Get Bigger and Stronger in the Gym - Advanced Muscle Building Workouts

I thought I would take the time today to share some advanced weight training programs with you. If you are looking to but on size and strength in the gym, I suggest you take a look at these articles and discover how to get bigger and stronger building lots of muscle mass.

There are plenty of different programs listed. Take a look around, try a few and se what works best for you. Have fun and I hope you get lots of great ideas and new muscle growth.

• Advanced Mass Building <-- Click to visit

• The Torso Solution by Christian Thibadeau
  

• Most Powerful Program Ever? The HSS-100 Program — Christian Thibaudeau Bodybuilding With an Edge <-- Click to visit

• Christian Thibaudeau , 12 weeks to war-ready guns! <-- Click to visit

• Christian Thibaudeau, Pendulum Bodybuilding <-- Click to visit

• Chad Waterbury, Bodybuilding's Next Frontier <-- Click to visit

• Vince Gironda, 10-8-6-15 routine <-- Click to visit

• Vince Gironda, Train 21 days rest 7 routine <-- Click to visit

• Mike Mahler, Uncharted Leg Routines to Pack on Size <-- Click to visit

• Christian Thibadeau, The Gironda System <-- Click to visit

• Mike Robertson, High Performance Core Training <-- Click to visit

• Charles Poliquin, New Arm Size, Right Now <-- Click to visit

• Chad Waterbury, Hypertrophy Booster Shots <-- Click to visit

• Charles Poliquin, Hamstrings times two <-- Click to visit

• Alwyn Cosgrove, The "No Curl" Biceps Program, Part 2 <-- Click to visit

• Mike Mahler, Heavy Duty GTG <-- Click to visit

• Pendulum Training <-- Click to visit

• Renegade Bodybuilding <-- Click to visit

• Hardcore Bodybuilding Routine <-- Click to visit
  

Are you Strong To The Core?

This is an interesting article written by my friend Nick Nilsson. This is a good little article abou core strength and improving your weightlifting performance as well as your sports performance. Plus a good strong core can help eliminate back pain. Nick gives you 2 core exercises for a good strong midsection.


If you were to ask me which muscle group in your entire body you could work to get the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time, I would tell you without hesitation, "the core." Strengthening the core can realize tremendous benefits to anyone regardless of his or her training experience and can do so very quickly.

But what is the core?

The core, as it's known in strength training circles, consists of all the muscles in your abdominal and lower back areas. This includes all the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, transverse abdominus and intercostals) as well as the muscles associated with the spine (the erector spinae group) and the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas, collectively known as the iliopsoas).

These muscles all work in harmony to provide stabilization for your body and to transfer power from the legs to the upper body and vice versa. The core muscles also function to keep your insides in, where they belong!

And why is strengthening the core so important?

Weak core muscles contribute to all kinds of problems in the body, the most prevalent of which is lower back pain. By strengthening the muscles that help support the spine and improve posture, you can dramatically decrease the symptoms of lower back pain.

Picture your spine as a column of soda cans stacked one on top of the other. If you wanted to keep that column standing up under stress, what do you think would work better: a "tenser" bandage (as is used for wrapping injured ankles) or Scotch tape? Sure the tape would keep the cans together but the cans wouldn't receive a whole lot support, would they?

When you strengthen the muscles of the core, you are in effect turning that Scotch tape into a nice, tight "tenser" bandage, increasing the amount of support that your spine gets.

Core training also has the potential to greatly improve sports performance. Watch a baseball pitcher throw a pitch in slow motion. The power of the throw starts at the legs, gets transferred through the abdominal area (a.k.a. the core) then ends up in the arm where the ball is released. Imagine how much speed and power would be lost from that throw if the core muscles couldn't efficiently transfer the force from the legs to the throwing arm.

The core is the one area of the body that will always give you a great return on your investment.

So how do I train my core muscles?

Exercises that work the abdominals and the lower back are the staples of core training. Also, exercises that target the stabilization and power-transfer duties of the core muscles are very effective.

The most basic abdominal training exercise is the standard crunch. You can go to the following URL to see the proper technique for this exercise:

http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx/betteru&l=1017

But I've got an exercise for you that blows the standard crunch right out of the water. The equipment required for this exercise: one rolled-up towel.

The exercise is known as the Abdominal Sit-Up. It uses a sit-up-like movement but focuses directly on the abdominal muscles rather than the hip flexors (which a regular sit-up does). It is also very safe for your lower back. Another advantage it has over the standard crunch is that it targets the stretched (arched back) range of motion of the abs, which is totally missed in standard floor crunch.

How To Do It:

Lie on your back on the floor. Roll up a towel or mat and slip it underneath your lower back, just above the waistband (the size of the towel affects your body position during this movement - use a fairly large towel).

Your knees should be bent about 90 degrees. Keep your feet close together and knees fairly wide apart. This prevents the hip flexors from having a direct line of pull, helping to minimize their involvement.

Do not anchor your feet or have someone hold them down. This automatically activates the hip flexors. You will get the most out of this exercise by minimizing their involvement.

The difficulty of this exercise depends on where you hold your hands. The hardest position is above your head at arms-length, then beside your head, then across your chest, then straight down between your legs or at your sides. Start with the easiest first then progress to the other positions as you get stronger.

You are now ready to begin.

* Keeping your torso straight and stiff, start the sit-up by tightening your lower abs then lifting your upper body off the floor.
* As you continue up, imagine trying to push your face up against the ceiling (think up, not around).
* When you reach about 25 to 30 degrees above horizontal, hold there for a second or two and squeeze your abs hard.
* Keep your lower back in contact with the towel at all times and always maintain tension in the abs.
* Lower yourself down slowly and under control. Do not just drop back to the ground. The negative portion of this exercise is extremely effective.
* Remember to adjust your arm position depending on the strength of your abs (see above).

You can see pictures of how this exercise is done by going to:
Incline Ab Sit-Ups

If you are a beginning trainer, this is a good starting variation of the Abdominal Sit-up.

Set an incline sit-up board to a slight incline. If you don't have an incline sit-up board, you can use an adjustable incline bench, a decline bench, a Step platform with a riser under one of the ends or a flat bench with something under one end. You can even use a propped-up 2 x 6 board!

Your head should be on the higher end with your feet placed on the floor.

The execution is exactly the same. The only difference is that the tension on the abs is much less due to the greatly improved leverage in this position, allowing even people feel that their abs aren't strong enough to do the exercise.


Lying Superman Raises - An Exercise For The Lower Back

Though this exercise has a rather unique name, it is an excellent strengthening exercise for the lower back that you can do almost anywhere.

How To Do It:

Lie face down on the floor with your arms stretched out directly overhead (like Superman flying, hence the name).

Raise your left arm and right leg into the air at the same time, also raising your chest slightly off the floor. Hold there for a second and squeeze the muscles of your lower back. Lower your limbs back to the ground then raise your right arm and left leg and hold for a second. You can push down with the hand that is on the ground to help raise your other arm and chest higher off the ground.

This exercise, even though it only uses your limbs as resistance, provides an excellent way to strengthen the lower back muscles.

Conclusion:

These two exercises will give you a good place to start with core training. You can begin improving your core strength by doing these exercises 3 times a week for 2 to 3 sets each. Make core training a priority in your exercise routine and you will rapidly reap the benefits of having a stronger, more injury-proof midsection and back.

------------------

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST"

My Workout - Full Body 03/10/10

This is my workout from Wednesday. It took longer than expected so broken into two parts, I did an AM session and the PM session.

Here is my strength and power workout.

Hang Snatch: 4x3
Front Squat: 5x5
Weighted Pull-Ups: 4x6
Shoulder Press: 4x6
Dumbbell Bench: 3x8
Seated Row, Close Grip: 3x8RDL's: 3x8

My PM Workout

TRX Tricep Extensions: 3x10
Band Push Downs: 3x15
Barbell Curls: 3x8
Band Curls: 3x15
Shrugs: 3x15Dragonflies: 3x6

Grab Your Free Testosterone Boosting Report Click the Link below

Click Here --> Men Discover How to Naturally Increase Testosterone For Muscle Growth

2010 Arnold Classic Winner - Kai Green

2010 Arnold Classic

This years winner - Kai Green

There were 13 bodybuilders competing at this years Arnold Classic, and the American Kai Green cam out on top and received a $130,000 cheque.

Greene also won the Most Entertaining Posing Award and the accompanying $10,000 prize.

In second place was Phil Heath, also of the United States. His second-place finish earned him $75,000.

To finish out the top three was Branch Warren, collecting a $50,000 paycheck.

This time the rest of the field panned out:

4th it was Dexter Jackson, earning $30,000
5th place finisher was Toney Freeman collecting $15,000
6th Ronny Rockel, of Germany received $10,000

Click the link below to learn How to naturally increase testosterone.
Click Here --> Men Naturally Increase Testosterone

My Workout ~ Full Body - 03/08/10

I think I'll continue with this full body three day split for another six weeks. After that I think I'm going to move to a more conventional bodybuilding workout program. Here's the template I used for Monday's full body workout.

Hang clean: 4x3

Bench Press: 2x5, x3, x2, x1
- Superset with
One Arm Dumbbell Row: 4x6

Bulgarian Split Squat: 3x5
- Superset with
Hammer Strength Pull down: 3x8

Reverse Hyper's: 3x8
- Superset with
Dumbbell Incline: 3x8

that about did for Monday's workout. I ran out of time but I wanted to add some biceps and triceps, I may have to do a little extra next day. The single I did on the bench was not a max, it was heavy but it was still way expected to do without a struggle.

He sure to visit my men's fitness site just click the link below
Click Here --> fitness and exercise tips from men

My workout full body03/05/2010

Fridays full body workout is as follows.

1. Push jerks: 4 sets of 3
2. deadlifts: 4 sets of 5
3. dumbbell chest press: three sets of six superset with
4. seated rows, close grip: 3 sets of six
5. Arnold press: three sets of eight - superseted with
6. pull down, close grip: three sets of eight
7. weighted dips: three sets of 10 - superset with
8. glute ham raises: three sets of eight
9. and to finish things off for the day EZ bar curls: three sets of 10

I almost forgot, I did some conditioning as well. A friend and I pushed the prowler about 40 m alternating between the two of us at the end of each length, this continued for about 10 minutes. I'm looking to get bigger and stronger so it's not often I do conditioning, plus some fairly lean to start with so I don't need too much of it anyway. I will tell you this, that prowler all most killed me. I can't remember the last time my quads felt such a burn.

If he hadn't been over time and site lately drop on by as I have a few new posts up just click the link below. Click here --> Health Fitness Exercise For Men

P.S. stay tuned for a football training manual I am producing. I am putting together a complete strength and power training program for college and high school football players. If you're looking to gain size strength and power I recommend you keep a lookout for it. I will be giving away a few copies so be sure to leave a comment as to why you would like a free copy and what you hope to gain from it.

My Weight Training Workout - Full Body ~ 03/01/10

This Actually Monday's Workout

I am still in limbo as to when going to do for the next weight training phase. My old training partner got himself a job with the Buffalo Bills, so he's moved away. So what I've been doing the meantime is to jump in on other workouts, and hit a few of my own.

On Monday I jumped in with a friend and this is what we did.

Start off with power cleans from the floor.
The next exercise was to bench press.
From there it was on to dumbbell Bulgarian split squats, super seted it with one arm rows.
After that was completed it was time to move on to the supplemental exercises.
First off was a shoulder combination, from raise, side raise, rear delt raise.
To finish off we ended with burnout one arm push-ups.

Not a bad little workout quick and effective.

click on the link below to get your free e-book on how to naturally increase in testosterone

click here ==> Naturally Increase in Testosterone Levels

5 Vegetarian Weight Loss Mistakes Caused By Advertisers

the 5 biggest weight loss dieting mistakes people make when switching to vegetarian meal plans check it out click below!
Click here --> 5 Vegetarian Weight Loss Mistakes

Canada Sets Medal Record

Record Gold Count

Canada set a games record with 14 gold medals, that is the most by any team in winter Olympic history.

Congratulations to all the athletes. I posted an Olympic fat loss tribute workout a little while back go check it out, click below.
Click here --> Olympic Fat Loss Workout

Canada Wins Gold, Twice

2010 Olympic hockey gold goes to Canada.

Congratulations to the men's hockey team, Canada wins gold over the US. It took a sudden death overtime goal to do it but Canada managed to pull it off after the Americans had tied regulation play with under one minute left to play. The game-winning goal goes to Sidney Crosby of Nova Scotia. He grew up not too far from myself, makes me proud to see him do so well. He now has a Stanley Cup and the Olympic gold medal, what a great way to end two hockey seasons.


I posted an Olympic fat loss tribute workout a little while back go check it out, click below.
Click here --> Olympic Fat Loss Workout

The Can't-Fail Mass-Gain Triad...

Eat Big!
Train Big!
Sleep Big!

Thought you guys may enjoy this article By Charles Staley

This is the first part in a 2 part series. Enjoy! Part 2 will follow soon.

As you can see from the title there are three main components to successfully gaining muscle mass as you get big and strong:

1. eat, eat lots of clean nutritious food
2. train, this is a no-brainer, you have to work hard in the gym to get big
3. sleep, this may be a surprise, but at least eight hours as needed you need your muscles opportunity to grow in size

If you've taken this advice to heart and acted in it, you've already experienced the synergistic power of reprogramming your metabolism.

If you haven't incorporated these principles into your mass building program, you better jump on it if you want positive results.

The rationale behind the "Big 3" philosophy is rooted in simple evolutionary biology.

1. In order to pass on your genes to the next generation, you need to survive long enough to reach sexual maturity. This means, among other things, having the ability to create a portable energy supply in the form of excess fat deposits.
2. to create an excess bodyfat, you've got to be able to taken in more calories than you need, on a regular basis.
3. part of the bodyfat equation is carrying limiting the amount of muscle having only minimum needed to survive. Muscle is metabolically expensive to create and maintain.

Side Note to # 3: that is why I insist that in order to have an effective fat loss program you need to weight train and build muscle.

As you digest these big 3 I am sure a body type comes to mind; skinny-fat. With that in mind, it should be of no surprise that that's a common physique. If you're in survival mode that will be great, otherwise it's less than ideal.

You're reading this because you want to get bigger and stronger and probably don't care much about the evolutionary stuff. Mother nature doesn't really want you to get all big and jacked, but I do.

Which leads to the solution.

You've gotta fool mother nature and your genetics. This will happen because you will:

1. convincing her that you actually need more muscle in order to survive, that is where the training comes in
2. that you're taking in plenty of food, eating well

the "Big 3" in greater detail

Training

Training refers to just a few tactics and principles. These concepts are not controversial, cutting-edge, hard to understand and are easy to implement. What I am saying is that they're not "sexy."

If you're among the 87% of readers who just closed this browser window- SEE YA!.

For the rest of you, let's explore the tried-and true components of successful mass-gaining programs:

1) Restrict your training to multi-joint movements performed with free weights.
What this includes is:

• any squats
• all deadlifts
• presses of your choice
• all pull-ups too

Now for the to be avoided exercises:

• any exercise machine, including - pec dec, leg curl or extension, even the leg press.
• no need for curls, ab exercises, or calf movements
• avoid all running, swimming, cycling, aerobics, group classes.
• pilates, functional training, spinning, tae-bo, yoga, body pump
• any device/method you see on a TV infomercial, including Total Gym, Bowflex, P90X, The Perfect Pushup, Iron Gym

there are plenty of things that have been missed, but if you're in doubt just remember the rule: restrict your training to multi-joint movements performed with free weights


2) Train 3-4 days per week.

Not 1, 2, 5, 6, or 7, or any number higher than that (no two-a-days, in other words). Can you train 3 days one week and 4 the next? Yes. This should be the most simple recommendation to understand and follow, so I'll move on to the next point…

3) On your "work sets," use weights that are heavy enough to prevent the performance of more than 10 reps in a single effort. Go heavy!

Yes, that means you have a lot of flexibility in the weights you select, and the set/rep brackets you use, all the way from singles with super heavy weights to 10 reps with more moderate weight. There is no single "ideal" set x rep equation- anything in the "10 reps and under" category will prove effective. Personally I prefer eight and under but 10 will suffice

What really matters is how many "quality" repetitions you perform in a session. By "quality" I mean reps where you expose large muscles to high tensions. Let's explore that in just a bit more detail…

Creating High Tensions: Load VS Speed

If you load up a bare to a weight that's just slightly less than you can lift, and perform one rep, you'll have exposed your muscles to a very high tension- that's probably obvious. What's less obvious to a lot of people is that you can get similarly high tensions by lifting lighter weights.

The way you do this is with acceleration. Using between say, 65 and 75 percent of a weight you could lift only once, performing sets of maybe 2-5 reps per set, using as much controlled speed as possible on the "positive" (concentric) phase of the lift, creates as much tension as a very heavy weight would.

And it's both safer and more fun to boot. So in your mass-training, use a variety of weights, but always move every rep as fast as possible.


4) Limit (And Time) Your Training Sessions.

Most experts would say that 60 minutes is a maximum ideal length for a weight-training session, but I'll go out on a limb and use 90 minutes instead.

The reason for my recommendation is that if you're using effective exercises (as described earlier), you'll need a relatively large number of warm-up sets before you can tackle your work sets for that exercise. So for example, you don't need to do much of a warm-up for tricep kickbacks or the adductor machine, but you do need a significant warm-up for a deadlift workout or a heavy bench press session. This is especially true once you get stronger- which you will.


5) Limit each training session to no more than 4 exercises.

The reason for this recommendation is dictated by the previous suggestion regarding workout length. If your total session is limited to 90 minutes, and assuming that you're using effective exercises as recommended earlier, you'll only have 22.5 minutes per exercise, and that includes warm-up sets. That's not a lot of time if you're working hard. So remember, the recommendation is no more than 4 exercises- in many cases, 3 is even better, and very often 2 exercises per session is absolutely ideal.

It's not about hitting the muscle from all angles, muscle confusion, or any other bullshit you've picked up on the internet somewhere- it's about picking 1-2, or maybe 3 big, hard movements, and working the piss out of them.


Stay tuned for Part 2!

About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach. Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

click here for your free testosterone report --> Naturally Boost Testosterone Levels
if you buy any supplements click here to save hundreds --> Free Supplement Review Guide

How To Continue With Progressive Overload

This is a quick excerpt from my Mens Exercise and Fitness Blog.

I think anyone who has been in weightlifting for a while knows about progressive overload. Basically the idea is to do more work each week. This this may make you wonder, how can you continually increase the workload every single week.

There are some individuals that burned out every set every week, not only is this difficult mentally, but physically it will take a toll on you. So by now you must be baffled as to what to do. If that's the case over to my site and check out my new article:

Click Here - > Sustainable Progression in Weightlifting

Todays workout 02/22/10

I did a full body workout today. It will just be a quick recap as i am working on my new site. For those of you who have not seen it go take a look. Mens Fitness and More

The site is still a work in progress, as I am a fitness guy and not a web guy.

Well this was todays workout in a nutshell

started off with clean pulls
incline bench
DB bent over row
Swiss Ball Leg curls
Shoulder Combo

25 Body Weight Exercises

I put up a post about different bodyweight exercises that can replace some of your traditional exercises. I am a big fan of body weight exercises and use them all the time in my workouts. One reason I like them so much is because you are moving your body, not moving a weight. It is much bettter to mover your body than it is to move a stack of weights.

If any of these become too easy you can always add a weight vest or some other kind of load.

Click Here --> Bodyweight Exercises

Discover How to Boost Your Bodies Testosterone

Naturally Increase Your Testosterone

This also is the principal male hormone and an anabolic steroid. I'm sure you already know this, I thought I'd mention it anyway.

The benefits of testosterone:

1. has an anabolic effect - that is to say it affects the growth of muscle mass and strength in addition to increase bone density and strength
   
2. it also has an androgenic effect as well - helps develop the sex organs, deepens the voice, growth of facial hair
3. libido

as guys a testosterone level drops. This decrease in testosterone levels has effect on muscle mass and strength, and sexual functions. To help prevent this in keeper testosterone levels high but a few things you can do. I'm I say I'm giving away a free report on how to increase your testosterone naturally. Grab your copy today.

click on the link below to get your free e-book on how to naturally increase in testosterone

click here -- Naturally Increase in Testosterone Levels

Unusual training style to combat belly fat

Today I've got a great post written by fat loss guru John Romaniello of Roman Fitness Systems.

You can expect to discover a few interesting things, such as:

1. The exact hormone most responsible for stubborn belly fat
2. The "secret" hormone no one talks about that you NEED more of to fight off the hormone from #1
3. A new, unusual training style that has been show to increase the hormone from #2
   

I GUARANTEE you'll learn something new:

I posted the article over on my weight loss blog so go take a look:
click here-- Brand NEW information to fight belly fat


Here is a quick glimpse of John Romaniello's article: Suffering from Belly Fat?

Many suffer from regional fat storage. The hips thighs and stomach are often the big problem areas. Body fat may be all over but there are ares that we struggle with the most to lose fat.

This is in part due to your bodies hormonal environment. The hormones most out of sorts determine where the last bit of fat is stored.

John's article, Suffering from Belly Fat? talks mostly about belly fat. you can check out the article here ==> Brand NEW information to fight belly fat.

One of the hormones mentioned in the fitness community and media is the relationship between belly fat and cortisol. Many experts believe, the higher your cortisol levels, the more belly fat you’re likely to have.

If you reduce your cortisol levels, you're likely to reduce your belly fat.

I’m sure you’ve seen the late night TV ads trying to sell you anti-cortisol pills. Even if they worked, which they don’t,a hormone like cortisol can’t be fooled by pills.

The better option is to fight hormones WITH hormones. To combat cortisol and belly fat growth hormone is the hormone of choice.

Also known as Human Growth Hormone or simply GH, growth hormones is produced in the pituitary gland. It is primarily responsible for growth, plus it is one of the most effective things in the world to offset cortisol.

A simple solution to reducing cortisol levels and thus reducing belly fat is to increase growth hormone levels.

Did you know that there are certain types of training that are actually exceedingly effective at producing growth hormone?

John's article, Suffering from Belly Fat? talks about the training exercises you can do that increase growth hormone. you can check out the article here ==> Brand NEW information to fight belly fat.

For those interested in a sneak peek I will tell you it involves lactic acid production. But for more details about to visit my post.

Brand NEW information to fight belly fat

And if all THAT wasn’t enough, lactic acid training is also just a great fat loss training methods, so you’ll lose fat overall.

If you want to fight your cortisol issues, you need growth hormone. And for that you need lactic acid training. Utilizing John's method and you will be one step closer to fighting off your belly fat for good.

And in his new program (which is available at a full 52% OFF until tomorrow), Final Phase Fat Loss, provides you with specific types of exercises and workouts to combat:

1. 1. Estrogen, "man boobs" and lower-body fat (combatted with "Density" training and Testosterone)
2. Insulin, and your "love handles (combatted with "Dynamic" training and IGF-1)
3. And of course, Cortisol and belly fat (combatted with specific "Lactic Acid" training and Growth Hormone)
   

If you struggle with "problem area" fat storage, this is THE program to set you free. And right now, it's still 52% OFF (but not for much longer).

click here to -- End Regional Fat Storage

P.S. "Problem area" fat storage SUCKS. Get the "new" solution:

-- Visit Now

healthy natural weight loss tips

5 Practical Suggestions For Effective Programming

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

1 - Don't Use "Bodypart Splits"

Here are two big problems with bodypart splits:

1) You limit yourself to relatively ineffective exercises. For example, if you have a "hamstring day," you can't really do squats of any kind, or deadlifts of any kind (The most effective hamstring exercises), because both involve not only hams, but also quads, low back, and core stability, among other things. On a "chest day" you can't do any form of bench (The most effective "chest" exercise), because it involves delts and triceps as well as pecs.

So if you go on the assumption that each "bodypart" needs to be trained at least twice a week (an assumption I happen to ascribe to), you'd need a schedule like this:

Monday: Chest & Back
Tuesday: Hams & Shoulders
Wednesday: Biceps & Triceps
Thursday: Abs & Calves
Friday: Chest & Back
Saturday: Hams & Shoulders
Sunday: Biceps & Triceps, Abs & Calves

2) Which leads to the fact that: of course you can arrange things differently, but anyway you slice it, you're training 6-7 days a week, using inefficient exercises.

A somewhat better "compromise" might be to have 2 "upper body" days and two "lower body" days. Now your weekly split looks something like this:

Monday: Lower body
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: Upper body
Thursday: Lower body
Friday: Off
Saturday: Upper body
Sunday: OFF

A schedule I prefer even more is to involve as much of your body as possible on every workout. This requires a bit more creativity in order to avoid redundancy (see point # 3 below), so here's an example to get your started:

Monday: Back Squat, Bench Press, Low Cable Row
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: Step-Ups, Dumbbell Overhead Press, Chins
Thursday: Front Squat, Dumbbell Bench Press, Suitcase Row
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Lunges, Barbell Military Press, Pullups
Sunday: OFF

With these last two examples, you have 3 days off, plus you can do the best exercises: squats, pulls, Olympic lifts, rows, lunges, presses, etc.

2- Use A Weekly Cycle

By a "cycle" I simply mean a recurring or repeating unit of time into which you place every exercise you think you must or should do. Using my last example, you obviously wouldn't (or actually couldn't) try to back squat, front squat, lunge, step-up, chin, row, bench press, etc., etc., all in one day. You've gotta spread them out into a cycle.

If your cycle is too small (compressed) you won't be able to recover from all the work you've placed into it. On the other hand, if the cycle is too large (expanded), you'll get too much recovery, meaning, you'll be starting from scratch on each new cycle. The trick is to make your cycles just long enough to be able to achieve a full recovery, but not so long that your fitness levels recede back to the starting point with each new repeat.

The smalles possible cycle (in my opinion) is about 4 days. This would assume that you accomplish all desired work in two training sessions. The upper body-lower body split described earlier is one example. Using this, here's what your 4 day split would look like:

Monday: Upper Body
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: Lower Body
Thursday: OFF

Or, the 2 sessions could be distributed toward the front of the cycle, and the rest days placed at the rear:

Monday: Upper Body
Tuesday: Lower Body
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: OFF

Either of these two cycles could be repeated over and over with a good degree of success, for an indeterminate length of time. The problem I have with this split however, is that modern Western civilization is based on a 7-day week. It only makes sense therefore, to align your training cycle with your work/life schedule, which happens to be a 7-day cycle. For this reason, I think you're best off using a weekly split. Using the last example, it might look something like this:

Monday: Upper Body
Tuesday: Lower Body
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Upper Body
Friday: Lower Body
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF

3 - Seek Maximum Diversity And Minimum Redundancy

If you look back at the earlier example of a "whole body" split, you'll notice that although there is a repetition of fundamental movement patterns, there is minimal redundancy of specific movements. Here's that split again so you don't have to scroll back up to find it:

Monday: Back Squat, Bench Press, Low Cable Row
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: Step-Ups, Dumbbell Overhead Press, Chins
Thursday: Front Squat, Dumbbell Bench Press, Suitcase Row
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Lunges, Barbell Military Press, Pullups
Sunday: OFF

So again, you'll notice that we've covered pretty much every major movement pattern: vertical and horizontal pressing, vertical and horizontal pulling, squatting, lunging, etc.

4 - If A Movement Pattern Hurts, DO SOMETHING About It

Typically, if a lifter has a particular movement scheduled for a workout, and then the initial warm-up sets for that movement cause pain, the typical response is to simply skip the movement and hope it feels better the next time around. Bad idea. The solution is beyond the scope of this article, but let me suggest getting some medical advice for anything that hurts more than a week or so (as opposed to a year or so). Until you get a diagnosis, you don't know what you're dealing with. And you can't fix a problem if you can't define the problem.

5- Stay Flexible With Loading Patterns

Anyone who's followed by work for any length of time knows that I'm not a periodization fan. It's just simply impossible to predict how you're going to respond to a specific stimulus weeks in advance. So on each workout, go in with a plan, but also don't be afraid to modify the plan if things aren't panning out the way you hoped. If you were planning on 3 sets of 8, and on the first set it becomes obvious that you could probably hit a new PR for a single, I'd take that PR. Conversely, if you're planning on maxing out and it quickly becomes apparent that a new PR isn't in the cards, take the opportunity to get some volume in instead.

If you don't plan on being flexible, you're likely to fall apart and lose motivation when your workout fails to go your way. So prepare for the unexpected, and have a back-up plan in place before you go in. This way, you'll almost always have great training sessions, your motivation will stay high, and that leads to intense and consistent training. And that leads to great results.

About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Winter Olympics Workout for Fat Loss

The Winter Olympics are the hottest event in the world right now, and fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has created a special workout for you so that you can join in the excitement.
You can use this to burn fat at home with little or no equipment, and join in the spirit of the inspirational Olympic Games at the same time. Enjoy!
Over to Craig for the workout...

We'll start with the Moguls Warmup.
I chose the moguls for warm-up, because that's where the skiers do all those crazy moves and look really mobile. One of the coolest events, for sure.

1. Jumping Jacks - 20 reps
2. Duck Unders - 6 reps per side - You'll step to the side squat down and duck under as you move
3. Stickups - 10 reps
4. Seal Jumps - 20 reps - These are like jumping jacks, but cross your arms in front of you
5. Pushups -10 reps

(Let's pretend you wiped out so you have to do pushups to get back up)
Next, we move into the first event...

The Ski Jump
Do a 10 second hold in the bottom of squat and then do a vertical jump
Repeat 3 times,

then move to:
The Downhill Ski Race

1. 1 Long Jump
2. 10 Bodyweight Squats
3. 1 Long Jump
4. 6 Walking Diagonal Lunges per side
5. 1 Long Jump
6. 20-30 second squat hold in bottom position

Repeat 3 times.

Next up, we move to:

Speed Skating Strength Training

1. Skater Jumps or Lateral Lunges - 8 reps per side - Beginners must do the lateral lunges
2. Spiderman Pushups or Elevated Pushups - 8 reps per side - Let's pretend we've had another wipe-out...so we need to do some pushups to practice getting up
3. 1-leg Squats or Reverse Lunges - 12 reps per side (Beginners must do the reverse lunges)

Take a water break here, and then move to more strength training, this time courtesy of a weird sport...

Curling.

The Curling Strength Circuit
1. Lunges - 15 reps per side (you can use weights if you want)
2. Spiderman Climbs - 10 reps per side
3. Close-grip Pushups - 20 reps
4. Biceps Curls - 10 reps per side
(Why curls? Because curlers love to drink beer, so you can do dumbbell curls to practice for post-game beverages)

Take another water break.

Optional:

Hockey Strength Circuit - Use dumbbells or kettlebells

1. Split squat - 8 reps per side - to build strong skating muscles
2. 1-Arm Standing Shoulder Press - 8 reps per side - to practice raising your stick in the air after you score a goal
3. DB Row - 8 reps per side - to strengthen your upper body & grip for hockey fights

Figure Skating Bodyweight Strength Circuit

Now we combine bodyweight exercises for strength and finesse...

1. Reaching Lunge - 10 reps per side
2. 1-Leg RDL - 8 reps per side
3. Pushup or Dip or Overhead Press - 8 reps

Take another water break.

Sliding Sports Circuit - bobsled & luge

1. Bobsled Push - 20 seconds - For this, you'll need a "prowler sled" or a punching bag or weight plate that can be pushed across the floor to simulate the start of the bobsled race...or you could just do a 20 second sprint
2. Stability Ball Plank or Plank - 45 seconds - to simulate holding your body in the luge position
3. Side Planks - 25 seconds per side

Next up, the plain ol' weird Biathlon. A combination of cross-country
skiing and shooting. We'll modify it so that we do:

1. Shuttle Sprints - 15 seconds
2. Plank - 60 seconds - to simulate the shooting position And if possible, add in some type of skill component to simulate the shooting...maybe shoot some basketball free throws...or shoot a Supersoaker at a target on the wall...no wait, bad idea. But I'm sure you can come up with something. (Safety first!)

And that's it.

Finish with a water break, cool down, awarding of some gold medals, and closing ceremonies.

Hope you enjoyed that fun workout!

To find out more about these unique workouts and exercises, visit:

Free 4 week workout program  --- Free Workout

Jason CSCS

TTMembers.com

my workout Full body Friday 02/12/10

Today I continued with the full body workout design. To start things off I did hang cleans, I did sets of four up to 220 then I did triples. My last working set was at 265 for 2, I tried for third but missed.

My next lift was hang snatch. I did sets of four starting at 130 and went up to 200. I think the cleans tired me out because I tried 200 twice and missed both times.

All the other exercises were superseted. My first superset consisted of reverse lunges and pull-ups with a neutral grip. On my pull-ups I did 12 a body weight, 10 at 10, and two sets of 8 with 15 pounds added. on the reverse lunges I start with 130 for eight, then I did three sets of five at 175.

My next pairing was one arm row and standing shoulder press. The solar process started with 130 four 12, 160 for eight, and three sets of five at 170. The dumbbell row was a straight three sets at 100 done for 10 reps.

To finish things off I ended with dips and TRX reverse flies. With the TRX flies I did three sets of 12. On the dips a used 90 pounds and it 10 reps, 12, 15, the last set list failure.

This week wasn't very consistent, but I plan on getting back on track on Monday.

Oh, I forgot I did a few tire flips at the end of the workout as well.

click on the link below to get your free e-book on how to naturally increase in testosterone

click here -- Naturally Increase in Testosterone Levels

7-Step Detox Diet

Hello everyone,

It's about that time of year.

This is when folks slowly start dropping off from their workout program, or cheating on their diet.

And for a lot of folks, weekend eating - particularly SuperBowl weekend eating - is to blame.

When some folks binge eat, they go looking for a "detox diet", thinking that will reverse all their mistakes.

But I'm not here to recommend that...no way.

Instead, I have an amazing article - perhaps his best article ever - from fitness expert Craig Ballantyne about a simple

7-Step Detox
Diet that you can easily follow everyday...

...so that you never need to do an extreme 7-day or 2-week cleanse.

Here's Craig to tell it like it is:

I just got back from the SuperBowl and got a chance to sit in the
front row right in the endzone. It was really cool, and I also got
a chance to see "The Who" live in concert at half-time.

But, while I was there, I had a few extra "non-compliance" meals
than normal, so it got me thinking about detox diets.

I have a pretty strong opinion about detoxing, and I put together a simple 7-step detox diet plan that you can easily follow so that you never have to do a 16-day detox ever.

You see, my biggest "beef" with the entire theory of "detoxing" is this...

It is simply NOT possible to EVER detox your body.

Why?

Because it's such a vague statement.

What does "detox" mean?

How do you measure "detoxification"?

What do you even define as toxins?

And when do you officially become "detoxed"?

The answer is, "You don't."

It's impossible.

After all, every single second of every day your body produces carbon dioxide, which is a toxin.

And if you have deep belly fat, research shows that this "visceral fat" is constantly releasing inflammatory toxins into your blood.

Every second. The more fat you have, the more toxic you are.

Plus, every breath you take includes pollutants.

And even the water that you drink may contain "toxins".

So....what's the real deal on detoxing?

Listen, while every "expert" is out there arguing about tiny little details and "gurus" are trying to sell you on detoxing so they can sell supplements, the TRUTH is that you really just need to know afew steps to avoid getting toxic in the first place.

In my opinion, the #1 factor in living a "low toxin life" is simply to keep as much garbage out of your body in the first place, rather than depending on a 3-day, 7-day or even 16-day detox to be healthy.

So what do I do to prevent "toxin build-up" in the first place?

Well, I live the Turbulence Training Lifestyle of course, including my "7 Step Detox Nutrition Plan":

1) Start each day with a blender drink of berries, spinach or other greens, raw nuts (such as walnuts - rich in healthy fats), and other ingredients packed with antioxidants and healthy fats.

2) For lunch, have a large green salad with spinach, beans, broccoli, peppers, avocado, onions, etc.

3) Eat an organic apple a day. Certain fruits (i.e. apples, peaches, cherries, and strawberries) and vegetables have a higher exposure to pesticides, and you should choose organic when possible.

4) Eat RAW snacks only - of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Try using this one simple rule and limit all of your between meal snacks to raw fruit, raw vegetables, and/or raw nuts and I promise you'll drop the pounds because you'll be full on a smaller number of calories.

5) Drink Green Tea (2-3 cups) and filtered water (3 liters) instead of beverages that contain calories or chemicals.

6) Limit animal protein intake to only 2 servings per day. On most days, I'll one of the following: an "after workout" chocolate milk, organic eggs in the morning, or occasionally I'll have high quality meat at dinner.

You don't need to be a full vegetarian to live a longer life, but you should probably avoid eating meat 5 times per day, like people in Chicago.

(Hey Chicago, don't get mad at me for that...it was a born-and-raised Chicago native who told me 5 servings of meat per day was the average Chicago meat consumption.)

7) Minimize or completely eliminate alcohol intake.

While research does show that for men, up to 2 drinks per day may help cardiovascular health (and for women, up to one drink per day), I'm not about to recommend you start drinking.

After all, if you go above those limits, you start to destroy your health...and you risk addiction. Alcohol killed my father, and I don't want to see the same thing happen to you. Tread cautiously
with the booze.

So that's it. A simple 7-Step Detox Diet Plan.

By the way, it goes without saying that you should avoid:

- cigarettes
- trans-fats
- excessive amounts of sugar
- refined grains
- and 7-11 nacho cheese

Right?

Of course.

And you should be exercising to lose the belly fat...using proven methods, such as interval training - which is proven to beat long, slow cardio when it comes to burning dangerous belly fat.

Plus, you should be using Turbulence Training resistance supersets to burn more calories and sculpt your body.

If you've never used Turbulence Training, you can try it out today for less than the cost of a Superbowl hot dog.

Click here to get Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks:

=> Turbulence Training Trial

Simply follow those 7 nutrition guidelines and use the short TT workouts to cut out as many toxins from your body - without detoxing.

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

PS - I also believe you should avoid toxic relationships...

...so you need to take a hard look at the people you surround yourself with in life.

Do you have the right work friends?
Are you in the right relationships?
Do you spend enough time with the right family members?

Or are they toxic too?

Remember - you need social support for success in life and in fat loss...so surround yourself with positive people, like the good folks on the TT Member's forum.

If you need to dump the toxic folks and get positive social support, we'd love to see you on the forum and help you out.

You will get a free 3-month TT membership access to the forum when you try out Turbulence Training for only $4.95 today:

Turbulence Training Trial

Please click that link to get started losing fat & getting rid of the toxic baggage in your life.

You can can also get a free Turbulence Training Workout through the Link Below
lick Here -- Turbulence Training Fitness Muscle Building Fat Loss Workout

Is This Benchpress Flaw Holding You Back

I recently put up a new video. check it out click the link below -- common benchpress flaw

The benchpress may be the most popular list in the gym, and with good reason. Nothing builds upper body strength and power like the bench does. With the popularity of the bench press, you will see many different styles. For some this will not matter, but you're looking to stay healthy and bench maximum weight I suggest you take a look at my recent video.

Benchpress video addresses the most common flaw seen among lifters. Mike over at critical bench lets you in on what this flaw is and how to fix it. This one tip could save your bench, have you benching heavy weight for a long time to come.

Click the link below
-- fix this bench press flaw

http://www.mensfitnessandmore.com

Do Low Carb Diets Work Best For Burning Fat?

By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson

Do "low carb" diets burn fat?

In a word?

YES!

A recent look at 87 long term studies have proven that when it comes to burning body fat, reducing your carb intake DOES work best.

BUT...

"Low carb" diets can be VERY frustrating for most people and hard to stick to.

As an experiment last year, I went 10 full days with ZERO carbohydrates.

I mean, not even a blade of GRASS in my diet...straight protein...not a single carb or gram of fat in sight.

I went INSANE!

No, I don't mean that "figuratively"...I mean I LITERALLY went INSANE!

I went from near sobbing fits over my computer not working properly to hysterical laughter at the thought of even undertaking such an experiment.

You see, your brain NEEDS carbs just to function properly so doing without any at all was an extreme example of how your body does need to get some carbs to function.

So how can you burn fat using low carb diet plan WITHOUT worrying about whether you'll be fitted for a straight jacket?

Well here's what I tell my clients of my "Combat The Fat" program to allow them to easily burn fat and still enjoy carbohydrates...

...limit your intake of "dry" carbs and fill up on "wet" Carbs!

This is a little twist I've created that allows you to EASILY reduce the WRONG kind of carbs WITHOUT counting calories and NEVER going hungry.

You see, you need more carbs on training days to help your muscles recover from your exercise. Therefore, you can consume 2-4 servings of "Dry Carbs" on those days (like oatmeal, pasta, bread, etc.)

"Wet Carbs" include most vegetables and fruits and don't contain a lot of carbs so you can eat MUCH more of these each day.

Use them as "fillers" in your diet to keep from getting hungry and helping you avoid the real culprits...those "dry carbs".

I know this is a very different way of looking at the food you eat and doesn't really follow the normal "low carb" pattern.

But it's a glimpse of the way that I'VE structured the RIGHT way to use "low carb" to lose weight and forms one of the foundations of my daily eating guidelines within Combat The Fat.

Todays Workout - Full Body, 02/08/10

Today I did a full body workout. For the next few weeks I will be lifting 3x a week all full body workouts.

In my quest to get bigger and stronger in the gym this is what I started with:
Hang Split Snatch: 4x165, 2 - 4x175, 2- 2x185
Front Squat into Back Squat: 5 front then right into 5 back, 3 @220
Glute Ham Raises: 2 - 10xBW
Bench Press: 3 - 3x315
TRX Inverted Rows: 3 - 8xBW
Bicep Curls: 3 - x4, x3, x2, x1 @135 15sec break between reps
Band Push Downs: 3 x max reps
Med Ball Push Ups: 3 x max reps

click on the link below to get your free e-book on how to naturally increase in testosterone

click here -- Naturally Increase in Testosterone Levels

Expert Tips and Advice On the Strength Coach Podcast

Here with the Pros Have To Say on Strength Coach Podcast

Possibly one of the best free resources on the web for strength, conditioning, nutrition, businesses it is industry,and performance enhancement.

click here => Listen to the Strength Coach Podcast on Men's Fitness and More

Each episode is jammed packed with helpful tips and information from the industry's leading experts.

Some of what you can expect to hear on the biweekly strength coach podcast:

• Leading off the podcast is an interview with strength coach Boyle. Listen as he answers questions from this form and talks with the latest trends in the industry.

• Perform Better, talks about gym design, seminars and answers all your equipment questions.

• The top coaches in both college and professional sports are featured and give insight into their program to give an idea what's happening to real people in the real world.

• Great Cook is featured and answers questions related to rehabilitation, corrective movement, and movement mechanics.
  

• For those interested in the business aspect of fitness or strength and conditioning Alwyn Cosgrove is a fitness professional providing insights into the business aspect.
  

• Of course no strength and conditioning program would be complete without performance nutritional advice.

The Strength Coach Podcast,

The Official Podcast of Coach Michael Boyle

Be sure to check back often as he can stay abreast of the current trends in the fitness and sports performance world.

Make sure you get your copy of the free supplement Review Guide.

return to main bodybuilding weightlifting page

My Workout - Full Body 02/05/10

This is because the deload weak. I worked out Monday if they can arrest a week off until today. My training partner got a new job, and is moving out of the state so I had a couple days of solo work. It it was nice to have the days off, but is also nice to get back in and get back at it.

I'm still time to get bigger and stronger in the gym, so my workouts stay fairly consistent in the programming. But today was an exceptionally tough day, because a little rest and the pairings of the exercises.

This is my workout for Friday.

Hang clean: 5X 135, 5X 175, 3X 195, 3X 220, 2 - 1X 265,
DB Push Press: All for Sets of Five, 55, 65, 75, 80
Deadlifts: all for sets of six, 220, 310, 355, 375, 395
Font Press: 5X 135, 3X 155, 3X 175, 3-3x195
the deadlifts and front press were superset
this is an incredibly tough combination.
DB Incline Press: 3- 10x100
Russian Leans: 3- 6xbw
Seated Rows: 3 - 230x10
Floor Press: as many sets as needed to get 100 reps
Easy Bar Curl: 4 - 110x10

Get More Men's Health Fitness and Exercise Tips - Click Below
-- Men's Fitness and More at http://www.mensfitnessandmore.com

Why Cardio Doesn't Work for Fat Loss

This is a guest post By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS author of Turbulence Training
Get a free workout program now. Free TT Program

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn't add up.
After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.
British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren't previously exercising.
(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That's a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great - I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out...

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the "Compensators" and the "Non-compensators".

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge "compensatory" increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are "compensating" for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research, interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Training.


About the Author

Learn about the "Dark Side of Cardio" in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at Free TT Workout. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment,

Instant access to free month long workout program Turbulence Training

The Magic Number for Building Muscle

I know many people have problems with program design. If you don't have a background in exercise physiology it can be difficult to know what the best program design is. To help you out with this, I decided to include this article for you today.

If you want to grow muscle and get big, it is important to have a solid program. An excellent program is more than just various exercises, it includes rest, sets and reps. Today's article should give you some insight into what you need to build big muscles are working in the gym.

I am sure this article will help you to get bigger and stronger from your workouts.

By Jason Ferruggia

When looking at most popular muscle building workouts you need to understand that most forms of training have just been passed down for decades from one generation to the next, without the inclusion of rational thought. Sometime in the 60’s sensible muscle building programs started becoming less and less prevalent with the rapidly growing usage of anabolic steroids.

In days gone by, men like Steve Reeves and Paul Anderson trained with far more sensible, lower volume muscle building programs, but these started to disappear during the 60’s. By the time Arnold got to Gold’s Gym in Venice for the first time, high volume, bodypart splits were the widely accepted way for everyone who wanted to build muscle and gain strength to train.

This type of training is not based on rational thinking but just on the fact that “it’s what everyone else is doing.” The proponents of these training methods will always blindly tell you that “higher volume training is needed to build muscle.” Says who? I can tell you for a fact that the University of Chicago isn’t wasting time examining the effects of Jay Cutlers workouts. There are no studies saying that you need 8-12 sets per bodypart to build muscle. However, there are, in fact, studies that show the exact opposite; that one set is just as effective as three when it comes to building muscle.

The proponents of this type of training will also tell you that higher volume training is associated with higher levels of growth hormone secretion. What they don’t tell you is that almost anything you do elevates GH. Extreme temperatures elevate GH but my biceps don’t get bigger every time I take a shower. The increased GH secretion is not enough to make the slightest difference whatsoever in the muscle building process.

For the drug free lifter who does not possess muscle building genetics quite up to par with the Austrian Oak, training this way is a huge mistake. Not only does it drain your amino acid pool and glycogen stores but it dramatically increases your recovery time between workouts. If you do 8-12 sets for chest on Monday you can not recover from that workout and be able to train again for seven days. So you are only getting one growth stimulus per week or fifty two per year. Now if you reduce your volume to the point where you can recover faster and more efficiently without draining your amino acid pool and glycogen stores so greatly, you can train bodyparts twice per week instead of once. Now instead of 52 growth stimulating workouts per year for each bodypart, you can now do 104.

To train more often you absolutely have to lower your training volume. The total sets per workout should be kept low and the total sets per exercise should be even lower. Contrary to what a lot of the popular programs out there today prescribe, there is rarely a need to do more than two sets per exercise when you are trying to build muscle. If you can’t get the job done with two sets you probably aren’t training hard enough. In theory you should be able to get the job done with just one set but I like to use two just to be safe and make sure all bases are covered. The second set is basically an insurance set.

The are only a few times you should do more than two sets per exercise. If you are a raw beginner who needs more sets just to practice and perfect your form then you should probably do more than two sets. If you are doing speed exercises such as cleans or box jumps you should also do a few more sets. Finally, if you are varying the reps and weights, you can do more than two sets. For example if you are doing two sets of three with 315, a set of five with 295 and a set of eight with 275, you can get away with more than two sets. But other than that, you should never do more than two sets of any exercise with the same weight for the same reps.

There are a few different approaches you can take to doing your two sets. The first approach is to go balls out on your first set and then drop the weight a little bit on your second set and use it as a sort of backoff set. Theoretically this will allow you to give your most effort when you are freshest on your first set. The second approach is to hold a little something back on your first set and instead use it as a hard, working warm up set. Then you go balls to the wall on the second set. It has been suggested that a heavy, but not all out set, before your money set can serve as a neural primer and arouse your nervous system thus making the second set even more effective. The third option is to not take neither set to the limit but instead just do two very hard sets to clean failure. Each option works very well but you will have to experiment to see which is best for you. The most demanding method would be to do two all out death sets to failure. This can work but may be a bit hard for most people to recover from.

Whatever option you choose will be far better than the normal, mindless nonsense of doing 4-6 sets per exercise and you will get far better results. Better muscle gains with far less work? Sounds like an unbeatable plan to me.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during the course of his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including over 500 athletes from 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of training articles for top ranked magazines and websites and has authored four books. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit muscle gaining secrets

My Upper Body Workout to Start the Month of February

I was back at it today. It was a upper body day, so I stuck with the basic push and pull exercises.

Everything I did involved a superset. The first pairing was with the benchpress and V grip pulldown. On bench I did three sets of five at 295, on the pulldown I did three sets of six acts to 210.

the next combo was dumbbell incline press and inverted row. Invert row was straight bodyweight, three sets of 10. While on the incline I did three sets of eight at 100 lbs.

My last set consisted of elbows out extensions, med ball push-ups, and rear dealt flys.

Get More Men's Health Fitness and Exercise Tips - Click Below
-- Men's Fitness and More at http://www.mensfitnessandmore.com

300 Workout, try it today

if you haven't seen these 300 workout, I just made a post about it should go check it out.

It has been a while since you've tried the 300 workout, I suggest you give it a try.

It's fun and challenging and worth the look.

click below for the 300 workout
click here  -- 300 workout on men's fitness and more