Muscle Body Tips

What is Lactic Acid Build up?

What exactly does the phrase lactic acid build up mean… and what does it do to you? Is it good or bad and what can I do about it?

Rock Hard Abs! Do You Have What it Takes?

How would you feel walking down the beach with all the chicks staring at you admiring your rock hard six-pack? Learn exactly what you need to build muscle and see real results.

If your abs look good, your whole body looks good. Having Big arms and chest is one thing but having rock hard defined abs is so another.

Everyone knows that nothing turns heads like a defined full set of abs. And hey, chicks love em. What more needs to be said.
Contrary to popular belief, the abs or Rectus Abdominis is really only one muscle. It stretches from the top of your pelvis up to your ribcage. The “six-pack” as it is called is merely sections of this one muscle.

Dispelling the Ab Myths:

The action of any muscle is simply to contract. And as you can’t contract half your bicep or quad, it makes sense that you cannot contract half your abs as well. Therefore the myths about “upper ab” and “lower ab” training are total nonsense. I’m not discounting those training methods but the simple fact is that if you can’t see your lower abs, it just means you’ve got fat covering them, not that you need to work them harder.

Say goodbye to hanging knee-raises, straight-leg raises, and any other type of leg raises for building your abs. They simply don’t work. The primary role of your abs is to stabilize your body. When you raise your leg for example, your hip flexors pull on your spine and arch it forward/downward. Your abs stabilize this action by resisting and essentially keeping your back from breaking. Take note that this is the static action of the abs. It doesn’t build or strengthen. Leg raising exercises only feel like they are effectively working your abs because of the repeated strain and exhaustion of your muscle producing catabolic, lactic acid build up. Search for “lactic acid” at http://www.muscle-body.com for more information.

What Really Works:

What does strengthen your abs is what strengthens any other muscle in your body. Contraction! In this case - Decreasing the distance between your rib cage and your pelvis.

So we come back to the good old sit-up. But there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, forget about the cool all-the-way-up sit-ups you see in the movies. Your abs are fully contracted when your shoulders are about 5 to 6 inches off the ground. So don’t bother trying to impress or outperform someone by touching your elbows to your knees. It does nothing for you. Crunches as they are sometimes called are the way to go.

Secondly, don’t wedge your feet under something to help you get up. You don’t need to do this if you are doing crunches properly anyway. Your legs should be at 90 degrees to each other and your knees at 45 degrees to your waist. If you need to, use something to press your heels back against to stabilize yourself. This way you will use your hamstrings instead of your hip flexors which will keep the focus on your abs.

Thirdly, keep your hands lightly held against the side of your head or crossed on your chest. Don’t clasp them together behind your head or neck. If you do you will be tempted to pull with your hands to get the last few reps out, which will put unnecessary strain on this fragile part of the spine.

Alternative:

Another good exercise for abs is kneeling crunches. You will need special equipment to perform this exercise. This is where you kneel and contract your abs so that your upper body arches forward/downward. You hold a rope attached to a pulley with weights for extra resistance. Most gyms will have a rope attachment to the triceps pull down to perform this exercise. The idea is to lock your arms against your upper body so that you pull down only with your abs and not your arms.

Ab Training Devices:

In 2 words - Forget it.

You don’t need them. Most of them do nothing for you. Building muscle is hard and it hurts. Most of these devices are designed to take the pressure off your body making the exercise seem easy and con you into thinking you are really targeting your muscles. Don’t believe the hype. Ab training is definitely hard work but definitely worth it’s reward.

The Secret:
The difficulty in obtaining great abs is not so much building the muscle. It’s cutting enough fat from your body for them to show. You probably know by now that spot-reduction of fat simply doesn’t work here. In order to show those abs you need overall fat loss. Check out http://www.muscle-guide.com for more info.

How much should I workout?

I’ve heard different stories. Some people are in the gym everyday and others say to only train 3 times a week. Is it possible to train only once a week and be as big as the guy in the gym everyday?

Ask The Trainer

This article was contributed by Darin L Steen especially for muscle-body.com readers. Check out Darin’s site for some more great body building info. 

Welcome to this edition of “Ask the Trainer”.  I hope that this edition finds you happy, healthy, energetic, and optimistic.  It definitely is a choice.  I do realize that it is not that easy to make healthy lifestyle choices, especially in the beginning.  We are all creatures of habit.  Your habits will make or break you.  We all need to become more aware of what we are doing on a daily basis.  Most of us feel like we are spinning plates in a circus, we feel as though we are in a rut.  It is easy to get hypnotized by the stress of our chaotic schedule.  The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. If my bluntness offends you, then you definitely need to take a look in the mirror and answer some hard questions.
• Am I really happy?
• Am I and my family members truly fulfilled?
• Am I living up to my true potential?
• Am I living a life of significance, and will I leave something behind that benefits others?
• Are we just floating around like a feather on a breeze or do we have a destiny? 

Making a simple change like taking a short walk around the block instead of television after dinner may be enough to feel more energy and have your clothes fit a little better within a couple of  weeks. Remember, new (uncomfortable) habits are just like old (comfortable) habits within a couple of weeks.  Let’s drop two disempowering habits this week, and pick up two empowering habits.  Below are a couple of ideas for new habits;
ANNOUNCE YOUR INTENTIONS:  By announcing your intentions to your family and coworkers, you can build a little support team around you.  Just tell them that you are making a conscious effort to exercise consistently, eat better, and to think differently to become happier and healthier and that you would appreciate any support from them. Doing so does two things; it will stop people who care about you from unknowingly sabotaging your efforts, and it holds you accountable

LIMIT YOUR INFORMATION:  If there is one topic out there that has a ton of info on it, it is fat-loss.  Just put it in Google search and see how many sites and e-books etc. come up, 211,000 to be exact.  Now wonder we are confused. Most everyone has PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS.  I promise you that this is very simple.  You can ask anyone of my well over 100 incredible success stories.  People who have radically change their body and their lives by training with weights once or twice per week (50-60 min.), cardiovascular two or three times per week (30-40 min.) and eating and thinking differently.  Some of the documented testimonials would be willing to help you via e-mail.  Just go to www.darinsteen.com and click on the testimonial link.  Pick one that you can relate to.  Ask them how they finally did it.

Obesity is an epidemic. The average person is eating themselves into their grave 10 years to early with their teeth. If they are not on their way to an early physical death, they are certainly already emotionally dead.  Take a stand.  The first step is the hardest.  But after that, it is all down hill.  The toughest part of a work out, is lacing up the sneakers.  Inch by inch it is a cinch, yard by yard it is hard, mile by mile it is futile’.

                                                             LIVE LONG (: LIVE STRONG

How does Creatine help build muscle?

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about creatine. What does it do?

What cardio should I do to help lose unwanted fat?

I was thinking about doing some light running every other day. Will this help me lose excess fat?

What is a good exercise for working my back muscles when I only have dumbells?

I currently am working out from home and have only dumbells and an exercise ball. I’m after a good exercise for working my back muscles with limited equipment.

How does weight lifting lose fat faster than a diet or cardio?

I’ve heard that weight lifting is better than a diet or aerobic activities for losing unwanted fat… but how?

Does it have to do with metabolism or calories?

Muscle Building Questions

Check out some of Sean Nalewanyj’s comments in our Questions section. They are really helpful.

You can also check out Sean’s site here. He has got some awesome stuff.

The Top 10 Muscle Building Facts You Need to Know

1. Building muscle has a lot to do with genetics.

If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame then most likely you will have the same traits. This doesn’t mean you have no chance of building a strong muscular body. It just means you are going to have to work hard.

2. Your metabolism has an effect on your size.

If you have difficulty gaining weight whether it’s fat or muscle, then you most likely have a fast metabolism. Your body is burning calories faster than you can consume them.

3. There is no universal weight training program that is going to get massive results for every individual person.

The best way to find a program that works for you is to find someone who had the same type of body as you before and start walking their walk. There are certainly standard exercises that will build muscle but there is more to building muscle than weight lifting.

4. More training doesn’t mean more muscle.

This is one of the most difficult concepts for many to grasp. The purpose of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth… that’s all. Once that has been done, your muscles need to repair and new muscle needs to be built which only happens when you are resting.

5. Isolation exercises aren’t going to get you big fast.

The best exercises to put on the most amount of overall size are multi-muscle exercises. These are exercises that require more than one muscle or muscle group to get the job done. These lifts put the most amount of stress on your body. This is the stress that will shock your nervous system into releasing the greatest amount of muscle building hormones.

6. Free weights build muscle quicker.

Free weights are preferred over machines because they make your body work harder. They require greater concentration and allow the stimulation of supporting muscles. Machines are good for beginners to help with form and basic control, but limit the effectiveness of the exercise.

7. No Pain, No Gain.

Lifting the same weights over and over isn’t going to get you big. In fact it will do the exact opposite.

To build muscle you need to go heavy. This stimulates Type IIB muscle fibers which cause the most amount of muscle gain. Lifting heavy is when your body fails after 4-8 reps.

8. Long training sessions are a NO-GO

The idea is to stimulate muscle, not hit it from every angle possible. This is only a concern for developed body builders looking to tone muscle. Long training sessions cause catabolic hormone levels to rise dramatically. Catabolic hormones are responsible for breaking down muscle tissue resulting in MUSCLE LOSS. Your weight training sessions should go for no longer than 60-75 minutes maximum.

9. You don’t need aerobic activity to lose fat.

The time spent running or swimming is muscle building and recovery time lost. Building muscle is the fastest way to lose fat. Aerobic activities will help you lose fat but not so if you are on a high calorie mass diet for building muscle.

10. 3 square meals a day isn’t going to help you build muscle.

Eating is an important part of muscle building. You need to eat more often and eat more protein. You should be eating roughly every 2.5 hours which is about 6 meals per day. Spreading your meals throughout the day will improve muscle assimilation, and make sure that your body always has the calories it needs for muscle building and repair.

For more information on weight training and to meet others like you looking to make a difference to their physique, then head on over to http://muscle-body.com

Feel free to post this article on your site. Just make sure you include the resource link here at the bottom.