Welcome to Building Muscle The Healthy Way Blog.

Dear Reader, Thank you For Coming Here.
I Hope You Find This Information Interesting and Useful

Tuesday 27 April 2010

WALKING FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Exercises are good for your workout program because they help tone flabby muscles while also burning calories. But aerobic exercise is best to burn fat. A great way to get an aerobic workout is to walk.
Walking is the easiest and most effective exercise we can use in our workout routine. But you need to know more than one foot in front of the other to get the most from walking as aerobic exercise.
Because of how the body draws on fat stores versus other stored energy sources, the first thing you need to do is increase the time you spend walking. While we’ve said that 30 minutes of exercise is good for fat burning, when you walk, you really need to bump this up to at least 45 minutes, but ideally an hour.
Obviously, it might not be possible for you to fit an hour of walking into your busy schedule, but try walking every day allowing a few days for an hour and a few days at 30 minutes. Alternate them, however. If you walk an hour on Monday, walk half an hour on Tuesday, etc.
If you’re only going to be walking for 30 minutes, increase your speed. A leisurely stroll isn’t going to give you that aerobic workout that your body needs, so step it up a bit. But don’t overdo it. If you can’t talk and walk, you’re over-exerting yourself and you should back off a bit.
You can also introduce some type of weight for you to carry when you walk. This could be something simple like a small weight, or you can go to the pantry and pull out a couple of cans of corn! Keep them in your hands as you walk and move your arms back and forth in your strides. Adding weight will also help tone your arms – an added perk!
If you’re walking outdoors, perhaps in your neighborhood, take along a walk-man and play some upbeat music to keep you walking. Not only is it entertaining, it keeps you going as well!
And remember, that all walking counts – even if it’s during a shopping trip to the mall!

Phillips, Bill; Eating For Life;

Tuesday 20 April 2010

TONING EXERCISES

Need some more exercises? No problem! Here are three exercises that can be used to tighten thighs, buttocks, and stomach areas.
• Outer Thigh Lift – Lying on your right side with your hips and ankles in line with your shoulders, slowly lift your leg as high as possible, hold, then return to starting position. Do 10 repetitions and then switch sides.
• Inner Thigh Lift – Lie on your left side with your hips and ankles in line with your shoulders, and your right knee bent at a 90 degree angle. Slowly lift your left leg as high as possible, hold, then return to starting position. Do 10 repetitions and then switch sides
• Abdominal Crunches – Lying on your back with your knees bent and your hands behind your head, slowly curl your shoulders up putting your chin to your chest. Pause then slowly return to starting position. Do 10 repetitions of these.
Of course, these are toning exercises that will help target problem areas. One problem area many women have is cellulite in the thigh area and other places. Here are some exercises to perform that will help those cellulite areas.

Phillips, Bill; Eating For Life;

Tuesday 13 April 2010

EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS

Even with those “miracle” diet pills, you still cannot lose weight without increasing your physical activity. Exercising in some form will help to burn calories that can be converted into fat and extra weight. This is why you need to devise an effective workout plan that will fit into your abilities and interests.
Most people don’t really like to exercise. For them, it seems too much like work. And it is work, but it doesn’t have to be tedious work. There are ways to exercise doing things that you love to do.
First, you need to choose an activity that you enjoy. Do you like riding your bike as the sun sets in the sky? Maybe swimming is more your idea of fun. Even a good round of golf can be a great form of exercise – but only if you leave the cart in the cart barn!
Once you find that activity, you need to pursue it at a minimum of three times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. The more you exercise, the more calories you will burn, but you don’t have to be fanatical about it!
Start slowly then increase your level when you feel stronger until you are at a point where you think you are at a high level of intensity. It’s OK to rest at intervals to recharge your batteries, but get back up to that level again until your workout is complete.
The ideal exercise plan is going to involve some form of aerobic exercise sustained for 30 minutes at a time. This could be in the form of an aerobic class or something as simple as taking a walk. This will get your heart pumping effectively so that your body can burn the calories that you have consumed!
When should you do this type of workout? Believe it or not, there is a best time to perform your cardio workout for best results.
We want to tell you that the important part about exercise is that you get out and do it! No matter when you exercise, you will burn fat and calories as long as it’s a good workout. But to get the maximum benefit, try exercising in the morning before you eat your first meal.
Early morning aerobic exercising on an empty stomach has three benefits over working out later in the day.
First, your levels of stored carbohydrates and muscle are at a low when you first get up in the morning. This is because during the night, your body is burning any calories that were consumed at dinner the previous evening by performing bodily functions that occur even while we sleep.
As a result, you’ll wake up with lower carb levels and lower blood sugar levels which is the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbs.
How does this work? It’s actually quite simple. Carbohydrates are your body’s primary and preferred energy source. When this source is in short supply, your body must tap into its secondary energy resource: body fat.
If you do your exercise workout after eating, the body will burn off the carbohydrates you’ve consumed first. It’ll take a little longer to get to that fat you need to burn.
A second benefit to doing exercise in the morning is called the “afterburn” effect. You’ll not only be burning fat during your workout, but that fat burn will continue on even after your workout is finished. How?
An intense session of cardio can keep your metabolism elevated for hours afterwards. Exercising at night won’t give you that extra metabolic lift because once you go to sleep, your metabolism drops dramatically once you become sedentary. When you sleep, your metabolic rate is slower than at any other time of the day.
The third reason for doing early morning exercise is more emotional than anything else. Your body’s endorphins are elevated when you exercise. It lifts your mood and gives you a sense of accomplishment that will likely stay with you all during the day.
That being said, exercise is something that many consider a tedious chore. We tend to procrastinate and put off doing something we consider to be less than enjoyable. If you commit yourself to morning workouts, you’ll have “gotten it out of the way” freeing your mind from having to do it later. This can create guilt and stress and affect your whole day – don’t let it! Plus, you are more likely to blow off exercising later in the day because you are tired or just don’t feel like it.
You might find it difficult to get up and exercise first thing in the morning. Not everyone is a “morning person”. So how do you motivate yourself to get up and get moving?
First, remember that you are trying to lose weight. You have a goal that you are trying to achieve. That should remain in the forefront of your mind. If you stay focused on your goal, the motivation should come.
Think back to a time when you tackled a difficult task and finished it. Remember how great you felt afterwards. Completing any challenge can give you a “buzz”. When that task is physically demanding, that “buzz” is both psychological and physiological. That’s because your body releases endorphins into your system.
Endorphins are opiate-like hormones that are hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest morphine. Except for endorphins are made by YOU, not a laboratory. Endorphins create a natural high that can make you positively euphoric! Endorphins can reduce stress, improve your mood, increase your circulation, and relieve pain.
This “high” you feel is partly psychological too. When you get up early and get your workout done, you’ll feel a sense of completion that will kick start your day and get it off on the right foot! You will have a sense of completion and accomplishment that will stay with you throughout your day. You’ll feel happy and less stressed when you know that this difficult task is already behind you and you can enjoy what the day has to offer you!
So, you know that exercise is essential to any weight loss program, but what kind of exercise should you do? What kind of exercise is best? We’ve already said that you should choose something you love to do so that exercising doesn’t seem so tedious, but maybe you’re wondering whether or not you should get into the gym and lift the big weights or simply take a walk to get your aerobic exercise in.
There really is no cut and dried answer to this question. Whether you want to bust out the old Tae-Bo tapes, plunk down a bunch of money on a treadmill, or just put on some music and do some leg lifts on your living room floor, the important thing is that you do exercise.
Let’s look at the calorie burning that occurs in certain types of exercises.
The numbers below reflect the number of calories you burn for 20 minutes of participation in different exercises. We should all aim to take 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days a week. This can be a mixture of all types of physical activity, anything that makes you slightly out of breath and raises your heart rate slightly.

This table doesn't only show values for organized exercises, but also for more enjoyable pass times, like walking, dancing and gardening - which many of us enjoy to do.

Almost any activity can be a fat burning activity – as you can see from the above chart. Yes, even having sex can burn calories! However, keep in mind that the number given above is for 30 minutes of activity!
Generally, men tend to burn more calories during sex than women do, but if you’re going to incorporate some love making into your workout regimen (and we hope you do!), be an active participant – don’t just lay there and think you’re burning calories.

Phillips, Bill; Eating For Life;

Monday 12 April 2010

How much calories you have to consume building muscle mass and burning body fat?

How much calories you have to eat? This is the one of the most prevalent question of eating. The answer depends on your current purposes. If your purpose escalating of strength and muscle mass, it means, you have to eat much more, than in case fat burning only.
If your target is to become stronger and to have more muscle mass, you must consume more calories than you burn. Growing strength and muscle, your weight and fatty layer grow too.
Many bodybuilders want to reduce percentage of fat and continue to increase muscles at the same time. You cannot lose weight as quickly as you would completely concentrate on fat burning. And you cannot increase these muscles as quickly, as in case if the weight gain would be main target for you.
The weight of bodybuilders does not change but the structure of their bodies does. It means that percentage of body fat decreases and the person becomes brawnier and dry, e.g. "lean". The fat itself do not turn to muscles. There are two main processes such as a mass gain and a fat burning.
If your aim is to burn fat, then you need to burn more calories than you eat. Eventually, during the fat burning process, most people lose weight and something of muscle mass too.
As soon as you are defined with the target, you can calculate a number of calories, which you need to eat every day, using simple formulas. The main parameter is Body Mass. It is very important parameter.
Remember, that you can use these formulas only for rough calculation Try to stay on this number during the week or two and analyse the results rather you have a progress. If you have not get the positive result and your weight has not changed yet, modify the number of calories on 200-500 more or less depend on your target. This process can take few weeks.
In case of weight gain, formula is Body Mass x 44. For example, if you have 84 kilogram of body weight, you have to consume not less than, approximately, 84 x 44 = 3700 calories a day.
In case of to keep weight on the same level, formula is Body Mass x 39. You have to consume, approximately, 84 x 39 =3330 calories a day.
In case of weight loss, formula is Body Mass x 34. You need to consume less than 84 x 34 =2856 calories a day.
As any other dynamic process, your weight alteration process demands updating. For example, you work on fat burning direction during two weeks without any result. In this case you must reduce daily amount of calories on 200-500. Apart from that the weight changes, and then the number of calories, which you have to consume, also changes to one or another side. After that, as you made a correction, you have to watch your weight during another couple of weeks. If again you do not get any result, you need a new modification and so on.
Calculate consumed calories permanently in order to know dependence between your weight alteration and number of calories, consumed daily.

Building muscles for beginners. Part 2

At the beginning the muscle builders are not in condition to feel a body and therefore often exceed a measure in loadings. As the result of it is a likely condition of a muscular exhaustion. To manage it you need efforts. Even if you use special medicines you can come back to weight training not earlier than through a month and a half. To avoid tiredness, you should follow the recommendations:
1. to take a bath or a hot shower. This procedure increases a blood circulation and allows muscles relax;
2. After training it is necessary to do self-massage and, if it is possible, deep a entire body massage (at least once a week);
3. After excessive loadings, it is necessary to begin training with easy weight. Do it no more than 1-2 approaches in each exercise.
Serious traumas in bodybuilding happen seldom, however it is necessary to understand rules, that your training was not subject of pointless risk to your colleagues or your lives.
First of all, a crossbeam has to have locks. Each lock weighs approximately 2,5 kilogram. You have to take in the account this weight for calculation of entire weight.
Secondly, you have to use racks. If you carry out the strength program, be necessarily insured by the partner and the trainer. Be especially cautious on the performance of presses.
For your best achievements you have to pay serious attention to food you consume. In general opinion a main meal of bodybuilders consists of mostly from meat. It is not true. Many of bodybuilders do not use meat products at all.
They deliver protein to an organism with milk, beans and nuts. If you do not have anything against a beef, chicken meat or fish, they necessarily should be present at your daily meals. On a regular basis you have to eat fruits and vegetables. Also you have to include in daily norm the products containing vegetative fats (for example, nuts).
High-quality the food, you have to eat, necessarily has to contain as much vitamins and micro elements as possible. Try to make food various and eat more than 3 times a day, 5-6 times even better.
Drink mineral water during the day, approximately, 2-3 litres depends of your body weight. Avoid white bread, cakes, biscuits etc., sweet dishes, fats, alcohol, hot spices and too much salt.
Building muscles mass will not be without high-quality rest. It is necessary to pay special attention to a sleep time. If you do not manage to have a sleep normally before day of training, you can expect over training.
In an initial stage of bodybuilding it is better to forget about evening temptations watching TV within several months and go to bed in time. You should understand how important to have a high-quality a sleep time.
There are two types of warm-ups in bodybuilding. First one is before the beginning of training: jumps, straightening, knee-bend with jumps, etc. The second one is during of exercise program. Warm-up is necessary to prepare muscles for exercise with weights. Attempt to make exercise on a "cold" muscle usually ends with a trauma.
The bodybuilder adds approximately 3-4 kilogram of muscle mass a year within first two-three years of trainings. Later it is no more, than 2-3 kilogram: speeds of increase in muscles mass are slowdown. Growth of muscles depends on many factors and it is difficult to force.
So if you are a new and just thinking to build your muscle mass you have to understand all rules of bodybuilding, be careful with weight training and better to start with local place with professional training, who help you with making your individual program and support you with correct workouts.

Sunday 11 April 2010

Building muscle for beginners. Part 1

Bodybuilding is a system of physical exercises with various weights (dumbbells, burdening, a crossbeam, etc.), having for an object a muscle development. You can do muscle training exercises in gym or outdoors as well as with a gymnastic simulator at your own home.
The dominating bodybuilding tendency is to give body beauty due to increase vigour of muscles. This is some kind of physical preparation, which spread wide enough among people, leading a healthy life style, especially among men. Though there are a sufficient number of women as well.
Bodybuilding is a dangerous kind of physical sport, and experts advise to build muscle mass strictly following by major principles, especially at the foundation stage.
Constant increase in load of weights is the best method to increase muscle mass. There can appear an additional problem such as an increase of progressing influence of the training to the muscles. It is connected with their adaptation to loading, and muscular growth slowdown.
To resolve this problem need to decrease a break between approaches. If for the beginning an interval between approaches takes about 60 seconds or more, then you have to decrease it till 10-15 seconds. For those, who just have begun to build muscle mass, the increase in quantity of recurrences in the approach is the first method of progress.
It is necessary to train three times a week every other day. The one day between workouts will be enough that the body had a break and strengths have completely come back. Then, depending on your success, the quantity of trainings will depend on an exercise program. But there is no necessity to hurry event. Standard initial training lasts 40 - 45 minutes.
It is necessary to carry out the particular training program no more than one and a half month, because you have to avoid accustoming muscles to exercises. However, there are exceptions. If we speak about beginners, then it is necessary to change the exercise program as often as possible. Otherwise it leads to boredom and physical exhaustion.
Correctly to do muscle training exercise means to place only those receptions, which are stipulated in your program. For example, if you look at the beginners, how they do rises on a biceps. They do it with a big degree of difficulty and they start to help itself by a body or legs. It cannot be done by this way. It is necessary to choose such weight which allows overcoming it only by strength of biceps.
Other criterion of performance correctness is to do it without pushes and delays. Any sharp movement has inertia which "eats" a part of weight.
The end of part 1.

For more information you can check:
http://loseweighthow.org

Tuesday 6 April 2010

FORBIDDEN FOODS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

We can’t possibly cover all of the foods that are acceptable to eat when you are trying to lose weight. Common sense can tell you that French fries are a no-no and an apple is great.
What we’ve decided to do is concentrate on those foods that you SHOULDN’T eat. Of course, this could be a long list as well, so we’re going to touch on the worst and give you some possible substitutions.
Beverages
Stay away from anything with caffeine in it - don't forget that many sodas have caffeine. Caffeine has the same insulin-stimulating, weight-loss-inhibiting effect as aspartame. Unfortunately, this includes coffee. Stick to decaffeinated sodas, teas, and coffees.
Along the same lines, cut out any beverage that contains aspartame (Nutra Sweet), high fructose corn syrup, or refined sugar. Since you need to drink a lot of water in order to lose weight, try water with a slice of lemon or lime in it. It can be very refreshing and very satisfying!
Alcohol is a no-no in any weight loss plan. It’s OK to have a glass of wine with dinner, just don’t drink the whole bottle. There’s no better way to pack on the pounds than to drink excessive amounts of alcohol – even the ones that claim they have fewer calories. Moderation is the key with alcoholic beverages!
Boxed Pre-Packaged Foods
In general, you should stay away from a lot of these products. If the ingredients are not pronounceable, you should avoid them. In other words, anything with a lot of chemicals on the ingredient list are not going to be good for your diet.
White rice, while very filling, contains starches that can inhibit your weight loss. Stick to brown rice instead.
Pasta mixes are usually also not good because of the starches they contain. Stick to whole grain pastas instead. They taste just as good and are much better for you!
Breads
For the same reasons as pasta and white rice, white breads should also be avoided. Whole grain breads provide you with the carbohydrates you need and are less processed than the white breads. Be sure the bread you choose is made with whole wheat flour instead of just wheat flour. Believe me, it makes a difference.
If you love Mexican food, stick to whole wheat flour tortillas or corn tortillas when you choose your burritos, enchiladas, or soft tacos.
Canned and Jar Foods
Again, anything that is canned or jarred needs to be free of excessive chemicals. If the label contains ingredients with more than four syllables or are hyphenated, it won’t be good for your diet.
Chicken broth can be very fatty, so stay away. So are many soup mixes. The good news is that there are plenty of light or low fat choices out there. These are the ones you should choose.
Commercially-made tomato sauces or tomato based sauces contain ridiculously huge amounts of sugar and salt. A better choice is to make these sauces yourself where you can control what goes into it. We’ll have a recipe later in the book for you to do just that!
Do not eat canned fruit or canned vegetables. If it’s been canned, it’s been cooked thus it loses some of it’s most beneficial nutrients. They can also contain processed or refined sugars, so stick to fresh fruits and veggies instead.
If you have to have a little oil to cook your foods in, choose extra virgin olive oil over the vegetable or corn based oils.
Meats
Choose only lean meats to get your protein intake. It’s commonly known that you should try to stay away from red meats like beef. Of course, if you’re like me and love your steak, choose a lean cut and don’t make the portion any larger than your clenched fist.
Choose fresh fish instead of canned and be sure it’s of the lower fat variety. This includes salmon, tilapia, and cod. Don’t bread your fish either, broil it or grill it to get rid of any residual fat that might remain.
White meat chicken breasts are better than dark meat because the darker meat contains more fat. The same applies to turkey.
Tuna is always a good choice – even if it’s canned. Just be sure to get the tuna canned in water – not oil!

Dairy
Skim milk should be your first choice over whole milk or two percent. Avoid drinking too much milk, however, because it naturally contains some fats that can turn into unnecessary fat on you!
Unfortunately, cheese on a diet is also a big no-no. However, you can find low-fat or fat-free cheese in most grocery stores, so always pick these first. But use it sparingly!
Eggs are all right on your diet, but you’re better off to use only the whites instead of including the yolks. Egg substitutes are a great way to get your egg fix, so look for these in the store as well.
Fat-free sour cream is alright in moderation, but try to substitute with plain yogurt instead.
Vegetables and Fruits
Almost all fresh vegetables are good for you. It’s a generally accepted belief that you can eat all the vegetables you want and still lose weight. That’s pretty much true – as long as they’re prepared the correct way. It’s always best to steam veggies. You can also drizzle them with a little olive oil and bake them in the oven or – even better – roast them on the grill! Yummy!
Be careful of eating too many fruits that contain a lot of natural sugars like oranges and peaches. Because the sugar is naturally there, it’s not horribly bad for you, but you don’t want to overload on sugars because it can be converted to fat.
One big thing you must do when you decide that you want to lose weight is to immediately clean the cupboards and refrigerator getting rid of all the foods that can inhibit your diet. That means get rid of the chips, processed sugar, canned fruits, etc.
Don’t throw them away – give them to a local food bank. Believe me, they’ll be happy to get whatever you have to offer – diet friendly or not!
Once you do that, you get to go shopping! Don’t dread it! Just shop smart!

Phillips, Bill; Eating For Life;