Tag Archive for: gain muscle

FITNESS RX FOR MENThis info was learned from many issues of my favorite fitness magazine, FITNESS RX, which is based on scientific research and PUBLISHED results from studies conducted by respected organizations such as the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Their website sucks balls, but their magazine rules. No bullshit, no hype. Just straightforward info that’s not too wordy and cuts to the chase. And they always site their sources.

5 techniques to boost training intensity:
How to ensure you’re hitting your max with every set

Forced reps: (partner helps with the last two.)
Negatives: after failure, partner can lift so you do only the neg portion for a couple of reps. Or better yet, Negative Accentuated Training: Lift with two limbs, return with one.
Rest-Pause: Higher weight, fail at 3-4. Rest 10 secs. Around 2 more reps. Rest another 10 secs. Finish with another 1-2 reps. This way, you reach failure 3 times.
Drop Sets: Fail at 8 reps, then lower the weight to 70-80% and fail again.
Cheating Reps: use momentum for the last 1-2 reps BUT, you have to pause at the top at least briefly for true effectiveness.

PLUS:
Long-ass rest periods can significantly increase muscle hypertrophy (increase in muscle cell size). Consider FOUR minute rests between sets for at least one day per week. You don’t have to sit around like a weirdo, either. If you’re doing bench, go do the ab-crunch machine or perform a set of Plank Madness, then rest the remaining time ’til the four minutes are up.

YES, this is still true:
(shit you’ve known to be true, but knuckleheads have recently tried to disprove. this is based on recent studies proving they’re still true)

Running better than biking, but biking still good. Running engages more muscles including the core and the glutes a lot more than biking. And hills are best.

Consuming protein after a workout is gold. High protein, low carb meal after a workout boosts metabolic fires, repairs muscles, and decreases fat storage.

HIIT much better than steady state cardio to prevent muscle loss, burn fat faster, and speed up your metabolism so you burn fat all day

“)(”

back muscles

Get a V-shaped back! Make your pecs explode! Delts and Lats from Hell!

Are you starting to plateau? Not seeing results? Are your workouts getting boring? CHANGE SHIT UP with this KILLER BACK AND CHEST WORKOUT!

OK, that’s enough of the advertising hype talk. Promise.

It’s good to “change shit up” every 30 or 60 days, depending on how you’re doing. If you’re still seeing growth, love your workout, and want to do another month of it, then by all means, carry on. But if you’d like a change, try combining unlikely partners in your quest to keep your body guessing.

For example, today I combined Back with its nemesis; Chest. Let the bloodbath begin. What happens when you work an opposite muscle to the one you’re mainly concentrating on? You get a well balanced workout and a well balanced body. That’s why my 10 in 30 workout plan has a back and some rear delt exercises during Chest day, and some tricep work during Back day.

Today, I pushed that concept further. It was time for Back day, but instead of only doing a few chest exercises to balance shit out, I went with 100 Deep Pushups! Hell to the Yeah! Seriously, I fricken love these. Started with Pullups Madness, and then Cable Rows and in between each set, I’d do a set of 20 reps of deep pushups with my feet on a bench. All the way down, baby!

I did 5 sets for a kick-ass total of 100 deep pushups. Niiice. So that takes care of my chest, and the Pullups and Rows took care of the back. I did two sets of wide, aviator grip rows, and two sets of narrow grip rows. Both were DROP SETS! <– Yes, that warrants all caps and an exclamation point. I’d max out on the heavy weight of rows at around 6 reps, then lower that shit and max out again, this time going at a faster, non-stop pace.

After the 2 mega sets of Pullups Madness and 4 drop sets of rows, I went to the FreeMotion cable machine for some straight-arm pulldowns. I love this machine so much I wish I had one at home. That’s really all you need for your entire body. Anyway, The straight-arm pulldowns took care of the lats for that impressive wide upper, V shaped back. These really brought out some back and lat muscles I’d never seen before. I’m starting to resemble a fricken cobra—AWESOME!

back muscles

back muscles

Here it is in a 10 in 30 style Nutshell:

Nutshell:
Pullups Madness: Do as many pullups as you can, then immediately get on the assisted pullups machine or other assisted method and max out again, then add weight to the machine and max out one more time. Rest a minute, then do the three back to back sets all over again one time for a total of two mega sets. 2 sets.

Deep Pushups: Raise your feet on a bench or step so they’re at least parallel to your hands but preferably a bit higher and go way down to the maximum slowwwly, before pushing up in an explosive, >1 second. Do 20. If you can’t get to 20, stop and rest no more than 10 seconds and do some more. Take as many 10 second rests as you need to complete your 20 reps. 5 sets.

You’ll do these in between EVERY Back exercise ’til you get to 5 sets for 100 Deep Pushup Bad Boys.

Rows: Seated, wide grip. I used what I call a wide “aviator grip”attachment. Use any wide attachment. Max out real heavy at 6 in the 10 in 30 pace of 1 second pull 3 second return, then lower the weight and do some faster, non-stop, 1 second pull 1 second return reps to max out at 6 – 10 reps. 2 sets.

Rows: Seated, narrow grip. Same as above but the hands are almost touching. Again; drop sets. 2 sets.

Straight Arm Pulldowns: Without bending your arms, use a FreeMotion unilateral cable machine or a straight bar on a high cable and squat slightly keeping your back arched, chest out. Grab the handles or bar at the top, and pull down (without bending those arms) so that your hands end up by your thighs. SLOWLY, bring your hands back up. 3 sets.

CHEERS, and enjoy changing shit up and looking like a fricken cobra!

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The 10 in 30 workout plan is not just a bunch of exercises put together nilly willy. It’s designed to work your major body part groups to maximize gains and results. Similar exercises follow each other so that some muscles are being worked back to back, while other muscles are joining in.

For example, the Back Day starts with Lateral Pulldowns which will give you a wide, muscular back. They are followed by Seated Rows, which also work much of the same muscles of the back, but from a totally different angle. Remember that changing even the slightest angle makes a big difference since the weight is distributed differently while still engaging much of the same muscles. The third back exercise is Bent Over Unilateral Dumbbell Row which seems like the same movement as Rows, but you are working one arm and one side of your back at a time. This will help give you that split down the middle of your back.

After the big exercises are done for Back Day, the 10 in 30 plan goes to two Tricep exercises, and two Bicep exercises. These are more concentrated exercises that focus on much smaller muscles that also performed some of the work during the heavy pulling exercises at the beginning. The triceps got to work a little during the Straight-Arm Cable Pulldowns and are included to balance out the upper arms. (your core and abs also get a good workout during the Straight-Arm Cable Pulldowns!)

The Legs Day starts with the hardest exercises, Barbell Squats and Step-Ups and then gives you a break with two calf exercises, back to back, before hitting the quads again with Lunges. It’s important to do the squats first, while you’re fresh, then take a break from working on the quadriceps. You’ll get back to them at the end with the unilateral Lunges.

Chest Day works the same way, with the star player, Incline Bench Press being first along with the Incline Dumbbell Flies. We hit the inclines first, since most guys have a harder time developing the upper pecs, and the middle pecs get a major workout during the inclines anyway. We go back to Flat Bench Press at the end, though, after taking a break with Cable Crossovers and Pec Dec Flies to really get that ‘cut’ in the center of your chest. The next exercises, Rear Delt Fly and Rotator Cuff Extensions are for balance and strengthening the back and rear deltoids (shoulders) during Chest Day. This is to prevent overworking your chest which will pull on the back muscles and rear delts, causing rotator cuff soarness and injury. This way, your body is pulling on both sides, front and back, giving you a proper straight-up posture with shoulders back, chest out.

It’s good to vary the rest times as well, specially when lifting really heavy or doing Supersets like in Shoulder Day. After the Standing Military Press and Standing Upright Rows Supersets, you go into Seated Arnolds which are some heavy-duty presses for exploding your shoulders. You rest for 2 minutes in between sets of the Seated Arnolds to allow you to lift really heavy, with proper form, and therefore take full advantage of such a great exercise! Here, again, you start with the heavy exercises, and then move on to the more concentrated, smaller muscle work—the Dumbbell Side and Front raises. You’ll do these with much smaller weights, with higher reps. I usually use 15lb dumbbells or less for these.

The Arms portion of Shoulder Day is a bit different since we’re only concentrating on the smaller bicep and tricep muscles for the rest of the workout. So, we superset the hell out of them! This type of workout is made to send huge amounts of blood to the area being worked on, in this case— your upper arms. By working on both front and rear of your arms, right after shoulders, you’ll get a massive pump of blood that will leave your arms looking insane! It’s ok to chuckle with amazement while checking out your arms in the mirror after you’re done.

Abs Day is meant to target lower and upper abs as well as obliques in a fast-moving circuit. Add weight to really make your ab muscles get bigger. Yes, in order to get some truly impressive abs, you must work them out like you do your other muscles. Get them bigger so they stick out! There are no exercises that stretch them out and widen them like crunches on the back extension bench. This is because most of us do not want a big, wide, stomach, regardless of how much your abs show. That’s why we do Box Crunches and other exercises that contract your torso by curling it and do not stretch it out by bending backwards.

Do the 10 in 30 workout plan in order, do not replace exercises, and it’s also best to do the days in order to prevent overworking a muscle group by not letting it rest enough. If you don’t want to do two leg days, you can rest on Thursday and only do abs + cardio, so that your biceps and triceps will be ready for the ~damage~ they will incur during Friday’s workout.

Now work out hard, eat a lot, sleep like a baby, and HAVE A GREAT LIFE!

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Fantastic workout right from the 10 in 30 workouts! Friday is Shoulder and Arms day and that’s what I did. Here it is with slight changes:

• Standing Military Press
• Upright Rows ^superset

The rest were more of a circuit with hardly any rest in between. Alternating between shoulders and curls, then triceps.

• Seated Arnold Press
• Dumbbell curls
• Hammer DB curls^super
• Heavy Bent-arm Lat Raises
• Dumbbell curls/Pronated DB curls super
• Lateral Raise 666
• Cable Tricep Press
• Rope Tricep Press ^super

Major pump going on when you do both biceps and triceps back to back with no rest. Add shoulders to that and you’ll see major definition in the upper arms by the time you’re done! That’s why I combine shoulders with arms, to really work out and define the upper arm muscles. Biceps look better when the triceps are also pulling, and they both look better when the delts are all puffy and what not, haha.

That was during my lunch hour as usual. Right after, I had a grilled chicken caesar salad from Mc Donalds with a Coke Zero/Cherry Coke Zero mix from their awesome machine. I only drink those and sometimes add some Diet Dr Pepper—no sugar drinks!
Joy Machine. Gain muscle, lose fat fast!

When I got to work, I heated up a Tyson chicken breast to add to my salad since the chicken they provide is not enough.
Tyson Chicken Breastesses.

I finished my lunch with a half cup of unsalted mixed nuts from Target  and some raw goji berries. JOYYY.
NUTS! Gain muscle fast.

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What kind of a person are you—a quitter or a keep-onner?

I often hear people say things like, “Well, I already messed up my diet in the morning, so there goes that! I guess I can eat whatever I want now.” They somehow justify being bad for the entire day because they messed up once. This is also applied to many other things in life, not just diet and workouts. I don’t get this. Is it the quitter types that think this way? Is it the person that is just looking for an excuse to quit? “Whew! I’m so glad I messed up,” he thinks, “Now I have an excuse to not even try for the rest of the day.” What’s up with that?

Keep on keeping on!
If you do happen to mess up on one meal, or miss one workout, don’t let the quitter thought emerge. Don’t let that be an excuse to eat like a friggin pig the rest of the day as if you did something to deserve it. What did you do? You fucked up. So you get rewarded? wtf? How about, you give yourself a reward on Sunday after you’ve been bad-ass with your diet and workouts the rest of the week? Sounds better, right?

If you do have a “bad” breakfast with too much fat or sugar or something, you can still offset it or even completely undo it and still come out on top for that day. Calories in versus calories out, remember? So, you can eat something bad like chili fries or some cake for someone’s birthday at work, or a high-calorie and high sugar Cadillac Margarita (my favorite), and still be ok by the end of the day or the next. How? Well you know that you’re just going to have that many more bad calories to burn off that day. No problem; Calories in versus calories out. Double your HIT cardio into two sessions that day or the next and be good the rest of the week.

It’s important not to be a Nazi about your diet and end up being anti-social. If it’s someone’s birthday, and your co-workers are going out and will have drinks, and cake, be sure to join them and don’t make a big issue about your diet. Keep it lo-pro! keep it to a minimum without letting people know you’re doing that and don’t mention anything about your diet, or something silly like, “Well, I’m just going to have to run extra long tonight!” Why make those that are going to eat big portions feel bad? It’s a birthday celebration, stupid! haha Just be cool about it and especially, don’t be preachy.

Same goes for your workouts. You have a bad week or weekend like me in Vegas, well pick up where you left off and work a little harder each time during the following week. Don’t resort to shooting yourself in the foot by not working out the whole damn week because you messed up the first half. It’s so easy to lose muscle, yet so hard to gain muscle and even harder to lose fat, right?! So don’t give that fact a boost by loosing an entire week!

Cheers, keep-onners!

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Workout MOTIVATION, Tips, notes, observations, new equipment.

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Good luck with your goals!