woensdag 27 februari 2013

The Reason Why Volume Based Bodybuilding Workouts Can Prevent Muscle Gain

Any individual who has pursued bodybuilding with the goal of dramatically increasing muscle size knows that volume is one of the most effective techniques in producing such results. Most who understand the potency of higher volume bodybuilding workout sessions find themselves seemingly addicted to exercise, spending excessive periods performing numerous weight lifting sets, attempting to blitz their muscles with as much effort as possible.



The problem is, by performing high volume bodybuilding sessions on a prolonged basis, the body reaches a point where recovery becomes difficult, and this is where problems begin to surface. The bodybuilder feels weaker, the amount of weight used must be reduced, and the motivation that once existed for bodybuilding fades, to the point where workout sessions are skipped, and muscle mass soon begins to substantially decline. Some have the wherewithal to continue performing their bodybuilding workout sessions despite these side effects, and what soon surfaces is the enemy of any bodybuilder who seeks maximum results; a string of injuries, from joint aches to muscle strains, and possibly, in certain cases, muscle tears that can prevent weight training for months, destroying hard earned muscle gains, and this all can stem from an extensive high volume bodybuilding approach.



Those who comprehend the positive impact of volume techniques for producing muscle gains hesitate to make any modifications to their workout plan, especially if they are urged to reduce volume by a significant margin, but this short sighted idea fails to contemplate the negative impact of persistent, high volume bodybuilding workouts outlined earlier, and, in the long run, overall muscle gains decline dramatically due to unexpected layoffs.



So, what is the solution that allows a weight lifter to produce maximum muscle building without injuries, lack of motivation, or psychological trauma? A concept known as cycling, which many weight lifters have heard of, but do not integrate due to either confusion as to its importance, or simply not understanding how to properly cycle a bodybuilding workout for impressive results. The key is to follow a lower volume bodybuilding workload at the point when workouts begin to feel burdensome, as this allows the muscles and mind an opportunity to recover without the substantial muscle loss that accompanies skipped bodybuilding workout sessions. In addition, the reduced volume bodybuilding workout cycle allows joints to experience a period of recovery that is especially beneficial, as the discomfort that many times accompanies extended periods of high volume bodybuilding workouts will force less weight to be used, and interfere with the muscle building process.



The other advantage of cycling lower volume bodybuilding workout sessions compared with a constant high volume approach is muscle preservation, as normally, a weight lifter who pursues prolonged higher volume finds that a vacation from weight is necessary due to mental or physical burnout, and during this extended vacation, muscle is lost, which takes time to regain once bodybuilding is resumed, and is essentially wasted effort. This yo-yo approach is thwarted when cycling lower volume bodybuilding sessions, as muscle size is preserved during a lower set focus, and when higher volume bodybuilding sessions are once again pursued, the body will be able to continue adding new muscle mass without the frustrating muscle regain period that accompanies prolonged vacations from weight training.



Weight lifters who have been using high volume workout sessions may resist cycling lower volume, with the fear that they will hamper long term muscle building, but if they realize that one major injury, which can easily result from prolonged high volume bodybuilding workout sessions, will potentially cost them the majority of the muscle they spend so much time building, then lower volume bodybuilding workouts begin to communicate their true meaning and benefit, which is to increase the chance that a weight lifter will have the ability to consistently train with sufficient intensity, a concept that is vital in producing the best possible muscle gains. A potent weight training and bodybuilding diet routine is crucial in producing maximum muscle mass, but even a perfectly constructed muscle building system is of no impact if the weight lifter is not capable of maintaining consistent bodybuilding workouts, with only occasional vacations (preferably around holidays, for spending time with family and friends). Cycling low and high volume bodybuilding workouts will provide the weight lifter significant muscle building without periods of lethargy, inconsistency, sickness, and injury that result from prolonged high volume bodybuilding workout plans.



Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight training program teaching the exact techniques for muscle building without supplements or drugs. He also owns IncrediBody.com, an online fitness superstore selling weight training equipment at guaranteed lowest prices.

Tips on How To Build Muscle Fast

Are you one of the many people who do lots of exercise in order to stay fit and healthy? No matter if you do it because you want to lose some weight or build muscle mass, there are many things you can do to help yourself. I am personally interested in finding exercises for building muscle mass rather that such for burning calories as I am a man. But it all comes to your body type and goals. However, everyone who wants to stay healthy should consider a good fitness routine.

Are you aware of the fact that weekly exercise is mandatory for staying healthy? How do you stay in shape? I am very fond of martial arts and apart from training self-defense, I am also trying to build muscle mass. Everyone wants to have a toned body which gives you confidence and strength. Do you want to be stronger? There are many exercises you can do without machines. For instance, you can try push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, dips, leg raises, running and jogging. Jumping jacks, jump rope and lunges are also a possibility. There are so many easy exercises you can do by yourself, thus I laugh at those who blame the lack of proper equipment for their poor health.

Probably the best way to build muscle mass is to start proper weight training. In case you want to have a large variety of modern weight machines, then joining a gym is the best option. Otherwise, you can simply buy a few dumb bells and a bench. For those individuals who cannot afford any extra expenses but still wish to build muscle mass, I would recommend muscle building exercises. Try with push-ups, pull-ups and dips. Search online for the best ab exercises available. You can get hundreds of different exercises if you have Internet access. What is really great about it is that you don't need to spend any money on building muscle mass.

You will be surprised how many free exercises are at your disposal. When having a fitness training of some sort proper diet should be considered. For instance, if you are pumping iron five days a week but you cannot see a significant result, then probably you should change your current diet. In case you want to build muscle mass you will need high levels of protein. Fish and meat will provide you with enough nourishment of protein. Of course, protein bars galore are another option. When talking about building muscle mass, proper training and diet are crucial. Once you get them right, you can have the toned body you have always wanted for a short period of time.

zaterdag 23 februari 2013

How to Eliminate Weight Loss Failure by Lifting Weights: The Secret Everyone Ignores

Many times, when one begins a new fat loss regime; they focus on dieting (hopefully intelligent dieting, not fad diets or very low calorie diets) and hopefully an exercise regime. Most of the time, to accomplish fat loss, people seem to believe that aerobic (aka. cardio) training in addition to a moderate reduction in calories is the best course of action to accomplish this. The main goal is to create a caloric deficit through these methods so that the body must use fat stores to make up for the deficit, therefore accomplishing fat loss. However, many times people run into a plateau that is caused by the lowering of the metabolism due to muscle loss because of the new diet and exercise regime. This lowering of the metabolism is known as the starvation response. You've experienced this if you've ever tried to lose fat before and eventually, even though you may have tried very hard, you seemed to not be able to lose anymore fat.

Aerobic training is the chief way you will burn fat during exercise, and will greatly help to avoid the starvation response compared to changing the diet alone (dieting only, without any exercise will cause it to a much greater degree - but that is the subject for another article - you can find more information at http://www.weight-loss-resources.com). However, dieting and training aerobically can still eat away some of your muscle anyway - unless you know what you're doing. When one weight trains in addition to cardio and intelligent dieting, the body signals a response to keep muscle. Because muscle is one of the major factors that dictates your metabolism at rest, keeping muscle will help you to steer clear of the dreaded starvation response.

In my opinion, the weight lifting part of your exercise program should be the core - it is the meat. While aerobic training is like the steak sauce that goes along with your meat. Cardio is not totally necessary, but it will increase your rate of fat loss in comparison to dieting and weight lifting alone. Weight lifting will increase your muscle mass (cardio does not), which increases your resting metabolism, which helps you to create a healthy caloric deficit. One pound of muscle will burn an additional 35 to 50 calories per day. So, simply gaining 4 pounds of muscle is approximately equivalent to walking for an hour each day. Also, during a weight lifting workout, you are burning calories anyway - don't think that lifting weights does not use up your energy. Another spiffy benefit of weight training is its effect on the body after the workout. This is known as the glowing effect or EPOC - which stands for exercise post oxygen consumption. Essentially, your body must recover from the muscle tears you just imposed upon it, and that requires calories too.

One thing that strict dieting and aerobic exercise can do is cause people to lose so much fat and muscle (as stated before), that a skinny, yet unhealthy and unattractive look is created. In the sense of attractiveness, skinny may look better than fat, but when you have a low body fat percentage and also a healthy dose of muscle tone (male or female), you feel and look much more attractive and healthier (the healthier you look, the more attractive you look) to the opposite sex.

It seems that one reason that many women avoid weight training is for fear that they will become "bulky". More than likely, this belief was created after seeing some overly (and sometimes manly) muscular fitness models on T.V. and in magazines. Well, 99% of those women probably take some sort of hormone or steroid compound; otherwise they wouldn't look as manly as they do. They also follow extremely strict diet and training regimes to attain that level of fitness. However, if you are a woman you probably aren’t going to be doing or taking the things those people do. Even if you really wanted to, you would have trouble looking like that. Weight training will not do that to you - even if it did, you can easily stop or turn your weight training regime into a maintenance phase. You are in total control of how muscular you want to become.

If you're goal is fat loss, remember to incorporate weight training into your exercise regime along with cardio and intelligent dieting. The combination of these three things is the key to achieving your goals and sculpting your body without hitting plateaus. You have nothing to lose by weight training except the fat. You can find more information on achieving your weight loss goals at http://www.weight-loss-resources.com.

donderdag 21 februari 2013

Carp Fishing Bait Recipes And Secrets To Improve Your Readymade Baits!


Think about it – how many times do you read a fishing magazine only to be pounded with yet more biased nonsense about such and such a bait and method the masses are using?! Here are some unbiased tips that do not promote any company that are highly innovative, extremely well proven for big fish - but will be new to your carp! Read on to multiply your big fish catches right now!

If you use readymade boilies, pellets and pastes it is more than likely your carp will have been practicing avoiding these very recognisable baits for years – if not decades. Despite claims of many bait companies a vast number of baits work to a great degree against your optimal success purely because they are so very recognisable as a potential threat.

Carp associate danger or potential threats using all kinds of cures. These may be the chemicals issuing from a boilie, or the over-used components of many pellets for instance. Carp soon learn by association what foods have potential for danger – and develop behaviours to avoid getting hooked. Some carp have the capacity for doing this far more than others because no carp is identical to another in terms of individual experience combined with genetic needs and preferences for example when detecting potential food substances.

But why keep on flogging baits that are far less effective than others? After all if you know that readymade boilies have standard characteristics such as their shape, firmness and resilience and kinds of predictable movements in water in water it would be stupid to pretend that such baits are the peak of efficient objects to catch carp! What about the fact that far too many ready made baits contain exactly the same standard binders and protein ingredients - all of which act as potential signals of danger?

Think about it – when soluble substances are soon washed out of such baits they pretty much will taste and smell the same; and so offer the same old nutritional reasons for carp to eat them. But these reasons may well be as good as useless because so many baits like this are used all the time anyway and so carp will have drastically less need of such nutrients – especially as heavy baiting leads to higher levels of natural food availability in very many carp waters! Why not think like a carp and use something different to really boost your catch rate instead

Rod Hutchinson did not get into using so-called particle baits just for the fun of it. He found that on very rich waters fish were feeding in different modes and behaved in often quite different fashions to how most carp feed in well-stocked lower water quality waters. In very rich waters the old standard high protein boilie approach can easily be out-fished by using baits that replicate the items that carp browse on naturally on their travels. It is very noticeable from my ebooks reader feedback that using pastes to initially get fish onto a new bait is massively more successful – and very fast acting, compared to using boilies.

It is an excellent idea to make up ground bait based on your intended boilie base mix ingredients or ready made base mix powders mixture. I prefer to make my own because I can make them far more potent – at much less cost than it would be to buy base mixes. I have yet to find a boilie base mix that cannot be made far more potent – after all these are commercial compromises that have been produced to make money.

Such ready made baits potential for triggering feeding can always be more fully maximised in a very wide range of ways. You might think of flavours or dips or palatants for instance but you can exploit an incredible variety of properties, physiological impacts and even the ways baits and bait substances ionise the water, drop or raise water pH, or pump out even more soluble substances via diffusion and various simultaneous chemical reactions taking place.

You can certainly make your homemade readymade base mixes far more potent than standard baits. One you get the know-how you can harness the massive fish-catching benefits of making your readymade base mixes extremely potent. They can be made to be naturally highly bioactive in endless ways. You can make them enzyme-active and pre-digested in a vast number of ways too. These things are not secrets – they are readily available for anyone to discover right now but I have done my homework - to help you!

You can improve your baits by making them far more beneficial to fish by improving their prebiotic and probiotic impacts on fish too but these things among many others are just the tips of the ice-berg of what is potentially possible to do to improve your catches right now – and more and more ways and means are being discovered all the time increment by increment. All it takes for you to improve your catches is the desire to improve your catches – to resist group mentality (of most magazine readers for instance) and think more like a fish – like an individual and not like a fashion-following angler chained-up by a limiting conventional stereotypical mindset conditioned by popular thought!

It astounds me just how far behind most carp anglers on the bank really are when it comes to discussing details of their baits and how to truly maximise their baits impacts on fish. Just soaking or dipping or glugging baits is about as far as it gets from maximising baits because you need to really harness the basic ways substances behave in the water and how fish sense changes in the water. Anyone can discover these things.

It is far from true that everything is known about carp baits. To say that there is nothing new in carp baits is obviously completely ignorant and downright misleading! The leading fish scientists in the world have not even discovered all there is to know about very major aspects of how fish detect various vitally important substances and water changes - so it is totally ignorant and very arrogant of someone to bluntly state that everything about carp baits is already known!

This is quite apart from the fact that carp, like us humans are constantly evolving beings, whose DNA changes not just from one generation to another but actually within individuals while they are growing and maturing. Just ask yourself for example why it is that we can adapt our palate, improve our eyesight, re-sensitise our nose and tongue to a whole new range of substances – and how this can alter our preferences and behaviours.

This kind of thing is a major cornerstone of the profitability of the food industry and their tricks to make you buy more food by genetically altering our senses by keeping us ignorant to the impacts of all kinds of substances and their effects. Countless food products contain added substances that will genetically alter your and your preferences in various ways.

Part of the obesity and diabetes epidemics are related to vast volumes of refined sugar added to foods and drink that effectively make them more palatable and habit-forming – but the more you eat the higher the risk of diabetes for instance. I had a curry the other night and it contained an added 5 grams of sugar.

Added to all the other subtly added sugar in other foods my sugar intake is far higher than is healthy yet all this is just so food companies make fat profits – literally! Through my knowledge of carp bait substances I can use various foods to multiply my metabolism and maintain a healthy level of metabolism-boosting type of muscle I can burn off far more sugar than most people normally would. By comparison my brother is the same height as me but is 5 stones heavier than my 12 stone bodyweight.

The link between substances exploited by the food industry and ill-health is just not well known enough to be front page news as much as I would like to see, but some aspects of food industry practices to make us eat more of particular foods can be applied when putting together baits of many formats that have proven to catch more carp!

Watch out for food labelling - for instance in many health food products that are stated as being all natural there is a very high level of refined sugar added. More often than not, lactose, glucose, fructose and other additives are included – all called natural but with very big impacts on senses and on actually genetically altering taste specific preferences related to your human food buying behaviours!

Beware if you are on a diet and trying to wean yourself off crisps. For example some low fat crisps contain much more salt or contain the toxin MSG (it over-hydrates brain cells making them explode – causing minor but progressive bleeding on the brain – yet another food industry cover-up! I do not recommend it to be used in any food. Natural form glutamate found in protein-rich foods does not have ill effects! I recommend using things like L030, pre-digested fish protein, fermented shrimp and other natural glutamate-rich substances instead to enhance your baits if you truly care about your carp health!

I tried buying lower fat crisps only to discover that not only did they have a higher than normal level of salt – they also contained dextrose! You might learn what you like from this but do keep your bait head in gear because it is very important in its implications! You might think that carp syrups are new but nothing could be farther from the truth – honey is the most well-known carp attractor on record throughout history!

If you are still in doubt about the fact that you can make your carp baits alter carp and their preferences genetically, consider how the average height of humans in the western world has risen dramatically over the past 50 years.

In the same way a myriad of nutritional and other factors are growing carp to sizes that UK anglers who began carp fishing in the seventies or earlier never dreamt was ever possible! The average size of carp in most waters in the UK during the seventies was somewhere between single and double figures, yet in some UK waters today the average can be as much as 35 pounds or more - yet in the seventies and eighties, to catch even one carp well over thirty pounds was nationally significantly newsworthy! Today more and more forty pound carp are being caught – yet most anglers forget that very many of these were the double figure so-called pasty or noddie fish that no-one took any notice of during the eighties!

In fact it is my certain belief that we humans have in the past been taller than we are today – by quite a margin. But the genetic evidence for this has been covered up because to conventional science this fact cannot yet be explained. Just one aspect of this is plain to see – at times in the past the atmosphere has been more beneficial to growth in all creatures.

At various epochs in history competition among humans or between humans and other animals has been less important so capacity for growth has been different. Many factors come into why growth rates of animals can alter up or down through time but it is a fact that burial sites of races of humans such as indigenous Indians have been found with skeletons well over 7 feet tall; some races much taller still.

We take for granted that some African races are particularly tall, yet low ceilings and 5 feet high doorways of many medieval buildings in the UK for instance show that humans have certainly changed up and down in size over periods of time for a wide range of combined reasons. Ultimately all this change shows up in the genetic record and the fact is that carp are dynamically changing genetically even through their lifetimes in response to factors such as the food substances they consume!

We can harness this power yet most anglers seem to be completely oblivious to the potential impacts upon catches this really truly has!

I could list very many substances I can guarantee are never used in commercial carp baits and probably never will be either but this does not stop individuals like you and me exploiting substances that have the kinds of impacts on carp that literally drug them. I could put together a number of carp bait recipes that you could easily say are simply a list of substances with actual drug or drug-related impacts on fish.

Think about it – we are what we eat right? OK so consider this; not all the substances in foods get excreted or detoxified from our cells and tissues whether they are bad or good for us; this is the same for carp. The body is an incredible storage vehicle but it really is what it is made of. Over time the impacts of consuming certain substances will build-up – for instance the positive antioxidant impacts of carp consuming a higher than normal consumption of carotenes and carotenoids.

A range of potent naturally derived pigments are well known to be beneficial to carp in both the short and longer term. Consider those in sweetcorn, maize and eggs, or shrimps or spices for instance! Such impacts can induce changes in specific carp sensitivities that make them alter their behaviours so that when regularly introduced substances within baits change carp feeding behaviours in your unique favour. This principle has been proven again and again for particular bait substances and combinations over the years but the list is growing as more substances are being utilised by creative forward-thinking individuals – like you perhaps!

You might think that hemp is a prime example of a classical carp bait and it is true it has many potent characteristics and nutritional and bioactive features etc that influence carp feeding and associated carp behaviours. But the active compounds that are presently known on hemp seed can be found in different strengths in other natural products if you bother to look!

The same is true of many forms of compounds found in herbs and spices. Chilli is a very fashionable word in carp fishing right now but the variety of active compounds associated with many forms of hot spicy compound-containing plants is huge and impact on carp in many ways that make them easier to catch including stimulating increased protein-feeding for example.

One major point of make about certain bait substances and ignorance of them on the bank is that some can prevent other baits from catching fish. This is no joke because once this effect is witnessed – and you are the one who knows which substances and effects on carp have produced this highly advantageous effect your will never think about carp baits in the same way again! Revealed in my unique readymade and homemade bait carp and catfish bait secrets ebooks is far more powerful information – look up my unique website (Baitbigfish) and see my biography below for details of my ebooks deals right now!

By Tim Richardson.

dinsdag 19 februari 2013

Calf Exercises for Men


The first portion of a complete body sculpting routine for men is the upper body routine. Because many men are already comfortable with exercise for this area of the body, it's generally the part of the body that's well-defined and toned.

The calf is made of two main muscles, the gastrocnemius and the soleus, nicknamed in some languages "the twins". They manipulate the Achilles tendon - that's the big tendon just above your heel, behind the ankle - to produce the movements of the foot and toes.

One of the problems with bodyweight training programs is that your weight can sometimes be too heavy or too light. Take squats for instance. For most people their body weight won't provide enough resistance to get a good workout within a 'normal' repetition range.

Toning is something that both men and women strive to accomplish with their workouts. Women want to tone their trouble areas to create a leaner look that gives them a strong feminine shape, while men strive to tone their larger muscle groups to make them appear more cut and ripped. The best exercises for toning target individual areas of the body, and provide exceptional results at a fast rate.

These exercises for skinny guys emphasize working on the whole body, using compound exercises to build up several muscle groups at the same time. Compound exercises are more efficient in building muscle mass since no muscle group is left behind in the work out.

Another way to tone up and bulk up your lower body muscles is to do dead lifts. The concept is simple. Just lift the weight with both your arms. Dead lifts are a great way to tone your arms, shoulders, chest, back, hips, butts, abs, thighs, calf muscles and everything in between.

One of the best leg exercise that you can do with your bodyweight. This will make you become more stable and challenge your leg strength, endurance, balance and agility. In a standing position, raise one leg out as straight as possible in front of you, and squat down on one leg until your thigh touches your calf.

Not everybody has a jump rope on them right now, but a jump rope can be one of the best weight loss exercises because you use your arms, your calfs, legs, and explosive movements. People who jump rope tend to break a sweat rather quickly, so why not start today and start jumping rope!

Movements that involve deep concentration and create lots of burn are the best leg exercises for women. These include: leg extensions, leg curls, abductors, lunges (side and front), calf raises. Squats and leg presses are popular leg movements, but if you get too over-zealous you might be looking at a larger set of legs or bigger butt.

Studies done at the Baylor University Exercise and Sports Nutrition Laboratory showed that 30-minute workouts raised the heart rate of women and men to about 65 percent of their maximum. Thirty minutes was enough time to improve cardiovascular fitness.

Begin your fitness session with a five to ten minute stretching and warm up, and finish by cooling off for another five minutes. And then in the course of the rest of that session, make your workouts relatively brief. Your standard exercise sessions ought not last greater than 30 to 45 minutes.

The main reason why most people fail to build calves is they simply do not train them hard enough. Think about it. Your calves handle your body weight while standing, running, and walking and doing just about any other physical activity. This means they are already used to lots of stimulation and will only respond to super heavy weights.

Chest Workout Routine - A Blueprint to Rock Hard Pecs!

Looking for a extreme chest workout? Want well developed, highly admired pectorals? Of course you do, what guy doesn't? Well, just follow the chest workout routine I'm about to outline and you will be well on your way.

Chest Workout Routine
Barbell Bench Press: Starting your workout off with the bench press is always a good notion from the time of it's such a demanding exercise. Both functional and effective, the bench press must be a staple exercise in your chest workout routines. I prefer to start off with the flat press, but you can also rotate situations every where in as you see fit. It's always a good idea to carry on your person guessing.

4 Sets
Between 6-12 Repetitions (12,10,8,6)
Progressively Increase The Resistance
Rest For 2 Minutes Between Sets

Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline pressing movements work the upper portion of your chest. Since you're targeting a smaller muscle within the chest when you're pressing at an incline, you generally won't be able to lift as a good deal as you would on the flat or decline pressing movements.

4 Sets
Between 6-12 Repetitions (same loading pattern - 12,10,8,6)
Progressively Increase The Resistance
Rest For 2 Minutes Between Sets

Dips: Dips are a great - somewhat advanced - exercise to target the lower portion of the chest. Decline pressing movements may furthermore do the trick but for this particular workout, stick with dips. When you're performing the exercise, get sure you figure out produce a bit because if you maintain an upright posture, less emphasis will be placed on the chest and more emphasis will be placed on your triceps.

4 Sets
As Many Controlled Repetitions As You Can (If You Can Do More Than 12 - Start Adding Resistance)
Rest For 2 Minutes Between Sets

That's Great, But How Do I Even Perform These Exercises?

Good question and I have a healthy answer. To view video clips and step by step instructions for these - as well as about 100 other exercises - easily click the link below. You can get more fitness and nutrition information by visiting http://tinyurl.com/awfgv4


Video Source: Youtube

zondag 17 februari 2013

ChaLEAN Extreme – Lean Phasing Explained

Did you know that muscle burns fat? This is one of the main principles behind Chalene Johnson's new workout program called ChaLEAN Extreme. The more lean muscle that you have the more fat and calories that you can burn when working out and even when resting or sleeping. A person with a lower body fat percentage will have a higher metabolism and burn fat a lot faster than someone with a high body fat percentage.

So, how exactly do you get the lean muscle to burn fat? In ChaLEAN Extreme, Chalene Johnson has developed a unique workout technique called lean phasing to develop lean muscle and burn fat at a quicker pace. It is a form of circuit-training in which you are pushed to the extreme to get your body tight and toned.

How Does it Work?
Now that you know that muscle can burn more fat even when you are resting, how does lean phasing work to achieve the lean muscle and toned body that you desire? The ChaLEAN Extreme workout consists of three different phases, which is the basis behind lean phasing. The first phase is called burn. In this phase your jump start your weight loss as you start lifting weights to strengthen your body. This phase is a moderate phase in which you lift weights that are comfortable for you.

The next phase of ChaLEAN Extreme is called push. In this phase of the workout program, Chalene starts to push you to your limits. This is were you start lifting weights that are heavier than what you are used to. You start challenging your muscles more so that they start developing even more than before. Chalene will show you step by step exercises as in this phase you are still working your body one area at a time.


The third phase of ChaLEAN Extreme is called lean. This is were Chalene introduces dynamic moves and exercises to really get that fat to melt right off. You are lifting heavier weights while doing circuit training exercises that work the entire body at once. Instead of simply working your lower body during an exercise, you will be working your lower body, upper body and your core with one exercise.

The lean phasing of ChaLEAN Extreme involves quickly building up your lean muscle so that you can start burning fat throughout the whole day. This workout can be done by beginners or by more advanced people and still go through the lean phasing just the same. The key to the lean phasing is to get your muscles started and then push them to the limit. With this workout, you will be lifting heavier weight than you ever have before. Women should not be concerned about bulking up with this program though. It is not about forming bulk, but toning and slimming your body to develop lean muscle. Women just do not have the genetics to naturally build muscle mass like a man does,so do not be concerned when you see that this involves lifting heavier weights.
Lean phasing is a revolutionary program that involves three key phases to get your body burning fat much faster than it has ever before.

Tiffany Brunskole is a writer for Surfer Body Fitness, an Online retailer who specializes in workout products from Beachbody such as ChaLEAN Extreme. Get your child on the pathway to good health at Surfer Body Fitness

10 Killer Tips For Rapid Weight Loss

In order to make the most of your weight loss program, finding the most effective ways to burn fat will maximize your results and minimize your waistline! Follow these 10 tips for fat burning if you want to lose weight and lead a healthier way of life.

1.) Drink More Water

One of the best weight loss secrets is to ditch the sodas and stick to water! Experts say you should drink approximately eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated and healthy. Instead of turning to calorie-laden or sugar-rich drinks, grab a refreshing glass of water. In addition to flushing toxins out of your system, drinking water encourages you to build muscle.

2.) Eat More Meals

A traditional three-meals-a-day plan just will not cut it if you are in the market to burn fat. Your body is not able to metabolize large meals and will quickly turn any excess into fat. Many experts believe you should eat six small meals a day. Be sure you cut back on your food consumption at each meal, or else you will be doubling your intake—and doubling your fat storage!

3.) Work Out with Weights

One great way to maximize the amount of fat you are burning is to add a weight program to your work out routine. Weight training will not only tone your physique, but will strengthen your body and improve your general health. Lifting weights will also burn calories and fat more quickly than traditional exercising, and it will also boost your metabolism.

4.) Choose Protein

Choose protein-laden foods for boosting your metabolism and enabling your body to burn fat rapidly. In addition to burning fat, consuming a protein-enriched diet will help you rebuild muscle after work outs and maintain leanness of that muscle. Wisely choose proteins for your diet. Take great care to pick proteins low in fat so you do not consume extra calories.

5.) Cut Calories Wisely

It may be tempting to drastically cut your calorie intake when starting a healthy lifestyle. Instead, use a step method when cutting your calorie intake to minimize risk. Reducing calories too quickly results in your body rapidly burning all available calories, which will lower your metabolism. Furthermore, you are more likely to maintain your healthy lifestyle through this step method.

6.) Reward Yourself

When it comes to successfully dieting to burn the most fat, be sure to reward yourself. Everyone has temptations and favorite treats—so allow indulgence. You will be less likely to cheat on your new diet if you grant yourself small rewards. If you are a chocolate lover, treat yourself to a small square of chocolate or single chocolate kiss each evening.

7.) Avoid Marathon Work Outs

The biggest mistake people make when looking to burn fat and lose weight is to have one long, extensive work out session. Instead, break up your work out plan into small chunks throughout the day. Take a brisk walk in the morning, enjoy a work out at lunch, and then exercise more in the evening. In addition to staying active all day long, breaking up your work out will better maintain your metabolism.

8.) Mix It Up

Choosing to engage in a variety of quality exercises will keep your interest and best allow you to maintain your goal of burning fat. Instead of doing the same exercises each day—mix it up! Opt to swim laps one day, jog another, and bike the next. Rotating your activities will not only allow you to experience a variety of athletics, it will also allow you to better tone your body.

9.) Skip Happy Hour

For those individuals who want to burn fat quickly, avoid alcohol. Rich in sugars and carbohydrates, alcohol is a calorie-rich substance. These empty calories can add up quickly and take away from necessary nutrients that should be included in your daily diet. Furthermore, alcohol acts as an inhibitor for burning fat, allowing your body to store it more quickly.

10.) Try a Low GI Diet

A low GI diet is an excellent method of burning fat quickly. This diet encourages individuals to consume high amounts of foods with low rankings on the Glycemic Index. These foods are nutritious and will aid your body in burning fats and calories at a quicker pace. This diet includes many of your favorite fruits, vegetable, meats, dairy, and grain products.

vrijdag 15 februari 2013

AnthonyG

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Five Muscle Building Tips - Stay Safe while Working Out

Working out is good for your body, but if you fail to workout correctly, it can cause injuries. Here are five tips to help you stay safe during your workout routine. Many people today aspire to build muscle mass and "bulk up" as quickly as possible. So... Read >

Where Can I Find Transformers Action Figures?

Many of us grew up watching Transformers on TV and playing with the all-too-cool action figures. However, Transformer action figures are not as readily available as they once were -- so, where can we pick up these now-vintage toys? Now that Transformer... Read >

Questions and Affirmations - The Art (and Science) Of Talking To Yourself

I Hear Voices…

This is not a statement of paranormal; it is a statement of truth. Yes, we all have an inner voice…Is yours an ally or an enemy? Do you realize you say things to yourself you would never let anyone else say to you? Don’t let your inner voice tear you down and strip away your confidence.

All outward success first starts with inward success...learn the secret strategies to winning communication with your self.

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“Men ought to know that from the brain and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter and sorrows. …Through it, we think, see, hear and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the bad from the good, the pleasant from the unpleasant…To consciousness, the brain is messenger.” –Hippocrates

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Did you know that each day you have more than 50,000 random thoughts flying around in your head? You might find it interesting to note that we all have voices in our head. Sometimes the voice is calm and reassuring providing you with great confidence in your abilities. Other times, this voice is the negative and self limiting voice that calls into question all of your deficiencies. The voice that brings up all of the past failures and shortcomings and reminds you of all of the things you have going against you.

In sports, this voice is the last thing you hear before you take action. In interaction with others, it is sometimes the voice that challenges your worth in relation to others and weakens our own esteem.

Although we are born with this amazing supercomputer, the most complex and incredible instrument known in the universe, it does not come with an owner’s manual.

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Success principles are not secrets; they are hiding in plain view.

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Famed journalist, Edward R. Murrow remarked, “The obscure we eventually see. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.” They are not reserved for the rich or famous, but to everyone who will apply them. We are inborn by our creator with tools to guide us and protect us and to open the world of abundance to us; if only we will let it.

Like understanding the law of gravity will place you on your bottom if you violate it, principles of success are laws of nature. Every idea you produce consciously produces subconscious activity to fulfill what was first created in your mind.

A farmer choosing what to plant in a field is like the conscious mind. The field itself is the subconscious mind. Whatever the farmer plants, the field grows. The field does not possess a will of its own; it must grow what was planted. It would be ridiculous to think of the farmer planting corn and having beans grow. In the same way your subconscious mind will carry out the actions our conscious mind directs. If the farmer neglects the field and plants nothing, there will still be growth. The growth will be wild and weedy based on whatever was accidentally planted.

Over time the field will be out of control with weeds. In the same way our minds, if not consciously directed, will fill with mental weeds.

There is good news!

The good news is that just like any other skill, you can learn to take greater control of your inner voice and in doing so, create greater control of your life.

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." –William James

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Create Your Destiny

with the

Power Of

Questions and Affirmations

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The Power of Positive Questions

Most people ask themselves the wrong question which produces a negative subconscious effect. You can learn to program your super computer brain by learning to ask yourself the right questions. The key is to ask yourself solution-based, positive and empowering questions rather than negative, disempowered, problematic questions.

In the past, you may have asked questions like the following. “Why am I so fat?” “Why is my life such a failure?” “Why do bad things always happen to me?” “Why am I so stupid?” These questions and all the ones like it take a terrible toll on you.

First they start with a negative assumption, stated as fact with the question supporting the wrong conclusion. If you ask yourself, “Why is my life in the crapper?” any answer you give provides support to the negative assumption. This can be compared to an attorney taking a witness from the opposing side down the path to prove the lawyer’s point.

Next time you find yourself doing this, interrupt yourself with the quip, “Objection your Honor; leading the witness!”

Improving your condition comes through asking yourself better questions. This allows the creative inspiration to work through our subconscious to bring about the conditions or magnetize the conditions we seek.

You not only have the ability, but also all the resources necessary to learn anything you need to learn to fulfill any ambition or achieve any goal you desire. The goal for your questions to yourself in any situation should be outcome or solution based. The assumption is that there is an issue that needs to be fixed. Rather than what was presented above, look at an approach leading to an action conclusion. “What do I need to change about my habits to get to my fitness goal?” “What do I want to do with my life that gives me meaning and satisfaction?” “What do I need to do differently to change this string of results?” “What can I learn and apply from this?” “What is affecting my mood that makes me feel my life is not going the right direction?”

Tony Robbins asserts, “Questions provide the key to unlocking our unlimited potential.” Probably the single best question you can begin to ask yourself in any situation is, “What outcome do I want from this event/situation?”

You may certainly wish to adapt this slightly, but when you go into a situation, whether it is a business meeting or negotiation or class, knowing your desired outcome is vital. As I began to work on this habit in earnest for myself, I was simply amazed at how many actions I took and how many activities I worked on without asking this clearly up front? I need to research a better mortgage for my house. What is my ideal outcome? Is it lower payments, less interest over time, more house for my money, flexibility? Without knowing the right question, the answers don’t help much. What outcome do I desire for my relationship with my spouse and children? Do I know and plan or just let it happen?

We have the power through understanding and training of our subconscious minds to plant the seeds and affirm health, security, happiness, abundance. We also have the opportunity to allow society’s programming to plant the seeds of lack, insecurity, fear, doubt, and negativity. I am not speaking about deep hypnosis or anything out of the ordinary.

It takes practice to keep your mind free from worry and insecurity. It takes dedication to constantly feed your mind new information and positive stimuli that will provide positive associations. It takes vigilance to associate with positive people and positive influences. Make sure your questions ask for what you want, not what you don’t want.

Remember…your mind is a supercomputer. In addition to the information and educational programming you provide as input to your computer, how you talk to yourself and the questions you ask is the most influential factor in your outcome.

The Simple Power of Affirmations

We need to find a way to control our thoughts to keep them as allies rather than adversaries. In her book, The Secret Door To Success, the late Florence Scovel Shinn talks about having a Watchman at the gate of our thoughts. Her assertion is that we have the power to choose our thoughts. She uses an analogy of a single sheep dog controlling frightened sheep into the pen through gentle determination.

“We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the situation.”

Although her book was written in the early 1900s, she hits upon a tool that is one of the best and yet underutilized tool for controlling and programming your thoughts, the power of affirmation.

Affirmation as a mental programming technique is an extremely powerful tool, yet one that is scoffed at by many. Affirmations are tremendously misunderstood and very much underutilized. What you may not realize is that you use them all the time although most time not to your benefit. Affirmations are simply statements of intent. You can develop into all that you desire to be based on what you chose to affirm about yourself.

I Am The Greatest!!

Mohammad Ali is one of the most widely known and recognized sports figures as a former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Ali is famous for his repeating of an affirmation he used with great effectiveness to convince not only himself, but also his opponents and the rest of the world. “I am the Greatest!” Mohammad Ali’s affirmation created his legacy.

Like goals, affirmations work best when they are worded in the present tense as “I am” or “I achieve” type statements. The mind cannot hold a negative. Affirmations are nothing more than affirming the truth as you wish it to be to instruct your subconscious mind to take action in that direction. It is really very simple.

Affirmations help you believe in your dreams and what you wish to be. Belief is essential to convincing your subconscious to act the direction you want to go. Affirmations are like exercise. You will not see immediate results until you create the habit which over time helps you build strength in yourself and in your beliefs. This ultimately affects your actions which affect your results.

An affirmation in some cases might be a lie at present, but you are in a sense trying to convince your subconscious that it can be true to make it a reality in the future.

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"To affirm anything is to state that it is so, and to maintain this as being true in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Repeating an affirmation is leading the mind to that state of consciousness where it accepts that which it wishes to believe."-Ernest Holmes

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Sometimes we inadvertently affirm and reinforce old established beliefs. “I am so stupid.” “I’m going to lose this account.” “I always flub this shot.” “There is no way I can make this deadline.” “I gain weight just smelling chocolate.” “I need a drink.” “I am a horrible golfer.” I can’t speak in public.” “I could never write a book.” “I am such a klutz.” “I never win.” “I’m not smart enough to do that.” “I could never do something like that.” “I am such an idiot sometimes.” “I would lose my head if it were not attached.”

Have you ever said things like this to yourself; or worse to others about yourself? Of course you have…we all have done this. This kind of talk while sometimes self effacing and done for positive effect, can actually have negative consequences. If taken to extreme and developed into a habit or pattern of self talk, the message and programming can be damaging. The issue that separates people is their underlying attitudes and beliefs about themselves. How do you respond to setbacks and adversity? Do you take it in stride, or do you take the glum and negative approach of “this always happens to me, I never catch a break, etc.”

The other choice is to create and affirm and reinforce our desired positive beliefs. This happens all day long, moment by moment, and takes hold a little at a time. “This is easy.” “I only eat when I am hungry.” “I feel great when I exercise.” “I know I can drop the pounds when I put my mind to it.” “What an awesome day!” “I don’t run and hide from problems, I attack.” “I feel great!” “My life is really working.” “I see a lot of opportunities in this situation.”

I have one friend who repeats to herself daily an affirmation of, “I feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific!” Every time I see this person, I can tell it is real, applied and working in her life. Another friend of mine, when asked how she is, replies glumly sounding like the always depressed Eyore from Winnie The Pooh, “I’m here.”

You make the call which one is progressing faster in their lives. Can you guess which one has more abundant opportunities “luckily” come her way?

The Art (and Science) of Affirmations

When you learn to change and direct your thoughts and your internal communication your life will reflect the change (law of correspondence). Creating affirmations can change your beliefs and change the course of your life. For affirmations and autosuggestion to be effective it needs to have the following six elements. In order to be effective, your positive declarations should embody most or all of the following characteristics:

  1. Personal (Usually a statement beginning with I)
  2. Positive (The mind cannot hold a picture of a negative)
  3. Present Tense (The time is now)
  4. Short (Easy to remember and easy apply)
  5. Specific (A specific target allows for a specific course of action and most direct route)
  6. Emotionally Intense (This is necessary to break through the clutter of the thousands of thoughts and images that you are bombarded with on a daily basis)

The real goal is to imbed this into the subconscious to allow it to do the yeoman’s work. The only real obstacle is convincing your subconscious that you are serious and committed and that you truly have a burning desire for what you want. Long-term change will only happen when there is congruency between who you think you are and how you act and behave and the choices that we make.

Affirmations are Catalyst for Success

Positive affirmations mixed with emotional intensity produce amazing results. Music is an amazing mood catalyst. To really get the most out of affirmations and create an incredible Incremental Advantage in their effectiveness in your life, I suggest recording your affirmations to inspiring music.

A good friend of mine challenged me to do just this ten years ago. I purchased an inexpensive karaoke machine, put an upbeat instrumental tape in and recorded all of the affirmations I could create to change behaviors and support my goals.

Unless you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and give this a real opportunity to work in your life, you could never know the simply incredible power and way that this mental programming technique can work in your life. I literally wore my first tape out listening to it, but it created significant leverage and results for me. I know the vast majority reading this will not make the commitment to this habit. It is a shame, but for those of you who do, I promise your results in every area of your life will improve as your internal communication improves. I constantly look for, borrow, adapt and write down affirmations. I cannot claim originality for all of them as they have been collected and changed over the years.

  • I turn challenges into opportunities.
  • I eliminate debt as dead weight and a YOKE around my neck. I will only be as free as I am free from debt.
  • I am a leader and a developer of people!
  • I am calm and composed under pressure.
  • Stress makes me stonger.
  • I utilize my strengths and abilities to benefit everyone I come into contact with.
  • I actively pursue excellence in myself and others.
  • I get up at 5:00 every morning feeling energized and ready to take on the day.
  • I face my fears and conquer them.
  • I am empowered by the energy that I feel and that flows through me.
  • My daily routines are positive and improving.
  • I always increase my value to other people.
  • I am flexible and adaptable in every situation. I look for creative alternatives and seek out new ways of accomplishing my goals.
  • I have money in savings and a balanced plan for security and income growth.
  • I see people, not as they are, but rather for what they can be.
  • I am a strong, motivated and extremely dedicated leader.
  • I am a great leader and achieve my victories thru the victories of those I serve.
  • I choose to spend my time with positive and forward thinking life affirming people.
  • I am persistent in the pursuit of my goals.
  • Solutions and alternative ideas come easy for me.
  • I take time each day to play and to enjoy my family.
  • I am an excellent role model for others.
  • I forget the mistakes of the past and press on to my greatest achievement.

“What a man thinks of himself that is what determines, or rather indicates his fate.”

“I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

-Henry David Thoreau

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Excerpted from Stack The Logs!
by Frank F. Lunn

for information about “Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams,” other valuable success resources or to purchase your copy, please visit www.stackthelogs.com or email tim@kahunaworld.com.

woensdag 13 februari 2013

Low Thyroid Symptoms: Adults and Children Show Different Symptoms

Low thyroid is also called hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition when your thyroid produces less hormone which results in low basal body temperature, low cellular metabolism and also some kind of unexplained weight. There are certain low thyroid symptoms which can help you to detect the condition in your body early and thus take medical help to overcome the quandary easily.

Low Thyroid Symptoms - If You Want To Learn How You Can Lose Weight By Performing A Healthy And Easy-To-Use Diet Then Give This A Shot.

The low thyroid symptoms are quite visible. Thus if you ever observes such symptoms on your body or some one in your family go for immediate thyroid hormone test and see if there is deficiency of the hormones. What can be the cause of such deficiency, how far the condition has aggravated and many such examinations are done to diagnose and treat your condition.

The signs and symptoms of low thyroid vary largely and depend a lot on age, the severity of hormone deficiency, your body metabolism and other factors. Old aged people who are very much vulnerable to this ailment show some symptoms, then the symptoms may be different in adults and then infants and children show some different symptoms too.

The low thyroid symptoms include - weight gain, puffy face, cold intolerance, loss or thinning of eyebrows, abdominal bloating, depression, cold hands and feet, joint or muscle pain, abdominal pain, dry and thinning of hair, thickening of skin, brittle or very thin fingernails.

Some other low thyroid symptoms are stress and tiredness. People begin to feel chronically tires and very much sensitive to cold, have muscle aches and joint pains. There is a modest weight gain. Other symptoms may be constipation and loss of appetite. Gradually the skin becomes rough and dry; the mental activities like concentration and memory are slightly affected; your hair gets coarsen and they become thin and stars falling to some extent.

Infants and children may show altogether different symptoms from adults. Low thyroid symptoms in infants and children may include feeding problem, constipation, sleepiness, hoarseness of voice, and then they may have protruding stomach, dry skin, delayed teething and others. They need immediate attention to such symptoms.

Children with hypothyroidism may show symptoms like yellowing of skin, frequent choking, a large protruding tongue, puffy appearance of face, poor muscle tone, excessive sleepiness and poor metal development, poor or delayed mental development.

Low Thyroid Symptoms - If You Want To Learn How You Can Lose Weight By Performing A Healthy And Easy-To-Use Diet Then Give This A Shot.


Video Source: Youtube

maandag 11 februari 2013

High Protein Diet Plan How To Structure The Best Diet For Building Muscle Mass

Having trouble gaining muscle mass? You've probably tried all sorts of garbage hyped by bodybuilding magazines as "the latest breakthrough" for great muscle gains, but have you really sit down and structure a high protein diet plan in order to incite positive changes with your physique? Before I cover my way of structuring the best diet for building muscle, it's essential that you sink in a couple of important points beforehand:

1. You're required to eat about 5 to 6 meals spaced out every 3 to 4 hours, day in day out, otherwise you can forget about having a strong and lean body.

2. Realize that the best diet for building muscle mass involves consuming the appropriate ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and essential fatty acids or generally known as the "good" fats.

So to put on more muscle size, I'd recommend a daily caloric intake of 50% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and finally, 20% fat. Don't subscribe to the common belief that a high protein diet plan may interfere with the proper function of the kidneys. Remember you're not planning to lounge on the couch, watching TV while nibbling on junk foods all day. You're goal is to put on weight by increasing muscle size and the only way to accomplish this is to go on a high protein diet plan. Alright I'm going to stop jabbering now and let you in on how I plan the best diet for building muscle.

Meal Structure 1:

The most important meal of the day, breakfast - 1 scoop of whey protein, 2 whole eggs, 1 mug of low fat milk, a bowl of oats, and a capsule of high-potency multivitamin = 44 grams of protein.

Lunch time - A cup of brown rice, 3.5 oz grilled chicken with 2 egg whites plus mix veggies, and vitamin C = 36 grams of protein.

The third meal - 4 whole eggs, a scoop of whey protein, a cup of pasta and a tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 48 grams of protein.

Dinner - Tuna in water sandwich along with an apple or banana plus vitamin C = 30 grams of protein.

Pre-Bedtime meal - 1 scoop of whey mixed with a large glass of low fat milk, a small cup of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 32 grams of protein.


Meal Structure 2 (workout day):

Breakfast - 1 scoop of whey protein, 1 lean burger patty with 2 whole grain bread, an apple, 1 multivitamin plus a tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 44 grams of protein.

Lunch - A cup of brown rice, 4 oz of stir fry beef with 2 whole eggs, mix veggies and a vitamin C = 40 grams of protein.

Pre-workout meal - A scoop of whey with milk, a bowl of oats and a banana = 32 grams of protein

Post-workout meal - 1 and a half scoop of whey along with a glass of lemonade for spiking insulin through the roof! = 36 grams of protein

Dinner - 3.5 oz chicken breast strips with 1 baked potato, mix veggies and vitamin C = 30 grams of protein.

Pre-Bedtime meal - Another scoop of whey protein mixed with milk, a quarter cup of cottage cheese, a piece of whole grain toast and of course, a tablespoon of flax seed oil = 39 grams of protein

I weigh approximately 175 pounds so I'd try to consume at least a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis. The first meal and second meal nets a grand total of 190 grams and 221 grams of protein respectively. As far as I'm concerned this is the best diet for building muscle. This kind high protein diet plan has served me well so far, and you may use it as a guideline for structuring your very own mass gaining diet.

Of course a high protein diet by itself doesn't help you attain a muscular body. Learn how I changed my physique in just 6 short weeks after discovering a 100% effective system that details all the information pertaining to diet, proven mass building exercises, supplementation, weight gain, more meal plans plus tons of extra goodies for a guaranteed muscle-building results at http://www.absopositively.info/muscle-building-success.html


Video Source: Youtube

Height and Weight of Susan Lucci: Why Suzy Aint Normal

Did you know that Susan Lucci, Emmy award-winning star of the soap opera "All My Children" and Daytime's Leading Lady, is 5'2" and only 95 pounds?

That's tiny!

It's even smaller than the "small frame" ideal weight for her height, which is 105 pounds. And somehow, magically, it fits her. She has never looked emaciated or, worse, anorexic.

For 14 years, Susan has been a huge fan of pilates-the fitness regimen that centers on breathing, muscle precision and flexibility.

Judging by the paparazzi pictures of her in a bikini at 62 years old, she's clearly benefiting from it!

But is Susan Lucci's weight something to aspire to?

Perhaps, if you're her exact height and have a similarly tiny, bird-like frame. And with the average height and weight for women coming in at 5'3" and 163 pounds, it's probably safe to say that looking like Susan Lucci is not a realistic goal for many women out there.

However, if you want to look as petite and glamorous as the divine Ms. Lucci, there are several things you can do:

1. Drink water.
In order to make your skin glow, flush out the toxins in your body and lose weight easily, you should drink about 100 ounces of water per day.

It might seem like a lot, and if you replace the coffee, soda, and smoothies with water, you'll be surprised at what a difference it can make in your weight loss pursuit.

2. Exercise regularly.
Even if you take an extra half-hour while walking the dog; even if you park further away from the entrance at your job, your home, or the grocery store just to get a bump in cardiac activity; even if it's just a walk around your block or your neighborhood for 20 minutes, you've got to get up, get out and get moving.

Losing weight isn't only about cutting out certain foods. It's also about activity.

3. Eat more often.
Don't starve yourself all day, then "reward" yourself with a huge meal late in the day. Eat smaller meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism high and stave off hunger.


4. Go natural.
Now, this isn't about twigs and berries. But too many of us go for the quick, pre-packaged meals that we can choke down quickly so that we can muddle through our busy schedules. 

And that's not good for you. Opt for foods that are fresh and wholesome, i.e. a piece of fruit instead of a Fruit Roll-Up or a Pop Tart.

5. Love your body!
Don't kill yourself trying to get down to Susan Lucci's weight. Her weight is good for her. She has a tiny frame. Your body is probably nothing like hers-and that's a good thing because you are beautiful. 


If you've got big breasts or booty to spare, sure, some of that will come off when you've lost the excess weight. But you must love who you are because that helps the process move along a lot faster.

Sign-up now to learn about The Abs Diets For Women and the Best Diet For African American Black Women.


Video Source: Youtube

zaterdag 9 februari 2013

Exercise Routine - 50 Year Olds' Muscle Training Tips!

The diet and the workouts required to build you body once you reach the age of fifty are quite different than what you might have practiced when you were younger. The body undergoes many chances with aging. Your bones become brittle which means you can't indulge in heavy weight training workouts. Your energy levels and levels of endurance decrease thereby reducing the amount of time you can work out. Other major problems include injuries and joint pains. These prevent you from working out over the age of fifty.

Useful Tips to Build Your Body

· The proper diet and a well-planned exercise schedule help sculpt your muscles. Age plays an insignificant role in muscle building. Inclusion of nitric oxide in your diet helps the process. It helps build muscle mass and performs the work of an anti-aging pill.

· Your emphasis should be on cardiovascular exercises and body weight training. Cardio incorporates running, jogging, swimming and hiking. Body weight exercises include squats, push ups, chin ups and dips. These should be performed for at least twenty minutes.

· You should restrict yourself to a maximum of 4 reps of each exercise like dumbbell press, lat pull ups, bench press etc. Never overwork your muscles so that you may avoid muscle related injuries. Include nitric oxide in your diet to boost the body's endurance levels as these facilitate in performing your workout effectively.

· Combine protein supplements in your diet along with nitric oxide. They help in maintaining the body's energy levels. Nitric oxide rejuvenates your body. Prior to the advent of nitric oxide people relied on Creatine to keep the body hydrated and pump their muscles. Creatine however lacks health benefits. You can get more fitness and nutrition information by visiting http://tinyurl.com/l7ed46.


Video Source: Youtube

Build Big Muscles Fast. Gain Muscle Mass Guide

So you want to build big muscles? Simple isn't it? Just join a gym and hit those weights regularly and viola, in a couple of months, you will gain so much muscle mass that you are ready to take on any bodybuilding contest. Is it really that simple to build big muscles? Well, to gain muscle mass, there is much more than just hitting the gym regularly. Here are some muscle mass gaining tips :-

a) Eat and Eat - To build muscles, you must eat. Your calorie consumption must be more than your calorie expenditure. If you expand all the calories you have eaten, then where are the calories to build muscles?

2) Protein - Make sure that you eat enough protein. You should eat at least one gram of protein per pound of your body weight everyday if you want to gain muscle mass fast. If you don't get enough protein, your muscles won't grow big.

3) Supplement - If you cannot have adequate protein from your normal meals, supplement with protein shakes. If you want more strength so that you can lift heavier weights to grow bigger muscles, take Creatine supplement.

4) Weight Training - You must lift with heavy weights and to add on more weight consistently to progressively build your muscles. But it is very important not to sacrifice correct lifting techniques and form for the sake of lifting heavier.

5) Lift Free Weights - Use free weights like dumbells and barbells to recruit more muscle fibers so that more muscle fibers can be worked on.

6) Compound Exercises - Work with compound exercises like bench presses, squats, barbell rows, chin ups and dead lifts to build big muscle mass. If you concentrate on working your puny muscles like your biceps, then you will only have puny muscle growth.

7) Get Enough Rest - Have rest days in between your workout days and do not work the same muscle group more than twice a week. Your muscles need to recover from your workouts in order to grow big.

8) Get Enough Sleep - Sleep at least 8 hours a day. More even better. Your muscles grow when you sleep.

If you practise the above 8 steps consistently, your muscles will grow fast and big. Of course there are many more things you can do to achieve a competitive bodybuilder's physique of which I cannot cover in just an article here. So do research for more knowledge.

vrijdag 8 februari 2013

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle - How to Burn Fat and Feed Muscle Naturally

Biggest Loser 2012: Best Meal Replacement Shakes For Weight Loss

What Are Carbohydrates Good For?

Carbohydrates, aka "carbs," are one of three macro-nutrients, alongside proteins and fats, that provide your body with energy and the building blocks for growth. (Micro-nutrients are things like vitamins, minerals, etc.)

Proteins are the building blocks for your muscles, organs, tissues, etc. Fats are necessary for long term energy storage, they carry certain forms of vitamins and nutrients (Vitamin E, for example) and your body needs fats for many of its metabolic processes.

Carbohydrates are the fuel that your body uses for energy. Your body prefers to use carbohydrates for energy, though it can also use fats and proteins, which is why "low carb" diets work. They are easier to process for energy than either the fats or the proteins and your body gets more energy "bang for the buck" with carbs.

On the molecular level carboydrates are ring molecules. A "simple" carb, like glucose, is one ring of six carbon atoms. Just like the ring on your finger. Table sugar, sucrose, is made up of two of these simple sugar rings. Starches and "complex carbohydrates" are made up of many of these rings. This is why your body takes longer to digest the complex carbs, it has to break them down into the individual rings first and then use them for energy.

This quick digestion is why your blood sugar will leap sky high when consuming a meal of simple carbs. Your body can use them almost immediately. Eat something with a lot of sugar, such as a soda, and bam! Sugar is immediately pumped into the system and your blood suger levels leap. Insulin is secreted into the blood and the insulin causes the sugar levels to drop, along with your energy.

A meal of complex carbs takes longer to digest and as a result doesn't slam sugars into your system, rather the complex carbs provide longer term energy. Fats and proteins take even longer to digest and convert into the carbs your body needs.

Extreme low-carb diets, such as they first part of the Atkins Diet, are not recommended for anything other than short term use. Even the Atkins diet brings you back into carbs after than first section, but they are the complex carbs. Simple carbs are almost completely abandoned.

As far as energy goes, though, your body only needs so much at one time and it can only store so much at one time. Someone exercising regularly or working at hard manual labor need more carbs than someone who isn't, but there are still limits to how much they can use. Those extra carbs are stored in two ways.

One way is conversion into glycogen, a type of starch, which is then stored in the muscles for near term energy reserves. The other way they are stored is fat. The body stores excess carbohydrate as fat after it has used what it needs for energy and glycogen storage. (This is a little over-simplified, but close enough.)

In addition to being converted to fat, excess simple carbs over a long period of time can lead to a variety of health issues, diabetes and heart issues being among them.

So what foods are the simple carbs? Any kind of sugar, rice, white flour, potatoes, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, etc. These are all "high glycemic index" (GI) foods. The GI compares foods to a glass of glucose and measures how fast those foods will spike your blood sugar.

Fruits tend to be in the medium GI range and most veggies are pretty low. Go to Google.com and look for "high glycemic foods" or "glycemic index" and you'll find charts with examples of various foods and their ratings.

Your body prefers to get its carbs slowly and steadily and works best that way. it doesn't need a ton of them at one time. You may have heard of the "eat several small meals" plans? This is one of the reasons they work. Your body has the time to properly process the carbs and so uses them, rather than storing them as fat.

Want to gain weight fast? Eat one big meal a day, preferably in the evening, and sleep afterwards. That's how the Sumo wrestlers of Japan do it.
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There's no "magic pill" to losing weight, but there are several techniques which will speed up your weight loss quite nicely. One system, Strip That Fat, covers these techniques in detail. You can read the complete review of the Strip That Fat system here.


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dinsdag 5 februari 2013

Avoid These Five Common Weight Loss Mistakes

Mistake #1: Not changing your calorie plan as you lose weight. The fallacy of the "1200 calorie diet" plans and the like.

Most people fix their calorie intake to a given number and expect to lose weight at the same constant rate over a period of weeks. Hence, dieters look for 1000 calorie or 1800 calorie diet plans on the internet. The fixed calorie diet plans don't work. If you burn 3000 calories a day at the start of a diet, after a week or two of losing some weight, you are no longer burning 3000 calories. Now you might be burning 2800 calories. If you fix your calorie intake in the face of a decreasing calorie expenditure, your weight loss will slow down more and more as you lose weight.

If you want to lose weight at a constant rate, you must repeatedly:

decrease your calorie intake to accommodate the calorie expenditure drop

increase your calorie output by exercising more

do both

I would like to note that you must set realistic slow weight loss goals. If you go for fast weight loss you would not be able to sustain it for a long period unless you go extreme in the calorie reduction and exercise a lot. For people who have to lose more than 20 pounds (10kgs), the goal should be a loss of no more than 2 pounds or 1 kg per week. People who need to lose just a bit of weight should go for weight loss of 1 pound or half a kilogram per week.

decrease your calorie intake to accommodate the calorie expenditure drop

increase your calorie output by exercising more

do both

I would like to note that you must set realistic slow weight loss goals. If you go for fast weight loss you would not be able to sustain it for a long period unless you go extreme in the calorie reduction and exercise a lot. For people who have to lose more than 20 pounds (10kgs), the goal should be a loss of no more than 2 pounds or 1 kg per week. People who need to lose just a bit of weight should go for weight loss of 1 pound or half a kilogram per week.

Why does my calorie expenditure drop as I lose weight? The most important factors are:

You weight less. A smaller body burns less calories both at rest and while active

You may involuntarily burn fewer calories. Dieters often lack energy and move less

Calorie restriction suppresses the metabolic rate

You have less body fat, which may further suppress your metabolic rate

These major factors contribute to an ever-decreasing energy expenditure as one loses weight. The more a dieter cuts calories, the bigger the calorie expenditure drop. The leaner the dieter, the greater the calorie expenditure drop.

You weight less. A smaller body burns less calories both at rest and while active

You may involuntarily burn fewer calories. Dieters often lack energy and move less

Calorie restriction suppresses the metabolic rate

You have less body fat, which may further suppress your metabolic rate

These major factors contribute to an ever-decreasing energy expenditure as one loses weight. The more a dieter cuts calories, the bigger the calorie expenditure drop. The leaner the dieter, the greater the calorie expenditure drop.

Now you must understand that if you want to succeed in losing weight, you have to make changes in your nutrition plan. I recommend burning more calories, because being more active facilitates smaller calorie restriction and milder calorie expenditure drop.

It is very difficult to estimate the rate of the metabolic drop. Here is the general rule: the bigger you are, the smaller the rate of the metabolic drop. The more weight you lose, the more you have to cut calories or increase exercise. If you are overweight you might need to cut just 10 more calories for every lost pound, while if you are lean you might have to cut 60 calories for every pound lost. I picked these numbers just as an example.

Mistake #2: Overreporting the "extra" calorie expenditure of exercise

Most people count the calories they spend exercising as "extra" calories. There is a difference between calories burned while exercising and "extra" calories burned exercising. Here is an example: you burn 300 calories on the treadmill instead of your usual activity (watching TV at home); in reality, you have to subtract the calories you would have spent watching TV from these 300 calories to calculate how many additional calories you burned. Let's say that watching TV, you would have burned 80 calories. In this specific case, you have expended 300 calories while exercising, and 220 "extra" calories.

Calorie counters mindlessly add the calories burned exercising as "extra" and in some cases, this practice can significantly influence the calorie calculations. Hence, calorie software counts the part of your usual activities that overlaps with the extra activities twice.

How to estimate the "extra" calories burned exercising?

In order to make the calculations more accurate, I shall first introduce the concept of MET values. MET values are a convenient way to calculate the calorie cost of activities. MET values are multiples of the resting energy expenditure per time. In plain English, a MET = 3 means burning 3 times more calories than resting. A MET = 1 signifies how many calories you burn at rest (your Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate). Whatever you do, you burn calories at a rate of at least MET = 1 with the only exception being sleeping which has MET = 0.9. During the day, most activities include sitting and walking which have MET values between 1.2 and 3. Your total daily energy expenditure is calculated by multiplying your Resting Metabolic Rate by the average MET of all your activities. Is your head spinning?

Let's use a real world example. Consider a female person with a Resting Metabolic Rate of 1200 calories a day. One day has 1440 minutes. Our example lady is burning 1200/1440 = 0.84 calories per minute at rest, which signifies a MET = 1. Let's say our example woman just returned from an aerobics class, where she exercised for 30 minutes. General aerobic class training has a MET = 6. Our example lady has just burned 30 (minutes) x 6 (MET) * 0.84 (calories per minute) = 151 calories while exercising. Suppose our lady would have chatted on the internet instead of exercising (MET = 1.5). In this example, the woman substituted chatting on the internet with aerobic exercising. Remember, that every time you do something you substitute one activity for another. In order to get the extra calories, we have to subtract 1.5 (chatting) from 6 (exercising). Now let's calculate the extra calories: 30 (minutes) * (6 - 1.5) (MET value) * 0.84 = 113 calories.

Let's consider what a standard calorie counter would have done. First, it will assume an average calorie burn rate of 1 calorie per minute. Then the counter will find that exercising for 30 minutes will yield 30 (minutes) * 6 (MET) * 1 (calories per minute) = 180 calories. The calorie counter will add these 180 calories to your daily expenditure without considering that a part of these 180 calories is already accounted by your usual activities.

Do you now see the difference between 113 calories and 180 calories? If that woman spends 5 hours a week in that aerobics class, the standard calorie counters will overreport her calorie output by: (180-113) * 10 = 670 calories a week. The woman will be fooled that her metabolic rate has dropped while she just overestimated her calorie expenditure. Enter weight loss plateau, wasted time and efforts. Do you have the time for trial and error calorie estimations?

Remember these two rules:

Report only extra activities to your calorie counter. If your walk to your office every day, do not log "walking to office for 30 minutes" as an extra activity. Consider only unusual activities that contribute to extra expended calories!

Always subtract the calories you would have burned instead of exercising. A general rule is to subtract from 1.2 to 1.5 from the MET values. In some cases, you need to subtract a greater MET. If you substitute 30 minutes of bodybuilding (MET = 6) for 30 minutes of slow jump rope (MET = 8) then the additional MET would be 8 - 6 = 2.

How to find the MET values of activities based on standard tables?

Report only extra activities to your calorie counter. If your walk to your office every day, do not log "walking to office for 30 minutes" as an extra activity. Consider only unusual activities that contribute to extra expended calories!

Always subtract the calories you would have burned instead of exercising. A general rule is to subtract from 1.2 to 1.5 from the MET values. In some cases, you need to subtract a greater MET. If you substitute 30 minutes of bodybuilding (MET = 6) for 30 minutes of slow jump rope (MET = 8) then the additional MET would be 8 - 6 = 2.

How to find the MET values of activities based on standard tables?

In order to make the above calculations, you need to know the MET values of activities. Standard tables give: name of activity, duration and calories. Standard tables assume an average calorie expenditure of one calorie per minute. To find the MET you just need to divide the calories by the duration.

Example: "Bicycling, stationary, general", "20 minutes", "140 calories"

MET of "Bicycling, stationary, general" = 140 / 20 = 7

I know these calculations are somewhat tedious and in many cases the standard calorie calculations are close to correct. However, in some cases they can significantly over or under-calculate the calorie expenditure of activities and compromise your weight loss plan with daily miscalculations.

Mistake #3: Training with light weights and lots of reps

I have seen countless number of ladies come to the gym, get the lightest possible dumbbells, crank out some hundreds of reps and go home. Most often, these women do not get the results they want. The problem with this type of training is that it does not burn many "extra" calories unless you spend a considerable amount of time in the gym. Hefting Ken and Barbie weights in the gym has a MET value of 3, which means that it burns 3 times more calories than resting in bed. Almost anything you do during the day has a MET value of 1.2 to 2. Browsing the internet on your computer has a MET value of 1.5. Realize that almost anything you do during the day (average MET = 1.5) has about 50% overlap in calorie expenditure with training with very light weights (MET = 3). If you pump super light dumbbells in the gym, only about half of the calories burned are "additional".

Of course, you can burn a considerable amount of extra calories training with light weights but you have to really extend the duration of this type of training. Curling 5 pound dumbbells for 4 sets of 20 reps and chit-chatting for 20 minutes in the gym is not going to burn many extra calories.

Remember the rule: the less intensive the activity (smaller MET), the greater the calorie expenditure overlap with casual activities; the less intensive the activity, the more time you have to spend doing it to expend a good deal of extra calories. Always subtract a MET of 1 to 1.5 to arrive at the additional expended calories.

Mistake #4: Using "average person" calorie estimations

You can find all kinds of tables showing the calorie cost of different physical activities on the internet. These tables don't show your calorie expenditure. They actually tell you the calorie expenditure of an "average person". These tables assume you are an average person that burns one calorie per minute at rest. Yes, we covered this in the first part of the article and it needs repeating. Most men burn more than one calorie per minute and most smaller women burn less than one calorie per minute at rest. In reality, these standard tables overestimate the calorie expenditure of smaller people and underestimate the calorie expenditure of bigger than average people. Combine this with the common mistake of counting all burned calories as "additional calories" and you have a wide range of possible miscalculations.

Mistake #5: Going on very low calorie diets (VLCD)

Research has shown little to no difference in the weight loss rate of 1200 calorie diets and 800 calorie diets. The 1200 calorie threshold is the point where further calorie restriction does not yield faster results. Diets in the range of 800 to 1200 calories a day suppress the resting metabolic rate from the very first day and after some weeks on these diets, the metabolic rate has dropped by up to 20%. This metabolic drop is just a consequence of the calorie restriction factor; other factors such as the level of leanness may further depress the calorie expenditure.

A big percentage of the quick initial weight loss on a VLCD is water. VLCDs create an illusion of fast fat loss, while in reality most of the weight loss is water. It is hard to continue a very low calorie diet for a prolonged time because the harsh calorie restriction makes you hungrier than ever. People on VLCDs often lack energy and move very little. When you stop the diet, you are prone to instant overeating. Eating a very low calorie diet is the ticket to yo-yo dieting.

Instead of using very low calorie diets, I recommend diets with a mild calorie restriction and an emphasis on exercise. Overweight people who know what they are doing can employ VLCDs for a limited time. It is important to get enough vitamins and minerals from supplements, because such low calorie diets are woefully inadequate in nutrients. Water intake should be high.

Bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes must stay away from very low calorie diets because the large calorie restriction causes a greater proportion of the weight loss to be muscle loss.

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