Combine These Exercises For Insane Gains

Grit Set 2: Vertical pull / shoulder raise
Strength: Lats
Weakness: Shoulders
It can be hard to cram in enough shoulder work into one workout, especially if that workout also includes chest and triceps. In this case, I recommend adding in some extra shoulder work on a back-focused day. My favorite way to do this is by pairing vertical pulls like lat pull-downs or pull-up variations with dumbbell shoulder raises.

45-Degree Shoulder Raise Exercise

I like pairing these together for a couple of reasons. First, they’re opposing actions at the shoulder joint, which allows them to be done back to back without interfering with the performance.

Bring the dumbbells over to the chin-up bar or lat pull-down machine so you don’t have to walk around the gym and potentially lose your spot. This is especially important when you’re training in a big-box gym at prime time, which is also why all of the sets provided in this article share this same quality.

Since it’s a back-focused training day, the shoulder raises will be done second in the set, after completing the pulls. You can use pretty much any variation of dumbbell shoulder raises: front, side, or 45-degree raises halfway between.

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Combine These Exercises For Insane Gains

Grit Set 1: Bench press / glute work
Strength: Chest
Weakness: Glutes or hamstrings
Glutes are the new biceps; everyone wants to work them! I’m not just talking about bodybuilders and bikini competitors looking to bring a better package to the stage, either. Fitness enthusiasts from all walks of life want to look better in their jeans, but they also recognize how crucial glute strength is to their overall health and athleticism.

One Leg Hip Lift Exercise Tutorial

To perform this Grit set, start by hammering the glutes on lower-body training days, mixing compound lifts like deep squats and deadlift variations with isolation work like 45-degree hip extensions, barbell hip thrusts, and the donkey-kick machine. I also like to add in some additional glute work on chest day. Doing it is as easy as rolling over.

After you’ve finished your set of benching, simply shift over to the side of the bench and perform single-leg hip thrusts. I prefer single-leg hip thrusts instead of barbell hip thrusts here for a few reasons:

• They can be done effectively with body weight or by simply holding a single dumbbell on the side you’re pushing from.
• Nearly everybody has one glute that’s stronger than the other.
• You won’t be that guy in the gym hogging two barbells at the same time.

Alternately, you can focus your weakness work here on your hamstrings by performing single-leg hip lifts, where your foot is up on the bench and your shoulders are on the floor. Like hip thrusts, these don’t require any special setup and can be progressed simply by adding a small weight to the loaded leg.

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Combine These Exercises For Insane Gains

Paired sets—like supersets, but without the “no rest between” stipulation—allow you to make your workout denser and do more total work. Of course, that’s not very helpful unless you pair the right exercises together. After all, the point of working out isn’t simply to do as much as possible in the gym; you’re trying to get stronger, right?.

That’s where “Grit sets,” which pair the movements you’re strong at with others that address your glaring weaknesses, come in. I can pretty much guarantee you’ve got one—or probably most—of the weaknesses listed here. In some cases, Grit sets may actually make your strong lift stronger! Rest briefly between exercises, but no more than necessary. And don’t worry: None of the pairings will require you to hog equipment or be that jerk with multiple weights piled up around him!.

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The 8 Rules Of Building New Muscle

The muscle you have now was earned one way. The muscle you don’t have yet might play by a different set of rules entirely. Here’s what they are!

You may have noticed the term muscle memory. The meaning of this term is when you have trained your muscles to grow, they have the ability to regrow after a cutting phase, a longer break or life event. Muscles can be considered “smart”. If a muscle has reached a certain level of fitness, it can easily find its way back to it.

However, it will be challenging to increase your muscle mass further than you have been able to do so before. To succeed in this task, it may be helpful to increase your awareness about the way your muscles “think”. A common mistake of the performance and physique athletes is training without completely understanding the way the muscles develop.

If you understand and incorporate the following eight muscle building rules into your training routine, you will be able to see unforgettable results. This can be yet another definition of the term “muscle memory”.

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8 Ways To Speed Up Muscle Growth

Building muscle can be a slow and frustrating process for even the most committed lifters, especially if you’ve spent an appreciable amount of time under the bar. You might have grown like a weed when you first started training, but over time, consistent muscle growth requires new strategies and tactics. If your journey to more muscle has stalled, a few tweaks to your program might be all you need!.

Thankfully, WBFF pro Jamie Alderton is here to share some of his favorite tips and techniques to kick your muscle-building efforts into high gear. Wherever you are on the road to packing on more quality mass, try a few of these tips to supercharge your results!

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9 Beginner Muscle-Building Tips From Elite Athletes part 3

2 Add plyometrics
Plyometrics are a great tool for increasing speed and power—both important aspects of lifting heavy and building muscle. Plyos also increase your heart rate, so they can be a great way to incorporate cardiovascular training into your resistance workouts. Plus, plyometrics add some extra fun to your training sessions!

“You will often see me in the gym combining a leg press with a stationary high jump,” says Dawn. “This helps me activate all my muscle fibers in each working set I do.”.

The combination of a controlled movement with an explosive movement also helps Dawn develop her physique alongside her performance. After all, why build muscle if you don’t put it to good use?

Dawn also likes to build explosive, plyo-style power into her lifts. “On leg press,” she says, “I go down slowly and with control. Then I drive the weight up as explosively as possible to mimic jumps.”

Keep in mind that plyometric training taxes your body heavily, so include sufficient rest in your workout split whenever you add plyos as active rest or build them into supersets in your workout regimen.

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9 Beginner Muscle-Building Tips From Elite Athletes part 2

1 Adjust weight and rep range for your goals
You have complete control over how you build your body. But, in order to utilize that control, you have to have a clear vision of the type of physique you’d like to create.

“I don’t desire oversized muscles, but an overall athletic look,” says Jennifer Dawn, IFBB bikini pro. In order to perform well on stage, Dawn has to look lean, symmetrical, and balanced. To get that symmetrical bikini look, Dawn says she adjusts the way she trains various muscle groups.

“I lift heavier on certain body parts,” she says, so that she can really improve her weak points. Lifting heavy weights for lower rep ranges tends to be the fastest way to yield maximum results on any area she wants to fill out.

If your body is imbalanced—small legs beneath a huge upper body, for example—try Dawn’s tactics and go to war on your legs with heavy, compound exercises. Utilize heavier weights and fewer reps where you need to add some size, and lift lighter reps for more reps on the body parts you want to maintain but not necessarily build.

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