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.

Adolescent Bodybuilding: Is It Too Early To Start?

Adolescent bodybuilding is a great way to instill discipline and start out on the road to a healthy lifestyle at a young age. In contrast to bodybuilding for the older crowd, adolescent bodybuilding has a completely different set of rules; reps and sets change, as well as the amount of weight, frequency of workouts, even goals and motivation.

Home Many Days

Adolescent bodybuilding workouts should not be undertaken more than three days a week to start. In fact, three days is ideal in adolescent bodybuilding. Once you gain more experience you can lift four or five days a week. It is important to stick to this schedule in adolescent bodybuilding to avoid over exertion. Yes, the younger you are the easier you bounce back, but you should avoid this urge for at least a while.

Length of Session

One hour should be plenty, but no more than 90 minutes. You might be young, but you are not invincible. If you push your body to hard it can set you back on your road to success by forcing you to take extra days off to recover.

Reps, Sets and Weights

These are probably the most difficult aspects of adolescent bodybuilding to establish. This is because you will have to experiment and see what works best for you. What works best for some may not always work for everybody else. Play around with weight, sets and reps to see what works best. This can take a few months so be patient and do not get discouraged. Every young person interested in adolescent bodybuilding has gone through the same process.

Goal Setting

As with any form of bodybuilding, in adolescent bodybuilding you should have goal. These goals should be reasonable and achievable in a short period of time, and by reasonable, I do not mean aim to look like the Incredible Hulk within six weeks. A good form of motivation is to take a picture of yourself in a bathing suit as you undertake your healthy lifestyle choice and compare your body to it as you begin to excel at your adolescent bodybuilding program.

Rewards

The older crowd of bodybuilders can appreciate the rewards of a longer life span, but for those in the adolescent bodybuilding domain the rewards are more along the lines of impressing the opposite sex and feeling good about themselves. There is nothing wrong with this. Self-esteem is important at this age in a young person?s life, so if adolescent bodybuilding helps accomplish this, then great. What really matters (good health, discipline and self control) will come later.

The "Muscle Nerd", Jeff Anderson, is a world-renowned fitness consultant and author, most noted for his cutting edge research in natural bodybuilding and fat loss. Discover the secrets to transforming YOUR body today at: http://www.musclenerdfitness.com

Is Teenage Bodybuilding A Good Idea

Bodybuilding can be a great activity for teenagers for many different reasons. Certainly developing your body can be great for your confidence no matter how old you are. Teenage bodybuilding can present some challenges and things to be cautious of as well. Let's look at some of the pluses and minuses of bodybuilding for teenagers.

Let's get this basic thing out of the way right up front. You should go get a physical from your doctor and get his view on the proper diet and exercise to start out with. Jumping into bodybuilding if you have not been active physically recently is not the way to get started.

From a growth standpoint teenagers bodies are not done growing until they are at least 15 years old. For others it could be several years before you are doing growing. So you always want to be cautious of paying attention to what your body is telling you.

Eating right is big part of bodybuilding for teenagers and all bodybuilders. As you begin to lift your body will require more calories. If you are a junk food eater you will need to stop that. Load up on fruits,vegetables, whole grains, red meat, fish, and more proteins in general. Drink a lot of water and always keep yourself hydrated.

When you start lifting hire a trainer. You need to learn to lift correctly to avoid injuring yourself. A trainer will help you develop the proper form and keep you realistic as well. Teenagers may think they are superman and go overboard when they really need to start lifting weight at a reasonable amount for their size and ability.

Let's address supplements. First of all do not take steroids. You can result you want without putting your body in danger. Go for natural supplements like a good multivitamin, protein powders like hemp or whey, fatty acids and glutamine.

When you are training start out slow. This is another benefit of hiring a trainer. 3 times a week is plenty when you first start out. It is important that your body has time to recover between workouts. Also it is important that you get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Even more if you can get it.

Teenagers tend to stay up late and if you have school the next day you need to change your sleep habits. Your body will quickly adjust to what you ask it to do. If bodybuilding is important to you this is one change you must do.

Teenage bodybuilding requires you to do the same things as adult bodybuilding, but in greater moderation until your body is fully developed.

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The Bowflex Home Gym System

The Bowflex has been first made popular through the media of the Infomercial, which is a 30 minute television presentation. It is now being broadcast all over the Internet in a variety of ways, including in consumer forums and consumer reviews.

If anyone wants to learn about the Bowflex machine all then have to do is search with the word ?Bowflex? in a favorite Internet Web browser. A well of useful information is available to those who want to tap into the information about the latest developments about the Bowflex home gym machine.

Some websites representing the Bowflex home gym have links to review articles as well as a photo describing the attributes that make the Bowflex machine so popular. Also there are articles on this site representing the amazing capability of the Bowflex machine to withstand all kinds of pressure.

One article posted on Bowflex Equipment.com tells how that person?s household Bowflex machine survived a hurricane. The story regarding the capability of the Bowflex to withstand a hurricane was told by Sean Cuda of Orlando Florida. The hurricane that occurred in Orlando Florida where Sean lives happened at approximately 9 p.m. This hurricane had blown down a 110 pine tree on top of this family?s house and garage but the Bowflex machine remained unharmed.

The Bowflex machine was said to have saved the rest of the garage as well as the kitchen and the home office attached to the garage. The way that the Bowflex machine was stores actually kept the roof and walls from collapsing.

Those who are interested in purchasing a Bowflex home gym and want to learn more about the quality of the Bowflex machine can refer to this story. Quotes from the owner of this machine are available for use as well. This information is noted at the Bowflex website.

This is such an amazing story and is one that can help build anyone?s confidence in the Bowflex home gym system. Other user reviews of the Bowflex system are available on the Bowflex Equipment website as well.

Furthermore, you can find out specifically of what quality the Bowflex materials are made of. Likewise, you can find out online what the capabilities of the Bowflex machine really are, such as how easily adjustable the Bowflex is for any personal workout.

The type of information you will find associated with the Bowflex machine are articles on different exercise programs as well. All these articles will help you understand how to use your Bowflex machine safely for best results within a short period of time.

Those who are dedicated can make great use of the Bowflex machine. If you have any question about the machine?s capabilities all you have to do is research the machine online and find out for yourself. There are many links, forums, articles, available for those who want to learn more about the effectiveness, durability and capability of this machine.

More information on Bowflex home gyms.