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8 Tips To Building Your Dream Body
Just like routines, this document is not intended to be a "one size fits all." Take from it what you will, but please remember that what is most important is your health and well being. In that light, consider the following list: 1. Before beginning any serious weight lifting or body building regimen, consult your physician. 2. Set your goals. Define what you expect to achieve with your new bodybuilding campaign within a realistic time frame. If you create goals that are unattainable you are setting yourself up for failure. You can become bored, disappointed and disillusioned to the point where you may give up. This is a very sad outcome to what might have been the best decision of your life. Don't sell yourself short. Set your long term goals, of course, but also set short term goals that are achievable. And, don't forget to reward yourself when you do achieve them. 3. Consider the costs. If you don't already have a budget, create one. Then, determine what amount of discretionary funds you have available for your bodybuilding program. This will determine whether you can afford to have a home gym or if your needs would better be served by joining a club. Joining a club is still a good short term introduction before spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment that might not be appropriate for your needs. 4. Don't forget some of the low cost alternatives to purchasing your bodybuilding equipment. If used equipment is still functional why spend the extra dollars just for a little glitz! Good, brand name used equipment is every bit as functional as something right off a showroom floor. 5. Consider combining a home gym along with a membership in a public facility. Purchase less expensive free weight equipment for use at home and join a gym to have access to the more expensive equipment. You can design your entire workout routines around a combination such as this. 6. Eat healthy! This can't be stressed enough. The only true bodybuilding aids are good nutrition. Consult a licensed dietician. Watch your local community calendar for free seminars on diet and nutrition. Learn all you can about what nature freely provides that can help you to develop a healthy diet. 7. If you choose to use dietary supplements, make certain that you know what you are putting in your body. Follow the packaging guidelines we outlined above. Ask your physician for his/her recommendations based on the regimen you have selected. No friend, coach or acquaintance can take the place of your physician. In fact, you may even investigate finding a physician who specializes in sports wellness. 8. Be kind to yourself. Yes, it's important to push to achieve your goals, but it's very easy to tip the scales in the other direction and create a nightmare for yourself.Obsessive, compulsive behaviors are not conducive to a healthy bodybuilding lifestyle. I wish you a healthy and happy journey on your road to weightlifting and bodybuilding. Put the suggestions and recommendations to work and you are well on the way to building the body you can be proud of! Tony Newton publishes the popular health and wellnesswebsite - http://www.1st-for-health.comWith lots of informative articles on low carb diets, hair loss, arthritis pain relief, acne and lots more.
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Reasons Why Leg Training Should Not Be Ignored As a modern weight lifter or body builder, I want you to picture something. Picture yourself as an extremely musucular person with very little body fat. Now picture yourself walking down the beach and everyone is staring at you. You think they are staring at your body because it looks like its etched in stone, but the real reason is your extreme lack of leg development, otherwise known as chicken legs. The Dangerous Secret of Extreme Muscle Growth You've decided to join a gym, but you're not sure the best way to work out, and don't want to pay for a personal trainer who may not really know what he's talking about? Already an experienced weight lifter, but aren't getting the results you want? Read on for the best tips for working out if you have a full gym facility, and the secret to extreme muscle growth.Before and AfterYou should always warm up before lifting any weights. This means a light jog or other low-impact activity that will raise your heart rate and raise your core temperature by a few degrees. This should last at least 5 minutes, preferably 10 or more. After this, you should do joint rotations. This is not a stretch, it is preparing the joint for work by encouraging blood flow. Then, do the resistance training. At the end, stretch all of the joints you have worked that day. Studies have shown that stretching before weight training actually reduces the muscle's capacity, and does not prevent injury as was previously thought. Stretching after the work out will protect the joint and prevent cramping.After working out you will also need an increased intake of protein because that is what muscles are made of.Length of TimeThe resistance training part of your workout should not last longer than one hour. After a warm up, your body is in an anabolic state, meaning that it is ready to "build up" or repair any damage you do to it by running hard or doing other hard work. However, after 45 minutes or so (again, this varies by individual), your body goes into a catabolic state, meaning that your body is ready to "break down" or eliminate anything that may threaten your survival. Entering a catabolic state is good for breaking down body fat and eliminating lactic acid from your muscles, but other tissues are equally damaged by being in a catabolic state. You should be mostly concerned about your kidneys and your muscle fibers that will be compromised if you continue to push yourself. I repeat: working out for more than one hour will hurt your muscles, not help them.The Isotonic WorkoutIsotonics is a fancy word for what traditional bodybuilders do: contract the muscle in order to move a load. In other words, lifting and lowering weights.As for the weight training itself, free weights are excellent because they make your body balance while lifting them. However, many people prefer nautilus machines for exactly the same reason: they feel safer not having to balance the weight. I will not give you weights, sets and reps to do, because there are a myriad of sources of routines written by all sorts of experts. I recommend you experiment with various programs, because although all muscles fundamentally work the same, everyone has different levels of hormones, different metabolism, and different levels of comfort. Pick up the latest fitness magazine of your choice for current work outs.The key to remember when following a routine is this: If you are told to do 10 reps for 3 sets, this means that you should select a weight that allows you to do only 10 in a row, but not 11. You will feel tired at around 6, maybe shake a little at 8, and just pump out the 10th rep with no energy left to do even one more. If you can do 11, then you shouldn't stop just because your routine says 10. Do the 11th and 12th if you can, knowing that you should be using slightly more weight the next time. At the end of each set, rest for about 2 minutes (unless your workout specifies something else) and then do your next set.The Eccentric ContractionMost people who write workout routines emphasize that you lower the weight slower than you raised it. This is partly for safety. But there is a big secret! But before getting to that, let's back-up a little. Concentric motion is flexing the muscle to SHORTEN it under load, and Eccentric motion is flexing the muscle while LENGTHENING it under load. As your arm moves up in a bicep curl, that is concentric, as your arm moves down, eccentric. Here is the secret: Your muscle can create more power in eccentric motions than in concentric ones. So always lower weights very slowly, to keep the maximum tension while lowering weights!But we can take that discovery one step further for ultimate results. Skip the concentric motion because it's holding you back! If you're only working out with weights that you can lift concentrically, you're not using the maximum power possible in your muscles.Warning: the majority of muscle injuries happen during the eccentric phase of motion, and by trying this exercise, you are exposing yourself to risk of injury. So be careful.You absolutely need a spotter for this, because you will need help to raise the weight. Load a bar with a bit more than you can lift. (If you can do 3 curls with 100 lbs, load the bar with 120 lbs.) With the help of your spotter, raise the bar to the top position of a bicep curl. Both of you will likely have to work a bit at this. Then, as slowly as you can, lower the weight to the normal starting position of the curl, with your bicep at full extension. This should take about 3-5 seconds. If your muscle goes slack or you drop the weight, you've put on too much weight. But if you've got the right amount, you should feel a burn like never before. After recovering for 2 minutes, you may want to do a second rep/set... aim for 3 if you can, but if your muscle is still burning and feels weak after two minutes, go on to a different muscle group.And that's it. One rep per set, 1-3 sets. One controlled eccentric rep will stimulate your muscle to grow more than 3 sets of 10 reps because you're using the maximum overload possible.Why? Muscle overload is key to adaptation. When you're using the absolute peak muscular output, it doesn't have to last long. And since the peak is only possible during eccentric contractions, only do eccentric contractions.I feel obliged to repeat the warning: always use a spotter, and only use weights that you can manage. If you are working out for the first time, get used to good form by doing traditional isotonics, and learn how much you can usually lift to determine your baseline. Also, some exercises are more dangerous to do eccentrically because the bar will fall on you if you go slack: bench-press, squats, military press, etc. For those exercises, use a "Smith Machine" where the bar travels on vertical tracks, and you can set safety measures to keep the bar from falling below a certain height.HydrationAlways remember while doing resistance training that water is your best friend. Drinking water will keep you from dehydrating, will keep your energy high, will encourage your body to cycle water and fluids throughout your body, and keep your joints healthy while exercising. The main cause of muscle cramps is insufficient hydration. For more information on the importance of Water, read the article all about it on my site.CautionFor the beginner: start easy. Start at your core and move outwards. Work big muscles before small muscles. Fat burning happens most in the largest muscles (legs and back), so encouraging them to grow will give you the fastest fat-loss results. After your first workout, you will be sore. It would be best to avoid going to your full overload potential the first week, to allow your joints time to adjust to your new activity. However, soon you will see growth, and best of all, you'll see the fat start to melt.The second-best resistance training (after eccentric contractions) does not even require weights, so you can do it at home without a gym membership. Read my article on the Weightless Workout on my site. Welcome Back Everyone! Ah summer time, it's one of my favorite seasons and it has everything to do with free time, sun and surf. Activities like volleyball, tennis, soccer, swimming, surfing, sprinting after curious children, playing frisbee with the dog, walking a mile to get a frozen yogurt or to find that lost flipper on the beach take precedence. All the ingredients that make exercise happen because, it's summer and it's fun. Planting And Nurturing Your Contacts And Resources The success level of your bodybuilding endeavors is highly determined by the contacts and resources that you posses and have access to, as well as these that you can offer to the world of bodybuilding. 3 Amazing Ways to Shape Up Your Muscles in Less Than 7 days! Imagine you need to look great to get all theattention at the biggest party of the year. The cloakhas already started ticking and you have got 7 days tofix yourself for the D-Day. If you can take out 15 to30 minutes in the next few days, you can be ready foraction. Choosing The Right Bodybuilding Supplement Before wasting your money on a pile of bodybuilding supplements you really need to work out what you are hoping to achieve. Don't lose sight of the fact that sound nutrition forms the basis of any muscle building program and no amount of supplementation with the latest and greatest products will make up for bad eating habits. The bottom line is, bodybuilding supplements should be used IN ADDITION to regular food, not INSTEAD OF it. Maximum Muscle Development with Chaos Training Chaos is the scientific study of orderly disorder. It offers a way of seeing order and pattern where formerly only the random, the erratic, and the unpredictable (viz., the chaotic) had been observed. If a rock cliff is inspected, with its many jagged and irregular patterns splitting off in all directions, it can be concluded that the rock's pattern appears the same whether looking at 100 square feet or 1-square inch of area. Hence, although the overall structure appears different, i.e. the divergences and measure of rock cut, the fragments that constitute the composition maintain close resemblance. Consequently, although chaotic in appearance, its nature is predictable and purposeful. Similarly, exercise can be very chaotic yet predictable, ever changing from one workout to the next but with direction... extreme variety coupled with standardization for purposes of sufficient measurement and comparison. Muscle Building Workouts at Home! Most people make an excuse that they don't have time to workout, they are too lazy to spend any time on workouts. Whatever time they are left with, they want to relax, watch TV or listen to music .Here are a few excesses that may just be a solution for you. These can be done while listening to music or during tv commercials. Strong To The Core of Your Being - The Benefits Of Core Training If you were to ask me which muscle group in your entire body you could work to get the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time, I would tell you without hesitation, "the core." Strengthening the core can realize tremendous benefits to anyone regardless of his or her training experience and can do so very quickly. 3 Biggest Benefits of Strength Training Strength training is exercise that uses resistance to strengthen and condition the musculoskeletal system, improving muscle tone and endurance. "Strength training" is used as a general term synonymous with other common terms: "weightlifting" and "resistance training." Physiologically, the benefits of consistent strength training include an increase in muscle size and tone, increased muscular strength, and increases in tendon, bone, and ligament strength. Lifting weights has also been shown to improve psychological health as well, by increasing self-esteem, confidence and self-worth. Ace Abs Without Crunches, Cradles, Or Sit-ups! I know what many of you are thinking reading the title of this article. I also thought the same once. It cannot be done! Attaining a stronger, visible, set of abdominal muscles has always been a common goal in people's fitness training programmes and yet, paradoxically, many (most) of these people never actually achieve this goal. Why my Lactate Threshold Training is better than any other Strength Training System It's a very simple training system. Consisting of using your body in space with simple counts. Music is optional. With every position and exercise your concentration is focused on alignment, form, breathing, pacing, contracting or relaxing. You can move easily and flow from one exercise to the next with no wasted time or effort. Because it flows so well, you can make it cardiovascular or take designated controlled strength training time breaks. Exercise The Right Way - The Standing Calf Raise Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuiders' training regimes. Machine Exercises That Suit Beginners The aim for beginners to weight training must be to lay the foundations for the intensive workouts that their bodies will eventually be subjected to. Obviously successful bodybuilding involves bringing together disparate elements such as nutrition and rest but choosing the right exercises is crucial. In this article we'll outline the machine exercises that will enable new bodybuilders to develop the general strength and body conditioning needed. Power Mass Training for Building Muscle Mass Many people believe you need to train with a variety ofweights and reps in order to maximize your muscle buildingprogress. I believe that you can find the appropriate repnumber for your muscles and it is best to stick with thatrange most of the time. Follow the Path of MOST Resistance! Why Weight Training Is The Fast Track To Sculpting Your Body Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body for the better quickly and permanently, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned weight training. Preliminary Isometric Tension Improves the Effectiveness of Dynamic Work by up to 20% Are you looking for a simple and effective way to increase your strength? This article will show you how to incorporate isometrics into your training regime to increase the strength of your favorite lifts. How These 3 Basic Elements Can Be Used To Boost Your Own Muscle Gains! The foolish idea that 'more is better' when it comes to bodybuilding goes directly against the basics of exercise science. When is comes to increasing your rate of muscle gains, more exercise is almost never what is needed. As I have mentioned already, once you have "stimulated" muscle gains by hitting the gym hard, any additional amount of exercise, will in fact, prevent any muscle gains from happening. Beach Body Abs With the return of warm weather in the spring, thoughts can never be too far behind of the approaching summer and the many wonderful outdoor activities that we'll often associate with it and among our top favorite summertime activities will always be the trip to the beach. Warm blue skies, refreshing ocean breezes, hot sand, cool waves and the many attempts at constructing the perfect sand castle; you can swear you're almost there just thinking of it. But that mental image just wouldn't be complete without also including images of hard, bronze bodies in attractive swimsuits soaking up the sun. Let's face it, attractive physiques will always be a top draw at the beach and the abs, or midsection, is the first thing that everyone notices. Barbell Exercises That Suit Beginners The aim for beginners to weight training must be to lay the foundations for the intensive workouts that their bodies will eventually be subjected to. Obviously successful bodybuilding involves bringing together disparate elements such as nutrition and rest but choosing the right exercises is crucial. In this article we'll outline the barbell exercises that will enable new bodybuilders to develop the general strength and body conditioning needed. |
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