YOU ARMS STOP GROWING? By Ben Pakulski

I'll be frank, I'm getting tired of all this "functional training," talk. Come on! 




Is that the reason you really got into lifting weights? It seems arm training has taken a dip in popularity and this may be the case in some circles but if you're REALLY honest I'm guessing you wanted arms that resembled a SUPERHERO... and for that, doing DIRECT bicep and tricep workout will
NEVER go out of style. 

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And having big, muscular arms that stretch your shirtsleeves will NEVER EVER go out of style either, so today is a reminder that when you pick up a copy of Ben Pakulski's MI40 System you'll also get his complete 21-day workout to BIGGER ARMS.  The same workout that packed TWO INCHES on his arms in 3 weeks! RIDICULOUS!  I would be
happy with just 3/8ths of an inch!  

Get MI40 System + 21 Days to Bigger Arms FREEEE <---- click="" font="" here="">

Now onto our arm tips compliments of the big man himself... 

4 Uncommon Tips To BIGGER ARMS 
By Ben Pakulski 

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1) LESS VOLUME! 

Small muscles require less volume, and recover faster. Basic logic says, a smaller muscle has less overall total volume of muscle fibres. It takes LESS overall stimulus to fatigue these muscles and less overall training volume to exhaust glycogen stores (stored muscle energy).


2) HEAVY WEIGHTS (WITH PERFECT FORM) 

Heavy weights are going to fatigue a greater overall percentage of muscle fibres in a shorter amount of time (aka less sets). Heavy weights also have  the added benefit of stimulating "high threshold motor units". These are the  
muscle fibres that require a lot more stimulus to grow and respond, but also the fibres that are more likely to be responsible for muscle hypertrophy or GROWTH!



3) ARMS RECEIVE A LOT OF STIMULUS ON A REGULAR BASIS

Arms receive a lot of stimulus on a regular basis. For most people, this tends to occur in the middle of the range of motion where the muscles are strongest. 

In order to get the arms to grow and respond, it is necessary to subject them to a different type of stimulus. One of the best ways to improve arm development is to subject them to more tension and continuous tension at the extremes of the range of motion (a.k.a, when a muscle is fully lengthened or fully shortened --where muscles are weakest). This will allow for greater time under tension as well as targeting different  
points of the strength curve to force the nervous system to adapt and stimulate new muscle growth.



4) YOU MUST ENGAGE THE TARGET MUSCLE FIRST IN ANY MOVEMENT

The FIRST muscle to engage in ANY movement must be the muscle you are trying to target.
If you are working your biceps, to most effectively stimulate the bicep, it must be the muscle to initiate the movement. As mentioned, muscles are weakest at those extremes and that makes it LEAST likely to contract. This is where your conscious intent and control is vital! The best way to ensure this is happening is to CONTRACT its antagonist muscle. 

This will ensure a fully lengthened working muscle and make it much more likely that it will initiate the movement(provided youre using proper control).

e.g. when working your bicep, to fully stretch your bicep at the bottom of the range, it is necessary to  contract your tricep before initiating the movement of contracting your bicep again.The opposite is true when training triceps. Contract your biceps at the top of the range when a tricep is fully stretched(forearm 
touches biceps).

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Tomorrow is your LAST CHANCE to get a Ben's 21 Days to BIGGER ARMS workout for FREEEEE when you pick up a copy of his 40-day muscle building system - MI40! The same program that helped him become one of the
top 15 bodybuilders in the WORLD! CLICK HERE

If you're tired of busting your butt in the gym with little to show, tired of seeing your buddies get twice as big as you and can't remember the last time you had a growth spurt... you would be insane not to give this a shot!  If a 275 pound pro has room to grow, I'm sure you do too!

Get the full story here... Even if you don't buy, there is some brilliant info on how to immediately double your gains: 

Have a great day


P.S. I just announced a SURPRISE BONUS of my own when you grab MI40....

Announce our bonus here!

Changing Your Grip to Build Bigger Biceps

Switch your grip and give this biceps workout a try for more muscular arms. 




The barbell curl is king when it comes to building biceps mass, as it adequately hits the biceps muscle group. But you can get even more from this old standard by changing your grip width to alter the angle of stress placed upon the biceps muscles.

    * Regular Grip: For most bodybuilders, this refers to a shoulder-width grip. In this position, the arms are fairly vertical and the biomechanics for the curl are optimal. This grip allows a fairly even contribution from both biceps heads and the brachialis to curl the weight.

     
    * Wide Grip: Any grip beyond shoulder-width is considered wide for the barbell curl, but about 6 inches wider than shoulder-width is average. A wide grip places more emphasis on the short head of the biceps brachii.

     
    * Narrow Grip: Any grip less than shoulder-width is considered narrow. Most bodybuilders find that the closest they can comfortably get is about 2 inches or so in from shoulder width, or just beyond hip width. A narrow grip shifts more emphasis onto the long head of the biceps.

     
    * Varied Grip: Although a shoulder-width grip hits all the biceps muscles hard, it's important to modify your grip from narrow to wide (and in between) to stress the biceps muscles from as many different angles as possible, resulting in the fullest, most complete development. 




You can throw grip changes into your biceps workout in several ways.     

    1) Increase grip width by 2 inches each training session, beginning with a grip width just under shoulder-width and ending with a grip width just beyond 6 inches outside shoulder width.

    2) Do the same as above within a single training session, changing your grip width for each set.

    3) Incorporate your own variations of these suggestions to continually modify your grip width, which will keep your muscles stimulated for gains.




    A GRIPPING BICEPS WORKOUT

    Use the following workout to hit the biceps from every angle.


    EXERCISES SETS/REPS
    
Barbell Curl (warm-up with comfortable grip) 2/10
    
Barbell Curl (shoulder-width grip)                     1/6-10
    
Barbell Curl (6" beyond shoulder-width grip) 1/8-12
    
Barbell Curl (2" inside shoulder-width grip) 1/8-12
    
Barbell Curl (4" beyond shoulder-width grip) 1/6-10
    
Barbell Curl (shoulder-width grip)                     1/6-10
    
Barbell Curl (2" beyond shoulder-width grip) 1/6-10
    
Incline Dumbbell Curl                                         2/6-10
    
Preacher Curl                                                         2/8-12


By Timothy Fritz M&F

ARMageddon !!! The Key to Arm Growth

To build stronger biceps and triceps, it helps to build your knowledge about your arm muscles and how they work. 

Your upper arm is divided into three main muscle groups.

•     Firstly, we have the biceps, which runs along the front of the arm, from your elbow to your shoulder joint. The main function of the biceps is to bend the elbow.

•     Secondly, we have the triceps which run from the elbow to the shoulder. Their main role is to straighten the elbow. The triceps are a larger muscle group than the biceps, which means they have more potential to grow.

•     The third group is the brachialis, an upper arm muscle that runs under the biceps. It’s really only visible when looking at the arms from the side, but will make your arms appear much larger from a side view. Building this muscle will create a fuller and bigger bicep.

Most people focus on biceps training, where most of the workout is centred on supine (underhand – palms forward) grip exercises which will mainly work the bicep muscles, and less on the triceps and brachialis.

If you want big arms or even sculpted and well-designed arms then you need to work your triceps and brachialis just as hard. To get great arms you need to work the triceps, biceps and the brachialis. Let’s look the most important principles you need to follow in order to build bigger, stronger arms.




Twice a Week

Train your arms a maximum of twice per week. The muscles in your arms are more prone to overtraining than other muscles of the body, mainly because they’re worked hard during pulling and pushing movements, such as the bench press and lat pull down.

So many people think that training their arms 3-4 times a week is the best way to get them to grow. Do this, and you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment. Stick to 1-2 arm workouts per week. This gives your arms the recovery time they need to grow bigger and stronger. If you work them properly and hard enough you won’t need to work them more than twice a week.

Train Hard

To get your arms to grow, you need to overload them by periodically training them to failure and beyond. Don’t just go through the motions. Prepare yourself for some high intensity sets and really squeeze out every last rep.


Train Fast

If you’re primary goal is to add muscle mass to your arms, your entire arm routine should take you no more than 30 minutes. Building muscle is not like running a marathon. Many people do too much arm work in search of big arms. Short and intense is the best training way to add mass quickly. When training your arms, more is not always better.


Correct Technique

Lift and lower the weight slowly in a controlled, focused manner. If the weights you’re using are too heavy, you’re only training your ego. This will never build big arms. To develop your arms fully, start every repetition with your arms fully extended. This makes the exercise harder, and targets all the fibres in the muscle.

If you’re using too much weight (like most people do) you’ll end up doing partial repetitions, and swinging your body all over the place but most importantly you’ll put yourself in real danger of getting injured. Reduce your weights and do the exercise properly. I stick to 1 general rule when it comes to weight training: perfect your form, then look at increasing the weight you’re lifting.




Nutrition

Well defined arms don’t come from curls or presses alone. Exercise only provides the stimulus for growth. To provide your muscles with the fuel they need to get bigger and stronger, you need to make sure you eat enough calories every day. If your arms are growing, and your weight is moving up on the scales, you know you’re on the right track.

Something else you can do to ensure rapid muscle growth in your arms (and your entire body) is to consume protein and/or carbohydrate immediately prior to, and straight after exercise. I personally stick to a basic whey protein concentrate (TPW Caramel Macchiato concentrate 80 is my favourite) for most of the day and before a workout, for after a workout I tend to use TPW's All in One Protein powder as it contains protein isolate which is absorbed quickly which is crucial for post workout. Nutrients consumed at certain times, most notably before and after your workout, can better contribute to muscle repair and recovery compared to the same nutrients consumed during other times of the day.

Feed your body with the right nutrients after exercise, and your muscles will be able to repair and recover quicker, which means bigger, stronger arms for you.



By: BradBerkleyMOT

17 IMPORTANT TRAINING AND NUTRITION QUESTIONS

What happens when ... You have sex before working out? And other common training and nutrition questions




In the world of health and fitness, old wives' tales and gym lore are oft repeated, chapter and verse, as hardcore fact. Opinions are bandied about as truth, and legend is taken as history. Health clubs are home to more speculation than the pork bellies market. And that's just the way it's always been. Until now.

We've recruited bona fide experts in the fields of exercise science and nutrition to help us answer 17 questions that have historically been ripe for speculation, guesswork and hearsay. So now, instead of listening to the advice of your training partner's friend's roommate's sister, you can be the one giving it. But one word of caution: You may find your standing among old wives seriously downgraded. So, what really happens when . . .


1) You don't wear a belt during heavy lifting? 

According to nutrition and exercise guru Chris Aceto, there are two sides to this coin. "If you don't use a belt when lifting heavy, you could possibly injure yourself because belts support the abdominal and lower back muscles -- the stabilizers of the trunk region," he says. "Paradoxically, when people start out training with a belt, they don't build those stabilizer muscles, so the risk of injury increases as the strength of other muscles increases." In other words, use a belt only to help prevent possible injury on your heavier sets, not to take the place of supporting muscles.


2) You eat too much or too little protein?

We all know that protein builds and maintains muscle (at least all m&f readers do it). So we do our best to get the right amount of protein to reach our personal fitness goals. But what happens on those days your meal schedule gets derailed?

Aceto explains: "If you eat too much protein, the excess is sent to the liver, changed to a sugar and used as fuel, stored as glycogen or stored as bodyfat. Many people don't realize that protein can be stored as fat. Conversely, if you eat too little protein, you fall into a negative nitrogen balance, meaning there aren't enough amino acids to make your muscles grow." All the more reason to keep a log of your daily nutrient intake. Try to stick to 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.


3) You get less than eight hours of sleep?

Sleep deprivation has reached epidemic levels in the United States. While eight hours of work, eight hours of play and eight hours of sleep used to represent the magic triangle of balance in a person's day, our current version is an isosceles, with the sleep side getting ever shorter. What does this mean to you, the dedicated trainer?

"Sleep need is an individual thing," notes m&f Science Editor Jim Stoppani, PhD. "But research supports the fact that most people require between seven and nine hours. You should strive for at least seven; otherwise you risk perturbations in your hormone levels, like growth hormone, which seven hours tend to gain more bodyfat." 


4) You don't stretch on a regular basis?

Between work, the fiancée, Sunday afternoon with the kids and your Internet addiction, you've got maybe an hour a day, four days a week, to hit the gym -- and you're not about to waste one minute of it stretching. So what's the worst that could happen?

"You'll lose flexibility and range of motion in each muscle," reports Aceto. "Consequently, you won't be able to overload the muscle through its entire range, and you'll limit your growth potential." Stretching is best done after working out to maximize flexibility and range of motion. It's never a good idea to stretch cold muscles, because it could lead to muscle pulls and tears.




5) You eat a meal (or meals) after 9:00 p.m.?

"Diet experts" often advise not to eat after 9:00 p.m. But what if you do?

"If your goal is to build muscle, you should consume a slow-digesting protein like meat or a casein product within an hour before sleeping to provide amino acids throughout the night," Stoppani advises. "Without them, muscle breakdown occurs while you sleep. As far as carbs go, some controversy exists. Many bodybuilders get good results by not eating carbs within four hours of bedtime. Others say it doesn't matter, as carbs won't make you fat if you don't take in excessive calories throughout the day."

A good rule of thumb: Try to grab a protein-rich (30 grams or so), low- to moderate-complex-carbohydrate meal about an hour before bedtime. Your muscles will thank you in the morning.


6) You try to train while you're sick?

"Studies show that exercise will generally cause an acute suppression of the immune system," states William J. Kraemer, PhD, CSCS, director of research and a professor in the department of kinesiology at The University of Connecticut, Storrs. "But with things like upper respiratory tract infections [colds], it's not going to do much damage and can even be beneficial if the exercise isn't too intense."

But what about the feverish? "If you're experiencing any flulike symptoms, you don't want to take the chance of compromising yourself and making things worse," Kraemer warns. Plus, it's not polite to sneeze on your gym partner while he's benching.


7) You train a bodypart two days in a row?

This idea is all but taboo in gym circles; the common belief is that it will surely lead to overtraining.

"We've trained people on consecutive days and have had success with it," Kraemer points out. "But the key is, the rest period following needs to compensate for the intensity of the workouts. This means between workouts, don't do any other type of activity -- just go home, eat and relax. It's also important that you vary the load on the muscles and the angle of the exercises. For example, if you were to train chest on consecutive days, you'd want to do flat benches on day one and inclines on the following day, or vice versa."

While this shouldn't be the basis of a long-term approach to your training, you could certainly incorporate it as a short-term way to shock your muscles into new growth. And make sure you consume sufficient carbs, protein and total calories.


8) You have sex before working out?

"Women weaken legs!" This infamous caveat bleated by crusty boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill to Rocky Balboa as he trained for his title shot made many a lonely lady out of athletes' wives and girlfriends. Did Mickey know what he was talking about, or did he have a few marbles knocked loose during his fighting days?

"It depends on who it's with," jokes Aceto. On a more serious note, he adds: "The idea that having sex drains you of your strength is an old wives' tale. I think it's probably a positive thing because it can help you to relax, men-tally and through the release of chemicals. When you're relaxed, you tend to perform better." Just don't make it a marathon session.


9) You lift too soon after eating?

Remember how your mom always told you to wait an hour after eating before going in the pool?

Some people believe the same warning applies to resistance training. But what really happens if you lift on a full stomach?

"For most people, nothing," Stoppani remarks. "Some people have to eat earlier, as their stomachs may be more sensitive; when you work out, blood flow is diverted away from the GI system and to the muscle, and digestion and absorption of nutrients slows. But it's more of an individual thing." Regardless of your preworkout eating habits, you need to consume some sort of protein and carbohydrate within an hour after your workout.

10) You slack off and miss a workout?

So now the job, the fianc´e and the rest of your busy life has squeezed that chest/back workout right out of your schedule. Or worse yet, all of your bodyparts took a backseat this week. Is it time to start repenting?

"Missed workouts provide you with an opportunity to rest," assures Kraemer. "A lot of guys become obsessed with getting to the gym anyway, so it can be a positive thing. The body is not going to untrain that quickly." Just how much time are we talking here? "In high-level athletes it can take two weeks," he says. "Recreational athletes won't see the effects for up to six weeks. Moreover, we've found that the longer an athlete has been training, the longer a rest period he or she should take to re-energize."


11) You get too busy and skip a meal?

Sooner or later, it happens to everyone: You're running late and you're fresh out of meal replacement bars. Major dilemma?

"If you skip a meal here or there, it's not going to suddenly put you into a catabolic state," Aceto notes. "We do have amino-acid pools that we store for just these instances. We also have glycogen reserves. But if you're trying to put on mass, you obviously don't want to make a habit of it."


12) You drink a glass of raw eggs?

Credit Rocky with propagating yet another sports-related myth. Who can forget watching the Italian Stallion in the ultimate act of athletic dedication, downing a glass full of freshly cracked eggs? And who didn't try, at least once, to emulate his gut-churning heroics? But to what end -- increased strength, energy and stamina, or food poisoning?

Although it's uncommon, you could suffer bacterial contamination. "You need to be careful with raw foods because they could contain food-borne pathogens," explains Kraemer. In fact, cooked eggs are better digested and utilized than raw. Sorry, Rock. Mickey should have told you.




13) You don't consume whey protein and simple carbs post-workout?

m&f has repeatedly heralded the importance of grabbing a quick-absorbing protein and simple-carb meal after working out. But why is this so important, and what happens if you miss it?

"We've found, as have other labs, that the initial 30 minutes to an hour after a workout is the optimal time for protein synthesis to occur," Kraemer states. The mantra "the sooner the better" clearly applies in this instance, he adds. "We actually try to get to that post-workout meal within 10 minutes after training. But sometimes people have a tough time getting a meal down that soon after working out, in which case a half-hour or even an hour is fine."

If you can't find whey or casein after your workout, go for any kind of protein. It may not be digested as efficiently, but as the sailors say, "Any port in a storm."


14) You sit in a sauna and try to "sweat off" pounds? 

It's hard to envision an image more synonymous with weight loss than that of a towel-clad health enthusiast sweating it out in a sauna. But what's really going on in there? Is some mystical metabolic process transpiring that will ultimately render the user thinner?

"No, you just lose water due to sweating for cooling the body," reports Stoppani. Don't sauna before a workout, as the majority of the water comes from the blood, so you may compromise blood flow and the pump to your muscles. A recent study did find, however, that sweating can be beneficial for your health."


15) You take a month . . . or a year . . . off from training?

A lot of the more serious (read: obsessed) trainees out there can't stomach the thought of missing one workout, let alone a month's -- or a year's -- worth. What's the worst that could happen, other than gym-withdrawal side effects?

"After a month, you'll definitely lose some muscle mass and strength, but probably not as much as you might think," Stoppani points out. "A recent study found that lifters lost little muscle and strength and gained minimal fat after six weeks off."

And what if you decide to call it quits for good -- will your muscle turn into fat? "The myth that muscle cells turn into fat derives from the fact that most guys who were bodybuilders at one time continue to eat as if they still were -- as if they still have the same metabolic requirements as someone with big muscles," Stoppani remarks. "But with smaller muscles comes a slower metabolism, and less training means less opportunity to burn calories. Hence fat begins to accumulate."


16) You lift on an empty stomach?

Once again, life gets in the way of lifting, and you miss your preworkout meal. What can you expect from your hungry body during the workout? "As far as fatigue goes, it depends on your reps and total sets," says Stoppani. "The higher your reps, the more muscle-glycogen you'll depend on to complete those reps. Without some form of dietary carbohydrate, you may fatigue earlier."

He continues: "As far as hormonal responses go, lifting without taking in carbs before the workout will lead to higher cortisol levels during and after the workout. Cortisol inhibits testosterone's anabolic effects and leads to muscle breakdown.

"Not having any protein before the workout is a double whammy as even higher cortisol levels lead to further muscle depletion. Eating protein helps to inhibit some of this breakdown, so having nothing to eat before a workout is bad for muscle gains."

In other words, carry a bar, a drink, something. Just don't hit the gym with a growling gut.




17) You work out when you're still sore?

Another old wives' tale is to stay out of the gym if your muscles still ache from your last workout. "A recent study found that when muscles were trained when still sore, no added damage occurred to those fibers," states Stoppani. "One study found that when a workout was repeated just two days later and muscles were still sore, subjects had lower cortisol levels than normal. Since low cortisol means more testosterone is available, it may actually be beneficial from time to time to train the same bodypart two days in a row -- but only rarely."

Story by: By Shawn Perine

EXTRA STRENGTH AND SIZE FOR YOUR BICEPS

Cure your biceps blunders with this heavy-duty dose of dumbbells. 

You know the adage: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. When you aim to improve your physique, you don’t use the same approach day after day; instead, you diversify, incorporating several different movements, angles and loads. And when something stops working for you in the gym, common sense dictates that it’s time for a change. Yet there are some who play to the adage, repeating the failed workouts of yesteryear in hopes that this time will be different. One of the joys of lifting weights is that you have hundreds of options at your disposal, and there may be no greater ally than dumbbells in the quest for a better body.

Dumbbells are the Talented Mr. Ripley of the fitness world, doing the work of barbells and machines in nearly every imaginable exercise, oftentimes better. Their versatility is second to none, allowing lifters to detect muscular imbalances, train without a spotter, vary wrist angles…the list goes on. This month, take a mostly unilateral approach to your biceps training. Open with a standard mass-builder, dumbbell-style. From there, it’s on to dumbbell incline curls, which target the outer head of your bi’s. Close with a one-arm preacher curl to bombard that often-neglected inner head.

Need to inject a little variety into your biceps workout? Then walk away from that rack of EZ-bars and try our all-dumbbell routine. You’ll work your peaks from different positions that are guaranteed to keep them growing.




1. Standing Dumbbell Curl

How Many? 1 warm-up + 4 sets; 10, 10, 12, 12 reps

1) START: Stand erect holding two dumbbells at your sides. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows. Palms face forward.

2) MOVE: In an explosive yet controlled manner, simultaneously curl both dumbbells, keeping your elbows tight at your sides. At the top, squeeze your biceps hard as you hold the peak contraction momentarily. Slowly reverse the motion, bringing the weights back to the start. Repeat.



2. Incline Alternating Dumbbell Curl

How Many? 4 sets; 8-12 reps apiece

1) START: Set the bench to about a 45-60-degree angle. Hold a dumbbell in each hand as you sit back on the bench and allow your arms to hang straight down toward the floor. Palms faced forward.

2) MOVE: Curl one arm at a time toward the same-side shoulder, keeping your elbow back. Keep your head straight and don’t lean to either side. Squeeze your biceps at the top. Slowly lower to the start. Alternate arms.

3. One-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl

How Many? 3 sets; 10-15 reps for each arm

1) START: Hold a dumbbell in one hand and secure yourself on a preacher bench. Keep your nonworking hand on the bench for balance.

2) MOVE: Slowly lower the dumbbell, stopping just short of locking out your elbow. In a smooth and controlled motion, curl the weight toward the same-side shoulder. Squeeze at the top before slowly returning to the start. Complete all reps for one side, then repeat with the opposite arm.



by Eric Velazquez