You may think that the key to chest training is having a big bench, but you’re spending too much time and energy in the wrong place if you neglect accessory moves that target how the pectoralis muscles work. Your aesthetic goals will be better served by spending time on bettering your mind-muscle connection, according to Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., and celebrity trainer and MH Advisory Board member Don Saladino. In this case, convergence – moving weight to or past the centreline of your body (adduction) – is key to getting that well-defined chest.

“The bench press is important for strength development,” Saladino says, “but I also believe that after a period of time, you don’t really gain that mind-muscle connection from just staying with that same movement over and over and over, you don’t really get to experience what it feels like to do a movement with convergence.”

You don’t have to ditch the bench presses. But if your goal is that ripped inner chest look, you’ll need to add a few more moves to your training. Here are five of the best complementary chest exercises for your routine that can help complete that aesthetic upper body look.

5 best inner chest exercises

Squeeze plate press

2 sets of 10 reps

The squeeze plate press is a solid simulation of a bodybuilder’s posing routine, tightly pressing a light plate as if you’re trying to crush it between your palms. Because a light load is all it takes to create heavy tension, the squeeze plate press is oftentimes an underrated and under-utilised exercise. And that is far from true. By extending your arms while squeezing the inner chest, you’ll be creating enough tension to fatigue in as little as two reps.

“It’s less about the load here, it’s more about the isometric tension that you’re creating with just your body,” Samuel says. “It works really well for beginners because it’s not about load… the moment you’re dragging your hands together, you’re learning how I’m dragging my hands together for this. I’m learning how to create that contraction.”

Single-arm cable fly

3 to 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps per arm

Here’s a unique mind-muscle masterpiece move that creates tons of tension at the midline, a major difference from your traditional pressing movements. However, by making this a unilateral movement as opposed to the standard fly, you can actually extend beyond the midline, thereby extending the range of motion.

One common mistake, however, with the cable fly is a tendency to bend too much at the elbow. Instead, focus on keeping the arm long throughout the movement, which will keep tension on your chest.

Hex close-grip press

3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps

Pick up the intensity with a more advanced move (that might pose a challenge for anyone with limited shoulder mobility). This close-grip press is a great exercise for getting a good chest squeeze with each rep. It’s essentially a squeeze press but using a heavier load – but not too much weight that would force you to sacrifice your squeeze at the top.

The focus with the hex press is to now have the load pressed in front, but with the dumbbells held tight together in a neutral position (palms facing each other). You still want to focus on creating and maintaining tension. Slow and controlled is the way to go toward building a fuller chest, while at the same time working your shoulder and triceps as well.

Machine chest press

3 sets of 12 to 15 reps

The machine press is another exercise that gets a bum rap among the functional fitness crowd, but certain variations provide plenty of muscle-building and shaping bang for your buck. We mentioned earlier the importance of pressing with convergence, or focusing on moving the weight closer to the midline to add tension. Machines such as a Hammer Strength press or similar models allow you to press while creating more tension toward the midline. Another machine benefit is that, unlike dumbbells, you don’t have to focus on stability toward the end of a taxing training session, but still be able to work on the much-needed muscle contraction.

Banded dumbbell press

3 to 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps

By adding a resistance band, we add a twist—and even more tension—to this traditional chest-building staple. It’s best to go lighter with the band; a light to moderate tension band is more than plenty to add more stress to your squeeze after each rep. The goal is not to move heavy weight, per se, but moving in a slow, controlled manner to hit that inner chest.

“When it comes to training to training your inner chest and attacking your chest, [it’s okay to] back down on the weight a little bit,” Samuel says. “Let’s own the contraction and the five exercises we’ve given you, you have no choice but to back down the weight to dominate the contraction, and that’s gonna get you the inner chest that you want.”

This story originally appeared on Men’s Health U.S

Related:

The 20 best chest exercises to build stronger pecs

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So what are the most ideal exercises to maximise your lower body training to target these anterior (located on the front side of your body) leg muscles? Squats or lunges? Isolation moves or unilateral work? To establish a solid foundation for your quad-focused workouts, Men’s Health Advisory Board member and celebrity trainer Don Saladino and Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., provide five exercises that will allow you train hard and heavy. In fact, the majority of these exercises were selected specifically so you can pile on the weight as you work to pack on size to those quads.

There are two things you’ll see in each of these movements, according to Samuel. The first is that you’ll be able to use heavy loads, which is a key to build strength and muscle. Secondly, you’ll be put in a position where you’ll drive your knees forward. “That’s what challenges our quads so you’re going to see that in a lot of these exercises—they are going to create an opportunity for you to safely drive your knees into a position that’s going to challenge you so you can really hit those quads,” says Samuel.

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Benefits of Training Your Quads

●Stronger legs

●Moving heavy loads

●Building mass

●Honing the teardrop-shaped muscle

●Burning fat

5 Must-Do Exercises for Quad Strength and Size

Step Up

What makes the step up such an effectively great lower-body exercise (as well as a deceptively excellent core and cardio move) is that it can be done anywhere with little or no equipment. All you really need is a step or elevated surface and you can in increase or reduce the intensity level by performing these with just your bodyweight or adding a heavier load with dumbbells or kettlebells.

Be careful not to lean forward too much; instead, focus on maintaining an upright posture, which will still allow you to drive forward. Also, depending on the height of the step, you can also increase the range of motion and intensity for a sneaky cardio workout.

“I’ve worked with some individuals that are just getting into training that are really deconditioned, and it’s a safe, effective way to be able to go and not only attack the quads, but you’re also hitting some hamstrings and glutes as well,” Saladino says.

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Leg Extension Machine

For a while, this old school move got a bum rap for not quite fitting in as a fully “functional” movement, but it’s recently regained popularity. The reason for the resurgence: this isolation move can help add size and strength to your quads. When done properly, leg extensions are one of a few leg exercises that can provide a finishing pump to your lower-body workout.

“Think of this as the biceps curl for your quads,” Samuel says. “Because we’re isolating, we’re doing this in a safe way, you can ramp up the volume on this… I like thinking even higher reps than normal.”

Walking Lunge

There’s no getting around the fact that lunges can be brutal. What makes this unilateral exercise so awesome, however, is that not only are you crushing your quads, you’re also hitting your hamstrings and glutes. Walking lunges will force you to focus on your balance, an underrated element many people neglect in their training. And no matter how you perform these—from bodyweight to heavy loads—walking lunges will challenge your cardio system as well.

“I’m not gonna say they’re fun because they are hard but they are interesting to do sometimes when you’re locked onto a machine or you’re doing something out of a rack and it’s out of nowhere you can get out there and start moving,” says Saladino. “It allows your hips to open up. It allows you to feel more athletic.”

Front Squat

Why fronts over back squats? One main reason is bar placement—because you’re holding it in front of you, it creates a postural challenge that’s safer than a back squat. With front squats, no matter how you hold the bar—bodybuilding style, powerlifting style, even Frankenstein style—if the bar comes rolling forward, it’s a sign your form may be breaking and a signal to shut down and reset.

“Only use a weight you can handle,” Samuel says. “Don’t be too aggressive with your weight jumps, but don’t be afraid to go heavy. Make sure your court stays nice and tight and torso stays upright.”

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Bulgarian Split Squat

There’s a lot to love about one of the most challenging leg exercise out there. Because this exercise doesn’t require you to be positioned in a completely upright position, a slight spinal tilt forward allows you to place a little more load on that front leg. It’s a front leg, quad-dominant exercise, but again, you’re also hitting some hamstrings as well as working on that balance. And best of all, you can—and should when possible—go heavy with Bulgarians, making this an alternative equivalent to back squats. But be prepared to be crushed, in a good way.

“There’s so much carryover when it comes down to being sports specific, and hypertrophy from a bodybuilding standpoint,” Saladino says. “Here we’re able to just really tear down those microscopic fibers in the muscle and it really works.”

This article was first published on Men’s Health US.

The post Conquer Leg Day With These 5 Must-Do Moves For Your Quads appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

The good news is it’s almost automatic that you’ll immediately begin to gain muscle as a beginner, no matter which exercises you throw together. The bad news, however, is that with a limited understanding of training styles, any haphazard mashup of exercises performed for no rhyme or reason will bring most of your early gains to a quick halt once you’re outside of that early training honeymoon phase. You’ll be much more likely to hit the dreaded training plateau.

Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. says the best plan to keep making gains after your earliest training experience is to have a plan—and to learn how certain exercises will improve your movement over the long term.

“If you can create a plan, and if you have an idea of exactly what you want to list, there’s so much potential here,” Samuel says. “When you get started in the gym, you’re going to pick up muscle fast, you’re going to pick up strength fast, because you’re going to learn all the pieces that you need to early on.”

To start you off, here are four effective exercises every beginner should include in their workouts. These aren’t the most popular moves you’ll see other newbies repping out right away, but including them in your training will help to lay the foundation for improving every movement as you progress along your fitness journey.

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4 Essential Beginner Exercises

Incline Row

To become stronger over time, one movement you’re going to need to master will be learning how to squeeze your shoulder blades. One of the best ways to reinforce that movement is through rows.

Each row rep requires you to squeeze your shoulder blades. Rowing promotes better posture—by squeezing your shoulders blades as you pull your shoulders back and pulling your chest—which in turn is going to pay off down the road by helping improve your form with your biceps curls, shoulder press, or just about any move in which you’ll be required to squeeze your shoulder blades.

Why the incline row over any other row variation? Samuel likes that when you placing your chest on a bench pad, you’ll eliminate any excess lower back stress you may get from traditional barbell or dumbbell rows. Here, you can we really emphasize the focus on squeezing the shoulder blades rep after rep.

For rowing rookies, you can perform these up to three times a week, with three sets of eight to 10 reps working best.

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Romanian Deadlift

This variation of the deadlift will help you focus on two specific exercise elements.

First, all of us have to learn how to pick something heavy off the ground correctly.

The RDL also highlights another key movement pattern you’ll use not just in the gym, but in everyday life: the hip hinge. Don’t think of hip hinging as simply bending at the waist; instead concentrate on pushing your butt back as you bend forward. This engages the hamstrings and glutes, which will go a long way toward helping you pack on some posterior muscle and strength. This is one of the reasons why it might actually be more beneficial to begin with RDLs than the traditional deadlift.

“It’s a really highly personal way to start to activate those hamstrings and glutes,” Samuel says. “And once you’ve mastered this, you’ll be able to graduate to trap bar deadlifts, and a lot more powerful lifts—but you’ll always keep the Romanian deadlift in your routine.”

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Farmer’s Carry

This movement continues our list of power-generating patterns that help us pick up heavy weights—isn’t that one of the reasons why you joined a gym?

You’re going to pick up the largest load that you can handle and just walk (or even march in place) for about 30 to 40 seconds. The benefit of this move is that farmer’s carries are prepping you to lift heavy weights in any setting, while also teaching you how to manage heavier and uncomfortable loads.

Farmer’s carries are also going to help your posture—you’ll work on keeping the abs tight, work on your grip strength—all of this will translate into better pullups, better curls, pretty much better overall performance in the weight room. Another great benefit: You can do these almost anytime, any workout.

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Parallel Pause Biceps Curl

This final exercise isn’t just about picking up weights, it’s about picking up the weight and also creating a deeper focus on the muscle—otherwise known as establishing a mind-muscle connection.

This exercise variation forces you to curl all the way up, rotating your pinky toward the ceiling (supination), which will help you get a good squeeze before lowering until your forearms are parallel with the floor, holding this for a moment before lowering (creating more time under tension, another important muscle-building principle).

Mastering these fundamentals will carry over into virtually every other exercise you will do. And sticking to this plan will ensure gains to come. “If you’re just getting started, it’s a lot better than just going to the gym and having no clue what you’re going to do,” Samuel says. “And on top of that, you’ll look like you know what you’re doing in the gym.”

This article was first published on Men’s Health US.

The post Just Starting A Lifting Routine? These Are The 4 Essential Exercises To Master appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Even if you’re experienced with weight training, you might not know: your shoulder joints and muscles are not just smaller, but much more delicate than other commonly-trained body parts, and therefore we can’t put the shoulders through the heavy rigors like other muscle groups.

“Shoulder training seems simple: You think you’re going to go into the gym and just like any other body part—you’re going to choose three to four exercises, you’re going to hit it hard, and all of a sudden your shoulders are going to grow,” says Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. “But the truth is, shoulder training is not that simple.”

The first step toward safe, effective, and consistent shoulder training is avoiding these four misguided workout myths.

Shoulder Training Myths to Avoid

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You Need to Flare Your Elbows Out

Whether you prefer barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or some other piece of equipment, getting your delts to grow normally requires some sort of overhead press. Performing these exercises however, requires a mid-back stability. Lacking the necessary stability can lead to your arms tipping forward, flaring your elbows, which can land your shoulders in a compromised position.

Instead, focus on keeping your elbows at a 45-degree angle, which puts you within the scapular plane. This can be done safely with any pressing style, and is a lot safer over the long term—and you’ll be able to move more weight.

You Need to Do Lateral Raises High

Lateral raises are great move for hitting the outer head of the deltoids—when done properly. However, some people feel the need to raise their arms too high, which is plain wrong and useless.

Bottom line: When it comes to lateral raises, remember that the point of greatest tension on the outer head of your delts is when your wrists are parallel with your shoulders. Lift your arms any higher and this now becomes a traps exercise. Just focus on keeping your wrists slightly below your shoulders, even pause momentarily to get maximum results from lateral raises.

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The ‘Empty Can’ Myth

Hopefully, if you’re still new to lifting, you haven’t learned this deltoid-training principle. Some bodybuilders believe that flipping your thumbs downward while doing lateral raises—otherwise known as the empty can technique—will target your rear delts as well. What this worthless move really does is accelerate shoulder pain and injury by putting your shoulders into internal rotation. Forget this move at all costs, and instead stick to exercises that do not promote internal rotation of your shoulders, like rear-delt flys or old school back exercises.

You Need to Train Your Shoulders as Much as Other Muscle Groups

It all goes back to the intro: The shoulder is a delicate joint. It’s also getting trained pretty heavily each time you bench press or work your back, and even play a stabilizing role when you’re doing any kind of barbell squat. So hitting the standard three to four shoulder exercises at three to four sets each once or twice a week in addition to the complementary work on the other days is just overworking your shoulders.

Instead of having one or two days devoted to shoulders, tack on one or two exercises at the end of chest or back day. Try an overhead press variation for power and couple it with a detailed accessory move, like a lateral raise or rear-delt fly, at the end of a workout. You’re still building strength and power in your shoulders without the unnecessary volume.

This article was first published on Men’s Health US.

The post 4 Common Mistakes You Might Be Making When It Comes To Training Shoulders appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Quick-hitting training sessions, such as the ones provided in The Men’s Health 7-Minute Workouts for Fat Burn program will enable you to maximize your exercise time, using movements that can help you make strides toward a more athletic physique and serve as a building block toward more sustainable long-term fitness goals.

You might still be skeptical about just how much you can accomplish in such a short period of time. Sure, a few minutes is better than nothing—but what progress can you actually make in under 10 minutes? Are these legitimate muscle-building sessions or are simply a last resort when you can’t fit anything else into your schedule?

The bottom line is this: Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of these 7-minute workouts. They are efficient, and they can target areas you may not think you could hit in such an abbreviated period of time. Even more importantly, quick-hit programs such as the ones in the 7-Minute Workouts for Fat Burn program can provide a solid foundation for more advanced programs over time.

But if you’re still unsure of just how you can get fit in just seven minutes, here are three ways in which a little bit of time can go a long way to help you to get and stay fit.

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3 Benefits of the 7 Minute Workout Structure

You CAN Build Both Strength and Muscle with Short Workouts

In this fast-paced, multitasking world, short, no-nonsense workouts might feel like a modern adaptation to extreme circumstances and schedules. But the concept of quick, effective training is far from new.

Low-volume, high-effort workouts have been around since the Golden Era of bodybuilding. One of the OG’s from the ‘60s and ‘70s, Mike Mentzer, was famous for his short workouts. For Mentzer and his “heavy duty” program, all it took was just a set or two of all-out efforts per each muscle group just three times a week to get in a full workout. And this is the man who nearly defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger on a bodybuilding stage, so you know it was effective.

Mentzer is one of several examples of the effectiveness short workouts can have on building strength and size. Other athletes have spread their workouts a few minutes at a time over the course of the day to put in the work. And there’s plenty of research that supports the idea that these training types can be nearly as effective for building muscle and strength as your traditional high-volume training program.

Although shorter workouts may not be recommended for elite athletes and military personnel, seven-minute workouts are the perfect solution for the everyday athlete with goals like looking leaner and staying fit, energetic, and injury-free day in and day out.

Need to get in and out of the gym? Research has shown that once you eliminate the distractions—that means your phone, trips to the water fountain, longer rest periods, and even standing in front of the TV—a full strength-building workout can be achieved in less than 15 minutes. So you’re on the right track here.

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You Can Train for Fat Loss With Short Workouts

We can’t stress this enough: Your training goals should be focused on fat loss, not weight loss. To keep your training healthy, you should be less concerned about what number is on the scale. What we want to achieve is a sustainable fat loss, or more specifically, body recomposition, which you’ll see when you lose fat while retaining (or even gaining) muscle mass.

However, we’ve also been brainwashed into thinking that in order to achieve this goal, fat loss methods require long, repetitive (i.e., boring) bouts on the elliptical, treadmill, or other cardio machines. We’re here to tell you that’s not always the case. More is not always better. Science backs this up: Research published in the American Journal of Human Biology in 2016 convincingly demonstrated that a person’s body can only burn so many calories per day, and that after that upper limit is reached, the capacity to burn calories is reduced to near zero.

For fat loss goals, seven minutes is actually a better method than long, drawn out sessions. Over a longer period of time, seven minute session should be enough to fine-tune your metabolism, which will spur muscle growth. Keep progressing to the point in which you can do multiple seven-minute workouts in a day becomes the norm, increasing your metabolism even more—contributing to further fat loss. And it’ll get you moving a lot more than you’d think possible in such a short amount of time.

No matter how effective you utilize your training time, however, it’s all for nothing if you’re not spot on with your nutrition. Without careful attention to diet, exercise is ineffective for fat loss. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Short Workouts Give You Chances to Master Tough Techniques

Having problems with pullups or mastering an even tougher move like a handstand? Here’s an opportunity—just seven minutes—in which you can work solely on the mechanics of any exercise you may be struggling to complete in longer training sessions. What makes this such a great opportunity to better your technique is that you’re moving at a not-so-rapid pace but instead one that keeps you moving and improving while getting stronger and technically sound.

Strength expert Pavel Tsatsouline refers to it as “greasing the groove,” which means practicing a skill well-below maximal practice levels in the short term that over time will prepare you for an all-out max effort. This is the best way to learn and enhance a new skillset.

One example may be using shorter rep counts, or even spreading your practice with the difficult movement throughout the day. Less fatigue equals less breakdown which results in more reps over time and more gains without the soreness or fatigue.

This article was first published on Men’s Health US.

The post Try These 7-Minute Workouts For Major Gains To Your Strength And Fitness appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

This buzzy training protocol often under-delivers on the benefits trainers promise. HIIT has been touted as the all-in-one workout that can build muscle, shed fat, and make all of your physical dreams come true. The fact is, however, according to Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., and MH Advisory Board member David Otey, C.S.C.S., is that HIIT doesn’t exactly live up to the hype.

These days, the HIIT label has been watered down, often being applied to any form of training that features quick bursts of activity, broken down into circuits of work periods and rest periods. Unfortunately, most exercisers (and the trainers instructing them) fall far short of that first key part of the acronym: high intensity. “When it comes to HIIT training for the most part, people think it is the best possible cardiovascular exercise and protocol,” Otey says. “And unfortunately, it doesn’t meet the standard because it’s misinterpreted by a lot of people and misapplied by a lot of coaches.”

HIIT performed improperly really doesn’t push the heart rate as advertised. Remember those first two words in HIIT: high intensity. Unfortunately, most routines fall far short from the original goal of all-out effort. One of the reasons is the time format—a standard 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off method—which may be too long a timeframe for all-out sprints or mountain climbers and not long enough of a recovery period. Samuel says that flipping the routine—20 seconds on, 40 seconds rest—would be more effective, but probably a harder sell for most group fitness classes.

Why HIIT Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype

• No Cardio Foundation

When done properly, HIIT is gonna be exhausting. If you’re not hunched over, hands on your knees and gasping, you might not have put in enough effort to reap the rewards. And truth be told, a lot of us don’t have a proper cardio base to be able to handle a full-blown HIIT workout. You want to build your cardio gradually, sort of like working toward a one-rep max.

• The HIIT Calorie Burn Doesn’t Live Up to its Hype

One of the main selling points of HIIT is its so-called “afterburn effect,” meaning your body is still burning calories hours after you’ve finished your workout. But unfortunately, that HIIT hype is a bit overinflated on this front as well. Research has shown that the afterburn effects are in fact negligible and not as beneficial as advertised, according to Otey.

3 Alternatives for HIIT Workouts

Instead, there are these 3 alternative protocols to try.

Low-Intensity Steady State (LISS)

20 to 30 minutes daily 3 days per week

It’s not flashy, but a basic walk or jog or other activity at a lower intensity and consistent pace remains an effective form of exercise. These types of activities allows your heart to regulate itself at this intensity level and over time you’ll begin noticing your heart rate getting stronger.

Strength Training

30 minute training sessions 3 days per week

That’s right, hitting the weights can be a better option than aimless HIIT workouts. Muscle building, primarily multi-joint moves such as bench presses, rows, deadlifts, and squats are going to burn more calories than you would think, especially as you begin pushing heavier loads. This is especially important for those over 40, who need weight training to maintain muscle mass. And don’t forget, over time, building muscle through weight training is going to help burn fat.

Moderate-Intensity Steady State Training

2 to 3 days per week

Hate to burst your HIIT bubble, but most everyone sweating through 40- to 60-minute group fitness class are actually performing exercises at a moderate intensity. And that’s not such a bad thing—it’s just not what you were sold when you signed up for a HIIT class. An easy and effective training template to work with would be going at about 70 to 90 percent of your max effort, whether it be a treadmill or row machine. You could even incorporate bodyweight exercises—mountain climbers or jump squats—and come up with a solid and efficient moderate-intensity workout.

This article was first published on Men’s Health US.

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