Bicep Weight Training Workouts

January 11, 2008 on 5:11 am | In Biceps, Weight Training Routines, Weight Training Exercises, Arms | No Comments

  The biceps are a very popular muscle to train for most weight trainers. The biceps are almost always on display when you’re not outside in cold weather and are an easy muscle to show off. For most people new to weight training, the biceps are one of the muscle groups they want to add size to. Biceps training is also relatively easy to do and won’t take as much out of you as heavy leg, chest, and back workouts.

  While you should use proper form on all of your weight training exercises to prevent injuries and build real strength, you may want to start your biceps routine with heavy cheat curls. Cheat curls will get the blood flowing in the biceps quickly and allow you to get started with a good pump. Take a weight you can do 5 or 6 curls with good form and do 10 to 12 reps. To do the secong half of the set use some body english to get the weight up, hold it at the top for a second, and slowly lower it under control. After a couple of cheat curl sets do the rest of your biceps exercises with better form, maybe cheating a bit to get an extra rep or 2.

  When you do dumbbell curls for the biceps you should start the exercise with your palms facing you and rotate your hands as you curl so your hands are in the same position at the top of the movement as they would be for barbell curls. This will work the biceps better than just keeping the hands in the same position throughout the exercise.

  To hit the brachialis muscle between the biceps and triceps more directly you can do a few sets of hammer curls or reverse grip barbell curls. Hammer curls are a lot like dumbbell curls except that you don’t rotate your hands. You basically raise and lower your hands like if you were using a hammer. Reverse grip barbell curls will work the forearms as well as the brachialis.

  Towards the end of your biceps workout you can do a few sets of precher curls, cable curls, or dumbbell curls while seated on an incline bench. to finish your biceps routine you should do a couple of drop sets to end your workout with a nice pump in the arms.

Leg Weight Training Workouts

January 7, 2008 on 4:18 am | In Weight Training Exercises, Legs, Calves, Quadriceps, Hamstrings | No Comments

  There are many weight trainers out there who focus primarily on training their upper bodies and neglect leg weight training. However, for overall muscular development you must train your legs if you follow a weight training routine. If you do weight training workouts for your legs you should even gain more muscle strength and size in your upper body. For overall leg development you need to focus on training all of the major muscle groups of the legs - the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.

  The quadriceps are the muscles that make up the front of the upper legs from the groin area to the knees. The best quadriceps weight training exercise is the squat. In fact, the squat may be the best overall weight training exercise you can do. As long as you don’t have knee or lower back problems you should always start your leg workout with squats. If you have problems squatting you should do hack squats on a hack squat machine. Leg presses are also good for the quadriceps but won’t build your leg muscles as fast as squats. After you do your major quadricep exercises you should do a few sets of lunges. You can do lunges with either a barbell or dumbbells. They’re great for building the muscles just above the knees. Finsh your quadriceps weight training workout with some sets of leg extensions.

  The hamstrings are the muscles on the back of the thighs. They will get some work from your quadricep exercises but you still need to do some direct training for them to keep a balance between the muscles in front and behind the legs. Stiff-legged deadlifts are a great weight training exercise for the hamstrings. Good mornings are an exercise you don’t see performed often, but they are also great for building the hamstring muscles. Finish your hamstring workout with leg curls.

  The calves are the muscles of the lower legs below the knees. Calf training can be done on a standing calf machine, a seated calf machine, or a leg press machine. Keep your reps high when you train your calf muscles and try to get a nice stretch and contraction on every rep possible before finishing a set with some bouncing reps. If you run or jog you’ll help build your calves as well.

  If you follow a weight training split routine you should give your leg training its own workout. This way you’ll be less likely to not train them and you’ll be able to hit them with a lot of intensity.

Weight Train To Boost Your Metabolism

January 5, 2008 on 3:34 am | In Weight Training Routines, Cardiovascular Training, Fat Loss, Metabolism | No Comments

  While  people usually try to burn body fat by dieting and doing cardiovascular exercise, many don’t realize that weight training can also help them get rid of it. Adding muscle size through weight training will actually raise your metabolism - the rate at which the body burns fat.

  Since weight training is an anaerobic way of exercising, your metabolic rate may not get a huge boost while you are doing it. But, when you gain muscle mass that extra muscle will give you a higher resting metabolism. Muscle needs energy to sustain itself, so with more muscle size your body actually will burn more calories even when you aren’t exercising.

  Doing some weight training every other day is a great way to start gaining some muscle size. You don’t have to train for 3 hours a day to see results. In fact, if you weight train too much you may end up overtraining, which may actually cause you to lose muscle if you keep doing it. Losing muscle will have the opposite effect on your metabolism than gaining it - your resting metabolic rate will slow down, making it harder to lose body fat. Keep your weight training workouts at about an hour per session and split up your routine (training certain muscle groups at one workout and other muscle at the next workout). splitting your weight training routine will allow you to train each muscle with a lot of intensity and get plenty of recovery between workouts. Eventually, you may want to weight train 4 or 5 days per week and split your routine 3 ways.

  To further enhance your chances of losing body fat you can do your cardio training after your weight training workouts. Weight training depletes your muscles of glycogen, or stored carbohydrates. If your do cardiovascular exercise after you weight train you’ll be burning more fat than carbs from the beginning of your cardio workout.

  Whether you’re a man or a woman weight training will enhance the shape of your body so you’ll look better as you get rid of body fat. If you’ve been dieting and doing cardio to lose body fat and have hit a plateau you should try weight training. You’ll be glad you did.

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