Learn the secret, extremely simple biceps exercise that has the potential to put inches on your arms.

What’s the first muscle that you think of when you think of bodybuilding? The biceps! Having big, well-developed biceps marks you as a serious trainer.

Biceps Exercise explained

But what do you do if your biceps lag behind in development? Or if you simply want to build them as large and strong as possible as quickly as possible?

I’m going to share with you the secret exercise technique that helped me go from 13 1/2-inch arms to 18-inch arms in my first year of training. And all it takes is one single rep!

Let me just start by telling you that, personally, my biceps have always been among my weakest and slowest-to-develop bodyparts. Some people have the genetics to easily build big, strong biceps without any biceps exercise. Not me! I’ve had to come up with training techniques to blast past these limitations and have had to fight for every inch on my arms.

The point of me telling you this is that I’m not somebody for which just anything will build big biceps. The training techniques have to be really powerful for me to see results.

The technique I’m about to share with you works the biceps so thoroughly and so powerfully, your biceps will have no choice but to get bigger and stronger.

After all this build-up, you’re probably wondering just what kind of complicated biceps exercise technique this is!

The fact is, this technique is so simple as to be downright elegant in its simplicity. What is this exercise? It’s the Flexed Arm Hang.

The Flexed Arm Hang is not complex, but it provides you with a number of very powerful benefits that make it an ideal exercise for piling muscle mass on the biceps.

To fully understand the benefits of the exercise, you must first learn how to do it to properly focus on the biceps.

How To Do this biceps exercise?

In a nutshell, you will be simply holding the top position of a chin-up for as long as possible! Here’s the procedure in detail…

1. Grasp a chin-up bar with a palms-facing-you grip. Your hands should be about 6 inches apart on the bar. You want to keep them fairly close together to maximize the tension on the biceps.

2. Next, you will need to get yourself into the top position of a chin-up. You can do this by standing on a bench or pulling yourself up into position. My preference is to start by standing on a bench. This allows you to get set up very precisely and deliberately.

3. For body position to maximize bicep work, you will want to have your eyes level with the bar, with your face very close to the bar (almost touching it, in fact). Keep your body as vertical as possible and try not to let your body lean backwards. The more vertical you stay, the more tension will go onto the biceps rather than the back.

4. Now comes the work…hold that position for as long as you can! Contract your biceps hard and hold that position until your biceps start to weaken. Now fight gravity ALL the way down. Don’t let your body drop quickly but try your very best to hold your position as gravity pulls you down.

Even when you’re almost at the very bottom with your arms almost straight, still try your best to keep holding. Go until you can’t even hang onto the bar anymore!

That’s the biceps exercise. Not too complicated! If you’re familiar with X-Rep or Static Contraction training, this concept is essentially the same…hold the contracted position of an exercise for as long as possible! Here are the benefits:

1. Holding the contracted position of this exercise for as long as you can recruits almost every available muscle fiber in the biceps. It’s an emergency situation to the body and it will fire every fiber it can. The fully-contracted position engages the most muscle fibers.

2. This exercise places continuous tension on the biceps for the entire duration of the exercise. Continuous high-level tension will work wonders on your biceps.

3. The exercise uses your body weight and moves your body around the resistance on the way down (like a chin-up) rather than the resistance around your body (like a barbell curl). Exercises that move your body have been shown to activate more muscle fibers than exercises that move the resistance.

4. The highly intense, multiple-muscle nature of this exercisestimulates far more growth in the biceps than exercises that work the biceps in isolation (which most bicep exercises do, even the gold standard barbell curl).

5. It requires almost NO equipment and can basically be done
anywhere you can grip on and hang from.

If you combine all 5 of these powerful benefits, you have an exercise that stimulates the maximum number of muscle fibers, with continuous tension, using a compound exercise that moves your bodyweight, and requires very minimal equipment. Also it good idea to use some muscle supplements which will help you to get huge muscles much faster! It will help with your biceps workout to get more results faster.

There is a lot of pressure on people in modern society to slim down and lose weight. As a result there is a big market for weight loss products and programs. Since there are so many products and programs out there people are often sceptical and have a lot of questions. In this article I attempt to answer three key questions concerning weight loss plans, programs, products and services:

N1 weight loss question

1) WHAT IS THE BEST WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM AVAILABLE?:- There is not a single best weight loss program out there. Most of the programs have different end goals and recommend different methods. Some are bad, some are good but overall different people will have different experiences of the same weight loss program. Certain programs are best suited to certain individual so you need to do some research and then choose one you think that best matches your goals and personality.

You also need to think about what the weight loss program requires of you. Will you have to change your diet? Will a lifestyle change be required? Once you know exactly what the weight loss plan requires you need to decide whether you are capable of taking on these changes. For example, if one of the weight loss programs requires you to do 2 hours of cardiovascular exercise every day you need to seriously think about whether you can achieve this.

The third thing you need to consider is finances. A lot of weight loss programs will charge you for membership. You may also need to buy additional resources such as equipment and supplements to participate in the program. Once you have calculated the total cost of participating in a weight loss program you then need to see if it is financially feasible to become a member.

Overall, the key factor with a weight loss program is dedication. A dedicated person will always get better results than one who does not give it their all. Therefore, the most important thing you need to think about before starting any weight loss program is can you dedicate yourself to the program in the long term?

2) DO DIET PATCHES OR PILLS ACTUALLY WORK?:- Yes, but the effects are usually very moderate. Diet patches and pills often claim to make miraculous weight loss possible with a simple patch or pill. However, the evidence behind these claims is often lacking with many patches and pills having a mild thermogenic effect that can be easily replicated by eating certain foods. The truth is that many people in today’s society are looking for a quick fix. The marketing of diet patches and pills appeals to this side of people. The reality is that long term weight loss is best achieved through regular exercise, healthier eating and restricting your daily caloric intake. There is no quick solution and it will take time and dedication.

3) SHOULD YOU OPT FOR WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY?:- Before I start to answer this question I must state that weight loss surgery is a dangerous medical procedure with serious health risks. There are too many to discuss here but this article provides a good overview. Weight loss surgery should not even be considered without significant consultation with your doctor or another medical practitioner. They are likely to recommend any alternative weight loss options before weight loss surgery and I would agree with this advice. Weight loss surgery should be an absolute last resort and only used when your weight is posing a serious risk to your health. If a healthy diet, exercise, or even prescription drugs are a feasible option, they should be chosen over weight loss surgery every time.

I hope this article answers some of the questions you have concerning weight loss products, plans and services. As I have stated in all my weight loss articles the best way to lose weight is to combine a healthy diet with regular exercise and reduce your daily caloric intake. There is no quick fix without serious side effects or health complications. Ultimately, you are the one who determines the success of your weight loss efforts – not a weight loss program, pill or surgery. More info you can find at weight loss message boards and at weight loss questions and answers.

It started as a challenge to myself. If I took all the knowledge I had about weight gain and put it to work all at once, how much weight could I add to myself in one week? What would my upper limit be? I had some vacation time coming up where I could do nothing but eat, sleep and train so I decided to do it. This is my story…

I knew from the start that this weight gain certainly wouldn’t be all muscle. In fact, it’s impossible to gain that much weight in muscle in only one week (unless you’re a baby elephant!). I was going to gain a combination of muscle, water and most likely some fat as well. That rapid of a weight gain, however, was going to force a lot of nutrients into my muscles quickly, resulting in some permanent muscle gains.

To start my maximal weight gain adventure, I first had to set myself up for it by dieting down. Why diet down to gain weight? Your body adapts most rapidly to extreme changes in environment. I knew I wanted to gain weight quickly, therefore I had to first subject myself to a restricted-calorie diet. When I would reverse my goals and begin to feed myself again, my body would react by rapidly sucking up every available calorie and holding onto it.

To further set myself up, the diet I went on was a two-week carbohydrate-restricted plan, much like the Atkins Diet. For two weeks, I ate less than 30 grams of carbs per day, sticking to meats, eggs, cheese and vegetables. This cleared out all the glycogen I had stored in my body as well as reducing the amount of water I was carrying (water attaches itself to carbs in your body – when you clear out the carbs, several pounds or more of water will be flushed out with it). It was kind of like squeezing out a sponge – you can fit more water into a sponge that’s been squeezed totally dry than a sponge that’s already moist.

It’s important to note that I didn’t restrict my water intake at all. That will give you exactly the wrong effect. If you restrict your water intake while dieting, your body will actually hold onto more water. If you give your body plenty of water, it will have no reason to hold onto every drop you give it and will flush it out regularly.

For training during this phase, I did three high-intensity cardio sessions per week for about 20 minutes each. This cardio was extremely tough and designed to burn as many calories as possible as quickly as possible. This would make my body extremely hungry for nutrients and ready to absorb as much as possible. I did high-volume, high-rep weight training (12 to 15 reps per set), 6 sessions per week with very short rest periods to further set up this effect.

After 2 weeks of this training and dieting, I was ready to start my weight gain. On Saturday evening, after my final training session for the week, I weighed in at 192 pounds.

In order to gain the proper insight into effectively stimulating arm growth, we must first recognize three basic truths:

1) Relatively speaking, the biceps and triceps are small muscle groups.
2) The biceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pulling movements for the back.
3) The triceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pressing movements for the chest and shoulders.

What do these 3 points tell us about effective arm training? The most important thing for you to realize is this:

For maximum gains in muscle size and strength, the biceps and triceps require only a very small amount of direct stimulation!

So why is it that every time I enter the gym I see the same misinformed people, week in and week out, slaving away on endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions?

It’s very important to understand that the biceps and triceps receive a very large amount of stimulation from all of your chest and back training. In fact, a lot of the time when you reach muscular failure on a chest or back movement, it is actually your biceps or triceps that give out first!

Couple this with the fact that your biceps and triceps are already small muscle groups to begin with and it becomes quite clear that direct arm training is of minor importance.

Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym. The work that you accomplish as you train with weights is merely the spark that sets the wheels of the muscle growth process into motion.

The real magic takes place out of the gym while you are resting and eating, as this is the time when your body will actually be synthesizing new muscle tissue.

Because of this, it is vital that you do not overtrain your muscles. You must always make sure to provide them with sufficient recovery time if you want to see impressive results. Overtraining can actually make your muscles smaller and weaker.

If you’re looking to achieve serious arm growth, you must stop placing so much emphasis on direct arm movements. Forget about performing endless sets of concentration curls and tricep pressdowns.

Strong, muscular arms are mostly a product of heavy chest and back training. If you are able to accept this basic truth and place the majority of your focus on building up the muscle size and strength in your major muscle groups, you will prevent yourself from overtraining your arms and will therefore yield greater overall gains in bicep and tricep size.

This is not to say that no direct arm training is necessary, just not very much. Here is a sample arm routine that you can use as a part of your program:

Barbell Curls – 2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Dumbbell Curls – 1 set of 5-7 reps

Close-Grip Bench Press – 2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Cable Pushdowns – 1 set of 5-7 reps

Take all sets to complete muscular failure and focus on progressing each week by using slightly more weight or performing an extra rep or 2.

If you can incorporate this way of thinking into your arm training, you will achieve arm size beyond anything you previously thought possible!

Although some old fitness fictions, such as “no pain, no gain” and “spot reducing” are fading fast, plenty of popular exercise misconceptions still exist. Here are some of the most common myths as well as the not-so-common facts based on current exercise research.

1. You Will Burn More Fat If You Exercise Longer at a Lower Intensity. The most important focus in exercise and fat weight control is not the percentage of exercise energy coming from fat but the total energy cost, or how many calories are burned during the activity. The faster you walk, step or run, for example, the more calories you use per minute. However, high-intensity exercise is difficult to sustain if you are just beginning or returning to exercise, so you may not exercise very long at this level. It is safer, and more practical, to start out at a lower intensity and work your way up gradually.

2. If You�re Not Going to Work Out Hard and Often, Exercise Is a Waste of Time. This kind of thinking keeps a lot of people from maintaining or even starting an exercise program Research continues to show that any exercise is better than none. For example, regular walking or gardening for as little as an hour a week has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.

3. Yoga Is a Completely Gentle and Safe Exercise. Yoga is an excellent form of exercise, but some styles are quite rigorous and demanding both physically and mentally. As with any form of exercise, qualified, careful instruction is necessary for a safe, effective workout.

4. If You Exercise Long and Hard Enough, You Will Always Get the Results You Want. In reality, genetics plays an important role in how people respond to exercise. Studies have shown a wide variation in how different exercisers respond to the same training program. Your development of strength, speed and endurance may be very different from that of other people you know.

5. Exercise Is One Sure Way to Lose All the Weight You Desire. As with all responses to exercise, weight gain or loss is impacted by many factors, including dietary intake and genetics. All individuals will not lose the same amount of weight on the same exercise program. It is possible to be active and overweight. However, although exercise alone cannot guarantee your ideal weight, regular physical activity is one of the most important factors for successful long-term weight management.

6. If You Want to Lose Weight, Stay Away From Strength Training Because You Will Bulk Up. Most exercise experts believe that cardiovascular exercise and strength training are both valuable for maintaining a healthy weight. Strength training helps maintain muscle mass and decrease body fat percentage.

7. Water Fitness Programs Are Primarily for Older People or Exercisers With Injuries. Recent research has shown that water fitness programs can be highly challenging and effective for both improving fitness and losing weight. Even top athletes integrate water fitness workouts into their training programs.

8. The Health and Fitness Benefits of Mind-Body Exercise Like Tai Chi and Yoga Are Questionable. In fact, research showing the benefits of these exercises continues to grow. Tai chi, for example, has been shown to help treat low-back pain and fibromyalgia. Improved flexibility, balance, coordination, posture, strength and stress management are just some of the potential results of mind-body exercise.

9. Overweight People Are Unlikely to Benefit Much From Exercise. Studies show that obese people who participate in regular exercise programs have a lower risk of all-cause mortality than sedentary individuals, regardless of weight. Both men and women of all sizes and fitness levels can improve their health with modest increases in activity.

10. Home Workouts Are Fine, But Going to a Gym Is the Best Way to Get Fit. Research has shown that some people find it easier to stick to a home-based fitness program. In spite of all the hype on trendy exercise programs and facilities, the “best” program for you is the one you will participate in consistently.

First, determine if you are exercising at the proper level. A beginner should not try to bench press 300 lbs or run the treadmill at the highest level. Believe it or not, starting off slowly will actually make you stronger faster, as you will avoid injuring your muscles. Also, pain is an excellent deterrent. You should feel invigorated and even a little sore, but ever like a mouse who has hit the wrong feeder bar. If you are working out at a gym, ask a trainer to help you develop a proper exercise program. If you are exercising on your own, there is a myriad of books and resources from which to learn.

Two important points people tend to minimize are stretching and warming up. These are a must. The stretching before you workout should be light, as your muscles are cold. Never bounce or be jerky. This increases the likelihood of tearing your muscles. Warm up for about 10 minutes then stretch lightly. After working out, you can stretch more thoroughly. It is very important to stretch the muscles you have just worked in order get the most out of the exercise. Stretching the muscles lengthens them and allows them to heal stronger and be more limber. Again, never bounce or jerk while stretching.

Proper form is more than important, it is a must. If you are not executing the exercise properly, you might as well not be doing it at all. Improper form leads to injuries and an inefficient use of the muscle and your time. Do not tweak yourself in order to do more sets or to keep up with an aerobics instructor. It is always quality and not quantity that will get you results. Besides, it can be quite embarrassing to be spastically moving around or straining in an unnatural position.

Further, be sure that you are giving your body ample rest time between workouts. One should not exercise the same muscles in the same manner every day. Exercising tears down the muscles. It is the healing of the muscles that makes them grow and become stronger. Try working your upper body one day and your lower body the next. Or, if you are a runner, alternate your long distance runs with training or short distance runs.

Finally, it is always important to use the proper equipment. Even if you are working out at home, it is imperative that you have the proper equipment. If you are doing an aerobic workout video, it may be as simple as the right pair of shoes. If you are dead lifting 500 pounds, you will also need gloves and a back support. Do not skimp on the equipment. It not only can aid in the prevention of injuries, but also help you keep good form.

If after trying all of these, you are still experiencing pain, be sure to check with your doctor. You may be doing an exercise that is not right for your body. Before you throw away your workout sweats and limp to your easy chair, be sure you are exercising correctly with the correct form and equipment. There are so many things that one can do to exercise. Don’t give up.

When you exercise early in the morning, it jump starts your metabolism and keeps it elevated for hours, sometimes up to 24 hours! That means you’re burning more calories all day long just because you exercised in the morning!

When you exercise in the morning, you’ll find that because of the increased intake of oxygen and circulation of blood in your body, you’ll stay energized for the whole day. It will automatically put you in a healthy frame of mind. Whatever other things you may have on your schedule, you will notice that you will be eager and energetic to handle them.

Research has proven that people who exercise in the mornings tend to be the ones most consistent in their fitness regimes and diets.

Longevity and Aging

Exercise, even after age 50, can add healthy and active years to one’s life. Studies continue to show that it is never too late to start exercising and that even small improvements in physical fitness can significantly lower the risk of death. Simply walking regularly can prolong life in the elderly. Moderately fit people, even if they smoke or have high blood pressure, have a lower mortality rate than the least fit. Resistance training is important for the elderly, because it is the only form of exercise that can slow and even reverse the decline in muscle mass, bone density, and strength. Adding workouts that focus on speed and agility may be even more protective for older people. Flexibility exercises help reduce the stiffness and loss of balance that accompanies aging.

Cardiovascular Health (Heart Disease and Stroke)

General Guidelines. Inactivity is one of the four major risk factors for heart disease, on par with smoking, unhealthy cholesterol, and even high blood pressure. Like all muscles, the heart becomes stronger and larger as a result of exercise so it can pump more blood through the body with every beat. Exercise does not increase the maximum heart rate, but a fit heart can pump more blood at this maximum level and can sustain it longer with less strain. The resting heart rate of those who exercise is also slower, because less effort is needed to pump blood. For preventing heart disease frequency of exercises may be more important than duration. Exercise even helps reverse some of the effects of smoking. Children should be especially encouraged to exercise every day to prevent heart disease later in life.

Effect on Coronary Artery Disease and Cholesterol Levels. People who maintain an active lifestyle have a 45% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than do sedentary people. A recent study reported that moderate dietary changes improve cholesterol levels and so lower the risk for coronary artery disease only when an aerobic exercise program is also followed. Regular aerobic exercises — brisk walking, jogging, swimming, biking, aerobic dance, and racquet sports — are the best forms of exercise for lowering LDL and raising HDL cholesterol levels. It may take up to a year of sustained exercise for HDL levels to show significant improvement. Burning at least 250 calories a day (the equivalent of about 45 minutes of brisk walking or 25 minutes of jogging) seems to confer the greatest protection against coronary artery disease. Even moderate exercise, however, reduces the risk of heart attack, but in terms of raising HDL levels, more is better. Resistance (weight) training offers a complementary benefit by reducing LDL levels. Triglycerides, which rise after a high-fat meal, can be lowered either with a single, prolonged (about 90 minutes) aerobic session or by several shorter sessions during the day. One study indicates, however, that short-bursts of exercise actually increase LDL oxidation — the process that makes LDL dangerous to the heart — so individuals should always aim for a consistency in their exercise program. Before engaging in any strenuous exercise, it is advisable to consult a physician.

High Blood Pressure. Studies indicate that regular exercise helps keep arteries elastic, even in older people, which in turn keeps blood flowing and blood pressure low. Sedentary people have a 35% greater risk of developing hypertension than athletes do. No person with high blood pressure should start an exercise program without consulting a physician. Studies have shown that high-intensity exercise may not lower blood pressure as effectively as moderate intensity exercise. In one study, for example, moderate exercise (jogging two miles a day) controlled hypertension so well that more than half the patients who had been taking drugs for high blood pressure were able to discontinue their medication. Studies have indicated that T’ai Chi, an ancient Chinese exercise involving slow, relaxing movements may lower blood pressure almost as well as moderate-intensity aerobic exercises. Before exercising, people with hypertension should avoid caffeinated beverages, which increase heart rate, the workload of the heart, and blood pressure during physical activity.

Stroke. The benefits of exercise on stroke are uncertain. According to one analysis, a group of 11,000 men, men who burned between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a week (about an hour of brisk walking five days a week) cut their risk of stroke in half. Groups who burned between 1,000 and 2,000 calories or more than 3,000 calories per week also gained some protection against stroke but to a lesser degree. In the same study, exercise that involved recreation was more protective than exercise routines consisting simply of walking or climbing.

Heart Failure. Traditionally, heart failure patients have been discouraged from exercising. Now, exercise is proving to be helpful for many of these patients and, when performed under medical supervision, does not pose a risk for a heart attack. In one study, patients between the ages of 61 and 91 increased their oxygen consumption by 20% after six months by engaging in supervised treadmill and stationary bicycle exercises. Performing daily hand grip exercises may improve blood flow through the arteries of patients with heart failure.

When you ask yourself “Why?” you have already started to make excuses. You may come up with answers such as “I have a slow metabolism” or “I do not have the time to exercise”. Well, if you really want to lose weight you will work around your slow metabolism and find the time to exercise. Negative thinking leads to excuses and not solutions. It does not achieve anything. By thinking in this way you have failed before you have even started.

Instead of asking yourself “Why?” you need to start asking yourself “How?”. “How can I lose weight?” is a much more positive question with much more positive answers. The answers to this question will lead you to the effective, long term solutions of diet and exercise. With positive thinking you can even make your targets more specific. For example, you can ask “How can I lose 50lbs this year?” and then seek out the answers. By restricting your caloric intake, starting a more intensive exercise program and eating a healthy, well planned diet this is a very achievable target.

Positive thinking makes you look for answers and leads to solutions. Negative thinking makes you look for excuses and leads to nothing more. If you do not truly believe that you can lose weight, what is the point of starting a weight loss program. Negative thinking will ultimately make you fail. Positive thinking will make you believe in yourself, meaning you will work harder to burn fat and ultimately you will achieve your weight loss goals.

Instead of asking yourself “Why is my stomach so fat?” start asking yourself “Which exercises can I do to improve the appearance of my stomach?” Instead of saying “I do not have the time to exercise” try and think “Which parts of my day or week could I possibly dedicate to exercise?” There is a fine line between positive and negative thinking but a significant difference in the impact they will have on your weight loss efforts. I hope this article has shown you just how critical positive thinking is for weight loss success.

1) ALWAYS CHECK THE CALORIES:- Just because it says ‘low in sugar’ does not mean the product is low in fat or low in calories. The main thing you want to know when purchasing groceries is how many calories they contain. Foods that are low in fats or sugars but high in calories will sabotage your weight loss efforts. Therefore, when you are next out grocery shopping check the calories on all the foods you buy and make sure they are in line with your target daily caloric intake.

2) AVOID ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES AND SWEETENERS:- Many modern foods contain artificial preservatives and sweeteners to improve food flavour or appearance. They include aspartame, saccharin and stevia. These artificial preservatives and sweeteners can make you gain weight rapidly and should be avoided where possible.

3) AVOID SODIUM RICH FOODS:- It has been well documented that sodium (salt) is harmful to your health. Sodium rich foods make you feel bloated and can make you retain excessive amounts of water. If you want to lose weight and improve your health you need to monitor the levels of sodium in your food and try to keep your intake as low as possible.

4) BUY POTASSIUM RICH FOODS:- Bananas, avocados and apricots are all rich in potassium. Potassium can help flush sodium from your cells and is a particularly important mineral for those trying to lose weight.

Modern foods with their additional ingredients and misleading packaging can turn grocery shopping into a potential minefield for those trying to lose weight. However, as long as you check food packaging carefully you will leave the store with the right foods for your weight loss plan. I hope these four tips help you pick the best foods on your next shopping trip.