Should I eat Before My Workout?

The question that puzzles many people about whether or not to eat before workout? 




Yes, definitely you should; at least have a snack if you are not planning to have a meal a minimum of one hour before training. Doing cardio on an empty stomach for maximum fat loss is another common myth...  A BIG FAT LIE. 

Following these methods will actually cause your body to burn muscle tissue in order to supply you with energy instead of burning fat. Your body needs a certain amount of glucose to fuel while training. Think about a car, would a car be running without fuel? That’s exactly how our bodies work. You need to fuel and replenish every two to three hours in order to function properly. Your pre-workout meal should be something that is easy to digest.




The last thing you want to do is to eat a bunch of proteins and fats (large quantities), even if they are healthy fats and proteins. These types of fuels take a long time to digest and draw precious oxygen and energy-delivering blood into your stomach and away from your exercising muscles. They also may be heavy on your digestive system as well as causing you stomachaches during your exercise. Your best bet is to consume your pre-workout meal about two hours before exercise; it should be around 300-500 calories, and is composed primarily of healthy carbohydrates (Complex carbs). If you didnt have the chance to do so, opt for a quick 50-100 calorie snack 5-10 minutes prior to exercise. Try a bowl of oatmeal, whole-grain cereal, whole-wheat toast, sweet potato or yam as a preworkout meal eaten two hours before your workout. If you have to eat directly before your workout, a small piece of fruit—like an apple or banana will do. 


What you eat after cardio and after weight training workouts are not always the same. Weight training is more towards muscle gain, while cardio is mostly used for fat loss. When doing weight training, muscle glycogen starts depleting, and as mentioned before, muscle tissue starts to break down. So our main goal is to replenish muscle glycogen stores and starts rebuilding muscles. 


Carbohydrate is the main macronutrient that needs to be replenished in your post workout meal. There is a window of time about 20-60 minutes after you exercise in which your muscles accept the carbohydrates and protein that you consume, absorb them to be stored as energy, and build blocks for recovery. If you wait too long to eat after exercising, your body will not use what you eat for fuel and recovery. So basically after a weight lifting session you want to have your complex carbs and proteins; something like brown rice and a chicken breast, or a protein shake with half a banana whichever one that suits you more. On the other hand if you are doing cardio and your main goal is to lose fat then cutting out carbs and focusing on proteins and healthy fats will be best for you. During a typical cardio session, your body’s biochemistry undergoes some changes. your body suppresses insulin production and starts releasing other hormones like growth hormone (GH) and testosterone. Not only that, but your body releases several neurotransmitters like adrenaline, epinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. 




The first two assist with fat mobilization, while the last three are feel good chemicals. So, to stay on the fat burning mode, a protein shake (whey protein isolate) mixed with omega 3 fatty acids would be a great option; some salmon and mixed veggies will also do the job; try grilled chicken salad with veggies topped with some nuts. As long as you consume lean proteins, some greens, and healthy fats, you will be good to go. Keep in mind that everyone is different and your exercise goals may be different than someone else’s goals. So whether your target is to build muscles or shred some fats, your magic keys  are time frames and types of food after different workouts.


By: Noura Kassaballa

SPIDER CURLS

Spider Curls are one of my staple bicep movements. The reason why I like it is because it really targets the long head of the bicep. which is the part of the bicep that’s responsible for your bicep peak. 




Study the pics of great peaks from Arnold to Ronnie and you will see that the inner head/shorter brachii is the little ball in the inside of the bicep and the outer head/longer brachii is the knot that sits up higher forming the peak.

Now the best way to target that outer/longer brachii is to curl with your elbows slightly out more than your hands, hence why dumbbell concentration curls was an old school favourite.

For me however, I need more strictness when targeting smaller muscles like the biceps. Concentration curls give me too much freedom to chest and swing. This is why I prefer spider curls using the close hand position of the ez curl bar. It’s strict because with my bodyweight leaning forward, I can’t cheat and lean back or swing. It’s also like killing two birds with one stone because my arms are locked in the concentration curl position (hands in elbows slightly out) but I’m knocking out both arms at the same time.

KEY MOVEMENTS

Make sure the bench is 45 degrees - *make sure your chest sits above the bench in order to have your arms hang vertically because if you sit lower, your arms will start off angled closer to your body, thus killing the range of motion for you to maximize the peak contraction.

- DO NOT THINK CURL

Instead think ‘flex your bicep’ which will contract the bicep from the very start of the movement and not just at the peak.

- DO NOT THINK HOW HIGH

you bring the bar, instead think how hard you want to flex your bicep. Do a two count as you flex and then hold the peak contraction for an extra second before lowering your arms into start position again.

You should only be able to come up half way if you’re connecting with the biceps.

From MuscleGuru

WANT YOU BURN MORE CALORIES IN YOUR WORKOUT?

Are you going to the gym regularly but still not losing weight? Here's how to use insights from new weight-loss research to help you peel off the pounds fast and efficiently.




It's an old chestnut of the fitness industry, the notion that for every 3,500 calories you burn you'll lose a pound of fat. As a personal trainer, though, I often see guys slogging through week after week of running, walking, lifting, whatever -- workouts designed specifically to reach that 3,500-calorie-per-week mark -- only to weigh exactly the same when it's over. What gives?

The problem with that old weight-loss formula, researchers now say, is that it doesn't take into account what goes on when you're not exercising: the calories you would have burned anyway, the calories you'll add from overeating after overtraining, and the ones you won't burn the next day because you're too sore to move. The old weight-loss math assumed that your body was like a block of marble and that by systematically chiseling away at it with exercise you could gradually get rid of the undesirable stuff and end up with Michelangelo abs. But your body's not a block of marble; it's in a constant tug-of-war between consuming and burning calories, whether you're eating, sleeping, reading, or watching TV. So the calculus for getting rid of that pound is far more complex than just subtracting the "calories burned" number from your weekly goal at the end of each workout. "The 3,500-calorie figure is theoretically correct," says Ralph La Forge, the managing director of Duke University Medical Center's Lipid and Disease Management Preceptorship Program. That is, if you burn that fat in a closed container under laboratory conditions.

La Forge's work points to a number of reasons why you can sweat your ass off on a daily basis and yet still end up with the same size ass. And they all go back to a failure to understand the way the body really burns calories. For starters, you may overestimate the number of calories your workout effectively expends. For the average 180-pound guy, walking slowly for an hour uses approximately 200 calories. Trouble is, you can't just take that 200 and subtract it from your 3,500-calorie goal. You also have to consider the calories you would have gone through during that hour even if you were sitting on the couch. A 180-pound guy burns around 90 calories per hour just by being awake, so during your one-hour walk you will have burned just 110 more calories than if you weren't exercising at all. That number -- what La Forge calls the "net energy cost" -- is the important one. It's how many extra calories you've actually used.

You may also be building muscle while you lose fat, particularly if you've started a new program or if you're lifting weights. This is a nice problem to have; the more muscle you add the more readily your body will burn calories. But if you aren't keeping track of your body-fat percentage, the lack of results on the scale can be a demoralizing kick in the gut at the end of a rigorous week of training.




You might also be sabotaging your weight loss goals by training too hard. Burning 700 calories on a hard bike ride is good, but if you're so dead afterward that you spend the rest of the day on the couch, you have to consider the calories that you won't use because you're too tired to walk the dog. Plus, overtraining can lead to an increased appetite. If you're so hungry after your bike ride that you eat an extra cheeseburger (310 calories), the net calorie burn for your workout drops from 700 to 390.

The bottom line: You've got to exercise more than you thought. But the best way to be sure your workout results in weight loss is different for every sport. That's why we've analyzed four of the most popular activities -- running, swimming, cycling, and weight training -- to help you shed pounds the right way.

Your Sport-Specific Plan

A number of factors determine how much weight you lose from exercise. Make those variables work for you.


RUNNING

A five-mile run at 5 mph burns about 600 net calories. At 8 mph (a 7.5-minute-mile pace), your net rises only modestly to 670. Still, try to pick up the pace. You'll burn more calories in about two-thirds the time.

Running outside or on an indoor track uses approximately 5 percent more calories than running on a treadmill. And be warned: Those "calories burned" readouts tend to overestimate by 10-15 percent.

If you're a new runner or if you've recently added hills to your routine, you may be adding muscle while you're melting fat, which can offset any loss come weigh-in time. Don't worry: You'll soon shed pounds.

Run outdoors whenever possible. Don't avoid hills; attack them. And go faster. At 8 mph you'll burn more calories in less time.





SWIMMING

The caloric difference between moderate and intense swimming isn't great, but a long, slow swim tends to increase your appetite more than a short, intense one, making you more likely to replace calories by overeating.

Open-water swimming is far more challenging than pool swimming, in which you get to turn around after every lap and give yourself a big push-off. Not so in a lake or in the ocean.

Once your swimming is strong, take it up a notch by switching to a more challenging stroke, like the butterfly. You'll burn almost 100 more calories an hour than when you were doing the breaststroke.

Swim at an intensity higher than 60 percent of your max heart rate. Use more challenging strokes, like the butterfly.


CYCLING

Fifteen miles at 11 mph burns around 590 net calories. At 17 mph that jumps to around 840. Of course, not everyone can sustain a high speed for 15 miles, so get a speedometer and work up slowly.

Cycling in the real world can burn up to 90 more calories per hour, but a stationary bike is safer than riding in rain or snow and delivers less impact to the joints. Tip: At the gym, sit up straight as you ride.

Because biking is a non-weight-bearing exercise, it can be easy to overdo it; remember, if you fry your legs and end up couchbound, you'll miss out on everyday caloric burn from, say, raking leaves.

Ride faster outdoors, but stay safe and use the stationary bike on rainy or snowy days. The day after a hard ride, take an easy spin.


WEIGHT TRAINING

Intense lifting -- sets of 6-8 reps with heavy weight -- adds size (and weight). You, on the other hand, want to do sets of 10-15 reps with moderate weight; you'll burn calories and build muscle by going longer.

Weight machines are great for isolating muscles and helping beginners learn proper technique, but lifting with free weights lets you incorporate more muscle groups and expend more calories.

For a 180-pound guy, an hour of moderate lifting burns a modest 350 or so calories. That said, lifting is almost mandatory if you want to lose weight. Adding lean muscle increases caloric burn throughout the day.

Use free weights, not machines. Lift moderate weight in sets of 10-15 reps. Emphasize big muscle groups, like those in the legs.



By: Steve Steinberg

How To Watch Mr.Olympia 2017 – 2017 Mr. Olympia Live Stream

Watch the 2017 MR. OLYMPIA FINALS, PRE-JUDGING & REPLAYS – Streaming Video Online for FREE




2017 Olympia Coverage brought to you by AMAZON.COM In 1965, Joe Weider created the Mr. Olympia competition to determine the world’s best bodybuilder. 

From that first contest of three competitors and a crowd of about 2500 at NYC’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Olympia has grown into a global mega event. The wait is finally over and once again, Joe Weider brings the annual weekend of sports and fitness in Las Vegas, Nevada! The Mr. Olympia competition will be celebrating its 52nd anniversary this year where yet another Mr. Olympia will be crowned victorious! 




The Olympia Weekend features the best of the best IFBB professionals in bodybuilding, physique, figure, fitness, and bikini. The competition will be hosted at the New Orleans Arena along with one of the worlds largest expos hosted once again at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

SEPTEMBER 15 | 7:00 PM PACIFIC TIME 

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September 14th to the 17th, the events will get start on Thursday the 14th with the Olympia Press Conferences and Meet the Mister Olympians events. The Olympia Fitness and Performance Weekend is pure excitement from start to finish, but the real magic happens when the top Bodybuilders, Fitness, Figure, and Bikini athletes take to the stage and battle for the Olympia titles, securing their elite status as the very best in the world! 




2017 Events: Mr. Olympia – Women’s Physique – Bikini Olympia – Men’s Physique – Figure Olympia – Classic Bodybuilding – Fitness Olympia & 212 Showdown

SAVE YOUR ABS

I had abs before they were cool. I had no idea how lucky I was, or why my dating prospects improved so dramatically as the weather warmed up. All I knew was that I was skinny and I wanted to be bigger. My wish came true soon enough; with a desk job and a workout programme that consisted almost entirely of lifting heavy things, the weight was easy to put on. My abs disappeared, but I enjoyed the modest strength gains more than I missed the jagged contours.




 Over time, the unholy alliance of word-processing software and an unbalanced workout programme left me with a series of injuries that made sitting easier but lifting nearly impossible: My body was, literally, molding itself to hunch over a keyboard.

So I returned to my core. Instead of a few random sets of midbody exercises at the beginning or end of my workout, core training became the centerpiece of my programme.

Meanwhile, Alwyn Cosgrove, co-owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California, was searching for solutions to the same dilemma as he designed his workouts. Cosgrove noticed that clients were coming to him in far worse shape than demographically identical clients were just a few years ago. Their posture was distorted, thanks to years of working ever-longer hours with ever-smaller technology. Even the clients who were "fit" often displayed unbalanced fitness: The strong ones lacked endurance, the ones with good endurance lacked strength, and most of them struggled with injuries related to training for one goal at the expense of all others.

The solution, Cosgrove discovered, was to spend less time in the weight room and more time on mobility, conditioning, and core training. Especially core training. You'd think that less time with the iron would mean a softer body and weaker muscles. But that's not what happened-not to me, and not to Cosgrove's clients. The focus on core training not only helped me recover from my injuries but also left me leaner and more athletic than I'd felt in a long time.

Cosgrove's training approach, and my success with it, led us to write our book, The New Rules of Lifting for Abs. Read on to learn the top body-changing benefits you'll achieve using our core-centric approach.




Burn fat without moving

Ab training is easy; core training is hard. An exercise like the crunch works a tiny amount of muscle through a minuscule range of motion. Core training works your abdominal muscles along with your lower back and draws in your glutes, hamstrings and everything in between. Even your lats are involved; the connective tissue at the bottom of your lats play a crucial role in stabilising your spine and helping transfer force between the muscles in your upper and lower body when you row, climb or pull.

Training that much muscle at once burns a lot of calories, even if you're not moving.

Here's an example: Assume a pushup position, with your arms straight. Lift your right arm and left leg simultaneously, and hold that position. Concentrate on keeping your body still-don't let your hips drop or your torso rotate. Keep holding. A little longer. Wait . . . okay, you lost it. No problem. Just repeat by lifting your left arm and right leg. And hold that. Unless you're a recreational acrobat, you're probably sweating, shaking, and wheezing like an asthmatic. Train like that for 10 minutes each time you go to the gym and it's hard not to get lean.

Build muscle where it matters

If your goal was to build your biceps, you'd target those muscles with curls. Why curls? Because you can feel your biceps contracting on each rep. Most guys use the same logic in pursuit of abs: Crunches shorten the muscles, so that must be the best way to work them. It isn't!

A study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows that exercises that extend your body while keeping your lower back in a safe, neutral position, work the rectus abdominis-the six-pack muscle-25 per cent harder than crunches do.

Try this: Grab a Swiss ball and assume a plank position-your toes on the floor and body straight from neck to ankles-but with your forearms on the ball. Slowly push the ball out and away. Go as far as you can while keeping your lower back completely stiff-that is, the arch in your lower back shouldn't increase or decrease. Pull the ball back and repeat. Chances are, it'll take a few workouts before you can do 10 reps with a good range of motion. And you may find yourself with sore abs a day or two afterward. But at least you'll know you're truly developing these muscles.




Win the game of life

Core training isn't the answer to every fitness question. When researchers try to correlate core stability with athletic performance, the results are underwhelming.

But good strength coaches include core training in their programmes anyway; they know it's important for back injury prevention, if nothing else.

However, when a Canadian research team looked at specific tests of fitness and longevity, they found that men who scored lowest for abdominal endurance had more than double the risk of death from any cause over the course of the study compared with those who scored highest.

Why? The same reason strength coaches stress core training, even if it's not directly linked to goals or touchdowns. Stability of your lower back depends on the endurance of the supporting muscles.

Spinal instability leads to injury. Injury can be a career killer for an athlete, and plain deadly for an older adult. Train your abs now and you'll have many more years to enjoy the benefits.


By: menshealth.intoday.in

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From: LAmuscle.com

SHOULDER SHOCKERS

You´ve got delt problems I´ve got solutions.




To have a balanced physique, you must have balanced shoulders. In terms of structure and symmetry, the shoulders are the most crucial bodypart because theyre visible from every angle and because theyre the visual reference points for establishing your V taper. 

Even if youre not a competitive bodybuilder, your shoulders are still a crucial body part. When youre wearing street clothes, your shoulders define your physique because they establish your width. Without great shoulder development, much of the hard work you put into the rest of your body will go unnoticed.

If you have any weaknesses or structural imbalances in your shoulders, follow my suggestions for improving shoulder development and appearance. Read on for my solutions to particular problems such as lagging delt heads or overall shoulder weaknesses. Experiment with my shock techniques, and try my training prescriptions to overcome those sticking points and build impressive cannonball delts.




SHOCKS TO THE SYSTEM

Pick and choose from among the following eight pointers to help build better shoulders. Further into this article, Ill tell you which tips may be best implemented for particular shoulder problems. Dont try to put all of these strategies into play at once. Try compatible strategies for a few weeks before giving others a try. Varying these shoulder shockers will keep your muscles guessing and growing.

Shock 1 Train shoulders after two days of rest. Train a lagging bodypart or a problem area after two days of rest. Full rest will allow you to train with greater intensity and get better results.

Shock 2 Train shoulders first in your workout. Regardless of what other muscle groups you are working on that day, train your shoulders first while youre trying to make improvements in them.

Shock 3 Train shoulders twice a week, but at reduced volume. Bodybuilders often train a bodypart once a week, which is an ideal strategy for overall growth. To bring up a bodypart, though, train it twice a week. Reduce training volume slightly for each session to avoid overtraining.

Shock 4 Concentrate on the area of weakness. When you perform a rep, think about the specific part of your body that youre trying to stimulate. If your rear delts are weak, focus on how theyre working during exercises such as dumbbell presses that target the whole shoulder complex.

Shock 5 Develop a mind-muscle connection. Weight stimulates growth, but it has to be used effectively to develop a targeted body part. By cultivating a mind-muscle connection, youll overcome problem areas more effectively. Heres the key: Never think about the weight. Always focus on the stretch and contraction of the targeted muscle. Thats the essence of the mind-muscle connection.

Shock 6 Use heavy weights and fewer reps. Heavy weights stimulate better growth than high reps and lighter weights. Once you develop the mind-muscle connection, the best strategy is to use six to eight reps for mass-building exercises.

Shock 7 Take shorter rest periods during training sessions. Bodybuilders often make the mistake of resting too long between sets. Try reducing rest periods to about a minute between sets. You wont be able to use as much weight or perform as many reps, but the overall stimulation of your targeted muscles can be enhanced.

Shock 8 Focus on proper nutrition prior to shoulder workouts. Eat a large breakfast, take supplements, drink plenty of water, and consume a carb and protein shake before you train. If you have plenty of calories in your system early in the day, youll have much more energy when you train. As a bonus, these nutrients will also help you repair and build muscle mass after your workout. Proper pre-workout nutrition is an often overlooked aspect of effective training.

PROBLEM 1: LAGGING DELTS

SOLUTION Use a targeted approach to building all delt heads. Apply all the Shocks to the System techniques, discussed above, that are compatible. For example, use Shocks 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 for four weeks and make note of any difference in your delts. Replace Shock 7 with Shock 6 for another four weeks. Continue to mix and match as you learn what works best for you.


PROBLEM 2: UNDERDEVELOPED FRONT DELTS

SOLUTION Focus on the front delts during shoulder work. Use Shocks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 for six weeks, then use Shock 6 in place of Shock 3 for another six weeks.


PROBLEM 3: LACK OF SHOULDER WIDTH

SOLUTION Emphasise middle delt-head training to widen your physique. Bodybuilding is a sport of illusion, and your goal is to create the illusion of more shoulder girth. Use Shocks 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 for four to six weeks, then add Shock 7, keeping the weights as heavy as short rest periods allow.


PROBLEM 4: ROUNDED SHOULDERS


SOLUTION Learn to use your delts more effectively, while removing traps from the movement. At first, reduce the amount of weight you use so that you get the feel of this more isolated style of training. Use Shocks 1, 2, 5 and 8. Think about the sensation in your delts during each rep, and dont allow your traps to do the work. It will take concentration to accomplish this. As you develop the mind- muscle connection, add Shock 6, gradually increasing weight and decreasing reps.



PROBLEM 5: UNDERDEVELOPED REAR DELTS


SOLUTION Concentrate on rear delts during shoulder and back training. It can be tricky to build rear delts. Theyre used in both shoulder and back training, but they arent visible from your vantage point, so you have to master the mind-muscle connection to build them effectively. Use Shocks 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8 for four weeks. Then add Shock 3, training shoulders twice a week and reducing training volume for each shoulder workout. This is an effective strategy because rear delts are small muscles and they recover quickly. For the second shoulder session of the week, train back first and alter the prescription by eliminating machine presses, lateral raises and the final two sets of bent raises.


SHOULDERING ON

Use these prescriptive measures to correct lagging areas. Train smart, hard and consistently, and be sure to pay proper attention to bodybuilding nutrition. Youll soon have to turn sideways to walk through your front door. 

By: Dennis James - FlexOnLine