Whole body routines (the act of training your whole body in one session) have not been popular for years but they should be, because for the man or woman looking to build muscle, lose fat, and feel great they fit the bill perfectly.

O.K.

I can here some people saying, well what about the ever popular split routine and things like that.

Well, I realize that split routines are popular (a spit routine is where you split you body up into different days like, chest and arms on Monday, legs on Tuesday, then you take a day off and hit shoulders on Thursday) and more-than-likely necessary for some one looking to compete in bodybuilding.

The reason I say spilt routines are necessary for someone looking to compete in bodybuilding is because, well, you need to use more exercises to make sure every part of the muscle is developed.

Of course, you might be thinking, isn’t this important for the man who trains simply so that he will look good without a shirt, or the woman who wants to look good in a bikini.

Yes, it is important, but not to the same degree, as long as you give all of your muscles equal attention you will be O.K., everything might not be exact, but it does not have to be.

SOME POINTS

The main reason I feel whole body workouts are tops for people just looking to train to build muscle and keep in shape is that, they can finish their whole body on say Monday and then they do not have to train again until Wednesday.

And if you have a family or some other pressing concerns having that whole day off is going to help a ton.

Plus because whole body routines usually focus on the big lifts, you get more bang-for-your buck hormonally than you do with split routines.

The next benefit you get from doing whole body workouts is that on your day off you can do cardio—and it does not necessarily have to be done at the gym.

Just about everyone has a treadmill in their basement that is just gathering dust.
For example, before the kids get up, do a quick half hour of brisk walking—not only is this a great way to get going in the morning, but for the rest of the day you will know that you have already fit in your cardio.

Lastly, there is one more reason to do whole body workouts, and that is simply because you use your whole body in one session.

O.K.

Before you say, well that is obvious.

Let me explain.

Rarely in life do you use just one body part, for example when you pick up a heavy bag of groceries, you don’t just use your arms, but your lower back, maybe legs, and upper back.

Even something like cutting grass requires you to use your whole body, from pulling the cord, to pushing the mover, to empting the bag; your whole body gets used.

So it makes sense to use your whole body in one workout.

CONCLUSION

Whole body workouts are a very effective way to train, and they deserve to be more popular again.

In an upcoming blog post I will detail a whole body workout you can try along with giving you some pointers on how to get the most out of your whole body workouts.

Until Next Time

KEEP AN OPEN MIND

Dynamic or explosive lifts like the power clean and high pull are terrific exercises—however for some reason people have a problem with them.

I’ve read in a popular muscle magazine (just recently in fact) about how dangerous explosive lifts are.

And it really bugs me.

The person who said this was and is a respected member of the bodybuilding community.

The trouble is this comment has no substance to it.

Why?

Simple.

Any lift can be dangerous if it is done with improper form—no question about it.

But what about the man or woman who reads about the power clean—again for example—and wants to try it, but goes about it the right way.

Let’s say he or she asks around and finds a competent teacher of the lift and learns how to do it right—from the beginning.

Will our imaginary lifter have any problems?

Chances are they would not, and here is the kicker—they will have just learned a new exercise that they can add into their program—for variety, whenever they want.

Of course, the opposite is also true.

If our imaginary lifter does not take the time to ACTUALLY learn to do the power clean right—and ignores the advice of more experience people who KNOW how to do the lift.

Then yes, chances are he or she will get hurt and then complain about how horrible the dynamic lifts are.

SOME POINTS

When most people here the word dynamic or explosive along with the word lifting I feel they automatically assume that this means that you will be jerking the weight around and or doing something unsafe.

I feel THIS is where the negative aspect comes from—however anyone who has done or who has at least studied lifts like the power clean KNOWS that you are not cheating or jerking the weight.

Also, as stated above, if you have never done any dynamic lifting before, take the time to learn how to do lifts like the power clean CORRECTLY from the beginning.

CONCLUSION

Explosive lifts like the power clean or high pulls are wonderful exercises—but they need to be learned and you must respect the lift just like you do any other exercise—otherwise you could get hurt.

So please, if you ever read or here about such-and-such exercise being dangerous, take the time to investigate the claim and see if it has any merit or if it is just a bunch of hooey.

If you don’t you may be missing out on something that you might benefit from.

Until Next Time

ALWAYS TRY

I don’t think too many people would argue with the idea that the perfect X-Frame physique starts with wide shoulders.

To me wide shoulders are impressive and as I have noted before, you really don’t see too many people around today that posses truly wide shoulders.

Before we begin, I feel we need to make a distinction, while it is true that some people are born with a naturally wider shoulder structure than others—EVERYBODY can, with hard work on the side deltoid head, create the illusion of having wide (or at least wider) shoulders.

THE EXERCISES

The two exercises that you will be focusing on to build up your side delt head are the overhead press done with either a barbell or dumbbells and lean away laterals—done one arm at a time with a dumbbell.

I am only going to go through the overhead press for this post, and will, in a future post, write about lean away laterals.

THE OVERHEAD PRESS

Before I begin my description of how to properly do the overhead press, I want to address something that I feel is important.

I know people think the overhead press is dangerous, but this is ridiculous, any exercise that you do with improper form is going to be dangerous.

If you do the overhead press in strict form, the right way, and don’t goof around with it—you will be fine.

O.K

Onto the exercise.

DESCRIPTION OF THE OVERHEAD PRESS

I am going to assume you will be taking the barbell off a rack to do your presses, if you do not have one; it is ok, simply just clean the bar to your shoulders and start from there.

The first thing about overhead presses that I simply cannot stress enough is warming up, trust me, if you hurt your shoulders you will regret it.

Taking the time to do two sets of twenty reps with an empty bar, before you begin adding weight, will go a long way towards keeping your shoulders and elbows healthy.

O.K., rant over, now take the barbell off the rack and set your self, make sure your feet are planted firmly, in fact actually try and grip the floor with your toes, make sure your abs are tight, along with the rest of your body.

Take a breath and press, keep your wrists locked and once the barbell is past your face (it should almost brush your nose) put your head through the space, do not look up, keep looking forward, and lock out at the top, hold for a count, and slowly lower.

A COUPLE OF POINTS

At the top of the rep you want the bar to be over the back of your head and when you lower the weight your can raise your shoulders to kind of create a kind of shelve you can rest the bar on while you re-set your self for the next rep.

And that is an important point, please reset for the next rep (making sure your whole body is tight and your feet are firmly planted), especially when you are first learning the lift. Do not worry about how much weight you are using, simply master the lift first then you can start adding weight.

CLOSING POINTS

On the surface the overhead press seems like a simple lift, but it is not, which is why I recommend that beginners to the lift (or those coming back to it after a long lay off) start with the basic 5×5 (that’s five sets of five reps per set) program.

The overhead press is a wonderful lift that will build your shoulders from front to back, but again please take the time to learn the lift and be aware while this post is a good beginning it is just that, a beginning.

SOME MORE CLOSING POINTS

If using a barbell hurts your shoulders switch to using dumbbells for your presses.

In fact, it would be a good idea to rotate between using a barbell for a week or two and then switching over to dumbbells, as dumbbells will have a totally different feel and activate the muscles differently then the barbell.

Over time this will result in a more complete development of the shoulders and this is a good thing.

CONCLUSION

The overhead press done with either a barbell or dumbbells will work your shoulders from front to back and side-to-side, along with hitting your triceps and middle back.

Along with this it will also help keep your rotator cuffs strong.

The overhead press is a hard lift, but don’t be scared off—a wider set of shoulders—not to mention a perfect beginning to your X Frame—

Awaits the trainer who can push through and really master the lift.

Until Next Time

WORK HARD BUT SMART

When you flip through the magazines or read the online forums you always see articles or posts about building your chest or arms—but what about the forearms.

I haven’t read too many articles that talked about improving your grip strength.

And this is a shame because your forearms are involved in just about everything—so it would make sense to make sure your forearms were not holding you back.

I know people will say—I train hard and heavy—don’t you think my forearms get enough work.

Maybe, but as with anything, why take the chance that your grip is solid enough to hold onto that new PR in the dead lift?

SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW

We have all seen (and have probably used) those sporting goods store grippers—you know the kind that you squeeze shut—and honestly most of them were probably not very good.

But.

I can without hesitation recommend THE CAPTIANS OF CRUSH HAND GRIPPERS for those who are serious about beefing up their grip strength.

I’ve owned them for years and I mean those things can take anything.

If you are serious about working your forearms and are up to the challenge head on over to www.captainsofcrushgrippers.com and check them out—you will be seriously glad you did.

Also, while we are at it check out the place that started it all www.ironmind.com

They have some of the best equipment you can buy—you won’t be disappointed.

OTHER METHODS

Now you don’t have to go with the captains of crush grippers—you can try the tried and true method of crumpling up a piece of newspaper with one hand—a very solid technique.

Or you can try towel chin-ups; basically you hang two towels over a chin-up bar and pull yourself up.

Sounds easy I know, but it is brutal—leave this exercise out of your forearm building routine if you can barley do one chin/pull-up.

Take your time and build up to being able to do at least one solid set of twelve reps of each before trying the towel method.

If towel chins don’t appeal to you give finger tip push-ups a try—do them like you would a normal push-up except that you stay up on your finger tips instead of keeping your palms flat-on-the-floor.

Another thing you can try is, doing hammer curls with dumbbells; these are done like a normal curl except that you use the same grip you would use if you were swinging a hammer (meaning that your palms are facing in).

SOME POINTS

While I feel forearm training is very important—please start off slowly with the above exercises and work your way into them nice and slow.

Little by little your forearm strength will improve—just don’t push it.

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, not everyone (including me) can have forearms like bowling pins, but that does not mean each of us cannot increase the strength of our forearms.

So the next time you’re gunning for a new PR in the dead lift, at least you’ll know that you won’t have to worry about your grip giving out.

Until Next Time

TRAIN SMART