You know, Most people focus so much on the big “show off” muscles like chest and biceps , that they get kind of blind to the fact that there are other “problem muscles” people struggle with.One common problem is “skinny calves“.

People tend to ignore the calves probably more than any other muscle group because most of bodybuilders are simply trying to pack on mass and let’s face it… …calf presses aren’t a big “mass builder” exercise, you know?

However, working the calves is important in order to maintain “balance” in how you look when you lean out for the summer. So whether you are gearing up for the summer like me, or you’re just cursed with “skinny calves”, here’s why it’s so hard to develop them…and how to do it the right way…

Why “traditional calf training” doesn’t work

All you really need to know is that your calves are your body’s “brakes”, and are best trained in this capacity. In other words, when your calves are going through an eccentric motion such as the “down” phase of a calf press. The problem with traditional calf exercises is that the amount of weight that you can handle during this phase is much more than what your calves can handle in the “concentric” phase, when you’re lifting the weight up. This means that the most important phase of calf exercises don’t get enough heavy weight to let them stimulate muscle fiber growth effectively.

Now, here’s the Solution to skinny calves

The secret to building your calves is to lift heavy with both legs during the concentric phases (the “up” movement”). But then when you’re lowering the weight (or your body), you want to take all of the stress off of one of your legs while the other calf handles the entire weight for a slow, steady descent through the eccentric phase. Once you’ve reached the bottom of the movement (after a 4 second descent), you use both legs again to bring the weight back up to the “up” position and let the same leg handle the weight down again. Continue for 6-8 reps on one side (until failure), and then immediately work the other calf in the same fashion. Use this method for all calf exercise options and I promise you that switching to this type of training for your calves will blow away the results you get from using both legs for these exercises.

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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)

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

(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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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)

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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Big Biceps! I know I want them do you? I can bet that any guy would say yes. Vince explains how biceps training become ‘obsessive addiction’ and lists the main five common problems with bicep training .After that he reveals a step by step program to explode those biceps.

Vince’s program, No-Nonsense Muscle Building, makes you a master in muscle building dieting, training and all other factors. It also has a version for females (Body Sculpting for women). This version addresses the concerns of the females and helps them build the fitness model body they want. Great stuff and highly reccomended for those serious about making a dramatic change in there physique.

How To Build Big Biceps

By Vince Delmonte

The “Guns.” The “Pythons.” “Thunder” and “Lighting.” The “Rockweillers.” There is no other muscle group that has earned more nicknames than when describing a bulging and huge set of bicep! Bulging biceps – every guy wants them. Count me in this group.

The days are far from gone when you walk into the gym and see 9 out of 10 guys doing bicep curls all at the same time with the same determination to add even ¼ inch to their biceps. Training biceps has become almost an ‘obsessive addiction’ in the gym. I have seen guys do bicep curls in between sets just so they can ’see’ a little bit of a pump in their arms. I have seen guys spend an entire hour bent over doing concentration curls while starring in the mirror. I have seen guys take weights on vacation so that they can do some bicep curls at their hotel before they go into the club! I have seen guys spend longer amounts of times shopping for t-shirts than girls shopping for a blouse with the hope that one of these shirts will make his arms look ‘good.’ Someone disagree with me that bicep training has become an unhealthy ‘obsessive addiction.’ for many. In the “Skinny Arms” defense, the allure of peaked, mountainous biceps will never go away. Why should it? The ‘guns’ are of a man’s most prized possession and one of many women’s most desired body parts on a man (of course)! My question is if 9 out 10 guys are obsessed with seeing their biceps grow and dedicate so much of their workout volume to isolating their biceps and using every technique from forced reps, drop sets, and 21’s which are ‘promised’ to be the most effective methods confirmed by pro bodybuilders, why do they still have little to show for their efforts? Let’s examine five of the most common problems with bicep training before I offer a step-by-step program to take your bicep peak to new heights.

If doing 4 sets is better than 3 sets, why don’t you just do 10 sets? Even better, why don’t you just train them all day? It has been said before, but it obviously needs to be said again: “Less is often more.” Especially if you are not gifted with “muscle-friendly” genes.

Your goal of each weight training workout should be to simply ‘out do’ your last workout. Once you achieve this with an extra pound or a few extra reps, then it is time to move to the next exercise. Not to Nazi-torture the muscle for another hour. I have found this a hard concept for many skinny guys to grasp because they are fixated on the instant gratification of making their biceps ‘look’ big during the workout and not what they look like when they leave the gym, which leads us to our next problem.

Problem #2 ties in with problem #1. The truth is that the longer you train your biceps, even if the weights are not extremely heavy, you can achieve a fairly decent pump that can turn a few heads while in the gym. This attention and perception that you are doing something beneficial is deceiving. Yes, there is something to say about keeping blood in the muscle as long as possible, but if the workout is done with weights that do not overload your muscles and emphasize an increase in strength, your biceps will quickly deflate back to normal with no true muscle growth.

Some of the biggest guys I know rarely even train their arms. What they do though is put a strong emphasis around increasing their chest, back and shoulder strength. If you simply focus on increasing the weights on your rows, pull ups and chin-ups, rest assured that your biceps will come along for the ride and grow proportionally.

However, if you are always blasting and ’smoking’ your biceps, they will always be fatigued when you train your back muscles and, as you should know, you are only as strong as your weakest link. This is another reason to take a lower volume approach to arm training.

Every pro bodybuilder will put their money on two of the simplest exercises for building huge biceps – barbell curls and dumbbell curls. According to the pros, these two exercises have built more huge guns than any other exercise in the world. I definitely agree that these ’simple’ exercises are a safe foundation to build a program around, but let’s also remember that pro bodybuilders using steroids are going to have a strong response to practically any exercise they do.

I have no problem using these two exercises under one condition – you are getting stronger from week to week. As long as you are increasing the weights and reps relative to perfect form, then your arms should continue growing. Aim to build your barbell curls up to 110 pounds for a few “slow speed” sets and your dumbbell curls up to 50 pounds for a few “slow-speed” sets that involve zero rocking and swaying. Once you build your barbell curls up to 110 pounds, you will be ready to try these two different angles on the bar. You will have to drop your weights a bit, but stick with these two variations until you build back up to 110 pounds: Bicep Exercise 1: “Stress” the outer portion of the bi’s by placing your elbows outwards and using a super-close grip. Bicep Exercise 2: “Stress” the inner portion of the bi’s by taking a super-wide grip on the bar and digging your elbows into your side (and don’t let them move.) Bicep Exercise 3: To “stress” the brachialis and brachioradialis stick to good old fashioned hammer curls and reverse curls. Don’t underestimate these two exercises in the slightest.

I think many weight trainees do not fully grasp the concept of isolating and actually training a muscle. They do not know how to make the muscle work and fatigue. Instead, you see a lot of swinging, momentum and sloppy lifting used to move the weight from every part of the body except the one they are actually trying to train. The biceps have a very strong response to “constant tension,” which means you should never give them a chance to breathe. Keep the bar constantly moving without pausing at the top or bottom. Focus on squeezing the heck out of the bar and never let your biceps relax until the set is over. Your entire goal is to not allow any oxygen into the muscle which creates a spike with your anabolic hormones to promote muscle growth. Resort to a slower 3-0-3 or 4-0-4 tempo to get the job done.

• Notice the simplicity of the workout structure. This program will work extremely well for hardgainers. The overall volume might be a little low for someone used to a traditional bodybuilder split program and has more than four years of consistent training.
• The power of the program is found in the principle of prioritization by sequence on the first pull workout. Notice that your prioritization muscle is being sequenced at the start of the workout and the start of the week. This is happening on purpose. We are intentionally giving your biceps an opportunity to train at their two most “fresh” times – at the start of the week and at the start of the workout.
• Focusing on increasing overall strength can still be achieved on the second pullworkout where the biceps will not be pre-fatigued.
• Notice the slow speed movements. Many anabolic hormones are released when your muscles are under constant tension. The tempo’s are set up so that will be forced to move the weight slower and with a greater amount of tension concentrically and eccentrically.
• On a pull day, 402 would mean: 4 seconds to release the weight, 0 second pause at the bottom and 2 seconds to pull the weight. On a push day, 402 would would mean 4 seconds to lower the weight, 0 second pause at the bottom and 2 seconds to push the weight up.
• Focus on adding 5-10 pounds to each of your exercises over the course of the next four weeks while keeping the rep ranges and sets the same. It is not necessary to do more sets or more reps. Focus on increasing more weight under the same set, rep, tempo and rest prescription.

Focus on gaining an extra 5 pounds of overall weight this next 5 weeks. That works out to gaining about 2 pounds of dry muscle accompanied by some water and glycogen weight. An extra 5 pounds of overall weight should lead to at least an extra inch on your arms. Keep the program going for another 5 weeks and you’ll have a whole extra inch on your arm in about 10 weeks! Then tell all your friends to get tickets for the “Gun Show!”

More about the Author Vince Delmonte

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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.

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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Chest Muscles are the hardest muscle group to develop for most men. At least they think so when they fill related muscle building surveys. The bigger chest muscles you have the stronger you look.This Article from our expert Sean Nalewanyj will explain the direct way to getting a Rock-Solid Chest.

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)

How To Build A Ripped, Rock-Solid Chest

By Sean Nalewanyj

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple.

It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest.

The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

To stimulate the chest using weights you will be using one of two motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the true gains lie in your pressing movements.

Flyes may have their place from time to time, but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic effect of high intensity pressing movements. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips.

There are no secrets, magic formulas or killer techniques that will “shock” your chest into massive growth. Stick to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression, and I promise that you will see impressive gains.

Here are the most effective lifts for packing muscle onto the chest:

Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press

A standard barbell press is the meat and potatoes of any effective chest routine. This basic compound movement will allow you to handle the most weight through the given range of motion.

The incline press will shift more of the stress to the upper region of the chest while the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer region. The flat bench press works the upper and lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard barbell press as a basic component of your chest routine.

Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press

Dumbbell presses are another basic and highly effective movement for stimulating chest development. The main advantage that they have over the barbell is that they allow you to move through a more natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder injuries.

They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring since one arm can’t cheat for the other. The only drawback is that you are not able to handle as much weight. In any case, a standard dumbbell press is an awesome movement that allows for great chest stimulation.

Wide-Grip Dips

An amazing movement for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals.

If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient then you can always add resistance using a weight belt. Dips are an excellent compound movement for overall chest development.

Sample Chest Routines

Chest Routine# 1

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Chest Routine# 2

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps Flat Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep range and should be taken to concentric muscular failure. Write down the details of each workout you perform and focus on progressing in either weight or reps from week to week.

To learn the proper methods for training all of your other muscle groups, make sure to visitMuscleGainTruth . You can gain instant access to a complete online video lesson series outlining the most effective techniques for training your shoulders, arms, back, legs and abs, all in step-by-step detail.

Lear more about the author Sean Nalewanyj

(see our Full Muscle Gain Truth Review)

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