Saturday, May 16, 2009

Muscle Building Diets

Muscle Building Diets

Well, I won't bet that Arnold Schwarzenegger has read this article, but he won't deny that you need to consume more food that you usually do in order to put on some extra kilos. Which foods are the best for muscle building? Let's scroll down the page.

You need more Calorie

The more calories you intake the more chances for you to gain some extra pounds. Your body converts the calories to muscles when It has the proper condition. But you need to keep it in mind that we do need a minimum calorie to undergo our day to day activities. If you need to grow muscles you must supply that extra calorie. An average person needs a minimum of 2000 calories daily. But it depends on your body structure and height. So you should talk with your physician to know the right calorie amount for you.

Proteins give you mass

Proteins help your body to regenerate the muscle fibers by providing essential amino acids. So protein isn't only important for muscle building, but also it helps the regeneration process. Chicken, egg, milk, nut are some very common and approachable protein rich foods.

Carbohydrates yields energy

Not all the foods have the same calorie value. The best calorie yielding foods are carbohydrates. Your body essentially needs the carbohydrates, for the energy to undergo daily activities. But always take them in proper amount, because the excess amount of carbs are stored In the body being converted into fats. Potatoes, rice, asparagus are rich in carbohydrates.

Fats are essential too

Not all the fats are harmful. Some fats are in fact beneficial for the health as they reduce other harmful fat particles. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are usually regarded as beneficial for health. However, make sure that you aren't starving the body of fat, because, the body needs it in proper amount. But take fish oil or vegetable fats more than animal fats.

This is all about diet. But it needs no telling that, you will supplement the diet with regular workouts as well. Without work outs in taking more food will only give you fat in stead of muscle bulk.

Five Easy Tips on How to Gain Muscle and Burn Fat

Five Easy Tips on How to Gain Muscle and Burn Fat

Anyone can change their lifestyle and learn how to gain muscle and burn fat. There is, however, no one trick or technique that is the answer to the perfect body. Eating right, exercising, and getting plenty of rest is the best way to achieve a healthy, slim, and muscular body. Follow
these five easy tips and you'll soon see the results for yourself.

1. Do a thirty day plan.

Too many people try to implement life changes and become overwhelmed. Giving up is the reason that people fail at gaining muscle and burning fat. Don't make a commitment for the rest of your life. The doubts will come and you will soon fall into your old habits. Instead, make a pledge that you are going to make a positive change for thirty days. Commit yourself for thirty days. During this time, do not accept any excuses. At the end of those thirty days, take the time to evaluate the change. If you feel you benefited from your new habit, commit yourself to it for another thirty days. Try to add only one or two habits at a time.

2. Cut sugar.

Stop filling up on high sugar and high calorie snacks and drinks. In order to gain muscle and burn fat your body needs nutrition. You will have to burn more calories than you consume. Don't feel that you have to diet, however, or restrict your caloric intake to an extreme level. Instead, find the big culprits in your diet and cut them out. Say goodbye to soda pop, crackers, and cookies. Replace the soft drinks with water and the crackers and cookies with whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

3. Exercise in the morning when you first get up.

How to Gain Muscle Mass and Weight

Gaining muscle mass isn't mentioned nearly as much in the media as losing weight is. However, for a large number of people, especially guys, gaining muscle is more important than losing fat. In fact, even for those who are overweight, gaining muscle mass is much more important than losing
the fat, not only for their health, but also for their long-term goals. But how does one go about building muscle and increasing their weight?

There are two primary things that you need to control:
1. Your nutrition.
2. Exercise.
Lack of either of the two will result in failure to gain muscle, especially nutrition.

First, let's dispel some of the common myths about exercise, shall we?

1 : The longer your workout, the better.
2 : If you don't sweat, you don't lose any fat. Sweat is the proof of "melting" fat.
3 : The greater the frequency of your workout, the more muscle mass you'll gain.
4 : It's better to target individual muscles such as biceps and calves.

So what's the truth?

1. You do not gain muscle mass when you exercise! You gain mass when you rest from a workout! That's why resting between strenuous workouts is so important. Don't work out more than 3 days in a week. A sample workout you may try would be - Mon, Wed, Fri. This gives your body a day's rest between all the workouts and a two day rest before you start the cycle again.

2. It's not the frequency, or the length of your workout, but the intensity of your workout that helps you gain muscle mass. It doesn't benefit you much if you do 50 reps and 15 sets of bench press, but it benefits you a whole lot more if you use weights with which you can do no more than 3 sets with 3-7 reps. This will help you gain a lot more muscle mass as long as you remember to take rest. In fact, if you work out for more than 47 minutes in one go, you risk hurting your growth and over-training.

How to Gain Muscle in 8 Minutes

We all want that perfect physique, but nobody wants to spend countless hours at the gym. We live in an age where self improvement and instant gratification both have gained extreme popularity. Now we might ask ourselves, what is the idea workout time? Muscle gain is caused by hormonal releases caused by stimulation of the muscle.

Believe it or not this hormonal release can be achieved in less than 8 minutes. That's right you don't have to spend hours in the gym punishing yourself any longer.

While this may seem easy, these 8 minutes will need to count. Muscle can only be gained by weightlifting but no studies have ever proven what the correct time of these sessions needs to be.

Let's begin. To get the most out of every workout session you will need to have focus and dedication. Just like every great goal in life you will need to focus and work hard to achieve this. When you are at the gym get in a mental state that you are here for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to work out. This mentality will focus you on what you are about to do.

The correct way to gain muscle mass is to push yourself to muscle failure. What this means is that you need to do enough reps for your muscles to give out and not be able to perform any more. Your body reacts to muscle failure as a threat and it adapts. When you finish your session your body will then send hormones to rebuild your muscle. What your body is doing is adapting to what it just withstood and evolving to be able to do it again and better. What this means to you is that the last few reps are the most important and will require the most effort.

While it is important to remember not to over train yourself keep in mind that your body needs to be pushed in order to improve. Combined with a healthy diet this type of exercise will provide you with the best results.

Muscle gain is all equal to the amount of effort it takes not the amount of time. Spending 2 hours at the gym doing the same exercises with the same amount of weight will not produce results. Instead spend less time doing more work and you will see greater results. Many different workout programs can easily be found on the internet, find one that's suits you and stick with it.

Before long you will see amazing gains in both muscle mass and your self confidence. This will improve your overall quality of life; you'll be able to parade around the pool while turning heads. This is the kind of attention we all deserve.

What is the best bodybuilding supplement?

When you look at any bodybuilding or fitness magazine you see dozens of ads for supplements that all promise to give you huge gains in muscle and a reduction in bodyfat. Very few people can afford to take them all. And if you did you would spend all day popping pills and forcing down powders, drinks, etc… However, one supplement that you should consider taking is Glutamine.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body. It constitutes more than 50% of the amino acids found in muscle cells. Glutamine is a "non-essential" amino acid. Now that term can be a bit confusing. "Non-essential" simply means that you don't have to get your glutamine from outside sources. It is so important to bodily functions that the body actually produces glutamine.

But your body can only produce a certain amount of glutamine. When you put stress on your body (i.e. exercise) the demand for glutamine increases and very often the body can't produce enough. Our bodies use a lot of glutamine every single day. It is required to maintain the proper function of your immune system, brain, kidneys, pancreas, gallbladder, liver, etc… This places a very high demand on your body's resources.

The brain, organs, immune system, etc. receive high priority for glutamine. Any glutamine that is not used for the essential bodily functions is used to help build and repair muscle tissue. If you don't provide extra glutamine you could easily deplete your body's resources before your muscles receive all the glutamine that they need.

Building muscle is not the body's top priority. If the body needs extra glutamine for the essential bodily functions it will break down muscle tissue to get the extra glutamine. This is something that we want to prevent from happening.

This is where supplementation comes in. Studies have shown that supplementing glutamine can prevent muscle wasting, it produces and potent anti-catabolic effect. So what is the best way to supplement glutamine? Consuming an additional 10 grams of glutamine along with a high protein diet should do the trick for most bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts.

I recommend using pure glutamine powder (which is available in most supplement stores) and take 5 grams of glutamine 2 times per day (i.e. after a workout and before bed). It is best to take a couple of small servings of glutamine throughout the day because the body can only utilize a small amount of glutamine at one time. You can mix glutamine with either a glass of water, juice, protein drink, etc.

When I started supplementing with glutamine I noticed the results within a week of taking it. I felt better physically and I had more energy in the gym. I also noticed a reduction in muscle soreness and fatigue. I highly recommend that you give it a try.

Bodybuilding Tips For Beginners















When it comes to looking for ways to shape your body as well as increasing strength, bodybuilding tops the lists. An ultimate muscle building system, it reduces stress levels and teaches you to eat healthier. All you need is a will to maintain a strict fitness schedule and an undying motivation to transform yourself from being lean to being fit. For amateurs, however, there are certain things that one should keep into consideration before taking a step ahead. The foremost thing that one needs to realize is that he/she is a beginner and that there can be no comparison with professional body builders, at this stage. In the following line, we have provided bodybuilding tips for beginners to assess them in their endeavor.

Bodybuilding Tips For Beginners

* Choosing a gym becomes one of the foremost concerns of bodybuilding. Make sure that the gym you choose is a clean and well-equipped one, with a good ambience. A gym that is nearby to your place will save your time apart from being convenient.
* It is very important to set realistic goals for yourself. Remember, you need to strengthen your muscles, before building them. Time does not have a relation with bodybuilding. It does not count how fast you build your body, but how much you can.
* Your mental frame of mind has important connection with your body. Remember, when your mind thinks positively that you can develop, your body respond automatically.
* Finding a training partner can prove to be very beneficial. You can have healthy competition with him. It would also help in motivating you to workout harder.
* Since you are in the initial stages, explore the different exercises. It will give you an idea about which exercise works best for you. A greater understanding of your body will lead to better results.
* A frequent change in training program can act to your advantage, such as a change in the rest time between sets and exercises. Remember, to train every body part once a week.
* You must realize that every day is not the same and that some days your body would work better than the rest of the days. Do not stress out your body, when it calls for rest.
* Before plunging to weight lifting exercises, make sure you indulge in some basic warm-up and light cardio stretches. This would improve your body flexibility and also minimize the risk of injury.
* Balanced diet is also an important consideration to make during bodybuilding. Consume four to seven small meals a day. Indulge in a lot of protein and carbs diet. Taking carbohydrates after the workout acts beneficially. On the contrary, impinge on fat, sugar and salt usage. Instead, go for low-fat or non-fat products.
* Choosing an exercise routine can be advantageous. An effective workout will include legs (squats, lunges, leg extensions, leg curls and leg press), shoulders (military press, dumbbell raises and side laterals), chest (bench press, flyes and dips), back (pull-ups, rows, deadlifts and lat pull-downs), arms (ez-bar curls, barbell curls and dumbbell curls), abs (hanging leg raises and incline crunches) and cardio (for the heart).
* It is very important that you should keep breathing while performing workouts. This way you would supply oxygen to the body, which is very necessary for muscle growth.
* Proteins are the building blocks of our body. Consuming protein powder supplement or shakes can be useful in achieving lean muscle mass.
* Lastly, take appropriate rest and do not over stress your body. Remember. It the only way your body would regain back the strength for the next day's workout.