Amazing Low carbohydrate Diet For Weight Loss

Amazing Low carbohydrate Diet For Weight Loss: "Low carbohydrate diet is very popular nowadays. There is always talk about it, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Actually, there are a lot of people that have gain fabulous results with this sort of diet. But in the same time, they are also being accused of being too much or too hardcore because they take away the whole carbohydrate food group."

Creatine Effects: Skinny Guy's Guide To Creatine

Creatine Effects

By Vince DelMonte

What is creatine? How do I take creatine? What are the side effects of creatine? What is the best creatine? Unless you just arrived from another planet, you should know that when it comes to muscle building supplements, creatine is the king!

To date, creatine has proven to be the most research-proven sport supplement on the market to day. Creatine has collected hundreds of clinical studies that show increased lean muscle mass, improved energy levels, increased muscle strength and size and improved exercise performance. There is even a new batch of research showing creatine supplementation having a significant effect on memory and intelligence, as well as immune function. Bigger, smarter and healthier, not that's a solid combo!

What is creatine?

Creatine acts by supporting the reproduction of ATP (fancy term for energy) in muscle tissue resulting in cell volumization which can create a more optimistic cellular environment for muscle growth. By having more energy reserves in the muscle tissue, you now have the ability to train harder at higher intensities. This means more reps, more sets, heavier loads, more explosive power and quicker recovery. Each of these stimulus are key requirements for continual muscle growth. Creatine is simply a mechanism that allows you to work harder and out do your previous workouts.

How do I take creatine?

To load or not to load, that is the question! You have three research-proven options to choose from. Each method will appeal depending on a variety of reasons:

· Method 1: Six day load at 20 grams a day plus a maintenance of 2-3 grams a day afterward.

· Method 2: 3-5 grams a day for the long term.

It was once thought, that a loading phase was required to maximize the effects of creatine but there is countless research that shows you don't have to go through all the hassle of loading. This will appeal to the individual who experiences gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea and other problems with higher dosages.

Personally, I have found the best time to take creatine is 15 minutes BEFORE a workout and AFTER a workout with a liquid protein and carbohydrate drink. As well as first thing in the morning on non-training days.

What kind of creatine should I buy?

With all the fancy bell and whistle creatine supplements out there, a lot of people of forgotten about simple, powdered creatine. All you need to know that the best creatine manufactured is sold to companies in the form of Creapure. So as long as you see the that the creatine bottle you have bought, as Creapure as their source of creatine, that's the good stuff.

There has much debate about creatine purity and it is not accepted that not all creatine is created equal.

Creatine ethyl ester is a new form of creatine. It is made up of a creatine, alcohol and acid meaning the absorption rate into the tissue is better. Manufacturers claim it does not cause bloating, cramping or stomach discomfort and gets into the muscle faster resulting in better results. Due to it's chemical structure, it might result in greater stress on the liver. Although it does seem to have potential, wait for more research and rely on the time-tested powdered creatine.

Should I take creatine with sugar?

Stimulating insulin release by consuming high amounts of sugar has been shown to enhance the transport and uptake of of creatine into the muscle tissue. However, insulin is also responsible for fat storage. Therefore my recommendation would be to only consume your creatine with simple carbohydrates if it is before or after your workout. On non-training days, creatine would be be better shuttled using insulin mimicking compounds like alpha lipoic acid and D-pintol which can help improve creatine transport and retention without the excess sugars.

Conclusion

Creatine, is by far the king of the jungle when it comes to muscle building supplements. I have only included the information I believe to be the most critical and useful. Your take home message is to use powdered creatine, year round before and after your training workout and in the morning on your non-training days. Make sure your creatine says Creapure and don't get caught up wasting any more time or sleep on the academic debate associated with creatine use. Just do it!

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About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com/

He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.

Creatine Effects

Fast Muscle Mass Building: The Ten Success Principles

Muscle Mass Building

As the saying goes, "methods are many, principles are few, methods may change, but principles never do." This has just as much validity with weight training and bodybuilding as it does anything else. Every day we hear of revolutionary new workout programs, exercises, tricks, quick fix's, you name it. Though I can't say I agree on many of the different "methods" of gaining weight and building muscle mass these days, the principles for reaching your goals will always remain the same.

As a result, I have created what I call, "The Ten Success Principles for Fast Muscle Mass Building." I have listed these principles so that even the skinniest hardgainer can apply and grow from. Follow these principles, ingrain them in your mind, and you will be on the right track for long term success from your efforts. If you're wondering what is the best way to build muscle fast, then your answers are below. All you have to do is apply these principles.

Principle 1: You Don't Know what You Don't Know - Become a Student

When we realize that you don't know what you don't know, we can become more teachable and absorb knowledge that we can apply to better our results from the gym. If you have the "know-it-all" attitude, that simply means you are stagnate and your mind will never grow past its current state. Become a student for life to weight training and bodybuilding, read as much material as you can about each subject: training, diet, supplements, the whole works. One word of caution is this: be careful where you get your opinions and information. Only seek those with proven results, and watch out for "arm chair experts" and "magazine bodybuilders."

Principle 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Far too many trainees today just wonder aimlessly around in the gym doing whatever exercise they like and working out whenever they feel like it. If you don't have a target, you're going to hit it with amazing accuracy! In other words, if you don't know EXACTLY what you are trying to achieve by going to the gym each day, you're never going to get anywhere. Always make sure you're on a program, and stick with it to the end. Figure out your "why" and you will be able to overcome any "how." Always go to the gym knowing exactly what you are going to do down to the last rep of the last exercise.

Principle 3: You Get What You Picture

As David Schwartz says in his fantastic book, The Magic of Thinking Big, "Belief, strong belief, triggers the mind to figuring ways and means and how-to...Disbelief is negative power. When the mind disbelieves or doubts, the mind attracts "reasons" to support disbelief." Always go to the gym with a positive attitude and a firm belief that you are progressively gaining muscle mass. Wipe out all negative belief about your success or you will pay the price of getting exactly what you pictured.

Principle 4: There is No Great Success without Great Commitment

If you are not committed, you can be swayed. Fix in your mind exactly the results you want, and commit to yourself that you will do what it takes to get it. When you are committed, truly committed, no petty thought or inconvenience will ever stop you on your way to your goal. You will be unstoppable and your end in mind will be a forgone conclusion. As Yoda said, "There is no try, only do."

Principle 5: You Are Only Defeated When you Accept Defeat as a Reality, and Decide to Stop Trying

Failure is a HUGE key to success. The price of success is thousands of failures. Those not willing to pay that price will not succeed in getting the body they want. As long as you learn from your experience you will always be moving forward. Continue to learn and perform, and do this cycle over and over and over until you succeed. Success is often right after where most people quit. Remember, "Quitters never win, winners never quit."

Principle 6: Less is More - Quality, not Quantity

When you goal is to gain weight and/or build muscle mass, always keep your workouts short. All your muscles need is an intense workout with compound exercises and 110% effort, a few days a week. Don't think that by training 7 days a week for 2 or 3 hours a day will produce better results. Focus on a few exercises, a couple days a week for no longer then 90 minutes tops. Overtraining is one of the major causes of failure when trying to gain weight and build muscle. Don't confuse ambition with workout time, it's not how much time you put into the gym, it's what you put into the time you're at the gym that counts.

Principle 7: Major on Compound Exercises

Though there are literally thousands of workout programs you can find today, one truth that will never change for gaining muscle mass is that compound exercises have and will always be the best of the best. Exercises such as squats, the bench press, and bent-over rows will always remain at the top of any successful bodybuilders list. Focus on these and other core compound exercises and you'll never be disappointed in your results.

Principle 8: Hard Work

Nothing beats good old fashioned hard work, and what better way to express it than weight training. Unfortunately, the media today is always trying to make your workout and exercises "easier." If you want to build a mass of muscle, you're going to have to poor out some blood and sweat and tears, no two ways about it. As long as you follow a few solid workouts for muscle mass and are using safety cautions and common sense, then push yourself to your limit each and every workout. You're never going to ease your way to true muscle mass, even if you trained easy for a thousand years.

Principle 9: Progressive Overload

If you want more muscle mass, you're going to have to continue to add weight on a regular basis, period. This is one of the most basic but overlooked principles in gaining muscle mass. Get in the habit of progressively adding weight whenever you can. The moment you settle and stop pushing yourself is the moment your muscle mass gains will begin to stagnate. Resistance is the only opportunity for growth. The worst thing you can do is hit a goal without setting another one in advance.

Principle 10: A Proper Diet

I couldn't leave this one out. After all, the food you eat is the direct fuel for your muscles to grow. You can workout until the cows come home but without a proper diet plan for building muscle mass your body simply will not grow, it's not physically possible too! It is an absolute must to know the correct food to eat to build muscle properly. Refer to the first principle and learn all you can about dieting for muscle mass so that you can get the most for your efforts in the gym.

Muscle Mass Building

Derek Manuel is the author of the best-selling, "How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle for Hardgainers". If you want to learn how you too can gain 20 to 30 pounds of solid muscle in as short as 8 weeks, or if you just want more quality information on how to gain weight and build muscle, please visit http://www.hardgainers-weight-tips.com

Power Thigh Exercise

Power Thigh Exercise


Do you want to know what is the best thigh exercise in the world? Well, I just found one one thigh exercise that will totally kill you thighs and work your butt until you can literally feel it hardening up like steel! Ok, that is a lil bit over the top but honestly, this combination is really powerful!

This power thigh exercise is actually a triset exercise. This means that it is made up from 3 exercises done back to back with minimum rest time.

Why Do It?

This is because doing trisets can really increase the intensity and help break that plateau! Not only that, it also can help you burn up sugar fast. This power thigh exercise triset is made from a squat, a single leg squat and lunge and reach.

The first exercise is the basic barbell squat. After 15 reps of that with moderate weight, straight away stand on one leg and do single leg squats. On the single leg squats, try to go as low as you can while keeping the back straight. Lean forward and keep your free leg out stretched to the back to maintain balance.

Then, move on top lunge and reach. It is like the power lunge. Stand with your feet side by side. Then take one big step and reach over to touch the toes. Move back and then repeat with the other feet.

On this power thigh exercise, make sure you exert yourself darn well to see results. Do 15 reps on the squat, 15 reps on each leg on the single leg squat and 10 on each leg for the lunge and reach.

Try this exercise, you will feel the pain on the quads and butt the very next day!

Thigh Exercise

The Truth About Calorie Counting And Weight Loss

Calorie Counting

Do calorie-counting matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body? You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about it.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip's "Body For Life," stress the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,

"There aren't many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting 'portions.' A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate."

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie - in the literal sense - can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It's one thing to count portions instead of calories – that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it's another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, "calories don't count" or you can "eat all you want and still lose weight" is a diet you should avoid because you are being lied to. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow.

Anything that sounds like work – such as counting calories, eating less or exercising tends to scare away potential customers! The law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it's very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance. I also believe it's an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis – including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie counting balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven't the slightest idea how many calories you're eating, it's a lot more likely that you'll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s "starvation mode" and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here's a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating "goal" for the day, including a caloric target.

Rather than writing down every calorie one by one from every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life, create a menu plan you can use as a daily goal and guideline. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal at least one time in your life for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your primary menu as a template.

Using this meal planning method, you really only need to “count calories” once when you create your menus, not every day, ad infinitum. After you've got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same – you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

For more information on calories (including how calculate precisely how many you should eat based on your age, activity and personal goals, and for even more practical, proven fat loss techniques to help you lose body fat safely, healthfully and permanently, check out my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle at www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program, visit: www.burnthefat.com


Calorie Counting