could put together a workout of 3-5 of these exercises 3 times a week and you would have an excellant weight training and interval fat loss training workout.

Oh and by the way these workouts shouldn't take you more than 40-45 minutes for weight training and 20 minutes for your Interval fat Loss Training. Doing them on seperate days.

By focusing more on interval fat loss training, weight training and using multi-joint compound exercise as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout which increases your loss of body fat, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones like growth hormone and testosterone

Using compound exercises when doing weight training and interval fat loss training is proven to increase your metabolism which in turn is causing you to lose body fat long after your workout is over. Having lean muscle as opposed to higher levels of body fat causes body fat loss at a higher and faster rate.

Interval Fat Loss Training and Weight Training Lose Body Fat Get Six Pack Abs

Over the last 10 years, scientific research has indicated a couple of very important
things to us about weight training for body fat loss and the six pack abs look. First of all, lifting heavier weights while exercising leads to a higher caloric consumption by the body in the period for about 1-2 days following the workout when compared to lifting light weights with high repetitions.

So thats why 6-8 repetitions per set is better than 12-15 reps per set when it comes to stimulating the metabolism for losing body fat permanently.

Have you noticed in our talk about losing body fat and getting six pack abs I haven't even mentioned any abs specific exercises? That's because with weight training and interval fat loss training workouts of compound exercises you are indirectly working your abs.

Stop thinking doing hundreds of crunches and other ab specific exercises stick to interval fat loss training and weight training workouts just doing ab specific exercises are not going to create enough of a metabolic response in your body for you to lose belly fat.

I often get asked what the best types of exercises and workouts are for losing body fat in order to get six pack abs. The problem is that most people who need to lose body fat looking to try to uncover their six pack abs are searching for some miracle six pack abs workout that is going to slash the fat off their abs in no time. The Six pack abs miracle workout? Interval Fat Loss Training.and Weight Training.

Get That Six Pack Abs Look Forget The Hype And Gimmicks Use Interval Fat Loss Training and Weight Training. For Losing Body Fat





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No Nonsense Muscle Building: Sensible Muscle Building Tips

No Nonsense Muscle Building can show anyone skinny guy or hardgainer how to gain weight and build muscle, even if you have failed to build muscle in the past.

Below are five muscle building tips from no nonsense muscle building that everyone hardgainer or not should be using to build muscle.

*Eat More Calories...Much More*

The biggest reason most skinny guys and girls fail to build muscle is their insufficient calorie intake.

In order to gain weight and build muscle you need to be eating a larger amount of calories per day in order to build muscle.

As a general rule , you want to multiply your current bodyweight in pounds by 24 to achieve your daily calorie goal. For example if you weight 150 pounds you should be aiming to consume (150 x 24) 3,600.

This is a simplified formula, and there are other factors to consider. No Nonsense Muscle Building shows you how to measure bodyfat and necessary caloric intakes accurately, for your specific goals.

* Total Body Workouts *

In addition to an nutritious diet, the need to follow a proven total body workouts can't be emphasised enough.

Many hardgainers are still using the old split workouts you see in the magazines splitting your upper body and lower body, working each body part once a week.

No Nonsense Muscle Building shows you how to organize and plan your workouts to get the maximum muscle building benefit. By doing 3 or 4 total body workouts per week, you are guaranteeing that your muscles are being stimulated enough to build muscle. The goal here is to stimulate as much muscle as possible each time you hit the gym.

* Use Compound Exercises *

Compound exercises are the best way to stimulate muscle building and get the most muscle building bang for your buck.

Free weights exercises like Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press, Rows, Presses, Cleans work the big muscle groups, as well as forcing you to utilize minor stabilizing muscles. This results in faster muscle building, and a more efficient workout time...meaning you spend less time down the gym.

No Nonsense Muscle Building focuses on compound exercises for muscle building as fast as possible, with particular reference to the "big basic" exercises such as Squats and Deadlifts (as mentioned above), since these get you moving as much weight as possible each workout session.

* Change Up Your Workouts To Prevent Stagnation *

No Nonsense Muscle Building believes in change. Many skinny guys and girls fail to change up their workouts on a regular basis, meaning that they often see initial muscle building gains, which tend to trail off after a few weeks. The main reason for this is that your body is getting used to stress which is being placed upon it.

No Nonsense Muscle Building takes the approach that in order to see consistent gains in muscle building you need to make your body keep "guessing". By changing up your workouts regularly, through rep and set numbers, and exercise variations, you keep your muscles "on their toes" and continue to see sustained muscle growth over time.

No Nonsense Muscle Building provides you with over a year's worth of workouts, and how to best use them and change them to fit your own goals. This enables you to build your own workouts in the future.

* Understanding and Harnessing Your Natural Hormones *

Many people tend to overlook the role that your natural hormones play in muscle building. By understanding them, and learning how to use them to your advantage you can see impressive muscle building gains, without resorting to pills, potions and of that other junk.

No Nonsense Muscle Building shows you the role your hormones play in everyday activity and how best to use them to your advantage and get an edge in your muscle building.

From sleeping patterns to what you eat, No Nonsense Muscle Building shows you how to maximize the positive muscle building hormones in your body, and minimize the existence of the negative ones - since these can really sabotage an otherwise sound workout and nutrition program. It also shows you how to maximize your testosterone levels by choosing the exercises that increase them substantially.


No Nonsense Muscle Building step-by-step muscle building system exclusively for young guys and old guys who have tried everything else and still can't gain clear, defined, eye-popping muscle mass!

Weight Training Workouts: Use Your Time Efficiently

Using your time as efficiently as possible by Charles Staley EDT Training System

After you get an accurate estimate of how much time you really have available to train, let’s consider how to use this time as wisely as possible.

1 Concise warm-ups: many trainees spend far too much time warming up. In most cases, 6-8 warm-up sets, with 15-30 seconds rest between sets, is plenty. Many people will start their warm-ups with, for example, an easy 135×10, and then rest 3 minutes! Another mistaken notion that your last warm-up set must consist of at least as many reps as your first work set. The purpose of the last warm-up set is to make an accurate determination of the correct weight for your work sets— it should only take a rep or two to make this decision.

2) Utilize periodization: very brief workouts work much better if you can occasionally do longer ones. For example, you might perform 30 to 45 minute workouts for 3 weeks, and 60 minute workouts for one week, and repeat. Rotate long and short workouts for each muscle also. In other words, for three weeks, you might use 4-5 sets per workout for chest, but only 1-2 sets for back, and then for the next three week phase, reverse the pattern. In this way, each muscle group experiences a “development” phase and a “maintenance” phase, which, when you think about it, is far superior to a continuous maintenance phase.

3) Don’t skimp on frequency: Your workouts can be brief, but you must maintain optimal training frequency for best results. Training a muscle for 25 minutes twice a week is far superior to training it for 60 minutes once every two weeks.

4) Train opposing or antagonistic bodyparts back to back: All muscles are paired with another muscle (called an “antagonist”), which (ideally) is capable of opposing its force. Training muscles in antagonistic pairs is time-efficient on several levels:

• Because antagonists are usually located close to each other, a set for one muscle becomes a warm-up for the other.

• For various neurological reasons, when you perform a set for one muscle (say, the biceps), the antagonist (the triceps) becomes facilitated for a better contraction.

• Compared to training all sets for one muscle, and then all sets for the second muscle, training antagonists “back to back” allows for twice as much rest between two sets of the same exercise. For example, if you’re performing bench presses and chin-ups with two minutes of rest between sets, you’ll actually get over four minutes of rest between two successive sets of bench presses.

5) Use a home gym: For many people, using a home gym saves an average of 20 minutes per workout in travel, parking, and changing. If space and cost is a concern, consider the following home gym:

Swiss ball from Sissel (aprox. $30)
Power Block dumbbell set from SportStrength (aprox. $650)
6×8 foot 3/4″ thick weightroom mat from Bigger, Faster, Stronger (aprox.$115)
300 pound Olympic barbell set (aprox $100)
Chin-up bar (aprox $40)



This home gym, which allows you do do a huge variety of exercises, costs less than $1000, and takes up only 48 square feet of space. Much of this equipment can be picked up second-hand for a significant reduction in price.

6) Emphasize compound movements for the posterior kinematic chain (glutes, hams, low back) It is well known in the strength training community that squats, deadlifts, and their numerous permutations have the greatest return per unit of investment than any other type of exercise.



The Workouts


General Notes:

1) These workouts should be used as suggestions, not iron-clad laws. It’s more important to understand the principle behind them than to try to perform them literally. If you do not have the experience, facilities, or health status to perform these exercises, select an appropriate substitute.

2) If you have a muscle or muscle group which is already well-developed, concentrate on other areas

3) Dips can potentially be damaging if you already have existing shoulder problems, particularly if you have ever experienced a dislocated shoulder.

4) Although I have outlines specific repetition brackets, it is important to emphasize volume (through the use of higher reps) and intensity (through lower repetitions) sequentially, utilizing one method for 3-4 weeks, followed by the other for 3-4 weeks.

5) The Olympic lifts and their modifications are often my first choice for efficient training tools, however, I realize many readers do not have a training background in these lifts. If you do have experience in these movements, you can substitute them where appropriate in the following workouts.

The 45 minute workout

If you’re able to train 3 times a week for 45 minutes, try the following approach:

Monday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 20:00: Incline Dumbbell Press on Ball; Stiff-leg Deadlift: Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set
00:20 to 45:00: Ball Crunches; Seated Dumbbell Curls. Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set

Wednesday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 20:00: Front squat; Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set
00:20 to 45:00: Military Press; Leg Press Calf Raise. Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set

Note: As the bar is already on the rack from front squats, I have chosen military presses for deltoids to minimize set-up time.

Friday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 20:00: Chin-up; Dips: Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set
00:20 to 45:00: Bent-over Row; Seated Leg Curl. Perform back to back, 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions each, using a 4-5 second tempo and resting 90 seconds between each set



The 30 minute workout

If you’re able to train 3 times a week for 30 minutes, try this approach. It utilizes circuits of 3 exercises per session. For the following workouts, perform 4 sets of 8-10 repetitions with a 4-5 second tempo and rest 60 to 90 seconds between each set, depending on the reps and tempo you use (the higher the reps and the longer the tempo, the shorter the rest).

Monday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:30: Three exercise circuit:
Set 1: Pull-ups
Set 2: Back Squat
Set 3: Seated Dumbbell Press

Wednesday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:30: Three exercise circuit:
Set 1: Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
Set 2: Standing Calf Raise
Set 3: Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curl

Friday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:30: Three exercise circuit:
Set 1: Stiff leg Deadlift or Reverse HyperSet 2: Dips
Set 3: Ball Crunch

The 15 Minute Workout

Let me state right off the bat that if you’re reading this and can only find 15 minutes to train, your life is out of balance! However, if you truly are able to train 3 times a week for only15 minutes, try this approach. It utilizes one exercise per session.

Monday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:15: Squat or Deadlift

Wednesday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:15: Flat Dumbbell Bench Press or Dips

Friday
00:00 to 00:05: Warm-up
00:05 to 00:15: Chin-up or Pull-up
The “Busy during the week, but weekends are free” workout

This is a situation that many people find themselves in: the weekdays are a race against time, but the weekends are relatively peaceful. This workout is designed with longer workouts involving large muscle groups over the weekend, and a shorter session involving smaller, less energy-intensive muscles on Wednesday. The “nuts & bolts” should be fairly intuitive— just utilize the same principles and acute training parameters as the previous workout schedules.

Saturday (Chest & Delts)
Sunday (Legs & Back, & Abdominals)
Wednesday (Bi’s, Tri’s, & Calves)
General references on time (and life) management

Charles Staley, B.Sc., MSS: His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles' methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show. Learn more about Charles’ Escalating Density Training program online at EDT Training System

Busy Women - You Fit And Healthy Fast

How The Busy Woman Get's Fit Fast. Guy's this works for you too.


What do you do when you are short on time and something in you life needs to take a back seat. You put off your weight training workouts. I'll do it later or tommorrow. The problem is later or tommorrow never comes.

So let me give you a 3 exercise weight training workout. When it comes down to it you don't need and shouldn't be doing hour long marathon workouts. Research has shown time and again 20- 30 minutes 3-4 time a week is best.

The key is using total body exercises (compound exercises). For those of you not familiar with the term compound exercises they are exercises that work multiple bodyparts in one exercise.

Compound exercises:
Deadlift
Squats
Bench Press
Barbell or Dumbbell Cleans
Dumbbell or Barbell Presses

That is a short list to give you an idea of the weight training exercises you should be doing. Total body conditiong gives you the most bang for your effort.

Weight Training Workout

after your warm-up:

1 - Deadlifts (barbell) 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps

2 - Bench Press (barbell or dumbbell) 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps

3 - Clean and Press (barbell or dumbbell) 3-5 sets 0f 5-8 reps

Yes that's it with this workout you have worked virtually every muscle group in your body(muscle building and strengthening). Keep your rest between sets short(fat burning).

You could do this workout in straight sets(bodybuilding style) or you could do it in a circuit style one exercise after the other.

The days of the marathon workouts are over. If anyone tells you that your weight training, kettlebell or interval workouts should be for at least an hour at a time doesn't have a clue.

Trust me short sweet and to the point gets it done.

Of course the workout I showed you here is just one example there are countless combinations you can use.

See Also

You Fit And Healthy for more workouts I have listed for you.

Busy Women Do Weight Training

I don't know about you, but I'm getting rather tired of all the stereotypical nonsense surrounding women and weight training.

"Deadlifts? No, no. That's a man's exercise; we don't want to hurt ourselves now do we? You better stick to this here butt blaster instead. Don't go too heavy now; that'll just make you big and bulky like those female bodybuilders. If you want to 'tone up,' you need to go for the 'burn' with high reps and just a little bit of weight. Okay, now over to the hip adductor machine. This one is great for targeting and toning up those inner thighs."

And as if the abundance of misinformation spouted out by the average lay person regarding women and weight training isn't enough, these words actually came from the mouth of a "certified" personal trainer. A man's exercise? What the heck is that? Are women so incompetent and weak that they can't manage to conduct exercises with barbells and dumbbells or something? Higher reps to tone up? Big and bulky?

Man, I wanted to clock this guy; however, instead of "laying the smack down" on his misinformed butt, I decided to write this article instead. Let's take a look at how a woman should train and at the same time dispel some of the common misconceptions regarding female trainees:


How Women Should Train...


1. If you want to be lean, sexy, and hard, you should train with weights.

A desirable female physique is one that can only be achieved by moving some serious iron in the weight room! But what about all the talk about weight training making women big and bulky? First, it is physiologically impossible for you as a woman to put on large amounts of muscle mass; you're body's hormonal makeup is not one that will allow you to do so.

God never intended for women to look like men (go figure), so he made the chemistry of each gender's respective bodies different. Regardless of how you train, how often you train, how much protein you eat, etc, you're not going to even come close to the big, bulky physique of a female bodybuilder.

It will not happen. That look is only obtainable by one means: steroids. Because their natural hormonal profiles would never allow them to get that "big," they resort to changing their body's chemistry through the use of illegal drugs. Secondly, if the right training method is chosen, the hypertrophic (growth) response to resistance training can be even further reduced. This brings us to our next point.

2. If you want to be lean, sexy, and hard, you should train HEAVY.

Yeah, I know what they told you, lighten the load and go for the burn... hogwash. To comprehend why this is indeed nonsense, we have to understand a few things about muscle tone in general. There are two types of muscle tone; myogenic and neurogenic. Don't get thrown off by the sciency words; the first simply refers to your muscle tone at rest. It is affected by the density of your muscles; the greater the density of your muscles, the harder and firmer you will appear. Heavy training increases your myogenic tone through the hypertrophy (growth) of the contractile proteins myosin and actin (myosin and actin are by far the most dense components of skeletal muscle).

Training in higher rep ranges promotes more sarcoplasmic (fluid) hypertrophy, which in turn yields a "softer" pumped look. If you want to be hard, firm, tight, etc, the latter is certainly not the way to go. The second aspect of a muscles' tone is neurogenic tone, or the tone that is expressed when movements or contractions occur. Again, lower rep training comes out on top as training with heavy loads will increase the sensitivity of alpha and gamma motor neurons, thus increasing neurogenic tone when conducting even the simplest of movements (i.e. walking, extending your arm to point, etc).

Finally, as alluded to in point number one, training with heavy loads and low volume (sets x reps) is the best way to get hard and strong, but not big. Muscular hypertrophy is generally a response to a high volume work output; therefore, by keeping the sets and reps low with heavy training, you wont have to fear getting overly big (this really isn't even an issue due to the physiological reasons mentioned earlier).

Why then is it commonly recommended that women train with lighter loads? Well, there are a couple reasons. First, there is the typical stereotype that women are weak, fragile creatures who can't handle anything more than pushups on their knees and bicep curls with pink dumbbells. Try telling that to 123 lb Mary Jeffrey who bench presses a world record 275 lbs and you'll likely get smacked upside the head with a 45 lb plate. Give me a break. Secondly, the belief that high-rep training increases muscle tone is 100% myth.

Strength training guru and Muscle Media contributor Pavel Tsatsouline explains this quite nicely, "Your muscle fibers are like mouse traps... they go off by themselves, but need energy to be reset to contract again. A dead body is out of ATP, the energy compound that relaxes the muscles... A high rep workout exhausts ATP in your muscle and leads to temporary hardness... The only way to make such 'tone' last is by killing yourself." Hmmm, sounds like fun to me. Pavel goes on to note, "You better get on a first name basis with heavy dead[lift]s if you are after a hard butt!" This brings us to our third and final point.

3. If you want to be lean, sexy, and hard, you should train with compound, multi-joint movements.

Forget the butt blaster, forget leg extensions and leg curls, and forget "muscle sculpting" with Susie the hyperactive personal trainer. As stated in point number two, if you want to sport a hard body, you better start training heavy. Big, compound movements such as the deadlift and the squat are superior to machine, isolation-type movements for hardening up your thighs and butt as they allow you to use maximal weight while training a number of muscle groups simultaneously.

Another benefit obtained by performing multi-joint compound movements is increased confidence. With strength comes confidence. Also, there is nothing like claiming your ground in the gym by loading up the squat bar and proceeding to execute a few heavy, crisp repetitions. After all, 90% percent of the guys in your gym probably don't squat, and those of them that do most likely resort to using the smith machine and/or doing partial repetitions.

Know why? Because free squatting with a full range of motion is hard. It takes will power to get under that bar week after week and squat all the way down. Simply put, most people fear the squat and the deadlift (along with anything else challenging in life). So, after that macho guy gets done barbell curling in the squat rack, throw the bar up on the J-hooks where it belongs and show 'em what kind of woman you are!

"So, ya want me to lift how much?"

Don't get the impression that I'm telling you that you need to be able to lift "x" number of lbs to obtain a hard physique. Heavy is a relative term; 600 lbs is considered "light" to some of the guys on the Westside Barbell powerlifting team; however, the average gym goer would deem that same load monsterously heavy. In fact, if I loaded 600 lbs on the squat bar and proceeded to attempt a repetition, I would be rewarded with a few broken legs, but I digress.

It's not important that you move big weights; what is important is that you are selecting and lifting loads that are heavy for you. Over time, you will get stronger and the poundage you can handle will increase. So, for you as a female trainee, a "heavy" load can be defined as a weight that you can lift in good form for 3-6 repetitions. This is in agreement with the recommendations of Canadian strength coach Christian Thibaudeau as he notes, "Women do not have the capacity to recruit as many motor units as men do.

As such, they'll need 1-2 more reps to fully stimulate their muscles. So when training for strength, a man should use between 1 and 5 reps while a woman will benefit more from doing 3-6 reps. Also, most women will need to perform 1-2 more sets of an exercise to achieve the same degree of stimulation as a man, once again because of their lower motor unit activation." The weight training routine that we will outline next month is modeled around these recommendations.

Busy Women Do Lift Weights and Kettlebells and anything else only the guy's are supposed to do.

Weight Training Workouts To Build Muscle - The Deadlift

Weight Training Workouts To Build Muscle - You Gotta Deadlift

Since what we want to do here is build muscle and if you are serious about building muscle there's no way around it you have to deadlift. Compound are not only the best but the quickest path to building muscle. The squat is commonlly known as the king of all muscle building exercises (and I don't disagree) but right there with the squat are deadlifts.

The deadlift is the most effective exercise for building the core strength that supports all other major muscle groups. The deadlift, if performed correctly, will build unparalleled mass while strengthening all the major muscles groups.

How To Do A Proper Deadlift:

Assume a shoulder width stance, and grip the barbell so that the inner forearms touch the outside of thighs, and shins lightly touch the bar. Either an overhand or an under/overhand (one hand over, one hand under) grip can be used. The under/overhand grip is preferable in most instances and allows you to lift the most weight.

Fix spine in a neutral position (neither up nor down, but looking straight ahead), and place the hips down. Pulling in the lower abs will ensure a neutral pelvic position. Shoulders should be held back, squeezed tightly, and positioned over the bar - they should never be rounded.
Chest should be forward, not down. Before lifting the weight, tighten the shoulders and squeeze the glutes together to help generate power during the initial part of the movement.

Get a tight grip on the bar, and push thru your heels. The legs must power the weight up. Hips and shoulders should ascend at the same time, while the hands are holding the weight in place. Toward the top of the movement, lock out by employing more upper body strength until the weight is at about the midway position of the upper thigh.

Deadlift by pushing from the heels & bringing your hips forward. Not by pulling back with your lower back. If you Deadlift correctly, you’ll feel most stress in your upper-back, glutes & hams.

Weight Training Workouts building bigger muscles

Building Muscle 3 Quick But Important Tips

Building Muscle 3 Quick But Important Tips

1. Lift weights for no more than three to four days per week. Doing so is not only unnecessary but can quickly lead to over-training, which severly limits your muscle building especially if you are doing other physical activities such as cardio or playing recreational sports on a regular basis.

2. Limit your workouts to 30-45 minutes and 15-20 total sets. If you can't build muscle and gain strength in that time frame then I’d say you are half assing it. You have to remember that results are greatest when energy levels and mental focus are at their highest. That is during the first 30-45 minutes of your workout. Going beyond that point causes both of these to plummet.

3. Use big, compound exercises and lift heavy. Deadlifts, military presses, squats, bench presses, rows and chin ups should always be the main focus of your muscle building workout programs. These have been the best muscle building exercises since the beginning of time and that will never change.

Rep Ranges And Building Muscle Workouts

Rep Ranges And Muscle Building Workouts

In the following Q&A response, Tom Venuto gets deep into exactly what happens in the body in response to the various rep ranges. This is a FASCINATING read.

Powerlifters often don't look as strong as they are and bodybuilders often look stronger than they really are. The difference can be attributed to the rep ranges that comprise the majority of their training programs -the difference between the neural and metabolic adaptations these rep ranges influence.

What happens within the muscles in response to different rep ranges? By Tom Venuto

Dear Tom,
What actually happens within the muscle (metabolically and physically) in response to the various training protocols? i.e. Power: 3-5 sets of 1-2 reps at 80-90% of 1 RM, Strength: 2-6 sets, <6>85%RM, Hypertrophy: 3-6 sets, 6-12 reps at 67-85%RM. What causes muscles to get bigger and not necessarily stronger? I find the science of all this to be fascinating, yet confusing. Thank you.
Mike Caldarello

The primary difference between the effects of rep ranges on the adaptive response depends on whether the load affects neural factors (low reps) or metabolic factors (higher reps). When you train with low reps (1 - 5), the adaptations that make you stronger are mostly neurological: You develop an increased ability to recruit more muscle fibers, you stimulate the higher threshold fibers that are not activated with high rep, low weight sets, you decrease neuromuscular inhibition, and there is increased coordination between the muscle groups. However, with low reps, the hypertrophy (size increase) of the muscle fibers is minimal.

In other words, reps under 6 make you stronger, but they don’t necessarily make you bigger because the strength gains come from adaptations in the nervous system - the muscle fibers and other muscle cell structures do not hypertrophy (enlarge). This explains why certain athletes, powerlifters and Olympic lifters can be wicked strong but they don’t look as strong as they are.

When you train with medium reps (6-12) the adaptations are more metabolic and cellular and only moderately neurological. This is why 6-12 reps is the range most often recommended for bodybuilding and hypertrophy. You get bigger and stronger in this rep range, but your strength gains are not maximal. This explains why some bodybuilders look stronger than they are (and why they are often the brunt of jokes made by powerlifters and weight lifters; i.e. “big, weak, slow, useless muscles”, ha ha).

When you train with higher reps (13-20+), the adaptations are mostly metabolic and cellular. This rep range produces local muscular endurance, a small degree of hypertrophy in certain cellular components such as the mitochondria and the capillaries, and very little strength.
There is not a distinct line where neural adaptations end and structural/metabolic adaptations begin; rather it is a continuum, like temperature or colors of a rainbow.

For example, when you train in the 6-8 rep range, the adaptations are still somewhat neural, but also metabolic/structural: In this rep range, you get excellent strength gains and also excellent hypertrophy. In the 8-12 rep range, there is still some neural adaptation, but less than the 6-8 range and much less than the 1-5 range. The advantage of the 8-12 rep range is that you get maximal hypertrophy (this is the best rep range for pure size increases when strength is not the number one concern). You will also get stronger, of course, but not nearly to the degree as you would training with lower reps.

Now, what exactly happens inside the muscle to make it get bigger and not necessarily stronger? Quite simply, ALL the structures inside the muscle cell grow when exposed to the appropriate training stimulus.

Remember back in high school when you had to memorize those diagrams of cellular anatomy (or you would get an F in the class)? There were all kinds of organelles and cell structures such as the endoplasmic reticulum, the mitochondria, the golgi complex, ribosomes, centrioles, Lysosomes, and cytoplasm. Remember all that stuff?

If you’re anything like me, you defied your biology teacher to explain the reason why you had to memorize all that crap and what good it would do you in the "real world." Well, now that you're in the "real world" and you want strength and muscles, here you go:

A muscle cell has all the same cell structures as other body cells, and they all take up space. When speaking of the muscle cell, you mostly hear about the mitochondria (the cellular powerhouse where energy production takes place), the myofibrils (the actual muscle fibers themselves) and the fluid inside the cell (called cytoplasm in other body cells, or in the case of the muscle cell, its called sarcoplasm).

Myofibrillar hypertrophy is caused most effectively in the 6-8 rep range. This contributes to the most visible increases in muscle mass and cross sectional width. However, that doesn’t mean you should only train in the 6-8 rep range. If you want to make the other "stuff" in the muscle cell grow as well, you should train in all rep ranges. The mitochondria and sarcoplasm also take up a substantial amount of space in the muscle cell and they are best stimulated with high reps. High rep training can also stimulate increased capillarization in the muscle (just ask former Mr. Universe and Mr. Legs himself, Tom Platz, about the effectiveness of high rep leg training done in addition to the low and medium rep training).

In addition, there is more than one type of muscle fiber: you have slow twitch (type I) and fast twitch (type IIa and IIb). Slow twitch muscle fibers also hypertrophy from higher reps (although they have the least potential for size increases, which is why you should spend more time below 13 reps if it's muscle mass you're after).

So here’s the take home lesson: If you’re an athlete and your primary goal is strength and power for improved sports performance, then a good majority of your training is going to be in the 1-5 rep range. This will help make you stronger, faster and more powerful without adding muscle bulk. If you’re a bodybuilder and your primary goal is muscle mass, then the majority of your training should be done in the 6-12 rep range, but you should also do a little bit of training in the 3-5 rep range for power and strength, which will later facilitate hypertrophy (and prevent the powerlifters from making fun of you), and you should do a little bit of training in the 13-20+ rep range to facilitate the development of slow twitch muscle fiber, build mitochondrial density and increase capillarization.

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle."

Weight Training Workouts Building Muscles, Lose Unwanted Bodyfat Be Healthy