Five Top Bodyweight Exercises

The ultimate in workouts has to be your own body weight; you can go to any gym and see everyone doing resistance workouts, dumbbells, barbells, Power plates and studio classes. Occasionally you see the odd person doing standard press ups at the end of a chest workout or a few variations on their abdominals.

You never really see anyone doing a complete bodyweight no holds barred workout, why is bodyweight training so good

Benefits of bodyweight training:

1. It's free
2. Variations are endless
3. Minimum amount of space required
4. Can be conducted anywhere
5. Strength is relative
6. Body worked functionally
7. Speed, plyometrics, strength, endurance, stamina, flexibility, movement, are all incorporated

Top five exercises include

PRESS UPS

This is the original bodyweight move and is a great exercise for hitting the chest, shoulders, back and arms, there are many variations and by adding a bit of elevation the range of movement and motion can be increased.

Variations include

1. Military Press Up
2. Toblerone's
3. Marine press up
4. Bouncing bomb
5. Exploding bomb
6. Bronson press up

BURPEES

This has to be the bad boy of the all over bodyweight exercise; this is a favourite with the British Military and martial artists. Once the subject of unfounded bad press most people ignored this exercise but having never left the top five it has made a dramatic come back.

Variations include

1. Stand Up burpee
2. Jump Burpee
3. Bastardo
4. Rolling squat burpee
5. Bouncing burpee
6. Half burpee

SQUATS

Squats are a great exercise, many people owing to western culture only squat at right ankles, ignoring the Posterior kinetic chain and the elastic energy of the hamstrings and glutes when firing correctly. The squat is also a great indicator regarding hip and ankle mobility or lack of.

Variations include

1. Jump Squats
2. Gun Drills
3. Squat Thrusts
4. Knuckle squats
5. Split Squats
6. Pistol Squats

PULL UPS

Versatile and a mass builder for the back and arms, different variations will allow you to progress quickly, often seen as a test of strength most people find them difficult.

Variations include

1. Chin up
2. Side to side
3. Around the world
4. One handed
5. L sit
6. Parallel
Add a rope, towel, suspension system for variety

ABDOMINALS

The holy grail of exercises, in that we want them, but can't seem to find them. Fear not the six pack is there but don't fall into the "I must do 200 crunches everyday" as the abdominals need to rest like every other muscle group.

Variations include

1. Ab Roll outs
2. Super crunches
3. Double V sits
4. Jesus Curls
5. Side plank/oblique twists
6. Bicycle crunches


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Fernie

Best Bodybuilding Program - One Flaw Most Bodybuilding Programs Share and How You Can Get Around It

If you're one of those people who have really tried various bodybuilding programs diligently and got abysmal results, a possible explanation was that you may have been doing the right weight training program but you were eating the worst foods for your body type, or vice versa. This is actually a very common problem.

Most mainstream bodybuilding programs have two major flaws: one, they have a tendency to heavily promote supplements, and two, they advocate the same generic program for everyone.

In this article I'll address the second flaw of mainstream bodybuilding programs: the one-size-fits-all approach, or lack of personalization.

Why Most Mainstream Bodybuilding Programs Are Flawed

The one-size-fits-all approach is the major drawback of most programs like South Beach, Atkins, The Zone, High Carb / Low Carb Diet, etc.

Most Mainstream Programs fail because they don't take into consideration your own individual variables and they don't help you find out the best training routine and nutrition plan FOR YOU.

Our individual differences explain why high carb diets work for some people, while others just gain weight on it. It explains why some people do well on Atkin's, while others develop health problems on this program.

If two people eat the same exact foods, do the same bodybuilding program and get the same amount of rest, they'll still produce different results. This is because of individual differences like genetics and metabolic rate.

Likewise, a bodybuilding program that works well for another may only give you dismal results. There just simply isn't just one program that cuts it for everyone. That's why personalization is a must!

The Best Bodybuilding Program Is The One Tailored For You

If you want to reach your bodybuilding goals much easier and quicker, modelling your behaviour after those who are already producing the results you want is a foolproof strategy.

Want to know the secret of the world's best and most successful Bodybuilders? They know the best weight training program for them at any given time and phase of their training period. They have measured and tracked and found the perfect nutrition ratios for their bodies. If they want to cheat, they know how much they can and cannot get away with. They know how much rest and sleep to get, and they know how far they can go to produce the results they want.

Similarly, the best bodybuilding program FOR YOU is the one that is personalized and tailored to you - and that's the secret!

An effective bodybuilding program is a holistic, complete program that encompasses how and what you should eat, what weight training and cardio training routines you must do, and what mental training you must practice in order to achieve the results your body can possibly attain.

What You Need to Do to Create Your Personalized Bodybuilding Program:

1. Tailor Your Nutrition Program - Getting your diet right is an absolute must. You must know your body type and nutritional individuality to find the optimal diet for you.

2. Personalize Your Cardio Workout - You must know how to systematically manipulate cardio frequency, duration, intensity, timing and type to accommodate your goals and to get the results you want.

3. Individualize Your Weight Training Routine - Your workout program must suit your current physical condition, fitness, lifestyle and goals.

4. Know How to Get Yourself Motivated - Bodybuilding IS hard. Bodybuilding doesn't just involve physical strength, in fact it requires more mental strength. It requires consistent and progressive work and constant personal change. As such you must have mental strategies and techniques to keep yourself focused, committed and driven. You must be unstoppable.

Here's the bottom line: a personalized bodybuilding program is an absolute necessity for your long-term success.


Therefore, the best bodybuilding program is one that shows you how to personalize the components according to your own uniqueness, and the best program I've found for this is Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle Bodybuilding Program, because it's the first to combine all the important information you'll ever need into one exhaustively detailed resource. Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle Program is flexible and customizable. After you've mastered the fundamentals, you'll know how to "tweak" and fine tune your diet and training to fit your body type and individual needs.Why Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle?
Burn the Fat reveals the very same methods used by the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models.
There's no junk -- only solid, proven, effective principles that can be tailored to suit you.
The program won't try to sell you supplements, drugs and similar unproven "performance enhancing" products.
In Chapter 5 of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, you'll find out how to determine your body type and nutritional individuality. There are 3 different nutrition programs, starting with basic fundamentals which you have to master first. Then you adjust your nutrition based on the information you learned.
Burn the Fat will show you how to systematically manipulate your training program's frequency, duration, intensity, timing and type according to your individual needs.
Burn the Fat has FOUR training programs, and within each of these 4 programs there are 2 schedules, giving a total of 8 routines to choose from.To get your own Personalized Bodybuilding Program, click here [http://www.burnfatgainmuscle.info] now.

To get free access to ebooks, articles and videos about no bull, no hype, truly effective Natural bodybuilding and fat loss programs, visit our website or read our Burn the Fat Review here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clement_R._Yeung

Best Bodybuilding Back Workout For Lat Width

If you are looking for a bodybuilding back workout to increase the width of your back, this is the perfect article for you. I will discuss the best bodybuilding back workouts for gaining width to your Lat muscles including the exercises of bent barbell row, one arm dumbbell rows, and pulley cable wide grip row.

Bent Barbell Row: As you may already know it is best to perform compound exercises in the beginning of your training sessions of course after you have fully and completely warmed up. Your grip will vary depending on what part of the lat muscle you wish to target and work the most. Over hand grip will concentrate more on the upper lats and middle back while under hand grip emphasizes the lower lats. To obtain overall development of your back, I suggest you vary your grips often if not week to week.

One Arm Barbell Row: These are one of my favorite workouts for adding width to my back. The reason being is because this movement allows for a complete stretch at the bottom and contraction at the top with mainly only the lat muscle doing all the work. Since this is more of an isolation movement of the lats, try to focus on all three parts of each repetition (eccentric, concentric, and isocentric).

Pulley Cable Wide Grip: For these I like to use the lat pull down bar and take a little wider than shoulder width grip. This will ensure I am focusing on the lats and less on the middle portion of the back.

This is a sample bodybuilding back workout that will help you add some with to your lats.


Click Here To Save Money On Your Supplement Purchases Bodybuilding.com Coupons. Click here now to read supplement reviews of the most popular bodybuilding supplements.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Irish

How to Build Arm Muscle That Gets Noticed

Why is it so difficult to learn how to build arm muscles? You would think that your arms, being exercised normally throughout the day, would be the least likely areas to store excess body fat, yet fat seems to hide there nonetheless. This characteristic of the human body makes it more difficult to build up arm muscles. Building muscles requires time and persistence.

As with any muscle building effort, a proper balance of exercise and diet is the key to success. Eating a proper diet is crucial. Good nutrition requires that you eat a balanced diet that includes both whole grains and lean protein from fish and chicken. It also requires that you drink lots of water. You cannot build up arm muscle, or any muscle for that matter, without being adequately hydrated.

Some people, once they set their mind to something, want to get it done right away. While this attitude is a good one in terms of enthusiasm and urgency, it is not the best method for building muscles. Building arm muscle takes time. If you attempt to do too much at one workout, you can tire your arm to the point where it could cause injury. That's not really what you want, so take your time and do it correctly.

Your arms have three major muscle group areas: forearms, biceps, and triceps. Each muscle group requires special exercises Those exercises that are known historically to be the most effective are described below.

Triceps

Your triceps are located under the back half of each arm. It's a large arm muscle, taking up almost one-half of your arm's entire size. It's formidable size makes it easy to see how important it is to build up this muscle. An excellent exercise for building up muscles is the Tricep Dip. Other beneficial exercises include lying barbell extensions, close-grip bench presses, triceps dumbbell extensions, triceps push down, and triceps dumbbells.

Biceps

Sometimes referred to as the arm's "vanity muscle" because it is a noticeable attention getter when it is enlarged, the bicep is the muscle that every man wants to develop straightaway. Great exercises for accomplishing this goal are: dumbbell concentration curls, preacher curls, incline dumbbell curls, dumbbell hammer curls, and standing dumbbell curls.

Forearm

The forearms will automatically benefit from all of your other exercises for the biceps and triceps. Despite this automatic benefit of non-directed exercise, there are exercises that can be performed to treat the forearms specifically such as dumbbell reverse wrist curls, barbell reverse wrists curls, dumbbell wrist curls, barbell wrist curls, and reverse curls.

In general, pushups and push downs are beneficial to all arm muscles. They are especially good exercises for building arm muscle because they can be done almost anywhere with no equipment, not that you cannot also perform them in a gym. You can't say now that you don't know how to build arm muscle. By performing these exercises, and the ones described above, you can build up your muscles to increase both your strength and attractiveness.


If you want to find more information about building arm muscle, Please click the muscle building programs [http://www.aboutbuildmuscle.com/] named muscle gaining secrets. It is a proven program of step-by-step guide to help you gain more muscle mass. Read the muscle gaining secrets review [http://www.aboutbuildmuscle.com/Muscle-Gaining-Secrets-Review-Scam-Does-Muscle-Gaining-Secrets-Really-Work.html?id=61] for more...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_A_Bush

Arm Muscle Building Tips - How I Built My Arm Muscles in 2 Weeks

Biceps and triceps muscle building exercise is the key to getting those massive arms. There are particular exercises in body building that concentrate on the arms.

Biceps curls are commonly used in arm muscle building. Experts recommend using a 5, 10 or 15 pound weight. While standing straight, push out with your forearm while keeping your upper arm close to the body, than curl up.

There are other bicep curls exercises. Hammer curls work on the forearms. Reserve curls work on the muscle underneath the biceps and makes the biceps bigger. Wide grip curls and close grip curls target the biceps.

Single cable arm curls permits constant tension and more concentration on contractions and builds the biceps.

The preacher curl is one of the best for arm muscle building. You can use a machine or a dumbbell. There are several more curl variations. The curl, when done correctly in any variation builds the biceps overall size.

Pushups have been a muscle building technique for a long time. You can do a push ups a little differently in an exercise called push downs. Start is plank position and push down but hold that position for a few counts before you push up.

Triceps dips are for arm muscle building. Sit on the edge of a chair and push yourself up only using your arms and then hold the position and let yourself down.

Arm muscle building includes the lying triceps press and its variations. Including the e-z triceps extension, lying dumbbell triceps extension and the seated triceps press. The lying triceps exercise builds triceps mass with heavy weights. The variations help build triceps as well. When you do variations of basically the same exercise it perks up the workout.

Do not forget your hands and your forearms. Include wrist extensors and wrist flexors. Use the basic hand grippers to exercise your hands and forearms.

All arm muscle building tips are good; the number of repetitions of each exercise is up to you. People start out with 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise.


Dave has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, fitness and relationships you can also check out his latest websites on Bosch Dishwasher Repair [http://www.BOSCHDISHWASHERPARTS.ORG/Bosch_Dishwasher_Repair.html] and Pilates Fitness Equipment [http://www.commercialfitnessequipment.org/pilates-fitness-equipment/]. Both created to ensure you're informed when making the right product decision.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_D._West

The Bodybuilder's Secret Weapon For Getting Ripped - The ECA Stack

ECA is the workingman's solution to losing body fat. Consisting of over-the-counter ingredients, it creates a thermogenic, fat-burning effect in the body for less than a dollar per day. It's completely legal, and when used correctly by healthy people, very safe. Here are the basics:

Ingredients:

81 mg Aspirin

25 mg Ephedra tablets

200 mg Caffeine pills

Directions: Consume one 81 mg aspirin, one 25 mg ephedrine tablet, and one 200 mg caffeine pill, immediately upon rising in the morning. Drink one cup of water with it. Repeat this dose between 2 and 4 pm. Consume two doses daily per day - no more. Enjoy the ECA stack 6 days per week. Use it 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off, for the duration of your pre-contest dieting cycle.

Cost:

The cost for running an ECA stack is less than one dollar per day. A month's supply of Ephedra can be purchased for about $12 at any corner store like Walgreen's or CVS under the product name "Bronkaid". A 200 count Aspirin can be found for less than $5, and caffeine tablets can be purchased at any grocery store, costing about $2.50 for 24 tablets.

Rationale

Ephedrine causes a thermogenic effect in the body and raises body temperature. This results in an increase in the metabolism. The body reacts to this raise, and attempts to correct the imbalance by producing phosphodiesterase. Caffeine counters the phosphodiesterase production INSIDE cells, allowing the ephedrine to do its job. Aspirin works to make this effect last longer by countering phosphodiesterase production OUTSIDE cells. Together, these three common medications have a strong synergistic effect and cause fat loss in the body.

Pitfalls

ECA stack leads to a slight increase in blood pressure, usually 4 - 7 mmHg on average. If you have a pre-existing heart problem, ephedrine may cause issues, although that is still to be proven. Do not become addicted to caffeine. Watch for stomach ulcer issues from aspirin use. As with all medication stacks, consult with your doctor first, and use common sense. If you sense anything wrong, consult medical assistance immediately. If you're a healthy adult with medical clearance, give ECA a shot and see why it's so popular for body fat loss. Many top amateur and professional athletes actually prefer ECA to illegal fat burners like t3 or clen, because it's just so effective. As with all things medical, bodybuilding, and life, use extreme caution at all times. Good luck!


Dane Fletcher is the world's most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for http://www.BodybuildingToday.com

If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit http://www.BodybuildingToday.com -the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dane_C._Fletcher

Spring Training Bodybuilding Tips

If you are already fit but want to gain or increase your solid muscle weight, then what you need is to get into a bulking plan. It is well known that in order to gain good muscle weight and composition you need to maintain healthy eating habits and engage in proper muscle building or strength training exercises.

The belief held by body builders who think that bulking up means a free for all when it comes to eating is misguided and incorrect. The secret to bulking up or building dense muscle weight minus getting that inflated look is achieving then maintaining a body fat composition not above 10%. Anything above a 10% body fat composition for men and a 13% body fat composition for women is stored by the body as fat and not as a component in establishing solid muscle gain.

Assuming that your fat composition is below 10% for men and 13% for women then the road to achieving solid muscle weight involves eating clean sources of food at an amount slightly higher than what you would utilize on a daily basis.

Once you are aware of the above information then the tips to attaining progress in body building or increasing solid muscle weight composition are patience, consistency, diet and nutrition, basic exercise and compound movement, and remembering to rest to recuperate.

A lot of people who want to gain solid muscle weight think that the goal is to eat a whole lot. While the food consumed may contribute to muscle gain, the fat that comes with it will hinder your ability to regain a cut look in the future. This is why patience and a good healthy nutrition / diet are essential. In addition to this, being consistent is vital. Making it a goal to stick to your bulking up program goes a long way in achieving your desired results or goals.

Regular exercise and compound movements have been proven to work time and time again so why stray away from principles when we all know they have been proven to work. If you are on a good diet but feel that you need additional supplements then make sure to stick to the directions. Another good idea may be to indulge in workout protein shakes. Finally, and most importantly, allow your body enough downtime to rest and recuperation. Most people overlook this part. It is extremely important to wait until your muscles are fully recovered before working the same muscle group again.

By following the above tips, having a little patience, understanding how your body works and maintaining a positive attitude, all your spring body building goals can be achieved.


Dane Fletcher is the world's most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dane_C._Fletcher