Pros:

Most users notice the effectiveness of this product in a matter of one to two weeks.  Animal Flex has helped users who suffer from elbow problems, knee pain, tendonitis, and ligament issues.  Many people have used this product because they have some chronic injury that causes inflammation around joints.  Not only have users been able to cut back on pain medications, but they notice a decrease in inflammation and an improvement in overall joint function.  Even those with minor aches and pains have noticed an improvement.  For lifters, they notice an increase in recovery time.  No combination of other joint supplements matches Animal Flex in price and quality.  This product has also done wonders for those with tendon and ligament issues as well as drastically decreasing recovery times for injuries.

Cons:

There are a lot of pills to take.  Each packet contains 9 pills and if a person has difficulty swallowing pills, this could be a deterrent.  For some, this product is a hit or miss.  Some have doubted the efficacy of this product compared to other joint supplements.  The initial price could also be an issue for those who are not looking to spend a lot of money on preventative supplements.

Is Universal Animal Flex Worth It?

Many people that take joint supplements do not really notice a significant improvement.  However, there have been a ton of reviews reporting recovering from torn ligaments, tendonitis, ankle injuries, knee pain, and many other chronic injuries while using this product.  For a person who suffers from any joint related injuries, I would suggest giving this product a try.  Another product to add to this stack would be UspLabs SuperCissus Rx.  I have also read that consuming Jello (or other foods containing Gelatin) helps to rebuild cartilage.  Rebuilding our tendons, ligaments and cartilage is something that is very difficult to do. However, it does seem that Universal Animal Flex seems to do this and quite well.  Best of all, most of the improvements can be noticed within one to two weeks.  Is Animal Flex another supplement scam?  Definitely not.  Nutritionally, the product is sound, and many users can attest to its effectiveness.

Related posts:

1. MHP Glutamine-SR Review
2. Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin Review
3. Knee Exercises

Let’s hear what others have had to say:

Pros:

Users have reported having a positive and noticeable impact on energy and health levels.  One person reported this product helping eradicate common throat infections and sicknesses by building his immune system.  Compared to other vitamin supplements designed for athletes, the price is significantly lower.   Bodybuilders have documented feeling better rested, less sore and more energy throughout the day.  A few people said they take this vitamin after workouts and before sleep and have noticed significant increase in muscle recovery time.  Another good thing about AST Multi Pro is that no side effects have been reported (like different colored urine, pains, or fatigue).

Cons:

While AST Multi Pro is comparable to other products in its league, some have suggested that Animal Pack and Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men are better products. There have been complaints that the pill breaks easily and can turn to powder.  This could be so that it is readily absorbable by the body.  Another downside is that the pill is sometimes hard to swallow and has a tendency to stick at the top of a person’s mouth.   Some have reported no noticeable difference using this product.  One very bad review came from a person who doubted the product’s effectiveness and decided to bite into the pill.  He claimed this pill tasted like a candy, or sugar pill, and that the product did not live up to its claims.

The Verdict – Is AST Multi Pro Worth It?

The typical trend of reviews seems to be that the product does work.  The content of the vitamin looks good, with ample iron and B-Vitamins.  Compared to other products, the price is very favorable.  One can only wonder if AST Multi Pro sacrificed quality for price.  It is hard to judge if a multi-vitamin is effective because testing the product is difficult for the average person to do.  However, if a product contains lots of B-Vitamins, then a person’s urine does tend to turn neon-yellow which none reported happening while on this product.  Compared to an over-the-counter product, AST Multi Pro would probably be a better alternative.  For a person who doesn’t take vitamins regularly, they will probably notice an improvement on this product.  However, is this product the solution for high intensity athletes?  Users seem to think so.

Related posts:

1. Universal Animal Flex Review
2. BSN True-Mass Review
3. Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin Review

Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin Features:

• Increases resting metabolic rate
• Reduces hunger cravings and appetite.
• Increases sense of well-being.
• Enhances cognitive health, mental focus and clarity
• Increases Thermogenesis
• Helps eradicate free radicals

Pros:

Many users of this product say that they do not experience the crash and jittery movements that are associated with other weight loss products. Lots of users have gotten over weight loss plateaus by using this product.  Bodybuilders have had success using this product to get competition ripped. The appetite suppression seems to work well.  However, women have reported still having sweet cravings during their menstrual cycle. Users have noticed that workouts have become more intense and sleeps are deeper and more rejuvenating.    The typical weight loss seems to be around 9 to 10 pounds on a bottle.  Of course this depends on how much weight the person needs to lose.

Cons:

For some users, they report being tired a lot while using this product – more than usual.   Another common side effect is headaches.  A few people have reported having chest pains while using this product and having to urinate more frequently than usual.  Some of these side effects were diminished when the user took half the dosage.  Some bodybuilders have reported becoming more smooth prior to competition due to water retention while using this product.  Potential buyers should also be forewarned that the pills are fairly large and have a distasteful odor.

Is Mitotropin Worth it?

This product seems to be one that works for some and not for others.  From the reviews that I have read, the users who do not see any of the side effects have excellent results.  This product definitely has a unique way of trying to help a person deal with burning fat and in theory it seems to work.  However, I would caution the user to not exceed the recommended dosage and discontinue use if any of the side effects listed on the label become evident.  As always, with any weight loss program, one should try to eat healthier and exercise before considering a fat burner.  You may be surprised what results you can get without supplements.  So is Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin a scam?  I would say that this is not.  People have reported losing from 4 to 20 pounds in a month on this product.  Gaspari Nutrition also has a reputation for providing quality supplements to its consumers.  I would recommend this over other fat burners on the market though.

Related posts:

1. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250 Review
2. Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass Review
3. BSN True-Mass Review

Pros:

This product gets a love of hype because of how well it tastes.  Many users say that, mixed with milk, it takes like a milkshake.  This gainer has been added to many post workout shakes to give a good 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein.  This gainer also provides less “junk” calories than other gainers.  Furthermore, users report gaining quality weight while using the product.  Most report gaining 4-6lb in a matter of 2-3 weeks.  True-Mass seems to mix better than other weight gainers as many report not having the clumps that other gainers as notorious for.  Another popular response to this product is that it still tastes great in water.  This is convenient for those who like to take their shakes with them to the gym.

Cons:

Many say that this product is a little more pricey than competitors.  Judging by the amount of servings per container, one can see that the price is very competitive.  Some users have reported seeing no gains with this product.  However, this could be a result of replacing meals with this supplement rather than adding the supplement to an existing diet program.  Users report being bloated on the product as well as experiencing gas and/or diarrhea. Users who do not have a shaker bottle report clumps in their shake.

Is BSN True-Mass Worth it?

Compared to other weight gainers, True-Mass seems to be a good choice.  Nutritionally, BSN True-Mass contains a high concentration of calories, protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids.  Furthermore, it contains the right mix of carbs that are low in the glycemic index along with essential fats.  I would suggest that anyone considering this weight gainer, or any for that matter, make sure that their existing diet program is adjusted for weight gain.  This means that the user should be taking in more calories than they are burning.  Also try not to use this supplement to replace meals.  I would suggest taking this product after workout and at breakfast for optimum effectiveness.  I would also take the product in milk to add additional protein and calories.  This product does not seem overhyped or a scam for that matter since many have had positive experiences while using it.  A person can expect to gain weight on this gainer provided that their existing training, diet, and rest are in accordance to their goals.

Related posts:

1. Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass Review
2. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250 Review
3. MHP Glutamine-SR Review

Pros:

Consumers who add this to their post workout shake tend to notice a signficant increase in recovery from exercise.  A common report is an increase in muscle tone. Since the product is flavorless, it can mix well with just about anything.  Most tend to mix in their protein shakes. Some users also notice that their muscles feel stronger, or full, when they flex.  Lots of users who have switched from other glutamine products say that the effects of supplementing with Glutamine seem to be enhanced.  Lots of bodybuilders use this product to help protect their muscles when they are preparing for competitions.  Product also comes with a serving spoon.

Cons:

One of the most common complaints is in the price of the product.  Compared to competitors, this product is a little more expensive.  However, comparing cost per serving size, it is very competitive.  Some users say that most protein shakes come with enough glutamine and adding an additional supplement will not have any added benefit.  In rare cases, users have experienced sleepiness, however it is hard to tell if this is a direct result of using the product.  Another complaint is stomach cramps.

Is MHP Glutamine-SR Worth it?

It seems that this product is most effective for those who do not get enough protein from other sources.  However, many users who consume an adequate amount of protein on a daily basis notice some results as well.  MHP does a great job correcting some of the problems associated with Glutamine absorption with their polymer complex.  Traditionally, users had to supplement with Glutamine multiple times throughout the day to notice the benefits due to its typical absorption time of an hour.   In my opinion, it is better to have more glutamine than not enough when it comes to building and preserving muscle.  Most people tend to approve of this product and I do as well.  If you are looking for an effective product to assist in your goals, then add MHP Glutamine-SR as a staple to your supplement stack.

Related posts:

1. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250 Review
2. AST Multi Pro Review
3. Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass Review

Pros:

Compared to other weight gainers, this product is much  cheaper.  Many users report that the taste of this product is better than other weight gainers as well.  A couple of people have also reported being able to overcome strength and bodyweight plateaus.  A common trend in this product is that the users tend to gain weight while on the product.  One such report suggested that hte user went from 140.1lb to 147.8lbs in a matter of 19 days. Since the product contains a lot of carbs, glycogen reserves tend to recover more quickly and the user can get back in the gym quicker.  Furthermore, workouts tend to be more energized and enduring.

Cons:

The product requires consumers to use 2 scoops per serving. As a consequence, there have been reports of having chunks in the shake.  Shaker bottles can help fix this problem, but small chunks can still be noticed.  Users also report being bloated after the product.  Some complain about the taste, but mixing with mix seems to make the product more appealing.  One can also add banana and peanut butter to the blend.  Another common issue with this product is problems and laxative issues.  This can probably be countered by increasing fiber intake.  Some also become tired, ironically, after consuming the product due to the amount of calories.  The produce also only comes with 6 servings per container which can be disappointing.

Is Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass Worth It?

This product may not be for everyone.  Those who could benefit the most are probably ectomorphs who have a fast metabolism.  For those who are looking to supplement their diet and put on the most quality weights, and also do not belong in the ectomorph category, I would suggest taking only one scoop instead of two.  Combined with milk, this shake will still be a good weight gainer and is going to be less likely to add unwanted weight.  Also those who are sensitive to carbs should probably find an alternative weight gainer to use.  I would also suggest making sure that the shake complements the daily macro-nutrient ratios and daily caloric intake that are aligned with the goals of the user.  I also would advice against using this product if the goal is to lose weight.  As a final note, remember that supplements should not replace real meals as no product will deliver the nutrient needs that mother nature can.

Related posts:

1. BSN True-Mass Review
2. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250 Review
3. MHP Glutamine-SR Review

Ab Circle Features

When you purchase the Ab Circle Pro, you are not given just a fancy piece of equipment with fitness star Jennifer Nicole Lee on it.  Here are some of the key features that this product has:

• The Ab Circle is made with gym quality steel that is designed to last for life.
• The machine has versatile storage options by allowing the user to fold to slide under a bed or in a closet.
• It has three levels of resistance to challenge both experienced fitness enthusiasts as well as novices.
• A patented Friction Free Track that gets the user off the floor.
• A three minute express workout DVD.
• Owner’s manual and Lose your Love Handles Nutritional Guide
• Can be converted to work buns and thighs.
• Comes with an Ab Circle Fitness Computer that enables the user to easily track workouts, reps, amount of time and calories burned while exercising.

Pros:

Most users of the product claim that the product really does offer an intense abdominal workout.  Reviews of people that have used the product as directed for 4 to 6 weeks notice an improvement in overall appearance of their core.  The Ab Circle has also helped those who struggle to find a workout suitable for oblique a way to exercise them conveniently.  Users are encouraged to constantly strive to increase the intensity each workout to achieve optimum effectiveness. Following the suggested nutritional guidelines helps the user complement their weight loss endeavors.

Cons:

A common complaint with this system is that their knees become a little sore after use.  This can be fixed if the user adds additional padding or uses knee pads.  Customer services also is a complaint heard by some.  Users report after extended use that the rollers tend to wear out.  A way to fix this problem is to make sure to keep the roller path lubricated with oil.  Some users with back problems report having slight discomfort due to extending the arms to grip the handlebars.  Some other complains include sliding off of the knee pads and paint wearing off after long term use.

Is the Ab Circle Pro Worth It?

The value of this product is subjective to the user. For those who have struggled finding motivation to stick with conventional abdominal workouts, this product may help them.  Lots of people will watch T.V. while using the Ab Circle Pro. To improve the effectiveness, the user should keep their torso straight and try to move only from the hips to avoid using chest, arms and back muscles to assist in the motion.  By isolating the core, the workout becomes more challenging.  Furthermore, like with all exercise programs, the user should monitor their diet closely.  No workout program will deliver results with a diet that is lacking.  Their nutritional program is very helpful in assisting the user.  I would encourage users to read more about fat loss and low carb diets if they are interested in learning how to eat healthier.

Is the Ab Circle a Scam?

From the looks of it, this product is not a scam.  Many have reported having amazing results by using this product.  Several customer reviews have stated that this product has been like a gateway into future fitness plans.  I would certainly suggest this product to those who need additional motivation to begin an exercise program.  This product is fun to use and convenient to fit into any schedule.  I would recommend anyone considering purchasing the product to be sure to stay dedicated to the program and be serious about their goals.  I would also tell them to take their diet very seriously.

Click Here to Purchase Ab Circle Pro

Related posts:

1. BSN True-Mass Review
2. Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin Review
3. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump 250 Review

Pros:

Users of SuperPump250 get amazing pumps and lots of energy for working out.  Some users get a “jittery” effect and perhaps have too much energy.  Lots of people also begin using this product to help overcome workout plateaus.   Many report noticing an enhanced mental focus and consequently have experienced their top workouts while on the product.  The flavor of this product is better than competitors.

Cons:

Initially, many users of Gaspari Nutrition Superpump250 began experiences digestive stress.  However, the magnesium content was reduced in later models and that problem seems to have been corrected.  Some users still report the product having a laxative effect for the first week. Consumers of Superpump250 have felt queasy if not taken on an empty stomach.   There also seems to be a trend in users saying that they felt the effect of the product initially, then after weeks of use, little to no effect.  Cycling this product for 2-3 weeks seems to correct this problem.

Superpump250 vs NO-Xplode

This debate is subject to user experience.  For instance, for users that can tolerate the potent Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump250 (some call it SuperDump250), they report having a better pump. The general belief is that both products are equally effective in delivering an enhanced mental focus.  NO-Xplode has more caffeine so for those who do not like the energy associated with Caffeine, they may tend to favor SuperPump250.   It seems that most people tend to prefer SP 250 over NO-Xplode.  However, user experience is dependent on the person’s response to each.

Is SuperPump 250 Worth it?

So is SuperPump 250 another overhyped supplement scam?  No, but like all supplements it does have downsides.  It can lead to an upset stomach, but it can also deliver more powerful workouts than ever.  I highly doubt that a product sold by a company that values customers, Gaspari Nutrition, is a scam.  This product can help a person gain more motivation in the gym and added mental focus to help overcome plateaus.  Just don’t expect to have steroid-like effects, like the product makes SuperPump250 sound like.

Related posts:

1. Gaspari Nutrition Mitotropin Review
2. Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass Review
3. BSN True-Mass Review

There are triceps exercises that you can include in your exercise program to help you build muscle. Check out the ones we’ve chosen for you:

1. Overhead Dumbbell Extension

This triceps exercise requires you to raise your dumbbells over your head. There is a certain amount of risk in injuring your muscles because they are stretched out to the maximum, so you need to be a little cautious in doing this triceps exercise.

You should also make sure your form does not induce you to lift the weights too much to your back, causing undue strain on your muscles.

This triceps exercise may be done sitting down or standing up. It was really be a matter of personal choice.

Use your underhand grip when raising the dumbbell until it is in the back of your neck with your elbows bent. Then stretch out your arm, squeezing your triceps before lowering the dumbbell.

Repeat this several times, and then alternate with the other hand.

2. Dumbbell Kickback

This triceps exercise is really good for building muscle in your triceps because it actually isolates the exercise and focuses mainly on the muscles in the triceps.

You can feel the pressure on your triceps which will make you appreciate the exercise more.

This triceps exercise is basically swinging the dumbbell back while squeezing the triceps and rotating the palm. It’s a simple exercise that needs repetition for the results to start showing. Make sure you do equal numbers of repeats for both arms.

3-5 Cable Pushdown, One Arm Cable Pushdown and Overhead Cable Extension

You will need to use the cable machine for these triceps exercises. If this is your first time to use the machine, ask a professional trainer to assist you. You should never try using them on your own when you are a beginner.

6. Lying French Press

Sometimes, people call this the skull crusher triceps exercise. It works on all the muscles located in your triceps which is what makes it a great workout. If you are careful in lifting the weights, you have no need to worry your skull will be crushed. Just make sure you do not rush through this exercise at all.

7. Close Grip Bench Press

If you know how to do the bench press, you will find doing this exercise easy. The main difference is that you concentrate on your triceps instead of your chest. You also need to keep your hands closer together.

8-9. Triceps Dip and Backwards Lift

This triceps exercise does not even need any heavy weight equipment which is great because you can do just about anywhere you want. For the triceps dip, all you have to do is face away from a strong table while holding on to its edge, and lower yourself. Repeat it several times making sure you are about 30 inches away from the table.

The Backward lift is also a stretching exercise, raising your arms behind you as far as you possibly can without pain. You should hold simple weights in your hands to really give your arms a good workout. If you plan to do this in your home, any weight like a book will do.

10. Tricep Stretch

Whenever you work out, you have to make sure you have a warm down. Doing the triceps stretch will accomplish this for you. All you need to do is stretch your arm across your chest to the other side, hold, then release. Repeat with the other arm.

Make sure you do not push your body too much because you could end up injuring yourself. However, a little push is necessary to see noticeable gains.  You know your limits!

Related posts:

1. Train to Build Muscle
2. Rotator Cuff Exercises
3. Knee Exercises

If you feel that you are the only one who has ever said, “My eyes are tired all the time.” do not worry.  You are not alone.  This condition is actually very common and it can be experienced by any person, regardless of their age, sex, or ethnicity.   A person who suffers from this condition often say that their eyes and heads feel heavy.  In addition to this feeling of heaviness,  other symptoms associated with tired eyes include burning sensation, eye irritation, and redness.

Some of the most common causes of tired eyes include allergy, conjunctivitis, and pollution.

If at one point you have complained, “my eyes are tired all the time,” you will be pleased to know that are some home remedies available for this condition.   These treatments are proven to be effective.  One of the things that you can do to relax your eyes is to wash your face, especially the eye area, with cold water.  This can be done as often as possible.  Instead of just using plain cold water, you can also add in a small amount of lavender oil.    Just dip two pieces of cotton balls into the water and lavender oil solution.  After you have squeezed the excess liquid, place these pieces of cotton balls on your eyes.   As an alternative to lavender oil, you can also make a solution with tea.

Perhaps the most common home remedy treatment is that which involves slices of fresh cucumber.  Placing these cucumber slices over one’s eyes have been known to soothe tired eyes.  Others place the slices of cucumber inside the refrigerator for a few minutes before placing them on their eyes.   This gives a soothing and cooling effect to the tired eyes.  As an alternative to cucumber slices, you can also use tea bags.  Cold tea bags such as those of black, chamomile, or green tea can also be used.

Another home remedy for red and puffy eyes is the use of metal spoons.  These spoons can be placed in a glass filled with ice water.  It would be best to have a set of four spoons so you can alternate the spoons whenever they have become warm already.

A similar solution to the use of spoon is the use of cold milk.   Cold milk can also help reduce redness and swelling.    Dip two pieces of cotton balls in cold milk and then squeeze out the excess milk.  Place the moist cotton balls over your eyes.

There are many ways to treat tired eyes, but one very important method is to simply get more sleep.  It is important that our bodies are rested and getting enough sleep is a way to ensure that we aren’t tired.  Hopefully some of these remedies will help cure your tired eyes!

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Everyone wants the fastest, most effortless method for achieving results in life. However, it is this pursuit that causes many people to waste their resources, time and energy. The people that create these fad diets and “get rich quick overnight” schemes know that people want this and this is why they will psychologically market their product to match your overly utopian desire. Then they take your resources and let you figure out that it takes work and knowledge to get results that will stay. So here is a list of 10 reasons why fad diets never work:

1. Your body burns less overall calories. A lot of these “fad diets” insist that you take in an extremely low amount of calories. This is very bad. Even when I was training for my bodybuilding show, I never went below my basal metabolic rate. I just consumed right at it and burned my calories through exercise and got down from ~14% body fat to 7% in a matter of a few weeks. When you decrease calories, especially overnight, your body will drop its basal metabolic rate. This will cause your body to burn less overall calories.
2. They all say “lose weight” but not “Lose Fat.” As I have noted in my fat loss article, losing weight is not the same as losing fat. Do you want to lose 8lb of muscle for 7 lb of fat just to say you lost 15lb? The reason that this occurs is because your body will survive longer on fat, and when you sharply decrease your caloric intake quickly, your body goes into starvation mode, hides your fat and burns muscle.
3. Your body becomes less efficient at burning fat. When you go low calorie so suddenly and then resume regular eating habits, your body not only puts on the weight that it lost, but it also puts on a surplus of that weight. Over time, this causes your body to start storing fat to prepare itself for another sudden drop. 
4. They don’t tell you to exercise. In their attempt to satisfy your craving for effortless weight loss, they do not mention the fact that you should exercise. Exercise will increase your metabolism, burn calories, build your muscles, strengthen your respiratory system, build your immune system…blah I could go on for days about the benefits of exercise. Just get off your lazy bum and exercise dammit!
5. They taste like $#*!. Really, have you tried the crap that they tell you to eat? Meal replacement bars, protein shakes, tasteless food and crappy recipes. You don’t have to torture yourself to get results. You can do it with great tasting food and enjoy your meal. Consider trying a low carb diet for weight loss.
6. Most of the weight that you lose is water. A lot of these programs will tell you to limit your liquid intake to a certain amount, like only 8 glasses of water. Try this without their products or diet; see how much weight you lost? Then drink regularly, see how much weight you put back? This is not permanent weight loss. When I wrestled, I have lost 10 pounds in a matter of a few days. Sweat, spit, no fluids and trash bags all contributed to pounds falling off. Do you know how long it took for me to put it back after weigh in? Let’s just say that after the match I would have gained at least half of it back. Anyone can look good for a picture standing on a scale like they lost weight, but not everyone can stay looking that way.
7. They try to tell you to give up eating all fats. Either directly or through their products, they try to take fat out of your diet. This does not work. In fact, fats have an emporium of benefits for your body. Don’t take out fats, but make sure that the ones you are taking in are healthy fats. In fact, you have more reason to go on a low carb diet before a low fat one.
8. You feel like crap. After starving yourself for a few weeks, you start to feel weak because your body is performing inefficiently due to energy depletion. Look, losing weight is fun. Go to the gym, take a kickboxing class, eat healthy meals and get enough rest. You will feel great, energetic, healthy and be slimmer. You are only making things hard when you do this the “quick and easy” way.
9. In the end you will gain it all back. Period.
10. You learn nothing after you quit the diet and/or products. Take the initiative and do it the right way. Develop lifelong exercise and diet habits that will make you feel better all of the time. Learn what you should do to get in better shape, to feel better and look better. Don’t just put your hand out and say i’ll do whatever you say to lose weight. Learn for yourself, know why you are doing something and know how to do it in the absence of these fad diets. You wouldn’t just purchase a used car just because they buyer says that it will run would you?

Whenever you are in doubt, simply ask yourself: “Is this how nature intended for me to lose weight?” I promise you that once you start exercising and dieting correctly, you will never want to let that go. The benefits far exceed some “quick fix.” Don’t bandage your problems, solve them.

Related posts:

1. Fat Loss
2. Low Carb Diets
3. Why are Sodas Bad for you?

Before I begin talking about the various exercises that are associated with a healthy knee, I want to go over a few things that could begin benefiting your knee right away. A few things that you can take to aid your nutrition program are fish oil and joint supplements. I won’t go into detail about the many benefits associated with fish oil, but among them is their ability to promote joint care. The fatty acids help to reduce the tenderness in your joints, decrease any kind of morning stiffness and have even been proven to decrease the need for medication for arthritis patients. This inexpensive supplement should be taken to aid your knee health.

You should also consider taking joint supplements. Although they are more expensive than fish oil, they can provide great benefits especially if you exercise often. Try to get the ones that have MSM, Chondroitin and Glucosamine. These three nutrients are very effective for supporting joint health.

Ok, now that you know how you can better take care of your knees through your supplements, let me give you some knee exercises that you can do to strengthen the muscles around your knee.

The first exercise to do is squats. However, when you do these, make sure that you go down lower than parallel. Yes, lower than parallel. If you only go down to parallel, then you are putting the strain all on your knee joints which is very bad for your knee. Another common way to injure your knee while squatting is relaxing at the bottom position. Never do this, this is improper form and can have damaging effects. However, when you go lower than parallel, you are building the muscles around your knee. You will also incorporate your glutes more in this movement, and that is always an added plus! To perform a proper ATG (ass-to-grass) squat follow these guidelines and practice with no weight before you add weight.

1. You should always squat in a power rack or cage so that you are squatting safely. You should set it up so that you can drop the bar if you need to and always make sure that you have your weights locked.
2. During your squat, keep your head pulled back and chest out. You should have a slight arc in your lower back. Make sure that you do not look up or down, but straight in front of you. Also be careful not to lean forward or backwards.
3. When you approach the bar, make sure that your hands are at about the same distance apart as they are when you bench, roughly shoulder width maybe slightly wider. You want to make sure that the bar is placed on your traps evenly. Never let the weight become unstable.  You could risk injuring your rotator cuff.
4. Be careful when you are backing up, only take a few steps at most and be sure to have a spotter to assist you. Most squatting injuries will occur while you are backing up so be extra cautious. Your feet should be shoulder width apart. Your toes should be pointing out about forty-five degrees.
5. As you descend, take a deep breath and lower yourself down as if you were to sit on a chair. Always keep your knee in line with your feet and never in front of your toes. Also make sure to never bow your knee during any part of the lift. Lower yourself until you are slightly lower than parallel. This is critical because if you only go parallel you are putting unnecessary stress on your knee, but if you go slightly lower then you are building your knee muscles. Practice with no weight and watch yourself or have someone correct your form.
6. As soon as you get to the bottom immediately begin rising. Do not relax. It should be one fluid motion and be very smooth. Once you get to the top, take a deep breath and do it again.
7. How many should you do? It really doesn’t matter; you can do 3×12, 3×6, 1×20 exc. Just do according to how you feel and make sure that you are pushing yourself.

Sorry it took a while for me to talk about squats, but that is, in my opinion, the best exercise not only for your legs but your knees as well. You can handle a tremendous amount of weight and as long as you are performing it with proper form, you can do it safely. This single exercise uses around 90% of your body’s total muscles. You can imagine what positive effects that has on muscle growth and physical health. I just want to make sure you know how to do it correctly.

The next knee exercise that you can do is leg extensions. These are great for building your quadriceps and bringing that “teardrop” look to your legs. Your quadriceps are important in the health of your knee because you can put the stress on your muscles rather than your joints when lifting. Leg extensions are performed pretty simple with a machine. Just sit down, put your chins under the bar and extend your legs until they are straight out. Avoid going lower than a right angle when you lower the weight and also be sure to never jerk the weight.

Beyond just strengthening your quadriceps, you should also strengthen your hip flexors, hip adductor and hip abductors. These will help your knee because they provide strength and stability to the knee. To build these muscles, you can perform simple lying down straight leg raises. Perform a few sets of 20 or even hold a static hold for about a minute. This exercise will also help your abs out too. For the other muscles, you could use those hip machines in the gym or lie on your side and lift your leg facing the ceiling up to work your abductor. To work your hip abductor simply squeeze a pillow between your legs and hold it for about 20-30 seconds for a few sets.

There are a few other measures that you should take for optimum knee health and strength. Make sure that you wear shoes that will support and help control movement of your feet. While you are looking for good shoes, look for ones that help build arch support as well. Cole Haan has some good ones. Also be sure to stretch your legs whenever possible. Doing toe touches and quad stretches will be helpful for your knee. Another great tip is to never lock your legs when standing or squatting. Practice standing with a slight bend in your legs. I remember one time when I was in JROTC we had a kid pass out in attention because he locked his legs and I will never forget it. Beyond not passing out, having a natural bend will take stress off of your joints.

Well there you go, you now know how to take care of your knee and keep it healthy. You have a list of knee exercises to strengthen your muscles, and you know more about your knee than you did before. Congratulations; now don’t be foolish by not putting any of the things that I have mentioned into action. Enjoy your healthy knee.

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2. Rotator Cuff Exercises
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The rotator cuff, like any other muscle, will greatly benefit from being stretched and trained. Stretching the muscles will keep it more resistant to tears and injuries while training the rotator cuff will enable you to protect yourself against weakness and the damaging effects of aging. Before you begin training your rotator cuff, we need to cover a few ground rules.

First, it is critically important to warm up and stretch before you perform any rotator cuff exercise. A great way to do this is arm circles. With your arms to your side, lift your arms up to the sky and down behind your back (like a softball pitch) and back to the starting position. Do this for 3 sets of 20. You can also do another version of arm circles where you hold your arms straight out to your side (like a side lateral raise). Then move your arms in a circular motion. Both of these exercises will effectively warm up your shoulders and prepare them for a work out.

The next thing that you want to make sure to do is to stretch your shoulders. There are several ways to do this, but here is a great video demonstration for you to mimic:

Shoulder Stretches

After you have warmed up, then you can proceed to some rotator cuff exercises.

The first exercise that you will perform is standing rotator cuff rotations. These are achieved by holding your arms parallel to the floor and at shoulder level. Then bend your forearm up making a 90 degree angle at your elbow. Then rotate your arms towards your head. You can use a weight in each hand to add resistance. Then go back to the starting position. Perform this exercise with light weights initially and as you get more comfortable and stronger then start increasing the weight. An ideal repetition range is 3×12. You can perform this exercise standing up or lying on a bench face down.

The next exercise that you can do is called internal rotations. This is performed lying down on a bench on your side. Then take the arm opposite to the side touching the bench and bending your elbow to make your hand come towards your head. Take your hand and move it towards your chest and then lift it back up to where the starting position was. Maybe it is easier to refer to the picture for this rotator cuff exercise. Perform 3 sets of 12.

The third exercise that you can perform for your rotator cuff is lateral raises. These are performed by having a weight in each hand and lifting your arms straight out to your side. You can alternate the way your palms are facing (down, up, thumbs up) to put emphasis on different areas of the shoulder. Perform 3 sets of 12.

After you have completed these exercises, do a short cool down by performing your warm up exercises and stretches. Remember to slowly increase the resistance and adjust the repetitions to get your shoulders stronger and more resistant to injuries. As always, if you ever feel uncomfortable during any exercise, discontinue and try something else. Another thing to remember is to train the muscles around your shoulder blade. You can do this by performing shrugs, military presses, pushups and rows.

There are a few things that you should avoid doing to prevent rotator cuff injuries. You should never do pull downs or presses behind the head. Our shoulders are not comfortable with lifting weights from this direction and many people mistakenly do this and live to regret it. Another point to remember is to avoid going lower than parallel on any press movements such as bench press or pushups. Also do not use really heavy weights when doing any rotator cuff exercise.

If you stay within the guidelines that I have set forth and perform these rotator cuff exercises, then you are sure to reap the benefits by having a healthy, strong shoulder. In regards to your shoulder, it pays to be safe than sorry. The injuries can take as much as 18 months to heal, and many people can tell you that that sucks.

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3. Train to Build Muscle

Creatine is a natural derivative of meat, mostly red meat. Our bodies also make creatine in the pancreas, liver, and kidneys. It is a natural compound, and the average male processes approximately 2 grams of creatine per day. Creatine is used to synthesize ATP, or adrenosine triphosphate. ATP is the power that gives our muscles energy. ATP gives our muscles the power to contract, so it is important to keep a constant influx of ATP in your system.

Like our muscles rebuild our glycogen, we also have to rebuild our ATP reserves. The fastest way to do this is through Creatine Phosphate. Creatine Phosphate is a compound that quickly converts to ATP and helps to replenish these stores. Supplementing with Creatine greatly increases the amount of Creatine Phosphate in our muscles, therefore allowing our ATP reserves to regenerate quickly.

Before going to the shelf and purchasing Creatine, we need to decide which type of Creatine is the best. We once thought that Creatine Monohydrate was the best form of creatine because it is bound to water molecules. However, this form of creatine rapidly turns into creatinine, which is not useable and ends up being secreted through our urine. This is why it takes a lot of Creatine Monohydrate to get very little creatine into your muscles.

However, there is a more efficient solution – Creatine Ethyl Ester. It is the same thing as Creatine Monohydrate, but with an ester attached. These organic compounds make most of the creatine that you consume to be delivered into your muscles, rather than secreted through your urine. If you want to further increase the speed of your creatine uptake, take it post workout and use a simple sugar to give the “insulin spike” effect to ensure proper, prompt delivery.

Ok, so now that we know which form of creatine to supplement with, let us discover the benefits of Creatine. Creatine increases your intramuscular creatine reserves so that your ATP can be quickly refilled. Creatine also increases the amount of glycogen, or energy, storage in your muscles. This means that you muscles will grow fuller and bigger to accommodate for the space needed to hold all of these energy reserves.

Creatine also absorbs water. Unlike Creatine Monohydrate, which can cause the “Creatine Bloat,” Creatine Ethyl Ester only increases water reserves in your muscles. This means that you have more fat-free mass and larger, fuller muscles. Not only does it make your muscles appear larger, but it creates a favorable environment for optimum muscle growth. This means that once you get off of Creatine, you will not lose everything that you gained because you will have gained lean muscle in the process as well.

I guess that the most common question regarding Creatine is its safety. There are lots of short term and long term studies that indicate that there are no adverse effects from creatine supplementation. The only time that you shouldn’t supplement with Creatine is if you have renal disease or dysfunction. This is because creatinine causes your kidney to work a little harder, and an unhealthy kidney could be aggravated. Otherwise, you will be safe.

The biggest health concern with Creatine is the quality of the product. Make sure that you are using a reputable company to get your Creatine from. Higher Power from bodybuiliding.com is a great company to purchase Creatine from.

I hope that you have cleared your concerns about the potential harm of Creatine. I would encourage you to take it to assist your recovery, strength, and muscle growth. However, it is entirely up to you on what you put in your body. Do your best research and make the most sapient decision.

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3. The Basics of Building Muscle

First, keep in mind that this article will focus strictly on the training aspect of building muscle. Remember, that diet and training work synergistically to build the frame you desire. With that in mind, let us begin by first explaining the exercises that build the greatest amount of mass. I will name the top 3 exercises for every major muscle group.

Chest

• Decline Bench Press
• Incline Bench Press
• Parallel Dips

Shoulders

• Military Press
• Lateral Raises
• Clean and Press

Back

• Bent over Barbell Rows
• One Arm Dumbbell Rows
• Deadlifts

Biceps

• Chins
• Preacher Curls
• Incline Seated Dumbbell Curls

Triceps

• Decline Tricep Extentions (Skull Crushers)
• Dips
• Close Grip Bench Press

Quads

• Squats
• Leg Extentions
• Hack Squats

Hamstrings

• Stiff Leg Deadlift
• Standing Leg Curls
• Lying Leg Curls

Calves

• Seated Calf Raises
• Standing Calf Raises
• Donkey Calf Raises

Ok, there you have it. These are proven to be the best mass builders per muscle group. Do you notice that the best mass builders are the ones that work multiple muscle groups in one exercise? Good, because these are the compound lifts. They should be included first in your workout, and make up most if not all of your workout. Your workouts should be quick and efficient.

When you do a weight lifting session, always keep it at least under 75 minutes. Afterwards, your body starts to release stress hormones to adapt to this load, you start to burn muscle and hold fat, and your workout goes to crap. Do not waste time in the gym. Get in, get out and post workout.

Before we go into actual training programs, there is much more to be said about training.

I am going to list the main reasons why people are not making muscle gains. The best program in the world is useless without these essential elements in check.

1. Variety – Make sure that your workout is not redundant and perfunctory. Your body is an adapting machine, so your job is to keep it guessing, otherwise it will cease growing. Doing the same lift, in the same way, with the same weight will not be productive after about two weeks. Good ways to keep this from happening is to increase the weight every workout, do different exercises first, change up your rep scheme, modify your rest time between sets, and change up your repetitions that you perform for each exercise.
2. Overtraining – Make sure that you are getting enough sleep and are eating enough calories to support muscle growth. If you want to get bigger, you have to eat more than you burn. There is no other way to build muscle other than injected hormones. A good way to prevent overtraining is to take a week off of training every 8 weeks of working out.
3. Not enough compound exercises – Make sure that you are doing more compound lifts than isolations. These are your mass builders. To build muscle the fastest, stick to those exercises.
4. Squat and Deadlift – These exercises are critical to building muscle the fastest. Why? Because they require your body to use 70-80% of its muscles to complete these lifts. They are also the hardest to perform for these reasons. Curls use maybe 5% of your body’s muscles. To adapt to this intense stress, our bodies will release natural Growth Hormone and will also synthesize protein faster. Your body grows as a unit, like a tree, so make sure that you are not neglecting these vital lifts.
5. Stick to Free Weights – Unless you have some injury preventing you from using free weights, utilize them. These exercises build up your stabilizer muscles. You don’t get stronger by getting your bigger muscles stronger; it is by getting your smaller muscles stronger. Build these stabilizers and you will notice a more complete build in the mirror and weight stacks.
6. Your Micronutrients are Out of Whack.  Read my article about vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to discover how important these things are.
7. You train as hard as my grandma – Turn your phone off, leave your cohorts alone, do what you need to do and get out. Get in the zone when you workout, you are only cheating yourself if you decide to lag around.
8. You have no goals – I understand that you want to get bigger, but set a measurable goal. You could say that I want my arms to increase by an inch or even I want to bench 30lb more. There is a strong correlation between strength and size. Get stronger on your big lifts on a constant basis by setting both short and long term goals and you are sure to see results in the mirror.
9. Inconsistency – Stick to your plan. Don’ go for a few weeks, burn out, and then stop going for a while. Stay consistent and don’t give up. I understand that life can sometimes be busy and time is an important resource that you cannot waste. But you have to prioritize. If you cannot commit then maybe you should wait to another time.
10. 10. You have no plan – Go to workout knowing what you are going to do. I always write down what I am going to lift and how many times I will lift it. I record all of my workouts, so if I ever do a similar one that I did a few weeks back, I make sure and do more weight or more reps. Don’t make up a routine when you make it in there. Plan and execute.

Now you are almost ready to hit the gym. However, we need a plan.

This is the part where you decide which program you feel like doing. These are the best of the best programs and will get you results. Don’t try and make your own program because these are the proven, effective, and time-tested workout programs that have succeeded over and over again and will continue that trend.

I don’t want you to waste your time in the gym, so here I have listed the best programs for building muscle. Be consistent and you will consistently see results.

• HST Training
• Max OT Training
• Rippetoe’s Program
• Bill Starr/ Madcow 5×5
• Vince Gironda 8×8
• Franky NY Mass Building Program

I have used most of these programs and read positive reviews about all of them. Stick to the proven methods before venturing out to your own program. Hope this clears up some questions that you have regarding to training for muscle growth. Enjoy

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I am not going to spend time writing debating the fact that this exists in our society. Sociological and psychological studies already prove that this is the case – especially in the work field. However, I believe that there is a better answer than “It just happens that way.” I believe that there are three reasons that more attractive people have an easier time attaining goals than those who are not blessed with the genetic lottery. These three reasons are confidence, persuasion, and stereotypes.

I was reading in my Sociology book about an interesting study between the Saints and the Roughnecks. Basically, both of these groups of kids were very mischievous and trouble makers. However, the Saints were in a higher class than the Roughnecks and were viewed as being good kids by everyone else. The Roughnecks, on the other hand, were thought of as the ones making havoc and trouble for their community. What later happened was that of all eight of the saints, they all went to college, some received a Ph. D and others at least received a Bachelors degree. However, of the Roughnecks, only two went to college on athletic scholarships and became high school gym teachers, whereas the rest either dropped out, went to prison, or became missing. So what is the significance of this story that I just told you?

The more attractive person can be related to the Saints. They are told that they look good, will make it far, and be successful. As they later move on in life, peers look up to them because they are getting all of the attention. The more attractive person has developed better social skills through preferential treatment. This gives them more confidence in social situations and consequently offers a more favorable presentation to other people. Confidence in a job interview, especially in conjunction with effective communication skills, gives the employer stronger beliefs about the person’s job skills. Since the attractive person already has made these qualities a part of their life, they have an easier time getting that job.

Once that attractive person sees that they are making and achieving goals, they have then become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It all started with everyone telling them how beautiful they were, as they received more attention, they developed their social skills. These social skills allowed them to develop confidence, not only because of their good looks, but because they knew that people looked up to them. Their confidence is the attractive person’s fundamental element that contributes to their success. This is William Chambliss’s Labeling Theory at its best.

Ok, so a person has confidence, what does that help them in? Simple, confidence persuades. I was watching a video and I was amazed at how easily the con artists were able to effectively rob that Jeweler so easily. This robbery was a carefully planned manipulation of our innate ability to let the appearance of confidence and having skills (or in this case wealth) let us lower our guard. We found out clearly that the actors were not who they said they were. Just like in real life, the more attractive person isn’t always the best candidate for a job. However, because of their confidence, we are easily persuaded and let them convince us otherwise.

I understand that oftentimes the fair opportunity isn’t even given to the less attractive person. This is because of stereotypes that have developed for the more attractive people. These stereotypes have developed because of past experiences and background information. The media is constantly probing the attractive, successful people of our modern era. When we are shown these images, our mind subconsciously thinks that if we see a person that closely resembles the attractive traits that we see on T.V., then that person automatically has to be successful and have a lot to offer.

When we develop these stereotypes about attractive people, we have already given them a lead in life. And thus the process starts over. These stereotypes lead to the attractive person becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy because of the labels attached to that person, and this leads to the development of leadership and communication skills as well as a boost in confidence. This process is repeated over and over again and the constant struggle for the less attractive individuals becomes even more daunting.

But there is hope.

Knowing why more attractive people are given better opportunities allows us to use that information to reap these benefits as well. There are a few ways that we can do this.

First, we can improve our own beauty. This is the “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy, and I don’t believe that it is a bad method to use at all. Start exercising, practice eating healthy, take good care of your skin, wear nice clothes, and make your hair and face look pretty. Give off the image that you care about yourself so that others know that you are not a sloth wasting away all of our resources. Make yourself look deserving enough to get that extra attention and care. Treat yourself how you would want others to treat you. This isn’t being conceded or egotistical at the least, it is showing yourself respect.

Another method that we can do to bring these changes in our life is to improve our confidence. I believe that the best way to do this is by exercising and getting more social experiences. Don’t be a cave dweller and live in your room all day. Go take your dog for a walk, go out with your friends, and take advantage of the beautiful weather. Enjoy yourself and let the beauty of life resonate within yourself. Don’t let fear control you, and only see yourself succeeding in everything that you do. Even if you have to start small by proving to yourself that you are going to lose 5 lb in a month. Accomplish that goal and move on to the next goal. By constantly setting and achieving goals, you will build confidence and this is very important to getting places in life.

Finally, perhaps the most difficult of all of the methods, change society. Tell society that beauty is not correlated to success and happiness. Hell, look at Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates. They aren’t exactly the Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, but they are telling the world that looks aren’t everything. So jump on their bandwagon and rise to the top and prove to everyone that you have more to offer than these mindless Barbies!

I hope that you can use the information that I have given you as motivation to step out there and be noticed. Everyone deserves to be looked at for their natural beauty and given a fair chance, or even advantage, in life. You may not be America’s Next Top Model, but taking a step to a better, more attractive you, will enable you to have more enjoyable experiences. I know that I greatly appreciate all of the attention that is given to me on a regular basis. It is nice to know that your friends, teachers, and family members respect what you say. It feels great to know that people look up to you because you present yourself as a person deserving of admiration. Some people may look at me with envy, and that is ok, but I will keep looking back at them with hope. I hope that everyone can experience the benefits of looking good.

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To get to the truth, we need to first examine the common ingredients of all sodas. The average soda contains caffeine, carbonated water, phosphoric acid, and high fructose corn syrup.

Caffeine is the only ingredient that has some potentially health beneficial substance to it, but it also has some negative downsides as well. Caffeine is a highly addictive chemical that gives you extra energy. If you want to fuel your workout, take caffeine prior. Taking a test? Caffeine has been shown to improve brain function. Caffeine has even been cited to lower the risk of acquiring diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

What about the risks and dangers of caffeine? Since it is highly addictive, it is hard to give it up from the suggested eight hours before you rest. Consequently, it decreases the quality of your sleep and even triggers the activity of sleeping disorders such as restless leg syndrome. Caffeine also increases blood pressure if you have hypertension. Beyond that, caffeine can also cause your bones to lose calcium and even increase your risk of miscarriage. Also, excessive amounts of caffeine daily (more than 400mg, or 4 cups of coffee) greatly increase the risk for heart problems.

Most of the problems with Caffeine do occur in excess, but I rarely see moderate drinking of sodas. In fact, the average American drinks about 3-5 cans of soda a day which is already up to 200mg of caffeine. Add in your energy drink and coffee and you are on the line already! However, Caffeine may be the least of our worries once we discover the downsides to the remaining ingredients.

Unlike caffeine, carbonated water doesn’t have any health benefits. Carbonated water is created by putting carbon dioxide into water (fancy that…). When we breathe, carbon dioxide is our waste product. If our bodies wanted it, why would our bodies keep expelling it? Aside from that logic, they also hurt our bodies by weakening our stomach acid, thereby interfering with digestion. Do you like your pearly white teeth? Then stop drinking carbonated drinks because carbonation speeds up tooth decay by thinning your tooth enamel until it wears it down completely. Do you like weakening your calcium-fortified bodily structures? Good, you will love Phosphoric Acid then.

Phosphoric acid causes your soda to bubble and fizz. Because it is an acid, it burns your insides (you can probably feel it when it hits your empty stomach). It also upsets your body’s phosphorus-calcium balance. Calcium is released from the bones to help restore pH balance in the blood. Add phosphoric acid in the equation, and you are well on your way to weakening your skeletal structure. The result? Osteoporosis.

Finally we arrive at the source of our obesity problem – High Fructose Corn Syrup. With 150 or more calories per drink containing pure sugar, this is a no-brainer that these dead calories contribute to our weight gain. Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar. It also supplies at least 25% of the total calories of an American diet. Do you want to lose weight? Take out the fructose and you will.

But what about the fructose found in fruits? It is true that fruits contain fructose, but they also contain it in a lot less concentration in fruits than in high fructose corn syrup. In fruits, it is usually a 50/50 ratio between sucrose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup can contain proportions as high as 80/20 fructose/sucrose levels. Another reason why fruit sources aren’t harmful Is that fruits contain fiber which slows down the metabolism of these sugars. In our sodas, fructose is absorbed quickly, thus speeding up the metabolism, and the time that it takes to be turned into fat.

I hope that I have given you reason enough to put down that Pepsi you defiantly were drinking while reading this article you stubborn hag. If you really need the caffeine, get it from other more healthy sources such as tea. Unless you are going to use your cola to clean your toilet (it works, try it by pouring it in the bowl and letting it sit), then there is no benefit to consuming soda-pop (I have always wanted to say that ).

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Diet

There is only one way to lose weight, calories in have to be less than calories burned. You are just wasting your time if you spend hours in the gym and keep your eating habits absurd. The best way to determine what your diet should be like is to find your basil metabolic rate . That tells you how many calories that you need to eat to stay at the same weight.

Once you figure out what that is, decide how much weight you want to lose a week. For me, I wanted to lose very little weight a week to improve my chances of holding on to most of my muscle. So I decided to do 500 calories below my basil metabolic rate. Since there are 3500 calories in a pound, that would average out to me losing a pound a week based only on my diet. Now that you know how many calories to eat, you must decide when to eat them.

The most effective method to guarantee an active metabolism and muscle retention is to eat frequently. It is recommended to eat every 2-3 hours to ensure this. This averages out to be from 5-8 meals a day. I generally eat about 7 times in a given day. So I divided my new caloric intake (which was 2900 after subtracting 500 from my BMR) and came up with roughly 410 calories per meal. This is just an average, and you probably shouldn’t consume that much every meal, but instead prioritize your important meals (breakfast and post workout) to contain slightly more. For example, my breakfast usually came out to be about 600 calories, so my second and third meal is about 300 calories to accommodate the average. Now that you know how often to eat and when to eat, you need to know what macronutrients should be in your meals.

It is a good rule of thumb to increase your protein during cutting cycles for a few reasons. One is that you want to do your best to keep what muscle that you have, so you don’t want to have your body running in low supply of protein. Another is that it takes your body twice the amount of energy to metabolize protein as it does carbohydrates. I recommend that 40%, of your calories should come from protein (it usually comes out to be ~ 1.5g / lb of bodyweight).

Another important macronutrient to be in control over is your carbohydrates. The important thing to note here is that you should only consume your simple carbohydrates after you workout. All of your other carbohydrate sources should come from low GI foods such as fruits and vegetables (learn more about carbs in our article about Low Carb Diets). This will keep your energy levels stable throughout the day and keep you from craving food all day long. Some people drop a lot of carbohydrates for a cutting session, but I usually keep them as about 35% of my diet. One thing that you don’t want to happen when cutting is to have extremely low glycogen levels in your muscles. This is bad news because then your body burns muscle as an energy source. Carbohydrates quickly replenish these stores and save your muscle from catching the catabolism bug.

The last macronutrient left is fat. Believe it or not, fat helps to aid in losing weight. However, not all fats are created equally. The fats that we need in our diet are ones that contain Omega 3, 6, 9, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. These are the healthy fats for you and are found in foods like salmon, nuts, olive oil, flax seed, peanut butter and tuna. They are important for many different health benefits which include a healthy heart and brain functioning. I recommend that 25% of your diet come from these fat sources.

Really take a lot of time in developing a feasible diet based on these guidelines. Plan a day’s worth of meals that would meet these guidelines. Don’t worry about calorie counting to the exact number, but try to stay consistent and within limits. I find it better to plan your day’s meals ahead of time so that you aren’t making it up as you go along.

So now that we know how to eat, let’s plan our workouts to assist these goals.

Training for Fat Loss

An important mistake that a lot of people make is that they often replace workouts with cardio sessions. This is not the way to effectively keep muscle and burn fat. In fact, you should do the antithesis.

While we may burn more calories for the duration of a workout doing cardio, we burn more calories, fat especially, throughout the course of a day by lifting weights. The reason for this is because after we workout our metabolism has been boosted for the remainder of the day. Do you ever wonder why you eat more after your workouts than before? This is why it is popular for people to lift weights early in the morning, it means they will ultimately burn more for the course of their day.

Knowing this, it is probably a wise decision to increase the amount of weight lifting sessions that you perform during a week. However, don’t let that mean that you should overtrain your muscles. The best way to do this is to adopt a 5-7 day split. When I am bulking, I usually workout 3-4 days a week, but when I am cutting I increase it to 5-7 days a week. However, I work out each muscle the same amount of times during the course of a week for both strategies. I just spread it out to reap the benefits of an accelerated metabolism to help me burn fat.

Are you surprised that I haven’t spent hardly any time talking about actual cardio sessions? Good, because cardio is not as important as many believe when cutting fat. You could lose it just fine by having a well-structured diet and weight lifting program. However it is still a good idea to add some cardiovascular exercise.

Don’t start running 10 mph on the treadmill just yet though because some cardio is better than other forms.

Cardio for Fat Loss

There are many different ways that people use cardio to help them lose fat, however I believe that the most effective strategies are High Intensity Interval Training and low intensity cardio.

Remember how I was telling you about the extraordinary benefits that a weight lifting offers in regards to losing weight? Well this form of cardio capitalizes on that side effect by utilizing anaerobic exercise to complete this goal. HIIT consists of extremely hard, short spurts of cardio (such as sprints) for about 15 minutes. This brief session has the same aftermath as working out, basing most of its fat burning effect on the fact that your metabolism is more efficient throughout the remainder of the day. An example of a HIIT session is doing 10 sets of 30 second wind sprints. Don’t take this very ephemeral cardio session for granted though, it is tough and you will earn every calorie that you burn.

The other method that I prefer is low intensity, long duration cardio. I always like to play it safe when it comes to conserving muscle, and this is by far the safest method. When I do cardio, I usually burn ~400 calories because, again, I want most of the weight that I lose to be fat and not muscle. If I do a moderately intense exercise, like jogging at 7 MPH, I will burn 400 calories quicker than if I walk. The important difference is that only about 40% of those calories will be taken from fat sources and the rest will be derived from carbohydrates. However, if I walk longer and burn 400 calories, about 65-70% of the calories that I burn will be from fat sources.

But why does it work out like this?

To convert fat to an energy source that we can use, it requires oxygen. When we are jogging, we don’t have enough oxygen to enable this process to occur as much, in regards to how much energy we need, as it would if we were walking. This is why walking burns more fat calories, percentage wise, than a more intense cardio session. Also keep in mind that your carbohydrate levels will already be low because you have cut them out of your diet. You want to make sure that what carbs you do have goes to supply your glycogen stored in your muscles. Doing more intense cardio will hinder your recovery and eventually cause muscle loss!

Ok, so now your diet and training is in check, but what about fat burning supplements?

Fat Burning Supplements

There is a reason why I chose to talk about this as the last topic when discussing fat burning. That is because the best weight loss pills are not even necessary. If you have everything else in check, then there is no reason why you should be considering using a fat burner. However, it is not up to me to make decisions for you, that is your call. I simply want you to make the best decision when purchasing one.

First, I will reemphasize that there is no magical diet pill. All fat burners do the same thing; they increase energy, stimulate the metabolism or thyroid, or help to suppress the appetite. They will not just melt away your fat and do all of the work for you. Have you ever read the disclaimers that they add to their product labels? One is “results not typical,” another is “combined with a healthy diet and exercise program.” Do you think that half of the people who buy diet pills have a good diet and exercise program? Chances are if they did, they wouldn’t need one because they would already be fit. So how do they get these amazing results? Simple, they put someone who has a lot of weight to lose on a diet and exercise program (which accounts for most of the weight loss) and have them take their product. Then they record the results and claim that their product was responsible for it. Don’t be fooled by these clever advertising campaigns and “studies.” Ok, I’m through attacking the multi-billion dollar diet pill industry.

There are many different types of fat burners out there: Thermogenic fat burners, non-stimulant fat burners, thyroid regulating fat burners, carb blockers, fat blockers, appetite suppressants, and cortisol blockers. I will briefly explain the purpose of each of these types of burners and leave it up to you to do further investigation on the one that seems most appealing.

Thermogenic fat burners are by far the most popular of any of the ones listed. They are also known as stimulant fat burners. The purpose of Thermogenic fat burners is to use chemicals and herbs to elevate the body’s temperature. This will increase the metabolism and thus its fat burning effects. However, be careful to monitor your caffeine intake when supplementing with these potentially harmful stimulants. Too much caffeine could mean trouble.

Non-stimulant fat burners are pretty self explanatory. They are the safer alternative if you are scared of the effects of gambling with stimulants. The only downside to these is that they will not work as rapidly as its counterpart, and if you decide to buy a fat burner the chances are that you want results now. This is probably why they are a far cry from giving much competition with stimulant-based fat burners.

Thyroid regulating fat burners focus on increasing your thyroid glands. The thyroid gland is largely responsible for the regulation of your metabolism which converts all of our food into energy. When you are in a calorie deficient state, your thyroid gland is less efficient (but not much less) than when it wasn’t. By stimulating the thyroid, you can increase the likelihood that fat is burned and decrease the likeliness that fat is stored.

The purpose of fat and carb blockers is to prevent these macronutrients from being absorbed into the body. Certain chemicals bind to them and keep them from being used or stored. This may be helpful to those of us who can’t give up certain foods. Maybe this would be useful when going out to eat with family or friends and you don’t want to regret anything later.

Appetite suppressants, also known as anoretics, just help keep you from being hungry all of the time. And example of this type of supplement is Proactal, and you can check out a Proactol Review here.

Lastly, cortisol blockers block the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone causes us to do two things, increase appetite and store fat. This hormone probably helped back when food was scarce and winter was coming, but now it can have damaging effects to our aesthetics.

Ok so there you have it, a complete guide to losing fat, not just weight, and getting ready for the summer! Hopefully you now have enough information to make fun of the people who lose 10 pounds of fat and 15 pounds of muscle to get cut.

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Before we advance, I want to make sure that you understand what carbs are. They are our body’s primary source for energy. Carbohydrates come from many different sources – fruits, vegetables, sugary snacks, cereal exc., and all carbs are broken down by the body to form glucose. Glucose is the simplest form of sugar available and serves as our body’s primary energy source. The closer that a carbohydrate is to this form, the faster it is able to be converted into glucose. All carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram; however, there are two different types of carbs that have very different properties.

Simple Carbs

Simple carbohydrates are the sweet, buzz-causing agents that are primarily found in sugary substances such as candy and soda. They are digested very quickly and are used up very quickly because they are, as the name suggests, simple. It does not take much to convert simple carbs into glucose, and this is the reason why they are considered “bad” carbs. When simple carbs are consumed, you should be active so that you use them up quickly, otherwise, when they are not needed, they convert to fat. Simple carbohydrates kick in really fast, but they also lose their effect after about 30 minutes. After that, they are converted into fat and you are hungry again because your body no longer has fuel to convert to energy.

Complex Carbs

Complex carbohydrates are longer-chain carbohydrates that are found in pastas, whole grain foods, vegetables, and fruits. They are high fiber foods that help stabilize your energy levels, and help you to feel satisfied longer after your meal. Do you ever wonder why a 100 calorie apple can leave you feeling satisfied a heck of a lot longer than a 200 calorie candy bar? Because these carbohydrates are more “complex” in their composition, the body takes longer to convert them into glucose. That means that the body no longer thinks that it is lacking resources because it is actively converting fuel. Complex carbohydrates provide a constant supply of energy in the period of a few hours, rather than 30 minutes, and keep your cravings down. See why they are admired so much?

So now we know that the reason why fat compiles on our bodies is mostly the result of simple carbohydrates. How do we know what foods contain what type of carbohydrates?

Glycemic Index

There is a wonderful resource that judges the properties of carbohydrates found in the foods that we eat. This resource is called the Glycemic Index. This index rates carbohydrates based on the effect that they have on our blood glucose levels in a number 1-100. Foods on the lower end of the Glycemic Index are the complex carbohydrates that have a slight spike on our blood sugar levels (this spike is termed an insulin spike). The foods on the higher end digest more rapidly and have a greater insulin spike.

They measure the GI rating of a food by feeding a group of healthy participants a certain product. Then they measure blood samples and construct a blood sugar response curve for a two hour period. They then use a formula to construct a GI rating for each person. Afterward, they find the average GI rating and slap on a GI rating for that food.

So how does this help us? For one, if you are a diabetic, you really need to be aware of the GI content of everything that you eat. For the rest of us, we can modify our diet to minimize high GI foods and maximize those on the lower end. Eating foods lower in the GI will help control appetite and delay hunger. Also, a lot of diseases have a strong correlation to a high GI-based diet. So definitely use this important resource when deciding which foods to eat.

Here are some examples of different foods and their Glycemic Index:

• Oats – 50
• Brown Rice – 50
• Pizza – 60
• Spaghetti – 65
• Gatorade – 100
• Apple – 41
• Banana – 51

You should try to aim to have an average of 50-55 for all of the foods during the course of a day. This is not as hard to do as you may imagine, there are plenty of good, tasteful, low GI foods to eat.

So, should you just not eat simple carbs? Not exactly and I’ll tell you why.

Simple Carbs Useful?

When you work out, you break down your glycogen levels in your muscles (your muscle’s primary source of fuel). To adapt to this, your muscles recover and build back up a little stronger than before so that that same stress doesn’t deplete you as much. After you workout, your energy supply is low and you need to fill it up again. The faster that you do this, the better and quicker your body will recover.

This is where simple carbohydrates come in. After you workout, you have induced insulin sensitivity. Take advantage of this. Eat or drink something high in the GI. They will convert very quickly and be sent directly to your muscle and fuel storages that you depleted. This gives your body a jumpstart to maintaining homeostasis again. The hormone that sends these nutrients to your muscles is called insulin

You can take advantage of this insulin spike by taking your protein during this critical period. The insulin spike created by the simple sugars will quickly transport your protein to the necessary locations. This is why your post workout meal is very critical to recovery – so never waste your 30 minutes following your workout!

What is an ideal post workout meal? There are many examples of effective post workout meals and shakes available online, but the general guideline is this: .5g/lb of bodyweight of high GI food/drink with .25g/lb of bodyweight of protein (fast absorbing whey is optimum). I even read somewhere that chocolate milk is an excellent post workout alternative, I guess that could be the simplest solution, but I personally like my Gatorade / Protein Shake.

So why? Why are we so sensitive to high GI foods? Why are low carb diets better for us? Why isn’t our body designed so that simple carbs are better for us? The answer lies within our ancestry.

Paleodiet?

Long ago, there lived a species of man that roamed the world barefoot, naked and savage. They lived by hunting and gathering food. When they fed, their carbohydrates came from fruits, berries, vegetables and the occasional honey. For 1.6 million years they lived like this. Their digestive system, hormones and enzymes were fundamentally adapted to accommodate a diet high in animal fat, protein, and fiber and relatively low in sugars.

Only for 10,000 years have we enjoyed the food surplus, refined, high GI foods that we enjoy today. Our bodies are not use to having a diet that is so rich in simple sugars. It takes a long time for evolution to take place, and it is pretty apparent that we are not designed to take in massive amounts of simple carbohydrates yet. If you want to read more about this, check out this article.

However, it does not mean that we aren’t adapting to this new lifestyle. There was a New York Times article that suggests that our bodies are producing more of the enzyme that converts starch to simple sugars than people who eat a low starch diet. This could allow us to one day eat the foods that we love to indulge in while remaining fit.

But until then, we should stick to the proven method for maintaining a healthy physical body. Simple carbohydrates have their place, but the majority of a healthy diet should consist of the staples that our ancestor’s left us through their diet – nuts, fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish. If only we were could eat double chocolate ice cream with sprinkles and cookie dough all day long and still build muscle!

I hope that I have cleared up some issues regarding the subject of Carbohydrates. They aren’t so bad you only have to avoid the good ones . Don’t think that you can simply eat all that you want as long as it doesn’t have simple carbs though. Remember, if calories in > calories out then you gain weight. It just makes life a lot easier when you aren’t constantly hungry. To prevent this, stick to your complex carbs.

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Unlike what you may have expected, I was able to maintain my true feelings and managed to let out only a chuckle. Then I presumed to explain to Joe that bodybuilders are the Speedo-wearing, paint on tan, leg shaving, grotesquely muscular people that star in the muscle magazines whereas power lifters are the insanely strong guys who lift crazy amounts of weight. He had an ah-ha moment and apologized. I told him that I am just like those bodybuilders, but on a much smaller scale. So, do you know the difference between a power lifter and a bodybuilder?

Just like when my girlfriend gets mad when I mistake her Gucci bag for her Juicy Couture, power lifters and bodybuilders get mad when you mistake them for something that they are not. They do have similarities; they lift weights, are jacked, and eat nonstandard diets. However, comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.

Power lifters train to get the heaviest lift of the bench, squat, and deadlift. Their purpose is to lift the greatest one rep for each of these lifts. Competitors are separated by gender, weight class, and age. Awards are given to the strongest person pound for pound (total lifted / body weight) and total weight. Since their goals are different than bodybuilders, they usually train with real heavy weight with low reps. A power lifting routine can consist of 12 straight sets of deadlifts. Their muscles are developed to serve the functional need of lifting weight for a certain event.

The primary goal of a bodybuilder is to force the body into an anabolic (muscle building) state. They are judged on their size, shape, symmetry, posing and definition. Competitors are separated by weight class, gender, and age. When bodybuilders train, they usually train with a moderate load (amount of weight lifted) for a higher amount of repetitions (5 or more) than power lifters do. In general, bodybuilders have shorter rest periods between sets, more volume (total sets x total reps x weight lifted), and more frequency (total workouts a week).

In some ways, power lifters and bodybuilders can have similar training styles (for example, power lifters and bodybuilders use 5×5), but the biggest difference is apparent within their varying diets. Power lifters are mostly concerned with trying to eat as many calories as they can possibly consume. This gives their muscles lots of energy, nutrients to recover with, and also a reason to pig out.

In contrast, the diet of a bodybuilder is imprinted on the back of their eye lids. Bodybuilders are the calorie counters, the processed food hating, tanning bed jockeys who will spend most of their time trying to develop a perfect diet to achieve their goals. A bodybuilder is much more concerned with what their total caloric intake is. I have witnessed friends literally freak out over splurging for one meal. That person has even been me at some points.

Sometimes I just wish that I could eat potato chips and stay lean while building muscle, but unfortunately it is a lot harder than it seems. Million dollar idea: Protein chips? Yeah right… (let me start opening my can of tuna)

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I will let you in on my primary technique for supporting this claim – sourcing other people. One thing about me is that I rarely get embarrassed and I will talk to just about anyone. With that in mind, I asked quite a few people what the answer to this question was. The majority agreed that it does have more nutrients. Otherwise, why would your mother tell you eat your crusts? It seemed as though the battle was going my way, however that doesn’t conclude the war.

When i arrived back at my room, I did the usual – checked e-mail and facebook obviously. I noticed that I had a new inbox from Sarah. I checked it and I was given a plethora of links that said proved her argument. (I know that it’s quite funny how long we battle our points, especially on something so absurd, but that’s how we are ) Now I will admit if I am wrong, but not after trying my hardest to prove my point, so naturally I did my own research.

So, what did I discover?

Ok, first I was directed to a forum in which this question was asked. The majority of the members seemed to side with my girlfriend. They all agree that the composition of the bread is the same throughout and that the outside is darker due to the fact that it receives the most heat during cooking. This was not looking good.

But then hope came back when a member sourced a scientific study. Apparently, there is a compound in the bread that, when exposed to heat, turns into an antioxidant. The crust carried 8 times more of this antioxidant than the rest of the bread did. Even though I had no knowledge of this prior to stating my conjecture, I was glad to find that information. So I guess it turns out that Momma was right when she made you eat your crusts!

As far as our little debate went, we decided that she won the argument because my supporting premises were illogical (I said I wouldn’t tell, but I ended up saying that the heat sucked the nutrients to the outside…don’t ask). I am willing to give her this one…

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Vitamins are essential to regulating our bodily functions and allow for growth. From metabolizing energy to maintaining proper eye care, these little micronutrients make a big difference. Many diseases can also occur from a deficiency in any vitamin. However before cramming vitamins down your throat, make sure that you take them properly. A standard over the counter multivitamin should suffice for most people.

Below, you will find the benefits of every vitamin, signs of deficiency and overdose symptoms. You will also be provided with foods that contain these vitamins and the proper dosages for both men and women. I took a great deal of time to compile a very concise list that tells you what you need to know about every vitamin. I thought it was pretty interesting – especially to note which foods appeared the most in this list. It definitely helps you develop a stronger diet when you are aware of the benefits of various foods. Just from glancing from a few of these vitamins, you can see how essential these little micronutrients really are.

Vitamin A (Men: 1000mcg, Women: 800mcg )

• Benefit: Maintains eyesight, skin, hair, mucus membranes.
• Sign of deficiency: Bad skin, night blindness.
• Sign of overdose: Yellow skin, blurred vision, vomiting, hair loss, headache.
• Foods found in: Milk, carrots, eggs, green vegetables, sweet potatoes, fruits

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) (Men: 1.2-1.5mg, Women 1-1.1mg)

• Benefit: Maintenance of nerves and muscles. Helps metabolism.
• Sign of deficiency: Beriberi.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Breads, cereals, meat, fish, pasta, beans, whole grain foods

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) (Men: 1.3 mg, Women: 1.1 mg)

• Benefit: Antioxidant. Maintains vision, skin, hair, and nails. Helps metabolism.
• Sign of deficiency: Skin problems.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Meat, eggs, peas, nuts, dairy products, green vegetables, broccoli, asparagus, cereals

Vitamin B3 (Niacin) (Men: 16mg, Women: 14mg)

• Benefit: Aids metabolism and maintains skin.
• Sign of deficiency: Sensitivity to light, fatigue, skin problems.
• Sign of overdose: Flushed face, neck, and hands.
• Foods found in: Red meat, fish, cereals, nuts

Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) (5mg)

• Benefit: Maintains skin and nerves. Needed for energy production and utilization.
• Sign of deficiency: Fatigue, nausea.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Bananas, blue cheese, chicken, liver, meat, milk, oranges, nuts, peas

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) (1.3-1.7mg)

• Benefit: Protein synthesis and fat metabolism. Regulates fluid balance. Aids red blood cell production.
• Sign of deficiency: Nerve and muscular failure.
• Sign of overdose: Numb feet, bad hand coordination, impaired brain function.
• Foods found in: Potatoes, bananas, beans, nuts, seeds, red meat, cereals

Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) (2.4mcg)

• Benefit: Formation of red blood cells. Metabolism of protein and fat. Helps growth in children.
• Sign of deficiency: Weight loss, confusion, pale skin, depression.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Fish, red meat, milk, cheese, eggs and breakfast cereals

Biotin (30mcg)

• Benefit: Enables metabolism.
• Sign of deficiency: Dermatitis, depression, muscular pain.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: American cheese, bananas, brown rice, eggs, nuts, oatmeal, salmon

Folate (Folic Acid) (400mcg)

• Benefit: Forms red blood cells. Utilizes protein. Very important during pregnancy.
• Sign of deficiency: Anemia, stomach problems.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Green vegetables, fruits, enriched breads and cereals

Vitamin C (Men: 90mg, Women: 75 mg)

• Benefit: Antioxidant. Maintains skin, cartilage, bones and teeth. Heals wounds and maintains immune system. Aids iron absorption.
• Sign of deficiency: Bleeding gums, weakness, slow wound healing, bad immune system.
• Sign of overdose: Stomach problems.
• Foods found in: Pretty much all fruits, especially oranges

Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) (5-10 mcg)

• Benefit: Regulates calcium metabolism.
• Sign of deficiency: Bone softening.
• Sign of overdose: Stomach problems, lethargy.
• Foods found in: Milk and the sun

Vitamin E (Men: 10mg, Women: 8mg)

• Benefit: Antioxidant.
• Sign of deficiency: Diarrhea, anemia, problems with the pancreas.
• Sign of overdose: Unknown.
• Foods found in: Nuts, vegetables, avocados, whole grains

Vitamin K (Men: 70-80mcg, Women: 60-65mcg)

• Benefit: Needed for blood clotting.
• Sign of deficiency: Excessive bleeding when injured.
• Sign of overdose: Anemia, potential liver damage.
• Foods found in: Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cheese, eggs, green vegetables

Choline (Men: 550 mg, Women: 425 mg)

• Benefit: Maintain cell membrane integrity; metabolize fat, proper liver functioning.
• Sign of deficiency: It may lead into hemorrhagic kidney disease and liver problems.
• Sign of overdose: Nausea, vomiting and dizziness.
• Foods found in: Breast milk, egg yolk, beans, red meats, rice, cabbage

Next, we will discuss the functions of the different minerals.

Minerals also play a huge role in our metabolic processes. They aid in helping the body metabolize energy, grow, and the reproduction and health of our cells. Minerals often work with vitamins and other minerals to fully optimize your bodily functions. For example, zinc is required for the body to convert Vitamin A into its active form. Without Vitamin A is not in this form, then problems will occur such as vision deterioration. Some minerals can also function as an antioxidant (next page). Again, I have sifted through the emporium of knowledge available online and added my own touch to compile a complete, detailed yet concise list of essential information about every mineral. Enjoy

Boron (2-5mg)

• Benefit: Promotes bone health.
• Sign of deficiency: Poor bone development
• Sign of overdose: Nausea, hair loss, skin rash, diarrhea, kidney damage and shock
• Foods found in: Apples, beer, grapes, nuts, raisons

Calcium (1000-1200 mg)

• Benefit: Builds bones, teeth, maintains proper heart function and controls blood pressure.
• Sign of deficiency: Muscle cramps, insomnia, stunted growth
• Sign of overdose: Confusion, constipation, nausea, bloating, and kidney stones.
• Foods found in: Almonds, broccoli, cereal, milk, cheese, vegetables, yogurt.

Chloride (750mg)

• Benefits: Regulates fluid and acid-base balance, aids in digestion, and helps proper functioning of liver and is essential for joint care.
• Sign of deficiency: May lead to digestive problems, muscle issues, hair loss, tooth loss.
• Sign of overdose: Weakness, confusion, and coma.
• Foods found in: Salt, processed food

Chromium (50-200 mcg)

• Benefit: Metabolizes Insulin, may help in weight loss
• Sign of deficiency: Numbness in fingers and toes, high blood sugar, clumsiness and nerve disorders.
• Sign of overdose: Rare, but may lead to skin, liver, and kidney problems.
• Foods found in: Apples, broccoli, cheese, chicken, nuts, sweet potato

Copper (1.5 – 3 mg)

• Benefit: Aids in iron absorption. synthesizes hemoglobin, produces energy.
• Sign of deficiency: Rare, but may lead to skeletal defects, loss of skin pigment, heart disease, high cholesterol, or nervous system disorders.
• Sign of overdose: Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, muscle ache and anemia.
• Foods found in: Fish, nuts, oats, oysters, spinach

Flouride (Men: 4mg, Women: 3mg)

• Benefit: Health of bones and teeth.
• Sign of deficiency: Increased dental cavities
• Sign of overdose: Tooth problems, stunted growth, calcification and organ damage.
• Foods found in: Apples, eggs, cheese, tea

Iodine (150 mcg)

• Benefit: Regulates thyroid hormone.
• Sign of deficiency: Dry hair, irritability, nervousness, slow metabolism and obesity
• Sign of overdose: Irregular heartbeat, confusion, breathing difficulties, swollen neck
• Foods found in: Milk, fish, nuts, salt

Iron (Men: 10mg, Women: 15mg)

• Benefit: Formation of red blood cells.
• Sign of deficiency: Anemia, poor concentration, pale skin or shortness of breath.
• Sign of overdose: Live, spleen and tissue damage
• Foods found in: Beans, egg yolk, fish, red meats, seeds, green vegetables

Magnesium (Men: 400-420mg, Women 310-320 mg)

• Benefit: Aids muscle function, supports teeth and cardiovascular system.
• Sign of deficiency: Common symptoms include muscle weakness, poor coordination, hypertension, irritability, depression, and even hair loss.
• Signs of overdose: Rare, but may include weakness, nausea and breathing trouble.
• Foods found in: Nuts, almonds, whole wheat bread, and milk.

Manganese (2.5 to 5.0 mg)

• Benefit: Helps formation of bones and collagen, metabolizes carbohydrates, synthesizes fatty acids and protein.
• Sign of deficiency: Seizures, epilepsy, poor muscle coordination, twitching, and general weakness
• Sign of overdose: Anemia, delusions, insomnia, depression or even impotence
• Foods found in: Beans, berries, brown rice, nuts, spinach, tea, whole grains

Molybdenum (75 to 250 mcg)

• Benefit: Metabolizes iron. Regulates enzymes.
• Sign of deficiency: No symptoms have been reported
• Sign of overdose: Stunted growth, diarrhea and copper deficiency
• Foods found in: Beans, dark green vegetables, lean meats

Phosphorus (700mg)

• Benefit: Health of bones and teeth. Regulates enzymes.
• Sign of deficiency: Bone pain, loss of appetite, weakness
• Sign of overdose: Seizures, heartbeat irregularities, shortness of breath
• Foods found in: Almonds, eggs, nuts, red meat, beans, milk

Potassium (2000 mg)

• Benefit: Supports function of nerves, metabolizes protein and carbohydrates. Aids in fluid balancing and muscle contraction.
• Sign of Deficiency: Muscle cramps, heart irregularities, low blood pressure, insomnia and dry skin
• Sign of Overdose: Any potassium intake greater than 18k mg a day can cause kidney problems, improper fluid balance, infections or even cardiac arrest.
• Foods found in: Asparagus, bananas, carrots, milk, nuts, beans, spinach, cereal

Selenium (Men: 70 mcg, Women: 55 mcg)

• Benefit: Antioxidant. Protects cells from damage by free radicals.
• Sign of deficiency: Premature aging, muscle aches, nerve damage, retardation or even infertility
• Sign of overdose: Nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, tooth decay or hair loss
• Foods found in: Broccoli, brown rice, chicken, milk, nuts, onions, seafood

Sulfur: (100mg)

• Benefit: Is essential for the formation of nails, hair, cartilage, and tissue. It is also needed to provide a healthy nervous system.
• Sign of deficiency: There are no harmful effects of not having enough sulfur.
• Sign of overdose: Excess is secreted through urine so it is pretty much non-toxic.
• Foods found in: Beans, cabbage, eggs, meat, milk, onions

Zinc (Men: 15mg, Women: 12mg)

• Benefit: Contributes to maintaining immune and reproductive systems. Aids enzymes.
• Sign of deficiency: Anemia, stunted growth, birth defects, mental problems, skin problems, hair loss
• Sign of overdose: Drowsiness, nausea and vomiting
• Foods found in: Beans, eggs, fish, milk, nuts

In addition to vitamins and minerals, there is another important micronutrient to be aware of. Antioxidants.

Antioxidants are free radical scavengers. When you workout, your body releases lactic acid as well as other free radicals. Free radicals are harmful compounds which occur when weak bonds in molecules are split. This makes the compounds instable, and the only way for it to find balance again is to take another electron from another molecule. This can start a chain reaction and eventually kill cells. Damage can occur if not enough antioxidants are available.

Antioxidants help to neutralize these free radicals by donating one of their own electrons to the free radicals. This ends the electron stealing chain. The neat thing about these compounds is that they do not become free radicals by donating electrons for they are stable either way. What does all of this mean? It means that stopping these bad boys can prevent heart disease, cancer, reduce blood pressure and slow the effects of aging. Vitamin C and Vitamin E are the most abundant antioxidants.

Here is a list of the 10 most anti-oxidant dense foods:

1. Berries
2. Broccoli
3. Tomatoes
4. Red Grapes
5. Garlic
6. Spinach
7. Tea
8. Carrots
9. Soy
10. Whole Grains

Ok, I believe that I have made my point of how essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are for any person, especially fitness enthusiasts. Just take your vitamins and eat your fruits. Rant over.

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# 1 – Training

There is a lot to talk about when referring to training but I will try to deliver the most important information.

First you need to record your workouts. Include how much weight you lifted, how many times you lifted it (reps), how many sets, and your approximate rest periods between each set. This is crucial because you cannot objectively measure progress unless you can see what you were doing weeks prior to. If you find out that you are not making any overt gains, then you know that something is not right. I have witnessed many of my friends who go to the gym, without writing anything down, and ask me what I am doing to make gains. That book Is more than just a way to tally information. It is motivation. See what you did your last workout and aim to do more. Do not get lazy and neglect this, for it will only halt your progress.

Secondly, you need to know what kind of workouts to do. There is an emporium of information online about the best workout, but all I am going to say about this is listen to your body. I have trained legs with triceps, back with shoulders, calves with abs and every other combination that you can think of. There is no “perfect” workout, but there are a few guidelines to follow when executing one. Keep your workouts under an hour. The longer you workout isn’t necessarily better and in a future article I will discuss why. It is a good rule of thumb to do no more than 12-15 sets per body part that you exercise. Generally, allow 4-5 days before working out a muscle group again.

Lastly, keep things interesting. Change up your workouts, reps, volume, rest periods, exercises, and frequency. Your body is an adapting machine and you need to make sure that it is constantly adapting to new circumstances. If you keep your body guessing then your body will keep growing. At least every eight weeks do an overhaul on your workout plans and mix everything up.

Next, I am going to inform you of probably the most important part of bodybuilding – nutrition.

# 2 – Nutrition:

There are books written in regards to this important element of building muscle. However, I will briefly cover the most important areas of your diet and later discuss them in more detail.

You are what you eat, period. If you want your body to look its best then you need to feed it well. Stray away from fast foods, never skip the most important meals (breakfast, post workout, bedtime), and eat frequently (every 2 hours works for me). Depending on your goals, be aware of your carb/protein/fat consumption and ratios. The only times that you need anything high in the glycemic index (unless you are diabetic) is for breakfast and after you workout, otherwise keep it complex. Stay away from the saturated fats but don’t be scared of consuming good fats.

Good Carb Sources – Fruit, vegetables, oats, sweet potato, rice, pasta, dairy

Good Protein sources – Dairy, lean meats, cheese, nuts, eggs,

Good Fat sources – Nuts, seeds, flax oil, cashews, fish

Next I will discuss something that can completely make your training and diet endeavors useless without it -rest.

#3 – Rest

There really is not much to say about this except don’t overlook it. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night and don’t train muscle groups if they are sore. Be careful not to over train and listen to your body. The only time that your muscles grow is when you are asleep, so give your body a chance to do this.

# 4 – Supplements

This is perhaps the most insignificant part of building muscle, yet it is often looked at as the prime reason for making gains. Why? People are always looking for a reason to point a finger at someone else for doing what they aren’t, and they are always looking for a way to get results faster. My opinion is that far more effort should be spent into the first three steps before this last one. However, if you must indulge in supplements, at least make it useful by sticking to the basics:

Vitamins – Your macronutrients fill in the gaps that your diet leaves. Keep these bad boys up to par and you will definitely put your body in muscle-build mode.

Protein Powder – This serves as a convenient way to make sure that you are getting in proper amounts of protein. However, don-t let it take the place of whole foods. It is ideal for post workout. Remember, food > supplements.

Creatine – A lot of people have a bad connotation attached to creatine. However, with over 20 years of studies to back up its results and safety, it isn’t very sapient to not utilize this product. It is great for adding more energy to workouts, helping to get over plateaus, and offers some positive muscle building effects.

Ok so there you have it, a short run down of what millions of people need to know to get into shape. This is a basic list, but always make sure that you are constantly working to improve these categories. Much like a chain depends on its supporting links; make sure that you do not neglect these important elements of building muscle. It is now pretty late at night so I must dart off to bed and catch up on #3.

Related posts:

1. Train to Build Muscle
2. Fat Loss
3. Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants