Bodybuilding

Amongst the endless parade of “expert advice” within the modern iron-game, or at-least the media arm, the overwhelming majority of training is far too complicated and fails to utilise the classic resistance movements. The reason for this, though rarely said in public, is not to technological developments or new findings but simply because classic movements are considered lacking marketing sex appeal, many simply cannot perform due to poor fitness and inadequate coaching.

 

Beyond low educational and experience requirements to be considered a “coach” in the present-day where most expertise is towards SEO and their “landing page”, the constant flow of new exercises is either done to attract attention or the individuals lack the level of fitness to perform more challenging movements correctly.

 

The so-called "innovations" are a distant second to the classic movements and in the end, despite decades of magazines, articles and books, all resistance training can be summarised as a Squat, Push, Pull or Press with the “simplest measures” typically the most rewarding.

 

Within standard Bodybuilding, strength-training and preparation for sport, this rings true across the spectrum of exercise, which includes developing a strong and powerful back. Training the back does not require expensive equipment or even complex strategies and typically best served with a basic barbell, dumbbell and a high-bar. Certainly minor additions such as bands, unique bar attachments can prove to be helpful but only after a properly balanced training regime is in place.

 

The basics of Back training starts and revolves around pulling actions with the most commonly accepted movements being a Deadlift, a Bent-Over Row and a Chin / Pull-Up. Each one of these movements has a series of variations that should be rotated through to avoid adaptation but otherwise make up a general template that is always successful.

 

To go along with a Snatch-Grip Deadlift, my "secret" or at-least what was once standard in every training plan of a successful lifter, to building a thick and powerful back included Bent-Over Rows.

There are a variety of options with this movement, including choosing a overhand or underhand grip with a barbell but my first choice when paired with a Snatch Grip Deadlift is with a dumbbell. This answers the concern of balancing bilateral and unilateral movements, allows a greater “stretch” as the hand is pulled higher than with a barbell and though not specific to the exercise, most tend to utilise peak contraction more frequently with this variation.

The movement is not even slight complicated, boasts a near straight vertical learning curve and will always prove effective. I prefer using thick handled dumbbells and will often wrap a set of chains to tinker with the stimuli

 

How to perform a One-Armed Dumbbell Row

 
Prepared by John Davies
Photo of Tammy Bravomalo

 

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s, Google+, Renegade Training™ on Google+ as well as or Twitter.

 

John’s present supplement stack starts daily with the “athlete’s advantage”, Modern, Super Cissus, PowerFull and Prime, along with additional use of Recreate, Yok3d and Anabolic Pump depending upon his training cycle

 

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk

Through the course of the last two weeks we have examined the complex issues of training within Bodybuilding. Developing a powerful, balanced physique is no easy test even in the best of circumstances but the modern game has provided its own unique problems.

While on one side of the equation, supplementation and dietary knowledge are a quantum step ahead of even, say ten years ago, the modern facility is a landmine that by prohibiting a certain style of lifting and implicitly slows the development of many. In the most simple of examples, how can you legitimately tell a person they will need to start their back training with heavy Deadlifts when the facility prohibits the lift, much less does not have sufficient space between pieces of equipment, dedicated areas to do such a movement and outlaws chalk. This is a problem that will not go away and the best approach is for lifters far and wide to band together and make sure places where you can still “bring it” are known to the rest of the “iron-game”.

Returning to supplementation and diet, this is where the modern day has a distinct advantage and quite honestly will push the realm of bodybuilding, strength – athlete and sport training to another level. Scientific advancements have jettisoned the impact from supplementation, such that with compliance recovery training is accelerated with the individuals pace of development beyond those in the past. To many, even of the relative near past say five years ago this is difficult idea to accept but a simple truth that individuals will have ample opportunity to push to upper athletic reaches because of these advancements, presuming they comply with supplement, diet and training protocols.

Yet and in the most roundabout ways, the mix is incomplete without proper training. Failure to exercise properly, as well as pushing yourself with ruthless tenacity will leave you short of your goals. This, as it relates to our recent topics of developing overall mass and powerful arms is seen quickly because as much as isolationist movements are important, compound lifts have an enormous impact upon the entire physique.

This unique twist of this is that to build enormous mass, including your arms, Squats and Deadlifts are movements that must be included. The super-compensatory effect of handling a load on your back (Squats) stimulates total body development thus making your regular stop in the Squat racks part of building overall mass and size on your arms. Simply stated, if you want to build mass and develop your arms, Squats and Deadlifts are imperative.

If you find that a complex issue, that is certainly understood but we have a great plan. Join us tomorrow for a new addition to our blog with great training session on Friday. Exercise goals will vary each week and we will decide target the concern based upon reader comments on Facebook and Twitter. Join the fun and be apart of the USPlabs team!

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s as well as or Twitter.

Prepared by John Davies
Photo: Curt "The Brute" Dennis, Jr.

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should it be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk.

Arm development is a unique, if not often misunderstood area within training circles. While within the athletic training circles it is often lightly regarded, i.e. “curls for the girls”, anyone with experience in the “iron game’ knows it takes a brutal tenacity to live up to bodybuilding’s tough standards.

As noted in “Powerful arms and perfect symmetry”, the standards of “perfection” are set at a lofty height and while it might be easy to satisfy one region, building a physique based upon the model of Ancient Greece is not an easy task. However, this is one of the unique advantages of the modern bodybuilder as with the advancements in natural supplementation have catapulted many past former sticking points.

In building powerful, symmetrical arms likely the first point to consider is that this far more the bicep training. While in-truth, most gravitate towards bicep exercises the upper arm is approximately sixty-five percent tricep and equally balance with the forearm cannot be forgot. If the bicep gets the majority of attention, particularly with those just starting out in the iron game, the real “meat” of building arms comes from tricep work.

Like bicep training, as well as other regions, tricep training follows a few basic rules and when applied to the correct mix of diet, supplementation and hard work will get you closer to your goal.

Tricep movements, given the movement of the muscle, involve an extension type action. Changing medium and movements, just as with all other areas is important to avoid adaptation but given the lifting action, it is generally much easier to make small modifications in training.

• Hand position on Bar / Dumbell (includes use of standard barbell, dumbell, e-z curl, parallel curling bar, dip stations, pull downs etc)
• One key of tricep training is varying the angle of the movement. This can be as easy as using an adjustable decline bench with extensions, using angled or ropes with push downs, as well as how you grip a dumbell.
• Always maintain perfect form
• Focus on eccentric action of lift
• Peak contraction with each repetition

The final point in general arm training is more observation of the public in use a weight you can manage. There is no sense to trying to use a weight you can not lift with correct form and if you truly want to develop, be patient and apply dedicate yourself in your training, diet and supplementation routine.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s as well as or Twitter.

Prepared by John Davies
Photo: Joe Bender, Personal Trainer and USP Labs client

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should it be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk.

It is the talk of virtually every member of the iron game at sometime. The all-important quest for vast slabs of muscle mass is a common denominator of any member of “the fraternity”, regardless of your discipline, whether bodybuilding, basic aesthetics, weightlifting or other athletic pursuits.

There is no shame to such claim, albeit of recent years the “functional training” group to which many have claimed I am the originator, have splintered off and seemed to have taken a peculiar stance against some “hard core” members of the “iron game”. This is quite obviously misguided as though we all may have different goals, when the iron is your grasp there is little difference between us. Given I need to remind, it is a “brotherhood”.

Within this “brotherhood”, I have seen mistakes, flaws and misconceptions of training but just like “mass development” goals are a common denominator, so is arm training. Regardless of goals and objectives, one of the most popular areas to train is and likely always will be arms.

While sport training is generally hard pressed within the commercial facilities, arm work is embraced by the modern facility, quite naturally because of client wishes. Equally while sports training, powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting see gains come in the smallest bite-sizes, often difficult to notice for months on end, arm work offers near instant gratification with a well known “pump”.

This pump, in many ways is a precursor or at least a calling-card to growth and through a consistent diet of proper exercise, arm growth, even if you are not genetically inclined, will be pronounced.

Of particular interest, while many from athletic training circles consider arm training as “easy” (or the standard “curls for the girls”), when done correctly it is brutally hard. The key to that sentence is “correctly” to which there are a number of basic rules within arm training.

• It is more than just biceps because the “meat” of the arm is the triceps and you cannot forget the triceps
• Exercise must always be performed correctly to ensure the proper target area is attacked, hence those swinging “reverse cleans” are really not hitting your biceps the way you think.
• You need to have a ruthless approach on yourself because arm training involves one of the iron-games most punishing approaches; peak contraction. With each repetition, squeeze the muscle for a one to three count at the apex of the lift before lowering.
• Creating maximal tension is key and if peak contraction was not enough, generally most exercises are best served when you lower the weight two to three fold the time it took to raise it.

Furthermore, combining the bottom two points satisfies the time under tension needs and when applied to a proper diet and supplement stack (including Yok3d), the result is powerful arms.

Through the course of this week, we will examine how to build massive arms for novice through advanced level lifters.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s as well as or Twitter.

Prepared by John Davies
Second from the top Photo: Steve Tauriello is Yok3d

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should it be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk.

While the greatest problem for dedicated lifters is adaptation to movements, the root of many errors in training starts with the validity of information and stereotyping various groups within the “iron game”. Exercise, whether you are training for sport, a competitive bodybuilder or trying to improve your general health follows some straightforward guidelines but unfortunately the public perception of strength athletes and bodybuilders have made many consider them wildly different. In-fact they are very similar in the upper echelon and younger lifters should learn from each group to advance their efforts.

While there are naturally many mediums to choose from and no one piece of equipment is the panacea, all training, whether you are a strength athlete or a bodybuilder starts with the ability to manage your bodyweight. Once an individual is able to maintain posture and overall proper body position while under duress, then and only then should they add external resistance.

This is of-course where the “fun” starts because within the fight to avoid adaptation variation of movement, tempo and starting positions, along with a few other nuances is all you need for long-term gains. Digging deeper into fighting adaptation for strength athletes is tinkering with every segment of a movement whereby you may target a particular zone. Just as your pause and “deadstop” Squat will have an enormous impact on your acceleration strength by utilizing weight releasers, cambered bars, bands or chains a lifter can effectively invert the demands of the lift and stimulate growth.

While those practices are very common among athletic and strength related sectors of the iron game, each follow a similar idea of overloading the eccentric action of the lift which bodybuilders have known since the earliest days of the genre. Within traditional bodybuilding circles the difference with these approaches from the “strength athlete” field is minor from a broad physiological perspective even if they appear dramatically different in presentation. That maybe difficult to consider given the vast differences in typical training settings but make no mistake the rigours of the iron game are very similar and why it was once considered a “brotherhood”.

This returns to the biggest aspects for Bodybuilders seeking vast muscular gain, whereby beyond a proper diet and nutritional program they:

• Utilize compound movements as the mainstay of their training before breaking off into isolation exercises
• Always use appropriate loading such that the movement can be performed correctly
• Place focus on the eccentric of movement
• Apply peak contraction with every repetition, remembering the importance of time under tension.

Throughout the course of this week, we will examine each of these concerns for Bodybuilding to advance your mass development goals of 2011.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s as well as or Twitter.

Prepared by John Davies
Top Photo: John Davies dumbell set from Detroit Barbells
Second from the Top: Steve Tauriello is Yok3d

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should it be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk.