Are Lunges Better Than Squats?

Fellas, lunges ain’t just for girls.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that if you aren’t already doing lunges, then adding them to your next leg workout will leave you crying.  You won’t feel so manly then.

But the good news is that after a few weeks, you’ll start to love lunges.  And you will start to feel more manly – in the sense that you’ll feel muscles growing that you either thought you were already hitting hard, or else didn’t know existed.

But don’t cut out your squats!  There are some advantages to lunges, as I’ll explain, but they don’t replace squats.  They complement them.

In this article you’ll learn what lunges are, how to do them (and variations), why they are effective, and how they compare to squats.

Let’s start with what lunges are… (more…)

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I started writing a post on box squats and had just finished it when I came across my buddy Caleb’s article on doubleyourgains – on the exact same subject!  And his was much better than mine!  Thankfully, he allowed me to reprint it in its entirety for you.

Why Box Squatting Sucks & Why You Should Do It Anyways!

by Caleb Lee from http://doubleyourgains.com/

I have discovered a new world of pain … agony … and ego-wrenching  … and it’s name is the Box Squat.

Before I tell you of all the amazing benefits of box squatting and how you may have to end up buying clothes with a big “S” sewn on them after starting to squat on the box, let’s first discuss …

Why Box Squats SUCK!

Normally, when I say an exercise sucks … I’m talking about exercises that suck at actually doing something for your body. Throw bicep curls, tricep kick backs, any type of curling in the squat racks, leg extensions, etc in this list …

BUT … when I’m talking about box squatting — I simply mean it just plain SUCKS to do!

Why?

• Lower Weight – your ego is going to be bruised the first time you box squat and you realize you’re lifting almost 100 pounds less than your regular squat …
• No Cheating — you can’t cheat with a box squat. You go down the proper depth, and if you don’t (more…)

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I get asked a lot about what my personal lifting routine is.  I am pretty rigorously following a 12 month cycle with 4 smaller cycles.  Each of the smaller cycles follows a 12 to 14 week program.  It’s all about periodization (sticking with a program long enough to make progress but not so long that you plateau).

Below is what I do.  I give all my routines a name (’cause it’s cooler and easier to remember).

There’s no way I can fully describe the details of each routine in one post, so I give a brief explanation of what each program is, at the end.

I’m sharing these so that hopefully you can see the logic behind the periodization.  Sure you can always buy my routines, but you can also use this as a model for your own designs.  Feel free to post questions/comments and I’ll try to get a good discussion going here about what makes a good year-long program.

I always start newbies and beginners with series A and then go to series B.  After that, the series depends on the person’s goals.  Likewise, intermediate or advanced lifters might start at different points and rotate the series’ differently.  For example, I try to time things so that I’m doing my Fat Burn Furnace in the Spring to get ready for Summer.

Note that I have a basic routine (a “theme”) but within that 12 or 14 week cycle I circle back with 1 week every so often to a previous routine – but just for one week.  And you can’t forget the importance of taking a week off once in a while.

Darrin’s Annual Routine:

(more…)

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There are two basic reasons for a spotter:

First, a spotter helps prevent injury that could be possible if you are either caught with too much weight over you or forced to use really bad (dangerous) form to complete the last rep.

Second, a good spotter helps you get the most out of a set by giving you the smallest amount of assistance needed to complete your last rep without sacrificing form.

[Always remember – if you have to use crappy form to get that last rep, then don’t count that last rep!  Ditto for using a spotter for your last rep – it doesn’t “count” – but it’s still a fantastic idea to use a spotter.]

But sometimes, you don’t have a spotter.

So what do you do?

Here are a few tips to either prevent injury or get one more “partial” rep out of your set, for each of The Big 7 exercises.

Squats

1)     Use a squat rack, or a power rack the with horizontal catch bars set to be lower than your full decent position.

• If you fail, no worries, you’re fine.  Of course, you’ll have to strip the weights to get the barbell back up to the starting position (smile).

2)     Use dumbbells instead. While I don’t recommend this as (more…)

Continue reading about Tips For Training Without A Spotter – The Big 7

I’ve got a favor to ask.  Can you review this variation I came up with for the traditional “triceps kickbacks” and weigh in with your opinion?

See, I love this exercise as a “finishing” extra at the end of a workout.  (There’s no way this should replace The Big 7 or anything!)

But so far, the feedback I’ve gotten has been negative.  So I want a wider swath of feedback.  Just click the play button below, and then post a comment here (not on youtube.com!).  A simple “good” or “bad” is fine, though I’d love to hear “why” as well.

It’s that easy!  Be polite!

Oh, and there’s a text description below in case you can’t see the video.  Thanks!

The “Triceps 30 Kickbacks” are done with both arms at the same time, where your upper arm is not parallel to the floor like the regular 1-arm triceps kickbacks.  Instead, you drop your elbow about 30 degrees.  You start with the dumbbells curled, wrist up, with the weights close to your armpits.  You should be standing with knees slightly bent, leaning forward about 30 degrees, and back in a natural arch.  Start by slowly lowering and twisting the dumbbell as you extend the triceps so that the extended position is also palm up behind you.  Then slowly return and curl the dumbbell.

Why this movement?  While it has a smaller range of motion compared to the standard triceps kickbacks, this turns it into a semi-compound movement involving your triceps, your biceps, your forearm, and even some rear deltoid.  Plus, you are (more…)

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This is a guest post from Nick Nilsson.

This past summer, I was stumped…how could I use bodyweight training to build substantial muscle mass using exercises like push-ups where I was able to do 30 to 50+ reps per set!

Enter Time/Volume Training…

This technique allowed me to take exercises where I could do a TON of reps and turn them into effective mass-builders.

Basically, it’s kind of a cross between my Compound Exercise Overload training (where you take a weight you can do 6 reps with and do 3 rep sets until you can’t get 3 reps anymore, then you drop the weight and keep going – (more…)

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This is a short article to set in stone the 7 most important weight lifting/weight training exercises.  I’ve mentioned them several times in various posts, and also in several of my ebooks, but let’s get this defined once and for all.

Note – these are not necessarily in order.  We’ll save the debate about which “one” is the most important for later…

The Big 7

1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Chest Press (Bench Press)
4. Rows
5. Chin-up/Pull-up
6. Military/Standing Pres
7. Dips

There are many variations to each of these.  Dumbbell versions, barbell versions, seated vs. standing, different grips, different angles, etc.

But the key things about this list:

a) they are all compound movements, not isolation exercises

b) together, they hit every major muscle in the body (yes, they (more…)

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Tabata interval training could be credited with kicking off the recent craze towards HIIT – high intensity interval training.  This protocol was initiated by the Japanese performance researcher Izumi Tabata in 1996 and 1997 (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, October 1996, Vol 26 and also March 1997, Vol 27).

The basic findings of his research was that in 4 minutes of work, you could get more cardiovascular benefits, and more fat loss, than in 60 minutes of steady state cardio (e.g. jogging).  That’s right:  4 minutes vs 60 minutes.

How is this possible?

By doing super high intensity interval training.  HIIT.

There are many summary articles available on the web if you don’t want to go back to the original research.  Here’s a summary (but this article is about a variation…):

His exact protocol was to stationary bike at your all-out fastest, 100% pace, for 20 seconds.  Then rest for 10 seconds.  Then go all out for 20 seconds. Repeat, etc.  until you’ve done 4 minutes total.  That’s it.  It’s so simple.  But…

Most people can’t do this.

When I say 100%, I mean 100%.  Not “hard running/biking”.  I mean all out, like a bear is chasing you.  Many people puke during this kind of training.

Because of this intensity, most people fall into two categories after they decide to try it:

a) they end up not really doing 100% in the intervals; they do like 80%, which destroys the whole purpose b) they give up

I’m no different.  I don’t do Tabata because it’s too hard.  I’m not afraid to admit it.

But I have an alternate that I think you will like even better…

The Inverted Tabata

Before I describe this (and it’s pretty easy to describe), I want to say that it’s quite possible that I’m not the only one to come up with this.  I’ve been doing it since last year and decided to give it a name.

Maybe someone else has prescribed this before, but I did some web searches for “inverse Tabata” and “inverted Tabata” and even some “Tabata variations” and couldn’t find anything. [If you find something, please share it here so I can give credit.]  Anyway, it is my belief that this is the first time “inverted Tabata” is being documented and you get to read it as part of the worldfitnessnetwork.com community!  Ok, enough grandstanding.

It’s so simple, I was surprised nobody else talks about it.

Here’s all Inverted Tabata is:

(more…)

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