The great thing about incorporating the bench press into your workouts is that you will develop upper body strength, power, and massive amounts of muscle on your chest and triceps. But, with most good things, if you do them too much or the wrong way, the outcome that you are hoping for, will not be what you get.
My idol bench pressing hard !
The hamstrings are made up of three muscles. Those three muscles are the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus. All three of these muscles originate on the pelvic bone under the glutes, and then insert on the tibia.
The bicep femoris, semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus are all used for flexing the knee as well as hip extension. For those of you who aren’t familiar with that terminology, think of knee flexion as a leg curl—where you are taking your foot and moving it towards your glutes in one fluid motion. An example of hip extension is where you are moving your leg to the rear. You can think of the movement like a stiff-leg deadlift.
• Seated Leg Curls
• Lying Leg Curls
• Standing Leg Curls
• Lying Bodyweight Flutter Kicks
• Stability Ball Flutter Kicks
• Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
• Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
• Dumbbell Lunges
• Barbell Lunges
• Smith Machine Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
• Squats
• Glute-Ham Raises
• Barbell Good Mornings
Squats 3×8-12
Dumbbell Lunges 3×8-12
Smith Machine Stiff-Leg Deadlifts 3×8-12
Glute-Ham Raises 3×8-12
Workout #2
Lying Leg Curls 3×8-12
Barbell Lunges 3×8-12
Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlifts 3×8-12
Barbell Good Mornings 3×8-12
Workout #3
Standing Leg Curls 3×8-12
Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift 3×8-12
Dumbbell Lunges 3×8-12
Stability Ball Flutter Kicks 3×8-12
Workout #4
Squats 3×8-12
Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift 3×8-12
Glute-Ham Raise 3×8-12
Lying Bodyweight Flutter Kicks 3×8-12
Workout #5
Barbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift 3×8-12
Barbell Lunges 3×8-12
Lying Leg Curls 3×8-12
Glute-Ham Raises 3×8-12
Workout #6
Seated Leg Curls 3×8-12
Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift 3×8-12
Dumbbell Lunges 3×8-12
Barbell Good Mornings 3×8-12
When it comes down to it you want to focus on the mind-muscle connection. You should really feel each rep and feel the muscle working. If you don’t feel an exercise in your hamstrings, then you are probably doing it wrong or are using a weight that you can’t handle and are using more than just your hamstring muscles.
Most of all have fun with your workouts. If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point? Utilize what you learned in this course and see where it takes you. Good luck and see you at graduation!
Written By: Matt Weik
LINK TO THE ARTICLE ==> http://www.cutandjacked.com/hamstring-building
Start by doing one body-weight squat and 10 pushups. Rest for 30 seconds, and then do 2 squats and 9 pushups. Gradually work your way up to 10 squats and down to 1 pushup. You’ll complete 55 reps of each exercise by the time you’re done—and reap both the cardiovascular benefit of aerobic training and the muscular pump of a strength session. (And if you like this routine, you’ll love The World’s Most Efficient Workout.)
Find an area in your gym where you can sprint for 10 meters. Once you’ve covered the distance, pause just long enough to inhale and exhale once through your nose. Sprint back and pause, this time inhaling and exhaling twice through your nose. Continue the drill—breathing normally as you sprint, and adding an additional nose inhalation and exhalation when you pause—until you can no longer breathe through your nose. “It takes more effort than breathing through your mouth—even during rest—which increases the intensity of the exercise,” John says. The result: more gain in less time (and distance) than on a treadmill. (Don’t undermine your fitness efforts: Make sure to avoid The Worst “Free” Restaurant Foods in America.)
Do as many jumping jacks as you can in 10 seconds. Rest for an equal amount of time. Next, do as many jumping jacks as you can in 20 seconds, and rest 20 seconds. Then do 30 seconds of jumping jacks followed by 30 seconds of rest. Now work your way back down the pyramid (30, 20, 10). Repeat three times. This will change the way you think about jumping jacks forever.
LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ==> http://www.menshealth.com/deltafit/best-cardio-workouts-youve-never-tried
During a bench press, two main actions occur — Your chest muscles adduct your shoulder joint to bring your arms closer into your body, and your triceps extend and straighten your elbow. To make the bench press a more triceps-dominant exercise, move your grip in so that your hands are around 8 to 12 inches apart, and perform bench presses. This takes your chest muscles out of the movement and really focuses in your triceps.
rack so that they are 6 inches above your chest when lying on a bench, and press the bar from there. This puts more strain on your triceps, and you can perform each repetition from a “dead-stop” on the pins, meaning that you can use more weight.Dips were a favorite exercise of former champion bodybuilder Vince Gironda, who believed in their effectiveness at building muscle so much that he chose dip stations at the expense of bench presses in his gym. Aim to keep your torso upright when you perform dips and descend as low as you can on each rep. Once you can do 15 body weight reps, add extra weight using a weight vest or dipping belt.
You can perform pushdowns on a cable machine using a variety of different grips and attachments. Make sure you perform all your reps through a full range of motion, and use as little body momentum as possible. You can use straight handles, cambered bars, V handles and ropes as attachments, and vary your grip between underhand, overhand and neutral to keep your training interesting.
Rolling triceps extensions are often performed by powerlifters looking to increase their lockout strength in the bench press. The rolling extension is performed lying on the floor with a pair of dumbbells, and is a cross between a strict triceps extension, a chest press and a pullover.
Preacher curls focus on the long head of your biceps muscle, which is especially important for developing your biceps “peak.” Preacher curls also force you to perform strict curls, which means using a lighter weight, but getting a great muscle contraction.
Concentration curls were a much-used exercise of Arnold Schwarzenegger during his bodybuilding career, as he believed that like preacher curls, they helped to emphasize the biceps peak. Do your concentration curls with your working arm resting against your knee, starting with your arm completely straight, and finishing with the dumbbell lightly touching your chest.
While often thought of as a back exercise, chinups are also great at packing mass on your arms. To focus more on your biceps, do your chinups with a close grip, and your hands in an underhand or neutral position. As with dips, if bodyweight chinups are too easy for you, add weight to make them harder.
Doing any of your curling or pulling exercises with thick grip dumbbells or barbells forces your forearm and biceps muscles to work harder, which leads to increased muscle growth. If you don’t have access to thick handled bars, then purchase some thick grip attachments, or wrap a towel around the handle when performing curls.
Incline dumbbell curls are much like regular seated dumbbell curls, but you perform them sitting on an incline bench, set back to around 45 degrees. This enables you to get a much bigger stretch in your biceps when in the bottom position of the exercise, and also means that you can’t use any body momentum to “cheat curl” the weight up.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/465127-10-best-exercises-for-bigger-arms/#ixzz2MOgSsghh
LINK TO THE ARTICLE ONLINE ==> http://www.livestrong.com/article/465127-10-best-exercises-for-bigger-arms/
The truth is you don’t need surgery to get the body of your dreams. You are the only one responsible for your success. If you want abs, 80% of your results will rely on your diet. YOU are the only person who controls what you put in your body. If your friends or family are not supporting you in your efforts to get lean, let them know you are serious about reaching this goal and that your eating habits are going to change. Sure you may get a few odd looks and some people may feel uncomfortable around you because you are making them feel guilty about what they eat, but just stay focused. The results will be amazing!
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that eating for six pack abs is easy. Getting proper nutrition is an ongoing effort. If you break your diet, DO NOT GIVE UP! If you give into temptation, admit you made a mistake, and try even harder to eat clean. Depending on your current eating habits you may find this step easier than others. Even if you have the worst eating habits, you can still get six pack abs, but it will require time to develop clean eating habits. You are capable of achieving great abs. Here is what you need to know to eat for better abdominals.
Imagine you have a clone, and that clone eats the same amount of calories but from chocolate bars. Now imagine you get all your calories from whole food. Who will look (and feel) better? You would look and feel better than your clone of course! This is an extreme example, but it doesn’t have to be that extreme.
Let’s say you and your clone are both trying to “Get In Shape.” Your clone eats heavily processed, so called “Healthy Foods and Meals,” while you cook and eat fresh veggies and meats. Again, who is going to look and feel better? That’s right, you win again.
Many of these ‘get fit quick’ meal programs solely focus on restricting the quantity of calories in your diet, and completely ignore the quality of those calories. As a matter of fact, most of those ‘get fit quick’ meal programs use extremely low quality foods and ingredients in them. Why? Because, high quality food is not cheap and if they used high quality food they would not be able to make a profit. Remember, you get what you pay for. To get abs, feed your body with only high quality foods. That means eat whole foods, not highly processed foods.
In general, processed foods digest quickly causing sharp changes in your body chemistry and can easily lead to fat storage. This happens for a few reasons:
“Fast foods and processed products are packed with trans fats, empty carbohydrates and calories,” stated Dr. Saman Bakhtiar in his article The Only Diet That Works.
Now, I want you to change the way you think about food. Most people see food as a pleasure. “They enjoy food.” Really? It takes you a few minutes to eat a tasty meal but are you willing to sabotage your body because you enjoyed that food? Well, I enjoy food also. I enjoy how I can control my body because of the food I choose to eat.
Think of your food a tool. Much like a good set of tools can make a home improvement project easier, quality whole foods make getting in shape easier as well. Whole foods are great tools that can help you get six pack abs. Most processed foods are convenient but will do little to help you reach your ultimate potential.
“But, I don’t have time to cook.”
Try cooking your food in bulk on the weekends. Stay away from the microwavable meals! Instead cook your meals and refrigerate or freeze them, so you can enjoy them throughout the week. This will ensure that you are actually getting meat, veggies and fruit in your meal and not some chemically enhanced, salty, food substitute.
“Eating whole foods sound like a lot of work.”
Your diet is crucial to your success and, it will take some work. Sure it would be easier to buy a bunch of premade meals and just pop them in the microwave, but if it was that easy, don’t you think more people would have six pack abs? Getting in great shape is a lifestyle adjustment and it does take some hard work but it is well worth it. Your body will react best to foods that are less processed. So, do yourself a favor, go to Costco and load up on wholesome foods. On the weekend cook your meal for the rest of the week and feel confident about feeding your body quality calories.
You may be shocked to hear that many people gain weight due to under eating. That’s right! The body is great at surviving, and if we under eat or starve ourselves, the body reacts by slowing down our metabolic rate. This means your body will try to store as much fat as possible on your body when you put it in starvation mode.
I have seen the unfortunate consequences of under eating with many clients who come to me thinking they have to starve themselves. After reviewing their diet I come to find out that they are already starving their bodies and begin to have them eat more frequently. As they begin to eat more frequently and workout, their appetite increases as well but I have them eat frequent meals with no limitation on calories, they just have to eat whole foods. Every client is amazed at how well my simple diet programs work for them and tell me they never thought they would lose fat by eating more.
Losing fat while eating more, sound too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it is not and there is a logical explanation.
Let me elaborate on why our body reacts this way. Way back when humans hunted and gathered food, we would experience periods with little to no food. Animals would be scarce or a drought would kill off vegetation. In times like these, our bodies would have to adapt to survive. The body would eat away at our muscle mass (Muscle requires large amount of energy to maintain) thus slowing down its metabolism, and store as much fat as possible. This adaptation is great for survival but horrible for getting six pack abs.
To prevent your body from going into a starvation state, I recommend eating six small meals throughout the day. This will ensure that your body has the proper nutrients it needs, thus prevent the body from attempting to store fat. If the body knows that food is not far away, it will not store large amount of fat around your mid section.
Now, this does not mean you can over eat or eat whatever you want. You will still need to eat a diet that is clean and has the proper macro nutrition ratios to get six pack abs, but eating every 2-3 hour will help. If you eat lean protein and complex carbohydrates in your diet you will be well on your way to getting six pack abs.
Eating frequently will prevent you from becoming hungry and craving fatty and/or sugary foods. We crave sugary or fatty food most when our blood sugars are low and our body is desperate for energy. Frequent meals will help stabilize blood sugars and prevent many of these strong cravings.
Frequent meals also help preserve muscles, thus increasing your metabolism. I mentioned this earlier but I want to stress how important this is. When the body needs protein and it is not readily available, your body will take protein from your muscles. This is a survival reaction in which the body eats itself in order to survive. Because muscle burns calories, this process also slows down your metabolism. Frequent meals help prevent this by ensuring your body always has some readily available protein.
Let review why eating frequent meals is so important:
It has been said that water is the essence of life. And it is true. If water did not exist on earth; life would not have been able to flourish. We are truly fortunate to have an abundance of this amazing elixir on our planet and yet people still do not utilize it properly.
Water is vital to every bodily process! While we may be able to survive for weeks without food, we would only survive a few days without water. Water is so important to our bodies that our bodies are composed of ~70% water. If water was not key to our survival 70% of our body would be composed of something other than water.
As a matter of fact, the aging process is due mostly to our body’s inability to effectively utilize water. We literally shrivel up as we age as out body’s water composition drops. Water can do much more than just keep you healthy. It can keep your metabolism kicking and help you curb your cravings. Let’s start with the fat burning effects of water.
Without going into technical detail, all you need to know if that water is essential for bodily functions. Building lean muscle tone and burning fat is no exception. Water is needed for exercise because it helps rush oxygen and nutrition to your muscle by keeping your blood fluid. Drink too little water and your blood will become thick make it very difficult for your body to pump blood into your muscles. The same is true for fat metabolism. Water is needed to metabolize fat, but if you do not drink enough water, you can expect to have a hard time getting those abs to show.
Drinking water also helps you feel full. Water has zero calories and when ingested can help you feel fuller longer. This is the reason why vegetables are great fat loss foods. They tend to be high in fiber and water, both of which have zero calories!
I like to drink about a gallon of water a day throughout the day. I drink a majority of my water in the morning to help me hydrate for the rest of the day but I never drink large quantities of water at once. Drinking too much water at once can thin your blood and lead to medical complications. Spread out your water consumption throughout the day and remember, water will not only help you get six pack abs it will help you stay younger, healthier and feel better also.
I hope you found this information useful. If you are serious about getting six pack abs. These three nutrition tips are crucial. Eat frequent meals composed of whole foods accompanied with plenty of water. That’s all you have to do. It seems so simples and yet a majority of people in the world neglect their health by ignoring these tips. Follow them and you will soon look in the mirror to find your ripped pair of six pack abs looking back at you!
Written By Erick Ruiz Salgaldo
LINK TO THE ARTICLE ==> http://www.cutandjacked.com/nutrition-for-abs
The Fitness Dude Philippe 