Monday, May 19, 2008

Gym Workout Bodybuilding Tips

Gym workout programs can vary dramatically from bodybuilder to bodybuilder. One gym bodybuilding workout for one bodybuilding enthusiast can deliver outstanding results while another gym workout can be a disappointment for another bodybuilder.

After thousands of bodybuilding fitness consulting sessions, and publishing a popular weight training guide, I constantly teach bodybuilders a results proven gym workout routine that builds muscle fast.

All you have to do is follow my 8 Gym Workout Bodybuilding Tips and you will soon see your muscle building results double.

8 Gym Bodybuilding Workout Tips

1. Have a clear weight training routine purpose.

Upon entering the gym it is imperative to have a clear cut bodybuilding routine plan of action. You should know exactly what exercises you will perform, how much weight you will need to lift, and how many reps you must beat. Therefore, your whole bodybuilding routine is 100% planned, set in stone, prior to beginning your gym workout. You must walk into the gym with a definite plan, and purpose.

2. Be in a "warrior" high intensity weight training state of mind.

It is crucial to enter the gym workout focused. I can remember entering the gym and instantly beginning to perspire. I mentally had worked myself up into state of high intensity weight training desire. This is even before I lifted one weight. It is called focus, and anticipation.

Bodybuilding results are only seen when you force yourself to grow. That takes high intensity weight training, as well as ultra high mental focus. Your mind should be totally focused on conquering the next rep. It is important to imagine yourself forcing out that one additional muscle building repetition.

In an effective gym workout, your attitude, and drive will determine your altitude of muscle development.

3. Focus on effective pre- gym workout bodybuilding nutrition.

Make sure you ingest a small amount of complex carbohydrates, and protein approximately 2 hours prior to beginning your gym workout. This will assure you of getting the adequate amounts of energy producing nutrients to expel in your high intensity weight training session.

Another extremely important gym workout tip is to make sure you are properly hydrated with, preferably, water. You should be consuming at least one-half of your bodyweight in ounces each and every day.

Bodybuilding training preparations are similar to space shuttle preparations. Your goal should be to get your system ready for a high intensity weight training blast off.

4. Did you bring your bodybuilding workout log to your gym workout?

One of the biggest mistakes bodybuilders consistently make is neglecting to track their weight lifting progress. Without measuring progress, there generally is little improvement. How do you know what you are suppose to beat if you have no data? How can a department store set sales goals if they don't track sales? It is just absolutely silly seeing bodybuilders completing their gym workouts without recording any data. That what is not measured will not improve.

5. Gym workouts are for training, not socializing.

Remember, you are in the gym to get muscle building results. If you are talking and goofing around, how in the world can you be ultra focused on going to war with the weights? Get your work done, and then socialize if you wish. I tell my clients to stay focused, and don't allow distractions. Focus on conquering that near impossible, muscle growth repetition.

6. Use only proven bodybuilding program principles.

Don't listen to Joe Bodybuilders newest theory on building muscle. Stick to what has been scientifically proven to work. Beware of all the gym chatter floating around. To discover all of the most advanced proven bodybuilding principles visit my muscle building weight training guide presented in digital audio. Bodybuilding Done Right is a how to bodybuilding audio revealing the proven scientific bodybuilding program principle the pros use, but refuse to share.

7. Avoid Overtraining.

Once you have completed your pre-designed 100% high intensity bodybuilding routine, it is time to get out of the gym, and go home and grow. Hold yourself back from doing one extra set. Remember, more is not necessarily better. Stick to your plan. With high intensity weight training you need less volume of work. Any extra basic weight training exercises could be counter productive to your bodybuilding muscle growth.

Get out of the gym, and let your body compensate, and later overcompensate with added fat burning muscle tissue.

Also, make sure your body has fully recovered from the previous gym workout before you train again.

8. Begin the recovery process with optimal bodybuilding nutrition.

You have an hour after your high intensity weight training workout to replenish your glycogen levels, thus, aiding in the muscle building, and recovery process. Take in two parts complex or simple carbohydrates with one part protein. This is an important bodybuilding tip that has been proven to aid in the muscle recovery, and building process. So power your gym workout with these proven tips.

These are 8 important gym workout tips that should be followed. Following these bodybuilding workout tips will do wonders for your weightlifting, muscle building results.

*** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners ***

Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your eZine, Blog, Autoresponder, or on your website as long as the links, and resource box are not altered in any way. Thank you!

Jim O'Connor - Exercise Physiologist

Copyright (c) - Wellness Word, LLC

9461 Charleville Blvd. #312

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

1-866-935-5967

Discover the newest bodybuilding breakthrough secrets in Exercise Physiologist Jim O'Connor's cutting edge 90 minute bodybuilding audio. He reveals the most effective, efficient bodybuilding tips for maxmimum muscle growth.

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

What is Your Bodybuilding Body Type?


Try and name a sport that you can participate in even if you are an old person. Chances are, you will have a hard time naming even one. But if you named bodybuilding, you are dead on right.

Bodybuilding is the art and science of developing the musculature of your body via certain kinds of physical exertion and diet whose end goal is to showcase the body for competitive exhibition. The most popular kind of bodybuilding exercise is weightlifting or weight training.

What makes bodybuilding so appealing is that it is a sport that everyone of any age can participate in. The only requirements are that one be in relatively good physical condition, has access to gym equipment, and can financially afford the lifestyle it demands.

What are the different types of bodybuilding workouts? Well, it depends first on whether your body type is that of an ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph.

An ectomorph is considered the slow gainer among bodybuilding types. He needs to slow down his hyper metabolism in order to gain muscle size and strength. This means his exercise routine should be severe enough to trigger muscle growth yet short enough to avoid nervous drain.

An endomorph, on the other hand, has a sluggish metabolism. He needs some kind of stimulating exercise every session in order to rev up his metabolism. Also, an endomorph should restrict his calorie intake due to an over-efficient digestive system that makes him gain weight easily.

The luckiest among the body types (as far as bodybuilding is concerned) is the mesomorph. A true mesomorph is able to gain muscle even with little effort on his part. Mesomorphs can be said to be gifted with muscle-building abilities, the Chosen People of bodybuilding.

No one belongs solely to one body type. Most people can be said to be a mixture of the three. However, one body type usually dominates a person?s build so that it is relatively easy to categorize bodybuilders.

Despite one?s body type, there are common techniques to follow when bodybuilding. These are:

1. Keep a training diary so that you can monitor your progress and determine what you should aim for in the future.

2. Pay attention when lifting any kind of weight to avoid injury. Carelessness is probably the foremost cause of injuries in bodybuilding.

3. Choose the types of exercises that can contract as many muscle fibers as possible during one set. This will maximize the effectiveness of the core repetitions which make up most of one?s training.

4. Warm up properly prior to doing any exercise to prevent injury.

5. Don?t change the technique of doing any exercise unless you know what you are doing. Experimenting is another cause of injury.

6. Don?t do those exercises which are known to cause tendon or joint damage.

7. Good exercise style prevents injury. So keep proper form while exercising.

8. Learn to distinguish between the pain caused by lactic acid build-up within the muscle, and the pain caused by a serious injury. Mistaking one for the other could cause you to keep exercising despite being injured, thereby worsening the injury. Rest if you are injured.

9. Practice stretching before working out. This also helps you ward off injuries.

Hopefully, these tips will help you enjoy participating in the sport of bodybuilding
Check out http://www.muscle-guide.com for more great information on building muscle and getting fit.

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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Six Unforgivable Bodybuilding Sins Part 1


If you are a hardgainer or natural bodybuilder, you already know how difficult it is to get sleeve-busting muscles. Learn how to avoid these common unforgivable bodybuilding sins that not even the Pope will excuse!

Unforgivable Bodybuilding Sin #1: Training through the motions instead of training for results

How many times have you gone to the gym and casually lift the same weights; same exercises; same workout order; and same lack of progress? This is called insanity; doing the same thing but expecting a different result. It is also known as training through the motions. Your body is present but your mind is absent. Training through the motions is fine if you are simply interested in stress release and improving your energy levels, but if you are trying to build a body you can be proud of, this won't cut it.

Only results matter, if you expect to see progress.

Consider the analogy of starting your own business. Starting your own business may earn you praise for being a hard worker, disciplined, skillfulness and many other nice compliments but if your business does not make money, the latter perks don't really matter. Whether you agree or not, money is a measurement of whether your hard work, discipline and skillfulness are paying off or not. Lifting more weight, squeezing out more reps in a workout, and completing more work in less time are all signs of measurement.

How to make this sin forgivable?

Stop training through the motions and you will no longer have the illusion that you are improving. Focus on measuring your results and out doing yourself from workout to workout and there will be no doubt that you are moving forward.

Unforgivable Bodybuilding Sin #2: Not keeping a training journal

Not keeping a training journal piggy backs on the last sin. Imagine trying to run your brand new business without keeping records. You have no idea what's coming in or what's going out. You have no idea why you had a bad month. You have no idea why you had a good month. Training is no different.

History has a tendency to repeat itself

If something worked in the past, why would it not work for the future? If something did not work in the past, than most likely it won't work in the future! If you are not tracking what works and what fails, than your training progress is doomed.

Instead of just recording what you did at each workout, start recording the details. If you had a great workout, let's determine why?

  • Is it from the amount of sleep you got the night before?
  • Was it a new workout drink you used?
  • Was it a different time of the day?
  • Did you warm up or stretch longer?
  • Did you take an extra day off?
  • Were you in a better mood?
  • How to make this sin forgivable?

    The more you know, the more control you have of experiencing the same feeling the next workout. On the flip side, if you had a terrible workout, consider all the same factors to prevent it from happening in the future.

    Human nature always want to out do itself.

    Your natural instincts will strive for improvement. If you know what the numbers were last workout, you will want to out do yourself. You will want to complete your workout in 47 minutes instead of 50 minutes. You will complete all ten reps instead of eight. You will increase your weights 2.5 lbs instead of stay the same.

    The numbers don't lie.

    A training journal will keep your progress honest and not deceive you. You might feel incredible after a workout and consider that a sign of improvement but than be disappointed when you realize that you were actually weaker meaning no sign of improvement. Treat your training like a business and it will catapult your muscle progress forward.

    Unforgivable Bodybuilding Sin #3: Broken focus

    Here is how I see many people live life. First you want to open up a restaurant. Next week you want to become a police officer. The week after that you want to go to Vegas to become a professional poker player! You will most likely fail at everything you do because of your broken focus and lack of discipline to finish what you start.

    How to make this sin forgivable?

    A lack of focus equals a lack of results. Start treating your training the same way you would treat your career. If you change your career, every few weeks, you will inevitably become a jack of all trades, master of none. It will not become a question of if, but a question of when. Your training, to build a jaw dropping physique, is no different.

    Pick one training program and stick with it

    There are a lot of options and it can be difficult to choose just one. However, look at this has a positive, and make your life simple by choosing just one and stick to it for it's entire program length. Don't start a 12 week strength program and than go back to a bodybuilding style program after three weeks because it wasn't working.

    You must trust the author of the program and take responsibility for your decision. Do not consult others about a program someone else has written, they are not the author of the program and will only confuse you. Go straight to the source and consult the author of the program if you require clarification, otherwise execute every single detail as prescribed. Stay completely focused and committed to the program you have chosen and squeezing out every ounce of muscle that it promises.

    How to pick the right program

    Don't start a high-volume training program if you are not prepared to get extra sleep, spend some extra money on supplements and find extra time in the day to eat more food. Don't start a fat loss program if you don't have the time to do double day workouts as sometimes necessary. Don't pick a bulking program if summer is coming up and you want to be ripped for summer. Bottom line, make sure you know exactly what your program entails and that you will be prepared to invest whatever is involved with the desired outcome.

    Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com/

    He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training

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    Friday, May 9, 2008

    Bodybuilding on the Go: Tips for Travelers


    Face it-not everyone has the opportunity to devote 100% of his or her life to bodybuilding. Most people also have a career and family in their lives, which leads to lots of travel between business trips and family vacations. Even if you are in that small percentage of people who can be a full-time bodybuilder, you may want to travel for competition reasons. It's hard to stick to your diet and train during travel, but with a little extra work, you can continue to stay toned even if you travel of a regular basis.

    Before you leave, hit the gym. Chances are that wherever you are staying, they do not have a weight room, or they will have limited equipment and irregular operating hours. Cardiovascular exercise is easy to do in most travel situations, but make sure you do an intense weight training session the day before or day that you leave. That way, some of your vacation time will be over your normal resting days anyway. When you get to your destination, check out the gym availability at your hotel.

    Eating right during travel is probably going to be your biggest concern. If you're on vacation, its OK to splurge a little, but try to avoid eating excessive junk food and stick to your diet plan as much as possible. When going on long flights, remember that the little package of pretzels or peanuts they give you on the airplane is probably not going to be enough to hold you over until you land, especially since you should be used to eating small meals every few hours. Eat a slightly larger meal than normal right before you leave, and take some snacks with you. Good carry-ons include granola bars, dried fruit, and protein bars or shakes. Also bring your own water-you're likely to get one small glass of juice or water on the plane, but after that, you'll have to pay for whatever you need. Once you arrive, plan enough time to eat another slightly larger meal if necessary.

    While on vacation, be smart. Scope out the nearest grocery market and stock up on healthy food options, especially if your hotel room has a microwave and refrigerator. When you go out to eat, remember to do everything in moderation. Cheating a little is fine, but try to stick to baked foods instead of fried foods. You're a bodybuilder, so you know what foods are good for you-stick to the plan and counteract any poor eating habits with extra cardiovascular workouts, such as running in the mornings before you begin your day's activities. By doing this, you can travel without sacrificing the months of hard work you've put in at the gym.

    Tom Ambrozewicz is one of the pioneers in using breakthrough audio technology on his web sites. You can read, you can listen to professional narrator reading to you or having MP3 files download and train in gym while you listen. You can check all bodybuilding tips at Ask-How.info now.

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    Tuesday, March 11, 2008

    Natural Bodybuilding Superior To Steroids

    Bodybuilding enthusiasts and athletes looking to gain an inside competitive advantage constantly battle with the temptation to take steroids or not. Deciding to body build naturally is much better than taking the steroid route. There are a number of good reasons to support this statement.

    First off, have you ever seen what happens to a bodybuilder when they go off muscle enhancing anabolic steroids? Two words that muscle building enthusiasts never want to hear, atrophy (get small), and strength lose. The fact is a steroid induced bodybuilder shouldn't stay on steroids day in and day out for years on end. It is suggested to cycle your administration, say, 6-10 weeks at a time, and then go off for an extended period of time before starting again. Weeks following going off tend to equal muscle atrophy, decreased strength, and even depression.

    Natural bodybuilding may not elicit that huge, rapid spike in muscle growth in a super short time, but illustrate a long term, stable growth curve. It may take longer to develop muscle strength and size, but when you have it, you have it as long as you keep training at an intense level. However, as witnessed many times by former steroid users, a rapid shrink in size and strength occur to levels sometimes below the natural bodybuilder's production. How much fun is that?

    Take, for instance, a professional baseball player who administers generous amounts of steroids one year and hits 58 home runs, but is only able to hit 16 during his next, steroid free season.

    Since we all want instant results, steroids may be attractive, but the medical side effects don't quite seem worth it.

    Is adding ten pounds of muscle more important than increasing heart disease risk, cancer risk, or manipulating your natural hormonal balance? This question is only for you to answer, not me. In my opinion, the risks far outweigh the benefits which are only visible when you are taking steroids. Size and strength quickly decrease after ceasing steroid use.

    Steroid users seem to have a greater risk of injury from the muscle tissue growing faster than the, trying to adapt, connective tissue. The workloads are more aggressive, more frequent, and with faster muscle building recovery times. Once again, do you want the injury prone "quick fix," or the slow, but steady wins the race approach? Just remember, the natural bodybuilder will probably show better results compared to the steroid user who has not used steroids in years. Are all the health risks worth it?

    Anabolic steroids are illegal if not administered by a physician. I known people who have died, and even been thrown in jail for using, and selling anabolic steroids. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.

    There can also be a sense of addiction for the non-natural bodybuilders. The performance enhancing, drug user gets a very good feeling when their bodies are pumped up and buff. However, the opposite happens when they stop the steroids, and the muscle shrinking process begins. Imagine the feeling these athletes get. Their body image quickly erodes, and thoughts of the next muscle producing cycle are rolling around in their heads.

    Aside from the health, and legal risks, it also costs quite a bit of money to take muscle enhancing drugs.

    Hopefully, I convinced you to not take the performance enhancing pathway, but to use your resources, and energy into training smarter. If you are a natural bodybuilder, and want an advantage, you must train in an intelligent manner. That means providing the proper intensity of muscle producing stimulus, followed by adequate rest. The natural bodybuilder must pay extra close attention to sound training practices, in order to continue that gradual, continuous climb up the muscle development ladder.

    Just remember to be patient and think long term results, not quick, short term, hi-risk muscular development. If you make a chart listing all the positives versus the negatives when it comes to natural bodybuilding versus steroid induced training, the natural bodybuilding positives far outweigh the drug induced positives. Therefore, in my eyes, natural bodybuilding is a much better training system than anabolic induced bodybuilding.

    ***** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners ***** Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your eZine, Blog, Autoresponder, or on your website as long as the links, text, and resource box are not altered in any way.

    Jim O'Connor- Exercise Physiologist

    Wellness WORD, LLC 9461 Charleville Blvd. #312 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 1-866-935-5967 http://www.naturalbodybuildinginfo.com/bodybuildingfeatures.html

    Jim O'Connor is a Beverly Hills celebrity fitness trainer who teaches the natural bodybuilding lifestyle. Discover all his training secrets by visiting http://www.naturalbodybuildinginfo.com/bodybuildingfeatures.html

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    Friday, February 29, 2008

    Bodybuilding In Jail

    We all make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes lead us into jail. While you`re sitting in your cell complaining about how stupid you were to be there, why not do something positive for yourself like bodybuild? Why not turn your life around and actually be in control for once? "So now what?" you say. Well now is when knowledge will become your best friend. Training, nutrition, and rest are three important factors when it comes to building a great body in jail.

    Creating a good workout routine will depend on what type of equipment you use. Books, drawers, shoes are all good alternatives to dumbells if you don`t have access to any. You can also do plenty of exercises with your own bodyweight such as push ups, crunches, leg raises, supermans, bridges, bench dips, air bike, freehand jump squat, and glute kickbacks. Choose from some the exercises above and create your own routine. My jail cell had an exercise bike which is a good form of cardio other good methods are jumping jacks, burpies, and if you`re desperate just walk or jog around in your cell. If you can, try to find a good training partner as well to help you stay motivated. It also will look better when you`re not the only person exercising.

    Since your only fed three meals a day, getting good nutrients is going to be tough. Most meals consist of high GI carbs, foods high in saturated fat, and not much protein so you`ve got to be smart when choosing what you eat. A good trick is to eat all the healthy foods on your tray and afterwards go around looking for leftovers to help fill you up. Since most trays consist of at least one sort of junk food, you should trade that junk to somebody for something healthy. Just don`t let the security guard catch you. You`re also going to have to time your meals so you can perform your exercises and do your best to get your post workout nutrition afterwards. You also have to remember to drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. A good rule is to look at your piss and if it`s yellow then you need to drink more water.

    In my jail, getting enough sleep is very difficult. People are always complaining and yelling stupid stuff in the dorm so it`s very difficult to get enough. One way I found is asking for earplugs if they allow them which will help out alot. You`re not going to be very active and you will be sitting around alot so you shouldn`t have any reason to worry about overtraining. On your last meal of the day, try to eat fibrous or complex carbs because they will help you sleep better.

    Those are some basic bodybuilding principles to use while you`re in jail. You should be able to keep your goals even while in jail if you want it enough. I wrote this article sitting in a jail cell with the hopes that other bodybuilders survive while being locked up. Until next time keep your head up and stay hungry. Peace.

    MY SITES: http://www.clubbodybuilding.com or http://www.geocities.com/bashore69/bodybuildingarticles.html

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    Monday, November 26, 2007

    Home Gym Equipment

    When you are setting up a gym in your home, you will need about ten basic pieces of equipment to make it successful. If you are setting one up for a male, you will probably want to make sure some of the weights are heavier to meet their needs. First, you will want a 50llb dumbbell set. A good dumbbell set which includes a set of 5llb, 8llb and 12llbs dumbbells. Dumbbells are essential in toning any body because they create lean, defined muscles which give you a sleek look as well as help burn more calories. You also are going to need a barbell set. Barbell sets are good to go along with dumbbell sets because they target different areas of the muscle, giving you an all around better workout. To help you with your weight lifting, you can purchase a pair of weight lifting gloves, which will allow you to have a better grip on the bar, as well as protect your hands from calluses.

    Now that you've got all your weight's set up, you are going to need something to work out on. If you're budget allows, you can purchase a weight bench, which allows you to do exercises of all kinds. However, if you can't afford to buy a weight bench, you can buy an aerobics step, which allows you to do many of the same exercises. You can also use an exercise ball to do your exercises on, which is very popular because they help increase balance, and core strength. After you are done your work out, you need to stretch, so a mat would be useful so you avoid rug burn, as well as bruising you're spine. These are the basic necessities for any home gym, but if you find you're self wondering what exercises to do after you've got you're gym set up, you might want to purchase a workout book as well.

    Logan writes about various topics. This article is free to re-print as long as nothing is changed, all links remained intact, the bio remains in full and the tag is not added to any of the links. Thank-you

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    Home Gym Equipment

    When you are setting up a gym in your home, you will need about ten basic pieces of equipment to make it successful. If you are setting one up for a male, you will probably want to make sure some of the weights are heavier to meet their needs. First, you will want a 50llb dumbbell set. A good dumbbell set which includes a set of 5llb, 8llb and 12llbs dumbbells. Dumbbells are essential in toning any body because they create lean, defined muscles which give you a sleek look as well as help burn more calories. You also are going to need a barbell set. Barbell sets are good to go along with dumbbell sets because they target different areas of the muscle, giving you an all around better workout. To help you with your weight lifting, you can purchase a pair of weight lifting gloves, which will allow you to have a better grip on the bar, as well as protect your hands from calluses.

    Now that you've got all your weight's set up, you are going to need something to work out on. If you're budget allows, you can purchase a weight bench, which allows you to do exercises of all kinds. However, if you can't afford to buy a weight bench, you can buy an aerobics step, which allows you to do many of the same exercises. You can also use an exercise ball to do your exercises on, which is very popular because they help increase balance, and core strength. After you are done your work out, you need to stretch, so a mat would be useful so you avoid rug burn, as well as bruising you're spine. These are the basic necessities for any home gym, but if you find you're self wondering what exercises to do after you've got you're gym set up, you might want to purchase a workout book as well.

    Logan writes about various topics. This article is free to re-print as long as nothing is changed, all links remained intact, the bio remains in full and the tag is not added to any of the links. Thank-you

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