My Secret For Weight Loss: Short Term FastingBy line: By Brad Pilon, MS
URL: http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.netWord count: 505Related keywords: weight loss secret, diet plan, sensible diet plan, eat fewer calories, burn off fat
If you've been searching for a diet plan that you will not only lose weight with, but have a chance at making a change that will last a lifetime, then you need to look into short term fasting as part of a sensible plan that can help you reach these goals. If you've always dismissed fasting as the domain of the religious fanatics or the political prisoners, then you are in for a surprise.
There are many misconceptions surrounding fasting, and here we'll look into how it can help you not only in your weight loss program, but aid in achieving a better overall you!
In order for any diet plan to work, there is really only one “magic” secret for it to work: eat fewer calories than you burn off. That's it! Think about it - all of the current fad diets rely on teaching you to eat certain proportions of whatever they think is best. Ornish promotes low fat, Atkins low carbs, The Zone a more balanced ratio, but in reality, they all preach smaller amounts, which will lead to weight loss.
The only question with them is can you sustain yourself on these diets? Not many can. I tried the Atkins plan, and even though I'm a meat lover, after a few weeks it was difficult to face all that protein.
Conversely, people report similar difficulty staying with Ornish and the others, simply because of the restrictive nature of these diet plans. One thing that is interesting, however, is that any of these kinds of diets will cause you to lose weight, (by restricting caloric intake) proving that it really doesn't matter what you eat, only that you eat less of it.
I proved this to myself when I was younger by going on a cherry pie and hard-boiled egg diet for 30 days. I lost a bunch of weight, but it obviously wasn't the healthiest plan I could have undertaken. And needless to say, it was not sustainable as a lifestyle. (But it hit the spot for a time!)
I believe that short term fasting, a 24-hour fast once or twice per week, can be a great way to get you into total caloric deficit for the week. Eliminating two full days of eating helps us consume fewer calories than we use, and that in turn can help us reach our goal of weight loss. Of course, you can't eat like Michael Phelps the remaining hours of the week, (Unless you ARE Michael Phelps!) and hope to have a deficit, but in reality, I've found that you don't often have the desire to wolf down excessive amounts of food when following this plan.
Short term fasting is not only the fastest way to achieve caloric deficit, but also, contrary to popular opinion, can actually increase your metabolism during the first 24-36 hours. Short term fasting can be a great aid to helping you lose weight. Give it a try, there's nothing to buy!
****Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional with over eight years experience working in the nutritional supplement industry specializing in clinical research management and new product development. Brad has completed graduate studies in nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss.
His trademarked book Eat Stop Eat has been featured on national television and helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat without sacrificing the foods they love. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, visit http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.net
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Fasting For Long Lasting Weightloss
Using Intermittent Fasting as a Simple Method for Permanent Weight LossBy line: By Brad Pilon, MS
URL: http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.netWord count: 505Related keywords: juice fast, juice fasting, how to fast, weight loss, weekend diet, permanent weight loss.
If you've been looking for a way to lose and keep weight off permanently, then you would do well to consider using intermittent fasting as a method of reducing your caloric intake to aid you in your weight loss quest.
Intermittent fasting is defined as short-term fasts, typically 24-36 hours in length, once or twice per week. These fasts are normally water only. Doing a so-called “juice fast” can defeat the purpose of intermittent fasting altogether, as by its very definition you are consuming large amounts of natural sugars, which can throw off your blood sugar as well as other bodily functions as well. Other types of fasts that emphasize one food or drink (other than water) can be just as worrisome.
Short-term fasts like these are simple to do and they also provide a way to cut your caloric intake rather easily. Imagine knocking off two full days worth of calories from what you've been taking into your body. It makes the task of reducing that much easier.
Of course, replacing those saved calories with massive amounts of food on the other days will negate this aid, but in truth, if you are in tune with what your body is telling you this will not be an issue. Many times we succumb to our mind's indoctrination that we'll somehow starve if we don't get that extra food. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We can survive and indeed thrive on much less food than we've been conditioned to think we need. America, in particular, is notorious when it comes to conspicuous consumption, and if we're not careful, we'll feed our next generation into an early grave with the amount of food we're forcing down their throats. There is no relief or help in sight from either the food industry, government or health organizations. Many are either trying to sell us what they have to offer, the latest diet solution (that won't work!) or deny there's a problem in the first place. (The FDA comes to mind!)
So when push comes to shove the only real way to lose unwanted fat and pounds is to consume less food than we use in calories. It's simple math, and the proof that different types of diets don't matter as much as they'd like you to believe lies in the fact that most of these diets will help you to lose weight. It's being able to sustain that particular diet that becomes the problem. Most are so restrictive that it's next to impossible to do them long-term.
Fasting offers a good alternative, as it's not asking you to add anything, buy anything or do anything apart from abstaining from food for a designated period of time so your body can get into calorie deficit and begin to cleanse itself. You owe it to yourself to look into this further and see if intermittent fasting might be a good idea to add to your weight loss plan.
****Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional with over eight years experience working in the nutritional supplement industry specializing in clinical research management and new product development. Brad has completed graduate studies in nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss.
His trademarked book Eat Stop Eat has been featured on national television and helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat without sacrificing the foods they love. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, visit www.eatstopeat.com
Click for men--->http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.net/?page=male
Click for women--->http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.net/?page=female
URL: http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.netWord count: 505Related keywords: juice fast, juice fasting, how to fast, weight loss, weekend diet, permanent weight loss.
If you've been looking for a way to lose and keep weight off permanently, then you would do well to consider using intermittent fasting as a method of reducing your caloric intake to aid you in your weight loss quest.
Intermittent fasting is defined as short-term fasts, typically 24-36 hours in length, once or twice per week. These fasts are normally water only. Doing a so-called “juice fast” can defeat the purpose of intermittent fasting altogether, as by its very definition you are consuming large amounts of natural sugars, which can throw off your blood sugar as well as other bodily functions as well. Other types of fasts that emphasize one food or drink (other than water) can be just as worrisome.
Short-term fasts like these are simple to do and they also provide a way to cut your caloric intake rather easily. Imagine knocking off two full days worth of calories from what you've been taking into your body. It makes the task of reducing that much easier.
Of course, replacing those saved calories with massive amounts of food on the other days will negate this aid, but in truth, if you are in tune with what your body is telling you this will not be an issue. Many times we succumb to our mind's indoctrination that we'll somehow starve if we don't get that extra food. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We can survive and indeed thrive on much less food than we've been conditioned to think we need. America, in particular, is notorious when it comes to conspicuous consumption, and if we're not careful, we'll feed our next generation into an early grave with the amount of food we're forcing down their throats. There is no relief or help in sight from either the food industry, government or health organizations. Many are either trying to sell us what they have to offer, the latest diet solution (that won't work!) or deny there's a problem in the first place. (The FDA comes to mind!)
So when push comes to shove the only real way to lose unwanted fat and pounds is to consume less food than we use in calories. It's simple math, and the proof that different types of diets don't matter as much as they'd like you to believe lies in the fact that most of these diets will help you to lose weight. It's being able to sustain that particular diet that becomes the problem. Most are so restrictive that it's next to impossible to do them long-term.
Fasting offers a good alternative, as it's not asking you to add anything, buy anything or do anything apart from abstaining from food for a designated period of time so your body can get into calorie deficit and begin to cleanse itself. You owe it to yourself to look into this further and see if intermittent fasting might be a good idea to add to your weight loss plan.
****Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional with over eight years experience working in the nutritional supplement industry specializing in clinical research management and new product development. Brad has completed graduate studies in nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss.
His trademarked book Eat Stop Eat has been featured on national television and helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat without sacrificing the foods they love. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, visit www.eatstopeat.com
Click for men--->http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.net/?page=male
Click for women--->http://totalenvy.eatstopeat.hop.clickbank.net/?page=female
Monday, June 8, 2009
Muscle Fiber Types
Training to Maximize Your Muscle Fiber Types
By Nick Nilsson
Your muscles are made of 2 different types of fibers. Find out what they are, what your personal fiber make-upis and how to train for maximum results.
Knowing your personal muscle fiber make-up can be an invaluable aid when it comes to properly targeting your training program. If you're working your muscles in the wrong way, you'll be cheating yourself out of hard-earned results.
Every muscle in your body is made up of a bundle of small fibers. In each bundle, you have two main types of fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. I will explain exactly what these are in a moment. The percentages of these different fiber types that your muscles are made of can help you determine exactly how you should train each particular muscle group in your body.
Slow Twitch: These are also known as Type I or red muscle fibers. They are responsible for long-duration, low intensity activity such as walking or any other aerobic activity.
Fast Twitch: These are known as Type 2 or white muscle fibers (divided further into A and B). They are responsible for short-duration, high intensity activity. Type 2B fibers are built for explosive, very short-duration activity such as Olympic lifts. Type 2A fibers are designed for short-to-moderate duration, moderate-to-high intensity work, as is seen in most weight training activities.
By looking at elite athletes in different sports, you can see extreme examples of each make-up of muscle fiber. At the slow twitch end is the endurance athlete, such as the marathon runner. These athletes can have up to 80% or more of slow twitch muscle fibers in their bodies, making them extremely efficient over long distances. At the fast twitch end is the sprinter. World-class sprinters can have up to 80% or more of fast twitch muscle fibers in their body, making them extremely fast, strong and powerful but with limited endurance.
---
How to Find Your Muscle Fiber Type:
To find the predominant fiber type in a particular muscle in your body, we need to test the repetition limits of a muscle compared to its maximum strength. Keep in mind, these limits can be altered by your training and are, therefore, just rough estimates.
First, determine your one rep max (known as the 1 RM) for an isolation exercise for that muscle group, e.g. the dumbell curl. Find the weight you can only do one rep with. You want to use an isolation exercise because any exercise that uses any other muscle groups will skew the results.
Once you've figured out your one rep max, take a weight that is 80% of it (multiply your max weight by 0.8 to get this) and do as many reps as possible with it.
- If you can do only 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM, you have mostly fast twitch fibers in that muscle.
The reason you will only be able to do 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM is that fast twitch muscle fibers are strong but don't have great endurance. You will be ableto lift more weight but you be able to do as many reps with it.
- The ability to get approximately ten reps with 80% of your 1 RM is the typical fiber-type mix for a muscle. This works out to about a 50/50 split between fiber types.
- If you can do 12 to 15 or more reps with 80% of your 1 RM, your fiber make-up is probably mostly slow twitch fibers.
Slow-twitch fibers are not as strong but have excellentendurance. This means you won't be able to lift quite as much but you'll be able to do a lot more reps with it.
Repeat this procedure for each muscle group you wish to determine a type for (it will vary from muscle to muscle). By knowing what type of muscle fibers you have, you can tailor your training towards developing them to their maximum potential.
Though there are always differences in individuals, there are some general similarities in fiber types in muscle groups from person to person.
For example, in most people, the outer, visible muscle of the calf (the gastrocnemius) is primarily made of fast twitch fibers while the soleus (which lies underneath the gastrocnemius) has a higher percentage of slow twitch fibers.
Two more examples of this similarity between people include the abdominals and the hamstrings. These two muscle groups are both generally made primarily of fast twitch fibers.
---
How to Train Your Muscle Fiber Type:
When you're training with weights, your goal is to work as many muscle fibers as possible. Affecting more muscle fibers means greater gains in strength and muscle mass.
If your fibers in a particular muscle consist primarily of slow twitch fibers, in order to affect the greatest number of those muscle fibers, you'll need to train that muscle with higher reps, shorter rest periods and higher volume. This is because they take longer to fatigue, they recover quickly and they require more work to maximize growth.
Unfortunately, slow twitch muscle fibers are limited in their potential for growth so even if a muscle group is primarily slow twitch, you should definitely include some lower rep training to maximize the fast twitch fibers you've got in that muscle.
If you find you have a hard time gaining size in a particular muscle, it could be because it has a predominance of slow twitch muscle fibers. Higher reps (e.g. 12 to 15 reps), higher volume (more sets) and shorter rest periods (30 seconds to a minute between sets) can help you to maximize those muscles. This doesn't mean you should use light weight, though. You should still strive to use weights that are as heavy as possible that will cause you to reach failure in those higher rep ranges. If you don't use heavy weights, you won't give your muscles a reason to grow.
If your fibers in a particular muscle group consist primarily of fast twitch muscle fibers, you're one of the lucky ones. You'll have a much easier time building mass in that muscle - fast twitch muscle fibers have greater potential for size than slow twitch. The more fast twitch fibers you've got, the greater your ultimate muscle size can be. These muscles are most likely your strongest and quickest to develop.
To maximize your muscles with fast twitch fibers, you'll need to train with low to moderate reps (e.g. 4 to 8 reps), rest periods of around 1 to 2 minutes and a moderate training volume (too much volume will compromise recovery).
If your muscles have a fairly even mix of fibers, you can evenly divide your training between focusing on the lower-rep, fast twitch fiber training and the higher-rep, slow twitch fiber training. This will help you to develop all the fibers in your muscles, maximizing your ultimate development.
---
Training your muscles according to their fiber type makes sense. It will help you to get better results from your training by allowing you to more specifically target your training according to the exact specifications of your muscles.
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
By Nick Nilsson
Your muscles are made of 2 different types of fibers. Find out what they are, what your personal fiber make-upis and how to train for maximum results.
Knowing your personal muscle fiber make-up can be an invaluable aid when it comes to properly targeting your training program. If you're working your muscles in the wrong way, you'll be cheating yourself out of hard-earned results.
Every muscle in your body is made up of a bundle of small fibers. In each bundle, you have two main types of fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. I will explain exactly what these are in a moment. The percentages of these different fiber types that your muscles are made of can help you determine exactly how you should train each particular muscle group in your body.
Slow Twitch: These are also known as Type I or red muscle fibers. They are responsible for long-duration, low intensity activity such as walking or any other aerobic activity.
Fast Twitch: These are known as Type 2 or white muscle fibers (divided further into A and B). They are responsible for short-duration, high intensity activity. Type 2B fibers are built for explosive, very short-duration activity such as Olympic lifts. Type 2A fibers are designed for short-to-moderate duration, moderate-to-high intensity work, as is seen in most weight training activities.
By looking at elite athletes in different sports, you can see extreme examples of each make-up of muscle fiber. At the slow twitch end is the endurance athlete, such as the marathon runner. These athletes can have up to 80% or more of slow twitch muscle fibers in their bodies, making them extremely efficient over long distances. At the fast twitch end is the sprinter. World-class sprinters can have up to 80% or more of fast twitch muscle fibers in their body, making them extremely fast, strong and powerful but with limited endurance.
---
How to Find Your Muscle Fiber Type:
To find the predominant fiber type in a particular muscle in your body, we need to test the repetition limits of a muscle compared to its maximum strength. Keep in mind, these limits can be altered by your training and are, therefore, just rough estimates.
First, determine your one rep max (known as the 1 RM) for an isolation exercise for that muscle group, e.g. the dumbell curl. Find the weight you can only do one rep with. You want to use an isolation exercise because any exercise that uses any other muscle groups will skew the results.
Once you've figured out your one rep max, take a weight that is 80% of it (multiply your max weight by 0.8 to get this) and do as many reps as possible with it.
- If you can do only 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM, you have mostly fast twitch fibers in that muscle.
The reason you will only be able to do 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM is that fast twitch muscle fibers are strong but don't have great endurance. You will be ableto lift more weight but you be able to do as many reps with it.
- The ability to get approximately ten reps with 80% of your 1 RM is the typical fiber-type mix for a muscle. This works out to about a 50/50 split between fiber types.
- If you can do 12 to 15 or more reps with 80% of your 1 RM, your fiber make-up is probably mostly slow twitch fibers.
Slow-twitch fibers are not as strong but have excellentendurance. This means you won't be able to lift quite as much but you'll be able to do a lot more reps with it.
Repeat this procedure for each muscle group you wish to determine a type for (it will vary from muscle to muscle). By knowing what type of muscle fibers you have, you can tailor your training towards developing them to their maximum potential.
Though there are always differences in individuals, there are some general similarities in fiber types in muscle groups from person to person.
For example, in most people, the outer, visible muscle of the calf (the gastrocnemius) is primarily made of fast twitch fibers while the soleus (which lies underneath the gastrocnemius) has a higher percentage of slow twitch fibers.
Two more examples of this similarity between people include the abdominals and the hamstrings. These two muscle groups are both generally made primarily of fast twitch fibers.
---
How to Train Your Muscle Fiber Type:
When you're training with weights, your goal is to work as many muscle fibers as possible. Affecting more muscle fibers means greater gains in strength and muscle mass.
If your fibers in a particular muscle consist primarily of slow twitch fibers, in order to affect the greatest number of those muscle fibers, you'll need to train that muscle with higher reps, shorter rest periods and higher volume. This is because they take longer to fatigue, they recover quickly and they require more work to maximize growth.
Unfortunately, slow twitch muscle fibers are limited in their potential for growth so even if a muscle group is primarily slow twitch, you should definitely include some lower rep training to maximize the fast twitch fibers you've got in that muscle.
If you find you have a hard time gaining size in a particular muscle, it could be because it has a predominance of slow twitch muscle fibers. Higher reps (e.g. 12 to 15 reps), higher volume (more sets) and shorter rest periods (30 seconds to a minute between sets) can help you to maximize those muscles. This doesn't mean you should use light weight, though. You should still strive to use weights that are as heavy as possible that will cause you to reach failure in those higher rep ranges. If you don't use heavy weights, you won't give your muscles a reason to grow.
If your fibers in a particular muscle group consist primarily of fast twitch muscle fibers, you're one of the lucky ones. You'll have a much easier time building mass in that muscle - fast twitch muscle fibers have greater potential for size than slow twitch. The more fast twitch fibers you've got, the greater your ultimate muscle size can be. These muscles are most likely your strongest and quickest to develop.
To maximize your muscles with fast twitch fibers, you'll need to train with low to moderate reps (e.g. 4 to 8 reps), rest periods of around 1 to 2 minutes and a moderate training volume (too much volume will compromise recovery).
If your muscles have a fairly even mix of fibers, you can evenly divide your training between focusing on the lower-rep, fast twitch fiber training and the higher-rep, slow twitch fiber training. This will help you to develop all the fibers in your muscles, maximizing your ultimate development.
---
Training your muscles according to their fiber type makes sense. It will help you to get better results from your training by allowing you to more specifically target your training according to the exact specifications of your muscles.
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
Stretching For Muscle Growth
How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth
By Nick Nilsson
Not only is stretching important for flexibility,it is CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth.
When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?
Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.
But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!
Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.
The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.
The solution: stretching.
Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.
By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.
The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.
When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.
One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.
Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.
Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.
Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.
You can find instructions for stretching at:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1011
One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
By Nick Nilsson
Not only is stretching important for flexibility,it is CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth.
When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?
Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.
But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!
Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.
The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.
The solution: stretching.
Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.
By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.
The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.
When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.
One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.
Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.
Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.
Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.
You can find instructions for stretching at:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1011
One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
How Fatloss Pills Make You Fatter
How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter
By Nick Nilsson
What the diet industry doesn't want you to know can haveserious long-term effects on your health and bodyfat levels.
There are many good supplements on the market today that are extremely effective for fat loss. Fat loss is big business and this has fueled tremendous developments in technology. There are more high-quality fat burning products out there now than ever before.
Properly used, these supplements can make a big difference in your fat loss efforts, helping you reach your goals far quicker.
Improperly used, however, fat burning supplements can actually make you fatter, no matter how effective they are! In fact, the more effective a supplement is, the worse off you could be!!
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using supplements to help lose fat. I'm all for it. The main problem with fat loss supplements lies with how people use them (and how they are told and encouraged to use them).
Armed with the knowledge in this article, you will learn exactly what you can do to break the diet pill cycle and keep the fat off for good.
The Big Secret
The diet pill and fat loss drug industry is built on ignorance: not theirs, yours.
Many of these companies bank on that fact that people generally don't know a whole lot about fat loss or supplements. They are in the business of selling shortcuts to you so that you don't have to know anything about fat loss. The reason for this is simple: if people knew a lot about fat loss, they wouldn't need fat loss products anymore and the companies would go out of business.
As backwards as it seems, the diet industry can only stay profitable by keeping people fat.
Look at the typical business.
They do their best to keep customers coming back to them. That's how they make money. Why would the diet industry be any different? If you lose fat and maintain that fat loss you won't need to lose fat anymore. You won't be their customer anymore!
As little business sense as it makes, the ideal situation would be to have companies that are dedicated to the goal of losing customers. If they do their job, you will lose fat and keep it off and never need them again! As a personal trainer, my goal has always been to train people so thoroughly that they don't need me anymore.
Is this sort of reform going to happen in the diet industry? Not likely. But there is something you can do to stop the cycle (you are doing it right now): LEARN!
How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter
The bottom line is...fat loss pills work. This is both the best thing about them and the worst thing about them.
When you take a good fat burning supplement, you lose a lot of fat, you feel better about yourself and you are happy, right? This is the best thing about fat loss supplements.
The worst thing about these supplements is that because they work so well, you don't have to change your eating or exercise habits to accomplish your goals. You get results simply by taking a little pill.
Does this phrase sound familiar: "Eat whatever you want and still lose weight!"
Here's the scenario: you take the pills and you lose all the weight you want. What happens when you stop taking the supplement once you've reached your goals? Since you haven't had to change your eating or exercise habits, you regain the weight. Then you buy their pills again and start the same cycle again! It is very similar to the yo-yo diet syndrome of weight loss and regain.
How do you break this cycle? The solution is very simple though it may not be glamorous or easy: you learn to eat properly and you exercise regularly.
When you remove your dependence on fat loss pills to lose fat (through education, nutrition and exercise), you free yourself to use them to enhance your efforts, not anchor them. You will be able to lose your extra fat and keep it off without having to depend on fat loss pills to make it happen.
For more information on fat loss and how to accomplish it through exercise and nutrition, I recommend the following articles, available in the BetterU News Archive:
1. What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1046
2. 10 Things You Can Do To Lose Fat Without Even Trying http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1030
3. I Didn't Realize How Important Protein Was For Fat Loss Until I Discovered Something That Blew My Mind...http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1045
4. Seven Quick Tips To Speed Up Your Metabolism and Burn Fat Fasterhttp://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1005
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com
By Nick Nilsson
What the diet industry doesn't want you to know can haveserious long-term effects on your health and bodyfat levels.
There are many good supplements on the market today that are extremely effective for fat loss. Fat loss is big business and this has fueled tremendous developments in technology. There are more high-quality fat burning products out there now than ever before.
Properly used, these supplements can make a big difference in your fat loss efforts, helping you reach your goals far quicker.
Improperly used, however, fat burning supplements can actually make you fatter, no matter how effective they are! In fact, the more effective a supplement is, the worse off you could be!!
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using supplements to help lose fat. I'm all for it. The main problem with fat loss supplements lies with how people use them (and how they are told and encouraged to use them).
Armed with the knowledge in this article, you will learn exactly what you can do to break the diet pill cycle and keep the fat off for good.
The Big Secret
The diet pill and fat loss drug industry is built on ignorance: not theirs, yours.
Many of these companies bank on that fact that people generally don't know a whole lot about fat loss or supplements. They are in the business of selling shortcuts to you so that you don't have to know anything about fat loss. The reason for this is simple: if people knew a lot about fat loss, they wouldn't need fat loss products anymore and the companies would go out of business.
As backwards as it seems, the diet industry can only stay profitable by keeping people fat.
Look at the typical business.
They do their best to keep customers coming back to them. That's how they make money. Why would the diet industry be any different? If you lose fat and maintain that fat loss you won't need to lose fat anymore. You won't be their customer anymore!
As little business sense as it makes, the ideal situation would be to have companies that are dedicated to the goal of losing customers. If they do their job, you will lose fat and keep it off and never need them again! As a personal trainer, my goal has always been to train people so thoroughly that they don't need me anymore.
Is this sort of reform going to happen in the diet industry? Not likely. But there is something you can do to stop the cycle (you are doing it right now): LEARN!
How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter
The bottom line is...fat loss pills work. This is both the best thing about them and the worst thing about them.
When you take a good fat burning supplement, you lose a lot of fat, you feel better about yourself and you are happy, right? This is the best thing about fat loss supplements.
The worst thing about these supplements is that because they work so well, you don't have to change your eating or exercise habits to accomplish your goals. You get results simply by taking a little pill.
Does this phrase sound familiar: "Eat whatever you want and still lose weight!"
Here's the scenario: you take the pills and you lose all the weight you want. What happens when you stop taking the supplement once you've reached your goals? Since you haven't had to change your eating or exercise habits, you regain the weight. Then you buy their pills again and start the same cycle again! It is very similar to the yo-yo diet syndrome of weight loss and regain.
How do you break this cycle? The solution is very simple though it may not be glamorous or easy: you learn to eat properly and you exercise regularly.
When you remove your dependence on fat loss pills to lose fat (through education, nutrition and exercise), you free yourself to use them to enhance your efforts, not anchor them. You will be able to lose your extra fat and keep it off without having to depend on fat loss pills to make it happen.
For more information on fat loss and how to accomplish it through exercise and nutrition, I recommend the following articles, available in the BetterU News Archive:
1. What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1046
2. 10 Things You Can Do To Lose Fat Without Even Trying http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1030
3. I Didn't Realize How Important Protein Was For Fat Loss Until I Discovered Something That Blew My Mind...http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1045
4. Seven Quick Tips To Speed Up Your Metabolism and Burn Fat Fasterhttp://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1005
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com
Weight Training For Weightloss
Follow the Path of MOST Resistance!
By Nick Nilsson
Why weight training is the fast track to sculpting your body.
Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body for the better quickly and permanently, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned weight training.
The shape of your body is determined by three things: muscle, bone and fat. While there's really nothing you can do about changing your bone structure, there is a whole lot you can do about muscle and fat. This ratio of muscle to fat is commonly known as your body composition.
And what is the fastest way to change your body composition? Weight training. Why is it so effective? Because it builds muscle.
Muscle is the key to changing your body. While fat certainly gives your body shape, muscle is what gives you the shape you actually WANT!
One of the greatest things about muscle is that it burns calories all day long, even when you're lying on the couch. What this means is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn during the day and the more you'll be able to eat without gaining weight. Sound interesting? There's more.
Weight training stimulates your metabolism more than aerobic training such as cycling or walking. This means that you'll continue to burn calories long AFTER you've completed your weight training session. The calorie-burning effect of aerobic training generally declines rapidly once you stop the exercise.
Beginning trainers, who are just starting with exercise, are often under the impression that they should stay away from weight training because they might gain weight before they start losing it.
I like to use a car as an analogy. Imagine your body is a car, your muscles are the cylinders in the engine, and your bodyfat is the gas.
With a four-cylinder car, you only burn a minimum amount of gas/fat. Weight training and building more muscle is the equivalent of putting more cylinders into your engine. As you can imagine, you'll burn a whole lot more gas even while idling! And, just like a car with more cylinders, you'll be a lot more powerful too!
The bottom line to you is this...with more muscle, you'll get greater fat loss with less effort.
While it certainly is a possibility that you could gain weight before losing it, if you gauge your success solely by numbers on a scale then you're not getting an accurate picture of yourself. Measure your progress by how you feel, how you look and how well your clothes are fitting, not by which direction the needle on a measuring device is moving.
At the end of the day, I'm not suggesting for a moment that you should eliminate cardiovascular training from your exercise routine, but, if you are struggling to lose fat and keep it off, weight training may be just the thing you need to lose that fat and keep it off for good!
For more information on resistance exercises you can do at home, go to:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1089
For more information on weight training exercises you can do at the gym, including optimized exercise technique, tricks for improving the exercise and common errors, go to:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1025
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com
By Nick Nilsson
Why weight training is the fast track to sculpting your body.
Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body for the better quickly and permanently, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned weight training.
The shape of your body is determined by three things: muscle, bone and fat. While there's really nothing you can do about changing your bone structure, there is a whole lot you can do about muscle and fat. This ratio of muscle to fat is commonly known as your body composition.
And what is the fastest way to change your body composition? Weight training. Why is it so effective? Because it builds muscle.
Muscle is the key to changing your body. While fat certainly gives your body shape, muscle is what gives you the shape you actually WANT!
One of the greatest things about muscle is that it burns calories all day long, even when you're lying on the couch. What this means is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn during the day and the more you'll be able to eat without gaining weight. Sound interesting? There's more.
Weight training stimulates your metabolism more than aerobic training such as cycling or walking. This means that you'll continue to burn calories long AFTER you've completed your weight training session. The calorie-burning effect of aerobic training generally declines rapidly once you stop the exercise.
Beginning trainers, who are just starting with exercise, are often under the impression that they should stay away from weight training because they might gain weight before they start losing it.
I like to use a car as an analogy. Imagine your body is a car, your muscles are the cylinders in the engine, and your bodyfat is the gas.
With a four-cylinder car, you only burn a minimum amount of gas/fat. Weight training and building more muscle is the equivalent of putting more cylinders into your engine. As you can imagine, you'll burn a whole lot more gas even while idling! And, just like a car with more cylinders, you'll be a lot more powerful too!
The bottom line to you is this...with more muscle, you'll get greater fat loss with less effort.
While it certainly is a possibility that you could gain weight before losing it, if you gauge your success solely by numbers on a scale then you're not getting an accurate picture of yourself. Measure your progress by how you feel, how you look and how well your clothes are fitting, not by which direction the needle on a measuring device is moving.
At the end of the day, I'm not suggesting for a moment that you should eliminate cardiovascular training from your exercise routine, but, if you are struggling to lose fat and keep it off, weight training may be just the thing you need to lose that fat and keep it off for good!
For more information on resistance exercises you can do at home, go to:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1089
For more information on weight training exercises you can do at the gym, including optimized exercise technique, tricks for improving the exercise and common errors, go to:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=1025
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Upside Down Training Program
The Upsidedown Training Program - Learn How To Train Completely "Wrong" To Get Fantastic Results in Strength and Muscle Mass
By Nick Nilsson
This 5 week training program will literally turn your training Upsidedown. Learnhow working your small bodyparts FIRST can help you make BIG gains inEVERY single muscle group...even the major ones that you're going to work LAST!
If you've been training awhile, you've no doubt experienced the dreaded "plateau." It's a terrible place where, no matter how hard you try and no matter what you do, nothing seems to happen. Well, you're in luck...busting plateaus is my speciality!
The Upsidedown Training Program is one of my favorite "shake-up" programs and it's a pretty simple one. It's most useful when you find your smaller muscle groups are slowing down in development because, like a good trainer should, you're always doing the "big" exercises (like squats, deadlifts, barbell rows and bench press) first.
It's also VERY useful when you find you're not making progress in your big exercises too! I'll tell you more about THAT as you keep reading...
One of the best ways to smash through a plateau is to go completely OPPOSITE to what all the "rules" of training say. But then again, I'm not really one to follow the "rules" to begin with!
So today, I'm going to tell you basically (from a training standpoint) when and how to eat your dessert first and why it can work wonders for you in the short term and long term.
Here's the deal...conventional wisdom (a.k.a. the "rules") says "train your largest muscle groups first using the heavier exercises." This is how to you maximize the overall load on your entire body and prioritize your workload. Totally true - nothing wrong with that. Working the big muscles first generally gives you the most bang for your buck.
But what I've found is that eventually, if you keep training the big muscles first, you don't leave a lot of energy for the smaller muscles. Not a big deal for the most part...the simple truth is that the big exercises also tend to work the smaller muscles pretty hard, too.
For instance, if you're doing barbell rows, you can be quite sure your biceps are getting great stimulation as well. The same goes for bench pressing and your triceps.
When it comes to what order to work bodyparts, a standard program might look like this: chest, then shoulders then triceps...or back then biceps...or thighs then calves.
But now we're going to turn conventional wisdom COMPLETELY UPSIDEDOWN and, for a short time, work the SMALL muscles first and follow that with working the BIG muscles after. Of course, this totally goes against conventional wisdom, but who cares! The workout police aren't going to drag you out of the gym if you hit your biceps before you work your back.
So what are the reasons working the small muscles first can be so effective? Glad you asked!
1. It Gives Your Body a Break
If you've been doing the big exercises and training the big muscles for a long time, your body is going to get beaten down. Squats and deadlifts are demanding and pushing yourself hard on those takes its toll. By working the small muscles first, you're going to have less energy to destroy yourself on the big exercises, basically forcing your body to take a break from the constant pounding. This forced back-off results in a rebound effect and can actually increase your strength when you come back to hitting the big exercises first!
2. It Gives Your MIND a Break
Ever have that feeling of dread when you walk up to a fully-loaded bar to do some heavy squats? If so, that's a good sign you need to back off. Working the smaller muscles first changes your whole mindset when it comes to training. Doing a set of heavy pushdowns isn't nearly as daunting as pushing heavy squats. The reduced overall workload on the body also helps your neurological system recover from previous heavy training.
3. Focusing on The Small Muscles Gives THEM a Chance To Grow
With Upsidedown Training, you're going to hit the smaller muscles with greater volume, intensity and weight than you normally do, spurring growth and development in those small muscles beyond what they were capable of before. This leads to more rapid results in the smaller parts!
4. Strengthens Your Weak Links
Shoring up and strengthening the smaller muscles (which are usually the weakest links in the big exercises) can have a HUGE impact on your strength on those big exercises. Think of it this way...you'll suddenly have much stronger triceps. How will that affect your bench press, especially if triceps were a weak point of your benching? Your numbers will automatically go up. If your biceps always failed first with heavy rows? Now they can keep up with your back and you get more reps. Your back will grow when you go back to regular training.
Taking these 4 reasons into account, you've got yourself one powerful training program!
So when you do Upsidedown Training, you're going to work the small parts FIRST with more sets than the big parts. It's going to feel VERY strange the first time you do it (trust me) and you'll feel like you're doing something wrong.
But perform this Upsidedown program for 3 weeks and you'll see a difference not only in your smaller parts but (after you're done with the program) how you perform in your BIG exercises as well. Plus, it's fun to have the energy to really hit those smaller parts hard!
---------------------------------- How To Do It----------------------------------
While there are many ways you can structure this type of program, what I've found to provide the best results is a schedule that increases your training volume (number of sets) week by week while at the same time decreasing your rest periods in between sets. This essentially FORCES adaptation in the muscles by gradually making them do more work in a specific timeframe.
If you've ever used the "Big Beyond Belief" training system that came out a number of years ago, the framework of this program will look familiar to you. The overtraining concept (increase training volume while decreasing rest periods) they make use of in that program is VERY effective! Forcing overtraining through manipulation of these variables is a tried and true method that's been around a long time.
At the end of the 3 weeks, we will switch back to a "bigger-parts-first" type of training style, backing off on the number of sets and increasing the rest periods between sets. Your body will play "catch-up" and you should see some impressive results! You can continue on this back-off program for more than 2 weeks if you find you're still getting good results.
When it comes to exercise selection, try to stick with the "big" type of exercises even for the small bodyparts. For example, for biceps, use barbell curls, incline dumbell curls, Preacher curls, etc. For triceps, use dips, close grip bench press, lying tricep extensions, etc. For calves, use seated, standing and donkey calf raises. For shoulders, use dumbell and barbell shoulder presss.
When you work with chest, do bench pressing...for back, use barbell rows, chins and deadlifts...and for thighs, squats, stiff-legged deadlifts and leg curls.
In the program outline, I've included suggested rep ranges that I recommend for this program as well. The rep ranges are there to help you select an appropriate weight to use for your sets. Work a weight with which you will reach muscular failure (the point at which you can't do another rep in good form) in and around that rep range. Be sure to push yourself!
When it comes to splitting up the available sets, when the program calls for 4 sets, you can choose to do all 4 sets of the same exercise or mix things up (e.g. doing 2 sets of 1 exercise and 2 sets of another exercise or 3 sets of 1 and 1 set of another). Don't do more than 2 different exercises, though, because then you're spending too much time setting up and taking down exercises.
When you're working the BIG muscles, stick with just ONE exercise to keep things simple, e.g. do all your sets for chest using the bench press.
4 Training Days Per Week - 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 offI'll tell you how to modify it for a 3 training day schedule at the bottom.
Training Days - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Rest Days - Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday
WEEK 1
Rest period - 90 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Triceps{4},Shoulders{4},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{4},Calves{4},Hamstrings{2},Back{2},Abs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 3 Triceps{4},Shoulders{4},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{4},Calves{4},Hamstrings{2},Back{2},Abs{2} 13-15 reps
WEEK 2
Rest period - 60 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Triceps{5},Shoulders{5},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{5},Calves{5},Hamstrings{3},Back{2},Abs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 3 Triceps{5},Shoulders{5},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{5},Calves{5},Hamstrings{3},Back{2},Abs{2} 10-12 reps
(Note how we have decreased the rest time in between sets and increased the number of sets by one. This is the beginning of the increased demand on the body.
WEEK 3
Rest period - 45 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Tricep{6},Shoulders{6},Chest{3},Thighs{3} 8-10 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{6},Calves{6},Hamstrings{4},Back{3},Abs{2} 8-10 reps
DAY 3 Tricep{6},Shoulders{6},Chest{3},Thighs{3} 8-10 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{6},Calves{6},Hamstrings{4},Back{3},Abs{2} 8-10 reps
This week will be the toughest week. We have increased the number of sets and decreased the rest time again. Towards the end of the week you should be feeling pretty rough!
WEEKS 4 and 5 (and beyond, if you like)
Rest period - 120 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Chest{3},Thighs{4},Shoulders{3},Triceps{3} 6-8 reps
DAY 2 Back{4}.Hamstrings{3},Biceps{3},Calves{2},Abs{2} 6-8 reps
DAY 3 Back{3},Chest{3},Thighs{3},Shoulders{1},Hamstrings{1},Biceps{1}.Triceps{1},Abs{1} 6-8 reps
DAY 4 3 Back{3},Chest{3},Thighs{3},Shoulders{1},Hamstrings{1},Biceps{1}.Triceps{1},Abs{1} 6-8 reps
Note the decrease in rep range, the decrease in the number of sets you are doing, and the increase in rest time. This is the easy phase where your body plays catch-up with recovery. Don't back off on intensity, however. Keep pushing all your exercises to muscular failure!
In these 2 weeks, you're going to be going back to the bigger-parts-first type of thing. You should notice increased strength in your bigger exercises as your smaller part training shored up the weak points of some of your exercises.
As I mentioned above, you can keep going with this program for longer than 2 weeks, as long as you're still seeing results.
As for modifying the 4 day schedule to a 3 day schedule, that's easily done. Basically, do the first two days as-is but just have a day of rest in between. Then for the third session, combine Day 3 and 4 into a single total-body workout.On the "regular" program that you move to after doing 3 weeks on this, just do one of the total-body workouts for that training day.
---
Conclusion:
If you're ready for a change of pace, take the Upsidedown Training Program for a test drive. I think you'll not only have fun with it but also get great results in both strength and muscle growth ! It'll help you blast through your plateaus with ease.
*** NOTE: This program was taken directly from my site "Powerful Training Secrets."
On this site, you'll find TONS of unique training information, including totally new exercises, programs, fat-loss info, muscle and strength building techniques and MUCH more.
If you're interested in getting the most out of your training or if you're in a rut and want to shake things up and get your zest back for training, check it out now! I've got a pile of great samples that you can for a test drive right now!
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=3000
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
By Nick Nilsson
This 5 week training program will literally turn your training Upsidedown. Learnhow working your small bodyparts FIRST can help you make BIG gains inEVERY single muscle group...even the major ones that you're going to work LAST!
If you've been training awhile, you've no doubt experienced the dreaded "plateau." It's a terrible place where, no matter how hard you try and no matter what you do, nothing seems to happen. Well, you're in luck...busting plateaus is my speciality!
The Upsidedown Training Program is one of my favorite "shake-up" programs and it's a pretty simple one. It's most useful when you find your smaller muscle groups are slowing down in development because, like a good trainer should, you're always doing the "big" exercises (like squats, deadlifts, barbell rows and bench press) first.
It's also VERY useful when you find you're not making progress in your big exercises too! I'll tell you more about THAT as you keep reading...
One of the best ways to smash through a plateau is to go completely OPPOSITE to what all the "rules" of training say. But then again, I'm not really one to follow the "rules" to begin with!
So today, I'm going to tell you basically (from a training standpoint) when and how to eat your dessert first and why it can work wonders for you in the short term and long term.
Here's the deal...conventional wisdom (a.k.a. the "rules") says "train your largest muscle groups first using the heavier exercises." This is how to you maximize the overall load on your entire body and prioritize your workload. Totally true - nothing wrong with that. Working the big muscles first generally gives you the most bang for your buck.
But what I've found is that eventually, if you keep training the big muscles first, you don't leave a lot of energy for the smaller muscles. Not a big deal for the most part...the simple truth is that the big exercises also tend to work the smaller muscles pretty hard, too.
For instance, if you're doing barbell rows, you can be quite sure your biceps are getting great stimulation as well. The same goes for bench pressing and your triceps.
When it comes to what order to work bodyparts, a standard program might look like this: chest, then shoulders then triceps...or back then biceps...or thighs then calves.
But now we're going to turn conventional wisdom COMPLETELY UPSIDEDOWN and, for a short time, work the SMALL muscles first and follow that with working the BIG muscles after. Of course, this totally goes against conventional wisdom, but who cares! The workout police aren't going to drag you out of the gym if you hit your biceps before you work your back.
So what are the reasons working the small muscles first can be so effective? Glad you asked!
1. It Gives Your Body a Break
If you've been doing the big exercises and training the big muscles for a long time, your body is going to get beaten down. Squats and deadlifts are demanding and pushing yourself hard on those takes its toll. By working the small muscles first, you're going to have less energy to destroy yourself on the big exercises, basically forcing your body to take a break from the constant pounding. This forced back-off results in a rebound effect and can actually increase your strength when you come back to hitting the big exercises first!
2. It Gives Your MIND a Break
Ever have that feeling of dread when you walk up to a fully-loaded bar to do some heavy squats? If so, that's a good sign you need to back off. Working the smaller muscles first changes your whole mindset when it comes to training. Doing a set of heavy pushdowns isn't nearly as daunting as pushing heavy squats. The reduced overall workload on the body also helps your neurological system recover from previous heavy training.
3. Focusing on The Small Muscles Gives THEM a Chance To Grow
With Upsidedown Training, you're going to hit the smaller muscles with greater volume, intensity and weight than you normally do, spurring growth and development in those small muscles beyond what they were capable of before. This leads to more rapid results in the smaller parts!
4. Strengthens Your Weak Links
Shoring up and strengthening the smaller muscles (which are usually the weakest links in the big exercises) can have a HUGE impact on your strength on those big exercises. Think of it this way...you'll suddenly have much stronger triceps. How will that affect your bench press, especially if triceps were a weak point of your benching? Your numbers will automatically go up. If your biceps always failed first with heavy rows? Now they can keep up with your back and you get more reps. Your back will grow when you go back to regular training.
Taking these 4 reasons into account, you've got yourself one powerful training program!
So when you do Upsidedown Training, you're going to work the small parts FIRST with more sets than the big parts. It's going to feel VERY strange the first time you do it (trust me) and you'll feel like you're doing something wrong.
But perform this Upsidedown program for 3 weeks and you'll see a difference not only in your smaller parts but (after you're done with the program) how you perform in your BIG exercises as well. Plus, it's fun to have the energy to really hit those smaller parts hard!
---------------------------------- How To Do It----------------------------------
While there are many ways you can structure this type of program, what I've found to provide the best results is a schedule that increases your training volume (number of sets) week by week while at the same time decreasing your rest periods in between sets. This essentially FORCES adaptation in the muscles by gradually making them do more work in a specific timeframe.
If you've ever used the "Big Beyond Belief" training system that came out a number of years ago, the framework of this program will look familiar to you. The overtraining concept (increase training volume while decreasing rest periods) they make use of in that program is VERY effective! Forcing overtraining through manipulation of these variables is a tried and true method that's been around a long time.
At the end of the 3 weeks, we will switch back to a "bigger-parts-first" type of training style, backing off on the number of sets and increasing the rest periods between sets. Your body will play "catch-up" and you should see some impressive results! You can continue on this back-off program for more than 2 weeks if you find you're still getting good results.
When it comes to exercise selection, try to stick with the "big" type of exercises even for the small bodyparts. For example, for biceps, use barbell curls, incline dumbell curls, Preacher curls, etc. For triceps, use dips, close grip bench press, lying tricep extensions, etc. For calves, use seated, standing and donkey calf raises. For shoulders, use dumbell and barbell shoulder presss.
When you work with chest, do bench pressing...for back, use barbell rows, chins and deadlifts...and for thighs, squats, stiff-legged deadlifts and leg curls.
In the program outline, I've included suggested rep ranges that I recommend for this program as well. The rep ranges are there to help you select an appropriate weight to use for your sets. Work a weight with which you will reach muscular failure (the point at which you can't do another rep in good form) in and around that rep range. Be sure to push yourself!
When it comes to splitting up the available sets, when the program calls for 4 sets, you can choose to do all 4 sets of the same exercise or mix things up (e.g. doing 2 sets of 1 exercise and 2 sets of another exercise or 3 sets of 1 and 1 set of another). Don't do more than 2 different exercises, though, because then you're spending too much time setting up and taking down exercises.
When you're working the BIG muscles, stick with just ONE exercise to keep things simple, e.g. do all your sets for chest using the bench press.
4 Training Days Per Week - 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 offI'll tell you how to modify it for a 3 training day schedule at the bottom.
Training Days - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Rest Days - Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday
WEEK 1
Rest period - 90 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Triceps{4},Shoulders{4},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{4},Calves{4},Hamstrings{2},Back{2},Abs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 3 Triceps{4},Shoulders{4},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 13-15 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{4},Calves{4},Hamstrings{2},Back{2},Abs{2} 13-15 reps
WEEK 2
Rest period - 60 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Triceps{5},Shoulders{5},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{5},Calves{5},Hamstrings{3},Back{2},Abs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 3 Triceps{5},Shoulders{5},Chest{2},Thighs{2} 10-12 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{5},Calves{5},Hamstrings{3},Back{2},Abs{2} 10-12 reps
(Note how we have decreased the rest time in between sets and increased the number of sets by one. This is the beginning of the increased demand on the body.
WEEK 3
Rest period - 45 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Tricep{6},Shoulders{6},Chest{3},Thighs{3} 8-10 reps
DAY 2 Biceps{6},Calves{6},Hamstrings{4},Back{3},Abs{2} 8-10 reps
DAY 3 Tricep{6},Shoulders{6},Chest{3},Thighs{3} 8-10 reps
DAY 4 Biceps{6},Calves{6},Hamstrings{4},Back{3},Abs{2} 8-10 reps
This week will be the toughest week. We have increased the number of sets and decreased the rest time again. Towards the end of the week you should be feeling pretty rough!
WEEKS 4 and 5 (and beyond, if you like)
Rest period - 120 seconds between sets
DAY 1 Chest{3},Thighs{4},Shoulders{3},Triceps{3} 6-8 reps
DAY 2 Back{4}.Hamstrings{3},Biceps{3},Calves{2},Abs{2} 6-8 reps
DAY 3 Back{3},Chest{3},Thighs{3},Shoulders{1},Hamstrings{1},Biceps{1}.Triceps{1},Abs{1} 6-8 reps
DAY 4 3 Back{3},Chest{3},Thighs{3},Shoulders{1},Hamstrings{1},Biceps{1}.Triceps{1},Abs{1} 6-8 reps
Note the decrease in rep range, the decrease in the number of sets you are doing, and the increase in rest time. This is the easy phase where your body plays catch-up with recovery. Don't back off on intensity, however. Keep pushing all your exercises to muscular failure!
In these 2 weeks, you're going to be going back to the bigger-parts-first type of thing. You should notice increased strength in your bigger exercises as your smaller part training shored up the weak points of some of your exercises.
As I mentioned above, you can keep going with this program for longer than 2 weeks, as long as you're still seeing results.
As for modifying the 4 day schedule to a 3 day schedule, that's easily done. Basically, do the first two days as-is but just have a day of rest in between. Then for the third session, combine Day 3 and 4 into a single total-body workout.On the "regular" program that you move to after doing 3 weeks on this, just do one of the total-body workouts for that training day.
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Conclusion:
If you're ready for a change of pace, take the Upsidedown Training Program for a test drive. I think you'll not only have fun with it but also get great results in both strength and muscle growth ! It'll help you blast through your plateaus with ease.
*** NOTE: This program was taken directly from my site "Powerful Training Secrets."
On this site, you'll find TONS of unique training information, including totally new exercises, programs, fat-loss info, muscle and strength building techniques and MUCH more.
If you're interested in getting the most out of your training or if you're in a rut and want to shake things up and get your zest back for training, check it out now! I've got a pile of great samples that you can for a test drive right now!
http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru&l=3000
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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?totalenvy/betteru). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
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