Hey guys,

to day I have a first book review on 36Pounds.com for you!The book is called Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks
and is written by Randall J. Strossen. I read it last week and loved it. It shares my view of training in the sense that you need to train with basics-first routine, keep it simple workout hard and you will succeed. Book is a short read, about 100 pages of content only, writing style is nice and easy to understand, like a very experienced gym buddy talking to you and just giving advice.

Now, today I want to give you THE BEST workout I have personally done, I wish I had know about it early in my training. It’s a very simple, basic-first, easy-to-keep-track-of routine that will give you strength and size gains that you want ;)

This routine should be done 3 times a week, every other day (for example Monday-Wednesday-Friday).

Main goal with this routine is to progress as much as you can with adding weights each workout.

Now, you are gonna do 5 sets and 5 reps of each exercise (except the last one of the workout which is to be done for 3 sets and 8 reps). You need to do ALL 5 sets with the same weight. If you do 5×5 with it, next workout you must add 5lbs to the bar and seek to do 5×5 again. If you can’t, next workout you workout with the same weight. When you do 5×5 add 5lbs to the bar again!

A very good exercise for your back. It builds your back very well and also works out your biceps too because it’s a compound movement. At first it will be hard to pull yourself up even. But when your back gets stronger you can add weights and do weighted pull ups. You can do this exercise at home (if there is such a possibility) or at the gym.

Here is how to do it:

You goal is to pull yourself up to the bar and then lower yourself down.

1. Hang on the pull up bar. Your arms should be straight. Wider than your shoulder width and palms facing away.
2. Pull yourself up until your chin is a little higher than the pull up bar. Keep your legs in line with your upper body.
3. Then slowly lower yourself down.
Repeat.

Simple but hard to do exercise! If you don’t have the strength to do at least one pull up, then do lat pull downs on the machine at the gym! This will strengthen your back and you should be able to do pull ups later. Some gyms have machines that can assist you while doing pull ups

I used to have a very poor posture. I’d slouch, shoulders hunched over, belly sticking out (even though I had no fat almost). And this was all because of sitting at the computer a lot and not having strong muscles that can help your posture be good. I’m not a doctor and I can only share what I know with you. And I know that bodybuilding helped me correct it. It’s still not perfect but it’s way better.

The most important thing is to strengthen those muscles that are responsible for your posture. These are your core, shoulders, back, lower back, abs, butt and hamstrings. Yes, I did mention butt… :) Look at this picture:

Diamond push ups are very similar to regular push ups and workout you triceps mostly. Your chest still get a little workout but most of the work goes to triceps. Here is a video on how to do it:

diamond pushup
(Click on image to view this exercise…)

The only difference between doing this one and the regular push ups is the placement of your arms. Instead of keeping your arms wide (regular push up) you keep them straight in front of your chest. Honestly, I don’t know what more to add on how to do it. :D It’s an easy exercise to do technique-wise.

Cheers,

Adrian