March 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Do You Make These 12 Weight Loss Mistakes?

Are you struggling to lose weight and don’t get any results? Do you think you’ve tried them all, and still not reached the body you desire? Then you are probably making one of these twelve weight loss mistakes:

1. You’re Being Impatient

So it’s been a month since you started to work out and diet, and you lost 5 pounds…well congratulations! But unfortunately many people are disappointed with this result and they were expecting much more than this! All you need to do is be patient and give it some more time! Weight loss is not a day to day event and it accumulates over time. Be proud of what you accomplished so far because whether it’s 5 lbs or 50 lbs it’s still PROGRESS!

2. You Eat Too Many / Too Few Calories

You probably already know that you need to be in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. That means to burn more calories than you consume, but a huge deficit is not good either. Your body still needs a good amount of calories and nutrients in order to survive and to burn the fat.

3. You’re Too Focused on Weight

Everyone seems to be obsessed with WEIGHT! Yet a successful body transformation is all about fat loss! So put the scale away and measure your evolution in percentages of body fat and by taking before and after pictures. If you’re not dropping pounds but you are losing FAT, then you’re doing great!

4. You Don’t Include Strength Training in Your Workouts

How Much Protein To Gain Muscle?

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but let me repeat myself to make sure I’m perfectly clear: Consuming a high protein diet is very IMPORTANT if you want to build a significant amount of muscle mass! But since there is so much confusion as to how much protein is necessary if you want to gain muscle, I’ve decided to go ahead and write this article to clear things up. Taking advice from the typical Average Joe or even your doctor is not necessarily going to be the best approach when it comes to determining your protein needs. If you’re a bodybuilder, you’re naturally going to need more, since your muscles require additional protein to rebuild broken down muscle tissue and grow back bigger and stronger.

How High Can You Go?

Although there are many different ways to determine your daily protein needs and everyone is going to be slightly different due to their unique metabolism, the following formula seems to work wonderfully for anybody who needs to figure out how much protein their body needs to gain muscle:

Lean Body Mass (Lbs) x 1.25 = Daily Protein Needs

Lean Body Mass (Kg) x 2.75 = Daily Protein Needs

Please be aware that this is the LEAN Body Mass and NOT your actual weight! I’ll show how to calculate this in a moment…

Curvalicious Review -- Get Toned & Sexy with Flavia Del Monte

Many women want to lose weight and be in a good shape, but most of them also want to have that “toned” and curvy look that immediately draws attention and tells everyone that they are working out. Unfortunately the Fitness industry is not really telling the truth about getting that look and they make women think that the secret behind a toned body is a new abs machine, a magic weight loss pill, a vibro-massage device or in the best case they say that toning comes from doing high reps with low weight at the gym.

Some “experts” claim that toning comes from “firming up the muscle”, yet the muscle is already firm. The muscle itself can only grow, shrink or remain the same and it can’t go from flabby to hard…the only flabby thing is the fat! Others claim that toning comes from losing weight, yet most weight loss programs leave you weak and scrawny.

Toning is actually a 2 steps process: first you must add a minimal amount of muscle that gives shape and curves to your body, and then you must strip down the fat and reveal that sexy definition. This way you will REALLY look toned and sculpted, and not skinny and soft. And here’s where the “Curvalicious Workout Program” comes into place, providing you with all the tools and knowledge you need to achieve that perfect body. So let’s begin the review with a short intro about the author.

Who Is Flavia Del Monte?

In case the name “Del Monte” sounds familiar to you, you should know that Flavia is the wife of the famous Fitness Model and Author - Vince Del Monte. Learning and evolving along with her husband, she is now a Certified Trainer, Nutritionist as well as a Registered Nurse. She is the creator of two popular Fitness programs for women and she was featured in famous magazines such as Women’s Health, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Oxygen and many more.

What The Program Includes?

The Curvalicious Workout system is designed to offer you all the tools and information you need for 12 weeks via instructional videos, PDF guides and printable workout sheets. All the components that are included in the price are:

- The Gym Workout Manual – this is a step by step PDF guide that outlines everything you need to know regarding workouts and exercises at the gym. If you don’t have a gym membership and don’t plan to make one in the future, don’t worry because there is a “Home Edition” as well (find more info below).

Build Bigger Muscles With A Blast From The Past

Everybody's in a hurry these days, wanting to get everything done as quickly as possible. And a sedentary lifestyle coupled with hours of TV a day has left the average person with a lazy attitude - they want everything with as little effort as possible to acquire it. Mass-market magazines, including bodybuilding magazines, know this and tailor their content to appeal directly to this trend in order to sell as many copies as they can each month. How many times have you seen article titles like “6-Pack Abs In 6 Minutes A Day”, “30-Minute Workout Builds Massive Muscles” or “30 Days To A Perfect Physique”?

If you've been hitting the gym for more than a couple of months you already know these articles are bogus, right? If their claims were true you'd be able to work out for a couple of months each winter and be beach-ready the other 10 months of the year. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the articles are illustrated with photos of muscular guys on steroids or shots showing 6-packs on people who have never had fat on their abs, but instead come by their 6-packs naturally due to genetics.

None of this comes as a surprised to experienced lifters, yet we keep buying the mags each month in the hope we'll find that one 'magic bullet' we've been missing. Obviously there is no magic bullet when it comes to building bigger muscles, but there is one simple way to boost your progress in the gym. Guys were building massive muscles before the coming of steroids. People like Boyer Coe, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, Charles Atlas, George Hackenschmidt, Louis Cyr and Eugen Sandow were all very muscular - and those last 4 were born in the 1800's! (How ironic is it that the every juice-fueled winner of the Olympia is handed a trophy that is a statue of Eugen Sandow?)

So what did they do that you probably aren't? Most used 2 and 3-hour workouts, training full-body 3 or 4 times a week, mixing compound & isolation moves for each bodypart with reps ranging from sets of 5 to sets of 25 or 30. In other word, they made their bodies WORK - and work hard and long.

The Secret Behind Naturally High Testosterone Levels

31 Day Naturally High Testosterone Levels Plan!
If you aren’t making the degree of workout progress that you had hoped you would, one thing that you may want to consider is whether your testosterone levels are lower than they should be. The thing is that modern environmental, cultural, and dietary changes are decreasing males testosterone levels, at a much younger age. A recent study shows that: “Researchers in the US are finding testosterone levels to be substantially lower — by about 15 to 20% — than they were fifteen years ago. Scandinavian studies show similar declines, and in younger men too; a man born in 1970, for example, had about 20% less testosterone at 35 than a man of his father’s generation at the same age.” (Source)

31 Day Naturally High Testosterone Levels Plan!

Testosterone is the most powerful muscle building hormone in the body and when you don’t have enough of it present in your system, it doesn’t matter what you do in the gym, you aren’t going to see as good of results as you could be. Don’t you want maximum results for the effect you give? Well of course you do! Now let’s take a look at some of the main nutrients that are required for high testosterone levels and for boosting testosterone:

Vitamin D3

This vitamin can boost testosterone by 25% and while it is produced naturally in the body when you go out into direct sunlight, most men are not getting enough. Vitamin D acts as a hormone in the body for regulating genes, part of which are responsible for producing testosterone.

Zinc

Zinc is another vital nutrient you need to be taking in if you want to maintain higher testosterone levels. Zinc plays a key role in the formation and regulation of enzymes in the body and some will be lost each time a male ejaculates. If this is not replaced, testosterone can decline.

Magnesium

How To Perform Perfect Push-ups

Whatever your fitness goals are, push-ups should be a part of your regular workout routine. Push-ups are the ultimate exercise--they engage muscles throughout your entire body and can be performed in a short amount of time almost anywhere without special equipment or assistance. But like any exercise, to get the most out of it you have to do them the right way every time. Follow these four simple steps and you'll be performing perfect push-ups in no time.

Step one: Prepare

Starting on your hands and knees, find a comfortable place for your hands and feet. You don't want distractions like rocks in your hands or uneven footing to keep you from proper form. There are many variations to push-ups incorporating inclines that can be implemented into your routine as your ability progresses, but starting out you will want to find as level a place as possible to perform the exercise.

Step Two: Get into position

Once you are in a comfortable position, push up so that your weight is being supported by your hands and toes. Your arms should be straight, but not locked, and your hands should be shoulder-width apart. Your legs should be straight as well, and your feet close together (but no more than twelve inches apart). Hold the position for a moment and concentrate on your form. Straighten your back so that your entire body creates a straight line from the base of your skull to your heels. It's important to maintain this straight line throughout your workout. Looking down instead of looking forward throughout the workout will help you maintain this proper form.

Step three: Controlled Motion

Take a deep breath in and continue to hold your body as one unit as you lower yourself towards the ground. Do not allow yourself to just drop; lower your body in one controlled motion. For your push-up to be effective, you should lower yourself to the point where your body almost touches the ground. When you first begin working on form, it may be necessary to have a workout partner who can give you feedback as you do each push-up. Eventually this will become unnecessary as you get a feel for what a correct push-up feels like.

Step four: Complete the repetition