Combat a Slow Moving Metabolism

Combat a Slow Moving Metabolism
As you get older your metabolic rate generally goes into
decline and you require a reduced number of daily calories.
If you are affected by a slowing metabolism you need to
take preventative measures or you will gain weight. In
this article I discuss a number of preventative measures
you can take to stop your metabolism declining and some
additional measures you can implement to boost your
metabolic rate.

As I have stated above there are a number of things that
you can avoid to prevent your metabolic rate being reduced
further. These include:

1) ALCOHOL:- Alcoholic drinks are full of sugar and
calories. They can also lead to dehydration which reduces
the effectiveness of your metabolism. An occasional
alcoholic drink is OK but binge drinking and/or drinking
every day can lead to a reduced metabolism.

2) BIG MEALS:- Larger meals contain more calories than
smaller meals. Therefore, there is an increased likelihood
that additional calories will be stored as fat. To
maximise your metabolism you have to break these large
meals down into smaller meals that you eat more frequently.

3) SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE:- If you are not active your
metabolic rate will decline. You therefore need to be
doing some physical activity each day or every other day.
This is not as difficult as you think. You can walk or
cycle to work, take up an exercise class, join a sports
team and more. Just make sure the activity you choose is
fun, can be performed regularly and keeps you active.

4) SKIPPING MEALS:- Missing meals can be just as damaging
to your metabolism as eating large meals. You need to be
eating smaller meals more regularly to keep your metabolism
charged.

5) SUGARY FOODS:- Sugary foods have a low nutritional
value, are high in calories and digest easily. This means
that less calories are burned in the digestion process and
more calories are stored as fat. The occasional sugary
treat is OK but your overall diet needs to contain limited
levels of sugary foods.

If you make sure that you are following the advice on the
list above this will really help you combat the effects of
a slowing metabolism. From here you can then take
additional measures to increase your metabolic rate to its
maximum potential. I have outlined a few of these measures
below:

1) INCREASED EXERCISE:- As I have mentioned above remaining
active and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle will help to stop
your metabolism from slowing down. However, taking your
exercise more seriously can help increase your metabolic
rate. If you participate in regular cardiovascular
exercise and regular weight training exercise, you will be
on your way to maximising your metabolism. When performing
both forms of exercise always seek to improve and you will
notice your metabolism improve accordingly.

2) PLANNED MEALS:- As already stated, skipping meals or
eating meals that are too large can have negative impacts
upon your metabolism. You therefore need to carefully
prepare a daily meal plan which incorporates six smaller
meals (instead of the usual three large meals). Eating
smaller meals more regularly will reduce the number of
excess calories that are being stored and charge up your
metbaolism.

3) SMARTER FOOD CHOICES:- I have already mentioned that you
should avoid sugar and alcohol. However, these are just
two of the many foods that can have a damaging effect on
your metabolism. You need to look at your diet as a whole
and try to substitute the unhealthy foods for healthier
ones. Healthier foods generally have a higher nutritional
value and are harder to digest, meaning more calories are
burned during the digestion process. This has a positive
effect on your metabolic rate.

Battling against a slowing metabolism is a two stage
process. First, you need to take measures to stop your
metabolism being subdued any further. Following this, you
need to take some measures to improve your metabolic rate.
By doing this you can potentially speed up your metabolism
and increase the number of calories being burned.

----------------------------------------------------
The Free Fitness Tips Blog provides you with fantastic,
free advice on all aspects of fitness. To find out more
about your metabolic rate and how to boost metabolism head
over to http://blog.freefitnesstips.co.uk/

Big Pecs: How to Build Chest Muscle

Big Pecs: How to Build Chest Muscle
Aside from big arms, there's no desire among aspiring
underweight muscle building enthusiasts that quite outdoes
the longing for a big, well-developed chest. And why not;
big pectorals command respect. They're somehow primitively
associated with courage and assertiveness. When you have
pectoral muscles that only slightly protrude beyond your
abdominal section, you're considered to be "in shape".
What's more, in a world of male competitiveness where one's
height seems to unfairly monopolize the aura of dominating
physical stature, powerful pectorals can be a great
equalizer. They tell the world that regardless of the level
your genetics had you lengthened, you're packaged physical
prowess by choice. You exude strength and athleticism with
well developed pectorals.

So what's the best method for developing a big chest? Well,
that shouldn't be our only question. For if the pectorals
aren't built in a balanced manner, excessive size can
contribute to a feminizing effect on the male torso. Does
anyone really want to develop "man boobs"? I didn't think
so. Therefore, it's imperative that we make our pecs just a
little bit top-heavy (upper pecs that protrude slightly
more than the middle pecs) in our bid to increase chest
size. An emphasis on making sure we are successful with
incline exercises will ensure good upper pectoral
development.

Notice I didn't recommend doing "a lot of incline
exercises". Instead, I mentioned making sure you're
'successful' with your incline movements (this goes for all
bodybuilding exercises). Although this might sound like a
subtle play on words, it's really a vital issue for your
muscle building progress. Overtraining is probably the
biggest setback most natural bodybuilding enthusiasts
unwittingly engage. Thus, you might need to add more
incline bench movements to build bigger upper pecs, or you
might need to lay off of those movements. It really depends
on what you're currently doing. Just keep in mind that many
times our enthusiasm to make progress on a particular body
part leads us to inadvertently overwork that area -
resulting in the exact opposite of our desired effect.

As a lifetime natural bodybuilder, nothing has done more
for my pectoral development than taking emphasis off
'pressing movements' and putting it on 'flye movements'.
The widespread notion that you "have to bench press" and
"bench press heavy" has only been outdone in holding back
pectoral growth by the practice of overtraining. Combine
the two with the typical plights of the natural bodybuilder
and you have a scenario in which pectoral growth is almost
nonexistent for too many gym-goers. If heavy bench pressing
were the key to a great chest, we'd see power-lifters
epitomizing pectoral development. As it turns out, some of
them have big pecs and some seem to have nearly none -
despite the fact they can bench press heavy.

What if you could do heavy flyes? What if you could get on
an incline bench and strictly move seventy-five pound
dumbells from the top of the movement - slowly down to
having your arms outstretched and the weights parallel with
your head (elbows only slightly bent) - and back up to the
top position without any arm movement? If you can't do that
for six to eight repetitions now, but you can do it a few
months from now, I'd bet on your pectoral muscles being
significantly larger after those few months. Making strict
and heavy flye movements into the cornerstone of your chest
routine can work wonders for the growth of those muscles.

Besides changing bench pressing movements to a secondary
position and flyes to the primary one, I've also
accelerated my pectoral gains by splitting my first flye
movement into two partial rep exercises. So when I get to
the gym to start my chest routine, I head straight to one
of those pec/flye machines in which you hold the handles
with your arms extended (only a slight bend in the elbows).
These are the kind of pec dec machines that are also used
for rear deltoid exercises. I adjust the seat on the
machine so that a flye movement done on the apparatus will
hit squarely in the middle of my pecs.

I then proceed to do two different exercises with this
machine; one for my outer pecs and one for the inner. For
outer pectorals, I move my arms from the fully outward
position to about halfway through the range of a full flye.
I do about five to eight sets like this. For inner pecs, I
go from about the twenty degrees angle (where I ended my
rep for the outer pec movement) to the point where the
handles make contact with each other in front of me. I do
those for another five to eight sets. When I'm done with
these two partial rep exercises, my entire chest is worked
and pumped to the max.

It's important to know that working the middle chest
muscles actually brings the upper and lower pectorals into
play. However, isolating the upper chest with incline
movements does not bring the middle or lower chest muscles
into play. The same goes for isolating the lower chest with
declines; it only works the lower pectorals. Therefore, the
most efficient way to begin a chest routine is with an
exercise that hits the middle chest. My suggestion is that
when you begin your pec workout with the above-mentioned
exercise, be sure to adjust the seat so that you're hitting
the very center of your chest.

Only when I've sufficiently pre-exhausted my pectorals with
the strict performance of these partial-rep flyes do I go
on to isolate the upper and lower pecs respectively with
three more exercises. These include incline dumbell flyes,
Hammer Strength presses, and a decline angled pec deck. I
do two exercises for upper pecs in an attempt to slightly
over-develop them for better balance; the dumbell flyes and
the pressing movement with the Hammer Strength machine.
Presses are incredibly more effective for pectoral growth
when the pecs have been pre-exhausted with flyes.

If you've been having trouble with pectoral growth, I
highly recommend you switch to making flye exercises the
foundation of your routine. In addition, split that first
exercise of pec deck flyes into two half-rep movements.
This will create maximum stress on both the inner and outer
pecs - working wonders on both the size and shape of the
muscles.

----------------------------------------------------
Scott Abbett is the author of HardBody Success: 28
Principles to Create Your Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind
for Incredible Success. He is a certified fitness trainer
and a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. To see his
personal transformation visit http://www.hardbodysuccess.com

A Soda for Your Thoughts?

A Soda for Your Thoughts?
Everyone knows that sucking down too much soda contributes
to a growing waistline. But did you know that studies also
suggest that it may contribute to your mental decline?

High sugar beverages are well-established risk factors for
developing obesity and type II diabetes. There is also a
link between type II diabetes and risk of Alzheimer's
disease that we don't yet fully understand.

Sugar Not So Sweet for Your Brain

A new study published in the Journal of Biological
Chemistry asked whether high sugar drinks could actually
precipitate Alzheimer's disease. Researchers used a mouse
model that has gene mutations found in certain human cases
of Alzheimer's disease. This leaves the mice highly
susceptible to developing dementia.

Researchers used these mice to see if those given water
spiked with sugar (similar to the amount in soda pop) would
develop Alzheimer's faster than the mice give water alone -
and the answer was yes.

First, the mice drinking the sugar water developed signs of
type II diabetes. They gained more weight, had increased
cholesterol and developed insulin resistance.

Second, the sugar-water drinkers showed increased signs of
dementia, with less ability to learn and remember things;
and more physical brain changes associated with developing
Alzheimer's disease.

It's impossible to say whether the increase in Alzheimer's
dementia in the sugar-water drinking mice was directly due
to the beverage or an overall increase in calories, since
the sugar drinkers also took in about 15% more calories
than the control mice. In any case, the study underscores
the overall relationship between poor nutrient intake and
risk for Alzheimer's.

In fact, studies I have summarized in a previous article
show that high sugar meals increase markers of oxidative
stress as well, which also link to increasing risk of
Alzheimer's.

Yes, it's true that the mice in this study were already
predisposed to Alzheimer's and the sugar drink just made
them get it faster. It would be interesting to know if
normal mice would also show cognitive decline with this
treatment.

How Much Risk are You Comfortable With?

We should still heed the message, especially if you have
Alzheimer's disease in your family and may carry any
predispositions already.

It all comes down to risk. Almost everything you choose to
put in your mouth affects your risk of developing disease,
for better or for worse. Some things reduce your risk,
other things increase it.

The question is, how much risk are you comfortable with? If
someone told me that giving up something I really enjoy
reduces my risk by a few percent, I'd probably say it's not
worth it. On the other hand, if my risk were reduced by 2,
3 or 10 times I'd consider it seriously.

Unfortunately, we don't have enough data to put a number on
many of the lifestyle choices we make. But some things are
just so easy to do that why not do them? Drinking excess
soda pop should fall into that category. The craving for
sweet beverages is a habit and can be reversed and
eliminated in a short time.

The data are clear that high sugar beverages increase risk
for many diseases. If you are a heavy soda drinker making
this one change could make a significant difference for the
future of your brain and your body.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn to control stress, improve your metabolism and boost
your intelligence with the four cornerstones of Brain
Fitness. Visit http://www.BrainFitForLife.com for FREE
Brain Fitness resources.

No More French Health Cover For The Expats?

No More French Health Cover For The Expats?
At the beginning of September a wave of panic and confusion
passed through the expat community in France : radical
measures by France's new president would soon be introduced
meaning that thousands of Britons enjoying early retirement
in France could lose their rights to state health care
under a new law that limits benefits to nonworking
expatriates. The new rules will apply to all non French EU
nationals, not only to the Brits. During his election
campaign earlier this year Mr Sarkozy said: "If you think
53 makes you old enough to retire, then fine, go ahead and
retire. But don't expect the state to pay for it."

The change concerns Britons who have retired to France, are
not working, and are not yet old enough to receive a UK
pension, which represents around 6,000 people.

Until now British expats were allowed to pay contributions
(8% of their income) in order to get treatment through the
French health-care system via the Couverture Medicale
Universelle(CMU) but most of them previously covered by the
NHS took up French residence before retirement age and
benefited from France's healthcare system without even
paying for it. This of course is unfair as France should
not have to foot the bill of early retirees just because
they were benevolent enough to do so in the past.

There is a similar situation for these early retired expats
on low incomes who won't be able to claim free health
insurance via the CMU anymore or for those who have reached
UK retirement age but do not qualify for a UK pension.

For all those expats insured via the CMU, the French
authorities will give them until end of March 2008 to find
private health insurance. However these changes won't
affect retired people receiving a state pension from the
UK. They will keep their health insurance in France via
form E121.

In the short term, new arrivals in France don't need to
worry as they can be covered for up to 2 years by using the
E106 form- this cost being met by the UK government. In the
long term however these people will have to take out their
own private health insurance. Cover starts at around 1800
Euros per year for a healthy 60 year old requiring only
basic cover and who is willing to pay a top-up himself for
certain treatments. If the same person requires full cover
then the cost of insurance will be around 2700 Euros per
year which when you compare it to the cost of private
medical cover in the UK is actually still very reasonable.

Expats who are employed, self-employed or who are living
with or married to a French person are unaffected. It is
the same for those who are living with or married to a
person in possession of an E121 or E106 form.

The French government points out that, as laid down in EU
Directive 2004/38, it does not have any obligation to pay
the health-care costs of non French EU nationals who have
never worked in the country, and nor does it have any
obligation to let them pay to join the French health-care
insurance system via the CMU. With the highest public
spending in the EU, France is desperate to reduce its
deficit and isn't willing to carry on spending to benefit
immigrants.

On the other hand, with more and more stories about people
with pre-existing conditions, or disabled being denied
health treatment in France the negative publicity may
influence the French authorities to be a little bit more
indulgent. And there is a possibility they will allow
expats taking early retirement in France to continue paying
their health insurance contributions via the CMU. We will
not know for sure until the beginning of 2008 when the
final laws have been passed and will update you as soon as
we hear about it.

----------------------------------------------------
Niclas Dowlatshahi is the managing director of Leapfrog
Properties who are French Property agents specialising in
sales across France. http://www.leapfrog-properties.com

How To Drink And Stay Merry!

How To Drink And Stay Merry!
It's approaching party season again and you are faced with
the ultimate dilemma! You want to stay on track with your
health and fitness goals but don't want to be tea total
over the party season. Wouldn't it be great if you could
drink during the party season AND not blow your waistline?
The good news is YOU CAN DO IT, if you follow these simple
principles.

Eat

Before...

Eat foods high in good fats and protein prior to drinking
alcohol. Drinking alcohol, particularly drinks with added
sugar, causes a rapid rise in blood sugar which can leave
you craving food a few hours later (kebab anyone?). Eating
foods high in fat and protein before and with alcohol can
prevent this occurring and keep your post alcohol food
binges at bay.

After...

Make sure you have a good quality multivitamin to consume
before you go to bed (especially one that contains high
levels of vitamin B and Vitamin C). Not only does drinking
alcohol provide you with barely any nutrients but it can
block the absorption of several vitamins and minerals. This
again will leave you craving certain things the day after.
Drinking a pint of wheatgrass or good water soluble
multivitamin, will keep those post alcoholic binges at bay
and reduce a hang over.

Drink Drinking water imbetween your alcohol drinks and
afterwards will drastically reduce the damage alcohol can
have on your waist line. Diluting these toxins with water
will help the body remove them and prevent the body from
having to store them in adipose tissue - That's Fat.

Drinking better quality alcoholic drinks can also reduce
the amount of toxins that your body has to deal with.
(Remember where it likes to store toxins!) Many beers and
lagers also have chemicals added to make them clearer and
lighter, avoid these if you want to avoid the mother of all
hangovers!

And Be Merry

Laughter - Fun One of the main ways we can reduce the
damaging affects of alcohol is bizarrely to make sure we
have! Laughter and deep breathing stimulates the PNS which
is responsible for the activation of white blood cells and
removal of toxins from our body. Doing something you really
enjoy whilst drinking, or the day after drinking can reduce
the damaging affects of alcohol. Have you ever wondered why
sometimes you don't seem to get such bad hangovers?

Sleep The earlier you go to sleep the more time your body
will have to detoxify itself. With a decent amount of water
before bedtime, allied to a decent soluble multivitamin,
you can get rid of a lot of the toxins before you wake up.
This is also why the three o'clock in the morning drinking
sessions can give you the two day hangover.

Stress If you are drinking to avoid a stressful situation
you are merely adding a chemical stress to a physcological
stressor. Since all stress is cumulative this will have a
rather detrimental affect on your waist line and fat
levels. If you are suffering from physchological stress, be
it from family or work at this time of year, then identify
the problem and do something about it. Remember that FEAR
can stand for two things...False Evidence Appearing Real or
Forget Everything And Run decide which it is and act
accordingly!

----------------------------------------------------
John Limpus is the Head Coach and Founder of the Urban
Vitality Company, West London's Premier Specialist's in Fat
Loss and Sustainable Energy. Download our free report on
Fat Loss Fundamentals
http://www.theurbanvitalitycompany.co.uk

Ten Habits of Highly Famous Thin People

Ten Habits of Highly Famous Thin People
The term "celebrity diet" is used to describe a diet that
is supposedly used by or is highly recommended by Hollywood
stars, singers, or other celebrities. There are many slight
variations of these diets, but the one thing they have in
common is the promise to lose weight fast. Most of them are
low in carbohydrates and calories.

Paris Hilton

Paris has been quoted as saying "I hate the taste of
alcohol," Paris says. "When I'm drinking, I'm drinking Red
Bull." I hate the taste of alcohol," Paris says. "When I'm
drinking, I'm drinking Red Bull. Paris is also known for
not following the typical low calorie diets she says that
she loves McDonald's or Taco Bell.

Angelina Jolie

To prepare for her role in Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie
restricted herself to steamed sea bass or steamed beef and
vegetables, ate no sugar and only drank soy milk.

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson is a very strict vegetarian who does not
eat red meat, chicken, pork, fish or seafood.

Madonna

Guided by a personal health and diet coach, the trim and
toned star eats an organic whole food diet, rich in lean
proteins which comprises most of her macrobiotic diet. It
is based on a diet filled with whole grains, beans,
vegetables, and some meats and fish.\\

Jessica Alba

Jessica has said, "When I eat breakfast, I'll have an
egg-white omelette and fruit, or cottage cheese and a
peach. For lunch, I'll have a salad. Dinner is usually
vegetables and chicken or fish. During the day I'll have
some dried fruit, or I'll have a chocolate or strawberry
frozen yogurt. I don't really eat desserts or bread."

Jennifer Lopez

Regarding her diet, Jennifer Lopez has said, "I don't have
anything banned from my diet and I'm not one of the health
freaks who believe in not eating any sugar or leaving dairy
products out. There are a number of weird diets out there
but I don't follow them. I eat almost everything, only in
moderation.

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne has explained why the lyrics to her songs
were also so angry: she was eating too many carbs.

Usher

Rock hard Usher says he puts a lot of focus into his diet.
Usher's diet consists mainly of chicken breast , fish, a
moderate amount of carbohydrates (rice, pasta, potatoes,
etc.) and lots of fruits and leafy veggies.

Brad Pitt

For his role in Troy, Brad Pitt used a low-carb,
high-protein diet.

Cameron Diaz

Cameron skips breakfast and has dinner instead, ensuring
that she stays fuller for longer and consumes less calories
during the day. She also eats six small low carb meals per
day.

----------------------------------------------------
Mischelle (Schelly) Weedman-Davis is a freelance writer and
the client relations manager for the Davis Law Group, a
Seattle personal injury and wrongful death law firm. To
learn more about Davis Law Group visit
http://www.InjuryTrialLawyer.com or
http://www.washingtonaccidentbook.com .

The Hare and The Tortoise

The Hare and The Tortoise
Everybody knows the story of the hare and the tortoise
where the moral is that the chances of success are more
possible if something is undertaken in small steps instead
of rushing into things.

Never was this truer than in the case of weight loss. When
it comes to losing weight, everyone wants to get results as
soon as they possibly can. Now nobody can be blamed for
wanting this. It's in our nature as humans to create our
desires as soon as possible.

However if you are looking to lose weight quickly, then the
ultimate result will end in failure. Don't get me wrong, it
is indeed possible to lose large amounts of weight in short
periods of time. The results of quick weight loss will mean
short term results and any weight that you may have lost,
eventually returning. Often with a vengeance.

The human body is not like a car or a house where a lick of
paint or a good clean up can alter the appearance after a
couple of weeks. Your body is a living entity, and this
being the case it needs time to change. It needs time to
adapt to the changes in diet and it needs time to adapt to
increased activity.

From our beginnings as a race, it has taken hundreds of
thousands of years to evolve into what we are today, it
didn't happen overnight. When we want to change the way our
bodies look, we are basically evolving into something else.
This evolving is obviously on a much smaller scale; it
won't take thousands of years for you to get thin. It will
however take longer than a few weeks or a few months. This
is a fact you need to accept, because once you understand
and accept this concept, you won't give up or start to
panic if you haven't lost a pound for a couple of days.

So many people fall into the trap that is set by certain
companies that sell weight loss products. How many times
have you seen adverts that promise you that you can lose 30
pounds or more in a month? Because we want to lose weight
quickly we buy into this. What people don't realise is the
effect that this type of weight loss will have on their
bodies.

To lose 30 pounds in one month means that you will have to
find a way of dropping or burning over 21000 calories a
week. To lose a pound of weight you will need to get rid of
3500 calories through diet or exercise. Of course you will
lose weight for a few weeks, and you will feel happy about
the results. However after this short time your results
will slow down or probably stop. This happens because you
have taken such a huge drop in calories, your body will
fight back by completely slowing down your ability to burn
calories.

Just think about it; if you are used to eating a certain
amount of food, and then this is cut down drastically, it
comes as a shock to your body. This leads your body to
defend itself from the shock by stopping you burning
calories efficiently. Hence the weight loss comes to a
standstill.

On top of this problem there is another problem that is
going stop you losing weight. This other problem is your
mind. Your brain uses 30% of the glucose that you consume.
Glucose is converted from the carbohydrates that you
consume. So if you decrease your calories by a large
amount, it means less glucose for your brain. This will
result in you getting mood swings, feeling irritated and
short tempered, feeling miserable and often depressed.
These types of feelings will quickly make you give up any
weight loss program and revert to your original behaviours.

Traditional dieting methods rarely work. If his wasn't the
case then why do people find it so hard to lose weight? You
need to coax your body into losing weight and not force it.
This is done in small stages, which will not put too much
stress on your body or mind.

You should be looking at losing between 2-3 pounds a week.
Your body can cope with this type of change without too
much of a problem because you are not shocking it in any
way. It can easily get used to losing a couple of pounds a
week because compared to its whole; it is such a small
amount. I know people will say that 2 pounds of weight loss
sounds too small, but it is those same people that have
tried to lose weight in the past quickly and found
themselves back to square one.

2 pounds a week over a 12 month period equates to a loss of
104 pounds. I know a year sounds like a long time but the
truth is that doing it this way will be a workable
situation. If you don't do it this way then you will
continue to use fad diets which work for a short time and
then stop working. So the chances are that in 12 months
time you will be back to where you started from.

The simple truth is that by using some crash diet will
result in your body crashing after a few weeks. Give your
body the time it needs to adapt to any changes. Take your
time and do it in small steps. It will be easier on your
body and it will be easier on your mind. Most importantly
the results will be much longer lasting. Of course on the
other hand you can keep doing what you have been doing, and
keep getting the results that you have been getting.

----------------------------------------------------
For more information on to stop wasting your money,and how
to finally Lose Weight Successfully,visit
http://www.easierwayz.com

Is glutamine really necessary for muscle growth?

Is glutamine really necessary for muscle growth?
Have you spent much time in a Health Food store browsing
through all of the muscle building supplements? If you
have, you may have been overwhelmed by all the different
types of supplements and all the brand names which claim to
work wonders for your muscle gaining efforts. One
supplement in particular which has received much publicity
is glutamine. Spend some time in the gym listening to the
weightlifters and bodybuilders chat about their favorite
techniques and supplements, and sooner or later you'll hear
someone mention glutamine. You may be told that this
supplement is extremely helpful in growing your muscles,
and you may even be told that it is essential for any
muscle building at all. Do you really need glutamine
supplements for your body building program?

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body.
(Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.) That much
is true. But what about actual supplementation? You must
understand that one of the major reasons that glutamine is
recommended is that it was shown to be helpful in trauma
cases. Studies have shown that muscle loss can be reduced
in patients with severe trauma such as in the case of burn
victims or AIDS patients. The problem is that this kind of
stress cannot be automatically compared to the kind of
stress your body undergoes during exercise. While there
may be certain situations in which such a supplement would
be helpful, glutamine supplementation is probably not
necessary in the majority of cases. You have to remember
that much of the hype that surrounds this product and
others like it comes from the supplement companies
themselves. Always remember to stick with the essentials
of progressive resistance training and increasing your
calories, however popular a bodybuilding supplement may be.

Why do bodybuilding supplements like glutamine sell so
well? They do well simply because so many bodybuilders are
looking for the magic pill that will instantly deliver
incredible results. Unfortunately, so many people in our
society have become accustomed to looking for shortcuts and
short term gratification. It's particularly sad when you
consider that learning how to gain weight naturally is not
as difficult as it may seem. The real magic pill is
combining the right knowledge (weight gain diet plus proper
workout routines) with determination. The beginner must
understand that weight gain, like most worthwhile goals,
requires diligence over the long term.

If this is a little discouraging for you, consider the
following. Remember that most great things in life are not
achieved with one amazing act. Rather, it is a series of
small choices carried out on a daily basis that will
determine our ultimate success or failure in life. A half
hour workout a few times a week for several months will
accomplish what one five hour workout cannot. Whatever you
choose, keep the long term in mind and rest assured that
living your dreams tomorrow, in both bodybuilding and
beyond, are well worth the price you pay today.

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