Safe Bodybuilding Routines

By Jack W. Anderson

Weight lifting is your gateway to the great body you've always wanted. It will allow you to burn off all the excess fat, improve the overall shape of your body and your health, and increase muscle mass. There are just a few things you should keep in mind when planning your routine to ensure you avoid the dangers involved and reach your goals as safety as possible by minimizing the risks involved.

A physical checkup with a licensed health professional is the most important thing you can do before even beginning to plan your workouts. Bodybuilding is a great idea for most who are up to it, but if you have any physical conditions that may require changes to your plan you will need to know ahead of time by discussing this with your physician.

Secondly, you will need to have all the proper training equipment on hand before you begin. The basic comfortable gym clothes and shoes are a must as well as a pair of weight lifting gloves. The gloves are vital to performance as well as safety since the improved grip you will experience will not only prevent slips but also reduce strain on your hands which will minimize soreness and recovery times.

You should wear typical workout clothing when you are doing your weight lifting. You can find these items at sports stores and most apparel stores. For shoes you should opt for a good athletic shoe that will help you not to slip and give you good support.

Starting out with too much weight is the first dangerous mistake everyone makes. Slowly increasing the weight as you progress avoids injury. You can gauge how much is enough at any time if you do not feel the strain until around your tenth repetition.

You should also take care as to not do too many at once. All it does is hinder your next days routine, and frustrate you with sore muscles. You should find yourself increasing the number of times every day to get the best results.

Although it may seem obvious, it always has to be mentioned that remembering to breathe is vitally important. It is very easy to get caught up in the intensity of the lift and actually forget to breath, which can result in various problems as you can imagine.

Finally, be sure to keep your body nourished with the proper supplementation. You will be burning through a lot of carbohydrates, proteins and nutrients that your regular diet will not provide in the proper amounts. Be sure to eat healthy and find the right supplements for your routine. - 31525

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Best Bodybuilding Supplements Build Muscle

By Jack W. Anderson

If what you seek is an intense workout thanks to an increased overall strength and rapid gain in lean muscle mass, then the key to your search can be found in the performance enhancing properties of several bodybuilding supplements available today.

Choosing the wrong bodybuilding supplements can put you at serious risk of illness or injury due to potentially adverse side effects. Most weightlifters and bodybuilders know, however, that the proper choice in strength enhancing muscle building supplements is vital to increased gains from the start.

Creatine monohydrate is the mother of all performance enhancing supplements and no review would be complete without a discussion about it. It is produced naturally in the body from the amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. As a supplement it dominates all other natural muscle building formulas and is considered by everyone to be the most important.

Creatine is renowned for providing a short energy burst, which makes it beneficial to weight lifters and bodybuilders that are serious about reducing their lactic acid buildup, increasing their strength, providing more energy for your workouts and adding muscle weight gains in a short amount of time.

Another beneficial bodybuilding supplement is whey protein. This is considered to be the highest grade of protein and since protein is the building block for muscles it only makes sense that whey protein can help in this endeavor. Here's a fact that may surprise you. Whey protein actually contains some of the same ingredients that are found in a mother's natural milk.

Finally, it's vital to stress the importance of anyone interested in successful bodybuilding to make sure that they don't miss out on any vitamins, minerals or nutrients due to an insufficient diet or unhealthy eating habits.

These vital minerals, nutrients, carbohydrates and proteins your body will need can be supplemented in a very quick and easy way with meal replacement supplements, or energy bars as they are sometimes called.

With all the hundreds of performance enhancing supplements on the market today the three discussed here will provide the bare essentials needed to reduce recuperation times while increasing the effectiveness of your workouts and muscle gaining speed. - 31525

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5 Tips for Effective Weight Training

By Eric W. Bricker

The key to gaining muscles each week is your weight training. Many individuals fail to gain the weight and build the muscle they desire each week because they aren't training right. They eat the wrong foods and they perform the exercises the wrong way.

A gain of one pound of muscle per week will be easy once you begin applying these 5 simple rules to an effective workout.

1. Get Enough Protein in Your Diet

Your muscles will grow larger as a result of the amount of protein you store. The thing is, your body is rapidly draining the protein it stores for other uses and this leaves less protein available for building muscle. This is why you have to build and store new protein faster than your body breaks down the old protein.

2. Eat More

Caloric intake is another important factor in weight gain. Start with the number of calories you already eat each day and add 500 to that to start. Give it about two weeks and if you don't see any significant gains after that initial period you can increase by another 500 per day. You will also want to be sure you are eating at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day.

3. Target the Larger Muscles

You will see the most muscle gains the fastest if you place the majority of your focus on the largest muscle groups and do the exercises in 2 to 3 sets of about 8 to 12 reps each, with only a short resting period in between each. Common exercises that target mainly the largest muscle groups are of course squats, dips, bench presses and pull ups. This will maximize your weight gain potential.

4. Rest A Day After Each Training

Muscle growth actually occurs during the healing phase after the damage done to them during the workout. Follow each workout by resting a full day.

5. Eat More Carbs After Training

Increasing your carbohydrate intake with snacks such as peanut butter or bananas will slow the rate at which your body metabolizes protein, making it more available to your recuperating muscles. - 31525

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Lose Abdominal Fat The Easy Way

By Paul Harris

Hello, this article is about how you can lose abdominal fat. I'm sure most people would like to get rid of some excess belly fat, but few people are aware that this belly fat can also be a health risk as well as unsightly.

Is belly fat really a problem?

There is a couple of different types of fat in the abdominal area. The first is the fat that is just under the skin, this is called subcutaneous fat and this is what is stopping your abs from showing. The other is called visceral fat and lies deeper in the abdomen underneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. This is the fat deposit that produces the classic "beer belly".

Both types of fat pose health risks however, studies have shown that viscerial fat deep in your abdomen is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. The common health problems associated with excess belly fat include diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, heart disease, sleep apnea and some forms of cancer. So there are many good reasons for reducing stubborn belly fat

There's just no way around it, you need to do something to reduce your stomach fat. Besides, a side effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and soon those abs that you thought disappeared at 17 will be back. Your levels of self confidence will rise, and you need never feel unselfconscious about your tummy again, a total win win situation!

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat, and What's fastest way to a flat stomach?

Well there is a real solution, but I'm afraid the answer does not lie in a miracle pill, supplement or one of the latest greatest ab machines on the shopping channel, because they just do not work, they are just a waste of your money!

If you wish to achieve your goals to consistantly lose abdominal fat and keep the weight off for good, you need to have a sound nutritional diet combined with a properly designed exercise program. Both your diet and your training regime will trigger a metabolic response within your body which is vital for your success.

If you correctly combine these factors you can send your metabolic rate right up there, and lose that stubborn abdominal fat for good. You will soon get that ripped body you want

What's the Solution

Any old exercise program will not necessarily be effective in the long run. The vast majority of people are not really working out effectivelly enough to really get the stubborn abdominal fat off for good. Most people are enthusiastic at the start, they do a bit of cardio, some stomach exercises, maybe even some cross trainer time. After a couple of weeks of little or no results they give up, lets face it we are all driven by results!

There is a solution

Well, the good news is that I've found a couple of excellent books to help anyone to beat the belly fat, my favourite is called Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, by Tom Venuto, this system just flat out works!! and all without endless cardio sessions! Perfect for anyone having belly fat problems.

The best way to get rid of belly fat is to use a total training plan like Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, you get all of the nutritional strategies, training sequences, exercise combinations, and more.

The main point is that it's a total program designed by professionals to get rid of belly fat for good, both naturally and safely. It's not just an abs program, far from it, follow this program put in the effort and you will see the results. It may change your life.

Time for Action

Tom Venuto has in my opinion produced the best system available today. So many people world wide have used this system and changed their lives, making themselves fitter and heathier. This is not guesswork... it is a proven system that works time and time again for both genders and all ages. It's the fastest way to a flat stomach. - 31525

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Buy The 7 Minute Muscle Guide With A 60 Day Full Money Back Refund Period

By Joshua Randall Stephenson

Jon Benson's 7 Minute Muscle corrects the myths about strength training and that is really a tall task as there are many of those myths around.

Most of the muscle building advice you may have heard before is in reality way off the mark. This includes much of the advice you have heard from a personal trainer at the gym. Yes a lot of those personal trainers look good but that does not mean they achieved those results the most effective way. Most of these guys probably trained for much longer hours than they really had to reach the fitness level they have reached.

You do not have to work out 5 to 15 hours every week to reach your goals, in fact you can get far better results by lifting weights less often with this program. It's all about doing a concentrated workout that gets the job done in as little time as possible so you can continue with your day rather than spending it all at the gym.

While it is natural to be skeptical that it's really possible to build a lot of muscle in just 7 minutes per day, the great thing is that 7 Minute Muscle is 100% guaranteed and it comes with a two month cash back refund period so that you can try it out without any risk. And it can be downloaded in minutes so you don't have to wait to learn what this strength training program is all about.

Yes there are other muscle building guides available online, but I do not think that any of them really has the proven track record that the 7 Minute Muscle program has. 7 Minute Muscle is a guide that has already worked for thousands of men just like you, so why would it not work for you as well?

No matter which muscle building system you order you can use the GoWear Fit by BodyMedia in order to keep track of how many calories you burn while working out. The amount of calories you burn is important to keep track of because you must burn more calories than you consume if you want to burn off excess fat for that really "cut" look. All of the muscle in the world will not do much good as far as looks are concerned unless you cut away the excess fat that covers it up. - 31525

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What Motivates You Defines You

By Terry Lane

Are you defined by your motivation to succeed in whatever you put your mind to? How about getting in shape? Would you be committed to adhere to an exercise program throughout the year or are you one of those who take the short cut with quick two week blasts? I know you have good intentions when starting out, but sometimes along the journey one's motivation may escape or get stuck on idle. If this sounds like you well to be honest you are not alone.

Sometimes life puts up road blocks. Motivation will at times be interrupted. Yet you have to start somewhere. Getting a realistic workout program is a good start. There are too many weight loss diets and plans that toot their horn and may work in a short span but keeping the weight off is another story. The right solution is a lifestyle change. One that emphasis physical fitness down at a realistic pace over time. Slow and steady wins the race. Don't get hooked on those new diet books that may make unrealistic claims. Just remember they may work for the short run but it's the marathon you want to win.

Lifestyle changes are sometimes frightful. Sailing through life as you've always done has given you pause to do something about how your body looks and feels. But you have to do it. Staying fit and healthy is now a priority. You want to look good at your daughter's wedding. You want to show off your new bathing suit. You're tired of wearing sweatpants. You start to subscribe to fitness magazines to pick up new exercises. You pay more attention to food labels at the grocery store. You start to take control of your life. Your motivated to succeed.

But what happens when you don't see the results you wanted? What are you doing wrong? Sometimes you hit a plateau and it seems you're literally swimming up stream. If that happens you need to stay focused on the big picture. Stay motivated because you'll come out of this lull and get back on track for sure. Hey we all get distracted from other things going on in our lives. Work, children, illness just to name a few. Stick to your plan and fight through the distractions and you'll come out of it okay. Maybe it's the time to try something new. If you haven't tried yoga do so. Yoga is great for meditation, breathing and stretching. Opening yourself up to yoga will improve your concentration and moods.

Setting appropriate, attainable goals is necessary for success. You might simply wish to get more physical exercise, or maybe burning more calories every workout is what you're aiming for. Staying in shape doesn't have to be an impossible task, so be clear in what it is you want to achieve and learn what motivates you. Sometimes motivation can result of a short term goal like fitting into your best friend's bridal party dress. Sounds simple enough, but that one event can set you on the path of staying motivated. A lifestyle change for better health.

So does motivation define success? Without it could you have changed the way you look and feel? All things are possible now. You have dealt with an enormous task and succeeded in your goals. You persevered and prospered all at the same time. You didn't use excuses nor did you take shortcuts. You set realistic fitness goals and made them become reality. You made lifestyle changes at a time doing so took you out of your comfort zone. Stay motivated in whatever you choose to do. You've done it now and you can do it again. - 31525

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The Importance of a Good Baseball Weight Training Program

By Ron Wrigley

During the off-season of any sport, everyone talks about who won or lost. History has been made. The true athletes recognize, however, that while everyone is talking about last season, now is their time to be preparing for the next season. The off-season is truly the time when team members prepare to win or to lose. Start finding a baseball weight training program now that will help you develop your skills.

There has been a number of stories in the media lately about famous baseball athletes who performed well and then were found to be using steroids and other harmful substances to increase their performance. If you know how to train properly, there is no need to participate in these illegal practices.

Baseball players mostly use the core muscles in the body: those located in the stomach and the back. Some of the key elements in the sport are power and the ability to be quick. Major league teams have recognized that a players ability to bring these elements into the game relies heavily on their weight training. Most of these teams have incorporated weight training rooms and fitness centers in their stadiums, as well as trainers who are professionals at coaching sports competitors.

The barbell bench press, jumps, and squats are other exercises that ball players should practice which strengthens the entire upper body. The barbell push press is very effective at training the muscles in the shoulder area, allowing a baseball player to achieve a very strong swing with the bat. The front squat will benefit any athlete in increasing shoulder and leg strength as well as balance and stability

Lunges and jumping jacks will help with endurance skills, and practicing jumping hurdles can be another a highly beneficial exercise for athletes to take part in.

Not only is it important to increase your weight lifting skills and stamina, but you should also practice agility drills and sprinting so that you are quick on your feet. Do your best to be in good physical shape for the games before your season begins and you will be well on your way to a winning season. - 31525

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Discover The Secrets To Lose Belly Fat Quickly And Get Flat Abs Without Starving Yourself

By Rawl Hardial

Ultimately, an Advance yet simple system that actually works and will let you lose belly fat quickly. Fast weight loss diet contains about the most idiot proof proven belly fat loss techniques to date to get flat abs.

By eating the incorrect food, the wrong types of calorie for ecah meal and simply also eating meals in the wrong patterns on a daily basis causes you to be overweight. You are also doing the wrong kinds of exercise. Consequently, you can also become fat of slim depending on your food choice.

You don't get fat because of insufficient exercising- that's a myth. You become overweight or gain belly fat purly because you do not eat the right food at the right intervals each day.

Did you know that junk food accounts for a great deal of body fat? These include, burgers, sussages, fries and also soda and colas. These are high in non nutrient saturated fats and refined sugars with high calorie contents.

Among the main reasons is that junk foods are difficult to digest as they are quite simply deficient in active enzymes and sits like a lump within your stomach before being only partially digested. They remain largely undigested and easily form the homes of an incredible number of unfriendly bacteria and parasites. These develop and multiply and because of this they compete with your own body for essential nutrients.

These unfriendly parasites love sugary foods making you snack more regularly compared to the norm. As a result you gain weight because you crave for sugary food and so become overweight.

Abs Workout:

Being active is great for burning up some excess calorie but without watching your diet; it's going to be a very long road for you to get flat abs or having that dream physique or 6-pack abs for men. Correct, effective exercise and a healthy diet plan may very well be your way to achieving a flat belly and six pack abs.

Within the food-pyramid, vegetables and fruit receive a significant proportion in nutritional values. Fat burners with glorified claims of their efficacy by slim celebrities and doctors, have relatively little if any substance at all. These slim celebrities with flat abs did not get slim by using the products they are being paid to promote.

Remember you aren't going to get rapid fat loss without body stretching or a lot of abdominal workout along with a sensible diet program. Cardio workouts increases your metabolism causing the fat burning capacity within your body to elevate dramatically. Drinking water is one of the best ways to loose weight. Dump the sodas and colas that have extremely high sugar content leading to fat gain and obesity.

As stated earlier you're better off focusing on 3 important things: Cardio, resistance training as well as your diet to acquire the best abs results and weight to height ratio. But if your major concern may be to lose belly fat quickly and develop a six pack abs or perhaps a good physique then the following activities will undoubtedly be beneficial to you for best results.

Some Weight Loss Facts:

Low calorie Diets Don't Work: This only holds back your body's calorie burning engine and ruins all chances of fat burning. Your metabolism simply adjusts itself to cope using the calories you're giving it each day. Because of this , starving yourself always fail.

With Low carb diets you'll need to be strong willed and this is why so many people simply give up.

Now with our effective weight loss diet or really a unique system of eating that's so different from everthing else you've ever seen you'll notice a welcoming change in your body in just days from today.

It's proven, it's guaranteed plus it has helped numerous people all over the world see rapid results and truly lose weight, attain their dream body and wear the latest fashion, boost their confidence and better their careers. - 31525

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Find The Right Adjustable Dumbell For Your Needs

By James Coffeman

Anyone who is keen on a dumbells adjustable has to search up the various sorts of merchandise that are available online. If you are doing your homework you'll be able to find a high quality product that can work for your needs. Analysis is terribly vital when it comes to finding a solid product for you to use.

One of the reasons why these dumbells are very popular is because of the costs savings they offer. Anyone who is looking to purchase a traditional dumbell set need to understand the enormous expense. Buying these adjustable dumbells will help you save a lot of money in the long run.

Instead of buying a bunch of different dumbells, you simply own one dumbell that can transform into different weights. This is perfect for people who are looking to have their own workouts at home. One of the reasons why it often doesn't work when you have multiple dumbells is because different exercises will require different weights.

These adjustable workout dumbells are the perfect option for people who are looking to save money and space on their dumbells. You will find that a lot of the different weights will vary from 10 to 100 pounds. It is very important to use a weight set that will challenge your strength and help you build muscle.

People who are interested in purchasing a powerblock adjustable dumbell need to look at the different products that are available online. A good dumbell set will help you improve your overall appearance and physical health. You will be able to accomplish the workout goals that you set for yourself.

Remember it is very important for you to find a good retailer that is available online. A good retailer will help save you a lot of money when it comes to different sets of dumbells that are available. You will need to look around for the various retailers that are available.

A comprehensive search on the internet will reveal different online retailers that are selling adjustable dumbell sets. Remember it is very important for you to find something that has enough weights for you. You current size will usually dictate how much weight you should use. - 31525

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Where The Work Out DVD Came From

By Beth Prager

What the heck is a work out DVD in the first place?

Before I can even share with you the best work out DVD exercises I have tried, I must share with you how they have even come about to begin with!

Now, you will ask me what the heck a work out DVD is.

I won't ask you to raise your hands, but I already know which of you folks are as old as me to remember those fitness shows on television. You know, the daily or weekly syndicated shows on KDOC with a pair of body fitness instructors clad in spandex from head to toe. Whether they were in neon or in leopard print, they were there on TV equipped with a happy attitude to show you how to do some fitness exercises.

You might remember all of the happy tunes jingling in the background while simple images of stars and single-colored graphics in between each of the different exercise routines. You also might remember how those exercises were so easy. But, you still broke some kind of sweat. But, why weren't the instructors on TV?

Secretly, I would stare in awe at these TV exercise personalities' fitness attire and wonder where I could get myself a nice leotard like theirs.

Now, you know you remember those shows! No one will judge you if you admit to sweating to the oldies with Richard Simmons, or if you were body buddies on KDOC. You had to get your work out on somehow, and at that time it was whenever the show was on.

Well, eventually the advent of the VCR came to life, and we realized the power of recording a work out routines onto videotapes. They could mass produce this and mass distribute the work outs to people all over the country (and all over the world), so people like you and me could tone our muscles in the comfort of our own home at any time we wanted to.

With the luxury of having a television set (with a VCR) in our homes, we could collect those work out videos, pop our favorite one into the VCR, and exercise away.

Fast forward to today, where we have multitudes of DVD players, where the physical sizes were so much less than the size of a video tape, a laserdisc and a vinyl record. They would hold at least four times more information.

It is definitely an improvement in the course of our home fitness. These work out DVDs allure us with the entire surface covered with images of bodybuilders and fitness models so we can strive towards having similar-looking bodies. - 31525

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Why You Should Train To Muscle Failure

By Mitch Graves

We've all heard the yells and grunts of guys in the gym. Making faces and frowning as their muscles cry out in failure.

In this article today, I'm going to be explaining the importance of muscle failure and how to achieve it.

Every person in the gym that's worth their salt has pushed their muscles to the limit.


I was lifting 85 lbs dumb bells yesterday on the incline bench when I reached failure on the down stroke. If it weren't for my spotter, I would've been in serious trouble.

I knew I was done with chest for the day, and unlike so many other trainees, I moved on to another exercise after that.

Training to muscle failure means you've recruited just about all of your muscle fibers and they've all failed. Muscles produce lactic acid when they oxidize (move). Eventually they reach a limit of saturation and can't move anymore.

This is important because you've now effectively torn that majority of the muscle. Giving you the maximum chance of recovery.

It's like this. If you only damage 60% of your muscle, only 60% of it will repair itself. But if you damage 95% of your muscle, 95% will repair itself and you will see growth a lot faster. It may take longer to recover, but generally, you'll see greater growth because you have greater repair going on.

Keep your tempo steady throughout the lift while keeping your technique as good as possible. Make sure it's your muscles failing and not your joints. Keep a positive attitude and push through the pain until you can't perform the movement anymore.

With that being said, it's a good idea to have a spotter with you when you do this. Either your training partner, or someone else. This can be dangerous as I've pointed out above, but if you want to see greater growth, this is a great strategy.

Your spotter needs to be vigilant as to when you're about to fail and you need to communicate your failure point with your spotter.

I would end with the cliche, No Pain, No Gain, but that's not exactly true, lol. So I'll just say, Train Hard and Train Smart. - 31525

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The Herschel Walker Legendary Workout

By Jason Davis

Ever since I was a little boy I can vividly remember the first time I saw Herschel Walker's shoulder, and ever since then I wanted a pair just like his. They were so large that it looked like he had to smaller heads trying to poke out each side. I always felt I was in the minority in being in awe of his shoulders, but over 20 years later after seeing him for the first time people are still talking about his athletic ability and unique workout routines.

Being such a rare and unique athlete many wanted to know what type of workout routine Walker did on a daily basis. Who wouldn't want to recreate the success that Walker has enjoyed over his career? However, when he spilled the beans on what exactly his workout was it gained even more attention and interest. Walker conducted a series of bodyweight exercises with a sprinting routine throughout the day. Many considered Herschel one of the hardest working athletes of his time.

Many observers found it literally unbelievable that Walker did not even have to consider picking up a dumbbell until the Dallas Cowbays basically forced him to. It is very rare indeed to find an individual so passionate about doing bodyweight drills, but Walker's success has become legendary so much so that many fitness experts have had to completely rethink how to train. I am sure Tony Horton's P90X had plenty of influence from Mr. Walker.

As a youngster Walker didn't always show signs of being genetically gifted. Actually, in his book 'Hershel Walker's Basic Training', he remembers having a lot of baby fat as a kid who, and was more often than not picked last for teams. He even tells how his sister constantly beat him in races!

Walker's routine consisted of the following exercises and reps:

Push-ups (2,000 reps)

Sit Ups (3,000 reps)

Wide and close grip pull-ups for 1,500 reps.

Over 1,000 trecep dips.

For his legs he did roughly 1,000 squats (probably weighted)

To improve his speed he conducted different running drills.

I know that sounds super easy, right? Not! The movements are not complicated, but number of reps is insane. Better left to the professionals (just kidding).

At age 47 it is pretty impressive that he is still doing this workout. If that was nto impressive enough, Walker just had his professional MMA debut, won by straight up backyards beatdown. This is one person that may have never seen his prime. He continues to live it. - 31525

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Methods For Weight Lifting And Martial Arts And How They Work With One Another

By Dustin Fennell

Alone, they are far from the same. After all, martial arts is a sport that's designed for self-defense, and weight lifting is more an activity or workout designed to develop muscle. That's not to say that weight lifting and martial arts together wouldn't yield a positive result, because they will definitely do that.

When it comes to exercise, weight lifting isn't so much about burning calories. In fact, it's about packing on the calories with protein to help develop muscle. Calories do get burned, but because weight lifting isn't typically a cardio workout, the heart rate of the individual isn't in a "target zone", meaning it's not high enough to burn calories. Alternatively though, the muscles are using protein to build and develop the current muscle into whatever desired effect the weight lifter is going for.

By choice, I refer to two, actually. Of those two is the option to build muscular strength, or muscle mass. This means working harder by adding more weight every time you move up but constantly doing the same number of repetitions. To put that into an example, let's say someone was doing a chest exercise, such as the bench press. To build muscular strength, they would lift 150lbs for 10 repetitions for their first run, and for their second run they would lift 180lbs 20 times. It doesn't have to be that exactly, but that's just an example.

If what you want is to take the muscle you have and make it work harder and last longer, then you're looking to do the second choice: muscular endurance. You won't get bigger, but you won't get smaller either. Your muscles will work harder without adding more to them. To do this, you would do the complete opposite of strength building and you would do the same (or less) weight only more times. So if you're doing the bench press, you'd do the same weight 20 times instead of 10.

As mentioned before, martial arts isn't used as a work out because it's not designed to be. You'll be moving around, and probably a lot at that, so you'll be burning calories based on that, but that's not the emphasis. In fact, the point is self-defense training and mental development. You'll take the "negative energies" away from yourself to not be a victim as well as become mentally stronger.

It can be a good workout, however, as it involves a great deal of repetition as well. It may not be designed to tone or build muscle as weight lifting is, but it is an activity that requires a great deal of movement. As with any activity, it's certainly more effective than not doing anything.

As for what kind of work out to do in weight lifting to improve your martial arts performance, there's a few. The main focus should be hands and feet (that is, arms and legs) and should be developed via endurance rather than strength, as it's more important to work your muscles longer than harder. The workout of choice for arms (and thus improve punches and blocks) is pull-ups, which also works the back. For legs (and thus kicks/maneuvering), the choice work outs are squats and calf-raises. To learn more about these, the internet would be the way to go.

While using what you learn in martial arts (the stretching and the meditating) and what you do in weight lifting (building muscular strength or endurance), you are toning your body inside and out. Combining weight lifting and martial arts isn't helping you to get ready for summer, per say, but many would say it helps you to become a better person on your standards. - 31525

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What To Expect In A Work Out DVD

By Beth Prager

The wide array of work out DVD content is no different from that of work out videos. The only difference is that some of the DVDs allow you to do the exercise with or without the cheesy music (and with or without the instructor's eventually-annoying voice). They will all be at least 30 minutes of the instructor demonstrating the fitness movements, but they won't all have the same mannerisms and degree of intensity as other instructors on other work out DVDs.

There are so many different fitness instructors that you will find when you pop the DVD in. There will be male instructors, female instructors, group instructors--all with different styles and personalities that show through the TV. It is definitely a wide assortment that ranges from a pleasant-sounding woman with plenty of positive feedback on your appearance to a no-frills-sounding man with nothing but tough love for your last 60 seconds of intense ab crunches.

If you are lucky and have gotten your hands on a decent work out DVD, you will feel either at ease, or pushed to your limits. The instructor on the screen will be in a staged area that will appear to be a dance studio, an industrial-like gym, or a beach on some island.

Most likely, there will be a group of other men and women alongside and behind the fitness instructor following the work out moves. This is to show you that you are not alone as you exercise in your home fitness center.

This is also to provide you with the opportunity to relate to at least one or more of the people moving to the instructor's commands. There will be some exercisers trying an easy version of a movement, while there will be others trying a rather difficult version.

You might notice that in some work out DVDs, there is absolutely no sweating going on. Just happy smiles and glowing cheeks, but no sweat to be found. You might notice the opposite in other DVDs, where everyone is drenched from head to toe in sweat and struggling with some moves. That is all the decision of the director and producer to portray to you.

Overall, you will get a much better return of investment (or ROI for you business geeks) with paying a low flat amount of money for an entire work out DVD set, because the more you use it the cheaper each use will be. Eventually it will cost you pennies to exercise for an hour, as opposed to paying a large down payment for a gym and continuously paying monthly fees, gas refueling and commute time.

What's also neat is the ability for you to change the exercise regimen up to your liking. You know that you may get bored with one part of the program, and you may like the other parts better. Or, you may fall in love with the entire program (and love the fitness results so much) that you will end up using the entire set of DVDs all over again. - 31525

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