8 Stupid Myths about Squatting
This is an article I came across by Charles Poliquin about squats. Give it a read and forget the nonsense you have read about the dangers of squatting.
Charles Poliquin is one of the most accomplished strength coaches in the world. He has designed workouts for Olympic medalists in 17 different sports, world record holders in 10 different sports, and professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and UK Premier League. He has lectured or consulted for a variety of high-profile organizations such as the US Secret Service, Walt Disney Corporation and the World Swimming Congress. Among his most notable clients are these athletes
Showing posts with label building Muscle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label building Muscle. Show all posts
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Building Biceps And Triceps 9 Quick Tips For Bigger Arm Muscles
9 Quick Tips For Bigger Arms
1) Include a lot of close grip chin ups and dips in your workout program.
2) Do both heavy sets to stimulate the fast twitch fibers and higher rep sets to get a good pump increase the size of the slow twitch fibers, sarcoplasm, etc.
3) Consider training arms (biceps and triceps) on your leg day, 48 hours after your main upper body day. This allows you to hit them more often and also when they are fresher.
4) Or consider, for a short specialization period of a month or two, training biceps and triceps first in your upper body workout.
5) Since they are a smaller body part, the arms can tolerate more volume and frequency than the lats, quads or other larger body parts, when specializing on them for a month or two.
6) Do an equal amount of work for both the triceps and biceps.
7) The triceps respond best to heavy loads so be sure to hit them heavy with some dips, floor presses or board presses.
8) Stretch the biceps and triceps in between sets and after your last pump set.
9) Always try to increase the load on all of your biceps and triceps exercises. If you are curling 35 pound dumbbells now you had better be curling 50’s a year from now. If not your arms will look pretty much exactly the same
For more info on how to build bigger arms tips and routines check out Muscle Gaining Secrets from Jason Ferruggia.
Jason Ferruggia is a highly sought after, world renowned strength and conditioning specialist based out of the New York/New Jersey area. Over the last 15 years he has trained more than 700 athletes from over 90 different NCAA, NFL, NHL and MLB organizations. He has also worked extensively with firefighters, police officers and military personnel as well as countless weekend warriors, Hollywood stars and entertainers. Jason is known as “the secret weapon” by many of his clients for his unmatched ability to deliver awe inspiring results in record time. He has also been called “the most controversial man in the fitness industry today” for his outspoken views and politically incorrect, underground training methods.
Jason is currently the chief training adviser for Men’s Fitness magazine where he also has his own monthly column called The Hard-Gainer. He has authored over 500 articles for various other fitness related websites and magazines such as Men’s Health, Maximum Fitness, MMA SportsMag, Today’s Man, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Shape.
2) Do both heavy sets to stimulate the fast twitch fibers and higher rep sets to get a good pump increase the size of the slow twitch fibers, sarcoplasm, etc.
3) Consider training arms (biceps and triceps) on your leg day, 48 hours after your main upper body day. This allows you to hit them more often and also when they are fresher.
4) Or consider, for a short specialization period of a month or two, training biceps and triceps first in your upper body workout.
5) Since they are a smaller body part, the arms can tolerate more volume and frequency than the lats, quads or other larger body parts, when specializing on them for a month or two.
6) Do an equal amount of work for both the triceps and biceps.
7) The triceps respond best to heavy loads so be sure to hit them heavy with some dips, floor presses or board presses.
8) Stretch the biceps and triceps in between sets and after your last pump set.
9) Always try to increase the load on all of your biceps and triceps exercises. If you are curling 35 pound dumbbells now you had better be curling 50’s a year from now. If not your arms will look pretty much exactly the same
For more info on how to build bigger arms tips and routines check out Muscle Gaining Secrets from Jason Ferruggia.
Jason Ferruggia is a highly sought after, world renowned strength and conditioning specialist based out of the New York/New Jersey area. Over the last 15 years he has trained more than 700 athletes from over 90 different NCAA, NFL, NHL and MLB organizations. He has also worked extensively with firefighters, police officers and military personnel as well as countless weekend warriors, Hollywood stars and entertainers. Jason is known as “the secret weapon” by many of his clients for his unmatched ability to deliver awe inspiring results in record time. He has also been called “the most controversial man in the fitness industry today” for his outspoken views and politically incorrect, underground training methods.
Jason is currently the chief training adviser for Men’s Fitness magazine where he also has his own monthly column called The Hard-Gainer. He has authored over 500 articles for various other fitness related websites and magazines such as Men’s Health, Maximum Fitness, MMA SportsMag, Today’s Man, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Shape.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Building Muscle Workouts Push / Pull For Upper Body Muscle
Push / Pull Workout for Upper Body Strength
Good Morning,
I've got another great workout from Jim Smith from the Diesel Crew and Accelerated Muscular Development.
Here is a recent push / pull workout I did.
I remember the first publication I read specifically talking about the balance required in a workout. It was Alwyn Cosgrove’s The Professional Fitness Coach Program Design Bible.
He specifically talked about you must balance your pressing movements with your pulling movements. Extension movements should balance flexion movements. Rotation with the reverse movement, and so on… It was the first time it was ever explained so simply.
And yes, it can be simple for you and your programs.
If there isn’t a balance of the volume and load (sets x reps x weight) on all movements, then imbalances occur. And that is when injuries happen.
Simply, look for the balance.
Muscle Building Upper Body Workout example 1:
Bench Press, 4×8, 200 lbs = 32×200 = 6400 lbs lifted with a pushing movement.
Bent Over Rows, 3×10, 150lbs = 30×150 = 4500 lbs lifted with a pulling movement.
OT BALANCED!
The bent over rows should be adjusted for volume or weight.
All you would have to do is, change the sets to 4×10 and increase the weight to 160lbs and it will balance.
Bent Over Rows, 4×10, 160lbs = 40×160 = 6400 lbs lifted with a pulling movement.
NOW IT IS BALANCED!
Or you could do a different technique. You could balance the pressing movement with MULTIPLE pulling movements within the same workout.
Building Upper Body Muscle Example 2
Bench Press (pushing exercise)
Bent Over Rows (pulling exercise 1)
Face Pulls (pulling exercise 2)
Band Retractions (pulling exercise 3)
The goal is to maintain the integrity of the joint, balance the musculature to ensure optimal strength.
Here is the workout I performed with some key tips.
Swiss Bar Bench Press
Key coaching points to remember. Stay tight, chest up and drive the feet down. Try hard not to let the elbows flare outwards. Take a breath at the top and create tension. Hold that tension for the rep. Reset after each rep.
Cage Rope Climbing
This movement is extremely hard on the grip, biceps and back. The rope used in the video is 1.5″ nylon rope and it is anchored to the top bar of the power cage. In the video I also perform a hand over hand kettlebell lift. This movement is easy to setup. Just put the rope over the top of the power cage and anchor to the kettlebell.
Check out my review and more building muscle videos from Jim click Accelerated Muscular Development
Good Morning,
Here is a recent push / pull workout I did.
I remember the first publication I read specifically talking about the balance required in a workout. It was Alwyn Cosgrove’s The Professional Fitness Coach Program Design Bible.
He specifically talked about you must balance your pressing movements with your pulling movements. Extension movements should balance flexion movements. Rotation with the reverse movement, and so on… It was the first time it was ever explained so simply.
And yes, it can be simple for you and your programs.
If there isn’t a balance of the volume and load (sets x reps x weight) on all movements, then imbalances occur. And that is when injuries happen.
Simply, look for the balance.
Muscle Building Upper Body Workout example 1:
Bench Press, 4×8, 200 lbs = 32×200 = 6400 lbs lifted with a pushing movement.
Bent Over Rows, 3×10, 150lbs = 30×150 = 4500 lbs lifted with a pulling movement.
OT BALANCED!
The bent over rows should be adjusted for volume or weight.
All you would have to do is, change the sets to 4×10 and increase the weight to 160lbs and it will balance.
Bent Over Rows, 4×10, 160lbs = 40×160 = 6400 lbs lifted with a pulling movement.
NOW IT IS BALANCED!
Or you could do a different technique. You could balance the pressing movement with MULTIPLE pulling movements within the same workout.
Building Upper Body Muscle Example 2
Bench Press (pushing exercise)
Bent Over Rows (pulling exercise 1)
Face Pulls (pulling exercise 2)
Band Retractions (pulling exercise 3)
The goal is to maintain the integrity of the joint, balance the musculature to ensure optimal strength.
Here is the workout I performed with some key tips.
Swiss Bar Bench Press
Key coaching points to remember. Stay tight, chest up and drive the feet down. Try hard not to let the elbows flare outwards. Take a breath at the top and create tension. Hold that tension for the rep. Reset after each rep.
Cage Rope Climbing
Check out my review and more building muscle videos from Jim click Accelerated Muscular Development
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Build Muscle And Strength Fast A Power Combo
Morning,
I have a real kick your butt video for you today from Jim Smith of Accelerated Muscular Development (AMD). What we have for you is a Power Combo that will pack on muscle fast. It is a 2 exercise combo guaranteed to kick butt and pack on muscle.
Pull-Ups and Ab rollouts. Ab rollouts? A very good and tough ab and core strength exercise. Pull-ups I hope you know that pullups are one of the best upper body strength and muscle building exercises you should be doing.
Give this combo a try. Don't get thrown by Jim's use of chains if you aren't strong enough to add weight to your pull-ups yet. Work on building up to adding weight for your pull-ups. Remember gradual progression is the key to building muscle and strength.
Now get to work! Talk to you soon.
Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.
I have a real kick your butt video for you today from Jim Smith of Accelerated Muscular Development (AMD). What we have for you is a Power Combo that will pack on muscle fast. It is a 2 exercise combo guaranteed to kick butt and pack on muscle.
Pull-Ups and Ab rollouts. Ab rollouts? A very good and tough ab and core strength exercise. Pull-ups I hope you know that pullups are one of the best upper body strength and muscle building exercises you should be doing.
Give this combo a try. Don't get thrown by Jim's use of chains if you aren't strong enough to add weight to your pull-ups yet. Work on building up to adding weight for your pull-ups. Remember gradual progression is the key to building muscle and strength.
Now get to work! Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Eating For Muscle Gains
The key is to apply diligence and discipline to your the muscle building diet plan and raise your intensity when you pound the weights. If you’re goal is to pack on some brawn, I’ve designed a very simple muscle building diet to ensure you’re tipping the scale ten pounds heavier in a month’s time.
Let’s get started.
Bulking Up The Brawn!
Your muscles grow on calories – 20-22 per pound of body weight to be exact. A 180-pound man will have the challenge of consuming 3960 calories per day.
Unfortunately, not all calories are created equal, which means 3960 calories of chicken wings, bagels and sausages will have a huge difference on how you look naked versus 3960 calories of lean beef, oatmeal and egg whites.
Protein Portions Gone Wild
You’ll notice in the sample muscle building diet plan that you’re consuming 2 grams of protein per pound of body weigh (360 grams for the 180-pound bodybuilder), which is probably double your normal protein intake.
Why are you consuming so much protein?
The main reason is to recover and regenerate the muscle tissue you break down while training and to ensure you don’t lose any muscle during your intense workouts.
This amount of protein will switch on the “muscle-growing” switch inside your body and ensure you plenty of amino acids to support your growth to new levels.
Don’t Take Away My Carbs!
If you want to gain ten pounds of muscle in 4-weeks, your protein intake needs to be matched by your carbohydrate intake. Carbs will keep your muscle full and large and ensure you have enough energy to meet your weight training programs demands. So the 180-pound bodybuilder will strive for 360 grams of carbs each day. As you can imagine, this is a much easier task then consuming 360 grams of protein.
Get Full On Fat
Fat is not as critical during a muscle building diet plan but a certain amount is required to support testosterone levels. Shop for only healthy fats like mixed nuts, coconut oil, olive oil and avocado. Not only do these foots boost testosterone production but they protein your joints and balance your hormones.
Double Up On Breakfast
The challenge of a muscle building diet plan requires serious diligence and discipline to schedule your meals into your schedule, often times you must form new habits.
I like the double breakfast strategy because your body can handle more calories in the morning and it mentally reinforces your goals for the rest of the day. Your first breakfast is designed to get into your blood stream quickly to prevent muscle breakdown and your second breakfast is designed to supply a slower-releasing form of energy for your morning.
Back Off On Off Days
Since you’re energy demands are not as high, you’ll consume a lower amount of carbs to maximize the muscle-to-fat ratio and ensure you gain muscle, not fat. Also, we’ll drop our calories to 19 per pound of body weight, maintain our protein intake, increase the fat intake and decrease the carb intake the most.
Gain 10-Pounds Of Muscle In 4-Weeks – Workout Day
* Breakfast 1 *
2 slices of whole wheat bread with 2 tbsp of raspberry jam
1 scoop of Iso-Smooth Protein Powder
* Breakfast 2 *
3 eggs + 3 egg whites plus veggies (omelet)
2 cups of oatmeal (cooked)
* Mid-Morning Snack *
2 scoops of Iso-Smooth Protein Powder
2 slices of whole wheat bread
1 tbsp of natural peanut butter
1 tbsp of strawberry jam
* Lunch *
1 large whole wheat bagel
1 tbsp of mustard
6 oz of your favourite deli meat (chicken or turkey is best)
2 cups of mixed greens salad
1/2 avocado (mixed into salad)
1 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp. olive oil
* Pre Workout Meal *
1 scoop of Iso-Smooth Protein Powder
5 chocolate/caramel rice cakes
* Post Workout Meal *
2 scoops of Iso-Smooth Protein Powder
1 large banana
* Dinner *
8 oz of fish or sirloin steak
1 large baked potato
1 full head of steamed broccoli
2 cups of mixed greens
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp of olive oil
* Pre Bed Time Snack *
1 cup of cottage cheese
1 cup of mixed berries
1 cup of mixed nuts on top
Gain 10-Pounds Of Muscle In 4-Weeks – Off Day
* Breakfast 1 *
2 slices of whole wheat bread with 2 tbsp of raspberry jam
1 scoop of Protein Powder
* Breakfast 2 *
3 eggs + 3 egg whites plus veggies (omelet)
1 cup of oatmeal (cooked)
1 tbsp of natural almond butter (blend into oatmeal)
* Mid-Morning Snack *
2 scoops of Protein Powder
1 cup of oatmeal (blend into protein shake)
* Lunch *
1 large whole wheat bagel
1 tbsp of mustard
1 can of albacore tuna (in water)
1 tbsp of mayo
2 slices of mozzarella cheese (melted in tuna and bread)
* Mid Afternoon Snack *
2 scoops of Iso-Smooth Protein Powder
1 tbsp of natural peanut butter
* Dinner *
8 oz of fish or sirloin steak
1 cup of brown rice
2 full head of steamed broccoli
2 cups of mixed greens
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp of olive oil
* Pre Bed Time Snack *
1 cup of cottage cheese
1 cup of mixed berries
1 cup of mixed nuts on top
END OF MEAL PLAN
As you’ll notice, this meal plan does not include any fancy foods or any outrageous budget to afford. The foods are easy to purchase and simple to prepare. I followed a similar muscle building diet plan like the ones above to gain 41-pounds of muscle in six months.
I’m sure you’ll pack on at least 10-pounds of muscle in the next 4-weeks with this muscle building diet plan. Feel free to ask questions and tomorrow I’ll share some muscle building supplements to compliment this plan.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Your Muscle Building Edge
Here is a little of what you get with Maximize Your Muscle: (By the way – this is all shipped to your front door!)
**The 2-CD "Blow Beyond Your Genetic Potential" CD in which reveals the origin of the program, the science plus Vince's inner views on living large.
**The 20-page Phase 1 MYM Print Newsletter and workout log
**The 2-hour Phase 1 Workout DVD (intense footage shot LIVE at the gym!)
**The Phase 1 LIVE 90-minute coaching call where you can ask Vince your personal questions about the program (call will be scheduled after Phase 1 ships)
**Access to the Maximize Your Muscle Members Only Discussion Forums where you can interact and get support with other like-minded members doing the same exact program as you -- This is BIG TIME.
And it all gets shipped to your door for a BUCK ($1). You've got to get in tonight though because Vince is shipping Phase 1 to the 1256 members already signed up on Friday. He wants everyone to start everyone together since this is a curriculum based program.
Get the best techniques for adding muscle to your body without getting fat:
>> Maximize Your Muscle <===== $1 gets you in.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Maximize Your Muscle The Time To Take Action Is Now!
Here is the thing Vince does genually care. He is very committed to helping any and everyone he can. Maximize Your Muscle has been a labor of love and an intense study of getting past your genetics and building the body you have dreamed of.
And That is what Vince really cares about. Helping you get to your muscle building goals. So here is what Vince had to say.
This is a letter that is not like any you have received or I have ever written...
I believe that YOU are a unlimited being and have unlimitedpotential for unlimited possibilities. Just like champions in life, from any endeavor, you have a physical body and a mind to activate vivid images of how you want your body - and your life - to look.
There is something absolutely incredible about you.
Not only can you walk, talk, think and breath but you can buildsomething great with the potential you have. What are you going to build with the rest of 2010? You could build a business, a house, a relationship, a career, atrip or the greatest physique you have ever revealed. Do you have the COURAGE to start today?
I'm tired of "thinking about it" Lets give it a shot! CLICK HERE>>> Stop sitting on the side lines. Get in the game. Refuse to let others get what they want while you stand by and watch. The world has way too many people living in rocking-chairs andnot enough people JUMPING IN with both feet and going for it.
As you build your dream body and life, your family members,friends and work colleagues will be inspired by your passion andenthusiasm to want more in life than the norm. It's people like you who have the chance to make the world abetter place. Did anyone ever tell you that you have a real greatness insideof you? Has it ever dawned on you that this greatness deserves to berecognized by you? What are you waiting for? The year 2020? Can I count on you, to ACT TODAY? YES! I'm going to START TODAY.
Take home message: You have untapped and uncommon potential and you owe it toyourself to challenge that potential. What is a goal that is important to you in 2010? Building thebody you desire and deserve? Today is the time to put yourpotential towards that goal. Anyone you know who has aworld-class body has made the decision you're making now. It pains me to think that people live lives that are not areflection of their true potential.
It makes me sad. What ashame. What a waste. Refuse to live life defeated. Whether you struggle from pastfailures, bad habits or negative thinking - it's never too lateto turn a corner and start doing what others consider impossible. I urge you to take this golden opportunity to try MYM for a low-risk $1.00 30-day trial and see for yourself the dramaticincreases in muscularity and leanness.Maximize Your Muscle <<<<<<< Join Us Today Make Today "The Day"! In 2-days 831 new members have joined Maximize Your Muscle with apositive belief system to create greatness within themselves.
I am so, so excited to coach these unique individuals and help themrecreate themselves, reinforce good habits and beliefs and makesure they are on the right path. I am confident that each of them will achieve their goals and a few of my super elite transformations will earn a spot to befeatured in a future phase of Maximize Your Muscle, all expensespaid to the destination of the filming. Nothing like a little competition to bring the best out of anyone.
I hope you take this message seriously and JOIN US before midnight tomorrow so that you can challenge your potential and then blow beyond it. So what are you waiting for? Give me the word, by signingup and you can feel the life-changing results it will bring.That's a personal promise you can take to the bank. Let's make 2010 a special year for you! Youdeserve to give yourself the BEST. I Have Nothing To Lose And So Much To Gain!"
Building Muscle Workouts 3 Tips To Maximize Your Muscle
by Vince Del Monte -- Maximize Your Muscle
This article is going to show you 3 more methods that are usually untapped by most when trying to gain new muscle...
* High Frequency Lifting *
The reason it works: If you could train a muscle group 50 times a year or 150 times a year, which would get you better results? 150 - assuming you are recovered before the next stimulus on the muscle.
How to make it work: train each body part with up to 3-4 workouts per week. But you must manipulate the weights, exercises and rep ranges. You will not lift heavy weights 3 days in the week all on the same muscle group or else the joints and nervous system would be overtaxed.
Methods you can experiment with: An example is training a body part 3 times in a week, while incorporating a heady day, medium day and a light day; using all different exercises, sets and reps. Here's an example using chest:
On Monday you do a power day of 4 sets of 6-8 reps, 2 minutes with bench press. On Wednesday you have a hypertrophy day of 3 sets of 8-10 reps, 90 seconds rest with Incline Dumbbell Press. On Friday you do an endurance day of 2 sets of 25, with 30 seconds rest, for Decline Chest Flys.
* Flexion Training *
The reason it works: hit each muscle group from three different angles each workout.
How to make it work: For your first exercise you hit the bulk of the muscle fibers with a mid-range mass-builder exercise, which would be a multi- joint/compound movement. Shoulder Presses, Bench Press, Squatting and Deadlifting are all perfect examples.
Your second exercise would target the muscle from a stretched position – a very vulnerable angle that forces a lot of untapped fiber recruitment. An incline bicep curl is a great example.
Your third exercise you select a peak- contraction exercise, which challenges the muscle to contract against resistance. This further helps activate every single muscle fiber without over fatiguing or over killing specific movements of a muscle (a very common mistake). A tricep kickback is a great example of a peak contraction exercise.
Methods you can experiment with: When you split up your body- parts, I see very little reason to incorporate more than 3 exercises per body part. Each body part should have a mid-range movement, a stretch movement and a contraction movement to maximize all the muscle fibers and prevent overtraining. A killer bicep workout would only include standing barbell curls, incline bicep curls and concentration curls.
Positions Of Flexion is the most sensible way to organize your exercise choices instead of the shotgun way of just picking a multitude of exercises for a body part without any specific reason.
* Unilateral Lifting *
The reason it works: it’s harder for the body to recruit the growth muscle fibers during bilateral movements than during unilateral exercises. Beginners often hit a plateau because of an inefficient nervous system so they can’t recruit the high threshold growth fibers. People with longer limbs experience the same difficulty in recruiting their high threshold motor units.
How to make it work: incorporate 3-week training blocks of pure unilateral (one arm or one leg at a time) movements to better recruit the nervous system and ultimately improve the recruitment of the high threshold motor units when returning to bilateral movements.
Methods you can experiment with: Don’t drop all of your bilateral work and use this method sparingly, especially if you’re not a beginner or have shorter limbs. Here are unilateral exercises to target each side independently or alternatively: alternating lunge, 1 leg-curl, 1-leg deadlift, 1-leg squat, step ups, 1-leg hop, 1-leg press, 1-leg stiff leg deadlift, 1-leg back extension.
Better training and regular inclusion of unilateral training will optimize bilateral training and maximize the high threshold motor units for growth.
Go to Maximize Your Muscle right now to take advantage of Vince's $1 offer to get his incredible Maximize Your Muscle Program (including the workouts, the manual, the audio CDs, and the killer DVDs showing you all of the techniques to take your muscle gains to the next level.
This $1 Trial is only available until Thursday April 8th! I promise that you'll love this!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Building Muscle Workouts Maximize Your Muscle Is Live
Maximize Your Muscle is LIVE!
But it won't be open long...
Very shortly Vince will SHUT DOWN the site for another 4-months, which is why he is totally hooking you with the most SHOCKING offer
Vince has ever made you... IF you qualify...
"Yes, You May Be Surprised That It's NOT Impossible To Win The War Against Your Genetics, And You Can Prove It To Yourself For $1 (plus s/h) With The First Edition of the New Maximize Your Muscle System—Specifically Designed to Exploit All TWELVE Unique Targets of Bodybuilding to Make Certain 2010 is Your Most Muscular Year EVER."
This is truly a gift for action-takers who want to blow beyond their genetic potential and take their body and life to a whole new level and make plateaus a thing from the past.
Suppose that's NOT you, please leave your kit on the shelf for someone else who is more serious and qualified.
Let me stress: please be sure to see if you even QUALIFY and meet Vince's 2 requirements to come on board because frankly, membership in the MYM monthly series is NOT for everyone.
Fact is, when Vince released MYM to 100,000 people in January, he had 957 people sign up, which PROVED this only appealed to VERY SERIOUS people prepared to make a continuous level of commitment.
The opportunity to MAXIMIZE YOUR MUSCLE is not for guys who sporadically workout or rejoin the gym off and on. This is not for you if show up late, slide out early, cheat your rep counts and hold anything back. Do Not Try Out The First Phase if you just can't get your shit together.
This may only be for the top 1% of my readers who are really serious. We're not trying to hit your genetic potential… we're crashing through your genetic limits and taking your gains to a whole new level!
Maximizing Your Muscle requires a continuous level of commitment. This is serious. We are serious. We are serious body builders dedicated to packing on intimidating size by exploiting all TWELVE unique targets of bodybuilding
YOU WON'T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE!
If you're looking for an advanced monthly muscle routines and exclusive coaching to grow beyond your genetic limits… keep looking… THERE IS NONE!
Until now!
You may think you've tried every program to build muscle, but until you target all twelve anabolic targets with Maximize Your Muscle, you're not even close to having a perfect physique.
For $1 to try it what could you possibly lose? Maximize Your Muscle <= $1 gets you started to your best body ever!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Building Muscle Workouts 5 Solutions To Build Muscle
By Joel Marion and Vince Del Monte
In the last two articles we’ve laid out 6 of the biggest reasons you may not be experiencing the results you DESERVE from your muscle building efforts, including:
1. Lack of frequency
2. Not enough “room” for muscle to grow
3. Muscular imbalances
4. No “down time”
5. Nervous system inefficiency
6. One-dimensional training
And today comes the fun part. Today, we’re going to FIX all of the above problems by providing you with some dynamite solutions to set your muscle building results on fire.
Are you ready? I hope so - let’s jump right in.
Solution #1: High Frequency Training
As mentioned in the previous article, the more you can stimulate a muscle to grow, the more it will grow. Revolutionary, I know.
But as simple as that sounds, so many people are still stuck training a muscle group once a week, and so many others don’t have a clue on how to effectively up the frequency of their training…so today, we’re going to provide you with some real solutions.
That said, what exactly are the major components to effective high frequency training?
1. Utilize a full body or half body approach (ie. upper body vs. lower body split)
2. Vary the stimulus with each session
And essentially, that’s it.
Here are two examples, one with a full body approach and one with a half body approach:
* Full Body Approach *
Day 1 - Full Body (6 movements, 4 x 10)
Day 2 - Full Body (6 movements, 10 x 4)
Day 3 - Full Body (6 movements, 3 x 25)
Day 4 - OFF
Repeat
* Half Body Approach *
Day 1 - Upper Body (5 movements, 4 x 10)
Day 2 - Lower Body (4 movements, 4 x 10)
Day 3 - Upper Body (5 movements, 10 x 4)
Day 4 - Lower Body (4 movements, 4 x 10)
Day 5 - OFF
Day 6 - Upper Body (5 movements, 3 x 25)
Day 7 - Lower Body (4 movements, 3 x 25)
Day 8 - OFF
Repeat
With the above two approaches, you stimulate each muscle group via multiple set, rep, and volume ranges throughout the week, up to 5 times weekly. The results are PROFOUND when compared to once weekly training. Seriously, if you’ve never done this type of training, get ready to experience, see and feel the results after just one week.
Solution #2: Loaded Passive Stretching
In our previous article we talked about fascia tissue being a limiting factor for muscle growth due to its lack of elasticity and regulatory feedback. We also mentioned that this tissue CAN be stretched, although few people know how to nor take the time to do it.
And here’s the best part: it requires ZERO additional time in the gym as you can do it between your work sets.
The technique, known as loaded passive stretching, is intense, deep stretching done while muscles are already in a “pumped” state to facilitate the stretching of the fascia tissue in order to create more room for muscle tissue to grow.
This is NOT normal, passive stretching. This is deep, heavy stretching done with an external load.
As an example, a loaded stretch for the pecs would be to: after a set of dumbbell bench presses, grab a pair of moderately heavy dumbbells and sink into the bottom position of a dumbbell fly. Now hold that position, not relaxing and not contracting, allowing the weight to stretch out your pumped pecs. Repeat the stretch in between sets of any chest exercise you do, up to five times per workout, but only when your chest is in an already “pumped” state (several sets in to an exercise).
This type of stretching is NOT fun and it can be rather painful, but it’s also very rewarding. Of course, should you try it, be mindful of the difference between “proper” pain and “injury” pain.
Solutions #3: Specialization to Correct Muscular Imbalances
The issue of muscular imbalances and regulatory feedback was discussed in our previous article as well, and the ideal solution here is to effectively “specialize” any lagging or weak body parts to balance out antagonist muscle inconsistencies. For example, if your pecs are overpowering your back, you’ll want to take some time off from training pecs directly (perhaps only doing a few heavy sets per week to maintain strength) while heavily concentrating on your back.
Here’s one example way to do this:
Day 1 - Full Body Workout
Day 2 - Back specialization
Day 3 - Full Body Workout
Day 4 - Back specialization
Day 5 - Light back recovery
Day 6 - OFF
Repeat
Bringing up lagging body parts is essential to your muscle building success while avoiding stalled results due to regulatory feedback, or even worse, injury. Start incorporating it today.
Solution #4: Structured Deloading
While frequency is important, it’s not possible to go “all out” and maintain that level of intensity while training frequently all the time. This is where structured deloading comes in.
Two of our favorite deloading protocols are:
1. The “Off” Week - Once every 3 to 4 months, take a week completely off from resistance training
2. The “Light” Week - Once every 4 weeks, half the total volume of the previous 3 weeks
For example, if you were doing 4 movements @ 4 sets of 10 for your main training cycle, for the deloading week you’d then perform 2 movements for 2 sets of 10.
Structured deloading allows you to go HARD during the “on” weeks without burning out, and also allows recovery time to set you up for “supercompensation” once your next training cycle begins. Supercompensation is just a fancy way of saying “take some time off, and then to compensate, your body will have an even greater adaptive response when you return to your normal training.”
Go hard and then back off; it works like a charm.
Solutions #5: Multi-dimensional Training
If you want to hit each type of muscle fiber along with each type of muscle growth, you need to break away from one-dimensional training by varying the stimulus given to your muscles by using a variety of training methods. Here are just a few different ways to activate different fibers and growth responses:
* Heavy Training
* Light Training
* High Volume Training
* Increased Time Under Tension Training
* Lactic Acid Training
* Density Training
* High Threshold Motor Unit Training
* CAT (compensatory acceleration training) - fast/explosive movements
* Varied Tempo Training
* Rest-pause Training
* Superset Training
* High Intensity Training
And the list goes on and on.
If you’re looking to truly MAXIMIZE your muscle and achieve the fastest results possible, then your training program must be comprehensive. It must target the full spectrum of muscle building stimuli, and unfortunately, most trainees only manage to target one or two.
Hello plateau.
Multi-dimensional training yields multi-dimensional results.
Go Now and Download Your FREE Report Maximize Your Muscle Building
Friday, April 2, 2010
6 Reasons You’ve STOPPED Building Muscle, Part II
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 part 2 of this article as we’re getting ready to unleash three more BIG reasons why you’ve stopped building muscle.
Reason #4: No “down-time”
Did you know that strategically taking time OFF from your training (when done in a very specific way, and when strategically setting up the rest of your training to benefit from it) can actually lead to MORE muscle growth?
It’s very true.
Simply put, your body performs and responds best when it’s pushed and then is given time to recover. Let’s face it, you can’t go full-out, “balls to the wall” 100% all the time. That leads to burn out and overstimulation.
But you can learn how to cycle strategic periods of “down-time” into your training, either by scheduling time completely “OFF” every so often, or by using “lighter” training periods within your training cycle.
Utilizing this one tactic alone will have a profound effect on your results, and we’ll show you how to do it properly in tomorrow’s article.
Reason #5: Nervous System Inefficiency
Fact: You’re NOT going to gain muscle unless you can stimulate muscle tissue to grow with loads challenging enough to induce an adaptation response—and sadly, most people simply aren’t.
Why? Nervous system inefficiency.
Perhaps the most important thing you can possibly do when it comes to building muscle is strengthen your nervous system connection. You see, your nervous system controls:
•how fast your muscles contract
•how hard your muscles contract, and
•how many motor units you’re able to recruit
Amongst other things.
An efficient nervous system leads to faster, harder, stronger muscular contractions.
An inefficient nervous system leads to slower, weaker, haphazard muscular contractions.
Can you guess which one is going to lead to more muscle?
Fact is, most people’s nervous systems aren’t efficient enough to allow them to use loads heavy enough to adequately stimulate their muscles to grow. And when the stimulus is lacking, trust us, the results will be lacking as well.
Fortunately, we’ll be back to teach you an easy way to fix this tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Reason #6: Your Training is One-Dimensional
Did you know that there are three types of muscle fibers? (Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb)
Did you know that there are two types of muscle growth? (Myofibril, the “protein” portion of muscle cells, and Sarcoplasmic, the “fluid” portion of muscle cells)
Did you know that you need to strategically train in a very specific way to stimulate each ONE of these 5 pathways, each of which requires a differing training stimulus?
Did you know that there are at least 7 OTHER pathways to stimulate the generation of calorie-burning lean muscle?
Most people don’t, which is why most people fail to unlock more than 80% of their muscle building potential.
To make an analogy, let’s imagine that you’re trying to grow your bank account, and your sole method of doing so is depositing your bi-weekly pay check into a checking account.
The number will continue to rise on a slow, steady basis.
But, what if that money was in an interest bearing account? What if you took some of that money and invested it in 3 or 4 or 10 different places? What if you set up a side business that was generating even more money to deposit in to that account?
Do you think that over a period of 6 months you’d have SUBSTANTIALLY more money than if you continued to solely rely on the “paycheck deposit” method of growing your bank account?
YES.
Similarly, there are MANY ways and avenues and pathways to stimulate and generate muscle growth, and if you’re hoping to experience optimal growth, you need to be utilizing all the different pathways.
And in tomorrow’s article, we’ll share several methods to ensure you’re hitting multiple pathways with your training.
Wrap Up
Alright, there you have it - 6 of the biggest misconceptions surrounding muscle growth and some BIG reasons why you may not be experiencing the lean muscle building results you’re after, but don’t worry, you can “fix” all of these problems, and we’ll be back tomorrow to share a bunch of solutions.
Stay tuned.
Maximize Your Muscle Building <= click the link to get your free 37 page muscle building report.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Building Muscle Workouts: Gain Muscle And Build A Big Back
How to Gain Weight & Build a Barn Door Sized Back by Jason Ferruggia of Triple Threat MuscleIf you want know how to gain weight and build a thick, muscular back there are three exercises that you need to become very familiar with. Those exercise are chin ups, rows and lastly but most importantly; deadlifts. If you did nothing but those three exercises faithfully you would end up with a thick and impressive looking back.
When it comes to uncovering the secrets of how to gain weight you need to realize that the back muscles make up a huge portion of your total musculature and that developing them will add countless pounds to your frame.
So how do we go about developing all of the muscles of the back? Firstly we have to address the traps which start at the neck and go all the way down to the mid back. These can be worked most effectively with dead lifts, shrugs and hang cleans. Deadlifts can be done for anywhere between one and twenty reps. Shrugs are best kept at 6-12 reps and cleans should usually be done for six reps or less.
Next on the list are the smaller muscles around the shoulder blade area which are the infraspinatus, rhomboids, teres major and minor and rear deltoids. These muscles work during all forms of rows. If you are really looking to get the most bang for you buck and to work as many muscles as possible then stick with big compound rowing exercises like dumbbell and barbell rows. These will work most muscles in your back. But if you are more advanced and want to isolate and directly target some of these smaller muscles you can do that with face pulls, bent over lateral raises, scare crows and external rotations.
These smaller isolation type exercises are not necessary but can help prevent imbalances and can put the finishing touches on a well muscled back. Unlike other isolation exercises like leg extensions and concentration curls, these exercises actually do serve some purpose and are effective at building size and strength and preventing injury. When utilizing some of these smaller isolation exercises be sure to keep the reps in the 8-12 range as that is what seems to work best for these muscles.
The lats are next and are the muscles that stick out under your armpits and give you the appearance of width. They make up a great deal of the total back musculature. To really increase the size of your lats and thus the width of your back, focus on all variations of chin ups and the occasional higher rep set of pulldowns.
Lastly we have the erector spinae which is basically the lower back musculature. This area extends from the top of the glutes up to the traps. A well developed set of erector spinae really stands out and lets people know you are way more than all show and no go. There is no better lower back exercise than the deadlift and its variations. Some other great erector spinae builders are good mornings, back extensions and reverse hypers. These exercises should be done for 6-20 reps, while deadlifts can be done for 1-20 reps.
While everything written above is important and should be considered, you could ignore all of it and just deadlift on a regular basis and still develop a very impressive back. Whenever someone asks me how to gain weight I tell them to eat a lot and do deadlifts.
Deadlifts are the king of the back builders and work every muscle group. If you are pressed for time, stick with deadlifts. If you have more time to dedicate to building a big back do two sets each, twice per week of some type of deadlift or lower back exercise (deads should only be done once per week as they are very tough to recover from), shrug, upper back “isolation move,” compound row and chin up.
**********
For more advice on how to gain solid muscle visit Triple Threat Muscle take your muscle building to a whole new level.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Muscle Building The Triple Threat Muscle Approach
Q: Most guys are being told to follow bodybuilding splits, train multiple times a day, and other non-sense training tactics that don’t work. What tips do you have for people looking to build muscle as fast as possible?
A:The key to making consistent size gains is making consistent strength gains (in a hypertrophy rep range) while eating enough food and allowing enough time for recovery. You need to constantly be doing more weight or more reps. The body will respond to any given stimulus one time and one time only. If you place the same demands on it a second time (like pressing the same weight for the same reps) nothing will happen. You must always be forcing it to adapt and thus you must always ask it do something it isn’t used to.
The easiest way to do this is add more weight or do more reps with the same weight.
Aside from making consistent strength gains the next most important thing to consider is training frequency. To improve anything in life you need to do it frequently. Building muscle is no different. So you want to train a muscle as frequently as possible, while it is in a fresh and recovered state. This means that you should be training each body part once every 2-5 days, and not once a week like a lot of the muscle mags recommend. That’s too little frequency. The more times you can stimulate growth throughout the year the better. Obviously 104 growth stimulating workouts per year for each body part would be a lot better than 52.
Q: I have seen the phrase “stimulate, don’t annihilate” on your blog in reference to training. Can you explain what you mean by this and the relation to training volume?
A: To elicit a training response you need to present the body with a stimulus that it isn’t used to. This stress will cause the body to adapt. The body adapts by building itself up bigger and stronger.
Where people go wrong is that they think they need to annihilate the muscle in order to elicit any type of response. This is completely counterproductive. When you annihilate the muscle with tons of sets and reps and intensity techniques like drop sets you drastically increase your recovery time. And as I mentioned previously, frequency is very important. So when you increase your recovery time you have to decrease your training time. You’re shooting yourself in the foot.
The key is to do just enough to stimulate size and strength gains but not annihilate yourself so that it takes forever to recover, or worse- that you put yourself in a state of overtraining.
Q: Triple Threat Muscle is your new program. What separates this program from all the others and can you tell our readers why you created it?
A: My Muscle Gaining Secrets program is specifically geared toward skinny guys, hardgainers and beginners. This is more of an intermediate/advanced program that is more athletically based. So while the main focus is still on building muscle there is also a shift toward a bit more speed work, mobility and conditioning in Triple Threat Muscle.
The new program was created for the typical weekend warrior or Average Joe who wants to look and train like an athlete but doesn’t actually have the time or recovery ability to spend more than a few hours per week in the gym.
I spent the last two years experimenting on a wide group of individuals to come up with the most effective and fastest way to do this. Triple Threat Muscle is the result of two years of hard work and is based on all of my findings.
Q: tell us about Renegade Gym (this is the gym Jason owns in NJ.
At Renegade we want and accept only the most dedicated, disciplined hardest workers around. There is absolutely zero tolerance for anything less than 100% commitment. I don’t say that to be cool or hardcore or tough. Because I am none of those things. I say it because I take this business very seriously and am not in it for the money. I do it because I eat, sleep and breathe this shit. I am obsessed with it. I love getting people bull fucking strong and jacked out of their minds. I love helping guys run faster and jump higher. I live to help people hit goals and do things they never thought possible.
The majority of people, however, just don’t have the level of commitment that I expect and demand. That is why I have turned down more clients than I have accepted and will always continue to do so. It’s why I have always thrown an average of probably half a dozen people per year out of the gym. From a business perspective I highly recommend that you do the same. When you’re starting out it can be tempting to just take money from everyone that comes your way. But doing this will ruin your business in the long run. Your clients/ members need to be walking billboards for your company. And if they are lazy, whining schmucks, how is that going make you look when they get zero results and then tell people they train at your place? Never mind the fact that these types of negative, weak minded people will ruin the atmosphere in the gym, bring others down of and basically make you hate your very existence.
At Renegade we demand that if you are going to be a part of the team, you bring something to the table and make the entire group better. If you are not making the atmosphere better you’re only making it worse and just taking up space that we can’t afford to give you. At Renegade it’s not just about you; it’s about everyone else you train with as well. You need to not only elevate your game but also bring everyone else up with you. And if you are the low man on the totem pole, your job is to get to the top fast.
Like the great strength coaching legend Louie Simmons said about his world famous Westside Barbell Club, “I don’t have room for poodles in my gym; I only want pit bulls.” I am not comparing myself to Louie or Renegade to Westside, because there can not and will not ever be any comparison. But like Louie, I want guys (and girls) who are fiercely competitive and will do whatever it takes to constantly set PR’s and be the top dog in the gym.
Q: And finally, what general tips can you give to our readers who want transform their bodies?
* Strength train 3-4 days per week.
* Lift heavy and keep most of your sets in the range of 3-10 reps.
* Don’t go to failure.
* Train each body part 2-3 times per week.
* Don’t do more than 12-16 total sets per workout.
* Always strive to get stronger.
* Eat natural, organic foods and avoid anything processed.
* Sleep 8-10 hours per day.
* Minimize stress.
* Get out in the fresh air and sun more often.
Thanks to Jason for his insight into muscle building. Go check out Jasons new program Triple Threat Muscle if you think you can cut it.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Building Muscle 12 Keys To Blow Past Your Genetic Potential
Good Morning,
The other day I told you about the FREE 37 page report being given away by Vince Del Monte The 12 Targets you have 1 more day to get it. So you better go now and download it. If you are serious about gaining new muscle you'll want to check it out. And why not it's Free.
I took a couple of things off the download page so you can see a small bit of what the report can show you.
There are only TWELVE ways responsible for constructing a perfect physique (even if you’ve approached or exhausted your genetic potential and not sure if your body is capable of any more physique-altering improvements) FAST and FREE! ***The 12 Anabolic Targets**
Inside You’ll Discover...
• The real reason you can’t add new lean muscle mass (whether you’re a male or female, young or old). Currently you’ve been taught to only target 1 (or, if you’re lucky, two), of the HUGE set of 12 “little-known” anabolic targets and I’m about to reveal the targets you’re missing. (See page 2).
• The shocking truth about why 95% of programs have the plateau built right into the program and why you had no other reason but to hit a plateau! (Do they really work? Find out on page 8)
• The fastest, safest, and most reliable way to grow beyond your genetic potential for beginners, intermediates and advanced people alike. See PROOF that it’s not impossible to grow beyond “genetic potential”... (Page 14)
Go Now 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains
The other day I told you about the FREE 37 page report being given away by Vince Del Monte The 12 Targets you have 1 more day to get it. So you better go now and download it. If you are serious about gaining new muscle you'll want to check it out. And why not it's Free.
I took a couple of things off the download page so you can see a small bit of what the report can show you.
There are only TWELVE ways responsible for constructing a perfect physique (even if you’ve approached or exhausted your genetic potential and not sure if your body is capable of any more physique-altering improvements) FAST and FREE! ***The 12 Anabolic Targets**
Inside You’ll Discover...
• The real reason you can’t add new lean muscle mass (whether you’re a male or female, young or old). Currently you’ve been taught to only target 1 (or, if you’re lucky, two), of the HUGE set of 12 “little-known” anabolic targets and I’m about to reveal the targets you’re missing. (See page 2).
• The shocking truth about why 95% of programs have the plateau built right into the program and why you had no other reason but to hit a plateau! (Do they really work? Find out on page 8)
• The fastest, safest, and most reliable way to grow beyond your genetic potential for beginners, intermediates and advanced people alike. See PROOF that it’s not impossible to grow beyond “genetic potential”... (Page 14)
Go Now 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Maximum Muscle Building 12 Key Untapped Targets
I don’t know if you if you’ve ever met him, seen his videos or his pictures but he’s pretty much the “go to guy” for
muscle building advice in our circle of friends and online fitness community.
You may know Vince as the guy who was once called “Wimpy Skinny Vinny” and gained 41-lbs of muscle in 6-months then went on to become a National Fitness Model Champion and author.
What you may not know is that Vince couldn’t crack 190-lbs and hit a crazy rut after – probably very similar to your own rut. 190-lbs became his “limit” and according to the experts – a plateau he should have accepted as “normal” and not questioned.
But over the last 2-years, Vince has made a DISCOVERY!
That discovery helped him gain an ADDITIONAL 20-lbs of lean muscle the past 2-years. He contributes busting through his plateau to his discovery of the “The 12 Anabolic Targets” (which works for beginners, intermediate and advanced lifters alike).
The BEST NEWS: he wants to hook you up with all twelve of them absolutely FREE in his brand new 36-page report: The 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains.
No catch except that the report is coming down in 72-hours.
You can get it here:
The 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains
And this is not a sales pitch for something new and shiny…it’s a KILLER content that reveals 12 untapped targets you must hit if you want to ignite new muscle on your body.
You’ll love this! You’ll be able to unlock the target of your choice later today when you hit the gym.
Provide him your BEST email address to make sure this makes it nto your hands:
The 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains ;- click here for your FREE Report
I’ve been using Target #6 - High Frequency Lifting I've been using different poundages, rest times, rep ranges etc. And it’s been keeping my workouts fresh and stimulating.
Whether you’re a beginner or advanced, male or female, I’m absolutely certain that you will learn some new information that will help you blow beyond your genetic potential.
The 12 Untapped Targets To Ignite New Muscle Gains ⇐ FREE download
To your new muscle,
Jag252
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Maximize Your Muscle Building
Maximize Your Efficiency: Three "Tweaks" That Will Revolutionize Your Workout
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
http://www.staleytraining.com
Here I present three methods which, when used consistently, will help you spend less time in the gym while getting better results at the same time.
Only applied knowledge is power, so don’t just read, but apply!
Front Loading
Efficient people instinctively try to get the majority of their work done early in the day (this also applies to week or month). The rationale is simple: you have more energy early in the day than you do later on.
Therefore, when I create training programs for my clients, I rarely indicate a standard amount of rest between each set. Instead, I’ll indicate a time-frame for all sets to be completed in (for example, 8 sets of 3 repetitions to be performed in 15 minutes - you might recognize Escalating Density Training (http://www.staleytrainingprograms.com) parameters in this example!).
In this way, my client will instinctively attempt to get a “head start” by taking shorter rests between the initial sets, which will permit longer rest intervals for later sets.
Since fatigue accumulates over the duration of a workout, front loading is far more efficient than using standard rest intervals between sets, which is how 99% of all people organize their workouts. Interested in joining the one-percent club? Apply this concept to your workouts starting today— the rewards will be significant and immediate.
Use Antagonistic Pairings
Every muscle in your body has a “partner” (called the antagonist) which is capable of opposing it’s contractile forces. For example, when you perform a biceps curl, the biceps muscle would be termed the “agonist” and the tricep would be the “antagonist.” (the easy way to remember these terms is to think that the agonist is the one that is in agony because it’s performing the work).
As you curl the weight, the motor cortex of your brain signals the triceps to relax in order to allow the biceps to contract. This phenomenon is called Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition. Here’s how we can take advantage of this phenomenon in a very practical way:
You first perform a set of barbell curls, and then rest perhaps 1-2 minutes. For set two, you perform a set of lying dumbbell triceps extensions. As you do so, the biceps muscles are “inhibited.”
The triceps contraction actually forces the biceps to de-activate, which simply means they will recover faster as a result of having performed the set of triceps extensions. You then rest, go back to the curls, and back and forth until all sets for both exercises are completed.
There are three additional benefits to the use of antagonistic pairings:
If you perform (for example) 5 sets of biceps curls one after the other using two minutes of rest between each set, you obviously get two minutes of rest between each set. However, if you perform a set of curls, then rest two minutes, then perform a set of triceps extensions, rest two minutes, etc., you now achieve more than four minutes of rest between two sets of the same exercise, even though the total workout duration remains the same.
Training muscles in antagonistic pairs ensures equal (or at least similar) strength development around both sides of the joint. This is very important for overall size and strength gains, because if the strength ratio between agonist and antagonist is significantly disparate, the brain will reduce your strength levels in an effort to protect your joints.
In the preceding example, as you perform your biceps curls, you are keeping the involved joint warm for your next set of triceps extensions. Over time, this can be very meaningful in terms of joint integrity and health.
Here are a few examples of muscle pairings which correspond to the principles
I’ve just discussed:
Lats & Pecs
Biceps & Triceps
Quads & Hamstrings
Abdominals and Low Back Musculature
Lats & Triceps (biceps are usually heavily involved during most lat exercises)
Pecs & Biceps (triceps are usually heavily involved during most pec exercises)
Use Submaximal Accelerative Efforts
If your best bench press for one rep is 300 pounds, then obviously the most amount of tension you can place on the targeted muscles will be just slightly more than 300 pounds.
However, Soviet force-plate research has shown that a load corresponding to 65% of your maximum capability (195 pounds in this example) can also result in 300 pounds worth of tension, provided that the weight is maximally accelerated. You might argue that there is no advantage either way, since both methods produce approximately the same amount of force.
However, there are distinct advantages to using “submaximal accelerative efforts” as opposed to the maximal weights method:
Using the above example, if you use 300 pounds, you can only perform one rep, and then you’re done. If you use 195 pounds for sets of three using maximum acceleration, you can perform multiple sets— usually between 8 and 12 sets can be performed before there is a significant decline in lifting speed. This allows far more total volume within a session.
When using submaximal accelerative efforts as described above, you’ll always have several reps in reserve on any given set, which means you can dramatically reduce the need for a spotter (although using a competent spotter is still a good idea when using unfamiliar exercises).
Our bodies are essentially hard-wired to accelerate whenever performing difficult motor tasks such as running, lifting, or jumping. In fact, people have to be taught to move slowly, since it is far more efficient (and instinctive) to take advantage of momentum when performing motor tasks such as lifting heavy weights.
If these ideas seem unusual to you, let me stress that the most successful people in life are open-minded.
Have you ever adopted a new habit that ended up having a significant positive impact on your life? The three concepts I’ve presented here have had that effect on my own training, and on the results I’ve achieved for my clients. I’m confident they’ll produce similar results for you as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About The Author
Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...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.
Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.
http://www.staleytrainingprograms.com
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
http://www.staleytraining.com
Here I present three methods which, when used consistently, will help you spend less time in the gym while getting better results at the same time.
Only applied knowledge is power, so don’t just read, but apply!
Front Loading
Efficient people instinctively try to get the majority of their work done early in the day (this also applies to week or month). The rationale is simple: you have more energy early in the day than you do later on.
Therefore, when I create training programs for my clients, I rarely indicate a standard amount of rest between each set. Instead, I’ll indicate a time-frame for all sets to be completed in (for example, 8 sets of 3 repetitions to be performed in 15 minutes - you might recognize Escalating Density Training (http://www.staleytrainingprograms.com) parameters in this example!).
In this way, my client will instinctively attempt to get a “head start” by taking shorter rests between the initial sets, which will permit longer rest intervals for later sets.
Since fatigue accumulates over the duration of a workout, front loading is far more efficient than using standard rest intervals between sets, which is how 99% of all people organize their workouts. Interested in joining the one-percent club? Apply this concept to your workouts starting today— the rewards will be significant and immediate.
Use Antagonistic Pairings
Every muscle in your body has a “partner” (called the antagonist) which is capable of opposing it’s contractile forces. For example, when you perform a biceps curl, the biceps muscle would be termed the “agonist” and the tricep would be the “antagonist.” (the easy way to remember these terms is to think that the agonist is the one that is in agony because it’s performing the work).
As you curl the weight, the motor cortex of your brain signals the triceps to relax in order to allow the biceps to contract. This phenomenon is called Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition. Here’s how we can take advantage of this phenomenon in a very practical way:
You first perform a set of barbell curls, and then rest perhaps 1-2 minutes. For set two, you perform a set of lying dumbbell triceps extensions. As you do so, the biceps muscles are “inhibited.”
The triceps contraction actually forces the biceps to de-activate, which simply means they will recover faster as a result of having performed the set of triceps extensions. You then rest, go back to the curls, and back and forth until all sets for both exercises are completed.
There are three additional benefits to the use of antagonistic pairings:
If you perform (for example) 5 sets of biceps curls one after the other using two minutes of rest between each set, you obviously get two minutes of rest between each set. However, if you perform a set of curls, then rest two minutes, then perform a set of triceps extensions, rest two minutes, etc., you now achieve more than four minutes of rest between two sets of the same exercise, even though the total workout duration remains the same.
Training muscles in antagonistic pairs ensures equal (or at least similar) strength development around both sides of the joint. This is very important for overall size and strength gains, because if the strength ratio between agonist and antagonist is significantly disparate, the brain will reduce your strength levels in an effort to protect your joints.
In the preceding example, as you perform your biceps curls, you are keeping the involved joint warm for your next set of triceps extensions. Over time, this can be very meaningful in terms of joint integrity and health.
Here are a few examples of muscle pairings which correspond to the principles
I’ve just discussed:
Lats & Pecs
Biceps & Triceps
Quads & Hamstrings
Abdominals and Low Back Musculature
Lats & Triceps (biceps are usually heavily involved during most lat exercises)
Pecs & Biceps (triceps are usually heavily involved during most pec exercises)
Use Submaximal Accelerative Efforts
If your best bench press for one rep is 300 pounds, then obviously the most amount of tension you can place on the targeted muscles will be just slightly more than 300 pounds.
However, Soviet force-plate research has shown that a load corresponding to 65% of your maximum capability (195 pounds in this example) can also result in 300 pounds worth of tension, provided that the weight is maximally accelerated. You might argue that there is no advantage either way, since both methods produce approximately the same amount of force.
However, there are distinct advantages to using “submaximal accelerative efforts” as opposed to the maximal weights method:
Using the above example, if you use 300 pounds, you can only perform one rep, and then you’re done. If you use 195 pounds for sets of three using maximum acceleration, you can perform multiple sets— usually between 8 and 12 sets can be performed before there is a significant decline in lifting speed. This allows far more total volume within a session.
When using submaximal accelerative efforts as described above, you’ll always have several reps in reserve on any given set, which means you can dramatically reduce the need for a spotter (although using a competent spotter is still a good idea when using unfamiliar exercises).
Our bodies are essentially hard-wired to accelerate whenever performing difficult motor tasks such as running, lifting, or jumping. In fact, people have to be taught to move slowly, since it is far more efficient (and instinctive) to take advantage of momentum when performing motor tasks such as lifting heavy weights.
If these ideas seem unusual to you, let me stress that the most successful people in life are open-minded.
Have you ever adopted a new habit that ended up having a significant positive impact on your life? The three concepts I’ve presented here have had that effect on my own training, and on the results I’ve achieved for my clients. I’m confident they’ll produce similar results for you as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About The Author
Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...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.
Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.
http://www.staleytrainingprograms.com
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
For Serious Muscle Building You Have To Eat Big
How do you get serious muscle growth? Eat Big. To build muscle the saying goes To Get Big Eat Big. Serious amounts of nutrient dense whole foods will get those muscles growing. To build muscle obviously you need to gain weight. To do this you need to up the amount of quality food you eat.
If you’re workouts are centered around muscle building compound exercises and you are drug free you won’t be able to gain weight or build muscle if you’re not eating enough to promote muscle building.
It is fact you won't build muscle or gain weight if your nutrition is lacking. However, there is a big difference in getting bigger and getting more muscular. We’re talking about muscle building not gaining fat.
Why is it when training to build muscle and gain weight guys look to the 'see food diet'
" Everything You Put In Your Mouth Counts "
Guys who justify eating too much junk food to gain weight and accept an excessive amount of fat gain in hope to build muscle. To be big you must eat big Yes but you don't have to put on excessive amounts of fat while training to build muscle.
That Isn't How Serious Muscle Building Works
Your body has a limited capacity to build muscle. Unfortunately it does not have a limited capacity to gain fat.
Everone has a different capabilities to build muscle, based on how much protein your body can synthesize, your Testosterone levels, your Testosterone to cortisol levels, your insulin sensitivity, your genetic muscle fiber make up and more.
1. Go Back For Seconds And Thirds.
Just starting out? ease into this. Turn one chicken breast into two. Down a second slice of bread instead of just one. Grab another fistful of nuts. Drop in two scoops of protein powder. Your body will adapt and start to build muscle and gain weight.
2. Live To Eat
Sure, you know that you must eat every 2-3 hours, but do you? It needs to become a habit. Having a job and other resposibilities is no excuse for missing meals there are ways to do it.
Plan your muscle building meals ahead of time and there are many meals that can be cooked ahead of time, just warm it up when your ready.
Have your first meal within 15-30 minutes of waking up. This first meal of the day should always consist of REAL food of quality nutrients.
3. Never Train Hungry.
How many times have you got up, had a protein shake and then went to train? Or maybe you had a long afternoon and missed a few meals and then attempted a workout?
This should be common sense and I know with work, school, kids whatever it can be hard. Tough. If you want to build muscle you must train heavy and hard. Trying to get an intense muscle building workout done on an empty stomach never works.
To build muscle try to have a minimum of 1-2 muscle building meals in you(I'm talking whole food not protein drinks) before you hit the iron.
4. Eat Nutrient Dense Foods.
Focus on caloric-rich foods loaded with nutrients to gain weight. Avoid foods with empty calories. Why would you consume a 500-calorie plus meal that is loaded with fat and sugar which does nothing but make you feel sluggish and soft? Eat a high calorie meal loaded with slow releasing carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Muscle Building Food Choices:
•Carbohydrates - Oatmeal, rice, breads, yams beans, potatoes, fruits and veggies.
•Proteins - Steak, chicken, lean beef, cottage cheese, whole milk, eggs and salmon.
•Fats - Olive oil, flax oil, avocados, nuts and peanut butter.
5. Drink A Carb And Protein Drink Before, During and After Your Workouts.
That's easily an extra one pound per week. Do this and you have a few extra hundred calories per day. Only use this technique if you are weight training at a very high intensity.
6. To Build Serious Muscle Push Past The Limit
How can you eat that much food? You'll adapt to it and your body will require more food as you gain muscle and your metabolism increases. If you are not eating, then you are not building muscle, and if you are not building muscle then you are staying the same. So which do you want?
Are you truly committed to build serious muscle? You Must "Eat Big To Get Big"
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)