Know Your MUSCLE BUILDING Exercises - The Back

Pulldown exercise to the front (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That's how it should be - as you progress through the various stages of learning you'll understand what works best for you. It is useful, however, to take stock of your progress every so often and carry out an analysis of where you are and what changes, if any, are needed to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this analysis should include an assessment of the core exercises that make up your bodybuilding training program. In this article, we'll look at the back exercises that have proven their worth to serious bodybuilders for many years. Where appropriate a series of exercises suitable for achieving pre-exhaustion will be presented. All exercises should be performed to failure with one set of six to eight reps.

1. Lat machine pulldowns - this exercise has been chosen because it allows you to isolate the lats and rest the biceps for the compound exercise to follow.

- Take a shoulder-width grip.

- Pull arms towards the thighs keeping the arms straight.

- Pause.

- Return the bar slowly to the starting position.

2. Pulldowns - you can move straight on to this exercise if you are sufficiently experienced. Using the same machine, take an underhand grip because this will make better use of biceps strength thus maximizing the effects of the workout.

- Take a shoulder-width grip.

- Pull the bar to the chest area.

- Pause.

- Return the bar slowly to the starting position.

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Benefits of Strength TRAINING

Andrzej Zieleniecki - a strength athlete from Poland, the Man of Muscles 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The benefits of a good strength training program are almost endless. Less disease, happiness and most importantly, showing off your muscles at the beach.

Strength training should be part of everyone's routine. Even if you are low on time, strength training, according to the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), only needs to be done 2-3 times per week with each session lasting no more than one hour. For 2-3 hours per week, huge benefits can be realized.

Regular strength training will:

**help you in the day to day activities around the house and in your yard. It will keep you independent which is especially important in the older population. Imagine not being able to lift a 5-pound bag of flour or take the garbage out by yourself.

**lower the risk of osteoporosis, hypertension and diabetes.

**help you avoid lower back pain.

**increase bone density which is important for postmenopausal women.

**increase muscle mass which burns more calories throughout the day than an equal amount of fat.

Even with all these benefits, many people are reluctant to start training with weights. Concerns include injury, incorrect form and for women; not wanting to grow muscles and look like a man.

When beginning your strength training program, the risk of getting hurt can be greatly reduced by starting out with machines rather than free weights. As you become more comfortable with the machines, slowly learn to use free weights. If you want to stick with the machines, know that they will give you the same benefits as free weights. As for the concern that women will look like men, it won't happen without the help of steroids, which you shouldn't even consider using.

Sometimes when we think of being healthy, we think of eating and running. While these are important, strength training should never be left out. Strength training provides benefits to your health that cannot be found with any other mode of exercise and shouldn't be forgotten.

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Benefits of a good training journal

Photo: PXHERE

Most of us have trained at one part of our lives. Chances are if you’ve ever taken your training seriously you’ve used a training journal or a training log.

    

The main difference between training journals and training logs is what you document in them after each workout or day, etc. Training journals are just that. They are more of a journal rather than a log. They will normally include things like mental health and how you felt during the day or your workout.

Most of us have trained at one part of our lives. Chances are if you’ve ever taken your training seriously you’ve used a training journal or a training log.

The main difference between training journals and training logs is what you document in them after each workout or day, etc. Training journals are just that. They are more of a journal rather than a log. They will normally include things like mental health and how you felt during the day or your workout. They can reach a bit into some statistical information but this is normally saved in a training log.

Training logs are generally created of off some kind of a template. For example. Every day you fill out a form that has the same fields. Things like current weight, daily workout, diet information, are all things that can be put in a training Log on a day to day basis.

I wouldn’t recommend going all one route or all the other, both journaling and logging are important to keep an effective history of your past. I’ve found out through experience and that for convenience sake it’s nice to have two combined together in some way. This way it’s always easy to remember to do both.

Benefits of recording your training
The number one benefit of recording your training is to have a detailed history to look back on. This can be very useful in times of planning. For example to figure out what has worked for you and what hasn’t. It’s very useful for figuring out reasons for injuries or for times of burnout. 

Have you ever sat down and tried to plan out training with nothing to work with? If you have something to look back upon a detailed account of what you’ve done over the past few weeks it’s easy to plan ahead, and to effectively increase your workout intensity, etc to improve for the future.

A detailed journal is also really nice to have just for personal use and to be able to look back on past months and years, to remember different accounts.

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

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Back Exercise Stretches For BACK PAIN

You will hear many people complain of back pain occasionally. About 75% to 85% of the people experience back pain at some point of time in their life. The most common area of back pain is the lumbar region of the spine. This is the region that bears most of the body weight. Sudden twisting and bending can cause injury to the back. Back pain also occurs when the muscles get stiff because of poor posture. Back exercise stretches the stiff muscles to provide relief.

Back Exercise Stretches - For Back Pain Relief

Back exercise stretches need to be performed softly. You should treat your back gently and not subject it jerky and violent movement. The exercise routine that you follow should start gently, and gradually build over a period of a few weeks. You could cause more harm than good, if you do not follow expert advice in matters of back exercise.

Warm up your body before you embark on the stretching routine. Exercise stretches the muscles, ligaments and tendons in the area surrounding the back. The muscles and tendons associated with the spine are designed for movement. Hence, they need to be stretched everyday to perform optimally. The hamstring muscles are an important factor in back pain problems. Most people with back pain have stiff hamstring muscles.

Stand comfortably with your feet shoulder width apart. Now slowly bend forward and try to touch your toes with your hands without bending your knees. Your action should be smooth and not jerky. Be careful not to overdo the stretching part. Stop when you feel pain. This exercise stretches your hamstring muscles. Your back pain will improve gradually, as you continue with the exercise. The exercise can also be performed while lying down.

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Serious BODYBUILDING

Lukáš Osladil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is bodybuilding and there is serious bodybuilding. Serious bodybuilding encompasses training sessions, competitions, and strict regimens of diet and supplements. People that seriously build their body have bulging biceps, titan triceps and glutes of steel. Serious bodybuilders take what they do extremely serious and every part of their mind body and spirit participates in activities that promote elements that solely benefit their ultimate goal.

Ultimate goals can vary within the total realm of bodybuilding. There can be intermediate, moderate, and totally serious participation in bodybuilding. There are guidelines for women and guidelines for men, with each guide being helpful in different parts of the bodybuilding scene.

Supplements, vitamins, and protein drinks are a large part of the bodybuilding lifestyle. And it is a lifestyle. When you are serious about bodybuilding you create a lifestyle where by you eat differently than other people, you exercise in a more dedicated fashion than other people and you also include resting your body and recovering your body from the old ways far more than other people.

What exercises and how much is totally up to you as an individual. The level of weight training and the amount of time you spend under the weights is again a personal decision. However with serious bodybuilding there are serious consequences to being a slacker. You have to be committed to a daily routine that includes all aspects of bodybuilding success in order to see results.

Diet can’t be neglected when bodybuilding is a goal. Choosing foods that fill the natural needs of your body and being disciplined to steer clear of foods that are wasteful or harmful is a key step in any type of bodybuilding regimen. Sometimes that takes a person on a personal pathway they have never forged before, but hopefully there will be a knowledge learned on this path that will carry mind body and spirit throughout the rest of life.

Rest and recovery is key to a embarking into a bodybuilding lifestyle. Getting the proper rest for your mind and body should not have to be explained. Yet there are people out there who neglect the idea that getting correct amount of sleep improves the activities of your day. The time you need in order to feel consistently rested may vary from that of your spouse, siblings, or friends.

Recovering from pushing your self too far, recovering from old habits that resurface, and recovering from a bodybuilding competition are part of the recovery process that generates happiness in life.

People who don’t understand serious bodybuilding may have predisposed ideas about steroids and general unhealthful practices in order to gain recognition as an over bulked, under brained champion. When the opposite is true.

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