How to Build Muscle Fast

How to Build Muscle Fast

The road to building muscle is a long and arduous one, but luckily some shortcuts have been discovered by the emerging science of sports physiology. These shortcuts can help you build muscle at a significantly faster rate than normal.

The first secret is that you don’t have to work each muscle for hours every day. In the (very) old school of bodybuilding, there was no way to build muscle fast. You hit the gym for three to four hours every day and worked your entire body every day.  At night you rested, and one day per week you stayed away from the gym.

In those early days, athletes in other sports were told to stay away from weight training because it would make them “muscle-bound” and inflexible.

But for whatever reason, more and more athletes began to ignore that advice and discovered that weight training actually made them stronger and actually more flexible.

This didn’t go past the notice of sports trainers who started to evaluate weight training for muscle building. Their affirmation of the advantages induced lots of sports trainers to add weight training to their fitness routines, and soon, football, baseball and basketball players, even track and field athletes, began to pump iron.

Sports physiology became a science and weight training began to receive a more scientific approach as applied to muscle building for athletes in all sports.

Bodybuilders took note and began to workout smarter, looking for ways to build muscle fast. They still spent long hours in the gym, but now it was about half the time they used to spend. Why were they able to do this?

Exercises and routines were evaluated for the best approach to building muscle faster, and bigger. Researchers found that it was important to rest muscles after they were worked strenuously; otherwise they become exhausted and cannot develop any further.

These days bodybuilders are advised to work each muscle group to total exhaustion only one day a week. Sure they get some exercise when you focus on other muscle groups, but that’s unavoidable. It is only on their “focus day” that they are exhausted. Using this strategy fast tracks your muscle growth and makes your body stronger overall.

You don’t need to put up with constant all-over muscle soreness every day of the week either, since muscle groups are allowed to rest, recover and rebuild themselves.

Another leap forward in bodybuilding was the discovery that working the muscle to total exhaustion for each exercise was sufficient to tear it down. The protein ingested by the bodybuilder would be mainly used to rebuild the tissue, rather than developing it even further.

The other side of the building-muscle-fast equation is good nutrition. It has been claimed that bodybuilding is 80% diet, and while this might not be entirely accurate, it certainly accounts for more than half.

To build muscle and build it fast, a bodybuilder’s diet must have at least 25% of its calories coming from both animal and vegetable protein. You should only eat of complex carbohydrates, particularly those vegetables that contain protein as well. Fats and fibers should also constitute about 25% of your diet. Avoid refined sugars, refined starches and minimal caffeine and alcohol. The diet should be supplemented with protein powders mixed with raw milk or water, protein boosters like desiccated liver, kelp tablets and eggs. A soluble oil like wheat germ oil helps the body metabolize protein and it will provide added endurance.

In sum, the path to fast muscle growth is about exercising each muscle group smarter, not harder. Rest is just as important as strength training, and eating a careful diet is most important of all.

Lose Belly Fat

Lose Belly Fat

Medical Science has said that belly fat is one of the biggest health hazards for men and women. Research has shown that abdominal fat, particularly around the organs, will lead to health problems for men. It is imperative that you lose belly fat in a healthy, natural fashion.

Diseases that are related to belly fat are: Heart disease, some types of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and insulin resistance.

Belly fat accumulates on men because of poor eating habits and physical inactivity. Age plays a part in the accumulation in both sexes, with the slowing of the metabolism and menopause in women. Both sexes tend to thicken in the middle as we age, but excess belly fat can be lost.

The two magic words that will help you lose belly fat are: Diet and Exercise. It sounds kind of simple, right? It really is. All it takes is a personal commitment to get rid of that adipose around your middle.

Strike the term “spot reducing” from your vocabulary. There is no such thing, even though it was promoted for many decades by health clubs in the early 20th century.

Fat is deposited evenly in areas where the body will store it. So, if you want to lose your belly fat, your diet will also reduce fat in other areas equally.

Belly Fat Reduction Diet

If you cut calories to below your subsistence level, you body will store more of what you eat as fat because low calorie levels are an indication of starvation. A starving person loses muscle tissue before their stored energy (body fat) gets burned.

Your calorie intake should be the amount your age, size and gender indicate is sufficient to maintain your tissue, organs and functions.

• For example, a man of fifty years who is average height and slightly overweight and exercises moderately 3 times per week will need 2,566 calories per day to maintain his weight. The same man at 70 years needs approximately 5% less calories.

o He will need to consume 2,053 calories per day to lose weight.

o He will need to consume 1,760 calories per day to dramatically lose weight.

• A woman of the same age and circumstances needs 2,338 calories per day to maintain, 1,870 calories to lose weight and 1,760 calories to lose weight dramatically. A woman of 70 years needs about 6% less calories to maintain.

The tool you need for your belly fat loss diet is a calorie counter. You can easily get one by downloading it from a number of sites on the internet. Plan your diet around the maintenance level for your age and gender, minus 5%.

As your muscles get stronger and your tissue more dense from exercise, you will accelerate your weight loss because muscle burns up about three times as much energy as does fat.

Belly Fat Reduction Exercise Program Strength and resistance training is important for building muscles. For a beginner it is sufficient to perform body-weight resistance exercises. An intermediate or advanced exerciser should use free weights or weight loaded machines to perform their exercises.

• Sports Walking – Beginners should walk at a moderate pace for 30 minutes per day. As you become conditioned, pick up the pace.

• Free Standing Squats – Standing erect with your feet slightly apart, and your arms extended in front, perform a full squat until your thighs are parallel with the ground. Work up to 100 squats.

• Free Standing Twists – Erect with hands on hips, twist your body to the left, then to the right. Work up to 100 twists.

• Calf Raises – With your toes on a piece of 2X4, rise as far as you can and hold it for a two-count and then lower your heels until they touch the ground. Work up to 100 calf raises.

• Push-Ups – In a prone position with your hands at shoulder width, elevate your body at arm’s length keeping your torso straight. Beginners should start on their knees. Intermediates should be up on their toes. Work up to 25 push-ups.

As you move beyond these beginner’s exercises, join a local fitness center and have a trainer set up a weight training program.

Fat Burning Furnace Review

Fat Burning Furnace Review

Rob Poulos has written the definitive book of weight training and dieting in Fat Burning Furnace. Rob advances and proves his theory that you don’t have to spend hours and hours in the gym to build your body and lose weight.

Rob is also a living testimonial to the success of his program. After trying to emulate his bodybuilding heroes by spending hours pumping iron, Rob finally realized that his body and metabolism just couldn’t build muscle like those muscle magazine cover men.

When he finally did begin to gain weight, it was for the wrong reason . . . he was overeating and had gotten fat. He then dedicated himself to losing that fat and discovering better ways to work out and build muscle.

The result of Rob’s research and experimentation is the complete program outlined in Fat Burning Furnace. Rob’s contention is that you can convert your entire metabolism into a fat burner by eating the right foods and exercising in the proper manner.

The book points out our genetic predisposition to certain body characteristics, some of which make it hard to gain or lose weight or to pack on any muscle tissue.

Rob is a strong advocate of strength training by pumping iron with the goal of increasing muscle strength and size. It is the increase in muscle size that helps your body to become a fat burning furnace – that and eating the right foods.

Rob points out that if you increase your lean muscle mass by just fifteen pounds (while losing about six or seven pounds of fat) you will actually burn about 700 more calories per day at rest. When active, you will burn even more.

He points out that the ladies should not be concerned about getting “bulky” from lifting weights because they lack the testosterone levels necessary to build bodybuilder muscles. Most of us lack the genetic make up to get huge like Arnold. Even with chemical enhancements, most people will not get that big.

Poulos is also not an advocate of extensive cardiovascular exercising. He claims that long duration, low intensity exercise will burn some fat, but it sends a message to your body that says you need to store more fat to be able to handle that exercise the next time you work out.

Also, says Poulos, long duration exercise may be harmful to your health because as you push past your aerobic limits you ultimately limit your heart and lung capacity as your body gets used to the long exercise period.

Fat Burning Furnace outlines exercises and nutrition that will maximize your potential and help you develop a strong, lean, fit and good looking body. Maybe not like Arnold’s, but one that will look great at the beach or on the tennis court. Also, you will be healthy.

Rob claims that if you follow his routine as outlined, you will get all the benefits of a cardio workout without the dreary time on a treadmill or Stair Master or elliptical stepper. His routine is short and sweet and he is a testimonial to the results – how appealing is that?

How to Lose Man-Boobs

How to Lose Man-Boobs

There are a number of causes of “man-boobs”, but being overweight or a hormone imbalance are two of the most common. In order to figure out how to lose man boobs, you first have to know the cause of your problem.

If you are not morbidly obese, then your man boobs are probably caused by low testosterone. If this is the case, you should consult with your medical practitioner about hormone supplements or dietary changes. Also, heavy exercise will increase testosterone production naturally.

Fat collects on our bodies in different ways. Women’s bodies tend to store fat on their lower Extremities: hips, thighs and buttocks. Men on the other hand, tend to store fat on their upper bodies: stomach, chest and back.

The obvious answer to how to lose man boobs is exercise and diet . . . just like any other weight loss and bodybuilding program! Exercise will help condition the muscles, and more muscle tissue will help burn more fat, both stored and ingested.

Diet will help your body burn stored fat and you won’t be overeating of all the things that probably caused the problem in the first place. Your diet and exercise can be very specific to address the problem of man boobs, as well as the fat stored elsewhere on your body.

Spot reducing is a myth from the early days of health and fitness clubs. These clubs perpetuated the myth because of the vast amount of money it generated. They were filled with vibrating belt machines, hip-rollers and other contraptions that mechanically agitated specific body parts.

If these clinics had any successes, it was because of a diet regimen, not their flash vibrating belt machines.

Today we know that fat is stored pretty equally in those key areas subject to that storage. Any good nutrition program will reduce that fat about as evenly as it is stored. So, if you want to diet away those man boobs, you will lose fat in other areas as well. This isn’t a bad thing.

Exercising your chest muscles will make them grow underneath your man boobs. You will be firmer, but until you lose the fat, you will still have the problem.

Here is how to lose those man boobs. This is a good program of nutrition and exercise that will strengthen your body and reduce your overall body fat.

The Exercise Program Strength training will increase your strength and muscle size. Your program should include exercises for all body parts.

Unlike a serious bodybuilding program where massive size is the goal, your program will divide the upper and lower body workouts into alternate days.

The upper body will be worked on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The lower body will be exercised on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sunday you rest. You will perform three sets of each exercise, most of them for 10 repetitions.

Chest

• Wide-Grip Bench Press

• Wide-Grip Incline Barbell Press

• Wide-Grip Decline Barbell Press

• Dumbbell Flies on Flat Bench

Shoulders

• Standing Barbell Press

• Upright Rowing with a Barbell

• Front Dumbbell Raises

• Lateral Dumbbell Raises

Back

• Lat Machine Pull-Downs

• Seated Rowing with Cable-And-Pulley Machine

• Bent Over Rowing with a Barbell

• Pull-Ups on the Chinning Bar

Arms

• Biceps Curls with Easy-Curl-Bar

• Triceps Press Downs on Cable-And-Pulley Machine

• Preacher Bench Curls with Easy-Curl-Bar

• Triceps Presses on Flat Bench

• Concentration Curls with a Dumbbell, alternating arms

• Bent Over Triceps Extensions

The Nutrition Program

Caloric intake for an active person is determined by age and gender. Consult with your physician about your daily calorie limits.

Calories should come from protein (25%), carbohydrates (40%), fats and fibers (35%). No refined carbohydrates are allowed: No sugar, starches, refined grains or artificial sweeteners. Carbs should come from natural, unprocessed vegetables and fruits.

Protein should come from eggs, milk, organ meats (liver, heart, kidneys, sweetbreads), beef, pork, poultry and fish.

Fats should come from protein rich foods and soluble oils such as olive oil, wheat germ oil and walnut oil.

Fiber will come from the fruits and vegetables.

Supplements you might wish to take: Protein powder, amino acid are the building blocks of proteins (Lipo3 Compound is a good one as lipotropic amino acids help the body metabolize fat), desiccated liver and kelp tablets.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle Review

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Review

Tom Venuto is a very serious bodybuilder and trainer who has written an in-depth primer on diets. In 341 pages of step-by-step detail, he explains how to establish your own baseline for the appropriate intake of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is not a quick-fix diet for the average person. It is a first-class fact-based guide to proper dieting for bodybuilders who are also competitive on the pro bodybuilding circuit.

Anyone can benefit from this book and from Tom’s program, but understand that it is intended for serious bodybuilders.

The Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book and program are available for $39.00 and $59.00, depending on which program you purchase. A sixty-day money-back guarantee accompanies either program level. This takes a lot of concern out of making the right choice.

Any bodybuilder preparing for a contest will benefit from Tom Venuto’s approach to pre-contest dieting to eliminate that last bit of subcutaneous fat so the muscles are displayed in all their glory.

Two bonuses that are available with Venuto’s plan are Foods that Burn Fat, and Foods that Turn to Fat. They contain some very good information for anyone wanting to maximize their physical potential and look their very best.

Tom’s approach is much different that run-of-the-mill diet books. He advises that there is no one-fix-for-all diet. You must know your body type and how it reacts to protein, carbs and fats before you can establish the proper diet for your needs.

The book goes into great detail, probably too much detail for the average dieter, but his information is scientifically and soundly based. His program is very complex, but once you figure out how to navigate through, the information is probably among the best you’ll ever find.

Venuto is a “natural” bodybuilder, free of any chemical performance enhancers. In fact, he is not a strong advocate of any supplements, believing instead that all of your nutritional needs should come from a proper diet program.

In his book, Tom emphasizes goal setting and then he sets out to coach you on how to set, maintain and achieve them. This book goes beyond dieting. It could change your life forever.

Many of the testimonials from users of Tom’s program are not bodybuilders, but people who were very serious about weight loss.

As well as dieting for fat loss, the book covers how to avoid muscle loss while on your diet. This is of great interest to bodybuilders who fear losing their bulk while dieting for definition.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle does not promise any “quick-fixes.” You have to be very serious and willing to dedicate the time and effort to overcome body fat. The book also is a strong advocate for working out with intensity, both strength training and cardiovascular exercising.

Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is to bodybuilding dieting what Bill Pearl’s Keys to the Inner Universe is to bodybuilding exercises. Both are absolutely the best in their field and buying Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle will almost certainly help you reach your bodybuilding goals.

How to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle

How to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle

Every bodybuilder has some idea of how to bulk up, but few of them really know how to lose fat and gain muscle. Bulking up is the easy part, all you have to do is pump ever-increasing amounts of iron.

The losing fat is the hard part because that requires a lot of self discipline and dedication.

It is a fact that the more muscle you build the more fat you burn. Muscle requires three times more energy to function than fat will use. Part of the solution to losing fat is to gain muscle.

The other part of losing fat is diet. This is the hard part because it requires that we shut off all desires for desserts, candy, soft drinks, bread made with any type of flour and alcoholic beverages. No refined sugars or grains allowed on a bodybuilders diet.

A bodybuilder weight and resistance training program will include exercises for every muscle group in the body; chest, shoulders, back, arms, core and legs. You need to make five trips a week to the fitness center for at least an hour or more of pumping iron per session.

If you are a fitness novice, you will need to seek the advice of an expert on the best way for you to lose fat and gain muscle. The trainer at your local fitness centre is the logical person to go to. They will establish a program for you that works every muscle to total exhaustion at least once per week.

Here is what a weekly schedule of workouts and other fitness activity will look like:

• Monday – Workout focus is on chest

o Bench Press – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Dumbbell flies or Pec-Deck – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Incline Bench Press – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Decline Bench Press – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Push-Ups – 3 sets of 25+ reps

o Core Exercises

? Sit-ups

? Crunches

? Leg Raises

? Dumbbell Side-bends

• Tuesday – Workout focus is on legs

o Squats – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Hack Squats – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Sissy Squats – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Leg Extensions – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Thigh Biceps Curls – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Calf Raises – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Donkey Calf Raises – 3 sets of 10 reps

o Lunges with Dumbbells – 3 sets of 25 reps

• Wednesday – Workout focus is on Shoulders

o Standing Barbell Press – 3 of 10

o Seated Dumbbell Press – 3 of 10

o Front Dumbbell Raises – 3 of 10

o Lateral Dumbbell Raises – 3 of 10

o Upright Barbell Rowing – 3 of 10

o Bent-Over Dumbbell Extension – 3 of 10

o Barbell Shrugs –3 of 10

o Core Exercises – 3 of 25

? Flat bench crunches

? Decline bench crunches

? Compound crunches on mat

• Thursday – Workout focus is on Back. Three sets of 10 reps on each.

o Pull-Ups on chinning bar

o Front Levers on chinning bar

o Lat Machine Pull-Downs

o Seated Rowing with cable-and-pulley

o Bent Over Rowing with barbell

o Bent Over Rowing with dumbbell, one arm at a time

o Core Exercises – 3 of 25

? Flat bench leg raises

? Compound sit-ups on mat

? Dip bar leg raises

? Upright twists

• Friday – Workout focus is on Arms. Three sets of 10 reps

o Biceps Barbell Curls

o Triceps Press Down, cable-and-pulley (lat) machine

o Biceps Dumbbell Curls on incline bench

o French Presses on flat bench

o PreacherBench curls with easy-curl-bar

o Bent Over Dumbbell Extensions

o Concentration Curls with single dumbbell

o Dumbbell Presses from behind the neck

o Core Exercises

? Decline Sit-Ups

? Compound Decline Sit-Ups

? Compound Leg Raises

Diet – The really hard part

Protein – 25% of calories from eggs, organ meats, red meat, poultry and fish Carbohydrates – 40% of calories from fresh fruits and vegetables. No potatoes or rice. Fats and Fibers – 35% of calories from natural fats, soluble oils and fibrous fruits and vegetables.

Supplements – Protein powder, amino acids and vitamins.

Building Musclewomen

Building Musclewomen

The Same Object as the Men, But a Different Approach

There is no other sport in the world where so much time and effort is spent on preparation for contests as bodybuilding. Yes, bodybuilding is a sport. The sport side of bodybuilding is the intense training that goes into building musclewomen and musclemen.

It takes a tremendous effort to build a body that is fit for showing. The perfection of the body is the common goal of building either men’s or women’s bodies, but the approach has to be different because of the differences in their anatomy and metabolism.

The female body is not capable of developing the massiveness of the male body without chemical assistance. The exercises and natural diet of male bodybuilders produce different results in women.

Musclewomen still lift weights, they eat high-protein meals and they take natural supplements. Their bodies respond with great conditioning, defined musculature and even a “six-pack”, but without the muscle size of their male counterparts.

Bodybuilding for women has gone through a number of phases. In the early days a smooth, shapely figure was the goal. Then came massive muscular development spurred by the use of anabolic steroids and male growth hormones. Some of the female bodybuilders became so huge and muscular that they looked like men.

Currently, the emphasis has returned to a more natural look for women bodybuilders. They perform a lot of resistance exercises that give them definition and muscularity, but they still retain their femininity (think Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2).

Building a musclewoman begins with weight and resistance training. Every muscle group of the body is worked to complete exhaustion at least once a week. But women’s bodies are much different than men’s and their upper and lower body shapeliness requires different exercises.

More emphasis is placed on hip flexors, adductor and abductor muscles in the inner and outer thighs. Squats and thigh-biceps curls work the quadriceps and hamstrings, while calf raises finish the lower body.

For the upper body, women work their chest muscles with barbell or machine presses, dumbbell or machine flies, shoulder presses and arm work.

The arms are pumped with barbell and dumbbell curls, triceps press-downs and French presses on the bench. An advanced female bodybuilder will lift an impressive amount of weight in every workout.

Nutrition is the complementary side of the program for building musclewomen. A diet with about 25% of the calories coming from protein, 40% coming from complex carbohydrates and the rest from fats and fiber is used to rebuild the tissue damaged by intense workouts.

Dietary supplements should also be taken: Protein powder mixed with raw milk, amino acids to help with fat burning and protein metabolizing. A lot of eggs should be eaten for the best source of useable protein.

Soluble oil like wheat germ oil should be ingested for energy and endurance, kelp and desiccated liver tablets for a concentrated protein boost.

Competition is the final aspect of women’s bodybuilding. As women’s bodies are different to men’s, they are also displayed differently for the most part. While they do adopt some of the “male” poses, like flexing the arms, shoulders and back, women’s bodybuilding poses are typically more graceful and intended to show the highly developed female body at its best.

In short, building a musclewoman is a lot like building a muscleman, but the approach is a little different to take into account women’s form and metabolism. The results, however, are just as impressive as mens’!

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Bodybuilding Diet

Bodybuilding Diet

“Bodybuilding is 80% diet.” This statement was uttered many years ago by one of the greatest bodybuilding trainers of his era, Vince Gironda.

With some fame as a bodybuilder himself, “The Iron Guru,” as he became known, was more famous for helping a newcomer to the USA, Arnold Schwartzenegger move rapidly up the road to become one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.

His acolytes list reads like a who’s who in bodybuilding of the 1950s through 1997.

Vince was convinced that a bodybuilding diet was the key to muscle-building success, and he was fundamental in convincing other people of this principle in his multi-decade career as a trainer of champions.

In a nutshell, a bodybuilding diet should focus on the best useable sources of protein, natural carbohydrates in the form of fresh vegetables and fruits, fats and oils, and finally, nuts. Bodybuilders also need to include supplements that help grow muscle tissue and reduce the subcutaneous fat on the body.

Renowned biologist, Bernard Beverley, stated that human tissue is 100% biological. What that means for bodybuilders is that eating foods that are very high in biological content is very important for developing that tissue as far as possible. Lots of people confuse foods high in biological content with foods high in protein, but this isn’t entirely the case as not all protein is the same. Biological content means food that contains protein of a structure that is very similar to the protein contained in human tissue.

This might come as a surprise to some, but the food with the highest biological content is the humble egg! Other foods high in biological content include raw milk, organ meats (heart, liver, kidneys and sweetbreads), steak, lamb, poultry and fish. Beans, legumes and some other vegetables are also good sources of protein, so it’s really important to include them in your diet as well.

On the other hand, soybeans, although famously high in protein, are only 22% biological. Thus you would have to eat huge amounts of soy to equal the amino acid content of the higher quality protein previously listed. For contest preparation, the Iron Guru recommended avoiding anabolic steroids in favor of eating as many as three dozen eggs per day!

The idea is that this gives your muscles a huge influx of biological protein so that they can reach new levels of strength and quickly repair any damage. After six to eight weeks, you should then reduce this amount to one or two per day, as you would have achieved your goal.

On the other hand, other bodybuilding diets focus on red meat and fresh vegetables, or one high in dairy products and fish. Each of these approaches serves a particular goal, that of loading the system with protein to replace and rebuild muscle tissue torn down by heavy workout sessions. They are not long-term diet plans however. Bodybuilding supplements that Gironda recommended were: Kelp tablets, desiccated liver, lipotropic amino acids(inositol, choline, methionine, betain that aid in the metabolism and assimilation of protein) and wheat germ oil. Another diet method the Iron Guru developed was putting his students on a special bodybuilding diet cycle in preparation for contests, to get rid of that last bit of subcutaneous fat.

This was composed of four days of zero carbohydrates, then on the fifth day eat normally. For the next four days eat zero carbs, and on the tenth day eat normally. The students would keep this up for between three and eight weeks, until every muscle separation and vein popped out on the surface.

In summary, a good bodybuilding diet should be focused on protein, fats, good carbohydrates and fiber. The breakdown should be 24% protein, 40% natural carbs (no refined starches or sugars) and the balance in fat and fiber.

Just before competition diets, and cycling of zero carbs for four days and the fifth day free, should be followed for no more than eight weeks. Appropriate supplements should be taken.

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Bodybuilding Chest Workout

Bodybuilding Chest Workout

The chest muscle group, the pectoralis major, is the largest muscle group in the upper body. As such, the chest requires a great many very specific exercises to work the upper, lower and inner pecs. A good looking chest really sets off the appearance of a physique.

Even beginning bodybuilders are aware that in order to build muscle, you have to tear it down with exercise and rebuild it with a high-protein diet. A bodybuilding diet should be at least 25% protein and 40% natural, unrefined carbohydrates, with the balance being in fats and fibers.

The bodybuilding chest workout should be the total focus of one workout per week. Other muscles will get worked in this routine, but only as incidental to the chest exercises. The exercises will involve barbells, dumbbells and body-resistance moves.

The exercises should be performed in the order of descending strength of the muscle parts. In other words, begin with the exercise for which you use the heaviest poundage. Then work down the ladder from there.

Most chest bodybuilding exercises will be three sets of eight to ten repetitions each for an intermediate level bodybuilder. An advanced exerciser should consider raising that to five sets of six to eight reps with heavier weights.

Bench Press, with Barbell, Wide-grip

Lie flat on the bench with your feet planted flat and squarely on the floor. Grip the bar at about double shoulder width. Lower the barbell to your upper chest-lower neck region, pause, and return to overhead.

Begin with a one set as a warm-up with a moderate weight. Perform the next sets with the maximum weight you can handle for eight to ten repetitions.

Make each movement slow and smooth and pause at full contraction. Do not bounce the weight on your chest. Do not arch your back or lift your buttocks off the bench as this will place strain on you lower neck and could cause injury.

Front Barbell Raise, Incline

Using an incline bench and a lighter weight barbell, begin with the barbell grasped palms down and your arms facing straight down. Raise the weight smoothly overhead, continuing until your arms are extended behind your head.

Dumbbell Flies, Flat Bench

Using two moderately heavy dumbbells and lying supine, begin with the dumbbells held straight up. Lower them smoothly while bending your arms slightly at the elbow. The finish point should be with your arms parallel with the floor. Don’t hyperextend your shoulder joints.

Incline Press with Barbell, Wide-Grip

Using an incline bench, begin with the barbell straight overhead. Lower the weight to your upper chest-lower neck area. Use a weight that exhausts your muscles at eight to ten reps.

Decline Press with Barbell, Wide-Grip

Using a decline bench, begin with your arms perpendicular to the floor. Lower the weight slowly to the neck and perform eight to ten reps.

Flat Bench Dumbbell Press

Begin the move with the dumbbells straight overhead and then lower them to your chest keeping your elbows high and your upper arm nearly parallel with your shoulders. Use heavy dumbbells for eight to ten reps.

Flat Bench Dumbbell Pullover Press Lateral

Using medium weight dumbbells and beginning the move with the weights at your chest, rotate the dumbbells past your head towards the floor. In one movement, bring them back to your chest and press them overhead and then immediately perform a lateral fly with your arms bent at a forty-five degree angle.

Push-Ups Hands Together

Assume the push-up position with your body straight and up on your toes with your hands about a foot apart. Perform push-ups slowly for as many reps as you are able.

And that completes your chest workout. Bring on those ripped chest muscles!

Best Way to Get a Six Pack

Best Way to Get a Six Pack

One of the most common searches that people do online is for the best way to get a six pack. Abs are one of the most desired features to acquire on the body. Abs can really make or break your appearance in a swimsuit. You never see someone with a beer belly on the front of a health magazine or a sexy swimsuit ad.

The best way to get a six pack is far from the easiest. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Abs are something that have to be worked on consistently. They cannot be established with a once or twice a week workout. The best way to get a six pack is with a minimum workout of 4 to 5 times a week. Abs do not develop overnight, and ab workouts do not have to be long and vigorous. In fact most ab workouts tend to be around half an hour to an hour tops.

Ab workouts should help build muscles. This can be done by working them as and then offering a break throughout the week. It is important not to overwork your abs. The best way to get a six pack is to work them enough without overworking them. Your abs do need a break after a workout. If you do not let them rest every now and then they will begin to resist the muscle building. This will make it extremely difficult to build up your abs in a timely manner.

The best way to get a six pack is to sit down and lay out a plan out when you will be available to workout during the week and set this time aside. Once you have set this time on your workout schedule try to keep to it as close as possible. If you begin to fade away from your time it will become more and more difficult to find the time to make up what you missed later in the week, and then when the weekend hits most people find that they are not as willing to workout.

The best way to get a six pack is to set a goal. Find something to work toward. For example since the best way to get a six pack is to rotate your workout between cardio and muscle building you may want to make a specific race your goal. Most people become more concerned with the appearance of their body around spring time. They can no longer hide under the heavy clothes of winter and swimsuit season is right around the corner. This is the perfect opportunity for you to sign-up for a race. The majority of charity races are done in the spring after the cool weather has passed. Knowing that you will have to be in good enough shape to run this race and wanting to look good while doing it is one of the biggest motivators that one can find. The best way to get a six pack is to layout a plan in which you will be accountable for not reaching your goal, even if you are only accountable to yourself.

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