Understanding Muscular Hypertrophy
By Kevin Cutler
Muscular hypertrophy is a term that is often used by bodybuilders and to put it simply, it means an increase of the size of a muscle. Now, when people say they want muscular hypertrophy, they sometimes mean different things. There are two types of muscular hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. We will look into what each one is, and then discover why two people wanting muscular hypertrophy may in fact want different things.
Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
In sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, the muscle cells increase in volume with no corresponding increase in muscular strength. This is a result of hard training at high volumes (generally 8-12 reps). Body builders are generally the type of people who are concerned mainly with this type of hypertrophy. Their primary goal is to achieve the size, look, and shape of their muscles, with strength and athletic performance being secondary. This form of hypertrophy is the main reason why you see strength to weight ratios decrease as a person gets bigger.
Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
In myofibrillar hypertrophy, the contractile proteins increase in size, making more of your muscles available to be applied to resistance. This type of hypertrophy is attractive to athletes whose performance is the primary concern. People who require dynamic strength and power, such as weightlifters will focus on myofibrillar hypertrophy. This is achieved by high intensity, low volume training. By applying heavier resistance to your muscles, they are increasing in strength.
To sum it up, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy focuses on increasing the volume of your muscles, whereas myofibrillar hypertrophy focuses on increasing the strength of your muscles. The former lowers your strength to weight ratio, whereas the latter increases it. Another way to look at it, the density of your muscles lowers in sarcoplasmic by keeping strength the same and increasing size. In myofibrillar, the density of your muscles is increasing because the overall size isn’t expanding as fast.
There are many programs out on the market that focus on helping you build muscles and strength. Read the reviews of two of the more popular programs currently on the market, Trey Jones – Get This Off My Chest Now Review and Karen Sessions – Figure Competition Secrets Review.
http://www.myomedia.com/ebook-reviews/trey-jones-get-this-off-my-chest-now-review/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Cutler
http://EzineArticles.com/?Understanding-Muscular-Hypertrophy&id=5340121
Secrets To Maximum Strength Training For Women
If you asked most women what they would most like out of their physique, very few of them would say they want to be heavily muscled. Most of us would however, like to have a slender build and good physical strength. Look below for some tips on proper strength training for women, without the added bulk that can come from excessive strength-based training workouts.
You needn’t build a huge frame to have useful physical strength. In order to build muscle size, your body needs to have an over-abundance of calories. Concentrate on getting at least 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, limit fat intake and around 2 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight.
Exercises that are most useful in strength training for women are no different than what men would do: Bench presses, squats, dead lifts, clean and jerk exercises. The key is a balance between building strength, while controlling your diet so muscle bulk doesn’t increase.
Limit cardiovascular training. The more aerobic (cardio) exercise you get, the less anaerobic (muscle building) benefits you’ll receive. This will only apply to women specifically seeking to get maximum strength from their muscles. 90 minutes of cardio per week is enough to keep you healthy, without sacrificing strength.
Use your mind/body connection. The mind is our most powerful tool and it controls your adrenaline response. Women have lifted large objects like cars when their child’s life was in danger. Since most average people can’t lift a car, the only reasonable explanation for such events is the power of the mind to control the body.
Less Is More (Strength Training for Women)
When your working for maximum strength, keep in mind less is more. In fact, when your aiming for strength gains; workouts can be as little as one or two days per week. Make sure when you do work out, that you push for two or three strength-based exercises, for three sets of 6-8 reps each. Push each set to failure and you’ll be all set.
Learn more about strength training for women at our fitness tips website.
Using Interval Training To Burn Fat Fast
How To Burn Fat Fast With Interval Training
Interval training works by using many different methods to help burn fat fast from your body. Many of these body fat burning methods include the steady state cardiovascular exercise, high intensity interval training, weight training, and much more.
One method of training is interval training, in which you workout with high intensity, rest, workout with low intensity, rest, and repeat. To give your body the best exercise so you can burn the most fat from your body as possible,your workout will be in intervals. For anyone looking to drop some pounds, this is probably one of the best ideas.
Steady state cardiovascular is working out in an exercise that is at a fast pace for a specific period of time. You will stay at that steady pace for the entire duration of the exercise. Activities like this will involve exercising from 20 to 60 minutes. You want to work out at around 75% of your maximum heart rate. The biggest benefit of this type of exercise is it is easy for someone who is overweight to burn the most calories in just one session.
High intensity interval training is specially made so that it can assist someone in losing as much fat as they possibly can. This workout format involves alternating different sets of high-intensity workouts with lower-intensity workouts. A good example of this would be running, walking slowly, exercise bike, walking slowly, etc. This should go on for up to 60 minutes. You can burn more calories by doing a steady state session than you can in a workout of this kind.
Although the steady state works better to burn more fat in a single workout studies have proven that the interval training works differently. It actually works by raising the body’s metabolism. Although you are burning more calories in a steady rate workout session, you are actually burning more in the long run from the interval training sessions.
Your muscle mass favors the the anaerobic nature of this workout, which also enhances glucose sensitivity. Your body will be more prone to drop excess fat and more resistant to it down the road.
High intensity interval training is very difficult for many people to do. If you are a low fitness individual who is entirely out of shape it is best you begin with a less intense workout first before you start in on something like this.
The high intensity interval training combined with a fat burning diet is an excellent tool to burn fat fast. There are two primary ways to workout hard which include the high intensity and the steady state. The steady state is said to burn more calories in the short term but the high intensity training will burn more calories in the long run because it will work to raise your metabolism.
Sick and tired of fad diets that doesn’t work? We have for you a lot of articles and reviews of quick weight loss diets to lose weight permanently. You can also watch my videos about fat burning secrets to lose weight quickly.
BodyBuilding: How Do Muscles Grow?
How do Muscles Grow?
If you don’t have any knowledge of carpentry, can you build a house?
Of course, you can’t.
More powerful than any weapon you will have is simple knowledge, and to accomplish anything satisfactorily, you need to have at least some rudimentary know-how of the task in question.
At the gym, adopt a new mantra: “Work smart, not hard.”.
Unfortunately, this mantra is completely overlooked by thousands of wannabe bodybuilders who throng gyms all over the country everyday, attempting to build muscle and lose fat.
Ask any of these gym rats “How do muscles grow?” You won’t get a satisfactory answer, just a blank stare. “They will look back at you with a blank stare.
Bodybuilding isn’t an art, it’s a science.
Now, don’t get worried; you don’t need a doctorate in biology to build big guns, but knowing the basics of how muscles grow will help you to efficiently meet your muscle building goals.
You must be asking by now “How do muscles grow?”.
Well, the process of muscle growth is complex and involves a large number of biological steps.
All you need as a bodybuilder is an understanding of the basic concepts of muscle growth.
So, how do muscles grow? Let’s take a look at the science behind the art. Let us find out.
As you train, you should understand that every single action and process within your body has a single purpose: to keep you alive and healthy.
When it comes to Mother Nature, in fact, we humans have just one purpose: to pass on our DNA and procreate.
Yep, that’s all there is to it.
So exactly how do muscles grow?
We are the result of millions of years of evolution, and the human body has evolved to create natural alarm systems that sound in response to stress, to be able to ensure our survival.
For instance, you feel hungry if you don’t eat, thirsty if you don’t drink, feel pain when something hurts you, and you tan when you’re exposed to the sun.
Muscle building should be viewed similarly.
In scientific terms, the muscle building process is called “hypertrophy.”.
At the gym, you stress your muscles by lifting weights when you work out.
With every repetition you perform, your muscle comes closer to failure, which is the point when your muscles will “give out,” and you won’t be able to do any more repetitions, however hard you try.
As your muscles reach the point of failure, these reps create what are known as “micro-tears,” which are deeper and deeper inroads into the muscle fiber.
In simple terms, what you’re doing is actually breaking down muscle fibers by causing damage to the muscle.
When the body is damaged, the survival system will kick in, and the body will react by repairing the muscles.
The repair process starts when the stress ceases, or when you stop working out.
Since the body’s ultimate aim is to keep you alive and healthy, it will rebuild itself bigger and stronger to be able to protect itself against the same threat in the future.
Resistance training causes micro-tears, and the body’s natural evolutionary response is to repair the damaged tissue, which leads to increased size and strength.
Understanding this concept may seem simple, but it’s very important for muscle building success.
When you overuse the skin on your hands of feet, your body forms calluses on the skin; the entire muscle building process is very similar.
Muscle tissue is the equivalent of a callus for the body, and it keeps growing with constant use.
How do muscles grow then?
When your work out in the gym, your body will initiate a process of adaptation designed to help it cope with the stress, but this will ONLY happen when your body perceives the work in the gym as a threat to survival.
Let me stress this one more time: Your workout must be perceived as a threat to the body’s ability to survive and cope.
So now you see why a nonchalant attitude will not do you any good in the gym.
The body will only perceive a threat when your workout is high in intensity.
How do muscles grow?
Now that you know the basics, it’s time to use your knowledge to fuel your muscles for massive growth; visit the following website to find out how.
By Don Demarco. Don is a fitness enthusiast and writer. Enroll for a FREE muscle building course visit Ultimate Men’s Workout For rock hard six pack abs visit Men’s Workout Six Pack Abs
Awesome Back Workouts
The back is part of the core of the body. It has many important functions including helping the body bend, twist, stand and carry items. Regular back workouts can assist in strengthening the core of the body, helping individuals reduce back pain, improve posture and even prevent back injuries from occurring.
Of course, back workouts also help you sculpt a strong back, improving the way you look from behind and giving you the confidence to bare your back at the beach. The back muscles are also one of the largest muscle groups in the body, by training the back muscles you can burn more calories! Great back workouts are designed to help you safely engage the three major muscle groups of the back: the upper, middle and lower back.
Rows are one of the most effective back workouts because they can be performed in a variety of ways and using different resistance levels. Barbells can be used for bent over rows. Load up a barbell with the desired amount of weight and place hands on the barbell at shoulder width apart. Legs should also be shoulder width apart. The body needs to be tilted forward to a 45 degree angle with the back straight and the knees bent. While keeping the head up, contract your back and pull the weight up to the torso level and then lower as far as your comfortable.
Rows can also be done with free weights to really work the small muscles of the lower back. To perform hold a free weight in each hand and bend the body over in the same position as before or until the torso is parallel with the floor for a greater challenge. Keep the knees slightly bent and contract the abs. Have arms extended fully with dumbbells hanging down. Then start rowing by bending the knees and pulling the dumbbells up into the torso area.
Back extensions are a great move for working the lower back. To perform, lay face down on a mat and place hands behind the neck, keep your abs contracted, raise the upper body a few inches from the floor, then lower the body back into the starting position. This move can also be done at a back extension machine at the gym.
Another good alternative to a regular extension is a hyperextension. This move works the lower back but is low impact. The move needs to be done near a wall so that your feet can use the wall for leverage. Placing the chest over a stability ball, extend your legs until they touch the wall. Cross your hands over your chest then lift your chest up forcing the lower back to flex, then lower the chest back down.
Back exercises can be performed up to three a week in nonconsecutive days. Repetitions of 16 should be done in sets of 4. Beginners should start out with 8 reps of 2 sets then gradually increase. Those lifting heavier weights should allow the body two days to rest before starting up again.
Because the back muscles work to rotate and pull the shoulders down, back workouts are often combined with bicep training on the same day. Great back workouts are about variety. Add in chin ups, reverse flies, upper body raises, dead lifts and more. Switch up your routine every 6 weeks to avoid plateaus. When working out be sure to use a variety of back exercises that work to target the back from different directions and target different muscle groups of the back.
Ever wanted to lose that extra weight, or just get into great shape? Well look no further than Cliff the amazing Houston Personal Trainer who will get you results with your own custom routine and diet to best fit your fitness goals. So check out Cliff’s site and see why Cliff is THE elite personal trainer! Personal Trainer Houston
You can perform these back exercises and other with Bodylastics Resistance Bands. Complete systems start at only $45.95. Get yours today and join us for free workouts.
Body Building: Warming Up Doubles Effectiveness
How many times have you ever gone to the gym and started lifting weights immediately without warming up? I know I have, as a bad a practice as it is. After one or two injuries related to not warming up properly, I’ve now made it a habit to always warm up.
Warming up makes your workouts more effective thereby maximizing muscle growth. Chief among the benefits of warming up are:
i) You will be able to lift much more weight. If you recall from an earlier post, the key to building muscle is progressively lifting more weights so this is pretty important.
b) It significantly reduces your chances of getting injured when you lift the heavier weights.
Personally I favor doing a light cardio-vascular exercise to begin the warm up. This helps ‘grease’ the muscle for the heavy workout that is to follow without taking up much energy. It is super important to conserve you energy so that you can work out with as much intensity as you can muster. Running at a low speed on the treadmill or using a cycle machine should do the job.
Doing light cardio exercise causes synovial to be secreted. Synovial is a fluid which lubricates the joints and reduces friction whenever there is movement. A good amount of this makes your workout ‘frictionless’ if I may use that term!
The second mini-part of your exercise is stretching. Doing a whole body stretch not only makes you more flexible but it also eases any tension in your muscles and helps avoid muscle cramps. Some body building experts like the legendary Frank Zane (3 Time Mr Universe) estimate that stretching properly doubles the effectiveness of your workout.
The last part of the warm up phase is light exercise on the muscles that you will be working out that day. If it is a leg day, for example, do squats and dead lifts with a really light weight. Once this is done, the heavy lifting can commence.
In summary stretch the whole body and lightly exercise the muscle group of the day using compound exercises with low weights. Also try and keep focus on what you are doing the whole time. Avoid chit chatting and other distractions that lengthen you time in the gym. The mission is to always spend fifteen minutes warming up and an hour on the workout. Any more than that is counter productive.
Cardio is relatively less mind intensive than any of the other things you will ever do in the gym so use this time to do ‘theater of the mind’ exercises and imagine yourself already in possession of the body you want. This isn’t mumbo jumbo voodoo science by the way. Visualization is a proven powerful technique for attaining success of any kind.
To recap what I just said in one sentence: You ABSOLUTELY MUST warm up before working out if you want to maximize muscle gain and avoid injuries.
Don is a fitness enthusiast and writer. Get the Real Results Men’s Workout Also Learn how to get Men’s Workout Abs
Good Tricep Workouts
Your triceps form 70% of the total mass of muscle of your upper arm. The primary function of these muscles that extend all the way to the elbow is the straightening of the arm. The tricep muscles are composed of three parts (hence the use of the ‘tri’ prefix): a long head, the humerus and the lateral head. If you want to have a well toned pair of triceps, you need to engage in the appropriate and targeted tricep workouts that can help you reach your goal.
Some of the best triceps workouts are extensions and kickbacks, tricep presses and triceps dips or push ups. These exercises are usually referred to as pushing exercises, pretty much triceps exercises can be done with any type of surface or object that provides the necessary resistance.
The resistance during tricep training can be from dumbbells, barbells, cable and pulley exercise machines and as well as springs. As made apparent from the list, you don’t need highly specialized equipment to engage in good tricep workouts. If done right, these exercises lead to faster muscle growth.
Kickbacks and extensions help build up the long head of the triceps and at the same time serve to provide your triceps with a greater stretch. You can engage in different variations to the classic extensions and kickbacks exercise. For example, you can occasionally do tricep extensions and kickbacks on one leg.
Tricep presses are another good tricep workout. The tricep press is done while lying down so as to leverage on gravitational force during the exercise. Specific examples of tricep presses exercises include barbell triceps presses, dumbbell triceps presses and the close grip bench press.
There are also the triceps push ups and dips such as the one arm triceps dips. These exercises are slightly different from the others and have a more compound effect since they involve other muscles as well as the triceps. That said, correctly executed dips are geared towards keeping your body straight during the exercise and this means you can apply more pressure on the triceps instead of the chest.
To get the full benefits of triceps workouts, you have to be consistent in your workout sessions. Ideally, you should perform these exercises on 3 non-consecutive days if you are to achieve the best results. It is important that you have sufficient rest after each exercise so that your triceps can get accustomed to the exercises.
You should also push the limits in your workouts by moving to a marginally higher weight after time. The goal is to not get comfortable at a certain level. Also make sure that the exercises are balanced on both your arms, this way you can avoid pain and injury,
If you are looking to get in the best shape of your life, look no further than Cliff the elite Houston Personal Trainer who will get you the results you want! Cliff will make both a custom routine and diet that will both fit your goals, and will also keep you motivated throughout. So follow the link to Cliff’s site and to that body you have always wanted! Certified Personal Trainer Houston
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Fitness Routine
How Not To Waste Time When Working Out
Wasting extra time when getting in shape increases the chances of abandonment. The more effort you put forth with less return, the higher your chances of jumping ship.
Thus, here is how not to waste your time when working out:
1. Increase your muscle temperature: By raising your temperature before exercise, you increase the amount of power and strength you will have while you exercise. You see, everything in your body is affected by temperature.
2. Have a set schedule: Having a set schedule is the best way to get your circadian rhythm on track. And a circadian rhythm that is on track is going to let you work harder. You see, circadian rhythms effect everything from cardiac output to strength output.
3. Perform muscle building workouts: These types of workouts create the highest caloric cost of any other type of training. And don’t worry about getting big. As long as you control caloric intake, you will actually shrink because of decreased fat mass.
4. Hyper hydrate before exercise: Water does everything from control your metabolic rate to provide lubrication for your joints. Even more important, it controls blood volume. So having extra amounts of water before exercise is a great way to enhance performance.
5. Have a psych up period: This will help prime your adrenal medulla for maximum stress hormone secretion. And in this case, having stress hormones during exercise is beneficial because it is short term. Moreover, stress hormones increase exercise capacity by leaps and bounds.
6. Don’t have liquid carbs while you exercise: This is only necessary if you are en endurance athlete that trains for more than one hour at a time. And endurance training is not the most efficient way to get in shape. Even worse, having carbs during exercise can have performance debilitating consequences.
Wasting time in the gym or not getting the biggest return from your efforts is very demoralizing. After all, the last thing you want is to work hard for little, if any return. So don’t delay here and take action today!
Author Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and former arm fat sufferer, instructs on how to get rid of arm fat. Unearth how to get sexy and toned arms by visiting her website with shake weight reviews now!
What You Need To Avoid When Toning Arms
Figuring out how to tone up arms can be hard with all the free and subpar information out there. In fact, I believe that many women are utterly lost when it comes to finding the right approach.
I can tell because of all the emails I receive.
And don’t be too hard on yourself. After all, a lot of this confusion is created by questionable marketing that will make your purse lighter while your arms get heavier.
Thus, here is some misinformation to avoid when learning how to tone up your arms:
1. Exercising on a daily basis is the best approach. This is a great way to get an overuse injury. Please do not try to do this. After all, once you tweak a tendon or ligament, healing will take a very long time. Your body needs proper rest.
2. Both arms should have equal strength. I’ve never worked with a client who had equal amounts of strength in both arms. Over time, however, the difference will go away. Do not assume that having a stronger arm means something is wrong with you!
3. 15 rep sets provide maximum arm toning. Well, not really because you do not have to do 15 repetitions for every single set you do. Instead, aim for a more varied number of repetitions so that you target all of your muscle fibers.
4. Getting tired during exercise is an indication of overtraining. Do not worry about getting tired when you are pushing yourself. This is normal and beneficial. Beneficial because the more you push yourself the more hormones your body will secrete.
5. If you’re sore a couple days after exercising, something is wrong! This simply means that you had an intense workout-just what you need to do to tone up those arms. And keep in mind that this delayed soreness will decrease as you eat better and your body learns to recover faster.
Be wary of all the misinformation out there. Make sure that the information you are digesting is not coming from a questionable source. After all, unlearning something can be harder than learning something new. And if you want to tone up those arms, take action today!
Writer Katherine Crawford, an exercise expert and former flabby arms sufferer, teaches women how to reduce arm fat rapidly. Unearth how to get sexy arms by visiting her website about the shake weight reviews now!
6 Exercise Misconceptions You Have To Know About
With the surge of the internet, there is more information than ever on how to lose weight. The bad aspect, though, is that a lot of this information is published by “fly by nighters”.
Thus, without further ado, here are 6 exercise misconceptions that you have to know about:
1. Pumping yourself up is all in your head: Well, actually, having some type of pre workout ritual gets your adrenal medulla pumping adrenalin. Moreover, you can trigger the SA node on your heart with psychological anticipation.
2. Eating during exercise is effective: In most cases this is not a good strategy. You see, your digestive tract reduces blood flow by up to eighty percent when you are exercising. The only time you should consider having diluted carbs when exercising is if the session lasts more than one hour.
3. Maximum heart rate can change: The only factor that will change your maximum heart rate is age. Thus, do not waste your time focusing on this variable. The only thing you can change here is your resting heart rate. As you become more conditioned, your resting heart rate will go down.
4. Low carb diets are the best for fat loss: This is only true for a select minority of people, those with insulin resistance. And keep in mind that low carb within the medical community does not mean no carb. Thus, even if you are insulin resistant, you don’t have to eliminate all carbs from your diet for the best fat loss.
5. Endurance training is the best form of exercise for heart health: Not true because the best form of exercise for your heart is a variety of forms. You see, weight training, for instance, increasing the thickness of your hearts walls. Endurance training, increases the output of your left ventricle.
6. You should not try to isolate specific muscles: If you want to achieve maximum tone is an area of your body, you have to target that specific area. Not only is this common sense, but research has shown that you can increase IGF-1 locally. Even better, reduce overall body fat in addition to your isolation exercises.
There is a lot of information on how to get in shape. And if you aren’t careful here, you might end up following the wrong advice. So stick to what is backed by time tested research!
Writer Katherine Crawford, a fitness physiologist and recent arm fat sufferer, teaches women how to eliminate loose arm fat swiftly. Figure out how to get sexy arms by exploring her website about how to reduce weight right now!
Super-charge fat loss with resistance training. No weights, no gym, no kidding. Get the totally adjustable Super Strong Man fitness tubes and workout where ever you go with this amazing resistance training home gym
system that's so small it fits in a briefcase, gym bag, backpack or purse.
Bodylastics Resistance Bands
