Arm Muscle Anatomy

The arms consist of three main areas - the biceps, triceps, and forearms.

The biceps is actually a smaller muscle then the triceps. It is on the front of the upper arms. There are two heads of the biceps muscle (hence the bi in biceps).

Beneath the biceps is the brachialis, a flat muscle group that runs about half way up the upper arm bone from the elbow joint. From the rear you can see the brachialis as a well-defined band of muscle between the triceps and biceps when a muscular bodybuilder flexes his/her arm.

The triceps is a three-headed muscle that is on the back of the upper arm (hence the name tri in triceps).

There are three primary muscle groups in the forearms. The forearm flexors lie along the inner sides of the forearms. The forearm extensors run along the outer sides of the forearms. And the supinators that lie on the upper and outer sections of the forearms.

It is essential that when you do any exercise that you perform the movements correctly, if you don’t you will receive less then optimum benefit from the exercise. It is very difficult to unlearn bad exercise habits, so it is best to learn the right exercise technique from the very start.

The key to developing the arms is to avoid overtraining these small muscle groups. The arms are used as secondary muscles in almost all chest, back, and shoulder exercises. For example, the biceps are used when doing any type of rowing movement for the back. The triceps are used when doing any type of pressing movement for the chest and/or shoulders. And the forearms are used whenever you have to grip the weights.

Bicep Exercises

Standing Barbell Curls

This exercise is a basic movement that works the biceps and forearms.

Grab a barbell with an underhand grip. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Let the barbell hang in front of you at arms length. Keep your elbows close to your torso at all times.

Moving only your forearms, use your bicep strength to curl the barbell up to shoulder level. Hold this position for a second to maximize the peak contraction in the biceps. Slowly lower the barbell to the starting position. Repeat.

Tips - do not lift excess weight and use momentum to swing the barbell up. Use a lighter weight and keep the movement slow and controlled. For variety you can use different types of barbells (i.e. an ez curl bar) to work the muscles at different angles. You can also do this exercise with a bar attached to a low cable pulley.

Standing Dumbbell Curls

This exercise is similar to the barbell curl. It works the biceps and forearms.

Grab a pair of dumbbells. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Let the dumbbells hang at arms length on each side of your body. Keep your elbows close to your torso at all times.

Moving only your forearms, use your bicep strength to curl the dumbbells up to shoulder level. Rotate your hands so that your palms are facing upwards at the top. Hold this position for a second to maximize the peak contraction in the biceps. Slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position. Repeat.

Tips - do not lift excess weight and use momentum to swing the dumbbells up. Use a lighter weight and keep the movement slow and controlled. For variety you can do this exercise with one arm at a time.

Dumbbell Hammer Curls

This exercise is similar to the dumbbell curl. It works the biceps, brachialis, and forearms.

Grab a pair of dumbbells. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Let the dumbbells hang at arms length on each side of your body. Keep your elbows close to your torso at all times and keep the palms of your hands facing each other.

Moving only your forearms, use your bicep and forearm strength to curl the dumbbells up to shoulder level. Do not rotate your hands as you curl the dumbbells. Hold the top position for a second to maximize the peak contraction in the biceps. Slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position. Repeat.

Tips - do not lift excess weight and use momentum to swing the dumbbells up. Use a lighter weight and keep the movement slow and controlled. For variety you can do this exercise with one arm at a time.

Incline Dumbbell Curls

This exercise is similar to the standing dumbbell curl. It works the biceps and forearms.

Grab a pair of dumbbells. Sit back on an incline bench with your feet shoulder width apart. Let the dumbbells hang at arms length on each side of the bench behind your body. This exercise isolates and stretches the biceps more then standing dumbbell curls so you will have to use less weight.

Moving only your forearms, use your bicep strength to curl the dumbbells up to shoulder level. Hold this position for a second to maximize the peak contraction in the biceps. Slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position. Hold this position for a second to really stretch the biceps. Repeat.

Tips - do not lift excess weight and use momentum to swing the dumbbells up. Use a lighter weight and keep the movement slow and controlled. For variety you can do this exercise with one arm at a time.

Preacher Curls

This exercise isolates the biceps. Secondary stress is applied to the forearms.

Sit on a preacher bench with your upper arms lying flat on the pad, palms of your hands facing up. Have a training partner hand you a barbell. Lower the barbell until your elbows are almost straight and you feel a good stretch in the biceps.

Moving only your forearms, use your bicep strength to curl the barbell up to shoulder level. Slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position. Hold this position for a second to really stretch the biceps. Repeat.

Tips - since this is an isolation exercise use lighter weights and really focus on using perfect exercise form. For variety you can do this exercise with dumbbells instead of a barbell. You can also do this exercise with a bar attached to a low cable pulley.

Dumbbell Concentration Curls

This exercise isolates the biceps and is good for getting a peak contraction in the muscles.

Sit at the end of an exercise bench with your legs spread. Reach down between your legs and pick up a light dumbbell with one hand. Brace your elbow against your knee and fully straighten your arm. Place your other hand on your opposite leg to support your upper body.

Moving only your forearm, use your bicep strength to curl the dumbbell up to shoulder level. Hold this position for a couple of seconds to maximize the peak contraction in the biceps. Slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position. Repeat for the desired number of reps. Do the same for your other arm.

Tip - since this is an isolation exercise use lighter weights and really focus on using perfect exercise form.

Bench Press Tips Should You Arch Your Back?

When I explain how to set up for a bench press I tell people to stick your chest out as far as you can by arching your upper back. And retract your scapula by pulling your shoulder blades back together behind you. This is the way you should be positioned when laying down on the bench.

You can see examples of what I mean by this in the pictures below:

In the pics on the left you can see the upper back is relaxed. And in the pics to the right you can see that the upper back is arched and the shoulder blades are pulled back.

The reason for doing this is because it activates the chest muscles to a greater degree. It gives your upper back a solid base on the bench. It reduces excessive shoulder rotation and places them in a safer and more advantageous position for benching.

To sum it up this proper set up targets the major muscles that you want to work, puts you in a stronger position to bench, and it reduces your risk of a shoulder / rotator cuff injury.

Note: if you did a survey of bench press related
injuries you would find that shoulder / rotator cuff
injuries would be number one on the list by far.

However, for a lot of people when ever they hear the words “arch” and “bench press” in the same sentence they automatically cringe.

I get numerous e-mails every week from people saying “you should never arch when benching, it will injure your lower back”. Now I know these people are only trying to help and they mean well. But they are totally missing the point that I’m trying to get across. Maybe I should get out my thesaurus and find a different word other then “arch” as this one brings up so many red lights for people.

There is a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way to arch for doing a bench press.

You’ll note in the description I outlined above I said to stick your chest out by arching your upper back and pulling your shoulder blades. We could also use the word “flex” your upper back instead of arch.

For those anti-archers out there please realize, I NEVER EVER recommended anything about “arching your lower back” at all. Arching your upper back is what is important. That’s what rests on the bench, that’s where all the action takes place. You just need to keep your feet solid on the floor and simply maintain the natural curvature in your lower back.

The Right Way To Arch

The Wrong Way To Arch

Actually sit up in your chair and do this simple exercise with me right now…

Try to stick your chest out as far as you can, but you have to keep your back totally flat and your shoulders forward…

How did it go? I bet you couldn’t stick your chest out much if any.

Now try to stick your chest out again, but this time pull your shoulder blades back together behind you and “arch your upper back"… Now look down… whoa what’s that? It looks like you got a chest that sticks out further then Dolly Parton’s… well maybe I’m exaggerating a bit here, but you get the point.

You NEED to expand your chest and pull your shoulder blades back in order put your body in the safest and most advantageous position for bench pressing. And in order to do this it requires ‘arching’ or ‘flexing’ your upper back.

How To Perform Handstand Push Ups

What if I told you that there is a simple exercise that you could do that would pack on solid muscle mass to your shoulders. Dramatically increase your pressing power and functional strength. And this simple exercise would only take 15 minutes per week. It doesn’t cost a cent, doesn’t require any exercise equipment, and can be done practically anywhere... would you be interested? Well there is such an exercise and it is the handstand push up. This is one of the best exercises that you can do for building functional strength and muscle mass throughout the entire upper body. You can consider the handstand push up to be the equivilant to the barbell military press or shoulder press.

However, one major advantage that bodyweight exercises (such as handstand push ups) have over traditional weight training exercises is that they move your entire body in a real 3 dimensional environment. Exercises where you move your entire body through space are much more demanding and provide a greater level of nero-muscular activation then exercises where you just move your limbs. That is why squats are harder then leg presses, pull ups harder then pull downs, and handstand push ups are harder then shoulder presses, etc.

Handstand push ups work all 3 heads of the deltoids, the upper back,the triceps,the uppper chest heavily. Secondary stress is also placed on the core muscles of the mid-section and the forearms from balancing and supporting your body.

you are only lifting about 60% of your bodyweight, but with a handstand push up you are lifting 100% of your bodyweight. Due to the difficulty of the exercise, beginners should start off just practicing getting their body in the handstand position with their feet supported against a wall. And gradually work up to holding this position for 30 seconds or more.

Blood pressure to the head can be a problem at first, but the body will get used to it overtime. A great thing that you can use to help get yourself used to being upside down is an inversion table. There are a lot of health benefits to using an inversion table and they are getting more common. You can usually get them at any major department store in the exercise equipment section.

You can use an inversion table to help your body become adjusted to being upside down.

Once you are comfortable holding the handstand push up position for at least 30 seconds. Start doing partial range of motion reps, just slightly bending your elbows and locking them out. Work up to doing a couple sets of 25+ short partial pumping reps.

Once easy to perform, you can gradually start going deeper into your handstand push ups, eventually touching your head to the floor at the bottom of each rep. Work up to doing sets of 10+ full range of motion reps, touching your head to the floor each time.

Below you can check out a quick 2 minute video clip demonstarting how to get into position and perform handstand push ups. Make sure to turn up your speakers so you can hear me explain the exercises.

Sample Handstand Push Up Workout Progression

Note: you have to be in pretty good shape just to be able to get into the handstand push up position. If you are not strong enough to get into position, then simply work on performing regular push ups on the floor and build up your strength gradually overtime.

Prior to each workout warm up your shoulder by doing arm circles, some regular push ups on the floor, and rotator cuff rotations.

Week 1:
Every second day practice getting into the handstand position and just holding yourself up at arms length. Perform 2-3 sets and work up to doing 30 second holds.

Week 2:
Every second day perform short, partial range of motion handstand push ups. Perform 2 sets and work up to doing 25+ reps per set.

Afterwards finish off with a 30-60 second static handstand push up hold at the top.

Week 3:
Every second day perform 2-3 sets of 25 reps. The first 20 reps should be short partial range of motion pumping reps, and then for the last 5 reps try to go deeper.

Afterwards finish off with a 30-60 second static handstand push up hold at the top.

Week 4:
Every second day perform 1 set of 25+ short partial range of motion reps. This is kind of used as a “warm up” set. And then perform 2 sets of as many full range of motion hand stand push ups as you can do, touching your head to the floor each time.

Afterwards finish off with a 30-60 second static handstand push up hold at the top.

This is a basic beginners guide to handstand push ups. There are several different variations that you can incorporate into your workouts as you become more advanced. Such as doing them facing away from the wall, doing them free standing, doing them with your hands elevated on blocks to increase the range of motion, etc...

Aerobic exercise Tips

Importance of Cooling DownAfter vigorous aerobic exercise it is important to take 10 minutes or so to cool down gradually. Do not stop abruptly. For example, after a long run or jog, walk around and keep moving, rather than just stopping.Cooling down properly (moving around) redistributes the blood that may have pooled in the extremities when you end your workout, and it prevents muscle stiffness because it allows the metabolic wastes to be worked out of your muscles.

Calorie BurningIf you see that a given aerobic exercise burns a certain amount of calories, e.g., running a mile burns 100 calories, be aware that the number is usually based on a 70 kg (154 lb) man. If you weigh more than that you will burn more calories for the same aerobic activity, and if you are lighter you will burn fewer calories.

Dance for Fitness
For a good aerobic workout, you can dance until you break a sweat to your favorite hip hop or pop music, anything that has a quick beat to it. Try to dance continuously for at least 15 minutes. This aerobic exercise can help you in two ways:
1. You can become a better dancer.
2. You can lose weight while having fun and getting fit.

Jumping Rope
Jumping rope can be a good aerobic exercise. For most people it´s pretty vigorous, so intervals may be the best way to go. Warm up with some brisk walking, then jump for two minutes, rest a minute or so, jump two, etc. If you can go longer, do it. Add half a minute to your jumping and/or shorten your rest periods if you want to improve your jumping time and make this one of your main exercises. Make sure to choose a surface that isn't too hard. Like other cardio exercises, work at a pace where you´re breathing a little hard but can still talk.

Cardio or Aerobic?
Cardiovascular (cardio) exercise refers to exercise that strengthens the cardiovascular system. Aerobic just means in the presence of oxygen, and aerobic exercise refers to exercise that lasts long enough to require oxygen. The same type of exercise satisfies both of these qualifications, and the terms cardio and aerobic exercise are used interchangeably. Aerobic/cardio exercise uses large muscles, usually the legs, in a rhythmic fashion. Examples are running, walking, bicycling, swimming, cross-country skiing, rowing, skating, and machines such as stair steppers and elliptical trainers.

No Fat Burning Zone
Although you burn a higher percentage of fat calories at slow and moderate aerobic intensities, you burn more total calories, and more total fat calories, when you exercise at higher intensities. You may choose to work out longer and/or slower for various reasons, but never slow down just because you think that´s necessary to be in a "fat burning zone."

Talk Test
If you don´t want to take your pulse all the time during aerobic exercise, apply the talk test to see if you´re in your training heart rate range. You should be breathing heavier than normal, but still be able to carry on a conversation. Don't push yourself, though--you want to be able to talk but not sing.

Elliptical Trainers
Elliptical machines are here to stay. People with bad knees love them, as they allow a good aerobic workout without any pounding on the knees. The technique seems awkward at first, but can be learned fairly easily. Beginners can take it easy, and advanced aerobic exercisers can use a combination of incline and resistance to work as hard as they want. If you buy an elliptical for home use, be careful to find one that´s well made, since the cheaper models may not hold up.

Breathe Through Your Mouth
To improve your aerobic conditioning, you should work hard enough that you just naturally start breathing through your mouth to get enough oxygen. It is sometimes recommended to breathe only through your nose to minimize effects of air pollution, but this limits the intensity of your workout. Avoid pollution by working out early or indoors, if necessary.

Treadmill Intensity
Holding the side rails on a treadmill reduces the intensity, so you are not burning as many calories as the display indicates. Holding the front rail so it pulls you along is worse yet. Hold the rails lightly for balance until you get used to the machine, then work toward letting your arms swing naturally.

Improving Fitness
People who have higher cardiorespiratory fitness have fewer cardiovascular risk factors than people who are less fit, even if the less fit are equally or more active. This means you should improve your cardio (aerobic) fitness by challenging yourself instead of always doing the same workout. Move up a level on your bike or stair stepper, or try interval training: work hard for 2 or 3 minutes, then recover slowly for the same time. On the track, run a lap briskly followed by a slow lap. Do 4-8 intervals after a warmup once or twice a week instead of your regular workout, as a change of pace.

Basic Fitness
RoutineIf you want to get a decent aerobic workout routine going, do aerobic exercise at least three times a week. During your aerobic workouts, try to keep your heart rate between 60-80 percent of maximum for at least twenty minutes. This will improve your cardiovascular fitness.


Stair Running
Running up stairs is a time-honored way to improve aerobic conditioning. Take them 2 at a time if you're athletic and consider them to be part of your interval training. Even if you're new to exercise, you can benefit from walking up stairs whenever you get a chance. The calories burned will add up, and your conditioning will improve. If you have trouble finding time to exercise, take 10 minutes once or twice a day and walk up and down stairs at work (or before or after). Hold on to the rail if you need to.

Kickboxing
CaloriesDon´t count on a kickboxing class for burning more than 400 calories. This is a good, fun way to burn the recommended 300 calories per workout, but it doesn´t burn as many calories as an hour of running, other aerobics, or other strenuous and continuous activities.

Heart Rate Attachments
The heart rate monitors on cardio equipment are usually accurate when the equipment is new, but they do go out, and it´s probably not high priority for your health club to repair heart rate monitors. If the reading during and after your exercise doesn´t seem correct, don´t trust it.

Which Workout?
The effectiveness of aerobic workouts depends on intensity and duration. As long as you get your heart rate into a training zone, any form of aerobic workout will have the same effectiveness if maintained for the same time. So you can use any type of exercise you enjoy, or go from one aerobic workout mode, or one machine, to another. No type of aerobic exercise is inherently better than the others. Your heart doesn´t know the difference.

Lifecycle
The old Lifecycle equipment offers three different profiles: hill, random, and manual. Level 1 in difficulty on manual corresponds to 2 on random, and 3 on hill, etc. Hill is the easiest for beginners. The Lifecycle is calibrated to ride smoothest at 80 RPM, so you are not making it easy on yourself to go slower than the recommendation. This is also true of many other exercise bikes. The recommended rpm will give you the smoothest ride and the best workout.

Step Mill
The Step Mill is like real stairs, offset and requiring you to lift your foot as the stairs go by. In contrast, your foot stays on the pedal with stair climbers. The Step Mill adds a little impact to your workout, and is somewhat harder to use, so take it easy when you start out. You may want to hold the rails lightly for balance.

Stair Climbers
Stair climbers are excellent machines for cardiovascular conditioning. They are not meant for strength training and will not give you big muscles. The major muscle group used is the quadriceps. Stand upright on the machine and use the hand rails only for balance. If you support your weight on your arms and take tiny steps, you can light up the display but will not be getting the aerobic workout you need. Use a lower level if necessary and do the work with your legs, taking a 6-8 inch step, keeping your foot flat on the pedals. This will burn calories, improve cardiovascular function, and strengthen your bones.

What Are the Best Back Exercises?

Awesome Exercises For Developing A Strong Back
Strengthening back musculature not only contributes to good posture but also reduces the incidence of back injuries, a leading cause of missed work in this country.
When considering what exercises to use, it’s obvious that we can perform many different movements to strengthen a target muscle or group of muscles; however for the sake of maximizing both time and energy some exercises are more efficient.
As a personal trainer I aim to get the most production in the shortest amount of time by utilizing exercises that produce the greatest amount of muscle involvement and stimulation, thus the greatest amount of benefit. When working the back, the exercises that produce the most muscle stimulation are:
Upper Back
Wide Grip Pull Ups
Grab an overhead bar with both hands at least twice shoulder width, palms facing out.
Pull yourself up focusing on pulling elbows toward sides until chin is over bar.
Slowly lower body to start position and repeat pull up sequence fro desired number of repetitions.
Dumb-bell rows
With a set of dumb-bells in hand, bend at waist keeping back straight.
With elbows away from body and knuckles facing forward, squeeze lats together as you pull dumb-bells up toward shoulders.
Slowly lower weight to starting position and repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
Rows can be done with a bar as well.
Reverse Dumb-bell Flys
With a set of dumb-bells in hand, bend at waist keeping back straight.
With palms facing each other, separate weights in a reverse fly motion until hands reach shoulder level.
Slowly lower weight to starting position and repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
This exercise can be executed using the cable-cross machine as well
Lower back
Dead-lifts
Bend at waist grasping a bar. Knees should be slightly bent and back should be straight.
Slowly straighten up pulling weight with lower back until you reach a standing position.
Slowly lower weight while keeping back straight by bend at waist until back is about parallel to the floor.
Repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
This exercise can be executed with dumb-bells as well.
Supermans
Lie on floor or mat on your stomach with body outstretched and arms at sides.
Tighten hamstrings, glutes and erectors as you simultaneously lift chest and legs from the floor.
Legs should be almost completely straight as you lift them from floor.
Hold position for 3 to 5 seconds and release.
Repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
There are of course a number of back exercises that can be performed. These are some the most effective exercises for targeting all muscles of the back. I do recommend adding other back exercises to your routine from time to time to keep your routine fresh and interesting.

What Are the Best Back Exercises?

Awesome Exercises For Developing A Strong Back
Strengthening back musculature not only contributes to good posture but also reduces the incidence of back injuries, a leading cause of missed work in this country.
When considering what exercises to use, it’s obvious that we can perform many different movements to strengthen a target muscle or group of muscles; however for the sake of maximizing both time and energy some exercises are more efficient.
As a personal trainer I aim to get the most production in the shortest amount of time by utilizing exercises that produce the greatest amount of muscle involvement and stimulation, thus the greatest amount of benefit. When working the back, the exercises that produce the most muscle stimulation are:
Upper Back
Wide Grip Pull Ups
Grab an overhead bar with both hands at least twice shoulder width, palms facing out.
Pull yourself up focusing on pulling elbows toward sides until chin is over bar.
Slowly lower body to start position and repeat pull up sequence fro desired number of repetitions.
Dumb-bell rows
With a set of dumb-bells in hand, bend at waist keeping back straight.
With elbows away from body and knuckles facing forward, squeeze lats together as you pull dumb-bells up toward shoulders.
Slowly lower weight to starting position and repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
Rows can be done with a bar as well.
Reverse Dumb-bell Flys
With a set of dumb-bells in hand, bend at waist keeping back straight.
With palms facing each other, separate weights in a reverse fly motion until hands reach shoulder level.
Slowly lower weight to starting position and repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
This exercise can be executed using the cable-cross machine as well
Lower back
Dead-lifts
Bend at waist grasping a bar. Knees should be slightly bent and back should be straight.
Slowly straighten up pulling weight with lower back until you reach a standing position.
Slowly lower weight while keeping back straight by bend at waist until back is about parallel to the floor.
Repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
This exercise can be executed with dumb-bells as well.
Supermans
Lie on floor or mat on your stomach with body outstretched and arms at sides.
Tighten hamstrings, glutes and erectors as you simultaneously lift chest and legs from the floor.
Legs should be almost completely straight as you lift them from floor.
Hold position for 3 to 5 seconds and release.
Repeat sequence for desired number of repetitions.
There are of course a number of back exercises that can be performed. These are some the most effective exercises for targeting all muscles of the back. I do recommend adding other back exercises to your routine from time to time to keep your routine fresh and interesting.

Training The Back Muscles

Exercises To Get A Sexy Back
Lat pulldowns, pullups and upper back rows give the back muscles width, thickness and definition.
Since the dawn of mankind, humans have needed the back muscles for bending, lifting and carrying objects. Whether a person is picking up a baby or a barbell, the back muscles are vital part of our existence.
The back has to be strong – so why not make it look good in the process?
Back Muscles
The back has three major muscle groups: the latissiumus dorsi, trapezius and the spinal erectors. Each muscle group gives the back certain aesthetically pleasing characteristics.
The latissiums dorsi, more commonly known as the lats, performs many functions. These triangle-shaped muscles begin along the spine and extend from the shoulder to the waist. The lats rotate and lower the arm, as well as pull the shoulder backwards.
The lats have the biggest surface area of any muscle in the body, providing width to the back. This aspect helps give the upper body the “V” shape from the shoulders to the waist.
The trapezius muscles are also triangular in shape. They reach from the neck to the shoulder and down the spine to the middle of the back. More commonly known as the traps, they rotate, elevate and retract the shoulder blade. Some consider the traps for shoulder training as well as back. The traps provide thickness to the upper back.
The spinal erectors are three muscles that align the spine. They lie underneath the traps and lats. They elevate and straighten the spine, providing stability. The spinal erectors are visible only at the waist, giving definition between the lats and lower back.
Back Exercises
The most effective back exercise is wide-grip pullups. While this exercise may also be among the most difficult, it develops the lats better than any other exercise. Wide-grip pullups also work the traps by forcing the shoulder blades together and works the spinal erectors with the need for stability.
Never go behind your neck while performing pullups. If you can’t do pullups, have your workout partner hold your feet and help you up, then come down as slow as possible. Eventually, you will be able to perform pullups.
If pullups remain too difficult, the same lat work can be completed on a lat pulldown machine. Do not pull down the bar behind the neck. Pull it to the top of the chest. Make sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together as the bar lowers. Pullups and pulldowns are great exercises to provide width to the upper back.
Seated upper back rows are another tremendous back exercise. These are usually completed with a cable. This exercise provides thickness to the upper back and gives definition between the lats and lower back. As you pull, make sure to bring the shoulder blades together and “puff out” the chest.
Workout Suggestions
Bodybuilding training splits are often varied and argued. The prescription with the most science behind it asks people to train what muscles do, not individual muscles. This means that if you are going to break apart muscle groups, perform pulling and pushing muscles on opposite days.
Back workouts work great with biceps exercises performed on the same day. Perform two to four exercises for each muscle group. Each exercise should have two to four sets of 8 to 15 repetitions.
Therefore, a great back workout would consist of pullups, pulldowns and upper back rows. Maybe throw in some upper body raises while lying face-down on the floor. Work the back once every five to seven days.
These suggestions will provide the back with width and thickness. Definition will come if these exercises are combined with a proper nutritional plan. Follow the guidelines within this article and you will not see any more back fat – just a sexy, sexy back!
Sources:
The Human Body Book by Steve Parker
Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger with Bill Dobbins

Four Exercises To Bulk Up Skinny Legs

A lot of women would love to but it seems that those of us who do suffer from this affliction often hide them beneath flowing skirts or trousers.

The following exercises should help to build up the important muscles without adding fat.

So matchstick thin legs be gone!
No 1 exercise

Start your daily exercise regime by up and down stairs at a steady rate until you feel your calf muscles begin to protest and note how long it has taken.

Keep to the same time for a week, by then you should feel no discomfort.

The following week you should increase the time by 10-20% until you feel the discomfort again.

Keep increasing each week until you build up to about 25-30 minutes a session and maintain that rate as a daily routine.

Apartment dwellers may have to use the stairwell and it will do no harm to avoid the temptation of the elevator at other times.

No 2 exercise for hot legs

Lie down flat on the floor, and, for comfort, support your head on a cushion.

Place your hands on your hips and slowly lift your legs until they are at right angles to your body.

Bend at the knee and straighten each leg alternatively in a steady rotating motion so that you mimic a cycling action.

This is not a particularly tiring exercise but is important in building up the thigh muscles.

Keep going for about 5 minutes to start and build up the time gradually over a period of weeks.

No 3 exercise for hot legs

Lie flat on the floor with your body straight and arms extended by your sides at right angles.

Stretch your legs and raise one leg as high above you as you can while keeping it perfectly straight.

You will feel the thigh muscles stretching and tensing.

Slowly lower and repeat with the other leg. Continue until you feel the onset of fatigue in the muscles and build up the time on a weekly basis.

No 4 exercise for hot legs

Buy a bicycle or cycling machine.

Overdoing to the point of exhaustion or experiencing pain is likely to more harm than good unless you are a highly trained athlete.

The last thing you want is to feel so stiff after the previous workout that you can’t face another day of exercise.

It is important to get into a daily routine so take it easy to start with and gradually build up to a time and effort that you feel comfortable with.


The aim of these exercises is to increase the leg muscle mass and shape without gaining fat.

Cut back on fats and carbohydrates and increase your protein intake.

Here’s wishing you million dollar legs!

10 Common Gym Mistakes

10 Common Gym Mistakes

The horrors that I see on the floor of the weights room never cease to amaze me. You’d think that with information so readily available on the internet, people would try to find out a little more about what they are supposed to be doing in the gym, instead of just copying the other patrons or doing what their ‘expert’ friend told them to do.

Here are just some of the common things I see people getting wrong in the gym.

No Stretching
This one normally applies just to the guys. You would think that there is an inverse relationship between the muscle size and flexibility, because it always seems to be the big guys with horrible flexibility, especially around the shoulder joint.

I guess stretching just isn’t really sexy enough and I’ll admit; I hate doing it too. The long term injury prevention cannot be ignored though as well as improved posture.

Tight hip flexors can lead to lordosis or excessive curvature of the lower back. By lengthening your hip flexors, you allow the pelvis to relax out of an excessive anterior or forward leaning tilt. By correctly aligning your pelvis, the curve in your lower spine will flatten out.

This is just one example, tight muscles all over the body can play havoc on your posture.

1. No Warm-up
I’m sure we’ve all done it at some stage. You’re pressed for time and that warm-up is going to mean cutting down on your lifting time. You load up the bar and hit the ground running. Halfway through the set something feels uncomfortable; a couple of minutes later you can no longer move your neck. Workout over – for the next 2 weeks!

Whatever you choose to do for a warm-up, at least do something. 10 minutes on the bike is not really going to prepare you for lifting but I guess it’s better than nothing. Stretching isn’t the best bet either, but it’s a start. If you really want a good warm-up you should be doing mobility training before you hit the iron.

Working out in the same rep range.
This one is so pervasive in gyms that you’d be forgiven for thinking that 3 sets of 8 was some kind of weightlifting Nirvana. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with 3 sets of 8, but it seems like people are stuck doing this for all their workouts.

You need to change things up a bit. Your body gets used to the same stimulus very quickly. If you’re stuck in a bit of an exercise rut, changing your set & rep scheme is probably the best was to kick-start your progress.

Some of my favourites are:

• 8 x 3
• 10 x 3
• 5 x 5
• 4 x 12
• 6 x 4
• 4 x 6

Working with lower reps using a bigger load will recruit different muscle fibres. You will be recruiting the high threshold motor units, which have the largest capacity for growth and also create the densest muscles with the most myogenic tone.

No post workout nutrition
This is such an important time for your body to be getting the nutrients it needs to recover and grow that it amazes me how so many people overlook the post workout nutrition.

Within 1 hour of working out, preferably sooner you body is craving quick acting proteins and carbohydrates. Whey is the protein of choice here as it is the fastest to be absorbed. You also want to get a lot of high glycemic carbohydrates. Post workout is the only time you want to get high GI carbs, because your muscles are glycogen depleted and really need a quick boost to get the recovery process started.

For an intense strength training workout it is recommended that you consume 0.4g of protein and 0.8g of carbohydrates per kilogram of bodyweight. So for an 80kg person, that would be 32 grams of whey protein and 64 grams of a high GI carbohydrate such as glucose, dextrose or maltodextrin.

You can either mix this up yourself or buy a pre made recovery drink. I like to mix is up myself, purely because maltodextrin is dirt cheap and you pay a huge premium for the privilege of having the supplement companies mix it in for you.

Following the post workout shake, your first whole food meal should be eaten within 3 hours of your workout. You’ll want about the same amounts of protein and carbs, but his time you can choose a slower digesting meat, dairy or egg based protein and lower GI complex carbs such as rice, pasta or potatoes.

Great post workout meal

Always performing the same exercises
We are creatures of habit, so this one is not surprising. In the gym, once people figure out the basics of what they should be doing they get a simple program and stick to it. A lot of people have probably been doing the same program for years.

It’s been said that the best program is the one that you’re not doing. Again, this goes back to the previous point. Your body adapts quickly to whatever you throw at it, so you need to change not only the exercises you perform, but also your entire program.

These can often be small changes. Always perform flat barbell bench press? Why not try dumbbells, or incline/decline pressing. Always do back squats? Try front squats for a humbling experience or if you really want to expose your weaknesses, try overhead squats. If you can do overhead squats without falling over then congratulations! Try to change your program every 3 - 6 weeks or until you feel like you have adapted.

The aimless workout
Like anything in life, you need to set goals. If you have no goal to your gym workouts, then you are not going to achieve much. For this you are going to need a well designed program to follow with some tangible goal at the end. Do you want to run your first marathon or have you set a goal of being 10% stronger in 4 weeks?

Having a goal will give you the motivation to push that little big harder at the next workout. You should also be keeping records of your workouts – how else will you know how hard to push yourself the next time?

To many isolation movements, not enough compound movements.
It seems like most guys are obsessed with getting huge guns. If that is what floats your boat then who am I to criticise, but dedicating so much time and energy to a couple of muscle groups seems strange to me.

What a lot of people fail to recognise is that compound movements can be really great arm builders too. Any compound back exercise is going to place a lot of stress on the biceps too. Any type of rowing, lat pull downs and especially chin-ups can do wonders for your biceps, not to mention adding some width to the back, which is probably lagging due to all the effort spent on isolation. Compound movements allow for a lot more load bearing and therefore have great growth potential.

What about the triceps? If your shoulders are healthy, dips are probably the best triceps builder around. Add in some close grip bench pressing and maybe one isolation movement (I know you’re going to do them anyway!) and you have a solid triceps routine.

This doesn’t only apply to arms though. In general gym goers do too much isolation. Take one of the ultimate compound lifts, like an Olympic power snatch. To work the same muscles in isolation would require at least performing: standing calf raise, leg extension, leg curls, shrugs, back extension, abdominal exercise just to name a few. You still wouldn’t get the intra-muscular co-ordination and metabolic kick up the butt either.

Compound movements allow you more bang for your buck and allow you to condense a workout into only a few exercises. Compound movements also stimulate more growth hormone release.

Too much pressing and not enough pulling
Ever noticed how a lot of big guys in the gym have rounded shoulders? Along with arms, bench pressing has to be the most overused exercise.

If you consider that a bench press is a horizontal pressing movement (relative to the correct anatomical position) it would follow that any kind of rowing would be a horizontal pulling movement. In order to develop the agonist and antagonist muscle pairs around the pecs, shoulders and back an even amount of pressing and pulling is required.

Because of this obsession with the bench press, the pectoral muscles, anterior deltoids and certain rotator cuff muscles overpower the back muscles of the rhomboids (responsible for pulling back and pinching your shoulder blades together) and posterior deltoids. Tightness in the pectoral muscles, due to lack of stretching, compounds the problem further by pulling the shoulders forward. This is a gross simplification and I don’t want to turn this into an anatomy lesson, but the take home message is that you should be doing an equal amount of pulling and pushing.

If you already resemble Quasimodo, I’d recommend seeing a specialist first. At the very least you should also cut back on your pressing and increase you pulling until your strength imbalance resolve. Stretching your pecs will also help. You should also check your desk ergonomics – chances are you’re reading this slouched over your desk. Your mother was right when she told you to sit up straight. There is only so much corrective exercise can do for you. If the other 23 hours in your day are spent slouching, chances are you will remain that way.

Horrible form
Again, it’s the guys who are most at fault here I’m afraid. Horrible form is usually the result of trying to lift too much weight. A bicep curl should be slow and controlled. It’s not a back exercise, but all too often you’ll see somebody with too much weight using their back to heave the weight up. I also see a lot of guys bouncing the weight off their chest in the bench press or racking the squat bar with too much weight and then performing 6 inch squats. Who are you fooling? If this is you then my advice is to leave your ego at the door. That gym hottie across the room who you’re trying to impress doesn’t care how much weight you’re lifting, really.

She doesn’t care, really.

Regarding form, a muscle should be worked through its full range of motion – from full extension to complete flexion. I’ve seen the heaving-style bicep curls done where the elbows barely moved at all!

Ego aside, there are still people with good intentions who just get it wrong.

Wrap up
Hopefully this didn’t come across as too much of a rant, but these are pretty simple things that are easy to fix and will go a long way to keeping you healthy and making sure you progress.

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