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2008-02-16T14:47:00.000-05:00

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2008-02-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

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2008-01-26T13:27:00.000-05:00

A FREE Holiday Fitness Gift

2007-12-21T22:22:00.000-05:00

A Holiday Gift of Instructional Cooking from My Home Personal Trainer and My Fit Cafe to get you started right for the New Year: http://myfitcafe.rouxbe.com

We at My Home Personal Trainer and My Fit Cafe just want to say it is a pleasure to give you the resources you need to meet your health and fitness goals. To thank you, we've pre-purchased memberships for our users to Rouxbe (pronounced roo-bee) - the premium online instructional cooking destination. Here you will find up-close instructional cooking videos that focus on the food, skills, and techniques that drive success in the kitchen. At My Home Personal Trainer, we understand that exercise is only one part of living a healthy lifestyle. Eating a balanced diet is also equally important. One of the challenges we are hearing from many of you, our members, is that cooking is not an easy task, particularly because this often means re-thinking the way we cook at home. So we thought it might be helpful to go back to basics and help you with a valuable tool that walks you through the recipes, step-by-step. Rouxbe also has some great how-to demonstrations on cooking techniques for those of us who feel we're a little rusty. The Rouxbe Cooking School is one great place to start. We're excited to bring you this gift to start off the New Year right! Happy holidays from all of us at My Home Personal Trainer and My Fit Cafe. Welcome to Rouxbe! Don't forget, it's prepaid and on us for 6-months. Just go to http://myfitcafe.rouxbe.com to sign up and get your user name and password. In Health,Your Friends at My Home Personal Trainer and My Fit Cafe

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2007-12-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

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2007-04-22T13:51:00.000-05:00

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2007-04-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

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FREE 8 Day Nutrition E-Course

2007-04-22T13:49:00.000-05:00

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FREE Nutrition Strategies E-Book

2007-04-22T13:48:00.000-05:00

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It provides a nice and simple overview of some critical PN strategies including: the rules of good nutrition, protein intake, balancing dietary acids, altering your eating schedule to make it more PN friendly, preparing foods, eating on the road, reving your metabolism, and so much more.

FREE Gourmet Nutrition Dessert E-Book

2007-04-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

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2007-04-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

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A Fresh Balance Meal Plan

Built with Chef Created Whole Food flavorful Recipes that are designed with Complete and Balanced Nutrition.

Get A FREE Copy of Gourmet Nutrition
Introducing Gourmet Nutrition Desserts, a 44 page dessert cookbook complete with delicious "Precision Nutrition approved" dessert recipes, beautiful photography, and hints on how to eat the foods you love without the gaining the fat you hate.

Precision Nutrition Strategies
Access Your FREE Copy Today!!
This E-Book is an extension of the Complete Precision Nutrition program and it's called Precision Nutrition Strategies. With over 43 pages and 7 chapters (plus appendices), it provides an excellent introduction into the full version of the Complete Precision Nutrition Program.
It provides a nice and simple overview of some critical PN strategies including: the rules of good nutrition, protein intake, balancing dietary acids, altering your eating schedule to make it more PN friendly, preparing foods, eating on the road, reving your metabolism, and so much more.

FREE 8 Day Nutrition E-Course
Develop Better Nutrition with Our FREE 8 Day Body Transformation program.
Sign up Today for your FREE 8-Day Online No NonSense Complete and Balanced Nutrition Course!

My Precision Nutrition Forum
The Precision Nutrition forum is an online fitness and health community built for clients and customers of PN. Get Access to thousands of pages of nutritional information and knowledge available only on the Precision Nutrition Forums. To do so, all you have to do is register. And registration is free!

In Need of More Protein...

2006-12-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

Why You May Need To Eat More Protein

by Dr John M Berardi, CSCS

Nowadays there are a lot of misconceptions with respect to protein intake. Should one take in 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight? Or is it 1 gram per kilogram? And, to the non-scientist, just how much is that?

Well, before discussing this issue, I think it’s important to explore the difference between protein need and protein optimization. When someone asks the question – how much protein should I eat – they are usually trying to figure out how much protein they need to optimize body composition and performance. But the question, "How much protein does an athlete need?" is a very different one from "How much protein should an athlete consume to improve body composition and athletic performance?"

In the research world, the word need is in no way associated with optimization. Instead it's defined as the minimum amount necessary in order to prevent deficiency. Therefore, in asking how much protein an athlete needs, you're asking the question "What's the minimum amount of protein an athlete can get away with to prevent wasting and eventual death?"

Since most athletes have access to and usually consume enough protein to stave off death, the common protein question about how much protein an athlete needs is a bad one. This question doesn't address the issue of real importance, the one that addresses what an athlete should consume to improve performance and body composition?

So, how much protein do individuals need to optimize performance and body composition? Well, the truth is, I don’t know. Everyone is different. However, what I do know is this – about 85% of all the individuals I’ve ever consulted with have been eating less protein that I recommend. And the first thing I do to stimulate results (usually “results” mean body composition changes) is to increase the protein intake while making a few concomitant changes to carbs and fat intake.

Now, there are a number of reasons why I boost protein intake in most clients so I’d like to outline them in this article.

Reason #1

Increased Thermic Effect of Feeding — While all macronutrients require metabolic processing for digestion, absorption, and storage or oxidation, the thermic effect of protein is significantly higher than that of carbohydrates and fat. In fact, protein requires 25-30% of the energy it provides just for digestion, absorption, and assimilation while carbs only require 6-8% and fat requires 2-3%. That means that eating protein is actually thermogenic and can lead to a higher metabolic rate. This means greater fat loss when dieting and less fat gain during hypercaloric diets.

Reason #2

Increased Glucagon — Protein consumption increases plasma concentrations of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is responsible for antagonizing the effects of insulin in adipose tissue, leading to greater fat mobilization. In addition, glucagon also decreases the amounts and activities of the enzymes responsible for making and storing fat in adipose and liver cells. Again, this leads to greater fat loss during dieting and less fat gain during overfeeding.

Reason #3

Increased IGF-1 — Protein and amino-acid supplementation has been shown to increase the IGF-1 response to both exercise and feeding. Since IGF-1 is an anabolic hormone that's related to muscle growth, another advantage associated with consuming more protein is more muscle growth when overfeeding and/or muscle sparing when dieting.

Reason #4

Reduction in Cardiovascular Risk — Several studies have shown that increasing the percentage of protein in the diet (from 11% to 23%) while decreasing the percentage of carbohydrate (from 63% to 48%) lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations with concomitant increases in HDL cholesterol concentrations.

Reason #5

Improved Weight-Loss Profile — Research from Layman and colleagues has demonstrated that reducing the carbohydrate ratio from 3.5 - 1 to 1.4 - 1 increases body fat loss, spares muscle mass, reduces triglyceride concentrations, improves satiety, and improves blood glucose management.

Reason #6

Increased Protein Turnover — All tissues of the body, including muscle, go through a regular program of turnover. Since the balance between protein breakdown and protein synthesis governs muscle protein turnover, you need to increase your protein turnover rates in order to best improve your muscle quality. A high protein diet does just this. By increasing both protein synthesis and protein breakdown, a high protein diet helps you get rid of the old muscle more quickly and build up new, more functional muscle to take its place.

Reason #7

Increased Nitrogen Status — Earlier I indicated that a positive nitrogen status means that more protein is entering the body than is leaving the body. High protein diets cause a strong positive protein status and when this increased protein availability is coupled with an exercise program that increases the body's anabolic efficiency, the growth process may be accelerated.

Reason #8

Increased Provision of Auxiliary Nutrients — Although the benefits mentioned above have related specifically to protein and amino acids, it's important to recognize that we don't just eat protein and amino acids — we eat food. Therefore, high protein diets often provide auxiliary nutrients that could enhance performance and/or muscle growth. These nutrients include creatine, branched chain amino acids, conjugated linoleic acids, and/or additional nutrients that are important but remain to be discovered. This illustrates the need to get most of your protein from food, rather than supplements alone.

So, looking over this list of benefits, isn't it clear that for many individuals, an increase in protein intake would be advantageous for most people’s training goals? Since a high protein diet can lead to a better health profile, an increased metabolism, improved body composition, and an improved training response, why would anyone ever try to limit their protein intake to the bare minimum necessary to stave off malnutrition?

It seems to me that whether someone's on a hypoenergetic diet or a hyperenergetic diet, the one macronutrient they would want to be sure to overeat would be protein. Instead, by limiting protein intake, most individuals look for what they consider the bare minimum of protein, and then overeat carbohydrates and fats instead. That's a big performance and body composition mistake.

SEE ALSO:

For more great training and nutrition wisdom, check out Dr Berardi’s complete system, Precision Nutrition. Containing 5 nutrition guides, two audio CDs, two DVDs, and our Gourmet Nutrition cookbook, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want -- guaranteed.

And what's more, you get a free lifetime membership to his private, members-only website, where you can talk exercise and nutrition 24/7 with thousands of fellow members and the Precision Nutrition coaches. Find out more about Precision Nutrition.

My Nutrition Coach

Fish Oil and Your Health

2006-12-11T19:13:00.000-05:00

Fish Oil Rules

by Dr. John Berardi

I consider fish oil to be an essential supplement for fat loss. Data from the University of Western Ontario shows that fish oil supplementation increases lean body mass (during non-dieting conditions), increases BMR (by up to 400kcal/day), decreases inflammation, and improves the ratio of fat/carb oxidized (sparing carbs, burning fat). Recommended dose: Start with 6-10g per day of total fish oil (assuming 30% EPA and DHA).

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Precision Nutrition, complete with 2 DVDs, 2 CDs, 5 manuals, and an entire cook book, is the last word on eating for optimal health, body comp and performance.

The Sunday Ritual

2006-12-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

The Sunday Ritual

by Dr. John Berardi

To ensure that good foods will be available when you need them, use the Sunday Ritual. This is performed by setting aside three hours every Sunday to write out your menu for the week, shop for the week, and prepare your meals for the week. Cook all the meat, chop all the vegetables, measure out all the yogurt and/or cottage cheese, and distribute all the powders. Have them ready and set aside so that you can grab them in the morning and bring them with you regardless of what your day holds in store for you.

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Precision Nutrition, complete with 2 DVDs, 2 CDs, 5 manuals, and an entire cook book, is the last word on eating for optimal health, body comp and performance.

Bodybuilding on a Budget

2006-12-08T12:46:00.001-05:00

Bodybuilding on a Budget It Doesn’t Have to Put Your Wallet in a Wheelchair

By Marc David

As you probably remember the last time you looked at a proposed grocery list or visited the nearest supplement store, you realized you needed to take out an equity loan first in order to get your month’s supply of food and supplements.

Believe me…

I’ve had my fair share of large bills especially when I’m trying to bulk up and gain weight.

Am I right about this so far?

Don’t’ worry… there are some really overlooked and rather inexpensive methods to get all the food you need without breaking the bank. But I have an even better idea… let me just start off with a quick list of foods that you can find at most grocery stories and warehouse locations that are cheap and are excellent sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Low Cost Bodybuilding Foods (no particular order):

1. Tuna

2. Nuts

3. Olive Oil

4. Whey Protein Concentrate, in bulk

5. Pasta

6. Chicken legs

7. Beans

Of course you’ll want to get servings of fruits and veggies but normally it’s the other foods that are expensive in bulk. With just the above foods, you can get many of them in bulk or for discounts and have plenty of wholesome foods for your bulking, cutting and bodybuilding endeavors.

By now, you’re probably wondering…

Okay, that’s a nice list of general foods I can use but I am taking some supplements. And they aren’t so cheap. I’d like to try everything I see in the latest muscle magazines but I really only have time for what works. Where’s the cheap list of supplements?

Inexpensive (best bang for your buck) supplements:

1. Multi-vitamin

2. Fish oil

3. Whey concentrate

4. Dextrose

5. Creatine Monohydrate

Fact is…

I try a lot of supplements myself. I’m curious. I want to know what works and sometimes I stumble across something that is worth it. But the above list is the basic supplement list that I always return to no matter what. It’s part of the vitamin closet in the kitchen. If I have no time, no money or no desire to try anything new, I know that above is the only stash I need to make any gains I’ll need.

So let me summarize and review…

Bodybuilding on budget is real. If you look for specific foods that are great sources of protein, carbs and healthy fats and mix and match, you have a really well rounded selection to make many meals. No matter if you are on a bulk phase, cutting phase or just want to eat healthy, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive things you’ve ever done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About The Author:

Marc David is an innovative fitness enthusiast and the creator of the “The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding”

method on www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com.

He can show you how to reduce your body fat thru diet, how to gain weight or create more muscle thru an abundance of workout tips by training LESS! Not more. He dispels many “bodybuilding myths”, tells you what most people never realize about nutrition, and what the drug companies DON’T WANT YOU to know.

Go to: www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com to find out more about The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding.

10 Most Common Workout Mistakes

2006-12-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

10 Most Common Workout Mistakes!

By Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS, ACE

Although regular exercise is good for body and soul, diving head first into an advanced exercise programme is not encouraged. It can even be dangerous if you don’t avoid some common mistakes.

If you're a beginner, your body isn’t prepared for the types of strains exercise can place on it. As a result, engaging in an exercise programme with little foresight and planning can lead to burnout, frustration and injury.

If you want to maximise your workout, it's going to take a combination of motivation and the correct information. So let's review the 10 most common mistakes that can be easily avoided.

1. Skipping the warm-up. Muscles need time to adjust to the demands placed on them during exercise. Before hitting the gym or jumping into your regular cardio workout, you should take a few minutes to gently walk, cycle or whatever you choose to prepare the body for heavier activity. Breaking a light sweat will get your blood pumping, warm up muscles and ligaments, greatly reduce your risk of injury and increase the effectiveness of your workout.

2. Skipping the cool-down. Due to time constraints, many people head straight to the showers after their last repetition or as soon as the timer on the treadmill dings. Instead, take a few minutes to lower your heart rate close to its resting rate. This will reduce your risk of injury and give you a few minutes to incorporate some relaxation into your routine.

3. Not stretching. Flexible muscles are far less likely to be pulled than tight ones. Stretch before a heavy workout or after your workout as a warm-down. Never stretch a muscle without warming up first to reduce your risk of injury even further. Regular stretching greatly increases your flexibility.

4. Lifting too much too fast. Placing demands your muscles are not prepared to handle is the best way to injure yourself. Gradual, progressive resistance is a far more effective and safe way to increase muscle strength. You should select a weight that allows you to do 10–15 repetitions. If you can’t do 10 reps, the weight is too heavy. If you can easily do 15, then increase the weight by five percent.

5. Using too light a resistance. If you are doing over 15 reps or have not increased your resistance in over two weeks, it is time to progress. If you want to improve, you have to keep your muscles stimulated. If you continue to do the same weights with high reps, you will maintain your current physique and not advance.

6. Being a Weekend Warrior. The mistake of the person who tries to fit a week's worth of exercise into a Saturday afternoon! For weight loss, it's more effective to sustain a moderate workout for longer periods of time than to exercise intensely for only a few minutes. For others, the expectation that a workout must be intense to be effective can lead to burnout or injury while others abandon their training altogether.

7. Waiting until you are thirsty to drink. Only camels can go without water! For the rest of us it's a necessity! Don’t wait until you feel thirsty because you are already dehydrated at that point. Drink plenty of fluids before, during and after your workout.

8. Using bad form. It's much more effective to choose a lower level, speed or weight and perform the exercise properly than it is to go too fast or too heavy and use poor form and momentum. Lower the intensity to the point at which you can maintain good posture. An example of poor form would be leaning on the Stairmaster handrails or swinging the dumbbells during a bicep curl.

9. Resting too much. While it's true you don't want to overdo it, taking too much time in between exercises can decrease the training benefits and set you up for injury. Allow for about 30 seconds between toning exercises -- which is usually just enough time to move to the next station and set up. You should exercise intensely enough to work up a light sweat, get your heart beating and feel a sense of satisfaction for having completed your workout.

10. More is better. It's not necessary to spend over an hour doing cardiovascular exercise. Studies show that the risk of injury outweighs the benefits after 60 minutes. Sessions of around 45 minutes most days of the week are recommended for weight loss.

Remember, exercise is only one link to a complete programme of well-being. Mental, spiritual and psychological "workouts" are just as important. Your body will repay you! The only thing left is to just do it... safely.

Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS, 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year - Online Training. Kelli is a 20 year fitness industry leader. She has 3 fitness related degrees and 24 Fitness, Nutrition and Lifestyle related certifications. Kelli is the former Lead Fitness Expert for eDiets and eFitness and remains a regular contributor. Kelli is the author of Feminine, Firm & Fit - Building A Lean Strong Body in 12 Weeks www.FeminineFirmandFit.com.
She has transformed thousands of bodies just like yours. She is available for phone coaching, online training, grocery shopping tours, seminars, and media opportunities. For more information go to www.KelliCalabrese.com

or e-mail Kelli@KelliCalabrese.com

Build The Upper Chest

2006-12-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

Secret Training Tip #995

How to Effectively Work and Build The Upper Chest

By Nick Nilsson

Fitness-ebooks.com

Surprise! This is NOT an article about incline bench
pressing. Learn these unique techniques for filling out
your upper pectoral area.

The upper chest/upper pec area just below the collar bones can be one of the toughest areas of the body to fully develop. The visual, proportional and functional benefits of building up this area are tremendous though!

Typcially, when you read about working the upper chest, you will hear a lot about incline exercises such as incline barbell or dumbell presses and incline flyes. While these exercises can be very effective, they don't work well for everybody.

If that sounds like you, these are the exercises that you've been looking for. These exercises are especially powerful when used in conjunction with or even supersetted with incline presses or flyes. They will help hit those hard-to-reach upper-pec muscle fibers that are generally not worked with standard incline movements.

At the end of this article, you will find links to view pictures of these exercises in action.

1. Upper Chest Cable Cross-Overs

You will need either a cable-cross over machine or a single high pulley for this exercise.

Get into position standing between the two high cross-over pulleys then take a small step forward. This small step forward puts more tension on the upper pecs at the start of the movement by increasing the stretch.

Bend over at the waist up to about 90 degrees.

The movement itself is very similar to the normal crossover. However, as you bring the cables in, you should push your hands forward of your body in a wide arc rather than bringing them directly down under your torso.

Essentially, you will be trying to bring the cable handles under your face rather than under your chest. This is the key to activating the upper pectoral fibers.

Keep your back arched and your chest puffed out and be sure to come around and forward as though sweeping your fist far out and around.

Chest Building Exercises

2. Lying Cable "Y" Flyes

The reason I call these "Y" Flyes is from the position of your body and arms on the bench when you do them.

Set a flat bench in the middle of the cable cross-overs (this exercise can also be done one arm at a time on a single low pulley if you don't have access to a full cross-over machine set-up). The end of the bench where your head will rest should be about 4 to 6 inches forward of an imaginary line between the two pulleys.

Use a moderate weight for this exercise as we'll be focusing on the squeeze of the upper pecs and the feel of the exercise, not the amount of weight we're using.

Grasp the cable handles then sit on the bench. Shift yourself forward on the bench so when you lay back onto the bench, your head is set a few inches forward of the pulleys.

You should notice that, at the bottom of the exercise, your arms are angled up and back, just like the "Y" I mentioned above.

Be sure to keep your elbows slightly bent but stiff during the movement. Also, don't let your upper arms get pulled down past parallel. The real value of this exercise is at the contracted position at the top of the movement.

Do the cable flye movement from there, bringing your hands together directly ABOVE YOUR FOREHEAD. This is critical because the angle of your arms in this track will throw the vast majority of the tension directly onto your upper pec area.

Squeeze the pecs hard at the top, lower down slowly and repeat.

Build The Upper Chest

3. Side Lying Incline Dumbell Flyes

Lie on your side on an incline bench (if you can set the angle, use about 30 degrees). Your shoulder should be set just off the forward edge of the bench so you can move the arm freely up and down. Your feet should be set somewhat apart on the floor to provide greater stability and pushing power.

If you are lying on your right side hold a dumbell in your right hand and let it hang down. Don't worry about losing tension here - the benefit of this exercise lies at the top of the movement.

Use a fairly light to moderate dumbell with this exercise. You don't need much weight to get a full contraction and using too much could cause you to lose your balance on the bench.

Keeping your arm slightly bent and stiff, raise the dumbell in a flye type motion in front of you, around and up until your upper arm is as vertical as you can get it.

Squeeze hard at the top. You should feel a sharp burning sensation in your upper-midle pec area right on the cleavage between the two pecs. To really feel the movement working, place your non-working hand right on the upper, middle area of your chest as you do the exercise. You should be able to feel that area of the muscle contract solidly.

This exercise will really hit the inner pec area, bringing out separation between your two pectoral muscles.

Exercises for the Chest Muscles

-----------------

Give these three exercises a try in your next chest workout. That sharp squeeze in your upper chest will let you know EXACTLY how effective these exercises are!

You can view pictures of all three of these exercises in action at the following link:

Build The Upper Chest

------------------

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at
Fitness-ebooks.com.

Eat Pasta - Carefully!!

2006-12-08T12:40:00.000-05:00

Tip #1
Eat Pasta... Carefully
by Dr. John Berardi

As a God-fearing Italian, I have to admit that I love pasta. But, as a gut-fearing weight lifter and athlete, I definitely have to choose the lower GI, nutrient dense whole-wheat variety. During training phases that require or allow for higher carbohydrate intake (higher volume training) I'll eat one whole-wheat pasta meal per day. During other phases (like where I'm trying to lose fat), the pasta stays on the shelf in favor of a higher lean protein, good fat, and fruit and veggie intake.

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition,

- our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Precision Nutrition, complete with 2 DVDs, 2 CDs, 5 manuals, and an entire cook book, is the last word on eating for optimal health, body comp and performance.

Increase The Intensity of a Workout

2006-11-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

Nine Simple Ways to Increase the Intensity of Any Workout

By Marc David

Beginners usually do not need such advanced concepts simply because as a beginner, pretty much anything will work as it’s new to your body. You don’t need to bump up the intensity because the workout itself is usually hard enough. But for those who have worked out for quite some time, doing a simple routine doesn’t cut it. And for those who are entering a competition and may be on low card, sub-maintenance calories and doing cardio twice a day, adding more and more weight is easier said then done. Where’s the energy?

That’s where some advanced concepts come into play.

These are ways in which you can use the same routines, but thru some clever manipulation, you need not add any weight to make it the most intense routine you’ve ever experienced. This is especially a good toolset to use when you’ve worked out for many years and find it hard to make gains or you have a prior injury that makes it difficult to lift heavy weights. Working out heavier and heavier each time, trying to break your personal best can lead to injury and stagnation.

Using some of these advanced training concepts, you can take a simple bicep curl or bench press and maximize the intensity of the exercise without adding a single pound:

1. Repetition Speeds – Rather then 1 second up and 1 second down, there’s a little know fact that you can take advantage of to double the effectiveness of any exercise. That secret is slowly lowering the weight on the negative part of the movement. By utilizing this alone, you will have increased the effectiveness of any single exercise by 100%. Not only will you be working on the upward movement but you will work the muscle on the downward rather then most people who just let gravity take over. Vary your repetition speeds for an increase in intensity.

2. Tempo Variations – Have you ever seen any programs listed as 4032? That just means 4 seconds on the down motion; 0 seconds at the bottom of the movement; 3 seconds up; 2 second hold at the top. You can do all types of tempo variations to just feel the muscle working and increase the intensity. For example, how about a set of machine bench presses where it’s 8032? 8 seconds down? Not super-slow but very controlled. And with a nice 2 second squeeze at the top. You can take any exercise where you’ve done the same weight and instantly make it much harder and more intense. Without adjusting the weight in the slightest!

3. Tension Manipulation – If you think about it, some exercises like the dumbbell side lateral raise, when the weights are truly at your side (bottom of the movement) the tension is totally off the shoulder muscles. By using tension manipulation you can stop short of this occurring. Take the leg press for example. Rather then do a full rep where you might lock out and pause at the top, how about a slow 4 seconds down, 0 seconds at the bottom, 3 seconds up, and only go ¾ of the way to the lockout, no pause and repeat. This is called “continuous tension” and it will not only increase the intensity of any exercise but it’s slow, controlled and the tension is never off the working muscle.

4. Stretch Exercises – With some exercises, there is a perfect opportunity to get a deep stretch with a weight load on the muscle. The calf press is a good example. How many people have you witnesses doing calf raises quickly using momentum? Several? Next time, take a 2 second pause at the bottom and feel the stretch before doing the next rep.

5. Contraction Exercises – Again, the calf raises can be slightly altered to make it feel like somebody has put a flame torch to the back of your legs. At the top of the movement, rather the lower the weight, hold the fully contracted position for 5 seconds and squeeze! This can be done with a set of Smith Machine squats too. At the top of the movement, squeeze like you are holding a flexed pose for 2+ seconds. It’s one more way of taking the same old exercise and making it different.

6. Super-Sets – Ever heard that with super-sets you can get more done in less time? It’s true. Rather then do a second of barbell bench presses, followed by a 3 minute rest, and then another. How about doing a set of barbell bench presses, immediately followed by a set of cable flyes? You can get more work done in the same time period. The more work you can do in a shorter time frame is a method of making the whole workout more intense.

7. Rest Periods – Take the example above but this time, after the cable flyes, you only rest 30 seconds and repeat. Not only have you done a super-set, but you’ve just shortened the rest period. The intensity bar is sure to show a spike now. By lowering the rest periods, you can effectively make the workout more intense, without adding more weight. Combine this with super-setting and you can do an amazing number of sets in 60 minutes. At one point, I was able to do 48 sets for my legs in 60 minutes! That is insane.

8. Split the Splits – This only applies to individuals that might have a lifestyle where this is possible in a given day. Take for example leg training. It’s very difficult to train the quads, the hamstrings and calves in a single session for the advanced athlete. But if you are able to train quads in the AM and hams and calves in the PM, then you have just obtained an optimal workout. Both are short and intense. Both allow for fully recovery. And focus can be given to particular body parts. The most common type of split of splits is on a leg day where the front of the legs are training at one time and the back of the legs trained at another. Not only is this advanced but it really requires that you have a time period when you can do this. Possibly a weekend if you are disciplined enough to take up an entire Saturday or Sunday.

9. Ascending/Descending Sets - Nothing more then increasing or decreasing the weight in a given set but do not let this technique fool you. It's a wicked way to just blast a body part. Descending sets are commonly referred to as "drop sets." For example, if you were doing dumbbell curls, you could start with a weight and do 10 reps, then move down in weight for another 8 reps, and move again and again. Ascending is just the reverse. There's no set number of moves downward or upward you can do but the maximum that is efficient is no more then 4 either way. For an interesting twist on this move, use a combination of both. Start with a given weight, use the ascending technique and then immediately use the descending technique. This makes for a giant set using both principles and is very difficult.

By using these nine simple steps individually or in combination, you are ensured to take yourself to the next level of intensity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About The Author:

Marc David is an innovative fitness enthusiast and the creator of the “The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding”

method on www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com.

He can show you how to reduce your body fat thru diet, how to gain weight or create more muscle thru an abundance of workout tips by training LESS! Not more. He dispels many “bodybuilding myths”, tells you what most people never realize about nutrition, and what the drug companies DON’T WANT YOU to know.

Go to: www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com to find out more about The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding.

What's In My Kitchen Cupboards

2006-11-16T20:47:00.000-05:00

What's In My Kitchen Part 1: The Cupboards

by Dr John M Berardi, CSCS

If you’ve read my theoretical nutrition articles you’ve likely familiarized yourself with the macronutrients, when they should be eaten, etc. However, it's easy to talk the nutritional talk -- the question is, do you walk the nutritional walk?

By offering you a glimpse at the contents of my kitchen, I hope to give you the opportunity to check your own practical nutrition habits against my own, and see how nutrition theory is put into practice. So let’s go through a tour of my cupboard, covering both pantry items and supplements. By the end of this article, you should see that good nutrition practice involves limits and discipline, but not the austerity that most people assume it does.

Pantry Items:

Rolled Oats

Quantity: 3 lb. bag

Mixed Nuts

Quantity: 2 lb. bag

Mixed Beans

Quantity: 1 lb. bag

Dried Fruit Mix (no added sugar)

Quantity: 1 lb. bag

Legumes

Quantity: 2 x 2 lb. bags (1 bag lentils, 1 bag mixed beans)

Quinoa

Quantity: 1lb. bags

Whole Wheat Pasta

Quantity: 2 x 2 lb. bags

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Quantity: 1 bottle

Canned Tomatoes

Quantity: 3 cans

Canned Beans

Quantity: 3 cans

Flax Seeds

Quantity: ½ lb bag

Miscellaneous Grains

Including oat bran, wheat bran, oat flour

Green Tea

Quantity: 2 boxes of 20 packets each

Spices

Salt, pepper, fresh garlic, basil, oregano, chili powder, onion powder, and cinnamon are a good start. Seasoning mixes are also handy and take the guesswork out of flavoring. For example, right now I have Italian, Indian, Mexican, and Thai mixes in my cupboard.

*Note: the pantry is where the average kitchen goes horribly awry. Cookies, crackers, potato chips, baking supplies, and other hydrogenated and over-sweetened junk, all perched high above on a shelf, ready to snipe away at your hard-earned health and body composition.

If this is your kitchen, carefully position a large trash receptacle directly beneath said shelf. With a smooth sweeping motion, use your forearm to plow these enemies into the abyss below.

The items above are most likely the only ones you need since most of your nutrition should be coming from fresh, perishable foods – those listed in my previously published article discussing what’s in my fridge.

Supplements

Biotest Metabolic Drive (Protein Supplement)

Quantity: 2 x 2lb. containers

Biotest Surge Post-Workout Drink (Workout Drink)

Quantity: 2 x 1lb. containers

Prolab Creatine (Basic Creatine
)
Quantity: 1 300g container

Concentrated Enteric-Coated Fish Oil (Fish Oil)

Quantity: 3 x 50 capsule bottles

Genuine Health Greens+ (Green Food Supplement)

Quantity: 1 x 2lb. container

Biotest ZMA (Zinc-Magnesium)

Quantity: 1 90 capsule bottle

*Supplementation should be determined by your training goals and your resources, both time and money. Other than your post-workout drinks, fish oil caps, the occasional scoop of protein or a MRP, and perhaps some necessary micronutrients, no supplement should be taken year-round. And while it should go without saying that supplements should supplement and not replace a solid training and nutrition program, this is one of the most common mistakes I see, even in intermediate trainees. This is an example of my list based on my goals.

In the end, if you wish to expedite the process of reaching your goals, you'll do the following:

Perform an inventory of all the food in your house, excluding nothing. Everything goes on the list, even if you didn't buy it and don't intend to eat it. If it's in the house, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it, so everything is fair game.

Compare your list to mine (both the items on this list and the items in my fridge article).

See how close you’ve come. If you’re close (on both the items to have and the items not to have), keep up the great work. If not, round up all the offending grub, and give it a warm send off as it pulls away in the back of a garbage truck.

For those who think it would be more charitable to drop it all off at a food bank, I have news for you: the poor don't want your mother's half-empty box of Ho-Ho's either. If you really want to help, make a donation, drop off some good food, or volunteer your time.

Populate your kitchen with the foods above, and you will have built the foundation for nutritional success.

SEE ALSO:
For more great training and nutrition wisdom, check out Dr Berardi’s complete system, Precision Nutrition. Containing 5 nutrition guides, two audio CDs, two DVDs, and our Gourmet Nutrition cookbook, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want -- guaranteed.

And what's more, you get a free lifetime membership to his private, members-only website, where you can talk exercise and nutrition 24/7 with thousands of fellow members and the Precision Nutrition coaches.

Find out more about Precision Nutrition

10 Most Common Workout Mistakes

2006-11-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

Learn about Good Nutrition

2006-11-16T20:38:00.000-05:00

Can You Really Learn Good Nutrition in 8 Days?

by Robert Adams, CPT, Head Fitness Expert

My FREE Online Personal Trainer

When my colleague and friend, Dr. John Berardi, dropped me an email the other day letting me know about his new nutrition course, I admit I had some doubts.

Don't get me wrong, I like JB and respect his work, but I was skeptical about the course itself. 'Body Transformation with Precision Nutrition -- in 8 Days' -- indeed. Eight days?

But I'll read anything, and I'm always looking for new ways to approach and teach nutrition, so I decided to give it a look. And in the end, I really enjoyed it.

The course starts with three consecutive online questionnaires, which were cool - they get right to the point, highlighting your weaknesses and offering solutions. Even just reading the questions called attention to some of the areas I could improve upon, and I know this stuff.

Each lesson offers a concise, no-nonsense message, one that beginners and experts alike will benefit from hearing. John does a great job of putting aside the fads and getting down to the point. He makes no mistake about telling you exactly what will lead to failure, and what will lead to success.

John also does a great job of going beyond the actual food to talk about how to ensure you actually follow the plan. What good is a great diet if you don't follow it?

And best of all, he tells you exactly what rules to follow, in no uncertain terms. His 10 Rules cover everything from what to eat to when to eat it. Very good stuff, which I didn't expect in such a short course.

Now, nothing's perfect and this course is no exception. My one gripe is that I wish there was a little more detail on meal plans, perhaps a recipe or two, or some examples. But in fairness, you can get a good idea from the rules and lessons, and JB covers meals and meal plans extensively in Precision Nutrition (his superb nutrition program, which I highly recommend). So it's a small, forgivable gripe.

All in all, this is an excellent little course, and in eight days you'll learn more about what really works nutritionally than most people do in a lifetime.

The bottom line is that if you're not in the shape you want to be, and you want to learn how to turn things around with nutrition, I strongly recommend that you check the course out yourself. It's available for free at:

The Precision Nutrition 8-Day Course

Hire a Personal Trainer or Fitness Coach

2006-10-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

Hire a personal trainer or fitness coach - It is proven that having a motivating and positive support system will help you stay with your goals long term. How many times have you started and exercise program and stopped? Remember those New Year’s Resolutions? How many have you kept? Was losing weight or eating healthier part of those resolutions that are now on a shelf collecting dust? Do you have multiple pieces of exercise equipment that you bough on an infomercial late at night that you now hang your clothes on collecting dust? Get motivated and use a Fitness Coach or Personal Trainer to help support you in your life long mission to Permanent Weight Loss and Better overall Body Perfect Fitness and Health.

Rob Head Fitness Expert @

My Home Personal Trainer

Reward Yourself For Fitness Success

2006-10-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

Reward yourself - It never ceases to amaze me how hard we are on ourselves when we don't accomplish, and how hard we are on ourselves when we DO accomplish. Whenever you reach a milestone, have something in mind, like a trip to the day spa, new shoes or clothes (as long as it's NON-EDIBLE).

Rob Head Fitness Expert @ My Home Personal Trainer

Don't Give up on your Fitness Goals

2006-10-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

Persistence! - Violate this step and you'll never achieve permanent results. We recently concluded conducted a 10 year study which proves that persistence is the single most important aspect of any diet or exercise program. The study followed a group of people (group #1) who exercised and dieted very strictly, but sporadically and compared those results to a group of people (group #2) who exercised mildly and followed a very basic diet, but this group never varied from their routine. Even though group #2 exercised and dieted far less (but did so persistently) they got 68% better results than those who exercised and dieted VERY STRICTLY but only occasionally.

Rob Head Fitness Expert @ My Home Personal Trainer