Dumbbell Front Raise

Attractive shoulders are almost at the top of anybody’s wish list. No body sculpting program is complete without exercises that work the shoulders and the arms.

The dumbbell front raise is the perfect exercise for developing mass and power in the deltoid muscles. This is an isolation exercise that builds the anterior deltoid muscles.

Dumbbell front raises are normally done as a part of a comprehensive shoulder workout program. Usually, 3-5 sets of 12-15 reps are performed but the exact number depends on the type of training the trainee adopts to achieve gains.

Equipment

A pair of dumbbells.

How to do the Dumbbell front raise exercise

Starting Position:
Start with weights that are comfortable. Excess weight will not only make you uncomfortable, it could even injure the shoulders and put you out of action for a while.

Stand with your feet planted shoulder width apart
Keep your back straight
Hold the dumbbells horizontally, one in each hand, palms facing the front of the thigh
Tuck in the abs
Elbows may be bent slightly

The Movement:

Lift the dumbbells with both hands to a level just above the shoulders
Hold for a second
Return your arms gently to the starting position

Tips:
The dumbbell front raise is a simple exercise for the shoulders. Therefore, care must be taken to place maximum effort into working the shoulders. There must be no distribution of weight to the back.

Inhale as you lift the weights and exhale as you bring your arms down
Do not load the shoulder joint beyond the level of comfort
Do not use weights that make you reach muscular failure at the end of a set
If you rock back on your heels in order to complete the lift, then you are using excess weight
Keep the body still while lifting.
Do not keep the elbow locked as this places excess stress on the hand.
Raising the weight too high will shift stress away from the deltoids.

Variations:
It is possible to perform the dumbbell front raise with one hand at a time. In this alternating arm version, each arm is lifted alternately.

Instead of gripping the dumbbells in front of the thighs, it is possible to use a hammer grip and grasp dumbbells at the side of the thighs too.

In Conclusion

Move naturally and in a fluid motion in order to minimize stress on the back. You may lean slightly backwards as you lift weights. This does not mean you should be sloppy with your form. All that is needed is to move naturally.

The Dumbbell Front Raise is an excellent muscle building exercise to help you build muscle and strength together.

ManicMuscles Recommends

Mad Scientist Muscle is a program by Nick Nillson and it’s designed to help experienced trainers to push their muscle growth to a whole new lever.

The program uses a unique method of workouts on the edge of overtraining and lower intensity training periods.

As always, Nick Nillson includes a variety of highly challenging exercises in his program complete with a detailed eating plan to help you get the best results.

For more on this program visit this Mad Scientist Muscle Review

Mad Scientist Muscle

Nick Nillson

Mad Scientist Muscle is a mass growth program for intermediate to advanced trainees and it’s focused on one thing: building lots of muscle mass as fast as possible, using scientifically sound methods.

The Mad Scientist Muscle program was developed by Nick Nillson and it’s no wonder why the program got that name: he is known as ‘Mad Nick’ in the bodybuilding field due to his unorthodox and “on the edge” training style.

He is an expert who bases his program on research and on trying things out himself. There’s no doubt that he practices what he preaches as you can see from his picture. That being said, his methods may not be right for everyone so read this review through to see whether or not it is right for you at this time.

Click here for a free report on the two top principles of muscle building

How Does Mad Scientist Muscle Work?

The Mad Scientist Muscle includes 4 separate mass building programs. Each of these 4 programs includes a detailed workout plan with eating guidelines for 8 weeks. In total, you get 8 months worth of information and you can redo some of the programs or change them up a bit to keep working with them.

The program as a whole is based on 2 main principles, both of which are backed up by scientific research and have been tweaked and finetuned by Nick Nillson to provide the fastest results:

1. Accumulation and Intensification – This is a training style that can also be called ‘controlled overtraining’. This is a scientifically researched principle that involves training in the area of overtraining to produce fast results.

During these workouts you gradually increase the volume of your workouts and reduce the rest time between sets until you hit the edge of overtraining. All this needs to be done right and it’s all explained in the program. This is an intense training level and it’s here that you can get great results.

As always, muscle growth happens in the rest period which is why after a few weeks of this kind of workouts, you reduce your workout load and then watch your muscle mass skyrocket. During this low volume training, you will also see increases in strength.

It is the switch between overtraining and low volume training that can produce rapid muscle growth for intermediate and advanced trainees.

In the program, Nick Nillson explains exactly how this works and why so many trainees hit a plateau due to too much overtraining or too little workout load.

2. The second principle of this program is Structural Training. With these workouts, you build the foundation of muscle growth.

Nick Nillson explains how it’s not enough to hit your muscles with heavy workouts. You need the rest of your body to be able to sustain those muscles. Otherwise, they will not grow. This includes your microcirculation: the flow of blood and nutrients to your muscles (there are workouts in the program to improve that), your neural system which needs to perform at the top of its game to get maximum gains, and the strength of your bones and joints.

One week out of every 4 in the program is dedicated to Structural Training, so you’re building a foundation one week, boosting muscle growth for the next 3 weeks, and then building a stronger foundation for another week and so on.

This is what I like about this program: it is scientifically based and builds your muscles from the ground up, in the right way. This is how you get more growth month after month and don’t get stuck doing the things that may have worked in the past but don’t anymore.

Mad Scientist Muscle is made up of a number of resources. The main program is nearly 400 pages long and includes meal plans, eating guidelines and strategies, the 4 programs with 8 weeks of workouts each, and the science behind the plan.

I know that you may want to get one with the program and not go over the science too much. I recommend that you take the time and read it. This is the kind of education that every serious muscle builder needs to have.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Nick Nillson knows his stuff so this program can work for you.
Provides fast muscle growth even for hardgainers.
Has a money back guarantee.
Extensive, detailed, and well written.
Backed by science and research.

Cons:

Not for beginner trainees.

In Conclusion

If you’ve been training for a while and know your way around the gym and you want to be able to boost your muscle growth further and faster, then Mad Scientist Muscle is a program you should use. Be ready for some hard work and intensive workouts. You will need to follow the program as closely as possible to get the best results.

If you are ready for a commitment and prepared to put in the hard work, then Nick Nillson is as good an expert as you can ever find. I have no doubt that you will build lots of muscle with his program.

Click here for More about Mad Scientist Muscle

Muscle Building Genetics

One of the biggest complaints (or shall I say myths) that I hear around gyms revolves around Genetics and how they help some people gain huge muscles while keeping others small and weak.

Do genetics really matter or are they just a way for people who don’t have the kind of results they’re after to whine about their lack of muscle growth?

A lot of muscle building programs promise that they will help you overcome your genetic limitation and gain more muscle mass than ever before. Do these muscle building experts know some secret than you don’t or are they just blowing smoke?

While I will never discount the impact of your genes on how fast or slow you grow your muscles, it seems that a lot of people give it more credit than it deserves. Of course, some people find it easy to get huge while others need to put in more effort, but the reason why muscle gaining experts feel comfortable making these promises is that they know that for more trainees, the belief that their genes are holding them back is just what it is… a belief and nothing more.

The Truth Behind the Genetic Influence

Some people are white and some are black, some people have brown hair while others have red, some have blue eyes and some green. All these things can’t be changed and are not influenced by the environment or your actions. You’re born with these traits and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The idea that genetics determine everything originates with these “from womb to tomb” qualities. However, you know that the size of your muscles and your strength are directly influenced by the effort you put in the gym, the knowledge you have, your nutrition, motivation, and so on. Yet people talk about muscle building genetics with the same certainty they give to eye color.

This is a ludicrous perspective. How can you tell if it’s your genetics that’s holding you back or your lack of knowledge or effort?

The answer is that you can’t and while a lot of people turn their genetics into their excuse, it is highly likely that they’re just not doing things right, inside the gym and out.

Can you honestly tell me that you believe that you’re working out perfectly? Do you honestly believe that there is no room for improvement in how you eat, how you train, the exercises you choose to perform and so on?

If you can, then fine, you’ve reached your limit. I say that you’re wrong and that there is a lot of room for improvement. However, there’s little I can do to prove it unless you’re willing to take action and to try some new technique to see if it works.

One of the experts I admire and respect the most, Vince Del Monte, says that there are 12 main ways to maximize your muscle. He says that most people don’t use half of them or more. Imagine that, more than 50% of what can give you the most growth is wasted. This has nothing to do with your genes. It has to do with how you lead your life, how you eat, and how you train.

The truth is that genetics is the resort of the person who has given up and is not ready to take the next step for really massive growth.

Don’t allow yourself to become a victim of this depressing and “dead end” way of thinking. If you find it hard to continue growing, now is the time to change things up, to take action to learn new techniques, new ways to workout, and break through the barrier you may be facing. Genes affect your life in many ways, but don’t be in a rush to blame them for everything.

Maximize Your Muscle

maximize your muscle cover Maximize Your Muscle is a muscle building program to help you break through muscle gain plateaus and to achieve a renewed muscle growth.

The program (known as MYM for short) was created by Vince Del Monte.

You may already know about Vince as the author of the highly acclaimed No Nonsense Muscle Building program which is intended for beginners and intermediate trainees.

Vince has helped over 20,000 people worldwide to train and eat better to build muscle mass. (Click here to see some before and after pictures of his students)

Maximize Your Muscle is intended for a more advanced crowd, for the experienced muscle developer (with 1-4 years of training) who wants to find a way to achive a bigger, faster, and new muscle growth.

Vince is known as a muscle building “Guru” and while I find that people overuse the word Guru and just hand it out to people who don’t deserve it, Vince Del Monte does fit this role in many ways.

In Maximize Your Muscle (MYM), Vince Del Monte strives to help people break free of the limitations of their genetic makeup and produce an intense muscle growth. Bear in mind that your genes do play a role in anything that happens to you, but you can gain a lot more muscle than you may believe possible, even if you’re not genetically inclined to do so.

Click here to read some testimonials of people who used Vince’s program

The Dreaded Plateau

The reality of training is that sooner or later you’re going to hit a plateau. Without even knowing why it is happening, you will find yourself stuck, unable to gain any more mass.

You may still be working your tail off at the gym but you will have little to show for it.

Hitting a plateau is demoralizing and frustrating. It can leave you trying to find answers and failing again and again.

To overcome a plateau and renew your muscle growth, you should definitely go through the Maximize Your Muscle program. It is made exactly for this purpose, to help you push beyond your boundaries and increase strength and muscle size by as much as 87.5%.

Maximize Your Muscle, as it’s known for short, is built around 12 principles, what Vince Del Monte calls Anabolic Targets. The reason why you may be finding it near impossible to achieve your full growth potential is that you’re not taking advantage of these 12 targets.

The 12 Anabolic Targets include different ways to stimulate the muscles, how to involve different muscle fibers in your workouts, how to tap into different energy systems in your body, and so on.

By mastering these 12 targets and by working to have them all in place in your workouts, you can achieve optimal muscle building results, break through many plateaus, and often get better results that you may have thought possible due to your genetics.

Click here for a full explanation about the 12 Anabolic Targets

How Do You Maximize Your Muscles

MYM is a monthly program that you can use for as little or as long as you like. Each month you get a new set of resources from Vince Del Monte to help you conquer another anabolic target.

To complete the entire set will take 12 months but you may expect to achieve impressive results very quickly just by incorporating more of the 12 targets into your routine even if you don’t use all of them.

Each month includes diverse content such as exercise videos, audios on nutrition, fitness, mindset, and so on, and ebooks and reports from Vince. You also get access to an exclusive user forum where you can tap into Vince’s knowledge and share your success with other serious trainees.

Check out a video of the program right here

Each month you need to follow the new workouts that Vince Del Monte provides. This isn’t going to be easy or immediate. You know by now that to get real muscle growth requires you to do your part and to workout hard. However, now you have the guidance you need to propel your results to a whole new level.

This is not a program for someone who’s not used to workout or who wants an easy solution. This is for serious and experienced people only. You will be working hard with this plan. The workouts are short but they’re tough. Be aware of that and be prepared for it.

If you find yourself struggling to achieve the kind of muscle growth and strength that you feel you ought to have, this program can give you a whole new way to workout and to get you to the next level.

Right now, you can try the program for just $1, so check it out and see if it’s for you: Click here to try out Maximize Your Muscles for $1

In Conclusion

To make plateaus a thing of the past and achieve a new muscle gain, check out this program. It is another excellent resource by Vince Del Monte and one which I feel you will see massive results with.

Muscle Building Tips

The art of muscle building often seems much more complicated than it really is. Sure, there is always more to learn and more advacned techniques that you can use to try to gain a bit more muscle mass in a little less time. However, you can get awesome results just by following some basic guidelines.

These guidelines are just another example of the 80/20 rule in action. This rule means that 20 percent of your effort is responsible for 80 percent of the results you will get. This essentially means that by focusing on the 20 percent of actions that really count that you can get most of the results you wish.

In this article, I want to share with you 7 muscle building tips which should provide you with excellent results. Use these guidelines and you will see the muscle start piling on your arms, legs, shoulders and entire body.

Muscle Gaining Tips

1. Always use a training log – Knowing where you currently are in your training is key to your success. You can’t expect to be able to achieve better results unless you keep an exact log of what exercises you’re doing, at what weight, and how many reps you are able to complete. This log will be the basis of any muscle building plan that you’ll be using. (A recommended plan is No Nonsense Muscle Building).

2. Don’t train more than 3 times each week – You don’t just need to train your muscles, you also need to allow the time to rest and recover. This is not something you can neglect. Allowing your muscles ample time to recover is key to your muscle gaining success. If you won’t do it you will never get good results.

3. Change your workout program every 4-6 weeks – After a while, your muscles adapts to whatever workout plan you throw at it. To keep things challenging, you have to change up your routine. The more fit you are the faster you need to change your workout plan.

4. Eat a lot – There’s simply no better way to put it. You need to stuff yourself with food. This is the building block of your muscles. You need to feed your muscles for them to grow. To really build a lot of muscle mass, you have to eat much more than you may be used to doing today. One excellent program that shows you how to create tasty meals for yourself that are geared toward rapid muscle growth is Anabolic Cooking by Dave Ruel.

5. Stretch between sets – While most trainees leave their stretching exercises to the end of the workout, it can be good for you to stretch your muscles between sets. This may actually give your muscles more room to grow.

6. If you want to be big lift big – There’s no way to gain muscles without packing on the weight. If you want to become bigger you have to lift heavy weights.

7. Sleep for 8-9 hours each night – You want your muscles to recover and grow, don’t you? You need to give them the rest they crave. You will have to sleep a lot even if it means cutting down your social life. Hey, we’ve all got choices to make.

Follow these tips and you should see faster and better results.
ManicMuscles Recommends

One of the most special workout and fitness programs I’ve had the pleasure to know is Tacfit Commando by Scott Sonnon. This program involves doing intensive bodyweight workouts that special ops soldiers and combat units from around the world use to get their body ready for combat.