Drag Curls for Larger Biceps

Start with a grip on the bar slightly wider than shoulder width. Your feet should be shoulder width apart, back slightly arched and shoulders back. Slowly drag the bar up along the front of your torso. The goal of this exercise is to place all the stress on the biceps and take cheating completely out of the movement. Continue to drag the bar up until it rests just below your pectorals, then slowly lower and repeat. Perform 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps for this exercise.

My Abdominal Routine

Everybody wants six pack abs, that is no secret. However, most people go about getting them the wrong way by doing hundreds of crunches or other endurance based exercise in order to make them visible. First things first, in order to even see your abs your body fat levels must be around 12 %. This means that your diet is the most important factor in obtaining your abs. Once you have your diet in check, then you can go about working your actual abs.

I like to train abs a little bit different than most people. I see a lot of people doing endless sets of crunches and sit -ups however I prefer to train with weight. My reasoning is this, if you did sets of 50 push-ups each night, would you get a large round chest? No, your would have a nice flat chest but it would be fit in terms of endurance. I believe the same holds true for abs. Now I am not saying to use heavy weight as that can lead to back injuries, but you should use a weight that allows your to reach 15-20 reps until failure. By using resistance, you force your abs to actually grow which will cause them to "pop". In my opinion, this is the difference between a six pack and abs that look chiseled. If you want the chiseled look, use resistance!!

Abdominal Routine:

Hanging Leg Raises- 10 x 10 (Work up to this, it is the only body weight exercise but a very good one.)

Cable Crunch- 4 x 15-20

Ab Machine 4 x 15-20

That is it! No endless sets, no secrets, just old fashioned hard work! Good luck.

My Story and Why Nutrition is Key

In my personal opinion, nutrition is the golden element to your muscle building success. Without proper nutrition, you will not see the gains you are trying to make in the gym. Personally, this was always an issue for me. I was the type of person to work hard but yet I would eat junk food and not worry about how many calories or quality foods I would be taking in on a daily basis. Needless to say, my results were poor.

 Inevitably, this caused me to lose motivation in the gym and stop working out almost altogether. I would lift weight about once a week, just to maintain a kind of "athletic" build. I was never happy with this, but I was too lazy to want more. I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror, my scrawny frame stared back at me. It was at this point I realized I didn't want to look like this anymore. I didn't want people to look at me and comment on how I was a "stick". Right then and there I dedicated myself to getting the body I want. I started to eat properly for the first time in my life, and began to hit the gym again. This time was different, I was not losing my motivation. Instead, each time I left I could not wait to get back again. The reason for this was for the first time I was seeing REAL results. 

When I decided to make the change I initially weighed 170-175 pounds and I'm 6'3". I looked like a stick even though I did have some muscle to me. However, three weeks later when I stepped on the scale I was a solid 182. I figured I had put on about 5 pounds of muscle and the rest was water weight. The key to this gain was my nutrition, I was finally allowing my body to adapt to the stress rather than to struggle with it. I also noticed my strength increasing a great deal. The best part though, was running into people I hadn't seen in weeks, who immediately commented on how I look "thicker".  Let me tell you, it is a GREAT feeling. Since then I have managed to add about 15 pounds to my frame. I weigh in at about an even 200 pounds. This transformation all occurred with me in a period of about six months. The reason being was that even though I had trained in the past, I was never serious about it. I almost felt as though this was the first time I was lifting weights. I will share my before and after diets below and hopefully they will help to guide you to success. 

My old diet:

Wake up- eat anything, or even nothing most times as I was in a hurry to get to work or school.

Noon- fast food or packed lunch with no quality food.

5- pre-workout, protein shake

Post workout- Protein shake, creatine drink.

Dinner- Whatever was cooking.

As you can see, this diet left me NO ROOM to grow, I was barely taking in enough calories to maintain my current weight. Once I realized this. I was able to change it and make it happen so to speak. 

Here is my current Diet:

6:00am- Oatmeal, Eggs, Toast, Milk or Juice and Whey Protein. 

9:00am- Protein Shake

12:00- Quality protein source with some brown rice or other complex carbohydrate, fruit.

2:00pm- Protein Shake 

5:00pm- Pre workout Supplement

7:00pm- Protein Shake, Creatine, PB sandwich (peanut butter is a great muscle building food IMO)

9:00pm- Dinner, Quality protein, Complex Carbs, Veggies

11:00pm- Casein Protein, Eggs, Bed

Needless to say, the second diet plan worked very well. I noticed I was not feeling "tired" anymore, I was motivated and ready to attack the weights in the gym. 

Best of luck! 

Beginner's Weight Training Routine

This routine is for people just starting out in weight training. It is a fairly simple routine but if combined with good eating habits it will yield great results. I have left out triceps and biceps in this routine because I don't believe people just beginning need to use these exercises. The bench press and chin ups will place a great deal of stress on the triceps and biceps respectively, therefore negating the need for direct exercise for the novice lifter. I suggest using this routine for six months before progressing into the Split weight training routine. 

Day 1,3,5- Full Body Routine

Bench Press- 3 x 15

Shoulder Press- 3 x 15

Chin Ups - 3 x Failure

Back Squat- 3 x 15

Day 2,4,6- Abs

Crunches- 3x 15

Hanging Leg Raises- 3 x 15

Oblique Crunches- 3 x 15

Day 7- Rest

Steps To Successful Muscle Building

1.) Make sure that your nutrition is in check- A good way to make sure that you are eating well enough is to take your body weight and multiply by 17. This number will be your target caloric intake in order for your body to be able to build muscle. Many people may not realize that your body needs a certain number of calories each day to simply maintain the current body weight. If you are at or under this number you WILL NOT GAIN WEIGHT. 

2.) Eat enough protein- I would suggest eating 1 gram of protein per pound of your target weight. Lets say you weight 160 pounds and you want to gain 20 pounds this year. You would aim to eat 180 grams of protein each day. 

3.) High quality carbohydrates and fats- High quality carbohydrates are the fuel that keeps your body going. Carbs are converted into energy rather quickly and keep you feeling full of energy. This is essential in order to keep your body in prime muscle building condition. Additionally, healthy fats are also an essential part of muscle building.

4.) Rest- After a hard workout, your body needs time to recover. Sleeping 4 hours a night is not cutting it. You need at least 8 hours of quality sleep for your body to be primed and ready to go. 

5.) Supplementation- After you have mastered the above four steps, you may wish to being supplementing your diet to help you grow. I believe that supplements do aid in the process however they do not replace the need for sound diet and sleep. There are three supplements I suggest: A pre-workout, a quality creatine product, and a protein product. 

6.) Motivation- This becomes a problem with ALL people. Staying motivated is tough, however you must stay focused on your goals in order to become successful. Listen to music that pumps you up, or if you must, think of a tough time in your life. This should help you to stay focused on yourself.

7.) Training- Keep it simple, on workout days limit yourself to an hour and a half max. If you go much longer than that your will begin to produce harmful hormones in your body that will actually begin to break down muscle. Keep it short and intense, you WILL grow. 

The Cold Hard Truth

If you are anything like me, you have spent the majority of your younger years looking for ways to magically "bulk up in two weeks", or to "get big fast". The problem with these typical want-it-now approaches are that they simply don't exist. You see people doing the newest Hollywood celebrity workout expecting to get jacked in the least amount of time possible. Ask yourself a question, how many people actually pull this feat off? Now ask another question, why? The truth of the matter is that there is nobody to blame for these people's failures other than themselves. They end up sticking to these "magic" workouts for a week or two at the most and wonder why they never see any results. The truth is that it takes time for you to start to see your results in the gym. Can you pack on 10-20 pounds of muscle in 3-4 months? The answer is absolutely, however, people simply don't. Many people have this belief that if they simply lay on the bench press all day and lift until they can't move their arms that they will become massive and accomplish their goal. Also, they expect to accomplish this goal with absolutely no nutrition and no proper rest. This leads to lack of results, and eventually, the individual giving up on his goal because "I'm skinny I can't help it" or "I have a fast metabolism". This is utter bullshit. If you want to beef up, you need to become focused outside the gym first and foremost. This means getting your nutrition in check, making sure you are getting adequate sleep at night, cutting down on the alcohol and partying, and become educated. Think of your body like a high performance vehicle. You can drop a huge engine in that car, get all kinds of aftermarket parts, but yet without gasoline it simply will not run. So how do you expect to grow and become a high performance machine when all you are doing is drinking beer and eating cheese puffs on the couch? In order to become successful you have to want to do it, nobody is going to make you do it. I will lay out the plan, show you how, but ultimately it is your decision whether or not you become successful. Stay focused and hungry people, and in time it will come.