Welcome to the June 29, 2009 edition of hardgainer blog carnival.

J.D. Bell presents Body Weight Workout Benefits posted at It Takes Work.

J.D. Bell presents Bodyweight Exercise Revolution Review posted at Body Weight Exercise.

FitJerk presents Supplement Review: Whey Crisps Protein From BPT posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “Tired of dealing with messy whey protein powders? Enter Whey Crisps by BPT! They are supposed to replace regular old why protein powder for times you need a quick snack or want to turn ordinary foods into high-protein meals because they come in granule from!”

J.D. Bell presents Eight Foods For A Healthier Sex Life posted at It Takes Work, saying, “Need some spark in the dark? try these foods to boost your love life.”

pankaj gupta presents 10 Little Known Ways to Improve Your Health posted at Best ultrasound technician schools.

Phil B. presents Bodybuilding Problems posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, “I always wondered if extreme bodybuilding has any bad effects on the human body.”

J.D. Bell presents Oprah’s Miracle Fruit? The Truth About The Latest Super Supplement. posted at It Takes Work, saying, “Beware of all those acai miracle supplements being hawked on the Internet.”

Adrian presents 8 rules of nutrition for skinny guys gaining muscle | 36 Pounds.com posted at 36 Pounds.com, saying, “Nutritional advice for skinny guys who want to gain muscle. it’s incredibly important because nutrition is 60-70 percent of gaining muscle!”

Steve Faber presents Belly Fat Loser » Dumbbell Workouts – Dumbbell Exercises That Will Have You Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner…Fast posted at Belly Fat Loser, saying, “If you’re having problems gaining mass, try using more dumbbells. Here is a workout for you.”

J.D. Bell presents The Effective At Home Workout posted at Body Weight Exercise, saying, “An effective at home workout can provide you with a full body weight exercise routine when you can’t get to a gym. In fact, they can be better than any machine or weight-based workout.”

Patricia Turner presents 100 Best Health Blogs for Soon-to-be Moms posted at Becoming A Radiologist.

Colin Timberlake presents Training Log: The Anvil of Crom - Day 46 posted at colintimberlake.com, saying, “A day of hard training inspired by handicapped basketball star Kevin Laue”

kevinreznor presents Nathane Jackson Personal Fitness Toronto - Helpful Hints / Nutrient Timing posted at Nathane Jackson, saying, “Fitness model and dual sport athlete Nathane Jackson provides some useful tips for nutrient timing and workouts.”

ESN presents 11 Anti-Stress Techniques You Can Use Right Now posted at Massage Therapy Schools.

Martha Jackson presents Open HealthWare: Top 50 Open Courseware Classes on Health and Fitness posted at Nursing Online Degree.

Brian presents Extend Life with the Mediterranean Diet posted at How To Live a Longer Life, saying, “The Mediterranean Diet refined to include beef in moderation for added protein, routine exercise, and good sleep habits point to increased longevity and decreased mortality.”

Brooklyn White presents Why Drugs Don’t Work as They Should posted at Pharmacy Technician Schools Online.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of hardgainer blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: hardgainer blog carnival, blog carnival.

Welcome to the April 22, 2009 edition of the Hardgainer Blog Carnival.

Tristan presents How To Widen Your Shoulders posted at Body And Fitness Blog, saying, “A guide to making your shoulders look wider by emphasizing them with various different shoulder exercises.”
Great advice here for an often-neglected body part.

Ralph Jean-Paul presents Building Self-Discipline posted at Potential 2 Success, saying, “Having trouble sticking to your diet or exercise program? Take charge of your health by adding more discipline to your life. Learn some steps needed for you to build discipline in every aspect of your life.”
True enough!

FitJerk presents Powerful Plyometrics Training That Will Knock Your Socks Off! posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “An effective Plyometrics routine will increase jump power, boost you aerobic performance and provide an excellent fat-burning workout”
Try the program. You’ll get awfully powerful from this!

Steve Faber presents Belly Fat Loser » Adjustable Dumbbells – A Breakthrough in Building Muscle and Losing Fat posted at Belly Fat Loser.
If you have limited space, these adjustable dumbbells are awesome.

Conan Stevens presents Gain Weight - 20kg In 3 Months posted at Conan Stevens Online, saying, “22 years ago I started bodybuilding this is what we did those first 3 months to gain a lot of muscle quickly”
Great story through one man’s weight-gain journey.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of hardgainer blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: hardgainer blog carnival, blog carnival.

HardgainerTips is hosting the April 22, 2009 edition of the Hardgainer Blog Carnival, a place where fellow hardgainers (and trainers) can share their experiences and expertise with other hardgainers.

Please submit your articles and posts here.

I encourage you to submit your posts here; we’re trying to build a following specific to hardgainers and we need some help!

Thanks!

The last edition was hosted over at Hardgainer Manifesto. If you would like to host a future blog carnival, let me know in the comments.

by Bill Davis, Hardgainer Manifesto

In the first part of this series, we talked about the virtues of the Parallel Bar Dip. This time around, we will discuss the merits of the “Second Best Upper Body Exercise for Hard Gainers,” the Lat Pull-down.

Now I know what you’re thinking: Why not the Pull-up? Or the Deadlift? Or the Bent Row? I’ll tell you why. The Lat Pull-down is BETTER.

Here’s why.

First off, the Lat Pull-down is nearly identical to the Pull-up, in terms of muscles used and function. Rather than pulling your body up, you’re pulling a bar down. Your muscles cannot tell the difference.

The Deadlift, while an AWESOME muscle and strength builder, is very similar to the Squat in terms of overall muscle activation, so it finishes second to the King of All Exercises.

And you can simulate the effect of the Bent Row with a special variation of the Lat Pull-down.

Lat Pull-downs involve the lats and upper back muscles, the delts (mostly posterior), and the biceps, and to a lesser extent the forearms (the grip). Variations on this exercise can involve the lower back, too.

I love this exercise because of its versatility! You can take a narrow, medium, or wide grip and get different results. You can pull to the chin, the rib cage, or the belly button, and cause a different muscle response. Or you can vary your seating angle from upright to bent all the way back (this is where you are simulating a Bent Row).

Each of these variations involves different parts of the back muscles. For example, using a parallel, close grip handle and pulling to the bottom of the rib cage while leaning back about 30 degrees will build both width and thickness in your lats and middle back. Another variation of this exercise is to perform it in the “strictest” sense: Body upright, medium overhand grip, pull the bar just past the chin. This will primarily build wider lats.

When you do any Lat Pull-down, think “lats.” Try to think of your arms as hooks, and your back as the muscles that are doing all the pulling. Often, especially when just starting out, you involve too much of the biceps and delts, which is exactly what you don’t want to do!

Sometimes, within the same set, I combine multiple variations of the Lat Pull-down. My favorite method (at least right now) is to use a narrow, parallel grip and pull to the chin, then the upper chest, then bottom of the rib cage, and finally, down to the belly button. I feel the pump throughout the upper back, even feeling fatigue in the lowest part of my lats. It’s an awesome way to do Lat Pull-downs! You ought to try it.

As in all of my exercises, I do full-range reps: Full extension and stretch at the beginning of the movement and full contraction at the end. I like to hold the contraction for a moment, too. I try to power the weight up, and slowly lower it down. This maximizes both the concentric (positive, or lifting) and eccentric (negative, or lowering) parts of the exercise.

Finally, the great thing about this exercise, compared to its cousins, the Pull-up and the Bent Row, is that you can QUICKLY change the resistance. I like to start light, move up in weight, and then when I cannot lift anymore, I lower the weight 10-20 pounds. If you keep doing this until you cannot move your arms, you’ve given your upper body a fantastic workout!

There simply is nothing better for building a thick, wide, and massively developed back.

In the next installment, we will come to the King of All Exercises, the Squat.

Bill has been bodybuilding for over 30 years and has developed many weight training programs for building muscle and losing body fat. He specializes in hardgainer training. He can be reached at Muscle-Build.com. Check out his Hardgainer Blog for more advice on training for the hardgainer.

In this first part of a series of “Best of” bodypart-specific exercises, I’m going tell you what the best movement is for building muscle in the upper body for hardgainers. It’s not what you think (or hope) it is.

First, I’ll tell you what it’s not. It’s not the

• Bench Press
• Bent Row
• Deadlift
• Pull up or Lat Pull Downs

While each of these exercises has its place in the hardgainer’s arsenal, none of them matches the sheer muscle-building power of the Parallel Bar Dip!

I “discovered” this bodyweight exercise early on in my bodybuilding and it helped me lay a solid foundation on which to build, in terms of strength, flexibility, and muscle size.

Almost overnight, I got considerably stronger. At first, I couldn’t do a single full rep, starting only with the “negative,” dropping slowly down into a full stretch. After much persistence, I was able to eventually perform 20-25 complete reps. This exercise, performed slowly and strictly, builds immense strength in the chest, shoulders, and arms, even employing the lats at full contraction. My Bench Press weight nearly doubled in a few months!

I think the stretch at the bottom of the Dip may be more important than any other aspect of the exercise. Here’s how you perform a Parallel Bar Dip.

• First, you have to find the dipping station. Most gyms have Parallel Bars. If your gym doesn’t have this apparatus, find another gym. Seriously.
• You should have a slightly wider-than-shoulder width grip, with your palms facing one another. Lean forward slightly and put your chin up against your chest. Move slowly down into a full stretch.
• Pause at the bottom. It’s vitally important that you get a maximum stretch.
• On the way up, concentrate on using your pecs to generate most of the lifting force. Of course, your delts, lats, and triceps will play a HUGE part in getting you to the top, but the emphasis should be placed on your chest.
• Rise all the way to the top and squeeze your shoulder blades down until your pecs, lats, and triceps are fully contracted.
• Pause.
• Repeat.

The strength gains I achieved by doing Dips enabled me to bench much heavier weights, building my chest faster than ever before. The endurance I built by being able to perform 20-25 reps built a good set of pecs, too, especially in the lower and outer region, giving me that famous pec line that separates the chest from the ribcage.

Over time, you, too, can become proficient in this exercise. It’s a versatile movement, too, because you can literally focus on a muscle group and work it out to its maximum effect. For example, you can blast your triceps merely by “thinking about them” while doing your Dips. Of course, you can vary the performance of the Dip in such a manner that you’re not leaning forward at all, placing maximum resistance on your triceps.

I’d put the Parallel Bar Dip up against ANY upper body exercise! It’s my opinion that there’s only ONE exercise better for the entire body than the Dip, and that’s the King of all Exercises, the Squat. If you performed only 3 exercises, the Dip and Squat would be 2/3 of your work out routine (HINT). I will reveal the final exercise in the next installment, leaving the Squat for last (though it should be first in your work outs).

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

The new year is hear and it’s time to get back into a regular routine. Although I stayed motivated with my workout routine over the holidays my diet suffered and as such I’ve lost 2 pounds. Currently I’m weighing in at 160lbs. I don’t have any new photos to posts but I’ll be sure to post some next week.

Cheers

———

Age: 30
Weight: 160Lbs
Height: 5′9″
Goal: 175Lbs

Hi everyone

I have one progress shot to upload. It seems that the scale I have been using was significantly under calculating my weight. According to the new scale I purchased this weekend my new weight is 162lbs. I guess my originally posted weight was more than 145lbs. Oh well, now I know it’s correct. I wonder if I should adjust my goal of 175lbs???

———

Age: 30
Weight: 162Lbs
Height: 5′9″
Goal: 175Lbs

We have another free bodybuilding ebook for everyone. The Real Reasons Arnold’s Physic was Ahead of its Time was produced by the good folks at Bodybuilding.com and X-Rep.com. In this ebook they discuss some of Arnolds progressive bodybuilding strategies which include cheat curls, max-force generation point, stretch point overload and fiber splitting.

It’s not a long read, but I found this information insightful and helpful. Please leave any comments with your thoughts on the ebook. Enjoy!

Click here to download the ebook

This guy is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this.

Hi everyone

8 days left in the forum contest. Massive has a significant lead followed by BDK.

Good luck everyone!

Great to see the community getting involved!

Hi everyone

I’ve found a great resource for anyone looking to bench press more weight. This ebook contains 50 tips on how to overcome plateau and ultimately lift more on your bench presses. The ebook was written by Mike Westerdal at criticalbench.com. Enjoy the read and thanks Mike!