The back can be a tough muscle group to develop for a lot of people…stubborn to build and hard to feel working when doing back exercises. If this is the case for you, it’s time to give yourself some strong medicine to FORCE your back to get bigger, better and stronger.
And the method I’m going to talk to you about today is negative training…
The bench press…a key movement for your chest that, ironically enough for some people, doesn’t even work their chest all that well!
THIS version of the dumbell bench press is going to force continuous tension on your chest while placing TREMENDOUS tension on the abdominals as well… (you’ll see why in a second).
The Back-Off-Bench Press is a unique movement for the chest that LOOKS like a standard dumbell bench press…until you look a little closer. You’ll be doing the bench press with your upper back hanging off the end of the bench!
You’ve got things to do and places to be…when you’ve got limited time available to train, you have to make FULL use of every single second you have available in your workout…
And that means circuit training…
And that means not your “normal” circuit training, either!
I’ve got a circuit for you that uses heavy weight, low reps, and covers all your major bodyparts in a simple, 3 exercise circuit. You’ll get NO rest during the entire time period (I recommend at least 15 minutes), which will kick your metabolism into overdrive VERY quickly and help you burn fat FAST.
Stuck in a rut? Hit a plateau? It’s time to stop phoning in your workout and put some BRAINPOWER into action.
One of the most common issues I see with people in the gym, ESPECIALLY those who are having trouble getting results, is a lack of mental focus on the exercises they’re performing.
Sure, they’re going through the motions and in a lot of cases even lifting a substantial amount of weight…but what they don’t realize is that by really engaging their BRAIN in the act of lifting they could be getting MUCH better results with the same amount of effort.
So to help with that, I’ve put together a list of my favorite “mental notes” for some of the most common exercises in the gym…using this can make an immediate difference in your exercise performance and even add some substantial weight to your lifts!
Push-ups are a staple bodyweight exercise for the chest and for good reason…they work. But one of the BIG problems with the push-up becomes apparent as you get stronger…you’re limited by your bodyweight for resistance.
That’s where the One-Arm Bench Push-Up comes in.
The “normal” barbell curl is obviously one of the most used exercises you’ll ever see in the gym. It’s the exercise people think of when they think of lifting weights (except possibly bench press).
And (like bench press), it’s one exercise that is totally misused and abused!
THIS little training tweak is going to automatically fix your form on EVERY single rep.
There is always a huge debate in sports, athletic and bodybuilding training about the benefits of single leg training as opposed to double leg training…for example, should you do regular barbell squats or are lunges better?
Do single leg exercises have greater carryover to sports and athletics or is an athlete better off using an exercises like squats that you can load more heavily in order to build overall strength then use athletic practice to develop specific strength.
I’m not going to get into that whole debate here…my approach is to do BOTH. They each have their benefits and their place in training.
THIS exercise, however, gives you the advantage of serious loading on the target muscles AND doing it one leg at a time to develop that functional strength we’re looking for. It’s also a great core strength workout as the tension is going to be going primarily through one side of your body.
This exercise is a GREAT combination exercise done using the In-Set Superset technique where you alternate reps of two different exercises in one set in order to focus the work on one common bodypart.
In this case, however, both exercises tend to work the same general muscles (quads, hams, glutes, lower back), just in a different fashion.
For this exercise, you’re going to be combining a dumbell split squat with basically what amounts to a stiff-legged deadlift with one leg forward (hence the forward lean). Your leg and foot position stays the same the whole way through…you just alternate between reps of one exercise then the other then you switch legs and do it again.
This one is a variation on the classic “leg raise” exercise…the key difference here lies on WHERE you’re doing the exercise.
It’s not a hanging version – it’s actually a fair bit harder than that!
With this version, you’re going to be supporting yourself on the safety rails of the power rack – it almost looks a bit like the Iron Cross position a gymnast gets into on the rings.
So first, set the safety rails on the rack to about the level of the bottom of your rib cage – you can adjust height any time.
I like to set the height so that I can set my hands on the rails while in a standing position, then bend my knees to get my feet off the ground. I find this to be easier than trying to jump up in order to have straight legs at the bottom.
The arms should be about 45 degrees at the shoulder.
Set your hands on the rails and hold on! Bend your knees and get your feet off the ground. You will instantly feel big-time tension in the abs and torso because of how you’re supporting your body in this position.
This tip is a bit of a change of pace… no pictures…no video (this one would be tough to show in a picture or video but is pretty easy to explain).
If you’re looking to really build your calves, this one little piece of advice will help TREMENDOUSLY. Yet you rarely, if ever, see anybody mention this when you get instructions on calf exercises.
So what is this advice? It’s a simple thing…when you do a calf raise exercise and you’re coming to the top of the movement, be sure to COME UP ON THE BIG TOE KNUCKLES (on the bottoms of your feet, of course).
This activates the gastrocnemius (calf muscles) muscle bellies strongly. The difference contraction and fiber activation will surprise you!
Next time you do calf raises, don’t use this technique and just do them as you regularly do them. Notice how your feet move as you come. Chances are, as you do the calf raise, your feet roll to the OUTSIDE.
Amazon for Kindle
