Posts Tagged ‘build muscle’

Avocado Nutrition Facts - This Fruit Should Not Be Missed If You Want Muscle Mass Fast

Sunday, December 12th, 2010

I am sure you understand that eating a double cheese burger in addition to chugging down unhealthy shakes is most certainly the absolutely wrong way to increase muscle volume. You will also understand that indulging in this sort of thing is going to just attach pounds of fat around your tummy, subsequently requiring you to carry out a lot more work in order to sculpt your flabby folds into a toned, solid six pack. To add to this, you likely know a great deal more with regards to what food types to stay away from instead of the foods you should feed on. Nevertheless that is why we are here. Therefore, with no further ado, get ready to learn about one of the most effective fruits to take in without adding inches to your abdomen - avocados.

Avocados are a type of fruit which can be with their fair share of calories, nevertheless possess lots of nutrients in them that they are actually deemed a gold mine for people looking to get healthy. Curious as to knowing just what this fruit provides? Good, below are some avocado nutritional details that are likely to grab you:

This amazing fruit is rich with monosaturated fats, which are the good fats which can bring down the levels of Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (the bad form of cholesterol) and also raise the ones from Hdl cholesterol (beneficial cholesterol). With the high protein eating habits you might be eating, a couple of chunks of avocado can save you from struggling with high cholesterol levels as well as heart conditions. Avocados tend to be rich in folate, which is the pure type of folic acid. It is deemed an important nutrient given that it improves the production of hydrochloric acid (HCL) what, subsequently, aids in digesting proteins. Furthermore, folate contributes to the creation of new muscle tissue. In other words folate will assist to develop (blank) cut abdominal muscles you have sought after.

A single avocado can provide you with adequate Vitamin E to be able to detox the body from free radicals that can have an effect on your overall health and cause inflammation. In addition, you will need this particular nutrient because it’s important for muscle tissues. Vitamin E is critical when it comes to muscle cells respiration and also for skeletal muscles. Additionally, this particular vitamin will strengthen your heart function, therefore raising your stamina levels. Beyond the above mentioned avocado nutrition facts, avocados are also noted to be complete of beta-sitosterol. This sort of plant sterol will increase your bodys immunity plus control your cholesterol. Additionally, beta-sitosterol aids in controlling the amounts of testosterone. The sterol won’t allow the hormone to change into Dihydrotestosterone, this means testosterone is going to circulate around within your body, and start accumulating at your muscle groups. This ensures you of obtaining lean muscle, and that is certainly something you’d like.

All of the avocado nutrition facts that you had just read through will certainly encourage you to go out and purchase a box full of avocados nevertheless, bear in mind that these fruits are very rich in calories, which means that eating lots of them is likely to make it difficult to lose fat around the stomach. And so, just try to consume avocados moderately. A single cup filled with avocado cubes (a hundred and fifty grams) is going to include 240 calories, which is a lot if you are hoping to get plenty of protein in your diet plan as well. If you intend on consuming a whole avocado, which can be roughly 202 grams, you need to remember that you will be having 322 calories, and that 248 are going to be calories via fat. So, plan your food consumption accordingly.

Consuming avocados is undoubtedly a must if you want to improve your bodys overall health as well as acquire lean mass. However, make sure you include them to your diet program in a manner so they won’t cause you to get a bellyrather than the cut six pack you intend to acquire.

Before going out to the store to pick up a few avocados check out more of the often overlooked or unknown valuable foods which will help you get six pack abdominals. There is also much more information to help with your abs training here.

Gym Equipment - The Best Exercise Machines

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Cardiovascular exercises are essential parts of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Even if you are going to the gym purely for muscle-building purposes, you can still benefit from cardio exercises. It is therefore advisable for you to make use of the different cardio machines along with other gym equipment. Here are some of the best and most common cardio machines found in the gym.

Treadmills - These are probably one of the oldest and the most popular cardio exercise machines of all time. They are very easy to use and allow you to work your cardio muscles in different levels of intensity. To maximize the use of a treadmill, your heart rate has to be elevated while walking or running on it. And try not to hold on to the handrail while you’re at it.

Elliptical - This machine has also grown in popularity in recent years. It provides a great cardio workout while being less stressful on your knees and hips. It is the machine of choice for people with bad knees as well as those who are currently recovering from an injury because it saves you from the pounding you normally get when using a treadmill.

Stationary Bike - Also one of the most common cardio machines found at the gym, the stationary bike offers low-impact workouts that are perfect for those who are suffering from joint problems. There are even recumbent bikes that work very well for people with back problems.

Weight lifting is also good exercise, even for those who have no bodybuilding aspirations and only wish to shed some excess pounds. It is therefore good to familiarize yourself with the different weight machines found in the gym and take advantage of them from time to time.

Leg Press Machine - This is said to provide you with the best machine leg exercise. Most types of this machine are set on a 45-degree angle. It allows you to lift weights without fear of slipping, and it subjects your back and knees to significantly less stress than squats.

Lat Pull-down Machine - This machine involves an exercise that is similar to the chin-up. Many exercisers believe that doing chin-ups are a lot better than exercising with this machine. However, it is a great alternative for people whose backs are not yet strong enough to effectively lift their body weight.

Cables and Pulleys - This is among the most common exercise machines found in any gym. It is usually made up of a weight stack connected to a cable with bars or handles at the end. What’s good about this machine is that it allows you to perform exercises that work your entire body.

These are just some of the best and most common pieces of gym equipment that you can take advantage of to promote overall fitness and health. To maximize the results of your regular workout routines, be sure to combine the use of both cardio and weight lifting machines at the gym. After all, more than losing weight or building more muscle mass, your ultimate goal should be overall physical fitness, health, and well-being.

Learn To Effectively Build Muscle For Beginners. PLUS: Discover The Ultimate Beginner Bicep Workouts to Turbo-Boost your muscle building.

3 Superb Oblique Abdominal Exercises

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

The Oblique Abdominal muscles are made up of the internal and external Oblique’s. Because the external Oblique holds the honour of being the most visible - it tends to be the muscle that the Fitness enthusiasts focus on as it gives you that inspiring and attractive ‘V’ shape set of Obliques.

As well as being one of the most attention grabbing muscles to carve out, they are also one of the most challenging to achieve. One of the contributing factors to this is that they are only fully exposed for the world to see when (Male) Bodyfat levels get down to 15% or thereabouts.

Due to a lack of knowledge around optimum bodyfat and muscle growth techniques the majority of people never even catch a glimpse at their own properly developed Oblique’s.

In the next few paragraphs im going to explain to you the ultimate Oblique Abdominal Exercises to add to your training schedule to allow you to truly take your Obliques to a whole new level.

The Obliques are very different than many of the larger muscle groups such as Chest and Back, so your focus for an effective Oblique Abdominal workout will shift your mindeset to volume as opposed to lifting for ego with a heavy weight. We are striving for leaness rather than mass.

The Importance Of Diet - Like I mentioned at the beginning of the Article, Oblique Abdominal Exercises are very much only half of the equation. For you to be able to get your Bodyfat to a percentage where its low enough for them to be able to be seen you need to get real serious about eating healthily.

The Best Three Oblique Abdominal Exercises -

Russian Twists: Approach the Cable machine: Position yourself with your back erect with a slight bend in your Legs, next, grip the small attachment (the same one you use for Cable crossovers) and whilst keeping your Arms straight, turn your body to the point where you begin to feel a pull in your Oblique.The Cable should be moved so that it is directly below your nipples. Repeat the movement and then repeat again on the other side of the machine.

Dumbbell Side Dip: Stand absolutely erect and have your head faced forward. Then, grip a Dumbbell making sure that your Arm stays relaxed next to the side of your body with your Palm facing your Leg. Then, whilst keeping your Arm to the side of your body, then bend to the side and you should experience a tightening on your Oblique. Continue this movement and then change hands and work through the same volume of reps on the other side to work both sides the same amount.

Side Crunches: Almost identical to a regular sit-up, the major difference here is that you will be turning your body through the positive (raising) part of the movement making sure that you right elbow touches your Left knee and then repeat for the other side. There is no doubt that this is one of the best exercises to include in your workouts to enable you to train up your Oblique’s perfectly.

Read our other specialist articles on all aspects of Bodybuilding, Including Glycemic Foods and Bodybuilding For Over 40’s

How to Eat Fast Food and Continue to Build Muscle

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Evidently, as Bodybuilders we are always looking to supply our bodies with a consistent portions of supply of healthy, low Fat and Protein rich foods.

Sometimes though: This is not always possible. Whether we are on the road, stuck at work or unable to prepare food ourselves there are times when we are forced to eat Fast Food.

Because SOMETHING is always better than eating NOTHING.

In this article we will be discussing the ways in which we can choose the ‘healthiest’ Fast Food options and minimize disruptions to our usual clean eating patterns.

With a little careful planning and following this advice Fast Food doesn’t have to mean Junk Food.

Fast Food Options For Marooned Bodybuilders

Decrease Your Portion Size Fast Food is packed full of Calories. Unfortunately, most times the majority of these Calories comes from Fat, so the first thing we need to do is decrease our usual portion size. This way the body is still burning the Calories ingested from the Fast Food, rather eating into your muscle stores. Tiding you over until you get home and are able to prepare something healthier.

Juggle Your Fat Intake Leading on from the above point, if you do have to eat Fast Food be sure to adjust the other meals that you eat that day to be as low in Fat as possible. By doing this you can counteract the amount of Fat that was in your Fast Food, bringing your total daily Fat intake to an acceptable level.

Lose The Fizzy Drinks Water should always be your first choice to accompany your meal if you are eating Fast Food. If this isn’t an option then make sure you opt for the ‘Diet’ version of any Carbonated Drink. They certainly aren’t great for you, but will have a lower sugar level and overall fewer Calories than their full fat counterparts. A mistake that many people make is to choose Fruit Juice. These are also high in sugar and by no means a healthier option. The worst choice is a Milkshake. These often contain the same amount of Calories as many main meals!

Where and What to Eat

1. Chicken Kebab The best option for the stranded Bodybuilder is a flame grilled Chicken Shish Kebab. (Never to be confused with the big spinning version) Shish Kebabs are actually pretty good for you. They contain an average of 25-30grams Protein and are reasonably low in fat too when flame grilled. Say a big ‘yes-please’ to all the Salad and ‘no-thankyou’ to the Pitta bread. Or at most eat half of it. Lose the Mayo and substitute for Lemon Juice instead. Mayo is one of the unhealthiest options all round with a massive 25-30g Fat per 30g serving!

2. Burgers Just the same as the above. Tell them no sauces and definitely no Mayo. Yes, this includes Ketchup. The trick is to choose a Burger that comes in a Wholemeal Bun if at all possible. If not, then remove the top Bap and just eat the Burger that way. The biggest thing to avoid in a Burger Bar is Bacon and Cheese. Single Patties are always best. Although tempting to double up for the Protein, you are best advised not to purely because of the high levels of saturated fats they are cooked in. Instead go for a clean protein source as soon as your are home instead. Pickles, Onions and Lettuce are fine.

3. Deep Fried Chicken We’ve saved the worst for last because this really should be your final option. Though like we said at the top of the page ‘Something is always better than nothing’ and there are steps you can take to minimize Fat content and empty calories even here. First of all go for a Chicken Burger and follow the above advice. No Bacon, no sauces, no Cheese and a Wholemeal Bun if at all possible. If you can get your hands on grilled chicken, you’re lucky. Chances are you are going to have to order Fried and then manually take the skin and batter off. It’s worth getting your hands dirty to do this because half of the empty Calories are contained within the coatings.

To Conclude As you can see, with a little careful planning and some easy to follow advice, Fast Food doesn’t necessarily mean ruining all your hard work and nutritional efforts. At least by following the above you will be supplying your body with enough muscle fuel to keep you going until you manage to get home and get something decent inside of you.

How To Build Muscle For Beginners Dont miss it! PLUS: Specialist Workouts For Any Levels Such As The Best Upper Chest Workout For Beginners

Abs Diet Tips: The Crucial Nutrients For Developing Muscle and Losing Abdominal Fat

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Should you like to build lean muscle, be certain to sustain a healthy diet plan with all of the correct nutrients and vitamins. Easy as that. Without having the balanced nutrients in your system there is little way in which your muscle tissue will have the ability to progress as well as repair. The three crucial macro-nutrients which are needed in your system consistently every day are: healthy proteins, carbohydrates, and fatty acids (nutritious fat that is). Not taking in any one of these nutrients - or not intaking the adequate volume - might hinder your training and render your efforts put towards building new muscle worthless.

Here is a little rundown for the three macro-nutrients that you really must be focusing on.

Regardless if you are attempting to lose weight, gain muscle size, or simply build up muscle in general, it is essential to incorporate each of these in to your diet. Leaving any of these out is likely to make it really hard to achieve your ultimate goal (whichever it may be).

Protein: The most crucial nutrient with regards to developing new muscle and also repairing your muscle tissues is protein. Protein is the thing that all new muscle depends on to develop. It will not only assist in muscle building, but also it is very crucial in burning off excess body fat. This is because of a elevated thermic effect that protein offers forcing your body to output extra energy in order to process it and thus increasing your metabolism drastically. Try to consume protein with every meal whether you would like to get rid of fat or increase lean muscle; it is truly the building block of new muscle.

Carbohydrates: You must have surely heard about all these low carb diet plans out there claiming to be the best method to lose weight. Now let me make clear just why this won’t only do nothing to help lose fat, but in addition be unhealthy for you.

Exactly what do carbohydrates do for your body?

Basically, they will be the fuel or energy for your body. This nutrient should make up about 50% of your entire daily calories.

There are two distinct varieties of carbs in which you are going to run into. The first, of which are called simple carbs, are sugars and are the type we will need to try staying away from as often as possible. These types of carbohydrates are usually found within sugary foods as well in many white grains including: white breads, white pastas, and so forth. The other kind of carbs are complex carbohydrates. These kind tend to be found in whole grain goods and are the ones that should account for the bulk of your carbohydrate intake. These types of carbohydrates will require more time to process which will be a good factor for the reason that it’ll help keep your bodys blood glucose levels regular throughout the day and in addition help you to feel full for a longer period of time.

Fat: Yes, fat. Your body will have to have it even if you’re attempting to lose weight. What’s important to be aware of is which fats are good for yourself and which aren’t. There are generally 3 main sorts of fat that you will come across.

The two which you’ll want to avoid are saturated fats as well as the trans fats. Both are unhealthy fat which are not needed by the human body and are what allow body fat to become easily stored in the body and as well resulting in other various health concerns. To avoid trans fats, refrain from eating refined foods as much as possible, as they will often be found in large quantity via these types of food.

The good kind of fat on the other hand, which is going to be absolutely essential towards your health and help muscle development are the unsaturated fats excluding the trans-isomer type. These kind of good fats (also known as essential fatty acids) will supply the body with energy while also controlling metabolism and maintaining proper hormone production. Naturally your body can’t produce these “EFA’s” and therefore they have to be added to the body by means of foods. For examples of a handful of good fatty acid foods try nuts, fish oils, vegetable oils, and avocados; all are good sources of EFA sort unsaturated fats.

Be sure to take this into account next time you start on a new diet program to build muscle or lose some weight. Obviously if you are going for weight loss you’ll need different ratios of nutrients versus if you were looking to build mass, but each will require all three of these macro-nutrients for great overall health and also effective training.

Learn more about six pack diet tips. Stop by Kyle Schmornoff’s site where you can find out all about abs training and what it can do for you.