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By admin, December 27, 2012 3:54 am

609

While developing muscular arms is usually at the top of many peoples?agenda, the reality is that the majority of lifters out there have a very poor understanding of how to properly train their arms for maximum gains.

muscle, muscle building, bodybuilding, fitness, health, body building, weight lifting
It’s no secret that every serious lifter out there desires an impressive pair of strong, muscular arms. Who wouldn’t be happy with tall, peaking biceps sitting on top of rock-hard, horse-shoe-shaped triceps? Who wouldn’t love to have a pair of ripped, well-developed guns forcefully bursting through the sleeves of their shirt? While developing muscular arms is usually at the top of many peoples?agenda, the reality is that the majority of lifters out there have a very poor understanding of how to properly train their arms for maximum gains. In order to gain the proper insight into effectively stimulating arm growth, we must first recognize three basic truths:

1) Relatively speaking, the biceps and triceps are small muscle groups.
2) The biceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pulling movements for the back.
3) The triceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pressing movements for the chest and shoulders.

What do these 3 points tell us about effective arm training? The most important thing for you to realize is this:

For maximum gains in muscle size and strength, the biceps and triceps require only a very small amount of direct stimulation!

So why is it that every time I enter the gym I see the same misinformed people, week in and week out, slaving away on endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions?

It’s very important to understand that the biceps and triceps receive a very large amount of stimulation from all of your chest and back training. In fact, a lot of the time when you reach muscular failure on a chest or back movement, it is actually your biceps or triceps that give out first! Couple this with the fact that your biceps and triceps are already small muscle groups to begin with and it becomes quite clear that direct arm training is of minor importance.

Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym. The work that you accomplish as you train with weights is merely the “spark?that sets the wheels of the muscle growth process into motion. The real magic takes place out of the gym while you are resting and eating, as this is the time when your body will actually be synthesizing new muscle tissue. Because of this, it is vital that you do not overtrain your muscles. You must always make sure to provide them with sufficient recovery time if you want to see impressive results. Overtraining can actually make your muscles smaller and weaker.

If you’re looking to achieve serious arm growth, you must stop placing so much emphasis on direct arm movements. Forget about performing endless sets of concentration curls and tricep pressdowns. Strong, muscular arms are mostly a product of heavy chest and back training. If you are able to accept this basic truth and place the majority of your focus on building up the muscle size and strength in your major muscle groups, you will prevent yourself from overtraining your arms and will therefore yield greater overall gains in bicep and tricep size.

This is not to say that no direct arm training is necessary, just not very much. Here is a sample arm routine that you can use as a part of your program:

Barbell Curls ?2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Dumbbell Curls ?1 set of 5-7 reps

Close-Grip Bench Press ?2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Cable Pushdowns ?1 set of 5-7 reps

Take all sets to complete muscular failure and focus on progressing each week by using slightly more weight or performing an extra rep or 2.

If you can incorporate this way of thinking into your arm training, you will achieve arm size beyond anything you previously thought possible!

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By admin, December 25, 2012 3:56 am

252

We all have to start somewhere so this article outlines the lifting exercises that are suitable for beginners with an emphasis on developing the chest muscles.

chest exercises, beginners, bodybuilding
The chest area is one of the easist muscle groups for beginning bodybuilders to strengthen and develop. It consists of a large muscle (pectoralis major) to either side of the breastbone and a smaller muscle (pectoralis minor) underneath. The pecs are relatively easy to develop in the early stages simply because they can be trained intensively although care needs to be taken to work them from different angles to ensure full development.

For beginners, three safe but effective exercises are recommended:

1. Incline dumbbell press – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. When you feel comfortable with the mechanics involved in this exercise you can move on to using a barbell instead, remembering to maintain proper form.

2. Incline dumbbell flyes – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. Done properly, this exercise is good for inner and outer pecs.

3. Push-ups – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. Keep your body straight from head to knees and lower your body until your arms form right angles. Done properly, the old fashioned push-up still offers benefits to the chest muscles.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your chest exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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By admin, December 23, 2012 3:51 am

418

Bodybuilders often reach a plateau which is frustatingly difficult to travel beyond. Introducing techniques that significantly raise exercise intensity can stimulate further muscle growth very quickly.

muscle building, bodybuilding, intensity
One of the biggest difficulties facing bodybuilders is how can they be sure that all muscle fibers have been recruited and exhausted during a given exercise and it is only by achieving this that muscle gains can be maximised.

The simple answer is, you have work beyond failure and experience a higher level of training intensity than before. This also ensures that workouts remain challenging and continue to engender progress over time thus reducing the likelihood of regression.

But how do you go about intensifying your training? Fortunately there is a tried and tested path to follow as outlined below:

1. Increase resistance – increasing the weight lifted in meaningful increments ensures the muscle is pushed beyond its previous point of failure thus maintaining the muscle building process. Aim to increase the weight when you reach six to eight reps and failure does not occur.

2. Change the exercise – to achieve maximal gains all muscle fibers in a body part must be trained. Changing the angle (e.g to incline bench press) or introducing a new exercise will stimulate growth.

3. Reduce rest intervals – giving the muscles less time to recover before exposing them to further work has the effect of increasing intensity.

4. Pre-exhaustion – when an exercise involves two or more muscles the weakest will prevent you from working the primary muscle to failure. The answer is to first isolate and tire the primary muscle before immediately moving to another exercise that works the set of muscles to failure.

5. Introduce supersets – this involves performing two exercises for the same muscle group without a rest interval. This means you have to utilize different muscle fibers which stimulate greater growth.

6. Use partial reps – at the point of failure you will not be able to complete the full range of movement for a given exercise. Completing a partial rep that uses only a segment of the lift will still work your muscles beyond the point of failure. This technique is especially useful to advanced bodybuilders as it allows them to increase intensity without adding extra routines that could cause overtraining.

7. Use isometric contractions – this involves holding the weight still at the point of failure to stimulate a static contraction in the muscle.

8. Employ forced reps – this involves completing one or more final reps after the point of failure has been reached. You will need the assistance of an experienced helper to attempt this.

Once you have added these techniques to your training regimen you’ll know you’ve done your best to maximize muscle growth.

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By admin, December 21, 2012 3:44 am

532

Do you want a quick, simple and instant way to increase the amount of weight you can lift on virtually every back exercise you perform? Sound too good to be true? I speak the truth, my friend, and the reality is that if you aren’t utilizing this basic piece of gym equipment you’re missing out on some serious muscle size and strength gains.

muscle, muscle building, bodybuilding, fitness, nalewanyj, body building, weight lifting
Do you want a quick, simple and instant way to increase the amount of weight you can lift on virtually every back exercise you perform? Sound too good to be true? I speak the truth, my friend, and the reality is that if you aren’t utilizing this basic piece of gym equipment you’re missing out on some serious muscle size and strength gains. What tool am I talking about?

A pair of lifting straps!

This is such a basic and highly effective piece of equipment yet so many people neglect to use them. For those of you who are unaware, these are basically a set of thick straps made of extremely strong material that are placed around your wrists and then wrapped around the barbell, dumbbell or cable attachment. The purpose of lifting straps is to “eliminate?your grip from the equation by forming a secure connection between your wrist and the weight. If you use these straps properly you can basically hold onto the bar and perform your exercises while expending almost no energy from your forearms.

Why is this so valuable?

Picture this scenario…You’re performing a set of deadlifts (arguably the most powerful muscle-building exercise known to man) with the goal of performing 8 reps. You psych yourself up, grip the weight and clear the bar from the ground. The set is going well, but by the time you reach rep number 5, the strain on your grip is so great that you can no longer hold onto the bar. You’re forced to stop the set because your forearms reached muscular failure.

What exactly happened here?

Well, you gave yourself an amazing forearm workout! Congratulations! Unfortunately you severely limited the amount of muscle stimulation you could achieve on your back, shoulders, legs, and just about every other muscle in your body that the deadlift targets in the process. This is not a good thing!

Lifting straps completely eliminate this problem by making sure that you reach muscular failure in the major muscle groups that you are intending to target rather than on your forearms and grip. They can be used effectively for almost every back exercise or any other lift where the grip is of concern.

The main argument against lifting straps is the idea that they are a “crutch?and will negatively affect the development of grip strength and forearm size. Let’s get real here. What would you prefer, greater muscle mass and strength in your lats and upper back (and just about every other muscle group on your body) or greater ability to crack open a jar of pickles? Take your pick.

The positive effect that lifting straps will have on your overall muscle mass and strength gains will far outweigh any negative effect that they have on your forearms and grip. Besides, you can easily incorporate specific forearm movements into your routine to develop your grip strength and forearm size. If you aren’t using lifting straps already, get on it! You can find them at almost any store that sells sports or fitness equipment or you can order them online. They sell for about 10 or 15 bucks and are well worth the price!

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By admin, December 19, 2012 3:42 am

859

After many years of spending hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars, after getting sick on them, and after seeing NO KIND OF RESULTS from them, many have finally realized that they are WORTHLESS. Yet, many are still confused if the supplements that are sold as “Meal Replacements”, “Weight Gainers”, “natural supplements”, and “amino acids” have some good use in substituting for some WHOLE FOODS.

how to gain weight, build muscle mass, muscle weight gain
Copyright 2006 Jonathan Perez

After many years of spending hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars, after getting sick on them, and after seeing NO KIND OF RESULTS from them, many have finally realized that they are WORTHLESS.

Yet, many are still confused if the supplements that are sold as “Meal Replacements”, “Weight Gainers”, “natural supplements”, and “amino acids” have some good use in substituting for some WHOLE FOODS.

Surely you see them in just about every other page in every-single bodybuilding / fitness magazine. Everyone at the gym uses them.

Go to any grocery store and they have them there too. Yes, even you have probably used them and / or are using them right now………

Shakes and supplements.

Many different “meal replacement” powders and shakes, also known as RTD’s, are sold as being a substitute for a real, whole food meal.

The makers claim that they are “just as good, if not better, than eating a real meal”.

They claim to have higher amounts of protein, lower amounts of sugar, and add in ingredients such as BCAA’s, Glutamine, Creatine, HMB, CLA, so on and so forth.

They claim that your muscles need a high amount of this and that, and that you can’t get those from just eating the right foods. …..

That’s what the makers claim.

First off, no supplement that is out on the market right now will build any kind of real, permanent muscle on your body, none!

Not creatine (which makes you gain nothing but “water weight”), not glutamine, not HMB, not NO2, not any one of them.

If you are skeptical, perform a test on yourself:

For one month, don’t change anything about your training routine or your eating habits.

Measure your arms, your chest, and your waist with a measuring tape and fat calipers.

Take one supplement, and only one. Use it for that month.

Then take your measurements again.

I guarantee you that your measurements will reveal that your arms or chest didn’t get any bigger or vascular, regardless of what the weight scale says.

Yes, some people report gaining 8-10 pounds of weight after one week of using creatine, but are those 8-10 pounds muscle? No!

They are made up of water and / or fat. The measuring tape and fat calipers will reveal that to you.

So, when a meal replacement shake or powder advertises that it is better than eating whole food because it contains all of these extra “muscle building ingredients”, don’t be fooled.

Even if it actually contains those ingredients, they don’t work anyway!

Second, meal replacements claim to have a certain amount of protein grams, carb grams, and fat grams.

Well, lately there have been several analysis done on many popular supplements, and it has been discovered that many of them do not contain the amount of ingredients as printed on the label!!

Just a while back a report was written that a popular “protein bar”, that claims to taste like Snickers, contained up to 7% less amount of protein than the label claims.

And it contained much more sugar than stated.

Many of these makers “skim” on the ingredients to bring the cost down of making those supplements, while lying on the nutrition labels, just to make a bigger profit!

Third, the price.

A meal replacement powder can cost you up to $3.00 PER PACKET, while it would probably cost you $1.00 or less if you were to eat the same amount of calories from real food.

I don’t know about you, but I rather keep my money in my pocket.

Fourth, and probably the most important out of all, is that powders and shakes contain many ingredients that are down-right harmful to your internal body.

In order to make these “meal replacements” into powders and to be able to be stored for long periods of time (for shipping and sitting on the store shelves), many chemicals and preservatives must be added.

What do you think happens when you are constantly putting into your body foreign chemicals and preservatives, substances that are not from nature.

Your body does not handle well those types of unnatural substances.

Instead of making you gain muscle, all you will get is a BLOATED STOMACH, DIARRHEA, and EVEN FAT, since your body doesn’t digest it well.

How many times have you drunk a protein shake and 30 minutes later you start to get “gas”?

That’s your body’s way of telling you that it cannot handle that shake.

Also, “meal replacements” DON’T contain vital nutrients that are a “must-have” if you want to grow a healthy physique, such as vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, enzymes, etc.

These powders don’t have any of those things.

Don’t believe me, read the nutrition labels.

On the contrary, whole foods are natural, they contain all of the vital nutrients that your body requires to get big and strong, they are much less in price, and they won’t cause you to go running to the nearest toilet.

Without a doubt, if you want to gain muscular weight, forget about those disgusting-tasting meal replacement powders and shakes, and eat real whole foods, just like our ancestors did back before the supplement industry came along with all of their lies.

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By admin, December 17, 2012 3:46 am

667

Many people looking to gain muscle weight can become very confused when they read and hear all of the conflicting information that’s spread on TV, magazines, the internet, and diet books. One of the most misunderstood techniques is the low carb diets that have been very popular in the last several years.

gain muscle, how to gain weight, build muscle mass
Copyright 2006 Jonathan Perez

Many people looking to gain muscle weight can become very confused when they read and hear all of the conflicting information that’s spread on TV, magazines, the internet, and diet books.

One of the most misunderstood techniques is the low carb diets that have been very popular in the last several years.

The popular belief lately is that sugar (carbohydrates) should be kept to moderate to low levels in your eating, even if you are trying to build muscle mass and / or gain muscle weight.

The reason for this is because of the recent popularity of low-carb diets, such as The Atkins diet, The Southbeach diet, The Zone diet, etc.

Even in bodybuilding magazines all of a sudden everyone and their mother is recommending to keep carbs in your diets almost to a minimum.

Well, the misconception that sugar is somehow “evil” and will cause you to get fat, raise your bad cholesterol, and even lose your “insulin sensitivity” is based on several MYTHS that have been passed around by the media and “monkey see, monkey do” nutrition and exercise “gurus”.

One of the main misconceptions is that eating carbs will cause a sharp rise of insulin in your blood, which supposedly causes your body to store fat.

A lot of this is based on the incorrect belief that you should avoid eating “high GI (glycemic index)” foods, and to mainly get most of your carbs from “low GI” foods.

Basically, the Glycemic Index is a chart that was developed years ago that measures how much of a rise in insulin a certain food causes in the blood once digested.

To put it simply, the higher the GI number is, the higher and quicker it makes your insulin rise.

(For some odd reason that’s NOT based on any real, conclusive evidence. People seem to think that raising your insulin levels is “bad”).

Well, in 1981, researchers at the University of Toronto were the first to accurately notice that “simple” carb foods (having a high GI) actually produced a smaller increase in blood sugar than most “complex” (or low GI) foods (everyone today thinks the opposite is true, of course based on what they read in the latest “how to gain muscle weight” article)!

In fact, eating table sugar (sucrose) actually causes a smaller increase in blood sugar than eating foods such as baked potatoes and whole wheat bread.

Foods containing added sugars do NOT have a higher GI than foods containing naturally occurring sugars.

In fact, you really can’t count on the “GI” much at all!!!

Why?

Because the Glycemic Index does NOT take into account the differences in variety, ripeness, processing, or cooking foods, which have a huge impact on how that particular food affects your insulin levels, even if you are trying to gain muscle weight.

Also, the fat content of food also has an affect on insulin: foods that are high in fat have a lower GI, like peanuts, which only have a GI of 14.

In addition, there some foods that have a high GI number, but don’t affect your insulin levels at all……..like carrots!

Carrots have a GI of 95 (which is pretty high), but don’t try to tell me that you’ll get fat, get diabetes, etc., from eating carrots!!!

Bodybuilding magazines, supplement companies, and the internet spread myths to all of us seeking to build muscle mass, only leading us to NO RESULTS!

I guarantee you that if you are desperately trying to gain muscle, if you go on a low carb diet, not only are you not going to build any muscle weight, but you are actually going to get smaller than what you are already are.

If you are trying to eat your way to a leaner, more defined, more sculpted you, there is NO NEED TO BREAK DOWN YOUR EATING DOWN TO ALL KINDS OF RATIOS or PERCENTAGES.

Regardless of what type of foods you eat and in what combinations, “IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE CALORIES”!

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By admin, December 15, 2012 3:59 am

230

The only way to stimulate maximal growth in any muscle is to work it to failure. This article explores this contention and concludes that muscle failure is a core concept in achieving meaningful muscle gains.

muscle building, bodybuilding, training to failure
You can only build muscle tissue if you can generate progressively stronger muscular contractions, so this calls for an emphasis on finding ways to increase exercise intensity. This should not be confused with exercise duration as maximum training intensity will actually shorten the time needed to achieve maximal muscular growth.

In an earlier article I outlined the ways in which you can intensify your training. Here we’ll focus on the role that training to failure has to play in intensifying the training effect.

Anything less than maximum effort will reduce the effectiveness of your muscle building workout. The only way to force an optimal reaction in any muscle is to train it to failure – in other words, no matter how much effort you put in you are simply incapable of completing one more rep of a given exercise.

Too many people seem to finish a set when they reach a certain number of reps, but the body will only show significant change if you ask it to do something extra. Only by passing through the break-over point of momentary muscle failure will you stimulate the muscle to grow.

Anyone starting out on their bodybuilding career should not attempt this method of training as it could lead to serious injury. Spend several months perfecting exercise form and conditioning the body to lift heavier weights before gradually introducing training to failure.

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By admin, December 13, 2012 3:51 am

631

Every now and then I catch myself stuck in the same routine and my workout starts to get a little boring. Here are just a few things that I do to put a little variation into my workouts to keep them interesting, and keep me going back to the gym.

workout, fitness, workout routine, split routine, palm grip, triset, workout split
Every now and then I catch myself stuck in the same routine and my workout starts to get a little boring. I know this is starting to happen when it gets easy to miss my regular workout. Recently, I noticed this had happened when I easily talked myself out of going to the gym for almost 2 weeks straight. Obviously, something needed to change. So here are a few ideas that I use from time to time just to spice up my workout. Give them a try, and I’m sure you’ll find some new excitement to your workout as well.

Change your Grip!

This is a small change compared to most of the others you can do, but one way to spice up your workout from time to time is to change the way you’re gripping the bar when doing barbell or machine exercises. One of my favorite grips is the palm grip. In fact, I’ve read several articles from fitness trainers and other professional athletes that suggest that on exercises like the bench press, you should only be using a palm grip.

So what is a palm grip? Let’s use the bench press as an example for the palm grip. Many of us have been guilty of using a standard grip on this exercise, myself included. A standard grip would be where you wrap your hand around bar as if you were holding a baseball bat. If you want a more effective bench press, try not wrapping your thumb around the bar. You might think that you’ll lose some stability by doing this, but I’ve never had that problem. You might have to bend your wrist a little more to compensate, or lower the weight just a little bit. The main benefit to using a palm grip on this type of exercise is that by putting your thumb in this position, you are reducing the amount of effort that your forearms will put into the exercise. Therefore, you chest and tricep muscles will have to work even harder to do the lift. Try this, and I’m sure you’ll notice a difference the next time you perform a bench press.

Try Trisets!

You’ve probably heard of super sets, where you do two exercise consecutively without resting in between. Have you ever tried doing three different exercises? This works extremely well with bicep exercises. The benefit to doing a triset with a bicep workout, is it allows you to hit the bicep really hard in three different ways. Here’s an example of a bicep triset: standing barbell curls, hammer curls, reverse barbell curls. You’ll also notice in this sequence that you have to change your grip with each set of the triset. This is the best way to utilize a triset. Here’s an example of a triset with triceps: straight bar cable push downs, rope cable push downs, reverse cable pushdowns. Again, the key here is to change the grip on each exercise. Give these a try, and I’m sure you’ll feel a new pump in whatever body part you utilize them with!

Change you Split!

Have you been following the same split routine for two long? Has your split routine consisted of chest and triceps, back and biceps, or something similar for several months? Try reversing your split or doing a 5 day split instead of a 3 day split. Do chest and biceps, back and triceps just to mix it up a little.

These are just a few basic ideas, but its always a good idea to mix up your routine on a continual basis. That way you can keep your body guessing and growing to adapt to the changes in stress that you place on your muscles.

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By admin, December 11, 2012 3:57 am

744

Have you been going to the gym regularly for months and haven’t been able to put on any serious poundage?

excercise,food,muscle
Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you been going to the gym regularly for months and haven’t been able to put on any serious poundage? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to take a step back and make some plans. Building muscle is not rocket science. There are four key factors that will mean the difference between building muscle or staying skinny. You have to ask yourself these four questions.

Is my diet optimized for building muscle?

It’s time to get out of the ? meals per day?mentality. If you want to gain (or lose) weight you need to feed your body whole foods, six times per day. This means splitting your large meals up and eating about once every three hours. Not only is this good for your metabolism, but your body will use the foods instead of storing them as fat.

Your six meals per day should consist of mainly complex carbohydrates and protein. You should aim for at least thirty grams of protein per meal. High protein foods include lean meat, chicken, fish, egg whites, cheese and milk products. Complex carbohydrates are found in brown rice, brown bread and potatoes. Stay away from foods high in salt and sugar

Should I be using supplements, and when should I be taking them?

If you can afford supplements you should be using them. The basic three you should be considering are protein, carbs and creatine. Whey protein supplements are the fastest known way to deliver quality protein to your muscles. This makes shakes particularly effective after your workouts, when your body is craving protein for muscle re-growth.

There are three key times that supplements should be taken. First thing in the morning, after your workout and before bed. If your diet is up to scratch you shouldn’t need supplements at any other time. Don’t use supplements to replace meals. Supplements are supplements, not meal replacements.

Am I training hard and not smart?

The biggest mistake the new lifters make is thinking that the more they workout the bigger they’ll get. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Two basic rules you must remember when it comes to weight training. First, quality is better than quantity. Second, compound exercises are the kings of building muscle.

Compound exercises require at least two joint movements. Big compound exercises are the squat, bench press, wide grip pull up and seated row. These movements recruit many more muscles fibers to use to move the weight. This means more muscle groups are worked, the exercise is more challenging and the potential for growth is much greater.

Generally you should be doing three compound exercises for one isolation exercise. For example your back/biceps workout might consist of wide grip pull ups, seated row, bent over row and standing bicep curl. You might think this is not enough work for your biceps? Wrong. Your biceps are worked heavily in all over these exercises; the bicep curl just finishes them off.

The length of any training session should not exceed one hour. And you only need to train one muscle group once per week. This means a split routine should only need to be three days per week. In fact, most professional bodybuilders only train four times per week. Remember, it’s quality not quantity.

Do I get enough rest and recovery time?

When you workout you’re not building your muscles, you’re breaking them down. The reason why you looked “pumped up?when you’re in the gym is because your muscle tissue is swollen and damaged. Your muscles actually grow when you are resting. So in simple terms, no rest equals no muscle growth.

So take it easy when you’re not working out. Ease up on the cardio. And make sure you get plenty of sleep. Sleep is the body’s number one time for building muscle. This is also why it’s important to eat before bed, so your body has the fuel to repair muscle in your sleep.

Simple isn’t it?

So you can see that despite what you read in magazines or on the web about building muscle, it’s surprisingly simple. If you get the four aspects I have mentioned in this article right, you will build muscle. If you’ve got any questions, I’m available on the forum on my site. See links in my bio.

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By admin, December 9, 2012 3:42 am

249

We all have our favorite exercises for each body part but sometimes it is useful to look at our training program from a different perspective. This article outlines a couple of familiar back exercises with a slightly different twist.

muscle building exercises, back
Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That’s how it should be – as you progress through the various stages of learning you’ll understand what works best for you. It is useful, however, to take stock of your progress every so often and carry out an analysis of where you are and what changes, if any, are needed to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this analysis should include an assessment of the core exercises that make up your bodybuilding training program. In this article we’ll look at the back exercises that have proven their worth to serious bodybuilders for many years. Where appropriate a series of exercises suitable for achieving pre-exhaustion will be presented. All exercises should be performed to failure with one set of six to eight reps.

1. Lat machine pulldowns – this exercise has been chosen because it allows you to isolate the lats and rest the biceps for the compound exercise to follow.

- Take a shoulder width grip.

- Pull arms towards the thighs keeping the arms straight.

- Pause.

- Return the bar slowly to the starting position.

2. Pulldowns – you can move straight on to this exercise if you are sufficiently experienced. Using the same machine, take an under hand grip because this will make better use of biceps strength thus maximizing the effects of the workout.

- Take a shoulder width grip.

- Pull bar to the chest area.

- Pause.

- Return the bar slowly to the starting position.

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By admin, December 7, 2012 3:53 am

373

We all have to start somewhere so this article outlines the lifting exercises that are suitable for beginners with an emphasis on developing the muscles of the lower body.

lower body exercises, beginners, bodybuilding
The lower body contains some of your biggest muscles which are capable of bearing significant weights. The temptation for beginners to go for broke by performing heavy squats should be resisted. To begin with you should concentrate on building the muscles safely by using machines that isolate muscle groups. The squat is an excellent compound exercise that trains numerous lower body muscles but it is one you should learn properly after spending three months strengthening the individual muscles that will be utilized later.

The muscles of the lower body can be divided into five groups:

1. Quads – this is the big muscle group consisting of four muscles at the front of the thigh. These are the primary muscles used when performing exercises such as squats, leg press, lunge and leg extension.

2. Hamstrings – these are the main muscles at the back of the thigh. These are the primary muscles used when performing leg curls.

3. Gluteals – these are the muscles that make up the buttocks.

4. Hip flexors – these are the small muscles at the front of the pelvis that allow you to raise your legs to the front.

5. Calves – these are the two muscles found in the lower leg.

For beginners these muscles should be exercised as follows:

1. Leg press – 1 set of 10-15 reps. This is a useful exercise for the quads but it also works the hamstrings and glutes to a lesser degree.

2. Leg extension – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This is a useful exercise for adding definition to the quads.

3. Hamstring curl – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise isolates the hamstrings.

4. Standing calf raise – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise works the gastrocnemius muscle.

5. Seated calf raise – 3 sets of 10-15 reps. This exercise works the soleus muscle underneath the gastrocnemius muscle.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your lower body exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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By admin, December 5, 2012 3:53 am

601

Stop wasting your time in the gym doing practically useless exercises like shrugs, leg extensions, leg curls, bicep curls, tricep presses, etc. Instead, if you really want a rock-hard functional body, focus on exercises that stimulate full body changes, instead of trying to isolate a single muscle group. Read on and find out more.

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Working as a fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:

“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice ?abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”

It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it. My first response to this question is always ?Why in the world would you want to isolate it?

The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement. In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing. However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.

When you attempt to ‘isolate’ muscles by performing single-joint exercises, you are actually creating a body that is non-functional and will be more prone to injury. Essentially, you are creating a body that is a compilation of body parts, instead of a powerful, functional unit that works together.

Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts. On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation. Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters. Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.

Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones like growth hormone and testosterone.

Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the body (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises.

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By admin, December 3, 2012 3:52 am

249

We all have to start somewhere so this article outlines the lifting exercises that are suitable for beginners with an emphasis on developing the abdominal muscles.

abdominal exercises, beginners, bodybuilding
The abdomen contains the muscles that most beginners struggle with because they take a long time to develop and need a low level of body fat to be seen. The abdominal muscle group consists of three main muscles:

1. Rectus abdominis – commonly known as the abs, this is a large flat muscle wall that runs from the lower chest to the pubic bone.

2. Obliquus abdominis – commonly known as the obliques, this muscle runs diagonally along the side of the mid-section from the lower ribcage to the pubic area. The internal obliques lie underneath the external obliques.

3. Transversus abdominis – this is a thin strip of muscle that runs horizontally across the abdomen.

You can target these muscles effectively by performing the following exercises:

1. Crunches – 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the upper abs.

2. Pelvic tilts – 3 sets of 15-20 reps.This exercise will target the lower portion of the abdomen below the navel.

3. Side bends – 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the obliques.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your abdominal exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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By admin, December 1, 2012 3:59 am

360

Like methandrostenolone (Dianabol), oxymetholone does not bind well to the androgen receptor (AR), and most of the anabolism it provides is via non-AR-mediated effects. It is therefore a Class II steroid and is best stacked with a Class I steroid. The drug appears to give the same benefits as dianabol. Unlike Dianabol, however, it seems that oxymetholone is progestagenic.

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Like methandrostenolone (Dianabol), oxymetholone does not bind well to the androgen receptor (AR), and most of the anabolism it provides is via non-AR-mediated effects. It is therefore a Class II steroid and is best stacked with a Class I steroid. The drug appears to give the same benefits as dianabol. Unlike Dianabol, however, it seems that oxymetholone is progestagenic. It has been observed to cause nipple soreness or to aggravate gynecomastia even in the presence of high dose antiestrogens, strongly suggesting that the effect is not estrogenic. That effect can be reduced by concurrent use of stanozolol (Winstrol), which is anti-progestagenic. This
progestagenic effect of oxymetholone is only a concern when using aromatizing steroids. With androgens such as Primobolan, oxymetholone stacks very nicely and is a surprisingly friendly drug. In contrast, with testosterone it is a very harsh drug.

Oxymetholone does not convert to estrogen, and thus antiestrogens are not required if no aromatizable AAS are being used. However, in concert with aromatizing drugs, oxymetholone is notorious for worsening “estrogenic” symptoms, possibly by producing progestagenic symptoms which the bodybuilder
confuses as estrogenic, or by altering estrogen metabolism, or by upregulating aromatase.

Compared to what bodybuilders expect of it, the drug is reasonably mild when no aromatizing steroids are present. I consider its potency approximately comparable to Dianabol. It is not unusual for a first time user to do quite well on an oxymetholone-only cycle, but more advanced users will want
to stack with another steroid. Typical use is 50-150 mg/day, which should be divided into several doses per day.

Because oxymetholone is 17-alkylated, it is stressful to the liver. It is better to limit use to no more than 6 weeks or preferably four weeks before taking a break of at least equal length. Many users feel that it is more effectively used in the beginning parts of the cycle, rather than in the last few weeks.

Trivial name Oxymetholone
Systematic name 5-alpha,17-beta-Androstan-3-one, 17-hydroxy-2-
(hydroxymethylene)-17-methyl-
CAS number 434-07-1
ATC code A14AA05
Merck Index Number 7036
Chemical formula C21H32O3
Molecular weight 332.477 g/mol
Bioavailability 95%
Metabolism Hepatic
Elimination half-life 9 hours
Excretion Urinary: 95%
Pregnancy category X
Routes of administration Oral

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By admin, November 29, 2012 3:47 am

652

Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate): 200mg vials 2ml – 100mg/ml is the most popular steroid – injectable or oral. Results versus side effects – it remains number 1 steroid – especially for beginners or recreational users. Norma Deca is a favorite of the majority of user and used as a base on almost every cycle.

buy deca durabolin, sustanon, winstrol, dianabol, anabol, andriol, cynomel, cytomel, side effects, information on steroids www.shrenksonlinepharma.com
Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate): 200mg vials 2ml – 100mg/ml is the most popular steroid – injectable or oral. Results versus side effects – it remains number 1 steroid – especially for beginners or recreational users. Norma Deca is a favorite of the majority of user and used as a base on almost every cycle – Nandrolone decanoate works especially good in stack with sustanon and dbol – for aplication in cycles check out CYCLES part of the homepage. Durabolin is highly anabolic, moderately androgenic, has minimal liver toxicity and almost never aromatizes, it is used as a part of bulk as well as cut cycles. Deca is used by almost all athletes, with great results and almost no side effects. Nandrolone decanoate is also known to fix sore joints and tendons – sore shoulders, knees, elbows and back are without pain on a Deca Cycle. Deca Durabolin also speeds up the recuperation time between workouts and improves nitrogen retention.

Deca’s only drawback is that nandrolone decanoate metabolites have been known to show up on a steroid test up to 12 months after the last injection. World class sprinters Linford Christie and Marelene Ottey obviously ignoring this fact have tested positive to nandrolone decanoate.

Description
Publication Date: August 9, 1999 by Bill Roberts –

This drug is unique (so far as I know) in that 5a -reductase, the enzyme which converts testosterone to the more-potent DHT, actually converts nandrolone to a less-potent compound. Therefore this AAS is somewhat deactivated in the skin, scalp, and prostate, and these tissues experience an effectively-lower androgen level than the rest of the body.
Therefore, for the same amount of activity as another drug at the androgen receptors (ARs) in muscle tissue, Deca gives less activity in the scalp, skin, and prostate. Thus, it is the best choice for those particularly concerned with these things.

Its effectiveness at the androgen receptor of muscle tissue is superior to that of testosterone: it binds better. Yet, it gives only about half the muscle-building results per milligram. This I think is a result of its being less effective or entirely ineffective in non-AR-mediated mechanisms for muscle growth.

It also appears less effective or entirely ineffective in activity on nerve cells, certainly on the nerve cells responsible for erectile function. Use of Deca as the sole AAS often results in complete inability to perform sexually.

These problems can be solved by combining with a drug that does supply the missing activity: e.g. testosterone. Nandrolone is proven to be a progestin. This fact is of clear importance in bodybuilding, because while moderate Deca-only use actually lowers estrogen levels as a consequence of reducing natural testosterone levels and thus allowing the aromatase enzyme less substrate to work with, Deca nonetheless can cause gyno in some individuals. Furthermore, just as progesterone will to a point increase sex drive in women, and then often decrease it as levels get too high, high levels of progestogenic steroids can kill sex drive in male bodybuilders, though there is a great deal of individual variability as to what is too much.

Incidentally, this progestogenic activity also inhibits LH production, and contrary to common belief, even small amounts of Deca are quite inhibitory, approximately as much so as the same amount of testosterone. To some extent, nandrolone aromatizes to estrogen, and it does not appear that this can be entirely blocked by use of aromatase inhibitors ?indeed, aromatase may not be involved at all in this process (there is no evidence in humans that such occurs) with the enzyme CYP 2C11 being in my opinion the
more likely candidate for this activity. In any case, Cytadren, an aromatase inhibitor, has not been found effective in avoiding aromatization of nandrolone.

The drug is moderately effective at doses of 400 mg/week. The long half-life of nandrolone decanoate makes it unsuited to short alternating cycles, but suitable for more traditional cycles, with a built-in self-tapering effect in the weeks following the last injection.

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By admin, November 27, 2012 3:50 am

457

A well-planned exercise routine will not only help you replace fat with muscle, it will help you gain strength and flexibility.

bodybuilding
A well-planned exercise routine will not only help you replace fat with muscle, it will help you gain strength and flexibility.

A bodybuilding exercise plan also improves bone strength, and lowers blood pressure. Whether you are a professional bodybuilder or you just enjoy hitting the weights hard at the gym, setting a goal for your bodybuilding exercise plan will help you achieve maximum results. Remember to make your goal challenging but be realistic.

Plan a routine that will help you reach the goals you have set. You may choose to plan on paper or on computer; whichever method you chose in planning your bodybuilding exercise goal, state your goal in a positive, precise way. It is best to choose performance-oriented goals instead of outcome-oriented goals. You can only control your own bodybuilding exercise goals, you have no control over other peoples routines, so don’t make you goal winning a competition. You might make your goal to gain a certain amount of muscles mass, or lose a specific amount of body fat. This type of goal works whether you compete or not.

Planning before you begin helps you get organized and stay focused. Putting it in writing makes it more formal, and more likely that you will stick to the plan. You should include short-term goals that help lead to your main long-term goal. Breaking down your main goal into smaller goals makes it easier to stay on your bodybuilding exercise routine.

Set a deadline for achieving your main goal. Without a deadline it can be easy to put off your bodybuilding exercise routine. Keep track of each workout you complete successfully. Plan on rewarding yourself once your long-term goal is met.

The most important step in planning is to include a proper warm-up period. Warming up reduces the change of injury and improves your performance. Warm up exercises of your bodybuilding exercise could include an aerobic activity such as treadmill walking, stepping, rowing or stationary cycling, or it could be arm circles, knee bends and shoulder circles. A third alternative is to lift light weights with a high number of reps.

The next step of your program will be tailored to the specific goal that you have set or area that you want to improve. If your goal involves your legs plan a bodybuilding exercise that works your legs, such as barbell squats or leg presses. Choose specific exercises that will increase your chest, like the barbell press, if that is your goal.

Perform each exercise carefully to avoid injury. To build mass, do fewer reps but include more sets and heavier weights, Rest at least 1 minute between sets. Another important part of your bodybuilding exercise plan is to eat properly and drink plenty of fluids.

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By admin, November 25, 2012 3:45 am

228

Let’s break down and simplify this important aspect of bodybuilding. You basically need to understand three things about nutrition: ……

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Let’s break down and simplify this important aspect of bodybuilding. You basically need to understand three things about nutrition:

? The main purpose for each of the three macronutrients: Protein, carbohydrates, and fat
? The “right?ratio, or the “correct?percentages, of protein, carbohydrates, and fat that your food should be divided into in order to meet your bodybuilding goals
? The number of calories you should consume to meet your specific physique-enhancement goals

Good nutrition seems much easier when it is broken down and you look it at from that perspective, doesn’t it? But what do the three macronutrients do for our bodies? What ratio of our food should be allocated to protein, carbohydrates, and fat? How do I determine how many calories I should eat? I’ll answer those questions-and a whole lot more.

Those questions about nutrition provide a wide range of answers that are not necessarily easy to find. But, with experimentation, patience, and persistence , you’ll eventually figure out what’s best to help you reach your personal goals. Unfortunately, there are no easier ways around this fact. There are no magic numbers, solutions, or formulas that I, nor anyone else, can give you to make the process effortless-no matter what you are told. These answers not only vary from person to person, they also can vary within the very same person during different periods of time.

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By admin, November 23, 2012 4:06 am

308

Many people these days take antioxidants to counter the detrimental effect of free radicals. Antioxidants mopped up free radicals and convert them into harmless substances. Free radicals are known to cause body cell decomposition and therefore are the main culprit in our aging process. Free radicals are linked to aging diseases such as cancer and heart problems besides making us age more quickly. Since free radicals cause our cells to decompose, then free radicals will also d…

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Many people these days take antioxidants to counter the detrimental effect of free radicals. Antioxidants mopped up free radicals and convert them into harmless substances. Free radicals are known to cause body cell decomposition and therefore are the main culprit in our aging process. Free radicals are linked to aging diseases such as cancer and heart problems besides making us age more quickly. Since free radicals cause our cells to decompose, then free radicals will also degenerate our muscle cells.

Staying clear of situations that cause a surge of free radicals to surge is one way of prevention and taking antioxidants as a supplementation is another. There are many situations that will increase free radical activities such as sun burn, stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, pollution, exercise workout amongst others. Yes, we get a surge of free radicals when we exercise especially intensive exercises because we are putting our bodies under tremendous stress when we exercise. These muscle destroying activities will continue for hours and even days depending how intensive your exercises are.

This is where antioxidants supplementing comes in. Since antioxidants neutralize free radicals, it helps your muscles to recover faster and stop the ravaging effects of free radicals on your muscle and thus allowing better muscle growth.

So if you want your muscles to recover faster and want to grow bigger muscles after your workouts, supplementation with antioxidants may help. There are many antioxidants supplements in the market. Vitamin A, C and E are perhaps the better known free radical fighters out there. Some other excellent free radical scavengers are Green Tea extract, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Beta Carotene etc

So our mums although may not have known about antioxidants and its effect of free radicals on our body was right when they insisted that we take our vitamins. Do protect your muscles and general health with antioxidants.

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By admin, November 21, 2012 3:45 am

317

This article examines the role of whey protein in helping bodybuilders to achieve significant muscle gains.

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Most bodybuilders would agree that supplementing with whey protein is an important element in achieving serious muscle gains. This article will examine the facts relating to whey protein as a supplement and help you decide whether you need to follow this particular strategy.

Whey protein is produced during the process that sees milk turned into cheese. It is also found naturally in dairy products, eggs, soy and vegetable proteins but none of these compares in quality to whey protein powder. It also scores highly in providing the branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s) that are important in the building and retention of muscle.

Whey protein is highly favored by bodybuilders because it provides the necessary building blocks to produce the amino acids that the body uses to build lean muscle tissue. Many studies have shown that whey protein contains the perfect combination of amino acids, in just the right concentration for optimal performance in the body. It is also thought that whey protein has a role as an anti-oxidant and immune system builder.

It is best taken in powder form mixed in juice or milk, spread throughout the day to maintain a positive nitrogen balance. Serious bodybuilders often consume up to 150 grams each day but as a rule of thumb, daily protein intake for active trainers can be calculated by taking your weight in pounds and multiplying by 1 or 1.5. But remember, you need to work out how much protein is taken from food and other sources, and then spread the remaining whey protein balance over the day.

Whey protein is a relatively safe supplement but no more than 30 grams of protein should be taken at one sitting as excessive single doses could overload the liver. The safety of whey protein has been well documented in many scientific studies and there is clear proof that taken consistently, coupled with regular exercise, it will result in meaningful muscle gain.

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By admin, November 19, 2012 3:47 am

358

Contrary to what many would expect, this compound is actually only a weak agonist of the androgen receptor (AR), with poor binding. It follows, then, that its value must mostly come from non-AR-mediated effects. It is therefore a Class II steroid. Since it is not very effective in activating ARs, it should be stacked with a Class I steroid that is effective in this regard, such as Primobolan

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Contrary to what many would expect, this compound is actually only a weak agonist of the androgen receptor (AR), with poor binding. It follows, then, that its value must mostly come from non-AR-mediated effects. It is therefore a Class II steroid. Since it is not very effective in activating ARs, it should be stacked with a Class I steroid that is effective in
this regard, such as Primobolan, Deca Durabolin, or trenbolone acetate. There is no point in stacking it with Anadrol? which has similar activity — one ought to simply use the more appropriate drug. With testosterone or Deca, Dianabol is to be preferred; with Primobolan or trenbolone acetate, Anadrol?is to be preferred (though Dianabol is still a good choice) because Anadrol?does not aromatize. For an oral-only cycle — something I don’t recommend — Anadrol?is the better choice in my opinion for that also, at 150 mg/day (preferably divided to 3 or 6 doses.)

Methandrostenolone converts to estradiol via aromatase. The amount of this conversion may be reduced by use of Arimidex, or less preferably Cytadren (see previous articles discussing dosage and dose pattern.) Or if the conversion is allowed, Clomid may be used to block adverse estrogenic effects.

Irreversible hoarsening of the voice has been seen in some women from very few tablets of Dianabol: one per day for a few weeks. For this reason, in the 1960s doctors decided to end what had been a fairly common practice of prescribing this drug at one tab per day to women as a “tonic.” It is not a good choice for the woman who chooses to use anabolic steroids.

The usual dosing for men is 25-50 mg/day in divided doses, preferably four or five doses. The drug is 17-alkylated and so use should be limited to no more than 6 weeks, and preferably no more than four weeks, with at least an equal amount of time off.

Trivial name Methandrostenolone
Systematic name 17?hydroxy-17?
methyl-1,4-androstadien-3-one
CAS registry number 72-63-9
ATC code A14AA03
Merck Index Number 5978
Chemical formula C20H28O2
Molecular weight 300.435 g/mol
Bioavailability
Metabolism Hepatic
Elimination half-life 6 hours
Excretion Urinary:
Pregnancy category X
Routes of administration Oral

Comments (0)

By admin, November 17, 2012 4:12 am

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In 7 SECONDS you can develop new muscle tissue. That mean in less than 4 hours a year you can develop a whole new body adding anything from 12 ?25 lbs of muscle on to your frame while substantially reducing your body fat.
An Introduction to Isometrics

In 7 SECONDS you can develop new muscle tissue. That mean in less than 4 hours a year you can develop a whole new body adding anything from 12 ?25 lbs of muscle on to your frame while substantially reducing your body fat.

A statement like that seems unrealistic. Fantastic – a figment of a delusional comic book writer explaining how a superhero became incredibly strong. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. I though the same and I’m approaching it form the cynicism of a seasoned fitness instructor and personal trainer.

There’s just one little, teeny-tiny problem though. It’s possible. More so that that it’s a reality for thousands of people everyday.

And no, they’re not on steroids or drugs or part of military experiment creating super soldiers. They are everyday people like you and me. They hold down 9-5 jobs and don’t have time for exercise between the kids and mortgage payments.

So how are they doing it?

The answer is Isometrics and I’m going to explain what Isometrics is and how you can start doing it as you read the rest of this article. That’s right. By the time you have finished this you will have completed two exercises, the first to trim and tone your waistline the second to tone and firm your chest.

Ready ?

Isometric Abs

1. Sit up tall and straight in your chair.
2. Breathe in deep and suck in your stomach as hard as you can.
3. Now tense your stomach hard as though bracing for a punch ?still keeping it sucked in
4. You feel that tightness, a slight quiver in the muscles? Good, that’s the start.
5. Breath out tightly making an SSSSSSSSS sound. You’ll feel your abs getting tighter.
6. As you breathe out crunch your abs really hard rotating your pelvis upwards and your rid cage inwards.
7. Breathe all the way out
8. Relax

How did that feel? If you did it right it should feel great. Yours abs will be warm, worked, feel relaxed and slightly tired. Now do it again and repeat until you’ve finished this article. Your abs will be tighter, firmer and more toned tomorrow morning then they are right now. Diligent practice of this one exercise will tighten and tone your stomach faster than 1,000 sit ups.

Now to give you something entertaining to read as your tighten and tone your stomach here’s the fascinating and scintillating science behind Isometrics.

Iso (meaning the same) and metric (meaning distance) is a method of tensing the muscles without moving the angle of the joint they are connected to. The abs exercise above is an example of this. So is pushing against an immovable object. Try as hard as you can, tense every ounce of muscle fibre against something that can’t move, you’ll feel you’ve done great workout and in many ways you have!

Back in the old school days of physical culture, the Victorian era’s introduction to bodybuilding and strong men Isometrics was all the rage. Skinny weak sickly kids turned to tensing their muscles in a specific way and transformed themselves into well toned living Greek Statues, strong enough to press grown men over their heads with one arm. Their feats of strength astonished the men of the time and women marvelled at their physiques. Okay, they couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, or hold back a locomotive but they could easily walk up walls lift horse over head and in one demonstration lift a platform on top on which ten men were standing.

One such guy was Maxick. Maxick, born Max Sick was a very weak child from birth and was not supposed to live. But he fought on and survived. A young Max once saw a strong man at the circus and determined to be as strong as the Greek Hero Hercules (their equivalent of Superman). So little Max started lifting weights.

Fortunately his parent soon put an end to this ?as he was too weak and fragile to take the strain. Still determined Max began to experiment with his body. Tensing his various muscles as hard as could and learning to control each one individually. Soon Max started to get stronger, more muscular.

One day in his teens Max went in to a local gym, too young to join he just watched. Then on invitation from one of the chief physical culturists (an old school name for bodybuilders) tried to lift a weight. Of course they were expecting Max to fail and have a good laugh at his expense. Max out-lifted the strong man.

People were stunned. Max became a local celebrity in his home time, demonstrating feats of unbelievable strength and muscle control. He could make his muscles jump and dance with a simple thought. And lift seemingly impossible weights.

He travelled to England where he developed a reputation as being incredibly strong. It was here he teamed up with fellow strong man Saldo and developed his Isometric Training system called Maxalding. You didn’t lift weights; you did Isometric Exercises where you tensed and relaxed your muscles, just like your abs.

How are they doing by the way? Pretty tired? Okay give it a rest. Instead let’s try this one for the chest.

Isometric Hand Press

1. Stand tall and straight
2. Hold your arms out in front of your chest
3. Make a slight bend at the elbow, creating a triangle from the wrist to the elbows
4. Press your palms together
5. As you do so concentrate on making your chest as tight and hard as possible.
6. After a few seconds you should feel you’re chest and arms shaking all over ?this is the muscles tiring as they work really hard ?this is Isometrics.
7. Hold this Position for 30 seconds.
8. Slowly release ?this is important, after intense contraction your body needs time to unwind.

Now how does that feel. Repeat it ten times as you scroll down.

The Maxalding system was an early whole body Isometric Training system. His students got stunning results, and they weren’t the only ones. Years later, a man named Charles Atlas achieved phenomenal fame as the Worlds Most Perfect Man while promoting an Isometric System he called Dynamic Tension. It’s still around.

However time advances, people on the look out for new fads move on and Isometrics was forgotten until recently. With a new fitness and physical culture renaissance approaching people are turning back to the old methods. And science is discovering some amazing things.

Like it only takes 7 Seconds to stimulate new muscle growth.

That said, there is one small detail ?it has to be incredibly intense stimulus. Isometrics just happens to be the most intense exercise in the world and in a little as 7 seconds you can completely exhaust your muscles. The wonderful thing is it doesn’t matter what your current level of fitness is, because the force you generate while doing Isometrics is in direct proportion to your current level. You can’t really go too far. Isometrics is also incredibly safe because it does not require any weights (except at very advance levels) making it ideal for rehabilitation, seniors and everyone else too busy to get to the gym.

If you’ve followed the directions in this article you will have just worked out two of the biggest muscle groups in the body, the chest and the core muscles of abs. In future articles I’ll explain a little more about some of the specific benefits of Isometrics and give you some more exercises, as well as reveal how it blowtorches fat, and strengthen your digestion system, your internal organs and even reverse the again process. For now enjoy, the feeling of a firm toned waist and a lean powerful chest. Practice these two techniques every second day and remember to breath correctly.

If you can’t wait for the next article and need to know how to get in the best shape of your life RIGHT NOW, check out my website ?the largest online resource dedicated to Isometric Training ?http://www.isometric-training.com/article1

Your Isometric Expert and Personal Trainer,

Paul J.O’Brien

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By admin, November 15, 2012 3:48 am

867

When it comes to muscle building exercises and planning workouts I like to keep things simple. In this article I will explain the 3 core exercises and why you should be doing them in your routine.

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When it comes to building muscle I like to keep things simple. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of hot new products and exercises that promise to be the next best thing in muscle building. Theses fancy exercises and products use long “scientific like?words and explanations to show you they work to build the most muscle.

In this article I am going to get back to basics. I am going to show your three muscle building exercises you can’t afford not to do and why you should be doing them. These three exercises are the grass roots of building muscle and are essential for any serious training program.

You might find it hard to believe, but with these three exercises alone you can pack on a serious amount of muscle. I refer to these exercises as the “core?to any good program. When I start planning I muscle building program for a client I always start with these three basic exercises and build the program around them.

3 core muscle building exercises:

Squat
The squat is the biggest exercise for packing on serious poundage. There’s no argument about it. The squat is primarily a leg building exercise. You start the exercise with a barbell resting across your shoulders standing straight up. Then bending at the knees and hips you lower the barbell down until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor. And then push the barbell back to the starting position.

The main muscle groups pulled into action for the squat are your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. Secondary muscle groups include the lower back, adductors and to a certain extent your shoulder muscles. As you can see many muscle groups are recruited for this exercise making it the biggest exercise and biggest potential muscle builder.

Like all the core muscle building exercises, you should make the squat the first exercise you do on your leg training day. Because it’s the biggest exercise you want your legs to be fresh and ready. If muscle building is your goal, aim for about 8-12 reps on the squat. Because you’ll be lifting heavy weights a good warm up is vital. Squatting is very stressful for the lower body, especially the knees, so 5-10 minutes on the treadmill and some lights squats first up are recommended.

Bench Press
The bench pres is the king of upper body building exercises. For years the bench press has been used to measure a lifter’s strength. How many times have you been asked “how much do you bench??I bet you’ve never been asked how much do you squat or how many chin ups can you do.

The bench is a simple yet extremely powerful exercise that targets the entire chest (pectorals), front shoulders (deltoids) and triceps. To perform a bench press you must lie on your back on a flat bench, grip the barbell at slightly wider than shoulder grip and press the bar straight down to your chest.

The bench press is the biggest upper body builder because it allows you to move the most amount of weight possible. This is its advantage over the dumbbell press. With the help of a spotter you can also push yourself to lift heavier weights. There are also other advanced bench press techniques like board presses, bench press negatives and chain presses. See our link at the bottom for more details.

Wide grip Chin Up
If you were only going to do one exercise to work your back this would be it. The wide grip chin up is the ultimate test of a lifters power to weight ratio. This muscle building exercise is very demanding on the body.

The wide grip chin up primarily hits the lats, but also targets the entire upper back, biceps and forearms. To execute this exercise you need a chin up bar or assisted chin up machine. Hold the bar in a wide grip (greater than shoulder width) with your palms facing away from your body. Start in a “hanging?position with your arms fully extended. Pull yourself up until your can get your chin over the bar and lower back to starting position.

Most people will not be able to do wide grip chin ups without some lat/back training first. You can use the assisted chin up machine or lat pull down machine to strengthen your lats before attempting wide grip chin ups. This is the most demanding back exercise you can do so it must be the first exercise in your session.

When you should be doing these exercises

Like I mentioned previously in this article, these exercises are the biggest muscle builders and also the most taxing on your body so they must be done at the beginning of your workout to get the maximum benefits. I recommend that you do up to 5 sets on each exercise and vary the way you perform these sets each week. For example, the first week you do pyramid up sets, the second week you pyramid down and the third week you do straight sets. This keeps your muscles from getting accustomed to your routine. Good luck packing on some serious pounds!

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By admin, November 13, 2012 3:48 am

612

There is more to building muscle than weight training. Learn exactly what you need to build muscle and see real results.

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1. Building muscle has a lot to do with genetics.

If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame then most likely you will have the same traits. This doesn’t mean you have no chance of building a strong muscular body. It just means you are going to have to work hard.

2. Your metabolism has an effect on your size.

If you have difficulty gaining weight whether it’s fat or muscle, then you most likely have a fast metabolism. Your body is burning calories faster than you can consume them.

3. There is no universal weight training program that is going to get massive results for every individual person.

The best way to find a program that works for you is to find someone who had the same type of body as you before and start walking their walk. There are certainly standard exercises that will build muscle but there is more to building muscle than weight lifting.

4. More training doesn’t mean more muscle.

This is one of the most difficult concepts for many to grasp. The purpose of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth?that’s all. Once that has been done, your muscles need to repair and new muscle needs to be built which only happens when you are resting.

5. Isolation exercises aren’t going to get you big fast.

The best exercises to put on the most amount of overall size are multi-muscle exercises. These are exercises that require more than one muscle or muscle group to get the job done. These lifts put the most amount of stress on your body. This is the stress that will shock your nervous system into releasing the greatest amount of muscle building hormones.

6. Free weights build muscle quicker.

Free weights are preferred over machines because they make your body work harder. They require greater concentration and allow the stimulation of supporting muscles. Machines are good for beginners to help with form and basic control, but limit the effectiveness of the exercise.

7. No Pain, No Gain.

Lifting the same weights over and over isn’t going to get you big. In fact it will do the exact opposite.

To build muscle you need to go heavy. This stimulates Type IIB muscle fibers which cause the most amount of muscle gain. Lifting heavy is when your body fails after 4-8 reps.

8. Long training sessions are a NO-GO

The idea is to stimulate muscle, not hit it from every angle possible. This is only a concern for developed body builders looking to tone muscle. Long training sessions cause catabolic hormone levels to rise dramatically. Catabolic hormones are responsible for breaking down muscle tissue resulting in MUSCLE LOSS. Your weight training sessions should go for no longer than 60-75 minutes maximum.

9. You don’t need aerobic activity to lose fat.

The time spent running or swimming is muscle building and recovery time lost. Building muscle is the fastest way to lose fat. Aerobic activities will help you lose fat but not so if you are on a high calorie mass diet for building muscle.

10. 3 square meals a day isn’t going to help you build muscle.

Eating is an important part of muscle building. You need to eat more often and eat more protein. You should be eating roughly every 2.5 hours which is about 6 meals per day. Spreading your meals throughout the day will improve muscle assimilation, and make sure that your body always has the calories it needs for muscle building and repair.

For more information on weight training and to meet others like you looking to make a difference to their physique, then head on over to http://muscle-body.com

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By admin, November 11, 2012 3:45 am

532

Image starting your strength training routine knowing you are about to begin the most effective, efficient workout routine possible. Being on a weight lifting workout routine that gets you in and out of the gym as quickly as possible with maximum benefit is what everyone should be aiming for.

weight lifting, bodybuilding workout, muscle building tips, strength training
After twenty plus years of celebrity fitness training in Beverly Hills, California, I would like to share with you my top six, most effective, weight lifting tips. If you follow these tips, you will know you have accomplished the maximum in the least amount of time.

Here are the six best muscle building workout tips I have discovered throughout my years as a celebrity fitness trainer. Please note: consult with your physician prior to taking part in any exercise program. Each individual has their own specific medical history, and overall objectives.

1. Use Multi-Joint Exercises

You will want to incorporate weight lifting exercises that work more than one muscle group at a time. Two or more joints are moving throughout a
particular strength training exercise. Performing an exercise like this will utilize a greater amount of muscle fibers, thus stimulating growth, as well as burning more calories. Examples of such multi-joint exercises are the chest press, leg press, leg squat, pulldown, and shoulder press. These are all very effective exercises leading to greater muscle development.

2. Focus on Form Before Weight

While lifting weights, it is important to focus on form. Let the particular muscle do the work, not momentum, or other muscles you are not targeting. You goal is to fatigue a particular muscle to its absolute maximum. It is not important to impress someone else in the gym with the weights you are lifting. Focus on working the muscle!

3. Repetitions Should Be Slow and Controlled

Eliminating the external force, momentum, is the key. Once again, let the targeted muscle do the work, and nothing else. Zone in on that particular muscle. You should concentrate on moving the weight using a cadence of two seconds positive motion, and four seconds back (negative). Please remember, this is weight lifting, not weight throwing.

4. Proper Rest Between Workouts Is Critical

Make sure your weight training workouts are high enough in intensity to stimulate muscle tissue growth, and have the proper rest between workouts to allow this growth to occur. The average amount of rest between workouts is 2-10+ days depending upon the intensity level. You shouldn’t feel tired, and sore before your next workout, but eager to conquer the weights.

5. Don’t Do Too Many Sets

Too many sets will put you in an over-trained zone. All you need is one, all out, set to momentary muscle failure in order to stimulate optimal muscle growth. Anything more is counter productive. However, light warm up sets are fine, and necessary.

6. Track Your Progress

Without tracking your workouts you will not know where you are, and where you need to go. Be a mad scientist and track your workouts. The information you gather will tell you more about yourself than a muscle magazine will.

If you want the most effective, efficient weight training workout, then follow these six simple tips to maximum muscle development.

*** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners ***
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine, Blog, Autoresponder, or on your website as long as the links, and resource box are not altered in any way. Thank you!

Jim O’Connor – Exercise Physiologist / The Fitness Promoter

Copyright (c) – Wellness Word, LLC
9461 Charleville Blvd. #312
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
1-866-935-5967

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By admin, November 9, 2012 3:45 am

312

This article outlines the factors that should be considered before choosing bodybuilding supplements.

bodybuilding, supplements, build muscle
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.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go on to think about what supplements could be of use and this is something that can only be determined by your physical and performance goals. Don’t make the mistake of copying your training partners or believing all the garbage spouted in magazine ads. Decide first what you want to achieve and then choose the supplements that will help you reach your goals.

To help you make an informed choice, the most popular and useful bodybuilding supplements available today are listed below, broadly divided into two goal-related categories.

Determined to build muscle? This cannot be achieved without dedication, sheer hard work and sound nutrition. With a solid foundation in place you can help the process along with supplements like creatine, whey protein, prohormones, testosterone boosters and amino acids.

Need to lose fat? There is no point in building awesome muscles if they’re covered by layers of fat. Once again, the key to success is hard work but you can boost fat loss by using products from supplement categories that include fat burners, stimulant-free products, appetite suppressants and carb blockers.

Many more supplements are available to support your bodybuilding endeavors. These include energy boosters and products aimed at enhancing the condition of your mind and body. As we progress through this series of articles we’ll look at each of these in turn.

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By admin, November 7, 2012 3:58 am

565

There comes a time when all aspiring bodybuilders have to leave their introductory exercise program behind. This article outlines what steps must be taken to enter the more intensive world of intermediate bodybuilding.

bodybuilding, muscle building, intermediate
By now you’ve made significant progress in your bodybuilding career. For the past three to six months you’ve learnt how to perform the core lifting exercises in a technically correct manner. You’ve also conditioned the body and developed sufficient core strength to prepare yourself for a whole new level of intensity. Hopefully you’ve also built some rock solid muscle! But that’s only the beginning.

In recent weeks your workouts have probably lost some of their effect so, even though you’re lifting bigger weights, your muscles now need even greater stimulation to generate maximal growth. Don’t expect miracles though – from this point onwards, every little bit of improvement will take even greater and more intensive work than before.

Because you’ll be working your muscles more intensively, they’ll also need more recovery time to adapt and grow and that’s why you’ll be reducing your workouts to three a week. Each primary muscle group trained will now need one full week to recover. After being used to whole body sessions and more workouts per week it may seem as if you’re not doing enough but the point is, you’ll be working your muscles very, very intensively and making better use of your time.

As you gain more experience you’ll be able to tweak or re-design your basic muscle building program to suit your own individual needs, but the program described here should provide a useful starting point. What I’m proposing is basically a 3-split of the body on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

MONDAY (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)

1. Chest Exercises

Incline dumbbell press – this is a compound exercise that targets the chest but also works the triceps and shoulders to a lesser extent.

Pec-deck flye – this is an isolation exercise that works the pectorals.

2. Triceps

Dips – this compound exercise targets the triceps but also works the chest and shoulders.

3. Shoulders

Front military press – this compound exercise targets shoulders but also works the triceps.

Dumbbell lateral raises – this isolation exercise works the shoulders only.

Bentover dumbbell laterals – this isolation exercise works the rear delts.

WEDNESDAY (Back, Biceps, Forearms)

1. Back

Front lat pulls – compound exercise that targets lats but also works the biceps and mid-back.

Deadlifts – compound exercise that targets the back and quads but also works hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Dumbbell rows – compound exercise that targets mid-back but also works biceps and lats.

Dumbbell shrugs – isolation exercise that works traps.

2. Biceps

Dumbbell biceps curl – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

Dumbbell hammer curls – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

3. Forearms

Barbell wrist curl – isolation exercise that works the forearms.

FRIDAY (Lower Body)

1. Legs

Squats or leg press – compound exercise that targets the quads but also works the hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Leg extension – isolation exercise that works the quads.

Leg curls – isolation exercise that works the hamstrings.

Standing calf raise – isolation exercise that works the gastrocnemius calf muscle.

Seated calf raise – isolation exercise that works the soleus calf muscle.

You could start this program by aiming for two sets of 8-10 reps per exercise but as your strength and size increase you should really introduce techniques that boost the intensity even further. This can be achieved in a number of ways including the use of pre-exhaustion, super sets, partial reps, isometric contractions and forced reps. These techniques are covered in detail elsewhere in this series of articles.

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By admin, November 5, 2012 3:48 am

634

In every gym that you go to, you will see people pumping their biceps. Biceps along with the pecs and abs are sometimes called vanity muscles because they are the most visible and therefore commands the most respect. Invariably, when you ask someone to show you his muscles, he will probably flex his biceps.

Before we discuss biceps development, I want to point out that the biceps make up only one third of your upper arm with triceps the other two-thirds. So to have an impr…

big biceps, big triceps, free fitness tips, lose fat, build muscles fast, male pageants,
In every gym that you go to, you will see people pumping their biceps. Biceps along with the pecs and abs are sometimes called vanity muscles because they are the most visible and therefore commands the most respect. Invariably, when you ask someone to show you his muscles, he will probably flex his biceps.

Before we discuss biceps development, I want to point out that the biceps make up only one third of your upper arm with triceps the other two-thirds. So to have an impressive arm, you must build your triceps too or the effort on your biceps will not show good results. Many people fail to realize this and that is why you see them doing curls after curls without much improvement. We will touch on triceps exercises in another article. For now, let’s talk about biceps.

Here are some exercises that will blast your biceps. Most of you would have done some or all of these exercises. The question I am asking is, are the exercises done in the correct form and techniques because if they are not, you will most likely be wasting your time as your biceps will not grow to its full potential. Perform each exercise for 3-5 sets once or twice a week and at reps between 6-10, but make sure that at the high end of the reps, you will not be so fatigued that you can’t perform another rep in good form.

a) Standing Barbell Curl/ EZY Bar

You can perform this exercise with either a straight bar or an ezy bar. This is a great mass building exercises for your biceps.

Stand with feet shoulder width apart and grasp the bar with an underhand grip, hands should also be about shoulder width apart. Curl the bar up slowly focusing intensely on the biceps contraction. Do not swing or use momentum to curl especially at the later stages when your biceps get weaker. Never swing or move your body, only your arms are moving. Keep your elbows locked to the side of your body and do not pivot them.

Then lower the weight, taking 3-4 seconds resisting the weight on the way down to emphasize the negative part of the exercise. Never let gravity pull the weights down.

At all times, do not curl or bend your wrist which must always be in a straight neutral position.

b) Incline Dumbbell Curls

This exercise will hit different fibre in your biceps and gives you the peak bicep look.

Sit back on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand, keep your elbows well forward throughout the movement, curl the weight upward and toward the shoulder level. Then squeeze your biceps hard at the top position. Lower the weights again, slowly under full control. The speed and techniques are similar to what was described earlier.

c) Preacher Curl

Similar to barbell curl but using the preacher curl station. This is an excellent bicep peaking isolation exercise.

d) Hammer Curl

Hammer curl gives your biceps the full look and your forearms are also working hard.

Similar to incline dumbbell curl except you will be using the hammer grip on the dumbbell like holding a hammer knocking nails in and standing up instead of sitting down.

e) Build Biceps Tips

Focus on the movement of your biceps all throughout the motion. Don’t lift weights that are too heavy that will compromise your form and techniques to show off.

By slightly turning and squeezing, you’ll build more peak on your biceps. Like all exercises, pose and stretch the biceps between sets. This is to flush out lactic acid and help your biceps recover better for the next set.

Remember to change the order of the exercises you perform after 6-8 weeks to shock your biceps into new growth and watch those arms grow!

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By admin, November 3, 2012 3:46 am

230

This article examines the role of growth hormones in helping bodybuilders to achieve significant muscle gains.

hgh, human growth hormones, bodybuilding, supplements, muscle
Many experts feel that supplementation with growth hormones offers exciting possibilities to adult bodybuilders, especially those aged over thirty. They should not be taken by anyone aged under twenty. In the past growth hormone was available only in injectable form but recent years have seen the development of HGH precursors and more advanced delivery systems. The most popular means of taking growth hormone boosters today include sub-lingual spray, homeopathic pills and capsules containing HGH secretagogues.

That’s all very well, but do these supplements have any place in bodybuilding? To answer this, we’ll need to look first at what growth hormones actually do.

Human Growth Hormone is responsible for the regulation of insulin, protein synthesis, transportation of amino acids across cell membranes and fat metabolism. Clearly, these are processes that are of relevance to serious bodybuilders. Users have reported higher energy levels, enhanced libido and greater cardiac output. In addition, superior immune function, lowering of blood pressure and improved cholesterol levels have been documented. Add in other potential benefits like improved sleep, shorter recovery times, quicker regeneration of damaged muscles and you can begin to understand why some experts are excited by the possibilities offered to bodybuilders.

No adverse side effects have been reported when used as directed but persons aged under twenty should not use growth hormone boosters without consulting a health care professional familiar with HGH therapy.

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By admin, November 1, 2012 4:08 am

320

We all have to start somewhere so this article outlines the lifting exercises that are suitable for beginners with an emphasis on developing the arm muscles.

arm exercises, beginners, bodybuilding
Most people new to bodybuilding pay a lot of attention to building big arms, sometimes to the point of overtraining. Don’t forget, the arm muscles are brought into play during most exercises aimed at other body parts so care must be taken not to overdo things.

Having said that, the arms are complex body parts in their own right and deserve a properly focused exercise program. In basic terms the arm consists of three main muscle groups:

1. Biceps brachii – two muscles at the front upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulders.

2. Triceps brachii – three muscles at the rear upper arm that run from the elbow to the shoulder.

3. Forearm – several smaller muscles that run from the elbow to the wrist.

There are seven classic exercises that will allow beginners to get off to a good muscle building start without overstraining their bodies. For all of the exercises that follow, use a weight that is light enough to allow between 10-15 reps.

Three biceps building exercises are recommended for beginners:

1. Standing barbell curl – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

2. Alternative standing dumbbell curls – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

3. Preacher bench curls – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Three triceps building exercises are recommended for beginners:

1. Dips – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

2. Close grip bench press – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

3. EZ bar lying extensions – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

One forearm building exercise is recommended for beginners:

1. EZ bar reverse curls – 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your arm exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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By admin, October 30, 2012 3:50 am

449

This article gives you some simple rules to follow to gain muscles. This tips helps you to reach your goals. Just take this few rules and use them when you train.

build muscle, nutrition
Do not underestimate breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal on the day. Breakfast counteracts your muscles to breaking down on the most effective way. On the night the blood sugar is goes down and if you not eat a good breakfast you stop your muscle from growing.

Nutrition
Do not take nutrition instead of food. Nutrition works best as a compliment to your food or as a boost before training. But never believe that nutrition makes your muscle grow the way that real food does. Also test different to see what nutrition that fits your body best.

Eat every 3-4 hour
You muscle grow as long as you have the right amount of blood sugar in your body. As long as you have that the body knows its okay to build muscles. You have that right amount in your body about 3-4 hours after your last meal. That means you have to eat every 3-4 hour to maintain the right balance in your body and to continue to grow muscle.

Drink Water
Every chemical rejection in your body happens in a water based environment. If you do not drink water you are going to dry and your functions in your body works poorly. Functions like fat burning, muscle grow and condition.

Control what you eat
Analyse what you eat and see if you get enough to build muscle. One way to do that is to whey your food for three days. This is to see your how much protein, carbs and fat you get. Do this a couple of times a year to see your development. This is easy to do with help of a diet program that you can find on internet.

Vary the food
This is a key for success. The big advantage you get is that your body do not get used to one certain nourishment. The risk is also minimal that you get lack of something, and surely will get the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your muscles need to grow.

Eat right before training
You need to load your body right before you can perform a good workout. If you are training in the morning it can be good to eat lot of carbs the night before. If you are training in the evenings you have many meals to get you prepared for your workout.

Eat right after training
After breakfast this is the most important meal for you. After training you muscle are broke down, and you need to eat as fast as you can after training. Your muscles need both protein and carbs to grow, and here can your nutrition drinks be very important. This gives you both carbs and protein fast.