You know I’m the largest advocate for just getting active to achieve greater health & fitness results, but there eventually comes a time where just “exercising” isn’t enough. Such as when you’ve been working out for months, or even years and havn’t learned proper form or techinque to optimize the intended result. Too often I see people “miserable” with the effort they’re putting into their fitness routine, and not at all happy with the return on their investment. THIS IS ONLY FORM FOCUS, Not even touching base with intensity improvements.   I want to help people and prevent them from falling off or losing steam in their progress. The Leg Extension will be a great place to start as I’ve literally seen three gym goers before me today have lack luster form, it’s sometimes excruciating to watch. When I have the opportunity I WILL go out of my way to recommend and correct the technique in a conversation as I see it, but I can’t talk to everybody and I don’t have the time to disconnect from my own workout. So with the good fortune of my lovely wife, I was able to give a quick run down of where I see the biggest corrections in this BASIC move.

1. Assure the Pivot Point for the Knee Flexion is ON POINT: There’s a reason why the back pad is adjustable. Simply take 10 seconds and manipulate the seat so your knee lines up with the Joint Pivot Point. So many don’t even know what this is or why it’s there. This allows the appropriate torque on the knee in safe and effective way.

2. Position your Spine in a Nuetral Position: During the range of motion, keep your chest up proud and your shoulds back. This allows for a nuetral spine and optimal flexion of the entire quadriceps. Collapsing the chest, rolling the shoulders forward, or even leaning forward, prevents the mobility in the hip flexors. Just think, how can you create the longest elongation of the muscle and how can you provide the hardest contraction in the ROM. (more…)

Ah, the Bench Press… the most common exercise for working and building development of the chest.  For both Men and Women alike, a tighter more developed chest is often desired.  However after so many weeks, months, and years of training, we often hit that proverbial wall and stop gaining results in the pectoral region.  How do we avoid stalemate in creating a masterful chest?

VARIETY, VARIETY, VARIETY

Never lose sight of all the variety, angles and degrees this muscle can be targeted; heavy weight, light weight, incline, decline, but let’s not forget how WIDE and expansive our variations can be.

Adding a Wide Grip to your Press can provide a jolt back on the fast track to stimulating this highly sought after showcased muscle.  Not to mention the intensity it brings from your Delt and Tricep tie-ins as well.

WHAT and WHY TARGETED:

PECTORALIS MAJOR-  Targeting the pectoralis major muscle, the wide grip press is an intensive exercise primarily to the lateral or outer chest fibers.  This popularly large muscle is the prime mover of arm (more…)

With the phrase SUNS OUT, GUNS OUT being hash tagged more now then ever, we can’t help to put more attention into our “Gun” development.  With Summer right around the corner, we can turn the Pipe Cleaners into something of Head Turners.  Despite the Triceps being the largest muscles in the upper arm, Biceps definitely seem to be the favorite to train for most folks.  Not all Bicep exercises develop and thicken the bicep brachii and brachialis (two heads of the Bicep) like the Preacher Curl.  Whether with dumbbells for a unilateral contraction or with a cambered bar, shown here, for a bilateral contraction, the Preacher Curl is one to certainly include into your arm day arsenal.  Variable grips on the bar are a huge advantage for many degrees of development and nothing will strengthen your distal biceps tendon (nearest elbow groove) more efficiently than FULL range of motion on this movement.  So dig those arms in deep into the pad and PRAY for the Pump to reside.  

Developing the rear deltoid (shoulder) can be quite challenging to balance out the physique, as it is for myself.  There are few movements that isolate the posterior delts, but when they are mastered look out.  There’s always time to smolder the shoulder to enhance their rounded appearance.

Horizontal arm abduction, as in the standing rear delt cable fly, is most important in sport and shoulder development that requires the arms to be pulled back while in line with the shoulders.  All details and video description in the links attached.

The LIFT LOWDOWN:

When- Do the standing rear delt cable fly at the end of your shoulder workout.

With- Precede the standing rear delt crossover fly with exercises that target the middle and front felt, such as presses, lateral raises and front raises.

What- Five major muscles are involved: Posterior Deltoids, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, Rhomboid, Trapezius

How- Do 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps for starters

STANDING CABLE CROSSOVER REAR DELT FLY 

TIP:  The farther you bring your arms (elbows), the more you invoke your rear deltoids and mid-back muscles.  Thus, a full range of motion is needed for maximum shortening of the primary muscles.

Here is a different approach to training the abdominals: This method will involve only a few static (or held) repetitions laterally on each side of the abdomen wall, which will minimize the risk of losing good form and maximize the opportunity to focus internally on breathing and controlling the muscles being worked.

1. Lie supine (face up) on the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
2. Peel your head and shoulders slightly off the floor. Lengthen the arms and reach toward your feet.  Focus on using your core and abdomen.
3. Reach for your heel on one side in a lateral movement.  Perform the following breathing pattern: Inhale five times or counts (think of sniffing through the nose), Exhale in five counts (blowing out through the mouth).  Maintain elevated shoulders and alternate the heel touch on the other side.  Do two to four more static repetitions on both sides with a slight break in between if needed.

Full exercise demonstration HERE (non-static)

Let us know your secret ab exercise(s) you use to work your core!

If you asked any trainer or strength coach to list the top 5 exercises that the majority of the population should be doing, pull ups and/or chin ups (or lat pull-downs) will predictably be on most every list.

It’s just universally considered one of the best exercise variations for building muscle and increasing strength in the back and biceps. It’s also a common “test” exercise used to show you’re at a certain level of strength and physical condition.  I of course agree with this completely, which is why every Fitastic workout routine I create will always contain some type of pull up, chin up, or lat pull-down movement; not to mention it’s a required Strength Test movement to Set Up your online program.

Interestingly however, many people don’t seem to realize that pull ups and chin ups are NOT the same thing. They’re similar exercises for sure, but using their names (more…)

Ah, the Bench Press… the most common exercise for working and building the development of the chest.  For both Men and Women alike, a tighter more developed chest is often desired.  However after so many weeks, months, and years of training, we sometimes hit that proverbial wall and stop gaining results in the pectoral region.  How do we avoid stalemate in creating a masterful chest?

VARIETY, VARIETY, VARIETY

Never lose sight of all the variety, angles and degrees this muscle can be targeted; heavy weight, light weight, incline, decline, but let’s not forget how WIDE and expansive our variations can be.

Adding a Wide Grip to your Press can provide a jolt back on the fast track to stimulating this highly sought after showcased muscle.  Not to mention the intensity it brings from your Delt and Tricep tie ins as well.

WHAT and WHY TARGETED:

PECTORALIS MAJOR-  Targeting the pectoralis major muscle, the wide grip press is an intensive exercise primarily to the lateral or outer chest fibers.  This popularly large muscle is the prime mover of arm (more…)

When developing anterior deltoids, isolating the contraction to a unilateral movement proves beneficial.  Allowing stabilization and core control will provide focus and full range of motion for this lift.  The constant tension of the cable places emphasis to a restless range of motion.  Provided are all the written and video details you’ll need to execute properly.

Every BODY deserves to feel Fitastic!

View details HERE

Why does the Front Squat not get the credit it deserves?  Perhaps the better question is, how come no one knows how to Front Squat?  After watching those in the gym attempting to perform this movement, it’s obvious…
When you hear about the “ultimate lift” for a finely developed lower body and impressive squat numbers, most exercisers are referring to the traditional barbell Back Squat. It’s the most popular squat variation around and part of the big three in powerlifting indeed.  I enjoy the back squat, it deserves all the credit it receives, but you’re not nearly reaching the muscular development benefits and strength if you neglect the barbell Front Squat.  In addition is the dynamic hand placement variation of the Front Squat- Underhand grip.  Both are extremely effective as you’ll see here.
For starters, Front Squats require effort and hard work, which most gym goers avoid like the plague, opting to post every gym P.R. and dozens of half-naked selfies on Facebook. This astonishing trend combined with lifters maintaining content with their classic leg presses and smith machine squats has led to anemic leg development, un-balanced physiques, and form patterns riddled with dysfunction.
Few exercises match the high performance benefits of the Front Squat, even the popular Barbell Back Squat. It’s time to leave your ego at the door and attack your (more…)

If there’s one thing we really try to instill in the Fitastic community is avoiding “time wasting” through exercise.  That doesn’t mean we’re averse to putting in long hours and training hard.  It DOES mean we want maximum bang for our exercise buck!  So we’re always building and sharing the most efficient exercises for the job.

We recently had the chance to ask Master Trainer and President of Benchmark Fit Club, Jimmy Fascetta what he recommends in adding to any fitness routine to efficiently obtain great results…  Emphatically he mentioned the LUNGE.  The best part is, is that there is no weight required to perform this exercise with proficient success.

We couldn’t agree more!  In fact, the lunge and it’s variations are a staple in many of our programs.  It’s one of those foundational exercises that opens the doors to all kinds of variations and other movement patterns- not to mention all the muscle recruitment required.  But before  you progress, make sure you understand the basics first.

Watch the simple yet detailed walk through with Jimmy HERE—>  BODY WEIGHT LUNGE