Posts Tagged ‘bodybuilding’
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
A lot has been made about the importance of protein in building muscle, but more could be said about the importance of fruits and vegetables in this regard. The fact of the matter is that fruits and vegetables contain a lot of important vitamins and minerals that facilitate muscle growth.
Vitamin C
One of these vitamins important to muscle growth which is often times overlooked is Vitamin C. Vitamin C is found in fresh fruits and vegetables such as oranges, pineapples, grapefruit, cabbage, broccoli, okra and spinach to name a few.
Vitamin C speeds up recovery of your muscles after an intense workout, and prevents injuries and inflammations that might keep one away from the gym.
During weightlifting your body is placed under a tremendous amount of stress, but Vitamin C present in fruits and vegetables help to boost your immune system to fight against possible infections and muscle damage.
Another great benefit from Vitamin C is the reduction of cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone produced when the body undergoes extreme stress like weightlifting, and is responsible for the breakdown of muscle tissue. Therefore, the less cortisol your body produces the better.
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Tags: bodybuilding, Diet, fitness, food, health, muscle, nutrition, vegetables
Posted in Diet, Nutrition Tip | 5 Comments »
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
The Many Unexpected Benefits of Body Building
There are many reasons to build a stronger body that most people wouldn’t think of when they picture bodybuilding. Bodybuilding can be a very healthy hobby for both your mind and your body.
Despite the misconceptions of the general public, bodybuilding is not necessarily all about eating whey protein, lifting heavy weights, and oiled-up posing in a thong on a stage. There are a ton of great health benefits as well.
These are just some of the many unexpected benefits of bodybuilding:
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Tags: benefits, body building, bodybuilding, Diet, exercise, fitness, health, healthy, nutrition
Posted in Bodybuilding, Healthy Lifestyle, Motivation | 14 Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
Eat Right, Train Right and You Can Have it All
A couple days ago I posted the first 5 reasons you are not gaining weight. Here are 5 more reasons you are not gaining weight. Check out the first article if you missed it: 10 Reasons You Are Not Gaining Weight Part 1
Peep these second 5 five items in my list of 10 possible ways you could be sabotaging your muscle building plan.
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Too Much Cardio
To lose fat while maintaining muscle, you’ll want to stick to 2, thirty minute HIIT sessions; and 1, forty five minute endurance session in a week. Adding HIIT like that will help you to elevate your metabolism, which increases fat loss, and will keep cortisol levels in check to preserve existing muscle mass. The HIIT should be a max sprint for an interval of 30-60 seconds, followed by a light jog interval for twice the length of your sprint interval (60-120 seconds).
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Tags: bodybuilding, exercise, fitness, gain mass, gain muscle, mistakes, muscle, muscle building, muscles, strength, tips
Posted in Bodybuilding, Fitness Tips, Weight Training | 6 Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2011
Attention Hard Gainers and Dudes Who Want to Gain 10 lbs of Solid Muscle!
You use protein shakes. You eat lots of food. You workout like a maniac. Yet you still weigh 50 pounds less than your goal weight. Sick of skinny wrists and stick figure calves? Stop making the mistakes that compromise your weight gain strategies.
There are several components that go into a proper weight gain cycle. Nutrition is most important, exercise is next, and lifestyle can make or break you. Today we will cover some nutrition mistakes you might be making. Fix them today so you can gain muscle tomorrow!
Here are the first 5 points in my list of 10 mistakes you could be making to sabotage your weight gain.
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Tags: bodybuilding, exercise, fitness, gain mass, gain muscle, mistakes, muscle, muscle building, muscles, strength, tips
Posted in Bodybuilding, Diet, Fitness Tips, Nutrition Tip | 6 Comments »
Friday, July 29th, 2011
It’s not this easy, but these 10 basic tips will get you started in your quest to accomplish your strength and bodybuilding goals.
- The basics have always and will always work best. You can build a core workout routine with just squats, deads, bench, overhead press, pull ups / chin ups, dips, and situps. Rows and curls can be added as needed.
- Find what works best for you and keep doing it until it no longer works. Start with the basics, optimize for your personal needs, repeat until you plateau.
- As long as you are making progress, stick with your routine. No need to change workout routines every month just because you don’t want to plateau. If your routine is working, stick with it UNTIL you plateau.
- Strength is greater than bulk. If you are strong you have nothing to prove and it is easy to get bigger. If you are big it’s tough to get stronger and strong guys will tell you “well, at least you LOOK strong.”
- Three months is the minimum trial length before you can pass judgement. Six months is even better. What I’m saying is, you need to stick with a plan for 3-6 months before you can say it does or doesn’t work.
- Free weights rule.
- Excuses will hold you back for your entire life if you let them. Stop making excuses, stop reading and researching, stop thinking. Just do it!
- You will become your environment. If you want to be weak and small, surround yourself with weak and small. If you want to be big and strong, hang with those guys, ask questions, and take advice from those who have accomplished what you want to accomplish.
- You have to really want what you think you want. If you REALLY wanted to be strong, you’d be strong by now. So change your mindset today. If you really want to be something, you have to want it more than anything else.
- Eat to grow. You have to eat if you want to get stronger. You have to eat if you want to get bigger. If you’re not getting bigger or stronger, eat more food. Especially protein.
Tags: basics, bodybuilding, Fitness Tips, Motivation, muscle, strength, strong, strongman, tips
Posted in Fitness Tips, Motivation | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Do Bodybuilders Have to “Max Out” to Gain Muscle?
You may have seen or heard cliche slogans like “Go heavy or go home.” You may have been asked “How much do you bench?” You may even be impressed by Olympic lifters, powerlifters, and professional strongmen, all of whom regularly use maximum effort triples and singles to prepare for competition, to try to set a personal record, or just as a component of their regular training routines.
Well guess what? None of those sports are like bodybuilding. Sure, Olympic lifters are typically pretty jacked, powerlifters and strongmen are just plain “big”, but very few of them could compete in a bodybuilding competition and hope to win, without first dieting and training like a bodybuilder for several months.
This brings us to the question – do bodybuilders ever actually have to test their 1 or 3 rep max on any exercise? Do they have to lift super-heavy?
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Tags: bodybuilding, building muscle, fitness, gain muscle, heavy, max, max effort, maximum effort, muscle growth, myth, myths, powerlifting, strength, strongman, training, weight lifting, weightlifting
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Train When They Are Sore?
This is one of the top offending bodybuilding myths. Have you ever canceled a workout or skipped training a body part because it felt sore, even though at least 48 hours had passed since you trained it? If you said “Yes”, then after reading this post you will never make that mistake again.
Your muscles will get sore when you use:
- heavy weights
- slow negatives
- forced negatives
- assisted negatives
- drop sets
- high volume
Do you need to avoid these training methods completely in order to prevent soreness, so that you can train again in two days? Not necessarily.
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Tags: bodybuilding, building muscle, doms, fitness, gain muscle, heavy, max, max effort, maximum effort, muscle growth, myth, powerlifting, sore, sore muscles, soreness, strength, strongman, training, weight lifting, weightlifting
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | No Comments »
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Restrict Their Intake of Dietary Fat?
We all know sugar is bad. It is fun to eat but it is bad for your body. It belongs on the bodybuilding blacklist, I’ve got no qualms there. We all know protein is good for bodybuilding. That is a simple and obvious discussion. But what about fat?
Possibly left over from the 1980’s war on fat, a common myth is that fat calories have no place in a healthy diet, let alone a bodybuilding diet. Around that time fat was demonized and carbohydrates were praised. The myth still lingers, but isn’t it time to let that battle go?
The Myth
A bodybuilding diet consists of lean meats like turkey, chicken, fish, egg whites, and fat free dairy products. Bodybuilding newbies learn this practice almost immediately. We must keep calories low, so we must keep fat consumption low.
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Tags: bodybuilding, build muscle, Diet, dieting, fat, fat loss, food, gain muscle, lose fat, lose weight, meal planning, meals, muscle gain, myth, myths, saturated fat, weight loss
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Do Cardio After Weight Training?
Spend some time in a corporate gym and you will see hundreds of bodybuilders lifting moderately heavy weight for sets of 10-15 reps, then you’ll see them hop on a StairMaster or elliptical machine for about 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity endurance cardio. There are many reasons for this behavior, the most common being that weight training is just a hell of a lot more fun than cardio.
Apparently the weights-first-cardio-second protocol is considered the most effective way for bodybuilders to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. But is it?
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Tags: bodybuilding, cardio, cardiovascular, Diet, endurance, exercise, fat loss, hiit, lifting, lose fat, myth, myths, training, Weight Training, weightlifting, workout
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 9 Comments »
Monday, June 27th, 2011
Can Bodybuilders Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?
There are the hard-gainers, the obese slackers, the off-season bodybuilders, the weekend warriors, the overweight housewives, and a million other kinds of aspiring athletes. Everyone has a goal. Some goals are simply to lose weight, while others are mainly to build muscle, but for most people fat loss goes along with muscle gain for a variety of reasons – everything from general health, building a beach body, sports performance, competition prep, and even to combat aging.
The most popular fitness newbie belief is that you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Every personal trainer in the world then tries to convince the newbie that he or she simply can’t try to accomplish both goals at the same time. Why? Because gaining muscle and losing fat seem to be mutually exclusive.
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Tags: bodybuilding, build muscle, Diet, dieting, fat loss, food, gain muscle, lose fat, lose weight, meal planning, meals, muscle gain, myth, myths, weight loss
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Can Bodybuilders Digest More Than 30 Grams of Protein in One Meal?
This myth has been around since the late 1970’s, and I really can’t figure out why or where it originated. There are about a million theories about how much protein, fat, and carbs should be eaten each day, each meal, even each hour. Most bodybuilders are concerned about eating exactly the right amount of protein, because they want to maximize muscle gain but they also want to avoid any excess calories, even from protein, getting stored as body fat.
So, how much protein should we eat in a single meal? How much can our bodies process at once? Some nutritionists say only 20 grams, while many professional bodybuilders consume as much as 100 grams in a single meal! What’s the truth?!
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Tags: bodybuilding, Diet, eat, eating, food, how to eat, meal, myth, nutrition, protein, when to eat
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Eat Sugar?
Another food myth. This time we have to decide if eating sugar is acceptable in a bodybuilding diet. Sugar can do some nasty things to the body, but it can also help sometimes. Let’s look at the pros and cons of eating sugar so we can decide how, when, where, and why to eat sugar, if at all.
The Myth
Similar to eating before bed, the sugar myth is another controversial subject about which everyone seems to have an opinion, whether educated or not. The two common opinions on sugar are as follows:
- Sugar will cause obesity, diabetes, and rotten teeth, so it must be avoided at all costs.
- Artificial sweeteners are bad for your health or taste horrible, so we must use sugar in our meals, drinks, and recipes.
The first opinion, that sugar has no place in a bodybuilder’s diet, is the most common myth that needs to be debunked. The second opinion is gaining in popularity, and although there is some sense in this approach, it too can be over used.
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Tags: bodybuilding, bodybuilers, Diet, eating, food, Fruit, healthy food, nutrition, post-workout, sugar, sugary, unhealthy food, workout
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Train to Failure?
“No pain, no gain!”
You hit the gym like a maniac. You want every rep to burn. Every set has to be a max rep attempt. Maybe you even enlist a spotter to help you eek out an extra rep or two. Is training to failure or past failure a good practice for bodybuilders?
The Myth
“The only rep that counts, is the one you can’t finish.”
To grow as a bodybuilder you need to push every set to failure. That’s how Arnold and all the great 70’s bodybuilders trained, right?
Some of the following techniques, called “Weider Training Principles” are used to take each set past failure:
- forced reps
- forced negatives
- rest pause
- partial reps
- drop sets
This is how bodybuilders have trained for years and it’s how bodybuilders should train today. Is it right?
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Tags: athletes, body building, bodybuilding, exercise, failure, fitness, myths, train, training, Weight Training, weightlifting, workout
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 4 Comments »
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Should Bodybuilders Eat Late at Night?
Bodybuilders are subjected to a million different tips about what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat. We are constantly looking for new foods and diet strategies to help us gain muscle but not fat, or to lose fat but not muscle.
So what is the truth? Should we listen to Oprah? Should we listen to Mr. Olympia? Is Atkins right or does Intermittent Fasting work better? As an individual you need to try different strategies in order to see if they work best for you.
The Myth
It is common knowledge that if you eat before bed, those calories will stored as fat. It might be considered common knowledge, but is it true?
The Truth
For athletes looking to gain muscle mass and strength, one strategy that I have used and recommended to clients over the years, is to eat within 15 minutes of going to bed at night. Not junk food. Nothing full of fat and carbs. Instead it should be a small meal of slow-digesting protein with an optional small amount of complex carbohydrates.
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Tags: bodybuilding, Diet, eat, eating, fast, fasting, food, how to eat, intermittent fasting, myth, nutrition, when to eat
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 10th, 2011
10 Things to Avoid If You Want to Build Rock Solid Muscles Fast
Here is a guest post that a personal trainer once wrote for me. The writing style sounds suspiciously international in origin, but the points he makes are true.
Many fitness and bodybuilding magazines come up with different tips to help you with bodybuilding. You can find abundant of tips to help you in bodybuilding. However, you also need to know some things that you need to avoid for building those rock solid muscles quickly.
Here is a list of 10 tips that you must avoid while engaging in muscle building and bodybuilding:
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Tags: bodybuilding, gain mass, gain muscle, gain weight, mass gain, muscle gain, weight gain
Posted in Bodybuilding, Fitness Tips | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Someone, I think in the forums or maybe in a comment to another post, asked earlier today why gymnasts are so muscular even though they don’t lift weights, and if starting gymnastics training would be a good idea for him to gain muscle.
Regarding the question “why are gymnasts so muscular?” I direct your attention to the following video, which captures mere school girls training for gymnastics. Observe the 5 million jumps, flips, hand stands, band training, and sprinting. Even when you use only bodyweight for these exercises, the power and repetitions over time are going to build really strong muscles – in the core, arms, legs, everywhere.
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Tags: bodybuilding, Conditioning, gymnastics
Posted in Bodybuilding, Conditioning, Kids, Sports, Videos | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
5 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Sticking to a Strict Diet
Your research is complete. You have a blank food log ready to go. You know exactly how many carbs, proteins, fats, and calories to eat each day. You even have an alarm set to go off every 3 hours to remind you to eat a snack or drink a protein shake. You’ve got anywhere from 10-20 weeks to reach your target body fat, but you know full well that cheating can be disastrous.
You know from experience that after 2 weeks your body is going to demand that you feed it some of your favorite tasty treats. But this time is going to be different. This time you are going to stick it out. So how are you going to stick to your diet for the required time? How are you going to hit your goals?
It is far from impossible. In fact thousands of bodybuilders do it every day, and you can too.
Here are 5 strategies to help you stay disciplined on a strict diet.
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Tags: bodybuilding, cheat meals, Diet, dieting, eating, fat loss, food, lose fat, lose weight, meal planning, meals, nutrition, tips, weight loss
Posted in Bodybuilding, Diet, Intermittent Fasting, Nutrition Tip | 6 Comments »
Friday, March 4th, 2011
Extra Workouts Part 1 – Neural Activation Training
Today I am going to unleash your next greatest training tool.
First we are going to talk about training frequency and extra workouts, then I will get into something I call Neural Activation Training, which you can use upwards of 2-3 times a day in addition to your regular workout routine. This type of training won’t induce overtraining and can help you develop speed and power like you’ve never had before, which leads to increased strength and size. Neural Activation Training also just happens to increase fat loss.
*** Do I have your attention? ***
Good! Read on.
Extra Workouts
If you want to know about adding extra workouts to your routine, you are on the right track. If you don’t know what an extra workout is, which many of you don’t judging by my recent poll, then this is the place to learn.
For some time now I have written about using extra workouts to increase training frequency, and the benefits of increased training frequency over time. When I say increased training frequency, I don’t mean increased volume in a single 60 minute workout. I mean putting varying types of stress on every muscle group as frequently as possible, such that the target muscle group can still optimally recover. Volume is increased over time, but frequency is maximized.
I referenced increased training frequency in my Werewolf Training routines and in my Fat Loss for Men & Fat Loss for Women routines. In fact, I base most of my workout routines around increased training frequency at this point because I know how effective it is.
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Tags: bodybuilding, extra workouts, neural adaptation, power, powerlifting, speed, strength, strongman
Posted in Exercise Technique, Weight Training | 22 Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
You may have read my post on occlusion training (or Kaatsu training) from a year ago. If not, the basic premise goes something like this:
Occlusion training refers to blood flow restriction (BFR) to small muscle groups like the biceps and triceps, then using single-joint resistance training with 20% of a 1 rep max. The results produced up to a 300% greater increase in strength and up to an 800% greater increase in muscle thickness, over the subjects who used traditional strength training methods.
The initial reported study had noted great results for BFR exercise in small muscle groups using single-joint exercises. For example they measured the results of occlusion training on the biceps after 2 weeks of biceps curls.
At Project Swole, we are more interested in the results on large muscle groups using multi-joint exercises, such as the bench press, squat, or deadlift.
So today’s question remains: does occlusion training increase the strength and size of large muscle groups during multi-joint exercises, when blood flow is restricted from the extremities?
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Tags: bodybuilding, build muscle, gain muscle, kaatsu, muscle gain, occlusion, weightlifting
Posted in Research, Weight Training | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Double Your Calf Size with These Two Simple Tips
Calves tend to be a bodybuilding problem spot. Even Arnold used to worry about the size of his calves in relation to the rest of his body.
Here is a simple tip to double the size of your calves in no time:
Since your calves are made up of two muscle groups, you will need to train your calves in a standing and seated position. Most calf exercises can be tweaked to include straight-knee and bent-knee variations. Use them both.
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Tags: bodybuilding, calf training, calves, legs, weight lifting, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Fitness Tips | 2 Comments »
