Archive for the ‘Weight Training’ Category

Olympic Lifting Video

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Olympic Athlete
Olympic Athlete

Hello everyone. I have been busy lately working my 2 jobs plus side projects plus weight training and kickboxing. Today my truck broke down and is in the garage, and my kid is in the hospital. I’m also sick with a nasty cold, didn’t even get out of bed on Sunday. All these things equal: I haven’t had time to write a decent post, so I’m just going to post this video demonstrating some Olympic lifts.

Olympic Lifting

Here we see this dude busting out a power snatch and a couple clean and jerks. These are great exercises for overall strength and conditioning, but not necessarily for specific strength or for bodybuilding purposes. If you are looking to be a powerlifter or a bodybuilder, chances are Olympic lifting is not for you, at least not on a consistent basis.

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The Top 5 Best Hamstring Exercises

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Arnold Deadlifts
Arnold Deadlifts

Male weightlifters want to be able to lift thousands of pounds off the ground with minimal effort. It makes us feel good to be able to pick up anything we want. Especially when most guys in the world struggle to pick up even 100 lbs off the floor.

Female weightlifters want to sculpt and tone their thighs and buttocks. It makes them feel good to have a tight butt that can fit into size 2 pants. Especially when the majority of American women are roley and poley, thanks in no small part to low fat dieting in the 80’s and 90’s, and to the yo-yo dieting of the new millennium.

The number one way to make all these things happen? Train your hamstrings, lower back, and glutes (your bum) with complex free weight exercises.

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The Top 5 Best Legs Exercises for Your Quads

Friday, October 10th, 2008
Arnold Loved Squatting
Arnold Loved Squatting

Male weightlifters want to be bigger and stronger. Female weightlifters want to sculpt and tone their thighs and buttocks. The number one way to make that happen? Train your legs with complex free weight exercises.

Your legs are the largest group of muscle in your body. They are the foundation of your strength and power. Never will you be able to bench press 315 if you can’t squat 315 first. By training your legs hard, you will be setting yourself up to gain the most progress compared to every other muscle group.

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The Top 5 Best Triceps Exercises

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Arnold Triceps Extensions
Tricep Extensions

Two common questions you will hear from male weightlifters are:

  1. How can I get bigger arms?
  2. How can I bench press more weight?

Normally I would scoff at such questions, except that the answer is a lesson that most young weightlifters need to learn.

Because your triceps comprise two-thirds of your arm, the answer to the first question is: train your triceps.

Because your triceps are often the weakest link in the chain of muscles that facilitates bench press, the answer to the second question is: train your triceps.

This brings me to the point of this whole post, which is how best to train your triceps.

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12 Mistakes All Athletes Have Made While Training

Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Franco Columbo
Franco Columbo

Inexperienced athletes do dumb things. Most people look for the easiest way from point A to point B, and sometimes they become obsessed with trivial details. I did it; you did it… or maybe you still do it; and the newbie that jumps on the bench after you will do it too.

Hell, when I first started training, I was following a 6 day per week, 2 a day program, written by some professional bodybuilder. It took me a year to learn how to do barbell back squats and even longer to start deadlifting. I thought I knew what I was doing just like you do.

In order to take that first step towards knowing everything, we must first realize that we know nothing. This is what I want you to do before you read the rest of this article. Once you can admit that you know nothing about weightlifting, you can read these tips and apply them to what you have been doing, in order to start doing what you should be doing.

Once you have the proper train of thought, you may proceed…

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Increase Your Squat By 100 Pounds in 10 Weeks

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Arnold Squats
Arnold Squats

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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How to Bench Press Safely Without a Spotter

Monday, August 11th, 2008
Swole Fitness Tips
Heavy Bench Press
Heavy Bench Press

A major concern for all of us big-shot men is how we can bench press when we are training alone. Chest day has always been an important day in the weekly training regimen.

This is a day when we can walk in the gym with our chests puffed out. This is a day when we can train those all-important show muscles… the pecs. This is a day when we can perform the manliest of exercises… the bench press!

Let us examine some alternatives to bench pressing flat with a spotter.

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Training for the Week of 7/21 – 7/27

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Three solid days of kickboxing this week, but Friday was absolutely horrible. I was feeling tired around 4pm so I decided to take a couple fat burner/energy pills. Not good.

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Maximize Gains by Training to Failure and … Not Training to Failure?

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Arnold SchwarzeneggerMany people, when they start lifting weights, believe that training to failure on every set of every exercise is the key to growth. This is one of the biggest weightlifting myths, and one that is nearly impossible to squash unless you educate yourself on exercise physiology.

What Exactly is Failure?

Failure is weightlifting is defined as the inability to generate the force required to complete the full range of motion for a single repetition. Many people, experts and trainees, fall on both sides of this debate. Some coaches insist on leaving a couple reps in the bag, stopping well short of failure to avoid stressing the central nervous system (CNS), while others recommend taking each set to that last rep. In order to get to the bottom of it, we really have to examine the science behind the theory.

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How to Recover From Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Question of the WeekThis question of the week is a question to me, rather than a question to you. Let me know your thoughts on the subject after reading the article.

Let me tell you about a recent conversation with one of my friends over IM. This guy used to lift with me back in college, but he’s working on his own business right now and hasn’t touched a weight in almost a year. So they guy goes out and gets a gym membership and starts training again last Monday.

This is how the conversation went down…

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