Building Muscles

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Huge Back| Massive Lats| Bottom position

I see a lot of people trying to pull the bar down to their mid section. You need to pull it down to the chest and that is far enough.  Have your mind focused on the movement. It counts for so much in the rep. It is the difference between a good rep and a great one. At the bottom of the movement try to contract the muscle as much as you can. The more you can make yourself look like you have wings the better. I find if I do this I get a great workout.

N.B. I would not pull the weight down behind the head it is very easy to do shoulder damage. Rather work in front of the head. I would suggest for any exercise where you have a choice of training in front of the head or behind, then always opt for the front.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Huge Back| Massive Lats| Mid position Wrong

Here you will see that the body is leaning too far back, This is not good for the back, and the muscle is not really doing the proper work. It is very easy to put your back out if you are not in control. Allowing the weight to return too fast is also wasted exercise time and you are not taking advantage of the full rep.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Huge Back| Massive Lats| Mid position

Here, make sure you keep your form. You need to lean slightly back, and throughout the movement, extend the lat muscles.  (Flex them) As you pull down do the movement in a very controlled manner. It is really important on the return of the weight that you are in absolute control of the movement. Do not allow gravity to take control of the return. When you are in control of the movement you will get a much better growth form the exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Huge Back| Massive Lats| Start position

The starting position is at the top of the rep. It is here that you set the tone for the rep. If you can extend the lats out as far as you can, you will be very aware of the muscle. Try to make it look like you have wings. This way as you bring the weight down you will use the lats to do the work and not the biceps. Sit upright and you can lean slightly back.

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Midpoint, BAD position

Mid point. Bad
You will see from photo that the body has changed its position and is trying to help the biceps. This then stops the exercise from being effective. To do the exercise correctly you need to train in a relaxed state. Only the muscle that you want to work must be under stress. Remain in a comfortable seated position. Use the bicep to do the lift.

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Top Position

Top Position
Here is where you can make this into an excellent exercise. Once the weight is at the top, you should try to flex or contract the bicep muscle. Similar to what you would do if you were showing someone else how big your biceps are. With this contraction at the top of the movement, you will pump extra blood into the muscle fibres. This creates an excellent burn in the muscle which will speed up the growth of the bicep.  You will find that you will get fantastic growth without too much extra effort. It is all about how well you train and not about how much you do. Make each rep count when you train and you will reap the rewards. 

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Midpoint Position

Mid Point Position
As you can see, it's only the bicep that's taking all the strain. They rest of the body must be totally relaxed. What is really important is the movement through this position - both up and down must be controlled. The positive part of the exercise is when you bring the weight up to the chest and the negative part is when you are lowering the weight to the full out stretched arms. It will be controlled when you are in the positive stage, as you are working the weight up to your chest. When you return the weight, the negative part of the movement, you must be in full control. You must guide the weight down slowly. This will help to stimulate the muscle fibres in the bicep which will cause excellent growth. If you allow the weight to return down too quickly, you will miss out on a really important part of the building process. 

Bodybuilding muscles| Biceps| Preacher Curls - Start Position

Start position

It is considered that preacher curls are one of the finest exercises for building biceps. Many people don't do them is because they are a very strict exercise. Because they are so strict, you will find you cannot use much weight when you do them. This has an effect on the ego, so rather than let people think that we can't lift too much, it's better to do an exercise that is not quite so strict - like normal bicep curls.

You will see from the photo that in the open part of the rep, the arms must be straight. What often happens at this point is the arms are slightly bent, which is not quite correct. It is advisable to have a very slight pause in this position so you get the bicep to do all the work. Be careful not to adjust the body to compensate for the weight.

When you start the curl from this position, the biceps are put under a great deal of stress and they really have to work. This will help with the overall growth you are going to get from the exercise.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Midway Bad position

I thought it would be a good idea to show you what not to do. This is what will happen when you are training with weight that is too heavy, and you are trying to impress the people at the place of your training. You can see the position of the elbows. They are completely wrong and you will see that the traps are having to work along with lats and a bit of the shoulders.

When your form goes out the window because of the amount of weight you are trying to train with, none of the muscles will benefit. Leave your ego in the changing room  - it really has no place in the gym.

Bodybuilding Muscles. How to train and build Massive Arms| Huge triceps| Bottom position

This is where you make a good exercise into an excellent exercise. At the bottom of the movement, when the arms are fully extended, you need to pause for just a moment. At this point contract or flex the triceps. The harder you can contract the better. You will be forcing in extra blood into the muscle. The burn you will get after just a few reps will be quite incredible. I have found that doing this gives a much better result in a very short space of time. There really is nothing better than a genuine focused training.