8 Proven Strategies For Maximum Muscle Gains

Posted by admin on February 2nd, 2009 filed in Move It!

 There is so much conflicting information out there when it comes to the topic of building muscle, and sometimes it can be very difficult to know where to start. If youíre an average beginner looking for some basic guidelines to follow in the gym, the following 8 points will start you off on the right track.

1) Train With Weights and Focus On Compound, Free Weight Movements.

If you want to make solid, noteworthy gains in muscle size and strength, you absolutely must train with free weights and focus on basic, compound exercises. A compound exercise is any lift that stimulates more than one muscle group at a time. Examples of these lifts are the squat, deadlift, bench press, chin up, barbell row, overhead press, dip and lunge. Compound movements allow you to handle the most weight and will stimulate the greatest amount of total muscle fibers.

2) Be Prepared To Train Hard.

One of the biggest factors that separates those who make modest gains from those who make serious gains is their level of training intensity. In order to stimulate your muscle fibers to their utmost potential, you must be willing to take every set you perform in the gym to the point of muscular failure.

Muscular Failure: The point at which no further repetitions can be completed using proper form.

Sub-maximal training intensity will leave you with sub-maximal results, plain and simple.

3) Track Your Progress In The Gym From Week To Week.

Our bodies build muscle because of an adaptive response to the environment. When you go to the gym, you break down your muscle fibers by training with weights. Your body senses this as a potential threat to its survival and will react accordingly by rebuilding the damaged fibers larger and stronger in order to protect against any possible future threat. Therefore, in order to make continual gains in muscle size and strength, you must always focus on progressing in the gym from week to week. This could mean performing 1 or 2 more reps for each exercise or adding more weight to the bar. Keep a detailed training log to track your progress as your strength increases over time.

4) Avoid Overtraining.

Overtraining is your number one enemy when it comes to building muscle size and strength. When most people begin a workout program, they are stuck with the misguided notion that more is better. They naturally assume that the more time they spend in the gym, the better results they will achieve. When it comes to building muscle, nothing could be farther from the truth! If you spend too much time in the gym, you will actually take yourself farther away from your goals rather than closer to them. Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym; they grow out of the gym, while you are resting and eating. Recovery is absolutely vital to the muscle growth process. If you don’t provide your body with the proper recovery time in between workouts, your muscles will never have a chance to grow.

5) Eat More Frequently.

The main area where most people fail miserably on their muscle-building mission is on the all-too important task of proper nutrition. Training with weights is only half of the equation! You break down your muscle fibers in the gym, but if you don’t provide your body with the proper nutrients at the proper times, the muscle growth process will be next to impossible. You should be eating anywhere from 5-7 meals per day, spaced every 2-3 hours in order to keep your body in an anabolic, muscle-building state at all times. Each meal should consist of high quality protein and complex carbohydrates.

6) Increase Your Protein Intake.

Of the 3 major nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) protein is without a doubt the most important for those who are looking to gain muscle size and strength. Protein is found in literally every single one of the 30 trillion cells that your body is made up of and its main role is to build and repair body tissues. Without sufficient protein intake, it will be physically impossible for your body to synthesize a significant amount of lean muscle mass. If your body were a house, think of protein as the bricks. A general guideline is to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day from high quality sources such as fish, poultry, eggs, beef, milk, peanut butter and cottage cheese.

7) Increase Your Water Intake.

If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, your muscles alone are made up of 70% water! Not only will drinking more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that merely a 3-4% drop in your body’s water levels can impact muscle contractions by 10-20%! Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of bodyweight each day for optimal gains.

Be Consistent!

Consistency is everything. Those who make the greatest gains in muscular size and strength are the ones who are able to implement the proper techniques on a highly consistent basis. Simply knowing is not enough, you must apply!

Building muscle is a result of the cumulative effect of small steps. Sure, performing 1 extra rep on your bench press will not make a huge difference to your overall results, and neither will consuming a single meal. However, over the long haul, all of those extra reps you perform and all of those small meals you consume will decide your overall success. If you work hard and complete all of your muscle-building tasks in a consistent fashion, all of those individual steps will equate to massive gains in overall size and strength.

 Why you should gain muscle to burn fat
 Learn the secrets to building a muscular physique.

Muscle Gains And Fitness Supplements - What You Need To Know
For muscle-builders, steroid is a popular prescription because of its ability to increase muscle size in a short period and avert possible breakdown of muscle.

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Core Strength Workout

Posted by admin on January 26th, 2009 filed in Move It!

 Core Strength

Perhaps there was an instance when you did some vigorous housework and attempted to lift something heavy. And suddenly, you felt a stabbing back pain. A fair diagnosis could be that you may have a weak core. What is your ‘core’? Actually, it is the seat of power for your whole body. You may have heard of the term ‘core training’ on TV and in fitness magazines. To be specific, core training is the strengthening of your ‘core’- your abdominals, trunk muscles and deep muscles like the TVA or Transversus Abdominis. Once you have achieved core strength, it would mean excellent physical fitness and enhanced performance of physical activities especially if you are an athlete for recreational or competitive purposes.

Core fitness would also mean reduced back pain as sometimes back pain can be caused by tightened muscles. Aside from a weak core, other underlying causes of back pain could be improperly executed exercises that strain the muscles or the bones. Men and women of all ages complain about back pain and in fact, it is one of the most common ailments and discomforts that could range from acute to chronic. Severe back pain might even require hospitalization or surgery and at times it can cause disability. Through core training, back pain can be remarkably preventable and with a few simple exercises at that.

For instance, an injury of the back such as a herniated disk could be alarming and consequently it may cause a foot flop. A foot flop occurs when you literally have to drag your legs as the nerves have gone numb. In this case, a surgery is expedient. An alternative solution for this case, however, is epidural injection of steroids that can provide immediate relief. In severe cases of back pain and injury, it is essential to modify your lifestyle which basically means having a good diet and regular proper exercises in order to be on the road of wellness.

You may be spared from going under the knife through tons of flexibility exercises and intelligent abdominal training not only to remedy your back pain and injury, but interestingly to flatten the abs as well. Through core training, you can achieve fitness, i.e., a strengthened base and workhorse for your body. You may initially resort to a rehabilitation program after a severe back pain or injury, but eventually, through regular core training and flexibility workouts, you can remedy your back pain or injury. Core workouts doesn’t just entail the usual body building routines but may involve ball work as well.

As one patient with herniated disk professed, after several years of training, core exercises have made him achieve a greater improvement from his back pain problem. True, some of us may neglect taking care of the muscles as they seem trivial, but it is in fact paying more attention of the muscles that can make us physically fit and well and it could be a preventive measure or remedy for back pain that most people often neglect, too. But back pain is not something to be just shrugged off. In some cases, back pain may be inconsequential, but in other cases, back pain can be so debilitating and it can also signal another underlying disease.

There are numerous core workouts and training programs available online, in videos and credible books or publications. Before resorting to any of these workouts, however, it may be sensible to seek advice from your doctor to get a guarantee that these workouts are safe and suitable for you.

By: Dr. Rose Windale

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

The author of this article Rose Windale is a Health and Wellness Coach who has been successful with several natural health programs for many years. Rose decided to share her knowledge and tips through her website www.healthzine.org. You can sign up for her free newsletter and enjoy a healthy and happy life.

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Fitness Rollercoaster

Posted by admin on January 26th, 2009 filed in Videos From Youtube

Are You Caught Up In A Cycle Of

Fat Loss & Fitness Confusion?

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of ‘Fat Burning Furnace’

As a member of a popular fitness center for a few years, I noticed countless others frustrated with their fat burning exercise routines and eating practices, working so hard and long but with virtually no improvement to show for it.

Several of my own friends and relatives would mention this new program or product they had just shelled out cash for that was the answer to their fat loss or fitness goals.  They were so excited about it and couldn’t wait to get started.

Then, a few weeks later, the same happy-go-lucky people that were once jumping with joy about their new plan to burn fat and get a new body became downright discouraged.  It was hard to watch.

I’d ask them how their fat burning plan was working and they’d tell me that it seemed pretty good at first, but they didn’t get the results they were expecting or they felt were promised.  They quickly became tired of following the daily workouts and found following the strict eating guidelines almost maddening at times.  So they hopped onto the next plan.

Even worse, they became so frustrated with following these so-called exercise gurus’ programs, that they fell even deeper into unhealthy eating habits once they stopped the program.  Binging became their only form of satisfaction.  Forget about maximum fat burning, and talk about moving in the wrong direction.

What’s worse is that all of these people were following the typically recommended exercise and fad diets that were all the rage.  They were doing what everyone else was doing to burn fat fast.

After speaking with many of these friends and inquiring about their exercise routines, I noticed one common theme that kept popping up in our discussions…they were focused on the short term…their approach was wrong.  They weren’t thinking of lifelong health and fitness, but instead they were thinking about burning fat and getting in shape for “swimsuit season”.

More specifically, they were also performing their exercise in a less than optimal manner.  And then I noticed this with many others at the fitness center I worked out in.  They just seemed to lack the fire or intensity in their fat burning workouts which I knew could turn their programs from nothing to something literally overnight.

But you know, you can hardly blame them, and you certainly shouldn’t blame yourself if you’ve fallen into the cycle of fad exercise and diet programs.   We all want to achieve what we know in our hearts we’re capable of so badly, and that’s why we’re such easy prey to this “get fit quick” mentality.

Most people are approaching health and fitness in the exact opposite way that they should be, and they’re not going to burn fat because of it.  If you continually think of using exercise and nutrition as ways to lose a couple of pounds, or get in shape for summer, you’re going to be disappointed with your results.

If you think of exercise, nutrition, and rest as separate things, you’re going to be disappointed with your fat burning and fitness results.  If you think you need to spend hours a week in the gym or adhere to some strange unnatural eating strategy, you’re going to be disappointed with your results.

What all of these approaches will do, is put you into the fat burning and fitness cycle of confusion that so many are stuck in these days.  If instead, you choose to forget what you thought you knew, and start off with the right approach, the approach that focuses on making changes in your lifestyle long term, you’ll instantly improve your results by 1000%.

When your approach includes combining proper exercise that takes very little of your time, nutrition the way nature intended you to eat that is simple to understand and follow, and the rest and recovery that is vital to lifelong vitality and energy,  you’ll experience an awakening of both body and mind.  Plus you’ll burn more fat, too.

If you choose the path most often taken by those looking to improve upon them selves, you’ll most likely end up like most of them.  Confused, frustrated, unhappy, burnt out, injured, sick, or worse.  Did I mention very uhappy with their fat burning progress as well?

Instead, you can choose to embrace a lifestyle that includes brief, progressive, and intense resistance training, eating a diet full of nutrient rich foods, drinking tons of water, and getting plenty of quality sleep and rest.  But know that when you do so, you’ll be joining the select few who understand that one of the true secrets to life long fat burning and fitness is not found on a fad diet or in a bottle on the shelf of your local health store.

Claim your free copy of Rob Poulos’s "7 Secrets Of Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness" at his website: http://www.fatburningfurnace.com

Rob Poulos is a celebrated fitness author, fat loss expert, and the founder and CEO of Zero to Hero Fitness.  Rob created the world’s most efficient method for fast and permanent fat loss with his "Fat Burning Furnace" system to help those looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring cardio workouts, and the need for super-human willpower for good.

Click Here for the New Secret to Fast & Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness

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Healthy Eating

Posted by admin on January 5th, 2009 filed in Lose It!

Healthy Eating Plans

Here are some tips and guidelines for who want to get on to a healthy eating plan and switch to a healthier lifestyle.

 When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I’ll start tomorrow." Tomorrow is disease. ~V.L. Allineare

Well talking about healthy eating plans, we’ve all been there done that and cheated on the diet plans due to the temptations of fast foods, chocolates and many other things considered as a breach of conduct when following a healthy eating plan. However following a healthy eating plan, combined with some basic regular exercise is the key to a longer and healthier life. Here are some ideas and tips to get on and stick to healthy eating plans.

Nutrition Facts: Healthy Eating Plan

The human body has some standard minimum nutritional requirements that need to be fulfilled everyday. Here are the standard figures for all the nutrients to help you know whether or not you are following a healthy diet plan:

Carbohydrates

Recommended Intake: It is recommended that you obtain 45-65% of your daily calorie intake from carbohydrates
Sources: Whole grains, beans, legumes, nutrient-rich fruits, milk, corn, and other foodstuff made from sugar are all rich sources of carbohydrates. Limit your sugar intake from candy and other sweet products.

Protein

Recommended Intake:It is recommended that 10-35% of your daily calorie intake should be obtained from proteins.
Sources: Protein is found in many plant as well as animal sources. Legumes, nuts and seeds, poultry, meat and dairy products as well as sea-food are rich sources of proteins.

Fat

Recommended Intake:It is recommended that you should obtain 20-35% of your daily calorie intake from fats. However you have to limit your saturated fat intake to 10% and the intake of trans fat should not exceed 1%.
Sources:Nuts and oils like canola oil and olive oil are sources of good fats whereas saturated fat is found in coconut oil, red meat, poultry and butter. The sources of trans fats are crackers, cookies, chips, doughnuts, and many other fried or baked snacks.

Cholesterol

Recommended Intake: It is recommended that your daily cholesterol intake should not exceed 300 milligrams.
Sources: The human body all the cholesterol quantity that is required for proper cell functioning, any cholesterol that you take in is additional and hence results in fatty deposits in the arteries. Common sources of cholesterol are meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy products.

Fiber

Recommended Intake: The daily fiber requirement varies according to gender. The daily recommended fiber intake for males is 30-38 grams where as for women it is 21-25 grams.
Sources: Vegetables, wheat bran, other whole grain, oats, dried beans, fruits like apples and oranges are rich sources of fiber. Fiber prevents constipation and helps to maintain healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Healthy Eating Plans: Rules to Follow

Healthy eating plans will not make you starve and necessarily focus on weight loss, but will aim at overall health and fitness of the body. Here are some basic rules to follow in a healthy eating plan:

Avoid Junk food: The potato chips, ice-cream, biscuits, pastries, milkshakes, pizzas need to be avoided. In case it is impossible for you to totally give up the junk food, try cutting it down slowly until you are confident enough that you can do away without it. Try and think of healthier substitutes in the fast food section. For example if you feel like having a tempting pizza on the go, pick a whole-wheat pizza instead of the regular one. In case you feel you cannot resist the temptation, have your favorite fast food once in a week but in moderation. Avoid eating too much of cheese everyday, try and restrict/lower the usage of cheese in your food.

Chuck the Soda: There are a number of people who are simply addicted to the soft drinks. Diet soda is another popular option that people feel helps them in reducing the calorie intake. Even if diet soda might be less on the calorie count than the regular soda, some recent studies have suggested that drinking any type of soda results in obesity and can also lead to other health problems. Make sure you avoid soda, and have healthier options like fresh fruit juice , skimmed milk, lemonade or even pure water. Drinking abundant water is one of the essentials in any healthy eating plan.

Drink Milk for health: It is a common misconception that cutting out all the dairy from you diet will lead to a healthy eating plan, however dairy products are a great source of calcium and vitamins and hence need to be included in the diet. Try using skimmed milk or low fat milk, or soymilk for a better eating plan.

Go Green: Although many people do not believe that a vegetarian diet is insufficient on the nutrition meter, the vegetarian diet has plenty of healthy and delicious substitutes for the nutrients provided by meat and other non-vegetarian options. A diet with fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts, and other foodstuff like tofu, cannot only be delicious but also a great option for a healthy eating plan. For all the people who are hardcore non-vegetarians, and just can’t do away without meat, make sure you don’t over do the meat intake and balance it out with sufficient number of vegetables and fresh fruits. To keep the meat intake in moderation try incorporating meat substitutes or tofu in your diet.

Sweat it out: No healthy eating plan would work unless supplemented by a regular fitness regime. Burning calories is of utmost importance for a healthy lifestyle. Make sure you work out for minimum 30 minutes everyday. Try walking, aerobics, yoga, swimming, dancing or any physical activity that you like. A good workout everyday will definitely improve your health and help you create a healthy lifestyle.

Long-term Fitness: A healthy eating plan cannot be limited to a week, a month, or a year. Always aim for long-term and permanent fitness. A healthy eating plan has to be followed continuously and regularly; only then will it help you. Practicing a healthy diet for a few weeks and then switching to a drastically unhealthy diet will harm you. You need to be determined and focuses on your own fitness to follow a healthy eating plan rigorously. Take your health very seriously!

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The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Posted by admin on January 5th, 2009 filed in Move It!

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You Have Been Scammed for the Last Time!

I’m here to tell you that you’ve been mislead. In fact, you’ve been downright lied to! By whom? By all of the bogus companies and unscrupulous individuals trying to sell you the dream of a quick fix to get that ripped six pack you’ve always wanted.

They tell you that some fancy exercise gadget will get you ripped to shreds in only 6 seconds per day while you watch TV. They tell you that if you empty your bank account on their over-priced worthless supplements, you will have six pack abs that people will drool over.

I must admit, years ago I was constantly suckered into buying all kinds of supplements, pills, and I’m embarrassed to say…but even a couple of those infomercial ab gadgets (hey, cut me a break…that was back in the 90’s and I was foolish enough back then to fall for their clever advertising).

I literally wasted thousands of dollars over the years on crappy supplements alone hoping that they would magically transform my physique overnight to look like the fitness model that was on the package. After all, the fancy full page ad in the bodybuilding magazines said I would "lose 800% more body fat than dieting alone".  Wow…that must be some powerful stuff I thought!

So did any of these supplements, magic pills and powders, and ab gadgets transform my body into the body of steel with rippling abs that the clever ads claimed I would get? Hell no! In fact, I got no results whatsoever from all of this crap that I wasted thousands of dollars on over the years!

Once I Stopped Falling for the Scams, I Discovered the REAL Secrets for Ripped 6-Pack Abs
I was finally fed up over all of the wasted money and being taken for a fool one-too-many times, so I dedicated myself non-stop to researching as much legitimate information as I could get my hands on for losing body fat (particularly that stubborn fat that covers the abs), and developing the abdominals as best as possible to get that "six-pack" appearance.

I started immersing myself in some of the best legitimate exercise research journals out there, reading countless books from some of the best strength coaches and trainers in the world, and soaking up the info from some of the best nutritional books and journals from the top authorities in the world on the subject.

I also dedicated myself to being a top-notch fitness professional as I became a Certified Personal Trainer, a Certified Nutrition Specialist, and eventually years later, an international author and authority on the subject of "six-pack abs" and fat loss.

I also used my daily training of fitness clients, as well as my own training methods, to determine "in the trenches", what worked and what didn’t for getting rid of that stubborn abdominal fat. The end result is a winning solution for ridding yourself of that extra belly fat and developing flat 6-pack abs the right way! And it’s all found in this website, and in my internationally popular program,

The Truth about Six Pack Abs. 

By:  Mike Geary, Author of the The Truth About SIX PACK ABS

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Bigger Biceps

Posted by admin on January 4th, 2009 filed in Move It!

How  to Add a Quarter Inch to Your Arms in 7 Minutes

 

 

A step by step of the exact routine followed in the Bigger Arms Challenge that gave the forty participants a 0.21 average gain on their arms. Biceps and triceps routine is included that is only 7 minutes in length, done twice a week for a total of two weeks. If you want arms too big for your body, this may very well be the routine for you.

There is some debate among bodybuilders about the best way to build your biceps. Is it high volume training? High intensity training? Exercising the biceps twice a week? Here’s what I’ve
done to personally put on .25 inches on my biceps in just 4 brief, 7 minute workouts…

If you’ve struggled trying to put size on your biceps and triceps, this could be the most interesting article you’ve about to read. Many people would like more muscular arms and so they have a notion that they need to do more volume training.

Soon enough, you find yourself working your biceps and triceps twice a week for 60 minutes! Of course, you don’t notice much in terms of progress and you wonder what else you can do.

But first a word of caution: This routine isn’t for beginners. It’s for advanced trainees who know their body, who can and will engage in high intensity work and have an open mind.

If you have 7 minutes, twice a week, this is a 4 week plan that is guaranteed to put a quarter inch on your biceps. Maybe more, maybe less but one thing is for sure. It’s going to be tough.

Introducing the Unvarnished Arm Routine!

Take a step back in time and meet Boyer Coe who won the 1969 AAU Mr. America and the 1969 NABBA Mr. Universe. Boyer is said to be one of the first athletes to use this unique arm routine.
He’s also said to have biceps and triceps that were too big for his body. A problem many males would welcome.

If you’ve ever thought of getting your arms too big for your body, then this may very well be the routine that pushes them over the edge.

The Unvarnished Routine:

- One-repetition chin up, immediately followed by
- Standing biceps curl with barbell
- One minute rest
- One-repetition dip, immediately followed by
- Standing triceps extension with one dumbbell

While this already seems simple enough, take the time to familiarize yourself with each part of this routine. Done correctly, in precise form, you’ll work every muscle fiber in the shortest amount of time possible. Some theories say the higher the intensity, in a short amount of time, leads to the biggest growth in muscle. Let me explain the routine.

Biceps Cycle:

One-Repetition Chin Up: The one repetition chin up isn’t just a single rep in your standard, leg swinging, gravity assisted, typical gym-goer. This is a 60 seconds up and 60 seconds down
single rep.

You may need to read that again but I did say it is 60 seconds up and 60 seconds down.

Immediately going into the next exercise…

Standing Biceps Curl: Just like it sounds. You finish your one repetition chin up and you immediately do a barbell biceps curl for 8 reps. The weight you use will be slightly different and you’ll need to keep that in mind. Boyer Coe is said to have done his bicep curl with 100 lbs for 8 strict reps. Any person that can do the same is not only beyond strong but in amazing cardiovascular shape. You may want to underestimate your own strength and take something you know you could for 8 reps cold and use 60% of that weight.

Now take a one minute rest after your biceps workout and get ready because in just 60 seconds, you are doing the same concepts for you triceps.

Triceps Cycle:

One-Repetition Dip as slowly as possible. Starting off from the rock bottom position, you slowly move yourself up, inch by inch in 60 seconds. Once at the top, it’s 60 seconds to the bottom position of the dip. Body weight is fine. No weight needed.

Immediately going into the next exercise….

Standing Triceps Extension: Grab your dumbbell of choice and do 8 repetitions of a strict, standing dumbbell triceps extension. If you normally can do 80 to 100 pounds cold, you might want to use something around 50-55 lbs. According to Coe, he used 55 lbs and it felt like a ton. If you can’t even get close to 8 reps, or your cheating the weight up, it’s way to heavy.

If there ever was a time to leave your ego at the door, it’s with this routine. Doing as much weight as possible will not get you the results you want. Be realistic.

Here’s How to Get the Best Results:

- Get your barbell ready and your dumbbell for the triceps extension in place. Once you finish your 60 second chin up and dip, you’ve got to move quickly. As in 2 seconds or less to the next exercise. Having the equipment in place ensures there is no hold up if you have to wait for the equipment or setup the exercise. It’s all ready to go.

- Move slowly during the chin up and dip. Go inch by inch. Whatever length of time it takes to get to the top, that’s the goal for getting to the bottom. 30 seconds up and 30 seconds down will be most difficult for most but a reasonable goal to start this challenge.

- Get a friend to call out the time. It will take enough out of you to actually do the exercise. It’s almost impossible to count in your mind or focus on a clock. It’s 100% easier if you can leave the time keeping up to a spotter or friend and focus on the chin up and dip. You won’t need time keeping for the biceps curl or the triceps extension.

- Following this routine exactly as outlined. You might feel after some rest you can do it again. Don’t. Also, don’t make the mistake of warming up too much when doing this as it takes so much on the initial try, that a bunch of warm ups will only serve to make that first chin up impossible.

- Perform this routine twice a week for two consecutive weeks. After that, discontinue it’s use, go back to your normal routine and keep this one around for use again in a couple of weeks.

In just seven minutes from now, you could be putting inches on your biceps in a most non-traditional method. This routine was used by Boyer Coe and became one of the many HIT routines in existence today. It’s the less is more approach but don’t be fooled. This routine is as tough if not tougher than 45 minutes in the gym blasting your biceps.

In 2006, Dr. Ellington Darden, the author of "The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results" concluded a test on 38 men and 2 women. They signed up to participate in this 2 week Bigger-Arms Challenge. The average starting arm size was 14.5 inches.

The routine was exactly as described above with the addition on week 2, a negative only chin up and a negative only dip. All the participants did the 2 or 3 exercises, twice a week for those 2 weeks. Then the results were delivered by each participant.

In just 2 weeks, from 4 brief, 7 minute workouts, the average gain for each arm was 0.21 of an inch! That’s from just 4 brief workouts. Now grab your stopwatch and go see if you can’t put almost a quarter inch on your biceps!

Marc David is the author of a 45-page special report, ‘19 Secrets to Build 5 Pounds of Muscle in 30 Days’. For your complimentary copy, visit this website.

By Marc David Published: 9/11/2008

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Get Stronger

Posted by admin on January 1st, 2009 filed in Move It!

Rest, Sleep, And Burn More Fat Fast

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of ‘Fat Burning Furnace’

In order to reap the benefits from the intense exercise I recommend to my Fat Burning Furnace students, you must get adequate rest.  I can’t stress this fact enough.  In fact, rest is just as important, if not more important that the actual exercise. 

During the high intensity resistance exercise that my students perform, the muscles experience tiny injuries or tears.  The body’s response is to adapt and repair, getting stronger and larger muscles, which of course leads to burning more fat and a leaner body.

But this growth and repair process won’t take place if the body is not allowed the time to do its job.  Too often, people rush back into the gym, as many have been inundated with the “more is better” axiom when it comes to exercise.  But if we don’t get out of the body’s way and let it do its magic, we will experience poor results.  We won’t burn fat like we want to, and we will just end up demotivated or possibly give up our efforts altogether.

If you don’t get enough rest or sleep, you’ll have a very difficult time building the fat-burning muscle that will transform your body.  And you’ll also have a tough time burning fat off too!  That’s why we can’t work out too long or too often when using a sufficient intensity level.  When giving the body an intense stimulus, such as proper weight training, you can’t keep hammering it into the ground. 

If you did this, you’d quickly over train your muscles and negate your body’s ability to recover from exercise.   Your immune system could become so worn down in fact, that you might even get sick…this happened to me a few times in the past when I wasn’t paying attention to getting adequate rest and sleep. 

And this repair and recover process doesn’t happen overnight, it usually takes 2 days or more, So make sure to keep between 1-3 days of rest between your properly conducted resistance training workouts, or you will be short-circuiting your chances of success to burn fat and build lean, strong, muscle.

Now that we know how important rest is to burning fat and building muscle, we also must understand the most important component of rest…otherwise know as sleep.  Sleep is the ultimate recovery tool, and not only for recovery from exercise.  It’s a recovery tool from any stress you take in throughout the day. 

Whether it’s from family pressures, work issues, or finances, etc., increased stress can be dissolved by adequate sleep.  And don’t think you can burn fat maximally when you’re over-stressed by other things in your life.  A high stress level can shut down the effectiveness of your ability to burn fat, among other things. 

So make sure to get adequate sleep.  What’s ideal?  I would recommend no less than seven or more than nine hours.  In fact, seven and half hours per night might be the perfect amount! 

Research has shown that we sleep in cycles of 90 minutes or so.  It has been suggested that if we wake up too far before or after one of these 90 minute cycles, you will probably feel groggy for a good part of the day. So try the 5 90 minutes sleep cycles, or 7 and a half hours…you’ll most likely wake up feeling well-rested and energized, and your fat burning furnace will show it’s appreciation, allowing you to burn more fat faster.

Claim your free copy of Rob Poulos’s "7 Secrets Of Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness" at his website: http://www.fatburningfurnace.com

Rob Poulos is a celebrated fitness author, fat loss expert, and the founder and CEO of Zero to Hero Fitness.  Rob created the world’s most efficient method for fast and permanent fat loss with his "Fat Burning Furnace" system to help those looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring cardio workouts, and the need for super-human willpower for good.

CLICK HERE To Download ‘Fat Burning Furnace’…

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A New You

Posted by admin on January 1st, 2009 filed in Lose It!

3 Effective Ways To Lose Weight In 2009

If you want to lose weight in the coming year, then there are various things you can try. However in this article I want to focus on three simple ways you can start losing weight in the coming months and burn off those excess pounds that you may have gained over Christmas.

The first way is the most obvious one, and one that most people opt for in the new year, and that’s to join your local gym. Once you join up you will usually be given some advice from one of the personal trainers regarding what your particular goals are, and how you can achieve these goals.

So this is usually a highly effective way of losing weight because you will be given professional advice on what type of gym exercises will help you to effectively lose weight. Of course it’s then up to you to stick to this regime on a regular basis, but if you can do so then you should start to see the pounds quickly drop off.

The problem with a gym membership is that although it is an effective way of losing weight, it can also be very expensive, so if this is a factor, then another option you might like to consider are fitness DVDs. These generally cost a little over 10 and can be just as effective as the exercises you would perform in the gym.

These fitness DVDs are widely available at this time of year, and are usually performed by various female celebrities who have successfully performed the routine regularly in order to lose weight themselves. They are usually devised by top personal trainers and are often more strenuous that you would imagine, so when you follow these routines yourself on a regular basis, you should start to see good results yourself as well because the workouts do tend to burn a lot of calories.

The final option and the cheapest of all is simply to start introducing a lot more walking into your everyday life. Although walking is not necessarily a high energy form of exercise, if you do plenty of walking on a regular basis you should start to shed a few pounds. Start off by doing 30 minutes walking every day or every few days and then slowly increase the amount you do in order to get the maximum benefit.

This may sound like a chore but it can be quite easy to do if you cut out those short car trips, for instance, and choose to walk those short distances instead of driving. Similarly if you have a dog then it’s very easy to walk for 30 minutes a day, so you should have few problems adding this low-impact activity to your everyday life.

Losing weight does not have to be hard. All of the activities mentioned above will help you to lose weight providing you are disciplined enough to stick with them. There are no excuses either because even if you have no money to spend on DVDs or gym memberships, you can always choose to simply do more walking. Ultimately it’s down to you whether you are serious about losing weight or not.

By: James Woolley

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

To check out some of the latest fitness DVDs, please click here to read a review of the Claire Richards From Steps DVD and Coleen Nolan’s Discoburn DVD.

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The Power of Exercise

Posted by admin on January 1st, 2009 filed in Move It!

Brain Boosting Drugs Vs. Walking: Treadmill Desk Manufacturer Promotes Common Sense

Purported ‘brain enhancement’ drugs such as Ritalin, Modafinil, and Cephalon have seen a 300% rise in use in the United States during the past decade according to the National Institute of Mental Health. This dramatic rise in use is driven by healthy individuals seeking to gain a competitive edge and boost performance at work or in school, undeterred by potential long term risks. A company based in Phoenix, Arizona is promoting a safer, more effective means of achieving these brain enhancement performance goals: a treadmill desk. In an opinion piece published in the journal Nature several scientists and professionals are arguing for the recognition and promotion of these drugs as brain enhancers despite the potential risks of dependency and lack of long term health impact studies.

This commentary ignores recent studies that show Ritalin to be ineffective in performance enhancement over a three year period and harmful to growth and development in children, yet somehow these drugs are now considered the magic bullet for adults? It should raise alarm bells. None of these medications can make the claim that they boost memory and cognitive abilities, increase the amount of small blood vessels in the brain as much as 43%, or reduce the incidence of stroke, dementia or Alzheimer’s over the long term. But a daily walking regimen accomplishes this without any potential risks and a long list of additional health benefits as well. You hear very little about this because no one makes any money telling you walking is the answer.

Categorizing these drugs as ’smart drugs’ seems to be both an oxymoron and a brilliant marketing ploy, exploiting American’s drive to be at the top of their game.

So, if walking far exceeds the brain boosting abilities of these drugs, why aren’t more American’s changing their behavior? Most people are unaware how powerful daily walking is for their health. If they were given the information it would change their priorities and motivations. Second, most adults are stressed for time already and and are strapped in a desk and a car for most of their day. Walking 3-6 hours a day is simply out of the question. The third reason is the lack of motivation at the end of an exhausting workday to get out and move. Treadmill desks offer a solution to these challenges. Employees walk while they work at very slow speeds without sweating. At the end of the day they will have walked between 3-8 hours and gained energy and brain enhancing benefits naturally without pills and without any additional time burden.

Employees of major corporations are currently using treadmill desks and report gains in production and concentration in an addition to the numerous health benefits, including weight loss. Most people focus on the significant weight loss that can be achieved on a treadmill desk but the positive effects on the brain are extraordinary.

By: TrekDesk

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

 

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