Muscle Exercise Tips To Get a Chest Part 1

2009-05-13T12:03:00.003-07:00

The chest represents one of the main areas that beginning bodybuilders are particularly interested in developing; its basically a 'show' bodypart, in common with the arm muscles. Training the chest also involves an exercise with which the general public is quite well aware of, i.e. the bench press. If somebody realises you work-out with weights and want to know how strong you are, chances are that they'll ask you how much you can bench. However, there is a lot more to obtaining good chest development than just benching on a flat bench, as we will see.....

Muscle Size and Strength.... It is important for a beginner to develop a good strength foundation through the use of barbell and/or dumbbell flat/decline and incline bench presses. These are basically 'compound' movements that bring into play many different muscles in the performance of the exercise, and allow large poundages to be used, relative to the strength of the trainee, leading to the greatest possible growth stimulation of the targeted muscles. Compound movements also have the advantage of strengthening many of the muscles involved in stabilising the body during the execution of a movement, in addition to the 'prime mover' muscles. . In general terms, you should realise that in terms of basic mass training, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle. The performance of isolation movements, in which a muscle or muscle group is exercised in isolation, simply are not effective in building large amounts of lean body mass; the training load is simply not great enough. In a nutshell, you can't build a big chest, or any other area of your body, with isolation movements alone.

The Muscles of the Chest....... The muscles of the chest, the pectorals, can be thought of as consisting of two main areas for the purposes of training, i.e. the upper and lower chest comprising the pectoralis minor and pectoralis major, respectively. Also involved in many of the pressing movements for the chest are the front deltoid muscles of the shoulder and the triceps of the upper arm. Stabilising muscles and muscles which rotate the scapulae (shoulder blades) are also involved. The upper chest is mainly targeted via movements done on an incline bench, while the lower chest is worked through flat or decline bench and parallel bar dip-type movements. (Coming Soon - Part 2)
By Top UK Bodybuilding And Steroid Expert Mick Hart. Learn how to Build Lean Muscle At Micks new Blog

Just How Strong Do You Think You Are PART 2

2009-05-13T12:03:00.001-07:00

This is not a debate or argument for or against performance enhances, it is in the nature of all wanna be champions to seek the extra edge, we are simply suggesting that those who prefer more natural/healthier training methods and diets, should have a far more realistic set of goals. People who belong to the multi various 'all round' lifting associations, will have immediate access to standards required for trophies and recognition awards.

Many such sets of standards evolved from original BAWLA lists and the early days of BILL PULLUM. The BAWLA originated back in 1911 and covered over 4O all round lifts/exercises. Recently the A for amateur has been realistically dropped so now it is just BWLA. The 'Strength Set' originally consisting of the bodybuilders favorite exercises the squat, curl and bench press soon dropped the curl, which leant itself to too much back bending and cheating, (God knows what the old timers would have thought of today’s ultra arched bench pressers and lifting suits) and substituted the dead lift.

This lot ended up as 'Powerlifting', itself now fragmentated into many, many associations and acronyms. Most basic powerlifting record lists compare closely. Such current powerlifts along with Olympic records for all bodyweights can be studied freely at any time by reading the latest Guinness Book of Records at your local library. The well established journal ‘Powerlifting USA’ has covered most top events (including European) and is a mine of information and training advice for those specialists.

While it is always interesting and hopefully inspirational to read of and compare great feats of strength, for example of John Parrella (US pro-footballer) who tosses up unaided 2x225lb dumbbells for sets of 5 reps in dumbbell bench press (source Planet Muscle Vol 4 no 3), of 1000lbs squats and squatters like Clark, Waddington, Hatfields et al, and similar bench presses hitting the 700lbs mark, do not get discouraged and dump your weights for bunji jumping. This brief article is for your 'down to earth' average 'tank top' who just wishes to know where he is in the muscle power map and what sort of poundages to aim for.

We have tried to include most basic exercises in our estimates based on a lot of practical experience (believe it or not I too trained alone and used to 'rock up' unaided 80lb dumbbells for bench presses) and honest analysis. So check out the chart, and wherever you are, just aim to do better. You already know the basic systems of using lower reps and higher sets for building power in most muscle groups. Nor should you, when seeking strength, train too often, twice a week is plenty. Take time to recover, eat well, sleep well and hey presto, power will come.
By International Steroid Expert Mick Hart. Learn how to Build Lean Muscle At Micks new Blog