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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Nutritionist or Dietitian?

A reader wants to know if there's a difference between nutritionists and dietitians? Here's my answer: Nutritionist or Dietitian

Have you been to a dietitian or a nutritionist? Or both? Share your experiences and opinions of the two by leaving a comment.

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Can you build your body without a gym?

There lies the fact that we mostly know that acquiring a dream shape is impossible without a gym. The place where I come from in India has a slight different story to appear. Most of you know about Slum-dog Millionaire-the Oscar winning movie. In our area, people from slum and tribal places boast of having a well toned physique, much better in shape than the urban Joe. In certain cases I have seen labours and rickshaw-pullers having 6 pack abs.
What happens is that the concerned people are never actually putting in much effort to build up their bodies and many give up way too soon before results start coming in. We are constantly exposed to commercials for exercise equipment and gadgets, we have slowly over time become convinced that the only way to get in shape is to buy something and get to work using it. Our ancestors have been keeping their bodies in shape for far longer than companies have been around trying to sell us products to help us get there. Obesity is what normal people resort to these days. You can either be a couch potato trying to attain a round shaped body or you can have that lean physique up your sleeves. Joining Expensive gyms in your area might not yield you any result unless you put up your fight to the maximum and dedicate yourself.

There are hundreds of free hand exercises available which really helps out. You can start with stretching on the morning for example. One of the most famous is the triceps workout by dipping.
You can go for pull ups Or push ups, most of them are free hand exercises. Though you might not be able to build yourself like Jay Cutler, you can surely attain shapes like Matthew McConaughey(Remember My Earlier Post, Click here) or close. You will find certain videos in YouTube if you search the term free hand workouts.

And finally, you might try simply walking to places that you normally use your car to reach. Walking is just as good as jogging so long as you go far enough, and it’s a lot less stress on the knees. Consider walking to work even if it is close by, that way you can even contribute to Environment Protection. The destination does not matter, as long as you get yourself out there and get your feet moving.

Image Source-Lee Hayward Blog

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Best Ways To Gain Weight: 3 Exercise Techniques For Skinny Guys

Home  »  Weight Training Programs  »  Best Ways To Gain Weight: 3 Exercise Techniques For Skinny Guys By Daniel Page, CPT   |  Comments

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Try These 3 Ways To Gain Weight:
If you’re looking for the top ways to gain weight, it’s important that you consider a variety of different approaches so that you can clearly see which will help you reach your end goal the fastest.

There are a number of effective ways to gain weight that can be used if you structure them into your workout routine properly and fully understand what it is you are to be doing as you move along.

But, if you use some of the weight gain techniques improperly, you could end up overtraining and actually doing more harm than good… So pay attention!

It’s going to be imperative that you take the time to learn about these different ways to gain weight, how they work, and who they are best suited for. This way you’ll know exactly what you need to do in order to start making gains.

Let's start off with this video from Jeff Masterson:

Jeff Masterson is the creator of the Weight Gain Blueprint Program - A step-by-step muscle building program that shows you how to pack on 20... 30... even 40 pounds of muscle or more in the shortest time possible.

The first type of technique that you can use to take your progress up a notch is a superset. A superset is a form of training where you’re going to pair two exercises immediately back to back working the same muscle group with no rest in between.

So for example, you might do a set of dumbbell bicep curls followed by a set of EZ-bar reverse-bicep curls. Once both exercises are finished, then you would rest for 30-60 seconds before carrying on.

Who This Is Best Suited For:

This technique is going to be best suited to those who are more advanced lifters who are looking to induce a higher state of fatigue and bring about more lactic acid in the muscle cells.

Supersets are great for ‘pump’ training as the blood flow to the region will be enhanced, so it will really make you feel fuller after performing them.

They’re also really good for those who are short on time in their workout session as by doing these you can dramatically cut back on how much total time is necessary to move through each workout.

Adding It To Your Workout:

When adding supersets into your workout routine, you generally want to choose to do them for two muscle groups that oppose each other. So for instance, you would pair the biceps with the triceps or the quads with the hamstrings.

While this isn’t a rule, it’s generally the best way to go about setting them up.

Don’t do them on all exercises, but rather add one or two sets to each workout.

Another one of the best ways to gain weight is with drop sets. Drop sets will be where you perform one set of one exercise and then rather than stopping to rest, you drop the weight by five pounds and then perform a second set.

Once that second set is completed, you’ll drop the weight one more time and then perform a third and final set before taking your rest break.

Who This Is Best Suited For

Drop sets are great for those who also want a higher amount of fatigue generation with their workout and who are currently plateaued at a given weight on a particular exercise.

By adding a drop set into the mix, you can help overcome that plateau so that when you do go back to straight sets again, you’re able to push harder and see increases to your strength level.

Adding It To Your Workout:

Since drop sets are such a high fatigue type of technique, aim to add these towards the end of your workout program when you’re finishing off for the session. This way, you can bring about a total state of fatigue and then move on from there.

Pre-fatigue sets are another good way to bust through weight lifting plateaus and gain weight. Pre-fatigue sets entail you performing one set for an isolated exercise first before moving on to a compound movement.

This way, by tiring out that smaller muscle group, you ensure that it’s not being called into play for the compound exercise you perform and instead, it will strictly be that larger muscle group doing all the work.

Who This Is Best Suited For:

Pre-fatigue sets are ideal for those who are looking to really take the intensity of their workout program up a level and who are good with dealing with fatigue and pushing through it.

They’re also great for those who are looking to specialize in building up the larger muscle groups such as the chest, quads, hamstrings, shoulders, and back.

Adding It To Your Workout:

When adding this to your workout, you would want to pinpoint the helper muscle groups in any compound lift that you’re doing and then target that first with the isolation exercise. So for example, if you’re doing bench press and want to work the chest, perform a few sets of tricep extensions first.

Or, if you’re doing squats and want to work the hamstrings, perform a few sets of leg extensions prior to moving on to the squat.

Keep in mind that since you are tiring out these helper muscles, it’s normal to see the amount of weight you should be lifting significantly decline. This is due to the reduced level of muscle fiber recruitment that will be present when doing that compound lift, which takes away from the amount of force you have to push the weight.

So there you have a few of the commonly used ways to gain weight that you should consider adding to your workout program. Keep in mind that these are all advanced techniques so not something to do if you’re a brand new beginner.

If you’re just starting out on your weight gain journey, then using a straightforward weight gain program that focuses on simply adding more and more weight to any compound exercises you perform will likely be your best long-term strategy.

Once you have a more solid base of muscle mass behind you, then using one of these different and unique ways to gain weight will be much more beneficial to keep your progress moving forward.

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The Greats Don't Get Complacent

It hit me smack in the face at the end of last week... I was faced with a fork in the road. I was in the kitchen, making my grass fed beef, I was hungry, my back was killing me, my knee hurt and it was taking me 5 minutes to get my plate of food 10 feet from the kitchen to the table.

A small voice said: "Give up. Grab some cookies, its easier, they will taste good. You won't have to worry about your body composition for the next 12 months. Give up, do what others would do...."

And then, I thought back to the years of bodybuilding, the years of sweat and tears, practicing basketball in 100 degree heat, 500 shots per day. I already taught myself how to succeed despite being miserable. I have trained my whole life for this moment in time.

I have taught myself to be a 1%er, the hours of getting up at 4 AM to go out and chase my dream every single day, the pain of losing friends, the weekends away from my wife, the injuries from a life of physicality....

I knew that in that one split moment last week, my life would change forever depending on what I decided to do. I was already in pain. I thought of the Hip Hop Preacher, "You are already in pain. Don't cry to quit. Cry to keep going. Get a reward from it..." I chose that path, it was really the only choice I had.

I received an unexpected phone call on Saturday night from a long time friend and he just started talking. He said, "Kyle, you can't let this beat you. People look up to you and if this beats you, it will beat them too. You once told me that if you say you are going to do something, do it. No if's, and's or but's. If anyone can do this, it's you."

I have never chosen the road titled 'Complacency' and I am not going to start now. I'm gonna get a reward from this experience. I also believe that by choosing certain paths, things and people will come into our lives to keep guiding us, urging us along. Just as I started writing this 1o minutes ago, Louie Simmons called me! Imagine... legend, whom I spoke with graciously last week, called to see how I was doing. Louie wants to make sure I document everything so we can use this experience to help other athletes. Signs like that remind me that I and you really do have no choice, complacency is not an option...

Kyle Newell is the creator of Newell Strength, located in central New Jersey. He specializes in making athletes bigger, faster and stronger. Kyle's methods are among the most unique in the business. He has worked with college strength programs and has competed in numerous bodybuilding shows. Kyle's men and athletes achieve unbelievable rates of success and performance on the field. You can find out more about Kyle at http://www.newellstrength.com/

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What Are Some Powerful Body Workouts for Men?

Body workouts for men are extremely great ways to help get your entire body getting a good workout without the need for weights. Body workouts for men are just as powerful as other types of workouts out there, and you will find your entire body changing dramatically when you are able to do them often.

I highly suggest that you try out each workout below, as they are all very powerful for helping your entire body reach its maximum potential without the need of weights. Weights are very good to use, and you really need to be careful in order to achieve success.

What are some powerful body workouts for men?

- Planks

Planks are great for building your core and developing your upper body strength naturally and quickly. When you do planks often, you will find your entire body changing rapidly, and your entire core to be quite stronger than usual. To do it successfully, get into a push up position before you go down into a push up. Your goal is to stay in that position for as long as you can, or maybe try doing ten to fifteen seconds through a series of several reps.

What you need to know is that planks are very powerful, and you really need to make sure that you place all the tension in the abs and not to your arms. While the tension will be on your abs, simply directing it to your abs can increase your chances of abs appearing in your stomach.

If you want to make it a bit higher, try going onto your wrists all the way down to your elbows. This is actually the right way to do it, but the concept is surely going to give you an idea on what you should do first.

- Hip Ups

Have you ever moved your hips often to find your body gaining a lot of flexible movement? Have you ever wanted to get rid of all that fat in your hips? To do hip ups successfully, go onto your right hip and lay down on your side completely. Place your right elbow onto the floor and onto the entire floor until your complete forearm is on it as well. Place your left hand on the floor as well, and when you are ready, move your left hip upwards quickly over 10 reps. Repeat it on the other side after 10 reps.

- Squat Jumps

While squats are quite powerful to do, they can help your legs get stronger completely pretty fast. However, many people tend to forget about a helpful aspect in making the squat jump even more powerful. First of all, the squat jump is just like an ordinary squat, but it involves actually jumping up high after each squat is complete. Make sure that you jump up at the end effectively with the strength coming from the spring in your legs. This is a very powerful way to help build leg muscles without having to constantly continue on with weights on the back or on the legs.

- Leg Bikes

Lay down on the floor and relax. Place your legs up in a cross foot position with your weight on your lower back and not your butt. Make sure that you place your hands on the back of your head. Try to lift your upper body into a good position so that you can place your right elbow to your left knee and then your left elbow to your right knee. Leg bikes are known by all sorts of different names, and it really does depend on you to find out what is best to call the exercise.

Exercising is not an easy thing to do. There are times when many people will help you and motivate you, but when you go home and you have an excuse not to go to the gym, that does not mean you shouldn't workout. The body workouts for men above are all very powerful. They may not give you instant success in the future, but they can help you out a lot to achieving a much healthier lifestyle. Exercising is not that hard to do when you have the right knowledge, but you can be sure to get much stronger when you are able to do the exercises.

I have created a 7 part eCourse that will give you all the detailed information you need to create "Powerfull Body Workouts" to build all of your muscle groups.

So take action now and find out how you can begin by signing up at my website http://www.mensfitnessexercise.com/

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Bovine Growth Hormones and Milk

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH or rBST for Bovine somatotropin) is sometimes used to increase milk production in cows. I know that some of you are concerned that hose synthetic hormones may damage the milk. I've looked into that concern and it doesn't appear to be a problem for humans. You can buy milk that comes from cows not treated with the synthetic hormones, but the regular milk is fine.

It may not be so good for the cows, though, because it increases their risk for mastitis and foot (hoof?) problems. This is why the European Union and Canada have banned the use of these hormones in dairy cattle.

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Template Changed

Finally the change and integrations of various widgets is over. This is the new look of Best Weight Gain Supplements Blog. Hope everyone likes it. There are certain widgets we are still fighting to add. Lets see if everything works out as planned. Some pages have been added and some still to come, but for the time, this should work fine as we have lots of new posts coming up. Watch out for more.

Till then stay healthy, build up and enjoy.

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The Best Way To Build Muscle For Skinny Guys

Home  »  How To Build Muscle  »  The Best Way To Build Muscle For Skinny Guys By Jay Olsen   |  Comments

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Factors That Determine The Best Way To Gain Weight For You:
If you're wondering what the best way to build muscle is, it's important that you don't adopt a one-size-fits-all mindset. While it's definitely true that certain types of muscle building programs and approaches will tend to produce better results than others, what's not true is that there's one best way to build muscle for everyone.

Rather, you need to take into account a few different factors that are going to help you assess what the way to build muscle really is for your body type.

What works most ideally for one person may be disastrous when used by another, so it's really a matter of learning your own body and then choosing amongst the productive methods to get the best results possible for your time invested.

Let's have a look at a few of the top considerations that you need to know about when searching for the best way to build muscle.

The very first thing that you need to look at when thinking about what will be your quickest route to success is what type of body you have.

Are you an ectomorph who really struggles to pack on any lean muscle size period? Well if you're on this website, then chances are, that describes you.

Or, are you an endomorph who tends to put on more body fat than lean muscle mass as you go about trying to bulk up?

Both of these two body types will require entirely different strategies in terms of building quality lean muscle mass, so this needs to be taken into account.

If you put an endomorph on an ectomorph's routine, you'd just end up seeing your pant size grow significantly.

Assess your body type and then look for training strategies to match.

If you're an ectomorph (A typical skinny guy who has trouble gaining weight) then you'll need to follow a weight gain program like this.

The next thing that you need to think about is what your gym preference is. Are you someone who likes to workout four to five days a week?

Or, are you a minimalist with a busy lifestyle who can only find time to get into the gym two or three times per week for 30-40 minutes per session?

Depending on your workout preferences, this will also dictate what the best way to build muscle mass will be for you.

Those who are short on time might want to think about using a full body muscle building program as these will be best catered towards making the most of every single second spent in the gym.

Those who have more overall time to dedicate to building muscle may want to use an upper/lower split workout routine with some additional isolation exercises added in to further enhance muscle tone and definition.

Both types of programs can work great when used properly - but you have to use them consistently if you want to see results.

If you know ahead of time that there's no way you're getting to the gym four days per week, it doesn't matter how great of a set-up you have going on, it's not going to be the best way to build muscle for you.

Keep your personal preferences in mind at all times as that will dictate your adherence rate and at the end of the day, adherence is really what determines the rate of success you see. Let's be honest, if you can't stick to the program you won't see results, right?

The next thing that you need to take into account is what your current fitness level is. Beginners will require a very different type of workout program to generate more lean muscle mass compared to someone who is much more advanced.

By the time you get to the advanced stages a generic, straightforward "bulking" routine just won't cut it as your body is too used to the weight lifting stimulus.

At that point, in order to figure out your best way to build muscle, you're going to need to investigate advanced techniques such as supersets, drop sets, and pyramiding sets. Each of these is going to shock the muscles with something totally new and innovative so that you can move along faster to reach your end goal.

For the beginner, on the other hand, who is brand new to weight lifting, those techniques will just overwhelm you and won't produce the best results anyway as you don't have the strength base behind you that you really need.

For the beginner just starting out, a more straightforward type of approach where you're performing a number of compound movements and lifting as heavy of a weight as possible will be much more ideal.

Beginners typically grow muscle the best by sticking with the basics and just focusing on adding more and more weight to the bar.

So once you've figured out the best way to build muscle for your personal needs, you need to put that into action. Before you do anything at all you'll need a specific muscle building program for yourself so that there's never any guessing as to what you should be doing when you enter the gym.

You can gather all the information yourself and try and create your own muscle-building plan… Or you can take the shortcut and use a muscle-building plan that's proven to work.

Set out your workout times in your day planner as well so that nothing comes in and crowds it out of your day, potentially reducing the benefits that you see.

Then in addition to your workout, make sure that you also get a good muscle building diet plan together as well. Having the diet to go along with the workout program is like the icing on the cake and is what will ensure that you actually see the mass gain results you want from your workout efforts.

Both diet and workout really do go hand in hand because the diet is what will supply the materials that the body needs after the workout is completed in order to generate more lean muscle mass and build yourself back up stronger than you ever were before.

So there you have some of the most important things to take into consideration as you come up with the best way to build muscle for yourself. By identifying what your body needs and responds best to, you can structure your workout program exactly in a manner that will yield you top results.

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Build Muscles Without Lifting Weights in 5 Easy Ways

Building muscles can stem from different reasons. Some people want to become healthier while others want to do just simple workouts to build strong body muscles. Others prefer using bulky gym equipment or weights while the rest do not. Whatever reasons there are, building muscles without using weights is as important and as achievable as weight lifting muscle building routines.

1. Shoulder stretch

This exercise will target both the shoulders and the chest muscles. To do this, a bar or any similar tool is needed. Stand firmly on the ground with your feet close to each other and grab the tool or bar with a wider grip than the shoulder width. Then left it all the way towards the back of the head at the same time as pulling the abs inwards. Return to the primary position and repeat until necessary.

2. Using exercise ball

This form of body building exercise uses stress balls or exercise balls to target the chest. Place both your knees next to the ball along with one elbow on top of it. Using your free hand on the floor, lower your body like when doing push up. Be in this position for 30 seconds at most before switching to the next arm.

3. Workout bench

Targeting the triceps, shoulders, and chest, this body building exercise uses either a workout bench or ball. Place your own feet on top of the bench or ball, whatever your preference is, and place the hands on the floor. Now, try to lower your body slowly all the way towards the ground so that the chest almost touches the floor. Then force yourself back up again. Through this exercise, abdominal body muscles will be tightened as well.

4. Chin up

Aims at the biceps, forearms, and the back; this body building exercises needs you to grab either a bar or something similar while lifting up your body so that the chin goes by the bar without completely touching it. One can try to do this as many times as necessary.

5. Body building the abs

Place your hands and elbows on the floor while keeping your body straight just like when doing a position for push up. Now, try to push the butt as far as you are able to without moving your feet and arms all at the same time. Return to the first position slowly and repeat as desired.
These exercises will do wonders when done on a regular basis. Weight lifting is not always needed to build body muscles. Achieving a figure like that of body builders may be a difficult dream. But through the five body building routines stated above, getting a leaner body than before is highly possible.

Apply these important tips on how to build muscle. Later on, you will see clear results on how weight lifting is not that necessary for body building.

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Body Building Tips Beginners Should Read and Know

Body building or going to the train at any gym can be an intimidating experience for any beginner. Mostly, men are into this sport than women. Nonetheless, body building has been widely popular in all parts of the world as it now only enhances the physical appearance of the body but it also improves internal build. For beginners, here are some tips that you must know before going into building your bodies by gym training.

Seeking advice
When you are still starting out, it does not make any sense for you to do things by yourself and reject any help from the experts in body building. Instead, take time to talk to professionals and trusted people who have experience in building muscles. See what can be learned from them that you can apply to yourself. Never hesitate to ask for assistance when using equipment that you do not know of. This further ensures lesser chances of getting injured.

Enough sleep
If you are working out, it is very important to have a good rest. Exercising to build body muscles is harder than people think. And getting enough sleep than usual is crucial in making sure that the body has sufficient energy to take on the body building challenge.

Proper diet
Just like sleep, proper diet is also important in making certain that your diet will be able to sustain your exercise. This strictly does not mean adding more things to it. Instead, proper diet means eating healthier foods. Think of the body as a car; the longer the mileage it travels, the greater the fuel it uses up. The body functions like that. If you are going to build muscles for your body, packing yourself with enough healthy meals will ensure that you will function properly and consistently.

Setting goals
Keep your objectives realistic. Although it is not bad to dream big, aspiring greater heights than possible is. Goals that are, in reality, too difficult to reach will only end you up in a failure. Take things one at a time while enjoying every bit of success you accomplish in body building. No matter how little the progress is, appreciate oneself for a job well done.

Thinking positively
Failures happen. But worrying about what has already been done will do you no good. As an alternative, think positively and visualize success even before beginning your body building training. Having this mindset will help your drive and training as you try to reach higher levels to build better body muscles.

Try to learn more about bodybuilding for beginners. There certainly are several bodybuilding tips that can help you achieve success.

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May is National Mediterranean Diet Month

Scientific studies consistently report that the healthy Mediterranean Diet and its lifestyle practices reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. What makes the Mediterranean Diet so good? It focuses on fruits, vegetables, olive oil, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Add to that some fish and seafood, and a little poultry, eggs and cheese and you have a healthy diet filled with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and healthful monounsaturated and omega-3 fats.

Oldways is a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization, with a mission to guide people to good health through heritage, using practical and positive programs grounded in science and tradition. They created the first Mediterranean Diet Pyramid back in 1993.?Four years ago, Oldways and the Mediterranean Foods Alliance, created National Mediterranean Diet Month to further educate the nation about the benefits of this gold-standard way of eating and living.??Consumers are embracing this healthy approach as seen by the popularity of products such as olive oil, Greek yogurt, hummus, olives and more.

Everyone is encouraged to join in the conversation on Twitter, share your recipes and thoughts about the Mediterranean diet by using the hashtag #MedMonth.

Image © Oldways Preservation Trust

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Creatine and the Muscle Bump.

Creatine as we know today is one of the most important and sought after supplement in the body building industry. But most of the people involved either do not know what it does or what it is at all.
Certain people know that it is involved in body building.
 
So what actually is Creatine?
In simple words, it is simply a nitrogen-containing compound stored mainly as phospho-creatine in muscle tissue and the rest can be found as free creatine. It occurs naturally in meats and fish and is synthesized by the liver, pancreas and kidney.
It's also called metylguanidine-acetic acid and is produced from three amino acids: methionine, arginine and glycine.(Too biological Eh!)
Every day the body breaks down about 1-2% of the creatine pool, approximately 2 grams, into creatinine, which is excreted in urine. So to say, it forms in our body itself.

What does it do?
In body building, creatine is known for its ability to boost strength and power. Athletes like Sprinters take it to help them explode out of the blocks, football and soccer players take it to bulk up and bodybuilders use it to build strength and size and work harder in the gym. Creatine is one of the best supplements an athlete can take. The most commonly used creatine supplement has been creatine monohydrate and it has been a long-standing legal supplement in the sports nutrition industry for years, mainly because nothing else has been shown to deliver better results.

   Yet creatine has a reputation about controversies in the supplement industry ever since its introduction nearly 2 decades ago.

The Confusion
The main confusion is that some people involved in body building and such or the sports industry claim that Creatine is a steroid. They claim that it ruins your body and ruins your health. Confusion mainly arises due to long standing beliefs and misinterpretation that creatine intake as a supplement is not necessary as the orthodox belief crops up that since it is found naturally found in food. Also physicians acknowledge that there aren't studies measuring the effects of long-term creatine supplementation, so it would be a waste to thrive on creatine supplementation.
Even most blogs about body building or similar do not post about Creatine because it is just too controversial to deal with.

For our help, modern day science and research has stepped into the confusion and has vividly laid ahead certain facts about creatine supplementation.

Clearing up the confusion cloud
As for the case of steroids, science has given a simple answer, it is not. And regarding destruction of kidneys and whatsoever, it should be consumed as directed alongwith lot of water for solubility like all other supplements.
Studies show that creatine supplementation effectively helped gain weight to a very good extent.
Combining creatine with whey protein also leads to greater gains in lean muscle mass than just whey protein alone possibly by improving protein synthesis. It also aids in strength building and weight lifting. Creatine may also benefit work capacity by improving the ability to store carbohydrates, which could have positive performance implications for athletes of most sports. Coincidently consuming creatine and carbohydrates tends to optimize the absorption of both. The biggest problem with creatine to date has been the high doses required for efficacy. Recent studies have proven that the number one factor for creatine supplement efficacy is aqueous solubility, meaning the creatine must be in solution to be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Contribution to Body Building and Other Benefits-The Real Deal
Its contribution in body building is worth mentioning. Creatine can help you build a great physique. That is considered the most noted benefit from consuming this supplement.
It can help you work harder in the gym by providing a substrate necessary for the production of energy. Creatine aids in building strength, size and power. But, creatine does more than just help build a strong body. It may help many people who suffer from debilitating diseases. One study found that it helped decrease total cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the worst kind). Hopefully future research will examine changes in blood lipids with creatine supplementation. Studies indicate that creatine monohydrate is safe when taken in appropriate doses daily for a period of 1-5 years. It doesn't make sense to take it in high doses, above what your body needs, because the rest is excreted after skeletal muscle stores are saturated. There are no studies that have found it causes dehydration or other detrimental side effects in otherwise healthy people.

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Weight Lifting Supplements - The Best Supplements For Gaining Muscle Mass

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If you want to build muscle, one thing that you've likely considered is which weight lifting supplements you should be using to take your progress to the next level.

Before I go any further let me just cut to the chase and give you my top recommended weight lifting supplements. You can click on each of them for more information: Creatine - This basically allows you to work out harder and longer resulting in more muscle gains. It has also been shown to help with protein synthesis.
Whey Protein - This is great to ensure you're getting enough protein in your diet each day. It's not so easy to get all your calories in each day. Whey protein powder gives you a quick and easy fix of protein when you need it.
Glutamine - Supplementing with glutamine can help keep your immune system in check and increase growth hormone levels.
Essential Fatty Acids - You can get these through products like fish oil capsules and flax seed oil. High quality fat sources like these are necessary to build quality muscle mass and produce optimum levels of testosterone in your body.
Multi Vitamins - When you work out in the gym your body will most likely need more vitamins and minerals than you can get through your diet alone. Supplementing with a multi-vitamin can speed up your recovery from a workout.Now you may be wondering, "Is that it?" Isn't there some fancy supplement out there that I haven't heard of before that will produce some amazing results?

Listen, many weight lifting supplements out there aren't much more than hype and fancy marketing.

Truth be told, many companies put more money into their marketing budget than they do their research and development budget because they know hype sells. Once you've bought the product, they've accomplished their mission.

So with this said, how can you tell which products will deliver and which won't?

If you do a bit of background research on a particular product before making your purchase, you can increase the chances of choosing one that will deliver and produce the desired effects it claims to.

Let me give you a quick guide as to what to look for when selecting your weight lifting supplements.

The very first thing that you'll want to have a brief look at is the background of the company that is producing the supplement. How long have they been in the industry? Have they had other best-selling products before or does it appear as though they have very few products to speak of?

Have they had any negative feedback in the media or is their track record pretty clean?

Some of this may take some digging around to find, but if you can do some reading up on them and how long they've been in the supplement game for, that can really put your mind at ease as to whether their products are legitimate.

If a company is brand new on the market, this doesn't necessarily mean their products won't work, but it does mean you need to be a little more leery of them.

The second thing that you'll want to look for when assessing weight lifting supplements is whether there are good user testimonials to go with them.

Have others found good results from them? If not, again, this throws up a red flag. If the particular supplement is brand new then that could be the primary reason for the lack of testimonials, but if it has been around for a while, you should be able to find something on it if it's worth the money.

Most people who do get good results from a particular supplement will speak up about it to give others awareness about the benefits it has to offer.

Likewise, if it has a slew of negative reviews, this really should make you think twice about the results it produces - or lack thereof as the case may be.

The next thing that you should check for when considering purchasing a particular supplement is if any research studies have been cited by the company during the research and development process.

Products that are backed by positive research have really proven themselves in the lab and it's more likely that when used properly with your diet and workout, it will lead to positive effects.

Supplements that have no research done on them or don't reveal any ingredients that have been included in research studies before are highly questionable and you should steer clear of these completely. It's hard to know with certainty whether those ingredients will bring about any of the desired results you're after.

If you do come across a supplement that has gone through extensive research processes, then you also want to take this one step further and see if you can read up on the research that was performed. As you read through the research, check to see if it was a sound study that was performed.

Was the sample size utilized relatively large? Research performed on a group of 5 people won't be quite as conclusive as research that was performed on a group of 50 simply due to the small sample size that was used.

Likewise, if there seems as though there could have been other variables at play influencing the results that were achieved, that also will make the particular ingredient studied more questionable.

Proper study procedures will be planned so that they are doing everything they can to minimize this so that's what you really want to be looking for.

Moving along, the next important thing that you'll also want to think about is the validity of the claims made by that supplement company in general.

Does the company promise that you'll gain 20 pounds in a month by using their product? If so, that immediately should throw up some red flags in your mind.

Even under the best of circumstances pure muscle gain will not happen this quickly, even if you were on steroids… So if that's their claim, they're out to lunch.

The best supplements on the market often have no claims whatsoever about the rate of weight gain you'll experience as the products simply are aimed at influencing one of the factors that goes into the process of weight gain.

Good companies realize that the rate of weight and muscle gains will be highly unique to each individual and what kind of weight gain program they're on. Therefore, a quality supplement company won't make any fancy claims stating otherwise.

So once you've done your background research and have found a few products to try out, it's imperative that you make sure you're using these correctly.

This means taking them at the appropriate times during the day as well as using them in a correct dosage. Don't think that just because you want faster results, this means you can double or triple your dose.

If you do that, all you're doing is putting yourself at risk for side effects. Always start off with the lowest recommended dosage and build up from there depending on the results you see.

That is the sure-fire way to see safe and effective results.

These are a few of the important points that you should be considering when looking at weight lifting supplements to add to your muscle building protocol. If chosen properly and used correctly, they can definitely help boost your rate of muscle growth.

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