Quick Training Tip To Trigger More Growth Hormone

More growth hormone (GH) = more muscle, right?

It's a known fact that anyone looking to build more muscle mass must address your body's natural "hormone factory" to see some real gains in size.

But different hormones are stimulated in different ways.

Here's a cool (and simple!) "Quick Tip" to add to your next workout to raise GH naturally and kick start some killer mass gains...

"Quick Tip" For Skyrocketing Growth Hormone:

On your very last set of each exercise, when you know that you have 2 REPS left in you...

...DON'T take them!

Instead, bring the weight to the peak contraction point or "flexed" position (e.g.- for bicep curls, it would be the "up" position) and hold the weight while flexing your targeted muscle.

Your goal is to hold this flexing for 20 SECONDS (called "static contraction) before slowly letting the weight down.

This is going to burn like hell...

...and that's exactly what you're looking for!

Why This Works:

That "burn" you feel is your body's natural "lactic acid response".

When lactic acid is triggered in the body, it sends a signal to your endocrine system to release growth hormone as a "recovery aid".

And that GH release is a powerful mass-building chemical in your body and your gains will soar!

Note: Do this for no more than 1 EXERCISE per body part in your workouts for 1 WEEK. Skip a week before doing it again.

More from Jeff at:
- www.CloseQuartersCombat.com
- www.AdvancedMassBuilding.com
- www.OptimumAnabolics.com
- www.CombatTheFat.com

Jeff Anderson is a 10 year veteran of the U.S. Army, a Master Fitness Trainer, and Master Instructor of Close Quarters Combat self defense. A full time fitness and self defense author, Jeff has trained thousands of men and women in the practical application of advanced military fitness methods as well as close combat tactics for "real life" self defense.

Triple Threat: Triceps

I like to work out in threes. Three sets of 15 reps, alternating 3 moves in each set, and combining upper, lower and core muscle (3) groups. Rookies and experts alike should benefit from the series of "Triple-Threat" moves I have developed in my fitness DVDs and NYC fitness classes at Crunch. Today's blog shows 3 different triceps moves. You can do them alone or combine them with different leg and core moves for true multi-taskers.

Here's your triceps triple-threat fix:

Skull Crushers – Lay on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor, under your knees. Hold a body bar or free-weights in your hands and extend your elbows, weights as close to the sky as you can reach, and over the chest. Keeping the area from your shoulders to just below your elbows completely still, flex the elbows, dropping your hands and weights slowly next to your ears (with body bar, lower it just over your head towards the floor). Extend elbows again and lift weights back to the sky and directly over the chest. Repeat for 20 reps per set, and vary the weight as you progress.

Dips- Sit on a chair, bench or step with palms on the edge, fingertips pointing towards the floor and knuckles pointing to the sky. Support yourself with your arms and step feet forward slightly to lift your backside off the seat. Either keep legs bent at a 90 degree angle with feet flat on the floor, or for more of a challenge, straighten legs most of the way and balance on heels. Keep elbows behind you as you bend them and drop your backside towards the floor, almost touching/grazing your back and shirt to the seat behind you. Elbows should bend to 90 degrees and then use your arms to push you back to where the arms are straight, but you are still supported by only feet and hands. Repeat for 20-40 reps per set.

Triceps push-ups – And you thought regular push-ups were hard!? These target toners really hit the backs of the arms, and also include work by the pectorals, shoulders and abdominals. Start at the top of a push-up, legs straight and balancing on your toes (advanced). Beginners should start on their knees and walk your upper body forward so that your knees line up behind your hips. . Align hands under shoulders with the intention of keeping your elbows tight by your body, not flying out to the sides like a traditional push-up. Lower your body down and forward, so that your shoulders, abs and hips are in a straight line. You should feel your elbows in by your ribcage and hands under the shoulders, chest between the hands and about one inch from the floor. Keep your neck in a safe line with the spine and focal point a few inches in front of you on the floor. Push back up to the top of a push-up or plank.

Chose one of these moves a day repeated in 3 sets, or alternate all 3 in one workout. Don't forget to work the opposing muscle, the biceps, which got a triple-threat treatment in last week's blog, Not finished? Add triceps French presses and kickbacks for a firming-in-five routine.

Nikki
Crunch Manhattan Group Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer

More from Nikki at www.nikkifitness.com:

- Military Wife Workout DVD
- NikkiBeachBride Destination Wedding Workout
- Fit Travel Workout DVD
- Booty Camp DVD

Nikki Fitness is a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, writer and publicist living in New York City. She started as a cheerleader at Syracuse University, but became certified in fitness before her beach wedding so that she could get back in shape. Laura, a graduate student, working mom, and military wife, inspired Nikki's Military Wife Workout (MWW) for all military wives. Find more articles by Nikki at her article archive. Learn more at www.nikkifitness.com. For more Nikki Fitness blogs, visit her blog archive.

From Desk Job Back to Boot Camp Shape

10. That is the number of years since your job demanded sweat, laps, push-ups and you being out of breath. It s also the number of push-ups you can do now since you've been sitting at the desk and exercising only your fingers on the keyboard. But don't worry, your muscles have memory and they know that tone and strength are possible.

Start from the inside out. – Mind, Heart, Core and Posture

The first place to start is your mind. Look at the bright side, you have it better than most people out there who have never been in tip top shape. Their muscles and endurance have never been made to work and therefore they maybe could never to what you can and will do. Make up your mind to make over your body.

Now you are ready for some easy cardio. This will remind your muscles what it is to be warm and work while letting your build up your heart and core first. On your cardio days also do abdominals and back strengthening exercises. Getting your heart back to pumping with ease should come before you can really work the rest of you.

As I discussed in the last column, and you should focus on running, biking, rowing, elliptical and walking. Start with 10 minutes on one machine and do 10 on the next machine the next day. Take it outside as well. Get to where you change it up every day you work out and increase gradually from 10 minutes to 30 at a time.

Your core also needs to be strong before you can really work the rest of the extremities. Crunches should be combined with lower back moves every day you exercise. I went over some basic abdominal crunches in the last column as well, so for the low back it's as easy as laying face down on the ground and lifting your arms straight overhead and up with along with your legs. Leave your neck in line with the spine and look at the floor as you lift the arms, head, chest, shoulders knees and feet off the floor. Hold for two seconds and relax back to the floor. Repeat 8-12 times. Finish with a cat stretch on all fours with your spine rounding to the ceiling.

Back not Pecs

When at a desk, you end up rounding your shoulders and slouching. Your pectoral muscles get tight and your trapezious and rhomboids get stretched and weak. In your first week of getting back in shape, also start with your posture and correct the problems of years of desk work and stretch the pecs while strengthening your upper back with reverse flies, bent over rows, and machines.

Once your core is stronger, your pecs are stretched and your upper back muscles are strong enough to pull your shoulders back, you should be standing tall and ready to move on.

The Marathon and Machines

Ok, so you won't need to run a marathon, but your next cardio goal is 40-50 minutes, doing different machines for 15 minutes each, or just taking our outdoor running and biking longer. You are also ready to move to muscle building in your biceps, triceps, shoulders, pectorals, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and inner and outer thighs . Start with some basic muscle building moves on machines. Chose machines first that let the rest of your body rest and just focus on your arms one day (and yes you can add chest press machines and push-up simulator) and legs the next. Day 1- arms, day 2 – legs, day 3 – cardio and core, day 4 off and then repeat.

After you are building strength back, take yourself off the machines and into free weights and balancing leg moves like lunges and squats. These will also start working your core at the same time to balance and keep your form.

Change up your cardio workouts by adding some uphill jogs to your running days. Take the elliptical in reverse for 2 minutes and forward for 2 minutes at a time. Try a spinning class to challenge your bike days or chose different trails outside.

Multi-Tasking

After you start feeling stronger with the muscle isolation, you are ready to multi-task! This is a great time saver and will kick up your results. You just need to add lower body non-machine moves with a free weight exercise for the arms. Start with the basic alternating lunges with bicep curl and shoulder overhead presses. Calf raises and triceps French presses overhead and so on.

By then, 10 will be the number of push-ups you have left to get to 50.

Nikki
Crunch Manhattan Group Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer

More from Nikki at www.nikkifitness.com:

- Military Wife Workout DVD
- NikkiBeachBride Destination Wedding Workout
- Fit Travel Workout DVD
- Booty Camp DVD

Nikki Fitness is a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, writer and publicist living in New York City. She started as a cheerleader at Syracuse University, but became certified in fitness before her beach wedding so that she could get back in shape. Laura, a graduate student, working mom, and military wife, inspired Nikki's Military Wife Workout (MWW) for all military wives. Find more articles by Nikki at her article archive. Learn more at www.nikkifitness.com. For more Nikki Fitness blogs, visit her blog archive.

Myotatic Reflex Training - An Earthquake In Your Muscles!

When an earthquake unleashes its fury, there's also a series of "aftershocks" that roar through an affected area and can hit within a few hours...or even DAYS later!

When it comes to building muscle, you can use a similar "aftershock" technique that will not only increase muscle fiber activation...

...but GREATLY increase your mass-building capacity!

I'm currently in a "mass building" cycle and this technique comes straight out of my "Advanced Mass Building" program though you've probably never heard it explained this way before.

Here's how it works:

First, you're going to be supersetting two exercises (performed back-to-back), both targeting the SAME muscle group. For this example, we're going to use everyone's favorite...the CHEST!

Your first exercise is going to be an isolation exercise that uses a "super stretch" movement. An example of this would be incline dumbbell flyers where, at the bottom position, your arms are below the body and you can feel a "stretch" in the targeted area.

Your second exercise is going to be a compound "power mover" where you can push a lot of weight. For this example, we're going to work the incline barbell bench press.

By first performing your isolation exercise and getting a deep stretch at the bottom of the movement, your muscle fibers get extremely elongated. Your body, as it's programmed to do, senses this extreme stretch position as a potential "crisis" and triggers what's known as a "myotatic reflex" - a hyper-stimulation of the central nervous system to ward off injury by calling in more muscle fibers around the targeted area to help out.

(Note: I'm not talking about "ultra-stretching" the muscle to the point of injury. Just lower the dumbbells in a controlled fashion until you feel a deep - but safe - stretch in your pecs, then raise the weight to the top position)

This initial hyper-stimulation of your muscle fibers is the perfect setup for your next exercise that uses the "aftershock" of the myotatic reflex to activate even more muscle fibers. Compound exercises like the incline bench press are ideal for this type of training because your first set isolated your targeted muscle group first and now you can get help from your other supporting muscles (like your shoulders and triceps) to push more weight and hit your Type II muscle fibers even HARDER!

Not to be confused with simple "pre-exhaust" training, this myotatic reflex training looks deceptively similar and simple...but the effects are felt deep in the epicenter of your muscles where real growth begins!

More from Jeff at:
- www.CloseQuartersCombat.com
- www.AdvancedMassBuilding.com
- www.OptimumAnabolics.com
- www.CombatTheFat.com

Jeff Anderson is a 10 year veteran of the U.S. Army, a Master Fitness Trainer, and Master Instructor of Close Quarters Combat self defense. A full time fitness and self defense author, Jeff has trained thousands of men and women in the practical application of advanced military fitness methods as well as close combat tactics for "real life" self defense.

Don't Make This Abs Training Mistake!

Check out any local gym and you'll see inexperienced lifters training their abs with endless sets of situps and crunches, right?

While the abs are predominantly made of Type 1 (endurance) muscle fibers and respond to slightly higher repetition ranges,your abs are made up of muscle just like any other part of your body. Therefore the best abs exercises to get that "cut" look are those that are resistance-based and treat them like any other muscle.

But there's a special little trick you must know in order to maximize your abs training on your way to having a stacked 6-pack.

In fact, ignoring this principle, could force you to develop "lopsided" abs that are so common among beginner bodybuilders.

Let me share this secret with you now...

The main abdominal muscle you want to be working when training your abs is your "rectus abdominis", that sheet of rippled muscle that goes from your rib cage all the way down the front of your body to your pelvis.

What's unique about this abdominal muscle group is that the upper abs can work separately from the lower abs (to some extent)...BUT when you work your lower abs exercises, your upper abs are ALWAYS working as well.

This is why most people (including myself from years of military training focusing on upper abs) had overdeveloped upper abs but underdeveloped lower abs.

Here's how to correct this...

Make sure you train your LOWER ABS first in your abs workout (ALWAYS!) which brings both upper and lower abs into the workload!

If you don't work your lower abs first, you exhaust your upper abs too soon and when you DO target your lower abs, your upper abs will fatigue too fast and you'll end up with "under-targeted" lower abs.

So the best exercises for lower abs are:

* Incline Leg Raises
* Incline Knee Ups
* Hanging Leg Raises
* Flat Bench Leg Raises<

And then follow up with the best upper abs exercises:

* Crunches
* Weighted Crunches
* Situps
* Hanging Knee Raises

More from Jeff at:
- www.CloseQuartersCombat.com
- www.AdvancedMassBuilding.com
- www.OptimumAnabolics.com
- www.CombatTheFat.com

Jeff Anderson is a 10 year veteran of the U.S. Army, a Master Fitness Trainer, and Master Instructor of Close Quarters Combat self defense. A full time fitness and self defense author, Jeff has trained thousands of men and women in the practical application of advanced military fitness methods as well as close combat tactics for "real life" self defense.

Triple Threat: Shoulders

Men and women alike aim for getting toned and cut shoulders. Instead of doing the normal overhead presses with heavy weights every day, I have a triple-threat move that will challenge and refresh your routine, with slightly lighter weights than overhead presses. This focuses more on muscle endurance than muscle strength.

Add these to my other recent blogs to complete the series of "Triple-Threat" moves I have developed in my fitness DVDs and NYC fitness classes at Crunch.

Here's your shoulders triple-threat fix:

1- Start standing in set position. Put weights in each hand and place hands in front of your hips with palms facing your body. Drag the weights up your body to chest level, leading with the elbows, keeping neck muscles relaxed and shoulders down.

2- Push the weights out in front of you at shoulder level, extending the elbows and keeping palms facing the floor.

3- Open arms out to the sides at shoulder level, palms facing down, and slowly lower them to your sides at starting position, creating resistance as the weights are lowered in a controlled motion.

I personally like to do 1,2,3 in a row to a good workout song and fit it in with an 8 count. I also sometimes add a leg move like glute kickbacks or calf raises. Then I reverse the moves to 3,2,1 and continue the leg toning. (If that takes too much coordination, you can always separate the three moves, chose one and repeat it in 3 sets one day, and then chose the next move and repeat it another day.)

You won't be able to lift your arms the next day, but at least they will look good!

Nikki
Crunch Manhattan Group Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer

More from Nikki at www.nikkifitness.com:

- Military Wife Workout DVD
- NikkiBeachBride Destination Wedding Workout
- Nikki on YouTube
- Nikki on Facebook

Nikki Fitness is a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, writer and publicist living in New York City. She started as a cheerleader at Syracuse University, but became certified in fitness before her beach wedding so that she could get back in shape. Laura, a graduate student, working mom, and military wife, inspired Nikki's Military Wife Workout (MWW) for all military wives. Find more articles by Nikki at her article archive. Learn more at www.nikkifitness.com. For more Nikki Fitness blogs, visit her blog archive.