Building Muscles

Body building Muscles| How to train and build huge hamstrings| Dead lifts and Good mornings

How to get great results training your hamstrings

Dead lifts are one of the very best ways to get the most from your hamstring training. I did not want to over do my training today so I mixed my dead lifts with good mornings.

Dead lifts are a compound exercise so that means that you use a lot more muscles than just the muscle you want to work. I like to think of the hips as a pivot point and the hamstrings are the muscles that have to lift and lower the whole upper body along with the weights that you hold.

I did 3 sets of dead lifts. Each set was 8 reps. They are a lot like squats and take quite a bit out of you.

I then went on and did 2 sets of good mornings with 10 reps per set. I really focused on the hamstrings doing all the work.

My overall hamstring training was very good. I made sure that I did not go too heavy as I am still very stiff from the Wednesday’s leg training session.

Body building Muscle| How to train and build massive calves| Standing calf raises

I trained quite light as my calves are still very stiff from Wednesday. It just goes to show that if you do not train properly and often then even using light weight will cause you to be stiff.

I did 5 sets of 12 reps per set.

I did my reps quite quickly as I am not really interested in trying to build much muscle today. I really just want the movement right so I can get over my stiffness.

I think it has worked because I can feel right now as I write this post my calves are a lot more relaxed. I think I will be able to start putting some more meaningful weights on the bar the next time I train legs.

Food - Day 7

Day 7

7:30  large glass of water, coffee
9:30   coffee
10:30  energy drink
10:30  protein shake with banana
11;30   coke zero
12:00  cottage cheese
15:00  cake, coke zero
17:00  ribs and chips
19:30  birthday, glass water
21:00  cottage cheese and banana
21:30   coke zero

It was my grandaughter’s birthday today so I enjoyed some amazing cake my wife made for her. Over all I have eaten rather well considering how easy it is to eat all sorts of things because of the birthday.  My wife made a comment when she was reading yesterdays food post that it looks like I do not drink properly. My answer was “I don’t”. It is really one of my weaknesses. I have to really put in an effort to drink much more water as it is far better for you then coke zero or actually anything else.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build killer shoulders| Seated shoulder press

How to make your shoulders wider

I used to avoid building and training shoulders when I was a lot younger. I wish I had worked on them a lot more. It has been tough going. They are not balanced because of an operation on my right shoulder. (I had a rugby injury) To get good results requires a certain amount of commitment.

Today I decided to do a warm up with some seated alternate dumbbell shoulder presses. This is a great way to get the shoulders warm. Many people using weights have a great deal of fear doing shoulder exercises because of the rotor cuff  (in the shoulder joint). It is really important to warm up properly. The shoulder joint is the only one that can rotate 360 degrees however it is weaker on the rear side of the shoulder.

I did 20 reps of light alternate dumbbell shoulder presses. Excellent warm up.
12 reps light straight bar shoulder press
8 reps heavier shoulder press
4 reps of heavy weights shoulder press
8 reps again with I weights I used previously
12 reps with the weight I first did but did a superset with bent over side raises for the rear deltoids.

It was a brilliant workout and I know I have done a lot of good for them.

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build a big back| Lat pull downs

How to develop a V shaped back

I love lat pull downs. They are one of my favourite exercises. I try to extend the lats as much as possible when I do the pull down. When I get the weight to around shoulder level I then squeeze my shoulder blades together and that adds extra to the workout. You know when you are having a good workout and that is how I felt throughout the training today. I also trained my traps with shrugs but did them as supersets.

Superset - seated rowing

I did a good warm up with light weights and 20 reps.
I added 5kgs and did 12 good reps and then did a superset with 12 reps shrugs
I added 10kgs and did 8 reps and then did a superset with 12 reps shrugs
I added another 10kgs and managed 4 reps and then did a superset with 12 reps shrugs
I repeated the same weight for another 8 reps and then did a superset with 12 reps shrugs
I finally did my 12 reps and with a super superset. I did 12 reps of seated rows followed by the 12 reps shrugs.

Overall it was a wonderful workout. 

Body building Muscles| How to train and build killer abs| Weighted leg raises

How to get a 6 pack quickly

The term quickly in body building means months certainly not days as some people would have you believe. Once you get into eating correctly you can have a 6 pack that attracts attention by doing some simple exercises. I love weighted leg raises. They put a tremendous stress on the abs. The lower you place the weights the more stress you will get on your abs.

I like to start with the weight directly over my shoulders and then as I go on I lower the weights further behind my head.  I also love super setting leg raises with crunches. You will get an amazing burn.

I did 5 sets of 12 reps leg raises with super sets of 12 crunches per set. The only thing I did was lower the weights with each set I did. That means on the last set of 12 reps of leg raises the weight was about 3 inches off the floor behind my head. If you can handle that too easily then increase the weight you are using.

Body building Muscles| How to train and build a good looking body| Getting fit

Many people who lift weights often neglect getting fit. I will never forget reading a comment from Arnold where he believes being fit is really important. There are many things you can do. I think whatever you do is good if it helps you to get fit.

I enjoy the way I have been doing my aerobics. I am not a big fan of running. I love the fact that I have a good stationary bike. Spending 20 minutes doing interval training is one of the best ways for me to get fit. I use it very much for burning fat too. I have a goal of getting my killer 6 pack so doing aerobic training is very important.

Food - Day 6

Day 6

7:30  coffee
8:00  scrambled eggs, lean bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, tomato
12:30  oats and protein, coke zero
15:00  cottage cheese
18:00  chicken, eggs, salad and baked potato
20:00   4 slices of toast with peanut butter and honey
21:00  coke zero, chocolate!!!!!!!!!

I can be so good and then let it all fall flat. It started with the toast. I love peanut butter and honey and then the sweet tooth took over and I just had to have chocolate. I am a bit disappointed that I had the chocolate and spoiled a great day. I have learned that if you fall off a horse the way to win is not to avoid horses in the future. You get back on the horse as soon as possible. I failed with the food today but never mind tomorrow is a new day and we will make it a better day.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build huge biceps| Standing bicep curls

How to get big guns quickly without overtraining

Biceps are one of the easiest muscles to build. I have never been a big believer that you have to do loads of sets and loads of exercises for them. They are in fact quite a small muscle and it is easy to overtrain them.

All I did was 6 set of 12 reps with medium to heavy weights.

To get the most from each rep, lower the weights slower than when you bring the weight up to the top of the curl position. Try flexing as much as possible once you are in the curl position. The combination of slowly lowering the weight with the flex at the top will add an additional dimension to your training.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build large triceps| Triceps push downs

How to get the most from your training when you are busy

Today was a very busy day like I said. This means it was quite hard for me to get my mind focused on a complex training plan. I therefore decided to keep it really simple. Keeping it simple when you are not ready for a heavy training session can often produce much better results than trying to force yourself to keep to a complicated plan.

I did triceps push downs. 6 sets of 12 reps medium heavy weights.

This might not seem like a lot but when you are doing them fairly slowly and making sure on the negative part of the rep you are lowering the weight down with total control and not just letting gravity to take over the burn is incredible. I had an amazing training session.