How to Build Cannonball Shoulders that Turn Heads

Have you ever been to the gym and seen someone with massive shoulders?  If the answer is yes, then you know what I'm talking about.  Just massive cannonballs, people with these kind of shoulder can't be missed or looked over.  They turn heads in every gym they go to.  Think about what it would feel like to have those round dense, sculpted shoulders.  Behind every set of shoulders like that is years of hardcore training.

Why your shoulders are small?  Most people have small shoulders because they train them incorrectly.  This is because, they follow outdated routines that are for guys with elite genetics.  What you need to do if you want to grow your shoulders is make them a priority.  Train them your first and last workout of the week.  In this article I will guide you down the right path.

Do you have a poverty overhead press?  Here's mine.  Overhead press

If you do that's a big reason why your shoulders are small and weak.  Here's what you need to do grow your shoulders.

1. Overhead press with a barbell 2 x per week

I can tell you from experience of going to the gym consistently for 5 straight years, most people don't do the standing overhead press.  In fact, if you don't call it the standing overhead press, they'll think you mean seated.  Look there's nothing wrong with the seated overhead press, it just doesn't build the same amount of muscle as the standing overhead press.

What you need to do is have one shoulder focused pressing workout, and the second overhead press day, would come during your push workout after bench press, as an accessory.

Shoulder workout A:

Standing overhead press:  3 x 6, 4, 3 reps

Seated smith machine behind the neck press: 3 x 8, 8, 6 reps

Seated dumbbell shoulder press:  3 x 6, 6, 4

Rear delt machine:  3 x 20-25 reps

This workout needs to be done early in the week since it will lay the foundation and set the tone for the rest of the week.  On workout A you will do the Standing overhead press power-lifting style.  I want you to lift as heavy as possible for the first exercise.  I want you guys to focus on moving weight here.  If you have to push press the last 1-2 reps that's okay with me.  After that the smith behind the neck is excellent at strengthening the standing overhead press.  I find that to be an effective accessory.  On the dumbbell presses I also want you to focus on moving as much weight as possible.  I have done these with 100 lbs in each hand.

On the rear delt machine, this is where you will do some"bodybuilding."

Go slow, take 3 seconds on the way down the eccentric and 1 on the way up.  Get 20-25 reps I don't care how much weight you guys use on this exercise.  The objective with this one is to get a great pump and feel your rear delts doing the work.  Lean back in order to minimize back involvement too.

This is where a lot of people make mistakes, they lean forward and take their rear delts out of the movement.  

The next workout will be workout B

Workout B:

Flat bench press: 3 x 6, 4, 2 reps

Incline bench press: 4 x 8 reps

Standing overhead press: 4 x 8 reps

Push press: 5 x 3 reps

Dip machine: 4 x 20 reps

Workout B is supposed to be your heavy bench press day.  Remember that bench presses also work your shoulders, so don't neglect the bench press during delt training.  It is important to remember that the bench press carries over to the overhead press and vice versa.  People think they have to dump one to get better at the other and that's not true.  I put the standing overhead press as the 3rd exercise here.  

During this workout I want you guys to go for volume, so pick a weight that you can get 10 reps with and do 4 x 8.  The push presses after that I want you to go for strength and power.  Push press allows you to use your hips and legs to get momentum on the lift.  Normally I despise momentum, in this case though the push press is a great exercise that also develops athleticism.  Which is something most people lack in today's gyms.

Most people in gyms are also incapable of doing a push press that's more than 135 lbs.  Then they wonder why their shoulders are so small.  Remember that you need to be able to overhead press your own body-weight, if you do that your shoulders will be better.

You might be wondering how come I didn't program lateral raises and front raises into this program.  The reason is because if your overhead press is less than 200 lbs, it sucks and it needs to be improved.  Too many people watch juice pumping bodybuilders do lateral raise after lateral raise and build big shoulders.  Of course it works for them.  Everything works for them.  Stop working out the way a pro bodybuilder does.

If you do this program as written and eat like a maniac for the next 60 days, you'll have a better pair of shoulders and a stronger overhead press.  Not to mention, you'll be turning heads and getting looks from women you never got before.  Keep training hard and heavy and don't let up on your goals. 

Action Steps:

How much do you want to bench?

How much do you want to overhead press?

What do you want your body to look like? 

Answer these and figure out what you want to look like.  It's important that you answer these because this is what will give you a purpose.  If you're directionless in the gym you will fail and you will be frustrated with your progress. 

  

Why training heavy is key

Every time I go to the gym I see nice people who are clueless when it comes to training.  They think that they can get big and strong on Joe Blow routines.  They are sorely mistaken.  All it takes is the right program and diet and you can get big and strong.  You need the right combination of strength and form to build a great body.  Meaning you have to lift heavy with good form.  If you're not willing to do this it will make the whole process longer.

You need to master the 4 basic compound lifts.

1: The squat

2: Overhead press

3: Bench press

4: Dead-lift

Once you develop proficiency at these, you'll begin to see muscle gains and dense hard muscle.  The kind of muscle that can't be built through pump sets.  Pump sets are good for pretty boys and girls.  But if you're trying to build solid mass and thickness good luck with those pump sets.

There are a few exceptions though.

20 rep squats are some of the best leg builders I've ever seen as well as 20 reps on the leg press.  Basically for the thighs, high reps are king.  Now, I realize I said that, that doesn't mean you can neglect the heavy lifting.  For the high rep squats to work you need to be lifting at least 275 lbs on the barbell.  This is what will build leg size.  Unfortunately, this is hard work and brutal, most people don't have what it takes to get that done.  However, if you're willing to learn and get under a barbell you can make consistent progress and gains.

Here's a sample power bodybuilding workout

Chest:

Flat bench press: 4 sets 4-6 reps

Incline bench press: 3 x 8 reps

Dumbbell pullovers: 3 x 12 reps

Over head press: 3 x 6-8 reps

Rear delt machine: 3 x 12 reps

Close grip bench press: 3 x 8 reps

Skull crushers: 3 x 15 reps

Dip machine: 3 x 15 reps

You see, the beginning of the workout is dedicated to power lifting style training.  As in as heavy as possible for the given rep range.  

The most important part of this workout is the first part as well as getting stronger on that primary exercise.  When you take that into account and focus your effort and energy on improving your strength on that lift you will make the most gains.  This is what will help people the most.  To build strength and muscle you have to focus on your form and the weights you're using.   

You'll see the gains continue to come as you get bigger and stronger.  Don't try this program during a cut.  You will need to be in a calorie surplus to see the muscle gains.  Remember that heavy training is what will allow you to pack on muscle in the fastest amount of time.  I don't peg my audience as a bunch of IFBB pro bodybuilders.  Don't do what these guys do.  These guys spend more money on drugs than you do on rent.

Keep in mind that some people will grow faster than others on this program.  Also, some people will use this program and they will use steroids.  That's fine with me, I'll never judge what someone else does with their body.  Their body belongs to them.

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How to Build a Massive Back

Lately people have been asking me what it takes to build a large back.  I thought about it a bit, and now, I've constructed this article with a free back workout at the bottom.  The main issue I see with people's back training nowadays, is the lack of heavy rows and dead-lifts.  When you dead-lift heavy your body just starts to look different.  This is even more true when you add heavy barbell rows.  These two exercises are my go to for back training. 

Now, since both take a lot of energy to get done, you can do what I do and dead-lift on your first leg day, or dead-lift on back day.  For me, back day is always the most brutal.  I do bent-over barbell rows, weighted chin ups and chest supported hammer strength rows.  On other back days I'll add dead-lifts.  

There are several ways you can program back days.  You can do back and biceps, back and chest, back and rear delts.  The point is, pick a style you like and start training back hard.  Here's what back and biceps should look like.

Back and Biceps:

Dead-lifts: 3 x 4-6 reps

Weighted chin ups: 2 x 6-8 reps

Barbell rows: 3 x 12 reps

Barbell curls: 4 x 8 reps

Preacher curl machine:  3 x 12 reps

Reverse ez curls: 3 x 20 reps

Back and chest:

Dead-lift: 3 x 6 reps

Incline bench press super set with chin ups: 4 x 8 reps

Flat bench press super set with bent over rows: 4 x 10 reps

Dumbbell pull overs: 2 x 15 reps

Back and rear delts

Bent over barbell rows: 4 x 8 reps

Chest supported hammer strength rows: 4 x 12 reps

Dumbbell pullovers: 3 x 12 reps

Rack dead-lifts: 3 x 12 reps

Rear delt rows: 2 x 20 reps

There are several different ways to train back right there that I just outlined for you.  What I would recommend is picking one of those workouts and doing them once or twice per week to train your back.  This doesn't mean you have to do it this way, it's just a thought.  Here's how I program dead-lifts, and my own back workout.

Snow's Leg Day:

Squats: 3 x 6-8 reps, 1 x 20 reps

Dead-lifts: 2 x 6-8 reps

Lunges: 2 x 20 per leg

Romanian dead-lifts: 3 x 12-15 reps

Vertical leg press: 3 x 20 reps

Snow's Back Day:

Barbell bent over rows: 3 x 10-12 reps

Weighted chin ups: 2 x 6-8 reps

Snatch high pull: 2 x 6 reps

Chest supported hammer strength row: 3 x 10 reps

Barbell curls: 3 x 12 reps

Preacher curl machine: 3 x 12 reps

As you can see, I sometimes like to throw in dead-lifts on leg day.  If I do that, I don't have to worry about them on back day, and I can focus on rows and chin ups.  Ultimately, it's up to you.  You don't have to do it my way.  My way is a simple idea.  As long as you're dead-lifting at least once per week, you should be able to make gains.

Dorian Yates back training

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How to Build a Massive Chest

It seems that people have forgotten what to do to grow their chest.  The pecs are an easy muscle to train and grow for me.  While I always had a naturally big chest, I have consistently flat bench pressed and incline bench pressed over 350 lbs on both lifts.  I understand that your chest can grow from heavy training.  I train like a power lifter and bodybuilder.  By using both in my approach, I am able to grow my chest.

I always go with the incline press for 6-8 reps.  I use more of a guillotine style.  This is where you lower the barbell to your throat, just lower it right below your chin.  The movement is to be done slow and under control.  Use a pinky just inside the rings grip.  Then you lower the barbell the way I described. https://goo.gl/images/NWfDSQ

The reason to do this is because it will recruit more muscles in the upper chest area.  This is what will allow you to recruit the most chest muscles.  Stick with 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps for the incline bench press, this will produce the most gains. 

Afterwards, go to the flat bench press.  This is also a great chest builder.  The form on bench press is less complicated than the incline bench press.  Stick with 3 sets 6-8 reps here going slow and under control.  The flat bench press allows you to contract the whole entire chest.

The next chest exercise I recommend is the dumbbell pull over.  This exercise will build a thick chest that expands as well as your serratus and the lower lats.  The pull over is a complete exercise and has been used by many classic bodybuilders.  https://goo.gl/images/eYKEpR

This exercise is to be utilized more for bodybuilding purposes, that means to do 8-12 reps at a slow tempo, controlling the eccentric and exploding on the way up.  This should be the 3rd exercise in your arsenal.  You need to actively let the dumbbell pull you back and let it stretch you completely, this will build the most muscle and will produce the best gains.  By adding this in, your chest training will be complete.

Recap:

• Bench press heavy early in the workout
• That means incline barbell or flat bench should be your first exercise
• Then focus on lifting the weights under control and focusing on a slow eccentric
• Make sure you're lifting heavy enough
• Add dumbbell pullovers towards the end of the training to make more gains

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Leg And Glute Training

When you step into the gym, I guarantee you'll see guys who are completely lacking in lower body development.  This is due to the fact that guys are way too obsessed with upper body training.  Usually what happens when you do this is that you lose all proportions with your body.  Without further ado, this article will cover how to grow your legs and glutes.

Legs:

When you're training legs, the most important exercise will be the squat.  The squat is the best exercise for leg development if done correctly.  Most guys avoid squats like the plague, this is because you suck at them.  Once I started squatting properly my leg development became much better.  You need to do enough to tear down those muscle fibers.  Forget about the pump and focus on tearing down muscle fibers.

Squats:

I recommend low bar back squats for most people to start out with.  The low bar squat will add mass to your whole leg, and your glutes.  To properly execute the low bar squat, you need to put the barbell on your rear delt muscles.  Then you will have a slight forward lean.   Afterwards, you will breathe out and down and squeeze your core as tight as possible, this is what will protect your spine.  Then push your butt slightly back and down as you spread your knees out and let them travel forward, then you pop back up, and stand up explosively.

Squat recommendations

2 x 4-6 reps

1-2 sets of 20-25 reps

Front squats:

Once people have properly mastered the low bar squat, I show them how to front squat.  The front squat places more emphasis on the core and on quad strength.  This is good because it'll help you add muscle in the teardrop area, which is also called the vastus medialis.  For front squats I'd keep the reps between 8-12 basic rep ranges work best here.

Hack squats:

For my own leg workouts I always do hack squats after low bar squats.  I keep a close stance with the toes pointed slightly out, this allows the lifter to target the outer quad sweep.  The quad sweep is also called the vastus lateralis.  Doing these correctly will allow you to have proportional quad development.  On hack squats, you need to go down slowly 2-3 seconds down, and 1-2 seconds up.  This controlled tempo will take the momentum out of the movement and help you grow your legs faster.  Momentum kills muscle gains.  For hack squats I generally keep the reps between 8-20.  Depending on the weight, make sure you're doing heavy sets on these as well.

Low foot leg press:


The low foot leg press is great for targeting the quads.  Now, this exercise has a more limited range of motion then a hack squat or low bar squat.  To execute this place your feet at the bottom of the sled, or leg press machine.  Then use a close stance, again to target those outer quads.  Go down slow and controlled and perform 20-30 reps on these.  For leg press, higher reps work best.  Do 2-3 sets of 20-30 reps.

Now that completely covers quad training.

The next part of the article will go over hamstring and glute training.

Hamstring training

The most effective mass builder for hamstring is the Romanian dead-lift.

This is different from the stiff leg dead-lift.  A Romanian Dead-lift starts from the top, and ends around the mid shin, and sometimes slightly higher.  Start from the top and push your butt back and lower the bar slowly to mid shin.  Keep your back arched and use a controlled pace, keep your attention on feeling the stress in the hamstring.  This is what will help you make the most gains.

For this exercise keep the reps between 8-15, and go slow.  Control the movement for the entire set.  2-3 sets done correctly is more than enough for this exercise.

The next great hamstring and glute builder is the reverse hack squat.

To do this movement, go to the hack squat machine and put your forehead against the machine, then get a slightly wider than shoulder width stance.  Squat down as low as possible under control and then explode up after a slight pause.  Reps of 10-12 here with a heavy weight are most effective.  This exercise changed the game for my own hamstring training.  Not to mention the glute gains you'll get from this are great.

For glutes I recommend doing Romanian Dead-lifts with a slow eccentric.

Eccentric is the when you lower the weight.

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Comfort Is Your Enemy

When you want to build muscle, or do anything in life, you have to kill your desire for comfort.  Comfort is the enemy of muscle growth, and overall growth in life.  You have to do what's necessary in order to accomplish something.  That means you will be uncomfortable sometimes.

Get comfortable with discomfort.  It's easy to say, and yet, so few people actually do it.  Change is violent and uncomfortable.  In order to become the person you want to be, or have the body you want, you will have to be comfortable with discomfort.  This is a must, if you can't accept this, you won't achieve anything you want.

You need to learn to put yourself through the fire.  That's the fastest way to change and make gains.  If you do this consistently you will make progress and advance through life faster.  The more comfortable you are the softer you will become.  To continually progress and move forward you will need to be willing to sacrifice comfort.

Consistently keep yourself uncomfortable, or at least become comfortable with discomfort.  That's the easiest.  You have to convince yourself that you're an unstoppable force that can annihalte anything in your way.  This is the mindset and focus that you need to have.  If you're focused on winning, and positive forward momentum, you will crush life and the odds.

The universe, or nature, has no mercy for anyone.  You need to remove mercy from your mind, remove it from your actions.  You are where you're destined to be.  The stoics call this amor fati, that's latin for a love of fate.

This principle is useful.  If you fight where you are, you'll have no acceptance and can become a delusional jackass.  That will turn you into a failure, you definitely need to learn to love where you are and to not fight fate.  Being comfortable all of the time destroys your desire to conquer and crush whatever is ahead of you.  Any badass MMA fighter will tell you that a comfortable fighter is weak.

Comfort makes you weak.  Always keep that in mind.  Now, this doesn't give you a reason to be an angry jackass and never relax.  I want you to be calm during discomfort.  When I squatted 500 lbs I was surprisingly calm.
https://www.facebook.com/duke.snow.1/videos/vb.1129171193/10212176744550369/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I was grunting sure and giving all of my effort, yet there was no nerves.  If I would have stayed comfortable I would have never made the lift or even attempted it. 

I make this point about discomfort because there are too many people who want to live life or go to the gym on cruise control.  If you cruise through every workout and don't push yourself, you'll never grow or make any real gains.

Comfort always has and always will be your enemy.

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10 Reasons Why Your Diet Isn't Working

If you are like most people you have started a diet for the summer.  Every year, people start and quit their diet before seeing their desired results.  This article is going to help you understand why your diet's not working and you're not losing fat.

As someone who has lost weight and gained weight consistently, through trial and error, and through reading different materials on diet and nutrition, I have been able to learn how to lose fat.  These are the 10 reasons why your diet isn't working.

1: You're diet has no structure

When you start a diet you need to have a plan.  Once you pick a plan, you need to make sure you are executing it to the best of your ability.  This means, if the diet says 6 oz of chicken breasts, that's what you need to eat not 10 oz.  You need to learn what proper portion control and food measurements are.  After that you need to understand calories.  If you're on a keto low carb diet, you need to stick to high protein and moderate fat.  If you're on low fat, high protein, moderate carb, you need to stick with that.  The whole point is to execute the diet.

You need to stick to it and see it through the end.  If you're diet's not working it's because you have no structure.

2: You're starving yourself

While it's true that you need to be in a caloric deficit to lose body fat.  That doesn't mean that you need to starve.  When you're in a deficit, I recommend keeping it at 300 calories under maintenance.  You might be wondering, well how do I do that?  Multiply bodyweight x 15.  After that you subtract 300.  That's a proven way to lose body fat.  I would recommend eating as much protein and good fats as possible.  Fats are great for hormone production.  They also promote satiety, which means you'll feel full while dieting.  Remember, this doesn't mean eat 1,000 calories per day.  Eating 1,000 calories means you will start to tap into to your hard earned muscle.  During a diet you want to keep every ounce of muscle on your body.  Or at least as much as possible.

3: You yo-yo diet


These people are the best.  That's sarcasm, they are the people that bulk one week, and cut the next.  When you start to diet you need to stick to it for 90 days.  I recommend dieting for a full 90 days.  That's the most effective way to go.  You can try longer if you have to, but you won't know if a diet is working or not if you don't stick to it.  Eating correctly for two weeks, won't change 10 years of bad eating.  This means you need to be consistent.  Stay on your diet, meaning in a calorie deficit, for a minimum of 90 days.  Program your cheat meals, and don't eat them when they're not on the schedule.

4:  You pick diets you can't stick to

When you start dieting you need to be 100% confident in the diet you picked.  You need to believe that you can stick to the diet.  If you believe it you will achieve it.  It's cliche, it's corny, and it's true.  When you believe you can stick to the diet you will.  Unfortunately, most people overestimate the amount of discipline and will power they have.  If you love eating red meat and eggs, why would you start eating tilapia and egg whites?  Sounds silly right?  Yet, I see way too many people doing this.  This is a foolish mistake.  Pick the diet you will stick to, that's the best one.

5: You're over training

Yes guys, contrary to popular belief, it's very possible to over train.  Most overly ambitious people will try to work out every single day when they are dieting.  This is simply unnecessary.  You need to use the minimum effective dose here.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that you need to work out as little as possible to create the desired result.  This means that you need to be efficient and train hard.  You won't have as much time for talking and shooting the shit with your buddies.  You need to be on a mission and get out of the gym in less than 1 hour.

If you keep your workouts shorter than 1 hour while you're dieting it'll be easier to not over train.  Also, your workouts are longer than 1 hour it can have a negative effect on testosterone production.

6: You're eating too much

Just like starving yourself, eating too much is also hurting you.  You need to change your mindset, food is not a reward, food is just fuel.  You need to feed the machine that is your body.  Don't feed that weak inner child inside.  That weak inner child is holding you back.  The simple way to know if you're eating too much is if you're feeling hungry.  If you don't feel hungry during a diet, you're eating too much.  That's a simple way to see if you're eating too much.  You should be losing 1-2 lbs per week.  Any more than that will mean you're losing water and muscle too.

7: You have no discipline


If you lack discipline and mental fortitude, you'll never be in shape.  That's a sad reality.  Luckily discipline can be developed.  It will suck and you will suffer but you will get the prize of a new attractive physique.  You need to remember that you won't be motivated every day.  Any one can do something when they feel like doing it.  You need to learn to diet whether you feel like it or not.  That's what discipline is.

8: You make excuses

When you start a diet, you can have results, or you can have excuses, but you can't have both.  You're going to have to suffer and just barrel through the diet.

9: You are too restrictive

If you stop eating certain foods that you like cold turkey, you will fail at dieting.  Now, this is within reason.  I assume you're not counting ice cream and cookies as foods you like.  I'm talking about, cutting out red meat when you love beef.  If you love beef, keep it in your diet.  Very simple and to the point.

10: You think it'll happen overnight

No diet will work over night, I would say that you need a minimum of 60 days to see real changes.  If you diet and train correctly, you will be able to see results in that time period.  That's how long it will take to make lasting changes.

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