You might remember a while back an article by Tom Venuto on the front squats.
Today I’ve got a new take for you – from Mike Geary. I’ve been doing front squats for a while now, and I’ve gotta agree with Mike about how amazing front squats are as a full-body exercise. Here’s what he has to say:
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
The Front Squat is a surprising exercise not only for legs, but also rock hard abs!
As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man. Squats and deadlifts use hundreds of muscles throughout your entire body to move the load and also to stabilize your body while doing the drill.
Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises.
In fact, university research studies have even proven that inclusion of squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, even though upper body specific joint movements are not performed during the squat. Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are the ultimate solution.
If you don’t believe me that squats and deadlifts are THE basis for a lean and powerful body, then go ahead and join all of the other overweight people pumping away mindlessly for hours on boring cardio equipment.
Squats can be done with (more…)
Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!
Here’s a fun workout that will help you break up boredom you might be experiencing as you progress in your lifting program. It’s called The 35,000 Pounder, and as the name implies, you’ll lift 35,000 pounds today. I’ll tell you how I came up with it.
But first, let me be clear that this is NOT for a regular routine. This is a once-in-a-while workout (a single day at the gym). In your quest for gaining lean muscle mass, if you use any of my routines you’ll see weeks where I suggest doing “fun” workouts. This is different than taking a week off – this is still a serious week of lifting. It helps reset your mind and muscles so that you keep making progress.
But what do you do in these “fun” weeks? Well, I’m compiling a whole report on various single-workouts (I’m calling them The LeanLfiters Fun Workouts). And The 35,000 Pounder is one I’m sharing today.
A great aspect of this workout is that it is just as useful for beginners as it is for advanced lifters. It’s full-body, so works really well with FullBodyAttack but even for The 6×6x6 Routine and Hypertrofreak, you need some ideas for fun weeks.
Here’s exactly how you do it: (more…)
- pic: How to maximize weight training in a short time?
“Darrin, with my schedule, the only time I can lift is during lunch. I can do cardio in the mornings, but I don’t have a home gym so lunchtime is when I lift. The gym is 30 minutes away from home, but right across the street from my work. I only have 60 minutes for lunch, so I need to shower too. What should I do for my lifting routine?” - Mike
This is a common question. But it’s a good question and I’m psyched that you are going to make every effort to get in your lifts.
We can take cardio out of the mix, per your email. But what about lifting?
Most fitness experts say you need to keep your time in the gym to under an hour. I think this is a good target for most people, but it all depends on your current level of fitness and your goals. I’m not one of those guys who goes crazy when I hear someone spends 1.5 hours in the gym. The rule you may have heard about “45 minutes” is just a myth. No valid science supports that, because it varies based on too many variables to control in a scientific setting.
But in your case, you are tight on time with a hard deadline from your employer. You have only 60 minutes and you have to walk there, change into your gym clothes, warm up, workout, shower, and walk back.
[Side note: don't forget to actively participate in the free discussion forum - I give away a free ebook each month to the most active person! After you read this article, go to http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/forum/ and either ask a question or answer a question!]
Let’s assume you take 4 minutes to walk there, 3 minutes to throw on shorts and a t-shirt, and 4 minutes back. Then make sure you do 5 minutes of muscle-specific warm ups. And a 10 minute shower. That leaves you 35 minutes to workout. I’m going to round it down to 30 minutes to ensure you get back on time.
With Only 30 Minutes Available A Day, Go With A Split Routine
The key is to do a split routine, not a full-body routine. I don’t know if you are a beginner or not. I usually recommend beginners do full-body routines. But I don’t think anyone can make good, consistent, long term progress on only 30 minute full body routines. (Being full-body, you can only do them 2 or 3 times a week because you need recovery days. Newbies can make progress for several weeks in 30 minutes a shot, but they will plateau if they don’t add more volume.)
Under this scenario, which is not ideal, I would recommend lifting 5 days a week.
I want to point out that normally, I only recommend 5-day routines to more advanced lifters. I also include a 5-day routine in my annual intermediate routines, but only for a brief period. In your case, you are looking for a long-term consistent solution (unless you change employers and have more flexibility with your time).
Even if you are a beginner, in what I’m recommending you won’t be overtraining. At 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, that’s only 2.5 hrs a week lifting which is nowhere near over-training levels.
Day By Day Breakdown
Each day, pick a different major lift. I’ve talked about The Big 7 before. Pick one of those each day as your main lift. I know, you have only 5 days and there are 7 of The Big 7, so I suggest these: (more…)
Join the forum discussion on this article, or comment below. - (1) Posts………….
pic: Do exercise routines have to use a 7-day week?
Sounds like a silly question, right? I mean, a “real” week is 7 days, so shouldn’t our routines be based on “reality”?
Actually, after years of lifting and running, I’m starting to come to the conclusion that in many cases, our bodies don’t care about “real weeks”. Our bodies care about the balance between stimulation and recovery.
The goal for every serious fitness buff is to kick your own butt just enough to get progress, but not too much that your body can’t recover. This applies to lifting weights, running, skiing, biking, etc.
Why 7?
So we’re all stuck on “x days per week” and we assume that a week means 7 days. (And to be fair, it usually does mean 7 days.)
But what if the key to getting in the right amount of work means you have to shift your paradigm from 7 days a week to something different…?
What about a 6-day week?
What about an 8-day week? (Please, no Beatle quotes…)
In my newest lifting program, Hypertrofreak, I include two different programs.
And guess what? I’m using an 8-day week.
I have you working out 6 days a week, but there are 8 days in my week. That means you are getting 2 recovery days each cycle.
Here’s a cut and paste from part of the program:
Day 1 = Day 1
Day 2 = Day 2
Day 3 = Day 3
Day 4 = recovery
Day 5 = Day 5
Day 6 = Day 6
Day 7 = Day 7
Day 8 = recovery
Day 9 = Day 1
Day 10 = Day 2
Day 11 = Day 3
Day 12 = recovery
Day 13 = Day 5
Day 14 = Day 6
Day 15 = Day 7
Day 16 = recovery
At first, this is hard to get your head around and can be a little confusing. But if you learned to tie your own shoes, then you can learn this.
I’m also experimenting right now with (more…)
Continue reading about Why Do Lifting Routines Assume A 7 Day Week?
Join the forum discussion on this article, or comment below. - (1) Posts…..
A couple months ago I did a full article on how to improve your pull-ups/chin-ups. Here’s one more technique I think you’ll love.
It’s just a simple ladder. This is for people who can do a few pullups/chinups – say 4 or 5 max, though it might work for people who are already doing 10 to 20 who (for some reason) want to increase further…
First decide if you are doing chin-ups or pull-ups (click here for the difference). I’m going to assume chin-ups for this explanation.
- Do 1 chinup
- Rest 30 seconds
- Do 2 chinups
- Rest 30 seconds
- Do 3 chinups
- Rest 30 seconds
- Continue in this pattern until you can’t move up any more. It will certainly be at a number less than your max, because you will have pre-exhausted the muscles.
- Now that you’ve tapped out, reverse the pattern, going back down the ladder.
That’s it! After a few weeks of doing this once or twice a week, you’ll see your max increase for sure. Have fun!
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 6×6x6 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
I hurt my wrist recently (long story) and so Yates rows have been causing pain. So I moved to dumbbell rows but added a couple variations. (The barbell requires pronated grip, which causes the pain, but the dumbbells allow for a semi-neutral grip and no pain.) Here’s a video: (more…)
Continue reading about Power Dumbbell Rows – A Great Row Variation
After last week’s post on lunges, I was inspired to put together a short list of the most popular variations on the squat. But I’d like your help. Sure, I could scour the web for all kinds of weird variations but I want to know which ones YOU do. So please add yours, with a short description on how you do them, in the Comments section. To start us off, here are the ones I have used myself over the years:
- Back squat - The bars is held on the back of the body at the base of the neck or lower across the upper back. In power lifting the barbell is often held in a lower position in order to create a lever advantage, while, in weightlifting, the barbell is often held in a higher position in order to keep the torso more upright in a deep squat. These variations are called low bar and high bar, respectively.
- Front squat - the weight (usually a barbell) is held in front of the body across the clavicles and deltoids in either a clean grip, as is used in weightlifting, or with the arms crossed and hands placed on top of the barbell.
- Overhead squat - a barbell is held overhead in a wide-arm snatch grip; however, it is also possible to use a closer grip if flexibility allows.
- Zercher squat - the bar is held in the crooks of the arms, on the inside of the elbow.
- Hack squat - a barbell is held in the hands just behind the legs; invented by early 1900s professional wrestler Georg Hackenschmidt.
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