Strength Training Without Weights - Bodyweight Exercise Secrets

Strength training without weights is one of the latest fads to hit the fitness world. Exercises without weight, or bodyweight exercises as they are better known, are for people who primarily want to build stronger and leaner physiques but don't want to go to the gym.

One of the biggest myths is that you need to go to the gym and spend long hours lifting heavy weights in order to achieve a sleek looking physique.

Here are a couple of bodyweight exercise secrets that you might not be aware of:

1. You Don't Need To Do Hours Of Cardio To Get Ripped Abs - What you actually need is a consistent and diverse workout routine that features somewhat challenging exercises that simultaneously target multiple muscle groups at once including your upper and lower abdominal muscles. For example, take an ab exercise called the 3 chair push up. 

With this exercise you will be performing a traditional push up except, unlike with push ups, your feet will be placed on the seat of a chair rather than on the ground. This exercise will increase your range of motion that you normally experience with push ups and will cause your abdominals to rapidly contract in order to stabilize your body. While this exercise can help you achieve seriously ripped abs you will still need to maintain a balanced diet and a proper mix of carbs, protein, and unsaturated fats.

2. Injuries Are Not A Prerequisite For Becoming Strong And Muscular - There seems to be this idea common among bodybuilders that in order to develop massive muscles you need to get injured a few times. Injuries are apparently seen as a mark of honor by some weight lifters because they symbolize that you are moving up in weight and therefore becoming stronger.

In reality, injuries are a massive setback to virtually any training routine not to mention the accompanying and often debilitating pain. If you become injured lifting weights you will likely be unable to perform certain exercises for several weeks or even months depending on the severity and location of your injury.

A week off from weight training can actually be beneficial but several weeks or months can easily reverse your strength and muscle gains. One of the principal advantages of bodyweight exercises over heavy weight exercises is that it is very difficult to sustain an injury during a bodyweight workout routine.

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Building Lean Muscle Mass - How Much Muscle Mass Can You Really Build?

The average amateur weight lifter expects to build tons of lean muscle mass in a very short period of time. That is to say that the average weight lifter expects to get ripped in a flash. Getting a ripped physique fast is largely a myth. You can not realistically build dozens of pounds of lean muscle mass really fast. The vast majority of my clients and men I encounter at the gym simply have unrealistic expectations when it comes to building muscle mass.

It's difficult to actually say how much muscle you can add to your body but the average weight lifter seems to believe that they can add 25 pounds of muscle in 90 days. It's remarkable how often I meet someone who has been hitting the gym for three or four months and is disappointed that they haven't added twenty or more pounds of muscle. You surely can gain 20 or more pounds of body weight in just a few months but there is a big difference between body weight and muscle mass.

You can gain weight by simply taking in lots of carbs, calories, and weight gainer and doing little aerobic exercise. But again, in following this kind of diet plan you will only be adding body mass not lean muscle mass and there is a big difference between the two. Adding lean muscle mass means adding pure muscle tissue, not water weight or glycogen weight. And adding lean muscle mass takes the three P's: persistence, perseverance, and patience.

Under the ideal circumstances, the average male can add a maximum of 2 pounds of lean muscle mass in a single month. Remember that this is under the best possible conditions, more than likely you will be fortunate if you can add half this much muscle mass each and every week. This may be discouraging or upsetting to some but it's important to be realistic in your goal otherwise you could end up wasting your time or worse, doing things that may actually be harmful.

Train hard, eat right, get a good nights sleep each night, and you will inevitably get the body of your dreams!

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How To Build Muscle Mass The Right Way

There are countless weight training mistakes that individuals periodically fall victim to from time to time all of which can bring your muscle building efforts to a screeching halt. As with just about all things in life, building muscle mass requires learning and one of the ways we learn is from trial and error. More than likely though the mistakes you've made are not your fault are likely the result of being downright lied to by self-proclaimed experts.

There is a ton of money being made in the bodybuilding industry and all of this money has caused the lies and misinformation to proliferate dramatically in recent years. In many ways the bodybuilding industry and those who believe call themselves experts are actually robbing you of your hard work and muscle building efforts and literally robbing you of your hard earned money.

That being said, here are the 2 most common bodybuilding mistakes:

1. Cardio Will Have A Negative Effect On Your Muscle Gains - Many experts claim not only that weight training is just as good for your body as cardio exercises but that too much cardio can actually deter muscle growth. First of all, weight lifting is practically useless for stimulating your heart and cardiovascular system. Secondly, cardio exercise can only affect your muscle gains if you do cardio exercises to excess. Twenty minutes of cardio each day will do wonders for your health and cardiovascular system and will not affect your muscular development.

2. It's Good To Do A Lot Of Reps On Arm Exercises - I can not exaggerate how frequently I see men at the gym spend a full hour or more training their biceps and triceps. In reality, the biceps and triceps require the least amount of stimulation because of their small size (small relative to your other muscle groups). More often than not, less is actually more when it comes to your biceps and triceps.

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Gain More Muscle By Adding More Weight To The Bar

With a seemingly endless array of articles, "amazing" techniques, impassioned debates, and throngs of self proclaimed muscle building experts who claim to know the secrets to massive muscle growth, it's difficult to uncover what really works. While there are many nuances and details that constitute a successful workout routine, the simple truth of the matter is that consistently adding more weight to your exercises is the foundation of any winning weight lifting routine.

If, for example, you take all of the most basic weight lifting exercises like squats, curls, and bench press, increasing your weight from week to week will by itself yield the most profound muscle building results. Adding 100 pounds to your bench press or dead lift will cause you to become significantly bigger and stronger provided you have a proper nutrition plan in place. Granted, you won't be able to add this kind of weight overnight (unless you want to risk serious injury) because building your physique takes time and patience.

Many of the self proclaimed experts are reluctant to tell you that lifting heavier weights is the essential key to dramatic results because they either don't know or, more than likely, because they want to sell you their bogus gizmo, gadget, or program. Instead, these "experts" would rather have you dancing around the gym super-setting from exercise to exercise, focusing on isolation movements, and feeling the burn rather than simply focus on the foundation required to increase your strength. And that foundation is consistently increasing your weight from workout to workout.

If you are able to stimulate an adaptive response from the muscles by training intensively, recover and rest properly, eat a proper diet, and repeat from week to week then you will gradually become bigger and stronger. If your strength and muscle size is not increasing then you are more than likely doing something wrong, whatever you may have read.

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Strength Weight Training - What You Need To Know About Weight Training

Weight training is a great way to stay in shape, build muscle, and look great. But if you are just starting out training with weights then there are a few things you need to be a aware of in order to get the most out of your exercise routines.

The most import thing to do when it comes to strength weight training is warming up your muscles prior to physical exertion. Many inexperienced weight lifters don't believe a warm up routine is important.

On the contrary, a solid warm up routine helps circulate blood through the muscle tissue which prevents the chance of serious injury and also helps maximize your strength during repetitions. A good warm up need not last more than five or ten minutes. 

You can warm up by simply reducing the weight you intend to do by 50% and doing ten reps of each exercise. In addition to reducing injury, a good stretching and warm up session will actually make your strength weight training session substantially more effective. Your muscular development will be easier and smoother with just a few minutes of warm up and stretching and you may even notice that the muscle shapes you are trying to achieve are better formed.

You don't necessarily need to buy a gym membership in order to start weight training although that certainly is the best option given the type and quantity of exercise equipment available. Believe it or not, a few pairs of dumbbells will allow you to do dozens of exercises without ever leaving your home. Bowflex recently released a new set of adjustable weight dumbbells that are essentially like buying 10 pairs of dumbbells. You can buy the new Bowflex dumbbells on Ebay for less than $150.

In my opinion, the most important thing you can do to maximize your muscle gains from weight training, other than warming up properly, is to learn the proper weight lifting techniques for each and every exercise. Performing an exercise improperly will not only hinder your gains but could also lead to very serious injury. When starting a new exercise or a new routine always do some research online first or consult an expert trainer before hand. 

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Increase Your Bench Press - How To Increase Your Bench Press In 3 Easy Steps

One of the first questions I am often asked when I reveal to people that i train is "how much do you bench press?"

Everyone wants to know how much you bench press because the bench press is kind of like a barometer of your overall strength. So it makes sense as a weight lifter to want to focus much of your efforts on increasing the amount of weight that you bench press. I've put together a couple of tips that will increase your strength and bolster the amount of weight you can bench press.

Bear in mind that these tips are coming from someone who was born with few genetic gifts as far as weight lifting is concerned. I have, for example, a small frame and high metabolism and yet I've managed to work my way up to a max out weight of 285 pounds which is impressive for a guy that is barely 5'8 and only 165 pounds. The point is that you can likely overcome any or all of your physical limitations when it comes to increasing your bench press.

That being said, here are 3 things you can do right now to increase your bench press:

1. Rotator Cuff Exercises - These aren't the most glamorous of exercises but they have the potential to both reduce serious injury and add as much as 30 pounds to your bench in a month and half. Most weight lifters only do a few rotator cuff exercises at their end of their workout if they do them at all. Rotator cuff exercises can strengthen your chest and bolster your bench press weight because the rotator cuff muscles are the four small muscles that stabilize your upper arms. By strengthening your upper arms you will in turn have more strength for bench press.

2. Modify Your Grip Width - How you actually hold the bar while on the bench press can have a substantial effect on your muscle gains. If you grip the bar too closely you will actually be placing additional stress on your triceps which can hinder your overall pushing power. In contrast, if you grip the bar too wide you are placing additional stress on the shoulder joints.

The best width for your hands is determined by pressing the barbell with no weight at all and with a partner closely monitoring your form. While your partner is closely watching your forearms, slowly lower the bar down to your chest. When you have brought the barbell to your chest your forearms should be perfectly vertical. If they are you have found the right group and if not then adjust your grip accordingly.

3. Breathing Right - When your lifting heavy weights, core stabilization is far more important than when you are doing low intensity repetitions. The best way to breathe while doing a heavy weight is to breathe in deeply while lowering the weight and inflating your chest as much as you can. When you go to raise the weight back up don't exhale all at once but slowly breathe out. If you exhale too quickly you could destabilize your chest and weaken your press.

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Building Lean Muscle Mass - Why Resting Helps Build Muscle

Resting properly between workouts and between sets is essential to building lean muscle mass. Between sets, you need to wait enough time so that your muscles are rested enough to perform as well as you did on your first heavy lifting set. Your second set of repetitions needs to be nearly as intense as your first set so that the overload to each muscle involved is nearly the same as the previous set.

For example, lets suppose you do a set of six repetitions and then right afterward are only able to do a set of 3 repetitions. This means you are either doing far too much weight or you haven't rested properly enough between sets. Overload refers to the ability to lift a weight a certain amount of times over and over again.

Now lets say you do six repetitions of a given weight and then on the next set increase the weight slightly and rest for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. You should be able to do six more repetitions which in turn enhances the likelihood of new muscle forming.
 
The amount of rest required between sets is generally different for each and every weight lifter because not everyone's muscles are the same. Some individuals require little rest between sets while others may require more than two minutes. You ultimately have to find your own rhythm to find what works for you. Generally speaking, 90 seconds between sets is usually sufficient for the average weight lifter. I have found that about 7 deep breaths tends to approximate 90 seconds although, if you want to measure your resting period exactly, you can always purchase a stop watch for just a couple of dollars.

A given muscle needs to recover fully from a previous workout before it can handle the additional stress in the future. For most muscle groups adequate recovery time can take several days. If you lift weights with sore or overworked muscles you risk reversing your muscle gains as well as the risk of encountering serious injury. This is why you should only train a given muscle group no more than twice per week and only once if you are doing very heavy weights. Additionally, you should strive to sleep 8-10 hours every night and a few naps here and there aren't a bad idea either.

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Build More Muscle Mass By Training Less Frequently

It's common knowledge that the harder you work at something the better your results be. Perhaps we believe this and accept it as one of our central doctrines because it simply seems so obvious. While working hard to achieve superior results may be true much of the time it certainly isn't true all the time.

In school you are told study hard so your grades will be better. In sports you are told to practice harder and longer so you will be a great athlete. But when it comes to weight lifting spending long hours in the gym doesn't translate to better physical development and more muscle mass. What seems like a truism for many of us simply isn't true when it comes to building more muscle, precisely why so many weight lifters unnecessarily spend dozens of hours in the gym.

"So will spending less time working out actually help me develop more strength and muscle mass?"

The answer is absolutely yes. Over the course of tens of thousands of years the human body has evolved to become a highly adaptable organism that can adapt to nearly any external conditions that are placed upon it. For example, we perspire to cool ourselves down when the temperature rises and develop a sun tan when we are exposed to excessive UV light. And when we break down muscle tissue by lifting heavy weights are muscles respond by becoming bigger and stronger.

By resistance training the muscle is strained beyond its present capacity and the body immediately recognizes the threat and responds by gradually increasing the muscles size (called hypertrophy) in order to prevent harm. As you increase the weight and repetitions performed each week (called progressive overload) the body is forced to adapt and grow in response until the body's strength and development limits are reached.

Building muscle is basically that simple but what is often forgotten is that muscle tissue can only develop and become bigger provided that they also have sufficient recovery time. If your muscles are deprived of sufficient rest between workouts then muscle growth can not really take place. Once you have stressed your muscles beyond their current capacity you have essentially done your job. Adding additional stress (working out longer than you should) only increases the recovery time necessary for muscle growth.

Here are 4 basic guidelines to maximize your muscle gains:

1. Limit your heavy workout sessions to a maximum of 4 sessions per week.
2. Limit your heavy workout sessions to no more than 90 minutes per session
3. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night
4. Limit yourself to 4 sets on smaller muscle groups such as the shoulders, biceps, and triceps

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Benefits Of Weight Lifting - Why Lifting Weights Is Good For You

According to the American Medical Association approximately 66.3% of the American population over the age of 20 are overweight and more than a third are obese. Further research has found that many foods consumed by Americans contains large quantities of fats, cholesterol, and sugars. Building muscle is one of the most effective ways of burning fat and shedding excess calories.

There are actually several benefits that can be derived from lifting weights on a regular basis. The first and the most obvious benefit you will get from weight lifting is the physical development. As a result, you will look better and feel better and have more confidence in yourself. Regular exercise has also been shown to mitigate the effects of depression.

Here are a couple of other benefits that can be derived from weight lifting:

1. Gives The Immune System A Boost - Believe it or not, you will actually get less sick, less often when you are lifting weights on a regular basis. This is due to increased blood circulation and the increase in white blood cells that result from weight training

2. Decreases Cholesterol Levels - When you engage in physical exercise your body naturally has to burn energy to fuel your muscle gains. Some of the energy that your body expends is derived from the bad fats contained within your body. Some of these fats are the ones responsible for producing cholesterol.

3. Increases Flexibility - Exercising the muscles allows the body to become more flexible due to the stresses and strains placed on the body during physical exercise. While being more flexible may not sound like much of a benefit, in reality increased flexibility will reduce the risk of injury during normal activities. People who do not exercise at all are far more likely to suffer joint and back injuries than those who lift weights on a regular basis.

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Strengthening Back Muscles - 4 Keys To Getting A Massive Back

Having been immersed in physical fitness for nearly 5 years, it always surprises me how totally clueless many people I run into at the gym are. I see people trying desperately to obtain a wide, intimidating back but surprisingly few seem to actually know how to accomplish this. The average new, aspiring lifter usually want to build their chest and arm muscles. After all, these muscle are the ones that drive the opposite sex crazy.

Unfortunately, many of amateur muscle building enthusiasts never really develop the chest and arm muscle gains they are seeking. While muscular chest and arms are a very important part of any physique, they play a comparatively small role when compared to the lats, traps, spinal erectors, rhomboids, and lower back. These muscle groups comprise the entirety of the back.

Many lifters neglect the highly important back muscles because:

1. The back muscles are not particularly flashy and are not easily seen in the mirror
2. Building the back muscles is more tedious than training the chest or biceps muscles
3. The average amateur bodybuilder doesn't understand how important and complex the back muscles really are.

The truth is that if you want to look as muscular, strong, and thick as possible then nothing will allow you to achieve these goals faster than a finely tuned, ripped back. Indeed, nearly 70% of the body's muscles actually reside in the back. So it only makes sense to spend a proportional amount of of your workout time developing your back muscles.

Here are the 4 keys to getting a massive back:

1. Deadlifts - This is the most basic and effective of back exercises. There are few other exercises that offer the extreme effectiveness of the dead lift. The dead lift will exercise many muscles of the body, from your fingers and arms to feet and toes. The deadlift will actually stimulate muscle development throughout all of the back muscles and should therefore be the foundation of any back workout routine.

2. Vertical Pulling - Vertical pulling exercises stimulate the lat muscle group and will likewise help you develop that wide "V" shape.

3. Horizontal Pulling - Horizontal pulling is usually referred to as rows by fitness professionals. This movement targets the upper and middle sections of the back. A wide variety of rowing exercises exist including bent over rows, dumbbell rows, seated rows, cable rows, incline rows, and many others.

4. Shrugs - These movements should be performed at the end of every back workout in order to target the upper back and to better develop the "V" shape. A set of dumbbell or barbell shrugs will do.

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Muscle Building Workout Programs - How To Fuel And Maintain Your Workouts

To understand muscle building is to understand what reaching your peak performance and physical appearance is all about, something that few people really understand. Most people who want to build muscle intend to do so in a relatively short time frame.

But muscle building and physical fitness should be a way of life and this can only be accomplished by establishing realistic strength and fitness goals. As an avid fitness enthusiast I believe that transforming the body to meet our subjective specifications is one of the greatest gifts nature gave us. In addition, how we take care of our bodies and express ourselves on the outside is kind of like an indicator of who we really are on the inside.

Here are a few guidelines to increase your strength and enhance your individual fitness training:

1. Don't Set Goals That Are Not Realistic - The fitness goals you set for yourself should be somewhat difficult but at the same time somewhat realistic. If you set goals for yourself that are not actually achievable for the average person, like gaining 20 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks, then you will actually discourage yourself from finishing your workout routines. Don't let yourself be fooled by the glitzy ads you have seen on TV and across the Internet that make outrageous fitness claims. Always remember that physical fitness and muscle gains require both time and patience and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

2 Stay Focused - It's always a good idea to keep track of your daily calorie, carbohydrate, and protein consumption. You can do this with either an online journal or a printable journal, whatever your personal preference. I prefer a pocket notepad because it's easily portable and can be taken anywhere. You should always try to drink plenty of water through out the day preferably filtered or spring water. Adequate hydration alone will help you maximize your strength and muscle gains.

3. Listen Carefully To Professionals - Expert fitness professionals know how the body works and the right ways to go about building muscle and staying in peak physical condition. The only trouble is identifying who is and who is not a fitness professional. Some people call themselves experts simply because they workout 15 hours a week and subscribe to several fitness magazines. If someone calls themselves a professional you should inquire what their qualifications are. Generally, most personal trainers have a pretty good idea of how to help you achieve your fitness goals.

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Beginner Weight Lifting Program - 4 Things Every Weight Lifting Routine Needs

Building muscle goes beyond just lifting heavy weights over and over again. In reality, a great weight training routine actually has several dimensions. When trying to build lean muscle mass you always need to remember proper diet, weekly cardio exercises, maintaining proper hydration, and resting 8 to 10 hours each and every day.

That being said, here are 3 things every good weight lifting program must include to be successful:

1. Warm Ups - A good muscle building workout program should always include a warm up routine. Warming up aids in muscle building by circulating blood through the muscle prior to heavy lifting and, most importantly, helps to reduce the risk of serious injury during weight lifting. To begin your warm up start off with 3-6 minutes of light cardio exercise, running or even a few minutes on an elliptical machine should do the trick. Next, lift 50% of your max weight on every exercise you intend to do approximately 10 times. This means you need to do pne warm up set on every exercise you intend to do.

2. Divide Your Workout - All of your exercises should be split up by body parts over the course of a week. You should never attempt to do all of your exercises in just 2 or 3 sessions. You should limit your workout routines to no more than 2 muscle groups every day. For example, one one day you could do your legs and abdominal muscles, on another day you could do your biceps and triceps, and on another day you could do shoulder and back. If you are doing very heavy weight then you should really limit yourself to just one muscle group per day.

3. Work Yourself To Exhaustion - Muscles are developed by a process called "progressive overload." This is just a very fancy way of describing doing more reps or more weight or both every time you workout. In other words, you are not really going to build any muscle mass if you bench press 150 pounds 10 times over and over again. Exhaustion occurs when you can no longer safely perform a given exercise anymore. By working to exhaustion you will be overloading the muscles thereby helping muscle tissue to form on your body.


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Weight Lifting Fitness Myths – 4 Muscle Building Lies

The defining characteristic of human beings is our ability to freely communicate and share knowledge with one another. Unfortunately, the knowledge we share with each other sometimes isn't really knowledge at all but false and potentially damaging information. Having been a fitness enthusiast for more than 5 years I have heard all kinds of myths and misconceptions being preached as practical advice.

Sometimes this misleading advice is basically benign and won't harm your muscle building efforts. Other times, however, weight lifting fitness myths can actually prevent you from achieving the results that you have likely been working very hard for. Always remember to exercise common sense and your own intuition when taking advice from fellow weight lifters even if that individual happens to be a personal trainer and certified expert.

Here are 3 muscle building lies that you may have encountered at some time or another:

1. No Pain, No Gain – This one is actually half true. When an exercise is new or you have increased the amount of weight being lifted you will likely feel muscle pain in the effected area within a few hours of working out. But this is the only time you should feel pain from weight training. Feeling intense pain during a workout or chronic pain following a workout is not normal and is your body's way of telling you somethings wrong. If you experience this kind of pain you should consider serious changes in your workout routine as you are likely putting yourself at very high risk for serious injury.

2. Steroids Will Help You Bulk Up Like A Balloon – There is no such thing as a magic bullet that will grow muscle on your body without you having to lift a finger. Steroids will only grow muscle if taken in conjunction with a high intensity workout routine. At the same, a proper diet combined with a few supplements will produce similar results but without the dangerous side effects of steroids. If taken for prolonged periods steroids can cause serious health problems including kidney failure which is often failure.

3. Taking Time Off Will Cause You To Lose Your Muscle Gains – I was once told that if you take more than a few days off from working out your body will begin to convert your muscle tissue into fat and thus reverse your muscle gains. Not only is this not true at all but taking a week off every 8-10 weeks is actually a good thing and will heal those small and perhaps unfelt injuries throughout your body. When you do take time off always mix in a couple of hours of cardio per week.

4. More Protein Means More Muscle – It is true that you need lots of protein in your diet to build muscle but protein is not all important. To build muscle mass you need to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and take in more calories than you burn off. Muscles actually work on calories not on protein and the calories you do take in should be derived from carbohydrates.

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Natural Muscle Growth – What Causes Muscles To Grow?

If you are reading this article then you are probably interested in bulking up and building muscle mass. But have you ever wondered what causes muscles to grow? In other words, have you ever wondered why it is that the body builds muscle in response to lifting heavy weights repetitiously? Or why some people seem to develop muscle mass easily while others seem to struggle?

There are actually a variety of reasons that determine how fast your muscles will develop and how strong you can become. Of these the important reasons are your genes, the amount of growth hormones present in your body, types and quantity of food consumed, and the type and intensity of exercises performed.

Within the individual muscle fibers are cells involved in a process called protein turnover. Under normal circumstances your body is actively engaged in breaking down muscle tissue and building the tissue back up again. Exactly how and when your body performs protein turnover is regulated by your genes and unless interrupted by some other factor such as exercise keeps the muscle tissue and fibers at more or less the same mass and strength level.

Your genetic structure acts like a blueprint and designs the conditions for your specific physiology and there is little that can be done to reconfigure your body's basic architecture. However, by learning how your body is genetically hardwired you can determine how to reliably use other factors such as diet and exercise. If, for example, you are hardwired to have slow metabolism then you will require less eating and supplements then someone with high metabolism.

Growth hormones like testosterone act like messengers within the body and give messages to individual cells to repair themselves. When the amount of physical activity is increased there is a corresponding increase in the level of hormones present in the body. Muscles start to grow faster as the level of growth hormones rises.

Protein and water are the main ingredients required for muscle growth. This being the case you need to always make sure you supply your body with an adequate amount of high protein food and also keep your body properly hydrated. Protein is to muscles what a foundation is to a home or building. If the foundation is made from poor materials or built improperly the building will be very weak. Likewise, if you don't consume high quality protein or not enough then your muscles will be very weak.

To maintain proper hydration levels drink at least 3 tall glasses of water each day and when working out replace every ounce of lost body weight with 2 ounces of water.


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Leg Strengthening Exercises – 3 Leg Exercise Routines To Build Muscle

While not nearly as glamorous as the chest or bicep muscles, the legs nevertheless make up a very large part of the body's muscle mass. In fact, the biggest muscle on the human body is the upper thigh muscle. Although the opposite sex will hardly be beating down your door because of the size of your leg muscles you should still spend a large portion of your workout time developing your leg muscles. After all, your leg muscles have the unusual responsibility of supporting your entire body.

There are many muscles within the leg but the primary muscle areas are the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, biceps femoris, leg abductors, leg adductors, and finally the calfs. You of course don't need to remember all of these different muscle areas but remember that the leg muscles are a very complex muscle area.

As with just about any exercise always remember to do 5-10 minutes of warm ups before engaging in heavy lifting. Warms up exercises are especially important with leg exercises because a serious leg injury could prevent you from walking. Because your leg muscles are such an enormous muscle group you can actually do more reps than normal but remember to keep each set short and intense.

That being said, here are 3 of my favorite leg strengthening exercises:

1. Leg Extensions – This is a great all around exercise for hitting most of the primary muscle areas contained within the leg. To do this exercise you will need to locate the leg extension machine at your gym. Once you have found the machine, hook your legs beneath the roller pads and then slowly push until the knees almost lock in place. Pause for approximately 2 seconds while your legs are in the extended position before bringing your legs back down again.

2. Squats – For this exercise you can use either the free weight squat stand or the secured squat stand. If this exercise is new to you, use the secured squat stand instead of the free weight stand. This exercise takes a little getting used to and a mistake with free weight squats could simultaneously cause very serious leg, neck, and back injury. To begin this exercise stand shoulder width apart with the barbell laid across the shoulder. Always be sure to use a shoulder protector on the barbell if you can find one as this will reduce stress on the shoulders and neck Bend down slowly until the legs are nearly parallel with the ground and then gradually push back up to the standing position.

3. Lying Leg Curls – You will need to locate the leg curl machine for this exercise. The leg curl machine will require that you lay down flat on your belly. Once you are laying down, hook your feet beneath the curl pad and then slowly curl the legs up and towards the lower back. As with leg extensions you will want to pause approximately 2 seconds once the weight has been brought fully upward.



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How To Get Bigger Biceps In 4 Easy Steps

30 plus years ago there was a very popular movie character named Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry's defining characteristic was his trademark .44 caliber magnum. This outrageously huge gun made Dirty Harry seem larger than life. Now imagine that Dirty Harry carried, not a giant .44 magnum, but a puny .22 caliber bean shooter. Suffice it say that he likely wouldn't have intimidated anyone nor been remembered as a larger than life hero.

So when it comes to your “guns,” why should you accept average size when you can have some very intimidating and attractive biceps?

I highly suspect that all men want big, ripped biceps because the their small and easy to develop (relative to other muscles), are easy to flaunt without getting completely undressed, and of course because the ladies just love to wrap their small arms around big muscles. Because biceps are small compared to the other muscles they are actually much easier to develop than the other muscle groups such as back, chest, and abdominals.

Here are 3 expert tips guaranteed to make sure you end up with .44 caliber sized guns:

1. Strictly limit your bicep workouts – Your biceps are actually more prone to overstraining than perhaps any other muscle group. This is simply because your arms are used to exercise other muscle groups such as chest, shoulder, and back. Contrary to popular belief, lifting weight like crazy will not develop your muscles. Overtraining can be as bad or worse than not training at all. You shouldn't do more than 1 arm workout per week to prevent overtraining.

2. Increase your range of motion – In order to really develop your biceps you really need to hit all of the individual muscle fibers. The best way to do this is take the bicep from something called “pronation” to something called “supination.” These are fancy words that describe curling your arms towards you with your palms facing up. Every single repetition should begin with your arms fully extended which can be accomplished by briefly flexing your triceps before lifting the weight (the only way to flex your triceps to fully extend your arms).

3. Muscle Squeezing – Your biceps need to be shown what its like to actually be bigger. You can accomplish this by flexing or squeezing the bicep at the top of every curl for approximately 2 seconds. This squeezing will cause the muscle to contract and force blood, water, and lactic acid into the contracted bicep thus intensifying each rep.

4. Decrease Your Existing Weight – This is probably the most difficult thing for you to do because you may end up with a bruised ego. You should be able to do 6 full curls with your back and legs held firmly in place. If you are routinely doing less than 6 curls or move all over the place like a fish out of water while curling, you are going to need to decrease your weight appropriately.

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Building Back Muscle – 3 Mass Building Back Exercises

Most of the muscles located in the upper and lower back are actually part of your core muscle group. The core muscle group is naturally the most important muscle group for strength training hence the reason they are called the “core” muscle group.

If they weren't the most important muscle group they would probably be called something like the “supporting” or “secondary” muscle group. Anyway, your back muscles are incredibly intertwined with many of the other muscles on your body. For example, the back muscles allow you to stand upright and move your arms and shoulders.

Therefore, it's important that you develop a solid routine to develop your upper and lower back muscles. While by no means a glamorous muscle group, strong back muscles will naturally make you stronger in several of your other muscle groups and stabilize your core. 

Here are 4 muscle building back muscles that you absolutely must have in your back workout routine:

1.Dead Lift – This exercise targets your lats, erector spinae, gluts and traps. Interestingly, this exercise actually works nearly 70% of all the muscles in your body at one time. Needless to say, this is a fairly intense exercise. With this exercise you will need to place weight on a bench press bar directly in front of you. Then, with knees arches slightly back, you will raise the weight to about knee level and drop it back down. A word of caution: this exercise has the potential to cause very serious injury and you should never under in circumstances attempt to do more weight than you can handle.

2.Pull-Ups – This is a tried and true back exercise that is probably about as old as time itself. There are actually 2 types of pull-ups: long grip and short grip. When doing this exercise you can either place your hands shoulder length apart (long grip) or right alongside each other (short grip). A mix of both is essential for a great back workout. Pull-ups also work your shoulder and triceps muscles. 

3.Bent Over Rows – With this exercise you grasp the bar and flex your torso forward with both arms extended. The bar is then pulled up to your lower chest and back down again. 

For all three exercises you want to shoot for about 6 sets and about 6 reps per set. 

Because the spine is located in your back you must always exercise caution when doing heavy weight back exercises. This means wearing a weight belt at all times and never attempting to show off by lifting more weight than you can handle. 

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Shoulder Workouts With Dumbells – 3 Great Shoulder Exercises

Dumbbell weights are a bit different from other kinds of free weights and offer more of a workout to your supporting muscle groups. Dumbells offer more of a workout because they are able to focus more tension on your supporting muscle groups. This in turn causes the surrounding muscle groups to work harder than if you were working out with conventional free weights or nautilus machines. 

When surrounding muscle groups are exercised in addition to the main muscle you will achieve superior muscular development. However, dumbbell weights are not for everyone because not everyone's physiology allows them to work out very intensely. I, for example, am unable to perform several abdominal dumbbell exercises because of my physiology. Therefore it's very, very important to start with very low intensity dumbbell weights before going heavy otherwise you could risk very serious and painful injury.

If you think you are ready for some serious shoulder workouts with dumbells, here are 3 exercises to get you started:

1.Seated Shoulder Press – I am not exactly sure why, but this is actually one of my favorite weightlifting exercises. So here's how this works: Seat yourself at the end of a bench and place your dumbbells on your upper thighs (always your upper thighs with this exercise, not on the ground as you want to shorten the distance you need to lift these over your head). Grab each weight so that they are facing left to right not frontward to backward and lift them over your head simultaneously. Now slowly lower each one until it is about one inch away from your shoulder. Rinse and repeat.

2.Shoulder Flys – This is somewhat of a light weight exercise and it is rare that you will be able to do more than 40 pounds in each hand as your regular set, even if you are very strong. This means that if you have never done these before you should probably start off with less than 15 pounds in each hand. Here's how this works: Stand up right and hold 2 weights in front of your chest. Bend over at a 45 degree angle and lift each weight outward in a manner that resembles flying (hence the name “flys”) and then lower each weight to your waist. Rinse and repeat.

3.Shoulder Shrugs– If you are new to this you should only start off with about 40 pounds in each arm. Here's how this works: Stand upright holding each weight frontward to backward. Slowly lift each weight using your shoulders and without lifting your arms. In other words, lift each weight in a “shrug” like fashion. As you lift, make sure you lift in a rolling motion, not just straight up and down.

If your goal is to increase your shoulder muscle mass then you should pick a weight that allows you to do 4-6 shoulder reps for at least 5 sets. 

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Muscle Pain After Exercise - Why It Happens And How To Reduce It

Throughout history, weight lifters have long been vexed by the muscle pain that often accompanies intense workouts. I once saw a very funny comedian who remarked that weight lifting was funny because the only way to know that you've worked out properly is to be so sore you are unable to move the following day.

The scientific name for muscle pain after exercise is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) which typically occurs 12-48 hours after a new workout routine is adopted, after a substantial increase in the duration of exercise, or after abrupt change in athletic activities.

If you experience muscle pain even when there is no change in your exercises or workout routine you may actually have a more serious muscle or joint condition or even a serious injury. Muscle pain should nearly always disappear within a few weeks of adopting a new workout program or exercise.

Muscle pain occurs because of little tears that form in the muscle during intense exercise. These little tears gradually heal causing the size and strength of your muscles to increase. The tearing and healing process is part of an adaption process that leads to greater strength and endurance.

Here are a few treatments to reduce muscle pain after exercise:

1. Amino Acids - These are very inexpensive and can be purchased at your local vitamin store for less than $7 for a 15 day supply. You can chose between liquid and powder tablets but the liquid tablets tend to dissolve faster than powder and are also usually less expensive

2. Fish Oil - Fish oil contains Omega 3 fatty acids and will reduce inflammation in the joints as well as shorten the length of your muscle pain. These can be purchased very inexpensively at your local vitamin store or even your local grocery store. In addition to relieving muscle pain, fish oil will also reduce acne and improve the appearance of your skin.

3. Aspirin - This is a tried and true pain reliever. 2-4 aspirin tablets taken a few hours after a workout will help reduce DOMS.

4. Stretching - Performing a few minutes of stretching before a workout or sports activity will not only help eliminate later muscle pain but will also help prevent serious injury. 5 minutes of good, solid stretching per hour of exercise is recommended for you normal workout routines and 10 minutes for new exercises or routines or before heavy lifting sets.

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Building Muscle Mass Diet - Why You Should Avoid Sugar

According to findings recently released by the American Medical Association, the average American consumes an astounding 115 pounds of sugar per year. The kind of sugar that is found in most foods and drinks is manufactured sugar. Manufactured sugar contains virtually no vitamins or minerals and therefore in order to be metabolized the body must draw on the body's reserves of vitamins and minerals.

When the bodies natural reserves of vitamins and minerals are depleted, the natural metabolism of bad things like cholesterol and fatty acids are either impeded or slowed down. Eliminating sugar entirely from your diet is next to impossible and in fact eliminating sugar from your diet completely is actually unhealthy because your body needs some sugar to produce critical glycogen.

You can and should take in about 10% of your calories for the day in the form of sugar. On a 2,000 calorie a day diet you can consume about 50 grams of sugar per day which is about 1/3 of what the average American takes in. As much as possible though, you sugar intake should come from juices or things that are naturally flavored rather than from snacks and desserts.

Here are a few reasons why you should keep your sugar intake to a minimum:

1. Increased Sickness - In playing havoc with your body's physiology, excessive sugar can actually weaken the immune system. A weakened system inevitably leads to increased illness.

2. Robs Your Body Of Other Nutrients - To be properly metabolized by the body, sugar requires that your body rob its natural mineral reserves. This can easily lead to mineral and vitamin deficiencies.

3. Reduced Energy - In large amounts, sugar can give you a major energy boost. However, the energy boost doesn't last very long and usually leads to burn out. Burn out means that you will actually have less energy throughout the day than normal.

4. Cavities - Although unrelated to muscle building, cavities can be expensive and painful. Your dentist wasn't lying when they said sugar is horrible for your teeth. Sugar causes cavities by wearing out the enamel on your teeth.

Far and away the easiest way to reduce sugar in your diet is to simply start drinking diet soda's and sugar free energy drinks. 3 servings of the average soda contain nearly 70 grams of sugar while the average energy drink has more than 40 grams.

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