Do you ever wonder which muscles are used during deadlifts? Well, you need to start with understanding the muscles that get affected by the ‘King of all Exercises’ to know about their role in your workouts. There are many grips, foot positions, bars, and acceleration techniques that can be used to target different muscle groups in different ways. Let’s examine the techniques and learn which muscles are directly affected when deadlifting.
(more…)Today I would like to examine the physiological benefits of circuit training. There are many forms of circuit training, from machine-based static circuits, to boot camp style workouts and even kickboxing workouts. But what is circuit training and how can we put it to the best possible use?
Many gyms offer standard cookie-cutter circuit training programs, which are sometimes prescribed by the in-house personal trainer and recommended by other lazy staff members. The circuit is set up in some back room with a timer alarm to tell you when to move to the next station. Should you use this system or put together your own free weight circuit or join a boot camp?
What does circuit training actually offer you?
What are the physiological benefits and who is best suited to participate in circuit training?
There are several theoretical benefits of circuit training that are disseminated online.
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When you start a workout plan, you want to go all-in, but you have to plan smart if you really want to bulk up. Building muscle is about really putting in the work at the gym. If you don’t rest or eat properly though, you could sustain an injury that takes you out of the action for weeks. These injuries can be a serious setback for your muscle building lifestyle.
We compiled the best tips for setting up a workout plan that fits your schedule and lifestyle. With these tips, you can build muscle fast and keep the muscle on. Your perfect body is closer than you think – you just might need a few of these pointers.
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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. It might fall on a Monday, a humpday, or even a Friday, but it is and has always been one of the most exalted workout days of the week for those training with a partner, buddies, or teams.
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.
(Of course for those of us who already know how to bench press, the bench press is really no big deal. There are about 7 other exercises I’d rather do than bench and at least 5 other goals that are more important to me than having a big chest or a big bench… but I digress… this article is about bench pressing after all.)
(more…)Update: I found a sweet How to Bench Press video by elite powerlifter Dave Tate today. The video appears about halfway through this post. If you want to bench press for max strength and “think” you have perfect form, you NEED to watch this video. Therefore I am republishing this article today for every Swole Bench Presser’s benefit.
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.
From now on I want to take a more proactive approach to answer Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.
“Hey Steve, OK me and a friend got into an argument about how to bench. I said you should touch your chest and he said you shouldn’t because it can injure your shoulder you should stop like 1 inch away from your chest? What is the right way to bench?”
So, you want to know how to bench press properly?
The bench press is the most popular exercise in the gym among men. It is the strongest upper body exercise for most people and has been a social gauge (and wrongly so, in my opinion) of male strength and fitness for more than a century. Fortunately, bench presses are the #1 best exercise for building upper body strength and size, and so should be included in nearly all strength training routines.
On the downside, benching is responsible for many weight lifting injuries, especially in the shoulder area. Hopefully, this post will educate you as to how you should be bench pressing to avoid injury.
A concept of a bench press is simple:
Start by laying down on a bench. Place your hands on the barbell with your palms facing away from you (this is a pronated grip). Unrack the barbell and hold it straight up over your upper chest. Bend at the elbows to lower the barbell until it touches your mid-chest. Press it back up over your upper chest. That’s a rep.
In reality, using proper form on the bench press can be difficult to master, as you will see when you read this post in its entirety.
Now, to answer your questions…
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Biceps. The ultimate show muscle. From age 10 on, every boy, teenager, and man wants to have huge bulging biceps. This is, apparently, a true sign of manliness and strength, and is also attainable if you incorporate these best biceps exercises into your routine.
Biceps are among the most famous muscles in the body. When somebody asks you to “make a muscle” or “flex”, they aren’t asking you to flex your hamstrings. They want to see your biceps!
This whole notion of flexing the biceps as a measure of anything is completely ludicrous to me, but it is a reality. When someone asks me to flex, I ask them if they’d much rather discuss max-effort PRs, perhaps dynamic powerlifting strategies, or better yet how to put together the most effective HIIT complexes. Most folks walk away thus.
But I digress…
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There are about 8,675,309 workout routines that you can try. One of the most effective types of routines I have found in the first 14 years of my training career is total body training. A full body workout will stimulate all of your muscle chains sufficiently to elicit a powerful physiological response.
Serious fitness enthusiasts and athletes want to be bigger, stronger, and leaner. 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.
Arnold loved squatting, and look what happened to him. If you want to be Mr. Olympia, a famous Hollywood actor, and the governor of Alaska, you need to squat!
By training your legs, you will:
Serious fitness enthusiasts and athletes 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.
The number one way to make all these things happen? Train your hamstrings, lower back, and glutes (your bum) with complex free weight exercises.
Men and women alike should use these training tips. No amount of deadlifts are going to make a woman huge and bulky unless they TRY REALLY HARD to get huge and bulky on purpose. At the same time, no amount of body weight squats or lunges are going to get you big, strong, or conditioned. Train heavy and train hard, no matter who you are. And if you are a woman who is overly concerned about getting “too big” and just doesn’t want to lift weights, check out this mostly non-load bearing leg exercises for women to get an idea of some other exercises to work into a routine.
As I mentioned in my top 5 quad exercises post, your legs are the largest group of muscles in your body. By training your legs hard, you will be setting yourself up to gain the most progress compared to every other muscle group.
Strong hamstrings will allow you to:
Are you in the gym day in and day out, but feel like you just are not seeing results like you used to? Well, it is completely possible that you might be overtraining, which is a lot more common than you might imagine.
Overtraining means that you are training so hard your body does not have the time to rest and recover, as it normally should. This condition can lead to a slew of negative side effects, like muscle atrophy, motivational loss, and mood swings.
Overtraining can even diminish the results that you worked so hard to earn, so it is imperative that you never let this happen to you. Stick to the following tips and information to ensure that you never over train. (more…)
