Today I would like to share with you an exercise that I wish I had done more of when I was younger.

And this is.

Chin-ups.

I know chin-ups are not fancy, but believe me, they work your biceps hard and since most trainers avoid things like chin-ups and pull-ups because they are difficult, you will have an advantage over them.

Also, while most people realize that wide grip pull-ups work the lats, most people do not realize that pull-ups also work the back as well.

So not only do you get a great biceps workout, but you get some back work in at the same time.

This is not a bad thing in my book considering the fact that you do not see too many people with great backs.

O.K.

So we have established that doing chin-ups is a good thing, now I want to give you a variation on the traditional chin that will pump-up your biceps to major proportions.

THE WORKOUT

Before you attempt the workout you will find below, please work up to being able to do a solid set of twelve chins.

Once you can do this, then you may progress to the following routine.

O.K.

So after you are good and warmed up do a normal chin, and hold at the top for a count and then start to slowly lower your self down, but don’t go all the way down, stop at the half-way point.

Hold at this point for a second, and then pull your self back up, hold at the top for a count and then slowly lower your self down.

That is one rep.

As you can see, this method of doing chins is brutal, but very effective.

A POINT

Work up to being able to hold yourself in the half-way position for ten seconds before you pull your self back up.

Also, when you work up to being able to do a solid set of twenty reps like this, then you can start to add weight.

Lastly, be careful when you do chins or pull-ups, please to not swing or kick your legs to help you get the reps, and do not jerk.

Keep all the reps smooth and in control.

I would rather have you do one smooth, perfect rep, than five reps that were done in terrible form.

Jerking and swinging will only lead to a shoulder injury.

And believe me, this is the last thing that you want.

CONCLUSION

I know doing chins this way is tough, but I know if you work up to being able to do some solid sets in this style, your biceps and back will explode with new growth.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

HAPPY TRAINING

O.K.

I will be honest

I don’t trust many, so-called experts, and I’d be the first to tell you to do your research before you trust anyone, including me.

So what exactly do I mean by The True Value Of Experts?

I’ll give you an example.

One of the guys I trust for training advice is Charles Poliquin.

When Charles talks I listen.

Why?

Because, I’ve read a ton of his stuff over the years and like his approach.

So what exactly does this mean?

Well, if Charles recommends something, like a book for instance, I know it is going to be good.

And this to me is The True Value Of Experts

Sometimes we think too much, always worrying if we made the right decision.

And as a consequence we bounce from program to program never really giving any one of them a chance.

But.

If someone you respect says, give this a try and make sure you stick with it for six weeks you will be more inclined to do just that—because they are the expert and they said so.

You will be less inclined to think about it for a month before trying it—chances are you will just try it—and stick with it, instead of bouncing to another program in a week.

And probably make gains.

Whereas if one of your buddies recommends something, you may try it, for a while, and then start to wonder if there is something that you are missing.

And off you will go on the hunt for the perfect program—again.

SOME POINTS

O.K.

Fine.

Let’s say that I’ve made my point, but you might be thinking, how in the world do I go about finding an expert to trust.

To be honest I really cannot tell you how to do that, only to say that the way I did it was to read and read and read.

And gradually as I grew older, I began to put things together and learn who to trust in bodybuilding along with what supplements were worth the money.

I urge you to do the same, read and always keep reading and learning.

Plus experiment and see if what you’ve read works in the real world.

This is a big point, book learning is great, but does the advice really translate into more muscle or strength?

If it does not, move on, and keep trying various things

Also, don’t be afraid to disagree with an expert—especially if you try something he/she recommended and it didn’t work for you.

Of course, this does not mean the advice was bad, just that maybe it just was not right for you—but this is something you will need to figure out for yourself, does this person really know anything at all or was the advice or idea just not for you.

CONCLUSION

The value an expert can give you goes beyond his/her training advice.

His/her value also shows itself in the confidence that you have in this particular person.

The confidence to accept the advice/guidance and trust in it enough to follow it—truly follow it and not worry if you are missing something—

Because you know, deep down, the advice works.

Until Next Time

ALWAYS WORK

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

Picked up the latest issue of Muscular Development Magazine and went through the interview that Ron Harris did with Mark Alvisi and wanted to comment on it.

First congratulations to Mark as this is a major accomplishment because of course, while you want to do damage in the pro ranks—you have to get there first, and this win got Mark his pro card.

Second, despite the fact that most people were saying that Mark was sure thing to turn pro, I’ve been following this sport for a LONG time, and have seen guys that were sure-to-turn-pro, get second and then third, and then second, and well you know the story, they just never got over-the-hump.

Third, it seems like Mark has a good head on his shoulders and knows what he needs to do to improve—and obviously he did the job from last year because he got his pro card.

My opinion of his physique is that while he has wonderful shoulders, he needs bring up his chest a bit, and add some more to his legs, especially the inner thighs.

Also, and this is just from the pictures I’ve seen in the magazines, Mark needs to keep an eye on his waist so that it does not get bigger.

But as stated above, I think Mark has a good head on his shoulders and knows what needs to be done—and will do it.

Plus, I feel he his doing it the right way, take some time off to put on some size and then compete.

To me competing just for the sake of it is not really worth it.

SOME COMMENTS

You must congratulate Steve Blechman the publisher and editor-in-chief or Muscular Development Magazine as he has put together a fine collection of young bodybuilders that can be battling-it-out for top honors at shows for years-to-come.

With Mark Alvisi, Evan Centopani, Erik Fankhouser, and probable soon-to-be pro Branden Ray.

Not-to-mention Dennis Wolf.

All of the above young men are just that, young, and will be around this sport for years to come.

Also, to be honest, Muscular Development Magazine has tons of great info in it every month, for guys like me, and I’m sure thousands of other young and not so young men, who simply love training, and want to learn everything they can to improve them selves, but have no desire to compete.

CONCLUSION

Congrats, again to Mark Alvisi on his overall win at the 2009 USA Championships and to Steve Blechman for putting together one heck of a magazine.

Until Next Time

NEVER STOP DREAMING

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

For my money the best thing you can be when you go out to drop your hard earned money on something is—educated.

And that is EXACTLY what you will be—if you buy Bodybuilding Revealed—the next time you go out to drop big bucks on a supplement.

Why?

Simple.

In Bodybuilding Revealed Will Brink lays out everything you need to know about supplements—everything from Whey Protein to HMB.

Plus if you have a question all you have to do is visit Will’s private members only forum—which you get access to when you purchase Bodybuilding Revealed—and ask a question and either Will himself or one of his very educated moderators will answer your question.

And you know what—this feature alone will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year on supplements because you’ll KNOW which ones are worth the money and which ones are pure garbage.

Honesty, if Will only provided this feature the book would be worth its weight in gold, but no, Will covers training with just as much zest and zeal as he did supplements.

Will hits it straight on covering everything from whole body programs to the classic three day split to four day splits as well.

Honestly, there is one section during the training chapter that I am glad Will talks about and this is—keeping detailed records—doing so is vital and really can make a difference in your progress.

Another thing that separates Bodybuilding Revealed from the amateur books out there written by so-called experts is the way Will put Bodybuilding Revealed together.

I’ve read hundreds of e-books and I can’t remember very many that were set up the way Will’s book is.

The side bar on the left gives you quick one click access to any chapter of the book—want to re-read that section on nutrition—simply click—saves you time by putting the information you want right at your finger tips.

Plus throughout the book there are links to Will’s forum—so for example if you are reading about whey protein ( Will’s information on whey protein is excellent I might add) you can simply click the link provided and it will take you directly to the members area so you can discuss this topic with other members of Will’s forum—or ask a question.

Again, this is just another little extra that sets Will’s book apart from the rest.

Will Brink’s Bodybuilding Revealed is a soup to nuts affair—everything and anything YOU need to improve your body is here.

From nutrition to cardio—Will covers everything you need to not only make informed buying decisions but, to also make informed choices about how to train and eat to make your body the best it can be.

Bodybuilding Revealed gets my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to learn how to burn fat, build muscle, and totally reshape their body using the power of solid nutrition, training and good honest supplements.

Note: Please if you do nothing else if you know anyone (but young men and women in particular) who want to start bodybuilding please buy them a copy of this book—so they can get started the right way—

Before they get brainwashed by all of the fancy ads and goofball information that is out there.

I wish I had access to this when I started training over twenty years ago!

Great job Will!

For more information on Will’s

Fantastic book—CLICK HERE.

Setting goals is a great way to motivate your self to make progress, however, as with everything; there is a right way and a WRONG way to go about it.

Say for example, you are one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet (and maybe just maybe your pet elephants big toe was on the scale).

Plus your arms are only eleven inches.

Now, of course, you want to be two hundred and fifty pounds ripped-to-the-bone with twenty-two inch arms.

Plus you wanted it yesterday.

As lofty of a goal as the above is, a better way to go about making progress, is to focus on mini (or short term) goals.

For example in instead of saying I want to gain thirty pounds in six weeks.

Say, I am going to gain a half pound to one pound of bodyweight per week.

I know the later does not sound like much, but if you slowly but surely gain weight (good solid weight) every week or every-other-week, you will over time reach your main goal of putting on thirty pounds.

Same goes for losing weight, if you want to lose thirty pounds by next summer, break it up into mini goals.

For example, tell yourself I am going to walk an extra three miles this week.

When you accomplish that goal set another, like I am going to walk more hills this week.

Little, by little as you achieve your mini goals you will as a result, be achieving your main goal as well.

CONCLUSION

Goal setting is a great way to achieve whatever it is you want, be it a better body, more money, or a better job.

However, looking at a goal that may take you a year or more to achieve can really be hard to handle.

But by breaking your main goal up into a set of easier to reach (say week long mini goals) not only will you have something to strive for every week—you will slowly but surely be getting closer and closer to achieving your main goal.

One last point—

Don’t get so caught up in achieving your goal—that you forget to enjoy the journey.

Until Next Time

STAY FOCUSED

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