Bodybuilding supplements

Here's an article I found on increasing your strength at the gym, Hope you enjoy it, feel free to leave your comments if you do!

4. Never Train More Than 2 Days Consecutively

But the bodybuilding magazines say to split up my program into 5 separate days... Yes, I am more than familiar. I call these 5 day splits 'drug programs.' They treat your body simply as a 'muscular system' and neglect the other systems such as your central nervous system, hormonal system and immune system. Each of these systems have a unique part in muscle growth. Not to mention that these 'drug programs' only work if coupled with a few thousand dollars a month on drugs.

Just because you trained your chest on Monday does not mean your immune system, or hormonal system or central nervous system has FULLY recovered. What happens when you return to the gym NOT FULLY recovered? Will you be able to lift more weight?

If you are not able to lift more weight than guess what happens to your level of fitness? It certainly will not go up because you will be depleting your energy reserves further into a deep, dark hole called 'over-training.' If you can not lift more weight or 'out-do' yourself from your previous workout than how do you expect to create any NEW muscle? It is literally impossible. Taking a full rest day every two days will minimize the chance of overtraining and ensure your energy reserves are replenished.

5. Go Home If You Are Not Stronger Than Last Workout

Multiple choice question:

Q. You train your chest on Monday and you averaged 4 sets of 8 with 225 pounds on bench press. This workout would be considered a personal best. Your following chest workout, let's say five days later, you come to the gym with great anticipation to out-do your last workout. To your disappointment you discover that you can barely do 4 sets of 8 with 185 pounds this week. What happened?

A. Your body had not fully compensated from the previous workout and required a longer recovery period.

B. Who cares! You toughed it out and made the most of the workout.

C . Complain to the gym owner that his weight plates are messed up and you want a refund on your gym membership.

If you picked A than say hurray and pat yourself on the back. The rational decision would be to admit the recovery error, assess the factors that could of resulted from not fully recovering (did you take all your supplements, did you sleep enough, did you follow your nutrition plan etc) and plan for success next time. This is the 'trial and error' process.

The emotional and irrational trainee would take option B and slug it out. Consider what is actually happening when you take this approach to your workouts:

1. You will be using weights within your threshold so your muscles will simply laugh back at you because there is no new unaccustomed stress on your muscles. Remember, your muscles only grow if you give them a reason to.

2. You will be training in the hole and prolong the period of time that it takes to come out of the hole and supercompensate.

3. You will have no new muscle to work with because you have not fully recovered or grown bigger so it will be literally impossible to lift more weight or more reps.

4. You will be using your precious energy reserves, that could be going towards building muscle, instead to fuelling an useless workout.

5. You will lose motivation and grow frustrated and confused because of your lack of progress.

This is a very tough and mature training decision one must face. After commencing a workout, if you discover after a few sets that you are on tract for a crappy workout than I would suggest to drop the workout and go home. Plan to come back the next day. If your goals are to simply train to train, than you will probably not follow this rule. However, if your goal is to get huge muscles and pack inches of new muscle onto your frame than this is a critical training decision.

To ensure your trip to the gym does not go in complete vain – have a flexibility session to make use of the time and than try and pick up the cute receptionist phone number on your way out!

6. Find a mentor

What does this have to do with muscle building? Everything – finding a mentor can make all the difference in how much muscle you build! If you plan on becoming successful in the gym than surround yourself with someone who has already walked the path. Would you agree that the quickest way to achieve success is to find someone who has gone before you and done what you want to do – and model them.

So why do millions of fitness enthusiasts wander aimlessly following generic advice in text books, magazines or websites? Although these methods of learning can provide a theoretical perspective, they are absent in accountability, a formal system, time and financial commitment and assessment of performance.

A wise mentor will guide you step-by-step of the way with a formal system that includes a higher level of commitment and accountability on your part. You will be required to fulfill tasks, change habits, meet deadlines and perform at a higher level than you would without a mentor.

The premise of having a mentor is that he has been there and done that. He has walked in your shoes and will give you the appropriate advice in a timely fashion. If you do not perform and follow the advice than you are wasting the mentor's time and he will 'fire' you! If you do perform and follow his advice than you will be successful and build the muscle you deserve in less time!

Seriously consider hiring a fitness coach, a personal trainer or anybody who has done what you wish to do and be prepared to elate the same results!

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 less than before.

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

Until Next time!
Andy

Posted by leukic_blogs at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

What is Nitric Oxide anyway?

The chemical compound nitric oxide is a gas with a chemical formula NO. It is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals Leukic including humans, one of the few gaseous signaling molecules known. Nitric oxide (NO) is not nitrous oxide (N2O) or with nitrogen dioxide (NO2). (Formal definition courtesy of Wikipedia)

What is L-arginine (the key ingredient used to produce Nitric Oxide)?

L-arginine is an amino acid found in grains and fish, meats, supplements and passes through the intestine into the blood. From the blood, it enters endothelial cells, (these are the layer of cells lining the inside of the blood and lymph vessels of the heart) where it is used to produce nitric oxide.

L-arginine can be found in many foods such as meat, poultry, dairy products, and fish. The body also uses arginine to produce nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels. For this reason, it has been used to treat cardiovascular disorders such as heart failure, intermittent claudication, impotence, female sexual dysfunction, and interstitial cystitis. (Formal definition courtesy of Wikipedia).

It can also be used as an ergogenic aid to supplement bodybuilding and sports endeavors.

L-arginine supplements cause a delayed release of Nitric Oxide into the blood. Ed Byrd (the creator of NO 2) called this the “pHyser3” effect of creating a sustained hemodilation or blood flow in the body. Leukic

How does this help with bodybuilding?

Nitric Oxide helps with a sustained blood pump in your body. The blood vessels that deliver muscle building agents (nutrients, creatine) to your muscles are “forced open” for an extended period of time throughout the day. This means quicker recovery, enhanced muscle gains, greater strength, more endurance due to the prolonged pump NO2 provides. You know how you feel “pumped up” after a workout? Nitric oxide helps perpetuate this muscle pump effect.

Posted by leukic_blogs at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

As a sport, bodybuilding goes all the way back to the 12th century in India where we find the first training techniques and bodybuilding specific nutrition. By the 1500s in India, bodybuilding had become a national pastime and people from all over the world had also taken up the practice and used stone and wood to create the first dumbbells, thus giving birth to the crucial component of bodybuilding which is lifting weights.

Among the general public, bodybuilding first became recognized as a widely popular sport for commercial purposes in the late 1800's with the introduction of strongmen like Eugene Sandow. National and International competitions began taking place by the early 1900's. Sandow was one of the main figures in the early bodybuilding movement and was known as The Father of Modern Bodybuilding. He consistently pushed his ideas and theories on bodybuilding and fitness to the world through exhibitions, personal appearances and his breakthrough magazine, Physical Culture.

It was the persistent efforts of Sandow that led to the incorporation of weightlifting into the Olympics at the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. In 1904, Sandow was chosen as an honored judge at a major bodybuilding event held at the Royal Albert Hall in London that attracted over 2,000 people to watch.

The sport became even more popular and profitable as a business in the 1920s with newcomers like Charles Atlas coming on the scene. Who doesn't remember his ads that appeared in magazines, comic books, and newspapers all over the world? Remember, the bully kicking sand in his face? That was the first bodybuilding course I bought back in the mid seventies. The manufacture of dumbbells and barbells started gaining momentum all over the world and new innovations in training, dieting, and exercise equipment were coming out more every year.

Bodybuilding developed a cult following from the forties to the seventies with movies like Hercules featuring the incredible Steve Reeves, as well as the popular Tarzan series of movies that was played by many different bodybuilding actors. Some of the notables of this time period were Joe Gold, the founder of Gold's Gym and World Gym franchises, Harold Zinkin, Two time Mr. America John Grimek, and Great Britain's Reg Park. Bodybuilding was now beginning to set itself apart from weightlifting and became even more popular. The early seventies saw the introduction of a young bodybuilder who would become a pop icon and a household name all over the world, Arnold Schwarzenegger who used his superb talent and charisma along with a never before seen physique to become the best developed man in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Posted by leukic_blogs at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments