Archive for the ‘Diet and Fitness’ Category

There is a diet that really has nothing to do with the Atkins Diet, called the Atkins Grapefruit diet, that combines elements of it\’s famous namesake and an all grapefruit diet. A closer look into this diet shows that it may not be all it claims to be.

You\’ll be hard pressed to find information about the Atkins Grapefruit diet, such as any details of the company that produces it. Hard to find information is a pretty good tip off that a con job is being perpetrated. This possible con does it\’s best to make people assume it has something to do with the official Atkins diet.

Is the Atkins Grapefruit Diet part of the Atkins Diet or endorsed by the estate of the late Dr. Atkins No, in fact the Induction phase of the Atkins diet is bereft of fruit, and there\’s no mention of the grapefruit version on the Atkins web site.

These are the foods allowed in the Atkins diet Induction phase – sorry Atkins grapefruit diet, no fruit here:

An type of fish All fowl such as turkey and chicken All sorts of shellfish Any meat such as beef or pork Any style egg All sorts of cheese All sorts of vegetables Herbs and Spices Butter, lard, any oils Drinks low in carbohydrates such as diet soft drinks

Not a piece of fruit to be found. Grapefruit and other fruits such as fruit juices are specified in other phases of the Atkins diet. The Atkins grapefruit diet, however, relies on grapefruit to a much greater degree than would be allowed in the original Atkins diet.

The cup of grapefruit juice offered by the Atkins Grapefruit diet has 8 grams of carbs while the cup of grapefruit sections it mentions has 18 carbs. Even the phases of Atkins that allow grapefruit limit intake to below 8 grams of carbs of grapefruit per day. That\’s a direct contradiction of one diet to the other.

When they hear about the Atkins grapefruit diet people should naturally visit the Atkins web site to read more about it. It isn\’t found there, and that turns off a lot of folks.

Keep this in mind. Any diet that relies too heavily on one food, such as grapefruit on a grapefruit diet, is unhealthy in any but extremely short periods. The Atkins diet frowns on eating the way the Atkins Grapefruit Diet recommends.

Are you struggling with your weight?, come to my blog to take advantage of our weight loss diet resources. We have great weigt loss diets tips, weigt Loss Diet program, we have reviewed the best weight loss program, that will surely help you.

Renato Babalu Sobral defeated Bobby Southworth by TKO to become Strikeforce light heavyweight champion in the co-main event of the promotions \’Destruction\’ card on Friday night. Despite leaving with the belt around his waist, it wasn\’t a highlight reel worthy finish.

A -350 wagering favorite despite his challenger status, Sobral was expected to use his world class Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills and vast experience against superior competition to dominate the tough but limited Southworth. It didnt happen that way, as Southworth easily got the better of things in the first round. Southworth looks to use his strength and conditioning to control his opponent en route to a decision victory. While the result makes him something of a MMA equivalent to boxing\’s John Ruiz, it does afford him the best chance of victory.

The first round displayed Southworth\’s style in microcosm, with much of the frame spent pushing Babalu up against the cage or on the ground inside his guard not really doing much. Sobral had one effective strike the entire round–during a clinch against the cage wall the challenger rocked Southworth with a hard elbow strike that not only busted his nose but opened a huge cut over his right eye.

Upon seeing the gusher of blood Referee John McCarthy brought the ringside physician over to take a look. As Southworth\’s corner futilely worked on the gaping wound during the break the doctor once again took a look and better realizing the severity and placement of the cut recommended to McCarthy that the fight be stopped. The veteran official complied, awarding Sobral the TKO victory and the championship belt.

The other half of the co-main event was decided in much more decisive fashion as Scott Smith knocked out well traveled veteran Terry Martin in a mere :24 seconds. Unfortunately, Martin didn\’t adequately close the distance against a fighter dubbed \’Hands of Steel\’ and was caught with a perfectly placed punch that knocked him out cold.

In the semifinal event, Duane \’Bang\’ Ludwig defeated Yves Edwards by unanimous decision in a very closely contested bout. Edwards was originally slated to face lightweight champion Josh Thomson until a toe injury necessitated his withdrawal.

Earlier in the evening, Kim Couture made short work of overmatched Lina Kvokov as she TKOd her foe in 1:44 of the first round. Couture, the wife of UFC legend Randy Couture, gained even more notoriety for the courage she displayed in her professional debut last June. She had a much easier time here\”despite the fact that both fighters entered with 0-1 records Couture was significantly more polished as she put Kvokov on the defensive from the outset with her sharp punching combinations. She recovered momentarily and survived the initial onslaught. The reprieve was only temporary, however, as Couture launched another barrage of punches prompting the referee to step in and wave off the non-competitive affair.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer who has written on sports betting and how to successfully bet on NFL football. He has appeared on TV and radio talking about boxing, hockey and NFL pointspreads. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a wombat.

The only way to build muscle or gain strength is to subject that muscle to an increased amount of overload. To continue making muscle mass gains, you must continue to increase the amount of overload you place on each muscle group over time.

This progressive increase in resistance is the only way to build muscle mass. The greater the amount of weight (overload) you place on a muscle, the larger that muscle will become, provided you get the proper nutrients needed for muscle growth to occur.

After all, what you’re doing is stressing the muscle, forcing it to respond by adding more muscle and strength. If you continually lift the same amount of weight, your muscles have no reason to get bigger or stronger.

It can already handle the weight you’re using. So to build muscle, you have to keep the muscle stressed, by forcing it to lift more weight.

There are 3 ways to increase the amount of resistance you place on a muscle:

1. Do more reps with the same amount of weight each time.

2. Do the same number of reps but use more weight

3. Use the same number of reps and same amount of weight, but shorten the rest periods in between sets.

The most common ways to add more resistance, in order to build muscle, is with the first 2… using more weight and/or doing more reps.

One of the easiest ways to increase the amount of weight you lift is to decrease the number of reps you do. You keep increasing the weight until you use a heavy enough weight so that you reach muscle failure between 4 and 8 reps.

When you increase the weight each set while performing the same number of reps, you want to go easy for the first few sets. They’re just warmups and will not really help to build muscle.

Only your last 2 heavy sets, the ones with max poundages, are the ones that build muscle. All other sets just help you get ready for these heavy sets.

Again, overloading a muscle group is the only way to gain muscle, increase its size, and tone. So, for your heavy sets, you want to reach the point of failure with low reps and heavy weight.

The more weight you use and the harder you work, the greater the muscle gains. This method is very intense, so you want to ensure proper rest and nutrition.

Overload will help you gain muscle indefinitely, as long as the environment for constant muscle growth is met. Again, it takes intense training, proper nutrition, and plenty of rest.

If one of these conditions is not met, you will not gain the muscle mass you could.

Now that you know what causes muscle gains to occur, you should be well prepared the next time you enter the gym to workout. You’ll know that merely lifting weights is not good enough.

If you can already handle a certain amount of weight, it would do you no good to keep lifting that weight. You would not build muscle that way, since your body can already handle it.

You have to keep getting better and stronger, by increasing the amount of weight you lift or the number of reps you do.

But be aware, this process takes time. Be committed to slow, constant growth and you’ll soon start to build muscle faster than you ever thought possible.

Author: Shawn Librun
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cellphone news

There are 6 nutritional supplements available, however, that are indispensable for enhancing muscle-building and fat loss. Given the importance of a good diet, this should be the highest priority in any fitness training program. Once your diet is tuned to perfection, adding the right nutritional supplement at the right time will take a great thing and make it better.

Certain bodybuilding supplements are extremely valuable in particular situations, especially when the goal of your weight training program is to lose fat while building muscle. Our bodies have been designed to survive the harshest of conditions, readily storing body fat during times when food is plentiful and shedding it (along with muscle-tissue) when food is scarce. While this characteristic of our metabolism kept us alive through the ice-ages, it makes things really difficult for building a lean-muscular physique (that is if you are not busy running from saber-tooth tigers and fighting rival tribes!).

The right supplementation in the context of your bodybuilding or fitness workouts (pre and/or post-workout) can “trick” the body into thinking it has what it needs so that muscle-mass is preserved. What happens during intense weight training and cardiovascular exercise is that our bodies, along with burning glycogen and body fat, are also very efficient at breaking down muscle tissue. This metabolic adaptation helps to preserve energy stores at the expense of metabolically costly muscle-tissue; if you are starving the more muscle you have the quicker you will die (good for us back in the cave-man days, but bad for us now!). Our muscles are constantly being broken down and built back up from hard weight training, and if we could shift the balance just slightly away from degradation (catabolism) and toward accumulation (anabolism), this would have a huge effect on the effectiveness of our muscle training program.

My top-6 list of indispensable nutritional supplements:

1. glutamine

How Glutamine works: glutamine is known as a “conditionally essential” amino acid; it becomes “essential” during intense exercise such as weight training or cardiovascular exercise, as the need for glutamine is greatly increased. During bouts of intense activity (or stress), glutamine enters the bloodstream and travels into the liver where it is converted into glucose; this newly synthesized glucose helps to fuel the working muscles. This process is known as gluconeogenesis-the process of turning a non-carbohydrate substance (glutamine and some other amino acids) into glucose which can be used for energy. While this all sounds great for the muscles, the problem is that the primary source of glutamine during exercise is from broken down muscle tissue; the body actually breaks down muscle tissue to help fuel the working muscles by preserving their glycogen stores1. Supplying the muscles with an exogenous source of glutamine (i.e a glutamine supplement, has been shown to reduce muscle degradation during intense exercise-the body is “tricked” into not breaking down as much muscle tissue.

2. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAS)

How BCAAs work: Unlike glutamine, BCAAs, consisting of leucine, isoleucine, and valine, are essential amino acids, meaning that the body cannot synthesize them from precursors-they must be obtained from the diet. Like glutamine, there is a greater requirement for BCAAs during intense exercise such as weight training and they are derived primarily from catabolized muscle tissue. BCAAs are broken down into (among other things) alanine and glutamine (remember glutamine?) which are in-turn used to generate glucose in the liver. Supplementing with BCAAs will help to prevent their degradation in muscle tissue, limiting muscle-degradation and speeding up recovery. Leucine itself has been shown to stimulate protein synthesis, and research has shown that the BCAAs have a positive effect on recovery, can reduce fatigue, and encourage an overall anabolic state in the muscle. BCAAs seem to be especially effective in times of reduced calorie intake (i.e. while dieting down to lose that last 5lbs).

3. Protein: (whey protein isolates)

How whey protein works: This one may seem like a no-brainer; proteins are made of amino acids and as discussed above, certain aminos can greatly enhance your weight training efforts. Whey protein is a great protein source because it is very high in both BCAAs and glutamine; any whey protein will have these qualities, but after a weight training workout timing is the key. Many whey proteins are a mixture of both whey isolate and whey concentrate. Whey protein isolate is absorbed extremely fast, while whey concentrate is broken down more gradually over time. Fast-acting proteins such as whey isolate are known as “anabolic proteins”, dumping tons of amino acids into the bloodstream very quickly, promoting muscle-growth. Slower acting proteins such as whey concentrate, soy protein concentrate, or calcium casienate (milk protein) are known as “anti-catabolic proteins”; they provide a slow, steady release of amino acids into the bloodstream helping to reduce muscle-protein breakdown for fuel. After a weight training workout, we want our protein to get there fast-whey protein isolate is ideal for this purpose.

4. Creatine monohydrate:

How creatine works: Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the primary energy source to fuel intense muscular contractions, such as those during sprinting or weight-training. ATP contains a high-energy phosphate bond, which is broken down into ADP (adenosine monophosphate), releasing the energy necessary for muscles to contract. Every muscle cell has a store of phosphate, from which ADP is recycled back into ATP to continue fueling contractions. As this pool of phosphate gets depleted, so does our ability to make ATP; when we run out of ATP the muscle is exhausted and unable to further contract (i.e. the muscle fails such as on the last rep of a bench press). It was discovered some time ago that our muscles can actually be “loaded” with additional phosphate, which can extend our capacity to do high-intensity exercise. Phosphate is stored in the muscle as creatine phosphate, which acts to replenish cellular phosphate stores. When creatine monohydrate is ingested, it is converted to creatine phosphate and absorbed into the muscle cell, helping to replenish the phosphate pool. After an intense workout, muscle phosphate levels are drastically decreased. Supplementing with creatine post-workout replenishes creatine phosphate stores much faster, speeding recovery. Creatine also acts through unknown mechanisms to increase protein synthesis and muscle growth. For every molecule of creatine absorbed into the muscle, several molecules of water are absorbed, giving the muscles a fuller, more pumped appearance. A hydrated muscle is an anabolic muscle.

4. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)

How EFAs work: Without getting too much into fatty acid biochemistry, EFAs are required by the body for a countless number of processes, and are an essential element to any nutritional supplementation regimen whether for bodybuilding, athletic training, or general fitness training. The typical American diet is largely deficient in EFAs, and dieters often have less than optimal levels while on low-fat diets. There are 3 basic EFAs which are named based on their chemical structure, including omega-3, 6, and 9. Most commercial EFA supplements are a blend of the various EFAs, providing an ideal EFA profile.

5. Meal replacement powders (MRPs): Commonly known as the “protein shake”, MRPs serve not only as a convenient protein supplement, but as a substitute for regular meal.While real food is always best, the busy schedules of most people simply cannot accommodate the optimal 5-6 meals per day-MRPs are a great way to stay on the diet in spite of the most hectic of schedules. There are many brands commercially available with different nutrient profiles; choose the product that tastes good and provides the nutrient profile that fits for your particular diet plan.

6. Multivitamin/multi-mineral supplements: While in an ideal world we would get all the vitamins we need directly from the food we eat, in practice we can all benefit from a quality multivitamin. Stay away from the typical once/day tabs found at the supermarket. It is questionable whether these are absorbed well at all. Stick with those vitamin/mineral supplements derived from whole-food extracts-these are more readily absorbed. In addition, whole-food based multis may contain unknown substances which are found in food which are either essential or beneficial; science is constantly discovering new nutrients present in food-our current list is far from comprehensive.

There you have it, the only nutritional supplements you need to care about. They have been proven both anecdotally and with rigorous peer-reviewed research to enhance the muscle-building and fat-burning effects of any weight training and fitness program including.

Author: Bill Willis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

If you’re looking to pack on solid muscle mass, you’ll definitely want to read this article.

Because there’s a lot of confusion on how to gain muscle mass and what it really takes. I want to give you 6 areas you absolutely, positively must focus on in any muscle building program you decide to use:

1: The proper amount of calories.

Since your diet is one of the most important keys to gaining muscle mass, you really need to know HOW many calories to eat, WHAT types of food to eat, and WHEN you should be eating them!

If you consistently under eat, you will NOT gain muscle mass. However, if you tend to overeat a lot, you will likely gain body fat.

So you have to be pretty accurate with your calorie intake in order to gain muscle mass without a lot of fat.

2: The correct approach to training in the gym.

Any muscle building program should give you MASS building techniques so that you can gain quality muscle weight, not just fat.

You want to make sure you’re not training too many days. That will stop your body from recovering and your muscles from repairing themselves.

You also want to make sure you’re not doing too many exercises, reps, and sets because that too could lead to overtraining.

We’ll touch more on it below, but the best approach for building muscle is to stick with the basic compound exercises (bench, squats, deadlifts, barbell curls) and use lower reps and just a few heavy sets.

3: The best possible supplements to help pack on weight.

Let’s get this straight…you do NOT need supplements to gain muscle. You need calories. And I’ve used just about every supplement on the market and many are a complete waste of money! However, there are a few exceptions and some can help you in the muscle gaining process, if you decide to use them.

The main supplements worth taking to gain quality muscle would have to be protein (whey, milk, or egg), creatine, glutamine, EFA’s, a multivitamin, and meal replacements.

Save your hard-earned money and time by avoiding the useless ones.

4: The proper amount of sets and reps for muscle growth without muscle breakdown.

Like we talked about above, you want to make sure you’re setting up your weight training to be the best use of your time and energy.

Most people train the wrong way for muscle growth. What I mean is, they do way too many reps and sets, thinking more is better.

A lower rep and set range is proven to speed up lean muscle growth while minimizing muscle breakdown.

After all, muscle growth occurs from overload. And it makes sense that one
of the quickest ways to increase overload (weight lifted) is to lessen the amount of reps and increase the amount of weight.

5: The right balance of protein, carbs, and fats.

If you don’t get enough protein, you WILL NOT gain muscle. If you consume too many fat calories, you’ll gain mostly fat and not muscle. So it’s important that you get the right breakdown of protein, fats, and carbs for your specific body type.

Most advice shows that 50% of your calories should come from protein, 40% from carbs, 10 % from fats. But this is just a guideline. Find what works best for you and stick with that.

6: The right approach to cardio so that you do not burn off all your hard earned muscle weight.

Depending on your goals, cardio may help or actually hurt your chances of gaining weight. If you’re really looking to gain more weight fast, you may not want to be doing cardio at all.

That way, you don’t risk losing weight and muscle by expending calories that could have been used for muscle building.

If you’re looking to lose body fat while still gaining muscle, 3 to 5 cardio sessions a week is plenty.

For someone wanting to pack on the weight, I’d stick with just a couple sessions, none if you’re really desperately trying to gain weight.

Those are 6 basic areas you want to focus on with any muscle building program you use.

The main points again are:

1. Find out the proper amount of calories you need to gain muscle weight without adding a lot of fat.

2. You want to set up your weight training to be the best use of time and energy in the gym. This includes how often to train, how many muscle groups, and how long to rest, both between sets and between workouts.

3. If you decide to invest in supplements, stick with the proven ones like protein, creatine, and glutamine.

4. Using lower reps and fewer sets means you can use more intensity and overload on the muscles. High reps with low weight does nothing for muscle building.

5. Out of your total daily calorie needs, you want to ensure you’re getting the proper ratio of protein, carbs, and fats. You can start with the 50-40-10 ratio or 40-40-20 and go from there, depending on your results.

6. If you want to gain mass quickly, you may want to consider dropping cardio altogether. Or else, 3 to 5 sessions should be more than enough to continue gaining muscle while shedding fat.

Author: Shawn LeBrun
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Times

There is so much information that will tell you how to lose weight and gain muscle, but the simple truth is that this information does not apply to the skinny guy. Unfortunately, the skinny guy must play be a different set of rules. The typical bodybuilding magazine is packed full of the latest and greatest programs to build huge muscles while loading your body with supplements. Stop reading bodybuilding magazines. Stop listening to bodybuilders. And stop using supplements. All these things just take you further and further away from your goal to go from skinny to muscular.

Principle #1: Quality time at the grocery store

Yes, you’ve heard right that you will have to eat better, eat more, and eat more often to gain muscle. Forget last week’s leftovers or the meal in a box that is waiting in the freezer. What you will need to gain muscle is a healthy nutrition program that starts at the grocery store. If you are skinny and have not been able to pack on the muscle then make sure you eat every three hours. You should also try to eat bigger meals so and you can easily afford to double your calorie intake. If you have been eating one sandwich for lunch, then make it two next time. Instead of putting three slices of roast beef on the sandwich, put on six.

Spend the time at the grocery store wisely to select a variety of food. It is easy to fall into the habit of eating the same breakfast day after day, or the same boring sandwich for each lunch at work. Make sure that variety does not start and end with your training program, but that it extends to your nutritional program as well. Plan ahead so that each meal consists of roughly the same amount of calories from the three basic food groups; 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates. For the best results make breakfast your biggest meal of the day followed by the pre-workout and post-workout meals. This will ensure the best muscle gain rather than fat gain.

Principle #2: Compound exercises

Compound exercises are the biggest muscle builders. For the biggest gains you will have to concentrate on the biggest muscles and hit them with compound exercises. Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that require the use of multiple muscles or muscle groups during the execution of the exercise. Using predominantly compound exercises will lead to more strength and therefore bigger muscles. If you ever want to change your body from skinny to muscular, then compound exercises will no longer be optional, it must be mandatory. Which compound exercises will provide the most benefit?

Chest: Bench press, DB chest press
Back: Bent over barbell row, Chin ups
Legs: Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts
Shoulders: Standing military press, Seated dumbbell shoulder press
Biceps: Standing barbell curls, Incline dumbbell curls
Triceps: Dips, Tricep press downs
Abdominals: Bicycle floor crunch, Weighted cable crunches

Principle #3: Never more than 10 reps

Humans have basically two different types of muscle fibers and it is important for skinny guys to train the right muscle fibers in order to gain bigger muscles. Slow twitch muscle fibers are usually used for endurance exercises and will get used when muscle fatigue starts to set in. The best option then is to make sure that you train the slow twitch muscle fiber as good as possible and prevent using more reps than what is necessary. In order to gain the muscle you will have to stick to a heavy lifting routine that is build around 5 to 10 reps. More than 10 reps will put your muscles into the endurance category and should be strictly forbidden for the skinny guy.

In order to become big you will have to lift big. You are a hard gainer if you are skinny and the only way to change that is to recruit the maximum amount of muscle fibers in each and every set. The heavier the weight, the more fast twitch muscle fibers will be recruited. In order to make the most of this you will need to train with weights that are at least sixty percent of your one rep maximum. If you are doing this correctly, then exceeding 10 reps will be almost impossible.

Principle #4: Do 3 to 5 sets per muscle group

The bodybuilders and other people with the right genes are going to tell you to hit each muscle from every angle for hours a day. Forget that advice since it has not resulted in significant muscle gain in the past and it will not change in the future. For skinny guys a new set of rules will be necessary. I like to increase the weight for each set. This will mean that each consecutive set will require a bigger percentage of my one rep maximum weight. Following the advice from principle 3, I will then start out with sixty percent of my one rep maximum for ten repetitions and increase the weight for each following set.

Remember that you want to shock the muscles into growth and not exhaust them. Going beyond 4 or 5 sets will start to exhaust the muscles, using more slow twitch fibers and increasing recovery time. If the recovery time is increased, then there will have to be a longer wait period before the same muscle can be exercised. This will make it much more difficult to stick to a compound exercise routine. That is why you see the bodybuilders using multiple exercises for one muscle group on a particular day and then wait for as long as one week before they train the same muscle group again. Maximum gain will come from compound exercises and that means no more than 5 sets.

Principle #5: One exercise per muscle group

The intent is to train a muscle just enough to shock it into growth so that you have more muscle the next time you visit the gym. This can be accomplished by using just one exercise per muscle group. One of the problems is that the focus must always remain on using the fast twitch muscle fibers only. Any additional exercises for the same muscle group will require more and more slow twitch muscle fibers to be recruited because the muscle is already fatigued. Smaller muscles will also be recruited to assist the bigger muscles and that will have a negative result of building strong, puny muscles.

Don’t exhaust your muscles and don’t over train your muscles. Stick to one exercise per muscle group. Exercise the muscle until you have reached the maximum weight and rep combination and then move onto the next muscle. Now we have a few principles that we can use together to start building an exercise program. Use compound exercises. No more than 10 reps per set. No more than 3 to 5 sets per muscle group. And one exercise per muscle group.

Putting it together:

1RM for squat is 300 lbs, so the first set should be 60% (180 lbs) for 10 reps, the second and third set should be 85% (255 lbs), and the last two sets should be 95% (285 lbs).

Now that you have the beginnings of a good exercise program, what are the principles to keep building muscles?

Principle #6: Short rest periods

Training for muscle size will require shorter rest periods ranging from thirty to ninety seconds. This will provide sufficient time for your metabolic system to recover and get the maximum benefit out of the next set or exercise. The closer you train to the one rep maximum, the longer the rest periods should be to completely recover, so try to avoid going over a hundred percent effort and using three to five minutes to recover. I always keep an eye on the watch in the gym to make sure I keep my rest periods around one minute.

If you don’t have a big watch handy, then take your watch with, or better still take the stop watch. Don’t be like most guys that are having lengthy conversations in between sets or staring at the blonde that started her routine on the treadmill. Rest between sets will have a definite impact on the results and resting one minute between sets is not the same as resting five minutes between sets. If you don’t keep the time between sets consistent from one workout to the next, then you will not be confident that lifting more weight is a result of stronger muscles or more rest. Stay focused and take control of your resting periods so that a can track measurable progress.

Principle #7: Reduced workout time

Increased work load will lead to increased muscle size. Work load can be increased in multiple ways and one of the best ways is to reduce the resting time and doing your workout in a shorter period of time. The amount of work in each workout is a function of the weight and the number of repetitions over time. Just reducing the time between sets and moving on to the next muscle group quicker will result in more work done in a shorter period of time. A lot is said about increasing the difficulty with each workout, but almost never will it include advice to reduce the time in the gym.

A simple way to accomplish a progressively more difficult workout would be to keep the weight constant but to use ninety seconds of rest on the first day, then sixty seconds the next day and thirty seconds the third day. Increase the weight for the next visit to the gym, again starting with a ninety second resting period. Don’t be surprised if you struggle to complete the workout. Using this method is definitely a humbling experience. Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone to increase muscle density and take your fitness to a new level.

Principle #8: Increase weight regularly

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not to track your progress. The first thing that you should pack in the gym bag is pencil and paper. Nothing else is as important as a quality track record. The only way to obtain this is by going prepared to the gym and write down exactly what was accomplished each time. Sometimes it is difficult to remember the detail of the exercise you just completed, let alone the detail of an entire workout an hour later. Pen and paper should be mandatory equipment in any gym bag. Try to increase the weight each time you do the same exercise and you will quickly see an increase in strength and muscle size.

I aim to increase the weight with every visit. That does mean that I sometimes cannot complete my full set of reps, but that leads to an increased effort with each workout. If you cannot complete the whole set, then try the same weight the next time. The results will come and the muscle growth will follow. Write down the target for each exercise and track your results. If you increase the weight by as little as 5% every two weeks then you will be lifting double the current weight within six months. Have specific goals and make sure you record each workout so that you can track your progress.

Principle #9: Two consecutive days

If you’ve read this far then you will understand that over training the muscles is always a bad idea. The way to get the best out of your routine is to train for two consecutive days and then have one day of rest. If you really want to extend it into a weekly cycle, then taking two days over the weekend is acceptable. This will provide four days of training each week. Taking a full rest day every two days will prevent overtraining and ensure the replenishment of energy reserves. I know this is probably contradictory to what you’ve been told all along. Remember this program is created to obtain different results from the previous failed attempts.

Principle #10: Change program every 4 weeks

The horrible truth is that our bodies are programmed to adapt to changes. If we keep using the same workout routine then our bodies will adapt and the progress will stop to be as dramatic. I’ve shown two ways to make sure that the results keep coming by increasing the weight regularly and decreasing the resting time between consecutive workouts. Another way to maintain a dramatic increase in strength and muscle size is to change your workout around every few weeks. I try not to do it more often than every 4 weeks so that I have time to get progress out of each change.

An easy change would be to start the workout in reverse order. Many people believe that you should always perform the workout from the biggest muscle to the smallest muscle and every workout follows the same progression. Change it around and you will be surprised at the result. If the workout is from bottom to top, then change it to be from top to bottom. Another method is to use only barbells for the workout and then change to a dumbbell only workout. The key is to make a significant change every four weeks. Keep changing it and you will keep the results coming.

Conclusion

This may all seem like a lot, but using these ten principles will get you on the fast track from skinny to muscular. It is not enough to show up at the gym and just blindly throwing weights at your muscles. Use these principles to gain more muscle mass in a shorter period of time.

Author: Kobus DeVilliers
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card