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Fitness Tips & Exercise Info to
get lean and gain muscle quickly!
1. Don't be a workoutaholic. Many beginners
train feverishly under the assumption that more is better,
especially when results first appear. However, you're much
better off easing into the process. "At first, your muscles
aren't ready to do a lot more than they were doing before--they're
ready to do a little more," says Richard Cotton, M.A., chief
exercise physiologist with First Fitness Inc. in Salt Lake
City and a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise.
"You increase your chances of success by moderating your
activity a little bit. The morning after a workout, you
want to feel like you trained, but you don't want to have
to crawl to the bathroom."
2. The best rep range for gaining size is eight
to 20. "The optimum results for muscle growth come from
lifting a weight that's between 60 percent and 80 percent
of what you could lift for one, and only one, rep," says
Tudor Bompa, Ph.D., professor of theories of training at
York University in Toronto. "At 80 percent, the average
person can do eight to 10 reps; at 60 percent, he can do
15 to 20. Most people say anywhere from six to 12 reps is
best for muscle growth, but six would be more than 80 percent."
3. The two most important times to eat are when
you wake up and after you train. You need fuel in your
tank to train hard, and if you don't fill 'er up at breakfast,
you'll be running on fumes later. "Make sure the majority
of your breakfast consists of carbs, with some protein,
maybe in the form of egg whites, thrown in for good measure,"
says Jacqueline R. Berning, Ph.D., R.D., an assistant professor
at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. "Low-fat
yogurt, or milk and cereal, would also fit the bill." It's
equally critical to refuel immediately after you train,
when your body's cells are most receptive to replenishing
the energy they just spent. A premade drink containing both
carbs and protein will satisfy immediate postworkout needs
in the short run. A more substantial meal, however, consisting
of complex carbs and complete protein (chicken breast contains
a better amino-acid profile than egg whites, for example)
should be consumed within 90 minutes of a workout.
4. Difficult exercises are good for you, so resist
the temptation to avoid them. Most exercises can be
classified as either single-joint or multijoint movements.
The former includes the barbell curl, in which only your
elbow joints move. Along with the deadlift and the bench
press, the latter includes the squat, during which your
ankles, knees and hips are all being extended and flexed,
while your upper body works hard to keep the load stable.
Multijoint movements are the more difficult of the two types
to master, but it's well worth the effort to learn their
proper execution, since they result in maximum muscle growth
of more complex muscle groups like the chest or the legs.
"People often get too specific in their exercise selection,"
says Thomas M. McLaughlin, Ph.D., ceo of Biomechanics Inc.
in Marietta, Ga. "At some point, you really need to do big
multijoint exercises that involve large amounts of muscle
mass."
5. Unless it is the primary focus of your training,
do cardio after, not before, you lift weights. Or do
it during another part of the day, or better still, on a
separate day. "If you perform aerobic-type exercise first,
you'll be fatigued for your weight training," says Cotton.
"As a general rule, strength training has less of an impact
on cardio than cardio has on strength training."
6. Stretch before you train, and warm up before
you stretch. Don't jump right into your weight-training
session. First, do about 10 minutes of low-intensity exercise
on a stationary bike or a treadmill. "To decrease the chance
of injury, you need to elevate your body temperature before
you do anything more intense," says Michael J. Alter, M.S.,
author of Sports Stretch. Once your tissues are warm, stretch
them for another five to 10 minutes, focusing your effort
on those body parts you plan to train. Alter also recommends
stretching the body part, or parts, being worked for 15
to 20 seconds after every set. And don't jump right out
of your training mode. Follow with a brief cool-down in
which you basically just keep moving for five minutes or
so, with another five to 10 minutes of stretching.
7. Recovery is just as important as training.
When you lift weights, you're actually tearing down muscle
fibers. It's only after you've completed your workout that
your muscle tissues begin the rebuilding process. To allow
that process to unfold properly, give your body adequate
downtime in between workouts. As a beginner, don't lift
more than three or four times a week, never work the same
muscle group on consecutive days, and never train a muscle
group that's still sore from a prior workout. For optimal
results, you also need to maintain a proper nutrition program,
which calls for five or six nutrient-packed small meals
a day (four, at minimum). Finally, you need to get enough
shut-eye--at least eight hours of it. Adequate sleep keeps
you mentally and physically sharp for your workouts, and
the act of slumber itself accommodates the release of growth-inducing
hormones.
8. Don't do the same workout over and over.
Your body only changes when you force it to, and it's remarkably
quick to adapt to new stimuli. If you repeat the same workout
every training session even for a month, your body can probably
handle it without producing an adaptive response. If you
feel like your progress has reached a plateau, that's probably
what's happening. The best way to avoid plateaus is by periodizing
your training, which simply means arranging it according
to discrete phases designed to achieve different, albeit
related, goals, including muscle growth, strength and definition.
That's also the best way to avoid overtraining.
9. Most guys need to consume an additional 2,500
to 3,500 calories a week to gain one pound of muscle each
week. You can pump iron until you're blue in the face,
but if you don't augment your training efforts with enough
food and fluid, the laws of human biology and simple mathematics
dictate that you won't get any bigger. "When it comes to
gaining muscle, the most important thing is eating enough
calories to fuel both your exercise and the metabolic processes
needed to build muscle," says Susan M. Kleiner, Ph.D., R.D.,
author of Power Eating. "Most guys who have trouble gaining
weight and strength simply aren't eating enough."
10. Women seem to dig men who work out. Sports
psychologists could speak on this topic at length, and relevant
studies doubtless have been performed, but we know this
statement is true because Karen McDougal tells us it is.
"Being in shape definitely gives men that extra sex appeal,"
says Playboy's 1998 Playmate of the Year. "It's the confidence
you show that actually leads to the sex appeal, I think.
If you're not confident and you don't feel good about yourself,
why would someone else be attracted to you? Working out
leads to self-confidence, which leads to sex appeal."
Article Source: www.wholefitness.com
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