Caffeine - The bodybuilding secret

What if i told you that the secret to becoming lean for bodybuilders and lots of other athletes was caffeine? You would probably say I'm crazy and think i have no idea what i am talking about. I would have had the same reaction had i not taken the time to do some research. What i found out was absolutely amazing and has been proven through clinical studies. I highly recommend at least taking a look at a few facts that i put together about the benefits of caffeine when weight training. I understand that it can be a very touchy subject due to popular belief that caffeine is in fact unhealthy, but facts are facts, how can we argue?

Caffeine for fat burn

- A common benefit found in caffeine is fat burn.

- Caffeine promotes the breakdown of stored fats.

- When caffeine is taken with a meal, it is known to convert a higher level of food into usable energy.

- Fat burn with caffeine is less effective on a high carb diet.

- Fat burning with caffeine takes place 3-4 hours after ingestion.

Caffeine for endurance and intensity

- Having caffeine 3 hours prior to training showed an 18% increase in time to exhaustion

- Having caffeine 3 hours prior to training showed a 24% increase in intensity

- Caffeine acts on the skeletal muscle by increasing calcium permeability

These are just a few of the great benefits caffeine has shown to have that could help athletes. Here is a short list of some of the great benefits found from using caffeine 3-4 hours prior to training.

Pros of Caffeine intake

1. Increased definition
2. Increased vascularity
3. Accelerates Fat burn
4. Better pump when weight lifting
5. Increased intensity and endurance

I am convinced that caffeine will have some great benefits in weight training. Will i include caffeine in my program? That i am yet to decide. The reason is simple, most pros are accompanied by cons. I will give you a small list of the cons to caffeine intake and let your decide.

Cons of caffeine intake

1. Could boost the risk of heart disease
2. Boost in blood glucose
3. May lower bone mineral density in women
4. May increase medical impairments ( induced anxiety disorder, sleep disorders, caffeine intoxication, and others )
5. Can become addictive

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Weight lifting for women to avoid bulking up

When it comes to women who are trying to get lean and in shape, will weight lifting bulk them up? I am not going to give you a yes or no answer; instead I am going to explain the benefits of weight lifting for women who are trying to get in shape without bulking up. Also, I will give you a program that will help you get sexier and firmer abs, and get you in great shape all around. If bulking up is not on your agenda, you have come to the right place.

Benefits of weight lifting for women

Muscle mass will actually act as a fat burner. Having muscle will actually speed up your metabolism and burn fat even while you rest.

Weight lifting for women will also increase strength and help combat osteoporosis.

As a woman you can perform similar exercises as male weight lifters without gaining unwanted size and instead become more firm.

Here are a few tips to get you going

3 day weight training week – Weight lifting for women 3 days a week will help increase strength and muscle which will in exchange help your body burn more fat faster. If you are spending the majority of your time in the gym doing cardio, remember that weight lifting will actually help burn the fat and at the same time get you firm and toned.

Sets and reps – I recommend you perform about 3 sets per exercise with about 10-12 reps each. You don’t want to lift too heavy, make sure that you are lifting light enough to perform 10-12 reps. Make sure to increase weight if you are performing 12 reps too easily. Be sure to increase weight by about 5 pounds every couple of sessions to increase strength.

Working the entire body – Instead of working biceps and triceps or any specific muscle group, perform workouts that target different muscle groups. Certain exercises target various muscles on the lower body and some the upper body. Some examples of good exercises are…

-Variations of different squats
-Lunges
-Hang cleans
-Dips
-Pull ups

Do not eliminate cardio – Although there are great benefits in weight lifting for women, cardio will also play a roll in getting the body you have always wanted. You are now going to focus more on weight lifting, but cardio should be performed after your weight lifting sessions for about 15-30 minutes. This will increase your cardiovascular performance which will in exchange give you more endurance to get a better workout when weight lifting. Cardio training is also very important when burning unwanted fat. I recommend performing your cardio after your weightlifting to ensure you are lifting to your full potential.

High Intensity – On 2 of the days off from weight lifting, perform some sort of high intensity, circuit, or interval training. These types of training are extremely effective when burning unwanted fat and getting toned. Performing these types of training can also be very time efficient and self motivating. Here is a great body weight cardio exercise that I highly recommend.

Proper diet – Diet is a very important step on your journey to getting the body you have always wanted. I am not going to create a never ending list of what and what not to eat; instead I will just give you a few tips.

-8-10 glasses of water per day
-Organic foods for breakfast
-No meals less than 4 hours before bed

Here are a few simple things you can change to create a big difference.

There you have it, weight lifting for women without bulking up. Follow the advice written in this article and you can also avoid some health risks. Remember, building muscle will in return help your body become a fat burning machine. Good luck on your journey to getting the sexy and firm physique that you always wanted.

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Building a nice peak on your bicep

I was online the other day checking out some workout videos on youtube when i came across this one. This is an awesome bicep exercise that targets the brachialis muscle. If you don't know what the brachialis muscle is, it is a muscle in the upper arm that flexes the elbow joint. Building this muscle is believed to aid in getting that nice peak in your bicep. I mostly was targeting this muscle with variations of reverse curls, but thanks to Lee Hayward, i have found a better more effective way to get that nice peak on my bicep. Check out this video he has created demonstrating a great way to build the brachialis

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Novedex XT reviews and results

It has been a while since i did a review on a supplement. I went ahead and did some research to find out what supplements are hot on the market. Believe it or not, there are way to many hot ones for me to review. So instead, being a huge fan of Gaspari Nutrition, i decided to write about a testosterone booster by them called Novedex XT. Novedex XT claims to increase natural testosterone levels and reducing any and all estrogen in the body. Sounds pretty safe and very effective if you ask me. Novedex XT also claims to increase lean mass, strength, endurance, and help look dry and lean. The clinical studies on this product say that it is the best product of its kind in the market according to the results. Novedex XT is non-anabolic and non-androgenic, seems safe to me. If these are facts, why not try it right? Sounds like the perfect testosterone booster. Lets see what people are saying about this amazing testosterone booster by Gaspari Nutrition.

What are companies rating it?

-Supplementcritic.com gives Novedex XT 4 stars out of 5

-Supplementrating.com gives Novedex XT a 5.7 out of 10

-Fitflex.com gives Novedex XT 4.4 stars out of 5

-Bodybuilding.com reviews Novedex XT a 7.7 out of 10

What are people saying?

John of Texas says... " am soon to turn 60 and have noticed I am sleeping 6 to 7 hours straight, since starting Novedex XT, haven't sleep longer the 3 hours straight in almost 20 years"

Budd of Pennsylvania says... "Side effects for me (everyone is different) included: NO SEX DRIVE, and some acne."

BballJesus says... "in terms of lifting i noticed the last two times i lifted my pumps have been outrageous. i have neverending energy and so much motivation to lift. "

s0509102 says... "It has helpled me gain lean muscle in areas where I have found in the past difficult to gain. I am beginning to develop a six pack, which I thought would ever happen in my life "

NOWheyU2 says... "all i noticed from this was bacne and anger issues. not sure about strength, but i was way motivated in the gym."

yonihassin says... "This product is pure gold. Let me get the 3 side effects out of the way: increased rage, increased sex drive, and some more acne breakouts. That was really all the negatives I felt, but this product helped me increase my strength while cutting fat"

What does musclemonsters think?

I think that Novedex XT, like any other product, is going to depend on the person. Everyone's body reacts very different to most supplements. I think Novedex XT is very safe but has a high possibility of back acne. Also, i think that if you are naturally an angry person, this will only increase the anger. The product seems to have pretty decent reviews, i do believe it will increase strength a little, and i do believe it will in a way act as some sort of a fat burner to give you a leaner look. Will i recommend it? Well that depends on what your fitness goals are. I think it is very safe to try and if you are curious about trying it, give it a try. I don't see it giving huge results like most proh0rmones, but in Novedex XT's defense, it never claimed too. But then again, it is a lot more safe. I do think it will do what it claims it does with the possibility of some negative side effects.

As someone who has never tried it, based on reviews i give it an 8 out of 10 for being a safe and effective testosterone booster.

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How skinny guys gain muscle

I know first hand what it feels like to be skinny and unable to gain muscle. Believe it or not, gaining muscle could be a lot less complicated then you think. Ive written a few articles for guys like us who are naturally skinny, but what i skipped was this; i never actually mentioned what NOT to do. There are a lot of small things we could change when trying to bulk up and fortunately i found someone who created a great break down of those things.

Are you a skinny guy making these 5 mistakes that are stopping you from gaining muscle?

MISTAKE 1 - Isolation Workouts

This is the main reason skinny guys stay small is because their entire workout consists of isolation workouts. What they don't realize is isolation workouts work the smaller muscles.

If you want to stay small and skinny, carry on doing isolation workouts. If you want to be big and muscular, do compound workouts!

Compound workouts work several muscle groups at once, and allows you lift heavier weights, then what you can with isolation workouts.

Here's a couple of examples of some good compound workouts


Deadlift
Squats

Squatting and Deadlifting are responsible for increasing power and building muscle mass.

These two exercises alone, work out about 75% of your entire musculature, including your traps, shoulders, arms, back. glutes, hamstring , calves and core muscles.

Here are some more examples of good compound workouts


Bench Press
Dips
Chin Ups
Pull Ups
Barbell Rows
Clean and Press

Compound workouts also build the most muscle within the shortest time!

MISTAKE 2 - Machines

Most gym machines will not build muscle mass the same way free weights can! The main benefits of machines are... that they make gyms look pretty and high tech. However, this is no benefit to you?

MISTAKE 3 - Relaying to heavily on supplements

A lot of skinny guys relay too heavily on supplements to gain muscle and weight, you'll find that 80% of their diet is protein shakes and weight gainers.

Supplements don't have the same anabolic effect as REAL food! Foods such as Chicken, Steak, Tuna and eggs will help you build muscle and gain weight faster than any protein shake, or weight gainer.

Remember supplements are there to supplement your diet, not be your main source.

MISTAKE 4 - Working out too much!

Skinny guys need to realize that spending 10 hours in the gym doing 7 million sets and reps WON'T help you build muscle. In fact it'll start to make you smaller.

Keep you workout short, about 45 min, and intense. Do as much as you can within the shortest amount of time. This stresses the muscles, and gives them a reason to grown bigger.

MISTAKE 5 - Following Workouts in bodybuilding magazines

Following the workout routines in bodybuilding magazines won't help skinny guys build muscle.

Unless you're on steroids, trying to do the same workout as Mr Olympia will only cause you injuries. These workouts are not designed for skinny guys!

If you're a skinny guy and want to gain weight and build muscle visit muscle and weight gain, it's a free step by step guide to help you build muscle fast!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Haz_Ansari

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How to build bigger legs for hardgainers

Are you tired of wearing long pants because you are embarrassed of your chicken legs? So was I, until I did my research. What I discovered was that as a hardgainer, building bigger legs is a bit trickier than your average weight lifter. See, there are three main focus points when building bigger legs for hardgainers. Once I followed these simple focus points on my journey to building bigger legs, I had gained noticeable muscle mass in my legs within a four week period.

-Compound exercises

-Increase weight regularly

-Rest your legs (Reduce cardio)

Compound exercises
Compound exercises target multiple muscle groups. These are the best exercises to build muscle mass for hardgainers. With compound exercises you will pack more muscle on your upper and lower body. Performing these big exercises like squats and deadlifts, your body will naturally produce more testosterone. Also, the additional testosterone from extra muscle tissue stimulus will help you build muscle mass faster.

Increase weight regularly
Increasing the weight you lift is very important. One of the most common mistakes hardgainers make when building bigger legs is not increasing weight. What happens is this; your body gets used to lifting that specific amount of weight and sees no reason to get stronger or increase muscle size. This is called a plateau, you continue using the same amount of weight and see little to no gains. The trick is simple, add more weight and your body will notice that if it wants to continue to lift that weight, it will have to get stronger and increase size. This is going to play a major roll in your attempt to build bigger legs as a hardgainer.

Rest your legs (reduce cardio)
As a hardgainer, trying to build bigger legs, cardio should definitely be reduced. Cardio exercises like running, jogging, walking, etc, are all using your leg muscles. This will increase chances of fatigue when exercising your leg muscles. Basically what happens is one of two things, either your not able to lift to your full potential or you over train the muscle. Either way, the process of muscle increase is being denied.

Resting the leg muscles is very important. In fact, rest might be the main reason even regular weight lifters (non hardgainers) have trouble building certain muscle groups. Resting your leg muscles between cardio and lifting is absolutely necessary. In simple terms; our muscles grow while they rest, if they don’t get sufficient rest, they don’t grow. It really is that simple.

Build bigger legs
So let’s focus on those compound exercises to increase muscle mass throughout the body, Increase the weight regularly to avoid a plateau, and rest those legs. Follow these 3 simple steps and get those “tree trunk legs” you have always wanted. Don’t be embarrassed about having skinny legs when you’re at the pool anymore. Put those long pants away and show off those big muscular legs and calfs.

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Top muscle mass building exercises

Everyone wants to build muscle and bulk up, the only problem is, no one wants to do the workouts that are going to help gain that mass. It is either that, or they have no idea what workouts are best to build the muscle. So what I am going to do for you is this, I am going to create a list of the top most important exercises to build muscle mass in order from most important to least.

I write this with confidence because there is over 100 years of evidence that these workouts actually work faster. The key is to stress the biggest amount of muscle the fastest. What kind of exercise stresses the largest amount of muscle the fastest? Well, ask yourself this, what do all the workouts in the list have in common? You got it! They are all compound movements. There is your answer; compound movements stress the largest amount of muscle the quickest.

Another thing, notice that the top 3 are lower body movements. I’ll explain why; the leg muscles are the largest in the body. Ok, and? Well the fastest way to build more muscle mass is to build the largest muscles in your body. Make sense now?

Squats

Assuming you are working out in a gym with a rack, I will rate the squat number one most important workout to build muscle. There are many ways to perform squats, in my opinion, just do them. It wouldn’t hurt to rotate through different types of squats considering they all play a different roll in building leg muscles.

Dead Lift

There are more then a few ways to perform dead lifts, like squats, just do them. I will admit that although some ways may work slightly better than others, the small difference shouldn't be enough for you to stress out about what way to perform the dead lift. One thing you may notice is your lower back giving out a lot faster then your legs. If this is the case, use a trap bar, the trap bar will take a lot of the stress off of your lower back.

Leg press

If for any reason you are unable to perform squats, I suggest replacing that workout with the leg press. The leg press is best mass builder for legs after squats and dead lifts. The last thing you want to do when building mass is neglect your lower body.

Chins (Upper body squat)

Just the name alone gives you some idea of how important this workout is. This workout is great for building upper body mass.

Bench press

Everyone knows and loves the bench press. Although it is not the most important mass builder, people seem to treat it like it is. If you exchanged the amount of time your spent bench pressing with the amount of time you spent squatting, I bet you would notice a huge difference in muscle mass. One tip for the bench press, hold the bar at your nipples or maybe about an inch lower to put less stress on the shoulders.

Shrugs

This workout is for the trapezius maximus, also known as traps. One of the biggest muscles in your body and also often rejected. You see the diamond shaped muscle in the middle of your back? Yeah, that’s it.

Overhead press

This is a very common workout, often confused for a chest exercise; the overhead press is in fact a shoulder workout. These can be performed standing but if they are performed sitting then it makes it harder to cheat. Also, you get more support for your back.

There it is, the top most important exercises to build muscle mass. Put the importance of each exercise in the order I have listed and notice incredible gains faster than you could imagine. Remember, everyone wants to get big but no one wants to do the work. These are basic workouts that everyone knows about, the point is to use them more often in the order presented.

For best results, follow the top mass building diet.

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Build your upper body fast

Two exercises, that’s it! That is all you are going to need to build up your upper body. You see, all that fancy equipment you use in the gym is unnecessary when trying to build your upper body. Am I saying don’t use the machines in your gym for your workouts? No, not at all, in fact, I use machines and gym equipment in my workouts all the time. What I’m saying is this, any workout that requires you to move your body in space like squats, pull ups, dead lifts, and push ups are most effective when developing your body.

Let’s say you just don’t have time for the gym one day. It’s no big deal, why? I’ll explain. Like I said, workouts like push ups, pull ups, squats, and dead lifts are more effective when building raw strength and developing your body. In this article, I am specifically going to target two exercises that work best when building your upper body fast. Not only will you get better results, but you will save time from the gym when you are on a tight schedule.

Build your upper body fast

With just two workouts you are going to develop a nice shredded back, bigger shoulders, more defined chest, and nice big and defined arms. The workout works best when performed in a superset, meaning that you will perform workout number one for about 6-12 reps and this will be followed by workout number two for about 6-12 reps with only about 15-30 seconds of rest in between. Once you have completed that, it is one set out of the four you will be performing. Rest in between sets will be for one minute, no more and no less.

Workout number one (Pull ups)

Pull ups are mainly going to target upper back and arms. There are many different styles to perform pull ups, every different grip targets the back and arms a little differently. Here is a list of some of the variations for grips when doing pull ups.

-Close grip
-Medium grip
-Wide grip
-Reverse grip (Close, medium, wide)

As you perform this exercise more may want to add weight with a weight belt. This will add more resistance and aid in the development of strength and mass. A spotter is not necessary but will help. When you are reaching fatigue, your spotter can assist with the last couple of reps to break the threshold which will in exchange aid in your gains in mass and strength.

Workout number two (Dips)

This is one exercise that is ignored by many but is in fact one of the better workouts to build the upper body. Dips will target chest, triceps, front deltoids, and will just add mass to the entire front of your upper body. There are a few ways to perform dips, for beginners, I would suggest heels on the floor and hands on the bench or stable piece of furniture that will allow you to perform them. You can move on to heels on the bench with hands on the bench so that you get better range in motion. Also, in the same position you can place weights on your thighs for resistance. Or, of course you could use the dip bars and add weights with a weight belt for resistance that way.

Build that upper body

There you have it, two incredible workouts that can be done from almost anywhere as a superset to help develop your upper body fast. Start off with the pull ups, 15-30 second rest, and then perform dips (1 set). One minute rest between sets and four sets total. I recommend this exercise 2-3 days a week for best results. Make sure you are giving your body the proper rest in between those 2-3 days to allow your muscles to heal and grow. Follow this and notice incredible gains in strength, upper body mass, and definition.

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