My Top 5 Ab Exercises

I am extremely reluctant to write this because I know what most of you will be assuming when you read this. It will be the same thing you assume when you read ANY ab exercise editorial, story, list, plan, etc. What I am talking about here, is that most of you believe that the ab exercises are the secret to achieving six pack abs.

To me, this is an incorrect conclusion to make. If you know me well, or if you've followed along with some of my other posts and pages, you know that I'm a strong proponent for focusing heavily on your nutrition when it comes to body transformation. This couldn't be more true for any other muscle group than abs.

I don't care if you do 1000+ crunches a day. I don't care how many planks, leg raises, or ab roller exercises you do. Abs are made in the kitchen....straight up. While it is true that ab exercises WILL grow your abdominals, and ARE great for core strength, medicore attention to nutrition will give you mediocre looking abs. Eating in moderation will give you moderate looking abs. Living by a life's mantra of "living a little" or "enjoy life" in excess will lead you to an excessively bland and possibly flabbly looking core.

I just wanted to make sure I got that out of the way. My goal is to not focus on nutrition in this post and instead give you all what you came here for. I just thought it would be important to preface this article with my opinion on manipulating the aesthetics of your core. Now that that's out of the way, let's get started!

The abs are important from not only an aesthetic stadpoint, but from a functional standpoint as well. The human abdomen aids in breathing, protection of internal organs and, along with the muscles of the back, provides postural support (source: wikipedia). The human abdomen is composed of the external abdominal obliques, internal abdominal obliques, transveruss abdominus, tendinous inscriptions, and the rectus abdominus.

Source: fromfattomuscle.com

  

Along with my nutrition, I try to develop an ab workout that tries to hit all of the relevant musculature that the abdomen is composed of. I'm not just concerned with the rectus abdominus, and make sure to also incorporate oblique work.

When working out abs, there are some things you  need to keep in mind. First, make sure that when you are in the relaxed pose of the non-flexing range of motion, that your back is significantly arched so as to stretch your abdomen. Many times people do not go back far enough or stretch their abs far enough to allow for a proper repetition. Also, when you come up to flex, flex your abs really hard for half a second to a second before coming down. Finally, abs are a muscle group that respond well to supersets, so you'll see me suggesting that you incorporate them into a bunch of the exercises I'm about to explain to you.

It's also important to note that it may not be aesthetically beneficial to build up your core. In fact, many bodybuilders advise against using traditional weight-training techniques to workout abs, as growth in your abdomen will push out the abdominal wall and give you a "muscle belly", throwing off your muscular aesthetic.

I'm also not going to include the traditional "crunch" as part of this list as they are basic enough for you to know how to do, and the fundamentals of a crunch should be incorporated to relevant ab exercises each time you work out abs. To do a proper crunch, lay on your back, arch your knees up with yoru feet on the ground, place your hands behind your head, focus on a point in front of your face on the ceiling, and move up to it as you bring in your core and flex hard at the end range of motion. Doing these with a weight behind your head is called a "weighted crunch".

 

 

My top 5 ab exercises include:


CABLE CRUNCHES

Cable crunches are an outstanding exercise if you're trying to grow your abs. They give you a nice burn and flexing motion while incorporating weight.

To do these correctly, adjust an adjustable tricep pull-down apparatus to where you can hold a metal handle while on your knees with your fingers facing in towards you above your head with a slight bend at your elbows.

As stated, sit on your knees shoulder-width apart. If this is hard on your knees, find a gym mat that you can use to cushion them. Position your knees so that they are direclty under your butt or just below the bottom of your but so that your ab is forced to stretch out as you're grasping the metal handle.

Without pulling with your arms, or doing a sitting motion onto your calves, crunch your abs hard and move your head towards your waist area, like you're trying to ball yourself up. If you're doing it correctly, you should feel a nice flex in your abs. Hold the crunch for half a second to a second and slowly go back into a stretched position. Repeat until failure.

Source: workoutlabs.com

 

 

WINDSHIELD WIPERS

Master these and the people in your gym won't be able to help admiring how crazy they look. Do not be discouraged if you cannot even do one of them. Like pull-ups, you won't be able to do many of them initially, but getting to a point where you can do a lot happens fairly quick. Do not be discouraged, and work at them often.

Using an inside-grip pull-up handle, bring your legs up to the ceiling so that your chest is directly parallel to the bar of the pull-up apparatus. With your legs straight, go back and forth to your right and left without moving anything above your waist. If you find difficulty doing these with your legs straight, try bringing your knees in and trying them that way. Unlike the guy in the video below, do these slow.

Source: Youtube User Doug Balzarini

LEG RAISES

Stand in a power-tower / captains chair / dip machine, grasping the handles in front of you so that your forearms rest nicely into the provided padding. Using your forearms and elbows to stabilize you, straighten your legs, flex your abs, and bring your legs straight up until you get a crunch in your abs. Slowly lower your legs back down and repeat until failure. These can also be performed hanging from a pull-up bar (called a "hanging leg raise). You could superset these with crunches or weighted crunches.

Source: Youtube user Chunk Fitness

BOSU CRUNCHES

This is a play on regular crunches. Do crunches like your normally would (flexing your core, looking and moving your face straight up as you perform the line of drive and range of motion), but this time use a bosu ball to put an arch in your back and flex your core before you start the flex range of motion. If you don't know what a bosu ball is, it's that blue ball that is cut in half that you see lying around the gym. I like to superset these with the next exercise I'm about to explain.

Source: Youtube user Chris Patrick

 

 

IN AND OUTS

I'm sorry to say that I could not find an adequate picture or video of this exercise to post, so I will try to explain it the best I can.

Sit on a risen step-up machine, bench, or square platform. Any flat platform will do really.

Place your arms against your side and grab the bottom of the platform. Lay straight out as if you were almost laying down. Flex your abs and bring in your knees to your chest. You should feel an immediate flex in your abs if you are doing these right. Do as many as you can until failure.

As explained above, I like to superset these with bosu crunches. You can also superset them with any other ab exercise. They really make a great addition!





And there you have it. My top 5 ab exercises, and my final post for my "Top 5" series. I hope you enjoyed the series! Please leave comments below or email any other questions you have that are bodybuilding / fitness / health / hygiene / well-being related to jtrainfitness@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness.

Abs are extremely important in the world of body transformation and aesthetics and probably the most sought after thing in body transformation. Some people are blessed with the proper genetics to attain them easily, while some need to work extremely hard to gain them. So long as your nutrition is sound and well taken care of / planned, using the above exercises will help you attain the six-pack you always wanted. Try some of them today!

-Jtrain

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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Generation Iron to hit theaters September 20th

Man. I am SO hyped for this. I've been waiting for this documentary to come out forever now and it looks like it's finally here. I'm going to see if I can find a theater near me to watch it in. If you're into bodybuilding you need to see this, but even if you want to see what the epitome of hard work, determination, and focus can create, and the kind of people who represent all of these qualities, you need to check this movie out.

But don't take my word for it. Check out the trailer below.

 

  

My Top 5 Chest Exercises

FINALLY!!! I get to talk about chest! I've been awaiting the day anxiously where I get to finally talk to all of my loyal blog followers about this wonderful muscle group!

There is no muscle group I love to workout more than chest. If chest workouts were a woman, I'd put a ring on her finger and, unlike said gender, chest workouts are always there for me, are always fun to work with, always make me happy, and never leave me regretting the immense amount of hard work I've just put in.

Chest workouts make you feel powerful from all the weight you can lift, and the burn and pump that you get when all the blood starts flowing to them is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Once you receive your chest pump in the gym, your aesthetic is instantly amazing and overbearing and, if you work out your chest as frequently as you should, gets a lot of attention from everyone in the gym.

The chest is the region of the human body that is situated in between the abdomen and neck. The major muscle groups as they pertain to muscular development include the major and minor pectoral muscles (source: wikipedia).

 

Source: projectswole.com

When working out chest there are some things that you need to keep in mind. First, I believe that it is important to attack chest from ALL angles, and to perform all types of driving motions (fly motion / push motion) with an emphasis on generating fly motions. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a fly is, it's simply the motion you make when you hold your arms out straight and move them in and out, feeling a pump in your chest when doing so.

It's also important to note that when doing chest exercises with push motions that, when you go up and down, it's not in a straight line. Rather, to activate your chest when doing push exercises, you need to flare out your elbows to open out your chest slightly to get a proper stretch and flex when doing such exercises. Furthermore, when doing classic fly motions, do not use your arms to move the weight as it pertains to moving the elbows. Fly exercises should have your arms frozen in place, and the only joints moving should be in the shoulders, with the movement activated by the flexing of the pecs.

SO ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CHEST EXERCISES?  If you're anything like me, the answer is most definitely, positively, absolutely YES PLEASE!


DUMBBELL CHEST PRESS

EVERYONE seems to think that barbell bench press is the KING of all chest exercises. I say you rethink that, as the dumbbell press in my opinion is a better means to hit each pectoral muscle on either side of your body more effectively.

You see, when performing exercises that require you to move both arms / legs / whatever muscle group(s) at the same time, one side tends to dominate. Your body won't necessarily devote an equal amount of effort from each side, and so you don't always exhaust each side of the same muscle group effectively. When placing individual dumbbells on each side however, you force each side to work at the same amount of intensity and therefore exhaust them more effectively and equally. I've found that those who concentrate on barbell bench press suck at dumbbell chest press, and those who concentrate on dumbbell chest press suck at barbell bench press. That would indicate to me that perhaps each of these exercises work out the chest differently, so maybe incorporating both variations may prove beneficial. However, I'm still an advocate of focusing mainly on dumbbell chest press as it isolates each side into working to its maximum potential without relying on the more dominant side to do all the work. This of course, is more important to bodybuilders who are concerned with optimal hypertrophy and may not be the focus of people with other fitness goals.

To do a dumbbell chest press, find two dumbbells that you think you could lift for 6-12 repetitions easily in each hand. If you've never done dumbbell chest press, I recommend using a lighter weight starting out to see how you do. This does NOT mean lifting light. You still want the weight that makes you fail at the rep range I just advocated, but in the exploratory phase of what that weight is, start low.

Lay down flat on the bench and make 90 degree angles upware with your arm and forearm, sticking the weight up the air. Drop the weights down until they touch your chest, get a slight arch in your back for stability, take a deep breath in, flex your chest hard, and drive the weight upward on an invisible line of drive that is UNDER your pec. If the weight is overtop the top of your pectoral muscles, you will not feel the pump as well. As stated above, when coming down, flair out the elbows a bit so that you don't go up and down in a straight line. You want to follow somewhat of a downard curve to get an adequate stretch and flex in the pecs. Continue until failure.

 

Source: legendspoon.com

For those of you who experience shoulder pain when doing these, I advise turing the weight in a little bit so that they are slightly angled, i.e. bringing your elbows in closer to your sides a bit. This relieves the stress on your shoulders while still allowing you to get a proper pump. Do NOT put the elbows all the way at the sides though as you will not get the pump that you're looking for.

To make these really fun, try incorporating drop sets (where after failure your drop the weight to a lower weight and then lift until failure at that weight) and even supersetting (a different related exercise you do after hitting failure on one exercise) with push-ups.


MACHINE FLYS

In my opinion, flys are the best possible motion you can do when working out a chest. It's super important to be safe when doing these though, as the weight you want to use for a proper chest workout is heavy, yet the fly motion puts a LOT of strain and torque on the shoulders (and if you mess up your shoulders, say goodbye to working out and bodybuidling for MONTHS). That is why I recommend using the machine fly machine. It allows you to push a lot of weight while taking out a lot of the unnecessary and dangerous torque one would experience doing flys on a bench.

Using a fly machine (pictured below), choose a starting position that stretches your shoulders, but does NOT strain them. Sit up high enough to where when you pull the pegs inward, you are using a line of drive that is again under the pecs. I prefer keeping my arms out as straight as possible, but having a slight bend int he elbows is fine so long as they are frozen in place when going in and out. Go slowly in and out, and when your hands come together, flex your pecs are hard as you can and hold that for half a second to a second. Repeat this until failure.

 

Source: furqanfitness.com

 
 
I like to not only drop set these, but also drop set them into doing single-armed machine flys (the same thing, but with less weight and using one arm), and supersetting them with push-ups.


DOWNWARD CABLE FLYS

This may not be the official name for these, so I'll see if I can find a picture / video and post it below.

Using a cable-cross machine, place the arms so that they are facing down and also facing outward enough for your arms to be adequately stretched back and out, requiring you to come in and up.

With your hands down and semi-out to the sides, one foot forward so that there is tension in your arms, and back slightly arched, flex your chest and bring the handles of the cables from under your chest until they meet. Once they meet, further flex your chest and bring your arms straight upward. Slowly let them back down. Repeat until failure and drop set and superset with push-ups if you feel it necessary.

Source: Scott Herman Fitness (Youtube: Scott Herman Fitness)

 

UPWARD CABLE FLYS

This again may not be the official name for the exercise, but it uses the same apparatus as the downward cable flys I just discussed. However, this time the arms are sticking straight up, and you will be bent over. To try to accurately depict how to do these, place one heel on the front of the machine and have the other foot step forward to where you can bend over and face the ground. Think machine fly, but facing down towards the ground. That's the motion your'e trying to accomplish. Make sure to get a good stretch in the arms when the cables pull them back, and to again drive under your pecs while flexing your chest hard and keeping your arms out straight and frozen. Go slowly and go until failure. Drop set and superset push-ups if necessary.

 

Starting Position

Source: workoutroutinewarehouse.com

 

 

Ending Position

Source: workoutroutinewarehouse.com

   

PUSH-UPS

Like I've said before, if I were locked in a dungeon, and were told that I can only do two exercises for the rest of my life, one would be pull-ups, and the other would be push-ups. It's such a simple all-around good exercise that stimulates many different muscle groups in many different ways depending on how you do them. And you can do them ANYWHERE. You don't need a gym. They're super cost-effective!

I'm sure you know how to do these, or have seen these done. But there is something to keep in mind when trying to stimulate the chest in performing these.

Lay face down on the floor, with your arms at your sides, and palms close together....about a little less than a foot or so. Here's where I put my spin on it....

Flare out your elbows, and flare them back in and push from under your chest, driving from the palms and flexing your pec. If you do it right, you should immediately feel a pump in your chest. Push your body all the way up using this motion, and continue until failure. Perform slowly.

And those are my favorite exercises of my favorite muscle group to work out. Seriously, is there anything better than a good chest workout? Feel free to offer your opinions / critiques on anything I just posted. I hope this helped, and that you enjoy working out chest as much as I do!

Have a fantastic day! If you're doing chest, kill it!

-Jtrain

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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My Top 5 Leg Exercises

The WORST.......legs are the WORST to workout. It's a different kind of pain with legs. It's a lingering burn that radiates throughout your body and torments your soul. Working out legs doesn't give you the intimidating and aesthetically pleasing pump that upper body workouts do, and they use up energy faster than an iphone 5 that isn't plugged in. I never look forward to leg day, which is actually the muscle group I'll be working out at the time of writing this post (oh joy). I do however respect the legs, and acknowledge their importance to a fully-developed physique, complimentary aesthetic, and benefits to their development.

Source: wordpress.com

There appears to be two kinds of people in the gym when it comes to legs: the people who want to do squats EVERY day, and the people who say, "why do I need to workout legs? I already have two." I guess that leaves me in the middle ground (even though I said there were only two groups....it's my blog though...so tough), as I make sure that I hit legs at least once a week. I'll come clean and say that in my first year and half of bodybuilding, I would frequently skip out on working out legs, or not give it my all. I realized though, that if I wanted to step up my game, look more well-rounded, and bring everything together, I'd have to start hitting legs.

Working out legs is a good idea for many reasons. Since they have such huge muscles in relation to other muscle groups found in your body, they use up a LOT of your energy. This can help for those of you looking for a good way to sleep well at night, as leg days will exhaust you like no other. Sticking with the size of the muscle point, the muscles found in the legs are said to release a massive amount of hormones beneficial and conducive to muscle growth into your body because they are so big, and thus can have a beneficial effect on the growth of other muscle groups when they are stimulated to release growth hormones. Strengthening legs is also a good idea to help achieve body stability, power, endurance, and aid in injury prevention.



When I workout legs, I don't like to hit JUST the quads like many people do. There are other muscles located in the legs people. So in the list I'm about to present to you, keep in mind that I try to fully workout evey part of the leg. I assure you it won't just be squats....


LUNGES

I've stated in a previous "top exercises" post that I'm not placing the exercises in any specific order of importance. For this post however, lunges will be the first exercise presented because they are my "favorite" leg exercise. The word "favorite" is used here because I actually despise doing lunges, but think they are the most worth while. I also believe them to be EXTREMELY underrated and more important than even squats. Many people overlook this exercise and gravitate towards the more popular barbell squat, but let me tell you...don't sleep on lunges. I've seen guys who thought they were leg-workout monsters totally get brought back down to Earth by a workout that focused heavily on lunges. I don't think any other leg exercise fatiques you more, hits your legs as hard, or stimulates your quads more.

To do these, hold two dumbbells at each side, a barbell over your shoulders, or no weight at all, and stand facing forward.

Keeping the part of your body above your waist completely still and in good posture, step forward with one leg. When you step forward, make sure your knee is directly above your heel and create a right angle with your leg. It's important to step out as far forward as you can without your knee going over your toes so as to get the proper range of motion and stimulation while at the same time being easy on your patellar tendon. Repeat with the other leg. Keep going back and forth between legs until failure.

Source: workoutlabs.com

SQUATS

Alright. Here I go. I guess I have to talk about them. One of the big 3 exercises (squats, bench press, deadlifts). Let me just say that I acknowledge just how amazing squats can be for your leg workout, but think they may be a little overrated in my opinion.

Like deadlifts, there are other versions of squats. I will go through a basic / standard version of them.

Place feet / legs shoulder-width to outside shoulder-width apart with them facing forward. Pay special attention that both sets of toes are lined up on the same imaginary straight line in front of you. I was told recently that my right side has a tendency to be more forward than my left, which I had no idea about until it was pointed out to me. So check that out.

Hold a barbell with a shoulder-width to outside shoulder-width grip (around where the smoothed lines are, and whatever is most comfortable to you). Place the barbell behind your head and on your back, resting them in between your rear deltoids and top of the rhomboids. Bring your elbows in and forward, and make your hands grip in a way that almost seems like you're trying to bend the barbell around your neck.

Tighten your core, get a nice sturdy cat-like arch in your back, make sure your knees aren't wobbling in or out or shaking, and bend down. When you go down, it's in a straight line, straight through around the middle of your foot. Once you get to where your knees can no longer bend you down further, make a motion with your butt as if you're trying to sit down to get that extra distance to the ground. You SHOULD be going all the way down to the ground to achieve a full range of motion.

When coming up, drive through with your heels. In any quad exercise that requires a squat-like motion, drive through your heels when you can. I believe this technique activates your quads even more. When you come up with squats, it's again in a straight line upward. Make sure that you're flexing your legs and making them do most of the work on the way up, and not your lower back. Make sure to use a weight that's comfortable for you when you're first starting out. Getting the right form is priority number one when first learning how to do squats.

Source: gymper.com

LEG EXTENSIONS

Leg extensions are a great exercise for quad isolation. While squats are a good exercise for incorporating many muscle groups at once, leg extensions make quads do a lot of the work. 

Using a leg extension machine, find a weight that you can extend 8-15 times. With your legs squared and a good distance apart, slowly lift up the weight and hold for half a second to a second, flexing hard at the end range of flexion. Slowly lower the weight back down. Continue until failure.

 

Source: workoutlabs.com

HAMSTRING CURLS

Have you ever tried to workout your hamstrings? Well, you should. They are an important part of your leg and should be strengthened along with the rest of your leg. My favorite hamstring exercise is the hamstring curl. More specifically, the variation where you lay down as if on a surf-board and bring the weight up with your legs.

Find a hamstring curl machine (pictured below). Lay face-down and put a slight arch upward into your back. Placing the machine lifting-pad at the bottom of each calf, bring the weight up, flexing the back of your leg hard at the end range of flexion. Lower the weight down slowly and continue until failure.

CALF-RAISES

Of all the leg workouts, I think the only one that I really enjoy doing are calf-raises. You feel a nice pump, can do a lot, and don't tax your body's energy as quickly as with other leg exercises.

Find a seated calf-raise machine. Put on weight that is comfortable for you. place the balls of your feet on the platform, with the heels hanging off the side. Release the weight and let it drop down as far as your feet will let it (when you get a nice stretch in your calf area). Point your toes slightly inward and drive with the balls of your feet. Bring the weight all the way up, and flex the calves as hard as you can. Lower back down to the full range of motion towards a stretch slowly. Repeat until failure. There is also a standing version of this that works well too. However, you can probably do more weight standing than sitting. Please take that into consideration if you choose the standing variation.

 

Source: wordpress.com (fredkochtraining)

And those are my exercise suggestions for a well-rounded leg workout! Try them out and let me know what you think. Legs can be unglamorous and exhaust you, but you need to do them. Just have a positive mindset on leg day and get it done! Offer any other suggestions in the comment section below!

-Jtrain

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*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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Ask Jtrain: Is Creatine Safe?

Jtrain,

I'm a guy of a smaller build looking to lose a little bit of weight and put on a little bit of muscle and was considering adding creatine into my supplemental regimen. I've heard good things about creatine, but have also heard that it has some side effects, such as retained water weight and possible cramps. Could you share the pros and cons of this supplement that you have personally experienced?

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Article Summary: Studies have indicated that creatine is most-likely safe. Creatine is extremely cost effective with noticeable increases in performance. Make sure to drink lots of water and eat carbohydrates for optimal performance and health while on creatine. Do not take creatine if you have a pre-existing condition or are taking medication that may interact with creatine in a negative way.

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Hey there!

This is a very good question! I'm glad that I get the chance to talk about creatine, as it's a very hot topic for those who workout seriously or even casually. There are a lot of preconceived notions about creatine, and depending on whether or not the first person you talk to about it is a serious gym rat or someone who doesn't work out at all you'll get mixed opinions. I hope that I can help give you a better understanding of creatine, and that my opinions on its usage help you make a decision on whether or not you want to use it.

 

Source: sicrx.com

I've discussed how creatine works on my "recommended supplements" page found here . Please take a look so you can see what the thought process is as to why you'd want to be supplementing it for your workouts.

 

Source: store.bbcomcdn.com 

Creatine is regarded as one of the most heavily researched supplements in the fitness world (when compared to other supplements), and yet a frustration about whether it is good or bad to supplement with it is evoked from the lack of research on its effects on the body when medical experts outside of the fitness world try to come to a definitive conclusion on whether or not it should be ingested. That just goes to show you how much of a crapshoot using supplements are. This is why I suggest getting most of your macro and micronutrients from whole foods instead of supplements, and only suggest using a handful of them. However, like I also stated in my "recommended supplements" section, you do not need supplements if you don't want them.

But your question was about the pros and cons of creatine usage, and what my recommendations on using it is based on what the goals you stated are.

I'm not sure I'd call them "pros" per-say, but I will go over the benefits of creatine usage, as well as what my experience with supplementing with it and my opinions on it are.

My View on Creatine:

I've personally supplemented with creatine for a couple years now. Creatine is great in that it's a supplement that you can drastically feel a difference in as soon as you start using it (i.e., it's a supplement that actually works). Unlike most supplements currently on the market, you can feel it work, and indeed there are individual studies and systematic reviews that can back this up (available upon request. Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com if you want a copy of such studies). I've cycled creatine before, as well as used it every day for a very prolonged amount of time. When not drinking adequate amounts of water (which you should do on creatine), and not taking it on a regular basis, I do see and feel a significant loss in my power and energy in the gym. By energy, I mean the feeling of being able to lift a significant amount of weight for a prolonged amount of time.

Source: i-want-abs.com

I can tell you after using creatine on a daily basis (within the recommended usage...aside from the "creating loading" suggestion on the back of the bottle), that I haven't experienced any negatively significant changes in my health that I wouldn't have otherwise felt off of creatine.....even from when I wasn't involved with bodybuilding. The only changes that I've felt while on creatine are increased energy which leads to increased intensity in the gym, and fuller more imposing looking muscles from the water being held within the cells by the creatine.

The truth is, your body naturally produces creatine. It's not something foreign like say synthetic drugs like anabolic steroids. You also ingest creatine from the foods that you eat. Examples of foods high in creatine include fish and meats (source: medline plus).

There are things that one should keep in mind when supplementing with creatine however. To get the maximum benefit, it's important to drink lots of water and eat carbohydrates for maximum effect. A lot of the negative opinions and alledged side effects of creatine (like cramping and kidney issues) are not so much from solely the use of the supplement as it is that people are not drinking enough water for the body to adequately filter it. So if you want to supplement creatine and are concerned with it being hard on certain organs, make sure to drink lots of water to make it easier for the body. If you do that, you shouldn't have an issue with the alledged negative side affects of creatine. This is of course assuming that you do not have a pre-existing condition that would make the introduction of creatine a detriment to your body. Please consult your doctor to make sure that you are healthy enough to supplement with creatine.

The benefits of creatine on gym performance include (source: medline plus):

*Improving athletic performance for short high-intensity exercise
*Increasing strength and endurance


*Increasing strength in those with muscular diseases


Other benefits of creatine include:

*Slowing the progression of Parkinson's Disease
*Slowing loss of eye-sight in patients with gyrate atrophy
*Improving symptoms in patients with various muscle diseases

Creatine is also EXTREMELY cost effective. Not only do you get a supplement that you know will work, but you can find a bottle that will last you weeks and maybe even months (at 5 grams a serving) for under $20. Sometimes they are even on sale for under $10. Just make sure that the creatine you choose is creatine monohydrate, and that the brand is "creapure". Creapure will not be the name of the supplement, but it is the name of the special brand of creatine used within the creatine supplement you choose (for example: Optimum Nutrition Creatine Monohydrate is the supplement name, but the creatine used is creapure creatine monohydrate). You will see some kind of labeling on the bottle that indicates that creapure was used if the product does in fact contain it.


When Not to use Creatine:

You also stated that you were interested in losing weight and were concerned with putting on water weight. Creatine WILL do both of these things to you. Your weight will go up from all of the excess water that the creatine you ingest will hold on to. However, most of the water will be intracellular (stored inside the cells) as opposed to extracellular (stored outside of the cells). So you won't look like you're gaining fat per-say, since it's the muscle cells that are storing the water and not fat cells / cells located outside the body. But you will gain in size and weight. If you want your weight to drop and have a more slender tight look, supplementing with creatine may not be the best idea.

Studies that were performed on creatine usage have indicated that creatine supplementation is most likely safe. When taken in higher than recommended doses however, or with a pre-existing condition, creatine may be unsafe to use. Also, consult your doctor with any medication you might be taking and ask him or her if creatine may interact negatively with it.

How / When to use Creatine

Take the recommended 5 grams and mix it in liquid. You can even go up to 10 grams a day. You do not have to "load" creatine as some bottles recommended (taking an extremely high dosage for a couple of days to "load" the creatine in your muscle cells). That's more or less an outdated theory on creatine usage and a play by the supplement companies for you to go through the creatine faster and therefore by more of it more often. You can take creatine whenever you want at whatever time of the day, pre or post workout. Take it every day for prolonged amounts of time to feel an increase in the effect.

 

Source: thehappyathlete.net

And those are my thoughts. Creatine is a very cost-effective supplement that works very well. Studies that were performed on creatine usage have indicated that creatine is most-likely safe to use. Creatine gets a bad reputation from myths generated back when such research was not conducted or scarce. It is also important to keep in mind that one thing in particular, such as a supplement, is usually not the sole cause of detrimental outcomes or conditions but rather an interaction of many different factors. So long as you use the recommended dosage, are fairly healthy, and keep in mind what pre-existing conditions you have / medications you are taking, you should be fine supplementing with creatine.

I hope that helps!

-Jtrain

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*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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My Top 5 Back Exercises

It's funny. I wouldn't necessarily call the back an underrated muscle, but I'd say that it marginally doesn't necessarily deserve the respect it warrants. I'm sure many people know the value of pullups and deadlifts, but are still unaware how good a nice back can look. I understand it, as most of the time it's not your back that's going to be on display, or be the first thing that someone you're trying to impress will look at. However, back strength is still very important for a balanced physique, and having a strong back can really bring many things together and balance out the overdevelopment of muscles seen from the front.

As humans, our backs take a lot of punishment simply from how we are biomechanically designed. I mean, when was the last time you heard of someone having back problems? I bet it wasn't too long ago and is something you hear quite frequently. Since our backs do in fact take such a huge amount of stress on a daily basis (from vertebrae compression for example), it's important to strengthen them to prevent injury and preserve their health. Overdevelopment of the muscles from the front may also cause pain and stress from their dominance of muscles located on the back of the body that may be underdeveloped (like when someone's shoulders start hurting because their front deltoids are more overdeveloped than their back deltoids, thus causing the front deltoids to yank at and dominate the rear deltoids).

Source: blog.sportsnutrition.com

The back is actually my second favorite muscle group to work out. For muscle groups that I enjoy working out, I like to dedicate a full day to them so that I really kill it in the gym and have a mindset that my workout is about to be fun. As a quick aside, I definitely recommend dedicating full days to muscle groups you like to workout and working them out towards the end of the week to combat and easily get over the feeling of exhaustion and laziness you feel after going hard in the gym for most of the week.

The back is an intricate system of many different muscle groups working in unison to help the body move and remain stable. For bodybuilding and muscle development, the main muscle groups that one tries to target and concentrate on are the lattissimus muscles (lats) and the trapezius msucles (traps). However, there are other important muscle groups in the back including the intertransversarii muscles that aid in movement of individual vertebrae and the multifidus spianae muscle which is composed of bundles of skeletal muscle and aids in movement of the spine as a whole (source: wikipedia).

Source: fitstep.com

The way that the back is designed offers strength and sturdiness to the trunk of the body while still allowing for flexibility to the rest of the body. It really is an intricate and beautiful network of biological design, and when you work it out you need to also treat it as something special.

What I mean by that is this. The back isn't like the biceps in that you can't just do the motion and be relatively certain that you are fatiguing and stimulating the muscle group(s) adequately. With back, form and positioning is extremely important. I don't mean that in the same way that I do when I say it about other muscle groups though. Attention to form is on a different level with back. You need to make sure that you angle your body and do ranges of motion along an invisible track that gives you the greatest pump at the end range of flexion and a great stretch at the end range of extension.

With the exercises I'm about to highlight in this post, some things are fairly universal to achieve a nice back pump and back muscle stimulation. They are:
 

• Putting a slight curve in your back when sitting to put a "loaded" feeling into your back.

• Flexing your lat / other back muscles before you start doing the motion of the exercise.

• Pulling from underneath the line your body makes in separation from the lat muscle to the lower back or, if you're having trouble visualizing that, pulling towards the bottom of your rib cage.



 So let's get into it!

PLATE-LOADED LOW ROWS

My favorite back exercise. It's my favorite because it's fun to do, and it also gives me an AMAZING flex and pump in my back after doing them. Not all gyms have an adequate plate-loaded row machine, so unfortunately this exercise might not be readily accessible to you. I'll post an image below, but the machine used to perform this exercise is the one where you sit with your chest up against a cushion, with handles in front for you to perform a pulling motion, and a place above your head and to the side where you can load weighted plates.

To perform this exercise effectively, heighten the seat of the machine to where you will be pulling from underneath your lat. Sit up straight and curve your back. In my opinion, you actually do NOT want to have your chest up against the cushion, and if your back is curved correctly this should be the case. You should actually be able to fit a fist in between your chest and the cushion.

Keeping your body still, use only your arm to pull the weight towards you, flexing your lat before you pull, and following a line of drive that goes inward and under your lat. The word "lat" here isn't plural because I recommend doing these one side at a time to really focus on fatiguing each lat and doing the form correctly. The end range of motion doesn't go as far back as you would expect, so it might not look like you're doing these right. However, as long as you feel your lats explode as you bring the weight in, you're doing them right. Go until failure, and be sure to let the weight back slowly to get the negatives.

  

 This is what the machine looks like. Yours might not look as fancy.
Source: sweatband.com

DUAL-HANDLE LAT-PULLDOWNS

I first got the idea to do these by watching Youtube videos of Mr. Olympia Phil Heath training his back. After trying them out for myself, it is my prefered way of doing lat-pulldowns.

You've seen regular lat-pulldowns done before, and have even probably tried them. They are the exercise that uses a straight bar above your head that you pull down in towards your chest, almost like you're doing a seated pull-up. I've found that with using a bar however, you don't adequately activiate the lats as your arms get isolated by the bar at the moment they should be flexing inwards to engage the lats. So I suggest getting two metal or rubber handles (whatever is available to you) and attaching both to the latt pull-down apparatus clip.

Once you've attached both of these handles, grab the handles and sit down. lean back so that your chest almost points upwards at the ceiling, flex your lats, and bring both clips in towards you chest while also trying to pull both clips away from one another towards your sides. You should feel your lats get engaged. Come back up slowly, and use the height of the apparatus to fully stretch out and even pull your arms upward to get a full range of stretch. Repeat unti failure.

It was hard to find an accurate picture of this exercise, but the image below came close. Just remember that it's not a v-bar that is used here. It's two separate grips (metal, plastic, or rubber).

 Source: samsfitness.com

SEATED ROWS

This is a popular exercise that uses the machine where you place your feet onto two flat metal plates and pull a "v-bar" in towards your chest. This exercise is pretty straight forward, but there are still some things to keep in mind.

Sit up straight and arch your back again. pull in towards your chest, but under your lat. Use only your arms to pull forward and do incorporate any kind of leaning to "cheat" your way into a rep. Only move your elbows back and forth and make sure to flex your lats before pulling.

The most classic way to perform this exercise is with the "v-bar" that I just mentioned. However, I like to use two metal or plastic / rubber grips like I mentioned for dual-handle lat-pulldowns so that I get more of a range of motion to flex my lats.

 

 

Source: workoutlabs.com

DEADLIFTS

One of what I like to call the "Big 3" gym exercises (Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench Press). This is a staple to many people's bodybuilding / lifting routines. To be completely honest with you however, I've only recently incorporated them into my workouts....squats too for that matter.....and I don't even do barbell bench press. However, I do acknowledge the value of deadlifting and think it deserves a spot on this list. I also acknowledge that there are many different variations for this exercise, but I will go over the most basic. The previous exercises I mentioned target your mid to upper back, while deadlifts are fantastic for targeting your lower back.

Place a weight (in the form of plates) that YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH on a long barbell. Stand shoulder-width apart with your feet boxed and facing forward, and grip the barbell in a way that's comfortable to you. Many people have one hand grip with the fingers pointing out while another hand grips with the fingers pointing in. In my opinion however, you should do what is most comfortable for you. I actually use lifting straps and have both hands with my fingers pointing in."

Bend down to where the top of your shins touch the barbell. Keep your back sturdy and focus on something in front of you so that you are facing forward. Driving with your heels, stand straight up, ending in a thrust with your hips and flex in your back. Lower the weight SLOWLY along your body and, once the weight gets to just past your knee caps, perform a sit down motion.

These are HARD to master. It takes tons of training and practice to get right. And you want to get it right to prevent injury and messing up your back. So when you start doing these, PLEASE use a weight that you can control and isn't too stressful until you get the form down. Also, get many different opinions on it from multiple sources. The guy / girl in the gym who's super jacked and does deadlifts all the time may look like he knows what he's talking about, but may also have really bad form and are harming himself / herself without knowing it. I'm STILL learning how to do these correctly. I suggest again asking around, and watching videos from experts. Here's a video by Elliott Hulse (Youtube account: strengthcamp) which gives a really nice explanation on proper form while deadlifting:

 

PULL-UPS

You know what these are, so I don't need to go into too much depth. But let me go over a few things here.

There is NOTHING better to building huge lats in my opinion than pull-ups. I may be challenged on that, but you cannot hope to grow your back or have a great back workout without putting some pull-up work in there. It's like substituting the jelly in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with gravy or something. They are SO fundamental...so KEY to a great back workout. If you do NO other back exercises, do pull ups. In fact, if you threw me in a cell and told me I could only choose to do TWO exercises, I would choose pull-ups and pushups.

Many people are deterred from doing pull-ups because at first most people can't do that many, and you look like a wimp around people in the gym when you can hardly do one pull-up. To me, that only shows how much more you should be focusing on your back and back development. Pull-ups are also great in that they don't take too long to get good at. Your first week you'll struggle with one, but all of a sudden a few weeks later you'll be blasting out 5-10 like it was nothing. SO DO PULL-UPS. Your body craves it.

Also, there are many variations to pull-ups. For back, I suggest using a wide grip where your arms are shoulder-width to just outside shoulder-width part and your fingers point outward. When you pull upwards, flex your back and drive your elbows to your sides. You should be feeling a pump in your back. Do them until failure. They're also a good choice for super-setting your other back exercises. If you're focusing back, stay away from an inside grip, or a grip where your fingers are pointing towards you. In my opinion, those are used more for bicep work.

 

Source: motivationalwellbeing.com

And those are my top 5 back exercises! There are many other great back exercises as well. If you have any other suggestions, leave a comment below!

-Jtrain

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*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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Dave Pucinella Interview / Nutrition and Bodybuilding Discussion

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I was able to travel to Delaware to talk nutrition with someone who has been involved in the bodybuilding and nutrition scene for a while now. The one and only Dave Pulcinella.

Dave is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and competed in professional bodybuilding from 1983-2007. During that time-span, he won many local and regional bodybuilding titles, as well as 3 state titles and 4 national titles. Dave's education and certifications include:

• National Academy of Sports Medicine Fitness Nutrition Specialist (FNS)
• National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)
• Dundalk University Certified in Exercise Physiology and Exercise Program Design
• DotFit Certified Sports Nutritionist
• International Fitness Professionals Association Certified Sports Nutritionist

Dave is also well known in the bodybuilding community on Youtube, and I'll post some videos at the end of this blog post for you to enjoy. It was such a pleasure meeting such an accomplished and knowledgeable person in person, and getting to ask him questions for an hour where he could give me valuable information that is hard to find anywhere else.

Source: ironmanmagazine.com

As a treat to all of my regular blog followers, I decided to take notes from my conversation with Mr. Pulcinella and post his responses. I hope you enjoy them, and can gain from the information he gave me.


Questions Asked:
 
Me: What is your opinion on bulk and cut cycles and, if you believe in them, what is your approach to both?
 

Dave: I believe in bulking and cut cycles, but my bulking and cut cycles are not too different from one another. I believe in minor changes, or phasing, into each cycle. My cutting phase nutritionally doesn't look any different from my bulking phase, but the cardiovascular training that I do gets stepped up. You'll see me start to suddenly use the stationary bike, which I didn't do during my bulking cycles. Also, you don't want to suddenly drop your calories drastically all of a sudden going into a cut, or drastically increase your calories all of a sudden going into a bulk. Make changes in your diet and caloric intake slowly as you go into each phase, as your body will adjust better.

Me: How long does each cycle last?
 

Dave: About half a year for both. It's important if you're bodybuilding to gain mass, so you want to allot a lot of time to it. But never go over 20% bodyfat. If you reach that, it's time to scale it down a bit.


Me: What kind of cues do you look for when deciding whether or not to go into a cut or a bulk?

Dave: I pretty much just use an eyeball test. I also have "sweetspots" that I check and am constantly pinching to assess how much fat I'm gaining or losing. I've been at this for so long that I can detect very minor changes that my body is going through. The sweet spots that I use (for guys) are under the belly button and lower sides of the abdomen.

Me: You appear to be a big advocate for meal timing. Is that still the case?

Dave: I'm always eating around every 3 hours. Some people will tell you that it doesn't matter, but for me it's important. I can't necessarily explain it, but I'm a big believer in it. During competition prep, I would and tell my competitors to eat every 2 hours.

Me: Would you say that, for example, 3000 calories worth of cookies and candy bars is different from 3000 calories of brown rice in terms of how it influences your physique?

Dave: Many people will say that they aren't, but I definitely say that they are. Look, the littlest things can throw off your physique. Each food is made differently and is processed by the body in different ways, and can thus throw things off that little bit for it to make a difference in how you look and perform come contest day if you're competing.


Me: So what kind of macros (proteins / fats / carbohydrates) do you recommend for each person?

Dave: I believe the general rule of thumb is 0.75-1.75g of protein per pound of body weight, and 0.5-0.75g of fat per pound of body weight. Carbs are something you manipulate and play around with depending on the person's carb-sensitivity or whether or not they are trying to get bigger / fuller or lean out. 


Me: Do you recommend carb cycling diets?

Dave: Not for males. For females it's different. Males wouldn't necessarily benefit from it from an aesthetic standpoint for what I feel to be the ideal male physique. Women tend to have different goals though, and so I might put them on a carb cycling diet.


Me: Do you believe in cheat meals / cheat days?

Dave: (Laughs). You know, this whole thing with cheat meals and cheat days is a new thing. Us old school guys, when I was competing, would call it "f*cking up your diet". If you didn't eat on point that day, you screwed up. Plain and simple. We didn't believe there was any wiggle room whatsoever. 


Me: What's your opinion on how much water someone should consume? Do you cycle how much you drink? Do you ever try to dehydrate?

Dave: I drink about a gallon a day. I don't cycle that. And I don't try to dehydrate at all. That's very dangerous. Many competitors have died trying to do that. A lot of people think it's the steroids that kill professional bodybuilders. But it's usually the dehydration processes they go through that cause their internal organs to fail.


Me: How long do you rest between sets? Is there a set time?

Dave: There is no set time. I recommend starting your next set once you catch your breath.


Me: What do you recommend for cardio when it comes to working out and bodybuilding?

Dave: Nothing less than 30 minutes and nothing over 60 minutes. Anything less than 30 minutes is a waste of time in my opinion, and 60 minutes in my opinion doesn't give you any added benefit.


And there you have it. I want to thank Mr. Pulcinella again for taking time out of his day to sit down and talk to me about some burning questions I had. He's an incredibly nice guy with an awesome personality to boot. He's also very good at making you think differently about things when it comes to trying to achieve your goals and see success.

Please visit Dave's website at: http://www.pulseadvancednutrition.com/ . You can also see videos of him on Youtube by visiting his brother Mike's channel located here .

I hope that some if not all of these responses have answered some questions anyone reading this blog has had about nutrition / exercise. I know they sure helped me out!

I will leave you with some of my favorite videos of Dave. Be sure to check back on this blog for more posts! Thank you to all of you who keep checking it out!

-Jtrain

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*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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My Top 5 Shoulder Exercises

Shoulders! Other than legs, I'm not sure there's any other muscle group more underrated. How many times have you walked into a gym, especially one on a college campus, and seen a  group of fratatstic bros walk in with a wide chest, thick triceps, but absolutely NO muscle development in the shoulders. Like two big sausage links dangling from some feeble support structure that looks like an afterthought in bodily development.

You don't want that. Don't be that guy (or perhaps girl) whose workouts consist entirely of 12 different variations of bench press and MAYBE 1-2 curl exercises.

To truly have a wonderful and balanced body aesthetic, you need to work all major muscle groups hard. If you want an imposing upper body, shoulders help bring everything together and can make more of a difference than you can even fathom when trying to have that nice dominant look. Moreover, shoulders are very fragile and prone to injury from how many different moving parts / joints / areas of articulation are present within that part of the body, and so developing strength within them will prolong whatever career in fitness and bodybuilding you hope to have.

The shoulder is composed of the clavicle, scapula, and humerus (source: wikipedia). The major muscle group, as it pertains to bodybuilding, is the deltoid muscle on either side of the body (there are MANY muscle groups / fibers relevant to shoulders, but they can be worked out through compound exercises on days where you workout other muscle groups). The deltoid is a triangular muscle composed of posterior, middle, and anterior muscle fibers, which can be targeted depending on the shoulder workouts you do.



Up until now, I've found it difficult to think of 5 workouts for the muscle groups I've  highlighted. However, with shoulders, there is a plethora of nice exercises you can do to grow and strengthen them. Here I've included 5 of my favorites, but exercises like shrugs, cable side raises using a cable cross machine, and seated bent-over reverse flys get honorable mentions.

I've found that for shoulders, line of drive is important. For a lot of these exercises, before you lift the weight, you want to set up your line of drive to where your try to pinch your shoulder blades together, and push in the direction of flexion on an imaginary "track" that is almost behind your ears when you are pressing above your head.

When lifting from the side, lift up, but almost try to go behind the top of your shoulder blades, and when lifting backwards, just try to pinch your shoulder blades hard at the end range of flexion. As always, pause for a half second to a second at the end flex range of motion, lower slowly, and lift until failure.

My top 5 shoulder exercises include:

1. DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS

Sitting on a bench with a 90 degree bend, hold two dumbbells in your hands, making 90 degree angles with your arms with your elbows pointed out at your sides and your fists pointing upward into the air. Pinching your shoulder blades and lifting with the weights being at or slightly behind your ears, flex your deltoids and push upwards. Follow a small outward-in eliptical motion, pushing the weights slightly out as you push up, and bring the inside faces of the dumbbells together. You should feel a nice pump in your deltoids. Repeat until failure.



Source: buildingmuscle101.com

2. LATERAL RAISES

Let me first say that a little bit of weight goes a long way for this exercise, and you wouldn't want to use weight that is too heavy for this particular exercise as you run the risk of injury and not getting a successful pump / stimulation.

Grab two dumbbells and hold them at your sides. With a slight bend in your elbows and knees, and a slight curve in your back, raise your arms sideways and lift the weight as high as you can using only your shoulders. For maximum pump, I've found that aiming backwards as you raise upward activates the deltoids nicely.

Source: besttoneup.com


3. REVERSE FLYS (Yes, for shoulders)

Alright. Go ahead. Yell at me. Tell me this isn't a shoulder exercise. You can blame the person who first introduced me to these, as they put them on their shoulder workout page. I feel that the pump I get in my rear delts justifies me putting them in a list of top 5 shoulder exercises. I even remember watching a video where professional bodybuilder Kai Greene said he considers the shoulders to just be an extension of the upper back. You're welcome to believe what you want though!

Using a fly machine, sit facing the back padding and adjust the arms to the reverse fly position (where they are close together at the back of the machine). Position your hands so that your fingers are pointing forward, and that the outside of your palms are touching the inside of the machine arms, gripping the handles like bicycle handles.

Bring your arms back as far as you can until you feel a flex in your rear delts and upper back, holding your arms out straight during the motion. Not too much weight is required, and on exercises like these one should aim for higher repetitions in my opinion. Here's a good video illustrating how to perform these correctly (source: fitnessbyday.com):

4. REVERSE MILITARY PRESS

I've fallen in love with this exercise. It's really good for shoulder development, and you really feel it working when you do it right.

Find a military press machine in your gym if your gym has one. It should have an incline in the bench, along with some poles for which to stack weight on. It's designed to have you sit forward, but for this variation, sit with your body facing towards the back padding. To do these correctly, you actually do not want to have your body be able to fully rest up against the back padding when you're holding the grips to perform the motion.

While facing the back padding and holding the handles, lean slightly forward to put tension on your shoulders, flex your delts, and drive upwards with them. Do it nice and slow and make sure you get a nice pump while doing them. They do not require much weight, and are good for showing which side of your body likes to push the weight more. If you do in fact find that one side is dominating the other in moving the weight, adjust yourself accordingly so that one side is not dominating the other. Below is a good video illustrating this by youtube user Carlos Davito:

5. BARBELL RAISES (Sitting reverse on an incline bench)

This is another good exercise that stimulates the deltoids.

Using a barbell, lay on an incline bench with your chest up against the back padding. Hang your hands down and grab onto the barbell to where your hands are about shoulder-width apart. Using only your shoulders to motion the weight upwards, bring the weight up to the height of where your forehead is. Do NOT bend your elbows at all. At the top range of motion, pause for half a second to a second before letting the weight come back down. Aim for high repetitions. This exercise also requires almost no weight to perform correctly, so do not be afraid to use a barbell in the 20-40lb range to get proper form and a nice pump.

 Source: muscleandperformancemag.com

And there you have it. My top 5 shoulder exercises. Incorporate these on your next shoulder day to really give your shoulders a nice workout. Remember to use proper form and a nice line of drive with repetitions until failure and holding the weight at the end range of flexion for half a second to a second.

Have fun, and maximize your upper body aesthetic with nicely developed deltoid muscles and shoulders!

-Jtrain

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*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
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