Bodybuilding and General Workout Tips
Workout tips are given left right and centre by every bodybuilding expert and general fitness enthusiast out there. What we intend to do with this page is to filter through the vast array of opinions and theories that are out there and to provide you with what we believe to be useful tips. Tips that you may want to incorporate into your workouts.
Bodybuilding Workout Tip of the month. Obliques - The forgotten muscle group.
Work them and watch your stomach change shape
The Obliques are the muscles to the side of your abdomen. They are worked in a variety of ways, but the most efective method is by performing side dips (either with or without a weight).
Most people neglect their obliques when working their abdomen, instead concentrating on performing set after set of abdominal crunches and sit-ups.
THIS IS A MISTAKE!
Beefing up the obliques, not only gives shape and density to the edges of the abdomen, but also stretches out the fat that surounds your stomach. This then titghtens the entire midsection, giving shape, form and density to the entire area.
How to excersise the Obliques
With a dumbbell in either one or both hands, held against the side, you should bend sideways from the far left to the far right, lowering down slowly and lifting quickly. This should be repeated for between 10-15 repetitions, for say 2 or 3 sets. Note that for the best results, this exercise should be incorporated into your general abdominal workout, as excersing any abdominal muscle will affect the adjacent muscles and therefore will have a cumulative affect on the developement of the entire area.
Bodybuilding Workout Tip 2. Forced reps
Pain and Gain
Unlike most of the bodybuilding workout tips that are provided on this site, this particular tip requires the assistance of one other person (sorry). If you exercise alone (I do), then a techniques that provides a similar affect is available and is discussed in tip 3 - Pyramiding. How to break through the wall.
Forced reps are a brilliant method for taking your muscles to their absolute limit and pushing them beyond it. To break down the process of forced repetitions I have used the standing barbell curl as an example exercise. Although any exercise may incorporate this technique.
With your partner stood in front of you and a sufficiently heavy barbell in your hands - one that you can normally manage no more than 6 or 7 reps with, you perform as below:
1. Lift the berbell in a controlled fashion for as many repetitions as you can manage. Avoiding the use of your legs to jerk the weight as much as possible. Note that if you ‘cannot’ manage more than 5 reps or if you ‘can’ manage more than 8 reps, then the weight is wrong for you.
2. When you have lifted the bar as many times as you are able, it is time for your partner to help out.
3. He or she should use their hands to nudge the bar up with just enough force for you to be able to manage to reach a set of 10-12 reps.
4. One minutes rest is allowed between sets. Just enough to drain the lactic acid from the muscles, but not enough for the muscle to fully recover from the excursion of the exercise.
5. The exercise is then repeated. Again with you‘re partner helping out when you can manage no more reps. Taking you once again to 10-12 reps.
If you repeat this process for three or four sets, you will find that you are unable to lift a glass of water to your mouth for a good while, but you will also find that your muscles will react and grow!
Bodybuilding Workout Tip 3. How to Bulk up your Chest
Big Pecs are Closer than you Think!
A lot of people spend years pumping away at the Bench Press. Positive that only by pilling on the weight and performing this exercise religiously, will they achieve that allusive goal of a large and defined chest. Well I will start right away by saying that Bench Press is not enough! To grow a chest (or for that matter any muscle group) you need to vary. By vary I don’t just mean the exercises that you use – I also mean how you perform each exercise.
To gain muscle mass on your chest, it is true that Bench Press is the best exercise (it is also very good for bulking up those Triceps), but to prevent the pecs from becoming to accustomed to the exercise, you must vary the form that it takes.
Try mixing the standard Barbell Press with Dumbbell Press. This gets the muscles from a slightly different angle and also requires more auxiliary muscles due to the extra effort of balance that is required in this variation of the movement.
O.k so by varying the mix of Bench Press - say by performing two sets of Barbell Press and 2 sets of Dumbell Press in one workout and say three dumbell and one barbell press in another, you gain the muscle volume that you desire. The next thing to do is to shape that muscle and the best way to do that is to incorporate the Fly and the Incline Bench Press to your workout. But be sure not to add more than one set of each into your routine. Otherwise muscle mass will begin to suffer.
Bodybuilding Workout Tip 4.
How to broaden your shoulders
A lot of people pump away at their shoulders for hours in order to develop broad shoulders, performing set after set of shoulder press. This does thicken the shoulders to a point, however to develop broadness, rather than just thickness, a different strategy is called for.
There are three distinct heads to the shoulder muscle (or Deltoids). The Anterior Deltoid (front of the shoulder), the Posterior Deltoid (back of the shoulder), and the Lateral Deltoid (side of the shoulder - see below image). Now what you really want to focus on for that broad shouldered look are the Lateral Deltoids. This may be accomplished as follows.
The Lateral Raise
This exercise should be performed with a dumbbell in each hand and the arms slightly bent. The movement should begin with the weights held together in front of the body, whilst stood up. The arms should then be raised so that the weights are parallel with the shoulders and then lowered slowly. Be sure to lean slightly forward whilst performing this exercise, otherwise the Anterior Deltoids will take the brunt of the load.