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The Delicate Art of Gaining Muscle

The common advice of gaining muscular weight has often been: eat lots and exercise less. Plus, the weird logic of, “Well, you just put on fat and then turn it into muscle,” is also so much nonsense.

For an under weight person gaining muscular weight is quite a different process. Take my own story. I was a typical 98 pound weakling as a teenager. One of the running jokes was a bet to how many chin ups that I could do: namely none. I ate like a horse, exercised like a nut case and played sports. Later, I lifted weights and ran almost every day. I was spending my hard-earned money on every protein powder or weight gain pill on the market. While I did experience a gradual gain up to about 116 pounds (53 kg.) in high school, I just could not seem to gain much more.

Even though I knew everything at 14, I learned something about muscle recovery. Hanging out with friends until 10 p.m., getting up at 4:30 a.m. and delivering paper, on a bike several miles, 6 days a week, on an empty stomach did nothing for muscle gain or school studies for that matter. When I quit the route and got the extra sleep, THEN I was gaining muscle weight.

Fast forward a few years to when I was in the army. There, I ate regularly, ran and lifted weights. Much to the amazement to my friends and family, my strength and size increased. I was over a whopping 124 pounds (56 kg.). But, being young and restless, I had once again fallen into late nights and gorging on starch and dairy foods like pizza. I also was introduced to cheap beer.

It wasn’t until I started researching nutrition that I started to make real improvements in my health and strength. I started looking past the mainstream information that was designed for the average person.

What I tested time and again was that by removing wheat and dairy products from my diet, I became stronger. While some people can eat dough nuts, bagels, pastries, burger buns, sandwiches, spaghetti noodles and pizza crusts with no apparent problems, I found that I felt better when I stopped eating them. Even today, if I eat a wheat-based food I get some kind of reaction. At age 49, I tried a baklava (pistachio paste wrapped in pastry) an hour before bedtime and paid for it. I tossed and turned and could not breathe through my nose for part of the night. Even after 8 hours of restless sleep, I woke up feeling tired.

The other two factors that helped me gain muscle and health were exercising more intensely for a shorter period of time and getting more rest.

The army workouts were O.K., but they tended to reach a certain level and stagnate. I found that working out intensely 2 days a week and doing just light running and sports during the rest of the week improved my performance. At one point, I was lifting heavier weights on Monday and Thursday nights for about 45 minutes each. Mondays was also a sprint day and Fridays was a longer run around 5 to 9 miles.

As for more rest, I was grabbing naps of sleep wherever and whenever I could. 20 minutes during the lunch hour. 20 minutes after work. I was in bed, most nights, before 10 p.m. Sure, it was “uncool” in many circles, but I found that I could think more clearly and was stronger physically. I also started competing in running races and started socializing with more positive up-beat people. Despite, a lot of negative talk from many of my co-workers and supervisor, I applied for the paratroopers and eventually was accepted.

While determination and will have a lot to do with achieving goals, the proper lifestyle and mental programming will get you there faster.

So, here are some simple rules for gaining healthy, drug-free muscular weight:

1. It is not how much that you eat, but rather what you eat. Eat good natural foods.

2. What you assimilate is more important than what you eat. You should eat s-l-o-w-l-y. I find that I feel better by eating my lunch at my desk throughout the morning, than following that frantic feeding frenzy at noon. This speed gorging often leaves most people feeling groggy throughout the afternoon.

3. One or two good, pleasant, sit-down meals a day will gain you more strength and health than 3 or more rushed, agitated meals a day. Too often, situations like work, family, schooling and military training have us “eating-on-the-run.”

4. Training for performance instead of cosmetics. The cosmetics will come after health and performance. Focus on your training and the results will come.

5. Do not beat yourself up if you think that your progress is too slow. Most strength gains will happen in spurts. Even 5 pounds of additional muscle is muscle that is there to stay for a long time.

6. Avoid tobacco, alcohol and coffee. At least minimize it. They use up your vital energy sources that you could be using for building strength.

7. Sleep and rest are important. Exercise stimulates your muscles, while sleep and rest rebuild your muscles.

8. All of above only work if you can change your habits. Read the other articles on habit changing or visit our website at: www.2ndwindbodyscience.com

The Delicate Art of Gaining Muscle / Author: Doug

Occupation: Health and Fitness Consultant
Doug Setter holds a Bachelor’s of Human Ecology. He has served as a paratrooper and U.N. Peacekeeper, completed 5 full marathons, climbed Mt. Rainier and is the author of Stomach Flattening and One Less Victim. He instructs fitness, muscle-gain, weight-loss, “stomach flattening” and kick-boxing. He currently manages 2nd Wind Body Science at www.2ndwindbodyscience.com and can be reached at doug@2ndwindbodyscience.com
http://www.2ndwindbodyscience.com

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Are You Being Scammed When It Comes To Your Cholesterol Levels?

Like cancer, we can see the wilful ignorance demonstrated by cardiac medicine in not dealing with the root cause of heart disease, which is diet. Because the focus is on treating the symptoms rather than the cause there have been differences of opinion on how to deal with heart disease and what can be done to stop the occurrence of heart attacks and strokes.

Cholesterol and Statins

I shall briefly hone in on the cholesterol theories. Then I will expose some of the massive deceptions behind the mobilisation of the cholesterol lowering drugs, statins, with the mind-boggling facts and figures for you to get your teeth into!

The 7 myths on cholesterol

1.Cholesterol is not the monster it has been portrayed to be. It is an essential in our body metabolism. With sunlight beaming down on us it is converted into the dietary essential, Vitamin D. Cholesterol is also an important precursor. It is needed for the manufacture of hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.

2.Much too the surprise of some, there is no convincing evidence to support the idea that there is bad cholesterol. Blood cholesterol levels can be affected by the mental and physical factors stress, exercise and body weight. The fact that someone has high cholesterol does not necessarily indicate a heart attack could be on its way.

3.High cholesterol does not necessarily lead to atherosclerosis. Whether the cholesterol levels are low or high, atherosclerotic plaques can still form and lead to coronary heart disease.

4.A ‘careful’ diet does not lower cholesterol in the blood. The body produces several times more cholesterol than from the food you eat.

5.The degree of atherosclerosis and cholesterol levels in heart patients is not related to a dietary history of high animal fat intake.

6.Statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs do not change heart mortality or total mortality.

7.Statins do not directly prevent heart disease (in fact, they actually increase the risk of heart disease!). They do precious little for getting at the root cause of the problem. They have side effects, causing a drop in: enzymes, vitamin D, CoQ10 and other substances essential for health.

The myths are made as a result of keeping certain media publications exposing the truth away from the public. Remember this, because there is so much money at stake for the drugs to get through, Doctors and scientists have been misguided. Many contradictory findings have been ignored.

Big Business Rule$ OK? Statin sales In the USA last year totalled to over 16 billion dollars. The rocketing sales over the last few years have much to do with the fact that the pharmaceutical companies have manipulated the National Cholesterol Education committee to change their guidelines on treating people with high cholesterol. In effect more are now being treated. For example, one guideline has allowed lower cholesterol level individuals to become candidates for treatment. That this alone has been allowed, something like another 36 million people can now be treated! In time to come, there may be more criteria to increase the number of candidates, sought after by companies. Also, with heart disease related problems on the up and the so-called experts advising that more statins should be taken; it has become a very competitive market. Companies are scrambling to get their slice of the pie. What they don’t want you to know is that the side effects have wrought havoc and devastation on some patients.

Sales on drugs to take care of the side effects such as cancer risk, a general weakness, immune suppression, muscle and kidney damage is also a multi-billion industry! How pathetic can it get? As if they’re not satisfied enough with selling patients a drug that may not do anything for them. ‘It certainly doesn’t treat the route cause of the problem.

Marketing and Selling Sickness

There are many complaining that drugs cost too much. The defence to this from pharmaceutical companies sometimes goes in the way of them saying that the bill for research and development (R&D) was very high. However, I have found that many say this is untrue. For example, Doctor Joe Mercola insists that the real truth regarding high prices is for marketing and profits. I have worked in R&D myself and from my investigations would say this is quite true.

In conclusion

Like the great cancer scam, once again, the underlying principles that keeps the treatment for heart disease going is financial; backed by cash-happy drug companies, a corrupt political system and paid off press. In effect, the seniors representing these three bodies have the upper hand in suppressing key life-saving information. Try to see right through this façade and then make decisions for yourself on how you want to deal with it. Once again prevention prevails. Take care of your diet, exercise, environment and psychological well being.

I, Paul Phillips am a health writer researcher. I graduated in ‘Biological Sciences’ which includes biochemistry, physiology and nutrition. I have worked in various related research and development labs. I am always willing to give advice and help people in my field. For more information please try the link: http://www.HealthNewsLive.net Or look at my book on natural solutions to Heart Disease: http://www.healthnewslive.net/healthnewslive.net/index3.html

Are You Being Scammed When It Comes To Your Cholesterol Levels? / Author: Paul

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Are Wii Kidding Ourselves?

The Nintendo Wii Fit was released to the public recently with much ballyhoo. If you haven’t seen the Nintendo Wii game system, it is the latest evolution in video game playing where players use the remote to mimic real-life actions such as a tennis forehand. The players’ physical actions are then played out on the screen.

The Wii Fit is a “game” that according to the Nintendo website can increase your fitness levels. “By playing Wii Fit a little every day, you, your friends, and your family can work towards personal goals of better health and fitness,” the site claims. While I have yet to use the game at all, I can say that I am highly skeptical that this will make a dent into America’s growing obesity problem.

The Wii Fit comes with a balance board that the player uses to interact with the game. When you first start the game, the Wii Fit assesses your balance - which is important in your overall health, but is usually not a concern to anyone who is not a senior citizen or recovering from injury.

It then moves on to perform the Body Test, which is more balance assessment, followed by the calculation of Body Mass Index (or BMI). BMI is a very flawed measure of one’s fitness, as it measures the ratio of one’s scale weight to one’s height. So, on the BMI scale, the following people are considered Overweight or Obese:

- Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees
- Tom Brady of the New England Patriots
- Lance Armstrong of cycling fame
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Sylvester Stallone

See where I’m going with this? Scale weight does not account for the amount of lean body mass someone is carrying. That is why body fat percentage is the gold standard for measuring one’s fitness.

Also, measuring BMI on anyone under 19 is very inaccurate. This already has become an issue for Nintendo, as a 10-year old athletic British girl was assessed as being Fat by the game. Obesity experts jumped on Nintendo immediately, rightfully stating that the game could cause irreparable harm to a child’s body image. Nintendo has since added a disclaimer that the BMI feature is meant for adults only, but hasn’t taken the step of deactivating it in the game for child users.

The game goes on to calculate a Wii Fit Age for the user based on your balance test results, actual age, etc. Again, this is a very shaky measure of one’s fitness that could mislead people.

The Training section of the game is broken down into four sections: Yoga, Balance Games, Strength Training and Aerobics, all of which can be done without spending the $89.95 suggested retail price for Wii Fit.

Let’s break down the Strength Training section as an example of some of the flaws in this game. The first exercise is a Single Leg Extension, which is more of an exercise in balance than a strength training exercise. Also, leg extensions do not mimic a real life use of the leg, and the leg extension machine is perhaps one of the worst machines in the gym.

The next exercise is torso twists, which is more of a dynamic stretch than a strength building exercise, especially in the absence of any weighted bar or dumbbells. That is followed by the push-up and side plank. Now, I’m a big fan of both of these exercises, but they are not for the de-conditioned. Most men are not capable of doing pushups with correct form, and women usually start out with the modified push-up until they have the strength to do regular form.

The next exercise, jack-knifes, is for people who are advanced in their training. It violates one of the basic principles of fitness professionals around the world - never put a de-conditioned person on their back on the floor for anything. Lastly, the game makes the user perform lunges, which are great muscle builders. However, like stated before, you don’t need to buy a game system to do them.

Overall, I give Nintendo credit for trying to make a game that tries to get people to be more active, which is more than can be said for other video game manufacturers. However, this will not do anything in terms of chipping away at the American obesity problem. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the video game industry needs to follow the route of the tobacco and alcohol manufacturers, and state that excessive use of their product could lead to inactivity and obesity, rather than try to make a half-hearted effort at increasing American activity levels.

Rather than letting your kids play Wii Fit while you watch TV in the other room, here are some things that you can do together:

- Go for a brisk walk
- Group session with a personal trainer
- Navigate a confidence course
- Play catch with a football or baseball
- Kick a soccer ball around
- One-one-one basketball
- Walk and play a par 3 golf course
- Family yard work or snow shoveling!

You’ll save money on electricity and form stronger bonds with your kids as you increase your fitness levels together.

Matt Lisk is a fat loss expert who has used his knowledge to lose over 80 pounds of body fat, reduce his body fat percentage to under 10% and to resolve a variety of health issues he was experiencing. He is the author of Lean State University’s Fat Loss 101 Newsletter.

Are Wii Kidding Ourselves? / Author: Matt Lisk

Occupation: Dean of Admissions
Mr. Lisk has lost over 70 pounds of body fat and achieved a sub-10% body fat percentage by applying his knowledge in exercise, nutrition and supplementation. He has found all of the most effective ways to burn fat quickly and keep it off. He is the author of the Fat Loss 101 Newsletter at leanstate.com
http://leanstate.com

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What Are Fat Burning Interval Training Workouts?

What the heck are fat burning interval training workouts? And why aren’t more people doing them?

The other day I saw a pack of joggers shuffling along the streets of Toronto, and I wanted to go over there and yell at the top of my lungs, “If you want to lose weight, why aren’t you doing fat burning interval training workouts?!”

It seems interval training for fat loss just still hasn’t caught on with everyone. So today, I’ll explain…

What is interval training?

How can you do interval training for fat loss?

Who can use interval workouts for fat burning?

We’ve been using interval training since way back in the late ’90s when I was just getting involved in the fat loss industry. I was also using it with athletes but you don’t have to be an athlete to do interval training.

A beginner can do interval training because all interval training means is that you’re going to do hard exercise for a short interval and then you’re going to bring the exercise intensity down to lower than normal intensity, recovery intensity for a very short period as well.

I like to use this example, a beginner who regularly walks on a treadmill at say 3.5 miles per hour, they would do their interval training at a short, hard interval of maybe 30 to 60 seconds at 3.8 miles per hour and then they’d drop all the way down to 3.0 miles per hour for a minute recovery.

So a minute hard, a minute off and that’s interval training for a beginner. That’s how you do fat burning interval training workouts.

It’s still safe and it’s still going to be effective in increasing more what I call life-specific fitness because really anytime we do activity in life, it’s generally not a Sunday stroll.

We’re either climbing stairs or maybe we’re walking faster, trying to run and catch the bus, but we’re not just going at a slow steady pace most of the time.

That’s why I say interval training is more life-specific or life-applicable in terms of its fitness benefits.

Also, research shows that interval training does work better than slow cardio for fat loss. For a more advanced interval training session, it can be done on any type of equipment - obviously, beginners can as well - or you can do it outside, you can do hill walking or hill sprinting or running around the track or you can do mountain biking or you have do biking inside on a stationary bike or elliptical.

You can do anything you pretty much want here that can be done in short bursts and then recover.

You start with your warm-up, your regular warm-up; you make sure you’re really nice and ready to go, especially if you’re doing running because running at high speeds can lead to injury. That’s why I like actually people do interval training on the bike because you can’t fall off it unless you’re really uncoordinated and you really aren’t going to get hurt.

However, sprinting at high velocities of movement can lead to injury a lot more than just biking against resistance. That’s simply why I like the bike.

After you do your warm-up for 5 minutes then you would go into your first interval and I like to say exercise at an 8 out of 10 intensity level - compare that to a 6 out of 10 which would be regular cardio - so you’re doing it a couple notches higher than cardio.

Go at your interval pace for about a minute and then take anywhere from a minute to a minute and a half break down at a very low recovery pace. I don’t care who you are or how fit you think you are, you need to take it EASY during your interval training for fat loss recovery breaks.

That’s a big key here is a lot of people with the cardio mentality think they have to keep their heart rate up high and they work too hard in the recovery period, but if you were running on the treadmill at say 7 miles per hour for your work interval, I’d like you to drop down to a 3.0 miles per hour walk or if you’re biking and it’s Level 10 on a stationary Life Cycle, then take your intensity all the way down to a Level 3 out of 10 for your recovery.

Go very easy, it should be as easy as possible during your recovery period so that you work very hard during the work intervals. That’s all we care about.

It’s not how high your heart rate stays constantly elevated, but that you work hard recover, work hard recover, and then you only need to do about six of those intervals, then do a cool down, stretch any tight muscle groups, and that’s it for the interval training.

It really should take about half the time of a normal cardio workout and you’re going to get more fat-burning results.

Get a free Turbulence Training workout and ask your fat loss questions in the Turbulence Training Membership Forum.

What Are Fat Burning Interval Training Workouts? / Author: craig ballantyne

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The Importance of Drinking Water Filters

Currently, the importance of drinking water filters has increased exponentially. People are very concerned about the quality of their water. They are concerned because of the potential for unhealthy pollutants that make it past the traditional treatment methods. We know that pesticide runoff, nitrates and other harmful substances are making their way into the very water we rely on. For this reason, more and more people are buying their own treatment methods such as a drinking water filter.

Drinking water filters are the best possible technology available for treating water and removing the contaminants. There are many different alternatives available for treating your water. Some are reasonably successful at removing some of the contaminants. It is also a rather expensive option to purchase bottled water on a regular basis. In addition, bottled water is not under the same government regulations as municipal systems. Thus, it may actually contain more contaminants than your basic tap water.

The importance of drinking water filters is enhanced by the need to protect our families from harmful pollutants and contaminants as much as possible. A drinking water filter is once of the best ways we can ensure that the water our family drinks is safe and clean. Studies have shown that not all tap water is particularly safe. Parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium have been found in drinking water because they are resistant to chlorine. These organisms may cause flu like symptoms in people. In addition, serious illnesses in the very old or very young people could occur.

The basis for the foundation of a healthy and full life is to be able to drink clean, chemical free, healthy water. This is possible with an in-home water treatment system such as a drinking water filter. Over seventy percent of the human body is made up of water. Therefore, it would only make sense that we would want only clean healthy water to enter our system. Even a trace amount of chemicals such as chlorine, lead or other contaminants could be harmful to our bodies.

In conclusion, you owe it to your family and to provide clean healthy water, which is why drinking water filters are so important to our health.

We provide the latest information on drinking water filters and their benefits to everyone. We are passionate about water purification and providing people with the best drinking water possible.

By D. Karlson

The Importance of Drinking Water Filters / Author: D. Karlson

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