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This article will discuss how to gain weight naturally muscle building. Gaining weight naturally is about muscle building and using a mass building diet daily. The question of how to gain weight is a common one, however the answer lies in your diet. Below we will give an example of a mass building diet for one day of the week.

You can look at the example and use something similar for the rest of the week.

The best approach is to give yourself a day off each week where you can eat whatever you like. Ice cream, burgers, all your favorite foods. This way you have a breaking up point each week where you can look forward to eating anything.

How to gain weight naturally muscle building - the example below is for one day of the week, we will use the supplement Myoplex as an example of a protein drink you could use to help you.

Breakfast - Oat meal with Myoplex supplement.

Early snack - Chicken sandwich.

Lunch - Pasta, sweet corn and tuna.

Afternoon snack - Myoplex and portion of mixed fruit.

Dinner - Jacket potato with pork chops and salad.

Before bed - Myoplex supplement

This is an example for just one day of the week on how to gain weight naturally muscle building. Whichever days you decide to train, make sure you feed your self with protein straight after a workout. You could use this for 6 days then take one day off to eat anything whenever you choose. Balance the diet, so use different foods each day, make sure you are always feeding your self with calories and make them good quality high in protein. The key to gaining weight is making sure you eat every 2 - 3 hours, do not go longer than this, and keep eating those calories!

About The Author

John Gibb is the webmaster of several review and guide websites. Http://www.weight-lifting-4u.com is his latest addition.

Six minutes out of your day. All you need is a level floor.

Start this torture session just as the end credits begin to roll. A few Sprint, Bell Atlantic, and Burger King commercials later, Jerry should be starting in with the monologue that kicks off the ensuing episode. And by then, your midsection should be burning like charcoal.

Contrary to what many believe, Abdominal workouts do not need to be done in the gym. Your abs don’t need to be tormented through the hi-tech apparatuses or by the squeaky cable machines.
In fact, the best abdominal workouts you can possibly get are right in your own home.

However, the key to making your self-crafted ab workout turn your jelly belly into a blazing six-pack is the big ‘V’. Variation.

Blending a number of different motions and exercises with all sorts of variations in motion, speed, and resistance can shock your midsection into the Ripped Abs you desire.

First, wear light clothing that will make you more agile, allowing your movements to be steady and flowing.

Plop down on the floor and take a deep breath. Prepare yourself mentally. This ab workout will consist of one long, continuous set with no breaks in between various movements. Maintaining constant strain on your abs is the key here.

Start with basic crunches. You can either place your hands behind your head or leave them by your sides. However, do not pull your head up with your hands. Bend your knees so that your feet remain flat on the floor. Slowly allow your shoulders to raise off the floor without using your back whatsoever. Begin with 50 slow, strict repetitions before adding in a twist.

A Russian twist, that is. Raising your shoulders off the ground, slowly twist your torso from side to side. You want your right elbow turning toward your left knee and your left elbow twisting toward your right knee. These will seriously burn so try 20 of these with a strict form.

Jump right into leg raises. Extend your legs in front of you, making sure that your feet do not touch the floor. You want to start with them together, about six inches off the floor, before raising them so that your legs form a 45-degree angle. Feel your rectus abdominis tear throughout the 25 repetitions that you crank out.

Whip right back into a set of crunches. Except this time, try them with your legs straight, extended flat out across the floor. While you’re doing these crunches, pretend that an imaginary string is pulling your upper torso off the floor. Make the 50 repetitions flow while the abs grind.

Without hesitation, fling your legs into the air and take on a set of pikes. Your arms are out straight, pointing toward the floor, as you raise your shoulders in an attempt to touch your toes. All the while, your buttocks are lifting slightly off the floor. As you lower your shoulders to the floor, your legs come down again, into a bend position on the floor. No sooner do they touch that you’re beginning the next repetition and the motion flows through 25 agonizing reps.

On the last rep, leave your legs straight up in the air so your toes are pointing toward the ceiling. Crank out 30 crunches to intensify the burn. If you face difficulty in maintaining that 90-degree angle at your hips, slightly lower your legs to the floor.

Then, cut through those abs with some scissors. Lower your legs so that they’re 12 inches off the floor and lock your arms behind your head. Lifting your right shoulder off the floor, twist your torso just as your opposite leg - or left knee - bend into your right elbow. Immediately lower your knee and shoulder and then twist your left elbow toward your right knee. Try doing 25 of these before lowering your shoulders to the mat for the final exercise of the workout.

This will be another set of 50 basic crunches, just like the set that you began the workout with. Exercise slow, strict reps as the burn spreads like wild fire.

The final rep will leave you feeling like you narrowly escape a blazing building in once piece.

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Online retail is an exciting area of commerce. It is great because you can always count on people to want to find the best deals Often, the best deals are found on the Internet, and you can drive people to the website that you want them to go to through some simple marketing techniques. I have found that working with an affiliate marketing program can be one of the best ways to get customers to go to your website. You do have to pay a small commission to the affiliate, but you gain a great deal more traffic on your site.

Online retail is essential to any retailer. If you have a physical storefront, you can increase sales for a very little cost by simply using the power of the worldwide web. One of the best ways to get people to visit your website is by using an affiliate marketing program. You do have to pay the agents that work at these programs or the traffic that they generate, but usually you only have to pay for direct sales. Since you do not have to pay anyone hourly, this can be a very low cost way to make sales happen when your physical storefront is closed.

It’s a very simple training system. Consisting of using your body in space with simple counts. Music is optional. With every position and exercise your concentration is focused on alignment, form, breathing, pacing, contracting or relaxing. You can move easily and flow from one exercise to the next with no wasted time or effort. Because it flows so well, you can make it cardiovascular or take designated controlled strength training time breaks.

Imagine you can do a whole hour of cardio without getting on the boring, dreaded treadmill or elliptical machines. At the same time you can tone and strengthen your core as well as every other muscle in your body. Strength training and cardio all in one!

Since you are using your own body weight in different positions you can go deeper into the muscles for better sculpting and strength enhancement by holding positions, changing the rhythms, or altering the positions slightly. You are always in total control of how much energy you exert for each exercise. If you want to sculpt deeper into the muscles, you simply arrange your positioning deeper into the exercise position. If you want to lighten up the load you simply release the contraction to a more comfortable exertion level. You will learn specific breathing techniques to help you sustain more difficult positions, to make them more tolerable.
Because you are using only your body in space there are no limitations to the positions or exercises you can do. You are limited only by your own imagination. You can work every and any muscle in your entire body to its maximal exertion levels. There are no machines to waste time arranging and dismantling weights or changing positions.

These exercises can be done anywhere with little or no equipment. You may want some privacy but if there is room for your body and available oxygen, you can do the workout!

If you’ve ever used those gym machines, how do you think they translate into real life everyday activities or even sports? Maybe you get stronger? Maybe, but study after study has proven that training with traditional gym equipment doesn’t carry over into day to day functioning or sports performance improvement.

Lactate Threshold Strength Training does though. You are imitating with exertion simple everyday movements and from those positions holding, breathing and correcting alignment and perfecting form. So it completely translates into the day to day movements of life and living. Of course you can imitate your specific sports as well. Helping you make incredible sports performance gains. Lactate Threshold Strength Training also carries over into postural awareness and correction. We all know that correcting posture can make you look inches taller and years younger. Holding your body in specific positions with no distractions or machines to lean on puts you face to face with your postural habits so you work on them consciously with effort in every single exercise challenge.

With the simple counting system that I use, you can track your progress very easily. So easily, that you don’t really need logs and complicated spread sheets. Your gains will be consistent, trackable and very measurable.

Weight machines and gym equipment generally shape the body so it looks bulky, ‘like a gym body’ where the parts don’t all seem to fit together. This is because in a gym environment the machines force you to work muscles separately in isolation from the core and the network of the whole body. Lactate Threshold Strength Training integrates whole body movements and brings all the parts together into each exercise. Because you are using all the muscles synergistically in a concentrated effort pulling all of the muscles into one dynamic reactive coil ready to spring into the next movement or challenge. This creates long lean flowing muscles that flow just like the workout flows.

How Does The Workout Go?

Generally after the initial assessment I discover peoples strengths and weaknesses and what I mostly discover is people want a boost to their metabolism to burn fat. In order to burn fat what I want to do is target all the largest muscles in the body. Which are the legs and of course the gluteus maximus…the largest of all. So to be sure to get that metabolic lift I will spend the first half hour of the session on legs and glutes. Don’t worry ladies, your legs won’t get bigger from all the leg work because we use no weight but your own body weight, with lots of isometrics and repetitions. I also have to add hear that you will see significant flexibility gains because you always go deeper into the positions as you get stronger. Because you have no machines to support you with just your body in space you will get significant core work by just holding your self up and maintaining your balance without something to lean on.

The nest half hour covers chest, back , shoulders and arms but remember with each exercise every single body part is connected and working for thermogenesis and overall strength and coordination. Abs are last and don’t take long because they have been working the entire time, now its just a finishing process of carving a little deeper. The stretch at the end just feels good and prepares you to relax and be energized for the rest of the day. It’s time to start an intelligent exercise program so sign up today and make your body gorgeous!

My Lactate Threshold Strength Training DVD is coming soon so stay tuned or log onto my website for more info.

DEBORAH is a highly respected authority in personal training for overall health and fitness, with more than 22 years of experience and success. Her credentials include…

Currently licensed Registered Nurse specializing in Rehabilitative Nursing
Medical Exercise Therapist: certified by AAHFRP, an internationally recognized physical rehabilitation certification
Maternity Specialist Pre & Post Natal certified by Maternal Fitness
Personal Fitness Specialist: certified by NASM, an internationally recognized certification
Yoga Teacher
Professional Health Member, National Organization of Fitness Instructors (IDEA), a leading membership organization of health and fitness professionals
Deborah Caruana RN, MES, PT.
Website: http://www.vitalsignsfitness.com
Email: deb@vitalsignsfitness.com

Thinking back on all the work I did with bodybuilders who went on to win
major titles, one thing becomes perfectly clear regarding why they reached the top. Through training their minds, they became as mentally tough as they were physically developed; this was the factor enabling them to ultimately take top honors.

They would also be the ones who were able to get more out of themselves
each workout. They were the ones who were able to push themselves to heroic
dimensions so that every fiber of every muscle trained was feverishly worked to the
max!

And through those I worked with winning Mr. International, Mr. America, Mr.
Universe, Grand Prix, and Mr. Olympia titles (Cahling, Christian, Platz, Coe, Haney), I
saw the need for a framework of mental training principles - a framework enabling
any serious bodybuilder to develop the mind/muscle link the way my clients who
became champions did.

So I set about developing easy to apply, yet powerful strategies so you can use
your mind to get the most, and best, out of yourself, and your workouts.

I’ve been training for almost 30 years now. And as the country’s foremost
sports and peak performance hypnotherapist, today I work with high profile pro
athletes in every sport. I help them go beyond their personal bests, and achieve
incredible performance levels. And my dedication to helping people by providing
them positive change strategies has been my hallmark.

So here now are the 12 principles to help you develop the Mind Of A
Champion. And I’ll tell you, this is serious stuff for serious bodybuilders.

Enjoy and prosper from applying every one. And as you do, you’ll readily
appreciate what’s involved in coming to stand victoriously atop muscle mountain’s
peak!

1.) Pre-Workout Mental/Emotional Priming

Here, you stimulate your nervous system with the kind and quality of effort you
want to generate while you train.

Before your workout, clearly 3-dimensionally visualize yourself performing one
set for each of the muscles you’ll be training. And experience yourself generating
super-human effort–pushing yourself, driving yourself, contracting to the max,
and blasting ever fiber to the bone. (Take your time here; each time you perform
this process, your visualizations will become more lifelike, and positively
emotionally activating.)

2.) Pure Mental Isolation And Focus–Cultivating And Applying Laser

Concentration

This type of concentration is not the traditional type where you try to block out
external distractions. No.

Laser concentration is entirely different. It entails mobilizing all of your
consciousness into a singular focus point that you then project into - and sustain
within - a particular task involvement (i.e., each rep of every set throughout your
entire workout).

This concentration form, once mobilized, is so powerful, you’re not even aware
of yourself. You just sense an extreme energy force lasered directly into the specific
muscle you’re training. And this is an essential part of producing full muscular
developmentbringing a muscle to where its full size and shape potential
ultimately becomes actualized.

It takes determined practice and application to develop this laser
concentration. And here’s how you can it: with each set you perform, purposefully
bring your whole consciousness into the specific muscle you’re training. This
means you’re whole visual focus, all your emotions, your imaginative focus, your
willpower, and your exclusive action intent.

F-e-e-l this “all of you” then begin to work the muscle with each rep,
sustaining this same laser concentration during the positive and negative parts of
each rep.

If you sense you’re drifting, just gently bring this “all of you” back into the
wholly locked-in dimension (just the same as a cowboy would redirect a stray that
wandered off from the herd).

Keep applying this laser concentration principle, and in a short time you’ll find
it will become your natural mental inclination.

Performing this principle as outlined, you’ll almost feel like you’re filling the
specific muscle you’re training with a compelling power. And as you continue
applying this principle, you’ll be able to direct maximum mental intensity into the
muscle you train each rep of every set. (And imagine what kind of gains this will
provide you!)

3.) Cultivating And Applying The Pain Barrier Power Breakthrough

Mastering the pain barrier spells the difference between realizing your full
potential, and just being “good.”

Recall a decisive workout power memory — one where you were in the zone,
going beyond your max, or training with an almost animal like passion and intensity
to a degree where it was as if nothing could or would deny you.

When you’ve isolated this memory, imaginatively step into it, and into your
body. And wholly f-e-e-l the exact feeling and sensations you did. And as you’re
feeling this, think of one word that, to you, represents you embodying this feeling.

Mentally exclaim it to yourself 5 consecutive times with passion, and
conviction.

Then, when you’re at your next pain barrier threshold during a set, forcefully
mentally exclaim this word so it’s as if, as you silently repeat it, it “explodes” to fill
all of you with its power. Then, go on to crank out 2 more reps!

4.) Developing Mind/Muscle Self Talk

Over the years, the champions have told me they felt as if they could control
every muscle in their body as if they had a sort of individual relationship with
every single muscle group.

And so here, in the evening, lie comfortably upon your back, close your eyelids
down, and begin to focus upon a specific muscle. When you feel you’ve mentally
connected with it, then imaginatively “talk” to it.

Tell it what you’re going to do to it your next workout, and what you expect of
it in terms of exertion, performance, and growth.

Mentally go into “lagging” body parts, and do the same thing; talk to these
muscles like they’re your employee and you’re the boss.

Continue on with this process, and you’ll be surprised, even amazed at how
your muscles will begin to respond!

5.) Determine And Connect With Your Peak Performance Workout Emotion

Emotions are to performance what gas is to your car; the highest grade octane
enables your engine to perform at its peak.

And if you think about the best workouts you’ve had–when you literally felt
like a machine, and almost unconsciously blasted through set after set, coming to
feel a worked sensation that was the way you’d like to feel after every workout -
you’ll begin to realize an important fact.

The kind of emotion fueling these workouts produces the most demonstrable
results for you.

So recall the very last time you had a peak performance workout. Then
imaginatively step into the picture, and into your body. Then, think what you did
then, feel what you felt, say to yourself what you did, and breathe as you did.

When you’re replicating all the preceding, clench your right fist hard, and think
the word “Activate” 3 consecutive times. Then, very s-l-o-w-l-y unclench your fist.

Now you’ve formed a peak performance emotion anchor. And I want you to
use it in the following way:

• Before each set, clench your right fist hard, breathe as you did in your
peak performance workout, and mentally, passionately exclaim your key word
(”Activate”) 2 consecutive times.

You’ll feel your specific success fueling emotion filling you rapidly. Then,
unclench your fist, and go on to perform your set.

6.) Recite A.M. Personal Power Affirmations

Most “ordinary” people start their day as an extension of their yesterday. The
truly accomplished start each day with an empowering mental “breakfast”.

This “breakfast” consists of thoughts and ideas detailing what they’ll do, why
they can, and that they will!

I encourage you to tailor your own individualized personal power affirmations.
And as an illustration, here is a framework you can adopt:

“Today I exemplify power. I am strong in my thoughts; I think ‘Yes I can–I’m
supposed to triumph’.

I remain wholly confident in my beliefs; I can do what I set out to, and take
myself higher because I choose to.

I am disciplined, determined, and dedicated in my pursuit of excellence
physical excellence when I work out in the gym, and life excellence as I go through
the various tasks and responsibilities of my day.

There are things I can do better than anyone else. And today…I shall!”

7.) Set Specific Outcomes For Every Set, And For Each Overall Workout

Do you honestly spend the overwhelming majority of your gym time involved
in productive growth and strength increasing efforts? Or, do you “sorta, kinda” just
go through the motions and feel “Ok; I did my workout today”?

Purposeful effort produces purposeful results. And here, I want you to
determine the following:

A.) What is the overall result you want to produce/experience from your workout
(in terms of feeling, sensation, workload to be accomplished, and degree of
performance generated)?

B.) What is each set to produce for you, or result in (what you’ll do, how you’ll do
it, and the degree to which you’ll do it)?

You must know where you’re going if you’re ever to get there. And so, have a
well detailed, specific result you’ll strive for always in mind. This way, you have a
progress stimulating reason to exert, and a personally advancing purpose to strive
toward.

No more “half-assed”, “idle”, “routine”, or “mindless” effort. From now on,
know your outcome, then set about achieving it.

8.) Deeply Embracing The “Push It To The Limit…And Beyond” Attitude

Here, you begin to internalize the same kind of overall training attitude the
champs instinctively embrace. And this revolves around the sentiment “Just good
enough…isn’t!”

The new attitude here is “If I’ve done what I’ve done, I’ve done it; now I dig in
and push myself beyond!”

The workout impact of this attitude actualized is a natural tendency to - ever
higher - push, strive, test, climb, and triumph.

Appropriately attempted heavier poundages, appropriately attempted
increased reps, appropriately attempted forced reps, appropriately attempted super
sets, tri-sets, quad sets…and giant sets!

Your heart is probably pounding just from reading this, isn’t it!

As an aid to developing this attitude, here’s a peak performance affirmation
you can begin internalizing about one hour before you leave for your gym:

“Today I strive for more. Today I push myself tougher and harder, striving to
bring more of myself into every rep of every set, and make my muscle’s exert more
feverishly than I ever have before.

I never rest on my laurels; I ignite the flames of conquest passion–and
today, push myself to the limit…and beyond!”

9.) Deep Mental/Emotional Relaxation To Promote Sound, Restful Sleep

The volts of intensity you generate during your workouts must be balanced
with emotional/neurological calmness so you can fully rest, and deeply sleep each
night.

As you know, your sleep period is essential for recuperation and growth. So
here, you now purposefully unwind before getting into bed to sleep–mentally and
physically.

First, lying comfortably, perform 6-8 release breaths. Inhale deeply through
your nostrils (letting your stomach expand and distend), and then slowly, easily
exhale through your mouth.

Next, calm and relax your mind by focusing upon your breathing. And with
each breath, imagine you’re expelling a white mist. And mentally, silently repeat the
word e-a-s-y with each exhalation, experiencing your thoughts calming down, and
the muscles in your head, cheeks and jaw slackening completely.

Next, just visualize and allow the deeply soothing looseness and comfort you
feel to easily flow into, and fill your entire bodyall the way down to your toes.

You’ll quickly come to feel a pleasant “heaviness” and a comforting inner peace
enveloping you. Then, just spend a few moments enjoying the inner calm you’ve
produced.

Now, you’re ready to hop into bed and enjoy the deeply restful sleep that
supports your muscular growth.

10.) The Success Ideal Motivation Principle

If you’ve ever seen something you wanted, something you felt you really
wanted, every time you either saw it or it entered your mind, a feeling of drive to get
it also flow through you.

Whether it was a car, a suit of clothes, a certain female who caught your eye, a
job you wantedthe objective of your desire so captivated your “want power”, you
likely ultimately came to acquire or produce it, didn’t you?!

It’s very similar with physical development. When you’ve clearly formed an
impression of your overall desired physique, and you wholly believe in, and are
deeply excited by it, it naturally motivates you to expend the energy necessary to
ultimately achieve it.

So, as you get into bed to sleep, begin to mentally visualize and experience the
imaginative answer to the following question. “If I could have the kind of physique I
truly wanted, what would this look like, feel like…and be?”

Then, to the best of your ability, wholly sensory envision what this looks like
from the front, and the rear. And be sure to experience every cut, groove, peak,
and striation connected to this ideal you.

After 6 minutes or so of this success ideal visualization, then just let this
impression fade, and allow yourself to drift off to sleep.

Continue doing this every night, and you’ll find your motivation will stay
invincible, and your physical training drive will never waver.

11.) Embracing The Resolve Toward Completion

Are you an “Ok; I did enough” person? Or, are you an “I will do all I set out to”
personality?

Let me tell you that those who truly reach their muscular peak are the latter
type. They’ll fully complete what they set out to, and will not tolerate, or settle for
anything less.

And this applies to adding one full inch to their arms, or 50 pounds to their
max bench press, or carving a tight, cut, muscular etched waistline.

Goals are to be fully achieved. Workout plans and strategies are to be fully
completed and actualized. Self structured and determined standards of
performance are to be fully adhered to and honored…always.

So if you say you’ll do 10 reps, do all 10. If you say you’ll do 12 sets, do all 12.
Don’t compromise yourself…ever. The results you’ll achieve through applying this
principle will more than justify your effort.

12.) Independent BeliefKeep Your Own Counsel

This last principle is a very important part in you going as high as you can.

Here, you - you - determine how big, strong, developed, accomplished,
powerful, advanced, and physically evolved you can become.

No one knows you like you do. If you choose to consider and believe in
limitations, rest assured you’ll experience, at best, partial life and muscular
achievement.

But when you choose to say what’s possible for you, and really mean it, that’s
when all your power will be generated toward making what you believe…fact.

Hold your beliefs. Tightly embrace your vision of self and possibility. And
train fueled by these ideals…exclusively!

Now you have the 12 Mental Training Principles you can apply to significantly
bolster your training efforts and results. And I encourage you to use them as
outlined, so you keep developing yourself.

It’s up to you now. No one can - or will - do it for you, but you. And through
the 12 Mental Training Principles detailed, now you can bring your full power into
play — each rep of every set.

Go ahead; start applying these principles in your workouts, and your life.
Then, you’ll come to understand how to move yourself from ordinary…to
Extraordinary!

Author, clinician, and national TV therapist, Pete Siegel is America’s foremost peak
performance hypnotherapist. Go ahead now, and review his highly acclaimed
confidence building and Think & Grow BIG Muscle building programs at
http://www.incrediblechange.com

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One of the common comments I hear from my female clients is, “Please don’t give me any weights work - I don’t want any muscle, I just want to tone.” The reasons differ from client to client, but it most often they seem to be based on a misunderstanding of what muscle is, how we build it, what it has to do with weight loss - or some combination of the above. There’s a lot of misinformation outside of the fitness world about muscles and what they do, so I’d like to spend the next two articles exploring the realities behind the myths.

WHAT IS MUSCLE?

When I was younger, I’d never really thought about what the ’stuff’ between my skin and my bones was made of. I understood that muscles were what bodybuilders had, and fat was something that made you fat, and that I had some of each. I think, though, that I believed that they existed inside some kind of other substance that filled the space between my skin and my bones. Then, in secondary school, I learned that, in a healthy person, most of this magical substance was just muscle. In fact, I learned that, aside from my body’s networks of organs, blood vessels and nerves, and my skeleton there isn’t really much under my skin except for muscle and fat.

I learned that muscles were an incredible network of fibres that allowed me to move my limbs, to stay sitting or standing upright, to talk, breathe, and pretty much to translate any thought I had into action of some kind. I learned that if I didn’t use them, muscles would shrink and weaken, and if I did, they’d grow stronger. And I learned that as my muscles grew stronger, so did I.

All of this was quite a revelation for me at the time, so I can understand the initial confusion that exists amongst so many of my clients - why they want to tone without building muscles. The truth though, is that muscle is the only thing under their skin that can be toned, and that ‘toning’ often simply means that muscles become slightly more visible (which then makes the whole body look smoother and firmer). So without enough muscle to start with, there’s nothing there that can be toned.

BULIDING THE RIGHT SIZED MUSCLES

Often, the clients I speak to don’t have a problem with the idea of a little muscle. The problem is that many don’t realise it isn’t an ‘all or nothing’ thing. Unfortunately, because of the lack of clear information out there in the media, the only image they have to associate ‘women’ with ‘muscle’ is one of a female bodybuilder at the peak of her competition physique. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting such a physique if that’s a client’s aim, but for most of the women I speak to, the possibility of developing such large, defined muscles is really quite scary!

Those kinds of muscles, however, don’t happen quickly or easily. Really large muscles require long, intense workouts over a period of time, and a base level of testosterone - a hormone most women don’t have in sufficient quantities (without the use of steroids, anyway) for size to become a problem. Granted, there are women with naturally high testosterone levels (and I’m one!), who will put on muscle more quickly. But even for me, muscles don’t suddenly appear, fully-formed overnight. So if I notice I’m gradually building size in an area I don’t want it, it’s not difficult for me to change my training in that body area to gradually reduce the size again.

Also, many people believe any kind of weights work will automatically increase muscle size. The truth is that not all training produces size increases. There are a number of variables you can play with in strength training - the heaviness of the weight, the number of repetitions of the movement, and the time you allow yourself to rest between groups of repetitions (or sets). Very generally speaking, training with a heavy weight and low repetitions in each set will increase strength; training with a medium-to-heavy weight and medium repetitions will increase muscle size; and training with a lighter weight with high repetitions per set will increase endurance.

In practice, it’s not actually quite this simple, and there are other factors to consider. The important point is that not all training will increase muscle size, that some muscle is necessary if you want to tone, and that working with a competent trainer will help ensure you get only the results that you want from your training.

In Part 2 of the article (http://optimumlife.co.nz/Fitness%20Articles/Muscle/Muscle2.htm), we look at why muscle is so important for weight management and long- term health.

Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner

Optimum Life’s Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer and Stress Management Coach whose articles on holistic health and relaxation have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives.

To read more articles like this one, please subscribe to Optimum Fitness News at http://optimumlife.co.nz/Newsletter%20Signup.htm.

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To find out more about holistic fitness and stress management please visit http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

When I was a young boy, emerging muscles were the coolest thing. If a vein popped out a little, that was even more awesome. There were no fitness centers or body building gyms to amount to anything back then (Stone Age). If you aspired to brawn, Charles Atlas paraphernalia advertised in comic books was guaranteed to help you turn the cards on the guy who kicked sand in your face on the beach last summer.

Back then, muscles seemed more legitimate if you earned them from work on the farm or from other labor. Muscles from exercise were thought of as sort of “artificial”. So I did lots of farm work and construction in the summers. But leaving nothing to chance, I also cheated by building my own weight set with a pipe that I would insert into the holes of cement blocks.

My dad was of the school that I had better be careful or I could get all “muscle bound” if I exercised too much. I guess he must have worried as he saw me in the back yard hoisting my pipe with blocks dangling from each end. But I loved the exercise and reveled in the pumped feeling in my biceps.

Sorry to sound so narcissistic. But it’s the way all of us “guys” thought. We would even compare bumps on the school bus every morning and banter about who could do the most push-ups. This is not to say muscles and fitness are still not important to me, but now I focus primarily on exercise that will help me stay healthy, in shape and trained for the competitive sports I play.

I bring this up not to brag or appall you, but as a backdrop for the current situation in the sport and bodybuilding worlds. Now that society is off the farm, exercise has become a perfectly legitimate way to replace the physical activity lost with modern living. The use of hormones to force the body to grow in a way it would never do naturally, however, is a perversion of what should be clean and healthy personal development. Anabolic hormones totally miss the point of it all. The freaky bodies that can result are aberrations, yet magazines are filled with their photo spreads as if drug induced bodies are icons we should emulate and aspire to.

Aside from the fact that only people with natural bodies and developed talents should compete in sports (otherwise drugs are competing, not athletes), the real tragedy is the toll on health any hormone can take. Of all the drugs I used in medical practice, hormones scared me the most. They could create dramatic and immediate results (and that is their allure), but hormone treatment continued for any length of time always seemed to come back to harm the patient and haunt me.

An example in humans is the use of testosterone patches in women to increase libido. Take them very long and although your passion may be triggered, your voice will deepen and a beard will start to grow (not so good for the libido of the husband). Corticosteroids for allergies can result in extremely serious adrenal gland diseases, immune suppression and vulnerability to infection. In veterinary medicine the same things can happen. One situation I am reminded of that occurred many years ago was related to hormones given to dogs for birth control. Years after discontinuing the drugs, treated dogs would present to veterinarians with life threatening illness, extreme thirst and white blood cell counts off the charts. When their enlarged abdomens were surgically explored, a gigantic uterus would be found filled with pus - quarts of it! All this just because a little ole hormone was given years ago without a hint of an immediate ill effect.

You see, the body is extremely wise. It is not fooled or endlessly forgiving. If you break your arm and put it in a sling, the muscles don’t grow bigger, they atrophy. Why? Because the body is also efficient. Why grow muscles or even maintain them if they are not needed? When the sling is removed, the arm will have lost much of its strength. The body shuttled its resources into building bigger muscles in the arm that had to do double duty. It’s a very pragmatic thing. The body doesn’t pay attention to your agenda; it just does what it must to stay alive, make do and meet stress.

The same thing would happen to both arms - to your whole body - if you had servants do everything for you as you reclined in an easy-chair. Then, if all of a sudden you had to get out of the chair and run a mile or lift 200 pounds to survive, you wouldn’t make it. Your wasted and weak body could not rise to the challenge.

Hormones are like a metabolic sling placed on the hormone producing glandstesticles, ovaries, adrenal, thyroid, pituitary, etc. They replace the hormones that the glands normally produce. When this happens there is a negative feed-back: the more hormones from the outside that are introduced into the body, the less the glands do what they no longer need to - synthesize hormones. So the metabolic “muscles” (glands) that create hormones atrophy. If all of a sudden the outside source of hormones is withdrawn, your weak and withered organs may then not have the strength to take up the task again and supply hormones. Since about every function in the body is hormone-influenced, and every hormone interacts with every other hormone in some way, catastrophe results. Is it any wonder that modern anabolic body builders are also racked with heart disease, cancer, immune disorders, digestive failure and metabolic disorders in their (early) later years? The use of anabolic hormones is most certainly a case of desire being a ruinous tenant of its landlord, the body.

Consider this also with regard to anabolics. A normal body weight of 170 lbs. can be changed to 250 lbs. of solid muscle. To get there, massive amounts of food have to be consumed. Yet digestive “muscle” is not being built to keep pace, So the digestive tract and associated organs (liver, pancreas, gall bladder) suited for maintaining a 170 lb. body is forced to digest and assimilate extremely large amounts of food? The result is digestive exhaustion and resultant damage that can last a lifetime. Most of us suffer some digestive problems and intolerances as we age due in large part to eating abuses when we were young. Note the number of television commercials hawking stomach remedies. Body builders force feeding can exaggerate this damage leaving a ruined digestive system tolerant of little more than Maalox..

A huge number of high school kids are trying to “get big” with steroids. What an incredibly dangerous proposition for them. Parents, be aware that this is not innocuous. If the plea is that a little won’t hurt, particularly if they are “cycled” properly, don’t buy it. If the argument is that taking them is the only way to excel in a sport, then change sports. Insist.

For you adults who are toying with the idea of taking hormones for one reason or another, think long and hard. Read the contraindications and cautions on the drug insert sheets. Take heed. Find other ways to stimulate your body’s own natural ability to enhance or improve itself through exercise, lifestyle and nutrition. Don’t put your organs in slings and then expect long-term benefit.

The piper will always be paid.

Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute. He is author of The Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume set on philosophy for living entitled Thinking Matters: 1-Living Life… As If Thinking Matters; 2-The Big Questions…As If Thinking Matters, several books on nutrition, prevention and health for people and animals and over 18 years of monthly health newsletters. He may be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at http://www.wysong.net Also check out http://www.cerealwysong.com

Anyone involved in the world of bodybuilding, and competitive sport generally, will understand the pressures that go with striving to achieve optimal performance. Sometimes athletes feel they cannot reach their peak without artificially enhancing their powers of recovery from intensive training. One way to speed up this process is through the use of anabolic steroids. In this article we’ll examine what anabolic steroids actually do. In a second article we’ll focus on the dangers associated with steroid use.

The main active ingredient in steroids is testosterone which is well known as the major male hormone. Testosterone affects the body in two ways, either as an anabolic or an androgenic influence. The anabolic action helps build body tissue by increasing lean muscle mass and bone density. The androgenic actions are those that affect secondary sex characteristics in men.

In recent years research has provided some interesting information in relation to testosterone:

1. It affects muscle size through muscle fiber hypertrophy with an increase in the cross-sectional area of muscle fiber.

2. It takes a dose of at least 300 milligrams of testosterone to raise the body’s level above normal.

3. It acts directly on the muscle itself.

4. It stimulates the release of growth hormone.

5. It has an anti-catabolic effect.

From these facts we can deduce that testosterone is an effective aid to muscle building and that it must be taken in significant quantities to have this effect. As far as bodybuilding is concerned the science beyond this is somewhat limited as most users base their steroid regimes on little more than trial and error or the advice of ‘veterans’. Due to the illegal nature of steroid use little scientific data exists to confirm the effectiveness of the many steroid supplements in use.

It is perhaps the tendency of some bodybuilders to use a combination of powerful steroids and other drugs that presents the very real dangers that have sometimes led to tragic conquences.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

Ever feel down? Listen to what you are listening to. Ever feel really happy? Listen to what you are listening to. Lots of people work to be in a “happy” spot by picking music that helps them feel more __whatever they want to feel. Cartoons can create laughter and fun, the music and sounds with cartoons are what children love because it can induce laughing and good positive feeling. Teenagers, a lot of the time, like the heavy rock or punk because they are going through lots of changes and have lots of feelings to deal with. How about music when you are going to the gym, climbing a mountain, riding a bike, rollerblading or runningyou want to have energy and push to get to the top or get the calories burnt. A lot of people listen to techno or trance to get the energy cranking for this activity. Weight loss can be helped with music to help you get the exercise in. Sleepy time music, ohhh a lullaby to create the mood of sleepy sleepyor some Light Rock… Ever wonder why they call it elevator music and why they picked that kind of music for an elevator? Well it can induce a sense of mmm mmmm and engagement with the sound so the elevator activity does not affect you. How about country?? Well Sad comes to mind, or relating to certain times out on the farm…. Next time you want to perk up, or perk down, or cheer up, or forget stuff Music might be the way to go. Try it - it is fun to feel.