CHEST WORKOUT

Keep your back flat on the bench.Using a grip broader than shoulder width, hold the barbell above your body, then lower slowly to the middle of your chest.

The Exercise: Without bouncing the weight off your chest, drive the barbell up over the middle of your chest until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked.
Pause briefly, then lower slowly back to the starting position.

Barbell incline press

This exercise targets your upper chest area. Sit on the bench with your feet flat on the floor a little more than shoulder-width apart.
Position your back firmly against the bench.
Using a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, hold the bar over your upper chest with your arms straight.

The Exercise: Slowly lower the bar until you make contact with the upper chest area.
Pause briefly, then drive the weight straight up over your chest until your elbows are locked.

Dumbbell bench press

As an alternative to the barbell incline press, the dumbbell bench press builds mass equally well and “stimulates” the chest muscles even more. Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle so that your upper arms are parallel to the ground.

The Exercise: Press the weights up over your chest in a triangular motion until they
meet above the centerline of your body.As you lift, concentrate on keeping the weights balanced and under control.Then, follow the same triangular path downward as you lower the weights until your arms are slightly below parallel to the floor.

Dumbbell incline press

Both the dumbbell incline press and dumbbell bench press can be done on a flat or incline bench.Whereas the flat presses tend to work the lower and mid-chest area, the incline press causes you to shift the focus of the exercise to the upper chest area. Setting the incline bench at a steeper angle will place even more emphasis on the upper pecs.

Starting Position: Sit on the edge of an incline bench set at about a 45-degree angle.
Pick up a dumbbell in each hand and place them on your thighs.Then, one at a time, raise them up to shoulder level while you press your back and shoulders firmly against the bench.

The Exercise: Press the weights up to a point over your upper chest, palms facing forward (pointing toward your feet). Experiment with changing the angle of the bench: this will enhance muscle development by slightly shifting the emphasis of the exercise.

Starting Position: Sit down on the edge of a bench with a dumbbell in each hand.Then lie back, keeping the dumbbells close to your chest. At the lowest point, your bent elbows should be on a horizontal plane even with the bench.Then slowly bring the weights back up over your chest in an arc.The bend in
your elbows should remain constant throughout the exercise.

Cable crossovers

This exercise is similar to the “hugging”motion of the dumbbell flyes.
Starting Position: Take hold of the stirrup handles attached to the high pulley and stand about one foot in front of the weight stacks with a handle in each hand.

Read More

31 DAYS FOR BIG ARMS

How much can you increase your arm size in 31 days?

If you follow a practical arm specialization program and do everything else correctly (diet, rest, supplements, etc.) I think it is realistic for a person of average genetics to gain 1” on your arms.

Can I guarantee that?

No, it might be more and it might be less. If you do set 1 for 12 reps, set 2 for 10, and set 3 for 8, then the next workout stick with the same weight.

§ If you find your strength increasing on these other exercises during your 31-day arm specialization program, then by all means, go ahead and increase the weight.

§ Only rest 1½ to 2 minutes between each set.

Arm Specialization

Now comes the fun part. You’ll never make any significant gains if you aren’t eating plenty of high quality food with an emphasis on lots of protein…preferably at least 2 grams of high quality complete protein per each pound of bodyweight.
What is a “complete” protein? That is a protein source that contains all the essential amino acids (protein is composed of amino acids) that are required by your body to support growth. Other foods like beans and nuts have protein, but it is an incomplete protein. I don't expect you to dive in and eat
all this the first day, I want you to eat progressively (just like you will train progressively) try to eat a bit more each week.
You don't have to use protein powder, it's not totally necessary. Any protein drink can be made with powdered milk instead of commercial protein powder.

BREAKFAST: Meat 1/4 lb, 3 eggs, 2 slices wheat toast, Milk or protein drink.

SNACK: Cottage cheese 1/4 lb, Fruit, Milk or protein drink.

LUNCH: Tuna Sandwich (6 oz tuna), Cottage cheese 1/4 lb, Salad, Milk or protein drink.

SNACK: Cheese sandwich 2 oz cheese, Milk or protein drink.

DINNER: Chicken 8 oz, Baked potato, Cooked vegetable, Salad, Milk or protein drink.

This is also very convenient because most of this food can be prepared and taken to work or school in a lunchbox or “Lil Playmate” type of cooler.
I learned a secret that many successful bodybuilders know to keep their bodies in a positive nitrogen state for growth. A positive nitrogen state means that there is always complete protein (protein is the only nutrient containing nitrogen) available in the bloodstream for growth and repair. Constantly sipping on a protein drink throughout the day should take care of that.

I’m sure if you follow this program and constantly strive to increase your training weights, while eating plenty of good food, you can’t help but make gains.
I wish you success in your training and hope to hear that you gained that magical extra inch on your guns over the next 31 days.

Read More

GETTING A 6 PACK BODYBUILDING

I have researched and developed this sit up routine in trials with athletes, bodybuilders and normal people. The routine can be varied as you become stronger by adding more reps and advance to the more technical exercises over time. In case you are unsure a rep is an individual sit up and a set is a group of reps. one set of 10 reps: means 10 sit-ups.

This can be done by halving the reps for every exercise depending on what level you feel you are at. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor until your torso is perpendicular to the floor.

Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor and twist your torso to the left touching your left knee with right elbow. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point. Continue reps right and left until the end of the set.

• Raise your shoulders and back from the floor using your upper abdominal muscles
• Force your shoulders in moving them toward your hips
• exhale hard 4.

Keep repeating this movement for stated reps. Lie flat on your back on the floor or exercise mat. Keeping your legs together bend your knees very slightly keeping your feet off the floor. Slowly turn them to the starting position just above the floor. If you find this to hard just bring your knees up to your chest and then put feet back to original position, instead of raising the whole leg to a vertical position. When you reach a point where you cannot bend further, inhale, hold your breath and raise yourself back to the erect starting position exhaling when you reach the vertical position.

Lie on your back on the floor and hook one foot under a heavy piece of furniture. Bend your knee comfortably and keep your leg bent throughout the entire set. Curl your head, shoulders, upper back and lower back slowly in succession off the floor until your torso is perpendicular to the floor, at the same time bring your knee up to your chest. Hold the upright position for a second and reverse the movement slowly until reaching the starting point.

 Repeat for specified number of reps. Lie on your back on the floor and hook your toes under a heavy piece of furniture. Bend your knee comfortably and keep them bent throughout the entire set. Curl your head, and shoulder blades slightly off the floor keeping your stomach tight. Staying at the same height off the floor bend to the left slightly and hold for a second. Now staying bent left slightly lift your torso a few centimeters hold for a second keeping your abs tight. Now move your body back to the straight position staying at this higher level and keeping stomach tight, hold for a second. Now bend your body to the right slightly staying at the higher level and keeping abs tight, hold for a second.

Staying bent to the right lower back to the original position just above the floor, keeping abs tight and hold for a second. Now straighten up to the original position on the lower level hold for a second and keep abs tight. Repeat this rotation for half of the reps in the direction described. For the second half of the reps rotate in the opposite direction as described above. Begin laid on your back, place your hands under your bum and raise your legs to a vertical position so your toes are pointing to the sky. Repeat this movement for the sated amount of reps. Start at what ever level you think you can manage and work your way up by increasing reps by 5 every week or advancing onto the next routine when you feel comfortable.

Females can do the same routines just half all the reps Beginners Routine: Normal sit ups: 4 sets of 10-15 reps Twisted sit ups: 2 sets of 10 reps Side bends: 3 sets of 20 reps Crunches: 2 sets of 5-7 reps Carry out once a day, if to hard start with 2 of the exercises and develop it to the full routine.

Intermediate Routine: Normal sit ups: 1 set of 30-40 reps Crunches: 4 sets of 20-30 reps Twisted sit ups: 2 sets of 20-30 reps Led raises: 3 sets of 20 reps Carry out once a day Advanced Routine: Normal sit ups: 1 set of 50+ reps Crunches: 2 sets of 40+ reps Sit up with leg raise: 4 sets 15+ reps Advanced rotation crunch: 3 sets of 12+ reps Lower stomach vertical leg raises: 2 sets 15+ Carry out once a day Below are some helpful tips to try and help you maximize your routine and get the best six pack possible: 1. The goal is to keep rest to 30 - 40 seconds in between sets.

Read More

HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN I LOSE IN FIVE MONTHS

If you’re serious about living the Testosterone lifestyle, then you know you’re going to have to train for the rest of your life. But if you’re going to be working out your whole life, then you’re going to have to try some new stuff occasionally. Most of us are willing to try just about any new weight training program that comes down the pipe.

When I look back at how fast my body changed from weight training and what it’s done to improve my health, energy, confidence, and overall outlook on life, it just blows my mind. Ever since I was 18 and became serious about lifting weights, I’ve been constantly looking for ways to make my body more efficient. I saw the value in bodyweight exercises such as dips and chin-ups and also incorporated power cleans and deadlifts into my routine.

However, I never would’ve guessed that a routine that consisted exclusively of bodyweight-only exercises would be of any value to me. Bodyweight squats? When Matt released his book on bodyweight conditioning exercises entitled Combat Conditioning: Functional Exercises for Fitness & Combat Sports, I immediately ordered a copy.

I was amazed that one of the world’s toughest men used mostly bodyweight exercises! I got the book and started on the exercises immediately. I started doing what Matt refers to as the "Royal Court," which consists of three exercises: Hindu pushups, Hindu squats, and the king of all exercises, the back bridge. In the beginning, I just incorporated the exercises into my weight training routine. However, as I progressed in the Royal Court I decided to give the weights a break for a while and start doing bodyweight exercises exclusively. In the beginning, doing 25 Hindu pushups was a real struggle. After I did 800 Hindu pushups and 1100 Hindu squats in one workout (no, that’s not a misprint), I decided to start working on some of the other exercises in the book such as reverse pushups, wall walking, fingertip pushups, and jumper squats.

All the exercises offered new challenges and once again my muscular endurance and confidence went through the roof. (I was on a fat loss diet as well during this time.) I started working with a heavy bag again and was amazed at how much easier it was to keep going without getting fatigued. So, what the hell are these exercises and how do you do them? Well, let’s stop messing around and jump right into the Royal Court and a couple of my other favorite exercises guaranteed to kick your ass! The Back Bridge Tired of that nagging back pain and that stiff, weak neck? Well, this is not only the best exercise for your neck, it’ll also help keep your back pain-free. Lie on your back and put your hands beside your head. Push up off your feet and push your chest back at the same time. Now rock back and forth, decreasing the distance between your legs and head.

Keep your body really tight and flex every muscle from your chest, neck, back, all the way to your legs and feet. Try not to relax any part of your body while bridging and really focus on keeping your body tight. Several T-Mag forum members have started doing this exercise and are raving about how their neck and back pains have vanished. The Hindu Squat I know, I know, most of you out there squat with hundreds of pounds so this exercise needs no explanation, right? Wrong, this exercise is much different. As you’re squatting down, raise your heels off the ground and go down until your ass touches your calves. Once there, pull your arms back into your sides as if you were rowing a boat. That’s not the way you’d normally breathe doing squats, but believe it or not, it seems to work great for bodyweight squats. You’ll find this helps you keep your balance, stay tight, and gets your upper body involved in the workout. Really focus on breathing deeply and you’ll be surprised when your chest gets pumped up after a hard set. Have a short term goal of doing 100 straight reps and a long term goal of doing 500 in one set. However, in the beginning, just focus on form and getting used to the breathing.

Shoot for 25 straight squats with perfect form and breathing and then build it up to 100. Instead, work on doing these as fast as possible without compromising form. When you can do 500 squats in sixteen minutes, you’ll be in awesome shape and ready for combat. The Hindu Push-up This is a kickass exercise and one of my favorites. In addition to being a great upper body exercise, it’s great for increasing flexibility in the spine and is a fantastic pick-me-up whenever you feel lethargic. (Insert your own sex joke here.) Bend your back as if you were trying to make a triangle. Your head should be aligned with your back facing towards your feet.

Take a deep breath and then sweep down in a circular arc motion and bend back looking up at the ceiling and breathing out. From there, push back toward your heels and start over. Don’t worry about your form too much as that will improve as you make progress and get more comfortable with the exercise. Shoot for a goal of doing 100 continuous reps. Be sure that you make deep breathing a part of this exercise to reap the full benefits. This is by far my favorite upper body exercise. Imagine doing a standing shoulder press with your own bodyweight and you’ll get an idea of how hard this exercise is. Take a deep breath and kick up with the other leg until it touches the wall. Adjust your position until you feel comfortable and then take in a deep breath.

Touch your nose gently against the ground and push back up as hard as you can. Just don’t attempt to increase the range of motion until you’re confidant doing handstand pushups off the floor. I used these bodyweight exercises and a few others for about five months. The first two months of my experiment I did Hindu pushups, Hindu squats, and bridging everyday, but I never trained to failure. Instead I just worked on doing more reps each week.

The last three months I still did the squats and bridging every day, but I performed the Hindu push-ups and a few other push-up variations I learned from Matt every other day. Some days I’d go for a personal best, others I’d just do a minimum of 250 Hindu pushups and 500 squats. I’ve since added weight training back into my routine, but I only focus on functional strength exercises like power cleans and deadlifts. Keep an open mind and try adding a few of these exercises into your weight training program. Who knows, maybe you’ll get hooked like I did and try doing them exclusively for a while. Either way, I’m sure that you’ll benefit tremendously from these exercises.

Read More

Kung Fu - Fitness Training Workout (Secret Story)

  Here's some tips that I've went to great pains to retrieve and compile. I was tired of sifting through tons of useless info. are just worthless to varying degrees, from some I only retrieved a few descent lines). I hope that you guys can use the info. As productive as I had.

I - Health Concious (Tips For Fitness)

1. 12 Steps to a healthy diet: 1) Eliminate Junk Food and highly processed Foods, 2) Folow the 2/3, 1/3, low fat rule (65% carbs., 25% protein, 10% fat), 3) Eat Small Frequent Meals (don't skip a meal, you'll want more later... eat slowly and the brain will think it's full faster), 4) Eat Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper (the metabolsim is most the active in the morning and slows drastically by the evening; digestion is the strongest at noon and a large meal may also be consumed here), 5) Select Foods that are high in fiber, 6) Separate Protein and Carbohydrate Feedings 7) Drink 8-10 Glasses of Water per day, 8) Include Aerobics of some form in your schedule, 9) Reduce Calories Gradually and in a Cyclical Fashion (too keep the metabolism off guard and responding, figure the average number of calories you want to diet down to; then stagger your actual daily intake above and below that number.
2. IE 700 calories one day, 300; then 500 the third day... supplements become important when you cut calories and predispose yourself to nutritional deficiencies), 10) Weight training will increase Metabolism and Preserve Lean Body mass, 11) Train Earlier (this will increase your metabolic rate for the entire day), 12) Have a realistic game plan For a pickup in your training and endurance energy levels use Inosine.
3. Make sure to separate your carbs and protein meals or your body is not going to utilize all the foods efficiently.
4. Make sure your fitness goals are specific yet realistic, variety is powerful when the key is motivation When buying milk buy a paper carton rather thana plastic jug, the lights in groceries stores can cause the jugs to lose up to 90% of the vitamin "A" Sleep: make sure you get at least 4 hours (you need additional sleep but a wake break won't disrupt anything).
5. Speed up metabolism = aerobics every other day, moderate calorie, high protein and low fat and sugar diet Foods that say they have no cholesterol may be loaded with staurated fat.
6. you'll need to consume 2,500-3,000 calories more (a day) than what your body normally need in order to gain 1 pound of muscle if trainining faithfully.

 II  - Supplements & Nutrition (Food)

1. Substitue this for that: salad dressing = MCT (medium chain triglyceride, enhances metabolism)) oil and a bit of vinegar or lemon or combine red wine, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, ground pepper and honey; butter/margerine = MCT oil or CapTri; Jelly and Jam = sugar free friut spread; chips = non fat tortilla; mayonase = plain fat free yogurt (seasoned with lemon and herbs), pizza = Fit n' free, mayo = lemon juice, pepper and hot pepper sauce or nonfat yogurt.
2. "E" stops the bad chemical changes in cholesterol that can lead to arterial blockage (too much however can have the opposite effect), also calcium helps in reducing bad cholesterol (LDL) (endulge skim milk, fortified orange juice, yogurt, salmon and green leafy veggies) it's also good in lowering blood pressure and preventing kidney stones.
3. chromium is required to produce a positive amount of insulin, it should be bound with niacin - (GTF): Glocose Tolerance Factor, (without GTF chromium muscles don't grow - don't produce insulin and engage the metabolic process) take 290 mcg + a day (Arginine and Lysine also stimulate insulin secretion).(Without sufficient amounts the system could shut down and muscle loss sets in, we also feel tired, and very hungry, take your aminos and nutrients IE chromium, fresh fruits also releases insulin).
4. Vitamin B6 has been shown to boost long term memory and maintaining a strong immune system (it is also a key agent in protein metabolism), zinc also plays a vital role in fighting off viruses - found in wheat germ and beef (B6 - baked potatoes, chicken breast, tuna bananas, skim milk, chick peas etc.) Vit.
5. fat (declines in blood cholesterol - drink milk; calcium fortified milk will provide twice as much calcium as regular milk) * L-Glutamine: Glutamine may slow the rate of exercise induced muscle breakdown (catabolism), resulting in a net increase in protein synthesis (muscle anabolism).
6. Essentail Amino's (not manufactured by the body): Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine (triggers the release of growth hormone and insulin - defying the burning of muscles), *Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine; vitamin and mineral dificiencies can affect your ability to use amino acids.
7. Here are a few ideas on how it can be used: IE use on vegaetables instead of butter or combine w/ vinegar to make a better salad dressing, on fish combine olive oil lemon juice and mix in fresh oregano and parsley (samoriglio), combine olive oil with some dried herbs including crushed black pepper and garlic.
8. Protien is needed after a workout due to loss during (use any method IE supplements, the most basic form of supplements would be a high quality egg and milk based powder along with a good mineral and multi-vitamin pack, also try to include omega-3 fatty acids which will increase growth hormone release).
9. Antioxidants to look at: Vitamin A, C (orange juice, red bell peppers, strawberries and broccoli), E (wheat germ, olive oil and safflower oil.. E is also good for your knee joints), beta carotine (carrots, spinach sweet potatoes and cantaloupe) and selenium.
10. Try to include alot of fiber it works wonders (oatmeal, whole wheat toast, fruit, veggies, beans, whole grain bread and pastas etc.). Consuming 25 grams of fiber a day delivers a 31% reduction in colon cancer risk.

III - Physical & Workouts

1. Abs: Do ab workouts about every other day, do vacuums several times a day, do reps slow and steady; train regularly, crunches only work the upper abs; each time you do leg raises you are strenghtening the muscles that contribute to the pot belly (once fat levels are brought down low enough your hard work on your abs will start to show).
2. Weider Priciples (cont'd): Burns - Moving the weight as far as you can over the strongest part of the range of motion 21's - Involves doing 7 reps through half the range of motion, immediately followed by seven through the entire range.
3. Super slow - The slower you lift a weight the more gains you'll achieve (new tests show that better gains may result in taking a longer period to raise the weight and shorter to lower it IE 10:4) however slowly lowering the weight also has great benefits.
4. Pyramid system - Take what you may lift normally and do 10 reps, continue to cut down the weight until even the lightest weight becomes a chore (your know your doing it right if your straining to lift the tiniest weight you can find).
5. Muscles can adapt to a workout as soon as 4 workouts later, thus greatly slowing gains; to prevent this variate the way you lift weights (change or alter your workout), you should change it every 6-8 weeks.

Read More