NEWTOWN — A former police sergeant who is facing nearly six years in prison for manufacturing and distributing steroids claimed in court papers filed this week that his involvement with the drug grew out of “bodybuilding culture.”

Steven Santucci, who resigned from the department shortly after his arrest in May 2015, plead guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He faces nearly six years in prison during a federal sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 25

Police said Santucci was at the center of a drug ring that received shipments of steroids ingredients from China since 2011 and manufactured and distributed large quantities of the substance to bodybuilders in local gyms. The federal probe also revealed certain members of the group were distributing cocaine and prescription pills, including oxycodone.

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court this week, Santucci claims his abuse of the drug began nearly a decade ago when his efforts at the gym failed to give him the results he desired.
“Around age 30, Santucci turned to steroids to get an edge so that he could develop the body image he desperately sought,” the court document states. “Santucci himself explained that he has always been a fitness guy and he wanted to be a weight lifter.”

Due to the expense of the drug, the document claims that Santucci began importing raw materials from China to manufacture steroids for his own use. While the former police officer never planned to distribute the drugs, according to the document, others at the gym took notice of his use and asked to buy some.

“By the time of his arrest, he was selling to nine or 10 individuals,” the memorandum claims.
The document also claims that the decorated police officer became involved in the illegal activity, in part, because of the level of acceptance of steroid use in the body building community.
“He got lulled into believing that what he was selling was ‘just steroids’ and it was ‘no big deal,’” the document states.

However, federal prosecutors claim Santucci used the proceeds of the drug sales to fund a lavish lifestyle that included more than $300,000 he spent on first class trips to Europe, South America and Africa, including a $30,000 safari. Authorities said Santucci also spent more than $23,000 of the drug proceeds on Celebrity Cruises.

While prosecutors have called for a sentence of between 57 to 71 months in prison, Santucci’s lawyer is asking for a sentence “well below” the recommendation, due to his “exemplary life and a life characterized by a high degree of public service.”

Santucci was honorably discharged from the Connecticut Army National Guard prior to joining the police force and was presented with the Chief’s Service Award two years ago.

Ex-Newtown cop blames steroid arrest on ‘body building culture’

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Get lean

Beyond genetics, the most important factor in skin-popping veins is how lean you are. Since body fat is commonly stored right under the skin, it's literally what's between you and your veiny self. For men, this usually requires single-digit body fat; for women, probably sub-20 percent body fat, although both genders may be able to spot a tell-tale biceps vein at slightly higher percentages.

To show off skin-popping veins, start by stripping away excess body fat.
If body fat is a problem, start by figuring out the necessary number of calories you need to maintain your weight, then subtract 300-500 calories a day to create a significant deficit. Over the course of the next 10-12 weeks, aim to lose 0.5-1.5 pounds per week by incrementally—but not dramatically—reducing calories and increasing exercise.

Keep the pace steady, because if vascularity is the goal, you want to lose as little muscle mass as possible.

Build muscle

Bigger muscles demand more blood—it's that simple. By training and eating with an emphasis on building muscle, your body will adapt by expanding its blood-vessel network to the newly built muscle mass.
In my experience, you're probably best off alternating between dedicated mass-building and fat-loss phases in your quest to become both leaner and more muscular.

Chase the pump where you want to see veins

What you know as the "pump" is really just the term coined to describe cell swelling and metabolite accumulation, both of which are known to produce muscular growth.1 By consistently chasing the pump via a combination of high-intensity lifting techniques and short rest breaks, you drive a significant amount of blood into your muscles. This bodes well for looking swole.

Blood-flow restriction (BFR) can help you target vascularity in a specific body part.
To specifically hone in on the pump, consider trying blood-flow restriction (BFR) in your training. BFR involves partially restricting the veins of a working muscle, which ultimately results in a pooling of blood, because the veins are unable to carry it back to the heart. This massive increase in blood usually leads to the greatest pump of your life.

If you want to see veins in a particular muscle group—say, biceps, triceps, or quads—it's a no-brainer to finish off your training day for that group with a solid pump. Choose biceps curls, triceps push-downs, or leg extensions for 4 sets of 30, 15, 15, and 15 reps using BFR, resting 30 seconds between sets. Or try Layne Norton's "Legs And Arms Blast."

Do your cardio

There are plenty of reasons to skip cardio, but one reason not to is that it may help promote more prominent veins. For starters, cardio helps to create a greater caloric deficit (assuming you're not eating more to compensate), which works to reduce body fat. The leaner you are, the more vascular you appear.
Additionally, consistent aerobic exercise increases capillary density, or the number of capillaries (tiny blood vessels) that reach your muscles.2,3 It may even promote the formation of new capillaries.
By making cardio a staple in your exercise routine, you effectively promote more blood flow to your muscles. Over time, more veins will scratch the surface and show themselves when they're adequately filled with blood.

Take supplements for the pump

One of the major reasons blood flow is amplified during exercise is related to the production and action of nitric oxide (NO). NO is a potent vasodilator, meaning it relaxes blood vessels to increase blood-flow efficiency.
Given that NO has such a profound impact on blood flow, many supplements have been formulated to enhance its production, and ultimately your pump, during exercise. Look at your pre-workout's label or peruse online discussions, and you'll find plenty of pump supplements getting pumped up, from agmatine to glycerol to ornithine.

But for starters, you can't go wrong with these:

Citrulline

A few years ago, L-arginine was considered the premiere pump sup of the first order, because it's a known NO precursor. However, it's fallen out of favor because citrulline supplements have been shown to increase arginine levels more than arginine (and without the digestive distress some experience from arginine).
Dose: 6-8 grams of citrulline malate 30-60 minutes prior to your workout. For maximal results, take in one serving rather than spreading it out in multiple doses across the day.

Nitrates

The two most common dietary nitrate supplements are beetroot and pomegranate juice or extract. Both have been shown to positively impact blood flow when taken pre-workout because of their ability to act as vasodilators.5-7
Dose: Supplement with 1000 milligrams of pomegranate extract 30 minutes before exercise. For beetroot, what you take will vary depending on whether you drink a juice or extract, or take a powdered supplement. In either case, load with a daily dose for a week, and then take a dose before you exercise.

Creatine

Creatine acts as an osmolyte, meaning as it accumulates inside the muscle cell, fluid is drawn in as well. Supplementing with creatine can enhance cell swelling, lending a helping hand to your shirt-ripping pump and veiny exterior. 

Dose: 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per day

Thermogenics

A thermogenic increases heat production in the body. As a result, more blood flow is pushed to the surface of the skin, which aids in cooling the body. Examples of thermogenic substances include caffeine, green tea, capsaicin (the component in peppers responsible for their heat), and ginger.

Take your selfie right after training

This may seem like a no-brainer, but all things being equal, you're probably going to look your most vascular when you're still riding a great pump from the end of your workout.

Train For Veins: 6 Ways To Boost Vascularity

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There are a lot of different ways that you can increase levels of testosterone today. Some people look for shortcuts that are dangerous, and that's not a good thing. When you seek out natural solutions, you will find the root of the issue and build a great momentum moving forward. If your goal is to increase healthy and wellness, then you will no doubt want to try the following tips. These are natural options that will help you move forward. Some things may seem harder than others, but if you seek out long-term solutions, you will find the benefits will manifest for longer than by going the synthetic route.

Increase Your Exercise Levels
The first thing that you can do is simple, exercise a great deal. Increase your exercise levels in an extreme manner. This means that you should look for higher intensity options. Intense workouts increase the body's circulation, heart rate, and builds muscle properly. Not only that, you will find that glandular secretions rise, including testosterone. Push yourself, as an athlete would push themselves for professional leagues, and you'll see major gains.

Weight Lifting and Training
Here is something that you should be looking into as a whole. Don't just go with cardiovascular exercise. Focus on weight lifting as well. Strength training is going to help you not only build muscle, burn fat, and get healthy, it's going to push levels that you need to increase natural production of testosterone. This takes time, of course, but just keep pushing weights, and you'll find that you'll feel the increase sooner than later.

Throw Away Sugar In The Diet
Sugar doesn't help the body and diminishes your results. Throw away sugar content in your diet. That means that you'll want to focus on eliminating certain foods that only break down into sugars. If you can't eliminate this completely, start to scale back drastically until you can replace them. Sugar is going to stifle your progress.

Boost Your Protein Supplements
One of the most important things that you should do in regards to trying to increase your levels is to increase your protein. You should focus on amino acid increases. This includes quality protein supplementation, as part of your routine. There's a lot of discussion as to what's going to be best here, but you can start with whey protein to get you moving forward.
As you can see, there are a few things that you can do to increase testosterone. If you can boost this element in the body, you will find that building muscles will become a bit easier. Through strength training, interval exercise, and weight lifting, your body will utilize the elements that you're putting into it, and will rise through the right areas you're looking for. It's important that you not only work on these tips, but you should also eat a balanced diet with enough calories to burn through your workouts, and a boost of supplements to assist your body's natural resources. Done right, you'll see results manifest in due time.

4 Tips For Naturally Increasing Testosterone Levels Today

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If one of your goals is to build muscle, then these 4 tips can help you get faster results. Regularly following these tips can lead to quick results compared to what you have in mind.

There are a lot of myths floating around in the muscle-building world. Some of these myths are confusing, and some are downright silly. Some myths might lead you to think that your muscle gains are limited to X factors. What you need to do is sift and sort out the information. Find the workouts that work and do it the right way. Following these 4 tips below will guarantee that you will experience muscle gains faster and easier than ever.

Proper Form:
When it comes to building muscle, the basic idea is to make the lightest weight you can handle feel like it's the heaviest. Basically, going slow is your best bet. Avoid lifting tons of weight as fast possible, as this will not tear your muscles compared to going slow. When those muscle tears begin to heal, your muscles start to grow. Also, there is a tendency that when you speed up, you will be losing the form of your exercise, which is very critical. If you have been doing it all wrong in the past, it's time to make the right change. Go slower and you will gain faster muscle growth.

Muscle Confusion:
To gain faster muscle growth, its important that you force your muscles to adapt all the time. If you are doing the same routines constantly for months at a time, your body and muscle adapts to the workout. It will anticipate the workout and optimizes the muscles. When the muscles adapt, muscle growth halts or slows down. By constantly changing your workout routine every week, you will experience better muscle gains as your body and muscles is not able to anticipate and it's forced to adapt. You can change the days you do your workout, change the weights or change the workout routine. By doing so, you will have more muscle gains in the least time possible.

Proper Diet:
If you don't follow proper diet, you will simply not gain any muscles no matter how you push yourself. Keep in mind that your body will need energy in order for it to build your muscles. If you don't have a proper diet, then your body will have to burn other sources of energy, and one of those commonly used sources is your muscle itself. Muscles mostly need protein, and that should be your primary focus. You can get protein from a lot of sources like dairy products and meat. You can also make use of protein supplements. It's a quick and easy way of getting all your protein needs. As you grow bigger, your protein needs will also grow with it. At some point in your growth, you will need protein powder to keep your muscle growth.

Determination:
Building muscles will take time. Hence, you will need to be determined and motivated. When you first workout, you will be exhilarated as you will experience fast muscle growth. This is normal as your body is not used to such kind of activity. As you grow bigger, your body adapts, and your gains will not be as fast when you started. Also, there will be a time that your muscle growth will hit a plateau. Everyone experiences this. The solution is to simply continue working out and you will pass this plateau. By then, you will start

growing muscles again:
It may take time to build muscle, but it's not as hard and long as most people think it would be. It doesn't matter if you are casual or a serious about building muscle, the tips mentioned above can significantly help you experience more muscle gains. Follow a proper routine, adopt a proper diet and change up your workout routines and schedules. The rest will simply sort out itself.

Muscle Building May Be Hard, But It's Easier Than You Think

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Suffering from a bad case of upper-body blues? Build the strength and size of your chest and back with Steve Cook's hardcore superset workout!
Before we get to the good stuff, let me be clear: This isn't some pretty-boy aesthetics workout. This is a heavy, strength-building, chest-and-back workout that's designed to challenge your body and push your physical limits.

I prefer to do this workout during the offseason, when I have the calories to really push heavy weight. Having the energy to go heavy is important for this workout because you're going to be using percentages of your bench-press one-rep max (1RM).

Steve Cook's Strength-Building Chest-And-Back Workout

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Barbell squat — With your feet firmly on the ground, put a barbell on your upper back and squat, allowing your hips to move backward as you bend your knees before explosively returning to your starting position. Keep your core tight, and don't allow your lower back to round.

Lying leg curl — Lie facedown on a lying leg-curl machine with your legs extended straight. Your heels should be elevated slightly. Curl your feet toward your bottom, controlling the movement on the way down, taking one second to raise your feet and three seconds to lower. Keep your hips firmly planted down and your knees close together.

Bent-over barbell row — Grab a barbell off the floor using an overhand grip, and stay in a bent-over position. Keep your back slightly higher than parallel to the floor, with a slight bend in your knees. Extend your arms straight at the bottom, and row the barbell up toward your bellybutton.

Incline dumbbell chest press — Use a 30-degree incline on a bench, with your weights touching the outer portion of your chest at the bottom of the movement. Press the dumbbells up toward the ceiling and bring them slightly together without actually touching them at the top. The dumbbells should be constantly moving on this exercise without pausing at the top or bottom of the movement.

Lateral raises — These can be done while standing with cables or with dumbbells. Start with your arms at a slight bend in the elbows. With hands facing down, raise your arms out to the side, bringing them up so that they're parallel to the ground. This doesn't require much resistance to be effective. Place more emphasis on the outer part of the shoulder. (This gives shoulders a rounded look.) Focus on twisting the dumbbell or cable slightly at the top so that your hand is angled with your pinky side of the hand being in the highest position.

Assisted pullups — Most gyms have an assisted-pullup machine that provides weighted assistance as you perform the pullup, so essentially you're lifting less than your actual body weight, allowing you to perform more repetitions with better form. Fully extend your arms at the bottom of the movement, feeling your lateral/back muscles stretch briefly, and then keep your head and chest up as you pull your body up as high as possible at the top. Your chin should be about even with the level of your hands at the top of the movement for a full range of motion.

Triceps extensions — There are multiple grip/attachments that can be used on any adjustable cable machine, including a straight bar, V-grip and rope attachments. Start by setting up the cable on a notch that is positioned above your head. At the starting point, you should be standing, staying very slightly bent at your waist, with your elbows bent at about 90 degrees. At the bottom, you will fully extend your elbows until they are straight, while twisting the rope apart simultaneously. Press your arms straight down without bringing them toward your body to allow for a maximum contraction in your triceps.

7 pro tips for building a sculpted, balanced body

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1 Substitute multijoint movements for isolation exercises.

Most workouts consist of a collection of multijoint and single-joint movements—say, presses and a fly movement in a single chest routine. The biggest difference between them is that multijoint exercises engage more muscle groups, allowing you to push heavier weights.
Because they recruit a large amount of muscle mass, multijoint exercises trigger a more significant hormone response than single-joint movements. In fact, workouts that stress a large amount of muscle mass tend to produce the greatest increases in both growth hormone and testosterone.1
Take a closer look at your workout. If you're doing more than one single-joint exercise for any body part (with calves, biceps, shoulders, and forearms being the exceptions), retool it by substituting more multijoint movements.

2 Challenge yourself in the gym and push outside your comfort zone.

A couple of years ago, I worked out with a younger guy who could do 80-pound dumbbell presses for eight reps. When I suggested he try the 90s, he insisted he couldn't handle those. I insisted, though, and he found out on the very next set that, in fact, he could handle them—and just not for eight reps. He actually did nine reps!

I suspect my friend did an additional rep with a heavier weight just because I was there encouraging him. You've probably noticed a similar phenomenon whereby you completed more reps than you thought possible when you had a spotter on hand, especially if you normally train alone.
If you never leave your comfort zone, you never force your muscles to adapt to new demands. "Staying within your comfort zone leaves room for stagnation," says Geremy Satcher. "Challenging yourself and going beyond what's comfortable directly links to your overall confidence. Build your own confidence and take baby steps toward increasing the weight you train with. Whatever you do, avoid becoming stagnant!"

3 Train with a workout partner who will push you.

A workout partner can do more than just force you to show up for your workouts. He or she can push you to new heights by helping you handle more weight, more reps, or both. And they can help you do this safely. Taking a set of squats or overhead dumbbell presses close to failure, for example, is less prone to disaster with an experienced spotter on hand.

However, don't take every set to failure. In "Jim Stoppani's Encyclopedia Of Muscle & Strength", the author says, "Australian researchers discovered that when trained lifters completed one set to failure of the four sets they trained with on the bench press for eight weeks, they had double the strength gains of lifters who did not complete any of the four sets to failure.2 And in a follow-up study, the same team of researchers discovered that doing more than one set to failure on the bench press for eight weeks offered no additional increase in strength gains.3 It appears that performing only one set to failure allows for enough stimulus to be delivered to the muscle fibers without fatiguing the muscle too much, which can limit muscle strength during the workout when training with too many sets to failure."4
 
"Developing a friendship with someone and having them in the gym with you is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to getting past training plateaus," says Satcher. "That person is one of the few you can trust to give you straightforward input regarding corrections you need to make, your physique, and your attitude."

4 Add a pre-bedtime meal of cottage cheese or casein.

Hard-gainers complain they can't gain weight—but are they doing everything they can to consume all the protein they need? No dietary change is easier to make than adding a pre-bedtime snack that includes slow-digesting proteins of the sort found in cottage cheese or a casein protein shake.
Slow-digesting proteins are especially useful during sleep—which is an eight-hour fast—because the amino acids they release are available all night long, which is more useful to fasting muscles than a quick-digesting protein like whey.

5 If you're not taking creatine, add 5 grams' worth to your shake.

An avalanche of research supports creatine for bodybuilders and strength trainers. Creatine works by increasing the number of energy substrates capable of high-intensity work within the muscle, helping you maintain energy for more reps. Long-term usage has been shown to lead to 5-15 percent greater gains in strength and performance.

6 Wean yourself off machines.

In the first tip, I listed a number of exercises that are proven muscle builders. Notably absent was any mention of machine exercises. That's because the free-weight movements are superior for building muscle and strength. Those free weights require a lot more secondary muscle activity and stabilizers to help control the motion and balance the weight, engaging more muscle mass.

Machines have a place for beginners learning movement patterns, those who are working through injuries, and even for bodybuilders toward the end of their workouts. But if you're doing machine movements early in your training in place of a free-weight alternative—well, maybe you're just being lazy. Choose the most challenging exercises early in your workout rather than looking for easier alternatives.

"I'll be as blunt as I can with this topic: Stick with free weights for mass building!" says Satcher. "Consider machines as assisted weight. When you're training with free weights, you muscles have to carry the full force of the movement, and that makes you work harder."

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Discomfort Is An EssentialPart Of Success

"The word 'work' is the root word of 'working out,'" notes James. "Results require hard work. Nobody can do it for you. If you want results, you have to put in the effort." You can't be afraid of discomfort. Remember the phrase 'No Pain No Gain'? Instill a healthy work ethic and push though. "Getting your arm cut off with a dull knife is pain. A little bit of lactic acid, sweat, and effort is just part of working out," James adds. "You have to force your body to change, and that requires you getting out of your comfort zone."

Quality Beats Quantity In The Gym

Time spent in the gym doesn't mean anything in itself. "It's not about how long you're there; it's about how productive you are during that time," says James. "My weight training sessions are never more than 40 minutes long, but I kill it during that time. There's no talking and no resting." Save the chatter for post-workout water-cooler talk.

Excellence Should Not Be Compromised

"Good enough is the enemy of excellence," says James. "The average person will say that 98 percent is good enough. Very few will go that extra 2 percent. This is what separates average from excellence." This applies to everything, too—your discipline, effort and consistency with your training, nutrition, and supplementation.

A Partner Can Help You Reach New Heights

"Focus on your training and the work at hand."
Train with a training partner who will push you and hold you accountable. Set new goals together and monitor your results so you know you're making progress. Also, make sure you're always prepared. "I always keep a bag packed with my belt, lifting straps, a few Vortex sample packs , shorts, and T-shirt in my car," says Whitney Reid. "Sometimes your daily plans will change, so it's good to always be prepared so you don't have any excuses."

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Mistake 1: Not Listening to Your Body

You're scheduled to hit the gym for a big chest day today, but your triceps and front delts still ache from your last shoulder workout. You had mediocre sleep last night that left you feeling far less than energized. What do you do?

Many dedicated gym-goers will hit the gym anyway. They say there are some days you just have to push through. Which is true—to a point. There comes a time, though, when you're only stacking abuse on top of abuse.

You need to listen to your body and what it's asking—or screaming at you. Maybe it's saying that a day or two of straight-up, no-strings-attached rest is necessary.

Or perhaps it's telling you that knocking against the ceiling of your abilities every day isn't the way to go, and that a program with more built-in periodization is a better fit for your abilities and lifestyle.

Athletes learn and improve. You know who doesn't? Injured athletes. Muscle tears, strains, and systemic overtraining will all cost you time and muscle mass. Don't give up performance in the name of ego!

Mistake 2: Missing Out on the Big Lifts

Too often, we quantify our weaknesses purely in terms of size. "I'd like to add an inch to my arms," for instance, or "I wish my calves were bigger." So we approach the problem the same way we'd approach a bike with a flat tire: by pumping it up, in this case with isolation movements like preacher curls or calf raises.

Logical, right? But you build more overall muscle—and a surprising amount of site-specific muscle—by addressing big W: weakness. You should train to get stronger! Weighted pull-ups will do plenty for your arms, in addition to your back, abs, and overall strength. Heavy deadlifts hit your arms, calves, and pretty much everything else, while producing a rush of beneficial anabolic hormones and burning more calories than you probably realize.

"Sure, curls and calf raises are great exercises, but if you want serious gains, you simply must hit heavy, basic compound movements," explains fitness model and BPI athlete Whitney Reid. "When I say heavy, I'm talking enough weight that you're fully fatigued after 8-10 reps. Keep your form strict and control the weight."

A good balance between compound exercises and isolation is crucial to the success in any mass-building program such as Jay Cutler's Living Large trainer. Conversely, you could also plan out your year and focus solely on improving on the big movements for a phase, followed by a phase of more traditional bodybuilding work. How you choose to incorporate strength work is up to you. Just make it happen!

Mistake 3: Not Mastering Mind-Muscle Control

Maybe because of all the intense faces that people make in the weight room, it can be easy to overlook how fun training is. It's like a playground for adults, with every station offering a different experience and potential for improvement.

With all these tools at our disposal, it can be tempting to simply move from station A to B, push weights from points A to B, and trust that it's working. If you've accomplished everything the little piece of paper said to do, the workout was a success, right?

Yes and no. In reality, half the battle is the process. If you really think about each muscle fiber squeezing and contracting as you move the weight upward, you'll dial in and work the muscles you aim to. You'll maximize the time under tension (TUT), which is a proven way to grow. Allowing stronger muscle groups to take over a movement pattern is the fastest way to miss out on gains in the muscle you target. Your front delts are all too willing to take over a shoddy bench press, for example.

Learn how to really focus in on a muscle, and you'll see an instant boost in how your workouts feel and your body grows. You also might find yourself making some of those intense faces I mentioned earlier—and that's a good thing!

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Taking too many supplements

Supplements are called supplements for a reason. They are supposed to fill the gaps in your whole food diet and help you get more from your efforts in the gym. They are not, nor will they ever be, a replacement for a proper diet or hard work.

Time and time again, I've talked to people who blow most of their monthly food budget on overhyped supplements when what they really need is steak, sweet potatoes, and other basic whole foods, supported intelligently with basics such as protein, fish oil, creatine, and pre-workouts.

Make sure that your diet is nailed down before you start adding anything more than those to your routine. You'll get better results by mastering basic nutrition than if you have a subpar diet with superior supplementation.

Adding more volume and workouts

In my opinion, people spend way too much time online arguing about whether or not overtraining is a "thing." Focusing on that dodges what I feel is the real question: Is it possible to train too hard, too often, and for too long? The answer, I can say from experience , is yes!

The "more is better" mentality that has permeated bodybuilding is not beneficial, especially when it gets applied to the length and frequency of workouts. Why? Because, your muscles grow outside of the gym, after your workouts.

If you train hard enough, the work you perform in the gym will cause microscopic tears and trauma to your muscles. The work you do outside of the gym—eating, drinking water, stretching, supplementation, and especially sleeping—repairs this damage. When you train a muscle hard again before the repair process is complete, you not only rob yourself of growth, but you open yourself up to more injury and unnecessary pain.

If you want your muscles to grow bigger and stronger, you need more recovery, not less. Let your muscles fully heal before training them again, and you'll enjoy faster, injury-free gains.


Setting more elite expectations

Chances are you have an image in your head of what you'd like your body to eventually look like. Perhaps it's someone you have seen before. That's how a lot of people communicate their fitness goals: "I'd like to look just like him. He looks great!"

Maybe it's a personal trainer at your gym, a professional athlete, or just a random picture you saw somewhere. Regardless of whom it is, I bet that person spent years, or even decades, building his or her body.

Please don't think I'm saying you can't achieve what you want. I'm simply recommending that you set realistic expectations about your progress and the timeframe required to achieve it. If you don't, you'll get discouraged, and that can take all the fun out of your lifestyle. Because, don't forget, it's the overall lifestyle—not a certain lift, program, or dietary trick—that creates lasting results.

Enjoy your progress, and take satisfaction in setting and reaching your realistic goals. Then set new ones and get back to work!

Eating more dirty calories

By now, we've all seen enough "It's OK, I'm bulking" memes to last a lifetime. In real life, the joke isn't on some random baby or squirrel, it's on that guy we all know (or are) who pounds pizzas, burgers, and ice cream until he could be mistaken for a fat person—if not for his incredibly developed forearms and calves.

All kidding aside, I see way too many people with offseason diets that are—shall we say—loose. They end up blowing their body composition and nearly dying on the stairmill when they finally decide to get cut. Not only is the excess weight unhealthy, but they end up spending massive amounts of time dieting away the body fat they put on, and as a result, lose more muscle than if they had just stayed a little leaner.

Would you rather take three steps forward and two steps back, or two steps forward and one step back? I'm going to go with the option two, because it's a whole lot less walking—both figuratively and literally—to go the same distance. It'll also feel far better along the way.


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Never start your workout with a weak movement

This is a common mistake, especially among beginners who don't yet understand that not all exercises are created equally. Newbies often start their triceps workout with press-downs, which are a single-joint exercise. However, single-joint movements limit the amount of weight you can push. Unless you're following a very specific training protocol, the best choice for your first triceps movement is actually a heavy, multijoint exercise.

You likely already follow this same thinking with other body parts like chest and legs. When two sets of joints are working (for triceps, that would be shoulders and elbows), you recruit more muscle tissue and can therefore lift heavier weights than when hitting isolation movements. Though you lose some of the targeting of single-joint movements, your goal in your first exercise is to push the most weight for the greatest overload.

Multijoint exercises for the triceps include weighted bench dips, the triceps-dip machine, close-grip bench presses, and parallel-bar dips, though with the last one you might have to use a weight belt to ensure failure in the muscle-building rep range (8-12). Single-joint movements like press-downs can be done first to warm-up the elbows, sure, but those sets shouldn't be taken to muscle failure.


Never forget to include an arms-overhead movement

When putting together your triceps routine, there are plenty of exercises you can choose from, but only one kind most effectively targets the bulky long head. The long head attaches above the shoulder joint, which means it doesn't get fully stretched unless your arms are positioned overhead. When a muscle is fully stretched, it's capable of a stronger contraction than one that's not fully stretched. That's why an arms-overhead movement should be included in your triceps routine.

There are any number of types of arms-overhead movements you can do, including overhead extensions with an EZ-bar, dumbbells, cables (rope or EZ-bar), or even machines. The key is to lock your upper arms beside your head so that your elbows point straight up—they shouldn't sway from this position. Your elbows simply act as a hinge with no other movement taking place.

Never allow your elbows to flare

Single-joint exercises for the triceps all have one thing in common: elbow extension. The elbows go from a highly bent position to fully straightened. However, if you allow your elbows to flare out, you reduce the effectiveness of the motion.

"If there's one tip that applies to virtually every exercise in terms of technique, it's that to truly isolate the muscle and minimize the involvement of surrounding muscles such as the chest and deltoids, you need to keep the elbows in tight as possible," write Joe Wuebben and Jim Stoppani, PhD, in "Stronger Arms & Upper Body".1 "Allowing them to flare out will, in most cases, reduce the effectiveness of the exercise."

When doing overhead extensions, close-grip bench presses, machine triceps dips, parallel-bar dips, or other triceps movements, be conscious of elbow flare and try to keep your elbows as tight to your body as possible.


Never drop your elbow when doing kick-backs

This is a common form error, even among more experienced lifters. Essentially, dropping the elbow during the motion turns a single-joint movement that emphasizes the lateral triceps head into a multijoint one that also recruits the delts. That limits the effectiveness of the movement for triceps development, because some of the workload has shifted to the delts.

To get this isolation movement right, lock your elbow by your side so that your upper arm is parallel with the floor. Hinging at the elbow, fully straighten your arm so that now your entire arm is parallel to the floor. As you lower the weight, don't allow your elbow to drop.

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MISTAKE 1 Thinking just about any exercise works well as the first movement in your workout

Not sure where to start your arm-day workout? Anyone leading off with concentration curls or triceps press-downs as their preferred mass-building move makes a big mistake.

The Fix

Choose mass-building exercises early in your workout when your energy levels are highest. What are the best mass-building moves? Good question. They're typically the ones in which you can push the most weight. Multi-joint exercises which recruit secondary muscle groups fall into this category (one reason you start your chest workouts with presses and thigh workouts with squats). For triceps, there are a number of multi-joint moves to choose from, but not so for biceps. Basic standing curls allow the biceps to move the most weight.

MISTAKE 2 Not working the target muscle from various angles

When training arms, "angles" refers to your arm position relative to your torso as well as your grip. If you always do your curls or triceps extensions with your arms locked by your sides, you limit your gains.

The Fix

For biceps, with your arms in front of your torso (think preacher curls), you target more on the biceps' short head; when your arms are behind your torso (think incline bench dumbbell curls), you better focus on the long head. Likewise, using a neutral grip (hammer curls) and taking a closer or wider grip on the barbell during standing curls each recruits the arm flexors in slightly different ways.
For triceps, when your arms are overhead you better target the long head, while going from an overhand to an underhand grip (as when doing press-downs) shifts the emphasis from the lateral to medial head.
In sum, using a variety of grips and arm positions better emphasizes the various heads of your bis and tris for more complete development.

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