Archive for the ‘Bodybuilding’ Category

Women’s Strength Training - Weight Lifting 101

Starting Your Weight Lifting Workout

Lifting weight 45 minutes three times a week will not turn you into a muscular person. In fact it will only tone your muscles into a firmer and tighter look. In order for women to grow muscle they must have an extremely hard-training regimen since as discussed in the previous article about the myths of women’s training. Women can only produce a very limited amount of testosterone (the main component for muscle growth) thus have a hard time growing their muscles. With this in mind, the most that you can get if you work out in a moderate manner is a fitter, slimmer and tighter body.

Also remember like any exercise program, you should consult with a medical doctor, especially if you have a medical problem, very overweight or have been sedentary for a long time. It is also important to start with a personal trainer when you do strength training who will get you in a good program and will watch your progress effectively. There are a lot of “trainers” who don’t have the proper certificates and have minimal experience out there. These unlicensed trainers are usually the muscle-bound jocks who hang out in the gym for hours every day and are nice enough to dispense their training methods but unfortunately this information may not always be correct. So politely say thank you, then seek the information from a certified trainer.

There are many certifications available but the best gage of an instructor’s certification and experience would probably be The American College of Sports Medicine and The American Council on Exercise Certifications. Both of these institutes can be visited online and most trainers in different states that have an “ACE Certificate” are shown on the ACE website.

The best way when you are starting is to start off with resistance, go with a resistance that’s too easy rather than something too strenuous. The most important goal when starting out is learning and mastering proper technique. If you get strained and the weight is too much, the chance of injuring yourself is higher.
Once you have the pattern of working out and you have the technique down, increase the resistance. Choose a weight or resistance that makes your muscles tired at the end of that particular set of reps.

Picking Your Weight Training Exercise

There are lots of different ways to get stronger - dumb bells, calisthenics, weight machines, free weights, and stretch bands. Beginners will have an easier time using machines, since they have proper form and all you need is to follow the motion. Strength training doesn’t have to be done at a gym. It can be done at home, with simple equipment, such as free weights and stretch bands, and perhaps with an added incentive of having a workout buddy or a workout tape.

Finally, to make your training pay off, you should have a good weekly schedule. Remember that the secret to weight training is consistency. This will ensure that your strength training will yield maximum results in no time.

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Tips of Making It With Your Home Gym

Driving times, busy and active schedules makes this product a must have tool in the convenience of your own home. The Weider Home Gyms are not cheap but still priced much more aggressively than many of its counterparts. Home gyms of this type are smaller and lighter than systems with weight stacks. Some alternative resistance home gyms can be compacted to fit in a closet.

Equipment

Figuring out a basis for the value of your home, repairs and maintenance, and several other calculations are also required. Some things like furniture and equipment can earn a depreciation deduction regardless of whether you pass the home office test. If you are on a tight budget and do not need to workout your entire body you can also consider purchasing a treadmill, elliptical trainer, or even stationary bike. These pieces of equipment will all raise your heart rate and burn calories but are not used for increasing muscle size or strength. Most equipment can be found on the internet and can be purchased as new or used. Figuring out a basis for the value of your home, repairs and maintenance, and several other calculations are also required. Wireless home security equipment can be purchased separately or as a complete system package.

Fitness

Instead of a dank basement the effort made in the fitness area will show the room to be usable space with more prospective value to the future home purchaser. Having a home gym with free weights and a machine for aerobic activity is the perfect combination for your home gym workout routine. Exercise and cardiovascular fitness are essential in a balanced fitness program.

Zola Mathe is an author and a researcher for more information visit us at
http://www.allwiseinformation.com/All_Home_Gyms_Information.html

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Bodybuilding Vascularity

When competing, bodybuilders always ensure that they have increased vascularity on the day of the contest. Bodybuilding vascularity is a condition whereby their veins on the muscles look more prominent and visible. However, female bodybuilders are not particular about this, as aesthetic body symmetry is more important. Furthermore, female with high vascularity looks quite awkward.

There are a few tricks of the trade to ensure that they has vascularity on the day of the competition. One way is to lift weights to pump blood to the muscles, just before a competition. Muscle pumping will slightly increase muscle size and significantly enhance muscle vascularity. By practicing posing and flexing, they can also increase the vascularity. Alternatively, some uses posing oil such as Pro Tan Hot Stuff, a menthol-based oil to enhance vascularity while on stage.

About 4 to 6 weeks before a competition, bodybuilders will start on a special dieting program consisting of fat loading, carb loading, sodium loading and depletion to increase muscle density and increase bodybuilding vascularity. This is known as “Peaking”. Fat loading involves increasing fat oxidation to provide energy instead of using carbohydrates, thereby conserving carbohydrate and enhancing performance. High carbohydrate supplement drinks are used for carb loading. Carb loading increases carbohydrate intake to prevent the onset of muscle fatigue during the competition. The sodium loading/depleting method will initially induce the body to retain water, and then during the low sodium intake days (just before the contest), water will be flushed out of your system resulting in a skintight look.

This condition improves a bodybuilder’s chance of winning in a competition as it enhances the overall impression of a bodybuilder’s physique. Without a doubt, it helps to score points in contests and it certainly pays to see that a certain level of vascularity is achieved on the competition day.

For more information on Bodybuilding workout, bodybuilding videos, celebrity bodybuilding, please visit the blog at: http://bodybuildingworkout.nichinfo.com and at Build Muscles

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Teen Bodybuilding Workouts

Teen bodybuilding is growing in popularity over the years and this is a good sign. There are many benefits of teen bodybuilding. It can keep teen occupied and help them to develop good habits and discipline. Apart from looking good in front of ladies and becoming fit and healthy, they also develop good self-esteem and self-confidence.

A good age to start bodybuilding workout program is around the age of 16. As teenagers are not fully-grown yet, there are some restrictions. Teenagers below the age of 13 should not start weight lifting or undertake a heavy body building regiment. Squats and dead lifts should never be performed either before the teenager is 16.

Teenagers should start slow and do not push their body beyond its limits, otherwise they may seriously strain their muscles and injure themselves. The emphasis should be on a well-balance workout with an all-round physical enhancement. As with adults, good diet and rest are also important to teen body builders. Eat lots of protein and vegetables as well as grains and carbohydrates. During workouts, they have to ensure that they are well hydrated by drinking lots of water. Some of the adult exercises are not suitable for teenagers. However, there are certain exercises that teens can perform without harming themselves.

• Dumbbell Curls – These will work your biceps as you lift the dumbbell from your knee up to your shoulder in a slow, smooth motion. Alternate arms between sets and remember to breathe. Concentrate on the lift and working the muscles.

• Dumbbell Hammer Curls – Hold the dumbbells like you would a hammer. Alternate arms lifting from your side to your shoulder, again, in a slow, easy motion.

• Flat Bench Press – Lay flat on a weight bench with the barbell above you. Hold in a wide grip and slowly lower the barbell down to your chest and up again. Pay special attention to the way your muscles are responding to the weight.

• Dumbbell Flyes – Hold the dumbbells like you are doing hammer curls. Keep your arms straight up with your elbows slightly bent. In a semi-circular motion, lower the dumbbells slowly down to the sides of your chest. This will work your inner pectoral muscles.

• Dumbbell Shrugs – Hold a dumbbell in each hand lowered to your side with your palms facing your hips. Raise your toes up and then shrug your shoulder to work your trapezius muscles.

• Shoulder Press – While seated, hold a dumbbell in each hand. Sit straight and press them up. Resist when you are lowering them down. This works the deltoid muscles.

These are just a few exercises you can do, obviously. You may want to consult with your P.E. instructor at school or ask someone at a local gym to help you with other exercises that you can safely perform so that you can accomplish your goals.

For more information on Bodybuilding workout, bodybuilding videos, please visit the blog at: http://bodybuildingworkout.nichinfo.com

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Effective Body Building

Body building benches are fairly inexpensive new, and if you frequent yard sales, you’ll probably run across a cheap used bench every so often. Protein bars are a common source of protein, though they are also very expensive. Body building can be done on a budget, no question about it. A Body building supplement is a supplement that is designed to help people who use it to achieve several things that include but are not limited to weight gain, muscle building, and strength training.

Protein

The most effective supplements that are familiar with are creatine and protein supplements and they are the bodybuilding products I would use if I were interested in more bulk. The higher protein intake will also provide a relatively large thermic effect that may aid in reducing body fat. A relatively high protein intake (approximately 30% of energy intake) reduces lean mass loss relative to a lower protein intake (approximately 15% of energy intake) during energy restriction. Additionally, during the off-season, adequate protein must be available to provide amino acids for protein synthesis. Furthermore, during the pre-contest phase, protein intake must be adequate to maintain muscle mass.

Women

Bodybuilding is open to both men and women with specialized categories for each. The women were further stratified into two age groups — those between 25 and 34 years of age and those between 35 and 44 — and by percentage of body fat. Women performed resistance exercise training, with increases in small increments. Women also exercised the deltoids, biceps and triceps. Women Are Into Bodybuilding Bods Comment: We’ve made in roads into the corporate boardroom, proved that we can hold our own in the sporting arena and the business world. Build more mass, get rid of your love handles, build a body women admire. Strengthen bones, especially important for women Make you stronger and increase muscular endurance Help you avoid injuries Increase your confidence and self-esteem Improve coordination and balance Getting started with strength training can be confusing–what exercises should you do. Any type of heavy exercise can divert the blood flow from crucial areas, and most women that exercise on a regular basis should tone down their work out regimen during pregnancy. Whey protein and soy protein are protein supplements effective for bodybuilding in men and women. More and more women in and fitness are discovering the benefit of a healthy, chiseled Chest. Experts recommend these tips for coping with the physical, nutritional, social, mental and emotional needs of women at 40. “During this time of the year, we usually see an increase of women members,” says Chen Baobing, who works at a fitness center in Beijing.

Body Building Supplement is now available in the nearest health store. Body building and Figure sculpting first started at HMAS CERBERUS in 1998 as a Mens and Woman’s ‘before and after’ competition. Nutritional supplements are easily available in every health food store and most gyms.

Jeremy Page is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.WeKnowBodyBuilding.com. He provides more information about
body building and lifting that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

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Exercise Is Very Good For Your Health

Body building is the process of developing your muscle fibers by doing resistance training mostly with free weights and machines, increasing your daily caloric intake and having adequate rest for growth. It is actually a sport whereby competitive body builders display their muscular bodies in front of a panel of judges who assign points to determine the rankings and prize awards. Body building not only helps you physically but mentally as well because it builds self-confidence, makes you more disciplined and helps you achieve your goals in life. Body building dependence appears to affect male and female body builders equally, despite previous claims that it is predominantly a male problem.

Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise is very good for your health. Nutritional foods combined with nutrition based fitness and bodybuilding exercise and Body, Mind and Spirit health for long term fitness results. During pregnancy, exercise can have many other benefits as well. Normally, exercise should be light, especially during your first few weeks of pregnancy while your body adjusts to the changes. Any type of heavy exercise can divert the blood flow from crucial areas, and most women that exercise on a regular basis should tone down their work out regimen during pregnancy. A well-planned exercise routine will not only help you replace fat with muscle, it will help you gain strength and flexibility. A bodybuilding exercise plan also improves bone strength, and lowers blood pressure. Whether you are a professional bodybuilder or you just enjoy hitting the weights hard at the gym, setting a goal for your bodybuilding exercise plan will help you achieve maximum results. If you want to start a weight training exercise program, you really need to be working with someone else. You can go to the gym, use free weights at home with a buddy, or get one of those machines, but if you do not do your weight training exercise with proper safety precautions, it is quite possible for you to get seriously injured.

Workout

Workouts can be really challenging especially if you don’t know where to start. Enhance workout routines with nutritional muscle growth and supplements. A greater sense of self-esteem is a result of consistent workouts, proper nutrition, plenty of rest and minimizing the effects of stress. Without the hypnosis boost, as you workout, the cellular memory will change and you will grow- over time.

Body building is tough enough without feeling frustrated and defeated when you look in the mirror. Body building diet and nutrition meal plans should be designed to precisely fortify your body with power nutrients to build muscle fast. Champions spend 80% of their efforts on feeding their bodies a clean diet and only 20% of their effort is spent in the gym executing their workouts. Body building benches are fairly inexpensive new, and if you frequent yard sales, you’ll probably run across a cheap used bench every so often.

Jeremy Page is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.WeKnowBodyBuilding.com. He provides more information about
body building and lifting that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

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Hooked On Body Building

Body building champions are not cut from the same cloth as the majority of people. Body building dependence appears to affect male and female body builders equally, despite previous claims that it is predominantly a male problem. Body Building is the process of developing muscle through the combination of weight training, increased caloric intake, and rest. Body building nutritional supplements are easily available in every health food store and most gyms. Body building not only helps you physically but mentally as well because it builds self-confidence, makes you more disciplined and helps you achieve your goals in life.

Protein

Whey protein and soy protein are protein supplements effective for bodybuilding in men and women. Additionally, during the off-season, adequate protein must be available to provide amino acids for protein synthesis. Furthermore, during the pre-contest phase, protein intake must be adequate to maintain muscle mass. A relatively high protein intake (approximately 30% of energy intake) reduces lean mass loss relative to a lower protein intake (approximately 15% of energy intake) during energy restriction. The higher protein intake will also provide a relatively large thermic effect that may aid in reducing body fat. Consumption of protein / amino acids and carbohydrate immediately before and after training sessions may augment protein synthesis, muscle glycogen resynthesis and reduce protein degradation. The vast majority of body-builders believe they must consume large amounts of animal protein daily to get results. Many body builders take up to 45% of their calories as protein, believing this leads to large muscle gain.

Builder

Others believe bodybuilder discipline is the answer. For one thing, bodybuilders realize that a strong mind and a strong body go together. Despite all these wonderful preventative measures, however, sometimes even the bodybuilder can go astray. The champion body builders that you read about and see in the magazines are experts in modeling. Many professional Body Builders know that their imagery and mental techniques account for a big part of their success. Only 20 minutes a day, and you will discover how the successful bodybuilders make such impressive gains in such a short time. Someone who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. As a sport (competitive bodybuilding) body builders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their aesthetic appearance. Body builders use resistance weight training to increase muscle size. ‘However,’ they point out, ‘many differences exist in the motivations and psychological characteristics of bodybuilders compared with other exercising populations.

Body building is actually a sport whereby competitive body builders display their muscular bodies in front of a panel of judges who assign points to determine the rankings and prize awards. Body building is tough enough without feeling frustrated and defeated when you look in the mirror. Body building benches are fairly inexpensive new, and if you frequent yard sales, you’ll probably run across a cheap used bench every so often. Body building can be done on a budget, no question about it.

Jeremy Page is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.WeKnowBodyBuilding.com. He provides more information about
body building and lifting that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

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Body Building Workout Basics

When planning a body building workout program, you should give careful thought to ensure that it is a balanced and well-rounded program. The program should provide adequate amount of resistance to all areas of the body and all muscle groups. A variety of weight training and a cardiovascular rotation exercises should be included in the program.

As each of us has different level of fitness, there is no standard workout program. Your current state of health is an important factor when designing a body-building workout. How fit are you? Are your stamina sufficient to complete the workout? Any physical limitation? If you are a beginner, it is best that you start slow and work your way up. Do not be too ambitious and go straight to do the strenuous stuff, as you can easily strain and injure your muscles.

Another issue to consider is your personal goal. Do you want rippling muscles, increase weight or just become stronger? Your goals will determine the structure of the workout. You may also want to work on certain muscles only e.g. using weights to tone or build-up your biceps.

An effective body building workout should have sufficient rest between each workout and each workout should concentrate on a part of the body. For example,

Day 1: Deltoids, Triceps
Day 2: Back, Traps
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Legs, Forearms
Day 5: Chest, Biceps
Day 6: OFF
Day 7: OFF

Some beginner thinks that the more intensive and more repetition a workout, the better is the workout. Take note that the muscles need to rest to recover, due to the intensity of the strong body building workout. This would allow the muscles to heal in between workouts to ensure maximum growth potential. This is very important in any body building program. It is a good idea to keep a log of the exercises and the measurements of your body as you progress. In this way you can make changes as needed to realize your goal.

As usual, there is the tendency to slack off after a few sessions. You must always stay focused and concentrate on following your body building workout schedule until your goals are achieved.

Edwin A. Stevens is a full-time writer for Bodybuilding Workout blog and a number of sites. For more information on Bodybuilding workout, bodybuilding videos, please visit the blog at: http://bodybuildingworkout.nichinfo.com and at Build Muscles

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Female Bodybuilding - Every Woman Can Benefit, In Their Own Way

The level of commitment and work involved, particularly to be competitive, requires a lifestyle for women especially, that centers around intense training and a strict nutrition regime.

The rules for competition include somewhat pedantic categories such as ‘femininity.’ The prize money is also a quarter of what male bodybuilders can win.

So Why Is Female Bodybuilding So Popular?

For many, the point is not to get as big as possible but to attain a level of fitness and strength not often seen in women. The challenge you present yourself, when as a women you decide to pursue a female bodybuilding style of exercise and development is probably a lot of the reason women do it.

To push yourself and attain such lofty goals even when not for competition is admirable. So, challenge to show that ‘you can’ and the real benefit of feeling toned and strong are the major drivers

Bodybuilding for Women - Myths Exposed

There are some myths that must be confronted about female bodybuilding.

The first myth is that exercise can increase chest size. Oh, if only that were true, all the plastic surgeons would be broke! But, it is not. Women’s breasts are composed of fatty tissue for the most part so building muscle will not grow that part of the body.

Female bodybuilding myth #2, training with weights turns fat into muscle. This is not accurate. You can only burn fat through cardiovascular activity and you can only gain muscle by weight training. No doubt these will not be the only myths that need to be addressed in the future.

Male vs Female Bodybuilding - What Are The Differences?

Female bodybuilding is still an evolving sport that is fighting myths and perception problems. Unfortunately women cannot gain the kind of mass that men can due to women’s inability to produce as much testosterone as men.

To gain the bulk needed to be competitive, alternative measures are usually taken. That’s why anabolic steroids are a problem in female bodybuilding - a controversial topic we are sure to continue to hear more about.

No women should fear female bodybuilding. You need not look like the oversized competitive bodybuilders you see in picture or on tv. You can train hard with weights and sculpt your body how you want - it does not mean you even need to go beyond basic definition on your body.

Women need to remember that if they only do cardio their bodies burn both fat and muscle to use for fuel, so a weight training program, even if you are not interested in a female bodybuilding regime, can benefit you in and out of the gym.

Bodybuilding For Women - What’s The Future?

There is clearly room for growth in the female bodybuilding industry. The competitions will begin to focus on the right things and the prize money will surely grow. There are many varying opinions out there about female bodybuilding, but you can’t deny the drive and dedication women show when they train for competition.

It is impressive and many women would love to be able to do it - more and more are, every day.

For whatever reason some women catch the competition bug and others don’t, but for those of us who don’t, we can still, in our own way, participate for the good of our own fitness.

(c) 2007 Best Bodybuilding Guides. Ideas, hints and tips from around the world to make the most of your male and female bodybuilding. Full of advice, products and services to make the best of your sport. Checkout Martin Haworth’s website for all you need at http://www.BestBodyBuildingGuides.com

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Powerlifting and ADD

Okay, so I was sitting there at work the other and came up with a theory. I think for the most part, people starting out in power lifting have A.D.D. I mean think about it, how many times has a beginner/intermediate lifter to the sport gone to the various forums looking for the holy grail? The ultimate program that is gonna pack on muscle and pack on pounds to the total, only to come back a week later and say “program so-and-so sucks, it doesn’t work”, “this style of training is only for people on the juice”, etc….At least 5-10 times a week I bet, and thats quite a conservative number.

I know personally, it wasn’t until I said “Screw it, I am gonna pick one powerlifting program and give it a good year of effort and see what turns up” that I started garnering the results I was after. And guess what happened?”

-My total went up

-The muscle mass got packed on

-I am stronger now than I was back in the days of 3 sets of 10, sipping energy drinks on the leg curl machine, all the while pondering the secrets of the power lifting universe.

Now the program I use is based on the Westside Barbell style of training. This style has worked for me and keeps the iron game refreshing and new as the methodology is constantly changing and open for experimentation. That is not to say westside is the end all be all of power lifting programs, its just that it has worked for me. There are other great programs out there such as Sheiko, Smolov, Coan/Phillipi programs, etc…the key is to seek them out, study them and make an honest judgement as to whether or not you think you can mold it to your needs.

Now back to the A.D.D side of things. A.D.D stand for Attention Deficit Disorder, and yes I have it. Whoop-dee doo, don’t we all. A.D.D. is a term commonly used to describe the neurological disorder attention-deficit disorder (See, I picked up that I repeated myself, could it be A.D.D? Who knows, who cares, this is a Power lifting article right?)

Below are some of the symptoms:

-Often does not pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in day to day activities

-Often has trouble keeping attention on tasks (daydreams)

-Often does not follow instructions and fails to finish projects and tasks (whoa, look at this new program, I think I’ll give it a go!!)

-Often has trouble organizing activities (How many sets and reps do I need to do?)

-Often avoids, dislikes, or doesn’t want to do things that take a lot of mental effort for a long period of time (such as following a power lifting program to completion).

-Is often easily distracted (and goes with the flavor of the week)

Now this is not an end-all be-all list of symptoms, but they are definitely characteristics of alot of people starting this sport, and others for that matter. Some blame their low totals, strength, and lack of follow through on “paralysis by analysis”, but which came first? The chicken or the Egg? Are you too scatterbrained to concentrate on one program at once? Or, do you read a ton of articles, get paralyzed, implement pieces of 5 programs into one crappy routine, then blame them all for your poor performance? Who knows?

So now the question is this, what can you do to get around this power lifting A.D.D. thing? Well, there are many ways to address this. For myself, it was just having a long talk with myself on what it is that I want to accomplish, and deciding to quit using excuses for my pathetic strength levels. I quit saying that the only way to get strong is to go on the juice. I quit saying I need a group of people to train with to get strong (I train alone by the way), and a whole host of other issues whereby I was placing the blame on external forces and not owning the responsibility.

The bottom line is this, power lifting is about being honest with yourself and testing yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally (I often cry when I miss a weight, just kidding). If you try and kid yourself or place the responsibility on someone else you are either gonna get pancaked under a pathetic squat, get choked by a dropped