Fitness4BodyBuilding

Body Building for Fitness

2012-03-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

People undertake the sport of body building for all sorts of reasons, but fitness is probably the biggest one of all. There’s no doubt that people who take the time to focus on the muscles in their body and honing them to a chiseled state are probably among the most fit of athletes. We can easily use the terms body building and fitness interchangeably with each other.

We are a fitness conscious society, and body building fits in nicely with that concept. Fitness means more than just losing weight and having a trim body. It means living a healthy lifestyle and chiseling the best body you can through a variety of methods.

Body building for fitness is a great way to become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Because becoming an effective body building means having the proper diet, you will realize a level of fitness you never knew was possible. You should eat a well-balanced nutrition plan that gives you the nutrients you need to have a great body.

Because you are eating in this way, you will be giving your body essential nutrients that will make you healthy just by consuming them. Body building requires a very specific diet with lots of protein and lots of carbohydrates. Body builders are also very aware of what they are putting in their body, so fitness is achieved in the diet just by concentrating on what you eat.

Body building also requires a demanding workout schedule where you lift weights and perform exercises that focus on specific muscle groups as well as specific muscles. When you begin to chisel those muscles, they become very well defined and healthier. That’s why body building is great for a fitness regime.

Fitness is very important in living a healthy and full lifestyle. Staying fit both in body and mind contributes to a sense of well-being that you won’t find when you are neglecting your health. It is a million dollar industry that helps us stay fit and trim, and the help is out there aplenty when you look for it.

Body building for fitness is the best way you can go about not only losing weight but also gaining body mass and becoming stronger. When you achieve the level of fitness you are desiring, you will be able to look in the mirror and be proud of what you see. Why? Because you did it yourself and you did it for YOU!

Stop Wasting Your Protein Powder! How To Squeeze More Results Out Of Each Scoop Of Protein Powder You Take

2012-03-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter what brand or type of protein powder you take...if you are taking it at the wrong time, you aren't getting as much out of it as you could be. In fact, if you take your protein powder at the wrong time, you may as well just dump it in the garbage!

Here is a list of the when, why and how of effective protein supplementation, ranked in order of importance.

1. Immediately After A Workout:

If you only take protein powder once per day, this is the absolute best time to take it. Immediately after you finish your workout, your body needs raw materials to rebuild and recover with. If you don't supply the raw materials through eating, your body will break down muscle from elsewhere in your body in order to rebuild the damaged areas. This is very counterproductive as you can well imagine.

By taking in some protein (20 to 30 grams or so) within minutes after exercise, you provide your body with the raw materials it needs to recover without breaking down its own muscle tissue.

2. An Hour After A Workout:

About an hour following a workout, your body has settled down from the excitement and is ready to really start rebuilding. The protein that you took in immediately following the workout has been metabolized and your body is looking for more. Another protein shake at this time is a good way to help speed recovery. Try to take in another 20 to 30 grams about an hour after working out.

3. First Thing In The Morning:

Immediately upon waking, or as soon after that as you can manage, take a scoop of protein powder. Your body has just been through an (approximately) 8 hour fast and is hungry for nutrients. Feed your body!

Protein powder is more quickly assimilated than solid food and gets into your muscles faster. This protein shot gives your metabolism a boost, which can help with fat loss. Be sure to follow it with a good breakfast, of course.

4. Last Thing At Night:

Prepare your body for the long overnight fast by giving it a little something to work with. A good combination for this purpose is to mix a scoop of whey protein in with a small glass of milk.

Whey is what's known as a "fast" protein, meaning that it's digested quickly, while milk protein (casein) is what's known as a "slow" protein, meaning it's digested relatively slowly. At night, you want your protein to be metabolized slowly so that your body gets a more even supply over the course of the night. By mixing "fast" and "slow" proteins, you get the benefits of the higher-quality whey with the slower digestion time of the milk.

5. In-between Meals:

A quick protein shake can be a great snack in between meals. It helps keep your body supplied with protein all day long. This is especially useful if you tend to have long periods of time in-between meals. It could mean the difference between losing muscle and building or keeping muscle!

6. With Meals:

Taking a protein supplement with meals is a handy way to increase the protein content of a meal. This is perfect for when you eat
a meal that is somewhat low in protein.

7. In The Middle Of The Night:

This is a trick that bodybuilders sometimes use in order to keep their muscles supplied with protein throughout the night. Keep a pre-mixed protein shake right beside your bed. Although some trainers have been known to set alarms to wake up to drink it, I prefer to have it there waiting just in case I wake up, but I don't try to wake up on purpose. If I don't wake up, it's right there ready for me to drink first thing in the morning! This strategy is more targeted for muscle growth rather than fat loss.

WARNING!

Never drink a protein supplement immediately before working out!

Some people do this thinking that it will give them an energy boost or give them a head-start for post-workout recovery. Basically, all it does is sit in their stomach and bloat them up. Valuable blood that should be going to working muscles gets sent to the digestive system to try and digest it. The same warning goes for taking protein during a workout. Don't do it!

Taking protein powder is not going to make up for poor diet or a bad program but it can definitely help to support you in your training efforts. Take it at the right time and you'll get the most bang for your buck!

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Looking For Amazing Prices on High-Quality Protein Powder?

http://www.fitstep.com/goto/protein-finder.htm

For more information on protein and muscle, I also highly recommend the eBook "Muscle Building Nutrition"by bodybuilding author Will Brink:

http://www.fitstep.com/goto/muscle-building-nutrition.htm

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

Ephedra - Is It Safe And Effective?

2012-03-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard all these phrases before but are the fat burners containing ephedra that these claims are attached to really that effective and are they safe?

The primary ingredient in fat burners is the herb ephedra, also known as ma huang, or it's manufactured version ephedrine. It has been used in Chinese herbal medicine quite safely and effectively for thousands of years. It is often combined with synthetic or herbal versions of caffeine (e.g. guarana, yerba mate or kola nut) and aspirin (e.g. white willow bark).

But does it burn fat?

The answer to that question is yes. Ephedra does effectively help the body to preferentially burn fat for energy. But, according to medical studies, there can be side effects, some of which are quite serious.

Ephedra works to burn fat through several means.

Its chemical makeup increases the breakdown of fatty tissue for fuel.
Its stimulatory properties help to increase resting metabolism. This process is known as thermogenesis, which is essentially excess heat production. You body burns more calories simply by producing more body heat.
When ephedra is combined with caffeine and aspirin, it may have appetite suppressant effects.
The nervous system stimulation you get can help you maintain your energy levels, which can aid you in your exercise program.

When used according to instructions and in moderate doses, studies suggest that fat-burning formulas containing ephedra, caffeine and aspirin can be safely and effectively used to SUPPLEMENT a good fat-burning program.

Fat burners should never be used as the sole means to achieve fat loss. A good fat loss program must also address diet and exercise, contrary to the hype you see on television and in print. Anyone who relies solely on pills to lose fat is usually doomed to regain the lost weight and potentially quite rapidly after they stop taking the pills.

There is a reason for this weight gain. These pills are effective, therefore the person does not necessarily have to change the habits that made them overweight in the first place. When a person discontinues use of ephedra without changing those habits, almost inevitably the weight will come back.

The fat-burning effects of ephedra do not come without a price, however. Ephedra has a number of side effects and should not be taken by people with certain conditions.

Some of these side effects may include: jitteriness, sleeplessness, increased heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety, skin flushing or tingling and nausea.

People who should not take ephedra include those suffering from heart disease, anxiety attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes, adrenal disease, thyroid disease or prostate disorders. If you are taking medication for high blood pressure or are taking antidepressants or MAO inhibitors, you should stay away from ephedra. Also, it is not recommended for pregnant women to use this herb.

Now that you know some of the pros and cons of taking ephedra supplements you, along with your doctor, can use this information to help decide whether or not ephedra is right for you.

For more information on fat loss and exercise, visit

http://www.fitstep.com/fat-loss/fat-loss.htm

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Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

The Atkins Diet - Separating Fact From Fiction

2012-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Atkins Diet has been in existence for over 30 years and has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last few years.

Pioneered by Dr. Robert Atkins, the theory behind the Atkins Diet is simple. "Your body prefers to utilize carbohydrates (such as in grains, cereals, breads, etc.) for energy and will burn them first prior to body fat. By cutting down dramatically on carbohydrates in your diet, you force your body to burn fat for energy."

Reducing the carbohydrates in your diet puts your body into a state called "ketosis." This word is derived from the "ketones" that are used by your body for energy when sugars/carbs aren't available. When you are in this state of ketosis, your body is producing ketones from your fat that is being burned for energy. Ketones are essentially the leftovers from this process and are used in place of sugar in the body.

One of the major misconceptions about the Atkins Diet that has been widely reported is that you can or should eat extremely unhealthy, fatty foods all the time. This is not actually true. Dr. Atkins recommends that you limit your intake of these types of foods (e.g. butter, sausage, bacon, etc.) and instead focus on healthy fats such as olive oil, fish oil, nuts, etc.

The Atkins Diet has many positives and negatives that have been associated with it. Some of the positives include:

Rapid Weight Loss - though the first couple of days the majority of weight lost is water, your body does become more efficient at fat burning and you do lose fat.
Reduced Mood or Energy Swings - eating carbohydrates (especially sugary ones) can lead to mood and energy swings. This is often seen as the post-lunchtime or afternoon energy crash. When you eliminate the carbs, you eliminate the source of this problem.
Reduced Consumption of Refined Foods - highly refined foods are the source of many health problems. The more processed a food is, the less nutrients are generally in it. The Atkins Diet encourages a focus on the consumption of more natural state foods such as vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs and healthy oils.

Some of the negatives that have been associated with the Atkins Diet include:

Rapid Regaining of Lost Weight - this can happen when a person comes off the Atkins Diet. They regain all the weight they lost. One of the major reasons for this is that when you eliminate the carbs from your diet for a long period of time, your body becomes more sensitive to them. When you go back to your regular eating habits (which may not have been great to begin with), your body reacts more strongly to the sugar and carbs in foods, leading to weight gain. This weight gain can be reduced by easing off the Atkins Diet gradually rather than by feasting on carbohydrates.
Lack of Food Choices - it can be difficult to find things to eat that are low carb. Most grocery stores are primarily stocked with carbohydrate-laden foods and it can get boring eating the same things over and over again. Luckily, with the popularity of the Atkins diet and other low carb diets, there are many delicious recipes available to help alleviate this boredom.

The Atkins Diet may not be for you but by incorporating some of the principles in it, such as lowering your carbohydrate intake and eating more natural-state foods, you may find that you can achieve great results without ever having to restrict yourself. It may take a little longer but the results will be more permanent as it is more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

How to Gain Muscle Mass on 3 Meals a Day

2012-03-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Three square meals a day...breakfast, lunch and dinner. Can a person achieve great muscle-building results with just three meals a day?

Absolutely...and I'll tell you how.

It's all about meal timing and quantity.

Before I get started, please note it IS very true that you're better off eating smaller, more frequent meals, both for muscle building and fat loss. I'm not going to argue with that.

The problem arises because many people simply CAN'T get more than 3 meals day.

Here's my solution...

1. Plan to train in the late afternoon/early evening, if you can. For our meal timing, this will be the best option.

2. Have a moderately large breakfast...eggs, oatmeal, broccoli...whatever else you normally eat. Breakfast is the second most important meal of the day (for our purposes here, at least) and it's not going to be your biggest.

3. Have a medium-sized lunch...at this point, you're looking to not overload your digestive system with food (you already did that with breakfast) because you'll be training fairly soon.

4. Do your workout and have your post-workout shake.

5. DINNER is going to be your biggest meal of the day. Because your body is primed to take full advantage of whatever you eat after training THIS is the time to load up. You should get at least half your days calories or more in this meal...overloading calories like this is extremely anabolic and your body will thrive on it.

6. Next day, repeat.

That's the plan! It's nothing complicated, of course, but I've been using this type of eating and training schedule for a long time and it's been extremely effective for me.

If you can squeeze in a few small snacks during the day, go for it! But if you don't have time for 5 or 6 meals a day, don't stress about it. Your body can cope and you can definitely still make great progress!

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Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth

2012-03-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?

Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.

But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.

By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.

One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.

Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.

Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.

Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.

You can find instructions for stretching at:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Stretching1.htm

One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.

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Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

Is Muscle Soreness Necessary For Muscle Growth?

2012-03-12T11:42:00.001-07:00

Anybody who has ever touched a weight knows the feeling...

It happens the first time you do squats or deadlifts...the first time you do negative-only training...the first time you do an exercise you've never done before...

Ironically enough, as painful as this feeling sometimes is, it can actually be quite addictive! Many people I hear from actively seek out ways to make themselves sore because they love that feeling of soreness. To them, it's an indication that they've made progress...that they've accomplished something in the gym.

Without that soreness to give them feedback, some people feel they haven't really done enough.

This has led to some pretty insane training methods and programs, let me tell you.

But here's the deal...even though I'm personally known for creating unique exercises and programs that no doubt result in a LOT of muscle soreness, the major goal of these unique techniques is NOT to make you sore!

Yes, it's a common side effect, but if I wanted to dole out pain, there are much more targeted ways of doing THAT. Cripes, just drop a weight plate on your foot - there's pain for you...lots of soreness, too.

My goal is not to induce soreness but to induce a training effect on the muscles through the application of unique training methods.

Pain is NEVER the goal. Adaptation is the goal.

So, IS muscle soreness required in order to achieve a muscle-building effect on the body?

No.

Simple as that.

I won't get into all the specifics of HOW muscle soreness comes about (there actually is debate on the mechanisms by which Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness operates) but muscle soreness is simply an indicator that you've done something your body is not used to.

It CAN be an indication that what you've done will result in muscle growth but there is no guarantee. I can make a person sore from doing a set of 100 reps on the bench press but do you think that will result in significant muscle growth? The load simply isn't great enough.

Heck, the most soreness I EVER experienced in all my life didn't even come from weight training! It came from running (and walking) a 20 km race without training for it (back when I was 16 years old and crazy). I was sore all over before I even FINISHED. Two hours later I could hardly move. And I can promise you, I didn't gain a pound of muscle from THAT experience.

I'll be honest with you...I've been weight training about 18 years and I very RARELY get any significant muscle soreness anymore (i.e. the kind that makes you walk funny or have a hard time scratching your nose). It takes a LOT for me to get even mildly sore. All those unique exercises and programs I've done over the years have resulted in muscles that have pretty much seen it all.

Even when I perform an exercise I've never ever done before or done a program that is totally new to me, soreness is never significant.

Yet, my results ARE.

I'll give you a specific example. In my Muscle Explosion muscle-building program (the link below), I've included a week where you perform ONE exercise 5 days in a row for more than 200 sets (I like to use deadlifts).

--> http://www.fitstep.com/muscle-explosion/explosive-muscle-building.htm

Without getting into the specifics of the program, I generally gain about 5 pounds of muscle in this single week alone, just based on this style of training. And even with that extreme workload, I RARELY experience ANY soreness.

Yes, my nervous and muscular systems are pretty well trashed at the end of those 5 days but soreness? Not much to speak of.

I'll say it again...soreness is an INDICATOR of the potential for muscle growth NOT a requirement.

Here's another example...any professional athlete.

Do you think an athlete who wants to gain muscle will pursue a program where excessive muscle soreness prevents them from practicing or affects the mechanics of their sport?

Absolutely not. Their coaches wouldn't permit it.

Muscle has no brain. All it knows is when it needs to adapt to a workload greater than what it's accustomed to. A targeted increase in workload will (generally) result in an increase in muscle mass, when all other factors are accounted for (like nutrition, recovery, etc.).

So where does that leave the trainer looking to build muscle?

Train to improve your performance. Try new techniques, programs and exercises.

But for crying out loud, DON'T train with muscle soreness as a major goal and DON'T worry if a training program doesn't immediately make you sore. You'll get results from overloading your muscles, eating enough quality nutrition to support the muscle-building process and recovering enough between workouts.

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Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

What Are The "Basic Exercises" and Why Should You Care?

2012-03-12T11:38:00.001-07:00

The basic exercises are your key to long-term success in training. They encompass every major muscle group in your body and many of the most common movement patterns you perform on a daily basis. If you want to build maximum muscle, you MUST use these exercises or variations of them.

So what ARE these basic exercises?

There are different interpretations of what, exactly, they are...but to me, the basic exercises are squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, rows, and pull-ups.

If you did nothing but these six exercise, you've worked pretty much every single part of your body.

You'll notice curls aren't on this list...neither are pushdowns, tricep extensions, calf raises, flyes, leg extensions, leg curls or lateral raises. Every single muscle worked by these "isolation" exercises is worked by the basic exercises.

So what makes the basic exercises so great?

Basically, they involve the most muscle mass all at once. When you do a squat, you're working the legs AND the glutes, lower back, upper back, calves and core. Much of the benefits of the squat come from this "total-body activation."

You get the most bang for your buck as the energy you put into the basic exercises gives you a great return on investment in terms of strength and muscle mass.

A program should consist of at least 75% basic exercises...and the percentage should be HIGHER the worse your recovery capability is. To maximize results, you need to spend your energy on the exercises that will do you the most good.

That doesn't mean you have to do just those six exact exercises, though! The variations of these exercises are also extremely effective and will introduce plenty of training variety to keep you progressing and keep training fun and interesting.

Here are some samples:

1. Squats

Front squats, back squats, goblet squats, dumbell squats, hack squats, dumbell split squats, Bulgarian split squats, one-legged squats, box squats, belt squats, braced-leg-squats.

2. Deadlifts

Conventional, sumo, Super Deadlift Bar, snatch-grip, stiff-legged, Romanian, dumbell deadlifts, suitcase-style, one-arm straddle deadlifts, Jefferson lifts, one-side barbell deadlifts, one-legged glute deadlifts.

3. Bench Press

Barbell, dumbell, incline, decline, flat, close-grip wide grip, 1 arm, Swiss ball, machine.

4. Shoulder Press

Military press, dumbell press, seated, standing, push-press, clean and press, two-phase barbell shoulder press, W press, Arnold press, reverse alternating dumbell press, weight plate pizza press, javelin press, side-to-side barbell press, behind-the-beck press (not recommended).

5. Rows

Bent-over barbell rows, dumbell rows, one-arm dumbell rows, cable rows, close grip rows, wide grip rows, underhand, overhand, neutral grip, T-bar rows, inverted rows (pull-up rows), chest-supported rows, upright rows (not recommended).

6. Pull-Ups

Chin-ups, wide-grip pull-ups, muscle-ups, neutral grip, reverse grip, one-arm, two bar pull-ups, all variations of pulldowns, full-range pulldowns, corner rack pull-ups, behind-the-head (not recommended).

The list of variations is LONG and covers a lot of great exercises!

These six basic exercises should be a staple of every routine, no matter if your goal is muscle, strength or fat-loss. These six movements and their variations hold the key to truly effective training.

Even myself, being a "mad scientist" of exercises and training, work primarily with the basics and their variations...of course, MY variations tend to be a bit more unique than many of the classic ones, but the same rules apply. This is the stuff that gets you the RESULTS.

You can find many of the unique exercise I mentioned above at the following links:

BetterU News Archive:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/archive-home.htm

Powerful Training Secrets Samples:

http://www.powerfultrainingsecrets.com/info/free-samples.htm

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Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

Glute Training For Men: Why Guys NEED Glutes... Looks, Athletic Performance and Avoiding Back Pain!

2012-03-12T11:35:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest misconceptions about glute training among guys is that training the butt is just for women.

It's NOT.

In fact, glute training is just as important for men as it is for women...and in some cases even more so (and I'll tell what you what those cases are below)!

The most important thing that guys need to know about training their glutes is that REAL glute training is not about doing cable kickbacks and lying on the floor, flailing the legs around to some video.

REAL glute training utilizes basic, heavy movements that challenge the glutes to PERFORM.

REAL glute training develops strength in the ENTIRE body, not just the target muscles.

REAL glute training will build a masculine, head-turning butt that makes you LOOK and FEEL strong and capable...and that confidence shows.

Why Guys Need Glutes Reason #1 - To Look Better and Feel More Confident

I figure let's get this one out of the way first since it's probably the first thing you thought of!

While there certainly are some women out there who prefer a guy with no butt, you and I both know they're probably NOT in the majority. To get all primal for a few moments here, women look for visual cues about the suitability of a mate based on muscle and bone structure (whether they'll admit it or not :).

Large strong glutes are not found on weak men.

Glutes are the center of power in the human body...they're among the strongest muscle in the body...and having large, strong glutes tells women (subconsiously, at least) that you're capable of fighting off a hungry lion or bringing down a wildebeast with your bare hands or lifting a car off their baby...you get the idea.

On the flip side, having small, flat glutes tells the opposite story at first glance (whether it's true or not). The subconscious judgement is one of weakness...and that's definitely NOT the look most guys are going for!

Having strong solid glutes gives you a sense of confidence in yourself, whether you're coming or going, and it WILL come across to other people.

Why Guys Need Glutes Reason #2 - To Improve Athletic Performance

Two of the best examples here are football and Olympic sprinting. The guys who are at the top of their game generally have the best-developed glutes (the guys who look like they have the rear-end of a Clydesdale horse). Because it's the glutes that provide a HUGE amount of power for quick, explosive movements.

This is true not only in sports where it's completely obvious, like football and sprinting...it's also true in sports like golf, where the glutes stabilize the hip area, assisting in the transfer of force through the core. It's true in tennis, where the glutes are critical for the quick side-to-side movements that make up most of the game. It's true in baseball (and softball) where you need strong glutes to be able to sprint to first or run to catch a fly ball. It's true in hockey, where the glutes are what actually MOVE you on the ice.

It's also true in bowling...ok, maybe not so much bowling, but you get the idea.

If your glutes are weak, your athletic performance is going to suffer. And that's a FACT.

You won't be able to move as fast or as explosively when you're running and you won't be able to stabilize your hips as well with stationary activities, so even throwing and swinging movements won't be as powerful.

The glutes are just that important when it comes to sports and any athlete (or even weekend warrior athlete!) who doesn't train the glutes is leaving a tremendous amount of performance on the table.

Why Guys Need Glutes Reason #3 - To Help Avoid Lower Back Pain and Keep the Stomach From Sticking Out

The glutes are also critically important for what they do when you're not doing anything at all...and that is to help keep proper alignment in your lower back area.

When things get out of whack in your lower back, long term and often debilitating back pain can be the result.

I'm not going to say that working the glutes is wonder-cure for all back pain...that's just not the case. However, glute training CAN play a BIG role in helping to prevent and fix lower back pain where spinal alignment is an issue.

Most people know that the main function of the glutes is to bring the thigh backwards (like when you're walking, the glutes bring the leg back to move you forward).

What most people don't realize is that the gluteus maximus muscles also exert tension from the opposite direction where they originate (the pelvic bone crests), which helps keep neutral alignment in the pelvis.

In English, this means that the glutes also function to prevent your pelvis from tilting forward.

When your pelvis tilts forward, your belly sticks out and this overstretches the ligaments and tendons in your lower back, leading to constant lower back pain.

Think of it this way...how many men do you know who have big guts and no butts...probably quite a few.

Lifestyle habits such as inactivity and poor eating lead to the fat gain. And inactivity leads to glute atrophy and weakness, which further causes that gut to stick out, tilting the pelvis foward and pulling the back out of alignment. It's a vicious cycle that is completely preventable.

Now, the glutes won't fix this in isolation. Obviously, the core and lower back play a big role in this as well. Glute training should be part of a greater program of strengthening the whole body and dropping excess fat to help fix the factors that lead to this type of lower back pain.

How Men Should Train Their Glutes:

So, given the three major factors I talked about, I'm sure you've come to the conclusion that the time to start training your glutes is NOW.

I think one of the biggest things that holds men back from directly training their glutes is the misconception that glute training involves doing stuff like cable kickbacks or laying on the floor with the legs flying around like in an exercise video from the 80's.

REAL glute training (as I mentioned above) is all about building power and strength with challenging exercises that quite often don't even LOOK like glute-specific exercises!

Most of the best glute exercises (with a few exceptions) involve the rest of the leg muscles in some way as well. They use heavy weight and they help build muscle in your entire body.

Exercise that involve deep squatting with resistance (which is a position where the glutes are maximally activated) sets off of a hormonal reaction in the body, basically kicking out testosterone in a direct response to it. This is one of the reasons why squats are such a good overall exercise for building muscle...they stimulate this hormonal response in the body.

You can use exercises like One-Leg Bench Squats or Dumbell Split Squats to accomplish this.

Including exercises like these into your regular training routine can have a big impact on the results you get in your glutes.

Obviously, if you want to get MAXIMUM results in your glute training, you'd be best served by a program that is completely targeted to that goal...and I might know of one that fits the bill... ;)

My "Gluteus to the Maximus" program covers exercises, programs and targeted training strategies all designed to give you FAST results exactly where you want them.

This is NOT fluff glute training...this is REAL weight training that men can use to develop their glutes for whatever the end goal, whether it be looks, athletic performance or preventing lower back pain.

If you want to build larger, firmer masculine glutes, this is the program for you.

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 20 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!", "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

12 Secrets for Gaining Mass Muscles.

2012-02-20T10:30:00.002-08:00

If You really want to gain size stop reading articles out of magazines and find a trainer that knows what they are doing.

Eat organically, you are what you eat (if you give yourself a 59 cent hamburger you are giving your body 59 cent muscles that makes you look like garbage.)

Eat According to your metabolic type, "the metabolic typing diet"

Lift mainly in the 8-12 rep range

Your tempos should range from 3-1-3 to 4-1-4 and no more

You total time under tension for each lift should only last 60 sec or less (this is because you want to produce as much Testosterone and Growth Hormone.

Don't lift longer than 45 min per workout, less at a higher intensity equals more.

This would be different if you were on pro-hormones or juice, because of the recover time.

You shouldn't be performing any cardio

Lift according to your genetic makeup and your muscle fiber type if you tend to be more of an endurance athlete you will do better lifting a little higher reps, if you are more of a speed athlete you will do better lifting a little lower reps heavier weight.

Supplements and other things can help in achieving mass, as we all know what the pros use and most amateurs lifting in the gym.

Though follow science it can do way more for you than just taking some pill.

Mass is easy to gain when you lift correctly, don't waste years trying to reach your goal when you can invest in a trainer that can get you tons of results now. And if they don't get you results fire them immediately

Words of wisdom
work harder
Less is more
Scott White

Personal Power Training:

www.personalpowertraining.net