Cardio Exercises-Low Or High Intensity Exercise Burn Body

June 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered which cardio exercises are best for burning off extra body fat? Is walking (low intensity) better or running (high intensity) better for burning body fat? geyq3jcuxf

Well, both low and high intensity exercises will help you burn off body fat. The question is which is more effective and burn more body fat. What is your fat burning zone?

When scientists first reported that during intensive exercises, your body burn glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrates stored in your liver and muscles for energy and during low intensive exercises, your body burn
body fat, everyone suddenly change their workout routines to perform low intensity exercises to burn body fat.

Does it work? Obviously it does not work because there are still so many fat people around although they are working out with low intensity exericies isn’t it? Why is that so?

Well, the scientists were right when they said that our bodies burn more body fat during low intensity exercises like walking or a leisurely swim. But during a high intensity exercise like running, our bodies burn a lot more calories.

Even if some of the calories burnt are from glycogen, we will still burn many fat calories as well. To add icing to the cake, when your store of glycogen is low, the carbs from your meal you eat later gets converted into glycogen to fill up the store and will not be converted to body fat when left unused for energy.

Furthermore, high intensity cardio exercises crank up your metabolism even after your workout is done. This means that you body will continue to burn body fat hours after you have left the gym.

This effect is almost non existent in low cardio or aerobic workout. Accumulatively, your body burns up many many more calories during and after high intensity cardio exercises than lower intensive ones.

You can inject high intensity exercises to your cardio workout by introducing some interval training. You can walk briskly for 5 minutes, then breaking into a jog for another 5 minutes.

Then walking briskly again until you caught your breath and then sprint for a minute before walking again for another minute. From this point, alternate between a sprint and a walk, a minute each and do this for the next 15 minutes and you are done.

Do this for 5 days a week and before long, you will be steadily losing unwanted body fat and weight healthily and naturally.

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Join My 10 Part Fitness Newsletter

June 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered how to create a new body shape?  Have more confidence and feeling good ability, than you ever could have imagined.

The New You will walk down the road with your head held firmly up, feeling like a million dollars. And all your family, friends and workmates, will marvel and complement you. This is the New You, and you are now Popular

Get started straight away and click on the following link

Fitness Newsletter

Click Here For Strength Training Books and Kit

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Your Weight in Muscle

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

You probably have heard that muscle weighs more than fat.  Many people notice a small weight gain when they begin lifting weights consistently.  As a general rule, if you lift weights 2 to 3 times a week, you can gain 1 pound of
muscle per month for about 6 months. 

After that, the rate of increase slows down as you start to reach your genetic potential.  For the same reason, you will make a lot of progress on weight progression at the beginning, but the longer you lift; your progression will lessen because you are reaching your genetic potential.  

Don’t be alarmed at the extra pounds of weight from weight training because it is well worth the effort.  For every 3 pounds of muscle you build, research shows you increase your resting metabolic rate by about 7 percent. 

For example, if your body burns 1,200 calories per day (not counting exercise or any other movement), you would burn an extra 84 calories per day with those 3 extra pounds of muscle. 

Many women have a difficult time outgrowing 2-3 pound dumbbell weights, because they are afraid that if they increase the weight they will bulk up.  If you are happy with the strength and appearance of your muscles, you can
do a maintenance program with 5 pound weights. 

However, if you want more strength, you could progress to 8 or 10 pound weights and still not bulk up.  Using heavier weights can increase muscle size, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get bulky.

Women don’t naturally have enough of the hormone, testosterone, required to build huge muscles, and even if you could bulk up, you’d have to use significantly heavier weights. 

Another option to tone muscle is to increase your repetitions instead of
increasing weight.  A high-repetition/light-weight program will develop muscle tone and increase strength and endurance without significantly increasing muscle size.

I like to tell my clients to not just go through the motion when lifting weights.  I use the word “squeeze” a lot to describe the contraction of the muscle you should be focusing on. 

Think about the muscle you are working and squeeze or contract it as you are lifting.  You will get a lot more benefit for your efforts if you squeeze the
muscle on the lift rather than just raising and lowering the weight without focusing on the muscle.

Filed Under: fitness and cardio strength training, gym workout using dumbells, Strength Training, work out Tagged With: , , ,

Workout Without a Gym

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We know that using free weights and machines is the fastest and most efficient way there is to improve your metabolism and strength, but for many reasons these may not be convenient or readily accessible to you. 

You may also have no access to a commercial gym, home gym or are on business trip, but there can be a solution, a strength-training workout without the need of expensive machines.

As with any exercise, whether you are using your own body weight, machines or free weights, if the resistance doesn’t increase, your muscles won’t be worked to their maximum capacity and the stimulus these fibres
need to grow will be missing.

Exercises done correctly will build the lean muscle and increase your metabolism in the same way as performing exercises at a gymnasium, but
without the time constraints and associated costs.

These exercises can be easily done in a bedroom, hotel room, a park, school yard, ceiling rafters in a garage or in a hallway and all you have to do is use your imagination.  There will always be a way to add more resistance to your workouts. 

Please remember: It doesn’t matter where you are working out — at home, a hotel, or a park — always warm up properly before beginning your session, and cool down and stretch when you are finished.

Leg Exercises Squats They build muscle in the thighs, shape the buttocks and improve endurance.   Position your feet about 13 to 17 inches apart or at shoulder width, keeping the back straight and your head up.  If you want you can use something that will give you some support, i.e. a desk, bookcase, sink etc. 

Now squat down to where the tops of the thighs are parallel to the floor, hold for a second and then stand up, but don’t bounce at the bottom of the
movement, use a nice fluid motion. Always exhale your breath as you stand up.

Lunges –  Stand straight in posture; now stand with one leg forward and one leg back.  Keeping your abdominal muscles tight and chest up, lower your upper body down, bending your leg (don’t step out too far).

You should have about one to two feet between your feet at this stage, the further forward you step, and the more your gluteus and hamstring muscles will have to work.

Do not allow your knee to go forward beyond your toes as you come down and stop where your feel comfortable (try not to let your back come forward) then push directly back up. Do all your reps on one leg then switch legs and do all your reps on the other leg.

Back Exercises  Chin-ups – Chin-ups are a great upper body workout, particularly targeting your biceps, deltoid and lat muscles. Use a doorway chin-up bar, ceiling rafters in a garage or grab the moulding of your door frame, position your hands with an under hand grip and hang down stretching the lats, slowly raise your body until your chin reaches the bar
level.

Pause a moment before slowly lowering yourself back to the starting position. Don’t swing or use momentum to get your body to the top, just use the target muscles. Doorway chinning bars remove from the doorway when you are not using them and can be put up and taken down in seconds.

Bent Over Row -

Take up a position with your right hand and right knee braced on a sturdy bed or some other flat surface that will provide a good support. Now pick up a dumbbell or something heavy that you can hold onto with your left hand.

Visualize your arms as hooks and slowly bring the dumbbell or object up to the side of your chest, keeping your back straight, then lower the weight back down to arms length, no lower, on extremes, safe form only please. Concentrate on your back muscles.

Reverse the whole procedure and do the exercise now with your right arm.

Chest Exercises

Push-Up -

The push up is used for building chest, shoulders and arms.  Lie face down on the floor with your hands about shoulder width apart and keeping your palms turned slightly inward.  Now push-up until your arms are straight, lower and repeat for repetitions.

To make it more difficult elevate your feet.  Try placing the toes of your feet on a stable, elevated surface such as a bench, chair or a stair. Straightening your body, position your hands on the floor at shoulder width, lower your body until your chest touches the floor at the bottom, and then return to the starting position in a nice fluid motion.

Dips -

This exercise can be done between two sturdy chairs or other items that provide stability. The dip is another great upper body exercise. It’s a compound movement as well and involves working all the muscles that the push up works.

Keep your head up and body as vertical as possible.  For the beginning of the movement, start at the top (arms fully extended) and lower yourself until your upper arms are parallel to the seat of the chairs, hold and then
push up to the top of the movement until your arms are fully extended again. Keep looking straight ahead and don’t bounce at the bottom of the movement. 

Adding Weight

Although the simple weight of your own body is enough resistance to provide an effective workout we need progressive overload (added resistance) to become stronger.

So all we need to do is add some weight wherever we can find some.  Because there are no metal plates and fancy machines to use it doesn’t matter because the body doesn’t care where it is as long as it’s receiving
resistance of some kind. 

You can use heavy books clasped in your hands. You can buy some cheap weighted dumbbells or ankle weights.  A weighted vest will also allow you to add resistance for both chin-ups and push-ups.  Try to buy one that will let you remove and add weight as you see fit.

Also a backpack filled with books can be perfect for most of the exercises and is a cheap alternative.How about a couple of buckets and fill them with a certain level of water? As you get stronger fill them with more water. This is perfect because depending on the exercise, all you need to do is to increase or decrease the amount of water in the buckets for the required amount of resistance.

 
To wrap things up…

We know that using free weights and
machines are the
fastest and most efficient way there is to gain lean
muscle and strength, but by performing the exercises in
this article you’ll find that they will provide you with
the same benefits as going to a gymnasium but without the
ongoing costs and time constraints.

Filed Under: bodyweight training, Breathing and Work Outs, work out Tagged With: , ,

Why You Should NOT Try to Isolate Muscle Groups When Weight Training

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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

“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice – abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it.

My first response to this question is always – Why in the world would you want to isolate it?The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body
does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement.

In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing.

However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.

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

Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts.

On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation.

 Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters.

Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.

Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation,

you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones like growth hormone and testosterone.

Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint
instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the
body

 (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises.

Filed Under: Diet advice, fitness and cardio strength training, Strength Training, work out Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why My Muscles Won’t Grow? Cortisol Stress Hormone Destroy Muscle Tissues

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There are many reasons why your muscles won’t grow or why your muscle growth is retarded. One main culprit for your muscle tissue to in a catabolic and not in an anabolic state is the stress hormone called cortisol.

This stress hormone, cortisol, is produced by your body when you are understressful situations. Yes, any type of stress, whether they are mental stress, physical stress or just emotional stress will trigger off an increased in the production of cortisol hormones.

A high level of cortisol is always a bane for bodybuilders and that in itself, is
creating more stress.When you exercise or especially weightlifting body building exercises, you are placing a tremendous stress on your body.

This in turn will cause the cortisol hormone in your body to rise to unacceptable levels which may destroy your muscle tissues, bone density
and causes weight gain especially abdominal fat. Ohhh…that abdominal fat that would not go away.

This hormone hates your muscles and wants you to grow fat. It takes away protein from the muscles. However to be fair to this hormone, the cortisol hormone has its positive functions.

Cortisol is produced by the adrenal cortex and is commonly known as a stress hormone because the level of cortisol in your body rises sharply when you are under stress. This hormone plays an important role in your body’s metabolic function , it facilitates cardiovascular function,
carbohydrate metabolism and controls inflammation.

After all, it is a steroid hormone.As more cortisol is being produced, your muscle tissue breaks down further since the amino acids from your muscle protein is being converted into glucose for energy. This hormone also
blocks new muscle tissues from growing because it interferes in protein synthesis in your muscles.

How to lower cortisol level?• Get enough sleep – Let your body recuperate from the day’s stress and let the body rebuild its wears and tears. A lack of sleep will put your body under further stress and thus increasing cortisol levels.

Avoid stress – Take up yoga, read a book, take a break from whatever you are doing. Learn meditation and breathing techniques to reduce everyday stress. Take a week or so break from your exercise routine after 6-8 weeks of regular training. As your body learns how to relax, the level of cortisol hormone will fall correspondingly.

• Do not over train – Over training is a common issue amongst athletes of all types. This is especially so in bodybuilding and weight lifting. You are
already damaging your muscles when you lift weights, don’t let cortisol hormones rob your muscles of the much needed proteins and preventing muscle repair and growth.

Once your body and mind is free from stress, your cortisol production will be at a healthy level and you will once again see your muscles growing, provided that you are doing other things that are conducive to getting your
muscles to grow.

Filed Under: Diet advice, fitness and cardio strength training, Strength Training, work out Tagged With: , , , ,

Why aren’t I building muscle

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you been going to the gym regularly for months and haven’t been able to put on any serious poundage? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to take a step back and make some plans. Building muscle is not rocket science.

There are four key factors that will mean the difference between building muscle or staying skinny. You have to ask yourself these four questions.Is my diet optimized for building muscle?

It’s time to get out of the “3 meals per day” mentality. If you want to gain (or lose) weight you need to feed your body whole foods, six times per day.
This means splitting your large meals up and eating about once every three hours. Not only is this good for your metabolism, but your body will use the foods instead of storing them as fat.

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

Should I be using supplements, and when should I be taking them?If you can afford supplements you should be using them. The basic three you
should be considering are protein, carbs and creatine. Whey protein supplements are the fastest known way to deliver quality protein to your muscles.

This makes shakes particularly effective after your workouts, when your body is craving protein for muscle re-growth.There are three key times that supplements should be taken. First thing in the morning, after your workout and before bed. If your diet is up to scratch you shouldn’t need supplements at any other time.

Don’t use supplements to replace meals. Supplements are supplements, not meal replacements Am I training hard and not smart?The biggest mistake the new lifters make is thinking that the more they workout the bigger they’ll get.

This couldn’t be further from the truth! Two basic rules you must remember when it comes to weight training. First, quality is better than quantity.
Second, compound exercises are the kings of building muscle.

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

Generally you should be doing three compound exercises for one isolation exercise. For example your back/biceps workout might consist of wide
grip pull ups, seated row, bent over row and standing bicep curl. You might think this is not enough work for your biceps?

Wrong. Your biceps are worked heavily in all over these exercises; the bicep curl just finishes them off.The length of any training session should not exceed one hour. And you only need to train one muscle group
once per week.

This means a split routine should only need to be three days per week. In fact, most professional bodybuilders only train four times per week. Remember, it’s quality not quantity.

Do I get enough rest and recovery time?When you workout you’re not building your muscles, you’re breaking them down. The reason why you
looked “pumped up” when you’re in the gym is because your muscle tissue is swollen and damaged.

Your muscles actually grow when you are resting. So in simple terms,
no rest equals no muscle growth.So take it easy when you’re not working out. Ease up on the cardio. And make sure you get plenty of sleep.

Sleep is the body’s number one time for building muscle. This is also why it’s important to eat before bed, so your body has the fuel to repair muscle in your sleep.

Simple isn’t it?So you can see that despite what you read in magazines or on the web about building muscle, it’s surprisingly simple. If you get the four aspects I have mentioned in this article right, you will build muscle.

Filed Under: Diet advice, Strength Training, work out Tagged With: , ,

When Is Best Time To Eat Protein For Building Muscles|Muscle Growth?

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Every bodybuilder and fitness enthusiast knows that you must eat enough protein for muscle growth. Without the amino acids of protein, your muscles cannot grow no matter how hard and often you train your. Protein is the building block of muscles and there are no other nutrients to
substitute protein for muscle growth.

It is recommended that if you want to grow and build muscle mass, the rule
is to eat one gram of protein per pound of your body weight per day. That is a lot of protein which many people cannot get in their normal dietary meals and protein supplementation is often necessary.

Without eating enough protein, all your muscle building training in the gym will be futile. Such a waste isn’t it?So when is the best time to eat protein to optimize muscle growth? How and which type of protein should you eat to get spectacular muscular growth?

Eat protein first thing in the morning – After a good night’s sleep, your body is in a catabolic state. That means your body is burning your muscle for energy since your glycogen store is low. So eat quickly digestible protein such as whey protein the first thing in the morning even before you brush your teeth to prevent your muscle wasting away or catabolism.

Eat protein between your meals – To keep protein flowing in your bloodstream so as to feed your muscles continuously throughout the day, take casein protein in between your meals.

Casein protein is slow to digest and as such will continuously release protein into your bloodstream to feed your muscles for many hours in between your meals. In this way, your muscles will be constantly receiving protein throughout the day.

Protein before/after gym workout – It is a known fact that eating fast to digest protein such as whey protein before your workout will promote muscle growth as your muscles are being fed as you training to build
muscles.

Then take whey protein again after your workout along with some carbohydrates to repair your muscle cells after you have damaged them during your workout.Protein before bed – Since you will be going without food for many hours when you sleep and muscle building is at its optimum
when you sleep, you must encourage your muscle to grow by eating casein protein before you sleep.

 As casein protein is slow to digest, it will continuously feed your muscles
for as long as seven hours when you sleep and thus encouraging your muscles to build and grow.So now that you know when is the best time to eat protein and to encourage building muscles, follow these tips and see your muscles growing like you have never seen before.

Filed Under: fitness and cardio strength training, Strength Training, work out Tagged With: , , , ,

What To Eat To Gain Weight And Build Muscle

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Are you underweight and don’t know what to eat to gain weight? Millions of dollars are spent each year on magazines, books, and weight gain supplements. Gaining weight does not happen overnight and requires a commitment from you, but does not have to be hard if you work out and
eat the proper foods in large enough amounts.

Numerous people are continually searching for the fastest ways to gain weight and don’t know what to eat. If you truly want to learn what to eat to gain weight and maintain it, a diet rich in calories and protein combined with a regular weight-training regimen will help you accomplish your goals.

If you are looking for the best weight gain supplement for you, take into account your diet and exercise routine before making a decision. Weight gain supplements can very beneficial when used in conjunction with the
diet and weight training routine.

The major part of your calorie and protein consumption should come from the foods you eat. Substituting a weight gain supplement for a meal is never a good idea. Your body needs the natural nutrients found in lean meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and carbohydrates.

Weight gain supplements can be used effectively as a weight gain aid when they are used to supplement your diet, not replace part of it.A diet consisting of large amounts of protein, fats, carbs, and high in calories is essential to any weight gaining effort aided by weight gain supplements.

Training with weights is necessary if you want to build new muscle tissue, and a weight gain supplement can be used after a workout, in between meals, or as a snack but should never replace a meal.

Protein is a major component of any diet designed to add body weight. Lean red meats, fish, poultry, and eggs are excellent sources of protein. Several small meals per day containing large amounts of protein are crucial to your weight gaining effort. The question of what to eat to gain weight is not as complicated as some believe.

Along with plenty of protein, fats and carbohydrates are a big part of any weight gaining diet. By avoiding sweets empty calories, you will give your body the fuel it needs to add body mass and build new muscle tissue through the nutritious foods you eat at regular intervals during the day.

If you are finding it difficult to stick to a weight gain diet, try eating five or six smaller meals per day instead of three large ones. Keep in mind that a piece of chicken and a baked potato is always better than a shake, bar, or pill.

If you should decide to use a weight gain supplement, make certain you consume adequate amounts of food each day in addition to the supplement. Weight gain supplements can give you added protein and calories and may be especially helpful if used immediately following weight training.

Always be certain your diet contains all the required elements and use weight gain supplements wisely.Learning what to eat to gain weight is a relatively simple task. Increase your calorie intake and make certain
you are eating healthy, protein rich foods.

This combined with weight training and plenty of rest should allow your body to bulk up effectively and help you maintain your new body shape.

Filed Under: bodyweight training, fitness and cardio strength training, Strength Training, Strength Training Exercises, work out Tagged With: , , ,

What Causes Muscle Growth?

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In order for muscles to grow, three things are required:

1.
Stimulus – exercise is needed to make the muscles work,
use energy and cause microscopic damage to the fibers.

2.
Nutrition – after intense exercise the muscles need to
replenish their stores of fuel.

3. Rest – it is during the
rest or recovery phase that the muscles repair the
microscopic damage and grow.

Muscle size increases due to hypertrophic adaptation and an increase in the cross section area of individual muscle fibers. Intensive exercise impacts more on the strength influencing fast twitch type II fibers, therefore the increase in muscle size is accompanied by greater strength.

This will deplete the muscle’s energy stores and cause microscopic damage to the muscle tissue. During recovery, these stores of glycogen and phosphocreatine will replenish from carbohydrates and creatine ingested as food or supplements.

Amino acids supplied in the diet will trigger the protein
synthesis that repairs the damaged muscle and lead to the
creation of bigger muscle fibers.

To achieve continuous improvement you will need to keep reaching for higher levels of training intensity otherwise the improvement process will grind to a halt. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to plan for provided certain basic rules are clearly followed.

Subsequent articles in this series will examine these principles detail.

Filed Under: Strength Training Tagged With: , ,
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