Monday, April 30, 2007

Cardio and Muscle

It is said that Cardio makes you lose muscle, sad as it is, it is true
and scientifically proven, what happens is that muscle proteins are
broken down and used for energy during aerobic exercise, but the thing
is that you are constantly breaking down and re-building muscle tissue
as you do your cardio workout, this process is called "protein turnover"
what's going on is that your body is constantly alternating back and forth
among anabolic (building) and catabolic (breaking down) cycles. Reducing
the catabolic side just enough so that you stay on the anabolic side will
help you to gain muscle or at least will help you maintain muscle.

But if you'd like to do cardio but you'd also like to build your muscles or
maintain them at least as they are I recommend Circuit Training, because
this is sort of aerobic weight training. And since you use weights,
although lighter weights, muscle is not lost, sometimes some muscle is
gained. So remember if you'd like to do cardio but not lose muscle or
gain a bit of muscle, do some Circuit training.

A Sample Circuit Training Workout

1. Bench press
2. Squats (or leg press)
3. Seated rowing
4. Hamstring curls
5. Lat pull downs
6. Calf raises
7. Triceps extensions
8. Barbell curls
9. Ab Crunches

Move quickly from one exercise to the next, so as to maintain your target
heart rate. Begin by going through the complete circuit (all 9 exercises)
twice. You can build up to four times as you improve.

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Friday, April 27, 2007

Shoulder Development
By Zach Bashore

If you want to develop great shoulders, you need to learn the
basics of the shoulders and how to train them properly. You
are going to learn the different sections of the shoulders,
what the shoulders are, best time to train them, and the best
exercises to turn your shoulders into boulders.

The shoulders are defined as the joint connecting the arm with
the torso or part of the human body between the neck and upper
arm. The deltoid is the three headed muscle that caps the
shoulder. All three heads of the deltoid are named the lateral,
posterior, and anterior. All three parts of the deltoid attach
to the humerus. The lateral and anterior heads are located near
the collar bone, while the posterior head is located on the
scapula. The function of the deltoid muscle is to move the arm
away from the body. Another section of the shoulders muscles is
the rotator cuff and it causes lateral rotation, medial
rotation, and abduction.

Your shoulders are involved with just about everything you are
involved with, so exercising them will help you in almost
everything you do in your daily routine. If you're lifting heavy
weights, you'll need at least three to four days of rest before
you can perform the same exercises again. Always consider the
fact that you will be using your shoulders when performing back
and chest exercises, and you should separate the days that you
train each group with at least one full day of rest.

When choosing your shoulder exercises, you should pick that
will shock your body because it is not accustomed to what you
are doing to them. The following exercises will give you a
general idea of which exercises you can include to your own
training split:

Cable:
Shoulder Press
Front Raise
Lateral Raise
Rear Lateral Raise
Upright row
Rear Delt Row

Barbell:
Front Raise
Behind Neck Press
Shoulder Press
Military Press
Rear Delt Row
Upright Row
Lying Rear Delt Row

Dumbbell:
Front Raise
Lying Rear Delt Row
Lying Rear Lateral Raise
Rear Lateral Raise
Rear Delt Row
Seated Rear Lateral Raise
Lateral Raise
Lying Lateral Raise
Front Raise
Arnold Press
One Arm Press
Shoulder Press
Upright Row

Experiment with different training styles, alter the rep/set
sequence. This is very important if your are looking for
continual growth in the shoulders region. Don't forget to
take a day off when you feel that your body needs it. A
general rule is to take a rest week once every six to
eight weeks. This will allow you to come back stronger.

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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Diet Act

When one decides to embark on a mission or journey. Against
a foe that is relentless, opportunistic and stubborn, he
must know the rules that give him the best chance for success.
He must know the rules of engagement.The enemy - is fat! So
I penned this article to make you aware of some things that
are imperative to implement into your diet strategy. I call
this the Diet Act!

First things first, Protein. Everybody knows protein is
important, but many don't know that eating a lot of protein
can make an immediate change in your bodies appearance. A
dramatic increase of protein intake will make your body
appear more firm and will help to eliminate some fat. Most
experts say your protein intake and your weight should at
least equal the same number. That's difficult to achieve
without protein supplements. So I would say just make
effort to add maximum protein to each meal you prepare.

Next up fiber. Studies show that the average person is
carrying between 5 & 15 lbs of waste in their colon. Maybe
that's where the phrase "You're full of it" came from. So a
good colon cleanse twice a year could be your ticket to a
better look and a healthier life. You can find colon cleanse
products in most health food stores. Those products will
require that you drink lots of water with them.

Water, our next subject is what's going to move this waste
in the first place. Eight glasses of water a day is a tough
task, but the benefits are weight loss, clearer skin and a
healthier digestive system. That's four 16 oz bottle waters.

Brown foods is next. Replacing white for whole wheat breads
and pasta will allow you to have carbs without putting on
the kind of weight the white carbs would. Most people
don't even know brown pasta exists. Take advantage of all
the multigrain food and dessert options out there, many
are quite tasty. Stay away from wheat bread that isn't
whole wheat. Because only Whole wheat and multigrain
will have the desired effect on fatloss.

Last but not least Sugar. Sugar is a major player in the
demise of health in America. Sugar, like its cousin salt
are often blanketed over foods and desserts. It's usage
must be curtailed to ensure optimum success. Today, there
are many sugar substitutes, trial and error will help you
find the one you like best. Cutting your sugar dramatically
can also have a profound effect on you health and well
being.

Question, a salesman offers a monthly service that is
sure to help you look better, feel better and perform
better at work and play. All for about what you'd spend on
groceries, would you pay? Well just before you say
impossible, just remember you have that chance. It's
in the food you eat. Have weight gain and fat gathered on
your body, and caused a major disturbance. If you want
them to leave, you could just stand idle, or you could
read them the Diet Act.

Forever diesel is a freelance writer in Vegas.

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Mike Mentzer's Lost Heavy Duty Secrets
By Paul Becker

While many people know the basics of Heavy Duty training, the
advanced techniques are known by only a few. The advanced and
super advanced techniques were fully researched and tested by
Mike in the late 70's, but following the infamous 1980
Mr.Olympia, Mike retired from competition. After that he worked
as a personal trainer and concentrated on what works best for
beginners and intermediates. And so Heavy Duty for advanced and
super advanced trainees became all but lost, even though Mike
made the best gains of his life using these techniques.

Climbing The Ladder Of Intensity

Mike knew that as a bodybuilder grew bigger and stronger, he
would eventually require an even more intense training stress
if he hopes to continue progressing. If the stress is not more
intense he will stagnate and stay at the same level of size
and strength.

Beginners

For beginners starting a weight training program is a huge leap
in intensity from not training, and this is why they make such
rapid gains at first. To keep progressing they can simply keep
increasing the weights and decreasing the rest periods between
sets. When they stop making gains this way they are ready for
the next level of intensity.

Intermediates

At this stage a more intense stress is required, this is be done
by using Pre-Exhaustion sets, for example a set of Leg Extensions
to failure followed by a set of Leg Press (or Squats) to failure.
Also forced reps and negatives to go beyond the point of positive
failure can be occasionally used. These techniques will carry
someone into the advanced level, Mike reached this point and using
these techniques he was unable to get bigger or stronger, this
forced him to do further research into the highest levels of
intensity.

Advanced

At this level Mike found that he was so strong and his willingness
to work at maximum effort was so high that each rep of a set was
so intense that oxygen debt and lactic acid build up was practically
immediate and severe enough that he was forced to stop due to
cardiovascular limitation rather then because he reached a point of
actual muscular failure. He looked for a way that he could do even
more intense reps while at the same time slowing the build up of
lactic acid and the onset of oxygen debt in his muscles.

The way he did this was to do his own version of Rest Pause training,
he used a weight that would allow him to do one all out maximum rep,
then rested for 10 seconds, this would give enough time for his muscle
to clear out waste products and bring new fuel and oxygen so he
could do another all out rep. After the second rep and another 10
seconds rest he would have his training partner help him do another
all out rep, or he would reduce the weight by 20%. He would then rest
15 seconds and do his last all out rep. This was considered one set,
with each and every rep of the set being an all out effort. An example
rest pause workout that Mike would do for his chest was Pec Deck 1 set
of 4 Rest Pause reps, Incline Bench Press 1 set of 4 Rest Pause reps
and Dips (Negative only style) 1 set of 5 reps. Mike then had to ask
himself what could be more intense then Rest Pause training?

Super Advanced Heavy Duty

Mikes next step up the ladder of intensity was what he called Infitonic
training; he followed each maximum positive rep of a Rest Pause set
with a maximum negative Rep. He had his training partner push down a
little on the negative and he would fight to resist it, lowering it
as slowly as possible. He then rested 15 seconds before his next
maximum positive and negative rep.

The very highest level of Heavy Duty he called Omni-Contraction
training, meaning all contraction. There are three ways a muscle
can contract, that is lifting a weight (positive), lowering a
weight (negative) and holding a weight (static).

In Omni-Contraction training Mike would make each a maximum effort.
He would do his one all out maximum positive rep, followed by a
maximum negative, but during the negative he would stop the weight
and actually try to raise the weight again (which was impossible).
He would do these static holds at three different points during the
negative rep, the first was at the top, close to the fully
contracted position, the second was halfway down and the third was
close to the bottom position. Each position was held for a count
of 3.

The Results

Mike and his brother Ray used these advanced and super advanced
techniques in the summer of 1979 and it resulted in Mike gaining
14 pounds of pure muscle in 9 weeks (while losing fat and at an
already advanced level of mass and strength), and w inning his
first pro show beating the likes of Robby Robinson, Danny Padilla
and Roy Callendar. While Ray was able to improve so much he
walked in and took the Mr. America crown that year.

So maybe, just maybe, if you have tried Heavy Duty and it stopped
working it was because you didn't know the higher techniques on
your way up the ladder of intensity. Try them for yourself and
find out.

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