How to Build Muscle Olympic Style: Part 2

August 28, 2008

In part one of this series we discussed how to build muscle like the always-jacked-big-biceps-and-triceps sporting male gymnasts. In part two we are going to address the other most muscular athletes at the summer Olympics, the sprinters. If you took a survey of most average guys I am willing to bet that 99.9% of them would choose to look like an Olympic sprinter over just about any other physique option you gave them. Lean muscular and athletic looking; what could be better than that? I would even go so far as to argue that guys like Maurice Greene and Shawn Crawford (pictured) posses the perfect male physique. Head turning both aesthetically and athletically.

So how do you build that kind of functional, muscular physique? Well first of all you need to train with the intention of targeting the fast twitch muscle fibers. This can be done by using heavy weights for relatively low reps and lifting explosively. Stick with compound exercises like cleans, snatches, push presses, squats and deadlifts. Always accelerate as fast as you can on the concentric, or lifting portion, of every set and control the eccentric, or lowering portion, in one to two seconds. Never waste time with slow lifting speeds, especially on the way up. That limits the amount of weight you can lift and is completely unnatural. In real life if you bent over to pick up a box, would you take four seconds to lift it up off the ground and eight seconds to put it back down? Of course not. Muscles are made for speed; don’t force them to do something they don’t want to do by lifting slowly. Train slow, get slow. Remember that.

Another key component in learning how to build muscle like an Olympic sprinter is to be sure that you are using the right cardio/ conditioning methods. Too many people waste their time doing regular cardio like riding a bike, using a treadmill, stairclimber, or elliptical machine at a steady pace for 20-45 minutes. While this type of activity will burn some calories and can help you get leaner, it is far from the most effective or time efficient method. You don’t think sprinters do that, do you? Sprinters, obviously, sprint. When you compare the sprinters physique to the marathoners physique it is readily obvious which form of activity burns the most fat, builds the most muscle and produces the most appealing physique.

While excessive steady state aerobic or cardio training can actually burn muscle tissue, high intensity methods like sprinting can actually help you build muscle. You read that right; sprinting can actually have a double pronged effect of not only burning fat, but simultaneously inducing an anabolic state and helping you build muscle. I don’t know about you but that makes it a hands-down winner in my book, any day.

I recommend that you vary your sprint workouts between regular, flat ground sprints, hill sprints, sled sprints and Prowler sprints. Just because you are not an athlete doesn’t mean you shouldn’t train like one in the effort to look like one. If you are training for speed, you will need a lower volume of training, longer rest periods and probably shouldn’t sprint all out more than twice per week. If you are simply training to get ripped you can sprint at differing intensities and durations 3-4 days per week. Be sure to warm up properly beforehand and then proceed to your work sets which should be about 10-30 seconds of intense sprinting, for 15-30 minutes (total workout time) with 30-90 second rest intervals between. You could run several 40 yard sprints with a minute rest or a few 100’s and then walk back as your rest interval. There are a million different options, the important thing as that you do them.

Now you know how to build muscle like an Olympic sprinter and get absolutely ripped at the same time. Get ready to start turning heads in just a few months with your new physique. Good luck and train hard.

To learn more about how to build muscle and get ripped check out MuscleGainingSecrets.com.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 10 Comments

No Excuses

August 27, 2008

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation, Videos | 3 Comments

10 Reasons Why I Don’t Do Aerobics

August 26, 2008

maxwel2 10 Reasons Why I Dont Do Aerobics This is a great article by a colleague of mine and I guy I have the utmost respect for, Steve Maxwell. It reinforces what I have always said about doing sprints, strongman conditioning, playing sports, etc to get in shape instead of just mindlessly pumping away on the stair climber. To see that Steve practices what he preaches check out his pic to the left and take note of the fact that he is FIFTY FIVE years old!

——–

By Steve Maxwell

I spend my days at a corporate gym. It’s a sweet gig and a temporary livelihood.

One morning, while observing a female member endlessly running the treadmill-to-nowhere-fast, I realized I see the same people returning day after day, iPods silently blaring or, worse, mindlessly captivated by one of the ten wall-mounted television screens, while grinding away on those steppers and treadmills.

The drudgery of their Sisyphean tasks compels their attempts to lose self-awareness by inundating themselves with external stimuli. Often, their bodies reflect this lack of self-awareness in skewed gaits and other imbalances.

These same people come in religiously to get the feel-good fix, believing somehow their mindless, movement addiction is in some way benefiting them. Interestingly, they stay fat, show no progress, and sometimes even get fatter, especially after holidays. Most of these people are loathe to touch a weight, much less engage in any kind of productive strength-training. You see this same phenomenon in gyms all over the country.

Some will say, “Well, some exercise is better than none,”

But I say, if you’re going to spend the time, why not produce something worthwhile?

Here are ten reasons why I don’t do aerobic exercise:

But first, what is aerobic exercise? Any steady state locomotion elevating the heart rate into the zone for twenty minutes or more. The zone is determined by formulas based on age and resting heart rate.

Now, ten reasons why it not only doesn’t work but is a poor use of exercise time:

1. Oxidative Stress
Which causes a breakdown of tissues. It also predisposes one to cancer and heart attack.

2. Elevated cortisol production
Which causes a breakdown of muscle tissue and increases fat storage or depot fat. People do aerobics to alleviate stress yet end up creating more stress.

3. Lowered testosterone and HGH levels
For men, aerobics are a form of chemical castration. Low T-levels are associated with lowered libido, depression, anxiety, increased body fat and decreased muscle tissue. This contributes to muscle-wasting and lowers the basal metabolic rate.

4. Increased appetite and a tendency toward binge eating patterns
Aerobic exercise makes people hungry!

5. Excessive Muscular Fatigue
Making it difficult to do other more productive forms of activity. Aerobics creates muscular weakness.

6. Conversion of fast-twitch muscle fibers to slow-twitch
The loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers contributes to aging and the loss of explosive power and speed. People become slower and slower.

7. Burns a relatively small amount of calories vs. the time spent
One large meal completely offsets the pitiful amount of calories burned in an hour aerobics session.

8. Overuse injuries to the feet, ankles, and knees from excessive, continual force transmitted throughout the body
This is exacerbated by over-engineered running shoes which cushion the feet in such a way to create a neural amnesia.

9. Shortening i.e., deformation, of the muscle tissue from repetitive mid-range (partial range) movements
This creates inflexibility, immobility, and muscle imbalances. Besides being tight, the bodies postural alignment becomes compromised. Aerobics create tight, inflexible bodies that are in chronic pain.

10. Adrenal burnout
A consequence of the “feel good” neurotransmitters which also stimulate the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the fight or flight hormone. Excessive adrenaline creates an addictive response and people going routinely for the so called “high” of running end up with adrenal burnout, e.g., chronic fatigue and depression.

Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobic exercise (and the person who coined the term) completely recanted his assertions regarding aerobic exercise. After observing a disproportionate number of his aerobic-enthusiast friends die of cancer and heart disease, he reversed his ideas on the benefits of excessive aerobic exercise. He now claims anything in excess of 20 minutes has greatly diminishing returns. In fact, he’s now an advocate of scientific weight training.

In strength and health,

Steve Maxwell

——-

To check out some of Steve’s awesome DVD’s, which will help you get ripped in no time, click HERE now.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss | 7 Comments

Muscle Building Q & A

August 25, 2008

516779429 12650d45ba Muscle Building Q & A I just came across this interview I did for Craig Ballantyne (that’s an old picture from the 70’s of Craig and I to the left, he’s in black ) a couple years ago and figured I would reprint it since many of you may not have read it…

By Craig Ballantyne

Today I’m giving you a mini-interview with the “strength coach to strength coaches”, Jason Ferruggia. When he talks, I listen. So does Mike Boyle, as does Alwyn Cosgrove.

Jason has great muscle-building advice from years running his own gym, so let’s get to it.

CB: What rep ranges – you say no high reps – what does that mean? Nothing above 10, 15, 20?

JF:For the most part, skinny guys will be wasting their time if they use high reps and light weights. I usually like to see most of the reps be in the ranges of 5-10 when training for size. Now if it’s a lower body exercise such as a squat, step up or Romanian deadlift, you can get away and maybe even get better results with slightly higher reps. For the lower body you could actually go as high as twenty or even, on something like a belt squat- fifty reps, and still make good progress. On total body exercises such as a dumbbell swing, you could also get good results with reps in the 12-20 range. But for the most part, if you really want to get jacked, the majority of your training should be in the 5-10 rep range.

CB: What do you think aboot pigging out while getting big? Is that alright or should people be very strict with their muscle-building nutrition as well?

JF:This really depends on your genetics and bodyfat levels. If you can stay lean no matter what you eat then go for it. If you are really trying to add a lot of size you definitely have to jack up your calories. I believe bulking cycles should last 12-16 weeks max. After this you need to go into a maintenance or diet phase and do a completely different kind of training. Many people will do better with shorter cycles. This is an individual thing. But during this time you do have to pig out. This doesn’t mean throwing caution to the wind and trying to induce a heart attack in that time frame by eating fast food and ice cream all day. You can eat some junk food if you have a very fast metabolism but the majority of your food choices should be clean. You should also cycle your carbs and calories on a regular basis. The best clean food choices are fish, eggs and lean meats for protein and rice, potatoes, whole grain pasta, oatmeal, whole grain bread and fruits and vegetables for carbs. Be sure to include some healthy fats as well like nuts, avocadoes, and oils. If you have trouble staying lean you will probably want to limit your carb intake to the morning and pre and post workout period and avoid mixing large amounts of fats and carbs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you have trouble eating enough, a trick I like to use is to focus on eating high glycemic carbs like white rice. The reasoning behind this is that they digest rapidly and leave you feeling hungry again very shortly after eating them. This is why you are hungry an hour after eating Chinese food.

CB: You’ve been experimenting in your strength training lab for years – what was your most surprising finding – what “universal truth” doesn’t really hold up in the real world?

JF: There are so many. You definitely need way less training than most people think. Even if you are genetically superior and have the time and ambition, I really don’t see much benefit to training more than three or four days per week. Some rules like the supposed inverse relationship between sets and reps is completely false. This rule, which 90% of the industry seems to live by, states that the less reps you do, the more sets you do and the more reps you do the less sets you do. This is okay with beginners but what about some one who can bench press 500 pounds? If they are doing sets of three they are supposed to do between six and ten sets supposedly. Good luck with that. Aint happening. With a strong guy this rule is actually completely backward and will lead to destruction of your joints quite rapidly.

Some experts will tell you that you should only do compound movements and this will take care of everything. For example, they say you should only do presses and rows and chins and never pushdowns or curls. I agree with that to an extent but after you have built up a decent amount of mass on the basics you could actually benefit from a very small volume of some of these isolation exercises. Your strongest muscles will take over when doing a row or press and often times, for the more advanced lifter, the smaller muscles like biceps, don’t receive an adequate growth stimulus. For this reason, if you really wanted to get your arms to grow (and are way beyond the beginner stage) you should a few sets of direct arm work.

The old myth that a muscle takes 72 hours to recover is also completely incorrect. If you wanted to you could probably train full body six or seven days a week. Gymnasts and the guys in the military do it. I’m not recommending that but just pointing out a fact. It’s just all about finding the optimal balance between volume, intensity and frequency based on your goals and your body type, etc. I mentioned training to failure earlier but this is something that most people are still confused about. Here are the simple rules about going to failure: If you are training strictly for size or fat loss, you can go to near failure on every set. I don’t mean nervous breakdown, death set failure but you can go until you can’t get another rep with perfect form (and the last rep looks like the first rep) or the next rep is questionable. Even then I still recommend leaving one in the tank. If your main priority is getting stronger, you can not go to failure. It’s that simple. There are a ton of other ones but those are the first that came to mind right now. Hopefully that gives people a few new ideas and things to think about.

CB: Thanks Jay. I personally am using a program that was designed with Jay’s help. I suggest you give his programs a try as well. Visit MuscleGainingSecrets.com right now for more information.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

The Next Level of Core Training- Dynamic Planks

August 24, 2008

By Jim “Smitty” Smith

When you think about the most basic abdominal exercises, the first one that pops into your head is probably planks.

Planks are where a person lays out into a push-up position but instead of being on their outstretched hands, they rest on their forearms. In this position, the athlete or lifter will remain for a specific length of time. If the time exceeds one and a half minutes that is considered pretty good.

The benefits of planks include rehabilitating a back injury, glute activation, developing proficiency for bracing the torso with intra-abdominal pressure and an isometric contraction of the abdominals and developing muscular endurance of the muscles that stabilize, support and engage movements of the torso.

But in accordance with the Principle of Overload and the Laws of Chaos, there is a progression for all resistance training means. Progression of an exercise will increase the difficulty, which increases the demand and work capacity of the lifter and in turn, provides more adaptation and benefits.

So what is the next training progression for planks? Here are some of the most common modifications :

Raising one foot off the ground (ensure the lifter doesn’t shift to the side to compensate by forcibly firing the glutes and bracing harder
Add a weighted vest or back pack

Further unique adaptations can be obtained if we are relentless in our pursuit of our ultimate goal – real world strength. It is this real world strength that is developed not only with fixed, patterned strength training movements, but with random, rapidly adjusted reactive means. This is truer to real life and everyday movements.

Here is the modification that will produce the results we want. The lifter will setup in a conventional plank but with their feet on an elevated box and their forearms on a mini-trampoline.

This is a plank x 10!

This variation is much more difficult to stabilize because as the lifter adjusts, so does the base of support (the trampoline) they are resting on! We can of course increase the difficulty by externally loading the lifter or having them lift one leg, but we want to make this exercise really difficult. By having the lifter raise up onto their hands, more vibration can be achieved.

Now hit a plyometric push-up with the goal of restabilizing and restoring a static posture as quickly as possible. This creates a full body tremor that improves the integrity of the elbows, shoulders and hips.

Now, let’s perform a one arm plank on this setup. This requires a greater glute and opposite oblique contraction to counterbalance the movement. The goal is to minimize the hips shifting and remain rigid. This movement can be held for time and increased in difficulty by a partner-assisted agitation.

For a more advanced movement a plyometric push-up can once again be engaged, but this time we will land on one arm.

Not only does this have amazing implications in a rehabilitative setting, but decelerative properties for the torso, back and shoulders as well. Sports that require ballistic upper body expressions (which is essentially all sports) or sports with high incidences of shoulder or hip injuries can benefit from this vibrational environment. The more vibration we can introduce, the more rapid the contractions, primary and antagonistic, of the engaged muscular and the greater stability of the kinetic chain. This creates a balance and teaches the athlete how to stabilize in opposition to random stimuli.

About the Author
Jim Smith is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and an expert trainer who writes for Men’s Fitness and the Elite Q/A Staff. Jim has been involved in strength training as a performance enhancement specialist for over 8 years and has worked with athletes from various sports who compete at various levels. He has published articles about his unique training style and innovative methods for many prominent strength and fitness related sites. He is also the authored of three renowned strength manuals. For more innovative training solutions, visit www.CombatCoreStrength.com.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Strength & Conditioning | 1 Comment

A Muscle Building Program For Huge Legs

August 23, 2008

platz2 A Muscle Building Program For Huge Legs If you have been around the Iron Game for a while, there is one name that comes instantly to mind when people discuss leg training. That name is Tom Platz. “The Golden Eagle” is widely regarded as having the most massively muscular legs in the history of bodybuilding. His thighs measured a whopping 35 inches and were shredded to the bone. Tom’s muscle building program that created those unforgettable wheels revolved around one exercise and one exercise only; the barbell squat. If you want to add some serious mass to your legs you had better familiarize yourself with this exercise in a hurry.

Since the quads typically have a very wide variance of muscle fiber types you can use a great range of reps in your quest to build pillar sized legs. Often times, Tom and other lifters with notoriously huge legs, would go as high as fifty reps per set on squats. When I was young and painfully skinny, high rep squats were one of the most effective discoveries I ever made and helped me and my brother pack on size faster than anything we had ever tried to date. The old 20 rep squat programs from the golden era of the Iron Game made a massive man of many a skinny boy. For over 15 years I have used high rep squats with hundreds of clients, and without fail they have always gained enormous amounts of size and strength; not to mention several inches of raw mass on their thighs.

Although high rep squatting leads to massive and rapid gains, I usually recommend starting with a few heavy sets in the 4-8 range first. Sometimes I even add in a set of 10-15 after the heavy sets, and finally finish with one all out set of 20 (and sometimes 30-50). When you use this rep scheme you ensure that you hit all fiber types and stimulate the greatest amount of muscle growth possible.

Another note that needs to be added here is that high rep squats shouldn’t be done until you have mastered squat technique with several months of low rep training. You need to build the strength, coordination, endurance and stability needed to safely complete picture perfect low rep sets of squats first before you can move on to the high rep sets.

Beginners should squat three times per week, intermediates twice and advanced lifters should probably only squat once every 5-10 days, depending on a variety of factors and how much running and other extra curricular activities you participate in.

When putting together your muscle building program, be sure that squats are the focus of your lower body training; if not the only thing you do. Once you have mastered “the king of all exercises” you can then begin to think about adding in stuff like lunges, step ups and glute ham raises. Until then, and until you have gained significant size and strength from a steady diet of squats, I expect you to be spending a lot of time in the power rack.

PS. For the most effective muscle building program on the market, that will add awe inspiring size to not only your legs, but your entire body, go to MuscleGainingSecrets.com right now.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 8 Comments

Natures Perfect Sports Drink

August 20, 2008

coconut edit Natures Perfect Sports Drink Not a lot of time for a long post today but I just wanted to share something with you guys that has made a difference for me and my athletes this summer, and that is coconut water. I am not talking about coconut milk, but the actual water inside a coconut. It is great for rehydrating and replenishing electrolytes, not to mention that it tastes great and is an awesome thirst quencher.

By now most of us know about the benefits of coconut oil but until recently not too many people were discussing the benefits of coconut milk. I first learned about using coconut water from my buddy Brendan Brazier, triathlete and the author of the outstanding book which every athlete should read, The Thrive Diet.

Since incorporating it we all have been pleasantly surprised by the results and I highly recommend giving it a try during intense outdoor training sessions when you are sweating a lot.

I personally use Vita Coco, click HERE to check it out.

Drop me a line and let me know how it works out for you.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Nutrition | 5 Comments

How to Gain Weight Fast- 5 Powerful Tips

August 18, 2008

sherk2 How to Gain Weight Fast 5 Powerful Tips Let’s face it; nobody wants to be skinny and weak. Deep down everybody desires the ripped, muscular physique of a UFC fighter or an NFL running back. That’s the kind of look that attracts the ladies and earns respect from the guys. But the question that perplexes many of you is “how do I get that look?” Well search no more because I am about to teach you how to gain weight and build muscle at break neck speeds and finally achieve the head turning physique you have always dreamed of.

Most skinny guys and wannabe mass monsters make numerous mistakes in their training programs and naming them all here would take an entire book. But the important thing is that you stop making those mistakes immediately and start following my five tips on how to gain weight fast.

Train Heavy- You will never build any significant size with high reps and light weights. If you want to get huge you need to add weight to the bar and bring your reps down a bit.
Don’t Train For More Than 45 Minutes Per Session- Your testosterone output is dramatically increased during a weight training workout but this only lasts for 45 minutes. After that point its shot. What happens then is that your testosterone levels start to plummet and cortisol levels start to rise. Cortisol eats muscle and increases body fat storage. So hit it hard and get out quick.
Always Follow the Law of Progressive Overload- If you want to get huge you have to use progressive overload in your training. What this means is that you absolutely must improve upon your previous performance every time you enter the gym. You can do this by lifting heavier weights, doing more reps with the same weight, doing more sets, doing the same amount of work in less time or doing more work in the same amount of time. But whatever you do, DON’T do the exact same thing as the last time you were in the gym. You must give your body a reason to grow and repeating the exact same workout as last time does not force muscle growth.
Use Big, Compound Exercises- Exercises like squats, deadlifts, military presses and rows should be the staples of your mass building workout program. These are the exercises that build the most muscle and stimulate the greatest testosterone production. Most machines are a waste of time and do very little to help you pack on size. Stick with free weight movements like dumbbell presses and good mornings, and bodyweight exercises like chin ups and dips.
Eat Big- No matter how good your training program is you will never develop a massively muscled physique if you don’t consume enough calories. You need to eat every 2-3 hours and focus on getting one gram of lean protein per pound of bodyweight daily and an ample amount of clean carbs and healthy fats. For super skinny guys with a fast metabolism I recommend focusing on foods like rice, potatoes, pasta and consuming 30% of your calories from healthy fats like avocado, nuts and cold pressed oils.

By following those five tips you will start to pack on slabs of new muscle in no time. For more explosive tips on how to gain weight rapidly check out http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/ .

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 10 Comments

How to Build Muscle- Olympic Style

August 12, 2008

med 1237037067 larry scott ring flyes 2 How to Build Muscle Olympic Style While watching the summer Olympics the last few days you would be hard pressed not to notice the great physiques possessed by many of the athletes. But by far and away the most muscular bodies always belong to the gymnasts and the sprinters. These guys certainly know how to build muscle more effectively than most average gym rats.

For years now I have been extolling the virtues of moving your body through space when you train, as opposed to simply moving your limbs around a fixed object. When you move your body through space, as the Olympic gymnasts do, you stimulate a much higher level of neuromuscular activation. In simple terms this means that you call more muscle fibers into play on any one exercise. And the more muscle fibers you activate, the more you will grow.

So if you want to develop an incredible physique, take a lesson from the Olympic gymnasts on how to build muscle, and start moving your body through space as much as possible while you train. Following is a list of exercises to start you on the path to getting huge.

Instead of triceps pushdowns do parallel bar dips.
Have you noticed how many dips and how much work the Olympians do on the parallel bars? And have you noticed the size of their triceps? Need I say more?
Instead of barbell curls do close grip chin ups. Ditto what I said about the dips. Not only do you get incredible biceps development from close grip chins but you also get the added bonus of massive lat and forearm development.
Instead of bench presses do chain or strap suspended pushups. While the bench press can be an effective mass building exercise it can also be one of the worst for your shoulders. If you want to be safer and build a chest and pair of shoulders like you see on the Olympic gymnasts I would highly recommend some type of chain or strap suspended pushup. This movement will call far more muscle fibers into play and challenge the smaller stabilizers muscles as well. Not only that but you will get an outstanding ab workout from this movement as well; something that can’t be said for the bench press.
Instead of flyes with dumbbells do them with your bodyweight. These were a favorite chest builder of the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott. He preferred doing them with gymnastics rings but you can also do them on the TRX Straps. Either option is great and will pack size on your chest.
Instead of leg presses, leg extensions or leg curls do double and single leg squats. When you sit in a fixed machine and move weight with your limbs as opposed to moving your body the level of neuromuscular activation is quite low; no matter how much weight you use. And it is very unnatural. A leg press allows you to build strength in your lower body without additional gains in lower back and core strength. This is not normal and creates an imbalance that will lead to future problems. When you do squats you incorporate nearly every muscle from head to toe and will not only build tree trunk sized legs but will stimulate growth throughout your entire body.
Instead of crunches and sit ups do all of the exercises listed above. Isolation abdominal exercises like crunches and sit ups are not real life type movements. In real life your abdominals contract isometrically to protect your spine; they do not contract the way they do in a crunch or sit up. Not only that, but by continually flexing your spine for hundreds of reps per week, you will surely be setting yourself up for long term back problems.If you follow a steady diet of chins, dips, suspended pushups and squats you will build an incredible set of abs. When you watch the Olympic gymnasts you immediately notice their rock solid abs popping right through their spandex and they never do crunches or sit ups. You simply can’t hide abs like that. That kind of six pack is built with full body movements like the ones listed above.But if you still want to do a little extra ab work you can add in exercises like planks and ab wheel rollouts; just skip the sit ups and crunches.

Now you know how to build muscle, Olympic style. Stick with these time tested exercises and all of the others listed in my Muscle Gaining Secrets course for the next eight weeks and be prepared add some massive slabs of beef to your physique.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 36 Comments

Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program Sucks

August 8, 2008

Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program Sucks One of the most popular, faulty and dangerous myths espoused in nearly every muscle building program is that you must use a full range of motion on every exercise in order to achieve maximal growth. Supposedly you have to take each movement to the fully stretched position and then finish in the fully “peak” contracted position. If you don’t you will never get huge… or so they say.

Without getting all technical and scientific let’s just look at a few real world examples to see if this advice makes any sense at all.

Starting from the ground up let’s begin with calves. All fat guys have big calves. They walk around all day with a lot of weigh on their calves but never once achieve a full stretch or contraction. It’s simply high loads, tension, volume and frequency. The same can be said for a lot of runners and bikers. And when the Olympics start today you will surely be awestruck by the calf development of the female gymnasts, who do spend a lot of time in the fully contracted position while walking on their toes but no time in the fully stretched position.

And speaking of the Olympics, not only will you notice that many 15 year old female gymnasts (with minimal testosterone levels) have calves bigger than the average guy but they also have thighs bigger than a lot of guys who spend several hours per month on the leg press. Yet, very rarely in their gymnastics training do they achieve a full squat position. There is actually very little, if any, full range of motion training done for their thighs, but they all have completely jacked legs.

Baseball players, rock climbers, mechanics and other manual laborers have huge, muscular forearms. But do you think that development is brought about by these guys consciously trying to achieve a full stretch and contraction throughout their game or work day? Of course not.

Powerlifters have huge legs yet only squat to parallel most of the time. Not a full range of motion movement. They also have huge traps which are mostly due to a lot of heavy deadlifts. There is NO range of motion for the traps on a deadlift. They contract, but don’t actively move from a full stretch position to the peak contraction position.

Not only is the deadlift the best trap building exercise there is, it’s also probably the best overall mass building exercise there is for the entire body. It has been heralded as such since the beginning of time from guys like Paul Anderson to Arnold to Ronnie Coleman. But name me one muscle group that is taken through a full range of motion on the deadlift. There is not a one!

So how can some experts espouse the value of full range of motion training while simultaneously listing the deadlift as one of the top exercises in any muscle building program? Ditto for the clean, clean and press, snatch, jerk, etc.

Not only is this myth incorrect but it can also be dangerous advice to adhere to. Achieving a full range of motion for the pecs would entail bringing your arms all the way behind your back to start the exercise and then crossing them all the way across your body in the front. First of all, that would destroy your shoulder. Second of all, it’s impossible and impractical.

Some guys try to really go for the deep stretch on dumbbell presses and allow their elbows to drop way below the bench. Others drop down into the deepest stretch possible on the dip bars. They have been led to believe that this extreme, loaded pre-stretch is needed for maximal muscle growth. The truth is that they will probably be seeing an orthopedic surgeon long before they get mistaken for Mr. Olympia.

Leg presses are another exercise where guys commonly push the stretch position way too far. If you bury your knees in your chest on a leg press, like many bodybuilders and coaches recommend, and allow your spine to round and your butt to come up off the pad you will surely have back problems that may plague you for quite some time.

Not only is going into the fully stretched position not recommended, but a lot of exercises have no tension whatsoever in the fully contracted position, which therefore makes that recommendation somewhat useless as well. If you want to target your chest and shoulders and not your triceps, most pressing movements should actually be done with a partial range of motion; stopping a few inches shy of lockout. A ¾ range of motion there is more beneficial than a full range. Think Lou Ferrigno doing military presses in Pumping Iron.

There are numerous other exercises where partial ranges of motion are far more effective and safer than full range movements. However, covering them all is beyond the scope of this article.

But hopefully by now you realize what a ridiculous recommendation this full range of motion nonsense truly is and will stop following it blindly without rational thought as soon as possible.

To learn the target range of motion for each and every exercise in your muscle building program and finally maximize your growth potential, avoid inevitable injuries, and uncover more mind blowing myths that you are probably following right now, visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com today.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 16 Comments

Recent Posts

Popular Posts