Archive for the ‘Weight Training’ Category
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Overhead Pressing Strategy
Update: here’s another blast from the past. Dating back to November 2, 2007, this was one of my first posts on overhead presses and it still rings true.
The four most important exercises for any serious weight lifter to obsess about are the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press. Today, I am going to discuss how to properly perform a standing overhead press (aka shoulder press or military press), and a push press. Both motions are obviously used to push objects overhead. Clearly, overhead pressing is not only extremely functional but is fundamental in helping to build a firm athletic base regardless of your fitness goals.
I am going to be using a barbell in this explanation, but it can be performed with any reasonable object. First of all, load a bar appropriately and bring the weight to the front your shoulders. You can either clean the weight from the floor like an Olympic weightlifter or you can load the bar at the desired height in a squat rack.
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Tags: pressing, shoulders, weightlifting
Posted in Conditioning, Weight Training, Workout Routines | 5 Comments »
Monday, August 9th, 2010
How to Increase Your Squat By 100 Pounds in 10 Weeks
Update: Here is an old post I found about increasing your squat strength. I’m not sure that anyone ever really gave me much positive feedback on it, so I’m posting it again in case anyone wants to take a stab at putting 100 pounds on their squat in 10 weeks.
The squat is arguably the best exercise that any athlete can perform. Overhead press, bench press, and deadlifts rank right up there too, but I digress… No one wants to have a weak squat. To be considered ‘really strong’ you should be able to squat 2x your bodyweight.
Back in college I was regularly squatting 450 or so at a fluctuating bodyweight of 190-210 lbs. I have no genetic gifts when it comes to muscle size and strength. If I can lift 450 anyone can, so man up and put in some effort.
The goals of this workout plan are:
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Tags: how to, intensity, powerlifting, squats, squatting, training, weightlifting, Workout Routines
Posted in Weight Training, Workout Routines | 47 Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
How to Increase Your Bench Press Strength
I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.
Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.
The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.
Mark asked:
Hi Steve.
My Goal is to bench 500 lbs. Currently pushing 420 Legal Lift raw. Chest work out consists of 1 warm up set of 135 for 20 reps. 1 set of 10 reps @ 315. 3 sets of 3 at 405. then 2 or 3 sets of 10 at 315. Then machine pec flyes to finish.
Program is Day 1 Chest and Bi’s / Day 2 Shoulders and Traps / Day 3 Back and Tri’s / Day 4 Legs
Two rest days that vary.
Supplements are Noxipro Pre-work out. Beast SuperTest and Isopure Protein.
What are your recommendations to help get to 500?
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Posted in Weight Training, Workout Routines, Your Questions | 3 Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010
How to Deadlift
Deadlifts are one of the primary, fundamental exercises for all serious weight training programs. Deadlifts work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, deadlifts will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise after the squat.
Deadlifts build lower back and hamstring strength, and they teach you to keep your lower back tight against a heavy load, which is critical to avoid injuries when lifting objects from the ground or floor. Unfortunately, this is also why deadlifts have gained a bad reputation of causing a variety of injuries, including spinal injuries and hernias.
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Tags: back, build muscle, deadlifts, exercise technique, gain muscle, legs, muscle gain, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Exercise Technique, Weight Training | 9 Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
You may have read my post on occlusion training (or Kaatsu training) from a year ago. If not, the basic premise goes something like this:
Occlusion training refers to blood flow restriction (BFR) to small muscle groups like the biceps and triceps, then using single-joint resistance training with 20% of a 1 rep max. The results produced up to a 300% greater increase in strength and up to an 800% greater increase in muscle thickness, over the subjects who used traditional strength training methods.
The initial reported study had noted great results for BFR exercise in small muscle groups using single-joint exercises. For example they measured the results of occlusion training on the biceps after 2 weeks of biceps curls.
At Project Swole, we are more interested in the results on large muscle groups using multi-joint exercises, such as the bench press, squat, or deadlift.
So today’s question remains: does occlusion training increase the strength and size of large muscle groups during multi-joint exercises, when blood flow is restricted from the extremities?
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Tags: bodybuilding, build muscle, gain muscle, kaatsu, muscle gain, occlusion, weightlifting
Posted in Research, Weight Training | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
How Do I Know if I am Overtraining?
Overtraining is not good. Your performance and quality of life will suffer if you are chronically overtrained. Beware!
Navigation
How to Detect Overtraining
Physical Signs & Symptoms
Psychological Signs & Symptoms
Impaired Athletic Performance
Immunological Signs & Symptoms
Biochemical Signs & Symptoms
Contributing Factors
How to Avoid Overtraining
How to Recover from Overtraining
There are plenty of signs be aware of when it comes to your body’s signals about pushing yourself too far. Over training your body will cause you to plateau or worse – regress.
The most common sign of overtraining is the total loss of motivation to train, and exhaustion mixed with some the symptoms listed below.
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Tags: active recovery, exercise, fitness, overtraining, recovery, weight lifting, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Healthy Lifestyle, Weight Training | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
How to Perform the Overhead Press
The overhead press; also known as the press, shoulder press, barbell press, and standing press; is often confused with the military press; and is quite possibly the best upper body exercise known to man. Sure, the bench press gets all the glory, but this is only because it is easier to lift more weight benching than pressing.
In many ways, the overhead press is actually more effective than the bench press at building upper body muscle mass. With the overhead press we are standing up rather than laying down, which already means a better workout for the back, legs, and core. And seriously, massive, powerful shoulders are far more impressive than a puffy chest.
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Tags: exercise, Exercise Equipment, overhead press, pressing, shoulders, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Exercise Technique, Weight Training | No Comments »
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
How to Perform Shoulder Presses
The shoulder press; also known as the press, overhead press, barbell press, and standing press; is often confused with the military press; and is quite possibly the best upper body exercise known to man.
The bench press gets all the glory, but this is only because it is easier to lift more weight benching than pressing. Shoulder presses can help you build fully developed shoulders, and will keep your shoulders healthy and strong, especially if you spend the majority of time bench pressing.
How to do the Shoulder Press
Add 2-3 sets of shoulder presses into you routine once a week, or at least as often as you bench press. It will keep your shoulders broad and healthy.
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Tags: exercise, exercise technique, overhead press, shoulder press, shoulders, weightlifting
Posted in Exercise Technique, Weight Training | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
Updated on 7/6/2010: routine and new spreadsheet contain updated reps and sets requirements, added exercises, and added HIRT, HIIT, and Tabata sessions.
Updated on 7/19/2010: lower body HIIT and HIRT sessions made optional.
Gain Muscle with Werewolf Training
This training routine is designed for you to gain muscle. That’s it.
If you’ve come here to lose fat, you are better off using the Full Body Fat Loss Routine for Men or the Full Body Fat Loss Routine for Women. This routine definitely has nothing to do with fat loss.
If you came to learn how to bench 700 lbs, you are better off reading Werewolf Training for Strength Gains. Although, truth to tell, you will probably get significantly stronger following this program.
Use this menu to skip to:
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Tags: gain, gain mass, gain muscle, mass, muscle gain, taylor lautner, training, twilight, weight lifting, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Weight Training, Workout Routines | 1,206 Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
How to Perform Overhead Squats
Among the best exercises for strength, size, speed, and power, are squats – no exceptions. Front squats, jump squats, and overhead squats are all great alternatives to the king of squat exercises – the barbell back squat.
Squatting will help you develop powerful legs and a rigid core, have no doubt, but when we get creative we can mix and match exercises for an even more effective exercise that trains the whole body.
Sometimes we must think about our upper body as well and there is no better way to look and feel jacked, than to build massively strong shoulders. And there is no better way to feel sexy as a female, than to have sleek, strong, healthy shoulders. It is also equally important to build structurally invincible shoulders to proactively protect yourself from injury.
Combine everything together that I’ve just mentioned, and you get the overhead barbell squat. Let’s see how to do them correctly.
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Tags: hamstrings, legs, overhead squat, quads, shoulder, shoulders, squat, squats, squatting, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Exercise Technique, Weight Training | 7 Comments »
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