Guys always wanna have big arms but rarely wanna do the work it takes to grow them. Ladies want “toned” arms but dont want to believe that they can achieve this by lifting heavier weights. Well ladies and gentlemen, I am challenging you all to finish this Arm Workout. Don’t Punk out!!!
Grab the heaviest pair of dumbbells that you can do 8 reps WITH STRICT FORM and do the following in quick succession, without resting:
8 reps of dumbbell curls
8 reps of hammer curls
8 reps of cross-body curls
After the last cross-body curl is done, do a drop set by grabbing the next lightest pair of dumbbells (5-15 pounds lighter) and go through the same progression – 8 curls, 8 hammer curls, 8 cross body curls.
Then move on to triceps (NO REST):
8 Tate Press – lie on a bench with a pair of dumbbells and extend your arms towards the ceiling as if you were doing presses. Your palms should be facing your feet. Without moving your upper arms and bending only at the elbow, lower the dumbbells so they barely touch your chest. At this point, your elbows will be pointing straight out to the sides. Raise the dumbbells back to the starting position by extending the upper arms. (Should look like the video below)
8 reps of overhead dumbbell extensions
8 reps of dumbbell kickbacks
After the last kickback is done, grab the next lightest pair of dumbbells for each exercise (it’s unlikely you’ll be able to use the same weights for each exercise!) and do another drop set by going through the same progression – 8 Tate presses, 8 overhead DB extensions, and 8 kickbacks.
After finishing with the first round of triceps, go back to biceps and do a second round and then do the second round of triceps exercises. DO THIS UNTIL YOU COMPLETE 5 ROUNDS
What makes this work out a beast is that there’s no rest between sets. You go non-stop… and the Pump is INSANE!!! Do you have the balls to finish it!! Let me know if you survived in the comments. Train Hard!!!
The Challenge – Every Morning for 30 days! Before you begin getting ready for your day; Complete the Spell You Name Workout! If your name is less than 4 letters or less; go through the workout twice!
This will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and its a good way to get your blood flowing and metabolism firing.
I challenge the true Gym Junkiez to spell your First and Last Name!
Tag us in your workout posts @gymjunkiez17 !! Train Hard!!!!
For the Gym Junkiez that love to train legs, or train legs with the purpose of growing an impressive set of wheels…. .this challenge is for you!!!
Warning – Do not attempt this workout with food or liquid still sitting in your stomach. Allow all food to digest and liquid to pass or it will come up before this session is over!
Today’s Leg Workout consists of 1 Giant Set of Heavy Weight being moved. 3 rounds! 10 Exercises; 12 reps each (except for leg extensions – 25 reps)! MAX Effort!!
Here we go!!!
LEG DAY
Warm up – 1 set of leg extensions – 75 reps (20,18,15,12,10 – rest 10 seconds between each set of reps) So it should be 20 rest 10 secs. 18 rest 10 secs. 15 rest 10 secs…. and so on until you finish the set of 10
Now that your knee’s and quads are nice and warm let the fun begin!
Giant Set List of Exercises
Leg Extensions – 25 reps
Lying Hamstring Curls – 12 reps
Walking Barbell/Dumbbell Lunges – 12 reps each leg
Seated Hamstring Curl – 12 reps
Glute/Ham Raises on Lat Pull Down Machine** – 12 reps
Hack Squats – 12 reps
Leg Press – 12 reps
Back Squat (or Safety Bar if your gym has it) – 12 reps
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift – 12 reps
Dumbbell Goblet Squat – 12 reps
After each round take 2 – 2:30 Full Minutes of Rest. You will absolutely need every second of it.
**Glute Ham Raises on Lat Pulldown Machine
Once you finish the 3 rounds go ahead and find a nice corner in the gym to lay down in. And just to be on the safe side…. take a trash can with you!
I apologize for you having to walk like this but I promise the results will be well worth the pain you feel!
Let us know how you make out with this challenge. Tag us if you post the workout on social media. Train Hard!!!!
Everyone wants a nice set of shoulders. Men want big- capped-3d looking shoulders. Women want round-sexy shoulders. In either case they help to accentuate the look of a v-taper and a small waist! Regardless of the look you are going for you have to train the muscle. In order to develop those deltoids, you have to push as much blood as you can into all 3 heads of the muscle – the anterior (front delt), medial (side delt) and posterior (rear delt).
For an insane pump and crazy shoulder growth; try this shoulder routine. You will definitely know the meaning of mind – muscle connection after you finish … IF you finish!!! Try it and let me know how you like it!!!
Shoulder Routine
Warm-up – 4 x 12 Shoulder Dislocates (warms up the entire shoulder girdle)
Exercise 1 – Compound Movement – Dumbbell Military Press 4 x 12 60 seconds rest. Pyramid up in weight till you can no longer do 12 reps.
Exercise 2 – Side Laterals w Cables 4 x 12* 30-45 secs rest. Slow controlled reps. Hold each rep for a 2 count.
Exercise 3 – Reverse Pec Deck 4 x 15 30-45 secs rest. Squeeze each rep for a 2 count
Exercise 4 – Front Raise with Plate 4 x 12 30-45 secs rest. Hold each rep for a 1 count.
Exercise 5 – Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs 3 x 15 30 seconds rest. Squeeze each rep for a 2 count
FINISHER – If you are one of the true Gym Junkiez and want to set yourself apart from everyone else in the gym… Try this exercise to finish your workout. Your shoulders will feel like they are going to explode. After a few sessions of this, you will definitely see some noticeable changes
The Victory Raise
3 x 20 with no more than 30 seconds rest between each set
Place a small resistance band around your wrists.
Lift the dumbbells from the low position to overhead, forming a “V” at the top.
Initiate the movement as a front raise with a neutral grip. As the movement progresses, spread your arms wider to end up with both arms forming a 45 degree angle with the body at the top of the movement.
Come back down the same way, controlling the weight for a good 3-4 second count. Do not release the tension completely at the bottom! Keep some tension in the bands to keep the muscles firing for max results.
Do the victory raise early in your shoulder or pressing workout. It will turn everything on and will make for safer, more effective pressing. Sets of 8-10 reps with a fairly slow eccentrics are best.
How It Works
This move basically combines all the benefits of a lateral raise, front raise, and band pull-apart. It hits all three heads of the deltoids as well as the rhomboids and lower traps. The band keeps the scapula properly aligned and you can’t compensate with the upper traps, making it a lot more effective at recruiting the delts.
Try this routine out. Post a clip from your training session and tag us @gymjunkiez17 on IG or use the hashtag #gymjunkiez
Sodium tends to get a bad rap when it comes to health and fitness. But it shouldn’t. Here’s the deal…. Sodium helps to regulate a number of key functions in the body, including muscle contraction, nerve function, blood volume, and acid-base balance. When you decrease your sodium intake, your body will compensate by excreting potassium, which will cause a decrease in the fluid volume of your muscle cells. This hurts their ability to grow. Increasing sodium intake, therefore, can increase muscle size by adding more fluid volume. A higher volume of intracellular fluid also increases protein turnover, further spurring growth. Another mechanism through which sodium can increase strength is by increasing extra-cellular fluid levels (fluid outside the cell membrane), which in turn improves the leverage in your joints, allowing you to move more weight on lifts. These increases in fluid volume both inside and outside the cell have also been shown to reduce the incidence of muscle strains and tendon injuries by decreasing the friction exerted upon these tissues. Finally, many critical amino acids are sodium-dependent. This means they are able to enter a muscle cell only when accompanied by a sodium molecule.
So what does all of that mean…… Use Salt to Improve Strength and Gainz!!
Try this for a Pre-workout stack for a week and if it does not give you some of the most insane pumps and strength increases. Your next post workout shake is on me!!
Alright Gym Junkiez, July 4th is just around the corner! And I know everyone is ready to enjoy time with the family and some Good Food (of course after hitting the gym)!
Of course every cookout has the traditional grilled chicken, steak, burgers, hotdogs, and all of the fixes and side dishes you can hold. For those of us that have to be mindful of our nutrition, here are a few options for you guys (and gals) that will keep you on track while still enjoying some delicious food!
Hit the store (or Amazon) and pick up a few of these options. Most of the condiments listed are no/low-calorie and sugar-free and still taste great!
**S/N Amazon Pantry is clutch for ordering Groceries and other necessities , I highly recommend that you sign up for it if it is available in your area. To try it out and/or find out just click here on this banner to check!**
Ok now that you have those, add some of these options to your cookout menu! I guarantee they will be a hit with everyone, not just the gym junkiez!
All of these options can be made into a low carb option by wrapping in lettuce. You can also use the P28 Wraps instead of a bun and vice versa.
I figure hot dogs are self-explanatory! There are not too many variations that are unknown.
If you have recipes to share please leave a comment or send them to us at gymjunkiez17@gmail.com to share with the world. Till the next time Eat Smart!!!
In the spirit of New Years resolutions, many ladies will be frequenting the gym to get in shape. I want to share an article written by Charles Staley to put emphasis on a few things I have been trying to explain to a few ladies in recent conversation. Ladies I do not want you to waste time in the gym and I want you to be able to reach your physique goals faster. The faster you see results the more confidence you will have. The more confidence you have the more you will want to continue working out and eventually turn into the future Gym Junkiez in the world!
written by Charles Staley
Questionable Practices
While both men and women tend to make predictable errors in the gym, some of the more recent trends in female physique training are particularly questionable. First, you have to wonder who’s perpetrating some of the silly things you see women doing, like workouts consisting exclusively of jumping and pseudo-plyometric drills.
How about workouts that feature nothing but triceps kickbacks, drills that rely heavily on balance (such as dumbbell presses done standing on a BOSU balance trainer) and “multi-tasking” movements such as lunging with light dumbbells that you press overhead after each lunge?
Time-Wasting Workouts
Men are much more likely to emphasize the proven staples, exercises that have been successfully used by physique athletes for decades – squats, presses of various types, pull-ups, dips, rows, deadlifts, and sure, let’s also include direct work for arms, abs, and calves.
Many women, on the other hand, focus mostly on movements that have such high skill and/or balance requirements that they can’t be loaded sufficiently to improve strength or hypertrophy to any significant degree. Take for example when women simultaneously lunge and overhead press. If the dumbbells are light enough to overhead press, they won’t be heavy enough to create a challenge during the lunge portion of the exercise.
Or, going back to the BOSU presses, when you’re standing on an unstable surface, you won’t be able to use weight that’s heavy enough to challenge the target musculature.
If your training goals primarily involve getting stronger, leaner, or more muscular, the exercises you perform must permit you to perform a significant amount of work, which is defined as displacing a specific mass over a given distance.
Exercises that significantly restrict (or even eliminate) the amount of work you perform are substandard for the purposes of strength and muscular development. In other words, they’re pretty much useless.
Exercise That Work, Exercises That Don’t
The weight training exercises that work best for most lifters (male or female) are those that move a relatively large load over a relatively great distance, with a reasonable margin of safety of course.
This is why many strength coaches and athletes over the decades have referred to the barbell squat as “the king of exercises.” Some would opt for the deadlift for this title, but either way, the point is made. Additionally, more than a few experts refer to dips and pull-ups as “the upper-body squat.”
Notice, though, the common characteristics of those four exercises. They permit you to safely move a large load over a large distance. And, it should be noted that all four movements challenge a large number of muscles simultaneously.
Contrast these movements with a few of the exercises we’ve all recently seen some women performing, both in person and on social media:
Bulgarian split squats performed with the rear foot in the stirrup of a suspension trainer, while simultaneously pressing a pair of light dumbbells at the completion of each rep.
A squat/twisting lunge combo, also performed with very light weights for very high reps.
A Burpee/pull-up combo performed by a well-meaning and hard-working woman who wasn’t strong enough to do a single proper push-up or pull-up.Both exercises are performed with the poor and unsafe technique that you’d expect.
Squats performed with the knees and feet together. Aside from the obvious danger this presents in terms of instability, the stance used dramatically restricts ROM as compared to a more conventional foot placement.
Why Do So Many Women Train This Way?
Why are female gym-goers so prone to ignoring the fact that to make significant progress you have to move a relatively large load over a great distance?
It’s likely that women learn these techniques from other fitness pros, whether they be coaches or a physique competitors of some type. But assuming that this is the case, where did these fitness pros come up with such wacky notions? What’s the underlying premise or rationale? Here’s a stab at that mystery:
1 – Fear of looking like a dude
There remains a persistent, underlying myth that most conventional resistance training exercises (i.e., the ones that actually work) will only serve to masculinize women, especially if performed with heavy weights.
This pernicious error is difficult to quash. There’s an overwhelming tendency to assume if we simply do what someone else does, we’ll get the same results they got. The problem is, we may not possess the same genetics or take the same drugs that they do.
It’s a classic case of mistaking correlation for causation. When women see the bulky physiques of high-level bodybuilders and strength athletes, it deters them from lifting weights like these women. This, of course, is a mistake.
2 – Not listening to good trainers
As a coach, whenever you start with a new client, there’s often a battle of wills at stake. Many clients have strong ideas about what they think they should do, and as a fitness pro, you have your own ideas as well. More often than you’d think, trainers tend to gradually acquiesce to their client’s ill-informed wishes rather than taking a stand as a professional and insisting upon good decision-making.
3 – Overestimating the energy cost of the exercises they do
Many men make this mistake too. It particularly applies to jumping drills, which are very strenuous and therefore create the assumption that they burn a lot of calories. And to be fair, per unit of time, many of these drills do burn more calories than other choices. There are a few problems with this thinking:
You can’t do these exercises for long enough durations to rack up much of a calorie burn.
Jumping drills in particular are very risky for the joints, especially tricky female knees. Whenever you evaluate the potential value of an exercise, you need to examine the cost-to-benefit ratio. Low benefit, low risk equals minimal value. Low benefit, high risk equals dangerous and counterproductive. What we’re looking for ideally is low risk, high benefit.
These bouncy exercises do little to nothing to build strength or muscle.
The underlying problem here is that people tend to assume that difficult or painful equals effective, even though that’s often not the case at all.
4 – Giving in to boredom
Truly effective training tends to be a bit on the monotonous side. This is why most successful commercial exercise programs (such as P90X) are all based on a high degree of variety. Yet the most successful weight-training programs are kinda boring by comparison.
5 – Gravitating toward what they do best
It’s only human nature. Women tend to be relatively better at tasks that require more mobility, endurance, and complexity, and their training tends to reflect this tendency.
6 – Hiring misogynistic trainers
For several months I’ve been watching a handful of male trainers at a local commercial gym. When they have a male client, they have him do legitimate, effective exercises like barbell squats, chins, RDL’s, military presses, and so on.
The next client is often female. She’s instructed to start by doing 10 minutes on the bike, followed by 10 minutes of foam rolling, walks with an elastic band around her knees, followed by sumo squats with a light kettlebell, a few lateral raises, and a few sets of light glute bridges.
The problems aren’t limited to ineffective exercises, they also involve inadequate loading and too much time spent on low-payoff “preparatory” activities. Additionally, these trainers exude genuine enthusiasm when training their male clients, but palpable disinterest with the females, unless the client in question is particularly hot. These trainers simply don’t respect and value the majority of their female clients.
3 Things Women Do Right
There are many things that men can learn from women in the gym. For instance, guys tend to focus excessively on bar weight and not enough on movement quality, range of motion, and the mind-muscle link. Men always place quantity over quality, and often to their detriment. Not so with women.
Women never push through pain in stupid ways, either. Men often allow ego to take precedence over common sense. Dumb. And dangerous.
Lastly, women often tend to think of themselves as novices when they’re actually fairly knowledgeable, whereas men tend to think, simply by virtue of having a Y chromosome, that they were born knowing how to lift. The result is that women are much more open to learning than men are.
Every guy wants to have a monster bench press. For as long as I can remember 315 has been the milestone many gym junkiez aim to achieve. Well, if this applies to you and your goals for the bench press I will show you how to get their in the shortest amount of time. Below is a 4 week plan to quickly meet that goal. And once you hit 315, you can use this same program to hit the next goal.
In this 30-day periodized program to help you bench press 315 pounds, you’ll be benching on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays using weight based off a 315 1RM, multiplying your 1RM by the decimal listed for each session (e.g., 275 x .75 (75%) = 206.5 ** use 205 on Bench). This will be the focal point of your training for the next 4 weeks.
WEEK 1
Workout 1 – Monday
1) Bench Press – 10×2 @ 85% with 2-3 minutes rest. Focus on how fast you can press the weight off your chest.
2) DB Incline Press – 3×8
3a) Standing Chest Press – 3×10
3b) Push-Ups: 3xMAX
Workout 2 – Thursday
1) Bench Press – 10×6 @ 75% with 2 minutes rest
2a) Hammer Strength Presses – 3×10
2b) Push-Ups – 3xMAX
3a) Chest Flies – 3×12
3b) DB Negative Press – 3×12 with 5-second negative
2) Negative Bench Press – 3×1 @ 110% with a 3-4 second negative. Focus on lifting heavy weight without getting too psyched up. The central nervous system can become extremely taxed when you rile yourself up. Take a big deep breath and lift the weight under control, ideally without any music.
Workout5 – Thursday
1) Bench Press- 5×5 @ 80%
2) Incline Bench Press – 5×10 @ 60%
3a) Chest Flies – 5×10
3b) Push-Ups – 5xMAX
Workout 6– Saturday
1) Bench Press – 6×5 with 2-3 minutes rest. For sets 1-2 use 45%, for sets 3-4 use 35% and for sets 5-6 use 30%. Move the weight as quickly as possible,
2a) Include DB Press – 3×10
2b) Push-Ups – 3xMAX
3a) Standing Shoulder Press – 3×1-0
3b) Push-Ups – 3×10
WEEK 3
Workout 7 – Monday
1) Bench Press – 3×10 @ 85% with 2-3 minutes rest
2) DB Incline Press – 3×8
3a) Standing Chest Press – 3×10
3b) Push-Ups – 3xMAX
Workout 8 – Thursday
1a) Incline Bench Press – 5×5 @ 70%
1b) Plyo Push-Ups – 5×5 with 2-3 minutes rest
2a) Chest Flys – 5×10
2b) Push-Ups – 5xMAZ
3) Bench Press – 3×60 seconds with 5-second negative and 1-second press
4) Bench Press – 3xMAX @ 40%
Workout 9 – Saturday
1) Bench Press – 10×8 @ 75% with 2 minutes rest
2) Hammer Strength Press – 3×10 (partner accelerated negative for last 5 reps)
3a) Chest Flies – 3×12
3b) Push-Ups – 3×60 seconds
WEEK 4
Workout 10 – Monday
1) Bench Press – 5×1 @ 95% with 2-3 minutes rest
2a) Bench Press Drop Set – 5×1 @ 87%, drop set into 70% for max reps
2b) Bench Press Drop Set – 5xMAX @ 70%, drop set into 40% for max reps
Now on to testing. Rest on Monday and Tuesday and max out Wednesday to test your new strength.
Accessory Lifts to Improve theBenchPress
You need to train your triceps, anterior deltoid and back equally to make sure the gain train is headed your way. Here are some exercises you should perform three times per week. The best way to do this is add the first 3 on Monday, the Farmers Walk on Thursday, and the Bent over Rows on Saturday. This should allow you an optimal rest time so that you are fresh for the next workout:
Face Pulls – 5×10-15
Skullcrushers – 5×8-15
Band Pull-Aparts – 5×12-25
Farmers Walks – 2×100 yards @ 75-95% of your bodyweight
Bent-Over Rows – 5 x 6-12
Now i dont want to be a downer but i have to be honest. This program is designed to reach the goal mathematically. If you fall short of that goal, remember you are still stronger than you were 4 weeks prior. Training is about becoming the best and strongest version of YOU. If you fall short keep pushing till you hit it!!! I want everyone that meets their goal at the end of this program to email me at gymjunkiez17@gmail.com; or tag me in a photo of your PR on Instagram. Be Consistent and Train Hard!!
Dr. Layne Norton is one of the foremost experts on training and nutrition. He also happens to be a pro bodybuilder and an elite competitive powerlifter (see his track record below). I have been a fan and an avid follower of Dr. Norton for a number of years. His training program i am sharing with you, my fellow gym junkiez is the program that allowed me to make the most improvements out of all of the regiments i have tried. He is a stand up guy and knows his stuff. I encourage anyone that reads this to try the program. I promise you will love the gainzzz!!!! Enjoy
BODYBUILDING CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
INBF Mid America Muscle Classic overall Teen champion
SNBF Tennessee men’s open tall champion
ABA Mr. Indiana men’s open overall champion
ABA Mr. Illinois men’s open overall champion
OCB Spirit of America men’s open heavyweight runner-up
OCB Great Lakes States men’s open overall champion*
NGA Heart of America Natural Classic men’s open overall champion*
IFPA Pro International: Heavyweight Winner
IFPA Gaspari Pro Classic: 4th Place Heavyweight
IFP Yorton Cup Pro World Championships: 5th Place Heavyweight
NGA Pro Universe: 4th Place
* denotes pro qualifier
POWERLIFTING HIGHLIGHTS
AAPF Illinois Raw Power Challenge 220 lb class champion
Pro Raw Unity 220 lb class 4th place
Raw United Tony Conyers Extravaganza 220 lb class champion and best pound for pound lifter
APF Europa Pro Raw Challenge 220 lb class champion
USAPL Raw Nationals 93kg Champion
USAPL Southeastern Regionals Overall Champion
Arnold Raw Power Challenge 93kg Champion
IPF World Championships 93kg Overall Silver Medalist
USAPL Raw National 93kg Runner Up
Achieved ‘Elite’ Raw Total classification
Current IPF 93 kg class World Record Squat 303 kg (668 lbs)
Former USAPL 93 kg National Record Squat 303 kg (668 lbs)
Former USAPL 93 kg National Record Deadlift 322.5 kg (711 lbs)
Best total: 800kg/1763lb at 91.7kg/202lb bodyweight
Last week someone asked a question about developing leg strength and muscle with bad knees. I realized that too often people think they can’t workout their legs when they have knee pain.
And while you don’t just want to jump into a lower body strength routine if you aren’t sure what is going on with your knees, there are knee-friendly lower body exercises you can do once you’ve identified the problem and are doing the proper rehab to take care of them.
The exercises below put little to no strain on the knees and also strengthen common areas of weakness that contribute to knee pain….Aka WEAK GLUTES and EXTERNAL ROTATORS!
Using these exercises (along with a proper prehab/rehab routine that includes foam rolling and stretching) you can ALMOST prevent knee pain from ever returning!
8 Knee Friendly Lower Body Exercises:
1. Glute Bridge (Table Top Bridge, Off Box Bridges, Hip Thrusters):
I love glute bridges or any variation of the glute bridge because I think it is probably the best exercise for EVERYONE to do. It strengthens your glutes and hamstrings and opens up your hips while also helping to strengthen your core.
And it is completely KNEE FRIENDLY. It is actually a great rehab/prehab exercise and, depending on the variation you are doing, a great ACTIVATION EXERCISE to include in your warm up!
Also, the glute bridge and curl can be a knee-friendly variation; however it is more difficult. For variations of the glute bridge and curl, check out this video : Glute Bridge Variations
2. Reverse Hyper:
Another great glute exercise, the Reverse Hyper is completely knee-friendly and great for everyone from the beginner to the advanced lifter.
The key with Reverse Hypers is to make sure you hold at the top. Do not rush through this move.
To do the Reverse Hyper, lie face down on a table, bench or box. You want your hips close to the edge. The more your hips are on the box or bench, the easier it will be to keep your core tight and not let the move go into your back. The further off the bench your hips are, the more the move will require your abs to stay engaged to protect your low back.
Hold on to something in front of you if you want. Keep your upper body relaxed. Squeeze your legs together and point your toes out a bit if you are having trouble activating your glutes. Lift your legs to basically parallel to the ground, keeping your legs straight. Do not hyperextend your back and lift way higher than parallel. You do not want to feel this in your low back. Hold for 2-5 seconds and then lower down. Keep your core tight and really squeeze your glutes as you lift.
3. Anterior Reach Lunge:
I think one of the hardest things to do when you have knee pain is work your entire leg. It is easy to stay focused on your posterior chain since many of those moves require little to no knee flexion.
BUT with the Anterior Reach Lunge you can work your entire leg and add a bit more variety to your routine. Beginners will want to start with no weight while more advanced exercises will want to weight this down.
Add weight slowly and make sure your form is correct so that you keep this move KNEE FRIENDLY!
To do the Anterior Reach Lunge, Stand with your feet together and take one big step forward. Bend your front knee as you step forward, keeping your front heel down as you lunge forward. You will not bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Do not come up onto your front toe as you lean your torso over keeping your back flat. Keep your weight in your front heel and your back leg straight. Then come back up and step your front foot back. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Beginners will reach their hands overhead when they lunge. Advanced exercisers will hold weights down by their front leg as they lunge forward and hinge over.
4. Single Leg Deadlift:
I often encounter clients with knee pain that also have (or had) foot and ankle pain/injury. Often those injuries weren’t properly rehabbed, which ends up leading to knee pain because of improper movement patterns.
For those people, I love using single leg deadlifts because they work on the mind-body connection to improve movement patterns while also working on balance and strengthening the lower leg, hamstrings and glutes.
To do a Single Leg Deadlift, stand on one foot with the knee of that standing leg slightly bent. Hinge over at your hips, sweeping the other leg back toward the wall behind you. Pretend you are driving the heel of that foot straight into the wall behind you. Lean forward with your upper body as you hinge forward, keeping the back nice and flat. Make sure that as you hinge, you are sitting into the heel of your standing leg. Do not lean forward and come up onto your toes.
To stand back up, drive through the heel of your standing leg and squeeze your glute at the top. Try not to tap the other foot down at all or at least not till you are fulling standing. Complete all reps on one side before switching to the other leg. To make the move harder, do a 3-5 count lower down toward the ground. Take 3-5 seconds to hinge over and then push straight back up. You can also add weight to the move to make it more challenging.
5. Straight Leg Deadlift/Good Morning:
The straight leg deadlift is another great standing posterior chain move that really works the glutes and hamstrings (and if you front load the move with weight at your chest, it can also really challenge your core!)
The key with this move, and the Single Leg Deadlift, is to not lock out your knees and to make sure you keep your back flat and don’t round it while reaching toward the ground.
To do the Straight Leg Deadlift, hold a sandbag, barbell, kettlebells or dumbbells in you hands in front of you or by your sides. With your feet no wider than hip-width apart, hinge over, keeping your back flat. Your knees should be soft as you hinge over and push your butt back toward the wall behind you. You should feel a nice stretch down your hamstring as you hinge over. Do not let your back round toward the ground. Keep your weight in your heels. Come back up to standing, driving through your heels and squeezing your glutes at the top.
You can also hold a sandbag or weight at your chest as you perform the hinge.
6. Band Exercises: Clams, Monster Steps, Side Shuffle, Kickbacks, Side Raises:
The mini band is a great tool to own because it is small, lightweight and tortures the muscles of your butt like none other and complete knee friendly!
There are so many great mini band moves to get your glutes activated and help you prevent knee pain that I couldn’t pick just one to list here…So I went with a general…MINI BAND MOVES!
They can be included as part of your workout or as part of your warm up, but they need to be included because they will help you strengthen your glutes and lessen your knee pain.
7. Yoga – Mobility Work
Often we suffer from pain and injury because we lack mobility, which means smaller, weaker muscles end up doing work they shouldn’t be doing.
Therefore, in order to get rid of your knee pain, you need to improve your mobility while you activate the weak muscles. The best way to do this is YOGA
Yoga uses isometric exercises do just that. The following isometric leg poses open up your hips and improve your mobility while helping you develop muscular stability. Not only are these moves knee-friendly but they develop the mobility and stability you need to get rid of the pain and prevent it from ever coming back!
Warrior II – Set up in a nice wide lunge stance with one foot forward and one foot back. Turn the back toe out so your feet are perpendicular. Your front foot should be at the instep of your back foot when you turn it out. Sink down into a lunge, keeping the back leg straight and the front heel firmly planted. Try to get your front knee bent to 90 degrees and your quad parallel to the ground. You may find you need to step your front foot forward a bit more to sit comfortably in the lunge and keep the front heel down. The lower you sink in the lunge, the harder the move will be. Do not let your front knee cave inward. Squeeze the glute and keep the knee in line with your hip and your ankle. While in the low lunge, open your arms out at shoulder height. Reach one forward over the front leg and the other back over the back leg. Keep the chest open and do not lean forward. Keep your weight centered in the lunge.
Warrior III – Balance on one leg with the knee slightly bent. Hinge over lifting your back leg toward the wall behind you. Lean your torso over, keeping your back flat and your core tight. Reach your hands overhead in front of you. Hold in this position. Do not let your back round or your other foot touch down. Keep your arms in line with your body. You want a nice straight line from the bottom of your lifted heel to the end of your finger tips. Make sure you do not lock the standing leg out as you hold. Beginners may need to reach back toward their foot instead of out in front of them. Using a wall can also help beginners. Stand with a wall behind you and when you hinge over have the lifted foot lightly touch the wall behind you to help you balance.
Crescent Pose – Start in a high plank position. Step one foot up between your hands with the front knee bent and the back leg out straight. Your front heel will be down while your back heel will be up. Lift your hands up off the ground and reach them back and overhead as you stay low in the lunge. Keep your front heel down as you sit back into the lunge. If your front heel is coming up, you may want to step your front foot forward a bit more. As you hold the lunge, your back heel will stay up and the back leg will stay straight. Feel a nice stretch down the front of the hip and quad of the back leg. Hold then switch to the other side.
(Warrior I, Triangle Pose, Glute Bridge Hold, Squat Hold, Half Moon, Tree Pose…All of these are great as well…AKA Yoga can be a super beneficial thing for anyone with knee pain!)
Just like there are a ton of mini band moves that are safe to do if you have bad knees, there are also a ton of quadruped glute and core exercises that you should include in your routine if you have knee pain.
These moves also focus on activating the core and can even open up your hips.
The three below are a few of my favorites because they hit the glutes from numerous different angles while also building core strength. They also all can help improve your hip mobility.
Fire Hydrants –Place your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. Flex your feet. Then raise one leg out to the side, keeping the knee bent to 90 degrees. Lift it as high as you can while keeping your arms straight. Try to not let the foot get higher than the knee or the knee get higher than the foot. Really squeeze the butt cheek as you lift. Hold for a second or two at the top. Lower down and then repeat. Complete all reps on one side before switching.
Bird Dogs – Place your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet. Kick one leg out straight as if kicking it into the wall behind you while you reach the other arm out straight toward the wall in front of your head. Don’t worry about lifting your leg or arm up high. Really try to drive your arm and leg toward opposite walls. Squeeze your glutes and keep your belly button pulled in toward your spine. As you lower your arm and leg, bend them and bring them together under your body. Try to touch your knee to your elbow before extending back out. Repeat all reps on one side before switching to the other side. All reps should be done in a slow and controlled manner. You should even hold for a second or two at the top of the move. You can advance this move by adding a resistance band around your leg and opposite arm so that you lengthen the resistance band as you reach out and have to fight against it pulling you back in.
Donkey Kickbacks – Keep the knee bent close to 90 and keep the foot flexed as you kick one leg back and drive the heel up toward the ceiling. Don’t let the low back arch. Make sure that as you lift you are squeezing the glute of the leg you are raising. Also make sure the foot is driving straight up to the ceiling. And do not let your elbows bend to get the leg higher. Hold at the top and squeeze the glute then lower and repeat. Make sure you are driving straight back and that the knee of the raised leg isn’t flaring in or out.
8. Farmer’s Walk
The farmers walk is literally one of the easiest exercises you can do that will not only develop your leg muscle and strength, but your overall physique. You just pick up some weight and walk for as long as you can, drop, and repeat. There are so many variations of the farmers walk that you can do to break the monotony. If you want to learn those check out this link: 15 Farmers Walk Variations
But for purposes of this post we will stay as basic as possible. So use dumbbells. As you get stronger, your can choose any variation you want!!!
Legs contains the largest group of muscles on your body. If you dont have a strong set of legs, life will become increasingly hard as the years pass. I do not want to see anyone have mobility issues in their elder years so i feel its my duty to share any and all information possible to prevent thee things. So now that you have some options, start working on building a balanced physique. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. Train Smart!!!!!!
I have been lifting heavy for a lot years now. I, as well as many other bodybuilders and gym junkiez, tend to get very sore and stiff as a result of consistently training hard and heavy. As we get older and more advanced, recovery becomes one of the number one factors in continuing to be consistent with training. One way of improving that recovery time is frequent deep tissue massages. If you are like me and don not want to spend that type of money, their is a more cost effective option. The “poor mans massage” – The Foam Roller.
Regularly using a Foam Roller – especially a deep tissue massage roller – offers many of the same benefits as a sports massage, including reduced inflammation, scar tissue and joint stress, as well as improved circulation and improved flexibility.
Regularly rolling pre and post workout will mean you will help prepare your muscles for the workout ahead and also help with post muscle recovery.
It will be a love/hate relationship but once you start rolling I guarantee you will wonder how you ever worked out without it and really understand foam rolling benefits.
Check out a few reasons why you should incorporate foam rolling into your routine today!!
I know that there are other reasons that we might have missed. Feel free to add them in the comments below
1) Prevents Injury & Helps You Recover Fast
Learning the finer points of self-myofascial release could help you train harder and look better while also reducing injury.
“If you are still of a mind that foam rollers are for everyone else, then you are missing out on one of the most effective tools at your disposal for physique-building, recovery and injury prevention. Rollers are the most popular mechanism for self-myofascial release, or SMR, and are gaining popularity among elite athletes of all walks because of the drastic and usually immediate impact it has on their performance and overall health. Here are some of the most frequently discussed aspects of SMR as it pertains to dedicated lifters.”
2) Breaks Up Scar Tissue
Breaking up scar tissue and adhesions between the skin, muscles and bones is crucial for a healthy body.
“When you foam roll, you put targeted pressure on your fascia, releasing trigger points where you’re feeling pain. The process relieves pain caused by shin splints and IT band syndrome, both of which are very common in runners, and more generally, usually clears up problems caused by tight fascia and muscles.”
“So you can bench press a car and deadlift a truck, but can you bend down and touch your toes or hug your knees to your chest? With so much mixed information about stretching, static v. dynamic, pre-workout v. post-workout, it’s tough to know the best way to relieve muscle tension. But there’s a simple technique that will keep your muscles sliding and gliding with ease. Taking proper care of underlying fascia is your new secret weapon to improving mobility, flexibility, and range of motion.”
Here is an easy little foam rolling workout that you can do prior or after your main workout to help warm up and stretch those right muscles. You can do each move for anywhere from 60 seconds to 90 seconds a day. This workout is short and easy and takes 10 minutes or less!
Despite the very many health benefits of massage, we can’t all ball out and book regular appointments at the local spa. But there’s a basic (and cheap!) tool are known to many regular runners, gym junkie, and other athletes that just might be the next best thing. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get familiar with a foam roller.
I have received a few requests for dessert options when you have those late night cravings. Here are 3 options for you to enjoy!! Guilt Free!!!! These are quick and easy do it yourself options that will not disappoint! Try them out and let me know how you like them!! Eat Smart!!
Begin to make the frosting by draining and rinsing the cashews.
Blend the cashews with the filtered water and stevia until smooth. (Depending on your blender, you may need a little more water and you may need to scrape the sides down a couple of times.)
Refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 325F (163C).
Combine egg whites, oil, and yogurt until smooth (with whisk or electric mixer).
Add remaining ingredients, and mix until smooth. Batter will be thick.
Whisk together dry ingredients (through salt) in a mixing bowl.
Mix in wet ingredients (through vanilla) to form a dough.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Lightly coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
Place twelve rounded tablespoons of dough onto sheet a couple inches apart. Press flat just slightly.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown. Enjoy!
Again try these out and let me know what you think. If you like them leave me a comment and let me know. If you would like to see more recipes from Gym Junkiez, leave a comment as well!! Eat Smart!!!
I get asked constantly, how I can eat the type of food I do and still stay in great shape. Being completely honest, it took me a long time and a great deal of trial and error to learn how to do this.
I want to share a few recipes that help break the monotony of eating clean/ healthy food. There are a few secrets to enjoying food the way you guilt free! I will share those over time…. Two of those secrets that I will share today are Walden Farms calorie free sauces, and salad dressings; and zero car pasta(thats right ZERO carb)!! I promise you will never look back at traditional recipes again once you add these options to your arsenal. I will start with 3 recipes and if you would like to see more… let me know I will begin to post them regularly!!!
Cut up the ingredients and toss them into a mixture of the ground turkey, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Form the mixture into a loaf. Heat the oven 375. Cook for 35-40 Minutes until the top is golden brown. Top with some Walden Farms Calorie Free BBQ Sauce
Boil Zero Carb Pasta (Fettuccini or Spaghetti) for 6-8 minutes or until soft. Use coconut spray to coat the pan and add in fresh garlic. Cut the chicken into chunks and cook on medium heat while covered for 6-8 minutes. Cut up the broccoli into small spears and add into the chicken for an additional 3-5 minutes. In a small pot warm up mixture of heavy whipping cream, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and sea salt. Heat mixture for 3-5 minutes and then pour over chicken and broccoli. Add pasta to a plate, the Alfredo mixture and top with a little chopped parsley.
Try these out and let me know what you think. If you like them leave me a comment and let me know. If you would like to see more recipes from Gym Junkiez, leave a comment as well!! Eat Smart!!!
I am an African-American male that works as part of a leadership team for a Fortune 500 Telecommunications company. As a leader I have been recognized for being one of, if not the best in my field. The problem is I also get recognized for being “Aggressive”, “Intimidating”, and “Menacing at times”.This type of feedback is given in response to why i am overlooked for promotion repeatedly over the past few years.
Full transparency, I am 5’11, 265 lbs. I have a very deep voice and I do not walk around with smiling at everyone, By nature, I am an introvert but i have consistently worked to not be limited by that and be open/friendly to everyone. I am a millennial, even though my personality doesn’t match, i am in the generation that needs information immediately! I was taught to walk with my head up, shoulders back, and with pride. That’s how I was raised. I was also raised to be honest, hard working, and not surround myself with individuals i do not trust because one of two things will happen, they will bring me down or I will speak my mind and cause unnecessary trouble for myself. I have a degree in Computer Science, I have a range of skills from programming to building and maintaining networks. Suffices to say that i have some intelligence.
All of these positive attributes are consistently overshadowed by my physical appearance. I constantly work to build and improve a work standard for front line employees, as well as the members of my leadership team that is repeatedly halted because my drive and passion for meeting these goals is perceived as “aggressive” or “abrasive” simply because of my voice and physical appearance.
I was recently “coached” for being aggressive during a refresher training. I asked two questions during that session. Now, I was told that the two questions I asked were very valid. It was just my delivery of those questions. I asked how I could have asked the questions differently, and I was told there was nothing wrong with the what I asked. (How the hell is that?!) I asked during that “coaching” conversation if my voice was the reason. They stated no, but i may want to try and soften my tone so that i don’t come across in an unprofessional way. I then proceeded to ask several clarifying questions… “did i speak out of turn, did i cut the trainer off while she was speaking, did I raise my voice” The answer was no to all of those questions.
With that being said I was told that in order to prevent from getting into further trouble in the future I need to smile more, and be more approachable. The problem with that statement is I smile all of the time and despite being introverted, am very approachable to everyone except for:
those that try to get over on me
those that have less than stellar job performance
and those that are basically intimidated by what they see vs getting to know me
I began to research how many black males struggle with perceptions in Corporate America. I also looked into how muscular people struggle with perceptions of society in general. What i found was this scenario is just one example of the perception of black males in corporate America getting painted as a threat. If you add physically fit, with intelligence, and morals, then those perceptions are amplified 10 fold.
It was very interesting to read that there are many similarities to the struggles of black males in comparison to the struggles of muscular people. Both are seen as a threat just because of physical appearance. Both are given suggestions to stand a certain way, to sit down vs, standing when speaking to an audience, to not lean forward when engaging someone in conversation, to not make a spectacle of themselves by asking “unnecessary” questions (which is determined by someone else), the list goes on…
Now there are some positive suggestions that both sides share. Be the first to engage people in conversation to show that you are approachable and friendly. Actually thats the only positive one i found… :-/
The sad truth is that as a black male with a muscular body, I have to face double the perceptions and work twice as hard as everyone else just be seen in a positive light.
Bernard J Tyson shared the following excerpt with Fortune magazine:
” Let us begin, then, with one cold, hard-numbered truth: For much of corporate America, racial diversity continues to be at best a challenge—and at worst a flat-out fiction—particularly in the executive ranks. There have been only 15 black CEOs in the history of the Fortune 500, of whom five are currently in the role. (Ursula Burns, CEO of XeroxXRX-0.73%, is the only woman; Kaiser Permanente, the organization that Tyson runs, is a nonprofit and therefore ineligible for the Fortune 500.) Nor is it much better outside the corner office. According to a corporate diversity survey released last June by the office of Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, black men and women account for a mere 4.7% of executive team members in the Fortune 100 (the top 100 U.S. companies by revenue), a share that hasn’t budged since the survey was first conducted in 2011. Even at smaller companies, African Americans hold an estimated 6.7% of the nation’s 16.2 million “management” jobs, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though they make up twice that share of the population at large.
Numbers, however, don’t capture the frustration that many black executives feel as they try to thrive and compete in a realm where race is often seen as an asterisk on their resumes and an unspoken subtext in conversations about career advancement. For black men, though, the challenges of the corporate life are daunting at least in part because they are sometimes hard to pin down—influenced as much by age-old prejudice as by cultural preconceptions, the subtleties of psychology, and the weight of human history (more on that soon). Black males are not seen as an option for leading executive positions many times simply because they do not look how someone believes they should, or they have ideas that are not accepted by their leadership. And many black males in positions of authority have built their own ideals of how things should work at their perspective companies. Sometimes those ideals do not agree with the status quo designed by company leadership and if they work to change the culture for the betterment said company, its viewed as “not supporting company initiatives.” Black males are in a constant battle to even the playing field that many times lasts the span of a career. This leaves many having the feeling of failure, or short-comings due to impenetrable glass ceilings put in place by white corporate America. “
Now couple those prejudices with the fact that I, as well as many other minority men are bigger,stronger, more muscular, or however you wish to describe an individual that lives a fitness lifestyle and those statistics are worse than what you see above. As I think about this, the scariest part of it all is that you can interchange the gender and minority type and see many of the same issues.
So the question becomes, what do we do about that? Do we smile, play the game by their rules, and just try to get by and not work towards the goals we set for ourselves? Or do we continue to fight and break down barriers that would help others like us in the future? My conundrum
Want to fast-track your muscle growth and build size in a hurry?
Nobody wants to wait for results. You post a photo on Instagram, and you hope to see at least 100 “likes” within an hour. You keep up with your favorite team’s results just by opening an app on your smart phone for play-by-play coverage. With that sense of urgency in mind, I stole some quotes from powerlifter-turned-bodybuilder and Dymatize athlete Geremy Satcher for his best tips on not just gaining muscle, but doing it in the fastest time possible. This will be the best “build muscle in a hurry” advice for those who simply don’t have time to wait.
Substitute multijoint movements for isolation exercises.
Most workouts consist of a collection of multijoint and single-joint movements—say, presses and a fly movement in a single chest routine. The biggest difference between them is that multijoint exercises engage more muscle groups, allowing you to push heavier weights.
Bench Press
Deadlift
Squat
Dips
Military Press
These exercises recruit a large amount of muscle mass, multijoint exercises trigger a more significant hormone response than single-joint movements. In fact, workouts that stress a large amount of muscle mass tend to produce the greatest increases in both growth hormone and testosterone.
Take a closer look at your workout. If you’re doing more than one single-joint exercise for any body part (with calves, biceps, shoulders, and forearms being the exceptions), retool it by substituting more multijoint movements.
Challenge yourself in the gym and push outside your comfort zone.
A couple of years ago, I worked out with a younger guy who could do 80-pound dumbbell presses for eight reps. When I suggested he try the 90s, he insisted he couldn’t handle those. I insisted, though, and he found out on the very next set that, in fact, he could handle them—and just not for eight reps. He actually did nine reps!
I suspect my friend did an additional rep with a heavier weight just because I was there encouraging him. You’ve probably noticed a similar phenomenon whereby you completed more reps than you thought possible when you had a spotter on hand, especially if you normally train alone.
If you never leave your comfort zone, you never force your muscles to adapt to new demands. “Staying within your comfort zone leaves room for stagnation,” says Geremy Satcher. “Challenging yourself and going beyond what’s comfortable directly links to your overall confidence. Build your own confidence and take baby steps toward increasing the weight you train with. Whatever you do, avoid becoming stagnant!”
Train with a workout partner who will push you.
A workout partner can do more than just force you to show up for your workouts. He or she can push you to new heights by helping you handle more weight, more reps, or both. And they can help you do this safely. Taking a set of squats or overhead dumbbell presses close to failure, for example, is less prone to disaster with an experienced spotter on hand.
However, don’t take every set to failure. In “Jim Stoppani’s Encyclopedia Of Muscle & Strength”, the author says, “Australian researchers discovered that when trained lifters completed one set to failure of the four sets they trained with on the bench press for eight weeks, they had double the strength gains of lifters who did not complete any of the four sets to failure.2 And in a follow-up study, the same team of researchers discovered that doing more than one set to failure on the bench press for eight weeks offered no additional increase in strength gains.3 It appears that performing only one set to failure allows for enough stimulus to be delivered to the muscle fibers without fatiguing the muscle too much, which can limit muscle strength during the workout when training with too many sets to failure.”4
“Developing a friendship with someone and having them in the gym with you is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to getting past training plateaus,” says Geremy Satcher. “That person is one of the few you can trust to give you straightforward input regarding corrections you need to make, your physique, and your attitude.”
Add a pre-bedtime meal of cottage cheese or casein.
Hard-gainers complain they can’t gain weight—but are they doing everything they can to consume all the protein they need? No dietary change is easier to make than adding a pre-bedtime snack that includes slow-digesting proteins of the sort found in cottage cheese or a casein protein shake.
Slow-digesting proteins are especially useful during sleep—which is an eight-hour fast—because the amino acids they release are available all night long, which is more useful to fasting muscles than a quick-digesting protein like whey.
No dietary change is easier to make than adding a pre-bedtime snack that includes slow-digesting proteins of the sort found in cottage cheese or a casein protein shake.
If you’re not taking creatine, add 5 grams’ worth to your shake.
An avalanche of research supports creatine for bodybuilders and strength trainers. Creatine works by increasing the number of energy substrates capable of high-intensity work within the muscle, helping you maintain energy for more reps. Long-term usage has been shown to lead to 5-15 percent greater gains in strength and performance. So either eat lean cuts of beef daily (which i dont really recommend for digestive health) or buy a container of creatine online. One container will last you for a couple of months!
In the first tip, I listed a number of exercises that are proven muscle builders. Notably absent was any mention of machine exercises. That’s because the free-weight movements are superior for building muscle and strength. Those free weights require a lot more secondary muscle activity and stabilizers to help control the motion and balance the weight, engaging more muscle mass.
Machines have a place for beginners learning movement patterns, those who are working through injuries, and even for bodybuilders toward the end of their workouts. But if you’re doing machine movements early in your training in place of a free-weight alternative—well, maybe you’re just being lazy. Choose the most challenging exercises early in your workout rather than looking for easier alternatives.
“I’ll be as blunt as I can with this topic: Stick with free weights for mass building!” says Geremy Satcher. “Consider machines as assisted weight. When you’re training with free weights, you muscles have to carry the full force of the movement, and that makes you work harder.”
Get inspired.
What separates those who succeed from those who don’t? Those who can put ideas into action. Here’s where motivation counts. I already assume you want to gain an extra 10-15 pounds of muscle, but I can probably also assume you’ve been saying that for the past few years.
So how do you take the next step and make it happen?
Start engaging with like-minded people, both at home and online. Watch training videos from bodybuilders and strength athletes who inspire you—my personal favorites are Chris Jones (pump chasers), Marc Lobliner (tiger fitness), and the old “In the trenches” videos for muscular development. Chat online with a bodybuilder, or even engage their services for a month or two to help push you to the next level. Read about new workouts and techniques you can insert into your training. If none of those works for you, take a scoop of pre-workout and you’ll be ready to rock ‘n’ roll in about 40 minutes.
“Finding your inspiration will only accelerate your growth,” says Satcher. “There’s no one fighting against your efforts except you. The wrong attitude will compromise the altitude of your life!”
Eat calorie-dense foods.
If you’re having trouble putting on weight, look at your diet a little more closely. While I’d never suggest skimping on your veggies, the produce aisle is known for healthy fare that fills you up without much of a caloric punch. In a nod to health, get your daily servings of fruits and veggies, but don’t expect a meal plan of salads and high-fiber foods to give you much of an assist when you’re trying to gain weight.
On the other hand, consuming beverages such as protein shakes won’t make you feel full for very long. Just watch out for all the empty sugar calories in many sodas and teas. And, of course, there’s always Chinese food.
Prepare a daily meal plan that ensures you’re consuming the necessary daily macros and daily caloric surplus to support muscle growth. Time spent in the kitchen preparing your meals is a smart investment that supports muscle growth.
Rest the day before your most challenging workouts.
I’d like to think you have some kind of life outside the gym, so you may typically take your rest days from the gym on weekends or situate them around other events in your schedule. Rest days are an opportunity to ensure you’re fully fed and caught up on your sleep, meaning you’ll be ready to hit the weights hard again the next day. That makes those next days ideal for leg or back training—grueling workouts that require more effort and sap your energy.
You might even consider a two-days-on, one-day-off split so you’re getting every third day for rest. Oftentimes, your best workouts come after a full day’s rest, so including more of them in your training can help you push harder.
Set your goal and follow a specific plan.
There’s a great divide between saying you want to get bigger and just showing up at the gym without a plan, and actually defining your goal and following a detailed workout that helps you achieve it. Greatness never happens by accident.
A great place to start is Bodybuilding.com’s Find a Plan page, or Pintrest . Regardless of which one you choose, you should understand how and why it works, believe in it, and commit to it. By following a specific plan, you’ll be miles ahead of others who wander through their workouts blindly.
“Setting goals for yourself is the first step to being successful, it’s something we all must do with our lives at some point. It’s not just making a choice; it’s finally taking the critical next step and investing in yourself physically and mentally. Remember, no goal is too lofty as long as you have a plan of action.”
Let me know if this was helpful to you or not. leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Running on the treadmill, doing round after round on the stationary bicycle… cardio can be quite mind numbing.
At the same time these boring, prolonged methods of cardio aren’t even particularly efficient assuming burning calories, shredding fat and getting stronger are your goals.
That’s where car pushes enter the equation…
Car pushes are an unconventional gruelling form of high intensity interval cardio that’ll require every ounce of exertion you have. And I must warn you. This is NOT for the faint of heart!!
2 Big Benefits Of Car Pushes Over Conventional Cardio Methods
Car pushes are easy on the joints
Unlike sprinting up and down stairs, jump rope or box jumps the car push is easy on the joints, while still providing the same or higher level of intensity from other intense, high impact exercises.
Multiple intense sessions of jump rope or stair sprints per week always leave me with sore knee and ankle joints, car pushes leaving me feeling fine.
Car pushes build immense leg strength and drive
Car pushes are harder than you think, they’ll test the power and drive you can muscle through your legs instantly.
If you perform these workouts regularly you’ll find you build power and strength in your legs too! This power can translate over to the weight you’re lifting on your squat and leg press.
Sprints, cycling or jump rope for example are a non-resistance aerobic based cardio exercise, there’s no tension on the muscles like there is when you’re driving through your legs to get the car to budge.
Car Pushing Workout Form
There’s no fancy tips or tricks here, here’s the basics of car pushing…
Ensure car is in neutral with your training partner ready to steer/brake as necessary
Lower your head, extend your arms and place your dominant foot forward
Push while driving through your legs
Attempt to build up speed as the car begins to move forward
Push car for prescribed time or distance (see workout structure ideas below)
The Vehicle
The vehicle you use plays a huge role in how effective or ineffective you find your car pushing workout.
If you’re a strong oriented athlete and you’re pushing a Mazda Miata you’re not going to be challenging yourself in the slightest.
At the same time, if you’re a beginner or don’t train for strength then you’ll find it discouraging (and may even risk injury) trying to haul a Hummer from one side of the parking lot to the other.
I’ve personally found the Nissan Pathfinder to be solid challenge.
If you’re limited to a small/light vehicle your training partner can utilize the brakes to increase the resistance to get and maintain the movement of the car.
Workout Structure
There’s no right or wrong way to structure your car pushing workout, however here are a few structures and ideas I’ve tried that work well…
For time
Use a timer, push and rest for predetermined intervals.
20 seconds on/20 seconds off for 10 rounds
10 seconds on/10 seconds off for 10 rounds
30 seconds on/30 seconds off for 10 rounds
Tabata (8 rounds of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off)
For distance
Set yourself a goal distance and push for that distance for a pre-determined number of rounds (exact measurements are necessary, I generally just specify one length of the car park I use).
If you are not afraid to try something different that will improve your conditioning, build your leg drive, and burn a ton of calories, try this and let me know how you feel afterwards.. leave me a comment. Train Hard!!!
