Be Monkfit

1) Be sure to work your triceps two times within 8 days each week  for at least 6 weeks. 

2)Do 12 sets total each time you work them. 

3)Don’t do any other exercises on non-tricep days that use the triceps (no presses of any kind).  So for chest and delts, do flys and raises respectively. 

4) Have an “A” day and a “B” day.  On “A” day, choose tricep exercises that you can go really heavy on such as skull crushers, seated DB behind the head using both arms together, narrow presses, dips, cable press-downs, etc.  On “B” day, choose more isolated exercises such as anything using 1 arm at a time. 

5) On “A” day, do 6-10 reps per set.  On ”B” day, do 8-12 reps per set.

6) Rest 90 sec to 2 minutes between each set.

Feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

Posted in bodybuilding, fitness tips

Quit feeling sorry for yourself, and have an attitude like this guy!  This isn’t just some guy.  He’s Lee Barbosa, and he’s monkfit.  Why?  He gives life everything he’s got. . . and then some!  Lee will be profiled and interviewd next month on monkfit.com.  I can’t wait!

Posted in motivation, news

How sweet is this!?  At least until we make it big, this will have to do. 

Posted in monkfit legion

…or I’ll eat my words.  Try and follow me here.  It’s easy to argue that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what’s the most important “thing” of the day?  I say it’s your attitude.  Your attitude is determined by your motivator.  Therefore, your proverbial wheaties is your motivation!  If your going through your day, your week, or even your year without some real inspiration, it will be a struggle for you to get motivated, then your attitude will suck.  We all need some form of external motivation.  It’s impossible to be 100% on your “A” game all the time.  We are only human.  I encourage you to create your motivation pyramid.  The bigger motivators are at the base of the pyramid, and they will get you through longer periods.  The smaller motivators are at the tope of the pyramid, and they will get you through days and moments.  Here’s an example: YEAR= God, Health, and Family.  MONTH=a short term goal such as a strength goal or weight loss goal.  WEEK= Put some motivating pictures as your background on your computer, IPhone, etc.  DAY=Write your goals down the night before.  MOMENT= nothing like your favorite song or readings some inspiring quotes to get you going!  Check out this video to motivate you for the day…

Posted in motivation

There are a few really important rules to live by for CONTINUING to gain muscle and strength that the magazines often don’t tell you.  As a matter of fact, advice from a bodybuilder and even many fitness models is based on their own experiences.  The problem with this is that their bodies work differently than yours because they are on steroids! (not all, but many)…  So here are the keys to keep building muscle and strength

1) Work the same muscle twice in 4 to 6 days, no more, no less.  Examples would be doing arms on Monday and Thursday, Monday and Friday, or Monday and Saturday of the same week.  That’s 2 to 4 days of rest in between.  This allows enough time for the muscle to recover, but not so much time that you begin to lose the strength and size that you had just gained.  The more sore you are, the more days you should rest.

2) To see some seroious growth, do 12 to 14 sets for the muscle your trying to develop.  Example for back: Wide Lat Pull 4 sets of 10 reps, DB Rows 4 sets of 10 reps, Narrow Lat Pull 4 sets of 10.

3) Do whatever you have to do to get sore.  If your not ever getting sore from your workouts any more, your not pushing it hard enough.  Use forced reps, drop-sets, super-sets, monster-sets, cluster-sets, etc.  I will try and blog on these things soon if you don’t know what they are.

Posted in bodybuilding, fitness tips, monkfit legion, strength

This is such a loaded question with a complicated answer.  The best rule of thumb is to alternate your days between a “heavy day” and a “high volume” day to get the fastest results.  A heavy day will be anywhere between 1 rep and 7 reps.  A high volume day will be anywhere between 8 reps and 12 reps.  Here is a two week sample for bench pressing on Mondays and Thursdays.  Monday 4 sets of 6 reps.  Thursday 4 sets of 12 reps.  Monday 4 sets of 4 reps.  Thursday 4 sets of 8 reps.  Your tempo is a factor too.  Generally, keep your tempo at 1/2 to 1 second on the positive and 1.5 to 2 seconds on the negative.  Good luck!

Posted in beginner workouts, fitness tips, strength