Posts Tagged ‘Mass’

Is Your Training Making a Difference?

I have been exercising for a few weeks and can’t see any changes…am I wasting my time?…

So you have been training for a couple of weeks now and you can’t see any physical results at the moment…does that mean you are wasting your time?

The answer is NO….

When you start a new health and fitness regime the first thing you have to remember is for at least the first 4-6 weeks the only thing you will really notice is the feel good factor. 

When I say the feel good factor I am talking about you noticing the changes within yourself, you may feel more active, you may have more energy, you may even be more productive at work, there maybe a slight bounce in your step…these are what I call feel good factors.

The physical changes come after the feel good factors, so it is important not to give up because you can’t seem any physical changes at the moment.

“I have been exercising for a month and my weight has gone up…”

This is a very common question, especially amongst the ladies.  Allow me to school you all on body fat percentages and muscle mass. 

When anyone, male or female incorporates weight training as part of their fitness regime you will all be doing one thing and that is making your muscles heavier, this is NOT a bad thing, its positive.

Whilst exercising you will also be reducing your body far percentage ( Body fat does not weigh as much as muscle).

So we have two things happening at the same time, your muscle mass goes up and your body fat percentage goes down!…So really there will not be a great deal of Weight Loss being shown on the scales.

But there is a way you can check what I am saying and see for yourself. 

At your local gym there should be someone that can check your body fat percentage and also be able to tell you your body’s fat weight in kilos using a body weight instrument or scales. 

Make a note of these two figures then take your weight using standard scales and again make a note of this figure.

In a months time go through the same procedure and again write down the results.  You are now in a position to compare the results and verify if what I am saying is indeed correct.

Your body fat percentage should have gone down (provided you have a consistent exercise routine and diet) and there is a chance that your overall weight may not have gone down too much or even have gone up!

So avoid looking at the overall weight and automatically associate it with fat!

Remember a standard set if scales does not separate muscle mass and body fat, it takes into account everything, muscle, fat, bones, organs etc….

Deepak Bhangu
Personal Trainer

My Chest is Too Small

Q – My chest is much smaller than the rest of my body!

Hi Derrick, my name is Stuart Taylor, I have been Bodybuilding for almost 5 years now and I have made really good gains all over but my lagging body part seems to be my chest!…I have gone through almost every chest exercise out there to try and get it in proportion to the rest of my body but can’t seem to do it!

My routine is as followed: I start with the bench press for 4 sets, followed by incline smith press, flat dumbbell press, incline dumbbell press and end with the pec dec.  I do 4 sets on each exercise with a rep range between 6 and 12,  please help. 

Derrick’s Answer…

Hi Stuart,

Your routine actually looks ok, but there is one thing I would change that would probably make all the difference!  but before I get to that let’s quickly run through your current chest training routine.  You are starting off with the bench press which is fine especially as it is the hardest and requires the most energy to get through, However for the sake of trying to improve a lagging body part doing this exercise first is your downfall! 

Let me explain, when you perform the chest press there are 3 sets of muscles all working at the same time throughout this movement.  You have your chest, your front deltoids and your triceps. 

The first muscle groups to exhaust during this exercise is going to be either your shoulders or your triceps as these muscle groups are much smaller than the chest, so at this moment in time your chest has not had much benefit!  To improve lagging body parts you always need to isolate that muscle so you can place more stress on it!  Moving on, you are then going on to the incline chest press, dumbbell flat and incline, again you are exhausting your already tired and fatigued front deltoids and triceps!…the only time you are isolating your chest is right at the end of your workout when you are performing then pec dec! 

My suggestion to you is to do the pec dec at the start of your chest routine!  Pre exaust the chest before you attack any of the heavy compound exercises as your front delts and tricpes will be still be fresh and ready to get down to work.  Be warned you will not lift the same poundage after the pec dec but you will experience deep burning when trying to complete your sets.   Follow this routine for a few weeks and watch the gains!

Derrick Twum
The Secrets of Bodybuilding 2010 - By Derrick Twum