Training Articles two

Secret Training Tip #622 - High-Rep Partial Training

By Nick Nilsson

Gain strength and muscle mass! This training technique

is one of the best kept secrets for sending strength and

muscle mass through the roof quick! Learn why it works

and exactly how to do it for best results.

The partial rep is one of the most effective training techniques for building strength quickly but how can you adapt partials for boosting muscle mass at the same time? The answer is simple: high rep partial training.

Partial training, in a nutshell, involves only moving the weight in a shortened range of motion. This can be anywhere in the range of motion of an exercise but for our purposes, we're going to use the strongest range of motion, e.g. the top few inches of the bench press. For a more detailed description of partial training, please refer to the following article:

Partial Training For Full-Powered Results

The reason conventional low-rep partial training is so effective for strength building is that you are using extremely heavy weight for low reps. This builds up excellent connective tissue and muscle strength.

Unfortunately for muscle gaining purposes, this type of training also results in a very short time under tension. Time under tension refers to the length of time a muscle is placed under continuous tension during an exercise. In order to stimulate muscle growth, your muscles need to be under tension for approximately 30 to 60 seconds (this is a rough estimate - it works out to about 6 to 12 reps in a conventional, full-range set).

A typical partial rep may take only one or two seconds to complete. If you do 5 reps, your muscles have only been under tension for 5 or 10 seconds. This is not nearly enough time to stimulate muscle growth. Now imagine doing 30 reps instead. This puts you right in the middle of that optimal range. Not only will you be using extremely heavy weight (which is great for building muscle and strength), but you'll be placing your muscles under tension for a long enough time to stimulate muscle growth. This is an extremely effective combination!

High rep partials can be used on their own or in combination with low-rep partials or even conventional full-range sets. I often use them after doing a few sets of extremely heavy low-rep partials. For example, I will do top range bench press partials with 600 or 700 pounds for low reps then remove a few plates and do a set of 50 or 60 reps with 315 pounds on the bar. I have also done sets of extremely high rep partial squats with extremely heavy weights (150 reps of 950 pounds). I've found both of these techniques to be very effective for building both strength and muscle mass quickly.

Give high rep partial training a try in your next workout and don't be afraid to push yourself. You may be surprised at how many reps you can do with a weight you may not have even considered using before!

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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?fitrition/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

The Sculptor in Training - How To Develop Your Physique to It's Fullest Potential By Working Different Parts of the Same Muscle

By Nick Nilsson

Is it possible to work different areas of the same

muscle? Why is this desirable? How can this help you

build your physique to it's fullest potential?

One of the most common questions in weight training is "can you work different areas of the same muscle?" For example, can you work the lower biceps or the outer thighs? The quick answer is "yes", but as you'll soon see, reality is somewhat more complicated than that.

Before we go into the how, we need to explore why it's useful to work different areas of a muscle. The main reason we want to work different areas of a muscle is in order to build a more balanced, aesthetically pleasing physique. If a person only focuses on a few exercises, they will tend to overdevelop certain areas of their muscles at the expense of others. This can make even a well-developed physique look incomplete or even downright bad.

Imagine a trainer who has spent all their time working only on the flat bench press. They will have well-developed chest muscles but the majority of that muscle will be in the middle to lower area of the chest, with very little in the upper area. This will give the visual impression of a droopy, bottom-heavy chest, which is not visually pleasing at all.

By selectively training specific areas of a muscle, you can create optical illusions. You can give the impression of wider shoulders by focusing on side deltoid (shoulder) training. You can give the impression of a higher, more well-developed chest with focused incline training. A tighter waist will make the shoulders appear wider while working the "peak" of the biceps will make that muscle appear higher and more dramatic. Emphasizing width in back training will help to create a nice V-taper that will give the illusion of wider shoulders and a smaller waist.

These optical illusions, put together and crafted through targeted training of specific aspects of your muscles, can help you to maximize your physique potential.

Now that you've learned why it's important to selectively train specific areas of the muscles, let's learn how to do it.

When a muscle is activated by the nervous system it contracts. The muscles operate under what is known as the "all-or-nothing" principle: either the whole thing contracts or it doesn't contract at all. This would lead us to believe that you can't focus on a specific area of the muscle. After all, if all the fibers have to contract when you lift a weight, you can't isolate a specific area of the muscle, right? Wrong.

The fibers in your muscles aren't all lined up in a perfectly straight line. If they were, it would be impossible to focus on specific areas of a muscle. But we live in a three-dimensional world and your muscles have to work in many different directions and at many different angles. This is what makes it possible to work different areas of the muscle.

When you lift a weight, even though the entire muscle contracts, depending on the angle at which the resistance is applied, some muscle fibers have more direct tension placed on them than others. The pectoral (chest) muscles are a great example of this. I don't think anyone will dispute that incline presses will put more tension on the upper pec muscle fibers than decline presses. The angle of the exercise places the majority of the tension on those upper fibers.

This is all well and good for a muscle such as the pectoralis. It's a fan-shaped muscle, making it easy to isolate different areas of the muscle by changing the angles. But what about different shaped muscles such as the biceps? The vast majority of the fibers of the biceps run in the same direction. Can specific areas of the biceps be isolated? Can you work the outer biceps or the inner biceps?

The answer to this question is a qualified "yes." Even though the majority of the fibers of the biceps run in a similar direction, you can place somewhat more tension on the inner or outer biceps, depending on how you apply the tension (for example, a wide-grip barbell curl versus a narrow-grip barbell curl). The only problem is, since most of the fibers do run in a similar direction, the difference in actual muscular development is going to be small. You're never going to have someone see you and say "Wow! Look at those inner biceps!"

The anatomy of the muscle itself will also determine the extent to which you can isolate specific areas. An excellent example of this is the deltoid (shoulder) muscle. The deltoid has three specific heads (a head is basically a separate section of the same muscle). These heads are the anterior (front), the lateral (side), and the posterior (rear) heads.

Even though all three heads of the deltoid end up at attaching to the same point on the upper arm bone (a.k.a. the humerus; this attachment point is anatomically known as an insertion), they originate on different areas of the shoulder. This gives each head of the muscle a different line of pull. If you raise your arm straight up to the front, you're working the front head, to the side, you're working the side head, to the rear, you're working the rear head. It's basically like attaching three ropes to the same hook on a wagon - you can pull the wagon with each rope but it will go in a different direction depending on which rope you pull.

Though this is a simple example, it can get a little more complicated when you start dealing with multi-headed muscles that have the same basic origin and insertion points. For example, if you have a look at the quadriceps muscle of the front thighs, it has four different heads. They all start and finish and in very similar places on the hips and knees.

How do you isolate specific areas of a muscle like that? It's a bit trickier but it still can be done. It will depend largely on which exercises you do, how you do them, and how well you can mentally focus on the specific area of the muscle you are working. It may be something as simple as changing how your place your feet or even just trying to push (or pull) more in one direction than another.

Mental focus is an often-overlooked but extremely important aspect of training, especially if you're trying to hit a certain area of a muscle. Often, by concentrating on contracting a specific area of a muscle more, you can actually recruit more muscle fibers from that area, helping to increase the work done by that area. This skill takes time and effort to develop but it will pay off. Not only will you be able to more selectively focus on the muscles you are contracting but you will be better able to feel how specific exercises work different areas of your muscles.

While a comprehensive list is beyond the scope of this article, here are a few examples of some exercises that you can use to focus on specific areas of your muscles:

Lower biceps: preacher curls

Biceps peak: cross-body hammer curls

Long head of the triceps: overhead dumbell extensions

Lateral head of the triceps: reverse grip pushdowns

Upper pecs: incline bench press

Lower pecs: decline bench press

Inner quads: leg extensions - lean over and hook your toes up

Outer quads: leg extensions - lean back and point your toes

Lower abs: lying leg raises

Upper abs: cross-bench crunches

Back width: wide grip pull-ups and pull-downs to the front

In conclusion, your ability to focus on specific areas of a muscle is going to depend on several factors. It will depend on the shape of the muscle, the specific anatomy of the muscle (origins and insertions), and how well you can mentally focus on that specific area. This ability to focus on specific areas your muscles will help you to create a more visually-pleasing physique by allowing you to act as a sculptor of your own body, selectively building muscle where it will have the most impact on your appearance.

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Mind Games - Powerful Mental Strategies For Getting More Reps Out Of Every Single Set You Do

By Nick Nilsson

Want to learn how to take your body further than you

ever thought possible? Your mind is the real key to

achieving unbelievable results.

Peak performance is a state of mind. No matter how prepared your body is, if your mind is not functioning at the top of its game, your performance will suffer.

This is true of any sport and extremely true in weight training. Your muscles may do the actual work, but what is sending the message to do that work? Your mind!

There are many techniques you can use to help your mind push your body far beyond what you may believe you're capable of. These mental tricks can help you get more results out of every single set you do.

1. Rewards

Say you're finishing the last few reps of a set. It's starting to hurt and you're ready to quit. Imagine someone just offered you a million dollars to get one more rep. You would find a way to get that rep. Use other offers that would motivate you to keep going, e.g. pizza if you're on a diet.

2. Ghost Spotters and Lighter Weight

Imagine someone spotting you. Imagine this ghost spotter helping you finish that rep. You can always try imagining the weight is less than it actually is, too.

3. Magnetic Force

If you're doing dumbell presses, imagine they are two powerful magnets that are irresistibly drawn to each other. If you're curling, imagine your eyes as magnets attracting the bar towards them. If you're benching, imagine the bar being repelled by your chest. This technique is especially useful on that last, slow rep. It will help you squeeze a little extra out to finish the rep.

4. Chopped-Up Sets

Here is a trick you can use to get the most out of high rep sets.

When the going gets tough, start doing consecutive small sets of five reps. When you can't get five reps, do sets of three reps. When three reps seems impossible, convince yourself to do just two more reps. When you can't do sets of two, tell yourself just one more rep. Keep trying to get just one more rep until you can't move.

Breaking it up like this will allow you to get many more reps than counting straight through one big set. You can do this right from the start as well. If you are doing a set of fifteen reps, do a set of five, another set of five, a set of three, then a set of two.

5. Pain Management

Pain tolerance is a big factor in weight training intensity. The more pain you can take, the harder and longer you can push.

A good way to fight pain is to tell yourself that it is not your pain; it is somebody else's. It sounds crazy but it works.

You can also try the Corsican Twin technique. Imagine the pain you are going through is being felt by someone you don't like. The more you put yourself through, the more punishment they take.

It also helps if you're a little masochistic. Really hard trainers learn to love the pain (remember, we're not talking injury pain but hard work pain).

6. Self-Reprimand

To push harder, you may want to try self-reprimand, i.e. telling yourself how lazy you are, how small and weak you are. You should react by vigorously trying to prove yourself wrong.

7. Self-Praise

Self-praise is also good. Tell yourself how big and strong and powerful you are and how this weight is child's play.

8. The Little Voice In Your Head

Reprogram the little voice in your head. Most people have a little voice in their head that warns them not to do things that may seem unreasonable or threatening, e.g. you better not do that or you'll hurt yourself, you can't lift that much, this hurts, let's quit. This voice can undermine your confidence to lift extremely heavy weight or get those last few reps.

Reprogram your little voice to tell you things like: that felt pretty good, let's add more weight or you can do another rep. Don't get too out of control but don't be scared. You can usually do more than you think you can and you never know until you try. Don't automatically assume you'll never accomplish anything or you never will.

9. Unreasonable Goals

Set almost unreasonable but achievable goals for yourself. Say for example, you know you can curl 50 pounds for ten reps. Set the goal of twelve reps and fight madly to get those twelve. It gives you the incentive to improve.

10. Competitions

Have competitions with a training partner or with yourself. Whoever gets the most reps with a certain weight or percentage of bodyweight has to buy dinner. Challenge yourself to break personal bests and reward yourself when you do. This type of competition can dramatically increase intensity.

11. Explosive Imagery

Just before a set, put images of explosive power in your head, e.g. rockets, artillery, a stampede, explosions, etc.

This form of imagery will start up your adrenaline and give you a little extra kick in the pants to get your set going. Imagine this explosive power rocketing the weights you are using.

12. Mind In Muscle

Try to put your mind in the muscle you're working. Try to consciously fire the muscle fibers.

13. Contact

Getting a spotter to just touch you and not push can give you extra force. This is partly psychological and partly physical. The contact of body's energy fields can actually give you a little extra lift. It is not all in your head and it is not all quackery. It does work.

14. Ratcheting

When the going gets tough, imagine your muscles as ratchets; stopping, redoubling the force, pushing a little more, stopping, redoubling, etc.

15. Positive and Negative Stimuli

When doing exercises where you are pushing something away from you, e.g. bench, imagine the bar as a negative stimulus (somebody you don't like, a chainsaw, etc.). When doing exercises where you are pulling something towards you, imagine the bar as a positive stimulus (somebody you do like, a chocolate cake, etc.).

16. Donald Duck

If you find your inner voice speaking negatively, change the voice so it sounds like Daffy or Donald Duck. You won't be inclined to take it so seriously.

17. Enjoy It

Learn to enjoy the pain. Eat it up.

18. Borrow Energy

Borrow energy from other people. This can be done before a set or when the going is getting tough. Using a mirror or looking directly, look at someone squarely in the eyes. Give them a smile or a nod or a psychotic grin and imagine yourself drawing energy from them. At that point, two people are focusing their energy on the set. You may or may not make friends with this one.

19. Mentor

Imagine you have a mentor or someone you are trying to impress standing over you and watching as you do your set. Imagine they are encouraging you and pushing you harder and harder.

20. Threats

Threats can also work. If someone put a gun to your head and said "do three more reps," you would find a way to get those reps. Imagine this situation to get those reps.

Give some of these techniques a try in your next workout. I guarantee you'll take yourself far beyond where you've gone before!

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Secret Training Tip #683 - 5 Groundbreaking Calf Training Techniques For Complete Calf Development and Rock-Solid Ankle Stability

By Nick Nilsson

Are you having trouble building your calves? These

techniques will help you develop your calves to the very

fullest, including the hard-to-reach inner and outer areas.

Technique #1 - Ski-Jump Calf Raises

Your calf machine must be bolted down solidly to take full advantage of this technique as you'll be pushing against the machine at an angle.

Set your shoulders in the calf-raise machine as you normally would. Now place your feet back about a foot back from there (don't use a calf-raise block for this technique as the block may slip out) so your body is at an angle. You will look somewhat like a ski jumper when you are in this position.

Push up and forward into the calf raise from this position. This angle increases the tension in the stretch position and works the calves at a very unique angle not found in any other calf movements.

This technique is excellent for any sport requiring explosive forward movement, e.g. track, football, soccer, volleyball, etc., as the body position employed with this technique mimics that movement very closely.

It's also especially useful if you find you're running out of resistance on the calf machine you're using. Since you'll be pushing forward against the machine as well as the weight, the resistance will be greater.

Note: be sure your shoes have good grip and that you are not on a slippery surface when you use this technique. Your feet could slide out.

Technique #2 - Using Weight Plates To Hit the Inner and Outer Calves

This technique will work on any variation of the calf raise exercise from regular calf machine raises to dumbell calf raises to Smith Machine calf raises. It will not only work the inner and outer calves but it will also help you develop incredible ankle strength and stability.

Instead of using a calf block or the regular footplate of the machine, you will be using one or two 25-pound weight plates (depending on which area of your calves you want to hit) placed on the floor. These will be what you'll be setting your feet on for the exercise.

To work the inner calves, place one 25-pound plate on the floor. Stand so that only the front inner quarters of your feet are on the plate. The sides of your feet will be half off so your ankles slope down and away. When you execute the calf raise, raise the sides of your feet and come up onto the big toe side each foot. Try to force your heels in together as you come up for a little extra inner-calf tension. Roll back down and out to complete the movement.

To work the outer calves, use two plates with about six inches of separation between them. Place the outer front quarters of your feet on the sides of the plates. Your feet will be tilted down and in. Roll up and do a calf raise then return to the start position. Make sure you hit both positions in order to keep the ankles and calves balanced.

Technique #3 - High Incline Calf Walking

For this one, you will need a treadmill with an incline. It's really quite simple but produces an incredible, muscle-building pump in even the most stubborn of calves. It is one of the most effective techniques you can use for getting past calf-development plateaus.

Set the treadmill to the highest incline setting it's got and set the machine to a fairly slow speed. You aren't trying to do cardio here; you're trying to force blood into the calves.

Walk for five to ten minutes steadily, focusing on pushing up with the calves every time you step (like a mini-calf raise). Keep your body in a straight upright position to keep the resistance on your calves.

This is an excellent way to enhance blood circulation in the calves. After you finish your set, stretch your calves hard once they are fully pumped to expand the fascia. For more information on stretching for muscle growth, check out the following article:

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth

Technique #4 - Calf Raises On A Dumbell

When doing one-legged calf raises, stand on a dumbell handle (preferably one with round plates so it rolls). This tendency to roll will make you work to stabilize yourself as you're doing the calf raise, increasing the effectiveness of the exercise. Be sure to hang onto something solid as you're doing this exercise as you don't want to slip off.

The tendency for the dumbell to roll will allow you to roll your foot over the top of the handle, giving you full extension of the calf at the top. As you come up, roll the dumbell slightly backward. Roll it slightly forward as you come down to get a better stretch.

It is also possible to do this technique on the actual dumbell plates themselves rather than the handle (make sure your are hanging on with both hands if you do this version as it is extremely unstable). Use a larger dumbell (e.g. 85 pounder) if you can, though a smaller one will still work. The reason for the larger dumbell is to be sure the plates are wide enough to stand on comfortably (a single dumbell plate can dig into your foot quite painfully).

Technique #5 - Add Sets

An Add Set is just the opposite of a Drop Set. Instead of dropping the weight over the course of an extended set, you will actually increase it, hence the "add."

This is a very effective technique, especially for the calves, which recover from work extremely quickly. Calves need to be really overloaded to get them to grow and this technique fits the bill.

Start with a moderate weight for your first round--something you can get about 12 to 15 reps with. Do the set, step off the machine, shake your calves out then add 10 to 20 pounds (or more) onto the machine. Step back on and do as many reps as you can. Step off, add more weight to the machine and do it again. Repeat this procedure 3 to 5 times or until you can't more than 5 or so reps with the weight. Your calves should be fully worked by then!

You can learn more intensity techniques for all your bodyparts in the article "Intensity Techniques That Will 'Kill' You AND Make You Stronger."

http://hop.clickbank.net/?mfactor/betteru&l=1034

Conclusion:

If you are having trouble building your calves and they just don't seem to be responding to anything, give these five calf-training techniques a try. They may be just what you need to spur your calves to new levels of development!

Go to this URL for pictures of several of these techniques:

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Five Exercises You MUST Avoid If You Want To Stay Injury-Free

By Nick Nilsson

These exercises are commonly seen yet, if you do them, you

stand a good chance of hurting yourself. Find out what

they are and why they can injure you.

All exercises are not created equal. Some exercises are good, some exercises are great, and some exercises are an injury just waiting to happen. Knowing which exercises to avoid can save you many months if not years of pain and frustration.

1. Upright Rows

The Upright Row exercise is done to develop the shoulders and traps. Holding a barbell or dumbells in front of your with a close, overhand grip, you pull the weight up to your chest, keeping it close to your body, leading with your elbows.

The Upright Row is one of the most harmful exercises you can expose your shoulders to. The problem with the exercise lies in the position your arms must be in in order to perform the movement. This position is called "internal rotation." To demonstrate internal rotation, hold your arms straight out to the sides with your palms down. Now rotate your hands forward as if you were pouring out a glass of water in each. To do the upright row, the arms are bent at the elbow then internally rotated.

Internal rotation itself is not necessarily bad for your shoulders. The problem comes when you raise the arms up and add resistance in that position. Every time you raise the weight, a small tendon in your shoulder gets pinched (known as impingement) by the bones in the shoulder. This may not hurt immediately; it may not even hurt for a long, long time. The problem is the tendon will gradually become worn down and damaged. You may not even know you have a problem until one day the tendon snaps!

Instead of upright rows, stick to exercises such as dumbell presses, military presses and various raises. They are far safer for the shoulders.

2. Behind-The-Neck Pulldowns

This exercise is done to work the muscles of the back. While the exercise itself is actually effective for working the back, the problem with the exercise lies in what it can do to your shoulders.

In the previous exercise, I talked about internal rotation of the shoulders. The problem with the behind-the-neck pulldown lies in "external rotation." Going back to the arms out to the side example, instead of pouring water forward, rotate your arms backward so that your palms are facing up. It's basically the opposite movement to internal rotation.

To do the behind-the-neck pulldown as normally instructed, you must externally rotate your shoulders as much as possible. This is a very delicate position for your shoulders. The supporting muscles of the shoulders (known as the rotator cuff) are not in a good position to stabilize the joint and injury to those supporting muscles can result, which can lead to further injury in the connective tissue of the joint.

On top of that, since most people do not have enough shoulder flexibility to get a straight line of pull behind the neck, they must bend their neck forward to even do the movement. This can result in neck strain on top of shoulder strain.

This information also applies to the behind-the-neck pull-up exercise. The mechanics of the movement are exactly the same, the only difference being you're pulling yourself up instead of pulling the weight down.

Stick to exercises that are in front of the body, such as front pulldowns, close-grip pulldowns and pull-ups to the front.

3. Behind-The-Neck Shoulder Presses

The Behind-The-Neck Press gives us the same shoulder issues associated with the Behind-The-Neck Pulldown. To do the movement, you must maximally externally rotate the shoulders. Again, this places the shoulders in a very vulnerable position, which can easily result in strain in the Rotator Cuff muscles.

Also, as with the pulldowns, most people simply don't have the necessary shoulder flexibility to get a straight line on the movement - they must tilt their head forward to get the bar behind it, adding greatly to the possibility of injury.

Stick to the military press and the dumbell press for your shoulder pressing movements.

4. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts On A Bench

The Stiff-Legged Deadlift, properly done, is actually a very good movement for the hamstrings, glutes and lower back. The problem comes when, in an attempt to increase the stretch on the hamstrings, the exercise is done standing on a block or bench.

To get the most stretch on the hamstrings and to protect the lower back from injury, an arch should be maintained in the lower back during the movement. It's extremely difficult to maintain an arch in the lower back when you are stretching down as far as you can towards the floor with a barbell pulling you down.

Without the arch, as a natural result, the spine will flex and the supporting muscles of the spine will relax. This places much of the tension of the exercise directly on the connective tissue and bones of the spinal column rather than the supporting muscles, which are stabilizing the spine. In an effort to get more stretch on the hamstrings, you instead compromise the support structures of your lower back.

To get more of a stretch on the hamstrings without standing on a bench and compromising your lower back, have a look at the technique in the following article:

5. The Sit-Up

If you enjoy having a pain-free lower back, the regular floor sit-up is a good exercise to avoid. When you do a sit-up, the mechanics of the movement and position of your body throw much of the torque of the movement onto your lower back. Your hip flexors pull directly on your spine in order to raise your torso off the floor when you do the exercise, leading to strain in the lower back area.

To top it off, the abdominal muscles (the real target of the exercise) are only worked isometrically. This means they don't actually contract and move, they just work to hold the torso steady while the hip flexors do the pulling. This is not a very effective abdominal exercise.

You will be far better off performing direct abdominal-training movements such as crunches, ball crunches, cable crunches, etc. These exercises directly target the abs without throwing excessive tension on the lower back.

An excellent exercise for the abdominals that is similar in look to the regular sit-up but focuses on the abs is the Abdominal Sit-Up. You can read more about it here:

The exercises you do have a profound effect on your training and your health. Be sure to choose exercises that will help you move forward towards your goals and not set you back through injury.

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The Training Partner: Best Friend or Worst Nightmare?

By Nick Nilsson

A good training partner can help you immensely in your

workouts but a bad one can spell disaster. Before you

decide if you want a partner, you need this information.

A good training partner can be a great asset to your training but if you get stuck with a bad one, it could lead you down the road to frustration. Be selective when choosing a training partner. Not every person is a good one (some can be downright horrible!). Here a few things to look out for:

1. Punctual - Nothing is more frustrating than waiting to start a workout when you're ready to go but your partner is late.

2. Dependable - Choose someone who you are sure will show up for every scheduled workout or who will call you if they can't make it. It is a drain on your valuable energy (especially before training) to have to constantly remind and harass.

3. No personality conflict - It is obviously not a good idea to train with someone who annoys you, unless of course you want to focus that negative energy into your training. If you dread going to work out because you can't stand your partner, soon you may not work out at all.

4. Similar strength levels - Look for someone who is at the same or a little above your strength level. When your strength is the similar, you won't have to constantly switch weights. If they are stronger, it will motivate you to use heavier weights. It is okay to lift with someone who is much stronger or much weaker than you, but be prepared to do a lot of weight switching.

5. Training level - If you are a beginner, try to find someone who knows what they are doing. You will get more out of your training than if you train with another beginner.

6. Motivation - Find someone with a similar motivation level as you. It you are gung-ho and your partner is ho-hum, you will be dragged down and your progress will suffer. If you are both "psycho," you can get some incredible workouts though! If you are moderately intense and lift with someone who is much more intense and willing to drive you, it can spur you onto much greater intensity.

7. Attitude - Get a partner with a positive attitude. This is very important. If they constantly say that something is impossible or that they can't or you can't do something, you may end up believing them. Do not train with someone who is satisfied with no improvement.

8. Open mind - Get a partner with an open mind. Someone who has to do things his or her way all the time, will not listen to you and will not change his or her mind is not a good partner to have. In every partnership, one person will tend to be the leader. The leader should take into account the needs and feelings of the other partner not totally ignore them.

9. Overpartnering - Do not get too many training partners. Sometimes a group of friends want to work out together. This is okay if there aren't too many of you. You won't get a good workout if you always have to wait for your partners to do their sets and you will probably end up talking too much. Three in a group is probably the most you can deal with and even that is probably pushing it.

10. Spotting - Get someone you feel comfortable with spotting you. One of the main roles of a training partner is spotting and if you don't trust them, there's not much point in having them around to help.

11. Male/female training partners - Members of the opposite gender often make excellent training partners. Showing off is good motivator for using heavier weights or working harder. One of the obvious drawbacks might be the differing amounts of weight used. If there is only one bench press available and one benches 300 pounds while the other benches 95 pounds, changing the weight is going to take awhile. This can be solved by having one person doing dumbell presses on the same bench rather than barbell presses.

While there are a number of advantages to having a training partner such as spotting, motivation, and companionship, there are also advantages to working alone, e.g. self-reliance, self-focus, no hassles over schedule, no one to wait for, etc. In the end, it is really up to you whether or not you want or need a training partner.

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Secret Training Tip #452 - Taking One-Arm Dumbell Rows To The MAX!

By Nick Nilsson

Learn how a simple change in body position can INSTANTLY

increase the amount of weight you can use for this exercise

AND make it safer. You'll never go back to the old way again!

The One-Arm Dumbell Row is one of the best lat-building exercises you can do. If you knew of a way to be able to not only perform it with heavier weight but in a far safer manner for your lower back, would you be interested?

I have just what you're looking for: a simple body-positioning trick that will INSTANTLY allow you to use much heavier weight with good form without compromising the health of your lower back.

The typical one-arm dumbell row is done on a bench with one knee placed on the end, one hand set forward on the bench to brace the upper body and the other foot planted solidly beside the bench. The lower back should be arched and tight and the head should be looking somewhat up and forward.

This position is absolutely fine for the back and body when you are in it without weight. Now let's add a dumbell and see what happens.

Generally, you are taught to hold the dumbell in your hand, let it stretch forward a little then bring it up along the outside of your thigh and up towards your hip. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Wrong! Bringing the dumbell up along the outside of your thigh can not only greatly limit the amount of weight you're able to use safely for this exercise, it can also compromise the safety of your lower back. The technique I'm about to show you will TOTALLY eliminate these problems, making the exercise safer and making your immediately stronger in it.

How can I go against the teachings of decades of exercise instruction? Easy, I do it every day. Quite often, it actually ends up being a lot better for you!

What's the technique? Instead of placing your foot beside the bench and bringing the dumbell up along the outside of your thigh, set your foot out wide to the side and bring the dumbell up along the INSIDE of your thigh (your knee should be slightly bent when you do this).

It doesn't sound earthshattering but you'll notice an IMMEDIATE difference in how the exercise feels. You will feel stronger and more stable right away.

When you examine the standard performance of this exercise, you'll see one glaring problem: the resistance is placed entirely OUTSIDE of your base of support during the movement. Your base of support is formed by your legs and your arm on the bench. When the resistance is outside of your base of support, i.e. the dumbell coming up the outside of your thigh, your body must attempt to counterbalance this torque with your lower back.

When you're using lighter weights, it doesn't matter so much as the resistance is not enough to really cause problems. Imagine, however, trying to do a one-arm dumbell row with a dumbell that weighs almost as much as you do. Think you'll be able to hold that outside your thigh and not fall over or severely injure your back?

By setting your foot out wide (like an angled brace holding up a retaining wall), you immediately widen your base of support, making yourself far more stable and increasing your power. Bringing the resistance up INSIDE of your base of support allows you to instantly use much heavier weight without the dangerous, unbalanced torque on your lower back and body.

Using this technique allowed me to perform 3 reps (with good form) with a home-made 210 pound dumbell. This dumbell weighed 20 pounds more than I did at the time.

When you try this technique and are able to starting moving heavier weights, be absolutely sure you keep a tight arch in your lower back. DO NOT allow it to round over at all. Rounding your lower back not only decreases the effect of the exercise on the lats, it also immediately relaxes the muscles of the spine that work to stabilize the spine. The result: possible immediate injury. Keep it arched and keep it tight.

Give this positioning technique a try in your next back workout. You will notice an immediate difference in how the exercise feels and realize an immediate increase in the amount of weight you are able to handle with it.

For pictures of this enhanced technique, click this link now:

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Secret Training Tip #321 - Squatting With Your Core - This Never-Before-Seen Technique Can Make You Stronger in the Squat Instantly!

By Nick Nilsson

Squatting is a total body exercise. When you learn how to

use your core muscles when you squat, weights you've

struggled with will FLY up!

Squatting is simply one of the very best exercises you can do for building muscle and strength. Period.

What would you say if I told you that your body has the potential to lift 10% or more weight in the squat RIGHT NOW, with just a small adjustment in how you perform the exercise?

Today, you're going to learn exactly how it's done. You're going to learn how to use your core muscles to not only stabilize your upper body during the squat (the regular squat technique), but to actually help PUSH the weight up as well. This is how you will be able to use more weight instantly - you'll be using more muscles to push the weight up!

It's an extremely powerful technique that will not only help you use more weight, it will help you develop incredible core strength, power and stability. In fact, use of this technique while squatting can even help you become a more powerful athlete because it teaches you how to use your core muscles to not only stabilize during but to actively participate in powerful movements found in most sports.

The result: a stronger throw, a higher jump, a more devastating punch and a more powerful kick.

Before I go on to explain the technique for improving the squat, you need to know how to properly perform the basic squat. For information on how to perform the squat, please click on this link:

"You Don't Know Squat About Squats"

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Teaching you how to use your core to push during a squat is not a one-step process, nor is it something that comes naturally to most. I'm going to take you through several progressions that will force your body to learn the technique so you can immediately apply it to your squatting.

First, we need to pre-exhaust the muscle of the core. Pre-exhausting is a technique whereby you work a single target muscle group in isolation, e.g. flyes for the chest, before working it in combination with other muscle groups, e.g. bench press for the chest.

Why on earth do we need to pre-exhaust the muscles that we're trying to use to make another exercise stronger? Won't that defeat the purpose of the technique?

The answer is simple. When the core muscles are fresh and unworked, it would be much harder to actually feel how we want them to work. When we pre-exhaust them with one specific exercise (which I will teach you) then work them another specific exercise (which I will also teach you), the core muscles will be the weak link and your body will be forced to use the core to push in order to actually perform the movement.

It's basically a way of selectively exhausting your core muscles to make you feel them working in the way we want. Without pre-exhausting, the core muscles won't be forced to work like this and it wouldn't teach you the technique.

The exercise we're going to use to pre-exhaust the core is called the

"Cable Gripping Trunk Twist." This exercise targets the entire group of core muscles in a rotational movement.

I will not go through the full technique of how to perform the exercise here. To learn how to do the exercise, please use the following link:

Perform two sets of 8 reps of this exercise with 30 seconds rest in between the two sets. You should feel all the muscles of the core tighten up from this movement so be sure to work it hard.

Now we move directly to the exercise that will teach you how to push with the core. Your core is pre-exhausted and ready to go. The exercise you will be doing is the "Low Pulley Deadlift."

Attach a straight or cambered bar to a low pulley. Use a fairly heavy weight for this exercise (the whole weight stack may be necessary). The execution is very similar to a standard deadlift.

For pictures and info on how to perform this exercise for our purposes, click on this link:

Get into the start position, making sure your lower back is arched. Now take a few steps back, away from the pulley, taking the weight with you. This angle on the pulley you get from stepping back is critical in teaching you how to push with your core.

Now do a deadlift movement but keep the knees fairly bent and focus primarily on straightening at the hips rather than the knees (you'll want to keep your knees bent throughout the movement). You should notice your core muscles immediately quivering as tension shoots through that area.

In order to even perform the movement, you now have to use your core muscles to push up. Without pushing with the core, you'll pitch forward due both to the angle of the cable on the low pulley and the direct backward force you need to exert to keep from falling forward.

Perform 2 or 3 sets of 8 reps of the Low Pulley Deadlift, focusing as hard as you can on pushing your torso straight using your core muscles. This exercise is all about learning to feel the core pushing, not necessarily about working the muscles. Using enough weight is very important to learning that feeling so don't go too light with this exercise.

Once you can reliably feel your core muscles pushing in this exercise, you're ready to apply it to your squats.

Load the squat bar with weight you'd normally use for about 8 reps. Do one set of squats as you normally would, not pushing with the core. Push yourself but not to failure with this set - stay a few reps short of that point.

Now we're going to apply what we've learned about pushing with the core. Using the same weight as your first set, go down to the bottom of the squat as you normally would. As you start to come up, push with your core muscles, just like you did when performing the Low Pulley Deadlifts a few minutes ago.

I like to imagine my core muscles compressing like a coiled spring as I lower myself down to the bottom of the movement then expanding as I come up. Visualization in this manner may help you achieve the proper focus as well.

This pushing with the core should allow you to squat up more easily than in the previous non-core set. The core is no longer a passive stabilizer but an active participant in the movement.

It will take a little practice to get your mind into the technique but the results are very much worth it. You could be squatting more weight more comfortably in a matter of minutes!

Practice the core pre-exhaust Cable Gripping Trunk Twist and Low Pulley Deadlifts regularly to not only help teach your core to push but to strengthen it as well. The carryover in strength to the squat is tremendous!

While your squat form may not visibly be any different when you do this squat, this unique focused activation of the core will result in significantly increased power and strength in the exercise.

Here is the link once again for instructions on how to perform the exercises that will teach you how to push with your core:

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Practical Exercise Ideas For the Time-Strapped Person

By Nick Nilsson

Short on time but need to exercise? These ideas will help

you fit a workout in no matter how much or how little time you

have available.

What's the number one reason people give for not exercising? That's an easy one...not enough time!

Quite often, the trouble lies in mindset. If you think you need to FIND the time to exercise, you're already a step behind. You must MAKE the time to exercise, be it 20 minutes or 2 minutes.

These practical, ready-to-use ideas will help you make that time, no matter how busy you are.

1. The Daily One-Set Workout

If you can spare 2 minutes a day from your schedule, you can do this workout. All it consists of is one single set of one exercise, done to muscular failure. This could be push-ups, curls, calf raises, or anything (I will explain in more detail below) for as many reps as it takes to reach the point where you can't do another rep. Do this one set workout every single day without fail.

Though you can certainly do this once a day and get benefits, my preference is to do this 2 minute drill twice a day...first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

These very quick workouts are beneficial because they are intense and frequent. Pushing your muscles to failure has several benefits: it will help you maintain and build muscular strength and it will release a spurt of Growth Hormone (a potent muscle-building and fat-loss hormone).

If you'd like to focus on improving a single bodypart, you can follow a Daily Specialization program for it:

For best total-body results, focus on primarily on exercises that work the back, chest and legs (the smaller muscles such as biceps and triceps will also get worked when you do exercises for these larger parts).

For example, on Monday, do push-ups (morning and night, if you're doing twice a day). On Tuesday, do pull-up rows. On Wednesday, do squats, lunges or bench step squats.

Pull-Up Rows:

Squats:

Lunges:

One Legged Bench Step Squats:

2. Multi-Task Exercising

If you can do some form of exercise while you're doing something else, you'll save time. For example, if you're carrying groceries, do some bicep curls with the bags! If you're watching TV, you can do crunches or lunges or even squeeze a tennis ball to work your forearms.

There are many ways to incorporate activity or exercise into normal daily activities. Feel free to use your imagination! Even though it may not be conventional "exercise" in a gym setting, your body doesn't distinguish between lifting a heavy bag of groceries or lifting a dumbell. Your body will respond just the same!

3. Maximal Stair-Step Interval Training

Only got 5 minutes to do a cardio workout? That's all you need for this stair-stepping workout. All you need are some steps or a low bench. Here's how it's done:

Stand in front of some stairs. There should be at least 2 stairs that you can step up and down on. A railing to balance yourself on is also useful for when you become fatigued. Be sure you have a clock or watch that you can keep track of time on (you may need to have someone shouting out times to you if your watch doesn't have a timer alarm).

Step up and down the first two stairs for 1 or 2 minutes as a brief warm-up and to practice the pattern. The stepping pattern is as follows:

Right foot up on Step 1

Left foot up on Step 2

Right foot up on Step 2

Left foot down on Step 1

Right foot down on floor

Left foot down on floor

Repeat

For pictures of this pattern, go to:

Go through this pattern until it becomes second nature to you. It can be reversed by starting with the left foot on Step 1 as well. Try both and work with whichever is most comfortable to you.

Now comes the work...

- For 30 seconds, step up and down the stairs in this pattern

as fast as you can - sprint stepping, basically. The pattern

in the pictures above is done slowly to show you how to do

the pattern. You will be moving a lot faster than that when

you do this training!

- Hold onto the rail (if there is one) if you need to balance

yourself. You should be really pushing yourself to keep going

as you get to the end.

- Now rest for 30 seconds. Walk around a little. Swing your

arms - do whatever you need to do.

- Sprint the stairs again for 30 seconds then rest again

for 30 seconds. Repeat this pattern for a total of 5 work

intervals.

- By the time you start getting to the later work intervals,

your pace will be slowing down significantly. Be sure you

are still at least trying to go as fast as you can, even

if it's not really that fast anymore. That's the most

important thing. You should be breathing extremely heavily

towards the end.

Now you're done! That short workout is extremely effective for burning fat and boosting your metabolism. It's quick and it gets the job done when you're in a hurry.

4. Weekend Warrior Training

Got little or no time during the week to workout but more on the weekends? Here's a training schedule that may suit you. You will do one training session mid-week (e.g. Wednesday) and two on the weekend (one Saturday and one Sunday). This gives you 3 sessions per week, which is plenty to make good progress!

On Wednesday, you will do a total body workout. Do 2 or 3 sets for each of back, chest and thighs and 1 or 2 sets each of shoulders, biceps, triceps and calves. This is more of a maintenance workout.

On Saturday, work half of your body (however you prefer to split your bodyparts up, e.g. back, chest, biceps and calves). On Sunday, work the other half of your body (e.g. shoulders, triceps, thighs and abs). This split will allow you to do more sets for each bodypart, e.g. 5 or 6 sets per bodypart.

You can also include cardio training on the weekends as well, either as separate sessions (if you have time) or immediately following your weight training (the 5 minute cardio workout I explained in #3 is an excellent way to go!).

5. Isometrics

"Isometric" basically means "without movement." To do an isometric movement, you can push or pull against any immovable object.

For example, to work your chest muscles isometrically, press your palms together in front of you and push them together as hard as you can for 30 seconds.

To work your back, grab a solid railing or post with one hand and brace the other one against something solid. Now pull as hard as you can for 30 seconds, squeezing your back muscles hard.

Simple isometric contractions can also be very effective and convenient to do. These are done without working against objects but just by flexing the muscles.

Want to tone your glutes? Clench them hard and unclench them while you're driving in the car (though if you're not alone, you may have some explaining to do). Actively squeezing and contracting muscles for 20 to 30 seconds is a great way to keep the muscles active and toned.

Isometric contractions are very techniques to incorporate into the "Multi-Tasking" exercise technique I mentioned previously.

Conclusion:

While there always seem to be plenty of reasons why a person can't find the time to exercise, there are also plenty of reasons why a person should MAKE the time to exercise.

These ideas should allow even the busiest person to make that time and reap the benefits of regular exercise!

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Your Keys To Rock-Solid Ankle Stability, Explosive Sports Performance and Incredible Balance!

By Nick Nilsson

Learn how building up your ankle strength can have an

immediate and extremely powerful impact on your sports

and training performance. You can even practically

injury-proof your ankles!

If you were to ask me which often-neglected bodypart you could work that would have the greatest immediate impact on your sports performance, my answer would be instantaneous...the ankles.

The ankles are admittedly not glamorous. You're never going to have someone ask you to flex your ankle for them or ask you to roll down your sock for a better look.

But think of it this way...can you think of a single sport that doesn't involve the ankle in some way (poker and billiards don't count as sports, even if they're on ESPN - we'll limit ourselves to sports during which you can't smoke and drink).

If you're playing football and you need to make a sharp lateral cut to avoid getting hit, the majority of that force goes right through the ankle. A weak ankle will turn and possibly sprain. A strong ankle will take that force and allow you to make that sharp, powerful cut and leave tacklers in the dust!

Think of every racket sport you can...how many of these involve planting a foot, lunging for ball then rapidly changing direction?

Even if you're just running or sprinting in a straight line, you can benefit from stronger ankles. When your foot contacts the ground, all the force of your muscles propelling you forward goes directly through the ankles.

And one more HUGE benefit to strong ankles? With proper training, you can make them practically injury-proof! Using myself as an example, after doing ankle stability training (like the kind I'm about to tell you about), I had an instance playing tennis where I was lunging to the side to reach for a ball. My foot stopped but my momentum continued to carry my body laterally. My ankle bent 90 degrees, touching my outside ankle bone to the ground.

Without ankle strengthening, it would have been sprained for sure. As it was, my ankle popped right back up and I kept playing like nothing had even happened! No injury, no swelling, no tenderness, no problem!

Balance is another tremendous benefit. When your ankles are strong, you will be much better able to keep your balance even under awkward conditions. Think about it...the small muscles of the ankle are constantly firing to maintain balance (if you've ever run in the sand, you know how sore your ankle and calf muscles get the next day). These small muscles play an extremely important role in balance. Strengthening them will give you a greater ability to maintain your balance, even if you've already got great balance right now!

So now that you know what ankle strengthening can do for you, let's get into the nuts and bolts of how to do it.

These exercises can be done at the end of your weight or cardio workout or at the end of sports practice sessions. I wouldn't recommend starting a training session (or especially a sports practice session) with them as fatiguing these support muscles and the connective tissue in the area will leave the ankles temporarily weaker and possibly more prone to injury (until they have a chance to recover and strengthen). Doing these exercises at the end of a session avoids this potential issue completely.

You'll note that many of the concepts I will describe here involve balance training but with added twists to target them directly to ankle strengthening.

At the end of the article, you will find a link with pictures of these exercises in action.

Here are the techniques:

1. Standing and balancing

This is a very simple exercise and the one we'll start with. All you need to do is stand on one foot and balance there for as long as you can!

As you work to keep yourself balanced, you will notice that your ankle is constantly shifting around to compensate for slight changes in your body position. This constant shifting is working the supporting muscles of the ankles!

You can do this exercise anywhere at any time. All you need to do is stand on one foot and balance there for a minute or two, then switch to the other foot. It's so easy, you can get it done at the bus stop or while you're making dinner!

It is deceptively simple but very effective. This is because in everyday life, you very rarely stand on one foot for any length of time. Your ankles and calves are not required to balance or support you as much. When you stand on one foot, you force these supporting muscle to work overtime.

For an added twist, try closing your eyes while balancing. Without the visual cues to help keep you balanced, your ankles will have to work much harder.

2. Standing and balancing with weights

The next step up from the previous exercise is holding onto a pair of dumbells (or other form of resistance) while you are balancing on one foot. What this does is simply increase the resistance with which you are working. This increase in resistance will increase the demand on the muscles.

The more weight you use on this exercise, the more strength you'll be able to build up in your ankles. Think of it this way...if you're holding onto 2 50-lb dumbells, that's an extra 100 lbs that your body must work to balance. If you hold 2 100-lb dumbells, you've got 200 extra pounds! This is extreme overload and overload builds strength, espcially when your ankle muscles have never experienced this kind of stress before!

If you get to the point where you're unable to hold onto the heavy dumbells for long enough to be effective, you may wish to try placing a barbell across your shoulders as though you were doing a squat (do this in the squat rack with the safety rails set high). This will also have the effect of increasing the instability of the exercise, making it more challenging for the ankles. Also, you'll be able to use FAR more weight (I've gone as high as 405 lbs for this version).

3. Standing on an unstable surface and balancing

Now that you've learned how to work with the dumbells, it's time to move on to balancing on an unstable surface. This will really challenge the strength of your ankles.

Some good surfaces you can use include foam (like the foam on a flat bench), a pile of towels or clothing, sand, air mattress, etc. There are a great many surfaces that are effective for this. Feel free to use your imagination. I like to use a rolled-up towel set on the floor for this one - no need to buy any expensive equipment!

This balancing can be done either with or without weights. If you are using weights, I would suggest sticking to dumbells - they're easier to control than the barbell.

4. Standing, balancing and catching

You can do this variation in combination with the first or third variation. Have someone throw a ball or other object to you while you are standing on one foot (you can also bounce a ball off a wall if you're training alone). This will force you to shift your balance around dramatically while standing on one foot, further forcing your ankles to work, while also developing your co-ordination while balancing.

5. Swinging dumbell calf raises

This exercise adds the large muscles of the calves to the mix. Basically, you will do as the name implies - you will do a single leg calf raise, holding onto one single dumbell, swinging it around yourself in random directions as you do the calf raise. This forces your calves and ankles to build stabilizing strength VERY quickly. It also helps train your ankles to react quickly to sudden random stresses, much like in a sporting event. This is very practical movement that has great carryover into sports.

Now that you have this knowledge, it's time to put it into practice! Consistent training with these techniques will have a tremendous, immediate impact on your sports performance. You'll be cutting sharper, pivoting stronger and be practically injury-proof in no time!

Here's the link to view pictures of these 5 exercises in action:

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How To Be The Best Spotter in The Gym

By Nick Nilsson

There's more to spotting than simply pulling up on the bar

or pushing up on the elbows. There is an art and science

to effective spotting. Learn the best techniques here!

Spotting is an important aspect of weightlifting safety, yet it's not something that is ever taught to gymgoers. Having a spotter gives you security and a little extra help to push yourself harder.

Here are some guidelines and rules-of-thumb, both for spotters and for lifters, that will make you a much better (and much safer) spotter.

1. Ask how the person you are spotting wants to be spotted. Some people, when doing dumbell exercises such as the bench press, prefer to be spotted at the elbows by pushing up from underneath with their elbows in your palms, while others prefer the wrists (pulling up on them). Neither way is necessarily right or wrong, it is a matter of preference.

2. Determine the rep range the person is going to be working in. If you start spotting at five reps and they're doing ten, you've just ruined a set. If, on the other hand, you had to start spotting at five and they said ten, they may be expecting another five forced reps out of you.

3. Never take the weight away from the person (unless they really need it taken away for safety reasons). This is especially true on barbell exercises when you're spotting on the bar. Do not pull or push so hard on the bar (unless they ask) that it takes the tension off the muscles. Good spotting means you just add enough force to keep the bar moving. When spotting exercises such as curls, spot by placing your hands under the lifters hands and pushing up on their hands rather than lifting on the bar itself. This will ensure you don't take the weight away as you spot.

4. Find out if the person is going to do any set extension techniques, e.g. negatives, drop sets, forced reps, etc. You should know exactly what's going on so you can be prepared for it. You don't want to mistake an intensity technique for muscular failure that requires a spot.

5. Don't scream encouragement at the person without first making sure they want that kind of thing. It can be very distracting and not everyone likes it or needs it.

6. When spotting on bench press, be sure to wipe the sweat off your face beforehand so you don't drip on the person during their set (not a nice thing to experience). Also, don't lean over them excessively. This can be distracting.

7. As well on bench, ask if the person wants help lifting the bar off the rack. Also, do not spot with one arm in a sort of one arm deadlift. This is a poor balance point and the pull is often uneven. This unbalancing can cause failure for the person lifting the weight.

8. Spot around the waist on squats, not on the bar. Lower yourself as they go down and follow them up. Help them rack the bar if they need help but never push them forward if they're not ready to move.

9. When it is possible for you to spot yourself (e.g. 1 arm exercises, standing on a chair for chins, etc.), do it. You know better then anyone how much help you need. On the other hand, if you have a tendency to go easy on yourself and bail out too soon, get a spotter to force you to work.

10. When spotting on dumbell bench press, do not push inward on the elbows or the dumbells may cave in on their chest. Always push up.

11. There are exercises where you shouldn't spot people, e.g. deadlifts, hyperextensions, crunches, power cleans, etc. If someone asks you to spot them on these, politely decline.

12. Sometimes a person may ask you to hand them a dumbell on exercises like dumbell bench, incline presses, shoulder presses, etc. Pick up the dumbell with your hands on the weight plate, not the handle itself. If you pick the weight up by the handle and try to hand it over that way, you and the lifter will have to try and somehow trade hand positions on the handle before they can lift the weight. This is not safe at all even with light weights but especially with maximal weights. An easy way to lift a heavy dumbell up to your shoulder level so you can hand it over is to pick it up first on the outside of the plates with both hands, then deadlift it to a standing position. Now rest the handle of the dumbell on one of your thighs, kick that leg up, throwing the dumbell up to your upper chest. Set it in their hand from there.

13. On some machines such as the pec deck, for example, it is better to spot by lifting the weight stack itself (watch your hands!). This keeps the tension on the muscle far better during the set. Do not place your hands underneath the plates, however. Just grasp the weight plates on the sides and push up to help. This should only be used for light help, not for full-power forced reps.

14. When using two spotters (e.g. for heavy squats or bench), have one at each end of the bar and ensure they pull up simultaneously. An unbalanced load can mean trouble.

15. If you need a spotter on every set of every exercise you do, you are either working too hard or not hard enough. On one hand, doing too many forced reps will rapidly overtrain you, while on the other hand, letting the spotter do much of the work will prevent progress. Try doing a few sets completely on your own (without any spot at all) to see if you are actually doing all the work. It is not good to be overly dependent on spotting outside of what is necessary for safety reasons. If you can't lift the weight by yourself then you shouldn't be doing it at all. The exception to this is negative training and legitimate forced reps.

16. A good spotting technique is the finger spot. If, for example, you are spotting someone on bench press and the bar is slowing down and almost stopped, use only your two index fingers underneath the bar. This is often more of a mental boost for the lifter than an actual spot. At this point, apply just enough pressure to keep the bar moving. If the fingers aren't enough, grip the bar and continue to help just enough to keep it moving. This will make the lifter do much more of the work themselves. They'll either love your spotting or never ask you to do it again!

17. When spotting, ease up as the lifter moves past the sticking point and into the stronger range of motion. For example, when spotting on bench, help just through the sticking point, then, as the leverage improves, reduce your help as the bar comes up, letting up completely as the bar comes to the top. To increase the value of the set, you may even want to lean on the bar a little as it comes to the top (check with your lifter first before doing this). This will help increase lockout power.

18. If you see someone struggling with a weight, don't run over and yank the weight up. This can be dangerous for the trainer and tends to make people angry. Make your presence known but don't help until the trainer signals you for help. If you see someone being crushed under a bench press, however, that is when you should run over and help without asking.

19. When spotting, focus all your attention on the set, no matter who walks by or who talks to you. You are responsible for ensuring the safety of the lifter.

20. Don't spot until it is absolutely necessary. The most productive part of a set is near the end where the lifter is struggling with the weight. By helping too soon, you will reduce the effectiveness of the set.

21. Don't base the amount weight you use totally on the strength of your spotter. You should be using your own strength for your sets. This is not to say you shouldn't have a strong spotter, though. Another exception is dumbell spotting where the spotter must hand the weight to you. Obviously, you'll need to find someone strong enough to be able to do that effectively.

22. Machines that have foot levers to help you get the weight into position can be used to spot yourself. If you can get the coordination right, you can use the lever to catapult the weight out of the bottom position.

23. Spotting is okay for beginners learning form and limitations but only for safety, not for excess reps. This is one of the major mistakes beginning trainers make when starting a training program. Overuse of forced reps, i.e. unnecessary spotting, can lead to burnout and excessive soreness. In these cases, spotting should only be used to keep the lifter safe, not to push them harder.

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As you can see, there's more to spotting than simply pulling on a bar or pushing on the elbows. A good spot should maximize the results and safety of the lifter. Remember these guidelines the next time someone asks you for a spot or the next you ask someone else for a spot!

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