If you want to lose some weight, that eating before bed should be excluded from your eating habits. If you got fueled before going to bed, than at night your blood will be full of insulin, that is involved in fat production processes. Growth hormone, distinguished by its ability not only to accelerate the growth of the organism, but also to participate in the process of burning fat, won’t work, on the contrary, as it might have dunring the night time, when it releases naturally.

But don’t mix up the slight feeling of hunger and starvation. You may eat couple of hours before goin to bed, but your food must be light. Eating 3 or 4 hours before bedtime you will give your body enough time to burn calories and empty gastrointestinal tract from the food But if you will eat a good big sandwich just before falling asleep, guess what happen? Yes, you’ll get up at morning with a stomach still full of this sandwich, because night is the time when metabolism slows down and you body rests. So at morning it is 99% that you’ll skip breakfast because you’re not hungry. But skipping your breakfast catches you in the trap of late eating that is bad for any kind of diet based on metabolism processes. As you see, eating before bed can seriously affect your eating habits all in all.

So what should you remember in order to arrange your eating habits before bed properly?

1. You may eat 3 hours before going to bed.
2. You can avoid feeling of hunger if get a good habit to eat often, but in small portions. That will prevent insulin level from spiking and won’t make you feel so called ‘hormonal hunger’, caused by insulin.
3. You may include at your latest meal lean proteins and some fibrous carbohydrates, but fat and simple carbs (pasta, bread, potatoes, etc) are not allowed if you want to stay slender.
4. Sometimes your hunger is a desperate need in carbohydrates. It’s hard to resist it, so eat them, but choose the high-fiber kind, such as cereal or vegetables. You may also eat some cheese, especially if you’re training a lot.

As you see, the rules are not so strict and painful for not to follow. Try and see how you life will change for the better!

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© September  2010 ww.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

A frequent misconception about weight loss is that you don’t need to exercise to reach the goal. Indeed, training workout can serve that way, if done unwisely but it also can serve the opposite, such as building muscle mass and replacing fat mass in your body. The fact that you don’t really burn that many calories while training is true, but still resent studies show that regular training help to control fat and decrease it gradually.

As for load calories burning not intensely enough, consider the fact: as a rule, to build muscle you need to consume 500 – 1000 calories over the normal level per day. Daily need for energy can be calculated on the basis of body weight. If you need to maintain the present weight 2400 calories a day, to build the muscles needed from 2900 to 3400 kilocalories. That is a great amount of food, that can cause gastric discomfort, violations of electrolytic balance and the development of heart disease. Not the goal, really.

The recent study conducted in USA and reported in the American Journal of Physiology shows that fat burning is influenced by exercising directly, without any influence from balances of nutrients or energy. This fact became quite a sensation as it turned out that exercise of any kind, taking by any kind of man or woman, may increase muscle proteins that work as fat transporters. Their activity helps to oxidize fat in the same way L-carnitine does. So regular exercises are definitely one of the best helpers in weight loss.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© August  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

]]> http://gymper.com/featured/exercise-essential-weight-loss/feed/ 0 http://gymper.com/headline/whey-protein-casein-protein/ http://gymper.com/headline/whey-protein-casein-protein/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:36:42 +0000 Dennis http://gymper.com/?p=1770 A comparison between whey and casein proteins has been taken recently in order to study its influence of metabolism and diet results. It is known that these dietary proteins are not equal in their origin and quality.

Whey protein, taken from milk, had been the leading protein and most bodybuilders’ first choice for a long time. The reason for that is it possesses a high percentage of amino acids, contain some essential components and easily dissolved and flavored. However, the drawbacks of whey protein is also well known: it won’t work on an empty stomach, as it is absorbed too quickly and its amino acids are used for energy more that for mass building in this case. Another problem is that whey protein is easy to make badly, but you can never tell without trying it.

Casein, the other milk protein, is becoming more popular today as its good characteristics has been revealed. The top pro casein is that it’s digested slowly and therefore more useful for muscle building that whey protein. Taken together with whey protein, casein holds back the digestion in general, so effectiveness of another protein increases as well. So the combination of whey and casein appears to be one of the best protein supplements ever and even can replace meal sometime.

An experiment conducted in 2000 shows that casein is also better that whey protein in fat loss, which was shown on the example of three groups of police officers with some overweight (average 35 years, 200-220 pounds weight and 28% bodyfat).

Within 12 weeks 10 officers of each group had been given different programs: first group was put on a simple diet along with weight-training program (30-35 minutes of hitting four major muscle groups and some aerobics); second got the same program but also was provided with two drinks of a whey protein supplement; and the third one got the same but with casein supplement. All three groups also got vitamin supplement during the investigation.

Prior to the study, 70% of the participants consumed over 50% of their total calories just before sleep and less than 10% at the first meal of the day. Although carb intake was only 60% of total calories, half of that came from sugars and over half was consumed at the last meal of the day. Seventy-five percent had a protein intake less than the Recommended Dietary Allowance of 0.8 g per kg of bodyweight per day, and only 10% took any vitamins.

Surprisingly, loss of bodyfat took place in every group, event in the ‘laziest’ one. But the percentage varies from 27% to 25% decrease in the first group to 27% to 23% bodyfat decrease in the second and 27% to 18% in the third. As it can bee seen, the participants who hot casein supplement has shown better results that other.

Although results are quite impressive in both supplemented groups, casein seems to be more effective in gaining muscle mass along with overall bodyfat loss. Of course, this study doesn’t finish the discussion over whey protein and casein, but obviously gives some useful information for up-to-date bodybuilders.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© August  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

]]> http://gymper.com/headline/whey-protein-casein-protein/feed/ 0 http://gymper.com/health-fitness/positive_nitrogen_balance_recovery/ http://gymper.com/health-fitness/positive_nitrogen_balance_recovery/#comments Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:57:23 +0000 Dennis http://gymper.com/?p=1766

For a person trying to find some important, essential information about something he or she is keen on is sometimes extremely hard because of constant stream of blah-blah-blah here and there. Unfortunately, the bodybuilding world is quite the same, so our purpose is to cover some fundamental aspects of bodybuilding activity below.

Positive Nitrogen Balance

Nitrogen is defining as the chemical element of atomic number 7 etc., but also as “one of the important elements in all proteins, nitrogen is essential for tissue building.” (Tabors Medical Dictionary). It is also known in bodybuilding world as a precise protein levels dimension.

Positive nitrogen balance is essential for the body when you’re trying to make it be in an building up phase, also called anabolic. As the body is constantly collect and break down its tissues, bodybuilder’s goal is to build more than to break down. If nitrogen balance is negative, then the body processes switches to catabolic, e.g. splitting and crushing mode. For this very reason it is so important to get enough high quality proteins, which maintain positive nitrogen balance in the body.

Couple of decades ago another solution of this issue was to take amino acids, exacts constructs of proteins involved into process. This acids were taken in form of pills along with liver pills every two or three hours. But times were different back then; to meet the protein need it was enough to get 0,5 gram per lb, rather then now it is 1-1, gram per lb. That’s why now you can read a lot of articles dedicated to the high quality protein gained from food or special protein shakes of whey or milk. Even a type of protein itself undergo some kind of fashion – whey protein was considered number one for a long time, but now milk protein, casein, regain its position because of it’s slow digestion.

To insure protein synthesis it’s important no only to control protein, but also meet carb and fat needs of your body. The amount of carbs sufficient for gradual mass building is approximately 2 grams per lb per day, and the dose of fat is well smaller – under 40-50 grams.

Hormonal Manipulation

Understanding hormones seems to be quite narrow medical question, that has little to do with bodybuilding, but you’ll be surprised by how greatly knowledge of functions and impact of the main anabolic hormones and ways to produce it in the body may affect your physical state.

Hormones are a regulatory substances produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action. Basically hormones are divided into protein and steroid. First are constructed of long chains of amino acids and include all pituitary hormones, insulin, glucagon, IGF. Second are obtained from cholesterol and include cortisol and testosterone, which both are made up from cytoplasmic and/or nuclear proteins.

Transportation of hormones is conducted with the help of blood and, often, plasma proteins, as steroid hormones are highly hydrophobic.

The anabolic hormones is a particular interest or ours. These hormones are insulin, testosterone and somatotropin (Human Growth hormone, HG).

Insulin – a hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. It affects many organs, as glucose level stimulate muscle tissues to convert it into glycogen and, moreover, it stimulates protein conversion as well. In another words, it’s function is to control fat synthesis and protein functioning in your body. That’s why lack of insulin cause obesity and lessen muscle mass.

Testosterone – a steroid hormone that stimulates development of male secondary sexual characteristics, produced mainly in the testes, but also in the ovaries and adrenal cortex. By secondary sexual characteristics we mean, among numver of others, such processes as tissue growth and blood flow stimulation.

Human growth hormone (GH, somatotropin) is a growth hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, a pure protein of 191 amino acids. It promotes fat loss and muscle growth in children and can help an adult to reach impressive results in bodybuilding as well.

The main question is how to increase hormone levels in your body. Here are some tips to follow.

The Insulin level is tied into blood glucose levels, which means that the level of carbohydrates will affect it in the first place. To prevent insulin level from unnecessary spiking you can eat complex carbs instead of simple ones. By doing this you also promote protein synthesis. However, insulin spiking is required when you wake up and after a training, so at this moment the best thing you can do to cause it is to provide yourself with a mixture of simple carbs and protein, that should be taken quickly in order to get nutrients into the bloodstream as fast as possible.

Testosterone level can be increased through weight trainings, including such exercises as deadlift, squats and power clean. The effectiveness of this approach will grow along with your muscle mass, because more testosterone is needed to response to the exercise. To maximize efforts from hard training the sufficient diet is also needed. To maintain yourself with necessary elements you need to take a reasonable amount of carbs and some cholesterol as well. Of course, there are also some supplements that help in increasing testosterone level. It can be useful for mature bodybuilders whose levels of hormones is less than of young ones.

GH level can be increased in the same way as testosterone, because it is secreted with it. Some extended set techniques, drop sets for instance, can cause extra release of both testosterone and somatotropin. But along with it don’t forget to reduce your training to hour and a half in order to prevent cortisol production that affects your efforts badly.

Recovery

In drawing up the training schedule to allow adequate time for recovery is one of the primary goals. If the recovery time is too small, everything else is irrelevant. Your muscles will not grow without sufficient time for recovery and proper nutrition to promote its growth. During an intense workout, there is stress, which leads to damage of muscle fibers. This damage manifests itself as pain in the muscles. After a workout your body’s primary task is to recover from training stress and fatigue caused by training. In the short term recovery mechanism is in force. The recovery process makes the damaged muscle fibers thicker and stronger than before training. This “overcompensation” of the body is definitely the foundation of bodybuilding. Only after the body was restored after a heavy workout, the process of overcompensation, i.e. restructuring of muscles to become stronger than they were before, can start. If you train again until full recovery, then do not expect any results. Heavy exercising in the gym with little recovery time leads to a lack of progress. Unfortunately, this is the way in which many newcomers are. But no matter how intense your workout, how well the food or how long rest and sleep is, if you train too often or too much, you will cause the lack of progress or, at worst, an injury or constant disappointment.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© August  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

FAQ About Protein

Protein is a class of nitrogenous organic compounds that consist of large molecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acids and are an essential part of all living organisms, esp. as structural components of body tissues such as muscle, hair, collagen, etc. This definition along with a common association of protein with weight training make it extremely interesting for people who are trying to shape their body and gain some body mass.

But as protein is an essential part of human metabolism, it’s important to know certain facts abut it, such as “How much protein do I need?” “Will it make me fat if overdosed?” “How much protein my body is able to digest?” and more. In order to avoid confusion and common mistakes considering protein read the following FAQ.

QUESTION #1: How Much Protein the Body Need?

ANSWER:

The need of you body for protein is detected due to two main factors: muscle mass and type and amount of its activities. The common sense works perfectly here: the muscles you have, the more protein you need; the harder your workouts, the more protein you need. When you overload your muscles, it’s partially destroyed so protein in you body plummets. In order to keep it on the same level and even increase to help rebuild muscles you need to provide your body with it. The doze varies from 0,7 to 2 grams per pound of bodyweight, depending on skeleton type and training intensity.

Still, you can occasionally discover some anti-protein articles, even based on certain scientific studies. You can take them into consideration and choose the right doze of protein or exclude it from your training program at all, but evaluate all pros and contras first.

QUESTION #2: How Much Protein Can The Body Digest At One Time?

ANSWER:

There is no common answer to this question, but you may consider some points concluded by common sense, such as:

• it’s better to get more, than less, because if you don’t have enough protein after a hard training, this training will be useless.

• State of body is important. You don’t need that much protein during you normal day, but the whole metabolism speeds up after a workout, so you need to remember that and consume some protein extra.

• Human body is not able to digest all protein al once, so you need to feed your body with it constantly, so it will be able to maintain the same level all the time. Think of it as a vitamin, and everything will become clear.

• You body mass is important. The more you weigh, the more you need. Also you need to evaluate a speed of your metabolism – if it’s quite quick, the dose of protein should be enlarged.

As you see, there is no other way rather than experimental one. Find your own doze and make sure that you can get it anytime and don’t go beyond reasonable limits in taking it.

QUESTION #3: Will Eating Too Much Protein Make Me Fat?

ANSWER:

Yes, as over consumption of any other nutrition will. There are three major nutrients – fat, carbohydrates and protein, and each of them can cause extra weight if taken unreasonably. But an interesting fact is that protein, actually, is the least harmful out of these three nutrients. Some statistics to prove: there are 4 calories in 1 gram of protein. But excellently 40% out of these 4 calories is burned during protein digestion. So, if you will eat 200 grams of protein instead of 100 needed, you will consume 400 calories extra, 160 of them will be burned immediately to digest it, so the leftover will be 240 calories. Seems like a joke comparing with fat and its 9 calories per gram.

In spite of this fact, watch the amount of protein you’re getting, because the effect from training won’t be seen otherwise.

QUESTION #4: Are Protein Supplements necessary?

ANSWER:

Basically, it depends on your circumstances.

The answer in NO if you:

• get enough protein with your food on an daily basis;

• get it occasionally when you body needs it, especially after hard trainings.

If you are able to get quality protein from food any time you need or want, there is no need for artificial supplements.

The answer is YES when:

• you’re not able to get protein immediately after a workout. In this case you should taker a supplement in order to have desirable results.

• You’re not able to get enough protein from your food (because of an illness or in any other case), especially if your muscles need it every day. Then supplement will definitely help you to get the protein when you need it. It’s digested easily and can be prepared anywhere – all you need is a glass of water and a supplement itself.

The best way to act around protein supplement is to take it when needed in courses and try your best to get enough from food resources.

QUESTION #5: Will overdose of protein affect my kidneys badly?

ANSWER:

If you already have some problems with kidneys – yes, it will. That’s why it is extremely important to be sure about your health condition and take a medical advise first. But you’re healthy, there is not much to worry about. Still, if you do worry, drinking a lot of clear water will help your kidneys to process protein waste products. Of course, if you don’t feel good while being on protein, stop the program immediately and visit your physician for the further analysis.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
©August  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

People who can eat whatever they want and don’t get a pound extra on them are usually ones who are envied by the vast majority of others. But if you’re ever been on the other side, as a witness or a real skinny guy, you surely know that such condition is a curse as well as a blessing. The main problem besides an unhealthy leanness is that whatever you’re trying to do, nothing actually helps. It seem like it, but actually it’s not true. The real true is that you need to create a whole system of everyday life, including food, sports and daily habits in order to reach the goal. Here are some tips for you to be inspired and find your way to desirable weight and muscle mass.

1. Regular habitual eating.

The core of a problem of inability to gain mass is your genes that make your metabolism extremely fast. So despite all your efforts you’re programmed to digest all food fast and burn energy quickly without storing it in your body. So the only way to change for the better is to provide your body with constant calories to digest and build a muscle mass. How is that? No, it’s not just eating something each minute, but an approach is close to that: you need to have 5 or 6 meals at least with breaks no longer that 2, maximum 3 hours. Make it a habit and along with other tips it will change your weight eventually.

2. Get extra calories.

The most common complaint of people who can’t gain any weight is that any food is useless. But really, it’s not true. In most cases this statement means that a food man eats is useless. So a good suggestion will be to stop trying anything blindly and address to calorie tables to count your calories per day and calories in each product. After that you will be able to choose food more consciously, even though it might be hard to make yourself eat calorie dense food all the time. But the result worth trying, doesn’t it?

3. Supplements are not a cure.

The supplement industry is great and can promise anything, but don’t be so fascinate about it and don’t overestimate it’s abilities. The supplement – whatever effective – is still just a supplement, e.g. a way to supply your body with some (but not all!) essential vitamins and minerals. Moreover, some special supplements for weight gainers can play trick with your kidneys as they’re increasing your body mass at the expense of extra water on your body. Not good at all, though there are cartain supplements (such as Gatorade) that can be taken without these risks after training.

4. Train reasonably.

The key point of training, which is obviously necessary for gaining some muscles along with plain fat, is not it’s duration, but it’s intensity. It’s better to train harder for an hour rather that make less efforts for two hours. Why? The main reason is because the more time you spend on workout, the higher is probability that you’ll start up fat burning process in your body, and that is definitely not what you want. But if you train intensely for an hour, that will be enough to launch muscle building, but won’t hurt the overall result.

5. Vary Rep Range systematically.

Make your body suffer from stress, as it cause weight gaining. Change your workouts every two or three weeks and see how your body will adapt to it. Regular shake-ups of your trainings will help to avoid plateaus.
6. Follow your Progression.

Make sure that you progress during your trainings. If you’re training for an hour in a lazy manner and don’t gain any positive results within a month – than you’re doing it wrong. As you start to feel progress, focus on it, but don’t increase number of reps in order to be as others – it’s not your goal. Steady progress, in your case, will be the best means of success.

7. Consider a Mass Gainer

If you feel that you really can’t, simply not able to eat more that you are doing now (without any progress as all), a good mass gainer can be a way out. Shakes made from special powders will provide you with calories you’re not consumpting with food. Of course, simple eating as a better option, but keep mass gainer in mind JIC.

8. Gorge yourself.

Hitting a buffet is a certainly a way to gain some way, but remember – for healthy guys only! If you feel capable to make a fridge devastatingly empty, do it one a week or so and enjoy results. The thing is – the more you’ll consume, the more calories will be blocked in your muscles waiting for their turn to be burned. This trick will also help you to get used to larder meals which are essential as well.

9. Take It Easy.

It may be challenging, but stop worrying so much about everything, especially your weight. Being nervous a) burns fat, b) make you move around, which also burns fat. This or that way, stop ding that. Try some relaxing activities or just develop a habit to rest quietly on the sofa or somewhere you feel comfortable and peaceful. It really helps.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© July  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only

]]> http://gymper.com/headline/gain-muscle-mas/feed/ 0 http://gymper.com/weight-loss-tips-program/fat_loss_workouts/ http://gymper.com/weight-loss-tips-program/fat_loss_workouts/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:44:48 +0000 Dennis http://gymper.com/?p=1757

When you need to shape you body and burn some fat, diets and beautifying body products are just a part of success. The real helpers are fat loss workouts – they may be boring and routine, but while performed patiently on a daily basis they are able to create a miracle. How? See points below.

1. There is a simple triad: weight, cardio, aerobic. Include all here parts in your training and you will receive an immediate result.

2. The right sequence of steps. Warm-up goes first as it prepares muscles for the following load. That weight training comes, metabolizing the lactic acid and starting body fat burning. Some aerobic goes after that – but don’t forget to make cool-down before and after it in order not overload your muscles. The next stage is cardio, but it can be included in your training program no more that twice a week. Half an hour twice a week will improve your metabolism without damaging the heart. The final step is stretching and relaxation – it will help you to cool down and feel all your muscles in static.

3. If despite the short program summary above you are not sure how to organize your gat loss workouts (because of some illness, for instance), the best thing you can do is to go to fitness center, where qualified personal trainers will help you get a proper balance between different parts of a workout.

4. Involvement of all parts of the body into the workout is essential. It will help to release maximum energy from your body and help to build a shape without endless repetitions on the same muscle. Balance is essential as well.

5. After couple of weeks in training you will feel your muscles and body lines keener. Than it’s time to add some extra exercising into your fat loss workout for speeding up your metabolism and extending burning processes in your body after trainings.

6. Don’t hesitate to start tight now. If you explore fat loss workout routines just as little bit, you will find out that there are hundreds of variations so it won’t be hard to find something suitable for you exactly. Try and watch as you body changes to ideal one you’ve always dreamt about!

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© July  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only.

]]> http://gymper.com/weight-loss-tips-program/fat_loss_workouts/feed/ 0 http://gymper.com/headline/atkins-diet/ http://gymper.com/headline/atkins-diet/#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:15:46 +0000 Dennis http://gymper.com/?p=1753

Atkins Diet is known as one of the most impressive diets, which shows its result immediately after start. Moreover, it’s not that painful as some other diets, as allows to take such products as eggs, bacon, high fat meats and lots more. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The core of the concept is to minimize carb consumption and increase fat and protein in your everyday menu. Carbohydrates are the real enemies because they cause an insulin production in your body, which, in it’s turn, freeze fat burning. But as long as you replace carbs with protein and fat, you gain double profit:

• stay fueled for much longer that with any other diet;

• cut carb supplement and therefore maintain fat burning mode in your body.

Despite these wonderful perspectives there are number of reasons why Atkins Diet became quite unpopular in the past decades. The number one reason is cholesterol.

Research taken upon cholesterol revealed that this compound, which can be found in most body tissues, is not only an important constituents of cell membranes and precursors of other steroid compounds, but also can promote atherosclerosis in its high concentrations in the blood. Also it’s commonly known that saturated fats increase cholesterol level in the blood, so ooops, we need to worry abut that.

However, this information has been refuted by recent studies that shown an amazing result: decreasing carbs along with increasing fats arouse HDL-cholesterol (an important one) along with dipping the level of LDL-cholesterol (a dangerous one). The only caution is that if saturated fats is taken with carbs, the effect will be negative. That is why it is so important to keep the diet till the end without serious breakdowns.

Another misconception about Atkins is that high-protein food will soon enough overload your kidneys, make you stupid because your brain won’t get enough carbs, and sick because of constant high pressure. Still, none of there so-called facts are supported scientifically. On the contrary, it has been noticed that withous glucose from the carbohydrates the body launch ketone metabolism in order to displace glucose utilization. So, the brain gets its energy from ketone. That’s why Atkins diet is also called ketogenic.

A strong support for Atkins diet has been provided by Dr. Christopher Gardner from Stanford University Medical School, who proved that atkins dieters not only loss the weight, but also showed positive changes in their blood tests and absence of bad side effects.

So, if you’re ready for Atkins, what you need for it?

1. Remember, that carbohydrate intake must be very low, otherwise you won’t do any good to you. So don’t eat any high-glicemic or low-fiber food, replace it with legumes or vegs instead.

2. Make sure that protein is essential part of your everyday meal. The best choice can be eggs, fish, meats and special mixes. The only point to look after is trans. There should be none.

3. Don’t forget to include proper multivitamin/mineral complexes. Such kind of supplement will fuel you with all necessary elements.

4. As for drinks, you first choice should be water, lots of it. Another calorie-free drinks are also allowed.

As it can be seen, Atkins diet can be a real helper in improving your look and health, while taking seriously and responsibly. Try and make sure yourself.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© July  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only.

]]> http://gymper.com/headline/atkins-diet/feed/ 0 http://gymper.com/featured/sexy-muscles-shape/ http://gymper.com/featured/sexy-muscles-shape/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:15:28 +0000 Dennis http://gymper.com/?p=1632 If you are interested not only in the amount of your muscle mass but also in sexy shape of your muscles it’s very important for you to follow the correct technique of an exercise performance because in case of incorrect technique two unpleasant things can happen: first, the working load passes to other muscular fascicles; and second, the load spreads along the working muscle unevenly. It all can lead to shaping of a rough, homely constitution.

A muscle shape is determined by both genetic features and technique of an exercise performance

You can ask, ‘What about steroids?’ But my answer will be negative: you really can increase the volume of your muscles using steroids but it’s impossible to change the whole muscle shape. In this sense, ‘chemists’ have no advantages over us.

You can ask about how much your genetic features influence the shape of your muscles. I can answer this question like this: genetics sets a possible form variant and technique either perfects or mangles it.

Whether you train or not – it’s not possible to overcome the limit that mother-nature had set for you… That’s how pessimists think; they believe that nature ‘presented’ them with ‘poor’, toneless muscles (for example, with flat biceps or narrow shoulders).

‘Muscle shape – big deal!’ some other could say, ‘Muscle mass – that’s what matters’. And they are also mistaken because in bodybuilding exactly the shape of your muscles plays the most important role. What should we do, then, if nature wasn’t fair with our muscles?

It’s possible to correct nature’s ‘mistakes’ with the help of an optimal training programme. Yes, we won’t be able to change muscle shape but we can make an emphasis on their certain parts. For example, it’s not difficult to move the working load to either inner or outer biceps fascicles or to work more intensively with its lower part. I repeat once again: ‘emphasis’ is no hard ‘pumping’ but surgically accurate influence upon a muscle with the aim to change its shape. To do it we need impeccable performance of each exercise.

Most often performance mistakes are caused either by eagerness or foolishness. In the first case a beginner is striving for weight increase sacrificing the performance technique; in the result, it often leads to ineffective trainings and possible injuries. In the second case a beginner makes mistakes because of lack of corresponding knowledge.

The majority of technical mistakes are connected either with abatement of weight control during one of points of the movement amplitude or with its reduction. There are examples of such mistakes:

The barbell jumps up from your chest when performing Bench Presses. It means that you don’t control the barbell in the lowest point of the exercise movement amplitude. You must control the weight at all movement stages.

Deflection of body backwards when performing deltoid muscle presses in order to simplify the initial movement phase

Back arching when performing different rows to train back: this mistake not only moves the training load away from the working muscles but can also damage your spine. You should keep natural back arch.

Jerk movements when performing difficult compound exercises: it leads to uneven load distribution in the initial and final movement phases.

Barbell ‘casting’: high speed of lifting performance and uncontrolled lowering of weight

Asymmetrical disposition of legs (arms) when performing any power movement

Movement amplitude reduction when performing any exercise. Let’s draw an example of Barbell Curls: a muscle is anatomically weaker in the lowest movement point; that’s why we are always tempted not to lower the barbell to the lowest point. Such reduced amplitude leads to lag of lower biceps development.

These mistakes can annul our chances to shape a sexy body.

You need to remember 2 rules:

1. Stick to a complete amplitude when performing all exercises;
2. Control working weights at all stages of amplitude movement (do not strive for too heavy weights).

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© June  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only.

Loads that influence our muscles interchanging with rest intervals are used for stronger influence on trained muscles and functions. Depending on the nature of processes taking place in our organism, two types of load interaction within the limits of one training session can be defined.

Linear load summation

In the simplest case the workout effect achieved during each set doesn’t depend on the previous load. In this case the duration of a rest interval is not strictly defined; the only condition is that it must be enough for the organism to recover its strength in order to complete the following set within the required intensity level. The total effect of such workout training is calculated by summation of all training effects achieved during performance of each set. As an example of such training, the training aimed at depletion of muscle glycogen capacity can be named. One can assure considerable reduction of glycogen concentration (and, consequently, more defined glycogen supercompensation after a particular training session) by means of numerous reps performed after rest enough for significant removal of lactic acid.

Intensification of after-load effect

When a training session has particular aims, the effects of both previous and following loads can be not only just summed up but can also intensify each other. Thus, for example, in case of a short intensive load, the maximum quantity of oxygen is used not during the set itself but after it; when the recovery process takes place. After-load rest in this example is to concur with the training duration (for example, 30 seconds of work – 30 seconds of rest).

What is the best workout  technique to be used?

As I’d already told, each following set, due to the degree of its destructive influence on muscles, is less effective than a previous one: it happens because of gradual reduction of contraction force in the result of residual accumulation of acid metabolism products in muscles. It’s clear that in this case each following load simply cannot increase the effect of a previous one; it can only cause additional micro-injuries. That’s why rest intervals are not limited by any particular conditions apart from the time you have at your disposal and must provide significant reduction of lactic acid concentration in muscles in order they can reach the maximum speed of energy usage again. Lactic acid, in case of its significant accumulation in a muscle, is completely removed from it only several hours after the training; but its considerable reduction requires only several minutes. To tell the truth, if we’d rest 10-30 minutes between sets such system would be very effective; but in this case our training would last for the whole day.

The classic rest interval is considered 1-2 minutes between sets. You’ll definitely not be able to get rid of the whole amount of lactic acid in your muscles during this time but at least it will be reduced to the level that allows completing the next set.

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
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