[Before we get into this very short piece, I'm making the replay of last week's free training teleseminar available for the next 3 days only. So if you want to listen to it, go to http://www.worldfitnessnetwork.com/more/maycallreplay.html right now.]
Who Are You Calling A Beginner?
Are you a beginner? Or an advanced lifter? Or an intermediate? How do you know? Let’s take a moment and define these stages as far as I’m concerned. It’s important for several upcoming articles I’ll be sharing on (more…)
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It’s axiomatic that the exercises which give you the best results are always the hardest ones to do. If you want a huge back… you row and deadlift. If you want huge legs, you squat… OR… you do THIS leg exercise – that almost no one wants to do because its one of the hardest of them all.
Which one am I talking about? FRONT SQUATS!
In my opinion, front squats are one of the absolute best quad builders. Back squats are a tremendous mass builder as well, but front squats introduce an additional level of challenge because they require flexibility, technique, and core strength because the bar must be held and balanced on the front of the shoulders. As such, the front squat does everything the back squat does and more.
One great advantage of the front squat, especially for someone like me, having previously suffered a low back injury (herniated L4), is that the torso can be held in a more upright (vertical position). Since there is less forward trunk inclination, this removes some of the stress and shear forces from the lower back. At the same time, this upright position is closer to a bodybuilding squat and throws much more emphasis on the quads and less on the hips. It is truly a superb bodybuilding exercise.
There are two styles of front squatting, the Olympic lifting style and the crossed arm style. I find that most athletes, and of course Olympic lifters, use the former, while most bodybuilders seem to prefer the latter. The barbell should generally be your weapon of choice, but for bodybuilders, front squats on the Smith machine are an outstanding alternative. The Smith machine front squat takes some of the balance issues out of the picture, which allows the physique athlete to really focus on working the muscle rather than worrying about balance and stabilization. Be sure to rotate between both versions, however– barbell and smith machine – because long term overuse or dependency on machines may lead to stabilizer weakness or muscle imbalances and variety is never a bad idea in the physique game. [Editor's Note: I suggest not even trying this on the smith machine. Just go light to start with and learn it the right way - Darrin.] Incidentally, the barbell front squat is an outstanding “core” exercise.
A third version of the front squat worth considering is the dumbbell front squat (especially the sumo or wide stance version). These can be performed holding a single dumbbell with both hands on the front of the shoulders, cupped between both hands (goblet squat) or with two dumbbells, one in each hand, resting on top of each shoulder. The limiting factor on these front squat variations is often the poundage, as holding heavy dumbbells can become unwieldy. This can be partially overcome by performing the dumbbell front squat last in a leg workout or second in a superset, or by manipulating tempo and range of motion so the exercise is made more (more…)
Continue reading about The Greatest Quad Builder… That Almost No One Wants To Do
I saw something interesting the other day at the gym.
I saw an average-sized guy in his mid 20’s who was obviously trying to build up some muscle. He looked like he had some padding (weight) on him, but he didn’t look too out of shape. The thing that caught my eye is what I saw him doing.
He was using the cables to do cable crossover flys. I watched as his arms wildly flapped up and down in an uneven way. His upper body lurched forward and downward with each rep as he strained to move the weight at all costs. I watched him move on to other exercises and perform them with a similar style.
Who knows, maybe he really didn’t know how to lift weights. But then again, like a lot of other people out there, maybe he was just too embarrassed to lift the proper amount of weight for his strength level.
If his goal was to avoid looking silly in the gym, he certainly didn’t achieve it. Honestly, I thought he looked a lot more like a monkey trying to figure out how to fly than someone who’s serious about getting in shape. (more…)
Continue reading about I Respect the Little Guy with Good Form
Readers of WorldFitnessNetwork.com are a smart group of people. You are smart enough to know that your training is important and that you lifting weights will help you achieve your goals. You understand things about living strong that most people just don’t get.
And since you are already such a smart group of people, I already know that I don’t need to tell you that you should never workout naked. There’s no need for me to explain why it would be bad if your flip-flopping appendages were to get caught in the weight stack.
You guys are smart. You already get this stuff.
But there are a few other advantages to not working out naked that you should be taking advantage of. Here we go:
1. Warm up clothing: Wearing some extra clothing until your body warms up is generally a good idea, especially if it’s winter time or if you live in a colder climate. This extra clothing allows your body to retain more heat until it reaches the optimal temperature for going heavy on a workout.
Keeping your body warm is especially important for injury prevention. You are much less likely to pull or tear a muscle that is warmer. Wear that sweater at the beginning of your workout until you are nice and warm.
2. Protection: I’m not talking about that kind of protection… this is about why you shouldn’t workout naked… so get your mind out of the gutter. Any commercial gym these days will require you to wear shoes in case (more…)
Continue reading about 5 Reasons Why You Should Never Workout Naked
The key to training each of your muscles is to understand their function and how they work. Your chest is no different. Here, we’ll go over your pectoral muscles, how to train them, and we’ll even dispel a few myths along the way.
Chest Anatomy:
The pectorals are your chest muscles. They begin at your sternum and connect to a tendon that attaches to the humeris bone in your upper arm. Each time your chest muscles contract, they essentially pull your upper arm bone forward and in front of you.
To get a feel for the full range of motion of your chest muscles, straighten your arms out to each side of you. Move your arms forward in front of you until your forearms cross. This represents the full and complete range of motion for your chest muscles.
We’ll just skip the rest of the anatomy lesson and get to what you really need to know. For your training, your pecs are essentially trained as a whole using exercises like the bench press, or you can use exercises that focus on your upper chest such as the incline bench press.
Aside from the upper chest exercises, there isn’t really as much specialization for the chest as one might think. Let’s take a look at the different chest specialization areas you might have heard of.
- General Pecs: You will train your chest muscle group as a whole using the flat level bench. This includes the flat bench press, flat bench flyes, dumbbell bench press, etc. Dips will also (more…)
Image Credit: Petranek
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the more rest you take between sets, the more weight you’ll be able to lift when you do come back. This doesn’t mean that you should always take more rest between your sets… the right amount of rest for you will depend on your goals somewhat.
First off, let’s give little explanation on why you might choose longer or shorter rest periods between each workout. There are 3 different primary energy systems that your body uses to produce ATP, which is the primary fuel your muscles use for exercise.
These definitions come straight from this article on Wikipedia:
ATP-PC System (Phosphogen System) – This system is used only for very short durations of up to 10 seconds. The ATP-PC system neither uses oxygen nor produces lactic acid and is thus said to be alactic anaerobic. This (more…)
If you’ve been going to a commercial gym regularly, you might have noticed that some guys will crank out a set of 15 reps for an exercise while another guy just does 3 reps on a different exercise. What’s up with that?
The reason you’ll see people using totally different rep ranges is that some people have different goals. Doing more reps in your weight lifting routine can serve a great purpose, and doing less reps can also be useful.
Which rep range you ultimately decide to use should be based on your goals and what you want to accomplish. Here, we’ll talk about a few points that will help you make the best decision.
Let’s take a look at what each rep range can be useful for:
- 1-3 Reps: Best suited to boosting your overall strength. The focus here is improving the maximum amount of weight possible for a single repetition. You’ll see powerlifters use (more…)
Continue reading about The Best Rep Ranges for Muscle, Strength
If you’ve ever been to a commercial gym for a month or longer, you know how it feels to share a gym with other people. A commercial gym is a lot like a community – we all have to share and learn to get along.
If you’re one of those people who has a nice setup in your own home gym, then go ahead and feel free to pass gas wherever you want to, and do whatever you want with your own equipment. For the rest of us who have to share a gym, there are a few unspoken rules.
Here they are:
1. Don’t forget to wipe when you’re done: You might not have heard this one for a very long time. But if you’re one of those guys that sweats profusely all over everything you touch, give it a little wipe with a towel when you’re done. There’s nothing wrong (more…)
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