It is just about every guys goal.  How do I get bigger arms?  I am no exception to this.  Every guy wants big arms to show off.  When I was younger I was very athletic, but basically skin and bones.  The most I ever weighed in high school was around 150lbs and I was around 6′ 2″.  When I got to college I was introduced to more olympic and power lifts to help with performance in the high jump.  Over the next 4 years I gained 20-25lbs.  I would like to think it was mainly muscle and not from all the beer in college.

When my high jumping career was over I started taking more of an interest in strength training.  I started reading muscle magazines and watching what other people did at the gym.  Since performance was no longer my goal I wanted to workout more to look bigger and be stronger.  I trained incredibly hard to reach this goal.  I would dedicate whole workouts to bi’s and tri’s to get huge arms.  After 2 years of training my new weight…..the same as when I started.  Believe me I know how frustrating it can be to workout hard and not hit your goals.

Hindsight my problem was actually an easy fix.  How can I gain 25lbs in college when my goal was performance and then gain nothing when my goal is weight gain?  In fact I probably would have gained more weight in college if I wanted to.  Because I was an athlete I need to watch my weight, so I would have to control my eating to prevent even more weight gain.   When I examine how I was training in college vs post grad the answer becomes clear.  I was focusing on the wrong things.  I wanted bigger arms so I would only train my arms one day per week with nothing else.

World famous fitness expert Charles Poliquin is known for saying, “to gain 1 inch in your arms, you need to gain about 10lbs of muscle mass.”  If this is the case how long will it take to gain 10lbs doing bicep curls?  I tried to 2 years and didn’t come close.  Instead when I look at my college program I see exactly why I gained so much muscle.  I was performing compound upper and lower body exercises.  In fact I rarely did any arm exercises.  We would even get yelled at by our strength coaches if they saw anyone doing a bicep curl.

Here is a study that helps demonstrate this point:

Rogers et al

The Effect of Supplemental Isolated Weight-Training Exercises on Upper-Arm Size and Upper-Body Strength

Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.
NSCA Conference Abstract (2000)

To quickly sum this study up, researchers had two groups perform exercise.  One group did a workout consisting of 4 compound upper body exercise while the other group did the same workout but added in bicep curls and tricep extension.  The results…both groups got bigger arms and strong upper body, but there was no difference between the groups.  Adding isolated arm work did nothing.

Another feature of my college program was I was perform total body, compound exercises, multiply times per week.  The common body building program you see is splitting the body up into parts and working each one out per day.  Something like Chest on Monday, Back on Tuesday, Shoulders/Arms Wednesday, Legs Thursday….With this type of program you will only hit these muscle once per week, maybe twice.  By performing total body workouts or at least not splitting up workouts as much you will be able to hit each muscle group more often.

One last study that prove this point:

Comparison of 1 Day and 3 Days Per Week of Equal-Volume Resistance Training in Experienced Subjects

For this study researchers had one group perform strength exercise once a week and another 3 days a week.  They both kept total volume the same so both groups actually did the same amount of work.  The results were that the three day a week group saw more significant muscle growth and strength increases even though they did the same over all work.  More exposure is superior.

So the bottom line is, if you want to build more muscle concentrate on big lifts.  The method muscle grow is through muscle damage and hormonal release.  Isolated exercise will not work very well to release anabolic hormones like testosterone and growth hormone compared to pull ups, deadlifts, or other compound exercises.  It is ok to throw arm exercises in your program but they should not be the foundation of your training. I can personally see this happen over the past few years.  I currently weigh 20lbs more than I did in college with right around the same body fat percentage.  My secret was simple.  I started lifting like I did in college with a few new twists that I have learned along the way.

Have a great workout!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

One of the most common questions I have probably heard (aside from anything to do with ab training) is, what should you do first cardio or strength?  Ultimately, your goals will really determine what you should do first.

In the latest issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, they looked at this question in terms of Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption or EPOC.  If fat loss is a goal of you program that this will be a concern for you.

If you have never heard of EPOC before, it is essential the energy required after exercise to return your body to pre-exercise levels.  Think about after you do a workout, how high your heart rate is.  It doesn’t just immediately return to resting levels.  It takes a few minutes for this to happen.  This and other reactions in the body require energy (calories) to do so.  So the higher you can get the EPOC the more calories you will burn after your workout when you are doing nothing.

There are a few things that we know will increase EPOC.  One of the biggest ways is by increasing the intensity of the workout.  The high the metabolic demand the higher the EPOC response.

This study looked at if doing cardio before or after resistance training changed EPOC at all.  This study took a group of individuals and had them perform 30 minutes of moderate cardio before strength and then after the strength workout on another day.  EPOC was measured up to 60 minutes post workout.

This study found that there was no significant difference of performing cardio first or last.  Whether you do cardio first or last, according to this study, it will make no difference on calorie burn after the workout.

One issue with this study that is worth noting is it used a very small sample size.  There were only 7 male participants total.  This study did not look at calories burned during exercise either which might have been different. So while it is worth noting the results, I think it is safe to say more research should be performed to test this.

What can we take from this study?  Since there may not be a major difference in term of EPOC it might not make a huge difference which you do first.    Some general guidelines I recommend are as follows:

1.  Perform what is most important first.  If you are trying to build more muscle mass do your strength first.  If you are trying to improve your endurance you probably want to start with cardio first.

2.  If neither strength or endurance goals outweigh each other than I would recommend strength first.  It is usually performed at a higher intensity so it should be performed when fresh.

3.  Perform your cardio and strength workouts on separate days.  It may not be possible  always to do this since it means you will have to workout more days per week, but if you can just do each workout on separate days.

4.  If you cannot do it on separate days then mainly focus on one of them.  For example perform your high intense strength training first and then just finish with moderate cardio to burn extra calories.  Or the other way around.

Have a great workout!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

Just about everyone now is at least somewhat familiar with interval training it seems.  Despite people understand the benefits from interval training I still see people at the gym just getting on cardio equipment and just going at the same pace forever.  Now I understand that interval training is not for everyone.  However, in my experience most people are on some form of fat loss program.  Interval training is a critical component of your fat loss program if you can handle the intensity.

You don’t have to take my word for it though.  Check out some of these studies I reviewed for you on interval training:

1.  Effect of Exercise Training Intensity on Abdominal Visceral Fat and Body Composition
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 40 no11 1863-72 N 2008

This study took obese individuals and divided them into a control group who did nothing, a low intensity cardio group (what most people do), and a high intensity interval group.   The low intensity group worked out 5 days per week while the high intensity group worked out 3 days per week at a high intesnity and 3 days at a low intensity.

Researchers measured abdominal fat before and after the study which lasted 16 weeks.  The only group that saw any change in abdominal fat over the program was the high intensity group.  This means that the low intensity group trained the same number of days but didn’t lose ANY abdominal fat.

2. Physiological responses during interval training with different intensities and duration of exercise.
J Strength Cond Res. 2011 May;25(5):1279-84.

This study looked at what duration of interval training and intensity provided the best results.  The longer you can train at higher intensities will result in greater caloric burn.  So this study tried to find what duration of interval should be used to get the highest return.  They compared using intervals of 30 seconds and 3 minutes with intensities of 90-100%.
What they found was that by using an intensity of 90% and shorter intervals of 30 seconds, participants were able to keep this pace for longer workouts, burned more calories, and increase aerobic and anaerobic capabilities better.

3.  Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996 Oct;28(10):1327-30.

This is the famous Tabata study, named after one of the researchers.  This study compared 6 weeks of moderate intensity cardio with very high intensity intervals of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 8 rounds.  The neat part about this study was the interval group had to work very hard but only had to train for 4 minutes each interval workout.

The main findings from this study that just 4 minutes of interval training resulted in better aerobic improvements and anaerobic improvements after 6 weeks.  This is powerful stuff, further proving that the higher the intensity you can train the better results you will see.

Try switching your program up if you are currently only doing moderate intensity cardio.  You can continue this training just add 2 or 3 high intensity interval training workouts each week.

Have a great workout!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

Nutrient timing is becoming one of the hottest topics in the fitness world. More and more research is making it perfectly clear that it is not only what you eat that is important, but also when. There are dozens of books out there that discuss this topic is great detail. I thought I could save you some time and give you a quick summary of three things you are trying to accomplish with Post-Workout Nutrition.

Post Workout Nutrition is becoming the new most important meal of the day for some. I still think breakfast is the #1 meal you NEED to get in but post workout is definitely up there. When we refer to post workout here we are talking immediately after a workout. Research is showing about a 45 minute window to get the most out of your snack. Remember it does take time to digest and absorb the foods you eat or drink so do your best to get it in A.S.A.P.

There are three main reasons for getting this post workout snack in:

1. Stop Protein Breakdown.
2. Start Protein Synthesis.
3. Replenish Glycogen Stores.

When we workout, especially resistance training, we are breaking down and damaging our muscles. Our bodies react to this stress by releasing certain hormones so that our bodies can handle the stress. One hormone that is released during stress (including exercise) is cortisol. Many people are now because familiar with this pain in the ass hormone. While certain amounts of cortisol are absolutely necessary, too much can become a problem. When cortisol levels increase, like during long and intense training sessions, our bodies become in a catabolic state. This means things are being broken down. We are most concern with protein. Our body senses low blood sugar and depleted muscle glycogen so the cortisol causes us to break down protein in muscle to amino acids for energy. Cortisol is also responsible for storing abdominal fat.

This is where the importance of nutrient timing comes in. When you eat the right foods at the right time you can start to reverse the catabolic environment and become anabolic. By eating food at this time our muscle are more receptive to change. They are in desperate need of energy so the foods you consume will be used for good. Eating immediately after will release insulin which will do two things. It will signal the body to decrease cortisol levels and it will help shuttle glycogen and amino acids into the muscle to start the recovery process.

Here are 3 simple things you can do for an effective post workout snack:

1. Consume a snack immediately after training.
2. Use fast acting carbs and proteins. For carbs use simple sugars (like fruit) and for protein whey isolates is usually the best.
3. Get a 1:3 ratio of carbs to proteins. Most people underestimate how important carbs are after a workout. There is no need to go crazy with the protein. For fat loss I usually recommend around 10g of protein and 30g of carbs and for muscle building around 30g of protein and 90g of carbs.

Have a great workout!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

PS. If you haven’t checked it out yet our new fat loss app is now available in the app store. Get your fat loss workouts directly on your phone. Unlimited workouts when you purchase it. Hurry though, it is only $.99 for the first 30 days we launch it. Just search for Fat Loss in the App Store.

Hey,

I hope you are having a great week.  If you are in need for a fun workout this week you can check out our Free Featured Workout – The 100 Rep Medicine Ball Workout.

When I first started this website I actually had the idea of creating a fitness app that would provide unlimited workouts for people and show videos of each exercise.  I actually got the idea after seeing Urban Spoon for the first time.  I know that might sound weird but it made perfect sense to me.  One thing that all great fitness professionals have in common is they have a system for designing workouts for their clients.  This makes their life so much easier.  Once they know their system they can just plug in different exercises that make sense for their individual clients.

Once I discovered a system for creating exercise programs that almost all of the best known fitness pros were using my life as a trainer because so much easier.  From their all we had to do we shoot videos of all of the exercises I know or could find.  Currently we have over 1600 exercises in our library which is more than any other site online I could find, and it is growing constantly.

Well our site has been up and running now for awhile, but the app was much more work then I could anticipate.  But, after months and months of hard work it is finally ready.  Our first App – Fat Loss – is know ready to be shown to the world.  We plan on launching Muscle Building and 6 Pack Ab Apps shortly.

Before we launch however, we would like to give away a few free copies to our current subscribers and readers of this blog.  We have 5 copies to give away.  So if you have an iPhone here is all you have to do.  Fill in the form below.  Fill in your own name for who you referred you.  Then pass this on to anyone who you think would be interested and have them use your name for the referral source.  The top five people to refer the most people win the app.  Not only that, but anyone who fills in the form below will receive a brand new fitness ebook The 50 Most Awesome Outdoor Exercises.  Inside this book you will find some very effective and creative exercises and workouts you can do with little to no equipment.  I include 5 of my favorite outdoor body weight exercises and included a free workout for you.  Just fill in your email below to get access and don’t forget to pass on the word.  The contest will in Friday, September 16th.

 Get Instant Access To The 50 Most Awesome Outdoor Exercises Free!  Enter Your Email Below To Download:

Email:

Who Referred You:

 

For some building muscle is a scary thing, while others can’t seem to build enough (or any at all). Despite what your goal might be there are numerous reasons that you want to build more muscle. More muscle will help you see more muscle tone and burn more fat if you are on a fat loss program, it will help create more strength and power for athletes, plus it just makes most people look better. I won’t go into all of the benefits of how increasing muscle mass can help you in this posting. Instead I wanted to show you four training tricks you can use to help put on more muscle.

I read a great article in the latest issue of the Strength and Conditioning Journal by Brad Schoenfeld. Below are some of the points from the article as well as some of my own insight on a muscle building program.

First off, we should look at what causes muscle growth. By knowing how muscle growths we can plan for a better program to build more muscle. While the entire mechanisms behind muscle growth are unknown, research has shown us some insight to this phenomenon. There are believed to be 3 main mechanisms to muscle growth.

1. Muscle Tension – probably the most dominant mediator of muscle growth. Muscle tension is brought on by intensity (amount of load) and time under tension. The tension placed on the muscle causes muscle fibers to fatigue and maximizing motor unit recruitment. This in turns leads to muscle hypertrophy.

2. Localized Muscle Damage – when we strength training microscopic tears occur in the muscle fibers. These tears lead to inflamatory responses that believed to lead to an increase in insulin-like growth factor.

3. Exercise Induced Metabolic Stress – during intense exercise metabolic waste products (such as lactate) begin to build up. Build up of these metabolites will result in a release of certain anabolic hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone, which in turn will be use to build more muscle mass.

Now that we see how exactly muscles can increase in size we can look at different training techniques to improve muscle mass.

1. Forced Repetitions

Involves using a spotter who assists the lifter to achieve additional lifts after they have reached maximal fatigue. This style of training is believed to enhance muscle growth by fatigue more motor units during the exercise and through the metabolic stress. One study showed significant increases in growth hormone after forced reps compared to no forced reps.

2. Drop Sets

Involves performing a set to muscular failure with one load, then reducing the load and continuing until muscular failure with the lighter load. One study showed that perform a low intensity set (50% of 1 RM) after a high intensity set resulted in high levels of growth hormone and significant increase in the muscles cross sectional area.

3. Supersets

This is when two exercises are paired together and performed back to back with little to no rest between. While any two exercises can be considered a superset here were are focusing on agonist/antagonist pairings. This means you pair a muscle group with an opposing muscle group. For example you could pair bench press with cable rows. This specific pairing has been shown to be particularly useful. Contracting an antagonist muscle increases the force output during the next set of the agonist. This will lead to greater muscle tension and more muscle growth. There is even some evidence that states you will find more muscle growth when the second set exercise is performed more explosively.

4. Heavy Negatives

Like the forced reps this technique requires a spotter to help lift the load in the concentric phase of the lift. Loads of higher than your 1RM are often used here for the eccentric phase. A large amount research shows that eccentric exercise elicits the greatest gains in muscle growth. Motor units and muscle fibers do not fully fatigue with concentric exercise because typically the muscle can handle more load during the eccentric. This training style allows for more tension and strain to the motor units. Also eccentric training usually leads to even greater muscle damage than concentric contractions and increase in metabolic stress.

Well there are 4 training strategies for you to implement into your program. Take caution when using these techniques. They are all higher intensity work and should not be performed every day. The higher intensity requires longer recovery between workout session so you may have to reduce your training days per week. If you ever are still sore or feel pain in the joints you should stop this training immediately and seek a professional.

Have a great workout.

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

By Doug Balzarini:

Here are 5 TRX exercises I like to incorporate from time to time to change things up a bit and challenge my clients and athletes in new and innovative ways. All five of these movements will test your strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination. The TRX is such a versatile piece of equipment and utilizing it with a low anchor position just opens the door to many more possibilities.

Here is a brief breakdown on the 5 exercises:

1. TRX Supine Posterior Chain Y Raise
At first look, people may mistake this movement for an abdominal exercise. We actually cue this exercise as a pulling movement, therefore activating the backside of the body, especially the posterior shoulder muscles. Try to maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement with no lumbar flexion. To do this, have the client constantly apply pressure into the cradles to ensure backside activation and a tall, neutral spine.

2. TRX Dragonflag
Made popular by Bruce Lee, this exercise is one that requires a lot of core strength and stability. When your client is at the “top” of the movement, make sure they are supporting their weight with their upper back and not their neck. They also want to apply pressure into the handles to help stabilize the body. Upon lowering the legs, make sure they use a slow, controlled movement trying to maintain a neutral spine and not arch the back.

3. TRX Single Leg Hip Extensions
For the single leg hip extension movement, begin supine with your head near the anchor point, one handle held with both hands, and the opposite strap around one heel. Initiate the movement by pushing your heel into the strap and extending at the hip. As you lift up onto your back, stabilize your body by bracing your torso and using your hands with the off-handle. Slowly lower back down to the floor without arching your back.

4. TRX Split Squat Variations
Utilizing the low anchor position while performing split squat variations allows you to use the handles to aid with balance and really maintain an upright posture throughout the movement. Facing the anchor point, get into a “lunge” or split squat position and lower down for desire reps. Lifting the back leg will really engage the front leg quad muscle group and challenge your balance.

5. TRX Pistol to Single Leg Deadlift
Start with a similar setup to the split squat position. This is a compound movement that combines a single leg squat and single leg deadlift. When performing the single leg squat (pistol), try to keep your weight on the heel to the mid-foot and off the toes while maintaining an upright posture. After each pistol rep hinge from your hip, maintain pressure into the handles, extend your heel towards to back wall, and lower down into a deadlift or “balance reach” position with a neutral spine throughout the exercise.

About Doug
Doug currently works at Fitness Quest 10 as a personal trainer, strength coach, and Operations Director for Todd Durkin Enterprises (TDE). A Massachusetts native, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Business Management from Westfield State College. Since moving to San Diego he has completed some graduate work in Biomechanics at SDSU, obtained an ACE Personal Trainer certification, the NSCA-CSCS certification, a Spinning certification, TRX instructor training, EFI Gravity instructor training, FMS training, and received his CPR/AED instructor status. He has also appeared in 8 fitness videos, written numerous fitness articles, completed a MMA Conditioning Coach certification program and has competed in multiple grappling tournaments.

For more information please visit www.dbstrength.com, www.todddurkin.com, www.fq10.com, and http://twitter.com/dbstrength.

I guess I really shouldn’t use the word secret, since all of this information is not a secret. It is just most people are not aware of it. I don’t think I need to really explain how great interval training is for improving performance and burning fat. There are stacks of research papers that have clearly shown that interval training will out perform steady state aerobics any day. There are still many benefits to steady state training, so it should not be ignored, but H.I.T.T. training NEEDS to be included into a training program when appropriate.

The first thing you need to know with this style of training is that there is interval training and there is H.I.T.T. The obvious difference are the words high intensity. Interval training can be anything. I can walk slow for 30 seconds then walk fast for 30 seconds. This is a perfect example of interval training. This is a great way to progress to high intensity, but you will not get the same benefits. If you want to maximize fat loss and improve conditioning better you must perform H.I.T.T.

Two things to do to get the most out of your H.I.T.T. are you make sure you hit the right intensity and make sure you hit the right duration. Studies are showing that in order to maximize fat burning capabilities during the workout, increase Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), and to improve performance that you must hit intensities greater than 75% of your VO2 max. Most people will not know their VO2 max so we can use the Karvonen Formula which will be very similar. To do this take your 220 – your age – your resting heart rate. Take that number and multiply by 75%, then add back in your resting heart rate. This is the number you will want to hit for your high intensity intervals. This is a tough number to hit, hence the high intensity.

The second factor we must make sure we do is to keep our workouts over 30 minutes. Again this duration has shown to give the best benefits of training. Remember though to keep it between 30-45 minutes. The higher the intensity the shorter the workout should be. And honestly if you can go much more than 45 minutes you probably are not hitting a high enough intensity.

I was presenting at a conference this weekend in Minneapolis. I wanted to sneak it a quick workout afterwords, so I thought I would do an intense interval workout. I meant to pack my Gym Boss Interval Timer, but unfortunately forgot it. Luckily I found that they had a free app in the app store for the iPhone. This has now become my new favorite app. You can create any interval program that you want and set up the timer to track it. Here is a screen shot of the workout I did below:

You can also see this workout as this weeks Free Featured Workout. It is a challenging workout that only took about 20 minutes to get through. I was spent after it.

Whether you are interested in leaning up or bulking up you actually have something in common. You goal is to increase lean muscle tissue. With more muscle tissue you will burn fat more efficiently, be able to see more muscle definition, or if you gain enough you will look bigger.

Some people are scared they are going to build too much muscle while others feel like they cannot grow any. To the first group, you probably have nothing to worry about. It is actually very difficult to gain muscle tissue. Take it from someone who has been trying for years. The amount of work that must be performed to gain just a few pounds of muscle is usually more effort then most are willing to do. Really you want to do everything possible to gain muscle or at least, when losing weight, do anything possible to preserve it.

I just finished reading a new study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. This study observed collegiate wrestlers and football players. Athletes were given the supplement Beta Alanine and observed for 8 weeks. Beta Alanine is a nonessential amino acid that combines with the essential amino acid histidine to form carnosine in the muscle. Carnosine has been shown to improve performance and delay fatigue experienced in the muscle. It is hypothesized that by supplementing Beta Alanine you can go through harder longer workouts than you could without it.

Researchers found that after 8 weeks of training with Beta Alanine, subjects improved anaerobic endurance, aided in gaining lean muscle mass, faster improvements in strength, speed, and body composition. In fact, for wrestlers trying to cut weight for matches they were able to maintain lean muscle tissue better.

To further prove how hard it is to gain muscle, these athletes who trained harder than most will for 8 weeks only gained 2.1lbs on average of lean body mass with the aid of Beta Alanine. The control group gained an average of 1lb. Hopefully you can now see how hard it actually is to gain more muscle tissue and for some they will need every advantage they can get.

Have a great workout!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

Hey there. I have to admit that I am not a big soccer fan, but after catching the USA vs. Brazil game I was hooked. As we speak I am watching the USA vs. France game, which is currently tied 1-1.

Even though I have not watched much soccer in the past, I have always felt that it is an amazing fat loss workout. If you watch a game of soccer, it really is just interval training. There are times of maximal sprinting interspersed with periods of rest or jogging. It is no doubt that professional soccer players are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world.

To prove not only is soccer amazing at conditioning it is also a great fat burning workout. Check out this study:

Recreational soccer is an effective health-promoting activity for untrained men
Krustrup et al.
British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009;43:825-831

This study the effects of recreational soccer player against running for exercise. Both groups exercised at approximately 82% of their max HR, which is an intense pace. Over 12 weeks both groups saw a decrease in fat. The running group lost 4lbs while the soccer group lost 6lbs. The soccer group also saw a greater increase in maximal oxygen uptake, an increase in lean body mass of 3.75lbs, an increase in lower extremity bone mass, a greater decrease in LDL-cholesterol and an increase in fat oxidation. The running group saw non of these results.

How does this relate to your workouts? Well first off, if you can play a sport like soccer that consists of high intensity sprinting with bouts of rest it would be a good idea. Or just perform exercise that follows a similar pattern. Whether it be from traditional cardio work like running or biking, or from strength training, like this weeks free featured workout.

Have a great workout,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
My Workout Creator

PS. Since I have started this post USA is now of 3-1. Go USA.