Bodybuilding Essentials: Rest & Relaxation

August 6th, 2010

Other than following a healthy, high protein diet, split over 6 or more meals per day, using protein shakes and training using true high intensity as described by people such as Dr Darden, Dorian Yates and Stuart McRobert, there are other ways of maximising your results out of the gym. In our opinion, the third most important aspect of a bodybuilding lifestyle is rest and relaxation.

There are times in your life when you simply don’t get enough sleep. This can be during exams when at Uni, after having a baby, when staying out late on weekends or during stressful periods in life. At these times, we have all lost muscle, lost determination and struggled with our routines. However, when the opposite is true, for example if you have reduced your hours at work, stopped drinking, finished Uni or are simply sleeping better, then results at the gym are improved significantly.

The answer to this dilemma is to simply get to be earlier on a night and avoid your body getting stressed. When I say stressed, this can be due to a poor diet, inadequate hydration, a nagging partner, overtraining, overworking or a combination.

My advice is to plan your diet, eat well, drink plenty of water, train smart, sleep well 7 nights per week and be happy. The results will follow.

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The Most Worthwhile Bodybuilding Supplement

August 3rd, 2010

The most convenient and worthwhile bodybuilding supplement has got to be the meal replacement powder (MRP). When you HAVE TO eat 6-8 high protein meals per day, reducing that number by 2-4 can really make things easier. Your other meals can simply be breakfast, lunch and dinner, like ‘normal people’.

You could use a carb powder mixed with a whey protein powder, to form a cheap meal replacement, but it would not contain vitamins and minerals like meal replacements, nor would it contain a blend of fast and slow protein sources. It would also be high GI/GL, which is not good unless it is a post-workout shake.

So, going back to MRPs, use 2-4 per day and eat 3-4 normal meals per day, to ensure a minimum of 6 high protein, small meals, per day. If your normal meals are low in protein, you can easily top them up with a scoop of whey protein powder, adding around 20g of protein and less than 100 calories to the meal.

All in all, MRPs are the best bodybuilding supplement out there, because they allow the average person to achieve a perfect, high protein bodybuilders’ diet, whilst being full of vitamins, minerals, good fats and other quality ingredients that provide postive health benefits in a nice tasting, easily digestible form. One thing to remember is that the vitmain content in individual sachets of MRPs, like CNP Pro MR and EAS Myoplex does not lose quality, like it would if it were in a tub. These vitamins and minerals improve protein metabolism and other bodily functions which increase your strength training capabilites, so play an important part in your overall diet and supplement programme.

One other benefit of using 2-4 meal replacements and 2-3 whey protein shakes per day is that you will also be increasing the amount of water you drink per day, which if you are anything like me and don’t drink enough water, will help your efforts considerably.

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Bigger Triceps in 2 Weeks

July 28th, 2010

Bigger, stronger triceps means you can lift heavier weights on pressing exercises such as shoulder press and bench presses. So, in a round-about way, training your triceps will lead to gains on your pressing exercises, meaning bigger, stronger delts and pecs. You also get bigger arms as a side effect.

Here are some supersets that really add mass and strength to your triceps:

  1. Weighted super slow one-rep dips: take 30 seconds to lower and 30 seconds to lift back up
  2. Close grip bench press: Use 3/4 of your bench press weight and hold the bar with your thumbs 8 inches apart and keep your elbows close to your sides.
  3. Lying EZ Extensions… better known as skull crushers and for good reason! Point your elbows straight to the ceiling and keep them there. Lower the weight by bending your elbow joint only, to isolate the triceps and eliminate shoulder/lat involvement.

Perform 1 of the exercise above at the start of every workout for 3 sets and you should see gains within 2 weeks, assuming your diet is good and you get plenty of rest.

In terms of you diet, you need a calorific surplus, sufficient protein intake, plenty of fruit and veg to optimise your body’s performance and adequate hydration. Protein intake needs to be spread out evenly throughout the day to maximise the amount of protein that can be metabolized. In terms of rest, you need 8-9 hours sleep per night and to avoid stressful situations.

Using protein shakes, protein powder and creatine supplements are all great ways of maximising results.

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Posted in Gain Lean Muscle, General Information, Muscle Strength and Power, Other Bodybuilding Supplements, Weight Gain | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome »

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