Apr
21

Muscle Gains With High Rep Leg Training

jag252 on April 21st, 2011

Jason Ferruggia Talks Aboutmuscle building workouts building muscle with high rep leg training Muscle Building With High Reps

 Question: If someone’s trying to build muscle, is there any benefit to including sets of 50-100 reps, either with lighter weights as a “burnout” set, or with moderately-heavier weights done to failure and then continued in a rest-pause fashion?

Answer: For beginners, absolutely not. I actually do the opposite of what a lot of people recommend with beginners who are trying to build muscle; I keep their reps low, not high.

Until they master the skill of a complicated exercise like a squat or deadlift I would never risk exposing them to injury with high reps. Their form breaks down after five reps or so when their core strength gives out and they are then at a much greater risk of injury.

With more advanced guys high rep leg training can work wonders and lead to extremely fast muscle gain. Most times I keep the reps at around 20-25, but sets of up to 50 or even 100 reps can work quite well also.

Tom Platz built some of the freakiest legs ever seen and was a huge advocate of extremely high rep leg training. I’ve had the pleasure of discussing training with Stone Cold Steve Austin a few times and he has also noted that he was a big fan of squatting for high reps somewhere in the range of 30-50.

Like I said, though, you have to be somewhat advanced and have perfect technique on the squat otherwise I don’t think that the risk is worth the reward. Most guys will start rounding their lower backs, collapsing forward and having all kinds of other form issues if they do not posses the core strength required for such a challenging task.

Some guys would probably actually be better off doing extremely high rep sets on a machine. Although we have never had a leg press in my gym this is the one situation where I would actually use it.

Belt squats are great for super high reps as are free squats with a weight vest on. I prefer to hit the heavy stuff first on a regular back squat for a few sets and then finish with the fifty reppers. I would never recommend more than one of these high rep finisher sets.

Question: Does the average guy in the gym need to concern himself with training slow-twitch muscle fibers as much as he trains fast-twitch fibers?

Answer: The average guy in the gym doesn’t need to worry about slow twitch or fast twitch fibers if he is simply trying to get bigger.

If you are an athlete trying to jump higher and run faster you want to target the fast twitch fibers and keep your sets short.

But for hypertrophy it doesn’t matter. Mix it up and hit both fibers. You can go heavy and target the fast twitch fibers one day and lighter to hit the slow twitch fibers another day or combine them both into one workout. Plenty of big guys have used both approaches with equal success.

If you train legs once per week my suggestion would be to start heavy with squats and finish light with belt squats or leg presses for higher reps.

Question: Is there any benefit to doing high-rep deadlifts (or any deadlift variation, like sumo, Romanian, trap-bar, etc.)? Or is there an increased risk factor with deadlifts that makes them not appropriate for high rep work?

Answer: High rep deads are great for packing size on your traps and upper back, but, like I mentioned earlier, this exercise should never be done for high reps by a novice lifter.

While you can go up to 50 or even 100 reps on some squat and leg press variations I wouldn’t recommend going above 20-25 reps on deadlifts, and most times I actually recommend limiting the reps to 15 on this exercise.

While Dr. Ken Leistner was famous for his 30-40 rep death sets on trap bar deadlifts and the like, I think that would be too risky for the average guy.

In my gym we consider high rep deadlifts to be sets of 10-12. You won’t find too many mass builders more effective than a heavy set of 10-12 reps on a deadlift.

But it’s just not a great position for your shoulders to be in for a great amount of time, nor do most people have the lower back endurance and overall core strength to deadlift for more than 10-15 reps or so safely.

If you are going to pull for high reps I would caution against going with an over under grip because that will place the biceps under a lot of stress for a lot of time. This is not a good scenario and should be avoided. I recommend using straps for high rep deads.

 I don’t believe you should ever use high rep deads as the first exercise in your workout but rather as a finisher after pre exhausting yourself with some heavy stuff first. Sometimes at the end of an upper body day we will do one set of 12-20 reps of deadlifts, which can lead to great size gains.

But this is never something I would start with when you are fresh and fully energized. Keeping them for the end limits the amount of weight you can pull and thus makes them safer.
tom platz How to Build Muscle with High Rep Leg Training
Question: Finally, could you offer a sample lower body hypertrophy workout that incorporates higher-rep training?

Answer:
1) Squat- 2 x 5-7, 1 x 8-10, 1 x 12-15 x 120-180 sec rest

2a) Barbell Romanian Dead Lift- 2 x 5-7, 1 x 8-10, 1 x1 2-15 x 90-120 sec rest

2b) Hanging Knee Raise- 4 x amap x 90-120 sec rest

3) Belt Squat (or weight vest squat or leg press)- 1 x 50 reps x 180 sec rest

4) 1 Leg Standing Calf Raise- 4 x 8-10 x 45 sec rest (pause for 4 sec in bottom position)

5) Seated Calf Raise- 2 x 50 x 90 sec rest (pause for 1 sec at bottom and 1 sec at top)

For more information on how to build muscle, check out Jason’s Muscle Gaining Secrets give yourself an edge to building muscle.

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Mar
29

Real Man Strength Muscle And Power

jag252 on March 29th, 2011

Increasing Your Muscle Growth Strength And Power With Dumbbells

Handling heavy dumbells can pack power into your arms, shoulders, back and legs faster that a barbell …because dumbbells require that much more effort.

Because it takes more strength and ability to use a pair of dumbbells, the results would be equally more effective.

Dumbbells do increase and pack greater power into your muscles — and much faster — especially when heavy dumbbells are employed.

Watch Zach-Even-Esh and Vince Del Monte demonstrate classic strength training exercises for packing on muscle mass, strength and power in the shortest amount of time.

You are about to see a couple of my favorite exercises.

1) The One Arm Dumbbell Press
2) The One Arm Dumbbell Clean and Press
3) The Two Arm Clean and Press (this may be my favorite exercise of all) A great total body muscle, strength and power builder.

I you don’t think these dumbbell exercises don’t work the arms, shoulders, back and legs, just try it an discover something new for your muscle building workouts.

You are watching Real Man Dumbbell Workout

What makes the Clean and Press so great? It works the entire body from head to toe. You use the lower body to get the weight to the shoulders and the upper body to get the weight overhead.

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Mar
27

A Chest Training Workout – Upper Chest Building

jag252 on March 27th, 2011

Chest Training For Sculpted Square PecsChest Training Workout

by Rusty Moore

Today we are focusing our chest training workout on the upper pecs. Rusty Moore from Fitness Blackbook the site for guy’s and girl’s looking to build the lean muscled, defined Hollywood Body.

Now even for those of you looking to pack on serious muscle size concentrating on your upper pecs is important. Sometimes we get to involved in just the flat bench press. I personally like the squared pecs look. And one of my favorite exercises happens to be incline dumbbell presses.

If you want to come up with a great chest workout, it is important to define your goals. In this article, I am focusing a chest routine with the goal of developing a chest along the lines of what a Calvin Klein Model might have. If you are purely after bench pressing power, then you would obviously want to use a different workout. This routine will develop some strength, but it isn’t the main focus of the workout.

What Should a “Masculine Chest” Look Like?

A masculine chest should have a square and angular look to it, not a rounded and soft look to it. The traditional chest workout focuses on the basic bench press. While the bench press is great in developing size and power, it can develop the lower part of the chest too much. A chest workout focused around the bench press develops the lower pecs so much that they can begin to look like breasts.

 The part of the chest that is underdeveloped in most men is the upper chest. If your chest workout focuses on the upper chest and not so much on the middle to lower part of the chest, then you will develop square looking pecs.

How to Build the Upper Pecs.

In order to fill out the upper pecs, you need to include a variety of incline pressing movements in your chest workout. You should make sure your chest routine begins with an incline press of some sort.

I recommend beginning your chest workout with incline dumbbell presses on an adjustable bench. I like dumbbells, since you can really work that hard-to-hit inner part of the upper pecs. If you develop this part of your chest, you will get that “line” up the middle of your chest all the way to your collar bone.

Here is a Great Chest Workout Which Focuses on Hard the to Develop Areas.

1) Incline Dumbbell Presses: Adjust the bench to about 20-30 degrees above the flat setting. Pick a weight that you can press 10 -12 times. Click the bench up the the next higher angle setting. With the same weight, try to do 8-10 reps. Click the bench up to a steeper angle and try to get 6-8 reps. Keep clicking to a higher angle until you are either close to upright, or until you can’t get more than 5 reps. I like starting my chest workout with this exercise, because it hits every part of the upper chest.

2) Smith Machine Incline Presses: I then take this same adjustable bench and bring it over to the smith machine. I setup the bench so that the bar hits my collar bone at the bottom of the lift. I will choose about a 20-45 degree angle. I put on a pretty light weight and mainly aim for higher reps to really fatigue the muscle.

 This is more of a finishing move.

The smith machine insures that I keep all stress on the upper pecs. I find that if I use a regular incline bench press in my chest-workout, then I can cheat and take the stress of my upper pecs. Include the incline smith press in your chest workout if you have access to this piece of equipment.

3) Cable Crossovers: You need the include cable crossovers into your chest workout if you want to develop the line that defines the mid part of your chest. You can also get a similar effect using machine flyes.

Dumbbell flyes are a great mass movement, but you won’t get enough tension in the middle of your chest. Make sure when doing machine flyes or cable crossovers that you really flex the mid part of your chest hard when your hands meet at the end of the movement.

Avoid All Flat Bench Movements in Your Chest Workout for a While.

If you are like most guys in the gym, your upper pecs probably need to catch up with your mid and lower pecs. You should consider dropping all flat bench movements out of your chest workout for a while. I dropped all the flat bench exercises for aver two years and the look of my chest improved dramatically. Another nice benefit of incline movements is that your shoulders will also take on a better appearance.

Keep The Main Points in Mind When Setting Up Your Chest Workout.

When setting up your chest workout, you can be flexible on the exercises you use. Just make sure that you focus on the angular and square look. Having great pecs is less about size and more about proper proportion and definition.

About the Author: Rusty Moore is a trainer who gives advice to men and women who want a body that has “The Hollywood Look”. Go to Fitness Blackbook.com and download Rusty’s Abs Blueprint 1.0 for FREE. 
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Mar
23

Building Muscle And Livin Large

jag252 on March 23rd, 2011

Muscle Building TV With Vince Del Monte

Vince Del Monte is putting his expertise to work on a weekly video series.

This show will not only show you how to improve muscle growth, how to build muscle, get six pack abs, avoid horrible supplements like force factor… haha… and how to maximize your weight training and muscle building workouts.

In each show you’ll learn how to live large inside and outside of the gym through a main feature covering anything from muscle building training, nutrition, supplementation…

***Vince will cover a 60-second “Rip It Up” segment showing you advanced tricks to execute the best technique…

***”Ask Vince” is an interactive section with his wife Flavia who’ll ask him some of the most popular questions he gets…

***and a segment called “Live Large” which is filmed in real time around exciting and new adventures taking part in his life at the current moment.

Today’s Video Training

Today, Vince shows how to use vegetables to alkalinze your body for muscle growth (It is an awesome muscle building nutrition secret). It’s a morning ritual he does every day. It can be used to get abs, build muscle, strength, should be added no matter what workout program you’re on.

In this episode, Vince also talked about how to build your traps using shrugs and other shoulder exercises, shoulder workout etc.

Vince Del Monte, your host has been nicknamed The Skinny Guy Savior based on his ability to help skinny guys build muscle fast without using bogus bodybuilding supplements (like that ridiculous Force Factor BS), without training like crazy bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman or relying on mass market workout videos like P90X workout.

In each show you’ll discover his muscle building tips for fast muscle growth and six pack abs plus you’ll learn how to live large outside of the gym so that you can transform all areas of your life.

Vince Del Monte is dedicated to helping 1,000,000 skinny guys get a amazing set of before and after transformation pictures and build anywhere from ten, twenty, thirty and even forty pounds of natural muscle mass – on your shoulders/delts, back, legs, biceps and tricpes, abs, chest and calves.

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Mar
20

Biceps How Jason Ferruggia Builds Bigger Biceps

jag252 on March 20th, 2011

How To Target Your Biceps For

how to build biceps

Jason Ferruggia On Building Bigger Biceps

Bigger Arms

This is Jason Ferruggia’s follow up to His Take on Direct Arm Work <===click here to read it.

I need to start this post about how to build bigger biceps by reiterating that beginners don’t need direct arm work and will get great results from chins, rows and all forms of presses and dips.

There is absolutely no need for direct arm work for the first one to two years of training. In fact, I’d say it’s probably counterproductive. Make some big gains first, pack on thirty pounds and then worry about curling.

While this is a cool message to stick with forever the reality is that advice becomes null and void after a few years of training if you really want to build the biggest guns possible.

Telling an intermediate to advanced lifter that his biceps will grow from chin ups and rows is basically telling him to use improper form. If you’re advanced you should never feel properly performed rows and chins in your biceps anymore. Those days should be long gone and you should know how to target your back muscles properly at this point.

Intermediate to advanced lifters will not maximize their arm growth without some direct isolation work. So if you want to build bigger biceps you’re gonna have to start curling some heavy weights.

Biceps And Athletes?

 
Many strength coaches argue that direct arm work is useless. While I can see their point if they’re talking about a pitcher or a golfer, the reality is that it’s not going to hurt. In some situations it may even help, and like I said, it just looks good and is more intimidating.

To illustrate my point think about Brian Urlacher for a second. Undoubtedly one of the best linebackers in the league, if not ever. Now picture his disproportionately tiny arms that hang from his uniform. They don’t even fit his body.

Now check out Vernon Gholston and his massive arms. Who do you think would be more intimidating to opponents the first time they laid eyes on him? A huge part of sports is the mental game and getting in someone else’s head. Michael Jordan knew that and was one of the biggest trash talkers around. It’s part of the game.

How to Build Bigger Biceps Guns vs. Pipe Cleaners. Which is more intimdating?

On the flip side, this comparison seemingly also proves the “functional” strength coaches point that big arms are useless because Urlacher is a hundred times better than Gholston.

Fair enough, but that’s not because Gholston did more curls. The curls didn’t hurt him. Urlacher is just better for a lot of other reasons, none of which have to do with his apparent disdain for loaded elbow flexion.

The bottom line for athletes is that big arms are more intimidating and look cooler than tiny arms. Plus, as a strength coach you need to realize that most males generally want to do arms.

 If you want to get the most out of your athletes it’s a good idea to keep them happy and throw them a bone once in a while. All guys like big arms as much as they like big, bangin asses. That’s just a fact.

In all reality, the only athletes I’ve ever come across who didn’t want to do curls weren’t really athletes at all. They were just guys who claimed to “train like athletes” by doing nothing but swings and burpees all day and shunning “vanity work” at all costs.

Every football, baseball, basketball, hockey player and combat athlete I’ve ever known has wanted to build bigger biceps, though.

How To Get Started With Biceps Training

 
Jason Ferruggia talks How to Build Bigger BicepsI’d start with one to three sets of curls performed twice a week. No need to go overboard from the get go and do Flex Wheelers Mr. Olympia arm blowout. When you get really strong and your arms are over 17 inches you can start experimenting with more volume and other fancy stuff if you want. For now, keep it simple and you’ll grow just fine.

Like with squats, deadlifts and other compound movements, the most important thing is progressive overload.

 You have to get strong if you want to build bigger biceps.

Pick one compound biceps exercise per workout such as a standing dumbbell curl or EZ bar curl (avoid the straight bar due to wrist and elbow issues) and consistently try to add weight and reps.

My advice to all intermediate to advanced lifters is to keep your reps a bit higher on curls than on most other exercises. The stronger you are the higher you should go. Not only do the biceps seem to respond better to higher reps but it will also be safer and less stressful to your wrists, shoulders and elbows.

Start with a weight you can do eight reps with and stick with it until you can get 12-15 reps. Then crank up the weight and start over again. Don’t be one of those guys who wants to change exercises every week or use supersets and all that.

 If you are consistent and stick with the same exercise for 6-12 weeks, while continually going up in weight or reps that will do a hell of a lot more good.

Eventually, when you are curling some big weights I probably wouldn’t go below ten reps too often. That will keep you healthy and in the gym training longer. If you have preexisting elbow issues you may want to start with 12 reps right from the start. Elbow sleeves would also be a useful addition to your arsenal.

Be sure to squeeze and contract your biceps as hard as you can throughout the entire range of motion and never release the tension.

 This is not an Olympic lift or an explosive movement where you’re just trying to “get the weight up.” When it comes to building bigger biceps you need to concentrate on the muscle you are working and focus on directing all the tension directly to the biceps and nowhere else.

After your biceps are fully pumped stretch the hell out of them for 60-90 seconds.

Now you know how to build bigger biceps.

Remember what they say, suns out guns out.

Next up we’ll discuss triceps.

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