This is something that, once it was pointed out to me, I started to see everywhere. Guys with huge biceps, but flabby triceps. Guys with awesome lower back strength, but no core strength. Guys with a huge chest, but a small back.
The last ones are my favorite, you know the ones that walk around with their chests sticking out, their shoulders pulling forward and their palms turned inward as they walk because they are so imbalanced.
A lot of times people will get obsessed with a certain muscle or couple of muscles and only work those and neglect the other ones, like the guy who only does bicep curls because "it's what the girls like" or the guy who is so obsessed about his max bench press that it's all he focuses on.
These are the guys who will always look the exact same muscular-wise and will end up with a host of problems (the most common being back pain when they are older).
Here's the thing, you need to know how to keep your muscle balanced. If you are doing three quad dominant exercises like leg press, lunge and leg extension, then you better be doing three hip dominant exercises, like stiff leg dead lifts, good mornings and leg curls, to counteract an imbalance in the pelvis.
If you are doing three horizontal pushing exercises for your chest like bench press, incline bench press, and decline bench press, you better be doing three horizontal pulling exercises, like seated row, bent over row and overhand row, to counteract an imbalance in the shoulders.
Not only will this prevent injury and aching, it will allow you to make greater gains. Most people don't realize how much of their strength in certain exercises actually comes from the strength or relationship of other muscles in your body.
An example would be deadlifts. A lot of your strength from deadlifts doesn't come from your lower back or your biceps or lats, it comes from your core strength. If your core isn't strong enough to handle the load, it doesn't matter how strong your other muscles are, you're not going anywhere.
If you have not been making the gains you want in a certain area, it could mean that you need to work on another muscle first. Vince Del Monte's program, the one I am currently using, covers all of this and his workouts make sure to have proper muscular balance.
Click Here! if you want to check out the program.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Check Out New YouTube Channel
Hey guys, before I say anything I have to tell you that I have a YouTube Channel now, username is givememuscle2009. I'm gonna be posting a lot of exclusive video content on it so be sure to check it out!
Anyways, I am really starting to gain a lot of confidence in this program. It's been six weeks and I've already gained 11 pounds of muscle so I'm pretty excited.
I decided that I'm going to put up updates of my increases in strength, too, along with my progress pics and video updates, so be looking out for that.
That's about it for now, keep checking back for more info and updates and if you want to check out the muscle-building program that's giving me a lot of results you can Click Here!
Anyways, I am really starting to gain a lot of confidence in this program. It's been six weeks and I've already gained 11 pounds of muscle so I'm pretty excited.
I decided that I'm going to put up updates of my increases in strength, too, along with my progress pics and video updates, so be looking out for that.
That's about it for now, keep checking back for more info and updates and if you want to check out the muscle-building program that's giving me a lot of results you can Click Here!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Video Update - Real Results
Video I decided to make giving you the truth behind some of the outrageous claims being made by some ads and sites.
Click Here! to learn more about the program I'm using!
Click Here! to learn more about the program I'm using!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Train More, Eat More
Hey guys, I came across this pretty cool concept to help build muscle faster and decrease the amount of fat you will gain.
This is known as the G-flux concept. In a nutshell, it can be said with the phrase "Train More, Eat More". It's better to train more and eat more than train less and eat less. Here's an example.
Let's say a person burns 3000 calories a day. He would need to take in 3500 calories a day to build one pound of muscle (500 extra x 7 days a week = 3500. There's 3500 calories in a pound of muscle).
Let's take another guy who burns the same amount per day, but also burns 500 calories a day through cardio. Because of this cardio he now burns 3500 calories, so in order to keep gaining weight he ups his calories eaten a day to 4000.
Now, at first glance, it might seem that they both will make the same gain, but that's not exactly true. They will both gain a pound, but the second guy will have more of the weight gain be muscle because he exhausted his muscle in a greater variety of ways so he will gain muscle in more places.
Also, the second guy will have less fat and have more cardiovascular health (be better at cardio). This is one of the secrets of gaining huge amounts of muscle in a short amount of time while keeping your body fat from getting too high at the same time. By training more (and in different ways) and eating more, you are going to get greater gains than training less and eating less.
One thing that people worry about with this approach is over-training. Over-training is a term that gets thrown around too much. Usually when people refer to over-training in weightlifting they actually mean Central Nervous System Fatigue.
Your nervous system gets fatigued when you do to much high intensity weight training, but if you alternate between high intensity weight training, low intensity cardio and interval training you will be able to train more without fatiguing the nervous system.
The only people who get TRULY over-trained are olympic/professional athletes who train with extreme intensity for long periods of time (I'm talking 6 months - 1 year or more).
Most of the time over-trained actually means under-nourished. As long as you have the calories and nutrients to keep up with the training, you should be good.
A lot of hardgainers are given the advice of not doing any cardio or any type of extra training outside of weightlifting. This is good general advice for someone who can't get the required calories, but if you follow this belief and never do any other type of training, you will be limiting the amount of gains you make.
The secret is knowing what extra exercises to do and when to do them. This is something that Vince talks a little about in his program, which you can find out more about if you Click Here!
This is known as the G-flux concept. In a nutshell, it can be said with the phrase "Train More, Eat More". It's better to train more and eat more than train less and eat less. Here's an example.
Let's say a person burns 3000 calories a day. He would need to take in 3500 calories a day to build one pound of muscle (500 extra x 7 days a week = 3500. There's 3500 calories in a pound of muscle).
Let's take another guy who burns the same amount per day, but also burns 500 calories a day through cardio. Because of this cardio he now burns 3500 calories, so in order to keep gaining weight he ups his calories eaten a day to 4000.
Now, at first glance, it might seem that they both will make the same gain, but that's not exactly true. They will both gain a pound, but the second guy will have more of the weight gain be muscle because he exhausted his muscle in a greater variety of ways so he will gain muscle in more places.
Also, the second guy will have less fat and have more cardiovascular health (be better at cardio). This is one of the secrets of gaining huge amounts of muscle in a short amount of time while keeping your body fat from getting too high at the same time. By training more (and in different ways) and eating more, you are going to get greater gains than training less and eating less.
One thing that people worry about with this approach is over-training. Over-training is a term that gets thrown around too much. Usually when people refer to over-training in weightlifting they actually mean Central Nervous System Fatigue.
Your nervous system gets fatigued when you do to much high intensity weight training, but if you alternate between high intensity weight training, low intensity cardio and interval training you will be able to train more without fatiguing the nervous system.
The only people who get TRULY over-trained are olympic/professional athletes who train with extreme intensity for long periods of time (I'm talking 6 months - 1 year or more).
Most of the time over-trained actually means under-nourished. As long as you have the calories and nutrients to keep up with the training, you should be good.
A lot of hardgainers are given the advice of not doing any cardio or any type of extra training outside of weightlifting. This is good general advice for someone who can't get the required calories, but if you follow this belief and never do any other type of training, you will be limiting the amount of gains you make.
The secret is knowing what extra exercises to do and when to do them. This is something that Vince talks a little about in his program, which you can find out more about if you Click Here!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Additions to the Blog!
I added some new sections to the blog, you can check em out on the sidebar under Site Navigation.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Self-Proportion/Developing All Muscles Equally
Ok, so there's basically 3 main muscles that every guy wants: pecs, biceps and abs. Because this is what most people focus on, it becomes the only muscles that a lot of people work. I can't tell you how many times I see guys do a couple sets of bench press and a couple sets of curls and be done.
There is no such thing as spot-training. You can't just work certain muscles and expect just those ones to grow. Your body has a self-proportion system. It will always try it's hardest to keep it's original muscle proportions, so no matter how hard you try, if you only focus on one or two muscles your growth for that muscle will stop within a short period of time.
This is why compound and full body exercises are so important. The more muscles you work, the more your body will allow other muscles to grow. It is estimated that gaining one inch on your biceps requires you to build 10 pounds of muscle on your overall frame, so if you want those nice arms, you're going to have to start on those deadlifts and squats.
I know, I know, I can hear all the sighs now. I hate doing leg and lower body exercises, too. It's really tiring and takes a lot out of you, but don't worry, I have some motivation for you.
Studies have shown that people who train their lower bodies have a 20% increase in muscle mass on their upper bodies. This is because the majority of the muscle on your body is in your glutes and thighs, so how well these muscles are developed has a considerable impact on how well the rest of your body will develop.
So there you go, no matter what muscle you really want to develop, the first step is to train the whole body.
There's a lot more information on this and many other topics in Vince Del Monte's No-Nonsense Guide to Muscle Building.
Click Here! to check it out!
There is no such thing as spot-training. You can't just work certain muscles and expect just those ones to grow. Your body has a self-proportion system. It will always try it's hardest to keep it's original muscle proportions, so no matter how hard you try, if you only focus on one or two muscles your growth for that muscle will stop within a short period of time.
This is why compound and full body exercises are so important. The more muscles you work, the more your body will allow other muscles to grow. It is estimated that gaining one inch on your biceps requires you to build 10 pounds of muscle on your overall frame, so if you want those nice arms, you're going to have to start on those deadlifts and squats.
I know, I know, I can hear all the sighs now. I hate doing leg and lower body exercises, too. It's really tiring and takes a lot out of you, but don't worry, I have some motivation for you.
Studies have shown that people who train their lower bodies have a 20% increase in muscle mass on their upper bodies. This is because the majority of the muscle on your body is in your glutes and thighs, so how well these muscles are developed has a considerable impact on how well the rest of your body will develop.
So there you go, no matter what muscle you really want to develop, the first step is to train the whole body.
There's a lot more information on this and many other topics in Vince Del Monte's No-Nonsense Guide to Muscle Building.
Click Here! to check it out!
Friday, October 9, 2009
1 Month Video Update!
Well, I'm finally done with my first month on the program and I am really glad with the results. As promised, below I have put my video update. Below the video I have a link to Vince's program as well as my first update pic. See you guys on Monday with another post!
Vince Del Monte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building Guide
Vince Del Monte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building Guide
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