Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Top guns: the 40 best arms of all time and the workouts that built them.

Top guns: the 40 best arms of all time and the workouts that built them.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Even in his teenage years, the future winner of seven Mr. Olympia contests had fantastic arms, and many contend that the biceps standards he set at his peak in the '70s have yet to be superseded. Schwarzenegger's right biceps, especially, reminded one of a mountain in the Alps of his native Austria. A typical biceps routine consisted of barbell curls, incline dumbbell curls, concentration curls and standing alternate dumbbell curls.
FORMIDABLE FOREARMS
"The reason I was able to devastate the other champions is simple: I did not leave things to chance as they did. Forearm work was always as
important to me as, say, biceps or calf work. Usually, I worked forearms after biceps, though sometimes I did them after triceps, because the gripping involved in curls tired the forearms. My favorite forearm movements were reverse barbell curls and end-of-bench wrist curls."
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

"The reason I was able to devastate the other champions is simple: I did not leave things to chance as they did. Forearm work was always as
important to me as, say, biceps or calf work. Usually, I worked forearms after biceps, though sometimes I did them after triceps, because the gripping involved in curls tired the forearms. My favorite forearm movements were reverse barbell curls and end-of-bench wrist curls."
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S FOREARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell wrist curls 4 10
Reverse curls 4 8
VINCE TAYLOR
Taylor won more IFBB pro contests (22, including six masters events) than anyone except Ronnie Coleman. Two key reasons for Taylor's success were his right and left arms. At his peak in the early to mid-'90s, Taylor's upper limbs were nearly unmatched for their combination of shape, size and delineation.
HAMMER TIME
"I consider hammer curls an essential biceps movement. They build
the brachialis, the lower biceps, the tops of the forearms where they
blend into the elbows and, if you perform them my way, the belly and
peak of the biceps. When I perform hammer curls, I move the dumbbells
alternately, bringing one across my chest and trying to touch it to my
opposite shoulder. For each rep, I hold the weight in that top position
and tense my biceps hard."
--Vince Taylor

VINCE TAYLOR'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell curls 5 6-12
Seated dumbbell curls 5 10-12
Hammer curls 5 10-12

KAL SZKALAK
Of Hungarian birth, Szkalak won his adopted country's 1976 Mr. America title at only 23 and the Mr. Universe the following year, only to prematurely quit the IFBB after finishing fifth in the '78 Mr. Olympia. If the Mr. O was judged on upper-body muscle only, Szkalak would've won at least one Sandow. The arms he sported then--superabundant and yet freakily peaked--still rank as two of the best ever.
ARMY INTELLIGENCE
"The mind-to-muscle connection is the key to great arms. More than any
other bodypart, you can easily watch your biceps moving with each rep,
and with a simple hinge joint, you can focus on getting a maximum
stretch and contraction. Make the reps harder, not easier."
--Kal Szkalak

KAL SZKALAK'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Incline dumbbell curls 5 8-10
Barbell preacher curls 5 8
Machine curls 5 12
Cable concentration curls 5 12
Reverse curls 5 12
FLEX WHEELER
The winner of 17 pro bodybuilding contests between 1993 and 2001, Flex Wheeler also finished second in the Mr. Olympia three times. Known for his symmetry and flowing lines, his upper arms were so abundantly curved that they looked like bowling balls beneath his equally circular delts.

Keep hanging and Banging!!!

Leon.


Leon Cruz.
Copyright, Urban Publishing Co LLC., 2010

**The contents of this daily email are not to be
considered as medical advice.
Always consult a physician before beginning or
changing any fitness
program.**

This email is protected by copyright, 2009, Urban Publishing Co
LLC. .
All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is
strictly prohibited without the express written consent
of Urban Publishing Co LLC., Inc.

Leon Cruz, Inc.
Urban Publishing Co LLC.
P.O.Box 70181
Brooklyn New York 11207-0181

1-718-346-4337 Phone
718-346-4337 FAX
leoncruz658@msn.com

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Keep Hanging and Banging.

Leon.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Real Muscle Real Fast!

Real Muscle Real Fast! by: Jesse Cannone

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http://www.muscle4mass.com/MuscleCondBook.htm
http://www.muscle4mass.com/MuscleCondReportCD.htm
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www.hugebicepstips.com
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www.hugechesttips.com
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Real Muscle Real Fast! by: Jesse Cannone

Adding muscle seems to be a mystery to most, yet if you pick up a copy of any fitness or bodybuilding magazine and you’ll almost always see a headline like this: “Gain 15 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks.”

If it were so easy you’d have millions of muscle-heads running around. Even though building muscle tissue can be a challenge, I’m going to outline some very specific principles that can pack on the muscle faster than you can throw away that copy of “Muscle and Fiction”!

Before we get started though I want to clarify a few points.

The ridiculous claims made by most fitness and bodybuilding magazines are only there to get you to buy that issue – nothing more! If you are serious about strength training you need to be reading books and NOT cheesy fitness magazines.
Ok… here we go.

In order to add muscle tissue you must force the body to add it. Your body won’t just add a pound of muscle just because you followed a 3-set workout that you read about in Muscle + Fitness. You need to give the body a reason to make improvements – in this case add muscle tissue.

You have to provide what I call a “stimulus”. This can be done in many ways and I’ll address a few in just a moment. Basically, you need to force the body to add muscle by subjecting it to levels of stress it is not used to. Some methods are more obvious than others but all can work. Here are a few examples of how this can be done effectively.

First, the basic and common methods:

Increase weight or resistance
Perform more repetitions
Perform more sets
Move the resistance slower
Rest less between sets and exercises

Now for the more advanced methods:

Pre-exhaust (perform an isolation exercise first and immediately continue with no rest on a compound movement. ex. chest flye and then chest press)
Static holds (hold the resistance in the hardest position of the range of motion. ex. the top position during a leg extension)
Partial reps in weak range (perform a portion of the rep where you are weakest. ex. the top half of a rep of leg extensions)
Strip-set (after a warm-up set, perform 3 sets back to back with no rest while starting with the heaviest weight possible and each time strip off some weight to allow you to continue)
1 ½ reps (perform one full rep and then on the second rep only perform half the normal range of motion and then return to starting position to begin the next rep. ex. one full rep of lat pull downs, pull second rep all the way down, resist weight back up but only half way and then pull back down)
These are just a few examples of methods of increasing intensity to ensure progress. The key point to remember is that whatever you do it must be progressive in order for it to elicit a physical change. This is even more critical for those looking to add muscle size.

Although this article is geared towards individuals who are interested in gaining muscle size, the principles can also be used for individuals who want to build strength, increase metabolism, or tighten and tone muscles.

Here are some general recommendations for different goals…

If your goal is to tighten and tone muscles:

Focus on increasing reps, decreasing rest, and changing exercises frequently
Train each muscle group twice per week
Perform fewer sets of many different exercises (1-2 sets per exercise)
If your goal is to increase strength and power:

Focus on increasing weight
Train each muscle group once every 7-10 days
Perform multiple sets of each exercise (2-5 sets per exercise)
If your goal is to increase muscle size

Focus on shocking muscles by changing variables frequently (exercises, set and rep schemes, rest time, etc)
Train each muscle group on a variable schedule (experiment by training a muscle group 3 times a week and then once every ten days)
Perform multiple sets for a while and the perform single sets for a week or two
Some final reminders:

The recommendations above are general and of course would need to be adapted and adjusted for your personal goals and experience. For those of you who are advanced and may be thinking there’s no way you can build strength by training once every 10 days I challenge you to try it for at least 4 weeks, or those of you who think that you need to stick to the same basic movements like bench to build size I challenge you to try shocking the muscles by changing the exercises you perform each week for 4 weeks, and those of you with little experience I hope that you’ll throw away the fitness magazines and learn what really works.

There are some great books on these subjects and for those of you who are serious about strength training I personally recommend you check out the books “APEX” and “No Turning Back” by Brian Johnston. You can find them online at www.iart.com

If you have any questions about the techniques described in this article please feel free to contact me. You can email me at jesse@achieve-fitness.com

I wish you the best!



Keep hanging and Banging!!!

Leon.


Leon Cruz.
Copyright, Urban Publishing Co LLC., 2010

**The contents of this daily email are not to be
considered as medical advice.
Always consult a physician before beginning or
changing any fitness
program.**

This email is protected by copyright, 2009, Urban Publishing Co
LLC. .
All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is
strictly prohibited without the express written consent
of Urban Publishing Co LLC., Inc.

Leon Cruz, Inc.
Urban Publishing Co LLC.
P.O.Box 70181
Brooklyn New York 11207-0181

1-718-346-4337 Phone
718-346-4337 FAX
leoncruz658@msn.com

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Keep Hanging and Banging.

Leon.

Grip Work.

Grip Work

*************************************************
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http://www.muscle4mass.com/MuscleCondReportCD.htm
*************************************************
www.hugebicepstips.com
**********************
www.hugechesttips.com
*********************

Here is some great information on grip work as told by the

Blond Bomber, Dave Draper. and remember, our quarterly newsletter
and DVD subscription is now $57.00. You will get our newsletter,

Barbells-Dumbbells-Bodyweight along with a follow along training

DVD to use in your training. Now on to the grip information.

Warren Tetting
I met Warren at his shop yesterday and it was certainly an
experience. He loves to talk training and the "good-ole-days." He's
really not impressed with current state of sports, especially the
strength sports. So, I got an education about the Golden Era. He
speaks so passionately about these times, it's understandable why
he would be nostalgic.


Grippers
We spent quite a bit of time talking grippers. I brought my CoC1,
CoC2, and Heavy Gripper HG 300 just for kicks. He took a quick look
at the HG 300 and was appalled by the construction. The spring is
huge, .295, same as a BBE! However, the handles are mounted at
least 1/4" from the spring, making it much easier. My HG 300 is
barely harder than a Co C 2, and definitely easier than a BBSM. If
the handles were mounted properly, it would be harder than a 3!


He was also surprised to see my Co C 1. He had not seen the
polished GR 8 springs. Also, the spring is .245 which is heavier
than before. Co C 1 used to be a .235 spring. So, Ironmind has
quietly made the Co C 1 harder, probably to make room for the T, G,
and S. We talked about Ironmind and Strossen for a while, but I was
confused by the history and didn't really follow.


Big Grippers
"Warren, why the hell do you make these?" That was my question upon
picking up some Super-Nova-Galaxy-Evil-Gripper thing. It was
whichever gripper is the hardest one he makes. The spring looked
like brains. My best effort on the gripper, with both hands,
yielded no movement. "Did you say you have a BBA around here
somewhere?" Apparently, some benders buy the huge grippers to
practice the two-handed crush at the end of a bend. They can have
them.


(If you're not familiar, Warren's hardest gripper is about 3 times
as hard as an Ironmind Co C 4. Three times as hard...)


Hands
Warren grabbed my hand and says, "Lemme see here." He had me touch
the middle of my palm with my thumb so he could poke my thumb pad.
"Is that as hard as you can make it?" Sorry, Warren, that's it! So,
my thumb pad has a long way to come. He also said my hand needs to
get thicker in the palm overall. He recommended telegraph key.


Telegraph Key
I ended up buying one of these from Warren. He reiterated, "There
is no substitute for building the thumb pad." Sounds like a deal.
We went through how to use the thing, and it's pretty
straight-forward. With the machine about waist height, hook the
fingers under the bottom key and the thumb on the top key. Close
your hand. It's not the presidential-hand-gesture-grip like I
thought. Your fingers should be a supinated hook grip. I noticed
while using the machine that my thumb would bend at the bottom of
the rep. Warren said that's fine, just make sure your thumb is
doing the work.


Other training
Warren recommended squats squats and squats. Specifically 20 rep
squats, twice a week if possible. Also, forearm work like wrist
curls and hammer curls. Never on grip days, though. Telegraph Key
twice a week. Get rid of bench press and do reverse dips instead.


Warren does not have a website, but you can reach him by phone or
snail mail at: Warren Tetting, C/O Thor Strength, 1063 W. 7th St.,
St. Paul, MN 55102. Phone: (651)-222-1889.


This is "dogleg" of the gripper.

Note: This photo is missing from the server

To clarify the picture, its the front and back of the same gripper.
The straight leg is the dogleg.


This is a confusing part of gripper anatomy that beginners have a
hard time identifying. The "dogleg" is the straight leg of the
gripper in the picture. It's a byproduct of how the spring is
wound. There is a consensus that the dogleg should be in your palm
when closing the gripper in your right hand. The straight leg is
the better leg for bracing the gripper, in other words.


For the left hand, opinions differ. Some say the dogleg should
still be in your palm for maximum bracing. However, if you look
closely, this reverses the direction the spring is wound. Because
of this, some say the dogleg should be in your fingers on the left
hand in order to create a similar experience as the right. Either
way, I personally haven't noticed much of a difference. ~Matt


Keep hanging and Banging!!!

Leon.


Leon Cruz.
Copyright, Urban Publishing Co LLC., 2010

**The contents of this daily email are not to be
considered as medical advice.
Always consult a physician before beginning or
changing any fitness
program.**

This Blog is protected by copyright, 2010, Urban Publishing Co
LLC. .
All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is
strictly prohibited without the express written consent
of Urban Publishing Co LLC., Inc.

Leon Cruz, Inc.
Urban Publishing Co LLC.
P.O.Box 70181
Brooklyn New York 11207-0181

1-718-346-4337 Phone
718-346-4337 FAX
leoncruz658@msn.com

http://www.hugebicepstips.com
http://www.hugechesttips.com
http://www.muscle4mass.com
http://www.leoncruz.com
http://www.musclenerdfitness.com/go.php?offer=4mass&pid=3
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www.earleeliedermancourse.com



Keep Hanging and Banging.

Leon.

Friday, September 17, 2010

How To Build Big Triceps!

How To Build Big Triceps!
By Jeff Anderson

Want to know how to build big triceps?
Good question since the quickest way to build big arms is to build big triceps.
Your triceps take up the vast majority of your upper arm, yet frustrated hardgainers everywhere are knocking out bazillions of curls to try to get bigger arms.
Well I asked one of my friends to give me his very best exercise to build big triceps.

His answer was…

…“do dips”!

How To Build Big Triceps And Get Bigger Arms!
Guest Article By Jason Ferruggia of
www.HardcoreMassBuilding.com

That’s right. If you want to know how to build big triceps you gotta do dips…and lots of ‘em!
Why, you may ask?
Well, have you seen the size of the triceps on male gymnasts in the Olympics? They got that big from body weight excises like the dip.
In fact, dips are basically the only true triceps male gymnasts do and they are absolutely jacked with huge, thick, horseshoe triceps.

Here’s Why Dips Work So Well To Build Big Triceps…

Whenever you use your bodyweight exercises for your triceps, especially when you can add additional weight with a chin/dip belt or weight vest, you actually activate a much greater number of muscle fibers than you would if you simply used a machine.
Machines exercises for triceps don’t recruit the smaller stabilizer muscles and don’t force the muscles to contract naturally as they would in real life.

Whenever possible you want to try to move your body instead of simply moving the arm or attachment on a machine.

But What About Free Weight Exercises
To Build Big Triceps?

Although free weight exercises are very effective and a much better option than training on a machine, moving your own body will always reign supreme when it comes to building muscle and to build big triceps.

And dips are the “squat” of your upper body so they’re just as powerful as squats are for your legs.

How To Perform Dips To Build Big Triceps:
•Dips can be performed on parallel bars or, if you are really strong, gymnastics rings.

•Be sure to squeeze the bars tightly, brace your abs as if you were about to be punched and lower yourself no lower than the point where your triceps are parallel with the ground. Going lower than that puts too much stress on the shoulders and getting the extra stretch is not worth the risk of an injury.
How Often To Train Dips To Build Big Triceps:

•Dips can be performed three times per week as a beginner. After a few months of that I don’t think you will be confused about how to build big triceps anymore.

•When you get more advanced it is recommended to cut your dips down to twice per week.

How To Use Weighted Dips To Build Big Triceps:
Although I used to love weighted dips and routinely had many of my clients perform them with numerous 45 pound plates strapped to their waists I have found, over the years, that there is simply too great a risk of injury with heavy weighted dips and now do not allow anyone in my gym to do dips with more than just one 45 pound plate.
Anything beyond that seems to get too risky.

For intermediate lifters you could do one day heavy, where you add resistance to your weight belt, and one day light where you simply rep out with bodyweight.
The two days should be about 72 hours apart.

Once you get strong enough to do a 45 pound plate you will probably only want to use weighted dips as a rep exercise and not a heavy strength movement anymore.

Advanced Exercise Techniques To
Build Big Triceps Using Dips

To make dips more difficult without adding more weight, try doing them on gymnastics rings or on straps.

You can also try holding your legs straight out directly in front of you as well.
Either option will be very challenging and are great muscle builders.
Give these muscle-building strategies a try and I promise you’ll never again wonder how to build big triceps!

Train hard,
Jason Ferruggia
www.HardcoreMassBuilding.com

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Jay Cutler Back Training Sept. 6 2010

How to Build Intimidating Traps

How to Build Intimidating Traps
By Matt Marshall

There is something fearsome about big trap muscles.
The muscles of the trapezius give a man a look of strength and power.
So today, let me show you 3 exercises you can do to build bigger traps.

#1) The Power Clean

My traps are noticeably larger thanks in part to this exercise. It will take a few weeks to master the technique involved here, but it is well worth it. You should be able to quickly work your way up to a body weight power clean.

#2) Dead lift

If you have avoided dead lifts, you might be surprised at how sore your traps will after your first session. When you can hit a double body weight dead lift for five reps, you will be amazed at how much your traps have grown.

#3) The Overhead Press

Next time you are in the gym, try the overhead press. Notice how your trap muscles contract HARD to stabilize the bar when it locks out over your head. Strive for a single rep with a weight equal to your body weight and you will build fearsome traps quickly.
There you have it: 3 old-school exercises that will help you build bigger traps quickly.
Forget about shrugs and other specialized trap building programs until you hit the milestones in this article.

To recap:

Focus on the power clean until you can do reps with at LEAST body weight resistance. (So if you weigh 200 pounds, you should be doing power clean reps with 200 pounds.)
Focus on dead lifts until you can do at LEAST five reps with double body weight.
And shoot for a body weight overhead press.

Matt Marshall is the author of the Tried and True Fitness blog - a site that reveals time-tested methods for building muscle, burning fat and achieving optimum health.
To discover his free tips, visit http://www.triedandtruefitness.com/freetips/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Marshall

Get Big, Strong & Ripped With Baby Steps

Get Big, Strong & Ripped With Baby Steps
By Matt Marshall

If you want to gain size, get strong and get ripped, here is the secret:
Baby steps.
You see, the human body is a remarkable machine. It can adapt and adjust to almost any changes you throw at it.

But only IF you are patient and methodical.
Let me give you an example:
Say you want to increase you bench press strength by 10% and you are currently benching 225 pounds for five reps.

If you try to add 10 or even 5 pounds to the bar for your next session, you will mostly likely fail to get all five reps.

But if you add just 1 pound to the bar (using micro plates), you will get all 5 reps easily. Then you simply repeat the process - adding one pound to the bar each week. And before you know it, you will be benching 250 pounds for five reps - an increase of over 10%.

Of course, you have probably heard me preach about the benefits of micro-loading before. Because it is a tried and true method for gaining strength.
But did you know you can also micro-load your way to getting bigger and even getting ripped too?

Check it out:
If you want to gain weight, you need to eat more right?
But instead of just mindless shoveling food down your pie hold, you can micro load your way to your goal. It is easy: Weigh yourself once a week. If you have NOT gained at least 0.5 - 1 pound in the past week, you need to increase your calories.

Just add one sandwich per day, or one egg or one shot of olive oil. Then check the scale again in a week and see what happens. By microloading your weight gain in this manner, you can ensure you are gaining muscular weight slowly - and not just getting fat.
Getting Ripped? Baby steps again...

And it is not any different if you want to lose weight. Start slow - eliminate junk food from your diet but do not make any effort to eat less.
Add cardio - again starting slow. Begin with a 5 minute jog and then increase the time by just one minute per session.

Most people get excited about achieving a goal - be it gaining size or burning fat. And they jump in with both feet only to burn out a week later.
But if you take small, consistent baby steps you can keep making progress for weeks, months and years.

Matt Marshall is the author of the Tried and True Fitness blog - a site that reveals time-tested methods for building muscle, burning fat and achieving optimum health.
To sign up for his free newsletter, visit http://www.triedandtruefitness.com/freetips/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Marshall

Review of Mike Mentzer's High Intensity Training


Review of Mike Mentzer's High Intensity Training
By Matt Marshall

Background: In the early 70's Arnold Schwarzenegger burst onto the bodybuilding scene. And he brought the idea of "volume training" into the lime light. After all... if it made a champion out of Arnold, then surely pumping iron for 3 hours a day was the way to go. Right? Right?
Well... maybe not.

While many guys attempted to tackle the Herculean volume training regimen that Arnold developed... it flat out didn't work for 99.9% of trainers.
The reason? The volume of training that Arnold recommended was far too much for the average joe.

Enter Mike Mentzer.
Mike Mentzer made a name for himself by saying the opposite of what everyone else in bodybuilding was saying.

While all the muscle-heads were telling people to work out six days a week... Mentzer talked about working out once every 14 days.
When the pro's advised people to hit the muscle from all different angles and perform multiple exercises for each body part, Mentzer said that one exercise per body part was enough.
When most bodybuilders were recommending 15-20 sets per body part, Mentzer recommended just one set per exercise.

The Argument: While most bodybuilders believe that you had to include a variety of exercises and a large volume of sets to adequately work the muscle and activate the growth mechanism, Mentzer differed.

Mentzer reasoned that if you perform one set... and you perform that set until your muscles can move the weight no more... wouldn't that be enough to activate the growth mechanism?
The Experiment: I was intrigued by Mentzer's approach and I thought the idea of one-set to failure made sense. So in 1999 I hired Mike Mentzer for a series of phone consultations.

There wasn't much small talk, but I do remember Mike asking me specifically about a brand new website that had just launched at the time. It seems there method of attracting attention was to go after Mike and try to bash not only his theories but everything else about him as well.
Mike started me out with only two workouts per week. He also told me that the actual amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat I was ingesting per day wasn't important. He said that a balanced diet was fine and that I should eat frequently but not obsess over the nutritional aspect.

After a month, I had gained weight but my strength increases were moderate at best. Mike reduced my training workout down to one workout every seven days. Ultimately, he took this all way down to once every nine days but I still never gained much strength or made much progress in the gym.

The Result: The result of this training program was a failure. I gained very little strength and my over-all level of conditioning actually worsened from so much in-activity.
The Good: I personally believe that Mike Mentzer advanced the sport of body-building a great deal by questioning whether or not it's really necessary to do more than one set to failure.

This principle... and the logic behind this principle... still guides much of what I do today in my training programs.
The Bad: Unfortunately, I think Mike's version of High Intensity Training had some serious flaws.

First and foremost, Mike's thinking on nutrition was seriously flawed. Without proper protein intake, you simply cannot gain massive amounts of muscle.
Second, Mike only had one solution for every problem. You know the saying, when all you've got is a hammer... all the world looks like a nail?

Well, Mike took that to heart. For example, if progress stalled the solution he proposed was always to train less or take more time off.
At times, he took this to extremes. For example, I told him that my calves were one of my biggest weak points and asked him what we could do about that. His solution? Stop training calves all together and see if they would grow from the indirect work of squats and other leg training.

Needless to say... this approach didn't work. Although many a times I've wished my muscles would grow simply by not doing anything... it simply doesn't happen.
Another flaw of the program is assuming that every person is capable of generating the kind of intensity necessary to trigger muscle growth in just one set.

For example, it's relatively easy to fry your biceps with one set of bicep curls. But when was the last time you saw someone truly perform one set heavy barbell squats to COMPLETE muscular failure? Or go to complete muscular failure with 1400lbs on the leg press machine? Frankly, it just doesn't happen because it's incredibly exhausting both on the body and on the mind.
Overall: If you've been volume training for years and feel burned out, you might find Mike Mentzer's H.I.T to be a nice change of pace. You'll probably experience some new muscle and strength gains during the first few weeks.

But unless you address the nutritional and intensity flaws of the program, your progress will ultimately stall.

Average White Dude Final Rating For Mike Mentzer's High Intensity Training: 6/10.
Not the worst training program, but far from effective for most average dudes.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Experts Talk on Low Back Health




I feel compelled to start today’s post with a small confession. I don’t pay too much attention anymore to many internet websites and articles. Back in college (wow, we are going back in time) the internet was JUST starting to carry some really cool training information. There were rumors that some of the guys that were writing for the very innovative Muscle Media 2000 were going to do a spin off internet site.

Wow! Nothing could have been cooler than to hear this news. I was already fortunate enough to attend seminars by many of these great strength coaches and I knew they were on the edge of training information. The site didn’t disappoint as I could hardly wait till the end of each week to read the site updates. It was so bad that I would actually read these articles in my exercise science classes that were sorely outdated!

What’s the difference between now and then? Back then magazines and internet sites like this pulled from strength coaches that had a long history of success. Nowadays it is all about leveraging yourself with the right people and optimizing search engines. That has led to a whole new breed of “internet experts” that have a very small history of any type of success coaching and even a bunch that have not coached more than a handful of people, but man are they good at optimizing Google!

So, what does this have to do with training and our program? Once in awhile I come across a good article, something that really points strongly to things we have been doing for some time. Today it was an article by popular strength coach, Eric Cressey.

Eric Cressey is well known for his corrective exercise techniques and this specific article was in regards to low back injury prevention and health. His article, “Bulletproof That Back”, he outlines 19 great training tips to prevent and help low back pain. A few that really stood out to me were….

1. One other realm of stability I think is important to cover is single-leg stability or, simply stated, how well you stand on one foot. It’s crucial to overall health and performance for a number of reasons.

First, we spend a good chunk of our lives standing on one foot. Lunges, split squats, 1-leg RDLs, step-ups, and other single-leg drills are specific to the real world.
Second, and more specific to back pain, in many (but not all) cases of lower back pain, you can use appreciable loading on single-leg exercises because it’s much easier to maintain the spine in a neutral position in split-stance than in the position of bilateral hip flexion that occurs with squatting and deadlifting variations.

2. If you’re me, you categorize your core exercises in one of the following four disciplines (although there may be some overlap):

1. Anti-Flexion
2. Anti-Extension
3. Anti-Rotation
Today’s workout focused on these two principles very strongly. Dealing right now with not low back pain, but some serious neck issues, I found it a good time to really reinforce these principles.

It is amazing how normally that these types of movements and drills get thrown off to the side for drills we think are going to make us strong. However, if we take an honest inventory of our training and what we need, it can shock many that this type of routine can go a long ways in not only making them injury resistant, but VERY strong!