4 Tricks for Getting Buffed Quickly

May 14, 2012 · Comments

Many systems and trainers nowadays promote “secret” systems that will make you grow muscles quickly and with little work. Most of these systems don’t work and only get you to spend more time at the gym and more money on supplements. In this article I will describe 4 easy tricks that will speed up your muscle gains right from the first workout.

Go for High Intensity
High intensity training was first introduced by Arnold Jones (the inventor of the Nautilus workout machine), and was considered an extreme but highly efficient training method. It was then revised, improved and used by Mike Mentzer to win Mr Olympia, later to write several best-selling books about this system.

The idea is very simple: in order to trigger muscle growth, you must train in high intensity and reach the point of muscular failure in any exercise. The idea is to do only one set of each exercise, but to do the exercise slow and reach the point in which you can no longer move the weights at proper form – this is the point of muscular failure and this is where your muscles are triggered to grow and adapt to the huge effort.

Stay at this point for a few seconds, and then gradually release. This system requires very little time (because you do only one set), and brings results very quickly. Personally, I saw results even from my first workout when my biceps, which were my weakest link, expanded after a mere one workout and continue to do so in the course of a month.

Eat Protein and Carbs
It is important that you don’t skip carbs altogether and make sure they are still at least 50% of your daily intake of calories. Eat complex carbs like beans and whole grain bread, to make sure that your body gets stable energy and do not store those carbs as fat in your body. If you don’t want to trouble yourself with calculating calories you can use a mass gainer like BSN true mass to gain mass quicker.

Do Compound Exercises
Bicep curls are good but for serious mass growth, compound (multi-joint) exercises are much more recommended. Do pull-ups, dips, bench press and even squats (make sure to do it in perfect technique to prevent injuries). Multi-joint exercises lead to faster muscle growth as they trigger more muscles, and they will allow lead to more growth hormone being produced in the body. Your metabolism will also speed up much faster with compound exercises, so they are useful for losing fat as well.

Sleep at Least 8-10 Hours per Night
This is crucial: gym workouts are only the catalyst to muscle growth. To actually grow you must give your body time to recover, so it is recommended you sleep 8-10 hours per night, and if you have time take a nap at noon. This will allow your muscles to grow better and your nerve system to recover.

Author Bio: Dan Storren is a bodybuilding fanatic, who shares his insights about muscle growth and weight training in his site, Mass-gainer.net.

(photo credit pasukaru76)

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Controlling Your Thyroid: A Balancing Act

April 1, 2012 · Comments

The quest for rock hard abs isn’t as straightforward as you think. The most common myths aroundbuilding abs assumes that everything is about being on a straight line.

If you eat right (whatever that is supposed to mean), work out properly (again, very vague), and really just think about all of the supplements that you could possibly buy (a waste of money when you have no plan), you’ll not only burn fat, but you’ll have some rock hard abs that everyone will be excited about.

That’s just not the case at all. You’re going to need to make sure that you go beyond justthe “classics” if you want to really diagnose why you might have so many problems getting to your goals.

Time to Think About the Thyroid

A lot of people have heard of the thyroid, but they really don’t know what the thyroid really is, or its impact on overall health.

After all, if you want rock hard abs chances are good that you also want your body to be in proper sync. Good thyroid health is actually the key to a lot of different systems in the body working as they are supposed to.

So let’s cover the thyroid in greater detail, shall we? The thyroid is an endocrine gland, part of the Endocrine system.

Simply put, this gland controls how quickly your body is going to use energy, make proteins, and howsensitive the body is to other hormones. So if you’re worried about insulin, you need to make surethat you focus on this gland as much as you can.

Hormones of the thyroid include T3, T4, and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). The biggest thing that you want to avoid is an underactive thyroid gland, which can contribute to hypothyroidism, where you just don’t make enough T3 and T4 and TSH to move things along. More people are hypothyroid than hyperthyroid, where the body makes too much.

Iodine deficiency is one of the top reasons why hypothyroidism exists, but you can overturn this condition if you have it.

Diet, Thyroid, and Your Ripped Abs AgendaIf you want to get to a healthy thyroid, you’re going to need to make sure that you lower your intake of soy, which has been shown to block thyroid function.

In men, thyroid hormone doesn’t play as big of a role, but it is possible to still have hormone problems.

Diet plays a role because it’s not just soy that’s the big culprit, and you’re also going to have more sources of soy than you can even shake a stick at. You will have soy in everything from mayonnaise to salsa and then some.

But as we just said, it’s not just the soy that you have to watch out for. The consumption of vegetables that contain goitrogens can disrupt thyroid function. Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and cabbage are all plants that contain naturally occurring goitrogens.

Chemicals are going to have to be kept at a minimum, because studies show so many different interactions on the body. In fact, these chemicals found in foods as well as household items can disrupt thyroid function and even generate a stress response in the body.

It’s tough, finding out that so many things are actually stacked against you when it comes to not only building the abs that you want, but also making sure that you have the health that you want. Good rock hard abs are a sign of vitality, but do you want that sign to only be on the surface or do you want it to go deeper than that? That’s a decision that you’re going to have to make sooner or later.

Testing yourself for hormone deficiencies is a matter of visiting your doctor. They can order the blood work to be done, giving you a more intimate picture of your overall health. Even if you’re scared of needles, getting hard data is always a good thing.

Why not check it out for yourself today? It’s a tough step to make — especially when you’re used to looking into the common myths of building abs and thinking everything is just going to be straight forward and simple. It’s definitely not, but you can reach your goals by studying the hormone issues and going into a world of total health and vitality!

Author: H.M is the editor of Ab-Solutely-Fit.com where he shares his knowledge about how to sculpt your abs.

(image credit aeu04117)

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How to Lose Weight

November 3, 2011 · Comments

There are probably just as many excuses to not get into shape, as there are reasons to get into shape. The difference is those excuses can lead to less mobility, more illnesses, and possibly an earlier death. The gain in overall health and fitness makes the effort to lose weight worth it. Please remember to visit a doctor before starting any exercise program.

Exercise Tips
There are different exercises and different exercise programs, and it seems that someone somewhere is promising that their program is the best. The truth is that the best exercise program, especially for the person who hasn’t been overly active for a while is the exercise they are willing to stick with. That is not to say they have to love the exercise they are doing, but if they won’t stick with a program over the long haul, then they need to find another exercise.

Another important factor is how hard the exerciser pushes himself or herself. A person who is very overweight can do a lot of good by walking one mile a day in the beginning. However, one month later they will need to have increased their pace and distance in order to do as much good. The more the exerciser pushes their limits, the better the exercise is for them.

Nutrition
One of the hardest parts of losing weight is using an appropriate diet. Just like sticking with exercise, the change in diet associated with weight loss must be a habit and a lifestyle change, not just something to do for a while, or else the fat will return and all of that hard work will have been wasted.

When considering how much to eat, it is important to understand how much is being eaten. One pound of fat is 3500 calories. Therefore, if a person wants to lose two pounds a week needs to consume 1000 fewer calories during that week. There are all kinds of faddish dietary foods available, but the best thing to do is learn how to eat smaller portions of healthy food.

The more difficult part of starting a diet for most people is portion size. People are used to eating too much. Learning how many calories are in a portion size makes knowing how much to eat much easier.

Losing weight is not easy. The payoff for those who are willing to stick with a healthy lifestyle change is looking better, and most of all feeling better.

(photo credit: MikeBaird)

Author Bio: Jackie joined the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance in 2009 as research assistant after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in fitness and nutrition. Jackie’s experience in technical and medical research has allowed her to assist in the development of medical content and outreach efforts, with specializations in alternative care, cancer support programs, and social media campaigns.

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