Bodybuilding for Your Body Type

No two human beings are alike, so it should make sense that no two human beings can train the same way either. The key to successful bodybuilding, as any professional will tell you, is to know your body-know your limits and know how your body will respond to certain conditions. That said, to help optimize you bodybuilding workout, evaluate your body type. Everyone in the world falls into one of three categories: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. By determining your body category, you can help find the lifestyle that is perfect for you. As always, check with your doctor before changing your diet and workout schedule.

Ectomorphs are people who naturally have little or no fat. Usually, ectomorphs are tall and have longer limbs as well. Because of their build, most ectomorphs opt for endurance sports, like running, but if you fall into this category, you can also become a world-class bodybuilder. To start, ectomorphs need to up their calorie count and eat it more throughout the day in smaller meals. Try to increase your intake by at least 500 calories per day to help you put on the weight. Eating more does not necessarily mean eating anything, so ectomorphs need to have a high calorie but healthy diet to be successful at bodybuilding. Also, if you are an ectomorph, cut most of the cardiovascular activity from your workout and focus purely on intense weight training. Don't overtrain, but get into the gym every 3 or 4 days for a hard full-body workout that targets all muscle groups. It is difficult for ectomorphs to gain muscle mass, but with lots of dedication, it can be done.

Mesomorphs are the people everyone envies. They're the folks you see who eat lots of junk food, yet still have the "perfect" bodies. One trap mesomorphs easily fall into is the mindset that because they can skip workouts or eat pizza without any visible effect, it is having no effect on their bodies at all. This is not true-good genes gave you a good body, but things such as heart disease will effect you just as easily as the next person. Mesomorphs shouldn't have to change the amount of food that they eat, but if you fall into this category, make an effort to eat healthy foods and lots of good carbohydrates. At the gym, you can choose to do a full-body training session, but it will probably be more beneficial to you to target and define muscles in specific areas.

Endomorphs also have no problem gaining muscle mass, but unlike mesomorphs, these people also have no problem gaining weight. Diet control is the key to successful bodybuilding for endomorphs-eat smaller meals spread out throughout the day and cut out the junk food. Also, drink a lot of water and try to stop eating for the day about 3 hours before your bedtime. Endomorphs shouldn't have any problem becoming muscular, but they need to hit the gym for lots of cardiovascular workouts as well-every day if possible. This will help the fat melt from your body so that you can begin to see the muscles you are defining.

Whatever your body type, bodybuilding can be the perfect sport for you. Be sensible about your habits and be dedicated to the sport, and you will find that definition and muscle mass can be accomplished.

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.

Creatine for Bodybuilding

Creatine is a supplement widely used in the bodybuilding circuit as a substance to enhance muscle growth and promote the functions which are involved in creating more muscle mass. In this article I will explain what creatine is, dispel the myths around the supplement and how it can help you achieve your bodybuilding goals.

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in the human body and it aids your muscles to work at strength for longer - this is its primary function. Since creatine is found in products like meat, people who eat a lot of meat will generally have a higher concentration of creatine in their muscles than say vegetarians or those whom don't eat much meat.

It is also known that taking creatine in the body as an added substance, such as creatine supplements that bodybuilders take, enhances the strength of the muscles and improves recovery time when the muscle actually grows. This is the reason every competitive bodybuilder uses creatine when bulking and adding muscle mass.

When creatine as a supplement first came out there were many myths circulating about the safety of the substance, with stories of weights crashing down on people and alsorts of similar horror stories - while it isn't known why stories like these were spread they have since been proven to be false and creatine is now considered by most to be a safe supplement, just like protein powder or any other common supplement used in bodybuilding.

Creatine will enhance any strength trainers workout session as it allows you to lift for longer, this means instead of burning out at 3 repetitions of a heavy weight, you could in fact lift for a longer period of time, say 10 seconds, along you to complete a full working set of 8 repetitions, which is regards as the best number of reps to promote muscle growth. Due to the fact you lifted heavier for an adequate number of repetitions, the muscles will now repair and grow larger than they would have been able to previously.

Article by Frank Owen, visit his website on creatine for more information on creatine and how it can improve your physique

Best Bodybuilding Tip

If there is one surefire bodybuilding tip that I can share with you, which will skyrocket your muscle building efforts, it is rest.

Now you say rest. Yes, I am saying rest, don't workout. This may be way against the grain of your logical thinking, but according to sound physiology, it is right on. If you want to get bigger, stronger, and more cut; then I am recommending not to workout. Resting is the most powerful muscle building technique you can implement.

First off, your body develops muscle while you are resting, not during your bodybuilding workout sessions. Muscle fibers hypertrophy, or get bigger, and stronger than before, thus, get you ready to lift more weight during the next bout of exercise.

The entire muscle building process begins when you lift your first weight to a level of overload, or momentary muscle failure. You will be unable to move the weight for another repetition. This momentary muscle failure places stress on the muscle and calls upon it to adapt by becoming stronger to overcome similar resistance in the future. Thus, the growth process has been stimulated. Strength training to absolute muscle failure stimulates muscle growth, but doesn't produce muscle by itself.

Now you go home from the gym, and fuel your body to allow for an energy compensation to occur, which gets your body back to the energy level it was prior to your hi intensity training session. When this short step has completed, overcompensation begins. This is where muscle fibers thicken and begin to grow stronger.

The next question you might ask is how long do I rest? You rest long enough to complete this overcompensation process. Not resting long enough is the biggest mistake ninety nine percent of bodybuilding participants make. If you take the more is better approach by coming back before your muscles are fully recuperated, you will short circuit the whole muscle building process and decrease your bodybuilding workout results. Don't make this deadly mistake! Let your body completely finish growing before you stimulate it again with another bout of resistance overload.

There are a lot of variables that come into play when recommending the exact number of rest days. How hard did you workout? How many sets? How intense was the workout? The higher the intensity, and volume, the more rest days you will require between workouts. The average rest days vary between 3-15 days between workouts.

The best bodybuilding tip I can offer you for figuring out the exact amount of rest you need is by testing it. When I say "testing," I am referring to keeping a training log to determine if your strength increases, decreases, or stays the same. If your strength increases, your rest is optimal. If it decreases, you need to take 1-2 or more days off to allow the growth process to complete. If strength stays the same, take another day off before your next bodybuilding workout session.

Your goal should be to become stronger with each subsequent workout. Get into the gym, stimulate growth, and then get the hell out of the gym to go home and grow.

Therefore, rest is the most neglected principle in the bodybuilding universe. Think more is not better. Higher intensity plus optimal rest equals muscle growth.

Please don't make this critical mistake, rest is by far the most important bodybuilding tip I can share with you. Follow it to obtain maximum muscle growth quickly.

***** 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 / The Fitness Promoter

Wellness WORD, LLC 9461 Charleville Blvd. #312 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 1-866-935-5967

Exercise Physiologist Jim O'Connor creates and markets empowering health and fitness products across the world. Visit his Bodybuilding Done Right Blog and receive, for free, his report on The 5 Most Deadly Muscle Building Mistakes You Must Avoid. Building Mistakes You Must Avoid

Bodybuilding, Weight Loss and Exercise Tips Goal Setting for Long Term Results.

 Goal setting means you have to think ahead, have some faith, and ask for help!

My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder personal, trainer to movie stars, former employee of Kathy Smith and over 50, 000 hours of paid personal training sessions under my belt. For the last twenty years I have been able to continually make progress, stay consistent and have some fun in my quest to be in better shape.

Not because I am anything special, or know some magic formula, but because I have learned a few goal and program setting techniques that I would like to share with you. Start incorporating them into your plan today and notice the difference tomorrow.

The very first question I ask each new client that comes to me is this, How long have you been on the same workout program? With out fail most if not all say, Over six months. Then they do not understand why they are not progressing.

Rule 1:

Change your routine up every twelve weeks: Your body adapts to exercise like our bodies adapt to taking antibiotics. For some reason after a period of time it gets use to the same routine. 

Rule 2:

Rest period between twelve week segments: Take a few days off between the twelve segments refreshes you and allows your body to recuperate.

Rule 3:

Keep to ball rolling: There is a let down after you have reached your goal. When you realize that you are going to reach your goal start thinking of the next one. This keeps the momentum going, and decreases the chance of having a let down. 

Rule 4:

You need a carrot: You need some tangible reward for your efforts. Something urgent, something you just have to have. Find it and it will motivate you in the down times. 

Rule 5:

Follow an intensity curve: With in the twelve week segment ramp up your intensity levels in your workouts. Start at eighty percent and by week two you should be at 100 percent.

Rule 6:

One main goal a year: Set one big goal a year with seasonal ones leading up to the big one.

Start with these and see how your motivation goes up through out the year.

START LOSING WEIGHT THE RIGHT WAY FOR GOOD TODAY! FREE MINI COURSE click here www.resolutions.bz Discover the common sense way to lose weight with out dieting  Greg Ryan is a best selling author, former employee of Kathy Smith, and high profile fitness expert.

BREAK

Powerful Bodybuilding Exercises for Ultimate Muscle-Growth

 It's a fact. If you want to catapult your natural testosterone levels and march your metabolism to the next level, make sure that your weight training program, puts into action the magic trio, and that's bench presses, dead lifts & squats.

Most trainees miss out one, or two of those fundamental exercises, with unacceptable excuses, like: "Squats and dead lifts are designated for the
hard core bodybuilders", or "Deadlifts can be detrimental to your skeletal bones".
If you want to reach your optimum genetic capacity, you just can't ignore the "magic trio".
Those are crucial compound movements which recruit the most of your muscular tissues, and as a consecutive effect, trigger muscle optimum growth.
One of your most important hormones, the "testosterone", is excreted successfully each time you perform squats, dead lifts and bench presses, more than any other exercise!
Your system is literally forced to produce even more testosterone,
to correspond to demanding movements that the magic trio imposes.

The benefits of basic/compound exercises are unsurpassed:

-> Your body excretes more testosterone & growth hormones, thus greater muscularity

-> Your metabolism eventually speeds up by transforming your system to a potential "fat burner" and "muscle-builder"

-> Your strength levels are increased dramatically

-> Your system improves its' oxygenation capacity

To reap all the advantages of a dynamic weight training session, keep sets no more than 3-6 per muscle group, while resting 2-4 minutes between sets.


The trick to knowing when you're prepared for the next set,
is to wait until your heart-beat restores its' normal pace.

Ideally, the normal heart-beat is when you are walking in a steady pace, like when going out for a typical walk.

In conclusion, compound exercises like Bench-Press, Squats and Deadlifts, are a "must" for triumphant achievements
in sheer power and ultimate muscle-mass.

Want to take a brief and proven test, to measure your level of success with bodybuilding? Here's a quiz,at:
http://bodybuildingtips.net/quiz

Most trainees miss out one, or two of those fundamental exercises, with unacceptable excuses, like: "Squats and dead lifts are designated for the
hard core bodybuilders", or "Deadlifts can be detrimental to your skeletal bones".



If you want to reach your optimum genetic capacity, you just can't ignore the "magic trio".

Those are crucial compound movements which recruit the most of your muscular tissues, and as a consecutive effect, trigger muscle optimum growth.



One of your most important hormones, the "testosterone", is excreted successfully each time you perform squats, dead lifts and bench presses, more than any other exercise!

Your system is literally forced to produce even more testosterone,
to correspond to demanding movements that the magic trio imposes.

The benefits of basic/compound exercises are unsurpassed:


-> Your body excretes more testosterone & growth hormones, thus greater muscularity

-> Your metabolism eventually speeds up by transforming your system to a potential "fat burner" and "muscle-builder"

-> Your strength levels are increased dramatically

-> Your system improves its' oxygenation capacity

To reap all the advantages of a dynamic weight training session, keep sets no more than 3-6 per muscle group, while resting 2-4 minutes between sets.


The trick to knowing when you're prepared for the next set,
is to wait until your heart-beat restores its' normal pace.

Ideally, the normal heart-beat is when you are walking in a steady pace, like when going out for a typical walk.

In conclusion, compound exercises like Bench-Press, Squats and Deadlifts, are a "must" for triumphant achievements
in sheer power and ultimate muscle-mass.

Want to take a brief and proven test, to measure your level of success with bodybuilding? Here's a quiz,at:
http://bodybuildingtips.net/quiz

Know Your Bodybuilding Supplement - BCAA's

BCAA stands for branched chain amino acids and is increasingly being recognized as an important supplement in the field of sports nutrition. In short the term refers to three essential amino acids - leucine, isoleucine and valine.

Amino acids are widely known as the building blocks of protein. When protein food is eaten it gets digested into individual amino acids and short chains of amino acids that are sufficiently small to be absorbed into the bloodstream. They are then used by the body to build and repair tissues amongst other things.

Amino acids are split between those classed as essential and those labelled non-essential. This simply means that essential amino acids cannot be made by the body, whereas non-essential amino acids can. There are nine essential amino acids and each must be obtained from the diet. The nine essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Non-essential amino acids are just as important as the essential variety and the term simply means they can be made by the body from vitamins and other amino acids. The non-essential amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.

The BCAA's are especially important to athletes because they are metabolized in the muscle rather than the liver. This means that they can be used either to build new proteins or be burned as fuel to create energy. Supplementing with BCAA's has been shown to result in measurable gains in both muscle strength and size. Taken before a workout BCAA's can improve performance and delay the onset of fatigue. They also operate as anabolic agents allowing the body to burn fat and not muscle.

As a supplement that has no reported side effects, branched chain amino acids offer many benefits to the serious bodybuilder.

Amino acids are widely known as the building blocks of protein. When protein food is eaten it gets digested into individual amino acids and short chains of amino acids that are sufficiently small to be absorbed into the bloodstream. They are then used by the body to build and repair tissues amongst other things.

Amino acids are split between those classed as essential and those labelled non-essential. This simply means that essential amino acids cannot be made by the body, whereas non-essential amino acids can. There are nine essential amino acids and each must be obtained from the diet. The nine essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Non-essential amino acids are just as important as the essential variety and the term simply means they can be made by the body from vitamins and other amino acids. The non-essential amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.

The BCAA's are especially important to athletes because they are metabolized in the muscle rather than the liver. This means that they can be used either to build new proteins or be burned as fuel to create energy. Supplementing with BCAA's has been shown to result in measurable gains in both muscle strength and size. Taken before a workout BCAA's can improve performance and delay the onset of fatigue. They also operate as anabolic agents allowing the body to burn fat and not muscle.

As a supplement that has no reported side effects, branched chain amino acids offer many benefits to the serious bodybuilder.

Rick Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

 

Choosing the right bodybuilding supplement

Before wasting your money on a pile of bodybuilding supplements you really need to work out what you are hoping to achieve. Don't lose sight of the fact that sound nutrition forms the basis of any muscle building program and no amount of supplementation with the latest and greatest products will make up for bad eating habits. The bottom line is, bodybuilding supplements should be used IN ADDITION to regular food, not INSTEAD OF it.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go on to think about what supplements could be of use and this is something that can only be determined by your physical and performance goals. Don't make the mistake of copying your training partners or believing all the garbage spouted in magazine ads. Decide first what you want to achieve and then choose the supplements that will help you reach your goals.

To help you make an informed choice, the most popular and useful bodybuilding supplements available today are listed below, broadly divided into two goal-related categories.

Determined to build muscle? This cannot be achieved without dedication, sheer hard work and sound nutrition. With a solid foundation in place you can help the process along with supplements like creatine, whey protein, prohormones, testosterone boosters and amino acids.

Need to lose fat? There is no point in building awesome muscles if they're covered by layers of fat. Once again, the key to success is hard work but you can boost fat loss by using products from supplement categories that include fat burners, stimulant-free products, appetite suppressants and carb blockers.

Many more supplements are available to support your bodybuilding endeavors. These include energy boosters and products aimed at enhancing the condition of your mind and body. As we progress through this series of articles we'll look at each of these in turn.

In the meantime you can find out more by visiting the web site listed below.


Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Muscle Building Supplements to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

Know your bodybuilding supplement - l-tyrosine

L-tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid that plays a role in the creation of protein. The body can make it from the amino acid phenylalanine but nutritional sources include animal meats, wheat, oatmeal and seafood.

It performs a multitude of important roles in the body including the alleviation of depression, enhancement of thyroid efficiency, strengthening of the immune system, prevention of neurological degeneration and protection of the skin.

Bodybuilders find it useful for several reasons:

1. It offsets the stress and fatigue associated with intensive training.

2. It helps in the retention of muscular protein.

3. It heightens mental alertness thus helping to offset mental fatigue.

With any amino acid supplement overdosing can lead to weakness and nausea so care should be taken in applying small doses and increasing them gradually until an optimum level is reached. Bear in mind that many protein powders and other supplements are fortified with amino acids so check the labels carefully. The manufacturer's instructions should be followed in all instances.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

Tips for Choosing Gym Quality Fitness Equipment for Your Home Use

If you've been to health clubs and gyms before, you must have admired a few fitness equipment that have worked so well with your fitness routine. Now that you're ready to invest in some serious exercise routine from your home, you're probably wondering where to find gym-quality home fitness equipment.

If you're a little bit confused, you're not alone. With so many home fitness equipment that claim to be the best alternative to gym quality fitness machines, it's easy to get lost in the choices. But with a little patience and some research, you'll find the perfect home fitness equipment that is the best for your fitness needs. Here's how:

Know your fitness goals
One of the biggest mistakes you could ever make is to buy the biggest, meanest gym quality fitness equipment monster there is simply because it's the best looking one in the store. The truth is, picking a home fitness equipment is like picking a partner to marry. What could be perfect for one could be disastrous for another.

Keep your fitness goals in mind when shopping for a home fitness equipment. Take note of the physical activities you enjoy doing. For example, if you're only trying to shed a few pounds and like hiking, a treadmill is the obvious choice. If you want to burn calories and target your lower body for toning, a stationary bike will fit your needs perfectly. Don't buy more fitness equipment than you need or they'll just end up gathering dust in a corner of your house.

Quality comes with a price
Gym quality home fitness equipment is not cheap and there's a reason why they come with a high price tag. They are built to last and withstand the constant wear-and-tear they will be put under with regular use. For gym equipment to survive this much punishment, it has to be made with the toughest materials and pass stringent manufacturing specifications.

If you're serious about getting fit using home gym equipment, then you probably have set aside a budget for it. Depending on your need, you will have a choice of gym quality home fitness equipment that starts at a reasonable $500 or you can go for the high-end home equipment that is priced at over $3000.

If your budget is at the range of a few hundred dollars, there is still a way to keep fit. Invest in several weights, a step trainer and a few workout videos. These will help you get started on a home fitness routine without the big machines.

However, while this alternative is cheaper, it does not offer the same fitness challenge that gym quality fitness equipment can. Once you get used to the exercise routine, you either have to up the challenge by purchasing new videos or just give up and get yourself a brand new fitness machine.

Go with the rave reviews
If there's a gym equipment that you like, you can try to find a duplicate for home use at many fitness stores. Many health club fitness equipment manufacturers develop machines for home use that are gym quality as well. So if a particular brand suits you fine, you might try to get its home edition equipment not only for its familiarity but also for the assurance of quality it offers.

Ask your gym instructor for recommendations or your friends for gym equipment reviews. Do your research over the internet or in fitness magazines and find the best home fitness equipment that will suit your taste and budget. Don't purchase fitness equipment sight-unseen, even if it claims to be gym quality. Many complaints about the performance of the machine do not appear until after you've test-run it for at least 20 minutes.

Try out the fitness equipment to see how you will perform. If it has a high learning curve, you probably will lose the motivation to use it. What looks effortless on TV may be very difficult to execute during actual use. Don't be carried away with hard selling or clever marketing ploys. If a manufacturer claims that their home fitness product is gym quality, you should be the best judge of that, no one else.

Getting gym quality home fitness equipment is a true assignment for any health buff or health buff-to-be. Arm yourself with the right kind of information and shop around for the features that you know you will be making use of. Furthermore, once you buy a home fitness equipment, make sure to put it to good use. If it's a gym-quality machine, it deserves to be treated as such.

For more information now go to: http://www.yourownhomegym.com/Gym-Quality-Home-Fitness-Equipment.html, http://www.myalpha-power.com or http://www.aperfectharmony.com

Get In Shape with Total Gym Exercise Equipment

 

The Total Gym exercise equipment has been around for quite some time and has become known as a great way to obtain a full body workout in the comfort of your home. Unlike many other products out there, the Total Gym exercise equipment truly is an all over workout and doesn?t just target one part of your body or another. Most people can enjoy the Total Gym and see serious changes in their physique no matter what fitness level they were at when they began.

There have been numerous Total Gym exercise equipment models out in the past and every year the product seems to be a little more refined. The thing is, the most basic models do what the high end models do, they just don?t come with as many accessories. The Total Gym is definitely worth its weight in gold, but take a look at the different models before you buy one that may be more than you need. If you think you will utilize all of the accessories to make up for the price difference, then go for it and really enjoy your Total Gym.

The great thing about Total Gym exercise equipment is that it really is as simple to use as the television commercials say that it is. You can do your workout in just minutes a day by following very comprehensive video guides. Over time you will probably learn the routine so that you don?t have to use the videos, but in the beginning they can prove very useful. Unlike so many other fitness products this truly does take just minutes a day and you will begin to see positive changes in your body.

While the Total Gym really works well it is for a specific type of consumer. If you want to increase strength or bulk, then the Total Gym really is not worth your time. If you want to tone up and become leaner, you will find that the Total Gym exercise equipment is ideal for the changes you would like to see in your body. Those that are looking for the bulky look will typically need to combine this program with another weight lifting program, as the Total Gym alone probably will not help you reach the goals on its own. The Total Gym provides a full body workout that not only works specific muscles of the body but also provides a fairly good cardiovascular workout.

The Total Gym exercise equipment really is a good investment for people that do not want to spend hours upon hours in the gym every week. If you enjoy long workouts the Total Gym may not be what you are looking for because you can literally complete these workouts in just a few moments. There are instructional videos that will teach you routines, as mentioned above, but after you get comfortable on the machine you are free to create your own program that will target your problem areas so that you can achieve the look you want. The Total Gym is really versatile, which means you can do a variety of exercises on it and really do things your way. But, because of the way it is set up and the quality of the exercise you won?t need to spend all that time, making this a perfect piece of equipment for those that are busy and can?t always squeeze in a visit to the gym.

The Total Gym exercise equipment is relatively inexpensive when compared to other fitness equipment, but it could still be considered an investment. If you cannot or do not want to afford to purchase it outright you can look into financing options or you may even want to look into buying a used Total Gym. There are a lot of second hand fitness equipment stores that offer a variety of fitness equipment options, and the Total Gym can often be found there as well. The Total Gym exercise equipment is made really well, so it will typically stand up well so that you can purchase it second hand and not worry that it will fall apart or not function well. No matter what your budget, you can get in shape with a Total Gym and see results fast.

Clark Hunter Total Gym Exercise Equipment