2008 November | How to Build Muscle, Gain Strength & Become a Better Athlete

Archive | November, 2008

How to Naturally Flood Your Body With Fat Burning Hormones

29. Nov, 2008 3 Comments Fat Loss

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 [...]

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Stop the Insanity

22. Nov, 2008 4 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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Just Another Victim

19. Nov, 2008 14 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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Get Stronger, Get Better

17. Nov, 2008 8 Comments Strength & Conditioning, Uncategorized

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 [...]

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Swimming For Mass

14. Nov, 2008 4 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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Spin the Black Circle

13. Nov, 2008 14 Comments Training Music

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 [...]

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Defiantly

12. Nov, 2008 7 Comments Uncategorized

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 [...]

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The Secret to Fast Muscle Gain or a Road to Nowhere?

11. Nov, 2008 4 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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Some Questions, Some Answers

10. Nov, 2008 2 Comments How to Build Muscle

Question: Close grip bench presses and barbell curls kill my wrists. Is there any way to fix or get around that?
Thanks,

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 [...]

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