A BETTER BENCH

Bench press is one of those exercises that every guy wants to be good at no matter what his training goals are. Bench press is the biggest ego exercise in the gym in almost any city or town. If you want to increase your bench try some of these tips.

1. TRAIN THE TRICEPS- This does not mean push downs and kickbacks, this means close grip presses and extensions. The close grip bench press is a great way to pack on size and give you bench pressing strength. If you have noticed you cant finish the reps on your bench press that is due to poor tricep strength.

2. TRAIN YOUR BACK- While most people wont think about this, your lats and mid back play a huge part in stabilization during the bench press. Bigger and stronger back muscles will equal a bigger bench. Do barbell rows and seated rows!

3. PULL YOUR SHOULDER BLADES TOGETHER AND TIGHT- Do this while pressing and you will create a shorter distance for the bar to travel which helps you. You will also create a more stable surface to push from.

4. ELBOW POSITIONING- If you want to get a bigger chest you bench with your elbows out, if you want a big bench you bench with your elbows tucked. This will allow you to use your lats to help drive the bar off your chest as well as your triceps. You will generate far more force in this position as oppose to elbows out wide. Another important thing is to keep the barbell in line with the elbow throughout the press.

5. BAR POSITIONING- Bring the bar low on your chest when pressing. At almost all power lifting competitions you will hear people say bring it low! This helps keep your elbows in line with the bar.

6. TRAIN YOUR ROTATOR CUFF MUSCLES- This is very over looked but when you strengthen this you will notice a huge jump in your bench press strength. Sometimes you can improve your bench by 20% just by doing this. Your shoulder joint will become more stable and allow you to lift more weight. Try doing external rotation exercises or cuban presses.

7. OF COURSE BENCH-If you want a bigger bench you need to bench! Sure you can do 100's on the dumbbells but you must bench to bench! Try training bench in different ways. Some days train very heavy, like 90-100% of your max for 1-3 reps. Other days try doing reps for speed to create that explosiveness. This type of lifting would use 40-60% of your max for max speed.

Negative/partials duo- Chest

I came up with this routine a couple of weeks ago and think you will love it. You will be using two very powerful techniques to stimulate muscle growth, partial reps and negatives. The partials will hit more motor units which equals growth and the negatives cause major tissue damage and will lead to growth. Most studies have shown that the negative rep produces great gains.

To do this you will just need two sets of dumbbells. Using a training partner for this is a must or just grabbing someone in the gym can work too. Begin by doing a chest press with the dumbbells for 6 reps, each rep doing a 6 second negative. Have your training partner count to 6 one thousand. Remember the negative is the downward motion. At the bottom pause for one extra second and then have your partner help you lift the weight on the way up. After you complete 6 reps drop the weight and grab dumbbells that are 50-60% lighter than the ones you just used. You will now complete 15 partial reps. Read my post from a couple of days ago on partials to learn the proper form.

Dumbbell chest press- 6 reps each with 6 second negative

SUPER SET WITH

Dumbbell partial chest press-15 reps

Rest 90 seconds - 2 minutes. The next round you will do 6 reps for a 7 second negative. The third round you will do 6 reps for a 8 second negative.

Go dominate!

Check back for the negative/partials duo series for back and biceps

Clearing up protein confusion

Many guys ask about protein and wonder what protein is best to take. There is no magical protein to speak of but the information below can hopefully help clear up some of your questions. Generally here are how the proteins are ranked.

1.WHEY PROTEIN-

• Considered to be the highest quality natural protein


• Highly digestible


• Absorbs quickly into the body making it a great post workout choice


• One of two types of protein that comes from milk

2.EGG PROTEIN

• Releases slower than whey which makes it ideal for use throughout the day

3. CASEIN PROTEIN

• Is a milk protein that makes up about 80 % of the protein in whole milk


• Is slow digesting like egg protein making it ideal for use throughout the day

• Has rich quantities of glutamine and other amino acids

4. BEEF PROTEIN

• Slow releasing proteins


• High in iron and B-vitamins

5. SOY PROTEINS

• Mixed reviews on benefits for building muscle


• It is an incomplete protein making it not ideal to consume on its own

Final verdict............I would go with whey as your main source especially post workout. If you are making your shakes with milk you will also be getting casein as well, so skip the water and go for the milk!

Why are we so fat?

Look around next time you are out in public and what do you notice. PEOPLE ARE FAAATTTTT!!!! They are big and out of shape!!!! What happened? How did mankind go downhill so fast in terms of our health and physiques. Below are a couple of reasons.

1. PEOPLE EAT MORE, EXERCISE LESS- This seems to be the theme these days. We consume biggie sized everything and large this and huge portion that but yet fail to workout to burn these calories off. We have turned into a video game playing, tv watching, Internet society with little time spent outside doing recreational activities or working out. To solve this simply start eating less and working out more duhhh.

2. PEOPLE'S WORKOUTS SUCK- Going to the gym and hardly breaking a sweat does not account for anything. Just simply saying " Well least I went" does not cut it! Going to the gym one time a week or one time a month is just bad. When you hit the gym make your time count! Read at the bottom for a quick workout to use.

3. PEOPLE LOVE THEIR CARBS- I know carbs always get the bad press but it is due more to the fact that they get abused by people. Lets not eat 3 bagels a day, eat muffins for breakfast and think that is ok. How about 2 big bowls of pasta every night....ahhh no! Eat your carbs in the morning but eat things like oatmeal and Kashii brand cereals. Post workout is another time when you can consume carbs.

4. PEOPLE EAT OUT TOO MUCH AND CONSUME TO MUCH PROCESSED FOOD- Very few people pack their lunch or make dinners these days. I know people are busy so why not say screw your health and pocket book for that matter and just eat out and eat garbage. When you eat out you have no real clue what is being put into your food and usually you don't want to. Added sugars, salts, fats, etc. Solve this by just eating out one to two times a week and when you do make sure it is not at a place called Applebees or McDonalds. Try to consume less processed food and eat more veggies, fruits, meats and basic food products.

So how can you attack your workouts to burn fat and crank your metabolism up? Start by thinking about doing super sets, and giant sets. These are all more time efficent and you will burn more calories with the high tempo pace. Next you want to focus on using metabolic exercises like squat presses, pullups, deadlifts, burpees ( Jackknives ) and squats. Try the workout below which focuses on a full body routine.

Do 4 rounds of this circuit without rest

Barbell deadlift- 10 reps

SUPER SET WITH

Jackknives ( burpees )-8 reps

Rest 2 minutes

Do 4 rounds without rest

Pullups ( regular shoulder width grip )-1o reps
SUPER SET WITH
Alternating front lunges with dumbbells- 8 each leg

Rest 2 minutes

Do 4 rounds without rest

Squat and press with dumbbells ( go fast )-15 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Row-12 reps

Rest 2 minutes

Do 4 rounds without rest

Medicine ball slams-10 reps

SUPER SET WITH

Run stairs, quick spring, lateral shuffle ( pick a cardio exercise)-do it for 30 seconds

E.O.M-Mid-range partial dumbbell bench press

Looking for an intense pump, then try these partials! This exercise will allow you to hit a higher percentage of motor units which equals growth! Basically you do the exercise like a regular press but you don't go all the way up or all the way down. Instead you stick to the mid- range. We are talking about serious burn and serious tension put on the pecs so be prepared. I would recommend going light with this until you get a feel for it. I like to use this at the end of my regular dumbbell bench press routine or I like to super set it in with my press routine. You will also most likely want to stick with a rep range of 10-12 reps on this. Go dominate some weights!

Want to make your arms look bigger?

Work your triceps! When a guy with huge arms flexes everyone usually thinks its his biceps which are making his arm look huge. It might seem obvious but there are people who forget how important big triceps are to the overall size of the arm. Your tricep consists of three heads hence the name "tri" cep. Your biceps only consist of two heads. So next time you think about growing your arms do some extra tricep work!

Dedication

Everything starts with dedication. No matter your goals and no matter what program you are following...you must be dedicated to it. Dedication is what separates those who gets results and those who don't. If you are serious about changing your life, then you must stay dedicated with the program you are following. You could have the most magical workout plan ever designed but if you do not stay dedicated to it then you will never really reach your potential. Go ahead and tell people your goals every chance you get, this will help you stay accountable.

Stay Dedicated:

• Even when your tired
• Even when everyone doubts you
• Even when you have so many other things to do
• Even when you think you don't have time

Stay true to those goals!