Truly Huge Fitness Tips

[KenNiemann]

Avoid Carbs At Night

Some nutrition experts claim that calorie balance is the only
significant factor affecting fat loss and that avoiding carbs
at night has no impact. On the other hand, many contend that
carbs are the best eaten in the morning (to replenish glycogen
stores after a night of sleep), pre workout (as fuel for exercise
energy) and post workout (to provide glycogen and to increase
insulin levels for stimulating muscle growth).

It is consistently recommended avoiding carbs at night-if you're
able to replenish your muscle and liver glycogen throughout the
day, then the excess you consume in the evenings will be more
likely be converted into fat.

A study performed by Swiss researchers also concluded that carbs
should be avoided in the evening. Subjects who ate a high carb
meal (spaghetti and carrots) two to three hours before bedtime
had both higher body temperatures and heart rates than subjects
who instead ate a big carb meal in the morning. These physiological
factors could interfere with sleep, ultimately having a
negative impact on fat burning and muscle growth.

Recommendations: Since a good night's sleep is crucial, watch your
carb in take at night. Eat your last high-carb meal at least four
hours before you go to bed.

[KenNiemann]

Bodybuilding's 10 Commandments

1. Thou Shall Lift Big
Give your muscles a reason to grow but jumping into something right
off the bat is dumb.. Be intense, and lift heavy weight that you
can only lift 6-12 times. Going heavy does not means to throw
form out the window, but to lift as heavy as you can while staying
in control, and keeping good form.

2. Thou Shall Eat Big
You must eat to grow, and keeping your body in that energy state is
crucial. To estimate how many calories you should be consuming
times your body weight by 16-18 so you can shoot for your nutrition
in take. Eat 6 meals a day with breakfast, and post-workout being
the biggest meals.

3. Thou Shall Sleep
Recovery is key. Remember that muscle building does not take place
in the gym, but while your resting, watching tv, and so on. In the
gym we break down our muscle fibers, and when we rest they rebuild
so they may be strong the next time you workout. You can think of
it as a defense mechanism. Getting enough sleep is crucial and it
is said you need at least 8 hours every night.

4. Thou Shall Drink Large Amounts of Water
Carry that drink bottle with you at all times to keep your body
hydrated, and keep your muscle growing. Keeping yourself well
hydrated so you can train at your best but also because our
muscles are around 75% water and that means we get dehydrated
our muscle will go to cramp. Just drink more water it will help.

5. Thou Shall Be Committed
If you're not sick or injured, you must train, you must eat, and
you have a mind set of a bodybuilder. You start skipping... you
might as well forget those dreams. You must want to become that
impressive physique before you can begin building it. Get
yourself a reliable training partner and make training a
necessity, not an obligation. Make it your number 1 priority.

6. Thou Shall Squat
If you have legs, a desire to grow and your back is OK, you will
squat. Without the king of exercises, your growth is going to
suffer. Squats develop more than just legs. Squats are an a
ll-round body blaster squat and grow. Test and studies have
shown that people that do squats gain almost 40% more chest
muscle than people who don't squat. I'll say it again, squat
and grow...

7. Thou Shall Not Be Afraid of Change
Change your routine around frequently. Every 3-6 weeks, vary
the order that you do your routine, change your whole style
altogether or even do your workout backwards (it works). Try
high reps, low reps, high sets, 1 set you name it try it and
see what works for you. Our bodies try to adapt to everything
and as soon as your muscles adapt to your workout kiss your
muscle gains good bye.

8. Thou Shall Not Overtrain
Do not train the same body parts within 3 days; leave 5 days
for optimal recovery and growth. If your progress is slowing,
you're getting injured or sick frequently, then it's time to
take a break. Take a week off, and then go back at it. Don't
be surprised if you're stronger after your layoff. Overtaining
is the biggest factor that can destroy your hard earn muscle
gains and turn them in a headache. First signs of overtaining
stop, and rest.

9. Thou Shall Not Neglect Injuries
Once you're injured, take a break. Lose 2 weeks training now,
or prepare to keep those injuries forever. I suffered through
a 6 month shoulder injury because I didn't quit when I was
injuried. Don't be dumb like I was because your health is
more important.

10. Thou Shall Learn Right Supplementation
There are four supplements you need to gain muscle The first one
is a multi-vitamin. Don't you wish we could get enough vitamins
through our food, so do I. But when putting our bodies through
all this pain they need a lot more vitamins then someone who
just exercises a couple times a week. If you want to grow than
get the right amount of vitamins. The second one is whey protein.
Whey is a fast absorbing protein that should be taken right
after a workout, or is just a great way to increase your protein
in take.

The third on is glutamine. This is probably the most important
of all as it helps with recovery, maintaining muscle mass, and
the rebuilding of muscle tissue. Glutamine should be the first
thing taken after a workout so it can go right to work and
start building the muscle tissue back up. The last one is
creatine. If you want to increase your workload and build
muscle faster than creatine is a great a to use heavier
weight than normal resulting in muscle and strength gain
in less time.

[KenNiemann]

Body Part Specialization - Lagging Muscle Group Training

Daily Specialization Training - Transform Your Weakest
Bodyparts Into Your Strongest Bodyparts.
By Nick Nilsson

Specialization is a technique that provides highly-targeted
training overload to one or more bodyparts. This can be
in the form of additional training volume and/or training
frequency, i.e. do more sets for it and/or train it more
often. Just like medical doctors specialize in certain areas
of medicine, you will learn how to specialize on a
particular bodypart and excel with it.

I'm going to show you a particular specialization program
that I've found to be extremely useful for developing
stubborn bodyparts. It's not hard to do and it doesn't take
long to do but it has the potential to shatter plateaus in
hard-to-develop bodyparts like a brick through a plate glass
window.

How To Do Daily Specialization:

The name of the program is Daily Specialization and, as
the name implies, it's done on a daily basis. In a nutshell,
you will do just 1 set of 1 exercise for 1 bodypart twice a
day, every day. It's very simple but very powerful and it
can be done with any bodypart you like.

I will use dips as an example here but you can use any
exercise you like. Choose an exercise you can do at home
for your selected bodypart to make it easier and more
convenient to do (chances are, you're not going to be
going to the gym twice a day to do 1 set of 1 exercise.).

If you have weights at home, it will broaden your
selection but I find that freehand exercises, e.g.
dips, chin-ups, push-ups, etc.) are most effective.

Using dips as the example, on Day 1, very soon after
you wake up, do as many dips as you can. Go to failure,
doing as many reps as you can then stop. That's your
morning workout. You're done.

Do everything else in your day as you normally would,
even your regular workouts for that bodypart if they're
on your schedule. This program exists completely outside
your regular workout schedule.

At night before you go to bed, do another set of dips to
failure. That's it. When you wake up the next day, do
another set of dips to failure, just like on Day 1. Keep
this up for as long as you like - anywhere from a few
weeks to a few months, depending on the results you
want and whether you want to switch to another
bodypart or not.

This is the entire program. As a quick note, you can add
a third set in the middle of the day on non-training
days in order to speed results. It will give your body
a little extra stimulus for that bodypart. Also, do
only one bodypart at a time with this program. If you
add in more parts, you will dilute the training
stress and diminish the effects of the program.

The key to success with this program is consistency. You
must do it consistently every day, twice a day, without
fail to provide that constant training stimulus to the body.
Even if you don't feel like it, do it. Even if you're
tired and you don't get nearly as many reps as usual, do
it. Even if your muscles are sore, do it. The only
exception to this rule is if you're sick or injured.

Why It Works:

Physiologically speaking, the body becomes its function.
If you run long distances, your body will have a tendency
to become smaller and lighter to be better able to cope
with the stress. If you lift weights, your body will
have a tendency to become more muscular in order to deal
with the resistance.

We target this highly-efficient adaptation process by
training stubborn bodyparts with very high frequency.
Your body quickly learns it needs to build up that
bodypart in response to this constant workload. Your
body will very quickly start allocating recovery
resources towards rebuilding that part bigger and
stronger.

You keep working it and your body will keep building
it. This program harnesses the adaptive power of your body
and channels it into a specific bodypart for maximum
results. The results are consistent and phenomenal.

Let me give you my experience with Daily Specialization.
I used this program for my shoulders, doing handstand
push-ups. At 200 p ounds, when I started I couldn't do
a single full rep, only a few partial reps.

After 12 weeks of consistently doing handstand push-ups
morning and night, I was able to perform 40 full reps.
If you think about this for a moment, it's actually quite
shocking. Could you imagine barely being able to bench
press your w eight one day then, 3 months later, being
able to press it 40 times.

You can easily achieve powerful results like this with
the Daily Specialization Program.

One of the greatest benefits I found with this program
wasn't even the improvement in strength and muscle
development. Working the stubborn bodypart twice a day
to failure actually made my stubborn shoulders not
stubborn anymore.

[KenNiemann]

Best 30 Minute Fat Burning Circuit Training Workout
by Shannon Entin

When you need a break from your traditional workout, or when you
need to get a total body workout in a short period of time, try this
30-Minute Fat-Burning Circuit Workout. Perform the workout with
light weights (about 50% of your maximum lift weight) and move
continuously. You should be able to get 25 to 30 repetitions in for
each weight training segment. Don't rest between exercises. The
exercises below add up to 27 minutes, but you'll need about 10 to
15 seconds in between exercises to grab your weights and get
into proper position.

(2 minutes) Start with an aerobic segment to warm up. March in
place, walk slowly on a treadmill, or cycle slowly on a stationary
cycle. (1 minute) Tricep kickback/squat: Hold a dumbbell in each hand and pull your elbows back so you're holding the weights near your waist. As you squat, straighten your arms behind you,
pressing the weight back and moving only your forearms. Your
upper arm (from shoulder to elbow) should not move. Lower the
weight as you press up from the squat. Repeat steadily.
(3 minutes) Aerobic segment: Your choice of aerobic work - might
be jump rope, treadmill, cycle, stairmaster, jumping jacks, etc.
(1 minute) Deadlift: Start in a standing position, holding a
dumbbell in each hand. Hands should rest on the thighs.
Keeping your shoulders low and back (don't hunch over) and
your knees slightly bent, bend from the hips until your back is
flat. Your arms should stay straight, allowing the weight to
move straight down toward your feet. Keep your head up.
Return to a standing position and repeat steadily.

(3 minutes) Aerobic segment.

(1 minute) Hammer curl/squat: Hold a dumbbell in each hand
and pull your elbows in tight to your waist. Your palms
should be facing one another, as if you are holding a
hammer in each hand. As you squat, lift the weights toward
your shoulders, keeping the elbows in tight to the waist.
Lower the weight as you press up from the squat. Repeat
steadily.

(3 minutes) Aerobic segment.

(1 minute) Upright row/squat: Hold a dumbbell in each hand
and let the weights rest against your thighs. As you squat,
lift the weights straight up to your chest (your elbows
come out to your sides) in a rowing motion. Lower the
weights as you press up from the squat. Repeat steadily.
(3 minutes) Aerobic cooldown. March in place, walk, or
cycle slowly.

(1 minute) Push-ups.

(1 minute) Abdominal crunches.

(3 minutes) Stretch all the major muscle groups.

[KenNiemann]

Squats: Go Deep!
by Sean Barker of IronMuscleMagazine

How many times to you see someone in the gym bypass the squat rack
to settle in on a leg extension machine instead. Heck if you ask
most people what the squat rack actually is they would probably
say it was a coat rack.

But, these people are the first to say how they would like more
development in their legs or to compliment me on how I built such
great legs. Well, it wasn’t from pounding out endless sets of
leg extensions that’s for sure. To build a great set of "wheels"
you have to pay your dues with plain old hard work.

This hard work should start with squats; one of the most effective
exercises you could do for not only your legs but also your whole
muscular skeletal system. It takes all the muscles in your legs
to control the weight down to the bottom of the rep and allows you
to easily overload the muscles to explode back up with the weight
sending the signal to your body to make the muscles grow. Almost
every other muscle in your entire body is required to stabilize
and control the movement, which gives your body the reason to
grow all over. Remember, every time you grab a weight your
goal should be to induce muscle growth.

Make sure to focus on proper form first. Even squats done at
less that maximum overload provide a great deal of muscle
stimulation due to the number of muscle involved, this is how
effective they are. You see so many people pile on tons of weight
and only squat down a few inches. Yeah, this might build up
the ego but it will do nothing for muscle growth but probably
provoke an injury. I will even admit I have been guilty in the
past for sacrificing range of motion for a heavier weight. I
worked up to squatting 460lbs for 6 reps but was barely going
down to parallel. So I had to bite the bullet strip off the
weight and began squatting almost to the floor or until my
quads break parallel. Trust me it pays off big time once you
check your ego at the door. Eventually you work your way
back up in weight with 100% range of motion and a lot more
muscle to show for it.

Always center your leg training around squats. Throw in a
few sets of leg presses, stiff-leg deadlifts and some
calf work and your on your way.

Remember, it’s not a coat rack.

[KenNiemann]

Progressive Overload Training
by Donnie Whetstone of 3PD Fitness Inc.

When we think of the various training principles out there, most
of us tend to feel these principles are reserved for the elite.
That may be true in a few cases, but most training principles can
be scaled down to accommodate the novice who knows little or
nothing about training. Progressive Overload is one of these
principles. Progressive Overload is one of the most basic and
versatile training principles around. I've used it at one point in
every stage of my twenty plus years of training. As a personal
trainer, It's the first principle my clients encounter.

To understand how it works first we must know the effects of loads on our muscles. Take the biceps for example. Lets say we will do a volume of three sets of ten reps with a barbell curl. The load we will use will be challenging but manageable. For the average person this is moderate poundage. After a few sessions we notice the same volume and load has lost it's challenge. Why? Because our biceps has adapted to our initial volume and load. In other words, we've progressed.

At this point we've come to a fork in the road. Our choice is
simple, progressive training or maintenance training. There is no
right or wrong because we knowingly make our choice. If we want to continue to progress we simply increase our load, or make again moderate what has now become light. If we want to maintain, we simply stay with our initial load. Either one is fine. This scenario applies to the other muscle groups as well.

There are people I encounter in gyms that are clearly in maintenance that acknowledge this is what they've chosen......beautiful! There are also people I encounter in the same situation that complain how their gains have become stagnant when just a simple increase in their
loads will solve their problem.

The catch to overloading is knowing when to overload and by how much. Especially since it's based more on perception than an actual time table and that all muscles don't progress uniformly. The easiest way I found is using a set point system. For the average person that set point is most often moderate poundage. Let's say we're going to find the moderate set point for the barbell curl at three sets of ten reps. We'll start by doing a set of ten reps with a load that we're sure we can handle and at the end of the set ask ourselves this question. "Is it light , moderate, or heavy?" Of course we don't want light poundage because light poundages usually doesn't trigger an adaptive response from our muscles. We don't want heavy poundage primarily because of the injury risk, especially if were just starting out. Moderate poundage offers an adaptive response without the risk of
injury. At this point we will make our necessary adjustments by either adding, reducing or maintaining poundage.

As we continue with the remaining two sets, the load will become more challenging, with the third set being quite a challenge. We've now reached our moderate set point with this exercise. This is not a complicated process but it can be rather tedious. In the long run, this process can pay big dividends in gains.

Adaptive responses vary from person to person and muscle group to muscle group. One person may start increasing loads, or jumping as I call it, almost immediately where as another person may take much longer. Jumps in the chest and back may come much quicker than in the deltoids and biceps. The important thing is that the loads remain challenging but manageable regardless of the jump interval. If our initial target loads or moderate set point are where they're suppose to be then our jumps will be in small increments, usually between five and ten pounds depending on the muscle group. If a load of forty
pounds for three sets of ten has lost it's challenge on the barbell
curl, then jump to forty five pounds. A load for the leg press, since
were dealing with stronger muscles, may require a ten pound increase. Overloading isn't reserved just for loads. A muscle can be overloaded with volume as well. Take that forty pound barbell curl we were talking about and instead of ten reps per set increase it to twelve reps per set and the challenge returns. The same applies for additional sets. I find these two approaches rather effective after a few increases in our initial loads. This simple yet versatile training principle has made a difference in the training progress of myself and many a client. It has proven and will continue to be, in my eyes, one of best training principles around.

[KenNiemann]

Fast Muscle Growth Training Frequency

If you walk into any gym you will find the majority of people
there train this way. They come in each day after work, do
their 3 sets of bench presses, 3 sets of incline presses,
followed by 3 sets of decline presses....which takes 2 hours
of course. If you see them a year later they will be using
pretty much the same poundages and they will look almost exactly as they did the year before. I always wonder just why it is that these people train. Are they looking to get bigger
muscles? Do they want to get stronger? What is it that they
want?

Maybe it is my mathematics background, but I tend to look at
situations like this in a very analytical way. If I want to
get from point A to point B via C, and after a year I am not
at point B, something must be wrong with C. Hello. Why is this
so hard to see? If you are not making gains in the gym,
something is wrong. There is a way in which you can make
steady improvements.

The whole idea of lifting to gain muscle goes something
like this:

We lift to stimulate our muscles.

We go home and eat to get the food/rest required to allow our
bodies to recover and grow.

Once we have recovered, we go to the gym and start another
cycle.

Most training styles have you working out once a week for
each bodypart. If it really takes you this long to recover,
then this is probably a good idea. If you can gain one unit
of muscle in this 7 day period, by the end of the month,
you will have gained 4 new muscle units.

But what if you cut back on the number of sets you did, then
you could increase the frequency of your workouts. By
increasing the number of times you go through the
stimulation/recovery cycle, you can successfully increase
the rate at which you gain muscle and strength.

If you repeated a bodypart, say 3 times a week, and you were
able to recover each time and gain size and strength, then by
the end of the month your gains would far exceed any you would
get from a traditional style of training (12 muscle units
gained rather then only 4).

Here are some rules for low volume high frequency training:

Rather then training each bodypart for 9 to 12 sets once a week,
try doing only 3 to 4 sets three times a week.

Spend no more then 45 minutes in the gym.

Get 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Take in at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of lean body
mass.

[KenNiemann]

Bodybuilding Mistakes
By Lester S. Maurice

Common Workout Mistakes

1) Lift Hard All The Time... is the way real bodybuilders train.
Your body is a complex system capable of tolerating a wide variety of stress factors. With progressive adaptation, you can withstand greater and greater degrees of stress. Just like sitting in the sun for limited periods, allows you to withstand stronger exposures over time. You adapt through the increased functioning of many glandular systems. In exercise, if a high intensity stress is applied too long, without periods of lower intensity training, you cannot recuperate and your
physiological systems wear-down and stop functioning properly. In other words, you get "burned out", all progress stops and a catabolic (muscle-breakdown) process is initiated. Recent research indicates long-term over-training not only wastes muscle tissue, it also causes chronic health problems. Shifting intensity levels through a carefully periodized training program will keep you healthy and your muscles growing at a fast and consistent level.

2) The Longer You Workout... The Bigger You’ll Get!
It’s a hard lesson everyone eventually learns or ends up quitting
before they do. At some point, we all attempted 2-3 hour workouts, maybe even longer. It's an easy pitfall, considering we’ve been brainwashed with the, "more is better" mentality throughout our lives. The problem is, with enough enthusiasm, you plow through each workout, thinking you’re doing the right thing but eventually you find yourself severely run-down. Numerous studies prove that training within a specific "window" (no more trhen 45 minutes) helps take advantage of your hormonal spikes (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.)
which encourages total recovery and continuous muscle growth. Training beyond this peak only tears down muscle tissue and is
counter-productive to your efforts.

3) I’ll Do The Next Set When I Feel Ready. Instinctive training?
A flaw with most bodybuilding routines is there are no specific
guidelines on the pace your workouts should flow. Lifting "when you're ready..." is far too subjective and will never fully stress all the energy systems you possess. If you always rest 3 minutes between sets, you're only training one available energy source. To build muscle quickly, you must stimulate and tap into all three energy systems through the manipulation of rest periods in every cycle. The pace of your training should also match your goals for each phase.

4) I'm Training Hard If I Lift Until I can't Do Another Rep.
When you lift until failure, you normally are not training beyond your current force-generating capabilities. Think about it. Going to exercise failure means you have lifted to your current strength capacity, nothing more. You can grow by lifting to failure, but you can stimulate faster growth by using muscle overload techniques which push the muscle past normal failure. Training at this intensity for specific intervals means recruiting more muscle fibers and inducing a greater growth response. You cannot reach your true physical potential without systematically
overloading each muscle group.

5) You Don't Really Have To Be Strong To Have Big Muscles.
Do you remember someone saying, "those are only showy muscles...he’s not really that strong". It was usually whispered under someone’s envious breath. The fact is, muscle size and strength are directly proportional. A larger muscle is a stronger one. That doesn’t mean that a 16 inch arm can’t be stronger than a 19 inch arm. The ability to generate power involves many factors including the correlation ofbone size and length (functional leverage), tendon strength, muscle fiber
type, and motor unit efficiency. What it does mean is for yourself,
your 19 inch arm will be stronger than your 16 inch arm so, to increase size, you must also increase your strength. Your program should include specific cycles of strength training to reach your size and mass goals.

6) Supplements Don't work...
Many supplements are either low quality or not used correctly. But some high quality supplements when used properly (right dose and timing), can increase muscular growth by 5-10%. That may not sound like much but wouldn't your physique look awesome if you added 10% more muscle on top
of your normal training gains? Seven to ten pounds of extra muscle in a single year is nothing to sneeze at. Build a healthy and powerful physique by following an effective training program, using the right nutrients, and eating right, will encourage rapid growth and recuperation.

[KenNiemann]

Got Milk?

Cycling champion Kristin Armstrong was recently asked the secret to her success (she won a gold medal in the recent Olympics in China. Her answer? She told Idaho Health that it was "chocolate milk." Why? She revealed "I use chocolate milk as my recovery drink after races and workouts. The carbohydrates fuel my muscles after exercise. The protein reduces muscle breakdown and stimulates growth. And milk’s natural electrolytes help restore fluid balance."Is Kristin correct? And how does it pertain to hard gainers?

Kristin is right on target. The latest research indicates that milk is the best post workout recovery choice. In spite of what Gatorade says, milk is a far better post workout drink. Unfortunately Gatorade lacks protein. Studies have shown that the availability of free amino acids immediately after exercise increased muscle anabolism by increasing protein synthesis and decreasing protein breakdown. It turns out that protein is a vital recovery factor, and if you neglect this factor you miss out on the full prospect that your exercise session can provide.

Protein intake appears to be particularly important in exercises
which result in muscle damage, such as repetitive power workouts to exhaustion and eccentric exercise (producing force during muscle lengthening - as noted in the Training & Conditioning Journal).

In addition to getting protein, getting the right type of protein
is also enhances the recovery effort further. The right type of
amino acid intake for recovery includes a lot of leucine. Donald
Layman, University of Illinois nutrition professor, points out that
taking the amino acid leucine right after a workout can shorten the downtime your body needs between workouts. Layman’s studies demonstrated that when leucine was ingested within 15 minutes of the completion of a workout, the leucine appeared to quick-start the protein rebuilding process - exhibiting that muscles can recover more quickly, and that the body can be better prepared for the next round of hard core training. Guess what contains a lot of leucine? Milk.

A study at Virginia Tech University found that circulating amino
acids rose for those who took milk after exercise (specifically
resistance training-weight lifting exercise) and decreased for
those in the carbo only and placebo groups. Sorry again, Gatorade!

The final factor in favor of milk as the perfect post workout
choice is the fact that it is liquid. Liquid gets put to work
quicker than solid food, and this gives it the edge on other
forms of protein such as steak, eggs, etc, for the quickest
action to start muscle recovery.

Milk is a simple but super effective post workout recovery aid.
Try some the next time you workout – within 15 minutes of the
completion of the routine.

Author bio

Dwayne Hines II is the Editor-at-Large for OnFitness magazine and has written for a variety of national magazines, including Ironman, MuscleMag, BlackBelt and Men’s Workout.

[KenNiemann]

3 'strange" CHEST EXERCISES for trouble spots...

www.jamnfitness.com/muscle-specialization.html


Target: Upper Chest

Forget boring old inclines! Do this instead...

...Smith Machine Presses To The NECK!

Lie flat on a bench with the Smith Machine bar right at your NECK
instead of your chest.

Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and press as normal (2
seconds up; slow 4-count on the way down).

Keep your elbows flared OUT and really concentrate on feeling a good
stretch in your upper pecs at the bottom of the movement!

Go for a good "pump" at 8-12 reps!

Target: Inner Chest ("Cleavage")

This one comes from the underground iron pit of max security
PRISON YARDS.

(Don't ask how I got this.)

Lie flat on a bench and grab ONE SINGLE DUMBBELL that's slightly
LESS than the combined weight you would normally use for 2
dumbbells. (So if you normally press 60lbs in each hand, grab a
90 or 100.)

Maneuver your hands so you can wrap both around the handle
(tricky, but you'll figure out how to overlap).

Now, holding the weight so it's facing up and down your body
(lengthwise), press the weight as normal.

At the TOP of the movement, press your pec muscles together
HARD and squeeze (HARDER!) for a 2 second count.

Target: Lower Chest

Dips...Dips...Dips...* BUT *...

Rather than keeping your feet BEHIND you...

...stick them out in FRONT of you!

On the dip bar, keeping your legs straight, bring your feet
out in front so your body is in a "V" shape.

Keep your elbows flared OUT away from your body as you
lower yourself down and focus on LEANING FORWARD.

Come down far enought that you feel a good stretch in
your pecs.

Bringing your feet to the FRONT actually places more emphasis
on your lower chest muscles instead of your triceps that tend
to give our the earliest.

Also, don't "lock out" at the top of the dip movement!

Stop about 6 inches short of the top to keep the stress on
your chest!