Deadlifts

You should be doing deadlifts. There is no way around it, if deadlifts aren't a part of your weight lifting routine then you aren't living up to your full potential. It is widely considered to be the most effective exercise for building mass in bodybuilding.

Most newbies shrug off deadlifts because they are worried about getting injured or aren't willing to put in the effort to learn the deaflift. It is a compound exercise, which means it works multiple muscle groups. Obviously, deadlifts are great at turning backs into cheese shredders, but they also work the legs! You will find that, especially when you first start doing deadlifts, your quads and hamstrings will be sore the next day. They can even transform your glutes!

If you have decided to add bulk to your body via deadlifts, you need to learn the proper form in order to maximize their effectiveness and prevent injury. You should start by doing two warm-up sets with light weight in order to get your muscles ready to lift. This is a major cog in the anti-injury machine. You can try out some back and leg stretches as well.

1. Check your ego at the door. You want to use a light starting weight in order to prevent injury.

2. Place the bar at your feet and lift it while keeping your back completely straight, Your back should be straight for the entirety of this exercise, rounding means you either aren't trying hard enough or you are trying to do too much weight. Keep the bar as close to your shins as possible when lifting it.

3. Once you have lifted the barbell to waist level, you want to straighten your shoulders and pull them back slightly. This works the upper back extremely effectively.

4. When lowering the bar make sure to keep it as close to your legs and shins as possible, all the while keeping your back straight.

5. I recommend implementing this into a bulking routine with other compound lifts. Do some research to find the ones that will add the most mass for you.

If done right, you can see more gains from the deadlift than any other exercise. It truly is the cornerstone of any bulking routine. It will add weight in all the right places and your posture will be as straight as a steel plank. Just remember, keep your back straight!

Traps Workout

In order to have effective trap workouts, you need to understand what traps are. This way you know where to focus your workouts and what muscles you are developing, building and strengthening. Basically, the trapezius muscles are located on the upper and mid areas of the back. These muscles include the upper, lower and middle portion.

The upper portion starts at the top of your neck and extends down to the lateral area of the collarbone. The mid portion starts at your cervical spine extending outward and attaching onto the shoulder blade. The lower portion starts along the thoracic vertebra and like the mid portion traps, this forms a triangular shape that ends at the shoulder blade. Here are a few trap workouts that can help you build strong traps. 

1. Seated row workout. Basically, this exercise targets all three portions of your trapezius muscles. You need dumbbells or resistance band for this. First, you need to sit on the floor. Extend your legs outward and make sure to keep an erect posture. Your abs should contract. Your neck should be straight and you have to pull your shoulders back. While holding the dumbbell or resistance band, you need to slowly pull your arms back and bend your elbows. You will have to move your elbows behind your back. Maintain this position and then repeat. Do 12 reps of this in 3 sets.


2. Overhead press. You will need barbells or dumbbells for this. To do this, you need to assume a standing position with your feet apart. Holding your dumbbells with your hands facing out, bend your elbows until your hands are in even position with your shoulders. Slowly, extend your elbows, pushing the dumbbells or barbells over your head. Hold this position and then lower the weights down. Do 12 reps of this in 3 sets.


3. Lateral Raise. You need an incline bench and dumbbells for this one. Lie face down with your chest and belly flat on the inclined bench. Holding dumbbells in each hand, allow your arms to hang down. Your palms should be facing in. Slowly extend you arms out. Your arms should be raised straight but keep your elbows soft. Bring your arms in position with your back. Hold this position for a second and then lower your arms. Do 12 reps of this in 3 sets.

These are effective trap workouts that will help you build strong and big traps in no time

How To Lift Weights Effectively

There are times where every beginning weightlifter will wonder if he is wasting his time or living up to his potential in the gym. Everyone wants to build muscle, but those who build the most muscle are the ones who are knowledgeable on all the aspects of training. Any seasoned lifter will tell you that in order to build muscle and bulk up effectively you have to have good form in all of your exercises.

1. First off, it should be noted that compound exercises are the most effective routines for building mass and bulking up. They are also considered supreme for building overall strength. Compound exercises work the body so much that human growth hormone levels are elevated and thus bulk increased. Your body will stack on the pounds. Just make sure that you have a good routine and diet in place.

2. It is relatively simple to practice good form for many isolation exercises like lat pull downs and tricep extensions. However, once you enter the realm of compound lifts, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage great form. A precursor to good form is research, check out animations in magazines and watch videos on YouTube. Being educated is the most important step!

3. Always use warm-up sets to hammer out any weaknesses in your form. Make sure you are in front of a mirror and able to see yourself for the duration of the set. Do not let yourself lose concentration and go sloppy at the end of a heavy set, this is when it matters the most!

4. Focus more during the eccentric part of the rep. The eccentric phase of any lift is the phase when the weight is being lowered. Essentially, it is traditionally viewed as the easy part of a rep. This has been called the number one mistake beginning body builders make. Put just as much effort into lowering the weight with good form as you do lifting the weight! This can really make a difference in your bench press efficiency.

5. It's not a bad idea to record your lifts on video for later analysis.

If you are seeing lackluster or minimal gains, make sure your form is in check. Your goal here should be perfection in every compound exercise. Cleaning up your form will also ensure that your muscles grow in a balanced manner. Proper form can also lower your injury risk significantly, especially during dead lifts and squats.

Training Like A Professional

Training Like a Pro- "Go Hard or Go Home".

There are two aspects to body building (1) The work you put in at the gym and (2) The work you put in out of the gym, (predominantly nutrition). In this article I will talk about the work you put in at the gym. I will talk about the work you put out of the gym and nutrition in another article because this is a whole other topic entirely, that deserves its own article.

Your average person and even your average fitness enthusiast does not quite realise the extent of the work body builders put in to their sport, and body building is a sport! Arguably the most competitive and demanding sport there is. (This will be discussed in another article).

Ok... I realise a lot of you reading this are thinking to yourself....." But I don't want to be a body builder". You don't have to become a "Body Builder" but you do have to train like one to obtain any commendable goals, e.g: body fat loss, increase in lean muscle etc. One could argue that anyone who trains with weights is a body builder, just the levels vary, just like in any other sport, if you train football 2-3 times a week then you are a footballer, maybe an amateur one, but you're still a footballer.

So you visit the gym 2-3 times a week because you want to achieve some kind of a goal? As long as this goal involves in some shape or form you wanting to modify and sculpt the image of your body then you will benefit from training like a pro... in and out of the gym.

When I say train like a pro I want to emphasise and clarify on a few points because of the general lack of knowledge people have in regards to body building....no disrespect intended.

Training like a pro doesn't mean living in the gym, taking steroids, reducing your body fat to extremely low percentages or looking like one of the pro's on the front page of Flex magazine for example. Although most people could never reach the amazing levels these athletes reach regardless of how many steroids they think they need to take. These athletes devote everything to obtain these levels of perfection and it drives me crazy when people put it down to steroid use.

No....training like a pro means having the right mental attitude, it means you need to be serious about your goals, it's more than an extra curriculum activity, it's like having a 2nd job, that's how serious you need to be.

You need to be willing to push yourself past your pain barriers, you need to venture into unknown terrotority, feel pains and burns you have never felt before. You need to be willing to swap those alcoholics beverages for mineral water. You need to be willing to ensure you get a minimum of 8 hours sleep a night. You need to be willing to follow a strict diet, buy food for a week in advance, then go home and prepare that food for the week to come.

You need to leave work, travel to the gym (a good gym! Again, another article another day) expend huge amounts of energy and sweat hurling heavy plates of iron in different directions around your body, whilst experiencing pains you will develop a love/hate relationship with. You then need to travel home, eat, prepare and cook your food for the next day AND get a minimum of 8 hours sleep to promote maximum muscle recovery.

Sound hard....? Yeah?!?.... Yeah your right... maybe you should make up an excuse and return to the ranks of the average Joes, resting for 2-3 minutes in between their regimented sets and yawning in between reps.

OR.... If you're like me, and it sounds like a challenge, maybe even fun (call me crazy) you could take a chance? If you want it bad enough you'll be excited by the challenge! You'll be excited by the huge task ahead. You'll probably fail the 1st few times, I did! But you'll get there in the end. Oh boy and when you do!... When you do, it will be worth it believe me!

You will start to notice girls looking at you in the gym, then you will start to notice guys and girls checking you out! Then it will start to happen outside of the gym.

You will be able to pick up girls easier, the quality of girls you pick up will increase also! Girls likewise for guys.

Sounds a bit farfetched? I'm talking from my own personal experiences and a couple of my close friends who put the hard in work with me and are reaping the fruits of their labour.

The reason is simple. Not everyone can do what you have achieved (When you achieve it that is!) You are the minority, you resemble strength, discipline, dedication.... it's in our nature, our DNA, women are attracted to the alpha male. Men are attracted to women who look healthy.

Once you start to see results and reap the fruits of your labour. That's when you become addicted! You'll be in the gym 4-5 times a week, you'll be eating clean, you won't even be tempted by junk food.

That's when you join the ranks of the elite, the ones whom are watched in the gym, and do not watch! Just be careful not to become arrogant! No one likes that. You now have a responsibility to help others....and they will ask, be sure to assist.

Go forth friend...Join the ranks of the Elite.

10 Steps to Successful Fat Loss

1. Think Fit and Healthy: Change in any area of life has to first start in the mind. You have to change the mind in order to change the body. The mindset is responsible for our habits, emotions, what we think of our bodies and our relationship with food. Our habits and emotions are responsible for shaping our bodies and health.

2. Make Realistic Eating Plans: Since 70-80% of your health and fitness results come from nutrition, our daily eating has to be realistic. The reason "diets" never work is because they are based on short-term goals that are unrealistic to maintain. We see all sorts of diet gimmicks in the media cookies, smoothies, bars and more. Most of these gimmicks are forms of meal replacements which restrict calories. The calorie deficit will definitely cause one to lose weight but it will not stay off. It is unrealistic to maintain the weight eating weight loss cookies and shakes. Real foods that are nutritionally dense are the only way to maintain a healthy body and weight. Find a knowledgable professional or purchase fitness magazines to get meal planning ideas.

3. Schedule Appointments for Exercise: I always find that planning both my meals and exercise is the best way for me to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It helps me to make better use of my time. I have a very busy schedule. If I just try to wing it when it comes to exercise and meals, it will not work well. I schedule my workouts at 5:00am before work and after work it is all about homework and dinner. Without this schedule, workouts will likely never happen.

4. Write It Down: I am a huge advocate for food and workout journals. It not only documents your food, workouts and emotions but it is a great reference source. Health and fitness journals also help to keep you on track by pre planning meals and workouts. I always recommend putting both your meal and workout plan on paper for at least a week in advance. You have a better chance of staying on schedule and avoiding impulse eating when things are planned.

5. Keep a list of non-food activities: Emotional eating causes some to have the wrong relationship with foods. Although we should enjoy what we eat, the primary reason for eating should be as a fuel source. Eating when stressed, happy, depressed, anxiety or boredom is not the right relationship with food. Find ways to redirect these emotions with non-food activities such as reading, going for walks or discussing your emotions with someone you trust.

6. Front load your calories: Eating more calories early in the day verses later in the evening will help you maintain healthy weight. Many people think that skipping breakfast is a way to lose weight. They skip breakfast then skimp on lunch only to overload late in the day. By evening they are so famished that they eat impulsively on the first thing they can find. This choice is usually not the best food option. Breakfast is important mainly because 1/3 of your daily nutrients come from this meal and it helps to maintain glucose levels. You also have more opportunities during the day to burn it off unlike overloading late in the day a couple of hours before bed.

7. Eat your favorite foods: Eating your favorite foods is easy if you find healthier versions. Even the less healthy versions is ok in moderation. The only things that should never be consumed and even out right avoided are those that are toxic or cause allergic reactions. I have learned to bake sugar-free snacks, reduced sugar candy and bake gluten-free breads and cakes. I love pizza and bake my own gluten-free pizza crust. Experimenting with healthy and creative meals is a passion of mine. What are your favorite foods? Experiment with your favorite dishes using healthier ingredients.

8. Eat slowly: Let's face it our hectic lives usually has most of us eating on the run which means eating very fast. It takes the body 20 minutes just to register fullness. This can lead to over eating and simply being out right stuffed. By eating slowly you savor every bite and won't overeat before your body tells you it is full.

9. Avoid temptation: If it is overly tempting, don't buy it, bring it in the house or even bring it in the car. An alcoholic does not buy or bring alcohol in the house. Neither should a person who has a weakness for Twinkies. If you eat more in front of the TV, plan a non - food activity. Don't even tempt yourself by sitting in front of it for too long. Read a book instead.

10. Make sleep a priority: Rest is highly important. This is a time for the body to recover. Without enough of it you will experience fatigue which hinders workouts and day-to-day activities. You may also experience increased hunger. Lack of sleep is stress on the body. When the body is under stress, the stress hormone cortisol is secreted into the blood stream at a higher rate. This is a big reason individuals under excess stress (physical or mental) tend to battle the bulge.

 

Six packs easily !!

Getting six pack abs is a real frustration. It's not an easy task to turn up your entire body into muscles and reshape it into six pack abs. For all those who desire to have a six pack abs and is not getting a real guideline over building it; I will probably let you know some easy and natural tips over developing and building six pack abs. Many of them don't know the exact ways of developing six pack abs, the end up complaining of getting no results even after trying out heavier exercises and lifting weights. Even though you spend hours together everyday working out determinately, you really need to know how to perform correct exercises in a correct way and what food habits to practice.

                                 

Remember guys Diet and Exercises go hand in hand. Both are really important in order to change the entire structure of your body and make it hard and muscular.

Diet and exercise are really essential and a basic factor in order to Get six packs abs. If you believe in going to gym and working out then believe you, me it will give you results but for a temporary period. So my suggestion is follow natural exercises and home cooked diet in order to get those muscles build up fast and remove all unwanted fats causing obstruction in your way of building six packs. Go on reading further and discover some useful guidelines.

Do exercises at home on a daily basis like, Leg Lifting, Upper and back Crunches, Incline sit-ups, Push ups and pull ups. Repeat these exercises for about 15 times. This will affect your upper and lower abs which will contribute a lot to build six pack abs.

Eating specific foods will really help you to burn your belly fats, which will then make your belly look muscular and it, I'll be easy to develop six packs. You should eat foods like Fish, Meat, apples, oranges, cereals; green vegetables, skimmed milk, etc.

Drink 5 glasses of water everyday

Perform cardio exercises. This will help your unwanted fats to be burned quickly. Cardio exercises can be done in your Gym, n your fitness class, etc. Riding a bicycle will also be an effective exercise in order to develop six packs.

Get the most of your Biceps workout

I love working out on my biceps, I find them to be one of the most responsive body parts for me. And the best thing about working out the biceps is that you really don't have to do too much to see good results. Some people think that doing set after set exercise after exercise is going to make the biceps grow, all they doing is over training them, remember they are only a small muscle group.

You can train the biceps twice a week but make sure they are fully recovered before doing so, if they are not fully recovered then do not train them.

Also don't forget that when working out the back muscle that you biceps are going to get a pre exhausted workout from that so plan your workouts so you get the best in each workout.

What I mean is if you train you back the day after you have just trained your biceps then you are not going to get the best out of your back workout, also you are going to be pre exhausting your biceps again, this not giving the biceps hardly any time to recover braking down the fibers in the biceps muscle again and leading to muscle loss rather than muscle growth.

Any way here is my best biceps workout so have a look give it a go and see what happens.

Remember stretch the biceps during the exercise at the bottom of the movement and between the exercise also squeeze the biceps at the top of the movement this is the best way of getting the most out of the workout.

1. Seated concentration curl on an incline bench, what most people do is twist the dumbbells as they bring the weight up I don't I like to keep the wrist in the same position from the bottom to the top of the exercise.

I start this exercise with two warm up sets of 15 reps, then increase the weight up until I can't do more than 7 reps for each set, then strip the weights off so my reps go up again but with no rest in-between the sets. You will probably end up doing about 8-9 sets in this one exercise but the pump is fantastic and you get the best of working the slow and fast twitch fibers. Also it is all over very quickly.

2. Seated hammer curls, staying in the seated incline position grab some dumbbells and start the exercise as it was started in the first movement this is going to hit the outer head of the biceps, the only difference from the first exercise is that there is no warm up sets.

3. Standing bent over concentration curl, Pick up a dumbbell that you can do at least 12 reps with and fins the workout with 2 sets this will hit the peak of the biceps.

Remember to stretch the biceps while doing the exercise at the bottom of the movement and squeeze at the top of each movement, this really is key to getting the biceps or any muscle to grow.

How To Get Abs Fast?

When you see your favourite celebrity with awe-inspiring six pack abs, do you wish "If only I had a ripped middle like him to flaunt!" Then, why not train for building your six pack abs? Many people undertake their abs training program with great enthusiasm. They spend hours performing exercises like sit-ups and crunches, but the six pack abs continue to remain elusive. Although each of these enthusiasts may be clear about his/her goal, most of them often do not know how to get abs fast. Sit ups and crunches do help in developing the abdominal muscles; only they will not be visible!

Get Rid of Excessive Fat First, Focus on Abs Building Later on

The layer of fat (the bulge) hiding the six pack is still very much there!

"Oh! Now I have to work on my tummy fat!" you may remark.

Well, yes. In fact your abs building programme should have started primarily with training targeted to remove the fat layers in your body. A fast and effective way to get rid of the bulges in the middle is to adopt resistance training. This will ensure that you burn huge amounts of calories. Exercises that are targeted at larger muscles will help melt away fat much faster (the body will use up the stored fat for getting extra energy required during high intensity training). Be sure that resistance training will definitely hasten the process of exposing the underlying abdominal muscles.

Accelerate Fat Shedding Process

Look for ways to increase the "resistance" in your workouts, e.g. by using dumbbells, etc. Take care to avoid overexertion lest you suffer muscle sprain. It must be pointed out that there is really no need to spend money on fancy gadgets that promise to burn the fat at a super fast speed. Exercises that take advantage of your own body weight will do just as well. There are umpteen examples where the trainers have been successful in shedding fat layers without use of any gadget. The bottom line is to train smartly. There are no short-cuts to getting a lean body.

Some fat should always be present in the body; an ideal composition of fat in the average adult body is about 10% (of body weight) for men and 16 to 18% for women. (For body building, the percentage of fat will be lesser).

Fat Waylaid, Now Target Ab Muscles

As you succeed melting away the fat, you may shift the focus of your exercises to consolidate the sedated abdominal muscles. Include crunches, double crunches, leg raises, bicycle crunches, etc. in your training programme. Gradually switch over to tougher exercises like hanging leg raises which help define the abdominal muscles. You should include different exercises that target each of the abdominal muscles.

Role of Diet

Finally, know that your diet plays an important role in your six pack abs building programme because a proper diet:

· will restrict the percentage of fat in your body, and

· will also help repair muscular wear and tear, besides strengthening the abdominal muscles that will ultimately "stand out".

Time Frame

You should give yourself enough time (at least six months which includes time for removing excess fat layer, expose the abdominal muscles and define them to get a ripped look ) and stay focused on your goal. Do not let the ecstasy of seeing the abdominal muscles for the first time lull you into a sense of "okay, I've got them; now I need not work anymore" - you'll lose them equally fast!

Last but not the least, you will have to learn to maintain the newly acquired celebrity look. This way you will also ensure that you stay healthy and younger for a long time to come. Perhaps, the title of this article should have been "How to Get Abs Fast and Maintain Them".

Serious Mass review

Serious Mass 

Muscle builders understand that the initial step in how to gain weight is improving nutrition. You require body mass to convert into muscle mass, however, not many find this a simple task. Serious Mass is a health supplement to assist you to gain pounds and appetite fast. If you really need to gain weight seriously, the science of all of it lies behind the amount and also the quality of calories you have.

serious mass assists individuals who have a hard time gaining weight because of their high rate of metabolism. Skinny men who consume a lot of food might find themselves remaining skinny regardless of how much they consume. Serious Mass is the best supplement for those who have high metabolism, low appetites, and active lifestyles.

Just one serving of optimum nutrition serious mass contains 1,250 calories when served with water, and 1,630 when served with milk. It has 50 grams of protein which is uniquely formulated to assist in both fast and slow digestion. The formulation of protein in Serious Mass consists of 25 essential vitamins and minerals, with a special concentration on B-vitamin complex and amino acids for muscle mass building. On top of this, Serious Mass is enhanced with Creatine, Choline, Glutamine Peptides, Inositol, MCTs and PABA.

Ways to use Serious Mass

You can drink Serious Mass in between meals. Make use of 1 serving of the powder with one glass water, mix and consume. To get a creamier and richer texture, you can even use nonfat or low fat milk instead of water.

Serious Mass is also a great muscle gain drink after working out and before going to bed. These are the times when your body is fixing the micro tears in the muscle tissues in your body. The repair procedure is the solution to muscle mass building. Your body utilizes all the nutrients and minerals it absorbed and uses these to fill in the gaps in the micro tears in your muscle tissues, and thus adding mass within your body. Ensure that you get sufficient rest for your body to mend itself and add mass to your muscles.

The best results of Serious Mass is observed with intensive workout, preferable weight lifting 3 to 5 times per week. You could workout every second day to give your body the rest it needs to get back all the lost energy and concentrate of repairing torn muscle micro fibers.

Muscle milk side effects are just as normal as any other protein products might cause. While the symptoms are not serious, the side effects include nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains. Creatine side effects on the flip side is just pure weight gain, should you not combine the supplementation with intensive workout.

Overall, Serious Mass is among the best muscle gain supplements for the most intense and explosive workout routines designed to build muscle quickly. There isn't any other way to build muscle mass but through workouts. You may supplement and make better progress when you take muscle mass building supplements like Serious Mass, a fast way to put on pounds.

The Importance of Rest When Weightlifting

Rest is a crucial component to any well balanced weightlifting program. Some personal trainers will argue that it's more important than the workouts themselves!

To understand the importance of rest when weightlifting you must first understand what's happening when you're pounding out those reps in the gym! When you're working out in the gym, regardless of the muscle group or exercise, you're actually tearing your muscle fibers. The added stress from the weightlifting that is being placed on the muscle is causing the neurons to be ripped apart into what is referred to as micro tears. After any weightlifting workout, it's important to allow the body an adequate amount of time to repair this "damage" that has been done.

Your muscles do not grow from training or weightlifting. Your muscles grow from recovering from the weightlifting that you are doing! Therefore if you were to return to the gym the next day and train the same muscles again, your workout would be relatively ineffective, and could mean you are defeating the purpose of working out in the first place, because you're breaking down these muscles again before they've had a change to repair themselves.

The harder you train your body or muscle group, the more rest that they will need to recover and grow. This is why many professional body builders will not do whole body workouts, but rather focus on specific muscle groups each day.. to allow for proper recovery from each workout.

Some hardcore bodybuilders even take entire weeks off at a time every couple of months just to "shock" their bodies and break any plateaus they may have come to.

Getting restful and regular sleep cannot be overlooked when discussing the importance of rest when weightlifting. This is your body's most "anabolic" state of being. In fact one of the main purposes of sleep is for the body to heal and recover from the day's events and stress. During sleep your body produces large amounts of growth hormones which obviously can help your body burn fat, build muscle, and heal wounds. It goes without saying, that restful sleep also gives you more energy to work with the next day. More energy means more effort in the gym!

Don't think of rest as slacking off from your weightlifting routine, but rather an important part of your overall bodybuilding or body composition goals. If you're looking for the best weightlifting tips or fastest way to lose weight, you should also be looking for the best tips for getting a good night's sleep... because that's when the body is adapting to the lifestyle changes you're putting it through!

Muscle Building Techniques

The most important topic when it comes to changing the shape of your body is nutrition. You've probably heard cheesy sayings like "A little on the lips, forever on the hips" and "You are what you eat." Well, that's because it's true. No matter how hard you work out, if you're diet is wrong, you're not going to get the results you want. If you ask any professional bodybuilder or fitness model, they're going to tell you the same thing. So the topic I'm going to discuss here is nutrabolism.

Nutrabolism means optimizing nutrition to increase muscle growth without adding fat. You've probably heard a lot of talk about the importance of protein, and it's true that protein is very important. But it's easy to make sure you're getting enough protein. What people don't talk about enough is carbohydrate intake. So keeping that in mind, here are three of the most advanced muscle building techniques.

1. Carbohydrate Capitalization. What this means is that you need to eat your carbohydrates at the right time of day so they're not wasted. Extra carbohydrates turn into fat, but if you eat the majority of them around your workout, you can use the energy the provide immediately and not have them going to waste the rest of the day. In fact, you should probably consume about 70% of your daily carbohydrates pre and post workout. The other 30% of your carbohydrates are best eaten at breakfast.

2. Somatofy Your Nutrition. This means changing your nutrition based on your body type. You've probably heard that there are three basic body types: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. There are actually many more body types that fall between these on the spectrum, and nutritionists are only now beginning to understand how these body types react to nutrients and carbohydrates. But for simplicity's sake, we'll focus on the three main body types.

• The Ectomorph. People with this body type are long, lanky and skinny. They typically have thin bones and have a very hard time putting muscle. If that sounds like you, you'll need to take advantage of high-glycemic carbohydrates not just during your workout window, but throughout the day. Doing this will help you to fill out your clothes and change your body faster.


• The Endomorph. People with this body type tend to be shorter and thicker and put on fat very easily. If this is you, then you need to do the opposite and avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates and instead focus on complex carbohydrates and eat the vast majority of them before and after your workout.


• The Mesomorph. These people tend to be of average height and thickness. If that's you, count yourself lucky because it will be much easier to build a great physique. Your main focus should be on protein and having 70% of your carbs (both simple and complex) around your workout.

3. Change Your Nutrition Based On Your Weight Training Program. This is one of the most common mistakes. Many people follow a meal plan that doesn't take into account the time of day they workout. There are some people who get most of their carbs in the morning and do their workout at night. This type of behavior is going to make muscle growth a slow and frustrating process. It's important to have meals prepared for right before and after you workout, no matter what time of day it is.

Free Weights VS Machines

There has been an ongoing debate regarding free weights vs. machines for strength training. While each can help you build strength there are definite pros and cons for each. The following can help you determine what form of strength equipment is best for your needs.

Machines
The most important component in any strength training program is safety. If you are new to strength training or if you are working out alone, variable resistance machines are the best bet. While machines can be a viable option for serious weight training, they are best for novice, senior and recreational athletes.

For rehabilitating injured athletes, variable resistance machines are preferred. They provide a more controlled motion and specifically isolate certain muscle groups. Machines also allow you to track progress and provide objective feedback while increasing the protective participation of the healthy limb or muscle group.

Free Weights
Research has shown us that free weights promote quicker strength gains and they require more balance and coordination than do the weight machines. Free weights recruit more muscle groups than variable resistance machines, which tend to only isolate specific muscles.

Free weights are also more versatile than machines because they allow for more variations in range of motion. Free weights require balance, and they tend to promote more activity of the joint stabilizer muscles. Finally, they are considerably less expensive than most of the machines on the market. You can perform a complete strength training routine with a few dumbbells, and a little imagination.

However, free weights require the help of a spotter, and result in more injuries than machines. Careful instruction and training is necessary to master the art of free weight lifting.

Actually, an ideal training program may incorporate both free weights and machines on alternating training days. In order to get the most from both muscle strength gains and joint stability, you can focus on free weights for some exercises and machines for others.

The bottom line is that you should use the strength training equipment that suits your training needs, is safe, and is convenient. However, if you are comfortable using free weights you may see greater strength gains here than with machines.

Muscles & Skinny people a mix that can happen.

It is true that skinny people have a lot of difficulty when trying to build muscle. Skinny people have a sort of different biological make-up that in a way contributes to the inhibition of muscle growth. This does not mean that it is impossible, though. With proper motivation and the right diet and exercise, skinny people CAN gain muscle and build the body of their dreams TOO.

It is not necessarily TRUE that skinny guys need to have a dreadful workout routine than those with other body types. All that needs to be done is to study your body type and apply the required techniques that fit this body type.

Metabolism is the most important factor in trying to gain muscle. You should be aware that metabolism is responsible for all the processes happening inside the body, including the conversion of food into usable energy forms. The repair of damaged muscles and the perfusion of oxygen to tissues and the brain are also some of the metabolic functions. In short, it keeps our bodies functioning optimally.

Here's The Problem:

Skinny people usually have a faster metabolism rate than other people with larger body types. The metabolism is so fast that what happens is food is immediately converted into energy, leaving not much behind for tissue, muscle repair, and growth. This is why muscle building can become very difficult for skinny people. The same reason applies as to why these people have very little amount of fats in their bodies, because fat is also converted to energy.

The Solution:

An important thing to remember is that the secret to this problem is as simple as eating more - A LOT MORE. This way, your body can save up more food available to be converted not only to energy, but for other purposes as well (especially muscle growth). The focus of eating more lies in increasing the amount of calories and most importantly, protein that you ingest on a daily basis.

Calories can be derived from any of the food groups - carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Proteins are primarily responsible for tissue repair and growth. However, this can be quite difficult because skinny people commonly have lower thresholds for feeling full. This results to being full before they have even met their "calorie goal" for that day. This can be solved by choosing the right kinds of food. There are food choices which greatly have more calories than others for the same portions. Calorie-dense food is very helpful in resolving this problem and can be the solution for skinny people trying to gain muscle.

The Overlooked Factor:

Another pointer that should not be missed is the importance of proper sleep and enough rest periods. Saving up energy is helpful, because all physical activity leads to burned calories. The more calories you spare, the more can be converted into repaired muscle mass. This doesn't mean that exercise should be skipped. It's all about finding the right balance between your resting and active periods in a week. Skinny people need less cardiovascular exercise and more weight-lifting routines, because cardio exercises expend more calories and make the person lose more weight, thus muscle mass in the process.

Food for thought - Here are 6 food choices that have the highest calorie content you can try today:

• Guacamole / avocados
• Eggs - whites and yolks
• Olive oil drenched seafood (preferably tuna and salmon)
• Whole grains (rice, wheat, etc.)
• High carbohydrate food groups (pasta, bread, etc.)
• Potatoes and similar crops

Correct Weight Lifting Techniques

Often those new to weightlifting or even more experienced lifters tend to try to lift weights beyond their capacity. This comes about through peer pressure or just the male testosterone kicking in. Truth is you do not need to lift heavy weights to produce the results you are looking for if you are using the correct techniques.

to build muscle bulk you need to lift heavier weights with shorter workouts. About five to ten routines of eight to twelve reps of each lift with 30 second breaks between each rep. When I say heavier weights this is within your capacity! I don't know of any fixed rule for this but what happens if the weight is too heavy, your body will compensate with other muscle groups and the lift will not focus the lifting on your selected muscles. This is an area (the amount of weight you lift) you need to work out yourself or, if you are fortunate enough to have a trainer they will do this for you.

The Correct Technique:

So when you have worked out what weight you should be lifting it is time to focus on how you should go about lifting:

Follow these guidelines:

• Keep constant pressure on the targeted muscles throughout the lift.
• At no time should you lift to the point of rest (when you lift until your limbs are straight, the weight is supported by your bones allowing your muscles to rest).
• When lifting, lift a quickly as you can to put maximum pressure on the muscles.
• When returning you should not return the weights to rest so the pressure is taken from you muscles (this could be returning the weights to the stand or to the full extent of your limbs).
• When returning, resist the weight by coming back slowly, keeping your muscles under pressure.

The aim is to keep pressure on muscle constantly through all the reps the during lifting exercise with about 30 seconds rest between repetitions. i.e. five to ten lifts with 30 seconds rest between each of these lifts.

If you find yourself struggling to get through your sets when lifting using this method you might consider reducing the amount of weights you are lifting. Having said this you should remember you need to take yourself to the limit to build muscle. It is a fine balance between possible injury and building muscle.

If you are following this method correctly you will feel your muscles getting tighter with every session and you will reach your target far quicker than you expect.

Spend time planning your fitness program, include nutrition, aerobic/cardio and weight training. Keep motivated, disciplined and enjoy your workout.

Top 5 Chest Exercises

Top 5 Chest Exercises

How to Get a Big Chest

    

Training to build a strong back and triceps are just as important to building a big chest, as chest exercises are. one thing is for sure, without strong triceps, you will never have a big bench.

Also you must always train your lower body in order for your upper body to grow. For the lower body I recommend leg exercises and hamstring exercises. Training your whole body with a full body workout routine is one sure way to make sure everything grows or gets toned, depending on your goals.

Now we must examine how the pecs work so that we can better target them for growth.

Anatomy of the Chest

The pectoralis major (aka pecs) is located on the front of the rib cage.

The pecs attach to the humerus near the shoulder joint and originate on the breastbone in the center of the chest.

The fibers of the pec run like a fan across the chest. Their fan-like structure allows the humerus to move in a variety of planes across the body.

The pectoralis minor is located underneath the pectoralis major, attaching to the coracoid process of the scapula and originating on the middle ribs.

The Top 5 Best Chest Exercises

                                           1.     Barbell bench press

The king of all chest exercises. The flat barbell bench press has long been the standard for strength prowess. If you could only choose 3 exercise to create a full body workout, the flat barbell bench press would have to be on the list. This is also the same exercise used in any big 3 powerlifting competition.

You will find people use a large number of variations of the flat barbell bench press. A close grip flat barbell bench press is used to focus more on triceps, while a wide grip flat barbell bench press is a standard pec builder. A middle grip is used most successfully to combine the strength of the triceps, pecs, and shoulders for a maximal effort bench press.

To set up: find a flat standard Olympic bench with a standard 45 lb barbell. Laying down flat on the bench, you want the soles of your feet to touch the floor. This is because we want a solid base on which to use our legs to help drive the weight up. You want your butt, your upper back, and your head to be touching the bench at all times.

You should also set up so that when you unrack the bar it will drop almost directly down to your chest; in other words you don’t want to be doing a barbell pull-over once you unrack the bar from the bench, as this will create unnecessary fatigue and increase the possibility for shoulder injury.

All that being said, put a couple plates on that bar and lets start benching!

To bench: with a medium grip flat bench press, you don’t want your elbows tucked in nor flared out. They should naturally fall at a 45 degree position away from your body, locked in against your lats for stabilization at the bottom of the rep.

From the unracked position, you will lower the weight slowly so that the bar just lightly touches your nipple area; do not bounce. Using explosive chest strength you should drive the bar through the mid-way point of the rep, which is usually a sticking point. Once you are past the mid-way point you will increase your triceps activation to press and lock out the weight. When I say lock out, I do not mean to lock the elbows out 100%, instead they should be locked out about 95% so that the elbow is completely straight.

The best way I have found to maximize triceps activation is to focus on breaking the bar in half away from you. Think about holding a stick out straight in front of your body with palms down, then break that stick away from you by snapping both forearms and wrists away from the midline of the body. Clearly the bar is not actually going to break, but you can use this concept for maximum triceps activation.

Variations: wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip; board press, floor press, pin press

.

The incline press is great! The incline bench press is often used to target the upper pecs, which is vital for developing a full overall chest with deep cuts between the upper and lower muscles. I always work a flat incline dumbbell press into my workout. If you have studied the anatomy of the pectoralis, you will notice that there is indeed an upper (pec minor) and a mid/lower (pec major) muscle. Your pecs will really have that powerful bodybuilding look once you have mastered various forms of flat and incline benching, and have developed the cut between the two muscles. That, my friend, is good stuff.

Controversial point #1: The decline bench press is mistakenly used to target the “lower” pecs, and I have a bone to pick with this notion. There is no “lower” pec muscle, there is only the pectoralis minor (upper pec) and pectoralis major (mid/lower pec). But just because there is no specific lower pec to target, doesn’t mean you should avoid decline benching altogether.

People are most often stronger on the decline bench because the range of motion is shorter, which eliminates weakness at the bottom of the press, because you are better able to recruit your triceps and lats throughout the entire exercise, and because you use less of your weaker upper pec and more of the bigger, stronger pectoralis major.

While I haven’t done a decline bench press in 8 years or more, I do intend to start working them into my workout once in a while. The close grip decline bench for focusing on triceps is also a great exercise. You can read about the 5 best triceps exercises for more information.

                                            2.     Dumbbell bench press

                

The flat dumbbell bench press is like core chest exercise #2. This is one awesome way to make sure you don’t have any strength imbalances between the two sides of your body. The dumbbell bench also more closely follows the intended function of the pecs by not only pressing but also by moving the weight toward the midline of your body.

To set up: find a flat bench that allows your feet to touch the floor. You will once again want your butt, your upper back, and your head to be touching the bench at all times.

Most of the time I grab the dumbbells I want, stand with the bench about 6 inches behind me, and sit down slowly while transitioning the flat side of each dumbbell to rest on my thigh. From this position I can lay back, rock the dumbbells up to shoulder height, and press up the first rep all in one fluid motion. Without mastering this maneuver you will forever have people handing you the weight or spotting you on the first rep. By this point you have already completed half of your first rep.

To bench: lower the weight to finish your first rep, then at the bottom of the rep, which for me is when the dumbbells lightly touch my shoulders, I use explosive force in my chest and shoulders to power the weight past the mid-way point, and conclude the rep by using my triceps to lock it out. Again, only a 95% lock, not straight.

Many people do not advocate a full range of motion on a heavy dumbbell bench press. They would say stop short of letting the weight touch your shoulders. In fact, many would say only bring the weight down until your upper and lower arms form a 90 degree angle. I completely disagree with this. My shoulders are pretty strong and healthy, and I’ve always lowered the weight to the top of each shoulder.

Variations: incline, decline, flat. It is possible to use a wide, medium, close grip on your flat dumbbell bench, but I prefer to focus on the single medium grip motion so as not to compromise the integrity of my shoulders and rotator cuffs. Also, I think the decline dumbbell bench press is bogus, but probably more useful the decline barbell bench press. I still don’t do it.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to put up the infamous Ronnie Coleman dumbbell pressing 200 lbs in each hand.

                                             3.     Explosive push ups

You have to admit, aside from using the smith machine, that it’s pretty hard to do any maximally explosive benching. Sure, you can use a Westside Barbell style dynamic effort day in which you use 45-50% of your 1 rep max for 9 sets of 2 reps.

Read about the Louie Simmons Westside Barbell theories on dynamic effort and speed lifting on the Westside Barbell Articles page. If you are a strength athlete or powerlifter and you haven’t yet read every article on that page, do it now and come back to Project Swole later.

In any case, this exercise will be used to develop explosive power in your chest, shoulders, and triceps. The two main methods I recommend are clapping push ups and plyometric push ups where you jump your hands up onto an object for each rep. For the purpose of this article we will talk about plyo push ups.

To set up: choose to do push ups either on your palms or on your knuckles. As you lay on the floor, your body should be in a straight line, touching the floor only at the hands and toes. If you are female and struggle with push ups, you may start by doing push ups on your knees, but within a month or two you must practice and master doing push ups from your toes.

Opinions differ as to how to position your head during push ups. When you are doing explosive push ups by jumping up onto objects, you won’t have much choice but to look down so that you aren’t missing your target. Ideally you would look up and forward while doing push ups.

Your hands should be placed 2-3 inches outside of your shoulder width. The closer your hands, the more you will activate your triceps. Since this is for explosive power in the chest, you will choose a wider hand position.

Select two large hardcover books, weight plates, or blocks that are at least one inch thick. Place one of these object directly beside each hand. At the beginning of each rep your hands will be on the floor. At the end of each rep your hands will be up on the blocks. As you get better at this exercise you will want to increase the height of the blocks.

To push up: the starting position is as low to the ground as possible without touching your chest, belly, legs, or chin. The initial movement should be to drive your body off the floor with as much force as you can muster. At the top of the rep, stopping before you fully extend your elbows, the last bit of effort should be a 100% maximal force that will propel your body up into the air, allowing you to execute a clap or to jump your hands up onto the blocks.

After a clap you will land in the original position and descend in preparation for the next rep.

After a plyo push up you can choose to either:

1.     Walk your hands back down to the starting position and descend in preparation for the next rep.

2.     Descend down into another rep and execute another plyo push up, jumping back down to the original starting position. Then descend in preparation for the next rep.

Variations: clapping, hopping, palms, knuckles, variable height boxes, alternating arms, incline, decline, super wide (more chest), narrow (more triceps), legs elevated.

Here is one of the best plyo push up videos I could find on YouTube.

Just so you can see how many examples of plyometric push ups there are, here is an example of a girl executing some mighty fine lateral plyo push ups.

                                                     4.     Chest dips

Similar to the triceps version, chest dips closely resemble what you would be trying to accomplish with decline pressing except that you are focusing on building triceps strength for chest pressing rather than trying to work the phantom ‘lower pecs’. If you have bad shoulders consider skipping this exercise or work at it slowly by shallow dipping rather than deep dipping.

To set up: find yourself a dip station. Grab a weighted belt and some plates or a dumbbell if you need to add weight for your dips.

To dip: start at the top with your arms almost fully extended. The goal is to lean slightly forward in order to keep tension more so on the pecs than the triceps. Now dip down until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, or lower if it doesn’t bother your shoulders. Do not bounce at the bottom, instead pause for half a second. Squeeze your pecs and use your triceps to push yourself back to the top. Never lock your elbows.

Variations: assisted, bodyweight, weighted. You will also find dipping stations with adjustable handles so that you can use a wider or narrower hand position. Keep your body completely upright to focus on triceps instead of chest.

I could not find a chest dips video on YouTube that I approve of, so here’s one with a guy who is clearly going super heavy. Aside from locking out his elbows randomly throughout his sets, this is a pretty good demonstration of the chest dip.

                                                  5.     Dumbbell flyes

How important are flyes? In my opinion not very important, but I needed a fifth exercise for this list. Honestly I would rather fill up my chest workout with flat and incline benching and dumbbell pressing, and end off with some heavy weighted chest dips. Some people just insist that flyes are the key to growth and flexibility, and I will admit flyes do have a purpose when it comes to bodybuilding.

There are many variations of flyes including dumbbells, cables, and any angular position you can put yourself in by either using an adjustable incline bench, or by standing and leaning over with the cables.

I highly recommend that if you are not into this for bodybuilding purposes, that you might want to consider dumbbell rather than cable flyes.

Most importantly, rather than doing dumbbell flyes at the end of your chest workout, choose dumbbell flyes as a recovery exercise a day or two after a heavy chest workout. This will allow you to stimulate your sore chest muscles with a free weight exercise that is dissimilar to what you used to tear them up in the first place. You will be able to get a good stretch and increase blood flow to all areas of the pec.

To set up: for dumbbell flyes, you want to assume an identical position to either the flat or incline dumbbell bench press; one dumbbell in each hand. You want to start the exercise from the top position rather than with your arms out to the sides. Start by pressing the weights straight overhead.

To flye: once the weights are fully extended overhead, keep your arms straight except for a very small bend at the elbow. Lower the weights out to your sides with each arm at the same time. At the bottom position your arms should be parallel to the floor. Pause for just half a second and rapidly bring the weights back to the top position, still without moving your elbows.

At the top position of this exercise you should find that your arms are not straight up and down, perpendicular to the floor. This would only remove the tension from the muscles. Instead, stop 15 degrees short of straight overhead.

This entire motion should be controlled by your chest and front delts.

If you don’t believe me, take it from The Oak himself!

Honorable mentions: hammer strength chest press machine, flat or incline; machine flyes; cable flyes.

Controversial point #2: many people say they do bent arm dumbbell pull-overs to work the chest. I don’t see how anything about dumbbell pull-overs has anything to do with the pecs. I can see them working triceps slightly, lats, and serratus. The exercise itself is great fun; I love dumbbell pull-overs. Unfortunately they aren’t that effective for working any specific muscle. I might add them to the end of a back workout just for fun, but I would never add them to a chest workout on purpose and they definitely have no place in any top 5 list except maybe top 5 best exercises for fun, or top 5 best serratus exercises.

Here is what a dumbbell pull-over looks like, although I’m not sure why this guy is using such a light weight.

check our page on facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/bodyguide