5 Secrets To Help Get The Most Out Of Your HIIT Workout

 The HIIT workout works and everybody wants to get started with this program but not everyone is in the kind of physical shape that can handle such High intensity, not at first anyway. If you are considering adding this to your current workout schedule and you are not already in great condition the following advice can help you start the program without burning yourself out and becoming discouraged.

#01. 
Keep it slow. It is okay to start at a pace that is not as frantic as other people are. You can do 10-30 seconds of full on high intensity work alternating it with the same or more rest if you need it. it may take a bit of time to build your self up to the point that you can handle it for longer stretches of time. You could also start out with a full 30-40 seconds of work followed by 60-90 seconds of a less intense type of exercise.

#02. 
It is all about the amount of "excess post exercise oxygen consumption", which in weight training circles is simply referred to as EPOC. This is what makes the weight come off so quickly using the HIIT method. The action we are talking about here takes place after you have left the gym and begun to relax. While you are watching television or even while you are napping. The more intense the workout the longer the period of EPOC. The more you put in the more you get out. Go all in.

#03. 
It is important that there be a marked difference in the speed and intensity of the different intervals. The rest interval will make your body better able to sustain the level of intensity needed to get the great results possible with is form of training. You can slow down to a walk if it will help you get the energy back to get back into a very high intensity interval again.

#04. 
Intensity is about power not just speed. If you are using a treadmill and the resistance is low it will be easy to make those intervals but add an incline or other form of resistance and you have just upped the weigh loss ante. When you do this for a sustain period of time you will greatly improve the EPOC intervals of even your simple aerobics workout.

#05. 
If you are of the opinion that eating is wrong before you exercise then you don't know HIIT. Research proves that the level of intensity improves if you eat before your HIIT workout. The fact that you have more fuel to burn could have a lot to do with it. As you have found out the higher the intensity the longer the fat burning will continue after the workout.

These are just a few ideas to help you get the most out of your workouts. Remember easy does it when you first start this program and keep yourself fueled. One last thought is that in addition to fuel you need to also remain well hydrated.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5948271

Here is a bicep workout for you that we found very useful!

 

Poor Sleep Habits Cause PCOS Weight Gain

One of the best, or maybe worst, kept secrets about having success at losing weight and keeping it off, revolves around issues with sleep. Many people who have problems with their weight don't understand that the quality of sleep that they have directly affects their ability to lose weight and keep it off. Poor sleep can lead to continual relentless weight gain if it is something that's not addressed. This unfortunately really penalizes women with PCOS even further with their weight loss struggles.

If you look at sleep as a broad category, women struggle with it much more typically then men do throughout our respective lifetimes. For women it is also, as a general statement, harder to lose weight then it is for men. These two things together can make for a really deep seeded problem. If a woman with PCOS has sleep problems as well as weight loss issues, she has got to get her sleep straightened out or she is not going to have success with the weight loss.

Sleep is when the body resets, the mind restores, and the spirit and psyche resolve difficulties. For one who experiences poor sleep, her metabolism as well as her ability to burn calories as fuel is affected.

Sleep problems can really mess up your underlying metabolism and your ability to lose PCOS related weight. Your body resets every time you get a good night sleep, however, when you have had a lousy night's sleep you don't get this reset effect, your metabolism essentially slows down. When your metabolism slows down, your body becomes more and more efficient at storing calories as fat instead of burning the calories you eat as fuel for your daily activities and to fuel your brain. Your metabolism is most inefficient late at night, because this is when your body expects to be resting.

Many women report that the later they stay up, the more they crave foods, especially sweets in the late hours of the night. When women give in to these cravings and eat calories late in the day, they usually wind up being stored as fat because they are not being burned off with activity. This is a fast way to turbo charge weight gain.

Typically, once you are able to establish better sleep habits, such as going to bed at a regular time and getting a full night's sleep, the weight gain will stop. After about three to four weeks you'll notice your late-night cravings starting to disappear and most women will see their weight start to slowly go down. It's important to remember that you didn't put the weight on overnight, and it will take some discipline for it to start to come off and won't happen immediately.

If poor sleep is a fact of life for you as a person with PCOS issues, please know that you must find a solution to it as a part of regaining the ability to lose that PCOS related weight and to keep it off for good. Even if you are doing everything else right, and only your sleep is a disaster, it will sabotage your best efforts for weight loss.

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Essential Tips For the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

The incline dumbbell bench press is one of the best movements you can do for your chest development. However, there are important tips that apply to this exercise, as well as to pressing exercises in general, that you must follow to get the most out of the exercise. Here are a couple of essential tips for the incline dumbbell bench press.

1. Find Your Ideal Hand Angle

The way you position your hands around the handles is important for many exercises, but especially the incline dumbbell bench press. Depending on the angle of your hands relative to your body, you can preferentially work the triceps, front delts, or upper pecs.

Since you are probably trying to work your chest with this exercise, get your palms as close to perpendicular with your body as possible. This means that they will be in roughly the same position as if they were wrapped around a barbell.

If you want to work triceps and delts more, turn your palms inward until they are parallel or nearly parallel with the rest of your body. In this position, they will be perpendicular to the position at which they would be for a barbell.

2. Get A Strong Kick-Start To Make The First Rep Easier

One of the hardest thing about dumbbell presses, especially the incline dumbbell bench press, is simply getting the weights into position. However, there are a couple of ways to make this part of the movement go more smoothly.

First, position the dumbbells close to your knee, as opposed to higher up on your thigh, when you're getting ready to kick them up to your chest. As long as you get a strong kick, this will cause them to end up closer to the bottom starting position, rather than further down on your torso.

Second, make sure you kick them up HARD. Unless your leg strength and upper body strength are totally out of balance, you're probably not going to be able to kick your working weights up with too much speed to handle. Getting the dumbbells into position quickly will prevent you from wasting valuable energy.

3. Keep On Learning (and Pressing!)

These important tips will get you started on improving strength, but you must always keep learning more new information to keep the muscular gains coming. For pressing movements, you must work on your arch, your tightness, your speed and power, and many more essential elements.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2596051

How To Go To The Weights Gym and Not Be Scared

Don't act tough, just get buff!

If the idea of going to the gym leaves you trembling at the knees you may well have avoided going despite a desire to get buff. The grunt of several large sweaty goliaths, gurning their way to big guns and the clunk of huge piles of iron hitting the floor may have stopped you making the start on those abs you have always wanted.

You will be relieved to hear that this is a common fear among men. They worry about being ridiculed if they can't lift even the smallest weight, they are scared of not knowing what to do, they are scared of bumping into a particularly large fellow and starting a fight with a man shaped bull, but above they are scared of the idea that they are destined to be flabby or weedy their whole life. With this in mind, here are some tips to help you overcome your fear and get yourself on the big gun train!

Clientele

Before you go in, remind yourself that every one of those blokes was standing where you are now at some point. No muscle, scared of going in and not sure what to do. When you enter and some turn to look at your, think of the fact that they are probably all worried that you are judging them. After all you are all obviously conscious enough of your looks to want to go to the gym. Try breaking the ice by asking some advice or by asking someone to spot you. (If you don't know what that is yet don't worry.)

Gym Buddy

A great way to help you overcome this fear is to go with a friend. Ideally someone that can help you get the hang of the machines and other equipment. But if you don't have a friend like that, any friend will do. Once you get into the swing of going to the gym and start to get competitive with yourself it will help to have a friend to bounce off and to help motivate you to keep coming back.

List

If you do go on your own, take two things with you to help you stay focused and to help you forget about being scared. An MP3 player is great for keeping a rhythm when running or when lifting weights and for blocking out the room. The other thing is a small notepad. Use this to note down every exercise you do, how many repetitions you do and how heavy the weight was each time. This way when you come next time you will know what you have to do and what you are aiming to beat so your muscles get bigger.

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Gym Basics - What Are Straps, Chalk and Weightlifting Belts For?

There are many different types of lifting aids used within the gym environment. You may have seen various muscle bound gym-goers using Figure 6's, Figure 8's and chalk to assist in lifting heavy weights? Have you ever wondered what each one is designed for? What do they do and which ones would suit you and your type of training?

Straps: 
The 2 most common straps used in the gym are the figure 6's and figure 8's.

When training muscles such as back or traps the forearm muscles play a vital role in being able to grip or hang onto a barbell or dumbbell. But in some cases halfway through a session the forearms become so pumped resulting in the fingers not being able hold onto a barbell or dumbbell.

When training with straps the load is reduced considerably because instead of the forearms taking all the weight it is distributed through the strap and wrist resulting in your forearms not getting fatigued as quickly.

Exercises where Figure 6's and figure 8's are needed are exercises such as farmers walk, chin ups, dead-lifts, rows and shrugs.

There are two distinct differences with the 6's and 8's.

Figure 6's are designed so that you not only use more of your forearm muscles, but if the weight is too heavy and you must drop it, the weight will slide out from the strap. On the other hand when using figure 8's you stimulate even less forearm strength and rely on the figure 8 strap to hold the weight. Not only this but if you drop the weight, the strap will remain leaving your arm connected to whatever it was you were lifting. This can become dangerous if performing some exercises.

I recommend using figure 6's for all lift but if you like using figure 8's do not use them with dead-lifts and rows, in case you drop the weight.

Chalk: 
Chalk is used mostly by powerlifters and weightlifters. A lot of gyms don't allow the use of chalk because it can cause quite a mess on the floor as well as get all over the weight plates and barbells.

Chalk is mainly used on rope climbing, deadlifts, power cleans, snatch and squats. Its main role is for the trainer to be able to grip as easily as possible while still using natural grip strength.

The benefit with using chalk is that the trainer can lift heavy weights (mostly on deadlifts) and continue to use the muscles in the fingers and forearms without having to rely on straps (which tend to take a lot of the load off the grip.)

Knee wraps: 
Knee wraps are designed to push your patella down firmly making it easier to glide up and down. Power-lifters believe by doing this they will be able to lift more weight when squatting. Knee wraps also help you at the bottom of the squat by causing a 'bounce' out of the bottom position, which to some is the hardest position.

I recommend to be careful with using knee wraps because if you use them too much they can cause slight tears beneath the kneecap on the patella tendon.

In conclusion, most trainers do not need to use lifting aides. These will help you lift a little bit more weight but this is not necessarily a good thing. Superior technique and good nutrition is the best way to not only achieve your strength and fitness goals, but also live a healthy lifestyle.

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4 Common Myths About Your Abs

Virtually everyone who starts going to the gym wants a perfect set of defined abs; however, what they don't realize is that getting a nice six pack is harder than it seems. Many people associate having great abs with fitness obsessed individuals who spend more time in the gym than they do on anything else. That's simply not true because everyone has a set of abs underneath all that fat covering them. To help you along your journey, I have complied 4 common myths that you can do away with in order to be better focused on building stronger and better abs.

Myth 1: Avoid Crunches

Recently, a lot of people started avoiding crunches due to fitness experts and rehab professionals speaking out against the exercise. The theory is that crunches require you to flex and bend your spine which could negatively impact your spinal discs by pushing them too far out and causing herniated discs. However, the truth is that this issue is still highly debated. Others researchers state that your body position does not have any responsibility in putting pressure on your spinal discs, but the fact of how tightly you compress your muscles that impacts it. In addition, others note that a person's spinal discs can actually realign themselves during crunches instead of pushing them too far out. In the end, if you do have any spinal injuries, you should not be doing crunches. Otherwise, doing a couple of proper sets can only benefit you in the end.

Myth 2: Your Abs Serve No Purpose Outside Of Looking Good

This one I hear a lot from my various clients. However, saying that their only purpose is for looking good is ignorant. Firstly, your abs are great stabilizers. When you contract your abs it helps you stiffen you mid section and stabilize the entire body, especially when doing exercises such as deadlifts and squats. If you don't have a strong core, you will never be able to deadlift or squat a lot of weight. Secondly, the abs allows us to slow down rotations around your body and for hyperextension of the back.

Myth 3: You Have To Do Only "Abs Exercises" To Build Your Abs

Popular to contrary belief, you don't necessarily have to do abs specific exercises in order to build your abs. Exercises such as deadlifts and squats still work your abs due to them being engaged in order to stabilize the muscles during the lift. In addition to these exercises, even something as simple as a push up can force your abs to work indirectly. Think of the push ups as a plank position except made more difficult by the motion of pushing up and down and you'll get the idea. Therefore, you do not have to directly do abs exercises for your abdominal muscles to still get a solid workout.

Myth 4: You Don't Need To Do Any "Abs Exercises" To Build Your Abs

As I stated above, you don't necessarily just have to focus on doing abs exercises in order to get a nice set of six pack abs, but you still have to do abs specific exercises in order to strengthen your midsection completely. While doing deadlifts and squats will help in improving core strength and stability indirectly, doing exercises such as the Swiss - Ball Pike Rollouts can effectively and directly hit your upper abs, lower abs, and oblique's all at once.

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Why You Need Creatine and Why You Need It Now

Some people look at creatine as some sort of steroid. They see it as an unnatural substance and if one uses it they look at them as cheaters. When in fact the people who are using creatine are not cheaters but smart people who want to look and be at their best. Also, Creatine as a substance is actually more natural to the human body than processed grains or sugars. Supplementation with creatine will not only increase lean muscle mass but will also increase testosterone levels as well. So take a step back and watch and learn why you need creatine and why you need it now!

What is Creatine:

Creatine is a natural substance that is present in almost all vertebrates. Creatine is a very important key component in skeletal muscle metabolism. Not to mention creatine has many scientific studies behind it meaning that it is proven to work and it is one of the most researched and respected bodybuilding supplement right after protein powder.

How Creatine Works and Why You Need It:

Creatine works immediately right after digestion. Right away it binds to a phosphate molecule to form creatine phosphate and this acts as storage reservoir for regenerating ATP. ATP is the chemical source of energy for all muscles in terms of muscle contraction and quick short bursts of energy. Creatine phosphate is an important source of ATP energy in muscle tissues and countless studies have shown that creatine works too.

If you're a bodybuilder, sprinter or any kind of athlete you will need creatine because it increases the power output of short bursts. Also, like I said in the above paragraph creatine will increase lean muscle mass and increase protein synthesis.

Creatine and Testosterone:

You will also need creatine because it is proven to increase testosterone levels. It does this by converting into dihydro-testosterone. Now, dihydro-testosterone is the strongest known androgen known to man and as a bonus it won't even convert into estrogen.

Don't believe me well check this out a recent study done in 2010 on rugby players showed that creatine increased dihydro-testosterone by a whopping 56%. Thats not to bad, and remember this, the more testosterone flowing through your veins the merrier!

Get Your Creatine Online:

- Creatine comes in two forms, it can either come as capsules that you consume once a day or you can have it as a powder that you mix with water.

- This link is the creatine capsules that we recommend

- This link in the creatine powder that we recommend 

Get your creatine online because buying creatine online is cheaper than buying from your local health store. Not to mention you will have a larger variety of different types of it online than in your local health store.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8676641

Intermittent Fasting And Bodybuilding: How to Make It Work for You

Is it just a flash in the pan or is it here to stay? Intermittent fasting seems to have come out of nowhere in the past few months. It has been popularised by the likes of Brad Pilon, Dr. John Berardi, the Hodge Twins and Martin Berkhan but in actual fact, intermittent fasting has been around a lot longer than that. Intermittent fasting which is actually a pretty fancy (sometimes off putting) phrase for what is essentially two windows - a window when to eat and a window when not to eat.

Intermittent fasting and bodybuilding can work for you if your goal is to build muscle and to get lean and here are 3 reasons why.

1. Recent studies have shown that it is in actual fact total macros and the total amount of daily calories that account for muscle growth and not the amount of meals and the timing of them. Essentially what this is saying is that as long as you get the required amount of calories in the 24 hour period it doesn't matter when you get them. So as long as you get you required amount of calories (a surplus of your TDEE is needed in combination with a progressive training routine) in your eating window you will gain muscle.

2. One facet of intermittent fasting bodybuilding that people complain about is the amount of food and calories that need to be consumed within the eaten window. Although you most likely will need to adjust if you are currently eating 6-8 small meals a day, over a period of a couple of weeks you stomach will adjust to eating larger meals. I found it very difficult to eat large meals in the beginning but with in a week or so I adjusted and now I have no problems putting away large amounts of food in one sitting. Take your time with the adjustment period and don't expect to be able to switch over night.

3. Remember, like everything else intermittent fasting isn't an exact science and if you need to extend our eating window from say an eight hour eating window to a nine hour window to accommodate your total calories and meal requirements, that's fine go ahead and do so. Like any program it's important to find what works for you. Intermittent fasting, bodybuilding and building muscle can work together and the beauty of it is if you find that sweet spot that works for you you'll get the benefits of intermittent fasting while maintaining or building your physique to a bodybuilding level.

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How to Increase Your Bench Press and Build Muscle Mass Fast

Everyone knows to build muscle mass one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. One of the first questions you are likely to be asked by another bodybuilder is 'how much can you bench press?' Whilst it may not be the best measure of overall strength it does have a certain macho feel to it and a big bench press is certainly very impressive. So lets cut to the chase and find out how we can get a bigger bench press:

Grow your triceps. Your triceps are a crucial muscle in performing the bench press and make up two thirds of the muscle mass on your arm. It may well be that under-developed triceps are restricting your bench press progress. The best exercises to build muscle mass on your triceps are using barbells and dumbells: close grip bench-presses and skull crushers. Isolation exercises like tricep press-downs are less effective. They should definitely help notch up your bench press.

Try training your triceps separately. More often than not muscle building programs will suggest that you train the triceps along with the chest. Try training them on their own for a change. Doing this allows you to attack them when they are fresh and really concentrate and focus on hammering them to stimulate growth. Do this for a number of weeks and see how much more poundage you can press.

Variety. have you been following the same routine for a number of weeks or months? time to mix it up then. After your muscles have done the same workout a few times, they have already adapted to it and therefore the need to grow has been removed. Keep changing things, they can be subtle changes like altering the grip width or reversing the order of your routine or they can be larger changes like doing super sets, compound sets and so on, these will give you a real pump by the way.

Make sure you are not doing too much! While with most things in life more is better, in muscle building this is not quite true. If you do too much and overtrain your chest then it can struggle to recover and find it hard to grow more. Instead of focussing on quantity, focus on technique and intensity. A short intense workout is much more effective than a long drawn out one.

Quality rest. Your muscles do not grow on the weight bench! They grow when they are at rest. If you don't allow then enough time to recover they ain't going to get bigger. Of course, never train when your muscles are sore and a good guideline is only do 6-9 sets each session for the chest, more than this risks over training.

Take some time-off. if you have hit a chest muscle mass building plateau then have a break. let your body fully recover, get rid of all the niggles aches and pains and then comeback fresh a week or two later with renewed energy and motivation.

Use negatives as a form of pushing your chest muscle harder during a bench press workout. Negatives are when two spotters (gym partners) help you press the weight up but then let you lower it under full control. We do this because you can actually lower more weight than you can lift. So if we can get the body used to lowering more weight this will help you get stronger for the lifting/effort phase. The lowering/negative phase also stimulates more muscle growth than the effort phase.

Check your diet. Are you eating 5-7 meals a day with approximately 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? If not then you may be restricting your progress by not following an effective muscle building diet. Each meal should be roughly 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the rest made-up of fats. Use supplements if you can such as whey protein, essential fatty acids and multi-vitamins.

Focus on your technique. Are you pressing correctly. Poor technique can shift the focus away from the chest muscles and can also put you at increased risk of injury. Make sure you are not lifting your feet off the ground and that your hands are not too close together, these are two very common errors.

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Reasons Why New Year's Fitness and Weight Loss Resolutions Fail

Every year millions, if not billions of people make New Year's Resolutions to eat right, get fit & lose weight - and most have abandoned them by March 31st at the latest. Here are the top reasons for their failure and how YOU can avoid making these same mistakes year after year.

1) Fitness, Health & Nutritional Habits 
Before you even set your fitness goals or weight loss goals for the new year, you first need to understand how you got into the shape you're currently in. Unless you have a chronic condition or have suffered a major accident, you're not a victim of anything - and no one else caused you to be out of shape or overweight.

It's imperative that you understand it's your personal habits that led you to your current state. You made choices all along the way, and the choices you made over and over became your default - your habits. Your habits led to your current lifestyle - what you eat, how much and how often you exercise, and what bodyweight and fat percentage you're willing to carry around with you every day.

That's the bad news, so now here's the good news: YOU created those habits, and YOU can change them starting right now, today! Changing your exercise habits or nutritional habits starts with small choices - and over time those choices add up. Plus, when repeated over and over they become your new habits. Yes, this means you need to put a little more thought into routine daily tasks. But you're not satisfied with your current state of health, your fitness or your current bodyfat levels or you wouldn't be making these New Year's Resolutions. So put in that extra thought and make the choices that help you keep these promises to yourself!

2) Not MAKING Time To Exercise 
When it comes to working out you don't take the time - you MAKE the time. One of the few universal values we all share is that we all have the same 168 hours per week, and we all get to choose what we do with those 168 hours. Think of people Like Donald Trump, Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Louise L. Hay or Les Brown and all they accomplish in any given week - yet they only have the same number of hours that week as you do. The busiest and laziest people you know have 168 hours a week too.

The only difference between them and you is priorities - you use your time in proportion to the importance you give each activity. So if getting in shape, being healthy and weight loss are sufficiently important to you you WILL make the time for sufficient exercise to accomplish your goal of getting back in shape and staying in shape.

Don't try to tell me you don't have enough time - we all have the same amount of time, and you already know people in your situation who have time to hit the gym, go for a run or take exercise classes, don't you? What you really mean is your current activities already fill your schedule, right?

And that's the biggest reason exercise resolutions get broken year after year - trying to fit 3 - 5 workouts a week into an already over-crowded schedule. It's like trying to pour another cup of water into a full glass - it won't go in, but instead will make a mess, right? And that's what happens when people try to add in exercise time to a full schedule - it makes a mess of their week.

So how do you solve this one? Simple. Decide what to take out of your schedule to make time to exercise. Look for the obvious time-hogs first: watching television, spending too much time on the Internet, playing computer games, hitting the bars and clubs, etc. Everyone I know spends time at at least one of those four, and I assume the same can be said about you, right? So now you have to decide where you'll trim the time for 3 or more exercise sessions per week.

Remember, the decisions need to be made based on your priorities - is your health more important to you than those reality shows, time on Facebook and Google+, beating the next level of WOW or knocking back a few drinks at the bar quite so often? For best results, don't eliminate anything you truly love to do, or you'll harbour resentment towards your workouts and your own subconscious will sabotage your workouts.

Instead, cut out what you really don't care about and if you need to make more time still then trim back the activities you enjoy just enough to free up the time you need. Taking just 20 minutes a day from each of 3 leisure pastimes gives you that hour a day, as does skipping a single TV show a day. You already have the time... Now just free up enough of it for your exercising - and decide in advance where the time's coming from so there's no conflict each week.

3) Not Setting A Realistic Pace 
Let's look at a common pair of weight loss and fitness goals: losing 20 pounds of bodyfat next year and adding 20 pounds of muscle next year. Either one can make a major change in your health and body image while boosting your self-confidence and energy levels. The biggest problem is far too many people suddenly jump into the gym and start lifting weights life a fiend to build muscle fast, or drastically cut their calorie intake thinking they need to drop all 20 pounds in the first month or two. If you did either of these last year, how did you measure up at the start of this year? If you're like most people, you were even further from your goals this year than last.

The issue here isn't your goals - both are reasonably achievable. The issue is a sudden change in your diet and/or exercise routine. Why the rush? In most cases it took years to get to the shape you're currently in, so don't try to change it overnight! To lose 20 pounds next year, start with a single small change to a healthier diet each week. To add 20 pounds of muscle, start light with the 7 compound exercises and add 1 more rep to each set each week and add 1 new exercise a month. Even if you didn't start to see any weight loss or muscle gain in the first 7 months, you'd still only need to drop 1 pound of fat or gain 1 pound of muscle per week from August on to still meet your goals for the year. Put another way, gaining or losing just 1/2 a pound a week throughout the year would be 26 pounds for the year - you'd have surpassed your goal by 30%. Getting and keeping a healthy lifestyle is a life-long pursuit, so remember that health, fitness and weight maintenance are marathons, not sprints.

4) Not Setting Reasonable Goals 
Sure, every woman at some point wants to be a size 0 and every guy wants to become a Herculean champion. But for most people that's just not going to happen no matter what they do. We're all born with pre-set genetics that, to one extent or another, predetermine what our ultimate limits are. But the good news is everyone can still do an awful lot to improve themselves before hitting those top limits - in fact, very few people, including pro athletes, never reach the point where they find out what their limits are.

So set reasonable goals, based on where you're at now. If you're planning to lose weight, find out what your bodyfat levels are and plan to lose 10% or 25% of that over the year. Notice I didn't say a percentage of your weight, but a percentage of your bodyfat. This is important because your body has a lot of weight it needs - muscles, organs, skeletal bones, blood, brain and the like. So for example if you have 30% bodyfat and you weigh 250 pounds, your fat weighs 75 pounds and your goal would be to lose 7.5 to 19 pounds over the year. If you weigh 120 pounds with 30% bodyfat, your fat weighs 36 pounds and your goal would be to burn off 3.6 to 9 pounds.

If you're lifting weights to build muscle or build strength, the idea is even simpler. Don't say 'I want to gain X pounds of lean muscle' or 'I want to squat/deadlift/bench X pounds'. Instead, aim for the best gains you can safely and reasonably achieve. The best you can do with no drugs, proper form, strict lifting without using momentum, etc. To build the muscle, try to add 1 rep to each set each week while increasing the weight you're using once a month. To build strength, add a bit more weight to each of your work sets any time you can while still maintaining proper form. Either way, don't get hung up on the weight being used or drawn into comparisons with others - focus just on your personal progress as the year progresses.

5) Not Enough Self-Confidence 
When one sets realistic goals to build muscles or lose weight and truly believes they can achieve and over-reach those goals it's easier for them to stay on track. For others, though, it's common for them to seek refuge in the 'knowledge' that they couldn't reach their goals no matter what they did. How often have you heard someone say "I've tried everything and nothing works!"? The truth is NO ONE has tried EVERYTHING.

Overcoming this one is tougher since your self-talk programs your subconscious, which in turn controls your urges and confidence. If you're one of these people, find an accountability coach such as a weight loss coach or a personal trainer. Knowing they'll give you a hard time if you miss a session, that they'll be expecting you to show up and that you'll be paying for their time whether you show up or not will greatly increase the chances you'll stay on track.

Another option is to find someone with similar goals to lose weight or build muscle and keep each other on track. You'll still need some self-discipline to show up when they don't - don't use their actions as permission to slack off yourself! And be prepared to replace your partner, or add in another person, if you find they're not as committed as you are - no one but YOU should be setting your pace or be in charge of your results.

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Importance of Workout Schedule for Building Muscle

There are many tools not that talked about in the muscle building world and an important one is on having a workout schedule for building muscle. It is of great importance of having a schedule for building muscle, as it will help you stay consistent and focused throughout your muscle building journey. We will in this article go through the benefits of having a workout schedule for building muscle and what it can look like.

Why do you need a workout schedule for building muscle

The obvious reason for having a workout schedule for building muscle is that it will be harder to get side tracked. Once you have a schedule, you will know exactly when to train, how to train and on which days. Furthermore, if you have a workout schedule for building muscle and exercise the same time each day, you will create a habit in your mind and it will be a lot easier packing your bag and going to the gym.

A simple workout schedule for building muscle could look like the following:

Monday: Chest 
Tuesday: Back 
Wednesday: Rest 
Thursday: Shoulder 
Friday: Arms 
Saturday: Legs 
Sunday: Rest

Benefits of having a workout schedule to build muscle

The above schedule for muscle building is just one of the many you can find. But by having a workout schedule like the one above or any other, you won't look like a question mark when entering the gym, because you know exactly what to work on and you have probably visualized your whole session before entering the gym.

A mistake a lot of people make when starting to workout and not having a schedule for muscle building, is that they a lot of times hit the same muscle twice or more. Your muscles need rest to grow and it is actually on your rest days that your muscles grow to become muscular.

When you don't have a workout schedule for building muscle, the chance for hitting the same muscle repeatedly is increased and by working on the same muscles, your body will adapt to your routines and you will not experience the accelerated growth that you want in your muscle building journey.

However, if you have various schedules for muscle building, with different exercises to choose from, you will keep on surprising your body and surprising the body is the best way to increase your muscles.

If there is one thing I want you to get out of this article, it is the importance of having various training schedules for muscle building. This will not only help your muscles grow faster, but it will also be more exciting to work out. We as human beings like variation and having different exercises in your workout schedule for building muscle is the best way to stay consistent and ensuring yourself your dream physique.

You can either do this by gathering different workout schedule for building muscle from various sources or you can invest in a muscle building program that offers a lot of variety, both in exercises and also in nutrition, which is as important as working out. So make sure to get a workout schedule for building muscle and enjoy the results for yourself.

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Why you need protein to grow

It is an established fact that a high protein diet is essential for muscle building and growth. Muscles like all other forms of body tissues are made up of proteins. Proteins form the basic building block for any kind of muscle growth to occur. The proteins from high protein dieting regimes are also necessary for the generation of all forms of tissues like hair, nails, bones, muscles, hormones, enzymes, antibodies and many others. For any form of growth to occur, proteins are needed. Of particular interest for bodybuilders is the fact that 60-70% of all proteins are found in muscles. Given this fact, it is not surprising that there is a lot of hype amongst bodybuilders on high protein diets for muscle building. Let us try and get a better understanding of how this type of eating regime helps muscle building.

Proteins are made up of smaller units called amino acids. These are truly the smallest building blocks for the body to use to build muscles in a high protein diet. There are about twenty types of amino acids, and all of these can be combined in various permutations into proteins for muscle building. Of these twenty, there are two types of amino acids - non-essential and essential amino acids. The non-essential variant can be produced by the body when needed. Whereas the latter type of amino acids need to be ingested through a high protein diet. Of particular concern to bodybuilders are the essential amino acids since these cannot be created by the body. They are nonetheless essential for muscle building. That is why it is not uncommon to see bodybuilders scrutinizing their foods and supplements to ensure that essential amino acids are found in what they eat.

In planning their high protein eating plans, bodybuilders often look for different sources of proteins in their foods. First on the list are complete proteins. These are essentially a balanced combination of essential and non-essential proteins found in the food types of an eating plan. Examples of complete protein sources include, lean meat, seafood, egg whites, fish, protein powder and milk. The second type of proteins is the incomplete protein source that can be found in most grains, legumes and beans. There are certain amino acids missing in this category, but they are nevertheless necessary in any eating plan as some amino acids from this incomplete source are not found elsewhere. Finally, there is vegetarian protein source. The protein from this source is found in vegetables and plant products only. To many bodybuilders, determining the source of their protein is very crucial to ensure that their hard training regime will reap ma
ximal muscle growth. Sometimes, bodybuilders ingest so much protein into their system through their high protein diet, that it can become counterproductive in their quest for muscle growth.

So does, a high protein diet really leads to solid muscle growth? There are two schools of traditional arguments here. On the one hand, conservative dietitians and medical community has long argued that the body only requires its Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein, which is approximately 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Anything in excess will be wasted. On the other side, 'protein pushers' with their prescribed high protein diet recommends taking 400-500 grams of proteins in a single day. This is way in excess of the RDA. Modern research has shown that, increased training activities have resulted in an increased utilization of proteins within the body.

Therefore, extra protein is actually required to stimulate maximal muscle growth. In other words, for any hard training bodybuilder, the extra protein stipulated in an eating plan makes sense. However, it is also wise to not over consume proteins, as there are side effects and detrimental effects to muscle growth. It is important to strike a balance between taking in more proteins in a high protein diet to induce growth, and at the same time, ensure that only the required amount is consumed to prevent side effects from occurring.

Mike Mass

The Best Supplement to Build Muscle Revealed!

Finding the best supplement to build muscle is something to cherish considering the large number of muscle building supplements in the market today. Of course, these supplements have a big role to play in gaining muscle mass, yet bearing in mind, from the outset, that the exercise and nutrition components play bigger roles in all of this, will help.

Nevertheless, among the few known effective supplements, one stands out. It is known as creatine monohydrate. Apart from helping to burn fat and boosting strength, it also helps in the development of lean muscle mass within days.

Taking creatine supplement increases the level of creatine phosphate in the muscles which can be taken to be water drawn into the muscles. This is necessary because approximately 70 percent of muscle's overall mass is contributed by water with protein taking about 20 percent while the rest is shared by mineral and high energy phosphates. So, taking Creatine supplement increases the level of water in muscle cells which eventually translates into larger muscle size. The beautiful thing about this is that with a daily dose of 20 grams of creatine monohydrate for 5 days, you can put on 9 pounds of strong lean muscles. Even after you stop using the supplement, its beneficial effects will still be conspicuous particularly when considered from a muscle building perspective.

Creatine supplement is regarded as the best for several reasons. In the first place, depleted adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) can be easily replenished by increasing the muscle stores of creatine phosphate. ATP serves as the "fuel" that facilitates muscle contraction. ATP is used up whenever muscles contract. With sufficient creatine phosphate in the muscles as replenishment for the used up ATP, training harder and consequently building muscle fast will be an easy venture.

Creatine supplement also enhances greater filament thickening by increasing the amount of water in muscle cells. This is otherwise known as greater cell volumisation. Filament thickening occurs when the myosin and actin filaments in muscle become stronger and thicker. This is one way creatine contributes to building muscle fast.

Some recently conducted researches are suggestive of the fact that production of some anabolic hormones may be increased with the help of creatine supplement. Testosterone and growth hormone, two hormones that assist in gaining muscle mass, are among these anabolic hormones.

As mentioned earlier there are also some other effective muscle building supplements like testosterone boosters and protein powder. Both helps with building muscle fast but are no where near creatine monohydrate in terms of rapidity and significant gain.

By Dane C. Fletcher  

One creatine product I recommend is;

Will Lifting Heavy Weights Make You Bulky?

Many people who aspire to good health and a sleek physique, particularly women, eschew weight training because they fear it will make them big and muscular. Many others, particularly men, embrace it for precisely the same reason. So what are the facts? Does weight training, or weight lifting, make you bulky?

Genetics and gender can define the extent to which that happens, as can age. Women have far less testosterone - essential to the process of gaining lean muscle mass - than men, and the process of growth slows considerably with age, although some growth is still possible at more or less any age.

Eat Up, Rest Up and Bulk Up

The received wisdom is that performing limited repetitions with a heavy weight is best for bulking up, whilst increasing the "reps" and reducing the weight is the preferred method for "cutting", or definition. For many gym users the intention is to tone rather than to grow, and to gain strength without becoming bulky or excessively muscular.

And up to a point that is sound, but it overlooks some essential truths. First off, weight or resistance training is only part of the deal if the object of the exercise, if you'll pardon the pun, is to pack on lean mass. Over-stressing the muscle causes it to break down, but it needs to be nourished and replaced if it is to grow. This is where diet comes in or, more specifically protein. Protein is the foundation stone of muscle and without sufficient protein intake the muscle will not expand no matter how hard it is punished. This is one of the reasons why you will see guys in the gym who have been training all their lives and pump impressive weights but still look like the sand-in-the-face man from the Bullworker adverts of old.

On top of this, the recovery process is only made possible when the muscles are given sufficient time to rest. It is a well-established truism that failure to allow the body enough time in which to rest and recover will always lead to failure in the process of muscle development.

Grow With Gravity

This doesn't at all mean that there are not ways of inducing muscle growth which do not involve barbells and dumbbells and clunking slabs of heavy metal. There is increasing enthusiasm for bodyweight exercises, that is using the natural weight of our bodies and the simple force of gravity to provide the resistance needed to stimulate muscle growth. It adopts the same principle and is usually a lot cheaper, but the range of available movements can be limited.

So the answer to the question is that lifting heavy weights can make you bulky, but only if this is what you desire and you stick to the plan. By embracing proven scientific principles and adopting a regime which includes consuming the right foods in the right quantities and taking enough rest, working out with weights which are heavy and become progressively heavier will result in muscle gain.

Phil Andrews is a freelance English-language content writer specialising in articles, web content and blogging. He is the author of The Best Year Of Our Lives, a historical fiction novel set in 1976 about a group of young people growing up in a restless West London suburb beside the River Thames.

 Here is a great video I found to help build muscle, following the last post!

How to Build Muscle

Here is a list of 5 things you need to know on how to build muscle mass. I will cover exercises to build muscle, recovery methods and all the essential information you need to start building muscle as quickly as possible. Only the truth about what really works for people genetically normal like you. So let's start.

1. Gaining strength is key to develop muscles

When people ask me how to build muscle, the first thing I say is that they should add more weight to the bar before trying something else. If you want to grow, you have to gain strength. If you always use the same weight, you'll never get big. This rule applies not only to weight lifting. Some of the most effective exercises to build muscle are bodyweight exercises. You must progress to more difficult levels of any move you make.

2. Use Compound Exercises

Don't waste your time doing exercises like leg extension and Concentration Curls. Compounds exercises (multi-joint exercises that allow you to use more weight) develop muscle faster than anything.

These exercises are: • Squats
• Deadlift
• Pull-ups

• Standard Push-Up
• Military Press
• Bench Press
• Rowing with bar

3. Use free weights and body weight exercises

Your exercises should be done with free weights or body weight resistance (Pull-ups, Standard Push-Up). Those exercises lead to a higher level of neuromuscular activation and build muscle and strength faster.

4. Train at least 4 days a week

When I say "train" I do not necessarily mean lifting weights. You could do three days of strength training and one day of sled pushing or hill sprints. But forget about training three times a week for 13 minutes and then rest for the rest of the week. There are 168 hours in a week. Are you going to train only 90 minutes of those 168 hours? The human body is capable of much more than you think.

If you really want to gain muscle as fast as possible, you should do strength training at least three times a week. Also, you have to do 1-3 sessions of sled or hill sprints. Rest is very important to build muscle but don't be afraid to train hard. The body is very strong and will adapt to that training.

5. Don't let your training lasts more than 60 minutes

Frequent and shorter sessions give faster results than infrequent and longer sessions. When you start training, your body will raise your testosterone levels naturally. In the 45th minute, testosterone levels return to normal and after 60 minutes the body starts producing less testosterone and more cortisol, a hormone that eats muscle tissue and increases fat storage. So don't train more than 60 minutes, or you will not be able to build muscle and gain weight.

John Douglas.