About god damn time.

The way the lifting community is going it seems like there appears to be an awful lot of bicep shots and not a lot of quadricep shots.

And why? Because quadriceps are harder to build.

But one things for sure – they look amazing.

At the beach, who would you rather be:

My thoughts exactly.

And these are the top 5 Quad Muscle Building exercises of how to build legs like tree trunks look like sweet sculpted wood.

REP RANGE

For the best type of burn and maximum growth, we recommend high reps and high sets. 3 – 5 sets of around 10 – 15 reps is the area where you want to be.

After a few sessions you’ll know what type of numbers work best for you.

1. Narrow Stance Leg Press

Ever feel like you’re not getting the pump you want when using leg press? It’s your feet that are the problem.

Depending on how you lift on this machine determines which muscles are worked and how well you’re developing them.

And if you’re looking to build some mighty quads, we suggest putting your feet closer together – this is what you want to do:

• Get on the leg press as normal
• Place your feet directly in front of you, don’t go higher or lower, on the platform as tempting as it is
• Make sure your feet are only around 3 inches apart and press until your legs are straight (But don’t lock them out)
• Slowly bend your legs back towards your body and stop when your upper and lower legs are at a 90 degree angle
• Repeat

PRO TIP: Keeping your head up will ensure your back stays on the pad and helps maintain good form.

2. Frankenstein Squat

A stupid looking exercise with a cool name that’s a hot pick for crazy gains.

People are gonna stare you the f*ck out when you’re doing this one, but they’re also going to be staring you out the next time you wear shorts – because you’re quads are going to be massive.

Here’s the low down on getting some supernatural quads:

• Take the barbell from the rack as if you’re we’re doing a front squat
• Balance the barbell on the front of your shoulders and let go
• Straighten your arms to keep the barbell balanced and in contact with your throat
• Squat as normal, keeping your torso straight and your arms up
• Repeat

PRO TIP: Ensure that your shoulders and your shoulder blades are pushed forwards at all times – don’t round your spine.

It’s take a while to get a hang of this exercise, and you’d be wise to experiment with just the bar before moving onto any serious weight.

3. Jefferson Squats

A favorite of Kai Greene and an absolute badass exercise for training quads.

This is not just a good exercise for training quads, it also hammers your glutes and makes you an all-round better squatter.

What’s more, you don’t even need a rack to perform this awesome exercise.

Here’s how you pull it off:

• Set up the bar to your desired weight
• Take a wide stance over the bar with it directly between your legs
• Squat as low as you can to pick up the bar, forcing your knees outward
• With a mixed grip, take the bar with hand in front of you and one hand behind
• Stand up
• Squat down and repeat

PRO TIP: The smaller plates you use, the deeper your squat has to be and the more benefit you’ll get from the exercise.

It’s an old school exercise, but it’s definitely one of the best out there.

4. Chair Squat

Unfortunately this exercise involves a Smith Machine – the training wheels of the gym.

I know what you’re thinking, ‘Smith Machine?! If I wanted to look like a gym-noob, but still tell everyone I was making gains – I’d do crossfit.’ and you’re not wrong. However, this exercise is different.

Why? It actually works.

Let us walk you through the basics:

• Set the bar at a height that you usually squat at
• Put your hands on the bar with palms facing forward – like a standard squat
• Put your feet about a foot and half in front of you shoulder width apart – make sure your toes are pointing slightly out
• Start squatting – unlock the bar and slowly lower yourself down to parallel
• Once at parallel start to straighten your legs and push the bar back up to starting position
• Repeat

PRO TIP: To avoid injury and good form keep your head up and straight at all times.

5. Leg Extension (Single Leg)

Of course the leg extension machine was going to get a mention in here, but for the best results, you’re going to want to train one of them at a time.

This allows complete isolation of either leg muscle, with support from a dominant leg. This avoids imbalances.

In case you’ve never done leg extensions before (or need a quick refresher) here’s the run down.

• When seated ensure the leg pad is resting on your lower shin (not you’re ankle – classic mistake)
• After that, see if the pivot of the leg extension is in line with your knee – if adjust until it is
• Start lifting – extend your leg and pause when straight
• Lower it back down and repeat – don’t stop after each rep, you’ll lose tension in the muscle and slow your gains
• Repeat

PRO TIP: Rather than on just trying to move the pad, focus on squeezing the muscle. It should give you a hell of a lot more engagement and develop the muscle a lot more.

5 Awesome Quad Muscle Building Exercises Conclusion

So there you have it. 5 of the best Quad Muscle Building exercises out there to make your quads really stand out from the crowd.

These are some of the best exercises out there to showing off your strength while still wearing shorts.

If we had to pick, we’d say the Jefferson squat is one of the top exercises out there, there’s no risk if you drop the bar, and it ensures that you’re training with the weight below parallel. We can’t get enough of it over here.

Want to get jacked legs a lot faster. Check out our reviews of the Top T-Boosters on the market to see the best way to really make some serious gains.

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The post 5 Awesome Quad Muscle Building Exercises appeared first on Fit Chief.

In terms of muscle mass, triceps take up around two thirds of the arm. So why wouldn’t you put as much emphasis on training that as you would your bicep. There is so much to gain from racking up some serious tricep size.

But what are the best exercises to get big triceps fast?

It’s a good question, there are insane amount ways to train your triceps but not a lot on which is the most effective way to do so.

Here in this short guide, I’ll be running through the top 5 ways to train your tricep – what you should be doing, and how it should be feeling. There is no better rule of thumb of knowing if you’re engaging a muscle enough by how it feels.

If you’re floundering about with your form and putting most of the pressure on your joints, not only will you be risking an injury – you’ll also be holding back those all important gains.

Not only will packing a bigger tricep make your arm look fuller and thicker, it’ll also help tremendously towards most compound lifts that involved your chest, particularly your bench press.

Now if you’re all warmed up, we’ll begin.

1. Triceps Pushdowns

An oldie, but a goodie. This is really the king of the crop when it comes to training triceps. The Tri Pushdown is great for building back arm muscle, but there’s just one problem.

Most people don’t do them properly.

Be it range of motion, to leaning over the grip or simply just not pinning there elbows back. There is a long list of mistakes that can be made when someone isn’t taking a session seriously.

Tricep pushdowns are performed from a high pulley. You should be able to find it in pretty much any gym.

There are multiple ways you can do this lift, but we’ve found the most effective way is with a V-Shaped Press down Bar Cable (the thing on the right):

• Set the bar at the top of the pulley
• Grab the bar with the bottom of your palms resting on the end of the handles
• Pin your elbows to your side and pin back your shoulders, with feet shoulder width apart
• Extend your arms towards the ground, squeezing your triceps all the way down
• You should feel a tightness in the back of your arm during the peak of the lift
• Release pressure and let the bar rise to chest level
• Repeat

If you’re looking for size and one hell of a pump we recommend using this exercise for 5 sets of 15 reps. If you’re using a moderately heavy weight and you stick to the form you’ll definitely be feeling the pinch in the morning.

2. Reverse Grip Triceps Pushdowns

I know, it sounds a lot like the last exercise, but trust me this is exactly what you need if you want to achieve that horseshoe effect in your triceps.

You need to start by setting yourself up in a similar position to the first exercise with the bar at the top of the pulley – but instead of a V shaped bar, we’re going to use a straight one, and you want to grab it with your palms facing upwards, like you’re curling it – but repeat the same motions as the last exercise.

If done right you should really feel the peak of your triceps burning with the lift.

Again, to get the most out of these you want to go for a solid 5 sets of 15 reps.

3. Bent-Over Cable Kickbacks

These are a more unconventional style of lift, but they’re really good for putting a lot of pressure on your triceps and adding to the overall sculpture of the muscle.

All you need for this exercise is a low set cable pulley with no equipment added onto the end.

• Start by setting the cable as low as it can go on the pully
• Detach all equipement
• Bend hips and knees so your back is straight and parallel to the floor
• Grasp the cable in one hand
• Pin elbow to the side
• Extend arm without moving your elbow
• Repeat for reps
• Change arms

This is really good for getting for a really deep burn in the triceps, and is a really great exercise if your cable machine only has a limited amount of weight.

As we’re looking for size here, with this exercise anywhere between 10 – 15 reps for a set of 5 should get you on the right path.

4. Body-Ups

Although a body weight exercise, this lift is very effective at isolating the triceps. And the beauty of this exercise? You don’t even need machinery to get the gains.

All you need to know is the basic planking position.

• Start off in the planking position balancing on your toes and forearms with a straight back
• Press your palms into the floor and extend your arms, keep your back straight
• Raise your body off the ground and hold for a second
• Lower your forearms and return to the original position
• Repeat

As everyone’s different and this is an exercise relative to body weight you should be looking to get out as many as you can with 5 sets of 15 reps at the front of your mind.

If you feel like you can do more, go for it.

5. Tricep Dips

This is a classic tricep exercise that can be performed with or without a weighted belt (depending on your level of strength). This is more of a compound exercise as the chest and shoulder muscles are involved in the process, but it primarily benefits the triceps.

For these types of dips you’re best off with a set of parallel bars, or a dipping machine depending on what your gym has available.

• Grab both bars and extend your arms to a near lock-out, holding yourself off the ground
• Tuck in your legs and lower yourself down towards the bars until your upper arms are parallel to the floor
• Pause for a second at the bottom of the lift then extend back up to the original position
• Repeat for given number of reps

Again as we’re looking to gain mass and shape here. You can’t go wrong with the 5 x 15 method. You really want to feel that burn and all over pump, it’ll add some serious size to your guns.

Conclusion

And there you have it. The top 5 exercises for gaining tricep mass fast. If we had to pick a favorite it’s got to be number 2, the reverse grip pushdowns. We saw a massive improvement in our progress after adding that our routine. It works the tricep in a way most other exercises can’t.

If you want big arms, these are the exercises to try. See if you can work them in twice a week to your routine, if you’re diets on point and you’re working those muscles into the ground – you’ll definitely see a difference much sooner than you think.

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The post How to Get Big Triceps Fast appeared first on Fit Chief.

So what do these two groups actually have in common?

Answer: They’re both ripped as f*ck.

Although their body types look pretty different – their body fat is in fact very similar. Both of them fall into a category that marks them down as some of the leanest athletes on the planet.

Whether it’s an octagon or a stage. Both of these guys look as if they’re carved out of wood.

But how do they do it? Where do these two parties meet to get that rippling physique, and more importantly… how can we take advantage of it?

There are a number of ways in which these athlete’s prepare their bodies.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

If you haven’t heard of HIIT before, it’s brutal.

Both bodybuilders and Mixed Martial Arts fighters are known to use HIIT as a quick way to drop body fat while simultaneously building up stamina. As the sessions are so short (but far more intense), compared to the regular cardio workouts, the risk of losing muscle mass drops significantly.

For those of you who that don’t know, I’ll go over the basics:

HIIT is an intense cardio workout that lasts for a few minutes at a time. Let’s say for example you’re on an exercise bike, an example of HIIT training here would be:

• 30 seconds on level 1 intensity
• 30 seconds on level 20 intensity
• 30 seconds on level 1 intensity
• 30 seconds on level 20 intensity

Repeat up to 10 minutes.

The secret behind it’s effectiveness comes from its effect on the heart. Normal cardio keeps your heart rate steady at around 60-70% of its maximum bpm. Whereas HIIT pushes the body to 90%.

This extra high heart rate causes excess post-oxygen consumption – this raises the metabolic rate significantly and in some cases for up to 24 hours.

That’s a constant fat burning state for a whole damn day.

Adding these types of exercises to your workouts in the long-run can:

• Burn Fat
• Increase Stamina
• Improve Heart Health
• Maintain muscle mass

All which is heavily encouraged in both sports.

Compound Lifts (For size OR strength!)

Although usually favoring isolation exercises when looking to develop specific muscle groups, Bodybuilders turn to compound lifts when they want to increase muscle density and add mass to an area.

Likewise MMA fighters use compound exercises, not so much for mass but more to increase the strength of a muscle group to make it more effective in a fight.

The only difference here is the rep range. Bodybuilders typically look to higher rep ranges for growth and development, while fighters use less reps in the pursuit of strength.

Compound exercises use more than one joint movement to complete the lift. A good example of this would be the bench press.

During a bench press, two joint movements are taking place: in the shoulder and the elbow – which in turn works more than one muscle group: the chest, shoulders and triceps.

Working three muscle groups rather than one boosts the amount of testosterone released from the lift. This helps create strength and mass, however, which improves most depends on how the muscle was worked.

Bodybuilders use lighter weights so they can perform a higher rep range – as the set is longer than usual, more muscle fibers are recruited as others weaken to complete it. This helps overall development and growth.

Whereas MMA fighters use heavy weights and lower rep ranges. This works the quick-twitching muscle fibers that are responsible for explosive power, this makes a more responsive central nervous system to help supply more power.

Although their methods may be different, compound lifts seem to overlap in either industry and benefit both parties.

Correct Supplementation (To stay incredibly shredded!)

One of the major challenges that face both groups of athletes is nutrition.

Only so many foods can give you the nutrients you need without inadvertently giving you the one’s you don’t – fat, carbs, sugar etc.

The answer to this obstacle is supplementation. This works around the problem of gaining unwanted fat while making lean muscle. This is typically done with products like whey protein, the muscles can grow and minimal fat gains are made.

However, if you’ve read our other article about taking too much protein, you’ll know that carbs and fats are also needed to raise muscle mass. Also that too much protein can actually damage your testosterone levels by raising the stress hormones in the body.

So there will always be some form of fat gain.

However, a supplement has been released on the market made for MMA fighters, but is also being used by bodybuilders.

This is Instant Knockout. A fat burner formulate to help fighters cut weight before a fight.

It uses all natural ingredients and helps fighters:

• Burn fat – Raising core temperature and metabolism
• Boost Energy – Natural stimulants to keep focused during low calorie diets
• Suppress Appetite – Fibrous nutrients that stop food cravings

And these guys are getting ripped taking it.

A prime example of this would be Diego Sanchez, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1. The dude has been taking this to drop from 190lbs to 145lbs, and he’s almost there.

When he first started taking Instant Knockout he dropped 25lbs in the first 5 weeks. Just watch.

Other notable fighters currently taking the fat burner include #1 Flyweight John Dodson and Chas Skelly.

We had a look at Instant Knockout and were pretty impressed how it works.

You can check out their site here: http://www.instantknockout.com/

Overall Conclusion

Despite their differences Bodybuilders and Fighters actually have quite a bit in common when it comes to getting strong and looking indestructible.

The HIIT is definitely an exercise you need to add to the end of your session to burn some killer amounts of fat. Just try not to over do it.

Whereas the compound lifts are perfect for hitting whatever goal you have in mind, whether it’s getting strong or just getting huge.

The supplements on the other hand is one you need to look into. These guys are serious about their sports, they take supplements like Instant Knockout when they can’t push it any further on their own. If you feel you’ve exhausted every option and feel you deserve those six pack abs, we strongly suggest you give IKO a try.

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The post The Secret Keeping Both Bodybuilders and MMA Fighters Shredded! appeared first on Fit Chief.

But what if I told you, you could add 30lbs to your big lift in just three weeks?

How?

The answer is simple. Smolov JR.

If you haven’t heard of Smolov before, it’s a badass Russian 13 week squatting program designed to turn men into monsters. However, due to the success of the routine, it was revised as a 3 week course for bench press.

And my god is it good.

Now before we continue there’s a few things that you’ll need to get the most out this program:

• A bench press
• Balls

That’s it. Both of these are very important to getting the gains we’re after, as this will probably be the most intense month of benching you’ve had in your life – if you’re a gym noob back out now, this will only end in tears.

So how does it work?

Smolov JR involves benching 4 times a week for three weeks. It’s insane, but it totally works.

Here’s the layout, and you want to make sure you don’t miss a session:

Week 1.

Day 1: 6 reps for 6 sets – 70% of your 1 rep max

Day 3: 5 reps for 7 sets – 75% of your 1 rep max

Day 5: 4 reps for 8 sets – 80% of your 1 rep max

Day 6: 3 reps for 10 sets – 85% of your 1 rep max

Week 2.

Exactly the same except add 10lbs to each weight in Week 1.

Week 3.

Exactly the same except add 20lbs to each weight in Week 1.

The Do’s and Don’t of Smolov Jr.

Do

• Eat like an elephant and sleep like a baby on this course
• Wear wrist wraps if the constant pressure is straining them
• Make sure the bar touches your chest
• Use a spot if you feel like you’re going to blow it

Don’t

• Lift your ass off the bench during your set
• Progress in the course if you failed a day – repeat it next session
• Exercise with accessory lifts during Smolov Jr.
• Attempt Smolov Jr if you are a beginner

Working other muscle groups

As you are going to be living, eating and shitting bench press for the next month, it makes sense to know where you stand on other lifts.

Those that don’t interfere with your bench (back, legs, biceps etc) proceed as normal. However, exercises aimed at triceps, shoulders and pecs should be definitely avoided – they’ll just weaken you up even more before your next session.

Also, if you already go the gym 3 times a week and now think you have to go 7 times to incorporate Smolov, shut up. Smolov Jr is just a benching session, once that’s done resume normal service on your other muscle groups for the rest of your workout.

Additional Benefits of Smolov Jr

Okay, as you’re going to be hitting bench 12 times in a 3 week period – expect your form improve dramatically.

You’ll be able to arch your back more and really learn how to dig your heels in for a powerful press. And if your not wearing some kind of flat-footed shoe to bench, you will be by the end of this program.

A lot these simple changes to your form will transfer over to other lifts and make you an all round stronger guy.

Speaking of that by the way, now that your bench has shot up – your usual chest day will need some increases across the board. Your triceps and shoulders will have come along a lot as well. Which leads us to our last point.

Drawbacks of Smolov Jr

One thing we will say about Smolov Jr is that it’s addictive.

Seriously. Once you see results like this, you want to see them every month.

But there’s only so much your body can take, running this cycle month in month out can cause serious problems. Shoulder joints can take a huge hit, not to mention you can risk tearing your pecs.

Listen to your body on this one. After your first Smolov Jr Cycle, take a month and reassess.

Overall Conclusion

In closing, if you’re looking for strength gains, we can recommend no better routine than Smolov Jr.

It will increase your bench press, your form, and your pecs, shoulders and triceps will explode.

Be sure to avoid training any accessory lifts to the bench during the course, and do not immediately start the course again after 3 weeks. Although the gains are addicting, long term damage from over-training totally isn’t.

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The post Smolov JR: The Best Bench Routine That You’re Not Doing appeared first on Fit Chief.

It happens to all of us – and it sucks serious balls.

However, there are simple gym life hacks to get back into upping your intensity – regardless of how you’re feeling.

This is a collection of both physical and psychological changes you can make to your workouts, that take minimum effort and can drastically change your results. Trust us:

1. Switch Up the Bar

Honestly, this one is die-hard broscience – but we’ve used it in the past and it’s served us well.

This is more for bros on plateaus just going through the motions. For arguments sake, let’s say your max bench is 225lbs – and it has been for months.

You run your warm-up routine, and tell yourself today is going to be the day. You load up two plates on either side and press that shit. But you only manage to do it once, and only once. Bro, wtf is wrong with you?

It’s a tragedy and seems like another wasted session – but bro, have you ever thought that the idea of benching 2 plates might actually be the problem? Stick with me on this. Instead of using two 45’s next time, why not one 45, a 25 and two 10’s, and try to convince yourself it’s a lighter weight?

At the mind controls the body, and there’s something about mixing up the order tricks that bitch into letting your lifts boom. Give it a shot.

2. Learn to Hate Mondays

We know, it’s national chest day all over the world. But if you’re favorite time to hit the gym is after work around 6 on a Monday I have some bad news.

Unless your gym is at home, chances are your gym is going to be surging with more testosterone than a gorilla’s nutsack. Now that’s a lot of dudes, and nothing kills a workout boner harder than having to wait seven years just to flounder around for 5 minutes on a half-broken pec-deck. Literally 2 minutes after you’ve fixed up the seat, and got the arms in the position that’ll help explode your gains, the whole gym is now asking you how many sets you’ve got left.

There’s two ways to work around this, and neither one is pretty.

Option 1: Be Garfield. Don’t go in on Mondays, re-arrange your schedule so you’re either hitting it Sunday or Tuesday.

Option 2: Be a morning person. Wake up at the crack of dawn and deliver yourself unto the temple of iron. Hit it up before work, and enjoy laughing at the idiots that didn’t – in what is literally a circus of members swarming your gym that evening.

3. End with forearms

As we’ve covered in our forearm exercise guide, a lot of bro’s don’t see the need in training forearms. The general consensus that surrounds this is that a solid back routine will do the job for you.

This is partly true, but you could be doing a lot more to help out with that grip strength, bro.

Training forearms is not a session in itself, and it’s a weak link that let’s down most lifts. Gaining grip strength will increase your gains and only add an extra 15 minutes or so to your workout. We suggest adding it on to the end of your workout, that way all the hard stuff is taken care and it can only improve your workouts.

4. Count like an idiot

This is for high-rep brahs that are finding the struggle very real.  When you’re going for that hypertrophy, sets of 15 reps and the like can be daunting as hell. Unless you’re
not going heavy enough.

One of the main ways to get around this is to count like an idiot – it really takes the sting out of long ass sets. Take the fifteen reps for example, instead of counting all the way up to 15 – which can take forever depending on what exercise you’re doing – just count every rep twice for the first 10 reps and then finish with and easy five. Simple.

Example:

What you usually do: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8… ZZZZ
What you should be doing: 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,1,2,3,4,5

It makes the whole set easier to digest and really helps when knocking out a larger rep range.

5. Think about the journey not the destination

This is another problem that most bros encounter. It’s not their fault. It’s a hardwired issue that starts after beginning a lifting career.

Finishing a set.

Obviously finishing a set is important, but it’s not the be all and end all… particularly if you’re sacrificing form to get there.

If you’re not making the range of motion, you’re not really making the gains.

Let’s say you’re slamming some tricep extensions, the pin is at the bottom plate and you want 10 reps.

The first 5 are on point, but now your form is slipping. To compensate, you’ve cut the range of motion in half. Because you want 10, and will do anything to get there. With this goal, you’ve cheated yourself out of performing some good reps to meet your target. If you stayed on the track, you probably wouldn’t have made 10, but you would’ve made at least 3 more solid reps. And 3 good reps beat 5 shitty ones every day of the week.

6. Don’t Sit Down

One of the worst things you can do in between sets is sit down. Even if the exercise is something that requires you lying down or on a bench, between sets you want to get your ass up and moving.

The main reason for this is that sitting down between sets can lower your heart rate and decrease the amount of blood in your muscles. Why is this bad? Because with less blood passing through your muscles, it will take longer for the lactic acid to leave. This will leave you more fatigued than you would be standing.

Also sitting down really takes the edge out of your workout and puts you in more of a restful state – the last thing you want to be when aiming for some gaining is a yawning little bitch.

So put your phone away, brah, you can always do Tinder later. As for now, stand up and make some gains!

7. Enter the Alpha Arena

This one seriously needs a (no homo) tag. But one of the best ways to boost your gains in the gym is to surround yourself with dudes who are absolutely jacked.

Again, this is another verse straight out of the Bible of Broscience but there is something to this.

Train around guys who are absolutely huge, so huge they make your friend that you call a ‘monster’ looks like a wet tampon in comparison.

The idea is that your subconscious standards of strength and size should change. This will make you want to really up your game, and buy you first class tickets to Gainsville.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Our top gym life hacks for getting more out of your workout with minimum effort.

We personally think the rep-counting mind game has some serious plus points, as well as keeping stood up between reps.

Think it’s bullshit, or got something to add? Tell us more, Facebook comment away and we’ll look into it.

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The post Top 7 Gym Life Hacks That Will Definitely Improve Your Workout appeared first on Fit Chief.

But getting down to it, excluding deadlifts, what do you do for your forearms? (and jerking it doesn’t exactly count!)

Deadlift’s are pretty awesome for forearms, but they’re not the be all and end all of grip strength.

Every lifter worth their salt needs killer forearms, and supplementing in a few extra exercises for them will noticably improve your results. Forearm exercises help:

• Increase grip strength – Improves deadlifts and supports overall back routine
• Make arms more proportionate – Save you looking like Senor Synthol over here
• Up Functional strength – Helps outside the gym in alpha activities like climbing and arm wrestling

Soon you’ll be crushing it with the best of them, in this ultimate guide to increasing grip strength and getting huge forearms.

We believe 8 – 12 reps to be the best range in this case as it’s a nice middle ground between strength and size. But feel free to set your range in accordance with your goals.

The Exercises

1. Palms Up Barbell Wrist Curls

Starting off with a classic. At one point or another in a lifter’s life – they discover wrist curls. But then deadlifts come along and they lose their appeal.

Wrist curls are not to be taken lightly and can really help fill out the arm and give you those big ham arms you dream of.

For this one, you’ll need a bench and a barbell that you can rep for around 8 – 12 reps.

• Grab the barbell palms up, like performing a normal curl.
• Put your forearms across the bench, and make sure your hands dangle over the edge.
• Curl your wrist upwards, you should really feel this in your forearms.
• Return to the starting position.

This is really good for building up the inside of the forearm and will increase overall grip strength.

2. Farmer’s Walk

This is more of a strongman exercise, but it was too good to not be included in this list.

A farmer’s walk is the lovechild of a deadlift, a shrug with a sprinkle of lunge DNA. It’ll all become clear in a moment.

For this exercise there’s a lot of choice. You can either use – Dumbbells, Two short barbells or anything heavy that you can get two of in equal weight that you can comfortably hold at each side. They should be heavy, but light enough for your to walk with.

• Start by picking up whatever you decided on using, and hold one in each hand by your sides.
• Keep your back straight, your head up and begin to walk. Makes sure you’re driving with your heels.
• Walk back and forth until you’ve covered anywhere from 50 – 100 feet.

This is an incredible exercise and not only does it work your forearms; your traps, legs and abs all take a hit as well. It’s dynamite for deadlifts but really improves your grip strength in general.

3. Reverse Barbell Curl

Okay, so there’s a bit of bicep in this one – but it’s more a supporter than a benefactor. Your forearms are the real stars of the show here, and done right, this exercise is will have a monstrous effect on them.

For this exercise you will again, need a barbell that you can achieve sets of 8 – 12 reps with.

• Start with your hands about shoulder width apart, with your elbows pinned to your sides. Think of a classic barbell curl.
• Unlike a classic barbell curl, you want to make sure your palms are facing inwards towards yourself.
• Only moving your forearms, curl the weight to your shoulders.
• Return to the starting position and repeat.

Reverse curls are very effective when it comes to developing the forearm. It allows you to use a heavier weight and put those muscles through their paces.

If you want more of a challenge with exercise, we suggest using a false grip. This mean keeping your thumbs with your fingers and not having them oppose one another on the other side of the bar. It puts a lot more pressure the forearms, as it requires more squeezing in the hands to keep hold the weight.

4. Wrist Rotations

One of the lesser known exercises for grip strength, but still an important one. More commonly used for strongman, it is ‘the’ isolate exercise for just working on grip strength.

For this exercise you’re going to need a barbell, preferably a lighter one.

• Hold the bar, as if we’re doing a reverse barbell curl (Remember Palms Face Inward!)
• Now, using one hand a time, extend your wrist to roll the bar towards you. (Think of it like rolling up a magazine)
• Continue until failure. This was your first set. The second will be the same again, but in the opposite direction (rolling away)

This is great for both the inner and outer forearm – it really makes a difference to the grip strength and due to the numerous repetitions – greatly encourages growth.

5. The Plate Pinch

Another in the list of niche forearm exercises. Plate Pinching isn’t that well known in the lifting community, largely because it doesn’t look that impressive – but the gains it produces definitely are.

For this exercise you need two small wide-rim plates for each hand.

• Put the two plates together, with their smoother sides on the outside
• Grip two plates in either hand with your thumb on one side and your fingers on the other. Hold the plates tightly.
• Hold on to the plates for as long as possible.
• Put down plates, rest, repeat.

There aren’t a lot of exercises out there like plate pinching, however, pinching together weight is a serious way to put on hand strength and general forearm mass.

Overall Conclusion

And that about does it. The best thing you can take away from this article is that if you want seriously big forearms, you have to train them. Deadlifts and other back work will only get you so far.

We’ve always been a fan of wrist rotations as one of the key builders of forearm muscle.

Already don’t have big forearms, and don’t even do deadlifts? It may be worth checking out our articles on the benefits, and give yourself the down-low on deadlifts.

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The post How to Increase Grip Strength and Get Huge Forearms appeared first on Fit Chief.

It sucks, we’ve all been there – and no one knows what to do next.

If you haven’t – you’re either new to lifting or VERY lucky. Plateaus often rear their ugly heads to guys who are afraid of change, usually the “Well it’s worked for me so far!” type of lifter; who  performs the same routine day-in day-out.

However, following Einstein’s first rule of insanity isn’t the only way to get into Lifting Limbo. Unfortunately a lot of factors can push that PR way out to sea – if this you, have no fear. This guide will teach you the main things you need to know about busting plateaus – and how to never make that mistake again.

But before we continue, let me get a few things straight.

What is a lifting plateau?

A rut.

You’ve been riding the Gain Train for so long – you thought the only stop was Snap City station. But you were wrong. Until normal service is resumed you’re in it for the long-haul, so you better get to know your problem.

If you’re plateaued, you’re basically experiencing the following:

• Can’t get past PRs – Stuck on the same weight for months
• Not growing anymore – Stopped packing on muscle mass
• Performance issues – Not lifting as much as you used to
• Not getting your ‘pump’ on – Muscle groups not swelling when trained

But don’t worry. This guide has the solutions you’re looking for. This is your first-class ticket to get back on the Gain Train. Choo choo!

How can I start making gains again?

Breaking through a plateau can be tough, but manageable if you plan it properly.

In short: beating a plateau comes down to four main areas:

• Rest – Recovery between sessions
• Nutrition – What you’re eating and how much
• Workout – How you’re training
• Testosterone – Current levels and how it affects growth

Here are the main reasons why you may not be progressing – and what you need to do to get past it:

Cause #1 – Tired Muscle Receptors

One of the main issues faced when struggling along a plateau is a decrease in appetite. In most cases, guys who can’t up the weight aren’t eating enough – and it’s their body that’s calling the shots.

As workouts become harder and harder, the body struggles to cope with the added stress thrown at it – Especially when it doesn’t have a lot time to recover.

This results in weakened muscle receptor sites. These are collections of sensory receptors that feed your muscles energy they need from the food you eat. When fatigued, the receptors can take only take on a limited amount of energy at a time – and produce less gains.

If they can’t use that extra fuel; you don’t need it – and so your appetite decreases significantly. Without the proper actions, progress from this point becomes pretty much impossible.

How to solve it

In this situation, it’s clear your body needs to rest. One of the best things you can do is take some time off from the gym – a week should do it.

I know that sounds insane – but think about it:

The main thing holding you back in this situation is physical stress, without it: your appetite will return, your muscles will recover and your stress levels will shrink.

Stress is a huge part of this problem. Too much of it will cause your T-levels to decline and your muscles to weaken and your lifts will eventually start to drop – rather than staying stuck at a certain point.

Cause #2 – Not getting enough Nutrition

Now this may sound similar to the last problem – but you’re so wrong.

This is for the guys who plateau even though they have healthy, happy appetites – so where the hell is the progress?!

There are only a few reasons why this happens. The first could be that they’re eating enough for themselves, but not for their gains – a lot of guys make this mistake. It’s easy to fall into a routine of set meals that worked in the past. But as you grow, so must your intake. Not doing so can cause a decreased metabolism – which slows everything down.

The other problem is that guys are taking in too much protein – commonly known as “the worst thing you can do”.

When trying to gain size, the common belief is that protein is the key to muscle. Which is true to an extent, but the body can only absorb so much protein at a time.

Processing large amounts of protein puts major stress on the body and significantly raises cortisol levels – and cortisol is serious shit. It’s the body’s stress hormone and is known to massively decrease testosterone levels, and indirectly causing your plateau.

How to solve it

Both of these problems can be solved by a few quick lifestyle changes to your diet. In the first problem, there needs to be a larger uptake in food. The second just needs you to lay off the brotein shakes.

We recently put together a piece that expands on the second problem – but it’ll help both issues. Our article on the pitfalls of protein shakes tells you the optimum amount of protein to take for your body weight, and how to effectively balance carbs, fats and proteins for the best muscle growth.

Cause #3 – Building a Tolerance instead of Strength

When you work out, your body undergoes a significant amount of stress. To handle it, muscles grow bigger and stronger to prevent further breakdown.

They’re really good at doing this – which is bad news if you repeat a similar workout each session. This results in muscle fibers becoming accustomed to your routine and the stimulus it provides. Damage to the muscles is minimized and there becomes no need for any major recovery or growth. You’re in lifting limbo. When caught in this cycle, the only thing that increases is your frustration… and consequently your cortisol.

How to solve it

Change your workout. Your body is too used to your current routine and it’s time to mix things up.

But what’s the best way to do that?

One of the most popular methods for breaking through a muscle fiber plateau are ‘Drop Sets’ at the end of your routine. You’ve probably heard of them before, but if not I’ll briefly explain.

Drop Setting is a method that involves lifting until failure on a weight that you can’t lift past 12 reps – then immediately taking some of the weight off and repeating the exercise. There should be no break in between sets and you should be reaching failure on every weight.

This additional stimulus put on your muscles should encourage serious growth in the muscle fibers.

Another method to gain back some growth is via Heavy Overloading.

This should be carried out just after failing a weight. Pick and exercise that you just about do 6 – 8 reps on until failure. After you’ve had you’re crushing defeat – rerack the bar, dumbbell, machine or whatever it is your using, and wait 25 seconds. Once passed – knock out as many extra reps as you can at the same weight. As the muscle has not had ample time to recover, this should put on a lot more pressure on your muscles and encourage more growth.

And if you’re looking for some new exercises to change up your routine, we’ve got a killer article on how to get massive biceps for you, and a solid regimen for monster traps.

Cause #4 – Testosterone Trouble

Whether you’ve hit the protein too hard and your cortisol is through the roof, or you feel like you’ve peaked and can’t go any further – Testosterone will have something to do with it.

Without testosterone we can’t build any muscle – that’s just a straight up fact. As we’ve covered: this type of problem usually comes from high protein content – but what was that other stuff I said about a natural peak?

The body only produces so much testosterone – the hormonal driver of muscle growth. If only so much of it is present in your body at one time, it will only get you so far. If you’re doing everything right and still not seeing any more results, chances are you’re working at full capacity.

However, there is a way to fix these problem – and no before anyone starts steroids are not the answer. The drawbacks post-cycle are just to dramatic.

How to solve it

Raising testosterone naturally is a hard feat – but it can be done. We’ve made a list of some of the most prominent ways in our article about How to Naturally Boost Testosterone – with one of the most efficient methods being the use of a natural testosterone booster.

Natural testosterone boosters are anabolic complexes comprised of legal and safe ingredients. Instead of adding more testosterone to your system, they encourage your body to produce more testosterone by supplying it with the nutrients it needs. This results is raised T-levels and some room for you to make extra improvements in the gym.

Overall Conclusion

In closing we’ve covered that the main reasons for hitting a plateau come down to a lack of:

• Quality rest and recovery
• Good nutrition and eating enough
• New methods of workout
• Additional testosterone to boost the muscle building process

But it really comes down to your own motivations and how dedicated you are to making these changes in your lifestyle – in and out of the gym.

Good luck, Brosef.

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The post How to Break Lifting Plateaus – and what causes them in the first place! appeared first on Fit Chief.

If you’re not sure what traps are – Congratulations! You’re part of the problem!

But don’t worry, after this you won’t be.

The trapezius muscle is that thick piece of muscular action that sits proudly between your shoulder blades and is responsible for a range of movements in the body.

As you can see, it runs all the way from the center of your back, to the top of your head:

Don’t look like much, do they?

So why do we need to train them, and more importantly… how?

We’ll answer those questions and more, but first: let’s learn why traps are the silent hero of every workout.

How Traps are essential to your progress:

The Trapezius is possibly one of the most essential muscles to an upper body workout. Muscles don’t work alone. Any push or pull exercises you have planned to do today – you should know that your traps are going to be the guys spotting you.

Traps have a multitude of responsibilities, but these are the ones that concern us:

• Elevating Shoulders
• Squeezing Shoulder Blades Together
• Stabilizing the shoulders, upper spine and neck

Whatever way you slice it, these are all essential factors when it comes to lifting. Traps affect both form and strength – not training them is only going to hold you back.

Imagine doing a bench press without your traps. Unable to elevate your shoulders, you’d struggle to get the bar off the rack – and don’t even get me started on pressing. Pretty much all of the stabilizing work on that lift comes from your traps. It’s the guiding force of this lift as it is with most upper body workouts.

What’s that? You think you’ve got a powerful bench and you’ve never trained traps in your life?

Good for you. Now, sit back and imagine how strong that lift would be after building up those supporting muscles. You’re missing a whole world of opportunity.

Not only that – developed traps look awesome…

Scientifically proven to stop bros looking like pinheads since the discovery of iron.

What are the best ways to train traps?

This is the easy part. Traps are fairly simple to train and give pumps like you wouldn’t believe.

We’ve established a list of the top 5 trap exercises to boost mass, and improve their overall strength.

1. Barbell Shrugs

Most people are familiar with barbell shrugs – however not so much with the execution of it. Done right, this exercise brings serious results.

Let’s run over the basics.

You’re going to need a barbell – a heavy one. Aim for 8 – 10 reps for 3 sets:

1. Stood up: hold the barbell with your arms straight and hanging down in front of you. Palms should face inward towards you.

2. Raise your shoulders like you’re trying to touch them to your ears. Get them as high as you can and hold for a second.

3. Return to the starting position and repeat.

This exercise can be also be performed with the barbell behind you, as well as in front of you. It’s incredibly effective for building up those upper back muscles.

Most people make the mistake of thinking rotating their shoulders is the best way to shrug – This causes shoulder injuries. Raises will always be safer than rotating, but living dangerously, your best bet is to only rotate to the top of the lift and never all the way around.

2. Bent Over Lateral Raises

Lateral raises are thought more of as a shoulder exercise. However, traps serve an important role due to the shoulder elevation – especially when bent over.

This exercise will require two dumbbells that you can achieve 8 – 10 reps with for 3 sets:

1. Stood up and bent over: Holding dumbbells, your arms should hang down below you. Keep your back straight and have palms facing each other.

2. With slightly bent elbows, raise your arms out by your sides until parallel to the ground – hold it for a second.

3. Return to the starting position and repeat.

When performing this exercise, try to squeeze your shoulders blades together at the height of the lift. You should really feel your traps and get a solid pump.

3. Calf Machine Shoulder Shrugs

We did say traps are the calves of the upper body – and this exercise is incredible for bringing out the best in them.

We’re sticking to the usual rep range – but we’re going to need that calf machine.

1. Standing with your shoulders against the pads of the calf machine, make sure your body is straight and your arms are by your sides.

2. Just like with the barbell shrug, raise your shoulders to your ears. Hold at the top of the lift.

3. Lower shoulders back down to the starting position and repeat.

Obviously this has similar aspects to a standard barbell shrug. However, using the calf machine allows a lot more opportunity to test new weights and perform drop sets.

4. Upright Rows

This exercise features more of the shoulders than it does the traps – however it really helps stretches out the muscle and is a good exercise to finish a session with.

This exercise works best with a barbell – this keeps both sides at equal levels. Aim for 8-10 reps for 3 sets:

1. Standing straight, hold the barbell below you – shoulder width apart. Make sure there’s a slight bend in your elbows and that your arms are fully extended.

2. Keep your chest out and head up. Lift with your shoulders and raise your elbows up and outward. Your hands will follow, but will stay central to your body. Imagine it as if your trying to pull your shirt up.

3. Continue to raise the bar until it is just below the chin. Hold the weight for a second.

4. Lower it back down to starting position and repeat.

This exercise has many variations – dumbbells, Smith Machines, cables and bands can all be used to preform an upright row. We feel the best successes come from the bar – keeping it balanced during the pull further develops the muscle and deters imbalances.

5. Smith Machine Shrugs

Similar to the first exercise we’ve covered. The Smith Machine in general has had criticism in the past – but doing shrugs on them is such a guilty pleasure… and great for building mass.

With this exercise you don’t need to worry about putting the weight down, or picking it back up. It saves you the energy that’s usually used from lifting the weight up in the first place.

For this exercise you will of course, need a Smith Machine:

1. Standing straight, make sure the bar is set slightly below your arms after extension.

2. Unrack the weight and raise your shoulders (like you would in Exercise 1) and hold for a moment.

3. Lower the weight and repeat.

This exercise is aimed at going heavy, it’s very hard to mess this up unless you break form or rotate your shoulders. It allows you to put a lot more pressure on your traps, encouraging them to grow.

Conclusion

So there you have it. You now know more about how traps have been saving your ass in the gym, and how to make them keep up the good work!

These exercises should be relatively easy to perform in any gym, and are a surefire way to make your traps explode!

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The post How to Explode Your Traps using these 5 Solid Exercises appeared first on Fit Chief.

“Oh no, I don’t do deadlifts, bro. They’re way too dangerous.”

How many times have you heard this said?

Probably a lot, right?

If I had a penny for how many times I’ve heard that deadlifts are the quickest route to Snap City, I’d have enough money to buy the hospital they’ll supposedly put me in.

The main thing you have to remember about the bro that warned you about deadlifts is:

That guy’s an idiot.

Smart guys don’t mess up a deadlift.

Why? Because they treat them with enough respect to do them properly, and know that the rewards are going to be huge, rather than looking for a quick ego-boost of a win.

Chalk up, strap on, drop your hips and get ready: this is the FitChief Guide to the Deadlift Benefits for Bros.

1. Insane Gains

If you’re just starting deadlifts, you’re in for a treat. With the amount of muscle groups it works, it’ll put an inch on pretty much everything.

Deadlift is the gift that keeps on giving, and considering the amount of muscle groups it trains up, your body has no choice but to grow in efforts to keep up with the gigantic iron weeds its pulling from the ground.

And the beauty of it? Because of the collective force of your muscles working together, it’s harder to make them all plateau. Usually by finding the weak link in the chain of your deadlift and training it up, you can just continue to grow and grow.

To make it easier, have the classic ‘short-term/long-term’ goals. Adding another rep or increasing the weight every so often just to make sure you’re getting closer to that promised pull.

2. Shredded

Let’s face it – caloric deficit is your only way to lose the flab and bring out the ab.

But what does a deadlift have to do with that? It’s nothing like cardio.

Wrong, it’s better. It’s a hardcore exercise that demands so much from your body, it can tear your fat cells to pieces.

That’s right, depending on your weight and lifts you can burn around 450 calories an hour!

3. Speed, Power, Explosion!

The only chances of moving anywhere at speed while deadlifting is if you fall through the floor. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be living life in the slow lane.

The power required to pull heavy ass weight off the ground requires some quick reflexes from the central nervous system, combined with some really explosive power.

This just doesn’t apply to your back either, this covers muscle groups all over your body which are taking benefits from the pulling.

Done right, it’s an exercise you can’t lose with.

4. Grips of the Gods

Ever wondered if there was a fool-proofed way to be one of those guys with super-strong handshakes?

Well now there is.

If there’s one thing deadlifts are top notch at producing, it’s grip strength. No bones about it, this is the exercise to stop shaking hands… and start crushing them.

It doesn’t stop there, as we all know the deadlift works with multiple muscle groups throughout the body – it also makes it damned good at building arms, specifically biceps.

5. Boom! Hormones Everywhere!

It doesn’t take a genius to know that muscle growth and testosterone are very close acquaintances – buddies in fact. They usually occur together after the body has been through a lot of exertion, triggering the release of testosterone, human growth hormone and other delicious strength gaining treats.

The testosterone is key here as it helps:

• Build Lean Muscle
• Increase Bone Density
• Heighten Mood
• Increase Libido

Whereas the growth hormone is solid for:

• Protein Synthesis
• Utilizing Fatty Acids

They secrete the most during sleep, so make sure to catch those Z’s!

6. Perfectly Practical

If you’re ever trying to unload the car of groceries, chances are you don’t do it on your back in a pressing fashion.
It requires grip strength, tenacity and also a hell of a lot of traps – but what better exercise to build up these areas than deadlift?

The tricks of the trade can stem into your everyday life, and believe me it’s for the better. It seems to me a lot of everyday life appears to be bending down and picking things up.

So deadlifting isn’t just for strength building and muscle gains it’s also incredibly effective for taking better control over your daily life.

7. Safe as a… Safe

Most deadlift injuries usually occur due to idiocy. 

This gives the lift a bad reputation, and many blame it for their own mistakes.

Done properly, a deadlift is a pretty standard exercise and shouldn’t cause harm.

However, people seem to fluff deadlifts a lot for two main reasons:

1. Convenience

2. Ego

Convenience is an absolute killer. People just find it easy to deadlift with a rounded lower back. Although the weight may be easier to lift, it puts so much additional pressure on the spine and can risk slipping a disk, or worse – losing gains.

Ego is another one. Nothing feels better than pulling a bar full of plates off the ground for the rest of the world to see. But you should want it enough to do it properly.

It’s easier to pull weights if you break form, but at what cost? If you feel you’re like your cheating, just stop. Leave your ego at the door, or it’ll take everything you’ve worked for.

Follow correct form and you’ll never have a problem.

What happens when you fail a lift?

Bench-Presser: Pinned. Potentially by the neck.

Squatter: Pinned. Potentially broken both knees.

Deadlifter: *drops weight* Walks away.

If the weight feels to heavy when you’re deadlifting you can just drop it. The bar’s not going to land on your feet. It’s an incredibly safe choice when done correctly.

8. Solid Core

Yes, number #8 is about abs. Not many people know this but deadlifts are incredible for building up a solid core. How? Support.

One of your abs’s main functions is to protect your back and keep you stable. It keeps you upright and balanced, and what better way to train them up than balancing whilst holding a hell of a lot of weight.

And the more you train deadlift, the better they’ll get at it and the better they’ll look.

Deadlift Benefits for Men Conclusion

As you can see from this generous portion of evidence, deadlifts aren’t just beneficial to your lifting lifestyle, they’re beneficial to your entire being.

Whether you’re looking to grow your abs, unpack the shopping, grow out or shred up. This is the exercise you’ve been needing to thicken out that physique and become a much stronger lifter.

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The post Deadlift Benefits for Men appeared first on Fit Chief.

You know that cylindrical cube full of heavy things, that you and I take for granted? Not everybody has access to those, not everyone has the opportunity to build chiseled chests with such convenience and ease just by throwing metal around. And a lot of people who want to indulge in their personal ‘Cirque du SolidGainz’ workouts can’t for unfortunate reasons, be they:

• The cost of a gym membership
• A gym being too far away
• Their gym has had a another water leak and once again we all must suffer for their mistake

If one of these bullet points best describes you, I have some good news.

There are a multitude of options that can be pursued to best solve this problem:

1: Get a job (or a higher paying one)

2: Move house

3: Quit and give up entirely

They’re all incredible choices, but unfortunately they all come at some kind of cost, and in no way direct way get you closer to building those pecs of steel.

So may we suggest a fourth option?

Read this article.

That’s right. Here is the number one solution to satisfy all your pec-passion needs with this: the number one guide on how to build chest muscles fast without weights.

Whether you’re at home, in a hostel, or homeless – this the solution to a strong healthy chest without the aid of dumbbells or barbells.

However, you will need the following tools for these exercises:

A floor.

Once you’ve gathered all of this equipment, read on to get the specifics about each exercise.

1. Single Leg Push Up

This is one of the most demanding exercises we’ll cover. It’s best to get it out of the way first.

Start this push up like any other, use your hands and toes to hold your weight over the floor.

Make sure your feet are spread shoulder width apart and that your body is ready.

Take one foot off the ground and hover it like a mass-gaining magnet. You are ready to perform a push up.

Easy? Well then, you’ll just have to spread your feet even wider apart.

Once the pain has set in and that side of your chest is fried, swap foot, it’s time to do the other. Repeat until pained.

2. Diamond Push Up

Another classic for how to build chest muscles fast without weights: the diamond press.

This is another exercise that requires another visit to what experts refer to as the ‘pec-training equivalent of doggy’: the push up position.

While in this position, we’re going to try something new. Where are your hands? Well they shouldn’t be there. Move them.

This time we want the index fingers on each hand to touch, same with the thumbs – if you haven’t worked it out you should be making a diamond shape with your fingers.

As usual your body should be in a straight line and your hands should meet just under your chest. And keep those elbows in for God’s sake.

Hold each rep for two seconds if you want maximum effects.

3. Staggered Hand Push Up

Have you ever been texted this face :/ ? It’s a vague emotion, expressed even more vaguely through two symbols that should only meet in an URL. Who the hell does that sidewinder smiler think he is? Until this day he’s been nothing but a waste of digital space.

However, I do believe I’ve found the perfect use for that attention-whore seeking emoticon: as a charming introduction to intricate nature of staggered push ups.

As before, you need to re-enter the glorious position of ‘Pec-Doggy’ but this time we want our hands in totally different places.

Like the mouth on that ridiculously disappointed smiley face, both arms should be diagonally across from one another.

What do I mean by this? Simple, plant one arm on the ground slightly below the shoulder, with the other one slightly above. Now push.

After each set ensure you change arm positions to for a full coverage on each side of the chest.

4. Leg Kick Push Up

For activating a mass of muscle fibers, look no further than this exercise. It’s a great exercise to build chest muscles fast without using weights.

Start in a regular push up position, you know it only too well by now. Next you’re going to go down as you would with a normal rep.

Is your chest nearly touching the ground? Hold that position. Because what happens next is really going to punish your pecs.

Kick one of your legs out with the aim of having it coming out at a 90 degree angle. Don’t bend your leg. Once it’s out there pause, enjoy the pain, bring the leg back and finish the push up. Repeat with the other leg.

5. Triangle Push Up

Last but by no means least we need to consider to the triangle push up.

Calling upon the supporting muscles of the chest a bit more the triangle push up is  a great exercise to develop overall chest strength.

Start in the traditional push up position. Perform a normal push up.

What’s the catch? Is there a catch? Surely there’s a catch.

There’s a catch. With each rep, instead of lowering your body to the center of your hands, aim for your left on one rep, and your right for the other.

This puts a lot more pressure on one arm that it does on the other, and really packs on the mass around that area in a far quicker fashion.

Rep Ranges

We realize that not everyone can do push ups. If you are in this position, your
main goal is to get better. Start in the standard push up position and drop your knees, keep working at that ground until it gives you muscle-fied gold!

After you’ve achieved that, the next step is to push yourself to do each of these exercises for 5 sets of 15.

These exercises are designed to set your chest on fire, it may be wise to perform a few of them each workout and cycle them throughout pec sessions.

Final Thoughts

If you’re at a point where you can no longer afford a gym, or couldn’t catch up to the price of one in the first place, we strongly suggest our article about Good, Cheap Bulking Foods. You can read all about that nutritional news here.

How to Build Chest Muscles Fast Without Weights Conclusion

Admittedly, the main weightless exercises you can for chest without the use of any equipment whatsoever are largely push-up related. That does not extinguish the benefits that are associated with such exercises.

If you situation has brought you to the brink of never seeing a bench press again, take heed from these teachings, and we’ll be able to PRESS on together.

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