Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Kyle Oxenham


Weight training is vital to your sports performance, because if you are matched with someone in skill, then it will take speed, power, and strength to defeat your opponent on the court, field or in the ring.

Some athletes even coaches and trainers get confused with the deference between,bodybuilding or muscle building vs. weight training for strength and power for specific sports.

For example having huge muscular legs does NOT mean you can jump very high, or run very fast; increased jumping ability comes from being able to lift with speed.

If the weight continues to increase and the speed stays the same, power and vertical jumping ability will increase only if you maintain your body weight.

When using weight lifting for sports the main goal is to improve and strengthen movements in your sport.

For example: If you want to run faster or jump higher, you need to perform compound exercises under resistance to mimic the same movement.

So if you do dead lifts, squats, power cleans,

snatches, clean and jerk, vertical jumps, depth jumps, lunges, calve raises, you will help target and strengthen the jumping muscles in you legs and some in your upper body.

Also when doing the specific movement or exercise don’t go past to point where the speed and power of the lift is reduced, wait till you are fully rested, and increase the weight and do the same, on your last set you can do multiple sets with minimal rest in between with the heaviest weight for at least 3-5 reps, or do an all out total reps for more muscles growth and absolute power or strength.

Next time you do these exercises try for an extra rep or 2 on you all out max set(s) or multiple power sets.

Record your workouts for total weight lifted and the amount of time you take to rest and complete a series of exercises or sets.

Specific Compound Exercises for Sports in General:

1. Bench Press: You may think this exercise targets only the chest, but when done correctly should be using you whole body to help stabilize and lift the weight, this includes feet position, should position, is your back arched or not?, and your elbow alignment, as well as grip placement, and path of your movement, and if you are bringing the bar to you nipple line or not, all these small things can make the difference of you benching 300lbs or not.

2. Squat: Again the squat targets most of your body, not just your legs. There are many variations of the squat.

For example, there is the traditional low or high squats, hack squats or 1/4 squats, scissor squats, sumo squats, squats with the weight extended above your head with increase you back strength and power, but use less weight to start.

NOTE: Technique is also vital to increased power and strength to the reach the very max!



How French Women Stay Young

Guest Author: Jason Szova


Gone now are the days when weight training is done by competitors in bodybuilding. Gone now are the days when only the guys would make their muscles firm in an attempt to show their strength. Today, even women know the benefits of building strong muscles and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

So if you are a descendant of Venus and yet you want to be firm, strong and healthy, follow these weight training guides:

Work Harder

Men’s anatomical structure is different from those of women. While men can easily firm up their body through simple weight training, you cannot. Women need to work harder compared to men in order to achieve the same results. While this is clearly unfair, you can blame hormones and body electrolytes for this.

Keep the Training Balanced

What is the concentration of your training? Do you concentrate on you upper body, your legs, or your butt? Balance is the key. Work on every part of your body. There is no use having a perfect-toned leg if your butt sags like hell. The same is true to the general workout of your body. Are you improving your stamina or your strength? Balance these things as well as you are after a total body wellness, not a weight lifting competition.

Eat Well

You need to put back the energy you lost during weight training. Eat right and eat only the foods that will help you in your weight training. Do not eat anything just because you are hungry. If you do this, you will lose the very purpose of your weight training. Some women would just slack off after a hard day of weight training, do not be like them. Keep on your training and keep the protein in your food coming.

Burn More Fats

Ever heard no pain, no gain? If you are weight training you need to burn fats consistently. Play by the numbers. The more leg exercise you do, the better those legs would be. As you burn fat your muscles become firmer and more toned.

Big Tree Trainings

In the world of body building they have what they call the big tree exercises. You don’t need to go the park to do this. If you are on weight training, then its time for you to do some deadlifts, squats and the bench presses. Do this religiously and you will impress, even yourself.

Have a Regular Workout Habit

Having a regular workout habit makes you disciplined. It also makes your muscles and body adjusted to the task. If you set your mind towards the goal of having a sexier and firmer body, you whole body will follow. Try doing your weight training on a regular basis, not only when you feel it. Have a regular schedule and don’t break it. If decided to workout every other day, then work out every other day.

Set Goals

Goals will keep you focused, and nothing is impossible for focused women undergoing a good weight training plan. If you want to lose fat by training then focus on achieving that goal. Goal keeps us on track and we are on track we can accomplish anything.



Instant Wrinkle Reducer

Guest Author: Walter Zinsmeister Iii


There is a common belief in the mainstream, that for maximum (or even effective fat loss) you need to do some form of regular cardio to lose fat. This is simply wrong of course because many people have just dieted to lose fat, without any form of excercise. Of course this is a bodybuilding site, therefore dieting only is not ideal, since it doesn’t preserve muscle that well.

The next decision when going on a cutting phase, is whether or not cardio is even necessary? Weight training is actually more effective than low intensity cardio. Then there is HIIT cardio, which is much tougher to do, but isextremely moreeffective for bothfat loss and muscle preservation. You would still have to do weight training for either form of cardio, to help preserve lean muscle preservation and strength.

So who should do cardio and when?

Most bodybuilders would agree that cardio is a pain. It is a nuisance and most would just rather stick to weight training only for their excercise. It is perfectly O.K no matter if you’re a newbie, or a veteran to start your cutting phase without any cardio. When you first start dieting, the act of restricting calories will be enough to start causing fat loss, even without cardio.

Eventually everyone will hit a fat loss plateau, which is when cardio will be a necessity. You can only restrict your calories so much, before you cause your metabolism to crawl to a halt. The cardio will allow a phenomenon called energy flux. Basically what that means is, you will lose fat more effectively if you eat more, but also burn more calories simulatenously. In other words, it is better for fat loss if you eat more calories and burn more, than to eat less calories and burn less simulatenously.

If you don’t want to do cardio while cutting, your fat loss will be slower. But bodybuilders often don’t want to hassle with the time and effort cardio takes and wouldn’t mind, even if the cutting phase took a little longer. You shouldn’t increase weight training to overcompensate for lack of cardio, that would cause more harm than good. You would wind up overtaxing the body putting you into overtraining state.

The Stubborn Fat Protocol is a cardio routine developed by Lyle McDonald, a respected author of multiple excercise and diet books. The routine is innovative, but it is based on scientific research.

You will break up your cardio into 2 separate sessions. The first session will be high intensity interval training, or HIIT, cardio for 10 minutes. The purpose of this first session is to manipulate the adrenaline / noradrenaline levels to mobilize the fat out of your fat cells. You then take a 5 minute rest after the first session.

Next you do 45 minutes of low intensity cardio. Afterwards you wait one hour before having a protein only meal. Then 2 or 3 hours later you can go back to normal diet, with carbs and fat included in the meals.

The reason why Lyle McDonald says it has to be done this way is because the HIIT portion gets the fat out of the cells, but there is a reduced burning effect at the muscle. It is then that you do the low intensity to finally be able to burn the mobilized fat in the muscle. Mcdonald recommends this workout 3 times a week.

Who should do the stubborn fat protocol?

The routine will be highly catabolic (muscle wasting). Ideally it should be for those who are at a plateau and low bodyfat percent trying to get that last bit of fat off. Overweight people should just stick to traditional routines as they are easier to stick to, require less time, and work well anyways. Only when you start to plateau, will a more aggressive cardio plan make sense.



Banish Wrinkles Instantly

Guest Author: Dane Fletcher


Many bodybuilders do cardio only by the clock. They know they have to hop on the treadmill and knock out 30 or 45 minutes’ worth of plugging away, and they’re done. Some more educated bodybuilders will occasionally attempt to tailor their program, opting for custom incline/intensity levels or perhaps keeping an eye on calories burned. The most intelligent bodybuilders will take heart rate into consideration when completing their cardio, in order to garner the most effective results.

Bodybuilders should be training at their optimal heart rate, which is 50 to 60 percent of their maximum heart rate. There are several steps to calculating this number.

- First, find your maximum heart rate (MHR). This is easy. Subtract your age from the number 220. If you are 30 years old, then your maximum heart rate is 220 minus 30, or 190

- Next, multiply your MHR by .50, and write down this number. This is you’re your optimal minimum.

- Next, multiply your MHR by .60, and write down this number. This number is your optimal maximum.

Now, as you complete your cardio, try to keep your heart rate between your optimal minimum and optimal maximum. It’s that easy!

In bodybuilding, “the more the better!” axiom often rings true. The more weight you lift, the bigger your muscles become. The more food you eat, the bigger you get. The more sleep you get, the better rested you become. However, in the case of cardio training intensity, more is not necessarily better. Training at heart rates of 70% or more will lead to the body consuming muscle to keep up with such an intense workload, instead of utilizing carbohydrates in the body or fat stores.

Training at levels of 50 to 60 percent is perfect for bodybuilders. If you find that 30 minutes at 50-60% is not leading to desired loss of body fat, raise the duration to 45 minutes, or use a split session (one in the morning and one following your weight training). If this additional cardio training does not help, it’s time to re-evaluate your current diet and supplementation program. Cut daily calories by 300-500, add ECA or Tridenosen, and you should be on your way to a leaner physique.



Look Young Again

Guest Author: James Mclain


If you are a skinny guy and are looking to bulk up and get that body that will turn heads and impress then you must know how to approach your weight lifting goals in the right way because so many want to go from skinny to muscle but end up tired, broke, with a shelf full of useless supplements and with hardly any muscle mass to show for all this effort.

If you really want to get buff and are willing to work for it (if not get out of here this is NOT for you) then abide by these weight lifting tips and watch your efforts rewarded handsomely.

1. Set your long & short term goals

If you are serious about muscle gain and you are starting from a skinny frame then you more than anyone else needs to be ultra focused on your goal. A good way to do this is the make a plan on how much weight you want to gain in one, three, six months and a year, using this plan you can see just how much you will need to gain a day or a week and this should be your guiding force! One thing though … make it REALISTIC do not think you can gain too much if it is a ridiculous number but do not sell yourself short either.

2. Stay committed to a program

Another prime reason why people fail at their weight training goals is they do not stick with a program. This can be because of a few things:

The choose the wrong program for their goals and do not get where they want to be They do not understand their program and hop to another because they feel it is not working They do not understand their GOALS

What this means for you is that when you choose a program make sure you know everything about it and how it will help you achieve your weight training goals to go from skinny to muscle bound. Only once you understand your program properly will you be able to stick with it and actually see solid results.

3. Be educated about bodybuilding

Would you do complex car maintenance on your vehicle if you know nothing about cars? Would you attempt surgery on someone if you have no medical experience? Of course not … however many guys hit the gym without knowing anything about gaining muscle and working out and expect results.

Lift weight + sweat = Bigger muscles right? … if it were that simple everyone would look like a Greek god.

Educate yourself on bodybuilding! Find out how your body works, how muscles grow, what chemicals and nutrients are at work in your body and what muscles are where. Go to a bookstore and visit reputable bodybuilding websites and enter that gym knowing what you are doing to a degree it is not all just a mystery.

4. Hire a trainer for proper technique (seriously …)

Ok, many guys think they can just imitate what the other gym goers do and they will have the right technique in a few days. This has led to astounding amounts of skinny guys causing themselves injury or at the very least not actually getting the full benefit out of their weight lifting exercises. Hire a personal training at least to start to help you understand exactly how to follow your weight training program and get the proper technique right or you may set yourself back weeks or even months on your goals.

5. Progress, progress, progress!

This should be your skinny to muscle mantra, the thought going through your head every time you approach your weight training because the aim of all this is the gain strength and muscles which only happens if you challenge yourself and you incrementally increase your weights or number of reps. IT does not need to be large jumps but every time you go to the gym you should be aiming to get an increase and measure that progress which ties in nicely with your long term goals!

These five simple skinny to muscle bodybuilding tips will have you putting on rapid muscle growth and strength increase and keep you motivated and on track just like a certain skinny guy once did who became a champion bodybuilder and fitness coach.

Click below to find out how he did it and how he can help YOU achieve the body of your dreams.

http://www.SkinnyToMuscle.net

Guest Author: Terry Sandhu


ercise is always the first thing that omes to mind whenever anyone wants to lose weight.There is no doubt that by doing cardio,along with changes to your diet,you will get results.

Cardio exercise is basically any exercise that is going to raise your heart rate and force you to breathe harder for an extended period of time. Cardio exercise has many benefits apart from weight loss. Cardio will give you more stamina and more endurance. It will improve the health of your heart, and it will improve the ability of your lungs to the point where your body can receive more oxygen more easily.

The more oxygen you can get into your body, the more energy you will have. Cardio will also have a positive effect on your body’s abilities to cope with stress. Cardio exercise can be performed through various methods such as brisk walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, using a stepper and so on. The method will depend on your preference. While engaged in cardio exercise you will without doubt burn calories.However this will come to a halt shortly after finshing cardio.

There is another method of exercising that you should do along with cardio in your weight loss program, which will substantially increase your results. This method is to start weight training. Most of the population is unaware of how valuable training with weights can be when it comes to losing weight successfully. When you are weight training, your metabolism gets a huge boost. Not only does it burn calories while you are training, it continues to burn calories for many hours after you have stopped training.

As we get older we naturally start losing muscle and in later life this can cause problems with joints, bones and our abilities to lose weight. So it’s important that we do what we can not only to keep muscle but to increase it where we can. Weight training is not just about bodybuilding or power lifting. All types of athletes and sports people use weight training in their routines, and they are not all body builders and power lifters.

When you only do cardio, you will lose weight. Keep in mind that some of the weight that you lose will be muscle and not just fat. This is something that really needs to be avoided. The fact is that the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you will burn. Your body requires many more calories to keep muscle on your body compared to what it takes to keep fat on your body. When you cut back on calories and start cardio, your body will try to get rid of muscle because it is calorie expensive. This will have a negative effect on your body when it comes to weight loss.

Weight training has many benefits and should be an important part of a weight loss program.

Weight training will make you stronger. It will allow your body to burn more calories. It will offset the natural muscle loss that comes with age. It will make you look better. It will protect your bones and joints. It will keep your body firm and toned. You will feel more confident within yourself.

Throughout time a strong physique has received respect.

As you can see weight loss is only one benefit you will receive from weight training. Everyone should have some sort of weight training routine in their exercise program because the benefits of it are too numerous to ignore.

Weight training doesn’t have to mean grunting and groaning in a gym. If you have not trained with weights before or haven’t trained for a long time then you can start with bodyweight exercise. Weight training is about pushing or pulling at a weight. Your body can act as this weight through exercises like push ups, free squats, crunches and pull ups. When you think you are ready for the next step,you can join a gym or buy your own weights,which are pretty cheap if you buy used ones. This will save you the time and membership fees of going to a gym. You can substantially increase your results with cardio and weight training.

Guest Author: Alan Largo


Nearly every man wants to improve his stamina, strength and overall muscle tone and one of the surefire techniques to do this is weight training. Contrary to popular myth, lifting weights will not turn you into an Arnold Schwarzenegger clone overnight. It takes a lot of work and a lot of planning to build muscle mass via weight training.

Many bodybuilding guides are written for people who do not have the genetic blessings needed for a mesomorphic muscle building physique, These guidebooks walk you through the physiological changes that go on in muscle building programs. Every time you lift weights and feel soreness, that is because you have damaged the muscles and they heal by adding more muscle mass.

The trick to this is that you need to feed your body in fairly tight window after weight training. Protein eaten within 30 minutes to an hour or so after lifting will be cannibalized by your body and turned into muscle mass. Most of the supplement market for weight training is built around ways to short circuit this by either lengthening the window that your body gloms onto proteins, or by preloading your body with proteins before the weight training regimen.

Nobodys weight training program will ever be an overnight success story. Schwarzenegger trained for seven years before entering his first competition. It will take muscle and sweat and a lot of pain, and a sensible plan for how to structure your lifting times and recuperation times.

Written in clear, concise language, many weight training guides talk about the fundamentals of how to start the sport. This includes how to get the most out of it from figuring out the kind of weight training your body will react to best, to scheduling individual lifting routines to focus on specific body parts, for getting the toned, muscular look you want from weight training.

They also cover everything you need to hone your body, building the thick V neck that you need to show off your shoulder lists, building a deep chest and powerful pectorals, and even doing whole body workouts to cover your thighs, abs and glutes.

Simple, straightforward instructions cover virtually all aspects from nutrition to lifting plans, including what mixtures of proteins and carbohydrates you should be taking at specific body weights to weight lifting goals. Additionally, they cover details on upping the intensity of your workout, the notion that you need to lift to complete exhaustion to get the maximum benefit is a critical part of weight training. It is also one of the most difficult ones to execute well because most people lift to meet certain positive goals and do not habitually lift to the point of failure.

Guest Author: Alien


If you are already aware about the advantages of initiating a body building weight training program, you may be excited to get started. Nevertheless, through the entire information which is obtainable, it may appear complex to know presently where to start as well as how to congregate the right information along with required equipment.

While you may be thinking that weight training is an easy job, picking up a little weight and you have started, it depends on the altitude of fitness that you are wishing to have and already have. Mainly people who wishes to begin with home weight training program are beginners and will need to get a basic grasp on weight training before they get started.

If you’re just getting started with weight training at home, you have a lot of options in terms of equipment. What you may require is to initiate with an item which is priced very reasonable to check weather you can stick with the schedule before investing a great amount for equipment.

An immense way to start with a weight training system is to invest at hand holding weights or smooth strength bands. Both these equipments are reasonably priced as well as can be located easily with retailers. As you boost up your strength, you are capable of purchasing thicker bands or heavy weights.

What you desire to do is to select a weight or a strength band which you can lift easily, but choose the one which makes you sweat subsequent to about eight reiterations. When these reiterations commence to get simpler, it’s the time for you to purchase another new heavy weight.

Body building with home weight training programs initiates with the correct exercise to tone every part of your body. While performing muscle building ones body can be divided into these parts:

- Upper Body consisting arms, shoulders, back and chest

- Lower Body consisting legs and calves

- Abdominals

Your determination must be strong to exercise for the target set for all of these body part. Numerous of exercises can be bring into being online and in many fitness books as well as magazines. You don’t need to make use of an entire program that you come across, but you know how to certainly hit upon different body building exercises for different regions of your body. You must try to carry out these exercises until you are exhausted.



Instantly Tighter Skin