Bodybuilding tips for the beginner

Bodybuilding tips for the beginner
In the beginning of a new bodybuilding program, the trainee
is understandably enthusiastic and wants to see as much
progress as possible as quickly as possible. This is a
good thing of course, and it is important to take action
while there is plenty of excitement and motivation to get
going. However, this would be a good time to gain a little
knowledge and do a little planning before getting started.
Even though a person might be eager to get started, rushing
ahead with misinformation can lead to major problems down
the road. Not only can this impede your progress in a
strength training program, but it can also lead to injury
and illness if care is not taken in the beginning. Here are
a few tips to help you avoid pain in the future.

First, be sure to correct any weaknesses before tackling a
more difficult program. If you have any lingering
injuries, such as sports injuries or repetitive strain
injuries, now is the time to correct these before they turn
into something more serious. Check with your doctor to
obtain a proper diagnosis, but you should also consider
working with alternative healthcare professionals such as
chiropractors and massage therapists. This so called
alternative therapy is becoming more common and can offer
recovery options that simply are not available in a
doctor’s office. The important point to keep in mind
is that these injuries should be dealt with before they
become a more severe problem. Remember that an injury like
tendonitis can hamper your ability to train and delay your
progress significantly.

Another valuable tip to keep in mind, and one that is so
often neglected by beginner bodybuilders, is the importance
of a solid recovery program. Many beginners try to spend
all of their time in the gym and think this extra effort
will pay off in the long run. When they don’t
experience any gains, or if they stop making progress
shortly after some initial muscle-growth, the temptation is
to increase the intensity or frequency of their strength
training routines. Their logic is simple: more is better.
While this may be a simple concept, it is inherently flawed
because it ignores the basic principles of muscle-growth.
The goal of a strength training workout in the gym is to
challenge the muscle beyond its previous limits and create
small tears in the muscle. The body will adapt to this new
stress by rebuilding the muscle in a larger size
(hypertrophy). However, the growth of the muscle itself
will occur during the recovery phase, not during the actual
workout in the gym. Allowing the body to heal before the
next workout is critical to long-term success, and many
experts only recommend as few as 3 hours of training per
week! With this in mind, fewer workouts and a good
night’s sleep are important tools in your body
building arsenal. Remember that your muscles are not the
only parts of your body that need to recover. Your central
nervous system and immune system can be heavily taxed
during a stressful work out and need plenty of time to
recover. While the exact amount may vary from person to
person, 8 hours of quality sleep is recommended for most
folks. Note the word quality –growth hormone levels
increase after an hour of deep sleep, so it is important to
get the best sleep possible.

Finally, a word should be said about listening to
bodybuilding advice at your local gym. If you hear some
information that contradicts anything in this article, you
may want to think twice before succumbing to peer pressure.
If you want to be one of the guys that gains huge amounts
of muscle in the shortest time possible, you would be wise
to take these tips to heart and ignore the bodybuilding
masses. Your goal should not be to copy everyone else;
rather, you should aim to be extraordinary and achieve the
most spectacular results possible. This doesn’t just
mean gaining the most amount of muscle and becoming
incredibly huge. What it really means in this case is that
you should accomplish whatever muscle building goal
you’ve set for yourself as safely and efficiently as
possible.

----------------------------------------------------
Jon Cardozo, from Jcardozium research, writes on how to
build muscle naturally, nutrition, and general fitness.
Visit his website for more information on how to gain
muscle at http://maximum-muscle-gain.com

Getting high from exercise, naturally…

Getting high from exercise, naturally…
Why is it that so many of us are always tired, lethargic
and really don’t have any energy at the end of our
day of work. The last thing we want to do is head down to
the gym, or pull on our jogging sweats and do a workout!

It seems a complete contradiction when you hear about
people doing a workout GIVES them more energy, when all you
are actually doing is burning lots of calories (ie.
ENERGY!!!)

Having once been a desk jockey, spending 8+ hours a day sat
in front of a screen, it is as if that computer monitor,
telephone and my boss was sucking all that precious energy
out of me.

I was not alone!

You could see it in the faces of the men and women working
around me, by the time 6 O’clock came by they would
wearily pull on their coats and jackets, trudge down to the
car park and set off home ready for the sofa and TV remote.

The problem with this energy drain is we would always be
looking for the quick “pick-me-up”. Normally
this comes in the form of snack machine fare, soda drinks
packed with sugar, the post work alcoholic drinks and a
visit to the curry house or fast food outlet on your
journey home.

Coupled with your levels of inactivity this causes the
inevitable weight gain, lowering of self esteem, energy and
enthusiasm, in a horrible vicious circle…

Thankfully there is a solution, but it does require your
first step, luckily we do have a naturally occurring
chemical on our side to help us on the way once we do get
going, beta-endorphin.

This chemical gives us a natural high after doing a
workout, that kind of feel good glow. What’s more it
is possible to become addicted to this feeling, making the
decision to pack a bag for the gym easier and easier!

It is important to understand under what conditions you
need to invoke a flood of beta-endorphin, there is an easy
way and a hard way…

It may seem strange to learn that the hardest way to get
the rush is the most common method of workout that is
adopted. When you jump on to your favorite cardio machine
in the gym, or pull on your trainers for a jog it can take
in excess of 50 minutes, according to clinical studies, in
the “fat-burning zone” to get a decent kick of
endorphin. The problem is it takes an awful lot of
motivation to stick out a long and slow workout for a bit
of a high.

Now I suppose you don’t really want to know about the
hard way!!

The easy way comes in the form of short-sharp bursts of
physical activity, the studies show that this style of
workout normally brings about a bigger endorphin hit in
less time than the long, slow, steady state cardio workouts.

The workouts can take the form of quick 25 minute cardio
interval routines, where the most tedious part is the warm
up and cool down.

Another option is your traditional circuits style routines,
a series of exercises done intensively, each one for 30
seconds, then taking a short rest as you move on to the
next exercise. Not only are these workouts fun,
you’ll burn plenty of calories during and after just
a 30 minute workout.

The third option comes in the form of bodyweight,
multi-muscle, multi-dimensional exercises done at an
intensity and tempo that will exhaust the muscles in your
body quickly. Exercises like squats, lunges, step ups, push
ups, bodyweight rows and pull ups (Notice I didn’t
say crunches or sit ups, avoid wasting your precious
workout time on exercises that really don’t help that
much. The reasons… OK that’s for another
article)

You can set yourself a great workout that is done in 40
minutes with these exercises, all giving you the endorphin
rush to boot too!

Many of our clients report a rush of energy and actual
enthusiasm when they come to do their workouts! One such
client, a particularly stressed and sedentary IT
contractor, who really despised the thought of working out
at the end of the day, started appearing in the Gym more
and more frequently, until I started seeing him there EVERY
evening! I questioned him on his new found enthusiasm, he
said “I still don’t relish the thought of
coming to do my workouts, but I get one hell of a kick out
of finishing it!!”

So you see there is a solution to your lack of energy and
motivation, there truly is a “natural” high
from getting short-intensive workouts done. Yes it is tough
making the first step, but get yourself in your local gym
from tomorrow and get a safe and legal chemical high from a
quick and hard workout.

Enjoy…

Tim

----------------------------------------------------
Tim Goodwin is a fitness professional specializing in help
the busiest people achieve more with their amateur sporting
interests, and at the same time ridding them of excess body
fat. Visit http://www.getfit.lu/success.html to get a free
18 page report "How to lose weight even when you are really
busy" containing a full 4 week program which you can start
today!

Broken Heart: What Happens to Victims of Heart Device Recalls?

Broken Heart: What Happens to Victims of Heart Device Recalls?
Who will be able to forget 2007 -- the Year of the Recall?
You name it and – it – has been recalled: pet
food, peanut butter, toys, spinach, more pet food, airbags,
cars and trucks, more toys, chicken pot pies, bicycles,
ground beef, pharmaceutical drugs…the list is
endless. On any given day the FDA (Food and Drug
Administration), the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety
Commission), and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration) have recalled and recalled.

While these recalls are all serious and often deadly, they
are not as invasive as a connecting device implanted into
the body during defibrillator surgery.

First, a little heart device 101: There are different kinds
of defibrillators. The first is portable used at sporting
events and on airplanes. Another is used in hospital
settings; defibrillators send voltage through two paddles
that doctors place on a heart attack victim's chest area.
The invasive defibrillator is implanted into people to
regulate their heartbeat by shocking the victim's heart to
restore the normal rhythmic patterns. When a defibrillator
is used, it in effect kicks the heart into action again, by
resuming pumping blood throughout the body.

Part of the defibrillator is known as the lead. It is a
connecting insulating wire threaded through the veins. The
lead stretches from the computerized device implanted near
the collarbone to the heart, where it is secured into the
heart muscle with screws. Electrical signals from the heart
travel through the lead to the device, and the device sends
its shocks, when needed, back through the same lead. The
problem with the Medtronic Sprint Fidelis lead is that it
breaks or cracks. When the lead breaks or cracks the device
starts to receive electrical noise and thinks the heart is
not beating correctly. A pacemaker might send a tiny shock
to the heart, but with defibrillators, patients can really
feel the power. A defibrillator out of whack can make a
person feel like they are being repeatedly struck by
lightning.

As of October 4, 2007, there were approximately 268,000
Medtronic defibrillator Sprint Fidelis leads implanted
worldwide. There have been five patient deaths. So far
Medtronic has confirmed 665 chronic fractures in returned
leads on model numbers 6930, 6931, 6948 and 6949.

There is a recall on all unsold Sprint Fidelis leads but
what options are available for the 268,000 people who have
these implanted heart leads?

Even though Medtronic considers itself the world leader in
medical technology by providing lifelong solutions for
people with chronic disease – Sprint Fidelis is not
its first recall heart implantable devices. In 2005,
Medtronic identified nine of 87,000 implanted devices (0.01
percent) with a battery design that exhibited this shorting
mechanism. Based on highly accelerated company testing,
Medtronic estimates that this rate may increase up to
between 0.2 percent and 1.5 percent over the second half of
device life.

Medtronic recommends that doctors more closely monitor
their patients with Sprint Fidelis leads. Medtronic does
not recommend that the Sprint Fidelis leads be removed
because the surgery can be difficult or fatal.

In the meantime, what do the 268,000 people already
implanted with Sprint Fidelis leads do?

----------------------------------------------------
If you have a Sprint Fidelis lead connecting to your
defibrillator, you may need the services of a personal
injury law firm. If a loved one has been injured or already
died from a Sprint Fidelis heart lead wire, please contact
Anapol Schwartz at http://www.anapolschwartz.com for a free
consultation with a wrongful death personal injury law
firm. More info on the lead recall can be found at
http://www.anapolschwartz.com/practices/sprint-fidelis/ .

The Truth About Fat Burning Cardio

The Truth About Fat Burning Cardio
I've received a few emails about a "new groundbreaking fat
loss study" and how it is supposed to burn fat faster than
regular cardio (even though we know regular cardio sucks).

Find out why I don't think much of this study, or the
conclusions drawn by the researchers. Needless to say, I'm
still unconvinced that long cardio should be a part of your
fat loss program.

Anyways, here is the study.

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

The results showed...

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

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

What does this mean?

Jack squat. Nothing.

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

Second, who is going to do this?

Third, look at the actual numbers of fat calories
burned...at most, it could be 50 extra calories.

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

Why am I so hard on cardio? Because its a waste of time...
and now these researchers and the authors of these "news
reports" want to waste even MORE of your life...

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

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

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

Well, the surprise findings showed the average fat loss for
female subjects was was only 4 pounds for the entire year,
while men lost 6.6 pounds of fat over the year.

That's over 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a
measly 6 pounds of blubber. Not time well spent, in my
opinion.

Listen, you give me 300 hours a year, and you'll lose a lot
more than 6.6 pounds of fat...trust me on that.

Heck, give me 300 hours a year and I could probably turn
you into a Ninja, commercial airline pilot, and
accomplished mime, and still help you burn more fat than
you would with 300 hours of cardio.

Here's the best advice I can give you... Ignore mass media
news reports about fitness. If anything worthy of note
comes up, you'll hear it from me.

----------------------------------------------------
If you want the truth about fat burning cardio, download
the free report, "The Dark Side of Cardio" from
http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com . Men's Health expert
Craig Ballantyne shows you the truth about how to lose
stomach fat and sculpt your body at home.

Preparing for Weight Loss

Preparing for Weight Loss
The weight loss industry is a multi billion pound industry
and people make a lot of money from it with new crazies
coming and going. As always, at some time the latest
exercise fad eventually dies off!

So, what’s the next craze to hit the industry?

Thirty minutes of attempted escapology with a 30 second
dunk in a tank of water every 2 minutes, just to raise the
heart rate that little bit more?

Seriously, where are we going wrong?

Well firstly, there are a lot of desperate people who will
do anything to lose those unwanted pounds of stubborn
bodyfat but unfortunately want to lose it all way too
quickly and with no extra effort. Well when I say anything,
what I really mean is anything that’s involves taking
a magic pill.

Well I’m sorry but there’s no such thing and
even if there was, wouldn’t you rather lose weight
and feel healthy at the same time?

Let’s face it, what exactly drew you to this article,
it wouldn’t be the title fat loss would it?

Now honestly ask yourself, were you expecting to read
something unfound and so amazing that the pounds of bodyfat
will be dropping off as you read this?

If so, then we’ve got problems. If you thought that
maybe there’s a better approach to losing weight than
what you’re doing right now then your right!

So what’s the first step to take when you finally
realize that you can’t lose weight by eating chips
(something I read in a men’s mag). Well before you
start dialing the number for your nearest weight watchers
or slimming world club (my personal opinion is don’t
bother), you need to get your mind ready for action.

Remember everything you do comes from the mind so if your
mind isn’t ready, you’re on the familiar road
to failure.

Take this scenario for instance, how many of you have
decided to go on the latest fad diet the night before, woke
up the next morning and already decided to leave it till
the next day?

What’s worse, you then feel that’s it’s
then expectable to eating crisps, chocolate or whatever you
crave by telling yourself that it’s alright because
your diet starts tomorrow!!!

If you were mind set on your diet in the first place, you
wouldn’t have chocolate or crisps or whatever you
crave for you own in your home!

This is also very true for the latest gym exercise fad or
January/February rush. “Right, that’s
it….I’m joining a gym and getting fit” or
“there’s this great new body combat with real
weapons and the instructor said it’s good because the
fear of getting injured raises the metabolism.”

Ok, so maybe a bit far fetched, but that persons been going
to the gym for 3 months and hasn’t lost a single
pound!

All I am trying to reinforce here in my ‘grumpy old
men style’ is to prepare your mind before you rush
off to try the latest fad diet or exercise and stop looking
for the miracle cure.

Crunch Time

So what do you need to do?

Firstly, you need to determine what drives you to want to
lose weight or get fitter. Then you need to change the
reasons why you want to lose weight into why you must lose
weight.

So straight away, we change from wanting to lose weight to
having to lose weight and already become very powerful and
fixed on what we are going to achieve.

In fact one thing that we do at Kevin Raison Personal
Training Studios in the West Midlands is find out exactly
what they want before they start training with us. We start
this in the consultation room where we get our clients to
be as precise as they can when it comes to achieving their
goals.

This is recorded to make sure that our clients stick to it
and are reminded each and every session why they are with
us. We also get them to write down what they are going to
achieve in that certain time frame and recommend them onto
programs such as www.themagichundred.com. A goal setting
program that helps you achieve amazing results.

Note: ‘what they are going to achieve not want to
achieve.’

We then ask our clients to read out there goals aloud every
morning and evening before they go to bed. So what’s
the reason for this?

Have you ever woken one morning and had a craving for a
certain food or drink. Then at mid morning it strikes
again, then again in the afternoon and finally in the
evening when you can’t resist and you give into
temptation.

Now imagine if you were to wake up and the first thing you
do is read out aloud your goal on your goal card or read
you magic hundred list, then mid morning you do the same
and so on for everyday.

Can you see where I’m coming from now?

You actually become what you think about!

If you think about what you are going to achieve this much
you actually turn your thoughts into positive habits and
positive results.

At first this may all seem a bit strange; I must admit it
seemed a little strange to me when I first started doing
it. Then things just started falling into place, you still
have to make things happen of course, but if you’re
in a positive frame of mind it will happen.

So how do we go about starting?

Simple:

•Choose your goal and be as specific as you can

•Don’t set to easy a goal, make sure the goal
scares you a little

•Think about your goal as often as you can

•Actually imagine yourself being the person you want
to be in that time frame

I promise you, if you stick to the above rules you’ll
be closer than you’ve ever been to your goals and you
haven’t even started your programme yet!

----------------------------------------------------
Kevin Raison is fast becoming a sought after Personal
Trainer in the UK. Having been a senior trainer at Dax
Moy’s Personal Training Studio in London. Kevin now
has his own Personal Training Studios in the midlands.
You can visit Kevin at http://www.kevinraison.co.uk

Fat No More Secrets 1 of 10: I must finish my plate

Fat No More Secrets 1 of 10: I must finish my plate
Losing weight is not just about dieting or exercising as
proven by the countless number of failed diets and exercise
programs. First, you need to identify and let go of the
many Mental, Emotional, Subconscious, and Spiritual blocks
that prevent you from losing weight. I call them the
M.E.S.S. blocks; they are limiting beliefs, thoughts, or
fears that prevent your weight loss. If you do not let go
of these blocks, you will continue to have an extremely
hard time losing weight and, if you do succeed, you will
continue to gain the weight back.

Did you know that if you ate two meals per day with your
parents from your birth until the day you turned 18, you
would have shared 13,104 meals with them? This gives you
plenty of time to be heavily influenced by your parents,
positively or negatively, to acquire their eating
behaviors, and to take on their food or weight obsessions,
if any.

If no one in your family talked about dieting and everyone
ate in a healthy way without being obsessed with food and
weight, then you are very lucky. On the contrary, if your
parents were overweight, ate junk food all day long, and
were obsessed with both food and losing weight, you may
have taken on your family’s bad eating habits and
obsessions. The great news is that you can let them go.

When I was growing up, I always had to finish my plate. I
could not leave the table until my plate was empty. So
guess what? One of the beliefs that I have had is that I
must finish my plate. This is just the way it should be.
Until recently, I still had to finish my plate and I had an
extremely hard time leaving any food in my plate because I
had been programmed for years to eat everything on my plate.

For years, I still believed that if I did not obey and eat
everything on my plate, I would get in trouble with my
parents. Of course, they did not do this intentionally;
they simply wanted to be great parents and provide me with
the right amount of nutrition. Yet, even as an adult, I was
still programmed to be a good girl and finish my plate so I
would not be in trouble with my parents. This lasted until
I completely let go of the belief. If you believe that you
must finish your plate, you can easily eat more than you
should and become overweight just because of this belief,
especially in the U.S. where servings are so large.

The first step in changing your behavior is to start with a
small serving. Then, even if you have to finish your plate,
you will not overeat. You can always have a second serving
if you are really hungry. It’s extremely important
that you begin to do this because this behavior, eating
everything on your plate, has become anchored in your mind
for a long time.

The second step is to release the belief that you must
finish your plate. When you let it go, you will be able to
leave food on your plate without feeling guilty and bad
about it.

----------------------------------------------------
Marylin Stompler, Author of Fat No More, Release the
Subconscious Blocks that Prevent your Weight Loss. To
receive your FREE eBook Fat No More Secrets, visit
http://www.fatnomoresecrets.com

A Healthy Immune System Can Protect You!

A Healthy Immune System Can Protect You!
Tap into the power of your immune system to avoid getting
sick. You and a friend step into a crowded elevator and
immediately notice two people coughing and sneezing up a
storm. Within a couple of days you come down with a bad
cold and blame it on that elevator ride. Yet your friend,
exposed to the same germs at the same time, remains
perfectly healthy.

What made the difference? The power of the immune system.
The strength of our immune system is what makes the
difference between who stays healthy and who doesn’t.
The one with the immune system functioning below normal has
an increased risk of getting sick. It’s shocking how
much your immune system can affect how you feel!

From getting a cold or the flu, to having bad food
poisoning, from infections to slow healing injuries to
allergies, from lack of energy to just feeling “not
right”-- a properly working immune system is the key
to helping you feel better in so many ways.

An immune enhancer directly acts on the main cells of the
immune system,called macrophages#1, increasing and
magnifying their functions, which in turn increases the
number of T and Blymphocytes, as well as cytokines, which
are the key indicators of an immune system.

Immune enhancers are not immune boosters in the traditional
sense. They are an immune modulator of the macrophage
affecting an immediate and dramatic increase in the
immunologic system. A far more complex and direct approach,
that is quite unlike the mass-marketed understanding of
supplements that purport “immune boosting.”

A composite immune modulator, without toxicity or adverse
effects can promote immune modulation through the
modification of the biological response of the macrophage
and of the physiologic liberation of cytoplasm#2 An
“immunomodulator” is a supplement capable of
normalizing a deficient, inadequate or hyperactive immune
system, thereby restoring the proper functioning of the
defense mechanisms of the body.

There are products available in a credible immune
strengthening supplement that have undergone vigorous
clinical trials both in vitro (in the test-tube) and in
vivo (within a living organism). Practitioners have been
using this on hundreds of immune-compromised people with
enormous success. It brings new hope to immune-compromised
people and improves their overall quality of life. And it
is of great benefit to healthy individuals, who can also
take ER for improving wellness and immune system function.

“ There are many hard ways to boost your immune
system that take a lot of time and energy. There is a
proven easy method to help boost your immune system quickly
and easily."

Notes

1 Macrophage is a type of white blood cell that ingests
(takes in) foreign material. Macrophages are key players in
the immune response to foreign invaders such as infectious
microorganisms. Macrophages help destroy bacteria,
protozoa, and tumor cells. They also release substances
that stimulate other cells of the immune system. 2
Cytoplasm is the fluid that “fills” most cells.
The cytoplasm is the site where most cellular activities
are done. All the functions for cell expansion, growth and
replication are carried out in the cytoplasm of the cell.

----------------------------------------------------
Chuck Arnone has taken the time to find the quality
information necessary for a timely article on such an
important issue.
http://www.immune-system-healthy.com

Just For Athletes

Just For Athletes
Word Count: 789
Author: Steve Smith
Category: Health & Fitness
EasyPublish: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=22107

It is preformatted to 60 CPL.

You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated - send to stephensmith45@aol.com.

Best regards

Steve Smith
http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com

Why Glutamine Is Vital - And Not Just For Athletes
Glutamine is one of the amino acids which are described as
"non-essential", but this should not in any way be taken as
implying that it is unimportant. In this context the term
"non-essential" simply means that the amino acid in
question can be synthesised within the body and therefore
need not necessarily be obtained from food sources. Along
with the other twenty or so amino acids which have been
identified, glutamine is required for the formation of the
thousands of proteins which are vital to the health of the
body. The enzymes which govern the body's countless
biochemical reactions are largely formed from protein, as
are the antibodies that fight disease. Skin, hair and
nails are also made of proteins, as is the collagen which
binds the body's cells together and, of course, the muscles.

Considerable quantities of glutamine are required by the
body for it to play its part in maintaining the health of
all these structures and compounds. But glutamine also has
a number of important, more specific, functions including
the maintenance of normal blood sugar and energy levels,
the transmission of messages between brain cells and as an
anti-depressant. Glutamine is also involved in the
production of essential genetic material within rapidly
reproducing cells such as red blood cells, those in the
immune system and those lining the intestines.

Although it is normally manufactured in the body in
sufficient quantities to maintain health, levels of
glutamine can become depleted following illness, injury, or
even particularly intense or prolonged exercise.
Ordinarily, individual amino acids are released into the
body by the breaking down of dietary protein obtained from
food during the process of digestion. But unfortunately
glutamine in food is made inactive by cooking, so that the
best dietary sources - eggs, meat and chicken are
effectively ruled out on grounds of both safety and
palatability. Grains and fruits in the diet may provide a
small amount of dietary glutamine, but probably not in
sufficient quantities to derive much benefit.

Fortunately, however, there is some evidence that taking
individual amino acids directly, in the form of dietary
supplements, may be beneficial in some circumstances.

And in the case of glutamine these benefits are
considerable. Some nutritionists and alternative
practitioners believe that glutamine supplements may help
build muscle while reducing body fat and boosting levels of
growth hormone, which otherwise decline inexorably as the
body ages. Not surprisingly, these possibilities have
aroused great interest amongst the athletic (particularly
bodybuilding) communities, and those looking for ways to
slow down the ageing process.

But more important, perhaps, is the effect of glutamine on
the immune system. A number of studies have shown that
both intensive exercise and endurance events may reduce
blood glutamine levels by up to 50% and also have a marked
effect on the balance of the immune system. While the
apparent link between these effects is not definitively
established, it is known that intensely training athletes
are more prone to infections than the general population,
and research has suggested that glutamine supplementation
at the level of 5mg a day may help significantly in
reducing colds and other low level but debilitating
infections. Put simply, it is sometimes said that
glutamine can best be understood as the energy source which
fuels the immune system, and that the harder the immune
system is being asked to work the more glutamine it will
require. Some practitioners therefore recommend as much as
20 or even 40 g a day when recovering from serious illness,
wounds or surgery.

However, supplements of glutamine are more usually taken in
doses of between 500 and 2,000 mg (0.5g -2g) a day;
although some athletes have been known to take as much as
3,000 mg following particularly intensive workouts as there
is evidence that this may help replenish depleted supplies
of glycogen, the muscles' principal energy source.
Weightlifters, bodybuilders and other strength and power
athletes looking for rapid gains in muscle mass may find
this effect of glutamine particularly beneficial in
speeding recovery between workouts and maintaining training
intensity.

Single amino acid supplementation should not be continued
indefinitely, however, because of the risk of creating
imbalances, and glutamine supplementation, in particular,
should be avoided by diabetics and those suffering from
kidney problems. Moreover, it should be stressed as
always that the body functions holistically, and amino
acids are no different from any other supplements in that
they will function best in the presence of adequate amounts
of all the nutrients needed by the body.

So if taking glutamine supplements, you should make sure
that you also obtain plenty of high quality protein from
your diet, as well as a good supply of the full range of
essential vitamins and minerals.

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in
direct marketing and with a particular interest in health
products. Find out more at
http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/In
formation.htm

Evolution explains how to lose weight quickly, easily and naturally

Evolution explains how to lose weight quickly, easily and naturally
How many diets have you tried?

Have you tried surviving on cabbage soup or eating nothing
but protein? Most people have tried all sorts of elaborate
diets but end up either putting on more weight, having
extreme cravings or feeling so sick that they just
can’t continue.

Over the years of working in the health and fitness
industry, I’ve discovered what fat loss programmes
work through scientific research and trial and error. My
evolution diet I have found to be by far the most effective
and as you read on you will see why. For me, this
isn’t even a diet but a healthy eating plan that I
personally employ on a day to day basis.

Evolution explains why most diets fail

We only have to look back at our evolution to see why most
diets fail. Many diets rely on a starvation principle that
heavily limits the amount of calories you can consume on a
daily basis. This does cause weight loss short term by
muscle wastage and water loss but very little of this
weight is actual fat. These starvation diets actually cause
us to store fat for survival and in turn put on more weight
in the long term.

Heavy calorie reduction causes a severe reduction in leptin
(protein), which in turn signals a starvation response in
our body. This response reduces our metabolic rate and
increases our hunger. It is believed that this response
originates back to our ancestors and the “Hunter
Gather Days”, when food was often scarce. Our
body’s developed a way to conserve its most valuable
energy source, body fat, in order to survive longer.

So starvation or heavy calorie restricted diets are not the
answer. Not only do these diets cause you to put on more
fat in the long term (yo yo dieting) but they also slow
down your metabolism, the exact thing you need to increase
to burn more fat.

The best way to lose weight is to eat natural

Everyone is different and we all have different
requirements for vitamins, minerals and general nutrients;
a lot of this is determined by our genetics and cannot be
changed. However, we do all have one thing in common
– we evolved eating natural foods. Foods that we
picked from trees & bushes, dug out of the ground or
animals that we chased down and killed.

Although the world has evolved at a very rapid rate our
bodies have not. We are still uncomfortable sitting for
long periods of time, require regular exercise, get
headaches and eye problems using computers, suffer in
really over crowed areas etc.

Our body’s still crave and require the natural foods
we ate and drank many years ago. Processed foods, simple
sugars, contaminated water, and artificial stimulants are
still alien to our bodies. All of these unnatural products
(toxins) are stored in our fat cells while our body decides
what to do with them.

We are suffering from an internal anxiety as our body
stores toxin after toxin!

----------------------------------------------------
Greg is a health and fitness professional based in
Hampstead, North London. He achieves fantastic results for
his clients by using his indepth knowledge and the most up
to date techniques.
http://www.gbpersonaltraining.com/evolution.htm

How the Heck Do Those Spinning Bikes Work?

How the Heck Do Those Spinning Bikes Work?
I recently got an email from my client, Cindy, regarding
Spinning bikes. Cindy asked if she could take a spinning
class to add some variety to her workout. I said sure
assuming she had looked into it a little bit or at the very
least glanced into the window of the room while a class was
going on.

Well needless to say, Cindy didn’t have a clue what
the intensity would be like nor did she realize the
spinning bikes are different than any other bike she had
ever ridden before.

For those of you who don’t know, the bikes were
invented to mimic conditions of actual road biking like in
the Tour De France. Therefore, instead of only having the
ability to add resistance the way we all are used to doing
it, by changing gears, the wheel in front of the stationary
bike (flywheel) is weighted. Which means it could weigh
between 35 and 55 lbs instead of 1 or 2 lbs. Normally,
that would sound like no big deal. But as many of you
know, when you decide to stop pedaling on a bike, you
normally glide or coast. Well you can’t do that on a
Spinning bike and Cindy did not realize that until well
after the instructor told her to pedal as fast as she could.

After her legs felt like they were going to go flying
off… then her instructor said they would start
climbing a hill and that she needed to increase the
resistance on her bike. The instructor started saying
things like -“Take a full turn up! Another half
turn… You should be working hard now.”
“Crank it down so you feel the road… now add
big turn clockwise… climbing the hill now… add
more resistance by turning it up… now it’s
really steep.”

Cindy had no idea what any of those instructions meant and
that is what I am here to clear up right now.

Spinning is a great form of cardio. It is motivating to
have an instructor guide you through a program while being
surrounded by like-minded participants who are there for
the same reasons. You all want to get a good workout, lose
some unwanted body fat, keep heart healthy, lighten your
own personal stress load and have some fun along the way.

The resistance knob in question is the tool used to add
tension to the flywheel so that you feel as if you are
climbing a hill or if the knob is loose then you feel as if
you are screaming along the open road and cruising. As an
instructor, I believe there should always be some sort of
tension.

If you have never taken a class, I would recommend it. But
here are some things to keep in mind before you do.
Spinning bikes are used frequently throughout the day.
This means that they have wear and tear on them. Each bike
will wear differently and therefore the resistance knob may
be tight on one bike and not so tight on another.

Bikes in your gyms have resistance mechanisms that can vary
tremendously. If you decide to take the approach of
listening to an instructor based on turning the knob to
vary your resistance, you may have a very hard time getting
through the ride with a specific benefit (strength,
endurance, etc).

So What?

Recently I read of a study an instructor did at his club
that tested 21 bikes to see the varying resistance for each
bike. Here is what he found.

The first measurement was the number of turns from all the
way “off” (maximum counterclockwise) up to
where he could “feel the road.” This is a bit
subjective, but not very—even a beginning rider can
tell the difference between free-wheeling and a wheel that
offers some resistance. The second measurement was the
number of turns from “feeling the road” to
“that’s it—I can barely pedal a full
revolution.” using his personal limit. How different
were the bikes from each other? The table shows the
minimum and maximum number of turns among the bikes for the
two measurements, and also the total number of turns from
bottom to top end.

The differences among the bikes were mostly at the low end.
Some riders will feel the road after three turns from the
bottom, while others will turn (and turn, and turn) seven
full revolutions before anything happens. So if riders
start their rides at the very bottom, and the instructor
just talks about taking quarter turns, half turns, and full
turns, some riders will still be free-wheeling while others
will already be into moderate-heavy territory. Rider
inexperience, coupled with our human tendency to take the
easy path if we can while still obeying orders, will thwart
the instructor’s intention to guide a ride according
to traditional categories of benefit. --Results were found
by Gordon Bermant who teaches Spinning in the Virginia
suburbs of Washington, D.C.

I want you to learn a few things from this article. First,
if you decide to take Spinning classes it is important for
you to be very aware of how you feel and the amount of
energy you are expending. This is what you should base
your workout on, not the specific instructions.

Second, I am a fan of Spinning and I like the idea of
someone pushing you to do you best throughout your training
session for 30-60 minutes. If it can’t be me, I want
it to be someone trusted like a certified group training
instructor.

Finally, if you are going to do some training on your own
outside of a class setting, remember that not all cardio
machines are created equal, especially the spinning bikes.
There is a great deal of maintenance that needs to go into
a bike and you should be aware that some bikes are easier
to ride than others. If you are on a bike that takes 7
turns just to feel the tension, then you will need to take
more turns to get you where you want to be when you work
hard. If you are on a bike that turns 2 turns and you feel
like the road just became a hill in San Francisco, then you
will need to adjust accordingly. I like the idea of having
variety in your workout regimen. And utilizing a spinning
bike can be a good alternative to running on a treadmill or
using the elliptical. Cross training is important in my
style of training. Learning how to make the ride
challenging when you need tough intervals and interpreting
the varying resistance to rest when you are in a rest phase
is an important part of those intervals.

So drop by a Spinning class. If that is not your thing,
take one of the many cardio routines I have sent you over
the past 2 years and try one of those programs on a
Spinning bike. I think you will like the challenge.

----------------------------------------------------
For over 17 years Bobby Kelly has taken his passion for
coaching to a level not reached by many in the fitness
profession. Bobby knows the success of hard work,
determination and persistence, and he’ll get you
where you want to be. Visit http://www.resultsonly.com

What’s Keeping You From Your Healthy Weight Loss Goals?

What’s Keeping You From Your Healthy Weight Loss Goals?
Health Coach Reveals a Missing Link for those who are
Overweight But Diet Savvy

Are you like so many others trying to lose weight? You are
quite educated on various diet philosophies, know plenty
about how to achieve healthy weight loss, and even have
done many exercise programs through the years. But, you
are still on the quest to achieve your weight loss goals.
Why, after all this, can’t you stick it?

Even though nearly 60% of the American population is
overweight, results from a recent poll conducted by the
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
indicate that folks know plenty about eating healthy.
However, the results of the survey in comparison to the
respondent’s own bodies indicates a huge gap between
knowledge and action. Health experts indicate that the
difference lies in the fact that many Americans confuse
eating some healthy foods with having an overall healthy
diet. Some results of the survey include: 56% of
respondents acknowledge they are overweight, but their
healthy eating habits are based on foods they like and that
they think are best for them, 69% said they were careful
about what they ate, 87% believe that diet is essential to
good health, 38% say they exercise. According to S. Ward
Casscells, vice president of the Houston health center that
“By default, it’s a question of willpower. They
know what to eat, but they don’t always follow
through.”

The value of baby steps

“I find this occurrence frequently in my
training”, says Jennifer Schaecher, Pilates and yoga
trainer and weight loss coach, “People rarely tell me
that they eat terribly. Not that they are lying, but they
really believe that they are mainly healthy eaters. In
most cases, there is vast space for improving their dietary
habits and overall nutritional intake. I don’t
recommend doing this gung-ho approach a lot of people try.
They get all excited and motivated to lose weight and jump
into this rigorous program of diet and exercise. Two weeks
later they’ve gone back to their same old routine.
In coaching clients, I emphasize the use of baby steps.
Baby steps are important because you make these small,
incremental changes over time that you can determine are
the easiest initial steps for you to take and make a part
of your permanent lifestyle. It’s not glamorous or
exciting…like those ‘lose 30 lbs in 30
days’ type offers, but it’s effective and
healthy.”

The other issue is knowledge of healthy weight loss vs
action. Knowledge is worthless without action. Most of
the time, people need consistent, accurate, supportive
accountability to implement what they already know they
should do to achieve healthy weight loss. People that are
willing to admit that they require some kind of support
system are already ahead of the game. When someone is
ready to face that fact, and ask for help, that is where a
coach or trainer can step in and provide the necessary
steps to create an overall, gradual healthy
lifestyle.”

Weight loss has become big business. Everyone is looking
for the quick fix, the miracle pill. The truth is that
eating small, healthy meals consistently, exercising
regularly, and having positive self-esteem are the true
keys to weight loss success. People know it, but they want
to believe in something more, something faster and easier.
Our bodies just don’t work that way. Often, it is a
long journey to a slimmer, trimmer, healthier lifestyle and
most people just don’t have the dedication,
determination, or power to go it alone. You can stick with
a diet for a couple of weeks, and end up doing more harm
than good. All you did was send your body into starvation
mode and actually ended up packing on more pounds because
of it.

If this all sounds familiar to you, consider getting a
health coach. A coach can help you stay on track where a
spouse or friend won’t. A lot of the issues
surrounding weight loss failure are mental and you may need
some serious remodeling done on your self-esteem structure.
This is one factor sorely overlooked in most diet and
weight loss programs. But you can achieve your goals if
you seek out the right help. Weight loss success is within
your reach, no matter where you are right now.

----------------------------------------------------
The website http://www.healthyhappyweightloss.com

is a
resource for weight loss newsletter, tips, and truth on
weight loss issues. E-workshops teach developing a fit
mind as the gateway to a fit body. Phone coaching programs
offer personalized help.

5 steps to safe bodybuilding

5 steps to safe bodybuilding
Bodybuilding takes hard work and the discipline is
enormous. Building your body will require you to work
around very heavy weights and irons. To guarantee that
these items do not have a detrimental effect on your body's
muscles, you must take a few safety precautions or injury
can set you back for months. Begin by reading lots of
material on the best bodybuilding practices. Careful
instruction in the appropriate lifting methods will pay off
in the long term. Do not forget some of the most important
and most overlooked methods of protection. These are the
warm up period and the cool down period including
stretches. Here are 5 essential techniques from the gym to
protect your body.

1) Always start with proper warm ups. The warm up and cool
down periods should last for at least 15 minutes. I like
to start with a stationary bicycle or elliptical to get the
blood flowing. 10 minutes of this exercise will make a
huge difference in your performance. 5 minutes of
stretching will follow to get the muscles use to what will
come along.

2) Start by going from low to high. What we mean by this
is start with lighter weights first. After one set of this
size, move up to the heavier weights. This lets your
muscles get the idea of heavier lifting and prepares them
for the increase of your body's strength.

3) Determine exactly what your limits are and how far you
can go. Only you can determine what the limits of each
muscle group will withstand during bodybuilding. It is
good to always challenge the limits of your muscles but be
careful not to strain them beyond their capacity. Even
expert bodybuilders can cause terrible damage to their
muscles by going beyond their limits in pursuit of bigger
muscles.

4) Bodybuilding training is not a competition every time
you set foot in the gym. It is a process for gradually
building muscle mass and toning your body over time. You
are not proving anything to yourself by hurting your
muscles. Take your time as you increase the weights. When
you feel you may be over exerting yourself, back off of the
weight amount and increase the reps. Muscle definition and
building muscle mass is a result of calculated restraint.
Aggressive risks will only set you back from the goals you
have designed.

5) Always have a spotter when training with free weights.
We can not over emphasize this point enough. The spotter
should be closely matched to your size so each of you can
assist in the other person's muscle building workout. If
you find yourself in a troublesome position, the spotter
can quickly jump in and help out. You can then act as
their spotter and this serves to increase your motivation
and accountability. Each partner will not let the other
off of their goals easily. No one wants a visit to the
hospital. Your spotter will prevent this at all costs.

Bonus - an often overlooked method to stay safe in the
bodybuilding sport is the use of mirrors. Why do most gyms
have mirrors surrounding the weight areas? The form and
method of lifting weights is very important. Lifting
weights off center or lifting weights improperly are a
major contributor to pulled muscles and injury. Start
using lighter weights in the proper form with mirrors and
watch your bodybuilding efforts explode.

----------------------------------------------------
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