Quadzilla.....supersize the legs!

Installment 3 of the daily workout report brings us to the legs.  If you do legs day right it should be the hardest day of the week leaving you completely exhausted.  That is why I live by this quote I heard when thinking about doing legs day:

"The only ones who don't show up for legs day are those who are scared or those who are dead!"

Enough said, so let's get into a great routine to add mass to those scrawny legs:

•  Leg Curls:  Start off the workout with leg curls in order to properly warm up your legs for the more intense lifts to come.  Use controlled movements up and down and feel the contraction in your hamstrings.  Do 3 sets of 20 reps on this exercise.
• Leg Extensions:  Next, do 3 sets of 25 reps on the leg extension machine.  Put on the right amount of weight to start feeling the burn on the 20th rep and finish strong.  These will help warm up your quads and get you ready for the big boy movements.
• Stiff Leg Deadlifts:  Now it is time to start hitting the bigger leg movements.  It is very important when doing this exercise to keep your back straight and make yourself move the weight with your hamstrings.  This exercise is essential for hamstring development.  Do 3 sets of 15 reps.
• One-Legged Leg Press:  The next "big boy" exercise is the leg press, but we are gonna put a twist onto it and only do it with one leg at a time.  This will ensure proper development of each leg.  When doing this exercise make sure you bottom out and go through a full range of motion.  You don't want to do the Bert and Ernie leg press.  Put on enought weight for 4 sets of 15-20 reps.
• Squats:  Finally, we hit the king of all leg exercises.  This will totally finish off your legs and exhaust them to no end.  Put on enought weight to do 4 sets of 15-20 reps and go deep.  Don't do half wit fluff squats.
• Standing Calf Raises:  Finish off the leg development with 4 sets of 25 reps of standing calf raises.  Go through the full range of motion on these to totally develop and exhaust the calf muscles.

When you are done with all that do 10-15 minutes of light cardio to keep the blood flowing through the legs and flush out any toxins.  This workout routine should really help shape and add size to your legs.

Widen the back!

Installment 2 in the daily body part update will focus on the back and its associated exercises.  Exercising the back is sort of complicated because you can work it in so many ways and from so many angles, but there are two main exercise categories for the back: rows and pulls.  Let me say one thing right off the bat.  If you aren't doing pullups and don't plan on starting to do them then GET OUT OF THE GYM!!!  Pullups are the best back exercise that exists.

Here is a great routine to help get a muscular/wide back (alternate row and pull exercises):

• Pullups:  Every back routine should start with pullups.  These are essential for a wider/stronger back.  When doing pullups go from fully extended to fully flexed in one fluid motion.  Don't be the guy frog kicking to beat hell just to do one pullup.  Focus and feel the lateralis muscles working to lift your body up.  I recommend doing enough sets and reps to get a total of 30 or 50 repetitions.  This will give you a great start to your back workout.
• T-bar Rows:  Now that you are done with a pulling exercise you should do a rowing exercise.  So walk over to the t-bar rowing maching and pile on the weight.  On this exercise focus on keeping your back straight and your head up.  Try to use only back muscles to move the weight and don't lurch to move the weight vertically.  Do 3 sets of 6 - 8 on this exercise.
• V-bar pulldowns:  Next, you want to do another pulling back exercise so put the v-bar attachment onto the pulldown machine and drop that pin down a ways.  For this exercise keep your back at a 45 degree angle and feel each muscle flexing in your back to move the stack up and down.  Again, DON'T LURCH to move the weight.  Use your back muscles to move it.  Do 3 sets of 8 - 10 on this exercise.
• One arm dumbbell rows:  The second rowing exercise will be one arm dumbbell rows.  Just grab a dumbbell and start up the lawn mower.  Make sure you keep your back flat and head up in order to focus on the back muscles.  Do 3 sets of 8 - 10 on this exercise.
• Reverse grip pulldown superset with seated v-bar rows:  To finish off the back do a superset of reverse grip pulldowns with seated v-bar rows.  Focus on the form on these as your body totally fatigues.  Don't feel embarrassed if it is necessary to do a low amount of weight on these exercises.  You have just put your back through hell so it should be in a weakened state.  Do 2 sets of 12 - 15 reps.

Sticking with this back workout for a once a week cycle should add mass and strength along with pride.  Good luck!

Great arms mass builder!

This will be the first installment in daily entries to give some of my best tips and workouts for sculpting each body part.  Today's post will focus on arms.  This will include biceps, triceps and forearms information.

A great way to build the arms is by doing bicep/tricep supersets.  This is a great way to hit the arms because while you are working one muscle you are giving the other muscle maximal stretch.  The primary exercise you want to use for biceps is the straight bar bicep curl while the primary exericise for triceps is the close grip bench press. 

Here is a great sample routine to add quick mass to the arm area:

• A1: Straight bar bicep curl - When doing this exercise try very hard to keep your back straight and work only your biceps.  When I am doing this exericse I like to keep my eyes closed and mentally visualize each bicep working as I feel through the whole lift.  This greatly increases your focus.  For the last set on this exercise up the weight a little bit so you need to use your back a little bit at the end of the set.  This overloads the bicep in what is called "cheat curls".  Do 3 sets of 6-8 reps.
• B1: Close grip bench press: This is a great mass builder for triceps.  Make sure you keep your elbows tucked to your sides throughout the whole exercise in order to focus on the triceps and not on the chest.  Be careful on this exercise and use a spotter if necessary.  Do 3 sets of 6-8 reps.
• A2: Preacher curl - Using the preacher bench is a great way to focus on using only your biceps to curl the weight.  Make sure you go all the way to to the bottom on this exercise and keep the weight moving slowly throughout to get great focus on the bicep area.  This exercise will help increase the length and peak of the bicep.  Do 3 sets of 8-10 reps.
• B2: Skull crushers: The "grand-daddy" of tricep exercises is a necessary evil to incorporate into your routine.  Again, make sure your elbows are tucked in to focus on the tricep area and don't use too much weight so your form suffers.  You must sacrifice form for weight on this exercise to get the most out of it.  Do 3 sets of 8-10 reps.
• A3: Hammer curls:  This exercise is used to finish off the bicep and totally drain all of the muscle fibers.  Make sure when you hit the last few reps of this exercise that the weight is almost impossible to move.  Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
• B3: Dips:  This is the tricep finisher.  Again you want to make sure at the end of each set on this exercise movement and flexion of the tricep is near impossible.  This is a great way to finish off for that horseshoe effect.  Do 3 sets of 12-15 reps.

The way this routine works is you superset A1 and B1, A2 and B2 and A3 and B3.  This means you do one set of A1 then immediately do one set of B1 and so on.  Also, try to then take a one minute rest between sets and 2 minutes between each exercise.

Once you are done hitting the upper arm you need to finish off the development by blasting the forearms.  Some great forearm exercise to incorporate here are writs curls, reverse wrist curls, dumbbell holds and plate holds.  Here is a great sample workout to finish off the forearms (take only one minute of rest between sets and exericises to maximize muscle depletion.

• Wrist curls:  Do 3 sets of 15 wrist curls and make sure you let the weight roll down to your fingertips to hit all muscle fibers in the forearms.
• Reverse wrist curls:  Do 3 sets of 15 for this exercise also and make sure form is kept tight in order to hit all of the top of the forearm.
• Dumbbell holds:  This is an exercise that works exactly how it sounds.  You grab a pair of dumbbells and just hold them as long as you can.  Make sure the dumbbels are fairly heavy so you aren't standing there holding them for 15 minutes.  Do 3 sets to failure for this exercise.  It is best to sit on a bench and hold the dumbbells so you can drop them to the floor when you can no longer hold them.
• Plate holds:  This is the exact same as dumbbell holds except you hold a 45 pound plate.  This is a little different hold than the dumbbell and really makes the forearms tap out.  Do 3 sets to failure.

Hitting this routine once a week will greatly increase total arm mass and have you tearing out of your t-shirt sleeves in no time.