Archive for the ‘Best Exercises’ Category

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Tricep Kickbacks: The King of All Triceps Exercises???

Friday, October 7th, 2011

OK, so the triceps kickbacks are not the king of all triceps exercises, but in a recent study performed by the American Council of Exercise (ACE), triceps kickbacks are ranked 2nd, tied with dips. The very best triceps exercise is the diamond push up.

Arnold Triceps Kickbacks

Don’t underestimate this study just because I grabbed your attention by starting with kickbacks. The study also used legit exercises like close grip bench, dips, and various push downs and extensions. See the table below, and then I’ll explain.

Table 1
Average EMG of the Entire Movement (Concentric and Eccentric)
Triceps Exercise
 Combined Means Long Head Lateral Head
Triangle Push-up 100 100 100
Kickbacks
 87 ± 26.58 88 ± 33.0 87 ± 23.7
Dips
 87 ± 19.87 87 ± 21.3 88 ± 20.0
Overhead Triceps Extensions  76 ± 16.09 *  81 ± 21.4 *   72 ± 16.5 *
Rope Pushdowns 74 ± 22.64 *  81 ± 32.3 * 67 ± 15.7 *†
Bar Pushdowns 67 ± 20.48 * 75 ± 29.3 * 59 ± 14.3 *†
Lying Barbell Triceps Extensions  62 ± 16.25 * 70 ± 20.9 *  55 ± 14.1 *†
Close Grip Bench Press 62 ± 15.88 *  61 ± 16.9 *  63 ± 15.5 *

* Significantly lower than the Triangle Push-up (p < 0.05)
† Significantly lower than the Long Head (p < 0.05)

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The Top 5 Best Grip Training Exercises

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Grip training: it has to be the most ignored type of training in gyms all over the World. Seriously, how often will you see someone working on their grip in the gym? Almost never, right? No one really seems to care. How much you bench press is all that really matters anyways – which is sarcasm, if you didn’t catch the drift.

While grip training does not really have much of an impact on how much you can lift, it still can be important. A lot of people use straps as an excuse not to work on their grip. I mean you can deadlift 600 lbs with straps, so why would you work on grip? Well, if you are ever planning on entering some type of powerlifting competition, then you will not be allowed to use them.

How to Develop a Strong Grip

The only way to make sure you get a more effective grip is to just work on your forearms with grip training. This can be done with any type of forearm exercises really. When you are doing deadlifts, you should try to never progress without straps.

It may be a pain in the ass not being able to bust past a plateau because your grip keeps giving out, but that is why you have to keep working on it! Don’t be that guy who can deadlift 500 lbs with straps but can only deadlift 3 plates without them.

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The Top 5 Best Forearm Exercises

Monday, March 28th, 2011
Get Massive Forearms
Build Massive Forearms

Every serious lifter would love to have massive forearms. It just adds to an already good physique, and would seemingly increase all of your other pressing lifts as well. The problem that most people have is that they aren’t sure how to attack their forearms. Either that, or they are not as consistent with their forearm training.

Forearms should be trained just as often as any other muscle. It shouldn’t just be something you work every couple of months whenever you are bored. Take your forearm training seriously, and you will be on the right path to adding some size on them.

How to Get Big Forearms

Many people think they have to do only direct forearm exercises such as wrist curls, and those will work to an extent, but with forearm training, you have to think outside the box and dumb things down. What is the one major exercise that requires you to have some strong ass forearms? Did I hear someone say deadlifts? That is correct.

Deadlifts, just like they work every other muscle in your body, they also work your forearms. Many people don’t get this much work because they decide to use straps whenever they go heavy. If you can deadlift a ton of weight without straps, then you are sure to have a great grip and huge forearms.

Aside from deadlifts, which you will read about more in a minute, I want to introduce you to 5 other exercises and a variety of techniques that you can use to build great size and strength in your forearms.

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The Top 5 Best Glute Exercises

Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Amazing Glutes
Amazing Glutes

Whether you are a guy or a girl, it is always an asset to have some nice glutes. The main exercise that will help you develop your glutes the most is obviously the squat. Look at those who have the highest squat numbers. ‘Nuff said.

There are some other exercises that will help a good bit, but the squat will always be the king glute exercise. Before going on to mention the top exercises, we will inform you on some information about the glutes.

How to Get Big Glutes

Like mentioned above, squats are the king of glute exercises. They are without a doubt the single best exercise you can use to develop your glutes. I would even go as far as saying that you would not even need to do another single exercise for them; squats are really that good! However, there are always some other exercises that would be good to experiment with.

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The Top 5 Best Neck Exercises

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Muscular Neck
Muscular Neck

Next to forearm training in muscles being neglected, neck training is next in line. Actually, I would say that people neglect neck training more than anything else. Many people have never even heard of it or would even know what to do.

The neck really is an important muscle. Think about it; unless you are wearing a turtle neck, everyone will see your neck. It can distinguish you from a bodybuilder to just a normal person.

How to Get a Muscular Neck

Although doing traps exercises such as shrugs and deadlifts will assist you in getting a more muscular neck, there are some other exercises that you can perform that help. Everyone is different, so I suggest that you experiment with all of these to see what makes you grow the most. From there, you should be able to change up your training to whatever suits you the best.

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The Top 5 Best Lower Back Exercises

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

While the lower back may be the easiest part of your back to acquire mass, it is also the easiest to injure. Think about all of the people with factory jobs spending all day picking up heavy boxes. These people will have very developed backs from doing this all day and they aren’t even weight lifters or bodybuilders.

The way people get injured isn’t necessarily the injured. I swear, you hear people all the time say all this shit about deadlifts being bad. This could not be further from the truth. It is the way you perform the exercise. If you pick the bar off the ground with your back rounded like crazy, then yeah, of course you are going to get injured.

How to Get a Muscular Lower Back

Like mentioned above, this may be the easiest muscle to get built up. Obviously, the deadlift will be the best exercise to utilize to achieve this goal. It can also be dangerous since a lot of people just never figure out the form. Either that, or they will try to go too heavy to inflate their ego and sacrifice form in doing so. Here’s a hint: if you have to round your back in order to deadlift 500 lbs, then you should probably lower the weight. Drop the ego and use the right form, please.

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The Top 5 Best Calf Exercises

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Arnold Calves
Arnold Calves

When you think of calves, you picture the part of your leg that everyone else can see when you’re wearing shorts. Sure, you can have a huge upper body and quads, but if you have the calves of a 10 year old boy, then people may often chuckle.

Women prefer to have slim, shapely calves, and these exercises can help the females to accomplish their goals too. Ladies, don’t be afraid of training your calves just let men do… it will help you to walk better in high heels too.

Of course, calf development is highly dependent upon your genetics. You can have very strong lifts, but the insertion points of the calf muscles are all that matters. Judges in bodybuilding competitions often do not put a lot of weight on the calves as a judging factor, but they do matter and are always good to have. And let me tell you, for those guys who think calves aren’t important on the beach, the women DO look and, yes, they DO judge you for it!

Never fear though, if you do not have aesthetically pleasing, low insertion points, you can still bring your calves up quite a bit.

How to Get Big Calves

As mentioned above, you can be as strong as possible on all of the main calf lifts, but it won’t mean jack if you do not have the low insertions. Sure, they may have size, but they may just not be as noticeable. Face it, some people will have great calves and some will not. You should definitely still train them despite your genetics. Arnold had pathetic calves, but as you can see, he brought them up through hard work and dedication. You can do it too.
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The Top 5 Best Shoulder Exercises

Monday, June 28th, 2010
Arnold's Shoulders

Arnold’s Shoulders

Best Shoulder Exercises

Updated: 6/28/2010 – Added more info about high pulls, push press, and overhead squat.

It doesn’t matter how big your chest and biceps are, if you have narrow shoulders you will appear to be weak and puny. Someone will surely kick sand on you at the beach.

For men, wide shoulders will make you look tall, broad, and powerful so that you can be the one defending geeks from sand kicking bullies.

For women, hard toned shoulders will help you appear sleek and sexy. No man alive wants their woman to have soft, squishy or flabby shoulders. Well, maybe some of us do, but not me.

Half of womens’ dresses I’ve seen have built in shoulder pads anyway. How nice would it be to never have to buy dresses with shoulder pads? Actually, don’t some mens’ military outfits have added shoulder padding too? I rest my case.

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The Top 10 Best Abdominal Exercises Part 3

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Finally I was able to finish the conclusion to my best abs exercises series. If you haven’t already, you can read the Top 10 Best Abs Exercises Part 1. Then don’t forget to hit the Top 10 Best Abdominal Exercises Part 2.

Schwarzenegger Abs
Schwarzenegger Abs

Here is my list of the second 5 of my favorite 10 ab exercises that you can use to get 6-pack abs. Perform these exercises on a regular basis, mix them up, use different speeds, tempos, angles, and positions to get a full workout. Always try to mix it up from workout to workout.

Here are 3 ways you can combine these exercises for different workouts:

  1. Choose 5 exercises that work in different plains of motion and perform them all in a continuous circuit. Rest only 1 minute after the circuit and not at all during the circuit. Repeat 3 times.
  2. Figure out a way to alter each of these exercises to perform them hanging. You can hang from your hands, arms, legs, or feet. To hang from your feet, go get yourself some gravity boots.
  3. Superset each one of these ab exercises with an exercise from your regular upper or lower body workout routine. Do 3 sets of each superset. I used this method to increase the circumfrence of my calves by 1.5 inches in 6 months.

That is quite enough out of me for now. Go ahead and read about the 5 exercises and then figure out how to work them into your routine.

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The Top 10 Best Abdominal Exercises Part 2

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Here is the long awaited follow up to the Top 10 Best Ab Exercises Part 1 and the precursor to the Top 10 Best Abs Exercises Part 3.

Arnold Abs
Arnold’s Abs

I would like to introduce 5 of my favorite 10 ab exercises, that you can use to get a 6-pack abs look. Do these exercises regularly, mix it up, use different speeds, tempos, angles, and positions to get a full workout. Always try to progress from workout to workout.

Here are 3 ways you can gauge progress with abdominal exercises:

  1. Try to complete more reps in a given time period. For example, do as many fold ups as possible in 60 seconds. Try to break your personal record (PR) each workout.
  2. Try to complete more total reps each time you perform the exercise. For example, week one do 3 sets of 10, week 2 do 3 sets of 12, week 3 do 4 sets of 10, week 4 do 3 sets of 15, etc…
  3. If it applies, try to add weight to the exercise by holding a plate or dumbbell on your chest or behind your head, or use a weighted vest. You can also add weight to your legs with ankle weights. Try to use more weight, or complete more reps with the same weight, each time.

Part 1 of this series was long and tedious, so I won’t put you through any babble-writing. On to the exercises…

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