Apr 12 2010

Discover The Huge Advantages of The Bench Press

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The bench press is said to be the “king of chest exercises” known for it’s ability to build an eye popping chest. You see many people use the bench press to measure their strength gains and even their manhood, based on how much weight they can bench. One of the most common questions you will get in the gym is “how much can you bench?” so if you don’t want to embarass yourself in the gym pickup a barbell and start using the bench.

The reason the bench press is such a popular exercise in weight training routines is because it offers significant advantages over other bodybuilding exercises.

One of the biggest advantages of the bench press is that it allows you to lift a lot more weight. When you do other upper body exercises you are restricted by how much weight you can add. Adding extra weight to the bench press exercise allows you to progress and sufficiently challenge your muscles – which is crucial for building muscle.

If your training routine consisted of only lifting the same weight all the time there is no way you can expect to gain significant size. The fundamental reason why the bench press outperforms any other upper body exercise if you want to build massive chest muscles is the ability to lift heavy weights.

In addition to having the ability to lift heavy weight, the bench press exercise can be performed in a number of variations to further challenge the body. If you are thinking about setting up a home gym, make sure you purchase an incline bench so you can do all the bench variations. You can do the incline bench press, decline bench press, flat bench press, and use barbell or set of dumbbells for the exercise. There are so many different ways to mix it up with the bench press, and with all the exercise variations you are hitting different muscle groups in the upper body.

The best idea would be to include variations of the bench press in your training program for a more well rounded approach. The bench press exercise has a distinct advantage over other upper body exercises and as such should be given due consideration. Remember that if you are trying to build muscle mass in the upper body, you can’t look past the bench press.

Mar 31 2010

Healthy Fats You Need

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Carbs might be the basis of your bulking diet, but don’t go thinking carbs and protein are the only macronutrients you should be consuming. Yes, you do need to include fats along your bulking diet. Low-fat cheese, eggs, red meat, and dairy are excellent sources of healthy fat. These food sources have just enough saturated fat to aid your body in production of testosterone while at the same time not clogging up your arteries for reduced blood flow.

The thing is, fat is an extreme necessity in our diet. That goes for anyone’s diet. If you’re not getting in enough saturated fat into your system, a lot of health issues can arise and not to mention reduce the production of testosterone to a great level. With your body not producing enough testosterone, it’ll be counter productive against your goal to gain maximum muscle mass. It’ll also have a drastic impact on your sex life if you’re not consuming enough saturated fats.

If you eat right, you’ll boost growth hormone levels, testosterone, insulin, and other anabolic hormones. You will yield the greatest gains in muscle mass if you follow through your muscle building diet. In order to gain maximum muscle mass, you should be eating 6-12 ounces of red meat and about 2-3 egg yolks per day for maximum gains in muscle mass.

You should also include sardines, canned salmon, shark, and even mackerels in your daily bulking diet for added fat content. They are pretty good if you know how to prep these foods. By including seafood into your diet, you will be able to supply your body with omega-3 fatty acids that prevent and fight muscle inflammation. If you’re one of those that are real hardcore into training, you know what I’m talking about.

By consuming more omega-3 fatty acids into your diet, your body will be able to produce more muscle glycogen and also boost your immune system. It’s beneficial to do so because as your body becomes more efficient in producing more muscle glycogen from the carbohydrates you consume, your body will start to produce less of body fat from carbs. So with that said, you’ll be able to get big and lean at the same time.

Mar 22 2010

How to Gain Weight But Not Get Fat

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As a hardgainer if you expect to gain a significant amount of muscle weight you will often have to put on a bit of fat in order to make progress. In large part overeating will make up for bad genetics. That is, you may not have the best muscle building genetics in the world but if you give the body enough food and nutrients it’ll be gaining weight and muscle size regardless of what else you do. Heck, even obese people gain muscle without exercise. If you aren’t gaining weight then you need to slam down more calories. Calories will make you gain mass, this is fundamental to weight gain. Period. If you eat enough calories your stubborn arms can’t help but grow. Eating is actually just as if not more anabolic then training.

Pack up more weight with Human chorionic gonadotropin diet to balance out your nutrition needs.

If you have previously attempted weight gain for women or men with no success, ask yourself if you were paying enough attention to diet and nutrition. You could have been pushing yourself in the gym but if you neglected this component of the weight gain program you will not see the desired results you were expecting. When you push yourself hard in the gym your muscle demand the nutrients for recovery and muscle growth, moreso then a sedantary person. So if you are not eating enough protein and consuming high calorie foods, all the hours in the gym will go to waste.

At the start of the article I mentioned the fact that you should expect to gain a bit of fat when gaining weight. This is not a problem at all. In addition to gaining some fat, you will also be gaining muscle, so the ratio of muscle to fat will make the fat you have gained barely noticeable. But if you wish to minimize how much fat you put on then you need to realize that there are good calories and bad calories. Avoid the bad calories in your diet – it’s better for your health and will enable to maximize muscle gains whilst minimize fat gains. When on a weight gain diet you don’t want to be stuffing yourself with junk food just so you can put on a few weight. If you wish to minimize the fat you put on in your quest for gaining weight and building a better physique, then you need to be sensible in the kitchen and when dining out and make sure you eat the right foods. Most of the microwave dinners and other junk you see in the supermarket isles will not cut it. Get creative in the kitchen and cook your own tasty healthful meals which are packed with protein, complex carbs and some healthy fats.

Mar 13 2010

Gaining Muscular Mass for the Skinny Guy

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It is often wrought with frustration for most skinny guys when trying to gain weight and more muscle mass onto their skinny body frame. To even add just a little bit of muscle mass onto their skinny frame may seem like an impossible task no matter how hard they try. It is possible to gain more muscle mass and to gain natural weight.

Don’t worry if this all sounds too familiar to you as you probably been following the wrong advice from unreliable sources, such as someone who doesn’t workout and is skinny themselves. Trust me as I have overcome the skinny syndrome. I’ll show you what you need to do in order to gain a more muscular body and show you reasons why you are struggling to gain weight.

Why most skinny guys fail at gaining muscle is because they don’t get in enough macronutrients on a daily basis to feed their body. If you are only getting minimal calories, then you aren’t going to gain weight and then gaining muscle is something that you will only dream of. Work on your diet to consume as many calories as you can to get the most out of weight gain. The basic principle is to consume more than what your body can burn off. If you do that, then you will gradually gain weight. It’s all in the numbers really.

I’m really tired of hearing “oh I eat tons of food, and I still can’t gain weight.” How much exactly in “tons” is your definition a lot in numbers wise? Like I said earlier, it’s all in the numbers. If you are only consuming 1500 calories a day, and you aren’t seeing any weight gain, then bump your calories another 500-600 or so. Keep increasing your daily caloric intake until you start seeing numbers on the weight scale increase.

When it comes down to it, your daily diet should consist 50% carbs, 25% proteins, and 25% fats. Your source of food should come from healthy sources such as beans, fruits, vegetables, fish, oats, and even lean meats for the protein. To get the most out of weight gain, you’ll need to approach a proper nutrition and diet plan if you’re seeking how to get a muscular body.

Another reason why skinny guys fail at gaining weight is because they are following an exercise routine that have little or no results. You have to choose the right exercise routine that is preferably designed for the skinny hard gainer type of guy. You will find out many workout programs follow one body part per day, splitting workout routines, and even using a high rep scheme on the primary exercises that are supposed to produce results. This isn’t recommended for the skinny guy. You will make some small gains, but not the gains you really want.

You need a workout routine that will blast muscle mass onto your frame and work your body as a whole, or at least in multiple muscle groups at a time. The big exercises that I contribute most of my success to are deadlifts, bench press, power cleans, and last but not least barbell squats. These exercises are known to be the big four, the powerhouse exercises. You’re able to gain muscular strength, muscular size and muscular power for the best of results with these exercises. If you can find a program that focuses more on compound lifts, then you are well on your way to gaining weight and a more muscular physique.

Mar 4 2010

Cheat Days in Moderation

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The majority of us bodybuilders have had those days in which we just feel like packing in extra snacks and fulfilling our sweet tooth. This so called sweet tooth doesn’t necessarily mean donuts either, it also applies to greasy burgers, ice cream, sodas with high sugar content, and french fries which we all love dearly.

What happens is that those greasy junk foods give you a feeling of being bigger and actually being pumped, within a couple hours of consumption. Which as we know it as a bodybuilder stand point, isn’t entirely a bad thing. But when it comes down to it, too much of a bad thing can lead to bad things. On the other hand, it’s ok to give in the towel for a day or so. That said, it’s healthy for your own sanity to have a cheat day about once every 2 weeks.

Back to the subject about getting pumped and feeling huge; Consuming junk food like burgers and such can actually cause a rise in anabolic hormones that include growth hormone, insulin, and also testosterone. All of which aid the process of muscle growth. During your next cheat day, continue to stay on track by eating your planned six meals, but don’t be afraid to add in a burger with fries and maybe ice cream for lunch. One thing I would suggest is keep majority of your meals throughout the day mostly clean to avoid getting unwanted fat on your belly.

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