Building with Olympic LIfts

So if you want to develop an incredible physique, take a lesson from the Olympic gymnasts on how to build muscle, and start moving your body through space as much as possible while you train. Following is a list of exercises to start you on the path to getting huge.

1. Instead of triceps pushdowns do parallel bar dips.
Have you noticed how many dips and how much work the Olympians do on the parallel bars? And have you noticed the size of their triceps? Need I say more?

2. Instead of barbell curls do close grip chin ups. Ditto what I said about the dips. Not only do you get incredible biceps development from close grip chins but you also get the added bonus of massive lat and forearm development.

3. Instead of bench presses do chain or strap suspended pushups. While the bench press can be an effective mass building exercise it can also be one of the worst for your shoulders. If you want to be safer and build a chest and pair of shoulders like you see on the Olympic gymnasts I would highly recommend some type of chain or strap suspended pushup. This movement will call far more muscle fibers into play and challenge the smaller stabilizers muscles as well. Not only that but you will get an outstanding ab workout from this movement as well; something that can’t be said for the bench press.
4. Instead of flyes with dumbbells do them with your bodyweight. These were a favorite chest builder of the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott. He preferred doing them with gymnastics rings but you can also do them on the TRX Straps. Either option is great and will pack size on your chest.

5. Instead of leg presses, leg extensions or leg curls do double and single leg squats. When you sit in a fixed machine and move weight with your limbs as opposed to moving your body the level of neuromuscular activation is quite low; no matter how much weight you use. And it is very unnatural. A leg press allows you to build strength in your lower body without additional gains in lower back and core strength. This is not normal and creates an imbalance that will lead to future problems. When you do squats you incorporate nearly every muscle from head to toe and will not only build tree trunk sized legs but will stimulate growth throughout your entire body.

6. Instead of crunches and sit ups do all of the exercises listed above. Isolation abdominal exercises like crunches and sit ups are not real life type movements. In real life your abdominals contract isometrically to protect your spine; they do not contract the way they do in a crunch or sit up. Not only that, but by continually flexing your spine for hundreds of reps per week, you will surely be setting yourself up for long term back problems.If you follow a steady diet of chins, dips, suspended pushups and squats you will build an incredible set of abs. When you watch the Olympic gymnasts you immediately notice their rock solid abs popping right through their spandex and they never do crunches or sit ups. You simply can’t hide abs like that. That kind of six pack is built with full body movements like the ones listed above.But if you still want to do a little extra ab work you can add in exercises like planks and ab wheel rollouts; just skip the sit ups and crunches.

Building Muscle

How to Build Muscle Olympic Style: Part 2

In part one of this series we discussed how to build muscle like the always-jacked-big-biceps-and-triceps sporting male gymnasts. In part two we are going to address the other most muscular athletes at the summer Olympics, the sprinters. If you took a survey of most average guys I am willing to bet that 99.9% of them would choose to look like an Olympic sprinter over just about any other physique option you gave them. Lean muscular and athletic looking; what could be better than that? I would even go so far as to argue that guys like Maurice Greene and Shawn Crawford (pictured) posses the perfect male physique. Head turning both aesthetically and athletically. So how do you build that kind of functional, muscular physique? Well first of all you need to train with the intention of targeting the fast twitch muscle fibers. This can be done by using heavy weights for relatively low reps and lifting explosively. Stick with compound exercises like cleans, snatches, push presses, squats and deadlifts. Always accelerate as fast as you can on the concentric, or lifting portion, of every set and control the eccentric, or lowering portion, in one to two seconds. Never waste time with slow lifting speeds, especially on the way up. That limits the amount of weight you can lift and is completely unnatural. In real life if you bent over to pick up a box, would you take four seconds to lift it up off the ground and eight seconds to put it back down? Of course not. Muscles are made for speed; don’t force them to do something they don’t want to do by lifting slowly. Train slow, get slow. Remember that. Another key component in learning how to build muscle like an Olympic sprinter is to be sure that you are using the right cardio/ conditioning methods. Too many people waste their time doing regular cardio like riding a bike, using a treadmill, stairclimber, or elliptical machine at a steady pace for 20-45 minutes. While this type of activity will burn some calories and can help you get leaner, it is far from the most effective or time efficient method. You don’t think sprinters do that, do you? Sprinters, obviously, sprint. When you compare the sprinters physique to the marathoners physique it is readily obvious which form of activity burns the most fat, builds the most muscle and produces the most appealing physique. While excessive steady state aerobic or cardio training can actually burn muscle tissue, high intensity methods like sprinting can actually help you build muscle. You read that right; sprinting can actually have a double pronged effect of not only burning fat, but simultaneously inducing an anabolic state and helping you build muscle. I don’t know about you but that makes it a hands-down winner in my book, any day. I recommend that you vary your sprint workouts between regular, flat ground sprints, hill sprints, sled sprints and Prowler sprints. Just because you are not an athlete doesn’t mean you shouldn’t train like one in the effort to look like one. If you are training for speed, you will need a lower volume of training, longer rest periods and probably shouldn’t sprint all out more than twice per week. If you are simply training to get ripped you can sprint at differing intensities and durations 3-4 days per week. Be sure to warm up properly beforehand and then proceed to your work sets which should be about 10-30 seconds of intense sprinting, for 15-30 minutes (total workout time) with 30-90 second rest intervals between. You could run several 40 yard sprints with a minute rest or a few 100’s and then walk back as your rest interval. There are a million different options, the important thing as that you do them. Now you know how to build muscle like an Olympic sprinter and get absolutely ripped at the same time. Get ready to start turning heads in just a few months with your new physique. Good luck and train hard.

Olympic Lifts 2

OLYMPIC STYLE

Olympic weight lifting consists of two lifts. The two hand Snatch and the two hand Clean & Jerk. The Snatch is an overhead lift consisting of lifting the barbell from the floor to overhead in one motion, and the Clean & Jerk is done by lifting the barbell from the floor in two stages. The first stage is from the floor to the shoulders, called the clean, and then second stage is overhead in a split or lunge position.

BENEFITS

Using Olympic exercises in your bodybuilding training creates tremendous physique development. Here are just a few of the advantages derived from Olympic lifts. Coordination, balance, concentration, flexibility, speed development, and most importantly, for bodybuilders, great upper body thickness! That's right amigo's, I said "thick". If you want a thick upper back, and wide shoulders that will envy even Ronnie Coleman, then these exercises should be added into your bodybuilding regimen.

The four lifts described below are Olympic auxiliary lifts. These lifts usually start slowly and finish fast and dynamically. These lifts should be performed under control. So keep the bar off your thighs with no wild, jerking, or bouncing motions.

Snatch High Pull

Start position: Place the barbell on the floor, then place your feet under the bar. Bend over and grab the bar, both hands about 6-8 inches wider then your shoulders with an over hand grip. Now flatten your back, chest out, head up with eyes looking straight ahead. Lock your arms. Your hips should be higher than your knees but lower then your shoulders.

Finish position: Start to squeeze the bar off the floor, make sure to keep the hips higher than the knees and lower than the shoulders and back flat while moving the bar. As the bar gets above the knees start accelerating the bar speed, and as it gets closer to your upper thigh, explode with as much force as you can pulling the bar up to your rib cage, extending up on your toes and at the same time shrugging your shoulders. Recover and repeat.

Clean High Pull

Start and finish position: Same as the above. The only difference is hand placement on the bar. Bend over and grab the bar in an over-hand grip wider than shoulder width--almost to the end of the bar.

Push Press

Start and finish position: Stand erect, grab the bar slightly wider than your shoulders with the bar resting on your shoulders and clavicles. Begin by bending your knees. Now, very quickly, drive your legs up, pushing the bar off your shoulders with your arms and your leg drive. The bar should be directly over your head. Try these three words to help you, DIP. DRIVE. PUSH.

Jerk or Split Jerk

Start and finish position: Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and rest the bar on your shoulders and clavicles. Bend your knees and drive your legs pushing the bar up with your arms. This will explode you up on your toes. As the bar passes your head one leg goes forward, the other leg goes back immediately into a lunge. As your feet hit the ground your arms lockout the weight over head. To recover, push back with your front foot and step up with the back foot with the bar still overhead. Then lower the bar to the shoulders. Remember, the first initial dip of the legs is done slowly, and then the splitting with the legs is done extremely fast.

Make it Routine

Implement this routine on non-consecutive days--once every ten to fourteen days adding weight when needed.

Day 1 Snatch High Pull Warm-up 1 x 45 (bar) x 5 1 x 75 x 3 1 x 85 x 3 2 x 95 x 3 Push Press Warm-up 1 x 45 (bar) x 5 1 x 85 x 3 1 x 95 x 3 2 x 100 x 3

Day 2 Clean High Pull 1 x 45 (bar) x 5 1 x 75 x 3 1 x 85 x 3 2 x 95 x 3 Jerk 1 x 45 (bar) x 5 1 x 85 x 3 1 x 90 x 3 2 x 95 x 3

Olympic Lifts

Olympic Lifts

1. Presses

A. Overhead Press

1. Miliatary Press

A. Stance

1. Hip Width

2. Knee Locked

3. Hip

4. Squeeze Glutes

5. Tighten Abs/ Center of Gravity

B. Grip

1. Wider than shoulder

2. Thumbs Down

3. Elbow Forward

C. Position

1. Resting across Delts and clavicle

2. Chin (Turtle)

3. Push Straight Up

4. Head Through

5. Elbows Locked

6. Big Active Shoulders'

B. Push Press

1. Positioning

a. Start is the same as Overhead Press

b. Load

1. Flex Knee

2. Get on Heels

3. Quickly Load

a. 3-5 Inches Dip

b. Dip and Drive

c. Punch to the top

d. Big Active Shoulders

C. Jerk (Push/Split)

1. Positioning

a. Same as Push Press and Overhead Press

b. Load same as push Press

c. Except (Dip/Drive/Dip)