Building Muscle and Exercise

Anytime you workout, you do so in order to try and
maintain good health. You also know that you have to
eat as well, so your body will have the energy it
needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks
of life. For making the best of your exercise, what
you eat before and after you workout is very important.

No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio
workout or a resistance workout, you should always
make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and
carbohydrates. What makes that determining percentage
of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not
you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the
intensity level that you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal
is an hour before you start. If you plan to work
at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre
workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you
plan to workout at a high level of intensity, you
will probably need your meal to be between 4,000
and 5,000 calories.

Those of you who are doing a cardio session will
need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein.
Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from
the extra carbs with enough protein to keep your
muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For strength training exercise, you’ll need to eat a mix
of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help
you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform
each set you do and the extra protein will help
keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you
exercise.

Eating after you workout is just as important as
your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise,
whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy
in the form of glycogen. The brain and central
nervous system rely on glycogen as their main
source of fuel, so if you don’t replace it after
you exercise, your body will begin to break down
muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert
them into usable fuel for the brain and the
central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance
exercise, you’ll break down muscle tissue by
creating micro tears. What this means, is that
after a workout, your muscles will instantly go
into repair mode. Protein is the key here for
muscle repair, as you don’t want muscle breaking
down even further to create fuel instead of
lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you’ll
need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably
those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat
pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources.
Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there
types of carbs after you workout. After your
cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 - 10
minutes.

Once you’ve finished a resistance workout, you
will need to consume a combination of carbs and
protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance
workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating
micro tears.

You’ll need protein as this happens to build up
and repair these tears so that the muscle can
increase in size and strength. The carbs will
not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but
will also help the protein get into muscle cells
so it can synthesize into structural protein, or
the muscle itself.

After your resistance workout, you should wait
up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won’t
take blood away from your muscles too fast. The
blood in your muscles will help the repair process
by removing the metabolic waste products.

Muscle Fiction

If you’ve been training, here’s a short list of bodybuilding fiction.

1. 12 Rep rule

Most weight training program include this much repetitions for gaining muscle. The truth is this approach places the muscles with not enough tension for effective muscle gain. High tension e.g. heavy weights provides muscle growth in which the muscle grows much larger, leading to the maximum gains in strength. Having longer tension time boosts the muscle size by generating the structures around the muscle fibers, improving endurance.

The standard prescription of eight to 12 repetitions provides a balance but by just using that program all of the time, you do not generate the greater tension levels that is provided by the heavier weights and lesser reps, and the longer tension achieved with lighter weights and more repetitions. Change the number of reps and adjust the weights to stimulate all types of muscle growth.

2. Three Set rule

The truth is there’s nothing wrong with three sets but then again there is nothing amazing about it either. The number of sets you perform should be base on your goals and not on a half-century old rule. The more repetitions you do on an exercise, the fewer sets you should do, and vice versa. This keeps the total number of repetitions done of an exercise equal.

3. Three to four exercises per group

The truth is this is a waste of time. Combined with twelve reps of three sets, the total number of reps amount to 144. If your doing this much reps for a muscle group your not doing enough. Instead of doing too many varieties of exercises, try doing 30 to 50 reps. That can be anywhere from 2 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.

4. My knees, my toes

It is a gym folklore that you “should not let your knees go past your toes.” Truth is that leaning forward a little too much is more likely a cause of injury. In 2003, Memphis University researchers confirmed that knee stress was almost thirty percent higher when the knees are allowed to move beyond the toes during a squat.

But hip stress increased nearly 10 times or (1000 percent) when the forward movement of the knee was restricted. Because the squatters needed to lean their body forward and that forces the strain to transfer to the lower back.

Focus on your upper body position and less on the knee. Keep the torso in an upright position as much as possible when doing squats and lunges. These reduces the stress generated on the hips and back. To stay upright, before squatting, squeeze the shoulder blades together and hold them in that position; and then as you squat, keep the forearms 90 degree to the floor.

5. Lift weights, draw abs

The truth is the muscles work in groups to stabilize the spine, and the most important muscle group change depending on the type of exercise. The transverse abdominis is not always the most important muscle group. Actually, for most exercise, the body automatically activates the muscle group that are needed most for support of the spine. So if you focus only on the transverse abdominis, it can recruit wrong muscles and limit the right muscles. This increases the chance of injury, and reduces the weight that can be lifted.

Why Muscles Stop Growing

Why would your muscles stop growing when you’re still coaching. Let’s take a look at some reasons that your muscles don’t keep growing and what you can do to reverse this.

Intense body building training breaks down your muscles. You could be coaching harder than you should be or more frequently than you should be. Train each body part a few times per week only. You want correct rest to have your muscles grow. Sleep is when your muscles grow bigger. Absence of sleep can cancel your hard workouts and make them pointless. The same is applicable to how long you’re coaching. Don’t spend more than one hour in the gymnasium working out. That is an hour total for the day, not per body part. Your level of Cortisol will increase after forty five mins. This is a hormone which has been known to kill muscle cells. Besides being unhealthy, drinking could cause your muscles to destroy down. By not changing your bodybuilding schedule, your body can become used to your workouts and stop growing.

Change up the order of the exercises or change to different exercises each couple of months.

When you train in bodybuilding, your goal is to extend the weight steadily that you lift. Or increase the reps you do. Not doing this can have a negative affect on your results. Eating enough protein is necessary to your muscle growth. Many say one gram of protein is satisfactory per body weight when making an attempt to pack on size. Protein shakes and bars will help if you can not eat enough. These reason noted above can be in charge of your lack of expansion. In the right circumstances, your body will grow but you must ensure you are coaching correctly, eating correctly and getting sufficient rest. You do not have to be a fanatic about this unless this is your full-time job. Living to eat enough protein and coaching hard each workout without reference to how you’re feeling won’t be something you would like to do but follow this as best you can to get bigger in the swiftest possible time.

Shocking Your Muscles Into Growth!

Courtesy of Anabolic News

Every so often a person gets to a point in their training program where it seems they are working their butt off but getting nowhere. This is described as a strength “plateau”. When you get to a plateau something needs to change. First you should evaluate your program. Ask yourself: How long have you been consistent? How often do I change my workout routine? What is my diet like?

Chances are you have been doing the same routine for over 3 months consistently and/or your body is not getting enough of the proper nutrition it needs to grow. If nutrition is the case, you need to keep read the nutrition area of this newsletter. If you have been doing the same routine for 3+ months then you may need to “shock” your muscles to get them to grow! Its always a good idea to change your routine every 3-4 weeks or so to keep them growing. Here are some great ways to shock your muscles into shape!

Challenge yourself by putting in more exercises into your routine without using more time. Or you can try to get the same routine done in less time. This means less time between sets and it requires a fast recovery rate. This is sometimes called HIT or high intensity training.

Heavy and light days. Probably my favorite way to shock my muscles is to use heavy and light training days. On heavy days, use as much weight as you can for 3-4 reps and on light days, put on as much weight as you can for 12-15 reps. This is good for people who train 6 days a week doing each body part twice per week.

Forced reps are pretty popular. I don’t like them too much but people do get pretty good results from them. A forced rep is when you are trying to lift more weight than you can lift by yourself and you need your partner to help you get it up. The only time I like these is when you are at your failure point and you just need a little help to get the last one up.

Partial reps are a great way to get your muscles to burn. When doing partial bench press reps, you should only lift the weight about 4 inches off of your chest. This goes for any other exercise as well. Only do the first half of the rep. (don’t do these for squats- they are a waste of time).

21’s are another form of partial reps. Instead of doing the full motion of the rep, do only the first half of one full motion for 7 reps. Then do the second half of one full motion for 7 reps. Then finish off the set with 7 reps of full motion for a total of 21 reps.

Isolate your muscles to get the most out of a particular workout. Doing leg extensions are a great isolation workout for your thighs. For biceps I recommend doing dumbbell curls.

Isotension is imperative if you want to be a competitive bodybuilder. This is when you continuously flex and relax your muscles before, between, and after your workout and even between sets. Practicing your posing routine is a form of isotension as well.

Negative reps are when you are lowering the weight. My favorite exercise to do negatives on is with straight bar curls. To do this, you curl the bar up as normal then lower it very slowly. Concentrate on holding the weight as hard as you can. If you can hold it easily, then its not enough weight.

Slow reps are really fun. Basically, using a lower weight, you can do any exercise in slow motion. This not only takes away the momentum of the faster movements, it forces you to do a good slow negative rep and will give you a great pump!

Cheating is when you lose your form just for a second to help get you through a tough spot in your workout. For instance, if you are doing standing military press and you can’t seem to push out the last rep and you begin to use your legs to give you momentum to lift it, this is cheating. Keeping good form in general is one of the most important criteria to becoming strong and staying healthy so this type of practice should be avoided as much as possible.

Pyramid reps are probably the most common in weight training. Usually people “pyramid” their way up to their workout weight then back down again. For instance a guy might usually workout with 300lbs on bench press. He would start with 225lbs for one set, then go up to 285lbs for one set, then go to 300lbs for 3 or 4 sets. Then he would finish the exercise with a set of 225 again.

Heavy Duty training is when you go to your usual workout weight right after warming up. Usually, I do a few (3-4) sets to pyramid up to my workout weight and get the blood pumping. With the heavy duty method of training, you skip the pyramid and go straight to the heavy weight.

Staggered sets are usually used to help develop an underdeveloped area. For instance if your calves were a little smaller than you like, you might incorporate an extra day of calf exercises on a day that they aren’t scheduled for. So when chest day comes around you would do a set of calf raises between each exercise you do that day. By the end of the day you may have done 20-30 sets! This is a great way to do abs.

Prioritize your workout so that you are putting a specific emphasis on your “weak” areas. For instance if your back could use a little more work. On back day you could use one or more of the techniques above to help make your workout more enjoyable and effective. You could also schedule your back day on Monday so you are more fresh… get the point?

Supersets are one of my personal favorites! This can be done two ways actually. 1) You can superset the same muscle group. i.e.: doing pushups or dips between sets of bench press, and 2) You can superset opposing muscle groups. i.e.: doing pull-ups between sets of bench press. I like doing them both ways.

Stripping weight as you go is a very effective way to build muscle. This allows you to work through your fatigue. Basically, you do as many reps as you can until you are completely fatigued, then you “strip” some weight off of the bar and immediately go again until you are fatigued at that weight. This is a good way to make you feel weak, but you really get a pump!

I Go/You Go: This is a pretty fun exercise especially when you and your partner are about the same strength and size. Basically, if you are doing straight bar curls, once you are done with your set you hand the weight off to your partner then he goes. You can go back and forth until one of you gives up. Or you can do one, then your partner does one, then you do two, then he does two, then three and go up to 15 or so then back down.

Strength Training Routines

Strength training routines should form the basis of a well structured fitness program. Good strength training routines will use exercises that will you perform with resistance to build muscle mass. The most common form of strength training routines involves lifting weights. Weight lifting can include free weights, machines, elastic bands, dumbells, body weight or any other form of resistance.

Gain Muscle, Lose Fat!

Why are strength training routines the real key to burning off body fat? The reason is because muscle tissue is the most metabolically active tissue in the body and burns up to 50 calories per pound! That means if you can add 5 extra pounds of solid muscle to your body, you will burn an extra 250 calories every day just sitting around! In a recent study, researchers found that regular strength training routines boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. Use strength training routines to turn your body into a fat burning, muscle building machine!

The concept of strength training routines for women might bring to mind images of bulked-up, masculine bodies. However…it simply is not going to happen because women, by nature, don’t produce enough of the male hormone testerone which causes the traditional muscle bulk look.

The most important thing to keep in mind when discussing strength training routines and fat loss is that …Fat takes up five times as much space as muscle…. This means if you replaced the fat on your legs with the same weight in muscle, your thighs get smaller, without losing a pound.

By replacing fat with muscle through effective strength training routines, it is possible to make an amazing transformation without losing a lot of bodyweight. You should actually be concerned about not having enough muscle, rather than having too much. So a good way of checking if strength training routines are effective is to see if, over a period of time your clothes are looser when you put them on. Also the saying that the mirror never lies is also really true!

Other Health Benefits

The bottom line is, any one who is interested in losing fat, increasing muscle tone, and transforming their physique long term should be using strength training routines as part of their exercise routine. There are also other health benefits to incorporating weights into your life.

1. Your Metabolism increases. Muscle requires more fuel than fat does; therefore the metabolic furnace is fired up. This means that even at rest, your muscles are burning more fuel (fat). And therefore more calories

2. The density of the skeletal bones increases. Effective strength training routines increases bone density. This is of particular importance to women who may be prone to osteoporosis, which is a brittle bone disease. This disease is due to decreasing oestrogen levels during menopause or a genetic predisposition.

3. Effective strength training routines prevents atrophy, or muscle shrinkage. There is a saying, “use it or lose it!” Without this type of exercise, humans lose more than ½ pound of muscle every year after age 25!

Effective strength training routines such as the fast muscle formula can also have cross over into our daily life. Such functional exercises can allow us to do simple tasks, such as walking up some stairs, carrying bags, carrying your child, without risk of injury.

All of these are great reasons for buying some dumbells, getting off the couch, and making sure that effective strength training routines are part of your long term fitness goals!

Strength Factors

Why is it that one person develops strength and muscle faster than another when he or she is performing the same exercises, following the same training program. Many people feel that they must be doing something wrong because they aren’t getting the same results as another person. It’s important to realize that there are six primary factors affecting every individual’s ability to achieve strength and muscle development, and we have little or no control over most of them.

Type of Muscle Fiber
One of the most influential factors is muscle fiber type. We have two basic types of muscle fibers, often referred to as "slow twitch" and "fast twitch." Slow twitch muscle fibers are best used for cardiovascular (aerobic) activities. They produce small levels of force for long periods of time and thus are better suited for endurance activities. Fast twitch fibers are best used for anaerobic activities. They produce high levels of force for short periods of time and are best suited for power activities such as weightlifting.

Most men and women have an equal combination of both slow twitch and fast twitch fibers. However, some people inherit a high percentage of slow twitch fibers that enhance their performance in endurance activities, such as long distance runners. Most world class marathon runners have a very high amount of slow twitch fibers. World class sprinters or football players, for example, have relatively more fast twitch muscle fibers. Although both fiber types respond positively to strength training exercises, the fast twitch types experience greater increases in muscle size and strength, and thus may obtain greater and/or faster results from a strength training program.

Age
Another factor over which we have little control is age.Studies show that people of all ages can increase their muscle size and strength as a result of a safe and effective strength training program. However, the rate of strength and muscle gain appears to be greater from age 10-20, the years of rapid growth and development. After reaching normal pysical maturity, muscular improvements usually don’t come as quickly.

Gender
Gender does not affect the quality of our muscle, but does influence the quantity. Although men’s and women’s muscle tissue are characteristically the same, men generally have more muscle tissue than women do because muscle size is increased by the presence of testosterone, the male sex hormone. The larger the muscles, the stronger the person; this is why most men are stronger than most women.

Limb and Muscle Length
Another strength factor that is naturally determined is limb length. Persons with short limbs tend to be able to lift more weight because of advantageous leverage factors (arms and legs). Similarly, differences in strength development may come about because of variation in muscle length. Some people have long muscles, and some people have short muscles. Persons with relatively long muscles have greater potential for developing size and strength than persons with relatively short muscles.

Point of Tendon Insertion
Muscle strength is also influenced by the point of tendon insertion. For example, let’s say Jim and John both have the same arm and muscle length. However, Jim’s biceps tendon attaches to his forearm farther from his elbow joint than John’s does. This gives Jim a biomechanical advantage: he is able to lift more weight than John in biceps exercises such as the Biceps Curl.

Other Important Factors
All of these factors affect our ability to gain strength and muscle development through training. Keep in mind, however, that the most influential factor in achieving good results is using a very slow, controlled lifting movement and lifting to the point of muscle fatigue.

In addition to using good lifting technique, it is absolutely imperative that you not only train with intensity on a well-balanced program, but also give your muscles enough resting time between training sessions. Overtraining is a common mistake people make; it happens not only when you don’t allow your muscles enough rest, but also when you train with too many sets and exercises for each muscle group.

Another mistake people make is doing the same program over and over again even after they have reached a plateau. Any time you 1) stop gaining strength or muscle size or 2) get bored, it is crucial that you change the program, so that you can go through a whole new phase achieving new results.

We inherit most of these factors affecting strength from our parents, and they have a big impact on our size, strength, and appearance. It is very important that you not become obsessed with trying to look like a world-class body builder–or any other body type that is not your own. We are not all meant to look the same. It is very important that you learn about and accept your own body’s characteristics and type, so you can develop a reasonable program specific to realistic goals and personal interests.

Genetics does clearly play a role in your health and appearance, but they certainly do not determine how often or well you train. Even if you are born with a genetic predisposition to being overweight or weak, the way you live is what will ultimately determine whether you become fit and strong or fat and weak.

Weightlifting provides many important benefits that cannot be achieved by any other exercise or activity. Physiologically, the benefits of consistent strength training include an increase in muscle size and tone, increased muscle strength, and increases in tendon, bone, and ligament strength.strength-training has also been shown to improve psychological health as well, by increasing self-esteem, confidence and self-worth. If you understand and accept your body, you will be able to work with it, not against it. Everyone can improve their strength, appearance, and performance level by consistently implementing an effective strength training program. Good luck: I hope you enjoy all the many benefits of strength training.

Article by: Chad Tackett

Building Muscles With Supplements

To maximize results, first and foremost you MUST BE CONSISTENT! That means working out every day. Nothing can deflate your will to succeed in muscle building more than your own inconsistency. Why? You don’t get results that way. People used to get a lot of exercise in their daily routine of chopping and carrying wood, lifting heavy cast iron pots, toting water from the stream and so on. We have gotten away from those chores, but we still need the exercise to build muscle. Get away from your computer or TV and do some energetic basic exercises for your legs, chest, arms, and back. Try fifteen minutes and then just on with another fifteen.

Give your digestive system at least 2 hours to digest your food and have energy ready for your workout before you exercise. Since carbs are a main energy source make sure you eat the right carbs. Thus your body will be anabolic until you arrive home and can get your next meal. Eating a whole food supplement before and after your exercise helps your body to have the energy for the workout and the glycogen when it is over. Your body needs glycogen to be replaced after your workout within twenty minutes. Fruit will give it the glycogen. Lacking the glycogen your body goes into a catabolic state. Vegetables have protein in them, but animal protein has a more thermogenic effect. Use a good protein supplement as protein helps build muscle. Creatine is a good body building supplement to use to help your gain weight and maintain your health.

It’s Important to Warm up

Top 10 Ab Exercises

I’m definitely not at the point where I’m developing my 6 pack abs. Right now I’m focusing on losing my after baby belly fat. Then I plan to focus on getting some killer abs.

So here they are…the top 10 ab exercises that you can do with
almost no equipment…and none of them require dreaded crunches!

1. Plank with your arms on the Ball (30% more effective than plain
ol’ planks, according to Men’s Health magazine)

2. Ball Rollouts (probably my favorite ball ab exercise)

3. Hanging Knee Raises

4. DB Renegade Row (this is the biggest surprise on the list…but
it works your lower obliques incredibly hard)

5. Ball Jackknife

6. Ball Jackknife Rotation

7. Ball Jackknife-Pushup Combo

8. X-Body Mountain Climber

9. X-Body Mountain Climber with Hands on Ball

10. X-Body Mountain Climber with Feet on Ball

These are great exercises for you to get your ripped abs. Make sure to keep us posted on your fabulous results!

2 Simple Muscle Building Tips

One of the biggest myths in building muscle is you just need to keep working out as often as you can. Just keep on doing those reps day in and day out and you’ll grow massive muscles. Well the truth is that really isn’t the case at all. You can keep doing those dumbbell curls all year but you must also pay close attention to your nutrition.

Here are 2 simple tips you can follow to help in your quest for muscle growth:

The Importance Of Nutrition

The foods you eat play just as much of a part in building muscles as the workouts themselves. You also need to cut out having 3 meals a day and swap to 5-7 smaller meals each day. This keeps the metabolism working efficiently. There are no right and wrongs in the nutritional balance you choose. You will have to create your own diet based on the amount of exercise you are doing and whether you want to build muscle or lose fat. You’ll almost certainly want a high percentage of your diet to be carbohydrates, although proteins and fats are just as important.

Take A Break

Another important tip is to train alternate days. So train one day, have the next day off then train again the next day. This gives your muscles the essential time they need to rest and grow. If you train everyday you aren’t giving them time to grow. This is a common misconception to many bodybuilders who just keep training as hard and often as they can. Give your muscles time to rest and you’ll notice a massive difference.

Just by following these 2 simple muscle building tips, you can see a massive difference in the size and growth of your muscles.

Eat right, train right and look after your body!