In the gym, I constantly see people, time and time again sacrificing form to try and lift as much weight as possible. They don’t want to take the time to look up proper technique or take the time to warm up properly. Instead, they want to just do workouts to look good by lifting as much as possible, ultimately making themselves look like fools.

When working out, especially when you are just starting, it is important to learn how to listen to your body. Yes, of course you want to push yourself, but never sacrifice proper technique. That is how you get hurt and look stupid. You may not be able to do certain exercises right off the bat and that is ok. If you are not sure how to do something, look for a how to video, take it slow and make sure you can do it right. Sometimes it is a matter of pushing through the pain, and sometimes it is a matter of taking a step back and focusing on some more basic exercises to work back up to it. This is where listening to your body comes in. If there is an exercise you struggle with, simply look for a how to video to build up to that exercise. Take muscle ups for instance, this is where you do a pull up, but you pull yourself up and over the bar into a chest dip. There are a lot of videos out there that talk about proper technique and steps to slowly build up to being able to do a full muscle up.

Moral of the story is don’t look stupid, trying to look cool. Always do your research and make sure you never sacrifice proper technique to add more weight.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Time under Tension is everything. This quick ab workout is about a minute and thirty seconds but you are keeping your abs under tension the whole time. Once you can get through the whole work out, start doing it multiple times to see how many times you can do it!

Shoulder can be another extremely tough muscle to work out properly, whether or not we realize it. I see people working out their shoulder, maybe not incorrectly, but in ways that could lead to injury. This could be injuring the rotator cuff, or even just throwing out your back. Most shoulder exercises should be done sitting down, but if you really must do it standing up then there is really only one way to do so. With a squat rack.

1. Set the safety bars at a height where when you bring your back into an arched tightened position, leaning slightly back, the bar sits on your upper chest.
2. Make sure to leave the barbell on the safety bars, not the actual rack. The reason for this, is too many people don’t use the safety bars and hold the weight free, this causes temptation to cheat and go lower, squatting slightly with the weight then popping it up using momentum from your legs.
3. Warm up slow. This is always important, especially for the rotator cuffs as they are prone to easy injury. Never load up to much weight to quickly. Too many people do not check their ego and just want to get to heavy weight as quick as possible.
4. With a controllable weight, rep the weight for a few sets. Keep your elbows tucked in, and thrust the weight upwards and simultaneously backwards. DO NOT go straight up with the weight. At the top of the rep, the weight should be behind your head.
5. Do not lock out your elbows. This is key for keeping time under tension. When locking your elbows out at the top of the rep, you take the tension off your shoulders. Bring the weight all the way up and back without locking out the elbows will complete the rep.
6. Slowly lower the weight down for a 2-3 second deescalated rep. More muscle tares happen on the down stroke of the rep, as well the best way to get more growth is time under tension.

I have always struggle with skinny legs. I’ve mentioned it before and I won’t stop because contrary to the popular belief that most people have that many like me just skip leg day, this is not the case. But there are many old beliefs that we often take as the right way to do things, and this is normally wrong. I’ve have looked at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia To Bodybuilding, and I’ve studied many work outs by many different body types of bodybuilders. When I do what they do, I see the results that they have seen.

            The common myth, often taught to me by guys who naturally have decent sized legs and therefore they see minimal results from what they do, but let me be clear, small results on a good foundation can go a long way, this myth is if you want to build muscle you load up the weight as much as possible and do 3-5 reps. This goes against every good bodybuilder you can name. Especially for calves.

            I am finally getting the results that I have wanted by training the calves for a good 30-40 minutes, 2-3 times a week. This is a ton! But it works. I do standing calf raises, 4 sets of 25. Then 2 sets maxing out at 10, then dropping the weight 20 pounds for another 10 reps. I go slow and make sure to contract the calf fully, then slowly letting the weight down. I do a similar work out with sitting calf raises. 4 sets of 20 reps, again slow, and contracting the muscle fully, and letting the weight down slow. 2 more sets of 10, maxing out, then dropping 20 pounds for 10 more reps. Standing calf raises are for the main, upper calf muscle called gastrocnemius, and sitting calf raises are for the lower calf muscle the soleus. Both a critical.

            I have never seen results before, and now that I am lifting like a bodybuilder, I am finally growing one of the hardest muscles to build. I’m so tired of the old myths, always be skeptical. Look for people who have true results and who you want to look like, then do what they do. If they have “big” thighs or calves, that are built and shredded and show hard work not genetics, then don’t listen.

Working out can be extremely hard, and if it’s not, then you probably are not doing it right. I see so many people at the gym, who are clearly just guessing. They us a piece of equipment until they feel like it did something for the area of the body that they want to change, then they move on. There is no structure, there is hardly and rhyme or reason, they just shoot for the stars and get frustrated when they don’t see results. 

This is not only try for the gym but for nutrition. And we are all guilty of it. There are a million diets out there, and for the most part a lot of them are crap. But something that almost all of them do right or at least well, is they inadvertently cause you to track what you are eating. Same with the gym, if nothing else, grab a structured work out that allows you to easily track what you are doing. But back to nutrition. I’m not one to say, “you need to count your calories”, or even “you need to count your macros”. BUT, keep track for a week. There are a hundred fitness nutrition apps that are able to track food from almost everywhere. 

            The reason this is so beneficial is, we tend to think we have an idea of what we are eating or what we are doing in the gym, but we don’t realize how far off we really are. I’ve heard it from many trainers before, a client complains that they are at a certain weight, and are eating a certain amount, and they aren’t seeing results. Whether that is to gain or lose weight, and it is like nails on a chalk board to a trainer and they will all say it is bs. That person might be doing the right workouts, but they are not consuming the calories they think they are. We have all been there. Tracking, whether nutrition or your work out, takes the guessing out of things. This way you know where you truly are, not where you think you are. Again, you don’t have to do it for long periods of time, nor do you have to be super meticulous, but checking in here and there can keep you accountable and on track.

When performing a good squat, it can be hard to keep good form. One way you can make it easier on your body, as your body adjust to the movement, is to elevate your heels. When squatting, you want to make sure you are going to a depth of at least 90 degrees. This can be hard for some people.

One thing that makes it hard, and I would argue, one of the biggest factors is actually mobility in your ankles. There are a few stretches and exercises to increase the mobility in your ankles, such as the 5 inch wall test, stretching your calves, some box stretches, and some band exercises. I will go further into depth on these later as they can take some time.

Of course I don’t typically recommend quick fixes, but it can take some time to build ankle mobility, so in the mean time, simply elevating your heels can be a great way to take pressure off your knees, while require less ankle mobility to perform a deeper squat. This also allows you to sit back further in the squat, allowing you to keep more pressure on the quads, instead of the hamstrings.

Steven here, is performing this variation with a front squat. He has a specific heel elevation piece of equipment, but if you do not have this in your gym, feel free to simply use a plate. Steven again is doing a front squat, but I love doing this variation with a goblet squat, after having performed my regular squats, as a way to finish off my quads. 

Either way, take it slow as you adjust to the new work out. Warm up slowly and completely to make sure the muscles are ready to go before throwing on too much weight. Feel free to comment and ask questions and don’t forget to subscribe to get more use full work out tips.

1. Squats: When trying to put on some mass, you need to stick with the fundamentals. Squatting is and always will be one of the top exercises for overall fitness. But you need to make sure it is done right. I see time and time again, people in the gym doing what is called a half squat. They load the bar to quick with too much weight, and proceed to squat down only 45 degrees. TAKE YOUR TIME! Squat university ask the question, why would you put weight on a squat before you can do it properly? Take a step back, do about 25 body squats. If you struggle going down to a full 90 degrees, make a box for yourself. I typically pile 8 plates on the ground to reach a full 90 degrees. Control yourself on the way down, touch your butt to the box and explode up. Have your feet roughly shoulder length apart, toes at a slight angle. If you struggle with going all the way down, and keeping your knees without going past your toes, work on your ankle mobility (stretch out your calves). It may sound odd, but try it. For the actual workout, slowly add weight to the bar until you reach you five rep max. Once you know your five rep max, take a hundred pounds off. This is your 20 rep max. Proceed to do three sets of twenty, twice weekly, adding five pounds every time you squat. Do this for eight weeks, failing on set three before you hit 20 reps. I know it sounds odd, high reps are associated with toning, this is a myth.

2. Heels Elevated Goblet Squats: A goblet squat is where you hold a dumbbell, almost like a front squat. Elevate your heels on a plate and keep a narrow stance to focus on the quads. Elevating the heels takes the pressure slightly off your knees and allows you to squat nice and deep to really stretch the quads out for explosive results. A narrow stance allows the weight to be focused more on the quads to top of the burn from the regular squats. Following the three sets of 20 on regular squats, do the goblet squats for three sets of 15. Make sure to pause at the bottom for one to two seconds. The best way for muscle growth is time under tension and reps.

3. leg Press: Leg press is not a replacement for squats. It is however, a great way to burn out your legs. Make sure the seat is set far enough back to get a full extension and a deep squat. The myth that you should never go past 90 degrees on any of these exercises, is in fact a myth. If you watch any real lifter, whether that’s an Olympic lifter, body builder or athlete, they all go to at least 90 degrees if not more. Do at least four sets of 15. On the last two sets, do drop sets to further burn out your legs. Just because you hit the 15 reps doesn’t mean you are done, take weight off and go until failure for those last two sets. This provides deep tears into the leg muscles for greater growth.