Cardio exercise, or aerobic exercise, is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your body. It is known to strengthen the heart muscles, improve respiration, provide muscle tone, reduce the risk of heart disease, and increase bodily energy and endurance. And there are many different ways to get cardio exercise, such as through aerobics, running, basketball, tennis, boxing, rope skipping, and dancing. So it’s not surprising that a lot of people are into cardio exercise. What is surprising is how even fitness buffs still believe in certain myths about cardiovascular exercise. In this article, I will examine some common myths about cardio exercise.

Myth #1: “You can burn off more fat if you don’t eat breakfast before doing your morning cardio exercise.” In fact, it is a bad idea to forego eating before doing cardio exercise, especially in the morning. That is because your body temperature is at its lowest during the morning hours, and so it will take you longer than usual to warm up and get your muscles working. And your body will not burn off more fat if you do your cardio exercise before eating breakfast. Your body actually works at burning off fat when you are sleeping. There are no significant benefits to going without your breakfast before doing your cardio exercise in the morning.

Myth #2: “You should do cardio exercise before doing weight training.” This is a very common myth, and even some of my past gym instructors tended to structure my fitness program so that cardio exercise would come before strength training. However, it is actually better to do the cardio exercise after a session of lifting weights! This is because doing your cardio exercise can draw on the glycogen stored in your muscles. And so your cardio session will leave your muscles with less glycogen to use during strength training, which can make muscle building a lot less effective. However, it is all right to do a short amount–about 5 to 10 minutes–of moderately intense cardio exercise before doing your weight training.

Myth #3: “You have to sweat to get the most out of cardio exercise.” Sweating is nothing more than the mechanism by which your body cools itself. By itself, sweating is not an indicator of how effective your workout is, and even light exercise such as walking that does not make you sweat can help you get rid of a substantial number of calories.

It can be a little difficult to build lean muscle and lost fat – especially when you are not sure exactly how to go about it. Many people try either diet or exercise and sometimes both, but it can be a little tricky figuring out just the right combination. If you really want to gain more lean muscle mass and burn excess fat, it will take some determination on your part. Sometimes, it can be a bit frustrating trying to get it right, but you will be rewarded for your diligence in the end.

It is easy to sabotage yourself by following the latest fad diets and erroneous muscle building tips. In order to achieve your goal, it is essential that you follow proven advice. Here are five tips that will help you get lean muscle and shed fat more quickly than you may have imagined.

Tip #1 – Drink More Water

Your body is approximately 80% water and needs to water for all of its functions – including building muscle and shedding fat. This means that you will need to consume at least eight glasses or more of water per day. Though the liquids you consume do not have to be pure water, it is best if they are. Stay away from caffeinated drinks and sugary drinks like soda. If you do not like the taste of pure water, add a twist of lemon or lime or try one of the non-carbonated flavored water drinks. Remember, clear liquids are best.

Tip #2 – Eat Frequent, Small Meals

To keep your body energized and burning calories at an optimum rate, you need to keep your metabolism stoked. You can accomplish this by eating small meals at regular intervals – every 3 to 4 hours. In this way, you keep encourage lean muscle mass and fat loss.

Tip #3 – Add Weights/Strength Training to Your Workout

Doing tons of aerobics will help you somewhat with your fat loss goals. However, it is essential that you are also building lean muscle, and the best way to do this is by adding strength training exercises to your routine. Though muscle weighs more than fat, it takes up less space (making you smaller) and gives your metabolism a needed boost. You will burn calories for hours after a workout. This is why programs such as Curves are such a phenomenal success.

Tip #4 – Perform Compound Exercises

Try to perform free weight exercises that work combinations of muscle groups with each exercise. In this way, you will work your body more effectively than if you used standard isolation exercises.

Tip #5 – Allow Recovery Time between Workouts

Many people miss the boat on this one. In order for you to facilitate lean muscle in your body, you MUST allow your muscles to rest between workouts. Allow at least a day of rest between workout routines for each muscle group.

It was very hot earlier this summer… so my friend and I went to the park to throw a frisbee. And during that time… several friends stopped by to chat with us. And the thing of it was… the very first thing they notice before saying a single word was my friend’s new six pack abs.

And the very next thing they did was compliment my friend… They were just flabbergasted how different my friend looks! He lost a few pounds and now was ripped and had a six pack abs. To be honest with you, I think this is the best fitness compliment that you can get when someone notices that you stand out and mentions it at the get go.

But that is just me…

And I think we all would absolutely kill to get compliments about our abs.

But back to my friend… he was doing everything right to lose body fat. You know the drill… setting weight loss goals, an active physical lifestyle, eating 6-8 small meals a day, healthier eating and self-awareness.

Are YOU doing these things?

And my friend incorporated interval training plus strength training in his weight loss workouts. And he spends more time thinking out his nutrition… shopping and preparing his meals ahead of time on the weekends so he won’t mess up during his work week because he will be too busy.

And the other thing I wanted to mention was my friend started to hang out with folks that support his weight loss and fitness goals… gone are the drinkers and smokers and in are the folks who exercise regularly and are great nutritional cooks.

Doing the same things my friend did is a sure fired way to lose body fat and get six pack abs. And you can make these simple choices too.

Do you think you’re too old to start building muscle after 50? Many people, after they reach the age of 50 think that it’s too late, or that their bodies couldn’t take the stress of exercise. That’s a lot of hooey. Fifty year old people build muscle just like those of any age, younger or older. Muscle growth requires only two things: anabolic stimulus through exercising at the gym or at home, and eating nutritious foods.

Of course, as you age, your body does undergo changes that might make it more difficult to build muscle, reduction of testosterone and growth hormones are a good example. Injury is more easily incurred as you age as well. But despite these challenging differences which can be overcome, you can easily build muscle after 50, prevent bone loss, and minimize the chances of cardiovascular problems by following the five steps discussed below.

Muscle Building Step 1

Maximize the effectiveness of your workout times by utilizing high-intensity training (HIT) techniques. HIT is brief but intense, and allows adequate time for the muscles to recover. If you are trying to build muscle after 50, and are one who has not trained for years, start slowly. Perform only one or two sets during each workout when you first start out. Slowly and progressively increase the intensity as you become stronger to challenge your body and build muscle.

Muscle Building Step 2

Before you begin a workout routine, perform warm up exercises to increase blood flow to the muscles. Work your way up to the increased weights slowly, to prevent injuries. These slow warm up exercises are often referred to an occlusion warm ups because they significantly increase the flow of blood to the muscles, ensuring that the muscles get the nutrients and oxygen that they need in order to repair and grow.

Muscle Building Step 3

When building muscles after 50, limit your weight-training workouts to no more than one hour per session. This is the point where cortisol, the stress hormone, peaks out. Cortisol, which occurs naturally, is responsible for muscle breakdown. To continue exercising longer than an hour will defeat the purpose of your exercising. You wish to build muscle, not break it down. If you’re over 50, you’re already losing muscle mass, so don’t overdo your exercise to make the problem worse.

Muscle Building Step 4

Schedule your eating to correspond with the times that you perform your workouts. As you get older, your metabolism slows and more of what you eat gets stored as fat. If you time your eating to correspond more closely with your exercising, what you eat will more quickly get utilized by your body for repairing the muscle tissue damaged during exercise. Training experts recommend about 50 grams of whey protein, 100 grams of carbohydrates, and about 30 grams of healthy fats. The healthy fats are good for the heart and can help your body to lower cholesterol.

Muscle Building Step 5

If you’re working at building muscle after 50, use supplements wisely, by adding the more important ones to your diet. One quite effective natural supplement is creatine monohydrate. If you take about 5 grams a day, you can maximize muscle performance and will recover from your workouts quickly. Consider also Secretagogue, a growth hormone. Secretagogue is a blend of essential amino acids that cause a growth hormone to be released by your pituitary gland. This can be of great benefit to older bodybuilders whose natural growth hormone production is declining. Some of the most popular growth hormones are Powerful, from USP Labs, NuSoma, from Olympian Labs, and the previously mentioned Secretagogue, from MHP.

One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions goals is to get into shape. This is something that many people aim to achieve yet most people fail. If you have been setting the same fitness or diet goals for the last couple of New Years, perhaps it’s time you do something different in order to achieve this goal once and for all. This article will give you some tips how you can motivate yourself to achieve your fitness goals. First, lets look at some of the things that causes people to quit in the first place.

One of the main reasons why people stop pursuing their fitness or diet goals is because they had too high of an expectation. Many people believe that they should see some results after each and every workout. Some even think that if they don’t lose 20 pounds in a month, then they are a failure. This mentality is largely due to all of the advertisements and commercials about fast weight loss diets or getting the perfect body in 4 weeks. Many people have fallen into this quick results train of thinking and have forgotten that anything worthwhile will take time and persistence.

So what can you do to motivate yourself? First of all, you need to realize that getting and staying in shape is a life long thing. If you can accept that, you will have a much higher chance of getting the body you have always wanted. Many people have too short of a mentality and think that all they have to do is workout for 3 months and they will have the perfect body for the rest of their life. The people who have achieved their fitness goals and have maintained it are people who have made fitness a lifestyle instead of a temporary task.

Instead of going on a diet where you starve yourself or eat foods you hate, pick a diet that is healthy but something that you can also see yourself using for the long term. Fortunately, the healthier you get, the less you will crave for fatty, unhealthy foods. In terms of exercising, choose an amount of time that you can see yourself dedicating to each week for the next 3 years. Many people will start out working out 5-6 times a week, burn out, and quit. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Remember, the key is to choose a diet and exercise regimen that you can tolerate for years to come. Once all of this becomes a habit, you won’t even have to try. The motivation will be automatic.

It may be wet outside, but don’t let that get you off track. So we thought we could help you get a head-start with losing those extra kilos before the winter months quickly fade into the spring and summer months. Here are our top 10 tips that you can start incorporating into your day from today:

TIP 1:

Start minimising bread, pasta, rice and fruits. This will lower your carbohydrate intake, helping you lean-up. This is particularly important if you spend most of your day behind the desk (you just DON’T NEED all that energy when your not moving much during the day).

TIP 2:

Increase your protein (chicken, meat, eggs, fish, PROTEIN SHAKES, etc), good fats (nuts, avocado, olive oil, etc) and green veggie (broccoli, spinach, asparagus, green beans, etc) intake.

TIP 3:

Eat regular small meals throughout the day (every 3 hours) and make sure you have protein in each meal.

TIP 4:

BE PREPARED – Have a small bag of nuts and a protein bar in your bag for the desperate times. It will save you!

TIP 5:

Make fish-oil your best friend! Fish oil is another form of good fats which assists in stored-fat loss, balances blood sugar (helps with the sugar cravings throughout the day), elevates mood, helps lower cholesterol, stimulates growth hormone release and many more benefits. Just make sure you select a good quality fish oil!

TIP 6:

Have a good quality multi-vitamin. You will see a boost in energy, it can assist in minimising stress, and provides the body with nutrients which most of us may be missing from our diets. This will help your organs function better and therefore your body will perform better.

TIP 7:

Use L-Carnitine to stimulate the use of stored fat as your source of energy when training or during daily activities. On training days, take it 30-40 minutes before training, on non-training days, take it first thing in the morning before eating.

TIP 8:

Get rid of MILK from your diet… this includes SKIM (it is full of lactose which most people are intolerant. Lactose is also a form of sugar, therefore a carbohydrate!). You can still eat cheese, within moderation. What about soy milk? Soy can increase estrogen, meaning looking more bloated/soft rather than toned. And if you’re worried about calcium, then do what cows do. Eat green veggies.

TIP 9:

Keep water intake up. If you urine is dark, it means you’re dehydrated so drink more water! Check-it-out next time, it is the most accurate indicator. It should be almost clear if you are properly hydrated.

TIP 10:

DO SUPER-SET STYLE WEIGHT TRAINING to build muscle tissue and lean-up at the same time! It takes more energy to sustain muscle than fat, meaning you burn more fat in normal every day activity if you build muscle tissue… you don’t need to look like Arnie, just do some form of resistance weight training! Super-setting your weight training significantly increases the heart rate, which is what we all attempt to do when we do cardio training. An example of how you can super-set is as follows e.g. For a chest and back workout, you can super-set by doing a set of chin-ups (for your back), followed immediately by a set of bench press (for your chest) with NO REST IN BETWEEN. Repeat this set another 2 times.

Incorporate any or all of these tips, and you will see results within a week. These are lifestyle changes, so make them part of your everyday routine to get the most success most success, for now and the future.

Please note, each individual and circumstances may vary. Therefore, the information offered is intended for people in good health. Anyone with medical problems or injuries of any nature should see and consult a doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. In general, suggested tips can be very effective. It is advisable to consult your doctor(s) before making major changes in your lifestyle.

Developing new muscle and growing larger is not always as easy as it seems it should be. Most people struggle to lose weight, but others find it just as difficult to turn their untrained body into the rock hard, chiseled physique that they really want to strut. If this is your goal right now, then consider a few basic muscle building tips that will help you get your diet in line and rev up your workouts to see real progress.

While you cannot expect to wake up in just a few weeks with perfectly ripped abs, you can expect to see some sort of progress in some parts of your body rather quickly. It is a transformation that takes time and dedicated work, but if you stay committed to your workout sessions and keep your diet on plan then you should see definition forming in your muscles within a couple weeks or so.

How fast you start seeing real muscle develop largely depends on how much fat you have layered over the muscles at the beginning. You can build muscle and in fact that will help you burn the fat off even quicker, but you must burn off the excess fat before you can have that lean physique you are trying to get with these muscle building tips.

So, as far as workouts go you will need to get in as much cardio as possible to start burning off fat. You also need muscle building workouts that will start to develop new muscle mass to be revealed as the fat trickles away.

Other muscle building tips regard your eating habits, since this is just as important as pumping iron and burning fat. In order to repair your muscle tissue after an intense workout and start to grow new lean muscle mass, you will need to take in a lot of protein. Aim for at least one ounce for every pound of body weight you currently have.

You can take the protein higher and adding in protein shakes is a good way to get in more than you can stand to eat on a daily basis.

The rest of your diet should be a well balanced blend of other nutrients that your body needs for healthy functioning. Carbohydrates are your main source of energy and you will need some healthy whole grain sources if you are doing a lot of long cardio sessions. Just be careful because carbs will be stored into your fat cells if you eat more than your body can use at any given time.

When it comes to fats, keep it to a minimum with healthier sources such as dry roasted nuts and olive oil.

Essentially, you want to workout a lot and balance your food intake so you are eating a lot of protein, controlled portions of whole grains, and lots of vegetables and fresh fruits.

These muscle building tips only touch the very basics of what you will probably learn as you continue your journey toward a lean, ripped physique. With serious commitment it is entirely possible to turn whatever body you currently have into the physique you dream of having.

Muscle gain truth is an online center for getting up-to-date guides one can apply to build muscle fast and through the easy way. This article is written to encourage anyone that muscle building is for everyone and that it can be achieved and also to link the reader to muscle gain truth, so he can start his or her muscle building program as soon as possible with the help of a muscle builder. Muscle building program can be done by anyone whether slim or fat, it’s a fitness anyone can do if he invests his or her time and effort to it. I know of a guy who was very slim but he took to the task of muscle building and gained muscle, you need to see his arms, chest and shoulder, they are very huge.

Weight lighting is a part of muscle building program that should not be ignored, it’s wise for a muscle builder to spend 2-3 hours of his time lifting weights. If weight lifting is to be done the weightlifter should ensure that he/she carries the exact weight scale for that particular muscle building exercise, this is necessary to acquire the desired muscle program.

Another factor to try out is the type and calories of food to be eaten, this is also essential to get the desired muscle building, This is one of the effective aspect of muscle building, the type and calorie of food you eat should be taken into consideration. Try every possible best to follow the guides of a muscle building expert for the type of food and calorie of food to be eaten during muscle building program, this is so because this can limit the desired muscle building program. Some people spend about 6 months building muscle without getting their desired workout plan, not minding the fact that they are not following the rules and regulation of muscle building.

It’s no secret that the more time you spend in weightlifting and if the scale of weight you lift is higher, the more muscle you are likely to gain. This works for real and if you are able to get the right weightlifting scale for muscle building from an expert then your dream of gaining huge muscle for sure will be acquired. Finally I recommend Muscle Gain Truth to anyone that wants to build a successful muscle fast and through the easy way. For years now, muscle gain truth has been no 1 leader in muscle building workout plan, try them today and watch your muscle building grow the way you want them to be and through the easy way.

There’s something you won’t hear in most fitness magazines, infomercials, or advertisements when it comes to diet and fitness training. Being lean is 70% diet. That is of course unless you’re a professional athlete and you want and can afford to train 6 to 8 hours a day. If not, then you had better address your diet if you want to lean down. Now I’m not saying that you don’t have to exercise, you most definitely do. You need to build your body so it actually looks good once you’ve stripped all the fat away. You need to build shape and muscle and tone but neither exercise alone or diet alone will get you the body you want!

A diet shouldn’t mean suffering. A diet should be delicious. A diet should be filling. A diet should be nutritious. A diet should be made of whole foods. A diet should have fibre.

Often times it is easier to start with a very structured, healthy diet plan where each meal, recipe, and even the drinks you consume are all laid out for you so you don’t have to do any thinking. If you get a good meal plan with these kinds of details that is a great start to make a permanent change in the way you eat. Remember the word diet doesn’t refer to a short-term fix like the way so many of us choose to use the word. Diet simply refers to the way you eat.

Here’s the dictionary definition:

diet

[dahy-it] noun – food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health

Here are some simple tips to help get you started on a permanent change to the way you eat:

1. Drink 3 litres of water a day – this will mean you drink less pop and juice which are sources of empty calories and weight-gaining sugars

2. Never miss breakfast – this starts your metabolism revving for the day

3. Eat only proteins and leafy veggies for dinner – in other words, eat your carbohydrates throughout the day, not at night

4. Don’t eat late – your metabolism naturally slows down near the end of the day, if you eat late it is more likely that food will get stored as fat

5. Eat Whole Foods – this means eat foods that are not processed (eat vegetables, meats, whole grain breads, and fruits and nuts for snack)

If you follow these simple rules you will start to notice a big change in your body fat levels soon.

As for exercise many of us don’t have a whole heck of a lot of time to workout. The good news is you can get a lot done in a short amount of time. If you are very busy here are some tips to help you get in a good short workout.

1. Do body weight exercises – choose a few exercises that allow you to work your whole body and start off easy. Do 10 reps of each exercise and add 1 rep every day for the next 90 days until you are doing 100 reps a day. Remember you don’t have to do all the 100 reps at once. Break them up throughout the day just so long as you hit your target amount of reps by the time you go to bed. Even at 100 repetitions this won’t take you more than 15 minutes in total.

(If chin ups are too hard to do just yet, do Hindu push ups instead)

Example Exercise List: Push Ups, Lunges, Crunches, Chin Ups

2. For cardio start off with walking if you have been particularly inactive for a while. Start by just adding it in to your regular day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to work if you can. Walk to the store instead of driving. Fit it in wherever you can.

3. After some time start skipping. Just ten minutes of skipping will work wonders.

If you follow these diet and fitness training tips you can make big changes to your body in no time. If you really want to jump start your path to fitness it would be best to get a detailed, healthy diet plan in addition for following this simple body weight workout plan. It doesn’t sound like much but over time these little changes will be dramatic.

When you embark on a weight loss diet something strange happens. Your body is not entirely happy to shed its fat. Instead you start to lose lean tissue such as muscle and bone density.

A research study carried out in Denmark, and reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May 2002 found that when men dieted less than 60% of the weight lost was fat. The rest was lean tissues. When men regained weight only 24% of the weight they put back on was lean tissue – over 75% of the weight regained after weight loss was more fat. That means for people who yo-yo diet – living in a cycle of losing weight and putting it back on again – the lean tissues in their body are gradually being replaced by fat.

The same research showed that the picture for women is even worse! During the diet 35% of the weight lost was lean tissue – initially less than for men. BUT on regaining weight only 15% was lean tissue. When women lost and then regained weight, lean tissue was not sufficiently restored – 85% of the weight regained was fat!

Do you find this surprising? I must say that when I first came face to face with this information I was astounded. So much so that I decided to check it out with a man who might be able to tell me just how difficult it is to maintain muscle, and how easily lean tissue can be lost. That man is an accomplished body builder: Stuart Garrington. Mr. World 2012. Current reigning Mr. Britain, and preparing for the Mr. Universe competition in October this year.

Stuart tells me that a top notch body builder will probably be able to gain a maximum of 8lbs of pure muscle in a year – and that’s with all the training, extremely high protein diet and creatine supplements that go with the sport. Furthermore, if a body builder takes their eye off the diet, and begins to introduce too many carbohydrates instead of protein, the muscle begins to disappear very quickly – he estimates that it would be easy to drop 2 or 3 stones of muscle mass very easily.

Simply – it’s hard work to gain muscle and very easy to lose it if your diet does not positively protect your body composition.

Body composition is intrinsically linked with health. Though research scientists reported this in 2002, it finally hit the mainstream media in 2011, becoming headline news in The Daily Mail. The logical conclusion is that diets that don’t protect your body composition do damage your health!

What is incredibly disappointing is that in the past decade (and more) since the facts emerged, the food and diet industries at large have failed to respond, and continue to perpetuate the same erroneous messages and promote the same products. This means that you continue to lose lean tissues instead of fat, and risk your health.

Daily Mail on adverse effects of weight loss diets on health article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2026106/Being-fat-healthier-constantly-trying-diet.html