Treat The Cellulite On Your Body Through Bodybuilding

Over 10 years ago, I was a competitive bodybuilder. Needless to say, I could not have any cellulite when I was in those competitions. There were a number of things that I did to achieve that body. Weight training and using my secret weapon, the power of the mind (mind/body connection) played a huge role in getting me into competitive shape. I'm very happy to say that I won some of those competitions. Below is a short explanation on weight training for cellulite and the mind/body connection.

1- Weight Training: This is obvious but a very important point to make to many women out there that are afraid to lift weight for fear of bulking up. If you are a women that really has a tendency to add muscle weight easily, then you may want to keep the weights that you use for your lower body on the lighter side and increase the repetitions. I want to emphasize that most women do not add muscle easily due to hormones. The advantage to having muscle weight in your cellulite prone areas is that the additional muscle will press up against your skin so that it isn't loose. Also, muscle is more metabolically demanding which means you burn more muscle even at rest when you have additional muscle weight.

If you are new to weight training, be sure to start out slowly. There are many methods and techniques, but basically, you choose a body part and focus on working the muscles in that area. An example of that would be your hamstrings. Your hamstrings are located on the back of your upper leg, which is an area where many women have cellulite. If you were working the hamstrings in a gym setting, here is an example (one of many) of how you would work this body part.

Hamstring Curls: Most gyms have a machine or 2 for this. Usually, you lay on your stomach and hook the back of your ankles onto a rolled pad. Taking great care to keep your buttocks down on the machine, you slowly lift the pad up with your ankles and then slowly lower them. When you get to the bottom, don't let the weight stack touch and then slowly lift up again as far as your range of motion will let you. Breath out as you lift up and inhale on the way down.

If you are at home you can simulate this exercise by doing this movement with ankle weights on and laying on the floor on your stomach or over an exercise ball.

Depending on your level, do 1-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions. You should feel a burn but not pain on the last 2 repetitions.

Weighted Lunges: Hold dumbbells at your sides near your hips. Pick a weight that you can handle for 8-12 repetitions. Slowly step forward keeping your shoulders back. When that forward foot touches ground, let both knees bend keeping your weight evenly distributed over both feet. Take care that you let your knees bend very gently. Next, step that forward foot back into place as you straighten your legs up. Alternate your legs for 8-12 repetitions for each leg. Do 1-3 sets. Breath out as you step forward.

2- My Secret Weapon: I used my secret weapon, the power of my mind the entire time that I trained for my competitions. While I was exercising I would picture my muscles and body forming exactly the way I wanted them to be. At night, before I went to sleep, I would picture myself on stage looking the way I wanted to and winning. You too can have a beautiful body by using the power of meditation and visualization.

Renee Feldman MA, founder of http://www.cellulitetips.com is an Exercise Physiologist and Certified Personal Trainer. One of the first personal trainers in the United States, Renee is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine which is the Gold Standard in fitness. Her vast experience ranges from competitve bodybuilding, where she won state wide championships to professional dancing. She has used her education and experience working in Corporate fitness centers, Health Clubs, Y.M.C.A.'s and J.C.C.'s. Renee has an incredibly well developed and diverse background in Meditation and Guided Visualization which she has used to coach her clients for the last 12 years. She also lectures and presents information on fitness, wellness and the mind/body connection. She successfully demonstrated her cellulite reduction methods on television. Her widely popular Cellulite Tip website has been helping women worldwide change their bodies. She is most excited about her new line of videos that can be accessed at http://www.thenotimefitnessvideos.com

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

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.