Pull-up & Chin-up Guide | How to do Pull-ups & Chin-ups
Apr 21st, 2010 - written by Stephan in Strength Training (0 comments)

Without doubt, pull-ups and chin-ups are one of the most effective basic exercises to develop a muscular upper body. They work a large number of muscles simultaneously and, through different grip setups and techniques, offer many different training variations.

Pull-up Benefits

Strength	Pull-ups are a great exercise to strengthen almost all upper body and arm muscles, including the hand's gripping strength.
Muscles	Doing Pull-ups on a regular basis can develop an impressive upper body.
Balance	Pull-ups help maintaining the upper body's muscular balance by compensating the popular pressing exercise for chest and front shoulders.
Simplicity	Pull-ups require nothing but a fixed horizontal bar or something similar to grasp. Once you're able to perform a few pull-ups, you can train virtually anywhere.
Versatility	A variety of grip setups and many training techniques make pull-ups a versatile and interesting exercise.

Basic Pull-up Instructions

• Stand below pull-up bar and grasp it with wide overhand grip. Hang on bar.
• Bend your knees and cross your lower legs.
• Pull your body up until your upper chest reaches the bar. Look up and keep chest up, leading toward the bar.
• Return with same speed. Keep the arms very slightly bent at the bottom of the motion to maintain the muscular activity. Simultaneously let your your shoulders be pulled up by the bodyweight.
• Repeat.

The Difference Between Pull-ups and Chin-ups

While the basic pulling movement is the same, pull-ups and chin-ups differ in the hand's grip setup.

Pull-ups	Chin-ups
Palms facing away from you involves less arm flexor muscles and more back. It is harder.	Palms facing you involves less back muscles and more arm flexors. It is easier.

Pull-up Techniques

Especially for beginners pull-ups a are a major challenge. Not only do they require a good relation of strength and bodyweight, but also a very specific muscular coordination that can only be improved by doing it.

Don't stick to Lat Pull-downs for too long. Even if you're strong enough to sit and pull down about your bodyweight, it doesn't mean you're able to do a single correct pull-up, because you're not accustomed to the specific technique. Any great performance on the pull-up bar comes from hard and consistent training.

Beginner's Techniques

Lat Pull-downs		Introduction to the basic movement patterns of arm and shoulder joints. Adjustable training weight. Different grip attachments.
Assisted Pull-ups, Machine		Closely related to free pull-ups. Bodyweight is supported by training weight. Usually allows wide and neutral grip setup. Two separate handles allow an upright posture.
Assisted Pull-ups, Elastic Band		Free pull-up technique. Bodyweight is supported by an elastic band you either kneel or stand on. Adjustable training level by selecting from different elastic bands.
Assisted Pull-ups, Training Partner		Free pull-up technique. Requires a certain level of basic strength. Bodyweight is supported by the training partner, at least during the pull-up movement.
Negative Pull-ups		Free pull-up technique. Requires a certain level of basic strength. No external support. Grasp pull-up bar while standing on elevation and, as slowly as possible, perform only the negative movement.
Partial Repetitions		Free pull-up technique. Requires a certain level of basic strength. No external support Grasp pull-up bar and pull body about half way up.

Advanced Techniques

Weighted Pull-ups		If you can do 10 or more pull-ups, you may want to use a weight belt/chain to add some weight. Alternatively use a rucksack with weight plates (or books, ...) in it or hold a dumbbell between your feet.
Slow Negatives		Putting the emphasis on the negative part of the motion will activate a maximum number of muscle fibers. Pull you body up as usual and take about 4-5 seconds to return to the starting position.

Pull-up Variations

Wide Overhand Grip		Choose a more than shoulder-wide grip distance. You elbows should be bent about right-angled at top of motion. A too wide grip distance will limit the range of motion.
Close Overhand Grip		A shoulder-wide or even closer grip distance requires your arms to be bent almost completely, resulting in a higher demand of the arm muscles.
Neutral Grip		Usually the neutral grip is setup slightly wider than shoulder-wide apart. It allows a comfortable hand position and an even training of back and arms.
Close Neutral Grip		The close neutral grip distance trains more arms, less back.
Reverse Grip		As mentioned above, reverse grip pull-ups are also called chin-ups. They put more emphasis the arm flexors, less back.
Wide Reverse Grip		To involve more back when doing chin-ups, choose a wide reverse grip, provided your wrists tolerate this setup pain-free.
Mixed Grip		Mixed grip is a combination of neutral and overhand or underhand grip. Remember to train both sides evenly.
One Arm Reverse Grip		If you're strong enough, you can do one arm chin-ups. It requires an excellent relation of strength and bodyweight. Because of its high demand one arm chin-ups usually aren't part of a normal training routine.

Common Mistakes

• Straight Arms. Extending the arms completely disables all major muscular activity for a moment, which may result in overstressed passive structures, such as tendons and ligaments.
• Swinging. Try to keep hips and legs as stable as possible. Don't kick legs and don't swing back and forth.

Exercise Guide Links to Pull-ups & Chin-ups

Pull-up
Pull-up, Assisted
Pull-up, Behind Neck
Pull-up, Close Grip
[linkexercise]bodyweight_v_grip_pull_up[/linkexercise]
Chin-up



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10 Simple Strategie For Gaining Muscle Mass
Mar 18th, 2010 - written by Stephan in Strength Training (0 comments)

1. Increased Muscular Tension

The conscious flexion of the working muscles over the entire range of motion causes an increased muscular stimulation. This technique particularly suits isolation exercises.

Thus, for example when doing Arm Curls, an extra tightening of the arm flexing muscles at the end of the concentric phase will increase the stimulus to the biceps.

In general, the eccentric part of a movement should be done slowly and deliberately under high muscular tension, which in turn leads to a higher training level, a more intense workout and an improved development of strength and muscle mass.

2. Final Contractions

Final contractions can lead to up to 30% increased muscular stimulation. Simply do 3-5 partial repetitions with almost extended joint positions after finishing a set.

For example, after the last repetition of the lat pull-down exercise, before dropping the weight, do a few repetitions in the upper part of the movement. You can apply this technique to almost any strength exercise.

3. Train Complex

A high and complex effort, and thus progressively higher workload is critical to muscular development.

You can move the highest weights during basic compound exercises that stimulate many muscles simultaneously and that involve functional movements.

Complex Exercises For The Upper Body	Complex Exercises For The Lower Body
Bench Press (all variations) Pull-ups (all variations) Barbell Row Dead-lifts Overhead Press	Squats (all variations) Dead-lifts

4. Train Standing

Try to do as many exercises as possible in standing position, because it requires and triggers the development of a larger number of stabilizing muscles, especially core muscles.

It is important to keep up a correct training technique and to avoid any swinging. This is particularly suitable for the training of the shoulders and arms, for example, Shoulder Presses with Barbell or Dumbbells, Lateral Raises, Arm Curls and Triceps Extension.

3. Variation: Heavy - Light - Heavy

To build muscles, it is important to use heavy weights and to train a the range of 5-8 repetitions.

However, muscles need some training variety to constantly develop and to grow.

Switch between heavy load training on the one hand and training with lighter weights on the other. Performing many repetitions with relatively light weights leads to better blood circulation within the affected muscles, resulting in an improved oxygen and results nutrient supply and thus promotes muscle growth.

A very simple and effective method is a permanent heavy weight training in combination with a once per weekly high-rep workout for all major muscle groups.

5. Effective Resting

In order to complete the necessary training volume in minimum time you may want to take advantage of the breaks between sets.

Here you either train the corresponding antagonist or any weaknesses, such as Calves or Abdominal Muscles.

Short and intense workouts cause a higher production of hormones that are involved in muscle building.

6. Eat More

To gain weight, you need to take in more energy than you consume. Therefore you need to eat more and you need to eat the right food.

To maximize the calorie intake eat mainly foods with a high energy density. Foremost amongst these are healthy fats such as olive oil, canola oil, nuts and peanut butter.

In addition, a sufficient supply of proteins is important. If you cannot meet the daily requirements through diet, it makes sense to resort to supplements, such as protein shakes.

If you are not able to take in large enough amounts of calories through solid food, you need to drink more energy-dense fluids. Drink plenty of milk, preferably whole milk, since the combination of protein and a little more fat leads to a longer digestion time in the stomach, and thus provides more energy of a longer time. Otherwise, high-calorie juices and self-made smoothies, such as milk with oatmeal and fruits, prepared in mixer, are an excellent source of energy.

7. Drink More

Muscles consist to 65% of water. Your muscles won´t grow without a sufficient water supply.

The complete protein and fat metabolism is based on an adequate fluid intake. To effectively build muscle mass, you need to dink 1 liter of water per day per 20 kg of body weight.

8. Rest More

Reduce the calorie consumption besides the strength training to a minimum. Avoid long cardio units.

Train hard and be lazy for the rest of the day. To ensure a good recovery and muscle growth you need to sleep about 8 hours per night.

9. Eat Directly After Training

After each intense workout, the muscles are hungry for glycogen and amino acids. Fulfill these needs promptly.

To make the most of the time window of about 15 minutes, you should either have a full meal, or alternatively drink a whey protein shake together with with rapidly digestible carbohydrates.

10. Think BIG

Ultimately, it is important to be convinced of your own performance and muscle growth.

Imagine to already own the desired muscles. Visualize it every day. The right mental cinema provides the necessary motivation.

Set the right priorities in terms of muscle building and developing a certain unwillingness to compromise, that is do everything necessary to reach your goal and to avoid any actions that prevent you from growing muscles.



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Nutrition 101: How much Protein per Day
Feb 4th, 2010 - written by Stephan in Nutrition (0 comments)

The recommended amount of protein per day is a hot topic, especially among strength training athletes, that is steadily revived by confusing recommendations in so-called professional journals and other media. Meanwhile, there are studies, one I will look at here in detail, that support my personal experience in terms of training, nutrition and muscle-building. But before that, let me clarify a few terms and issues around the subject of protein.
Ei. Image credit by mac.black

What is Protein?

Proteins are usually denoted as the building blocks of life. They are composed of amino acids, which in turn are the basic building block of all cells in the body. In addition to the structure building tasks, amino acids are responsible for a variety of other bodily functions such as oxygen and iron transport in the blood, the formation of antibodies and the secretion of hormones. In short, no life without proteins. The continuous cell degradation and recovery processes in the body demand the daily intake of a certain amount of protein through diet. Even physically inactive people have to cover a basic need for protein.

The Daily Requirement

As the level of physical activity increases, through an intense strength or endurance training for example, the demand for protein is growing equally, since the related metabolic processes of regeneration and adaptation of the body to the higher level of physical activity ask for more amino acids. But the disproportionately large amounts of protein, which are particularly recommended by many athletes, professional journals and the nutritional supplement industry, cannot be justified by that.

The "How much protein should I eat per day" table:

Type of Physical Activity	Daily Amount of Protein per Pound Body Weight
Inactive	0,5 gram
Endurance Training	0,75 gram
Strength Training	1 gram

These numbers cover the daily need. The significant and deliberate exaggeration of the recommended amounts of protein for the particular activity level as well the amount of protein served per meal offer, according to a study mentioned on www.medicalnewstoday.com the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, no significant benefits and even generate some unwanted side effects. “Most of the excess is oxidized and could end up as glucose or fat.”

The Right Timing and the Right Amount

Tests during this study have shown that the intake about 30 grams of protein per meal provides an ideal supply with amino acids to make sure the muscle synthesis. Among the volunteers who have taken up to 90 grams of protein per meal, no further increase in muscle protein could be demonstrated. Consequently the daily amount of protein has to be distributed fairly evenly among several meals throughout the day. Again, the researchers from Texas offer some interesting insights. Thus, the recommendation is to take in the first 30 grams of protein as early as breakfast and to cut the amount somewhat in the evening, as the synthesis of muscles functions most effectively during the day, while at night no significant amounts of protein can be processed.

Conclusion

Therefore the uncontrolled intake of large amounts of protein, especially in the field of strength training and bodybuilding, is just a curiosity. Replaced it by an intelligent handling of the own food and potential supplements. My own experiences has shown that an intensive weight training, which primarily targets developing strength and muscle density and not large muscular volume, is agreeable with a long-term protein intake on the level of an endurance athlete, that is below the mentioned 1 gram per pound body weight. Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168876.php



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Training 101: Machines or Free Weights?
Jan 27th, 2010 - written by Stephan in Strength Training (0 comments)

Introduction

Basically strength training is done either with free weights, mostly dumbbells, barbells and several variations of the barbell, or with machines. A balanced training routine offers enough room for both, free weights and machines. However, for an effective muscle growth or strength training you should prefer the use of free weights. Here´s why?

Machines

Machines are designed to offer a pre-defined training direction and sometimes even range of motion. Stabilizing the training weight and the own body weight and is mostly taken by the machines. Consequently you train only the necessary muscles. This type of training is very specific; it is simple to do and bears only low potential for error and injury. The major disadvantage is the limited complexity and thus effectiveness. What does that mean? The degree of complexity of an exercise, in large part, determines the training effect. The more muscles you involve in a movement, directly or indirectly, the higher the overall training stimulus will be. Here three terms come into play:

Target Muscle	the major group of muscles involved in an exercise
Synergists	they support the movement directly
Stabilizers	contracting muscles with no significant movement to fixate joints or to maintain a certain posture

While training on machines, you usually involve only agonists and synergists, stabilizers play only a small role.

Free Weights

Unlike when using free weights. Here, too, in principle, each exercise follows a defined movement, but it is solely the responsibility of the athlete to do a correct technique, to fixate the body in an ideal position and to stabilize the training weight. Free weight training improves the co-ordination skills and body awareness, and represents a great physical challenge in its complexity in the interplay between directly and indirectly involved muscle groups, with greater potential for development.

Conclusion

As initially mentioned, the use of machines offers an entirely adequate training. However, when it comes to the basic development of strength and co-ordination or a balanced growth of muscle mass, the use of free weights is the smarter choice.



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Push-ups: Correct Training Technique and Variations
Jan 17th, 2010 - written by Stephan in Strength Training (0 comments)

Introduction

Without doubt push-ups are the most popular bodyweight exercise. They strengthen almost the entire body, especially chest, shoulders and arm muscles, they are available in many variations, you can do them without any equipment and the technique is quite easy to learn. Yet, it takes some basic knowledge to do push-ups correctly, because like with any other strength training exercise, also push-ups bear the potential of mistakes that may lead to injuries and pains. Therefore read this guide to a correct push-up training technique.

Push-up Benefits

Strength	Working with your own bodyweight requires great effort and makes push-ups the a perfect exercise for strengthening the muscles of the torso.
Muscle Growth	Anyone who does push-ups on a regular basis may soon be pleased to develop some muscles. Push-ups mainly build chest, front shoulders and triceps muscles.
Effectiveness	Besides the dynamically active muscles push-ups also put high demand on many stabilizing muscles, which an almost total body workout out of this exercise.
Simplicity	A great advantage is the simplicity of push-ups. You can do push-ups almost anywhere and anytime.

Push-up Technique

• Place your hands slightly more than shoulder-wide apart on the floor.
• Then extend you body, place feet with toe tips on floor as well and hold your body above the floor while keeping your arms almost extended.
• Now bend your elbows and lower your body until the chest almost touches the floor and your elbows are bent about at right angles.
• Press your body up into the starting position, elbows remain slightly bent.
• Repeat as often as possible, provided a correct training technique.

Push-up Setup

Hands	Place the hands slightly wider than shoulder-wide apart, not too far away. Let the fingertips point forward.
Wrists	Placing the palm flat on the floor can occasionally lead to pain within the strongly extended wrists. In this case, it is better to do the push-ups on the fists or with handles, which allows the wrists to stay straight.
Upper Arms	Hold your upper arms between almost perpendicular to the upper body or close to the upper body, depending on the type of push-up.
Waist	Keep the abdominal muscles tight. Shoulders, hips and ankles form a straight line. Do not allow the body to sag.
Glutes	Also keep the gluteal muscles tight. Along with the abdominal tension it prevents the body from sagging.
Head	Keep the head aligned to the spine in a neutral position and look down.

Push-up Variations

There are a variety of push-up variations that make this exercise either lighter or heavier or have that shift the demand on different muscles involved.

Name	Image	Target Muscle	Link
Push-up		Pectoralis Major, Sternal	Push-up
Push-up, Close Grip		Triceps Brachii	Push-up, Close
Push-up, incline		Pectoralis Major, Sternal	Push-up, Incline
Push-up, decline		Pectoralis Major, Clavicular	Push-up, Decline
Push-up, Diamond		Triceps	Push-up, Diamond
Push-up, with Elastic Band		Pectoralis Major, Sternal	Push-up
Push-up, on Knees		Pectoralis Major, Sternal	Push-up, On Knees
Push-up, One Arm		Pectoralis Major, Sternal	Push-up, One Arm

Common Mistakes

Overextended Wrists		As mentioned before, some people may experience pain from overextended wrists. In this case it is better to perform the push-ups on the fists or with special push-up grips.
Sagging body		.
Head Leading		During push-ups keep neck and head aligned to the body. Move your chest to the ground and let your head follow the motion.
Looking ahead		To avoid unfavorable strains or injuries in the neck, it is very important to look down in a neutral fashion while doing push-ups.
Upper Arm Abduction		For the shoulder joints secure the upper arm angles are between slightly below perpendicular to the body and near besides the body.

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Blog: The latest feature of bodytrainer.tv
Dec 21st, 2009 - written by Stephan in General (0 comments)

The time has come. In addition to several new features here at www.sports-db.com, all revealed in the upcoming weeks, there is finally a blog that will mainly deal with the themes of fitness, training techniques, nutrition and wellness. I look forward to the first entries and of course your comments! Best regards, Stephan ... read more

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