Exercise Guide

Perhaps Arnold said it best when he said NO PAIN, NO GAIN. Our mindset in today’s bodybuilding is that we want results and we want it now but many are unwilling to dedicate the necessary intense time required to achieve the results. Many would rather research the next quick fix drug than spend the time in the gym. As I say at the end of all my articles, “Sweat Eventually Hardens to Muscle”. I observe that 99% of the guys or gals that I see in the gym loaf through their workouts and for crying out loud don’t even work up a sweat. I can’t say it strong enough or often enough that your workouts need to be more intense, longer and more frequent. Don’t whine to me about overtraining… that is a modern day excuse for not doing you duty in the gym. Working out is serious business. I did these levels of routines and you can too. If you have made this far in this article, it appears to me that you are a cut above the rest and are serious about getting the most from your gym time.

Okay so what does it mean to work longer? Does it mean to spend 2 hours on chest and 3 on legs during a workout? Well not exactly but I think the idea of working each body part longer will add value. The focus of this article is to dispel the myth that working each body part one day a week is acceptable to achieving the results for competitive bodybuilder. Frankly it is not! If you really want to gain muscle size you have to force the muscle to grow.

Ever see the mammoth size of the thighs on an Olympic sprinter? I’d kill to have thighs that size. Do you think that sprinter only trained his legs once a week? Give me a break. He was on the track multiple days per week blasting the 50 Meter dash. And on the days he wasn’t running, he was training with weights.

It is not expecting too much for you to work you body parts twice a week!

If you want to be successful in bodybuilding, if you want to grow out of your shirt and pants, start working your body parts twice a week. The routines in this section will help you gear yourself to train muscle groups twice a week, attain adequate recovery time to achieve a rapid muscle growth. If you take this challenge:

* You will get twice a many workouts compared to regular guy in the gym

*Expect more dramatic and rapid muscle gains.

*Expect the routine to create better muscular definition and vasularity

*Expect the mind to feed on the physical success and further motivate you. You will look forward to your gym time.

Scott Jameson is a bodybuilder and trainer for over 30 years. He has a passion for bodybuilding and helping other achieve this success. He regularly applies the techniques in this article. See more of his articles at http://www.bodybuildingprogramzone.com

If you want to more information on a Bodybuilding Program - Check out the Zone, the site with a passion for you to succeed.

This article may reproduced on your website provided you acknowledge Scott Jameson as the author and must show link to http://www.bodybuildingprogramzone.com

Share This

In my previous article, I talked about training each body part twice per week. Well let me say this is only half the recipe. You can come to the gym and work your body parts but if you lack intensity, you might as well go home. The gym floor should be a place of strictly business.

Let me explain. Normally when I go to the gym today, I will see guys working out but also laughing, talking and standing around. Honestly, they will take 5 minutes between sets. I often wonder if this workout or a Social Event. Let me tell you what is not happening during this kind of workout:

* There is no focus to psyche up to the next set. They’d rather talk about the weekend then get motivated to do their best..

* The body is cooling down and thinking No Pain here which means No Gain.

* Don’t expect the muscle to get pumped or flushed with blood.

In short this approach to a routine is just going through the motion. Oh sure it is better than doing nothing, but it worth the time.

To me the time on the gym floor is time to focus, push every rep to the limit and drive the muscle to greater size and definition. To do anything less is mediocrity…and this defines the men from boys.

So how do you achieve this level of intense training?

1. Don’t socialize on the gym floor. The first time someone wants to do small talk or maybe ask you a bodybuilding question, simply say “I’d enjoy explaining this but I currently in the middle of my routine, could we do it later?” They will get the point and not bother you in future. Use the locker room, juice bar, check in desk or any NON gym floor place to be areas of friendly conversation but also take time to define the gym floor as a place of strict business for your workouts.

2. Concentrate on thinking about your next set during your rest period. Your eyes will naturally focus on fixed objects in the gym rather looking around and catching someone’s eye for conversation.

3. Talk to yourself internally. Encourage yourself with thoughts “I can do this weight” or “I will push to limits on this one”.

4. Get a training partner that is every bit as serious as you. Motivate each other. Limit conversation to aspects that have to do with the routine at hand.

5. Avoid long rests. This is not power lifting! The muscle recovers to 80% to its original strength less than 1 minute.

6. Take every set to failure. Unless you are doing a warm up set, why stop at 10 reps if you could have done 12 reps.

7. Get a spotter to push beyond the number of reps you can do on your own and help take you to failure.

If you don’t walk off the floor drained from your workout (at least in trained muscle group), you likely did not do the intensity required to grow you body.

Scott Jameson is a bodybuilder and trainer for over 30 years. He has a passion for bodybuilding and helping other achieve this success. He regularly applies the techniques in this article. See more of his articles at http://www.bodybuildingprogramzone.com

If you want to more information on a Bodybuilding Program - Check out the Zone, the site with a passion for you to succeed.

This article may reproduced on your website provided you acknowledge Scott Jameson as the author and must show link to http://www.bodybuildingprogramzone.com

Share This

This article will assume that you are trying to increase your strength. If you go to the gym to stay in shape, maintain your strength, or even worse, to avoid getting fat, than don’t waste your time reading this. However, if you set your goals for yourself, have an open mind and want to get bigger and stronger than read on.

Negatives can be applied to any exercise to help shock your muscles. They are specifically included in the Critical Bench Program to help you increase your bench press. First lets review what exactly a negative is making sure everybody is on the same page. Using the bench press as an example let’s review a negative set. You will load the bar with a weight that is about 40 lbs heavier than your one rep max. (If you don’t know your one rep max you can look it up on this chart: http://www.criticalbench.com/chart.htm) Three spotters will be needed. The most important spotter is the one that stands behind you because he will keep his hands on the bar throughout the entire lift. The two remaining spotters will stand on opposite ends of the bar. Of course you will need a lift off unless you plan on turning negatives into a positively bad idea. You will now begin to lower the weight as slowly as positive. At first you’ll do fine, but about half way down you’ll feel like you are trying to stop the weight from falling. Once the bar touches your chest all three spotters lift the weight to the lockout position where you start again. When you are lifting poundage this heavy only a few reps will be possible so don’t feel discouraged.

Okay so why in the world would you want to do this? Won’t you look like an idiot in the gym when three people have to pull the weight off your chest? People have even said that the exercise is just an ego booster and doesn’t do much for you. Some clowns might even say that you are cheating! Well don’t believe any of it. Luckily, I’m here to tell you why negatives are so important.

1. Heavy Negatives Overload the Muscles

Most of us will agree that singles help improve strength because you overload your muscles will heavy poundage that your body is not used to. Based on the same principle, if you do negative sets with even more than your max weight you will overload your muscles even further.

2. Conditioning Your Body

Let me give you a few examples of this. A basketball player who is shooting jump shots while he is wearing ankle weights. A swimmer who does laps wearing pants and a t-shirt. A football player preparing for camp by running in the middle of the afternoon during a 90-degree summer day. A sprinter that runs with a parachute tied to his back. How about a powerlifter that does negatives with a weight that is much heavier than his one rep max. Are you beginning to see the correlation? When you run in 90-degree weather, practice in 80-degree heat doesn’t seem so bad. When you shot jump shots with ankle weights, you feel pretty light and explosive when you take them off. When it is time to unload in each situation the body can perform better because it has been strengthened by the overload. You get the point. Let’s say your goal is to bench 400 lbs. If you’ve never tried it, the initial shock might surprise you. If you’ve felt the weight of 450 lbs and done negative sets with it, your mind and your muscles will be preconditioned to handle the 400 you were aiming for. You’ve felt heavier weight, making this weight seem lighter. Your muscles need to feel the shock of heavy weight to prepare for a max. So why not take it to the extreme?

3. The Challenge

If your training lacks intensity I’d like to see you have the courage to take this exercise lightly. Actually I wouldn’t, but don’t worry about it because it’s not possible anyhow. Your heart will begin racing, and you will be pumped with adrenaline. Not to mention the fact that you have three people watching you. You’ll be ready to perform, because there is no other choice. This is more weight than you’ve ever lifted in your life, so you will get psyched up for the big challenge. As mentioned earlier, some people call negatives ego boosters. They are partially correct. It does feel good to load the bar with the heavy poundage. Whipping out a few reps will definitely give you confidence when it’s time to max out for real. The only difference will be you’ve felt heavier.

4. Letting It Down Slow

Still not convinced? Let me pull out the textbook for you. The eccentric phase is the opposite of the contraction. For the bench press it is the lowering of the weight. Many bodybuilders treat this phase as an after thought, which they shouldn’t because it is very important. Research confirms that the eccentric component of a lift may be more important than the concentric phase for promoting muscle growth. One study showed that, when compared to normal weight training, concentric-only training required twice as many repetitions to produce similar results. With normal weight training, during an eccentric contraction (negative) you lower the same weight with fewer muscle fibers, and that means that each fiber involved has to sustain greater force.

5. Get The Last Laugh

We all know variety is important as well. If you haven’t done heavy negatives before than give them a try. It may be just what your muscles are screaming for. If you get funny looks at the gym, don’t worry about it. You’re not there to impress anybody; you’re there to get stronger. The only person you have to look at in the mirror is yourself. The weights will always weigh the same so you can’t compete with them. You may want to practice negatives with lighter weight before you jump right into this. Round up a couple buddies and show them why heavy negatives are positively a good idea.

Mike Westerdal is the President of Critical Bench, Inc. He earned his BS from Central CT State University and holds certification as a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. Westerdal also has experience coaching and playing professional football. His articles are published throughout the Web and in numerous weight lifting magazines including Monster Muscle. His best RAW bench press is currently 450 lbs. He is the author of the Critical Bench Program which can be found at http://www.criticalbench.com/program.htm

Share This