Entries from September 2007 ↓

Your back is firmly planted on the bench as you wrap your chalked hands around the cold, steel bar. Your training partner helps you un-rack the weight as you power the bar up and down, squeezing your chest and triceps on each grueling rep. You complete your 6 repetitions, re-rack the bar and stand up.

Your chest feels tight and engorged with blood. You take a look in the mirror, thrilled with how full and vascular your pecs appear. You feel strong, powerful, healthy and motivated to blast through the rest of your workout with your newly achieved “pump”.

Let’s face it, a pump feels incredible. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, a pump is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle tissue as a result of resistance training. The muscles will swell up and increase in size, vascularity and tightness.

There is certainly nothing wrong with achieving a pump in the gym, and it is simply a natural result of intense weight training. However, contrary to what the majority of weightlifters may think, a pump is in no way indicative of a successful workout. Anyone who uses the intensity of their pump as a gauge for the effectiveness of their workout is making a costly error.

On countless occasions I’ve heard lifters raving about the massive pumps they get in the gym as they share methods for achieving the best pump possible. “Dude, this will give you a crazy pump!” If you have already been working out for a decent amount of time then you know exactly what I’m talking about. While a pump does feel extremely satisfying, just remember that it means very little in terms of muscle stimulation and growth.

A pump is simply the result of extra blood within the muscle tissue. Think of it this way: if I took a pair of 10 pound dumbbells and performed 300 reps of a bench press movement, I would achieve an incredible pump. If muscle pumps meant muscle growth, then super light weight, ultra high rep programs would be the most effective way to grow. Any serious lifter with half a brain knows that this simply is not the case.

Do you want to know how to truly gauge the success of a workout? Here it is…

Take your workout records (in terms of weight and reps) from the previous week and compare it to the current week. Did you improve? Were you able to either increase the resistance slightly on each exercise, or perform an extra rep or two?

If so, you had a successful workout, regardless of how much blood you were able to pump into your muscle tissue.

Building muscle mass and strength is all about training with 100% intensity on every given set and then striving to improve from week to week. If you are able to consistently achieve this, your muscle size and strength will increase faster than you ever thought possible, with or without a pump.

I hope this article cleared up your confusion on the issue of “muscle pumps”. There’s so much misleading muscle-building information circling around on the Internet these days that it can sometimes be impossible to know who to listen to. If you want to learn the truth about 14 other common, counterproductive “myths”, visit my website below for details…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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One of the most costly mistakes that I see in the gym week in and week out is that the majority of lifters fail to recognize the importance of a proper warmup. Some lifters perform a wimpy, worthless warmup that consists of 1 set of 20 reps using the weight of the bar, and others neglect the warmup process altogether.

There are two main reasons why a proper warmup will serve you well both in the short and long term…

1) A proper warmup will increase the amount of weight that you are able to lift during your actual workout, thereby maximizing muscle stimulation and growth.

2) A proper warmup will greatly decrease your chances of injury.

Now I don’t know about you, but to me that looks like two perfectly good reasons to spend a simple 15-20 minutes before each workout properly warming up.

Don’t you agree?

Good, now let me explain what a proper warm-up should consist of…

The first component of a proper warmup consists of 5 minutes of light cardiovascular activity. You can choose any basic piece of cardio equipment to perform this such as a recumbent bike, rowing machine or treadmill.

This basic cardio warmup will increase your body’s core temperature, stimulate your heart and lungs and will also lubricate your joints by increasing the secretion of synovial fluid.

As you perform this 5 minute cardio warmup, envision the workout that you will soon be performing. Focus on mentally preparing yourself for the battle that lies ahead and accept that you will soon be putting forth a maximal effort. It’s crucial that you prepare both your mind and body for your workouts, since your mental attitude plays such a vital role in your success.

Once your 5 minutes is up, you can move into the next and final component of the warmup process. In this section you will be performing 5 warmup sets using the first major compound exercise of your workout.

For example, if you were training legs and squats were your main exercise, then you would perform 5 warmup sets for squats. The goal here is to start by using a very light weight with high repetitions and gradually increase the resistance while lowering the repetitions.

However, the most crucial aspect of these 5 warmup sets is this:

YOU MUST NOT FATIGUE YOUR MUSCLES WHATSOEVER DURING THESE 5 SETS!

Remember, this is merely a warmup that is designed to increase blood flow to the muscles and surrounding connective tissue. Its purpose is also to increase the amount of weight you will be able to lift on your muscle-building sets by preparing your mind and body for the heavy weights to come.

If you fatigue your muscles during these sets then you are completely destroying their entire purpose. Here is a basic formula you can follow when calculating how much weight to use and how many reps to perform on your warmups.

The percentage given is in relation to the weight that you will use for your muscle-building set. If you were planning on squatting 200 pounds, then the first set should be performed with 100 pounds for 10 reps as you can see below.

Set 1: 50% x 10 reps
Set 2: 60% x 6 reps
Set 3: 70% x 4 reps
Set 4: 80% x 3 reps
Set 5: 90% x 1 rep

Once you’ve completed these 5 basic sets you can move right into your actual workout.

Do not underestimate the importance of this warmup process! It will go a long way in keeping you injury free and in preparing your body for those grueling workouts. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to perform and the benefits will far outweigh the costs.

If you’re looking for more insight into the proper methods for structuring an effective muscle-building workout, visit my website by clicking the link below. You can gain instant access to a full step-by-step 26-week workout plan that has been used successfully by thousands of people from all over the world…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly misguided the vast majority of the population is in the gym. Everyone is desperate for that wide, powerful and muscular physique, yet very few understand how to properly channel their efforts to get there.

For most aspiring lifters, it’s all about building a huge chest and arms. Week after week they slave away on endless sets of bench presses and barbell curls in search of the rippling muscle gains they want so badly.

Not surprisingly, those gains never appear in any significant form.

While a well developed chest and arms is clearly an important part of any complete physique, the truth is that these muscles only play a small role when compared to a much larger, much more intricate muscle group that most people severely neglect in their training programs.

I am, of course, talking about the major muscles of the back: the lats, traps, spinal erectors, rhomboids and lower back.

It’s obvious why most lifters neglect these all-too-important muscles…

1) The back is not a “showy” muscle and you can’t see it in the mirror.
2) Back training is far more stressful and taxing to the body than chest or arm training.
3) Most lifters are simply unaware of how important the development of these muscles really is.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret…

If you want to appear as wide, thick and powerful as you possibly can, nothing will allow you to achieve this goal faster than a well developed back.

In fact, 70% of your upper body muscle mass resides in this area!

Nothing can replace the upper body thickening effect of big, bulging lats and a set of wide, tall trapezius muscles.

Please, get up off that bench press and put down that EZ-curl bar for just a moment and let me share a simple, step-by-step workout that you can use to build the muscular back you so desperately need.

There are 4 major movements that you must perform to properly develop your back…

1) Deadlifts – I cannot possibly stress the importance of this lift enough. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift.

The deadlift will work you from finger to neck to toe and is irreplaceable in developing strong, thick back muscles. The deadlift will stimulate growth throughout the entire back complex and should be the cornerstone of your routine.

2) A vertical pulling movement – These exercises mainly target the lat muscles and will help you to attain that wide, v-tapered look from behind. Examples of vertical pulling movements are chin-ups (overhand or underhand), lat pulldowns and v-bar pulldowns.

To get the most bang for your buck I recommend a basic overhand chin-up. This is the bread and butter of vertical pulling movements and will stimulate growth in the lats like no other exercise.

3) A horizontal pulling movement – Otherwise referred to as “rows”, horizontal pulling movements place their emphasis on the upper/middle portion of the back and also stimulate the lats. There are a ton of different rowing movements to choose from: bent over barbell rows, dumbbell rows, seated machine rows and cable rows just to name a few.

For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.

4) A shrugging movement – While not quite as important as the above mentioned lifts, a shrugging movement should still be performed at the end of the workout to target the upper traps and develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will do the trick.

Okay, let’s put it all together…

Deadlifts – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Overhand Chin-Ups – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Bent Over Barbell Rows – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Barbell Shrugs – 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps

For optimal gains in back size and strength, the above routine is ideal.

It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth. I’ve used this same routine for many years and continue to see steady progress in both back size and strength.

Make sure to keep a written record of every workout that you perform, and focus each week on increasing either the weight that you lift or the number of reps that you perform within the given rep range.

Perform this workout once per week with full effort and I guarantee that your upper body will appear thicker, wider and more muscular than ever before.

What about specific routines for the chest? What about the biceps, triceps and shoulders? How about the thighs, calves and abs?

For specific training information on each of these body parts make sure to visit my webpage below and find out how you can finally get the rock-solid muscle gains you deserve without spending endless hours in the gym…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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I receive emails everyday from aspiring lifters all over the world, and one of the most common questions I’m asked is…

“Do I have to join a gym in order to build a strong, muscular body?”

The answer, my friend, is no. With the right equipment and planning you can follow an equally effective bodybuilding program from the comfort of your home without ever having to set foot in a gym.

In fact, my first 2 years of bodybuilding were spent working out with basic equipment in my basement, and I saw incredible results doing this.

Maybe you can’t afford a gym membership due to your financial situation.

Maybe you lead a busy lifestyle and would prefer to save time by training at home.

Maybe you’re simply too embarrassed or uncomfortable to train in a regular gym setting at the moment.

Whatever your reason, don’t worry!

I currently workout at a gym with my training partner but have to say that my years spent lifting at home were fantastic.

I didn’t have to worry about the travel time to and from the gym. I could simply slip downstairs whenever I felt like it and all of my equipment was there waiting for me.

I could listen to whatever music I wanted to, as loud as I wanted to without having to worry about those around me.

I could grunt, yelp and scream through my sets if I was in the mood without disturbing anyone (hey, squatting to failure isn’t easy okay?) or train shirtless if I felt like it.

When the workout was over, I could sprawl out on the floor in exhaustion and know that my post workout shakes were just a few steps away, and that I wouldn’t have to hobble to my car and spend anymore time driving home.

It was great.

The only real disadvantage is that your exercise selection will decrease because you won’t have access to certain pieces of machinery such as a leg press or calf machine. You can purchase certain machines if you have the money to spend and plan on training at home over the long term, but for the majority of people this simply won’t be possible.

The good news is that planning out a proper bodybuilding routine does not require the use of any fancy equipment, and all of the machine exercises that you would regularly perform can be swapped for freeweight substitutions.

Here is the basic equipment that your home gym should contain:

1) An adjustable barbell with freeweight plates – A cast iron set is probably a good idea, and you must also make sure that you purchase enough weight so that you can continually progress from week to week.

2) Adjustable dumbbells – This is much more efficient and cost-effective than purchasing an entire set of dumbbells. You should be able to buy the barbell and dumbbells together in a single set.

3) A bench with incline adjustments – A good sturdy bench is a must-have for performing bench presses and other seated movements. If possible you should purchase a bench that can be set on an incline and that also contains safety catches if you plan on training alone.

4) A chin-up bar – These can usually be purchased for 15-20 dollars and can be placed inside of a door frame.

5) A squat rack – This is usually the trickiest piece of equipment to purchase, as a full squat rack can be pricey. Squats are an irreplaceable movement and should always be a part of your workout routine, especially if you don’t have a leg press machine handy.

If you can’t afford a squat rack then you’ll have to be creative. The bottom line is that you must have some sort of apparatus that will allow you to safely unrack a loaded bar and drop the bar onto a safety catch (or the floor) if your strength gives out during the lift.

Don’t ever squat without a safe place to drop the bar! Most full squat racks will also provide a chin-up bar on top, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone if you decide to purchase one.

So there you have it; the 5 pieces of basic equipment that are needed to set up a home gym. As long as you have these basic tools in your arsenal you can perform an equally effective workout without ever having to join a traditional gym.

If you’re all set to go and need a highly effective, step-by-step workout routine to follow, visit my webpage below. I can teach you exactly which exercises to perform and the ideal number of workout days, sets and reps you should use to get maximum results from your efforts. I can even customize a specific workout plan for you based on the equipment that is available in your home gym…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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Bobby finishes a hard, focused set of barbell squats and re-racks the weight. His legs are wobbly, his heart is racing and he feels light headed as he takes a big swig from his water bottle. He looks down at his watch and presses the “start” button to begin counting down backwards from 2 minutes.

Bobby read that 2 minutes is the ideal rest time between sets in the gym, and he wants to get it exact. Once that watch beeps at the 2 minute mark, he’ll be back in the squat rack to perform another set.

He stands up tall and paces around trying to catch his breath in preparation for his next battle with the weights.

*Beep*

2 minutes is up. His legs still feel weak, his heart still beats frantically and he doesn’t quite feel 100%, but that watch beeped and that means his time is up. He must perform his next set regardless of how he feels.

He unracks the weight and squats down. His legs still burn and he wishes that he could have had more time to prepare for this set. He puts forth a mediocre effort, re-racks the bar, and sets his watch for another 2 minutes.

Bobby, just like a ton of other aspiring lifters in the gym, is making a deadly, critical mistake.

By having a set rest interval between sets, he is forcing his body to train at an effort level that is far less than his maximum potential and is severely sacrificing the amount of muscle growth he can ultimately stimulate because of this.

Muscles grow because of an adaptive response to stress. You lift X amount of weight for Y number of reps, and your body adapts to this level of stress. In order to see continual gains in muscle size, you must continually force X and Y to higher and higher levels.

In other words, building muscle is all about progression in both weight and reps. It is about lifting as much weight as you possibly can for the greatest number of reps that you possibly can (within a given rep range of course) and then continually striving to improve.

Because of this, you must always go into every single set of every single workout at your maximum strength potential. By sacrificing the amount of weight you can lift, you sacrifice the amount of muscle you can build. And there is no worse way to make this sacrifice than by not providing your body with enough rest between sets.

Throw out your stopwatch and forget about looking at the clock.

You should only begin your next set when you feel that you can perform it with 100% of your strength potential. A stopwatch cannot tell you when that time has arrived; only you can by listening to your body and relying on your own instincts.

The set rest period theory is also highly flawed because it does not take into account the fact that certain exercises tax the body much more heavily than others and therefore require more rest between them.

A deadlift and a tricep pressdown aren’t exactly in the same boat here. After a heavy set of deadlifts to failure I’ll usually be resting for at least 5 minutes, often even more. A set of tricep pressdowns is obviously not as taxing and may only require a rest period of 2.5 minutes for me to feel fully recovered.

Go on your instincts and only perform your next set when you feel that you can do so with 100% of your strength. Implementing just this one training technique can have a drastic effect on your muscle size and strength gains.

What about proper rep ranges? Workout length? Exercise selection and layout? For more details on proper workout structure make sure to visit my website below for exclusive details. Most people are dead-wrong in the way that they perform their workouts, and I can help you to clear up the confusion once and for all…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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The margin of time that determines muscle building success or failure in the gym is a heck of a lot shorter than you might think. Just as fraction-of-a-second moments during a 100 metre dash will make or break a sprinter’s race, fraction-of-a-second moments will also make or break your body’s muscle growth response in the gym.

In fact, your entire margin of success in the gym can ultimately be reduced to just a short time span of 60 seconds. That’s correct, how you choose to handle a short 60 second time period during your workouts will translate to either poor, mediocre or significant muscle building results.

Although each entire workout will last for about an hour, only 60 seconds of that actual time will determine what kind of gains you achieve.

You may be scratching your head right now and wondering what the heck I’m talking about, but allow me to explain…

You see, every individual set that you perform in the gym is ultimately being performed for the benefits that will be achieved on the last 1-2 reps. Muscles respond to stress, and the only truly stressful reps that actually trigger your body’s muscle building mechanisms are those at the end of each set when the body is on the brink of muscular failure.

If a given set consists of 6 reps, then reps 1-4 are only performed in order to get to reps 5 and 6. Reps 1-4 will do very little in terms of stimulating muscular growth, but are necessary to perform in order to overload the muscles on reps 5 and 6.

In other words, it is only the very last 1-2 reps that will ultimately yield a muscle building response from the body. The longer you can push yourself to battle the weights during this small time frame at the end of each set, the greater results you will achieve.

Any of you who have read my articles know that I’m a big advocate of training to muscular failure. There is simply no better way to trigger your body’s adaptive responses than to train until your muscles cannot move the weight another inch.

The closer and closer that you can come to muscular failure, the more dramatically your body will respond. This time frame is literally measured in single seconds. If you drop the weights 5-6 seconds earlier than the next guy (the margin is probably even smaller than this), you’ll be significantly sacrificing your muscle growth.

So, where did the 60-second time frame come from?

Well, if we assume that you perform 10 total all out sets per workout and have a margin of 6 seconds between success/failure per set, this gives you 60 seconds of total time per workout to either battle through with full effort or to surrender and settle for mediocre results.

It really is true; your bodybuilding success is literally measured by the short, precise moments at the very end of each set and the amount of effort you are willing to exert during this time.

If you can force yourself to train to all out muscular failure, you’ll achieve the best results possible. If you drop the weight 3 seconds before muscular failure, your growth will be compromised. If you drop the weight 8 seconds before muscular failure, your growth will be compromised even further.

If we multiply our 60-second figure by my recommended number of 3 workouts per week, this means that your bodybuilding success in the gym will literally be measured by how you choose to handle one short 3 minute long period per week.

I bet you never thought of it this way before!

You must train hard and with full effort at all times. When the weight feels heavy and your muscles ache and burn with discomfort, you must push through and continue until true muscular failure is reached.

If you stop short, even a second short, your gains will be compromised.

Keep this in mind at all times in the gym and you’ll experience better results than ever before.

If you want to learn some awesome psychological techniques for breaking through the pain barrier and “mentally numbing” the discomfort associated with hard training, make sure to visit my website using the link below for details…

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“.

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief… ALL in just a matter of months: Muscle Gain Truth

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Should you be doing press or flye movements when training your chest? Do you know that one of these movements does not stimulate chest muscle growth and you can be wasting time doing it? What are the common mistakes made by most people when training their chest muscle? What are the frequency, sets, reps and exercise selection for maximum chest muscle growth?

Sean Nalewanyj addresses these questions and shares his 7 “approved” chest exercises in an online video lesson. With his consent, I’m able to share this video with you here. Click on the link below to watch it now:

www.musclegaintruth.com/videolessons/renaw/PowerfulPecs.html

This video is taken from the 6-part online video lesson series that come with Sean Nalewanyj’s Muscle Gain Truth program. Each video lesson is dedicated to working each specific muscle group (chest, back, arms, shoulders, legs and abs).

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By David Grisaffi,
Author, Firm And Flatten Your Abs

Smart trainees know that progression is the name of the game in fitness and strength training. However, as you continually test your limits of accomplishment, whether that’s reaching a new level of leanness, increasing your muscle mass or obtaining a new strength maximum, you often fall prey to the belief that you must push yourself to the point of complete “failure.” This is the point where you reach a level of fatigue and exhaustion that causes your muscles to literally give out (“fail”) and you can’t complete another rep.

Training with progression and intensity is important, but unless you’d like to trade a nice set of abs for a bad lower back, I’d strongly urge you to re-evaluate the concept of training to failure, especially when it comes to core and abdominal workouts and especially if you’re not a bodybuilder.

Why do so many people believe in failure training?

Training to “failure” became popular in part, because of bodybuilding culture and bodybuilding gurus such as Mike Mentzer and Arthur Jones, and then the information filtered into the mainstream fitness world. Athletes, who tend to be as competitive with themselves as they are with their opponents, also sometimes push themselves as far as they possibly can in their quest for sporting excellence.

This approach may be misguided and possibly even dangerous.

There may be a small place for taking some sets to the point of failure in low volume bodybuilding programs. But even bodybuilders who train to failure too often may be gaining less benefit than they think, while increasing their chances of overtraining or even injury.

I believe strongly that the added stress of training to failure or total fatigue can cause more problems than it’s worth and the potential benefit is not worth the risk. I have rehabilitated many back pain patients because of their stubborn beliefs in “pushing it to the limit.”

Stimulate, Don’t Annihilate

Exercise places a stress on muscles, joint structures and the entire body. Exercising to failure places extreme stress on the muscles, body and the nervous system. There is positive training stress and negative training stress. Properly applied, training stress is “stimulation” which prompts an adaptation in the muscle – strength, stamina, size, or power. Improperly applied, training stress is damage beyond the point of necessarily stimulation. Even some of the top bodybuilders understood this, as former Mr. Olympia Lee Haney used to say, “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Out of all the muscles and movements in particular, it is very important to stimulate your core and abdominals and not “annihilate” them. Be very careful not to over-train or over-stress your abs and core and this means, do not train your abs to failure.

One of the biggest problems with training the core and abs to failure is that the more fatigued you become, the more your form begins to break down. When your form breaks down, that is when injuries are most likely to occur. This is true for any exercise, but it may be truer for abs and core than any other type of exercise due to the susceptibility of the lower back.

Research by Dr. Laurence Morehouse of University of California at Los Angles found that when doing abdominal exercises, especially sit-ups, you over-work your hip flexor muscles - the psoas and the iliacus. When the exercises are performed quickly (form breaks) or all the way to failure (form breaks), the hip flexor’s pull on the lower back is increased.

When performing your core exercises, always be conscious about form, especially as you begin to get tired toward the end of a set. You should terminate your set at or before the point where you notice that your form breaks in the slightest, and that is usually a couple of repetitions before reaching muscular failure.

Progression Can Occur Without Failure

If you believe that stopping short of failure will hold back your progress, think again. Progress is a function of progression and progression can take place without failure. You can continue to improve your workouts and thereby your physique and performance by increasing repetitions and or resistance or even density… without ever training to failure.

Don’t Teach Your Nervous System “Bad Habits”

One point about proper form that few people realize is that if you train to the point of failure, which leads to a breakdown in form, this can lead to the development of poor motor engrams. Your nervous system can develop “bad habits” so to speak, as your body tends to automatically revert to what you practice the most. If the last repetitions of every set are usually done with poor form, then repeating that motor pattern is much more likely to occur in the future, leading to additional muscle and joint damage.

I design core conditioning programs in a specific way so you train smarter and avoid temptations that lead to poor form and potential injury. And that leads us to…

The 3 Keys To Smarter Ab Training

First, I recommend that exercises are performed in a certain order

By placing the more neurologically demanding and form intensive exercises first in a carefully planned sequence, I help my clients avoid a situation where fatigue and form breakdown would be as damaging. If you attempt the opposite, you increase the chance of over fatiguing the segmental stabilizers of the spine and you produce poor motor engrams.

More details on exercise sequencing are beyond the scope of this article, but you can learn more in my Firm and Flatten Your Abs program and in my Six Weeks to Six Pack abs report (visit www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html for more information).

Second, I constantly emphasize form and control

Nowhere is strict form more important for your safety and results than in core and abdominal training. The simple advice of slowing down the tempo and focusing on form will increase results and help keep you out of the doctor’s office.

There are times when you may want to perform core exercises at a higher rate of speed with more velocity or explosiveness. This is often the case with athletic, sports-specific training. But speed and form are not mutually exclusive and the same rules about fatigue and failure still apply to explosive training.

I train elite boxers and when they first show up at my studio, they are often set in their old ways of failure, fatigue and overtraining. I’ve seen it over and over again: A new client’s routine consists of “workout till you drop” and then 1000 flat board sit-ups. I simply ask: “How is your lower back”? The answer usually is, “It’s sore” at best, or “It’s injured” at worst. Even if they’re simply experiencing unnecessary soreness, that gets in the way of sport-specific training and their progress is slowed all around or grinds to a halt.

Third, you must get clear about the desired outcome of your training

Many strength trainers and bodybuilders are convinced that the outcome of a workout should be “burn,” fatigue and failure. If you think that aching muscles is the desired outcome, then why even go to the gym? Come over to my garage and I’ll whack you a few times with my sledgehammer then sit you up on my barbecue grill. You’ll “ache” and “burn” alright!

Joking aside, you must get clarity about your real training objectives – they’re NOT pain, fatigue and failure. If you begin with the right end in mind, you’ll set about reaching that end more intelligently.

Your training objective is to strengthen your core region for support, stabilization and protection of your spine and body organs, and your ultimate outcomes are to be healthier, perform better and look better (perhaps in that order of priority!)

These objectives are best accomplished by performing your exercises with strict, controlled form, and by using movement patterns such as flexion, extension and rotation. However, any one of those movement patterns taken to extremes can eventually cause damage to joint structures, which can put you on the sidelines and only take you further away from your true objectives.

Train hard, but also train smart

Progression and intensity are often confused with the need to train to failure. From this day forward, I suggest you re-evaluate the scientific facts as well as your mindset towards your training. Get clear about your true objective and train to succeed, not to “fail.”

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington
www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html

About the Author:

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and holds multiple certifications including 3 from the prestigious CHEK Institute: Level II high Performance Exercise Kinesiologist, Golf Biomechanic, and health and lifestyle counselor. He’s also certified by the ISSA as a personal trainer and specialist in performance nutrition. David has been a high school wrestling and baseball coach and is currently an independent trainer and strength coach. He has been sought after by some of the top athletes in professional sports including world champion boxer Greg Haugen and professional golfer Michael Putnam. David’s ebook, Firm And Flatten Your Abs is an online best seller which teaches you how develop “six pack abs” while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. Find out more on the home page at: www.FlattenYourAbs.net

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By David Grisaffi
www.FlattenYourAbs.net

What’s hot in the world of abdominal and core training today seems to change as fast as the latest clothing styles. New gurus, new infomercials, new machines – today’s fitness marketplace is all about “what’s new.” I often write reviews about the latest, greatest ab and core training gadgets, usually debunking most of them, but this time I’m actually going to do the opposite.

As new products push their way into the fitness scene, some truly legitimate, cost effective devices get pushed out, forgotten, or even worse – dismissed as “fitness fads.” Such is the case with the swiss ball (also known as a “exercise ball”, “gym ball” or “stability ball”)

Why Some Fitness Experts Condemn The Swiss Ball

Swiss balls have been around a long time in physical therapy and rehab settings and when they crossed over into the mainstream fitness world, they were probably hyped a bit too much. It’s not that they didn’t deserve the attention, its that many fitness “experts” placed the swiss ball up on a pedestal as the end-all be-all of abdominal, core and fitness training, rather than representing the ball for what it really is - a single training tool among many– just like barbells, dumbbells, cables or any other fitness equipment.

As a result, entire training systems were built around the swiss ball (neglecting other forms of training), and people misused and overused the ball. Some trainers used the ball for “exercises” that were nothing more than circus acts. I’ve seen it all – everything from standing on top of the ball and squatting to bench pressing on the ball with 400 pounds..

As a result of the over-hyping and misuse of the swiss ball, some coaches and trainers have recently spoken up and publicly renounced the ball as a ” gimmick.” This has caused a flood of emails to pour into my office as consumers and fitness enthusiasts have become more confused than ever.

It’s no wonder: Trainer A says, “The ball is the best thing since sliced bread” and trainer B says “the ball is and always was a gimmick.” I believe the ball is a very valuable training tool and that the truth is somewhere in the middle, so I’d like to help put things back into proper perspective.

Swiss balls are powerful, portable, inexpensive and versatile training tools

I use swiss balls nearly every day in my own workouts and in workouts for my clients. The versatility of the swiss ball is simply unmatched as proven by the fact that I can use a swiss ball to help a 65 year old sedentary woman overcome muscle weakness and improve balance or use the same ball to help a professional boxer build stamina and add power to his punches. I can also show you how to use the swiss ball to develop “six pack abs” as well as train literally every muscle in your entire body.

New Research Reveals That The Swiss Ball Can Make
Abdominal Exercise Up To 104% More Effective

To give you a research-proven example of just how effective a swiss ball can be, let’s focus on one of the most basic and well-known of all abdominal exercises: The Crunch

As most people know, the crunch is a modified (partial) sit up that involves raising the head, neck and shoulder blades up off the floor. Many personal trainers believe that the crunch is highly overrated and overused. I won’t argue, as I agree there’s a lot of truth to that. However, the crunch can be greatly improved with one simple change: Do your crunches on a swiss ball.

Electromyography (EMG) studies have demonstrated that the swiss ball crunch (unstable surface) effectively recruits more muscle fibers than the floor crunch (stable surface). This leads to greater strength, stability and muscle development in your core region.

In 2000, a study by Vera-Garcia and colleagues showed a significant increase in muscle activity in the core area while performing a crunch on the swiss ball, as compared to a floor crunch. The swiss ball improved the level of muscular activity as well as the co-recruitment of spinal stabilizers. The researchers said:

“Performing the curl over the gym ball with the feet on the floor doubled activity in the rectus abdominis muscle, and activity in the external oblique muscle increased approximately fourfold.”

Although research results have been mixed in the past, the studies showing no increase in abdominal muscle activity using a swiss ball may have been due to the exercise technique used on the ball, including velocity and body placement on the ball. Earlier this year, Dr. Eric Sternlicht and colleagues at UCLA designed a study to test this hypothesis and they measured for differences in muscle activity while using different positions on the ball.

The EMG analysis confirmed their hypothesis and demonstrated that body position on the swiss ball could decrease or increase the amount of muscular activation. When the ball was positioned with the upper back high on the ball (just below scapulae), the muscular activity was less than a floor crunch. But by strategically positioning the ball so it was firmly placed at the lower lumbar region, there was a 66%, 93% and 104% increase in upper abdominal, lower abdominal and external oblique activity, respectively.

More Proof That Form Is Everything And Little Things Make A Big Difference

For years I have preached about proper form on all abdominal and core exercises and I have taught my clients “little tweaks” and “tricks” in technique that look minor, but which can lead to huge improvements in results. This new research is proof. It also reveals how the ball is a versatile tool for exercise progression: The high on back position is easier, while the ball lower on the back is more difficult, accommodating for different strength and fitness levels. Further progression can be added by using resistance (dumbbell or weight plate held on chest or at arms length from chest).

Swiss balls are only one of many training tools, but in my opinion, when used properly, they are one of the best of the bunch. I created an entire core training system that uses the ball for many of the exercises, I put all my clients on swiss balls and I highly recommend that you use the ball as well. Just remember, the swiss ball is only a tool – it’s not the “end all be all” of core training and it can’t work miracles. It will also not burn fat off your stomach – you need a caloric deficit to achieve body fat reduction.

Use the ball as one part of a balanced training program that includes other tools such as free weights, cables and your own body weight. Forget the potentially dangerous ”circus act” swiss ball stunts, use good exercise form, purchase only quality, high-strength exercise balls, use them in a clear area, clean them often, check them for leaks and I promise you will have a fantastic versatile training aid that will last you for years and never go out of style. Fitness fads will always come and go, but the swiss ball is still a winner.

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington
www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html

References:
1. Vera-Garcia F, Grenier S, McGill S., Abdominal Muscle Response During Curl-Ups On Both Stable and Labile Surfaces, Physical Therapy, 80:6, 2000
2. Sternlicht E. Et al, Electromyograhpic comparison of a stability ball crunch with a traditional crunch, Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, 21(2), 506-509, 2007

The crunch can be an effective exercise, especially when performed on the Swiss Ball. However, it’s extremely important to incorporate variety into your abs and core routines and not to depend on any one exercise alone. Your body adapts to every exercise in time, so you must put constant variety into your programs. To learn how to perform dozens of other unique core and abdominal exercises using a swiss ball (some of which I guarantee you have probably never even seen before), then visit my website home page to learn more about the Flatten Your Abs training course: www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html

About the Author:

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and is a certified high performance exercise kinesiologist with the CHEK institute. David holds a total of 6 certifications, he is a high school wrestling and baseball coach as well as an independent trainer and strength coach, known especially for his work with professional boxers and golfers. David is the author of Firm And Flatten Your Abs, an online best seller which teaches you how to lose body fat and develop “six pack abs’ while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. You can contact David or learn more about his programs at www.FlattenYourAbs.net

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By David Grisaffi,
Author, Firm And Flatten Your Abs

The lower abdominals may be the single most popular subject among fitness enthusiasts today. This is due to the fact that having flat, tight, lower abdominals is a highly desired look, but a very difficult look for most people to achieve. Many fitness professionals insist that there is no such thing as “lower abdominals”, While others propose that exercises like crunches work the upper abs more and exercises such as leg raises or reverse crunches work the lower abs more.

Before continuing, first keep in mind that no abdominal exercise can “spot reduce” lower abdominal fat. Many people feel a need to perform special “lower ab” exercises, not realizing that the real reason they can’t see their lower abs has nothing to do with their choice of abdominal exercise, and everything to do with an excess of fat and possibly digestive problems

Because of genetics and hormones like estrogen - the lower abdominal region is simply one of the first places most people store body fat. Therefore the same is true in reverse - lower ab fat is the last place to come off. Removal of lower abdominal body fat is a separate issue than lower versus upper abdominal muscle recruitment and body fat problems can only be addressed by creating a caloric deficit and addressing lifestyle factors. This requires proper nutrition, not special “lower ab” exercises.

Second, it’s true that you cannot isolate the upper and lower abdominals from one another. Both upper and lower abdominals are activated during the performance of any abdominal exercise. The rectus abdominis is one long muscle, not two separate muscles. However, the nerve innervation of the upper and lower portions is different.

Although you cannot completely isolate upper and lower abs, research has used electromyography (EMG) testing to try and determine whether certain exercises can emphasize one section of the abs more than another. Results have shown very clearly that the obliques can be recruited more with specific exercises. However, data on lower versus upper abs is mixed.

For example, a 2001 study by Lehman and McGill published in the journal Physical Therapy said, “Differences between the portions of the rectus abdominis muscle are small and may lack clinical or therapeutic relevance.” On the other hand, a study by Willett and colleagues at the University of Nebraska said, “our findings support the concept that abdominal strengthening exercises can differentially activate various abdominal muscle groups.” A 2007 study by Eric Sternlicht found major increases in EMG activity (93%) of the lower abdominals simply by changing body placement on a swiss ball during the crunch exercise.

I believe it is very possible that the upper and lower abdominal areas can be emphasized to a greater degree by the choice of exercise. The abdominal region is somewhat unique because unlike muscles such as the bicep, the abdominals are divided by tendinous intersections which correlate to various segments of the spinal column. It has been proposed that these segments may be under separate neurological control.

As I learned in my internship from the Paul Chek Institute, as early as 1934, Joel E. Goldthwaite in his book “Body Mechanics in Health and Disease,” determined that there was a difference between the control mechanisms of the upper abs versus the lower abs. In other words the “electrical system” that controls each section is innervated by different wiring.

Some years ago a TV special filmed a belly dancer rolling a few quarters up, down, sideways and diagonally across her belly. I have seen a similar feat with my own eyes as my brother can do a “belly roll” - an impressive feat of abdominal muscle control somewhat akin to a caterpillar inching its way across the floor, by rolling one segment of its body a time. Although this may simply be an individual trait and or a well-practiced skill, it’s suggestive that different segments of the abdominals can function independent of each other, indicating that they may be on different neurological circuits.

Evidence of separate innervation may also be seen when a person with great upper abdominals experiences distention in the lower abdominal region, commonly known as a “pooch belly,” despite low body fat. Explanations include gastrointestinal issues, bloating or food intolerances that allow the lower abdominal wall to protrude as a result of inflammation inside the gut. However, there may be a neuromuscular explanation as well. If the muscles that hold in the gut contents are weak or suffer from poor neural connections, the lower abdominal wall may bulge outward, independent of body fat levels.

There are many opinions on this controversy, as well as conflicting research data. Some experts believe strongly that “lower ab exercises” are just another fitness myth and that the case is simply closed. However, the abdominal and core region may be much more complex than just one long sheet of muscle running from the sternum to the pubic bone that contracts completely along its length or not at all. I believe we should keep an open mind to the possibility of being able to emphasize the upper or lower area to a greater degree, as some of the EMG studies suggest.

Assuming that the lower abdominals can be stressed to a greater degree with choice of exercise, this has significant implications for creating highly effective and individualized training programs. Lower abdominals should be trained with (1) proper exercise sequence (lower abs first), (2) proper selection and (3) proper progression. A common mistake is when a beginner with weak lower abs attempts to do advanced exercises such as hanging leg raises. This demonstrates improper exercise selection and progression and will do nothing but build muscle imbalances. These imbalances will manifest in poor posture and lead to injury and low back pain.

Upper and lower abdominals can be tested and I outline two easy assessments to find out your level of lower abdominal conditioning in my Firm and Flatten Your Abs e book. When you take the upper and lower abdominal tests before starting the program, you will easily see the difference between the two and then you will know which areas to prioritize the most, which exercises you can safely begin with and how to get the best results possible from your training program. You can get more information on the Firm And Flatten Your Abs home page at http://www.flattenyourabs.net

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington
www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html

About the Author:

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and holds multiple certifications including 3 from the prestigious CHEK Institute: Level II high Performance Exercise Kinesiologist, Golf Biomechanic, and health and lifestyle counselor. He’s also certified by the ISSA as a personal trainer and specialist in performance nutrition. David has been a high school wrestling and baseball coach and is currently an independent trainer and strength coach. He has been sought after by some of the top athletes in professional sports including world champion boxer Greg Haugen and professional golfer Michael Putnam. David’s ebook, Firm And Flatten Your Abs is an online best seller which teaches you how develop “six pack abs” while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. Find out more on the home page at: www.FlattenYourAbs.net

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