Some Knowledge

Nutritional supplements are big business.  There are lots of companies that manufacture and sell vitamins, mineral, and various other things people use to supplement their diets.  With good foods available year round, why do so many people still take these products?

Vitamins are trace compounds necessary for life.  A deficit in any vitamin will cause a deficiency syndrome.  Current health guidelines specify a daily amount of vitamins based on what is necessary to prevent deficiency.  There is little research in the effects of taking more than the minimum amount of vitamins.  In general, some people think that if a little is good, more is better.  There has been much literature published on the supposed health benefits of large doses of vitamin C in averting viral infections.  There are also studies that link high amounts of vitamin E to increased risk of lung cancer.  Information on the effects of large doses of different vitamins is hard to find.  To make sure you are getting at least a minimum amount of necessary vitamins, it is prudent to take a daily multi-vitamin.

Many people who are trying to put on muscle mass take supplemental protein.  It is hard to get large amounts of protein from a normal diet without adding large amounts of fat and cholesterol from animal foods like meat or eggs.  The best protein supplement is whey protein.  Whey is a complete protein with a good balance of essential amino acids, which are the chemical building blocks of protein.  A single scoop of whey protein powder typically contains 23 grams of protein.  A can of tuna has about 30 grams of protein, as well as a certain amount of fat from fish oil.  It is convenient to mix protein powder with milk or other liquid and take it as a shake.  Supplemental protein can help balance your diet without adding excess calories.

There are many amino acid supplements on the market.  The most important of these for bodybuilding are probably L-glutamine and L-arginine.  Glutamine helps prevent muscle loss.  Arginine supports blood flow to muscles.  These amino acids will also be present in protein supplements as constituents of the protein.  The decision to supplement with amino acids depends on your budget and the information you read.  There are many supposed benefits of the various amino acids, but they are all available from your diet with adequate intake of complete proteins.

There are many herbal supplements around.  The various herbs have different effects on the human body.  For thousands of years the main medicines used by man have been herbs.  Herbs can have profound effects on the human body.  There is a lot of information online about the different herbal products which is easily found.  Ginseng is perhaps the most famous of the tonic herbs.  It is a Chinese plant that is supposed to increase metabolism and promote health.  If you plan to supplement with herbs it is important to start with a very small dose so you can be sure you are not allergic to the herb.  Allergies to plants are very common.  Most herbs are very subtle in their action, and you may not notice any observable effect.  Some herbs, such as senna, are violent in their effects, in this case causing purging of the bowels.  Exercise caution in the use of any herb.

The decision to supplement the diet with various substances is something you will have to use your own judgment in.  Read all the information on any product you are considering using.  Read stories of other people’s experience with these products.  In general, it is best to avoid brand-name patent concoctions sold to treat some condition such as obesity.  These products cost a lot of money because the manufacturer advertises them.  Find the most economical pure supplements and buy from a reliable source.  Most products that are being hyped are usually completely useless.

Nutritional supplements can boost your energy and improve your health if consumed properly.  Use the Internet and books to find the products that are right for you.  One good source of information on nutritional supplements and exercise is Bodybuilding.com.   Read up on whatever product you are thinking of using and make informed decisions on what you put in your body.

You see them everywhere, six pack abs.  This is the goal of any person who is trying to improve their body.  How is such a physique achieved?  The answer is diet and exercise.

There are many simple exercises you can do to build up your abdominal muscles.  Perhaps the best of these is the crunch.  Lie on your back on a mat on the floor.  Lift your knees and place your feet flat on the floor as close to your butt as possible.  Cross hour hands over your chest, tilt your head back and point at the ceiling with your chin.  Now, try to sit up.  Squeeze the muscles of your stomach and hold for a second when you get as far off the floor as possible.  You will feel this in your abs.  Slowly return to a flat position and repeat.

When you are finished with as many crunches as you can stand to do, do some reverse crunches.  Continue to lie flat on the floor and bring your hips up toward your head, lifting your feet off the floor.  You will feel this exercise as well.  Repeat and work the lower abdominals with these reverse crunches.

Another exercise you can do for abdominals is the simple situp.  Lie on the floor with your hands folded behind your head.  Sit up and bend forward as far as possible.  Return to a flat position and repeat.  A variation is the oblique situp.  As you sit, twist your body first to the right, then on the next situp to the left.  Point your left elbow at your right knee, then your right elbow at your left knee.  This works the oblique muscles alongside the abdominals.

It is said that you can never do too many situps or crunches, but in fact, you can.  If you make yourself sore, take some time off to recover.  Try to keep track of how many of these exercises you can do without hurting yourself, and over time increase this number as you get stronger.  That’s all there is to exercising abdominals.  You might try weighted crunches or situps if they get too easy for you.  You do not need any kind of expensive equipment or rocking frames to do these exercises.  It’s you, your body, and the floor.

All the exercise in the world will not get you that six pack if your body fat levels are too high.  Most people carry excess weight in the belly.  If you have high levels of body fat you will need to either diet or do a lot of aerobic exercise to burn excess calories.  A combination of these two things would be best.  Limit fats and carbohydrates in your diet and run, walk, swim, or work out on cardio machines every day.  When your body fat levels drop, your abdominals will begin to become more defined and visible.  You can have the biggest, strongest, best-exercised abs in the world, but nobody will ever see them if they are buried under a layer of fat.

It’s not easy to get yourself a set of well-defined abs.  You will have to get in the habit of exercising every day and pay attention to the foods you eat.  With work and perseverance you will succeed and  build for yourself a stomach full of well-defined, cut muscles.

Lifting weights is a great way to get some exercise and build muscles.  There are many different types of weight machines available, and of course there are free weights like dumbbells and barbells.  The choice of which type of weight you want to use is of course up to you.  Free weights are better at developing all your muscles than weight machines, which tend to isolate muscles more.  Still, if you have a set of machines available at your gym, it is convenient to use them all in series to get a complete workout.

When using weights to workout, it is important to know what you are doing.  There are many books available to teach you how to do various exercises.  You might want to hire a personal trainer to get you started if you can’t figure out pictures in a book.  In either case, learn what you are doing before you start.  You will never pull a muscle or tear a ligament reading a book, but you might if you use weights incorrectly.

The basic principles of weight lifting are simple.  Get some weight and lift it.  It is how you lift the weight and how much weight you lift that matters.  Here is where you will need to get a bit experimental.  Figure out how much weight you can actually use in a given exercise.  This will not be the maximum amount of weight you can lift one time.  The so-called one rep max is the most weight you can lift one time.  You can add plates to your barbells or to the machine until you reach the maximum amount you can manage to lift with good form.  It is always important to use good form when lifting weight.  Bad form, improper positioning, and using momentum to complete a lift will get you injured.  Once you know your one rep max, multiply this by three quarters to eight tenths to get the weight you will lift for your sets.

There are many different theories about how much a person should lift to do some exercise.  I generally go by how much I can push for ten reps.  You should lift to exhaustion to get a good result.  You should take your time doing each rep.  A good two count for the lift and a three for the drop is usually recommended.  It is the eccentric, or downward motion of the weight that actually puts the micro-tears in the muscle fibers that causes them to heal and grow bigger.  You get this effect on the down stroke.  You will notice that lifting slowly is a lot more painful than lifting fast.  I think that is why you see so many people rushing through their reps instead of taking their time.  Nobody likes pain, but then, no pain, no gain.

It is not necessary or recommended to lift weights every single day.  Lifting weights damages your muscles.  When muscles are damaged they need time to heal.  This can be a couple days to a week.  Give your body time to recover and grow stronger.  You will need to eat enough food during recovery to build muscle.  You will need enough protein in your diet to support myogenesis, or muscle formation.  Abdominal exercises like crunches or situps can be done every day, unless you are in pain.  Oh, did I mention pain?  If you get too much of a workout from lifting weight you may experience DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness.  If you get DOMS I recommend a nice hot bath and rest until the pain goes away before you go back to exercising.

Lifting weights is a good way to develop your muscles and improve your body.  You must have some common sense and basic knowledge to get good results from this exercise.  It takes a lot of work to pump that iron, but in a few months you will notice the results.