Cycling, martial arts, climbing – just about any sport that involves jumping, running and/or kicking requires the assistance of those muscles that are located in the back of the thighs. Known collectively as hamstrings, these muscles are comprised of the Biceps Femoris, Semimembranosus and Semitendinosus.

A number of weightlifting exercises target these muscles, including Romanian Deadlifts and leg curls. However, if you don’t have weights or a machine around and only have a stability ball, try this exercise out. It’s effective and guaranteed to strengthen your hamstrings if you maintain proper form throughout. Keep your back straight with your shoulders and palms touching the floor to provide support. To obtain the full benefits of this exercise, remember to extend the legs completely. Great for any strength training program!

In this video, Kin shows us how to perform a back extension the right way using a stability ball. This exercise is excellent to strengthen the lower back as well as the abdominal area. If you’re trying this at home, remember to drop completely over the ball and lift as high as you can off for the full range of motion. That way, you won’t be cheating yourself of the full benefits of this exercise.

We all know how to do a pushup, but do you know how to do it properly? A pushup isn’t just going on your hands and toes then bending and straightening your arms – you’ve got to have proper form and execution.

If you do a pushup right, it can be one of the most effective strength building exercises for your upper body and core. We dare you to try completing one set of 12 without quivering from effort!

Here’s a great video on how to perform the perfect dip to work out your arms and chest (if you lean forward a bit). Kin also gives some tips on how to increase the intensity of the exercise, so that it remains challenging.

Our very own Kin Sze talks about chin ups – but not those lame ones you see some people doing. These chin ups are to build explosive strength. Explosive strength training is essential for sports and martial arts, where you need spurts of serious power to overwhelm an opponent.

This video shows you how to do a proper chin up, and the areas of the body that it works.

Myths passed down through “gym talk” abound in weight lifting circles. Many weight lifting enthusiasts base their routines on these myths without realizing that they are slowing their muscle development as a result. Avoid following weight training advice people give you without verifying whether it is accurate or not. By doing so, you’ll ensure that you achieve optimal muscle development as a return for your training efforts.

Usually, muscle development myths start because a weight lifter finds a technique that he thinks is effective and tells a friend, who then tells another friend, and before long, the myth has spread like wild fire. For great results in natural muscle development, you must ensure that every technique or piece of advice you follow is backed by science, not personal opinion. The following are some muscle development myths that are not only false but could keep you from achieving optimal results from your workouts.

The “Spot Reducing” Myth

Many people mistakenly believe that they can melt fat off a certain area of their body by working those specific muscles. This technique is wholly ineffective because fat loss is systemic in nature. Spot training will only develop the muscles under your fat and fat loss in any area of your body can only be achieved after the overall loss of body fat takes place. Body fat is lost in a pattern. Typically your mid-section is the first place to get fat and the last place to lose fat. Forget “spot reducing” and instead focus on completing intensive cardiovascular workouts paired with weight training, which will lead to optimal muscle development and overall fat loss in time.

The Low-Weight, High-Volume Training Myth

There is no evidence to support the proposition that low-weight, high-volume training creates muscle definition yet many weight lifters swear by it. Low-weight, high-volume training causes the engorgement of skeletal muscles with blood and therefore gives your muscles temporary definition but the effects fade within a few hours of your workout. Heavy-weight training combined with the reduction of body fat is what leads to muscle development and increased definition. There is no special routine you can follow to increase muscle definition. Low-weight, high-volume training does not build strength considerably either although it could be helpful in building endurance.

What works better is to keep the muscle you’re working on tense for a longer period of time. So, rather than concentrating on the number of reps you do, concentrate on the length of time the muscle is engaged. While everyone is unique in their response to weight training, the length of time the muscle should be engaged to achieve hypertrophy is generally anywhere from at least 40 seconds and as high as 70 seconds.

The Protein Myth

Protein assists in muscle development but not without the sufficient consumption of non-protein calories. According to the Merck Manual, your body cannot efficiently use protein for muscle development and maintenance unless sufficient non-protein calories from dietary sources are available. In order to achieve muscle development, you cannot increase your protein intake without also paying attention to the amount of fat and carbohydrates you consume.

These muscle development myths do not have any basis in science. Avoid falling into the trap of believing these and other weight lifting myths so you can get greater results from your muscle development training. Check up on any muscle development advice you hear floating around at the gym before following it so you can weight lift with wisdom.