Big Shoulders have a special significance on the overall physique. Strong shoulders are essential for the upper body strength . This Article from our expert Sean Nalewanyj will highlight the basics for shoulders training. You can take this article as the guide lines for developing an impressive, muscular physique.

Sean’s program, The Truth About Building Muscle, is a detailed plan of attack for quickly gaining the muscle mass you want. He covers the entire body in depth, from the chest and back all the way down to the calves. It is an excellent program and highly recommended.(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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Massive Shoulders In A Matter Of Minutes

By Sean Nalewanyj

If you’re looking to develop an impressive, muscular physique, well-developed shoulders are an absolute must. Thick, round “cannon ball delts” will make your upper body appear wide and powerful and will help immensely in creating the v-tapered look that all bodybuilders strive for.

Many serious lifters will argue that underneath clothes, muscular shoulders make the greatest contribution toward the overall appearance of the upper body.

The shoulder is a 3-headed muscle that performs the function of lifting and rotating the arm. It consists of the anterior region (the front), the medial region (the middle) and the posterior region (the rear).

These heads can be stimulated in the gym using two different movements: an overhead press and a raise.

The overhead press is the meat and potatoes of effective shoulder training. There isn’t a single lift out there that can match the incredible shoulder-stimulating effect of a basic overhead pressing movement. Both a barbell and a dumbbell can be used for this exercise, but dumbbells are the best overall choice.

Dumbbells allow you to move through a more natural range of motion and also don’t allow one arm to cheat for the other. They also place a greater amount of total stress on the shoulder region in comparison to the barbell, which shifts some of the stress to the upper chest.

I would recommend using the seated overhead dumbbell press as your core shoulder movement. Grab a pair of dumbbells and sit on a bench with a vertical back support. Press the dumbbells overhead until your elbows are just short of locking out, and then lower them back to shoulder level.

The next exercise to look into is a basic side lateral raise, which can also be performed with a pair of dumbbells. Side laterals are an isolation exercise and will shift the majority of the stress to the medial head of the shoulder. This will build greater shoulder width and will contribute to that wide upper body look.

Stand with your knees slightly bent and hold a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing inward. With a slight bend in your arms, raise the dumbbells up to shoulder level and then lower them back to the starting position.

When it comes to training your shoulders for maximum size and strength, a basic overhead press and a side lateral raise is all you need. It’s very important to realize that the shoulders are stimulated on virtually every single upper body exercise that you perform and therefore they do not require a lot of direct work.

Most people perform far too much work on their shoulders and actually hinder their gains as a result. Because of this I typically do not recommend that you perform isolation exercises for the anterior and posterior heads.

The anterior heads are heavily stressed during all chest pressing movements while the posterior heads are hit equally hard on all rowing movements for the back. A couple of extra sets won’t hurt, but you should try to minimize the volume as much as you can.

The key to massive shoulders is quality, not quantity.

Here are a couple of sample shoulder routines that you can use…

Shoulder Routine #1

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press – 2 sets of 5-7 reps

Standing Dumbbell Side Laterals – 1-2 sets of 10-12 reps

If you insist on performing isolation exercises for the front and rear heads, you can use this routine:

Shoulder Routine #2

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press – 2 sets of 5-7 reps Standing Dumbbell Side Laterals – 1-2 sets of 10-12 reps Standing Front Dumbbell Raise – 1 set of 10-12 reps Seated Rear Lateral Dumbbell Raise – 1 set of 10-12 reps

There you have it.

All sets should be taken to concentric muscular failure where no additional reps can be completed using proper form. Keep a detailed record of each workout and strive for continual improvement from week to week by either increasing the resistance or the number of reps performed.

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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The most powerful muscle building tools you can use. Are tracking tools which can be as simple as a pen and a paper or fancy as computer software. The bottom line is you need to know where are you exactly to be able to plan where you want to be and how to get there. I hope you enjoy this article.

Sean’s program, The Truth About Building Muscle, is a detailed plan of attack for quickly gaining the muscle mass you want. He covers the entire body in depth, from the chest and back all the way down to the calves. It is an excellent program and highly recommended.

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The Most Powerful Muscle-Building

Tool Available

By Sean Nalewanyj

The muscle-building debates will never end.

The endless arguments over how an effective muscle-building program should be structured will most likely continue until the end of time. Just scour the Internet message boards, flip through any muscle magazine or talk to the sales rep at your local supplement store. No matter who you talk to or what you read, it seems that everyone is an expert these days.

If everyone is an expert, confident in their own ideas and beliefs, how can the average beginner possibly know who to listen to? He or she is instantly confronted with endless questions that seem to have no clear-cut answer.

How many days should I train per week? How many sets should I perform for each muscle group? What type of rep range should I be using? What are the most effective exercises for stimulating muscle growth? How long should my workouts last?

Believe me, there are answers to these important questions, and if you are willing to put in the time and effort you will most definitely find them. But that’s not what this article is about.

You see, amidst all of the confusion and endless debating, the majority of lifters end up losing sight of the big picture. Beyond all of the specific workout principles, such as rep range and exercise selection, remains one crucial principle, a principle that lies at the very heart of the muscle growth process.

If this principle is not given full attention, or even worse, completely ignored, building muscle becomes next to impossible.

The bottom line is that muscles grow as they adapt to stress. When you go to the gym and lift weights, you create “micro-tears” within the muscle tissue. Your body perceives this as a potential threat to its survival and reacts accordingly by increasing the size and strength of the muscle fibers in order to protect against a possible future “attack”.

Therefore, in order to continually increase the size and strength of the muscles, you must focus on progressing each week on all of your exercises by either lifting slightly more weight or performing an extra rep or two. In doing this, your body will continue to adapt and grow to the ever-increasing stress.

Building muscle is all about building strength!

So what is the most powerful muscle-building tool available?

Quite simply, it is a pen and a piece of paper!

The specifics of building muscle are important to understand and implement, but regardless of what style of training you’re currently using the ultimate deciding factor between success and failure is progression.

You can sit around all day obsessing over specific principles, but the bottom line is that if you aren’t getting stronger every week, you absolutely will not be getting any bigger.

Examine your training approach closely. If you haven’t been paying laser-like attention to the amount of weight you’ve been using, the number of reps you’ve been performing, and then striving with every ounce of your energy to improve upon those numbers each week, you are completely ignoring the very foundation of the muscle growth process.

If you want to see the best gains in muscle mass and strength that you possibly can, a pen and a piece of paper is the most important tool you could possibly have in your arsenal.

Once you’ve accepted and implemented this basic rule of building muscle, you can then move on and learn about the specific principles of how to structure an effective workout

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

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Wide and thick back is an essential part in a great muscular Physique. Most people are misguided when it comes to building a wide back many. Some people may even neglect this body part which is a mistake. This Article from our expert Sean Nalewanyj will highlight the main keys in developing a thick wide muscular back

Sean’s program, The Truth About Building Muscle, is a detailed plan of attack for quickly gaining the muscle mass you want. He covers the entire body in depth, from the chest and back all the way down to the calves. It is an excellent program and highly recommended.(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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4 Simple Keys To Developing

A Wide, Muscular Back

By Sean Nalewanyj

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly misguided the vast majority of the population is in the gym. Everyone is desperate for that wide, powerful and muscular physique, yet very few understand how to properly channel their efforts to get there.

For most aspiring lifters, it’s all about building a huge chest and arms. Week after week they slave away on endless sets of bench presses and barbell curls in search of the rippling muscle gains they want so badly.

Not surprisingly, those gains never appear in any significant form.

While a well developed chest and arms is clearly an important part of any complete physique, the truth is that these muscles only play a small role when compared to a much larger, much more intricate muscle group that most people severely neglect in their training programs.

I am, of course, talking about the major muscles of the back: the lats, traps, spinal erectors, rhomboids and lower back.

It’s obvious why most lifters neglect these all-too-important muscles…

1) The back is not a “showy” muscle and you can’t see it in the mirror.

2) Back training is far more stressful and taxing to the body than chest or arm training.

3) Most lifters are simply unaware of how important the development of these muscles really is.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret…

If you want to appear as wide, thick and powerful as you possibly can, nothing will allow you to achieve this goal faster than a well developed back.

In fact, 70% of your upper body muscle mass resides in this area!

Nothing can replace the upper body thickening effect of big, bulging lats and a set of wide, tall trapezius muscles.

Please, get up off that bench press and put down that EZ-curl bar for just a moment and let me share a simple, step-by-step workout that you can use to build the muscular back you so desperately need.

There are 4 major movements that you must perform to properly develop your back…

1) Deadlifts

I cannot possibly stress the importance of this lift enough. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift.

The deadlift will work you from finger to neck to toe and is irreplaceable in developing strong, thick back muscles. The deadlift will stimulate growth throughout the entire back complex and should be the cornerstone of your routine.

2) A vertical pulling movement

These exercises mainly target the lat muscles and will help you to attain that wide, v-tapered look from behind. Examples of vertical pulling movements are chin-ups (overhand or underhand), lat pulldowns and v-bar pulldowns.

To get the most bang for your buck I recommend a basic overhand chin-up. This is the bread and butter of vertical pulling movements and will stimulate growth in the lats like no other exercise.

3) A horizontal pulling movement

Otherwise referred to as “rows”, horizontal pulling movements place their emphasis on the upper/middle portion of the back and also stimulate the lats. There are a ton of different rowing movements to choose from: bent over barbell rows, dumbbell rows, seated machine rows and cable rows just to name a few.

For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.

4) A shrugging movement

While not quite as important as the above mentioned lifts, a shrugging movement should still be performed at the end of the workout to target the upper traps and develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will do the trick.

Okay, let’s put it all together…

Deadlifts – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Overhand Chin-Ups – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Bent Over Barbell Rows – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Barbell Shrugs – 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps

For optimal gains in back size and strength, the above routine is ideal.

It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth. I’ve used this same routine for many years and continue to see steady progress in both back size and strength.

Make sure to keep a written record of every workout that you perform, and focus each week on increasing either the weight that you lift or the number of reps that you perform within the given rep range.

Perform this workout once per week with full effort and I guarantee that your upper body will appear thicker, wider and more muscular than ever before.

…What about specific routines for the chest? What about the biceps, triceps and shoulders? How about the thighs, calves and abs?

For specific training information on each of these body parts make sure to visit MuscleGainTruth and find out how you can finally get the rock-solid muscle gains you deserve without spending endless hours in the gym.

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

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Chest, Back , Shoulders, Biceps ,Tricepses, etc …. Most of us have one or more muscle groups that we wish we can improve. This Article from our expert Sean Nalewanyj will highlight the basics for training each muscle group. Trust me when I tell you the basics will pack on muscle to your frame faster than you expect.

Sean’s program, The Truth About Building Muscle, is a detailed plan of attack for quickly gaining the muscle mass you want. He covers the entire body in depth, from the chest and back all the way down to the calves. It is an excellent program and highly recommended.(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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Quick & Easy Tips For Building

Each Major Muscle Group

By Sean Nalewanyj

With so much hyped up information and bogus “breakthrough” exercise methods popping up all the time, most lifters seem to have lost sight of the basics.

While the basics may not be as flashy and exciting as what most of the “other guys” out there promote, they’ll pack raw muscle size and strength on to your body faster than any other method you’ll come across.

In this article I am simply going to list each major muscle group on the body, along with some basic tips for building that muscle as quickly and efficiently as possible. Nothing “revolutionary” or “innovative” here… Just the bare-bones truth about building muscle fast.

Let’s get right to it…

Chest

If you want to get the most bang for your buck and develop your chest as quickly as possible, then forget about flye movements such as the pec-deck, dumbbell flyes or cable crossovers. Instead, place all of your focus on the big basic pressing exercises such as barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips.

If you want to include a few flye movements here and there at the end of your chest workout then that’s fine, but your primary focus should be on consistently increasing the poundage on all of your compound pressing exercises.

Back

Use bent-legged barbell deadlifts as your primary back-developing exercise. There is simply no other lift out there that will pack more raw muscle size and strength onto your back and your entire body than the basic barbell deadlift.

It is extremely challenging and uncomfortable to perform, but the rewards are well worth it. It will work you from finger to neck to toe, and if you haven’t been deadlifting up to this point, be prepared for some serious gains once you start.

Shoulders

Laterals raises are fine to include to isolate the medial head of the shoulder, but the meat and potatoes of any effective shoulder training routine is based on a compound overhead press.

Either perform a standing or seated military press with a barbell, or an overhead press using dumbbells. This should be the first exercise in your shoulder routine, with side laterals being performed at the end.

The front and rear heads of the shoulder receive plenty of stimulation during your chest and back exercises and therefore do not need to be specifically isolated.

Biceps

Cut down on your training volume and understand that the majority of your bicep growth is actually a product of hard and intense back training. Heavy chin-ups, pulldowns and rows all provide plenty of stimulation for the biceps, and direct curling movements are far less important than most people think.

Including a few sets of direct bicep work is still recommended, but going too far overboard can easily over train them and will actually slow down your bicep growth rather than speed it up.

Triceps

The same thing goes for triceps as well. Any time you perform a compound chest pressing exercise or an overhead shoulder press, your triceps will be heavily stimulated. Because of this, performing direct tricep isolation exercises should be done so cautiously and with only a small number of sets to prevent over-working them.

Abs

Since spot reduction is impossible and you cannot target fat loss from specific areas of the body, stop placing so much emphasis on the idea of achieving “6-pack abs” through the use of direct abdominal exercises.

Attaining defined and sculpted abs is mostly a product of your bottom line body fat percentage, and has very little to do with specific training techniques. Include a few sets of direct ab work for the sake of strengthening your core and building up the abdominal muscles themselves, but performing endless sets of situps and crunches is nothing more than a waste of time.

Quads

If you aren’t performing a basic barbell squat as the cornerstone of your leg training routine, you’re missing out big time!

Squats are by far the most effective lower body exercise in existence, and by a good margin. Not only do squats provide serious stimulation for the muscles of the legs, but because they force the body to secrete greater amounts of powerful anabolic hormones (such as testosterone and growth hormone) they will increase your upper body size as well.

As the saying goes, “you ain’t squat ‘till you squat!”

Hamstrings

Leg curls should be included in your hamstring training routine, but the real secret to a massive set of “leg biceps” is the stiff-legged deadlift.

You can perform SLDL’s using a barbell or dumbbells, and not only will they pack size onto your hamstrings faster than any other lift out there, but they will strengthen your lower back and add size to your upper back as well.

Calves

If you really want those stubborn calves to respond, then stop worrying so much about “feeling the burn”, and instead focus on truly training your calves to the point of muscular failure.

Rather than slapping on an arbitrary amount of weight and pumping out 20-30 reps until it starts to hurt, load up as much weight as you can possibly handle for 8-12 high quality reps. Execute each rep in a slow and deliberate manner, squeezing at the top and using a full range of motion until you cannot perform another rep despite your best efforts to do so.

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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How to Gain Weight at Home?is a very common question amongst beginners. For many different reasons some people like to workout at home. And when your goal is to gain some mass this means having your own home GYM. This Article from our expert Sean Nalewanyj is quick and easy guide to build your home GYM.

Sean’s program, The Truth About Building Muscle, is a detailed plan of attack for quickly gaining the muscle mass you want. He covers the entire body in depth, from the chest and back all the way down to the calves. It is an excellent program and highly recommended.

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Muscle-Building Success From Home:

Can It Be Done?

By Sean Nalewanyj

I receive emails everyday from aspiring lifters all over the world, and one of the most common questions I’m asked is

Do I have to join a gym in order to build a strong, muscular body?

The answer, my friend, is no. With the right equipment and planning you can follow an equally effective bodybuilding program from the comfort of your home without ever having to set foot in a gym.

In fact, my first 2 years of bodybuilding were spent working out with basic equipment in my basement, and I saw incredible results doing this.

Maybe you can’t afford a gym membership due to your financial situation.

Maybe you lead a busy lifestyle and would prefer to save time by training at home.

Maybe you’re simply too embarrassed or uncomfortable to train in a regular gym setting at the moment.

Whatever your reason, don’t worry!

I currently workout at a gym with my training partner but have to say that my years spent lifting at home were fantastic.

I didn’t have to worry about the travel time to and from the gym. I could simply slip downstairs whenever I felt like it and all of my equipment was there waiting for me.

I could listen to whatever music I wanted to, as loud as I wanted to without having to worry about those around me.

I could grunt, yelp and scream through my sets if I was in the mood without disturbing anyone (hey, squatting to failure isn’t easy okay?) or train shirtless if I felt like it.

When the workout was over, I could sprawl out on the floor in exhaustion and know that my post workout shakes were just a few steps away, and that I wouldn’t have to hobble to my car and spend anymore time driving home.

It was great.

The only real disadvantage is that your exercise selection will decrease because you won’t have access to certain pieces of machinery such as a leg press or calf machine. You can purchase certain machines if you have the money to spend and plan on training at home over the long term, but for the majority of people this simply won’t be possible.

The good news is that planning out a proper bodybuilding routine does not require the use of any fancy equipment, and all of the machine exercises that you would regularly perform can be swapped for freeweight substitutions.

Here is the basic equipment that your home gym should contain:

1) An adjustable barbell with freeweight plates A cast iron set is probably a good idea, and you must also make sure that you purchase enough weight so that you can continually progress from week to week.

2) Adjustable dumbbells This is much more efficient and cost-effective than purchasing an entire set of dumbbells. You should be able to buy the barbell and dumbbells together in a single set.

3) A bench with incline adjustments A good sturdy bench is a must-have for performing bench presses and other seated movements. If possible you should purchase a bench that can be set on an incline and that also contains safety catches if you plan on training alone.

4) A chin-up bar These can usually be purchased for 15-20 dollars and can be placed inside of a door frame.

5) A squat rack This is usually the trickiest piece of equipment to purchase, as a full squat rack can be pricey. Squats are an irreplaceable movement and should always be a part of your workout routine, especially if you don’t have a leg press machine handy.

If you can’t afford a squat rack then you’ll have to be creative. The bottom line is that you must have some sort of apparatus that will allow you to safely unrack a loaded bar and drop the bar onto a safety catch (or the floor) if your strength gives out during the lift.

Don’t ever squat without a safe place to drop the bar! Most full squat racks will also provide a chin-up bar on top, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone if you decide to purchase one.

So there you have it; the 5 pieces of basic equipment that are needed to set up a home gym. As long as you have these basic tools in your arsenal you can perform an equally effective workout without ever having to join a traditional gym.

If you’re all set to go and need a highly effective, step-by-step workout routine to follow, visit Muscle Gain Truth . I can teach you exactly which exercises to perform and the ideal number of workout days, sets and reps you should use to get maximum results from your efforts. I can even customize a specific workout plan for you based on the equipment that is available in your home gym.

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

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