Health Care

Incorporating these tips into the bent-over lateral movement will target your rear delts like a laser beam!

For pictures on how to execute this technique go the following URL: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue10-delt-tip.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6667 Secret Training Tip #242 - Be 10% Stronger in Leg Curls Instantly! This is a trick to be done on a leg curl machine. By simply changing where you grip your hands on the machine, you can increase your strength in the movement by as much as 10% instantly!

Lie face down on the bench as you normally would when doing the exercise. Instead of gripping the machine on the handles below the bench with your arms bent, extend your arms straight overhead in front and grab on to whatever is there. This is generally the frame on either side of the weight stack. Be aware that this trick will not work if there is nothing there to grab - some machines just end at the bench and have the weights stack to the side or behind.

Do your leg curls as you usually would but using this different grip. You should feel stronger when doing them.

One of the best ways to see this principle in action is to do a set as you normally would with your normal grip for about 10 to 12 reps. When you can’t do any more reps, switch to the grip as explained above. You should be able to get a few more reps out.

When using this grip you should also find that you can use a little more weight than you usually do for reps.

The reason this trick works is that having your arms straight removes your biceps as the limiting link in the exercise. It transfers the force through your stronger back muscles instead, resulting in instant increased strength!

For information on how to do the leg curl exercise, go to http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Leg_curls.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6668 10 Things You Can Do To Lose Fat Without Even Trying 1. Eat smaller more frequent meals - not only is your metabolism boosted every time you eat something, your body can more efficiently process smaller meals. Instead of having 3 large meals in a day, try to break them up into 5 or 6 smaller meals.

2. Drink more water - regular water intake helps to flush away waste products in the body. Get at least six to eight 8 oz. glasses per day. An easy way to do this is to keep a water bottle handy and drink from it frequently.

3. Be inefficient - do you need to go to the kitchen to get a couple of things? Break it up into to two trips even if you can do it in one. Being inefficient like this can easily double your activity level, burning calories without even trying.

4. Eat more protein - sources of protein include foods such as chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, lean red meats, etc. Your body burns more calories processing protein than either carbohydrates or fats. Protein also helps to support your muscle tissue, which burns calories all day long!

5. Take the stairs instead of the elevator - any time you can add in a little more physical activity, do it. This doesn’t mean you need to slog up 20 flights of stairs. Even a flight or two done regularly will add up.

6. Don’t let yourself get hungry - when you get hungry you will have a much greater tendency to overeat when you do finally get something to eat. As well, because your body is starting to go into starvation mode, it will be much more likely to hold onto whatever you give it.

7. Order small portions at restaurants - it’s tough to order small french fries when supersizing your order is such a great value. Take note, however, your real savings will occur in the calories that don’t end up on your backside.

8. Eat more fiber - fiber is very filling. By eating more fiber you will find yourself full sooner. This feeling of fullness will last a long time as well.

9. Wait 20 minutes between servings - your brain takes at least 20 minutes to register that you’re full. By waiting that long, you’ll give your brain a chance to realize that you don’t really need any more food.

10. Cheat on your diet - one thing I always make my clients promise is that they will cheat on their diet. The only thing I ask that they do is to cheat ONLY when they have planned to cheat. By planning when you are going to eat the foods you crave, you take back control of your eating habits.

This way you no longer give in to your cravings. You reward yourself for sticking to proper nutritional habits. Do this once or twice a week and you will feel far more in control of your eating.

In conclusion, if you follow even a few of these 10 easy tips in the long term, you will certainly notice a difference in your overall weight and health.

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6669 How Stretching Can Explode Your 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://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Stretching1.htm

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.

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6670 Most Amazing (and Ridiculously Simple) Trick For Stiff-Legged Deadlifts You Will Ever Read In Your L The stiff-legged deadlift is one of the best exercises you can do for your hamstrings. The only problem is, it can also be one the hardest exercises to perform properly.

For years, I tried to feel my hamstrings working when I did the stiff-legged deadlift. I knew it was the best exercise to work the hip extension function of the hamstrings but I never succeeded in feeling my hams work until I came up with this simple technique.

Let me tell you, the very rep of the very first set I used this technique on, I could feel my hamstrings like never before! It was like a revelation. It was also extraordinarily simple. I guarantee if you’ve never had success with stiff-legged deadlifts, you will definitely have it after applying this technique.

The trick? Elevate your toes on weight plates while you do the exercise. That’s it! It’s very simple but very elegant in the way it addresses the kinesiology and anatomy of the hamstrings. I will explain exactly how to set it up and the mechanisms of why it works so incredibly well.

How To Do It:

Set two 25-pound weight plates on the ground butted up against each other (one for each foot). They should be right beneath the barbell you will be using for the exercise and placed side-by-side so you can set your feet on both of them.

Stand in front of the barbell with your feet half on the plates and half off. The front parts of your feet will be on the plates and your heels will be on the ground. Use the weight plates to brace your feet up so that your toes are up in the air and your feet are flexed up (known as dorsiflexion). At the end of this article you will find a link to a picture of how to set up this exercise.

Bend over and grasp the bar at about shoulder width with an overhand grip. Keep your knees locked but slightly bent while doing this exercise and keep a tight arch in your lower back.

Look directly forward while you are coming up and going back down. This will help you to keep an arch in your lower back.

Squeeze the bar off the ground slowly and deliberately, coming up only until your upper body is slightly above parallel. Any higher and you’ll start to lose tension in the hamstrings and throw it on your lower back. The real value of this exercise lies in the stretch at the bottom anyways.

Come down slowly, being absolutely sure to keep the arch in your lower back. As you near the bottom, stick your butt out and try to raise your toes as high up as possible. This dramatically intensifies the stretch you put on your hamstrings. Hold that stretch for a moment or two then reverse the direction without bouncing.

Repeat this for 5 to 7 reps. At the end of the set, place the barbell down gently then get ready to grab onto something for support. If you’ve done this technique correctly and intensely, your hamstrings will probably feel like jelly and you might find yourself prone to falling down suddenly (this is not a joke - I can’t tell you how many things I’ve had grab onto to catch myself on after doing a hard set of these)!

Why Is This Technique So Effective?

The reason this toe-raising technique is so effective for the stiff-legged deadlift comes straight from biomechanics and anatomy.

The stiff-legged deadlift exercise places the most tension on the hamstrings at the bottom, stretched position. Therefore, in order to maximize tension on the hamstrings, we must maximize the stretch on the hamstrings at that point.

In the standard stiff-legged deadlift, this is normally accomplished by simply bending at the hips. But this is not the greatest anatomical stretch that can be put on the hamstring muscles.

As you may or may not know, the muscles of the calves are tied in with the hamstrings. Therefore, placing a stretch on the calves also places more stretch on the hamstrings. This is what the weight plates accomplish - they raise your toes, putting a stretch on the calves, which then puts a greater stretch on your hamstrings.

By stretching the hamstrings at both the hip joint and the knee joint (from stretching the calves), you literally force your hamstrings to activate strongly during the stiff-legged deadlift movement.

The difference is quite amazing! Try it for just one set and I promise you’ll never go back to doing it the standard way ever again!

For a photograph of how to set this exercise up, visit: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue9-hamstring-tip.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6671 Strong To The Core of Your Being - The Benefits Of Core Training If you were to ask me which muscle group in your entire body you could work to get the greatest benefits in the shortest amount of time, I would tell you without hesitation, the core. Strengthening the core can realize tremendous benefits to anyone regardless of his or her training experience and can do so very quickly.

But what is the core?

The core, as it’s known in strength training circles, consists of all the muscles in your abdominal and lower back areas. This includes all the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, transverse abdominus and intercostals) as well as the muscles associated with the spine (the erector spinae group) and the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas, collectively known as the iliopsoas).

These muscles all work in harmony to provide stabilization for your body and to transfer power from the legs to the upper body and vice versa. The core muscles also function to keep your insides in, where they belong!

And why is strengthening the core so important?

Weak core muscles contribute to all kinds of problems in the body, the most prevalent of which is lower back pain. By strengthening the muscles that help support the spine and improve posture, you can dramatically decrease the symptoms of lower back pain.

Picture your spine as a column of soda cans stacked one on top of the other. If you wanted to keep that column standing up under stress, what do you think would work better: a tenser bandage (as is used for wrapping injured ankles) or Scotch tape? Sure the tape would keep the cans together but the cans wouldn’t receive a whole lot support, would they?

When you strengthen the muscles of the core, you are in effect turning that Scotch tape into a nice, tight tenser bandage, increasing the amount of support that your spine gets.

Core training also has the potential to greatly improve sports performance. Watch a baseball pitcher throw a pitch in slow motion. The power of the throw starts at the legs, gets transferred through the abdominal area (a.k.a. the core) then ends up in the arm where the ball is released. Imagine how much speed and power would be lost from that throw if the core muscles couldn’t efficiently transfer the force from the legs to the throwing arm.

The core is the one area of the body that will always give you a great return on your investment.

So how do I train my core muscles?

Exercises that work the abdominals and the lower back are the staples of core training. Also, exercises that target the stabilization and power-transfer duties of the core muscles are very effective.

The most basic abdominal training exercise is the standard crunch. You can go to the following URL to see the proper technique for this exercise:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Crunches.htm

But I’ve got an exercise for you that blows the standard crunch right out of the water. The equipment required for this exercise: one rolled-up towel.

The exercise is known as the Abdominal Sit-Up. It uses a sit-up-like movement but focuses directly on the abdominal muscles rather than the hip flexors (which a regular sit-up does). It is also very safe for your lower back. Another advantage it has over the standard crunch is that it targets the stretched (arched back) range of motion of the abs, which is totally missed in standard floor crunch.

How To Do It:

Lie on your back on the floor. Roll up a towel or mat and slip it underneath your lower back, just above the waistband (the size of the towel affects your body position during this movement - use a fairly large towel).

Your knees should be bent about 90 degrees. Keep your feet close together and knees fairly wide apart. This prevents the hip flexors from having a direct line of pull, helping to minimize their involvement.

Do not anchor your feet or have someone hold them down. This automatically activates the hip flexors. You will get the most out of this exercise by minimizing their involvement.

The difficulty of this exercise depends on where you hold your hands. The hardest position is above your head at arms-length, then beside your head, then across your chest, then straight down between your legs or at your sides. Start with the easiest first then progress to the other positions as you get stronger.

You are now ready to begin.

• Keeping your torso straight and stiff, start the sit-up by tightening your lower abs then lifting your upper body off the floor.
• As you continue up, imagine trying to push your face up against the ceiling (think up, not around).
• When you reach about 25 to 30 degrees above horizontal, hold there for a second or two and squeeze your abs hard.
• Keep your lower back in contact with the towel at all times and always maintain tension in the abs.
• Lower yourself down slowly and under control. Do not just drop back to the ground. The negative portion of this exercise is extremely effective.
• Remember to adjust your arm position depending on the strength of your abs (see above).

You can see pictures of how this exercise is done by going to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue9-ab-tip.htm

Incline Ab Sit-Ups

If you are a beginning trainer, this is a good starting variation of the Abdominal Sit-up.

Set an incline sit-up board to a slight incline. If you don’t have an incline sit-up board, you can use an adjustable incline bench, a decline bench, a Step platform with a riser under one of the ends or a flat bench with something under one end. You can even use a propped-up 2 x 6 board!

Your head should be on the higher end with your feet placed on the floor.

The execution is exactly the same. The only difference is that the tension on the abs is much less due to the greatly improved leverage in this position, allowing even people feel that their abs aren’t strong enough to do the exercise.

Lying Superman Raises - An Exercise For The Lower Back

Though this exercise has a rather unique name, it is an excellent strengthening exercise for the lower back that you can do almost anywhere.

How To Do It:

Lie face down on the floor with your arms stretched out directly overhead (like Superman flying, hence the name).

Raise your left arm and right leg into the air at the same time, also raising your chest slightly off the floor. Hold there for a second and squeeze the muscles of your lower back. Lower your limbs back to the ground then raise your right arm and left leg and hold for a second.

You can push down with the hand that is on the ground to help raise your other arm and chest higher off the ground.

This exercise, even though it only uses your limbs as resistance, provides an excellent way to strengthen the lower back muscles.

Conclusion:

These two exercises will give you a good place to start with core training. You can begin improving your core strength by doing these exercises 3 times a week for 2 to 3 sets each.

Make core training a priority in your exercise routine and you will rapidly reap the benefits of having a stronger, more injury-proof midsection and back.

If you have any questions about core training or the exercises described here, go to: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Contactus.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6672 Follow the Path of MOST Resistance! 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://www.fitstep.com/Library/Begin/exercises.htm

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://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Exercises.htm

If you are interested in having a personal trainer set up a personalized weight training program for you based on your goals and designed around your life, go to: http://www.fitstep.com/Personal-training/Training/Training.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6673 Get A Grip! Get More Out Of Your Biceps Curls Would you like to know how to get more out of every single dumbell curl you do? Amazingly enough, you can do this simply by changing where you grip the dumbell.

First, I’m going to tell you what the trick is, then I’m going to tell you exactly how and why it works. Then I’m going to finish by telling you how to make the trick so powerful it’ll blow your mind!

In a nutshell, instead of gripping the handle in the middle (as is normally taught), grip the handle with the thumb and forefinger side of your hand pressed up against the inside of the dumbell plates. There will be a space of several inches between your pinky and the other side plates.

To take full advantage of this change in your grip, start the curl with your palms facing in to your thighs, otherwise known as a neutral or hammer grip. As you curl up, rotate your forearm so that your palm is facing up at the top of the movement. You should feel a strong cramping in your biceps.

For pictures demonstrating exactly how to execute this technique go to: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue7-bicep-tip.htm

Here’s how and why it works:

The biceps muscle has two main functions. The first is flexing the elbow (in essence, bringing the forearm closer to the upper arm like when you bend your arm to scratch your nose). The other function is called supination, which is a biomechanical term for forearm rotation. Supination occurs when you turn your hand from a palms-down position to a palms-up position.

The traditional dumbell curl without forearm rotation addresses the flexing function of the bicep. Rotating your forearm as you curl the dumbell up invokes the supination function of the bicep, working more of the muscle mass of the bicep and giving you a stronger contraction.

Holding the dumbell off-center essentially adds resistance to the supination function of the bicep muscle. If you think about it, when you hold your hand in the middle of the dumbell, the two ends are balanced like two identical-weight people on a see-saw. You get very little, if any, resistance on the supination.

By holding the dumbell off-center, you tip the balance of the dumbell towards the pinky side of your hand. Your bicep must then work against resistance to accomplish the supination, adding in more resistance to the curl movement.

This resistance translates into more efficient work for the bicep and, ultimately, more results for you!

—

Now I’m going to tell you how to adapt this trick into something that will make your jaw hit the floor on the first rep you do.

You’ve learned about supination and adding resistance to the supination movement by holding the dumbell off-center. You’ve felt the difference this makes in your biceps.

Now imagine how much more effective this trick will be if you add actual weight for resistance instead of just shifting your hand over!

In order to accomplish this, you’re going to need one of two things: do-it-yourself dumbells with which you can add or remove weight or Plate Mates (TM), which are small magnetic weight plates that stick to the metal of the dumbell.

The execution is simple: make a dumbell with more weight on one end than the other. That’s it. For example, place 20 pounds of weight on one end and 25 pounds of weight on the other.

Grip the dumbell in the middle when you use it, making sure that the heavier end is on the pinky side of your hand. If you are using Plate Mates (TM), stick a few of them onto only one side of the dumbell to accomplish the same imbalance.

Now when you curl up and supinate, your bicep is going to have that added resistance on the supination movement. The cramping sensation you get on the very first rep as you come to the top and squeeze the muscle hard will show you just how powerful this technique is. The pump you get in your biceps after your set will seal the deal!

You will also notice that your forearm and grip are getting a lot of work with this trick. This is just icing on the cake and will not decrease the tension on your bicep in any way.

Note: If you are using dumbells that weigh less than 30 pounds total, I would recommend you use a 2 1/2 pound plate on one side rather than a 5 pound plate. Any more than 30 and you should use a 5 pound plate.

Being a dedicated trainer myself, I love to hear how well my tips work for other people. It would be really gratifying to hear from you about how this technique worked for you or any suggestions you might have as to how to make it more effective.

You can send your comments to me at betteru@fitstep.com.

And, when your biceps are so pumped and sore that you can barely brush your teeth the next day, be sure to tell everyone who will listen to you who did this to you:

Nick Nilsson at Fitstep.com!

For more information about the anatomy of the biceps, go to http://www.fitstep.com/Advanced/Anatomy/Biceps.htm?news

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6674 What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn?t The Best For Fat Burning? But how can this possibly be? Everywhere you look, it’s always said that long-duration, low-intensity training is best for fat loss. All high-intensity work does is burn carbohydrates, right?

Wrong.

After reading this article, I guarantee you’ll develop a new respect for high-intensity cardio training for fat loss.

Low-intensity exercise is defined as working at a heart rate of about 60% to 65% of your maximum heart rate (which is equal to 220 - your age = maximum heart rate, thus if you are 20 years old, 220 - 20 = 200 max HR). High-intensity exercise is defined as working at about 75 to 85% or more of your maximum heart rate.

Using the previous example for maximum heart rate (max HR=200), working at 60% of your max HR would be 120 beats per minute and 80% of that would be 160 beats per minute.

There are several reasons low-intensity exercise is normally recommended for fat loss.

Let’s crunch some numbers to show you exactly what I mean when I say high-intensity exercise burns more fat.

Low-intensity training burns about 50% fat for energy while high-intensity training burns about 40% fat for energy. This is not a huge difference.

Say, for example, walking for 20 minutes burns 100 calories. Then 50% of 100 calories is 50 fat-calories burned.

Now say 10 minutes of interval training at a high intensity burns 160 calories. Well, 40% of 160 calories is 64 fat-calories burned.

By doing the high-intensity work, you’ve just burned 14 more fat calories in half the time. Starting to sound good? There’s more…

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Low-intensity exercise only burns calories while you are actually exercising. That means the moment you stop exercising, your

caloric expenditure goes back down to nearly baseline levels. Within minutes, you’re not burning many more calories than if you hadn’t done anything at all.

High-intensity exercise, on the other hand, continues to boost your metabolism long after you’re done (often up to 24 hours after, depending on the length and intensity of the training session). This means you’re continuing to burn many more calories all day long!

—

Low-intensity exercise does nothing to build or support muscle mass. Maintaining muscle mass is critical to an effective fat-loss strategy as muscle burns fat just sitting there. Want to keep your metabolism working to burn fat? Do whatever you can to build or keep your muscle tissue.

High-intensity exercise has the potential to increase muscle mass. Compare the body of a top sprinter to a top marathon runner. The sprinter carries far more muscle mass. You won’t get big bulky muscles from high intensity training but you will get shapely and more defined muscles!

—

How To Do It

Now that you’ve seen how effective high intensity training can be for fat loss, how is it done?

The absolute easiest way to start this type of training is to get on a cardio machine at the gym and select the interval training program. As you’ll see, you’ll start off with a fairly light warm-up cycle, then quickly jump up to a high intensity level for a short burst. You will then drop back down to a low level for a period of time, then back up to a high level again, repeated several times and finishing with an appropriate cool-down period.

The repetition of these intervals is the nuts and bolts of high intensity interval training. You can also do it manually by adjusting your intensity level up and down over short periods of time.

For example, do 30 seconds at high power then 30 seconds at low power. Repeat. It’s very simple and very effective.

Another excellent method for doing high-intensity training is called aerobic interval training. It is essentially the same concept as the previously explained interval training but the work intervals are longer with the intensity level somewhat lower. A good example would be running at a pace that you can only keep up for about 5 minutes then walking for 2 minutes then running 5 more minutes, walking 2 minutes, etc.

High-intensity training can be applied to any form of cardiovascular exercise. Anything from walking/sprinting to swimming to bike riding will work perfectly. I would recommend doing his type of training 2 to 3 times per week for best results. As always, be sure to consult with your physician before starting any exercise program.

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Remember, what you get out of exercise is directly proportional to what you put in. Work at high-intensity training for awhile and see just how much better your fat-loss efforts go.

For more information on cardiovascular training, including advice on activities you can do, reviews of different types of cardio machines, other forms of cardio training, and some well-explained, useful, basic physiology go to: http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Info.htm?news

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6675 Resistance Training With Your Dog You may be wondering, How can I possibly do resistance training with my dog? Well, here are a few exercises you can do with the aid of your faithful furry companion.

One final word of advice when doing resistance training with your dog is never yell out Spot me! if your dog is not housetrained. It’s a mistake you’ll make only once.

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com. 117
6676 How to Gain Weight and Build More Muscle Mass In the health, fitness, and nutrition world, achieving optimal or desired body weight is dominated by a single theme: losing weight. The vast majority of products and services available on the market proclaim to achieve weight loss goals, and even the (often discordant) medical community is in general harmony when it comes to promoting weight loss options, including drugs and some surgeries.

Overall, this is not a negative thing; especially with the Center for Disease Control predicting that obesity (which is already considered an epidemic among US youth) will soon become the number one preventable killer in the US, overtaking cigarette smoking. Yet lost within this maze, and haze, of weight-loss drive are naturally thin people who face a different challenge: they want to gain weight; not lose it.

The Problem of Gaining Weight

The saying “a little information is a dangerous thing” applies quite dramatically to the problem of gaining weight. The information available ? anecdotes on the web, ignorant health care “experts” who have not actually researched the problem of losing weight ? is generally of poor quality. In fact, the strategy “just eat more to gain weight” is far too often the well-meaning — but woefully incompetent — advice prescribed to naturally thing people who want to gain weight.

The impact of this ignorance is a cycle that involves two concepts: misinformation and misunderstanding. At first glance, these two words may seem synonymous. Yet, as briefly described below, they both have their separate roles to play in the problem of gaining weight.

* Misinformation stems from poor quality information, including anecdotal data that has no scientific basis, which leads people to attempt implausible and sometimes dangerous weight gain programs.

* Misunderstanding stems from the lack of results due to the misinformation phase noted above, and leads to the erroneous conclusion that a naturally thin individual “cannot gain weight”.

Despite this dramatic problem, correcting this knowledge gap is possible, and involves three strategies:

1. Appropriate Nutrition

2. A Complete Training Program

3. Intrinsic Motivation and Keeping Up Progress

Each of these key aspects are discussed below, but it is essential to note that they are integrated; no element is more important than another, and they work in a holistic, reinforcing system.

Graining Weight via Appropriate Nutrition

In the weight loss world, the word “calorie” is one of the more dreaded terms; and it’s not uncommon to find self-proclaimed diet foods that promise to help eaters burn more calories than they consume. For naturally thin people who wish to gain weight, however, the challenge is reversed: you need to ingest more calories than you burn.

Unfortunately, that simple phrase ? “you need to ingest more calories than you burn” ? represents the totality of most anecdotal (and inept) advice provided to naturally thin people. True, while the end of gaining weight is to ingest more calories than one burns, there is so much more information that must be conveyed. You could just eat ice cream all day. That has plenty of calories, right? But you would simply get fat. Why? Because all calories are not created equal.

Yes you must eat more food, but not more junk. Otherwise, the end result of ingesting “junk foods” (those that contain high amount of saturate fat, trans-fat, sugar and processed carbohydrates) is that an individual may “feel” physically bigger, but that increase will be simply an increase in unwanted fat. Even worse, is that the desired weight gain will not be concurrent to this increase in body fat, since fat tissue weighs so much less than muscle tissue.

The most stunning visual pointer of this biological reality is looking at Sumo wrestlers. Indeed, while these powerful men possess a great deal of muscle, unlike bodybuilders or heavyweight boxers, they are often best characterized by their enormous stores of fat; and all of that fat tissue comes from a steady diet of calories from fat (many Sumo wrestlers ingest startlingly unhealthy amounts of junk food).

On the other hand, calories derived from high quality sources of protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats are unarguably more beneficial for adding lean muscular weight.

Foods that are high in protein include: whey protein, lean beef, poultry, eggs, fish and dairy products.

Calories from protein are efficiently converted into muscle when supported by an exercise plan (which will be discussed below), and the general rule of thumb while strength training is to ingest 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. This is typically more than the USFDA Recommended Dietary Intake, which suggests about 50 grams of protein per day for adult males. However, this recommended amount is intended for moderately active adult males who do not need (or want) to gain weight.

Complex carbs are found in potatoes, rice, whole grain breads and beans. Healthy fats are found in olive oil, flaxseed oil, avocadoes and raw nuts.

Another general rule is that you should consume protein as a part of every meal, and meals should be eaten in small portions throughout the day as opposed to large meals 1 or 2 times a day. Calories from protein can help ward off a dramatic insulin spike that would otherwise greet fat calories (such as after one eats a candy bar or piece of cake).

Avoiding this insulin spike, or at least preventing some of its damage, is critical for gaining the right kind of weight (muscle) and avoiding the wrong kind of weight (fat).

A Complete Training Program

There are more training programs available than can be catalogued; and this is, in itself, not negative. It simply means that different people, with different strength training goals, can follow a program that most effectively reaches their goals. What can be negative, however, is when someone focusing on gaining weight is provided with a training program that is either incomplete, or completely meant for someone else; such as someone who wants to lose weight, or convert existing excess fat into muscle. Find a program that is “specifically” designed for your goal.

The most effective kind of strength training for “our” needs, involves free weights. True, machines and other exercises are better than nothing at all but free weights cause the most stress on muscle fibers, and that is precisely how muscle is built (through the tearing and repairing of miniscule muscle fibers).

A typical strength training program for weight gain all almost always includes compound free weight lifts like squats, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups (wide grip), and dips. The amount of weight used for each, the amount of reps, and the frequency of training, will obviously be customized to suit your body type, current strength, and strength training goals.

It’s also important to note is that training too often is both dangerous and counter-productive. More training does not equal more muscle. The body does not become stronger during exercise; it actually becomes stronger during the repair period between exercising. This is rather non-intuitive, but it’s a basic scientific fact. As such, it’s critically important for people to avoid over-training, and to build in appropriate rest periods between reps, sets, and workouts.

Intrinsic Motivation and Keeping Up Progress

This may be the most neglected component of an effective weight-gain system, yet it’s easily as important as the other two noted above.

The problem of motivation is typically not one of starting. Many people have the will and desire to start a weight gain program; at least, they do for the first few times. Where motivation makes ? or breaks ? a weight gain program is when it comes to monitoring progress and maintaining muscle gain.

This doesn’t imply that people are weak or uninterested in progress; actually, it’s rather more complex than that. Though 1,000 people may focus, on the same day and at the same time, on gaining weight effectively and with measurable muscular results, it’s not an exaggeration to say that each of these people will experience something different. Some of those differences will be profound and visible; other differences will be subtle and difficult to put into words. The dilemma here is that people may start doubting the validity of their program when their progress (or lack of progress) does not mirror the results achieved by someone else. Or worse, some people may truly start doubting their own ability to “ever gain weight” when they see someone else making apparent progress towards their weight gain goals.

The remedy to this dilemma is contained in the term “follow-through”. The key to successful weight gain lies fundamentally in one’s ability to follow-through with a program, and to stick with it, while at the same time making appropriate adjustments to exploit gains, and avoid disappointment. Ultimately, if the nutrition and strength training components are in place, achieving weight gain goals are merely a matter of time and effort; and that is where motivation plays it’s most important role.

Typical proven strategies to ensure motivation remains high and continuous include: adjusting workouts to add some variety and avoid boredom; using visuals (such as a before and after picture, or a video) to monitor progress; writing down (realistic!) goals; measuring physical improvements on a bi-weekly basis; measuring mental/psychological improvements on a bi-weekly basis; staying focused, and of course, taking breaks when necessary.

Putting it All Into Place and Taking Action

As noted earlier, there is a disconcerting amount of poor quality (or no quality) information available that purports to help naturally thin people gain weight. The majority of this harmful information revolves around “eating more”; which, if it works, simply leads to the creation of permanent fat cells. Unfortunately, for naturally thin people stuck in this cycle of misinformation and misunderstanding, their choices are to either remain thinner than they’d like, or put on fat pounds and risk a high body fat ratio or even obesity.

Thankfully, however, nothing needs to be created in order to help naturally thin people succeed in their weight gain goals; scientific advancements or miracle cures are not required. Simply, what is required is action based on what is already available, and what has been noted above: proper nutrition, effective strength training and self-motivation.

Ensuring that these three elements are present is the unifying theme that is common to almost every successful weight gain story that has ever been written, applauded, and admired.

Former skinny guy Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass! The most widely used weight gain program in the world.

This unique program designed to help people gain weight and build muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries and boasts the largest private weight gain forum on the Internet, with well over 13,000 members at http://www.fastmusclegain.com

Click here to view over 200 user testimonials: http://www.fastmusclegain.com/testimonials.html 117
6677 Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 3 Welcome to article number 2 in our series “Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts”. In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.

If you missed the first article, you can read it by clicking on the link below.

Here’s a breakdown of the articles to look for:

1. Article:1 - Choosing The WRONG Exercises
2. Article:2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
3. Article:3 - Targeted Stretching
4. Article:4 - Targeted Exercises
5. Article:5 - Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention

Article:3 - Targeted Stretching

Stretching can be great, but it can also make existing injuries worse or even bring about new ones!

The key to making stretching work for you is knowing which stretches you need to be working on? and just because a muscle feels tight, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be stretched.

For example, many people stretch the hamstrings because they feel tight and they think the hamstrings are limiting their flexibility?

the fact is, most of the time the hamstrings are “tight” because they are constantly being pulled / lengthened due to muscle imbalances that tip the pelvis forward.

As you can, when the pelvis tips forward the hamstrings get pulled upward and are constantly held in a stretched position?

And this is why millions of people can stretch their hamstrings every freakin day and never make any improvement in their flexibility?.

Are you one of those people?

If you are, you need to stop stretching your hamstrings and find out exactly which muscles you need to be targeting by reading the rest of this article?

Not only does this forward tipping of the pelvis (which is caused by muscle imbalances) keep the hamstrings tight and make it very difficult to make improvements in the muscles flexibility, but it also leads to the following:

? increased stress / wear and tear from the ankles all the way up the spine

For example, the forward tipping of the pelvis places uneven pressure on the ankle, knee and hip joints and also many of the vertebrae in the spine.

? weakens the hamstrings, inhibits normal functioning and increases the likelihood of hamstring pulls

When the hamstrings are constantly being strained because of the muscle imbalances, the muscle is weak, not able to function as it normally would, prone to injury and without correcting the muscle imbalance recover can take up to 9 months to a year, or longer!

? creates excess curvature in the lower and middle spine

This tipping of the pelvis places excessive amounts of abnormal stress on the muscles, vertebrae and discs in the lower and mid spine and this sets you up for potential injuries to the muscles of the lower and middle back?

Plus, it also causes the discs between your vertebrae to wear down and deteriorate much faster than they normally would and this sets you up for degenerative, bulging, protruding and herniated discs along with numerous other spinal conditions like arthritis, spinal stenosis, and the oh so popular sciatica!

This hamstring example is just one of many? muscle imbalances are responsible for nearly every ache, pain, injury and condition out there!

Here are a few more examples of injuries / conditions that are caused by muscle imbalances and can easily be prevented and/or eliminated with targeted stretches and exercises:

? upper back and neck pain
? shoulder injuries (rotator cuff)
? elbow and wrist pain (carpal tunnel, tennis/golfer/baseball elbow, etc)
? knee pain (runners knee, chondromalacia, ligament tears, etc)
? hip pain (IT band syndrome, bursitis, etc)
? ankle pain (Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, etc)

All of these conditions are caused by muscle imbalances and will NOT go away unless you work towards correcting the imbalances? and the only way to know for sure which imbalances are causing your pain or injury is to do a series of physical assessments like the ones covered in our Lose the Back Pain Video which is designed for anyone suffering from back pain or sciatica.

What the heck is a targeted stretch?

This is a question we are asked often and here’s the definition we give it:

Targeted Stretch - a stretch or stretching exercise that is chosen, based on physical assessments, to target a specific muscle or muscle group to increase the flexibility and range of motion in that area and bring the bones and or joints back towards the normal position.
When you compare a targeted stretch to general stretches like the ones found in Yoga, Pilates and the corny ones your doctor, chiropractor or physical therapist gives you, it’s no surprise they give little or no pain relief and almost always fail to get rid of the problem.

Conclusion

Remember, the key to eliminating injuries and preventing future ones is to identify what areas you need to target. In the next article we’ll be discussing in detail, how to address various injuries like back, hip, knee, and shoulder pain with targeted exercises. In the meantime, be sure to read thru all of our detailed Pain Articles and post any questions you have on our discussion fourm.

Article by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, CSPN and Steve Hefferon, CMT, CPRS of http://www.losethebackpain.com. If you’ve got back pain or sciatic pain, you’ve gotta check out their website! 117
6678 Hair Removal Tips For Bodybuilders One of the most time consuming and frustrating parts of bodybuilding is not building muscles, it’s removing unwanted hair.

For any competing bod