Bodybuilding: Building a Standout in the Crowd Chest

Since the beginning of bodybuilding time, men have wanted to build a chest that enters the room a good 2 seconds before the rest of their body. They want a chest that stands out and commands attention, a chest that steps up and sticks out. A broad chest that women seek to lay their head upon.

And ladies too, seek a beautiful chest, one that accents their natural assets. But they also want their chest to be sleek and feminine like the rest of their physique at the same time.

Well, achieving either of those goals is easily attainable with a thorough chest routine. And add a few expert tips and tricks into your overall plan, and you?ll have the chest of your dreams without the shoulder injuries of your nightmares.

Shoulder injuries have always been the rain on the chest training parade. Injuries are often due to overtraining, improper form, or simply not applying a back training ying to the chest training yang.

So when you do this routine, it will train your entire upper, upper body. By that I mean your chest, your rear delts, the rhomboids between your shoulder blades, your traps, and your rotator cuff muscles. From your ribs to your collarbone, at both the front and back of your body, your muscles will be exhausted, but trained to just the right level of exhaustion.

With just the right volume, but without overloading the shoulder joint, we are going to use basic chest exercises, but with a twist in a few cases, to make the most of the least. By training with supersets, you?ll get in and out of the gym if you do only the 6 exercises below. Talk about a beautiful chest fast.

While the full program offers the optimal volume for mega-chest-mass, I?ve included some substitutions for women that are a little concerned with adding too much mass too fast to their chests. So make sure to read training substitutions, included below the workout, so you can customize the program to your goals.

I?ve also included a summary of the methods, and a bonus instant chest building technique you probably never think of, after the workout. As well, a complete set of exercise descriptions is included at the end of the article.

THE UGN STANDOUT-IN-THE-CROWD CHEST workout

Superset 1:
Rest 60 seconds between exercises. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the superset.
A1) DB Flat Chest Press (4 sets x 6 reps) Tempo: 3-0-1
A2) Barbell Row or Seated Wide-grip Row (4x8) 2-0-1
Superset 2:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating the superset.
B1) DB Incline Press (3x8) 2-0-1
B2) DB Chest Fly (3x10) 3-0-1

Superset 3:
Do not rest between exercises. Rest 60 seconds before repeating the superset.
C1) Medium-grip Bench Press (3x12) 2-0-1

C2) DB External Rotation (3x10) 2-0-1
Female exercise substitutions:

Do only 2 sets of each exercise.
For exercise A1), substitute the maximum number of pushups you can do in place of the DB Flat Chest Press.

How to Instantly Increase Your Chest Size

This is something that everyone should be doing, several times per day. If you work at a computer, you should be trying to hold this position all of the time.

Here?s what to do:

In a seated or standing position, hold your arms down by your side. Externally rotate your shoulders so that your palms are now facing forward. Use the muscles between your shoulder blades to bring your shoulder blades together. Squeeze extra hard and pull your shoulders back by contracting your rear delts. At the same time, try to pull your shoulders down (you might feel a stretch running along your neck between your shoulders and your ears ? the more stretch you feel, the more you need to work on holding this position). This should pull your shoulders back and pop your chest out at least two inches. You should feel tension between your shoulder blades as your muscles work to hold that position. You might also feel a stretch in your chest. Now hold this proud posture as much as you can all day and when standing around in the clubs or in line at the grocery store. Trust me, someone will notice!

Exercise Descriptions

DB Flat Bench Press

Hold the dumbbells above your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower the dumbbells to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above the chest. BB Row

Stand with your torso bent and parallel to the floor. Contract your glutes, brace your abs and keep your spine in a neutral position. Keep the lower back in a neutral position and your knees slightly bent. Grasp the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Row the barbell to the abdomen and bring your shoulder blades together. Slowly lower to the starting position and repeat. Do NOT round your lower back. Wide-grip Seated Row

Use a long bar and take a greater than shoulder-width overhand grip. Keep your arms and back straight, knees slightly bent. Row the handle back as far as possible bringing your shoulder blades together. DB Incline Press

Lie on a bench with the backrest inclined at 45 degrees. Hold the dumbbells above your chest with your palms turned toward your feet. Lower the dumbbells to chest level. Press the dumbbells straight up above the chest. DB Fly

Lie flat on your back on a bench and hold the dumbbells with your palms turned towards your body (palms will face each other). Maintain a slight bend in your elbows at all times. Slowly begin to lower the dumbbells out to your side until your elbows reach shoulder level. Don?t lower the dumbbells any further. At this point, squeeze your chest and bring the dumbbells up and in to the start position under control.

Medium-Grip Bench Press

Keep your feet flat on the floor, legs bent, and upper back flat against the bench. Grip the bar half-way between shoulder-width and your normal bench press grip. Keep the elbows close to the sides to emphasize the triceps. Have your spotter help you take the bar from the rack. Keeping your elbows close to your sides, lower the bar straight down to the bottom of your chest. Pause briefly and then press the bar back up above the chest in a straight line. DB External Rotation

Sit on a flat bench holding a light dumbbell (start with 5lbs). Bend your right knee and place your right foot on the end of the bench. Rest your right elbow on the top of your right knee and hold the DB in the bottom position. Slowly, using the small muscles of your rotator cuff, externally rotate the DB up and back until it is in the finish position (your forearm is perpendicular to your body at the top of the movement).

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men?s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

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Using Indian Clubs For Healthy Shoulders

The ancient art of swinging Indian clubs is making a small comeback. What used to be a staple of physical training in the late 1800's and early 1900's, all but disappeared in this country until a few years ago.

If you were to take a look inside a turn of the century gymnasium, you would not find all the fancy equipment of today's health clubs. Instead, you would find gymnastics equipment, barbells, dumbbells, and Indian clubs. Simple, yet effective equipment.

Widely used in India and Iran for centuries, they were seen by British soldiers in the 1800's and brought back to Europe, eventually making their way to America.

Varying in size and weight, heavier clubs were used for gaining strength, while lighter clubs (usually 1-3 pounds) were used for shoulder flexibility and coordination.

Because the clubs have the majority of their weight at the end of a long lever, they provide for a natural rotation effect when they are swung. This natural rotation can be seen when throwing a ball, spiking a volleyball, or swinging a racquet. So they serve as a great warm up tool when preparing for any of these activities.

They also serve as a great tool for rehab and prevention. With the shoulder, there is often a delicate balance between stability and mobility. The shoulder can go through a great range of motion, but is dependent on the muscles surrounding this joint for support.

The rotator cuff, which we hear about often in regards to shoulder injuries, acts to help dynamically steer the shoulder, as the larger muscles provide the force during powerful movements such as throwing.

The natural rotational patterns used with Indian clubs help train the necessary coordination to insure proper function. In this manner, they serve as a nice adjunct to a traditional strength program for athletes. This type of training ensures a balance between mobility and stability.

They also help out in the rehab arena by retraining mobility and coordination. Some physical therapists are utilizing them with their shoulder patients. The circular and figure 8 patterns which can be used are difficult to train with other methods. Initially, pendulum swings back and forth and side to side are a good start.

Pat Miletich, a 5 time Ultimate Fighting world champion and current top coach, used them to regain his shoulder function after some injuries. When traditional therapy didn't get the results he wanted, someone introduced him to Indian clubs. Their use enabled him to feel 100% afterwards.

They are a great tool for weight trainers to help prevent injuries. Injuries that sometimes occur with excessive tightness surrounding the joints.

According to the 1914 U.S. Army Manual of Physical Training, he effect of these exercises, when performed with light clubs, is chiefly a neural one, hence they are primary factors in the development of grace, coordination and rhythm...they tend to supple the muscles and articulations of shoulders, upper-arms, forearms and wrist. They are indicated in cases where there is a tendency toward what is known as 'muscle bound.'

They also work on restoring posture because you end up standing straight in order to do the movements correctly. Something very much needed in our modern seated society. For best results, focus on restoring the mobility of your mid-back (thoracic) area. An area that is frequently immobile in those over 40. You should also work on squeezing your shoulder blades together to strengthen this area. You can do this with 5 second isometrics and also with dumbbells and tubing exercises. Proper strength in this area is extremely important to your shoulder health.

As always, consult your doctor before starting an exercise program, especially if you have had past injuries.

Brian Morgan has been a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) since 1993. He is also a massage therapist with 5 years experience in rehab settings, working with people of all ages. For more information, go to http://www.brianmorganfitness.com and sign up for the newsletter Mobility for Life.

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Help After Rotator Cuff Surgery

If you know that you have a torn rotator cuff then you have been to the doctor already. The

rotator cuff is the muscles that surround the shoulder and help your arm move from the shoulder

every way the it moves. If you have a torn rotator cuff you either have less ability to move your

arm and or no strength if nothing else in at least one direction. Your question is do I have to

have surgery or not. Well in a perfect world the answer is almost always yes. The problem is that

we don't live in a perfect world. Maybe you can't take off the time just because. Maybe you don't

have any insurance. We will discuss this and let you see if maybe you do have some options.

First let's look at the fact that you can't take that much time from work. Well if you don't have

a job that requires you to lift things and are making it now then it is possible that with

limitations you can make it. You probably will have problems later like arthritis but sometimes

things are what they are. I still encourage you to exhaust all possibilities if you can to get

the problem fixed. If you have a job however that does require lifting and you can't manage now

you probably won't be able to manage later. The muscles that are torn will not grow back. Not if

they were completely torn. If they were partially torn then it is possible this problem gets

better. Talk to your doctor about the possibilities. You maybe able to do some exercises for the

other muscles to counter the torn one or ones but will need a little personal instruction to find

which muscles to work. This might or might not work but if you are desperate you don't have a lot

of choice. It won't be the same even in a best case scenario but you have got to do something.

Finally let's talk a little about just not being able to afford it. You may not know this but the

doctor might be able to charge less for private pay. Yes you can negotiate your healthcare.

Preferably before the fact. You can probably even make payments if necessary. Don't just try one

doctor either. With anything you negotiate no offer is exactly the same. Don't however think that

the doctor is the only bill in surgery. You have to talk to the surgery center or hospital,

whatever applies. Yes you have options on that too. You also have to talk to the anesthiologist.

Just to be covered, find out from the doctor's office everyone that can be involved in the

billing and talk to them. You may be able to put yourself in a situation that you can afford

this. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The points to take home here are these. If you have a complete tear then you do need surgery to

get normal but at least get some exercises to compensate. If it is a partial tear it may get

better. Talk to your doctor and don't let cost kill this if you need it.

About the Author

Windham Mattingly has been in the healthcare field for over 15 years. He writes articles to help you help yourself and your doctor.

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Does Your Soulder Need A Shoulder To Cry On?

A healthy shoulder is a result of good muscle balance. To have a good muscle balance it is imperative to understand the role of mechanics and blood circulation. This is of vital importance, especially in athletes competing in sports that involve continuous shoulder movement. It is also important for these athletes to understand the importance of training and exercise to treat shoulder injuries. Shoulder injuries are very specific and certain injuries tend to worsen when exercised in a particular way. It is easy to avoid the worsening exercises but hard to recognize the exercises that can rehabilitate a specific shoulder injury.

Most shoulder injuries are caused by muscular imbalance. This imbalance is usually caused by a sport specific training regimen. Some muscles become highly developed and strong while the others remain where they were. In case of shoulder injury in an athlete the following is recommended:

1. Until and unless the cause of the injury is determined, the shoulder should not be exercised in any way.

2. In case of inflammation apply ice.

3. Isolate the part that is injured - ligaments, tendons etc. and the area of injury. The most susceptible parts for a shoulder injury are bicipital groove and coracobrachialis. In case of a tear to the ligament or tendon, surgery becomes important.

Weight lifters and power lifters are mostly prone to shoulder injuries of a different nature. Muscles keep the shoulder joint in place including the glenoid cavity that accommodates the ball-and-socket in which the head of the humerus plays. Weight lifters are prey to a very common shoulder injury - over rotation of the arm caused by a too strong pectoralis musculature. The muscles along with teres major, try to cause rotation against the rotator cuff causing shoulder injury.

Prevention and treatment comprises of:

1. Restoring nerve supply.
2. Relieve the spasm causing the shoulder injury by acupressure right in the middle of the pectoralis and teres major.
3. Cut off all exercise aggravating shoulder injury and any contraindicating exercise directly or indirectly contributing to shoulder injury.

Healing is possible on restoration of nerves and blood circulation. After going through a few chiropractic treatments and assessing the progress, a rehabilitation exercise regimen can be prescribed. These exercises should be free hand to begin with and weights could be introduced at a later stage. Consumption of calcium and magnesium is recommended through diets rich in these minerals.

The treatment should be kept as short as possible keeping in mind the response of the patient suffering from shoulder injury. The patient should feel comfortable with the exercise regimen and progress without any unnecessary acceleration.
About the Author

Julian Hall - Director of Claims
Master Group.
Personal Injury Claim,No
Win No Fee,

Shoulder Injury Advice

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Shoulder Injury: Ensure early Management

Shoulder dysfunction affects the quality of life considerably. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint and is inherently unstable. Ligaments, rotator cuff muscles provide stability. Rotator cuff muscles control the position of the humeral head in the glenoid fossa.



Shoulder pain can be due to the rotator cuff injury, instability or referred pain in the neck. In cases of shoulder instability, there is unwanted translation, causing symptoms like pain and slipping away.



Motion, strength and stability are the three components of shoulder function that can be disrupted by an acute or chronic injury. All these can be treated effectively with therapeutic rehabilitation. The most important factor that determines the success or failure of a particular shoulder rehabilitation protocol is establishing the correct diagnosis.



Strict immobilization has been shown to be responsible for the development of ?functional? instability in the shoulder, muscle weakness and frozen shoulder. Shoulder rehabilitation after an injury or surgery should begin with early active motion to help restore normal shoulder mechanics.



The symptoms



oPain while performing overhead activities

oPain during night.

oRecurrent subluxation or dead arm

oShoulder weakness



Treatment



oAvoidance of overhead activities, abduction and external rotation such as bench press, chest fly and push-ups. Physical therapy should be initiated in the early phase of treatment.

oElectrotherapeutic modalities such as ultrasound, interferential stimulation and laser may be used.

oMassage therapy in the form of digital ischemic pressure and transverse friction massage is effective.

oInjection Corticosteroid is often helpful.

oMost of the injuries are as a result of muscle weakness. Therefore, strengthening the shoulder muscle is important.



Exercises



oPendulum exercises

oRope and pulley

oScapular stabilization exercises such as scapular punch, scapular elevation/retraction against the wall, rowing, etc.

oPush-ups - knee push-ups/ wall push-ups

oTheraband-external/internal rotation. Start from the elbow at side, increasing to 90 degree abduction.

oClosed chain strengthening exercises such as walking on arms while the trunk supported by a ball or low stool.

oDuring the advanced strengthening phase ball exercises such as throwing and catching a ball against a wall with a bend arm.



Surgery:



If there is no progress in recovery with physical therapy for six weeks then surgical treatment is advocated.



Prevention:



Shoulder injuries can be cured by careful warm-up, stretching and strengthening of the shoulder muscles. When shoulder injury symptoms begin, early evaluation and treatment can prevent mild inflammation from becoming full-blown rotator cuff tear, frozen shoulder. A program of 20 minutes a day of shoulder stretches and muscle-strengthening exercises is recommended to increase performance and decrease the injuries.



Shoulder injuries/dysfunction should be diagnosed early and correctly so that chronic instability and dysfunction do not set in. Initiation of physical therapy should be undertaken early and there should be effective rehabilitation in order to obtain the optimum results.

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Rating a Surgery versus a RotatorCuff Tear Physical Therapy

You may have experienced having gone through a physical examination, x-rays and all, then a diagnosis of a rotator-cuff tear. Now what started as an arm and shoulder pain ends with a doctor?s suggestion of an immediate surgery. But hold your fire; an effective rotator-cuff tear physical therapy may just save you from having to go through any surgery. You can even have it your way, that is, through an educated and therapist- assisted home care.

The tear of a rotator-cuff tendon on the shoulder is the most common tendon tear in the human body. It is usually the result of chronic impingement due to tendon abrasion between the shoulder cap and the shoulder joint ball. This is similar to kneeling until the knee-part of your pants fray and your knees finally tears through. Tears of this kind occur with little or no trauma. Yet in the case of patients over 40-years old, rotator-cuff tear and shoulder-dislocation may occur despite normal tendon strength. In the younger patients, however, rotator-cuff tear occurs due to acute tendon overload from strenuous throwing sports. This may also result from incorrect weightlifting practice.

Having a rotator-cuff tear cured takes a realistic expectation which is important in planning to return to normal daily activities whether sports or work. Often jobs must be modified for many months, especially when tears are large enough to prevent return to activities that may provoke re-tear of the cuff. The rotator-cuff rotates the shoulder, helps to stabilize the shoulder, and acts to depress or hold the shoulder down. With these rotator functions, it is thus best to get the best less risky and damaging treatment.

Rotator-cuff tear physical therapy centers on strengthening of the intact rotator cuff tendons and deltoid, and restoring the functional use of the upper extremity of the shoulder. The rotator-cuff tear physical therapy reduces the painful symptoms in part or in total.

Anti-inflammatory medications used together with the rotator-cuff tear physical therapy may help to ease the symptoms; but if these are not effective, then diagnostic tests and surgery may be the next step.

You may be diagnosed for surgery and you might as well take it. But before you go you must know that the most frequent complication of a rotator-cuff tear surgery is the incomplete resolution of pain, if not, the inadequate restoration of full active motion and strength. On the other hand, infection is seen in less than 0.5% of patients, and neurological or anesthetic complications are exceedingly rare. Overall, resolution of pain and improvement in functional capabilities occurs in over 85% of patients.

Nonetheless, you would still need an after arthroscopy surgical aftercare. Rotator-cuff tear physical therapy is of utmost importance in the first 2-months after surgery. Shoulder motion should be regained rapidly through passive exercises only, helping to minimize pain and stiffness while protecting the repair. Eventually though, slowly active motion and strengthening shall be regained, through an educated and therapist- assisted home care.

Milos Pesic is a successful webmaster and owner of popular and comprehensive Physical Therapy information site. For more articles and resources on Physical Therapy related topics, Physical Therapy exercises and much more visit his site at:

=>http://physical-therapy.need-to-know.net/

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Slap Lesion Physical Therapy Treatment Before and After Surgery

SLAP is short for Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior, or from front to back. The labrum is the rim of cartilage found in the shoulder socket. An injury or tear to this part of the body is a SLAP lesion, which typically results from overuse, trauma and accidents such as falling onto your outstretched hand.

What are the symptoms of a SLAP lesion?

A person with a SLAP lesion or injury has shoulder pain, which becomes worse with throwing activities or when reaching overhead. The person may also experience some pain and soreness in the shoulder front when bending the elbow or turning the wrist. The person?s shoulder may also click or snap with movement and may feel like being dislocated. Diagnosis of this injury involves a physical examination of the shoulder and a contrast MRI scan.

What are the treatments for SLAP lesion?

Most cases of SLAP injuries respond well to non-invasive or non-surgical treatment so this would be the first option for any patient. After your injury, your doctor would first recommend some rest to help ease symptoms. Your doctor may also prescribe medication to alleviate inflammation and pain.

Next, you will have to undergo a SLAP lesion physical therapy, which mostly involves stretching and muscle strengthening exercises targeting the muscles around the rotator cuff and scapula. It is also important at this point to limit or make adjustments in the activity that caused the injury, which could be a sport or work-related activity.

Cold therapy is also a part of SLAP lesion physical therapy. Therapists make use of ice packs or ice massage to reduce pain and swelling by applying these agents four to six times in an hour for three hours. Therapists may also apply ice if pain or any other symptoms worsen after an activity.

Certain patients, especially athletes, who play sports or do activities that involve a lot of throwing may continue to experience pain despite undergoing proper SLAP lesion physical therapy program. When symptoms do not go away after 6 weeks of conservative treatment or SLAP lesion physical therapy, your doctor will then recommend surgery to treat your shoulder. In surgery, the doctor may remove torn cartilages or attach them back in place.

After surgery, you will need complete bed rest and you must avoid activities involving the treated area. After a period of rest, your doctor may then recommend SLAP lesion physical therapy to help you restore your shoulder?s strength and full range of motion.

Milos Pesic is a successful webmaster and owner of popular and comprehensive Physical Therapy information site. For more articles and resources on Physical Therapy related topics, Physical Therapy exercises and much more visit his site at:

=>http://physical-therapy.need-to-know.net/

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