The Intermediate BUILD program is designed for intermediate lifters with low amounts of body fat to break through plateaus and maximize muscle growth. Adding muscle mass once you've already had a bit of training experience becomes difficult to do. As an intermediate lifter, you've probably reached plateaus that have made it difficult to progress past your beginner stage. You're no longer benefiting from "newbie" gains and can no longer simply add weight to the bar every week to progress... ...and if you stick on a program that's not optimally catered to your training experience (i.e. sticking to a program designed for beginners), then you're not going see the results you're looking for.
WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER IMPROVE YOUR PHYSIQUE, BUILD LEAN MUSCLE, AND INCREASE STRENGTH For more than twenty years, Bret “the Glute Guy” Contreras has been on a quest to improve human performance, focusing his research on the gluteus maximus, the largest muscle in the human body. What started as an effort to improve his own weak, flat backside quickly evolved when he discovered the wide range of functional movements to which the glutes contribute. Properly trained glutes not only help you lift heavier, jump higher, sprint faster, and swing harder but also help prevent knee, hip, and lower back pain and injuries. Bret went on to earn a doctorate in sports science and is now known as one of the world’s foremost experts on strength and physique training. After helping thousands of people reach their strength goals and achieve their ideal physique in his world-renowned training facilities, Bret brings you Glute Lab, which pulls his field-tested and scientifically proven methods and techniques together into an all-in-one glute training system that will help you develop leaner, rounder, stronger, higher-performing glutes. This all-encompassing guide explains why glute training is important for health and performance, how the glutes function, what critical role they play in the body, and how to design the optimal training program to accomplish your aesthetic and performance goals. This book offers thirty-six weeks of programming and several training templates for those who want to dive right in, breaking down each technique with step-by-step photos and descriptions. Bret also reveals the most common faults people make when performing these movements and offers hundreds of tips for getting the most out of every training session. You can implement his system in your local gym or even in the comfort of your own home. Glute Lab is more than just a book on glute training. These principles and methods can help you maximize muscle growth and strength, improve body composition, overcome training and physique plateaus, train around injuries and discomfort, determine ideal training frequency and exercise selection, design periodized programs, and so much more. In short, this book gives you the tools to make strength and physique gains and design balanced programs that cater to a wide range of goals and work for your entire body. Whether you’re a regular person looking to improve your appearance, an athlete looking to boost your performance, a physique competitor or bodybuilder looking for an edge over the competition, a powerlifter looking to increase your strength, a CrossFitter inspired to gain knowledge, a personal trainer interested in offering your clients cutting-edge training techniques, or a physical therapist looking to improve your clients’ health, Glute Lab will equip you with the information you need. In this book you will learn: • The fundamentals of optimal glute training • The anatomy and function of the glutes • How to select exercises based on your physique and training goals • How to perform the most effective exercises for sculpting rounder, stronger glutes • Variations of the hip thrust, deadlift, and squat exercises • Sample training templates and splits that cater to different training goals and preferences • How to implement advanced methods into your training routine • Diet strategies to reach weight loss and body composition goals • Sample glute burnouts and templates • Twelve-week beginner, intermediate, and advanced full-body training programs with a glute emphasis • How to design your own customized training programs • How to overcome plateaus in training, strength, and physique
Navigating the available fitness information online can be confusing and time-consuming at best, and a minefield of misinformation at worst. One inherent problem is that information online is always presented as supremely important and as the next 'big thing,' without context or any understanding of priorities. Enter The Muscle and Strength Pyramid books. The foundational concept of these books is understanding priorities and context, so you can take all the pieces of the puzzle and fit them together into an actionable plan. * Six sample routines to get you started quickly Six programs for novice, intermediate, and advanced-level bodybuilders and strength-focussed athletes. * Break through those training plateaus With our full progression guidelines and examples, you'll never be left frustrated and wondering what to do next. * Learn how to tailor your own programming for faster results Our quick-start programming guide will show you how to apply all the principles that go into program design. The chief author of the books, Dr. Eric Helms, has not only the academic understanding of training and nutrition as an active researcher but also extensive practical experience. He has been a personal trainer, powerlifting and bodybuilding coach since 2005, helping hundreds bridge the gap between science and practice to reach their goals. In addition, he has the minds of Andrea Valdez, and Andy Morgan to ensure the concepts are communicated clearly and effectively and no stone is left unturned. Andrea is a lifelong athlete with extensive coaching experience and her Masters in Exercise Physiology, and Andy is a successful writer and consultant for body composition change with a unique grasp of how to communicate topics to diverse groups, as he produces content for both the Japanese and English speaking fitness communities. Together, they bring you The Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid, the hierarchical, comprehensive, evidence-based guide that is a must-have for every serious lifter or trainer.
In The New Rules of Lifting for Women, authors Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe and Alwyn Cosgrove present a comprehensive strength, conditioning and nutrition plan destined to revolutionize the way women work out. All the latest studies prove that strength training, not aerobics, provides the key to losing fat and building a fit, strong body. This book refutes the misconception that women will "bulk up" if they lift heavy weights. Nonsense! It's tough enough for men to pack on muscle, and they have much more of the hormone necessary to build muscle: natural testosterone. Muscles need to be strengthened to achieve a lean, healthy look. Properly conditioned muscles increase metabolism and promote weight loss -- it's that simple. The program demands that women put down the "Barbie" weights, step away from the treadmill and begin a strength and conditioning regime for the natural athlete in every woman. The New Rules of Lifting for Women will change the way women see fitness, nutrition and their own bodies.
Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon Training offers prescriptive programming for all levels of runners. Not only will it help you learn how to get started with your training, but it will show you where to focus your attention, when to progress, and how to keep it simple.
A streamlined exercise program uniting diet advice and step-by-step exercises for women who want to train hard and lift heavy to look and feel strong. Women who lift know that training with weights is the best way to firm your glutes, tone your abs, and sculpt a powerful, healthy body. Forget the waif-like model: girls with muscle prove that strong is beautiful, so it's time to brave the pain for the gain to get the body you want. This fitness manifesto provides clear, step-by-step exercise instruction as well as easy-to-follow workout programs so you can enter the weight room with confidence and become your strongest self. Using strength-training, cardio, and weight-lifting exercises, Get Strong for Women gives you the tools you need to build muscle, burn fat, and get a strong, fit body.
This is not your run-of-the-mill fitness book. Developed by world-renowned gluteal expert Bret Contreras, Strong Curves offers an extensive fitness and nutrition guide for women seeking to improve their physique, function, strength, and mobility. Contreras spent the last eighteen years researching and field-testing the best methods for building better butts and shapelier bodies. In Strong Curves, he offers the programs that have proven effective time and time again with his clients, allowing you to develop lean muscle, rounded glutes, and greater confidence. Each page is packed with information decoding the female anatomy, providing a better understanding as to why most fitness programs fail to help women reach their goals. With a comprehensive nutritional guide and over 200 strength exercises, this book gets women off the treadmill and furnishes their drive to achieve strength, power, and sexy curves from head to toe. Although the glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in the human body, they often go dormant due to lifestyle choices, leading to a flat, saggy bum. Strong Curves is the cure.
Operational athletes are a unique breed. You need to physically perform at an extraordinarily high level in stressful situations. Often in dangerous or unstable environments. As a SWAT operator, combat-arms soldier, or first responder, you have to be a Jack of All Trades. Let's take that a step further. You have to achieve some degree of mastery. You have to be strong, have incredible levels of endurance, and be capable of sustained bursts of intense activity. All while tired, hungry, cold, or worse. You can't train like a bodybuilder. You can't be sore for a week after 'leg' day. You can't afford to specialize like a powerlifter. You have other abilities you need to develop, things like cardiovascular training, work capacity, and occupational skills. Anyone that's operational knows it's a constant juggling act trying to become (and stay) superhuman. Tactical Barbell is a strength training program designed specifically for operational athletes using correct principles and best practices. The objective being to increase maximal-strength and strength-endurance, while taking into account the need to simultaneously train other fitness domains. Periodization based, with a simple progression model that allows for a great degree of customization. You won't find cables, balance boards or medicine balls in this program. What you will get is a reliable, repeatable, cutting edge system to increase your strength dramatically. In a manner that leaves you time and energy to train all those other things you need to be good at. No fluff. No frills. If you live in the arena, you know talk is cheap. The program includes a built in strength testing component. You will know whether or not your strength has increased, and by how much. Simple.
Drawing on new research in sports medicine, nutrition, and fitness, this book offers a training program to help any climber achieve superior performance and better mental concentration on the rock, with less risk of injury.
