Posts Tagged ‘bodybuilding’
Tips For Successful Teenage Bodybuilding
It’s more and more common to see bodybuilders who are still in their teens. Getting into shape and building muscle is a good thing no matter how young or old you are ” and there’s no better time than your teens to take up weight training as long as you do it right. Teens are still developing, so they have different needs than adult body builders, particularly when it comes to nutrition. Just like adults, teenagers need adequate rest, a proper diet and careful training to prevent injury.
Teenagers have stores of energy that the rest of us marvel at, and these energy stores actually cause trouble in a body building routine. Teens can go for hours and never seem to tire, because of this many will work out for hours on end focusing on one set of muscles.
The thought is that more is better; however, in weight training nothing is further from the truth. A rounded workout in which all muscle groups are worked equally is better. Once a muscle has reached a certain point there is no need to strain it further, in fact you can actually reverse your progress or worse yet cause injury.
Start off with lighter weights and advance as your body becomes accustomed to lifting. Don’t try to show off by going immediately for the heaviest weight you can find. Start small and work your way up as you go.
To many times nutrition is neglected in favor of massive amounts of supplements. While supplements can be helpful in moderation eating the right quantities of protein and fiber are more important. You see when you are training you are actually tearing the muscles and in order to heal properly and build they need proper nutrition.
Proper hydration is also neglected by many young body builders. The human body is about 70% water and relies on adequate hydration to function properly ” and this definitely includes muscle tissue!
The recommendation of eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day is merely a starting point, when you are training you should increase your water intake considerably. Your joints and vital organs will thank you, plus you will increase the success of your work out.
While we’re on the subject of things neglected by teenage bodybuilders, let’s talk about sleep. It’s while you sleep that testosterone and the important growth hormone IGF-1 is released. It’s also when your body repairs itself and rejuvenates for another day ” make sure to get an adequate amount of sleep every night.
It is not enough to hit the gym hard every day to build muscles. You need a balanced approach for steady growth. This can hard to do for a generation who is used to getting what they want right now, but for long term success and to prevent injury this is the only way.
You can start weight training now and if you are into major physical sports like football it is imperative that you have a strong healthy body. Simply follow the tips above and you can have a safe productive work out.
Eating to Build Muscle in an Overall Bodybuilding Program
Ensuring that you give your body the fuel it needs to build muscle is an important part of bodybuilding. Eating to build muscle is just as important as your weight lifting program or other bodybuilding routines.
Lifting weights forces your muscles to work hard, and can also cause minor injury to muscles. Although those injuries can heal very quickly, eating the right foods that build muscle can really speed up the process. Food supplies fuel that the body needs, and the right food can do wonders.
Food that helps build muscle ? what it is? Well, to begin with, protein. Protein is probably the most important nutritional component in a muscle building program. You probably thought the most important component was cutting out fat, in order to reduce your body fat, didn’t you? Well, it is not. Protein is essential. Without protein, your body withers away to nothing. So make sure you include protein foods that build muscle such as chicken, lean beef, eggs, fish (don’t like fresh fish? Try canned tuna ?it’s perfect), and cheese.
Finding out how much protein to eat when you are interested in building muscle fast is actually not difficult. First, you will need to find out your lean body mass weight in kilos, and then you simply multiply that figure by 2.75 to determine your daily protein requirement. Calculating your lean body mass uses some complex formulae, so ask a professional at the gym if you do not already have this figure.
Foods that build muscle include carbohydrates. Many uninformed people believe that all carbs should be eliminated in order to obtain a fit, lean body. Nothing could be further from the truth. So long as the carbohydrates you ingest include plenty of fibre, carbs will contribute to building muscle mass ? not body fat. Great carbohydrate based foods include rice, oatmeal, bananas and other types of fruit such as apples and pears.
Reducing fat in your diet is of course necessary to build bigger muscle on a body that appears lean and has a low body fat ratio. If you are focussing on what foods build muscle mass, you also need to bear in mind that it pays to reduce fat as well. Although proteins are essential (as we talked about earlier), it is really important to select proteins that are low in fat, or that you can cut the fat off. So eat your chicken without the skin, and go for lean steaks rather than more fatty cuts of meat. Opting for cottage cheese or other reduced fat cheeses, and low fat milk also helps reduce your fat intake.
Drinking sufficient water with your meals, between meals, and while you are working out is also very important. Without sufficient water you will dehydrate, and you will be tired and lacking in energy, which gives no assistance at all to building your muscle with the right type of food.
Drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water a day (even 12 glasses) is absolutely essential to allow your body to properly digest all the good food you are eating. For those who just cannot stomach the taste (or lack of taste) of so much water, other types of liquid although not quite as good are still acceptable as water substitutes ? fruit juice and even soft drinks can suffice as long as you (preferably) drink some of your liquid intake in water form.
Foods that build muscle are one of the two essential components to having the body of your dreams. The other component is your weight training program or other type of bodybuilding workouts that you engage in regularly. Just because you have found foods that build muscle does not mean you can start to slack off with your weight training.
Weight Lifting Exercises – TRAPEZIUS
The main exercises that will work these muscles are the upright row and the shrug.
The first exercise is the shrug.
You can perform this exercise very simply with a barbell or dumbbells. You can do these exercises from a position in the back or the front.
All you will have to do is hold the weight and shrug your shoulders. That is all you have to do. Some bodybuilders will use a variation of this exercise by rolling the shoulders instead of simply lifting them up and down. All you do to do this is roll your shoulders when you are performing the shrug.
Here is how the shrug is done.
1. Hold your weight in front of you using an overhand grip.
2. Lift the shoulders and try to reach your ears with your shoulders.
3. Hold the movement for a bit, then lower slowly and repeat
When you are performing this exercise you must use control and lower and lift your shoulders slowly. Keep from straining your neck when you are doing the exercises to avoid injury. It is possible to use a heavier weight because of the smaller range of motion. The other exercises that you can use are the upright row. This type of exercise is typically used as a shoulder exercise and will work the traps while you are working your shoulder muscles.
An upright row is performed in this manner.
1. You should use a wide grip if you are going to be giving the traps a greater intensity.
2. Hold the bar with a wide grip at arms length near your thighs
3. Lift the bar up until you reach your chin.
4. Hold the bar in place and slowly lower the bar, repeat the movement.
You should be sure that your elbows are higher than the bar when you are doing these exercises. You can use these exercises to get strong shoulder muscles and stronger traps. The results are worth the effort. More Weight lifting tips.
7 Reasons Why You Should Front Squat
I can practically assure you’re not front squatting enough or in any way. For some reason, you don’t see a lot of gym goers (particularly bodybuilders) making use of this time-tested workout.
Crossfit has gone miles and miles towards bringing it back, but if you’re not doing cross fit – it’s most likely not even on your radar.
This is a shame because if you want to achieve maximum strength and power build awesome quads sculpt a killer six-pack and save your “tweaked” lower back then you’re going to appreciate the front squat.
Here’s a couple of reasons why you have to squat for a lean, hard, athletic physique:
1. Get Enhanced Quads – The front squat is an EXCELLENT movement to get bigger, stronger quads-most likely the greatest workout there is. Since you’re position is more vertical, it highlights the quads more.
2. Get Stronger, More Cut Abs (Core) – Because you’re holding the weight in front of your body, and you must remain upright your entire core gets a great workout trying to stabilize the weight and keep you upright. If you find you’re leaning forward a lot when you back squat, you’ll quickly get stronger and fix this problem if you switch to front squats for a while.
Front squats aren’t just smashing in creating the body of your dreams either! They’re also certainly good at just making you more fit and keeping you more in good physical shape. What good is looking strong if you should give up your health in the process?
Here’s the five more reasons why you have to Front Squat for better well-being:
1. Makes Your Other Lifts Better – Because the bar is placed ahead of you, on your shoulders, the front squat is enormously like other exercises and strengthens the “base” of those lifts/presses. Power Cleans, Overhead Presses, Overhead Squats, and so on all share the same “starting” position as the front squat. Getting stronger and more comfortable with Front Squats will help you in those exercises as well.
2. Bad Form Gets Self-Corrected – If you’re back squatting with bad form you can wrap up the exercise at the cost of causing harm to yourself. The advantage about front squats is the form is self correcting: If you’re not straight enough you’ll drop the bar if you’re not holding the bar properly you’ll drop it if you don’t keep your elbows up you’ll drop it. It’s a training that pretty much forces your form to be smashing.
3. Less Weight – When all is said and done, if you can defy your body with less weight (because you’re doing a harder training) then it is safer. Because the Front Squat is harder than Back Squats you won’t be able to lift as much weight. Which means a reduced amount of spinal compression.
4. More Natural Spine Position – You’re more upright with the front squat your spine is in a more balanced “straight” position. This combined with the fact you’re lifting a smaller amount of weight is beneficial for your spine in time.
5. Lower Back Approved – Most people have lower back problems and back squats exacerbate these conditions. But because your upper body is usually vertical (instead of leaning forward like in a back squat) there’s a lesser amount of force on your lower back. I started front squatting after I hurt my lower back.