Greg Plitt: Sledge Hammer Demolition Workout

Fitness and philosophy: Greg Plitt knows how to combine both conclusively and uniquely. The bodybuilder and top cover model introduces his Sledge Hammer Demolition Workout: "The most valuable asset in life is a depreciating asset of time. The fact you have the time to still create change is something you can never take for granted. As you look back on your life, wondering if you accomplished everything you could, will your answer be "Yes?". In his Sledge Hammer Demolition Workout, available in the www.GregPlitt.com Members Section, Greg ensures you never have to doubt your answer to that question, for you gave it your all and got everything that life offered. Greg: "If you want the most, be willing to supply your most, let the remaining balance lay where it will... your conscience will never lay with it."

Tuan Tran: 'The Dark Knight Rises' Bane Workout

Bodybuilder and powerlifter Tuan Tran gets enthusiastic about Batman, the movie "The Dark Knight Rises", and especially its villain Bane. Tuan: "I have been waiting for the movie and wanted to do a fan based video this time around. Not something I normally do, but this was a perfect fit coming up with an idea about how Bane trains. He is physiqually the most powerful foe the Dark Knight has ever faced. In order for Bane to take on the Dark Knight, he must master all aspects of athletic ability. Here are my thoughts on how Bane would train his entire body to max the aspects of

Ryan Nelson: New AAG Model

His massive chest is most striking, when he is shirtless. But he is far more than a muscle guy who works out regularly. Ryan Nelson, who comes to AllAmericanGuys from the state of Pennsylvania, is an IFPA pro natural bodybuilder, a full-time college student and a personal trainer. Ryan wasn't always as buff as he looks in his professional photos. He said he started off as a skinny guy growing up and that gave him the motivation to push himself and build his physique into what it is today. Ryan is a pre-med student with some ambitious goals for both his career in the medical field and also as a fitness and physique model. He enjoys working out, traveling, exploring new cultures and being an inspiration to others. He loves being by the beach and someday hopes to move to either Florida or southern California.

Ryan Terry: All About Abs

Stone-hard abdominals without any fat for an eye-catching beach body: This is the dream of every workout enthusiast. But profound knowledge is needed to develop an admirable sixpack and to perfect this part of the body. Top fitness model Ryan Terry, former Mr International winner, and USN sponsored athlete, knows the importance of having a great mid-section to complete the perfect physique. Here, he shares a few tips about maintaining great abs and obliques, bringing out the importance not only of proper training, but also of nutrition and diet. These are the abs that help Ryan go from working as a plumber to become one of the world's top fitness models.

Tomas Duran: New CYM Model

When Tomas Duran flexes, he is completely in his element. He smiles contentedly when looking at his lean size and his sculpted physique he has worked hard for. The 19-year-old athlete and new model on CzechYoungMuscle is a natural bodybuilder with extraordinarily many achievements at his early age: He won the silver (2011) and the bronze medal (2012) at the Czech Natural Bodybuilding Championship, he placed second at the European Natural Bodybuilding Championship (2011) and fifth at the World Natural Bodybuilding Championship (2012). These results, his physiqual achievements, and his enthusiasm indicate that his bodybuilding career has only just begun.



You find many high quality galleries and videos of Tomas Duran here on CzechYoungMuscle.

Chris Mahoney: Born To Be Brawny

He wrestled in high school, and it is hard to imagine that anyone has ever been able to defeat this colossal powerhouse. But Chris Mahoney is not only stunningly musclebound, the 25-year-old bodybuilder is also very smart. In this video he impressively describes his way and approach to bodybuilding, competing and modeling, and shows off his powerful physique.

Are you taking short rest periods and moving quickly or taking your time?

It just depends on the actual workout itself. If it's arm day, I should get done with that in 30 minutes because I'm not going to be sitting around taking long rest periods. Whereas with legs or back I might take a little bit longer with the heavier lifts. I'm trying to make sure that in the workouts where I'm going extremely heavy—like if I know I'm going to be doing a slightly higher-rep set of squats with 300 or 400 pounds—I'm going to make sure I have enough rest time between sets that I can actually get those weights for those reps. But if the weight isn't that heavy, I don't really need the extra rest.

And especially when I'm doing 7's, I'm maybe going to rest two to three minutes at the most [earlier in the workout], and then once I hit those 7's at the end, I'm resting only 30-40 seconds. I believe you need to take enough rest to lift heavy weights, but if it takes you 5-10 minutes to rest and get psyched up for a big lift, I don't know if that's going to be good. Because now you're not going to be in a bodybuilding zone; you're going into more of a strongman or powerlifting mode, where it's just about strength and you're not getting any cardio or the same pump. So anywhere from one to three minutes' rest is usually good for me.

Yeah, I'm pretty instinctive. Let's say I'm doing front squats and something just isn't feeling right with my technique, then maybe I'll go to a machine instead or just switch to back squats. It's usually based around machine work. If I'm doing a certain leg press and I don't like the way it feels, then instead of scratching leg press off completely, why not change it to vertical leg press? Most gyms have more than one type of equipment. So you find out what works best for you, and that may change from day to day. But that's where you have to be willing to adapt.

What would be the one key lesson you've learned in the gym since turning pro?

You don't need to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to come up with any exotic movements if what you're currently doing is working. If you've noticed that dumbbells work better than barbells for you on the bench press, then why change that? Maybe you should change the order in which you do the exercises for variety, so I've done that. But as far as what I've done in the past few years, it's just learning how not to overtrain, learning how to listen to your body, and realize that, yeah, if I go in the gym and something doesn't feel right, then I may drop that whole exercise and go on to something else. As far as switching my whole theory on training, no.

The past fews years, I've decided that going into a contest I should be able to use the same amount of weight as I was using in the off-season. Early in my career, I didn't have the strength required to keep up that mass going into a contest. now, I'm making sure that the weights being lifted are heavy all the time. Saying, "Oh, I'm just going to focus on higher reps and shred up"—that's a fallacy. Before I started working with Hany, I believed that. But not anymore. I realize that a strong muscle is always a bigger one and that you should be able to lift heavy throughout your contest prep until maybe the last 10 days. Frankly, I lifted heavy up until three days out from the Olympia. People choose to back off on their training approaching a show, but I don't believe in that.

Training With The Gift

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bodybuilder, past or present, who's managed to positively alter his physique from his pro debut to five years later more dramatically than Phil Heath, your new Mr. Olympia. At every contest in his career, Heath has managed to show judges and fans alike something new, whether it's turning formerly weak body parts into strengths or making already standout body parts that much better. We all know where Heath managed this transformation from a youngster with untapped potential to undisputed best in the world: the gym. But exactly how he did it is something only he can comment on. In this exclusive FLEX interview, less than two weeks after his Olympia win and fresh off his victory at the Sheru Classic in India, we sought to find the answer to the one question on every bodybuilder's mind: How did he do it?

Lesser mirrors have shattered under the intensity of Phil's gaze.

Amanda's Training Philosophy

Surprisingly, my training philosophy doesn't vary as much as my food choices do! I love lifting heavy; this will probably never change. I love building muscle.

Therefore, I stay either with 8-10 reps or pyramids of 10-8-6, increasing the load. Currently I train at my university gym between classes. This affords me only 55 minutes, so I go hard and intense, constantly revolving between muscle groups or doing abs or plyometric drills between lifts. When I am unable to attend a gym session, I do an Insanity workout at home after dinner.

Daily, I like to live active with my two kids and husband. On the weekends, or days off from class, I like to put my 20-pound baby in a pack and hike the beach or in the forest. We also go to the park where the kids can play and I can run stairs up the big hillside.

Also, you'd be surprised at how many calories you can burn by spending a day at the zoo or in a museum!

Chestivus For The Rest Of Us

Now that we've covered what not to worry about, here's what you need to know about chest training:

• It might seem like a good idea to use light weights for "tone," but remember that muscles respond best to a challenge. If you lift light weight for high reps, you'll be making very few fitness improvements and won't be doing much besides burning calories.

  You won't gain muscle mass unless you're eating a high-calorie diet -- all the heavy lifting you do on a standard or fat-loss diet will increase fitness and strength, but you won't get big, so don't be afraid to lift heavy!

• Keep your reps within the 8-to-10 range for bench press and incline bench press. For flyes, take it up to 10-to-12.
• 2-to-3 sets of each exercise will be perfect for strength gains. Any more or less may not produce the results you want.
• For compound lifts like the bench press, rest one minute between sets. Also, try to hit your compound lifts at the beginning of your workouts.

  Between sets of flyes, decrease your rest to 45 seconds. Because you're just using your body weight for push-ups, rest only 30 seconds between sets.

Just Do Push-Ups

Most women add push-ups to their regular routine as an afterthought and then wonder why their upper body isn't looking better. As with any other muscle group, you need a sufficient level of exercise variety and weight resistance training in your program.

A combination of bench press, incline bench press, cable or dumbbell flyes and push-ups is the variation and difficulty you should be aiming for.

Once you reach a certain level of fatigue, push-ups aren't going to do much for maximizing strength gains. Unless you put a plate on your back or find some other way to add resistance to push-ups, they're not going to help you get stronger.

Instead, add them to the end of your workout as a finisher.

Chest Exercises Will Make My Boobs Smaller

This myth gets perpetuated because female bodybuilders sometimes hit the stage with flat-looking chests that are far from what we normally deem feminine. It's not the muscle that makes their breasts smaller; it's the extreme diet.

Most bodybuilders walk on stage with body fat levels that are far lower than what's considered healthy for a female. Breasts are primarily fatty tissue, so when body fat levels go way down, so do breasts. Aside from the women who have implants, most fitness and bodybuilding competitors just don't have enough body fat to keep their bras full.

Don't be afraid to press serious iron, girls.

As long as you sustain body fat levels that are well within a healthy range, you won't have an issue. According to the American Council on Exercise, women need to have at least 10-13% body fat for "basic physical and physiological health." Dipping below 10% (for ladies) may bring "underfat" health risks.