Bicep Building Exercise

      Two handed cable curls. To do this. Get over to the cable cross over machine and put a handle on each side of the machine. Then curl the handles as if you were doing a front biceps pose. Now I know that you have probably done this before but this is where I was taught how to make this exercise really perform. When you curl the weight up. Curl the weight behind your neck. This makes the exercise work much better. I always try to point this out in the gym and everyone I show this to, and they always end up doing it that way.

      I was taught this one by the same arm wrestler guy. It is a differnt way of doing straight bar curls. To do this get a curl bar and put five, 5 lbs plates on the bar (or if you are real strong 10 lbs plates). Then curl the bar 7 times. After you complete your first set do not put the bar down. Have your workout partner pull off one plate from each side. Then do it all over again till you are down to a bare bar. Then start adding weight till the bar has all the weight back on. This exercise will give you a pump from hell. Last time I did it I could not straighten my arms out all the way. (only do this once in a while)

      Day 8 = Day off. Sometimes I'll take 2 days off if I feel like I need more recovery time. Don't be afraid of taking days off. I know some guys that make me look small, take off the whole Summer. I asked them why they do it and they say that it helps them recover fully. I am still not ready mentally to go to that extreme yet. But maybe later I will try it.Here is an example of the pyramid that I use for my bench. The chart below will show you what I do when I am lifting on a light day:

set 1 = 135 * 10 (warm up)Rest 2 minutes.***(I stretch between EVERY set)***

set 2 = 135 * 10 (warm up)Rest 2 minutes.

set 3 = 225 * 10 (warm up. Rest 3 minutes. I could if I wanted to, rep it out for 40 or more.)

set 4 = 275 * 8 Rest 3 minutes.

set 5 = 315 * 8 Rest 4 minutes.

set 6 = 345 * 6 to 4 reps Rest 5 minutes.

set 7 = 365 * 3 to 5 reps.

Now if you look closely you can see the 10,8,8,6,4 pyramid. Now on my heavy days look at the chart below:

set 1 = 135 * 10 (warm up)Rest 2 minutes***(I stretch between EVERY set)***

set 2 = 135 * 10 (warm up)Rest 2 minutes.

set 3 = 225 * 10 (warm up)Rest 3 minutes.

set 4 = 315 * 4 Rest 3-4 minutes.

set 5 = 405 * 4 to 6 reps Rest 5 minutes.

set 6 = 435 * 3 to 4 reps

      See how on the heavy pyramid I go heavier and do a lot less reps as compared to the light pyramid? It may take some time for you to get your own pyramid working. But once you do, no one will be able to stop you. If you look again you can see that I do alot of warm up sets. This helps to stretch my body out. Also it helps to give the body time to lubricate the joints. You will always lift more weight if you gradually add the weight and give your body time to adjust. If I just went straight to 315 right after I did 135. I would run into a mental problem.

      315 lbs would much feel heavier to me than it normally would if I just gradually added the weight. Besides it takes time for your body to adjust to lifting heavy weight. Notice my rest periods. Notice that they are perfectly timed. I use a stop watch to time myself between the sets. I generally like to train real fast. The stop watch helps to slow my mental clock down. I see alot of guys trying to gain strength, that do not give their body enough time to recover between their sets. Now of course don't take 10 minutes or more between sets (find out what rest periods work best for you).

      Remember there is no minimum amount of weight for any exercise in the gym. What I mean is, 100% of the time when a beginner comes into the gym they start off on the bench press with 135 lbs. Never 95 lbs or 80 lbs but, 135 lbs. Of course along with them is their workout partner who doesnt know dick when it comes to lifting. Then once they start lifting youll hear groans come from the bench press area. One might expect a person benching 500 lbs or more from the sounds they are making. Then you turn to see what is happening and you see two buffoons lifting one bar for 3 reps.

       One guy trying to bench and another doing what looks like bent over rows. The worst part is that they repeat this over 5 or 6 times with the same weight. To put this in perspective, thats like me putting 405 on the bar for a warm up and then doing sets with it. Its just plain stupid!!! I dont care what anybody says but the most worthless exercise in the world is the clean and jerk. I recommend to everyone not to do this giant cheating exercise.

      If you think that the clean and jerk is beneficial then please explain to me why it is because I havent a clue what it is good for other than jerking weight up so you can get under the bar (not from lifting it but throwing it up), then bending your wrists, then squat down to get under the thrown up bar, then hopefully you have a lot of momentum built up at this point so you can get the bar up above your head. I could give a rats ass if it is used as an Olympic sport, so is Synchronized Swimming.

      Now each of these workouts shouldnt take longer than 45-55 minutes. If you notice at the beginning I put the heavy movements first. Those are the only movements that you should take a 3-5 minute break with. Those exercises shouldnt take longer than 20-25 minutes. For the remaining exercises just take about 1 minute to a minute and a half per set. For my workout I use the basic pyramid, meaning I add weight to each set so it gets heavier and my body is therefore forced to grow.You never ever want to use the same weight twice!

       For instance if you do 5 sets of 225 on the bench press, you are basically telling your body that the muscle mass it is carrying is sufficient (also how can your bench press max go up if you never challenge your body with increasingly heavy weight or even heavier weight from the last workout). But if you add weight to each set you are demanding that the body use all the available muscle fibers it has. Remember, if you are not getting stronger you are not getting any bigger. If you want your muscles to grow you have to force them to do weight that requires them to work their hardest -which is heavy.

      It is very important that you cycle your intensity, i.e. do one heavy bench workout this week and then do a lighter workout the next week with a weight that pyramids to about 80 % of your last previous lifted heavy weight day. The light workout is there to help you recover. Believe it or not , it takes a long ass time to recover from real heavy weight. It is not how hard the workout is for it to be effective, but rather what the workout produces. I hear some people brag about how their workout would kill a normal man.

       Wow, I tell them, but do you get results from it? If you want a hard workout why not take the workout above and add 50 to 1000 to every exercise. Why stop there? How about 873380470937409170 sets and 45874520999988442 reps. The point is that there is a point to a workout where you are destroying more muscle than you are trying to produce. Have you ever seen a muscle bound runner? How about Mr. Olympia doing a triathlon? This is why my workout is short and easy. A natural bodybuilder can easily over train if they are not careful.

       A lot of people think that lifting is the only thing that they have to do to grow. Rest is how you grow, rest is when you grow, and if you dont rest you wont grow. Too many weight lifters concentrate too much on the lifting aspect of the sport instead of the recovery aspect. They go out and drink and party, stay up all night, dont drink enough water, and eat crap. Try to sleep at least 7-12 hours a night. I like to take naps. If you dont rest and party-all-night you will look like it.

       I try to drink plenty of water. There are plenty of quote unquote Weider principles out there but, I only use a few . I always pyramid: go up in weight and go down in reps. On my last set I always go to failure even if I have to hold the weight in place for 10 seconds to do that rep. I like to do forced reps with a partner. The way I do forced reps is I have my partner either hold me or the bar while I am performing all my reps. This helps me keep my mind off of how much weight I am doing. Because I dont know how much he is helping until the set is over.

       There is also the "Figs sudden heavy weight principle" which entails having the body builder lift a weight that is at least 100-200 pounds heavier than what they usually lift. This shocks the muscles to work harder than ever. Also, this gives you a sense of a normally heavy weight to feel lighter. Well, after you do that heavy set youll go down in weight and that weight will feel light as hell compared to the super heavy weight and youll do more. Also some people are afraid of heavy weight but this cools that fear.

       Never say "Ill never do that much weight" until you have felt how heavy it really is. The mind shouldnt tell you that you cant do it, your muscles should. Muscle alone doesnt lift the weight, it takes the brain to tell the muscle to contract. Scientists say we only push our muscles to 1/3 of what they are capable of doing. Now if you get stronger without weight gain, which happens a lot with beginners, its mostly because you are training the brain to send more powerful electrical signals to the muscle fibers.

       Heavy weight helps to support the brain in firing more powerful signals. Staying focused during a lift is very beneficial. The best way to do this is to find a spot on the wall or ceiling and stare at it. As you are staring at this spot this helps you to ignore the pain.

READ THIS

      There are thousands of workouts on the net. There are good and better ones. Everyone has their own opinions on what works, so do I. Trial and error is the only method to determine what works. A good workout should show results in 2 to 3 months, NOT WEEKS, NOT DAYS, NO MAGIC. If I had a dime for every workout that I tried that did not work I'd be rich (Super slow, Darden, Arnold not that bad). I always recommend either my workout, Hard Gainer or HIT.

       Just with common sense you should be able to say that a good workout should contain: heavy weight, low volume, and plenty of rest. If you do not choose mine at least choose another with those qualifications. Thanks for reading this part.One thing I like to do is listen to my walkman while I workout. I can't stand the music that my gym plays. Classic rock ballads in a gym does not work. I choose to listen to Heavy Metal, Gangster Rap (not politically correct, but has a good beat and lyrics that piss me off.

       I listen to it still even though, I was a cop three years ago) and Techno or anything with a beat!!! One thing I would like to bring up about walkmans. If you blast your walkman real loud, and you a increased blood pressure (do to heavy lifting or aerobics) you risk hearing damage. What happens is that the high blood pressure from the exercise elevated the blood pressure in your ears. This increases the chance of hearing damage. So just turn it down so you not everyone else can hear it.

       I do find that I talk a lot less while I am listening to my favorite music. One tip make sure when you bench that the wire from your head set is not hanging over your chest when you are doing bench presses. It really hurts!!! Ever read someone write "I worked out so hard I throw up, while doing curls", the only people who throw up while working out are pussies that can't take it! Don't let those want to be know it all dumb shits influence you. Intensity is what it is about on your last 2 sets of your pyramids (all out to failure).

       Complete failure is when someone has to pull the weight off of your body and not from throwing up (only a COMPLETE PUNK BITCH would throw up). Now let's talk about throwing up. Well better yet eating. How long should you eat before you eat? Well I would like to say between 2 to 4 hours. But Fig why 2 to 4 hours? Well this is what happens when you eat, you consume a good meal, then your stomach starts to digest the food, now your stomach needs alot of fluids and blood to complete it's functions.

       Now the stomach uses a lot of blood from your body. So if you were to workout about a half hour after eating your stomach and muscles would be competing for blood. Guess who loses? your muscles. Now one good thing about that is that your body would be flooded with protein after your workout, but you would get a terrible workout. Now when to eat after a workout. I always at the least eat a high protein snack (cottage cheese, milk, meat) this helps to repair your damaged muscles quickly. Lesson learned, don't go out like a bitch.

      Here is some more bench press information. I was watching the Christian channel and I saw this guy bench press 675 lbs (he was a Christian power lifter). Here was his pryamid, (Warm up) 315*4, 405*1, 495*1, 585*1, 675*1. Just thought that you would like to see his pryamid. See how he did not used a minimum ammount of reps to maximize his max weight. He looked like he could of lifted into the 700's easily. Well he did weigh in at 400 lbs.

      Even more bench press information. Fig my bench press is going stale what do I do? Here is some secret information that I usually keep to myself: I usually add a set or two of half reps on the bench press. I do 8 reps at the bottom and 8 reps at the top. The bottom of the movement works the chest and lats and the top the triceps and shoulders. If your shoulders are not burning while doing the top of the movement< i do not know what will give the same effect. But Fig what do my triceps, lats and shoulders have to do with my chest? Well, good question.

       Remember that the bench press is a compound exercise. Many weight lifters train their triceps on bench day, since they are being worked already. The one thing that I BELIEVE that is the biggest contributing factor of no gains on the bench press is weightlifters not doing forced reps with heavy weight. Forced reps with a spotter holding the bar and helping the lifter do those last reps (even if they have to help pull up 30 lbs or more), is the key. I have seen lifters do very well on the bench press when they have a good spotter.

       A good spotter is the difference and a good lifter will use forced reps to their advantage. Even if you don't think that you can do a very heavy weight try having your spotter hold the bar the whole time and then only rack the bar when the spotter says it is too heavy for them to continue. It is real important to have the spotter keep the weight moving. The reason why, is so you can work your strongest parts of the movement. When you normally bench, you can only bench as heavy as the weakest point in the movement.

       By doing forced reps you can workout your strongest part of the movement. But Fig what about my weak point in my movement? The stronger your strongest point in the movement gets, your weaker point will follow. If you notice that at the bottom of the movement you are stuggling, then you might consider doing half reps in that area. Hope that helps you get stronger!!! Here's a story about a guy that I saw come into my gym once. I saw this freaking huge guy come into my gym once. I never saw this guy before, he was definitely on the juice (paper thin skin, traps to the ears).

       I saw him go head straight to the shoulder press. He then warmed up and throw 315 on the bar and repped it out for 10. Then he put 405 on the bar and repped it out. To this day I have never seen anyone do that. In fact that was the first and last time I ever saw that needle using idiot. Steroids are stupid. I had a friend once who roided up. He won the Mr. Teen Florida title. Now he is small with a damaged liver. He now has to take pills for his condition. I saw one guy roid up with test. Within 2 months he gained 100 lbs on his bench.

       Then he went off the juice and his bench press went right back down to where it was previously. He did keep all the fat and water weight he gained. When I was in High School, we had 3 or 4 football players fall down during practice due to heart murmmers. Oh yeah steroids are safe, sure they are. If you are dumb enough to take them, then expect some Consequences . Nothing is free on this planet, you got to pay some where. If you don't mind going bald, getting severe acne, and liver damage, then by all means juice up. I like being ALL NATURAL.

       I don't mind having to go to the doctor's office, because I know I do not have to explain why my blood pressure is dangerously high or tell the doctor what I am really on (or take a bool test). I like knowing that I do not have to worry about getting AIDs from a needle. I like knowing if I get a pain in my stomach that it is not from liver or kidney damage.I don't know if it is just me or not. But anytime I go visit another gym, I always got to go through the "bodybuilder Size-up". What that is, is the other bodybuilders have to size me up because I guess I am invading on their territory.

      It goes on for weeks. Not a word is spoken to me. They all want to see just how strong I really am. At one point I almost wrote my measurements on my t-shirt just so they would stop trying to size me up. I usually bring in a tape measure to the gym. That way after I pump up my arms, I get them to measure them at 20 inches. That usually breaks the ice. I love it when I see a weightlifter bench 315 for only 3 reps and then they give me the look like that is suppose to impress me, like I couldn't do that. Then I get the cheat curlers who swing and bounce up 135 and then look at me like I am supposed to be impressed again. Oh well as for my self I don't do that.

       If a guy is bigger than me, I ask them for training tips, instead of looking like a clown.Here is something that I want you to know. Sometimes I cannot workout for 5 days or more and when I go to workout I see strength loses. Here's what you should do, make sure you warm up real good. Now I don't mean that you should do your regular warm up work, you should add extra warm up sets until you feel a good pump and then workout. It might take 5 sets to do so but in the end it will be better. Remember if your muscles have not been worked out for a week, then you have to wake them up slowly. You have not lost strength, just some time.

      It has been proven that if you take longer breaks between sets, that strength gains will be greater.The TRUTH is there are no workouts that add 50 lbs of muscle in a year. There are no natural supplements that do that either. What the main goal of this page is to help inform, the uninformed. I was finally fed up with stupid sense-less magazines and money grubbing know it all web cites. I want to print the truth. I need your help printing the truth!!! If you have any questions or training tips, please e-mail me. I would like to thank all of you who have e-mailed in the past!!!

       If you like what I have written on this page then I would like to hear from you. If the current workout that you are doing works for you that is great!!! If you disagree with some or all of my training ideas that is also very good. Training ideas are not written in stone (God did not come down to Earth and give anyone the tablet of weight training). What works for me may not work for you. I have never seen anyone ever write that before. I will admit there are good and better ways to train. I have tried the "Super Slow" training by that quack Darden.

      I had no results. Of course his bodybuilders in his book gained weight. Who wouldn't by consuming 6,000 calories or more a day. Also his scientific tests were done on animals not humans. I also did that "Bulgarian" workout. It only took a week for me to become overtrained (work your whole body each day for 4 days straight). I do not recommend that stupid workout. I really like the H.I.T. workout. It makes a lot of sense to me. Low sets and heavy weight are a good sign of what good programs are made of.

       I would stay away from any workout book that has to use dozens of professional bodybuilder pictures to help sell the book. Content is everything. Stay away from those Darden books.

Here is a list of books I do like:

Brawn

      I have not read it. I have read a lot about it. It sounds good to me. If you want to read more about brawn. Then check out the Hardgainer home page.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

      The best book to learn how to correctly perform exercises. It has some good advice on training, diets and posing . I do not recommend his workouts. His workouts take 3 or more hours to complete (if you do not believe me check out pages 190 to 193). His basic mass program looks okay (but, it is one of those work your whole body 2 or more times a week splits).

      A good book should have a lot of content. The best books are written by bodybuilders not doctors (now if it is co-written with a doctor like as Arnold's book, that's a good thing). There are a lot of books out there that like to use big words to make their theroies look good. But, remember it all boils down to the workout. I just saw this web page that recomends 3 seperate workouts a day. Come on now who has the time to do that. The best workouts that I have seen are the ones that lift heavy with the minimum ammout of sets. Lifting like a marathon runner does not work.