Building Muscles

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build big back| Seated front rowing

How to build a big back doing front rowing

I am a great fan of lat pull downs but decided to change for today’s training to seated front rowing. I have had a bit of a problem with this exercise in the past. I've found that its easy to twist slightly and cause a back problem.

I use a belt so there is no chance of doing any damage. I also decided to use a simple 5 sets of 12 reps medium weights. The reason is to give the lats a slight variation in training. This can make a big difference to your growth. It means that I am not going to get stale doing the same old exercises week in and week out. The muscles are hit from a slightly different angle which is what you want. I am not in favour of changing too often because then you do not get the benefit of the change in exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build killer abs| Sit ups

How to strengthen your core and abs doing sit ups

Sit ups are still recognised as a fantastic exercise for your core and abs. I don't like to do them too often as they do tend to put quite a bit of pressure on the lower back. It is claimed that they cause your lower back discs to wear out prematurely. I think doing them from time to time actually helps to strengthen the lower back muscles.

I like to set the bench in a decline position so it adds more resistance on the abs muscles. The best way is to lower your body down so that your shoulders lightly touch the bench and then raise yourself up to a point where you are still putting tension on the abs. It is easy to come up into a sitting position where there is no tension on the abs but I think you get much more from the exercise keeping your abs under tension. Do them slowly and avoid sudden fast movements. Feel the abs doing all the work and not the thigh muscles.

I kept it simple and did 5 sets of 15 reps.

Day 10 - Food

Day 10

6:30  coffee
7:15  protein shake
7:30  2 glasses water
11:00  oats and protein powder
14:30  chicken with veg
15:00   coke zero and water
17:30  protein shake
19:45   2 toast with peanut butter and honey
21:00  1 banana and 1 apple

The food was not too bad today and I am fairly pleased with how it went. I know there can be a big improvement in how I eat but food has always been my biggest weakness. I am lazy and tend to not plan too well.

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build arms| Triceps

How to get the best from your triceps training

With all the many exercises you can do for triceps, triceps push-downs are the best for me. Building muscles is very much about the state of your mind. It is so important that you choose exercises that you honestly believe will do the most for you. It makes no difference what the top bodybuilders claim about certain exercises, if you do not like or believe what they say then those exercises will not work for you.

I did triceps push downs.

15 warm up reps of quite a light weight
12 reps with extra 5kgs
8 reps with extra 5kgs
3 reps with extra 10kgs
I then did the 8 and 12 reps with the previous weights.

I finished the last set with a superset of kick backs. I love kick backs as they give me a tremendous burn, especially when I flex as hard as I can when the weight is back in the high part of the rep.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build a huge chest| Flat bench press

How to get a great looking chest with a normal basic bench press

I really enjoy doing chest. When you do the exercise properly the results can be very rewarding.

I think it is important not to worry too much about how heavy you lift. In most gyms around the world you will see young guys trying to impress others with the amount they can lift. You will often see them with mates spotting for them. Unfortunately the spotter often lifts more then the guy on the bench.

Lifting weights is about putting your ego in your back pocket. Lift lighter and lift properly. Never bounce the weight off your chest so you can lift heavier. Lower the weight to the chest and then hold it just resting on the chest for the count of 1 or 2 and then push the weight up. When you get to the top of the rep hold the weight for the count of 1 or 2 but more important flex as hard as you can. Doing this makes such a difference to how your training goes and particularly to the results you will get.

Today I did my variation training. Flat bench press.

1set quite light 16 reps
1 set 5kgs heavier 12 reps
1 set 10kgs heavier 8 reps
1 set 10kgs heavier 3 reps
1 set 8 reps same weight as before
1 set 12 reps same as before but with a superset of 12 reps dumbbell flys.

What a fantastic training session.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build big guns| Bicep curls

How to get huge biceps quickly

Biceps are the most enjoyable muscles for me to train.  They are a very easy muscle to train and you can get quick results.

The secret to big guns is to give them a lot of rest between training sessions. They must have at least 48 hours rest. The other thing to build big biceps quick is to make sure you do not try to go too heavy and then swing the weight up. This does not help you to build them big. Making the muscle do the work is what causes the growth. Swinging the weight up and then letting gravity return the weight too quickly means you are probably training too heavy. Make sure you stand firm and only the biceps do the lift. At the top of the rep flex as hard as you can. I like to lower the weight slightly slower then I raise the weight. This really makes the bicep burn during the session and that is what you should be after.

I did 15 reps quite light
12 reps with 5kg added
8 reps with 5kg more added
3 reps with 10kg added (here I cheated and had to swing the last rep up. I then made sure I lowered the weight really slowly to get the most from the rep)
I then did the 8 reps and the 12 reps with their respective weights.
On the last 12 reps I did a superset with 12 reps hammer curls.

I really enjoyed the training and I know I am doing well.

Day 9 - Free Day

7:30   coffee
9:00   water and coffee
12:30  steak, mushrooms, chips, tomato and peas
13:00  ice cream (small) with pineapple
15:30  protein shake
17:30  chips
19:30  ice cream
21:00  4 slices of toast plus jam

Today was my free day but I did not over do the eating. I am quite pleased with how it went. I decided to go out to lunch and had a wonderful meal. I was very careful with the quantity as that is usually my biggest problem.

Body building Muscle| How to train and build big muscle| How muscles grow

How to get your muscles to grow quickly

I want to share with you some information about bodybuilding and how muscles grow.

People believe that you can just keep getting bigger and bigger if you eat and train right. This is correct but we all have limits. We are genetically bound by how big we actually can get.

The thing to remember is, muscle tissue is made up of bundles of fibre. These fibres are wrapped together in a sheath of tissue for strength. We are all given a certain number of these fibres at birth and no amount of food or exercise can increase the number you have been blessed with.

Using resistance causes these fibres to grow in size and strength. When you put the muscle fibres under stress blood is pumped into the area. The aim is to cause micro tears in the fibres. Protein is muscle food and when you cause the micro tears the protein then helps with the healing process.

Rest is all important and surprisingly muscles do not grow when you train them but actually when you rest after training. You will see why it is important to rest and not over train. The tendency is to want to train the same muscle daily to get it as big as possible. This has the opposite effect. You need to have a minimum of 48 hours rest for the muscle fibres to grow and repair. After 72 hours the muscle very slowly returns to its previous state.

You can now see why most serious bodybuilders only train the same muscle once or at the most 2 times a week. You must work out what you feel is the best for you. I find that I get better results when I train the same muscle 2 times a week.

Food - Day 8

Day 8

6:30  coffee
7:25  large glass water
7:45  Protein shake with banana and 2 eggs
9:45  2 apples
11:00  protein shake
14:00  oats with protein powder
16:30  chips with scrambled eggs
20:00  chicken with vege water
22:00  2 slices toast with coke zero

On weekends it is hard to maintain a good diet as I am involved with sport on TV and find that I have a bit of a problem eating healthily. I have not done too badly though and so at this stage I am quite pleased with how my food and training is going. I do need to work harder on the food side of my 120 day challenge.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build big legs| Quads

How to get quick results training your legs with squats.

The quad muscles are among the biggest muscles on the human body. It takes a lot of energy to train them. Even if you are quite fit when you do squats properly it causes very heavy breathing. I have been very stiff since Wednesday when I first trained my legs, so I decided to take it easy today. I will not overdo it till I can feel that the muscles are over the stiffness and are more conditioned.

I warmed up with quite light weight and did 10 reps of normal squats.

I then added 20kgs and did 4 more sets of 8 reps.

Even though I did not do that much it was really hard work. When I do my squats I do not like to go too low. Some people say you should go right down and others will say you should only do half squats. I can tell you they both work and you must do what you think and feel is the best for you. I like to go down till my thighs are parallel to the floor. I might even go very slightly lower than that but certainly not all the way down. I find that I get a wonderful workout doing this. I really hope that after today’s training my legs will be a lot less stiff so I can really get down to business.