April 1, 2009

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Bodybuilding Introduction

It is possible to trace back in history bodybuilding being done in the 11th century in India. In India they used stone weights to help them achieve bigger muscles and grater strength. Even the Greeks and Romans used special diets and exercise to build bigger muscles. You will notice in many of the Greet sculptures that the men are muscular and often have well defined abs. The bodybuilders of today can trace their sport well back into history.

As you can see ever since ancient times people have been eager to achieve greater strength and bigger muscles. Over the ages people have lifted weights and used special diets to help them achieve better bodies. Muscle building is not a new sport at all but a continuation of the quest to build the perfect body.

Bodybuilding is nothing more then the process of developing your muscles through diet, exercise and rest. This sport is nothing new but today we have developed special equipment, supplements and routines all designed to achieve the results we are after. Some people take up the sport with a desire to get into competition and others get into the sport to simply develop their own bodies for personal reasons.

Starting a bodybuilding workout program can be a bit intimidating. There is so much to know and everyone has their own option on how you should go about it. But like learning anything new you take it one step at a time so you can eventually understand this way of exercising.

As touched on early bodybuilding is not only lifting weights. Your diet is a huge part of the puzzle. You have to eat correctly and rest correctly before your workouts will produce muscle. But when you put all three together you will find yourself making progress.

Now you need to realize that in order for your muscles to grow you need protein. You need about 1 gram per pound of lean muscle. So as your muscle mass increases you will need to increase your protein in order to keep building muscle. A way to help you get enough protein is to use AST VP2 Whey as a suppliment to protin in your diet. Also you should get about 25 percent of your diet from healthy fats to keep things lubricated and provide you with energy for recovery and workouts.

You will discover that are hundreds of workout routines. This can be confusing but if you stick with basic routines that do not get all fancy splitting the body up on different days you will be okay. Stick with basic compound exercises to build good solid muscle.

It is time now for you to jump in and learn more and then just get started. Sure you will make mistakes along the way but learn from them and build your success as you go along.

February 24, 2009

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Proper Way To Grow Muscles For Teenage Boys

High school, most of us have many happy memories about it. Many of our most memorable experiences come from this carefree moment in our lives. And as each student prepare for this time of their lives, they also discover the joy of meeting the opposite sex. Teenage boys for one will do most anything to create a good impression and one of them is having a well chiseled body. This is when most teenage boys would think about working out and lifting weights.

Think about the time when you where a teenager? Do you continually compare muscle gain with some of your friends? It was that then and it is still that way now. In fact, it is more prevalent today as more teenage boys are becoming more conscious of their bodies. There is simply no denying it; gaining muscle is the in thing.

As a parent, it is wise to support this mentality, not only will your teenage son be able have a healthier body, they will also develop self confidence. The problem is, some boys would go take the easier route. They would take steroids or whatever to help facilitate the fastest way in gaining muscle; this will not help them at all, especially in the determination and motivation department. Parents are considerably accountable for showing the appropriate way to increase  muscles to their teenage children .

The best way to gain muscles would always be the tried and tested means, the proper diet and a rigorous and painstaking weight lifting workout regimen. A proper diet will be determined if your son is overweight or underweight. In the first scenario, your kid should lose weight first and eliminate body fat. Muscle building will follow suit after at least a significant weight loss is experienced.

This diet would mean eliminating fats and calories; just enough should remain for fueling muscle growth. In the latter, it is the opposite, a skinny kid should eat more but should have the proper intake so that body fat is not created, rigorous strength training should be done simultaneously to build up bulk, mostly of muscles.

It is not advisable to immediately push a teenage boy into a full intense workout as their body is still developing. They should be gradually introduced in the program to allow their body to adjust. Make sure also that they have sufficient rest as teenage boys are a bundle of energy. Redirecting this energy in a well planned workout program will allow them to maximize the use of their energy.

Most importantly though it is the attitude that should be set first before embarking on a gaining muscle journey. Teenage boys are easily distracted and they can easily forget that they are working on a goal. They must be determined to finish what they will be starting. With full commitment, they will be able to achieve success in gaining muscle in no time at all.

These are just some of the things one must consider when starting a program of gaining muscle. There are lots more, but most importantly, it is all about discipline. Having a healthy and great looking body works wonders to a person, especially to a teenage boy. On this fruitful journey nothing is there quite like the present time to keep the first step. So there you go.

February 22, 2009

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Finding Time To Pump Iron

How much time do you have to find to pump iron? Some folks say you need an hour or more in the gym lifting weights. However other people suggest you can get in and do a 30 minute workout. So how much do you need?

Bottom line every body is different. What creates great results for one person will not produce those kinds of results in your body. You have to test things yourself to see what it takes for you to get results. But many people have achieve great results from a couple 30 minute resistance training session each week.

In order for this to work you have to be willing to work very hard, and you have to work the major muscles of your body. That means the dreaded heavy lift. Yes, squats, dead lifts, bent over rows, bench press and shoulder presses if you feel the need. Shoulder press are optional due the work you get from holding the bar.

This kind of workout is intense and short and it is necessary that you take time between workouts to recover. This is not a volume approach to working out. This is a time efficient and effective way to build muscle. As with other weight training, you  need to get sufficient quantities of protein from food and supplements like a protein meal replacement drink. After any iron pumping workout your body needs nutrients if you want it to build muscle, and protein is an important part in the process.

A great way to get extra protein your body requires is with a meal replacement drink like AST’s Ny Tro Pro 40 which is a excellent meal replacement product that is packed with all the nutrition your body needs to built muscle.

Often this kind of training is referred to as HIT or high intensity training. Many folks swear it will not work and others do. Some people have been able to add 10 or more pounds of solid muscle in a month using this style of training. Does this mean you will be able to get awesome results? Who knows, remember you are unique.

The HIT system involves brief but intense workouts with no more then 4 or 5 exercises that are compound moves as described above. Perform each rep slowly, 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down in strict form. The rep range should be 8 to 12 and you want to reach failure on each set. This is the basics of a HIT routine that should not take you longer then 30 minutes.

One last point to clarify taking each set to failure; this is the point when you can no longer keep moving while maintaining strict form. If your form breaks stop the set. There is no point risking injury trying to do more by relaxing your form. ~ One final point to clear up questions regarding what failure means. Failure is when you can no longer move the weight while maintaining strict form. When you are unable to move the weight further using perfect form then you have achieved failure.

October 29, 2008

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Muscle Gain: Are Machines More Effective Than Free Weights?

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Free Weights vs. Machines

A lot of people debate about which one is effective when it comes to exercise and physical fitness and gain muscle mass. These people often debate whether machines are more effective for building muscles or free weights. Basically, barbells and free weights are classified as free weights. On the other hand exercises that have pulleys or cables to help you lift the weight are machines.

In order to build muscle mass, you need to focus more on free weight exercises. For all machine enthusiasts out there, you might rethink about which one is more effective. Free weights are indeed more effective for gaining muscle growth. Although the exercises here are a lot more difficult to execute because nothing is actually assisting you to employ the correct execution, this fact alone is why free weight exercise is much more effective.

When doing free weight exercises you are able to stimulate most of the muscle fibers as possible. This is impossible to do with a machine. Why?

Basically, machines lack in promoting stabilizers and synergist muscle development. Basically, these two muscles are what support the main muscles when you are performing a complex lift. For example, if you need to do bench presses, you need to be able to make use of the stabilizers and the synergist muscles in order for you to achieve lift. And, you need lots of it. If you bench press using a machine, it will not really need any assistance from the stabilizers as the machine itself is already supporting your main muscles.

Machines basically fail to stimulate the muscles around the area you are working on, which are the stabilizers. Just remember that in order for your main muscles to grow, the stabilizers should be strong. And, there’s only way to do this which is by doing as much free weight exercises as you possibly can.

Free weight exercises, such as squats, dumbbell presses, dumbbell fly, bench presses, bent over dumbbell row, and others put a lot of stress in the supporting muscle groups, which is why you get tired really fast doing free weight exercises. However, even if you do get tired really fast, you will gain more muscles and you will become a lot stronger at a very fast rate.

You can include machine exercises in your program but you need to do it after you execute all the free weight exercises. This way, you will be able to take advantage of the strength you have on free weight exercises and not deplete it on machine exercises.

If you are a beginner, concentrate on lighter weights. Your primary goal is not muscle gain yet. You first need to properly execute the free weight exercises you have in your program in order for you to move on to heavier weights.

Concentrate on strengthening the supporting muscles first and when it is able to support the weight you are lifting and that you are able to execute the free weight exercises properly, then it’s time for you to concentrate on the primary muscles.

Also, in order to gain muscle mass, you need to lift heavier weights. What heavy means is that weights that are challenging for you and weights that you will be able to lift with 8 to 12 repetitions for at least 3 sets. If you can do more than 15 repetitions before temporary failure sets in, then it will be considered as light weight.

Remember these tips and you can be sure that you will be able to gain muscles fast. Always remember that one of the keys to muscle gain is to strengthen the supporting muscles. And, only doing free weight exercises will be able to do this efficiently.

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