A routine is something that you do repeatedly for a specific period. This means that one can move from one routine to another. This is indeed what defines progress in bodybuilding. Warming up, though is something that never changes no matter the change in routine. What is striking about routines is that they involve some very few, almost effortless workouts but the effects of foregoing them can render you ineffective for the rest of the routine. The result is that you may even regret ever going into a gym. The treadmill is the most appropriate for this kind of work. A fast pace is recommended but should not extend for more than 10 minutes of fall below the 4-minute mark. A stationary bike can do as well. Your preference is the factor here and maybe even availability. The rest of ...

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Building mass is very important for any bodybuilder because the amount of mass gained will be used to gauge whether he has been successful as a bodybuilder. This article will provide you with a few tricks which will enable you achieve an increase in mass. 1. You should perform all the heavy sets using free weights. Most people assume that they will get better results from using very complicated weights in there training. This is not normally the case, when it comes to attaining more muscles the key is to use free weights. When you are doing compound movements always use free weights because they are better than machines. 2. Compound movements Isolation exercises do not yield better results than compound movements. This is because isolation movements only exercise one set of muscles but compound movements will work various muscles at the same time. Therefore if ...

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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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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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Q: Whole body training - is it a good idea for people trying to build size? Or is it just a never-do kind of thing for someone experienced and beyond “beginner”? A: Well, you can do full body workouts, provided you keep them fast, heavy and with little rest in between. It’s a good way to train for a contest closer to the day. But remember, the more body parts you train in one session (ie- a full body workout) you’ll have to cut down the number of overall sets and exercises you do per body part. That is where things can hurt progress, because you don’t get the diversity in a single body part workout - you can’t do the squats, leg press, hack squats, leg extensions, etc.. in a single workout. However, you may want to consider ...

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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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Tom Platz owned perhaps the greatest set of thighs in bodybuilding history. He loved to squat and considered them to be the #1 exercise for building up the legs. His intense leg workouts are revered as some of the most intense in bodybuilding history, and he always employed a radical array of new techniques and methods into his training protocol, some of which have been overlooked by today’s trainers. Partial reps, extreme stretching, and other practices gave Platz the greatest legs of his (or any) generation, but they seem to have fallen by the wayside in the twenty-five years since he last donned the posing dais. Platz employed a technique which many of today’s experts shun – partial squats. Referred to as “half-squats”, this movement involves starting with the standard squat position, and proceeding to complete the first ...

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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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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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