Biceps Part 2/Forearm

Alternative Bicep/Forearm 

Looking back at my previous blogs I saw I could include a few more bicep workouts for you to use, whoever you may be.  Hammer curls and normal dumbbell curls are key to anybodies main bicep day. Other great exercises for you to try out are preacher curls and standing bar curls. Preacher curls are very good for extending your bicep just like hammer curls do. Standing bar curls are your standard curl that gives you that big knot everybody looks for in a muscular arm. Both exercises should be 3+ sets.  Add weight every set and lower your reps every set. I try to do 10,8,6 but if you start on lighter weight do 12,10,8 reps. Here is how you perform both exercises: - Preacher curls

(you can do variations of one arm Dumbbell preachers back to straight bar)

- Standing bar curls

Now onto forearms! Forearms are great for improving almost every other exercise. Having stronger forearms allows you to grip things much easier. Holding a flat bar while doing bench becomes easier so you can focus on performing a perfect bench lift. Holding dumbbells becomes easier when doing shrugs so you can do more reps. And not to mention forearms are completely underrated when it comes to making your arms look bigger. I am going to start with reverse barbell curls. - Reverse barbell curl

Follow the same reps and sets as above. This exercise allows you get more mass on top of your arm and get that defined line along the top of it. The second benefit is that it hits your biceps too so you are actually working out more than one muscle group. Now to hit the bottom part of your forearm. Barbell wrist curl is perfect for hitting the bottom of your forearms and give yourself mass on it. 

   - Barbell wrist curl

All of these images are straight off of google. These all show you the perfect range of motion you should be moving the weights as well as the position you should be in when performing the lifts.

abbs continued

Ab workout continued

Now here is an ab routine that is meant to be quick and painless, okay well maybe not painless that is kind of what we are looking to do here. In my last post I knew not everybody would want to work out abs for a very long time so here is a perfect routine for those who just like to hit abs as a warm up or right at the end of a work out right before they leave.

Lets begin.  I will post pictures of how to perform each of these workouts at the end. First we start with one minute bicycles. Lift your arms above your head and begin moving both legs in a pedaling motion. Reverse the direction of your pedal after 30 seconds. After that go into one minute pulse ups. Lie flat on the floor with your hands to each side. Raise your legs straight to the ceiling and slowly lift your hips off the floor. Keep your toes pointed towards the ceiling. Slowly lower your legs to the floor and repeat. Remember to take breaks when needed. One minute oblique side bends are next. Lying on your side, position your body with a slight bend at your waist. With hands behind your head, slowly lift your legs and torso towards the ceiling. This is a very awkward work out but gets easier as time goes on. Practice makes perfect! Fourth is V ups for one minute. SLOW SLOW SLOW that is the key to this one. Lying on the floor with hands above your head, slowly lift yourself up as if you were doing a sit-up and touch your toes. Slowly bring your body back to the floor while simultaneously lifting your legs about 30 degrees off the floor. With hands still behind your head, slowly lift your body again and touch your toes without bringing your legs to the ground. Hold for a moment and return to the starting position. The last minute is the one minute twist! Now this exercise is meant to be FAST FAST FAST! With knees bent, raise your legs about six inches off the floor. Move your upper body in a twisting motion side to side, touching both hands on the floor. The faster you go the harder it gets. Feel free to add Dumbbells if it gets to become too easy. 

- Bicycle.

- Pulse ups

- Side Bends

- V ups

- Twist

Abbs

Abbs

Alrighty people, I hate to say it but when it comes to abbs most the work is done in the kitchen and not in the gym. Because this blog is about abb workouts and not diet yet though I will stick straight to some good abb workouts. The First exercise is Vertical Leg Crunches. This is what is looks like :

                                                                                                                                       

"How to:

1. Lie on the floor and extend the legs straight up with knees crossed.
2. Place your hands behind the head for support, but avoid pulling on the neck.
3. Contract the abs to lift the shoulder blades off the floor, as though reaching your chest towards your feet.
4. Keep the legs in a fixed position and imagine bringing your belly button towards your spine at the top of the movement.

Lower and repeat for 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
These are good for core abbs but help with your legs a bit I might add.
The next exercise is Captains Chair Leg raise. This exercise requires the machine to hold you up and cannot be done without it unfortunately. This is is how to do the exercise:
                                                                                                                                 
"How to:

1. Stand on the chair and grip handholds to stabilize your upper body.
2. Press your back against the pad and contract the abs to raise the legs and lift knees towards your chest.
3. Don't arch the back or swing the legs up.
4. Slowly lower back down and repeat for 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps. "
5. You can also change the angle of your legs to come it at the side to workout the outside of your abbs.

My final exercise I do is Planks. Planks are great because they can be done anywhere just like the first exercise and also work your back and arms out a little too. Here is how you do this one:                                                                                          
"How to:

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps."

Now all of these exercises you can follow the recommended reps and set, if you do not want to take that long and are looking for a quicker abb exercise. My next blog will show you a faster one.                         

Fitness

Legs Day

Fitness

Shoulders

Want to get that arm shredded? Want to get a little wider so you fill in those large shirts better? This is how you do it.  Shoulder workouts are so important for your upper body. It helps with nearly every other workout you do.  People tend to forget about doing those shoulder workouts.  Personally I work them out on chest day since you can hit both muscle groups at once.  They do all those things I listed above, which are all pretty important things if you want to get that full body workout throughout the week.  

I have three main workouts I am going to show you, dumbbell lateral raises, dumbbell front raises, and bent over lateral raises. Each of these I do 3 sets with reps of 12, 10, and 8.  The higher the reps the cutter you get which will show on your arms a lot and give you that shredded arm everybody wants whether you're a guy or girl. Lets start with lateral raises. "Raise the dumbells out to your sides until they reach shoulder level. Complete the exercise by lowering the dumbells back to the starting position." These will work the side deltoids perfectly, the first picture below will show you how to perform this exercise. Next is the dumbbell front raises.  "Using one arm at a time, raise a dumbell out in front of you to shoulder level. Complete the exercise by lowering the dumbell under control back to the starting position. Repeat with the opposite side". The second picture will show you how to perform this exercise. Finally you do the bent over lateral raises.  "Stand bent at the waist with your knees slightly spread. Grasp the dumbells with your palms facing inward and your elbows slightly bent. Raise the dumbells out to your sides.  Return the dumbells back to the starting position".

 

http://www.muscletech.com/resources/features/shoulder_training/

Fitness

Back Day

Back day has recently became my favorite day to work out. After watching the latest batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, and seeing Bane (The Villain) with his enormous back it changed my perspective on lifting. When you start off lifting everybody just wants to get huge arms that make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

                                                                                                                           

Those arms are big right, but I would rather look a little something like this:

 

 Most people tend to work out your Latissimus  Dori a.k.a. your lats more than anything else.  That is because your lats are the biggest muscles on your back. Yes, that will make your back bigger and give you that V look, but there are a couple other muscles that will make your entire upper back a lot stronger and give it a better look to it. I am going to start with every mans favorite back exercise, the Lat Pull downs. they look a little something like this:

            

Hit that machine and you will have a back like bane in no time. Working out your traps give you good size and make your neck look thicker.  There aren't many exercises to working your traps out. The easiest way I have found is to simply take dumbbells at waist side, lower your head, and raise your shoulders to ear height and lower them. The other muscle you should focus on working out is your rhomboid. that is the muscle between your shoulders which gives you a nice crease and defines your back more rather than just size. The workout for this is very simple, like the lat pull down picture you see above, you do the same thing but use a narrower bar about 4 inches apart with the handles parallel.  You do all the same motion as the picture above your hands are just closer.  Doing these three workouts will allow your upper back to increase in both strength and size. 

         Murphy, Myatt. "Back Exercises." Men's Health Magazine : Men's Guide to Fitness, Health, Weight Loss, Nutrition, Sex, Style and Guy Wisdom. Rodale Inc, 28 July 2011. Web. 06 Feb. 2013. <http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/back-exercises>                                                                                          

Fitness

Chest Day

This discussion will be about working out your chest aka pectorals. I have been trying to get some size on my body, so I will be talking about how to get mass and girth on your chest. There are many exercises and different ways to perform them to work out your chest, I am going to talk about the top 5 that I use. 

First I'll talk about the actual muscle it self. Your chest is two muscles, the pectoral major and minor, but just one big muscle mass really. When working out you focus on three different sections of it; your upper, lower, and middle sections.  All exercises will be 3 sets consisting of 10 reps, 8 reps, and 6 reps. The higher the reps the lower weight you can lift which will cut you up rather than give you size. The lower the reps the more weight you can lift which will give you size, so that is why you end on 6 reps for final and do not do more.  

I am going to start with middle section of your chest. Straight flat bench works that part of your chest the best, so I always make sure I do that work out every time it's chest day.  When working my upper chest, I do one of two workouts.  Incline dumbbell press and incline normal bench.  Both of them work your upper chest perfectly. Lower chest you can do the same thing as upper, but instead of being on an incline bench you will be on a decline one. Here are some pictures to show you what some of the exercises look like:

                  My two other workouts I like to do while on chest day are pec deck machineand chest dips .

 Stewart, Alex. "5 Mass-Building Chest Workouts." Bodybuilding.com. Bodybuilding.com, 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginner-chest-training-guide.htm>