6 Simple But Highly Effective Tricep Workout Tips

Despite what you may have heard, the tricep muscles are actually the largest muscle group in the human body. The triceps generally take up nearly double the space that the bicep muscles occupy. This means that in order for you to develop massive, ripped arms you absolutely need to focus on building and strengthening your triceps. If building massive arms is something you are interested in, then I strongly suggest implementing the following tips:

Don’t Mix Your Chest & Triceps Workouts – When performing chest workouts, a substantial proportion of the weight is placed upon your tricep muscles. If you start your tricep workout immediately after your chest workout you simply will not be able to train with the same intensity you normally would. Whenever possible, try to leave a solid 48 hours between your tricep workout and your chest workout.

Avoid Overtraining – Undoubtedly, the largest single problem causing a lack of muscle growth in men is training to hard. Bear in mind that your triceps tend to be hit very hard when performing both chest and shoulder exercises. Try to make sure that you do no more than 18 individual sets of direct and indirect tricep exercises each and every week.

Lower Your Reps & Increase Your Weight – Your triceps do not need to be trained in a very high rep range. Your muscle tissue responds much better to heavy weight and reps between 6 to 10 reps which is also true of the tricep muscles.

Do More Squats – Believe it or not, doing more squats doesn’t just produce better looking thighs and buttock muscles but also causes muscle gains through out your entire body due to the fact that squats are such a demanding and intense exercise. To better strengthen your triceps you should try doing squats at least once a week.

Weighted Dips – Compound exercises happen to be very effective at forcing your muscles to grow and develop. A very good but often overlooked compound exercise is something called weighted dips. Weighted dips are of course just like regular dips except that you are using weight while performing the dips. While performing weighted dips always make sure to keep your body vertical at a 90 degree angle to the floor in order to maximize your muscle gains from the dips.

New To Weight Lifting? - Here Are 4 Tips To Streamline Your Workout Program

Many people often wonder how they can begin to look like the gorgeous bodies found on magazine covers. It's very important to understand that no amount of physical activity can give you your ideal body if your exercise program is not also paired with proper nutrition and adequate rest. Truth be told, proper diet and rest are every bit as important as a disciplined workout program and possibly even more important as your muscles can not really develop without lots of rest and the right amount of nutrients. 

If you are new to weight lifting, here are 4 tips you can use to kickstart your workout program and streamline your muscle building efforts:

1. Use Free Weights As Much As Possible - Free weights are generally superior to nautilus machines because free weights target your supporting muscle groups as well as your main muscle group. In so doing, free weights allow you to become stronger and bigger much faster than nautilus machines. At the same time it's not necessary to focus solely on free weights. I do a mix of free weights and nautilus machines because my joints and basic physiology don't allow me exclusively focus on free weights.

2. Periodically Locate Areas Of Improvement - Everyone's body reacts a little bit differently to a given exercise routine. Because of this, it's always a good idea to thoroughly check your physique and locate areas that need improvement. For example, after nearly 6 months of working on my chest I started to notice that my lower chest wasn't appropriately responding to the intensive training. I then had to adjust my workout accordingly to focus more on my lower chest.

3. Experiment And Mix Up Your Exercises - You never know what your best muscle building exercises are unless you experiment and mix up your exercises. Again, not everyone's body responds the same to the same exercises because few people's body's are made exactly the same. 

For example, I used to be extremely strong with squats but I found that my leg muscles weren't growing to my liking and quickly discovered that my lower back and hips were absorbing too much of the stress. I then switched to leg presses and hack squats because they built my leg muscles more effectively without the added stress placed on my lower back and hips.

4. Always, Always, Always Take Precautions To Avoid Injuries - Nothing can harm you and your muscle gains more severely than a serious injury. The exercises that pose the greatest risk of injury are bench press, squats, and deadlift. This doesn't mean that you should avoid these exercises altogether but rather, that you should quickly learn your weight limits, always workout with a partner, and always bring the proper equipment such as elbow and knee restraints as well as a weight belt.

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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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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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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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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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How To Build Chest Muscles - Maximizing Your Chest Gains

Just about every guy who goes to the gym to build muscle wants to get a huge chest. This is hardly surprising considering the effect that a ripped chest has on the opposite sex (not to mention on other men). There isn't anything really terribly complicated about building a ripped, attention grabbing chest. The foundation for developing your chest muscles is consistency and progressive overloading. If you are willing to put in the effort you too can have a ripped, sexy chest in no time.

The chest muscles actually consist of two sub muscle groups: the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. These two sub groups of muscles contained within the chest are where the slang term "pecs" come from, in case you were curious. The secret to maximizing your chest muscle gains lies in the pressing movements used in lifting weights during exercise.

Chest flyes certainly have their occasional place in an overall chest workout program but they pale in comparison to the dramatic anabolic effect of pressing movements. Pressing movements include such exercises as incline chest press, decline chest press, flat bench press, dumbbell presses, and seated dips.

The big secret to getting a ripped chest is that there really are no big secrets or magic spells or mind blowing techniques to stimulate your chest muscles into extraordinary growth. So long as you focus on pressing movements and progressive overloading you will almost certainly see substantial muscular development in your chest area.

In my professional opinion, the following lifts are the most effective for muscle gains in the chest area:

1. Bench Press - This includes all three varieties of bench press including flat, decline, and incline bench press. The bench press is essentially a basic compound movement that will allow you to handle the maximum amount of weight through a specified range of motion. The incline press targets the upper region of the chest while the decline press focuses stress on the lower portion of the chest. The flat bench press simultaneously targets both the upper and lower chest muscles.

2. Dumbbell Bench Press - Again, this includes all three varieties of bench press. The primary advantage of the dumbbell press over the standard bench press is that dumbbells allow for a much more natural range of motion and as such help to prevent shoulder injuries. Additionally, dumbbells also help to prevent strength imbalances since each muscle must work on their own rather than in conjunction with each other. Unfortunately, you will not be able to do as much weight with dumbbells as you would with normal bench press.

3. Seated Dips - If possible make sure to use a wider grip while leaning slightly forward so as to alleviate the stress on the triceps and better target the chest muscles. Seated dips are great because you can adjust the weight according to your specifications in contrast to standing dips where the weight is limited to your body weight.

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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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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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How To Gain Muscle Mass – 3 Common Myths Exposed

The overwhelming majority of misconceptions about gaining muscle mass originate from many places including casual conversations at the gym and self proclaimed experts who don't really know what they are talking about.

Unfortunately, the these misconceptions more often than not lead to wasted time and extraordinary frustration. Indeed, many muscle gain myths can actually substantially set back your progress. You shouldn't listen to and believe every thing you hear at the gym when it comes to building muscle mass.
Very basic principles apply to all muscle gain such as overloading, adjusted frequency of repetition, and heavy weight workouts.

Let's take a look at some of the frequent misconceptions commonly found circulating around gyms:

1. A High Amount Of Repetitions Burn Fat While High Intensity, Low Repetition Workouts Build Muscle – Muscles actually get bigger by a process known as “progressive overload.” This means that you must be able to do more reps than you did the last time you did that particular exercise. If the weight doesn't change and the amount of reps remains constant then nothing really changes on you other than to maintain your present level of strength. If your goal is to burn fat and not build muscle, then your time is better spent on the elliptical machine or in the swimming pool.

2. You MUST Eat Meat To Build Muscle – Before the advent of dietary supplements it was true that you needed lots of meat to build muscle because there were few alternative that could offer as much protein as beef, poultry and fish. Scientific studies have confirmed that athletes who strictly consume protein supplements as opposed to meat generally experience identical muscle gains to those athletes who do eat meat. In other words, you can be a vegetarian and still pack on plenty of muscle mass.

3. Weight Lifting Speeds Up The Metabolism So Efficiently That You Can Eat Whatever You Want- This is actually true provided that you don't give a damn how you look or whether or not you actually gain muscle mass. While intense weight lifting certainly does burn many calories it is by no means an open license to eat anything you like. In reality you should avoid manufactured sugars (those found in soda and snacks) like the plague and always balance your caloric intake with your energy expenditure. A few departures here and there won't hurt you too bad but for the most part you will have to closely monitor your eating habits if building muscle is your goal.

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Exercises For Lower Abdominals – Medicine Ball Workout Routines

I'm not exactly sure what it is but just about everyone these days is interested in getting really nicely defined abdominal muscles. It could be because of the media culture that we live in or perhaps it's because 6 or even 8 pack abs are are really pleasant to look at. Whatever the reason, chances are good that if you are reading this article you too want to know how to get ripped abs.

Your abdominal muscles consist primarily of three different muscle groups: upper abs, lower abs, and obliques. Many fitness enthusiasts simply do not understand the basic concepts behind lower abdominal exercises and unfortunately waste much of their precious time doing ab routines that just don't work For example, you have likely tried doing sit ups, crunches, and leg lifts in the hopes of developing your abdominal muscles.

While recommended by fitness professionals and coaches the world over, sit ups, crunches, and leg lifts only really work the upper abdominal muscles. If you want to get 6 or even 8 pack abs then you are going to need to incorporate a few medicine ball exercises into your abdominal workout routine. Gyms have varying degrees of medicine balls some of which weigh as much as 25 pounds. For these exercises an 8-10 pound ball is recommended. Also, you should aim to do 8-10 sets of each exercise with 8-10 reps per set.


Knee Lifts – Lay flat on your back and place the medicine ball tightly between your knees. While still keeping your back firmly against the ground, raise your knees along with the medicine ball ¾ of the way towards your head and back down again for a total of 8-10 sets. Remember to keep your head and back firmly planted against the ground.

Upright Leg Raises – To do this exercise you will need a standing dip machine. A standing dip machine will allow you to remain upright and raise your legs at the same time. Once you have secured yourself in the dip machine place the medicine ball between your feet and lift your legs upwards until they reach a 90 degree angle with your body and then lower them back down again. If you are unable to locate a standing dip machine then you can lay down on your back instead of standing upright.

Medicine Ball Passes – Lay completely flat on the ground with your arms stretched behind your head and your legs pressed firmly against the ground. Place the medicine ball in your hands that are stretched behind your head and simultaneously raise your arms and legs towards one another and pass the ball from your hands to your feet while lowering your arms and legs back down to the ground. Then raise your legs and pass the ball back to your hands. Rinse and repeat.

Oblique Twists – Assume the same position you did for the knee lifts. Place the ball between your knees and twist your knees left and then to the right and back again. Alternatively, you can place the ball in your hand and with your knees in the upright position twist your body toward your left knee then your right knee and back again.

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Lean Muscle Gains And Muscle Pumps - Why Pumps Won't Help You Gain Muscle

For those of you who have been working out for more than a little while you know that a pump feels great. For those of you who are relatively new to weight training, a pump is that fuzzy feeling you get as blood engorges your muscle tissue as a result of weight lifting. The muscles being exercised will grow in size and tightness.

To be clear, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a pump and more often than not a pump is a natural consequence of resistance training. But a muscle pump is not a good barometer of the effectiveness of a workout and believing so could actually be a costly error. Having easily spent thousands of hours in the gym, I have often heard other weight lifters raving about the crazy muscle pumps they experience as they share their personal methodology for achieving such pumps.

Simply put, a pump is the result of excess blood circulating in and around the muscle fibers.

Building serious muscle mass and incredible strength means training very intensely on every workout routine and set. In addition, you need to practice something called "progressive overloading" so that you improve from week to week. Progressive overloading is a fancy term that simply means doing more reps with a given weight than you did the previous time.

If you religiously do these two things then your muscle mass and strength will naturally increase at a speed that you probably never thought possible. Pumps are great but they likely won't help achieve the muscle mass you desire. Focus on intense workouts and gradually increasing your reps and you will get ripped before you know it.

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Muscle Building Secrets – Recipe For Ripped Chest Muscles

Male chest muscles are a favorite muscle group amongst both men and women. If your goal is to really get noticed by the ladies and earn respect from other men, then concentrating on your chest muscles should be your prime objective. Many chest exercises are actually great all around workouts because you will usually be working out several other muscle groups simultaneously.

Just like you can't build a house without a sturdy foundation, you can't get ripped chest muscles without a great diet. A great diet that is both low in sugar and fat and high in protein and carbohydrates will provide your body with essential nutrients, amino acids, and energy necessary for muscle mass development. From here on out you will have to pay very close attention to what you eat on a daily basis if a ripped chest is what you really desire. Developing strict eating habits can be tough at first but will become much easier the longer you stick with it.

If you are between 150-200 pounds then following this daily diet will help you get ripped in the shortest time possible:

1.1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight
2.10 grams of creatine (only take 5 days a week)
3.2-3 servings of meat, preferably chicken
4.2-3 baked potatoes
5.28-32 ounces of 1% milk (can be mixed with a protein shake)
6.3 Amino acid tablets
7.Multivitamin
8.1-2 servings of vegetable juice (helps to maintain proper nutrient levels)
9.Reduce high sugar snacks, desserts, and drinks to more than 4 total servings per week.

You can and should eat more than this each day. In addition to the the above diet you should have about 2 extra meals each day which can consist of anything you want so long as what you are eating is low in sugar and fat and high in carbs and protein. 

A good nights sleep and even a few naps here and there will allow your body to recover faster as well as speed up your muscle and strength gains. You should aim for about 9 hours of sleep per night and a 90 minute nap after each intense workout.

If you stick to this recipe for ripped chest muscles for at least 90 days you should begin to notice serious and attractive improvements.

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Building Muscle Without Weights – 3 Killer Bodyweight Exercises

There's nothing I love more than going to the gym to socialize, work out and be seen. However, there are also those times when I just don't have time for the gym or happen to be on one of my off days. Admittedly, I know there are also some muscle building enthusiasts out there who are not fond of gyms and prefer to stay at home. This is somewhat understandable as gyms can be uncomfortable places to be at times not to mention that they all require a monthly fee.

Bear in mind that if you are interested in getting truly ripped you are going to have to do some actual weight lifting as bodyweight exercises tend tone and condition rather than build muscle mass. It's entirely possible to look and feel great with just bodyweight exercises but getting really ripped is another story.

That being said, here are 3 killer bodyweight exercises you can do without weight that will build your chest, arm, shoulders, and abdominal muscles: 

1.¾ Ab curls – Forget everything you've ever heard about plain sit ups. For the average person sit ups are a joke and will likely not result in defined abs. In sports practice, boot camp, and gym class sit ups are designed more to punish than to actually build muscle. Here's how you do a ¾ ab curl that will work your lower and upper abs: lay on your back with your hands behind your head and your legs and knees in an upright position. While keeping your head and feet one inch off the ground lift your head until your elbows touch your knees. Rinse and repeat. 20-30 reps per set and 12-15 sets total is ideal here.

2.Pull-Ups – These are a tried and true bodyweight exercise. For this exercise you will need a bar installed securely in either your ceiling or wall. There are actually two types of pull-ups: long grip and short grip. With the long grip your hands will need to be about shoulder width apart and you should aim to raise yourself 6-8 times per set. With the short grip you will need to place your hands squarely in the middle of the bar and you should raise yourself 8-10 times. A good pull up workout consists of 6 sets each of long and short grip pull-ups. 

3.Incline Push Ups – These are also a tried and true bodyweight exercise. For this you will have to have access to a step or stairway. Place your hands shoulder width apart and place the toes of your feet at the bottom of the stairs. Now simply raise yourself up as you would with a normal push-up. For a more concentrated push up you can place your hands next to each other rather than shoulder width apart. 20-30 reps per set and 10-12 sets total is ideal here but you may be able to do more or less depending on your bodyweight.

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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 Building Workouts – How To Strengthen Your Abs

If you have ever done an internet search for “6 pack abs” then you have by now seen the dozens of ab workout programs that claim to have the most “amazing” and “incredible” ab workout known to man. There are a couple of problems with these amazing workout routines. First of all, not everyone can have nice looking 6 pack abs because everyone's body is different. Secondly, all of these programs are trying to sell you for $30 or more what you can easily find by simply doing just a little bit of research online.

It's important to understand that really defined abs will take a whole lot of work, no matter what any one else tells you. Again, everyone's body is different, so it's possible that you will be able to get the abs you want with little work. But chances are you will need to do an ab workout 5 days a week if you really want to see results. Remember too that you will need to minimize your fat and sugar intake and do at least 2 hours of cardio a week in addition to your ab workout.

That being said, here are a few great ab exercises that have the potential to make your midsection look great:

1.¾ Crunches – Lay flat on your back with your knees in the air and feet approximately one inch off the ground. Place your hands behind your head and hold your head approximately one inch off the ground. Lift your head forward and your knees backward until your knees touch your elbows. Repeat the motions making sure that your hands and feet never quite hit the ground.

You should aim for about 20-30 reps per set and about 8-10 sets total with this exercise.

2.Bicycle Twists – Lay flat on your back with your knees held upright and lift and swing your elbows until your elbow touches the adjacent knee. So if you are starting with your left arm then you would try to touch your right knee. Go back and forth with your left arm and right arm. Rinse and repeat.

With this exercise you should also aim for about 20-30 reps per side (each side of your body is a different ab muscle) and about 8-10 total sets.

3.Flat Raises – Lay perfectly flat on the ground with your legs stretched outward. Place your hands behind your head and lift your head until it is at about a 90 degree angle and then back down again. Make sure you keep your legs perfectly straight and flat on the ground while doing this exercise. You should be able to easily do 40 or 50 of these starting out for each set. You should aim to do about 10-12 of these per workout.

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