Sometimes we think we are so clever.
We think we can just fool our bodies into looking the way we want it to. It’s funny what people are willing to try just so that they can lose fat without having to exercise.
This is the lazy way to try to (more…)
This article is a special guest post written by RT from Real Muscle Online.
When you start to learn about bodybuilding and weight lifting you also start to hear a lot of myths. People will tell you all sorts of thing to either make themselves sound expert or to (more…)
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What would you think if I were to tell you that there was a way for you to love working out?
I know what you might be thinking. You might be remembering how terrible it feels when you try to run while you are gasping for breath (more…)
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Some people will try to tell you that anger is an unhealthy thing… they are lying.
The truth is that anger can lead to an unhealthy thing if it makes you do something unhealthy. Really, think about it for a moment. How could anger possibly be something unhealthy? Isn’t anger a natural human emotion that every person feels at some point or another in life?
Your natural emotions are never an unhealthy thing. But what you do with them… now that’s another story.
Yin, Yang, and Your Workout
The Chinese are full of good stuff that’s thousands of years old. Take the yin and yang for example. You may have seen the symbol many times in your life, but do you know what it means in your life?
The yin and yang represent two forces. They are two things that are really opposites, but the two opposites fit together in the world we live in. The two forces have to live in harmony with each other. Without this simple harmony comes disorder.
The same thing is true in your own life. Hey, let’s admit it, bad stuff is going to happen no matter what you try to do about it. You’ll never be able to avoid all the jerks in life or people that cut you off while you’re driving. It’s just not possible. (more…)
Trying to figure out the perfect routine can be tough. It’s especially tough when you consider the fact that there’s no such thing as a perfect routine.
Instead, you’re going to have to assess your personal needs and decide which muscles to work on which days. A number of factors will go into this decision, such as:
- What your current training level is, i.e. beginner, intermediate, or advanced
- What type of routine motivates you to work out in the gym
- Which muscle groups are lagging or will require special attention
- What type of routine your training partner is on
- How your body is responding to the workouts you have in place
There are many ways you can divide up your muscle groups to achieve the best workout for you. There are so many combinations, in fact, that I couldn’t possibly cover them all here. Instead, I’m going to point out a few principles that can be used as guidelines to help you choose the routine that’s best suited for you. (more…)
Ever heard somebody say that you better watch what you eat? Watching what you eat is very important, but you’ll also need to pay attention to what you’re not eating if you want to keep muscle on your body.
I’m sure you’ve already heard that you need to eat plenty of protein to keep your body in good shape and build muscle, so I probably don’t need to repeat that to you.
But if you’re wondering how much protein you should get with each meal, when to eat it, and how to eat it… I might be able to help you out there.
Protein Every 3 Hours
First, let’s talk about the when and the why. Imagine, for a moment, that your body is a factory. This small factory works each day to produce the materials that it needs to keep its own walls and floor in good shape.
Imagine that the bricks in the factory walls are constantly wearing out, so a conveyor belt is needed to bring new materials into the factory. This is pretty similar to what’s going on inside your body as your cells are constantly being replaced. Just as the bricks in the factory wall need to be replaced, your body needs protein to rebuild it’s cells.
Your body is good at storing all those excess calories that you eat as fat cells, but protein isn’t really stored in your body for long periods of time. Protein only stays in your body for about 3 hours.
So, going along with the conveyor belt analogy, if more bricks end up on the conveyor belt than are really needed, they just fall off the end of the conveyor belt and are swept away to another place. They aren’t stored or used to build the walls. If you eat too much protein, it isn’t stored for later. (more…)
How long should you let your muscles rest before working them again? You may have heard that your muscles are ready to be trained again after 48 hours of rest.
Editor’s Note: This is Jason’s take. To read Darrin’s take, click here.
I’d like to set the record straight on that number. If you’re one of those genetic supermen with incredible recovery abilities, 48 hours is probably right for you. For the rest of us human beings, a little more recovery time is probably needed.
Very few people out there have the stamina and experience to be able to handle training every body part 3+ times a week with heavy loads. Think about it, that’s exactly how many times you would train each muscle group in a week if you’re only giving them 48 hours of rest on a consistent basis.
So let’s talk about some numbers that are more down to earth for most of us. In actuality, most people will need somewhere between 48-96 hours of rest for each muscle group. This means that you will need 2 days at the very least, while 3-4 days is probably a better fit for most people out there. (more…)
Continue reading about Setting the Record Straight on Muscle Recovery Time
Just when you thought we couldn’t climb any higher…
Let’s be honest with ourselves, we’re getting fatter year after year. With every sugar drink and super-sized soda consumed, we hobble yet another step higher up the fat chain. Staying lean and toned from our workouts becomes more and more of a distant dream.
But climbing up the fat chain represents more than the expanding state we are in. The fat chain not only shows us that we occupy the very top of this top-heavy hierarchy, but it also tells us how we arrived there. The fat chain is also a chain of events that leads us to arrive at the state we are in. It’s a repeating cycle, or a chain reaction that only becomes harder to stop with time.
This is because getting fat isn’t something that “happens” to anybody. Nobody rolls out of bed in the morning to suddenly find themselves overweight. Instead, we slowly climb the chain link by link. Whenever it seems that the top of the chain is reached, we add another link and climb a bit higher.
These tiny links accumulate slowly, day by day, over time. We can add these links in so many ways, but we are hardly conscious of the links we add through what we drink. And most people aren’t aware of the triple hit that our system takes when we drink soft drinks. And even fat-loss types of workouts (such as FatBurnFurnace) can’t overcome these liquid calorie surpluses. (more…)
Continue reading about Drinking Your Way to the Top of the Fat Chain
