Monday, March 22, 2010

Bodybuilding: Building a Standout in the Crowd Chest

Since the beginning of bodybuilding time, men have wanted to build a chest that enters the room a good 2 seconds before the rest of their body. They want a chest that stands out and commands attention, a chest that steps up and sticks out. A broad chest that women seek to lay their head upon.

And ladies too, seek a beautiful chest, one that accents their natural assets. But they also want their chest to be sleek and feminine like the rest of their physique at the same time.

Well, achieving either of those goals is easily attainable with a thorough chest routine. And add a few expert tips and tricks into your overall plan, and you?ll have the chest of your dreams without the shoulder injuries of your nightmares.

Shoulder injuries have always been the rain on the chest training parade. Injuries are often due to overtraining, improper form, or simply not applying a back training ying to the chest training yang.

So when you do this routine, it will train your entire upper, upper body. By that I mean your chest, your rear delts, the rhomboids between your shoulder blades, your traps, and your rotator cuff muscles. From your ribs to your collarbone, at both the front and back of your body, your muscles will be exhausted, but trained to just the right level of exhaustion.

With just the right volume, but without overloading the shoulder joint, we are going to use basic chest exercises, but with a twist in a few cases, to make the most of the least. By training with supersets, you?ll get in and out of the gym if you do only the 6 exercises below. Talk about a beautiful chest fast.

While the full program offers the optimal volume for mega-chest-mass, I?ve included some substitutions for women that are a little concerned with adding too much mass too fast to their chests. So make sure to read training substitutions, included below the workout, so you can customize the program to your goals.

I?ve also included a summary of the methods, and a bonus instant chest building technique you probably never think of, after the workout. As well, a complete set of exercise descriptions is included at the end of the article.

THE UGN STANDOUT-IN-THE-CROWD CHEST workout

Superset 1:
Rest 60 seconds between exercises. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the superset.
A1) DB Flat Chest Press (4 sets x 6 reps) Tempo: 3-0-1
A2) Barbell Row or Seated Wide-grip Row (4x8) 2-0-1
Superset 2:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating the superset.
B1) DB Incline Press (3x8) 2-0-1
B2) DB Chest Fly (3x10) 3-0-1

Superset 3:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating the superset.
C1) Medium-grip Bench Press (3x12) 2-0-1

C2) DB External Rotation (3x10) 2-0-1
Female exercise substitutions:

Do only 2 sets of each exercise.
For exercise A1), substitute the maximum number of pushups you can do in place of the DB Flat Chest Press.

How to Instantly Increase Your Chest Size

This is something that everyone should be doing, several times per day. If you work at a computer, you should be trying to hold this position all of the time.

Here?s what to do:

In a seated or standing position, hold your arms down by your side. Externally rotate your shoulders so that your palms are now facing forward. Use the muscles between your shoulder blades to bring your shoulder blades together. Squeeze extra hard and pull your shoulders back by contracting your rear delts. At the same time, try to pull your shoulders down (you might feel a stretch running along your neck between your shoulders and your ears ? the more stretch you feel, the more you need to work on holding this position). This should pull your shoulders back and pop your chest out at least two inches. You should feel tension between your shoulder blades as your muscles work to hold that position. You might also feel a stretch in your chest. Now hold this proud posture as much as you can all day and when standing around in the clubs or in line at the grocery store. Trust me, someone will notice!

Exercise Descriptions

DB Flat Bench Press

Hold the dumbbells above your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower the dumbbells to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above the chest. BB Row

Stand with your torso bent and parallel to the floor. Contract your glutes, brace your abs and keep your spine in a neutral position. Keep the lower back in a neutral position and your knees slightly bent. Grasp the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Row the barbell to the abdomen and bring your shoulder blades together. Slowly lower to the starting position and repeat. Do NOT round your lower back. Wide-grip Seated Row

Use a long bar and take a greater than shoulder-width overhand grip. Keep your arms and back straight, knees slightly bent. Row the handle back as far as possible bringing your shoulder blades together. DB Incline Press

Lie on a bench with the backrest inclined at 45 degrees. Hold the dumbbells above your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower the dumbbells to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above the chest. DB Fly

Lie flat on your back on a bench and hold the dumbbells with your palms turned towards your body (palms will face each other). Maintain a slight bend in your elbows at all times. Slowly begin to lower the dumbbells out to your side until your elbows reach shoulder level. Don?t lower the dumbbells any further. At this point, squeeze your chest and bring the dumbbells up and in to the start position under control.

Medium-Grip Bench Press

Keep your feet flat on the floor, legs bent, and upper back flat against the bench. Grip the bar half-way between shoulder-width and your normal bench press grip. Keep the elbows close to the sides to emphasize the triceps. Have your spotter help you take the bar from the rack. Keeping your elbows close to your sides, lower the bar straight down to the bottom of your chest. Pause briefly and then press the bar back up above the chest in a straight line. DB External Rotation

Sit on a flat bench holding a light dumbbell (start with 5lbs). Bend your right knee and place your right foot on the end of the bench. Rest your right elbow on the top of your right knee and hold the DB in the bottom position. Slowly, using the small muscles of your rotator cuff, externally rotate the DB up and back until it is in the finish position (your forearm is perpendicular to your body at the top of the movement).

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men?s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Body Building For Females - Female BodyBuilding Tips Revealed!

Body Building is not something that is typically associated with women. When we watch the television, and see action films, we're more likely to see figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, replete with rippling muscle, then we are to see musclebound women. Yet body building for females is becoming increasingly popular, as more and more women are looking to improve not only their fitness levels, but also their levels of strength. Additionally, female bodybuilding is not only about looking musclebound, but about achieving a muscle symmetry, that women can feel proud of. In essence its all about choice.

Female bodybuilding offers a route towards toned muscles, good health, and satisfaction with the way you look. And in practice, it's not actually that different from male bodybuilding in terms of actually working out. But there are differences in terms of the physiology involved. The most striking of these is that because men have much higher levels of testosterone, and women have much higher levels of estrogen, this affects the way, that each respective sex reacts to exercise. Testosterone levels being higher means that men build muscle much more easily, whilst higher estrogen levels in women can mean that they may tend to store fat more easily than men (not a good thing. If you wish to take bodybuilding seriously!) However, as professional female bodybuilders have shown, this can be overcome if you take the training seriously enough.

One common misnomer that women have, is that they don't wish to do bodybuilding exercises, because they believe that if they stop, that the muscle will immediately turn to fat (something that no one wants!) This in fact, is not true though. And if you stop exercising, the muscle will not be transformed into fat, but it may well disappear, over time. If you don't use it, then you will lose it! Fat build up comes because you are consuming more calories than you are burning, and in fact, exercise is a key part in turning this on its head, because exercise increases your metabolic rate, which has the effect of you burning more calories for all of the activities that you do.

If you are a woman and are considering body building for females, then don't be put off. Instead, take charge, and become a pioneer! The truth is, that it's your body, and how you choose to present it to the world is up to you to decide.

For more information about bodybuilding for females and other bodybuilding resources. Visit http://www.NewsDepo.info where you can also learn about the best weight lifting exercises

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Friday, January 25, 2008

What to Look For in a Home Gym

In purchasing a home gym, you first need to pay attention to the various home gym equipments that is out there. Look closely into the equipment that you are going to purchase and check if it answers your needs of adequate and various exercises in just a single machine. Make sure that you are able to do those exercises without having too much strain on your muscles.

Check to see if there is enough attachments that are going to keep you busy for the thirty plus minutes that you are going to work out for. Also check if the machine that you have seen in the store is small enough to fit in the room that you plan to work out in or would you need to find somewhere else to put it. It is always a good idea to make sure that you can put any equipment that you are going to purchase in the area that you will feel most comfortable doing the workout at.

You should also check to see if there is a way to oil any necessary part of that home gym equipment to ensure that it will outlast what you actually will need it for. Make sure that all the nuts and bolts are covered to save ankles and feet, but yet that you are capable of getting to them so you can safely make sure that they are tight so that there is none falling out in a middle of a workout on you.

You also need to look at the price of the home gym equipment to make sure that you can afford it with out putting yourself in too much debt. It would not be good that you had to set it aside or see someone else use it more than you because you are just too exhausted to use it from work all the time. Just know what you are looking for and go for it don't let too much stop you from getting what you want to make your life better and less stressful.

Callie Armstrong is a writer for http://www.allergyhero.com/. Her insights on dieting, exercise and health can be read at http://www.body4beach.com/

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Get A Home Gym And Workout At Leisure

Lifestyle changes have had an effect on people. They often tend to make time for everything except for maintaining their health and fitness. And the result is the onset of various diseases and discomforts. There are numerous health centers and gyms which promise to help you stay fit, but how much they really achieve this is a billion dollar question. Even if they are useful, finding a convenient time is often difficult. Do away with all these obstacles. Buy a home gym and work out your own fitness at your own convenience.

Home gym and fitness

Home gyms offer a lot of exercises that help us to remain fit. With this, there is no need for you to travel all the way to your gym and then wait for your turn to workout. Exercise when you feel like it. There is no restriction at all. They offer almost everything you could get by going to a gym center. What's more, your whole family can benefit too.

Home gyms are of three types:

Machine home gyms:

These are constructed of a single steel frame. Different training equipment is attached to different parts of the frame. These come in three types: traditional, power rack and power cage.

Traditional types are the most common and best suited for multi-purpose workouts. They include at least one barbell, two dumbbells, weight plates, a bench and rack and collars to prevent weight plates from falling. Power rack is suitable for people who do heavy exercises. Power cage is almost similar to power rack except a few minor differences.

Free weight home gyms:

These consist of several pieces of equipment that are not attached to each other. These are further divided into three categories; traditional, power rack and power cage.

Traditional types are the most commonly used and suited for all workouts. Power rack and power cage are intended for those who perform heavy exercises.

Plate loaded machine home gyms:

These combine machine and free weight features. These come in three categories; machine without weight stacks, smith machine and combination smith machine

There are various brands available in market.

Bowflex is the top brand that offers fitness equipments. You can perform 60 exercises by Bowflex. It is not a cheap in terms of cost, but it is worth it.

Nordic track is also one among the top most manufacturers of fitness equipments. They are well known for the superior quality they offer.

Cybex offers stylishly designed equipment that is easy to use. It will last for many years.

Nautilus offers top quality at a reasonable price. It is a very good piece for home users.

Weider is one of the top quality brands that offer effective equipment.

What to look for when buying a home gym?

Once you decide to buy a home gym, first concentrate on your purpose for buying it. You may be buying it for body toning, fitness, muscle building or some other reason. Choose one according to your needs. Like, if you wish to have one for maintaining fitness you can opt for some traditional types. If you are intending to use it for heavy workouts, you can go for power rack or power cages. Cost is an important factor to consider when buying. So first decide your budget and go for the ones that offer what you need in your price range.

Summary:

Lifestyle changes have had an effect on people. They often tend to take out time for everything except for maintaining their health and fitness. And the result is the onset of various diseases and discomforts. There are numerous health centers and gyms where you can workout to remain fit. But investing in a home gym is always a better option in the long run.

Brooke Hayles
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