Tim Lim

Archive for the ‘Muscle Building’ Category

The New Year will soon arrive with much expectation. Many of us will be writing our New Year resolutions with some trepidation. Others write with great motivation. Are New Year resolutions meant to be broken? For some, yes, but most people will give it a shot.

For those whose resolution is to keep fit and healthy and enjoy life looking and feeling fantastic, then this article is for you and to motivate you to keep to your resolution successfully.

Different people exercise and workout for different reasons. Some want to be macho looking hunks, some want their fitness to be at their peak, some to lose weight and body fat and most people just want to gain muscle to have a well toned and attractive body. But whether you workout in a gym for general health and fitness purpose or to lose body fat and gain muscle to look attractively desirable, you will reap tons of fitness and health benefits whether you workout in a gym, at home or in a park. In fact unless you want to gain big muscle, it is not necessary to join a gym to reap the benefit of having a great workout. This will save you the hefty gym fees too.

For all those of you who workout regularly, you will be glad to know whatever reasons that compel you to workout, there are many more reasons for you to continue doing so.
For those of you who don’t exercise at all, hey folks, these benefits are what you have been missing out.

? Better blood circulation will add a glow to your skin and hair. Not only will you be fit and healthy will have a glowing complexion. Where do you think the saying “Glowing with Health” came from?

? Lose weight or more accurately, to lose body fat. Yes, losing weight and losing fat although being used interchangeably to mean the same thing, it is not. By saying lose weight, it could mean you are loosing water, waste, and worse of all, you your muscle. Losing body fat merely meant what it says, fat loss. That will give you an attractive physical appearance.

? Exercise are excellent stress reliever. This is because when you workout and when your exercises are intensive enough, you will produce endorphin. Many call this a happy hormone.

? Increases bone density and therefore keeping osteoporosis a bone disease afflicting most women as they age at bay. Your bone will be wasting away along with your muscles. Therefore you must exercise to build strong bones and retain your muscle mass.

? When you exercise, your muscles get stronger and grow. The more muscle fiber you have, the higher is your body metabolism. The higher your body metabolism, the more body fat you will burn. That is why to lose weight permanently, you have to gain muscle.

? Gain strength and endurance. That flight of stairs will no longer be as daunting. The football game you play will be a breeze. Why? Because as your fitness level builds up, day to day chores become easier and you will enjoy whatever you do without tiring so easily because of the increased physical fitness gained through regular exercise.

? Reducing your chances of getting heart diseases, stroke and certain types of cancers which are the top killer diseases. There are many other diseases which exercises will cut down the risks of them afflicting you.

? Reduce triglycerides and bad cholesterol, raising the level of good cholesterol. Again this will protect you from diseases caused by bad cholesterol.

? Protects you against injuries as you are fitter and more nimble. You are also more flexible and will discover a new gait in your movement. Boy, it sure feels good to be in good health isn’t it?

? Improve immunity. Save your doctor’s bills! This means putting more money in your pocket!

? Hmmm… enhance sexual desire and performance. Remember we talked about endorphin, the happy hormone earlier? You also produce this hormone when you are having sex. Getting more interesting isn’t it?

? Lower resting heart rate and high blood pressure. That means your general cardiovascular or heart health will improve.

? Improve coordination and balance. Ask the lady for a dance, will ya?

? Regulate insulin sensitivity thus prevention of type 2 diabetes. Thus you will not put on weight so easily and in fact may even lose weight.

? Increase confidence and self esteem. Of course you can walk tall and proud because you will have improved your posture holding up your new found musculature, glowing with health and a sexily toned body to the boot!

So get into your running shoes now and head for the gym now! Go ahead, lose weight and gain muscle for the New Year. Break this New Year resolution at your own peril.

Do not underestimate breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal on the day. Breakfast counteracts your muscles to breaking down on the most effective way. On the night the blood sugar is goes down and if you not eat a good breakfast you stop your muscle from growing.

Nutrition
Do not take nutrition instead of food. Nutrition works best as a compliment to your food or as a boost before training. But never believe that nutrition makes your muscle grow the way that real food does. Also test different to see what nutrition that fits your body best.

Eat every 3-4 hour
You muscle grow as long as you have the right amount of blood sugar in your body. As long as you have that the body knows its okay to build muscles. You have that right amount in your body about 3-4 hours after your last meal. That means you have to eat every 3-4 hour to maintain the right balance in your body and to continue to grow muscle.

Drink Water
Every chemical rejection in your body happens in a water based environment. If you do not drink water you are going to dry and your functions in your body works poorly. Functions like fat burning, muscle grow and condition.

Control what you eat
Analyse what you eat and see if you get enough to build muscle. One way to do that is to whey your food for three days. This is to see your how much protein, carbs and fat you get. Do this a couple of times a year to see your development. This is easy to do with help of a diet program that you can find on internet.

Vary the food
This is a key for success. The big advantage you get is that your body do not get used to one certain nourishment. The risk is also minimal that you get lack of something, and surely will get the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your muscles need to grow.

Eat right before training
You need to load your body right before you can perform a good workout. If you are training in the morning it can be good to eat lot of carbs the night before. If you are training in the evenings you have many meals to get you prepared for your workout.

Eat right after training
After breakfast this is the most important meal for you. After training you muscle are broke down, and you need to eat as fast as you can after training. Your muscles need both protein and carbs to grow, and here can your nutrition drinks be very important. This gives you both carbs and protein fast.

Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That’s how it should be – as you progress through the various stages of learning you’ll understand what works best for you. It is useful, however, to take stock of your progress every so often and carry out an analysis of where you are and what changes, if any, are needed to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this analysis should include an assessment of the core exercises that make up your bodybuilding training program. In this article we’ll look at the leg exercises that have proven their worth to serious bodybuilders for many years. Where appropriate a series of exercises suitable for achieving pre-exhaustion will be presented. All exercises should be performed to failure with one set of six to eight reps.

1. Leg extension – this exercise will allow you to isolate the thigh muscles preserving the strength of the other leg muscles for the compound exercise to follow.

- Push the pads until the knees are almost locked.

- Pause.

- Lower with control to the starting position.

2. Leg press – you can move straight on to this exercise if you are sufficiently experienced.

- Place your feet firmly at shoulder width on the foot board.

- Bend the legs until they are almost touching the chest.

- Pause.

- Return with control to the starting position.

3. Calves – the best way to work the calves is to perform raises on special gym equipment that allows standing raises and sitting raises to work both calf muscles.

Bodybuilding involves more than just lifting weights. It pays to have an understanding of human kinetics. How do muscles work?

Muscles develop by making them work. Muscles can only work when the body is in motion. They work extra when we are in full motion. Thus, to develop the muscles to the maximum, we must make them work to the best of our abilities. Hence, the bodybuilding principle of “No Pain, No Gain.”

You can’t grow your muscles by doing nothing. You have to move around a lot. The only thing that will grow in points of inertia, if you remain stationary, is your weight. If you want muscle growth and power, you must work your body methodically. Muscle training is called a workout.

Muscles can be toned (or conditioned) by regular activities like brisk walking, jogging, and doing other slightly heavy works. But toning muscles will not grow them in size and beauty. You have to do more -lots more – to have stunning muscles. You have to workout. By the very term “workout,” you can have a good idea of what it takes to grow muscles.

Bodybuilding procedures using weights and other heavy-duty activities are the best-known muscle growers so far. You have to devote your life into this if you want extra visible muscles on you. You also have to do away with vices like smoking, drinking liquor, eating junk foods, etc.

Muscles grow in size only when they are moving. Try to be still in front of a mirror and you’d see no sign of any bulking muscle taking shape. Now, clench your fist hard, and muscle evidence will show at least on your forearm. This simple principle illustrates the potential of muscles being developed through repeated and graduated motions. As muscles are subjected to repeated exertions that gradually increase intensity, they grow and toughen.

The more intense the muscle activity, the better and faster the muscle is developed. Hence, a systematic muscle development program incorporating increased muscle stimulation builds more muscles effectively. If your exercise features no such system of increasing efforts and challenges to your muscle strength, your muscles can only grow so much. Some exercises do form muscles, but only to a certain extent. The muscles built only become regulating muscles that enable you to perform normal tasks effectively. But they cannot exceed in performing beyond such tasks.

On the contrary, a fully developed muscle does not only allow you to do normal tasks; it is calibrated to reach its full potentials – far beyond what regulating muscles can do. Bodybuilding helps you develop your muscles to the extreme.