Sunday 6 July 2008

Building Big Chest Muscles

Building Big Chest Muscles


When people think of building their pecs the first exercise that comes
to mind is the bench press. Now, I love the bench press as much as the
next guy, but the bottom-line is that the bench press is not really the
best choice for your chest muscle building program. At least not the
way most people perform it.


If you are serious about building your chest, here are some tips to turn the bench press into a pec-building beast:


1. Use a wide grip


For shorter guys, put your pinkies on the rings, or thereabouts. For
taller guys you may go as wide as index fingers on the rings. Widening
of the grip increases the stretch on the pecs which increases their
involvement in the lift. If you typically use a fairly close grip then
you will be probably be weaker with a wide grip. Because of this, make
sure to warm-up and work-up in weight slowly. Don't just jump to your
usual weight or you'll be asking for an injury.


2. Squeeze the bar together


By pushing your hands together throughout the movement you increase the
recruitment of the pectoral muscle fibers. Please note that your hands
don't actually move during the movement because you are gripping the
bar tightly. But by isometrically pushing your hands toward each other
you will get a similar effect to doing flyes.


3. Bring to nipple line or higher


Make sure to touch the bar on your chest at the nipple line or even
higher. This increases the activation of the chest muscles and limits
triceps involvement to a degree. You can even go as high as the
collarbone, but the weight you use will have to be much lighter than
usual.


Summary


All of these tips run counter to what most people do with the bench
press. This is because people get caught-up in how much weight they can
move. These tips will definitely decrease your strength in the bench
press, but they will also increase the stress on your pecs so that they
can grow. This turns the bench press into a great exercise for your
chest muscle building program.


Please note that all of these tips put the shoulder in a slightly more
compromised position than a traditional bench press. If you have any
shoulder problems at all you should not use these variations. Even if
your shoulders are healthy make sure to perform these variations with
lighter weight and higher reps than you would for a normal bench press.
This will allow you to get the most benefit from the exercise without
fear of injury.


Keep in mind that while changing one exercise may moderately improve
your progress over the short-term, long-term success and huge increases
in muscle and strength require you to follow a synergistic training and
nutrition program.


Building Big Chest Muscles



Tuesday 1 July 2008

Six-Pack Abs Muscle Building Program

Six-Pack Abs Muscle Building Program

Before we get into the exercises, let’s get one thing straight. If you have a layer of fat around your midsection then you’ll never see your abs. You could have the best six-pack in the world, but no one will ever know it if it’s obscured by fat. If this is the situation you’re in, you need to first focus on losing fat by cleaning-up your nutrition and getting on a solid muscle building program.
With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to some ab-ripping exercises!
Exercise #1: V-ups
Lie on your back on a semi-soft surface. A thin mat on a hard floor works well. Straighten your legs and raise your arms overhead. With your knees straight, raise your feet a few inches off the floor. This is your starting position.
From this position you are going to simultaneously raise your legs up and sit up with your upper body. This is basically a combination of a leg raise and a crunch. In the top position you should touch your toes with your fingertips, or at least come very close.
From this position you reverse the motion and go back to the starting position. Remember that in the starting position your feet are off the floor. This keeps constant tension on the muscles, making this exercise even more effective.
Exercise #2: Hanging Knee Raises
You’ll need a chin-up bar or other object you can hold on to without your feet touching the floor. Your starting position is simply hanging from the bar with your arms straight.
From this position, bend the knees and bring them up towards your chest. You want to bring your knees as high as possible. In fact, if you are strong enough you should curl up into a ball by leaning back slightly and bringing the knees up as high as possible.
Don’t make the mistake I see most people in the gym making. Most people bring the knees up and then stop when the thighs are parallel to the floor. If you do it this way you only get about 10% of the benefit from the exercise!
When you get really advanced you can do these with the knees straight. From the starting position you raise your feet up all the way until they touch the chin-up bar. You should see the looks you get at the gym when you do these!
Exercise #3: Ab Wheel Rollouts
Remember those “ab rollers” that used to be on all the late-night infomercials? Well, these were just knock-offs of the old school ab wheel you can buy for $10 at any fitness store. If you haven’t seen this before it just looks like a small wheel with a stick through it. If you can’t find one of these, you can simply use a bar with a plate on each side.
Kneel on the floor with the ab wheel in front of you. Hold on to the handles and put the wheel on the floor directly in front you. From here you simply roll the wheel out as far away from you as possible.
The key here is to make sure you don’t roll-out so far that your back arches. If your abs aren’t very strong then you won’t be able to roll-out very far without this occurring. This puts all the stress on your lower back and off of your abs. This is dangerous and ineffective. Only go as far as your current abilities will allow you to maintain the proper position.
When this becomes easy, you can move on to the super-advanced version. For this version you stand on your feet and bend-over to hold the handles of the ab wheel. From this position you roll-out as far as possible. This is much more difficult from the kneeling version.
Summary
These exercises should be complimented by a well-designed muscle building program for the entire body. Remember that one exercise isn’t the answer to achieving your goals. A complimentary training and nutrition program must be designed with your goals in mind. Get more information on muscle building programs for the abs and a FREE muscle building report on “The 13 Reasons You Suck at Gaining Muscle.”


by TONY SCHWARTZ

Six-Pack Abs Muscle Building Program