Last year, I posted two of my most popular articles:
Today, we move on to biceps.
personal trainer toronto
In an attempt to organize the million and one ways that you can train your biceps, I decided to organize all of these different lifts into different categories.%
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A little over a month ago, I introduced my Health Habits online personal training service….
…and I can’t believe how successful it’s been.
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Each new client has achieved noticeable results (weight loss, strength gains, improved endurance, lower heart rate and blood pressure) after just a few weeks.
I couldn’t be happier….or more relieved.
Because, if I am being completely honest, I have to admit that I was a little bit worried about doing online training.
I was worried that because my online clients wouldn’t be getting the same “hands on” type of attention that my face to face clients get, they might not get the same quality of results.
And, my (slightly overinflated) ego wouldn’t be happy with half-assed training results. I built my training business solely on word of mouth and a mild case of OCD when it comes to designing and implementing training programs.
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Now I am kicking myself for not doing this sooner.
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So, as a thank you to all of the people who already signed up, and because I am unbelievably happy about how things have gone so far, for the remainder of the month, I am offering 3 months of online training for the price of 2 months.
Unfortunately, because I design all of the training programs by hand, I can only take on another 8 clients…sorry.
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3 Months of Online Personal Training – $500….Save $250
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Since building the Squidoo Lens about Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool Workout, I have become a big Deadpool fan and am really looking forward to the movie. I think the studio made a great choice casting Ryan “Smart Ass” Reynolds in the role of Wade Wilson.
But, as I mentioned in the lens, Ryan is naturally a pretty skinny guy.
As a result, adding a whole lot of muscle mass was job #1 as he got ready to take on the role of Deadpool.
And he did a pretty good job.
But we can do better.
In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the concepts behind my Official “Make Ryan Reynolds your Beeyotch” Workout
In this post, I give you a mass building workout that will put Deadpool to shame.
And I have named it…
Like I mentioned in the previous article, the key to the success of this mass building phase is the focus on your nervous system and fast-twitch muscle fibers.
The theory is that since most hardgainers are slow-twitch fiber dominant, and slow-twitch fibers aren’t built for hypertrophy, we need to do something special to wake up those dormant fast-twitch fibers and force them to grow.
And here’s how we’re going to do it:
I was exposed to this concept about 15 years ago. At that time, I was training for powerlifting and strongman events. But my bench press was stuck. So, here’s what I did.
I would perform a partial bench press in a power rack with as much weight as I could handle. After a few sets of single reps, I would crawl over to standard bench press and attempt a maximum lift.
This technique allowed my to put over 30 lbs on my maximum bench press…after just 2 workouts.
The Theory
My strength was improved due to some combination of fast-twitch muscle recruitment and improved neuro-muscular co-ordination.
Since then, I have researched this topic…without much success. At least in the English speaking world. Those Russians were way ahead of us back in the day.
Anyway, most of you probably don’t care very much about the theory, so let’s move on.
The Wake-Up Exercises
I use 3 different methods to wake up the fast twitch fibers
Now we take advantage of those FTs, by exposing them:
Reps, Sets & Bodyparts
Here’s where individual goals play a part.
Are you interested in athletic performance or just getting big and buff like Arnie?
When it comes to rep selection, I had the GPs perform 3-8 reps on the Wake Up sets and 3-8 reps on the Work sets
For sets, I was much more fluid and looked at performance and time.
So, there you go. That’s the nuts and bolts of the Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout
In the next installment, I will give you some examples of Wake-Up Exercises and show you how to pair them with the traditional lifts to get the best results.
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Nobody does a better job marketing to amateur bodybuilders than the guys at T-Muscle.
And they may have outdone themselves with this program.
Just released this morning, people are already going nuts.
They are lining up to buy a supplement that costs 80USD and may only last for two weeks.
Prorate that over a year and we’re talking just over 2000USD.
And they’re begging to buy it.
Begging.
OH MY GOD THIS IS SO EXCITING I WAS LITERALLY SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS EVERY 10 SECONDS WHILE READING THE ARTICLE.
So, my question is…
What do we need to do to get the general public this interested in their own health & fitness?
What buttons need to be pushed?
Imagine how quickly America’s obesity epidemic would be turned around if everyone got this excited about a new exercise nutrition program.
300 million fitness junkies.
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It’s a common theme in gyms all around the world.
Guys want to get bigger and stronger.
So, that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
A kick ass training program designed to get you bigger and stronger.
big strong muscles
big strong muscles
10 x 10 Training
In phase 1, we are going to use one of the all-time best size building programs.
It goes by many names.
Call it 10×10 training, call it German Volume Training, call it that mother-blanking workout that causes so much pain that you can barely walk after a workout, call it whatever you want.
Here’s what you’re going to do.
Suggested Exercises
For the 10×10 exercises, we are going to choose big, long range of motion, compound exercises. We want to involve as many muscle groups as possible while still maintaining simplicity of movement.
In the past, some people have tried to incorporate olympic style lifts into 10×10 training. It doesn’t work real well. Too much volume. Too much fatigue. Too high a chance of injury. Stick to the basics
Why the 10×10 Program works
It’s simple. You are exposing your biggest muscle groups to a huge volume of work.
You will grow. I have seen this program work time and time again.
And if you don’t that even the skinniest guy can get big and strong, check out Christian Bale…
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Health Habits
Do You Wanna Get Big and Strong?
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A couple of months ago, I posted an article on 1,000,000,001 Different Ways to Squat.
Today, we move on to the chest.
And just like last time, I am pretty sure that I will omit something, so feel free to let me know what I missed and I will add it to the post.
In an attempt to organize the million and one ways that you can train your chest, I decided to organize all of these different lifts into different categories.
Press to the Neck
This category is primarily employed by the Bosu or “functional training” crowd. Most lifters choose to keep their foot on solid ground as it allows them to generate maximum force. However, challenging you balance with various tools/techniques can have some carryover effect to the stabilizer muscles and overall athletic coordination. So, if you’re interested, here are some options:
If you mix and match all of the options that I have listed above, you can probably come up with more than a million and one different ways to train your chest.
Just don’t try doing all of them in one workout.
And like I said, I have probably missed a buch of different techniques, so feel free to comment and I will update the post.
Have fun.
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Pre - Tabata Training............................Post - Tabata Training
A couple of days ago, I introduced you to one of my favorite training methods
At the end of that post, I promised you a pair of Tabata style workouts.
And, seeing that I am a man of my word, here you go…
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…but, before I dive right into the workouts, I should probably review some of the theory / rules behind these workouts.
Pre-Workout Checklist
Execution
Note: Use a clock, stopwatch, workout buddy or a dedicated HIIT timer to keep track of your work sets and rest periods. I prefer….
Instead of giving you a static workout with pre-selected exercises, I have decided to organize the workout by movement patterns (e.g. Vertical Push) or dominant muscle groups (Quadriceps).
Within those groups, I have given you a list of related exercises.
For example, within the Vertical Push Movement Group, you can choose from 1 Arm Overhead Press, Push Presses, 1 Arm Grappler Presses, Side Presses, etc…
Remember, the goal is to go as hard as you can for 8 sets of 20 seconds.
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And while it’s not required, I highly recommend using an interval timer with your Tabatas. Trying to watch the clock an do these workouts is a real pain in the butt.
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In my post, The Components of Physical Fitness, I divided physical fitness into it’s component parts and provided a brief introduction of each part.
Since then, I have written in more detail about Structural Balance and Energy System Fitness.
Today I will try to explain the concept of Muscular Strength and how it applies to overall physical fitness.
This component of physical fitness deals specifically with the performance of the body’s skeletal muscles.
Your skeletal muscles contract and stretch in order to produce movement. Simple.
How they produce that movement is less simple.
Your body’s muscles are highly adaptable. They will react to the stresses that you place upon them.
Sit on the couch and they will atrophy. Try and run fast and they adapt to produce faster contractions. Lift heavy objects and they will increase their ability to produce maximum strength.
Muscular Strength can and has been categorized in a variety of different ways.
I am choosing to divide Muscular Strength into four categories, based primarily on Newton’s Second Law.
(force is equal to the product of mass and acceleration.)
Mass relates to how much weight/mass a muscle or muscle group can move.
Acceleration relates to how fast that weight/mass is moved.
Each of these categories has different characteristics with regard to mass and acceleration
Maximum Muscular Strength is an extreme form of muscular strength.
In relation to newton’s Second Law it completely favors mass over acceleration.
It is a measure of the maximum mass that a muscle, or muscle group can move, regardless of time.
Think immovable object v.s irresistible force. Pushing your ‘out of gas’ car up a hill to the gas station at the crest of the hill. Your maximum squat at the gym.
Maximum Mass moved with little Acceleration. Got it?
The importance of maximum muscular strength?
While this is a point of debate amongst both academics, coaches and athletes, I believe that maximum muscular strength is the most important component of overall muscular strength.
Looking at the force-velocity curve, we see a relationship between force/mass and velocity / acceleration.
Maximum Muscular Strength would be represented by the point on the curve in the upper left corner.
Muscular Speed would be represented by the point on the lower right.
Power is the combination of strength and speed.
So, if you were to increase your maximum strength, you would shift the force-velocity curve and your muscular power upwards.
Conversely, if you could increase your speed of movement, you would shift the curve to the right, also increasing your power.
Increasing both strength and speed would push the curve both up and to the right, resulting in even greater increases in power.
For most athletes, that is a welcome goal.
How do you develop maximum muscular strength?
Maximum Muscular Strength is developed using different forms and methods of resistance training. Generally speaking, heavy weights for low repetitions are used to develop max strength.
As this is a very complicated subject, I will be discussing this topic in detail in future posts.
As mentioned above, Maximum muscular speed is the ability to produce a low force muscular movement very quickly.
As seen in the force-velocity curve, muscular speed is both a relative and absolute term.
Relative, because your mass (along with a bunch of other reasons) impacts the speed that you can achieve. To illustrate this point, let’s look at the animal kingdom.
A cheetah, while incredibly fast – 60+ miles per hour is no match for the peregrine falcon, which can dive at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
In the world of athletics, speed is also relative. Imagine a footrace between the current men’s Olympic 100m champion and the ‘fastest’ sumo wrestler in the world.
On the other hand, speed is absolute. When we are comparing apples to apples, Maximum Muscular Speed is often the determining factor in an athletic competition.
Superior hand speed often makes the difference in a boxing match between two men in the same weight category.
How do you develop maximum muscular speed?
Like Maximum Muscular Strength, speed can be developed using resistance training techniques. However, Max Speed training most often involves body weight training that attempt to maximize both the condition of the muscles and the performance of the neuro-muscular system as a whole.
I will also be covering this topic in more detail in future posts.
Maximum muscular endurance is the ability to produce a smaller amount of force, but do it for a long time. A marathon runner is a great example of muscular endurance. His body weight requires less force to move than your car, in neutral, going uphill; but he is able to move that weight for 2+ hours non-stop.
Why do you need maximum muscular endurance?
Maximum muscular endurance is the least sexy of the 4 categories of Muscular Strength. However, it is the most vital when it comes to general health and longevity. While not being taken to extremes, the training to improve muscular endurance has a beneficial effect on your cardio-vascular health.
How do you develop maximum muscular endurance?
Maximum Muscular Endurance is generally trained with body-weight exercises. While there may be a need for injury prevention resistance training exercises, most endurance athletes focus their training on their sport of choice.
I will also cover the training methodologies of endurance athletes in a future post.
Muscular power is the combination of maximum strength and speed.
An Olympic weightlifter is a great example of power.
So are high jumpers and sprinters.
How do you develop Maximum Muscular Power?
As Maximum Muscular Power is a combination of Max Strength and Max Speed, the development of power involves a combination of training methodologies.
I look to cover this topic in my next post.
I hope this introductory post was helpful in helping you understand Muscular strength training and how it impacts athletic performance and general physical fitness.
In future posts, I will go into a more detailed explanation of each of the 4 categories. I will also provide same training programs for each category of Muscular Strength.
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