Category: Supplements
It’s a simple question that many find complicated answers to. Getting lean muscle without putting on the fat. With the new year truly under way, many gyms up the down the country will probably see memberships increase. Many people are desperate to lose the excess body weight put on during the festive holiday season. One of the key things is consistency. Hitting the gym in January and February and the rest of the year just losing your way will never help. As mist of you know workouts are just half the battle, without diet and a change in overall lifestyle, your muscles are never going to show.
Eat clean, get lean. Sounds cool doesn’t it. A very important part of building lean muscle is your diet. Your diet is very important, I cannot state this enough. People can talk about all sorts of miracle diets, workout machines, pills or whatever, but if your diet’s not on song it will show.
Do you understand what I mean this? When muscles are stimulated through exercise and proper nutrition is supplied to them with rest and recovery you will see an increase in muscle size, strength and definition. When you lose the extra body fat your body will show the muscle you have worked hard to stimulate and grow.
One of the common misconceptions about body builders is that we just bulk up for months eating crap and then start shredding during competition time. Nope not true. When you look at a foods to get lean and build quality muscle you need to be getting high quality protein, good carbohydrates, and essential fats. Here’s a quick list.
Courtesy of simplyshredded.com
Some of you will ask why you need various carbohydrates when trying to put on muscle and get lean. The answer is simple, for energy during workouts, for maintaining muscle i.e. muscle retention and to prevent the body from going into a catabolic state carbohydrates are important.
Fats are also important when trying to get lean because it helps give you energy, and allow optimum natural testosterone levels. Without normal testosterone levels you will find it difficult to lift and carry out resistance training.
Pump Iron – Stretch the Muscle Fibres
If you’re going to get size, muscle definition lifting weights is the way to go. Even if you are looking for keeping your body toned, lean with adequate quality muscle, lifting weights or doing body resistance exercise is a must. Only when your muscles get stimulation will they grow. No stimulation, no growth.
If you stick to a regular training programme with the right diet, supplements are very useful. But I am sure you know this already? One of my favourite supplements to get lean is Hydroxycut. It’s for both men and women and it’s been around for as long as I know. The company behind it is Muscle Tech who in my opinion do some good body building supplements such as Nitro Tech and Cell Tech.
With Hydroxycut it is a bit like an appetite suppressor and fat burner that helps you feel energized when you really need that push. Hydroxycut contains caffeine to boost energy levels and green coffee for weight loss management. At the moment they have a 1 free bottle offer for those that want to try.
The Truth About Abs program. This abs best selling book contains unique ways to exercise and provide nutrition that helps carve out a flat stomach with abs definition. The author is a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist. Although I do not agree with everything he says, there are some useful tips available. The program generally focuses on full body training exercises such deadlifts and squats and dieting tips that are based on natural foods.
There are many people who have found this program helpful. The program focuses on common body building exercise and dietary changes that help define the abdominal muscle.
Cutting down excess body fat requires you to work the muscles with weights and get balanced cardiovascular exercise to pump the heart muscle. When you do cardio workouts instead of doing 20-30 minutes at a boring moderate pace, do 5-10 minutes at high intensity. I am sure you have heard of high interval training?
I was looking at some weight loss supplements on line and came across Phen 375. If any of you guys have taken it or know someone who has as always leave a comment below. So I did some research and dug up some info about it. This post will give us some idea as to whether it’s a whole load of you know what? Or it may just shred some extra layers.
It’s hard to find any unbiased reviews on phen 375 because many sites are affiliated with the product. Having said that it’s always a good idea to look at supplements from a simple perspective. What does the supplement contain and the strength level. Of course you will also want to know if there are any side effects.
Let’s cut to the chase and look at the ingredients.
1,3-Dimethylpentylamine HCL (Hydrochloride) is a component now found in some of the top trendy diet aids accessible in the marketplace, comparable to Phen375. Phen375 is an example of a mixture of food plan substances that work collectively as a whole for an enhanced weight reduction function, however perhaps crucial ingredient is 1,3-Dimethylpentylamine HCL. This is the driving pressure behind the highly effective fats burning properties of Phen375.
1,3-Dimethylpentylamine is derived from the geranium flower, although it is synthesized in a lab it’s essentially the identical chemical compound discovered in the flower and commonly used to exchange ephedrine or ephedra. It’s used for a wide range of drugs, and is a remedy for numerous minor ailments. It is utilized in weight loss products for its protected increase of metabolism. That is the main function of a fat burner is to extend one’s metabolism. This permits us to eat the same food however burn extra energy from the food rather than retailer them in the body as fat. (Courtesy of http://www.fodepal.org/2011/01/16/13-dimethylpentylamine-hcl-as-a-eating-regimen-help/)
Be realistic about it from the beginning. Thinking that a supplement is going to transform you by itself is total bull! Even steroids and growth hormones aren’t going to shed weight if you don’t eat clean and train hard. It’s just a simple fact. From looking at phen 375, the phentermine diet pills aim at suppressing appetite and increasing fat burning properties in the body.
From most of the research I have done, it seems like quite a few people gave it a thumbs up but some others said it did nothing. If you are going to buy phen 375, I would try out 1 bottle first just to see how it reacts to you. I know they say the ingredients are natural and completely safe, but it’s better to see for yourself.
I would get it from the official supplier. They will probably give you the best deals and should provide good support. I went on their site and saw various customer testimonials and a whole load of info on appetite suppression. Not too sure about the claim on their site that “thermogenic properties burn up to 270 Calories more effortlessly”, but it may be worth taking a look at if you are looking for something natural for weight loss.
We all do lat pulldowns. I mean walk into any gym and you will almost always find the lat pulldown machine taken. But how many see the pull up bar being used? Or how many people do you see doing Inverted rows to really work the lats? Here’s the thing, if your’re not incorporating these movements, you will never truly develop your lats.
If you are looking to really increase strength and work the lateral muscles you need to be doing pull ups and inverted rows.
Image courtesy of Muscle & Fitness
Most people skip bodyweight exercises because they are too hard. It’s that simple. But if you can get over something that is hard, it usually means the results will be phenomenal. So try it. Incorporate more body weight exercise into your routine. Even if it means doing 1-2 exercises only, you will slowly start seeing more progression.
Squatting is one of the best exercises out there. Known as one of the compound exercises, squats will work your core, thigh and gluteal muscle groups. Not only that squats help with lifting such as the bench press and other compound movements. I hear you saying, “yes I know all that”! Sorry to sound boring guys, but this info is really for the novice reader amongst you.
Okay so with that out of the way, do you know how to do proper squats? A proper squat with form. Let me ask you, do you think about your chest position when you squat? Are your knees drawn in or out when you squat? Is back and upper back locked? What about your tail bone? Have I got you worried? You should be. If you’re squatting incorrectly especially with heavier weights, you are heading for a serious injury, period! Leave the ego out the door and watch these videos and learn to squat the proper way.
Remember you’re here to build muscle, not your ego.
In my recent biceps workout I was not working to failure, just some heavy weights and keeping an eye on form. As I looked to finish off, I just wanted to gain some last minute bicep contractions. You know what I mean, the last squeeze of contraction for my guns. It’s always a light weight that I use so that I can get a proper squeeze. So I did the double dip cable curls and it felt good.
The peak contraction you get from this workout is pretty awesome. Do it before or as a finishing exercise that’s up to you and your schedule. Found this video that demonstrates the move to the T. Hope you like it.
There’s not a day that goes past where I open my mail and receive multiple supplement offers. Supplements to do this, supplements to that. What makes me laugh more than anything is when people tell me they are looking for supplements to burn abdominal fat? Sounds strange I know, but a lot of people are stuck with this myth that popping a magic pill will suddenly give them a chiselled stomach. It aint gonna work!
The first thing you need to know is fat burning doesn’t happen in one specific area of the body. You lose weight throughout the body. What supplements can do is enhance your ability to melt away body fat, helping your abs shine through. But without a clean diet and proper exercise, no supplement has the magic answer. If anyone tells you otherwise, either they are trying to sell you something, or have totally got their facts wrong.
Getting a fat burner is a good way to rev up your workout intensity levels. What you need to know are the different type of fat loss supplements.
Weight loss supplements can essentially be divided into four main categories: 1) those that increase thermogenesis, or calorie-burning; 2) those that increase lipolysis, or the amount of fat released from fat cells; 3) those that keep insulin levels steady; and 4) those that blunt hunger. Of course, many fat-burning supplements have multiple benefits, but they’re classified here according to their major mode of action. muscleandfitness.com
Some of the best fat burner stacks are ones which combine Thermogenics, Lipolysis Boosters, Insulin Helpers and Hunger helpers. There are plenty of stacks on the market that can help you save money instead of buying all the ingredients separately. As with any weight loss supplement, if you have never taken anything like this before, it’s advisable to seek medical advice. For example, one type of lypolysis boosters is caffeine. Not everyone is suited to using this stimulant.
So it’s not about the number of sit ups you do, it’s more about getting rid of that layer of lard that covers your midsection. It takes discipline and action. So stop kiddin yourself and start working towards a ripped midsection.
Big Ronnie Coleman talks to Shawn Ray at the latest Ronnie Coleman Classic 2012. Other names that were present at the classic good ol’ Branch Warren and Johnnie O Jackson. Thanks to muscular development for giving us coverage of the latest classic.
Big Ron is trying to get back into training and doing some light weights. Would be interesting to know what he classes light weights? 
Anyway check out the video to keep up to speed with what Ronnie Coleman is planning for the rest of 2012.
You can also check out Branch Warren’s latest video on what he has in store for 2012. The guns are still poppin Branch! As you can see pro body building means a lot of travelling and tiring schedules, but is it worth it….hell yeah!
If you are one of those guys looking to pack on some quality size, it doesn’t mean eating high calorie fast foods. Burgers and Burritos will pack on size, but the wrong kind! A clean diet is what it’s all about and to help you with your diet are a bunch of supplements. Now you need to be smart when you invest in supplements because there are many out there with a countless number of brands. Here’s a list of top 10 mass gainers that contain quality carbs, protein and healthy fats. 
You’ll find the list contains some really popular brands such as Optimum Nutrition, BSN and Cytosport just to name a few. Personally, I have used Optimum Nutrition serious mass and if you are looking to pack size, this is a good supplement to have. But all the brands on the list are worth checking out.
Obviously, you don’t want to be using mass gainers all the time if you are not training as hard. Otherwise, high calories will turn into unwanted fat! The key is to try and put on lean muscle mass. Go check em out. Until next time…..
Images courtesy of musclespro.com
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