Although I am calling this article “How to Rest Properly Between Workouts” it will also cover the basics of taking longer rests or breaks from working out all together. Now of course a lot of die hard lifters will tell you that there is no reason to miss workouts. I have heard all kinds of reasons as to why breaks are bad, from “I mean really  if you miss one, your body isn’t going to keep growing” to “Your going to lose your muscles” and finally to “All kinds of bad things will happen.” Now of course if you take a long enough break you may lose some muscle (if you aren’t eating right), but your body will still grow if you give it the proper fuel. So anyway, lets talk about resting.  Read more here...

What is the Plateau Effect?

If you have never experienced the plateau effect from working out, then you either haven’t been lifting long enough or have been doing something right. Generally the plateau effect can come into play anywhere from a month to a few months after you start lifting. So what exactly is the plateau effect? Simply put it is when your gains in the gym have reached a plateau, you are no longer gaining strength, size, or either. So you can hit a plateau by being to consistent with your workouts and not changing anything up, when your body gets used to doing a certain set of workouts a certain way you will eventually reach a point where you are no longer gaining any benefit from that particular exercise or range of motion. The plateau can last for a few weeks or remain for months until something is changed within your regimen. By maintaining the same regimen sure you will be able maintain your size and strength, but you won’t really see very many gains.  Read more here...

It has been an interesting fun-packed 5 weeks, but I have finished phase 1 of the Get Big workouts. So naturally the first question most people will have is “Did you get big?” Well yes and no. I didn’t get huge, but I did get bigger, I would say the most noticable effect was the increase in my overall strength. By the end of the first phase I was doing 75lb. dumbbell incline bench press. My deadlifts have reached 230+ and many other exercises have gone through the roof. This workout plan seems to being coming along great and I am looking forward to some more strange workouts in Phase 2!

After my first week of Huge in a Hurry’s Get Ready workout, I am feeling the pain. In case you don’t know, Huge in a Hurry is a book about new fitness techniques for building mass and strength. The book follows it’s ideas with scientific evidence and great examples of why this new approach to fitness is sure to beat out any other. At first I was very skeptical, I mean from my experience I have seen great gains using traditional 3×10 workouts, with split body parts each week. This book flips that idea, don’t focus on sets, focus on reps. The book wants us to focus on a set number of reps, say 25, now that doesn’t mean you do just one set. The book wants you to use different weight ranges, for example, Light weights which are 20-22 rep max weights. Medium which is 10-12. Heavy which is 4-6. Super heavy which is 2-3. Now each workout includes only 3 exercises; upper body pulling, upper body pushing, and legs. The reasoning is simple, all of the workouts we will be doing are compound full body workouts 3 days a week. It is recommended to do workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday’s to allow adequate rest.The biggest change in our workout will be speed, you have to perform all exercises at the fastest speed you can  (while maintaining perfect form and control). The author says that by working your muscles with different weights, but more speed our muscles are recruiting the largest fibers to help with the lift instead of just our smallest motors. This recruitment of large fibers is what provides us with superb strength and muscle growth.  Read more here...

Here is the link to my bench pressing article on Helium:

http://www.helium.com/items/1501863-how-to-bench-press

Almost everyone loves the look of abs, especially over flab. The look of a defined 6 pack is something that takes a lot of work, but is not impossible. If you have perfected your diet already, and use supplements to help increase definition, strength, etc. the process of hardening your abs will be much easier and much faster. The biggest problem I tend to see when it comes to abs is the stubborn belly fat. Doing 1 million crunches a day won’t make you shed that tummy fat any faster then doing 1 crunch a day, albeit it will add strength and make the abs more noticeable, you can’t spot-burn fat. In case you don’t know, spot burning is where you work a muscle group that is covered in fat in the hopes that your body will burn this fat faster, it has been scientifically proven that you can not spot burn fat, and that as you become leaner your body will naturally burn fat from around your body. Also note, this is usually the note that discourages people, stomach fat is usually the last thing to go.  Read more here...

I am sure we have all had those days where we couldn’t make it to the gym, and of course this throws off our entire routine, or maybe you just don’t have access to a gym and want to get into better shape, stay fit, increase strength, etc. The following workout is one I learn while in the U.S. Air Force Delayed Entry Program. I spent about a year and half in the DEP and learned a lot of great workouts to help increase strength and overall fitness. The best part of this workout is that it is short ~30 minutes and you can do it pretty much anywhere.  Read more here...

Building that Massive Back

One of the most powerful back work outs one can do to increase the size of their back muscles is the Bentover Barbell Row. One of the best back-width increasing exercises is the wide grip pull up. However, a variation on the bentover row is another great way to build a massive back with massive strength. The variation was included in one of Arnold’s many books, a book my friend had read and showed me this awesome workout.  Read more here...

The Forgotten Muscle? What Do You Mean?

In my experience the most under used and under worked muscle group is easily your forearms. How often to you actively think of working just your forearms? My guess is not often. The problem with ignoring your forearm muscles is simple: they play a vital role in your grip strength and how much you can lift with free weights for many different workouts on other body parts. So lets recap quick:  Read more here...

• Forearms are often ignored
• Forearms help increase grip strength
• Forearm strength/size is esthetically pleasing