In this month's issue...
 Editor's Note - by Robert DiMaggio
E-Book - Beginning Fitness & Bodybuilding
New Articles - Training, Diet & Nutrition
Featured - Ag-Guys.com
Monthly Article - Taking Your Barbell Squats To The Next Level
Expert Q & A - by Tom Venuto, Anthony Ellis & Lee Hayward
Merchandise - IronMagLabs Maximum Pump™
Marc's Fitness Zone - How I Only Spend 4 Hours A Week At The Gym
Site Sponsors- Please visit!
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Editor's Note
Hello Fellow Bodybuilders & Fitness Enthusiasts,
IronMagazine, IronMagazineForums and IronMagLabs were all moved to a new server at the end of January. In order to keep the sites running quickly we needed an even faster server than we had. Other than that not too much new going on at IronMagazine or IronMagLabs this month. I hope everyone is sticking to their New Years Resolutions! :)
We have another jam packed newsletter with great content, so read on...
Yours in Fitness,
Robert DiMaggio - Owner/President
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Featured E-Book
Beginning Fitness & Bodybuilding - by Marc David
Dieting and working out but making absolutely zero progress really sucks – I should know, because I started training when I was 16, but never got any decent results until I was in my 30’s! If you’re a frustrated beginner like I was, or if your body has looked the same for months or even years, even though you’ve been dieting and working out hard, then this may be the most important letter you will ever read.
After years of stagnation, I suddenly made more progress in just 90 days than I had in the entire time since I started training… just by correcting a few “newbie mistakes” and by making a few simple changes to my diet and exercise program.
It took me 16 years of trial and error, making dumb beginner mistakes, before I finally stumbled onto these amazing fat loss and muscle growth secrets. Then it took another 1100 man-hours for researching, writing and compiling these strategies and techniques into the most effective system for beginners ever to burst onto the bodybuilding and fitness scene.
This new program is designed so you can learn it quickly, even if you're a complete "newbie", (in fact, it’s ideal for beginners), plus it's amazingly fast and effective. Best part: You won’t believe how easy it is! All you have to do is be willing to make a few simple changes to your diet and workout program that I will teach you. Then, within just weeks, you will be leaner, stronger and more muscular than you’ve ever been before, 100% guaranteed, or the entire system is yours FREE just for trying it!
click here for your free ebook!
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February Articles
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Featured
AG-Guys carries all of your research chemical needs. Unlike other fly by night sites or ones that started up last week, AG-Guys have been in business for three years.
"J" at AG- guys took it over about 1 1/2 years ago, and basically runs a top notch operation.
They hope to earn your business by continuing to provide top quality products at fantastic prices, as well as the best customer service in the industry.
They use high-quality European products rather than low-grade Chinese compounds.
Give www.ag-guys.com a try and you will be impressed and you will help support IronMagazine at the same time.
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Monthly Article
17 Unique and Powerful Tips For Taking Your Barbell Squats To The Next Level and Beyond!
By Nick Nilsson
The barbell squat is one of most common exercises found in the gym. Learn some useful tips and techniques that can
help you maximize your form and strength!
Known as the "King of Exercises," the barbell squat truly lives up to its name. The squat is one of the single most powerful muscle and strength building exercises a person can do.
Right now, you're going to learn 17 of the most immediately useful techniques that I know for rapidly improving your squat!
1. Try wearing solid-heeled work boots when squatting. They give a natural heel elevation and allow the power from your legs to be transferred better than when wearing soft-heeled running shoes. You can lose power at the bottom when wearing soft shoes because the sole will squish in when you push. If you don't have work boots, try squatting barefoot. You will not lose any power at the bottom through soft shoes that way. When you squat barefoot, set the racking collars a little lower to make up for the lack of soles. If neither work boots nor going barefoot is an option, use court shoes. They have the most solid sole of any type of shoe.
2. If you find yourself leaning over too far as you come down to the bottom of the squat, lack of calf flexibility may be your problem. Work on that before each squat session by stretching the calves for 5 minutes.
3. Hold your hands on the bar fairly close in to your shoulders (similar to your bench press grip width) and keep your elbows pointed DOWN through the entire squat. If you hold the bar too wide, this will force your shoulders to rotate internally (forward). Your elbows will start to point backwards, which will cause the bar to rotate forward as you come down. As the bar rotates forward, this will cause you to lean over excessively, increasing the pressure on L4 and L5 of the lumbar area of your lower back. Keeping your elbows pointed down activates your external rotator muscles (the muscles in the shoulder area that pull backwards) which will keep the bar from rolling forward.
4. If you feel yourself leaning over and pushing from the forefoot area too much, use pressure from your hands to rotate the bar backwards. This will force the weight back over your heels, improving your balance and posture while working the quads better and preventing injury.
5. If you feel you are about to get stuck at the bottom, try this trick: yank down hard on the bar as though trying to snap it in half over your back. It may sound counterproductive but if you do this while you are straining against the bar, it will cause an emergency stretch reflex in your quads and give you an extra little kick out of the bottom of the movement.
6. As you start down into the squat, your knees should bend first, followed closely by the trunk. Most people descend with the glutes leading, followed by the knees. This emphasizes the back and glutes rather than the thighs.
7. Look slightly up and forward. If you look down, your head will go forward. Here's the problem: your lumbar (lower back) area mimics your cervical (neck) area with positioning. If your neck is flexed forward (as when looking down), your lumbar area will try to flex to match it (when it should be extended and held tightly in an arched position).
8. To help get the proper position at the bottom of the squat, try to squeeze your elbows together behind your back, arch your lower back and look up slightly. This will force your back into the proper position as well as giving your rear delts and back a good workout.
9. Some people squat with their heels raised. Try the opposite, squatting with your toes raised. You will need to thoroughly stretch your calves out to do this one but it will force you to push only with your heels, maximizing hamstring and glute involvement as well as focusing on the lower quads. Perform this technique with high rep and using a full range of motion to increase blood flow to the lower quads. Be sure not to raise the toes up excessively (a thin plate such as 5 or 10 will do it).
10. To increase quad involvement, pull your toes up to touch the top of the insides of your shoes. This will tend to throw the point of push back to the heels.
11. Do not use a belt when squatting. At the start, suck in your gut and hold it tight, activating the transverse abdominus muscle (the internal supporting muscles of the core), giving you a natural weight belt. Tightening the muscles like this will increase intra-abdominal pressure, just like a weight belt does. A weight belt causes dysfunction and weakness of the transverse abdominus and can lead to injury. The belt inhibits the body's ability to fire the muscle when needed and can predispose the back to injury by creating a weakness in those important supporting muscles.
An important point to note here is that if you've always used a belt for squatting, work back up to heavier weights slowly. Start with lighter weight and higher reps to give your supporting muscles a chance to work and strengthen. If you jump right into heavy weights without re-training your core muscles, you could injure yourself. Focus on sucking in tightening the abs and feeling them contract and hold during the squat.
12. To fire the lower quads during squats, as you descend, come up on your toes in a calf raise. Stay upright and sit back. Only go to parallel on this trick. Do not lose tension in the quads and only do this with a very light weight. It can be tricky to balance with this one so take it easy when first trying it. Don't let your knees drift forward too much and don't lean over. This will also give a great contraction in your calves.
13. A plastic molded device called the Manta Ray is an excellent tool for squatting. There is no pain from the bar as the weight on the bar is more evenly distrubuted across the entire shoulder girdle instead of having the bar digging into the shoulder blades. It is also much safer than a rolled up towel or pad as the bar cannot roll.
14. Build power in the bottom of the squat by performing the Wall Sit exercise after every leg workout. This is a good way to strengthen your thighs isometrically (without moving). Go into a sitting position with your back against a wall, lower back arched, knees bent at 90 degrees, and just hold it there for as long as you can, pushing yourself backwards into the wall to keep yourself up in position. This helps you build power in the bottom of the squat. You can increase the resistance by holding a dumbell or weight plates on your lap (you can even have a spotter progressively pull plates off your lap as you get tired!).
15. Try Bottom Start Partial Squats - this variation is done in a power rack. Set the pins just above where the bar would be at the low point of your regular squat. This is where you will be starting the movement from. This will build tremendous power out of the bottom of the squat. Do not bounce in this position! Set yourself up under the bar in the bottom of the squat position then gradually build up tension in your legs and body. When you're ready, explode the weight up a few inches. Lower yourself back down under control. You will need to experiment with the amount of weight you use to get an idea of where to start.
16. Typical Squat Problems and Solutions:
-Heels rise - keep your eyes up, chest up, lean back slightly.
-Rounded back - strengthen your lower back, arch your lower back more, lift your toes up in your shoes while you squat, grip the bar closer to your shoulders.
-Lack of depth - open your stance, turn your toes out up to 30 degrees (remember to keep your knees tracking straight over your toes).
-Knees buckle in - wrap a weight belt around your thighs and pressout against the belt as you come up.
-Excessive leaning over - stretch your calves thoroughly, squat withyour heels raised (use a wooden wedge or ten-pound plates). It is better to stretch, though, as squatting on blocks is not the best way to squat. Hold the stretches for 3 to 5 sets of 15 seconds using the standing calf raise or seated calf machines or any other good calf stretch. Work on improving your calf flexibility in the long-term as well, stretching a lot when you work calves.
17. Don't use the Smith Machine to squat. The Smith Machine, while making the squat easier to balance, is not better for squatting. It is hard on the patellar tendons of the knees due to the shearing forces involved. It is bad for the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and it also takes the hamstrings and stabilizing muscles out of the movement. The Smith Machine squat is especially bad when you set your feet a little forward of the bar and push backwards against it as you come up. Every rep will grind on your knees.
Conclusion:
Take these squatting tips to the gym with you and put them to work. You'll notice a big difference in how you squat and how much weight you can use!
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Expert Q & A
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Marc David's Fitness Zone
How I Only Spend 4 Hours A Week At The Gym
If you want to spend less time in the gym, you'll need to superset your workouts and get more done in less time.
Not too long ago I received a question from a person who was using supersets (I already congratulated her on the choice to make her workouts as efficient as possible in the short amount of gym time she had).
"I was wondering how long I can use this supersetting system. Is it possible to overtrain even with 2 sessions a week? Will my body eventually adapt also to this system and should I break the routine for a month or so?"
For starters...
Supersets are an excellent way to get more done in less time. There's simply no doubt about that. And if you only have 2 times a week, it's the best way to approach training. There's no fooling around, no social chatter. You just get in and get out. But let's suppose...
If these workouts done correctly they are 10x more intense and mentally challenging then regular routines where you see a person do an exercise, rest, do it again, rest, etc.
But first, let me give you a well deserved 'nice job!' for choosing to make the most of your time in the gym. You are getting more work done and by choosing supersets, you have made your routines more efficient.
Can you over-train with this method?
Really, if you are hitting all the body parts you can, twice a week, and keeping your workouts to 60 minutes or less, you probably are not in danger of overtraining. You might not get enough rest between sessions but if you feel you are able to keep up, you feel rested and not sore, then it's probably just fine. Don't fix what isn't broken.
Some Overtraining Symptoms:
Fatigue * Blood sugar imbalances * Menstrual or other hormone imbalances * Anxiety * Slight dizziness * Elevated heart rates (especially upon waking) * Depression * Insomnia
Will your body adapt to supersetting?
In a nutshell, no. No more then any other routine.
As long as you keep your routines varied, then your body won't have a chance to adapt. The only routine that I don't recommend anybody do for a long period of time is lifting heavy.
Heavy training, while it might always challenge your body, puts a lot of stress on tendons and joints. Taking a break from that training is a good idea.
But supersetting is getting more done in less time and with less weight (because you can't do your heaviest weight when you are moving around so much right?).
Even with supersets, your body will adapt if you keep doing the same supersets.
Here's what I personally do.
Every time I go to the gym I have a plan. I know I'm going to work certain body parts.
But the exercises I will do that session are always different. There's no way my body can adapt because there's simply no set routine.
I'm using the principles of supersetting but I'm not doing a 'routine' so there's nothing to adapt to.
If you don't give your body a reason to grow and change it won't.
At the same time, if you don't give your body a reason to adapt and it won't.
If you always start off with the same supersets, same weight, same reps, same tempo, your body will adapt.
It's as simple as just keeping it fresh with new exercises, new tempos, more reps, less reps, change the weight, change the order of the exercises.
If you do that, then I can promise that your body will not ever adapt because there's so much change, it cannot fall into the typical routine slump.
Fact is,...
Variation is the key to avoiding the dreaded plateau! That's where many people end up and it's where the most frustration occurs. They stop making any forward progress at all. Sometimes for weeks and sometimes for years. I've been there. It's not a destination I want to visit again.
Now here's the next step,...
How long should you do supersets before your body adapts to them?
If you've been reading with me so far, you can do supersets for as long as you want! The main focus of that routine is that it's not a routine per se (so there's no adaptation) and it's using principles to get more done in less time using intensity techniques to make the exercise harder (not easier).
Your body will have every reason to grow and change to keep up with what you are doing.
Unlike some routines that you should only do for 6 weeks or so, supersets are a training principle that you can do for years with great results as long as your supersets don't become routines themselves.
Supersets are not hard on your body physically, so while I still recommend a training break every 8-10 weeks or so, it's not the same as heavy lifting which can take its toll on you after years of doing it.
So that's why...
There's no reason to drop supersets ever from your workouts IF you enjoy them and they are working for you. Just don't let your supersets become a routine themselves and you will avoid that plateau and many other common beginning bodybuilding mistakes.
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