The following thread is a compilation of the Training 101 guides as presented by Justin Hayward (aka sublimejeh), personal trainer and former rep for AX.
Training Chest 101 By: Justin Hayward Every guy wants a thick, ripped up chest! So… where do you start? There are a few common misconceptions that I run into when speaking with clients and I’d like to first point them out. 1. Flat bench strength is not the end all be all for a well built chest! 2. Pushups are not a great way to add mass to your chest. These two things definitely have their place in chest development, but I see too many guys relying on these things for their chest workouts. Instead, I will be showing you some basic guidelines and principles to keep in mind next time you decide to hit chest hard at the gym! The easiest way to do this will be to write a guideline and following that describe why I have designed the cycle this way. Warm-up: 2 sets dumbbell flys Exercise 1: Incline Barbell Press 4 sets 6-12 reps Exercise 2: Flat Dumbbell Presses 4 sets 8-12 reps Exercise 3: Cable Flys 3 sets 8-12 reps Exercise 4: Dips 3 sets 8-15 reps This is a great place to start when looking for a very effective chest program. It hit all areas of the chest (upper, middle, lower), and has a perfect balance of mass exercises and finesse exercises for that nice shape and deep cuts. Now lets break this program down into sections so you understand exactly what you’re doing. Incline Barbell Press: I’m sure many of you were expecting a flat power type movement for the first exercise, but that’s not what you will be doing during this training program. I almost always suggest an incline exercise first for a few reasons. First of all, most people’s upper chest is there weak point so this will add more focus to that area. Secondly, it will work the mid chest very well also, so you are getting a great upper/middle pec workout. You can keep the heavy weights in your workout in this exercise going down to 6 reps and also get the benefits of focusing on lagging bodyparts. Flat Dumbbell Press: Now for all you flat bench guys, here’s your flat exercise to keep you happy! Flat dumbbell presses are great because you can get a nice squeeze at the top as well as a great workout for your stabilizer muscles. This will help your barbell bench press improve as well. Theres also the added benefit of independent arm movement so you won’t be pushing one pec harder than the other. We all know how important symmetry is to an asthetically pleasing body! Cable Flys: Who ever said cable exercises can’t build a solid chest?! Well I’m a firm believer that cable flys if performed correctly can be a great on or offseason exercise. If you are in the off-season try and perform heavier cable flys going between 8-10 reps. If you are cutting or preparing for contest I would recommend anywhere between 10-20 reps for those striations to show! The cable flys I have listed in this program are to be performed as high cable flys (meaning that your arms will start at a high point and end in the middle at a low point). Make sure to SQUEEZE those powerful pecs with each repetition! Dips: these are great for any athlete. This is a great compound movement that involves not only the chest but also the triceps and shoulders as well. This will give a nice balanced look to your upper body. I have also selected this exercise because its great for carving out the lower portion of your chest. You can do these weighted or unweighted. The way I do them is the first set unweighted to warm-up the motion and the next two sets are weighted… but this is up to you and what feels best! This program can be followed for sometime before needing to be switched up. I recommend doing this for 4 weeks then switch the first exercise to incline dumbbell press and the second exercise to flat barbell bench. This will shock your chest a little and keep it growing!
Training Back 101 By: Justin Hayward In bodybuilding, its just as important to look good from the back as it is from the front. From the front we expect a thick chest, broad rounded shoulders and a nice set of abs. From the back we have one major thing to look for- a thick wide freakish back! This is one of the problems most people have(looking good from the back). It could be many factors- their waists are too big which takes away from the taper, its thick but not wide enough, or it just doesn’t have enough mass! With the following routine, any dedicated workout enthusiast should be able to pack some thickness and width on their frame! The links posted in this article give a stardard clip of what the exercise should look like... however, many times I add alterations to the modern technique, so use it simply as a guideline. Barbell Rows: Like with every bodypart, it’s necessary to thoroughly warmup before hitting the weights hard. Aside from legs, back is probably one of the most injury prone workout days. We put stress on our lats, lower back(big problem area!), traps, biceps, rear delts, etc… Saying this, its definitely a good idea to maybe even do two solid warm-up sets with a light weight. After the warmup we will hit 4 sets super heavy to failure. This is going to work the whole back a great deal. I find it more beneficial to lean farther forwards than you see most guys doing. Lifting the weight to your stomach from a bent “almost†90 degree angle will hit your whole back better than a slightly bent back. Slightly bending will focus more of the weight up onto your traps and take away from the lats, lower and middle back. If this stresses the lower back too much, especially on heavy sets, throw a belt on. The rep range should do 8-12 for the first two sets and up the weight on the last two doing 6-8 reps. These should all be to failure. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGe...entOverRow.html (in this clip he returns the weight to the ground... instead maintain the 90 degree angle and pull the weight back up) Widegrip Lat Pulldowns: Next we’ll move onto a width exercise, This will help with that nice V taper in back. Hit this for 4 sets concentrating on each contraction. It’s often debated what the proper form is for this exercise, but personally, I lean back about 30-45 degrees while doing my reps. Try not to swing a lot if you’re leaning back. I feel you can lift more weight more comfortably in this position and I also feel it hits the whole lat more effectively. I almost always stick with 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets on this particular exercise. If you’d like to add this at the end of your workout instead, doing a drop set for 3 sets will really get your back pumped up. Select a weight that you can get for 12 reps. Do them, then drop the weight by 1/3 (i.e. from 200 to ~140) and pump out as many reps as you can get. Some slight swinging is O.K. with drop sets, as your forearms and biceps will tire quickly. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Latiss...ntPulldown.html Close-Grip Low Rows: I find this exercise to be great for detail in the mid back area as well as back thickness. I keep the reps on the higher side with this, not usually going below 10-12 at any given time. Do 3-4 sets of this at 10-12 reps. Don’t lean back too much while pulling back, instead, keep your body straight while pulling to your stomach. When letting the weight back down, its ok to lean a little forward, and actually hits the lats nicely as well. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGe...kSeatedRow.html Dumbbell Rows: These are great for overall backwork, as well as hitting each side of the back independently. Choose a weight you can do for no more than 12 reps and rip out 8-12 reps on each side. While doing these rows, keep the same position as you`did for barbell rows. Keep the ROM(range of motion) shorter on the way down to keep the pressure on your back. Going all the way till your arm straightens out will take the pressure off your back and transfer it to your bicep. I know biceps are great, but we’re focusing on back here guys!!! Do this for 3 sets. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGe...entOverRow.html Deadlifts: This is the king of back lifts! Those lifting for size often do these at the end of back day, opposed to those looking to improve their deadlift strength. The reason for putting it at the end is that after you already focused on each area of your back, the deadlift will totally exhaust your entire back at the end of the workout. Keep the reps between 8-12 and lift as heavy as you can for this rep range. Do this for 3 sets, or 4 if you still have the energy. I prefer an overhand grip- you may not be able to lift as much, but its better for symmetry and less chance of injuring your traps and shoulders. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Erecto...BBDeadlift.html <span style="color:red">Sample Workout: Barbell Rows: 4 sets (8-12 for 2 sets, 6-8 for 2 sets) Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets (8-12 reps) Close-Grip Low Row: 3-4 sets (10-12 reps) Dumbbell Rows: 3 sets (8-12 reps) Deadlifts: 3-4 sets (8-12 reps) Follow this for a month, and if you notice one area of your back lagging, prioritize the exercise that targets that area. Switching up the routine once a month is important. Whether its switching the order slightly or replacing one exercise for another, you need to do it to keep growing. Muscles grow to handle the stress you put on them; once they can handle that stress, they stop growing. So, keep increasing weight and intensity and switch up your routine often for ultimate growth! Good luck guys! Why do Deadlifts First? Most of it is explained in the article.. For the bodybuilder it can be a great way to finish off your back routine and totally exhuast the entire back. For example, have any of you have heard of "pre-exhausting"? It is commonly used by the bodybuilder who is trying to pretty much annihilate any particular bodypart. The most common use of pre-exhausting I've seen is doing some sets of leg extensions to warmup and pump tons of blood into the quads, then going right over to the squat rack and repping out some squats until the quads literally can't take it anymore. This isn't the most effective way to up the numbers of a particular exercise, its to pump the muscle up to the extreme and cause the most fiber activation possible. If you have a huge ego for deadlifting and are trying to get those numbers way up, I would surely do deadlifts first. However, those looking for more of a bodybuilding frame with a super thick,full and symmetrical back may want to give this routine a try. I've put deadlifts first, middle and last and honestly I like each way. I simply find placing it last to be better at totally rounding off your back day.
TRAINING LEGS 101 by: Justin Hayward Hey guys! Been a while since a training article has been written... So I thought why not start back up with the king daddy of lifting days, the dreaded LEG DAY!! So many guys push this day aside or half ass it, and I will admit I have done that every once in a while as well. The burn, the crazy heavy weights and all the energy you have to put forth on leg day is definitely not easy. SO what did I do to make training legs work best for me? I split legs up into two days. This has worked best for leg growth and also allowed me to train each area of my leg with greater intensity and heavier weights.. I ran into 3 big problems when training legs all in one day: 1. I trained quads first then didnt have the same amount of energy to train hamstrings and calves. 2. My lower back was so pumped and painful after doing heavy squats that I couldnt do heavy hamstrings exercises like SL deadlifts. 3. By the time I got to training calves at the end, i wanted to just do one exercise and be done with this miserable workout. Some guys love training legs all in one day, and it can definitely work for people, but it doesn't work best for me when trying to gain mass down there. Anyways, below is a setup of what my TWO leg days look like. LEG DAY1: Quads Squats: 2 warmup sets of 15-20 reps 1 set of 12-15 reps 1 set of 8-12 reps 2 sets of 4-8 reps Leg Press: 4 sets of 8-15 reps Walking Lunges: 3 sets walking the length of the gym with 50-100lbs Leg Extensions: 3 sets of 10-20 reps LEG DAY2: Hams&Calves Straight Legged Deadlifts: 1 warmup set of 15 reps 1 light but slightly heavier set of 12-15 reps 3 work sets, increasing weight of 6-12 reps Seated OR Laying Leg Curls: 4 sets of 15 reps Standing calf raises: 4 sets of 12-30 reps Toe Presses(on leg press machine): 4 sets of 20- 30 reps SUPERSETTED with standing calf raises with no weight to failure Optional (if your gym has it): 3 sets donkey calf raises OR seated calf raises Well, thats it guys! Thats the base of my leg workout! I usually train hams and calves as soon as my lower back is healed from quad day.. this could mean 1-3 days depending on how i feel... I do everyyyything by feel. If something hurts, DON'T overdo it!!! Take that day and train something else or take a day off. Rest and nutrition are just as important as training itself! Happy leg training!
Training Core 101 By: Justin Hayward In this article we will explore quite a few ways to train the abdominals, serratus and oblique muscles. These are all muscles needed to have that great looking beach body, and also very important muscles to develop because they help with almost every other exercise. A strong core will help you stay stable when lifting heavy, especially in compound movements such as squats. The more control you have over your core, the more you can concentrate on the muscle you’re working. The abdominals are contained within the abdominal wall, and can be stimulated by exercises such as crunches and leg raises. These are the muscles you want to stimulate for that sought after six-pack. The serratus muscles are those muscles that run diagonally across your ribs and cover your intercostals. Any exercise that works your abdominals will stimulate the serratus as well. These exercises also strengthen your core by working the intercostals which are located posterior to the serratus and run between the ribs. The obliques are those muscles that form the V on the insides of your hips, at the botton of the abdominals. These are also stimulated by doing normal abdominal work, but can also be worked harder by doing any type of side crunch or leg raise motion. Abdominals can be trained very often, but I personally prefer treating them like any other muscle group. Doing 9-12 sets once or twice a week should be sufficient for the average person. Athletes tend to train abdominals with more of an endurance mind set, as they need a strong and endurance ready core for their specific sport. Below is a simple but effective abdominal routine. Perform it twice per week with at least 2 days rest between each. Routine 1 Crunches from the floor: keep your lower back on the floor at all times, feet crossed or parallel and raised to a 90 degree angle. Keep your upper body straight as you raise it off the ground, and keep your eyes looking upwards. Each rep should be performed slowly, squeezing at the top. 3 sets to failure Leg Raises: from the floor or bench is fine. Keep your head looking forward at all times, looking at your feet. Keep your lower back firmly down. Raise your legs about 2 feet from the floor and slowly lower back down. 3 sets to failure Abdominal crunch machine: Abdominal crunch machines are very useful for building thick abdominal muscles. I prefer the machines where you are seated straight up, performing a crunch downwards towards the knees. Raise the weight to challenge the muscles more each week. 3 sets to failure (aim for 12-20 reps) Partial V Ups: These are to be performed on a bench. Starting position is a very obtuse angled V and finishing point is an acute V shape. This motion is made by keeping knees slightly bent and raising legs and upper body towards each other. At the top of the movement you can turn your upperbody to the right or left to work the obliques and serratus more directly. 3 sets to failure
Training Arms 101</span> by: Justin Hayward Training arms is very difficult for many, but I was one of the lucky guys who found out what worked for me early on. Employing different routines that all followed some similar basic principles shot my arm size up from a measly 13 inches to a solid 18 inches with a nice peak. I have three basic principles for packing some serious mass onto your arms, and as long as its followed with a good diet and sleep, the muscle should come even in you hard gainers! 1. Don’t switch your rep ranges just because arms are a smaller muscle group. I know plenty of guys who never go below 10-12 reps on arms, but don’t be afraid to go low!!! 2. AVOID MACHINES! Machines certainly have there place in arm growth, but for overall mass, they aren’t the winners! Whenever a bar or dumbbell is available I would almost always choose that over a machine. 3. Set arms aside their own day, especially for you guys who just can’t get those guns past pistol size hehe Principle 1: I have seen some serious arm growth in applying a lower rep scheme to my first exercise for biceps and triceps. For example, my first set of bi’s may look something like this: Exercise 1: Barbell curls Warmup: 12-15 easy reps Set1: 8-10 reps Set2: 6-8 reps Set3: 4-8 reps Set4: 4-6 reps (some cheating is acceptable!) An example for tri’s may look like this: Exercise 1: Lying French press (EZ bar) Warmup: 12-15 easy reps Warmup2: 12-15 easy reps Set1: 8-10 reps Set2: 6-8 reps Set3: 4-8 reps Set4: 4-6 reps There are a few points that need to be cleared up about the above examples: First, I always do two warmup sets for triceps because I find going real heavy on the triceps puts a great deal of pressure on the tendons around your elbow (especially right around where the tricep inserts into the ulna), and an extra warmup set really pays off. Secondly, On the third set of each first exercise you will notice a bigger range than the other sets. At set 3 I really know how my muscles are feeling that day and will either opt to go heavier one set early, or relax and do another 6-8 reps before my last intense set. Principle 2: First off, I use machines in almost every workout. I’m in no way biased against them. However, for gaining sheer mass, hitting the free weights will almost always do the best job. They recruit more muscle fibers, use more muscles in each workout and in my opinion definitely speed up the growth process. Some arm exercises I am fond of for overall growth are: Biceps: EZ bar curls Barbell Curls Dumbbell curls Preacher curls (with EZ bar) Hammer curls Inclined alternating dumbbell curls Triceps: French Press (lying or inclined) Overhead dumbbell press Bench dips Close-grip bench press Rope pulldowns For developing the arms further I suggest: Biceps: Concentration curls Cable skull crushers Triceps: One arm dumbbell extension (behind neck) Reverse grip straight bar pulldowns (cable) One arm cable pulldowns Principle 3: This is relatively self explanatory: Set a day aside just for arms. It is preferable to not have any upperbody work the day before or after arm day as well (if your routine permits). There is a very good reason for this: first, arms take a bashing in almost all upperbody workouts, so its necessary to give them a solid recoperation before concentrating on them. Secondly, giving a full day to arms will give you more time to concentrate on the exercises and your arm development and growth. Lastly, the day after your arm workout, give them rest! Take the day off or do some leg work. Training+REST+food= growth!!! <span style="color:red">Final Thought: Like I said, train heavy. This does not mean train only with low reps. I gave you a good outline for the first exercise, but the following two to three exercises for each muscle group shouldn’t be lower than 6-8 reps (you don’t want to strain those tendons too much!) Train with most of your sets being to failure; That is also essential for starting some serious muscle growth. I will leave you will some pictures of the success these training ideas have given me. The time difference between the pictures is 3 years, and the size difference is 5 inches. (see attachments) Best of luck!
Training Shoulders 101</span> By: Justin Hayward Hey guys, back with Part III of the 101 articles. This one, as you would expect is for shoulder training. I see tons of guys who look big and are wide, but just don't have that nice "capped-off" look to their shoulders. I also see guys who clearly don't have good symmetry between the 3 shoulder heads. Well, this quick little guide will be great for you guys who have lots of problems gettin your shoulders up to par with everything else! First, we need to realize that although our shoulder's aren't the biggest muscles on our bodies, they are very complex. I mean shoulder injuries are pretty darn common, and this has a lot to do with the fact that there's a lot goin on in that area! I mean, we have deep tendons galore as well as the front, side and rear delts poppin on top. Each head should be symmetrical with the others. Nothing is worse than having huge front delts and no side delts! Or better yet, most guys have trouble with rear delts. Since so many people need work on one area of the shoulder more than other I'm not going to give you one basic program, but one that can change based on your needs. Anyways, here's a great mass building program for your shoulders: Dumbbell/Barbell Military Press 1 warmup set of 20 reps Set 1-3:8-12eps Set 4: 6-10 Dumbbell Lateral Raises 4 sets of 8-12 reps (once in a while I will go up to 15 reps... Sometimes higher reps can shock the muscle if your shoulders just won't grow!) Dumbell Rear Lateral Raises sets of 10-15 reps (I find that with these, between reps 10-15 is where I really get the pump in my rear delts... This may vary between people, but I would not recommend going lower than 8 on a regular basis) <span style="colorrange">Front Plate Raises 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps (These are performed standing with each hand on each side of a weight plate. Raise them up in front of you a little above parallel with the floor. This is great for front delts, as well as raising the connection point between your chest and shoulders) Ok, so there's the basic plan, but I have another addition to it. We are going to work with the idea of prioritizing the muscle that needs work. For example, whichever head of your shoulder is lacking, put the exercise that correlates with it BEFORE any other shoulder exercises. If you have trouble with side delts. side laterals should be performed before the military press. If you have rear delt issues, rear laterals should come first, etc etc. I find that having more energy for the more important exercise will definitely bring that muscle up to par quickly. Not only does that muscle get hammered first, but it also gets hammered more throughout the rest of the workout since its already pumped up and burnin! Keep training boys! Justin Hayward AX Trainer
Basics of powerbuilding</span> by: Justin Hayward and Nick Winters Are you a bodybuilder who isn't seeing the strength gains or a powerlifter who wants to gain some aesthetically pleasing size? This plan may be a nice change to your current routine, or maybe even one you'd like to stick with for a while. The concept behind Powerbuilding is basically taking principles from both bodybuilding and powerlifting and combining them into one program. This allows for maximum strength and size gains simultaneously. This may also be of benefit to a powerlifter by taking a little stress of the joints by implying some higher rep schemes than usual. For the bodybuilder who is stuck at a plateau, this may help them work past the weight to further increase muscle capacity and size. The following is an outline of basic principles to follow when implying the Powerbuilding routine: 1. Make sure you are sufficiently warmed up for the following workout. 2. All 3 major lifts are done using the 3x3 system (first set is 3reps at 85% 1RM, 2nd is 3reps at 90%, 3rd is 3 reps at 95%) 3. All other lifts are done in the 8-10 range (i.e. skull crushers, good mornings, straight leg deads, etc.) Back and shoulder work is done heavy with 3-5 sets of 8-10 reps. Heavy back work should be done after deadlifts, heavy shoulder work should be done after benching. Biceps, calves, and abs can be trained with a higher rep scheme, whatever the lifter is comfortable with. 4. Powerbuilders who focus more on the power portion might want to skip the direct ab work and just do squats and deads without a belt. Ok, now that we have a solid base in the program, here is a sample split as designed by Nick Winters: Monday: off Tuesday: Legs Wednesday: Chest (heavy) Thursday: shoulders and triceps Friday: Back, bis (do deadlifts today) Saturday: chest (this is the day I do my accessory lifts for chest- such as close grip bench, wide grip bench, board presses, etc) and triceps Sunday: off Nick trains chest twice a week because it recovers fast enough to allow an extra day without overtraining. Squats and deadlifts seem to get him overtrained quickly if another day is added in. Any muscle group that is recovered by Saturday can be trained on saturday. Being a bench specialist, Nick’s best option is training chest on the last day in the split. <span style="color:red">Nick on Powerbuilding: Justin: Have you personally trained using the powerbuilding routine? Nick: Yes, I use it when I have a good amount of time off between comps. It helps me feel a little more athletic, gets me looking a little better than just a straight forward powerlifting type of training cycle. It also gives my CNS a bit of a break from the heavy ass weights all the time. Justin: Where did you pick up this routine? Nick: I used to do nothing but bodybuilding type workouts but loved lifting heavy, which is what turned me towards powerlifting. Once I started making a name for myself in the powerlifting world I got to start training with some of the best coaches in the world. I started asking questions about workouts to build both strength in the three lifts and to help with hypertrophy. This type of training is basically what I gathered from the answers I was given, and it has worked very well for me. Justin: How many sets do you recommend for each bodypart during this split? Nick: I usually stick to 3 working sets for most exercises but will do up to 5 sets for certain body parts I am really trying to focus on (mainly triceps for me). Also, people looking for a bigger bench will want to do more sets with the other major muscle groups involved in the lift (back and shoulders). Justin: Any last tips or tricks you've picked up that may help someone using this routine? Nick: The only real tip I have is to make sure and keep your form consistant with your goals. If you want to be a powerlifter then train with the same form you would in a regular training cycle, same thing if bodybuilding is your goal.
