6 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Production

Boosting your testosterone levels is one of the easiest ways to get bigger, leaner, and stronger.

That's why millions of guy take dangerous steroids, and millions more buy products that claim to be able to boost testosterone naturally (but do very little, in reality).

So, are there healthy, scientifically proven ways to increase your testosterone production without taking drugs or wasting ungodly amounts of money on fancy supplements? Absolutely.

There are six easy, healthy ways, actually. If you incorporate all into your daily routine, you can notice quite a difference.

#1 Eat the Right Vegetables

Research has shown that vegetables rich in a substance known as indole-3-carbinol, or "I3C," can positively alter estrogen metabolism in men (in this study, 500 mg of I3C per day reduced "bad" estrogens by 50%). This, in turn, helps maintain optimal levels of testosterone.

I3C occurs naturally in cruciferous vegetables such as bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, and turnip.

If you can work 1-2 servings of these types of veggies into your daily meal plan, it can help your hormones.

#2 Eat More Meat

Protein from meat is particularly helpful when you're weightlifting. Studies clearly show that meats increase testosterone levels and lead to increased levels of muscle mass.

One study had two groups of men, all comparable in health and build, follow a weightlifting program for twelve weeks. By the end of the program, all had progressed about equally in strength, but only the meat eaters enjoyed significant muscle growth and fat loss.

"Meat" doesn't only mean red meat, by the way. Fish, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo, and so on all qualify as "meat" in this sense, although studies have shown red meat to be the most anabolic.

I eat two servings of meat every day (lunch and dinner), and when I'm bulking, I eat at least four servings of red meat each week (95% lean, or lean cuts of meat like filet or NY strip). When I'm cutting, I do one to two servings of red meat per week.

#3 Eat Enough Healthy Fats

Fats are the densest energy sources available to your body. Each gram of fat contains over twice the calories of a gram of carbohydrate or protein.

Healthy fats, such as those found in meat, dairy, olive oil, avocados, flax seed oil, many nuts, and other foods, are actually an important component to overall health. Fats help your body absorb the other nutrients that you give it, nourish the nervous system, help maintain cell structures, regulate hormone levels, and more. Research has shown that men whose diets are rich in healthy fats have significantly higher testosterone levels than those whose diets are lacking in this regard.

It's commonly believed that eating saturated fat, like the fats mainly in animal products such as meat, dairy products, and egg yolks., harms your health. Research is proving this claim to be untrue, however. In fact, recent research indicates the opposite may be true-that saturated fat may actually reduce your risk of heart disease.

The type of fat you want to avoid at all costs, however, is trans fat.

Trans fat is a scientifically modified form of saturated fat that has been engineered to give foods longer shelf lives. Many cheap, packaged foods are full of trans fat (such as run-of-the-mill popcorn, yogurt, and peanut butter), as are many frozen foods (such as frozen pizza, packaged pastries, cakes, etc.). Fried foods are often cooked in trans fat.

This type of fat is bad news, and eating too much of it has been associated with various kinds of disease and complications. It has no nutritional value for the body and thus should be avoided altogether.

#4 Chill Out, Man

This tip is pretty simple: reduce the stress in your life, and your testosterone levels will rise.

Your body reacts to stress by producing a hormone called "cortisol," which is highly catabolic (leads to the breakdown of muscle and fat tissue), and which can interfere with testosterone production. Cortisol also increases the appetite and may promote the accumulation of belly fat, which can become a vicious cycle if daily stress levels are high.

So, try not to sweat the little annoyances so much, avoid overtraining, take some time for yourself every day to chill out, and avoid conflicts by trying to treat others the way you'd like to be treated, and you'll not only be happier in life, but you'll make better gains in the gym (which leads to even more happiness-cool!).

#5 Get Enough Sleep

Many people work long hours and cut down on their sleep to make extra time for themselves at night. While I totally understand this and have done it many times myself, it's not a good habit to get into.

Research has shown that not sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels. In that study, young healthy men were restricted to 5 hours of sleep per night, and it decreased their daytime testosterone levels by 10% to 15%.

Studies have also shown that sleep restriction makes losing weight harder, and causes you to lose more muscle while in a caloric restriction.

So shoot for 7-9 hours of sleep per night (and that means asleep for that many hours-not getting into bed at midnight and waking up at seven).

Oh and don't worry about the whole "before or after midnight" thing. There is no scientific evidence that sleep hours after midnight are less beneficial than those before midnight, or that you should get to bed before midnight for proper sleep.

#6 Have More Sex

As one would expect, having sex increases testosterone levels, so now you can tell your girl that it's her duty to help preserve your health by putting out (hah).

Summary

These are six of the easiest, healthiest ways that you can increase your testosterone levels, and I recommend that you incorporate them all into your lifestyle. I did that a few years ago and have kept them in, and the differences in how I look and feel are night and day.

Do you already have some experience with any of these? Want to say anything else? I'd love to hear from you on my site, www.muscleforlife.com

Hi,

I'm Mike and I believe that every person can achieve the body of his or her dreams, and I work hard to give everyone that chance by providing workable, proven advice grounded in science, not a desire to sell phony magazines, workout products, or supplements.

Through my work, I've helped thousands of people achieve their health and fitness goals, and I share everything I know in my books.

So if you're looking to get in shape and look great, then I think I can help you. I hope you enjoy my books and I'd love to hear from you at my site, http://www.muscleforlife.com/.

Sincerely,

Mike

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Truth About Muscle Growth

Most people think that muscles are made in the gym. Well the truth is they are not. Let me explain, in the gym when we are lifting we are actually tearing muscle down. The muscles do not start to build (repair themselves) until we are at rest. Also they need the right nutrition to start this process.

We have to remember that muscles have a memory, and our body does not like to have the muscles any bigger than they need to be. When I say that muscles have memory I mean that they figure out the strength they need to get us through our day. For example I was a cabinet builder many years ago and I lifted material all day long most of it very heavy. The first few weeks I was doing this job I was sore every night and my arms started getting bigger. After some time had passed I stopped getting bigger, why you ask. The reason why I was not getting bigger is that my muscles figured out that I had all the mass I needed to do my job. Now the reason they do not continue to grow is easy, the body has to use more energy to maintain bigger muscles. Which explains why people tell you to lose fat not lean muscle mass. So in essence the bigger the muscles the more fat we burn in a day. This is also why it is easier in most cases for males to lose weight than females. This is also why it is easier to lose muscle mass, but so hard to gain it.

Let's start with what happens when we go to the gym. Once we start lifting heavy weights the muscle group you are working gets small tears in it which is called micro trauma. What the body does now is it not only repairs the damage that the gym did, but also adds a layer of muscle fiber to try to keep this from happening again. So as the extra layers build up we see the muscles getting bigger. You have to remember that our bodies have a survival mode they adapt and over come to stay alive. This process of adding extra layers of muscle to existing layers of muscle is one of those situations that the survival mode kicks in to prevent injury.

Nutrition is a big part in the repair of the muscles. One reason is if we do not feed the body atrophy will set in. Most of us think of atrophy being caused by not moving for long periods of time. For example being bed ridden, but there is another kind atrophy and that is from malnutrition. In this instance if we starve the body and there is no food or fat for the body to consume, than the body has to consume muscle to survive. An example of this is a person that suffers from anorexia; they have little muscle lift do to lack of food to feed the muscles. The key macro nutrient to feed the muscle here is protein. How protein works is that it is broke down in our system to amino acids which is what the muscles need for repair. The essential amino acids or branch chain amino acids or BCAA's are the ones that we are interested in, there are two other forms of amino acids that have different functions in the body. The BCAA help to build and repair our muscles. So it only makes sense that if we have micro trauma to the muscles, than the more protein we consume the faster and stronger the muscle repairs. As with anything, there are limits to how much protein to take in per meal. There is not an exact number of grams of protein is too much at this time. I usually figure that if you stay between 30 and 40 grams per meal you will be fine.

The second most important part of muscle growth is rest. If you are moving around and using your muscles how can they repair themselves? The other thing to remember here is that when we are at rest (mainly during sleeping periods) this is when our hormone levels are elevated, such as growth hormone. So of course this is when we are going to have the best chance for muscle gain. It is usually when the protein has a chance to do its best work. Also the longer you sleep the faster the repair. So as you have always heard try to get at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night for the best results.

So this is why I say that muscles are not built in the gym. Yes, we need the gym to tear them down to build them back up, but they are made after the gym when we eat and sleep. As always train smarter not harder.

Health, Fitness, Bodybuilding and Nutrition

Owner/Operator of http://www.getmassmuscle.com/
Home of all your supplement and workout needs.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Google+ at Get Mass Muscle

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Build Big Shoulders

Many consider well-rounded and big shoulders to be the most impressive and muscular looking aspect of a well developed body, and I certainly include myself in that category. Shoulders tell a lot about a guy who works out and usually if their shoulders are in great looking shape then you know that person is doing something right in their training and aren’t neglecting body parts and just working the biceps for instance.

A man with big shoulders is to be able to lift heavy objects above his head, and I believe this is why the shoulder, or deltoid muscle, is so important to demonstrating and showing off your strength. It shows that you’re a strong guy who can not only pick heavy stuff (or people up) but actually lift them above your head!

To build big shoulders is rather simple and you need only a few exercises in reality, the most important being the military press, or the overhead press as it’s also known. It’s performed with a barbell and it’s a simple case of resting it on the top of your chest near your neck with both hands palms faced upward in the starting position, and simply pushing it up above your head and then lowered back down to complete a full repetition.

The military press develops all sides of the deltoid muscle, the front, sides and rear, and as a beginner you shouldn’t need to add extra exercises like the lateral raise which targets only your side deltoid muscles. Once you have developed a good base using the overhead press then feel free to add other isolation exercises to hit each head to their maximum.

Isolation exercises to build your shoulders are as follows:

The lateral raise (side deltoid)Front raise (front deltoid)Behind neck press (primarily the rear deltoid)

The important thing to remember is that having big shoulders contributes to the width of your physique which is crucial for the more slender or skinny guy out there. Creating the best illusion of width comes from having a small waist, big shoulders, developed lat muscles and a large chest. If you concentrate your training in to compound lifts which target all of your major muscle groups you will start to look wider in no time.

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2 Telltale Signs That Your Muscle Building Workout Worked

When we first embark on a muscle building regime, everything comes so easy. We gain a lot of strength and muscle size quickly and it seems as if we have developed a touch which would make even Midas jealous. Then, before we know it, it all seems to grind to a halt: Our beginner gains are over, and this is where the winners continue and the losers quit.

A tape measure and bodyweight scales, once able to reliably tell you on a weekly basis whether or not you were making progress will no longer be able to give you decisive proof, and over time it’ll only become less obvious and require more faith. At this point, how do you know whether you’re really making progress or your muscle building efforts are in vain? Here’s 2 pretty reliable ways to tell…

1: You ache in the days that follow

A muscle which aches in the days which follow a workout is a muscle which has been worked beyond its previous capacity. Anyone can make a muscle ache if they hammer out endless repetitions and sets, however. I’m talking about the muscles aching by performing reps-sets within the common muscle building range (i.e. the accepted range for hypertrophy, and nothing excessive compared to your normal routine).
Such muscle aches are often mistakenly thought to be due to lactic acid build up which normally accompanies high volume training. However, even with low volume and no lactic acid burns we can experience muscle soreness, because the soreness isn’t from lactic acid but from micro-tears in the muscle fibers, indicating sufficient workout stress and that desirable changes (increases in strength and mass) are likely to follow.
You will also notice that your muscles start aching more upon changes of exercise and stop aching so much after you’ve performed the exercise several times consecutively. That’s because the muscles are adapting to the movement and the effectiveness of the movement is waning and change should be forthcoming.

2: You get stronger

As with muscle size gains, getting stronger will become a slower process with time, but the fact is, over the long term it’s likely to provide a much more microscopic view of what’s going on with your muscles than a tape measure or bodyweight scales. What I’m saying is, generally, strength gains will be much more noticeable to you than muscle gains, and although the connection between muscle size and strength isn’t as close as many think, it can be used as an approximate measure in the right context. The right context would be getting stronger within accepted muscle building rep-set protocols (i.e. bench pressing heavier this week with 7 reps 5 sets compared to the 7 reps 5 sets you did last week). If you get stronger in this context, chances are your muscles have gotten a bit bigger, too.

Conclusion…

Muscle building takes a lot of time so hang in there, be patient, take comfort from the above indicators and pretty soon the tape, scales and even mirror will confirm your progress, too.

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Build Muscle Power Without Bulk

Not every person lifting weights in the gym are doing so to achieve a powerful looking masculine physique. While there are many guys (and girls) pumping iron and taking all manner of supplements to primarily increase the size of their most prominent and visible muscle groups, others are lifting and eating in order to build pure muscle power, and these people don’t like nor want “bulk”.

Athletes that require speed and agility above brute strength look toward endurance training to suit their needs while football players, wrestlers, UFC fighters etc should all be looking to train purely for strength in regard to training their muscles.

Endurance training requires a low set range with high repetitions - for example 3 sets of 10 repetitions, perhaps even more repetitions per set depending on the individuals’ requirements. Strength training requires more sets and lower rep ranges, such as 5 sets of 5 reps.

The body is well equipped to add muscle to your frame without necessarily adding too much size or bulk. This is why often you will see slender guys in the gym lifting what seems like far too much for their frame, but then they handle the weight well and it’s a shock. It’s important to understand that muscle size does not always translate to performance and increased strength.

Adding size to your frame requires lifting weight and eating excess calories, where as adding strength only requires eating enough calories to supply energy for your workout but not so many that you put on additional body fat. Eating at maintenance will limit the amount of muscle you can build but you can still add substantial muscle mass to your frame without adding unnecessary bulk.

Another thing to note is that water and liquids make up the majority of your muscle mass and there’s a lot of guys walking around that look really pumped up from various supplements they’re taking such as the popular PUMP supplements used normally by the younger generations. Just because a muscle is full of water and liquid it doesn’t mean it’s more able than someone who trains hard and doesn’t fill their body with additional junk.

I have many articles on this site in regard to training for endurance and adding muscle without the bulk therefore I advice you to look at some below and learn some more about the topic.

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Deadlift Versus Leg Press

Often neglected the legs are an important muscle to train for numerous reasons that are beneficial to your overall muscle development. Without strong legs, you will find it increasingly more difficult to lift weight up to the initial starting position for upper body exercises, such as the barbell curl or standing overhead press.

Just because the legs are hidden under clothes most of the time and aren’t on show, doesn’t mean you should forget about them. A good heavy leg workout will increase the amount of testosterone your body is producing for a short period, and that can’t be a bad thing for any guy.

The 2 main exercises to develop your legs are the deadlift, which some regard as the king of all exercises, and of course the leg press. The deadlift is simple in that it’s just a matter of lifting up a barbell, standing up straight and then lowering it back down again in a controlled and safe manner. The leg press is usually performed on a leg press machine whereby you lay on your back and thrust your legs in to a weighted plate and push the weight up and away, and then lower back down bending your knees.

Comparing the deadlift versus leg press is relatively easy in so much as the deadlift works almost every muscle in your body while the leg press isolated mostly your legs and very little else. It is for this reason I would opt to perform the deadlift over the leg press when training your legs. Due to it involving numerous other muscles such as your biceps, triceps, shoulders, legs, glutes, forearms, traps and back, it is a far superior exercise and should be incorporated in to your workout program.

The leg press could be used once you’ve been training for some time simply to vary the exercises or further exhaust your legs after a deadlifting session to ensure maximum stimulus to the muscle fibres. Training with the leg press alone and not performing the deadlift is a route you do not want to consider, but many guys do for an easier but a far less effective and inferior workout.

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How To Make Mountainous Traps Out Of Molehills

Nothing completes the powerful look like big traps. If you want to improve your upper trap development and have tried shrugs and haven’t gotten the results you’d like then don’t abandon shrugs just yet because I have something for you that’ll help supercharge the effectiveness of shrugs, so the exercise starts to pay dividends for you.

When we look at how our muscles develop, it can become obvious there is often gaping differences between the speeds at which certain muscles develop. Quads and biceps usually develop fairly quickly, while the traps are oftentimes slow to develop for most people. Why is this? And what can we do about it?

Building muscle is all about time under tension. This simply means the amount of time your muscle spends under tension of adequate weight (building muscle requires adequate time under adequate tension). Let’s consider the fact an average dumbbell curl will take maybe 1 second on the concentric and 2 seconds on the eccentric, that’s 3 seconds. Now consider how long the average shrug will take… probably less than 1 second for the entire up and down. That’s a lot less time under tension.

If we did 12 shrugs for 3 sets, that’d be 1 second x 12 reps x 3 sets = 36 seconds.

Compare this with the dumbbell curl scenario we’ve just mentioned, with the same rep and set scheme we’d get 3 seconds x 12 reps x 3 sets = 108 seconds.

That’s a vast difference.

Yet, many people who follow set-in-stone repetition and set schemes for all of their exercises condemn themselves to low time under tension for certain muscles which lack a large range of motion.

What’s the answer for shrugs?

Without doubt, the best solution is to go for more reps, more sets, or both. Mix it up. You can even try shrugging more slowly from time to time, but it seems to be that people get best results from shrugging very heavy weights in a more explosive manner – at least on the concentric. Case in point: Top strength coach Charles Poliquin ranks the Power Snatch as the best traps builder, and this movement is as explosive as they come.

Be sure that you use a lot of weight – the upside of limited range of motion muscles sometimes means they can handle much more weight – but be sure to not sacrifice your already limited range of motion in shrugs by using a weight you simply can’t perform full range, quality reps with.

Give higher volume a go for a month or two with different shrug variations to keep it fresh and see what kind of results you get. I’m betting they’ll be very favorable.

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Leg Presses: A Machine Alternative For Long-Legged Squatters

While squats are undoubtedly the greatest exercise for building lower body strength, particularly the quads, it’s fair to say that squats aren’t a well-loved exercise for many people. Some people do have a legitimate beef: For people with long legs and a short upper body, squatting can be awkward. The immense forward lean to retain balance not only places the lower back under considerable pressure, but it also makes it almost impossible not to drive up from the toes, instead of the heel.

The fact is those with normal proportions (or better yet, shorter legs and a longer back), have much better balance and will get much more out of squats, particularly in so far as hitting the quadriceps. That’s not a cop out, that’s just common sense and I don’t care what anybody says.

If barbell squats are difficult for you and your quadriceps training is suffering, you could try the leg press machine which will enable you to handle much heavier weight without balance issues or lower back pressure.

This is how to use the leg press machine:
1.    Take your position on the leg press machine, butt firmly in place, back firmly against the rest to provide a stable, spine-free pressing position, and place your feet close together on the foot platform, toes pointing straight forwards or near enough, and feet quite low on the platform to target quadriceps (higher will add glute involvement, taking away from quadriceps).
2.    Press the weight up and release the break lever and then use hands to grip the handles to the side for stability.
3.    Slowly lower the weight until your knees are bent almost to their maximum range, then press back up with the whole of your foot – keeping your heel in contact at all times. Keep your knees going in the same direction as your toes are pointing to maintain a safe and stable pressing position, as you would do for regular squats.  As with all exercises, a smooth movement is important to avoid injury.

When you want to stop, or should you get into trouble at any time, always be aware of where the break lever is so you can lock the weight at the drop of a hat.

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The 2 Most Vital Muscle Building Exercise Categories

The task of selecting the best muscle building exercises is simply summed up by many as ‘choose the exercises which allow you to lift the heaviest weights’. This may make sense, and it is true in part, but there’s a massive piece of the puzzle missing here which will be explained in this article to hopefully talk you out of taking an inferior path in your training. It’s important you understand the importance of the 2 main categories of exercise and how and when to exploit them – or you won’t get anywhere near as big and strong as you could.

Bench Press

Category 1: Compound exercises

Usually praised as the ‘best’ type of muscle building exercise, ‘compounds’ incorporate more than one muscle group into the lift. Therefore, a compound movement such as the bench press which heavily involves the triceps, deltoids and pectorals (and many more muscle groups) allows you to handle far more weight than would triceps extensions, deltoid raises or chest flys. This is because you are getting the benefits of the combined strength output of all these muscle groups.

 Compound exercises work the body as a system which tends to make compound exercises more effective for overall strength and muscle gains. However, one has to remember that the load is effectively being shared between each of these muscle groups to varying degrees – a fact many people overlook entirely.

 And therein is the big problem with compound exercises… you really don’t know how much of the current potential of each muscle group you’re truly using because you’re always limited by the weakest muscle group involved in the lift. Some muscle groups may be capable of far more weight but are in fact being held back due to a weak muscle group – a runt in the litter!

 In fact, one simple slogan which you absolutely must subscribe to (because it’s absolutely true) is ‘you’re only as strong as your weakest link’.
With compound exercises, you have limited ways of targeting the weaker muscle groups holding your overall lift back, so you have to think beyond compound exercises and break your training up into more precisely targeted exercises, which brings us to…

 Category 2: Isolation exercises

The antithesis of compound exercises is isolation (not to be confused with isometric!), which involve one primary muscle group to effect movement. Isolation exercises are best used to fill in the gaps the compound exercises can’t. You can use them to directly target weak muscle groups for strength purposes, to improve your compound lifts, or purely for aesthetic purposes. They really are invaluable and don’t let anybody kid you otherwise.

 An ideal bodybuilding/strength program will make the very best use of both of these exercise categories. It is an absolute fact that the very strongest and biggest people in the world did not get where they are by either banging away strictly with compound or isolation exercises but by smartly using a mixture of both. I strongly suggest you do the same.

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Top Strength Coach Says EZ Curl Bars Do Not Build Biceps

Along with dumbbell curls, barbell curls are the most common method of building the biceps with free weights. In fact, many people prefer barbell curls which are more effective for performing cheat curls when loaded with heavier weight. As anyone who has curled will testify, barbell curls with a straight bar can feel a little awkward and when a person tries curls with an EZ Curl bar, they often don’t go back to using a straight bar.

EZ curl bars are cambered bars which allow the palms to be placed in a more neutral position as opposed to absolutely supine making the movement more comfortable. But, does it make curls more effective? According to respected strength coach Mark Rippetoe, author of the ever-popular Starting Strength book, no. In fact, he goes as far as saying EZ curl bars just “don’t work”. I’m sure you now want to know why, so this article will reveal why.

Not every curl (underhand, overhand or hammer/neutral grip) hits the biceps optimally!

When your palms are completely supine (upward), your biceps muscle fibers are in their prime pulling position – hence the reason why they go rock solid when flexed when your palm is turned towards you. The more you turn your palms away from you and flex your biceps, the softer your biceps go because the fibers are elongated and more bunched up.

The more prone (overhand) your grip, the more of a mechanical disadvantage your biceps are in when performing curls.

Therefore, the further away from supine your grip becomes, the more emphasis is placed on the brachioradialis and brachialis elbow flexors and the less on the biceps brachii.

And… that’s precisely what an EZ curl bar does: Forces the grip into a less supine position!

Therefore, to build the actual biceps brachii a more supine grip is preferred. This also holds true for curls with dumbbells – the more supine throughout, the better it hits the biceps brachii.

For sure, the EZ curl bar will build the biceps and overall upper arm size, but it’ll never compare to a straight barbell for building the biceps brachii – so I recommend you do most of your curls with a straight barbell.

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Tricep Pushdowns

Do your Tricep Pushdowns in the following way and you’ll be well on your way to thicker arms.

In recent months it’s really hammered home to me that when hitting the triceps, both the NEGATIVE and STATIC strength should be emphasized.

Watch the video to get a visual of what I’m talking about and I’ll explain all afterwards.

 Face a high pulley and grasp a V-bar attachment with overhand grip. Position the elbows to the side and keep them locked in there.

 Now extend the arms FULLY. Do this pushing movement under full muscular control ensuring that it’s actually the triceps doing the work. Feel the muscle here, not the weight.

 At the bottom when the arms are fully extended and the triceps are in the fully contracted position, pause for a brief second before starting the negative/raising.

 Return SLOWLY until the forearm is parallel to the floor, no higher is required.

 Once you go higher than parallel you enter the weakest range of motion for this movement. So you’d have to use a lighter weight to hit the same number of reps. And what for? You won’t be recruiting any extra muscle fibers or stimulating more growth. In fact, with the decreased overload, you’ll stimulate less growth. Parallel is high enough.

 Roughly speaking, use a 2-1-3 cadence. 2 (down) 1 (hold) 3 (up). More importantly remember to push down under full muscular control of the triceps, pause briefly at the peak contraction point, and raise a little slower than you pushed down.

TIP: As far as the handle is concerned, use a V-type bar as opposed to a rope. You definitely aren’t as strong with the rope as you are with the bar. The rope means you have to divert a portion of your strength to stabilization; try it and experience it for yourself.

Also, don’t get this confused with the ‘McManus Pushdown‘, which is finisher move for your triceps using a much lighter weight.

Stay Motivated!

Mark

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Why Some Bodybuilders Are Better Off Not Training To Failure

After doing just a little research a new trainee will see that most people promote the principle of ‘training to failure’. Failure is the time at which the nervous system simply can’t take anymore at a given weight and crashes, causing your muscle contraction to come to an end. Training to failure would seem to make sense in that you are pushing yourself to the limit.

And, as we’re constantly being told, pushing ourselves to the limit is the only way to make the best gains possible – anything else is stopping short or copping out. However, for some people, is there more to be gained by not training to failure constantly?

For some people, I truly believe training to failure too frequently causes negative central nervous system effects that will hinder progress. I think this for a few reasons. Here’s why…

Everybody is different. Not only physically but mentally, and both are interconnected. Now, it’s well known that even mental stress can affect muscle and strength gains negatively. And training to failure causes mental stress – plus, a lot of physical stress.

Some people can cope with physical and mental stress better than others; this is just how it goes. By not training to failure regularly, some people will be leaving a lot of potential gains on the table, while another group of people who attempt to train to failure regularly will cause themselves too much physical and mental stress and hurt their progress.

Trainees should experiment with training to failure regularly, sporadically, and stopping short of failure for certain periods and see what progress they observe to get a better picture of which training intensities work best for them.

It’s also worth mentioning that some people would get better results from training to failure regularly, but they underestimate how long it takes them to recover fully and could in fact benefit by training the same muscles to failure still, but training them less frequently. I’ve had some of my best results in strength and size by training my body parts very hard once a week.

If you're struggling to build muscle then I urge you to get my free hardgainer course where you will discover my former skinny-guy secrets to fast muscle growth and learn how to overcome your hardgainer genetics: Get My Free Hardgainer Course Now >> Read similar posts:

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Why Regularly Changing Muscle Building Exercises Is Critical

It’s incredible to think that even today some people still scoff at the idea of changing exercises regularly in order to continue building muscle. “Why would you need to, do the muscles have little brains which know what you did over the last few weeks?” they ask sarcastically. Others say it’s merely psychological – that on some level you become bored of what you’re doing and begin to put less and less effort into it and sabotage yourself because you desire change. What really happens when you don’t change exercises, if anything?

Your muscles are controlled by the central nervous system which controls the motor units which pull on the limited bunches of muscle fibers they’re hooked up to in certain patterns, which creates movement. Muscle building is a very taxing business for the body, and the central nervous system doesn’t like it, as it seeks to impose a constant state of homeostasis (no change).

Movement patterns certainly are engrained and recognized by the central nervous system. How else would a person be able to learn coordination to walk, lift a cup to their mouths or play the piano – and become ‘rusty’ (i.e. lose some of their effectiveness) at some activities in which they haven’t performed in a long time? Or, how is it the central nervous system fails to adapt quickly when you overdo something/over-train? That’s homeostasis.

Once the central nervous system identifies a frequent movement pattern and an outcome it sees as a threat to homeostasis (i.e. muscle building) it clamps down on positive adaptation by limiting your ability to progress on this movement. You will see your strength and speed slow or stop, and even your coordination deteriorate and become far more injury prone.

This is a temporary situation – the exercise isn’t useless forever, it’s just not going to be as beneficial to you as others will be for a while.

And the methods which tax the CNS the most cause the body to fight for homeostasis quicker, which is why the heavier you lift, the more quickly the exercise becomes ineffective and the more regularly you need to change in order to continue making progress – you’ve hit the CNS hard and it’s fighting back hard.

For the heaviest lifts of 1-3 reps, changing exercises every 2-3 weeks maximum will ensure you don’t get stuck as often. The best thing you can do is to learn about all of the different muscles and the positions in which they are best activated, and create a list of many different exercises for each body part and rotate them in a formulaic manner. The idea is to circumvent homeostasis, and the most effective way of doing this is to change the exercise/movement entirely on a regular basis.

If you're struggling to build muscle then I urge you to get my free hardgainer course where you will discover my former skinny-guy secrets to fast muscle growth and learn how to overcome your hardgainer genetics: Get My Free Hardgainer Course Now >> Read similar posts:

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Trap Bar Shrugs

Developed traps look AWESOME.

Train them in the fashion I’m about to illustrate and you’ll be well on your way.

This article revises and replaces a previous shrug tutorial article on this site. I now advocate a slight flexion at the elbow joint.

By the way, the form here applies to all variations of the shrug: barbell shrugs, dumbbell shrugs, cable shrugs, or trap bar shrugs.

Watch the vid first and I’ll explain all below…

 The first point before anything else is the cadence. Traps are best worked rather slowly. We’re talking 1-2 seconds on the positive and 2 or even 3 seconds on the negative.

 Feel the muscle here, not the weight. Raise and lower the weight slowly, smoothly, and under full muscular control.

 I now recommend a slight flexion at elbow joint as you perform the positive portion of the rep (raising). This will make it a little easier to get into the point of maximal contraction. I’ve been employing this method in recent months to great effect.

 Keeping a smooth motion, raise the shoulders up to the point where further elevation is impossible.

 Lower slowly and under control while at the same time extending the arms – fully straightening them.

 Make sure you lower the weight right down to the lowest point possible. It should feel like it’s “hanging” on the traps at the bottom.

You’ll note in the video that I am ensuring the weight is lowered to the lowest point on the negative, and raised to the highest point on the positive. Do the same and see some real trap growth!

Let me know how you get on

Your Buddy,

Mark 

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Why Are Prisoners So Buff?

Ever hear this from someone? “Why Are Prisoners So Muscular?”

It’s usually in response to advising them on how much protein or food they need…

“Well if that’s true then why are prisoners so buff?!”.

I want to respond to this because it’s a question that’s put to me now and again in real life and on the web.

There are a few points to be considered here. Chief of all is this…

THEY’RE NOT!

You’re watching way too much TV.

Very few prisoners in real life are buff. Most are actually quite skinny.

But in order to portray a criminal in a movie or on TV as “tough”, they often cast muscular guys to play the role.

They might be dangerous, but they ain’t big.

But for the very few who are big, you can bet that they were training BEFORE they ever landed in prison.

So their impressive physique was already there before they were incarcerated.

There is also the issue of drug use.

If you think that steroid use isn’t happening on the inside of prison walls, you’re living in cloud cuckoo land. It happens.

Hopefully that’s that cleared up!

So yes you DO need that much protein. You DO need a good diet. And above all, you DO need to…

Train With Intensity!

Mark

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Teen Muscle Building - 3 Tips to Gain 20 Pounds of Muscle Now

There are a lot of teen muscle building tips online, but like all other bodybuilding tips, most are garbage. Here are 3 guideline to help you get ripped NOW:

#1) Eat more often

There's a popular myth floating around that the way to get ripped is to restrict you're the amount of food you eat. This supposedly reduces your body fat and therefore improves your physique.

Sounds logical--but NOT true

Eating less is not the answer-it might even give you MORE body fat. Eating MORE FREQUENTLY-but not necessarily more in quantity-is the way to go.

Eating 5-7 times a day is ideal because it keeps the metabolism flowing more smoothly. If you can't reach this amount than just try eating at least 4 times.

#2) Restrict protein intake

Sure some is necessary-but you don't need 100 grams a day... or whatever ridiculous number most teen muscle building tips recommend.

Too much protein creates MORE body fat

This is why many people have the frustrating experience of eating red meat, eggs, fish, and protein shakes all day long--and getting fatter.

Also MAKE SURE you get it from whole food sources-this is mandatory. This protein is far superior in quality to anything you get from processed foods or supplements.

#3) Get plenty of rest

A lot of people don't realize the impact of sleep-but it's IMPERATIVE you get 8 hours a night. The more time you sleep, the more energy you have-and the better your workout performance will be.

Decide how much muscle you want to gain in pounds-and write it down. Knowing it in your head is NOT enough.

Why not?

Because writing it down-preferably with a pencil and paper-ingrains it in your subconscious, and you almost can't help but get closer to your goals as a result. Implement these teen muscle building tips and you will get results soon.

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Tips on How to Lose Stomach Fat

Eating right is part of the abs building process, avoiding that is as good as not hoping for six pack abs. Almost every thing you hear about abs building and the various tips on how to lose stomach fat will require you to eat just enough as well as eating the right kind of stuff. So what exactly should you know about eating?

If you still can't see any abs after months of training, chances are they're hiding right behind the layer of fat in your stomach! And since you can not turn fats into muscles, you'll have to work extra hard to burn them off instead. Therefore your approach to abs building should be to burn them off first before putting in the definition for that six pack abs.

How? An easy way is to eat just below your daily calorie requirements, because once your body don't have enough calorie intake to upkeep your daily activity, they'll turn those stored fats into energy instead. However, what you do not want to do is to overdo it, because by doing so it will put you severely under nourished and your body might think you're starving constantly, and thus slow down your metabolism rate.

Here is how you can get a flatter stomach:

1. Get your exact daily calorie requirements figure, there are many metabolic rate calculator available over the internet. This is imperative as you must know how much calorie you need to upkeep your current lifestyle, or how much you need to take in daily to actually promote fat burning.

2. When you get your number, then you want to just eat slightly below your required number. For example if you need about 2500 calorie a day, eat around 2100-2300, this will help accelerate your fat burning process, while not undermining your metabolism rate.

3. Change your eating habits. If you need about 2100 so that you can start the fat burning process, divide it into 5-6 small meals a day. This will help maintain a steady sugar level and energy throughout the day, you don't overeat, and you also won't feel hungry all the time!

Lastly, opt for unprocessed food because that's how it was suppose to be eaten in the first place! Process food can contain unwanted fats and thus gaining you more weight instead. Try eating more fruits instead of drinking fruit juices.

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Amino Acid Body Building - 2 Tips To Improve Muscle Tone

Wonder how some of those sportsmen and some body builders appear so carved with well defined muscles? Well, many factors are at play in order to create a toned physique and amino acid method of body building is a practice that pumps up athletes. Amino acids are generally known as building blocks in the body in general terms but actually they are molecular building block that can create proteins.

Protein is the most needed component that creates a strong healthy muscle and that is the reason many athletes in tough and strength trainings will want to use amino acids body building, most usually in form of diet supplements and pumping weights. This also aids in the health of the nails, hair, tendons, ligaments, central nervous systems and also how the muscle retains water for strength and elasticity.

1. Reasons for using the Supplement

Most body building men discovered that without the needed amino acid in the system, the body tries to feed on the muscle when faced with problem of low energy. This leads to the interest in amino acid for body building in order to make sure that the body has fuel to develop muscle than feeding on it.

Some serious body building men take amino acid supplement in form of protein shakes or pills right after tough muscle workout. That moment in time gives an unique opportunity in order to take amino acids into the body so that muscles have optimal flow of blood and is amenable to all nutrients. It?s this timing that takes an athlete to get to know why amino acids in body building are important.

2. Some Popular Supplements

Glutamine is the most popular and publicized in amino acids used for body building since it is available in the muscle and is also known to promote growth of muscle. Arginine is also another one amino acid which is useful to the amino acids for body building . This amino acid in particular kicks the growth hormone in the body and also helps in regulating the metabolism in the muscle, and also builds bulk. Fat will decrease while the connective tissues, cartilages and bones strengthen under these building practices.

Some supplements are very important as nowadays people are not watching their diet and are not getting enough of protein, which means low amino acid intake. Without these body building blocks called amino acids, you will become weaker and may lose the muscle tone. So therefore, stick to the amino acid bodybuilding and you surely will discover that the muscles will not just get the working out but also that they grow larger, hence creating the body builders sign of a carved muscles.

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3 Effective Tips on How to Tone Your Stomach

Finding the right exercise for toning your stomach may be difficult but through years of experience, I have discovered three key exercises to aid you to tone your stomach. These are by no means the only available effective exercise out there but these three are what I find the most effective.

How to Tone Your Stomach

1. Ab Rollers.

These I think are the most effective, and one of the hardest stomach exercises out there. You can do this with a dumbbell or you can buy an actual roller in the market. It would probably cost you just below $100. The effort to roll your body back and forth is just excruciating. Doing around 3 sets of 5 repetitions will actually do.

For this exercise to be effective though, you must make sure not to cheat and only your foot and the dumbbell or the roller should touch the ground. Do this for about a month and watch as your tummy tightens.

2. Squats.

Yes squats. This might be surprising to some of you but if you ask seasoned weight lifter, he will tell you how important his stomach muscles are for when he is doing his squats. They act as stabilizer muscles that makes sure your core is nice and tight.

For starters, you don't actually need to lift tremendous amounts of weight. You can probably even do squats without the actual barbell and feel the pressure building on your stomach. Doing around 3 sets of 10 repetitions will do.

As your stomach tightens however, you might want to consider actually doing squats with a barbell.

3. Flex and tighten.

This actually goes not only for abs but for all your muscles. Right after your workout, it will really help to stretch those muscles and flex them. Think of it just like a hot metal that you can bend and shape it to whatever shape you like. Once this metal cools down, it would be next to impossible to bend them without the aid of some machine.

Same goes for muscles. If you flex them constantly and at the right time, they will take on the shape you want them to. Not to mention that this actually reduces risks of injury or cramped muscles.

So there you go. Three simple tips on how to tone your stomach. Follow these religiously over a span of three months and you will be surprised with the benefits.

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Building Muscle Tips - How to Perform Slow Reps on Weight Training Machines

If you are thinking of weight training but think that heavy duty weight training might be too hard on your joints, depending upon how old you are and what condition you are in, this could be true. That's why you might be able to benefit from slow rep exercises instead. Weight training that is done slowly and still has controlled and intense movements is going to be a lot easier on your joints, will actually be tougher on your muscles, which will help them grow and it will also add a little cardio benefit as well.

You should get yourself an exercise notebook so you can keep track of your progress. A lot of people forget to do this and they think it's silly but the fact is your body doesn't want to change so keeping track is a good incentive to keep you going. When you start seeing the results down on paper it helps to motivate you.

When you decide on a program to go with on the weight training machine you should try and pick about eight different exercises that are going to work the upper and lower parts of your body. This is the kind of workout you should do at least twice a week with a few special cardo sessions included between those two workout days. Don't alternate the body parts and do a lot of sessions during the week, this is only counter productive. You need to remember that it's not the actual workout that's important, it's the recovery time that you give your body that counts most in building the muscle. If you train every day you do not give your body the time it needs to repair itself and grow new muscle.

You will next need to figure out just how slow you want to perform your eight exercises. With each rep you have a positive portion as well as a negative portion of each exercise. Your first part of the motion is at the start and that is the positive and then returning to the original position is the negative. You should make the time for each portion anywhere from 3 seconds to 10 seconds. In other words each part of a rep should be say about 3 seconds each.

After you have figured out how slow you want your reps to be you should then set the amount of weight that you think you can do for say 10 seconds each half of the rep. It can be less but it should be for longer so that if you know you can hold it 10 seconds then there is no doubt you can do it for less time. When you do start your exercise remember to breathe at all times it does you know good to hold your breath when you are performing your reps.

You should start off by doing 5 to 8 reps of each of your exercise or until you reach that point where you know your muscles cannot take anymore and this is called the muscle failure point. If however, you are able to go past 8 reps then you know right away that you have the weights too light and you will need to adjust until you reach that muscle failure.

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Discover The Best And Easy Guide To Gain Weight and Muscle

In the present era, although there are many programs to gain weight and muscle, most of them do not teach the natural way to do it. If you are really motivated to look healthier naturally and to gain weight and muscle optimally, then it is best to primarily opt for the following four crucial steps that are covered in this guide.

Step 1: Select Balanced Diet for Weight Gain

The diet to gain weight and muscle does not necessarily pertain to eating lot of fats but it normally refers to consuming more energy in relation to the amount that is spent by your body. The diet to gain weight and muscle should be compromised of not only nutritious but also high calorie food. The most essential component here is protein and the recommended daily allowance of protein uptake should be 0.8 per kg of body weight.

Good sources of protein are lean red meat, chicken, turkey, low fat milk and yoghurt, low fat cottage cheese, egg white, canned fish, soy products and many others. In addition, in diet to gain weight and muscle the carbohydrates and fats also should be consumed in balanced form. The good source of carbohydrates are whole meal bread, potatoes, brown rice, pasta and etc. Fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 should be taken. These include tuna, salmon and flaxseed oil.

Step 2: Start with Lifting Heavy Weights

Once you have developed optimal control over your calories then you have to initiate the prime workout of lifting heavy weights to gain weight and muscle. This will give you dual benefit, gaining your desired muscle and losing the amount of excess fat that you have gained.

However, there are few important points that you have to consider while doing the work out. Opt for longer recovery periods. There's no point in training if you are not fully recovered. To avoid injuries make use of spotters when lifting weights. Subsequently you can introduce carrying out the cardio but ensure to keep it at the required maintenance level just 2 to 3 cardio in week will be optimum to keep your heart in good shape, choose a program that is specifically for the full body.

Step 3: Choose the Perfect Kind of Workout

The workout to gain weight and muscle covers many options from strength training to cardio and yoga workouts. The strength training workouts offer the ways to develop lean muscle tissue and get stronger. These will include the routine for the complete body. Then, there are cardio workouts which are essentially for conditioning the heart. These incorporate a variety of activities to keep body fit and engage the mind.

Yoga is considered to be the most unique exercise for flexibility to gain weight and muscle. Yoga is specifically for the body and mind exercise to reduce the stress. In addition, to gain weight and muscle for optimal result, balance the exercises for lower body, chest, backs, shoulders, abs, biceps and triceps.

Step 4: Opt for the Essential Supplements

It is not only best for your health but also to optimally gain weight and muscle to primarily opt for the basic supplements. These include the multiple vitamins clubbed with mineral formula. Moreover, you have to consume 3 grams of vitamin C which has to be divided in three equal portions and taken in three serving's day round. Then 200 mcg of chromium picolinate is to be taken.

Last but not least go for the essential fatty acids like flaxseed, fish and virgin olive oils. In addition, glutamine and creatine are recommended. It is even good to look out for the vital and natural testosterone boosters in order to gain weight and muscle. Thus, today with existence of innumerable knowledge resources the tedious process to gain weight and muscle has become comparatively an easy option for everyone.

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Don't Know How to Eat to Gain Weight in Muscle? Learn How Today

Learning how to eat to gain muscle is a must for anyone trying to pack on the beef. Your diet plays such a huge role on how much muscle you will gain. You will not gain weight if you are not on the right diet plan and you will not gain muscle if you do not have an exercise plan. So in order to gain weight in muscle you will need both a meal plan and exercise program, but to get started I will explain how you will need to eat in order to gain muscle.

First Rule: Eat More Frequently

The biggest mistake I see when people are trying to gain muscle is eating only 3 large meals a day. Yes, it true that there will be a lot of calories and protein in each meal, but what most people do not know is your body can only absorb a certain amount of calories and protein per meal. With that said your body will store what it did not absorb as unwanted fat or cause bloating. So in order to maximize your muscle building abilities and lower your chances of gaining to much fat you should break up your meals into smaller portions eating 5-6 times a day.

Second Rule: Eating Enough Calories

Another huge mistake that I notice with people trying to gain weight in muscle is that they are not eating enough daily calories. You could be on the best exercise program in the world, but if you do not eat enough calories you will never gain muscle size. This is the main reason why most people trying to gain weight never do. What you need to do is keep track of what you are eating by reading the labels on boxes and writing down how many calories you are getting.

These two rules are just the beginning of learning how to gain weight in muscle but should help you get an ideal of what you should be doing.

Five Weight Training Tips to Pump Up Those Muscles

To get the results you seek from lifting weights, you have to use good form and proper technique. You must also allow your muscles plenty of time to develop. Allow at least four months to get that pumped up look, that is four months of consistent effort toward achieving your muscle gain goals. With determination and perseverance, you will get that chiseled look you seek. Here are five weight training tips to help you out.

If you are new to weight training, do not rush into the gym and start throwing around weights until you know what you are doing. Seek advice from a staff member on the correct technique to use and the routine that would work best for you. Ask them for some weight training tips that will help you get quick results and spare you from injury.

Keeping records of your progress is a good idea too. After each session, write down the weights you used, the exercises, and the weights. This will help you track your progress and tweak your weight training plan.

1. Set Goals: Create realistic short term and long-term goals. These will help keep you motivated to hit the gym and make progress. Goals keep you focused on achieving the end result, which is building up those muscles to whatever limit you have set for yourself.

When you achieve a short-term goal, have a celebration, then head back to the gym and keep plugging away towards your end goal. Having many easily achievable short phase goals along the way will motivate you to train hard.

Work backwards from your end goal to help you determine your mini-goals. For example, if you hope to gain 50 pounds in a year from weight training, then set a goal to gain five pounds in your first month.

2. Vow To Succeed: Failure is often the result of lack of commitment. It is hard to be enthused and committed to a weight training program if you are not sure you are on the right track. Pick out a weight training program that lays out everything for you systematically and follow it faithfully until you arrive at your goal.

Be sure to select a muscle-add program that is in alignment with your goals. It shouldn't be difficult to find one. It will save you the work of plotting everything out yourself, plus you can be assured it will work as long as you stick to it and follow the instructions.

3. Learning: For the most effective workout, learn all you can about bodybuilding and how exercises affect your muscles. Knowledge is power when it comes to getting ripped muscles. There is much to learn and most people have no idea how to go about it. Becoming knowledgeable could mean the difference between having a sculpted body at the end of six months and barely being able to see any progress. Sources of information are readily available in books, on the internet, and in weight training courses put together by experts.

4. Proper Technique: A torn muscle hurts and it delays your progress. Using good form eliminates the risk of injury while weight training. However, proper technique has a more important benefit than safety and that is muscle gain. To pack on muscle weight, you have to lift weights using proper form.

Simply lifting a lot of weight is not the answer to building muscle because if the weight is too heavy it causes you to lose your technique. Of course, you always want to progress in the amount of weight you lift, but never do it at the expense of technique.

5. Development: Take your muscle development step by step in a logical manner. You will not gain 50 pounds of muscle in a month and you do not want to develop maxed out arms and neglect your legs. Gear your weight training workout in such a way that your whole body is enhanced by your muscle building workouts. Keep these five weight training tips in mind when you hit the gym for your next workout and maybe they can help you get the best results.

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Gain 20 Pounds of Muscle - 5 Skinny Guy Workout Tips on How to Gain 20 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Months

So you want to gain 20 pounds of muscle fast? Whatever your reason, gaining 20 pounds of muscle within 6 months is totally achievable as long as you follow the right plan and stick to it.

5 Things You Must Do To Gain 20 Pounds of Muscle Fast

The five most important things you must do in order to gain 20 pounds of muscle fast just happen to be the main reasons why most skinny guys fail to achieve significant muscle growth no matter how hard they try.

These five things are:

Muscle Gain Diet = Eat Loads

Simply put, you need to eat a lot and consume vast amounts of quality calories in order to gain 20 pounds of muscle quickly. For instance the average male is supposed to consume between 2,000-2,500 calories per day...however, if you are looking to gain pounds of muscle you should be increasing this to around 3,500 spread over 6 meals.

Protein intake should increase also - a rule of thumb is 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of bodyweight...i.e. if you weight 150 pounds you should consume around 150 grams of protein.

Heavy Weights and Lower Reps

What does it matter if you can 30 reps on a low weight? I mean, that's all well and good, but it's never going to get you BIG.

This is a common mistake among skinny guys trying to gain 20 pounds of lean muscle mass, since they think that the numbers are really important.

The best way to train and build muscle quickly is to up the load and perform high-quality repetitions and small numbers of sets.

I try to aim for around 3 sets of between 8-12 reps...this is known as high-intensity low-volume training.

Workout LESS Often

Going down the gym all day every day is simply not necessary to gain 20 pounds of muscle. In fact if you're doing that, then it's probably a major reason why you're not seeing the gains that you would like.

To gain 20 pounds of muscle in 6 months you only need to workout 3 times per week, for around 45 minutes-1 hour per session.

The key to success is the intensity with which you workout. You'll also need a rest day between workouts to allow your muscles to recover and grow - working out every day only stunts your muscles' growth and can cause injury.

Sleep More To Gain Muscle Mass

The most underestimated element in any bodybuilding routine is the role of sleep, and good-quality sleep at that.

It has been proven that when in a deep sleep (i.e. once you've got passed the REM stage of sleep), our bodies produce a natural growth hormone which is essential to muscle repair and growth. By not getting adequate sleep you are simply undoing all your hard work in the gym and hampering your body's attempt to grow and gain muscle.

So, to gain 20 pounds of muscle make sure you allocate around 8 hours per night of quality sleep - and avoid any caffeine or exercise right before bedtime. Eating a banana has been known to aid sleep, although not in all cases.

Isolation Training Won't Help You Gain Muscle Fast

You've probably heard people talking about isolation exercises...i.e. Monday is arms day, Tuesday is chest day, Wednesday is legs day, Thursday is back day, etc, etc.

This type of routine may be fine if you're already big, but it's no good for a skinny guy looking to gain 20 pounds of muscle, after all...you'd only be working out each body part ONCE per week...and that's never gonna get you BIG.

As mentioned earlier, your workout routine should be performed 3 times per week and should consist of compound exercises that work your whole body, and produce bigger, stronger and more functional muscles.

Stick to the "big basic" exercises which work multiple muscle groups (Squats, Deadlifts, Chest Press, Woodchoppers, Bicep Curls, and Bent Over Rows).

Discover how a self-confessed "skinny twerp" called Vince Delmonte overcame his "skinny genes" and packed on 41 pounds of lean muscle mass to become a National Fitness Model champion ==> Gain 20 Pounds Of Muscle.

How to Increase Metabolism - Tips to Boost Metabolism Fast

Metabolism basically means the rate at which our body burns calories per day. Is it possible for me to increase metabolism?

The answer is: Yes. In order to increase metabolism you must have to take care of your diet plan and exercise plan. If your metabolic rate is slower and you are eating more, it means you are burning fewer calories than your calories intake which builds up a perfect environment for weight gain. In order to lose weight, increase your metabolism by following tips given below:

Increase your muscles size with strength training, muscle size is directly proportional to metabolic rate, means the more muscle size you have, the faster your metabolic rate will be. So, go for strength training exercise three to four times a week in order to increase your metabolism.

Eat smaller diet 6 to 8 times a day by consuming nutritious items such as fruits and dark green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, blueberries and other fruits, whole grains . Eat protein rich diet as protein intake stabilizes the amount of insulin in the bloodstream. It is highly-beneficial for you and your metabolic rate.

Do not go for fasting starving the body of a regular supply of nutrient in a misguided quest for over hasty weight loss. Go for aerobic exercise like walking, swimming or cycling, jogging, aerobic dancing added bonus of increasing your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising.

In order to boost your metabolism, try not to skip your meals and breakfast. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water daily. Increase your daily physical activities like - brushing your hairs, walk the dog, going to evening walk with friends and family, using stairs rather than elevators. Do not try to eat less than 1200 calories a day; this will slow down your metabolism. Eat foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates and proteins, this will make your body to work much harder which results in increased metabolic rate.

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Muscle Mass Tips - 3 Keys to Building Muscle While Burning Fat

Most trainees usually pick up their first barbell for two reasons: huge muscles with shredded definition. Of course everyone want's to be huge with chiseled cut's, so they should train to build muscle mass while burning fat, right?

Now here's the kicker....

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to build huge muscles without gaining some extra body fat, PERIOD!

The reason? Because to build muscle mass it is necessary to consume a surplus of calories to achieve optimal protein synthesis.

Since your body can't put 100% of it's caloric surplus towards muscle growth, there will always be a caloric excess adding to your body fat, making it impossible to burn fat and gain muscle simultaneously.

Your goals should focus on building muscle mass, and then reducing body fat; NOT gaining muscle and burning fat simultaneously.

It's easier to burn body fat once you've built up your muscles, so obviously starting off by building muscle mass is the quickest route. So once again; focus on burning fat only after you have gained serious muscle.

3 key tips to achieve this are:

1) Don't go crazy on calories...

Work towards a program of "optimal nutrition", simply shoving more food down your throat that has nothing to do with gaining muscle mass, and you will probably get fatter.

When eating to gain muscle; a mere 15-20% more calories over what you would typically take in to keep yourself at your current weight will achieve muscle growth without gaining extra fat.

2) Consume quality food sources...

To insure maximum muscle growth, consume only lean, quality proteins, natural/full fiber carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats.

Stay away from sugar and if there is a farmer's market nearby, try shopping from there for fresh produce.

3) Throw in a moderate amount of cardio.

During a mass building cycle, try adding 2-3 cardio sessions weekly to increase your body's ability to restrict fat gains. Long duration cardio can cause you to breakdown muscle, so stick to high intensity/low duration sessions of cardio lasting no more than 10-20 minutes.

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Simple Tips on How to Get a 6 Pack the Easy Way

A lot of people wonder how to get abs and yet they don't realize that it's almost always about discipline. This advice has been dispensed before in many ways and yet somehow people still don't really follow the basic methods of proper weight loss in order to get a really good and shapely abdomen. Although, a lot of folks do try to instill discipline in their personal weight-loss program and sometimes it leads to them just losing a lot of weight and looking terribly thin. Maybe that's a problem for some people, but not for most. In any case, if you're one of the hundreds of people who want to know how to get perfect abs, then this article will guide you on the most basic methods.

The Proper Diet

You are what you eat, as people say. The best method on how to get abs is really all about having a proper diet. You can't just eat too much; and you can't eat too little either just to lose all that body fat. When it comes to weight-loss or proper weight gain, you need to have some balance in your daily food consumption. Below is a list of some tips on how to get the right balance in your diet.

• Don't eat too much during one meal. What this means is that you shouldn't allow yourself to consume too much food during breakfast, lunch, or supper. Sometimes, people grow too hungry when they skip meals and this is the reason why they overeat when the next meal finally arrives. For example: don't allow yourself to skip breakfast or you'll be tempted to eat a lot during lunch.

• Eat 4 to 6 small meals a day. You'd rather be doing this instead of eating three complete and large meals a day. Frequent but smaller feedings is one of the best methods on how to get abs.

• Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Good Fats in a meal. This basically means that you should consume 40% proteins, 40% carbohydrates, and just 20% good fats so that it alleviates your body from overwork. Packing too much of anything into one meal causes an imbalance in your body's storage maintenance and will create more fats for your body.

• Do caloric cycles. This means that you should have about 2 weeks of lower calories (about 1200 for women and 2000 for men) and 2 weeks of higher calories (1500 for women and 2500 for women).

Weight-Training Basics

Here are some basic weight-training tips you should consider doing.

• Do some sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts and other exercises that focus on building your abdominal muscles.

• Do combination of these exercises for a maximum of one hour. Do these at least three or five times a week.

• Don't over-train on one exercise or you'll just end up too tired to work on the next set of workouts.

So that's how to get abs. But before you leave, here's a few closing tips: stretch before beginning any workout. Stretch everyday if you have to. Also, learn to rest your body whenever you feel out of breath so you can be sure that you have perfectly-shaped abs.

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Six Tips Or Secrets For Building Muscle Mass

The best way to get what you want is to find someone who already has exactly what you want and then learn from them. Because they already have what you are looking for they can help you save hours, days, weeks or possibly years to achieve your goals. Therefore, if you are looking to build muscles, stop reading the magazines and books and go find a personal trainer to get you into shape.

Having strong muscles is one great way to get a revved up metabolism. While there really aren't any secrets to building muscles there are some tips and tricks known by the experts to enable you to do this quickly and safely. We are going to explore 6 of these tips right now:

1. Decide:
The first thing you need to do is to make a decision specifically about what it is you want to achieve. Decide, and then find an expert to help you lay out a workout or eating plan specifically for you.

2. Make New Choices:
Start by eating healthy and organically. Remember the old wives tale that says you are what you eat? Well it's as true today as it was a hundred years ago. What kind of body do you really want? Eating White Castle hamburgers will get you a White Castle body. I hope the visual is as clear as I intended.

3. What Do YOU Need?

Everyone is different, and since we are all different, our bodies behave differently, we process food differently and we need to learn what our body is telling us. Spend some time with a nutritionist and learn what your individual body needs. Then construct an eating plan around you...not Arnold... or the local hunk - YOU.

4. Resistance Training:
One of the keys to building muscles is weight, or resistance training. Other exercise routines are great but they are not as focused on building muscles as a weight training plan. You might as well accept that to get the body you want you will need to include some resistance training in your program. Go back to my earlier comment - don't guess...get a trainer and work out a complete goal plan for YOU.

5. Learn How to Lift Weights Properly:
Some key points to be aware of are that slower can often be better than faster. Consider how many reps you will do, how much weight you will work with, how many sets you will do, and how much you will push yourself along the way. This is something your personal trainer can help you with. If you get too aggressive you may injure yourself and not be able to work out as you planned. This may set you back further than you thought and you will lose the drive and motivation to continue.

6. Understand proper vitamin and supplementation intake:
Your nutritionist can help you with this also. Don't go overboard and seek cortisone shots, or steroids just to get muscle definition. Do this the healthy, natural way and you will get rewards that will last a lifetime, not just a few weeks or months.

These are a few tips for you to consider during your search for information on how to build muscles and rev up your metabolism.

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Right Way To Gain Weight And Muscle

Many people go to the gym to exercise and not consider what is crucial for their muscles to reach the primary aim of gaining weight and muscle. They simply think that just because they can move the weight lifting apparatus, they are using the right exercise weight. Perfect weight gain programs don't happen by in an instant. They are well planned. Good muscle gains can really be achieved by means of using the right amount of weight.

But still, excessive exercising and eating a whole meat after the exercise is not good for your muscle. It is possibly to leave you weary for hours and also your muscle tissues sore for a week. And more possibly, it will zap your motivation to exercise and most likely you'll not think anymore all about your muscle gain program goals.

One way to way to build as well as gain muscle and also reduce body fat is to consume the most nutritious giving foodstuffs and have a great focus on more training and workout. Your diet plan must change to strictly protein-rich foods such as chicken, eggs, milk, fish, turkey, and nuts, and nutritive raw foods like fresh vegetables and fruits.

Just remember, it is necessary to consume raw foods because you can get more advantages from eating raw foods rather than cooked foods. The main reason for consuming raw vegetables and fruits is due to the fact that when you cook these, nutritious compounds are released. Thus, even though you are still consuming something of lower calories as well as fat content, you are not getting the essential nutritious compounds of the fruit or vegetable. Essential vitamins and minerals are crucial for gaining weight and muscle and maintaining overall physical health in general.

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Shocking Tips on How to Build Muscle Fast

How to build muscle fast is one of the questions people often ask. If you want to get that perfectly sculptured body you have been dreaming, you must follow a muscle building program that is right for you. You must have the proper diet as well as the determination to be able to build muscle fast.

If you are already following a workout, increase the resistance that you are currently using. You can have 3 or 5 sets with a heavier weight and then do it in 4 up to 6 repetitions.

If possible, try to work out six times a week. Divide the exercises for two body parts, two days for one week. For example, legs and chest exercises on Monday and Thursday, triceps and shoulders on Tuesday and Friday, then biceps and back on Wednesday and Saturday. It is best to do weight training exercises intended to add muscle mass.

Maintain a proper diet, which includes taking foods that are high in protein and carbohydrates. It is advisable to have seven meals a day. You have to double your carbohydrates intake for your meal after workout because this is when your body needs the extra proteins and carbohydrates to start the growth and repair of the muscle.

Adding supplements on your diet is also important to build muscle fast. To increase blood supply to your muscle fibers, you can include two scoops of whey protein and creatine to your water before and after the workout. It is also helpful to take multivitamins everyday for that additional stamina.

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The Website is chock full of tips, workout programs, and nutritional plans to help you reach your goals and help you to build muscle fast.

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