6 Tips To Get Big

If you want to build up muscle, there are several easy to follow tips that I can recommend. Whether you already work out regularly and want to change your routine to building some bulk or whether you are a total beginner and just want to learn how to build up muscle, these tips will be invaluable.

Tip 1 -- work each set to exhaustion. When you work a set, make sure that your last repetition, or rep, is so difficult that you cannot do another one without a small break period between sets. This will ensure that the muscle fibres are worked so hard that they will need repair. It is this repair that will build up muscle mass.

Tip 2 -- increase protein intake. Protein is the basic building block for your body to repair the muscles after a workout and build up muscle. If you don't eat a lot of protein, you will simply wither away and not increase your muscle mass whatsoever.

Tip 3 -- do eight to twelve reps per set. A good guide is to perform a minimum of eight and no more than twelve repetitions per set. Too few reps means that you are resting too much and not working out enough. Too many reps means that you are not doing a big enough workout and will not build up muscle fast. If you are hitting twenty reps easily, you need to add more weight!

Tip 4 -- cottage cheese is a wonder food. Cottage cheese is great if you are body building. Sure, it tastes a bit strange, but it is low in carbs and fats and very high in protein. You can even get flavored cottage cheese these days or incorporate it into some simple recipes.

Tip 5 -- free weights rule! You can build muscle with machine weights. If they are your only weights you can still build up muscle effectively. However, free weights are much more effective. This is for a number of reasons. For instance, free weights require greater balance and you can also perform compound movements. This is where you work several muscles at once instead of just one that you might with a machine. The body loves this type of workout!

Tip 6 -- eat more often! Yes, I am not kidding! It is better to eat smaller amounts more frequently than three bigger meals per day. To build up muscle in the most efficient and fast way, you should eat small meals roughly every three hours. One easy way is to split your lunch in two. You could eat half of it at 12pm and the other half at 3pm.

Want A Flat Stomach!

A flat belly is considered an intrinsic part of human aesthetics. However, in an increasingly automated and Internet-centric world, a sedentary lifestyle has become more common, which is the flat belly’s enemy number one. The following is an original list of 5 very practical flat belly tips that can truly help anyone who is struggling with excess fat around the tummy.

Eat in Small Portions

Snacking and munching between meals is a compulsive habit with many people. It aggravates especially when they are under any kind of stress. Snacks are generally high-calorie foods that cause the maximum impact on the belly fat. It would be impractical to suggest cutting down on snacking or drinking high-calorie beverages between meals for those who are accustomed to it. But there is a smart way out from this trap. Divide meal quantities into smaller portions, and eat in piecemeal several times a day. So whenever there is a craving to eat, you can eat the remainder of your meal, instead of going for a snack. For instance, if you have a cola or a dessert along with the meal, save it for later. If you eat two sandwiches at a time, eat one, and save the second one for later. This way your aggregate food consumption for the day remains the same, and you get the opportunity to satisfy your food cravings as well.

Stock Your Refrigerator with Fruits and Salads

Substitute snacks and other high-calorie food and drinks with natural fruit and salad items at home. This ensures that there is a low fat but filling option whenever there is an urge to munch. Natural fruit and salad without dressing are healthy options. It is important to have a regular stock of these things in the fridge as substitutes to packaged foods and snacks, which are the enemies of a flat tummy. If you do not have them in ready stock, there is little motivation to go out and buy them when you facing hunger pangs. In that weak moment, you are bound to opt for unhealthy snacking. Therefore, make sure that your fridge is always loaded with fresh, low-calorie, natural foods.

Ban Snacks, Packaged Foods, and Artificial Beverages at Home

One of the best strategies to curb the urge of snacking and drinking high-calorie drinks is to not allow these things in your home. If there is no supply of these items at home, you will have no chance to succumb to the temptation of eating them. For the first few days, it may be difficult to survive without snacks, packaged foods and beverages at home. But if you can maintain this commitment for a few days with focused determination, gradually your body will be relieved of this compulsive urge. This is a surefire solution to curb the habit of snacking between meals, if you are serious about achieving a flat belly.

Choose a Physical Sport of Personal Liking

Exercise, yoga and regular visits to the gym can be boring and monotonous for many people. In fact, most people start such efforts with a big bang, but end up very quickly with a whimper. A much more effective and sustainable alternative is to play a sport that involves some amount of physical activity. It could be tennis, badminton, basketball, or anything else that involves some amount of cardio activity. Sports can be highly enjoyable and entertaining because of the inherent element of competition in it. It is far more sustainable than going for pure physical exercise regimen where there is a high resistance against monotony.

Involve Friends or Spouse into your “Flat Belly” Campaign

Morning walks, exercises, going to the gym, or eating salads and fruit can be highly monotonous if one has to do it all alone. Chances are that an isolated flat belly campaign may quickly run out of steam. However, if there is a group of friends, or simply the husband and wife who are willing to take up the challenge together as a team, the going gets much easier. The boredom factor gets reduced drastically, and there is constant motivation from each other. If one person in the team is losing spirits, the other person will be able to motivate and uplift, and the vice versa will also happen. Difficult journeys always become easier when you have companions, and it is not just a lonely expedition.

These are very real and healthy tips to attain a flat stomach, without undertaking risky crash diets or over-ambitious exercise regimens

Get Ripped With My Diet Plan, Training Plan And Suplimentation Tips

So here's my plan that I am using to get shredded, it’s paying off to be honest.

I’ve tried so many times to get down past 5% body fat and it’s just never happened.

I will talk you through step by step how I managed to achieve it this time and what I used and did to achieve it.

Firstly I am going to talk about MACRO’S. Diet is very, very important when trying to transform your body, so getting the right calorie intake is vital. If you eat too many calories, you will put on excess weight and possible gain fat which isn’t the point if you are going to get ripped! But under eating calories will cause you to lose that hard earned muscle that you have worked hard for.

For your body to function also you need sufficient and correct macros. Macros stand for “Macronutrients” and they are broken down into three categories, these being

·         Carbohydrate’s

·         Protein’s

·         Fat’s

They are all a vital part for body building, don’t get enough you won’t grow, get too many you will grow the wrong way!

I use a website that basically works out all of my macros for me (Because I Suck at Maths) but I still do know how to work it out using the formulas. I will talk you through both ways, but first you need to know how many calories you need each day. On the same website I use to get my macros from they have an instant calculator which work out how many calories you will need to gain muscle or get shredded.

Click on the link here to work out how many calories you will need to transform your body. Once you have found the amount of calories you need, quickly write it down somewhere because you will need it in a second.

You need to put you’re

Age

Gender

Height

Weight

Exercise Level

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

So you have found out you’re calorie needs. It should have given you an amount of calories either to maintain your current body weight, for fat loss and or extreme fat loss.

If you are looking to bulk up a bit add an extra 300-400 calories on top of that until you see a slow increase in weight each week of about 1lb. this should be mainly muscle and not a lot of fat which you are putting on if you are training hard!

For fat loss which you will need to get Ripped you need to use the “Fat Loss” calorie level it has given you, this means you should be losing no more than 1lb per week, otherwise if you lose any more than that per week you’re in a high chance of losing muscle like I talked about earlier.

Okay now click on this link and enter your calories that you have been given into the small white box on the page. I would recommend using the moderate fat loss diet plan in the next box, this is the most common used to get great results. All you have to do now is select how many meals you are currently eating a day and below that is you macro break down. All you have got to do now is work out some meal plans that fit around your macros, try to vary you foods or your taste buds are going to hate you in the long run as I found out by only eating chicken and broccoli for weeks upon end!

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm

If you’re good at maths and want to work it out yourself here is the formula used to calculate your macros.

So to find out your BMR – Basic Metabolic Rate you need to use this equation, BMR = 370 + (21.6X Lean Body Mass in KG) X (100-body fat %) / 100

You then multiply these by an 'activity variable' to give TEE. This Activity Factor is the cost of living and it is BASED ON MORE THAN JUST YOUR TRAINING. It also includes work/lifestyle, sport & a TEF of ~15% (an average mixed diet). Average activity variables are:

1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise) + Desk Job

1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Little Daily Activity And Light Exercise 1-3 Days A Week)

1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderate Active Daily Life And Moderate Exercise 3-5 Times A Week)

1.7-1.8 Very Active (Physically Demanding Lifestyle And Hard Exercise or Sports 6-7 Times A Week)

1.9-2.0 Extremely Active (Hard Daily Exercise Or Sports And A Physical Job)

This will be your daily calories then you want to split this up into your carbs, proteins and fat’s accordingly to how you are planning your diet E.G – Carbs 40: Protein 40: Fats 20 – 40:40:20.

Great, we have covered the most important part of the plan now it’s time to start talking about training.

The training routine I use looks like this,

o   Monday – Training Day – Arm’s & Abs

o   Tuesday – Rest Day

o   Wednesday – Training Day - Legs

o   Thursday – Rest Day

o   Friday – Training Day – Shoulder & Back

o   Saturday – Rest Day

o   Sunday – Training Day -  Chest & Abs

So my Monday’s workout is this, if you are un-aware of any of the exercise’s here’s a website that has over 300 exercises on it. http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/  just type in the search bar underneath the diagram of the body’s.

Cardio 10-15 min’s to get the blood pumping around the body and getting the muscles warmed up.

Concentration Curls – 1 warm up, 4 sets (forced reps)

Barbell Curls – 3 sets (cheat)

Hammer Curls – 3 sets (last set is a drop set)

Rope Press downs – 1 warm up, 4 sets (last set is a drop set)

EZ Bar Skull crushers – 3 sets

Parallel Dips – 3 sets (drop sets)

Decline Leg Raise – 3 sets

Machine Crunches – 3 sets

Seated Tucks – 3 sets

Tuesday is a rest day for me, time to recover and make some food for the next couple of days.

Wednesday’s workout is like this

Cardio 10-15 min’s to get the blood pumping around the body and getting the muscles warmed up.

Squats – 1 warm up, 4 sets

Straight Leg Deadlifts – 1 warm up, 4 sets

Lunges – 3 sets

Leg Extensions – 4 sets (last set is a drop set)

Lying Leg Curls – 4 sets (last set is a drop set)

Thursday is another rest day.

Friday’s workout is this

Cardio 10-15 min’s to get the blood pumping around the body and getting the muscles warmed up.

Smith Machine Military Press – 1 warm up, 4 sets (last set is a drop set)

Dumbbell Side Laterals – 3 sets (flush sets, which means, after you’re done with normal reps, you hold the weight up in position as long as possible)

Front Dumbbell Raises – 3 sets (flush sets)

Underhand Barbell Rows – 1 warm up, 4 sets (last set is a drop set)

Deadlifts – 1 warm, 4 sets

Superset: Behind-the-neck lat pull downs, lat pull downs – 3 sets

Seated Cable Rows – 3 sets (last set is a drop set)

Saturday is another rest day!

Sunday’s workout is this

Cardio 10-15 min’s to get the blood pumping around the body and getting the muscles warmed up.

Flay Dumbbell Fly’s – 2 sets

Superset: Incline Bench Press, Incline Dumbbell Fly’s – 1 warm up, 4 sets

Dumbbell Pullovers – 3 sets

Parallel Dips – 3 sets (all sets are drop sets)

Push Ups – 3 sets

Cable Crunches – 3 sets

Vertical Bench Leg Raise – 3 sets

Decline Crunches – 3 sets

So we have gone through the macro breakdown and why you need to know about it and we have also worked yours out for you. You have hopefully workout out some meal plans revolving around your macros you have been given from the websites I provided. And we have now been through the workout I use, what next?

Supplementation, yes the one you have been waiting for I guess. Okay I am not going to ramble on about supplementation (Sup’s) because you don’t need to get all of these heavily advertised, high priced supplements, but you will need the basic sups obviously.

So what are the basics? I have mentioned these also in another post on my blog but if you haven’t seen that here are the basics,

·         Whey and/or Casein

·         Multi- vitamin

·         BCAA’s

·         Creatine

You should already have most of the above if you have started Bodybuilding but if you haven’t and you can’t hit you’re macros or need something in aid of faster/better recovery you should invest in them.

If you need that extra boost or push towards losing them last pounds here are a couple things to maybe look at if you are serious about all of the above.

A good fat burner, I have used a couple since doing this and I found that a brand called “Warrior” do an amazing fat burner. But be warned, it’s not for the light hearted. It is very strong and will also suppress your appetite for hours upon end, in the case where I had to set alarms to remind me to eat because n didn’t feel hungry so forgot to eat. The actual product is called “Warrior Blaze” and you can buy it from most supplement stores, if you can’t find it drop me a PM and I can give you a few links for the product.

Finally and lastly, i will remind you that you need to REST to achieve results. I would say to get roughly eight hours sleep daily for maximum results. This will not only let your body recover, but you will feel great after a long deserved sleep.

If you need and help of have any questions about anything above please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or PM me at bloggingfromsteven@gmail.com .

Good luck with your journey, and remember achievements are made in the kitchen 80% Diet 20% Training.

Regards Steven.

Start making money with PTC websites

Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing some research on PTC websites.

PTC (Paid To Click) is a website that lets you view other peoples ads for 3 seconds and they pay you for doing so.

It’s not a GET RICH OVERNIGHT program, but it can give you a nice bit of extra cash at the end of each month to spend on things.

I have had quite a lot of success with the websites over the last 3 weeks, what I will say is to make it more beneficial for yourself to earn more money is to get signed up for a couple of the websites and start viewing some ads.

I signed up to 4 different PTC websites and have earned £62.46 this month. I started them about 3 weeks ago and waiting for the pay-out dates which are 26^th, 28^th, 30^th and 6^th. So by the 6^th of June I would have already banked roughly £80-£90 just by viewing ads.

I was surprised by the reasonable pay-outs they give you for viewing ads. Some are as low as 0.10 and some can be up to £6.

I MUST SAY AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A GET RICH OVERNIGHT PROGRAM BUT YOU WILL EARN A LITTLE BIT OF EXTRA CASH EACH MONTH.

The best site I am using at the moment is called ClickSense.

Minimum pay-out of £5.00 and average pay per click is 0.10. you get about 20-30 ads daily to view and if you do this for 10-20 mins each night before you go to bed or when you wake up you will soon see the money adding up.

The website link for clicksense is http://www.clixsense.com/?4218821

Feel free to leave any comments below and I will be sure to help out with any questions.

Learn How To Get Killer Ab Muscles.

You may never do another crunch once you finish this article.

Straight To The Core

Before we cut to the core, here is a quick primer. There are three planes of movement:

• The sagittal plane, for front-to-back movements
• The frontal plane, for side-to-side movements
• The transverse plane, for rotational movements

Now that we're caught up on the planes of movement, let's examine the relevant muscles. If you learned basic anatomy in college, like I did -- or even if you learned it reading muscle mags -- chances are the core muscles and their functions went something like this:

Functions

• Rectus Abdominus — Trunk flexion
• Internal Obliques — Trunk flexion, ipsilateral rotation
• External Obliques — Trunk flexion, contralateral rotation
• Quadratus Lumborum — Side-bending
• Spinal Erectors — Trunk extension

What you don't learn about are stabilizers like the diaphragm, pelvic floor, multifidi, etc., or why they're important. Instead, the basis of the lecture (and the magazines) revolved around the showy 6-pack-type muscles -- or at the very least, the ones we could train in the gym!

To give you a practical example, here's what my core training programs looked liked in the early 2000s:

Exercise Examples

• Trunk Flexion — Sit-up variations, crunch variations, hanging leg raises
• Trunk Extension — Back extensions, reverse hyperextensions, Superman
• Trunk Lateral Flexion — Side bends, Saxon side bends, side bends off bench
• Trunk Rotation — Medicine ball twists and throws, contact twists

Re-Defining the "Core"

Now, 12 years later, I would describe the core differently -- as a box with 6 sides.

1. On the top is your diaphragm.
2. On the bottom is your pelvic floor.
3. In the front are your rectus and transverse abdominus.
4. In the back are your multifidus and spinal erectors.
5. Last but not least, on the sides are your internal and external obliques, along with your quadratus lumborum.

The thing about defining the core is that it gets tricky fast. I could argue that just about any muscle from your neck down could play a role in core stability. But for today's purposes, we're going to focus on these basic muscles and their respective functions.

As I started learning more and more functional anatomy (and learning from people far smarter than myself), I started to put the pieces together.

I learned that the lumbar spine (i.e. lower back) isn't built for rotation. In fact, you only have 0-2 degrees of rotation at each segment of your lumbar spine!

Even top to bottom, you only have about 15 degrees of rotation through your lumbar spine. I know a handful of you are going to be clamoring for references here. I'd suggest picking up books by Shirley Sahrmann, Stuart McGill, or Nikolai Bogduk if you want "proof."

Upon leaving my master's program I worked in a chiropractic rehab facility where I dealt with crowds of lower-back pain patients. As a result, I read the works of the aforementioned McGill, the foremost spinal biomechanist in the world. He focuses on trying to minimize repetitive flexion and extension through the lumbar spine; this is the exact pattern that produces disc herniations!

I know what you're wondering: What does all of this have to do with me and the 6-pack I don't yet have, but desperately want? What it means is that it's time to stop the sit-ups and crunches and find exercises that develop the core while maintaining the health of our lower backs!

If we re-created our list from above, it may look something like this:

Function

• Diaphragm — Respiration, increase in Intra-abdominal pressure
• Pelvic Floor — Increase intra-abdominal pressure
• Rectus Abdominus — Prevention of lumbar/core extension
• Internal Obliques — Prevention of lumbar/core extension and rotation
• External Obliques — Prevention of lumbar/core extension and rotation
• Transverse Abdominus — Increase intra-abdominal pressure
• Quadratus Lumborum — Prevention of lumbar side-bending
• Multifidus — Segmental stabilization
• Spinal Erectors — Prevention of lumbar flexion

Taking what I already knew about the planes of motion and combining them with this knowledge, I totally revamped how I approached core training. My new school approach looks something like this:

Let's break down each component and give you practical examples for the next time you're in the gym!

1/ Anti-Flexion

Anti-flexion is probably the easiest component of core training to understand. Every time you squat or deadlift, you are essentially training anti-flexion! The goal of anti-flexion exercises is to resist flexion, or bending, through the lumbar spine.

While you can get plenty of development from big-bang exercises like squats and deads, more isolative exercises like back extensions or reverse hypers can also help. The key when performing these movements, however, is to keep your low back neutral and squeeze your glutes at the midpoint of the movement.

2/ Anti-Extension

The goal of anti-extension exercises is to resist extension through the lumbar spine. But anti-extension is one of, if not the most, poorly-executed elements of core training. Most would benefit from properly executing basic exercises such as front planks and push-ups, while using a PVC pipe to get into a neutral alignment.

Over time, you can progress to more challenging variations like ball or ab wheel rollouts, or even unstable progressions such as blast strap and TRX fallouts, flutters, and Miyagis, etc. The key here is simple: You must keep the spine in neutral, and not allow your lumbar spine to hyperextend!

3/ Anti-Lateral Flexion

I used to love dumbbell side bends back in the day. This was one of those exercises you could just feel for days after your workout. It really felt like you were getting some work accomplished! But the goal of anti-lateral flexion actually is to resist lateral flexion, or side bending, through the lumbar spine.

So if we ditch the side bends, what do we replace them with? We can take the same principles, but tweak them for a great training effect. Instead of side bending, hold a dumbbell in one hand for an extended period of time without allowing side bending.

If that's too easy, progress to an offset farmer's walk or waiter's carry, holding the weight in one hand while extended overhead. If you're a true soldier, consider suitcase deadlifts.

Remember, a lot of these moves may shock to your system! The goal isn't to load the weights up and stumble around like a drunken sailor in a typhoon. Lock your spine into place and don't let it move!

4/ Anti-Rotation

This was the hardest component of core training to give up. I really loved doing rotational med ball work.

Now, I do anti-rotation work instead. The goal is to resist rotation through the core and lumbar spine. My favorite exercises for training the anti-rotation component of the core are Pallof Press variations. At IFAST we do them in tall-kneeling, half-kneeling, standing-up, and even standing combined with a side step.

The key here is to lock the core down and not allow any rotation through the core and lumbar spine. You'll be surprised at how difficult these are!

5/ Hip Flexion with Neutral Spine

Last but definitely not least, we have hip flexion with a neutral spine. One of the most challenging components of lifting is getting set-up in the starting position of a deadlift, or squatting as deep as possible, without rounding the lower back.

This exercise sequence will help you get there. The goal of this progression is to keep your core and low back in a neutral position, while simultaneously flexing your hips. Exercise examples here would include prone jackknifes on a ball, band resisted jackknifes, alternating band-resisted jackknifes, and even hanging leg raises. The key is keeping the low back neutral and moving only through the hips!

Your Most Pressing Question Answered!

Once again, I know what you're thinking: "But Mike - how can I get a 6-pack from these exercises?"

I hope you already know that getting a 6-pack is dictated far more by your nutrition and overall training program than it is by your selection of core exercises.

But I can also tell you this: If you dial-in the exercise and nutrition component, even when using only core stability exercises like the ones I've outlined above, you can absolutely get ripped up. Just check out the two ladies I trained below for proof!

Bringing it All Together

So you're sold on swapping out the crunches, sit-ups and side bends for core stability work. Good for you!

If you want to build it into a program, I think the best way to train the core is via small doses throughout the week. No need for an all out core-blasting session; breaking it up into bite-sized chunks works and feels better.

Ask me any training related questions and i will answer them for you

Come at me with some questions

post a comment and i will reply with a answer to your question.

Up your bench by 30lbs in 30 days

Your reaction upon reading the title of this guide was one of disbelief and curiosity, wasn’t it?  I understand.  There are a lot of people making a lot of promises out there and very few of them pan out.  Your personal gym experience also influences your reaction to the title.

You have not experienced such fantastic progress and follow all of the advice you have gathered from the net and in print.  Undoubtedly, you have heretofore come to the conclusion that such progress is only possible with anabolic steroids and inhuman heredity.  Please read the following VERY carefully:

I am here to tell you it can and has been done, drug-free, and that includes experienced trainees.  With the right combination of proper training, diet, rest, and supplementation you can do it!  If you’re game, read on…

The Four Factors

The four most important factors ranked in order of importance are:

Proper training

Proper diet

Proper supplementation

Proper rest

Rest

Wait a second!  You have read so many times how important sleep is, right?  How did it get ranked least important?

The idea that strength training progress is nigh impossible without 8 or more hours of sleep seems to be all pervasive in iron game culture.  Sleep is important, but a lot can be done with less than optimal amounts.  In my own training, I have made excellent progress while working with significantly less than 8 hours of sleep per night.  As both the great Paul Anderson and Doug Hepburn knew (modern superman Chad Aichs knows it too!), so long as you have sufficient nutrients to fuel recovery, you can get what is considered to be less than optimal amounts of sleep and still build prodigious size and strength.

Joey Smith - AtLarge Nutrition big bencher!

Mike Wolfe - getting his Z’s!

As long as you have sufficient nutrients to fuel recovery, you can get less than optimal sleep and still build Brobdingnagian size and power!

With that said; in order to make the most progress in the shortest period of time you need to optimize each of the 4 Factors.  You should shoot for 8 or more hours of sleep per night.  If this is not possible, naps can be a powerful tool to augment your nightly sleep.  Power naps of 20 minutes to 1 hour taken when possible will benefit your overall recovery.

Sleep is not the only form of rest that must be considered.  Intense physical exercise outside of the gym should also be greatly curtailed during this 30 day program if you are to optimize your results.  Skip your weekly pickup game of basketball and save the majority of your energy for the gym and recovery.

Remember, this program only lasts 30 days. Make it a priority during that time and be sure to make time for the rest you need to optimize your results.

Training

Your training routine is the single most important factor in how much weight you can bench.  You can do everything else perfectly, and may have, but if you don’t train properly you won’t realize the kind of results you are capable of.

The purpose of this guide is to increase your unequipped bench (without a special bench shirt) by 30 or more pounds in 30 days.  As such, the training routine must be one of specialization for the bench.  You know the saying, “Jack of all trades; master of none.”  The gist of those words is that specialization is king when you want to maximize results.  This is no more true anywhere than with the human body.  The very nature of human physiology mandates that we specialize our training for optimal results.  Strength is extremely specific.

This concept is embodied in the S.A.I.D. (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand) principle.  This principle states that the human body will respond with a very specific adaptation to any physical stressor placed on it.

Remember that specialization is king when you want to maximize results!

Mike Wolfe the living embodiment of the S.A.I.D. principle!

My first exposure to the concept of training specificity was from the writings of Ellington Darden, PhD.  Dr. Darden is one of the driving forces behind the H.I.T. (High Intensity Training) bodybuilding phenomena (he coined the term).  He is also a prolific author of the genre.

One of many things that differentiate Dr. Darden from the rest of the bodybuilding pack is his considerable expertise in the area of motor learning.  Motor learning is the concept of skill acquisition relative to physical movement and how those skills may or may not transfer to other movements.

It was on his old website, the name of which escapes me, that I first read about a series of studies which examined athletic endeavors and how skill in one specific event translated (or not) to another.  The studies found that there was little skill correlation between very similar athletic movements.

For instance, the fastest runner in a straight line was usually not the fastest when running in a circle.  Another example was hitting with a tennis racket vs. a badminton racket.  The best at hitting the tennis ball was not the best at hitting the badminton bird.  Why?  Specificity of motor movements!  Just because two movements are similar does not mean that the motor skill required to perform one translates well to the other.

You can read more about his thoughts on the topic in his latest book The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results which is available through his new website www.DrDarden.com (a cool website to visit).

A young Dr Darden on the left

Specifity and the Bench

If the desired training adaptation is a big bench press you have to perform the movement with high frequency in order to build your motor skill.  As per the concept of training specificity, demonstrable strength is highly reliant on the optimization of your nervous system relative to a specific movement.

A Different Perspective

Another titan of the iron game, Louie Simmons, preaches something which might seem to fly in the face of the S.A.I.D. principle and the idea that frequent practice of a given exercise is required to optimize results.  Louie espouses the virtues of the conjugate method.  This method dictates that the lifter frequently alternate exercises by body part on their maximum effort (M.E.) days (M.E. days are practiced once per week and see the lifter typically work up to a 1 rep maximum lift).  Louie normally has his Westside lifters alternate their primary M.E. day exercise every 1-3 weeks.

Louie knows that training with heavy loads for 1-3 repetitions taken to, or near the limit of one’s momentary ability (otherwise known as failure) is what produces the greatest increases in 1-rep maximum (1RM) demonstrable strength.

Heavy loads taken near to, or to failure frequently can also quickly lead to neural stagnation and overtraining.  The variety (in neural stimulus) provided for by the conjugate method allows the lifter to effectively avoid this pitfall.  It works, and Louie has a stable of the strongest men and women in the world to prove it.

Louie Simmons (center) and some of his Westside Barbell crew

Clarification

Before you get totally confused, let’s make it all fit together.  You must practice a specific movement frequently to optimize your motor skill at performing the movement and thus your demonstrable strength.  You must also train to, or near to, your limit with very low repetitions and high loads if you are going to maximize your 1RM in any given movement.  Finally, if the frequency of low rep, high intensity sets for a given exercise is excessive, overtraining will quickly occur (with conjugate variation being the cure).

Training Points:

Specificity

Frequent training to build skill

Conjugate variety

So, how do you optimize your results over a 30 day period?  How do you perform the bench press frequently with heavy loads and not overtrain?  The solution lies in using high frequency with a “conjugate style” variation of load.

The conjugate method works because even small variations in a movement incur a very different stress on the nervous system thus taxing it in a different manner.  This precludes neural stagnation (and thus overtraining).  For our 30 day purpose, the variation in neural stress provided by the conjugate method is desirable, but we still need the “practice” afforded by frequent benching.

The solution lies in variation of the loads used.  Load is another factor which affects or stresses the nervous system and is something that can be varied easily.  Varying the loads used each training day for the bench press will prevent overtraining during the program and allow for frequent benching in order to optimize neural acclimation to the movement.

For the 30 days of this program you will be benching three times per week.  Each session will use a percentage of your beginning 1RM (with the loads being graduated from week 2 on).  The balance of your training will be performed in a more traditional fashion.

The Program

Each of the sets listed is a “working” set.  These are post warm-up sets which should be preceded by 2-3 progressive warm-up sets (unless the specified body part is already warmed-up, the choice is then yours).  The bench press working sets should follow the rep formula exactly as outlined.  The balance of working sets should be stopped 1-2 reps short of failure unless otherwise noted.

Training Point - Precede each working set with 2-3 progressive warm-up sets.

Key:

3 x 65% x 3 reps = 3 working sets with 65% of your starting 1RM for 3 reps per set

1×10 = 1 working set of 10 reps

Monday

Bench Press -  3 x 65% x 3 reps

Skull Crushers -  2 x 10

Triceps Pushdowns – 1 x 10

Squat – 2 x 5

Lat Pulldown (curl grip) – 2 x 10

Calf Raise – 2 x 10, to failure

Machine Ab-Crunch – 2  x 10, to failure

Wednesday

Bench Press – 2 x 75% x 3 reps

Triceps Pushdown – 1 x 10

Deadlift -  2 x 3

Ab-Crunch – 2 x 10, to failure

Friday

Bench Press – 2 x 85% x 2 reps

Dumbbell Bench Press - 1 x 30  (or more reps, to failure)

Skull Crushers – 2 x 8

Triceps Pushdowns – 1 x 10

Leg Press – 2 x 6

Lat Pulldown (curl grip) – 2 x 10

Calf Raise – 2 x 10, to failure

Ab-Crunch – 2 x 10, to failure

Training points - For everything other than the bench work, try to progress by performing 1 more rep, or the same number of reps with a small increase in the resistance each session.  Again, stop 1-2 reps short of failure unless otherwise noted.

Follow this schedule exactly for week 1.  Then, for weeks 2 and on, you should increase the loads used for benching by 5 lbs per set (per day) if you’re starting 1RM is 150 lbs or less.  If your starting 1RM is 155 – 295 lbs, use 10 lbs per set.  For 300 – 395 lbs increase the loads by 10 lbs per set for the Monday and Wednesday sessions, and 15 lbs for the Friday sessions.

Finally, if you’re starting 1RM is 400 lbs or more, use a 15 lbs increase for the Monday and Wednesday workouts, and 20 lbs for Fridays.

Training points:

1RM < 150 lbs = increase loads by 5 lbs per set 1RM  155 – 295 lbs =  increase loads by 10 lbs per set 1RM  300 – 395 lbs  =  increase loads by 10 lbs on Mon & Wed, and by  15 lbs on Fri 1RM > 400 lbs =  increase loads by 15 lbs on Mon & Wed, and by 20 lbs on Fri

Mike Wolfe getting ready to hit his triceps

Samples of Bench Progression

Beginning Bench Press = 200 lbs

Week 1

Monday – 200  x  65% = 130 lbs

Wednesday – 200  x  75% = 150lbs

Friday – 200  x  85% = 170 lbs

Week 2

Monday – 130  + 10  = 140 lbs

Wednesday – 150  + 10  = 160 lbs

Friday – 170 + 10  = 180 lbs

Week 3

Monday – 140 + 10 = 150 lbs

Wednesday – 160  + 10 = 170lbs

Friday – 180  +  10 = 190 lbs

Week 4

Monday – 150  + 10 = 160 lbs

Wednesday – 170 + 10 = 180 lbs

Friday – 190 + 10 = 200 lbs

Beginning Bench Press = 330 lbs

Week 1

Monday – 330 x 65% = 215 lbs (round to the nearest 5 lbs)

Wednesday – 330 x 75% = 250lbs

Friday – 330 x 85% = 280 lbs

Week 2

Monday – 215 + 10  = 225 lbs

Wednesday – 250 + 10  = 260 lbs

Friday – 280 + 15  = 295 lbs

Week 3

Monday – 225 + 10 = 235 lbs

Wednesday – 260 + 10 = 270 lbs

Friday – 295 + 15 = 310 lbs

Week 4

Monday – 235  + 10 = 245 lbs

Wednesday – 270 + 10 = 280 lbs

Friday – 310 + 15 = 325 lbs

A Cautionary Tale

Nearly everyone that tries the program, and you will most likely be no exception, feel that they are not performing enough work, especially in the beginning.  You will want to do additional work for your pecs, shoulders, and everything else.  The compulsion will be strong.  It must be resisted!  Remember, you are most likely trying this program because you are unhappy with your current bench press progress or 1RM.  This program was not put together haphazardly and has been proven in practice.  As the loads are increased weekly the intensity of effort will climb and you will “see the light” as your bench and other lifts begin to soar.

Training point - Follow the program exactly as prescribed!

Westside Barbell Powerlifter - Travis Bell

Supplementation

I rank supplementation 3rd in importance among the 4 Most Important Factors to strength training success. Proper training and diet are more important, but that fact does not minimize the benefits that the right supplements can provide.  If you want to optimize your results, and that is what this program is all about, you need to augment your regimen with the right supplements.

If you are active on the net and read bodybuilding or powerlifting publications you are literally bombarded with ads and advice that recommend a myriad of supplements.  The reason only 4 products are mentioned on the following pages is because short of true anabolic tissue building drugs (even those that are sold as “supplements” due to loopholes in the law) they are part of a very select list of supplements that actually provide an ergogenic benefit.

AtLarge Nutrition’s Maximum Mass Stack groups 4 proven muscle building and recovery products together at a discounted price to help you to optimize your results.

The “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to supplementation is truly a waste of your hard earned money.  Don’t be fooled by flashy advertising and made–up pseudo-scientific terminology.  Stick with real science that you can actually reference at places like Pubmed.

On the following pages I describe the right supplements to help you in your quest to optimize your training results.  They are proven to help you safely achieve your goals.  I firmly believe AtLarge Nutrition products to be the best products of their kind on the market.  You can, of course, with the exception of ETS (Extreme Training Support) which is unique to AtLarge Nutrition’s lineup, substitute similar products.

Supplementation points:

The “everything but the kitchen sink” approach is a waste of your hard earned money!  Choose quality supplements that are proven effective.

MAXIMUS - WEIGHT GAINER

Perhaps the most unique weight gainer supplement available.  It has a highly effective protein blend of whey, casein, milk protein isolates, glutamine, and egg albumin providing over 60g of protein per serving!  In addition, it provides over 70g of energy-fueling, recovery-stimulating carbohydrates.

What truly sets MAXIMUS™ apart from its competition is its inclusion of Microlactin® at a proven dose of 2g per serving. Microlactin® improves general recovery, reduces delayed onset muscular soreness (DOMS), and can help to reduce minor joint pain.  Finally, the addition of inulin helps to promote the superior nutrient absorption required by the growing strength trainee.

ETS - IMPROVE RECOVERY

AtLarge Nutrition’s unique recovery promoting product.  ETS™’ proprietary blend of Microlactin®, zinc, magnesium, and vitamins C and E allows you to train harder, more often.  Optimal recovery is of prime importance in any strength training program.  No other supplement on the market will do more for recovery than ETS™.

In addition, ETS™ can help with minor joint pain and tendonitis.  Finally, it provides a direct strength enhancing effect.

RESULTS - INCREASE MUSCLE MASS AND STRENGTH

RESULTS™ consists of 4 individual ingredients: dextrose, Creapure™ creatine monohydrate, ß-Alanine, and HMB.

Each ingredient is included at a scientifically proven effective dose. RESULTS™ will help you to lose body fat, significantly increase lean muscle mass and strength, enhance your muscular endurance, and promote blistering intensity in the gym!

CREATINE 500 - CREATINE MONOHYDRATE

AtLarge Nutrition’s Creatine 500™ is Creapure™ creatine monohydrate.

It is one of the purest monohydrate products available.  Creatine monohydrate is the most scientifically studied and proven (proven to be both effective and safe) strength and lean muscle tissue building non-hormonal supplement in the world.  Its inclusion is a must if you want to be as big and strong as possible.

OPTICEN - MEAL REPLACEMENT/POST WORKOUT SHAKE

Using Opticen™ immediately after an intense session in the gym (post workout - PWO) will help to maximize your results.  A 60g serving (the recommended PWO serving size) provides roughly 35g of its proprietary protein matrix (whey concentrate, casein, milk protein isolate, whey isolates, glutamine peptides, and egg albumin), 17g of carbohydrates, 1g of fat, and a myriad of vitamins and minerals.

These nutrients combined with its liquid state (which provides accelerated absorption) will quickly place your body into PWO anabolic overdrive!

Supplement Wrap

Including these products in your regimen will make a significant improvement in the results you achieve.  MAXIMUS™ is particularly important because it makes the high calorie intake required by the program much easier to consume.  Just 2 MAXIMUS™ shakes made with milk will add upwards of 2,400 quality calories to your daily intake.

Diet

If you truly want to get the most out of this program, and are someone who normally has trouble putting on muscular body weight, you need to consume a minimum of 25 calories per pound of body weight.  If you are a naturally heavy-set individual, or are over 40 years of age, such high caloric intake is not recommended and you should focus on a healthy diet and the other factors in this guide.

Diet is truly one of the most important factors to your strength training success, but possibly not in the manner you expect.  Most people who have a cursory knowledge of strength training are convinced that the stereotypical bodybuilding diet is what one must follow in order to see progress in the gym.  They are certain that boiled chicken breasts, tuna, and plain rice must be the staples of their dietary regimen.  For those seeking to gain a maximum amount of size and strength in a minimum amount of time nothing could be further from the truth!

Donnie Thompson, one of the world’s strongest men, knows that training for strength requires eating for strength!

If you want to increase your bench press 30 lbs in 30 days you need high calorie foods to fuel your training and provide the calories needed to not only recover, but to supercompensate from said training.   Solid foods should be the core of your diet, but consuming the requisite number of calories can get tiresome and prove to be nearly impossible for some.  Liquid meals are easier to consume and more readily digested.  A full serving of MAXIMUS™ mixed in 4 cups of whole milk provides 1,200+ quality, growth-promoting calories.  As mentioned in the supplementation section, 2 of these shakes per day can make all the difference in terms of allowing you to hit your daily caloric intake goal while on the program.

Here is a brief list of strength training super foods:

Whole milk

All meats

Cheeses

Nuts

Peanut butter

Pasta w/sauce

Eggs

Oils and butter

For those who struggle to gain quality weight and are forever proclaiming that they eat a “ton” of food and could not possibly eat more, I say, “Balderdash!”

The reason certain trainees feel that way is because they have not conditioned their stomachs for maximum mass.  Just like you need to train your body to make it huge, you need to train your stomach by expanding it sufficiently such that you are able to consume the necessary calories to fuel growth.  The only way to stretch your stomach is to consciously over-eat.  You obviously do not want to gluttonize to the point that you feel ill, but you must get close in order to spur the desired stomach expansion adaptation in relatively short order.

Total caloric intake is more important than the macronutrient breakdown of the foods you consume over this 30 day period.  You will find that when consuming the calorie dense foods required by this program, your macro breakdown is roughly equally distributed between protein, carbohydrates and fats.  You may have read or heard in the past that protein ingestion should constitute 40% or more of total caloric intake for strength trainees.  Don’t confuse the resistance trained individual’s increased need for quality protein with protein as a percentage of total caloric intake.  When you are consuming a high calorie diet like the one recommended here, you will consume a lot of protein (300+ grams daily), but  by virtue of the fact that your overall caloric intake is so high, protein will only end up constituting about 33% of the total.

Important - Remember to consume at least 25 calories per pound of body weight!

The bottom line is that you need to eat a lot of relatively unrefined, calorie-dense, high-protein foods in order to get as big and strong as possible in 30 days.

You need not worry about excess body fat accumulation with a program such as this due to its brevity and the fact that it is a “shock” to your system.  The massive caloric intake combined with heavy resistance training called for in this program will result in the addition of a large amount of lean muscle mass and a modest deposition of body fat during the 30 day period.

Tip - Use this program sparingly (once or twice per year) and you can continuously reap its benefits.

Getting the Job Done

There is an old story about a former Mr. America bodybuilder training his protégé that very vividly illustrates the level of commitment required to be the biggest and strongest you can be.  As the story goes, the master and his apprentice were at the beach one day.  Both were wading in the water when suddenly the former Mr. America grabbed his pupil by the head and pushed him beneath the waves.  The pupil was literally forced to struggle for his life.  When he finally made it up for air, the master simply said to his liege that only when he wants to be a great bodybuilder as much as he wanted to breathe moments before would he finally achieve his goals.

Stupid?  Yes, but highly effective in making the point that the mind, the will, are the keys to extraordinary results.  The vast majority of trainees simply do not possess the single-minded determination required to achieve the results they claim to desire.  How do you engender such dogged determination in yourself?  For me, it simply boiled down to my competitive nature and making a decision and then having the will to follow through with it irrespective of other influences.  When I decided that I wanted to become as physically big and strong as I could (without tissue-building drugs), that goal became the sole focus of my life virtually to the exclusion of everything else.

In Closing

Ok, you now have all of the tools you need.  The rest is up to you.

Give this program the kind of laser focus described above for just 30 days and you will be absolutely AMAZED at what you will achieve!!!