Post-workout Meal – 3 Foods to Eat After a Workout

You put a lot of effort into your workouts, always looking to perform better and reach your goals.

Chances are you’ve given more thought to your pre-workout meal than your post-workout meal.

But consuming the right nutrients after you exercise is just as important as what you eat before.

Here is a detailed guide to optimal nutrition after workouts.

Water

This may seem obvious, but poor hydration is one of the most common workout mistakes. To stay energized and feel great, you should drink 2 to 3 glasses of water for every pound lost while exercising.

Protein, Carbs and Fat

This section discusses how each macronutrient — protein, carbs and fat — is involved in your body’s post-workout recovery process.

The following lists contain examples of simple and easily digested foods:

Carbs

Sweet potatoes
Chocolate milk
Quinoa
Fruits (pineapple, berries, banana, kiwi)
Rice cakes
Rice
Oatmeal
Potatoes
Pasta
Dark, leafy green vegetables

Protein

Animal- or plant-based protein powder
Eggs
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese
Salmon
Chicken
Protein bar
Tuna

Fats

Avocado
Nuts
Nut butters
Trail mix (dried fruits and nuts)

Mixed vegetables and grilled chicken

Since your body is still recovering, you need a dish that’s full of nutrients. The carbohydrates and lean protein in chicken will satiate

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3 Day Workout Split for Beginners For the best Results

There’s hundreds of different styles of workout regimes in existence, it comes to me as no surprise that the majority of newcomers give up before they even do their first workout – with magazines, websites, books and trainers all preaching and recommending completely different workout styles for the same end goal.

To build muscle mass.

The 3 day split is one workout style among the hundreds out there, however unlike many the 3 day split workout regime is ideal for beginners – having started with a 3 day split regime myself I can honestly say it’s the best starting point for a newcomer to the gym.

The best 3 day workout split beginners could do would be comprised of an upper body day, a lower body day, and a full body day. Think something like this:

Mon – upper body
Tue – lower body
Wed – off
Thu – off
Fri – full body
Sat – off
Sun – off

The reason why this layout is preferable is because your upper and lower body days each give you some extra room in your program to add in a few isolation, aesthetics-based exercises. But when you couple those two days with a full body workout at the end of the week, all your bigger bodyparts are being hit with compound movements twice every week. This leads to a good balance between strength-based hypertrophy and aesthetics.

Sample Beginner Program

The following is a sample program utilizing the above template:

Monday – Upper Body:

Overhead press – 3-4 sets x 5-6 reps
Pullups/pulldowns – 3-4 sets x 6-8 reps
Dumbbell bench press – 3-4 sets x 6-8 reps
Lateral raises – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Barbell curls – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Tricep Pushdowns – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps

Tuesday – Lower Body:

Squat – 3-4 sets x 5-6 reps
Leg press – 3-4 sets x 6-8 reps
Romanian deadlifts – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Leg extensions – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Calves Raises – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps

Friday – Full Body:

Incline press – 3-4 sets x 5-6 reps
Low pulley rows – 3-4 sets x 6-8 reps
Deadlifts – 3-4 sets x 5-6 reps
Shrugs – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Rear delts – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps
Hammer curls – 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps

Adding in 30-45mins of aerobic cardio 2-3x/week to improve heart health, promote recovery, and help burn a few extra calories would be a good idea. You can either do the cardio after one of your gym workouts or on a non-workout day, but try to give yourself at least two full days off (no lifting or cardio) per week.

If you’re a beginner to bodybuilding, give this 3 day workout split a try. It’ll give you an almost perfect balance between strength-based hypertrophy work and specific aesthetics training. This is a program that could be used by pretty much anyone starting out, and could be continued for at least the first 6-12 months.

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4 Workout Mistakes Bibinners Should Avoid

Starting an exercise routine provides many benefits including weight loss, increased muscle mass, lower blood pressure and an improved self image. Unfortunately, starting a good exercise routine isn't as easy as jumping on the treadmill and pushing start. Here are a few common mistakes made by new exercisers that are easy to avoid.

Having a lot of confidence in supplements

Supplements help you to boost your workout by giving nutrients and help you perform better. Be that as it may, don’t put an excess of weight in supplements. You will in any case go similarly as your exertion take you, and also great dietary patterns. Also, when you pick supplements check the list of ingredients on the package. You can even go similarly as checking the nature of the item with a mentor or doctor to ensure it suits you.

Too Much Too Soon

 A lot of beginners are very motivated and start by working out way too much. Exercising is good and some think that more of a good thing is even better. For most things in life, this isn't true. When you're out of shape, your body can't handle a rigorous workout routine. If you keep it up, you'll soon feel tired, sore and might quit your routine all together. Starting at a lighter pace will allow your body to better cope with the change and increase the chance that you will stick to the new routine.

Overtraining

Next, make sure that you aren’t exercising too often. if you don’t take rest days throughout the week’s routine, you’ll regret it. Your body will be adjusting and adapting to the increased stress of exercise on the body. If you aren’t allowing adequate rest time and recovery, this will influence your progress going forward.

Have you heard of rhabdomialaysis? This is what happens in extreme cases, but overtraining is a risk at every fitness level.

Beginners will typically fare best on a program that employs bodyweight workouts. This will focus on the full body with each workout session. Comparatively, a split body program hits just individual muscle groups at once.

Eating too Little

 To lose weight you need to combine exercise with a calorie restricted diet. In an attempt to lose weight quickly, some beginners cut calories too drastically. Unfortunately, if you dip under 1,200 calories per day, your metabolism will slow down and you might not lose as much weight as you would hope. Avoid eating under 1,200 calories per day to avoid this problem.

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How Often Should You Do Abdominal Exercises?

To get results and prevent over training, focus on hitting your core two to three times a week post-workout. During those workouts, aim to include a variety of core exercises – not just crunches. Planks, cable woodchops, and abdominal rollouts are all good variations to include. Also, aim for the bulk of your program to consist of total body exercises that are going to involve your core like front squats, deadlifts, and standing shoulder presses. When choosing sets and reps, also be sure to mimic your current training program. If the rest of your training is geared towards increasing maximal strength and power, then your core moves should focus on that as well (shifting to medicine ball throws versus woodchops for instance). As with other muscle groups, vary the exercises and intensity to constantly see results and avoid overtraining.

Low Intensity / High Repetition Abdominal Routines

For those who mainly focus on a toning style of exercise consisting of lower intensity exercises (using light weight or no weight, low difficulty exercises) with a higher number of repetitions per set (3-4 sets of 12-20 repetitions), reaching your threshold takes a bit longer. This is primarily due to the lower intensity of an exercise used for such a routine. Because the exercise is less intense it will not rip the muscle fibers as often or as much as a higher intensity abdominal exercise, which means you can do this style of exercise more often with less of a chance of becoming too sore to exercise or bringing about repetitive stress syndrome.

How often can you train with a low intensity/high rep approach? A toning style core routine can be performed 4-6 days per week once you have built up your tolerance for those exercises, but if you become overly sore you may need to take a 48 hour break to allow muscles to properly heal. Just make sure you take at least one day off each week, even if you never get sore.


High Intensity / Low Repetition Abdominal Programs

Those who need to be more careful with working out everyday are those who do more aggressive strength training exercises consisting of a high intensity exercise (high weight/resistance or difficult bodyweight exercises) with a lower number of repetitions per set (3 sets of 4-10 repetitions).

With an abs exercise routine consisting of high intensity exercises there is a much greater incident of muscle damage.

In fact, damaging the muscle fiber by tearing it is actually the intention of a strength training routine and it is because of this that you need to limit the frequency that you do this style of core routine. If you are doing a strength training routine correctly, you should be sore after each routine, and this is what determines how often you should do abdominal programs. You should never repeat a strength training routine on sore muscles; this is a sign that your muscles are still healing from the damage they sustained from the last workout routine. If you exercise these muscles again with a strength training routine you will just reinjure the muscles in the same areas they were injured before, essentially setting you back in your goals, not getting you there faster.

With high intensity abdominal strength training, working your abs more than 3 times a week is usually too much. The general rule is that you should wait at least 48 hours before repeating a strength training routine or targeting the same muscles. If 48 hours have passed and you are still sore, either wait another 24 hours or switch to a lighter toning routine to avoid derailing your schedule, just make sure that you never do strength training on sore muscles.

When it comes down to it, your abdominal and core muscles are just like any other muscle group in your body and should be trained accordingly. The only difference is that abdominal muscles are particularly strong and can take a fair amount of punishment before they need to rest and heal, and they heal slightly faster than most other muscles, but only slightly. The main key to remember about how often to do abs workouts is that if it is sore, let it heal before you train it again, and even if it never gets sore give those muscles at least one day of rest a week.

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The 30 Minute & Back Routine

This 30 minute series I’ve written has picked up a lot of steam and is great for those who want to make progress but not spend hours in the gym.

This 30 minute back routine is going to build strength and get toned by using effective exercises with a strong progression scheme.

If you’re tired of going to the gym and not seeing any progress, using this routine will get you out of that rut and back on the path to reaching your goals.

EXERCISE 1: Pull Up

Reps: As many as possible
Sets: 4
Rest: 60 seconds

EXERCISE 2: Dumbbell Bent Over Row

Reps: 10
Sets: 4
Rest: 60 seconds

EXERCISE 3 & 4: Straight Bar Lat Pull Down superset with TRX Back Row

Reps: 10
Sets: 3 (supersets)
Rest: 30 seconds

EXERCISE 5: Seated Cable Row

* Complete as a dropset. Perform 10 reps, drop the weight by 10-20%, perform another 10 reps, drop the weight by 25%, perform another 10 reps.

* Complete 2 dropsets

Rest: 90 seconds

Workout Tips

Strive for progression – Every time you step into the gym, strive to lift heavier or more weight. I promise you won’t get “bulky”
Get in and get out – Just like the title says, this routine shouldn’t more than ~30 minutes or 45-50 with cardio. The goal is to get in and get out.

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What are carbohydrates? Categories of Carbohydrates

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates, together with lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, are one of the four major classes of biologically essential organic molecules found in all living organisms.
Carbohydrates, all coming from the process of photosynthesis, represent the major part of organic substance on Earth, are the most abundant organic components in the major part of fruits, vegetables, legumes and cereal grains, carry out many functions in all living organisms and are the major energy source in a Mediterranean-type diet. Finally, they provide flavor and texture in many processed foods.

Carbohydrates can be divided into three groups:

Simole Starchy Carbohydrates

(e.g. sugar, honey, fruit, fruit juice)

Simple carbohydrates have a ‘simple’ molecular structure and are made up of 1-2 sugar molecules. The simplest form of carbohydrate is glucose. Simple sugars that are found in foods include sucrose (table sugar), fructose (found in fruit), and lactose (found in milk). Not all simple carbs are bad. Natural simple carbs in fruit and milk are perfectly healthy. Low-fat or non-fat dairy such as yoghurt, milk and cottage cheese are healthy food choices and rich sources of calcium. Although fruits and (fresh) fruit juices are healthy and packed with minerals and vitamins, it is probably best to eat it them in moderation, as complex carbs such as vegetables are a superior food source if weight loss is your goal, especially if you are carbohydrate sensitive. Probably the best time to ingesting fruit is before and after your workouts.

So, if not all simple carbohydrates are ‘bad’, which ones are? Sugar (sucrose)! If you wanna lose weight, stay away from sugar.

Complex Starchy Carbohydrates

(e.g. rice, wholemeal,pasta)

Complex carbohydrates are also made up of sugars, but the sugar molecules are strung together to form longer, more complex chains. Complex starchy carbohydrates include whole grains, peas and beans, which are rich in vitamins, minerals an fiber. The problem with complex starch carbs is that often they are refined.

Refined carbohydrates are foods where machinery has been used to remove the high fibre parts (the bran and the germ) from the grain. When a complex carb is refined it loses it complex structure and thus all the properties that made it a healthy choice. Instead it takes on the properties of a simple carbohydrate and is processed by the body in the same way. White rice, white flour, white bread, sugary cereals, and pasta, noodles and pretty much anything made from white flour are all examples of refined carbohydrates. You should stay away from refined carbs, as much as you should stay away from sugar.

Stick to unrefined complex carbohydrates. They still contain the WHOLE grain, including the bran and the germ. Thus, they are higher in fibre and will keep you feeling fuller for longer – great for weight loss. Examples include whole-grain rice, wholemeal bread, porridge oats and whole-wheat pasta.

Complex Fibrous Carbohydrates

(e.g. most vegetables)

Fibrous carbs are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and other nutrients and tend to be green vegetables. These are full of fiber, which is the indigestible portion of plant material (i.e. vegetables). This means that much of the food passes straight through the gut and is not absorbed, thus they are great ‘colon cleansers’ and are essential for keeping the digestive process running clean and healthily! Even better, fibrous carbohydrates are very low in calories and it is virtually impossible to overeat on green vegetables. Some vegetable are so low in calories they contain less calories than it requires to eat them e.g. celery.

High Glycemic Carbs

The glycemic index (GI) is a measure of the speed at which a carbohydrate raises blood sugar levels. From this, a high glycemic carb is one which raises blood sugar levels very quickly. The spike in blood sugar creates the insulin response which means that your body will produce high amounts of insulin to return your blood sugar back to normal levels. This is done by converting all the glucose into fat which gets stored in your body. This results in low blood sugars and the craving for simple carbs. Examples of high GI carbs include potatoes, corn, carrots, bagels, white bread, and gatorade (good to consume post workout with a protein shake.

Low Glycemic Carbs

Low Glycemic Carbs cause a smaller rise in blood sugar. Low GI carbs are preferred when losing weight, but not the only choice. High GI carbs can be used when mixed with protein and healthy fats. Some examples of low GI carbs include plums, peas and spinach.

Refined (Processed) Carbs

Refined carbs are products that have been altered to increase shelf life. These types of carbs are found in frozen, canned and boxed items. Key words to look for on packaging to determine if the carbs are processed are words such as rolled, bleached, dehydrated and partially hydrogenated. Examples of these types of carbs include white bread, pasta and cookies.

Unrefined Carbs

Unrefined carbs are foods that are in their natural state. Oranges are unrefined while orange juice is refine.

Carbs to Avoid while Dieting

While trying to lose weight, it is good to avoid most processed foods such as pasta, white rice, fruit juice, sugar loaded fat free yogurt, most crackers, cookies, pastries, white bread, chips, pretzels, bagels, sports drinks, soft drinks, and candy. Once you have dieted and lost weight successfully, these carbs can be re-admitted into your daily diet in moderation.

Carbs to Moderate

Many of the most popular diet plans tell you to avoid starchy carbs and high glycemic carbs but they do serve a purpose. If you're working out your body needs them for energy and they also help your body burn fat. There are 3 simple rules when it comes to starchy and high glycemic carbs:

Limit yourself to two servings a day of each

Eat them in the first half of your day. Always combine with protein. Doing this allows you to eat some of the foods you like and still lose weight. For example: In the first half of your day you can have eggs and potatoes for breakfast, fruit salad and protein shake for a snack, and tuna with veggies, balsamic vinegar & olive oil in half a whole wheat pita for lunch. In the afternoon you could eat whey protein shake & 1 apple for a snack, plus a chicken breast and spinach & tomato salad for dinner.

Carbs You Can Indulge

Not many people are into eating greens and high fiber cereal (13g of more per serving) but these are the carbs the help you feel full, have the most nutrients, and really boost metabolism so indulge all you want.

Cycle Your Carbs

Another great strategy is to vary your carb grams based on your activity level. On the days you're lifting heavy and doing a lot of cardio you can allow yourself a little more carbs than on the days you don't work out at all. But don't use this as an excuse to indulge your chocolate cake fantasies. All this means is that you can eat an extra piece of fruit or an extra serving of brown rice. If you stick to these simple rules you will have no problem shedding those pounds without feeling too deprived.

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5 Exercises to Hit All 3 Tricep Heads and Fill Your T-Shirt Sleeves

People don’t understand that triceps take up 2/3 of your arm and the biceps only take up 1/3. On your route to getting those 22″ arms, you need to fill out the back 2/3 of your arm and the whole process will become much easier.

Dips

Weighted and non-weighted dips are great for hitting all 3 tricep heads.
They are as old as time but still take the cake for the best tricep workouts for mass.
There are multiple variations on how to do dips whether they be on benches or between to bars.
A lot of people choose doing them between two bars because it takes some pressure off of your wrists.
Going a little passed 90-degrees uses your tricep muscles to their fullest potential for optimal mass gainz.

Skull Crushers

This may be the best exercise for the triceps because it allows free joint movement and hits all three tricep heads but with more focus on the medial head. I would also recommend dumbbells instead of the barbell for full range of the muscle movement. Try to reach back as far as you can behind your head as you lower the weights to really hit the medial head and focus on the extension.

Make it harder with an incline bench if you need to.

Overhead Tricep Extensions

Moving on to the isolation exercises that focus more on the long head – the biggest and strongest part of the triceps. While all tricep exercises hit it, overhead extensions allow you to put more weight directly on the long head. It also activates the lateral head because it’s connected with shoulders and all you have to do is to raise your arms up. As a drawback it puts really a lot of pressure on the shoulders, so if you have problems with that, you can skip this exercise and move on to the next.

Pushdowns

Cable pushdowns are the number 1 most done tricep workout in the world.
Although it doesn’t fall in at number 1 on our list, it is still one of the best tricep workouts for mass.
Another one with multiple variations, you can use ropes, straight bars curved bars, etc.
Hand placement is also another way to change it up such as wider or closer together as well as hands over or below the bar.
The one hand push-down is another great variation to do.
Cable pushdowns work all 3 tricep heads.

Dumbbell Kichback

Now, let’s add some detail to those arms and provide a great finishing pump to boot. Don’t worry about going heavy during this move; trying to do so could put undue stress on your shoulder joints. Instead, select a weight that you can easily manage as well as hold and squeeze at the top of each rep. For variety, also try the cable kickback.

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6 reasons to eat egg whites

Boiled egg whites may be a plain food, but they offer many benefits to your diet. While egg yolks contain lutein, vitamin A and vitamin B-12, they also contain fat, cholesterol and calories. Boiled egg whites are a convenient and low-calorie way to add egg protein to your diet, without overloading your calorie or fat consumption.

1. No fat and low calories

If you’re cutting during summer or can’t fit a lot of fat into your macros, one egg white contains 52 calories per 100 grams, whereas the yolk adds 322 calories. All the fat of an egg is in the yolk too, some of which is good fat, but it also contains 2g of saturated fat per yolk, about eight per cent of the daily recommended intake.

2. High Protein

Egg whites are one of the top sources of protein, ranking up there with lean meat, poultry and fish. More than half of a full egg’s 6 g of protein, in fact, comes from the white. A single egg white offers 4 g of protein without the yolk’s fat and other detriments. You’ll get no fat, in fact, unless you fry up the egg in greasy oil or butter. Opting for low-fat protein sources as a regular part of your diet can also reduce your risk of heart disease.

3. Low Calorie

Egg white is a boon for people who want to reduce weight without intake of excess calories
According to USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, one large egg provides you with 17 calories a compared to whole eggs which provides 72 calories. So, if you eat egg whites from four eggs, they will provide you 68 with calories.

4. Low in Fat

Though, fat is needed by the body, but consuming excess fats can lead to risk of high cholesterol and thus, heart diseases
According to USDA, egg whites are devoid off fat, including saturated fats which is found in the whole egg
Full fat dairy products and high fat meats that are high protein foods, contains high amounts of saturated fats. Thus, if you replace these high protein foods with egg white protein, you can reduce the risk of heart diseases significantly.

 5. No cholesterol

Although in the past the hazards of eating whole eggs were greatly exaggerated, it’s true that there is zero cholesterol in egg whites. According to eggs.org.au, 51 per cent of Australian adults have high cholesterol and even though dietary cholesterol of eggs has only a small effect on blood LDL (the ‘bad’ cholesterol), the Heart Foundation recommends eating just one egg a day. This might not seem like a big deal for some, but diabetics and people with cardiovascular problems need to closely monitor their cholesterol intake and take this into account.

6. Other

Egg white also give you a few other benefits. An egg white has absolutely no fat, compared to the yolk’s 5 g of fat, 2 g of which are saturated fat. The amount of saturated fat in the yolk fulfills about 8 percent of your daily recommended dose. A single egg white also offers 1.3 mcg of folate, 6.6 mcg of selenium, 2.3 mg of calcium, 3.6 mg of magnesium, and 4.9 mg of phosphorus.

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the Basics Workout

I was offered a Director of Operations position at the oldest operating gym in America (Union), and when I stopped by, I fell in love immediately. It’s a no-nonsense type of place that reeks of sweat and partially rusted steel. What was most encouraging though was the type of lifting taking place. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of members were playing with weights like a fish out of water, but a good portion were performing rack deadlifts, board pressing, and functional training. I figure, with a little TLC and that already-existent training approach, I can turn this place into something special.

Body weight workouts are one of the hottest fitness trends! Ditch the complicated exercises and get back to basics! Think old school fitness, like you did back in the day. The beauty of a body weight only workout is that you can do these exercises anywhere and they hit all of the major muscle groups. They can be performed faster, increasing your strength and endurance.

Warmup:

Jump Rope – 3 x 200 rotations
Split Jacks – 3 x 10
Broad Jumps – 3 x 5
Single-leg Lunge Jumps – 3 x 10

Complex:

RDL - Overhead Press - BB Bicep Curl -10-8-6-4
Going up in weight each time or you can stay at a lower weight and perform higher reps for warm-ups and activation

Compound Movements:

Snatch from Floor or Steps – 3 x 5
Overhead Squat (elevated heels if necessary) – 5 x 5 (Heavy)
BB Reverse Lunges – 3 x 8

Upper Body Superset:

Pullups – 5 x failure
Dips – 5 x failure

Core Work:

Barbell Roll-outs 3 x 10
Lying elevated leg extensions to fetal position 3 x 30
Dip position leg lifts 3 x 12-15

if you use this template 4 times per week for 10-12 weeks, you will build muscle, gain strength, and look a helluva on and off the field. Whether you’re an athlete or just want to avoid putting on the winter weight, give this old school mix a go, and let me know, come winter when you’ve finished your first training cycle, how it feels to dunk with women hanging off of your traps.

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How to Get Pecs Quickly? Top Chest Muscle Building Exercises

Building a big & powerful chest can be a challenge if you are focusing on the wrong exercises and reps. In this article, we are going to cover the best chest workout that will help you build a thick, strong set of pecs while also increasing your strength & power.

The first and most basic chest muscle exercise is the push up. In this exercise, you can not only improve your chest muscles, but you can also improve your triceps. To make a push up, lie on the ground with you to the ground. Your hands and palms should be under each side of the body. Then push up while making sure your legs and torso is in a straight line. This is the initial position. Now beautifully lower until your chest is an inch off the ground. After a second push back to the starting position. Repeat. This exercise is good as warm up for the chest before doing chest exercises with weights. It can also be made to cool.The next chest muscle exercise is the bench press. To make the bench press, there is a bar in the rack of a bench press the bench. Then lie down on that bench with your feet. Lift the bar with your arms are in a straight line. Then slowly flex your arms down, letting the bar close to your chest. Once the bar is under an inch from your chest, you can now lift it up again. Repeat. This exercise focuses on all parts of the chest. To concentrate on your upper chest, make a slanted bench press. It is very similar to bench pressing, except that the bench on which they lie should be tilted. You can also make a declining bank bank where your bank should be declined. Lowering bench pressure concentrates on improving your lower chest.These exercises are good exercises that build your chest muscles completely. There are many more chest muscle exercises you can do. To know more chest muscle exercises.

CHEST WOKROUT OF PERFECTION ROUTINE

Barbell Bench Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 5

Rest Time: 90-180 Seconds

Dumbbell Incline Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 8-12

Rest Time: 90 Seconds

Barbell Incline Bench Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 6-8

Rest Time: 90 Seconds

Weighted Dips (Chest Version)

Sets: 4

Reps: 8

Rest Time: 2 Minutes

Flat Dumbbell Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 10

Rest Time: 1 Minute

That’s it! No drop-sets, super-sets, tri-sets, pre-exhaustion sets, or anything like that. Just proven exercises that actually build muscle. Don’t go to failure every set, leave 2-3 reps in the tank, save your max effort set for the last set of each exercise. So for example if you can bench press 225 for 5 reps, do 205-210 for 4 sets of 5, then 225 for your last set of 5.a

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How To Do It ? 4 Week To Big Calves

High volume works best for calves. They are probably the hardest muscle to build, and if you chose the wrong parents getting them to grow is gonna be a bitch.

Like my dad, I have always had calves like string beans. Just doing a few sets for them never did anything for me. Since I had no desire to train them and preferred to focus on strength, athleticism and bigger compound lifts they stayed that way for years.

Calves are one of the toughest areas of the body to target when it comes to growing bigger muscles. Calves are composed of two muscles: the gastrocnemius and the soleus. These muscles work together to carry us everywhere we go, so it takes time, effort and some pain to shock them into getting bigger. You'll get satisfying results if you use the right workout strategy combined with a high-calorie diet.

The goal here is to continuously progress and raise the bar. I definitely recommend you to try out this plan, and see how quickly you will add an additional cms in your calves as well as improved separation.
Pick up any exercise for the calves, seated/standing or leg press machine. Do 1-2 warm up sets (very light). Select an appropriate weight to perform a predetermined number of repetitions and keep the rest like in description. and…
Get ready for a real pump!


Protocol:

Week 1 – 10 reps, 10 seconds of rest, 20 reps, 20 seconds of rest, 30 reps, 30 seconds of rest, 40 reps – the end!

Week 2 – 20 reps 20 seconds of rest, 30 reps, 30 seconds of rest, 40 reps, 40 seconds of rest, 50 reps – the end!

Week 3 – 30 reps, 30 seconds of rest, 40 reps, 40 seconds of rest, 50 reps, 50 seconds of rest, 60 reps – the end!

Week 4 – 30 reps, 30 seconds of rest, 40 reps, 40 seconds of rest, 50 reps, 50 seconds of rest, 60 reps – the end!

Increase the load by 25%)

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The Amount of Protein Intake Needed After Workouts?

Refueling after exercise is key for rebuilding muscle tissue and glycogen stores.  Exercise can break down muscle fibers which hinders building muscle and strength.  However, getting adequate nutrition through the day, and after exercise, can offset muscle break down and contribute to muscle growth.

Athletes need about 1.2-1.7 gm/kg of body weight.  Most athletes get their recommended amount of protein throughout the day if they eat a balanced diet.  You don’t necessarily need to drink o eat a protein supplement after working out.

Supplements can be convenient and portable, but real food can work well for restoring muscles after exercise.

Here are some considerations to keep in mind when planning your post exercise nutrition and protein intake.

1. Bigger athletes don’t necessary need more protein. The researchers suggested that the amount of muscle worked in a specific training session has a bigger impact on the amount of protein needed afterwards, than the entire amount of muscle in the body. So the assumption that larger athletes need more protein may no longer be viable.

2. The amount of protein your muscles need after your training sessions may be dependent on the type of workout you’ve performed. Researchers found that volunteers muscles were able to grow and recover faster from exercise after consuming a higher quantity of protein, no matter how big the man was. They think that nutritionist should recommend the necessary amount of protein also based on some details about the type of training.

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4 Highly Effective Chest Techniques for a Bigger

Discover the best chest exercises for building a chest worthy of Greek god status. On this page, I’ll give you my take on top 5 exercises for chest training.

Exercise 1

Incline Barbell Press

5 x 4 + 4 + 4

30X1 Tempo

2 min rest

Exercise 2

Flat Neutral Grip Chest Press

5 x 45sec constant tension timed sets

1min rest

Exercise 3

Omni Push-Ups

3 x failure

1min rest

Exercise 4

cable flyes

5 x 4 + 4 + 4

30 sec rest

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Top 5 Arm Training Mistakes

Curls, curls curls. When I first started working out at home my elaborate scheme to build the body of my dreams was based solely around the principle of training biceps every evening, without fail. I soon realized that sheer volume on one exercise wasn’t getting me far. Looking back now I realize that everyone that has built an impressive set of arms knows how to train them correctly – thousands upon thousands of light weight, slow bicep curls won’t get you arms .

Arm Training Mistake #1
Neglecting Triceps

This is without a doubt the biggest arm training mistake I see. Period.
When it comes to building big arms the triceps are often neglected, with arm day consisting of a variety of different bicep curls and only one or two tricep exercises.
The triceps makes up 2/3 of your arm and has a far bigger overall impact on the size of your arm (especially when viewed side on).

Although the triceps are the secondary muscle group on exercises such as the barbell bench press when training chest in order to build impressive triceps they need to be hit directly with the right exercises such as the close grip bench press, skullcrushers and bodyweight (or weighted) dips.

Arm Training Mistake #2
Avoiding Compound Exercises

Quite often in commercial gyms, you’ll witness the bros going through their routines for arms, and they will mainly be doing set upon set of curls, or some fancy machine exercise. This is a big mistake. Your arms, similar to other muscles, respond well to properly targeted, heavy training. It’s important that you include at least two compound exercises into every arm workout. Isolation is great, but compounds build slabs of muscle. Close-grip bench presses, barbell curls, weighted dips on a bench or the parallel bars, and more are all great exercises to make a staple in your arm training routine.

Arm Training Mistake #3
Static Stretching Before Your Work Out

We all know that stretching is important. It improves your flexibility, increases mobility and helps prevent injuries, including pulled muscles or joint problems. However, not all stretching is created equal.

There are two basic types of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is probably what comes to mind for most people when they think about stretching. It involves placing the muscle into a stretched position and holding it there. (For the triceps, the classic stretch is to place your bent arm behind your head, to grasp your elbow with the other hand, and to gently pull.) Dynamic stretching, on the other hand, involves moving the muscle through its range of motion in order to warm it up and gradually get it ready for work.

While stretching can be a good thing, doing static stretching before working your arms when they’re not good and warm can increase in the likelihood of injury. This isn’t to say that static stretching is always a triceps training mistake though. After a workout, static stretches can be very beneficial in lengthening your muscles and helping increase your flexibility.

Arm Training Mistake #4
Doing too much

The popularity of biceps doesn’t make them any larger in relation to their peers. Compared with your lats and quadriceps, your bi’s are puny, so if you’re pumping out as many sets in your biceps workout as your back workout, you’re likely piling on the “little guys.” More than any other muscles, biceps are frequent victims of overtraining, which halts or even reverses their gains.

Arm Training Mistake #5
Arm Training Frequency Too High

As I mentioned earlier, it didn’t take me long to realize that training my arms every single day wasn’t getting me very far in terms of results given all the effort I was exerting.

Train smart.

The biceps act as the secondary muscle group when we’re training back, and the triceps act as the secondary muscle group when we’re training chest.
Training chest, back and one dedicated arm day per week (or triceps and biceps split up onto seperate days instead) is more than enough to build big, strong arms.

More isn’t always better – if you’re training frequency is any higher than this you may very well be hindering your own progress, like all other muscle groups the biceps and triceps require time to recover.

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Things You Should Know Building Muscle

hard gainers out there, but most people who consider themselves hard gainers are simply training wrong and not eating properly to gain the muscle mass gains they seek.

Maybe you are someone who wants to pack on a few pounds of quality muscle while staying lean. You’re someone who doesn’t want to follow the typically excepted bulking and cutting cycles, where you bulk first and then cut up. Maybe, just maybe, you want to look good all year round and not for just a couple of weeks. I’m with you here on this one. I want to add more muscle myself, but not at the expense of looking like crap for most of the year.

The good news is you don’t have to follow the typical bulk and cut approach to gain muscle. If you know what to do and how to approach muscle gain you can add quality muscle while maintaining, and sometimes even lowering, your body fat levels. The key is to add quality lean muscle without getting fat in the process.

Whatever your muscle building related goals are, these  simple tips will become very useful to you as you start to address your muscle building goals. Just remember these tips only do you any good if you start to implement them and implement them consistently!

TRAIN SMARTER

There are two types of muscle growth (hypertrophy) to be concerned with: sarcoplasmic, which increases the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell, and myofibrillar, which increases the size of the muscle by increasing the contractile proteins.
"Some people would argue that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is muscle that's all show and no go, while myofibrillar is more functional muscle, or 'all go'," says strength and nutrition coach Adam Rosante. For both, he advises adopting a training programme that mixes heavy weights and low rep schemes as well as lower weight, higher rep ones. "It'll give you size and strength that's for both show and go."

EAT MORE

Fact: Muscles respond to calories. If you're looking to pack on more muscle than you have now, you'll need to increase how much you're eating. No, not the kind of calories found in insane amounts of buffalo wings or a dozen pints. You need high-quality protein, the best muscle food, throughout your day. The good news? None of this has to be complicated.

Unless you're a physique model or professional bodybuilder, there is absolutely no reason to hyper-track calories or measure your food on a scale. Rosante suggests to his clients to eat three to four full meals, or three meals and a snack, each day. On each of those plates, consume:

- 2 palm-sized portions of lean protein
- 2 fist-sized portions of veggies
- 2 cupped palm sized portions of carbs (fruit or starch)

Training extra hard? Toss in an additional cupped palm-sized portion of carbs at any one of those meals. On the go? Make sure to bring a protein source with you. For Swerve Fitness instructor Jason Tran, he's always got a protein bar in his bag (he opts for Detour Smart Bars himself). "It helps me maximise muscle growth," he says.

SLEEP IS KEY

It’s difficult to build muscle without adequate sleep — seven hours a night, preferably eight. Sleep is when most of your hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, are released, allowing your body to recover and grow. Without adequate sleep, you’re sabotaging your efforts to build muscle.

YOU MUST LIFT FAST

Again fast moves come out on top. High threshold motor units (HTMU’s or fast twitch fibers) are responsible for lifting heavy, producing power and speed. They are also the fibers responsible for the growth of the muscle! In order to train these units you must LIFT FAST. SPEED IS KING. If you don’t and you lift slow you risk training your slow oxidative (slow twitch) fibers These fibers have minimal potential for growth. You are wasting your time. LIFT FAST

TAKE A REST

"Your muscles grow when you're resting, not working out," says Tran. A general rule of thumb? Take 48 hours minimum between training the same muscle group, and make sure you're giving them what they need during that off time. Happy muscles need carbohydrates and (gasp!) even some fat, and also to be stretched properly. While static stretching a cold muscle is a no-go, and can even cause tears, stretching a muscle after heavy sets can improve recovery.

YOU MUST EAT BEFORE BED

‘What? Are you crazy?’ – NO. The theory is similar to number 5. If the last meal you ate was at 9pm and you went to bed at 11pm and then slept until 8am. That’s 11 hours of fasting and 11 hours of burning precious muscle! Have a small protein based meal before bed and you will halt this process!

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6 Best Exercises for Stronger Hamstrings

Only a handful of gym-goers get excited about leg day. And then, on leg days, only a few of them will train their hamstrings. Admittedly, quads don’t get the same love that chest muscles get, but for unknown reasons, the hamstrings get even less – it’s like they always receive the short end of the stick in terms of building leg strength and size. And that’s really a shame, because the hamstrings are kind of like the triceps of the legs in the way their development holds the key to building truly big, powerful and sculpted legs.

The most important function of the hams is hip extension, which as you can guess, is vital for explosiveness, sprinting, jumping and overall pelvic mobility, but they also play an important role in stabilizing the knee joint, so it’s easy to understand how a pair weak, underdeveloped hams will diminish the effectiveness of your leg training, make you look like a novice and leave you at risk for imbalance and injury.

If you’ve been slacking on your hamstring training or your posterior chain could use some extra activation, here are 6 moves that will help you bring up your hams and develop a truly strong, well-developed backside!

1. Romanian Deadlifts: 4 x 6-8

Romanian deadlifts are one of the most effective and most overlooked hip-dominant exercises for training your legs, especially the hamstrings that can actually give you much of the full-body benefits as squatting.

The hamstrings are primarily made up of fast-twitch muscle fibers, which cannot be trained with leg curls. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are best trained with higher intensity levels, and since unlike leg curls romanian deadlifts allow you to use heavy weights, this exercise works great for overloading the hams. Also, RDLs are an important functional exercise that will improve your hip extension and strengthen your posterior chain.

2. Bulgarian Split Squat 4 x 6-8

The Bulgarian split squat is becoming more and more popular among high-level strength and conditioning coaches, and for good reason.

Research shows it’s fantastic for building leg (and hamstring, in particular) strength while also minimizing strain on the lower back.

 3. Barbell Hip Thrust 4 x 6-8

Hip thrusts are the best way to get a heavy hip without large amounts of stress on the lower back. These can be a saving grace while you’re recovering from an injury. Sure, primarily they’re meant to target the glutes, but the hamstrings’ contribution is just as important to making the lift successful.

4. Glute-Ham Raise 4 x 6-8

This exercise may look easy but when it’s done properly, it’s a hamstring killer.

(In fact, research shows it’s one of the best exercises you can do for activating the hamstring muscles.)

5. Good Mornings  4 x 6-8

Good mornings start like a squat but act like a Romanian deadlift. This is another great exercise for the whole posterior chain.

keep your head up and your back completely straight. Bend at your waist with your knees locked but slightly bent. Ideally you will bend until your upper body is parallel to the floor, but this is not always possible for novice lifters. Return slowly to the upper position. Work on your form in order to bend over further while keeping your head up and back straight.

6. Single-Leg Stiff-Leg Deadlifts  4 x 6-8

It's easy to focus on bilateral movements and forget you have two hamstrings. Single Leg Stiff-Leg Deadlifts help you make sure that each leg individually has strong hamstrings. If you have any imbalances or weaknesses, rest assured this exercise will expose them.

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Lower Body Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders

The lower body contains some of your biggest muscles which are capable of bearing significant weights. The temptation for beginners to go for broke by performing heavy squats should be resisted. To begin with you should concentrate on building the muscles safely by using machines that isolate muscle groups. The squat is an excellent compound exercise that trains numerous lower body muscles but it is one you should learn properly after spending three months strengthening the individual muscles that will be utilized later.

The muscles of the lower body can be divided into five groups:

1. Quads - this is the big muscle group consisting of four muscles at the front of the thigh. These are the primary muscles used when performing exercises such as squats, leg press, lunge and leg extension.

2. Hamstrings - these are the main muscles at the back of the thigh. These are the primary muscles used when performing leg curls.

3. Gluteals - these are the muscles that make up the buttocks.

4. Hip flexors - these are the small muscles at the front of the pelvis that allow you to raise your legs to the front.

5. Calves - these are the two muscles found in the lower leg.

For beginners these muscles should be exercised as follows:

1. Leg press - 1 set of 10-15 reps. This is a useful exercise for the quads but it also works the hamstrings and glutes to a lesser degree.

2. Leg extension - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This is a useful exercise for adding definition to the quads.

3. Hamstring curl - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise isolates the hamstrings.

4. Standing calf raise - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise works the gastrocnemius muscle.

5. Seated calf raise - 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise works the soleus muscle underneath the gastrocnemius muscle.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your lower body exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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Trick To Lose Belly Fat

Have you ever felt that you do everything to lose belly fat, but the results come too slowly? You do tiring abs workout and follow a healthy diet, but you can see only small changes on your stomach. Sometimes you feel you are close to giving up the training and your diet.

You are not alone! I felt the same. I did my best to have a flat belly, but results came slowly.

- Secret to flatten Stomach Fat

Do you believe it or not, the truth is that there is 1 trick to lose belly fat. You are what you eat. If you change the food you eat certain foods common today, you will be able to Flatten your stomach naturally and safely. It's a mystery to flatten belly fat.

Some of us are perfect, when it comes to how we look, but we believe that nothing of what we put into our month. What we put into our mouths, may gradually lead to visceral fat, which is hidden deep in our stomach and the excess fat that can lead to a lot of health problems - high blood pressure, high insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, high levels of triglycerides, diabetes, strokes, breast cancer and colon cancer.

Much like what we eat can lead to health problems, we can reverse these problems by analyzing what goes into your mouth, and ensure we eat more fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, avocados, olives, beans, pears, apples , soy, linseed oil, sunflower oil, dark chocolate, dried proteins, whole grains, almonds.

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fatty acid, which was shown to shrink belly fat naturally and safe way. CLA is some food listed above.

What is the cause of the accumulation of abdominal fat? Adrenal and hormonal imbalances were the fingers to be the main cause of abdominal fat. CLA can eliminate these disparities, increase metabolic rate and help burn fat muscle. Even for people with difficulties and disappointments, losing your belly fat, CT 1 trick to lose belly fat.

Conjugated linoleic acid also has a number of health benefits. This can lead to a reduction in insulin resistance, reduce cholesterol and triglycerides, and very useful for thyroid suffers. All these benefits have a direct effect on weight loss

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20-Minute For Big Arms Workout

While you can carve a tantalizingly toned body in less than a half hour, we’re here to tell you what you already know: To reap the rewards—increased calorie burn, strength, power, blissful endorphin high—truncated workouts must be insanely intense. So we asked a team of Equinox trainers and group fitness instructors what they would do if they were given just 20 minutes to have at it.

The Workout: This 20-minute barre series will tone your arms  without lifting a single weight. The key: Working big then small. “These exercises first heat up the larger muscles of your core—the abdominals, shoulders, back and supporting pelvic muscles—to warm up the body and prepare for the more acute toning of your biceps, triceps,” says Ilisije. Optimal alignment is essential to the effectiveness of these exercises, so pay close attention to those cues as you flow from one exercise to the next.

How it works

Do this arms-building workout twice a week for a month, for a total of eight times over the next four weeks. Leave at least three days between sessions.

The moves are paired into three supersets: the first exercise of each superset all work the biceps, while the second move of each superset targets the triceps.

Do all the stated reps of 1A, rest for 30-40 seconds, then do all the reps of 1B and rest for another 30-40 seconds. Repeat this pattern for the stated number of sets, then move on to the second superset and so on.

The number of sets per superset decreases as the workout advances while the number of reps increases, an approach that will recruit and fatigue more muscle fibres, resulting in greater growth.

Maintain perfect form for each lift, moving your muscles through a full range of motion and keeping the reps controlled to maximise muscle activation.

1A Chin-up  Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 3010 Rest 30sec
1B Triceps dip  Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 3010 Rest 30sec
2A Cable rope curl  Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2011 Rest 40sec
2B Rope press-down  Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2011 Rest 40sec
3A EZ-bar biceps curl  Sets 3 Reps 15 Tempo 2011 Rest 30sec
3B EZ-bar triceps extension  Sets 3 Reps 15 Tempo 2011 Rest 30sec

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Training Tips and Advice For Beginner

Start building a solid training base and take the first steps towards achieving goals.

The beginners weight training workout program is designed to work your upper body and thigh muscle groups. If your aim is to begin weight training to assist with weight loss, then also perform a suitable lower body workout, as your larger leg muscles will use more calories, and thus give you greater results. (Suitable workouts can be found within our members area).

As a beginner, I would certainly look at reading the notes on strength training to help you choose the correct weight for you and avoid the risk of any muscle injury by simply trying to work the muscles beyond their capabilities.

Your aim should be to establish correct technique whilst lifting a suitable weight. The weight you need to lift, will be as much as is comfortable for the reps outlined, with the last 2 - 3 reps becoming hard but not impossible to lift with good technique.

If your lifting the weights with bad technique, then you're not isolating your muscles and basically wasting your time if your aim is to get stronger, toner looking muscles.

For best results you will want to train with weights 2 - 3 times per week for about 30 - 45 minutes, working on 2 or 3 different muscle groups for each workout. Combining C.V. (aerobic exercise) training with your weight training will help develop correct muscle tone, and also a reduction in body fat.

Adjust your weights gradually, once you can lift the set number of reps comfortable, take the weight up slightly, bearing in mind that you may not be able to still do the same number of reps as before.

Stop immediately if you feel any pain or discomfort whilst lifting, do not work to failure, rest when you need to, either between each exercise for ideally 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and between training sessions. Aim to train with a minimum of a days rest between sessions.

Setting goals is a good way to stay motivated, however make sure that they realistic, too many people quit training, as they don't see any results. Results take time, and because they are gradual are often hard to see for yourself. Taking photo's or simple body measurements is a good idea, so that you can monitor your progress every 6 -8 weeks.

Record the amount of reps, sets and weight you can lift, with your key aim to be able to move on to a slightly harder program. Staying with the same program week in week out, will only be a maintenance program. In order to develop to become fitter and stronger, you will need to adjust your program, with either new exercises, or method of lifting.

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Strategies for Building Bigger Triceps & Triceps Training Tips

With so much talk these days about "functional training," it seems arm training has taken a dive in popularity. While this may be the case in some circles, for those of us who got into lifting weights in hopes of attaining muscular arms that resemble those of a superhero, doing direct bicep and tricep work will never go out of style.

Having big, muscular arms that stretch your shirtsleeves will never go out of style either, so let's take a look at a few strategies that you can use to jumpstart your tricep growth.

The 6 Best Triceps Exercises

Dumbbell Triceps Extension
Weighted dips
Skull crushers
Close Grip Bench Press
Triceps Dips
Barbell Lying Triceps Extension

Triceps Training Tips
Here’s where I’ll share all the tips, tid-bits, pointers, hints and tricks that are particular to triceps training…

…This includes everything from general suggestions to very specific and seemingly trivial details – Anything that can give you a leg up.

Tip #1: Grip Width for Barbell Triceps Exercises

Use a shoulder-width or slightly narrower grip for all barbell triceps exercises.

Lots of folks go too narrow because they think it will work their triceps better. However, that’s just not the case. A shoulder-width or slightly narrower grip provides at least as much triceps stimulation.

Using grip width that’s too narrow places undue stress on your wrist and shoulder joints. Not to mention, you can’t lift nearly as much weight.

Tip #2: Scapular Health

Poor scapular (shoulder blades) health can indirectly slow down your triceps gains. Good scapular health is necessary to perform most triceps exercises properly and safely.

Tip #3: Posture

Maintain a neutral spine during triceps training. Don’t arch or extend your back, or otherwise modify your posture or stance in such a way that helps you lift more.

You’re not doing Olympic lifts, training your bench press or doing other power movements. You are simply doing triceps exercises.

Your main goal is to stimulate the triceps as effectively as possible. Modifying your posture or stance to maximize how much you can lift – even if done in a way that isn’t unsafe or blatantly cheating – detracts from this goal.

Tip #4: Elbows In

You’ll target your triceps more effectively by tucking, or rotating your elbows in, on every triceps exercise.

It’s common for trainees to flare their elbows out to the sides like “chicken wings.”

This diverts the focus from the triceps to other muscles (e.g. chest, deltoids) and puts excess stress on your shoulder joints.

Tip #5: Prioritize Compounds

The best approach for training your triceps is to prioritize the compound triceps exercises (e.g. close grip bench press) over the isolation triceps exercises (e.g. triceps extensions).

This way you maximize the extent to which you can stimulate and overload the triceps muscles.

You wouldn’t be able to lift nearly as much on the compounds if you did isolation exercises first…

…Obviously doing compounds before isolation movements reduces how much you can lift on the isolation movements. But your overall potential for overloading the triceps is much greater than doing isolation work first.

Tip #6: Prioritize Triceps Training

Just as it’s generally better to prioritize compound triceps exercises over their isolation counterparts, prioritizing triceps training over training for other muscle groups can be similarly beneficial.

For example, if you have a dedicated arms workout day, then you could set it up in such a way that you do triceps exercises before biceps and delts. This way you’re fresher, more energized and stronger when training triceps.

Whereas, you’d be tired and your triceps would be partially fatigued if you worked your triceps last. As a result you’d be weaker and less able to sufficiently overload your triceps.

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8 Killer Tips To Boost Your Squat

Squats are lifting royalty for curing chicken leg syndrome’ and building high-performance muscle mass. Squats develop total-body strength, stimulate tons of total body muscle growth, and improve athleticism. Yep, the squat reigns king among bang-for-your buck exercises.

Problem is, most lifters have the mobility of a cast-iron skillet and lack the ability to squat safely and effectively. To maximize the squat you need the mobility to reach proper position and the stability to control movement through the intended range of motion.

It’s time to maximize your squat potential through improving technique, mobility, and execution. With these 8 tips you’ll take your squat performance to new levels.

1. WORK ON YOUR FORM, PERFECT IT

Just like any compound movement, proper form is critical in order to get results and avoid injury. You have two options when setting up for the squat: You can choose the high-bar or low-bar position.

High Bar

Placed on the upper traps
Torso remains upright
Low Bar

Placed on the rear deltoids
Slight bend at the hips
Hip-dominant
Experiment and decide which works best for you (remember to switch it up so that you don’t become dependent upon one form only), then prepare yourself to un-rack the weight.

How to Un-rack the Weight

Feet should be directly under the bar
Chest is up
Unrack (tip: don’t unrack the weight passively)
Step backward (one step on each foot)
Get in your stance
Tighten core
Head in neutral position
How to Descend

Push hips back WHILE bending the knees
Should feel as if you’re sitting back into a chair
Ensure the knees stay in line with your toes, try not to let your knees come out over your toes
Hit Depth (parallel at least, ideally get the hip just below the knee)
Explode to the top

2 .Train for Maximum Strength

Despite the fact you need to train heavy to build maximum strength, people often neglect heavy weights. Yes, training with submaximal loads will spare your joints and nervous system to a degree, but even to maximize submaximal training you need a base of absolute strength. Training at 60% 1RM for speed is much more effective when your 1RM is 1.5 to two-times your bodyweight.

Heavy lifting is generally defined as 85+% maximum effort for multiple sets of one to five reps. But it’s best to avoid missing lifts. Missing lifts consistently zaps your nervous system, engrains poor technique, and wrecks your confidence. Hit the reps you know you’ll make and save yourself for the occasional max-out attempts.

3 .SQUAT HEAVY

For beginners, stick with a basic strength template:

5 sets with a 3 to 6 rep range using 70% to 90% of your 1RM.

For more advanced lifters, try out the following program, this program will surely add poundage to your one rep max and beef up your legs in the process!

Week 1

(The total amount of squats during one workout)

5 sets of 2-3 repetitions at 90% of 1RM
2 sets of 4-6 (80-85% of 1 RM)
1 set of 12-15 (55-70% of 1RM)
Week 2

6 sets of 2-3 repetitions at 90% of 1RM
3 sets of 4-6 (80-85% of 1 RM)
1 set of 12-15 (55-70% of 1RM)
Week 3

6 sets of 2-3 repetitions at 90% of 1RM
4 sets of 4-6 (80-85% of 1 RM)
1 set of 12-15 (55-70% of 1RM)
Week 4

5 sets of 2-3 repetitions at 90% of 1RM
5 sets of 4-6 (80-85% of 1 RM)
2 set of 12-15 (55-70% of 1RM)
Week 5

1 set of 1 rep (1 Rep Max)

4 .GO DEEP

No, you can’t squat half depth. Yes, you may have to lower the weight. You need to go to at least parallel if you want solid results. Squatting deep will:

Build Size & Strength
Get the Glutes Firing
Strengthens Your Lower Back
Increases Power & Athleticism

5 .Rack at the Correct Height

 We’ve all seen it: a rack set-up too high, a calf-raise walkout followed by the poor sap nearly cracking his skull when re-racking. Besides inappropriate barbell loading, improper rack set-up is the best way to get injured.

Set the rack up with the barbell set between nipple and shoulder height, low enough to allow you to squat to weight out and easily re-rack, as well.

6 .GET FLEXIBLE
In order to perfect your form, there is no way around making yourself more flexible. Flexibility helps you to take full advantage of the deep squat. Make stretching and flexibility exercises a part of your routine, especially when it comes to your hips.

Over time, you will notice that you are able to squat lower until you break the parallel plane. Practice your form and depth at home with bodyweight squats, practice makes perfect.


7 .GET THE RIGHT FOOTWEAR

There is a reason that companies spend thousands of dollars on research to craft the perfect shoe: They want you to be able to maximize your exercise potential.

Wearing the wrong shoes during a heavy squat session will not only unnecessarily increase the difficulty but also place you at risk for injury. Look for a shoe specifically made for olympic lifting or powerlifting.

8. PAUSE SQUATS WORK

If you really want to see results, try incorporating pause squats in your squat routine. Perform a squat as you normally would but instead of immediately ascending, stop at the bottom of the movement.

Hold yourself there for 3-5 seconds then stand up. Do this for every single rep. You’ll immediately feel the difference in your glutes, hamstrings, and hips. Try doing your heavy sets and finish off with highbar pause squats!

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How To Get More Mass In Biceps?

How to Gain Mass In Your Biceps Get Your Free Strength & Physique Assessment http.
Most people start their biceps routine with a straight bar curl, arguably the best mass - building move there is for the bodypart. But starting there fatigues some of.
Your biceps and triceps are the main muscle groups in your arms, so focus on building them up to gain arm mass. Maintain tension, let the weight down slow. The biceps tend to be a highly noticed muscle group by others, so if you have nicely developed arms, people are going to know you're on top of your workout game. These exercises will you have you pumped and will be growing in no time. Given the main role of the biceps is elbow flexion, the logical movement for stimulating the most amount of muscle in this region is the curl, and the most basic of all the curling movements is the standing barbell version, universally known as the greatest biceps exercise ever. Curl the weight up and bring it back down. Read the GOMAD guide for more info. As the weight clears your flank you can begin to rotate your arm.

It has not been long since i've started doing exercise of forearms so it would be kind if you pls tell me the intial steps at first.

This will get you out of proportion. Perform this workout once a week.

Top Bicep Exercise #1 – The Standing Barbell Curl
Top Bicep Exercise #2 – The Alternating Dumbbell Curl
Top Bicep Exercise #3 – The Hammer Curl
Top Bicep Exercise #4 – Supinated Bent Rows
Top Bicep Exercise #5 – Chin Ups

Ladies and gentleman this is not the way to go when trying to train your arms. Consider supplementing your diet with protein powder such as creatine, which is made from an amino acid that helps you work out harder, recover faster and build bigger muscles. Close-Grip Bench Press 4x8 Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension 4x8 Reverse Grip Cable Pressdown 4x8 Close-Grip Bench Press. As an active martial artist, bodybuilder and accredited personal trainer, David employs the latest cutting edge research to enhance his own progress. Male body types - ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. The action of this muscle draws the arm forward and toward the torso. These tips are free and you can unsubscribe anytime. There are so many greats, but I'd have to go with Lee Priest.

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