 |
 |
 |
|
Blog Entry 1 Of 1
Previous Page | Next Page | View All | Latest Entries
|
|
|
Justin Woltering ICON MEN Trainer Blog: December 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OLD SCHOOL: GET BIG WITH THE BASICS
The holidays are here and there is no better time to add on that muscle mass that you were wishing you had all year! This is the time of the year to eat, drink, and be merry, so use that to your advantage and slap on some serious muscle mass!
I want to begin by letting you know that I appreciate all of the positive feedback, and I look forward to providing more great information to you every month! I have had a great holiday season so far, and I was fortunate enough to receive an early Christmas present… A collection of muscle magazines from seventies, eighties and nineties! I looked through them in awe, reflecting on how much the training, supplementation, and methods have evolved. Not to mention the clothing. Overall, I think that one has changed for the better. : )
On the other hand, I realized that there are many aspects of training that never change, over time these aspects remain consistent. By understanding these fundamental techniques of the classic bodybuilders we can realize why these moves have and always will work. I wanted to share a glimpse of the insight that I gained through reading the old school bodybuilding magazines with you all…
I'm Certain You Need To Do Compound Movements
Most things in life are just random. There are very few certainties. .. In fact, the certainties I'm certain of can be counted on one hand. And above all of these things, I am certain that in order to pack on real mass you must do compound movements. Seriously. You want to get big...you want to pack on thick muscle...you must do compound movements!
Compound vs. Isolation
So, what is a compound movement? It's just what it sounds like. Compound movements, are the exercises that work several groups of muscle together with a single movement. For example, the squat is king of the compound movements. When doing a squat nearly every muscle in the body fires in order to push the weight through the range of motion. Not only are your hams and quads working, but so are your glutes and all of your core muscles.
Besides squats, the other must-do compound movement (the one you see few people actually doing at the gym) are deadlifts. Talk about getting a full body workout. Not only do your hams, quads, glutes and back get thrashed from this exercise, but so do your traps and shoulders. If you're not deadlifting you're not serious about size.
Other must-do compound exercises include:
LEGS: Squats, deadlifts, lunges, stiff leg deadlifts
BACK: Pull-ups, deadlifts, rows
CHEST: Bench press, dips, pushups
SHOULDERS: Military press, Arnold presses
ARMS: Close grip pushups and bench press, dips, chin-ups (pull-ups with your hands facing you), barbell curls
Why?
Now, if you are serious about muscle development, you are going to have to use both compound and isolation exercises. But, if you want to BULK up you must focus your efforts on compound movements. Start your workouts with them.
These big movements use more muscle fibers. More calories will be burned and your metabolic rate will stay elevated longer. You'll be building strength. You'll be working hard. This extra effort pushes the body to produce more testosterone and growth hormone. The result...growth.
Sample workout
Warm up: Start each workout with an easy cardio warm up. 10 minutes low intensity is plenty. The goal is to get the blood pumping, not to tire you out.
LEGS
Warm up set on the leg extension machine - 1/2 your workout weight for 15-20 reps. Do not lock out your knees.
Squats - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Lunges - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Leg extension - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Stiff leg deadlifts - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Leg curls - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Calves - leg press toe press - 4 sets/15-20 reps
CHEST
Warm up with pushups. 4 sets (alternating wide and shoulder width)/15-20 reps
Bench press - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Dips - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Incline dumbbell press - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Incline flye - 3 sets/10-12 reps
BACK
Pull-ups - get 20 total (if needed, use the assisted machine or use some bungees to help)
Deadlift - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Bent over row - 4 sets/8-10 reps
One arm row - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Lat pull downs - 3 sets/10-12 reps
SHOULDERS
Warm up with light dumbbell overhead presses. 15-20 reps. Good stretch on each one.
Military press - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Lateral raise - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Front raise - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Reverse pec dec - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Shrugs - 4 sets/12-15 reps
ARMS
Warm up with pushups. 4 sets (alternating shoulder width and close)/ 15-20 reps
Dips - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Close grip bench press - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Press downs - 3 sets/10-12 reps
Chin ups (close grip hands facing you) get 20 total (if needed, use the assisted machine or use some bungees to help)
Wide grip barbell curl - 4 sets/8-10 reps
Alternating standing curl - 3 sets/10-12 reps
5 Muscle Building Tips You Must Know
These days, weight rooms are commonplace all over the world, and more people than ever are getting into fitness, bodybuilding, and even competitive lifting. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people that lift weights to gain muscle mass and strength are going about it all wrong. There nutrition is horrible, their lifting form is atrocious, and they have no idea how to put together an effective plan. Here are 5 of the most essential muscle building tips you must know to ensure your own bodybuilding success.
Nutrition is Key
Nutrition is AT LEAST half the puzzle when talking muscle building. Whenever people ask me how to get big, or what I did to gain as much size as I have, they focus on the training. ''How many days a week do you workout,'' or ''How often do you work each muscle,'' are the most common questions I get.
While training is obviously the stimulus your body needs to grow new muscle tissue, you will never make any progress without proper nutrition. The food that you eat is not only your body's training fuel, but the building blocks for new muscle mass.
The best, most simple approach to muscle building nutrition is to focus on protein first. I like to take my bodyweight and multiply it by 2 to get the number of protein grams I need to get per day. For me, this is at least 400- 500 grams. That seems like a lot, and it is, but you should spread your protein requirements over 5-6 meals, not the usual 3.
After protein, you should focus on the ''energy'' nutrients, carbs and fats. At breakfast, before, and after training, you should eat carbs with your protein. Eat bread, pasta, oats, other grains, beans, etc… Get some starch, but don't eat junk food.
At other times of the day, you should eat fruits, veggies, and some fats in the form of oils and nuts with your protein.
You Gain When You Sleep
In addition to nutrition, sleep is absolutely critical for muscle building. When you sleep, your body's levels of muscle building hormones such as growth hormone are highly elevated. This creates the best possible environment for growth.
To better understand why sleep is so important, think of a baby. Babies grow faster than people of any other age, and they also sleep more than people of any other age. This is because that sleep provides the optimal environment to build new muscle tissue.
Lifting Weights Does NOT Build Muscle!
Contrary to popular belief, you DO NOT build muscle while you are lifting weights in the gym. When you train hard and heavily tax your muscles, you are actually BREAKING DOWN muscle tissue.
It is outside the gym, especially during sleep, when your muscles have a chance to repair and hopefully grow a little bit larger than they were before the workout. This is also why nutrition is so important - you must consume more calories than you burn, so that your body has extra energy left over to build some NEW muscle tissue.
More is Not Always Better
This important principle is very similar to the previous one. Since you are breaking down your muscles when you weight train, it only stands to reason that there is only so much punishment your body can productively take.
Rather than focusing on how MUCH you're doing in the weight room, you should focus on the QUALITY of your workout. No matter your muscle building weight training program, your goal should be to make some kind of progress, be it in weight, reps, sets, or a combination of all three.
This progress, and not how sore you got from that last workout, should be your main goal. As long as you are progressing, you are getting bigger.
Train for Strength
The best method of progression in a weight training program is getting stronger. You can add reps, you can add sets, you can add more exercises, but these things are all very finite and limited. You can't keep adding sets and exercises until you're doing 10 sets of 10 exercises just for one muscle group. It's impossible, and you'd burn out way before you ever got to that point.
Weight, on the other hand, is infinite. Of course you're never going to lift infinity pounds for any exercise, but you can pretty much always stand to get stronger than you are now. There are many ways to progress in strength, but that should be your main overall goal.
Now that you have gotten back to the basics, go to the gym and get to work! Feel free to message me if there are any questions I can you help with. Also be sure to check out my photo gallery here on ICONMEN.COM where I came in at a ripped to the bone 4% bodyfat!
Your fitness guru,
Justin Woltering
---
Justin Woltering is a distinguished fitness expert and author. With five certifications and a life long commitment to fitness, Justin is guaranteed to stay on the cutting edge of the fitness industry. You can E-Mail Justin your feedback on his blog, or any other fitness or nutrition questions you may have.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Justin Woltering | Thursday, December 17th, 2009 @ 12:00 AM
|
|
|
Blog Entry 1 Of 1
Previous Page | Next Page | View All | Latest Entries
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
