BODY TRANSFORMATION

QUICK TIPS

75 Easy Ways To Build

Muscle And Burn Fat Faster

By Sean Nalewanyj

- Copyright & Disclaimer -

Before beginning any new exercise, nutrition or dietary supplement program you should consult a physician first. The information presented herein is not meant to treat or prevent any disease or to provide the reader with medical advice. If you are looking for specific medical advice then you should obtain this information from a licensed health-care practitioner. This publication is intended for informational use only. Sean Nalewanyj and www.BodyTransformationTruth.com will not assume any liability or be held responsible for any form of injury, personal loss or illness caused by the utilization of this information. The individual results obtained from the use of this program will vary from person to person and we make no guarantee as to the degree of results that you will personally achieve.

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the “Body Transformation Quick Tips” Deluxe Edition add-on report. In this exclusive muscle building and fat burning guide, I outline 75 simple but effective training, nutrition and supplementation tips that you can add into your program to instantly boost your results. Combine the main Body Transformation Blueprint package with the specific tips of your choice from this report, and you'll be able to take your results to a whole new level. This isn't the typical "fitness 101" advice you hear on every run-of-the-mill blog and YouTube channel out there... this report is filled with a huge collection of unique, little-known techniques, many of which you've probably never even heard of before. Let’s dive right in…

QUICK TIP #1

Next time you perform a set of any exercise, lock your gaze onto a single point in front of you and do NOT let your eyes wander or the positioning of your head to change. Pour ALL of your intensity and drive into that one point of vision as you crank out each rep, from the start of your set all the way to the end. When your eyes are constantly moving around, your nervous system must continually "reset" in order to communicate to your brain where each individual part of your body is located. This is a process known as “proprioception”. By keeping your head still and eyes focused on one spot, proprioception will remain constant, and this will increase the overall efficiency at which you can generate strength and power. Do this properly and you should experience an instant 5-10 pound increase on all of your major compound exercises at the gym, and a few extra reps on your smaller isolation lifts.

QUICK TIP #2

Every time you perform any pulling exercise for your back (such as chin ups, pulldowns and rows) focus on pulling the weight using your elbows rather than your hands. Just imagine that your forearms, wrists and hands don’t even exist and that all of the force is being generated through your elbows. Another way to approach this is to imagine that your hands are simply “hooks” that are attaching you to the weight. Executing your back exercises with this mindset will decrease the involvement of your biceps and increase the activation of your lats and the other muscles of your mid-back. One of the major reasons why most lifters have underdeveloped back muscles is because their biceps end up taking on most of the load during their back exercises, and pulling through your elbows will help to prevent this.

QUICK TIP #3

Bent over rear lateral raises (using dumbbells or cables) are the most effective way to isolate your rear delts for well-rounded shoulder development. However, most people perform these in such a way that their traps and the other muscles of their mid-back end up taking on a large percentage of the load in comparison to the rear delts. From now on whenever you perform a bent over rear lateral raise, focus on allowing your arms to hang forward, and then pull the weight up without letting your shoulder blades pinch together. By letting your arms hang forward and not allowing your shoulder blades to squeeze, your rear delts will end up taking on most of the load throughout the entire range of motion.

QUICK TIP #4

One of the most common nutritional myths that has been perpetuated throughout the fitness industry over the past few decades is the idea that one must consume a meal every 2-3 hours throughout the day in order to build muscle and burn fat optimally. Research has now clearly demonstrated that despite this common piece of advice, frequent feedings do not actually increase basal metabolic rate or muscle protein synthesis in comparison to spacing meals out at larger intervals. Instead of worrying about meal frequency, simply focus on hitting your overall protein/carbohydrate/fat needs for the day as a whole, and then lay out your individual meals in whatever way is most convenient for you and best fits into your schedule. One of the biggest challenges of effective muscle building and fat burning nutrition is the simple act of adhering to the diet on a consistent basis. Since most people are under the false assumption that they have to eat every 2-3 hours in order to see results, they quickly

become burned out from having to consume so many individual meals, and their chances of quitting altogether greatly increase. By planning out your diet with overall adherence as the main objective, meeting your daily nutritional needs will become a much more streamlined process, and you’ll be far more likely to succeed over the long term.

QUICK TIP #5

The underlying objective of any set you perform in the gym is simple: maximize the tension on the primary muscle you’re trying to target. Always remember that your muscles have no idea how much weight you’re objectively lifting; the only thing they experience and respond to is the direct amount of tension they are placed under. A great way to ensure that you’re targeting each specific muscle with maximum effectiveness is to always focus on initiating every single rep with that particular muscle. Instead of simply “going through the motions” like most people do, always consciously think of which muscle you’re trying to activate prior to each individual repetition. When you perform a bench press, think “chest”. When you perform a pulldown, think “lats”. When you perform a curl, think “biceps”. This will help you to develop a stronger mind-muscle connection and maximize the tension on every single muscle you train.

QUICK TIP #6

In addition to meeting your individual macronutrient needs for the day (protein, carbohydrates and fats), it’s also important that your micronutrient needs (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients etc.) and fiber needs are met as well. This will help to maximize your performance at the gym, improve recovery and optimize your overall health. This is why I always recommend that you include 1-2 servings of fruit and 1-2 servings of vegetables in your diet every single day, as they are incredibly micronutrient dense and high in fiber as well. If you don’t like the taste of veggies (or simply want a very simple and easy way to get in all of your daily servings in one shot) a simple fruit and veggie smoothie is a great way to accomplish this. There are many ways to go about this, but the method I recommend is to select two vegetable sources, two fruit sources and blend them together with a cup of water or almond milk, a scoop of vanilla whey

protein and a zero-calorie sweetener of your choice. If you want to fortify your shake even further, you can add some greens powder as well. You can ultimately select whichever fruits and vegetables you prefer, but for the most micronutrient dense sources I’d recommend sticking to dark green vegetables (spinach, broccoli, kale, chard, Brussels sprouts etc.) and berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries). You’ll be surprised at how good these shakes actually taste and what an incredibly convenient method it is for meeting your daily fruit and veggies requirements.

QUICK TIP #7

Although cardio is typically thought of as a fat loss tool only, it can actually be useful in certain scenarios for those who are aiming to bulk up as well. This is because although cardio does burn calories on its own, it can also have significant appetite-stimulating effects as well. This is especially true for cardio sessions that are performed at a low intensity level for longer durations. So, if your primary goal is to bulk up but you find it difficult to consume a sufficient level of calories each day to gain weight, consider adding in a few low intensity cardio sessions each week for the strict purpose of stimulating your appetite. 45-60 minutes at a steady pace (such as a brisk walk) is a good approach to this. Although you will burn calories from the cardio sessions themselves, the resulting appetite increase may actually make it easier to maintain a net calorie surplus in the big picture. Everyone is a bit different here, so give it a try for yourself and see if this is helpful.

QUICK TIP #8

In order to maximize your strength and power while protecting your spine and lower back at the same time, get in the habit of “bracing your core” any time you perform a big basic compound lift, such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses and rows. The way to do this is fairly simple… Take in a big breath and fill your stomach with air, while at the same time flexing your abs and pressing your core outwards. This provides your body with the maximal amount of oxygen and creates the necessary intra-abdominal pressure to fully stabilize your spine. Do this correctly and not only will you greatly decrease your chances of injury, but you should notice an instant strength increase as well. Most people breathe on their lifts by sucking their stomach in and puffing their chest out, which actually has the opposite effect.

QUICK TIP #9

Although bicep curls are a very simple exercise to perform on the surface, there are actually many small tweaks you can make to your lifting form to enhance their overall effectiveness. Here’s one among several others I’ll be covering in this report… At the very bottom of every rep before you curl the weights back up, flex your triceps. This ensures that your biceps are being fully lengthened on every rep and that they’re being trained through the largest range of motion possible. This method also helps to eliminate momentum by ensuring that your biceps come to a dead stop before the weights are curled back up. This tip can be employed on any bicep exercise you perform, such as barbell curls, dumbbell curls, cable curls and even machine curls.

QUICK TIP #10

Most people know that the core foundation of any effective chest workout is heavy pressing: barbell presses and dumbbell presses performed on either a flat, incline or decline bench. But as you probably also know, chest pressing is a compound movement that involves more than just your pecs. Your triceps and anterior delts (the front of the shoulder) are also heavily recruited. The key to effective pressing is to minimize the involvement of the triceps and front delts while maximizing the involvement of the chest. Here’s one great way to accomplish this… Instead of just pressing the bar straight up and down on your chest pressing movements, focus on squeezing your hands inward at the same time as if you were trying to compress the bar together. This will result in greater activation of the pecs, while at the same time reducing shoulder and triceps involvement.

QUICK TIP #11

Whey protein is one of the very few fitness supplements out there that gets a definite thumbs up from me. It’s a very high quality source of natural protein with a top-notch amino acid profile and high bio-availability, and that helps you hit your overall protein and calorie needs in a more convenient, streamlined way. But with whey protein production costs continually on the rise, a common cost-cutting tactic now being used by even some of the biggest companies out there is the practice of “amino acid spiking”. Amino acid spiking is essentially the practice of dumping high amounts of the cheapest, least valuable amino acids into the powder in order to cut costs while keeping the total protein content on the label elevated. This means that you’re not getting a complete protein source when using these products, and it means you’re getting higher amounts of some of the least effective amino acids when it comes to supporting muscle protein synthesis.

For the purposes of amino acid spiking, the two that you’ll almost always see are l-glycine and/or l-taurine. These two are dirt cheap, non-essential aminos that cost far less than the actual whey protein. Another thing to look out for is added creatine. Creatine is also far less expensive than whey protein, and since it’s a combination of 3 amino acids (l-glycine, l-arginine and l-methionine) it will also register as part of the protein total. Creatine is a great muscle building supplement and something that I personally use and recommend, but it has no place in a protein powder and should simply be purchased separately on its own. So, if you see l-glycine, l-taurine or creatine listed anywhere in the ingredients list of your protein powder, it should raise a massive red flag, and in my opinion the product should be avoided. Although it’s not a guarantee that these aminos are contributing to the protein total, I’d say the chances are near 100% that that’s why they’re in there. Check out my recommended whey proteins to find a few products that are high quality and that are not spiked.

QUICK TIP #12

One arm dumbbell rows are one of the most versatile, “bang for your buck” upper body exercises out there. They’re a fantastic lift for hitting the lats and the muscles of your mid-back, and also work well as a core-stabilization exercise as well. However, most people perform this lift incorrectly and end up placing a good deal of the tension on their biceps, shoulders, wrists and other surrounding areas, completely defeating the intended purpose of the exercise. Here are a few key things to keep in mind to ramp up the effectiveness of this exercise…

Keep your spine in a neutral position at all times. When your back rounds over, your scapular mobility is inhibited and it becomes nearly impossible to properly train your lats.

Keep your elbow tucked in at your side.

Focus on pulling through your elbow rather than your hand.

Instead of pulling the dumbbell straight up and down into your chest or rib cage, pull it at a slight angle into your waist instead.

Avoid excessive momentum or “jerking” the weight out of the bottom position. Come to a dead stop at the end of each rep and then use pure force from your lats and mid back to lift the weight back up.

QUICK TIP #13

Proper fat burning and muscle building nutrition does not have to be bland and boring, and it doesn’t have to involve slaving away day in and day out to foods that you don’t enjoy. With a bit of proper planning, you can very easily make your diet enjoyable and easy to follow over the long term. Remember, getting into impressive shape is not a quick fix, but rather an overall lifestyle change. Here’s a dead-simple but often overlooked fact when it comes to effective nutritional planning… Choose the sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats that you genuinely enjoy the most. It sounds so obvious, yet many trainees fall into the trap of thinking that certain foods are somehow “mandatory” to include in their diet, and they end up choking them down on a daily basis even though they don’t like the taste.

This is totally unnecessary, counter-productive and greatly increases the chances that you won’t stick to your nutrition plan long term. Remember… your body does NOT view your diet in the context of individual food items. It only sees the big picture: the total calories, protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, minerals, fiber and other micronutrients. If you don’t like tuna, don’t eat tuna. If you don’t like eggs, don’t eat eggs. If you don’t like oatmeal, don’t eat oatmeal. No single food source is a must-have in your plan. There are an endless number of different food choices available to you, and if you simply take the time to plan out a diet that includes the food sources you most enjoy AND that allows you to hit your daily nutritional needs, that’s really all that matters. If you particularly enjoy blueberries and mangos, use those as your primary fruit sources. If you prefer turkey and salmon to chicken and beef, use those as your primary protein sources. If you’d rather have sweet potato in place of rice as a carb source, go that route. (The main Muscle Building & Fat Loss Decoded E-Book provides a lengthy list of food sources to choose from) You get the idea here. If you simply take some time to plan your nutritional approach around the foods that you prefer, your diet will be far more enjoyable and your chances of long term success will be hugely increased.

QUICK TIP #14

As you may already know, your triceps are made up of three individual heads: the long head (the inner portion), the medial head (runs underneath the long head), and the lateral head (the outer portion). Most people are generally able to target their long head and medial head with relative ease during their workout, but tend to have a hard time really isolating that lateral head. Here's one of the best tricep lateral head exercises out there: a rope pushdown with a twist at the bottom. When most people perform pushdowns, they’ll either use a straight bar or a rope, but when they use the rope they tend to just go straight up and down. Instead, try performing your rope pushdowns by forcefully pulling the rope apart and pushing it away from your body at the bottom of the movement. This exercise will still use the long head but will shift more emphasis over to your lateral head for more well-rounded triceps development.

QUICK TIP #15

When it comes to carving out round, defined shoulders, nothing beats a properly executed side lateral raise. Most people think of overhead pressing as being the most valuable shoulder exercise out there, but the reality is that this lift primarily stimulates the anterior head (the front) which has the least noticeable impact on your overall shoulder development. Side laterals target the lateral head (the side) which contributes the most to having shoulder muscles that really “pop”. Unfortunately, most people make a ton of errors on their side lateral raises that shifts the stress off of the lateral head of the shoulder and onto the traps, spinal erectors and lower back instead. One of the most effective ways to prevent this from happening is to lock down your rib cage throughout the entire movement by forcefully contracting your abs. This minimizes the activation of the traps and places the majority of the stress onto the shoulders where you want it.

QUICK TIP #16

Achieving a significant level of calf development can be a decent challenge for those who weren’t naturally blessed in the genetics department for this particular muscle. It’s definitely possible, but simply requires a longer period of time and very close attention to detail when it comes to proper form and technique. Here’s a quick tip among several others I’ll be covering when it comes to proper calf raise form… Instead of driving yourself up onto the entire ball of your front foot, focus on raising yourself up onto your big toe instead. This prevents your ankles from rolling outward and maximally stimulates the portion of your calf where the majority of the mass is located. Give this one a try and you should notice an immediate improvement in how intensely you’re able to contract your calves on each rep.

QUICK TIP #17

While basic compound pressing should always form the underlying foundation of effective chest training, including a flye movement at the end of your routine is an effective way to round out your overall chest development for maximum results. Although I do tend to favor free weight movements over cable and machine variations in a lot of cases, this situation is one of the exceptions. The reason why dumbbell flyes come up short in this case is simple: they only produce significant tension on the pecs in the bottom half of the range of motion. As you press the weights up past halfway, the effects of gravity take over and the tension gradually leaves the pecs. Once you get to the top of the movement and gravity is pulling the weights straight down (rather than out to the sides), there is virtually no stress on the pecs at all as your shoulders and triceps simply work to keep the weight balanced above your head.

Cable flyes solve this issue by providing constant tension on the pecs throughout the entire range of motion. There is significant resistance both at the very bottom of the movement all the way to the very top, as gravity is no longer a factor and the pecs have to work to keep the cables from pulling apart. In addition to this, dumbbell flyes also place more overall stress on the shoulder joint. In the bottom of the movement when your arms are out to your sides, gravity is applying maximum force while your shoulder is in its weakest and most vulnerable position. Because a cable flye moves the resistance slightly out to your sides, it will not stress your shoulder joints to the same degree. Although cable flyes can be effectively performed in a variety of ways, my suggestion is to execute them in a standing position, one foot forward, with the cables above shoulder height. This angle will place maximum stress on the sternocostal fibers of the pec where the majority of the mass is located.

QUICK TIP #18

In order to maximize the tension on your quadriceps during compound leg exercises (such as squats, leg presses, lunges etc.), do NOT lock your knees out at the end of each repetition. Instead, stop an inch or two short and then immediately begin lowering the weight again. Not only does locking your knees out take a large amount of the tension off of your quads, but it also places a lot of stress on your knee joints, which is an area that is very susceptible to injury. Give this a try and your quads should feel like they’re on fire by the end of your set.

QUICK TIP #19

Although they’re a fairly uncommon exercise that you won’t see being performed very often, face pulls are a must in any well-rounded workout plan. These are basically a row that is performed using a rope attachment and pulled towards your face. Not only do face pulls stimulate your trap muscles effectively, but they also bring into play your rear delts and the other smaller muscles of your upper back as well. Most people who train consistently with weights have an imbalance between their chest/front delt development in comparison to their upper back/rear delt development. This can very easily lead to shoulder injuries, and face pulls help to directly counteract this imbalance while building your upper back at the same time. For maximum stimulation, focus on driving your elbows outward as you row the weight in, and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the end of each rep.

QUICK TIP #20

Front raises are a very common front delt exercise you’ll see performed at the gym, and there’s a good chance you already include these somewhere in your routine. From now on, scrap front raises from your workout plan altogether. Your front delts already receive more than enough stimulation on your compound chest training and shoulder training, and directly isolating them is not only unnecessary but potentially dangerous. The majority of people who train with weights already have an imbalance between their front delts and rear delts due to an over emphasis on chest training in comparison to back training, and due to improper form on their rear delt exercises. Not only does this give you asymmetrical shoulder development, but it’s also a big injury risk as well.

As your pecs and front delts become over-developed in comparison to your upper back and rear delts, your shoulder joint gradually begins rolling forward and out of optimal positioning. This then sets you up for an increased risk for several shoulder problems, such as rotator cuff injuries and shoulder impingement. Let your chest and shoulder training take care of your front delt development, and then place the majority of your focus on isolating the side and rear heads of the shoulder for balanced muscular development and healthy joint positioning.

QUICK TIP #21

If your primary goal is to gain muscle but are having trouble consuming enough calories because you simply feel full all the time, here are 4 pieces of advice to help you out...

Optimize Your Meal Frequency As long as you’re consistently hitting your overall calorie and macronutrient needs each day, the specific way in which you lay out your daily meals is really a matter of personal preference. From a pure muscle building and fat burning perspective, it’s really not going to make any measurable difference. So, if managing hunger is a problem for you, play around with different meal frequencies and layouts to see what boosts your appetite to the highest level.

Include Some Calorie-Dense Food Items In Your Meal Plan If all you’re eating is boiled chicken breast, brown rice and spinach all day, good luck trying to consume upwards of 3000-5000 calories daily if you have a small appetite. Consuming lean/high quality proteins and high fiber carbs is certainly an important aspect of a well-rounded diet, but if you’re having trouble meeting your calorie needs without feeling sick to your stomach, you’ve got to mix in some more calorie-dense items as well. There are a ton of possible options here... Have a handful of dried fruit or nuts as a snack in between meals… drink a glass of fruit juice with one or two of your daily meals instead of water… have some dark chocolate as a small “dessert”… mix some flaxseed oil or extra virgin olive oil into your protein shakes (you won’t even taste it)… have some fatty fish (such as salmon) as a protein source a few times week… you get the idea. Use traditional “clean” bodybuilding foods as the underlying foundation of your diet, but combine them with a few especially high calorie items here and there to bump up your daily calorie totals. Stop Trying to “Eat Clean” 24/7. This ties in with the previous tip, but a small portion of those high calorie items don’t even necessarily have to come from “clean” sources.

Assuming that around 80-90% of your diet is comprised of nutrient-dense, “high quality” fitness foods, the other 10-20% can come from whatever sources you’d like (though I’d recommend minimizing the consumption of partially hydrogenated oils) as long as it fits into your daily macronutrient totals. Including a small amount of high calorie “cheat food” here and there (though this is a relative term) is not going to negatively affect your muscle building or fat burning progress and is an extremely easy way to help you get more calories into your diet without your stomach exploding. Make Use Of Shakes/Smoothies What do you think sounds like an easier task… Sitting down to eat 2 chicken breasts, a cup of brown rice, a bowl of fruit, a handful of nuts and washing it down with a glass of skim milk… Or… Blending together 2 scoops of whey protein powder, a cup of oatmeal, a banana and a scoop of natural peanut butter in skim milk. Not only is the latter option far easier to stomach and just as nutritious, but it’s also far more convenient and doesn’t take any more than a few minutes to make and consume. I personally have two high calorie homemade shakes like this per day (one for breakfast and one in the evening) and it allows me to easily

consume about 1600 calories in liquid form, which is around half of my daily needs. (You can find the recipe I personally use here) The calorie content of these shakes can be boosted even higher by simply throwing in additional items like healthy oils, yogurt, berries or even some ice cream. Combine 2 or 3 regular whole-food meals with a couple of high calorie shakes (and perhaps some smaller snacks here and there) and hitting your daily calorie totals shouldn’t be much of an issue. Commercial weight gain powders and/or meal replacements can be used in small amounts if they’re needed as a matter of convenience, but a homemade smoothie like the one I just outlined is a far healthier and better-tasting option overall.

QUICK TIP #22

This set of tips is the opposite of the last one. Here are a few appetite-control pointers you can follow if your goal is to lose fat but find that you’re constantly feeling hungry throughout the day… Eat more lean protein – Chicken/turkey breast, low fat fish, lean pork and lean red meat are all relatively low in calories but highly effective when it comes to satisfying hunger. Eat fruit – One important factor that influences hunger is the body’s levels of liver glycogen. When liver glycogen is depleted, hunger increases. The fructose component of fruit helps to replenish these glycogen reserves which in turn reduces your appetite. Increase your water intake - Try consuming 1-2 cups of water before each meal. This will fill you up a bit and therefore it will take less food in order for you to feel satisfied. Increase your vegetable intake - Vegetables are both very high in “bulk” and are very low in calories at the same time. What this means is

that you can load up on vegetables in order to reduce your hunger without worrying too much about going overboard on calories. Increase your activity level - A calorie deficit can either be achieved through reducing food intake or increasing activity level. By increasing your activity level instead, you'll be able to consume more food while still losing fat. Try adding in an extra 1 or 2 cardio sessions per week to allow yourself a few hundred extra calories through your diet. This is a point you’ll need to experiment with, however, as the effects can vary from person to person. Some people actually prefer the opposite approach by reducing activity level and consuming fewer calories through their diet, since they find that cardio stimulates their appetite to a particularly strong degree. (I’ll be covering this in a later tip) Perform more high intensity/low duration cardio – Aerobic sessions performed at a slow, steady pace tend to stimulate the appetite more heavily than their high intensity/low duration counterpart. Try replacing a couple of your weekly aerobic cardio sessions with H.I.I.T cardio instead. Optimize your meal frequency – Experiment with different daily meal layouts to find what works best for you in terms of controlling appetite, whether it be 6 small meals evenly spaced, 3 larger meals at longer intervals or some variation in between. Make sure you’re getting enough fat – In virtually all cases I would recommend that you never let your total fat intake dip below 15% of your total daily calories. Not only is going too low fat dangerous from a health perspective, but it will also cause you to feel hungrier as well.

QUICK TIP #23

In addition to a basic compound movement such as a stiff-legged deadlift or Romanian deadlift, an isolation exercise should also be included for your hamstrings if you want to achieve complete, well-rounded development. A leg curling movement (performed either lying, seated or standing) is a sure-fire way to effectively target those hamstrings for optimal stimulation. One very important factor on leg curls that often gets overlooked, however, is toe positioning. If you perform your leg curls with your ankle dorsi-flexed like almost everyone else does (with your toes pointed towards your body) the gastrocnemius (the major portion of the calf muscle) becomes activated and assists the hamstrings in curling up the weight. In order to de-activate the calves and direct the majority of the tension onto the hamstrings where you want it, make sure to keep your ankle plantar-flexed (toes pointing away from your body) throughout the entire exercise.

QUICK TIP #24

Here’s a quick psychological tip you can employ on certain exercises to ramp up your overall focus and intensity… When you get to the last rep or two of a particular exercise, transport yourself in your mind to a real “life or death” situation that the exercise movement mimics. For example, when performing chin-ups you could imagine that you were hanging from a cliff and had to pull yourself back up to safety. On deadlifts you could imagine that someone is trapped under a car and you have to lift it off of them. On bench presses you could imagine that you were trapped underneath something heavy and needed to push it off in order to escape. It might sound kind of silly, but if you get creative with it and really visualize it powerfully, this is definitely an effective method.

QUICK TIP #25

Although pre-workout stretching has been recommended for decades as a way to warm up the body and prevent injuries during workouts, recent research has shown that it actually has the opposite effect. Not only does pre-workout stretching NOT reduce your chances of injuries, but it is also directly counterproductive in that it reduces your ability to generate maximum strength and power on your sets. For that reason, I would recommend that you avoid performing static stretches for any major muscle groups that you’re planning on training in a given workout. Instead, save your stretching for the post workout period or on your off days if you do want to include it in your overall plan. A proper weight training workout should consist of around 5 minutes of light cardiovascular activity followed by a few weight acclimation sets for your first major compound exercise. You can find complete details of the warm-up process in the main e-book.

QUICK TIP #26

Any time you aim to lose a significant amount of body fat, you’ll virtually always lose a small amount of lean muscle mass as well. This is inevitable and is simply part of the fat burning process. Here are 3 tips you can employ to ensure that the maximum percentage of your weight loss is derived from body fat with a minimal amount coming from lean muscle… #1 - Don't Let Your Calorie Intake Drop Too Low In order to lose body fat, you must consume fewer calories than you burn. To put it simply, you have to eat less. This creates the necessary calorie deficit needed to stimulate your body to burn fat as a source of fuel. However, this has to be carried out with caution. Although a calorie deficit is a mandatory pre-requisite for fat loss, going too low will put your lean muscle tissue at risk.

A good guideline for this is to follow a calorie deficit of 15-20% below your maintenance level. This deficit is large enough to maximize fat loss, but low enough that the majority of your muscle will be left intact. #2 - Do NOT Alter Your Weight Training Plan. When most lifters shift into a fat loss phase, they make the huge mistake of switching to a "light weight/high rep" plan in an effort to increase muscle tone and definition. In reality, this is completely misguided and downright detrimental to your progress. Always keep this in mind: spot reduction is impossible. In other words, you cannot target fat loss from specific areas of your body by training those areas with weights. Resistance training targets only the muscles that are involved and NOT the fat surrounding that area. Curls do not burn fat off your biceps... dumbbell presses do not burn fat off your chest... and lateral raises do not burn fat off your shoulders. Fat loss occurs on a total-body scale as you keep yourself in a calorie deficit over time. As the weeks go by you'll lose fat from your entire body (thus increasing muscle definition), but you have no control over the specific areas where fat is burned from. Every time you perform a weight training workout, your goal is simple: to provide the most powerful growth stimulus to your muscles possible.

And this is achieved using the exact same principles you were using during your muscle building phase: high intensity, progressive overload, compound movements, moderate reps etc. When you follow the "light weight/high reps" approach, all you're really doing is providing a weaker stimulus to your muscles and increasing the chances of muscle loss. #3 - Don't Go Overboard On Cardio. If you're creating a proper calorie deficit through your diet and are sticking to an intensive weight training plan, there's really no need to perform an excessive amount of cardio. Yes, cardio is a useful tool for burning additional calories, but most people get carried away here. The only true requirement for fat loss is a calorie deficit, and if you've already decreased your food intake sufficiently then you shouldn't need much more than a couple cardio sessions per week. For most people, 2-4 sessions will easily get the job done. A good guideline to follow is to perform 1-2 sessions of HIIT Cardio (high intensity interval training) along with 1-2 low intensity/long duration sessions. If you go overboard and start performing daily cardio on top of an already adequate fat burning diet plan, your overall calorie deficit can easily stretch to an excessive level that leads to unwanted muscle loss.

QUICK TIP #27

In a previous tip, I had recommended applying a small amount of inward force on your chest pressing movements in order to increase the activation of the pecs. For compound back exercises, go with the opposite approach. Next time you perform a basic back exercise such as a chin up, lat pulldown, barbell row, seated row etc., apply a small amount of outward force and imagine that you’re trying to gently stretch the bar apart. This will decrease the activation of your biceps while increasing the activation of your lats and the other muscles of your mid-back for better overall back stimulation and development.

QUICK TIP #28

The idea that you need to constantly change up your exercises, rep ranges and workout structure in order to “shock” or “confuse” your muscles into new growth is a fairly common piece of workout advice you’ll hear. The idea behind this is that after following a certain weight training prescription for a set period of time, the muscles will adapt, plateau and stop responding. Because of this widespread idea, many lifters end up haphazardly switching from routine to routine for fear that their muscle growth will slow down if they fail to do so. They’ll switch up their exercises, use different rep ranges, change up the order of their lifts and train using different muscle groupings in the hopes that the change will somehow confuse the body and force it to continue growing bigger and stronger. The reality? This is complete and total nonsense.

Your muscles do not have a mind of their own. They are not sitting there analyzing the movements that you’re performing, which tool you’re using to perform it (whether it be a barbell, dumbbell or cable), how many times you’re doing it or in what manner you’re executing it. Your muscles simply perform the movement patterns that you carry out in the gym and then respond to the overall load and intensity. They adapt to stress, plain and simple. As long as you train with sufficient intensity and focus on progressive overload from week to week, your muscles will continue to grow larger and stronger as long as proper rest, nutrition and injury prevention are taken into account. Plateaus do exist, but they are completely within your control and have nothing to do with your muscles somehow failing to react based on the repetitive use of the same routine. Instead of haphazardly changing your training style, take a look at other potential factors that could be causing your gains to stagnate. This could include things like insufficient calorie intake, inadequate training intensity, overtraining, injuries/joint weakness and improper rest just to name a few. If you want to change things for mental variety, to accommodate an injury or to focus on a different goal, then go ahead. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that switching from tricep pressdowns to dips will “shock” your triceps into new growth or that training your shoulders with your legs instead of your chest will somehow “confuse” your body into packing more muscle size onto your shoulders.

As long as you train hard and consistently, make adjustments to your intensity and volume, and stay on top of your nutrition, it’s perfectly possible to use the exact same routine for years on end and see continued gains in muscle size and strength.

QUICK TIP #29

Supersets are a very common training technique in which two individual sets are performed back to back without stopping. This is usually applied on opposing muscle groups (such as chest and back or biceps and triceps), though it can be used on the same muscle group as well. For example, a set of bench presses immediately followed by a set of barbell rows, or a set of tricep dips followed immediately by a set of tricep extensions. Although this strategy is a fairly common one, I’d highly suggest sticking to straight sets instead and avoiding super sets in the majority of cases. Here are the 2 situations where a superset workout is most definitely NOT going to be ideal…

#1 - Your Goal Is To Maximize Muscle Growth If you’re aiming to pack on lean muscle and increase your strength as effectively as possible, there is literally no reason to ever perform supersets as part of your training plan. The goal of a muscle building workout is to place the muscles under maximum tension within a hypertrophy-based rep range (usually somewhere between 5-12) and focus on getting stronger over time. Supersets are directly counterproductive to this goal because they reduce the amount of total muscular overload you can achieve by increasing fatigue and reducing performance on the second of the two sets. A superset workout will help to increase muscular endurance and overall cardiovascular strength, but this is NOT the goal of a hypertrophy-based workout. In fact, muscular endurance adaptations are directly counterproductive to this goal. You are much, much better off to insert a proper resting period in between every single muscle building set so that you can perform every lift with maximum focus, intensity and optimal performance. #2 - Your Goal Is To Burn Fat While Maintaining As Much Muscle As Possible As I outlined in one of the previous tips, your weight training plan should remain exactly the same whether your goal is to gain muscle or to lose body fat.

The goal during a fat loss phase is to burn fat while maintaining as much lean tissue as possible, and this is accomplished by providing maximum stimulation to your muscles during your resistance training workouts. A superset workout may increase overall caloric expenditure, but will do so at the expense of your lean muscle tissue since your overall training performance will suffer. There is no real need to worry about burning more calories through weight training anyway, as your diet and cardio will easily take care of this. The only 3 situations where supersets may some valid application is if:

Muscular endurance and cardiovascular strength are your primary training goals.

You aren’t aiming to maximize your levels of lean muscle and are simply looking to get into better overall shape.

You’re severely strapped for time and need to get your workout done as quickly as possible.

In every other case, stick to regular straight sets.

QUICK TIP #30

Nuts and natural nut butters have always been considered a staple source of healthy fat in bodybuilding and fitness diets, and I certainly think they’re a worthwhile food to include in your overall plan. However, this is one food source where portion control is of the utmost importance, as you can only eat a very controlled amount of this stuff before the total calories begin shooting too high without you even noticing. Sit down with a bag of mixed nuts and begin snacking away, or start aimlessly piling peanut butter onto your toast or into a protein shake, and in combination with a few other small dietary choices you’re making throughout the day, you could very well be completely sabotaging your results altogether. For example, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter alone contains around 100 calories. Most people end up scooping out far more than this at once though, and end up with 200 or even 300 calories from just one serving

of peanut butter alone. That’s a lot of calories for such a tiny amount of actual food. Peanuts, almonds, cashews and other nuts are no different. For example, just 1/4 cup of almonds equals out to 207 calories. Go measure out a quarter cup of these suckers and you’ll quickly see what a small amount that actually is. It might sound crazy, but a half cup of almonds per day alone could literally make the difference between consistently losing a significant amount of body fat every single week, and making zero progress whatsoever. If you’re going to include nuts and natural butters in your diet, that’s totally fine and even recommended, but just make sure that you measure out your portions carefully and that it fits into your total daily calorie intake as a whole. In fact, for items like this, using a food scale is probably going to be ideal. It might sound obsessive, but it really doesn’t take any more time than putting them in a measuring cup, and it will ensure that you’re not going overboard, and that what you consider to be a tablespoon of peanut butter really is a tablespoon of peanut butter.

QUICK TIP #31

Along with keeping your ribcage locked down like we covered in a previous tip, here’s another important technique to employ on your side lateral raises… When you raise the weights up, make sure to stop once your upper arms are parallel to the floor. When you go past parallel, the tension begins to leave the lateral head of the deltoid and is shifted onto your traps instead. This gives your shoulders a periodic rest throughout the exercise and reduces the total amount of overload you can produce. By only raising your arms up to parallel and then lowering the weights from there, the tension on the lateral head remains constant throughout the entire exercise.

QUICK TIP #32

Skull crushers are an effective isolation exercise for targeting the triceps, but the downside is that they also place the elbows under a reasonable amount of undue stress when they’re performed over the course of a few months or years. A great way to relieve the stress on the elbows while still hitting the triceps effectively is to perform a “rolling dumbbell shoulder extension” rather than a straight skull crusher. Instead of just pressing the dumbbells up and down using pure triceps extension, you’ll also want to roll your shoulders slightly backward at the very bottom of the movement, before rolling them forward again to extend the weights up. Here’s a video example of what this looks like.

QUICK TIP #33

One of the biggest mistakes almost all trainees make when performing bicep curls of any kind is in allowing their shoulders and elbows to drift forward as they curl the weight up. When the shoulder and elbow drift forward, the stress is taken off of the biceps and is shifted onto the front delts instead. In order to keep the tension on your biceps at all times throughout your curling exercises, focus on keeping your shoulders and elbows stationary at all times, and moving the weights up using pure force from your biceps only. If you do this properly you may need to slightly reduce the total amount of weight you’re using, but this should never be a cause for concern in any weight training plan designed for maximum muscle stimulation.

Remember, your muscles have no idea how much weight you’re objectively lifting; they only respond to the direct amount of tension they are placed under. This technique maximizes the tension on the biceps and thus produces superior results even if it requires you to curl less total resistance.

QUICK TIP #34

You may think that a bench press involves only your chest, shoulders and triceps, but in reality, the lift involves your entire body and begins all the way at the bottom with your feet. You’ll often see people in the gym performing their bench presses with their legs completely off the floor and up in the air at a 90 degree angle, but this is literally the complete opposite of what you want to be doing when performing your benches. Driving your feet into the ground is an important part of effective bench pressing and will help give you more strength and power out of the bottom position of the lift. To execute this properly, place your feet and legs parallel to the bench and bend your knees at around an 80 degree angle. Dig your heels into the ground, squeeze your glutes, and as you begin pressing the bar up, press your heels into the ground with force without letting your butt come off the bench.

The weight on the bar will prevent you from sliding backwards, but that extra heel drive will give you an added upward push into the bar which will increase the total amount of weight you can press and increase the tension you can generate on your pecs.

QUICK TIP #35

Here’s a little-known but effective way to improve your overall training performance at the gym or during intense cardio sessions and athletic events… Consume 300-500 grams of beets, radishes, or any leafy green vegetable, such as spinach, lettuce, rocket, crown daisy or Swiss chard, 1-2 hours before your training session. These can be consumed in solid form, or for improved convenience and absorption they can be blended into a smoothie. These particular food sources are high in compounds known as “nitrates”, which are converted in the body into nitric oxide. Increased nitric oxide levels during training have been shown to enhance both anaerobic and aerobic endurance, work output, blood flow and recovery in between periods of exertion. Don’t bother with supplements in powder or capsule form that claim to increase nitrate levels or nitric oxide, as the amount of active ingredient

that would be necessary to produce those effects isn’t even legal to include in a nutritional supplement. If you want to experiment with this method, you’ll need to consume whole food sources.

QUICK TIP #36

There’s no question that a basic horizontal rowing movement performed using a barbell or dumbbells is a foundational lift in any complete, well-rounded weight training routine. However, for some lifters, these exercises can be difficult to perform since they do place the lower back under a greater amount of stress in comparison to most other exercises. If you find that standard bent over barbell rows, dumbbell rows or one-arm dumbbell rows are causing you a reasonable amount of lower back discomfort, try switching to a bench supported incline row instead. (Pictured above) Simply place the bench at a 35-45 degree angle and perform a two-handed row using dumbbells. This lift takes the majority of the stress off of the lower back while still allowing you to train your lats and mid-back with full effectiveness.

QUICK TIP #37

Although dips have been a standard compound exercise in chest routines for decades, this is one of several lifts out there that I would actually recommend you steer clear of. As I’ve covered before, the primary function of the pec muscle is horizontal adduction. In other words, it’s to bring your humerus (the upper arm) across the front of your torso. If you take a look at the actual mechanics of a dipping exercise, you’ll see that, because your arms are locked into a fixed position, only a small amount of horizontal adduction occurs as you press yourself up. You’ll still be hitting your pecs to a certain degree, but because the movement is mostly a combination of shoulder flexion and elbow extension, it’s actually your front delts and triceps that do most of the work. In addition, dips are also the most dangerous pressing exercise to perform from an injury prevention standpoint.

The dip promotes both internal rotation of the humerus and scapular protraction, which puts your shoulder joint into an awkward position that is more conducive to injury. Heavy dips performed over a long period of time can definitely take their toll, and trust me when I say that a shoulder injury is one of the very worst things that can happen to your workout program. Dumbbell presses and barbell presses will stimulate your pecs more effectively than dips (particularly dumbbell presses, which allow for greater horizontal adduction and a natural pressing arch), and are safer on your shoulder joints as well. In terms of building your chest, dips really don’t add anything that you won’t get from a basic flat/incline/decline dumbbell press and/or a flat/incline/decline barbell press and for that reason I would suggest avoiding them.

QUICK TIP #38

The smith machine is a very commonly used piece of equipment in gyms across the country and is regularly utilized for compound chest pressing, overhead presses, squats and other movements. However, if you are going to include smith machine movements in your workout plan, I would recommend using them sparingly. The primary problem with the smith machine is the fact that the bar is stuck on a fixed plane of movement. Because of this, your body is always forced to comply with the range of motion of the machine rather than following its own natural path of movement. As a result, you’ll always be training on the same pathway with a static pattern of movement and stimulating the exact same joint angles, tendons, ligaments and muscle fibers. Since your joints will be forced to exert force in the direction that the machine is stuck on rather than moving naturally, you’ll be increasing your chances of injury.

If you’ve been training intensely for any length of time then you probably understand just how detrimental an injury can really be. A few smith machine movements are fine as part of your overall workout plan, but again, use them sparingly. For example, a set or two of smith machine shrugs is fine as part of your back workout, or including it as just one of your chest or shoulder pressing exercises would be okay as well. However, the smith machine should never be used as a primary piece of training equipment. There are too many short-comings and drawbacks that make it a less than ideal choice for serious trainees.

QUICK TIP #39

It may seem counterintuitive that performing cardio could actually cause you to gain weight in the big picture, but if you aren’t careful, it’s definitely possible. How? Simple: although the act of performing cardio does burn calories in the short term, it also stimulates your appetite as well. When you combine this with the fact that the majority of people aiming to lose fat do NOT track their daily calorie intake with any real accuracy (they simply wing their diet and “eat healthy” throughout the day), and you end up with a real potential problem. For example, let’s say you performed an hour of cardio 5 days a week, burning 400 calories per session and 2000 calories per week.

That’s all fine and good, but what happens if the appetite-stimulating effect of those same 5 sessions caused you to unknowingly consume, for example, an extra 350 calories per day? By the end of the week, you’d have burned 2000 calories from your cardio sessions, but would have also consumed an additional 2450 calories, for a net gain of 450 calories per week. Trust me, this can happen much more easily than you think. Small dietary choices that you make throughout the day add up very quickly, and 350 calories really isn’t much. A handful of nuts here… a piece of fruit there… small late-night snack… If you’re constantly feeling hungry and you aren’t keeping track of your daily calorie intake, there’s an almost certain chance you’ll over-eat. The key is in finding a proper balance between your training program and your diet that allows you to remain in a calorie deficit throughout the week without causing you to feel excessively hungry. Here are 3 immediate steps you can follow right away to help you in this process… First off, stop over-emphasizing cardio and treating it as the be-all-end-all of fat loss. Cardio is simply one tool in your arsenal to help you burn additional calories, and most people way over-value it.

As long as your diet is properly structured, 3-4 cardio sessions per week is easily going to be enough for the vast majority of trainees, and some will do just fine with even less than this. Secondly, include some high intensity interval-based cardio as part of your overall plan. High intensity interval training sessions (or “H.I.I.T” for short) in the range of 8-20 minutes do not stimulate your appetite to the same degree that traditional slow pace cardio does (in some cases it may even blunt your appetite), and while burning more total calories at the same time. However, because this type of cardio is more stressful to your body as a whole, you can only perform so much before you start getting burned out. Aim to perform a balanced mix between these two types of cardio throughout the week. For example, 1-2 aerobic sessions lasting 45-60 minutes and 1-2 H.I.I.T sessions would be a good approach. Third, start tracking your total calorie intake in more detail. This is by far the most important step of all. If you’re just eating “on the fly” throughout the day and don’t have a reasonable idea of how many calories you’re consuming in total, your overall progress will definitely be compromised or even eliminated altogether. Once you have these 3 steps in place, you can simply test and tweak from there to see what works best for you in terms of maintaining your calorie deficit while managing your overall hunger levels.

QUICK TIP #40

To get a slightly better contraction in your lats during compound back exercises (such as chin ups, pulldowns, bent over barbell rows, bent over dumbbell rows etc.), focus on pulling the resistance using a bit more force from the outer half of your hands, (particularly your pinky fingers) in comparison to the inner half. Combine this tip with the previous 2 back training pointers we covered (pulling through your elbows and applying a small amount of outward force) and you’ll end up achieving much better stimulation of your back muscles in comparison to those who simply “go through the motions”. The main challenge when it comes to effective back training is in minimizing the use of the biceps, forearms and rear delts and maximizing the use of the back muscles, and these 3 combined tips will go a long way in helping you achieve this.

QUICK TIP #41

If you want to add a serious amount of muscle to your frame in the shortest time possible, the simple truth is that you’re always going to end up adding some body fat in the process. Gaining muscle requires a calorie surplus. In other words, you need to be consuming more calories than you burn each day. Coupled with a proper training program, those excess calories will be diverted to building new muscle tissue. However, attempting to gain muscle without fat by having 100% of those calories diverted to muscle growth is realistically not going to happen. A certain amount will always end up in your fat stores. The goal of your muscle gaining phase is simple: to maximize muscle growth while minimizing fat gain. Once you’ve gained an amount of muscle that you’re happy with, THEN you can go ahead and implement a cutting phase to strip off the excess fat.

While gaining muscle without gaining ANY fat is not possible, here are 3 tips to help you keep those fat gains at an absolute minimum… 1) Use a precise calorie surplus. Your body can only synthesize a limited amount of muscle tissue in a given day. You do need a surplus of calories to support muscle growth, but aimlessly stuffing more food down your throat in an effort to super-charge your muscle gains is a great way to get fat quickly. Instead, stick to a calorie surplus that provides precisely what your body needs to maximize muscle growth without any unnecessary excess. A great guideline to follow is a surplus of 15-20% above your maintenance level. So if you require 2500 calories per day to maintain your current weight, you’d aim for 2875-3000 calories per day to build muscle. 2) Make sure you’re implementing a proper weight training program. In an overall sense, the process of building muscle is pretty straightforward. You train intensely in the gym to trigger the body’s muscle building response, and then you consume a surplus of calories in the form of high quality protein, carbs and fats. If all goes to plan, most of that surplus of calories will be diverted to building new muscle. But what happens if your workout plan is not executed properly?

This could be due to any number of things. Maybe you’re not training intensely enough… your training volume is insufficient… your form is terrible… or you’re choosing the wrong exercises. Whatever the reason, a poorly executed training plan is a recipe for fat gaining disaster. In this case, all you end up with is a calorie surplus that has nowhere else to go except your fat stores. If you want to gain muscle without the excessive fat, you need to make sure that you’re fully activating your body’s muscle growth mechanisms through an intelligently implemented workout plan. 3) Implement some extra cardio. While too much cardio can have a negative impact on your muscle gains, 2-3 sessions a week is a good way to minimize fat gains during a bulking phase. A mix of high intensity/low duration cardio and low intensity/longer duration cardio is usually going to the best approach as opposed to sticking solely to one or the other. Following these tips won't allow you to gain muscle without fat, but it will get you as close to that goal as realistically possible.

QUICK TIP #42

If your upper chest is a weak point on your body or just an area that you want to specifically target, try including a cable crossover in your routine that is performed at a low-to-high angle. (Pictured above) In most bodybuilding circles, there is a lot of debate as to whether it’s even possible to specifically target the upper chest in the first place. Many trainees have adopted the “all or nothing” mentality, stating that when one area of the pecs fire, the entire chest as a whole will fire. In reality, this is only half true. Most people don’t know this, but there is actually a separate muscle directly above the pectoralis major known as the “clavicular pectoralis”. It is generally considered to be part of the pectoralis major, but has its own separate nerve innervation and unique fiber angles. Depending on the particular exercises and angles you use, the body will shift the emphasis between the clavicular pectoralis and the lower portion of

the pecs based on which is more mechanically advantageous for that specific movement. The low-to-high cable flye places the resistance directly in line with the upper clavicular fibers and is a great way to “fill in” this area of the chest if it’s a weak point for you.

QUICK TIP #43

Here’s another very simple way to get a slight boost in your overall training performance…. Mix up a drink containing 50-75 grams of simple carbohydrates (dextrose, juice or a sports drink will work fine). Begin sipping on the drink about 30-60 minutes prior to your session, and save half to sip on throughout your workout. This continual stream of simple carbohydrates will help to keep insulin levels elevated while you train, which in turn delivers an increase in overall strength and performance due to an improvement in the effects of nitric oxide. This method is not for everyone though, and should only be used if you’ll be performing an intense weight training workout (don’t bother if you’re performing a mild intensity form of exercise) and if the carbohydrates fit into your overall daily intake.

In addition, this method is particularly beneficial if your dietary carbohydrate intake is on the more moderate side to begin with. If you’re already consuming a high amount of dietary carbs, you may not notice any significant benefits here. Give it a try for yourself and see how it personally affects you.

QUICK TIP #44

Always keep this in mind… If your training partner needs to manually assist you at any point in a set in order to help you land in your targeted rep range, the weight is simply too heavy for you. These are known as “forced reps”, and although extremely common, they should be avoided whenever possible. The highest level of intensity that any set should be taken to is to the point of concentric muscular failure. This is the point in the set where you cannot complete any more positive repetitions in proper form despite your best efforts. Once you’ve hit concentric failure (though I generally recommend that you train around 1-2 reps short of this point), the set is over, no questions asked.

Continuing to pump out additional forced reps with the help of a spotter is only going to increase your chances for injury, and if performed too often, this technique can also lead to excessive central nervous system fatigue as well. If you can’t land in your targeted rep range in proper form without a spotter assisting you, then you simply need to lighten up the resistance until you find an appropriate weight that allows you to do so.

QUICK TIP #45

Over the years, bodybuilders have developed a wide variety of “high intensity” training techniques in an effort to maximize the effectiveness of their workouts. One very popular method you’ll see being performed and that you may currently be using yourself are drop-sets. Executing a drop set is fairly simple… First, you take your regular weight and perform a standard set near or all the way to muscular failure. Instead of stopping there, though, you then drop the weight by a certain percentage (usually 50%, though this is not set in stone) and continue cranking out additional reps. While there is no hard-fast scientific data that has directly measured drop sets in comparison to straight sets, I still wouldn’t recommend using them very often if at all. There are a couple of reasons for this… First, most standard drop sets simply push your muscles into a higher rep, endurance based rep range and do little in terms of stimulating

additional hypertrophy. You typically wouldn’t perform a 15 rep straight set of dumbbell presses, so why perform a drop set that consists of 15 total reps or more? Secondly, performing drop sets throughout your workout uses up valuable energy and unnecessarily fatigues the muscles, which then sacrifices the amount of overload you can generate during your regular heavy straight sets. In short, drop sets are unlikely to produce any significant additional hypertrophy, and they'll sacrifice the amount of muscular overload you can achieve throughout the rest of your workout. So, whether you’re a beginner or advanced trainee, standard straight sets should make up the vast majority of your overall training plan. Straight sets allow you to maximize muscular overload as efficiently and effectively as possible while minimizing your chances of injury at the same time. Is a drop set here and there going to hurt you? Probably not, but if you are going to mix in some drop sets every now and then for something new, I’d recommend saving it until the end of the workout for a particular muscle group. This way you won’t be sacrificing your strength on subsequent sets for the same muscle. For example, if you’re at the very end of your chest workout and want to finish things off with a drop set on the cable crossover, I can’t see that being a problem, though it probably isn’t going to give you any noticeable benefits.

QUICK TIP #46

Overhead presses may be considered as the “bread and butter” of effective shoulder development, but in reality, side lateral and rear lateral raises are the real key to carving out those 3D shoulders you’re after. Side lateral raises target the lateral head of the deltoid (the side) while rear lateral raises target the posterior head (the rear), and these two heads contribute the most to round, full shoulder muscles. (Overhead presses primarily stimulate the front delts and the triceps) Although side laterals are most commonly performed using dumbbells, you can actually get even more bang for your buck by using cables instead. When you perform these exercises using dumbbells, there is little to no tension on your delts in the bottom half of the movement due to the force of gravity and the path that the dumbbell has to travel in. (This is particularly true of bent over rear lateral raises)

It’s only when you reach about halfway up that the shoulders really kick into high gear. With cable lateral raises, the resistance will be pulling you out to the side rather than straight up and down. As a result, you’ll end up with constant tension on your shoulders throughout the entire range of motion, from the very bottom of the movement all the way to the top. Try swapping out those dumbbell lateral raises for cables only and you’ll definitely notice a marked difference.

QUICK TIP #47

Here’s a very quick and simple form shift you can apply to your skull crushers to maximize the stimulation of your triceps… In the starting position, rather than placing your arms straight up and perpendicular to the ground like most people do, angle them a few inches back towards your face. (Pictured above) When you extend your arms into a straight up and down position, there is very little tension on your triceps at the very top of the movement since the force of gravity is pulling the weight straight down. By keeping your arms slightly angled back, your triceps will be fully engaged throughout the entire range of motion since they’ll have to work to keep the weight from falling back towards your face once you reach the top of the movement.

QUICK TIP #48

Although you’ll very rarely see these being performed at the gym, farmer’s walks are a great supplemental exercise to include in your training routine if you can squeeze them in somewhere. The execution is dead simple… Pick up a pair of dumbbells and then walk as far as you can with them without your grip giving out. Focus on taking quick, short steps and driving through your heels. 50-100 feet is a good distance to shoot for. Not only do farmer’s walks help you develop better grip strength and forearm size (this is especially helpful if you use lifting straps for a lot of your training), but they also engage your arms, back, shoulders, legs and core all at the same time. On top of this, farmer’s walks are also a highly functional exercise and have direct carry over to normal every day tasks.

QUICK TIP #49

When most people perform standing calf raises (the #1 movement I recommend for optimal calf training) they place their feet at shoulder width apart throughout the exercise. While this is certainly an effective stance for stimulating the calves, an even better approach is to go slightly wider at an inch or two outside of shoulder width. Just like pressing yourself up onto your big toe (I outlined this in a previous tip), using a wider stance on your calf raises prevents your ankles from rolling outward as you press yourself up. This keeps the tension on the inner portion of your gastrocnemius where the majority of your calf muscle is located. If you want to mix in some sets with a narrower stance that’s fine, but use the wider stance as the foundation of your calf training.

QUICK TIP #50

Here’s a quick, simple and instant way to increase the amount of weight you can lift and the degree of muscle stimulation you can achieve on virtually every back exercise you perform… Utilize a pair of lifting straps for your chin-ups, pulldowns, rows, deadlifts or any other compound pulling exercise in your routine. For those of you who are unaware, these are basically a set of thick straps made of extremely strong material that are placed around your wrists and then wrapped around the barbell, dumbbell or cable attachment. The purpose of lifting straps is to “eliminate” your grip from the equation by forming a secure connection between your wrist and the weight. If you use these straps properly you can basically hold onto the bar and perform your exercises while expending almost no energy from your forearms.

This allows you to place 100% of your focus on the muscles you’re trying to target without having to worry about your grip or the possibility that your hands might give out during the lift. The main argument against lifting straps is the idea that they’re a “crutch” and will negatively affect the development of grip strength and forearm size. However, the positive effect that lifting straps will have on your overall muscle mass and strength gains will far outweigh any negative effect that they have on your forearms and grip. Besides, you can easily incorporate specific forearm movements into your routine to develop your grip strength and forearm size, such as the farmer’s walk exercise I just talked about. You can find straps at almost any store that sells sports or fitness equipment or you can order them online. They sell for about 10 or 15 bucks and are well worth the price.

QUICK TIP #51

Although tricep dumbbell kickbacks are an extremely common exercise, the truth is that they’re just not very effective. The primary reason for this is pretty simple: they’re terrible when it comes to placing consistent tension on the triceps throughout the range of motion. In the starting position when the weight is simply hanging by your side, your triceps are basically totally inactive, and even as you extend up to around halfway, you still won’t feel very much tension at all. This is due to the direction that gravity is pulling the weight in relation to the positioning of your arm and the path the dumbbell has to travel in. It’s really only when you get to the very top of the movement that the triceps kick into gear, and even then, you’ll probably find that the exercise just generally feels awkward and unnatural to perform. The solution? Tricep cable kickbacks. With the tricep cable kickback variation, the force of the resistance will now be pulling your arm forward rather than straight up and down, and

this will result in constant tension on your triceps from the very bottom of the movement all the way to the top. The way I recommend executing these is pretty simple… 1) Place the cable as low as you can on the machine and directly grab the pulley without any attachments at all. 2) Take a big step back and put your opposite foot forward. 3) Position your upper arm parallel to the floor or slightly above. 4) Under strict control, extend your elbow back until your triceps are fully contracted. Return to the starting position and repeat. For added stimulation, you can experiment by starting off with your hand in a neutral position, and as you reach the fully contracted position, pronate your hand by twisting it inward so that your palm is facing away from your body. The key to this exercise (and to all tricep extension movements) is control. Make sure to select a weight that you can perform smooth, deliberate reps with and where you can always control the negative portion at all times. Not only will this result in better tricep stimulation, but it will protect your elbows from injury as well.

QUICK TIP #52

Lowering your overall body fat percentage is of course the primary step in carving out a leaner body, but a simple “quick fix” you can apply to instantly appear slightly more defined is to reduce your body’s levels of subcutaneous water retention. The less water you’re storing directly beneath your skin, the more visible your muscle definition will be. The two easiest ways to do this are… Increase Your Water Intake: When water intake is restricted, the body reacts by retaining more fluid as a natural defense mechanism. A consistent intake of water throughout the day will have a natural “flushing” effect since the body will have no incentive to hold on to that additional fluid given the constant external supply it is receiving. You can gauge this pretty effectively by simply looking at the color and smell of your urine throughout the day. If it’s reasonably clear and

odorless, this is a pretty good indication that your body is adequately hydrated. Balance Your Intake Of Sodium/Potassium: Sodium is a mineral that brings water into cells, while potassium has the opposite effect and pumps water out. If you’re like the average person in the West though, chances are that your sodium intake currently exceeds your potassium intake by a pretty significant margin. Not only does this significantly increase the risk of heart attack, but it also contributes to water retention by affecting the fluid balance of the sodium-potassium pump. As a general guideline for reducing excessive water retention and lowering heart attack risk, you should aim to consume at least as much potassium as you do sodium. A few ways you can keep your sodium intake within reasonable limits include:

- Moderating your intake of canned and pre-packaged foods. - Not going overboard on high sodium fast food types of meals. - Not excessively salting your foods. - Watching out for the sodium content of sauces and dressings.

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Let’s quickly cover another common “advanced” technique that some lifters employ in their program known as “pre-exhaustion”. We’ll use chest training as an example... Now, typically when a lifter is looking to maximize their muscle gains they'll be centering their workout around basic compound movements. When it comes to training the chest, this usually means a barbell or dumbbell press. These movements are extremely effective at hitting the chest, however, they also heavily involve the use of the shoulders and triceps. The pre-exhaust training technique reasons that since there is significant involvement of the shoulders and triceps during presses, the chest should first be "pre-exhausted" through the use of a single-joint isolation exercise.

In this case, the lifter would perform, say, a set of flat dumbbell flyes immediately followed by a bench press. The flat dumbbell flyes would isolate the chest with almost no involvement from the shoulders/triceps. Then, when the lifter performs the bench press immediately after, their chest would be forced to work extra hard throughout the movement resulting in greater stimulation. Some other examples would be: - Leg extensions followed by squats - Pullovers followed by chin-ups - Leg curls followed by stiff-legged deadlifts - Side laterals followed by overhead presses On paper this may sound good, but in the real world it really doesn't work the way it is intended to. Recent studies using EMG technology (a technique that measures muscle activation during exercise) showed that when using pre exhaustion, muscle activation actually decreases. The researchers performed the study using a leg extension followed by a leg press. 17 healthy males participated using both pre-exhaustion and straight sets, and the muscle activation of the quads was measured. The results showed that when using the pre-exhaustion technique, muscle activation in the quads was actually lower as compared to a regular straight set.

Even though other muscles come into play during a straight set of a compound exercise, the target muscle still receives a greater stimulus for growth as compared to a set using pre-exhaust training. So, if your goal is to build as much lean muscle size and strength as possible and in the shortest amount of time, I see no real reason to include the pre-exhaust training technique in your workout plan. Pre-exhaustion decreases the amount of total muscle stimulation you can achieve, decreases the intensity of the workout and decreases the raw strength gains you can achieve. If maximal muscle gains are what you're after, stick to straight sets. Building muscle is about raw stimulation using basic movements and high intensity, with a focus on progression.

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The overall benefits of deadlifts cannot be overstated. They’re a fantastic muscle building exercise, they’re highly functional, they develop explosive strength, they improve overall posture and they prevent injuries all at the same time. However, if you experience lower back discomfort during this lift like many people do, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of luck. Aside from ensuring that your form is properly nailed down, another option is to consider switching to the Trap Bar Deadlift instead. A trap bar is a hexagon-shaped bar that you step inside of and then grab the handles at the sides using a neutral grip. Most well equipped gyms should have a trap bar available. The benefit of this lift is that rather than having the resistance out in front of your body like a regular deadlift, it instead runs directly through the sides of your body instead.

This minimizes the stress on your lower back while still allowing you to perform the basic deadlifting motion. This variation does place a bit more emphasis on your quads relative to your back in comparison to the regular straight bar deadlift, but is nonetheless a great variation to try if you do have lower back issues.

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Here’s another psychological training tip straight from Arnold himself that I’ve personally always found useful… During each set, envision the muscle you’re training and how you ultimately want it to look. By visualizing your ultimate end goal, it becomes easier to push through the physical discomfort since you have a clear picture in your mind of what that discomfort is leading you towards. Remember that it’s always far more effective to focus on directly moving towards what you want (whether it be larger muscles, a leaner body, more strength etc.) rather than away from what you don’t want (the immediate pain of the set you’re performing). When it came to upper arm training, this is what Arnold had to say… “In my mind I saw my biceps as mountains, enormously huge, and I

pictured myself lifting tremendous amounts of weight with these superhuman masses of muscle.”

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Although it is true that the calves are typically a very stubborn muscle for those who weren’t “genetically blessed” in this area, most trainees still make a lot of basic execution errors that make building up their calves even more difficult. One very common mistake is in the excessive use of momentum during calf raise movements. In fact, it’s rare to see a lifter at the gym who doesn’t perform their calf raises in this way. The majority of people simply load up the weights and then “bounce” their way through the set by pumping out their reps without any real pause at the top or bottom of the movement. When you “bounce” yourself out of the bottom position of a calf raise, you greatly minimize the amount of tension that is placed on the actual calf muscles and redirect it towards your achilles tendon instead. The achilles tendon is an elastic tissue that connects the calves to the bottom of the foot. When you lower the resistance quickly, the achilles

tendon gets loaded on the way down, and when you bounce out of the bottom position, you’re primarily using the elastic energy return potential of the tendon to raise yourself back up. As a result, very little actual muscular work ends up being involved. The solution? Slow down your reps and stop using momentum. Here’s what I’d recommend… Pause in the very bottom position for a full 2 seconds… press yourself up as hard and fast as you can in proper form… pause in the fully contracted position for 1 second… and the lower yourself in 3-4 seconds. This particular cadence will maximize the stress on your calves and minimize the involvement of the achilles tendon.

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If you have trouble sticking to your diet consistently or just want an easy way to streamline things as much as possible, one of the simplest yet most effective things you can do is to prepare your meals in advance. Rather than preparing every single meal on the fly throughout the day, set aside one or two days a week to pre-package your meals in bulk. You can then simply keep them in the fridge or freeze them so that they’re readily available any time you need a meal. Most people find that having these concentrated periods of cooking/packaging once or twice a week is a far more efficient approach to maintaining their diet long term. It’s much easier to simply cook up a week’s worth of chicken breast/rice and lean red meat/potatoes in one go as opposed to preparing them each individually every time you need to eat.

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If you want a unique way to pack some additional size onto your arms, give reverse cable curls a try. This lift is performed just as it sounds… you’ll perform a basic curling movement using a straight bar cable attachment, but instead of having your palms facing up like you would during a standard bicep curl, you’ll reverse this and face your palms away instead. This exercise puts particular emphasis on the brachioradialis (a thick band of muscle that runs up the inside of your forearm) as well as the brachialis (a muscle on the side of the arm between the biceps and the triceps). Throw these into your routine from time to time to mix things up and squeeze out some additional arm gains.

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This may sound like a cold-blooded technique, but it can be very effective if you decide to use it… Next time you’re in the middle of a set and the discomfort is high and you feel like giving up, imagine that the pain you’re experiencing isn’t actually yours and is instead being felt by someone else you dislike. The harder you push and the more challenging the exercise becomes, the more that discomfort is transferred onto the other person. Using this technique can provide you with some extra motivation and make those last couple reps (or the last few minutes of your cardio session) easier to crank out when the going gets tough.

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If you want to get the very best bicep building results from your curling movements, stop making the mistake of flaring your elbows out as you lift the weights up. Most lifters simply go too heavy on their curls and end up bringing surrounding muscles and joint movements into the equation to power up the weight. This may allow you to lift heavier loads, but it does nothing when it comes to maximizing the stimulation and development of your biceps. For every curling movement that you perform, whether it be a standard barbell curl, cable curl or dumbbell curl, always make sure that your elbows are pinned to your sides at all times and that they remain stationary throughout the entire exercise. If your elbows drift forward or out to the sides, all you’re really doing is taking stress off of your biceps and shifting it onto your shoulders and wrists.

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In an earlier tip I suggested that during all compound back exercises you should focus on pulling the weight using your elbows rather than your hands, as this will limit bicep involvement and maximize the tension on your back muscles. In fact, the exact same approach works well for all compound chest pressing exercises as well. By imagining that your hands and forearms don’t even exist and that all of the pushing is happening through your elbows, you’ll be able to limit tricep and front delt involvement and maximize the tension on your pecs. Using this technique may require you to lighten up the weights slightly, but since it will result in a better contraction of the pecs, you’ll end up with better muscle stimulation and growth as a result.

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Let’s quickly go over another very common exercise that you should actually avoid performing in your weight training routine: wrist curls and wrist extensions. Many lifters include these in their plan (using barbells or dumbbells) in order to target the muscles of the forearm, especially if their forearms are a muscle group that they consider to be a weak point. Not only are wrist curls and wrist extensions largely ineffective when it comes to building up the forearm muscles, but they’re also potentially dangerous as well. The reason for this is simple… Although the forearm flexors and extensors are very strong muscles themselves, wrist curls and extensions force them to act across the wrist joint, which is very weak and vulnerable in this position.

The wrist is NOT meant to handle heavy loads in this position, and although the forearm flexors and extensors can easily handle the resistance, the wrists cannot. As a result, the wrist is placed under a lot of stress on these exercises and quickly becomes the limiting factor in the movement. Your forearm flexors and extensors won’t be stressed to a significant degree, but your wrist joints will. This can easily lead to injury and also places the median nerve (the nerve that runs through the carpal tunnel and controls the thumb, index and middle fingers) under a lot of tension as well. If you want to build up your forearm flexors and extensors effectively, stick to movements where you’re simply holding a heavy load with your wrists in a neutral position. This includes farmer’s walks (which we covered previously), or exercises such as deadlifts and shrugs.

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Earlier on I shared an exercise variation you could use in the event that you experience lower back discomfort when performing deadlifts. If standard barbell squats also feel a bit off for you, try giving front squats a try instead. Front squats still train your quads very effectively when executed with proper form, but they place far less stress on your spine and lower back. This is because the bar is positioned on the front of your shoulder girdle rather than behind your neck, placing the load through the front of your body rather than directly over your lower back. On top of this, the positioning of the bar means that your glutes and hamstrings are much less involved in the exercise, allowing you to train your quads with a high level of intensity but while using a reasonably lighter overall load. You can see how these are performed by checking out the BTB video exercise database.

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We’ve covered a few tips for more effective chest training throughout this report, and here’s another one you can employ on every chest exercise you perform, including both presses and flyes… Although the natural point of focus is to simply think about pressing the weights away from you, instead, consciously focus on the action of bringing your humerus (your upper arm) across the front of your body. In reality, this motion (known as “horizontal adduction”) is actually the true function of the pec muscle, while the “pressing” motion is primarily taken care of by the triceps. By placing your conscious attention on bringing your humerus across the front of your body (rather than just pressing straight up and down), you’ll get a better contraction in your pecs and better chest development as a result.

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When most people perform their bicep curls, they end up flexing their wrist and forearm at the same time that they’re curling the weights up. There’s two main problems with this… First off, it takes tension off of the biceps and places it onto the wrists and forearms instead. This ultimately results in a less effective bicep workout. Secondly, the wrists are not intended to lift significantly heavy loads in this position, and this additional stress can very easily lead to wrist and forearm pain. From now on, always make sure that your wrists remain either neutral, or even better, slightly extended whenever you execute your curling movements. This will keep the majority of the tension on your biceps while taking the stress off of your wrists and forearms at the same time.

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Avoiding carbs late at night has been a standard fat loss dieting method for many years. The logic here is that since activity level and overall metabolic rate will be at their lowest, eating carbs before bed will increase the chances of excess fat storage. But is a “carb cutoff” really necessary? Does eating carbs before bed actually slow down your overall rate of fat loss? No, and here’s why… The major mistake that most people make is in assuming that fat loss is merely an “on-off” switch – that you’re either in “fat burning mode” or “fat storing mode”. In reality, both processes are happening simultaneously throughout the day. Some fat is being stored, and some fat is being broken down. Your

net loss or gain in body fat is determined by the sum of all the fat storing processes occurring minus all of the fat burning processes. At the end of the day, your body’s total energy needs are going to remain constant. Whether you burn more fat earlier in the day and store more later on, or store more fat earlier in the day and burn more later on, the net result is still going to be the same. Your body requires X amount of energy and is consuming Y amount of energy, and that energy is going to be used up one way or another over the course of 24 hours. So, even if eating carbs before bed (or any micronutrient for that matter) does cause a greater amount of immediate fat storage during that time, it makes absolutely no difference in the overall picture, as that fat will inevitably be broken down throughout the night and the following day when the body needs it. If Bob consumes all of his carbohydrates before bed, while Brenda consumes all of hers first thing in the morning, the two are actually in the same boat as far as total fat loss is concerned. A greater amount of Bob’s carbohydrates will be immediately stored as fat (since there is less of an energy demand at that time), but will be broken down and utilized later on when the energy demand is higher. A smaller amount of Brenda’s carbohydrates will be immediately stored as fat (since there is a greater energy demand at that time), but more will be stored later on once the energy demand runs out.

The bottom line here is to find out what your daily fat loss needs are for total calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats, and then simply focus on hitting those totals in blocks of 24 hours. As long as you’re doing this consistently, you can eat your carbs whenever you most prefer. As long as your overall net calorie intake is being properly tracked, eating carbs (or any other nutrient) before bed is NOT going to magically cause you to gain more total body fat.

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Although the topic of productivity isn’t directly related to building muscle or losing fat, I still wanted to include my top 3 tips in this area anyway as they will indirectly benefit your fitness program and can have a huge impact on your overall life in general if you put them into action… #1 – Wake Up 15 Minutes Earlier Use this extra 15 minutes to tackle one of your top priority tasks for the day and you’ll be amazed at how much you can actually accomplish. 15 minutes a day might not sound like much, but when you add it up over the course of a year, that’s 90 hours of additional productive work. #2 – Have A Set Daily Schedule One very simple thing that many of the most productive people in the world have in common is this: they plan out their day.

This tip is so incredibly effective and cannot be over-stated, and if you want to double or even triple your current productivity (or more) you need a daily script that outlines which activities you’ll be doing, at which specific times, and for how long. This eliminates procrastination, keeps you accountable and ensures that you’re using your time as wisely as possible. #3 – Tackle Your Toughest Tasks First

Completing the hardest tasks of your day first serves a couple of important benefits… First, you’ll be able to tackle those tasks when your mind is still fresh and your energy levels are high, ensuring that you don’t end up putting them off because you’re tired later on. Secondly, it gives you a jolt of energy to know that the hardest part of your day is already over, and this will amp up your motivation and resulting productivity for all of your remaining tasks.

QUICK TIP #68

Dextrose… waxy maize… maltodextrin… The practice of consuming huge doses of simple post workout carbs has pretty much become a religion in bodybuilding and fitness circles. You finish your workout, you mix up a post workout shake consisting of whey protein and “rapidly absorbing carbs”, and you make sure to consume it immediately following your training session. Consuming post workout carbs in the form of simple sugars seems to be a logical move. After all, your glycogen levels need to be re-elevated, and you need to “spike your insulin” in order to increase the absorption of your post workout protein. Well, not so fast. While there is certainly nothing wrong with consuming simple carbohydrates after your workout, it’s not the critical “must” that virtually everyone has made it out to be. Let me dissect this myth for you in 2 simple steps…

First of all, a standard weight training workout does not deplete glycogen levels to any significant degree. Unless you’re performing exhaustive endurance work, your glycogen levels will only be depleted by a maximum of about 30% after an intense weight training session. And unless you were planning on training those same muscle groups again in the next 24 hours or so, this is really of no practical concern. (This may be a legit issue for hard-training athletes who work out multiple times per day, but not for the average bodybuilder.) Because of this, the idea that you must immediately replenish these glycogen levels is simply false. By finishing your workout and resuming your regular nutrition plan, those glycogen levels will be naturally re-elevated and ready for your next workout. Secondly, the notion that insulin levels must be “spiked” in order to maximize nutrient absorption is unfounded to begin with. The reality is that the body always keeps blood sugar and insulin levels within a fairly precise range regardless of the specific foods (or amounts of those foods) you consume. Not only that, but most high protein foods elicit a significant insulin response from the body in the same way that carbohydrates do. For example, beef has an insulin score of 51, which is around the same as that of brown rice, brown pasta or rye bread. Whey protein is also highly insulinogenic. With these 2 points out of the way, it should be pretty clear why slamming 80 grams of maltodextrin post workout is simply

unnecessary. There is no need to immediately replenish your glycogen, nor is there any need to “spike” your insulin levels. Is consuming simple post workout carbs going to hurt you? No. That’s not what I’m saying. If you prefer it, and if it fits into your daily carbohydrate requirements, a liquid post workout carb source is totally fine. It’s convenient and is an easy source of carbs for those on higher calorie diets. In addition, many people find that they don’t have much of an appetite following workouts, and this is where liquid carbs can come in handy as well. The point here is merely to demonstrate that post workout simple sugars are not a necessity. Whether you consume dextrose, maltodextrin, brown rice or potatoes, it’s not going to make any practical difference to your bottom line muscle gains. Keep your pre and post workout nutrition simple. Get in a good source of high quality protein and carbohydrates within a couple hours of hitting the gym, followed by the same thing within a couple hours of completing your workout.

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If you’re a relative beginner to intense weight training then you may find yourself feeling excessively sore in the few days following your workouts. This is known as “delayed onset muscle soreness” or “DOMS” for short. While some people don’t mind this sensation, others may find it particularly uncomfortable, especially if it interferes with other daily activities. Aside from the obvious points of proper nutrition and hydration, here are a few simple tips you can employ to reduce muscle soreness following your training sessions… Stretch Immediately following your workout, perform static stretches for the major muscle groups you trained. Hold each stretch for around 20-30 seconds.

Active Recovery Take about 20% of the weight you’d use during a regular workout and perform a couple sets of 40-50 partial mid-range reps using an exercise that targets the affected muscle. The goal here is not to get a training effect but rather to push blood into the muscle tissue for improved recovery. Walking This ties into the previous point, but if it’s your legs that are sore, go for a moderate paced walk. Hot/Cold Showers Take a shower that alternates every 2 minutes between hot and cold temperatures. This is a debated topic but is intended to clear metabolic waste products from the muscle. (Don’t use extreme temperatures) Supplement With Citrulline Malate Not only is citrulline malate research-demonstrated to improve overall strength and training performance, but it also has fairly noticeable effects on reducing DOMS as well. Use 6-8 grams 30-45 minutes prior to your training session for the best results.

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Performing cardio on an empty stomach (usually first thing in the morning after an overnight fast) has been a popular fat burning strategy among bodybuilders for many years. It seems to make sense… Since there is no food in the stomach, and since glycogen levels are low, the body will be forced to utilize more body fat for energy during the session. As a result, you’ll lose fat faster. Although this ultimately a highly complicated issue, let’s go over the key points… First off, the body is a far more intricate and dynamic system than most of us could ever imagine. Its specific use of fuel during exercise is constantly changing and is affected by a ton of different internal factors, such as different hormones and enzymes. The attempt to burn greater amounts of fat by exercising on an empty stomach is an extremely simplistic approach to a far more complex overall picture.

Secondly, worrying about what happens in small spans of 30-60 minutes is an incredibly short-sighted view of fat loss. The process of losing fat is all about the big picture and what you do over the course of several days (not hours) is what’s really important. For example, it appears that if more carbohydrates are burned during exercise, you’ll simply end up burning more fat later on in the day. In the same way, if you burn more fat during exercise, more carbohydrates are burned later on. In other words, looking at overall 24 hour energy expenditure seems to be the most important factor by far. Thirdly, cardio on an empty stomach doesn’t appear to burn more total fat in comparison to having a meal first. Fasted cardio does appear to increase lipolysis (the amount of fat that is broken down), but does not increase fat oxidation (the amount of fat burned). In other words, fasted cardio causes the body to break down more fat than it can actually use for energy. And when it comes to fat loss, the limiting factor is fat oxidation, NOT lipolysis. In the end, those fatty acids that aren’t used for fuel are simply re-stored as body fat. Fourth, a pre-cardio meal increases the thermic effect of exercise. Not only does fasted cardio have minimal to no direct effect on fat loss, but fed cardio may actually be superior. This is because having a meal first appears to increase post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) due to an increase in thermogenesis (calories burned as heat). Fifth, performing cardio in a fasted state reduces exercise intensity. At the end of the day, effective cardio is all about maximizing the total number of calories burned. The more total intensity you generate, the greater the calorie-burning effect will be. In most individuals, performing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach will

have a significant negative impact on overall exercise intensity in comparison to having a meal first. Lastly, fasted cardio causes a greater degree of muscle loss. The research has shown that nitrogen losses are nearly doubled when cardio is performed on an empty stomach. If you’re aiming to burn fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible, fasted cardio is probably not the smartest choice. Bottom line? If you’re looking to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss, it’s probably best to get a meal in at least a few hours prior to your cardio sessions. Fasted cardio does not produce any clear fat burning advantages, and if anything, it may be counterproductive.

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If you truly want to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your supplementation plan, you need to do your research and choose very carefully. Fitness supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry, and there are far, far more low quality, over-priced products lining the shelves than there are legitimately effective ones. It’s basically become like the Wild West out there, with supplement companies adopting all kinds of misleading, deceptive tactics to get their hands on your money and maximize their profit margins. The use of “proprietary blends” is one of the most common of these practices, and it’s something you definitely need to be aware of and understand… A proprietary blend is essentially a mixture of ingredients in which the total amount of all ingredients combined is listed on the label, but NOT the specific amounts of each ingredient on their own.

For example, a particular product may contain a “proprietary blend” of waxy maize, creatine monohydrate, l-leucine and caffeine for a total of 7 grams. You’d know which ingredients are included, the gram amount of the blend as a whole, but you’d have no idea as to how much of each individual compound is present. The FDA requires that the ingredients in a proprietary blend be listed in order of weight, so in this case you would know that waxy maize is the most abundant ingredient while caffeine is the least abundant. In theory, the idea behind a proprietary blend from a supplement company’s point of view is this… “We have this super effective, never-before-seen blend of ingredients, and we don’t want our competitors to get their hands on our amazing formula. Therefore, we must hide the specific ingredient amounts behind a proprietary blend so that our breakthrough concoction remains a secret forever”. But here’s the reality… Any supplement company that actually wanted to find out what was in their competitor’s product could do so very easily. All it would take is a simple lab analysis, and they’d instantly have the complete breakdown of ingredients right in front of them. In most cases they’ll never do this, since there really are no “top secret” formulas, and there are only a very small handful of supplement compounds out there that are even worth using in the first place.

So, what’s the real reason that supplement companies use proprietary blends in the vast majority of cases? The first is to cut costs. By simply pumping their proprietary blend with the cheapest ingredients first (and under-dosing the stuff that costs more but actually works), their production costs are minimized and profit is maximized. Since most average customers have no idea about proper supplement dosing, it’s very easy to get away with this. The second is for marketing purposes. When a company sprinkles 15+ ingredients into a proprietary blend and then gives it a fancy, high-tech sounding name such as the “rapid muscle growth super matrix” or “acute energy neuro-modulation system”, the average customer really thinks they’re getting something special. But think about it… if a supplement company truly had a properly dosed, worthwhile formula to sell, why in the world would they want to hide that from their customers? They’d be far better off listing the exact ingredients in the exact amounts for everyone to see. For that reason, a supplement company that hides its core ingredients behind a proprietary blend almost always has something that they don’t want you to see. And if that’s the case, why would you invest your money there when there are plenty of other options available? Why would you trust a company that uses a deceptive tactic like this?

Furthermore, why would you put something into your body when you don’t even know what it really contains? When it comes to muscle building and fat loss supplementation, dosing is critical. Simply consuming a research-backed ingredient on its own is NOT enough. It also must be consumed in the proper study-validated dose if you want to see real benefits. Otherwise, it may be totally useless for you and have no positive effects at all. With a very high percentage of supplements that use proprietary blends, you’re NOT getting nearly enough of each ingredient to truly experience measurable benefits. Bottom line? Avoid supplements that use proprietary blends. Plain and simple. If you don’t know what a particular supplement contains, there is no good reason at all to purchase it. Instead, stick to products with fully transparent labels, or just buy the ingredients you want separately on their own.

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Along with military presses and seated overhead dumbbell presses, behind-the-neck presses are another very popular overhead pressing variation. However, when you consider the basic bio-mechanics of the movement, it’s fairly clear to see that this is one lift you should definitely omit from your training routine. Here’s why… In order to move your upper arms into the proper position to execute this lift, your shoulders must be placed into an extreme externally rotated position. This forces the subscapularis (one of the four rotator cuff muscles) into an overly stretched position. This is fine if you’re simply sitting there with your arms suspended in the air, but add a heavy barbell into the equation (which must then be pressed up and down close to the point of muscular failure) and you start to create a very risky scenario for yourself.

The rotator cuff is a small, delicate group of muscles and tendons that act to stabilize your shoulder joint, and they are not designed to lift heavy loads like this. Overly stress these muscles to the point of injury and your entire upper body training routine (and even some lower body lifts such as squats or barbell lunges) is going to suffer, potentially irreversibly. Performing overhead presses behind your neck is NOT going to give you any added benefit in comparison to performing them to the front, or in comparison to performing them seated using dumbbells (this is the variation I recommend). Pressing weights overhead from the front is a natural movement pattern for the human body and will allow you to effectively stimulate your shoulder muscles without putting your rotator cuffs at risk. (This of course assumes that you’re training with proper form) For these reasons, I would highly recommend removing behind-the-neck presses from your routine. There’s no real upside, yet there is a very serious potential downside.

QUICK TIP #73

The “pre-workout” category of bodybuilding and fitness supplements has completely exploded over the last few years. It seems that every supplement company (and that supplement company owner’s dog) has come out with their own “breakthrough” pre-workout formula promising huge increases in strength, performance, muscle growth and fat loss. And although I always take a “No B.S” approach to every single supplement I review, there’s one very interesting fact about these products… 95% of them really DO work. Yes, despite the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of different variations of pre-workout products lining the shelves at supplement stores across the country, the vast majority of them really DO increase muscular performance, mental focus and energy levels.

Amazing, right? Well, not so fast. See, there’s one common denominator here that makes this so. One very simple, anti-climactic fact… Virtually all of them contain 100-300 milligrams of caffeine anhydrous in each serving. No, the effectiveness of the majority of these products is not due to the “latest breakthrough research” in sports supplement science being released to the public for the very first time… It’s not the magical combination of ingredients hidden behind that top-secret “proprietary blend”… and it’s not the fact that it was formulated by alien-hybrid Russian scientists in an underground Siberian bunker… No, in most cases, it’s mainly just the caffeine. Before I go further, let me make this clear… I am NOT saying that caffeine is the only ingredient research-backed to deliver acute effects on strength and performance in athletes. And I am NOT saying that there are no effective pre-workout formulas out there for a reasonable price that include other ingredients beyond caffeine. (Though I can only think of a couple off the top of my head) All I’m saying is that the majority of the effects you feel 30-45 minutes after sipping on that Radical Rockin’ Raspberry Rush (or, whatever) pre-workout drink is simply a combination of the study-dose of caffeine anhydrous (here is a good summary of the research on caffeine’s positive, measurable effects on strength and performance) and the

basic placebo effect you experience when you consume a product with the positive expectation that it’s going to work. Yes, I think l-tyrosine is a good pre-workout ingredient as well. ALCAR can have some noticeable effects. Citrulline malate may provide a small boost if you prefer a non-stimulant. And yes, there are a few others out there that might be worth experimenting with as well, but they are few and far between. However, none of these compare to basic caffeine – not in effectiveness, not in price. And this is where the real problem arises… It arises when any supplement company out there (or some random dude off the street – literally) can slap together 10, 20, 30 ingredients or more into a bottle (most of which are either totally ineffective, or somewhat effective but under-dosed), toss in a couple hundred milligrams of caffeine, hype the ever-living dog crap out of their product and then charge $67 a bottle for it. Yes, the product theoretically “works”, but unbeknownst to the person using it, they could have replicated most or all of its effects by just purchasing a bottle of caffeine anhydrous tabs for $4. I get that the marketing, fancy packaging and all that makes it “feel good” to use the product - but let’s come back to reality here. Simple truth: The best pre-workout supplement available, by a good margin, is basic caffeine anhydrous at 100-300mg 30-45 minutes prior to training.

And the best part is, it will literally cost you a couple cents per serving. If you want to create a small pre-workout stack and boost the effects further, add in 1-3 grams of l-tyrosine (also very inexpensive) as this amino acid works downstream from caffeine to increase energy and mental focus further. If you still want to push things a bit further, acetyl l-carnitine (ALCAR) might be worth adding at a dosage of 1-2 grams. Finally, if you’re sensitive to stimulants OR you want a full-on pre-workout stack that completely maximizes your performance, you can experiment with citrulline malate at 6-8 grams. (Though the research here is not extensive) All of these ingredients would be taken 30-45 minutes before your session, ideally on an empty stomach. I’d also recommend only using them a few times per week, and taking a full 2 weeks off after 6-8 weeks of continued use. What you personally decide to do will depend on your budget, sensitivity to stimulants, the effects you experience etc. Many of you won’t even want or need any pre-workout ingredients at all (besides your pre-workout meal and perhaps a strong cup of coffee)… and all of you certainly don’t need an over-hyped, over-priced, under-dosed, under-researched (I could keep going here but you get the point) fairy-tale pre-workout blend that does not benefit you beyond 1 or 2 dirt-cheap ingredients and that may even be potentially dangerous to your health when used over the long term.

QUICK TIP #74

Here’s the final “mind trick” I’ll be sharing with you in this report… Just like most of these tips I’ve shared, I know this one might sound a little bizarre. However, give it a try and see. You’d be surprised at how powerful these can be if you approach them with focus and an open mind. Right before your set begins, run “explosive” images through your mind. It could be anything, such as bombs, rockets, guns, artillery etc. The more clearly and intensely you can visualize this, the better. This type of visualization will give you a small jolt of adrenaline and get you feeling amped up right before your set. Using this technique in combination with some of the others I’ve outlined can help to give you that extra few percent of strength you need to crank out an extra rep or two and boost your gains as a result.

QUICK TIP #75

Ever seen the calf development on most dancers, or anyone who spends a lot of time pressing through their toes? (Like runners, cyclists and other athletes) If you have "genetically weak" calves that won't seem to grow no matter what, try taking a page out of their book... Once a day for the next 30 days, perform 1 set of 100 slow and controlled calf raises using just your body weight. Do it flat on the floor using a full range of motion and make sure to pause and contract your calves at the top of each rep. This will burn like crazy, but many lifters have reported gaining up to 1 full inch on their calves in just 1 month using this simple approach. Make sure to give your calves a good deep stretch once you’re done or you may find them to be excessively sore the following day.