Workout For Beginner

One of the most overlooked aspects of a workout routine is the warm up . In terms of weight training, there’s primarily 2 different forms of warming up that people tend to neglect or just screw up altogether: The General Pre-Workout Warm Up This refers to the overall warm up that takes place before the workout actually begins. For example, this may include cardio/aerobic activity, stretching (statically and/or dynamically), foam rolling and/or various forms of mobility work. The Specific Pre-Exercise Warm up This refers to the warm up sets being done before the weight training exercises themselves. For example, if you were going to bench press 200lbs, you’d typically do warm up sets using progressively heavier weight as you work your way up to 200lbs. While both are definitely important for different reasons, today I want to focus specifically on the second item on that list: warm up sets . Let’s figure out their purpose and goals, how many sets to do, how much weigh...

Question : I’ve noticed that one of my arms (or legs, or any other muscle group) is a little bigger and stronger than the other. What can I do to fix this and make both sides equal in strength and size? Answer : Having one side that is a little (or a lot) bigger or stronger than the other is actually a fairly common problem. Usually it’s one arm or leg that tends to be a bit bigger and/or stronger than the other, but it can really be any muscle group. Some people notice one shoulder or one side of their chest is bigger than the other, or that the barbell moves unevenly because one side is stronger and therefore moving the weight slightly faster than the other. The cause of this can be any number of issues that are occurring in the gym or just within your regular day-to-day life. Whatever it is, let’s focus less on what caused it and more on how to correct it. Here now are 4 common ways to fix muscle imbalances in strength and/or size… 1. Switch to dumbbell/unilat...

The upper/lower split is probably my personal favorite weight training split of them all. It just works so damn perfectly for so many goals, situations and schedules that it tends to be the type of routine I end up using and recommending most often. Let me show you why… What Is An Upper/Lower Body Split? The upper/lower split is a type of weight training schedule that revolves around splitting the body up into 2 groups: upper body and lower body . Each group is then trained separately on its own workout day. In most cases, the upper body workout would train the following muscle groups to some degree: Chest Back Shoulders Biceps Triceps (More about creating an upper body workout routine  and using my template .) On the other hand, the lower body workout would most often train these muscle groups to some degree: Quads Hamstrings Calves Lower Back Abs As for how the workouts are scheduled, there’s a few options. These are the most common… The Classic 4 Day Upper/Low...

Some of us might want to build a little bit of muscle or a lot of muscle, or lose a little fat or a lot of fat, or get stronger, improve performance or something similar. But, there’s one thing that damn near all of us have in common… We all want to lose our belly fat , have a  flat stomach , and get that perfect six pack . The problem is, most people can not seem to do it. Why is that? Are they doing the wrong ab exercises? The wrong ab workouts? Not using the right fat-burning machines? Not training their abs often enough? Not doing enough sets or reps? Not taking the right supplements? Not eating the right foods? Nope. It’s actually none of those things. The real reason people aren’t losing their belly fat and getting that perfect six pack is because they do not actually understand what needs to be done for those things to happen. So, please allow me to fill you in… How Do You Get A Six Pack? Are you ready for this? I’m about to reveal the highl...

The barbell bench press is probably the most popular exercise on the planet, especially among guys. Chicks (supposedly) dig guys who have a lean muscular chest, and guys constantly use the barbell bench press as the ultimate measure of strength and awesomeness. They often challenge their friends, claim to bench 100lbs more than they actually can, and almost always make it the first exercise of their first workout of the week without fail (which is why you’ll never find an empty bench on Mondays). This popularity also makes the bench press one of the most argued about exercises there are, and for all kinds of different reasons. Today I want to look at one specific reason… how low should you lower the bar ? Specifically, should you lower the bar all the way down until you touch your chest, or should you stop at some point before that? Let’s figure it out… Should The Bar Touch Your Chest? The very easy, very simple, and very generic answer to this question is often ...

QUESTION : I see a lot of people online making fun of the leg extension machine and calling it the most useless leg exercise there is. They all say that if you’re trying to build muscle, you should not ever waste your time using it. I’ve also heard some people say it’s really bad for you knees. Is any of this true? ANSWER : It’s hard to think of a weight training exercise that gets crapped on and laughed at as much as leg extensions do. Alright, tricep kickbacks probably take first prize there, but the poor leg extension machine is not too far behind. But just how warranted is all of the negativity that surrounds it? How useless is it for building muscle? How bad is it for your knees? Let’s find out… Does The Leg Extension Suck For Building Muscle? Please note that we are talking strictly about muscle growth here. If all you care about is strength and “functional” performance, that is a whole other story. But if all you care about is...

QUESTION : What do you think would be considered “strong” for my age and size? I’m male, 21 years old, about 5’10, 170lbs and I’ve been working out consistently for about 4 years. How much weight do you think I should be able to bench press, squat and deadlift at this point? What would you consider “good?” The reason I ask is because sometimes I see guys in my gym who are a lot bigger than I am, but they lift a lot less weight than I do. But then I see guys on forums who are about the same age and size as I am, but they’ve barely been lifting for a year and are already much stronger than I am. How is this possible? ANSWER : I get some form of this question every so often. Someone runs down their stats (age, height, weight, experience level, etc.) and their major lifts and asks something along the lines of “is this good?” I’ve seen this kind of thing come up on various training forums all the time, too. It seems many of us...