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Crazy Tips for a Crazy Big Chest

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Maximizing chest growth requires a clear strategy. I have four crazy tips for a crazy big chest. Follow these tips and you will see your chest begin to respond.

Use Many Different Angles

When training your chest it is important to hit the muscle from different angles. The best advice is to focus on incline angles. You must change the angles from time to time. You can make it an extreme angle or a less extreme angle. It will continue to stimulate growth in your chest if you do this.

Proper Range of Motion

When doing chest exercises it might surprise you to hear that you should not use 100% ROM. This tends to take the focus off the pecs and that's not what you want. As an example, locking out turns the exercise into a triceps dominant exercise. Going too deep with dumbbells turns it into an anterior deltoid exercise. You want to work within the ROM where you can actually feel your pecs working. Keep an eye on range of motion and it will impact the growth you achieve.

Rep Ranges

When training the chest, modify your rep ranges. You are able to use low, medium and high rep ranges with your pecs. Studies show the pecs respond the best to moderate and high rep ranges. When using high rep ranges you can really focus on the muscle contraction. This will help you isolate the pecs more efficiently which helps them grow.

Iso-metric Contractions

We return to the topic of actual muscle recruitment and isolation. The pecs respond well to focusing on iso-metric contractions. This really helps you improve that connection between the CNS and actual muscle fibers, which over time leads to improved muscle fiber recruitment within the area. I personally do some hammer press movements one arm at a time, but I really squeeze hard at the top of the movement to recruit the maximum number of fibers. It is quite effective.

Conclusion

The attack plan for the pecs should include many different angles, the proper ROM, changing up the rep ranges and getting a good strong contraction of the muscle. Focus on this as you train your pecs and you will begin to see immediate improvement.

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Monday Madness: Assault the Abdominals

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Everybody wants a six pack, but nobody wants to take the time to assault the abdominals. The abs respond to intense exercise just like any other part of your body. Today I am going to show you how to launch an all out assault on the abdominals.

Explanation of the Workout

You are going to be doing a series of 5 exercises. You are going to squeeze your abs hard during each set of these exercises. This will take you about 20 minutes and should be inserted into your training plan every other week. Use 1 minute between sets to rest. Push hard!

The Workout

Exercise Sets Reps
Bicycle Crunches 3 12
Hanging Leg Raises 3 12
Back Extensions 3 12
Barbell Rollout 3 12
Cable Wood Chopper 3 12

Discussion of Workout

This workout is aimed at completely fatiguing your core. It will have your core screaming for mercy! Don't ignore your core! I guarantee that if you hit this workout consistently you are going to see improvements in the other big lifts you do (squats, deadlifts, etc.).

You can also add other ab workouts to your routine. Just do this one every other week as it is very intense and will require some time for your abs to recover.

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Supplements that Work

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Supplements that work…something so many of us want to know about. The supplement companies just want to take your money away. They will tell you anything to get you to buy. Today i am going to tell you about the supplements that actually work. These shouldn't surprise anyone, but this very short list should go a long way towards helping you with your goals.

In my experience there are really only 5 supplements that work as advertised.

  1. Whey protein
  2. Creatine
  3. Beta Alanine
  4. BCAA
  5. Multi-vitamins

Whey protein

While there is nothing special about protein powder, they are a great way to insure you get enough protein in your diet. They also serve as a clean way to add to your daily caloric intake. Whey protein digests quickly and is highly bio-available. I personally go to True Nutrition for my whey protein. I use the Team Skip blend because it tastes great and is a mix of whey and casein protein. I have had great results with it so far.

Creatine

Creatine is effective at increasing muscle protein synthesis, and it improves power output, which also helps increase muscle growth. How does creatine work? For those who remember their high school biology, creatine acts as an extra reservoir for phosphate groups. When your body starts running out of readily available ATP (for example, when lifting weights), creatine can help donate some phosphate to ADP (to give your body more ATP). In terms of real-life application, creatine basically gives your cells a bit more extra energy. Taking creatine can also cause 5-10 lbs of water-weight gain. The stress from extra water causes muscle cells to grow faster.

Beta Alanine

Beta alanine is not quite as effective as creatine, but it definitely helps maximize your potential. Beta alanine is an amino acid which is turned into carnosine in the muscles. Carnosine protects muscle cells from excess acidity, like the kind that’s produced during intense exercise. Researchers in one study observed an increase in muscle growth after beta-alanine supplementation, even after they controlled for the extra work people supplementing beta-alanine could do in the gym. That means that beta-alanine might help you build muscle on top of its ability to increase endurance.

BCAA

I swear by BCAA supplementation. There are those who say it is useless because you get BCAAs in the protein you eat, but I find that using BCAAs consistently during and after a weight training session brings about some impressive results. The best progress I've had came when I was religiously using BCAAs during and after my training sessions. They protect muscle when doing cardio. They help me get through my workouts.

Multi-vitamins

I know we should be getting our nutritional value from the food we eat, but in today's society the extra help is useful. I did research and wound up with the Kirkland brand of multi-vitamins. I find that I have much more energy when I am consistently taking multi-vitamins every single morning.

If the supplement isn't on this list it is likely it doesn't work as advertised. Buy those at your own risk.

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The Life of a Competitor Examined

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competitor

The life of a competitor can be a lonely one. It involves a lot of cardio, food preparation and weight training. How you approach it is how it will be. If you isolate yourself, loneliness is going to set in fast. Be sure to keep your life as normal as possible. We are going to examine what the life of a competitor is typically like. This is not the life of anyone in particular.

Fasted Cardio

The alarm goes off at 4:30 am. Our friend gets out of bed and pulls on his gym clothes. He heads to the gym. Once safely inside the gym our friend gets on the stepmill machine and begins his morning fasted cardio. This is a process that many bodybuilders adhere to because they believe fasted cardio burns more fat. Our friend will likely put in a 45 minute session.

Getting Ready for the Day

Our friend finishes up the cardio session and showers. He gets ready for the day by getting dressed. Our friend will now eat his first meal. This is extremely important.

Eating for the Stage

There are so many methods of eating, but our friend will be carb cycling to remove as much body fat as possible. He will have prepared his meals ahead of time. Most competitors have some sort of cooler bag they bring with them that contains all their food for that day. This insures that they are properly nourishing their body.

Afternoon Weight Session

At some point our friend will go back to the gym to complete an intense weight training session. He will use a body part split so that he can work the muscle extra hard. This is an extremely focused session aimed at sculpting the muscles.

Evening Cardio Session

Because our friend is getting close to stepping on stage he will complete a second 45 minute cardio session. The grind is real!

Maintain Relationships

This part is key! Do not neglect your relationships! Our friend makes it a point to make time for his girlfriend. Trust me when I say your significant other will be much more supportive if you make sure they take the time to spend it with them.

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Monday Madness: Stretching Like Gumby

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flexibility

Today's Monday Madness is aimed at helping you get flexible and fast without spending hours a day stretching. The way you are going to accomplish this is by following the four steps I outline below.

Determine Your Flexibility Needs

You first need to determine why you need to be more flexible. Some common reasons are listed directly below.

  • Decrease muscle soreness after a workout
  • Decrease the risk of injury
  • Improve performance
  • Improve range of motion
  • Reduce pain

Find your personal reason for needing more flexibility and you will more likely stick to it.

Find What's Holding You Back

Once you have a goal in mind your next step is to determine what is stopping you from achieving it.You may have a difficult time bending forward to touch your toes, and that would naturally make you think that your hamstrings are too tight but there are quite a few other things that could be restrictors as well, such as your low back, hip flexors, glutes, etc.

You will need a good way to quickly assess what is specifically binding up your movement.

The best way I’ve found to do that is to go through a targeted series of positions that tests your whole body, and to note where you feel most restricted.

  • Squat
  • Cross legged sitting
  • Hip flexion
  • Knee flexion
  • Neck motions

Once you complete these movements you will have a good idea of where to focus your stretching time.

Slow Down to Reach Flexibility Faster

This is where patience comes into play. You have to take your time when stretching. Don't overdo it. By taking your time you will accomplish your goals in a shorter amount of time.

Be as Consistent as Possible with Your Plan

At this point you have everything in place and just need to do the work. Be consistent. Consistency is the key to all things.

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