Monday, June 29, 2009

Group Training

How can someone else improve your fitness results? In a positive way. Working out alone is not for everybody. Sometimes it is even harder. Why would you ask anybody to workout with you anyways? When exercising with someone you can simply attain better and faster results. This person will help you keep motivated to keep on going, or sometimes just to leave your home and go to the gym on those lazy days. Also, you won't have to ask anyone for a spot anymore, your own friend will help you push yourself. So if it's hard for you to be active, just ask a friend to accompany you. Soon enough you'll see how fun it can be to exercise with your pals and how your results will improve.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Importance of Stretching Muscles

It is very important to stretch your muscles. Stretching should take place when your muscles are warm. There are various reasons why we should stretch:


  1. It helps balance muscles to improve posture.
  2. It increases the supply of nutrients and oxygen to muscles from blood circulation.
  3. It helps prevent injuries, such as sprains or torn ligaments.
  4. After your workout, you'll feel less soar as muscles are more relaxed.


It is good to warm-up before stretching. This way it'll be easier to push your muscles harder while you exercise. You can focus on stretching the muscles you are going to train, but imagine your body as a whole. This way you will be able to balance and align your body much more.

There are times as well that you should not stretch. And that is for example if you have suffered a fracture, or injured your ligaments or your joints.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Surprise your Muscles

Its ok to have a workout routine, but it's not ok to keep your exercises the same all the time if you want your muscles to grow. Whenever you try doing push-ups, per se, you should change the way you position your hands once in a while. This will exercise different areas of your pectorals, strengthening the overall muscle, and will also have a positive effect on your shoulders and your triceps. Also, this practice helps to stimulate muscle growth. Its all about experimentation. Try out different exercises, and as you learn more, switch them around in your routine. Don't be afraid to try different workouts, well, as long as it's safe and they don't hurt your muscles.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Eat, Eat, Eat

I'll get into the details of what to eat later because I first want to remark the basic fact that muscles will never grow without an appropriate diet. Food and exercise come hand in hand. To gain weight you should have at least 5 meals per day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and finally dinner. Have 3 full and appropriate meals and some snacks in between such as a sandwich, fruit, a protein bar, etc. How much you eat will enhance the results of your workouts. I will get into what are appropriate foods and what are their qualities to help you achieve your fitness goals. And I will repeat, without eating properly, you can just about forget about even working out.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Muscle failure

The growth of muscles is in reality the breaking down of our muscle fibers. The fibers are torn when stressed, and then the tear is filled in with organelles that form additional muscle protein strands. When working out to increase muscle weight, you want to tear your muscles (yes, it sounds pretty gruesome). The best way to achieve that is by reached muscle failure. That is when your arms, lets say you are working on your biceps, cannot lift the weights no matter how hard you try to complete that rep. Essentially, what you have to do is challenge your body. When you think you cannot make one last rep, just try pushing a little harder or get a spotter. This helps to keep your body growing instead of keeping yourself in a "maintenance" workout.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

100 push-ups

A great technique to make your body stronger is to use your own body. I have seen a couple guys grow their upper body muscles impressively just by doing push ups. But there should be a goal. If you can make your body able to do 100 push-ups per day you will see a very fit body on yourself. You should start with as much as you can first. Then try doing them in sets. Maybe 5 sets of 10 to begin with then ad push-ups to your sets and about 20 seconds rest in between each set. 5 sets of 12, then 5 sets of 14. By this time you'll want to keep doing 14 push-ups but just add another set. After a week and another set. After that week try doing 5 sets of 20. You'll notice by a month and a half some changes. Not only that but you'll feel how stronger your body becomes!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Day One - Where does muscular growth begin?

To make those muscles stand out, there is one thing you should always keep in mind: Your body is always on survival mode. What does this mean? It means that the body is constantly trying to store. The body is always thinking ahead. If you don't eat enough, it will store and convert more food into body fat for the future, and if you don't exercise enough and eat more, it will just keep storing and digest what it can. Knowing this, you'll understand that the body adapts. So you have to exercise and push your body into changing. Cardio is the best way to begin. Your muscles will begin reacting, your heart will begin pumping, and your body will begin burning calories for energy. Get your body to acknowledge that it's about to become stronger, and it will obey; the rest is up to you!