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Article By Steve Trifiletti, TheMuscleCode.com

Intro

          Today, bodybuilders are oversized and carrying too much muscle for their frames, distorting the natural lines of the body.  As an alternative, The Muscle Code provides secrets to building an attractive muscular physique; a body appreciated not only by bodybuilders, but the average man or woman.  Keep reading and experience that sudden flash of insight that leaves you a changed person; for the better…

The Code

Intensity – Muscles are built not by volume of work, but by the energy put into that work.  Growth occurs when intensity increases.  Use music or any other motivational tool to call on you bodies adrenaline.

Variety – Bodies adapt quickly, so keep changing the way you work out.  Explosive movements, supersets, negatives, max out, etc.  Mix up cardio as well.  Shock, confuse, and grow.

Balanced Diet – Eat all food groups: Protein, Carbohydrates, Dairy, Vegetables and Fruit. Excess protein is bad for the liver and cannot be fully digested.

Do Not Over Train – If you are working out longer than 30 minutes, you are not working hard enough.  30 minute workouts 3 or 4 times a week is sufficient.  Keep cardio to a minimum as well.

Sleep is Sacred – Adequate sleep is more important than proper nutrition in fully repairing muscle.  8 hours a night is ideal.  You can live longer without food than you can without sleep…

Proportion – Strive to achieve clarity of each muscle group, with no muscles sticking out.  This requires not working out certain muscles and prioritizing weaknesses.  Certain muscles’ being oversized is a major aesthetic problem that plagues bodybuilders around the world.

Create the X-Frame – Wide shoulders, wide lats, small waist and hips, flaring sweep on the thighs and diamond-shaped calves, with proportionately developed arms and chest.  For an example, see Steve Reeves.

Muscle Function – While training a muscle, focus on that muscles function.  Helps work entire muscle and forces you to lift the weight, not throw.  

No Steroids – Steroids make you look puffy from water weight and are harmful.  An intense Leg workout is a better way to increase testosterone in your body.  Steroids maximize your strengths, throwing your proportions out of whack.  

Perseverance – Bodybuilding is about Progress, not Perfection.  Be persistence and enjoy the small victories.  Never stop obtaining knowledge.

Article By Steve Trifiletti, TheMuscleCode.com

Training

Essential shaping tips per muscle group include:

Chest
-expand rib cage during lifts
-hit every angle to expand surface area
-prioritize upper chest for better aesthetics  

Back
-keep lower back arched throughout movements
-bend slightly forward while performing shrugs
-utilize the deadlift! (More to come on the lat deadlift)

Delts
-prioritize rear delts to improve posture
-keep your pinky above your thumb while performing lateral raises
-keep your shoulders down during shoulder presses

Arms
-during bicep curls, keep chest high and shoulders down
-emphasis a full circular motion for all bicep curl motions
-for triceps, use moderate weight; excess weight puts undue stress on the elbow

Legs
-exaggerate deep stretch to hard contraction with calf raises
-mimic a sling shot motion for leg curls
-use maximum weight for all movements

The Lat Deadlift

You’re not a bodybuilder until you have developed lats…

Lats have always been my weakest body part, as they are for most people.  Amateur bodybuilders, who think they have developed lats, usually don’t.  The reason for that is simple; most people are not using enough weight and the muscle correctly.  The lats pull the upper arm back, but the biceps give out on most exercises first before the lats can be overloaded.

To prioritize, I decided to only work out my lats for two months. I still did a few sets a week for each muscle group, but really only went intense for lats.  To take the biceps out of the equation, I decided to use the deadlift as the main exercise.  Of all possible exercises, the Deadlift produces the most growth since it works almost every muscle in the body.

So, I experimented early in the priority cycle with different angles, grips, etc.  Legs wide, legs close, wide grip, close grip, high reps, low reps, to figure out what hit my lats the best.  The conclusion was based on soreness directly on my lats the next couple of days following the workout.  To sum up, the close stance, reverse grip deadlift for about 4-6 reps utilized the lats the most.  Wide stance deadlifts put’s greater emphasis on the glutes and thighs.  Normal grip hits the upper back.  

I basically did this exercise every Saturday morning for 2 months, raising the weight about 5 lbs each week.  During the movement, I focused on tensing my back and lats.  I only did 3-4 sets each Saturday, but it was all out.  For a couple months, I became a power lifter.  I would get psyched up like it was the Olympics before each set.  After a couple months, my lats started to fill out.  You could finally see my lats from the front, which created the illusion of a smaller waist.  If you are going to utilize this exercise, start with light weight and get used to the movement (it could be a little awkward).  Overall, the moral of this story is you can take full body, basic movements and alter to target a specific area.

Bodybuilding Stages

Bodybuilding is about progress, not perfection…It is important to realize the stage you are in so you do not have a plan that is above where you should be (or below).  Each level below describes the stages from The Muscle Code perspective; the goal is to look the best you can.  

Stage 1 – Mass: Main priority at the start is to build muscle mass to work with.  Full body exercises and explosive movements should be the staple of any workout program at this stage.  You have to love heavy weight and getting bigger.  Working with a training partner is important to push yourself as hard as possible.  Creatine is a great supplement at this stage.  Regarding diet, eat as much as possible.  

Stage 2 – Quality: After an adequate amount of mass muscle is packed on, your priority becomes quality muscle.  Improve form and exercise intelligence to begin shaping and refining the muscles. Focus on origins and insertions.  Increase food conscience, getting used to eating and tracking a healthy diet.  The goal is to cut fat as muscles begin to mature.  

Stage 3 – Prioritize: At this stage, you are beginning to perfect your physique and focus mainly on priorities.  Proportion and balance is overall goal.  Tailor workout program to fill in weak or lacking areas, while maintaining solid overall muscle mass. Working out alone is better at this phase, to allow greater focus.  Ability to target and improve specific areas is the talent of a bodybuilder.  Diet should be consistently healthy.  

Stage 4 – Contest/Exaggeration: If you decide to enter a contest, posing and shredding all fat is where you spend your time.  If a contest is not for you, but you have the passion to continue training hard, you can exaggerate certain body parts depending on body type.  For example, calves and side delts can basically never be too big.  And you can always work on and improve overall muscle hardness. You actually can achieve better results during ages 25-35 than you can ages 15– 25…

Article By Steve Trifiletti, TheMuscleCode.com

Nutrition

Principle # 3 of The Muscle Code is a balanced diet.  The benefit of eating a diet including all food groups (Protein, Carbohydrates, Dairy, Vegetables and Fruit) is greatly overlooked today.  Not only does it promote optimal brain function, but it gives the body the full nutrients it needs.  Below is a typical day of The Muscle Code Diet:

Typical Day
7:00am – Oatmeal, Orange Juice
8:00am (post workout) – Protein Shake, Banana
10:00am – Yogurt
12:00pm – Tossed Salad with Grilled Chicken
3:00pm – Granola Bar
6:00pm – Steak, Baked Potato, Broccoli
9:00pm – Flax Cereal with Milk

When trying to cut fat, eat smaller meals more often, almost like a scavenger. When trying to gain weight, simply eat a lot of healthy foods.  For cardio, walking and light sport activity is ideal.  And whatever diet you are on, always try to eat what you like.  

Here are some tips to fight off hunger pains:

• Drink a lot of water
• Chew gum
• Stay Busy
• Caffeine
• Take one day a week off, preferable weekend

Conclusion

The Muscle Code principles, training tips, stages and nutrition is all geared towards developing an aesthetically pleasing muscular physique.  The underlining message of this article is bigger is always better.  While developing and building your muscular physique, you should always have the goal of looking good when you are standing.  A lot of times, bodybuildings strive to look good for a particular pose, but don’t realize that the front relaxed pose (just standing) is the most important!  

Always remember, bodybuilding is an adjunct to a better life, never the reason for it.  Improving your physique increases your confidence and performance in all aspects of your life.  Your pursuit takes dedication, perseverance and knowledge.  Enjoy ever moment!  

The Muscle Code Perspective can benefit anyone trying to improve their physique; from the beginner to the advanced bodybuilder.  For more information on specific Muscle Code workout routines and diet plans, visit www.TheMuscleCode.com.

How To Starve Yourself Of Negative Diet Patterns
By: Jason Taylor

The power of the mind has been well known to successful and
fulfilled people for centuries. Experts of the sub conscious mind
such as hypnotists have come up with ingenious ways  that bypass
the conscious mind and speak directly to the sub conscious. Often
hypnosis is used to help people achieve their weight loss goals. In
this article I will show you how to do that without any fancy
hypnotist or high fees.

The sub conscious mind is the most powerful force in any human
being. When you first learned to drive you had to think about every
single thing to keep that car driving in the way you wanted to.
Gears, mirrors, indicators, steering and many other factors were
constantly thought about. After a while though all of these become
a habit. You repeat them so many times that your conscious mind no
longer has to think about them. Your sub conscious runs you on auto
pilot to carry out the maneuvers.

So what does this have to do with weight loss? Well by using a
concept called “auto suggestion” you can help your sub conscious
mind “reprogram” yourself to stick to diets, eat healthier foods,
enjoy working out (seriously) and much more.

The reason so many people fail to lose weight is because they
program themselves for failure each and every time they try a new
diet. Because of bad experiences with shoddy diet programs in the
past they often tell themselves “This won’t work for me” and give
up a few weeks in. Think about whenever you’ve tried to diet in the
past. How long did you stick at? Probably not long enough if you’re
honest with yourself.

The technique I am to teach you now will enable you to starve
yourself of these negative thought patterns that you are constantly
bombarding your sub conscious mind with. Let’s retraining yourself
to be more positive about your weight loss and in turn develop a
thick skin that won’t give up whenever a diet doesn’t show instant
and massive results.

Your emotions and thoughts are like signals. Whenever you feel bad
about weight loss or dieting and have thoughts such as “I’m always
going to be overweight” stop what you’re doing and follow these
steps.

Step One. Think about what it is that makes you feel you’ll always
be overweight. You’ll get an image come into your mind. Maybe it’s
of you feeling down about a diet or you in the future and you
haven’t lost any weight.

Step Two. Pay attention to this image. This is your unconscious
telling you what thought is holding you back in your quest for
dieting. This is the image that you consistently put into your sub
conscious. You have programmed yourself to think this way and
that’s why it is so easy to give up on diets when things get a
little tough

Step Three. Drain all the color out of the image. Shrink it and
move it into the distance. If it happens to reappear repeat the
process. Drain it, shrink it and put it into the distance.

Step Four. Replace the image with an image of what you really want
to be like. Fit, healthy and at your perfect weight. Get
emotionally involved with the image. Think of how great it would
feel to have lost all the weight you want to. Make it full color
and bring it closer to you.

Step Five. Hold your thumb and middle fingers together when you
feel that rush of excitement about the new future you.

Whilst this may all sound a little crazy this a very cool technique
for programming your sub conscious. If you do this every time you
feel a little down about weight loss or have any negative thoughts
soon it will become a habit.

Eventually you will have created “a mind anchor” so that you can
press your thumb and middle fingers together and get the rush of
excitement about your new, slim self. Any time you feel negative
about weight loss you put your fingers together and your sub
conscious will recognize this habit and use it to your advantage.

Ok. I do understand that this may seem a little “out there” but
this is based on the science of Neuro Linguistic Programming. This
is not some pie in the sky idea thought up by a lunatic. It is
based on the science of the mind and it works in reprogramming
yourself. Give it a go and stick at it! www.quickweightloss4u.com

THE REAL WAY TO GAIN MASS…NO FAD DIETS OR WORKOUTS HERE… JUST HARD WORK!
By: Jonah Gardner

I have recently been asked numerous times, questions like; how was I able to bulk up and then cut so easily?  What’s your routine?  What kind of diet do you follow? So I am writing this article for the people who are in need of guidance… from someone who has been there.

I want to start off telling you a little bit about my bodybuilding background.  I started messing around with weights around the age of 13.  I would lift for a few months and then lose interest and maybe pick it back up again a few months later.  I followed this sort of “routine” all the way up through high school and then kind of gave it up for a few years.  I never got big or really changed my physic at all, as you would expect from this type of routine.  Throughout adolescence and my early twenties, and up until I seriously got into lifting I weighed about 145lbs.  At 5’9” that’s not very big at all… in fact it is a little on the scrawny side.  

At about the age of 24 I really started to get into bodybuilding and really had the mind set that I wanted to get healthier, stronger, look better, and gain weight.  So I kind of jumped right in and started doing it.  I was starving for knowledge.  I would ask tons of questions, to anyone in the gym who would listen, read magazines, books, articles on the internet and anything else I could get a hold of.  I was feverishly attempting to learn the best way to go about lifting and bulking up.  Needless to say I learned a LOT in the past couple of years, some of it good and unfortunately most of it bad.  With that being said, I would like to save you the time and effort and tell you exactly what worked for me.

First I feel it necessary to briefly talk about your mindset.  There is absolutely nothing easy about physically changing your body!  The sooner you realize this, the better off you will be.  You will have to look at food in terms of nutritional value instead of taste, you will have to make going to the gym top priority over everything else, and you will have to make sure you get enough sleep every night.  If you do not have the discipline to pass up that bag of chips, or a night out with your friends because you have to go to the gym then you should stop right now. Bodybuilding is not for you.  Without the right mindset you will NOT be able to bulk up or cut weight.  Period!  So if you think you have what it takes… lets get started.

Bulking

The first thing I would like to talk about is dieting.  The bulking diet in my opinion is a lot more fun then the cutting diet but it still takes the discipline I talked about above.   You will have to get used to eating and eating and eating!  Remember when it comes to bulking if you aren’t eating enough, it doesn’t matter how much you lift in the gym, you will not grow.  With this diet you can be pretty lenient on what you eat.  I never ate anything that offered no nutritional value such as sodas, candy, donuts, cookies, cake… things like that.  However I did eat things like pizza, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, burritos, sub sandwiches…. Things like that.  Basically what I did is make sure I get at least 30 grams of protein while eating around 600 calories every 2 hours.  I really didn’t care about anything else such as fats, carbs, etc… just as long as I got at least 30g of protein and the 600 calories.  You will probably have to work your way up to this much food and that’s where the discipline comes in.  Trust me there will be times when you look at the clock and can’t believe you have to eat that much again.  If you stick with it you will get used to it and see some amazing results. Another side note about eating this much is after a month or two is you will get used to this, and grow as much as you can, and you’ll have to up the calories some more.  With this diet it is mostly up to you what you eat, but, if you have a choice always go with the healthier thing for example whole wheat spaghetti instead of enriched wheat flower… things like that.

Now for the routines that worked for me.  A lot of my routines are determined by how I feel.  I would go to the gym, say on Monday, and know I needed to work my chest, so I would bench and incline then I would decide which chest exercises I felt the most comfortable with.  A lot of times you know what you want to do before you get to the gym… but you don’t always feel like sticking to that routine half way through.

Another important thing to bring up is lifting HEAVY, a lot of people I talk to believe they are lifting heavy but in reality they can lift a lot more.  For example if you usually curl 50lb dumbbells by your last set you should be trying to curl 75lbs.  Another reason to lift heavy is because you will be eating a LOT of food.  If you’re not lifting heavy you will gain more fat than necessary.

One last note:  You need your sleep.  Sleep is equally as important as working out.  Think about it… you will be tearing your muscles apart.  They need to heal in order to get bigger.  So don’t over look sleep, you should be getting at least 8 hours. Trust me on this one.

As always you should be warmed up before you start lifting! 

When I first started noticing results I was following a routine like this:

Abs everyday!!!

Mon & Thur

CHEST

Always:
Bench Press – sometimes substitute with hammer strength bench, but not often!
Incline Press – sometimes substitute with hammer incline bench, but not often!

I would then mix 2 or 3 of the following in depending on how I felt:

Dumbbell pull-overs
Dumbbell flyes
Cable crossovers from the top and bottom
Fly machine
Decline bench

I would do 4-5 sets of each usually doing something like 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (reps)
It is VERY important to lift HEAVY.  Otherwise with all the food you are eating you will gain more fat than muscle.  For bench press and incline press you always need a spotter.  If you don’t use a spotter that means your not lifting heave enough.  Make sure you find someone in the gym you trust to spot you.  If your doing it right by your 3 set you will begin to fail towards the end of your reps.

BACK

Always:
Deadlift
T-bar rows
Hammer Strength Lat Pull Downs
Hammer Strength Row machine

I would usually throw one of these in depending on what I felt like doing:

Cable rowing machine
Back flyes (dumbbell or machine)
Dumbbell rows

Again, I would do 4-5 sets of each usually doing something like 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (reps)
It is VERY important to lift HEAVY.  Make sure you wear a belt for the dead lifts and t bar rows.

Tues & Fri

BICEPTS

Always:
Dumbbell curls
Barbell curls

I would also add in 2-3 of the any of the following exercises –depending on how I felt.

Isolation curls (dumbbells or machine)
Concentration curls
Incline curls
Cable curls
EZ bar curls

Again, I would do 4-5 sets of each usually doing something like 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (reps)
It is VERY important to lift HEAVY.  Otherwise with all the food you are eating you will gain more fat than muscle.  

TRICEPS

Always:
Tricep push downs (with rope or bar of some sort)
Overhead cable extensions (with rope or bar of some sort)
Dips – always 4 sets of 30

I would also add in1-2 of the any of the following exercises –depending on how I felt.

Overhead dumbbell extensions
Dumbbell kickbacks
Standing tricep extensions (with tricep curl bar)

Again, I would do 4-5 sets of each usually doing something like 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (reps)
It is VERY important to lift HEAVY.  I would also about once a month either do buddy curls or run the gauntlet on the dumbbell rack.  

Buddy Curls: (you and a buddy get a ez-curl bar with about 60lbs on it and basically you start at 5 reps than your buddy immediately does 5 and then go to 6 all the way to 15 and back down to 5.  The only rest you get is when your buddy is doing his set.  These can also be done with an “imaginary buddy” because most people won’t make it through the workout.  You can substitute just about any exercise for this…. For example every once in a while I would do this with bench press and squats.

The Gauntlet:  Go to the dumbbell rack and start with 25lb dumbbells.  Do a set of 5 curls then move up to the 30lb dumbbells.  Continue increasing weight by 5 lbs until you can’t do anymore, I’d usually max out at around 75lbs(just to give you an idea)  then work your way back down to the 25s and repeat.  Again you can substitute just about any exercise for this.

Wed & Sat

Legs

Always:

Squats
Hamstring curls
Extensions

I would also add in1-2 of the any of the following exercises –depending on how I felt.

Leg press
Hack squats
Squats on the smith machine
Lunges

Calves

Any calf machine at the gym will be sufficient. Think about it, if you’re squatting 455lbs your calves are getting worked.

I would do 4-5 sets of each usually doing something like 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (reps)
It is VERY important to lift HEAVY.  

That is the basic idea of my routine.  Again a lot of it goes by how you feel.  Now I don’t want to give you the wrong impression.  I’m not saying if you don’t “feel” like going to the gym its ok.  You still should go, however, if you are feeling worn down, make it a lighter workout.  After about 4 months of a routine like this I changed it to basically one muscle group per day.  I would do chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, arms on Wednesday, and legs on Thursday.  Take a day off and then repeat.  Remember you need to listen to your body, if you are worn out don’t try to max out on the squat rack!!!

That’s it for now, I hope this is helpful.  I will include my cutting diet and routine in the next article. Thanks for reading.

How To Shed The Pounds Without Changing Your Lifestyle At All
By: Jason Taylor www.quickweightloss4u.com

Have you tried a number of diets and failed? Maybe even tried some
exercise only to find you lose a little weight but it comes
straight back again? Well don’t worry. There’s a reason for that
and in this article I’ll explain why it happens, and how to combat
it.

Stress it not just a mental reaction but a physical condition. When
places under stress your body will produce adrenaline but it also
produces a hormone called Cortisol. This hormone is responsible for
pumping energy in the form of sugar into the body to fuel the
adrenalin rush. Stress is then a natural bodily function designed
to help keep us alive and reactive to things going on in the world.

Unfortunately there is then a negative by-product if you are not
using this energy. Stress in the modern world often takes the form
of money worries, issues in the office, family problems and much
more. The extra blood sugar that is being released has nowhere to
to except settle around your stomach to be used later. As fat.

Because of this many people are keeping or gaining weight without
even realizing it. Of course, there are other factors, but stress
is one that very few people talk about. Stress however needs to be
controlled and fought against such as an unhealthy diet needs to
be. It may be the one thing stopping you from losing the pounds you
so desperately want to.

Stress and anxiety is in fact a double edged sword. Not only does
it produce the excess blood sugars that turn to fat but it also
encourages you to use food as a comfort tool. You may tuck into
chocolate or fast food for that instant hit that is the culinary
equivalent of a warm hug from a loved one.

Eating these foods that are bad for you when you are stressed does
not mean you are weak minded. You are just following your
biological programming. Tests on rats have shown that under stress
organisms naturally engage in pleasure seeking behavior. In
particular high calorie food.

Other tests have shown that men who only manage to get four hours
sleep a night have on average a thirty seven percent higher level
of Cortisol (the hormone that is responsible for energy - sugar)
that those who get a full eight hours? And what is one of the
biggest reasons for lack of sleep? Stress!

On top of that it is imperative you get a good nights sleep when
trying to shed the pounds because a deep sleep leads to higher
secretions of a natural occurring hormone called Human Growth
Hormone. This protects your muscle mass and it is muscle that helps
to maintain a steady burning metabolism. We’re not talking
bodybuilder type muscle here either. Just the natural kind we all
have.

Of course if you are already stressed the chances are you are not
getting enough sleep already and so are caught in a vicious circle
that is affecting your weight loss. Going to your doctors to ask
about prescriptive sleeping tablets are one option, but should be
used alongside a healthy lifestyle not in place of one.
Fortunately, despite stress being the silent diet killer, there are
some easy ways to fight it.

Firstly with a little bit of exercise you can help yourself get an
easier nights sleep which kills two birds with one stone. Just a
brisk walk every day will be enough for your body to fall to sleep
naturally at the end of the day.

A good breakfast is also associated with reduced stress levels.
Skipping breakfast is just asking for trouble and will actually
have a negative effect on your weight loss. You need to eat
breakfast to fuel your energy resources. This will also manage your
Cortisol levels. Cereal is especially good at this

Fish, although not to everyone’s liking, is another food that
should be added to your diet to reduce stress and therefore help
weight loss. Oily fish particularly are high in Omega 3. A tin of
boneless sardines costs little and is delicious on toast. This
alone contains a weeks worth of Omega 3 which is great for your
diet plan.

Finally learn to accept stress and use it. In other words make
stress work for you. We all need a little stress to keep us on our
toes and in this day and age it is everywhere. The trick is to put
things into perspective and ask yourself "Are things really that
bad?". There are sick children and sadness across the world and
often we let every day things stress us out needlessly. Remember,
combating stress with a healthy diet could just be the miracle
weight loss plan you’ve been looking for.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Strong & Shapely Gym Named April Bodybuilding.com Gym of the Month

Boise, ID – April 21, 2009 - Bodybuilding.com, the Internet’s most-visited bodybuilding and fitness site and largest retailer of nutritional supplements, has selected Strong & Shapely Gym of Rutherford, NJ as April’s Bodybuilding.com Gym of the Month. Bodybuilding.com bestows Awards of Excellence to nutritional supplement companies and other industry organizations. They now set the precedent for what makes a gym worthy of this prestigious award.

“To highlight great gyms, we wanted to present one gym per month with the Bodybuilding.com Gym of the Month award. We hope that everyone is looking for the same things we are in a great gym: friendly knowledgeable staff, lots of free weights, the right types of machines, and a motivating environment where serious training is taking place…all at an affordable price,” says Bodybuilding.com CEO Ryan DeLuca.

Recently celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Strong & Shapely Gym is owned and operated by amateur natural bodybuilder and show promoter Bob Bonham. In 1984, Bonham’s ex-wife convinced him to name his new hardcore gym Strong & Shapely, in order to make women feel more comfortable about joining—a feat that was rare at the time.

Now boasting over 2,000 members, Bonham’s gym is considered bodybuilding’s “Mecca of the East”.  The energetic and friendly atmosphere attracts families, men and women from all types of professions, high school sports teams, and college students. Many celebrities (e.g. John Cena and Daisy Fuentes) and professional bodybuilders (e.g. Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates) have read about Strong & Shapely in bodybuilding and fitness magazines and have seen the gym on television, so they make a point to drop in.

With an impressive 25,000 sq. ft. of workable space, Strong & Shapely Gym’s floor plan is set up so each body part has its own area. They have 40,000 pounds of free weights and over 335 workout stations. To give you an idea of the size of this gym, there are so many dumbbells, if you laid every one side by side they would equal 100 yards; that’s the length of an entire football field! They also provide great spinning, kickboxing, and Gracie Brazilian Ju Jitsu classes, tanning, daycare, a pro shop and a new juice bar. To make life easier on their members, they use a hand scanner, so there’s no need to remember a membership card for check-in.

Strong & Shapely Gym holds special events for members and outside bodybuilding organizations, such as hosting “The Universal Animal Barbell Club”. The Animal Barbell Club (ABC) has chapters all around the world that present bodybuilding and powerlifting events. People come from all around to experience a true animal workout. They also hold monthly Figure and Fitness Competitor Workshops, so women can prepare for their upcoming contests.

To what does Bonham credit his success? He constantly reinvests his funds back into the gym, researching new equipment and training techniques, hiring top-notch employees, and keeping a strong presence in the bodybuilding and fitness world. Strong & Shapely continues to get better every year, and with 25 years under their weight-lifting belt, they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

For these reasons, Strong & Shapely Gym has earned the title of April 2009 Bodybuilding.com Gym of the Month.

For more information on Strong & Shapely Gym visit http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strong_shapely_gym.htm?mcid= EPRRL042209

Bodybuilding.com offers more than 8,500 health and fitness supplements & accessories to help people achieve their health, fitness and appearance goals. They offer more than 25,000 pages of FREE bodybuilding & fitness information, including more than 12,000 articles (written by 525+ writers), video & audio segments, and new content added daily.

Hey New Guy: Bodybuilding Advice for the Beginner in all of Us

Squats. Suck.

You know it, I know it, and—unfortunately—the dude with Will Harris wheels repping them out in the corner knows it.

He’s doing them, and he doesn’t need to.

You, on the other hand…

Manning up to leg day isn’t easy for the biggest at the gym; for the rest of us, its murder.  Unfortunately, bodybuilding is one of those ‘get what you put in’ clichés.

And every training article you’ve ever read wasn’t lying when it told you that, hands down, nothing gives you a total body gut-check like spending time parallel to the floor.

So suck it up, call your mother to tell her you love her, and get under that rack.  

There’s things to consider, sure, when you line up your shoulders under the bar—whether or not you’ve upped your life insurance premium, how long it’ll take for your girl to move on—really, though, the only secret to getting the dreaded squat right is actually doing it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re racking a plate a side or ten; as long as you’re breathing right, tightening that Transverse abdominus, and dropping low, you’ll have the respect of everybody around you for giving it a go.

And therein lies the magic—sooner or later, even if you’ve just got a naked bar draped across your delts—you’ll find that ‘sweet spot,’ the point in the descent when you can feel your entire body say “THIS. IS. WORKING.”

Going heavy isn’t the trick; remember, a standard Olympia bar is forty-five pounds, and you’re pushing all your upper body weight into your wheels when you work your way down.  

Whether it’s six reps or twelve, going full-bore and getting your ass parallel to the floor is all it takes to turn little-girl stems into the kind of proportionate-to-my-upper-body quads, hamstrings and glutes you (probably) so desperately need.

So the next time you see that rack free, pick up your cell phone, make the call, and give it a shot.