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Steps to Blast your way towards Muscle Gain
By: Christian Bonanno

Step # 1: Limited Amount of Energy

It is highly recommended that you train using high intensity for a period of approximately 20 - 30 minutes. This is so because scientists have discovered that the energy the blood contains as sugars starts to deplete after about 20 minutes. One has to be tricky enough to cheat the body by using this fact. Do as much intensive training as possible during a 30 minute period. The exercises should be repeated until failure to maximise muscle growth.

Step # 2: Training Frequency

Everybody needs to rest, especially when one needs to bulk up. Whilst you’re sleeping, the body gets energy and heals itself from the training. Lack of rest may result in one losing muscle tissue instead of gaining it. Sleep at least 8 hours a day.

Step # 3: Food Intake

If you are skinny and would like to bulk up, one of the most important things one must not forget to do is eating. When one starts to train, the body will need more carbohydrates, protein and fat. The foods chosen must be high quality food which bulk you up (meat, beans, egg whites, rice…) not food which only get you fat (sweets, food high in sugar).

I am going to give you a simple example, excerpted from one of Vince DelMonte’s newsletters. If you only have a budget of $100,000 you cannot build a house worth $150,000. The same applies to the amount of food one has to eat. One can’t gain muscle weight by eating low quality food.

Step # 4: Amount of cardio

People, sometimes argue about the fact that cardio is only needed when one needs to get slim. This, however, is a very common mistake. Cardio is important even when you are bulking up. The amount of cardio needs to be looked after.

The advantages of cardio are various:
i) Cardio makes your heart stronger. Your heart is vital to be strong if you are going to have a           big, muscular body.
ii) Cardio increases your lung capacity, thus your training sessions will start to get easier for you.
iii) Cardio decreases your amount of stress.
iv) Cardio improves blood circulation throughout one’s body.
v) Cardio increases bone density.
vi) Cardio increases you metabolism.

If you are trying to bulk up, I recommend you to do 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. This won’t burn too much calories and you will still benefit from the above advantages.

Step # 5: Heavy Weights - High Repetitions

When one trains using light weights, the body itself thinks that it doesn’t need to build any extra muscle because the weight used to train is already light for the muscle. Thus when using light weights, the body will start to burn body fat instead of build muscle.

In order to build muscle, one has to use heavy weights and the repetitions should be set high (about 6 – 12 repetitions each set).

You must keep in mind that throughout every session, your body must get approximately 5% better than the previous session. This might obviously involve in you doing any of the following:
i) Lifting heavier weights
ii) Doing more repetitions
iii) Doing more sets
iv) Doing your workout in less time than the previous session

Step # 6: Water is the driver of Nature – Leonardo da Vinci

As Leonardo da Vinci said, water is the driver of nature. Water also needs to drive your body, which is itself part of nature. After every workout, sweat comes out, which means that water is leaving your own body. This water must then be replaced by other water. I recommend you to try and drink 3 – 4 litres of water daily, especially whilst you are training and on hot days.

Step # 7: Intensity Cycling

Step # 8: Setting Goals and being Patient

Do you want to look like a bodybuilder from the Golden Era of Bodybuilding? Do you want to start looking like Greek gods? Set your goal to one specific bodybuilder (for example Charles Atlas). When you have set your goals, be patient and train consistently. If you feel exhausted or don’t feel in the mood of training, ask yourself the following question: “If my goal bodybuilder were me, would he have missed the training session?”. You will obviously answer “no”, and get on with the training. You must also be patient all the time. There was never a bodybuilder who woke up as a skinny or as a fat guy, and by the time he was going to bed he was looking just like a bodybuilder would.

The above tips are there to guide you on your way to become a professional bodybuilder. The myths below include the ideas which many people have about bodybuilding and which were the downfalls for those people who in the past tried to become athletes but because they were influenced by other people, turned out to grow up into too thin or too fat people.

Bodybuilding Myths

Myth # 1: Feel the burning effect in your muscles if you want to build muscle

This is absolutely NOT TRUE. When you feel a burning sensation in the muscles, it doesn’t mean that you are building more muscle. The burning sensation is simply felt when lactic acid is released in the muscle tissue whilst exercising.

Myth # 2: Pumping up to increase more muscle

It is true that when you feel good when you make a good post-workout pump. However, it is not true that the more pumped a workout is, the more effective the workout is.

Myth # 3: The more you work out, the more you will grow

Some people think that the more they train, the more muscle they will gain fast. This myth, is the downfall of most people who tried to become professionals in a very few time. Training more than normal, leads for the body to get over trained. When a body part is worked out properly, the muscle is said to take 5 – 10 days to heal completely.

Myth # 4: Considerable amount of sit-ups will result in you getting a fat-free tummy.

When you need to decrease belly fat, you will not remove the fat by doing sit-ups and crunches. By doing these exercises, you will be strengthening your belly muscles (which is still important, in other aspects) not burning fat.

Fat, first starts to get burned from the latest food intake. Example, your body will first burn your last few meals. Secondly, your body starts to burn the fat which has been in your body for the least time, and finally the body will start to burn your fat which has been in your body most. Normally, your belly is the first which starts to get fat, therefore you have to get rid of the other body fat before. To do this, you have to do cardio training sessions like cycling, fast walking, running, and rope skipping.

Myth # 5: Having large muscles, will make your muscles tighter and decrease your flexibility.

This lie has been going on since the 1930s. The “muscle-bound lie” was invented by companies  which were selling isometric exercise programs. These companies’ goal was to convince people not to do any exercises which concern barbells. This lie was invented simply because it wasn’t practical to send barbells by mail.

Myth # 6: If the pros do it, so should I

You can’t compare your body with that of a professional bodybuilder. If you are training drug-free, your body can’t heal itself as fast as the bodybuilders’. Another concept is that their body is supported with more muscle to lift the heavy weights than the amount of muscle that you have.

Myth # 7: The best way to build muscles is to keep them guessing

This bodybuilding philosophy comes from people who don’t know the muscle growth process. Muscles do not respond with growth just by performing another type of exercise. Muscles only understand the concept of pushing, pulling, extending, and contracting. They will not start to grow larger if instead of lifting iron weights you start to lift bags of sand, if they obviously weigh the same.

Myth # 8: You have to train more than three times a week using weights if you want to gain muscle

It is true that most steroid-assisted bodybuilders train daily using weights; however we people who don’t take any steroids aren’t doing anything wrong if we train three times a week using weights. You will still gain loads of muscle if you work until failure on each set and each repetition in your routine. Remember that you should think quality not quantity. The only problem one might find is keeping fat-free on this training routine. Therefore, one had to keep himself stricter as to what food he should eat.

Myth # 9: Weightlifting equipment should be used in order to stimulate the most muscle gain

Scientific research has shown that most of today’s exercise machines lack the proper eccentric component of an exercise that’s necessary to stimulate muscle tissue to grow. For reference, you may read the article “Research Confirms that Bodybuilders Should Pay Heavy Attention to Negative Rips” written by Bill Phillips on page 18 of the February/March issue of MM2K. To date, the most effective means of resistance exercises ever invented are those using free weights like dumbbells and barbells. These exercises include the dead lift, the shoulder press, the bench press, and the squat.

The Strongest 8 Year Old I’ve Ever Met “Super” Sam Bish
By: Matt Weik

Let me just start off with a visual for you all.  Imagine yourself as a parent (some of you already are).  Now imagine having a perfect life, with a perfect spouse, and 3 beautiful children.  One day your child comes to you and mentioned that his knee hurts.  What do many parents do?  They look at it, brush it off and say “you’ll be ok kiddo”.  But what if they aren’t?  What if the reality of the situation was that something was actually wrong with your child?  He keeps coming back to you, expressing that his knee just keeps hurting.  Yet you don’t see anything wrong with it.  There are no apparent cuts or bruises that you can see.  Again you tell him everything will be ok.  But what if it’s not?  Days, weeks, maybe even months go by and still no change in your son.  You finally take him to see the doctor.  The doctor doesn’t see anything but refers them to go get the knee scanned to make sure there’s nothing wrong with the knee itself.  You leave the office with hope that it could just be nothing, but still curious why he keeps saying it is bothering him.  The knee gets scanned and you’re waiting for the results.  The doctor calls you in and asks for you to please sit down.  You begin to get nervous and you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck start standing up and tingling.  “Your son has cancer” comes out of the doctors mouth.  Your heart stops and you feel empty, like someone has just ripped your heart straight out of your chest.  What do you do?  You start to question what you did wrong.  Why this could be happening to your child.  What will happen?  What’s the next step?  How is this going to change everyone’s life?  Emotions run wild.  You calm yourself down and pay attention to what the doctor says next, and the necessary steps that follow to give your child the best chance of beating this.

The scary thing is this can happen.  And it does.  Unfortunately for the most part it is something we cannot control.  I had the privilege to meet a young boy named “Super” Sam Bish.  No “Super” isn’t really part of his real name but this little boy in himself is an incredible human being.  Sam is an eight year old little boy with two younger sisters.  He will be turning 9 on January 25.  He attends French Run Elementary School in Reynoldsburg, OH.  His cancer was diagnosed on August 10, 2009.  This mass began in his knee in a form called Osteosarcoma (stage 4)—a type of bone cancer.  The cancer is in his right knee and has spread to both of his lungs.  Most of the time when it moves to the lungs there will be tumors found in the single digits—not the case for Sam.  Doctors have counted tumors “in the teens” on his lungs.  A few days after being diagnosed Sam went to the hospital where an aggressive form of chemotherapy was started to fight the rapidly growing cancer.  A Chemo-port was placed in Sam’s chest where all his treatments are administered.  

I sat down with Sam along with my good friend Courtney Hodges.  She was the first one who told me about Sam and that he would love for me to come visit him.  I asked if Courtney would take us to see him.  We pulled up to the Bish’s home.  It looked like any other normal home, only difference was inside lay a boy who could no longer enjoy being free and running around outside.  Most of his day is spent on the sofa or taking a nap in his mothers bed—which to Sam was the most comfortable bed on the planet.  I sat down with Sam, we took him some presents to open and also took some goodies for his little sisters as well.  He is a good big brother to them and genuinely cares for them.  We walked into the family room where Sam was sitting, awaiting our arrival.  He greeted us with the biggest smile.  Next thing we knew we had him, his two sisters, mom, dad, and dog all in the same room sharing stories and just enjoying everyone’s company.  Sam told us that when he grows up he wants to either be a police officer or a cook.  From what I was told, he makes the best eggs.  Sam was full of energy and said that he was having a good day and that he wasn’t in pain.  Like most people who are treated with chemotherapy, he lost his hair.  To him this was devastating.  It wasn’t until he realized that his idol, Daughtry had a shaved head, which he thought it was pretty cool to look like his idol.  Sam’s smile could light up the room and his energy could be bottled up and used as a weight loss pill and sold to millions.  He loves chocolate chip cookies, anything Star Wars, video games on his Wii, Batman, Hulk, Ironman, movies, and reading books.  He wanted me to stay forever and play video games with him, which next time I’m in town I’ll have to let him show me how it’s done and kick my butt at Wii.  But since his chemo began, he started noticing some changes.  His taste was changing and foods he once loved he couldn’t even swallow anymore.  Smells—he could pick up on smells that no one else could pick up on (some of which bothered him).  He now walks with crutches and isn’t allowed to do anything weight barring on it.  When he uses his crutches he is to have his leg in a brace.  He and his family have a tough decision to make now.  Do they have a surgery done that allows him to keep his leg but have it unusable after the surgery, or do they have it amputated and have a prosthetic replace his leg?  This is a decision that is going to take some hard thought.  Even then he isn’t out of the woods as the cancer in his lungs is the next task at hand.  The bills are high and very overwhelming.  Already at the age of eight, Sam has already maxed out his insurance and the family is scrambling to pay off his medical bills.  There have been donations given and every little bit helps.  Meals have been prepared for the family and people across the US have stepped up to help if they were able.  I hope everyone continues to pray for Sam Bish as he is one of the strongest and coolest little boys I have ever met.  If you could meet him without a doubt you would leave there with a new friend.  I hope you also pray for the family, to help them stay strong during this difficult time.  I want Sam to grow up and reach all his goals in life and live life to the fullest.  We all deserve a chance, and that’s all we want when helping Sam.  Give him a chance to beat this cancer and live.

I want you to all think for a minute.  What is campaigned all across the US in the month of October?  Breast Cancer Awareness.  But did anyone every stop to realize that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month?  Most people never even heard of it.  This is another case where unless it happens to you or someone you know, it simply doesn’t apply and you don’t think about it.  I for one am one of those people.  I never knew about Childhood Cancer Awareness in the month of September.  My question to everyone is (and maybe someone has a legitimate answer for me) why don’t more people know about this?  We all know when breast cancer awareness month is, why isn’t there a huge campaign for the children in the month of September?  THIS IS OUR FUTURE!  These kids are what will make up this world when we are gone.  Who is protecting them and giving them a chance and bringing up awareness to all of us Americans?  It is truly sad that this campaign does not get more attention.  I’m not downplaying any other campaign, just looking to shed some light on something that is not apparent to most.

Here are some extremely scary facts for you to think about:

• 1 in 300 kids have a chance of being diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20
• Cancer is the #1 killer of kids under the age of 20
• Cancer kills more kids every year than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, asthma, and AIDS combined
• The 75% survival rate has not improved significantly in nearly two decades
• You can count the number of newly approved treatments on one hand
• Each day 40,000 children undergo treatment as they struggle to beat this disease
• Pediatric cancers are different than adult cancers and require specialized treatments
• More focus is needed on childhood cancer survivors as they transition from pediatric to young adult care and are faced with a 60% chance of developing secondary cancers, major organ damage, developmental problems and/or infertility from “the cure”
• Childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded
• The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) federal budget was $4.6 billion—of that money breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7%, and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers combined received less than 3%

I wanted to share this story and facts with all of you.  Put yourself in this family’s shoes.  If you can help out and touch just one person in your life, please do it.  Not only does it feel amazing and rewarding, but it helps give hope to those who need it most.  We all take life for granted.  At any point our life story can change, and you might not have the pen to write the final chapter.  Please supply the ink for all these children, Sam included.  Help them write their own story.  Don’t let the chain of love end with you…

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

Remembering the ‘Little Parts’

We’ve all got ‘em.

Little Parts—wrists, calves—maybe a deltoid or two.  Parts that just don’t grow—parts that we hate to train, because they don’t blow up.

They don’t pump.

They lag behind—worse, they make us feel like we’re missing out on a great workout—(for some body part we can pump—) every single time we hit them.

So we don’t.

Hit them, that is—and if we do, we don’t do it as often—if we do, we don’t do it as hard.

Its basic bodybuilding psychology, really; we focus on the muscle groups that make us feel good.  The muscle groups that we know we can count on for results—the body parts we know will swell every single time we work them.

We’re visual beasts, us bodybuilders—and we want to leave the gym or the basement or the club feeling like we’ve accomplished something.  

We want to leave feeling like we look as huge as we’re feeling.

Before we know it, a pattern develops—and before we know it, we’ve got Little Parts.

All of a sudden, they’re staring back at us in the mirror—those imperfections, those flaws in-an-otherwise-flawless physique.  They’re holding us back, affecting our symmetry, our proportions—and, if we’re blessed enough to get up on that stage—they’re undoubtedly holding us back on those judges scorecards.

So, what’s the fix?

The best advice (—for those of us cursed with Little Parts, and for those of us not yet blown-up enough to notice them— )is to incorporate them, wholeheartedly, into our workout routines.

It reads easy, sure; trust me, though—if you’re developed enough everywhere else to have Little Parts, then you’ve developed habits of not training them in the first place.

So,

Yes, this means priority training.

Yes, this means looking like a fool wrist-curling five pounds.

And, yes, this means you’re not always going to pump the way you would on a regular arms day.

Put in the work—

–convince yourself that you can catch those lagging calves up to your massive quads—

–and maybe—

–just maybe—

–you can make your Little Parts a bad memory.

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                                                                                                                                                

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

Getting Back Into It

Maybe you’re not a beginner anymore.
Maybe you haven’t been for years.
Maybe you’ve surpassed your expectations, maybe you’ve competed; maybe you’ve made it just about as far in the Bodybuilding game as you could ever dream—
–and then maybe you blow your knee out.

Injuries are part of the sport—any sport—and hardcore lifters know the perils of a torn ACL, or a rotator cuff, or quad; really, the possibilities are endless, and they’re only one bad rep away.

For the dedicated, there really is nothing worse than watching weeks, months—years—of progress flushed down the drain.  (And let’s face it, there are only so many times you can watch Pumping Iron on the couch before you’re clamoring to get back in the gym.)

So, maybe you’ve been off for a while.
Maybe that rotator cuff is where it should be, and you’ve reached that glorious day when you can get your skinny ass back in the basement.  
Problem is—in the months you’ve been laid off—and whether or not you’ve noticed any substantial decreases in mass and definition—you just feel defeated.

Like all that hard work is gone—
–like it will take years to get your strength back to where it should be.

All of a sudden you’re procrastinating; ‘I’ve got laundry to do,’ or ‘The kids will be home in three hours,’ or ‘I’ll get a good rest today, and crush it tomorrow.’
Problem is, tomorrow is Tuesday.
And Tuesday is filled with excuses.

The best thing to do, tough guy, is realize that it took guts to grab the ‘45’s in the beginning; back when you were a bodybuilding nobody, back when you were even less than you perceive (—and, probably, incorrectly—) you are now.

Weightlifters are, by definition, an anxious lot—every quarter-inch scrutinized and measured and catalogued; every new cut or line or vein a cause for celebration.  Simply by realizing, ‘Hey, I’ve done this before’ and grabbing those dumbbells (—trust me, your body won’t care if they’re ‘45’s or ‘5’s—) you’re taking that all-important first step.

The step from the couch, to the bench.

Besides, you’ve seen Pumping Iron enough to know that (Spoiler alert Katz isn’t going to find that T-Shirt.

Eccentric muscle contraction for fat loss
By: Helgi Gudfinnsson

When talking about fat burning exercise program the main focus has been on repetitions and sets, as well as rest periods. What has been left out of the discussion is tempo and muscle contraction. Chad Waterbury wrote an article recently about how fast concentric lifts would burn more fat. His study showed that by doing concentric lifts as fast as you can your metabolism increases more after exercising than if you use slow tempo or 2 seconds. Increasing metabolism after exercising is one of my main focus points when creating a fat burning exercise system. To reach maximum metabolism after exercising the key is to choose the correct exercises.  

What I am going to talk about in this article is muscle contraction, mainly eccentric muscle contraction. Like we all know, eccentric muscle contraction has many pros but what we don´t know as much about is how important it is in the aspect of burning fat. Two studies have shown that when using eccentric muscle concentration we can increase fat up to 48-72 hours after exercising. Before continuing, let’s look at one of the two studies I mentioned above to show you the importance of eccentric muscle contraction when burning fat.

Hackney et.al. did the research to explore eccentric muscle contraction, full body resistance training and high volume on resting energy expenditure.

Method
16 college students were chosen to participate in the study and they were divided into two groups. One group had already lifted weights for at least 6 months continuously but the other group had not done any lifting for 6 months or more. Hackney did all kinds of tests on the two groups, such as body composition and resting energy expenditure. The subjects needed to keep a dietary log for four days and comment on their muscle soreness after exercising. The exercise system the subjects followed was this:

• Rotation 1: Chest press, leg press, biceps curl
• Rotation 2: Lat pulldown, Leg curl, Triceps extension
• Rotation 3: Shoulder press and Leg extension

Each subject performed 8 sets, 6 repetitions, 30 seconds rest between sets, and 3 minutes rest between rotations. Using 1 second concentric and 3 second eccentrics.  The first 3 sets were warm up sets or familiarization phase but sets 4 to 8 were workout sets.

The results were that the resting expenditure increased up to 72 hours after exercising and on average it increased 9.2% with the group that had not lifted any weights for 6 months but 7.9% with the group that had been lifting. The main reasons given were eccentric muscle contraction and high volume.

But what causes the fact that the fat burn increases so long after exercising?

There are many factors associated with elevation of resting energy expenditure in the post exercise period.  These factors include elevated body temperature, resynthesis of glycogen from lactic acid and resynthesis of ATP and CP.  This is all happens within the rapid and slow component of EPOC which can last up to 24 hours.  But what happens after that?  What seems to be triggering the elevations of EPOC between 24 and 72 hours is associated with delayed-onset muscle soreness and the muscle repair process.  Increased protein degradation and synthesis will have an impact on REE elevations and also events associate with inflammatory process (mobilizing cytokines and neutophils).  

The workout

Since the exercise program in Hackney´s research takes about an hour I decided to make my own version of it because I like to keep my exercise programs short and effective, no longer than 45 minutes. In this exercise program I want to focus on eccentric muscle contraction so that we can increase the metabolism as long as possible afterwards, so here is the setup:    

Week 1 and 2 (intro phase)

You will alternate between workouts A and B for example Monday workout A, Wednesday workout B and Friday workout A and so on.

Workout A

Rotation 1: no rest between the exercises
Back/Front Squat
DB Chest press
Barbell bent over row
6 reps, 4 sets, 90 seconds rest at the end of the Rotation, 4 seconds eccentric and fast concentric, intensity 80% .

Rotation 2: no rest between the exercises
Lunge
Push up variations (Spiderman)
Inverted row
12 reps, 2 sets, 60 seconds rest at the end of the Rotation, 3 seconds eccentric and fast concentric.  Intensity 75%

Workout B

Rotation 1: no rest between the exercises
Deadlift
DB shoulder press
Chin up or Pull up
6 reps, 4 sets, 90 seconds rest at the end of the Rotation, 4 seconds eccentric and fast concentric, intensity 80%

Rotation 2: no rest between the exercises
Single leg romanian deadlift
Prone Jackknife push up
Lat pulldown
12 reps, 2 sets, 60 seconds rest at the end of the Rotation, 3 seconds eccentric and fast concentric.  Intensity 75%

Week 3 and 4

Everything is the same but you will increase the volume by 2 sets so now you are doing 6 sets instead of 4 sets in Rotation 1.

Week 5 and 6

Everything is the same but you will increase the volume by 2 sets so now you are doing 8 sets instead of 6 sets in the first Rotation 1.

The reason for low volume exercises in week 1 and 2 is that people are not used to eccentric muscle contraction. My experience is that people get very sore when they start the program and if I would keep the volume higher, there would be a great risk of injuries. Also since I use trisets, a lot of energy goes into each set and in my opinion 4 sets are enough at the beginning.

Conclusion

As you can see by Hackney‘s research using slow eccentric muscle contraction will increase you resting metabolic rate up to 72 hours.  To make your exercise program more effective you should put more emphasis on eccentrics if you don´t then you could shorten the metabolism after exercising instead of increasing it to the maximum.  

Helgi Gudfinnsson is a personal trainer living in Grindavik, Iceland. He is the author of the book “Your Ultimate Fat Loss System”
(www.yourultimatefatlosssystem.com)

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

Maybe you don’t look like Arnold.
Maybe you don’t want to.

Maybe you’re more of a Steve Reeves fan—that old-school, farm-boy Hollywood physique.  
Then again, maybe you thought Brad Pitt in Fight Club was about as good as a body could get.

Regardless of your aesthetic, chances are you’ve seen some dude on the street, or the squat rack, or the screen that made you feel a little…out of shape.  There’s no shame in admitting that those quads are working for him—and there’s no shame in using it as motivation to get your sorry ass back in the gym.

It doesn’t make you weird or weak to admit to yourself that somebody else out there is rocking the look you want to.  Rather, it can be healthy—an ideal, a goal, a target.  Whatever your motivation may be, finding it could be the key to kick-starting a stagnant workout routine.

We’re competitive creatures, after all—say you haven’t seen Johnny from Accounting in three months, and then he kills you on the squash court.  Not only are you utterly humiliated from the ass kicking, but your scrawny frame is winded halfway through, and the only tired thing about Johnny is watching his Polo try to hold in his triceps.  Rather than going home and bitching about how his macro-diet and split-routine is giving him an unfair advantage, why not spend five minutes getting him to detail his theory on pyramid sets?

Or, the next time you’re watching a Stallone double-bill on the Action Channel, and your girl (–if your fortunate enough to have a girl who’ll watch a Stallone double-bill–) can’t shut up about how cranked he is, hop online during commercial and download his Rocky III workout program.

Trust me, she’ll find that sexier than you complaining about how many D-Bols he must have been on.

Remember, the first step towards getting the kind of body you’ve always admired is telling yourself you can have it.

There’s no great secret formula, no concoction of pharmaceuticals (–well, for the most part, anyways,) no magic wand to wave that gave your favorite star the physique they parade around your living room on movie night.

They simply wanted it, and worked for it.
You say you want it too–

–what are you willing to do for it?