Remember when you first started lifting weights? It was all so simple then. You would walk into your gym and tackle whatever exercises looked good. It was all about challenging your body from every angle back then, and you loved every second of it. You probably didn’t count anything except the number of plates on the bar, and you kept adding weight every week. It was a glorious time, with those beginner’s gains. However, those days seems to have passed you by. Today it is much harder to grow bigger and stronger in the gym. You actually have to focus energy each day upon specific body parts, and it does matter what exercises you use. Set and rep ranges are influencing your success to a noticeable degree for the first time. ...

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In the initial workouts the bodybuilder is advised to gauge his ability by gradually adding to the resistance used and experimenting to see what the optimal capacity will be. One should begin with pretty light weights in order to get fully warmed up and then gradually increase the load as the body continues to get more familiar with the requirements. Each weight addition should be used to complete a set of motions. If you gradually add the weight and find out that you are able to accomplish a dozen reps per set while still maintaining good form you should add some extra load etc. This form of training is referred to as pyramid training. It has been recommended as one of the safest and best ways of training. The basis of pyramid training is to constantly add to the load until you ...

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For both men and women, a set of well-defined triceps is a very common goal. Men enjoy bulging biceps, and women enjoy a svelte upper arm. But both groups, whether their goals are insane mass or just lines and class, desire the look of a cut upper arm, particularly the triceps. There is no single way to bring out definition in the upper arm. Here are four commonly used methods which work together to create a nice lean triceps muscle for you to display. Cardio It’s absolutely essential for basic heart health that you complete at least ten minutes of cardiovascular training, four times per week. If you desire a nice six-pack or, for the sake of our discussion, a nice ripped horseshoe shape piercing through your upper arm, then you’ll want to complete at least 30 minutes ...

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Q: My question is about “sets to failure” - my progress has been waning lately and I’m just not getting enough growth out of workouts that have gotten progressively heavier. The only thing I can pinpoint is that I do sets to failure too often. How often should you train to failure, and how many sets? A: There are two different kinds of failure: Absolute failure and positive failure. Positive failure is of benefit and absolute failure is not. Just because you have a few extra sets in you, doesn’t mean you should always do them. That is a good rule of thumb. Only use that technique sparingly - particularly if you are continually striving to go up in weight for strength. Stopping a rep or two before failure is fine - it’s what built most legendary bodybuilders’ bodies. ...

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Most bodybuilders enter the gym and tackle large, compound movements. After working through their 6 or 8 or 10 sets, they move on to isolation exercises, targeting the back, chest, legs, shoulders and arms. Perhaps at the very tail end of a routine, they’ll add a few sets for abdominals or forearms. They believe they’ve achieved a complete, full-body workout and covered all their bases required to build a complete physique. However there is one muscle group, which is evident in every front and side pose in bodybuilding, which they overlook, much of the time: The serratus. The serratus is a set of muscles, which connects the lats, pectorals, intercostals, and external obliques. This small muscle group resembles a set of fingers, and is truly the union point for the back and front sides of a ...

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Most bodybuilding training involves a fairly straightforward set routine in the gym. You complete a set, you wait 60 to 180 sets, and then you complete another set. This “lift, rest, lift, rest” routine works most of the time. However, as the human body is a highly adaptable organism, over time it does become tougher and tougher to challenge the body into new growth. We can try new exercises, different order of movements, and varying rep ranges. However, after time, even those methods tend to stop delivering results. Because of these limitations, some bodybuilders, many years ago, determined that the basic tenet of the routine, the “lift, rest, lift, rest” pattern could be improved. Instead of completing just a single set, they completed two, three, or four or more sets in a row, AND THEN took ...

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When it comes down to defining the ideal number of sets to include in a workout, there are three set structures commonly employed by bodybuilders. The first is “low volume”, and requires the trainer to achieve maximum intensity in a very small number of sets. The second is “medium volume” and allows the trainer more sets per workout, but results in diminished intensity, as the trainer usually isn’t capable of maintaining the same level of intensity for as long. The third set structure, “high volume”, involves limited intensity, many sets, and a great deal of time spent in the gym. All three set structures have their place in bodybuilding training. Low Volume – 6 to 10 sets Sometimes the time isn’t available to train for very long. Sometimes the goal is to add pounds to a personal best ...

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It’s time to plan the winter bulk. You’ve been showing off that abs all summer, but as it starts to get colder, you might begin to wonder what your arms, chest, back, and legs would look like with another inch or two of muscle on them. There’s only one way to find out – use this winter to add some muscle! The goal should be modest – perhaps a 10 to 15 pound muscle gain over 5 months. For a natural, this would be a terrific gain, and non-naturals can see up to 20 pounds added over such a time period. How much weight to add? If you’re a natural, you’ll want to add no more than 20 pounds of bulk. If not a natural, you can go up to 30 pounds heavier. Adding more than that will ...

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Bodybuilders have been using staggered sets for decades. Pioneered by Weider and emulated by every other notable trainer since then, staggered sets allow the bodybuilder to make the most use of recovery abilities. Some body parts may take a few minutes to recover following a tough set, and they may require a lot of low-intensity sets with high repetitions to deliver the polish and definition required. First, let’s target a muscle group which you consider to be a weakness, and which fits the criterion for effective staggered set training – Let’s use the abdominal muscles for this example. You always place a few sets of abdominals at the end of your workout, but you’ve never had a decent midsection. We’ll assume you have a show coming up, and while your body fat levels are low, your abs just ...

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Forty years ago, bodybuilder Steve Davis devised a 6-week strength and mass training protocol which challenged the body to train at its maximum strength range for ten consecutive repetitions.  This program became known as microcycle periodization, and it has remained influential in bodybuilding and powerlifting training ever since – in underground circles. The idea behind the Davis Set is simple.  Complete ten “one-rep” sets in a row using your maximum one-repetition maximum poundage for weight.  After each repetition, slightly reduce the weight and complete another repetition immediately, using this as your new one-rep maximum poundage.  Complete ten reps while reducing the weight.   One set is all you need. And it’ll be the toughest single set you complete in your life! For example, if you can bench press 225 pounds for one rep, you will do that.  Then reduce the weight and complete ...

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