Myths Of Bodybuilding That Fooled Most People

We have compiled a list of myths that even fooled most veterans that has been working out for years in the gym!

? If you stop working out, your muscles will turn to fat.

Muscle and fat are two different things and they cannot from one to another because they are completely two different types of tissue. The myth probably started because some former weight lifters continue to eat more even though they have already stop weight lifting. Their muscle could also shrink from long disuse.

? Look for the one with the highest amount of protein serving when choosing a protein supplement.

A protein supplement that has 50 grams of protein per serving may sounds more because it has a bigger measuring scoop or the serving suggestion may require more than one scoop. Look carefully at the serving suggestion label when buying a protein supplement.

? The longer I train in the gym, the more muscle I?ll gain.

When you train in the gym for a long time, your body hits a catabolic state and it would lead to a plateau. A plateau is an inability to progress in training and it would last for months. A training session of 45 minutes to 1 hour would be ideal.

? I should seek training advice from a pro bodybuilder.

Many bodybuilders are big because of genetics and hard work. They may not have the correct scientific explanation as to how they got that way. People with the right genetics would train and diet incorrectly and still grow big. You should seek gym instructors or trained professionals.

? The more you sweat the more fat you lose.

The amount of sweat does not necessarily reflect how hard you are working because some may sweat a lot due to heavy body weight, poor conditioning or heredity. Exercising in hot weather will make you sweat a lot and it looks like you have lost weight immediately but that lost weight is almost consisted of water in your body. The weights will return when you replenish your fluids by drinking after the workout.

? No pain, no gain?

It should never be painful and if it is, you are likely injured from overtraining. When you over train, you would experience physiological and mental stress as well as other health problems.

Sean Nalewanyj is an experienced bodybuilder that has been training for many years and is a writer at http://www.gainmusclenow.info

Body Building For Females - Female BodyBuilding Tips Revealed!

Body Building is not something that is typically associated with women. When we watch the television, and see action films, we're more likely to see figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, replete with rippling muscle, then we are to see musclebound women. Yet body building for females is becoming increasingly popular, as more and more women are looking to improve not only their fitness levels, but also their levels of strength. Additionally, female bodybuilding is not only about looking musclebound, but about achieving a muscle symmetry, that women can feel proud of. In essence its all about choice.

Female bodybuilding offers a route towards toned muscles, good health, and satisfaction with the way you look. And in practice, it's not actually that different from male bodybuilding in terms of actually working out. But there are differences in terms of the physiology involved. The most striking of these is that because men have much higher levels of testosterone, and women have much higher levels of estrogen, this affects the way, that each respective sex reacts to exercise. Testosterone levels being higher means that men build muscle much more easily, whilst higher estrogen levels in women can mean that they may tend to store fat more easily than men (not a good thing. If you wish to take bodybuilding seriously!) However, as professional female bodybuilders have shown, this can be overcome if you take the training seriously enough.

One common misnomer that women have, is that they don't wish to do bodybuilding exercises, because they believe that if they stop, that the muscle will immediately turn to fat (something that no one wants!) This in fact, is not true though. And if you stop exercising, the muscle will not be transformed into fat, but it may well disappear, over time. If you don't use it, then you will lose it! Fat build up comes because you are consuming more calories than you are burning, and in fact, exercise is a key part in turning this on its head, because exercise increases your metabolic rate, which has the effect of you burning more calories for all of the activities that you do.

If you are a woman and are considering body building for females, then don't be put off. Instead, take charge, and become a pioneer! The truth is, that it's your body, and how you choose to present it to the world is up to you to decide.

For more information about bodybuilding for females and other bodybuilding resources. Visit http://www.NewsDepo.info where you can also learn about the best weight lifting exercises

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.

How to Avoid Using Your Home Gym as a Clothes Rack

So heres the situation

You have a home gym, treadmill, elliptical trainer, or some other piece of home fitness equipment. But its sitting in the corner of the room being used as a clothes rack. You havent gotten any use out of it for months, and you might be thinking of selling it off.

Theres a reason why you initially bought this piece of equipment, and I can bet that it wasnt meant to hang your clothes on (there are much cheaper alternatives than that).

It was probably along the lines of toning up or losing weight or getting fit and so on and so forth.

You know its probably a good idea to start exercising again, but you might be thinking:

1. Im too busy with (insert your reasons here), and I just dont have the time right now.

2. Ill do it later.

3. Im not too sure what exercises to do.

4. I just dont have any motivation right now. Maybe in the future when I get fired up Ill start again.

5. Im feeling pretty tired these days with everything going on. Ill get to it once I have some energy.

But what were the reasons that made you buy this machine? How long did you actually use this machine? Why did you stop? And why arent you using it now?

What youll do is examine your reasons why, and give you an actionable guide to get you off your couch, take the clothes off your home gym and start using it the way it was meant to be used (and start achieving your goals!)



Here is a Solution

You need to set some goals, and you need to set a plan to get to those goals. Thats right, just like what all the self help guru preaches, this is what you need to do. The reason why you need to set goals is that then youll have something to work towards.

And Im not talking about some up-in-the-air, vague goals like, I want to look toned, or I want to lose weight.

Im talking about detailed, specific goals. Something along the lines of, I will lose 10 pounds of fat in 60 days.

Also, along with setting goals, you need to write down your reasons why you want to achieve this goal. Losing 10 pounds of fat in 60 days is fine and dandy, but youll be way more motivated to exercise if youre constantly reminded that your wedding is in 60 days!


Heres an acronym that will help you set and attain your fitness goals:

S.M.A.R.T-R (pronounced smarter)

SMART-R stands for:

S-Specific

M-Measurable

A-Action oriented

R-Reasonable

T-Timed

R-Reasons why

Lets go into details of each point:


Specific

The more specific and measurable your goal, the more quickly you will be able to identify, locate, create, and implement the use of the necessary resources for its achievement. -Charles J. Givens

"I want to lose weight" is different from "I want to lose 10lbs of fat and gain muscle mass by doing 3-5 cardio workouts and 3-5 resistance training workouts per week at the gym over the course of the next 3 months."

Your fitness goals should be detailed, clearly defined, and stress exactly what youre going to do and you want to achieve.

For example, instead of setting a goal to lose weight, set a specific goal to lose 3 inches off your waist, lost 5% body fat, or lose 3 pounds of fat.


Measurable

"Make measurable progress in reasonable time." -Jim Rohn

If youre not keeping score, you dont know whether youre winning or losing! And keeping score is all done with numbers. Do you want to lose 3 inches off your waist? Do you want to drop down from 20% to 12% body fat? Do you want to lose 10 pounds?

Whatever goal you choose, make sure that you can measure it. You need to do this so you can see and measure the progress over time. For example, losing 1 pound per week would be a goal that is measurable over time.

Also, the things that you cant measure (happiness, etc.) will come along with achieving your goals.

Action-Oriented

You'll always achieve more through movement than meditation -Gary Halbert

Virtually no goals can be attained unless theres some action taken. If you plan to lose 10 pounds of body fat, you have to figure out the action that you need to take the attain this goal. What resistance training exercises are you going to do? What cardiovascular exercises are you going to do? How often should you do them? In this step its helpful to recruit the assistance of a fitness professional who can provide you with their expertise and advice to help you reach your goal.


Reasonable

"Every noble work is bound to face problems and obstacles. It is important to check your goal and motivation thoroughly. One should be very truthful, honest, and reasonable. One's actions should be good for others, and for oneself as well. Once a positive goal is chosen, you should decide to pursue it all the way to the end. Even if it is not realized, at least there will be no regret." -Dalai Lama

Now that you might have started to think of some goals, you have to remember to keep them reasonable. Losing 30 pounds in one month is not reasonable! In fact, this could be potentially dangerous to your health and be detrimental in the long term. In this case, you would probably be losing water weight and muscle mass, and in the long run, you would gain all that weight back, and have less muscle mass (its your muscles that burn fatthe more of it you have, the more fat you can burn. But the less you have, youll be burning less body fat).

Keep your goals reasonable or you might find that youll be putting your health at risk, or at the very least, youll be disappointed.


Timed

"A goal is a dream with a deadline." -Napoleon Hill

Set a deadline. Deadlines move us to action.

Theres nothing worst than having a goal, working towards it, but never finishing it! Its almost like a major school project thats assigned to you. Imagine if this project didnt have a deadline, and youre asked to complete it whenever you want.

Do you think youll complete it soon?

Probably not! If theres no deadline, theres no pressure to finish a task.

Its the same with exercise and fitness. If you set a goal to lose 10 pounds of body fat, but you dont set a deadline, youll probably be trying to lose 10 pounds of body fat forever!

Set a deadline for your fitness goal, and try to achieve it. Once the deadline passes and youve reached your goals, set a new one and a new deadline, and strive to achieve that!


Reasons Why

"Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to; all they need is one reason why they can" -Willis Whitney

This is probably the most important step in the goal setting process. Not only is your reason why the motivation for you to achieve any goals, but its probably the reason that caused you to buy a home gym or home exercise equipment in the first place!

You must define your reasons for wanting to achieve a goal. If you lack clear reasons why for doing so, all the goal setting and planning might just go to waste (if you dont have a reason to do something, why would you do it?)

Spend some time and give some serious thought to this step. The more compelling your reasons are for exercising, the greater your odds will be for meeting your goals.

Every person has a different reason for exercising. Some people just want to lose a few inches off their waist because of an upcoming event (such as a wedding, a high school reunion, a day at the beach to impress members of the opposite sex), but for others, exercising could mean the difference between life and death.

Whatever your reasons why may be, make sure that theyre compelling, and accurately represent your reasons for your desire to achieve your goals.

Some Tips To Keep On Top of Your Fitness Goals

Grab a pen, a few pieces of paper, and prepare to do some writing.


Use this formula to form your goals:

I, _________ (name) WILL __________________________ (specific, reasonable, and measurable goal) by doing _______________________ (action oriented) by ______________ (timed-date).

I will achieve this goal because ___________________________ (insert your reason why)

Signature: _________________ (your name) Todays date: _____________

Write this down and make photocopies if you want to. Now, post your goals everywhere (bathroom mirrors, in your home gym, in front of your toiletanywhere that is highly visible), and read it everyday. The more often you come across seeing your goals in writing, the more likely its going to be in your daily thoughts, and the more likely youre achieve your fitness goals.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So, if youve been leaving your home gym equipment to collect dust or to hang your clothes on, start with the single step of writing down your goals by following the methods above. Trust me, you wont regret it.

John Phung is a Certified Personal Training and successful writer for http://www.homegymsonline.info/providing valuable tips and advice about free weight exercise equipment, home gym equipment, cardiovascular training equipment and more.