Ab workouts part 2

3. Stable blood sugar is the keyYou must stabilize your blood sugar! This is by far the most important factor when it comes to burning away that excess body fat and keeping it off! To effectively stabilize your blood sugar you must feed your body frequently; like every 2-3 hours. The key is to give your body only what it needs at that time. Your body burns calories 24 hours a day, so, why would you only feed it once or twice a day? Give your body the fuel it needs: vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, whole grains, and lean proteins (chicken, fish, lean beef,eggs,etc.).
Many people are too hung up on how much fat is in food, or how healthy of a choice it is. Calories are calories and it doesn't matter where they come from. If there's extra. where's it going? Yup, you guessed it.
body fat!

This is not to say that what you eat is not important because it is, it just doesn't have that much of an affect when it comes to fat loss. Try to make healthy choices whenever possible, but don't feel like if you eat a cheeseburger it is guaranteed to be stored as fat.

4. Get the help of a professional
Unfortunately, most people don't know enough about the human body, nutrition, or effective exercise to meet their health and fitness goals. Ask yourself this one question, "Am I happy with my current progress or condition?" If you're not, you should consider getting the help of a qualified personal fitness professional. Don't depend on the information you get from magazines or from your local gym/ health club. A qualified fitness professional can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, and in less time than you would imagine. If you are serious about your health and fitness goals, and you are ready for that flat stomach, I recommend you start implementing the 4 strategies listed here. These 4 strategies can help you take control of your metabolism and burn off that excess body fat and having you looking and feeling great!

Ab workouts part 1

If your goal is to thin your waistline and have a nice flat stomach, the first thing you need to do isdecrease / eliminate the layers of fat that are on top of your abs. The most effective way of flattening your stomach is a combination of strength training (with a extra focus on mid-section), cardiovascular exercise (short, hard workouts), and stable blood sugar (keeps you from adding additional fat and makes it easier for the body to use body fat for fuel).

1. You must do some form of progressive strength training.The primary function of the ab muscle is to flex your torso forward. However, there are also muscles that flex your torso to the side and muscles that rotate your torso. Often times you see people on their ab roller every day doing hundreds of crunches or sit-ups.If you want to effectively strengthen your stomach you need to incorporate the following types of exercises:1-2 forward flexion exercises (crunch, sit-up, etc.)1-2 side flexion exercises (side bends, side crunches, etc.)1-2 rotational exercises (trunk rotations, standing twists, etc.)The abs, are muscles just like any other and should be worked at most 3 times per week.

You also want to make sure you are training them progressively, working them harder each time.

2. Use short, hard cardio workouts to increase metabolism Cardio workouts are important because they CAN, if done correctly, increase your metabolism for 4-24 hours or more! This means you are less likely to store any excess calories as body fat because they are more likely to be used by your elevated metabolism. Plus, you are more likely to burn off some excess body fat.Below is a sample interval workout that can be done with just about any activity (walking, bicycling, swimming, stair climbing, etc.).Warm up at easy pace 2-5 minutes then:
perform 30 seconds of hard work (almost as hard as possible) perform 1 minute of moderate work (recovery time-catch breath)repeat this process 6-10 times à Cool down at an easy pace for 2-5 minutes

(to be contd..)

Body Building Diet Plans For Overweight Males

For the man who is trying to lose weight and tone his body, the best solution is a combination of diet, weight training and cardio activity. This can be a delicate balance, for you want to reduce your calorie intake so that your body begins to convert the fat that has stored to energy, while at the same time giving yourself enough nutrients to properly and effectively exercise.In order to achieve your goals, you need to realize that there is no quick, healthy solution. There may be some quick solutions, but they can be worse for your health than maintaining the weight. It is essential to maintain a healthy diet while trying to lose weight. As you are planning on exercising frequently, your body will require certain levels of proteins, energy and nutrients.You cannot just starve yourself and hope to accomplish anything through exercise. You will need to eat the proper sized portions of a balanced diet, paying particular attention to consume sufficient amounts of proteins, vitamins and minerals.

You also need to severely restrict your intake of junk food and excess fats. In order to lose weight while still gaining muscle mass, you cannot afford to consume any empty calories.

Unfortunately, many foods that are high in protein are also high in fat. Some better foods for you include egg whites (but not the fat and cholesterol filled yolks), most fish, and chicken breast. Another good solution is to use protein shakes. These, you can make yourself in a blender. A good recipe can be made from the following ingredients:

• Whey protein powder
• 1% milk
• low fat yoghourt
• banana
• frozen berries – usually blueberries or strawberries
• tablespoon of olive oil and/or flax seed oil

This low fat treat is a good source of protein and natural sugars – perfect for the quick boost before a workout or as replenishment afterwards. The olive oil and flax seed oil are added for their unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats respectively. While you are trying to cut back on fats as much as possible, the body still requires a small amount to function properly. Unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats actually have considerable health benefits when consumed in small amounts. Diet alone is not sufficient. Weight training will allow you to build muscles, which will increase your body’s metabolism and make it easier for you to keep the weight off. As well, a muscular physique is both healthier and of better appearance.

Cardio exercise like running, biking or swimming, will increase the rate at which you burn the fat, making you leaner and healthier. Plus, cardio exercise is required for a healthy heart, and all of us would like a ticker that just keeps on going

Bodybuilding Diet Plans For Skinny Males

If you have a high metabolism rate, you may have trouble adding mass to your body. Obviously you need to consume more calories than you use in order to gain weight. However, pigging out on ice cream and potato chips will put that weight straight onto your gut. The trick is to eat sufficient quantities of the right foods, while maintaining a high level of activity.

Food can be broadly categorized into three groups – carbohydrates, proteins and fats. These, combined with nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and water, form the majority of your nutritional needs. Carbohydrates are materials that the body can break down easily for energy.
They consist of starches and sugars. Unlike what some diet plans would tell you, carbohydrates are essential and should not be eliminated from your diet. Fats contain some essential nutrients as well, and a portion of the right fats, mainly unsaturated and omega 3 fatty acids, are necessary for good health.

Protein forms the main building blocks of muscles. It is important when bodybuilding to consume enough protein to allow the muscles to repair themselves. The body is able to produce many, but not all of the amino acids that make up proteins.

Many bodybuilders believe that a diet high in protein is necessary to build muscle mass. However, consuming high levels of protein without doing sufficient exercise will cause the body to convert the protein to fat, which the body uses for long term energy storage.
In order to gain muscle mass you should consume just enough calories to satisfy your body’s metabolic needs and muscle growth requirements. The best way to do this is to carefully monitor your weight, body fat index, exercise level and calorie intake. What you want is a gradual increase in your body weight while maintaining a healthy body fat index.
There are no specific foods for gaining weight while body building. The best solution is just to eat more of the healthy foods that all bodybuilders eat. Conversely, bodybuilders trying to lose weight should still eat the same foods, just less of them.

Good sources of protein include:
- Egg whites
- Fish
- Chicken
- Beans and lentils
- Whey protein powder

Protein shakes are very popular among bodybuilders. They can be bought pre-made, or you can make them yourself by adding protein powder to a smoothy. Protein powder is available in many forms, with the two most popular being whey or milk based protein and soy based protein. Whey protein is generally considered superior due to its content of essential amino acids and the body’s ability to absorb it.

Bodybuilding Diet Plans For Male Beginners

For those just starting out doing bodybuilding workouts, it may seem tempting to start a hard core diet just like what you would see a bodybuilder on TV eat, complete with raw eggs or nutritional supplements. However, in the beginning, it is best to stick to a simple, healthy diet which is high in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, while low in processed foods.Some foods you might eat include eggs, lean meats, skim milk, and other lean sources of protein such as soy or fish. For more protein, you might add protein powder to a shake, but this is not necessary for a beginner.

For carbohydrates, eat fruits, vegetables, multigrain bread, and pasta. Avoid taking in too much fat, but you will still want some. If you are working out, you use up a lot of energy, and fat contains a lot of energy to feed the growing muscles. The fats in foods will also make them taste better. Peanuts and olive oils are good examples of healthy fats that you can take. These healthy fats are good for the heart, too, if taken in moderation. It is best to eat a variety of foods with each meal. Having a good diet means avoiding processed foods such as white bread, potato chips, peanut butter (except all natural peanut butter) and canned soups. Also, avoid too much fried foods.

The best way to ensure that you are efficiently using all the energy possible from the food is to eat multiple equal sized meals throughout the day. Many people tend to eat small meals for breakfast and lunch, and a large dinner. However, it is better to eat a large breakfast, and an average meal enough to fill you three more times per day making a total of four meals. Remember that it can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to realize that you are full, so eat slowly. As you increase your workout, you can slowly increase the amount of your protein intake, in order to allow more muscles to build. However, you do not need an excessive amount of protein to build muscle; your body will naturally build the muscle. In any exercise program, a lot of water must be consumed. Bodybuilders should drink about a gallon of water each day. For beginners, just start with the amount you normally drink and increase as you increase your workouts. Be sure to drink throughout the day. Avoid fruit juices which are not freshly squeezed, as they are generally very high in sugar. Just as you will have lapses in your exercise routine, you will probably have the occasional lapse in your diet. If you do, enjoy that meal or snack, and then try again for the next meal.

Bodybuilding Supplements

Working out as a bodybuilder, your diet should contain 55-65% carbohydrates, 20-25% protein, and 15-20% fat. A great way to ensure your body gets the nutritional requirements needed when bodybuilding is to take nutritional supplements.They should not be used to replace foods, but to enhance your diet and provide extra protein, minerals, and vitamins. Most dietary supplements available for muscle growth are protein enhanced supplements, since protein is the building block muscle.

Once you've learned the basics of all around nutrition, meal content, and timing, you can progress further by directing some of your efforts towards targeted supplementation. Supplement your diet with purpose.
Decide what it is that you want to accomplish as far as physical goals or performance and direct your eating and supplement program towards that objective. Don’t just pop a handful of pills hoping they’ll do some good.

Amino acids are the building block of proteins. They aid in repair, growth, and maintenance of muscle tissue. These supplements will enhance your muscle growth results more than any other supplements available on the market. There are twenty-two amino acids that build protein. Not all are essential to your daily diet. The best forms of amino acids can be found naturally in meat, fish, dairy products, and vegetables such as legumes, peas, and grains. The eight essential amino acids are: phenylalanine, lysine, isoleucine, leucine, threonine, methionine, valine and tryptophan. Our bodies need twenty different amino acids, but we are able to make the other twelve kinds from these eight, which we must get from food. Protein-based drinks are also an available supplementation to people looking to enhance their diet and build the most muscle possible, along with weight training. You can also find protein supplements that are rich in amino acids and protein. There are two types of protein-based powder drinks available to bodybuilders. They can usually be found at your local nutritional center store.

Which protein base is right for you, egg based or dairy based? Egg based protein drinks are great for people that are lactose intolerant, and usually contain more protein levels than dairy based supplement powders.
One good supplement is made by Worldwide Sport Center, and called “Whey Supreme”. It’s L-Glutamine Enriched, high protein at 24 grams per serving, a low carbohydrate formula, mineral enhanced and only 120 calories per serving. Depending on your diet and nutritional needs, the correct formula for you need vary greatly.Keep in track with the forthcoming articles,they for sure are genuine information as this one.

Nutritional Supplements for Bodybuilding

Advantages of Vitamin & Protein Supplements

When I first started seriously lifting weights I thought supplements were a waste of time and money. And, to some degree, I was right! However, as I learned more and experimented with my body I realised there was much to be gained from using vitamin and protein supplements.Bodybuilding SupplementsI have used heavy weight training for many years in order to improve other aspects of my life such as my martial arts and soccer training. So, even if you just weight train or bodybuild part time, you should be using a supplement of some kind to help support your natural diet.One factor we can take into consideration is that every single professional bodybuilder uses supplements of different kinds. And, all of them are huge! So, lets take a bit of a leaf out of their book.

High Protein, Healthy Diet is King

Let me start by saying that no matter how good your supplement is, if you have a rubbish diet your progress is going to be rubbish. It is so important to have a diet filled with high quality, natural proteins and other vitamins and minerals. Try to decrease the amount of man made food you eat each day and replace it with fruits, vegatables, milk, eggs and meats. Your health and your muscle gains will thank you later.

Protein Powder Supplements

There are so many different protein powders out there and many of them are way over priced. However, they can be important for the athelete/bodybuilder so it is worth taking the time to find the good ones and research the proper way to take them.

Advantages of Protein Powder:
1)You can get a high protein, low calorie meal which is good for fat loss

2)It is fast in terms of preparation time

3)It tastes like junk food

Disadvantages of Protein Powder:
1)It is heated during production so the protein molecules are not in tact. Many pure health professionals believe that damaged amino acids (heat changes their shape) are not as good as fresh proteins

2)You miss out on other nutrient that you would otherwise get from natural foods

3)It is expensive

Fat Loss Supplements

Most of the time fat loss supplements are a waste of time and money. They are full of junk you dont need and they can give you stomach irratation and leave you with an unhealthy appetite. For the most part, fat loss supplements are just appetite suppressions and just stop you wanting to eat as much. It could be said that this is counterproductive to losing fat as it slows down your metabolism! Again, I will leave the details for a future dedicated post.

Vitamin Supplements

Vitamin supplements, as I have said many times before, are a MUST for anyone who trains at all. With the modern world of take away, fast food and over produced junk snacks we are getting less and less vitamins and minerals from our daily meals. Everyone should be taking a good multi vitamin each day.

Build Big Strong Biceps

In every gym that you go to, you will see people pumping their biceps. Biceps along with the pecs and abs are sometimes called vanity muscles because they are the most visible and therefore command the most respect. Invariably, when you ask someone to show you his muscles, he will probably flex his biceps.Before we discuss biceps development, I want to point out that the biceps make up only one third of your upper arm with triceps the other two-thirds. So to have an impressive arm, you must build your triceps too or the effort on your biceps will not show good results. Many people fail to realize this and that is why you see them doing curls after curls without much improvement. We will touch on triceps exercises in another article. For now, let's talk about biceps.
Here are some exercises that will blast your biceps. Most of you would have done some or all of these exercises. The question I am asking is, are the exercises done in the correct form and techniques because if they are not, you will most likely be wasting your time as your biceps will not grow to its full potential. Perform each exercise for 3-5 sets once or twice a week and at reps between 6-10, but make sure that at the high end of the reps, you will not be so fatigued that you can't perform another rep in good form.

Standing Barbell Curl/ EZY Bar
You can perform this exercise with either a straight bar or an ezy bar. This is a great mass building exercises for your biceps.
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and grasp the bar with an underhand grip, hands should also be about shoulder width apart. Curl the bar up slowly focusing intensely on the biceps contraction. Do not swing or use momentum to curl especially at the later stages when your biceps get weaker. Never swing or move your body, only your arms are moving. Keep your elbows locked to the side of your body and do not pivot them.
Then lower the weight, taking 3-4 seconds resisting the weight on the way down to emphasize the negative part of the exercise. Never let gravity pull the weights down. At all times, do not curl or bend your wrist which must always be in a straight neutral position.

Incline Dumbbell Curls
This exercise will hit different fibre in your biceps and gives you the peak bicep look. Sit back on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand, keep your elbows well forward throughout the movement, curl the weight upward and toward the shoulder level. Then squeeze your biceps hard at the top position. Lower the weights again, slowly under full control. The speed and techniques are similar to what was described earlier.

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

Hammer Curl
Hammer curl gives your biceps the full look and your forearms are also working hard.
Similar to incline dumbbell curl except you will be using the hammer grip on the dumbbell like holding a hammer knocking nails in and standing up instead of sitting down.

Build Biceps Tips
Focus on the movement of your biceps all throughout the motion. Don't lift weights that are too heavy that will compromise your form and techniques to show off.By slightly turning and squeezing, you'll build more peak on your biceps. Like all exercises, pose and stretch the biceps between sets. This is to flush out lactic acid and help your biceps recover better for the next set. Remember to change the order of the exercises you perform after every few weeks to shock your biceps into new growth.You can always refer back to one of my posts which deals with proper weight-training.

Stretching & Muscles

What is suppleness?

The ability to achieve a full range of movements – to turn, stretch, twist and bend – without any stiffness, aching or suffering a spine or joint injury is defined as suppleness. It is also known as flexibility.

What about it?
Suppleness or flexibility is an important part of your everyday life. Being supple means that you can reach up to take an item down from a bookshelf, for example, or bend down to tie your shoe laces, without feeling that your movements are restricted in any way. When you are young, you tend to take suppleness for granted. But as and when you start growing older, you need to spend a bit of time enhancing and maintaining your suppleness.

Anyone can start a daily routine of simple stretches at any age to restore or increase that flexibility to your muscles as well as joints. Some studies show that you are never too old to reverse the reduced level of suppleness that comes with the age. It really doesn’t matter as to how long it has been building up.

So how is suppleness achieved?
Suppleness is achieved by regular stretching of the muscles either by carrying out specific exercises or by actively participating in activities that take the joints through their full range of movement. Muscles are wrapped in connective tissues, which, rather like chewing gum, are resistant to being stretched when cold. For this specific reason, it is very important to attempt stretching exercises only when your muscles are warm. When stretching, a slight degree of tension should be felt in the muscle. Attempting to stretch too far may cause physical discomfort or even pain and can further result in an injury. So, in order to maintain your suppleness, stretches need to be held for at least ten seconds which gives connective tissues enough time to lengthen.

Don’t take it for granted.
Stretches should always be done slowly. Once you get familiar with the positions, you can develop your flexibility by relaxing in them for progressively longer periods. You will soon realize that as your muscles relax, they can be stretched further. However if you are not doing this sort of activity regularly, you will soon find your joints all stiffening up and your range of movements becoming much more limited. So don’t take exercise for granted. Always consult a physical instructor before you start something new.

Mens health magazines

Here are a set of menshealth mags which where published from jan'06 to june'06.This mag is for sure a good read.


Download:
JanFeb2006

Mar2006

Apr2006

May2006

Jun2006

Fitness ebooks

Its been quite a while i have staid from posting which i regret. I deeply apologize to the many readers of this blog. As a compensation i have herewith enlisted two links for direct download.Its all about technique and tempo,these two factors play majors in fitness,so i have made an effort in providing you guys these wanted ebooks.

Links for download:

Secrets To Peak Performance

International Fitness Association training Ebook