Check it out and let us know what you think!

Later,

Weight-lifting-workout-routines.com

With that said, one of the most important aspects of muscle building is nutrition…you already know that. You know that eating the right amount of protein, fats, carbohydrates, and micro-nutrients is key, but do you know the importance of meal frequency?

Meal frequency refers to how often you eat. You may have heard about eating 5-6 smaller meals a day, but you probably under-estimate the importance of it…

Food consumption is like feeding wood to your metabolic fire. Your metabolism rages after each meal, especially if you eat the right type and quantity of food. The more often you eat, the more your metabolism churns, which helps you burn off a lot of fat.

Frequent meal consumption also keeps you in an “anabolic” state, in which you’re constantly building muscle. After a grueling workout, your body needs fuel to repair and grow muscle, and the food you eat provides that much-needed fuel.

You see, amino acids are the building blocks of muscle, and anytime amino acids run low in your bloodstream, your body looks to breakdown existing muscle to replenish the amino acids supply. Muscle breakdown, also known as catabolism, is the last thing you want happening if you’re trying to “build” muscle.

The more often you eat, the more frequently you supply amino acids in the bloodstream, keeping your body in a muscle-building state…for longer.

The moment you skip meals or go a long duration without a meal, the body breaks-down existing muscle.

Moreover, positive nitrogen retention is also a great indicator of how much protein you’re synthesizing. Postive nitrogen retention is achieved through frequent eating.

The goal isn’t to stuff yourself. Rather, you need to eat small to mid size quantities of food every 3-4 hours, with an emphasis on lean protein, slow-absorbing carbs, and unsaturated fats. Throw some whole milk in there with a good multi-vitamin, and you’re ready to gain a lot of muscle…fast!

If you feel like you need to hit the gym everyday for 1-2 hours to see any definite results, then we have good news for you…

You DON’T need to hit the gym everyday, and you don’t need anymore than 20-30 minutes. In fact, these 20-30 minutes 3 days a week can go a long way for you, both for burning fat and building muscle. If you’re an advanced weight lifter, then you can atleast maintain your current muscle and strength.

Your body doesn’t count the minutes as to how long you’ve been working out, and it doesn’t care about how many reps and sets you did. Your body, or your muscles specifically, measure the “intensity” of your workouts, which determines whether an adaptive response needs to take place or not…

An adaptive response is simply an adjustment by the body to either increase muscle, increase strength. It can also be carried on to mean burning fat, as long as the calories in are less than the calories out. Basically, through high intensity training, you can trigger the muscle growth response or burn a ton of calories to lose fat.

You’ve probably heard of high intensity training, variable intensity training, or all the other complicated terminology. Don’t let it confuse you…all it means is constantly working your body hard, without a break, at a high enough intensity that it tires you out in a short amount of time. Generally you can’t sustain this type of workout for more than 20-30 minutes, but the results are long-lasting…

Check out many quick weight lifting programs here…

I want to address this issue beyond the “just do it anyway” type of advice and give you a few super techniques that can push you over even the most difficult slump.

1) DO IT ANYWAY, BUT TAKE IT EASY. There is a big “gap” between doing nothing, and doing a full-blown super workout. When you are tired or don’t feel like working out, the thought of doing a hardcore workout can be very “intimidating” and working yourself up to actually doing it can be impossible. So if you don’t feel like working out, go for a lighter workout. If at some point you feel like picking things up, go for it. But only do it if you feel like it. Refuse to judge yourself if you choose to stay at a light to moderate level. If it’s easier to get motivated to do a light workout and you know from the start that’s all that’s required, you are much more likely to get started. Although a super workout is ideal, a lighter workout is still great. You will get your workout; you will keep the habit, and will still get good results. For example, if it’s cardio day and you don’t feel like running, go for a light to brisk walk instead. If it’s strength training day, perform less reps or utilize only 3/4 of the weight you normally do.

2) FOCUS ON THE PLEASURABLE PARTS. Focus on the aspects of exercising that you enjoy the most. For example, remember how great you feel when you finish a workout! Not just the feeling of accomplishment that you have done it, but the physical energy that you feel. Your endorphins are flowing, you feel good, energetic, ALIVE!! And that’s a feeling that you will only get when you do your workout. (And by the way, a light workout will give you those same feelings.) Also, focus on the exercises that you like, rather than the ones you don’t enjoy so much. Keep thinking about those specific exercises and look forward to when you get to those in your workout.

3) CREATE A PLAYLIST OF GREAT WORKOUT SONGS. I’m giving away one of the greatest tips that’s in my motivation e-book, but here it goes: Make a tape, CD, or playlist of songs that are motivating for you and only listen to it when you workout. This is a great technique that I have been giving my clients for years with amazing results - especially for their cardio workouts. Your mind works largely by association. If you do one thing whenever you do another, your mind will associate the two and the feeling brought about by one will be associated with the other. Now if you only do one thing whenever you do another, that association becomes even more powerful. So if you always listen to some of your favorite songs when you work out and only when you work out, your mind will strongly associate the two and the same feelings of joy brought about by the songs will be linked to your workouts. You will find yourself looking forward to working out just because the whole experience feels great.

4) JOIN THE CHAMPIONS TEAM. Remember that working out when you don’t feel like it is what will separate you from the rest and guarantee your success. Everybody faces challenges from time to time. Even world-class athletes! There is a saying that goes: “champions are made on the off days”. Everyone can workout when they feel great and motivated. It is those who can get themselves to the gym when they don’t feel this way that become champions and achieve amazing results. Look at those challenging times as opportunities. Because those are the times you are given a chance to join the elite champions team that make it through their workouts no matter what.

I hope you find these tools useful to push you through those tough times.

Enjoy,

Eduardo Dias.

Eduardo Dias is a personal trainer and nutritional advisor based in Toluca Lake, CA. His website http://www.eduardodias.com is dedicated to providing information in all areas of health and fitness: from nutrition and exercise to mental health and motivation.

He is also the creator of the Workout Deck; the simplest exercise instruction tool ever created. http://www.workoutdecks.com

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Many people make the mistake of focusing on the training aspect of things, even though it is well known that almost any type of workout routine will yield results for the beginner, as long as they’re lifting a load that is challenging…

Infact, at the beginner level, its more important to focus on safety and take a lighter approach, because virtually anything you do will pack on some muscle.

The greater focus should be on nutrition, through which the real bodies are built. Remember, bodies are broken down in the gym, and built in the kitchen. This is a cold hard fact thats very tough to swallow, but its the absolute truth. In the gym, you stimulate and breakdown your muscle fibers. It is during the rest and recovery phase that actual muscle building occurs.

You won’t grow an ounce of muscle if you’re not eating enough. The basic rule of thumb is to consume more calories than you burn, or in other words, create a calorie surplus. These extra calories will then be used to build and repair muscle. Within these calories, its important to focus equally on protein and carbohydrates, while consuming some fat. Moreover, micronutrients such as…

Read the rest of this article on Muscle Building Foods…

Researchers compared…

a) Doing a 60 minute bike (at 60% max effort) then recovering for 60 minutes

vs

b) doing a 30 minute bike, resting 20 minutes, and then doing another 30 minute bike and then resting for 60 minutes. (both rides at 60% max effort).

The results showed…

i) The total calories burned between the workouts did not differ.

ii) more fat was burned during the recovery for the split workout (77% vs 56%).

What does this mean?

Jack squat.

Nothing.

First, why would i even consider doing either of the above when a 20-minute interval workout gets more results?

Second, who is going to do this?

Third, look at the actual numbers of fat calories burned…at most, it could be 50 extra calories. Again, useless in all practical terms.

But…

Look for health clubs to be full of people sitting around for 20 minutes between cardio bouts…maybe clubs will start offering “recovery rooms” where people can sit for 20 minutes and read dry People magazines, instead of the sweat covered People magazines they are used to reading while doing their relatively worthless cardio workouts in the past.

Why am I so hard on cardio?

Because its a waste of time…

and now these researchers and the authors of these “news reports” want to waste even MORE of your life…

As I wrote recently…

A recent study published by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, subjects aged 40 to 75 were instructed to do 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day for 6 days per week for an entire year.

(Reference…
Obesity 15:1496-1512 (2007). Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat in Men and Women. Anne McTiernan*, et al.)

Given the amount of exercise, you’d expect weight losses of 20, 30 pounds, or more, right?

Well, the surprise findings showed the average fat loss for female subjects was was only 4 pounds for the entire year, while men lost 6.6 pounds of fat over the year. That’s over 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a measly 6 pounds of blubber. Not time well spent, in my opinion.

***
Listen, you give 300 hours a year, and you’ll lose a lot more than 6.6 pounds of fat…trust me on that. Heck, give me 300 hours a year and I could probably turn you into a Ninja, commercial airline pilot, and accomplished mime, and still help you burn more fat than you would with 300 hours of cardio.

Here’s the best advice I can give you…

Ignore mass media news reports about fitness.

If anything worthy of note comes up, you’ll hear it from me,

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked fast fat burning workouts have helped thousands of men and women with weight loss and fat burning in less than 45 minutes three times per week. Expert fat loss workouts help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment. Craig’s bodyweight workouts for fat burning help you lose fat without any equipment at all.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Ballantyne

Most people focus on the amount of calories burned during the actual workout. Although it helps to directly burn calories, the main focus of a workout program should be to effectively elevate your metabolism, so you can burn calories throughout the day and even while you sleep. True success lies in this strategy.

So how do you effectively boost your metabolism?

Well, the best way is to train with weights, period. Cardio is good for burning calories and enhancing cardiovascular health, but it doesn’t compare to weight training in charging up your metabolic rate for a sustained timeframe.

It is well-known fact that each additional pound of muscle you gain burns an extra 20-30 calories per day, even while you rest. This is because muscle is active tissue that requires constant maintenance. By adding just 2-3 pounds of muscle, you’ll be burning an extra 80-100 calories per day.

In addition, each weight training session sends your body into…

Read the rest of this article on Weight Loss Workout Routines…

There are so many opinions out there…some say high reps, while others say low reps. Some believe in feeling the “muscle pump”, while others claim that the “pump” doesn’t help at all.

Just incase you don’t know what a repetition is, its simply completing a lifting motion followed by a lowering motion, one time. So if you do 1 pushup, you’ve completed 1 repetition. Or, if you lift a pair of dumbbells over your head and then lower it, you’ve competed 1 repetition. A set refers to the amount of consecutive repetitions you perform for a given exercise.

The best way to discover the perfect repetition range for building muscle is to look at the science on how each repetition range affects the muscle, and more importantly, how it affects the processes that induce muscular hypertrophy (growth).

Don’t let all these complicated terms confuse you…its really quite simple. In general, there are 3 basic repetition ranges:

1) 4-6 repetitions of heavy weight
2) 8-12 repetitions of medium weight
3) 15+ repetitions of light weight

The 4-6 heavy weight repetition range works different muscle fibers than the 15+ light weight repetiton range. Heavy weight (4-6 reps) typically works the fast-twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for strong, explosive movements. It is understood that these muscle fibers have a very dynamic growth potential…

On the other hand, light weight (15+ reps) works…

Read the rest of this article on the Perfect Repetition Range for Building Muscle…

When it comes to working out your abdominal muscles, the important thing to remember is that your abs are just like any other muscle group. Many people treat the abs differently, as if they are made up of a different material. The abs group is made up of muscle fibers and functions the same way as any other group.

No matter how many crunches or situps you do, it won’t help you lose fat off the area. The only way to burn off tummy fat is to burn more calories than you consume from food. In general, here’s the best nutrition guidelines for developing six-pack abs:

1) Slightly reduce your overall carbohydrate intake. Consume natural carbs like whole wheat, fruits, and vegetables, and avoid processed carb sources such as white bread and sugars.

2) Reduce you overall caloric intake by 500 calories below your maintenance level.

3) Increase meal frequency, consuming 5-6 small meals throughout the course of the day. Double clean water intake.

Basically, if you follow the above nutritional guidelines, you’ll have a big boost in burning off excess fat. Then, you’re ready to focus on the workout routine.

A good ab workout routine should focus on splitting the different regions…

See the rest of this article on Free Ab Workout Routine…

The treadmill is the perfect tool for people to get their daily exercise that they usually would not get if they did not have the treadmill. It can be used to lose weight, tone leg muscles, or just get into better shape. The treadmill can also be used for runners that run on a daily basis but cannot because it is raining out. It can also be an excellent trainer for runners to learn how to set a speed that they can stay put with instead of running fast and then slow.

The elliptical machine is also a great tool for exercising. The elliptical tool has a few advantages that the treadmill does not such as the smoothness that this machine allows the user to experience while they are exercising. There are no sudden hits on the feet like when someone is running on the treadmill. The elliptical machine also works more of the leg muscles then the traditional treadmill because of the swinging motion. It requires more force to swing back and forth than it does to lift the leg when walking.

The elliptical machine also helps the cardiovascular exercising muscle as well as the treadmill does. The only downside to the elliptical machine is that it cannot be used by runners to get their daily run in like a treadmill can.

The treadmill workout vs elliptical work does not have very many differences. There are some small differences such as less stress on the body on the elliptical machine because the treadmill requires the feet to hit the actual machine every time a step is made. The elliptical machine cannot provide the cardiovascular exercise that a treadmill can because it cannot simulate a run. Each machine is built for a specific part of the body and a specific exercise. While the elliptical machine is usually replacing treadmills for people just trying to get in shape and walk a little bit each day, the treadmill is still to machine of choice for runners that need to run a couple miles every day.

The treadmill workout vs elliptical workout dilemma basically depends on what kind of workout the person wants. Each machine is special in its own way and it just depends on what the person wants to do in deciding which machine would be the better machine to purchase.

At the end of the day, both machines work the legs and cardio part of the body. If people do not like the actual physical part of walking they will enjoy the elliptical machine much better because it is much smoother and provides a great workout without having to walk and hurt the feet. The elliptical machine is a great machine and can provide some extra toning when it comes to the legs and thighs making it the machine of choice for people who are trying to tone their legs rather than build stamina. Building stamina is what the treadmill can be mostly used for. Especially people that like to walk or run miles every day. The treadmill can build the stamina without having to leave the house.

John Ripper is a fitness freak. Discover free tips and tricks to get six pack abs at [http://www.rippedsixpackabs.com/treadmill-workout-vs-elliptical-workout.php]Treadmill Workout vs. Elliptical Workout

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