Hey there… I know what you’re thinking… Ok, maybe not… But I sure as heck know why you’re here! Like me, you have a passion to be in shape. (Yes, I know that round is a shape!) You want an impressive physique, and you want it as quickly as humanly possible.

The muscle Workouts Review blog will shortly be packed full of articles, resources, recipes, and over-all, anything I deem as kick-butt and worthy of your time. (Give me feedback and tell me if I’m doing a good job ok? haha) If you want to read the reviews we did recently of the Top Mass Workouts on the market, visit www.muscleworkoutsreview.com

Finally back into my regular routine after all the holidays! Sorry I’ve been away! Anyhow, I have a few things I’d like to share with you.  First of all, if you’ve been junking out on food over the holidays, don’t freak out! The average American gains a good 2 - 5 pounds of fat over the holidays.

This doesn’t mean the end of the world is near! Just get back into your routine, and slowly wean yourself off those cravings you’ve likely developed from indulging in sweets and junk food. (Pies, cakes, pizza, and ice cream are my killers)

It’s 2009 now, and there are no excuses as to why you cannot make 09 the year you look your best! Get to it!

Build Chest Muscle Tip #1

Use compound movements! It drives me nuts to see all these self-proclaimed experts listing a bunch of isolation movements, and even going so far as to recommend these movements to newbie’s! Here’s the straight talk for you. Head on over to the mirror, remove your shirt and describe what you see. Slabs of lean chest muscle? If not, then don’t do the isolation exercises! It’s not rocket science.

Compound movements will develop your body much quicker, and accelerate your growth. Isolation exercises will slow you down, and often result in a muscular imbalance for untrained individuals.

Build Chest Muscle Tip 2 -

Use low reps to build size fast. There’s no point to banging out dozens of reps when you’re after some much needed size. Volume training will take its toll on you. Stick with heavy weights and force some extra muscle growth!

Build Chest Muscle Tip 3 -

Use free weights! Sure, using the straight bar is easier. Can’t quite lift as much with dumbbells can you? That’s the point! This isn’t an ego trip. You don’t go to the gym to impress everyone with how much weight you can hoist… You’re there to get big, lean, and ripped! Dumbbells will force your smaller support muscles to grow as they are now called upon to help you balance 2 separate weights. Want to increase your strength at a rapid pace? Then start using dumbbells…

There it is! 3 tips to build chest muscle fast! Now, off to hit the weights. Go build some pecs guys!

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Sounds great! But we all know that in the real world, great results come at a cost. That cost is hard work, consistancy, and planning. If you don’t have a plan in place before you pick up those weights, then you’re ‘planning to fail.’

Here’s what I learned after wasting endless months with little to nothing to show for it…

1. Have your meal planned out a week in advance. If you just wing it, you’ll end up unprepared and forced to snack on items that kill your diet. It wasn’t until I started planning, and shopping for my meals a week in advance that I started sticking with the diet.

2. Plan around your workout whenever possible. Yep, when you just plan on “cramming it in when you have time” then you’re in for an ugly surprise! Not a great way to gain weight quick people! Things have a way of happening don’t they! Schedule a firm time for your workout, and make everything else secondary whenever possible. (There’s always a few exceptions to the rule of course!)

3. Learn how to talk to yourself. No, I don’t mean going whacko! I mean that you must learn the art of self-talk… WHat motivates you? I can’t tell you how many times I nearly whimped out on a workout: “I’m tired, I had a stressful day, I don’t feel well…” There’s a million reasons NOT to workout, and only one reason TO workout! Because you WANT it and you want it BAD!

Learn how to talk yourself back into the gym, and back into the basement or you’ll never get that momentum needed to see the results you want. Still wanna gain weight quick? Get started now!

All the while, a quick glance will show who’s doing most the lifting! What the heck? What does this accomplish? Sure, there’s soemthing to be said for advanced sets with muscular over-load from time to time, but these knuckleheads seem to be everywhere these days! Are they too embarrassed by the weights they can handle?

Perhaps they feel the only way to grow is to push weights that are too heavy? Or maybe they just get a kick out of hearing their yelling and grunting echoing off the gym walls? Anyhow, I just had to say something.  Nothing wrong with pushing the limits from time to time, but if every workout is an exercise in seeing how much weight you can NOT lift, then might I suggest you go study up a bit on proper workout methodology before annoying everyone else in gym 6.75 days a week?

Even an average workout routine will get you results when put into practice with consistancy and determiniation. But the practice I mentioned above is just plain stupid, and is asking for injury, or at the best, wasted time… 

Oh yea, and if you’re wondering about the title - It seems as if these guys are all coming from the same school - I always run into them doing biceps workouts and bench press. Go figure right?

“Today, Mike has some surprises for you…

CB: Mike, what got you into training and helping others?

MG:
I just love helping people with this area of their lives, as not
only does it improve their outward appearance and confidence, but
more importantly, improves how they feel and their internal health,
helping them to live longer and healthier lives. It’s something I’m
very passionate about.

CB: Okay, so where does the average man or woman go wrong when it
comes to training abs?

MG:
Most people are probably going to be surprised with this answer.

In their quest for ’six pack abs’, the biggest mistake I
see people making is wasting WAY too much of their time training
their abs directly… pumping away with all kinds of different
abs-specific exercises.

I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. The person is trying so
hard to get those abs to show, that they’re spending almost all of
their time in the gym with hundreds of reps of various crunches,
leg raises, twisting exercises, etc.

CB: Right, I see a lot of wasted time in the gym. So what’s better?

MG:
All of that wasted time directly training the abs could
have been better spent on a properly designed full body workout
program that would elicit a much better metabolic response and
increase the fat-burning hormone levels in their body as well.

After all, losing the stomach fat that is covering the abs is the
MOST important aspect for most people to finally be able to make
their abs visible. Unfortunately, pumping away with hundreds of
crunches and leg raises does NOT cause much of a metabolic or fat
burning hormonal response.

The essential metabolic and correct hormonal response is the
main focus of my The Truth About Six Pack Abs book… full body
training programs and proper nutrition to strip off that stubborn
belly fat and reveal the six pack that’s hiding underneath!

Of course it wouldn’t be an abs book if I didn’t focus on ab
development too, but I make sure firstly that the most important
concepts for lasting body fat reduction are understood.

CB: Do you see any gender differences in mistakes they make? And
more importantly, do you see any gender differences in the response
to various types of ab training?

MG:
To be honest, I don’t really see any need for men or women to
train differently. Bottom line… the best exercises are the best
exercises regardless of gender.

However, in regards to mistakes I see between genders… Yes, I
tend to see women more often are deathly afraid to use weight
training with anything but really light weights. That is a shame,
because THE most effective way to gain control over your body fat
for life, is to maximize your lean muscle that your body carries,
as well as working that muscle hard through intense resistance
exercise regularly.

CB: So do you have some specific advice for women?

MG:
It’s important for women to realize that regular strength training
using heavier resistance will NOT “bulk them up” (as long as
caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key secrets
for losing body fat and staying lean year-round. As a matter of
fact, some of the leanest females that I’ve trained over the years
are the ones that aren’t afraid to work hard with the weights.

I also notice that most women (and a lot of guys too) spend way too
much time with slow cardio exercise. This is simply not necessary,
and the way I combine high intensity resistance training into full
body routines provides enough of a “cardio” workout in itself
usually. We’ll get back to this in a minute though.

I’ve separated my site into men and women’s areas, just to make
sure I’ve covered everyone’s specific needs.

CB: What about old school sit-ups? Do you use these? Are they good,
bad, or does it “depend”?

MG:
Sit-ups are a controversial topic. I don’t think they’re good
or bad per se, but rather “in between”. I didn’t include them in my
program. I simply don’t feel they are necessary, and I think there
are much more effective abs exercises to focus on. Personally, I
almost never do sit-ups except occasionally for a little variety
every now and then.

CB: Give us a weekly sample ab training program. How many days per
week? What are a couple of the best exercises you’d pick? How many
sets? Reps? Rest?

MG:
Well, first I’d like to point out that the full body movements
that make up the majority of my programs indirectly work the abs
and the entire “core” area to a fairly decent extent. However, I do
include abs-specific exercises into the routines generally about
twice per week.

The “abs-specific” portion of the workouts generally only take
about 5 minutes at most with very little rest between exercises.

Once people are past the beginning phase of gaining some initial ab
strength, I try to get them away from the exercises that are too
easy, where someone can do 50 or 100 reps, as is frequently common
with standard crunches.

Instead, I like to focus on higher resistance exercises that
actually stimulate the muscle fibers to a much greater degree.

CB: Such as?

MG:
One example of a higher resistance abs exercise is hanging leg
raises with a proper “pelvic curl up”. It’s funny but usually
someone that has been wasting so much time with hundreds of reps of
crunches can usually only do a few solid reps when they first
attempt some of these higher resistance exercises.

We also make sure not to neglect some rotational movements, as well
as some work for the deeper muscles like the transversus abdominis.”

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