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Weight Loss Exercise

Blueberry Power


Read a great review of the Fat Loss for Idiots program. See if you can lose 9 pounds in 11 days and what Cycled Eating is

The health benefits of blueberries have made the news in recent years. Some of the reported benefits of eating blueberries include improved vision, cleared arteries, strengthened blood vessels, enhanced memory, stopped urinary tract infections and reversed age-related physical and mental declines.

Nutrients in Blueberries

Blueberry Power

Blueberry Power

According to LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames, blueberries and other brightly colored berries contain vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and phytochemicals that help protect against disease, including certain cancers and heart disease.

 

Phytochemicals are nonnutritive substances in plants that promote health and prevent chronic disease. Antioxidants are phytochemicals that help neutralize harmful byproducts of metabolism called free radicals that contribute to heart disease and other diseases.
Blueberries are nature’s number one source of antioxidants among fresh fruits and vegetables according to the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Anthocyanins, the pigments giving blueberries their deep blue hue, act as antioxidants, which may provide many health benefits.

Blueberries are Low Cal and healthy

Blueberries also are a low-calorie food – only 40 calories per 1/2 cup. Blueberries are low in fat, sodium-free and a source of fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin C and potassium.

Blueberries contain compounds that may help to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs), The compounds, called condensed tannins, can keep the bacteria responsible for UTIs from attaching to the linings of the urinary and digestive tracts.

Reames says to look for berries that are dark blue, with a frosty bloom. Store fresh blueberries in your refrigerator for up to two weeks, and wash them just before you use them; washing and then storing makes them mushy. Loose-pack frozen blueberries are available year-round, and you can use them in any recipe that calls for fresh blueberries. Since they are washed, they can be used right from the package.

How to Choose Blueberries

Fresh blueberries should be plump and firm with a dark blue color and waxy, silvery “bloom.” Sweetness varies by variety. Blueberries do not ripen after harvest, so as soon as you buy them, you can eat them. One pint of berries will provide four to five servings of fresh uncooked fruit.

Just like any other fruit we know that fruit is better fresher then frozen so go out and pick some fruit if you are in a place where that is possible

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Weight Loss Exercise

Fast Weight Lifting Workout


Read a great review of the Fat Loss for Idiots program. See if you can lose 9 pounds in 11 days and what Cycled Eating is

Fast Weight Lifting Workout

Fast Weight Lifting Workout

I know I only do this occasionally but thought that it would be nice just to post my fast weight lifting workout for the day today. This whole workout had my body worked out hard within30 minutes

As I have commented before on Twitter and on Facebook, I have switched to a much shorter, fast weight lifting workout based on lots of science but also trying to find convenience for myself. I was on the verge of splitting my workout to a 2 day split a few months ago and over the summer started trying to find ways to do heavier quicker workouts. The example I will show you today of my current fast weight lifting workout is quite good but there is still room to improve.

Start of Fast Weight Lifting Workout

So I started my workout today with a simple circuit. To me lately the key to all of my workouts are doing compound exercises, this way I am leveraging different muscles on each set and getting all of my minor muscles groups done. I hate remembering weight amounts but I will give as much detail as I can.

Please note that I did this warmup set back to back to back in about 5-10 minutes or so.

  • Bench press – machine – 12 reps I pushed these out ok and this was mostly warming up the shoulders triceps and chestFast Weight Lifting Workout
  • Military press – machine – 12 reps I find that I have a bit of soreness in my left shoulder but this exercise is a good warmup for triceps and shoulders
  • Wide Grip Pulldowns – machine – 10 reps I do wide grip pulldowns to get a good stretch and warmup my lats and biceps
  • Close Grip Rows – machine – 10 reps – Here I am working my lats differently and also stretching out my lower back. I get the weight up higher for this than a traditional warmup because I love the lat burn.
  • Tricep Pushdowns with rope – 12 reps – This is just an addon to a regular pushdown where the rope allows you to get a better peak contraction. I had a higher weight on this as well.
  • Alternating Bicep Curls – dumbells – 10 reps per arm I was just getting a good contraction for my biceps as the back exercises warm up the biceps but they could still use some work.
  • Seated Hamstring Curls – machine – 12 reps I skipped squats today to isolate a bit (maybe I was lazy?) this exercise really hits the hamstrings good and was a good warmup
  • Leg Press – machine – 12 reps I always love leg press as I can really feel the burn in the quads and the flex in my knees

Now that I was warmed up I did one superset for each of my main muscle groups. These supersets woulde make sure that I was able to get a fast weight lifting workout in and still really pound my muscles. All of the exercises were to exhaustion meaning that I could not get one more rep out even if I had to. Also there were no breaks in between the superset sets but about 2 minutes before I did the next muscle group.

Chest Superset
Cable Crossovers x 10 then machine bench press x10 Here is where I found that I am a lot stronger. I had moved up the weight I regularly use for crossovers and it was still not quite hard enough so my reps were to high. I really pushed the bench press though

Back Superset
Wide Grip Pulldowns x 8 Seated Rows x10 I did the same as my warmup sets for back but I really increased the weight. I did not get the weight high enough for the seated rows so I need to remember this for next time.

Shoulder Superset
Front Laterals x10 Side Laterals x 10 Pullups x 10 I know that the laterals are really an isolated exercise and should maybe do military press but I get a great contraction and burn with laterals vs militarys. My shoulders were really burning by the time I did the pullups and I kept my knees loose and really focussed on my form so I did not swing the weight around.

At this point I was really wiped and breathing a bit harder than I expected, I moved to legs before arms

For legs I did the same as the warmup (again I am a wimp for not doing squats) and I turned up the weight for hamstring curls and leg press.

For biceps I did 7-2-1 exercise which is done with a bar. 7 reps from bottom to half way up, 7 reps from half way up to peak contraction, and then 7 full reps. All this in one set.

For Triceps I did kickbacks to really get a great burn. I have fairly strong triceps so I get cocky about tricep exercises.

And that was the workout. Does not seem like much but this is kinda what I am doing twice a week for weights and I have to say I am getting stronger fast and think I am making better muscle gains because of the fewer sets.

Improvements needed for my fast weight lifting workout

Fast Weight Lifting Workout I am still not having perfect sets or workouts. I feel great but I have not got perfect conectration on each set and my intensity could always get better. One more thing that I need to dial in better is the weight that I use in each set. I want to get my reps to about 7 reps per set but I am not quite there yet, going a little too light compared to my strength.

And finally, I still struggle a bit with ego issues. If I do compound exercises properly then I should be able to get away with Squats, chest, back, and shoulders with no bicep or tricep exercises, I feel though still that I have to work those guns.

Why should we do a fast weight lifting workout?

There are a few things that are helping me these days and I will psot them as seperate post to make sure that they get the attention they should get but I have been moving up my strength in a large part due to the fact that I am doing less sets but each set has far more intensity. Also I am taking my sets to the very end, making sure that I am getting the most from each and every set. Finally I am concentrating on good form and a peak contraction on every rep.

I know that my exercise routine changes over time and I am sure that just as I am reducing sets now that a year from now I am sure that I will have spun it up to more sets per muscle group. Remember the most important thing to do in any workout, especially a fast weight lifting workout, is to create confusion in your muscles, making sure that you workouts, sets and reps are always changing.

Doing a fast weight lifting workout is a great way to do all of the above and save time getting stronger.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Gain Muscle Weight Fast


Read a great review of the Fat Loss for Idiots program. See if you can lose 9 pounds in 11 days and what Cycled Eating is

There are a few things that you can do to gain muscle weight fast. The first thing to remember is that to gain muscle weight fast you need to take care of your diet, you need to train correctly and finally you need to rest very well so that you can make the most of those workouts.

Gain Muscle Weight Fast

Gain Muscle Weight Fast

In the last article I pointed out that most people do not use weightlifting as a form of exercise although it is critical to do this instead of just cardio to help drive up your metabolism. There are a few problems though. Most people as they try to gain muscle weight fast make the critical mistake of overtraining while also not eating and resting enough.

So lets look at the proper way for eating, resting and training to maximize gains and minimize overtraining in your quest to gain muscle weight fast.

Eating to Gain Muscle Weight Fast

Eating to gain muscle is critical. Every time that you work out you are going to be breaking down that muscle and you need water and protein to rebuild your muscle bigger and better to handle higher weights. Most people eat very little protein and lots of carbohydrates, especially grains and other white carbs instead of colored vegetables.

The best way to eat is as I have mentioned lots before is to have 6 meals a day. These meals are made up of getting all of your claories in one day and then break that up into six small meals. This means that your meals are a lot smaller than you may be used to.

The next thing to worry about is the amount of protein in each meal. Eat 20 grams or so of protein in each meal and then over time if you get really serious about becoming a serious bodybuilder then you would take this protein up to 30 or even 40 grams of protein in a meal. 20 grams of protein by the way would be something around half a chicken breast or 2 to 3 ounces of meat.

Lastly remember that if you are taking in this protein that you can not just substitute by eating a giant steak instead all at one time. Your body can not process that much protein at once and you will just pass it unused. With the price of steak and chicken we may as well be making the most of it instead of wasting it.

Resting to Gain Muscle Weight Fast

Rest is also critical when trying to gain muscle fast. You need to make sure that you are sleeping well and not being affected by stress as these two things are the really important actions to gaining muscle after a tough workout.

As you may or may not know the workout that gets you strong is only the fiest part of gaining muscle. The only time that oyur body actually recovers and gains muscle back is during the night when you are sleeping. If you get lots of sleep then your muscles will heal, if you sleep poorly or not enough then your body will not recover fully and your body will become overtrained easily.

Stress also is a roadblock to muscle gains. Your body is not going to recover from a stressful workout if you are not allowing yourself the recovery period. Stress causes your body and muscles to be tight and the tightness of the muscles is a primal reaction that allows you to react quickly to the various dangers that our caveman background was preparing for. So eliminate stress wherever you can.

Training to gain muscle weight fast

OK, I saved the biggest until last. To really gain muscle weight fast you of course need to workout smart and get the most out of your muscles without over-training.

Have you ever looked at a construction worker? They tend to be big with muscle and fat but considering how much they lift they are not huge as bodybuilders. The best way to build muscle is not to just lift a lot of weight throughout the day but instead you need to lift a lot of weight in a short period of time. Even most people training in gyms do not realize this as you will see guys doing set after set with long rest times between sets.

I can tell you that the best way to workout is to warmup your muscles and then do sets to failure. Going to failure means that you are doing a set of 10 reps or so and that at the end of that set you have nothing left ot lift with. After you have a couple of months of working out like this you will be able to use advanced strategies like stripping weights, pauses, and supersets but at this point just try to make sure that you need a spot on that last rep or two.

As far as number of sets try to do two sets to failure for two exercises in each muscle group. This means that for back for example that you would do lat pulldowns for two sets to failure and the two sets of seated rows to failure.

Using this weightlifting strategy should also make your workouts much quicker than you would expect. Your workouts should not last more than 45 minutes total.

How to gain muscle weight fast

So her you are a total strategy to gain muscle weight fast. As you can see there are really only three things to be aware of. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said that gaining muscle was 99% mental and I have to agree. If you are not only aware but have conviction in your actions when it comes to getting the right amount of rest, eating the right foods at the right times and training like a superstar for your body then you are going to gain muscle weight fast.

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