Fitnesspros Bodybuilding and Fitness blog

The Scott curl emphasizes more on the inner, and short heads of your bicep muscle, so it’s recommended to include exercises that target the outer and long heads such as doing close grip barbell curls or incline curls. The Scott dumbbell curl is best used as a super set to follow up right after a certain exercise such as doing barbell curls. Which obviously, you would use heavier weight when using a barbell.

When getting into position for the Scott curl, tighten your back and keep your knees unlocked while leaning against the angled corner of a preacher bench (with a dumbbell in hand, using your chest against the preacher bench). Next, with your triceps pressed into the flat side of the bench, be sure that your armpits fit right up against at the top of the preacher bench pad. For added stability and balance, place your non-working hand on the side of the bench. Be sure to keep your palms facing upwards. Keep your eyes focused forward and your head in a neutral position.

When you are position and ready to execute the exercise, start to curl the dumbbell with a wide-arc curl. Bring the dumbbell as high as you can without using any body english. If you have to use body english, then you are using too much weight. As you complete the rep, keep your elbow, hand, and shoulder aligned in the same plane of motion. After you pass the sticking point, exhale at the top of the lift. At the peak, contract your bicep muscle as hard as you can for a good long second. As you finish your first rep, lower the dumbbell back to starting position with a slow descending motion while allowing your arm to completely straighten in the bottom position.

Other Exercise Alternatives:

Straight Bar Scott Curl: Using a barbell can help target the same muscle groups as well. With the Scott curl, either the straight bar or dumbbell version works best if your arms go completely straight in the bottom position. There’s constant tension at the top since you can’t take your arms past the vertical plane at the peak position (meaning perpendicular to the floor), as opposed to angled preacher benches in which you can consciously stop for a brief rest at the top.

Dumbbell Concentration Curls: When performed on the flat side of a preacher bench, the concentration curl allows for similar recruitment patterns as to the Scott curl. Allowing your triceps to line up flush against your inner quads is the key to duplicating the move while reaching deep down. Consciously keep your elbow down so your biceps is never able to rest in the top position, while allowing your elbow to travel along your leg at the same time. Just like in the Scott curl, this exercise technique maintains your lower arm perpendicular to the floor.

1) Master recovery, master growth. Eat the right foods during a mass cycle. Without the proper food, you won’t be able to lift heavy enough to make gains and you won’t recover quickly or as completely. Plenty of protein and complex carbohydrates along with the right supplements can help you speed your gains.

2) Get Psyched. Be aggressive and don’t be afraid to make a little noise. On my way to the gym, I psych myself up. I think about the weight I want to handle and during training, I make a lot of noise.

3) Observe proper form. Powerlifters aren’t concerned with muscle stimulation; they just want to complete the lift. I see a lot of people training just to complete a set, trying to gain mass but forgetting their form. That won’t help

4) Don’t count reps. You should know generally how many reps you’re going for because of the relationship between weight and reps. I usually pyramid up in weight to a six rep set. But if I feel I can do more, I will. Never lock yourself into a number you’ve written in a journal somewhere and artificially stop a set at that number.

5) Train with focus and intensity. Free weights will always be the best way to add mass, but what’s more important is the way you work your muscle during each set. You should train intensely, regardless of whether you’re using machines, cables, barbells or dumbbells. My sessions rarely last longer than 45-60 minutes because I can maintain a high level of intensity for about that long. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can go two hours full bore.

6) Vary your tactics. I usually stick to one program for about six weeks. There’s no single program that will work forever. It’s the combination of programs over time that adds the most quality muscle.

7) Don’t lighten up. A lot of guys like to use lighter weights and higher reps around contest time, but I don’t agree with that approach. I say you should always train as heavy as possible. That keeps your muscle density up for a competition. In my off season, I rarely go to absolute failure, and precontest I add more intensity techniques and shorter rest periods. That’s it.

Get advanced. Advanced techniques can help you get the most out of these mass building exercises. Drop sets and forced reps are my personal favorites, but I also like to use supersets or one and a half schemes. Using the bench press as an example with this technique, you complete one rep through the full range of motion, followed by a partial rep through the bottom half. This constitutes one rep in a one and a half rep scheme, so it’s really a combination of full range and partial movements in a given set.

The bench press is said to be the “king of chest exercises” known for it’s ability to build an eye popping chest. You see many people use the bench press to measure their strength gains and even their manhood, based on how much weight they can bench. One of the most common questions you will get in the gym is “how much can you bench?” so if you don’t want to embarass yourself in the gym pickup a barbell and start using the bench.

The reason the bench press is such a popular exercise in weight training routines is because it offers significant advantages over other bodybuilding exercises.

One of the biggest advantages of the bench press is that it allows you to lift a lot more weight. When you do other upper body exercises you are restricted by how much weight you can add. Adding extra weight to the bench press exercise allows you to progress and sufficiently challenge your muscles – which is crucial for building muscle.

If your training routine consisted of only lifting the same weight all the time there is no way you can expect to gain significant size. The fundamental reason why the bench press outperforms any other upper body exercise if you want to build massive chest muscles is the ability to lift heavy weights.

In addition to having the ability to lift heavy weight, the bench press exercise can be performed in a number of variations to further challenge the body. If you are thinking about setting up a home gym, make sure you purchase an incline bench so you can do all the bench variations. You can do the incline bench press, decline bench press, flat bench press, and use barbell or set of dumbbells for the exercise. There are so many different ways to mix it up with the bench press, and with all the exercise variations you are hitting different muscle groups in the upper body.

The best idea would be to include variations of the bench press in your training program for a more well rounded approach. The bench press exercise has a distinct advantage over other upper body exercises and as such should be given due consideration. Remember that if you are trying to build muscle mass in the upper body, you can’t look past the bench press.

Carbs might be the basis of your bulking diet, but don’t go thinking carbs and protein are the only macronutrients you should be consuming. Yes, you do need to include fats along your bulking diet. Low-fat cheese, eggs, red meat, and dairy are excellent sources of healthy fat. These food sources have just enough saturated fat to aid your body in production of testosterone while at the same time not clogging up your arteries for reduced blood flow.

The thing is, fat is an extreme necessity in our diet. That goes for anyone’s diet. If you’re not getting in enough saturated fat into your system, a lot of health issues can arise and not to mention reduce the production of testosterone to a great level. With your body not producing enough testosterone, it’ll be counter productive against your goal to gain maximum muscle mass. It’ll also have a drastic impact on your sex life if you’re not consuming enough saturated fats.

If you eat right, you’ll boost growth hormone levels, testosterone, insulin, and other anabolic hormones. You will yield the greatest gains in muscle mass if you follow through your muscle building diet. In order to gain maximum muscle mass, you should be eating 6-12 ounces of red meat and about 2-3 egg yolks per day for maximum gains in muscle mass.

You should also include sardines, canned salmon, shark, and even mackerels in your daily bulking diet for added fat content. They are pretty good if you know how to prep these foods. By including seafood into your diet, you will be able to supply your body with omega-3 fatty acids that prevent and fight muscle inflammation. If you’re one of those that are real hardcore into training, you know what I’m talking about.

By consuming more omega-3 fatty acids into your diet, your body will be able to produce more muscle glycogen and also boost your immune system. It’s beneficial to do so because as your body becomes more efficient in producing more muscle glycogen from the carbohydrates you consume, your body will start to produce less of body fat from carbs. So with that said, you’ll be able to get big and lean at the same time.