Gym

[Pitbullking69]

I attend the gym 4 maby 5 times a week. I am a fan of the bench which we all know is used for building the pectoral major (pecs). I find that having the bench flat 'tears' more fibres towards the side of the muscle rather than the middle. I have been told that the incline bench press 'tears' muscle more the the centre of the chest. I have been training using the incline bench press technique for around 5-6 weeks now and i am not seeing any results. Can anyone give me any advice/training tips?

[Ben John-Hynes]

If you want to carry on going 4-5 times a week, don't do weights every time,

Do weights for maybe 2 visits, and work on fitness for the other 3.

As doing weights every time will tear your muscles so they're ready to grow, then will damage them and not let them heal.

[Big Gay Bear]

Are you doing the same routine everytime you go to the gym?

If so put some variation into it, your body gets used to the same thing over and over again, or get bigger add more weight to your lifts and push yourself each time you go.

Also give your self some time to rest, your body is never going to build if you dont allow your muscles to heal.

Ask one of the staff to help you out, Im sure they could assist you in your problem.

Cheers

Adam.

[Rusevelt]

Damon Watson does, though he trains the specific muscle groups to aid his powerful riding style (back and upper body). free weights probably helps more than isometric because you can mimic the specific trials movements to improve you riding ie; squats for powerful legs and hips.

[BIG Drew]

I attend the gym 4 maby 5 times a week. I am a fan of the bench which we all know is used for building the pectoral major (pecs). I find that having the bench flat 'tears' more fibres towards the side of the muscle rather than the middle. I have been told that the incline bench press 'tears' muscle more the the centre of the chest. I have been training using the incline bench press technique for around 5-6 weeks now and i am not seeing any results. Can anyone give me any advice/training tips?

http://www.myprotein.co.uk/?page=article&id=28

Worth a read...

Um..There is a HUGE post in chitchat about this...Have a read of that as well:)

[Diz]

Hi!

I'm a personal trainer and can tell you that doing bench on flat focuses the work on your central pecs. If the bench is on incline it will add more focus to the upper portion of your pecs, similarly if the bench is on a decline it will add more focus to the lower portion of the pecs.

If you're looking to increase size of the muscle aim to hit the pecs hard with a variety of exercises. If you only have a bench aim to do a couple of sets on flat, a couple on incline and a couple on decline. Make sure you're not doing too many reps, for strength and bulk you'd be looking at about 8 - 10 reps, any more than that and you'd be looking to improve endurance of the muscle. Any more than 20 reps is pointless.

To get the best effects from your workout you should be looking for each rep to take between 6-8 seconds. So 3-4 seconds pressing the weight, and the same for lowering.

Select the correct weight, ie using these 6-8 second reps, the last 2 or 3 reps should be quite tough.

Also, an important point to note is that you should have at least one rest day in between chest sessions to allow the muscle to repair itself and grow. An ideal training session for upper body strength would be to work the chest and triceps one day, then back and biceps the next.

Nutrition is also important, make sure you're taking on board enough protein to repair the muscles, and also some complex carbs for refuelling otherwise all your hard work will be for nothing.

Hope these tips help.

Diz.

[tris]

screw that!!! the best way to improve your muscles for riding trials is by riding trials......same goes for motocross.

i generally ride about 3 hours each day everyday in the week. so i'd say im pretty fit now.

i suppose going to the gym helps but i think trials is more about technique rather than muscle....and therefore riding (rather than gyming) is more beneficial.

[N.Wood]

i suppose going to the gym helps but i think trials is more about technique rather than muscle....and therefore riding (rather than gyming) is more beneficial.

True, but you'll learn that once you get your technique dialled, theres no way to improve it so you look for other ways of helping yourself get up that wall/stay stronger for longer.