Exercise and Fitness Tips

• Home
• About

Natural Body Building

July 10th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Natural body building should be the prefered choice of body builders. When it comes to the subject of amateur and professional body building, only the most naïve person would not acknowledge the prevalence of anabolic steroids in the sport. Needless to say, there is a great deal of performance enhancing drugs in competitive body building, but also there are a number of people who prescribe to natural body building which is essentially a drug free approach to the sport of body building. Sadly, many people who are proponents of natural body building do not always get the credit they deserve in regards to the contributions to the sport.

Understanding Anabolics

So what exactly are anabolic steroids? These are drugs designed to increase the body’s ability to grow muscles by increasing the body’s ability to release growth hormones, reducing the amount of rest one needs in order to grow muscle, and allowing the body to exercise for significantly longer durations than what would be possible without the use of drugs or drug agents.

Needless to say, the physiques that these drugs create are more massive and more defined than what could ever be achieved with a natural body building physique. Of course, there are a host of negatives associated with anabolic steroids as well. For example, excessive use of steroids has been associated with a number of serious medical conditions such as heart disease, kidney failure and many other problems. As such, sticking with a natural body building program is much better for overall health and safety.

For the Hobbyist…

For the hobbyist, there is really no reason to use anabolic steroids. While there are many arguments for and against the risks associated with taking drugs for a profession in body building, for someone who is simply trying to get in shape or look good the risks associated with drug taking simply makes the risks not worth it. There is an old saying that many gyms use as a mantra: “It is better to feel good than to look good.”

This is a veiled reference to all the problems that are associated with the health issues that can derive from using steroids. If you are a hobbyist, then it is best to stick with natural body building because there are no risks associated with it. In fact, this is a healthy pursuit that can greatly increase a person’s quality of life. Why would anyone want to do anything different? Again, it is best to stick to the natural route.

Vegetarian Body Building

July 6th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Banishing Misconceptions about Vegetarian Body Building

Who says that you need to eat meat in order to succeed in body building? Vegetarians are not the stereotypical thin and gaunt images that you see portrayed in some public arenas. Rather with complete understanding about nutrition, you can create a diet chock full of healthy essentials that could help support your vegetarian body building. There are many misconceptions about vegetarians which is the reason why many people don’t associate them with body building.

Proteins Can Be a Problem

Many people believe that without eating the flesh of an animal, you will not be able to get enough protein and other essential nutrients. That is simply not true when it comes to vegetarian body building as you can easily get proteins from other food sources. Soy products, beans, various grains, eggs and dairy product provide plenty of muscle building proteins.

Of course, many vegetarian body building athletes are drinking supplemental shakes with whey protein as well as other important vitamins and minerals like zinc, vitamin B12, iron and more. While meat can provide those items, it doesn’t provide enough for the minimum daily allowances for body builders. The same applies with other foods that contain those essential vitamins and minerals. Supplements are important to get enough of the essentials that are lacking in any diet, vegetarian or not.

Cannot Build Strength or Muscle Mass

Vegetarians actually have a better chance of increasing their strength and size while on their meat-free diet. Vegetarian body building means exactly that – building muscle mass and strength based on a diet filled with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Eating meats can actually slow down your metabolism because it takes so much energy to digest it whereas with a vegetarian diet, your body actually speeds up its digestion.

Vegetarian body building means being creative with meals to ensure that you have plenty of vitamins and minerals represented in the foods you eat. Many body builders who abstain from meat have consulted with nutritionists to ensure that their diet as well as supplements provides what is needed to maintain and grow muscle mass.

Vegetarianism Not Healthy

Vegetarianism is actually quite healthy as seen by the much lower cholesterol and blood sugar counts that many vegetarian body building athletes can attest to! Many meats, even the lean ones have the presence of “bad” cholesterol or LDL which can raise cholesterol and therefore, blood pressure. In addition, trans fats and saturated fats are almost a thing of the past when dropping meat from the menu. All the foods that vegetarians eat along with some supplemental items can more than provide all of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to succeed at vegetarian body building.

Body Building Tips

June 27th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Some Important Body Building Tips

 

Everyone is looking for new body building tips. Usually, these new tips are designed to replace the old body building tips…or at least that is the idea. In other words, people are looking for “secrets” that will help them to develop a new breakthrough that will provide the break in the plateau that they may find themselves. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this approach, but it does ignore a simple common sense approach that can provide them with the true success that they desire. You see, the true secret to body building success lies in the fact that proper and successful body building is rooted in simplicity and not in any magic formulas.

 

The Best of All Tips

 

If there was a king of all body building tips that was the most critically important tip to follow it would be to avoid overtraining. What overtraining entails is working out too many times per work or working out for durations that are excessive. (Excessive would generally be anything longer than one hour straight) Also, it is also unwise to work out if you feel sick or are seemingly suffering from an injury so as not to aggravate the injury. Now, there are those individuals out there who may be reading this and saying…no way! If you don’t work hard, you won’t make any gains! Well, this is partially true. One of the most critical of all body building tips, however, is that not only must one work hard one must also work smart!

 

If a person works himself too hard in the gym, the body simple will not grow muscle. In fact, the body might reject the additional stress and start to atrophy instead. Clearly, this is not what anyone working out could ever want so it would be wise to avoid such excessive training. Instead, simple consistency of attending the gym (3 or 4 times a week) and working out at a moderate to difficult pace would be enough to make further gains. If one is working himself to the point that injuries are common then the entire process will be self defeating. Clearly, this is the best of all body building tips.

 

So, if there was a moral to the story it would be that there are no magic formulas and that the body does have a limit. When pushing oneself beyond the limits of good sense, success will not be achieved…it will be eradicated.

 

Health and Fitness Body Building Tips for Women

June 15th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

When it comes to exercise and fitness for women times have changed.  Just a decade or two ago, it was not fashionable for women to be in the weight room confines of a gym. Rather, women were relegated to walking, jazzercise, aerobics and other similar type of pursuits to lose weight. However, these days, many women think nothing of pumping iron with the men to achieve overall health and fitness body building benefits.

Why is weight training so important to women in the pursuit of health and fitness body building? The reason why it is so important is because it jumpstarts their metabolism and therefore provides a more efficient and effective way to burn calories. As muscles start to gain mass from the weight training, more calories are being burned off in order to fuel this muscle transformation.

It’s All about Balance

When it comes to health and fitness body building for women, weight training does not leave much room for fat to stick around and that is a great thing. Women will actually lose some fat if they decide to tweak their diet a bit and lower calorie intake. Doing so allows the new burgeoning muscle to eat up the calories you consume as well as take care of some of the calories held in reserve in body fat.

There is a balance that must be determined in the diet to avoid the body from retaliating by shrinking muscle and storing more fat than before to compensate. In addition, while training with weights is not considered an aerobic activity, studies have shown that it will still elevate the heart rate just as like cardiovascular exercise which is important in the burning of fat.

No Fear about Bulking Up

In health and fitness body building for women, there should be no hesitation about starting a work out plan. Weight training does not ad bulky mass to a woman’s body unless they pump steroids into their blood stream. Rather weight training for women creates a solid, fibrous muscle with less fat content which actually serves to provide a smaller, svelter appearance.

Women are genetically predisposed toward less muscle mass when compared to men and as a result will have lovelier feminine curves with weigh training. Many experts warn women who embark on a health and fitness body building regiment to not hop on the scale for a while.

The reason is because muscle actually weighs more than fat does which can be a bit disconcerting at first. However, with less fat on their frame, women will discover that they could weigh the same before the weight training but wear a few sizes smaller. Less fat and more muscles is what matters in terms of health and fitness body building for women.

Integrate Exercise and Fitness Into Your Daily Life

June 9th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Physical fitness and exercise  allows the body to perform to its full capacity. Fitness helps us appear, feel and act to our full potential.  Exercise is essentially the capability to complete everyday responsibilities energetically and actively. This will leave us with energy remaining at the end of the day for appreciation of other activities. Fitness means being able to handle situations where the average individual might fail. It is the core of excellent health. Physical fitness affects the entire body including the heart, lungs, and muscles. It also involves emotional well being. If your body feels good, your mind does too. Exercise though  doesn’t have to be a chore. Integrating it into your daily life can make physical fitness a fun and rewarding activity to look forward to.

The first step to integration is to make physical fitness a priority. People are very good at contradicting themselves. Many people say they’d like to exercise but they continually choose not to. One reason for this contradiction is the impractical ideas people have about exercise. People believe a number of lies about exercise including the idea that exercise might help them lose weight fast, change the body extensively  or that keeping the motivation to exercise will be simple. These lies only make sticking with an exercise routine more difficult.

One thing you can do to combat this problem is to design a plan. First, set a reasonable exercise goal. Then list the steps that you will need to take in order to reach that goal. Next, set small goals that will help you reach your big goal. Then decide to force yourself to follow through no matter what the excuses are. You may find it easier to do this by holding yourself responsible through a daily exercise journal or an exercise buddy. Try following your progress each week. At the end of the week sit down and decide what worked and what didn’t. What you should consider doing different next week. Remember to reward yourself. We thrive on positive reinforcement so a reward for working out even though you were tired is a good way to get into the habit of working out. It is  equally important not to beat yourself up if you feel you must miss a session. There are going to be times that exercise cannot be your priority, and it’s important to remember that consistence is the key to good health. Setting a workout schedule will help you succeed.

There are also several tips to including exercise in your daily routine. First, try to get up a little earlier in the morning and do a quick workout. Whether it’s walking or basic calisthenics. Second, when you get to your destination, whether it is work or the grocery store try to park further away from the entrance than you normally would. This will force you to walk a bit further. Next, if you have to take an elevator, try taking the stairs instead. Even if it’s just one flight of stairs it can help raise your heart rate a bit. Also, if you have to sit for a long period of time it might help to spend a few minutes each hour stretching or walking around. Save a few minutes before your lunch to take a quick walk or do a quick round of weight training. If afternoon is your sleepy time or when you begin to feel lethargic, take a walk to a friend’s house to sit and say hello for a moment.

Spend your afternoons in the garden. Mowing, weeding, and gardening are great ways to get exercise without even realizing it. Clean the house. Vacuuming and dusting can also be a way to sneak in some workout time. While in the car or sitting anywhere, you can strengthen your abdominal muscles by slowly pulling your stomach toward your back and holding it for five seconds. While you are waiting for dinner to finish cooking, try some light strength training in the kitchen. Grab some light weights and do a few curls while you are waiting for that oven timer to go off. It’s also a good idea to plan leisure activities that involve exercise. Spend an evening dancing instead of seeing a movie. Take a walk through the botanical gardens. Go golfing. Before you hit the sack at night, try mentally planning some formal workout time into your schedule the next day. It may help you stick with the routine.

Remember before starting a new exercise or fitness training routine to check with your doctor.

Copyright © 2008 Exercise and Fitness Tips

Credits: Work From Home | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund