Tag: special diets

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The Zone Diet vs. Jenny Craig Weight Loss

Our Review of these 2 programs:

The Zone Diet is based on the theory of 40/30/30 — which means that 40% of calories should be from carbs, 30% from protein, and 30% from fats.  This program was created by Barry Sears……and a well known book was published about this diet called “Enter the Zone”.

So when a dieter eats a meal which is “40/30/30”  — then it’s referred to as a “Zone Favorable” meal.

The author of the Zone Program (Barry Sears) claims that if you make all meals “Zone Favorable” then your body will have reduced insulin levels, which will lead to weight loss and fat burning. 

However, we do not agree that eating a 40/30/30 meal (Zone Favorable meal) is the best way to reduce insulin levels.

Also, another thing to remember is that it can be difficult to follow the Zone Diet because everything must be calculated “precisely” at every meal (and most people will find such calculations very tedious, especially people with busy schedules). 

We believe that average dieters may find this program too difficult to use for any serious length of time, and therefore we do not like the Zone Diet program.

The makers of this diet have even created their own line of Zone Favorable Food products (such as Zone bars, Zone Shakes, and other Zone products for dieters). 

But of course, such products cost much more than “average food” costs……so many average dieters may discover that buying such products is not economical for them.  This is yet one more reason why we do not recommend using this program.

The Jenny Craig weight loss program is a bit more traditional and simple in our opinion, though it probably costs a bit too much for the average person (it’s also a little too basic in its principles, in our opinion).

This entire diet seems to be based on eating fewer calories while exercising more, which is a very old concept.  With Jenny Craig you get assigned your own weight loss expert (nutrition counselor) who will help to keep you motivated each week so that you’ll remain on the diet.

This is possible because Jenny Craig has many weight loss centers throughout the world, and if dieters live close to a facility then they can choose to meet with a nutrition consultant “in person”.   Or, if dieters do not live near a facility then they can choose to meet with their nutrition counselor “via telephone” each week.

…But regardless of whether you meet with your nutrition consultant via telephone or in person — you’ll still have to buy Jenny Craig’s expensive “pre-packaged” meals.  That’s the downside of this diet program in our opinion, since you have to continually buy Jenny’s pre-packaged meals (which are fairly expensive when compared to normal meals).

From everything we’ve seen these pre-packaged meals seem to be lower calorie versions of normal meals, so they don’t seem to be anything too earth shattering or special (from our perspective). 

So with Jenny Craig you’ll basically be eating fewer calories (smaller portioned meals) and exercising more while meeting weekly with a nutrition counselor (who will keep you motivated so that you don’t quit the diet).

Plus, don’t forget that you’ll be required to buy Jenny Craig’s pre-packaged food every single week — which can be expensive over time.  

So overall we don’t think that it’s smart to use the Jenny Craig program, since any diet that requires you to continually spend money for “special meals” is not a good choice in our opinion.

When we compare the Zone Diet to Jenny Craig we find that both programs have too many negative qualities to recommend — though the Zone Program is probably just a tad better in our opinion. 

But overall we strongly recommend against both of these weight loss programs.

END OF REVIEW.

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The Truth About Food Portions and Daily Calorie Limits…

Two of the most frequently asked questions from dieters are:

“How big should my food portions be?”

“How many calories should I eat each day in order to lose weight fast?”

Many fad diets have attempted to set calorie guidelines which are based on “bodyweight & height” (and sometimes they factor in “activity level” also).

Most weight loss counselors operate using these same types of daily calorie guidelines too.

In other words, most weight loss counselors instruct people to follow a specific “daily calorie limit” which is based on their weight & height (and sometimes their activity level is factored in too). 

For example, some weight loss counselors may tell you to eat 2,000 calories per day if you weigh a certain amount (and if you describe yourself as “active”).

But this is a RIDICULOUS way to try and lose weight, and we’ll explain why below.

The truth is that it’s quite ridiculous to follow a specific calorie limit each day, since every person has a different metabolism level.  

You cannot judge your metabolism by your activity level either, since there are plenty of people with higher activity levels but who are overweight nonetheless (due to a slower than normal metabolism).

For example, if you take 2 people who weigh 165 lbs and who have the same activity level each day, then there is no guarantee that their metabolisms will be operating at the same general level.  In fact, it’s quite possible that one person’s metabolism will be nearly twice as fast as the other person’s metabolism.

Also, there is another reason why following a specific “daily caloric guideline” is a waste of time.

You see, your body doesn’t burn calories on a “per day” basis, your body burns calories on a “per meal” basis.  Your body doesn’t burn calories based on what time the sun rises and sets, it burns calories throughout the day as you eat them.

This means that following some arbitrary “daily caloric guideline” is not going to make you any thinner, since you must actually learn to spread out your daily food across more than 3 meals per day in order to lose weight fast.

To speed up your metabolism you must eat more often, not less often.  You must eat more than 3 meals per day, and you must not follow some arbitrary caloric guideline each day.   Also, it’s quite easy to figure out how big your food portions need to be when trying to lose weight, and it has nothing to do with counting calories.

In fact, people who count calories usually fail at weight loss, and that’s because counting calories doesn’t work.  We have created a way to choose your food portions at each meal which doesn’t involve counting calories, and you can learn about our new dieting method below.

In fact, that’s why our new Online Diet Generator creates an 11 Day Menu which allows you to eat more than 3 meals per day — and it also allows you to eat until you feel satisfied (no specific calorie limits are needed).

…And this is why our diet is so effective at forcing fast weight loss for thousands of new dieters each month.
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Learn the details of the Idiot Proof Diet.

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Find out how Dr Suzanne Gudakunst discovered how calories, carbs, and such have far less to do with the real reason you’re fat and can’t seem to lose weight regardless of what you do!

It is currently available at:

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Antioxidants. —- By Charles Silverman

Many of the studies and researches done lately focused on the nutrients known as antioxidants.
Scientists are beginning to understand the preventing qualities of antioxidants but the average person does not yet understand what antioxidants do or what they are. But you will have the knowledge after reading this newsletter. 

Understanding the function of antioxidants is not hard and taking advantage of their properties is quite simple. Diseases like Cancer and arteriosclerosis, are unable to advance and spread throughthe body, thanks to the actions of antioxidants like Vitamin C, A, E Beta-carotene and others. By blocking and neutralizing the destructive power of too much  free radicals. These antioxidants allow us to prevent major diseases, a clear example of this is the remarkable reduction of breast cancer in women that consume raw and cocked spinach and carrots. 

Why are they called antioxidant?

Latest researches have shown scientists that oxygen, the gas we depend on to live, creates some very harmful by-products that destroy the very life it helps sustain. There are several vitamins that reverse or slow the oxidation cause by oxygen, that is the reason they call them antioxidants.
Oxidation, the reaction of oxygen with other chemicals, is the process that causes metals to rust, wood to burn, and a sliced apple to turn brown. As a matter of fact, if you coat a sliced apple withan antioxidant such as vitamin C, the apple will take a lot longer to change color. 

It is best to remember that vitamin and mineral supplements should never be used as substitutesfor a healthy, well balanced diet! It is also important to note that we can “over- supplement” our bodies, taking much more than the recommended daily value of certain vitamins and minerals.
Vitamins A and E are fat soluble, meaning that excess amounts are stored in the liver and fatty tissues, instead of being quickly excreted, creating a risk of toxicity and disease. Your best bet is to eat a diet rich in fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, cantaloupe,and mangoes are great sources of antioxidants.

A healthy level of free radicals is needed by the body in order to get rid of bacteria. Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that have at least one unpaired electron, which makes them highly reactive. Free radicals promote beneficial oxidation that produces energy and kills bacterial invaders. In excess, however, they produce harmful oxidation that can damage cell membranes and cell contents. 

It is known that people who eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables high in antioxidantshave a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and cataracts. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, but it is not known which dietary factors are responsible for the beneficial effects. Each plant contains hundreds of phytochemicals (plant chemicals) whose presence is dictated by hereditary factors. Only well-designed long-term research can determine whether any of these chemicals, taken in a pill, would be useful for preventing any disease.

Without a doubt antioxidants are a vital tool in our fight against diseases, we all agree that sometimes eating the right thing is difficult but when compared with pain and suffering that we can bring to ourselves by cancer, arthritis or arteriosclerosis,  a bowl of salad and an orange seems like a very tasty choice.
 

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Is Whole Wheat Bread fattening?

People often think they are doing something healthy for themselves by switching their white bread for whole wheat bread.  Although this is a better option than white, whole wheat bread can still be preventing you from losing your unwanted weight.

I am not a big fan of bread or bread type products. Actually, I think most people could feel a thousand times better if they stopped eating so much bread every single day. Toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, bread basket at dinner…we could feed a small village with the amount of bread I see some people consuming in one day (or several villages depending on who you’re talking about).

No, I am not saying to never have bread ever again (Hey, its life, you gotta enjoy it, right?). What I am saying is that 4-5 servings of some kind of bread type product every day is making thousands of people gain weight, preventing them from losing their unwanted weight and worst of all, bringing about diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Disease.

I don’t eat very much bread at all and I really don’t even miss it. I guess I have just come to enjoy all the other delicious food I eat each day that I don’t even feel bread is missing from my meal plans.

Here are my “bread free” strategies and exactly how you can lower your own bread intake each day:

1. When you think of breakfast, don’t automatically think toast, bagels, or a roll. A couple of hard boiled eggs over sliced tomatoes is delicious. You can also make a quick batch of oatmeal and add walnuts and berries. How about cottage cheese and pineapple? The breakfast options are endless.

2. Pack snack foods and take them with you to work. In less than 2 minutes, I can throw natural peanut butter, raw almonds, dried fruit (no sugar added), an apple or banana and baby carrots all in a bag and be out the door. Taking these food items to work with you will help you stay away from the employee room bagels or donuts. (Don’t even get me started on how evil donuts are). Slap some peanut butter on an apple and munch away at that, all while making fun of the people eating donuts (Just Kidding, that’s not nice.)

3. Don’t depend on sandwiches as lunch every day. How about some salmon, broccoli and brown rice? Leftover chicken from last night and a sweet potato? Imagine that lunch is another version of dinner and not just a mid day sandwich inhaling contest.

4. Make “the bread basket” a once-in-while experience. You really do not need to be serving a bread basket for dinner at home if you are offering healthy carbohydrate choices like salad, cooked vegetables, brown rice, millet, or quinoa.

5. Oh, and how could I forget? Don’t think that eating “100% Whole Wheat” is any better. It is still refined flour (maybe just not bleached) and a huge contributor to weight gain. I could go on and on about this but I have covered all the details about how detrimental wheat products are to your weight loss efforts in Chapter 9 of The Diet Solution Program.

Start to think outside the “bread box” today for healthy alternatives to your daily bread intake. What one thing can you do today to get started?

Find out what foods may be preventing you from reaching your own Fat Loss Goals here:
http://www.TheDietSolutionProgram.com

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Butter: Good Fat or Bad Fat?

People are often shocked when they see how much butter I use and eat in one day.  But I know the real truth; Butter is a good fat and can actually help you lose weight.

Unfortunately, people thinking butter is unhealthy is a very common misconception. People still think that butter and saturated fats are the reason heart disease is one of the top killers in this country (and now in many other countries as well). The truth is that it’s not the natural fats that are causing this epidemic, its the sugar, processed and packaged foods and overconsumption of refined oils that are causing so much disease (and you can add Diabetes, High Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure to this list as well).

I go into this topic in much greater detail in the Fats Chapter of the Diet Solution Program but here are a few nuggets of info to ponder:

1. Did you know that during the 60 year period from 1910-1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%?

2. During this same time butter consumption plummeted from 18 pounds per person each year to 4 pounds per person each year.

3. During the past 80 years, the consumption of dietary cholesterol intake has increased only one percent.

So where is the problem? Why all the heart disease?

1. During the same period, the average intake of dietary vegetable oils (margarine, shortening, and refined oils) increased by about 400%.

2. During the same period, the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased by about 60%

Those are the facts, but there’s never better proof than the results I see with my clients and my readers. When people finally stop eating margarine, refined oils, “fake” butters, sugar and processed foods, their health sky rockets! (and by sky rockets I mean, gets better, greatly improves, elevates to whole new levels). Not to mention all the body fat they lose off their body (now isn’t that just an awful side effect?)

It’s important to mention that the butter I use is organic and grass fed. It has this beautiful deep yellow color and is not white like most conventional butters. It has gone through minimal processing and has no added growth hormones and antibiotics.

Now that I told you butter is ok to eat, here is a delicious chicken recipe you can enjoy:

(Please remember that the mad scientist in me sometimes forgets to document the exact amounts so you may need to play around with this a bit.)

Chicken with “I’m not afraid of butter” dressing

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts (approximately 1 lb of chicken)
6 Tbsp of melted butter
lemon juice from 1/2 large lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Directions:

Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a large pan. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook chicken breasts in butter covered on very low heat. Do not let the butter get brown. Pour lemon juice in a seperate bowl. Slowly stir in the remaining melted butter as you stir mixture. Then slowly add the olive oil as you stir mixture. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Once the chicken is cooked through, served on a plate and pour the “dressing mixture” over your cooked chicken breasts.

Don’t be surprised if you are tempted to pour this dressing on your veggies and just about every other food item you can think of. It’s delicious!

Find out the real truth behind healthy fats and get started on your own fat loss goals right away with this free Weight Loss Guide.

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Make A Healthy Body your Number One Priority

If you are like every other yo-yo dieter out there, chances are you have started and stopped several diet plans with no success. The first week is easy. You’re full of excitement. You tell yourself “this time will be different.” The second week is ok, a little harder than the first but you’re still sticking to it. And then what happens? You bend the rules a bit and start falling back into your old habits. Why does this happen? Why do we go through this vicious cycle? I’ll tell you why. We are focusing on the wrong goal. For whatever reason, we must not perceive our weight loss as being “important enough” to achieve. So what would be “important enough” to stick to our new healthy eating habits? Your HEALTH! Nothing in this world is more important than the state of your health. Think about it, your health affects everything else in your life. Once our health is compromised we automatically change our lifestyle habits. Just look at President Clinton. Not until he had the ultimate health scare did he really change his eating and exercise habits. Let’s not wait until our bodies completely have a break down before we decide to take care of ourselves. If you feel lousy, everything you do that day is lousy. Likewise, if you feel great, everything you do that day is great. So this year, let’s not focus on just losing a few pounds, let’s focus on Health, the #1 thing in our lives.

Ask yourself, “How important is my health to me? How do I want to live the rest of my life? Sick and feeling horrible or healthy and feeling vibrant? Do I want to play golf and tennis in my retirement or do I want to spend it in the hospital?” The answer to these questions will ultimately dictate your weight and your health for the future. Any lifestyle habit that affects your health in a positive way will automatically cause you to lose weight or maintain a good healthy weight.

 Follow this checklist towards health and you will see weight come off automatically.

1. Make the time to focus on health.

 The number one reason people do not eat healthy or exercise is because they “don’t have the time”. But why is it that once we get sick, have a heart attack, are diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes or cancer, we all of a sudden have the time? This doesn’t make any sense. We wait until our bodies have become so ill to finally take measures towards taking care of it. This is the equivalent to never getting an oil change or servicing your car and letting it completely break down before doing anything about it. Prioritize your day. What could possibly be more important than your health? Your children, yes, I agree. But guess what? If something happens to you, who will be there for your children? I know that sounds terrible but it’s true. How many times have we heard stories of young children losing parents to heart attacks and strokes? Choose health not only for yourself but for your children as well. Prioritize your day so that making healthy meal choices and exercising are right at the top.

2. Take a long hard look at what you are putting into your body.

 For one week, read every ingredient of every food you eat. This could potentially be a scary experience. Some ingredient labels on packaged foods sound more like a college chemistry class than anything we should be eating. As a golden rule, if you can’t pronounce it, chances are you shouldn’t be eating it. The majority of the foods you should be eating shouldn’t even have an ingredients label. They should be vegetables, fruits, raw nuts, chicken, fish, eggs, meat. If you make 90% of your diet, fresh food, I guarantee you will significantly change your weight and your health. No time to make fresh food? (please refer back to #1). Cook more than one portion at a time when you do cook so that there are always healthy leftovers in the fridge. You can always have for lunch leftovers from the night before. Cook several portions of one meal and freeze some. A good example of this is healthy soup or turkey chili. Put a portion of chili in a small Tupperware and freeze. You can grab this when in a hurry for lunch or dinner.

3. How much are you eating?

 In the United States, our perception of one portion is extremely distorted. Restaurant portions are about 3 times more than what we should be eating in one sitting. If we become accustomed to seeing this much food on our plate at a restaurant we tend to do the same when we are at home and serve ourselves. According to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, women are eating 300 more calories a day and men 168 more calories than 20 years ago. All it takes is 100 extra calories a day to gain 10 pounds a year.

 For one week, reduce your portions at lunch and dinner by half. There is no need to “clean your plate”. Most times what’s on your plate is double what you should be eating anyway. If you feel some hunger in the afternoon, add one small apple with a handful of raw nuts as a snack. Your body will quickly become accustomed to the smaller portions and you will eventually not be able to eat as much in one sitting as you did before. Remember, you have access to an abundance of food every day. You don’t need to eat it all at once.

4. Drink WATER!

Dehydration has directly been linked to several forms of diseases including colon cancer, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol levels. Many people also mistake thirst for hunger. So it may not be that you’re hungry all day, you may just be thirsty and dehydrated. In due time, dehydration will cause a gradual gain in weight from overeating as a direct result of confusion of thirst and hunger sensations.

 Take a look at what you are drinking each day.

 Coffee or Soda (Diet Coke included)? The caffeine in both will dehydrate you even more and will cause you to feel hungrier during the day.

 Diet drinks and sodas? The artificial sweetener actually enhances your appetite and increases food intake.

 Orange Juice and other Fruit Juices? The sugar and calories can add up to 10 teaspoons of sugar per drink, which can be anywhere from 150-200 calories. Not to mention the fact that sugar eventually makes you crave more sugar.

 Every person should be drinking half of their body weight in ounces of water each day. So if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be drinking 75 ounces of water each day. If you drink coffee or any other caffeinated beverage during the day, the ounces of water needed increases.

5. How much do you move each day?

 Your body was designed to move! Your heart is a muscle and must be worked just like every other muscle in your body. You don’t have to join a gym to move, you just have to challenge your body and your muscles each and every day. The two best time saving exercise options I always suggest to clients are:

 1.Go for a walk. You can go for a walk anywhere and anytime. No time you say? Please refer back to rule #1.

 2. Set up your home with some free weights and an exercise ball. You will be amazed at the number of exercises you can do with just your body, some free weights and a stability ball. If you don’t know how, hire a trainer to show you or get a good book. Get into the routine of scheduling your exercise time each and every day. No ifs, ands or buts. Make your exercise time more important than phone calls, laundry, errands or lunch dates.

 Make a promise to yourself that this time will be about health, not about short term weight loss. Really evaluate how you are treating your body on an everyday basis. Is that the same way you would treat a highly valuable, expensive piece of equipment? Because that’s what your body is. There is no amount of money in the world that will buy you another one, so you might as well take really good care of the one you got!

Get started on your own fat loss and health goals right away with these Simple and Easy Healthy Meal Plans.

Stay up to date on the most current nutrition and health information here:  The Best Diet Info.

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The Real Truth behind Organic Foods

Many people are unaware of what organic food really is.  It seems that everywhere we go now, someone is promoting something that is “organic”.  Are these foods worth your time and money?

It almost seems like some people are afraid of organic food. Could this be possible? Are people afraid that eating one morsel of organic food is going to somehow instantly initiate them into the organic food cult where you’re only allowed to wear sandals made from tree bark and deodorant is prohibited?

I swear I have had people say to me “Well, you can’t be that organic because you wear make-up and you don’t smell.”

What? That’s not what organic means at all!  All it means is that the food or the product has been grown the way mother nature intended: without the use of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. In other words, naturally!

Are some people afraid of the price? Organic does not automatically mean “break the bank”. Many times when I compare the price of the organic food versus the conventional food, they are only a few cents different. In the case of the bag of organic carrots I bought today for my lunch, they were the exact same price as the conventional ones. Imagine that!

If anything about the word “organic” makes you want to jump and run the other way, be sure to read my previous blog post “Is there such a thing as Cheap Organic Food?”

It will help you understand exactly why organic food is all the rave these days and what you can do to make organic living easy, simple and not so scary!

Get started on your own fat loss and health goals right away with these Simple and Easy Healthy Meal Plans.

Stay up to date on the most current nutrition and health information here:  The Best Diet Info.

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3 Simple, Healthy Meal Plans You Can Start Right Now

Is it possible to put together a simple and healthy meal plan?  One that is not going to be complicated and hard to follow?  Yes.  It is possible and I will show you how.   The healthy meal plans below will help you achieve your health goals while simultaneously shedding fat off your body.

Here are 3 healthy meal plans you can get started on right now.

Breakfast

Protein should be included in every meal throughout the day and breakfast is no exception.  Make sure to include organic eggs, cottage cheese, raw nut butter or smoked fish as one component of your healthy breakfast.  Carbohydrates should also be included in the form of oatmeal, sprouted grain bread, fruit and/or vegetables.

3 great sample breakfasts are:

Oatmeal with almond butter, topped with fresh berries and a bit of Stevia to sweeten.

2 hard boiled eggs, 1 slice sprouted grain toast and ½ grapefruit

Smoked salmon over sliced tomato and 1 green apple

Lunch

The same rules apply as breakfast.  An easy way to ensure that you always have a healthy protein available for lunch is to pack leftovers from dinner the night before.  Leftover hamburger, chicken legs or wild fish are all great to include in a salad or over vegetables.

3 great sample lunches are:

Baked Tilapia over sautéed spinach, green salad with chick peas (oil and vinegar as dressing) followed by  ½ cup of pineapple.

Leftover chicken legs with ½ sweet potato and broccoli.

Lean hamburger over portabella mushroom and brown rice.  Cooked vegetables or a green salad.  1 orange.

Dinner

You can really be creative with dinner.  Look for recipes that are quick and easy and modify them with your own healthy ingredients as needed.  Again, always remember to include protein and carbohydrates.

3 great sample dinners are:

Mexican salad: Ground beef over shredded lettuce and tomato, guacamole and brown rice.

Grilled Salmon over asparagus, green salad (oil and vinegar as dressing) followed by a  fresh fruit salad.

Buffalo meat balls over rice pasta with sautéed broccoli.

Snacks

You never want to let your body get too hungry.  Hunger often leads to binge eating of unhealthy food and makes sticking to a healthy eating regimen much more difficult.  It’s important to keep snacks handy so you never experience hunger or a blood sugar low without having a healthy option nearby.

3 great snacks are:

2 Tbsp almond butter on ½ apple

Trail mix made up of walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit (no sugar added)

Cottage cheese and pineapple

Incorporate just a few of these meals into your daily eating regimen and you will see an incredible difference in your weight loss results.  Following simple and healthy meal plans like these is the first step in achieving your health and fitness goals.

 To get started right away on your own fat loss goals , download these Simple and Healthy Meal Plans right now.

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Get Big Muscles In 3 Simple Steps

Do you know what it really takes to build big muscles? Do you think it’s as simple as buying a gym membership, training each body once per week, slamming back some protein shakes and trying to eat as much chicken and tuna possible? Viola, you are big enough to enter a bodybuilding contest. Can you imagine it was that easy to build big muscles? Unfortunately, your monthly gym membership, regular weight training workouts and casual eating habits, isn’t going to cut it. Here are five simple steps to getting big muscles fast :

Squat and Deadlift

Squatting and Deadlifting are known as two of the Big Three exercises that are responsible for power and mass muscle building. Consider these two animal exercises the kings of the jungle! Without them, you do not have a chance of survival. These two exercises alone, work out about 75% of your entire musculature, including your traps, shoulders, arms, back. Gluts, hams, calves and core muscles.

Not to mention the degree of intensity, squats and dead lifts force your body to release greater volumes of growth hormone, which results in bigger muscles all over your body. This spillover effect results in strength gains in all you other lifts which translates into a more muscular you! Squatting and dead lifting are especially critical for hard gainers because of the hormonal spikes affecting the entire body.

Stick to Compound Exercises

What is going to isolate more muscle fibers? A bench press or cable cross over? A military press or lateral raise? A chin up or bicep curl? A dip or tricep kickback? If you ever hope to get big muscles than compound lifts are not optional, they are mandatory. Stick to squats, leg presses, deadlifts, bench preses, barbell rows, pull ups, chin ups, over head presses, and dips.

If all you do is concentrate on building your puny muscles like arms and calves, then you will end up with exactly what you focus on – puny muscles!

Keep Your Rest Periods Honest

When was the last time you were in the gym and you watched the average guy time his recovery with a stop watch? Stop watches are not just for endurance athletes but should be used by every person who is serious about building big muscles.

Generally, the closer you lift to your one rep max, the longer the rest period and the higher the number of reps, the shorter the rest period. This is a crucial variable, which is often overlooked, yet will determine whether you create the correct training response.

For example, if you are training for maximal strength which requires at least 3-5 minutes rest between sets and you are only taking 2 minutes, you are not giving your nervous system an honest workout. If you are training for muscle size which requires shorter 30-90 second style recoveries but are gazing at the cute girl on the elliptical letting your rest periods carry over these ranges, you are not giving your metabolic system an honest workout.

Lastly, how do you know if you are truly stronger if you do not monitor your rest period? For example, let’s say last week you bench pressed 135 pounds for four sets of ten. This week you bench pressed 145 pounds for four sets of ten. Assuming the rest period was identical for both workouts, this is a tremendous improvement and a measurable sign of improvement! However, what if you took an extra minute or two between each set on the recent workout? This means that you did not actually become stronger. You just had a longer rest period!

Conclusion

You now know that building big muscles is not easy as showing up at the gym and throwing back a few protein shakes. Apply these three simple steps in your next program and I promise that you will start building brand new muscle all over your body!

Everything you need to know about muscle building