Natural Body Building Contests - Natural Body Building Contest Preparation Tips For Amateurs

Natural body building contests are a great place for amateurs to start showing off their muscular physiques. However, there are some tips that must be borne in mind. This article will reveal natural body building contest prep tips for amateurs and people just starting out.

As a start, it is a good idea to actually watch some contests before you decide to enter one yourself. The reason for that is you will be able to see for yourself how contestants put their programs together and how the winners stand out from the other competitors. It's a good idea to take note of the music they use, the tempo of the music and the poses that they make. If you are able to, ask questions.

There is a lot that can be done as contest prep as much as six months to a year before the competition is set down. It takes a lot of commitment and if you are not sure you can follow through then it is best not to try.

About a year to six months before the contest have a good look at yourself in the mirror and look at where you need more muscle definition. Contestants are showing their muscular physique as best as they are able to sculpt it. It is important to have as little body fat as possible, with strong, cut muscles throughout the body.

Your music choice is also important. Ultimately your routine will either stand out from the crowd or be a routine they've seen hundreds of times before. Your music choice should help you choose your poses and your pace.

The body building clothing you perform in is also vital to showing off your physique. Be sure to choose tasteful but revealing clothes. Ultimately speedos for men and a bikini for women are ideal. Also be sure that the clothing you wear in flattering, a color that suits you and is extremely comfortable and not restrictive.

It is a good idea when you are practicing your routine or playing around with it that you have a third party video tape it for you so that you can watch it critically. It is also a good idea to have someone you trust watch it with you also for competing views.

In the lead up to your competition you also need to pay strict attention to your workout and diet plan. There is no time to slacken off when getting ready for a contest. You must be persistent and consistent and ultimately your hard work will pay off.

There are a large number of contests that you can enter as a body building. Not only are there local competitions but there are also national body building contests that can be extremely competitive and gruelling so start at a local level and work your way up as your experience increases.

A ripped, cut, perfectly sculpted body is worth showing off. To learn how to perfect your body even further check out the website below where I compare the best body building programs and put them to the test.

Copyright 2007. Body builders are spending a fortune on body building products that just dont work. Thats why I put the so-called best body-building products to the test. Not all body building weight training products are created equally, nor do they live up to the amazing results that they promise. The shocking truth is exposed at my body building weight training review site. Only go with body building weight training products that you trust. To find out more go to http://www.body-building-natural.blogspot.com.

How to Gain Weight and Build More Muscle!

For many thin guys around the world, gaining weight without using illegal steroids has been a challenge. For thousands of lean young men, the dream is to gain weight, but no matter how much they eat they remain thin. Some people are naturally thin; that means their genetic makeup is in such a way that the body burns more calories than others. The very basic method of weight gain is to eat more calories than your body burns off. By providing the body with more calories, this balance can be altered and body mass can be increased. Weight training is of great importance in this context, which enables the body to absorb more nutrients from the food by increasing the level of certain hormones and increasing the muscle mass.

There are many incorrect beliefs and theories bout building muscle. The type of food to be eaten is an important factor which decides the type of weight gained, whether it is muscle mass or mere accumulation of fat. Some types of calories are not equal to others for gaining muscle; because most processed junk food contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods promote accelerated fat Storage, and do not provide the body with the correct nutrients essential for gaining muscle. High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the centerpiece of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair and growth.

Another factor is the selection of the right type of weight training. Resistance exercises will help with muscle growth. Whereas aerobic exercises can result in the reduction of weight. For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your workouts should consist of free weight exercises, rather than machines or bodyweight exercises. To get a very effective workout, you must stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible, and machines do not do this. The main reason for this is a lack of stabilizer and synergist muscle development. Stabilizer and synergist muscles are supporting muscles that assist the main muscle in performing a complex lift.

The results of weight training can vary from person to person, and will usually depend on your consistency and commitment to your program. You should have the patience and motivation for building a powerful body with a consistent diet and exercise schedule.

Exercise Guidelines for building muscle:

Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of free weights like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight, and bodyweight exercises like pull-ups or dips. The more stabilizers and synergists you work, the more muscle fibers stimulated. The exercises that work the large muscle groups are called compound (or multi-joint) movements that involve the simultaneous stimulation of many muscle groups. These compound exercises should be the Foundation of any weight training program because they stimulate the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time. Multi-jointed free weight exercises like the bench press require many stabilizer and synergistic muscle assistance to complete the lift.

Free weight exercises like the dumbbell press or squat put a very large amount of stress on supporting muscle groups. You will get fatigued faster and not be able to lift as much weight as you did on the machine. But you will gain more muscle, become stronger very quickly and have a true gauge of your strength.

If you use machines in your program, they should be used to work isolated areas and only after all multi-jointed exercises have been completed. Beginners should begin with a limited combination of machine exercises, bodyweight exercises and multi-jointed free weight exercises. Before increasing the weight levels, they should work on becoming familiar with the proper form and execution of each.

The following are some proven basic exercises to encourage muscle and strength gain unlike any other exercises.

Bench Presses - works the chest, shoulders, triceps

Overhead Presses - shoulders, triceps

Pull-ups/Barbell Rows - back, bicep

Squats - legs, lower back

Dead lifts - legs, back, shoulders

Bar Dips -shoulders, chest, arms

To build mass, you must weight train with heavy weights. To consider a weight heavy, you should only be able to do a maximum of 4-8 reps before your muscles temporarily fail. A weight is considered 'light' if you can do more than 15 reps before muscle fatigue sets in. Heavy weights stimulate more muscle fibers than lighter weights which result in more muscle growth. Heavy weight training puts a huge strain on your body, so adequate rest and recuperation after your workouts is essential.

Eating guidelines for building muscle:

A high protein diet is an inevitable part of any weight training programme, importantly, protein derived from animal sources. Proteins you need to be concerned with are those found in whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish. Soy protein, tofu and bean curd are some alternatives. Eating the right amount of foods consistently will force your body to grow beyond what you may think possible. The diet also should contain an adequate amount of carbohydrates (potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, oatmeal, cream of wheat, cream of rice, rice, beans, bread, pasta, all cereals) and fat. Green leafy vegetables and fruits also should be included.

When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. You also must have protein at every meal. To enable your body to actually assimilate and use the all the calories you will ingest, you have to reduce your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food absorption and utilization of nutrients.

During the past 20 years there have been great developments in the scientific understanding of the role of nutrition in health and physical performance. Studies shown that adequate dietary carbohydrate should be ingested (55-60% of total energy intake) so that training intensity can be maintained. Excess dietary saturated fat can exacerbate coronary artery disease; however, low-fat diets result in a reduction in circulating testosterone. So the balance between protein, carbohydrate and fat should be maintained.

So the focus on weight gain programmes must be on two components, lifting heavy weights, which will stimulate the largest amount of muscle fibers. Your body responds to this stimulus by increasing your muscle mass and secondly eat more calories than your body is used to. When you overload your system with plenty of protein and fats, your body has no other choice but to gain weight.

A Mass Gaining program is incomplete without the timely measurements to monitor your progress. Without it, you won't know how exactly your body is responding to your diet and training routine. Just looking in the mirror and guessing is not acceptable. If you want to start getting great results, you must develop the habit of accurately tracking your progress. This also provides the motivation to continue with the weight gain schedule and for the further progression. So even though you have a very thin body type, and havent been able to gain weight no matter what you try, you will definitely succeed with a well planned weight gain programme.

References:

1) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part1eating.htm

2) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part2weights.htm

3) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part3muscle.htm

4) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part4suppl.htm

5) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part5monitor.htm

6) http://www.skinnyguy.net/tips.html

7) Lambert CP, Frank LL, Evans WJ. Macronutrient considerations for the sport of bodybuilding. Sports Med. 2004;34(5):317-27

Former "skinny guy" Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass. The most widely used weight gain program in the world. This unique program designed to help people gain weight and build muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries. For more information on how to gain weight and build muscle, check out his website at http://www.fastmusclegain.com

History of Pilates Exercise (Part 4)

Joseph Pilates met his future wife Clara, a kindergarten teacher, on the boat to Ellis Island. The story goes that Clara suffered from arthritis and Joe worked with her to increase her mobility and relieve her pain. Once in New York they opened their gym at 939 Eighth Avenue, in the same building that housed rehearsal studios for George Ballanchine's New York City Ballet.

Joseph Pilates never received the level of recognition that his brilliant work clearly deserved, and even today it is difficult to wade through the myth and find the true story. This is partially true because most of what we know about his life has come from students of students of his students.

While many facts about Joe's life are verifiable, sources still disagree on the basics. In fact, I just reviewed several sites and each gave a different year of death (1966, 1967, 1968) as well as a different cause of death (he died in a fire as a result of a fire as a result of smoke inhalation from a fire etc.). According to his New York Times obituary Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at Lenox Hill Hospital, but the Times never mentions cause of death. And there was indeed a fire on the same floor as his studio in 1965 where Joe suffered a bad leg scrape while inspecting the studio. But, according to Pilate702s Elder Mary Bowen, "To set the record straight - no, Joe did not die in a fire. He died two years later...of advanced emphysema from smoking cigars for too many years...." Apparently all the good breathing in the world could not keep his scarred lungs (recall that he was rheumatic and asthmatic as a child) from feeling the effects of smoking. As Joe left no will, Clara took over and ran the studio until she retired in the mid-70s. This is where the story gets interesting...

Lynda Lippin, "The Pilates & Reiki Lady" of the Turks & Caicos islands. Visit http://www.balancenter.net for more information, links, and Lynda's Amazon.com Store.

Read Lynda's blogs: http://pilatesinparadise.blogspot.com for chronicles of expat life in the Caribbean http://pilatesandreiki.blogspot.com for more on Pilates & Reiki

Building Muscle Without Weights

You can build muscle without weights, equipment, or a gym membership. Have you ever heard the statement, "Where there's a will, there's a way?" There is a way to build your body with your own body weight and with things around your house, garage, or yard.

Let me first tell you a little about myself when I was 15 years old. Without going into boring details, let me just say that my family was pretty poor. But I became very interested in getting in shape. I was a scrawny, short kid growing up who got picked on quite a bit. I remember seeing ads in magazines about Charles Atlas. He was one of the first men who became well known as a muscle man. I was inspired by this man for he too was picked on before building his body. I asked my mom and dad for a weightlifting set but they would tell me that they couldn't afford it. Frustrated, I began looking around the house for ways I could build my scrawny muscles. I saw an ad in a magazine advertising a bullworker. This was a device that had high tension cables going through the ends of a pole-like device, about three feet long. You could use the cables or the ends of the device to perform various exercises. Since I didn't have money to order one I took an old bicycle tire pump and a bicycle inner tube to make my own homemade bullworker. I doubled up the inner tube and stretched it around the tire pump. I did all the exercises I could have done with an actual bullworker.

Another thing I would do is use some old swing set poles, which were in my back yard. Some of you are old enough to remember the old style swing sets with the thick, round poles. I would do presses, curls, and bench presses with these. I found some old hard cover books in the house. I would take a heavy book in each hand and do flyes with these. We never read them anyway. I would also take a full box of these books and press them a bunch of times. My point is; I would find any way I could think of to build my muscles. I used my imagination.

Let's not forget that there are several non-weight exercises you can do to workout. How about good old-fashioned pushups? You can do wide-grip pushups for your outer chest, close-grip pushups for your inner chest and triceps. One of my favorites is close-grip pushups with your feet elevated. You can put your feet on a chair, bench, bed, etc. Talk about a hardcore triceps workout! I still do these sometimes. A pushup is basically an upside down bench press. Be sure though to do pushups to failure, that is, until you can no longer perform another rep.

How about pullups? If you have a doorway which will allow you to hang from the doorway you can do pullups (chin ups) or you can place two chairs about four feet apart. Place a pole, broom, mop, or thick stick and rest each end on a chair. Lay on the floor, grip your hands on the pole or whatever you are using a little wider than shoulder width and lift yourself up as many times as you can. This will build your back and biceps. Let's not forget about crunches, lunges, chair step ups, etc.

Another way you can workout is to use paint buckets or other buckets, preferably full for more weight. Using the han5AAdles to grip, you can do presses, curls, lateral raises (for wide shoulders), wrist curls, tricep presses, bent-over rows, etc. Use your imagination; just be sure to keep safety in mind.

Yes, you can work every body part without weights. I have done it and you can too. I still do non-weight workouts from time to time at motels when traveling, visiting people out of town, and even when my car was broke down once. Where there's a will, there's a way.

I highly recommend that you eat good quality, muscle building foods on a daily basis to ensure you are "fueling" your muscles for the fastest results. My new e-book, What In The World Are You Eating? will give you the easy to understand information you need. This information comes from over thirty years of experience learning from professional bodybuilders. You will not be disappointed!

Learn About Exercises To Reduce Stomach Fat

As a person ages, the horrible spectacle of a round tummy becomes a haunting reality. The quest for a flat washboard abdomen is hard to obtain. Most popular exercises for abs do not work by themselves, spot reduction is a myth, abdomens are not designed to be flat, and genetics and diet have a huge influence on the shape of your pot belly. This article will try to shed a little light on these concepts.

The reality is that most exercises we do for the stomach reduction don't work very well by themselves. The idea that we can eat all we want of whatever we want and then do 250 crunches to compensate will lead to frustration. Stomach exercises such as crunches don't last long enough to burn many calories since they can be completed in a few minutes and it takes extended periods of exercise to burn calories. These spot reduction exercises ignore the fact that our abdomens are5B4 not designed to be flat.

Nature has gifted us with abdomens that are naturally round. The muscles that make up the abdomen area are affected by the genetic makeup of our heritage and the fitness level of our body. As we age, we tend to become rounder as our muscles soften and relax. Men tend to become apple shaped with advancing years while women will become more pear shaped. A deciding factor of the amount of belly we develop is the matter of posture.

Our posture will contribute to looking taller and slimmer or rounder and plumper. Poor posture will contribute a great deal to the round abdomen. A straight back, head up and balanced, not leaning forward, and shoulders held back are all part of a good posture that will slim and strengthen your bearing. The real key to a flatter stomach is proper diet and exercise.

About 80 per cent of the effort to reduce your tummy is diet with the other 20 per cent of the effort focused on exercise. Over all body weight reduction will result in a slimmer stomach as well. A well balanced diet of proper portions accompanied by the aerobic exercise will reduce your over all body weight and firm and strengthen your muscles.

A successful effort to achieve those wash board abs will include much more than just doing a bunch of crunches. That is not to say that exercise will not help. Many exercises when combined with the proper calorie reduction can achieve remarkable 3B9results.

Want to trim that gut? Learn how at Stomach Exercise Info

The Essentials Of An Effective Body Building Training And Workout Program

Men and women frequently wonder about the components of the best body building training and workout program. This article will discuss the fundamentals of the best program for bodybuilders.

The most effective program is not all about lifting weights. A good eating plan, lifestyle and environmental factors also play an important part.

When you are looking to improve your physique you need to understand what your body is capable of doing. It is important that you avoid injury as much as possible and start with smaller workouts and slowly build them out. While weight training is a very important part, it is not everything.

Your workout should include targeted exercises that work specific parts of your body at a variety of intensities. It should also be able to be customized according to your athleticism and your increasing fitness and strength.

A healthy eating plan is a vital part of your day. In order to increase muscle bulk you need to know that your body and muscles are getting the right nutrients, vitamins and minerals in order to bulk up and to increase your energy levels to be able to work harder in your routines.

It is essential that your diet includes a lot of protein and carbs. While unsaturated fats should be restricted good fats are essential also.

It is also important that you don't workout too excess. If you overdo it you can decrease your effectiveness and also increase your chance of injury which will ultimately slow your progress down.

Sleep is another important factor. As your muscles actually grow and heal when you are sleeping it is equally critical that you get at least 8 hours sleep every night.

Each muscle group requires a specific type of exercise for the muscles to grow at their maximum capability. Your exercise regime must include targeted excersises that will work every muscle group that you are aiming for and also tone your whole body.

I put body building exercise programs to the test and have just published my results. Check them out now at the website below!

Copyright 2007. Body builders are spending a fortune on body building products that just dont work. Thats why I put the so-called best body-building products to the test. Not all body building weight training products are created equally, nor do they live up to the amazing results that they promise. The shocking truth is exposed at my body building weight training review site. Only go with body building weight training products that you trust. To find out more go to http://www.body-building-natural.blogspot.com.

Thoughts To Ponder #95

Eric Butterworth was Senior Minister of The Unity Center of New York City from 1961 to 2003. Eric was considered a legend and spiritual icon in the Unity Movement. We will never know the countless number of lives that have been changed by applying the Spiritual Principles taught by Eric Butterworth. The author of 16 best-selling books on metaphysical spiritual1697ity, a gifted theologian, philosopher, and lecturer, Eric was a highly respected pioneer and innovator of practical mysticism, whose life was dedicated to helping people to help themselves.

"Prosperity books use as examples tycoons such as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie to illustrate how you too can become a millionaire. The fact is, these people did not set out to make money at all. In each case there was the sudden or progressive unfoldment of an idea, which in turn was translated into automobile plants and steel mills. The real substance that made it all possible was ideas. Ideas are the flowing forth into mind of the wealth of the Universe."

"In studying mathematics or simply using a mathematical principle, if we get the wrong answer in a sort of algebraic equation, we do not suddenly feel that there is an anti-mathematical principle that is luring us into the wrong answers.....Evil, and evil spirits, devils and devil possession, are the outgrowth of man's inadequate consciousness of God. We must avoid thinking of evil as a thing in itself-a force that works against man or, against God, if you will."

"The purpose of life is not acquisition but unfoldment and personal development."

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Author, "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life." Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Physical/Sexual Abuse Prevention and Recovery. As an inspirational leader, Dr. Neddermeyer empowers people to view life's challenges as an opportunity for Personal/Professional Growth and Spiritual Awakening. http://www.drdorothy.net

Jerry And Esther Hicks