Delts Turn Heads You’re already training your shoulders, so why not maximize your efforts, stretch out T-shirts, and force people to walk around you? This is the effect of 3D delts and it’ll catch attention like nothing else. But it’s not just for the guys. Ladies, defined shoulders scream athleticism and create an incredible contrast with your smaller waist. The Problem You won’t build shoulders that stand out with just a single heavy set of dumbbell presses. Not even if that one heavy set is at the top of a four-set pyramid. Not even if you crack off an array of isolation exercises afterwards. Why? Because big shoulders are built from big mechanical stress and big volume. The tension required for impressive delts has to come from big compound movements. And when it comes to shoulders, none are bigger than barbell pressing. That’s where the seated overhead press comes in. Why the Seated Overhead Press? It’s my go-to movement for serious shoulder overload and volume. And it should be yours too. So why seated versus standing? Sure, the standing overhead press is a time-tested strength and muscle building movement, but seated optimizes shoulder growth by removing leg drive. Think about it. If you’re standing with a barbell doing overhead presses and you start to fatigue, you’re going to want to dip at the knees a bit and pop that weight up with a little help from your lower body. This is great for explosive power and overall strength, and honestly, not a half-bad muscle builder. But for targeted shoulder tension, leg drive is a cheat to generate momentum and to allow you to use heavier weight than you’d be able to control without the drive. And with seated presses you’ll avoid fatiguing other structures first, allowing you to push delt fibers to near failure, a critical part of muscle-building stimulus. You’ll also reduce lower back fatigue which may limit your work during the training session, and potentially affect your ability to maximize other low back fatiguing movements elsewhere in the program. (Think deadlift and squat patterns.) You want to maximize overall training efforts, not just a single exercise. Now, the seated overhead press SEEMS simple enough, yet people still hurt themselves doing it… or they just get lackluster results. So let’s cover the important parts of maximizing this lift for muscle growth. How To Maximize the Seated Overhead Press 1 – Use a 75-80 degree bench angle. Skip the little 90 degree L-bench. Unless you have great mobility and strict form, you usually end up arched aggressively with shoulder blades sitting on top of the bench. Granted, plenty of guys do an incline bench press with poor lower back support, defeating the purpose of sitting versus standing. But a slight incline allows you to press at a shoulder-friendly angle. Try this: Raise your arms upward straight in front of you until they’re overhead. Are you able to raise them perfectly vertical without arching your lower back? If not you probably can’t do a strict standing press without arching your back beyond what’s natural. Many of us don’t possess the thoracic mobility to get into this position, so we’ll create the arch through our lumbar spine. Not good. Avoid stressing the lower back needlessly, or worse, explosively blasting the humerus into its shoulder socket repeatedly until the rotator cuff tendons shred into pulled pork. Avoid that scenario by building bulletproof shoulders and using a bit of an incline for your heavy overhead pressing. 2 – Use the maximum available range of motion safely available. That means get the barbell under your chin, down to your collarbones if you can. This is going to force you to use a load appropriate to the range of motion. You might be tempted to use a lot of weight, but resist that. Use what you’re capable of pressing with good form. Would you rather pretend to be strong to momentarily impress a couple random strangers at the gym, or train effectively and build actual strength that in time will dwarf the rep done with terrible form? Easy decision. Training through a full range of motion will better stimulate muscle fibers for growth, not only for your delts but also triceps. What’s better than big shoulders? Big arms capped with big shoulders. 3 – Get your grip a little outside shoulder width. Going excessively wide tends to create an excessive arch position with your head in the way. This ends up becoming more of an aggressively-inclined chest press. So to help keep the pecs from taking over, find a grip that feels right for you, allows the best range of motion, and helps you avoid discomfort. Your elbows will flare as you press upwards; this is normal. As you lower the bar, consciously pull your elbows back into their narrow forward-pointed position and repeat each rep. This will allow for comfortable full range of motion and minimal head movement. The bar should travel around your head and you won’t need to move your head out of the way, creating an
Origin: The Ultimate Shoulder Day
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Tip: Body-Build For Brute Athleticism
The Myth Many coaches claim that they don’t use bodybuilding concepts like isolation exercises because they don’t want their athletes to become overly muscle-bound and less athletic… the way they perceive many bodybuilders. This view is out of touch with reality. The Reality Doing some hamstring curls and triceps extensions won’t automatically turn you into a pro bodybuilder any more than doing sprints on a track turns you into an Olympic sprinter. Nor is the central nervous system so fragile that performing a few sets of isolation exercises or a few sets on weight machines could somehow undercut the functional abilities and movement skills acquired from long hours of sport practice and competition. Improving your sports performance from training isn’t purely related to gains in strength. They can also be related to increased bodyweight from muscle size. So, building your body actually can help you improve your overall athletic performance. In fact, one of the things that determines our stability and strength from our feet is bodyweight. A body’s mass (or weight) contributes to stability because heavier bodies are harder to move and hence are more stable. On the flipside, lighter bodies are moved more easily and are less stable (1). So, getting bigger can help you better use your strength by providing a greater platform from which to push against your opposition. It can also give you a better chance of avoid getting knocked over or knocked off balance. The Bottom Line Getting bigger by putting on 20 pounds of muscle mass (not fat) through hypertrophy training can help you better use your strength by providing a greater platform from which to create and resist
Origin: Tip: Body-Build For Brute Athleticism
Tip: Another Reason to Avoid Low-Fat Milk
First off, let me dispel some of the usual crap you hear about milk in general: The China Study This milk-shaking and oft-referred to study reported that casein, the primary protein in milk, causes cancer, but that doesn’t hold up when you look closely at epidemiological studies. Besides, there’s a lot of casein in mother’s milk. That would be a pretty silly idea on nature’s part if it were to cause cancer. That would be a biological error on par with nature placing a rhino’s genitals on his horn. Every time he butted another rhino, wham! Another generation would go down the tubes. Growth Hormone Yeah, maybe milk contains a little bit of GH, but cows produce it naturally and the levels found in the milk of cows treated with it hasn’t been found to be any higher than cows not treated with it. Besides, GH is a protein. It doesn’t get absorbed in its entirety. Do you think if you eat an egg, it gets absorbed intact, eventually ending up in your liver next to some bacon at Bob’s 24-Hour Bacteria Breakfast Bistro? No, it gets broken down into its constituent amino acids when it hits your digestive system, just like GH does. Whole Milk vs. Low-Fat or Fat-Free Milk Take away all the nutritional mythology and milk is a fairly decent drink, filled with protein, minerals, and, in the right circumstances, nutrients. It’s important to drink whole milk, though. Whole milk drinkers have been shown to have fewer incidences of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease than drinkers of skim milk, and whole milk has also been shown to grow more muscle than skim milk, possibly because of the CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) it contains. Skim milk is also less functionally nutritious and it has to do with how they make it. They remove all the fat, thereby removing all the fat-soluble vitamins like A and D. They then have to fortify the milk by adding those vitamins back in, but unless you’re drinking the milk with some fatty food, those vitamins won’t get absorbed. All that being said, a new study reveals a surprising and compelling new reason to choose whole over skim or low fat and it has to do with estrogen. What They Did Scientists herded up 109 postmenopausal women to see what drinking milk would do to their endocrine levels. (They chose postmenopausal women because they wouldn’t be susceptible to the daily and hourly fluctuations in natural estrogen levels seen in premenopausal women). Each test subject drank 1 liter of semi-skimmed milk (1.5% milk fat) per day for four days, and 1 liter of whole milk (3.5% milk fat) per day for four days, interspersed with a four-day washout period. The scientists measured sex hormone levels in 24-hour urine samples collected after each 4-day period. What They Found The lower-fat milk ended up causing much higher estrogen levels than the whole milk did. That’s not to say the lower-fat milk had more estrogen in it than the whole milk. Instead, it had to do with the way the body handled the estrogen in the milk after drinking it. “Milk consumption resulted in a significant increase in urinary estrone (E1) excretion, whereas estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 16ketoE2 excretion only increased after semi-skimmed milk consumption.” Moreover, the semi-skimmed milk led to a higher percentage of conjugated estrogens, which are the most bioavailable form of estrogen and have a longer half-life. They’re also the type found in birth control pills. The scientists theorized that maybe the fat in the whole milk inhibited the enzymes needed to deconjugate the estrogen. What This Means to You Drinking skim milk can contribute to having higher-than-desirable estrogen levels, making it harder to put on muscle and easier to gain fat. It can also lead to heart problems. Granted, the women in this study were drinking a lot of milk – a liter, or a little more than 4 cups a day. Most of us don’t drink that much unless you’re one of those GOMAD (gallon of milk a day) bodybuilders who, after they’re curdled and aged, turn into giant blocks of cheese. Still, even if you’re only drinking average amounts of milk – either for the protein it contains, its nutrients, or as a tasty topping for your oatmeal or cereal – you’re better off drinking whole
Origin: Tip: Another Reason to Avoid Low-Fat Milk
Tip: Crush Your Lats With This Exercise
This is one of the very best bang-for-your-buck exercises for increasing strength and muscle mass while also maintaining and even enhancing mobility through the shoulders and back. As anyone who’s tried to stretch a fully pumped muscle knows, this is not a comfortable feeling. That said, this isn’t for beginners. Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown, Accentuated Eccentric The neutral grip allows the lats to increase their range of motion into a stretch at the top of the movement while also helping the shoulder complex stay in a more centrated position. Both variables are great for longevity, orthopedic health, and muscularity. Rock back a little in this exercise to create almost a high-row angle on the concentric (pulling) portion of the exercise, then come back and normalize your torso position into neutral. Bring your head forward to really stretch through the eccentric (negative) portion of the exercise. If you master this movement, get a partner to force the eccentric by pressing down on the weight stack as you slowly let your hands and arms move up into a straightened position. (See video.) If you’re a sicko who loves the pain, add a 10-30 second forced stretch out of this exact position while maintaining neutral shoulder alignment and stretching through the lats. This will stick a fork in your workout, so program it on the tail-end of an upper body or back-emphasized training
Origin: Tip: Crush Your Lats With This Exercise
Tip: A Common Chest Training Mistake
Dumbbell Flye Bench Press: Redundant? Dumbbell flyes and dumbbell bench presses both involve horizontal shoulder adduction. They also create the most tension on the pecs when the forearm is parallel to the ground, which is 90-degrees to the force vector. So they’re basically the same exercise when it comes to how they load your pecs, thus making them redundant to one another. You don’t need to do them in the same workout. Dumbbell Bench Press Dumbbell Flyes The reason you can use much more weight when doing a dumbbell bench press is because it allows the triceps to contribute. The weight is also much closer to your shoulder joints, which gives your pecs and front delts a much better mechanical advantage. Do Cable Flyes Instead Cable flyes aren’t redundant to dumbbell bench presses because they load the pecs in a different manner than flyes with dumbbells. Dumbbell flyes provide little to no force on your pecs when your wrists are directly above your shoulders. However, since cable flyes involve working against 45-degree force vector (the cables themselves), your pecs end up dealing with a great deal of load when your hands are directly in front of your
Origin: Tip: A Common Chest Training Mistake
Tip: The Foreskin Supplement?
Forskolin is a testosterone and thyroid hormone raising supplement derived from the herb, Coleus forskohlii. Studies have shown it to increase lean body mass, decrease body fat, and lower blood pressure while raising metabolic rate. It does all this by elevating levels of cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate), which is an interesting compound because it acts as a kind of chemical switch that turns all kinds of body cells on and off. For instance, increased levels of cAMP can cause the Leydig cells of the testicles to produce more testosterone, which in itself can lead to additional lean body mass. Increased levels of cAMP can also lead to the increased production of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which leads to the release of free fatty acids to be used as fuel by the body. Forskolin also upregulates the thyroid, causing some researchers to compare its effectiveness with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). But Be Careful… Since it’s derived from a plant, standardization is a pretty big problem. A lot of forskolin products are just “grass clippings” (the whole plant dried, crumbled, and stuffed into a capsule). The herb also has a short half-life of about 4 hours, so you need to take it pretty often for best results. Not ideal. And while its oral absorption is good, its bioavailability is questionable because a lot of things seem to interfere with how successfully it makes it into the bloodstream. Forskolin That Works Just as you’d like all the tomatoes you buy to taste great, you also want every batch of forskolin to work like advertised. But plants are fickle. One batch isn’t like the one before it or the next, so you need to make sure you get a product that’s made entirely of the active ingredient – forskolin carbonate – and not the aforementioned “grass clippings.” By extracting and purifying the active ingredient, you extend the duration of action from 4 to 12 hours. Secondly, you need to improve its bioavailability by combining it with the aforementioned gelucire, a compound made from mixtures of mono, di, and triglycerides. Carbolin 19® is pure forskolin carbonate and uses the proper delivery
Origin: Tip: The Foreskin Supplement?
The Best Exercise for a Smaller Waist
Here’s what you need to know… Back in the day, bodybuilders were judged on having small waists. And they actually trained using exercises to “tighten” the waist. You can’t narrow the width of the hips, but you can control the width from front-to-back. When Frank Zane was hitting his famous vacuum pose, he was intensely contracting his transverse abdominis or TVA. The TVA runs left to right across your midsection, much like a weight belt. In fact, the TVA acts as a natural weight belt. The TVA also plays a huge role in preventing back pain. To train the TVA, start with the supine vacuum, then progress to the quadruped vacuum, the seated vacuum, and then functional variations. How would you like to shrink your waist by performing one simple exercise? Want to know something that’s even cooler? The same exercise that’s going to decrease your waist circumference is also likely to remedy your lower back pain. The V-Shaped Physique Many lifters today prefer the old-school bodybuilding physiques as opposed to the modern day behemoths. A large part of that preference has to do with the sleek waists possessed by those classic, V-shaped bodybuilders. Back in the 70’s, bodybuilders didn’t just think about building individual body parts; they thought about the appearance of the physique as a whole. That’s what bodybuilding, whether recreational or competitive, should be about – creating a visually appealing physique in its entirety. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was a mass monster in his day, had a really small waist. And when I’m talking small waist, I’m not talking genetically small as in left-to-right (narrow iliac crest or hip width). I’m talking about small front-to-back, which is something that is within your control, unlike your bone structure. Guys like Arnold, Frank Zane, and Lee Haney didn’t just stumble on these tiny waists and the incredible ability to hit a vacuum pose from any angle – they earned them. They actually made it a priority in their training and contest prep to work on performing the coveted vacuum. To them, working on pulling in their midsection was every bit as important as working chest and biceps, and I’d argue that we should have a similar perspective. Science of the Vacuum Exercise Let’s geek out a little bit and look at a little science behind this vacuum-thing. When Zane was hitting his famous vacuum pose, he was intensely contracting a muscle we sadly don’t think much about today, which is the transverse abdominis (aka transversus abdominis), or TVA. The TVA, which lies under the rectus abdominis and obliques, is the deepest of the abdominal muscles. It’s a unique muscle because it doesn’t connect to and move bones closer together like most other muscles. In fact, many of its fibers don’t connect to bone at all. Instead, they run across the midsection, hence the name transverse abdominis. So the TVA runs left to right across your midsection, much like a weight belt. And, in fact, that’s precisely one of the primary functions of the TVA, to act as a natural weight belt. When the TVA contracts, it increases intra-abdominal pressure and stiffens the spine. Again, just like a weight belt. But the TVA isn’t just for use when we’re lifting; it also serves to hold our internal organs up and in our abdomen where they should be. Think of the TVA as the anti-distended-abdomen muscle. And that’s exactly why you need to train it! Sleek and Pain Free A tight midsection isn’t the only reason we’re going to pay attention to the TVA. It also plays a huge role in preventing low back pain. In fact, numerous studies show that most people with low back pain have a “sleepy” TVA – one that doesn’t contract when it should. The good news is that studies also show that your sleepy TVA can be woken up via exercise, and that doing so will quite possibly reduce or eliminate your back pain. Training the Transverse Abdominis It makes sense to start with the easiest, most basic version of the vacuum exercise – or as it’s known in the clinical world, the “abdominal drawing-in maneuver” or ADIM. Given that you’ll get the assistance of gravity, the supine (face up) version is where we’ll begin. Supine Vacuum Start by lying on your back with your hips and knees flexed such that your feet are flat on the floor or bed. Next, exhale as much air as possible. This raises your diaphragm and, much like an empty stomach, allows for maximum contraction of the TVA. Lastly, pull your navel in as close to your spine as possible. The more your navels draws in, the more the TVA is contracting. In the beginning, try to hold the vacuum for about 15 seconds or so on each set. As with any exercise, you’ll want to progress over time. Work up to holding the vacuum for 60 seconds each set. Now, don’t let your inability to hold your breath keep you from doing these longer sets. Take small breaths as needed. Start with three sets and, over time, work up to five sets if you’re serious about getting results. By the way, to
Origin: The Best Exercise for a Smaller Waist
Tip: Build Muscle With “Death By” Sets
Contractile failure is the main trigger to stimulate muscle growth. That means you go until can’t get another full rep with good form. The key in this variation of rest-pause training is hitting failure at several points in the same set. Basically, one “set” may be two minutes long with little 10-second breaks taken within the set. “Death by” means that you continue until you can’t do any more. Here’s an example. Hamstring Curl, Death-By Rest-Pause Start with a weight you can do for 6-8 reps. The number you get isn’t important, this is just to help you pick the best weight to start with. Go to failure. The last rep should be tough, but you should be able to do the full rep in good form. Don’t try to do half of a ninth rep and then fail. Remember, contractile failure means completing a FULL rep and not being able to do another full rep. Rest for 10 seconds. Using the same weight resume the set and once again go to failure. Continue the pattern: reps to failure, 10 second pause, reps to failure, 10 second pause… until you reach a point where you know you can’t possibly get one more full rep. Continue doing the same process until you can only perform a single complete rep in a mini-set, where you know that getting a second one would be impossible. Since these sets are amazingly powerful but also traumatic on the body, only do one or maybe two sets per exercise. This method is ideal for isolation
Origin: Tip: Build Muscle With “Death By” Sets
Tip: 10 Supplements for Overall Health & Longevity
There are plenty of good supplements for building muscle, but what about the other stuff, like general health? There are thousands available, so let’s narrow down the list and focus on the most important ones for longevity and feeling good. 1 – Certain Chelated Minerals If you’re an athlete, you sweat and thus you’re likely deficient in zinc, which, along with selenium, maintains high testosterone levels and the immune system. If you’re a plain old human, you’re also likely deficient in magnesium, and magnesium alone is responsible for over 300 biochemical reactions in the human body, ranging from muscle and nerve function to protein synthesis. Likewise, certain minerals like chromium and vanadium help maintain regular blood sugar levels and insulin, the importance of which would take another 10,000 words to explain. Suffice it to say that these particular minerals are often in short supply and athletes would do well to take them, preferably in chelated form. Elitepro™ Minerals is the best source. 2 – Vitamin D3 If you’re able to spend between 15 and 30 minutes in the sun, pretty much naked, every day, without getting skin cancer or looking like an old catcher’s mitt, skip the vitamin D3 supplements. Otherwise, take 1,000 to 2,000 IU every day to enjoy increased cognition and better immune health and bone health while reducing the risks of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. 3 – Coenzyme Q10 CoQ10 is what’s known as a pseudovitamin in that it’s essential for life, but it’s not essential to life that you supplement with it. Nevertheless, consider taking 90 to 200 mg. a day, with food, to reduce plaque in the arteries and to feed mitochondria. 4 – Resveratrol It can protect us from insulin resistance and heart disease, along with working as a potent estrogen antagaonist and aromatase inhibitor. Take about 1800 mg. per day. Rez-V™ is the top choice. 5 – Cyandin 3-Glucoside This substance regulates the chemical master switch called AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase). This master switch plays a huge role in determining not only how fat you are, but how long you live. Take 2400 to 3600 mg. per day before meals. Indigo-3G® is the most potent. 6 – Omega-3 Fatty Acids We live in an omega-6 world and it’s killing us. Nature intended for us to have a two-to-one or three-to-one ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in our body, but because of our fast-food, snack-food, meal-in-a-box way of life, this ratio is now more like 20 to 1 in favor of the omega-6s. Inflammation is thus running rampant through our bodies and the best way to stop it is to cut down on the omega-6’s and to start swallowing those beautiful amber fish oil gelcaps. Take up to 12,000 milligrams of a combined DHA/EPA formulation such as Flameout® once a day. 7 – CLA Conjugated linoleic acid is a fatty acid found in high quantities in grass-fed beef. Since most of us don’t get much grass-fed beef, we’re likely deficient in this important fatty acid. Numerous studies have shown it to be a potent cancer fighter, as well as playing a role in normalizing blood pressure, fighting cardiovascular disease in general, and helping with osteoporosis, inflammation, and even body composition. Take about 1,000 mg. a day. Products, like Flameout®, that contain the two isomers of CLA are the best. 8 – Curcumin Curcumin is one of those supplements that sometimes seems too good to be true because the stuff does everything. It helps enhance cardiovascular health, reduces body fat, relieves pain, kills multiple types of cancer cells, and reduces estrogen levels, among other things. Take about 1,000 mg. a day for general health, more, as needed, to alleviate pain. Make sure you use a formula that’s employing additional food technology to make it more absorbable, though. 9 – Superfood This product is the thinking man’s alternative to multivitamins. It consists solely of 18 nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables that have been desiccated, pulverized, and stored in a pouch. As such, Superfood contains all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals intrinsic to the fruits and vegetables it’s made from. Take two scoops a day. 10 – Saw Palmetto The research behind saw palmetto as a prostate savior isn’t conclusive. We’re not sure that it relieves symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia or that it lowers levels of prostate specific antigen. However, we’re fairly certain that it does lower levels of DHT while increasing levels of testosterone. The latter achievements, and the possibility that it does help with the former, convince us that it merits inclusion in your health prescription. Make sure you buy a product that was manufactured using the “supercritical C02” method. Take between 160 and 320 mg. a
Origin: Tip: 10 Supplements for Overall Health & Longevity
Tip: Do the Constant-Tension Curl
Want to take advantage of muscular tension, isometric potentiation, unilateral-enhanced neural drive, and other big words and phrases? Then check out this “new” way to curl. The Constant-Tension Alternating Curl Start with both arms in the fully flexed position – the “top” of the curl. Lower the working arm while keeping the non-working arm flexed near the top. Curl up the working arm until both arms are once again flexed. Then switch arms and do the same thing. You keep on alternating this way until the set is completed. The benefits, according to Coach Christian Thibaudeau, are: The biceps are under constant tension. While the non-lifting arm is “waiting its turn,” it’s still contracted isometrically. You’re performing a unilateral dynamic movement. You’re preceding the dynamic action by an isometric one. The downside is that you can’t use as much weight, so you won’t create as much muscle damage. This is why it’s important to use this exercise as a secondary biceps movement, after a heavier exercise. The technique can be used with dumbbell preacher curls. Give it a
Origin: Tip: Do the Constant-Tension Curl
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