I know many of you are new to weight training. But sometimes I forget what it’s like. And I forget how many outstanding posts Jason contributed over the years to help you. Rather than resend them all (there are too many!), I’m going to highlight a few from time to (more…)
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Continue reading about Core Concepts For Building Lean Muscle
Which type of exercise is better? Basic or Isolation?
That all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to build strength or size, or are you trying to refine the musculature that you already have?
Basic exercises, also referred to as compound movements, are the exercises that work several groups of muscle together with a single movement. The best example of a basic movement is the squat.
Each time you squat down and then press your body back up, you are working muscles in your quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, lower back, and other back muscles. Many muscles throughout the body are also actively involved in stabilization during this lift.
Isolation exercises are the movements that stress only one muscle group at a time. An example of an isolation exercise is biceps curls. With each repetition you do, the weight is moved almost completely by your biceps muscles.
Building the Right Foundation
If you are trying to build a base of strength or muscle size, basic exercises are key to your success, and for most people out there, basic exercises should compose a majority of their workouts.
This is because basic movements will give you the best gains for the amount of effort you put in. It’s true that working more muscles with a single workout is clearly more time efficient than working each muscle separately, but there’s more to it than that. (more…)
Continue reading about Basic Vs. Isolation Exercises, Chisels or Dynamite?
We’ve talked before about how lifting more weight isn’t always the best for creating more muscle mass. You could always go a little heavier on your set and do less reps… train more like a powerlifter to get more weight up.
Here at World Fitness Network, our number one goal is not to put as much weight on the bar as possible, but to build muscle and lose fat. But gaaawsh, it still feels pretty great to put that bigger plate on the bar and hammer out a set with a little more weight. Being able to put more weight on the bar is also great feedback that you are making progress with your training.
Unfortunately, sometimes that great ego trip comes with a price on our training. If you’re not careful, that extra ten pounds on the bar can often come at the expense of your form. The incline bench press is one exercise where it happens all the time.
Excessive Arching
The benefit of doing the incline bench press is that it places stress on the upper chest muscles and helps to give you a more round, full look. Great for how your chest looks under a T-shirt.
In order to effectively hit your upper chest muscles, the incline bench press is best when set to an angle of somewhere between 30-45 degrees or only slightly higher. You can experiment with slightly different angles to see which one you feel is best for your upper chest.
Continue reading about How to Prevent an Arching Back on the Incline Bench Press
Image credit: cronfeld
Getting calluses while you lift weights is normal, but a lot can be done to reduce the number of calluses that form on your hands.
If you’re getting calluses while lifting, you’re doing some things right. You’re training hard, using a heavy weight, and doing plenty of pulling movements. Just a few changes will help to keep your calluses down to a minimal level.
Why You’re Getting Calluses:
Grip: The biggest reason for getting calluses on your hands is how you grip your bar on pulling movements. On a pulling movement, you are attempting to move the weight toward your body while gravity (or a cable) pulls the (more…)
Continue reading about How to Avoid Calluses When Lifting Heavy Weights
Image Credit: roguefitnessphotos
The overhead press is one of the most basic movements available for working the upper body. It’s so good, in fact, that it is touted by many to be the most useful movement for working your upper body.
Overhead presses place primary stress on the anterior deltoids (front shoulder muscles), the medial deltoids (middle shoulder), and the triceps. Secondary stress is also placed on the upper chest, the stabilizing abs and lower back, and the upper back muscles involved in the rotational movement of the scapulae.
This exercise is very efficient for building overall body mass simply because of the shear number of muscles groups involved in the movement. Any well designed training program should include an overhead pressing movement, and the overhead press is a premier movement to strengthen your shoulders and upper body.
Set-Up:
- Get in position: Take a firm grip on (more…)
World Fitness Network reader A.J. asked left the following comment on a recent article about squats:
I find it very hard to do a “good” squat because I can’t go down too much. I find that I can’t go down even if I’m not using any weight. I don’t know why, maybe its because of the way that I am built? Is it still okay if I do 1/2 squats? I find that I can go lower if I have a wider stance…so should I increase my stance?
A.J. asks a great question that most people struggle with as they begin squatting. It’s a common experience to realize that squatting all the way down is difficult at first. Half squats won’t necessarily hurt you (if you do them with good form), but they won’t help as much as full squats either.
Why squat all the way:
- Full involvement: The bottom of the squatting movement is where the glute and hamstrings come into play.
- Rebound: The elasticity in the muscles and other tissues helps you to get a slight rebound in the bottom of the movement.
- Knowing your gains: If you always go all the way down, you’ll (more…)
I could hardly believe what I was reading.
I sat in absolute bewilderment as I read an article in a recent muscle magazine. It explained in detail why you should lift your hips as high as possible off the bench (called bridging) when you bench press.
Was the author seriously recommending this type of thing to people who are trying to improve their workouts? I could hardly believe that any widely distributed magazine would publish this sort of “advice”.
Of course, I don’t think that the muscle magazines are very good reading for most people out there. They focus on what the pros are doing for their workouts instead of telling the readers what will help them the most. I’ll drop by once a month or so and read them just to see what’s out there (and only because I blog about this).
But there it was, right in the magazine. The author was praising the advantages of arching your back as high as possible and shooting your hips into the air on the bench press.
His argument was that arching your back and lifting the hips gives you more power for your bench. More power lets you lift heavier weights, and lifting heavier weights means you’re building strength and muscle.
So how could that be wrong? (more…)
Continue reading about You Gotta Be Kidding Me- Bridging on the Bench Press
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