My Love Affair With The Hex Bar (aka Trap Bar)

It all started one day at a new training center I was visiting.  This was an intense place, designed for football teams to do strength training.  Far more advanced than my home gym (especially back then) and it made my regular fitness center look like a badminton club.

I saw these absolutely huge guys doing shrugs with these odd-shaped bars.  They were hexagon shaped so the lifter stood in the middle of a hexagon hole.  (See picture to the right.)

I asked one of them what it was called.  “A hex bar,” he answered.

Ok, nobody won any creativity awards for that name.

But what amazed me was the range of motion it allowed for the shrug.  I waited until he was done and sidled over to try for myself.  Holy cow – I was in love!

See, I’ve always loved working my traps, and I love the way big traps look.  But doing shrugs with a barbell had range of motion issues.  Doing them in front hit my “jewels” and doing them in back hit my butt.

And shrugs with dumbbells are a real challenge because of grip issues.  Once you start shrugging heavy, it’s really hard to hold on to those 150 lb dumbbells.  (And forget about using straps with dumbbells.  Not only is it awkward.  You’ll also get made fun of like a 5^th grader picking his nose.  And someone might even give you a wedgie.)

Using the hex bar for shrugs was perfect – I could lift heavy, get a full range of motion, and grip issues were negligible.

Next Up:  Trap Bar Deads

Feeling stoked, I moved on that same day to try an exercise I had vaguely heard about, but then saw a football guy doing:  hex bar deadlifts (a/k/a trap bar deads). (more…)

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Continue reading about My Love Affair With The Hex Bar (aka Trap Bar)

Buddy McKee hasn’t followed a typical path. It’s been an exceptional path, covering multiple sports, various powerlifting records, NFL free-agent, competitive bodybuilder, full-contact karate (before MMA was in vogue), teacher, and coach.  And if that weren’t even, he even recorded a hit song he wrote and sang (#80 on the national charts many years ago).  [For a more complete bio, scroll to the bottom of this article.]

Buddy is STRONG.  His in-meet records are Squat – 810 lbs. Bench Press – 600 lbs. Deadlift – 622 lbs. And of course, in the gym he’s lifted even more.

He’s held various titles and records recently in the over 50 class.  And, at the prime age of 54, he’s still competing and 2010 may hold a couple of new records for Buddy.

I talked with Buddy a couple weeks ago, and he was kind enough to let me record the call and share it with you!

The tool below lets you listen to streaming audio of the interview. LeanLifters will get the full MP3 download via email. (more…)

Continue reading about Lessons From A Champion Powerlifter

Three quick reminders:

1) Hypertrofreak is available at http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/more/hypertrofreak.html and anyone who comments on the forums by December 31 will get a 20% coupon.  More news about the program coming in January.

2) I’m working on consolidating emails so that you get multiple articles in each email.  Bear with me if the formats don’t come out right!  Also, of course, some articles are only for LeanLifters.

3) Every month I’ll give a free lifting routine to the top contributor on the forum!  Go to http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/forum.  Go there, even if you don’t contribute because you’ll learn from peers there.

4) Goal setting.  It doesn’t have to be a failure in 2010 for you.  You can set and achieve amazing things!  Subscribe to http://goaltriangle.com .  In a couple weeks Ill be starting a series there entitled “6 Weeks (more…)

Continue reading about A Few 12/26 Reminders…

Remember when we asked you to Take Your Worst Picture Ever?  Well it’s time to take it out.  If you haven’t taken it yet, or are new to World Fitness Network, we’ve got reminders at the end of this post…

What Do You See?

That old picture of yourself – is that what you still look like? Have you made any progress?  Have you made enough progress?  I’m not here to lecture you – I’m here to help you lecture yourself.

If you think you’ve made good progress, skip to the Take a New Picture section and then compare.

If you haven’t made progress, do these things right now:

1. write down every excuse you can come up with; don’t hold back!
2. now rank those excuses by their “power”; the stronger their power over you, the closer to the top of the list they go
3. for each of your top 5 excuses (more if you have the gumption), write down at least one action you are going to take to eliminate it as an excuse moving forward
4. take your top 5 excuses and share them with someone who cares about you; ask them for their advice on how they think you can eliminate those; don’t share the previous step with them – you want original ideas
5. take the combined list of approximately 10 ideas to combat your 5 major excuses, and tape the list to your bathroom mirror
6. every day (especially on your workout days) recite that list out loud;  if you get embarrassed reading it out loud, good!  you’ve got to break through some barriers if you want to eliminate those excuses
7. now act!

And time to take a new picture:

Haven’t Taken Your Picture Yet?  Or Need To Take A New Picture?

Did you fail your self-evaluation?  Or are you just now planning to get in shape, but haven’t quite started yet?

Or even if you’ve made progress, you now need a new benchmark – a new picture.

Go into your room and take all your clothes off. That’s right, strip down to nothing but your briefs, your Spiderman Underoos, your boxers, your lingerie, whatever you are wearing underneath. (more…)

Continue reading about It’s Time to Look At Your Worst Picture Ever, And Take A New One

Those of you who have ever bought any of my lifting programs know I always include shoulder presses, in various forms.

I adamantly believe that the standard barbell vertical press (a/k/a barbell shoulder press, a/k/a military press, a/k/a some other names) is the best form to be doing throughout the year.  That said, I hate monotony and include Arnold Presses in some routines (for example the 6x6x6 Routine).

Most people do Arnold Presses sitting down.  DON’T!

Doing them sitting with your back on a seated bench has various drawbacks:

• reduced core stabilization
• usually done with improper back arch
• requires you to wait around for that seated bench to be available (wastes time)
• less transfer of skill/strength to other exercises

Instead, do them standing. This video shows you how to do them, but I add something most people forget about:  low ceilings.

Many of you, like me, often work out in home gyms with low ceilings.  So what should you do?

Should you do them sitting?  Again, NO!

You do them kneeling.  So I call them “Kneeling Arnolds”.  You get almost all the benefits of standing.

Here’s the video: (more…)

Continue reading about How To Do Arnold Presses – Killer Shoulder Exercise

Are you waiting until January to get serious about fitness?

I’m already starting to hear a phrase I absolutely hate:  “After the holidays I will… [fill in the blank]“

For some it’s “After the holidays I’ll get serious about eating right.”  For others it’s “…I’ll start lifting heavy,” or “…I’ll start on that workout program I bought last month.”  You get the picture.

Are you guilty of saying this?

What in the world is so magical about “after the holidays?”

I’ll tell you what the “magic” is – it’s the dark magic of excuses and procrastination.

Because “the holidays” are a recognized calendar demarcation, it’s easy to put things off until afterward.

“I’ll be too busy until then.”

“There are too many temptations during the holidays.”

Wah wah wah.

And then you bring in the worst self-improvement lie I know of:  the New Year’s Resolution.

I’m going to be sharing with you REAL strategies on goal setting in the coming weeks and let me assure you, there is nothing special about New Year’s except what’s in your head.  That means it’s perception, and you can change your perception.

Your fitness is too important to wait.

You are ready now.

You are subscribed to this website (or else you landed here because you did a web search for something fitness related) and you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t considering getting serious.

There is no better time.

Some of you (thank goodness) are already well on your way to having a great physique and I’ll bet you didn’t “turn the corner” because of a New Year’s Resolution or by saying “I’ll start after the holidays.”

Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to push you into making change.  Don’t wait for a life-changing event.

You are there now.

You have no excuse.

(more…)

Continue reading about New Years Resolutions? Bah!

This guy looks a little too happy with his lifts - he needs to work harder!

Quick tip here for you that works with just about lifting program you are using.  (Of course, you only use my lifting programs, right?????  [smile]).  The only routines I would NOT use this technique with is when you are doing sets to failure.  I’ll explain why.

Science has shown that the eccentric portion of the lift (the lowering, or “negative”) actually stimulates more muscle growth than the concentric (the lifting or pushing portion).  The theories as to why this is true are varied and inconclusive; yet the fact remains that negatives are great for progression.

Does that mean you should do sets of 10 negatives?  Not really.  (more…)

Continue reading about The Super Negative Way To Add Muscle Mass

How many stories have you heard about how Taylor Lautner, the 17-yr old kid in the popular Twilight movie “New Moon“, went from scrawny to brawny?

Some of you might saying “who?” but if you’ve got teenage daughters, you are probably sick of hearing about him.

Well here’s another story about how Taylor Lautner gained so much muscle.  But I’m taking a different angle than other writers.

I’ve dug up interviews with him and with his trainer to dissect what he did and what you can learn from it.  Although I’m a fan, this is not a “fan post”.  This is about your physique and how you can improve.

I think any guy out there has to be impressed with this kid.  He gained 30 pounds of muscle in a year, all naturally, and looks fantastic.  Who wouldn’t want that? (There is one imbalance we’ll need to talk about though.)

But here’s the question: If you want those results, why don’t you have them?

Reason: Because it takes hard work!

He’s no genetic superior to you!  The only advantage he might have over most of you (and me included) is that he’s younger.  Ok, so I’ll handicap him 10% because he’s at a great age metabolically to see muscle growth without fat growth.  But that’s only 10%.

So why don’t you look 90% as good as him?

Taylor Lawtner did two critical things:

a) he got great advice from someone who knew more than him

b) he worked incredibly hard, even when he didn’t feel like it

Can you say the same about yourself?  If not, why not?

Ok Darrin, Enough Lecture.  What Are the SECRETS He Used?

First, hear his own words for some of the techniques:

From what I can tell (using many resources beyond this video), he used 8 techniques that made a difference:

(more…)

Continue reading about Taylor Lautner’s Workout For Muscle Gain – Yet Another Story