In a body building program, the exercises that you do can make all the difference between an effective program and one that won't do much good. The good thing is that there are many, many body building exercises you can incorporate into your workout that will help grow your muscles and keep you fit and trim.
For big legs, you'll want to do a lot of barbell squats and dead lifts. The resistance you are putting on your legs when you perform these types of exercises will push your muscles to make them grow. That's the point of an intense workout program in the first place. Lifting weights with your legs instead of your arms will help the quadriceps and hamstrings become tight and fit.
When working your arms, the body building exercises you should count on will consist a lot of barbell and dumbbell curls and well as bench presses. It's easy when performing these exercises to just concentrate on lifting the weights, but what you really need to do is focus on the strain the weights are putting on your arm muscles. Really push them as you are lifting and feel how they are working in response.
Great abs are formed much in the same way as any other muscle group. They need to be worked, strained, and pushed in order to become toned. You can get that toned, sculpted look by doing simple sit ups and crunches, but weights can help too. Try hanging from a chin up bar and lifting your knees up, or get on a machine specially designed to tone the ab muscles.
When working the upper back, a pull-down bar machine will make all the difference in the world. This is a two handled curved bar that is attached to weights with a pulley system. You pull the bar down with your shoulders behind you.
It's important when choosing body building exercises that you pick the ones that you are physically able to do. Then be very conscious of the way the exercise is supposed to be performed. If you don't pay special attention to your form, you risk injury which can set back your body building program significantly.
Do your research on what types of body building exercises will work specific muscle groups and then incorporate them into your workout regimen. Pick a variety of exercises that will make your body everything you dreamed it could be and do them on a regular basis. The reward is a toned, fit body that you can be proud of!
Way back when I was in high school, one of my peers in the campus weight room had a peculiar reply to a claim from a buddy of mine. My friend was saying that a person could derive benefit from splitting rep motions in half on barbell curls. This essentially entails making sets out of moving the barbell from the hips to the halfway point ? then doing a block of sets from the midway point to the fully curled position. The guy's reply: "I've heard you shouldn't perform split reps like that because it can make you too bulky." My friend and I looked at each other and agreed that we were both hoping to have such a burdensome "problem".
I've often wondered why this technique isn't practiced and talked about more often. Performing sets in this manner makes sense from a kinesiology standpoint. When we perform a barbell curl, for example, the tension on the biceps hits its peak when the forearms are horizontal as the curl reaches its midpoint. If we split the barbell curl into two half rep exercises (top and bottom half respectively), we double up on the time the biceps spend under this peak stress condition. Moreover, we bring the bar ?up toward' the peak stress position using the lower half curls and we bring the bar ?down to' the stress position with the upper half curls. This gives us the power a contraction from a positive repetition on the first exercise, followed with a dose of contractions from a predominantly negative movement on the latter one.
Actually, when curling the weight from the top of the exercise where the bar is at the shoulders ? down to the mid-position where the forearms are parallel ? we get a nice contraction of the biceps with a negative/isometric as we have to put on the breaks and briefly stop the weight before moving it up again. This is where the biceps really endure the extra intensity that can give them the size that full reps just don't provide.
If you also practice splitting your reps with some triceps exercises, the results on arm development can be impressive. I personally do this on one of those Cybex triceps extension machines. With my upper arms resting on the padded platform, I do sets from the starting position to the mid-point of a full extension. After that, my triceps get really worked and feel like they're breaking the seams of my shirt as I perform sets from the mid-point to the fully extended position.
Here's a suggestion that can really get your biceps growing by adding just two specific exercises to your routine. Lie down on a pulley-rowing machine while holding a straight bar of shoulder width with both hands. Move your body far enough down the rowing platform that you can curl the weight to your waist level without having the weight stack hit the top of the machine. You can usually secure your lower legs under the platform or bar that's normally used for a person's feet when doing rowing exercises. While lying horizontally, perform sets of biceps curls like this, curling the bar from your thighs up to the level of your waist. The pulley, with its weight fighting gravity through the entire motion, will give your biceps a nice contraction through the whole motion.
After five or six sets of that, find a bench and set it under a triceps press-down pulley. You won't use it for triceps in this case, but rather to put maximum contraction on the second half of your biceps curls. Lie on this bench with a straight bar in your hands and the weight stack a few inches behind your head. This time, you'll curl the weight from the point of your forearms being parallel to the floor to having the bar right on your chin. You can even touch the bar to your neck for really peak contraction.
Five or six sets of this peaking movement after burning up your biceps with the previous exercise will have them appearing like they're bulging even when someone's handing you a piece of paper.
If you've had problems with arm growth, I highly recommend you start splitting some of your exercises into two movements of half-range motion. It can really help you get a respectable set of "guns".
Both Eric Lorence & Scott Abbett are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Eric Lorence has sinced written about articles on various topics from Banner Advertising, Acne and Bodybuilding Supplements. E. S. Lorence is a free lance writer, author, and Internet entrepreneur based in Alpharetta, GA.He is also a premier resident expert at-Read more abou. Eric Lorence's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
Scott Abbett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Muscle, Hoodia and Health. Scott Abbett is the author of HardBody Success: 28 Principles to Create Your Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind for Incredible Success. To see his personal transformation, visit. Scott Abbett's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.