Build Bigger Forearms

One area of the upper body neglected more than any other is the forearms, everyone builds bigger biceps but what about the area of the arm below the elbow? Not many people remember to train this area.

Taking this into consideration how many of you would love to build bigger forearms? Most of you would so why are you not training your forearms?

There is an easy way to build bigger forearms by simply adding a couple of forearm exercises into your biceps workout.

Build Bigger Forearms

To build bigger forearms the two exercises you need to incorporate in to your biceps workout are wrist curls. Simply carry out supinated and pronated wrist curls at the end of your workout with three sets of twelve reps and your on your way to big bulging forearms.

For wrist curls you dont need a heavy weight, in fact some people will find training with a 10 kg barbell enough to feel the burn in their forearms.

So simply take a barbell and carry out three sets of supinated wrist curls, this means with your palms facing up towards your face, follow this with three sets of pronated wrist curls which means with your palms facing down towards your feet.

Building bigger forearms is an important and integral part of building your strength to support both your biceps and back workouts among other body parts.

What are you waiting for, get started on those forearms today!

Clean and Press

The Clean and press exercise works most muscles in the body in one function or another starting from the calves and quads right up to the deltoids of the shoulders.

This is a big compound lift that used to be part of Olympic weightlifting right up until the early 1970’s.

The Clean and press works in two movements, the first bringing the bar from the floor to chest height and the second pressing the bar over the head. The clean and press can be completed with either dumbbells, kettle bells or a barbell.

I have started carrying out this great exercise as part of my own training session and thoroughly enjoy it. I personally use a barbell.

To add size and strength to your overall physique this is one hell of an exercise.

Clean and Press

Equipment – Dumbbells, Kettle bells or Barbell of desired weight

Preparation - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and an overhand grip on the equipment of choice keeping your back straight as your bent over the weight.

Movement – Pull the bar up to your chest pushing through your legs in a squat then shrugging motion (always keeping your back straight) then rotate your palms under the bar before pressing above your shoulders.

Remember to never arch your back; it should stay straight throughout the movement. If you arch your back to far (known as hyperextension) you can seriously damage your lower back.

Reps/Sets 1 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Squat Form

Now with any exercise form is extremely important, by keeping the correct form throughout a lift you are ensuring you will not injure yourself and that you are giving the specific muscle group the best possible workout. This is most evident in one of the big lifts called the squat so squat form is very important.

The squat is one of the big compound moves, for this reason it is also the best exercise for training all the muscles of the legs. One of the issues with the squat is that many people do not lift in the squat correctly thus causing possible injury to their lower back as they put more strain on the back thus causing the legs to do less work. In essence this means that the legs aren’t getting such a good workout and the back is straining under the position and weight put on it.

The first thing to mention on squat form is that the lower you go in the lift the better training effect you are going to get…have you ever heard the term “Ass to grass” well its true this is the best way to train the squat.

When carrying out the lift you should bend the knees and hips to lower your body down, during this the back should be kept straight and your knees should not move forward past your feet throughout the lift.

The most common mistakes people have are lowering themselves to quickly causing and moving the torso too far forward both of these increase the force on the back, especially the lower back region which can cause injury.

Deep squat or shallow squat

There are terms for squat types; these are deep squat or shallow squat.
The deep squat is a squat whereby you squat below parallel (over 90 degrees or thighs below knees). This type of squat is the legal requirement in a powerlifting competition.

The shallow squat is one where you don’t reach the parallel before pushing back to your starting position.

Negative Biceps Curls

Negatives are a great form of training and training negatives is something I have talked about before in this training negatives article. The reason why training negatives is really good is because it can really beat that plateau many of us hit after training for periods of time.

Negative training works by lifting only the negative part of a lift, this is because the negative part of the lift is the part in which you can lift the heaviest. By doing this you can push your muscles that little further by lifting heavier than you would by carrying out the full exercise.

For negative Biceps curls you use a dumbbell, barbell or EZ bar (I prefer a barbell) then only lift the negative part of the lift. This works by getting a partner (barbell or EZ bar) or yourself (dumbbell) to lift the weight up to your shoulder area by other means than carrying out the biceps curl exercise then you control the weight down to the starting position of the biceps curl and repeat.

Many people swear by carrying out negative biceps curls at the end of their arm workout to punish their biceps that last little bit for that extra push. I believe this is great and swear by incorporating negatives into my training.

If you are finding increasing your biceps size, beating a plateau on strength or you simply want a change from the usual mundane exercises then you should try negative biceps curls, I promise you wont regret it.

Negative Biceps Curl Video

Pull Up Power

We have all heard of the pull up yet how many of you use this great exercise in your training regimen? Not as many as you would think is the answer and this tends to be because a lot of people find the pull up hard and cant carry out many reps.

The pull up is a compound exercise that requires upper body strength to lift your own weight. The pull up comes in many forms but the most common is with a pronated grip (palms facing away from the body) and the hands just wider than shoulder width apart.

Pull ups primarily work the Latissimus Dorsi (lats) muscles in the back but use many upper body muscles for assistance.

The interesting thing about the pull up is that is takes a lot of power to carry out and can really help build strength and size in the body through using the exercise in a workout.

When carrying out the pull up correctly you will start with your body hanging with straight arms and then pull yourself up till your head is above the bar and the bar approaches your chest. The pull up is carried out without using any jerking movements such as your legs etc to push your way up. Once you have achieved this you return to the hanging position.

I always finish a back workout with two or three sets of pull ups, carrying out the maximum reps I can on each set to give my back muscles that final push to fatigue.

If you carry out the pull up exercise on a regular basis as part of your training you are sure to see benefits after just a short amount of weeks. By carrying out the exercise at the end of the back workout, like me, and trying as many reps as you can you will see how well you improve.

Don’t be put off if you can only carry out one or two reps initially, the idea is to keep motivated and build up over time until you can carry out three sets of ten or more reps.

A mixture of pull up exercises

Training Negatives: Muscle and Strength

Training negatives is one of those training techniques that I never see people do when in the gym; this however is something I don’t understand as trainings negatives is a big positive.

What is negatives training?

For those that don’t know, when you lift there are three areas of the lift and these are:

• Positive: Contracting the muscle, as in curling a barbell to the top of a biceps curl.
• Static: Not moving, holding the weight in one position.
• Negative: Extending the muscle, as in lowering the barbell down.
  

So training the negative is not lifting the weight to the top but just carrying out the part of controlling the weight down to the bottom of the lift. This is done by using a training partner who will lift the weight to the top for you.

Why should we train the negative section of the lift?

Well the body has a defense mechanism whereby it is always stronger on the negative than on the positive. Imagine that you could lift something up but didn’t have the strength to put it down that would cause us to sustain all sorts of injuries.

The key to why negative training works is the fact that because of the above you can lift more on the negative than you can on the positive. In essence if you can biceps curl 35 kg normally then with someone lifting the weight for you and you just controlling the negative you will probably be able to handle 40kg to 45kg in weight. It is this key reason that you will find your overall strength increase as your body gets used to lifting a bigger loan on the negative.

It is important to note that with negative training you should not complete this week in and week out as its taxing on the body. The suggestion is to use it in 6 to 8 week cycles with a good break in between and only using one exercise of three sets per muscle group workout.

Below is an example of the negative biceps curl.

Crucifix Weightlifting Exercise

The Crucifix exercise is one that I have never seen anyone carry out in the gym unless they happen to be training with me, to me this is surprising as its such a great exercise.

Many of you who follow strongman competitions will know the Crucifix as its one of the competition lifts. The Crucifix involves lifting a weight in each hand until your arms are out stretched so your in the crucifix position and then standing in this position as long as you can, needless to say its a killer!

Crucifix Exercise

Equipment - Dumbbells or Kettlebells of desired weight

Preparation - Stand straight with your feet shoulder width apart and the weights by your side.

Movement - Lift the weights until your arms are straight out to the side with your hands slightly higher than shoulder height and your hands are facing palm up. Stay with your hands and arms in this position for as long as possible.

Note - Remember to start light as this is extremely hard and many people try to lift heavier than they physically can. There is no point cheating by bending your arms at the elbows or letting your arms/hands drop lower than the position they are meant to be in so keep your arms high and straight.

Reps/Sets Try to hold the weights for two minutes at one set only.

Crucifix Exercise

Pendlay Rows

The Pendlay row is a variation to the Barbell row and was designed by Glenn Pendlay who the exercise is named after. Glenn Pendlay is a weightlifting coach in the US.

The difference between the Pendlay row and the Barbell row is that the Pendlay row is strict in its form compared to the Barbell row, this means you are sure you are building your back in the correct way.

Pendlay Row

Equipment - Barbell of desired weight

Preparation - Bend over with your back straight and legs bent then grip the barbell with your hands in an overhand grip and shoulder width apart.

Keep your form strict for the whole movement, dont let your legs/hips move at all in the lift and make sure your back stays straight.

Movement - Keeping your back straight and legs rigid (dont let them move...yes Ive mentioned this twice but its important) pull the bar up towards your upp abs. Return the weight to the floor then lift again, unlike other exercises you are meant to bring the bar back to the floor before starting the next rep.

Note - Remember to start with an empty bar and build weight gradually to ensure you have correct form and do not try to lift heavier than you can. This is very important so you do not cause yourself an injury.

Reps/Sets 5 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Pendlay Row

Biceps 21s

I swear by Biceps 21s, it is the perfect exercise to finish off your biceps workout. If your after new growth in the biceps department then Biceps 21s are truly the exercise for you.

So what is Biceps 21s?

Biceps 21s is a spin off of the standard biceps curl. You still use the standard barbell or EZ bar (my preference is the EZ bar) but you carry out 21 repititions for each set you complete, hence the name 21s.

The idea is that you stand in the biceps curl position but carry out 7 lower half reps, only bringing the bar half way through the curl movement so your arms go from straight down to a 90 degree angle halfway up your torso.

Once these 7 reps are complete you then complete 7 upper half reps only bringing the bar down from your hands being up near your shoulders to your arms being at a 90 degree angle halfway up your torso.

On the final 7 reps you complete 7 biceps curls with the full range of motion.

When and how to complete Biceps 21s?

Carry biceps 21s out every other week at the end of your biceps workout. Start off with 2 sets and build up to 3 sets after 4 weeks. Once you have completed biceps 21s for 8 weeks you can see a huge explosion in the size of your biceps.

Always ensure you keep good form, with biceps 21s its more important to use lower weight and keep good form than to increase the weight and find your form goes out of the window. With good form comes good increases in size, with bad form you will not gain anything substantial.

Biceps 21s Video

Increase Your Squat

Not everyone trains their legs, and for those that do not a huge percentage carries out the best leg exercise of them all....the Squat.

For those that do use the squat exercise in their workout it can be demoralising to hit a plateau and not see any improvement in the weight and repetitions you lift in the squat week in and week out, well today this is going to change.

Today I am posting about the different ways you can kick start your squat training to get past that plateau you have been stuck at for a while and really start improving your squat lifts.

5x5 Squats

The first way to try and work past that squat lift plateau is to carry out a 5x5 workout technique on your squats. For this you need to lift as heavy as possible for 5 sets of 5 reps.

At first you will probably achieve 5 reps for three sets, 4 reps for one set and two to three reps for the last set. If this is the case stay on this weight until you can complete the full 5 sets of 5 repetitions then once you have achieved this add 2.5 kg to the bar and start again. Only add weight when you achieve the full 5x5 on the current weight you are lifting.

Explosive Squats

Use explosive squats to build power from the bottom of your squat. To do this go down slowly to the bottom of the lift then lift as fast as you can to the top like a jack in the box. This will build explosive power in your muscles.

Front Squats

Try building 3 sets of front squats into your workout to really work your quads and build more strength on the front of your legs. This will also improve your stability as front squats are harder on the stabilising muscles.

Hip Flexibility

Many people cannot squat properly and this impedes them improving their squat. Why not try out hip flexibility exercises to loosen the hips so you can squat deeper and with more comfort thus improving form and strength.

Squat More Often

Why not try the Texas technique and train your squat three times a week!

Using this method you have a heavy day, intermediate day and light day. These are broken up as follows

• Heavy Day - 1 heavy single, double or triple (1×1, 1×2 or 1×3).
• Intermediate day - 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight.
• Light day - 3 sets of 3 reps with the same weight.

Moving from once a week to three times a week will really kick start your squats and build more muscle from the feet upwards.

Overhead Squat

The overhead squat is a training exercise that fits into the compound group of exercises as it uses two or more joint movements throughout the lift.

Unlike the standard squat the overhead squat is alot more punishing on the body and takes alot more time to master. Once the movement is mastered the overhead squat is an amazing tool to add to any training schedule and will really improve the strength and size of a persons legs.

The overhead squat utilises the following muscles

Primary Muscle Worked: Quadriceps
Secondary Muscles Worked: Lower Back, Hamstrings, Calves, Shoulders, Glutes

Overhead Squat

Equipment - Barbell of desired weight

Preparation - Move forward to a power rack with the barbell at shoulder height. Hold the barbell with an overhand (pronated) grip at shoulder height and use the snatch technique to lift the bar above your head. Place your legs in a wide stance and your toes pointing slightly outwards (this reduces the possibilities of damaging the knee).

Keep your feet (including the heel) flat on the ground for the whole movement.

Movement - Squat down by lowering your hips so they come between the heels of your feet. Keep your back straight and face forward throughout the whole movement.

Push through the floor with your feet and extend your legs and hips until your standing in the comlpete upright position you started in.

Note - Remember to start with an empty bar and build weight gradually to ensure you have correct form and do not try to lift heavier than you can. This is very important as stability can be difficult to obtain with the weight above your head.

Reps/Sets 8 to 15 reps for 4 sets

Overhead Squat

Deadlift Technique Execution

Today I wanted to mention the importance of deadlift technique execution. I have seen many weightlifters lift in this exercise with such bad form.

I once trained with a partner who could not lift as much as I could, what he would try and do was lift heavier than he physically could. He did this to try and look like he was lifting closer to the weight I lift which I used to tell him he shouldn't.

What would happen is that by lifting the heavier weight he would end up with appalling form from a rounded back and no use of the legs, it worried me as I thought one day he would injure himself.

With this in mind I just want to reiterate the importance of using the correct technique in the deadlift with correct form and lower weight. Please take a moment to visit this deadlift technique execution run down to make sure you are carry out the deadlift correctly.

To visit the run down on the deadlift click here

Lifting Body Weight Literally!

A gym in London called Gymbox health club is taking training equipment to the extreme. Gymbox not only let you use a multitude of resistance machines and free weights, they are now allowing people to lift HUMAN WEIGHTS.

The idea is that they have humans of varying weight that you can lift on various machines, these people that are your weight to lift also talk to you and give encouragement as you lift them.

By doing this it takes out the monotony of lifting metal weights and replaces it with something visual and interesting to push you that little bit further.

The human weights on offer vary in size dramatically from a svelt dwarf at 66 pounds (30 kilograms) to a whopping 342 pounds (155.45 kilograms).

Gymbox is really pushing the boundaries of training with its unique training equipment!

Why not see for yourself by watching the video below.

Power Clean Exercise

The power clean is a training exercise used by Olympic lifters to aid the improvement of their competing lifts the snatch and clean and jerk.

The power clean is a great strength increasing exercise that is a compound movement using many joints in the movement and working many muscles throughout the body.

Power Clean

Equipment - Barbell of desired weight

Preparation - Hold the barbell with an overhand (pronated) grip while its on the floor, ensure your back is straight and your looking forward while bending slightly holding on to the bar.

Movement - Push with your legs and lift the bar towards your chest, half way the movement will cause the emphasis to move from the legs to the lower back to complete the movement.

By the time the movement is finished the bar will be resting across the clavicles at the front of your body.

Note - Remember to start with an empty bar and build weight gradually to ensure you have correct form and do not try to lift heavier than you can.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Power Clean

Bench Press Partial Repetitions

Partial repetitions are an amazing way of increasing your bench press by working on the problem areas in your lift.

When lifting a heavy weight on the bench press you will feel through the lift that at a certain section you feel weak, but when you get passed that part of the lift you can power out the rest of the repetition without any problems. It is because of this we carry out partial repetitions.

Partial repetitions are where you will not carry out the full repetition from start to finish but only carry out a certain section of the lift for reps and sets.

The two main places where people fail on their bench press due to a weakness are either at the very bottom of the lift trying to power the weight off the chest or towards the top of the lift after getting the bar just over half way up.

Partial Repetitions - Lower half

To improve the lower half of your lift we do partial repetitions starting with the bar resting at chest height and having a stopper placed about 6 inches (15.5 cm) above your chest. A top tip is to use the power rack as your stopper.

Once your set up push the bar from your chest to the stopper, bring down slowly and repeat for your full repetitions and for how many sets you wish.

Partial Repetitions - Upper half

To improve the upper half of your lift we do partial repetitions with the bar starting in its normal position at the top of the lift and having a stopper placed about 6 inches (15.5 cm) below your full bench lockout (where your arms are extended at the top of the lift). A top tip is to use the smithy for this partial repetition exercise as it has safety stoppers that can be used.

Once your ready pick up the bar as you would in a normal bench press and lower the bar to the stoppers slowly before powering the bar back up to your starting position. Complete the amount of reps and sets your happy with.

You should find you can lift heavier than your normal bench press one rep max on the upper half partial reps.

Summary

You should incorporate both partial rep exercises into your workout as training the lower part of your bench press will build your starting strength while training the top half of the rep will build that important power needed to push the bar to the top of the lift.

Video of Andy Bolton training with partial reps

Arnie Press Exercise

The arnie press exercise is a variation of the seated dumbbell shoulder press and was created by the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The idea behind the arnie press is that rather than concentrating solely on the front deltoid the arnie press will give a more rounded workout on the deltoids without impacting on secondary muscle except for a slight use of the triceps.

Arnie Press

Equipment - Dumbbells of desired weight

Preparation - Hold the dumbbells with an overhand (pronated) grip sitting with the dumbbells at chest height and palms facing towards the body.

Movement - Push the dumbbells towards the ceiling while rotating your hands so the palms of your hands are the way you are facing by the time you arms are fully extended above your head (do not lock your elbows). Once you have your arms fully extended above your head take the reverse motion to return to your starting stance.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Arnie Press

Rear Deltoid Raise

The rear deltoid raise is an exercise used to work the rear deltoid, this is an isolation exercise as it only works the rear deltoid and no other muscles.

The rear deltoids are not very strong so when carrying out this exercise with correct form only a low weight is required. It is important to carry out the rear deltoid raise with the correct form as using weights that are too heavy and/or the incorrect form with mean you utilise other muscles to lift the weight.

Reat Deltoid Raise

Equipment - Dumbbells of desired weight

Preparation - Hold the dumbbells with an overhand (pronated) grip lying face down on a bench.

Movement - Keeping your arms straight and elbows slightly bent lift your arms out towards your back (like they are a pair of wings), once there bring your arms back in front of you and repeat.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Rear Deltoid Raise (Lying)

Good Morning Exercises

The good morning is called by its name due to the form used when carrying out the exercise. To explain the good morning the easiest way is to imagine a person bowing to greet another person.

The good morning predominantly works the lower back but also works the hamstrings.

It is important to only carry out the good morning exercise if you are intermediate to advanced at weight lifting and also to start with a low weight so your body can become accustomed to the movement. The good morning exercise is classed as controversial as it can cause serious back injuries if not carried out correctly, Bruce Lee famously damaged his back while carrying out good mornings.

Good Morning

Equipment - Barbell with desired weight

Preparation - Hold the barbell with an overhand grip resting behind your head on your upper back (make sure it does not rest on your neck). Stand with your legs shoulder width apart.

Movement - Keeping your upper body straight bend your hips and lower your upper torso forward until it is parallel with the floor. Keep your chin up throughout the movement to ensure your back does not become rounded as it has to be kept straight to avoid injury.

Some people find that they cannot lower their torso all the way down without their back rounding so do not bend down so far.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Good morning

The video shows the knees bending slightly, this form is to reduce stress on the lower back.

Bulgarian squat Exercise

The Bulgarian squat, also known as the Bulgarian split squat, is a variation to the standard squat and as the name says, it was created by the Bulgarians. Many people have never heard or seen the Bulgarian squat being carried out but it is a great way to work the legs individually to ensure one leg does not carry the weight more than another.

The Bulgarian squat works the Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Glutes and is a great way to help improve the strength in your legs.

Bulgarian Squat

Equipment - Barbell with desired weight and a flat bench

Preparation - Hold the barbell with an overhand grip resting behind your head on your upper back (make sure it does not rest on your neck). Stand just short of your leg length in front of the bench and place the top of one foot on the bench.

Movement - Keeping your body upright lower your body by bending at the knee of the leg that is not on the bench until it is at a ninety degree angle then using your leg muscles lift your body to return to your starting position then repeat.

After completing the desired reps with one leg swap the leg placed on the bench for your other leg and repeat.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Bulgarian Squat

Dumbbell Front Raise

The dumbbell front raise exercise works the anterior deltoid muscle of the shoulder, this is the muscle at the front of the shoulder.

The dumbbell front raise only works the anterior deltoid muscle which is arguably the strongest of all the deltoid muscles, this means that a lifter can normally lift more weight with this exercise than any other isolated deltoid exercise. When lifting it is important to keep strict form so you are putting the emphasis on the anterior deltoid muscle otherwise there is no real benefit to the exercise.

To really get larger shoulders this is a great exercise to add to your workout.

Dumbbell Front Raise

Equipment - Dumbbells of desired weight

Preparation - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and an overhand grip on the dumbbells while holding them by your side.

Movement - Bring each dumbbell up in front of your body individually to eye level height, anything higher than eye level means you are utilising the traps not just the anterior deltoids. Make sure you have a slight bend at the elbow so there is no stress on the elbow joints.

Making sure that the dumbbells are lifted no higher than eye level height return back to your starting position before repeating. When carrying out the movement the rest of your body should stay still so it is only the anterior deltoids lifting the weight.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Dumbbell Front Raise