by Yavor -

Muscle-up Training Tutorial: The Missing Workout Manual for Your First Bar Muscle-up

A muscle up training tutorial has always been something that I couldn’t find online. At least not something that would finally teach me how to do a proper bar muscle up. So finally this summer I got serious about training the muscle-up, among a few other exercises. This article is the result of my experience.

So the question is: why should you bother with the muscle up? Well, it is a complete upper body in itself – the only thing you need is a bar. Getting good at the muscle up will give you an awesome physique. I am convinced that the men with the best upper bodies are the ones that are freaky strong at bar or gymnastic type training.

Besides, mastering this bad boy is plain old fun. Fact is, very few people who workout will come close to doing the muscle up. It’s a shame really.

Here is a video we shot recently showing the muscle up and some tips. I had to do it on a soccer goal cause the pull-up bar was drowned by a recent rain storm. This made it more challenging, but the cool thing is that you get to see the exaggerated swing forward and the timing.

So What Exactly is the Muscle-Up

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by Yavor -

The Sequential Muscle-up: A Missing Link in Your Muscle-up Training?

The sequential muscle-up is an important stepping stone towards achieving a true muscle up. Most people training in gyms nowadays have difficulty doing pull-ups, let alone muscle ups. If you are reading this site however, this is soon going to change for you. If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to start with the article on the sternum pull-up.

There are several reasons why I’m writing a tutorial for this exercise. The cool thing about the sequential muscle-up is that it builds confidence quickly – a thing that is needed when trying to achieve goals that seem “impossible,” such as the real muscle-up. The move also builds strength needed for the transition phase in the real exercise.

Here is a video we shot of the sequential muscle-up. You can clearly follow the three major phases: 1. pull-up, 2. shift of the weight and rotation of the free arm, another shift of the weight with rotation of the first arm.

Note: it is essential to train both sides in this movement – although the video doesn’t show this. As soon as you are able to do the move with the weaker arm (most people have a weaker arm), start practicing it this way.

Speaking of sequences, I chose this completely unrelated photo of a beautiful girl doing the moonwalk on a sandy hill at the beach. I’ve been into haiku lately and found this Basho haiku poem to fit quite nicely with the photo.

I recently finished the last level of my German language classes and was browsing in the German section of a bookstore when I stumbled on this book of haiku poetry translated in German. I was shocked that the translations were so good. Anyway – back to the sequential muscle-up.

So What Exactly is the Sequential Muscle-up

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by Yavor -

Using the Lat Pull Down Machine to Get Strong for Your First Pull-up

The lat pull down machine is a great way for beginners and intermediate people to learn how to use their back muscles properly so that once sufficient strength is acquired, pull-ups and chin-ups can be performed with proper form. In my experience using the lat pull down machine is the fastest way to teach proper technique transition to make pull-ups quickly.

Here is a video we shot of the lat pull down in use. The cool thing about this particular machine is that the weight that you lift corresponds to the real force you exert. Sometimes machines use complicated pulley systems that actually halve the weight being lifted. This is not the case here.

Why the Lat Pull Down Machine?

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by Yavor -

How to Increase Biceps Strength without Biceps Curls

Biceps strength can be greatly increased with any pull-up & chin-up workout when you are a beginner. Problem is, the better you get at pull-ups, the more you learn to engage your back – pull with the lats or armpit muscles. This is great because you will develop a great looking v-shaped body. However your biceps strength will reach a plateau because your arms will get less and less stimulation.

One solution is to start heavily relying on direct arm training with barbell and dumbbell curls. Although this is a great approach, there is yet another way to train with a compound exercise for greater biceps strength. Compound moves allow for a more natural loading of the muscles.

Here is a video we shot in the backyard of a nearby school of the mix grip chin-up. Notice how I am leaning towards the under grip arm and trying to pull with this side of my back. Don’t just pull yourself up. Instead use the muscles of the under grip side of the body.

Enter The Mix Grip Chin Up

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by Yavor -

Pull-up Exercise Variations: 6 Essential Exercises for a V-Shaped Body (Video)

The pull-up – an exercise that is possibly the most efficient in developing the back muscles for a v-shaped body. My fascination with chin-ups & pull-ups began when I was around 10 or so. There is a playground close to where I live and I would see the older boys train there, yet I couldn’t do a single chin-up.

Even worse, on my first PT test as high school fresh man I still couldn’t do a single pull-up or chin-up. This was one of the reasons I started working out (managed 10+ chin-ups at the end of that freshman year). This, and the goal of getting a v-shaped back.

On a side note – Tony Jaa, pictured above, is an excellent example of an athlete with a great v-shaped body. He has a very wall percentage of body fat which accentuates the small waist. At the same time his back, the latissimus dorsi is very developed and creates the appealing v-shape.

Tony is a martial artist, stuntman and actor from Thailand who has starred in a few explosive action movies already. If you are going to see a film with him – check out Ong Bak. My friend Rusty Moore has gone into great detail in his article about him ==> Is Tony Jaa the Next Bruce Lee?

1. Close Grip Chin-Up

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Intermittent Fasting – Does It Make You Weaker in the Gym?

It is a Monday morning, just got back from a walk in the cold with my Labrador Lucky. Over the weekend I had some time to catch up on my reading. I decided to motivate myself a little more for my fat loss transformation by rereading Brad Pilon’s Intermittent Fasting Book as it is an integral part of my plan.

One of the cool things I was reminded about fasting is that you can workout while you are doing it. In fact, Brad not only recommends that you workout three times during the week when fasting, but also adds that you can train on days that you fast without problem.

Do We Need Would Pre-Workout Shakes?

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Beginner Strength Training – Build Bigger Muscles Fast With The Strength And Size Full Body Workout

I will be real here. The beginner strength training workout is not the only routine I’ve trained with. And, this is not the workout I have started training with. Having said that however, this is the workout I currently do and I would recommend to anybody that is a beginner or intermediate, because it produces the fastest progress thus the fastest results. I will write more about what physical goals you need to surpass in order to advance past intermediate status.

Beginner, Intermediate Or Advanced?

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by Yavor -

Linda Hamilton’s Terminator 2 Workout – She’s An Amazing Fitness Role Model

For her role in the movie Terminator 2 Linda Hamilton got into amazing shape. She got strong arms, chiseled abs and shapely shoulders. Not only did she look good, she also performed like a kickass warrior princess in the film.

linda hamilton's terminator workout gives results Her Terminator 2 Workout.

Linda was working with personal trainer Anthony Cortés who also helped Edward Norton beef up for American History X. Apparently she shed 12 pounds of fat with diet and exercise. Her routine included running, biking, swimming, climbing stairs as well as free weights, mini-trampoline drills, walking lunges and abdominal work. They trained six days a week for 3 hours. The thing is she got into amazing shape after giving birth just 20 months ago.

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