Friday, October 16, 2009

Bodybuilding Workouts & Tips, How Deadlifts Can Help You To Build Muscles

By Ricardo d Argence

So let's get it straight, your goal is to build your muscles up and get ripped right? You want a nice solid body that everyone will look at no matter where you go. That is the goal you've set, right?

It can be done, and today I'm going to show you an exercise that will get you there faster than you thought you could. The only thing you're going to need is a regular barbell and a flat surface to lay on. Sounds simple enough, right?

Load the bar with as much weight as you can handle and pick it up off the ground while keeping your back straight. Sounds simple enough, right? I'm talking, of course, about the undisputed king of all upper body exercises: the deadlift.

If your goal is to gain as much muscle mass as possible, in the shortest time possible, the the deadlift is definitely the way to go.

The deadlift has the ability to work out your entire body. It is a basic movement that will be able to stretch all of the muscles in your body at once.

Mostly you are working out the upper and lower back, and your thighs. The deadlift however, has it's effect on the entire body. It won't take you long to notice this and start believing that it is true. When you start doing it regularly, your body will feel as if it is undergoing a complete workout.

There a few different variations of the deadlift, but in this article we'll focus on the basic, standard bent-legged version. Let's go over the proper technique...

Make sure that you feet are apart, and that they are the width of your shoulders. Once this is done grab the bar of the weight with your hands, but make sure that your hands are right outside of your legs. There are two ways you can do this, you can have an overhand grip, or you can grip it with one palm inward, and one facing outward. This is totally up to you

Start the movement in a squatted position with the bar close to your shins. With your back flat, abs tight and head looking up, lift the weight off of the ground by driving upward with your legs.

When you've done it, it's time to start lifting. Pull up on your weight until you're standing up fully. After that, lower that weight just like it was picked up.

You will want to rest those weights on the ground as you get ready for another repetition. Take a deep breath and begin again. Keep going until you can go no more.

Making sure that you maintain a decent form is very important when you are doing these deadlifts. You need to be able to lift quite a bit of weight, but you don't want to hurt yourself in the process.

The most important thing to remember is to keep your back flat at all times and to keep the weight close to your body. Keep your abs tight as well as this will minimize the stress on your lower back.

Practice this lift with light weight in order to get the form down before you start going heavy. You may also find it useful to use lifting straps when performing deadlifts, as this will prevent your grip from giving out before the rest of your body does.

I recommend performing deadlifts once a week for 1-2 all-out sets. How many reps should you perform for each set? Well, deadlifts are such an incredibly effective exercise that they'll work no matter what rep range you use. My suggestion is to stay in the range of 5-7, but some people go as high as 20.

You will need to experiment and determine the best way to do it. The deadlift is a workout that will change your life if you do it right!

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