Category: Workout Guides

So you’ve decided you want to pack on some muscle mass. You have no idea where to start, however. Fortunately, this guide is here for you, and it’s going to cover everything you need for a robust start.

First of all, here’s a bunch of simple truths about lifting that hold whatever it is you want to get out of your gym-going barbell-squatting career: Lifting weights is the safest sport there is. Lifting weights will make you not only stronger, but also healthier, PROVIDED you pay strict attention to the form of each exercise. Form first. Weight is secondary.

1. If you are doing an exercise for the first time, use an empty barbell and work with it until you are sure you know exactly what to do with it. Even then, add weight cautiously, only if you can perform the prescribed sets and reps without compromising form.

If you use too much weight to soon, you will either burn yourself out or injure yourself. Both decrease your training effectiveness.

2. You have to use a barbell if you want the most efficient way to get strong. Dumbbells are great. Bodyweight exercises are good. But you need the barbell if you want the best. Go to the gym or buy the equipment, but you need to use the barbell.

3. Touching the weights won’t make you look like a jacked body builder. Not in three months, not in three years. If you are a woman and you fear that lifting will make you look like those female power-lifters you saw on sports TV, look up Samantha Wright.

4. You’ll want to eat 1 to 2 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight depending on the quality of protein you are getting and the volume of work you are doing.

5. You’ll need 8 hours of sleep a night if you plan on getting stronger.

6. If you want to add weight, you need adequate protein intake and a caloric proficit. If you want to lose weight, you need adequate protein intake and a caloric deficit. How to calculate your caloric balance? Take the number of calories you expend per day, which is MBR (Basal Metabolic Rate; google it) + calories burned during exercise, and subtract calories consumed.

7. You are going to do compound, multi-joint, free-weight exercise. Among them are squat, deadlift, bench press, and standing press if you want to reach your goals.

8. You will consult your physician before embarking on a weight lifting journey. It’s safe, but there are always exceptions.

9. Consistency is the key. Skipping the workouts will rob you of your results, no matter how hard you work.

10. Cardio still has to be done on the off days.

Now that you know those simple truths, let me tell you about importance of priorities.

If you want to be a successful lifter, you want to know what your goals are. If you don’t have goals, you must formulate them. Setting a goal and moving towards it is how you get better. Working out without a specific goal in mind in beating around the bush.

If you don’t know what exactly is it that you want yourself, consult our article The Guide To Lifting Goals. It will help you straighten out your priorities. Which is important, because, you are going to pick your exercises, routines, and nutrition depending on your goals.

It’s not very important when you are just starting out. In fact, you’ll find that almost everything will have a big carryover to everything else. You are a beginner. You’ll be getting your strength back at this point, not gaining it. Later on, however, when you will start getting stronger than Mother Nature intended, you will want to be specific about it. It’s be specific or fail.

I feel that for a beginner, a whole body workout revolving around the basic lifts that are the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, and the press is ideal. Throw in some barbell rows, pull-ups, and maybe curls and ab work, and you are pretty much set for the first six months of your training.

A good example of such a workout is Starting Strength.

Starting Strength is very good for any beginner who wants to get stronger and bigger fast and without complicating things needlessly.

The whole workout incorporates few exercises, and has some variations. My favorite by far is Practical Programming. The whole workout looks something like this:

Monday
3×5 Squat
3×5 Bench press
3×12 Barbell rows

Wednesday
3×5 Squat
3×5 Press
1×5 Deadlifts

3×12 chin-ups

Friday
3×5 Squat
3×5 Bench Press
3×12 Barbell rows

If you feel you have enough gas in you after the end of each workout, feel free to add curls or abs at the end of the workouts.

You should be able to add weight after each workout on all exercises. Once this fails to occur for several weeks in a row, it’s time to graduate to the Texas Method program. It’s not recommended for beginners since you won’t be able to progress as fast with it. Once you’ve stalled on your Starting Strength program, however, you should move to the Texas Method.

Personally I feel that doing a full-body workout such as Starting Strength that incorporates the basic lifts is the best choice for a beginner. I advise you try it first. If for some reason it’s not working out for you (no pun intended), a wide plethora of split workouts are available, one example of which can be found

Barbell rows are great. They are possibly the best exercise for your upper back development, with the possible exception of pull-ups. Forget cable exercises. Forget dumbbell rows. Forget machines. The barbell rows, the pull-ups, and the dead lift are what you need for a strong, beautiful, hydralisk-like back.

Why? Simply because the barbell rows will make you do more work. They are harder. They require a stronger grip. They requires stronger stabilizers. They will hit your back, your forearms, and the muscles you never even knew existed.

A tip – these muscles still show, and play a big part both in your performance and creating a balanced-looking physique. Having a huge chest and arms is great, but if your other muscles lag behind, you are just going to look unbalanced. You are going to fit into the stereotypical “Dumb Jock” niche that exists in the collective unconscious.

Work your stabilizers, and you will look like a Greek god, but bigger.

Barbell rows a fitness guide 

Why do the barbell row?

All muscles. Literally. Except for your legs. That said, the back is the one doing most of the work. All of your back, that is. You will also get a decent workout for your pecs, abs, and obliques, plus hips, glutes, biceps and triceps. Of course, as always, when you train your stabilizers, you ensure that the strength gained on the exercise is not bound to the gym.

You’ll get stronger in all activities. That’s the great thing about this exercise; it hits your back, hard, works out a whole lot of other muscles, and the strength gains are easily translatable to sports. To put it simply, this is one of the best back exercises ever.

Oh, and barbell rows also help your deadlift and bench press improve. Great, huh? So how to do it?

How to do barbell rows

You’ve probably seen people in the gym doing something that resembles barbell rows. We say “resembles” because for most, barbell rows are associated with pulling the barbell off the racks, and then having it suspended in the air. This is wrong.

A barbell row, much like a deadlift, must start on the floor, and end on the floor. This isn’t really obvious for most people, but starting barbell rows from the floor lets you use more weight that you would otherwise by involving the hamstrings and glutes. This in turn makes your lats work harder on the upper portion of the lift. And that’s probably pretty okay unless you don’t want strong, well-developed lats.

So you’ve heard this advice, and placed the barbell on the floor. How do you approach this strange beast now? What are you to do?

You are to assume the deadlift stance and hover over the bar ominously. “Wait, deadlift stance? Barbell on the floor?… Are you trying to do us make more deadlifts?”.

No, not really. Despite all the similarities, there is a large difference between the deadlifts and the barbell rows. What you are doing here is first moving the barbell up without contracting your elbow. Start by extending your hips, but just a little bit, and you are keeping your spine in the same tension-filled position you would use when doing deadlifts. As the barbell leaves the ground, you bend the elbows and bring the barbell up, slamming it into the upper part of your belly.

This is just the general outline, though. The actual instructions are a bit more lengthy. What you are going to do is the following:

• Come up to the barbell lying on the floor and assume deadlift stance.
• Start the movement by keeping our arms straight while moving your chest up. This is the trickiest part. The chest moves up by raising the back angle. For this to work properly, you have to keep your back absolutely rigid, and raise it by contracting your hamstrings and glutes. Usually a 10^o hip extension movement is enough to get the bar off the floor without giving it too much momentum.
• As the bar leaves the floor, your hips and back freeze in position, and you use the momentum, contracting your elbows and carrying the barbell higher up by extending shoulders and retracting the scapula.
• When the barbell hits your upper stomach, lower the barbell back to the floor, mirroring the movement pattern you used to raise it up. As always, don’t bend your lower back.

An interesting variation to this exercise is supinated barbell row. This variation uses the supine grip, and the idea behind it is that it lets you utilize the bicep more.

However, the supinated barbell row can cause elbow problems for inflexible people, especially if heavy weight is used. To avoid this, the weight should be increased gradually, and the grip should be narrower than normal to minimize grip position problems.

Most of the people who are surrounding you are full of the hunger for money and fame. The whole sociable set-up, our complete system is following money and also fame and that is the reason the actual desire with regard to Supreme is not allowed to rise.

When the divine thirst emerges, all the hungers – such as thirst of money and the being thirsty for fame – will merely disappear. It is a false belief that people are doers and it is this impression that makes people miserable and also unhappy. Inhaling and exhaling is the most inexpiable processes and it is with the medium of breath how the body is united with the spirit.

When you inhale and exhale deeply and also you observe simultaneously that a breath will come in as well as goes out. Whenever you simply observe the inhalation and exhalation, you come to know that not only you are separate from the physical body; the breath is also separate from you.

Then you know that you are simply an observer separate from both, the physical body and the breathing process. Your separation from your body can be identified through inhaling and exhaling.

The situation with Yoga and Meditation is much like as the doorways of your house in darkness to permit sun in. Although the sun offers risen in the east, when you keep your doors close, you will be in the dark.

There are millions of tensions stored in your body and you are not aware of them, even though they’re your own selections. Society has created our way of life thus unpleasant which even when you are angry; you keep smiling before him or her. Due to these social restrictions your body has turned into storage of tensions; 1000s of tensions are accumulated within your body.

These kinds of knot of concerns are there as well as liquefaction is quite required; normally you are never allowed to the express these stored tensions to go beyond the body. With all the dissolution of the tensions, knots and complexes, your body can be as gentle as floral. The complete chemistry with the entire physique experiences a sea change. Our body starts to understand, believe as well as realize the prevailing situations in a different way altogether.

All the electric circuits within the body modify.

To Increase Oxygen Ratio

There is a specific quantity of carbon dioxide as well as oxygen in your entire physique; meditative breathing changes its ratio. As soon as this ratio changes, accompanying modifications will start taking place in the body, the mind, the blood and the central nerves. You start accepting all that happens to you, and let go of yourself entirely and accept everything that happens on its own.

Yoga is really a method of making you normal and, repairing you of one’s dynamics once more. If the mind is filled with any lustful wish associated with anger or desire, reduce the pace of inhaling, relax, and you’ll find it leaves you. Without having to be triggered simply by breathing this energy can’t function.

No-one can be angry in the event that you retain the inhalation slow, regular and also relaxed. Deep breathing hits the basic centre and as the experience may expand you’ll plainly begin to start to understand the exact place where it really is struck simply by inhaling.

First effect of breathing will be sensed around the centre which is your most lively centre as such. For example, if you constantly work using with your brain, after meditative breathing your brain will end up heavy. It will likely be due to the fact your mental faculties centre is your most active centre.

Breathing is one of our most important functions. Proper breathing promotes more oxygen to the blood and to the brain. In the process of respiration we all inhale air (oxygen) into our body, proceeding via the body systems in a form of energy to charge our different parts of the body.

Next all of us breathe out carbon dioxide and bear off many toxic wastes from our own system. But life is filled with stress because of the everyday work, family responsibilities, or financial problems; we all often disregard our own breathing. Hence, this tends to end up being quick and of shallow breathing.
Heart illnesses, rest problems, as well as fatigue are the effects regarding oxygen malnourished.

Simply by practicing deep and systematic breathing with Pranayama, we can all re energize our entire physique. With breathing exercise, we all increase the actual capability of our lungs, delivering more oxygen supply for the body to operate properly. All of us learn how to take a breath easy and profoundly – the right way.

 Morning Exercise (Mild Breathing Technique) (20 Minutes)

 1st STAGE (10 Minutes):

You should sit and also keep your distance in one more to ensure that people who would like to lie down might do this easily. Nobody will talk; gone will be the chit-chatting whatsoever. All of you will sit down quietly.

Shut your eyes and start breathing deeply. Breathe in as much as you can, as well as exhale as much as you are able to.

Put your whole energy in inhaling and exhaling significantly, breathe deeply and exhale deeply.

Apply yourself totally and for the First Ten minutes work tirelessly along together using deep breathing.

Permit each fiber of the body vibrates along together using inhaling and exhaling and also observes that you’re inhaling deeply. Keep witnessing in which air is going out and coming in regularly.

Observe from inside that breathing is coming in and going out on a regular basis, continually as well as vigorously.

Deep shake of inhaling will begin to wake up some energy within you. Together along using your vigorous inhaling and exhaling a sleeping light in you will flare up.

2nd STAGE (10 Minutes):

Now you must forget about your body totally and relax. Breathe in and out deeply and then leave your body free.

For 10 minutes continue breathing.

If the body takes particular postures and also gestures – allow it to take them. Don’t slow down your breathing.

Whatsoever occurs in your body enables it totally; don’t come in its way at all. Don’t keep anything.

The energy is rising, so inhale and exhale significantly and then leave the body uninhibited and free.

Let go of the body as well as don’t hesitate for the coming emotions, let them come and washed away.

The more you exert the more rest will be available. The higher the movement you raise, the deeper the energy will go down in you.

Let whatever happens to the body, happen it freely.

Now drop all efforts of breathing exercise and enter the last stage of relaxation and rest.

Give up everything and for 10 minutes lie in waiting for the glimpse of the inner mind / thoughts functions.

Now open your eyes slowly and further breathe deeply but slowly, and then get up gently.

It’s blissful being anything totally, due to the fact once your total becoming is involved, all of the latent energies of the body accumulate together and cooperate with you.

Pranayama

Pranayama is the advancement and charge of life force. It’s a kind of inhaling and exhaling exercise, extremely important in yoga exercise. It goes along with the asanas (postures).

Breath is the vital force which maintains life. Nobody can easily make it through many minutes without air. When the inhale halts, life ends.

The expert forefathers associated with Yoga developed a special system- ‘Pranayama’ to improve, create and control this kind of vital force.

“Prana” (Life Energy) is breath or even essential vitality in your body.

Upon delicate amounts prana signifies the pranic power in charge of life energy, and “ayama” indicates control. So Pranayama is actually “Control of Breath.”

It’s possible to manage the rhythms of pranic energy (life energy) with pranayama and achieve healthy body and mind.

Practice associated with Pranayama accomplishes the balance in the routines of the pranas, which results in healthy body and mind.

Normal inhaling just uses a fraction of the prospective respiratory system efficiency.

Pranayama helps to handle this kind of vitality inside an exceptional and additional normal way to reap highest benefits.

There tend to be various types of Pranayama. A few of the well-liked forms are usually Ujjayee, Shitali, Viloma, Kapalabhati, Anuloma, etc.

Some of them can be carried out inside a sitting placement while others in the standing up series or sitting down position.

Kapalabhati

Kapala signifies head as well as Bhati signifies gentle or luster. Within this pranayama breathing is sluggish and breath will be vigorous using a moment of preservation following each and every out-breath.

Sit down right in any comfortable position both together with thighs surpassed or even in the lotus position.

Inhale slowly, relaxing the abdomen allowing air to go back lightly towards the lungs. Exhale having a quick, strong great time with air.

Contract the stomach muscles quickly causing the system to rise as well as force the air from the lungs.

Retain to get a split second as well as repeat four to eight exhalations. This is one period of Kapala-bhati.

Relax as well as feel a deep breathing among the particular cycles. Begin with 3-5 cycles and gradually increase as long as you feel comfortable.

Stop this exercise the minute discomfort or stress is felt.

Persons with weak metabolisms, bad lung capability, higher or low blood pressure, suffering from eye or ear canal complaints and so forth must not try this kind of pranayama.

It purifies the nasal passing and also the lungs, improving the physique get rid of vast amounts related with carbon-dioxide and other impurities.

It triggers and stimulates the spleen, pancreatic as well as stomach muscles and improves digestion. It is good for bronchial asthma patients and people who smoke and those suffering from sinus problems.

Ujjayee

Ujjayee can be carried out in a standing position and in a sitting position.

Standing Position -Remain together with each your heels collectively and hands clinging on both attributes freely.

Make a good position regarding all the toes, each and every foot ought to be split up to produce a good angular shape such as “V”.

The body fat should be consistently on heels, so that your neck is also straight. Look straight.

Feel the incoming air and exhale along with pace as well as force hurling every one of the air via mouth.

The speed in the course of exhalation is the same as when you whistle.

When you complete breathing out, your own abdomen ought to be entirely drawn inside or caught and many types of old gases needs to be squeezed out.

Inhale slowly and gradually as well as continuously through both nostrils.

Take in Only the maximum amount of air as possible without having strain.

While inhaling and exhaling your system problem should settle at ease. Retain air as well as stiffen the whole physique gradually.

Chest ought to step forward and also belly ought to be drawn back to the inside.

Gradually stabilize the particular muscle tissues with the whole body beginning with the particular legs. Retain only as long as you feel comfortable.

Exhale as well as allow entire body loosens slowly and gradually in the top area as a result of the feet. You should not allow the weight fall all at one time.

The help to loosen of the physique need to synchronize together with exhaling. Relax and also breathe typically with regard to 8-10 seconds.

Now you have finished one round of Ujjayee pranayama.

Ujjayee Pranayama helps with the inner purification and also improves health and fitness with the body.

Total breath increases oxygen supply towards the blood–hemoglobin levels. It has soothing effect on nervous system.

t’s great for people suffering from heart problems and high blood pressure.

It helps you to clean and nurture the body and for sustaining energetic health.

Sitting position   Sit cross-legged on to the floor or on your own knees in erect position. Keep your torso straight and do not lean ahead.

Place the cushioning beneath the buttocks or the legs if you’d like much more support.

Breathe in slowly, maintaining the mouth shut and in part shutting, or contracting, the back of your throat to be able to reduce the inhale.

Maintain it for some seconds. Then exhale, once again in part closing or even contracting at the back of the neck to be able to reduce the inhale.

Repeat it five times. As you become better at this, try to exhale for over you inhale.

It increases lung capacity, opens the chest, relaxes the actual central nervous system, increases oxygen in the blood, decreases phlegm and strengthens the immune system.

Shitali

Shitali signifies cooling. This pranayama treats the body as the meaning of the title. It can be practiced at any time, everywhere and also whenever necessary. Sit directly on the floor.

Start to presume sing slightly, in a way how the tip of the tongue should be nearer to equally outlines of the teeth. Inhale oxygen slowly and steadily through as well as between your outlines of the tooth having a moderate speed.

When you have inhaled sufficient air, exhale your breath through equally nostrils in a moderate speed.

Again take a breath through the mouth just as and continue this process for a few rounds.

It calms the whole body as well as the nervous system. It has a pacifying and alleviating impact for a number of troubles such as headache, fevers etc.

This activates the lever as well as spleen; improve digestion of food as well as reducing thirst. Shitali pranayama is highly suggested as a possible quick treatment for nervousness.

Some Important Breathing exercises to do at home:

Abdominal Breathing

Sit easily in a cross-legged position on the floor or flat lying on your back in the corpse pose. Place the cushioning under the buttocks if you want more support.

Hands may be calm from the attributes or else you can place one palm about the stomach to really feel that increasing and falling. Relax the mind and body.

Breathe in gradually and also deeply through the nose, sensation your stomach increase and keep the chest area still.

As you exhale, look at the abdomen area sink down.

Increase the stomach around the breath in and contract the particular belly around the breath out. Exercise this particular exercise ten times.

Breathing gradually and also deeply delivers air towards the lower part of your bronchi and exercises may significantly enhance inhaling and exhaling capacity.

It calms mind and body, massages internal organs, calms inner thoughts and induces peaceful sleep.

Rib Cage Breathing

Sit comfortably in a cross-legged position on the ground or flat lying on your back in the corpse pose.

Place the cushioning under the bottom if you need a more support.

Place the hands on the sides with the bones to be able to sense all of them growing and also contracting.

Lightly treat the particular abdomen, inhale slowly from the nostril directly into your own rib cage.

Do not pull the inhale strong directly into your lungs; yet keep it targeted between your ribs.

Have the ribs increase outward and also the chest available when you breathe in.

While you exhale, feel the bones contract back to the inside. Repeat it five times. It calms the mind and the body as well as tones up the lungs.

Alternate Nostril Breathing (Viloma & Anuloma)

Sit comfortably in the cross-legged position on the floor. Keep the backbone and also neck straight, but not tight. Do not lean forward.

Place the support underneath the hips or the legs if you’d like a lot more support. Place the left hand on your left knee.

Lengthen the thumb, finger as well as pinkie (small finger) of your hand and retract lower your other two fingers into your palm.

Start by closing your right nose together with your thumb and also take a breath slowly through the left nostril for a count of eight.

After that press, the sun finger and also pinkie fingers against the nasal area, closing the left nose shut while keeping the thumb besides the right nostril, as well as hold for a count of eight.

Raise the thumb in the right facet with the nasal area, starting the right nose. Exhale slowly and also completely with the right nostril for a count of eight.

Inhale slowly and gradually as well as profoundly with the right nostril, nevertheless keeping the still left nose closed for the count of eight.

Cover the right nose with the thumb as well as maintain a count of eight.

Release the left nose and also let out your breath through the left nostril for the count of eight. Repeat it five times.

It calms and balances the mind and body, aids relaxation, increases concentration, tones up respiration.