Thursday, December 27, 2007
Why strength training?
Did you know that our bodies naturally begin to lose muscle mass after about age 35? In addition, our bodies tend to lose muscle when we don't exercise on a regular basis. So many of us have sedentary jobs where we sit in of a computer all day and never challenge our muscles. This is why strength training exercises are so important as we age.
The good news is that even though building muscle take some time, it takes longer to lose that muscle mass than it does to lose cardiovascular fitness.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Convicted steroid distributor speaks out
I hope he is sincere and has some success. He does have the experience working on the other side of the problem, which I think we'll be of great use in finding a solution. I hope that athletes take this seriously and look for ways to gain muscle naturally
Here's the CNN Story
"The man whose lab distributed performance-enhancing drugs to athletes says the policies of American professional baseball and football leagues encourage their use.
Victor Conte served four months in prison for distributing performance-enhancing drugs.
Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, or the Bay Area Laboratories Co-Operative, said Thursday that Major League Baseball and the National Football League test for only half or fewer of the 60 stimulants the World Anti-Doping Agency lists as banned substances."
Sunday, December 23, 2007
muscle related ads
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Merry Christmas
I want you all to write down your muscle goals for next year as soon as you finish your holiday. Make next year the best year for your bodybuilding workouts
Friday, December 21, 2007
Have you started writing down your goals next year?
In the beginning of your weight gain program, it is especially important that you write everything down. After a while, you’ll probably begin to get a feel for how many calories a particular food has. If your progress halts or slows down (that is you’re no longer building muscle), the problem is either with your training or with your meals. Don’t assume that you simply need to lift more weights, however. You should use a metabolic calculator to determine how many calories you need to eat, and then you can compare this to your food journal to make sure you are on the right track.
If you combine a solid weight gain diet with the correct natural bodybuilding workouts you’ll be on your way to build lots of muscle.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Is glutamine really that great?
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body. (Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.) That much is true. But what about actual supplementation? The major reason that glutamine is believed to help muscle is that studies proved it beneficial in trauma patients. Studies have shown that muscle loss can be reduced in patients with severe trauma such as in the case of burn victims or AIDS patients. The problem is that this kind of stress cannot be automatically compared to the kind of stress your body undergoes during exercise. While there may be certain situations in which such a supplement would be helpful, glutamine supplementation is probably not necessary in the majority of cases. Don't forget that the supplement companies themselves provide much of the hype that surrounds these products. Always remember to stick with the essentials of progressive resistance training and increasing your calories, however popular a bodybuilding supplement may be.
Why do weightlifting supplements, including glutamine, do so well in the marketplace? They do well simply because so many bodybuilders are looking for the magic pill that will instantly deliver incredible results. Unfortunately, so many people in our society have become accustomed to looking for shortcuts and short term gratification. It's particularly sad when you consider that learning how to gain weight naturally is not as difficult as it may seem. The real magic pill is combining the right knowledge (weight gain diet plus proper workout routines) with determination. The beginner must understand that weight gain, like most worthwhile goals, requires diligence over the long term.
If you're feeling discouraged, consider the following. Remember that most great things in life are not achieved with one amazing act. On the contrary, both our successes and failures in life almost always come from the accumulation of small choices over time. A half hour workout a few times a week for several months will accomplish what one five hour workout cannot. Whatever you choose, keep the long term in mind and rest assured that living your dreams tomorrow, in both bodybuilding and beyond, are well worth the price you pay today.
Ready to take the next step in building muscle? Download our free report on how to avoid messing up in the gym and get started on building your muscular physique today. Learn the best strength and bodybuilding workouts tips now.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thoughts are not shortcuts
The conclusion of the article stated that we should always think when we are eating. Ask yourself what your goal is and whether your current actions are leading towards your goal goals or away from it. The same can be said about muscle building. If you are thinking to yourself how to gain weight quickly follow the basics of a weight gain diet and strength training exercises.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Muscle building may require a little fat
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Vegan bodybuilder
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Take a break from Bodybuilding on Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Strength training routines and fat loss
Why are strength training exercises important for fat loss? Simply put, muscle burns more calories, and strength training builds more muscle. Remember that the emphasis should be on losing fat, not just losing weight. This is an important consideration when you begin any so called weight loss program.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Skip the fast food
Monday, November 19, 2007
Don't look for shortcuts
Why do bodybuilding supplements sell so well? They so well simply because so many bodybuilders are looking for the magic pill that will instantly deliver incredible results. Unfortunately, so many people in our society have become accustomed to looking for shortcuts and short term gratification. It's particularly sad when you consider that learning how to gain weight quickly is not as difficult as it may seem. The real magic pill is combining the right knowledge (weight gain diet plus proper workout routines) with determination. The beginner must understand that weight gain, like most worthwhile goals, requires diligence over the long term.
This may not be the most attractive proposition, but it is one that will serve you well in bodybuilding and in any other goal you choose.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
What's your favorite exercise method?
So, what's your favorite workout? Is it free weights? Isometric exercises? Or maybe you prefer machines at the gym. While there are advantages to each of these methods, free weights are a great way to start if you want to know how to lose weight and gain muscle because they're inexpensive and allow a great range of motion.
Free weights like dumbbells also allow you to isolate one side of the body, and they don't generally require assistance or spotting. After all, if they get too heavy you can let them drop without much risk of harming yourself.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Gain muscle fast with the recovery recovery phase
What exactly is the recovery phase? Well, let's review how muscle is built in the first place. In order for your body to build muscle, you first have to give your body a reason to build it. You see, on a basic biological level muscle is an expensive asset to have, and the body would rather not have to maintain it. The only way to stimulate new muscle growth is to give the body a reason to build it, and the way to do this is to take advantage of our basic biological need to survive.
Muscle fibers are damaged when we lift a heavier weight than we're used to. As long as there are enough nutrients, the muscle will be rebuilt bigger and stronger so the body can prevent a similar stress in the future. So how does this tie in to the importance of resting during the recovery phase? Muscles must be given time to repair before they're stressed again. This means that we must limit the frequency of our workouts in order to maximize their effect, and this is why many bodybuilding experts recommend only a few hours of training per week. You may have heard them referred to this concept with the motto Less is More.
In addition to carefully planning your workouts to avoid over training, you must make sure that you're getting plenty of sleep in order to experience the best possible muscle gains. Sleep is when your body repairs itself, and, as you learned above, the body has to repair and enlarge your muscle after a heavy workout. If you choose to ignore this advice, you may find yourself limiting your muscle growth potential. If you want to gain muscle naturally , don't forget recovery!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Should I take protein supplements to help build muscle?
The truth is that protein powders can help you fill the gaps when it comes to getting enough calories and protein. You should try to get most of your protein from solid foods when trying to gain muscle mass, but protein powders can really help especially when you're on the go.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Try these foods to boost your muscle building
Specifically mentioned that drinking a few cups of coffee daily increased your risk of heart disease by about 50%. If you're trying to gain muscle mass fast most of the recommendations in this article should help, however.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Don't believe everything you read
This brings us back to a critical concept of bodybuilding which tells us that supplements should not be the basis for a muscle building program. A few supplements can be useful for the advanced trainer who is trying to maximize his gains and has already developed a solid weightlifting and diet program. Most supplements, however, are either useless or are simply not necessary. The essential components of any bodybuilding workouts program will always be progressive resistance training and increasing one’s daily calories. Looking for shortcuts when you have not even mastered the basics will simply lead to disappointment and a lot of wasted money.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Bodybuilding tips for the beginner
First, be sure to correct any weaknesses before tackling a more difficult program. If you have any lingering injuries, such as sports injuries or repetitive strain injuries, now is the time to correct these before they turn into something more serious. Check with your doctor to obtain a proper diagnosis, but you should also consider working with alternative healthcare professionals such as chiropractors and massage therapists. This so called alternative therapy is becoming more common and can offer recovery options that simply are not available in a doctor’s office. The important point to keep in mind is that these injuries should be dealt with before they become a more severe problem. Remember that an injury like tendonitis can hamper your ability to train and delay your progress significantly.
Another valuable tip to keep in mind, and one that is so often neglected by beginner bodybuilders, is the importance of a solid recovery program. Many beginners try to spend all of their time in the gym and think this extra effort will pay off in the long run. When they don’t experience any gains, or if they stop making progress shortly after some initial muscle-growth, the temptation is to increase the intensity or frequency of their strength training routines. Their logic is simple: more is better. While this may be a simple concept, it is inherently flawed because it ignores the basic principles of muscle-growth. The goal of a strength training workout in the gym is to challenge the muscle beyond its previous limits and create small tears in the muscle. The body will adapt to this new stress by rebuilding the muscle in a larger size (hypertrophy). However, the growth of the muscle itself will occur during the recovery phase, not during the actual workout in the gym. Allowing the body to heal before the next workout is critical to long-term success, and many experts only recommend as few as 3 hours of training per week! With this in mind, fewer workouts and a good night’s sleep are important tools in your body building arsenal. Remember that your muscles are not the only parts of your body that need to recover. Your central nervous system and immune system can be heavily taxed during a stressful work out and need plenty of time to recover. While the exact amount may vary from person to person, 8 hours of quality sleep is recommended for most folks. Note the word quality –growth hormone levels increase after an hour of deep sleep, so it is important to get the best sleep possible.
Finally, a word should be said about listening to bodybuilding advice at your local gym. If you hear some information that contradicts anything in this article, you may want to think twice before succumbing to peer pressure. If you want to be one of the guys that gains huge amounts of muscle in the shortest time possible, you would be wise to take these tips to heart and ignore the bodybuilding masses. Your goal should not be to copy everyone else; rather, you should aim to be extraordinary and achieve the most spectacular results possible. This doesn’t just mean gaining the most amount of muscle and becoming incredibly huge. What it really means in this case is that you should accomplish whatever muscle building goal you’ve set for yourself as safely and efficiently as possible.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Why supplements can give beginning bodybuilders false hope
So you’ve decided to start a new bodybuilding program to transform your body into a more muscular physique. What should be your first step to reach your new goal? If you’re thinking of buying the latest supplement fad, I would caution you to take a step back and think about the long-term consequences of such an approach. You may be looking for shortcuts that will transform your body quickly and easily without a lot of effort on your part. That’s quite understandable – you’re eager to obtain results as quickly as possible. That’s why many people begin to consider buying a host of supplements before they have even settled on their exact weight training program or a diet plan. However, these quick fixes rarely help you achieve your goals in the long run.
Take a deep breath and get ready for this: I believe that few if any supplements are necessary to gain muscle. I refer specifically to steroid alternatives and other supplements meant to enhance muscle growth without any further action from the consumer. (A careful distinction must be made here between these kinds of supplements which may not be necessary or even safe in the long term, and other supplements which promote general health such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and the like. I would also exclude protein supplements that simply provide food in a convenient manner.) At best, steroid alternatives may provide muscle growth that could have been achieved naturally and safely. At worst, they may cause the user long-term harm, either in health hazards or in their finances.
Everyone can experience huge muscle growth by following progressive strength training and increasing calorie consumption. Simply put, you need to gradually lift heavier weights and eat more food. Repeat until you achieve the desired results. You don't need to consider questionable steroid alternatives, or even more reliable substances such as creatine, until you have practiced basic principles and achieved as much success as you can. You can then consider something like creatine to give you an extra little boost for advanced progress. Be careful not to believe all the hype when you begin a new strength training or bodybuilding program. You have to commit to long-term learning and long-term training. Learning to rely on supplements first can put a heavy load on your bank account and ingrain some pretty unhealthy habits like choosing quick fixes instead of learning discipline and commitment.
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Jon Cardozo (Jcardozium) provides beginning bodybuilders with tips to gain muscle naturally. Visit his website for more information on how to gain muscle at http://maximum-muscle-gain.com
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Is training to failure the wisest move?
However, I’ve recently come across some articles written by a couple of accomplished bodybuilders who caution their colleagues, especially beginning bodybuilders, to consider training just shy of failure. Basically, the trainee would have to perform to failure in order to learn his limits, but after doing this for a while he would then try to consistently do one repetition short of training to failure. Trainers Kevin Dye and Jason Ferrugia tell us that consistently training to failure can exhaust the central nervous system and the immune system, both of which take longer to recover from a workout than your muscles do. During the next workout, you would then be less likely to have recovered completely, which means that your muscles fibers have not yet been rebuilt. To fully understand this, you must keep in mind the basic principles of muscle building. In order to grow muscle, a person has to challenge the muscle beyond its previous limits, and the muscle will grow stronger since the body does not want to be put under the same stress ever again. The actual growth of the muscle, however, does not occur in the gym but in the recovery phase. As long as a body receives enough nourishment in the form of calories and protein, the muscles will grow during sleep. According to Dye and Ferrugia, training to failure may impede recovery and eventually limit your progress.
While these recommendations may go against conventional wisdom, they are worth considering for anyone who is no longer progressing in his bodybuilding routine.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Is it fair to punish athletes who use steroids?
It may be tempting to overlook these mistakes when you have looked up to these players for years. However, because these athletes have corrupted the integrity of the game and, more importantly, are influencing young athletes to put their health at risk, we shouldn’t be so sympathetic when they are punished. It is one thing to put their own health at risk, but these professionals are breaking the law and negatively influencing thousands of young men (and an increasing number of young women – see the department of justice). Moreover, they lessen the value of a game that has meant so much to so many Americans over the years. I think it is only fair that we hold them responsible legally and morally wrong to violate the law, cheat while playing America’s favorite pastime, and set a bad example for the next generation of athletes.
Many young athletes and bodybuilders today are tempted to experiment with illegal and harmful substances instead of taking the time and commitment to build muscle mass naturally. Even though there are safe and effective ways to gain muscle fast , it is easier and far more exciting to believe that a drug is all a person needs to gain of massive amounts of muscle. We cannot merely blame the professional athletes, since every man must make the decision to stay clear of steroids and train naturally. Nevertheless, every professional who steps on to the baseball mound or any other public event must become more aware of the millions of young guys that are watching, and because of this, professional athlete must rise to a higher standard. Fortunately, it seems that most of them do.
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Thursday, October 18, 2007
Research on Faster Steroid Detection in Atheletes
The new method would allow easier detection through urine samples at a time when many athletes are admitting to steroid use. (Marion Jones is the latest example.)
This is one more reason to be safe and to choose natural weight lifting programs without steroids.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Remember the basics
First, you need to remember the basics. Don't be distracted by the constant barage of advertisements for supplements and the latest magical device for building muscle.
The fundamentals of muscle building will always be the same. You need to gradually lift heavier weights in order to stimulate muscle growth. In addition, you need to eat more calories than your body is burning.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Goat Protein for Allergy Sufferers
Goat protein? Yeah, why not!
Recent months have seen the introduction of a new protein supplement which promises to be of interest to many allergy suffers. It’s called Goatein, and it is protein derived from goat’s milk.
This innovative product provides a complete amino acid source similar to cow’s milk and is produced without antibiotics or added growth hormones. It is perfect for anyone who is allergic to most milk products that is looking for a similar form of protein. It's an excellent addition to any strength training program.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Common Sense (Debunking Myth
A recent article in the American Chronicle cautions readers not to focus on finding a magic pill in lieu of the fundamentals for fitness and muscle building.
"Taking creatine and not working out is not going to make you more muscular. What you need to do instead is first educate yourself. Once you have done this step, you will be on your road to success. By educating yourself properly, you will learn how to construct a proper diet regime and you will also learn how to train. Once you have these two things in place, you can then start to worry about supplements."
If you're a woman (or man, for matter) who is worried about looking too bulky, don't let that prevent you from performing strength training exercises. You won't accidentally become a huge bodybuilder, and you can always cut back and let your muscles atrophy slightly.
Here's an another excerpt from an article in the American Chronicle
"If it is not you're intention to bulk up from strength training you won't. Putting on muscle is a long hard slow process. Your strength-training regime coupled with quality food will determine how much you will bulk up.
To bulk up you also require more food. Women don't produce enough testosterone to allow for muscular growth as large as men."
These are important words to consider when trying to gain muscle naturally.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
More on goals
Well first of all, you should ask yourself what your goal is. If your main desire is to build strength and physical fitness, you need to follow a simple program of progressive resistance training. In other words, you need to challenge your muscles by gradually lifting heavier and heavier weights. If you’re a skinny guy or gal who is desperate to gain weight, then one of your main concerns is to consume more calories than your body is burning.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Setting your goal
What kind of goals should you set? Well, let's start with your ideal body weight. Do you know what your ultimate weight goal is? Why not start with a simple increase in lean muscle mass such as 10 or 15 pounds? for example, you can decide to gain about 2 pounds a week for eight weeks, which would of course be a total of 16 pounds in two months. This, by the way, would be considered a reasonable weight gain; in other words, you wouldn't be gaining too much weight too quickly. Then you can research a more extensive program on how to gain weight naturally.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Do the Research
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A New Beginning
Speak soon.