Author: Don Demarco

A common best practice usually offered as advice to beginner bodybuilders is to do the core exercises using a ‘full range of motion’. This is sound advice and should be followed for the most part but occasionally it is useful to do partial reps. So what is a partial rep? A partial rep is simply a rep done for only a fraction of the full range of motion. For example we all know that when doing the bench press the most difficult part is lifting the weight from your chest to about midway through the full range of motion. The…

Want to grow shapely muscles? Maybe you should consider periodization training? What is periodization training? It is really just a fancy term that means your training should be split up into phases, with each accomplishing distinct goals. There are more complex definitions that are used for Olympians and professional athletes but for our muscle building purposes we’ll stick with this simple definition. When your body is subjected to any kind of stress there are three distinct phases: The shock phase – where the body responds poorly to the initial stress. The resistance phase – the body gradually adapts to the stress so that…

The benefits of exercise are well documented and the vast majority of people could use more exercise. That being said, did you know there is such a thing as overtraining? Exercising too much can be just as dangerous as exercising too little. The most common effect of over-exercising is known as adrenal fatigue. It is particularly common in hardgainers who resort to ridiculous training regimens (due to the bad advice in the bodybuilding magazines) in their desperation to get rid of their skinny look. If you are training six days a week, twice a day, chances are that you are…

Every guy wants to have impressive guns to show off to the ladies. In fact, other than the chest, the bicep is the body part I get the most questions about. Unfortunately, not many get the results they desire because of all the bad advice from the body building magazines. If you are still skinny these three secrets will help you get those impressive guns in record time. Secret #1 For Huge Biceps – Compound Exercises If you are a hardgainer (ectomorph body type) forget about everything you’ve ever heard or read about muscle isolation and biceps curls. The bicep…

What is hypertrophy? At its simplest, hypertrophy means “muscle growth” or the process by which muscles increase in size. Hypertrophy Specific Training aka HST is therefore any training that is targeted at and leads to muscle growth. How is hypertrophy different from bodybuilding you might ask? Well, technically bodybuilding is a sport and to excel as a bodybuilder you must engage in Hypertrophy Specific Training, but they are not one and the same thing. Competitive bodybuilders perform Hypertrophy Specific Training then take part in contests where they are judged for muscle development, proportion and aesthetics. In contrast, strength training, endurance…

A giant set entails doing 3 or more exercises in a row without rest. It is the bigger brother of the super set, which involves doing two exercises in a row without rest. Typically in a giant set you do about 10 reps of each exercise, rest less than 60 seconds and then move on to the next exercise. It works best for exercises that stimulate muscles in different ways but for the same body part. Since you are doing a high number of reps and resting so little you cannot use as heavy a weight. For example if you…

Drop sets is a training technique used to induce ‘total failure’ to the muscles thereby stimulating increased muscle growth. When you lift a given weight for a number of repetitions and then get exhausted, usually all this means is that you can longer continue to lift that particular weight for more repetitions in the current set. You can certainly do more repetitions with a slightly lighter weight. This is the principle behind drop sets. In order to understand why drop sets are effective, first it helps to understand how muscle growth actually occurs. When you engage in intense training you…

Ever been stressed and felt the temptation to overeat? Those increased cravings for triple-topping pepperoni pizzas, and four thousand calorie lemon pound cakes? I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Well, it turns out it isn’t exactly your fault. You can blame it on mother-nature. At least partially. By this I mean that it isn’t simply a question of your lacking discipline and will power to stick to a diet. It is the result of a hormone called cortisol that is secreted by the adrenal glands in response to a stressful situation. Elevated levels of cortisol in the blood…