Can someone just explain what are “money” exercises?
Surgery
[quote]OnsloT wrote:
Can someone just explain what are “money” exercises?[/quote]
Those have gotta be the hawt abz ones. As a first post, you’d be better off googling “hawt abz”…
Back to the topic - what about forearms?
It’s definately my weak point. I’ll do heavy dead’s, I’ll do plate holds, I’ll do wrist curls, etc. Heck I even tried a variation of a wrist curl that I felt activated more muscle tissue for my body type. Nothing seems to grow them to eye-popping size.
These suckers are just terribly stubborn.
[quote]Smallfry69 wrote:
Back to the topic - what about forearms?
It’s definately my weak point. I’ll do heavy dead’s, I’ll do plate holds, I’ll do wrist curls, etc. Heck I even tried a variation of a wrist curl that I felt activated more muscle tissue for my body type. Nothing seems to grow them to eye-popping size.
These suckers are just terribly stubborn.[/quote]
Not 100% sure, but I think Dante has like a ‘stubborn forearm’ protocol or exercise or something. Someone more knowledge in DC like zraw or Delta would probably be more helpful…
[quote]zraw wrote:
You bring them up by being smart with your exercise selection IMO.
Of course if you’re not even doing the exercise right fix that first…
[/quote]
I think proper sequencing plays a big role. example, when shoulders and triceps take over chest, do pressing before bench press.
And the obvious, move a lagging part to start of workout (unless it contradicts with previous rule). Helped me with medial delts.
Do a spec period, placing the rest of the body on hold/maintenance.
Also, reading threads like this; lots of good ideas!
Lol brought my traps up to the point where they no longer bring dishonor to my family by using a couple steps:
1)A lot of higher rep sets of lighter isolation work with 2 second holds at the peak contraction (things like machine shrugs, Voyer shrugs, behind the back smith shrugs, etc). I was hitting traps on my DL focus day on a program by Thibs, but then I just did a ton of extra sets of 6-12 with the 2 second holds in between sets of chest and shoulder work as well. I probably got in 100 or more sets of isolation work on traps each week over this past summer just to get good at feeling them work.
2)Starting around October, I cut out all isolation work for traps and just started working on a ton of clean/press work (either heavy power clean/push press work or lighter power clean/strict press stuff). I’d hit these 4-6 days each week using relatively light weights and focusing on being really explosive. Maybe one or two of those days each week, I’d also go heavier and push up to around 90% of my max.
I got lucky enough to an early crack at Thibs’ programming through the Indigo Project, but I’ve been doing my own thing since at least October now and just generally applying his idea of using isolation/structural work to learn how to recruit muscles, then performing “big lifts” explosively and often to really see improvement in those muscles.
I’m not thrilled with my traps or anything (my physique is still a work in progress obviously) but I gained more on them in the past 6 months using that method than I did in the 7 or so years of lifting before that.
sequencing of exercises helps, watching the workout log helps, structure of workout helps.
If you aren’t moving more weight with predominantly the target muscle over time, you are no doing progressive resistance training, you are doing HIIT.
I see some workouts that have day to day redundancy, as well as intraday redundancy.
Changing of rep ranges can help too.
Improved my lifelong skinny, hard-gaining little calves in the past year by:
- Training them no less than twice per week
- Varying the rep scheme from workout to workout
- Employing heavy, unilateral, negative-only workouts every 3rd or 4th workout (on Leg Press machine)
- Performing heavy, flat-footed calf raises in the Smith Machine (rest-pause style until 100 reps are achieved)
My calves still aren’t huge, but recently I had been told by 2 different dudes in the same week that I had great calves.
Now I need to apply the same ethic and action on my wussy forearms. 
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Improved my lifelong skinny, hard-gaining little calves in the past year by:
- Training them no less than twice per week
- Varying the rep scheme from workout to workout
- Employing heavy, unilateral, negative-only workouts every 3rd or 4th workout (on Leg Press machine)
- Performing heavy, flat-footed calf raises in the Smith Machine (rest-pause style until 100 reps are achieved)
My calves still aren’t huge, but recently I had been told by 2 different dudes in the same week that I had great calves.
Now I need to apply the same ethic and action on my wussy forearms. ;)[/quote]
Cool.
Did that have any effect on your mobility? I’ve weight-trained my calves only twice in my life (as is evident by my avi) and couldn’t leave home for about two days afterwards on both occasions.
And: you’re small…so…every muscle looks humongous on you, Tom Thump, dear.
[quote]FattyFat wrote:
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Improved my lifelong skinny, hard-gaining little calves in the past year by:
- Training them no less than twice per week
- Varying the rep scheme from workout to workout
- Employing heavy, unilateral, negative-only workouts every 3rd or 4th workout (on Leg Press machine)
- Performing heavy, flat-footed calf raises in the Smith Machine (rest-pause style until 100 reps are achieved)
My calves still aren’t huge, but recently I had been told by 2 different dudes in the same week that I had great calves.
Now I need to apply the same ethic and action on my wussy forearms. ;)[/quote]
Cool.
Did that have any effect on your mobility? I’ve weight-trained my calves only twice in my life (as is evident by my avi) and couldn’t leave home for about two days afterwards on both occasions.
And: you’re small…so…every muscle looks humongous on you, Tom Thump, dear.
[/quote]
Heh heh!
Yes. You have to work up to it. They can get INTENSELY sore for days after.
At this point, I’m so well-conditioned that I’m not happy if they’re NOT sore the next day.
I want to make another point: You have to LOVE calf training (and this becomes evident when the mind/muscle connection happens). I never train calves first in a workout, but I make sure I’m mentally ready to give them 100% every scheduled calf training day.