Monday, May 26, 2008

Exposing the Dangers of Bodybuilding: Five Mistakes to Avoid

Beginner bodybuilders can get caught up in the dream of obtaining their perfect body with pounds of rock solid muscle mass and impressive strength. If that is you, don?t rush your bodybuilding training. Doing so will cause injuries and delay your progress. Instead, take the time to learn these five dangers of bodybuilding so you can avoid them and become a successful bodybuilder.

One mistake you can make is eating in the wrong way. If one protein shake a day is good, then three a day will get you the results three times faster, right? Wrong. There is nothing wrong with your protein shakes, but the majority of your diet should be healthy, whole foods. Your body is working hard and needs proper nutrition to do its best, and don?t think you can trick it with shortcuts.

You need the right amount of protein, but don?t think that you can get that protein from a fast food joint and expect your body to be satisfied. Be sure to include nutrition dense fruits and vegetables with your meals.

Perhaps the biggest mistake made by novice bodybuilders (and unfortunately some who have been training for a while) is overtraining. Your muscles will not grow without rest, and you will end up causing damage if you train too often. If you do injure yourself while training, don?t think that you can work through the pain. Know your limits and stop if you do get injured and see a professional. Take the time to heal. Although it might be hard to stop training for a couple of weeks, not taking the time to recover might leave you benched for an even longer period of time.

Not warming up is such an easy mistake to avoid that it?s surprising people still expose themselves to injury by ignoring this danger. If you spend twenty minutes warming up before each workout, you?ll significantly decrease the danger of injury. Start with about five minutes of cardiovascular exercise to get your heart pumping. Then move on to four or five warm up sets.

The fourth mistake that beginners can make is not paying attention to form. Form is vital if you want to avoid injuries and sculpt the body that you want. The first step, of course, is to know what good form looks like. Study good form before you try to do any of the routines yourself. When you do start the routines, watch yourself in the mirror to make sure you are doing the exercises correctly. If you get too tired to hold the correct form, quit. Four reps in correct form is far more effective than eight reps in poor form.

The final danger of bodybuilding that you want to avoid comes from steroid use. It?s true that steroids will increase your size and your strength. But they are not necessary. You can create the body that you want without steroids. All you need is the proper training, diet, and rest. Steroid use can lead to headaches, increased blood pressure, altered thyroid function, and worse.

Bodybuilding, if done right, can be an excellent way to increase your strength and overall health. The dangers of bodybuilding can be minimized by those who take the time to gain the needed knowledge and train properly.

Take the action necessary to get the body you want today. Visit How To Start Bodybuilding to get your free copy of 8 Things You Must Do To Build Maximum Muscle Mass.

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

How to Compare Home Gyms

As people all over the world become more and more concerned with getting the proper exercise and eating the proper food, the choices of home gyms showcased in stores become wider and bigger as well.

So how do we compare home gyms? Do we simply concentrate on the prices? Or should it be all about the brand? If you?re feeling confused, read on and learn how to compare home gyms effectively to end up with the ideal purchase.

First and foremost, when you?re about to compare home gyms, you should remember that there are two possible meanings for the term: it could either mean a singular exercise machine that can serve multiple purposes or a room at your house that works as a gym.

For this article, however, we shall concentrate on the former ? home gyms being multi-purpose exercise machines.

Factors to Consider for Comparison of Home Gyms

Price - This is always an important factor to consider, even if you have no need to be budget-conscious. Consider the features and ask yourself if the price is justified or not.

Brand - Unless the status quo is extremely significant for you, don't allow the brand of home gyms to sway you into making a less than sensible decision. If there is nothing that distinguishes a model from another except for a thousand of dollars, the more practical solution would be, of course, to buy the cheaper model.

Size - Consider the size of the home gym. If it?s bulky, is there enough space in your house for it?

Features - Does the home gym serve a singular purpose or can it help you with strength training and fat burning among other things? Make sure that you choose the home gym that best suits your needs.

Quality - Although cheap prices are always good, if it means low quality and subjecting yourself to higher risks of injury, you'll be better off purchasing a higher-priced model instead.

Home Gyms provides detailed information on Home Gyms, Cheap Home Gyms, Best Home Gyms, Home Gyms Review and more. Home Gyms is affiliated with Fitness Equipment Financing.

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

How To Build Impressive Triceps - Bodybuilding Anatomy 101

How many of us who regularly lift weights pay any attention to the structure and function of the muscle group we are training? Yes, you can get results by blindly doing exercises but if you truly want an impressive physique you need to learn basic anatomy principles. Here is why:

1. Learning about the structure and function of a muscle group will give you a clear understanding how to properly train that muscle for maximal strength, size and power.

2. Knowing muscle anatomy gives you a clear picture of what that muscle looks like. This allows you to picture in your mind exactly how that muscle is working during a particular exercise.

3. Many muscles have multiple functions. You need to know this so you do not over train a particular muscle.

In this article I am going to break down the triceps brachii and present its origin, insertion and function. Next, I will give you a list of special exercises that target the entire muscle group. It would be very helpful if you have access to an anatomy book so you could look along as you read. If you do not have a book just refer to my blog link at the end of this article.

DESCRIPTION

The triceps brachii is actually composed of three heads which connect the humerus (upper arm bone) and scapula (shoulder blade) to the ulna (forearm bone). These heads are known as the lateral, medial and long heads.

The lateral head is located on the outward facing side of the humerus. It has the classic look of a horseshoe shape.

The medial head is located towards the midline of the humerus.

The long head is located along the back side of the humerus and is the largest of the three heads.

ORIGIN and INSERTION

The triceps muscle originates along the humerus bone and inserts on the ulna (one of the two bones of the forearm).

FUNCTION

The primary function of the triceps is to extend the elbow (straightening the arm).

The secondary function of the triceps is fulfilled only by the long head of the muscle, which is to bring the arm down towards the body (adduction). This is accomplished due to the attachment of the long head to the scapula. The tricep shares this function with the large back muscle the latissimus dorsi. How many of you who regularly exercise the triceps knew about this secondary function? See, you are learning something already!

EXERCISES

Any movement that extends the elbow will work the tricep muscle, however, there are certain exercises that I feel give you the most benefit in terms of building all three heads of the muscle. For ultimate strength, power and size try these:

1. Bodyweight Tricep Extensions
2. Lying Tricep Extensions
3. Close Grip Bench Press
4. Bench Dips

There are two reasons these exercises are more effective than others. First, these exercises put the tricep muscle in a stretched position. When the muscle is placed under tension in the stretched position, a quick change in direction causes more muscle fibers to activate than normally would, something you definitely want when building strength, power or size.

Secondly, you help stretch the fascia surrounding the muscle. Stretching helps loosen the fascia and make room for the muscles to grow.

CONCLUSION

The triceps muscle makes up about 2/3 of total arm mass. That is significant in terms of the overall anatomical structure of the arm. By learning basic anatomy principles you have given yourself the knowledge to not only train HARD but SMART as well. The human body is an amazing work of art and I challenge you to learn more about muscle anatomy.

Richard Syner is a physical therapist who has been helping people achieve their health and fitness goals for over 20 years. Find out how you can have access to Thousands of Workouts and Training Programs by visiting his site at http://HomeExerciseNews.com

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The Bodybuilding Vegetarian

Surprisingly, being a vegetarian bodybuilder isn?t really as difficult as many people automatically assume it is. In some ways it may be easier because adhering to a real vegetarian diet takes a lot of focus and discipline, two things that will greatly help you in the gym.

First, we should define our terms because there are three basic groups of people who consider themselves ?vegetarians.? I refer to these three groups as pseudo-vegetarians, meat vegetarians and vegetarians. The pseudo vegetarian avoids beef, chicken and poultry but will sometimes eat fish and has no problem with other animal products. A meat vegetarian avoids all meat. A vegetarian avoids any foods (or products in general) that contain any amount of animal product.

This article is aimed directly at the true vegetarians, who avoid all animal products. The meat-vegetarians and pseudo-vegetarians will gain useful information as well, but true vegetarians have very specialized needs during bodybuilding.

Since there is no difference in biological manner in which a vegetarian and a carnivore actually build muscles, we don?t need to go into any specific exercise differences. Instead, we?ll be focusing on dietary issues.

The first challenge goes back to the way muscles build in our bodies. We exercise our muscles, which does microscopic damage to the tissue and then our bodies repair the damage with bigger and stronger tissue while we recuperate. To effectively do this, our bodies need to use protein in massive amounts, which is why bodybuilders increase their protein intake.

Vegetarians face a challenge here because the most common source of protein is meat. Okay, so it?s not actually that much of a challenge. According to the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score, soy is equal to whey and superior to beef in protein content. Soy provides all 8 essential amino acids required by your body for growing and repairing muscles. Vegetarians would be well-advised to consider soy as a primary protein source.

The really good news is that soy is also a fantastic source of glutamine which many bodybuilders already take in supplemental form. Soy is available in many different forms such as tofu, miso, soy powder and soy milk. Soy milk is definitely something to have on hand as it can be used to replace cow?s milk in recipes, which will help expand your basic food options.

Almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and pistachio nuts are all excellent sources of both protein and fat; the vegetarian needs to work on getting enough good fats as well, so with the above examples you can go nuts?was that a pun?

You can also add a tablespoon or so of flaxseed oil, as flax seed is one of the very best sources for the essential fatty acid alpha linolenic acid.

Finally, vegetarians need to ensure that they get enough vitamins and minerals. This can be done in multivitamin form although most of the meal-replacement shakes which are so popular among bodybuilders already contain vitamins and minerals galore. The only additional vitamin to look for is B12, which is generally an animal product based vitamin.

Like I said in the beginning, it isn?t nearly as hard to be a vegetarian bodybuilder as many people would think. You?ve got the discipline part down and, by following the guidelines listed above, you will be set up nutritionally to build massive amounts of muscle!

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for MuscleProgram.com - a site dedicated to helping people build muscle and get fit. If you're interested in reading more about vegetarian bodybuilding, and healthy ways to gain muscle mass, then visit us.

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Body Full Workout-Bodybuilding and The Ab Best Workout For Both Men and Women

Today where men's sports almost always have its female counterpart, female bodybuilding is experiencing a crisis when it comes to a body full workout.

A body full workout and ab best workout in bodybuilding is a sport that combines weigh lifting, good diet, and rest for long term results. Bodybuilding was first designed as a male type of pursuit, but bodybuilding in women soon gained strenght. Female bodybuilding competitions began occurring in various places of the world and became very popular.

As opposed to female bodybuilding which was more hardcore, fitness competition with a body full workout and an ab best workout is now female bodybuilding with bodybuilders that get fit and toned without the muscle bulk. Now there is much focus on the stomach abs.

Male Bodybuilding Secrets

If anything, male bodybuilding is a more refined form of weightlifting for it takes into account the idea of aesthetic body shape, abs, tone, and mass of the entire body.

For some, male bodybuilding is simply a sport. In male bodybuilding, there are only four major aspects to keep in mind and that is:

1. Nutrition

2. Recuperation

3. Supplementation

4. Exercise

For the best results in male bodybuilding, abs and a body full workout, one must adapt the best training regimen. Good nutrition and supplementation are the top secrets to successful male bodybuilding. A common thought that any male bodybuilder knows is that if you're not growing, then you're not eating enough of the right types of foods.

Male bodybuilding also focuses not only in nutrition and exercise but in recuperation as well. This is very important to remember to keep in shape. Many people forget this secret and end up losing muscle after so much hard work.

There is also a system called highly intensive training and this is the major system applied by many male bodybuilding pros. It is incidentally the most taxing but the most effective male bodybuilding program out there.

This male bodybuilding system is focused around highly intense and infrequent workouts with emphasis on compound movements and progression to gain muscle. This system of male bodybuilding takes advantage of this tendency of the muscles to rebuild itself once broken down after a workout.

Intensive male bodybuilding training increases the extent of the break down of the muscle and helps increase muscle gains from a body full workout. This is a secret to keeping muscle for the longest period of time.

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Important Tips Regarding Your Home Gym

Just how it is with every other room in the house, careful consideration must be exercised when designing your home gym especially if it's your first time to do so!

Designing your home gym is a relatively simple task if all you were to consider is purchasing the prerequisite exercise equipment and having enough space and ventilation. But if you wish to have it complement the rest of the house and ?fit in,? you?d naturally have to exercise more effort than usual.

Location

Besides the usual need to ensure that your home gym will not be lacking in space and ventilation, you must ascertain that it?s sensibly located in your house. Keeping it close to the kitchen and dining room, for instance, would place temptation too close. Having your living room serve as your home gym would present several aesthetic difficulties. For example, an ultra-modern treadmill would certainly look strange in the midst of country d?cor.

Positioning and the Use of Mirrors

To make your home gym look bigger than it really is, don't place your exercise machines right next to each other. Create illusions of space by using mirrors and carefully organizing the positions of each and every exercise machine.

Interior Designing

Just because it?s a room where all you do there is sweat doesn?t necessarily mean you?ve escaped the need to make it beautifully decorated! Although flowers and other rustic d?cor would no doubt look odd next to the equipment of home gyms, using furniture made of glass and chrome or colored black or white would certainly go nicely with your exercise equipment.

Don?t Forget the Music

Most people tend to feel more energized when there?s great music. So make sure that your home gym has room for you boom box to ensure that you?ll still have fun even when you?re torturing yourself with one hundred crunches!

As a last word, remember that when designing your home gym, your preferences are what count ? above all things else!

Home Gyms provides detailed information on Home Gyms, Cheap Home Gyms, Best Home Gyms, Home Gyms Review and more. Home Gyms is affiliated with Fitness Equipment Financing.

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Quality Home Gyms at Lower Prices

No doubt, although you dearly wish to have your own personal gym at home, your misgivings have continued to keep your dream from becoming a reality. But it?s time to change that, as our tips can readily guarantee your enjoyment of quality home gyms at lower prices!

Quality home gyms are always a must. The status-quo advantage of quality home gyms notwithstanding, having them would also ensure that you are facing lower risks of getting injured due to malfunctioning and poorly designed machines.

Hence, when we?re talking about quality, we mean the durability, safety, and ergonomical design of the machines we?ve purchased for our very own fitness hub.

And now, here are several ways that you can save money without sacrificing quality:

Purchasing Remanufactured Exercise Machines

Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on brand new low-end models, save as much as 50% and enjoy branded models by simply opting to purchase remanufactured exercise machines!

When a machine is remanufactured, this means that a secondhand machine is restored to its original beauty with a complete makeover. More often than not, you?d feel no difference at all between using a remanufactured model compared to a brand new one. The frames of remanufactured models, however, are often left unchanged.

Buying Secondhand Exercise Equipment

Naturally, used exercise machines are always cheaper than firsthand models. It would be prudent nonetheless to always inquire about the condition of the machine as well as provisions for warranties before completing the purchase.

Buying Directly from the Manufacturer or Supplier

Although it would take certain effort on your part, you?ll find that purchasing directly from the manufacturer or supplier of exercise machines will allow you to enjoy discounts and other financial incentives that the average customers aren?t even aware of.

Be On the Lookout for New Companies

New companies tend to highly imitate models bearing prominently known brands and then selling their products for lower prices. Be sure to look for product reviews before making any purchase as well!

Home Gyms provides detailed information on Home Gyms, Cheap Home Gyms, Best Home Gyms, Home Gyms Review and more. Home Gyms is affiliated with Fitness Equipment Financing.

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Shopping for Used Home Gyms

Because saving money is a priority that?s steadily gaining importance for most individuals today, our plans for purchasing home gyms usually end up being affected as well. But the need to economize shouldn?t be reason enough to stop us from building our own personal fitness hub. Rather, it simply makes a little adjustment to our planning necessary.

More to the point, we now have to focus on shopping for used home gyms rather than purchasing brand new ones.

Shopping for used home gyms can be quite tricky if you?re not, as a rule, used to purchasing secondhand stuff. Nevertheless, our shopping guide to used home gyms shall help you avoid the usual difficulties associated with it.

Tip #1: Buy from a Reputable Source

There are many people and companies selling secondhand exercise equipment, but not all of them will give you a fair deal. To ensure that you?ll always get your money?s worth and to simply stay on the safe side, check with the Better Business Bureau if you?re planning to purchase from a certain store. The BBB shall let you know if there?s anything fishy going on.

As for individual sellers, if the transaction takes place online, make sure that you check what other people have to say about the seller first (feedback) before proceeding any further.

As for sellers whom you?ve found out about in the classifieds or something similar, always ask if you could check the item first for any visible damages or mechanical errors before giving your final answer.

Tip #2: Ask for Warranties

A one-week warranty is typical although at the very least, ask for a three-day warranty.

Tip #3: Check Out Online Auction Sites

It?s best that you only make purchases on popular and controlled sites like E-bay or Wal-Mart.

Tip #4: Ask for Specific List of Flaws and Damages

This would help you compare several similarly priced secondhand products more effectively.

Home Gyms provides detailed information on Home Gyms, Cheap Home Gyms, Best Home Gyms, Home Gyms Review and more. Home Gyms is affiliated with Fitness Equipment Financing.

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