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Hey New Guy: Bodybuilding Advice for the Beginner in all of Us
Knowing when to walk away

So you’ve been at this for a while.

Yeah, you know every variation of every exercise ever created—you can hit your upper chest sixteen different ways, and you’ve forgotten more about bicep curls than Flex could ever hope to know.

You’re no longer a Bodybuilding beginner—you’re the master.  
Right?

Wrong.

You’ve got habits, is all—ways of training, ways of approaching training, ways of thinking about training.  You’ve hit a plateau, and you don’t even know it.

See, the moment you decide that you’ve learned everything there is to learn about Bodybuilding, you level out.  You become complacent—hell, before you know it, you may even become disinterested.  

In order to avoid this—in order to give your ‘batteries’ a chance to recharge, and, in order to realize that, no, tough guy, you don’t know everything there is to know—
–you walk away.

Now, to any Bodybuilding enthusiast worth his squat rack, this is murder.  After all, walking away means not training—not hitting those delts on Friday afternoon, not relishing the killer pump that comes only after the hardest of presses.

Walking away means sitting your ass on the couch, when you should be on the floor, repping it out.
Walking away is weakness.
Walking away is torture—walking away is murder.

And walking away might just be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Now, before you blow your fuse, you can relax—this still is a Bodybuilding article after all—and by no means do I mean you walk away forever.

(Because, again—to the hardcore—walking away=murder.)

You do, however, force your ass out of the gym—and into the park, or onto the beach—or yeah, the couch—and you take a little time off.  Time off from training; time off from thinking about training.

Let your mind get excited about the idea of getting back on the weights; let your body ache for that pump—hell, let your head fool you into thinking that you’re shrinking every single second you spend away from that crossover machine.  (You’re not—maybe in your time off, you’ll stop being stubborn and actually believe those fitness articles that tell you rest is the key to growth.)

Trust me—by the time you’re back at it, the pumps will feel better, the results will be better, and who knows—you might just view the whole Bodybuilding thing in a new light.

By some small miracle, you may even admit that, no matter how much of yourself you’ve invested—you’re still, really, a Bodybuilding beginner.

And that isn’t such a bad thing after all.

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

Studying. Sucks.
Maybe worse than squats suck—and we all know squats. Suck.
The thing is—squats work—maybe more than all other exercises put together, and that is why they’re a staple of the every bodybuilder whose picture you admire in every bodybuilding magazine you buy.

Guess what else works?

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you take time.  Time in the gym, busting out your routine (–hopefully, it includes squats–) time in the kitchen, slaving over egg-whites and sweet potatoes—time committing yourself, one-hundred percent, to the sport and the science of bodybuilding.

Chances are, you’re set in your ways—back & bi’s, chest & tri’s—and who could blame you?  If you’ve seen any kind of results with ‘the way you do things,’ why change?
Why study?

Because you can bet your ass the guy in the magazine does.

As mentioned, there is a science to bodybuilding.  An ever-changing science—hell, break out one of your magazines from five years ago; I guarantee half of the nutritional and training recommendations have been revised or outright revoked in your latest edition of the same publication.  

The reason is simple: competition.

Every year, new companies, supplements—new bodybuilders—are vying for their time in the proverbial spotlight; a little bigger, a little better, a little stronger than the one before.
That pill, to make the striations pop—that amino acid chain, to better enhance whey protein synthesis—that new exercise, to hit the posterior deltoid harder.

The great thing about all of this rampant competition—boundaries are broken and breakthroughs are made.  Everyday.  And all you—the new bodybuilder, the fitness enthusiast, or the un-converted spectator—has to do to take advantage???

Study.

Take it all in—be a sponge; absorb every relevant—and non-relevant—piece of information you can.
Study Dexter’s posing routine, to see how he captured the ‘O.’

Re-read Arnold’s Bodybuilding Encyclopedia; see which exercises have stood the test of time, and which have been scientifically proven incorrect.  (And yeah, the jury’s still out on the pullover-to-expand-your-ribcage-thing.)
Discover why casein should be your go-to protein before bed—and read the article next month that tells you it shouldn’t.

Be a student—admit that (–and this one’s hard, fellas–) you don’t know everything there is to know about bicep training, and that it couldn’t hurt to hear some variations on the good-ol’-fashioned curl.

Who knows; your guns might thank you.

–And, if you can learn to admit that you don’t know everything to your girl, I guarantee she’ll thank you too.  
(I realize that’s asking a lot, but remember—Rome wasn’t built in a day.)

Ask me how I learned that.

Long Road to Success: Chest
By: Jude Murray

Jude Murray
06 Aug. 2009

Long Road to Success: Chest
How many times have you had this experience… You walk into gym, and hear something that sounds like a woman in labour. You walk further into the gym, and there, on the flat bench, you find the source of the noise. There he is, the gym’s resident ego trainer, underneath far too much weight for him to handle, bouncing it off his chest and half repping it like there is no tomorrow. From the looks of it, his intention is not to build a mind blowing chest, but to crack his sternum clean in half. But he keeps at it, believing that by pushing a ridiculous weight, far beyond his capabilities, he will become a muscle bound god.

The irony of this situation is that he is built like a twig…

The Enigma
Why is it that so many people battle to build the chest of their dreams, or any other body part for that matter? What is it that they do wrong? They think, “I go out and buy all the bodybuilding mags, I follow the pros workout plans to the tee… Why do I not make the gains I had hoped for? “ Well there is your first mistake.

The first thing you need to understand is that the pros are genetically gifted athletes, who have access to the most advanced supplements and training methods known to man. Also, the majority of pro bodybuilders are on steroid cycles. All these factors combined make up the perfect environment for developing your body to and beyond its limits.

But, no matter how big our egos may be, the vast majority of us are not on the cutting edge supplements available today. We do not have trainers with decades of experience to assist us. And those of us who are health conscious are not steroid users. Therefore, we are not professional bodybuilders… Is that a light-bulb I see?

How is it done?
Thinking back to the situation described at the start of the article, what mistakes can you pick out? Well I’m about to tell you about these often made mistakes, why you should avoid them, and then lay out the guidelines for building an impressive chest, the right way.

These are the two biggest mistakes made by those looking for a great body.

1. Going too heavy (or ego training)
We are told over and over again to pile on the weight when we are in the gym. But, what we don’t understand is that, what is meant by that piece of advice is that we should push weight that will challenge us personally, not a pro bodybuilder. What we should always remember is that every person is created different, and therefore we will all respond differently to different forms of exercise.

We have many options open to us: Rep ranges, and varying numbers of sets, to name a few.

Rep Ranges: In general, most people will grow in size and strength by using a 8-12 rep range. I have personally had success using this rep range.

Another popular rep range to train in is the 4-8 rep range. This is generally used in strength training, but many people have found this rep range very effective in putting on serious size.

My advice would be to utilise elements from both these techniques in your own training, because they each have their own benefits. Training in a low rep range will result in a strength increase, which in turn will result in you being able to shift more weight when training in a higher rep range. More weight equals a higher volume. A higher volume equals more size! This is a win, win formula that many avid gym goers have found to be very effective.

Number of sets performed: This is an important factor in your training that must be tailor suited to each individual person. Perform too few sets, and you will not see any gains, as you will not be stimulating enough muscle fibres. Performing too many sets will result in overtraining, which will lead to wrecking any gains you have already made. Generally, one warm up set followed by 3 working sets will work well for most lifters, but this principle varies from person to person and also depends on what type of exercise is being performed.

A rule of thumb is this: Devote more sets to compound lifts than to isolations moves. For examples, on a chest day you would do 4-5 sets for Flat Barbell bench, but only 3-4 for Fly movements, such as the Pec Dec, or the Cable Fly. I recommend this principle as compound lifts activate more muscle fibres than isolation moves, which equates to more growth.

Tweaking the basic number of sets to suit your body will be the most effective. Try changing the amount of sets you perform for each body part in small increments, until you are satisfied with the gains you are making.

When using either of these techniques, always remember to use an amount of weight that will be challenging to you personally. Never sacrifice good form for extra weight on the bar. This leads us to the next mistake many people make.

2. Using bad form to lift more weight
Leave your damn ego at the door! This point ties in well with the first, because a by product of using too much weight is poor form. Look, cheating has its place in building muscle, but it is an advanced technique that should be used sparingly. The majority of us do not have the experience to cheat correctly, so rather leave it out all together.

I am by no means saying that you should use a weight that your 3 year old niece can lift. Rather that you lift the maximum weight you can lift, with good form. On the flat bench, this means you will use a full ROM, bringing the bar all the way down to just above your chest, performing the negative phase in a controlled manner, and then performing your positive phase in an explosive manner, extending to just before lockout. This also means you will NOT bounce the bar off your chest, or skip out your negative phase by “ dropping “ the bar. The first will more than likely leave you with a cracked sternum, and you will be cheating yourself if you do the second, as the most muscle fibres are recruited during the negative phase.

Now to put your new found knowledge to good use.

Putting it into practice
When you step into gym on a chest day, your goal is to build the chest of a champion, and not to hurt yourself. So you need to apply what you know. But now, what schedule should you use?

My chest day will generally look like this:
Dips 4×12 ( Warm up )
Flat Barbell Bench 4×15,12,10,8
Incline Dumbbell Press 3×10-12
Incline Fly’s 3×12 OR
Cable Crossover 4×12

I have had very good results with this Chest plan, as it works the chest from a variety of angles. If you want to emphasize upper pectoral development, do Incline movements first and go with the Incline Fly’s. This schedule will look like this:

Dips 4×12 ( Warm up )
Incline Dumbbell Press 3×10-12
Flat Barbell Bench 4×15,12,10,8
Incline Fly’s 3×12
                
I would also recommend doing some form of cable crossovers on this schedule as this exercise stretches the Fascia Muscle in your chest, which allows for more muscle development. ( This is not a proven theory, but many people have had practical success with using this principle. )

Every 6 weeks you should change things up a bit in your schedule. For example: Doing Flat Dumbbell Press instead of Flat Barbell Bench, and by including some Hammer Strength Presses every now and then to work your Middle chest. The reason for this is that your body is intelligent, and it will eventually become accustomed to whatever stress you place on it. So making small changes to your schedule every 6 or so weeks will shock your body into growing further.

Another thing that will greatly assist you in building your dream chest is realizing that no matter how hard you train in the gym, you will not build muscle without a good, clean diet and supplementation plan. Your body needs fuel to keep it going, so you need to supply it with that fuel. No one else will. I would recommend doing extensive research into diet and nutrition, as well as supplementation. You will find many great articles on these topics on Bodybuilding.com.

Conclusion
So in conclusion, who do you want to be? The ego lifter? The angry guy on juice? Or would you rather be the guy who has carved out a chest of legend through hard work and consistency? Once you have the knowledge, the choice is yours. My advice would be to take the knowledge, and use it. You will thank me down the line, when all your gym buddies who didn’t listen have severe joint, tendon and liver issues.

Thank you for your attention, keep strong.

Jude