- Taylor Lautner’s Muscle Gain Story (pic from buzznet.com)
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:
Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!
Continue reading about Taylor Lautner’s Workout For Muscle Gain – Yet Another Story
Ever wonder what other readers of worldfitnessnetwork are doing for their workouts? What’s working for them? What isn’t?
I’ve started asking some of our readers – normal people like you – to talk to me about their routines. I think you’ll learn from these interviews and get inspired!
For LeanLifters members, I’ll send you a separate email with the MP3 download. Everyone else can listen using the buttons on the new page from the link below.
Each one is only about 15 minutes – give a listen and see if you can pick up some tips!
If you have questions about these answers, add a comment below!
I know, I know. You’re sick of getting emails from me. But I promise this is worth it.
I haven’t edited this yet, but it’s just some basic ideas of how you can do a lower body strength workout in your hotel room.
When you are pressed for time, and have no access to a decent gym (like I mentioned earlier today), you can’t just give up and skip your workouts! Shifting a day or so is fine, but skipping a planned workout? No way!
So check out these two unedited videos. By unedited, I mean that there are errors/quirks. But still worth the 10 minutes to watch them. Let me know what you think, and if this series is useful, please forward them to friends.
Video 1: my fridge
Video 2: leg workout in hotel room
Thoughts?
Continue reading about On The Road – Day 2 – Hotel Room Workout Videos
Lots of you liked Caleb’s guest article last week and so here’s another guest post – this comes from Alain, which he wrote just for me – enjoy! (p.s. don’t forget to chime in with comments!)
Guest post by Alain Gonzalez of http://musclemonsters.com
- Do guys need to do exercises for their butt?
Since the beginning of men’s weight training, the question has rarely been approached. Do guys need to work on their butts? The answer to the question will be determined by your fitness goals. If your goals consist of any of the following, the answer is yes.
- Build muscle mass
- Fat burn
- Decrease risk of injury
- Better posture
- Increase testosterone levels
- Give women a little extra to… look at
If none of these are on your list of fitness goals, I would say no, completely ignore the butt. But honestly, if you don’t have at least one of these goals on your list, then why are you reading this blog ?! For those who do have one or more of these items on there list, let me go a little more in depth as to how working your butt can benefit you.
1.Build muscle mass Being stronger will allow you to lift heavier weights when training and also perform more strenuous workouts for other muscle groups. See, one key to building muscle mass is increasing weight to put more strain on certain muscle groups, This is so that the muscle feels obligated to grow in order to be able to perform those workouts without becoming strained the next time. Some great mass building butt exercises consist of (more…)
Thank you to everyone who sent in questions last week – we had plenty!
In fact, there were so many that I decided to record the answers – that way I could answer more and also get the answers out sooner (typing all those answers takes a lot of time!).
For LeanLifters members, I’ll send you a separate email with the MP3 download. Everyone else can listen here using the buttons on the new page from the link below.
I mention several resources in the call. Here are the links to those:
- Tom’s Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
- My 6×6x6 Routine
- My Fat Burn Furnace routine
You can certainly check out the other resource links on the right while you listen (just right-click to open them in new windows so your audio isn’t interrupted).
If you have questions about these answers, add a comment below!
You’re trying to lose weight, right?
No, you just think you are. You are actually trying to shed fat.
You’ve been working out, just like I advise, using weight training and cardio.
But each week, the scale is only going down 1 pound. Or maybe less.
What do you do?
Simple: stop watching the scale!
Scales measure one thing: your total body weight.
Do you really care what your weight is, or do you care about your body composition and appearance?
Quick quiz – which of these people do you want to be (if you are a man):
a) a 190-lb muscular guy who gets offers to appear on the cover of Men’s Health
b) a 190-lb flabby guy who is afraid to take his shirt off at the beach
See what I mean? Your weight is only one measure of fitness (and a poor one). Why is it poor?
Well, if you are lifting heavy weights like I’m telling you to do, you are probably adding muscle. That added muscle increases your total bodyweight, right? So, you might be losing 1 lb of fat but gaining 0.5 lb of muscle. Yet the scale only tells you “you lost 0.5 lb”. So you get depressed, whine, give up, and go off to listen to Joni Mitchel records.
“Ok, Darrin, then what am I supposed to use?”
Glad you asked!
There are really only three “weight” metrics worth caring about:
1) how you look in your favorite clothes
2) how you look naked
3) what your bodyfat % is
I don’t want to get side-tracked on this, but it is possible to excel at one of the above and not the other two. For example, some people without low bodyfat actually look fine naked. And some people look great in their clothes but not so good at the beach. And of course, there are other things that matter when it comes to fitness, like what you can do and how you feel. But I’m not talking about “fitness”. I’m talking to all you scale-watchers out there.
My point is, these are the things that matter to most people who watch the scale.
So, if you are a scale watcher, do these three steps:
a) today take your picture in your underwear
Do you use the assisted pull-up machine? Some people also use it for dips.
I’m talking about the machine where you can either stand or kneel on a platform. Then you adjust the “counterbalance” weight to essentially reduce your bodyweight for the exercise.
We’re talking about it a little over here [click]
Most people use the machine because they aren’t yet ready to do enough pure bodyweight reps (what I call the “real” exercise). As you might guess, I’m not a fan of them. [LeanLifter members may remember that I suggested many better ways to increase your # of "real" chin-ups or pull-ups here [click].]
But I want a bigger swath of responses – so can you chime in? Does it help you? Are you progressing on it? Have you banned it from your workout? Do you love it? Have you seen significant progress on your “real” versions because of your use of this machine?
Post your comment below!
Continue reading about Who Uses The Assisted Pull-Up Machine?
Ever see “Lady In The Water”, the M. Night Shyamalan movie? Remember the guy who only worked out with ONE of his arms? Pretty funny filming to make him look all lopsided – one arm huge and ripped, the other arm normal.
- image from about.com
Ever feel like you are lopsided?
I’m sure, if you did curls, you’d find one arm noticeably stronger than the other. (But thank goodness you don’t do curls, right?!?)
Same thing applies to your legs, though you might not be as aware of it.
Even applies to your abs. Yes, your abs. (Try side-planks for 60 seconds and you’ll see that one side tires out sooner than the other.)
Movement Specialists often try to correct movements that we all develop, over many years, to compensate for
- Usage habits, like being right handed
- Physical differences, like one leg slightly shorter than the other, which is common
- Poor form overall in exercises
- Various other things that make me think they are magicians (I’m not a Movement Specialist and am in awe of them)
Without treading on their ground, I’m going to give you one rule to follow whenever you are doing a movement that alternates one side then the other:
Always Do Your Weaker Side First
If you are right handed, this usually means doing your left side (arms, legs, abs, everything) first. And if you are left-handed, your right side is usually weaker.
However, in some people their lower body is “oppositely strong”, so you’ll need to test this for yourself.
How Does This Work?
For example, if you are doing static lunges (where you do one side first, then the other) always do the weaker side first.
Every set. Every workout.
Why?
Over time, your weaker side will catch up to your stronger side. It may never be 100%, but for most people, after 6 to 12 months of this strategy, will find that the weaker side is at least 95% as strong as the stronger side. At least, for the exercises you are doing.
All bets are off for new exercises! That’s because with each exercise, the secondary and tertiary muscles involved, as well as supporting mass like tendons and ligaments, vary. As such, new exercises may call on a different set of support.
And then there’s the fact that structurally you will have differences (like bone length, width, etc) that put one side at a long-term disadvantage.
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