The best way I have found to stay motivated to train, is to keep track of my stats.
Here are some statistics you can use to measure your progress at the gym:
 Motivation |
Posts Tagged ‘weightlifting’
How to Stay Motivated to Train
Monday, March 15th, 2010How to Double the Size of Your Calves
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Double Your Calf Size with These Two Simple Tips
 Big Calves |
Calves tend to be a bodybuilding problem spot. Even Arnold used to worry about the size of his calves in relation to the rest of his body.
Here is a simple tip to double the size of your calves in no time:
Since your calves are made up of two muscle groups, you will need to train your calves in a standing and seated position. Most calf exercises can be tweaked to include straight-knee and bent-knee variations. Use them both.
How to Find Your Weak Spot
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Is there an exercise that you hate? For some people it’s squats, for some it’s deadlifts, and for others it could be something that most of us consider fun, like dips or the ab wheel.
An Entire Exercise Could Be Your Weak Spot
 Find Your Weak Spot |
If you any any particular exercise because it is hard, awkward, or uncomfortable, then you have probably found your weak spot.
Depending on the exercise, the main muscle used and/or the ancillary muscles used, are probably weak points for you. There is likely a muscle imbalance, or at least a weak muscle that should be prioritized for a couple months.
The best exercise you can do to bring up your weak point, is the exercise that you hate.
How to Train Your Back Muscles
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Trying to build a rippling, powerful, V-shaped back?
Trying to max out rear-view sexiness for bikini season?
If you said “Yes!” then you should use these tips for isolating your back muscles when training with pull-ups, pull-downs, and rows.
When to Choose Dumbbells, Barbells, and Machines
Monday, February 22nd, 2010There are so many choices out there for exercise equipment, sometimes it is hard to know what to choose. Free weights are always best – barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, odd objects, and even bodyweight. Machines have their place, but they don’t usually belong in your main training routine.
So how can you choose your equipment based on your training history, goals, and injuries?
 Exercise Equipment |
A Killer HIRT Circuit by CrossFit’s Willie Albert
Friday, February 12th, 2010At a body weight of 180 lbs, Willie Albert of Iron Will Strength and Fitness in Ottawa Ontario Canada performs 10 total rounds of barbell back squat with 445 lbs, standing military press with 135 lbs, and barbell deadlift with 425 lbs. He was attempting to complete this circuit for time and finished in 4:35.
For all you math geniuses, that would be a total of 10500 lbs of work in less than 5 minutes. He’s not lifting elite powerlifting numbers, but to complete 10 rounds of this in 4 and a half minutes is impressive to me. I bet if he were going for a 1 rm, he’d be squatting and pulling in the 600s, and would be shoulder pressing 200+.
Keep reading to view his video…
Fat Loss for Men: A 7 Day Full Body Routine Plus HIIT
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Build Muscle, Burn Fat, Get Ripped
Originally posted: 1/27/10
Updates:
2/1/10 updated routine, added Excel spreadsheet workout logs)
3/8/10 added example HIIT routines for days 2, 4, and 6.
 Fat Loss for Men |
Many of you are asking for a full body workout routine to burn fat, so here you go.
I have even customized the program for both men and women.
You can skip the details and go straight to the routines if you wish:
The Program
We are integrating 3 full body training sessions with 3 HIIT routines and taking the 7th day off. Since the goal is fat loss, we are striving to add some muscle mass, maintain strength, and burn as many calories as possible.
This is accomplished by staying in a slightly higher rep range than we would normally use for strictly strength training, while using super-sets for most of our exercises. We add an optional set to the end of each workout in case you are able to finish the workout early.
Major compound exercises are rotated to prioritize a different muscle group on each of the 3 training sessions each week.
Fat Loss for Women: A 7 Day Full Body Routine Plus HIIT
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010Build Muscle, Burn Fat, Get Ripped
Originally posted: 1/26/10
Updates:
2/1/10 updated routine, added Excel spreadsheet workout logs)
3/8/10 added example HIIT routines for days 2, 4, and 6.
 Fat Loss for Women |
Many of you are asking for a full body workout routine to burn fat, so here you go.
I have even customized the program for both men and women.
You can skip the details and go straight to the routines if you wish:
The Program
We are integrating 3 full body training sessions with 3 HIIT routines and taking the 7th day off. Since the goal is fat loss, we are striving to add some muscle mass, maintain strength, and burn as many calories as possible.
This is accomplished by staying in a slightly higher rep range than we would normally use for strictly strength training, while using super-sets for most of our exercises. We add an optional set to the end of each workout in case you are able to finish the workout early.
Major compound exercises are rotated to prioritize a different muscle group on each of the 3 training sessions each week.
NSCA and ACSM Proclaims Strength Training is Good for Kids
Friday, January 22nd, 2010Strength Training is Good For Kids!
It’s official! After many long years of arguing with fools, I am validated! Based on hundreds of studies and thousands of hours of research, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have finally taken the position that age-appropriate resistance training is not only good for kids, but recommended.
 Strong Kid |
Werewolf Training 2: A Weightlifting Routine to Gain Strength
Thursday, December 31st, 2009 Werewolf Training |
Gain Strength
Originally posted: 12/31/09
Updated: 1/20/10 (update rest time on HIRT circuits, added Excel spreadsheet workout logs)
This training routine is designed for you to gain strength. That’s it.
So you have already been through two or three Werewolf Training for Muscle Gain cycles. You gained 5-10 pounds of muscle in that time and you got a little stronger. You are psyched about your progress but you’re a little bored with the program.
It is time to change up your training a little bit, but you know you can’t jump right into a strict fat loss phase, or you risk losing most of your new muscle. What to do? What to do?
Use this menu to skip to:
- Werewolf Training for Strength principles
- Werewolf Training recovery
- Werewolf Training nutrition
- Werewolf Training supplements
- The Werewolf Training for Strength routine
- The routine in a printable Excel spreadsheet
- Werewolf Training for Strength expected results
- Advanced Werewolf Training for Strength Gains
- A sweet 3D werewolf graphic by Rowsby
What is the Best Arms Day Workout Routine?
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Your Questions |
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.
Scott wrote:
“First off, I would like to say your site is great. I’ve learned a lot reading your articles.
I just had one question: when you say not to have an ‘arms day’, should I just include a few biceps and triceps exercises everyday? And how many different exercises of each should I do?”
Conditioning Workouts Do Not Affect Strength Gains
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Need another reason to add either HIIT or HIRT into your workout routine?
A university study has concluded that a combination of cross training and strength training produces the same strength adaptations as strength training alone, while also eliciting the wonderful benefits of cardiovascular conditioning.
 Conditioning |
How Many Reps Should You Do?
Monday, November 23rd, 2009When lifting weights, there are many questions asked by both noobies and experienced lifters alike.
 How Many Reps? |
Some great weightlifting questions include:
- what are the best exercises?
Answer: view my series of best exercises posts. - how long should I workout?
Answer: HIIT: 20 mins, Weightlifting & Endurance Cardio: 45 mins - how many sets should I do?
Answer: That answer is going to require a dedicated post, so I’ll get to that shortly. - how many reps should I do?
Answer: read on and find out…
There are 3 main kinds of repetitions (reps) when it comes to weightlifting; certain rep and set schemes are used depending on your goals. Let’s examine scheme #1:
How to Jump Squat
Monday, November 9th, 2009 Jump Squats |
Jump squats are great.
This is an excellent sport specific exercise that can be used alongside plyometrics to help you increase your vertical jump.
Jump squats will also help you power through a plateau in your regular squat development by conditioning your quads and hips to power through the lockout at the top of the movement.
Jump squats are an excellent sport specific exercise that can be used to increase power for:
- Olympic weight lifters
- Olympic athletes that either throw (javelin, shot put) or jump (long jump, pole vault)
- Basketball players who need to jump high
- Football players who block or tackle
Add jump squats to your regular workout, your HIIT routine, your HIRT routine, or your sport specific training.
How to Turn Your Teenage Athlete Into a Sports Legend
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009| Your Questions |
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.
Jim wrote:
“I wanted to know about how much protein my 14 year old should be having.
He is playing football and weightlifting at school. (Freshman). He is 5’8 and 112 lbs.
He wants to add some weight and muscle but we heard that you should not give your teen protein because they will start to grow outward instead of height-wise.
What do you recommend?”
The Myth of Spot Reduction
Saturday, August 1st, 2009Mary Ward is a blogger and enjoys writing about medical career topics, such as how to obtain a Master of Health Administration degree, job and education tips, and more.
The Myth of Spot Reduction: Why Crunches Don’t Work
So many of us are on a constant quest to lose weight, it’s just a natural part of life. We tend to put on the weight without realizing it and before we know it, we’re clinging to any diet or fitness regimen that we can find.
 Six pack abs can’t be obtained by spot reduction. |
This holds especially true when it comes to certain body parts, namely the abdomen.
How to Build Muscle Mass Fast with Kaatsu Training
Thursday, July 9th, 2009Douglas Robb at HealthHabits posted the other day about the Occlusion/Kaatsu training method, which is popular in Japan. While not necessarily useful to me, I found it a very interesting read.
 Kaatsu Training / Occlusion Training |
What Kaatsu Training Does
Kaatsu training looks like it can increase muscle hypertrophy significantly more than regular resistance training over an extremely short period of time. In fact the results of the studies show that 2 weeks of Kaatsu training increases muscle mass to a higher degree than 5 weeks of regular resistance training.
How to Break Through Plateaus When Your Personal Trainer Sucks
Friday, May 29th, 2009| Your Questions |
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 answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.
Rich wrote:
“I have been working out with a trainer for about a year and when I started I was at 180lbs and had a pretty big gut and I am now down to 159lbs. The problem is I still have the gut, even though it is much smaller. I look much better, but I am not satisfied because I want to have a six back. I know it will take a lot of time and patience, but I was wondering if you knew of some stuff that I could do.
What do you recommend here?”
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Workout for X-Men Origins
Friday, May 15th, 2009I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine last weekend and it was great. Many a-hole fanboys will hate on this movie because it doesn’t stay 100% true to the comic book origin of Wolverine or Deadpool, but those guys should just go see Star Trek or something, because Wolverine was just awesome.
 Hugh Jackman: Wolverine |
Standing at 6’3, Hugh Jackman is looking pretty large and jacked these days and I was curious about what he did to prep for the Wolverine role. Here is what I could find out about Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Workout.
Is There an Age Limit for Weight Lifting?
Friday, January 23rd, 2009| Your Questions |
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 answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.
Russel wrote:
“Is there an age limit to starting to do body building or can you start at any age?”
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