Saturday 13 June 2015

Bodybuilding Tips To Help Achieve Your Ideal Body

Bodybuilding tips are important for anyone who wishes to achieve and maintain an ideal body. It is important that you get to set out a regular routine that you must follow so that you get to achieve and maintain the ideal body and body weight you've been wanting to have.

Therefore, there are tips that you need to remember especially if you are someone who is really serious about maintaining a good body figure.

First, you will need to find an appropriate FITNESS GYM that will give you the amenities you will need. If you opt to do your fitness program at home, you will need the proper GYM EQUIPMENT to help you achieve the proper fitness routine you will need to do.



Second, if you decide to use the gym as your workout place, you will need to find yourself a reliable GYM INSTRUCTOR who will guide and help you achieve a regular routine you can follow. However, if you are to do your workout at home, you will need to find appropriate FITNESS GUIDES that will help you map out a specific routine that will help you achieve the body and weight you want. It is important that you also seek advice from knowledgeable people who can help you achieve an appropriate fitness routine for you.

Third, you will need to achieve at least EIGHT HOURS SLEEP each day. This is most important because your body needs time to recuperate from the regular strain that you put it through during workout.

Fourth, you also need to stick into a specific DIET that I appropriate for your body type and your exercise routine, and also the daily usual things you need to do. You do not need to do any crash diets as these will only leave you hungry and may even cause you to eat even more than yo need the next time you eat.

Fifth, STICK TO THE ROUTINE. It is important that you get to stick to the routine so as to achieve the body or body weight you so wish to have. Many start a fitness routine only to leave it once they get to feel the strain it put into their daily lives. If you are serious about staying fit, you will need to faithfully follow your routine so as to achieve and maintain your ideal body.

It is important for anyone who gets to start a fitness routine to stick to it. It will take several days for you to feel the strain it puts on you and your muscles. However, that is part of the workout that you need to maintain so as to achieve the ideal body you want.

Start building muscles today! Read about some useful body building tips to help you out!

Friday 12 June 2015

Quick Tricep Workouts

Triceps, when properly weight-trained, make up two-thirds of your upper arm's overall size. As such, it's better to do a quick tricep workout than to skip it when your gym time is tight. If it's absolutely necessary to skip a bodypart when training arms, better you should skip biceps than triceps if you're looking to develop upper arm muscle mass.

Your triceps brachii muscles have 3 heads - the long head, medial head and lateral head. They run down the back of your upper arm, from shoulder to elbow, and are mostly involved in extending your elbow to straighten your arm. The concentric portion of each rep contracts your triceps and fully straightens your arms, while the eccentric portion lowers the weight by allowing the elbow to bend to 90 degrees or more.

While twice the size of your biceps, the triceps are still one of the smaller bodyparts and can recover more quickly that larger muscle groups like legs, back and chest. This means you can work your triceps 2 - 3 times per week on non-consecutive days, but be careful not to use heavier weights than you can manage with proper form to prevent damaging your elbow ligaments or joint.

If you're training time is limited during a workout, use these three exercises to work the triceps, doing 3 or 4 sets of 10 reps each. Don't rush the reps - use a cadence of 1 second up and 3 seconds down with no pause or rest at the top or bottom of each movement.



Lying Triceps Extensions 
Also known as 'skullcrushers', lying triceps extensions start with you lying flat on the bench with your arms straight up above you, perpendicular to your body. The exercise can be done with dumbbells, a straight bar, a cambered (EZ curl) bar or the specialized triceps bar. Start by slowly lowering the weight to your forehead then return it back to the top position at a faster speed. At the end of each set, go immediately into the next exercise with no break.

Narrow-Grip Bench Press 
The second half of this triceps superset is the narrow-grip bench press. If you're using a triceps bar then you'll automatically have a narrow grip already, but if not then be sure your grip is about shoulder width or a touch narrower. Going any narrower than that places too much strain on the wrists at the bottom of the movement, so if you find your wrists getting sore widen your grip slightly. Since you're already lying on the bench in the proper position, lower the weights to your chest while keeping your elbows tucked close to your body, then raise the weight directly up by extending your arms. Do not let your elbows drift out to the sides as this involves the pectoral muscles of the chest more than you want it to - keep the tension on your triceps as the weight moves up and down.

Because you're supersetting this press with the extensions the weight won't be as heavy as you could do otherwise, so you can compensate by either doing a few more reps per set or slowing each rep down, especially on the eccentric (lowering) portion of each rep. At the end of your set rest for about a minute, then go back to the lying extensions to begin your next set. Perform the full cycle 3 - 4 times before moving on to the third exercise.

Overhead Triceps Extensions 
Sit up on your bench with your feet flat on the floor and a neutral or slightly-arched lower back. Using two hands, suspend a dumbbell overhead so that it rests perpendicular to the floor - your thumbs and forefingers should be wrapped around the handle while your palms and other fingers are pressed against the underside of the top BELL to support the weight. Keeping your elbows facing forward and tucked close to the sides of your head, bend your elbows and slowly lower the weight as far down as you can behind your head, then return the weight back up to directly overhead. Your upper arms should not move during the exercise but instead stay upright and close to your head.

Other Triceps Exercises 
The three exercises above will give you quick tricep workouts that are effective in building more muscle, but if you need to replace any of them due to injury or other physical issues, replace the necessary exercise with dumbbell kickbacks. Kickbacks have been shown to stimulate all 3 heads during each rep, so it's your best replacement exercise. Other triceps exercises like pushdowns, rope pushdowns, overhead cable extensions and triceps dips are good too, but save them for your workouts where time isn't limited and you can fit one or more of them in with these three.



7 Tips to Build Your Body

Being lean and fit is okay but if you are lanky, it tends to downgrade your personality. Body building is a great idea. However, this idea is not about pumping your body with medicinal supplements. In fact, body building is all about developing a routine that includes the perfect blend of diet and exercise to give you a great looking body. Yes! If you follow the routine consistently and passionately, you will also develop muscles and increase stamina. But, the ulterior motive should be to remain healthy.

Here is a look at some quick tips to help in body building:

1. Include lifting weights in your exercise routine. While cardio helps you increase stamina, if you want to add muscle to your body, you need to start lifting weights. Also, remember to increase the capacity gradually.

2. Don't exhaust yourself on day one. Body building will happen gradually. You must not overstress yourself by trying to exceed limits on the first day itself else it could permanently damage your body.

3. Multiple muscle exercises are good when you are planning body building workouts. For example, lifting weights on the legs that strengthen your thigh muscles as well as your calf muscles.

4. Hydrate the body. Drinking proper amount of fluids before and after workout is important. The fluids you consume before the workout ensure that the muscles are not dehydrated which automatically enhances your stamina.

5. Change is the only constant. It's great that you have worked out an exercise routine to keep your body fit. However, if body building is your aim, you have to remember to alter this routine every once in a while. Ideally, two weeks is a good time to change. After all, this change is what will help you enhance the muscle power of your body.


6. Take rest. Here again, we would want to stress the importance of not exerting your body. Between two workout days, ensure that you have given the body ample rest. This resting period is what helps in restoring the muscle stamina after you have exhausted yourself in the arena.

7. Eat well. Exercise is just one part of the body building routine. You also need to eat well. For eating healthy, we would recommend you to consult a dietician. According to the requirements of your body, they will work out a diet plan. Ensure that you stick to this plan in addition to the workout sessions.


Weight Training is For Life!

During your daily drive in the car you may well see a sticker that rightly states 'A dog if for life and not just for Christmas'. I think we need to be producing a new sticker that proclaims 'Weight training is for life and not just for our youth!'.

Scientific studies have shown over and over again that we can push back the aging process by regular weight training sessions. Many people now stay mentally alert well into their 80s and 90s, but it is their bodies that let them down, particularly in modern times when walking has become less of a necessity and we are more reliant on the car.



I have a passionate dislike for the 'R' word - retirement. I'm now over 50, and more conversations at dinner parties are dominated by the question "what are you going to do when you retire?". I for one have no intention of retiring! During the conversations people always throw in statements that include "I will potter around the garden" or "I will do some work on the house" - give me a break, please!

My father was a car worker, and for him life ended at 65. He walked out of the factory, received his pension, and within two years he had died. Is this what we have to look forward to? I sincerely believe that this doesn't have to be the case. My stated aim is to live beyond 100, and I'm going to make sure that the next 50 years are more productive and enjoyable than the first 50 years.

Integral to my desire for a long and fulfilled life is the necessity for a weight training or body building life style. Yes, you can take up weight training as a sport at any point during your life, but it's far better to have made it a commitment for life. In a recent newspaper article, Dr Miriam Nelson at Tufts University in Boston is quoted as saying "If muscle isn't stimulated, your body senses that you don't need it".

There are significant benefits to weight training whatever your age, and these benefits are described by Dr. Nelson. Of most encouragement to us all is that it's never too late, and well into our 90s our systems can be stimulated through weight training.

Diabetes is becoming increasingly common as a result of our more sedentary lifestyle, and light to moderate weight training can benefit type 2 diabetics by increasing muscle mass and decreasing insulin resistance. Exercise also benefits the heart in that it makes the lining of blood vessels more flexible, thus facilitating blood flow around the body.



Two of the most significant features of old age are sarcopenia and osteoporosis. The former involves the loss of muscle mass as we age. This may lead to increased fat deposits and it is associated with insulin resistance. It also means that we loose posture and visibly begin to shrink. Ben Hurley of the University of Maryland says that if you overload them in a gradual way, you can make the muscles bigger and stronger by making each muscle fibre thicker.


Even before we reach the age of 40 our bones stop growing and begin to gradually deteriorate. As this process outstrips the rate at which we develop new bone, osteoporosis can have an increasing effect. Again, if we follow a sensible weight training programme then bone density will improve and we will be much less susceptible to breaks and fractures caused by the bones becoming weak and brittle.

The importance of weight training and body building as key factors in the maintenance of a long and healthy life cannot be emphasized enough. Of course, there are other factors such as nutrition and mental health that need equal attention, but we need to understand that in order to enjoy life well into our 70s, 80s and even 90s physical exercise continues to be as essential as it was when we were much younger. As an educator I have frequently been told that 'learning is wasted on the young'. I totally disagree with this statement as I am a passionate advocate of 'lifelong learning'. I believe that the same is true of exercise - 'weight training is for life and not just for our youth'.