Building Muscles

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Shoulders| deltoids| Shoulder presses with dumbbells (1)

 Start point

You start with the weights by the top of the shoulders with the weights by your head. I love dumbbells as they do not put your shoulders under too much strain. The shoulder joints are easily damaged if you do not train right.  If you do not know what you are doing with weights, and are still learning, do not do many exercises behind the head. You can damage the shoulder joint.  Using a straight bar and doing a military press is fine for seasoned bodybuilders but not good for beginners. Dumbbells are better.  You can twist them slightly so you do not feel and strain on the shoulder joints.  You need to get your mind right for the training. See the middle deltoid doing most of the lift. This exercise is one that will work the front deltoid a bit but only very slightly the rear deltoid. It is a great middle deltoid exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build a Massive Chest| Pectorals (pecs)3

At the top is the start and finish of the rep. You can make this a great rep or just an ordinary rep. The reason I say this is, the average person will try to get the weight up and down as quickly as possible in order to get the reps and set finished. If you are serious about your training then you will want to get the most from each rep. In order to do this I have found that at the start/finish position you can try to contract or flex the chest muscles (pecs). This does mean you will have to be focused and concentrate on what you are doing. What actually happens when you contract the pecs is you actually pump extra blood into the muscle causing it to stress slightly more than normal. You will find that, because of the slight pause and contraction of the muscle, you will get a much better burn.

I have found that by making each rep count, I get much more from my training. Training is about taking your time using focus. It is not about trying to race your way through the exercises.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build a Massive Chest| Pectorals (pecs) - 2

From this photo you can see the midway position of the weight. As you can see from the position of the hands, they are wider than the shoulder width. There is a good reason for this. The closer together your hands, the less the pecs work and the more you bring the triceps into play.

Bench presses use a number of secondary muscles including deltoids (shoulders) and triceps, part of the arm. You have to be very careful when you train that you are focusing on the right muscle - the chest (pecs) muscle. If you do not get your mind right, the smaller weaker muscles like the triceps will think they are the ones being trained. You will finish the training not really getting the most out of the chest training. It is also very important to remember that if you train triceps on the same day as you train chest, always train the chest first. If you train the triceps first then they will be too fatigued to be able to get a proper chest workout.  I have often had people tell me that they get tired in other places instead of the chest. It is because the focus is not on the muscle being trained.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build a Massive Chest| Pectorals (pecs)

Training and building the chest muscles is probably one of the most popular aspects of bodybuilding. I would say training biceps also falls into this category. Everyone wants a huge chest and bulging biceps.

To have a massive chest, you have to train correctly. Unfortunately, a lot of the younger bodybuilders will judge you by how much weight you can bench press. It almost becomes a competition as to how much you can do. This often means that the form goes out of the window and it is all about the weight.

You will see from the photo that, at the bottom of the movement, the weight is just on or slightly above the chest. This is really important. When the weight is too heavy you will have to “bounce” the weight off the chest to get it up. That is not only dangerous, but very bad for you. You might be showing off to the people in the gym but it proves nothing, and it means you cannot lift properly. You will never get a massive chest doing this.

When the weight is down, take a small pause 1 sec or so before you push the weight up. This puts a great deal of stress on the pecs (pectoral muscles) so they have to work really hard which is what causes the growth. You will also find that you will be using more of the pecs to do the work too. Nothing beats good form.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Big guns| Huge Biceps with Standing Bicep Curls

This is the top of the movement doing the bicep curl. Again, in this particular movement, I did not want to do any variation with the exercise but keep the curl to a basic strict curl. One thing I have learned is,  if you can flex/contract the muscle at the top of the movement, you put a tremendous amount of added stress to the muscle. You can imagine how great this will work. Try standing and flexing the biceps like you are doing a pose. Hold it for a little while flexing as hard as you can. You will feel the muscle stressing and a slight burn taking place in a fairly short space of time. Now think of how much more of a stress will take place if you do the same but with weights.

It is these little things that you can do that take a good training session and make a fantastic training session. 

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Big guns| Huge Biceps with Standing Bicep Curls

In the picture you can see the weight half way through the movement. You will notice that the elbows are tucked into the sides. You will also see that the back stays straight upright and there is no backward slant of the back to aid lifting the weight. The weight is not being assisted with a “swing”. The bicep muscle has to do all the work.

It must be a controlled movement so going both up and down is deliberate.  The return or negative part of the movement is really important - especially toward the end of the set when the muscles are fatigued. It is at this time that you will “Cheat” slightly with a bit of a swing to get the weight up. As it comes down slowly and controlled, you are putting maximum resistance on the muscle and you will get the best growth.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Big guns| Huge Biceps with Standing Bicep Curls

Standing Bicep Curls

I have found that it is really easy to keep the arms slightly bent and hold the weights up a bit when doing standing bicep curls. With doing it this way, I can lift heavier weights. By letting my arms extend to their full length, and not bending them slightly, I have a full long range of movement. I get a better burn this way.

I have also found that I have to concentrate a lot more with the exercise. Think about it like this - if you want a train to move, the initial start takes a tremendous amount of effort and energy. Once it is moving then it uses its own momentum to keep going. It is similar with lifting the weights. The start is really important and requires great effort which helps to put the muscle under pressure. Under pressure muscles grow.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Big guns| Huge Biceps with Standing Bicep Curls

The Importance of Testimonials

Testimonials are one of the nicest things you can get, especially if you just get them, and you do not have to ask for them. One of the things I have learned about getting great compliment is never play them down. I think that is insulting to the person giving the testimonial. I know we often want to do that because we do not want to come across as big headed or arrogant. We then try to make out like it is no big deal, instead of accepting the compliment with grace. If you can accept the compliment with grace you actually make the compliment giver feel good about giving you the compliment. Playing it down will make them feel uncomfortable and then they will not want to give you any more compliments or acknowledge the good job you have done. Think about it - you put in all the effort you possibly can to do a good job and then when you get a reward for it you act like it is nothing. Getting great things in your life is very dependent on whether you know how to receive. If you want to achieve anything in life you have to learn to ask for what it is you want. Then put in the effort - and the most important of all is to be ready to receive. It is at this point most people drive success  away. Always be open to receive with gratitude and grace and a lot of good things will keep coming your way.

Hello Sir.

My name is Tank and I am from Saskatchewan, Canada. I apologize for this being so long, I know you are a busy person, but bear with me please.

I would just like to take this time to say thank you to you, for all your time you have devoted to try and help others with their workout quests. You could very easily use your time for other things but instead you choose to try and help others and I am very appreciative and grateful to you for that.

I am 22 years old, 6 ft 2, 192 pounds, and have gotten more and more out of shape since my last senior year in school. I am not fat or anything, but I have lost much of the muscle I had at one time. I always said I would get back into shape and I never bothered to make the commitment. Thanks to your videos, I now have new motivation. Your energy, happiness and effort at 58 years old is truly remarkable, and makes me feel ashamed of how many excuses I have made at my mere 22 years of age. You and your videos are the sole reason I have started to work out again, and have now set goals for myself, and am well on my way to them.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to try and help others, the world needs more people such as you. I appreciate everything your doing and your time. If you’re ever in Canada, the beer is on me!

Take care.

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to Train and Build a Massive body using Weights

Training Correctly

You can train hard but if you do not do it correctly you will not get the full results that you are entitled to. This goes for every aspect of your life. We often do a lot of what we believe to be good, but never seem to get the end result we want. Then someone shows you something slightly different, you make the correction, and you get what it is you are after. That is why it is so important to have an open mind in life. Most people are on the right track but do not have the final finishing touches which make all the difference.

The following comment I got from a young man certainly shows this to be true.  It was not that he was not training, but he needed to make a few minor adjustments to what he was doing to enjoy better results.  Where the information came from is not important. He was looking for more. When you really want something it will come to you and often from an unexpected direction.

Hi,

I'm 23 years old male from Finland, the most northern Europe. First of all, the biggest thank you ever for these videos, your positive attitude and clear & simple instructions have inspired me for some time already. I've been going out on gym for about a year now, and less than 4 months I've been trying to get my body a bit bigger, after the 8 month period of basic endurance training.

I can clearly see what I've been doing wrong in the past, like pulling up the weights in a wrong way and in overall techniques as well. I've gained so much better results after your instructions; I also got many new tips and moves from your videos.

Please, keep up the good work, your videos might be more important to people than you could imagine :)

Greets and all the best for you!
-Janne

Training Shoulders/Back/Abs - from Scotland

Another video taken while on holiday last week.