Just recently, I’ve been reading about high intensity training—well actually I have read about it for years, but seeing as how I just read about it again, I figured I’d give you my opinion on it.

High intensity training, the way I understand it, involves doing a couple of progressively heavier warm-up sets and then one all-out work set.

Yes, you actually only do one work set, but the set is taken to failure.

The high intensity style of training is brutal, but it works, however, there are many problems with it.

The fact that it is brutally hard, now there is nothing wrong with hard work, to the contrary you must work hard if you want to succeed in anything not just bodybuilding.

However, to me there is just too much of a chance for burn-out.

Every time you go workout, it has to be all out—how long is this going to last, a week maybe two.

Of course, I can hear people saying, well then you could just take a week off every couple of weeks to help your body recover.

Bingo.

Great concept, except for one thing.

You still go back to the same all-out training style and for my money; mentally this is going to get old really quick.

Sure every four to six weeks you COULD switch over to a more traditional bodybuilding style routine, where you do eight to twelve reps per set for multiple sets, all the while leaving something in the hole—meaning you don’t go to failure.

Sounds good right?

Wrong.

The way the high intensity people lay-it-out, (at least in my opinion) high intensity training is really the only way to make gains.

Wrong.

Tons of muscle has been built over the years using every single idea around.

Some professional bodybuilders have used high intensity training successfully—but to me this just compounds the problem.

Most professional bodybuilders have genetics that are so far ahead of most people it isn’t even funny.

They can use the above high intensity training and grow, because they have the genetics for it.

SOME COMMENTS

So where does that leave someone with average genetics, or even below average genetics—are you sunk?

No.

High intensity training works, as does every-other form of training, but only for a few weeks.

So if you want to give high intensity training a shot, do so but only for a few weeks, and keep a VERY close eye on how you are feeling.

So if you start feeling burned out, ie; loss of appetite, no desire to train, and lifts start falling off, stop using high intensity and take a week off of all training.

If this happens to you only after a week or so, then I would advise you to take a close look at everything, your sleep habits, your eating habits, everything.

If you are doing everything right and are still not going good on high intensity training, then simply stop it, and know that you gave it a shot and it just did not work out for you.

On-the-other-hand, if you are still feeling good after four weeks of high intensity training—stop it and go back to your regular bodybuilding style workouts, knowing that you can come back to high intensity training a few times a year, when you want to change things up.

SOMEMORE COMMENTS

If you decide to try high intensity training, there are three things that you MUST do.

First, warm up very well before your all out set.
And second, make sure you are getting at least six hours of sleep per night; however, eight would be better.

Plus, make sure your eating is spot on, no missing meals.

Make sure you are taking in plenty of protein to help with muscle growth and repair.

CONCLUSION

High intensity training, to me, is just like any other method, it works, but only for so long, and then you need to make a change.

If you’re up for a challenge give high intensity training a go.

Just don’t fall into the trap of believing it is the only way to train.

Until Next Time

KEEP MOTIVATED

One sports figure that I really admire is Tiger Woods, to be honest I don’t admire him because he is a golfer I admire him because of the way he plays.

Let me explain.

I think Tiger has pretty much nailed it down so that even if he were to retire today he would go down as one of the greatest golfers in history.

Plus he has enough money to live the rest of his life the way he wants to.

But, he still wants to win more tournaments, get more trophies.

Wouldn’t you think it would be easy for him to wake up and say, well, I’ve done enough I really don’t need to do much more.

But he doesn’t, and that is what separates him for all the others.

Same goes for training, yes, you just gained ten pounds—six months ago.

Of course after an all out training blitz you do need a break, but not six months.

Or are you simply living off you past gains, and not really motivated anymore to train as hard as you need in order to make another ten pound weight gain.

To illustrate what I am talking about, I want to bring something up that I read by Ron Harris in the current issue of Iron Man Magazine.

He said that he got put through a biceps workout by six time Mr. O Dorian Yates and he realized that he really wasn’t putting out as much effort as he thought he was, in his own training.

Sorry Mr. Harris if I missed quoted you a bit, but I was writing the above from memory.

SOME POINTS

The thing to remember is, are you really putting in a great workout, or are you satisfied with just going through the motions.

Another thing to consider is your eating and sleeping habits.

What I mean by this is, if you are chronically tired from lack of sleep or really do not take in enough quality calories to make gains, you may think you are training hard, but the reality of the situation is that you probably are not.
So make sure you have all your bases covered, as it is easy especially for veteran lifters to think that they have it all under control, when if fact they have been slipping up little by little, like staying up later than they used to, or missing meals.

All the while thinking that they are doing everything right, but wondering why their gains have slowed.

CONCLUSION

The next time you find yourself loafing between sets; re commit yourself to working at a quicker pace and really giving it your all—on every rep and every set.

Same goes for your eating habits.

Examine them and make sure you are really getting in six to eight quality meals per day or have you been slipping up and have been too tired to get those last couple of meals in.

Over time those kinds of things can make the difference between making gains and making none or losing fat and losing none.

It doesn’t take much to get into the groove again, and one other thing you can try is sitting back one day and thinking back to why you got into this sport of bodybuilding in the first place—not to mention flipping through an old muscle magazine as this can bring the memories flooding back, and along with it your old zeal and excitement for training.

Until Next Time

KEEP WORKING

Just like well developed shoulders, I feel that one reason a well developed set of upper pecs is so impressive is that, well you really do not see too many people that have upper pecs that are well developed.

To me this can be attributed to one thing, the flat bench press.

While it is true that some genetically gifted bodybuilders can develop very balanced (meaning all areas of the chest, from lower to inner to outer to upper to all areas in between) chest development from just doing flat benches, most of us, myself included, see more in the way of middle and lower pec development from doing flat benches.

Of course, some people see very little growth at all in their pecs from benching, with most of the growth coming in the form of well developed triceps and front delts—and while muscle growth is muscle growth, most people want chest growth for their benching efforts, not growth in the aforementioned body parts.

ENTER THE INCLINE PRESS

Do you know what exercise was the number one choice for most people looking to build up their upper bodies’ back-in-the-day? (the 50’s and 60’s)

If you guessed the flat bench press—you must step to the back of the line.

However, if you guessed the over head press with a barbell—go to the front of the class you are correct.

O.K.

You might be thinking, what does the over head press have to do with building a massive chest, after all I thought it was primarily a shoulder exercise.

You are correct, it is, however, just like the over head press fell out of favor, another exercise, that never quite reached a high level of use—ranks as a better over-all upper body—and chest builder than the flat bench.

The exercise I am referring to is the incline press done with a barbell or dumbbells.

Why?

Truthfully it comes down to a number of things: First, unlike the flat bench, the incline press requires stricter form which helps prevent injuries. Second, it works those all important upper pecs, which ranks up there with the most neglected of body parts. Third, the incline press carries over far greater on the athletic field than does the flat bench press.

SOME POINTS

The incline press done with either a barbell or dumbbells is a great way to build your upper chest—however please don’t be overly concerned with how much weight you can lift, especially if you haven’t tried this exercise before.

Always remember, your goal as a bodybuilder is to work your muscles (in this case the upper pecs) hard enough so that they must grow—NOT to see how much weight you can get from point A to point B.

Also, if you have any shoulder discomfort from using a barbell, try giving dumbbells a go.

THE ROUTINE

In the beginning stick with the tried-and-true 5 x 5 program (that’s five sets of five reps per set, for a total of twenty five reps) and really learn or re learn how to do the lift properly.

After you’ve got the form down—then you can worry about changing rep schemes and adding weight.

One point, the incline press requires stricter form that the flat bench, so you might have to swallow your ego a bit and go down in weight more than you’d like—but remember your muscles don’t know how much weight is on the bar.

A TIP

Lower the barbell or dumbbells slowly to your chest and then pause for a couple of seconds before pressing the bar or dumbbells back up.

You want your upper chest taking the brunt of the work, not other muscles.

NUTRITION BASICS

As good as the incline barbell or dumbbell press is for building the upper pecs not much will come from all your hard work if you are not eating correctly.

If you are looking to gain mass—combine the above exercise with other big lifts like squats, dead lifts, and bent over rows, etc.—make sure your are getting one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (so if you weigh one hundred and fifty pounds you would take in one hundred and fifty grams of protein) from sources like, lean beef, chicken, turkey, and eggs.

Up next are plenty of high quality carbs like oatmeal (preferably steel cut oats) brown rice, yams, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Along with this take in good fats from fatty fish like sardines, nuts, seeds and a good quality fish oil supplement.

A WORD ON POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

You see ads all over the magazines touting amazing sounding products.

However, lets cut the baloney, while some of those products are great, tons of quality muscle has been built over the years with nothing but good old fashioned hard work and good quality food.

No secret ingredients, no hype.

So please if you can’t afford those expensive post-workout (or any supplements for that matter) supplements don’t worry about it, just take in a good quality meal like white meat chicken and white rice after your workout (as you don’t want to much fat and fiber in your post workout meal as this will slow absorption) and you will be fine.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, I know if you give the incline barbell or dumbbell press an honest try, not only will you be well on your way to building another part of your X Frame Physique—

You might have to buy new shirts to make room for all of your new chest size!

Until Next Time

NEVER QUIT

In the last post we talked about building wide shoulders, by building up the side delt head using the overhead press, either done with a barbell or dumbbells.

To reiterate what I said in the last post—to me wide shoulders—tell the world I am strong and in shape—and yes building up your shoulders is a terrific way to start building YOUR X Frame physique.

YOUR SECOND EXERCISE

While I truly believe that anyone can build cannon ball sized delts with the overhead press alone I also know that I would be cheating you out of growth if I did not include this next exercise.

LEAN AWAY LATERALS

Lean away laterals are a fantastic exercise for adding plenty of meat to your side delt head (the one that will truly make you look like you won’t be able to fit through a doorway).

To do them grab a moderately heavy dumbbell and with your free hand grab hold of something sturdy and lean until your body is at approximately a forty-five degree angle.

Raise the dumbbell until it is just about at head height.

The reason this exercise is so good at packing muscle on the side head of the delts is because a greater load is placed on the side delt at the top of the movement.

SOME POINTS

To get the most out of the above movements I would hit the overhead press hard using the tried and true 5×5 program (that’s five sets of five reps per set for a total of 25 reps).

Gradually trying to increase the amount of weight you use on this exercise.

For the lean-away-laterals I would not go as heavy (relatively speaking of course) and aim for a more traditional 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per set.

Of course, the above are just guides and should not be thought of as the only way to do these exercises—once you get comfortable with them feel free to shake-it-up as you see fit.

DON’T FORGET QUALITY NUTRITION

Lots of people blast it at the gym and then wonder, why they are not seeing the results they want.

Plenty of times it is because of their nutrition or I should say lack of nutrition.

The above exercises are fantastic but to make optimal progress you need to treat your eating habits just like you treat your workouts—to important to miss.

Focus on eating every two to three hours and make sure you are getting one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, so for example if you weigh two hundred pounds then you would need to shoot for two hundred grams of protein per day divided up into six meals.

Protein should come from lean beef, chicken, turkey, fatty fish, whole eggs, etc.

Carbs sources should be things like oatmeal (preferably steel cut oats) whole wheat breads (the kind that have at least five grams of fiber per slice), yams, sweet potatoes, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Fats should come from fatty fish like sardines and salmon (for the omega 3 fatty acids) natural peanut butter (read labels to make sure the peanut butter you choose does not include extra sugar) and all kinds of nuts and seeds.

And yes, if you are young and your metabolism is running along, a couple of trips (every now-and-then) to your favorite fast food place won’t hurt.

A WORD ON POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

A lot has been made lately of post workout nutrition, but don’t let it be the determining factor in whether or not you make gains.

By this I mean, if you have the money and can afford a good post workout product or just a high quality whey product shake for that matter, great.

If not, just eat a high quality, highly nutritious meal after your workout—although you don’t want too much fat or fiber in this meal, so something like white meat chicken and white rice would be good.

Trust me on this point, plenty of world class gains have been made, on nothing but good quality food and hard work, so don’t let your lack of fancy supplements hold you back.

CONCLUSION

Overhead presses and lean away laterals give you the perfect one-two punch for building massive and wide shoulders.

Always remember to warm up first, and then hit it hard, but sensibly.

If you do this, maybe one day, someone will mistake your shoulders for boulders!

Until Next Time

WORK HARD BUT SMART

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

A few interesting things happened at this years (2009) U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

First was Serena Williams (the younger of the two Williams Sisters) outburst over a foot fault call—which finished her tournament.

And Roger (the five time defending champion) Federer losing his cool over a late challenge being allowed.

Considering that both Serena Williams and Roger Federer were the defending champs—to me it brings up the issue of confidence, with then brings up the issue of mental toughness.

Wouldn’t you be confident if you were Mr. Federer—knowing that you basically OWN the court at the U.S. Open.

Same goes for Serena Williams—as she was the defending champion.

You might be asking yourself, how exactly this relates to bodybuilding.

To me it relates perfectly.

First, while I am all for switching routines, I think to many people get ants-in-their-pants syndrome and lose confidence in their current routine, so they keep switching routines in hopes of finding that magic one.

Second, it applies to supplements; people drop hundreds of dollars a month on the latest wonder supplement, only to drop serious coin the next month when the newest hot thing comes out.

They never give the first supplement a chance to work (not that it would as most supplements are hype).

AN EXAMPLE

I know a gentleman that committed to a business years ago, now the business was not flashy, but the way he related it to me was, once he committed to it, that was it, no wavering or changing plans—he did his research and he KNEW that what he was doing was solid.

Honestly, I know something about the business he went into and it is a high effort affair, hours and hours per day need to be spent working the business.

And you cannot really take any time off, because you need to do it daily.

However, he committed to it and now enjoys the rewards.

Same goes for the bodybuilder who commits to a course of action, say getting stronger on the basics—he did his research—found a solid routine—so he sticks with it—and over time builds an impressive level of strength.

Which, will, chances are, translate into more muscle when/if he switches back to a more traditional routine?

CONCLUSION

I know that the grass-is-always greener on the other side, but the next time you start a new routine—give it time to work.

Yes, it will be hard, but remember it is not where you start but where you finish.

Until Next Time

STAY FOCUSED

I’ve always trained my abs at first it was the very basic crunches and reverse crunches and it has evolved over the years, but I’ve always added in some ab work at the end of most workouts.

But as with anything, you keep reading and studying and you come to different conclusions than you had before.

I now realize that if you squat and dead lift your abs probably get enough work.

But does that mean I have given up training my abs—no way.

I know that it is probably just me, but I always feel better knowing that I did some ab work.

My favorite is steep incline sit ups done on a slant board.

However if you really haven’t done much ab work I would start with planks and then work up from there.

To do planks, position yourself like you were going to do a standard push-up except put all of your weight on your forearms.

Now you must keep your back flat as you don’t want your but sticking up in the air.

It sounds easy I know—but take this exercises seriously and work up to being able to hold a solid plank for a good two minutes before advancing onto harder exercise.

SOME POINTS

Of course, to be in total shape you need to incorporate some form of weight training and cardio into your routine.

A note on cardio—I don’t care what the expert’s say—the only cardio worth doing is one that you will do on a regular basis.

So if like walking—go for brisk walks—but if you’d much rather play a hard game of tennis go for it—you will only see results if you do it on a regular basis.

Also, I know what people say, but to me doing some form of ab work helps to lean out the waist faster than not doing any.

CONCLUSION

I know my abs are getting worked during my bodybuilding workout but I don’t care I still like the idea of doing some ab work at the end of my workout.

Give this approach a try as well—you may find like I do that it is the ideal way to end a good workout.

Until Next Time

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

The rear delts are a funny body part, for a complete physique you do need to develop them to their fullest—yet what exactly is the best way to go about doing it.

I will be honest, when I started bodybuilding I read all the info and of course people recommended doing bent-over rear laterals for the rear delts, so I did them.

Then as I continued to advance my knowledge of bodybuilding I started to read that well, if you always made sure to do exercises like bent-over rows for example your rear delts got plenty of work.

So what exactly is the correct method of training the rear delts?

For me, it comes down to what you are trying to achieve.

For example, if you are trying to become a world class bodybuilder—then you absolutely should train your rear delts.

Because when you start moving higher and higher up the ranks, everybody is genetically gifted and has an amazing physique, so you can’t afford to slack off even a little.

So even though you are hitting your rear delts with various rowing movements—specializing on them would not be a bad idea.

Of course, if you happen to be one of those people who are genetically gifted with shoulders that grow no matter what you do, then maybe you could get by without doing any direct work for them.

Again though, if you are trying to be the best, why chance it.

However, if you are like most people, and you just train so that you will not embarrass yourself when you take your shirt off at the beach I think that just making sure you do a wide variety of rowing movements for your back would be good enough.

But, if you start feeling pain back there or feel that you are unbalanced then by all means add in some direct rear delt work.

Just be careful with it you don’t need to use a ton of weight, and to be honest, you would be better off focusing more on learning to feel the muscle—and developing a good mind/muscle connection with the rear delts.

After all, anyone can heave up a ton of weight—but what good is it if all you get for it is an injury or joints that ache.

Take your time and learn the proper groove on bent-over laterals and you will be miles ahead in the long run.

CONCLUSION

The rear delts may be a small body part, but if they are well developed they will add that little something extra to your physique—and that is never a bad thing.

Until Next Time

MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER

Every once-in-a-while it is fun to think back to the good-old-days—those days when we were young and had not a care-in-the-world.

Summer vacation would roll around and we would spend our days playing football, baseball—just about anything that involved running around.

Of course, a lot of my time was spent flipping through the latest copy of whatever muscle magazine I could get my hands on.

CRAZY TIMES

I remember reading about the one-hundreds system, if memory serves, you picked a weight and I did one hundred reps with it, taking a couple of short pauses along the way.

Well…

I couldn’t just do one-hundred reps, now could I, no I went crazy, for some reason at this point the barbell upright row was my exercise of choice, and did something like three hundred reps, non stop!

I was sore for three days!

I’ve talked about this one before but—it is so crazy that I will repeat it.

I had been reading about negative only work and how effective it was, and like any young man I was obsessed with building big arms.

So one day I decided I was going to do negative only curls, I just couldn’t figure out how to do it.

Finally, I had the answer—using an old chest expander and chair and one of those doorway chin-up bars, you know the kind you wedged in between the doorway, I managed to rig up a method of doing negative only curls.

I mean it was seriously stupid to be doing them that way, but what a pump I got in my biceps.

It was unreal.

SOME COMMENTS

Whenever I read Dave Draper’s articles that they publish in Ironman Magazine or read the emails he sends I cannot help but think that somewhere along the line, something was lost.

That with all of the fancy equipment and scientific advancements we may have forgotten the simple joys of lifting—I cannot describe it as well as Mr. Draper does—but that maybe we have put too much of an importance on knowing everything—instead of as we did and Mr. Draper did—and I am sure thousands of his contemporaries did—we just lifted and strained and sweated—

Maybe not knowing exactly what we were doing, but we grew and learned and had fun in challenging ourselves to do one rep better than we did yesterday.

Sure we were over trained—but who knew a word like that even existed back then—but it didn’t matter—

All we wanted was the challenge, that one final rep, feeling the pump grow with each passing set—and best of all—

Knowing we were free to do it all again tomorrow.

..The Memories.

Until Next Time

KEEP WORKING

We’ve all had those times in our lives when people told us that we just were not good enough—or you want to be a bodybuilder—you’re way to skinny—you’ll never make it.

I’m a firm believer in the power of belief—the power of your mind.

How much do you truly want to achieve you dreams—are you willing to put one-hundred and ten percent effort into making them reality.

So it was with great interest that I read the article on the current Mr. Olympia Dexter Jackson in this month’s copy of Muscular Development.

Now, I know what your thinking—what can I possibly learn from a Mr. Olympia winner, after all his genetics are probably so much better than mine—it is not even close.

Well, according to the article Dexter weighed all of one-hundred and thirty seven pounds at his first contest—and this was after six months of training.

As you can see he was not exactly a young man who was always very muscular and strong.

But he kept at it and has added one-hundred pounds of muscle to his frame over the years.

I won’t spoil the article for you, if you haven’t read it, but needless to say, Dexter went through some lean times—and I am sure he felt like quitting at various times during his move up the professional bodybuilding ladder.

However, he did not, and now he is the current Mr. Olympia.

Besides believing in yourself when nobody else does, there is one more thing you can take away from the article on Dexter Jackson and it is this—

Dexter has a very fast metabolism and hence he does not have to diet too long to get into contest shape—however I am sure when he was younger this made it all the more difficult for him to put on mass.

But as you can see, it can be done, five solid pounds gained per year for ten years adds up to fifty pounds of new muscle on your frame—and a completely changed frame it will be—from the one you started with.

So to all of you hard gainers out there with super fast metabolisms, do not give up, keep eating just a little bit more, and giving it your all in the gym—and remember every pound gained (no matter how hard you had to work for it) puts you one pound closer to achieving your goals.

Until Next Time

NEVER QUIT