Jim Smith asked:


ng>Massive Muscle Building for Your Chest

Raise your hand if you know how much you bench? I should see all of your hands raised. Whether you have an internet forum record 900 lbs bench or are still trying to slap on 2 plates and press it up, most of us will always want to know ‘How do I get a huge bench?’. Well, it’s not as confusing as it may seem, but it will require some thought. Below you will find 3 areas that are crucial elements toward developing a monster bench and a bullet-proof chest.

1. Press From Every Angle: How many of you bench and bench and bench some more? If you are one of those types, get your **** off the bench and try pressing from different angles. If you are a raw bencher, shoulder and tricep strength is crucial for putting up monster numbers. Military pressing with either dumbbells or a barbell, will help balance out the musculature of the shoulder girdle and also give your triceps a tremendous strength boost. Also, balancing out your horizontal pressing with vertical pressing variations can actually HELP shoulder problems. However, if you shoulder is shot and you can’t kick you bench addiction, incline pressing also gives the anterior delts, pecs, and triceps a good stretch and will help your bench strength.

2. Row to grow: Many people are lacking in posterior muscle strength. I could go on and on about the posterior chain, but for the sake of this article I will keep it condensed to the muscles of the upper back and the lats. The only way you are going to be able to press big weights is if you create a strong and stable foundation from which to bench from. Have you ever gotten a case of the “wobbles”? You know where you unrack the weight and the weight of the bar throws you to one side and you have to counterbalance before you start to bench? Well, that is a lack of stability because of weak lats. Barbell rows, chest-supported rows, DB rows, chins, pull-ups, all will help you develop a huge bench. Generally speaking, I like to perform 2 sets of rows or vertical pulls for every set of pressing I do, including warm up sets. Get your lats thick and strong and watch as PR’s fall on your bench.

3. Pre-Hab work: It’s not **** or even cool, but you MUST do some sort of shoulder pre-hab work. The muscles of the rotator cuff play a huge role in stabilizing heavy weights when you bench. The weaker they are or become, the more likely you will stall on your bench progress or even worse, get injured. Band external rotations, DB external rotations, really any sort of external rotation, will help you stay healthy and help your quest for a monster bench. Also, do not forget shoulder girdle mobility as well. Band Dislocates, plate halos etc., will help lube up the joints prior to starting your heavy benching.

Well, there you have it. Three action items you must address in order to get your bench moving and get that chest “SWOLE”. Check out below for a way to tie it all together.

Sample Workout:

Warm Up:

A. Band Dislocates: 1 x 12

B. Plate Halos: 2 x 12

1. Bench 5 x 5 2. DB Military Press 3 x 10

3. Chins 3 x max reps (2 min rest between sets)

4. DB Rows 5 x 15

5. Band External Rotations 2 x 20



Muscle Growth

villenoire asked:


muscle building to build muscle fast can be done in the gym, or at home if you have the appropriate gym equipment. What is more important than where you work out, though, is determining the best muscle building program for your body type, so getting an expert opinion on this is always helpful. In general, though, the best muscle building programs will include drop sets, negatives, flexing and strip sets. Add to these as you see fit, but these should be the basics of your routine.

Use dumbbells to do your drop sets. The way to do it is to start out with the heaviest set of dumbbells you are going to use for your session, and do one set. Then do a repetition with a slightly light set, the next repetition with a lighter set again, and so on. Resting between each repetition is important, but so is pushing yourself a little beyond your comfort zone.

The best muscle building technique to add strength and balance out the usual positive weight lifts are negatives. Because most weight lifting pushes weight up and/or away from your body, negatives balance this out by pulling the weight toward you. That\’s why you need to use a bench press for negatives. Put the bar up high and slowly bring the weight toward you. Be careful not to use too heavy weights for this, as you work toward your goal to build muscle fast.

Flexing is an isometric exercise rather than a pure bodybuilding exercise. Nevertheless, flexing is important in a muscle building regime, and it should be practised during resting periods between the weight lifting exercises. Flexing is important for keeping your muscles pumped and building strength.

Strip sets should always be done at the end of your weight lifting session. Stripping one or two plates from the set while you are performing your lifting routine will help you manage a larger number of repetitions with greater ease.

Muscle Gain

Shawn Lebrun asked:


Everyone wants a healthy, good-looking body. And the truth is, you’ll have to work hard in order to achieve this.

That starts with using the proper equipment, having a good diet, and a healthy way of living.

To get the most muscle growth possible, you want to use the best muscle building exercises in the gym. If you want to build muscle, you’re going to have to lift heavy weight using effective weight lifting exercises.

There’s no getting around this. If you want to build muscle, you will need to apply the appropriate amount of resistance to your muscle.

You’ll need to use simple compound movements. Compound movements are weight training exercises that use more than one muscle group to complete a lift. Free weights are dumbbells and barbells.

By using these effective muscle building exercises, free weights and compound movements, you force your body to work harder.

By forcing your body to work harder, you add more stress to the targeted and supporting muscles.

Remember to use proper form when lifting weight, especially heavy weight. Lifting heavy weight for the sake of lifting heavy will result in poor form, which will lead to injuries. You don’t want injuries.

If you’re a beginner, it’s best if you use a combination of free weights, machines and body weight exercises. In order to lift heavy, you need to establish the correct form and balance.

This takes time, practice and patience. Once you’ve established the correct form and balance, try adding more weight lifting exercises, especially free weight exercises.

If you’re having trouble or not sure about certain weight lifting exercises, always ask for advice. Never attempt an exercise you’re not sure about. Ask a gym employee for advice.

If you can’t find a gym employee, ask one of the regulars. The regulars are usually more than happy to provide some guidance and help when it comes to muscle building exercise.

Before going into a heavy weight lifting workout, make sure you’re properly warmed up. Never attempt to lift heavy weights when you’re cold. Lifting heavy weight when you are cold will result in injuries.

Always remember to include a warm up (5 to 10 minutes) using an aerobic activity, followed by 5 to 10 minutes of stretching in your weight lifting exercise routine.

Here is a series of muscle building exercises that you could use for the chest area:

Flat Bench press Flat bench press with dumbbells Flat bench dumbbell flyes Incline bench press Incline dumbbell press Parallel bar dips Decline dumbbell bench press Incline dumbbell flyes

Muscle building exercises for back:

Bent over rowing Wide grip chins Lat machine pull downs Low cable pulley rows One arm dumbbell rows Dead lifts Shrugs Good mornings Hyperextensions T bar rowing

Exercises for hamstrings:

Lying leg curls Stiff legged dead lifts

Exercises for shoulders:

Press behind the neck Seated dumbbell press Side lateral raises

Muscle building exercises for calves:

Standing calf raises Seated calf raises Leg press calf extensions Standing one legged calf raises

Exercises for biceps:

Standing barbell curls Seated alternate dumbbell curls Incline dumbbell curl Standing dumbbell curls

Exercises for quadriceps:

Squats Leg press Leg extensions Hack squats

Muscle building exercises for triceps:

Close grip bench press Lying triceps extensions Standing cable press downs Seated over head barbell extensions Triceps bench dips Overhead rope extensions

Exercises for abs: Crunches Knee ups Hanging leg raise Incline knee raises Incline sit-ups Roman chair sit ups

That was a list of the best muscle building exercises you should use in the gym. Always remember to use proper form on each exercise.

If you have any questions on how to perform one of these muscle building exercises, ask advice from someone who is experimented in s and than try to experiment through trial them. You don’t want to use trial and error, since you could harm yourself.



Muscle Building

Jimmy Smith asked:


There is many times throughout the day where I will just sit and read training articles and books. I will thumb through a few magazines or visit a few websites with my jaw to the floor. There are so many unrealistic training recommendations out there that it is no wonder why people are not growing. The worst part is when I go into the gym and actually see these people following this misguided advice.

Muscle Building Myth Advice 1 The Safety Of The Smith Machine

The most common piece of misguided training advice that I have ever seen is to use the smith machine because it is safer than barbells or dumbbells. The thought is that using the Smith machine will allow you to safely handle heavy weight since the machine is locked in on two columns. While this is good in theory, it does nothing at all to help save us. The advantages of a barbell or dumbbell is individual characteristics are taken into account.

Spend five minutes watching the Smith machine. You will see a five footwoman going to use it for squats then you will see a six foot two hundred pound guy go and use it to squat. This should clearly illustrate that the machine does not account for any differences. That is not safe!

Barbells and dumbbells account for individual muscle tightness factors as well. Someone who works at a computer all day has different muscular restrictions than a mechanic. Plus, it is also actually harder to lock the machine into place when you are training with a heavier load since you have to force your wrists into a awkward position. Just showing more benefits of dumbbells and barbells

Muscle Building Myth Advice 2- You must always stay with higher reps to build muscle

Yes, higher reps are better for building muscle since they cause more muscle tissue breakdown All things considered, you should train with higher reps. However there is a big backlash for anyone who advocates the need to go with lower reps. Lower reps do not cause as much damage as higher reps but they still have a place.

If you do not train to get stronger, you will not increase your muscle size. You must push yourself past your current limits. By pushing yourself, I amtalking about increasing your ability to handle greater training loads. This will then allow your higher rep work to cause more muscle damage and growth. Too many psuedo-trainers advocate going to failure as the only way to grow. They will point to years of professional bodybuilders having success with this type of training.

That is an awful argument for higher reps. Sure, higher reps will cause you to grow but there is a direct relationship to higher rep training and steroid usage. As drugs became more popular so did higher rep training. Higher rep training is just another tool in the toolbox.

Muscle Building Myth Advice 3 Never Train Your Core First

This is another piece of misguided training advice. Most people leave ab or core training to the end of the workout and think that they need to leave it there. The common thoughts are that you need to do bigger muscles first. That is false. What if your core is weak? What if you have low back pain which hurts you every time you squat?

What if your workouts are more productive if you activate your core before you train? There are specific circumstances that do require your core to be worked first. Provided that you do not do too much work then you will be fine. Look at people who struggle squatting. You will see that they end up bending in their upper body as they continue to go higher in reps. This is not going to happen if you do some core activation work first. Ensure stability then take it from there.

Muscle Building Myth Advice 4 Always Advocating High Intensity Training

No one ever looks at the drop off rate during muscle building programs. The mind is ready before the body is ready when most people go to train. If you want to get the most out of your training, you go into the gym with the intent to really have a good workout.

That, however, can be a problem. If we consistently go into the gym and train at a ten, like most people do, the chances of us having sustainable progress is not going to be as good as it is going to be. We need to train at lower intensities in terms of our mental capacity to allow ourselves to consistently go into the gym and hit it hard.

This is more important than you think. Do you ever feel like you fade as your training week goes on? This is due to continually training at high intensities. It is better to go at an eight for four to five days a week than a ten for two days.



Muscle Gain