Lifting Weights For That Perfect V-Taper Back

When lifting weights for bodybuilding or fitness athletes, male or female, one of the main goals is building that perfect body image. And while men and women usually differ in their desired final look, both want that sexy v-taper to their back...

Achieving that look isn't just the result of building a bigger back though. Three different sets of muscles play a role in building a v-taper appearance - your obliques, your latissimus dorsi (lats) and your medial deltoid muscles. In other words you want a narrow waist, wider shoulders and a nice sweep to your back to join the two.

Keeping Your Obliques Narrow 
Your obliques are the muscles that run down the outside of your waist just above the hips. Working the obliques is done with twists, either seated with a bar across your shoulders or with kettlebells. The problem here is that they respond just like any other muscle - the heavier the weight you use the bigger the muscle grows. Normally that's what you want from your workouts, but with obliques the bigger they get the wider your waist is and the blockier your appearance.

Widening your waist will detract heavily from the appearance of a v-taper and lessen the impact of your overall figure. That doesn't mean you can't work your obliques though - just stick to either indirect training for them from the other exercises you do or do your seated twists using a broom handle instead of a weighted bar.

Building Your Lat Sweep 
Your lats provide that nice sweep from your waist to your shoulders, and the more you work them the better and wider your v-taper will look. To build their width, pick exercises that stretch them fully and force you to pull your arms back down towards your side. Using an overhead pulley to do seated lat pulldowns is the most obvious - after all, that's why it's called LAT pulldowns.

You can also add to the width of your lats with one-arm rows done on a weight bench. Instead of using a straight up-and-down movement for your reps, start at the bottom with the weight further forward, in line with your head. As you pull the weight up use a sweep to bring it up beside your hip then lower it back down as low and as far forward as you can safely stretch. As always, keep your torso parallel to the bench throughout the exercise and avoid the tendency to let the back roll side to side.

Wider Shoulders To Complete The Look 
OK, obviously you can't actually widen your shoulder joint or safely move the shoulder joints further apart, but you sure can pack a lot more muscle onto your shoulders to give them a wider appearance. Anyone serious about lifting weights will want to build all 3 shoulder muscles - front, medial and rear deltoids - evenly, but for building a v-taper it's the medial or outside head that makes the most difference.

Compound exercises like upright rows and overhead presses will build the medial head, and be sure to use side dumbbell raises as the isolation exercise to build your shoulder width. Often referred to as lateral raises, these are the only exercise that focus almost entirely on the medial delts - just be careful not to raise your arms above parallel at the top of each rep as this can damage your shoulders' rotator cuffs. Don't overdo the weight, either - be sure you can finish each rep in strict form and opt for more reps, at least 12 - 15 reps per set.

Beyond training those 3 areas, be sure you're not carrying extra bodyfat around your middle as that will also detract from your v-taper. While that should go without saying, it's not unusual to see novice bodybuilders and fitness athletes still sporting those tell-tale 'muffin tops', so be sure you're not letting a few extra pounds of fat diminish your hard-won physique.

Hit the weights hard every time you're in the gym and enjoy the impact of your great v-taper back on the beach next summer!

D. Champigny is well known in the fitness world - he's a published fitness photographer, certified personal trainer, fitness author and publisher of the popular Flirting With Fitness website. For more help from Champigny, add him to your circles on Google+ today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D._Champigny

Learn How to Build Muscles

Anybody who is into fitness has a dream of someday having that amazing body with huge muscles and the washboard abs but they also want to know what is the fastest way to get to that point. Knowing the right information about what you need to do to gain muscle fast is going to be crucial to you're success and what sets you apart from the average looking people. It's also going to fast forward all your efforts while you go to the gym. It doesn't matter if you want to build muscle fast to get in shape for the summer, to enter a competition or because your an athlete and you want to have an edge. It's important that you know what you are doing and that you start putting that knowledge into practice right way.

Stop. Take A Breath. Don't Be Overwhelmed...

If you become overwhelmed you'll just put yourself in the wrong mind set and you're efforts towards building muscle fast will be affected. If you do do become overwhelmed then it will almost a certainty that your negativity will prevent you from staying motivated about your goals. One very common mistake that most people make is trying to emulate a professional bodybuilders routine in order to obtain the same results. You will end up getting hurt. You must work yourself up to that point and that takes time and discipline. Another common mistake is that a person will go out and buy very expensive workout equipment in an attempt to build muscle fast. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts towards gaining muscle fast, even though this equipment will help you see results, most times people lack the discipline to stick to a regimen and end up quitting and spending money on equipment they don't use.

The Secret

I'm going to let you in into a secret! This is the answer to all your muscle building questions! Here it goes... the best kept secret behind to gaining muscle fast is to eat the right foods and accompany that with a regular exercise regimen. This is not rocket science you don't need a PHD or a degree to get the results you want. Now, the only thing you need to do is get informed about what and when you need to eat and pick a workout routine that gives you the results you so much want. If you do these two things you can be assured that you will build muscle faster than you ever thought possible in the safest and most natural way. You will gain muscle fast simply by eating what your supposed to and exercising correctly and diligently.

Its All About The Free Weights

It is highly suggest to use free weights instead of using machines for two reasons, by lifting free weights you will control the pace and your form. Another benefit from using free weights is that your movements will be executed in a natural range of motion. One of the big downfalls of lifting weights with the help of machines will force you to lift in unnatural motions the can often result in injury. It is recommended that you use a barbell or two because they provide many options for effective workouts towards building muscle fast.

An important aspect that should never be overlooked when tying to build muscle fast is to always put most of your focus on the larger muscle groups and not so much on isolated exercises. The importance of a healthy and proper diet shouldn't be overlooked either since that will be the most important element in getting better results while weight training and will also make things easier on you. If you want to get the most out of your training then using L glutamine and other supplements can help you get fitter and bigger biceps.

Keep A Journal

The most important thing to keep in mind is not to give up if you do not see the results you are expecting immediately, don't panic you will get there. Just remember to eat the correct foods and be consistent with your workout routines. Also, don't forget to keep records of your daily trainings and before you know it you will start seeing results faster than ever expected!

Learn ways to gain muscle fast by reading about the proper steps to doing so. If you want to learn how to gain muscle then you need to read my How to Gain Muscle website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anibal_Acosta