Uploaded by superbusyhumans on 7 Oct 2011
Advanced outdoor workout, shot on the
North Shore of Maui, focusing on butt, hips, and abs. Killer products
available at: THE3GIFTS.com
Friday, 26 October 2012
Friday, 19 October 2012
In Search of Thicker Pecs: A Machine Workout
Tired of throwing around heavy barbells in search of thicker pecs? For variety,
try this balls-out machine workout for maximum shock value...
I've been in this crazy business for 30 years. Machines come and go, champions come and go, but one thing that never changes is the basics: the mainstream exercises and training principles that act as the glue to keep a consistent workout program in place.
As a Master's Olympia champion, I am asked by many young bodybuilders if there are any secrets to my longevity. The secrets are simple: perform each movement with precise form and technique; develop a link between the mind and muscle; and strive for intensity, focus and complete concentration. My goal is to lift until I experience that burning sensation. I want to feel the muscle, not the joints and tendons, handling the heavy loads.
The mind muscle link applies equally to free weights and machines. After all my years of toiling in the gym, I know that the last thing I want to do is endlessly repeat the same chest routine. Varying my workouts helps to overcome the monotony of training, and that's why heading to the machines, just for a change of pace, is so important to the effectiveness of my chest routine.
Packing on pec mass through machine training is no problem, provided that I select exercises that don't get too high tech. Yes, I will experiment with all the new equipment that comes along, but the more basic and traditional machine movements are the ones I rely on to build a chest that's chiseled with cross-striations and balanced from top to bottom.
Shake it Up
Making consistent progress over the long term means varying intensity from one workout to the next. For all movements in my chest program, incline bench presses (the lone free weight exercise in this group), vertical bench presses, pec decks and cable crossovers, I will do four sets of either 10 - 12 reps (if I'm working light) or five reps (if I'm working hard and heavy). On a heavy day, I'll typically do a warm up set of 12 - 15 reps and then follow with three sets of five reps with a fairly heavy weight.
On lighter days, my rule of thumb is to increase the weight in 10 to 20 pound increments. I'll go to muscle failure on the fourth and final set to break the muscle down. And to keep things fresh, I will periodically experiment with drop sets; it's another method of stimulating growth and packing on maximum muscle mass.
I'm really like a little kid in a sandbox playing with a new toy. My goal is to have fun with bodybuilding. There's no sense walking in the gym if you're not going to enjoy yourself.
Top Heavy
My chest routine begins with incline bench presses. I do these when I'm fresh so that I can handle the heavy poundages required to add thickness to my upper chest. How heavy will I go? It depends on how I feel when I walk in the gym. I trust my instincts, and my body, to tell me what I'm capable of on any given day.
The incline barbell press is similar to its flat bench counterpart; the primary difference is that I place myself in a fixed position that allows me to isolate my upper pecs. I slowly lower the bar to my clavicle before propelling the weight from my elbows, not my hands, to the top. I go for a squeeze, contracting my upper pecs, then lower the bar to my clavicle. I'm very careful to keep the mind muscle link in place for every rep, especially towards the end of the set. The emphasis, as always, is on keeping tension on the muscle at all times. If you let the muscle relax, it will not grow.
I go next to the vertical bench press, which is almost like doing a standard bench press. The unique alignment of this movement, however, puts my arms in a pre-stretched position than enables me to get a different type of contraction. I keep my back arched throughout the movement to isolate my pecs. I try to push with my elbows and really feel the muscle involvement, that mind muscle link of complete concentration. I never try to push with my hands or force the weight to do anything. My upper body stays under control and focused on working the pecs in complete isolation. I never press from my shoulders; doing so puts more emphasis on the delts than it does on the pecs.
I vary my grip from workout to workout. Sometimes I'll use the palms down approach standard with this machine; at other times, I'll grab the vertical handles with my palms facing each other, which is not unlike the hand positions I used on the old Nautilus chest machines. By using a vertical grip, I can change the angle of attack on the muscle. I've notice that the vertical grip lets me feel a greater contraction in my pecs at the top of the movement, allowing me to generate more squeeze and to stretch the pecs farther back in the starting position, much deeper than with the standard grip. Be aware, however, that with the palms facing grip, you engage more of the triceps in the action, so they'll get a little pumped too.
Now I'm ready for the pec deck. Alignment is crucial: My elbows are parallel to the floor and move evenly across the center of my pecs. I push from the inside of my elbows and squeeze right down the middle of my chest. Keep in mind that it's a strict movement, don't jerk your body around. Focus all your mental energy on squeezing the pecs.
After the pec deck, it's time for cable crossovers. I never bend too far at the waist. I flex, but do not hyperextend, my elbows in the starting position. This allows me to drive with my chest, placing the emphasis on contracting the pecs. Of course, I go for an intense squeeze at the bottom, pushing the handles together and letting the pecs do the work. At times, I will actually move beyond the crossover position at the bottom, turning my wrists over so that my palms are facing the floor. I'll go for an extra squeeze, holding the contraction for one or two seconds before releasing it nice and slow as I return to the top.
The key to building mass with machines is to feel what you're doing. Don't be robotic. Focus on the muscle you're isolating. You can't always train balls out with heavy free weights, and this mostly machine workout for chest is an effective alternative. It's worked for me, and I've been training injury free for more than 30 years.
I've been in this crazy business for 30 years. Machines come and go, champions come and go, but one thing that never changes is the basics: the mainstream exercises and training principles that act as the glue to keep a consistent workout program in place.
As a Master's Olympia champion, I am asked by many young bodybuilders if there are any secrets to my longevity. The secrets are simple: perform each movement with precise form and technique; develop a link between the mind and muscle; and strive for intensity, focus and complete concentration. My goal is to lift until I experience that burning sensation. I want to feel the muscle, not the joints and tendons, handling the heavy loads.
The mind muscle link applies equally to free weights and machines. After all my years of toiling in the gym, I know that the last thing I want to do is endlessly repeat the same chest routine. Varying my workouts helps to overcome the monotony of training, and that's why heading to the machines, just for a change of pace, is so important to the effectiveness of my chest routine.
Packing on pec mass through machine training is no problem, provided that I select exercises that don't get too high tech. Yes, I will experiment with all the new equipment that comes along, but the more basic and traditional machine movements are the ones I rely on to build a chest that's chiseled with cross-striations and balanced from top to bottom.
Making consistent progress over the long term means varying intensity from one workout to the next. For all movements in my chest program, incline bench presses (the lone free weight exercise in this group), vertical bench presses, pec decks and cable crossovers, I will do four sets of either 10 - 12 reps (if I'm working light) or five reps (if I'm working hard and heavy). On a heavy day, I'll typically do a warm up set of 12 - 15 reps and then follow with three sets of five reps with a fairly heavy weight.
On lighter days, my rule of thumb is to increase the weight in 10 to 20 pound increments. I'll go to muscle failure on the fourth and final set to break the muscle down. And to keep things fresh, I will periodically experiment with drop sets; it's another method of stimulating growth and packing on maximum muscle mass.
I'm really like a little kid in a sandbox playing with a new toy. My goal is to have fun with bodybuilding. There's no sense walking in the gym if you're not going to enjoy yourself.
My chest routine begins with incline bench presses. I do these when I'm fresh so that I can handle the heavy poundages required to add thickness to my upper chest. How heavy will I go? It depends on how I feel when I walk in the gym. I trust my instincts, and my body, to tell me what I'm capable of on any given day.
The incline barbell press is similar to its flat bench counterpart; the primary difference is that I place myself in a fixed position that allows me to isolate my upper pecs. I slowly lower the bar to my clavicle before propelling the weight from my elbows, not my hands, to the top. I go for a squeeze, contracting my upper pecs, then lower the bar to my clavicle. I'm very careful to keep the mind muscle link in place for every rep, especially towards the end of the set. The emphasis, as always, is on keeping tension on the muscle at all times. If you let the muscle relax, it will not grow.
I go next to the vertical bench press, which is almost like doing a standard bench press. The unique alignment of this movement, however, puts my arms in a pre-stretched position than enables me to get a different type of contraction. I keep my back arched throughout the movement to isolate my pecs. I try to push with my elbows and really feel the muscle involvement, that mind muscle link of complete concentration. I never try to push with my hands or force the weight to do anything. My upper body stays under control and focused on working the pecs in complete isolation. I never press from my shoulders; doing so puts more emphasis on the delts than it does on the pecs.
I vary my grip from workout to workout. Sometimes I'll use the palms down approach standard with this machine; at other times, I'll grab the vertical handles with my palms facing each other, which is not unlike the hand positions I used on the old Nautilus chest machines. By using a vertical grip, I can change the angle of attack on the muscle. I've notice that the vertical grip lets me feel a greater contraction in my pecs at the top of the movement, allowing me to generate more squeeze and to stretch the pecs farther back in the starting position, much deeper than with the standard grip. Be aware, however, that with the palms facing grip, you engage more of the triceps in the action, so they'll get a little pumped too.
Now I'm ready for the pec deck. Alignment is crucial: My elbows are parallel to the floor and move evenly across the center of my pecs. I push from the inside of my elbows and squeeze right down the middle of my chest. Keep in mind that it's a strict movement, don't jerk your body around. Focus all your mental energy on squeezing the pecs.
After the pec deck, it's time for cable crossovers. I never bend too far at the waist. I flex, but do not hyperextend, my elbows in the starting position. This allows me to drive with my chest, placing the emphasis on contracting the pecs. Of course, I go for an intense squeeze at the bottom, pushing the handles together and letting the pecs do the work. At times, I will actually move beyond the crossover position at the bottom, turning my wrists over so that my palms are facing the floor. I'll go for an extra squeeze, holding the contraction for one or two seconds before releasing it nice and slow as I return to the top.
The key to building mass with machines is to feel what you're doing. Don't be robotic. Focus on the muscle you're isolating. You can't always train balls out with heavy free weights, and this mostly machine workout for chest is an effective alternative. It's worked for me, and I've been training injury free for more than 30 years.
Courtesy of GetBig.com
Friday, 12 October 2012
10 min Booty Shaking Waist Workout- Lose inches off your waist by shaking your hips!
Lose inches off your waist with this hip shaking workout. Guaranteed to shrink your waist and tighten your core. Shake, stretch and roll your way to a sexy body. To get a link to buy this video for $3.29 find me on fb at tiffany rothe workouts!
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Friday, 5 October 2012
The 10 Basic Rules Of Body Mass
By Chris Cormier
This article was written by Chris Cormier, and featured in Flex Magazine, May 1995 issue.
Mass is no mystery. Attaining it is quite simple and straightforward. All you have to do is bust your gut and apply the following 10 basic rules.
As heavy as some machines might feel, they do not involve as much of the ancillary muscles areas as do free weights and, therefore, do not build as much compound mass.
How you perform an exercise is perhaps the most important dynamic in building mass. If you want full, hard bulk, do not isolate. Instead, use what Dave Draper calls 'body thrust' to compound the involvement of all the muscles in the area. Also, don't fall for the theory that cheating robs you of separation. On the contrary, it augments the compound benefit and builds even greater size so that there's more muscle in which to carve separations.
Assess your physique to determine which muscle groups need to be brought up in size, then go to the gym with that in mind, concentrating on working those areas first. Begin your workout with a barbell movement and follow with dumbbells. If you use cables, do so at the end of your workout. Never count cable sets as muss building sets.
I used to perform lots of squats, and I became incredibly strong with them, going as high as 40 reps with 315 pounds. But there came a point where, even at that level of intensity, my legs weren't growing to my satisfaction. I discovered that my lower back and hips were taking too much of the stress; the solution lay in working my quads more exclusively. I therefore stopped squatting and switched to leg presses and hack squats instead. My legs are now better than ever.
Be wary of dangerous exercises. Squats and flat bench presses, for example, possess the highest injury potential, so I stay away from them. I can't count the number of individuals whose bodybuilding careers were ended by torn pecs, slipped discs or strained erectors. With proper knowledge and execution, you can get commensurate or even better growth from exercises that work those muscle groups thoroughly without placing undue stress on tendons and ligaments.
Use a range of 16 - 20 total sets per bodypart.
There is no optimum number of exercises. Most bodybuilders prescribe four sets each of four or five different exercises per bodypart, but for some muscle groups, there might be only one or two movements that work them effectively. In those cases, you should do 16 - 20 sets of one exercise, or 8 - 10 sets each of two exercises.
I like to train heavy, but I also like to use lots of reps. I recently performed incline barbell curls with 405 pounds for 10 reps, but I consider that to be medium to light weight, and, therefore, not mass training. My favorite number of mass reps on a regular basis is 10, to failure, of course. However, that doesn't mean you should avoid going as heavy as possible now and then.
Check out your strength levels every so often by maxing out with one or two reps. Remembers, though, that any time you play around with benchpress poundages above 405, you flirt with danger. The body cannot consistently take that type of training. When you want to test your max, do not take big jumps. Rather, work up gradually to keep your body accustomed to the changing forces and their deflections at each level. For example, I go up to 500 pounds for two reps on the incline barbell press, but I do not jump directly from 405 to 500. Instead, I make sure I can do 465 for at least four reps before I go to my max.
The more protein you eat, the better, and the best form of protein for mass is meat, especially red meat. That's where you get your muscle building nutrients, your strength reserves and the necessary fats for joint protection. Make all of these tenets second nature to your bodybuilding lifestyle and you will gain good solid mass.
Courtesy of GetBig.com
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