In an ever-expanding sea of choices, what are the best products out there?

Thumbing through ads in bodybuilding magazines, it’s hard not to notice that so many products have one thing in common — they’re all The Best — which makes it virtually impossible to choose. The ads have certainly become entertaining though, comparing users of their product to wild animals or ancient warriors who always get the girl. But if you give in to the gloss, there’s no doubt when you hand over your hard-earned cash for these proclaimed miracles you’ll be paying a considerable amount for the glitter. And the results you get may be fair at best because, unfortunately, the recent trend for many supplement companies is to trade off real science and superior quality standards for these expensive multi-page ads in an attempt to get attention and bolster profit margins.

So, if the ads can’t help you decide, what then is the best way to choose a product? Actually, choosing a company instead makes things simpler and more sensible too because the products you choose are only as good as the raw materials used, research methods involved, quality controls established and how well they’re formulated. With these four criteria established, choosing a product by selection of a manufacturer can be considerably less frustrating.

The Four Qualities of A Superior Supplement Manufacturer

To put it in perspective, the basic industry standards to look for when deciding on a quality supplement manufacturer and product are:

• Purity and Potency of Ingredients
• Research and Development
• Formula Innovation
• Quality Control

Purity and Potency of Ingredients

The key to any supplement’s efficacy can be found, first of all, in the purity and potency of its ingredients. A lower grade supplement will not only provide fewer results but will not be cost effective either. And the ill-advised habit of taking more of a product to make up for its lower quality may very well have an effect on your health. Certain residual by-products left over from the extraction of herbs and the production of amino acids, although not dangerous if taking recommended dosages of a product, may build up over time if you take too much. It becomes apparent then that it’s crucial to find the highest-grade supplements possible for any workout program you undertake if you intend to make any real progress.

ProSource was founded on this basic principle of product purity and potency and has established a reputation industry-wide of offering only top-of-the-line compounds with validated purities. Years ago, ProSource introduced pure ultra-filtered whey protein isolate to the industry, which has now become the gold standard protein for any serious bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast. Since its inception, the NytroWhey protein line has been recognized as the highest-grade, most potent and amino rich whey isolate available worldwide. In fact, there is no other protein out there that remotely compares to the superior whey isolate found in NytroWhey protein products. And this is why many top pro bodybuilders, even those under contract with other companies, rely on NytroWhey. But ProSource didn’t stop with proteins, they recognized a dire need for a higher level of purity in every aspect of sports supplementation and set out determined to address this problem. An example of this commitment can be found in the 100% pure Degussa Creapure® German pharmaceutical grade creatine monohydrate used in ProSource’s Creatine. Unfortunately, the quality of creatine varies widely from brand to brand, so ProSource simplified your choice by offering the highest purity form, the only one shown to deliver the phenomenal increases in size, strength and power that this super-supplement has become famous for. Many other ProSource supplements get their start from the highest quality sources from around the world, like Italy for Ultra Glutamine or Japan for green tea, among many others. Word of the superior quality of ProSource products has continued to grow over the years, making a phenomenal difference in the lives of countless bodybuilders and athletes. Tremendous customer feedback touting a huge range of gain increases and success stories from use of ProSource products has confirmed that validated product purity and potency is essential to make any substantial progress from your workouts.

Research and Development

Producing products with clinically validated purity levels is one of the primary jobs of the research and development and therefore the level of purity and potency in compounds being offered becomes an indicator of how much intensive research is being done there. This quest for higher-grade compounds was a critical issue in the recent emergence of new natural T-boosting formulas, where a high level of pure and potent extracts became crucial. Several years ago, it became clear among researchers that a much higher-grade extract was needed for any serious testosterone-enhancing efficacy.

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We would love to tell you that shedding unwanted pounds is easier than scoring touchdowns in the Arena Football League. However, if you’ve been studiously and furiously doing your cardio, lifting weights, and eating clean, and not seeing the physical changes you’re hoping for, you already know better.

Well, consider this story your TD — and two-point conversion — in the battle against fat. Here, you’ll find eight simple-to-implement tips and strategies to help you improve your get-lean game plan. It won’t be as easy as playing football in a 50-yard roller rink, sure, but your results may just prompt you to break into an impromptu end-zone celebration anyway.

1) VARY YOUR CARDIO:

Steady-state aerobic sessions — those where you maintain a constant pace throughout your workout — do not burn as much body fat as interval training, in which you fluctuate your pace between slower and near-max efforts. This can be as simple as doing a 15-second all-out sprint every minute during a jog, or can be slightly more complicated, such as the interval programs built into most treadmills, ellipticals and exercise bikes at your health club.

2) KEEP THE FIRE BURNING:

Some cardio options are better than others — at least when it comes to the calorie burn they promote after the workout is over. Yes, you read that correctly: certain forms of aerobic training elevate your metabolism higher and for a extended period of time long after you’ve stopped exercising. Methods to increase your EPOC (i.e. your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) include doing cardio activities of 60 minutes in duration (versus 40 or less), weight training after your cardio, and using the interval-type training outlined in tip #1.

3) BREAK A SWEAT:

You may be doing cardio, sure … but if you’re not burning appreciable amounts of fat and your diet isn’t the likely culprit, you have to ask the question, Are you exercising hard enough? It seems so clear-cut, but take a look around the cardio room at your local gym and you’ll see plenty of people plodding along, not breathing all that hard and in no need of a towel. The truth is, burning fat and transforming your physique is hard, hard work. Sweat equity is the only viable road to a lean body, so put in the effort and push yourself as hard as you can.

4) BUILD MUSCLE:

The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body burns, even at rest. So an effective weight-training program is key. And by “effective,” we mean this: Don’t follow misguided advice to up your repetitions to 15-20 or more per set in some convoluted effort to turn your lifting sessions into wildly inefficient cardio workouts. Instead, stick with the heavier-weight, 6-12 rep sets that are best for prompting muscular growth.

5) DIVIDE AND CONQUER:

How many meals are you eating per day? If it’s four or less, try this: Take the same amount of food and divide it over 6-8 meals, spaced two-and-a-half to three hours apart. (Make sure you include 20-30 grams of protein minimum with each meal.) This helps keep you fueled while lessening the chances that excess calories taken in will be stored as body fat.

6) INCREASE YOUR PROTEIN:

A recent study out of University College London found that Peptide YY, a hormone that travels to the brain from the gastrointestinal system to indicate satiety, increased in those who ate a high protein meal (65% protein), versus high-carb and high-fat meals. In basic terms, the high-protein meals led to a significant decrease in hunger pangs — and obviously, the less hungry you are, the less excess food you’ll eat. Not only does protein keep you feeling fuller longer than carbohydrates or fat, as the study suggests, it takes more overall energy for your body to digest, meaning it prompts calorie burning. Perhaps most notably, protein is the critical nutrient in ensuring you can successfully build muscle, which is important, as you learned in Tip #4.

7) QUICK TRICKS:

On their own, none of the following will make a monumental difference, but if you want to leave no detail to chance, try cold water (one study found that drinking two cups between meals raised resting metabolic rate by around 30% for over 60 minutes), add chili peppers to spice up meals (the capsaicin in chilis has fat-burning properties), and drink plenty of sugar-free green tea throughout the day (as green tea contains EGCG, which has been shown to have thermogenic effects).

SUPPLEMENT SMART:

When trying to shed pounds and get ripped, a host of powerful supps can help. The fundamentals include a caffeine/green tea formula, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), citrulline malate, konjac glucomannan, 7-keto DHEA, pure South African Hoodia gordonii, yohimbine, glutamine, and protein powders and bars to augment a clean … [visit site to read more]

“I eat two Supreme Protein® bars a day,” the consistent-hitting second baseman says. “The flavor is unbelievable and each one has all the ingredients to deliver the nutritional profile I need to perform at a high level.”

The key to this superior nutritional profile is 30 grams of premium protein, powered by top-quality whey protein isolate (WPI). This WPI is the gold standard of all protein available today with an amino-acid density unlike any other food source. In fact, the biological value (a measurement of how completely a protein is used) of this whey isolate is much higher than beef, chicken, fish or eggs. This makes it a quicker and more superior lean mass-building agent than anything available and can be easily incorporated into a workout routine to provide optimum recovery and energy support. This is a critical fact that many major athletes like Dan depend on for gaining the advantage.

“During the baseball season, it is important for me to maintain lean body mass and weight so that I can maintain my strength throughout the course of the season,” Dan says. “Supreme Protein® bars allow me to get the protein and nutrients that I need so that I can recover from my workouts faster and exercise longer before feeling signs of fatigue. I’ve definitely noticed a difference since I’ve added Supreme Protein® bars to my routine.”

Incorporating Supreme Protein® into his training methods seems to have paid off as Dan is well-established as one of the elite new major league players, third in 2007 Rookie of the Year voting with a current stat line (mid June) of a Major-League leading 23 HR, plus 50 RBIs and a .281 Batting Average. The match-up with Supreme bars, according to Dan, was one of relative perfection. Less than a year ago, he discovered these amazing bars and developed an affinity, recognizing the same commitment to excellence in the bar recipe that he shows for his career.

This relationship is a natural for me,” he says. “I aspire to be the best player I can be, and the best player among my peers. That’s something Supreme Protein® has already achieved. Supreme Protein® is easily the category leader in both taste and quality.”

And Supreme Protein® bars have achieved this lead in part by offering a premium protein blend featuring high amounts of whey protein isolate to help support lean muscle mass. But this is only part of the story. These incredibly delicious bars deliver a quadruple layer taste sensation like no other bar on the market today, making Supreme Protein® worthy enough to befit the current home-run king.

From his rookie start in 2006, to his well-deserved 2nd base spot at next month’s 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium, this high profile Florida Marlin’s favorite has shown a steady consistency in his performance along with extraordinary offensive firepower. This power-hitting phenomenon credits the power-packed Supreme bars for providing the kind of vital lean mass-building nutrition for the single most awe-inspiring stat in baseball, home run king!

You may not be a top professional athlete like Dan Uggla, but it’s good to know that the same nutritional masterpiece that helped carry this champion to high ranks in the majors is also available for your everyday workouts. Putting Supreme Protein® in your lineup is a winning … [visit site to read more]

Blasphemy, you say? Read on, and see if we can’t change your mind - and improve your results.

Chest: Barbell Bench Press
We don’t lead off this list with the ever-popular bench press because it’s a lousy exercise. It’s not. However, it’s here because far too many people attribute way too much importance to it, performing it to the detriment of their overall chest development. Too much emphasis on the barbell press leads to thick meaty muscle in your middle chest, while the larger upper-pectoral area lags woefully behind.

Best alternative: To attack the most important area of your chest, Dumbbell and Barbell Incline Presses can’t be beat. Both also hit your middle chest (much more effectively than the flat-bench press hits the upper pecs), making them a solid anchor in any chest-training workout.

Back: Supported T-Bar Row
The T-bar row is a wonderful exercise, directly engaging the muscles of your mid- and upper back. However, a certain variation of the T-bar row includes a pad that you rest your chest on during the exercise. Bad idea - the heavier you lift, the more the weight compresses your chest (and lungs) against the pad as you lift. It’s a lot harder to maintain good form and continue a set to the point of failure when you’re struggling for a deep breath.

Best alternative: Thankfully, equipment manufacturers make a freestanding version of the T-Bar Row, without the pad, allowing you to breathe easy during your sets. You can also do T-bar rows the old-fashioned way, placing one end of an Olympic barbell in the corner and loading the other end. Just straddle the bar and get into position, and you can perform either one-arm or two-arm rows.

Shoulders: Reverse Pec-Deck Flye
The problem with the reverse pec-deck flye is that it’s a poor replacement for the more valuable bent-over dumbbell lateral raise. Try a set of reverse pec decks and you’ll see what we mean - not only are they relatively easy because of the mechanical advantage (due to the design of the machine and the fact you’re upright and not working directly against gravity), but most people find it difficult to focus the effort on their rear delts no matter how well they perform each rep.

Best alternative: Many people do struggle with their form on bent-over dumbbell lateral raises, mainly because they try to lift too much - think about how small the target muscles actually are, and you’ll soon realize that hoisting 50s is calling on more momentum and back muscles than the rear delts. Lighten the load, take each rep slowly and deliberately, and focus on contracting your rear delts on each rep, and you’ll get much better results from this exercise than even pec-deck flyes done with perfect form.

Legs: Leg Press
There’s a reason scrawny-legged guys can press hundreds of pounds on the leg press, but can barely eke out reps with 185 pounds on the barbell squat: The leg press has too much mechanical advantage inherent in its design. Impressive tree-trunk thighs are not forged on a steady diet of leg presses - to really get at the tough muscle fibers of the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes, you need to challenge them fiercely, and the leg press doesn’t do that. It’s just too easy in comparison to other superior movements.

Best alternative: The barbell squat and hack squat are a much truer test of mettle for your thighs and glutes - in these two exercises, you’re not at a mechanical advantage, putting your muscles under maximal stress, which is the quickest way to muscle-building results.

Triceps: Dumbbell Kickback
Of all the excellent triceps exercises available to you - close-grip bench presses, dips, lying French presses, two-arm overhead extensions, cable pressdowns, among many others - why would you ever want to cycle in a less-effective move like kickbacks? People commonly bring the weight too far forward at the start of the repetition, taking stress off the triceps and generating momentum to lift the weight back up to an arms-straight position. If you eliminate this issue and stop the weight before your elbow gets to 90 degrees, you are working in a compromised range of motion.

Best alternative: Any of the aforementioned exercises would be better, but one that mimics the kickback closely is the One-Arm Overhead Dumbbell Extension. The bonus? You use gravity to your advantage, eliminating the growth-robbing momentum and the “dead zone” where the stress is taken off the triceps.

Biceps: Standing Barbell Curl
Although the preacher curl machine, with its one-size-does-not-fit-all handles and awkward range of motion, could easily get the nod here, the standing barbell curl has hurt the productivity of many more biceps routines over the years. Like the bench press, this exercise isn’t overrated because it’s a bad exercise - it’s on this list because many guys not only put way too much emphasis on it in their workouts, but insist on letting their ego dictate how much weight they pile on the bar. From there, it’s all about hip thrust and body contortion to swing the weight to the top.

Best alternative: The Incline Dumbbell Curl puts your biceps on stretch for a more forceful and complete contraction, and being on a bench takes away the opportunity to use excess body movement to generate momentum on the … [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/06/19/overrated/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/06/12/home-remodeling/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/06/12/home-remodeling/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:51:20 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/06/12/home-remodeling/ Ready to get back to the basics of growing? Here’s a simple workout regimen that only requires an adjustable bench, barbell and plates, perfect for home or the gym.

On a quick lap around the typical health club, you’ll likely pass a lot of shiny, complicated equipment - cables that adjust to every conceivable angle, multifunctional apparatus with space age levers and handles, and stations for each and every muscle group. Impressive, maybe, but here’s the truth: You don’t need any of it to build a great physique. prosource

This program (which can be done at home or that aforementioned club) centers around the bare-bones basics you need to craft a strong, muscular body. If you’re just starting out and want to keep your cash outlay to a minimum, here’s the good news: All that’s required is an adjustable bench, a barbell with a set of locking safety collars, and a selection of weight plates. That’s it - no high-tech machines necessary.

With the major body parts broken over a four-day split, you can either train four days per week, resting the other three, or get more aggressive, starting over at workout #1 before the week’s up and only taking one or two rest days per seven. Below, we break down the four training days for you, and offer instruction on the more esoteric exercises.

Day #1: Chest & Back
Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Back	Bent-Over Row T-Bar Row Good Morning	5 4 3	15, 10, 10, 8, 6 10, 10, 10, 8 20, 20, 20
Traps	Barbell Shrug	4	12, 12, 10, 10
Chest	Incline Bench Press* Flat-Bench Press* Wide-Grip Push-Up Decline Bench Press*	5 4 3 3	15, 10, 10, 8, 6 10, 8, 8, 6 15, 15, 15 12, 10, 8
* On all benching exercises, have a spotter on hand at all times. In addition, consider not using collars if you’re at home, as you can dump the weights off of the barbell in an emergency.

Good Morning: Clean a moderately light barbell up from the floor and over your head so it rests across your shoulders, as if you were about to squat. Keeping your lumbar region tight and in its natural curve, bend at the hips to lower your upper body to a point where it forms a 90-degree angle with your legs (or as close as you can without rounding your lower back), then return to a standing position. Avoid the tendency to look up - your head should remain in line with your spine at all times.

Wide-Grip Push-Up: This is the same as a standard push-up, except place your hands outside of shoulder width, your elbows out and away from your body.

Day #2: Legs
Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Thighs	Hack Squat Deadlift Walking Lunge	5 5 5	15, 12, 10, 10, 8 12, 10, 8, 8, 6 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Hamstringss	Romanian Deadlift	4	12, 10, 10, 10
Calves	Standing Raise Seated Raise	3 3	20, 15, 15 20, 15, 15

Hack Squat: Place a loaded barbell on the floor behind your ankles. Bend at your knees and hips to lower yourself, grasp the barbell with an overhand or mixed grip, and drive through your heels, engaging your thighs to get to a standing position. Then lower the bar to the floor and repeat. Your back should be tight and straight throughout the exercise.

Walking Lunge: Standing upright, hold a plate in each hand, or clean a loaded barbell up and over your head to your upper back. Step forward with your left foot and descend into a lunge - at the bottom, your left knee will be at a 90-degree angle, your right leg will be straight and out behind you. Now extend your front knee and come back to a standing position before stepping forward with your right leg. One step with each leg equals one rep.

Standing and Seated Calf Raise: For standing raises, grasp a barbell and hold it at your thighs as you step onto a raised object such as a block, your heels hanging off the edge. For the seated version, place the block next to the bench and put a loaded barbell across your lap (or you can place weight plates on your lap) for resistance.

Day #3: Shoulders & Abs
Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Shoulders	Upright Row Standing Press Front Raise Lateral Raise* Bent-Over Raise*	4 4 3 3 3	15, 12, 10, 10 12, 10, 10, 8 12, 12, 10 12, 12, 10 12, 12, 10
Abs	Crunch Reverse Crunch Side Bridge Plank	3 3 3	30, 30, 30 20, 20, 20 Hold for 30-60 seconds
* Hold weight plates for resistance.

Day #4: Arms
Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Back	Close-Grip Bench Press* Lying Triceps Extension Close-Grip Push-Up	4 4 3	15, 12, 10, 10 12, 10, 10, 8 15, 15, 15
Traps	Standing Curl Standing Preacher Curl** Reverse-Grip Curl	4 4 3	15, 12, 10, 10 12, 10, 10, 8 12, 10, 10
Chest	Wrist Curl Reverse-Wrist Curl	3 3	15, 15, 15 12, 12, 12
* Have a spotter on hand for this exercise; if you don’t have one, skip it and double up on your lying triceps extensions instead.** Adjust the bench into incline position and stand behind it, placing your upper arms on the … [visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/06/12/home-remodeling/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/22/machines-remastered/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/22/machines-remastered/#comments Thu, 22 May 2008 20:13:39 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/22/machines-remastered/ Bust boredom in your workouts and get the most out of the common machines at your gym with these five unique exercises Versatility isn’t an attribute limited to switch-hitting infielders and infomercial products. (Hey, who hasn’t needed their Ginsu knife to slice through nails and tin cans?) Indeed, at the gym, you can find this trait in an unexpected place - the typical machines that populate weight rooms. prosource For instance, did you realize you could do biceps curls on two different types of back machines? Or train your legs on an assisted pull-up machine? The following are five ways you can squeeze brand new benefits out of the same old equipment, thus giving you more options to keep your workouts fresh and your muscles growing. 1. Shrugs on a Standing Calf Raise Machine Shrugs with a barbell or dumbbell are excellent trapezius builders, but both have one limiting flaw: the strength of your grip. Without straps, if your grip gives out before your traps, you’re forced to end the set prematurely. Doing shrugs instead on a standing calf raise machine eliminates this issue. And although a calf raise machine comes with a limitation of its own - the amount of total weight on the stack - a beginner or intermediate lifter who hasn’t advanced to super-heavy poundages can benefit from adding calf-raise machine shrugs to their regimen. Performing them is simple: Step into the machine, feet centered on the toe supports, body upright, back and abs taut, with your shoulders squarely under the pads. From there, shrug your shoulder caps upward as high as you can, then lower them deep and repeat. Make sure the machine is adjusted so the weight stack does not touch down at the bottom of each rep. OPTION B: Another machine option for shrugging? If your gym has one, try using a flat-bench press machine, straddling the seat and taking a handle in each hand. 2. One-Legged Presses on an Assisted Pull-Up Machine Outside of pull-ups and dips, the assisted pull-up machine may seem pretty limited in what you can do with it. But did you know you could also work your legs on it? By using the platform where your knees usually rest as a footplate, you can do presses one leg at a time - a handy option if a leg press isn’t available or if you’re just looking for an occasional twist to add to your usual leg-training regimen. To perform it, place one foot on the side support, the other in the center of the knee platform; you should also brace yourself by holding onto the rails with both hands. Then, flex the muscles of your thigh to press the platform down until your leg is straight, pause for a second and reverse, bringing your knee back up until your thigh is parallel to the floor before starting the descent into the next rep. 3. Lying Biceps Curls at a Seated Row Station Biceps training can get tedious. After all, there’s only so many ways to do a curl, and curling is the one and only viable way to work your bi’s. So a lot of keeping your biceps routine invigorated is cycling in new exercises, and that’s where lying curls come in. For this exercise, you lie flat on the bench of a seated row station, feet firmly on the platforms, knees partially bent, holding a short straight bar or short cambered bar attached to the cable. From this position, bend your arms, doing a curl the same as if you were standing up, keeping your elbows at your sides throughout. The benefit of the lying curl is the reduction of body english - when you stand, you can use your hips to help swing the weight up, but in a prone position, it’s just your biceps versus the weight. OPTION B: You can also do this lying on the floor in front of a lower cable pulley, which allows you to keep your legs flat and out of the way of the range of motion. 4. Overhead Curls on a Seated Pulldown Machine Here’s another biceps curling option - sit in a pulldown machine, take an underhand, shoulder-width grip on the bar overhead and keep your upper arms alongside your ears. Now, curl the bar down behind your head, hold and flex your biceps for a moment, then slowly re-extend your arms. 5. Calf Raises on a Leg Press Machine Of the five variations outlined in this article, this one is the most common. But if you haven’t tried calf raises using a leg-press machine, you’re missing out on an incredible way to attack your gastrocnemius, the larger, thicker muscle on the back of your lower leg. Here’s how you do it: Sit in the machine and place your feet at the bottom of the platform, your toes and balls of your feet on it, your heels off the edge. Then extend your legs to straighten your knees, release the safety latches, and start doing full calf raises. Be sure to work through a full range of motion, with complete flexion at the top of each rep and a deep stretch at the bottom. To give each calf undivided attention, this movement can be done one leg at a time. OPTION B: Calf raises can also be done on a hack squat machine, by hanging your heels off the bottom … [visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/22/machines-remastered/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/16/build-that-stubborn-chest/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/16/build-that-stubborn-chest/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 20:21:42 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/16/build-that-stubborn-chest/ When you glance at some of those old black and white pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger, taken in the original Gold’s Gym in Venice on Pacific Avenue, what’s most noticeable about his physique is his massive chest. It is full and thick and when he does his side chest pose it swells up and seems to stick out a mile. Just standing there relaxed it appeared thick and dense like two massive slabs of beef sitting on his rib cage. prosource In fact a lot of the old school guys had thick chests back in the day, Lou Ferrigno, Serge Nubret, Franco Columbu, but it seems these days very few bodybuilders have that really impressive chest development. Thick, sweeping chest muscles have been overtaken by monstrous front delts making it obvious where all the pec muscles went. When Arnold was growing up, everyone trained chest and biceps and didn’t pay as much attention to other muscle groups, like shoulders for instance. Since shoulder muscles were weaker, they didn’t take over all the work when training chest. Stretching the shoulder girdle and chest was a common practice years ago in an effort to expand the rib cage and increase the overall measurement of the chest. Inadvertently this created more flexibility through the chest and shoulders so when a bodybuilder performed a full range of movement on his chest exercises, his chest muscles were flexible enough that the load was not as easily transferred to the shoulder muscles which would then do much of the work. When chest muscles are not very flexible they can only stretch so far before they will either tear or the load will be transferred to another muscle group or connective tissue in the shoulder joint. If you are doing dumbbell presses for instance, as you lower the dumbbells to your chest you will reach a point where your chest muscles cannot stretch beyond. If you continue to lower the dumbbells past that point then the shoulders will take over most of the work. If that happens you will feel tightness in your shoulders at the lower part of the movement and after doing the set your shoulders will feel pumped and burning. When you over-stretched at the bottom of the movement your shoulder muscles took over the workload. You thought you were training your chest and just doing your best to perform a full range of movement but instead you have just trained your shoulders, which explains why your shoulders grow but your chest doesn’t. One obvious solution might be to perform partial movements when training chest (meaning not lowering the weight all the way down to your chest). While partial movements have their place in an advanced training program, your chest muscles won’t be getting much work if the range of motion is limited by inflexibility. The further a muscle group has to travel when performing an exercise, the more work it does and the more it will grow. Muscle inflexibility will stop your progress cold. Increasing flexibility and Range of Motion is the goal Muscle tissue can be trained to be more flexible by stretching regularly. But it’s always important to ensure your muscle tissue is warm before you try stretching it. For the next 4 weeks, do 3 sets of pushups to warm up and stretch for a couple minutes between each warm-up set. For the first set of pushups just go 2/3 of the way down to keep your shoulders out of the movement until you are more flexible. After stretching between the 1st and 2nd set, the rest of your pushups should be full movements. Stretch between every set during the entire workout. Since your chest has not been doing all the work during your chest training you will have to teach those muscles to contract through the entire movement because they are used to your shoulders taking over at the bottom. Start with a weight about 50% less than you normally use and add weight each set. Be prepared to use a lot less weight than you have been doing because you will perform your reps slowly going the same speed up and the same speed down like a hydraulic piston. When you get to the bottom of the movement feel your chest muscles stretch and then don’t go beyond to the point where you feel your shoulders stretching. As you get more flexible you will be able to go deeper but you will always gauge the depth you go on your chest exercises by whether or not your shoulders are involved in the movement and not how far the weight travels. Don’t use weight training as a stretching exercise, stretch between sets and after you train. Using your sets to stretch your chest muscles will just involved your shoulders in the work. Finally, lay off your front delt training for 4 weeks while you do this chest specialization program. They could probably use a break anyway while your chest catches up. Train chest 2 times a week for 4 weeks then return to your normal training cycle. Day 1 Exercise Sets Reps Pushup – shoulder width hand spacing 3 15 Incline dumbbell press 4 10 Flat dumbbell press 4 10 Dumbbell pullovers-elbows bent (Keep tension on your chest through the whole movement and pull the weight over with your chest. Be sure not to lower the weight too far or you will feel it on your triceps) Day 2 Exercise Sets Reps Pushup – wide hand spacing 3 10 Flat barbell bench press 4 12 Decline barbell bench press 4 12 Incline barbell bench … [visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/16/build-that-stubborn-chest/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/08/build-those-stubborn-calves/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/08/build-those-stubborn-calves/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 17:33:38 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/12/build-those-stubborn-calves/ Shock Treatment Series: Part I prosource It’s easy to think that bodybuilding is just about building big muscles and getting lean enough to show them off. It’s easy because getting big is easy and so is getting lean, or at least it’s easy compared to balancing all that muscle development so that your body is symmetrical and proportionate. The problem with easy is that one day you look in the mirror and realize you have lagging muscle groups that seem so far behind the rest of your body that you think they will never catch up. Size for the sake of size is meaningless. We’ve all seen those guys with one or two incredible body parts and nothing else. Building a well-developed body that is both symmetrical and balanced is what bodybuilding has always been about. That’s easier said than done because despite how much hard work you do sometimes, there are muscle groups that simply refuse to co-operate and grow. This series of training articles is designed to help solve any problems you may have with one of those stubborn muscle groups. Build Those Stubborn Calves Calves are the one muscle group that almost everyone trains incorrectly. Isolating the workload on muscle groups that have only one fulcrum (one joint involved in the exercise) like seated calf raises for instance is theoretically the most direct way to train a muscle group and in most cases that theory holds true. Calves are a different animal, pun intended, because of how the lower leg is constructed so just isolating the movement isn’t enough to necessarily make them grow. The Gastrocnemius muscle or calf muscle is attached to a tendon that attaches on the other end to your heel (your Achilles tendon). The Achilles tendon is very strong and if you train your calves improperly it is very easy for some of that workload to be transferred from the muscle to the Achilles tendon. That will logically result in a lot of work with very little return in the way of calf muscle growth. If you have calves like a homing pigeon and no matter what you do they refuse to grow, then try these four things for 8 weeks and just see if those calves don’t start turning into cows. Keep constant tension on the calf muscle during the entire set When you are training calves you want to avoid movement that will transfer the load onto your Achilles tendon from your calf muscles. The best way to do this is to keep constant tension on the calf muscle through the entire set by keeping your calf flexed as hard as possible through the complete arc of movement. This will be hard to do the first few times you try as you need to teach your muscles to stay contracted while they move through the movement of the exercise. It’s easiest to learn this by starting with seated calf raises. Position yourself in he calf machine and remove the safety placing the load on your calves. Reach down and feel your calves as you apply tension to your calf muscles by flexing them. Slowly raise the weight keeping your calves flexed. When you reach the top of the movement flex as hard as you can for a 3 count then slowly start to lower the weight while keeping the muscle tight (this is the tricky part). You will really need to go slow and concentrate on keeping your calf muscles flexed. By holding your hand on your calves you will be able to tell if the tension goes away or remains through the whole movement. Don’t over stretch during your calf exercises When you stretch your calf muscle as far as it will stretch under a load, it becomes hard to keep tension on the muscle and if you can’t keep tension on the muscle then it can’t contract as hard as it possibly can, stimulating growth while you lift the weight. If you over stretch on the bottom you will take the workload off the calf muscle and distribute it elsewhere which will result in a lot of work with very little calf muscle growth. You only need to lower the weight a little but not all the way to get enough work done to grow. Don’t bounce to get higher on your toes at the top of the movement So often you will see a bodybuilder bouncing at the top of the movement trying to get a peak contraction. Since the Achilles tendon and not the calf muscle is being used to lift the weight into position there is very little benefit from getting the extra height. At very best you perform an isometric contraction at the very top of the movement after the weight has been bounced into place and isometric contractions are not effective for building size. As you perform your calf raise with tension on the calf muscle through the whole movement you will reach a point at the top of the movement where you cannot go any higher without bouncing. Don’t Bounce! When you are at the top of the movement just hold the contraction for a 3 count then start back down again. Getting as high as you can on your tip toes by bouncing is completely ineffective for building calf size and just because your muscles are burning doesn’t mean they are being stimulated to grow, it just means you have a high amount of lactic acid in your muscles from metabolizing glucose. You can get a burn and not have stimulated your muscle effectively enough to grow. Keep your movement slow and steady – same speed up, same speed down By performing each calf exercise with a controlled, steady pace, it is much easier to keep constant tension on the calf muscle and you need that tension to be able to contract hard enough to stimulate growth. Think of your car for a minute. It will go 60 miles an hour but it takes a few seconds to get there. Your muscles will contract very hard but that is not instantaneous. If you keep tension on the muscle all the time it is much easier for that muscle group to contract near 100% of it’s capability much quicker. The harder you can contract through a movement the more that muscle group will ultimately grow. Theoretically, the purpose of weight is to force the muscle to contract harder by adding resistance but in the real world the load is not always handled by the muscle alone. Keeping tension on the muscle will help focus as much muscle building tension on those stubborn calf muscles as possible. Sample 8 week calf program – train calves no more than 2 times a week for 8 weeks Exercise Sets Reps Seated calf raise 4 10 Standing calf raise 4 10 Single leg – leg press calf raise 4 visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/08/build-those-stubborn-calves/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/06/rack-up-the-gains/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/06/rack-up-the-gains/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 15:00:37 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/06/rack-up-the-gains/ Add a muscle-building twist to your next workout with these five innovative uses for the power rack. prosource You’re probably familiar with the power rack - a tall, metal-framed structure usually found in the free-weight area of the gym. It’s also likely that, if you include barbell squats in your training routine, you’ve done them within the confines of one. However, outside of squatters, most power racks see about as much action as the local library on a Friday night. With this article, we at ProSource are hoping to change that, introducing you to five other exercises you can perform in the rack, for your back, chest, traps, shoulders and legs. There are many others - indeed, there are multiple options for every body part - and once you get a taste of its worth, we’re sure you’ll find your way to the rack in almost every workout. Sure beats an evening of amateur poetry reading, doesn’t it? 1) Bench Press Partials The power rack can play a valuable role in improving your bench press max, allowing you to focus on a specific portion of the range of motion by setting the safety rods at a corresponding height. For example, say you’re having trouble getting 315 pounds through the midpoint of the rep to full extension. To work on it, place a flat bench in the power rack, and set the rods so they “catch” the barbell just below the midpoint. Then put 315 on the bar and try anywhere from three to five sets of 1-3 reps each in the upper range of motion, pressing the barbell from the supports to full extension. Rest the barbell on the rods between each rep. After a few chest workouts that incorporate these partials, you may find your strength has improved enough to allow you to get 315 on a regular bench. 2) Behind-the-Back Shrug The power rack is a great place to do standard barbell shrugs. And it’s an even better place to do a variation favored by eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney - behind-the-back shrugs. By setting the safety rods just below your typical shrug range of motion, an awkward part of the exercise becomes easy: Picking up the barbell to get into starting position. Simply bend slightly at the knees and grasp the bar behind you with an overhand, palms-facing-back grip. Another benefit of doing this move in a power rack? You can rep until complete failure, as you can put the bar straight down without having to maneuver it onto hooks or dropping it to the floor. 3) Seated Military Press Seated barbell military press stations are quickly becoming a rarity in health clubs, both because of insurance reasons and an unfortunate lack of popularity among the lesser motivated among us. However, as long as there is a power rack present, you can still perform this excellent delt-building exercise. Place an adjustable bench that goes all the way up to a sitting position, or a low-back seated bench, in the rack. Set the two barbell support pins at a point above your head, where you can lift the bar off of them while seated, and insert the safety rods at a point just below the bottom of your range of motion. Not only can you do military presses in the rack, but you can do them without the need of a spotter, which is a necessity in a traditional military press station - if you fail, just drop the bar to the strategically-placed rods, and you’re free and clear. Heck, maybe the disappearance of military press stations isn’t such a major loss after all. 4) Three-Quarter Rep Deadlift Deadlifts from the floor are one of the most effective exercises you can do for your legs, back and as a synergistic power generator through your whole body. But, similar to the bench press, you can work through the upper range of motion by setting the rods - in this case just below your knees - to help you improve your max. Three-quarter rep deads are also a solid stand-alone exercise for use during your back routine; this range is where your back sees most of the action in comparison with your legs, which generate much of the force needed to lift the bar from the floor. 5) Inverted Pull-Up This back exercise, a variation of a traditional pull-up, resembles an upside-down push-up. Set the two pins at a height 6-12 inches above your hips and lay a barbell across them. From there, get under the bar in a plank position, grasping it overhand style. Your whole body, except the heels of your feet (which remain on the ground throughout), should be off the floor in the starting position. To rep, pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, then lower and … [visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/05/06/rack-up-the-gains/feed/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/04/28/mo-gets-mo-covers-and-wants-mo-respect-for-naturals/ http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/04/28/mo-gets-mo-covers-and-wants-mo-respect-for-naturals/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:56:50 +0000 PS Admin JD http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/04/28/mo-gets-mo-covers-and-wants-mo-respect-for-naturals/ The Item: Career Updates/Highlights prosource The Scoop: Athlete to Andrew: The May 2008 issue marks the second time the pecs and biceps of Musclemania Pro Morris “Mo” Mendez have emblazoned the cover of Muscle & Fitness Magazine. I hit up Mo for his reaction. “The new cover is hot! I look full, cut and symmetrical. Friends and fans in different countries say it’s a fresh, appealing and obtainable look for the general public. ‘Action hero quality.’ Ha! Show me the money!” The future action hero (with four international covers to his credit) pumps iron at Gold’s Gym in Bloomfield, CT, and earned his pro card at the 2000 Fitness Atlantic/Musclemania in New Haven. His last competition was the 2005 Musclemania Worlds In Hollywood. “If time allows me to train mentally and physically, my next competition will be the Superbody in Miami.” Mo plans to hit Africa and Argentina for appearances. “I like guesting in different countries because they appreciate you more, especially where they find it impossible to look like a Ronnie Coleman or a Jay Cutler. I’m proof you can look just as good with patience, time and dedication.” The “So What?”: The 198-pound, model-athlete expressed frustration being a big man in a giant man’s world. Even with a rising profile and a marketable physique, Mendez currently has no sponsors. “It’s tough to get a sponsor to pay you what you want for your hard work,” he laments. Then he laughs. “As a natural bodybuilder, your competition is those monsters. They want you to look like that, but I’m a suit-and-tie man. I like to look good in my clothes.” * Photo courtesy of Muscle & … [visit site to read more] ]]> http://www.prosourceblog.com/2008/04/28/mo-gets-mo-covers-and-wants-mo-respect-for-naturals/feed/