Real Muscle Real Fast – Advanced Techniques

OK. So you’ve read my previous article about the basics of packing on muscle. But you’re not satisfied, huh? You want some more advanced techniques that will really pump up your muscles, right?

You got it!

But before we look at those advanced techniques, let’s recap the fundamentals.

Remember the Golden Rule Of Muscle Building: in order to add muscle tissue you must force your body to add it, by subjecting it to levels of stress it’s not used to.

You have to provide what I call a stimulus, a progressive level of intensity to force your body to adapt to the new demands.

OK. So let’s move on to those advanced techniques. Here they are:

• Pre-exhaust - perform an isolation exercise first then immediately continue with no rest on a compound movement. A good example would be to pump the chest flye to exhaustion, then immediately rip off a further set on the chest press. Your pecs will be stinging at the end of this!

• Static holds - hold the resistance in the hardest position of the range of motion (usually just below the top of the movement). Keep it there until you really can’t hold it any longer, then drop. Then do it again.

• Partial reps in weak range - perform a portion of the rep where you are weakest. This technique is particularly useful for getting well-rounded biceps, as opposed to the ‘chunkier’ kind usually seen on bodybuilders. Work the lower half of the motion to focus on building the muscle nearest the inside of the elbow.

• Strip-set - after a warm-up set perform 3 sets back to back with no rest, starting with the heaviest weight possible and each time striping off some weight to allow you to continue.

• 1½ reps - perform one full rep and then on the second rep only perform half the normal range of motion. Then return to the start position to begin the next ‘rep’.

So there you have it. You now know both the principles behind rapid muscle gain, and some practical applications of the theory.

One last thing - remember the key point in all these exercises is intensity, not just the number of reps you can do. Your workouts must be progressive if you want to elicit a physical change & pack on that muscle.

Good luck!

Real Muscle Real Fast

Adding muscle seems to be a mystery to most people. Yet pick up any fitness or bodybuilding magazine and the first thing you’ll see are headlines like Gain 15 Pounds of Solid Muscle in Just 6 Weeks!

Think about this: if it really were so easy to pack on muscle you’d have millions of muscle-heads running around. As it is, the ridiculous claims made by most fitness/bodybuilding ‘experts’ are only there to get you to buy their magazines – nothing more!

However that’s not to say building muscle is impossible. Even though building lean muscle tissue can be a challenge, there are some very specific principles that once understood will have you packing on muscle like never before.

It all comes down to a single, fundamental concept: in order to add muscle tissue you must force your body to add it, by subjecting it to levels of stress it’s not used to.

You have to provide what I call a stimulus. This can be done in many ways and I’ll list a few of the more basic ones now.

• Increase weight or resistance
• Perform more repetitions
• Perform more sets
• Move the resistance more slowly
• Rest less between sets and exercises

The key point in all these exercises is to remember that whatever your workout, it must be progressive for it to elicit a physical change. This is even more critical for those of you looking to add muscle size as opposed to muscle strength.

Not satisfied? Want more? You got it! In my next article I’ll move on to some more advanced techniques that will really have you packing on muscle size. Check back again soon…

The Wonders of Walnuts

If I had to list my all-time top nutrition ‘secrets’ then walnuts would be right up there. In fact they’d probably come in at #3, just behind water & psyllium.

Yet the chances are you’ve never really thought about walnuts as a dietary wonder.

Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Most people are desperately trying to lose weight by following low-fat diet fads, unaware that a certain level of fat intake is actually necessary to maintain a healthy body.

Quite apart from being a valuable source of energy, fats are needed to:

• protect organs
• enable absorption of vitamins A, D, E & K
• aid in hormone production
• maintain optimal cardiovascular, nervous & immune systems

Which is where walnuts come in.

They’re almost completely made up of polyunsaturated (‘good’) fats. So they’ve got all the benefits of other sources of healthy fats. Not to mention a few more benefits of their own. How about this for a list?

They’re one of the best plant sources of protein – ideal for vegetarians.

They’re rich in fibre, B vitamins (B6 & B12), magnesium, and antioxidants such as Vitamin E.

And they’re among the top sources for Omega-3 & Omega-6 EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids).

In fact more than a decade of scientific evidence shows that incorporating walnuts in a healthy diet reduces the risk of heart disease by improving blood vessel elasticity and plaque accumulation.

And perhaps best of all, for a ‘miracle food’ walnuts are cheap & easy to get hold of. You should find some in your local supermarket.

Try taking a handful of them each day, perhaps sprinkled over your breakfast cereal or tossed into a salad. And they make great snacks!

4 Ways to Make Your Workouts More Fun

We all know the benefits of regular exercise. Great health, better sleep & an all-round increase in positivity & effectiveness.

But I bet that sometimes, no matter how much you know you ought to go do a workout, you just can’t get up the motivation to do it.

You’re too tired. You can’t spare the time. Or you just can’t bear the thought of the inevitable muscle ache that goes with a hard session down the gym.

If only there was a way to make exercise more fun…

Well here’s the answer.

• Don’t go it alone. Exercise with a friend. Apart from the obvious social benefits, you’ll be able to challenge each other, support each other & keep each other motivated. It takes the pressure off & keeps the workout in perspective as just one part of your life. And remember: it’s much more difficult to say no to a friend than it is to yourself. Work peer pressure to your advantage!

• Mix it up. Getting bored with the same old routine? Change it! Use different exercises to work the same muscles. Vary the number of sets or reps, or the order you do the exercises. Go faster. Go slower. Do whatever you can to keep it fresh. Not only will this constant change keep you motivated, it will keep your body on its toes & prevent muscle adaptation from setting in.

• Get out the gym. Bored of the running machine? Get out into a local park instead. Find a playground & do pull-ups on the monkey bars or incline press-ups on the slide. How about tricep dips on the back of a bench? Use your imagination.

• Get functional. Stop doing workouts in isolation. Find a reason for getting fit & use that reason to stay focused. But make sure it’s measurable. ‘Looking good’ is not a reason. ‘Fitting back into the jeans I wore two years ago’ is. Maybe you want to beat your boss at squash. Maybe you want to go the full length of a tennis match. Maybe you want to add yards to your drive. Whatever it is keep your goal in mind & use your workouts to get you there, not the other way around.

Let me know how it goes!

It’s Mean, It’s Lean, It’s Protein

You see it everywhere.

It’s poking around your back yard. It’s treading through your local lake. It’s floating through the sky above you.

It swims. It walks. It crawls. It flies.

It’s your protein source.

Protein is hardly a secret in the fitness world. While most of what you eat is generally from sources of carbohydrates, at least a quarter of your daily calorific intake should come from protein.

Otherwise you’ll simply make no progress.

I see too many dieters go on low-fat diets that deprive their bodies of much-needed protein. Come on people – it’s a no-brainer: if your body’s not getting the protein it needs externally it’ll be forced to get it internally.

By cannibalising your hard-won muscle.

So how much protein should you be taking in? Figures vary but the majority of nutritionists recommend the following:

• to maintain muscle – 0.4g protein / lb of bodyweight
• to build muscle – 0.8g protein / lb of bodyweight

Note that excessive intake of protein (>1g protein / lb of bodyweight) can’t be used or stored by your body. Some studies even claim it can be detrimental to your health!

So now we know how much protein we need. Next question – where can we get it?

• CHICKEN BREAST: One of the most common sources of protein & for good reason too. It’s low in fat but remember to cut off any skin & go easy on the fattening seasonings. Honey mustard is a great way to add some taste. Cook in olive oil or – for melt-in-the-mouth tenderness – try milk. The average chicken breast has 35g of protein

• EGGS: Egg whites are tremendous in delivering the proteins you need. Be sure to remove the yolk first (it’s loaded with cholesterol). There are approximately 4g of protein in each egg white so you can load up on them throughout the day. Also egg whites are fat free!

• TUNA: Sparkle up your protein diet with Sparky himself. As long as you’re not mixing it with that fattening mayonnaise, tuna is an excellent dietary food that will provide you with the protein you need. There’s approximately 25g of protein in a can of low-fat tuna

And of course if remembering all that seems too difficult (or like me you just hate cooking), try looking into commercial protein powders. But then they’re a minefield in themselves so maybe I’d better leave them for another article…

The Truth About Abs

In today’s fitness world there’s probably no body part that’s the focus of more obsession - & more misunderstanding – than the abdominals.

If you’re anything like me, getting a decent six-pack is one of your main goals, a kind of indicator of when you’ve finally ‘made it’ in your fitness program.

And if you’re anything like me you’ve seen all the devices, diet, videos & programs which will give you so-called washboard abs, a six-pack, a flat stomach or ripped abs.

Problem is that many people are just desperate for short-cuts & quick fixes. You know the score - you buy into the hype & shell out hundreds of dollars for the latest gadget. Within a week you’ve grown bored of it or become disillusioned by your lack of results.

Worse still your disillusionment’s often so strong that you give up your quest for abs completely & promptly fall back into your old unhealthy ruts.

So instead let me give you a few tips on how to approach your ab workouts. I guarantee that just being aware of these tips will save you countless hours of ineffective effort & gym wasted sessions.

• Your abs are just like any other muscle in your body & should be trained as such. To effectively build them you’ll need to apply the same gradually-increasing resistance concepts you use for growing, say, your biceps.
  




• Spot reduction is impossible so no matter how many crunches, sit-ups or bicycle kicks you do, you will not get rid of any excess fat around your mid section. If you need to lose excess belly fat, your best bet is to go on a healthy diet and get the right combination of strength and cardiovascular training to maximize fat loss while increasing your metabolism.
  




• Like any other muscle, you should not train your abdominals every day and should wait at least 48 hours in between training sessions of that muscle.





• In order for a muscle to hypertrophy (break down & then regrow stronger), significant external resistance is needed with a rep range of about 8-15. So if you’re able to do hundreds of crunches, you’re better off either finding a new exercise or to find a way to add resistance.

In the world of abdominal training, there seem to be hundreds of new claims being made every day. The best advice in sifting through it all is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Find yourself someone who really knows what they’re talking about & stick with them.

The Secret Weight Loss Weapon

You've been looking for it all your life. The one way to 100% guaranteed weight loss. And I bet you'd give anything to find it.

Well now you've found it.

The single secret weapon that will answer all your weight loss prayers.

The single secret weapon that will guarantee your weight loss.

Shhh, don't tell anyone but the secret weapon is...

A home treadmill.

That's right. A home treadmill. And here's why. A home treadmill can be used by virtually any age group & by people of any fitness level. They're cheap to buy, easy to set up & are unbeatable when it comes to pumping up a cardiovascular workout. Want proof? Check this out.

In a recent study at the University of Wisconsin, a group of eighteen men & women used various exercise machines for 60 minutes & then recorded their calorific expenditure. Here are the results:

• stationary cycle 556-604 calories


• cross-country ski machine 595-678 calories


• rowing machine 606-739 calories


• stair machine 637-746 calories

And the treadmill? A whopping 705-865 calories burnt in just 60 minutes!

Like it or not, weight loss is basically a numbers game. Burn more calories than you take in & you’re going to lose weight. And the more calories you burn the more weight you lose. It’s as simple as that.

But the real benefit of a hard treadmill workout is even better. Not only will you burn calories during the treadmill workout itself, but by raising your metabolic rate you’ll continue to burn calories at a higher level for up to the next 24 hours! That’s right – burn calories at a higher rate even after you’ve stopped exercising!

Well what can I say? If you’re serious about permanent weight loss, a home treadmill is a must. For consistently proven weight loss results they really are unbeatable.

Welcome to Get That Body NOW!

Whoever you are, whatever your level of fitness - training can be tough sometimes, right? Ever felt like giving it all up? Or wondered if you're ever going to reach your fitness goals?

Well thank god for Get That Body Now!

I'm here to keep you going. Wherever you are on the path to fitness my articles will help you get to the next level. I'll be posting on a wide range of health & fitness topics including...

• the most effective muscle-pumping exercises around
• tips for top nutrition
• ways to burn fat FAST
• supplementation for optimal workouts
• fitness psychology & what it means for YOU
• motivation techniques that REALLY WORK

And much, much more.

Stop by frequently to check out the latest posts. And while you're here feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. I'm here for YOU!

Here's to your success!