6 Tips for Bigger Gunz

Having a well developed arm muscles adds to your physique and looks great on both ladies and guys. After all, it is the only part of your upper body that you will be showing all throughout the summer wearing t-shirts and other short sleeve attire. In addition, strong tricep and bicep muscles will help you during your press and pull exercises, respectively. Of course, you will train your arms while performing any press or pull, but in this article I will give you 6 major tips on how to develop arms through isolation (or at least partial isolation) exercises.

1. 1. Don't Swing! The three golden rules of any exercise are: i. ISOLATE, ii. ISOLATE, iii.ISOLATE!!! Then why, oh why 99% of the fitness enthusiasts perform the mating dance with an EZ bar while performing the good old bicep curl? Swinging back and forth with your hips while curling takes away the pressure that is supposed to be imposed on the bicep brachii muscles, reducing its efficiency. You want your time in the gym to be effective, right? Then, tuck these elbows into your sides, engage your abs, bend your knees and contract your glutes (remember: Isolate!) and the most important: take a weight that you can perform your set without swinging.
2. 2:1 Ratio: Perform your arm workout with the 2:1 ratio of dumbbell vs barbell exercises. Most people have an imbalance between their left and right arm strength and mass. Usually, the dominant side is either (or both) bigger or stronger. Using unilateral exercises with dumbbells will eventually even out this imbalance and barbell exercises will increase the ability of your arms to work in-synch.
3. Slow Down on the Negative: Muscle has three types of contraction; isometric (muscle contracts, while static), concentric (contracts and shortens) and eccentric (contracts and elongates). The eccentric contraction generally has more capacity than the concentric one. It also creates more micro-tears than the concentric contraction. In other words, eccentric contraction is very effective in developing muscle mass.
4. Dip it Up! Many people neglect the good old dips. Too bad, as this is perhaps on of the best exercises for your upper body. Dips not only work your triceps, but also your front delts and chest as well. It builds a strong and proportionate upper body. Dips should be incorporated in every workout program to achieve a great upper body.
5. Try Ceps: Triceps compose the major part of your humers musculature and thus needed a lot of work. It is a shame that most people (especially guys) are incorporating what's called a T-shirt workout, neglecting all the back muscles and conctentrating only on the muscles that they can see in the mirror. However, overall development is necessary to a balanced and proportionate physique. This is true to the arm muscles as well. Hit your triceps with the same intensity you hit your biceps and your arms will grow like the impudence of the Wall Street brokers. Perform overhead tricp extensions as well the push downs to hit both, your short and long tricep heads, this will add a lot of size to your arms.
6. Short and to the point: biceps and triceps both receive a great amount of work when you perform your compound upper body movements (like bench press, pull downs, military press and so on). Therefore, you should not dedicate more than 15 minutes for each, biceps and triceps. Keep it short, intense and effective. If you go longer than that, you simply risk overtraining, as each additional set will diminish your muscle's ability to recover.
   

To give you an idea of how a good arm workout should look like, check out the routine below.

Preacher Curls with EZ Bar: 3x12

1A. Seated Hammer Curls: 3x10

2B. Wide Dumbbell Curls (elbows tucked into your sides): 3x10

Dips: 3x to failure

2A. Overhead Tricep Extensions: 3x10
2B. Underhand Grip Tricep Extensions: 3x10

Have a great pump!

Ivan K

www.ivankfitness.com

How to Get Massive Shoulders?

by Ivan Kalinin on 06/21/12

How long have you ben trying to get this V-shape, working your glutes off at the gym? Do you workout 4-5 times a week, but still can't get that superhero look with broad shoulders and a tiny waist? In this article I will give you some tips on how to pump up your shoulders, which will make you look much better.

No matter if you are a guy or a girl, a nice set of shoulders will make your arm and your frame look much better. I call shoulders an illusion muscle, as their full development changes the entire shape of your body. Guys with broad and rocking delts look much wider, while their waists look smaller. As well, ladies who train their shoulders look much more athletic and sexy. Unfortunately, most people disregard this important part of their bodies, concentrating on bigger muscles such as pecs/legs/back/arms.

In order to understand how to train your shoulders let's take a look on their anatomy. It is common to assume that shoulders are divided into 3 parts (anterior, lateral and posterior). However, a famous Canadian strength coach, Charles Poliquin, claims that the deltoids are actually divided into 7 parts. This means that a variety of exercises is necessary, in order to hit each part of the deltoids Now, most people in the gym limit their shoulder workouts to a few sets of shoulder presses and MAYBE do some lateral raises as well. In reality, you need a little bit more than that.

Shoulders consist mainly of slow twitch muscle fiber and so going too heavy on them would only be ineffective, it will also increase your potential to injure the shoulder joint (one of the most injured joints in the human body). So as a rule of thumb, we will train shoulders with higher reps and lower weights. In addition, since the slow twitch muscle fiber recovers faster from a workout, we can train shoulders twice or even three times a week and still see great results!

From my experience, I have seen great results from working my shoulders twice a week, while splitting arms (so one day I'd do shoulders with biceps and another day I'd do shoulders and triceps). In addition, I also encourage double sets and drop sets as they will blast your shoulders. I would also limit the shoulder presses to once a week as it is hard on your rotator cuffs and concentrate on raises. Try the workout below and see the gains for yourself!

Day 1:

Military Presses: 4 sets; 15,12,10,8 reps with increasing weight.

Lateral raise dropset: go to failure with each set, drop the weight twice. 3Sets

Upright Rows: 3sets of 12

Bent over lateral raise dropset: go to failure with each set, drop the weight twice. 3Sets

Day 2:

1a. Full lateral raise: 3sets, 10reps

2a. Lateral raise: 3sets, 10reps

1b. Seated rope pulls to the chin: 3sets, 10reps

2b. Bent over lateral raise: 3 sets, 10reps

3a. Upright rows: 3sets, 10reps

3b. Push press: 3sets, 10reps

Make sure that you work shoulders every 3-4 days. Also, mind the form as it is very important for ensuring that you don't injure the shoulder.

Have fun!

Diet Tips

The cliché phrase "you are what you eat" cannot be more accurate in the context of fitness and well being. You can forget about the six-pack, or getting "toned" without (surprise, surprise!) a carefully designed diet. Now, I hear all the time the same broken record that "if I workout a lot, I don't need to worry about what I eat, because I burn it all anyway". This cannot be further from the reality (unless you are blessed with an extraordinarily fast metabolism), because if you are not "fuelling" your body with the appropriate quantities of nutrients suited for your goal, it will not produce the appropriate results. Dieting is the toughest and the meanest enemy you will encounter on your journey towards the ripped physique you desire. Working out 4-5 hours a week is not as challenging as resisting the urges to stuff your face in cheescakes and chocolates 24/7. But, if you are really serious about getting results you will have to overcome this challenge. Here are some general tips that should assist you to create a sensible diet plan.

Tip #1: Small Meals.

Yes, I will say the same thing you have already heard so many times: you should eat 5-6 small meals every 2-3 hours. The key to any diet is to keep the metabolism working at the fastest rate. This way your body becomes more efficient in burning energy, which in turn will assist you in burning fat.

Tip #2: Timing

Timing the nutrient intake plays a detrimental role in your diet. Do not be fooled that you cannot eat simple carbs or fats in your diet, it's not true! The catch is when you eat them and that is when you will have to show some planning skills. While protein should be divided into even portions throughout the day with each meal, carbs and fats should be separated from each other. Since fat slows down digestion and the breakdown of nutrients, it should neither be ingested upon awakening nor pre or post workout. The reason to this is that during these times you need the energy to be extracted as fast as possible. However, when it comes to bed time, you should cut the carbs out of the equation (as you will not use up a lot of energy while asleep) and replace them with healthy fats (mono and polyunsaturated, as well as omega 3). It will slow down the digestion and will extend the nutrient intake throughout most of the night. The protein you injest at night should come from milk products or Casein supplementation, as this type of protein is slow digestive. Simple carbs are most useful after workout, as they spike insulin and begin recovery process much faster than complex carbs.

Tip #3: Vegetables vs. Fruits

Many people are convinced that eating fruits as a snack is healthy after all, they are a good source of vitamins and minerals. However, they are also rich in fructose, which is a naturally occuring sugar. Now, you might think that eating a banana in the morning, a few grapes later on in the day and an apple in the evening is a great idea. But, if you sum up the amount of sugar (fructose) you injest throughout the day, you would be surprised to find out that it is equivalent of a three or four poptarts. Therefore, I suggest to cut the fruit out and only have a high GI fruit (banana, orange, grapes, etc.) after the workout. Unlike fruits, green, leafy vegetables do not contain simple carbs and are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals (much richer than fruits). These veggies (broccoli, spinach, kale, brussel sprouts, cucumbers) should become a staple in your diet and should be eaten with every meal and as much as possible.

Cheating Smart

Dieting smart has many health benefits that include fat burning, building lean tissue and has an impact on your overall fitness In fact, a well balanced diet is a foundation of any workout plan. Nevertheless, the comercials on the television and omnipresent advertisements of fast food restaurants are the biggest challenge of any dieting person. Therefore, any person who had ever been on a diet came to a point where they had commited the deadliest sin of dieting – they "cheated". But, is "cheating" once in a while really all that bad? Most people are under the impression that "cheating" will diminish the results of the diet and will negatively impact the process of weight loss. Still, many bodybuilders and fitness athletes use "cheating" (or refeeding) to attain better results.

No question that being on a calorie restricted diet will cause your body to extract energy from the stored fat. But, in the long run your body will slow down its metabolism, in order to make sure that the amounts of calories injested are spread out evenly throughout the day. Slow metabolism paired with intense workouts will put you in a stress mode where your body will excrete the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol will likely make your body hold on to fat and break down the amino acids in your muscles for energy. This point is called a plateau and this is when cheating is rather beneficial. A good refeed will spike your metabolism and will increase the hormone leptin, which is responsible for regulation of energy intake and its expenditure. Studies showed that leptin is responsible for making the body more efficient at burning fat. In addition, a refeed will provide you with energy for the upcoming workouts, will inhibit the cravings and will help you to stay on track!

However, it does not mean that you should start eating everything in sight. There are a few rules of thumb.

Rule #1: The refeed follows the toughest workout of the week, such as, legs or back.

Rule #2: The protein intake on that day is one gram of protein per pound of body weight.

Rule #3: The amount of carbs should be much higher (double or even triple) than on a regular day.

Rule #4: The lower the body fat percentage, the more often the refeeds should be arranged. For example, if your body fat percentage is 30% you should refeed once or twice a month, but if it is around 10%, you can refeed once or even twice a week. It is important to take in consideration the fact that each person has their own individual differences and therefore will respond to refeeds diffirently. However, if the above steps are followed, refeeds should help you to reach your goal and make your diet more efficient.

Happy cheat day!