I want to extend a huge congratulations to our first ever Muscle Gaining Secrets Transformation contest winner, Kyle Matthews. Kyle did an incredible job, and through hard work and dedication made incredible changes to his physique and dramatically improved his strength.
I was in contact with Kyle throughout the transformation contest in our private forum and was extremely impressed with his work ethic and desire to excel. He is an inspiration and deserves the big prize.
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… …continue reading.
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.
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
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.
JF
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… …continue reading.
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
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… …continue reading.
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!
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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,… …continue reading.
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