Whos a weight lifter here?

[totalburnout]

Personally, I enjoy leg days more than anything. Maybe it's because my legs respond very well to training. Maybe that's the reason why I'm able to pack on a lot of mass in a short period of time. I never really tested myself for maxes once I got out of school. They're kind of pointless for anything other than bragging rights. You shouldn't be getting anywhere near your max until the end of a 6-8 week strength program.

Along the same lines, building the rest of your body will make you powerful instead of just strong when you push things. When you pick something up that's kind of heavy, do you just use your arms or do you use your back and legs too? You need to do all of it every week...with whatever program you're on.

Oh, a good exercise for delt's is lateral raises. Those'll make your shoulders look wider because they hit the middle head of the muscle group. But you'll look funny from the side unless you build up the back and front heads too. The front builds with benching and the rear builds with rows and behind the head military presses.

Increasing a max takes a long time if you do it properly. A lot of people plateau prematurely because they lift wrong.

Good example here. Its all about functionality when you're 40 or 60years old, not just how you look with your shirt off at 25.

I won't knock your information here, but I'l alter it slightly.

There's huge arguments between researchers regarding targeting muscles, muscle heads, and specific parts of the muscle. Research right now shows that even though you may feel one exercise in one area of the muscle more than another, that there's still only one insertion point for the muscle and as a result the muscle is exercised as a whole and not individual parts. No one really knows for sure, but thats what the current research shows up until atleast a year ago when I stopped eating and breathing the topic.

And behind the head presses tend to put a lot of stress of the shoulder capsules and there's no real benefit to do behind the head presses rather than any other kind of press, so go with something safe like a barbell military press infront of the head or dumbbell shoulder presses that are in line with your shoulders. I have sensitive shoulders so I notice this sort of thing specifically and I'm super careful about it, especially because medical science hasn't quite learned how to rebuild a shoulder, knee, or lower back properly yet so these are all areas that you must be really careful with lifting since there's no "cure".

 

[totalburnout]

First off, I grew 9" in one year. I won't have any mobility as an old man anyway. Everything I do is with this in mind. Music is my life and I won't do anything that'll interfere with that. If I notice that something hurts, I stop. No pain, no gain = no brain.

One of the most important rules to remember is that no two bodies are the same, everything comes down to what works for the individual. Unless things have changed drastically, there is no one way to do things. Not targeting specific muscles groups is like saying your ab's get enough work just supporting your body through your other lifts. We both know that's only true to a point. My body responds to target training and I can see it happen just from playing drums.

edit:
Just wanted to add this. When I was growing up, a very close family friend was a semi-pro body builder. When I got old enough he started teaching me and I was under his programs for a long time. He's in his early 60s now, still looks like he's in his 30s, used the same lifting techniques that I used, and makes his living as a nutrition/fitness consultant for rest homes. I don't follow hype or fads, I don't jump on all of the newest news. I use what works for my body. I dare say that this gentleman has a wealth of knowledge.

I wasn't knocking your information, just trying to throw out there what the research shows.

I would never advocate not targeting muscle groups in some fashion, but a workout that solely targets such small muscles like the biceps and triceps is foolish. If you're a curl jockey and just curl to get bigger arms, its going to happen but you're not going to be proportional or have functional strength. So you look good now, thats great but what happens when it comes to the future. Its like when you half-ass anything else.

Cut the springs on the car and sure it looks better dropped, but hows it going to function?

Also the abs thing was an example of functions of diets and not what someone should be doing. Your abs are your core that supports your entire body, they're so important in everyday life and all movements, below your ribcage there's nothing but muscles supporting your upper body. For me to not train abs was 100% foolish, but research that was just conducted stated that squats are more effective at training abs than any specific ab exercise. Yet another reason to squat.

What I advocate and stand for is listening to your body and experience, not the joe shmoe next to you that thinks he knows what he's doing because he has a decent body or even what you consider a great body. I've seen too many idiotic things said by people or done by people in the gym that it hurts. Going to a college gym is actually painful.

 

[cheese9988]

What you say about the shoulders being pulled forward is true, never really noticed til someone pointed it out, but I have to pull my shoulders back or it looks like I'm haunched over all the time.

As far as hurting myself. I have done it before, I had asked a few people, and they had said it was probably how I was lifiting. But I had looked how to lift right and it seemed to be ok. In the past year or so I have pulled muscles in my back a number of times, so what your saying could explain it.

If I were to start doing some deadlifts, just so I won't pull anything else, where should I start? I am not even sure where I am at with it so do any sort of reps.

 

[totalburnout]

What you say about the shoulders being pulled forward is true, never really noticed til someone pointed it out, but I have to pull my shoulders back or it looks like I'm haunched over all the time.

As far as hurting myself. I have done it before, I had asked a few people, and they had said it was probably how I was lifiting. But I had looked how to lift right and it seemed to be ok. In the past year or so I have pulled muscles in my back a number of times, so what your saying could explain it.

If I were to start doing some deadlifts, just so I won't pull anything else, where should I start? I am not even sure where I am at with it so do any sort of reps.

Deadlifts are a complicated lift that many people perform wrong. I still check my form on each every rep and if I'm at the gym with someone I typically have them check my form and make sure I'm doing everything correctly or else it could spell diasaster.

Go to that Wanna be Big.com - The Ultimate Weight Training and Bodybuilding Resource forum and search for deadlifts and find a video on how to perform a deadlift correctly. There should be an article as well.

Start with no weight at all and practicing the movement, from there try 135lbs and do as many reps with proper form that you can to almost failure. Work your way up from there.

Remember the squat, the deadlift, and all olympic lifts are posterior chain, hip driven movements. The power comes through your hips and forward, so thats what you lift with, not just lifting with your back.

Keep a natural arch in the back and look up at the ceiling or a point higher than you in the mirror.

Do chin ups or lat pulldowns for back as well. Start with bodyweight wide grip chins and work your way up to 10-12reps and then start using a weight belt that has a chain that you can attach to your waste and add weights via the chain. Do this for dips as well. Dips will help your chest, shoulders, and tri's grow tremundously.

If you need any other help, just let me know. Don't go hurting yourself trying to be a big man on an exercise you haven't done yet and do your body the favor of training it correctly. Pulled muscles and hunched shoulders are writing on the wall, just as the other fellows hurt wrist was writing on the wall.

 

[cheese9988]

Ya, thanks for the info! Some of the stuff I was doing I figured I was maxing out. Or with my back it was just technique, never though I should work it out.

 

[Capt. Orygun]

If you want strength then less reps and more weight is the basic answer.

what B said was good, you might also wanna do some pyramid down and some negative lifting, maybe alternate and do it once a week.

"Pyramid Down" Is when you start with your max bench and rep to burn, take 10% of the weight off and do it agian. Keep going till ur only doing the bar. You'll be amazed how good of a pump you'll get. It's also used for toning but it's a great way to fully work the muscle group

"Negative Lifting" Just like what it sounds, start with more then you can bench, have the spotter help you lift it and then just do the negative, verry slowly...

Other then that remember 1gram of protien for every pound of body weight, daily. You also might wanna get some Satur8, that shit is great!

 

[totalburnout]

Ya, thanks for the info! Some of the stuff I was doing I figured I was maxing out. Or with my back it was just technique, never though I should work it out.

Since you seem to have hopped on the gravy train and you're willing to listen, I'll toss another few benefits out there for you.

By training your back, you'll increase your bench press as well. How or why? Although your back muscles are not primary movers in bench press, they are secondary movers. When you bench, you should be squeezing your lats. This is why you have a lift off on bench, you can bench more. It allows you to flex your lats without having to worry about pulling the barbell up and out of the rack.

So we have a slightly improved bench now.
We have better functionality.
We have better posture.
We have less injuries.

And lastly, by working your back you'll increase your width. Your lat spread will widen and you'll fill out a T-shirt better. Nothing looks sicker than a broad back with lats that flare so wide. This will also give you the masculine T-shape that many of us try to achieve.

I bet its easy to see now how its more beneficial to work your entire body than just a certain muscle group. Far too many people think, "wow I'll have a big chest and big arms, that will be attractive." but fail to realize that they'll look unportional, have shitty posture and just look goofy which if you ask me is pretty unattractive.

 

[posol]

the bow flex sucks.

i tried one out in the store before i bought the free weights. That's what i was originally going to get on my mission out.

changing the weighs takes forever, espeically if you're targetting a specific pound level. you need a freakin calculator out to figure out which bands you need to tie in.

 

[vtecsir1]

Its funny how you think you know all but then you post a picture of Mariuz a guy that takes his own weight in steroids. Reading magazines and books doesnt mean you know how to lift. Most of the things you say sound like they are out of a book or magazine. My routine worked well for me and others which is why I posted it not for some kid to try and act like he knows all about lifting and think your way is the only way.

 

[chris_williams41886]

switch up your workouts....diet.......rest....its a lot like tuning a high powered car......just more complex

 

[swanny]

I want to see pics of Blanco at 6'5 280 at 8% BF.

 

[K2e2vin]

Fuck whoever orders Bow Flex. I hate handling that shit....Same with Sleep Number matresses.

sorry for rant

 

[BigJ]

Its funny how you think you know all but then you post a picture of Mariuz a guy that takes his own weight in steroids. Reading magazines and books doesnt mean you know how to lift. Most of the things you say sound like they are out of a book or magazine. My routine worked well for me and others which is why I posted it not for some kid to try and act like he knows all about lifting and think your way is the only way.

He goes to college for it. It's his major.


I learned a lot about baby steps on it, and not over training from him. But if I threw names out like Elington Darden, Mike Mentzer, Casey Viator, or even the great Nautilus Inventor Arthur Jones would you know them? Maybe your routines worked good for you because you have a better disposition(genetics) to gain muscle compared to the average bear, but that doesn't mean you were doing it right, or even healthily.

 

[posol]

yeah, they have one with a circular disc thing... i've seen that infomercial too. the Dick's i went to didn't have that one out on display, so i didn't test that model out.

 

[Capt. Orygun]

I own a Bow Flex and if you use it right it's actually a great machine...

Free weights own but Bowflex>Nautilis IMO