Eating Protein To Gain Weight And Build Muscle

Home  »  Weight Gain Diets  »  Eating Protein To Gain Weight And Build Muscle By John Blackwood, NSCA CPT   |  Comments

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While the most common subject we hear about in terms of health and fitness is weight LOSS, there are more than a few people who are looking to actually GAIN weight. For the most part, these are men, and the weight they want to gain is muscle. In this case, using a high-protein diet to gain weight is essensial.

What guy doesn’t want a ripped six-pack and set of "massive guns" when he takes off his shirt at the beach? Yep, putting on muscle is a goal for many guys (and some girls) and using protein to gain weight is one of the best ways to make it happen.

In case you missed the lesson from your schooling, protein is the key ingredient for the production of muscle. Your muscles not only use protein to grow, but they use it to repair tissue after strenuous workouts that actually break tissue down. In fact, it is the constant activity of breaking down tissue during weight training workouts and repairing it that causes it to grow. If you don’t have enough protein present in your regular diet it will be difficult if not impossible to gain muscle now matter how much you workout.

Most weight training professionals use a simple formula for getting enough protein in order to gain muscle weight: 1.5 - 2 grams of protein for every 1 pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 175 pounds, you should eat 262.5 grams - 350 grams of protein every day. Now, this is certainly more than the average person needs to maintain healthy muscle mass, but if you are looking at packing on some muscle, then you need to pack on the protein consumption as well.

Getting a decent amount of protein in your diet is fairly easy for most of us. Lean beef is one of the best sources and we as a country consume it in high quantity. Meat is particularly great for gaining muscle weight as it is also a concentrated source of creatine which has been shown to help build muscle as well. Other sources of course include fish, chicken, beans, and of course eggs. While choosing foods that contain protein is easy, getting ENOUGH of it to build serious muscle can be difficult.

Trying to get as much as 350 grams of protein per day (or even more if you weight more than 175) can be quite the challenge but there are plenty of high quality protein supplements on the market to help add to your daily intake.

The most common protein supplement is protein powder. These powders, available at your local health food store or at online health food and supplement retailers, can give you all the protein you need in a day just from drinking a few servings. It is important to pay attention to the ingredients, however, because choosing a high calorie sugar laden version may certainly help you gain weight, but not the kind you want! Opting for an easily digestible protein powder such as whey and choosing one that is low in calories and sugar can be a great way to supplement your protein intake and make it easier to meet your daily protein requirements.

So, there you have it. Protein can certainly help you gain weight and is absolutely necessary if you want that weight to be muscle. Use the formula of 1.5 - 2 grams of protein for every 1 pound of body weight, consume high quality protein, and perform weight training regularly and you will be well on your way to building serious quality muscle weight.

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The Cap Barbell Fitness Fid Bench Review

Let me begin this review by stating that in my opinion for the price and sheer quality you cannot find a better weight bench to begin weightlifting.

With a price tag of less than fifty dollars this lightweight little bench is reassuringly sturdy. However, not only is it very affordable it is also a piece of cake to assemble. The manual comes with clear and simple to follow instructions and there is also plenty of good advice on creating your own exercise routines.

Weight benches these days are not exclusively found in professional gyms alone but have also become a vital addition to the best equipped home gym as well.

When the majority of people think of a weight bench they make the association with the classical bench press exercise. But in fact they are much more versatile than that. With a weight bench you can perform a wide variety of diverse exercises.

With just a basic and inexpensive adjustable weight bench you can perform all manner of aerobic exercises and stretches as well as exercises for the abs like sit ups and crunches.

One difficult to find feature on other benches is a variety of positions for the backrest. The Cap Barbell Fitness Fid Bench has a total of four. These are the upright, flat, incline, and decline positions. This allows the complete range of dumbbell exercises to be performed. These include bicep curls, shoulder presses, chest flies and dumbbell presses.

Another great feature is the dumbbell holder. This provides easy access to your dumbbells during your workout routine. The hand grips are foam covered and very comfortable to hold when performing leg raises.

If you are considering buying this bench though you should know that it is built to support a user weight not exceeding 250 pounds. So obviously you cannot use this bench for lifting massive weights. However it is perfect for those of a lighter frame or those who are not into extreme bodybuilding and more concerned with muscle toning and general fitness.

I have had my own bench for a little over a year now and not had the slightest problem with it. I started with 10 pound dumbbells and now use 30 pound weights for the same routine. If I had to sum this bench up in three words I would say it is economical, durable and reliable. To be honest I don't believe you can find a finer bench to begin weightlifting.

Paul Rickett is a 58 year old Health and Fitness fanatic who enjoys sharing his experience and knowledge on both these vitally important topics. Over the years he has helped thousands of people to achieve their health and fitness goals.

You can get tons more information and ideas on Health and Fitness and in particular The Cap Barbell Fitness Bench by clicking the appropriate links.

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The Easiest and Quickest Way on How to Build Muscle Fast

Having problems on how to build your muscles fast? When it comes to building an unbelievable body structure, and regulating the muscular building of your body, you don't have to rely on the often exaggerated fabrications of some unscrupulous salesman. As an alternative to wasting your money in buying pills, and numerous supplements to achieve great posture, you must use the tried and tested method in which a lot of people have attained their desired results of a great body.

During intense workouts, you will definitely need a great amount of strength and effort to see results, such as that of an incredible body builder. There are some muscle programs that are proper and fitting in building your muscles fast, but have you made up your mind as to which one suits you best? Keep reading.

You need to run through a massive workout regimen in order to build muscles that are really outstanding. Enrolling yourself in a workout program will need much effort and commitment. There are also some supplementary techniques and rules that will help you build muscle fast as- you expected.

Rest and recovery are often disregarded for training programs. In this matter, they have excluded the one of the most important aspect on building muscles quickly. Before undergoing any training, you have to determine your rate of recovery- for that enables you to know how quickly you can gain your strength back. Thus, this aspect will precisely help you understand better on how your body reacts to training while building muscles. After a very hard training, resting for a while will let you regain the energy you have exerted. You can also look in the internet for possible weight-training workouts that will suit you best.

You may also think about asking for some information about losing fat preferably by consulting your local (or personal) physician. If your doctor suggests that you take cardiovascular training, then it would be easier for you to build muscle in no time, as you will be burning fat to unravel those cut muscles. Cardiovascular training is the most adequate way of removing unhealthy fats in your body. This will allow you to attain your dream body figure over minimal amount of time.

Healthy diet is one of the most important key that plays the part on how to build muscle fast. The right frequency and consumption of appropriate food is absolutely the most ideal aspect in order to build muscle fast naturally. You must plan on having a proper eating pattern for best results of your training workout.

This is the basic part wherein you have to correspond to the amount of calories you consume, contrary to the amount of calories you burn. Also, be very aware of the types of food you consume. A healthy diet guide, ideally traced by a physician or a nutritionist, will definitely provide the information you need to develop a successful eating plan.

Gradual change is the key in any given dietary plan. The human body is designed to work according to its capacity. The types of food consumed will determine whether your body can perform well, or lack energy during a workout session. You must give your body enough time to adjust thus gradual lifting is advisable.

These are just a few of the easiest and quickest ways on how to build muscle fast naturally. With the right kind of mind-set and the commitment in following these recommendations- no doubt, your dream of having a superb body will be within your grasp in no time!

These are the easiest and the quickest ways on how to guarantee fast results as you seek to gain additional knowledge on how to build muscle fast. Questions will cease as you find the answers to satisfy every bit of inquiry, thus helping you realize these tips and commit to a new you. now! See awesome and realistic results on easiest way to build muscle fast.

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The Facts About Muscle And Fat

It would be safe to say that most people, at one time or another have wondered how long, and with how much intensity they would have to train in order to turn all their unwanted body fat into sexy muscle?

And, on the flip-side, when they stop training, how long before that precious muscle turns back into fat?

These are some of the questions I hear all of the time. In fact, questions like these have been asked so often that I've come to realize that there is quite a lack of knowledge, or perhaps understanding is a better word, relating to how training actually affects someone's body composition.

In order to answer these pressing questions, I want to take the time and explain the different roles of muscle and body fat.

I want to share some common statements that are used by many people, and then, I will try to give you the straight-up, honest truth about why those statements don't make sense, and why they should be taken out of your "wellness vocabulary."

Let's start with the most common one of all:

"If I workout, I will be able to turn my fat into muscle."

First things first, muscle and fat are two distinctly different types of tissues. Therefore, it is physically impossible to change muscle into fat, or vise-versa. The best way to think about fat is that it is a mass of cells which can do any of three things. They can remain together as a mass and remain at rest, they can grow and divide as more calories are taken in and turned into fat, or they can shrink in size if and when those fat-converted calories are burned off by some form of physical activity. That's it! That's all that fat can do.

Muscle, on the other hand is a very different type of tissue. Muscle cells, also known as "fibers" cannot grow in terms of their numbers, like fat can. Each of us has a pre-determined number of muscle fibers in our body. These fibers, however, can be stimulated and grow individually, therefore giving us larger, more defined muscles overall.

"I'm going to lose my fat before I start gaining muscle."

For a long time now, people have thought that losing fat and gaining muscle were two totally separate things that could never be done effectively at the same time. Well my friends, times have changed, well, not really, actually attitudes have changed, and there is now a much better understanding about how these two things actually work.

That's exactly the reason why many fitness professionals (myself included) now agree that doing BOTH an effective fat-burn, along with a muscle-gain in the SAME workout is truly the best way to get the results you want, fast! After all, if you lost all of your body fat first, before attempting to add any lean muscle, first, it would take you a very long time to get into shape, and also, you would be so weak from all of your "fat-burning" efforts, that you probably wouldn't have the strength to pick up a dumbbell! If you want to start losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, you need to start doing a complete wellness program that incorporates dynamic training and functional nutrition.

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this statement: "The more lean muscle you have on your body, the more fat you will burn, no matter what activity you are doing."

"I just want to target the fat on my [belly] [hips] [butt] that's all."

Targeting specific areas of fat, or "spot-training" as it is so commonly called is, in a word, a MYTH! If you remember back in my first point, fat cells all work together as a large mass, and it's impossible to know where they are going to end up sitting on your body. This is determined by how much and where your body decides it needs extra fat stored. You have absolutely no control over this, so please stop thinking that you do. When this fact finally sinks in for people, that's when they start to get the results they want, because they aren't fighting a losing battle against fat. They're attacking fat as a whole and creating a situation where fat is not permitted to grow.

The great thing about muscles on the other hand, is that they can be targeted specifically, and therefore be made more or less pronounced, depending on how much or how little work is done on them from a training standpoint. Use this strategy to your advantage when planning your workouts!

"I'm working out, so I can eat whatever I want."

This final statement is something that I hear far too often. People enter into a training program with this mis-conception that the work they are doing will magically cancel out any and all of their poor eating habits! This statement is as full of bologna as the people who believe it to be true. Don't be one of those people. Listen, all you have to remember is that if you continually burn off more calories than you consume, you will be in a "calorie deficit." And, if you are using quality, dynamic strength training to burn those calories, then the stuff you're losing will almost certainly be body fat! Remember that it's impossible to out-train a bad diet!

It really is that simple! So don't get caught up in believing false statements about losing fat and gaining muscle! Our bodies have been the same for thousands of years, and the way they work is also the same. There's no miracle drug, or shake or workout that will bring you results overnight, or while you sleep.

The FACT is that if you work hard, and put forth an honest effort to eat well, and stay motivated to see your results, you WILL succeed!

Now, go and get it done!

My Name is Dale Bateman. For over 10 years, I've been helping ordinary people (like you and me) achieve their fat loss goals with my common sense approach to health and wellness. I truly believe that long term fat loss can only be mastered by incorporating what I call my three components of fat loss.

These are Fitness, Nutrition and Motivation. Without all three components, you are setting yourself up for failure. Each week, my blog features a brand new, original post dealing with one of these three components. Also, you can sign up for my free weekly newsletter and free 5 week e-course, "5 S.T.E.P.S. to Losing Your First 5 Pounds."

So if you're looking for common sense strategies for losing fat and achieving optimal health and wellness, please visit my blog today: http://losethefatforlife.com/

Thank you.

Dale Bateman

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Eating Fat To Gain Weight And Build Muscle

Home  »  Weight Gain Diets  »  Eating Fat To Gain Weight And Build Muscle By John Blackwood, NSCA CPT   |  Comments

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For those who are looking to gain weight, more importantly build muscle; they usually look to the obvious choice for food... protein. After all, protein builds muscle so it makes obvious sense to add it to every meal.

Because of this connection between protein and muscle and the thought process that eating fat is bad, many people trying to gain lean muscle would never think of using fat to gain weight. In fact, most people assume that eating a low fat diet is the only way to go, but, is this really the right thing to do?

The short answer is no. You see, the body needs a variety of sources of energy to operate at optimal levels. Focusing on a high protein and low or no fat diet takes away some of the benefits that fat provides the body and can actually hinder the body from gaining muscle.

Fats are responsible for keeping the hormone producing glands in your body active including the most famous one for muscle building, testosterone. Limit your fat, limit your testosterone production... Doesn’t sound like a good formula for building muscle, huh?

Ok, so fats are important in our diet and using fat to gain weight may not be such a bad idea after all, but, you might be asking yourself what KINDS of fats are good to eat? That is a good question as well and the answer there is, ALL OF THEM!

Well, all of them in moderation that is. You see, every type of fat actually plays a role in some type of bodily function. Let’s take a look at the 3 types of fats, what each does, and what types of foods they are contained in:

We all know saturated fats. These are the ENEMY! These types of fats are extremely dangerous because while they are the ones responsible for doing the most damage, they are also the ones that taste the best!

Foods that contain saturated fats are whole milk, beef, and ham among others. The liver produces cholesterol from saturated fat to eating lots of it can greatly raise your LDL (or BAD) cholesterol level. However, since saturated fats DO play a role in building muscle, using saturated fat to gain weight might be crucial, but just limit your intake and don’t go overboard with it.

Some sources of saturated fat include: Red meatCheeseIce creamButterVegitable oils
These are your oils... fish oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, flaxseed oil. They are known as essential because your body cannot produce them and you must get them through your diet. These fats can actually help raise your HDL (or GOOD cholesterol levels). In addition, the fish oil Omega-3 fatty acid is crucial for building muscle in that it repairs tissue.

Some sources of polyunsaturated fat (EFA’s) include: Salmon (and other fish)Sunflower seedsSoybeansFlaxseed oilFish oil
These are the oils that come from vegetable and nut sources. Again, these fats can have a positive impact on your cholesterol levels.

Some sources of monounsaturated include: AlmondsPeanutsCashewsOlive oilCanola oilAvocadosThe benefits of using fats in your diet to gain weight is far and wide, from boosting natural hormone levels such as testosterone, to transporting vitamins throughout your body, to even helping with the digestion of protein. Focus on the good ones, limit the bad ones, and you can be successful using fat to gain weight.

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Eating Carbohydrates To Gain Weight And Build Muscle

Home  »  Weight Gain Diets  »  Eating Carbohydrates To Gain Weight And Build Muscle By John Blackwood, NSCA CPT   |  Comments

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If you are looking to pack on some pounds of serious muscle weight, chances are carbohydrates aren’t the first thing you think of when it comes to building muscle. You’re probably thinking about eating more protein though... After all, protein is what builds muscle, right?

Many people think eating too many carbohydrates leads just causes you to get fat, and it’s just the lean protein you really want. The fact is, carbohydrates play a huge rule in building muscle and depleting them from your diet may stop your muscle building plans altogether.

Now, before you run out and grab a box of chocolate chip cookies, let’s dig a little deeper. You see, carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. When your body is depleted of carbohydrates, it needs to look for additional sources.

If you are working out intensely, you will NEED some carbs in your body in order to have the energy to work out hard enough to build muscle. If you do go on a low or no carb diet, your body WILL figure out a way to get the energy it needs, however. When your body needs energy and there are no carbohydrate sources, it simply begins to breakdown protein and use it for fuel instead. This is called muscle catabolism and you want to avoid it at all costs.

So, by lowering the amount of carbohydrates in your body, you are not only robbing it of its main fuel source, you are also forcing the body to use protein for energy which you need to help you build and maintain muscle. You can see how this can lead to a negative downward spiral and push you far away from your weight gain goals.

Now that you know you need them, lets look at what KIND of carbohydrates you should be eating to help support your muscle building goals. Carbohydrates can more easily be described as sugars. The kind we get the most of and that are truly bad for us are what is known as simple sugars. These are things such as fruit juices, cookies, cakes, candies, etc. They contain empty calories and will most likely be stored as fat because the sugars enter your bloodstream quickly and cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

If your body does not use this sugar quickly, (If you’re not doing some kind of physical activity soon after you eat them) it will likely be stored as fat. It is best to limit these kind of carbohydrates severely. Many people see no harm in drinking fruit juice but those sugar calories add up quickly as well.

Next we have complex carbohydrates. Brown rice, pasta, potatoes and whole grains fall into this category. These are the carbs you want to stick to for the most part as they will help fuel your workouts. These sugars are released slowly into your bloodstream and provide a steady supply of energy over a long period of time without causing the insulin spike that leads to fat storage.

The final category is the fiber filled carbohydrates. These include such foods as corn, black beans, and broccoli among others. These foods are fantastic in that they help keep your digestive system regular and healthy. Take care to stay around 10 grams of fiber per 1000 calories consumed… Too much more than that could block your body’s absorption of vital macronutrients.

Gaining muscle weight is a team effort. It is not just protein that runs the show, but a combination of nutrients. Don’t skip carbohydrates if you are looking to build muscle, but instead, choose the high quality carb sources that can help fuel your workouts and keep your body operating optimally.

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Do Weight Gain Pills Really Work?

Home  »  Weight Gain Supplements  »  Do Weight Gain Pills Really Work? By Jeff Masterson   |  Comments

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So do weight gain pills really work? If you want my honest review, take a look at the picture to the right and you'll find the answer.

If you are a hardgainer, someone that doesn't gain weight very easily, chances are you have tried more than one product to get the job done. There are weight gain pills, weight gain powders that literally fill your belly with sugar and fat filled calories, diet plans that suggest gorging yourself with just about anything and everything you can get your hands on, and expensive “testosterone boosters" that claim to throw your body into an anabolic state and prime you for building muscle, and the list goes on.

As you've probably figured out by now, it's all a load of B.S. There isn't just a simple weight gain pill that you can pop in your mouth to build muscle day after day. The truth is, you can't beleive everything you read in the magazines... or see on TV... or stumble across when you're surfing the Internet.

As of late, many weight gain pills have come into the marketplace, each touting to be the hardgainer's answer to building muscle and gaining weight. “All you have to do is take one simple pill per day and all your trouble's will be over."

You see, in many cases (the research has been done, but check for yourself) weight gain pills are nothing more than multi-vitamins! I know, it was a shocker to me too.

You see, legally, companies can get away with repackaging the same ingredients you find in your daily once daily vitamin and calling it a “weight gain pill" because, well, a daily vitamin can technically help you gain weight.

Now, don't expect these pills to be anywhere near as effective as creatine, but by including a daily multivitamin in your diet, your body can benefit on many levels including building more muscle. The reason is simple.

Multi-vitamins contain what is called micronutrients. There are the vitamins and minerals your body needs at the cellular level to operate at optimum levels. If you are deficient in certain micronutrients, simply put, your body won't operate as effectively as it should.

This can effective of a number of bodily functions, one being repairing and building muscle tissue. If you are working out heavily, then popping a once daily vitamin pill can help supplement your diet with what you need to make the gains you need.

In addition to that, by including additional HIGH QUALITY calories in your diet, you can helps increase those gains even further. After all, it is additional calories that are needed to gain weight, be it muscle or fat. No matter what the MAGIC PILL bottle says, a combination of exercise, high quality foods, and a multi-vitamin can be an effective combination to help any hardgainer start to pack on some muscle mass.

So, the next time you spot a weight gain pill and it is telling you it is the answer to the muscle growth you have been looking for, grab a bottle of multi-vitamins and start to compare the ingredients.

If you notice things in the weight gain pill that are NOT in the multi, do your research on those ingredients as well. These weight gain pills are nothing more than over-priced multivitamins and misleading marketing. Save your money and opt for a regular multi-vitamin that will provide the same, if not BETTER results for your health.

If you're looking for REAL information on how to gain weight fast, you should check out the weight gain program I put together. Inside the program you'll find the exact methods I used to pack on 38 lbs. of muscle mass in just 19 weeks. You can find it at www.WeightGainBlueprint.com. See you there!

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Building Muscle In Your Sleep (Importance Of Proper Rest)

Home  »  Weight Gain Programs  »  Building Muscle In Your Sleep (Importance Of Proper Rest) By Sean Nalewanyj   |  Comments

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The benefits of a proper sleep for building muscle, burning fat, and gaining strength...

It doesn't sound super exciting at first, but I promise, after you understand why sleep and rest is a key component to your muscle building and weight gain program you'll be glad you know.

If you want to experience the most explosive muscle gains in the shortest time possible, then a good nights sleep really is an important factor. What makes sleep so important? Well, lets look at what happens when you don't get a good nights sleep each night.

One of the biggest problems with sleep deprivation is the effect it will have on your mental state. Studies show that even a single night of insufficient rest will have a negative effect on your mental sharpness and on your willingness to perform difficult tasks.

Putting fourth a good hard effort every time you enter the gym is very important when it comes to transforming your body so you must remain mentally sharp at all times.

Your bottom line muscle gains are ultimately determined by the small steady increases you're able to make in all of your major exercises from week to week and keeping your strength at top level is critical to achieving this as quickly as possible.
As you probably already know, your muscles don't grow in the gym... They grow while you're out of the gym resting and eating. The time you spend sleeping is one of the critical periods where the repair of damaged muscle tissue takes place. If you deprive your body of sleep, you'll deprive the recovery process as well.
Depriving your body of sleep actually has a negative impact on some of the most important muscle building hormones circulating through your body. Specifically, testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol. Simply put, sleep deprivation has a negative impact on every single one of them.

It will lower testosterone levels which is going to decrease muscle growth. It will decrease growth hormone levels which is going to decrease fat loss. And it's going to increase cortisol levels which will increase fat storage and encourage muscle breakdown.

So how much sleep is enough to maximize your results? You should aim to get at least 8 hours of high-quality sleep each night. And if you need more sleep then by all means, take it!

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Bodyweight Training For Huge Strength Gains

Home  »  Weight Training Programs  »  Bodyweight Training For Huge Strength Gains By Greg Hayes   |  Comments

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Bodyweight training offers many advantages over a "traditional" gym workout. While many of the classic weight training exercises are isolation motions (take the curl, for instance), bodyweight exercises are compound movements, thereby working many muscle groups simultaneously. Since balance is involved in these exercises, they also build fine muscle control, which makes for practical strength. The result is a stronger, more stable core, with greater overall body control. This reduces your risk of injury during daily activities. Additionally, bodyweight training can be done almost anywhere, which makes it friendly for frequent travelers and those on a tight budget.

And it's hard. The fact is, bodyweight training can build the foundation for huge strength gains. Lets go over 3 of the best body weight exercises you can start using right now to improve your strength.

The ability to lift one's bodyweight in the form of a classic pull-up is one of the most fundamental exercises for measuring and building strength. It's incorporation as one of the three exercises in the U.S. Marine Corp. fitness test is a testament to its value. Put it in your arsenal for big strength gains.

The classic pull-up is done by grasping a suspended bar with an overhand grip, hands shoulder width apart. Starting from a hanging position, you attempt to lift yourself, such that your chin rises above the bar. At no time should you rest your chin on the bar. The move is completed by lowering your body back to a hanging position, with the arms fully extended. This completes one rep. In this exercise, the focal point is the latissimus dorsi, with biceps, shoulders, and secondary back muscles also coming into play.

You can bring other muscle groups to bear through a nearly infinite number of variations on the classic pull-up.

A few classic examples include: Widen your grip to bring greater focus to the lats.
Reverse your grip to a classic chin-up to provide an outstanding bicep workout.
Grasp a bar with palms facing together for a neutral grip pull-up, which will bring greater focus on the forearms.

The classic push-up is again, one of the most overlooked exercises in strength training. Yet, properly performed push-ups provide a chest workout to rival a bench workout for most guys. The classic push-up, when properly performed, brings most of the major muscles in the chest, shoulders, and triceps into play. Then there's the added challenge to the stabilizing core muscle groups, including the obliques and abs that are required to hold your body steady to properly execute a push-up.

Much like the pull-up, any number of variations on the classic push-up can be done to bring other related muscle groups into play. Here are a few examples:

1. Elevate your feet for an incline push-up. This works the anterior deltoids, chest, and triceps. For an added challenge to core stability, rest your hands on a stability ball.

2. Elevate your hands above your feet to execute a decline push-up. This brings your posterior deltoid and lower chest into focus. Up the challenge level by putting your feet on a stability ball, rather than a solid surface.

3. Move your hands together, positioning your fingers and thumbs touching, directly beneath your chest. This is the "triangle push-up," which brings even greater focus on the triceps.

Step-ups are performed by placing a step no taller than knee height, directly in front of you. Begin with your feet placed together, hands loosely at your sides, and simply step up on the platform. The motion is completed by bringing your other foot up to rest beside the first, and reversing the order to step back to the floor. Repeat the motion on the other side, starting with your other foot. This works quads, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as bringing agility into the equation.

Although it sounds simple, the difficulty rises dramatically with increasing step height and number of reps.

Because it works agility, strength, and builds cardio simultaneously, this seemingly simple exercise plays a large role in the training regimen for many professional athletes.

Common variations include: Hopping up on the step while keeping both feet together.
Placing multiple steps of the same height together and hopping between steps.
Placing multiple steps of staggered height together and hopping between steps.These exercises, with many other simple variations, can form the foundation in your quest to build muscle and strength. All too often, we make the decision to start getting shape, and think in terms of expensive gym membership and weights. However, particularly when you're just getting started, all of that may not be necessary. The judicious use of a well-chosen bodyweight training routine will often provide huge gains in strength, without the need for that expensive gym membership.

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About the author: Greg Hayes is the author of Live Fit Blog, where he writes about healthy living, fitness, and balancing the demands of life.

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Best Weight Gain Supplements (Sean Nalewanyj)

Home  »  Weight Gain Supplements  »  Best Weight Gain Supplements By Sean Nalewanyj   |  Comments

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Sean Nalewanyj cuts through all the hype and confusion to tell you what the best weight gain supplements are. You know... The top weight gain supplements that will help you build muscle fast and not waste your money on bogus hype and empty promises.

Watching this video will save you a ton of time and money. You'll be able to bypass all the misinformation you've been fed about bodybuilding supplements once and for all.

Sean Nalewanyj isn't affiliated with any of these weight gain supplement companies so you can trust his honest opinion.

One thing we need to get out of the way before we even begin is that supplements are not a mandatory part of a muscle building program. As long as you pay close attention to both your diet and training, you'll build an impressive muscular body even without weight gain supplements.

But if you want to maximize your muscle building process and make the most gains in the shortest period of time, then there are a few weight gain products that can speed up your results.

The first supplement is whey protein powder which is the "granddaddy" of all the bodybuilding supplements out there. (The legal ones anyway.) Whey protein contains all 8 of the essential amino acids so it's a complete and quality protein source.

it also has a high bioavailability which means your body will absorb a large percentage of the protein so very little will go to waste. it's also high in branched chain amino acids (BCAA's) which play an important role in preventing muscle breakdown or muscle catabolism.

Whey protein also comes in handy when you're trying to get you 5-6 meals a day in. It's much easier to down a quick protein shake than it is to cook and eat a chicken breast. See my point? You can easily replace 2-3 of your solid food meals with a simple liquid protein shake.

Creatine Monohydrate is the most widely researched sports supplement on store shelves today. Why? Because it works. Creatine will help you lift more weight in the gym, which, in turn, will help you build more lean muscle mass.

Creatine also increases muscle cell volumization by increasing the amount of water that's stored in your muscles, decreases lactic acid buildup, decreases mental fatigue, and helps to improve recovery in-between workouts.

Body weight gains of 5 - 10 pounds over a 3-4 week period are not uncommon when you're supplementing with creatine monohydrate.

The third supplement that makes the list is a basic high-potency multivitamin. The fact that you're training with heavy weights 3 times per week means that your vitamin and mineral requirements are much higher than that of the average individual.

If your body is deficient in just a single vitamin or mineral it can have a negative impact on thousands of processes that are going on in your body,

That's why you should include a high potency multivitamin as part of your muscle building program... To keep all those little processes working and running smoothly.

The last supplement on the list is Essential Fatty Acids, otherwise known as the "good fats." Some of the benefits you can expect are: Increase in anabolic hormone levels, improving insulin action, increasing energy production, and increasing your fat burning metabolism.

One of the best way to get your EFA supplementation is through the use of oils like flax seed oil and fish oil.

Related Websites:
Gain muscle mass in record time, without the use of drugs. Mario Fanzolato, hypertrophy expert, offers free advice on weight training, nutrition, and every other aspect of natural muscle building.

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The Importance of Rest When Weightlifting

Rest is a crucial component to any well balanced weightlifting program. Some personal trainers will argue that it's more important than the workouts themselves!

To understand the importance of rest when weightlifting you must first understand what's happening when you're pounding out those reps in the gym! When you're working out in the gym, regardless of the muscle group or exercise, you're actually tearing your muscle fibers. The added stress from the weightlifting that is being placed on the muscle is causing the neurons to be ripped apart into what is referred to as micro tears. After any weightlifting workout, it's important to allow the body an adequate amount of time to repair this "damage" that has been done.

Your muscles do not grow from training or weightlifting. Your muscles grow from recovering from the weightlifting that you are doing! Therefore if you were to return to the gym the next day and train the same muscles again, your workout would be relatively ineffective, and could mean you are defeating the purpose of working out in the first place, because you're breaking down these muscles again before they've had a change to repair themselves.

The harder you train your body or muscle group, the more rest that they will need to recover and grow. This is why many professional body builders will not do whole body workouts, but rather focus on specific muscle groups each day.. to allow for proper recovery from each workout.

Some hardcore bodybuilders even take entire weeks off at a time every couple of months just to "shock" their bodies and break any plateaus they may have come to.

Getting restful and regular sleep cannot be overlooked when discussing the importance of rest when weightlifting. This is your body's most "anabolic" state of being. In fact one of the main purposes of sleep is for the body to heal and recover from the day's events and stress. During sleep your body produces large amounts of growth hormones which obviously can help your body burn fat, build muscle, and heal wounds. It goes without saying, that restful sleep also gives you more energy to work with the next day. More energy means more effort in the gym!

Don't think of rest as slacking off from your weightlifting routine, but rather an important part of your overall bodybuilding or body composition goals. If you're looking for the best weightlifting tips or fastest way to lose weight, you should also be looking for the best tips for getting a good night's sleep... because that's when the body is adapting to the lifestyle changes you're putting it through!

Riley Daye is part of the ProGrips Fitness Team comprised of Certified Personal Trainers, Fitness Professionals, Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Champions, health nuts and gym rats! You can visit more of the teams advice on Fitness, Nutrition, Strength Training, and Weight Loss at http://buyprogrips.com/blog/

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The Most Overlooked Secret to Weightlifting Success: Stretching

As time passes, your muscles become stiff and the flexibility of your joints is reduced. It is necessary to stretch your muscles every day before you start your weightlifting exercises. Stretching is an important exercise for people of all ages. The biggest benefits that stretching offer you is, an increases in your range of motion, and protection from injury.

Stretching comes naturally to each and every one of us. You stretch after sitting in a particular position for a long time. Stretching has lots of beneficial properties.

It improves the blood circulation and flexibility of your muscles.People who stretch regularly will have less musculoskeletal complaints.Post workout stretching ensures speedy recovery of muscles and decreases lactic acid accumulation.Stretching also has beneficial action over tendons and joints.Stretching before a workout schedule will tune your body and mind for the strenuous task ahead.It has a relaxing effect, and is a good stress buster.It improves the balance and coordination of various body parts.It is a good prophylactic measure against chronic conditions like lower back pain and joint pain.

Stretching is an exercise that can be done anywhere and at any time. People who do weight lifting need to include pre-and post workout stretching in their schedule. Compared to a normal individual it is easier for a weight lifting trainee to injure himself if he skips his daily stretching routine.
Stretch before you perform any vigorous activity or weight lifting.Stretching should be performed slowly.Each and every major muscle group should be included in your stretching routine.Stretching should be done daily for at least 15 min.Use static hold, PNF techniques like contract-relax, hold-relax to perform stretching.

It has been proved scientifically that, stretching in between weight lifting sets accelerates muscle growth and reduces the chance of sprains and injury. Stretching should be done for a group of muscles immediately after weight training them. Stretching substantially cuts down on the muscle recovery time. New researches have proved that stretching between sets appears to have beneficial effect on muscle contraction. This indirectly increases the power of that particular muscle group. Stretching also helps in lactic acid absorption, hence reducing muscle fatigue.

Below, you can see a sample stretching routine which will help you in understanding the basics of stretching.

Neck- stand straight, rotate your head in a circular motion for 12 times and then repeat it in the opposite direction.Ankles and knees-flex, extend and rotate them in both directions.Hips- rotate your hips in a circular motion in both directions.Upper body-stand straight locking your hands in front of your body, Bend forward so that your chest touches your knees.Shoulders- flex your elbows and touch your shoulders with your fingers. Now rotate your shoulders in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction.Legs- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Squat down till your thighs are parallel to the floor, hold the position for a few seconds and stand up again.Hamstrings- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Pushing your body up, stand on your toe base, hold the position for a few seconds and return back.

Stretching is an exercise routine that is inevitably included in all professional weight lifting programs. It is followed by a beginner as well as an advanced bodybuilder.

Until the next article, "Be Your Best"

Want to get fit quick? Head on over to Men-N-Fitness and get a free 7 day training guide.

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The Muscles We Hate To Train

Weight training, whether you hate it or love it, it's one of the best ways to transform the way your body looks. I happen to be on the love side of weight training, but to say I feel thrilled about training every single day would be pure perjury. I have days when I'd rather be lying in bed sleeping, days where I'd rather be lounging, days where I'd rather be biting into the sweet, hardened, click of a chocolate bar followed by the satisfying chew of nougat and caramel (If you don't do cheat days, sorry to tempt you with a candy bar description). However, certain training days get me excited each and every time I do them. For instance, I am crazy about chest and shoulder days! On the other hand, legs and abs day completely takes the wind right out of my sails. How about you? Do you have any workout days that you loathe?

Why is that some that some people dislike certain aspects of their training? Some people don't like doing cardio, others don't like bench-pressing so chest day might suck to them, or calf day is like torture for some. I don't think the answer is as complex as people might think. The reason people don't enjoy certain aspects of their training because everyone has strengths and weakness. Everyone has some aspect of training that they're better at. It's those aspects of training where people see the biggest results, and have tendency to gravitate towards.

Why do I enjoy training my chest and shoulders? Because that's where I see the biggest bang for my buck. My chest and shoulders seem to grow more readily than any muscle group in my body (back is a close second). Bench pressing becomes like a game to me every week, I am anxious to get into the gym just to see if I can top last week's personal best. With leg/abs day it's different. I walk in knowing that leg training is going to hurt, but not in a fun way. I know it's going to hurt because of a previous knee injury. As for stomach training, it really takes a lot of effort for me to do it... so my brain has this grim outlook on stomach training.

Just because you enjoy one muscle group now doesn't mean you'll enjoy it in the future. My training is always in constant flux and now that I think about it, in my teenage years, my biceps were my favorite area to work, the grew quickly and hardened quickly. Now, biceps are one of my least favorite groups for some odd reason.

How can you save these training days? Going forward, how can the muscle group you hate to train become one that you actually enjoy?

The Ol' Training Changeup

Perhaps it's not that you hate the muscle group you're training, it might be the exercises you're doing. If you hate an exercise, change it up! There are heaps of ways to train a given muscle group. Find an exercise you do like and get some results from it. You may then find that you're wanting to train that muscle group every week.

Muscle Group Timing

I have a bad habit of putting off the body parts I don't enjoy training until the end of my training split. Chest is always first because I love it, while legs and abs get the last scraps of my energy at the end of my training split. I tried moving the groups I don't like to the beginning of my split and though it takes some getting used to, it can make a big difference.

Another strategy with timing might be to break up the muscle groups you don't like. Link these training sessions to one with muscle groups you DO like, and you might see a change. It's almost like a parent offering ice cream as a reward for child to eat their broccoli. In this case the muscle group you're not fond of training is like the broccoli and the muscle group you enjoy working, the ice cream.

Time vs Intensity

If you really don't like training a body part or muscle group, don't spend all day on it, because taking too much time will make your workouts drag that much more. Instead of long, droning workouts, shorten your routine. Make the workout quicker, more intense, and more exciting!

Get Your Head Right

Prior to hurting my knee (karate) I truthfully didn't like training my legs, but once I REALLY decided that I was going to make my quads, hamstrings, and calves bigger, things changed. I wouldn't go in the gym everyday no matter what was in front of me and say "I'm gonna give it my all today...no more, no less." I started seeing results, and I was able to have three of the big weight plates on each side of the bar, and squat it with no problem, I started to feel amazing! My tune totally changed. I started looking forward to leg training days. It's incredible what you can do if you just make some mental/attitude adjustments.

My challenge to you is to overcome any stinkin' thinkin' that you have in your mind. Whatever happens next week is next week. This week I want you to take one muscle group that's giving you trouble and work it like you're a freakin' beast. YOU CAN DO IT!

Mike Pow

Mike Pow is a fitness enthusiast who has been in love with weight training exercise and fitness for over 15 years. Learn more more about the best chest workouts, the best way to build muscle, and how have better overall fitness.

If you're struggling to reach your fitness goals, be sure to get your free copy of the 7 Secrets to Your Ideal Body at http://cnbmusclebuilding.com/

Mike Pow

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The Reality of Abs

Numerous men and women strive to get those model type abdomens, but also numerous men and women even after all of those workouts and crunches fail in their attempts. It is depressing to people after all of the failed attempts and seeing no results, they go back to their old habits of doing nothing mindset since nothing seems to work. Let's face it those workouts are not easy and it takes up a lot of time, and when no results are showing we systematically go from 3 to 5 weekly workouts to once a week then twice a month down to not doing anything. It feels much easier and better to pop in your favorite DVD and just relax doesn't it. There are 100's of ways to work out now days and fitness centers are a dime a dozen. Through the years I and my wife have purchased quite a few products directed towards the abdominal muscles and these products ranged from ab machines or supplements. Guess what? None of these products did any good and ended up in the trash, under the bed, or sat in the closet collecting dust.

I mentioned in the 1st paragraph that there are literally hundreds of products on the market today and it takes some searching to get the right one. There are systems developed that will show you how to properly exercise and best of all teaches the proper foods that burn fat and how to train the mind in order to succeed and get those abs you dreamed of. Years of research has been conducted to develop a system that approaches fat loss in a totally different and unique way. I think a system that draws me to the way a system works with the mind in order to change a person's outlook on weight loss is the key. I have spent numerous hours on techniques of the mind and have learned from many of the masters and I now understand that one can use the mind to accomplish anything, and using an approach to weight loss in extraordinary.

What a system should not be: It should not be an overnight quick weight loss program, but instead a systematic approach to weight loss and great reviews over the years. A program should guide you and approach you into lifestyle changes that a person can make and to keep everyone motivated and stay positive. My suggestion is to listen to the programs that keep you dedicated. Remember, dedication is key to this and if you stay with it and keep the mind active and in a positive attitude you will succeed. Let's face it, an abs diet plan is the most sought strict diet plan for all. The coach or trainer should understand that so many people fail in what they have to go through in strict diet plans and exercise. So many diet plans fail, because they do not satisfy people, hence, they end up abandoning it. While a particular plan should not be strict, it should not include unhealthy snacks.

A system should also feature a workout system that introduces the proper way to workout, without the injuries and that annoying backache or pulled muscles. I have seen and this includes me getting injured by improperly exercising. The old no pain no gain is out the door. We need a guide to help us through the proper techniques and cardio exercises that have had great results and intensive study. All of this is important to keep the oxygen flow to the muscles and the blood stream.

Exercises should be easily followed and also focus on the metabolism which is an important part of dieting and exercise. The human metabolism varies from person to person. A program should be looked at in both food intake and the proper nutrients as well as cardio and weights. I will say it again, stay dedicated and follow a program. Those that have tried a program and succeeded, stayed focused and did exactly what was taught.

Make a life style change which incorporates the whole package to get the abs of your dreams.

I hope you will enjoy the information you are about to witness and hope that someday is purchasing this system you will see positive results and have the body you dreamed of.
http://www.absreality.com/

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Gain Weight Without Getting Fat

How many of you know that eating and putting in fat go together for most of us. We know it very well. But there are ways that you can avail of, like putting in lean mass and  not getting fat. Today I came across an article about it. I am posting it for you. Here it goes.

1. Double It Up

      If you aren't growing, the solution is simple - get in more calories. What's the easiest way to bump your calorie intake through the roof? Double up on all your servings. For example, if you're having one chicken breast for dinner, from now on, make that two.

      Toasting a slice of bread for breakfast? Double that as well. This takes all the thinking out of it for you. Whenever possible just aim to eat twice as much as you normally would to double your calorie intake. Since you have to prepare the food anyway, it's not really any extra effort to prepare twice as much.

2. Focus On Food Timing

      Next, don't let yourself be distracted during the day. You have to eat and eat frequently - once every 2-3 hours would be your best bet if you really struggle to get those calories in.

      If you find you forget to eat when it's time, get a timer and set it to go off. Or, buy a watch that has a beeper. This includes breakfast as well. You must get quality nutrients into your body within fifteen minutes of waking up if you want to go grow. Don't ever let your body turn to present body mass as fuel or you'll be digging yourself out of a hole.

3. Find Big Eating Equipment

      Another sneaky trick I have many of the guys in my program do is just purchase bigger plates. Just like many diet books will tell you to cut the size of your plate in half to consume fewer calories, for building muscle you want to do the exact opposite. Once you have that bigger plate, make sure you fill it - FULL. It will take less mental effort to clean one large plateful of food compared to two whole smaller plates of food.

4. Don't Skimp On Post-Workout Nutrition

      Next, you also must be absolutely sure you're eating good food immediately after your workout. If you let yourself suffer at this point, you're not maximizing the true potential of the effects of that workout.

      The body is in a state where it will literally suck up any calories you supply it immediately following a workout, so failing to give it a huge dose of carbs and protein shorts the recovery process.
If there is one time you want to slam back a higher calorie shake, this will be it.

      Also, if you're someone who can only train in the morning, don't think this means you can get away without eating beforehand. It doesn't. Just like everyone else you must fuel the body before the coming workout. If you cannot tolerate a full food meal, then you should instead use a liquid shake to get the calories in.

5. Find Calorie Dense Foods

      For guys who do require the very high calorie intakes to build muscle tissue, you must get your hands on the most calorie dense foods available. If you waste your time eating foods that have too much volume, it's going to be a real struggle to meet your calorie requirements, and this will hinder your ability to build muscle.

      Good, high-calorie dense foods include peanuts, peanut butter, raw oats, lean red meat, bagels, and dried fruit. The more of these you can include in your diet, the faster you'll see results. Avoid eating foods such as whole vegetables (blend them into sauces or drink V8 juice for nutrition), bowls of cooked oatmeal, popcorn, and low calorie soups. These have too much volume and will fill you up quickly.

6. Track, Track, Track

      Now, since you are going to be taking an aggressive approach to your diet and getting those calories up there, you also need to be tracking. You don't want to wind up a fatty and the best way to prevent this is by monitoring how many calories you're taking in daily. If you're pushing the limits too far, you're going to start gaining body fat.
If you see this happening, then all it takes is for you to cut back on your calorie intake by about 200 calories a day or 10% and fat gain should stop.

If you aren't tracking, you never know how many calories you're taking in daily and if you do start gaining fat, you don't know how much to cut. Most guys who start gaining body fat really reduce back on their calorie intake, which is a huge mistake because then they stop building muscle as well.

There has to be a very careful balance. Go too low and you won't gain muscle. Go too high and you'll start getting fat. Once you've found the sweet spot you'll know because you'll be getting bigger and may even appear to be leaner as well.

7. Consider Some Cardio

      Finally, you may also wish to consider adding a bit of cardio to your program. Don't make the mistake most guys make though and think you can do cardio every day and prevent fat gain whatsoever. Too much cardio training will limit muscle building as well, so it has to be done at moderate levels.

      What cardio can help to do is boost your appetite, increase your recovery rate (if kept to lower intensity levels), and get the metabolism running a little faster.
When my diet is perfect I only need a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill and 20 minute cool down after my weights to squeeze out any last drip of glycogen. I walk at around 4.0 mph and a 8.0-12.0 grade which prevents you from getting a double chin and won't put the breaks on your muscle gains. Anything more and you may be consuming too many calories.

Conclusion

Gaining weight is not an excuse to get fat and schedule daily visits to all-you-can buffets. I suggest you begin implementing one principle each week and watch your body stack on more muscle to your frame each week.

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Best Supplements For Muscle Gain - Which Ones Actually Work?

Home  »  Weight Gain Supplements  »  Best Supplements For Muscle Gain - Which Ones Actually Work? By Carl Lewis, CPT   |  Comments

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After you’ve taken the time to get your workout and diet in order, the next step in gaining muscle mass quickly is assessing which are the best supplements for muscle gain.

Before you head into your local supplement shop and pick up whatever seems to promise the best of results, there are a number of things that you need to take into account.

First, think about what your muscle building diet is like. Could you be suffering from any nutritional deficiencies? If so, that’s the first thing to take care of. Nothing will work better than all around good nutrition for building muscle!

Then once that’s in place, next you want to think about what you most struggle with and what supplement might be able to help you get around this. Low energy? There’s a supplement for that.

Poor recovery? Again, you can get the help you need. Suffering from lower testosterone levels? Supplements can help.

As long as you have a clear idea in your mind what it is you want and have realistic expectations, you will see great results from your chosen products.

Let’s give you a quick run-down of the best supplements for muscle gain to get you started.

First on our list of the best supplements for muscle gain is creatine. Creatine is one of the most commonly recognized products out there and for good reason – it works.

Those who are involved in intense weight lifting activities will notice a big difference when they add creatine into the mix. Creatine is going to provide the precursor to the high energy molecule referred to as ATP, which powers you through each and every rep that you perform.

If your natural creatine stores get depleted, your workout intensity is going to come to a halt so this is an instant way to increase how much work you can perform in every session you do.

If recovery is what you’re battling with, glutamine is the top muscle building supplement to turn to. Glutamine is a specific amino acid that’s going to play a key role in the immune response and help you recovery faster after every session in the gym.

One thing that many people overlook as they go about their muscle building program is that it’s not just the workouts that are taxing their body, but daily stressors as well. If you have a stressful job or are in a relationship that’s causing much heartache or tension, that will influence how quickly you’re able to recover from your intense workout sessions.

Even if it’s not physical stress, stress is stress and will drain your recovery reserves.

Glutamine keeps your immune system as strong as possible so you have a maximum reserve for recovery each day.

Moving along, another of the best supplements for muscle gain to help enhance your focus and drive in the gym is nitric oxide. Most people best know this supplement as the one to give you the ‘muscle pump’.

Take this product and when you walk into the gym, you’re going to feel fuller and more powerful than ever. This can serve to provide incredible motivation on its own, so that in fact could bring about better results as well.

Nitric oxide will serve to increase the dilation of blood vessels in the muscle cells, which means you’ll reduce the chances of fatigue during your set and be able to get a higher rate of nutrient delivery.

This means more intense sets in the gym and a faster recovery as well.

Most people who are involved in muscle building already realize that testosterone is one of the key hormones that’s necessary to build significant size. This is the hormone that clearly differentiates males from females and why females don’t pack on nearly the same amount of muscle as a man does.

But, not all men have high testosterone. Various factors can influence your natural testosterone levels such as age, a poor diet, stress, as well as lack of sleep or overtraining, so doing everything possible to keep your levels high is a must.

Tribulus is one of the best muscle building supplements to help out with this. By adding this to your mass building workout, you should notice a faster rate of muscle growth and also be able to train more frequently.

Along with a strong immune system, having sufficient testosterone levels will also enhance recovery ability.

Finally, last but not least, a few other of the best muscle building supplements that you should definitely consider picking up is a high quality whey protein powder as well as some fish oil. While these won’t claim to help you pack on 10 pounds overnight for instance, they are still a must-have for gaining muscle mass as quickly as possible.

If you fail to meet your protein needs, you simply will not grow. It’s as plain as that – protein is what supplies the building blocks for that new muscle tissue. Since most people don’t have time to be in the kitchen cooking up six chicken breasts a day, protein powder makes meeting your daily protein requirement much easier.

Plus, it’s specially formulated to digest very quickly in the body, so is ideal for taking immediately after a workout.

Fish oil on the other hand will offer a wealth of benefits, mostly aimed at improving your overall health, but it’s also great for increasing your insulin sensitivity.

This will play a key role in making sure the extra calories you eat are shuttled towards the muscle cells rather than stored in the body fat cells for long term energy. It’s definitely a must if you want to stay lean while you build muscle mass.

So there you have the best supplements for muscle gain that you need to know about. By choosing these rather than the overly hyped up products that are likely to just waste your money, you can feel good knowing you made an informed decision.

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5 Bodyweight Training Exercises You Must Do

When designing a strength workout, you should aim for exercises that cause a great metabolic impact. This is because These exercises cause an increase in testosterone and growth hormone levels, and as a consequence they help you to build muscle and burn fat.

Among most effective exercises for strength and conditioning we can find bodyweight exercises. These are exercises performed exclusively with your own body weight, so they need little or none equipment at all. Bodyweight exercises have been the core training of olympic gymnastic athletes, being the base of their strength and power.

Looking at their physiques, you quickly realise how effective these exercises can be when properly added to a regular training program.

5 Best bodyweight exercises:

Squat: One of the most basic human movements. It strengthens your legs and core muscles. You can performed with both legs using a fast pace for conditioning or just with one leg for strength.

Splits: Probably one of the best exercises for conditioning and to strengthen your quadriceps, splits will help you to develop explosive power, muscle endurance and cardio conditioning, specially when performed like alternating split jumps.

Push Up: great for your core, chest, shoulders and arms, push ups are unrivaled to develop muscle endurance and core strength. If regular push ups are easy to you, you can always perform clapping push ups, handstand push ups, or one arm push ups to make it more difficult.

Dips: the best exercise for your chest and triceps, dips mimic real movement of getting on the top of an object. Perform it with a low pace to develop rock solid muscles.

Pull Up: one of the most, if not the most challenging bodyweight exercises, pull ups alone are almost sufficient to develop your upper body strength. They are great for your back, shoulders and biceps, and you can even involve your abdominal muscles if performed like L pull up.

How to add this exercises to your workout

You can add this exercises to your regular strength training or you can design specific workouts for them. Here it is a simple example on how to do that:

Bodyweight Workout:

3 Rounds of:

50 Squats

20 Push Ups

10 Pull Ups

5 Dips

Perform with little or no rest between sets and fast pace for conditioning, or equivalently with longer rest periods and lower pace for strength. Perform the first round as a warm-up set, and go harder for the rest of the rounds.

David is a fitness and nutrition researcher and passionate martial arts practitioner.

Visit my website about MMA Training. Where you will find the latest tips to burn fat and build muscle based on scientifically proven training methods.

Visit also some MMA workouts to build muscle and burn fat

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The Reasons Why Tricep Exercises Are Underrated

You probably hear it all the time in the gym, "let's go do some abs" or "let's go do some biceps". You rarely hear an individual say "its tricep time". Why is this? Outside of the world of bodybuilding, there is a stigma often associated with performing tricep exercises to increase muscle mass. People would rather focus on the more popular muscle groups.

For males, it is almost engrained in them from puberty. Guys tend to focus on two muscle groups, the pectorals and the biceps. They firmly believe that these two muscle groups is what makes them more attractive towards women but it goes well beyond that, guys may not say it, but they are also trying to impress other guys. Think about what one of the most common question one guy asks another is in the gym... "How much do you bench?" Little do these guys know that the true test of strength lies with one's ability to perform tricep exercises.

A lot of people start lifting weights to get better at sports but what sports truly rely heavily on pectorals and biceps? Maybe football depending on the position played? I really can't think of any others. A well-rounded workout routine with various tricep exercises will increase arm strength leading to more power in a multitude of sports. Anything with a swinging motion like baseball, tennis, or golf will benefit from focusing on the triceps. Same with sports that involve a large amount of pulling or pushing like swimming or volleyball.

Men are not the only ones to suffer tricep neglect, women are just as guilty. Women tend to focus quite heavily on the abdominals as well as the lower body. Executing tricep exercises can aid women by reducing "arm jiggle" thus supplying them with more self-confidence. A great self-test for women to see how much fat is in the upper arm region is to flex the muscle then shake the arm. The part shaking is the excess fat. It should be noted that women can have well-built tricep muscles that shake but that is why it is important to flex the arm when testing.

Regardless of your gender, it is very important to provide your body with the necessary training it needs to receive a full, well-rounded workout. Neglecting a single part of the body can lead to injury or an unbalanced physique. Remember to use a variety of exercises to keep things interesting and to stay motivated, doing this will allow you to reach your goals more quickly.

If you need new tricep exercises in your workout routine, visit http://www.chunkfitness.com/exercises/arm-exercises/tricep-exercises to learn more. Chunk Fitness provides an excellent online resource for those looking to expand their fitness knowledge.

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The Safe And Effective Way To Build Your Muscles Fast

Growth Hormones or GH is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction and regeneration in humans and other animals. GH is a 191-amino acid, single-chain polypeptide that is synthesized, stored, and secreted by the somatotroph cells within the lateral wings of the anterior pituitary gland. The term somatropin refers to growth hormone produced by recombinant DNA and is abbreviated to HGH.

Human Growth Hormone is synthesized and secreted from the anterior pituitary gland in a pulsatile manner throughout the day; the usual surges of secretion occur at 3- to 5-hour intervals. The plasma concentration of growth hormones during these peaks may range from 5 to 45 ng/mL. The largest and most predictable of these growth hormone peaks occurs about an hour after onset of sleep.

There are a number of factors that are known to affect HGH secretion such as the age, gender, diet, exercise, stress, and other hormones that are present on an individual. Young adolescents commonly secrete HGH at the rate of about 700 µg per day, while adults secrete HGH at the rate of about 400 µg per day. This just shows that the production of natural HGH in the body decreases with age,

When the body produces too much GH it can cause pituitary tumor and when the produces little GH it can cause GHD or Growth Hormone Deficiency that can result to growth failure. Growth Hormones are highly needed by the body for different vital functions so it good that people with low level of GH or with GHD (Growth Hormone Deficiency) must take GH Supplement or GH Stack.

GH Stack is a growth hormone supplement that can be use to increase the body's energy level which will then allows you to perform well in exercise and other activities. It can help in making the bones stronger and makes the skin more thicker and youthful looking. It will also boost the body's immune system thus making your body stronger in fighting different kinds of diseases. It can also helps in lowering the LDL level or bad cholesterol level in the body that will result in having a greater cardiac output. It can lower the blood pressure and it will also improve the kidney function. It allows your eyes to have sharper vision and helps you to have better memory. It is good in eliminating unwanted fats and it can enhance the body's capability to heal wounds and also the re-growth of the different body organs such as the heart, liver, kidneys, spleen and others that usually shrink with age.

GH Stack is beneficial to body builders since it can increases protein synthesis, increases utilization of fatty acids, increases amino acid transport across cell membranes, increases lipolysis, increases availability of glucose and amino acids, increases collagen synthesis, stimulates cartilage growth, increases retention of nitrogen, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus, increases renal plasma flow, promotes compensatory renal hypertrophy, decreases glucose utilization, decreases glycogen synthesis. GH Stack is highly recommended supplement for body builders since this will ensure them fast and safe muscle building and proper fat loss.

Kenneth Levenstein is an online publisher of health related websites. Click the links for more information on human growth supplements and where to buy growth supplements.

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Three Great Oblique Exercises That Do Not Require Weights

A fact many individuals fail to realize is that you do not need heavy weights or fancy machines to engage the oblique muscles. Actually, you do not need any weight lifting equipment at all, just your body weight and a lot of control while performing the oblique exercises. That being said, the only downside to these exercise methods is that you are limited by your body weight which may be insufficient for certain types of weight lifters.

There are three specific oblique exercises you can execute, the first being the simple "Elbow to Knee Crunch". This is very similar to the regular crunch but for this variation, while lying on the back, position the ankle of one leg on the lower thigh of the other leg. The knee should be wide of your shoulder and this will be the target for the opposite side's elbow. Perform the crunch by rounding the back while bringing the elbow to the opposite knee. The twisting motion that is utilized is what targets the oblique muscles. When one side is complete, reposition the body to engage the other side.

The second of the oblique exercises is the "bicycle kick". Extremely similar to the previously mentioned exercise, this one is different in initial setup but involves the same lifting motion. Once again, start off by lying on the back with the legs fully extended. Bring one knee up toward the chest and at the same time, bring the opposite elbow to that knee. Once this motion is complete, extend the leg out and draw the opposite one near while, at the same time, lowering the first elbow and drawing the other one toward to leg that is now drawing closer to the body. Repeat this motion while alternating sides.

The last of the three oblique exercises is the "standing torso twist". This exercise does require a piece of equipment but nothing specific; a stiff rod-like instrument similar to a broomstick will suffice. While standing straight up, position the rod behind the neck with both hands on the outer areas of the rod. Turn the body while keeping the hips stationary until the torso is almost 90 degrees from the hips. Squeeze the obliques when the maximum amount of rotation is reached. Do this for both sides of the body.

Always keep in mind that speed and power are not the goal with these lifting procedures. Smooth and controlled movements are critical above all else.

These oblique exercises can be confusing without instructional videos. For this, I suggest Chunk Fitness' oblique exercise section: http://www.chunkfitness.com/exercises/ab-exercises/oblique-exercises, it is full of additional tips and tricks for scuplting the oblique muscles.

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Three Muscle Building Techniques

The most important topic when it comes to changing the shape of your body is nutrition. You've probably heard cheesy sayings like "A little on the lips, forever on the hips" and "You are what you eat." Well, that's because it's true. No matter how hard you work out, if you're diet is wrong, you're not going to get the results you want. If you ask any professional bodybuilder or fitness model, they're going to tell you the same thing. So the topic I'm going to discuss here is nutrabolism.

Nutrabolism means optimizing nutrition to increase muscle growth without adding fat. You've probably heard a lot of talk about the importance of protein, and it's true that protein is very important. But it's easy to make sure you're getting enough protein. What people don't talk about enough is carbohydrate intake. So keeping that in mind, here are three of the most advanced muscle building techniques.

1. Carbohydrate Capitalization. What this means is that you need to eat your carbohydrates at the right time of day so they're not wasted. Extra carbohydrates turn into fat, but if you eat the majority of them around your workout, you can use the energy the provide immediately and not have them going to waste the rest of the day. In fact, you should probably consume about 70% of your daily carbohydrates pre and post workout. The other 30% of your carbohydrates are best eaten at breakfast.

2. Somatofy Your Nutrition. This means changing your nutrition based on your body type. You've probably heard that there are three basic body types: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. There are actually many more body types that fall between these on the spectrum, and nutritionists are only now beginning to understand how these body types react to nutrients and carbohydrates. But for simplicity's sake, we'll focus on the three main body types.

The Ectomorph. People with this body type are long, lanky and skinny. They typically have thin bones and have a very hard time putting muscle. If that sounds like you, you'll need to take advantage of high-glycemic carbohydrates not just during your workout window, but throughout the day. Doing this will help you to fill out your clothes and change your body faster.
The Endomorph. People with this body type tend to be shorter and thicker and put on fat very easily. If this is you, then you need to do the opposite and avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates and instead focus on complex carbohydrates and eat the vast majority of them before and after your workout.
The Mesomorph. These people tend to be of average height and thickness. If that's you, count yourself lucky because it will be much easier to build a great physique. Your main focus should be on protein and having 70% of your carbs (both simple and complex) around your workout.

3. Change Your Nutrition Based On Your Weight Training Program. This is one of the most common mistakes. Many people follow a meal plan that doesn't take into account the time of day they workout. There are some people who get most of their carbs in the morning and do their workout at night. This type of behavior is going to make muscle growth a slow and frustrating process. It's important to have meals prepared for right before and after you workout, no matter what time of day it is.

Hopefully these three tips will help you out. For now, you should start measuring your results. Take a pen and an index card to the gym so you can keep track of how much weight and how many reps you're able to do on each machine. It's not exact, but over time it will give you an idea of whether your plan is working. And if it's not, make adjustments. Good luck!

To learn more about proper bodybuilding nutrition, visit The Muscle Maximizer.

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Tips on How to Build Muscle Fast: 5 Must-Have Tips to Quick Muscle Development

Physical transformation with the right set of exercises, balanced and healthy diet, mixed in with adequate rest, will definitely get you that dream body you wish for. However, doing modification and enhancement to you boy requires the proper cultivation of mind, commitment and drive. Though you have the tips on how to build muscle fast, without the proper mind set, physical transformation will only be a thing in the head.

1. Eat Healthy and Well-Balanced Foods

Nutrition must be achieved in its highest level for better assurance on muscle growth. Recoil from eating foods that are processed, oily and greasy. These foods don't give your body the nutrients needed for muscle development. You have to pick the right kinds of foods rich in proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins. These nutrients are what you need to promote optimum muscle development. The nutrients that your muscles need should perform maintenance, repair and building of new muscle tissues. Protein is the key nutrient to make all these possible. For strength and energy supply, you can count on the right levels of carbohydrates and vitamins. Eating healthy and well-balanced foods also takes concern on eating at least 4-6 meals daily and drinking 3-4 liters of water per day.

2. Work with Free Weights First

Free weights like barbells and dumbbells allow ease of movement instead of restricting them. Using barbells and dumbbells allow your body and muscles to gain strength, endurance, power and increase muscle size.

3. Uses of Compound Exercises

One of the most important tips on how to build muscle fast is to pursue exercises that focus on two or more muscle groups. These are known as compound exercises. Samples of compound exercises are squats, pull-ups, push-ups and abdominal crunches. These target different muscles in the body, and all at the same time.

4. Rest and Sleep Well

Muscle building facilitates outcomes if your body and muscles are well-rested and relaxed. Enough sleep and relaxation promotes maintenance, repair and building of muscle tissues essential to smooth the progress of muscle growth. If your muscles and body are tired there will be no room for your muscles to work its ways to muscle development. Overtraining and over exercise won't progress effects on muscle development but instead introduce injuries and damage.

5. Record Your Progress

Monitor your progress. List your daily work out. Keep track of all your exercise activities. Having a record of your progress can help you modify factors that do not work well for you.

Absorb and practice these new ideas on how to build muscle fast. These 5 must-have tips on how to build muscle fast will surely guide you towards the right direction when it comes to muscle building. These will be your sure-fire trick to faster muscle development. In no time, you will see your body transform into this well-structured physique that will surely make everyone's jaw drop.

These are the easiest and the quickest ways on how to guarantee fast results as you seek to gain additional knowledge on how to build muscle fast. Questions will cease as you find the answers to satisfy every bit of inquiry, thus helping you realize these tips and commit to a new you. now! See awesome and realistic results on tips on how to build muscle fast.

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Men Often Ask: How Can I Gain Muscle?

Are you one of the men who ask this question? Do you want to lose fat and add muscle?

There are four things that you need to do to gain muscle and reduce your body fat.

They are:

• Motivation

• Good Nutrition

• Cardio

• Lift Weights

Let's talk about each of these four areas so you fully understand what you need to do and how to do it.

The first is Motivation. Your motivation is the key to success. What do you want to achieve from a workout routine? Do you want to gain muscle? Are you trying to reduce excess fat from your body and become fit and healthy? Are you trying to please your wife or girlfriend or want to attract a girlfriend?

What other burning questions can you ask yourself that will give the motivation to help you to achieve your workout goals?

Whatever your reason for wanting to know how I can gain muscle it has to be strong enough to support you through the long haul. If your motivation isn't strong enough you will fail. You will need a support system to help you maintain your motivation throughout all of your efforts to gain muscle and reduce fat.

Write down your reasons and put them somewhere you can see them every day to keep them on your mind.

The second is Good Nutrition. Rock hard bodies are made in the kitchen and not the gym. If you're drinking a 2 liter of cola and eating a bag of potato chips every night you have no chance of achieving your goal. You must make the necessary changes to your diet.

You may feel that this is hard to do but, once you clean up your diet of junk food and eat lean and healthy you will feel the difference so much that you will not want to go back to junk foods.

This means a balanced diet of lean protein, good carbs and, lots of fruits and vegetables. It doesn't have to be boring; you don't even have to reduce your total calories a lot. In fact as you gain muscle you may have to increase your calories to sustain the muscles that you are building.

The third is Cardio. Now everybody has the impression of cardio of as standing on a treadmill and running for three hours. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cardio doesn't have to be boring. You can vary the type of cardio you do each day. A good 20 minute cardio workout could be walking fast, a light jog, swimming, biking or you could use a treadmill or some other aerobic machine. The key is to mix up what you do for cardio so it doesn't become routine and exercises different muscle groups.

The fourth is Lifting Weights. This is where you can gain the muscle you desire and increase your metabolism.

When it comes to lifting weights you don't need to start with heavy weights and try to impress your friends with how much you can lift. In fact that's the worst thing you can do. What you need to do is to lift a comfortable amount of weight that you can do three sets of 8 to 12 reps.

You can increase the weight when you are comfortable with it and not straining to do the exercises at that increased weight.

I want to tell you that you can answer the question, "how can I gain muscle?" Do it by following a plan. But if you don't have a strong enough "why" you want to gain muscle, it will be difficult to succeed.

So make sure before you begin any workout system you have a strong enough "why" to sustain your effort to succeed. Exercise the most important muscle first, your brain! Write down your reasons why you want to gain muscles and keep it where you can see it often.

I have created a seven part eCourse that will give you all the detailed information you will need to answer the question "How Can I Gain Muscle"?

So take action now and find out how you can gain muscle, sign-up now at my website http://www.mensfitnessexercise.com/

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How Do I Build Muscle Fast?

Whether you are skinny and still in high school or overweight and middle-aged, learning the most effective ways to build muscle will guarantee that your time is not wasted and progress comes fast. The following tips will answer the question, "How can I build muscle fast?"

Nutrition

Building muscle is a process that requires sufficient protein intake as well as a calorie surplus. If you are eating 10,000 calories a day, but no protein, you will fail to build muscle. Likewise, if you are eating 400 grams of protein, but are in a calorie deficit, you will also fail to build muscle. Adequate nutrition that builds muscle fast requires sufficient calories as well as protein so that you can recover effectively from your workouts. An easy way to figure protein intake is to take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply it by 1.5. This is your minimum protein intake in grams. A 200 pound male would then take in 300 grams of protein per day. Along with this, a sufficient amount of carbohydrates (which are also necessary for the muscle-building process) and essential fats (which aid in recovery) must be consumed to continue the mass-building process.

Training

Diet is necessary for muscle gaining purposes, but training is PARAMOUNT! A solid training regimen that builds muscle quickly will utilize major muscle groups together in an intense effort. This means that big, compound movements that allow the lifter to handle more of a load will provide the best results, especially when they are done for all out effort. A squat, for example, will utilize virtually every muscle in the body when done correctly. This allows a greater load to be handled, which in turn yields a greater systemic stress on the musculature of the body. There is a direct correlation with the effort produced in a workout and testosterone released post workout. More testosterone equals more growth and bigger exercises equals more testosterone.

Exercise Selection

Put away the concentration curls and upgrade to bigger, whole body exercises. You asked, "how do I build muscle fast?", and I'm telling you, with big weights. The most important time in your training is the time spent doing presses, squats, deadlifts, rows, or any other movement that requires multiple muscles to be used at once. Isolation work is always last, without exception. Focus on adding pounds to your deadlift and I promise that you will also add pounds to your frame.

Recovery

Don't over do it! Many ambitious youngsters try to be the 'super athlete' and wind up burning themselves out. Gaining mass requires a short, all out burst of effort followed by adequate rest. Your training sessions should be short (60-90 minutes) and done between 3 and 5 days a week. The time spent between these sessions should be dedicated to recovering so you can attack your next workout. Remember, bodybuilders can't moonlight as marathon runners. If there are sport-specific skills that must be maintained, work them in during your training session.

Post Workout

There exists a 30 minute window post-workout where any nutrition you consume will be utilized towards muscle gain at an exponentially greater rate than any other time of day. Immediately following a workout take a post-workout shake that contains a 1:4 ratio of protein to fast-acting-carbohydrates. Ideally, this would be around 30 grams of protein to 120 grams of carbohydrates. The fast acting carbs will cause a spike in your blood sugar which, in turn, causes a spike in insulin levels. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body, more so than testosterone!! And because your metabolism is running so high from the vicious weight training session you just had, these carbohydrates won't be converted to bodyfat.

Supplementation

Many supplements on the market are worthless and cause little more than a placebo effect. Any pre-workout supplement can be replaced by a cup of iced coffee with some sugar. There are a few, however that are worth a second look. Creatine, when taken properly, spurs fast gains in muscularity as well as almost immediate gains in strength and endurance. Some have said, 'it's just water weight!'. Well, guess what? Muscle is mostly water! The fact is that taking creatine will add size to your arms and allow you to move more weight. Sounds like it's a pretty useful supplement to me! Whey protein is simply another a tool to augment your daily protein intake. Whey is made from milk, and is a quality substance that is easily taken. Taking in 300 grams of beef, chicken, and tuna protein is not easy. Whey makes it easy. It doesn't need to be designer brand. A 5 pound tub should cost no more than $45 and should be gone in a week. Fish Oil is an excellent natural anti-inflammatory, which is necessary for fast recovery and keeping your joints healthy.

If you are diligent in these steps, you are on your way to becoming a force to be reckoned with! Remember to prioritize: getting your training protocol solid is the most important thing. Then worry about your diet. Supplements, while helpful, are a distant third on the totem pole.

If you are committed to becoming strong and muscular on a level unseen by elite athletes, take the first step by consulting the best training program around. Follow the link below for a free preview.
http://www.benchpress405.com/

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