Building Muscles

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build a massive chest| Incline bench press

There is a good reason for doing incline bench presses. They help to get you a more rounded chest. A flat bench press works the overall chest and is one of the best exercises you can do. If you have a flat chest and want to make it a little more rounded you should do incline bench presses. The higher you raise the bench the further up the chest you will work. If you think about it if you sit straight up you will work shoulders and little or no chest at all.  As you lower the bench back you will work more and more of the chest. I would suggest about a 45 degree incline to get the most from your workout. You can see from the photo that you raise the weight up to arms length. This is the start position. 

In this position you need to flex as hard as you can. Hold the weight for the count of 2 and then slowly lower the weight to just off the chest.

It would be good to hold the weight in this position for a moment and then push the weight back up to the start position. When you start go quite light and do about 5 sets of 12 reps. Once you get used to the exercise you can then slowly add weight so the exercise becomes more challenging. 

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build massive legs| Standing one leg dumbbell calf raises

If you are training at home and you don't have the kind of squat rack that I have, you can still get a very effective calf work out by doing one leg calf raises.

I do one leg calf raises so I can use the other arm to steady myself. You need a block of wood or you can even use a step. Hold the dumbbell by your side. The side that you hold the dumbbell is the leg you are going to train. You put the ball of your foot on the wood or step and the other leg tucks in behind the leg you are training. You can see this in the photo.

Lower yourself down as far as possible and then raise yourself up as high as you can possibly go. You can see the top position in the photo. 

The bigger the movement the better the exercise works on the calf. I do a full set with one leg and then with no rest change over and do the other leg. I then have a short rest of about 30 seconds and proceed to do the next set.  I like to do 5 sets of about 15 reps. The reason for the 15 reps and not the usual 12 reps is because calves are so hard to build. They can take a bit more than the other muscles.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build huge back| Traps

Traps are like forearms, people often forget to train them. If you don't develop your traps you will not have that overall good V shape look.

Shrugs are a great way to build your traps. They are a very easy exercise to do and anyone can do them. 

Take some dumbbells and hold them by your sides. Make sure you keep your body upright.

Now raise your shoulders as high as you can. It is really important to hold the weight for the count of 2 when your shoulders are raised. Now lower the shoulders and return the weight back to the start position.

Never rush when you do the reps. I like to make each rep quite deliberate so the traps have to work hard. Even with quite light weights, when the shoulders are raised, and you hold the weight in that position, you will get a tremendous burn after about the 8th rep. People who race when they do the reps will not get the same burn, and often find that the exercise doesn't seem to do a lot for them. The photos show the start and top positions.  I would start quite light and do 5 sets of 12 reps.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build big arms| triceps kickbacks

I like to do both arms together as this saves time. You can do them one arm at a time it's up to you.

Lean forward at the hips until your upper body is at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Keep your back straight. You now bend your elbows so the upper arm is parallel to the floor. You can see in the photo the position of the arm.

Keep your elbows close to your waist. Keep your upper arm still by your side and straighten your arm behind you until your entire arm is parallel to the floor.  You can see the position the arm should be in the photo.

The dumbbell points toward the floor. It is a good idea to flex the triceps when you are in this position.

Slowly bend your arm to lower the weight back to the starting position.

I would do fairly light weights to start with. 5 sets of 12 reps is a brilliant workout.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build massive legs| Seated calf raise for huge calves

It's rather difficult doing calf raises at home when you don't have a proper calf machine. This is how I do seated calf raises.

I place a few plates on my knees as you can see in the photo.

You need a block of wood or some solid books to put your feet on. Lower the weight as far down as you can go and then raise the weight up as high as you can go. At the top flex and hold the weight for a few moments. This helps to give that little extra to the exercise.

Calves are very hard to build so if you are unfortunate and not blessed with big calves you will have to be patient and just keep at it. DO NOT expect your calves to develop at the same speed as other muscles. Some body builders never have big calves but that doesn't mean you should accept that and not train them. You can do a little more with calves so I would do around 5 sets of 15 reps

 

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build huge shoulders| Lateral side raise for side deltoids.

Type pad has been having a real hard time with internet problems so we could not upload material for almost the whole of last week. This means that a full week’s posts are being uploaded in one go.

Lateral side-raises do a wonderful job of increasing the size of your shoulder width. When you do the exercise, your palms should be facing your body. Hold the dumbbells slightly off your body because this keeps the tension on the side delts. This is the start position for the exercise.

Slowly raise the dumbbells up to around shoulder height. I would not go any higher than the shoulder level. Make sure you don't let your wrists go above your elbows while raising the weight, as this will take the load off the side delts and put it on the front delts.

Pause at the top of the rep and hold for the count of 2. Slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

Remember don't let the dumbbells touch your body at the bottom. Do 5 sets of 12 reps with fairly light weights when you start out doing this exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build massive arms| Big biceps

Having a break is not always a bad thing, except if you are like me and tend to overeat. I have just enjoyed the Easter break and as usual ate a little too much. I decided to combat that today by doing some extra aerobics to burn off excess fat. Instead of doing the usual 30 minutes I did a full hour. That certainly has made me feel fantastic and I know I have burned off some extra fat today.

I then did my normal chest training with some triceps push downs. Normally I like to do standing bicep curls but today I wanted to make it a little harder so I did some seated incline dumbbell curls.
These put a lot of stress on the biceps. I don't let them relax at the bottom of the movement and as you can see from the photo the arms are under tension.

 

You then bring the weight up to the top as per the photo. 

 

Lowering the weight is quite a challenge especially if you lower the weight fairly slowly. By the 3rd set I could feel my arms wanting to explode. I did a full 5 sets of 10 reps per set.

This was a wonderful training session and needed after all the extras I managed to put in over the weekend.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build big legs| straight legs for hamstrings

I think next to squats, dead lifts are an extremely good exercise to do. They are a compound exercise and probably work more muscles than any other exercise. 

There are a few important things to remember when you do dead lifts. You want to lift the weight with caution. Don't jerk the weight up or you will put unnecessary strain on the lower back. Keep the weight as close to the legs and body as possible. You will see people using a reverse grip as seen in the photo.

This is not necessary unless you are lifting extremely heavy weights. Reverse grips with very heavy weights tend to stabilise the lift.  Hold the bar with both palms facing you and stand up right.

As you stand up feel the hamstrings doing all the lifting. When you lower the weight go down slowly so you are in total control of the weight.

 

I would do around 5 sets of 12 reps. Go light to start with and once you get used to doing the exercise with good form then slowly increase the weights you are using. Always remain patient when you train with weights. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Stay away from trying to impress others with how much you can lift.

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

I think my all time favourite back exercise is lat pull downs. These are a very simple basic exercise to do. There is not a lot you can do wrong. The main thing is to not lean back too far. The start position can be seen in the following photo.

 

The next photo shows a wrong position.

 

You then pull the bar down to about your chin level. I wouldn't go much lower. I have seen some people pull the bar down much lower but I don't think that helps. As you pull the bar down to your chin you should squeeze your shoulder blades together so the lats really have to work.

Hold the weight in this position for the count of 2 and then slowly let the weight return to the start position. As the bar returns to the start position try to extend out your lats as far as you can. Its a type of flex you are doing. This helps the lats to work a little harder and to get them to stand out a little more giving you the V shape. I like to do 5 sets of 12 reps. Train light till you get the muscles used to the exercise and you are no longer stiff. Once you get this stage then it is best to start increasing the amount you use. Don't be in a rush.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build huge arms| big guns|Hammer curls for the biceps

I don't know any person who trains with weights that doesn't focus on their guns. Big arms are what most people are training for. A mistake many make is to overtrain in their quest to get big arms.

Biceps are quite a small muscle, so they do not need a lot of training. This is one of those times where less is more. One of the exercises that I often use as a bicep exercise is dumbbell hammer curls. It is well known that the main reason for doing hammer curls is to build your forearms. One of the main muscles that work is the brachioradialis which is a muscle of the forearm that flexes the forearm at the elbow.

The thing to remember is that any time you bend your arm at the elbow your biceps are the muscle that will contract to lift the arm up. The position you hold the weight will often determine what muscles gets the best benefit.

Hammer curls will work the biceps as well as the forearms. The way to do hammer curls is to start with the dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing each other. (You can see this in the photo)

Keep your elbows tucked in to your sides and then raise the weights. Your body must stay straight so you lift the weight with the arms and not with a swinging motion. At the top of the movement hold the weight for the count of 2 before slowly letting the weight return to the starting position. (See photo).

I like to flex (contract) the muscle when I have the weight up as this gives a little more to the exercise and I get a really good burn after about the 6th rep. I like to do 5 sets of 12 reps when I am starting out trying to get my muscles used to training.

It is really important to work very light when you are new to training or you could end up so stiff you will not be able to move your arms for days. I know I've done this in the past and I can tell you its not pleasant. Work light and get used to lifting before you try to go heavier.