Building Muscles

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build big legs| Squats

Squats are a compound exercise - you use several muscles when you train. All the experts will agree they are a fantastic exercise, and you should do them on a fairly regular basis. They definitely cause the body to release growth hormones so you get gains in all muscles.

There is a lot of confusion from the experts as to how low you should go when you do squats. There are claims that full squats damage your knees while there are others that will say half squats damage your knees. How low you go will depend on where you get your info from. It is really hard, when you are new to lifting weights, to know what to believe.  I am going to give you my opinion and I am not saying that this is right for you.  This is how I have managed to work out what is the best type of squats for me.

I decided to try my best to be in tune with my body which means that I feel everything that is going on with my body when I train. I have tried both full squats and half squats. I have found that half squats are the kindest to my knees. I feel absolutely no pain what-so-ever. When I do full squats I feel a lot of pressure in the knee joint and it does not feel comfortable.

In the photo you will see how low I go. It is slightly more then a half squat but it is what feels the best for me. I also have the belief that if I go lower it feels like I am spreading my butt and that is the last thing I want to do. I want to have a real V shaped body. I think you should do your own tests and then do what you feel is the best for you. If you like full squats and they feel right then ignore the guys who tell you that you should be doing half squats and vice a versa.  It makes no difference whether you do full or half squats the key is never neglect your legs. Train them with the kind of squats that work best for you.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build broad shoulders| Behind the head shoulder press

A shoulder press is a compound exercise (you use more then one muscle). That is what makes it such a good exercise. Many people are against doing a shoulder press behind the head because they believe that you can do a lot of damage to your shoulder joint (Rotor cuff). I also know that if you do the exercise the  wrong way it will cause you problems. If you feel in any way that this exercise will cause you a problems do not do it. I find I get a brilliant work out doing them.

You can see from the photo the start position. There are a few things you must bear in mind when you do this exercise. Firstly bring the weight down as close to the head as possible. You do not want to lower the weight away from the head because this will put pressure on the shoulder joints. You will see from the photo how low you need to lower the weight. This is very important. Never bring the weight down to lower than the level of your ears. If you do you will definitely put too much pressure on the shoulder joints.

I would suggest you use fairly light weights and make sure you get your form absolutely right. If you feel any type of pain in the joints cease the exercise immediately. I like to do 5 sets of 12 reps.

Body Building Muscles| How to train and build a huge chest| Dumbbell Flys

Dumbbell flys are a fantastic exercise to add size to your chest. I love basic bench press but often people who want to train at home might not have the equipment to do a bench press. Dumbbells are about the most versatile for weight training. You can use a bench or a gym ball lay on so you can do your flys. Hold the dumbbells above your chest as you can see in the photo.

I like to keep the elbows slightly bent throughout the whole exercise. Use a wide arc to lower the weight. At the bottom be a little careful not to lower your arms too low. This can put additional pressure to your shoulder joints.

I like to lower down to where I feel the chest pecs pulling. I then hold the weight for the count of 2. You can see the position of the weights in the photo. Lift the weights back up to the start position. Here is where you can make a massive difference to the exercise. At the top flex as hard as you can. This will cause quite a burn after just a few reps. It is better to lift and lower the weight fairly slowly so you can get the most from each rep.

I prefer to do 5 sets of 10 reps for flys. Something to remember is flys makes a fantastic exercise as a superset to normal bench press. I will explain this when we get on to super setting. Use fairly light weights or you could end up very stiff.

Body Building Muscle| How to train and build huge legs| Squats

How to train at home doing squats

I have found that doing normal full squats at home without a squat rack can be quite difficult. This puts a lot of people off so they will avoid doing legs and only focus on their upper body. Bulgarian split squats do an amazing job and you do not need to have heavy weights. A simple set of adjustable dumbbells are all you need.  You can see from the photo that you place one leg on a bench or chair and then you lower yourself down into a squat position with the other leg while holding the dumbbells. I am lucky as I have a squat rack too but doing Bulgarian split squats gives me a brilliant workout.

Bulgarian split squats seem to work my inner thighs, hamstrings and gluts more then a normal squat. I am often not stiff the next day after doing normal squats but I am almost always stiff after doing Bulgarian split squats.

The big thing about squats is you work several muscles at the same time. This means they are a compound exercise. The great thing about compound exercises are they cause the body to release growth hormones so your whole body benefits from doing them.

I think 5 sets of 8 reps with each leg are more than enough and you should feel quite fatigued once you are finished doing them. You can use fairly light weights compared to normal squats where people often go quite heavy.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build a killer 6 pack| The truth about abs

I have said this before and I say it again, you cannot get abs in 10days. There are too many false ads on the internet and tv telling people they can have killer abs with just 5 minutes training a day, or a six pack in 2 weeks. This is rubbish. Even if you do loads of sit-ups or other abs exercises you will not have noticeable abs unless you carry limited body fat. If you are lucky and are fairly lean then you will find it a lot easier to have abs with some training. If you carry extra fat like me I can assure you no amount of abs training will give you killer abs. You will have to lose the body fat first and then you will have the abs. I have abs but you cannot see them because they are under a layer of fat. When I flex they do show to a degree but you can see the fat covering them. Those competition abs are because the person has little or no body fat.

Eat properly - that is about 85% toward having killer abs. You will need to do things like crunches, leg raises or sit-ups to develop your abs muscles.

I personally like to do crunches as they are less taxing on the lower back but give a great burn. I normally do 5 sets of 15 reps each time I train them.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build massive arms| Standing Bicep Curls with dumbbells

I think this is the exercise that is used more than any other exercise. Unfortunately it is also the one that is done incorrectly a great deal of the time.  You might wonder how a person can do a simple bending of the arm exercise wrong. Well, there is one main reason and that is the person’s pride. Too may people training try to impress others with how much they can lift. This is a huge mistake.

The bicep muscle is a very small muscle compared to a lot of the other muscles and on the arm only makes up 1/3 rd of the arms size. When you train too heavy doing bicep curls you will have to swing the weight up. That does not do the biceps any good at all and you can even do some damage to your back.

You will see from the photo how you should be standing at the start of the exercise.

When the arms are down some people like to let the weight go all the way down into a relaxed position while others like to have a slight bend in the arm so there is tension on the bicep. There are merits using either way. I use both methods when I train as I think I get more from my training. 
You can see the position at the top in the photo.

Here is where you can make a huge difference to your training if you do this properly. I hold the weight for the count of 2 but flex as hard as I can. This method adds so much more to your workout.
When you lower the weight make sure you do not let gravity take control. Lower the weight slowly really focusing on the bicep doing all the work.

I can assure you if you forget trying to impress others you can work with reasonable weight and get some amazing results.  Start light for the first few weeks till you get over the initial stiffness. Then slowly increase the weights but make sure you kept absolute form with your training. Your body must remain still throughout the exercise and only the biceps do the work.

I would do 5 sets of 12 reps per set. Remember never train any muscle more than 2x a week if you want to build the muscle.

Body Building Muscle| How to train and build huge legs| Training hamstrings with good mornings

Training and building strong hamstrings is really important. If you watch a lot of sports you will see that hamstrings are often strained or torn when sports people are running. This often happens when a person does a sudden movement that the muscle is not ready for, and so the muscle tears. I am not sure what to do to stop this. I've seen people doing damage half way through a game when they are fully warmed up and the muscle has been working for some time. I think making sure you build strong hamstrings will help with reducing the injuries. I don't like road running so I have been very lucky and cannot remember ever tearing a hamstring even when I did play rugby when I was younger.

Most gyms have a leg curl machine, which I think is the best way of building hamstrings, but good mornings is a wonderful replacement when you do not have access to that kind of equipment. Training at home can give you some very good results if you do the exercises properly.
The start position can be seen in the photo.

You stand upright with a bar bell on your shoulders as if you are going to do a squat. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart. You now bend forward till your body is parallel with the floor as you can see in the photo.

You should really focus when you do this exercise as you want the hamstrings to do all the lifting and control of the upper body movement. Never arch your back when you do this exercise. Keep your back locked in a straight position and you actually use your hip joints as the pivot point. You will find that you can build very strong hamstrings doing this exercise.

I would do 5 sets of 12 reps quite light for the first few weeks of your training. Only once you are completely over the initial stiffness should you then slowly increase the weights so the hamstrings have to keep adjusting and growing.

Bodybuilding muscles| How to train and build a V Shape body| Bent over dumbbell rowing for lats| Training at home

I personally think one of the best exercises are lat pull downs, however many people who train at home don't want the expense of the equipment. Dumbbell rowing is a fantastic exercise that will give you great results.

You can see from the photo that the start position is the dumbbell at arms length.

Your body needs to be parallel with the floor. I like to have the weight slightly forward instead of being straight down so you have to stretch the lat slightly more. I think it just adds that little extra. You now raise the weight up to your abdomen.

You can see roughly the position you need to have the weight in the photo.

Hold the weight in this position for the count of 2. This makes the lats work a little harder. Now lower the weight fairly slowly so you can feel the lat working.

Some people try to do these with weights that are too heavy so they start using legs by bouncing up and doing the reps very quickly. You are actually wasting your time doing this. Keep your body still and make sure that only the lats are working and doing all the lifting. This will help you to build a wonderful V shaped body and a great way to train at home.

Bodybuilding Muscle| How to train and build a huge chest| Flat bench press with a straight bar

A bench press is a compound exercise. This means you work more than just your pecs. (Pectorals) You will work triceps as well as shoulders. Triceps and shoulders are secondary muscles so you need to focus mentally on the pecs doing all the lifting. If you do not really focus you can find either triceps or your shoulders failing before you have trained your chest sufficiently. The chest muscles are a big muscle and quite a bit bigger than both triceps and shoulders. I always train chest first on a chest training day. 

A flat bench press is great because it works the whole of the chest. Start with fairly light weights and do 5 sets of 12 reps per set. Too many people try to impress others by lifting weights that are too heavy. Do not use a spotter (someone who assists you with the weights) until the muscles are used to the exercise and you have perfected your form. You need to be able to handle the weights properly before you decide to go heavy.

You can see from the picture the height of the weights stand.

Push the weights up to a position where you can lock out your arms. At the top hold the weight for the count of 2 and flex as hard as possible. This helps to force extra blood into the muscle and helps with growth. Lower slowly to just above the chest.

Never bounce the weight off the chest you can do some serious damage. Always remember that when you lift the bar and when you lower the bar, do it fairly slowly so the pecs have to work hard. People often race and bounce the weights off the chest mainly so they can handle heavier weights. Avoid this at all costs. Remember you are training for you and not to impress others in the gym. 

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to train and build big legs| standing calf raises

Legs have the biggest muscles in the body and when you train them properly it does take quite a bit out of you. My good friend Vince Lambourne, who won Mr Zimbabwe, told me he would have to have at least an hour’s sleep after training his legs because it took so much out of him. I must admit it does take a lot out of me too.

I have had a number of people tell me on my YouTube site bazblog  that they do a lot of sport,so they don't need to train their legs. Wrong...you should never miss training legs.  If you are genetically blessed and have reasonable calves it is not hard to get them to look very muscular. A lot of people are not so lucky and are born with thin legs. For these people they have to work hard on their calves. Calves take forever to build. Please be very patient and keep working on them. The best way I have found to train and build them is with standing calf raises. If you go to a gym they usually have a calf machine. You will see I have to improvise and I put my plank that I do the raises on slightly back.

This means I lean very slightly forward so I do not have a balance problem because I just slide the bar up and down the stand.

Calves can take a lot of training so I like to do around 15 reps per set. I go really heavy when I am fit. For now I am using quite light weights and I would advise any beginner or bodybuilder that has had a lay off to start quite light and get used to the exercise. There is nothing worse then overdoing it and not being able to walk for a few days because you are so stiff.

I suggest 5 sets for calves.  Lower yourself down as far as possible and then fairly slowly raise up as high as you can go. Hold this position at the top for the count of 2 and then lower slowly down. You don't want to go too slow but do not race and bounce up and down. You want the calves to work as hard as possible because they are so hard to train and build.