Most people think that in order to get that V shaped upper body like comic book super heroes, they only have to develop big broad back muscles and lats. Well, by having broad back muscles and well developed lats is only part of the equation to get a V shape upper body. For complete V shape upper body development, you will also need to build a powerful chest, big strong shoulder muscles or commonly called deltoids or delts for short and a slim waist.

We shall discuss how to build big shoulder muscles in this article. You see, you may have a wonderful six pack abs or well defined chest muscles, but when you are in your street clothes, no one can see them. But if you have that massive V shape with bulging shoulder muscles, your body frame will tell the world that under those clothes is a well defined body of a gym warrior.

As with building any muscles in your body, intensity is the key to building big deltoids. Your shoulder muscles are made up primarily of the anterior deltoid (front delt), medial deltoid (middle delt) and posterior deltoid (back delt). All 3 parts of your shoulder muscles must be targeted to build well defined and big strong deltoids that threaten to burst through your shirt. The problem here is that most people do not know that they must work on all 3 shoulder muscles and do most shoulder workouts by just concentrating on the anterior delts with exercises such as military press. Furthermore, working only on anterior delts could lead to over training your shoulder muscles because many other exercises like the bench press, dips and push ups also recruit shoulder muscles for its movements.

Your should be careful when working on your shoulder muscle exercises as your shoulders joints are very susceptible to injuries and therefore proper form in executing the exercises is crucial. Don't let bad exercise form cause you injuries that may be permanent and put you out of the gym forever. One common injury prone exercise is the narrow grip upright row. Although this is a great trapezius and shoulder muscle exercise, it should be avoided because this exercise invokes unnatural and awkward shoulder joint movement.

So what exercises are good for building big strong deltoids? Well, besides the military presses, try Arnold Press, Lateral Raise, Bent Over Lateral Raises, Shoulder Width Upright Row and Shoulder Cable exercises. Ask your personal trainer or read up on how to perform these exercises in excellent form for great shoulder muscle development.

Remember that you must also develop other aspects such as a big broad chest, wide back muscles and flared lats as well as a slim waistline to get that much coveted V shaped upper body.

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So you want to build big muscles? Simple isn't it? Just join a gym and hit those weights regularly and viola, in a couple of months, you will gain so much muscle mass that you are ready to take on any bodybuilding contest. Is it really that simple to build big muscles? Well, to gain muscle mass, there is much more than just hitting the gym regularly. Here are some muscle mass gaining tips :-

a) Eat and Eat – To build muscles, you must eat. Your calorie consumption must be more than your calorie expenditure. If you expend all the calories you have eaten, then where are the calories to build muscles?

2) Protein – Make sure that you eat enough protein. You should eat at least one gram of protein per pound of your body weight everyday if you want to gain muscle mass fast. If you don’t get enough protein, your muscles won’t grow bigger muscles.

3) Supplement – If you cannot have adequate protein from your normal meals, supplement with protein shakes. If you want more strength so that you can lift heavier weights to grow bigger muscles, take a Creatine supplement as well.

4) Weight Training – You must lift with heavy weights and to add on more weight consistently to progressively build your muscles. But it is very important not to sacrifice correct lifting techniques and form for the sake of lifting heavier.

5) Lift Free Weights – Use free weights like dumbells and barbells to recruit more muscle fibers so that more muscle fibers can be worked on.

6) Compound Exercises – Work with compound exercises like deadlifts, bench presses, squats, barbell rows and chin ups to build big muscle mass. If you concentrate on working your puny muscles like your biceps, then you will only have puny muscle growth. Besides, a compliment of compound exercises will work the smaller muscles too.

7) Get Enough Rest – Have rest days in between your workout days and do not work the same muscle group more than twice a week. Your muscles need to recover from your workouts in order to grow big.

8) Get Enough Sleep – Sleep at least 8 hours a day. More even better. Your muscles grow when you sleep.

If you practise the above 8 steps consistently, your muscles will grow fast and big. Of course there are many more things you can do to achieve a competitive bodybuilder's physique of which I cannot cover in just an article here. So do research for more knowledge.

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In every gym that you go to, you will see people pumping their biceps. Biceps along with the pecs and abs are sometimes called vanity muscles because they are the most visible and therefore commands the most respect. Invariably, when you ask someone to show you his muscles, he will probably flex his biceps.

Before we discuss biceps development, I want to point out that the biceps make up only one third of your upper arm with triceps the other two-thirds. So to have an impressive arm, you must build your triceps too or the effort on your biceps will not show good results. Many people fail to realize this and that is why you see them doing curls after curls without much improvement. We will touch on triceps exercises in another article. For now, let's talk about biceps.

Here are some exercises that will blast your biceps. Most of you would have done some or all of these exercises. The question I am asking is, are the exercises done in the correct form and techniques because if they are not, you will most likely be wasting your time as your biceps will not grow to its full potential. Perform each exercise for 3-5 sets once or twice a week and at reps between 6-10, but make sure that at the high end of the reps, you will not be so fatigued that you can't perform another rep in good form.

a) Standing Barbell Curl/ EZY Bar

You can perform this exercise with either a straight bar or an ezy bar. This is a great mass building exercises for your biceps.

Stand with feet shoulder width apart and grasp the bar with an underhand grip, hands should also be about shoulder width apart. Curl the bar up slowly focusing intensely on the biceps contraction. Do not swing or use momentum to curl especially at the later stages when your biceps get weaker. Never swing or move your body, only your arms are moving. Keep your elbows locked to the side of your body and do not pivot them.

Then lower the weight, taking 3-4 seconds resisting the weight on the way down to emphasize the negative part of the exercise. Never let gravity pull the weights down.

At all times, do not curl or bend your wrist which must always be in a straight neutral position.

b) Incline Dumbbell Curls

This exercise will hit different fibre in your biceps and gives you the peak bicep look.

Sit back on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand, keep your elbows well forward throughout the movement, curl the weight upward and toward the shoulder level. Then squeeze your biceps hard at the top position. Lower the weights again, slowly under full control. The speed and techniques are similar to what was described earlier.

c) Preacher Curl

Similar to barbell curl but using the preacher curl station. This is an excellent bicep peaking isolation exercise.

d) Hammer Curl

Hammer curl gives your biceps the full look and your forearms are also working hard.

Similar to incline dumbbell curl except you will be using the hammer grip on the dumbbell like holding a hammer knocking nails in and standing up instead of sitting down.

e) Build Biceps Tips

Focus on the movement of your biceps all throughout the motion. Don't lift weights that are too heavy that will compromise your form and techniques to show off.

By slightly turning and squeezing, you'll build more peak on your biceps. Like all exercises, pose and stretch the biceps between sets. This is to flush out lactic acid and help your biceps recover better for the next set.

Remember to change the order of the exercises you perform after 6-8 weeks to shock your biceps into new growth and watch those arms grow!

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To supplement or not to supplement – that is the question on more bodybuilder's lips than ever before. Are they safe? What works and what doesn't?

Lets have a look at the basics.

There are various reasons why athletes may be interested in supplementation.

 Concern about getting adequate nutrients from our food supply.

 Suspicion of pharmaceuticals.

 Belief that diet alone will not achieve optimal nutrition

Supplements include the following:

 Vitamins  Minerals  Amino Acids  Herbs

The concerning thing about supplements is that anything classified as a dietary supplement is not required to meet any FDA or other standards! Think about that! there are no regulations in place that guarantee the safety or purity of something sold as a supplement.

They are also not made to meet the similar safety requirements as prescription drugs or any other manufacturing standards. They are not required to meet product potency or purity ratings and are not required to prove the effectiveness of any health claim that is made.

Studies suggest that a number of supplements may deliver on advertising claims. However, trainees are spending large sums of money on products that have little or no proven usefulness.

Personally I find the use of supplements over rated and as with strength training, supplementation asks the same question "if a little is good then maybe more has to be better"

Supplementation and steroids started to proliferate when volume strength training became the training system of the day. Young strength trainees slaving in the gym for five to six days a week was seen as normal. All this without making any progress or putting on any size whatsoever.

They then turned to the latest supplement or steroid thinking that this is the magic bullet to put on that added muscle when all the time they were just plain "overtraining"

The cold hard facts are that the majority of the regular trainees in your gym are overtraining. The sad reality is that the type of training that you find in bodybuilding books and magazines (and used by the stars) are irrelevant to the majority of the population and has a high failure rate.

If more bodybuilders started using more infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger…

MOST OF THE WEIGHT GAIN SUPPLEMENTS AND STERIODS AVAILABLE TODAY WOULD NOT BE NEEDED.

The bottom line on weight gain supplements

 Before taking a supplement try to make modifications to your diet that might achieve the same goals.

 Only choose products that show the amount of active ingredients on the label that are required.

 Be aware that "natural" does not mean 'safe'

 Some herbal supplements may have unpleasant side effects.

Listed below are some popular bodybuilding supplements available on the market today:

Creatine monohydrate

Creatine was first introduced to the market place some eight years ago and has since become the most popular bodybuilding supplement of all time.

Creatine is said to significantly increase lean muscle mass, improve performance, increase energy levels and speed up recovery rates. Creatine also stimulates the uptake of amino acids in the proteins, which means that the more that it's used the more muscle that may be grown.

Dosage: A loading phase of 20grams a day for the first five days then a maintenance phase of 5grams a day from then on.

Whey Protein isolate

The highest yield of protein currently available and is extracted from milk. This is another popular supplement for athletes and bodybuilders because of its high proportion of amino acids. It is supposed to be high in potassium, which is essential for muscle growth and is an antioxidant and a good immune system builder.

Dosage: 20gms – 100gms a day.

Tibulus Terrestris

Tribulus terrestris is a plant that grows in many tropical and moderate areas of the world and is very rich in chemical compounds such as saponins, flavonoids and alkaloids.

Tribulus terrestris is supposedly a testosterone enhancer. and increases sex drives in both men and women.

Dosage as per bottle.

Glutamine

Is a non-essential amino acid, which makes up to 60% of the amino acids in the bodies muscles. Glutamine containing products are protein shakes and good quality protein powders; it can also be added to protein shakes for added potency.

Dosage: 5grams to 15 grams per day.

So please remember a supplement is something added to the diet to make up for a nutritional deficiency or imbalance they are not intended to substitute for eating a balanced diet. If they are to be taken at all they should only be used to supplement the diet and not replace it.

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Bodybuilding is an activity that operates according to scientific principles and science is mathematically based. Bodybuilding is not an exact science and it's not healthy to look up to some guru for all your answers. Bodybuilding is the art and the science of developing your body. Modern bodybuilding is ritual, religion, sport, art, and science, awash in Western chemistry and mathematics. An extremely important aspect of bodybuilding is proper nutrition. The diet aspect of bodybuilding is just as important, if not more, than the weight-lifting aspect. Bodybuilding is not a one-hour training session five days a week. Bodybuilding is more a philosophy of life than a straightforward physical activity. Bodybuilding is not just a sport; it is an investment in your body and your life. Bodybuilding is not about lifting weights, but about training muscles. Bodybuilding is designed to develop the muscles for general, sportive or corrective purposes. Bodybuilding is more than just a sport, it's a life style. Bodybuilding is a sport that mainly emphasizes physical appearance, body configuration and shape, trying to achieve aesthetics perfection.

If you're looking for a way to feel and look great – then bodybuilding is for you. Bodybuilding is, in its method and ideals, a contradictory practice.

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