Sure, some people go to the gym to ogle hot bodies working out. The rest of us, however, don’t come up with lame excuses to avoid exercise and actually go there to get in shape and keep our bodies healthy.
But then again, you can get sick at the gym. Gyms, after all, are a virtual hotbed of germs, bacteria and viruses, what with all the sweat from a myriad of strangers dripping all over the floor, the equipment, and in some cases, all over you, especially if the really sweaty woman working the treadmill beside yours has this habit of whipping her hair around to get it off her face.
But since we’re not all millionaires who can afford a gym of our own, and therefore have to share gym equipment with perfect strangers, the best that we can do is to be vigilant about our gym hygiene. Listed below are some tips:
1. Unless you’ve washed your hands, never touch your face after using gym equipment. The human hands are especially good at carrying germs, and you don’t want any of that coming into contact with all the openings on your face.
2. Wiping down dumbbells, barbells and exercise machines before and after you use it is not only good gym hygiene, but good gym etiquette as well.
3. It would be great if your gym provides alcohol-gel dispensers that kill germs on contact, but if doesn’t, bring your own and use it before touching equipment.
4. Exercise mats are generally drenched in sweat, so it would be wise to wash them down before using. But you can do one better and bring your own mat instead.
5. Unless you’re absolutely certain that your gym’s drinking fountain has been through an effective and safe sanitation process, bring your own bottled drinking water.
6. Don’t just throw or hang the towel that you’ve just wiped your sweat with on any spot inside the gym. Doing that means you either spread your own germs, or your towel would pick up other people’s germs.
7. If you don’t want rashes or boils popping up all over a most inconvenient spot in your anatomy, be sure to sit on your towel when using the sauna.
8. It is advisable to always shower after a workout to wash off the sweat and therefore feel clean and refreshed afterwards.
9. When using the shower, be sure to bring and your own wear flip-flops, since shower stalls, with all the people using them, harbor more germs than you can possibly imagine.
10. If showering after a heavy workout is not your thing, at least get out of those sweat-drenched clothes and change into something fresh before heading home. Some people drive home from the gym wearing their sweat-soaked gym clothes, and that is without a doubt very unsanitary.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
3 good reasons you should be supplementing with fiber
Back in the day, fiber was something that your grandpa and grandma supplemented with but these days fiber is proving to have some pretty powerful benefits for bodybuilders.
Here are 3 good reasons you should be supplementing with fiber:
1. Fiber improves nutrient absorption by cleaning the inner walls of your intestines (it does this by getting rid of all undigested food found in your digestive tract). The only thing you need to know is: the cleaner your digestive tract; the better chance your body has of absorbing important nutrients like protein and carbohydrates.
2. Fiber aids insulin sensitivity. Insulin is the hormone in your body that sends carbohydrates and protein into your muscles to assist in recovery and growth. Basically, the more sensitive your insulin sensitivity; the more nutrients your muscles will absorb.
3. Fiber slows the absorption of carbohydrates. If you’ve ever ran out of fuel during a workout, you may want to consider eating some oatmeal or yams and supplementing with fiber about an hour before your workout… see if you run out of fuel then!
Here are 3 good reasons you should be supplementing with fiber:
1. Fiber improves nutrient absorption by cleaning the inner walls of your intestines (it does this by getting rid of all undigested food found in your digestive tract). The only thing you need to know is: the cleaner your digestive tract; the better chance your body has of absorbing important nutrients like protein and carbohydrates.
2. Fiber aids insulin sensitivity. Insulin is the hormone in your body that sends carbohydrates and protein into your muscles to assist in recovery and growth. Basically, the more sensitive your insulin sensitivity; the more nutrients your muscles will absorb.
3. Fiber slows the absorption of carbohydrates. If you’ve ever ran out of fuel during a workout, you may want to consider eating some oatmeal or yams and supplementing with fiber about an hour before your workout… see if you run out of fuel then!
3 Supplements you Need to Get Huge
As a personal trainer the one question I hear pretty consistently from guys who are looking to add huge amounts of muscle mass is:
“What supplements do I absolutely need to add muscle mass because I’m on a budget?”
Without a doubt, here are the 3 supplements I think everyone who is looking to add muscle mass should be taking:
#1 Whey Protein
Whey protein is #1 because you need protein to build muscle.
Whey is also superior to other forms of protein because it is rapidly absorbed, easily digested, has a high amount of BCAA’s and also contains peptides that increase blood flow to your muscles.
Take it first thing in the morning, about a 1/2 hour before you workout and immediately after.
#2 Creatine
Creatine is the closest thing I know of to a steroid that is completely natural. Creatine works just like a steroid in that it makes you stronger and increases your endurance.
Creatine is made up of 3 amino acids: methionine, glycine and arginine.
Most guys who have never taken creatine usually add about 10 lbs in a month and make incredible strength gains.
That’s why it’s number 2… because there’s nothing like looking in a mirror and getting a huge smile on your face because you can finally see the results.
#3 Casein Protein
You don’t grow while you’re working out in the gym, you grow while you’re resting and sleeping.
About a decade ago when I was bulking up I would intentionally set my alarm for 2:00 in the morning so I could wake up and take down a protein shake.
Didn’t want my muscles to go hungry you know?
We didn’t know back then what we know now and that’s that casein protein is slowly digested into your system and if you take it right before you go to bed it will act like time-released protein and basically feed your muscles all night!
Brilliant!
Anyhow there you have it. These are the basic 3 supplements you need to get big and add huge amounts of muscle mass.
Everything else is bells and whistles.
You can add all the muscle mass you’ll ever need with these 3 right here.
“What supplements do I absolutely need to add muscle mass because I’m on a budget?”
Without a doubt, here are the 3 supplements I think everyone who is looking to add muscle mass should be taking:
#1 Whey Protein
Whey protein is #1 because you need protein to build muscle.
Whey is also superior to other forms of protein because it is rapidly absorbed, easily digested, has a high amount of BCAA’s and also contains peptides that increase blood flow to your muscles.
Take it first thing in the morning, about a 1/2 hour before you workout and immediately after.
#2 Creatine
Creatine is the closest thing I know of to a steroid that is completely natural. Creatine works just like a steroid in that it makes you stronger and increases your endurance.
Creatine is made up of 3 amino acids: methionine, glycine and arginine.
Most guys who have never taken creatine usually add about 10 lbs in a month and make incredible strength gains.
That’s why it’s number 2… because there’s nothing like looking in a mirror and getting a huge smile on your face because you can finally see the results.
#3 Casein Protein
You don’t grow while you’re working out in the gym, you grow while you’re resting and sleeping.
About a decade ago when I was bulking up I would intentionally set my alarm for 2:00 in the morning so I could wake up and take down a protein shake.
Didn’t want my muscles to go hungry you know?
We didn’t know back then what we know now and that’s that casein protein is slowly digested into your system and if you take it right before you go to bed it will act like time-released protein and basically feed your muscles all night!
Brilliant!
Anyhow there you have it. These are the basic 3 supplements you need to get big and add huge amounts of muscle mass.
Everything else is bells and whistles.
You can add all the muscle mass you’ll ever need with these 3 right here.
A Little Known Fact About Creatine
All you muscle-heads out there can probably recite each and every muscle-building benefit that creatine supplementation provides but today I’ve got a little known fact about creatine supplementation that will make whatever muscles you already have look even better.
Just by supplementing with creatine (just by supplementing with it and not doing anything else) your body will burn an additional 100 calories per day.
Add that to all the other benefits of creatine supplementation like increased strength, increased muscle mass and decreased bodyfat and creatine is just about as close as you can get to a no-brainer as far as supplements go…
Just by supplementing with creatine (just by supplementing with it and not doing anything else) your body will burn an additional 100 calories per day.
Add that to all the other benefits of creatine supplementation like increased strength, increased muscle mass and decreased bodyfat and creatine is just about as close as you can get to a no-brainer as far as supplements go…
Chest workout that u can try at home
Here’s an easy and simple chest workout you can do at home and all you need to make it work and annihilate your chest is a bench, a barbell and some dumbells… isn’t that all you need for a home gym workout anyway?
Start off with a decent warm up…
On days that I hit chest I usually warm up with some kind of machine press movement but since this is a home gym workout I’m going to start off with some elevated push ups.
You do elevated push ups the same way you do regular push ups only you elevate your legs by placing your toes on top of a bench or a chair or pretty much anything that’s a couple of feet off of the ground. This places additional stress on your upper and middle chest.
Once you’re warmed up you can proceed to your first exercise which will be you guessed it the bench press. You’re going for three sets of 4-6 reps. We’re not messing around here… this is the portion of your bodybuilding routine where you’re focusing on getting stronger which will in turn make you bigger.
Once you’re done with those sets it’s time to get really serious… You’re going to do a compound set which is basically two exercises back to back and we’re going to take it up a notch by incorporating some pre-exhaust into this set as well. Yeah pretty much you can kiss your chest good-bye for the next few days if you do this right…
On the front half of this compound set you’re going to do flat bench flyes and on the back half you’re going to do incline bench press. If you don’t understand how compound sets and pre-exhaustion work check out this post here: Build a huge chest with this compound set routine.
OK you’re almost home only 2 exercises and 6 sets to go…
Exercise number 3 is flat bench dumbbell presses and I want you to squeeze your chest at the top while holding the weight up there for a second and squeezing your lats together. 3 sets of 8 reps big guy.
Finish up this home gym workout with some elevated push ups. Yes the same ones you warmed up with… This is a great exercise for detailing your chest while working out at your home gym.
Start off with a decent warm up…
On days that I hit chest I usually warm up with some kind of machine press movement but since this is a home gym workout I’m going to start off with some elevated push ups.
You do elevated push ups the same way you do regular push ups only you elevate your legs by placing your toes on top of a bench or a chair or pretty much anything that’s a couple of feet off of the ground. This places additional stress on your upper and middle chest.
Once you’re warmed up you can proceed to your first exercise which will be you guessed it the bench press. You’re going for three sets of 4-6 reps. We’re not messing around here… this is the portion of your bodybuilding routine where you’re focusing on getting stronger which will in turn make you bigger.
Once you’re done with those sets it’s time to get really serious… You’re going to do a compound set which is basically two exercises back to back and we’re going to take it up a notch by incorporating some pre-exhaust into this set as well. Yeah pretty much you can kiss your chest good-bye for the next few days if you do this right…
On the front half of this compound set you’re going to do flat bench flyes and on the back half you’re going to do incline bench press. If you don’t understand how compound sets and pre-exhaustion work check out this post here: Build a huge chest with this compound set routine.
OK you’re almost home only 2 exercises and 6 sets to go…
Exercise number 3 is flat bench dumbbell presses and I want you to squeeze your chest at the top while holding the weight up there for a second and squeezing your lats together. 3 sets of 8 reps big guy.
Finish up this home gym workout with some elevated push ups. Yes the same ones you warmed up with… This is a great exercise for detailing your chest while working out at your home gym.
Bodybuilding Workout Tips For Bigger Muscles
I’ve been blessed with some pretty big and round shoulders that have come as the result of many a bodybuilding workout and because of that I get asked a lot at the gym what I do for my shoulders. Most of the time I flip on the guy asking and ask him to tell me what he does in his deltoid bodybuilding workout because this way I feel I can much better and much more easily assess the situation.
More often then not here’s what I find in deltoid bodybuilding workouts and why I feel these programs are ineffective and incomplete for complete deltoid development. Most of the time the workouts consisted of raises and presses and nothing much more and the worst part is that all exercises targeted the middle and front deltoids and included no exercises for the rear delt. The result of this type of workout is strength imbalance in the shoulders and that makes them less stable.
That loss of stability is bad for a lot of reasons but mainly because you increase your risk for injury in an area that’s already highly susceptible to injury. Dislocations and rotator cuff injuries are common for bodybuilders so it’s important to do everything you can to prevent them and training your rear delts in your bodybuilding workout is one such way.
What may bother you more then the added susceptibility to injury is that not training your rear delts will also result in decreased strength in important lifts such as the bench press, the shoulder press and practically every other upper body lift.
If you’ve hit a plateau in your bodybuilding workout and you’ve noticed that your upper body lifts have plateaued I would strongly recommend you start training your rear delts. You plateau because you can only lift as much as your shoulders can support and if you notice your rear delts are at the bottom of lifts like the bench press and the shoulder press.
More often then not here’s what I find in deltoid bodybuilding workouts and why I feel these programs are ineffective and incomplete for complete deltoid development. Most of the time the workouts consisted of raises and presses and nothing much more and the worst part is that all exercises targeted the middle and front deltoids and included no exercises for the rear delt. The result of this type of workout is strength imbalance in the shoulders and that makes them less stable.
That loss of stability is bad for a lot of reasons but mainly because you increase your risk for injury in an area that’s already highly susceptible to injury. Dislocations and rotator cuff injuries are common for bodybuilders so it’s important to do everything you can to prevent them and training your rear delts in your bodybuilding workout is one such way.
What may bother you more then the added susceptibility to injury is that not training your rear delts will also result in decreased strength in important lifts such as the bench press, the shoulder press and practically every other upper body lift.
If you’ve hit a plateau in your bodybuilding workout and you’ve noticed that your upper body lifts have plateaued I would strongly recommend you start training your rear delts. You plateau because you can only lift as much as your shoulders can support and if you notice your rear delts are at the bottom of lifts like the bench press and the shoulder press.
Build A Huge Chest With This Compound Set Workout Routine
Pretty much any guy I talk to who wants to start working out want to do 3 things with all of his bodybuilding efforts… he wants to build a huge chest, build huge guns and get huge shoulders that he’ll have trouble walking through doorways with… we’ll do arms and shoulders another day… today I’m going to show you how to build a huge chest.
We’re going to build a huge chest by utilizing two old-school Joe Weider principles of pre-exhaustion and compound sets. I’m not really sure if compound sets are actually a principle or just a training technique but either way I know the combination of these two works like crazy to blow up your muscles…
A compound set just means you’re going to do one really long set of two different exercises back-to-back. So you’ll do one set of something for 10 reps and then we’re going to follow that up immediately (without a break) by another exercise for 6-8 reps.
The pre exhaustion principle works like this…
So we’re going to be doing 2 exercises back to back for one compound set… the first exercise in a pre exhaustion compound set is always some type of isolation movement followed by a compound movement or a multi-joint movement.
Ok so let’s build a huge chest with a pre exhaustion workout routine.
Here’s the workout I challenge you to try if you want to build a huge chest:
1st compound set
Incline dumbell flyes (10 reps) followed by incline bench press (6-8 reps)
2nd compound set
Flat dumbell flyes followed by Flat bench dumbell presses
3rd set (regular set)
Weighted dips (go heavy pussy!)
4th set
Cable flyes (so all the chicks at the gym can see your chest popping out of your damn shirt)
A couple of notes regarding this pre exhaustion compound set workout routine: Go heavy but don’t be stupid… your muscles will be severely weakened by the isolation movements at the beginning of your pre exhaust compound sets.
There you have it… Build A Huge Chest With This Compund Set Workout Routine
We’re going to build a huge chest by utilizing two old-school Joe Weider principles of pre-exhaustion and compound sets. I’m not really sure if compound sets are actually a principle or just a training technique but either way I know the combination of these two works like crazy to blow up your muscles…
A compound set just means you’re going to do one really long set of two different exercises back-to-back. So you’ll do one set of something for 10 reps and then we’re going to follow that up immediately (without a break) by another exercise for 6-8 reps.
The pre exhaustion principle works like this…
So we’re going to be doing 2 exercises back to back for one compound set… the first exercise in a pre exhaustion compound set is always some type of isolation movement followed by a compound movement or a multi-joint movement.
Ok so let’s build a huge chest with a pre exhaustion workout routine.
Here’s the workout I challenge you to try if you want to build a huge chest:
1st compound set
Incline dumbell flyes (10 reps) followed by incline bench press (6-8 reps)
2nd compound set
Flat dumbell flyes followed by Flat bench dumbell presses
3rd set (regular set)
Weighted dips (go heavy pussy!)
4th set
Cable flyes (so all the chicks at the gym can see your chest popping out of your damn shirt)
A couple of notes regarding this pre exhaustion compound set workout routine: Go heavy but don’t be stupid… your muscles will be severely weakened by the isolation movements at the beginning of your pre exhaust compound sets.
There you have it… Build A Huge Chest With This Compund Set Workout Routine
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