The Right Way to Do Dumbbell Squats

Welcome to My DoFollow Blog! As a Big Thank You, I'd Like to Give You FREE Access to my "19 Tips to Build Muscle & Gain Weight" Report That Gives You The Key Ingredients For Success in YOUR all your workouts! ~ Marc David; CPT


While on Facebook, this image came across my timeline.  I knew immediately this wasn’t some joke or staged exercise.  It was another “functional fitness” believer preaching the virtues of doing stability work.
Before I go on … Stability work is important!
What I do not agree with is the manner in which it is being done.  The image above clearly being one of those.
In defense of this particular exercise somebody said…

“You guys have to realize that when training for performance versus looks, a major tool is trying to balance while performing. Its a great core workout and improves balance. What he is doing is very impressive.”

Here’s my No B.S. take on this exercise in particular.
When the exercise itself puts you more at risk than any potential benefits, it’s a bad setup.
From an entertainment perspective only, I agree that what he is doing is impressive.  It takes a no fear attitude, a lot of practice and some excellent core strength and balance.  Purely from a Las Vegas show frame of reference, indeed, the person has skill.
Maybe this exercise should be called … how to break your ankle.
Would variables to make it harder be:
standing on one legdoing a jump squathow about a pistol squat added in for good measure
1.  Stand with the feet slightly apart with a dumbbell in each hand.  Arms relaxed (use straps if you have grip issues)
and look straight ahead.
2.  Take a breath, slightly arch your back and bend at the knees.
3.  When your thighs are about parallel, stand up.
4.  Remember to breathe out!
A dumbbell squat mainly works the quadriceps (front leg muscle) and the gluteal muscles (butt).
Tip:  No need to go heavy on this one.  Use a weight that is 50-60% of your estimated 1 RM and attempt for 10-15 repetitions per set for the best results.

One of the best resources I’ve ever owned regarding the best exercises for every body part is called Strength Training Anatomy.  This is by far the best reference you can own that will show you every muscle used and how to properly do the exercise.   My only complaint is that I wish it was in paperback form so it would fit in my gym bag nicely!
Be Fit, Stay Strong!
Marc David – CPT

View the original article here

The Right Way to Do Dumbbell Squats

Welcome to My DoFollow Blog! As a Big Thank You, I'd Like to Give You FREE Access to my "19 Tips to Build Muscle & Gain Weight" Report That Gives You The Key Ingredients For Success in YOUR all your workouts! ~ Marc David; CPT

I think when his trainer said dumbbell squats, maybe they meant hold the weights not stand on them?

How do people come up with this stuff?

Shattered ankle in t-minus 5….4….3…

While on Facebook, this image came across my timeline.  I knew immediately this wasn’t some joke or staged exercise.  It was another “functional fitness” believer preaching the virtues of doing stability work.

Before I go on … Stability work is important!

What I do not agree with is the manner in which it is being done.  The image above clearly being one of those.

In defense of this particular exercise somebody said…

“You guys have to realize that when training for performance versus looks, a major tool is trying to balance while performing. Its a great core workout and improves balance. What he is doing is very impressive.”

Here’s my No B.S. take on this exercise in particular.

When the exercise itself puts you more at risk than any potential benefits, it’s a bad setup.

From an entertainment perspective only, I agree that what he is doing is impressive.  It takes a no fear attitude, a lot of practice and some excellent core strength and balance.  Purely from a Las Vegas show frame of reference, indeed, the person has skill.

Maybe this exercise should be called … how to break your ankle.

Would variables to make it harder be:

standing on one legdoing a jump squathow about a pistol squat added in for good measure

1.  Stand with the feet slightly apart with a dumbbell in each hand.  Arms relaxed (use straps if you have grip issues) and look straight ahead.

2.  Take a breath, slightly arch your back and bend at the knees.

3.  When your thighs are about parallel, stand up.

4.  Remember to breathe out!

A dumbbell squat mainly works the quadriceps (front leg muscle) and the gluteal muscles (butt).

Tip:  No need to go heavy on this one.  Use a weight that is 50-60% of your estimated 1 RM and attempt for 10-15 repetitions per set for the best results.

One of the best resources I’ve ever owned regarding the best exercises for every body part is called Strength Training Anatomy.  This is by far the best reference you can own that will show you every muscle used and how to properly do the exercise.   My only complaint is that I wish it was in paperback form so it would fit in my gym bag nicely!

Be Fit, Stay Strong!

Marc David – CPT

View the original article here

5 Dumbbell Exercises for Explosive Muscle Growth

Fitness experts have always debated as to which exercise provides the better muscle growth, free weights like dumbbell exercises or stationary weights like most gym equipment. I believe free weights or dumbbells win hands-down every time. Any method of workout that works more than one muscle at a time has to benefit more than a stationary machine.

Below I will provide some dumbbell exercises that will give you explosive muscle growth and muscle control. After all, what good are big bulky muscles if every time you try to use those muscles you are fumbling all over the place. I have seen guys with massive bulky muscles that can barely tie their own shoes they are so uncoordinated.

For a better overall fitness level you want to work the tiny muscles that surround and support your larger muscles. Complete and coordinated control at all times is what you need and dumbbells are the best way to achieve this.

Bicep Curl

Bicep curls are the best exercise to strengthen your bicep muscles. Remember, always make sure you rotate your arms well when doing bicep curls to get the most benefit from these exercises. Exhale when you bring the dumbbell up and really squeeze your biceps to get explosive muscle growth.

Inhale when lowering the weight and still use your muscles to guide the weight back down. Never let gravity pull it down for you, control the lowering and continue working the bicep on the way down.

Triceps Kickback or Reverse Curl

Triceps are the long lean muscle at the back of your upper arm opposite the front bicep muscle. Take the dumbbell in your hand, lean over a bench or chair if you are at home, raise your elbow so it touches your side, then slowly lift the dumbbell back while straitening your arm out past your butt while doing so.

Really squeeze the triceps as your arm becomes fully extended and then hold for a second or two. Holding and squeezing will really help with muscle growth, control and strength. You will also really feel "the burn" when doing it this way, which is really great for muscle growth. Then lower your arm back down, again resisting the weight and not letting gravity do all the return work.

Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press is great for really defining your chest muscles and getting that rock hard look. Lie down on a flat bench, rise the weight straight up in the air with a dumbbell in each hand and touching. Lower the weights straight down so they almost touch your chest while your arms drop down below you sides.

Inhale while lowering the dumbbell and resist the weights until they almost reach your chest, now lift the weights and exhale at the same time fully extending your arms above your chest.

Dumbbell Fly Lift

The fly lift is very similar to the bench press. You lay flat on your back in the same starting position with the weights held above your chest with your arms fully extended. However, this time instead of lowering the weight straight down, bring your arms out to the side.

Line-up you upper arms with your chest and create a 90 degree at your elbow. Exhale as you return the weight to the starting position above your chest and repeat. Again really squeeze your chest as you do so and hold for a couple seconds.

Dumbbell Row

Position your arm so it is fully extended with the dumbbell almost touching the floor. Lift the weight so that your arm slides past past your side and lift the dumbbell up as high as you can until it touches your chest at the nipple area, hold. Exhale while doing so and then slowly lower the weights again with your arm fully extended and weight just above the floor.

Safety & Warm-Up

Make sure when you are doing dumbbell exercises to have lots of room and don't use a weight that is too heavy for your strength level. Always warm-up and loosen the muscles before you lift any weights. Warming up will prevent injury and allow you to lift more weight and give you explosive muscle growth.

Those are by no means the complete set of dumbbell exercises. If you want further knowledge, explanation and practical use of these exercises, click here at http://www.idealbodyformen.com/ and sign up for my FREE 7 part E-course. Together we can change your body and life forever. Stay strong.

Building Strength With Dumbbell Power-Lifting

There are many effective ways to build strength. Some methods of building strength are much more effective than others. In this article we will be discussing the superiority of the dumbbell power-lifting over other methods of strength building. Dumbbells offer many more benefits than barbells, body-weight exercises, and weight-lifting machines. There is less risk of injury with dumbbells than there is with barbells, because if you drop dumbbells on a bench press, there is a good chance that they will fall to the sides of your body, as opposed to a bar which would land on your neck. Dumbbells require less reps and sets than body-weight exercises, thereby allowing you to be more efficient with your workout time. And finally, dumbbells are superior to weight-lifting machines because dumbbells require the use of, and thus train, many stabilizer muscles, whereas machines tend to isolate individual muscles and avoid secondary and stabilizer muscles.

The power-lifting method of increasing strength with dumbbells is as follows: Find the greatest amount weight that you are comfortable doing 4 sets of 4 reps. Only do 4 sets on any particular station. If you find that you can do more reps or more sets, then you need to increase the weight that you are lifting. Say that you are comfortable doing 4 sets of 4 reps with 60 lbs weights on a bench press. When you feel that you are ready to increase the weight, increase the weight of your 2nd set by 5 lbs. On your next weight increase, increase the weight of the 3rd set by 5 lbs. On your next weight increase, increase the 1st set by 5lbs. And lastly, increase the 4th set by 5 lbs.

Workout 1: 60, 60, 60, 60

Workout 2: 60, 65, 60, 60 [increase 2nd set]

Workout 3: 60, 65, 65, 60 [increase 3rd set]

Workout 4: 65, 65, 65, 60 [increase 1st set]

Workout 4: 65, 65, 65, 65 [increase 4th set]

The idea behind this strategy is for the 1st set to remain at your comfortable weight, as a stretching set, until your body has adjusted to the increased load. The 1st set is increased before the 4th set, because when increasing weight, your muscles will tire more quickly, and in order to be able to perform 3 good sets with the increased weight, it would take much longer to build the endurance to still have enough strength to do the 4th set with increased weight. For this reason, the 1st set is increased before the 4th, and at this point the 4th set serves as a burnout set to finish off the workout station. The 4th set is increased last, and may require a few workouts in order to complete a good, comfortable 4th set with the increased weight.

When you have increased all 4 sets by 5 lbs, then repeat the process until you have reached your goal. I alternate between pushups and the dumbbell bench press every few months. On my most recent cycle, I used this method to build from 4 sets with 60 lbs dumbbells to 4 sets with 100 lbs dumbbells in just a few months. The keys to achieving great results with this method are: to make sure that you use enough weight, to avoid over-training, and to make sure you use proper form when lifting.

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