Question: Close grip bench presses and barbell curls kill my wrists. Is there any way to fix or get around that?
Thanks,
Ty
Answer: Ty,
On close grip bench presses you probably have your hands too close. The closest grip you should ever use is about 14-15” between index fingers. If your hands are closer than that the stress on your wrists will be too great.
As far as the barbell curls go you could also try moving your hands out wider. If that doesn’t work then you should just stick with the EZ bar or dumbbells.
Question: Hi, My names Stevie and i’m e-mailing all the fitness and muscle building experts about Static contraction training. I Use this type of training and find it to be a good way of building muscle and strength, but i want your thoughts and opinions about this type of training.
Thanks a million
Stevie
Answer: Stevie,
I am not a big fan of static contraction training as the only method of training employed. There are certain times when isometric exercises are of benefit but… …continue reading.
According to some experts, one of the rules of fast muscle gain is that to get a muscle to grow it must be “under tension” for somewhere between 40 and 70 seconds.
Taking a full 40–70 seconds to complete a set of 6–8 reps is one of the most ludicrous things I could possibly imagine. I can barely make sex last that long, never mind a set of chin ups. By lifting this slowly, you severely limit the poundages you can handle on any given exercise which instantly decreases the efficiency of the set. When you intentionally lift slowly and try to extend the time of your sets you increase lactic acid production, but that’s about it. This gives you the burning sensation that some confused people may think equates to muscle growth. You can get a burning sensation by doing 100 crunches… or sleeping with the wrong girl. But neither of those activities is going to lead to significant muscle growth.
The muscle fibers that have the greatest growth potential are the fast twitch fibers, and they are only recruited maximally when you lift heavy weights and your sets are about twenty seconds in… …continue reading.
theirs nothing i luv more than getting emails that contain absolutely no punctuation proper spelling capitalization or grammar that demand free training advice and personally designed workouts every morning i open one of these emails and have guys asking me for a free program to increase the size of there (their) biceps by two inches and there (their) bench press by 50 lbs in three weeks or telling me about what all they need to accomplish before baseball season starts and can i be sure to include the running workouts to (too) becuase they have early dismissal twice a week and want to run on those days and train on mon wed fri and alos a specially designed diet wold be great they no im buzy but really need to get in shape fast and need my help even tho they cant affored to pay me for my services it means a lot to them because they are poor college students so its great that i am willing to do the good deed for them and they sine off with
thanks a lot bro i defiantly appreciate it keep doing what yer doin
Inevitably these emails always… …continue reading.
I finally got the ok from the doctor, yesterday, to go back to training. Nothing overhead and no heavy pressing, but I can ease my way back into everything else and finally start regaining all the weight I have lost this year. It’s been a long time and I couldn’t take much more of it. I feel like it’s Christmas morning right now and can’t wait to get to the gym today.
I got a question about music yesterday and since, along with training, that is my favorite subject in the world to discuss, I will gladly ramble on.
Listing everything I train to would take me all day but some of my favorites are:
- Public Enemy
- Rage Against the Machine
- Slayer
- NWA
- Eminem
- Ice Cube
- Killswitch Engage
- Static X
- D12
- DMX
Question: Hey Jay,
I was wondering if it would be possible for me to do a swimming exercise. Before I bought your program, my friend and I already committed to start swimming because he wanted to get better at it and I have always enjoyed it.
I just want to let you know I’m 6’4″ and 150 lbs, so my main concern right now is building mass, but I want to be in cardiovascular shape as well. If there is a way I can swim to burn fat and get in cardiovascular shape without losing mass, I would greatly appreciate your insight.
Mike Ruggles
Answer: Mike,
Swimming is great exercise and will help you get in shape and burn some extra calories. If I had my druthers I would always choose sprinting as the top fat burning exercise but there is also something to be said about doing what you love to do. Personally I would recommend mixing it up and sprinting some days, swimming on others.
However, at 6’4” and 150 lbs I would highly recommend that you do very little of either right now if you really want to gain mass rapidly.… …continue reading.
I was talking to my buddy before the big UFC fight this weekend and he said he hoped that, if nothing else, Brock Lesnar’s success would help make more people realize how important maximal strength training is for MMA. I couldn’t have agreed more. To this day there are still tons of guys who scoff at heavy strength training for combat sports. Conditioning is the most important quality a mixed martial artist or amateur wrestler needs, so that tends to be the main focus of a large majority of combat training programs while the strength work gets neglected.
I have maintained for quite some time now that this is a huge mistake. Sure there are some guys who eschew any type of heavy strength training and are incredibly successful. Their conditioning is unsurpassed, their skill level is second to none, and they are champions because of it. But what if they dramatically increased their strength on top of that? How much better could they be?
Sean Sherk, Matt Hughes and Brock Lesnar have all won fights that they otherwise might not have if they didn’t possess superior levels of strength. That is definitely something to think… …continue reading.
It happened again this morning, another victim claimed by the flat bench press. My buddy called and told me he tore his pec while benching heavy over the weekend. It didn’t shock me at all. This lift has been destroying shoulders and tearing pecs since the beginning.
Back in the golden days of the Iron Game, when the military press was the upper body exercise of choice, nobody ever heard of rotator cuff injuries or pec tears. It was only after the bench press achieved extreme popularity that shoulders and pecs started getting obliterated at record rates.
The bottom position of a heavy bench press puts your shoulders in a very vulnerable and dangerous position. Some people can tolerate this for decades. For others it will only take a few years. But sooner or later it’s bound to happen. It’s really not a question of if, but when. The flat bench press will eventually lead to some kind of shoulder problems or pec tear in the majority of lifters who do it heavy enough and long enough.
Like a lot of you, I was obsessed with bench pressing for a long time. And I… …continue reading.
Sometimes I wonder how guys trained before the internet was around. I mean if you can’t visit 493 different message boards per day and post your workout in order to get the approval from at least half the world’s population before hitting the gym that day how could you ever make progress? It’s bewildering to me.
Or where would the variety in your training come from? Everyone knows the fastest way to make gains is to routinely switch on a monthly basis from the Russian Pyramid Scheme to Indonesian Drop Sets to Hungarian Hypertrophy Training to 5×5 to 3×3 to 5,4,3,2,1 to Super Squats to Power Factor Training to Dinosaur Training to ABCDE to GVT to OVT to HST to HIT to Max OT to AT& T to OPP, Hip Hop Hooray and motherfuck me.
Oh, the insanity…
There are a few very important factors that need to be remembered if you want to make significant progress.
Consistency, dedication, commitment.
You have to be willing to put in the time and pay your dues. You have to pick a plan and stick with it. Results won’t come overnight. You have to be patient and consistent. If… …continue reading.
By John Alvino
If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle as fast as possible, it is absolutely crucial that you focus your efforts on maximizing your production of the powerful fat burning hormone known as growth hormone (GH). GH is released by the pituitary, and GH levels in the body tend to peak during puberty, and then slowly (yet steadily) decline with age. GH plays a key role in the building and/or maintenance of muscle, as well as the burning of body fat.
Recent studies have confirmed that boosting GH levels leads not only to increased muscle and bone mass, but decreased body fat levels as well.
For years, bodybuilders have injected synthetic GH to experience the amazing effects it has on their body composition. Unfortunately, the synthetic version of this hormone is very expensive, hard to obtain and causes undesirable side effects.
The good news is that you can increase your GH levels naturally, and without any side effects! All you have to do is engage in a targeted hormone stimulating training program. You can start jacking up your own growth hormone today by applying some of these key elements… …continue reading.
Recent Comments