Cross Training for Ultimate Gains in Size and Power
Cross training is the term where bodybuilders, power lifters and athletes blend different types of workout styles all into one workout routine. If you do the same workout routine over and over, your gains will start to plateau and you also start to get bored which takes the fun out of training. After all, if you’re not having fun while you’re training, what’s point at all right? So to increase the amount of fun in your workouts, you should try cross training. I for one cross train my workouts, and gains never cease to stop. They keep on coming one after another. Cross training helps increase your endurance and boosts your performance levels.
Prime examples of cross training can include other sports as well and not just weight lifting. For example, rugby players might try mixed martial arts, swimmers might try long distance bike riding, or even sprinters might try weight lifting for a change. To enhance your performance and endurance levels, you should try blending all forms of exercise into your routines. Cross training helps you to develop all aspects of the human body and not just a single point. So the best way to be all around is to train all around.
Choose exercises that boost overall muscle and power development. Bicycling and running can be good for cardio, but don’t choose exercises that just work the same group of muscles. On the other hand for full bodily development, you could try swimming instead.
In order for fast recovery and muscle fatigue, adequate rest each night is a major must. If you’re not getting enough rest, you’re not going to grow in terms of performance and muscularity. Eight to nine hours of sleep per night is a must if you plan on staying fresh both physically and mentally. Also, what you eat determines how your body develops as well. It’s recommended to eat 6-7 small meals a day, with 2-3 hours apart for each meal. By doing this, you’ll boost your body’s metabolism and fat burning properties. You should have a healthy diet that includes lots of protein, vegetables, and fruits.
That said, cross training can be beneficial for nearly anyone. Even if you train to be a bodybuilder, power lifter, or just a normal average joe to lift weights, cross training will boost your performance levels. Even just changing up your workout routine for a week or so will reap many benefits.
Change your Grip for Better Bench Gains
Doing this exercise will boost your bench press almost immediately by using a neutral grip on a pair of dumbbells. If you’re really smart about the way you lift, you should already know that you don’t bench press with your arms straight 90 degrees out from your sides. The way smart lifters go about bench pressing is they actually keep their elbows as close to their sides while descending during benching. By tucking in your elbows 4-6 inches away from your sides, you’ll be able to get more power and also decrease the chances of you injuring your shoulder. Using the neutral grip technique for about nine to twelve weeks will help you physically and mentally in getting comfortable about tucking your elbows in.
1) First thing’s first. Grab a pair of dumbbells and lie flat on the bench. While laying down, arch your lower back while squeezing your shoulder blades into the bench at the same time. With your palms facing each other in a neutral grip, position the weight at the sides of your chest.
2) Next, while keeping your wrists in the exact position, begin your exercise by pressing the weights straight overhead.
Why does this exercise help increase your bench? Well to put it bluntly, rather than having your palms pointed towards your feet and keeping them facing towards each other will help you naturally keep your elbows close to your sides. It’s only a matter of time until you start to automatically do this while bench pressing. By doing this exercise, it allows you lift heavy weight while taking excess heavy pressure on your shoulders thus increasing your mechanical advantage on the exercise.
This exercise also helps build your overall upper body. It works the chest, the triceps, the forearms, the shoulders, biceps, and deltoids. If you’re stuck on a bench plateau, this exercise will help you put extra pounds on the bench and get passed your plateau. You can apply the same concept to other exercises as well. If you’re stuck and haven’t been making gains in a while, change up your workout routine.
6 Tips for Building Muscle and Gaining Weight
Without using high dollar supplements or steroids, one of the best ways to gain weight is the natural way. In many minds today, a lot of people tend to think all you have to do is drink protein powders and weight gainers to build a Greek like body. Some of these supplements might help you gain weight, but that might not be the right kind of weight you’re looking for aka fat. There is a slow and progressive process you have to follow in order to build muscle and gain weight.
Here are some tips to gain weight naturally:
1.) If you’re going to want to start seeing results, you are going to have to start eating healthy. Dieting, oh the gruesome word we tend to loathe with our hearts. Or at least 75% of the overweight Americans do anyway. For most people, it is almost near impossible to eat healthy every single minute. Anyone that tells you don’t have to diet in order to get results you want is lying. It takes hard work and discipline.
2.) Try not to go overboard when you first begin your mass gaining diet. And what I mean by that is don’t jump start your diet 1000 calories above your daily average caloric intake. Slowly build up your calorie intake as each day and week goes by. So if you’re consuming about 2,000 calories a day, bump it up 2200-2300 for the first week or so. Then the next week, bump it up another 200-300 calories. See where I’m going with this? The reason why you don’t want to straight jump into a 4000 calorie diet is your body is going to go into “what the hell” mode and then transform a large amount of those calories into fat.
3.) About every couple weeks or so, you should step on the scale to see how much you weigh. Try to avoid stepping on the scale everyday as this might cause some anxiety issues with some. Trust me, I’ve seen it. If you’re not seeing any increase in weight, revise your caloric intake and increase your calorie consumption. And it’s not all about just the calories either, you have to watch what macro-nutrients you are taking in such as protein, fats, and carbs. Weigh yourself again in about another 2-3 weeks to see if you have made any progress. If you still aren’t seeing any minimal weight gain, revise your diet and continue to increase your macro-nutrients and calories. Repeat this process.
4.) Instead of eating three large meals a day, try to eat 6 proportional meals a day with about 2-3 hours apart if possible. Doing this will help your body metabolize all nutrients and not turn into fat.
5.) This is where the real sweating begins. If your workout routine consists mainly of dumbbell curls, drop the weights now. Literally. In order to gain muscle mass the quickest way possible, you need to include compound exercises that hit large muscle groups all at the same time. By hitting large muscle groups at once, you can spend less time with isolation exercises and more time building muscle mass. The biggest compound exercises you should focus on are deadlifts, bench press, squats, power cleans, and the like.
6.) Last but not least, in order to grow you need to get proper rest. The most muscle growth and recovery you make is while you are sleeping. If you are only getting 3-4 hours of sleep per night, your muscle gains are going to be extremely minimal. So no more late nights on facebook or myspace and hit the bed after a good day’s worth of work.
6 Great Reasons to Join a Gym
If joining a gym has already come across your mind, then you probably already have your legit reasons to go. If you thought you’d never see yourself under a bench press or even on a treadmill, then here are 6 reasons why you should join a gym.
1. You might already be going for walks in the park, or doing body weight exercises at home. Or perhaps maybe you’ve been having a hard time chasing the kids all day and having a hard time keeping up with their energy. Or maybe you sit at a desk all day, been driving everywhere, and haven’t got any exercise or stimulation for your body at all. You’ll definitely get more tuned into shape if you join gym. Then keeping up with the kids, and even a run in the park would be a breeze.
2. You’ll start to feel better both physically and mentally if you join a gym. You’ll be more conscious of how much sleep you get, of what you eat, and your overall health in general. After a few more weeks of going to the gym, it also start to show on the outside as you make progress.
3. Joining a gym is a great way to boost your energy levels and its a great place to go if you want to boost your social life. This is entirely a good thing for people whose lives need a little bit more “shaking” up to speak. Ever since a joined a gym, it almost felt like high school all over again. Met a lot of cool people and also some life long friends along the way.
4. Thousands of people join gyms everyday to get back into shape. Whether if they’re wanting to increase their performance in sports, lose weight, bodybuilding, whatever their goals lie within. If another more out of shape person compared to you can join a gym, so can you.
5. By joining a gym and getting into exercise, you can also help improve your cholesterol levels. Exercise has the potential to increase your HDL levels (good cholesterol) and it also lowers your LDL (bad cholesterol) and also triglycerides.
6. If you are already involved in a sport such as football, swimming, rugby, basketball, then joining a gym and getting a sports trainer just might be the thing for you. Sports trainer have the ability to improves ones performance with sports specific exercises. So if you have a sport you take part in, then hiring a sports trainer just might be a good investment for you.
2 Exercises for The Super Athlete
Well, if you are here reading this, then I’m guessing you want to know what exercises the above title is talking about. Let me start by saying, if you’re an athlete that is serious about their training, keep on reading. If you want the easy stuff, the short cut, then you can stop here. Only serious athletes apply. When it comes to competing in sports whether if its football or soccer, athletic performance is something a unique trait one must possess in terms of the ability of the human body.
Genetics, physical condition, inner spirit are all variables that determines the athletic performance of a certain individual. While knowing that, the performance of a human body can be altered and efficiently built to do what ever it needs to do. Here are two exercises that will succeed with explosiveness, power, speed, and strength; which are a couple qualities an athlete must possess. That old saying goes “winners are born,” but the new saying goes “winners are built.” Because even if you have some sort of athletic gift, if you don’t train the correct way, you still won’t climb to the top of the mountain.
Power Cleans: Who knew eh? In today’s sports, power cleans is what build athletes. It’s an explosive type exercise that requires the whole body in complete unison. Without unison, the body will result in injury and inefficiency of the exercise being done. Every athletic based program should include this power and tremendous Olympic type exercise. It has the ability to increase one’s upper body strength, leg power, core power with just one repetition of the exercise. There are also a few types of cleans, but the power cleans is surely at the top of the food chain when discussing in terms of effective exercises. The amount of force and power required to do this exercise is what lives up to its name. Anyone that is serious about lifting weights or increasing their athletic performance, power cleans is a must have to include into their workout routine.
Plyometric Box Jumps: The second exercise I would like to discuss are plyometric box jumps. If you’re looking for a way to build some serious leg and core power, box jumps is the answer. Your center of gravity starts at your core and your core is where most human dynamics come into play. When it comes to comparing in core building, power, and strength, plyometric box jumps are really no different than power cleans. Well, only main difference really is the amount of resistance used. But you can also add resistance while doing box jumps such as wearing a weight vest or holding a pair of dumbbells. The real strategic tactic I’m trying to reveal here is that box jumps in combination with power cleans can prove to be a deadly threat when it comes to building a serious athlete. If you’re looking to push out more performance, and increase your strength, power cleans and plyometric box jumps are the answer.
