Though none of these body parts contributes
substantially to the overall mass of your body, or the
"X" shape that is important for a bodybuilder, they
WILL make or break you on stage or when comparing
yourself to your peers. A bulging, freaky calf can be
quite awe-inspiring, onstage ripped abs tie in the
rest of your physique, and nicely peaked biceps give
what would be just big arms a look of beauty and
completeness. I would consider biceps and abs to be
the most overtrained body parts in teenage
bodybuilding, simply because the biceps are only one
third of the arm and because abdominal definition is
largely a result of diet. You can have big arms
without big biceps, plus this small muscle gets
secondary work in your back workouts, and your abs can
get enough secondary work through compound movements
so that they will stand out once all the fat is burned
away. Calves, on the other hand, must be the most
undertrained body part. This is a mistake because the
calves do not receive secondary work in your lifting
and you cannot have large lower legs without large
calves. You will always look like an
amateur/recreational bodybuilder if you don't train
your calves. Having big calves shows that you are a
serious bodybuilder, serious about bringing every
muscle in your body to the limit of its genetic
potential, without them your just like everybody else.
Your objective is to stop overtraining biceps/abs and
start training calves, so that you find a balance
between the two. Like I said, your abs are not going
to waste away, they are largely a result of diet, plus
secondary work keeps them toned. Your biceps are a
little more important, because they will not grow much
without direct work, and calves are the most important
because big calves are rare and really separate you
from the average teen bodybuilder. So, without
further introduction, here's the fourth day in my
personal split, biceps calves and abs:
*Calf presses on the leg press machine:
If you never train calves, you should start slow.
Start with three sets in the neutral foot position,
pyramiding the weight so that you get 12 on your first
set and 8 on your last. Each week add a set with the
same weight you finished with the week before, until
your doing six sets total. Now, switch to four sets
with toes in, and four sets with toes out. Alternate,
start with toes out, go hard, rest a minute, go with
toes in, rest a minute, and so on for a total of 8
sets. The reps aren't terribly important, as long as
your going at or near failure, and doing a little
better than you did last time. From this point start
adding small amounts of weight and trying to increase
your reps. IMPORTANT: I've seen it SO many times,
trainers mistakenly do these fast, pumping their feet
like a ballerina who can't quite stand on her toes
yet. These should be done with control on the way
down, an explosive contraction, and an extra squeeze
at the top, then slowly down into a deep stretch
again. Stretch as deeply as comfortably possible,
stretching is very important.
*EZ Curl preacher curls: 3 sets I don't have to tell
you not to cheat, you know better. Squeeze at top,
slow negative, controlled contraction with no wiggling
or leaning.
*Hammer Curls: 3 sets I do these sitting on a bench,
with my elbow on my knee, so that I keep my arm in a
fixed position. This cuts out a lot of cheating, and
allows you to bend only at the elbow.
For variety substitute EZ bar preacher curls for
incline dumbbell curls, and reverse barbell curls for
hammer curls. Don't worry about developing a "peak",
that only comes when the bicep gets bigger. Some guys
genetically have a high peak, you cannot change your
genetics by doing certain exercises, all you can do is
make the bicep bigger, which will give it a higher
peak along with thickness.
These two exercises stress opposite sides of the
biceps individually, which will help separate the two
heads and make a split in the middle.
Abs:
The lower part of the abs brings the legs to the body,
while the upper abs bring the torso down. Obviously,
conventional crunches focus on the upper abs which are
almost always better developed than the lower abs
anyway. Many guys have the top four, but the bottom
two are hard to get because men have a genetic
weakness there. You can do crunches all day and they
won't show, because your just training your upper abs.
So, I devised a good way to target your lower abs.
"Ab Rollers": Similar to the commercial product but
minus the money. Take a barbell with a 25 on each
side and find a clear spot. Sit on your knees and
grip it narrow, and stretch your body out so that your
arms are almost horizontal with the ground, then pull
from your upper legs (remember your lower abs pull
your upper legs to your torso) until you are back with
your arms straight under you, like your on all fours.
Try to do three sets of fifteen, you WILL feel it.
Crunches: Ye ol' traditional standby, focus on
quality over quantity. You don't have to do a
thousand crunches, or even a hundred. Try three sets
of twenty while squeezing hard at the top and
maintaining constant tension. If you do it right
you'll feel a good burn on only 20.
Oblique Crunches: Like regular crunches except you
lay your legs to the side, and keep your torso
straight. This way you crunch together the side of
your body. Superset these since one side rests while
the other works, 3 sets of 20 will be fine.
That's about it on biceps, calves, and abs. Next, I
want to write an article on bringing in the four
muscle groups I've introduced into a split, but I'm
not sure what you guys want to know. E mail me with
your questions on training splits. Thank you for
reading!
- Alton
beautifuldisaster420@yahoo.com
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