A perfect morning

This was a perfect morning.

Starts with wife goes "Wow, how much have you been working out recently?!"
Gotta love the thing called "muscle memory". So I am getting fast gains and it is visible to others. Even though my workouts have not been very often or very heavy so far. 

Great start of the day!

Then kids to kindergarden and then straight off to the gym. Today I remembered my caffeine supply! Since I did not workout my back or legs the day before that was the focus today. 

Deadlift, barbell bent-over row, cable pulldowns, cable rear pulldowns and some dumbbell bent-over rows were the exercises I did for my back. 
When it comes to the legs I used mainly the hacksquat but also when straight leg deadlift etc that also hit the legs.

Then after the gym I went to the store and got some nice "supplements" or healthy food products really. I will get into that shit a lot more during the next podcast and write a piece about it. 

And when I got home the sun was shining and I sat down outside and enjoyed the sunshine while eating breakfast. Ain't that a great start for a day?

Hope you guys are having a great day too!

In search for caffeine

So I forgot my caffeine pill before gym...

With life going on around me I can't really schedule my gym sessions in advance. Today I went there without having breakfast. That meant I needed to find some source of energy. 

My go-to supplement is caffeine pills and in the rush to get to the gym and have time to perform a solid workout I left home without taking any.
Damn! I entered the gym and went straight to the desk where the staff were. 
"- Do you have anything with caffeine in it? Lots of it?!"

I felt like an alcoholic walking into the bar where he is a regular and just straightforward say: 
"- Hit me!" and the bartender would pour a shot straight away.

So the girl at the desk seemed a bit confused by the situation. But she recommended some pre-workout shot that they had on the counter right beside me. 
It had caffeine, the same amount that my pills have. It also contained beta-alanin and L-arginin plus some vitamins. It was like orange juice basically.

There was a long time ago since I had any pre-workout with beta-alanin and those products are not on the market anymore. Everything that was good back in the day has been banned out and replaced by new formulas. 
I remembered the old ones and remembered the itches that beta-alanin gave me. I did have a totally empty stomach which made me a bit hesitant. "This might hit me hard"

So I drank the shot and went to the dressing room. 

I started working out. Waiting for the effect to start.

I kept on working out for quite some time since I was expecting the shot to hit me after a while. Most pre-workout products are recommended to be had about 30 minutes before the workout session. 

I never felt any itching. Like at all. 

Considering the empty stomach I was expecting a lot more from the supplement. Now basically I just paid 100 times the price of my caffeine pill for the same effect. 

The workout session itself

I went in with a great feeling, even though lacking energy to begin with. I was at the gym, the weights were in front of me just waiting to be picked up. 

I went for some shoulders, chest, triceps and biceps exercises today. I have been doing a lot of active stuff the last couple of days, like building a damn roof. So I felt that my back had been active lifting wodden boards and shit. 

For the shoulders I did the dumbbell raises (the exercises can be found in the "Gym Exercises" page under the banner at the top of the blog.) I did some military presses with a barbell as well. I used a rope in the cable-cross for some "face pulls" to round off the shoulder exercises.

When it comes to the chest I did some incline presses in a machine that I loaded weight plates. In the cable-cross I did some "cable standing flys" as well. 

Triceps were pushdowns with a bar and pulldowns with a rope. The biceps were barbells and dumbbells that I did in between the other exercises. 

During the entire session I had a high tempo between exercises which kept my puls up and gave me some free cardiovascular exercise I suppose. 

When going to the gym alone it is hard not to switch too fast between the exercises since you don't get that natural rest from watching your friend performing his sets. 

Every repetition counts

That's right, every repetition counts

What do I mean by this?

It is a mindset of mine that I am using to get a routine going. A routine where I exercise regurarely. Don't I do that shit already? 

Yes and no. I have been having problems with long periods of colds and then I have been focusing my energy on being able to work my dayjob. 

I am changing the tactic a little bit now however. Even though I am feeling a bit ill, I will still do some training. And I will do this because I refuse to walk around the beach not looking the way I want to look. 

By forcing myself to do some form of workout each day, I will enhance my chances. 

What is all this about every repetition counts?

I might not perform a full workout every day. But like one of the most true things ever said about training, The best training is the training that is done. It does not matter that you don't do a full, perfect workout. But if you compare it to not doing any exercise at all, every single repetition that you do is great!

The real squat

Squat deep

So today was one of those days where I got to visit the gym. My cold is feeling a lot better, so I felt like rewarding myself a bit. And rewarding means lift weights!

Squats is really hard on the body, it is exhausting when done correct and with heavy weights. That is great, except when you are feeling a bit ill. So today I focused on having a good form while performing the exercise. 

Unfortunately the squat rack was occupied (that almost never happen) in the middle of the day on a tuesday. So I decided to do my squats in a Smith machine. It made the exercise a lot easier since I did not have to spend any energy trying to hold my balance. But on the other hand, it is not the way I prefer to do my squats. It does not feel like the real deal!

I did however do a lot of squats. Since I was working with lower weights I was able to do a lot of them. And just to be clear. I am against this whole thing of doing low weight - many repetitions training. I prefer to lift heavier weights.

It felt good to go really low when doing the squats. The muscles working through the whole motion. The advantages by going deep can be found easily by googling it and reading different articles. 
There are science supporting everything. Sadly, with the Internet. You can find proof of everything. Just go with the stuff that you feel is right, what makes sense. Have a critical mind when reading things. 
And the best thing of all really. Find some big name in the business that shares a lot of knowledge. Someone that you can find trustworthy. Hey, you can even ask me and Bas and we will discuss it on the podcast or I can write a blogpost on the subject in case you want me to. 
I have been around the gym for 13 years, I have done a lot of exercises that I later found not really effective. But when doing that, I have also found the good ones. Like now, I am focusing on learning how to perfect my squats by going deep.

After the squats I walked away over to the deadlift spot. It did not take me long to realize I was in no condition to perform several basic exercises (squat, deadlift, bench press) today. Instead I proceeded to do some shoulder exercises and a little bit of triceps.

All and all a good day at the gym. A short session but when not feeling 100% I don't want to go all out. I am talking about stuff like having a cold, feeling sick. That can lead to severe illness unless handled with care. You can work out, but be smart.

Never forget the basic exercises

Basic exercises rules

There are a lot of pictures going around the internet joking about squats. Like this picture for example.

And there is a lot of jokes about skipping leg day. And hilarious humor about leg day going around the Internet. Lets get serious from now on. No more pictures of the Joker.

The basic exercises that I am refering to is bench press, deadlift and squats. In the "Gym Exercises" page on this blog you can see detailed information on how they are done.

These power exercises are important to build a good base. Some even consider them to be so superior that they basically only do those. And I can agree that by doing all these exercises, you basically get the entire body activated. Not in the best way though, that is why you do all the other exercises as well. By doing exercises that targets specific smaller muscles, they are growing more. 

All the "easier" exercises, targeting smaller parts of your body is important. Strengthening the smaller muscles in the body will allow you to lift heavier weights with less chance of injury. 

For the Chest Day I like to start out with the benchpress to be able to lift heavier weights than I would have otherwise. Then I do some other exercises like incline dumbbell press and some kind of flyes movement, in the pec deck or with dumbbells.

When it comes to legs I would definitely suggest starting with squats if you are doing it with free weights. Since it is such a big exercise that demands so much balance that after doing a few tough exercises - you run the risk of injury if you are already tired.

Deadlift is more of an exercise I can throw in during my back day, I don't have to start with it. I would not do any exercise that targets the lower back before I start with deadlift though. Personally I feel that it is my weak point when it comes to the deadlift and the part I feel I might injure if I am already too tired.

So if you are unsure of how to perform the exercises, check out some videos on pro personal trainers doing them. Or ask people working at your gym for help. No questions are dumb. It only shows a drive to learn, to develop your workout routines - and that is respect!

But whatever you do, don't skip them just because you are unsure about how to perform them. I did that mistake for a long time actually. Luckily for me I had played soccer for a lot of years that my legs were well trained automatically. Later on I had to learn all of the basic exercises to workout my legs though. 
And that was like going back to the basics, being a beginner all over again. So now I am doing squats and hacksquats as a routine in my leg workouts.

Daily activity is cardio

Used low tech app to count distance I walk at work

Tried a free app to measure the distance I am covering every day at work. I know it is not something that is perfect. Even so, I would say it hints at the real distance I cover every day.

Turns out I have been hitting 15km on both of the days that I have been using it. It is somehow reacting to the movement that occurs when walking. And I double checked the data and for example riding a bike is not giving any readings on it.

No matter how accurate it is, it is still a lot of calories being burned. And when not thinking about it, trying to control a diet is a waste of time.

When I went from being a student to starting this job my weight fucking crashed. Like extremely. Doing this, I can see exactly why. During my shifts there are not a lot of time to get anything to eat either, which makes it even harder to not lose weight.

So if you are trying to control your diet. Don't forget all the extra calories you are burning while at work or similar activities.

Find out who you are

To achieve your goals, you need to know yourself

Most people have goals or dreams. I would say that hopefully these are the same thing. Dreams might seem impossible to achieve. Some are. But by going for it, you will at least get closer to your ultimate dream than you were before.

One major thing that everyone needs to remember is this. You are a unique person and your motivation to achieve something needs to come from within you. 

The method to achieve those great dreams will need to fit your personality. 

Lets take an example. Let's say you'd want to lose some weight. In order to manage to control your diet or make yourself go workout, you need motivation. 

One kind of personality is positively affected by having someone yelling at them, pushing them to work out harder etc. Which make them kind of getting motivation from others. But the initial motivation is coming from themselves. They have found their way of getting extra help.

I would say that there are not a lot of people that would like having someone screaming at them, yelling at them, telling them what to do. The entire universe is all about having an endless amount of options. So a lot of people wants to feel like they can do whatever they like. 

Unfortunately that is affecting things like diets and exercise. If opportunity presents itself, people want to eat desserts etc. And by living in an enviroment like that, a lot of people will struggle trying to keep any kind of diet. They simply want the freedom to eat whatever dessert they want to.
Some would call that weakness, lack of character. Not being able to resist. To the people that have those problems I have something that might set things in motion. Lets try tell such a person this.

Prove me wrong! Show me that it is not lack of character or signs of weakness.

No guarentee that it will work. But some people would react to that and be determined to prove me wrong. However, you better know the person you are telling that, if they are not that person - they will most likely be offended.

The path that most people will have to take is probably the one I will describe below. 

Step by step, little by little...
If we talk about the diet now. People who eat a lot of sugar, might struggle to cut that part of their diet out completely. By quitting straight away, they feel so bad that they simply give it all up. 
If that is the case, there is no point in going all out straight away. Because it will most likely fail this time too. But if they start step by step, they will give their bodies a chance to get used to less and less sugar. 

Drinking soda every day? Start by drinking just one glass, then only drink soda every other day, then next step is weekends only. By doing it like that the body will get used to you lowering the daily amount of sugar.

Find several strong reasons why you want to achieve something
Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to get bigger muscles? Whatever it is that you want deep down. For every reason to do it, there is a bigger chance of you succeeding. But don't get me wrong. It is not like quit eating sugar is going to be easy just because it is important to avoid obesity or diabetes. 
Those are not two valid reasons in this case. The reasons to succeed at something must come from within yourself. Unless you feel that you want to avoid diabetes it does not matter how much people around you keep nagging you about it. It will not help unless you grow those feelings yourself.

Get educated
Some things that you really fancy eating might be low in calories, some things that you hate and eat just because you think it is healty - might actually be pure shit. So by reading up on your favorite dishes, you might get a huge advantage.

Sleep or Workout

Like now I get the choice between extra sleep or going to the gym

It is a tough one sometimes. Until I think about it. Even when I don't feel like I really want to go to the gym and lift heavy ass weights, the effect of the training is something I want.

February is here, soon it is summer - and I want to look my best on the beach!

What do you think about for motivation? What drives you out of bed and to the gym when you really don't feel like it?

We all need to find that secret thing that will drive us to the gym even when we don't want to.

Proper session at the gym!

Finally back at the gym with someone to watch my back

It has been a while since I went to the gym for a proper workout and having someone with me. Now I felt fucking great today. All traces of the cold that has bothered me for months is gone! At least for now...

What did I do when I finally could perform a proper workout?
Well, I was so excited that I mixed quite a bit but I focused on chest since I could finally use the benchpress properly.
If I can call it properly. It has been a while since I used it so I did not really feel as strong as I used to be but I will get there, I will get there!


The different exercises can be found Here! in the database on my blog. Instructional videos on how to perform them as well.

To continue talking chest workout I continued with incline dumbbell benchpress. And this is a funny thing that one need to think about every time. When choosing the weights. At first you need to remember what weights you used last time. Then, and this is important, you need to remember in what order you did the exercises.

This is why. If you have been using the benchpress first, you will not be able to lift as heavy dumbbells as you would if you did that exercise first! 

To finish off the chest part of this post I sat down in the pec deck. I did do a lot of other exercises that hit the chest area as well, since I did some triceps exercises as well. I did not manage to get that pump that I am going for during every workout session. Not in the chest at least.
Triceps felt way more exhausted after the workout session was done. And that is like Arnold would have said, like cumming.

I did some triceps in the cable cross doing cable pushdowns and pulldowns. Then I played around some with the dumbbells but not really performing any exercise too serious. I finished off strongly though with a machine that basically makes you perform dips.

My favorite part of this whole workout session was standing in front of the big mirrors doing my biceps curls. Watching the muscles work, the veins swell and just enjoy the moment. I wish I had a picture of that. That is what makes this thing called workout so addictive. To see results, see the muscles work - I love it!

Lets just hope I did not scare my new gym buddy too bad, and that he will continue with me on this path. Give me some weights and large mirrors and say bye bye to sanity. 
It is fucking on! Gametime! Bye normal Roman and hello narcissistic beast within.... The kind of personality that I suppose lives in a lot of people that do work out regurarly. 

Periodic Fasting & More

Lets talk fasting

This ain't no f-ing scientific article or some shit like that. This is me mentioning shit that that I find intresting. Got any questions or want some deeper knowledge, msg me on Twitter or leave a comment.

Fasting is something done by certain cultures to celebrate traditions. But it is also used by medical staff to relieve the intestines from stress in order to heal an inflammation and in the world of fitness it is used as a way to diet.

To have a full fast based on just drinking water is not something used by a lot of athletes regurarly, for obvious reasons. You simply would have no energy for your workouts.

There are however something called Periodic Fast. That means that you fast every day, but only for 16 hours. Then you have 8 hours left in which you are allowed to eat.
It takes some planning but it should be no problem to eat all your calories for the day during these 8 hours.

I did this for some time and I enjoyed it. But I failed to continue doing it when my working hours changed. And now I feel that there is no point in even trying to make a schedule that would work.

One day my working day starts at 7am and the next day it can start at 2pm. When the hours differs so much and I have not a lot of opportunity to eat while at work it is tough. I can't even work out at the same time each day either which make it even harder.

That means I would trying to perform a workout without eating before or after. And that would be catabolic, breaking down the body.

I have friends that do have regular working hours, being able to work out at the same time every day and they are happy about this method. Exactly like I was when I could keep it up.

A few years back there were soo many people soo sure that you had to eat every third hour not to be unhealthy. What a load of crap!

You don't have to eat every third f-ing hour to keep your metabolism alive. And when it comes to gaining or losing weight, unless you are suffering from a medical condition. The formula is calories in – calories out. Enough said!

When it comes to fasting longer periods of time, like for an entire day every once in a while. I suppose the main reason is to allow your intestines to rest. When you don't eat, there won't be anything to digest.

If you feel like you won't be able to do any fasting because your blood glucose dips too low. If you still are intrested in things like this, I suggest that you go see your doctor in order to take a quick blood sample for the glucose levels after you have been fasting for the night.

A lot of people that say they have to eat something because their glucose are low are probably experiencing something else. Not everyone! Not saying that you can ignore what you feel. I am saying, make an appointment before playing around with fasting if you think you will get affected in a bad way.

Because some people actually are sensitive for not eating regurarly.

Synephrine

My first impression of Synephrine Boost

Only take one each day the bottle said. Don't use caffeine at the same time they said.

I just got fucked and had a bad day!

I need caffeine to function, that means to avoid a headache. I did not think about that this morning. So I went ahead and took a Synephrine Boost. Then later on I realised that I should not take a caffeine pill as well.

Yea sure. It should not be dangerous or anything. But I had barely eaten during the day and I was still at work. So I did not want to risk getting too hyper or anything.

So I got a massive headache in the afternoon. Two pain killers and a caffeine pill down the system in order to survive the rest of the day. Now in the evening I am back to normal.

Effects of the Synephrine Boost
Did I feel some massive effect? Not really. I mean, I felt something good. But that is no different from after a caffeine pill. Did I feel less hungry? I don't know. I did not eat very much during the day but that was more about the lack of time to prepare a meal before going to work rather than not being hungry.

Negatives
Considering that I need caffeine (it is not actually such a crazy addiction, I used to drink a lot of coffee until recently) the idea of taking a supplement that is not including caffeine. And at the same time stopping me from taking a caffeine pill. That idea does not sound any fun at all.
"The product is a very safe supplement as long as it is not taken along with other stimulants, like caffeine for example."

That is what the bottle says. And that last line is just a kick to the balls. 

Conclusions so far

Personally if I am to continue to follow the recommendations from the can, this will not work out the way I wanted it to. However I think that I will dare to use caffeine a bit later though. Maybe not take them at the same time at an empty stomach.

It is basically either that or throw them away. Caffeine is king! End of story..

Motivational video I have enjoyed over the years

Great video with Jay Cutler

I have gotten to love the music and find myself motivated by just listening to it since I have watched this video sooo many times over the years.

The king Jay Cutler!

Romans dieting supplements

Roman on what kind of dieting supplements he has used

The products I mention in this post is probably not around anymore, at least not with the same formula. As time goes by, substances are changed or banned away even. 

What I am saying is that the supplement sold today with the same name might not be what I am referring to. So don't take this post as a guide to what supplements to get, just hop on the journey I made from apple cider vinegar to stronger stimulants.

Apple cider vinegar capsules (I believe that is the correct translation from swedish) was the first supplement I ever got to help with weight loss and hunger. I just happened to see it in the supermarkets shelf with different vitamins and dietary supplements. It said on the bottle that it would reduce the feelings of hunger. 

And that was ideal for me at the time. I wanted some way to make it easier to control my diet. When working out, the body told me that it needed calories, which made me hungry all the time.

The amount of supplements on the market is ridiculous.

So I used it for a few weeks. It was great. I bet that the effect was mainly in my head, placebo. Since I knew I ate those, my mind did believe that it would not feel hunger as much - so I did not feel the same hunger. 

At this time I was surfing the web for different workout forums and web stores that sold supplements. I quickly discovered that the market for these supplements were huge. Of course I had to try some supplements! 

LEAN including green tea (I think it was) and caffeine was probably my next step. I remember using those for quite some time. The dose could be anything from 1/day to 6/day on the bottle I think. So I ended up eating a lot of those to get that feeling of energy flowing through the body (the caffeine) and at the same time I could go without eating for long periods of time. 

At the same time as I ate these I ate Omega 3 and vitamins as well. That meant a lot of pills to swallow each day. And since I used it for keeping my hunger in check it was probably not the best thing to take so many pills on an empty stomach. 

I believe it was after the LEAN pills that I tried some brand called StimulantX. Those were a lot stronger which meant that I never had to swallow as many pills. The StimulantX ones were really effective like I said. 
This supplement were not really made for keeping hunger in check I suppose. But since it provided a lot of energy it would allow me to still have energy even though I had not eaten a lot during the day.
And taking too many on an empty stomach was really a bad idea. But hey, I was young and I did not know better. If you are reading this text, you might learn a thing or two about not making the same mistakes. 

As the years went by I started to take less and less supplements. I started to feel that most of the brands were really similar and expensive. Since I get such good response from caffeine, which is really cheap, I don't need anything else.

I am talking about the time when I started a family and other things in life took over my time and energy. 

A little bit off topic since it is not really something to control the hunger, but a few sentences won't ruin the entire text.

However, one supplement that I am still using a lot is the caffeine pills. If I were to play with the thought that I did not have a family to spend time with I would definitely use more supplements in order to motivate myself a lot more during my visits to the gym.

Even though I consider it to be a lot of placebo effect. I love that placebo effect during my workouts. The feeling after I take a pre-workout shake. On the way to the gym my body starts to itch, the energy wants to burst out from my muscles just from walking to the gym. Excitement!

I am not saying that all supplements are placebo. I am saying that personally, the boost my mind gets from having taken a product is more important that which product it actually is.

When it comes to caffeine, I feel that my body responds really well to it. From talking to a lot of people regarding caffeine, it seems that we all react differently to the substance. I for one, is very affected by it. Hell, I can keep a dance floor going all by myself from just taking caffeine. While some people are not very affected by it. 

Why would I need supplements for losing weight?
Is is not better just not eating as much?

Well. To a certain (but small) extent. Supplements like caffeine that gets your heart going a bit faster will give you a few more calories burnt I suppose. 

The main reason would be this though. When eating less, I need the energy from some source. That source can be sleep. But if I have to work, take care of a family or just simply have a normal life while I am losing weight. I prefer to get some energy from a source like caffeine. It helps me keep going without the energy from those calories that I am not eating.

During this period I managed to control my weight really well. I could get sloppy at times and gain weight but I always knew how to lose it again. Not that I always had to have supplements to do that, I had learned how my body works and what I have to do to lose weight.

But this was my way of getting to know my body and my limitations. If I were to try to lose a lot of weight now, I would probably just go with the caffeine. But all those products that I have used over the years, not all of them mentioned in this post, were probably something that made me the person I am today. 

If I had not tried them, would I have succeeded? Who knows. The success and extra motivation I found from that made me more intrested in the gym world and everything surrounding it. 

If you are not an adult I would however not suggest taking supplements that is not recommended for your age. Since your body is developing and growing as much as it is already, it may not be necessary or even healthy to use certain supplements.
In all honesty, I did not start taking a whole lot of different supplements until I was 18 and free to buy everything myself. 

Great motivational movie

Great motivational movie

Great movie. 
Don't "kind of want it", if you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe - you will succeed. 

Most say you want to be successful, but you don't want it more than you want to party. More than you want to sleep! 

Even though it is a bit harsch, there is a lot of truth to it. You need the correct mindset to succeed. You need to be motivated!

My quest for big arms

My quest for big arms

I feel like this will be a post that I will update as I write more about it. Like at first, there will be the text about the biceps. And this is the way I like to hit my biceps with different exercises. And it will be focused on exercises I am able to perform at home using a barbell and dumbbell.
When we get to the triceps part though it will be more about specific equipment that I do not have at home. 

This will be seperated in two parts, biceps and triceps, obviously.

Lets start with the small part, biceps!

Part 1 Biceps

Lets start out by making something clear. Biceps is the muscle on the front side of your upper arm. When using a screwdriver for example, you can see how the biceps is working.

And another announcement. Many people are working out their biceps way too often when trying to grow big arms. The main focus should be triceps simply because it is a bigger muscle.

This is probably the one muscle that you can exercise at home, as efficient as you can do at the gym. Personally I got a small barbell and a dumbbell for the job. I got a pair of kettlebells as well but I can't say I have any use of those when training biceps. 
Lets just say I haven't really tried to learn different tecniques with them. 

When standing in front of a mirror it is easy to see the biceps muscle work. Using the dumbbell there are different ways I like to work out.

Starting with the dumbbells

To get strict form and isolation I just elevate the dumbbell without any turning movement. That is not however what ignite the devil inside. 

When standing up in front of a mirror and lifting the dumbbell, turning it while elevating. That is where I lift the heaviest weights. Yes, it is definitely not an isolated biceps workout. To be able to lift heavier dumbbells my back needs to keep my position straight. And as I go as heavy as that I am also activating the muscles nearby like shoulders and chest.

If you are to combine a lot of different body parts together in a weekly schedule you might want to consider how much you want to allow the exercises to wear out other muscles. But my focus now is biceps, which means that I am allowed to do whatever the fuck I want. And I do love lifting heavy dumbbells.

Another thing that makes me feel really good when lifting is to lift more towards my chest than just straight up beside the body. It will activate the chest muscles to some degree but I love it.

When using dumbbells you can lift them straight up. You can rotate them or turn like I described it earlier. But there is one more thing. Hammercurls! 
The name is almost self-explainatory, you simply lift them straight up like you would hold a hammer. 
This has been a part of my biceps workout over the years. I used to have like one isolated exercise, one with a turning motion and the hammer curls. Besides those I could throw in whatever I felt like. But exercises like the hammercurls were standard in every biceps workout.
Careful though, you don't want to drop the weights on your feet. My dumbbells are not suited for that exercise. Sometimes I put some tape on it to make them more safe. The locking mechanism is not something I can trust. 
At the gym though I have never seen dumbbells that are not completely safe. It is those dumbbells that you "build" yourself by adding weights that can be tricky.

And we also have the barbell

When using the barbell you can't make the turning motions. There are however some things you can do to hit the biceps with different exercises when you use a barbell.

When it comes to biceps. It can be more comfortable to use a so called EZ-kind of grip. While elevating a straight bar, your wrists might feel an uncomfortable twist. I can honestly say that I don't fully appreciate the motion at times. But it is not an exercise that I do very often which makes it okay. 

But that is another story. The one I am having at home is a regular one. 

To get a different feel when lifting it you can simply alter the distance between your hands when you grip the bar. 

Since I mentioned the way the dumbbell exercises can affect other parts of the body. That is very true when it comes to the barbell as well. Since you are lifting the same weight using both arms, you can lift a lot heavier weights. 

And it is easy to understand that when you hold a heavy weight in front of your stomach/chest, your back has to work hard to stay straight.

When lifting lighter weights you can make strict movements to get a isolated result on your biceps. And using heavier weights, you will get more help from other muscles.

Here is the thing though. Biceps is a small muscle. To do isolated exercises you most likely won't need heavy weights at all. But the thing is, and there are stories I have heard from people starting an education to become personal trainers regarding this. 

You need to "shock" the muscles with heavier weights than you can handle in isolated strict movements. It can be called cheating when you use other muscles to be able to lift the weight. 

But the workout your biceps get when slowly lowering the heavy weights is great! 

So I have heard people feeling disappointed at themselves when they have started their education. Because they have been told to do isolated exercises and not cheat.

They have not been very satisfied with their results in the training as a result of this.

I honestly think that it could have been something like the trainer that introduced them wanted to make sure they did not work out too hard at first to avoid injuries. And then they never told them that with time, they can add more weights.

That is exactly like the way I constantly tell you guys to go really slow in the beginning. But as your body is getting used to the workouts you can start to "cheat" to make the muscle grow more efficiently. Muscles grow by being challenged by heavy weights. And by cheating, you are doing exactly that!

Wow, that was starting to get off topic. Back to the barbell biceps exercises I like. 

I use slightly different grip between the sets to get different angles in the elbows and so on. And I really like to stand in front of the mirror and watch the biceps work as I lift a heavy barbell. 

But truth be told, after doing the heavy sets. Then I go lighter and really goes for broke. Hopefully I have been doing it well enough to make the biceps feel like they are burning. 

This is the point during the workout I don't like to see hot chicks walk by watching me lifting these light weights looking like I am about to crumble from the weights.

You can watch videos on different HERE! It is a link to another part of my blog where I gathered a lot of exercises by which body parts they are hitting. Use that "database" to find new exercises, new ways to train your different muscles.

Triceps

This is a beautiful muscle. Before googling for pictures and finding this one with Arnold I had not made the connection with the horseshoe shape. But hey, it does look like that!

And here is another picture showing the triceps that I will be talking about in this post. The main muscle on the arm when we talk about mass.

Some favorite exercises

The cable cross is where I often spend quite some time during the triceps workout. The exercises I am referring to is pushdowns with a rope and with a straight bar.
Lately I have been asking myself why these exercises are so important to me when it comes to, 'how I work out my triceps'.

And to answer my own question, I have been doing it for so many years that it feels like, 'it is how it is to be done'. But as the years have gone and I have been learning more about how to create better workout schedules I have been doing other exercises a lot more than these pushdowns.

And saying that I have been doing less of these, is not saying that I am not doing them. I really enjoy this exercise, using the rope in particular. I can find it uncomfortable for the wrists to use a straight bar which makes me want to use the rope when my arms are really tired. Therefore I can really get that last energy out of my triceps by using the ropes where my grip is really flexible. 

The exercises that I have been focusing more during the last few years are benchpress with a "less wide grip" to hit the triceps. 

I do not lower the bar all the way down to the chest as well. That is a really nice way to hit the triceps with heavy weights. 
It is easy to use a "Smith machine" as well. That one is actually perfect to use at first since you can get used to the exercise without having to think about balancing the bar in all different directions. And if you fail to lift the weight, there are a safety function allowing you to lock the bar in place.

Dips is one of the most classic exercises when people talk about triceps. This is actually something that people are competing in. There are perhaps no world championships but there are strict rules on how to perform a correct dip. 

I have to admit that I haven't really got a clue on what that means. I just do it without feeling any pain in the shoulders or elbows. Since when doing this exercise, those areas might actually hurt if done wrong.

With a wider grip, you hit the chest a bit more as well. So depending on what you are after, just alter your grip!

There are different ways to perform dips using different weights than just your bodyweight. You can either use a belt where you attach more weights. Or if you want to lower the weight you can use a machine where you stand on a plate that makes it easier. I prefer to use a machine where I sit and push down handles. 
When I am done with the workout I enjoy sitting down in that one and just get that last bit of energy out of the triceps. 

In the section called 'Gym Exercises' you can find the videos of different exercises. There are a lot of ways to work out your triceps. Basically just find the ones that you enjoy doing. There will always be people saying that some exercises are the best but I would say that the exercises that you enjoy and really master - those are the ones that will help you with your muscle growth. 

It is possible to exercise the triceps at home as well. But since muscles grow from being challenged with weights this exercise is a bit tricky to work out at home since it is mostly pushing exercises that activates it. 

A normal pushup but with a less wide "grip" is targeting the triceps. But the lack of weights make it less efficient. If you are however just starting out your life around training and building muscles it might not be a bad exercise to use in the beginning. Since you will most likely not use very heavy weights at the gym, the difference in weights is not that big.

Pushups can always be done. If you are watching TV, playing games or just stare at a wall. You can take a 2 minute break and do as many pushups as you can and then continue with what you were doing. I am rarely doing these nowadays, maybe if I know that I will not go to the gym for a while for some reason. Then it could be a way to maintain the muscles.

After a nice triceps workout at the gym when I walk around feeling "pump" in both arms it is simply a great feeling. It is one of the reasons why I keep coming back to the gym. Except for the obvious result of getting in shape, these small kicks of awesomeness is small rewards along the way. 

New set of goals

Time to set new goals

Someone measured the waist of my kid and announced 53cm. My mind started to think about upper arm width. 

I guess it can be considered to be a strange association to make. But that is the way my mind works, and I love it! Either way. I am going for growth this winter. 

Lets set a crazy goal and see what happends. I figure if I aim for the stars I will reach the tree tops at the very least.

35cm around the bicep after not being able to work out for 7 weeks. So after not being able to work out for such a long time. The motivation is insane, the urge to work out is really strong. 
My prediction is that I will get a quick result just by doing a few workouts, since I usually work out regurarely and now I haven't done jack shit. 

But like I mentioned above. Lets go wild, I'll try to get close to the waist measurement of my kid. Now, that is not something being achieved over night. But like I said, lets go wild!

I will of course not just perform workouts for my biceps if I gave you that impression. I just measured around the bicep when  Triceps are roughly two thirds of the arms size, so triceps is going to get a lot of focus. 

While hitting triceps however I will often activate the peccs, aka chest. So when I focus arms I will automatically get some nice exercise for other parts of the body. I will also use some rowing exercises and shoulder exercises to hit the arms in a different way. 

Legs are something I figure I should focus. Over the years I have had different focuses. I believe it is time for the legs and ass to get some love as well.

Arms and legs will recieve that extra attention from now on. Good ones to combine as well. As I perform one exercise for the legs, my arms are resting and so on.


What is my current status?
Before these 7 weeks of not being able to exercise I was really happy with the way things were going. I was on the right track.

A nice receipt for that was on my first visit to the doctors office and they would listen to my lungs. So I had to take my shirt off and the doctor immediately says:
"You do know that you can't work out while being sick, right?"

It is the mindset I am proud to have. I immediately took it as a compliment. I interpreted it as the doctor thought I work out regularely and possibly even like I just did it before coming in to the doctors office.
The importance of having the right mindset will be in another post. But it is important to find a balance. There is a reason why top top athletes can be considered having really extreme personalities. 

Womens workouts shouldn't differ from mens?

Are women an alien specie

Why wouldn't their bodies respond to training in the same way?

Nowadays you can see women in the gym doing proper workouts. Going back a while the health tips women got from magazines (and still is?) were not at all what men is instructed to do. What kind of exercises to choose etc.

Women do not have the same genetics when it comes to growing muscle. That is a known fact that is hard to argue against. But women do live lives where they need strength. So then they need to grow muscles. 

For a looong time men has been chasing heavier and heavier weights in order to grow muscles and become stronger. Muscles grow when they are lifting weights. Basically you cause minor damage to muscle fibres that after the work out starts to heal. When they have healed the muscle grows stronger. Very simply put. 

Since men live after that fact and has been doing it for a long time. Why do society keep giving women advices to do something completely different? 

Not to risk injury?

Women should work out and build strength just to avoid getting injured in everyday life. The biological way our body builds muscle is the same for men and women. So why not do the same exercises but not as heavy as the men. But still challenging your body to grow muscle?

Don't think I am being sexist when it comes to what kind of career women/men chooses. There are a lot of women working with the things I mention below. And when it comes to the men having the same career, as I mentioned above. They are often doing proper exercises already.

Going to endure a pregnancy? That can be tough on your body. Especially your back from carrying all that weight. 

Working with kids? Nursing elder people? As a vet nursing animals? In any way working with helping people with physical problems which means they need help from you to move properly?
Working with humans or animals is always taking a risk. They have a mind of their own and can all of a sudden shift their weights without you being prepared for it. Construction workers do heavy lifting but it is dead things that they balance with total control.

Lets make an example.

A)
You are working in a warehouse lifting heavy boxes regurarely. That is definitely heavy work that will put your body under stress. But the boxes are dead things and the way you handle them, that is the way they will behave. 

B)
You are working with something that is alive. Perhaps you will help an elder person to stand up from a sofa. It is weight on your back and you are bending your body to help the person in the best possible way. 
In the middle of this lifting movement, the person decides that he/she wants to sit back down and all of a sudden sits down into the sofa again. 
You are not prepared for this and all of a sudden your body is trying to carry ALL of this persons weight. 
This is a real danger for your body, your back in particular. 

This is not something that is rare. People who have worked with anything alive like this knows it for a fact. You have to be prepared for things like this and even though you are prepared for it - your body might not be able to cope with it. Especially not over the course of many years.

Just by walking around in this world, as the years pass. Your back is aging, your entire body is aging. We grow more fragile with time. That is the way our body works. 

As a kid our bones are more or less like rubber. They can bend without breaking. As we grow older our bones will be a lot more fragile and will not tolerate bending or twisting.

Our back is an amazing thing. All those nerves that goes through it. And the discs in the back are fantastic to allow our back to give us the mobility in almost any direction. 

These discs are however fragile. You might even have damages on discs without knowing it. If they are not broken in a spot where they affect the nerves or other important pressure points on the discs - we just walk around thinking it is normal aging. And it might even be considered to be just that. 

Anyway, back to the discussion regarding the gym. To perform a work out for your mid section on a regular basis is a good investment. You are making the muscles stronger and allows them to support your spine better. 
Take your shoulders for example, just to make it clear that it is not just the back I am talking about. The deltoids (muscles on your shoulders) are covering the shoulder where the arm is attached to your body in a cup. They are providing stability and protects the shoulder from dislocating. 

Muscles are working wonders to support our different skeletal parts.

Women
Not that I want to generalize too much. Don't take this in the wrong way, have a sense of humor when it comes to the gender generalisations that we have.

Men are often considered gentlemen when they are doing the heavy lifting. But at the same time, it gives them the advantage of growing stronger. While the females are not getting the same training for their bodies. That way, if a situation would appear where the female is the subject of a heavy weight unexpectedly, her body is not as prepared for it.

Hitting the gym When going to the gym for the first time. Or actually the first months. Make sure you are careful. Allow your body to get used to all new movements with weights that you make it endure.
The same goes for men, of course. No point in telling them though. They will never listen. 
Women tend to understand the need for caution on another level.
Women more often than men, have the courage to say "This is enough, I need to listen to my body and lower the weights to avoid injury". Where as the men in many cases puts on a brave face to gain approval of his friends. 
I am not saying some men are dumb. I am saying, I was like that too. It is almost as if it is in our genes, and it almost is. The testosterone! 
It was more important to increase the weights than being careful and avoid injuries. 

Think of your body as a sculpture
Bodybuilders ain't aliens. They are humans like anyone of us. And not everyone has used steroids. Honestly, most people don't want the look of those belgian blues that are on stage in a small thong. 

Anyway, they talk about their body in a way that we can learn from. Sometimes they refer to their bodies as sculptures. They stand in front of a mirror and say, "I would like to change that exact spot on my arm". Then they can go into the gym, adjust their work out and then get the result they wanted.

The normal person won't have the same goal for perfection. It is not the way your biceps are shaped that you will be going for. But maybe you do have some particular body part that you are more intrested in shaping in a certain way.

Lets take jeans for an example. Many women can say stuff like they wish their ass looked better in a tight pair of jeans. Hey girls! Go to the gym and work that ass! 
Like the body builders goes for trimming on a detail level, like the young guys are obsessed with their peccs - you can perform a work out that focuses on the ass.

The best way I suppose would be to go to the staff at the local gym or if they have personal trainers employed. There are loads of female personal trainers now as well, if that would make it easier for you to speak more openly about what you want to achieve. 

The staff can show you which machines/exercises that target the specific area that you want to improve the most.
So you can do overall workout throughout the week but focusing a few extra exercises on that particular area. There is a reason that the exercises hitting the chest is always occupied by teenage boys! Most of them focus that and spend a lot of time doing those exercises.

If you don't want to go talk to someone or consider it to be expensive with a personal trainer. Check out the Internet. There are a lot of people doing blogs or websites that might have the appearence you are looking for and share his/hers work out tips. 

If you are looking for exercises that hits the different areas of the body you can click HERE to check out the part of my blog where I have gathered a lot of exercises all divided by what areas of the body they are targeting. 
There are videos of them, showing how they are performed as well.

You can tweet me @podcasterroman or leave a comment to this post. I could do a general post regarding a specific area of the body or you could leave me an emailaddress where I can reach you. 
(When you leave a comment it won't get published until I approve it, so if you want me to send you an email with a reply I will not post your comment revealing your email address.)

Come to think about it. I think I might start to write a few posts regarding the most popular areas that people are intrested. 

Great idea Roman. 

*Pats myself on the back*

So this post has been a lot or rambling about different things. I believe that I got my message through though. I am not linking to special sources etc. This is not supposed to be a book with laws to follow. Simply open your eyes. There are reasons for exercise. It is not impossible to achieve things.

Don't be afraid to go to the gym and get some real weight training done. Nowadays there are a lot of girls in the gyms. Even though most of them still goes to these classes where there is a trainer running the show. 
That might be the way to go for you. There are some of those that provides you with great training for your entire body. Just don't stare blindly at it and go do some regular weight lifting as well.

Your body is capable of that sculpturing, all it takes is some knowledge.