The majority of body builders all have one thing in common, and that is that they crave for sugar, sometimes uncontrollably so. There are many possible reasons for a sugar craving, but there are two which are the more common reasons for having a sugar craving. The one is a plain and simple sugar addiction. The second one could be because the weight lifters overall body fat drops below 6%. If this happens your body wil begin to crave the intake of sugar.

There are a few ways to try and combat the sugar cravings and the first one is to try to keep sugar out of your diet altogether. Having sugar in your diet will then make you want more sugae, so if you cut it out of your diet completly then your body will no longer crave the sugar. another good way to beat the sigar cravings is to avoid eating foods that contain high fructose corn syrup. When you start body building, you really need to start looking more closely at the labels on the food you are buying. When you consume high fructose corn syrup, your brain will not get that “I’m full” message, therefore you will continue to eat and to crave more sugar.

You need to include lots of vegetables in your natural bodybuilding diet and do this all day. Many people are mistaken when they think that sugar will give them the energy they so imminently need. This is wrong, it may give you a short energy boost but then reality hits and you are bakc to feeling worse than before. Eating plenty of vegetables on the other hand will keep your energy levels up all day as they contain fibre. The fibre will keep you feeling full and will give you more energy and increase your metabolism, making it then easier to do all the activities you have planned for that day.

Eat more food that you have to chew, and fewer foods that you have to drink. Protein shakes are great way to increase your bodybuilding supplements, and provide lots of minerals and nutrients that you need, but you need to eat real food as well these supplements.Your body will work a lot harder to digest solid food than it does liquid, eating real food will also increase your metabolism.

Stabilize your blood sugar levels with essential bodybuilding supplements such as Chromium picolinate, alpha lipoic acid, and flaxseed oil are all great for accomplishing this. Also try and take 200 mcg of chromium during your first meal of the day, and then take 100 to 300 mg of Alpha Lipoic Acid during all other meals, as well as 1 to 2 tbsp of flaxseed oil during those meals as we.

Last but not least, remember to drink plenty of water. This will not only help you to feel full, but will also prevent cravings that come about when one is becoming dehydrated. We do get sugar cravings when we start dehydrating!

Testosterone is an important element in building muscle.  This is actually a hormone that exists in both males and females but it is more concentrated in men.  Testosterone causes much of the male characteristics – such as a strong sexual drive, a deep voice, aggressiveness, and of course, muscles.  This hormone is located in the testicles (for men) and in the ovary (for women).  Because of what testosterone can do it is a highly popular ingredient in most bodybuilding supplements.

Body building affects your body, depleting some nutrients as you work out.  Thus, you need to have natural bodybuilding supplements to replenish what your body has lost during your body building regimen.The supplements also nourish and strengthen your body.  One main hormone that is depleted during workouts is testosterone.  That is why it is necessary for you to take in testosterone supplements, just like the doctor ordered.

Having a low testosterone level can be marked by the following: a loss of energy and strength, as well as muscle mass.Of course, this is not what you, as a body builder, would want to happen.  A low testosterone level also sometimes mean that you will find it hard to lose your body fat.  

Some men experience a deficiency in testosterone, some lose it even at the early age of 25.  Low testosterone levels also often means that the person is plagued by mood swings that leave one unhappy and depressed.

There are a variety of testosterone supplements available.  These are classified depending on the age ranges, as well as for the purpose of the supplement.  This means that you have to consult a nutritional specialist of a doctor before taking anything.It is important that you first check your levels of testosterone before taking in supplements and afterwards, you should monitor the level of this hormone present in your body.

Some testosterone supplements you can choose from include Eurycome Longfolia, Viaroid, 6-OXO and 17-HD.  What is important is that you should ask a professional first.  It is dangerous to take in supplements without first knowing the right type and the right dose for you.

Remember, body building is a lifelong sport.  Even if you plan to retire from the sport or if you have accomplished your goals in body building, you will need to make use of essential bodybuilding supplements.  Combine this with training sessions and regular exercise, along with some exercise and a good, balanced and healthy diet.  The combination will prove to be very potent in keeping you fit for your entire lifetime, even when you have stopped doing your body building workouts.

Most health clubs and workout facilities push workout plans that concentrate on working individual muscles one at a time.  Performing exercises that focus on one muscle group at a time is appropriate for body builders and athletes in certain sports, but to develop “real world” strength, full body weight workouts are best.

Body weight workouts don’t use machines or weights. They focus on the use of your own body weight to provide resistance.Push-ups, crunches, and hand stand raises are all examples of body weight exercises.

There are many benefits to adopting a body weight exercise program. These include:

• Customizable workouts
• Can be done anytime
• Focuses on the core muscle groups
• No gym required

But the real value of following an effective and structured body weight workout regimen, is that you will develop “real world” strength, agility, and endurance.

“Real world” strength? That is the ability to perform real world activities requiring the use of multiple muscle groups in tasks such as combat, swimming, or lifting a sofa down a flight of stairs.All these activities require the coordination of multiple muscles to accomplish a goal. Strength, balance, and endurance all come into play.

Pumping out repetitions on the calf raise machine at your local health club might produce ham hocks on your calves, but it won’t help you much when it comes time to carry a couch up some stairs.Developing a strong functional core should be the goal of any workout program. It is this core development that provides you with the strength and coordination to perform at competitive athletic levels, or even just get through the activities of our daily life.

An effective body weight exercise program can push you in ways that traditional gym workouts don’t. They provide a more robust, coordinated workout that will maximize your development of overall strength, flexibility, and agility. Become a part of a brand new body weight exercise program that is guaranteed to get you in your best shape ever.

Now that the better weather is here, I've continued where I left off last summer and have been doing 5K runs since last Sunday, including one road race. I have never been a runner, and only started doing this distance in my 38th year (last year).

In any case, over the winter I mostly did the elliptical with some stationary bike and a little bit of treadmill running.

I've noticed though, Read the rest of this entry

I bet that at the top of many bodybuilders wish list are a huge pair of biceps. Of course having big guns will gain you lots of respect instantly. So, why is it then that so very few people whilst they remain dedicated to their search for big biceps still remain with their sleeve banging against there biceps in the breeze.

Well, it may be of interest to you that this small muscle is often very poorly trained. By that I mean that many people go about building biceps muscle in completely the wrong way.

Here we shall lay down a few basic rules to ensure you stay on the road to building bicep mass fast. So here is out brief biceps guide how to build muscles fast .

1) Your biceps are trained a lot already in most major back exercises that involve pulling. So, concentrate on improving at these exercises and your guns will follow and get larger.

2) Do not overtrain the biceps. This is easily done, as already mentioned they are worked heavily on back exercises so stick to a absolute maximum of 4 sets of specific bicep work and in fact two sets will be plenty for most people.

3) Choose the correct exercises. The ultimate muscle makers for biceps include all rowing exercises for your back and definetely under hand pull-ups. If you simply have to do more sets for you biceps then try standing barbell curls. Steer clear of carving exercises like seated concentration curls which are made as exercises to sculpt already large guns. If that is not you then there are far better exercises out there for you.

4) Keep the rep range in the 5-7 category for maximium muscle size gains. Ensure your progression by hitting the targets in your training log. This allows you to set targets for each workout which is both motivating and ideal to review your progress.

5) Are you getting the required amount of calories in your body. You have to consume a good deal of calories if you actually do want to support muscle gains. eat at least 5 times per day measl containing: pastas, fruits, leafy greens, lean white meats and such like. These are the types of food that contain the necessary calories and nutrition to boost your growth.

6) Ensure you are resting enough. You’ve probably heard before that your muscles do not grow whilst you are pumping iron they grow when you are at rest. Therefore don’t you think you should be getting enough rest to let them grow. If you are not then you are wasting your time trying to build muscle.

So that’s all folks, our short guide to building bigger biceps fast. Check you are following those guidelines and you may just boost your bicep size and build muscle mass quicker than you expeted. just Hit it!

If you are reading this article then you are more than likely already aware what a hardgainer is. If you are not sure then the term hardgainer refers to anybody whoc struggles greatly to increase their bodyweight! This is normally said to be because that person has a high metabolic rate.

Metabolism or metabolic rate refers to how speedily your body can use up the calories it has taken on by processing the normal chemical actions required by the body. If your metabolism is particularly slow then it will be easier to put on fat tissue as you are not burning up as many calories at rest as someone with a faster metabolism.

For muscle mass building we have to develop an extra amount of calories however for hardgainers this can be hard as they have a high metabolic rate which rapidly burns up calories. So, what can hardgainers do to counter this? Here is our how to build muscle guide for hardgainers:

1) Keep the cardio workouts to a minimum. Cardio-vascular sessions whilst using up calories at the time also increase your metabolic rate so that when you are at rest you will also be burning through more calories than normal. You must avoid this if you are trying to create a surplus amount of calories.

2) Eat for two! You must eat lots of calories. You can try to do this by simply increasing your portions two fold from that which you would normally eat. Purchase over sized bowls, which will stop you from forgetting this.

3) Eat 5-7 meals every single day. This is critical to build muscle mass. Your body is only capable of extracting out of the food a certain amount of nutrients at any given time so small frequently meals are necessary to make the most of its capacity. Eating 2-3 meals per day is claimed to slow down the bodies metabolism which is true but this doesn't mean it is something that hardgainers sould do. Why? Because your body can flip into a starvation state where it releases particular chemicals that actually inhibit the muscle building process.

4) Take supplements. Take full advantage of the numerous excellent supplements that are available such as protein shakes and meal replacement powders. These contain large amounts of precisely the things you need. Excellent moments to consume them are immediately post training and immediately prior to training a this is when your body needs them the most.

Stop doing exercises that isolate muscles singularly like concentration curls, stick with compound multi-joint exercises. Your routine must include: dead lifts, pull ups, squats and bench presses. These will help build the muscle mass that you want in all the correct places on your body in the correct proportions.

6) Quit doing so many sets. You can stimulate growth in short 40 minute intense workouts of just 3 sets per body part and maybe as little as 10 sets per workout. More is generally worse for hardgainers! Stimulate growth then leave the gym as soon as possible and asve your calories for supporting muscle growth.

7) Drink ample amounts of water. It is crucial for many important reactions in the body so don't forget to do this. Consume liquids regularly.

There we go, give those tips a bash. Do not turn around after a couple of weeks and say they don't work, be persistent and stick with it for a couple of months and see what the results are. Simply try them out and see what happens?

Click Here to get my 29 week muscle building program

How To Gain Weight

I’m assuming that your not trying to gain unhealthy weight and that you are not trying to get fat. You probably want to know how to gain weight healthy. So now that we got that straight the quickest way to gain weight is simply to put away more calories each and every day than you burn. As a guide to figure out the amount of calories you need to eat every day is to take your body weight and times it by eighteen. So now if your current body weight is one hundred seventy you need to eat 3060 calories. It just is not true to claim that you want a diet rich in protein if you are trying to pack on muscle. You need to eat a diet largely made up of carbohydrates if you really want to pack it on.

Break down your diet like this.. One gram of protein for every pound you weigh, Four grams of carbohydrates for every pound of body weight, and twenty to thirty percent of your calories coming from good fats like olive oil and almonds. Observe your progress closely. If you gaining the wrong kind of weight another words your getting fatter then lower the amount of cals your putting down and then adjust accordingly.

When gaining weight you need to know that even if your weight lifting and exercising you are also going to put on some fat. Even if you small your going to gain some fat along with the new muscle that you put on. You can lessen the amount of fat that you gain by eating right, that means no hot dogs and chicken wings. Although your going to bring along some fat you should also recognize that it will be easy to take off because new fat goes away faster than fat that you’ve had for a while.

When it comes to diet I like to keep it as simple as possible. Learn to stay away from over complicating things with hard to make recipes. Just keep with easy to make food like chocolate protein shakes, brown rice etc.., This is the best way to go because your not spending so much time preparing food which helps you keep going. I also prep and cook all my meals twice a week. Doing this will prevent you from getting bored.

Your going to want to exercise if you want to pack on lean muscle mass. Lifting heavy weights three times a week will help you gain on about 2-3 pounds a week. It creeps up slowly but after twelve weeks you will be twenty five to thirty five pounds bigger. Every week you have to move up the amount of reps or increase the amount of weight you lift. If you powered through 200 pounds this time for 5 reps the proceeding week you need to either lift 205 pounds or do six reps. You must also make sure that your body gets enough time to rest. To get large muscles they need time to repair themselves. If you train too frequently you are actually loosing muscle That’s bad news if your trying to get huge.

Click Here to get my 29 week muscle building program

The question on the minds of a lot of beginning weight lifters is are there foods that build muscle? There are foods that help the muscle building process by adding the correct nutrients for muscle gains. The correct foods and muscle building program will go a long way to helping you develop lean muscle mass. Remember you need more than food and supplements to get bigger. If you don’t consume the correct foods you can actually hurt the development of new muscle. By all means find out as much as you can about taking supplements, they can make or break a good workout and recovery period after wards.

To be at our best and give our bodies the best chance of success we need the right muscle building foods at the fight time. By eating a diet primarily of processed foods and sweetened treats we are denying our bodies the good nutrition it needs to execute at it’s best. If you don’t start eating well you may be subject to obesity and lethargy. There’s no easy way to say it other than if you eat junk you’ll look and feel like crap. If you want to look and feel like a winner than keep great high quality  natural food in your home.

Why Do We Need Protein?

All of our muscular growth is due in part to our intake of protein. If you’re concerned with eating foods that build muscle then you need to be interested in protein. Along with meat and fish, vegetables contain many of the essential amino acids our bodies need to build muscle fibers. You need to use a diversified quantity of protein sources because your body assimilates various types of protein at different rates.

Varied Protein Types

The most common muscle building food has been and always will be red meat. The long term effects of eating too much red meat is well documented and must not be your primary protein source. Since so many good foods contain the protein you need make sure you deviate from just eating red meat. One ounce of meat contains roughly eight grams of protein.

Another example of a high quality protein source are eggs. The harmful effects of consuming the yolks is a good reason to stay away from them. Each egg contains about 6 – 8 grams of protein

For more great ideas on muscle building foods and nutrition you will also want to visit Rocko’s site, you can see it here:Rocko’s Muscle Building Foods

Protein Supplements And Meals

Protein shakes will contain about 25 – 30 grams per serving and can be used to supplement a meal if necessary. If you are eating 3 large meals a day then it’s time to start eating 5 -6 smaller meals. Eating these 6 smaller meals will actually burn more calories and provide your body with the necessary protein it needs during the day.

How Much Protein Should I Consume

The rule of thumb for estimating the precise amount of protein you should ingest is to take in one gram of protein per one pound of body weight for the day. There are some people that now believe it is more accurate to calculate the correct amount of protein as one gram of protein per each pound of lean muscle mass. Don’t overdo it on the protein we can only take in 25 – 35 grams at any one time.

These several muscle building foods are just a tiny example of what’s available for you today and the choices we all have to make when it comes to getting the right nutrition. To help take the guess work out of the best muscle building foods for you, it is important to track your progress and also find a program that will give you all the tools you need to succeed.

I hope you enjoyed this article on muscle building foods, I also have a review of a high quality product you might want to take a look at here:No Nonsense Muscle Building Review