This is going to be the first entry in my “how to” series. I will be writing many how to guides in the future, hopefully answering a lot of the questions that the reader of this blog have. Today I’m going to be showing you how to improve your grip strength.

Grip strength is so important, not just for weight training but for many sports like rock climbing, MMA, wrestling, powerlifting, strongman etc. Good grip strength is essential for all weight trainers, and there are some good exercises available that will help you increase your gripping power!

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Just a quick post today to let everyone know that I added a new tips section with a whole bunch of solid tips to help you achieve your goals!

I’m sure there are plenty more tips that ya’ll know so leave them in the comments at the bottom of the tips page.

Click here to view the new tips page!

Check out this video, do you think you could tear through a phone book?

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Today I’m going to talk about beating plateaus and bringing up lagging body parts using pre exhaust training. Lagging body parts, we’ve all got them. Plateaus, we’ve all experienced them. Both these situations require that your training be that bit more intense, to stimulate more muscle growth. Enter, pre exhausting!

What is pre exhausting?

Pre exhausting involves exhausting a muscle with an isolation exercise, then hitting it with a big compound exercise with no rest in between sets. Sounds hard? It is, and it needs to be. Pre exhausting is often used by professional bodybuilders to bring up lagging body parts in the lead up to shows, and as I mentioned above, it’s great for busting through plateaus where your muscle either hasn’t increased in size, or strength.

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Muscles can be stubborn bastards! The human body is very adaptive, it can quickly adjust to stress and changes. This applies to bodybuilding and and form of resistance training.

Seasoned lifters will know that sooner or later you’re going to hit a sticking point. You won’t be able to gain any weight or strength. This is commonly referred to as a plateau. Everyone gets them, and experienced lifters know what to do. You need to change.

There are countless ways you can change your workouts to get your body growing again but today we’re going to look at ways to change your lifting to get that little bit more out of your muscles, make them work harder, shock them into growth!

Just a quick note, these techniques should not be used every workout. Using them too often defeats the purpose. Only shock a particular muscle group once every 3-4 weeks.

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Compound exercises are movements that use more than one joint. Examples are bench press, squat, deadlift etc. Isolation exercises only use one joint in the movement. Examples are bicep curl, leg extension and dumbbell lateral raise.

Compound exercises are responsible for the majority of any muscle growth and strength increases when training with weights. These movements allow you to move the most weight, stress the body more, and recruit the most muscle fibers to do the work. In short, if you’re not doing enough compounds you’re limiting your potential.

I’ve made a list below of the compound exercises that make up the bread n’ butter or muscle growth, exercises everyone should be doing for muscle growth and increasing strength.

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When I first started training I was clueless. I didn’t know anyone that worked out, I didn’t have the cash for personal training sessions and the only information I had access to was in bodybuilding magazines. Now days new lifters have the internet. The internet is the best resource for bodybuilding and weight training information. Not only can you read expert articles for free, you can interact with experienced trainers on forums.

That being said, there’s no reason why beginner lifters should make the same mistakes I did. The information is there, all you have to do is a little searching. So today I’m going to list 5 common mistakes newbies make and why they’re mistakes. Enjoy!

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When you ask someone what is the best exercise for building big triceps you’ll probably get skullcrushers, pushdowns, or maybe close grip bench or dips. While these are all solid exercises, and you should be using them all, one of the most overlooked exercises is the dumbbell kickback.

I classify dumbbell kickbacks are a finishing exercise. This means you do them at the end of the workout and focus on technique, slow movement and getting the best contraction and pump. Finishing exercises are great because when you near the end of your workout, energy levels are low, and you can’t move as much weight. So the best way to finish off the workout is pick up a low weight, isolate the muscle, do some nice slow reps with perfect technique.

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We’ve all been there…reading through articles and coming across words and thinking, “what the hell does that mean?”. I’ve created a list of popular bodybuilding and fitness terms and slang and I explain the meaning of each one. Enjoy!

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Welcome to real weight training. This is the first post. Stay tuned!