Eddie Lomax asked:


Mention strength training, and weight lifting or using machines immediately comes to mind. But there are many types of strength, not just “maximum” strength. I want to show you how bodyweight strength training is excellent for increasing each type of strength and why you should use your own bodyweight first and as an ongoing part of your strength training.

So, what is strength?

Well, a simple definition of strength is the capacity your body has to exert muscular and skeletal force against a resistance. The resistance can be the weight of your own body, the weight of something else or both. So, the larger capacity you have to move your own body or a foreign object in your environment, the stronger you are.

And being stronger has its benefits:

- You can do more with your body and objects you find in your environment

- You reduce the risk of injury because of increased ability to control your body and other objects

- You gain confidence knowing there is strength behind your movements

- You can overcome the challenges of sport, work and life easier

- And you look better because your strength is visually apparent in strong muscles

But the truth is, there are many different kinds of strength. And I believe each one can be improved upon with bodyweight strength training. Here we are going to look at the three main types of strength: maximal strength, explosive strength and strength endurance.

Bodyweight Training For Maximal Strength

Maximal strength is the amount of force that can be generated from one, all out effort, regardless of time or bodyweight.

Some people say weight training is best for maximal strength training, and for some exercises they are right. However, many trainees are using weights to perform exercises because they can’t handle the weight of their own body. For example, many men and women do Lat Pull Downs because they can’t do pull ups or chin ups.

There are many other bodyweight exercises that can build maximal strength. How about one-arm pushups or one-leg squats as strength builders? Most weight lifters can’t perform these exercises, regardless of the weights they use in their training.

Bodyweight Strength Training For Explosive Strength

Explosive strength is strength per unit of time, and is also known as speed strength. So, this is how much force you can generate in the shortest amount of time. In terms of bodyweight training, it means how fast you can move your body from one position to another.

Think of explosive movements like jumping squats or plyometric pushups where your body is propelled with such force it actually leaves the ground. Is this type of strength important? You bet it is!

Bodyweight Strength Training For Strength Endurance

Strength endurance is the amount of force you can generate for an extended period if time. It is the ability to be as strong as possible as long as possible. This type of strength is characterized by being able to perform a movement repeatedly without being overcome by fatigue or sacrificing form.

When you think of bodyweight strength training, this is normally the type of strength people think of. Rhythmic, repeated bodyweight calisthenics for example builds strength endurance.

As you can see, there are a lot of different types of strength. And you can train each one by using the weight of your own body. No outside resistance is necessary.

Think of it this way. The training you do is specific. If you do a certain type of exercise, you become better at that exercise. So, if you are training for all-purpose strength (which included maximal, explosive and endurance strength) where the object performing the movement is your own body, there is no better tool than bodyweight calisthenics.

Bodyweight strength training should be the starting point, and a continual part, of everyone’s over-all workout program.



Muscle Building

Jim Smith asked:


ng>Back Off! Massive Muscle Building for Your Back

Having a strong back is critical for success in athletics, in staying healthy during training and for overall well-being. With that said, what does it take to get a strong back? Read on and find out how to build a back side that will make everybody take notice.

1. Pull Ups and Chins Ups form the foundation:

Pull ups and chin ups are to your back as squatting is to your legs. You need to do them and do them often. Not only do they use a tremendous amount of muscle, but they also get you BRUTE STRONG. All the connective tissues of your shoulders and back get noticeably stronger when you perform these exercises. Many people get bogged down with trying to do max reps on pull ups and chin ups. If you have ever read the Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, Arnold recommends that you pick a goal number of reps you want to achieve and do as many sets as it takes you to reach your goal number. I feel that this is one of the best ways to increase your pull up and chin up strength.

2. Go heavy on big lifts:

By this I mean go heavy on the deadlifts, the barbell shrugs, barbell rows, back extensions etc. All of these lifts require the back musculature to work overtime in a big way to engage and lockout the movement. You will be hard pressed to find a single exercise that does not require the back musculature to be engaged to some degree to help with the execution of the lift.

3. Balance you back budget:

Make sure you train your back with a sense of balance. Make sure to hit a horizontal row (seated rows, DB rows, barbell rows), a vertical pulling motion (shrugs, pull ups, chin ups), also make sure to get your external rotators with some band external rotation, DB external rotations, or cable external rotations. Lastly hit some retractions before or after your work out.

If you follow these three steps, in no time at all you will have a back that legends are made of. Imagine going to the beach and hitting a lat spread and making people wonder if a solar eclipse is occurring. Now tell me that doesn’t sound cool.

Sample Back Workout:

Warm Up:

A. Plate Halos 2 x 15

B. DB Retractions 2 x 20

C. Static Pec Stretch 3 x 10 s (each side)

Strength Training Workout:

1. Chins Ups: 10 x 3

2. Barbell Rows 5 x 8

3. DB Shrugs 3 x 10

4. Seated Low Row 3 x 12

5. Band External Rotations 2 x 20



Muscle Building

Michael Crockett asked:


The rules of weight training are the same as the rules of strength training, and involves changing the number of repetitions, sets, tempo, exercise type and how much weight is lifted to cause increases in strength, endurance, size or shape.

The specific combinations of reps, sets, exercises and weight depends upon the aims of the individual performing the exercise, sets with fewer reps can be performed with heavier weights.

In addition to the basic principles of strength training, a further consideration added by weight training is the equipment used. Types of equipment include barbells, dumbbells, pulleys and stacks in the form of weight machines or the body’s own weight in the case of chin-ups and push-ups. Different types of weights will give different types of resistance, and often the same absolute weight can have different relative weights depending on the type of equipment used. For example, lifting 20 pounds using a dumbbell requires significantly more force than moving 20 pounds on a weight stack due to the use of pulleys.

When you are strength or weight training you must use good form, defining good form is doing the movements with the appropriate muscle group, and not transferring the weight to different body parts in order to move greater weight. When you don’t use good form it can result in injury or a failure to meet training goals, since the desired muscle group is not challenged sufficiently, the muscle group is not pushed so the muscle will not gain the strength you are trying to achieve.

The benefits of weight training overall are comparable to most other types of strength training increased muscle, tendon and ligament strength, bone density, flexibility, tone, metabolic rate and postural support. There are benefits and limitations to weight training as compared to other types of strength training.

Resistance training involves the use of elastic or hydraulic resistance to contraction rather than gravity. Weight training provides the majority of the resistance at the beginning, initiation joint angle of the movement, when the muscle must overcome the inertia of the weight’s mass. After this point the overall resistance alters depending on the angle of the joint. In comparison, hydraulic resistance provides a fixed amount of resistance throughout the range of motion, depending on the speed of the movement. Elastic resistance provides the greatest resistance at the end of the motion, when the elastic element is stretched to the greatest extent.

Isometric exercise provides a fixed amount of resistance based on the force output of the muscle. This strengthens the muscle at the specific joint angle at which the isometric exercise occurs.

Although weight training is similar to body building, they have different objectives. Body builders compete in body building competitions; they train to maximize their muscular size and develop extremely low levels of body fat In contrast, most weight trainers train to improve their strength and anaerobic endurance while not giving special attention to reducing body fat below normal.

Weight trainers tend to focus on compound exercises to build basic strength, whereas bodybuilders often use isolation exercises to visually separate their muscles and to improve muscular tone.

However, the bodybuilding community has been the source of many of weight training’s principles, techniques, vocabulary, and customs.

Weight training does allow tremendous flexibility in exercises and weights which can allow bodybuilders to target specific muscles and muscle groups, as well as attain specific goals.



Muscle Growth

Jim Smith asked:


ng>Massive Muscle Building for Your Biceps

Welcome to The Gun Show! No, I do not mean the one where you see a lot of Battle Dress Uniform’s or old men with beards down to their chest, looking at a Luger that Rommel had strapped around his ankle. I mean The Gun Show were the armory consists of your GUNS! That’s right, your biceps and your triceps!

When you fist started to lift weights, chances are the first exercises you did where:

1. Barbell Curls

2. Barbell Triceps Extensions.

While these are fine exercises, there is much more to building huge guns. Read on and I will tell you how to turn your .22’s in to .50 caliber Desert Eagles.

1. Train Compound Movements: I don’t know if I can say anything else that hasn’t already been said about compound movements. They use a ton of muscle and they get you thick and strong. You train your legs and upper body with compound movements, so your arm training should be no different. Also, before we get on a roll here, remember that the triceps account for about 2/3 of all of your upper arm size, so prioritize accordingly. For the biceps I like to use chin ups. When you do curls (barbell or dumbbell) it is a single joint movement. We kick this up a notch when we do chins, especially close grip chins. Action is taking place at the elbow joint (elbow flexion) as well as the shoulder joint (shoulder flexion). Few biceps movements allow this to occur. Also, when doing chins you are using your body weight which is probably more than you could ever curl with a barbell or a dumbbell. Added to that, you can externally load the movement to increase it’s difficulty. For triceps, I have found that close grip 3 or 4 Board presses are excellent strength and mass builders. For big triceps just press and extended and do it heavy!

2. PUMP IT UP!: After you blast your biceps and triceps with heavy compound movements, get some blood pumping through the muscles with some basic single joint movement exercises. DB curls, DB hammer curls, Incline DB Curls, triceps push downs, DB extensions, single arm cable extensions etc., all work well to get blood rushing into your muscles. This helps with growth and recovery. By getting blood moving through the muscle you promote recovery via oxygen and nutrient rich blood, and you also promote growth via cross sectional increases to the muscle fibers. Think high rep stuff here.

3. Form is everything: Just like any other exercise, form is everything when doing Gun Show work. One of the reasons I like doing chins for the biceps is that it is impossible to cheat. You cannot hyperextend your back to get extra reps. It’s either you get it or you don’t. Either way, when doing bicep and tricep work, make sure to pinch your shoulders together and keep your wrists and elbows in-line. Do not cheat for the sake of handling more weight. Remember, you can’t get big Guns if you are injured.

I hope this gives you some insight on how to train your arms for the Gun Show. Follow the sample below and watch your Guns become something that will make Dirty Harry’s Day.

Sample Vanity Work Day:

1. Chins: 5 sets of max reps (2 min rest)

2. Close Grip 3 Board Press: 5 x 5

3. DB Incline Curls: 3 x 12

4. Band Triceps Pushdown: 3 x 20



Muscle Gain

To get what you want, you gotta do something different, so why not incorporate BodyWeight Exercises into your training regime.

BodyWeight Exercises are timeless fitness systems that have secretly used by the worlds top athletes and warriors to build sensational strength, endurance and of course physiques for thousands of years.

The Great Gama, India’s finest fighter, undefeated in thousands of fighting competitions was a fanatical advocate of the power of doing daily hindu squats (a type of free squat).

Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather,Boxer, Michael Jordan, Basketball Legend and just about every top athlete that you can think of have their own sequence of bodyweight exercises.

“Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather.. hovers within 3 or 4 pounds of his fighting weight at all times by jumping rope, playing basketball, and doing body-weight exercises twice a week.”(Mens Health)

BodyWeight exercises rely only on your own bodyweight, and some of the exercises that you would be more familiar with include push ups, squats, chin ups and sit ups.

Think about it – if your workouts consisted primarily of chin ups, how fit and strong would you become?

Clearly, not all of us will be able to begin with chin ups, but with these exercises you are exercising a number of muscle groups simultaneously in a way that promotes balance, and unquestionably produces extraordinary results.

If we take a head to head between push ups and the bench press, and compare and contrast.

Sure the bench press will give you well defined pecs, but at what cost. The fact is weight lifting rather than straightening our bodies out, and then strengthening them simply exacerbates the imbalances that many of us already have in our bodies. Short tight muscles, followed by missed training sessions due to injury is where weight training will ultimately take you.

How often will you need to lie flat on your back and push a heavy object up from it? Hopefully, not too often.

Compare this to the fully functional press up that not only strengthens the chest, arms and neck like the bench press but also stresses the muscles of your lower back and abdominals, thereby delivering a much more effective exercise. If you don’t believe me test them out in the gym, if you’re still a member and you will quickly note the difference.

If you want a body that emanantes energy, strength and power then you must try BodyWeight exercises to see for yourself how superior they are over the typical bump and grunt weights routine.

Energy, Strength, Stamina = Bodyweight Exercises.

REMEMBER PLAY FULL OUT!

Muscle Gain

Vince Delmonte asked:


So you think you know everything about building muscle? If you have read everything, tried everything and heard everything about muscle building but still resemble the silouette of a Calvin Klien model instead of a buff fitness model than I promise these three ‘little-known’ muscle building tips will accelerate your muscle gains immediately!

1. Body Weight Training

This was once a popular muscle building technique but is very commonly ignored. Why? Perhaps because most body weight training is simply hard and can put a dent in your precious ego! As far as I am concerned, if you can not work with your own body weight than you have no freaken business using external loading such as barbells and dumbbells.

It’s incredible how many attempt to use heavy weights with a microscopic range of motion but can’t do a set of push ups, a squat to the floor or even one chin up. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for external loading with heavy weights but not until you have the ability to master the following bench marks:

Males should aim for 1 set of 80 push ups, 1 set of 20 chin ups, 1 set of 20 1-leg squats, 1 set of 40 dips and 1 set of 20 pull ups.

Females should aim for 1 set of 40 push ups, 1 set of 5-10 chin ups, 1 set of 10 1-leg squats, 1 set of 10-15 dips and 1 set of 3-5 pull ups.

These standards will ensure a solid foundation of general fitness and muscular endurance and lead to building muscle mass more easily in the following stages of your weight training program.

2. Flip Your Program Upside Down Every 3 Weeks

This is an extremely powerful tip to building muscle mass, not to mention one of the easiest tricks to ensure your body side-steps plateaus forever. Consider that you have been training your chest shoulders and triceps every Monday. In you next phase, three weeks later, you should do the complete opposite. You will train your triceps, shoulders than chest on Friday. This will prevent plateaus because each muscle group will have an opportunity to train completely fresh.

Let’s say you are training your back, biceps, forearms and abs on Friday. Than you will train your abs, forearms, biceps, and back on Monday (in the opposite sequence). You will literally switch everything upside down. Again, this will ensure that these muscles receive an opportunity to train first in the week when your body is the most fresh.

You will curse my name when you blow the heck out of the smaller muscles first and than train the larger muscle groups last. Yes, I know this months issue of Bodybuilders Digest said to never train the smaller muscle groups before your larger muscle groups. I have heard it before so stop analyzing, trust me and give it a try. You be the judge and don’t be surprised if you see new levels of muscle mass and strength after this one technique.

3. Spend More Time At The Grocery Store

If you are serious about building muscle, accept the fact that you will need to spend more time than you do right now in the grocery store. Have you ever opened the fridge for something to eat and all you found was Aunt Wilma’s Thanksgiving turkey leftovers with mold on it? Ever gone into the cub boards and discover only a few leftover bags of potato chips from last weeks Super Bowl party?

To ensure a optimal environment for building muscle and fat loss you must ensure your cub boards and fridge are constantly stocked. This will mean more frequent trips to the grocery store. Chuck the crap that is in your kitchen right now and replace it with good stuff and keep on replacing it. Don’t ever let that supply of good food run low.



Muscle Gain