Building Muscles

How to train and build huge legs at home| big leg biceps| hamstrings

Day 54 training your hamstrings at home with limited equipment

You can get a great workout with just a set of adjustable dumbbells. You do not have to have a lot of equipment to train any muscle. I know using a leg curl machine is a fantastic way to train and build big strong hamstrings but you will still get a great workout doing dead lifts or good mornings.

I did dead lifts today with a normal barbell. I did not train heavy at all and right now I am focusing on more reps for muscle condition and some fat burn. I find I get the best burn with light weights and loads of reps. Strength and muscle building training requires a lot less reps but that does not mean you should never avoid light weight with lots of reps. It is a wonderful way to train.

I did 6 sets of 15 reps dead lifts.

I made sure I focused on the hamstrings/leg biceps doing all the work. Dead lifts are a compound exercise and it is easy for the mind to wonder to other muscles like lower back, forearms, traps and that means you will take the full focus off the hamstrings.

How to train and build massive muscle at home| big legs

Day 54 training massive quads at home

Training at home requires motivation and dedication. Some people will not be able to do it because they need others around them to help and encourage them with their training. I prefer to train at home because I have full access to all the equipment I need, and I can train when I feel like it. I am also under no pressure to try and impress others which I think is one of the biggest problems in a gym. People try to impress others with how much they can lift and that means they often have little or no good form. You will see a lot of cheating taking place and it is because of this they could end up with some serious injuries.  You can imagine what would happen if you go too heavy with squats at home. You could be in a lot of trouble. I make sure I can control the weight properly when I train.

Today I did some very light normal squats. I do not like to go too low and will stop when my thighs are parallel with the floor. Some people like to go all the way down. It's up to you what you believe about squats. I did a lot of reps with each set.

6 sets with 15 reps per set.

I have had a few days off and I know from past experience that just doing the movement with very limited weights can make you rather stiff. I like the feeling as long as it is not too intense. We will see.

How to train and build big muscles at home| traps

Day 53 how to build great looking traps

I can remember saying in one of my videos on YouTube that one of the worst looking things is gutter shoulders. That means there is a dip from the neck to the ends of the shoulders. It looks really back on a guy but not too bad on a female. A great looking build is when there is a slope from the neck down to the deltoids. If you combine this with a narrow waist and big lats (back) you have an amazing shape. I have worked really hard on my traps as in the early days I suffered not quite from gutter shoulders but rather close.

I did 6 sets of medium weights 20 shrugs.

Shrugs cause little or no stress on your shoulder joints unlike up right rowing. I love upright rowing they are among the best for traps but they do hurt my right shoulder joint so I avoid them.

How to train and build big muscles at home| massive back

Day 53 how to build a V shaped back at home

I know that if you want to have a great build you must lose fat and try to make your waist as slim as possible. If you work on your deltoids and your back with a slim waist you will look amazing. It is my aim. I am very lucky as I have quite a narrow waist but it does tend to store a load of fat. Once that is gone I will look awesome. 

I did 6 sets of lat pull downs light medium weight. Each set was 25 reps.
Light weights with high reps can have a huge benefit especially the burn that is incredible.

How to train and build big muscles at home| shoulders

Day 53 how to build huge deltoids

We are still in quite a heat wave but last night was awesome. We had a thunder storm which did not last too long but took me back to Africa. That is how most of the rain falls there. You hear the thunder and it is one of the best sounds you can hear.

I am still conditioning at this stage after the few days off and so I trained quite light with lots of reps. I have a bit of a shoulder problem and the Dr injects me with cortisone every 4/6 months. I can always feel it in my shoulders when I do lateral raises so I like to do military presses. They don't hurt me at all. That is one of the keys to training without hurting yourself. If an exercise hurts your joints in any way work around them and do not aggravate them any further.

I did 6 sets of light medium weights with 16 reps per set. I had a brilliant session.

How to train and build a great body at home with limited equipment| aerobics and abs

Day 52. Training abs and burning fat at home

I have added more to my training session today. I had a look in the mirror on Sunday and decided that I need to do a lot more and be a lot stricter with my eating. I have been quite slack about my food and this has not helped me to get the results I want. I also realised that I am more than half way on my 120 day challenge and I am not happy with the fat burn so far.

I used a stationary bike but you can go for a good fast jog. If you jog then make sure that you go out for 10minutes and that you return in 10 minutes or less. You definitely do not want to take longer on the return. You are trying to burn fat. I used the bike with one of the built in programmes and set it for 20 minutes. It adds and removes resistance throughout the programme which really makes you work hard. I kept the revs at 110 cycles per minute.  I was wet with sweat at the end of the 20 minutes.

I then threw in 4 sets of 15 crunches just for luck.

I feel great about all the training I have done today. If I stick with the right quantities of food it will be the best day I have had so far.

How to train and build big arms at home| huge biceps

Day 52 how to get big guns at home with limited equipment

You can have a fantastic training session with a set of medium light dumbbells or a barbell. You do not have to have a full gym with equipment to get a great set of arms. I like an EZ bar and if I did not have one I would use dumbbells. I did 6 sets of medium light weights of bicep curls with the EZ bar. I love curls as you can really get a fantastic burn if you do them right.

I did them slowly and each set consisted of 20 reps per set. My arms were toast at the end of the 6th set.

Day 52 how to get the most from your triceps with medium light weights.

Day 52 how to get the most from your triceps with medium light weights

I wanted to ease my triceps back into training after the few days I had off. I decided to train medium light with loads of reps. I have always found that the more reps I do the bigger the pump and burn. I was not disappointed today.

I did 6 sets of my most favourite arm exercise, triceps push downs.
By the time I got to the 4th set my arms were burning badly. I did 18 reps per set. The 5th and 6th sets were really done with a lot of mind power. It was an amazing arm training session.

How to train and build a fantastic body at home| Big chest

Day 52 training at home doing the various bench presses

I had to go to the Churchill Chest hospital this morning for a follow up appointment in connection with my lungs. You will hear in the YouTube videos that my breathing is very noisy. This has happened because of smoking. I have done a great deal of damage to my lungs. At one stage I think I only had about 35% of my lungs working. I do not have any asthma just damaged lungs. The consultant put me on some really good ventilators which are working really well and my lung function has improved to about 55% now. I doubt that there will be any further improvements but at least I am better off than a load of other people who have to be attached to oxygen. It would be really hard to train with pipes all over the place. Lol

After the few days I took off last week I did some bench presses this morning. I trained with medium light weights but lots of reps. I did 6 sets of 15 reps per set.

My 6 sets were split up as follows -
2 sets incline, 2 sets decline and 2 sets flat bench presses.

The muscle burn was brilliant. I wanted to burn fat and ease the muscles back into regular training.

How to train and build big muscle| Different types of training

Day 51 What the different sets and reps do for your body

Day 51 is Sunday and my free day. I am happy the sun is still shining but really would like the temperature to be a few degrees lower. People are never happy - we moan when it is cold, we moan when it is hot, we moan when there is no rain and we moan when there is rain. Makes me feel quite guilty - always finding fault with the weather. I am not that bad but do find this a bit too hot.

I ate very well today even though it was a free day. The only junk was an ice cream cone my mother-in-law bought for me when she walked up to the local shops.

I thought I would share some more general information about training with you.

Many bodybuilders get confused with how many reps and sets they should do. There are the believers that you have to spend a few hours a day in the gym and then you have people like a friend of mine called Vince that would spend no more than 30 minutes in the gym. Both ways work because they have the results to prove it and they are huge.

Fitness and conditioning

This kind of training is more like aerobic or cardio training. You do very light weights with lots of reps and the term very light weights means they must be light for you. Never let anyone tell you how much weight you should be using. Only you can decide. You will find, for example, a strong person will feel 150lbs is very light for bench press. Another person might feel 20lbs or even less is very light for them. The reps must be in excess of 12 reps. I like 15 to 20 reps per set. For most of my training I will do around 6 sets per muscle that I am training.

Muscle building

This is where you use medium heavy weights and you keep the rep range between 8-12 reps. I use 6 sets for the muscle. Often you will feel that the weight is a bit light on the first 2 or 3 sets but when you get to the 4th or 5th set you cannot finish the reps. You know then that you have started too heavy. The time you should fail or almost fail is on the last set you are doing. Then you know you have the weight just right.

Strength Training

This is very heavy weight and your rep range is 1 to 5 reps per set. Here too I like to do 6 sets per muscle.

You can get very clever and do variation training. That means doing a set of fitness training with some muscle building sets and then a set of strength training. Play around with your training plan so it is exciting for you and something you believe will work best for you. Good luck with your training.