Last night after 3 days of intense seminars I took the night off to relax and in the hotel room Danielle and I rented the movie Captain America.

I don’t watch a lot of movies but I am still a big comic book fan (love Batman), but after watching Thor I was a little disappointed so I took the plunge and rented Captain America.

Surprisingly enough it wasn’t too bad a movie.

Moving on to the point of my e-mail.

The guy playing Captain America was JACKED for this role.  I was totally impressed by how this guy looked, he was big, lean, athletic looking, and just had the “look” 90% of guys like (if you want to look like Jay Cutler this e-mail isn’t for you lol).

Anyways it kinda got me thinking about what goes into getting in shape for a role like this.

Yes he had amazing trainers, a nutritionist I am sure and all that awesome stuff us normal people can’t have, but some things stay the same, he had to work hard and he had to eat right.

So here are 3 ways that you can look like Captain America

1. Get Leaner

Bottom line it doesn’t matter how big you are, you will NOT look like a Super Hero with a beer gut or a belly. Want to look awesome get leaner.

If you hover around 10% you should be pretty lean for a guy and 15% for a girl.

Yes I know getting lean requires some work.  You can’t eat everything in sight, you have to have some discipline and you have to deal with it.  Man up, stop complaining and eat better.

Along with looking better you will feel a LOT better.  The last few weeks I have cleaned up my diet 95% and my work has been better, my energy better, my mood better oh and I have gotten leaner.  Do I miss some of my junk food, sure, but looking better and feeling better is more important to me than the “fix” I get from sugar and bad food.

2. Hit The “Show Off Muscles”

OK I don’t practice this, but I am telling you how to look like Captain America not how I approach my training.

Look at any Super Hero and you usually see the following.  Small Waist, Big Arms, Shoulders, and Chiseled Chest.

Do you see Captain America’s legs?  How about a superhero’s back?  Calves?  Not a chance.

Once again I don’t agree with this.  Personally I judge someone’s muscle by their legs and their back, I know they WORKED for those muscles.  I see lots of guys with big puffy arms and chicken legs.  To me this is someone with all ego and no foundation but to each their own.

But when it comes to LOOKING like a Super Hero you want Big Shoulders, Big Arms, Cut Chest & Six Pack Abs.

A Super Hero with a beer cut and small arms isn’t going to save the day.

3. Perfect Posture

Ok this one is a bit boring but it MATTERS.  I see so many people these days walking around with a hunched posture it drives me mental.  We spend way too much time sitting at our computers (like I am right now).  This causes our posture to be terrible.

Bad Posture = Bad Movement = Bad Image = Bad Muscles

Imagine Batman or Captain America with a slouch or rounded shoulders.  Not cool.

So a few simple fixes, work on driving those shoulders back, lifting your chin up, and sticking out your chest.  As well working on your TVA and suck in that stomach.

Someone with bad posture is NEVER seen or respected as much as someone with poor posture.  Imagine a  Super Hero not standing up straight with hunched shoulders, it just screams that someone lacks confidence.

Want to ask out a girl?  Number one thing is confidence.  Confidence starts with your mind, then your body.  So think confident, act confident and stand up straight, get those shoulders back, suck in your belly and watch how people react different to you.

1. Cut out the junk and eat right and treat your body like a Super Hero.
2. Hit the “Show Off Muscles”.  Chest/Shoulders/Arms.  But don’t forget Legs & Back!
3. Work on your posture ALL the time.  Constantly just try to work at it.  Bring the shoulders back, chin up, head high.  Act confident and you will become more confident.

I hope this helps you, and try to keep these 3 thing in mind,

I guarantee you will look and feel way better and people will treat you better.

What Is Carb Cycling?

I sent out an email yesterday about Shelby Starnes Carb Cycling Program and I had a ton of people e-mailing me wondering what the program was about, but even more so wondering what exactly is “Carb Cycling?”.

It’s my fault for not going into more detail in my e-mail as I assumed most people had an idea of just crazy beneficial carb cycling is for Fat Loss & Building Muscle at the same time, however, I got a lot of e-mail questions wondering what Carb Cycling is!  So here is some information on Carb Cycling.

First off let me say something I can’t say enough – Nutrition Is The BIGGEST FACTOR in you Building Muscle & Losing Fat.  Be sure to read that again, and again.  If your nutrition is NOT dialed in I don’t care how many supplements you take or how much weight you lift, or how long you run on the damn stupid treadmill.

NUTRITION MATTERS MOST FOR RESULTS! Period!

One thing to know in advance almost ALL BodyBuilders and Athletes who compete at weight class sports use Carb Cycling.

It allows them to get Muscular AND Leaner at the same time.  I have been doing this for years with great success.

Carb cycling is not some complicated crazy program, it’s actually very very simple once you get the understanding of the basics down, then you can really dial it in.

Here is the ciff’s notes version of Carb Cycling.  On weight training days you have MORE Carbohydrates, on non weight training days you have LESS Carbohydrates.   There you have it, Rocket Science!  That is the premise of carb cycling but once you start looking at details and tweaking, that’s when the real magic happens.

First off you have to know where you stand body fat wise.  This is KEY!  If you are above 20% bodyfat then your carbs are going to be cut drastically.   You will go on a very modified low carb diet (for a period of time..not forever).  Then as bodyfat levels come down you add in more carbs.  Pretty cool hey.  Once you get lean like GSP then it’s all about carb TIMING & Ratios.

Unlike most “Diets” (diets don’t work), Carb Cycling lets you EAT like crazy, just that it’s specific foods at SPECIFIC times based on your workout program!  This is literally a blueprint for fat loss and gaining muscle at the same time.  I don’t know many nutritional programs that can do that!

The main player in making this nutrition plan SO effective is the management of the MOST Anabolic hormone present in your body, good ol INSULIN.  If you aren’t too familiar with Insulin lets just say it’s like the crazy ex girlfriend we have all had.  You know, the one that is 50% of the time AMAZING and the other 50% driving you crazy!  Well that’s insulin!

Insulin can be the trigger to make you build crazy amounts of muscle, BUT it can also cause you to put on a TON of fat if you don’t know what you are doing with it.  That’s why it’s SO important to TIME YOUR CARBOHYDRATES!

Bodybuilders have known for years just how crucial carb cycling is for building muscle and losing fat, and now Carb Cycling and Insulin are entering numerous sports, a big one being MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).

My friend Chris McCoombs lost over 75lbs and GAINED MUSCLE with Carb Cycling

What are the benefits of Carb Cycling?

My New Book - Coming Soon!

* There’s no suffering
* There’s no feelings of being carb depleted
* There’s no huge caloric deficit you need your clients to be in all the time ( one that they won’t be able to stick with anyway )
* People don’t feel they’re missing out on anything
* It’s the easiest diet to stick with I’ve ever seen
* It’s flexible
* It’s easy to prepare
* It can be done on a low budget
* It helps you maintain muscle mass
* It helps you maintain strength
* It helps to dramatically accelerate fat loss like no other nutrition plan I’ve ever seen… PERIOD.

Carb Cycling is SO IMPORTANT I actually have a book coming out in a few months called “The Truth About Carbohydrates” more on this at a later time.

Carb cycling is not a new breakthrough, it has been around for a while now, but it’s kinda like every guru’s secret trick they use to get people in shape, it’s what I use with my clients when coaching them and writing their programs.

In the meantime for more info on Carb Cycling check out www.CarbCyclingProgram.com it is a KILLER Program!!

I hope this helped you learn about Carb Cycling, Leave any questions or comments below.

Randy has been a long time friend and customer.  With over 30 years in the trenches of the weight room he has learned a thing or two.  When Randy speaks, I listen.  You should as well.  Here is a great blog post from him.  I look forward to more from him in the future.

Please leave some comments below.

Thirty years ago I cut my “weightlifting teeth” on traditional workout splits: chest and back on Monday, shoulders and arms on Wednesday and legs on Friday.  You get the picture!  The rep range and number of exercises per body part were always the same.  And, “tempo”, well that was just something to do with the beat of a song on the radio.

During my early twenties, 3-4 exercises per body part and 6-8 reps worked very well for me.  I was as “strong as an ox”, and looked like one too.  My anatomy professor, a MUN wrestling coach, approached me several times to join the team.  Moreover a gym owner, who was highly trained in the field of fitness for the time, wanted to train and sponsor me for a national strongman competition.  Being insecure, I declined both offers.  Today, I often reflect on those decisions.  However, my greatest interest was bodybuilding.  During those pre-internet days I read everything I could get my hands on.  I also attended a show at the Holy Heart Theater to watch Tony Angel and others grace the stage.

As I approached my mid-thirties I was burnt out.  Traditional training techniques were no longer working for me. Therefore, to invigorate my training I entered my first bodybuilding competition at age 36.   A big chest, decent arms, wide back, mediocre legs and “shaddy” abs did not attract the eyes of many judges in 2002.  I remember debating in my mind whether or not I would return for the night show ….. I decided I would do it for my two children who would be in the audience.  After all, it would be my last show!

Shortly thereafter, I was approached by several hockey parents to help their sons prepare for upcoming junior hockey camps.   I would often train with them several times per day and most often it involved full body workouts.  I consumed myself researching various training methods including Charles Staley’s Escalating Density Training.  My body composition changed dramatically as I manipulated the time between sets and the number of sets and reps within a given time frame.  As a result, I gained muscle, became much leaner, more vascular and substantially improved my conditioning.   I used variations of this training to compete for the second time in 2006.  It enabled me to win the Masters Division at the Heavyweights Classic.

This past year I competed for the third time in The Newfoundland and Labrador Body Building Show.   I have been asked by many individuals, including judges, how I presented such a lean package at age 44.  Ironically, my training consisted of both the old and the new.  For the first 4-6 weeks, I returned to the more traditional splits. However, the last 10 weeks I used timed sets for the full body.  I am currently using a very similar approach to “get ripped” for the Natural Nationals in April in Laval, Quebec.  It has worked well for me and perhaps it can for you…. Be careful you may get SHOCKING RESULTS!

FULL BODY TMED SET WORKOUT

• 45 seconds between supersets
• Various tempos can be used
• You may feel a bit nauseated during the first couple of workouts…  Your conditioning will improve quickly though
• Don’t go too heavy at first.   You will be surprised how your weights will increase in a short time frame.
• I know, it is a lot of sets…but it works.

DUMBELL CHEST PRESS   superset with DECLINE PUSHUP (warm up plus 5sets)

CLOSE GRIP PULL DOWN superset with ONE ARM DUNBELL ROWS (warm up plus 5sets)

TRICEP PRESS DOWN superset with BARBELL CURL (warm up plus 5sets)

LEG EXTENSION superset with LEG CURL (warm up plus 5sets)

MILITARY PRESS superset with REAR DELT FLYE (warm up plus 5sets)

This simple combination can be adapted in numerous ways…..  stay tuned and stay toned!!!!

I hope you had a fantastic Holiday Season.  It is such a great time of year to enjoy time with friends and family, eat too much food, skip workouts, and get ready for some major Resolutions in 2011.

A lot of people stay focused over the holidays and train consistently, I am not one of them.  I enjoy a few weeks of bad food, and taking a short well needed rest from the gym.  It only fires me up more to hit it hard and heavy soon as the New Year rolls around.  I like challenges, and fresh starts and nothing like the New Year to get that going!

One thing about New Years resolutions though is that 90% of people FAIL at them. It sucks, but its true.  However this doesn’t have to be the case for you.  I am going to share with you some tactics and stratergies that work for me to stay on track with my resolutions.  Hopefully these will help you.  On top of this I want you to post your resolutions below mine.  Trust me, its worth 30 seconds of your time.

Here are 8 Tips To CRUSH Those Resolutions!!

1. Set a SPECIFIC GOAL. Yes this is old and has been said a thousand times.  BUT let me explain.  Saying something like “Exercise More” is NOT a specific goal.  Instead of saying Exercise more you would say “Exercise 5 times a week, every week”.  This is MEASURABLE.  So be SPECIFIC, the more specific the better.

2. Be Accountable – OK so you have a goal to lose 2lbs a week or gain 1lb of muscle a week.  What happens IF you don’t get it?  You NEED a reward for getting your goal and a punishment for not reaching it.  Set up MEASURABLE GOALS and ACHIEVE THEM.

3.  Get A Training Partner -  This may sound simple but having someone to train with is key.  When you know someone is at the gym waiting for you chances are you won’t skip it.  Plus having a workout partner can make training a lot more fun.  So partner up.  Arnold didn’t train alone, neither should you.

4. Have a LONG TERM GOAL broken down into SMALLER goals.  IE say you want to lose 20lbs.  Having that as a goal is great, BUT you need a PLAN. Its easier to plan to lose 2lbs a week every week for 10 weeks than to just say “I want to lose 20lbs”.  So Your #1 GOAL is to lose 2lbs a week.  Do this 10 times.

5. Have a DEADLINE. Without a deadline goals to not get met.  We are all more successful under DEADLINES.  So set a DEADLINE.  IE Build 10lbs of Muscle By March 1 or Lose 10lbs of fat By March 1.  You HAVE to have a deadline. I can’t stress how important this really is.

6. Have a PLAN. Don’t reinvent the wheel.  I am coming out with a 6 week Fat Loss & 6 Week Muscle Building plan for March.  In the meantime I strongly recommend you check out the following

Fat Loss – Tom Venuto’s The Holy Grail Of Fat Loss Transformation Program (This kicks A$$)

Muscle Building – Jason Ferrugia’s Muscle Gaining Secrets (Fantastic Program for Building Muscle)

7. Have FUN. Look if you aren’t having fun with your program and reaching your goals you won’t stick with it.  Find a way to make your training and attaining your goals FUN.  You have to wake up fired up and ready to attain your goals.  If it becomes work and a chore forget it.  Keep your training and goal setting FUN & CHALLENGING!

8. Keep A Journal. I keep a calander that I record ALL my workouts.  I can then see if I am on track or not, this works awesome and no one does it.  I can look back at my week and see how many / or X’s I have.  A / means I got cardio in a means I got weights in, a X means I got BOTH!  I want to look back at my week and see lot’s of X’s.  This simple tip works really well.

So there you have it,  8 tactics to stay on track with your resolutions!  Now while speaking of resolutions here are mine, and I want to hear from you so post them up!

These are my personal resolutions for Fitness.  I have many others, i can post.

1. Get to a lean 190lb by March 1.  I am going to the Arnold Classic this year, and I want to be IN SHAPE and bigger.  So this is a big goal for me.

Soft Tissue Torture

2. Do cardio 6 days a week.  By cardio I mean any cardio.  Treadmill, my bootcamp classes, circuits, do some cardio 6 days a week.

3. Lift 4 days a week.  Upper/Lower Body Splits and or Push/Pull workouts.

4. Do soft tissue work and stretching for 30 min a day.  I ALWAYS skip this and this is far more important to me staying healthy than lifting weights (it just sucks lol)

5. Set training goals.  This year I completed the TRX 40/40 challenge, the 100 burpee challenge.  Id like to get my bench back up to 315 for 1 and 225 for 12.  I have had some bad injuries (arm surgery and a bike accident) so I used to bench 405 for reps, but that is long gone. But I want a 315 controlled bench, that’s one of my goals.

Now I want to hear from you so take 5 minutes and POST THEM BELOW!

Note: There is a BIG question at the bottom of this post that I would love for you to answer, looking forward to your response

I hope your having a great weekend!

When I wrote this I was in Newport Beach California now for 2 days of Fitness Business Stuff. I Love it. Meeting like minded individuals, talking Business & Fitness with motivated energetic people.

Funny enough as I type this I am pretty hung over but hey I live by the motto “Work Hard Play Hard”. We are partying hard tonight so tomorrow I will be in no state to write!

The biggest thing i have learned from this weekend is one thing.

TAKE ACTION.

Simple hey? Very, but think about it for a second.

TAKE ACTION.

So, what is your #1 goal?

DO YOU HAVE A GOAL?

How can you reach your goal IF you don’t have one?

Fitness wise health wise? Put it on PAPER, throw it on your fridge and as Nike says JUST DO IT!

Set a goal, write it down, then take action towards that goal. Don’t waste time with making things perfect, just move forward.

IE I get so many questons every day like

“Whats The Best Cardio”

“Whats The Best Way To Build Muscle”

“How Many Days Should I Workout”

Great questions, but once you realize that “THINKING” About something does nothing to get your goals. ACTION MATTERS.

So instead of thinking about “What cardio is best” and not doing cardio gets you NO WHERE. Just GO DO CARDIO.

Same with Lifting Weights. It’s better to do something wrong, than do NOTHING.

So don’t shoot yourself in the foot, Set a goal, Take MASSIVE ACTION towards that goal, and adjust along the way.

But #1 SET A GOAL.

So right now grab some paper, write your #1 Fitness Goal, For me its to be 185lb LEANER version of me by Aug 1.

Put your goal on PAPER, throw it on your fridge, and get it DONE.

DO IT RIGHT NOW.  If you have NO Goals, set some Right now!

Post your goals here and let me know them!  Maybe I can help you, or someone else reading this.

If you are looking for a killer MMA Leg Workout, give this a try!

This is a training video I recorded in California I call it the “Legs Like GSP Workout”.

I got some of this info from GSP’s trainer Jon Chaimberg and also from www.SingleLegWorkouts.com.

Most of my current training now is all done with single leg training.  With my current back injury I am no longer able to squat big weight (as much as I miss it), but this type of training has opened my eyes to the benefits of doing different types of workouts.

It is this type of training that lets a midget like me have a vertical jump like this

Even if you are not a MMA Fighter or do any MMA training you can still do something like this MMA Leg Workout and get a awesome and fun workout!

A lot of the time we have a tendency to do the same workouts over and over again.  Squats, Leg Presses, Leg Extensions etc.  These are good exercises, but variety is good.  You won’t believe the gains you can get by dramatically changing your leg workout.

Give this MMA Leg Workout a go for 4 weeks, I bet you won’t believe the differences in your strength and leg definition!

A lot of people think that the only way to build big legs is to do the basics like squats and leg presses.  This is very true in many ways, but it is smart to hit muscles from different angles and also to add some sort of athletic training to your leg workouts.  I have seen many people (myself included) do the same exercises month after month and end up losing athleticism and mobility.  Not a good thing to have happen.

I would suggest that after 8-12 weeks of basic lifts like squats and leg presses you add in 4 weeks of MMA Leg Workouts or some type of athletic leg workouts.  The benefits of adding a MMA Leg Workout will be huge.

Another great thing about MMA Leg Workouts like this one is that you are focusing a lot on single leg exercises and balance.  This gets overlooked when we use mostly machines and bars for our training.  It’s always good to work on balance, stability, explosive power and athleticism, along with just lifting big weight and going for the pump.

Lastly most times when doing bodybuilding type workouts we generally focus on quads and hamstrings and neglect working the glutes and hips.  These muscles are big, they need work and they will improve your squatting weights and sports performance big time!

For example if you watch George St. Pierre he has really thick glutes and hip muscles, this improves his overall power and athleticism big time.  These muscles generally never get trained from leg presses and leg extensions which is why something like this MMA leg workout will help you in many other areas.

If you read some of the top strength coaches like Mike Boyle, Bret Contreas, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson etc.  these coaches all recommend a lot of uni-lateral (single leg) exercises, and for good reason, they work!

You will notice a decrease in strength in doing some of these exercises, this is normal.  Don’t let your ego get the better of you.  Give it a try, open your mind to different types of training and you will reap the benefits.

So give this workout a try and give me some feedback!

If you liked this video I suggest you check out www.SingleLegWorkouts.com as I got a ton of my leg training info from this product and it is amazing!  Well worth adding to your Fitness Library!

First off THANK YOU To everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday On FaceBook Friday! It made my day!

So Friday past I turned 36 years old (young) or whatever you care to call it!  But I turned 36.

It’s a weird number because I can no longer look back and say “well I am not that far from 30″ because, well, now I am lol.

This means that I have been exercising and working out for almost 20 years now.  Which is a long time!  But in that time I have learned & experienced a lot in the gym!

So I wanted to share 36 “Insights” that I have learned over the years

1. Have Fun!  If the gym isn’t fun find something that is fun!

2. Help Others. Most people who workout are focused on their own goals, or their own body.  Help others, it will come back to you 10 fold

3. Stay Healthy!  It’s one thing to be big and strong, but its NO good if your not healthy.

4. Don’t stop learning!  Its easy to get complacent, always keep learning and improving!

5. Ask for help!  I can assure you that many people have done or are doing what you want to accomplish.  Ask for some help

6. Try different sports!  When I was hardcore into weights I wouldn’t dare try another sport as it would ruin my workout.  What a mistake that was! Stay Active!

7. If you want to get bigger it isn’t hard.  Eat More, Train Harder, Rest, Repeat!  The hard part is the eating!

8. We are creatures of habit.  Identify your habits and fix them.  It will make it easier to build muscle, lose fat, or whatever you goal is.

9. If you aren’t building muscle the way you want ask yourself 2 questions 1. Are You Squatting?  2. Are You Deadlifting?  If you answered YES to both questions then you need t0 eat more food!

10. Cardio isn’t the enemy for building muscle! Far from it!  No one lost muscle doing 15-20 min cardio 5 days a week.  If your not doing cardio you are missing out!

11. Pay attention to your Pre & Post Workout Nutrition!  It doesn’t matter how hard you push yourself, if you dont pay attention to what goes in your body you won’t get nearly the results you should!

12. Do a bodybuilding or figure show!  Not for the ego, but do it as a challenge and to see what your body CAN look like.  It will surprise you!

13. Get a GOOD COACH or TRAINER!!  It amazes me the people that buy 1-2 magazines and think they know it all!

14. Protein, Creatine etc ISN”T bad for you! (God I hate hearing this) It doesn’t hurt your kidneys or any other crap like that!

    
    

15. Your Doctor doesn’t know everything!  Always ask for help, research, learn, and ask questions.  I see anti depressent and thyroid meds way too often with customers these days…

16. CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT!  Is it Monday?  That mean’s Bench & Bicep for 80% of the people at the gym.  if this is you PLEASE CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT LOL.

17. You Get ONE body!  Take care of it!  It amazes me to see people spend all day cleaning and fixing their car, only to neglect their OWN BODY.  Think about this for a second.  It’s pretty scary!

18. STRETCH!  Let me say that again, STRETCH.  It is by far the most neglected part of fitness & exercises today!

19. “You can’t out train a bad diet” Remember that, it is beyond important!!!  Nutrition is everything for getting in shape & feeling good!

20. Train heavy, then back off.  you can’t always get stronger and stronger.  Sooner or later something will remind you that.  Better to back off by your own choice than a bad injury!

21. Train with your friends!  Go try a different workout, try a new program!

22. The biggest obstacle of people getting in better shape is POOR NUTRITION!  I see packed gym’s but hardly anyone in shape!  What does that tell you?

23. BCAA’s, Fish Oil, Multi Vitamins & Greens should be staples in everyone’s diet!

24. To build more muscle train heavier, eat more quality food, reduce cardio (not cut out), and hit the big muscle groups.

25. To get leaner train at a faster pace.  Blend circuits with basics in the gym, reduce carbohydrates and bad fats.  Dont reduce FOOD, reduce CRAP.

    

26. Your biggest roadblock to getting in better shape is your surroundings! (work, home, school etc). YOU Can’t control that but you can control YOUR RESPONSE.  If everyone is having a tims donut & they want you to eat one it is because THEY want you to fail!  They feel better when you are weak like them.

27. Stop using machines.  I know, every gym is full of them!  Which is why you should NOT be using them.  More on this soon!

28. Do more exercises standing.  Why would you sit down to shoulder press?  I will tell you why, because your gym is making you lazy!

29. Don’t Do Bar Curls In The Power Rack!  Please….only unless there is NO one at the gym…  Please….

30. Don’t growl, scream, grunt, or make weird noises in the gym.  Unless you want to be known as an idiot, then by all means scream away!

31. Take 8-10 minutes and do a proper WARM UP.  It will make your workouts better, improve recovery, and reduce injuries.

32. Train your GLUTES!!  Yep train that butt of yours!  It’s important!  More info on this shortly also!

33. IF your squats aren’t at least parallel then please don’t brag about your squat #’s.  A 225 squat done RIGHT is far more impressive than a 405 knee bend!!

34. The best way to bigger arms is squatting.

35. If your in the gym longer than 60 min your making friends (or staring at the girls on the treadmill way too long lol)

36. Your own as OLD as you FEEL!  And after my birthday celebrations I feel OLD!!  :)

I hope this gives some brief insights into my thoughts!  I thought I’d post some party pics but i will save those for another day lol.

Stay Thirsty My Friends!

I love to bench!!  Well I “used” to love to bench.  I don’t bench much anymore.  I have nothing against the bench press (Except it is a ego lift more so than a productive lift), nevertheless I love benching. These days I do more training based on bench press alternatives than good ol benching.

However benching can get boring!!  It also can reek havoc on your pec tendons, rotator cuff muscles and isn’s a great lift for developing the pecs, its actually more of a shoulder & tricep exercise.  Hard to believe but true!

I have a lot of my clients (especially those doing MMA & Jiu Jitsu) do other exercises besides just standard bar or dumbell press, and here’s why!

Answer this question for me.  When EVER have you laid on your back, on a bench, with your body elevated and done a bench press motion in real life?  Just think about it for a second?

My guess would be NEVER.

Now IF you are lying on your back and pressing up (IE underneath something pressing up) more than likely your back is ON the floor, not 2 feet above it on a bench!

Which is why I recommend a few Bench Press Alternatives to just the normal bar or dumbell press!

Give these bench press alternatives a try your next workout!  You won’t be disappointed!

Remember that sometimes to increase your bench press the best thing you can do is stop benching and focus in on some Bench Press Alternatives.

As well while on the topic of benching be sure to check out my past blog post

5 Tips For A Better Bench Press Here

http://robkingfitness.com/2009/12/03/5-tips-to-a-better-bench-press/

If you liked this post I HIGHLY recommend you check out my book on Building A Better Bench Press.  It is the ultimate book on Bench Pressing On The Internet PERIOD!

www.BuildABiggerBenchPress.com

To not be like your parents.

To not be like your friends.

To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

By Robert King

1, Bodypart training is the only way to build muscle.

Our body is composed of many bodyparts.  However our body functions as a full unit not as an individual body part.  Train your body with overall full body movements for maximizing growth.

2. Girls Shouldn’t Lift Heavy Weights & Should Always Do High Reps.

This is a myth i get asked at least once a day!  Most girls believe that by training heavy they will get big or look like a guy.  This couldn’t be more far from the truth!  Girls have 1/20th the Testosterone of men.  Without testosterone it is really hard to build muscle.  Unless you are genetically gifted female you won’t build muscle training with moderate-heavy lifting.  Keep changing your program, keep your diet clean and you will benefit from the demands of heavy training.  Just be sure to change things up!

3.Eating late at night will make you fat.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.  The old adage “You are what you eat” is very true.  I always advocate eating every 3-4 hours.  For late night food choices opt for high protein, moderate essential fat and low carb choices.  I love protein pudding at night.

4. You have to constantly lift heavier to make gains.

Wrong.  You need to cause your body to adapt to stress.  This is true, however at some point the amount of weight lifted vs. the damage done to your body does not pan out.  If you are squatting really heavy and need a change hit single leg exercises.  If your arms aren’t growing curling more weight isn’t always the answer.

5. Creatine will make me bloated or cause me to lose definition.

Creatine will not cause you to lose definition.  You need to be about 8-10% bodyfat before you can see any real changes in muscle definition.  Most people take creatine while bulking and end up getting fat from too much junk, not creatine.

6. Protein will convert to fat.

It is literally almost impossible for your body to store protein.  The human body just isn’t very efficient at it.  Your body will burn far more calories trying to store protein or using it for energy.  Protein is a poor source of energy for fat storage, however the body is very efficient at storing simple carbohydrates and saturated fats.

7. You Can Change Fat To Muscle.

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I don’t even want to go into detail on this but i sometimes still hear it when dealing with customers.  Simply put you CAN’T change fat to muscle.  You can burn fat, you can build muscle, but you cant change fat to muscle!

8. To get ripped you need high reps with less weight.

Not true at all.  The most important thing when trying to lose body fat (aka getting ripped) is FOOD.  Good old boring nutrition matters far more than your workouts.  However you can get leaner with many types of workouts.  Heavy lifting is more taxing on the body causing it to use more calories to recover etc.  Simple approach to getting lean and training.  Change your program often, and make your workouts challenging!

9. Training abs daily is good for getting a six pack.

If you check any anatomy book you will see that the abdominal muscles are no different from any other muscle group.  If you want abs eat better and get your metabolism up.  Training abs daily may make the area feel tighter (because your muscles are sore and stiff).  Train your abs like every other body part.  Train them frequently with low volume, or infrequently with high volume

10. Cario on an empty stomach is best for fat loss.

Cardio on an empty stomach does work.  But not so much because of the empty stomach, its more because you are getting the cardio in and elevating your metabolism.  If you find it worked for you great, but it isn’t essential.  The best time to do cardiovascular is anytime!