Thursday, May 7, 2009

Lifting Belts - Are They Necessary?

In most gyms today it is quite common to see weight trainers of all skill levels sporting lifting belts. Some will even go so far as to wear them for the duration of their entire workout, including upper body exercises that have no apparent need at all for such apparatus. This product, although having been around for a very long time and offering some (minimal benefit), should be left in the gym bag for the most part in all workouts.

Lifting belts are designed to compress the abs and lower back in order to provide additional support and stability for movements primarily involving bending or straightening of the lower back. Squats and deadlifts are the two exercises in which a belt is most commonly used since they both require tremendous core strength to support the enormous amount of weight lifted. The problem is that when a piece of equipment is used to play the role of a muscle group during a lift that muscle group is not forced to work as hard. The result - underdevelopment of important muscles. Everybody is born with a natural lifting belt far better (and cheaper) than a commercial one - their abs and lower back. The power movements that cause many lifters to get the urge to use a belt have a purpose to develop both a strong core capable of supporting a lot of weight. To use such equipment is truly cheating one out of the full benefits of even performing the exercises.

Although lifting belts do impair essential muscle growth they do have one good practical use. A single rep maximum lift in either the squat or deadlift would surely benefit from wearing a belt. This is an exception because single reps are typically used in either competition preparation or strength measurement rather than muscle building. But other than that it's best to let the core muscles play their own role. An added benefit of this is a much more intense ab workout than any number of crunches or leg raises - and everyone strives for a washboard stomach.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Boulder Shoulders

Building a pair of cannon ball shoulders is actually considerably easier than many other muscle groups. While shoulder width is largely determined by both genetics and upper back development, the actual shoulder muscles can be easily build to look like bronze pumpkins through intelligent (rather than intense) training. It is also important to train traps since they add a whole new dimension to the shoulders as well as prevent "pencil neck" syndrome. A solid shoulder/trap routine should be quick but effective.

Although seated or standing presses (either barbell or dumbbell) are the primary mass builder, shoulder are trained best when warmed up with isolation movements beforehand. Therefore the first two exercises are dumbbell lateral and front raises (bent-over lateral raises can also be included if they are not performed in an upper back workout). Performing raises first will train each individual head of the shoulder (minus the rear head if trained with back) as well as warm up the rotator cuff for heavy presses to follow. After the shoulders are warmed up the next exercise is some variation of free weight vertical press to build overall size and strength. Finally the traps must be tended to - either shrugs or upright rows will accomplish this task.

Suggested Shoulder/Trap Workout:

Monday, May 4, 2009

A Brutal Back

Many participants of the weight lifting game strive to develop an intimidating upper body - after all, this is what people notice most. A thick chest, fat python arms and shoulders that barely fit through a door commands respect (and even a bit a fear). However, many go about this the wrong way by putting the most emphasis on chest, biceps and shoulders without realizing that the back and triceps contribute most to overall torso and arm size. The upper back is the largest muscle group of the upper body and combined with the lower back and hamstrings, makes up almost half of the entire body. But just because it's not the first area noticed it is often ignored - big mistake. The upper back is the major contributor to shoulder width and frames in the chest to give it a further enlarged appearance. The lower back is a very powerful muscle group that plays a large part of good posture as well as assisting the legs in intense movements like squats. Since the hamstrings are also involved in many of the same compound lifts that train the lower back, the two can be easily trained together. So doesn't it make sense to hit this huge area with a solid workout?

A great first movement is the traditional pull-up and cable pull-downs are no substitute - almost anyone can do at least a single pull-up and many gyms have assistance machines. This is the single best exercise for back width and the wider the grip the better. Next comes the power movement of the entire workout - the deadlift. As with squats, maximal effort sets should be preceded with at least one warm-up set (pyramiding these sets in 90 pound increments works well). Deadlifts work the entire back and hamstrings as well as contributing to overall body strength. A good third exercise is either the bent-over barbell row or one-arm dumbbell row to build upper back thickness (these can be alternated between workouts). By this time, both the upper back should be feeling fairly worked. If not, any rowing or pull-down machine (cable or plate loaded) will accomplish this task. As a finisher to the upper back, bent-over lateral raises done on a cable crossover rack work nicely but dumbbells are just as effective. Although this is thought of as a shoulder exercise (and it is for the most part) it works the upper back muscles through a large range of motion. Next, the hamstrings need to be hit quick and hard - any leg curl machine (seated or lying) is the exercise of choice for a good pump and burn. Finally, a couple sets of hyperextensions will finish off the lower back and hamstrings.

Suggested Back/Hamstring Workout:
As an added note, this workout can be broken into two separate workouts - upper back and lower back/hamstrings. For upper back: pull-ups, bent-over or one-arm rows, machine rows (optional) and reverse crossovers. For lower back/hamstrings: deadlifts, leg curls and hyperextensions.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Killer Quads

Many novice weight lifters put a tremendous amount of effort and time doing many different variations of benchpresses, flyes and curls to develop a chiseled chest and bulging biceps. In this entire workout a few sloppy sets of cable pressdowns, pull-downs or rows may be performed for a minimal amount of upper back and triceps training - sometimes even a few crunches for the abs. This is an extremely ineffective routine as the upper back is much larger than the chest and the same as for the triceps and biceps - yet the larger muscles get a mediocre workout because they are not visible in the mirror. Aside from the obvious effects of developing hunched shoulders and arms that only look big when flexed, the entire lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back and calves) are completely neglected despite being the most powerful muscles in the human body. Not only does the effect of having a developed upper body supported on toothpick legs look ridiculous but a great deal of growth potential in the upper body comes from a solid lower body routine. Therefore, it makes sense to develop an effective routine first for the largest muscle group - the quads.

At the start of the workout it is best to do some light stretching and cardio (no more than 5 minutes) to get the legs warmed up. Another option that is purely a matter of preference is to perform leg extensions as the first exercise in a quad session. Leg extensions are such a mild exercise that very little energy will be burned and the advantage is the knees and quads will be fully warmed up for the most intense exercise next - squats. Working sets of squats should always be preceded by warm-up sets (the number depending on the maximum poundage to be used with each warm-up set increasing by 90 pounds in pyramid style). It goes without saying that squats need to be performed as deep as possible for best results. The next (and possibly last) exercise in this workout is any plate-loaded machine - leg press or hack squat. After all this a set or two of lunges can follow if there is still any quad energy remaining (lunges are completely optional at this point). However, if leg extensions were not performed at the beginning they should definitely be included at the end.

Suggested Quad Workout

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Training Split Examples

Obviously there are many options available when deciding which muscle groups to train and on which days. A bit of planning and experimentation is definitely required to maximize muscle recovery time. It is important to realize that growth occurs during rest and not while training - despite the 6-7 day per week routines used by some professional bodybuilders (most of those guys are both very genetically gifted and chemically enhanced). Usually 3-4 intense weight lifting sessions per week is plenty and it should be noted that the entire body doesn't necessarily have to be trained in a seven day week. For example, an effective routine could be training three days every week with 1-2 days between workouts and a training split of four 30-45 minute workouts would take 9-10 days to train the entire body. Alternatively, the same four day training split could be carried out with four workouts per week - both are very effective options. Below are some examples of four day training splits.


Workout #1
  • Chest, Upper Back (for thickness), Biceps
  • Quads, Calves
  • Shoulders, Upper Back (for width), Triceps
  • Lower Back/Hamstrings, Abs, Forearms

Workout #2

  • Quads, Calves
  • Shoulders, Abs, Forearms
  • Upper Back, Lower Back/Hamstrings, Biceps
  • Chest, Triceps

Workout #3

  • Quads, Calves
  • Chest, Shoulders, Abs
  • Upper Back, Lower Back/Hamstrings
  • Biceps, Triceps, Forearms

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Big Three - Vital For Any Workout Routine

While machines and cables certainly have their place in any serious weight lifter's arsenal, a solid foundation of strength and muscle mass is built with compound free weight movements. Here are three of the most basic movements that have withstood the test of time and are mandatory in any routine - the squat, deadlift and benchpress.

Squat
There's no simpler way to say it - the squat is a must in any effective workout program. They may make one feel dizzy, see stars, and puke afterward but no other exercise will come close to adding as much total body mass (with the possible exception of deadlifts). Many novice lifters do not include squats or even train lower body - this is a huge mistake! As well as the obvious effect of having a developed upper body supported by toothpick legs (which looks ridiculous) neglecting lower body training actually impairs upper body growth. Large amounts of testosterone and growth hormone are released during heavy leg exercises like squats resulting in overall muscle mass increase. Not to mention supporting a weighted barbell on one's traps during the entire movement is quite a task for the upper body.

Deadlift
There may be no better barometer of strength than the deadlift. Since no racks or other apparatus is required it is truly a battle of man versus weight. Second only to the squat in intensity, the deadlift is another must in any serious training routine. Although thought to be primarily a back exercise (both upper and lower) a host of other muscle groups are brought into play. These include the traps, forearms, quads, hamstrings, the entire ab region and more. Deadlifts are also an excellent movement for burning fat because almost the entire body is used in one explosive movement (like the squat).

Benchpress
What is the first question asked between anyone that has ever been in a gym - "How much do ya bench?". Although much more weight can be used for squats or deadlifts, more injuries usually result from the benchpress mostly due to over-inflated egos (using too much weight) and poor form. Nevertheless it is fundamental exercise that works the entire chest region as well as the shoulders and triceps. Even the upper back and abs are used as stabilizers throughout the movement -bringing almost the entire upper body into play. No matter what choice of angle (flat-bench, incline or decline) or whether performed with a barbell or dumbells the benchpress is a must for any training routine.

Conflicting Muscle Groups

It is virtually impossible to isolate a single particular muscle group by itself - especially the larger ones. Large muscle groups are best trained with multi-joint compound free weight movements which can require many secondary and stabilizing muscle groups for assistance. For example, the squat primarily works the quads but also greatly employs the calves, hamstrings, lower back and glutes as well as the entire upper body in order to support and stabilize the weighted barbell. This is very important to consider when designing a proper training split to avoid overtraining.

Quads are best trained on a separate day because squats and other overall leg movements (such as leg presses) will be required for maximum growth and much energy will be expended. The only rule of thumb for training quads is the hamstrings and lower back must not be sore or overtrained. Lower back and hamstrings should be trained together since the exercise for best overall development of both is deadlifts. Since deadlifts require almost as much energy as squats they should be performed when the quads are strong.

There are two major categories of muscle groups in the upper body - push and pull muscles. Push muscle groups move the weight away from the body and include chest, shoulders and triceps. Chest training requires both the shoulders and triceps to be strong but shoulder training only requires triceps for the most part. Pull muscle groups move the weight toward the body and include the entire upper back and biceps. The upper back can be trained together with the lower back or with other muscle groups of the upper body but almost all require the assistance of the biceps. There are many variations of upper body splits that work well and it really just takes some trial and error to find the right one (one size does not fit all). And finally the finishing muscle groups - calves, abs and forearms recover quite quickly and can be trained with most other groups but not more than twice per week.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Tips To Keep In Mind For A Solid Training Split

Once a decision is mode on how many days to weight train the next step is to actually create the training split. An effective routine will hit all muscle groups in the body hard while allowing plenty of recovery time between workouts - this can be even more difficult when other physical activities are thrown into the equation (such as martial arts, sports or dancing). While there are many options on how to do this properly, a few important points must be kept in mind.

1. Don't rely too much on machines or cable equipment as free weights are the superior choice for building muscle. Workouts should be built around the three most fundamental compound exercises - squats, deadlifts and benchpresses. All three of those are great for adding size and strength in a short period of time but each one should be done on a separate day due to the amount of energy required for each (especially squats and deadlifts). Other compound free weight movements such as pullups, shoulder presses and bent-over rows as well as intense lower body movements like leg presses can then be added to this foundation. Finishing exercises should always come last in a workout unless a pre-exhaust routine is desired (performing isolation movements before compound ones to exhaust the major muscles first - such as performing flyes before benchpresses).

2. Despite what is written in popular bodybuilding magazines, 20-25 sets for a single muscle group is overkill for a natural lifter. Even large groups like chest or quads usually get a good workout from 6-8 sets performed intensely. For smaller groups such as biceps and calves, 4-6 sets is plenty. The back however will require 8-12 sets because it is responsible for many different movements (horizontal and vertical pulls as well as stabilizing work of the lower back).

3. Be aware of secondary muscle groups involved while training major groups - triceps with chest is one example. Because secondary muscles are typically weaker than the primary groups they assist, they usually are worked to the max and require time between workouts to recover. Therefore it is wise to design workouts with this in mind (in above example, triceps should not be trained he day after chest as this could lead to overtraining).

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Training Splits - The Right Way To Workout

Creating an effective weight training routine can be a very confusing task. With so many different exercises to choose from it takes some trial and error to find and organize the ones that achieve the best results in the least amount of time. Furthermore it is almost impossible to isolate a specific muscle group since many others are also called into play in the process. For example, the benchpress is primarily a chest exercise but also requires tremendous effort of the shoulders and triceps, making it counter-productive to train either of those two muscle groups the day following a chest workout unless overtraining is the desired goal. However it is possible to develop a solid routine that works the entire body to the max while allowing sufficient recovery time for each muscle group.

Some lifters resort to either 2-3 full body workouts or 1-2 upper/lower body training splits per week. Although both of these can be effective, with so many muscle groups to train on a given day it becomes very difficult to completely work all of them since time usually only allows 1-2 exercises per group. The most effective method of training is to split the body into 3-5 different workouts spread out over a 7-10 day period since it allows for both a much quicker session and places more concentration on each area of the body. It is ideal to keep workouts in the 30-60 minute range - after that time cortisol (also known as the "stress hormone") is released causing the lifter to become more sluggish and less productive. Another advantage to this is it muscle groups trained near the end of a full body workout or upper/lower body split are more able to perform at their best, having not been nearly as fatigued from the large number of previous exercises. A good example of this is training the entire upper body in one session. Since it makes the most sense to train the largest muscles first the chest and back would be trained first, bringing into play the shoulders and arms. After struggling to work the shoulders in this weakened state, the arms become completely drained of energy when it comes time to hit them. This problem is further amplified in the full body workout which involves squats and (hopefully) deadlifts - both of those power movements are very energy consuming and any lift performed after will definitely suffer.

Splitting up the body into smaller sessions is far more productive than trying to get it all done in a session or two. It also makes workouts less tedious and more enjoyable. This is what almost every experienced weight lifter (including professional bodybuilders and powerlifters) recommend and do themselves for one good reason - it works.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

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