BICEPS TRAINING
“There seem to be more exercises for the biceps than the back. Why?”
For such a small muscle, the biceps ranks high in importance for many bodybuilders. When bodybuilders “make a muscle” it often involves the biceps. And, in some circles, there seems to have been much more interest in devising exercises for the biceps than for other muscles.
Isolation biceps training is very easy compared with intensive squatting or deadlifting, for example, or chin-ups or dips or overhead presses, or any other major compound exercise. Most bodybuilders probably consider that there’s more “fun” training biceps. In most gyms you’re way more likely to see biceps training than squatting or deadlifting.
If you really want fun from your training, build lots of muscle throughout your physique.
An exaggerated focus on biceps training will hinder your overall progress. Such a focus invariably accompanies an exaggerated focus on other isolation exercises, to the detriment of the much more important exercises like squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, dips, bench presses, overhead presses, and rows.
Include a curl in your routine—unless you’re doing chin-ups (with a supinated grip)—but give nearly all of your attention in the gym to the exercises that matter most for building muscle mass. But don’t do many of them in any single routine.
GREAT ABS
“Which exercises are the best for acquiring great abs?”
More important than which exercises you do, is how much fat you have over your abs. Some lean men who aren’t bodybuilders have terrific six-packs simply because there’s very little fat covering their abs.
But great abs are well-defined and well-developed.
To be able to see some semblance of a six-pack in good lighting, a man needs to have body fat no higher than 15%. For sharp definition, sub-10% is required. But if you’re at under 10%, and natural, you’re probably not going to be able to build much if any additional muscle mass. But packing on lots of fat—euphemistically called “bulking up”—isn’t the way to go. As a general guideline for male bodybuilders who are working on building additional muscle, body fat around 12 to 15% is ideal.
Crunches—regular or reverse, freestyle or machine—work your abs and obliques. Side bends and a rotary torso machine also work those same muscles, albeit with different emphasis; and they also train small but important spinal muscles.
As a general recommendation, perform ab work twice weekly—a crunch one day, and a side bend or rotary torso the other day. Keep the reps and sets moderate—for example, two or three sets of 8 to 10 reps. Work hard, and build strength. Then you’ll build some muscle. But whether or not you’ll be able to see the muscle development depends on how much fat covers it.
PROBLEM WITH NUTS
“Raw nuts are recommended by many people, but I get indigestion if I eat more than just a very few of them at a time. How can I make nuts more digestible?”Raw nuts contain enzyme inhibitors, which explains why those nuts are difficult to digest. One of the reasons why nuts are sometimes roasted is to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors, which then makes the nuts more digestible. So that’s one way to deal with the problem.Another way—and the way I do it myself, with almonds—is to soak them overnight in salt water. Put a few handfuls of raw nuts in a bowl, cover with warm water, and stir in a teaspoonful of salt. Then, in the morning, drain off the liquid, rinse with drinking water, leave to dry for a few hours, then store in a fridge. (I soak enough at a time to last me at least a week.) Once the nuts have been soaked in salt water for a few hours, they will go bad if not stored in a fridge.