Secret Training Tip #667 - Crunch Pulldowns For a Great Six-Pack

By Nick Nilsson

Scorch your Rectus Abdominus (Six-Pack) with the Crunch
Pulldown. It will hit those abs in a way they’ve never been hit
before! This is NOT your standard cable crunch!

The Crunch Pulldown is a very simple exercise to do, perfect for hitting the abs in a way they’re not used to at all. For this one, all you need is a high pulley and a bar attachment.

Hook up the bar to the pulley and set a moderate weight on it. You don’t want to go too heavy or you won’t be able to perform the exercise. After you do it once, you’ll get a better idea of how much weight you can use.

Lie on your back under the pulley. In my own gym, I have an adjustable-height pulley and have it set a few feet off the ground so all I have to do is reach up and grab the bar. If you have just a regular, unmoveable high pulley, the exercise will work exactly the same way but you’ll have to grab the bar first THEN lie down in position rather than lying down first then reaching up and grabbing the bar.

Once you’re on your back (with your head directly under the pulley), pull the bar down so that your elbows are bent about 90 degrees. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees and feet placed flat on the floor. The bar should be 8 to 12 inches above your body. That’s the start position.

Now crunch up. But here’s the trick - as you’re crunching up, DO NOT use the weight to help pull yourself up. Instead, perform a pulldown movement as you’re crunching up. To do this, just pull the bar down towards your lower chest until it touches your lower chest, all while crunching up.

So not only do you get the normal tension from the crunch movement, you’re also getting tension on the abs using the weight from the pulldown movement. This really fires up the six-pack muscles to help them stand out. It’s a unique angle of resistance that your abs have probably never felt before!

To see pictures of this exercise in action, go the following link:

http://hop.clickbank.net/?muscled1/betteru&l=1117

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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?muscled1/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

Glutamine: The Basics

Glutamine is 1 of 11 nonessential amino acids. Just because it’s nonessential doesn’t mean it’s not necessary. Simply put, the body can produce what it needs. 60% of all free form amino acids come in  the form of glutamine. During times of stress (stress not defined), glutamine reserves are depleted.

Glutamine: The Benefits…..CLICK HERE

By: Marc David
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

Confused Supplement Seeker,

A few days ago this kid posted his supplement stack pictures. He spends $400+ a month on
supplements! I think I spend under $50 and that’s if I’m being experimental.

I’ll refrain from talking about brand names and such as I think we all have our opinions on those and
many times price is a factor. Let’s just stick to the overall basics.

So let’s begin…CLICK HERE

By: Marc David
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

I’ve got a confession to make…

In the year 2006, I’ve seen so many articles on cardio that it even made me confused! Everything from don’t with it “good night to cardio” to cardio is worthless to HIIT training and all kinds of crazy ideas. There’s anti-cardio gurus and cardio masters.

At times, cardio seems like a diet plan.

Let me explain that….CLICK HERE

By: Marc David
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

Copyright © 2006 Marc David

Without progression, the body has no reason to adapt and that leads to stagnant training. Which is known as the dreaded PLEATEU.

If you aren’t making gains with your current program, then you aren’t going to achieve the results you want. A big mistake many people make is finding a program and sticking with it even if the program isn’t producing results.

“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.” — W. L. Bateman

A common belief is that if you just stick with the program, results are inevitable.

Think about this…

If you aren’t seeing results on a MONTHLY basis in some capacity, it’s time to change the training protocol.

99% of success comes from having a well formulated plan. A good plan includes tracking your progress. By monitoring your nutrition, body composition, and keeping a training journal, you will be able to see how you are progressing or if you are not making any progress. Keeping some type of journal will allow you to make educated decisions on when and if it’s time to change your training load (the weight you are lifting).

Frankly…

If you do not set specific goals, and if you do not monitor the own progress toward those goals, then how can you assess if you are making progress?

Your training program should always be focused on progression to meet your overall goals. This is where having a specific goal and timetable is important. You don’t want to just training the same way for an extended period of time and hope for results.

But let me go back to the beginning of your question and let’s find out if there is a simple way to figure out when to increase the weight you are using in your training program.

Graves and Baechle developed a dynamic formula to assess when progression is necessary called the 2-for-2 Rule. They said that “if you can successfully complete two or more repetitions in the last set in two consecutive workouts for any given exercise the load should be increased.”

For example, 3 sets of 8 repetitions may be prescribed for a particular exercise. When you can complete 2 more repetitions (i.e. 10 reps) on the final set for 2 consecutive sessions the weight should be increased.

The International Sports and Science Association (ISSA) recommends a load increase of 2% to 5% percent for advanced trainees and 5% to 10% percent for new and intermediate trainees.

But first a warning: Advanced athletes who are beyond these guidelines will probably need to adjust the ranges as necessary where a beginner might not. The reason for this is the beginner has much more room from improvement than a seasoned athlete.

Another reason for this is that a beginner has a lot of neural transformations occurring rather than muscle hypertrophy. Improved motor unit synchronization and the recruitment of new motor units account for this faster rate of progression. This is one reason that new strength athletes will progress in strength faster than muscle size.

About the Author

Marc David is an innovative fitness enthusiast and the creator of the “NoBull Bodybuilding System” method on www.nobullbodybuilding.comHe can show you how to reduce your body fat thru diet, how to gain weight or create more muscle thru an abundance of workout tips by training LESS, not more!

Once a self-confessed skinny, “135-pound weakling.” Today Marc is a 200 pound bodybuilder who teaches thousands of people to gain weight, build muscle and reduce body fat with a workout and nutrition system so simple that even a complete beginner can understand it!

Marc dispels many “bodybuilding myths”, tells you what most people never realize about nutrition, and what the drug companies DON’T WANT YOU to know.  visit www.nobullbodybuilding.com

By: Marc David
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

After you read this short article, you will have leaned some quick tips to start gaining healthy weight.

Here’s 6 simple ways on how to gain weight without getting fat:…..CLICK HERE

What if you finally had the scientific TRUTH about muscle growth once and for all? What if you knew how to train to stimulate ALL of your body’s own natural growth mechanisms? It would mean that you’d be packing on lean muscle mass as fast as humanly possible.

Without understanding that there are two key mechanisms for muscle growth the vast majority of guys training in the gym, even those who may have trained for years are missing out on up to fifty percent of their potential gains. This is basically like wasting HALF your precious training time.

Why does this occur? Well there are two basic ’schools of thought’ when it comes to weight training and over the years they have been often at odds at to which is the best way to train with heated debate, science and real-world examples to illustrate the superiority of their own viewpoints. In one corner we have the classic bodybuilding crowd who have always focused on the pump and isolating each individual muscle and feeling the tension throughout the entire range of motion. This culture has also permeated into most formal ‘gym instructor’ doctrine as it is generally a safe way to train the masses.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Which One Is The Best Bodybuilding Routine To Make The Quickest Gains?

From Hugo Rivera,
Your Guide to Bodybuilding.
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I’ve been bodybuilding for a year now and while the first 8 months I made some really good bodybuilding gains, they now seem to have come to a standstill. I’ve been using the same routine that I got out of a bodybuilding magazine for the past 6 months. This routine really delivered good results at first but now it does not seem to do much for me. Is it that I am using the wrong routine? Is there a better bodybuilding routine out there that I should be using?

For Hugo Rivera’s answer please…..CLICK HERE

If you’ve got stubborn shoulders, this simple but extremely powerful technique is EXACTLY what you need. Standard dumbell and barbell pressing don’t work the WHOLE range of motion equally - you’re leaving results on the table if you’re just doing straight shoulder presses!

If you’ve ever had a hard time developing your shoulders, this exercise is going to be a lifesaver for you! Personally, shoulders are one of my WORST bodyparts. It’s tough to keep them strong…tough to get them bigger…and tough to really feel them working when I’m actually doing shoulder exercises!

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

We’ve always been told that it’s bad to overtrain. Guess what? Overtraining on purpose is where the REAL results are.

Overtraining is NOT evil. Overtraining can be exactly what you need to achieve continuous and rapid results in your training.

But first, what is overtraining? Overtraining is, most simply, training too much. Your body is unable to recover from the volume or frequency of training and begins to break down. You not only lose motivation to train, you become more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even start to go backwards in your training, getting smaller and weaker on almost a daily basis.

So how can overtraining possibly be good for you? I’ll tell you….CLICK HERE