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Wrist Roller Workout for Bodybuilding 2013

2012-09-05T09:43:00.003-07:00

Wrist Roller Workout for Bodybuilding 2013

The forearms are comprised of several different muscles, including the wrist flexors and the wrist extensors. These muscles can be developed using the wrist roller, which is a piece of exercise equipment that consists of a bar with a long cord underneath to which a weight is attached. An effective bodybuilding workout for the forearms should consist of two to three exercises and three sets per exercise. Moderate weights should be used to allow for a total of 10 to 12 reps per set.

Wrist Roller

This exercise targets the wrist flexor and wrist extensor muscles. To perform this exercise, first grab the wrist roller using an overhand grip. Position the wrist roller at about shoulder height with your palms facing down and with your arms straight. Extend your right wrist followed by your left wrist and repeat these two motions until the cord has shortened and the weight has reached the wrist roller bar. Flex your right wrist followed by your left wrist and repeat these two motions until the cord has lengthened and the weight has reached the beginning position.

Machine Wrist Roller

This movement is for the wrist flexor and wrist extensor muscles. To execute this movement, begin by holding the machine handles in an overhand grip. Extend your right wrist followed by your left wrist and repeat theses two movements until the weight stack reaches the level of the machine handles. Flex your right wrist followed by your left wrist and repeat these two movements until the weight stack returns to the start.

Seated Dumbbell Wrist Curl

This exercise targets the wrist flexor muscles. To perform this exercise, first grab a dumbbell in each hand using an overhand grip and sit on the bench. Place the back of your forearms on top of your thighs, leaving your hands hanging over your knees. Bring the dumbbells upward by flexing your wrists. Bring the dumbbells downward by extending your wrists.

Seated Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curl

This movement is for the wrist extensor muscles. To execute this movement, begin by holding a dumbbell in each hand in an overhand grip and sit on the bench. Put the front of your forearms on top of your thighs, leaving your hands hanging over your knees. Raise the dumbbells by extending your wrists. Lower the dumbbells by flexing your wrists.

The Texas Method Workout Routine 2013

2012-09-05T09:36:00.003-07:00

The Texas Method Workout Routine 2013

The Texas method workout program is designed for intermediate to advanced weightlifters who have been training for a minimum of 18 to 24 months and have found their progression stalled. This is a three-day-per-week program in which the amount of weight, types of lifts and number of sets and repetitions vary from the beginning of the week to the end of the week. The Texas method workout program is also called the WFW method because the Wichita Falls Olympic weightlifters trained using this method, according to Stronglifts.com.

Origin of the Program

This method of training got its start in Wichita Falls, Texas, at Mark Rippetoe's gym. USA weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay was training lifters using a 5 by 5 program. With this program, athletes perform five sets of five repetitions per exercise, three times each week. The lifters became disinterested in the regimen and in an effort to keep the athletes training three days per week, Pendlay said "If you hit a 1x5 personal record on Friday, you don't need to do five sets total; you can just stick to one set on Friday and go home," according the Stronglifts.com. The athletes eased up on the workout before Friday so that they would set a personal record on that day. This was the start of the Texas method training program.

Program Basics

The goal with this program is not to add weight from one workout day to the next, but to add 5 pounds from one week to the next and to set a personal record each Friday. The workout days are typically Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Monday’s workout session is dedicated to volume with major lifts such as squats, bench presses and deadlifts. Wednesdays, active rest days, are recovery days in which the athlete lifts about 80 percent of the weight lifted on Monday and may incorporate other exercises such as chin-ups. The Friday session involves a light warm-up and then the lifter performs only one heavy set with each major lift. This is when the lifter tries to set a personal record.

Sample Workout Week

Squats, bench presses and deadlifts are scheduled on Mondays. Perform five sets with five repetitions at 90 percent 5RM. RM stands for repetition maximum and 5RM refers to the maximum amount of weight you can lift for five repetitions. On recovery day, Wednesday, use 80 percent of the weight you lifted on Monday and perform two sets of squats with five reps per set. At 80 percent 5RM, perform three sets with five reps of overhead presses. Include three sets with 10 reps of chinups. Friday is an intense workout day. Use a heavier weight than that used on Monday and perform one set with five reps of squats, bench presses and deadlifts. Your goal is to set a personal record for each exercise.

Tips and Considerations

Start each workout session with a light, 15 minute warm-up that can involve working with an empty barbell. If you find that after a month into the program a Friday personal record is becoming harder to set, reduce the amount of weight on Mondays or the number of sets per exercise. If your ability to perform Monday's workout has remained the same, but your strength level progression has stalled and you're not setting a personal best on Fridays, increase the intensity of the Monday workout. Progress can be restored by adding another set to each exercise.

Bodybuilding Workout Plans for Teenagers 2013

2012-09-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Bodybuilding Workout Plans for Teenagers 2013

Beginning a bodybuilding regimen during your teenage years can help you start a lifelong program of physical fitness. Target every major muscle group at least once a week, including your chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and legs. Choose a bodybuilding schedule that fits best with your lifestyle. Complete two or three sets of eight to 15 repetitions of each exercise.

Three-Day Bodybuilding Workout

A three-day workout allows you to target every major muscle group once a week. This type of bodybuilding program gives your muscles plenty of time to recuperate and develop between workouts. Choose any four days a week to rest from this program. Concentrate on your chest and biceps on the first day with bench presses and biceps curls. On day two, target your legs and shoulders. Use a leg extension machine or leg press for your quadriceps, a leg curl machine for your hamstrings and a seated or standing calf raise machine for your lower legs. With a dumbbell in each hand, perform shoulder-strengthening military presses. On day three, strengthen your back and triceps with bent-over rows and triceps extensions.

Circuit Training Workout

Circuit training workouts allow you to target multiple muscle groups in a short period of time. To perform this type of workout, choose five or six different exercises and complete one set of each back to back before taking a short rest. For example, perform 10 lunges, 10 pushups, 15 situps, 10 dumbbell curls, 10 dumbbell chest presses and 10 dips before taking a two-minute rest. You can also choose to target one group of muscles during a circuit training session, such as lower-body muscles, upper-body muscles or core muscles. Perform four to six sets of your circuit training workout.

Home Body-Weight Workout

You can complete a bodybuilding workout without any free weights or strength-training equipment, and without leaving your home. Perform pushups to target your chest and triceps and underhand chinups for your biceps, shoulders and back. Concentrate on your glutes, hips, quadriceps and hamstrings with body-weight squats. Stand on the edge of a stair to perform calf raises. This short, full-body workout can be completed two or three days a week.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is essential for shedding fat from any area of your body. While you cannot pinpoint specific areas of your body that will shed fat from aerobic activity, as you tone your body and lose weight, you lose fat evenly all over your body. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends teenagers under age 18 perform at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. The majority of this activity should come from aerobic exercise, but strengthening exercises also contribute to meeting these guidelines. Choose from vigorous aerobic activities, such as running, swimming laps, jumping rope or in-line skating.

Squatting And Deadlifting Twice a Week to Build Muscle

2012-09-03T13:47:00.001-07:00

Squatting And Deadlifting Twice a Week to Build Muscle

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To get the most out of your strength-training routine, work smart, not hard. Focusing on squats and deadlifts twice a week can be an effective way to build muscle -- if you work at the right intensity and take proper care of your body between sessions. Talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Squats and Deadlifts

Squats and deadlifts are both compound exercises, meaning they work more than one muscle group simultaneously. Squats work your entire lower body, and deadlifts build on squats by adding an upper-body component. If you plan to lift weights twice a week -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended minimum for strength training -- compound exercises like these allow you to strengthen all your major muscle groups in relatively little time.

Overloading Muscles

To build lean mass and strength, you must fatigue your muscles during your workouts, then give them time to rest. You should be able to complete eight to 12 repetitions of an exercise before your muscles are too tired to perform the movement again -- if you can complete more than 12 repetitions, you are not working intensely enough to build muscle mass. When you can complete 12 deadlift reps, add weight to your barbell or dumbbells; vary your squats with side lunges and single-leg squats to force your body to keep adjusting.

Efficacy

According to exercise physiologist Pete McCall, you can get the most out of your workouts by doing three to five sets of each exercise, with about 45 seconds of rest between sets. If you notice after a few weeks of training that you are no longer gaining strength as rapidly, consider adding one more workout to your week or rotating in new exercises. Try targeting other muscle-group combinations with compound exercises such as lunges with a medicine ball, rowing and yoga. Always rest for at least one day between workouts.

Nutrition

No matter how wisely you exercise, you need proper sports nutrition to see gains in muscle mass. For best results, eat balanced meals consisting of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, healthful fats and plenty of fruits and vegetables. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 15 to 20 percent of your daily calories should come from lean protein sources, such as low-fat dairy products, chicken and turkey breast, tofu and legumes. Your body uses protein to build and maintain muscle, so be sure you consume enough each day.

How to Create a Bodybuilding Workout

2012-09-03T11:55:00.002-07:00

How to Create a Bodybuilding Workout

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Bodybuilders are recognized as having large, defined muscles with a low body fat percentage. Their physique comes as a result of a dedicated workout routine combined with a strict nutrition plan. If you want to achieve similar results, you can create your own bodybuilding workout. If designed properly, you will build lean muscle mass while burning excess body fat and improving your overall fitness level with the bodybuilding workout. However, always consult your doctor before starting or changing your workout routine.

Step 1

Print a workout log that breaks down each day of the week for several weeks. The workout log will be used to create, track and record your bodybuilding workout data. This will help you stay motivated and focused on your fitness goals. It will also track overall progress for each exercise by recording the exercise, weight and total number of sets and repetitions performed.

Step 2

Determine how many days per week you can workout. Your availability affects the pairing of exercises and muscle groups for the total number of workouts per week. For example, you can isolate more muscle groups with five to six workouts. But if you only have time for three to four workouts, you will need to combine multiple muscle groups. Also plan days for rest and recovery to prevent overtraining and injuries.

Step 3

Define your individual bodybuilding and fitness goals. This helps to narrow down the choice of exercises along with any other supplementary workouts. For example, if your goal is to reduce body fat and then build muscle mass, you will want to include multiple cardio workouts each work to complement the bodybuilding workouts.

Step 4

Design the workouts for each muscle group and body part. An essential component to designing the various workouts is to include balance for every body part, including the legs, core, arms, chest and back. This ensures a balanced body that is resistant to injury. A sample workout schedule include biceps and triceps on Monday, Tuesday off, legs on Wednesday, back on Thursday, chest and shoulders on Friday and then rest days on Saturday and Sunday.

How to Gain the Bodybuilding Workout Routines Effectively 2013

2012-09-02T01:14:00.001-07:00

How to Gain the Bodybuilding Workout Routines Effectively 2013

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For professional bodybuilders, increasing muscle mass requires a detailed approach to training and nutrition. These detailed training programs used by bodybuilders have proven results for building lean muscle mass, weight gain and improved strength. In order to gain the bodybuilding workout routines effectively, you must follow a systematic approach that fits your lifestyle, current fitness level and individual strengths.

Step 1

Build a training schedule that rotates every three to six weeks to progress with your fitness level and to prevent a training plateau. The workouts should last an average of 45 to 60 minutes to maintain a high level of intensity. A sample weekly schedule includes chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday and arms and abs on Friday.

Step 2

Progress through the training program based on your fitness and strength levels. The first three weeks should be spent performing classic lifts to build a foundation of strength and stability. The next six weeks should include four weekly workouts before moving up to six weekly workouts for the next six weeks.

Step 3

Perform functional compound exercises that combine two or more muscle groups. These exercises promote more muscles that support lean muscle growth. Sample lower body exercises include squats, deadlifts and lunges while upper body exercises include bench press, shoulder press and pullups.

Step 4

Add supplementary isolation exercises to focus on specific muscle groups based on your weaknesses. For example, if your goal is to increase chest definition and size, you may implement additional chest isolation exercises such as dumbbell flyes or close-grip bench press. Use two to three isolation exercises per workout.

Step 5

Perform a variety of set-rep combinations to confuse the muscle fibers. For example, sets of six to eight repetitions is good for building strength while sets of 10 to 12 repetitions helps to build muscle mass and confuse the muscles by stimulating more muscle fibers.

Step 6

Follow a bodybuilding nutrition plan designed to promote lean muscle development while burning excess body fat. Your nutrition should consist of complex carbohydrates from whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables along with healthy fats from nuts and seeds and lean protein from fish, chicken and lean beef.

Bodybuilding Workout for Big Arms And Chest 2013

2012-09-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Bodybuilding Workout for Big Arms And Chest 2013

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Working out to build big muscles like a bodybuilder entails intense lifting and high-volume training. You need only work your chest, biceps, triceps and shoulders one day per week, though not all in the same workout. To continue challenging and growing your muscles, you should change your training program every four to six weeks.

Intensity and Volume

Inducing muscle growth is much different from simply toning your muscles or increasing the capacity of your muscles to generate a tremendous amount of force. Lifting weights to build bigger muscles requires a specific stimulus as far as the resistance you use, the number of sets you complete and the number of repetitions you do per set. Training to alter your muscular fitness is not black-and-white, but rather a few shades of gray. To build bigger arms and chest muscles, most of the exercises you do must incorporate moderate to heavy weights such that you can only complete four to six sets of six to 12 repetitions. Occasionally, you should lift heavier weights for up to five repetitions, building up to six to 12 repetitions. And once in a while, you should finish your workout with a few sets of 15 repetitions.

Chest with Back

Generally, bodybuilders pair two opposing muscle groups together, maximizing the capacity of each muscle group to recuperate within one to two minutes and be ready for the next set. Chest and back muscles are opposite muscles. To build big pectorals, in addition to bigger back muscles, do flat bench presses with one arm dumbbell rows, incline bench presses with lat pulldowns, flat dumbbell presses with seated rows and flat dumbbell flies with dumbbell pullovers.

Shoulders with Legs

The shoulder muscles, or deltoids, are engaged when you do chest, back and sometimes triceps exercises. As such, you should pair shoulder exercises with leg exercises one or two days after your chest workout. If you work your shoulders the day after you do your chest, you will not effectively build your deltoids because they are still recovering. Include dumbbell lateral raises with squats, barbell shoulder presses with lunges, upright barbell rows with one-leg deadlifts and bent-over dumbbell flies with leg extensions to build the anterior, middle and posterior divisions of your shoulder.

Biceps with Triceps

The biceps and triceps muscles are opposing muscle groups and should be your last workout of the week. These muscles are also engaged when you train your chest and back. The best biceps exercises to build huge arms include EZ barbell curls and alternating dumbbell curls. The best triceps exercises are two-arm dumbbell extensions and EZ barbell French presses. Work your arms by pairing EZ barbell curls with two-arm dumbbell extensions, alternating dumbbell curls with EZ barbell French presses and triceps press downs with concentration curls.