Australian_Mens_Fitness_2016_08_

38 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016

Styling by Christina Simonetti; Grooming by Casey Geren/Bernstein & And

Crews: Jim Wrightriu i using Avène;

Get strong

from the

ground up by

imagining

you’re twisting

your feet into

the floor

before a set.

By Sean Hyson

Photographs by

James Michelfelder

You can’t just stand there and expect to

buildmuscle—notevenwhenyou’re

lifting.Before you begin a set of any

standingexercise,placeyourfeetflat

on the floor and imagine you’re using your soles

to tighten screws — your toes seemingly pushing

outward and your heels straining to come inward.

Here’s the trick, though: You don’t want to actually

moveyourfeet.Justactivelydrivethemdownward

andexternallysotheyrootintothefloorandnothing

canmovethem.Ifyoudoitright,thearchesofyour

feet will become more pronounced and your glutes

will tighten up immediately, which prepares your

body for the lift. It also all but ensures that your knees

will line up with your toes when you squat or deadlift.

Keep this tension in your feet throughout the whole

set. The more you practise it, the more natural it will

become and the more weight you’ll pile up on the bar.

LIES WE LIVE BY

Myth: “Low reps build muscle,

high reps define it.”

■Sometimes you don’t

have to actuallylift

weights to get bigger

— you can just hold them.

Isometric training, in

which you typically hold

a rep at the midpoint

or bottom for a few

seconds, is a valid

technique. “I use it

to stimulate muscle

growth and strengthen

connective tissues,”

says Latreal Mitchell, a

Hollywood trainer who

works with movie star

Te r r y C r e w s.

For example, “If

it’s a leg day, I may

have him hold a squat

with heavy dumbbells

for 10 seconds in

the bottom.”

HOLLYWOOD

MUSCLE

Achest

like Terry

Crews’

Y

Twisting your

feet activates

more muscle.

Hangtough.Thecombo

of building muscle and

burning fat gets you cut.

Want to lif t

more? Screw it!

■This idea began in the

sport of bodybuilding,

where competitors

traditionally lifted

heavy weights to put

on size, then switched

to lighter, higher-rep

training when trying to get

defined before a show.

While the bodybuilders

typically took this to

mean that sets of 10 or

more reps “burned cuts”

into their muscles, the

credit should really have

gone to the fat-shedding

diet they followed

simultaneously.

True, high-rep sets do

burn more calories than

low-rep ones, but the

difference is nominal.

And research suggests

that high reps are at

least as effective for

putting on muscle as

heavy training — in fact,

the Public Library of

Science reported that

subjects who did 24-rep

sets made better gains

than those who did five-

rep sets. In short: Any

kind of weight training

can build muscle.

Build muscle with

isometric training

Chest Workout

with Isometrics

Alternate sets of A and

B. Rest only after sets of

isometric pushups.

ASMITH MACHINE

BENCH PRESS

Sets: 3 Reps: 15, 8, as

many as possible

Rest: 0 sec.

BISOMETRIC PUSHUP

Sets: 3 Reps: 10

Rest: 90–120 sec.

Hold the midpoint of each

rep for five seconds.

Game Changers Strength