Monday 30 June 2008

Site Layout Changes

At the moment we are experimenting with different site designs, as a result things may or may not change to your liking and you may need to re-familiarize yourself with the site. Rest assured this is simply because this is a new site and we are trying hard to make things better for the reader. So please bear with us. Thank you.

Thursday 26 June 2008

Short & Sweet Shoulders

If you've ever found yourself short on time and needing to get a workout done in record time then this little shoulder workout could be just what you need. Only 2 exercise and it should be done in 20-30 minutes but this will pump your shoulders to a whole new dimension.

You start with lateral raises and pick up light 5-10lb dumbbells, you do 5 reps then pick up dumbbells that are 5lbs heavier and do another 5 reps. Keep repeating this progression until you cannot get 5 reps then work your way back down the rack in 5lb increments again doing 5 reps, when you reach the bottom it's back up again. By now you will be feeling it and breathing hard but keep going until you can't manage 5 reps with any weight.

Now you are warmed up it's time to hit a compound movement, for safety's sake I suggest Machine shoulder presses, again the method is simple; up and down the stack 5 reps at a time only this time in 10lb increments (some machines differ but try to stick to around 10lbs). Keep going until you are fried, puking is not an excuse to quit!

20-30 minutes later and you will be seriously pumped and drenched in sweat, your heart should be trying to beat it's way out of your chest. You are now done in a short time you have had a brutal shoulder workout and done a fantastic cardio session. Just don't expect to raise your arms above your head the next morning.

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Wednesday 25 June 2008

Giant Back Giant Sets

IFBB pro Milos Sarcev has recently made giant sets popular again due to the workouts he performs with many of his elite clients. See below for an example.

 

The biggest problem with these for the average trainer is that gyms are crowded and it not exactly polite to hog several different pieces of equipment for a long time.

This workout gets around this problem by allowing you to set up at a lat pulldown station with a sets of dumbbells and a loaded barbell and two different attachments for the pulldown machine.  Choose your weights wisely as later on you are going to feel this! Check it out!

  1. Lat Pulldowns (underhand grip)
  2. Barbell Rows
  3. Lat Pulldowns (overhand grip)
  4. Dumbbell Rows
  5. Lat Pulldowns (Close grip or V-bar handle) - Switch quickly
  6. Dumbbell Shrugs

There you have it, DO NOT! rest between exercises and go to failure on each and every set never limit yourself to a number.

Do this giant set rotation 3-5 times and you will fry your back and experience a pump you have never felt before.

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Tuesday 24 June 2008

Big Calves The Rugby Player Way

Have you ever noticed that rugby players all seem to have impressive calf development? I bet you presume they get it from all the running, well you are wrong! if this were true runners, soccer players and other athletes who do a lot of running would have similar calf development but they don't.

I myself am a former rugby player and I know the secret. There is something that rugby players do a hell of a lot of both in games and training that really fries the calves. Take a look at the calf development of new IFBB Pro James "Flex" Lewis or Lee Priest, both of these guys played rugby as youngsters and both have great calves. I bet you want to know the secret? Well that little secret is running backwards!sreeves3

It is said that once upon a time the legendary bodybuilder and actor Steve Reeves once gained one and a half inches on his calves in two months simply by running forwards and backwards on the beach for two miles every day!

Simply running backwards will help anyone bring up lagging calves, so if you have somewhere you can do this give it a try!

If you want a gym method then take a leaf out of Ronnie Coleman's book and head out to the parking lot with a set of dumbbells.and do the two following exercises.

First up is backwards strides, simply take long strides backwards whilst holding your heavy dumbbells try and cover 200 metres or more with this method.

The second exercise is the backwards farmers walk, here you walk briskly backwards carrying heavy dumbbells, depending on the size of your gym parking lot aim for 5-10 lengths at least.

Do these two exercises three times per week as a finisher to a standard calf workout, If your gym has an elliptical trainer machine that has a backwards program use that for cardio and also add some backwards track running if possible, then in a couple of months I guarantee you will be sporting much improved calves!

There is a very interesting PDF article you can download here

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Monday 23 June 2008

Flipside Pecs

Big bench press numbers are seen around many gyms but in all honesty how many huge impressive chests have you seen? Probably not as many. Checking the ego at the gym door and actually working the pecs can be a godsend for developing a huge full chest. Try this simple workout to add new life to you chest.

Pec Dec Flyes 5 sets of 10 reps

Incline Dumbbell Flyes 4 Sets of 10 Reps

Machine Bench Press 4 sets of 10 Reps

Inclend Barbell Bench Press 3 sets of 6 Reps

 

Nothing too fancy here, just pre-exhausting the chest so that the shoulders and triceps do not take over. You will need to drop you bench press weights at first but given time you will get them back up to previous levels and when that day comes your chest will look so much more impressive.

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Leg Press Bitchmakers

This is the bastard child of the great widowmaker concept devised by the legendary doggcrapp, a concept which forces you to do a 20 rep set after completing a heavy 6-8 rep set of a leg exercise.

Bitchmakers are an extension of this concept. You will do your normal workout for quads then when done you head over to the leg press machine and load up 50% of the weight you usually use. Your goal is 100 reps! but there are not many breaks to be had, you will rep out to failure then take the amount of reps you have left till you hit 100 and rest for that amount of seconds. Below is an example

35 reps (rest 65 seconds)

25 more reps (rest 40 seconds)

15 more reps (rest 25 seconds)

8 more reps (rest 17 seconds)

5 more reps (rest 12 seconds)

3 more reps (rest 9 seconds)

2 more reps (rest 7 seconds)

2 more reps (rest 5 seconds)

1 more rep (rest 4 seconds)

1 more rep (rest 3 seconds)

1 more rep (rest 2 seconds)

1 more rep (rest 1 seconds)

1 more rep you are done!

 

God cardiovascular conditioning is a must, this one is not for 300lbs fat bastards. If you puke you can clean it up when you are done, screw the gym owners.

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21:21 For Biceps

Experienced bodybuilders have probably used the 21's technique at one time or another in their quest for huge arms. The technique was quite popular back in the days of Arnold and co. This 21:21 workout will give you an amazing yet painful pump which should spur your biceps into new growth! at the very least you will be very sore for a few days :)

For those not familiar with 21's basically what you do is take a loaded barbell and curl 7 reps in the lower half of the rep then immediately do another 7 reps in the upper half of the rep before finishing with 7 full reps.

The 21:21 method uses 21's as it's basis but consists of 3 exercises done in a tri-set (consecutive sets with no rest) for 7 rotations, so in total 21 sets of 21 reps hence the name 21:21.

The three exercise you are going to use are barbell curls, cable curls and hammer curls so load up a barbell and take it over to the cable station, then take your dumbbells there too! you will need roughly 50-60% of the weight you would usually use for a 8-10 rep set.

Now start with a set of 21's with barbell curls, when done don't rest and do the same with the cable curls then it's straight to the hammer curls (curl both arms simultaneously). Are your biceps pumped yet? they should be burning already! Rest for about a minute, 90 seconds at the most then repeat until you have done 7 rotations. That's it nothing complicated but try it and I guarantee you will hate me :)

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NPC Junior Nationals 2008 Results

Congratulations to Big Sean Allan who won the Junior Nationals overall prize.

Sean Allan

Class winners are below

  • Super Heavyweight - Sean Allan (Overall winner)
  • Heavyweight - Michael Liberatore
  • Light Heavyweight - Kenneth Jackson
  • Middleweight - Jacob Wilson
  • Lightweight - Richard Siegleman
  • Welterweight - Vincent Que
  • Bantamweight - Alan Watari

Full Results including women's results and Contest pics can be found at Musculardevelopment.com


Friday 20 June 2008

Introduction

Welcome to the Workouts from Hell blog!

I'm sure at one time or another we have all had an amazing workout where the intensity levels are through the roof yet somehow we can't seem to replicate that workout again. This is exactly what this blog is for, each and every workout listed here is a "Workout From Hell" designed to blow the lid off your usual intensity and take you to another level. Bear in mind that these workouts are not to be done each and every time you train, they are to be used sparingly when a fresh boost is needed.

Prepare to be taken to another level, this is not the usual soft "Hardcore" BS you read in the magazines, the are real "Workouts From Hell"

by TemplatesForYouTFY
SoSuechtig