Get Big Tomorrow

Written by Fig

I decided to make a revision of this section. I thought I got my point through the first time, but still I believe I could have done a better job of doing so. Some read it and thought I said “work the muscles with different angles, don’t try to use more weight, and go out like a bitch.”. That is totally wrong. That is why I am revising it.

There are all types of theories and ideas floating around. I am not expressing a new idea here. The first article was supposed to be about helping people remember that the main goal in body building is to gain muscle mass. The main reason I wrote this it to show people that weight goals and size goals are very similar. The only way to get a muscle to grow is to lift heavy weight. Let me define heavy weight here first. Heavy weight is not a weight you cheat with, swing up, take 4 minutes to half ass a rep up and have your training buddy break his back so you can look like you can bench 100 pounds more than you should be lifting. Heavy weight should be heavy to you. A perfect weight is a weight you get something out of. Not a weight that you use to satisfy your ego. You should be able to feel the muscle working. You should feel sore after your set. You should feel the target muscle fatigued. Trust me I have done heavy benches and I got nothing out of it. I did get stronger, but my chest was hardly hit. My shoulders and triceps bore most of the workout. This still happens t me quite often. That is what concentration exercises are for. Another thing that makes that happen (if you have worked out for a few years you know what I mean), is when a workout goes stale. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. But, to keep your muscles challenged you got to switch your workout up every so often. You got to try some different exercises. I like to keep my basic heavy lifts in any program (bench, squats, deadlifts, etc…). But, sometimes I get so wrapped up in going for strength, I forget about the workout’s purpose. Like the bench. Benching is for working the chest. It is not for working the bench press. I bet if you actually concentrate a little more on squeezing the chest, your chest will get more out of the workout. If you have a goal on getting the most out of your benching or other body part, then here is a plan for you: go into the gym and the first few sets you do are for strength and power. Get that out of the way first. Try to get as much as you can get out of your strength session. Usually that is the first exercise. Then once you get done with your strength training, then you can drop the weight a little and try to focus on concentrating on the target muscle. Let’s say you get 315 up on bench for 6 reps. Then you would drop the weight to let’s say 245 or 225. Then you would concentrate on squeezing the chest. Don’t just use a burn out set and flop the weight up and down. Squeeze the muscle. Do about 2-3 sets of it after your heaviest set.

One thing I have been doing lately and is working very well is to do the basic mass building exercises first, then I go and try some new concentration exercises. That way I am challenging the muscles further. Your muscles will get used to a program really quick. Here is what I have been doing lately:

Day 1:

Chest

Flat bench = 3 working sets

Incline dumbbell flyes =2 sets

Pull overs =2 sets

Peck dec= 2 sets

Close grip flat bench= 2 sets

Smith machine incline bench = 2 sets

cable cross overs = 2 sets

Day 2:

Legs

Squats = 3 sets

Lunges = 2 sets

Leg press = 2-3 sets

Leg curl = 2 sets

Hack squat = 2 sets

Smith machine calve raises= 3 sets

Seated calve raise machine= 3 sets

Find another calve machine to workout on and do 3 sets

Day 3:

Off

Day 4:

Back

Pull ups = 3 sets. Don’t lockout at the bottom.

Cable rows = 2 sets

One arm cable rows = 2 sets

Pull downs = 2 sets

Bent over rows = 2-3 sets

Forward pull downs = 2 sets

Dumbbell rows = 2-3 sets

Day 5:

Biceps and Triceps (yeah I know biceps after back day. But it works for me.)

Straight bar curls= 3 sets

Preacher curls= 2 sets

Incline dumbbell curls= 2 sets

Cable curls = 2 sets

Cable curls with handles behind the head = 2 sets

Reverse curls = 2 sets

Concentration curls = 2 sets

Wrist curls = 3 sets

Triceps push downs = 3 sets

Behind the neck triceps cable extensions = 2 sets

Skull crushers = 2 sets

Dips = 2 sets

One arm cable donkey kick backs = 2 sets

Days 6&7 off.

This is the workout I am doing. Notice that shoulders are not included. My rotator cuffs were giving me a little pain a few weeks ago. So, I am taking it easy on them for a month or so. I am going to add shoulders on bench day. Maybe some lateral raises, nothing too much. I always try to get more weight up on all the lifts each week. But, I make sure my concentration exercises are just that.

I have had one person write in and say that he tried this program and so far he has been in great pain. The reasoning behind the large selection of exercises is so that you know that the target of the day is hit every where. I have had workouts where I new I only hit one part of the chest, legs, etc… So far my chest is really gaining. It looks much bigger. Not to mention my legs are filling out very well.

Here is a story for you. About 8 years ago at one of my gyms was this guy who had the strongest legs in the gym. This is not a pussy gym either. He piled on the plates. I saw him working out on the sissy girl leg inductors machine. To see this guy with massive legs working out on a woman’s machine made me ask why. He told me that he does that because squats don’t hit that part of the legs. Well, I have not done them yet, but I am going to next workout. If doing that adds a little to my leg workout, then I will do them too. I’ll let you know how I do.

To recap this section I want to add that I am not saying you should not worry about strength. Strength gains are a great indicator for muscle gains. But, I just want you to remember that gaining muscle is what it is all about and not to forget to get the most out of each and every lift.

Last and finally I want to include this for closing. I have done many different types of workouts. Some contradict everything I write on this page and some don’t. But, I would be a fool to say I didn’t get anything from all the workouts I have ever done. I have learned new things from every workout. For me to say “this workout is how I gained all the mass I have is asinine”. That goes for everyone else out there. The workouts on my page are just a stepping stone to your next workout. “Lift and learn” is my motto. Find out what works best for you and go for it. Take some of my ideas (or none at all, I am pretty crazy sometimes), your ideas, and everyone else’s and construct your workout. There is no best way to train. There are just results. That is it.