Better Exercise N Fitness

Selecting a Fitness Membership Club

benfstaff — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:29:27 -0700

A fitness center can be a great fitness motivator if you choose the right one. Before you sign a contract, be sure the health club you choose suits your personal needs and fitness goals.

Keep in mind that if a traditional gym is not for you, you can definitely set up a home gym where you can get complete workouts all in the privacy of where you live. There are a number of home gym systems out there that include all the equipment you need to perform all the key lifts that should be included in any workout program.

The top 6 considerations when selecting a health club are:

1. Location, location, location
Pick a fitness center location that is convenient. Who really wants to spend twice as long driving to and from their gym as it takes them to do their workout? Think about either choosing a gym that is located close to your house or else on the drive to or from work. Sometimes the gym without the exact facilities you want will be a better arrangement due to the easy accessible location where you are more likely to stop and workout.

2. Variety of Exercise Equipment
Looking at the variety and quality of the equipment offered in the gym is another thing you must factor in. If you prefer free weights, make sure there are a large number of dumbbells present because during rush hours, these could be hard to come by. If you prefer doing your weight training on guided machines, you will want to be sure there is a large variety of machines that you can work all the necessary muscle groups on your body. If you plan on doing a lot of cardio training as part of your exercise routines you will want to be sure there are ample machines available.

3. Health Club Demographics
Are you concerned your gym clothes or physique isn't quite worthy? These can be important factors in choosing the right health club.

4. Hours of Operation
Always be sure to check the hours of operation of the gym. Are you a morning or evening exerciser? Likewise, some people who prefer exercising in the evening so you need to be sure that if this is the case you will be able to do that.

5. Membership Fees
Gym memberships can really vary in costs so it’s a good idea to look around before making that final decision. What does the monthly membership fees cover? Do popular class, such as yoga or Pilates, cost extra? Also consider how long you are signing the contract for as this can vary too. Many health clubs like to encourage you to commit for years and if you aren’t quite sure it is going to be a multi year arrangement, you are better off signing something that is along the lines of a monthly contract. Late summer and shortly after the New Year, many health clubs will run special promotions to entice you to join.

6. Contact Cancellation Plan
Finally take a look at the gym's cancellation policy. If you sign up for a 3 year membership and then end up changing jobs and moving, are you going to be partially refunded? It will be a bad situation if the contract did not have a refund or transfer policy. Some gyms are good about this while others are not so you will have to weigh the likelihood of your terminating among other things that are discussed above when making your final selection.

Consider all of these key factors when choosing a health club. Forgetting just one item could lead you to being less than happy with your workout facility and this could end up being the reason why you do not stick with your program.

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Eating Habits That Make You Fat!

BENFstaff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:35:00 -0700

Simple diet misunderstandings are stopping your good intentions and efforts to get back into that one size smaller pair of pants. Slim Body Secrets for Women and Slim Body Secrets for Men help you eliminate the mistakes that are keeping the slim body away and hiding your lean body inside. If you practice any of these eating habits, you have probably experience short term weight drops only to have it bounce back up. If so, there’s a high probability you could be making one of these weight loss blunders.

1) Using a Starvation Diet
Determined to lose 10 pounds fast, you turn to a starvation diet. Your game plan calls for eating nothing but grapefruit and cabbage soup each day. You slash your daily calorie intake to below 1,200 and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you consume such a low number of calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a metabolism that burns calories at a reduced rate and you now gain weight more quickly than ever before.

2) Not Paying Attention to Your Snacks
You count calories meticulously at every meal, but you forget about all those nibbles in between? There’s the bag of cookies on your counter, the little slice of cake at an work party, the bite of your son’s ice cream cone. All of this mindless munching adds up and could sabotage an otherwise meticulously planned diet. If you’re serious about counting calories, you may want to use a notebook to keep track of each and every bite.

3) Not Snacking at All
While carefree snacking can increase your waistline, thoughtful snacking may do just the opposite. People who plan several small meals and snacks a day are more likely to control hunger and lose weight. Eating 4 to 6 light meals helps keep your metabolism in high gear, especially when the snacks are high in protein. Nuts are a good choice, and research suggests people who snack on nuts tend to be slimmer than those who don't.

4) Missing Breakfast
Skipping breakfast seems like a reasonable way to limit calories, but the outcome will be an unsatisfied hunger throughout the rest of the day. This leads to unplanned snacking and super-sizing your lunch that makes your total day calorie counts soars. Breakfasts that are high in protein and fiber reduce your hunger throughout the rest of the day. In fact, people who eat breakfast every morning are more likely to maintain a healthy weight when compared to those who skip breakfast.

5) Drinking Too Many Calories
When counting calories, we may overlook what is in the beverages. This is a huge mistake when you consider that many alcoholic beverages have more than 500 calories. Even the calories in fruit juice will add up quickly. What’s worse is that liquid calories do not eliminate hunger. You’re not going to eat any less after a high-calorie drink.

6) Drinking Too Little Water
This is the simplest diet mistakes to fix. Water is needed for consuming calories. If you let yourself get dehydrated, your metabolism drags and that means slower weight loss. Researchers suggests adults who drink an ounce of water for every two pounds of weight of water per day use up more calories than those who drink less. Add a glass of water to each meal and snack.

7) Setting Unrealistic Goals
Planning on loosing 20 pounds your first week is unachievable. If you know you won’t be able to do it, you will never start your diet in the first place. If you do diet and lose 5 pounds in a week, instead of celebrating, you may feel discouraged that you didn’t reach your goal. A realistic goal is vital to successful dieting. If you’re not sure what your goal should be, talk to a dietitian.

8) Skipping Exercise
When you don’t exercise, you place the entire burden of weight loss on your diet. If you become more active, you can eat more special treats and still lose weight. The key is finding an exercise you like. If the treadmill seems tedious, try swimming, ballet, or biking, all of which burn more calories than walking. Try several different activities until you find one you enjoy regularly.

Slim Body Secrets for Women and Slim Body Secrets for Men are free mini-courses that provides 10 secrets to unleashing your leaner body. Unlike most weight loss programs that just tell you to reduce the number of calories you eat per day, Slim Body Secrets works with you to balance your lifestyle so that you can achieve your weight loss goals, unwrap your slimmer body, and guides you with specific steps to reduce and maintain your target weight.

Click here to subscribe to either Slim Body Secrets for Women or Slim Body Secrets for Men and start creating your successful weight loss plan.

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Dangers of Unregulated Diet Pills

BENFstaff — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:21:00 -0700

Visit any natural food store or browse the Internet, you will find hundreds of 'herbal' weight loss pills that promise remarkable benefits. Although it's tempting to try new pills, the possible side effects and safety concerns aren't typically listed. And while some of them may be promising, others can do more harm than good.

Over-the-counter herbal diet pills is close to a $13B business. But some claims about the supposed weight loss benefits of herbal weight loss supplements are very misleading. First, the scientific evidence is slim that these herbal diet pills help you to lose weight. Second, many of these herbal diet pills are amphetamine-type stimulants, which can over-stimulate the nervous system, causing ill-health and nasty side-effects. Many supplements contain ephedra that is known serious side effects.

Herbal diet pills are extremely popular these days as an alternative to more traditional methods of weight loss like diet and exercise. I find it worrisome that herbal treatments are so popular for several reasons.

First of all, just about anything can be in an herbal diet pill. 'Herbs' are a kind of loophole in the FDA system, as they are not classified as drugs and therefore don't have the rigorous standards for testing and safety that drugs normally get.

Make no mistake about it though, herbs can be every bit as potent and dangerous as illegal narcotics. The difference between medicinal herbs and medicinal drugs is vague anyway, as most prescription drugs themselves come from a kind of plant or herb.

Most of the time the 'herbal' classification don’t last very long; the FDA eventually calls it a drug and brings in the scientists. When that happens herbal diet pills often either become available only by prescription or are banned completely. When researching herbal diet pills, it is clear that the herbal pill manufactures are very familiar with the FDA.

Unscrupulous sites even use it to their advantage saying things to the effect of 'buy it now before the FDA bans it!'. You need to ask yourself, if the FDA is likely going to ban the herbal diet pill you're interested in, should you be taking it at all?

Do not be fooled by the word 'natural' in a natural diet pill. I would actually trust a regular diet pill that is FDA approved a lot more than some herbal diet pill concoction that has who knows what in it. The words herbal and natural are marketing ploys and should never be confused with the word safe unless there's been FDA testing to prove it.

BetterExerciseNFitness.com is offering the Slim Body Secrets For Men and Slim Body Secrets For Women mini-course to teach you how to lose weight healthy .

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Slim Body Secrets

benfstaff — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:25:27 -0700

After many failures, individuals start to believe weight loss is an unreachable objective. They have tried strange diets, special exercises, the 'magic' of pill, and multiple fitness gadgets. After failure after failure, they give up and settle for hiding their slimmer body underneath rolls of cellulite. The secret to weight loss is to know your specific goal and have a plan to make small changes every day to lose those extra pounds.

Rules of Weight Loss
To lose one pound, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. Here is how it works.

Determine what is your ideal weight range
Get the difference between your current weight and ideal weight
Estimate your daily calorie usage based on normal body functions (like breathing, beating heart, brain functions, ...) with adjustments based on your activity level.
Put a plan in place to close the gap between your ideal weight and current weight

Slim Body Secrets for Women and Slim Body Secrets for Men is a free mini-course that walks you through these rules. I am getting a little ahead of myself. Let me give a quick example of these rules.

Weight Loss Example
JoAnn is a mother of two in her mid 30's and works mornings at the local school so she can be home when her children after school and during the summer. She is 5 foot 4 inches tall and her weight has slowly risen to 165 pounds over the past couple of years as she has focused her time on being a good mother and spouse. Her estimated at rest daily calorie consumption is around 1750. To reach her healthy weight of 145 pounds, she needs to lose 20 pounds and then keep it permanently off. She is being told that her caloric intake needs to be reduced to about 1350 calories per day.

She kicks in her will power and becomes determined to reduce what she eats to rediscover her slimmer body within. First she tries skipping breakfast but cannot stay the course because she does not have energy for work. Then she tries skipping lunch. When her kids get home from school and they grab their afternoon snack, she finds that she is famished and starts nibbling on the snack right along with them until she gets full. Finally, JoAnn decides to skip dinner. But she is also the household chef, it is her responsibility to prepare dinner for the family. For a couple of days her will power holds as the house is filled with the aromatic dinner smells but then she becomes irritable in the evening and her husband, Bob, gently suggests that she start eating dinner with them again.

JoAnn re-evaluates her will power strategy and examines her weight loss success and failures over the last six months. What she finds is that her daily calorie intake did not decrease like she wanted but actually increased. When she skipped breakfast, she lacked energy during the morning and by the time lunch came around she over ate because she was so hungry. Although she was successful at skipping lunch, she consumed more calories nibbling on the kid food in the early afternoon than she would normally eat during lunch. Skipping dinner was a complete failure. Instead of spending an enjoyable evening with her family, she was a grouch to her husband and did not really cut down her calorie intake since she was sampling the dinner as she cooked it.

What JoAnn needs is a realistic and actionable weight loss strategy and plan.

Slim Body Secrets
Slim Body Secrets for Women and Slim Body Secrets for Men is a free mini-course that provides 10 secrets to developing a realistic and actionable weight loss plan. Unlike most weight loss programs that just tell you to reduce the number of calories you eat per day, Slim Body Secrets tells you how to balance your lifestyle so that you can achieve your weight loss goals, what should be the expectation for how long it should take to reach your ideal weight, and what specific steps are necessary to reduce and long term maintain your target weight.

Click here to subscribe to either Slim Body Secrets for Women or Slim Body Secrets for Men and start creating your successful weight loss plan.

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Do's and Don'ts of Exercise During Pregnancy

BENFstaff — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:30:42 -0700

Regular exercise during pregnancy can lead to you feeling more comfortable physically, healthier during the pregnancy, and a quicker recovery afterwards. Often time, those who exercise while pregnant will tolerate the stress and pain of childbirth better. Stretching and very low impact exercises can be particularly useful to easing your labor and delivery. Additionally, regular exercise during pregnancy help a women to recuperate faster after childbirth and can help in gaining only the healthy weight before your baby's birth. But, before you start exercising, you should know what to do and what not to do for both you and your baby's safety.

Exercising "Do's" Checklist
Before starting your exercise regiment, here are a few important rules to follow.

Stretch before exercising to warm up your muscles and increase your flexibility. Pre exercise stretching will give you time to focus on how your body feels and keep other injuries, such as muscle strains, to a minimum. Remember, your bodies are changing and activities that used to be easy to do may be a little harder or take more time now.
Drink water before exercising. During these months, a women needs to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water per day. Drink a glass before exercising to insure you are properly hydrated.
Carry a water bottle with you. Be careful of the sports drinks. Many trainers classify these drinks as "sugar water" and put them in the same category as soda.
Wear loose and comfortable clothing, particularly shoes that fit well. While exercising, it is important not to get too hot or cold. Dress in layers that allow you to adjust your temperature while exercising. Comfortable running shoes are particularly important because your feet tend to swell from fluid retention.
Be aware that your center of gravity will change throughout your pregnancy. As your center of gravity shifts forward, women tend to lean backward to compensate, the shoulders move back, and the lower back protrudes forward accentuating the curvature of the lower spine. This unnatural position can lead to back strain and back pain. This can make it hard to keep your balance and make you feel less coordinated than usual, so as you enter the later trimesters exercising at a slower speed should be expected.

Exercising "Don'ts" Checklist
When it comes to exercising during pregnancy, common sense and safety are paramount. Here are a few more don'ts to keep in mind.

Do not start any exercise regiment without consulting your doctor first. If you are in good physical health then your doctor will probably encourage you to exercise, but on rare occasions your doctor may have a medical concern for either you or your baby and would like limit your physical activity. It takes a phone call, but it is well worth it in peace-of-mind dividends.
Do not exercise when you are tired and make sure to get plenty of rest.
Stay away from exercises that present risks to the abdomen.
Do not start any new strenuous physical activity that you have never done in the past.
Do not do anything that you lack confidence in your ability or have doubts about your capability to complete in a safe manner.

Putting Your Plan Together
Ready to get start with your exercise plan? Michelle Moss, a degreed health and nutrition coach, has pulled together a complete pregnancy fitness program that includes: avoiding unnecessary weight gain, strengthen exercises to make labor easier, low energy to high energy exercise plan, an exercise journal for tracking your progress, and a member's support and information forum. Click here to learn more about what Michelle learned about exercise and fitness during her pregnancy.

All information provided on this web site is for the purpose of education and information only and is not a substitute for consultations with your medical practitioner. If you have any concerns about your health, please see your doctor immediately and do not rely solely on information found here.

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Truth About Six Pack Abs Review

benfstaff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:05:29 -0700

Mike Geary’s Truth About Six Pack Abs is currently the top selling fitness book on the Internet. Mike Geary's book teaches you that building lifelong six pack abs can be accomplished through a full-body training routine that cuts your fat away by building up both your metabolism and your hormonal response to your workouts.

A quick read of the home page will provide an explanation of the five biggest myths about getting ripped six-pack abs. This 120 page book debunks the myths about health food, endless repetitions of crunches or sit ups, and is not some new type of supplement gimmick.

This book provides a simple full-body exercise plan to get you ripped six pack abs. But just doing exercises alone everyday is not enough; Mike includes special section on nutrition along with a well balanced food plan making the book a more complete guide to a flatter stomach.

What is the Book About?
The Truth About Abs is more than just a routine to workout your abs though but a full body workout routine that incorporates several muscle groups including biceps, triceps, shoulders, and back.

The Truth About Six Pack Abs program starts with a description of the various sections of the belly that helps you understand importance of these muscles and will help reduce your training risk. In this section, he debunks the myth of the necessity of everyday abdominal workouts and suggests ways to work abdominal training into your workout routine.

The main section covers over 20 highly effective abs exercises including many that you have probably never seen before. Many of these exercises utilize body weight, fitness balls, and other weights that can be used in the comfort of your home. After a busy day at work, I typically want to get home and spend 30 minutes on myself. I find that spending time in the garage exercising is a refreshing way to leave the problems from the office behind. These exercise help me accomplish goal of re-energizing my mind and body.

This portion of the book also gives you different options to spread out your workout and provide it a variety, another important thing to stress those ab muscles and get them to rebuild bigger, better, and stronger.

The real surprise was the nutrition section that describes a well balanced food plan. It is not a rehash of a low carbohydrate diet, but an eating plan to lose weight and keep it off while maintaining and increasing your energy level. It is a realistic approach to maintaining a healthy diet while even allowing for regular (but not to frequent) trips to a local restaurant for a burger with your friends.

Another important part in Mike Geary’s fitness book is the cardio training. He explains and illustrates what cardio you need to do and when.

Getting a Quick Start?
This ebook is comprehensive and comes with a lot of bonus material. It will take a long time to read through all of them. If your not careful you can easily become overloaded and not know where to get started. I would recommend starting with the main book, Truth About Six Pack Abs. Open the ebook to the second part that describes the abs exercises. Glance through them all and pick out one or two exercise that you want to add your routine, maybe one using a stability ball and another using a kettlebell. After you have mastered them, select another one or two that can be added in your workout, maybe a dumbbell complex and body weight exercise. Keep doing this until you have added all the exercises into your workout routine. Then pick another book to read, say Ultimate Star Exercises, and do the same thing of slowly incorporating the exercise into regular workouts.

Additionally, when you first get the book, quickly skim through the nutrition section gathering the big picture. Identify one or two sections that you want to go back, read it in more depth, and implement into your daily eating plan. The next week, add another one or two dietary ideas. Keep adding new recommendations until you have slowly developed your well balanced food plan that you can maintain for an extended period of time.

By not trying to read all the material at one, you will keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed by the volume of material and start exercising your way to your six pack abs. This book and bonus material is packed with quality content and recommendation, so over time you will want to study it all in depth. But if you try to read everything from the start, it could take weeks before you start flatting your stomach and adjusting your diet plan. This is just lost time. By starting with a high level skim, you will understand the structure of the book and be able to identify a couple areas where you would like to start and read in detail. Instead of it taking weeks to get started, you can start immediately and get to a leaner body weeks and months sooner.

Why Recommend this Book?
This eBook very clearly lays out a complete full body exercise and nutrition plan to build lifelong abs. You will learn what, when and how to eat, and how to control your cravings and increase your metabolic rate, so that you can burn fat throughout the day and not just while you are exercising.

The Truth About Six Pack Abs eBook gets a top recommendation due to its sheer clarity of information, presented in a user-friendly, uncluttered way that pretty much guarantees the six pack abs results to its readers as long as they are willing to stay focused by following the program diligently. Best of all, this program caters equally well to both males and females.

The truth about abs program and its bonuses is well worth the price of $39.95. The program comes with an 8 week money-back-guarantee. If you are not happy you can get a refund without any questions asked. So it is risk-free to give it a try.

Like with all effective fat loss programs – there are no quick schemes. You need to make the commitment to read the book and then take action. There’s no need to perform workouts daily, 2-3 sessions per week for 30 minutes will show very good results. But it requires the discipline to do the exercises and apply the nutrition program regularly – over a few weeks and months.

If you are serious about getting a flat stomach or even rock-hard six pack abs, the truth about abs program is well worth your time and investment in a healthier you.

>>> Click Here to Get a Special $4.95 Trial <<<

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Exercises For After Pregnancy

benfstaff — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:57:46 -0700

Exercise after pregnancy is not only a necessity for getting your body back in shape but also to strengthen and heal your body and mind. For the previous nine months, your body has gone through significant hormone change that not only added weight and caused mood swings, but also allowed you to carry a baby and assist in it development. Congratulations on the birth of your newborn. But now that you have given birth, it is time for you to get back to being you. Here are 5 post pregnancy exercises to recover the real you. [noadsense]

Postpartum Blues
After childbirth, it is very common to get the "baby blues" or postpartum. This typically starts around two days after childbirth and can last for up to three weeks. This is natural and is caused by the changing in your body hormones. During as well as after pregnancy, you should pay attention to your body. It is important that you continue to eat a nourishing diet. When you are eating correctly, half of your work is done. Another common recommendation from physicians is for the mother to set aside time for herself and start with a light exercise and stretching routine that gradually builds intensity and range of motion.

If you are experiencing sever postpartum or postpartum depression, consult your family physician immediately.

Five Post Pregnancy Exercises
After your delivery, it could take a couple of weeks before you can begin your exercise plan. Start out slowly with light exercises and stretches. The high impact aerobic and anaerobic exercises highlighted in the last steps will need to wait for a couple more months. Listen to your body and gradually increase the workout intensity over the next couple of months. Most importantly, stop immediately should you feel any discomfort or pain.

These five post pregnancy exercises, with increasing intensity, are good steps to recovering your energy and slimming down.

Walking: It is an excellent exercise to get your body used to the thought of exercising again. Consider taking the first 15 to 30 minute walk by yourself or with a friend. This will allow you to listen to your body and determine a baseline for your activity level. Also, plan on a short 10 to 15 minute recover time when you return. Over time, you can increase the length of your walks and begin to jog or run for a little while.
Kegel exercises: Many women are familiar with this exercise during pregnancy to strengthen the muscle used during labor. By continuing kegel exercises after childbirth, you can strengthen the muscles of the bowels, bladder, uterus, and pelvic.
Abdominal stretches: After a few weeks, light abdominal stretching can be initiated to get your body back into the right shape following the birth of a child. Three exceptional exercises are: kneeling cat stretch, pelvic curl, and single leg stretch. Initially, keep the range of motion limited so that you do not over stretch the abs muscles. Each time you stretch, work to extend your range of motion and slowly increase the intensity of the exercise. If you feel any discomfort then reduce the intensity of the stretching routine for a couple of days. After a few more days, you can try again to increase the strenuousness of the workout.
Pilates and Yoga: The next step in recovering your pre-pregnancy body can be done with Pilates or Yoga exercises. These exercises are excellent at reshaping your core. A recommended resource for this phase is Karrie Adamany's Post-Pregnancy Pilates. In Karrie's easy to read and understand book she shares her personal experience of squeezing in her exercise routine between feeding and bath times. Her exercises cover the absolute fundamental basics needed to re-discover the core muscles that are so abused during pregnancy and delivery by starting with the basics and progressing the reader through more challenging exercise sequences as your abdominal awareness is regained.
15 Minute Short-Burst Workouts: The final step to bringing yourself back to the pre-pregnancy figure is short, high intensity workout the shed the lingering "baby fat." For the past four to six months, you have been readjusting your lifestyle to the new demands of being a mom and establishing a new family routine. Holly Rigsby's (CPT) Fit Yummy Mummy lifestyle is based on her personal experience as a new mother, who wanted to regain her figure while only having a few minutes per day for herself. Holly has worked with America’s top personal trainers, nutritionists, and doctors to create a five-day 15 minute workout routine that can be done in your home. She is currently offering a low-cost trial at FYM trial offer.

Congratulations on the birth of your newborn. Whether it has been a few days, weeks, or months, you are coming to realize the magnitude of your lifestyle changes. The good news is that there is time for you but it comes in short 15 to 30 minute segments throughout the day. By taking these sequential steps from light walking exercise to short high intensity bodyweight workouts, you can squeeze time in for yourself that gives you more energy and makes you feel better about yourself.

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Developing Muscle Twitch Fibers

benfstaff — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:30:27 -0700

Choosing the best type of conditioning program that will stimulate the muscle fiber type that will get you results is extremely important. This post will explore the twitch muscle fibers, when are they used, and how you can develop them in your training programs.

Unfortunately, all body building programs are not created equally when speaking in terms of muscle fiber types. While you cannot differentiate between muscle fibers from your outside appearance, on the inside of the muscle tissue body, there are three different fibers present.

Type 1 - Slow twitch for endurance
Type 2A - Fast twitch for quick explosiveness
Type 2B - Fast twitch for short duration quickness

Slow Twitch Muscle Fiber
Slow twitch muscle fiber would be used if you were to run a marathon or any other extended duration, medium to low intensity activity. These muscle fibers have a very high ability to resist fatigue and have a large oxidative (oxygen caring) capacity. Typically, these muscles can be used for hours without experiencing high levels of fatigue. They are relatively slow to contract and do not generate a great deal of force, and thus, are not used in exercises requiring a high degree of power.

The major fuel source for slow twitch muscles is triacylglyceride that comes from vegetable oil and animal fat. Foods that raise your triacylglyceride levels are: fresh vegetables, eggs, and low fat plain or fruit yogurt. Slow twitch muscles are very high in terms of mitochondrial density and have a large number of capillaries running throughout their bodies. This is to enable sufficient oxygen to get to the muscle tissues so that they can carry on the extended duration of muscular work.

To improve slow twitch muscle fibers, think endurance. This type of fiber will usually require the greatest amount of time to train for improvement because you will want to focus on simply going longer. If you are a runner, try to run longer. If you are a biker, bike longer. If you are a swimmer, swim longer.

Fast Twitch Type 2A Muscle Fiber
The next muscle group is type 2A fast twitch muscle fiber that is responsible for the most forceful muscle contractions but will fatigue quickly. They tend to have very large motor neurons and very low mitochrondrial density (oxygen carrying capacity). They also have a low oxidative capacity, meaning they will not be able to utilize oxygen very well. It is for this reason that they are not suited to endurance type of activities, because during these exercise variations, oxygen must be present in order to sustain the muscular contractions.

The major fuel sources for type A muscles are creatine phosphate and stored muscle glycogen (glucose). They will not utilize stored body fat at all due to the fact that they are only able to continually contract for a few seconds. Foods that enhance type A muscle activity are: high in protein (lean beef, skinless chicken, and fish) and natural carbohydrates (rice, potato, pasta, cereal, and nuts).

Since type A are your primary force generators, if you wish to get a higher performance from them you will need to train using exercises that require you to max out your effort for a short period of time. For example, sprint 50 meters at full speed, power lift for 1 to 5 repetitions per set, and any type of plyometric activities.

Fast Twitch Type 2B Muscle Fiber
The last muscle group is type 2B fast twitch muscle fiber that is responsible for short duration (typically measured in minutes) energy bursts, but not at an all out pace. An example of when this muscle group is used are if you were doing a running interval at about 80 to 90% of your maximum capacity for a couple of minutes.

Some of the characteristics of the type B muscle fiber are that they still have a large motor neuron (not as large as type A though). They are on the intermediate scale of fatigue resistance and they have a high degree of mitochondrial density. These muscle fiber types are able to use oxygen to a great extent as demonstrated by their higher resistance to fatigue and longer duration of contraction abilities.

The major fuel source for type B muscles is the same as for type A fast twitch muscles: natural high protein and high carbohydrate foods.

To train your type B muscle fibers you will want to slightly decrease the force with which you are to contract while simultaneously increasing the time over which you contract ever so slightly. For example, perform 30 to 45 intervals repeated ten times with 60 to 90 seconds of low to moderate pace activity in between. For your weight training activities, aim to target the 6 to 10 repetition range to utilize the fact that these muscles have a higher oxidation ability.

Summary
All three types of muscle fiber are used and need to be developed to maximize your muscle building activities. A well designed training routine can incorporate the development of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers each workout.

For drills specifically tailored for muscle fiber development, see Vince DelMonte's No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guys Secrets to Muscle Gain. He specializes in helping you understand all the principals behind muscle fibers and gaining muscle and weight quickly without drugs and supplements. He is also the author of Video Coaching Lessons To Fast Muscle Gain that are provided when you sign up for his newsletter.

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No Nonsense Muscle Building Review

benfstaff — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:02:22 -0700

Vince DelMonte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building is a book for the smaller framed man or women who want to develop a muscular toned physique. While other muscle building books topics focus on massive bulking up, No-Nonsense is from a fitness model perspective. This 215 page book covers all the key points about muscle building without the fluff that some use to increase the page count. Just recently, Vince has released his latest product Your Six Pack Quest as a companion product to further assist you in fat loss and building six pack abs.

Vince is a successful fitness model competitor so his knowledge is in developing the “fitness model physique” as opposed to the bulky “bodybuilder physique.” He emphasizes aspects in his program that are ignored or barely covered in similar programs like flexibility training, endurance training and muscular balance.

Of all the muscle building programs, Vince's ranks the best in continuously expanding and improving on his package's content through his limited time offer free membership site. He explanations are clear and directly to the point. If you do not want to read an long book that restates the same points multiple time or listen to repetitive audio drone on for hours, then this is the book for you.

Best of all, this book caters equally to both males and females. In fact, you will find that this program provides each of his books, workouts, and diet plans in both of male and female editions.

Muscle Training Program
The No-Nonsense program is a complete training system that includes a 52 week intensive workout plan for toning your muscles, 84 day healthy meal plan, visual demonstrations of each exercise, and access to a limited time free membership area where you have your today's workout plan laid out for you complete with exercise descriptions and tips for performing those exercises to capture the maximum benefit. The upgrade package includes a more in-depth course on fat loss, vegetarian meal recommendations, and access to Vince for personalized training.

One aspect of No-Nonsense program is high intensity training where you changing sets and reps in an effort to prevent adaptation and stimulate different muscle fibers. You can start slowly with each phase builds to the next. Unlike the typical HIT based program where the focus sticks primarily to heavy weights at a certain rep range, the primary focus of this program is getting significant muscle to stick on the skinny guy. Vince presents the core muscle gain strategy that has been proven to create the best results both for himself and for his personal training clients. It is “The Skinny Guy’s Secrets to Insane Muscle Gain.”

Other topics the training section cover include:

Flexibility training where you perform stretching exercises to increase flexibility from day one
Minimizing muscle imbalances that develops your strength on both your strong and weak sides
Specialty workouts aimed at your weak spots to help you overcome your nagging areas of muscle gain

No-Nonsense allows you to adapt your training to your personal needs. It is when you learn exactly what, why and how various stimuli affect your unique body that you truly achieve the key to positive and significant physique change. Throughout the training section there is a heavy emphasis on teaching you to learn to listen to your body and use the powers of intuition and instinct to guide your training decisions. The weight training program starts you at the basics and then eases you right on up to some very advanced techniques.

No-Nonsense's Nine Growth Principles
Vince puts forth nine growth principles that are the basis for his workout methods. He clearly explains each principle and makes absolutely sure you understand what he means by such things as working with intensity, heavy weights, progressive overload, and proper rest and recovery. These are principles that you must understand and correctly implement into each and every one of your workouts if you want to make the big gains. He lays them out for you in a clear and concise fashion that is easy to understand and incorporate into your daily routine.

No-Nonsense has an entire chapter dedicated to techniques designed to accelerate recovery. Proper rest and recovery is the basis for gaining muscle mass. It is the failure to allow your body to recuperate that is a major reason why so many muscle gaining programs do not produce the desired results. Vince spends quite a bit of time drumming into his trainee’s heads the importance of recovery.

Vince also devotes a chapter to maximizing your muscle building hormones. This is not a section on supplement hype. In fact, he has a chapter on why most supplements are a waste of your money. When you understand the role that hormones play in building muscle, you realize the importance of optimizing your hormone levels. Vince’s dieting and training recommendations are designed to maximize your muscle building hormones.

Simultaneously Achieving Muscle Gain and Desired Weight
Muscle gain and weight loss, when done correctly, can be achieved simultaneously. The program’s primary purpose is helping people gain muscle, but there is just as much emphasis placed on cutting fat and a healthy diet to achieve an impressive lean muscle physique.

Vince presents a complete cardiovascular training section, covering the various methods and techniques that are most effective for fat loss. If you are extremely skinny, he recommends that you skip this section for the first four weeks until you have developed some initial muscle mass.

He is not just recommending cardio training strictly for weight loss, but as part of a complete package for muscle mass gain. When approached correctly and in measured amounts, he demonstrates how cardio can help build muscle while simultaneously reducing your weight.

As part of the program, Vince describes the power of eating the right foods at the right time to create the proper energy balance. Improper energy balance is another primary reason why weight adjustment efforts fail. He will walk you through the steps to create the proper energy balance to achieve your desired weight and muscle mass.

The first step to a productive muscle building diet is calculating the amount of calories you need to consume and what foods you need to eat. The member’s area has an online calculator that does the work for you. The calculator can be customized based on your desired goal of weight maintenance, weight loss, progressive weight gain, or advanced weight gain. After providing your current measurements and setting your activity level, the calculator provides you with your target caloric consumption.

Vince's dieting section leverages his and his personal students past experience that makes this section uniquely valuable with his 10 No Nonsense Nutrition Rules For Insane Muscle Gain. He understands that dieting to gain weight is often easier said than done and take real work. He systematically walks though objections about weight gain dieting such as lack of appetite, fast metabolism, and I am already doing that. He shows you why you need to eat significantly to increase your muscle mass and shows you exactly how to get it done is a step by step fashion from grocery shopping to cleaning out your kitchen. He tells you how to condition your body to accept your new diet, how to gradually replace your current eating habits with the positive habits that are going to positively affect your health, times your muscles are going to be asking for nutrition, and how to get them the nutrition they need.

At the start, if you need a simpler solution to follow, he provides 84 days of sample meal plans for each diet level. These sample plans are broken down by desired goal and activity level from a 2,000 calorie diet to a whopping 6,000 calorie diet. By following these sample plans, you get a ahead start in toward reaching your desired weight while adding muscle mass.

Why Recommend this Program?
No-Nonsense Muscle Building program is more than just a book, but a complete training package that offers great value. Its user-friendly content that is continuously updated in the member's area and improved upon the most frequently, making this a fully comprehensive muscle building package that is highly relevant to its users as well.

You can quickly tell that Vince’s past history as “the skinny guy” has left him with a great passion for helping you reach your muscle building goals and obtaining your desire weight. Throughout the program, Vince removes your excuses, retrains you to eliminate the bad habit that leads to the skinny and weak body, and systematically replaces them with the positive thinking and positive habits that build and maintain some of the world’s most awesome physiques.

Vince provides you with the detailed plans you need to make a dramatic transformation from goal setting to dieting to weight training. He presents you with a daily step-by-step plan to achieving your muscle-building goals and has planned out every meal and every workout for you for you to follow along. Are you prepared to achieve muscle mass and reach your desired weight? Then click over to Vince DelMonte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building program or Your Six Pack Quest companion product for a more in-depth look.

>>> Click Here to Get a Special $19.95 Trial of No-Nonsense Muscle Building <<<

>>> Click Here to Get a Special $19.95 Trial of Your Six Pack Quest <<<

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Technorati Tags: muscle gain, desired weight, muscle building, body building

Avoiding Over-Training For Better Health

BENFstaff — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:23:00 -0700

Almost everyone who is a serious athlete and plays competitively will experience symptoms of over-training at one point in their development. Over-training can lead to serious injury, chronic fatigue, and potentially muscle mass loss. Over-training is far too common since many athletes want to train as fast as possible to get to that next competitive level. Training too much or at too high an intensity can create short-term and potentially long term damage to an athlete.

This does not mean you do not have to put forth maximum effort to see results. Whether you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or a weekend warrior that want to increase your fitness and muscle mass, you need to train hard and be consistent in your workouts. In order to get the most out of your body, you have to progressively overload the muscles by increasing the weight and intensity during each workout.

The problem is that many of us increase the intensity of our workouts while getting insufficient amounts of rest between sessions. The trick is finding the right balance between workout frequency, intensity, and rest and recovery. Let us take a look at some of the effects of over-training and prevention methods.

Effect of Over-Training

Nervous System - Over-training effects both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system in negative ways: higher resting heart rate, weak appetite, high blood pressure, irritability, and early onset of fatigue. If you are experiencing more than one of these symptoms, you may be training too much and need to immediately evaluate your routine.
Immune System - Your body's first line of defense against viruses and bacteria is your immune system. Too intense and too frequent training sessions decrease the levels of antibodies and lymphocytes in your body, making you much more susceptible to illness. You are more likely too get sick and stay ill for a longer period of time. While you are sick, you will have to skip workouts and the benefits you were diligently working to achieve will slow considerably.
Metabolic System - The symptoms of your metabolic system suffering from too much training are: slow, weak muscle contractions, depleted creatine phosphate stores, excessive accumulation of lactic acid, extreme delayed onset of muscle soreness, and tendon and connective tissue damage. These symptoms are the ones that are the most commonly discussed and simply cannot be ignored.

Over-training affects the entire body and can seriously impact your muscle building program and cause serious health problems. Now let us take a look at determining if an athlete is training too much and what we can do to prevent it.

Determining if Someone is Over-Training

Determining if you are currently over-training is straight forward it you are in tune with your body and leads to early detection.

If you are losing interest in workouts, are having trouble sleeping, and feel weak and irritable, then you may be in an over-training state and should take a week or two off.
Are you experiencing two or more symptoms outlined above? This should be a red flag and cause for a workout routine re-examination.
Is your physical performance continuing to improve? For example, if you were able to do eight body weight pull-ups in the last session, but only six pull-ups this session, then this is a sign that your body has not full recovered from the previous workout. You need to reassess your program and potentially make modifications so that you see progress in every workout.

Over-Training Prevention

You can use multiple approaches to avoid over-training by: determining your correct training frequency and intensity, eating the right foods, and getting the right amount of rest.

Correct training frequency - Determining the correct training frequency can be difficult when you are first starting out. You need to use your judgment based on your recovery ability and methods. Remember the goal is to improve every single session, and if that is not happening, consider decreasing either the frequency or intensity of your workouts. Many athletes go wrong here, if you are realizing that you have not fully recovered from the previous workout, then the prudent action is to skip the workout and go home for more rest.
Proper Nutrition - Your diet plays a huge role in your muscle building program by regulating your hormone levels, providing energy, and providing the raw building blocks used to create new tissue. Do not skip the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Even if you are trying to reduce your weight, never go to a training session on an empty growling stomach and consider eating small, but healthy meals, every couple of hours to keep your body in an anabolic state.
Rest and Recovery - R&R is essential when it comes to over-training prevention. Make sure you are sleeping at least seven hours a night and try to keep your bedtime on a consistent schedule. It is important that you have days off between intense training sessions. If you are doing weight training, then have one day of rest between workouts and never train the same muscle groups on consecutive days.

For more information on proper diets plans and training regimens, go to vincedelmontefitness.com. Available at the site are several training videos and articles that can keep you fit and healthy as you improve your muscle mass to dominate the competition.

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Technorati Tags: over training, weight lifting, bodybuilding, workout