Student Fitness

By: Veljko Petranovic

Ah, yes, the pectoral muscles. Ever since the image of Arnold’s unbelievable chest musculature entered the mainstream, everyone and their uncle spends hours upon hours benching in the gym. The pecs are composed of two muscles – the major and the minor. For the life of me, I can’t comprehend why people think they need, like, 6 different chest exercises on each workout. It’s only two muscles, guys! Two or three exercises, executed with proper form and intensity, are well enough! It’s not like it’s a large muscle group anyway. It’s not even that hard to exhaust. Yet I keep seeing trainers making the same mistakes all the damn time.

Mistake one: prioritizing chest to the expense of other body parts. A great body is evenly developed, end of story. Besides, the size of your chest is directly proportional to how much muscle you’re carrying overall – I’ve yet to see someone with great pecs and nothing else happening elsewhere. If your pulling (bent over row) weight isn’t about the same as the pushing (bench) weight, you are in the process of developing a muscular imbalance, which not only looks funny, but can result in injury.

Mistake two: Flat benching all the time. Unless your fitness goals include looking like a Neanderthal, with slumped shoulders and droopy pecs, lay off the flat bench. I’m serious. It’s not that great a movement. Yes, it works for some, and it is a great mass builder, but the trouble is that for most of us, the flat bench works mostly the anterior deltoids and triceps. If you must do it, keep your upper arms parallel with the bar, instead of letting the elbows slide downwards. This rotation is keeping the tension away from the pecs.

Mistake three: Benching heavy. Yeah, I know it’s impressive and cool and all, but if you’re doing it for the bragging rights, you are not doing yourself a favor. You can, and eventually will, get hurt. No one but your buddies cares about your benching weight. Girls couldn’t give a rat’s ass, believe me. They appreciate the results, not the effort. And if you’re sacrificing form for the sake of going heavy, you’re exercising your ego, not your body.

Mistake four: Attempting to “hit the chest from all angles”. Look, there is only one angle that is beneficial to your pecs’ development, and it’s the 90 degree angle of your humerus to the torso. Like I said, it’s only two muscles. An exception would be the parallel bar dip, which I’m very fond of doing, but it, too, works the triceps too hard while the pecs receive about a third of the total stimulation. I just thought of another one – the pullover, though I’m not sure whether it works the chest or the lats more. All I know is, my lats hurt after the pullover, and expanding the ribcage with an exercise is a big load of hokey.

Mistake five: Isolation. No amount of cable crossovers is going to put striations and cuts and whatever on your chest. This sort of detail is reserved for people who have two things: one, a good chest, and more importantly two, low body fat. Don’t kid yourself – pack on the muscle with properly performed dumbbell presses and flies. Free weights rule over puny cables. Not that they don’t have a purpose, but one shouldn’t rely on cables alone. The pec-deck can be great, just remember not to put your forearms on the pads and push that way – it’s much better to grab the bars of the apparatus and push with your hands.

Mistake six: Too much volume. It’s a relatively small muscle group. Eight time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney has a great proverb about this – stimulate, don’t annihilate. Four sets of three exercises is enough for a regular human being. Just one drop set will put the burn in your chest like you wouldn’t believe. Never mind all the articles with the top pros who do chest three times a week for 30 sets. Us mortals need time to recover and grow. It’s way more important then training. Otherwise you’d be seeing some amazing transformations with the gym rats who train six times a week, 2 hours a day. Sadly, you never do.

Mistake seven: Forgetting the “upper” chest. I remember doing only incline benches and flyes just before this contest in 2002. When all was said and done, I ended up with a pretty good overall pec size. I strongly feel that a quality chest is supposed to be even from top to bottom. Yes, I know that your bench weight decreases by about 10 percent when you go incline. Please refer to mistake number three.

Mistake eight: Saying “bah” to push ups. Yeah, I know, you’re a big boy and have heavy weights to play with, and you could do about a hundred if you wanted to, and the floor is dirty and you’re not in the Army. I used to think some of those things, too. That was until I devoted an entire summer to doing push ups with my feet on a chair exclusively. Guess what? It worked the same way as weights do. When it gets easy and boring, as 50 rep sets can do, push up slower. Add weight on your back, be it manual resistance from a friend or a heavy backpack. Be careful, it can slide down and hit your head. Try clapping in between reps, it’s fun!

Mistake nine: Having no mind-muscle connection. For good stimulation, ensure that you feel each rep of the execise in your targeted muscles. This applies to everything. Don’t just move the weight like a piston. Feel it. Once you start feeling pain, you have 1 or 2 good reps left in you. Then just back off. No need to administer self torture, even if you have been bad.

Mistake ten: Copying what others are doing. Be it an IFBB pro, or a fellow trainer you see every day, it’s far from given that you’ll look like him if you train like him. We’re all different. Genetics, drugs, lifestyles, experience, all that jazz. He might have the kind of body you want, and he might have gotten it doing everything contrary to this article. If that’s the case, just remember that it was written by a hard gainer, for hard gainers. We outnumber the easy gainers 50 to one. And we can, given common sense and hard work, look great and improve independently from others.

By: Veljko Petranovic

Last week I was at the gym, getting used to the now world famous “300 workout”. It’s, for a lack of a better word, brutal. Try it sometimes. I was cowering in a corner after a 20-rep set of squats, holding back from puking, and then I noticed the two newcomers. Both were tall and slender as beanstalks, and of course, they were benching, doing maybe eight reps with 60 pounds.

No big deal there, everybody at my gym benches all the time, and we have a steady influx of newbies, but it was the way they were doing it that really rattled my nerves. Normally, I have this rule - don’t give advice unless you’re asked. But these guys were out to hurt themselves, so I told the receptionist about it. His words didn’t make an impact I hoped for.

Set after set, they laid on the bench at an angle, grabbed the bar unevenly and proceeded to raise it in the most crooked manner. At the top of the movement, the knuckles of their right hands were above the knuckles of their left, exceeding one another for about three inches. Obviously, they had a muscular imbalance - their left elbows didn’t lock out at the top (weaker left triceps), and as a result, they were doing something that resembled a circus balancing act - lift, compensate for the plates that began to slide off the bar, lower.

So, I told them about it, and promptly forgot about them. More recently, I was talking to a friend, who boasted about squatting some 300 pounds for eight reps on a fixed bar. I asked him how low he went, and found out that he’s doing quarter squats. He explained that it was because he “didn’t want to hurt his spine”. As a matter of fact, he defended his form quite vigorously. Yadda yadda yadda.

There are your two reasons for using improper form in the gym. One is a lack of knowledge, the other is ego. Let me tell you, most people don’t care how much you can lift unless you’re a powerlifter at a meet or a strongman competitor. It’s the way you look and perform in your sport that separates you from the average gym rat. Bad form will, in the long run, give you an injury, and that means time off training and lots and lots of pain. Depression is common when this happens. So it pays off to give proper form a bit of attention. Besides, lackluster form means utilizing less muscle fibers in your lift, targeting other muscles unintendedly which translates to little or no progress. Yikes!

Let’s examine some of the more common movements. You have your obligatory bicep curl. Stand in front of the bar, feet shoulder width apart. Grab the bar with the palms facing you, a bit wider than shoulder width. Some movement in the lower back while you curl is OK, but don’t swing like you’re doing a snatch - it’s best to keep the back rigid and let the biceps do the work. Also, try not to slouch your shoulders.

The militairy press is what most people choose when it comes to building the deltoids. Most don’t know that those muscles consist of three heads - the anterior, the lateral and the posterior. Each of these is trained with a different movement, but for some reason, a lot of guys do only the MP, which develops the front shoulder exclusively. Grip the bar in a manner that will allow your upper arms, upon lowering, to be parallel to the bar and perpendicular to your body. This means that the hands should be about three feet apart for the average height individual. Don’t curve your spine either way, keep it firm and in a neutral position. Also, don’t roll your tailbone if you’re sitting down and keep the feet firmly planted on the ground. If you’re standing up, avoid excessive back extension - this puts much stress on the spine’s discs. Lower the bar to your nose or to the atlas disc (the one that rotates the head) in your neck, depending on whether you’re lowering it to the front or the back of your head. Anything lower puts unnecessary strain on the rotator cuffs.

Deadlifting is easy to learn. The loaded bar is on the ground, and you just bend over and pick it up. The sumo variant demands that your legs be wide apart, while the conventional deadlift dictates that they should be kept narrower than the shoulders, so that your arms can grip the bar and remain “outside” of the knees when you go down. Use a mixed grip - one hand pronated, the other supinated, and switch hands at each set. KEEP THE BACK STRAIGHT. Also, there is no need to go down in a deep squat, the back should do most of the work and the majority of the movement happens at the hips, not the knees.

When squatting, think “heels” and think “butt”. Push with your heels and keep the butt back, don’t tuck it in. Go down as much as you can with no weight, keep the back neutral, and don’t let the knees travel much past your toes at the bottom. Don’t fall back on your ass now! Also, don’t let your knees wobble left or right - this is a sure sign that you’re using too much weight. Place the bar on the traps, just under the bone that sticks out, where the spine meets the neck. Hand placement depends on preference - me, I just “hug” the plates to keep them in place, arms spread. Breathe, but contract your abs at all points of the movement. Chest is kept up, eyes forward.

Parallel bar dips are another easy one - make sure that your biceps meet your forearms at the bottom, then extend. Tilt to the front to put more stress on the pecs, or keep your body straight to isolate the triceps. Legs are bent at the knee and crossed.

By: Veljko Petranovic

A lot of people I know have trouble when it comes to developing their legs to match their upper bodies. I am also one of those people. You see, legs aren?t ?show? muscles. So, if you happen to be lifting weights just for the sake of looking good, chances are that you?ve been neglecting your legs. No wonder. The first thing someone notices about your build is the shoulders. Arms are also a huge favorite. Hitting the beach? Don?t forget the abs. Just about everyone does the bench press often to get that impressive chest.

Meanwhile, the legs remain forgotten, ignored if you will, like a red-headed stepchild. In the long run, the result is a huge muscular imbalance, which not only looks funny, but can and will ultimately limit your overall growth. So, my first advice would be to start exercising your legs at least as much as you exercise the upper body. Your look will be complete, not half-assed.

That being said, legs are notoriously hard to train. Squats just might be the hardest movement you?ll ever try. They are not fun like it is to pump up your biceps on the Scott bench, named after the great Larry Scott, a bodybuilding champion from the past. Legs are also always in motion, as they propel you about on your daily business. This means that they are used to low intensity, high endurance work, and logic thus dictates that hey should not be trained in a similar fashion if your goal is muscular hypertrophy.

Using full range of motion and precise form is a must. Injury is not fun at all, take it from someone who has torn his vastus medialis muscle twice and has had numerous tendon pulls and countless joint inflammations. Going heavy is an option, but if you?re using a limited range of motion for the sake of hoisting more iron, you?re just stroking your ego and risking injury, time off of training, depression, fat gain, you name it. Not good. Besides, a quarter of a squat does very little in the way of growth.

High reps or low reps? My answer would be to do both, and switch often. A good leg workout will produce nausea and massive fatigue, so if you?re feeling like a million bucks after a workout, you?re doing it wrong, dummy. A reasonable set range for legs would be 15 to 20 total sets, divided over 3 to 8 different movements, hopefully including both the thighs and the calves.

Lots of trainers have trouble bringing their legs up to par due to ?genetic disadvantages?. While it?s true that those disadvantages do exist, they should not be used as an excuse to cop out on your training. Myself, I?ve had a lot of problems when it came to lower leg development. High insertions, few muscle fibers, whatever. The missing ingredient for me was frequency. I?ve found that I should work the calves three times a week, instead of just once or twice.

This brings us to the point of recovery. It?s necessary, yes, but seeing how the legs are used to constant stress, you will need much less than, say, a week or even 72 hours. 24 to 48 hours is what works for me, and you can only find out your what your own ?recovery zone? is by experimentation. I?ll outline a solid program which presumes you?ll be hitting the gym 4 times per week, one hour per training session. Remember though, this is just one way to skin a rabbit.

Monday:
Squats, 6 sets of 3 reps
Stiff legged deadlifts, 3 sets of 12 reps
Leg curls, 4 sets of 6 reps
Toe raises on the leg press, 6 sets of 20 reps
Abdominal work
Rest 3 minutes between sets

Tuesday: Upper body

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday:
Lunges, 2 sets of 15 reps for each leg
Dumbbell deadlifts, stiff legged, 4 sets of 20 reps
Leg press, 3 sets of 25 reps
Calf machine, 6 sets of 10 reps
Abdominal work
Rest 1 minute between sets

Friday: Upper body

Saturday, Sunday: Rest

Include sprints in your off days, to the effect of ten to fifteen 30-second full-out sprints, with a one minute pause between the sets.Train hard and be safe!

By: Veljko Petranovic

If you happen to live the fitness lifestyle, you know that progress is not optional, but required. Everyone strives to bench more then they did last week. If you run regularly, it’s a given that you try to increase your speed or endurance by running faster and longer. The boys seek more muscle, the gals want to shed even more fat. The trouble is, a large number of health enthusiasts tend to fall short of their respective goals, then settle for maintenance, then quit exercising altogether. It’s the plateau that breaks or makes the trainer. I am going to tell you, How To Break A Weight Plateau.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good plateau from time to time. That’s because it brings change. So, I start with searching for a good training program on the Web. I assess my short term goals and pick a plan that complements them. Do you want to gain or to lose weight? Maybe you need to bring up those arms? Preparing for a marathon race, perhaps? Or are you looking for overall strength in your lifts?  

One thing is certain – the new program should be totally different then the last one, thats the secret to Breaking A Weight Plateau. Swap exercises, rep ranges, set numbers. If you’re used to cycling five times a week for an hour, try doing it twice a day at shorter intervals and with more intensity.  Our bodies are built for survival, which means they are quick to adapt to various influences. If you’ve been doing 3 sets of ten reps in the squat since the Clinton administration, it’s about time for you to change things. Why not try ten sets of 3 reps with a higher weight? Or try switching to the front squat, in which the bar rests on your clavicles, supported by your arms. Bodybuilding great Tom Platz, known for his outstanding thigh development, used to work his legs with reps varying from one to one hundred.  

There is no “right” way to approach your training. The only important thing is to remember to include all muscle groups into the equation. Other than that, anything goes!   All this is truly simple. What amazes me is the existence of legions of people who keep doing the same thing, day in and day out, over and over, somehow hoping for better results. Adding more weight only seems to work for a while, and that’s because the movement remains the same. 

Eventually, you will slow down on your gains and then your body 
get’s use to the exercises.
Thats why constantly adding more weight dosen’t break a weight plateau. There is a good reason why the stagnant approach is so overwhelmingly popular, and it seems to be avoidant behavior. No one wants to sweat anymore. No one likes the pain that comes from hard work. No one likes feeling nauseated at the end of a training session.   Imagine your comfort zone as if it were a circle. Inside it, you feel fine, but your results will always be “meh”. Only outside of those boundaries, you will work towards being faster, stronger and fitter.

• Compound Exercises - Deadlift with 50 percent of your 1 rep max, 20 repsSuper set withPull ups, 10 reps (or as much as you can manage)  
• Chest - Bench press with 70 percent of your 1 rep max, 10 repsDrop set toBench press, 10 reps, with 15 pounds lessDrop set toBench press, 10 reps, with 15 pounds less then before  
• Arms - One-armed barbell curls (you grip the bar at the middle and maintain balance during the lift)Super set withTricep dips, body kept straight,
• Abs - 12 reps  Hanging leg raises, 20 repsSuper set withCrunches, knees bent, 20 repsSuper set with30 second static hold, lying on the floor, legs straight, feet at two inches above ground  The 20 rep breathing squatTake a weight that’s just enough for 10 repetitions. Do a rep, and then breathe in and out three times while your knees are locked in the upright part of the lift. Then, do another rep. Et cetera. Do not quit until the set is complete.

It’s tough, but ultimately worth it. Try some of these unorthodox methods for a month, and see if the plateau will stick (it won’t, though).  

I recently came across my new #1 favorite set of ebooks, it’s called… Turbulence Training.

Turbulence Training promises fast fat loss results for men and women who don’t have a lot of time for exercise. This is a bold promise, and the workouts promise maximum results in only three workouts per week.

Let’s take a look at this claim, and see if it really measures up!

Before we get to the program, let’s take a look at the expert behind the workouts. I’ve come across Craig Ballantyne’s name many times in popular fitness magazines such as Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness, and even in Oxygen and Shape magazines. So the program is clearly put together by a trusted fitness expert.

I’ve also talked to Craig about his training and education background, and I’ll be honest, it was impressive, unlike the trainers with weekend certifications that pop up at large commercial gyms. Craig’s experience goes back to the mid-nineties, in both the gym and in the research lab. He’s actually led research trials on sport supplements, strength training, and cardiovascular training.

Plus, Craig has been a strength coach and has worked with hundreds of clients in thousands of training sessions. This is a unique, and thorough background, so its not surprising he’s come up with a new training system for fat loss.

In fact, Craig’s articles are always pretty hard on traditional aerobic cardio workouts. So if you’re looking for new ways to spend 30 or 60-minutes doing cardio, then this program is not for you. But if you only have 45 minutes to workout, a couple of times per week, and you have access to only a bench, dumbells, and an exercise ball, then you’ll like what Craig has for you here.

Now one of the biggest questions about the program is simply, “What is Turbulence Training?” Well according to Craig, its the combination of resistance training and interval training used to boost your metabolism so that your body burns calories and fat between workouts. He says, “Cardio doesn’t boost your metabolism after exercise. Only strength training and interval training do that - while you work, sleep, and eat - your body will be shedding fat.”

Fortunately, Craig’s unique system of bodyweight exercises, dumbell exercises, and interval training can all be done at home, with minimal equipment (if you are really strong, it might help to have a chinup bar). So again, if you are one of those people who loves machines, or cardio equipment, or marathon workouts, then this program is not for you.

Frankly, I’ve used the program myself and recommended to many others. Why? Because no one has time for long workouts! That’s why. After an eight or ten hour workday fromming running from class to class, and spending time with my family, I just don’t have time to do another 90 minute workout every day of the week.

In fact, I either get up early and do the workout before class, or I do it just before bed. This workout is perfect for busy college men and women. But its not the type of routine that is going to turn anyone into a pro bodybuilder. If you want maximum muscle and want to bulk up, try another one of Craig’s programs. But the Turbulence Training system is best for burning fat without sacrificing muscle - so you end up lean, defined, chiseled and toned.

And its fun! So many workouts are boring (i.e. long cardio) or repetitive (i.e. doing the same bodybuilding workout over and over again). But Turbulence Training uses a lot of unique (but not fluffy) exercises, including some cool, killer bodyweight moves that will make you more athletic and increase your functional and core strength - again, all with minimal equipment needs.

But, I am even able to recommend this program to friends who are just starting out, because Craig has put together a 6-week introductory program, and a 4-week intermediate program in addition to the 16-week advanced training phase (PLUS, the Turbulence Training program comes with a massive amount of bonus workouts for muscle building, bodyweight only, advanced fat loss, and even a female specific bonus).

But each workout progresses into the next. He’s used all of these workouts with hundreds of clients - so they are safe and effective. Sure, you can get other programs that leave you smashed and puking after the first workout, but Turbulence Training is not like that. Soreness doesn’t matter, only results matter! And you are in expert hands with Turbulence Training, and Men’s Health expert, Craig Ballantyne.

Craig’s Turbulence Training also contains a contract — basically, your pledge to being committed to the program. It also includes an ebook on Nutrition Guidelines from expert, Dr. Chris Mohr, Ph.D., and an extensive Q&A section, a 21-Healthy Habit Building Plan, plus the complete Turbulence Training workouts for beginner, intermediate and advanced level individuals.

All users will benefit from the Turbulence Training MP3 audio where Craig goes over the program, plus you can find every single exercise explained in detail, complete with photos.

Okay, so bottom line. Turbulence Training is NOT….

• Long, slow cardio workouts
• A machine-based exercise circuit
• A bodybuilding program to gain bulk
• A workout with lots of time-wasting isolation exercises
• A restrictive eating plan

Turbulence Training provides NONE of the above. On the other hand, Turbulence Training is perfect for busy college student men and women who want to burn fat in the comfort of their own dorms without spending a lot of money on equipment or space on exercise machines. Oh, and you’ll actually have fun and you won’t “dread” these workouts - heck, they will be over before you know it!

If you’re in the slightest bit curious, I recommend you look closely at Craig’s program. I was very impressed with all of the Turbulence Training workouts, the bonuses, the guarantee, and Craig’s expertise. For the money, it’s the best deal in the fitness and fat loss industry - so much better than diet pills! And remember…

Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training is backed by a 8-week money back guarantee. And this is a real guarantee… if you are not completely satisfied, you will receive your money back, no “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts.” So you really have nothing to lose. Want to learn more? Go to Craig’s website and check out his Turbulence Training program.

By: Ryan Imbach

You just had a tough training session at the gym.  You strained yourself to the point of exhaustion.  You set a personal record at the barbell.  Then you get back to your dorm room and drink a ton of water, because you’re thirsty!  Now what did you do wrong?  You didn’t give your body, and your muscles, any fuel to rebuild themselves!  Unfortunately, I know many people who do just that every day in the gym.  They drink water during and after training, yet get very little results in terms of muscle building or fat loss.  In this article, I will tell you why you need fuel, what you need for that fuel, and approximately how much fuel you need.

First of all, let’s look at what happens during weight training. When you are lifting weights, you are breaking down your muscles, and they continue to be broken down hours after you lift weights.  This is called catabolism.  You don’t want this, and unfortunately, water doesn’t fix the problem here.

So what kind of fuel do you need after a hard training session?  Many people (especially athletes and former athletes) will just grab a sports drink such as Gatorade and down it.  While the carbohydrates in sports drinks replenish sodium, water, and glycogen, it does nothing for your muscles in terms of rebuilding them.  What we need is some protein for those muscles.  Protein is full of amino acids, the building blocks for our bodies.  Therefore, we need a fast-acting protein for our muscles, like that found in whey protein powders.  As you can see, we need carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen, and we need protein to stimulate muscle growth.  As I said before, a combination of sports drink and whey protein powder works well.  The carbohydrates will also spike your blood sugar, causing amino acids to be absorbed more quickly.  If you can’t stomach a fruity sports drink and chocolate protein powder (it’s not terrible!), just drink them separately mixed in water.

Finally, how do you know how much protein and carbohydrates to ingest?  Well, a good ratio is 2:1 carbs to protein.  For example, if you drink 15 grams of protein, you will drink roughly 30 grams of carbs.  Why is this a good ratio?  I’ve read a few studies and done my research, and this seems to be a good choice.  For the amount to ingest, I would suggest anywhere from 20 to 60 grams of protein and 40 to 120 grams of carbs.  These numbers have no scientific basis; however, if you are trying to build muscle, you are going to need a lot of nutrients, especially if you push yourself hard every training session.  So experiment with different amounts, and see how your body responds.

In conclusion, fast-acting carbohydrates and protein are your best bet when recovering from a training session.  It will replenish your muscle glycogen, and the burst of amino acids will fuel your muscles for growth.  If you need more information, just search for post-workout nutrition on the web.  A great, reputable source (very scientific and factual) is www.johnberardi.com.  Dr. John Berardi is a nutrition scientist and a former bodybuilder.  He knows what he’s talking about in terms of nutrition.  And while I think you should research information from a variety of sources and points of view, Dr. Berardi is very scientific in his conclusions.  So now that you have this information, go forth, train hard, and drink your postworkout nutrition!

By: Veljko Petranovic

What if you didn’t have the time to visit a gym on a regular basis? What if you’re short on cash? What if you just don’t like the gym scene at all?

A good idea for someone who would like to be fit without equipment is to do bodyweight exercises. These can be done without ever leaving your dorm room. An understanding roommate is required for this to work. You also need a touch of creative thinking. Will and discipline would be nice, too. Once the proper ingredients are ready, you’re on your way and the sky is the limit.

OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration. If you’re looking for huge, rippling muscles, the kind you see in contemporary bodybuilding publications, bodyweight work may not be enough. But if your goals are more about sleek lines, muscle tone and that fit, powerfull look, you’re in luck! Brad Pitt’s Fight Club physique is perfectly attainable through this type of exercise. Girls who worry about adding excessive muscular bulk can greatly benefit from this, too.

Let’s start with the pull-up. This is the single, most important exercise for your upper body. It works your lats, biceps, rear deltoids and forearms. The pull-up will give your torso that “V” shape that is much sought after. Be warned, though, that it is a difficult exercise. This is good, because it means that it works. You can pull up to a simple bar affixed in your doorframe, or find a substitute. This is where that touch of creativity comes in. Think parks and monkey bars. Think anything that is horizontal, sturdy and handy to grip onto. While we’re talking about grip, yours should be pronated (palms away from the body) and your hands should be apart just a bit more than your shoulders are wide. Aim to get your chin over the bar, then drop down to a dead hang, arms fully extended. It should take you a second to pull up, and two seconds to lower your body. A chin-up is done with a supinated (palms facing you) grip, arms shoulder-wide, and is a great biceps builder.

Next up, we have one-legged squats. These are for your quadriceps and hamstrings, though the abs and the lower back also recieve stimulation. One of your feet should be behind you, toes touching the seat of a chair, the other on the ground. Squat down with a full range of motion and extend your leg. After a set, you switch legs. It’s a good idea to aim for high reps with this one, as in 15 to 25.

Remember Phys Ed? Those God-awful Jumping Jacks? Well, turns out these are a great method for developing strong, shapely thighs. Your calves also get a workout of their own. Remember, it doesn’t really matter that you’ll look ridiculous in your room, as longs as your legs are looking impressive when you’re outside.

Pushups are great for your chest, triceps and front deltoids. Your hands should be placed about 10 inches wider than your shoulders. Keep your body straight at all times. Lower yourself until your chest touches the ground, then extend your arms. Repeat. If this get easy, consider putting your feet up on a chair and doing pushups from that position. This places more stress on your upper pectorals. A narrow hand stance stimulates your triceps even further.

Dips done between two chairs are the absolute best exercise for the tris, bar none.

Abdominal muscles can be worked in a wide variety of ways, here, I’ll explain my personal favorite. Lie on the floor, on your back. Hang onto something stable with your hands, like a leg of the bed. Lift your legs together until they form a 90 degree angle with your torso. From there, prop your butt in the air about 5 inches and hold for 3 seconds, lifting up your legs even further towards the ceiling. Reverse the motion, but don’t let your legs touch the ground. We are aiming to keep a constant tension in our abs. 10 reps of these are a good start.

The delts can be done in the old-fashioned, prison-cell-block-C way. First, we need some water bottles, one liter size. Fill ‘em up with water, or sand if you’re feeling frisky. Your strength determines how much of these should be put in two shopping bags. Stand relaxed, feet apart at about 10-15 inches, arms holding the weight and hanging by your sides. Next, do a flying motion, until your arms are parallel to the ground and hold for a second. Think eagle. Lower the weight, slowly.

These makeshift weights can also be used for curling. Not the traditional Canadian sport, dummy, I mean bicep curling.

Toe raises off a step of stairs, one leg at a time, work your calves very nicely. Just remember to lower to a full stretch, then lift up your body to a ballerina-like stance. We’re talking tip-toes. Calves do not grow with half-assed partial reps.

Let’s make a program out of all this.

Chins or pull-ups, 5 sets of maximum reps

Curls, 4 sets of 10-20 reps with each arm

One-legged squats, 4 sets of 25, 20, 15 and 10 reps

Jumping Jacks, 2 sets of 30

Pushups, 5 sets of 10-20 reps

Dips, 4 sets of max reps

Abs, 3 sets of max reps (do not exceed 50, though. Make the exercise harder by doing it slowly instead)

Delt flyes, 4 sets of 10-20 reps

Toe raises, 5 sets of maximum reps

Rest for 1 minute between sets.

A bit on maximum reps. In layman’s terms, this means as much as you can perform. You should stop just before the pain becomes unbearable. This isn’t an S&M session, it’s a workout, and you’re not out to hurt yourself. However, don’t take this as an excuse to cop out early in your set. Muscles need adequate stimulation in order to get stronger, harder and more shapely.

Do the workout 3 times a week, and in your rest days, run, run like the wind for 20 minutes at a time. As you get more fit, increase the running time to 30, then 45 minutes. When you can run for 45 minutes with ease, increase the intensity, IE run faster.

This, combined with a proper, healthy diet should produce a body that will turn heads wherever you go. The diet is paramount, though. It will make up 70 percent of your results. That’s why we’ll talk about it in my next post. In the meantime, here’s a hint: put the ice cream back in the freezer.

By: Joe Norton 

The lazy man has always had the problem of not being able to get himself out of his couch/chair/bed (what have you) and thus tends to lack in amount of exercise they get everyday. Well, lucky for the college dorm rat I have some tips for training methods even the lazy man can get himself to do – DURING COMMERCIALS.

Commercial Training

For those of us who cannot get themselves away from the t.v., now you can be productive while indulging in the tube. During commercials, you are going to do exercises – dosen’t matter what kind but it’s just important that you do them with good technique and if you want any results you need to do them consistently.

Every Commercial Break do a Set of Pushups and Situps

Doing 20 pushups and 20 situps by itself isn’t particularly exhausting, but once you do these upwards of 5 times an hour you soon have the makings of a very productive hour in front of the t.v. Just get in simple Bodyweight exercises during commercials

Variation: World Of Warcraft, a.k.a. WOW Training

For the legions of loyal WOW players out there, and the large % of them that most likely wouldn’t mind getting some kind of exercise into their schedule, I have this bit of advice: Use the Commercial Training technique I mentioned above -> but during WOW flights or long runs during the game.

Every “Mount Flight” or “long run” in WOW do a Set of Pushups and Situps

Some of the longer “flights” in WOW take more than 5 minutes. If you did a few a sets of pushups/situps or whatever you want than you can fit in a good bit of exercises into your otherwise exercise devoid WOW-packed schedule.

By: Joe Norton

College is busy. It’s tough to find time to go to the gym. What, with classes and meal periods, parties & homework… not nescessarily in that order but still - we can’t always find the time to go to the gym everytime we want to workout.

No worries! There are TONS of exercises that require little-to-no equipment that you can do anywhere, anytime. Including in your dorm room. You can work out most muscle groups using just your bodyweight, in the comfort of your own place.

Below I’ve listed some of the more beneficial dorm room exercises that will show you real results if you do them consistently.

Abs - Possibly the easiest muscle group to workout using just your bodyweight.

Abs are unlike the other muscle groups in
how they can be trained almost everyday of the week. That’s right, with abs you
don’t have to follow the “never 2 days in a row” rule. However you should make sure you don’t work them for extended periods of time
without rest. I recommend atleast 1 or 2 ab rest days every week. With that in mind, you can make working out your abs a nightly thing. Like just before bed everynight try and squeeze in a few minutes of abs and increasing the duration you work on them as you progress.

Pilates - These usually involve just your bodyweight (or if you care to invest, a contraption known as reformer which is one of those seats with the pully’s and whatnot) and an exercise ball. I won’t discuss any pilates exercises which require either form of equipment. All you need is you, and a floor - easy as that.

The Hundred - The most basic, and starter pilates exercise

The Postion: Lay on the floor, back on the ground. Keep your hands to your sides a few inches off the ground, palms down. Feet straight out 6 inches to a foot off the ground. Keep your head raised off the ground, this will pull more muscles into the exercise and cause more stress on them.
What to do: while in this position you are supposed to wave your hands up and down (like getting as close as an inch from the ground and as high as 6 inches perhaps). The reasoning is that this is to be done “one hundred” times per set. If you can’t do it 100 times then do as many as you can, or just time yourself. Might seem silly at first, but within 20 seconds it’s going to get more difficult.
Variation: While in the hundred position, move your feet in a up & down
motion like you are walking.
For a video demonstration, that is almost exactly how I described, check here.

Leg Raises - AWESOME exercise. It has become my “bread-n-butter” ab exercise. Way better than situps.

The Position: Lay on floor, back on the ground. Head raised off the floor. Arms at your side,
press against the floor to
support yourself while you do the exercise. Keep your legs straight out, I recommend
not letting them touch the ground
for added difficulty.
What you do: Raise legs, keeping them straight throughout, go pass the 90 degree mark just a bit till you feel the additional contraction of your top abs. Don’t go too far back, I find that having your legs past about 120 degrees to not really help much and instead it can just hurt your back.

Roll Up - Pretty good exercise. You can see serious advancement as your abs strengthen.

The Position: Lay on the floor, back on the ground. Arms stretched out past your head, palms facing the ceiling like you are trying to reach for something behind your head. Keep feet straight out, planted on the ground. I recommend putting a pillow behind your head for this one because when you end reps, without great technique, you might have the tendency to forcefully touch the ground and try to bounce your way back up. Do not do this. Remember that technique is everything. Your body dosen’t care how many exercises you do, just how much you stimulate your muscles.
What to do: Slowly and with control, raise your upper body off the ground while keeping your arms stretched out. The goal here is to raise your upper body off the ground, using only your abs, and then touch your toes with your arms and slowly, with control, lower your upper body back to the resting position. It can be difficult, but with time you will find you are able to do many more reps than when you first began. For a video demonstration, that is almost exactly the way I described, check here.

Do these 3 Pilates moves every other night and in no time you’ll be a situp machine.

Who says you need fancy smancy equipment to get a six pack… People who sell fancy smancy equipment…

By: Joe Norton 

1. Don’t just hope to find time for going to the gym. Take the time to plan it. The college lifestyle can be hectic and plans/entire courses of the day can be changed with a decision. When you have plans in advance you can build your day around your fitness lifestyle.

2. If lines at machines at the college gym are annoying you then you might want to try going earlier in the morning or later at night. College gyms tend to have very light traffic till just before lunch, it will get more busy throughout the day usually peaking by 5-8 and die off the closer you get to closing time. With this in mind, you can have the whole gym to yourself if you go at one of the less busy time periods.

3. Don’t forget about all the old school bodyweight exercises you know of. You know exactly what I’m talking about: The Push-up, the sit-up, the pull-up (if you have a chin up bar to use). These are compound bodyweight exercises that are the basis for many fitness routines and it’s because they are some of the most effective excercises we know about. Pushups and situps can be done anywhere, any time. Why not do a quick set of each during commercials?

4. Hoof it a bit. Walking is a great form of exercise. Try to plan your day to allow for a few strolls. Even though they require little physical effort they cause serious health benefits. Take every chance you can to get out of the cramped dorm room and take a look around on a walk. Why take the shuttle to save 10 minutes when you could have just added in 10 minutes of light exercise…

5. Moderate your alcohol consumption. Alcohol is not going to help any of your goals – unless your goal is to pass out. Alcohol causes a decrease in testosterone and will negatively impact your ability to grow muscle. Alcohol is also full of empty calories and simple carbs, plus – a lot of people eat seriously unhealthy food once they have had too much alcohol (this is where most of the fat for the beer belly comes form). Read more about “Alcohol In College”

6. Get enough sleep. Atleast 6 for most people, 8 is recommended. Lack of sleep can cause many things, the worst of which is psychosis (that’s right, a psycho), including decreased cognitive ability. It will also completely screw over any kind of lifting / fitness plan. Your body needs time to rest and repair, if you never give it time it can’t ever rest & repair. Read more about sleeping…

7. Avoid the buffet. It is scientifically proven now that when you go to a buffet you definitely eat more. We all knew it, no one doubted it, yet for some reason people still go to buffets which tend to have the worse food on campus. Bleh, boo this buffet! Read more about buffets…

8. Put some Pilates into your fitness plan! Pilates are those core based bodyweight exercises that seems kinda somewhat similar to yoga but its not. Yeah those, they are amazing for abs and can be done anywhere. I suggest the floor because it has no give and works good as support. However, you can even do them in bed. Things like “the hundred”, leg raises, the saw, v situps, are all Pilates moves and there are many more – check’em out.

9. Stay busy. Join an organization or professional development club and participate often. Not only will this help out your resume and your skills in the given area, but also it means you are busy more and less time to sit around. Stay moving, stay burning calories.

10. Join a team or club, or atleast start a recurring physical activity (like Sunday basketball games, Saturday morning football games, whatever). Add something to your life that is going to continually cause you to do activities that benefit your goal. Deciding to run a 5k or hell, even a marathon – is a gigantic example of starting a recurring activity that will actually guide you to your goal.

Keep these tips in mind this upcoming semester.