How To Help People Think Better - The Nitty Gritty of Listening

You know how to listen. You do it every day. In fact, you spend a good portion of the time you're interacting with others in listening. You're good at it.

And, we find that leaders who are remarkable listeners are always looking to expand their listening skills. So let's really make a study of listening today; let's take a look at the nitty gritty.

Helping people to think more deeply is the highest purpose, the best reason, for a leader to listen more deeply. When people think more deeply, when they make their own connections, they get a jolt of energy, and they're inspired to action. David Rock in his book Quiet Leadership (Appeared, 2006) describes the neuroscience of the process of coming to one's own insight. Then he says,

When people make deep, new connections in their own mind, there is a tangible release of energy, a discernable "aha" moment that fills us with a desire to take action. On a physical level, this aha moment releases chemicals in the body to prime it for movement. The energy created by insight is an important energy source to be harnessed. In the workplace there are many drains on our energy, including restrictions, policies, politics, long hours, and hundreds of emails every day. We should be harnessing every possible energy source that might inspire better performance. Letting people come up with their own ideas is a deep well of motivation to tap. (pp.39-40)

We have found that people get excited, become more conscious, and solve their own problems when their leaders and colleagues employ the skill of listening for. When you are listening for my potential, my strengths, or my skills mastery, I can sense that and I respond to it. When you're listening for what's important to me, for my goals, for what I value, for what I believe is possible or not possible, you help me become more conscious of these myself. When you're listening for how I feel about the subject I'm discussing - whether my energy is high or low, whether I'm excited or worried - I know I am truly heard. When you're listening for the real issue, maybe the question behind my question, then you help me to see so much more. When you're listening for what I'm not saying but is clearly present, then you give me permission to bring it out.

So how do you do it, this listening deeply and listening for? Here are some of the nitty gritty techniques:

Say less than you think you need to. Give lots of time for the person to think or to frame what they're saying. Resist the urge to jump in.

Summarize, paraphrase, and mirror back what you're hearing to be sure you understand clearly and to give the person a chance to hear what he or she is thinking.

As you reflect what you're hearing, use their language. It will have more of an impact. As you reflect, use language that indicates "I heard" rather than "You said."

Notice the difference between the person's words, tone of voice, and body language.

Practice setting aside your own judgments of what you're hearing.

And finally, just practice hearing some of what we've already mentioned: potential, goals, values, strengths, mastery, possibility, point of view, feelings, what's underneath.

Now let's look at an example. Your employee, Bob, comes to you and says, "Sandy is alienating everyone around her." For many, the automatic response is to look for a solution. The leader who is listening for starts by asking for more information and listening for what's important to the speaker.

As you listen, you reflect what you're hearing, giving Bob the chance to become more aware of the elements of the situation and what's really going on. You use language that tells Bob what you've heard. You listen for possibility, for Bob's strengths and for Sandy's. You listen for how Bob is thinking about the situation and what he may not be saying about it. And you assume Bob's competence in being able to solve his problem.

As you reflect what Bob is saying, he begins to see possibility, too. Now may be a good time to ask Bob what he'd like to see and how he'd like to move forward. You continue to see him as competent and creative. In this collaborative conversation, Bob feels heard, and he taps into his own resourcefulness. Your deep listening allows Bob to harness his own energy and to solve his own problem, to become a leader in this situation.

We have all experienced the power of being truly heard. It is one of the highest gifts we receive in this life. In the business world, it encourages deeper thinking, energized action, and greater connection to the work at hand. And it invokes the leader in everyone.

Jennifer Sellers is the Chief Energy Officer of Inspired Mastery, a leadership development company that helps people see inside their own blind spots to become powerful communicators, powerful leaders, and powerful in their lives. She is a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation. Her background includes teen and adult education, project management under contract to NASA, a year as a ski bum in Telluride, Colorado , and 5 years as a coach, facilitator, and speaker. She has practiced Zen meditation for almost 20 years and is passionate about tapping the highest potential in each of us. http://www.inspiredmastery.com

Happiness Is The Art Of Personal Development

Personal Development is meant to lead to happiness but what does being happy mean to you? Can you really define the happy state? For the great majority of people happiness is a strange state that, to them, really just means an absence of pain and suffering. Do you struggle with work and home life with the feeling that your situation cannot be improved? Are you experiencing ever increasing levels of stress in your life? We live in such a fast paced world where competition is eagerly accepted as the norm. Stress, frustration and the "no pain, no gain" mentality have lead us to believe that any state that does not include these undesirable effects is a state of happiness!

Many other people believe that happiness is the pursuit of pleasure. There was a film made in the late 1970s called The Thief of Baghdad. This was a typical mysical film made in the Abrian Nights style which included flying carpets and a genie in a lamp. At one stage of the film the powerful genie transports Prince Taj and his theif friend Hasan to an exotic paradise. While there they eat lavish meals and are pampered by beautiful exotic girls. At some point McDowall is told by his wise friend "If pleasure remains, does it remain a pleasure?" This gets the thief to thinking and of course we all know5A8 the answer to this question.

Pleasure in and of itself does not bring happiness. It merely satisfies your cravings in the moment. Once these cravings are satisfied a new desire arises and you must seek more pleasure to a greater extent to get the same "buzz" from it.

Happiness is not the absence of pain, nor can it be found in the pursuit of pleasure. Happiness means different things to different people but it is always dependant on your personal values, goals and beliefs. You can only be truly happy when you are following your own path in life and fulfilling your own needs through the improvement of the self. You must be living a life that is in alignment with your own values for this is what brings true lasting happiness.

By living your life in alignment with your own values you give meaning to your existence. Think of the things which mean the most to you. Is it family, friends, a feeling of freedom, appreciation or empowerment? By getting clear on your internal values and starting to live your life from that point of view you will bring a deep sense of peace and joy into all areas of your life.

Taking the first step toward being happy could not be easier. Begin right now to look at different areas of your life. Find the things in your life that you are truly grateful for such as your health, relationships, job, home etc. Even if these circumstances are not ideal you can find aspects of them that5B4 are pleasurable and areas where your life would not be as good without them.

By creating a state of gratitude for what you have you will align yourself with positive feelings and positive thoughts. Not only will this make you feel much happier but you will also start to attract other things that will make you feel gratitude and happiness.

Happiness is not the by-product of things that happen to you nor does it come from things that you experience or acquire. Real happiness is an inner state of being that you chose to embrace. This is Self Improvement and Personal Development at their foundations.

Begin to release the past. Regardless of what has happened to you prior to today you can chose to be happy now. It is the events, people, situations and circumstances in your past that have been major contributors to the person you have become today. Without them you would not be who you now are. Forgive those who have offended you or done you an injustice. This is for your healing not theirs. You do not have to condone their behaviour or even make it alright that they did it. You just need to forgive them so you can release them and move on.

Challenge your negative programming. Ask yourself empowering questions. Instead of asking why things are the way they are or why you can't do something or achieve a certain goal etc., ask yourself questions like "how can I achieve this goal?" or "how can I make things better in thi582s area?" Doing so forces your mind to search for solutions rather than offer explanations for how bad things are.

Stay focused in the present. Enjoy whatever is haoppening right now and savour them. Enjoy the process of your life. Constantly looking back at the past or peering far into the future removes the happiness of the moment. Being immersed in the moment brings its own joy.

Start to create a vision of your life that is built from your own internal values. Do not undertake any life altering task or goal if it isn't what you want to do. Empower yourself with the belief that you can chose to be happy.

Follow these simple personal development steps for self improvement and you will find yourself in a peaceful, joyful state of happiness throughout your day.

Free reviews of the best Personal Development products we tested. Find out what really works! Self Improvement products tested and then reviewed for free. We find out what works so you don't have to!

Mark Twain

Spiritual Guidance is Always Current

Your relationship to Spirit is always current. Spirit doesn't carry memories of your past. That's a human habit we put in place, often to build our case of inadequacy. The inspiration and guidance you're receiving applies to your life right now. Spirit doesn't withhold from us. If you feel the time is right to bring to fruition something that has been growing within you, the time is right.

But just because Spirit is willing to give you what you desire doesn't mean you are ready to receive it. Very often we hold false perceptions or limiting beliefs about ourselves that won't allow good to flow to us and through us. Once we see these perceptions as false and not the truth of who we are, the veil is lifted and we allow ourselves to realize our wholeness.

In a recent class a woman realized, after much struggle, that she was a natural leader. She had simply lacked the courage to truly claim it. She had been bogged down with fears of standing out, not being part of the pack, and had the fear of how others would respond to her taking charge.

However, the moment she truly realized she was a leader and stopped hiding her gifts, her5A8 perception of herself shifted and the work she was doing changed. She no longer could pretend she wasn't a leader. She realized that by not stepping up to the plate she was creating a frustrating situation for herself as well as her co-workers and clients. Once she claimed these leadership gifts, her work flowed and more opportunities opened up.

Even if we are not ready to receive what Spirit wants to express through us, we do not have to be afraid it will go away. I like to think of it as the jack-in-the-box. We may continue to push it down, but it always finds a way to pop up again.

Although Spirit doesn't withhold from us, sometimes we want to rush our lives along, pushing against a natural rhythm. As Jane Hirschfield, author and poet, says, "Ripeness is what falls away with ease." When we are trying too hard it's usually attached to our thoughts of scarcity.

I remember wanting to get married and have children in my twenties. Reflecting back, I don't think I really wanted to get married and start a family young, but I was afraid I wouldn't meet someone or that I would soon be too old to have children. My desire to settle down and have a family at that time was driven by fear, not the ripeness of the fruit nor my true readiness to receive that part of my life.

Even though we may be impatient with the way our life is unfolding, the generosity of Spirit always guides us in directions that are perfect582 for our life right now. We are never left with nothing to do. If we feel we are not receiving guidance from Spirit, it's usually because we have already made up our mind what we want the guidance to be. You know the feeling when it's "my way or the highway;" those times when we believe we are in control, dictating to Spirit how our life should unfold.

This does not allow us to receive the opportunities that would deliver more than our limited perceptions will allow. The mystery and beauty of Spirit are that it shows up with complete individuality for each person, and yet it stems from the same source, this one resource that we all share. Our personal life energy is just one part expressing itself from this wholeness. We are connected to this infinite Source while we are expressing our individuality and while playing a part in a larger unfolding of life.

Janice Campbell is the author of the book Receive Your Life: A Life of Purpose and Prosperity. The focus of her life's work is to assist people in awakening to the beauty and power of what they truly are; individualized expressions of Spirit. The intention of the Receive Your Life work is to help people come to that realization as quickly and gracefully as possible. To sign up for our free inspiration of the week go to 315http://www.receiveyourlife.com

Don Miguel Ruiz

Duality Matrix

As an infant, still immersed in Oneness, you accepted yourself unconditionally, and were completely without shame or self-consciousness. Until someone told you, or implied to you, that there was anything unacceptable about you, your behavior, or the situation into which you were born, you accepted yourself in every way. It didnt matter what you looked like, if you were rich or poor, what your skin color was, if you had a deformity, an alcoholic parent, fashionable clothes, ragged clothes or no clothes.

You accepted your body completely, including your genitals and you59Cr bowel movements, and did not experience them as something about which to be ashamed or to hide. You did not question the validity of your feelings, the sound of your own voice or the grace of your movements. You did not compare yourself to anyone else, or wish you were someone other than who you are. You simply were, and that was that. You were whole and still operating out of Prime MatrixOnenessfully expressing your essential qualities, with Life Force moving through you at optimal levels. You had not yet been disempowered through judgment.

Only when your caretakers, who were embroiled in the duality matrix, the realm of opposites, comparisons, and of the judgment of what is good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable, began teaching you that some things about you were okay and others were not, did you begin to see yourself as less than perfect. Only when someone praised some things about you and criticized others, or compared you to someone else, did you learn to do the same. This was not natural for youyou had to learn to shift from the sense of holiness and perfection within you, to a sense of incompleteness and imperfection. You had to learn to judge yourselfto not to fully accept yourself. You had to learn to step out of Oneness into the Life Force-depleting, frequency-lowering duality matrix, the realm of judgment.

Your acquired lack of self-acceptance is t5B4ruly crippling you more than you may know. It has kept you tied to the duality matrix, because all your judgments about everything are rooted in your lack of self-acceptance and your judgment of self. What you are not able to accept in others is intimately tied to that which you cannot accept in yourself, and this pattern of judgment keeps you stuck in the duality matrix. Letting go of self-judgment, and re-learning self-acceptance is key to releasing yourself from the trap of duality.

No doubt there are characteristics or conditions you have developed as a result of your tenure here on Planet Earth that are not desirable to you and, certainly, it may serve your divine purpose to change them. But the irony is, when you fail to accept whatever you wish to change, it simply puts you in a position from which real transformation and healing is impossible, because it keeps you out of alignment with Source, out of the flow of Love, which is the only transformational, healing force there is! Remember, acceptance is not about liking something or condoning it. Rather, it is acknowledging it in a neutral way. It is saying, I will not judge because I do not have the capacity to fully understand how who I Am and what I express fits into the Whole of Creation. I will not judge because I do not know the totality of Gods desire for experiencing what it is to be human.

Certainly, if it is true that the Creators primary goal is t5B4o experience every facet of Her or Himself, then whatever you, as a facet of God, manifest in your beingwhether desirable to you, or undesirable to youis a part of providing God with a complete experience. Therefore, to judge yourself is of no use, except to keep you trapped in the pain of duality. Only through non-judgment can we move out of duality, and truly be in alignment with Source where we are able to release anything that doesnt suit our divine purpose, and experience the joy and fulfillment of being and doing that which we are designed to be and do.

So, as you can see, acceptance of yourself is a major piece in the process of returning to the higher frequency of joy and harmony. Because the habit of judgment is so deeply ingrained in humanity, self-acceptance is something that you will need to practice and practice and practice. But doing it is liberating in a way that you will not conceive of until you experience it. There is nothing that will raise your frequency as effectively as true self-acceptance. To get there, try offering yourself the same patience, compassion, understanding and Love you might give a disabled child in your carefor that is what you are. Operating in the duality matrix has crippled you, but by refusing to withhold Love from yourself, and practicing the unconditional acceptance you embodied as an infant, you take a truly powerful step toward rising in frequency, healing the wounds susta5B0ined in the duality matrix, and rising back up in frequency where your life is harmonious, joyful, and filled with Love once again.

2005 Julia Rogers Hamrick

Julia Rogers Hamrick has been a spiritual-growth facilitator for over two decades, and is the author of Recreating Eden: The Exquisitely Simple, Divinely Ordained Plan for Transforming Your Life and Your Planet. Julia writes about and leads seminars on the relationship between frequency and experience. For more information on Julia and on recreating Eden, visit http://www.recreating-eden.com. To read about Julia's own dance with Spirit, ego, frequency, and her personal journey toward self-acceptance, read Julia's blog http://www.recreating-eden.com/weblog/

Home Guide and Informaiton Blog

Building Muscle

Are you trying to add lean muscle mass? Confused by all of the muscle building systems out there? Which system will work the best for you? There is High Intensity, Heavy Duty, Power Partials, Static Contractions, X-Reps, X-Size (different from X-Reps), High Volume, Pyramid, Twenty Rep Squats, Central Nervous System(CNS), my own Quick Hammer Routine, and many, many more to choose from. So, which one should you try? Why not take the best points out of each system and use them all? Obviously, you cannot do some of each of these systems, each and every workout.

What I like to do is take my basic, high intensity routine and add something to the end of the set. Although I really don't use high volume, and I only occasionally play around with X-Size, I like to use parts of these other systems on a regular basis. Again, I start with a normal high intensity routine where I might do one set of one to three exercises for a bodypart. I will then add one, or a combination of more than one of some of these other rep styles to my set. For instance, if I am doing bent rowing, I do as many normal repetitions with a heavy weight as I can.

One I reach failure, I will do as many partials as I can. If this has not completely wiped me out, I will throw in a static hold, or an X-Rep for 5-10 seconds at the end. Static holds are like an Isometric rep. You hold the weight in a contracted position for a few seconds. An X-Rep is much like a Static Rep, except you kind of pulsate the weight as if your contracted muscles are vibrating. Again, I will do one of these reps for about 5-10 seconds. I cannot tell you which of these two hold reps work's best, but they both really do work.

Now, if I am doing the benchpress, I prefer Pyramids over a single set. I feel much safer going up fifty pounds each set to get my mind and my muscles prepared for the heavy benchpress. At the end of my heavy set, I will do a Static Rep for around 10 seconds to really push the pecs. Squats are a bit different because I have a really bad right knee. The only way I will do a Full squat is with a very light weight while warming up. When I start going heavy, I do Only Power Partials.

Again, like the benchpress, I prefer to Pyramid the weight up to get my body ready for the heavy weight. I also rarely do less than twenty reps on squats. Even if I am doing 400lbs, I will do 20 reps. It is amazing about the legs, but no matter how hard you push them, they seem to always finish the set! At the end of the set, I will do a Static Hold for 10-15 seconds. I do Static Holds, or X-Reps on pretty much all of my other exercises including Curls and Triceps Dips.

I purchased Pete Sisco's CNS Workout last year and I will use it from time to time. The idea behind it is to hammer the body in a quick, high intensity way to get a massive response from your central nervous system. I don't use it regularly, but it is a very good system and I use it when I think the time is right. Another routine I like is my Quick Hammer Routine. It is ideal for people who want to build mass, but are very short on time. It work's the major muscles of the body in a brief, ten minute workout. In this case, you pick one exercise for the chest, back and legs. You do the three exercises one after the other in circuit training style, with the exception that you are using heavy weights and lower reps. you perform three cycles of the exercises, wit about a minutes rest between cycles.

If you are going to use this routine for an extended period of time, you can throw in some crunches for the abs. I like doing the routine with dips, bent rows and squats, but you can also use benchpress, chins and leg presses, or any other combination you choose. You just need to make sure you are using compound exercises so you are hitting the other muscles along with your legs, back and chest.

Another thing I will do to add strength, is to do two or three weeks of Static Contraction workouts from time to time. Instead of doing the Static Holds at the end of your set with a weight that you can do a normal repetition with, you use a weight which is actually too heavy for you to perform a full rep with. You really need a power rack or smith machine for these, as you are handling extremely heavy weights and I would not like to depend on someone else to keep this weight off of me. Let's use the benchpress for our example. You set the bar about four to six inches from full extension.

Now, load the weight on the bar. I mean, really load the weight on the bar! I can bench about 330lbs, but at the end of my last Static Contraction cycle, I was doing a ten second static hold with 450lbs! The theory is that you can handle much more weight when you lift in your strongest range of motion. When you lift such an incredibly heavy weight in this range, you incorporate so many more muscle fibres, spurring rapid growth and strength gains. I can personally vouch for the strength gains. I do not have the patience to stick with this system long enough to test the mass gains. I change routines on a regular basis to avoid going stale. The routine I use most of the time is something I picked up from Dorians Yates book, "Blood and Guts", and made my own adjustments to it. I work chest and triceps in one workout, back and biceps in workout two, then Legs and shoulders in workout three.

I will perform crunches every other workout. I work each muscle a maximum of once per week, with the obvious exception of abdominals which get worked one or two times per week.

On Chest day, I pyramid the benchpress for my chest, then perform a hard set of parallel triceps dips to finish off my triceps. On back day, I do a set of deadlifts, a set of bent rowing after a lighter warm-up set, a set of chins and a set of barbell curls.

On leg day, I pyramid squats, usually performing twenty rep sets, a set of military presses and a set of dumbell side laterals.

This routine seem's to work the very best for me. You should experiment to find what work's the best for yourself.

For diet and nutrition, I like a diet that is simple enough for you to stick to for life. If it is too restrictive, you will fall off the wagon and usually go nuts on everything until you have gained back everything you lost and more! Restrictive diets also eat up alot of your valuable lean muscle tissue. What then happen's, is you start out weighing 200lbs with around a 23% bodyfat percentage. When you fall off of your diet, you have catabolized muscle mass with the fat you lost, so when you balloon back up to 200lbs, your bodyfat percentage is now around 26% or more. Now you weigh the same as you did before the diet, but you look worse! Eat smart, train and rest.

I don't recommend low carb diets unless you have alot of weight to lose. Then, I would use it in stages to break away at the fat a bit at a time, while cycling back to a more normal diet of complex carbs, protein and essential fats. Be sure to get a good protein/ carb meal or shake immediately after your training to quickly replenish your muscle protein and energy. Eat five or six small meals per day to get the most nutrients from the food, while storing less of the calories as fat.

Rest is very important for muscle growth. Your muscles do not grow while you are training. They grow while you are at rest. So if you have been training and eating well, and you are not making decent gains, you may not be getting enough rest to allow full recovery of your muscles.

I am a fitness consultant in St. Louis, Mo. I answer training questions via my website at: http://dan4fitness.com

What Is The Best Muscle Building Supplement Available Today?

What's the best muscle building supplement available today? You might not like the answer.

And if you don't, you might want to consider getting away from all those "steroid-like" results ads you are bombarded with in all the magazines.

If you get a chance, take a look back at all the muscle magazines from eight to ten years ago. What do you see?

I'll tell you. You see a lot of ads for "wonder" supplements, many of which were called the best muscle building supplement available at the time. Only problem is, you don't see any ads for those muscle building supplements today. Why is that?

Because they just don't work! Eventuall, consumers figure that out and the supplements stop selling. So the supplement companies come out with the latest, greatest, cutting-edge, best muscle building supplement for you to spend your hard earned money on.

There are a couple of supplements that you still see ads for today. But they aren't sexy, they aren't new, they aren't cutting edge, and they aren't "drug-like" grey area supplements. So I give two answers to the best muscle building supplement question - protein and creatine.

If you want to make outstanding muscle building progress, put together a solid weight training program, train with a high level of intensity, add poundage to your exercises as often as possible, eat six high protein meals every day, and make sure you are out of the gym often enough to recover from your workouts so that you can build the muscle you are triggering into growing.

Oh, and add the dual "best muscle building supplement" to your program - protein and creatine. Protein powders make it extremely easy and convenient to eat six meals a day and to get enough quality protein into your body.

Use Protein Shakes - This will make it easier for you to consume enough calories and protein each day, as well as making it much more convenient to have 6 meals a day.

Here's a sample weight gain drink you can make up with the best muscle building supplement and use in your muscle building diets.

100 grams of protein powder

2 quarts of whole or 2% Milk

2 cups of skim milk powder

2 cups of chocolate ice cream

4 tablespoons of peanut butter

1 banana

Mix in a blender and drink throughout the day, in addition to your regular food meals. Add or subtract ingredients based on individual taste preferences and number of calories needed.

High quality protein, aka, 'the real best muscle building supplement' should be the center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for protein, which support muscle repair and growth.

When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you weight 150 pounds, try and take in at least 225 grams of protein each and every day.

I know this sounds like a lot and you could probably do okay with 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. But if you find it really difficult to gain muscle, this extra protein can help. You don't have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources.

For getting bigger and stronger, the only protein you need to be concerned with are those found in whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish. This is the best muscle building supplement and the cornerstone of your muscle building nutrition plan.

Through in a high quality creatine product and you are good to go. As for the rest, save your money and stick with the dual stack 'best muscle building supplement' for massive muscle mass gains.

Gregg Gillies

Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com His articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine and he is a regular contributor to Body Talk Magazine. He has written two books, available at his site. He has also written a free report, Fast Mass, available at Fast Mass Muscle Building Secrets

Arm Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders

Most people new to bodybuilding pay a lot of attention to building big arms, sometimes to the point of overtraining. Don't forget, the arm muscles are brought into play during most exercises aimed at other body parts so care must be taken not to overdo things.

Having said that, the arms are complex body parts in their own right and deserve a properly focused exercise program. In basic terms the arm consists of three main muscle groups:

1. Biceps brachii - two muscles at the front upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulders.

2. Triceps brachii - three muscles at the rear upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulder.

3. Forearm - several smaller muscles that run from the elbow to the wrist.

There are seven classic exercises that will allow beginners to get off to a good muscle building start without overstraining their bodies. For all of the exercises that follow, use a weight that is light enough to allow between 10-15 reps.

Three biceps building exercises are recommended for beginners:

1. Standing barbell curl - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

2. Alternative standing dumbbell curls - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

3. Preacher bench curls - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Three triceps building exercises are recommended for beginners:

1. Dips - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

2. Close grip bench press - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

3. EZ bar lying extensions - 10-15 reps.

One forearm building exercise is recommended for beginners:

1. EZ bar reverse curls - 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your arm exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this article.