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How To Transform like Captain America
Now known as Captain America “The Super Soldier”,
Steve Rogers was once a small, skinny man who would have gone un-noticed when
walking down the street. How things
changed when the once puny Steve Rogers became the hero we all know, dressed in
the stars and stripes as Captain America, the original Avenger; the Super
Soldier. In this article we’ll explore
some ideas of how Captain America came to be, what would have needed to happen
to see such a dramatic change, what training would be needed to maintain such a
physique and how you can start a Captain America transformation of your own.
Starting the
Transformation
First things first, this transformation doesn’t start
in the gym. Depending on your starting
point this is arguably a complete lifestyle shift. Working out in the gym and lifting weights is just part of
change, you need to ensure you get enough rest to enable your body to recover
properly and crucially you must focus on food and your diet. The food and fuel that you put into your
body will ultimately define how hard you can train and how impressive you gains
will be.
Supplements might also play a part in the results that
you see, not simply impacting your size but also the speed at which you see
them. Selecting the right supplements
that best suit your body, lifestyle and diet is key to maximising your
results. Listen to your body and don’t
overload it, results will come, but let your body adapt….it’ll make the results
much stronger and easier to maintain.
Bigger, Faster,
Stronger …… Better
And so we begin.
You’ve seen Captain America on the big screen, saving the day and
looking great and you want a piece of the action, well the trick to looking
like The Cap is to train like The Cap.
The old phrase “you get what you put in” really couldn’t me more
true.
Interestingly we’ve noticed even Captain America has
developed further since his first outing in Marvels “Avengers”, looking bigger
in “Captain America: The First Avenger”, more lean in “Captain America: The
Winter Soldier” then taking his body and physique to a whole new level in the
latest “Avengers: Age of Ultron”.
So the question on all of our lips is….How does he do
it??
Training like a
Superhero
So where to start?
If you want to produce results like Steve Rogers to Captain America you
need to get into the mind set of “bulking up” and adding size which you’ll need
to do in the kitchen as well as the gym.
The exercises to focus on are compound exercises otherwise known as
compound lifts, adding higher weights and keeping your rep count low to
something like five or six reps. It’s
important to add enough weight to each set to make sure that you’re failing
around this rep count to push yourself, your body and muscles to absolute limit
each time.
Why Compound Exercises? This is how you’ll add size to your frame as well as great
definition and providing you continue to stretch you’ll also stay very mobile
and flexible. After all, if you’re
going to transform like the .Cap then you’ll need to be ready to run and jump
into battle….being heavy and sluggish will get you nowhere!
Compound
Exercises
Ultimately this any controlled lifting exercise of a
major muscle group with heavy weight and low rep combination. Exercises and movements to focus on and
master are; Squats, Deadlifts, Shoulder Press, Bench Press and Incline Bench
Press, Weighted Dips, Weighted Chin-Ups and Pull-Ups and Lateral Raises.
Completing all of these exercises to six rep failure
in one training session might prove difficult, so break them down into two,
three or four workout sessions until your fitness, strength and stamina
improves enough to take on them all in one session. Remember there’s no point skipping or holding back on an exercise
because it’ll only hamper your development and overall transformation.
My Suggestion
and Recommendation for Training
To obtain the best results from your training, I’d
recommend focusing on two muscle groups in each training session, for example;
Legs and Triceps, Chest and Biceps, Shoulders and Back. Training in this way will mean you can push
to your absolute limit each time and importantly it enables you to train more
regularly because it’ll give your individual muscle groups more time to rest
and recover; which if you’re not familiar with is one of the key factors to
weight training and bodybuilding…. Recovery is crucial to enable and assist
muscle regeneration and growth.
Each training session objective should be to destroy
the muscles you’re working. When you’ve
finished, move on to core and abs at the end of every workout. You use your abs daily in pretty much
everything you do, so in order to get good definition you need to continually
find new ways of working them. A
combination of static and moving exercises would be recommended.
I’d also recommend using different grips and angles
when lifting, for example with your chest press, use a close grip as well as a
wide grip on the bar to make sure you’re working the full width of the pectoral
muscle. You can also use different
angles with the bench you’re using for the incline press to again make sure
you’re working the full range of the muscle.
Simple is
Effective
Don’t be worried about going “old school” in the
gym. In fact you should embrace the
more classic or traditional method of fitness and bodybuilding training; throw
some free weights about and incorporate some weighted pull-up, weighted dips
and press-ups. Press-ups with a plate
on your back too is a great way to stretch and rip your chest muscles for amazing
gains and great size. The exercises are
extremely simple but they’re very easy to do and are very effective.
Keeping Fitness
High with Resistance Training
This may seem a little contradictive after just
highlighting the benefits of classic bodybuilding exercises, but I’d also
consider including a training method called plyometrics. Box jumps or squats into box jumps, single
arm clean and press, floor wipers, hill climbers and burpees. These are all exercises that increase the
heart rate and force your body into a cardio state which will assist in keeping
you fit, burning fat and tightening your physique.
Jump rope is also a very fast way to increase your
heart rate to start your body burning fat, helping you look shredded and lean.
Compound
Lifting
We’ve already hinted at compound exercises and
compound lifting so now we’ll look in more detail at some specific lifts to
focus on each major muscle group to give you a good grounding for starting your
transformation process;
Squats
These are the bread and butter when it comes to
training your legs. With the bar
resting on the back of your shoulders, hold the bar to ensure its sitting firm
and doesn’t slip down your back. Keep
your legs shoulder width apart (at least) and be sure to keep your hips and
shoulders are aligned as this will stop you from leaning forward and not
putting the weight through your legs.
Also when starting the squat, drive the weight through your heels only
using your toes to balance yourself, this will make sure that you’re working
your quads to the maximum.
Chest Press
The trick to bulking your chest is to control your
lifting, whether on the rack or using dumbbells make sure you bring the bar to
your chest slowly and raise it at the same speed. Rushing this movement will only cheat the muscle and won’t rip
the fibres well enough to achieve the best results.
You should perform a chest press on a flat bench and
also on an incline and decline bench as well, this will make sure you’re
working the full range of the muscle and not just the middle. This will give your chest a full body look.
Shoulder Press
This exercise can be done stood up or sat down but I’d
suggest doing this sat down on a seated beach with a well-supported back. When pressing you must make sure that you’re
controlling the lift with steady movements and ensure you press the dumbbells
straight up but don’t lock out your arms at the elbow to prevent injury like
hyper extension. To help guide the
weights up, try concentrating on getting the dumbbells to touch when at the top
of the lift then bring them down slowly until they are at shoulder level or
just above your shoulders.
Biceps and
Triceps
The trick to making your arms look bigger is to work
more on your triceps more than your biceps, the hint is in the names; Triceps
have three heads and Biceps have two heads, therefore your Triceps are
naturally bigger.
·
Biceps – A simple Bicep Curl will give
you height to your biceps and make them look bigger. Changing the angle of the dumbbell to a hammer curl will help in
lengthening and stretching your bicep muscles.
These two exercises will increase the size and overall strength of your
biceps.
·
Triceps – Exercises like Tricep Press,
Tricep Extensions or Skull Crushers are great ways to increase the length and
height of your Tricep muscles. Be sure
when doing any of these exercises to keep your elbows in line with your body
and not pointing out, this will work the full length of the muscles.
Weighted
Pull-Ups
The perfect exercise to work your rear deltoids,
latissimus dorsi (lats) and trapezius (traps) in one movement. You can change the position of your hands
with a wider or closer grip to work a bigger range of the muscles. Hanging a weight from our waist will
increase resistance and ultimately improve your power to weight ratio.
A seated or bent over row is also a very good exercise
to work your upper back. This will work
on widening your back muscles and increasing upper body strength. A bent over row also has benefits in working
your core as well.
Compound Lift
Summary
These compound lifts are seen as core exercises and
will work the main or largest muscle groups in your body and will kick start
growth after each workout. You can
combine two muscle groups in one workout session but it is suggested that you
don’t work the same muscle group continuously or one day after another to
prevent injury and to allow the muscles to recovery correctly. A muscle needs to recover correctly before
being put under stress again to prevent long term damage.
Transformation
Summary
Following the above suggestions and tips will soon
have you transforming your body just like Steve Rogers into Captain
America. The compound lifts that have
been suggested will improve size and strength and kick-start your body into
bulking but importantly looking lean.
Be sure to stretch all muscles that have been exercised and continue to
shock your body during your workouts, mix up your workouts or change the order
in which you exercise, this will force your muscles to work when at different levels of
fatigue which will improve the results.
Getting your diet right is a crucial part of this
transformation as it is with all bodybuilding.
You need to fuel your body correctly if you want it to perform and
grow. This will means you will need to
focus on eating more often and eating the correct level of carbs, proteins,
fibres and vitamins. Creating a diet
and eating plan will help in getting this right and help with sticking to a
routine.
Now it’s over to you!
Good luck with your transformation!
About the
Author
Kevin Hodges owner of crazygain.com has been involved
in sport and fitness from a very early age; first being a captain of a swimming
team at multiple levels, playing hockey then moving to play rugby union where
size and fitness really mattered.
Started bodybuilding as a hobby and now continues to
regularly workout whilst using experience to guide and train others. Also
reviews legal and safe bodybuilding and fitness steroid alternatives for
maximum results in the gym.
Visit his website Crazy Gain for all the latest
articles and reviews!
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