Psychologists seem to agree that any action becomes habit when repeated for at least 21 consecutive days. Let’s look at a few bodybuilding habits that you should consider adding in order to see greater fat burning and muscle building success.

Carry a journal
This seems like common sense, but many lifters skip writing down their lifts. Don’t you want to know what is working, and what series of exercises are leading to new muscle gains? Write down sets, reps, and poundage along with exercises, and track your muscle weight progress to see what is working – and what is not.

Eight hours of sleep
Whoever you are, there’s a good chance you could benefit greatly from just getting more sleep. Make it at least 8 hours per night for optimal results, with a nap now and then to spruce things up! Melatonin is a great sleep aid if you find yourself waking up too soon.

Use the compounds on a regular basis
Using bench press, deadlifts, chins, rows, military presses and squats on a consistent basis will lead to a new level of overall muscle thickness that machines could never provide to you. Go heavy, with plenty of sets and repetitions, and the results will become obvious very quickly!

Boost your anti-oxidants
Stay healthy and you can keep making gains. Get sick and watch a months’ worth of workouts go down that drain. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and take your vitamins on a consistent basis, for best results. Mix up the fruits and vegetables you consume in order to enjoy everything that Mother Nature has to offer!

Warm up
You’d be surprised to learn just how many lifters – enthusiastic about training or just in a hurry due to their hectic schedules – will skip the warmup sets and go right to their heavy sets. Not only will it put them at greater risk of injury, but it will also cost them performance. Without that maximum blood flow to the muscles that warmups deliver, you will move less weight during your sets. What fun is that?

Carry a water gallon
Your muscles are made of water, and they need to be hydrated continually in order to appear at their fullest. Never be spotted without a jug of Crystal Lite at your side. Drinking a lot of water will also help your brain work better, and will make any supplements you take much more effective!

Are you looking to burn body fat while lifting weight? Here are five tips you can employ to increase your fat burning results while hitting the iron. It’s possible to burn fat while adding muscle – you just have to train correctly!

Minimize rest between sets
Anytime your body is experiencing an elevated heart rate, you are burning body fat. However, most standard bodybuilding training routines allow you 2 to 3 minutes between each set to rest, allowing your heart rate to return close to normal. This is good for building muscle, as it means you will have fully caught your breath and will have the most oxygen capacity for moving weight. However, it will also mean you STOP burning fat between each set. Instead, try resting for only 30 to 45 seconds between each set, then jumping right back into the weights. Your body will never have a chance to lower heart rate, meaning you will always be burning fat for the duration of your weight training workout.

Stick with higher repetition ranges
Higher repetition ranges, from 8 to 20 per set, will activate more of the slow-twitch muscle fibers which are neglected during the first 6 reps of any set. It’s why you don’t see many ripped powerlifters, as they stick with the lower rep ranges. Train heavy, but not so heavy that you can’t hit 10 reps on every set – at least.

More sets = better!
Volume is the key if you want to burn fat! You should never try to knock out a workout in 30 minutes. Don’t leave that gym until you’ve spent AT LEAST 60 minutes in the gym. Volume matters – the more sets, the greater fat burning capacity.

Running the rack
If you want to kick in the fat burning process, try running the rack! Start with 50 pounds for biceps dumbbell curls for your initial 10 reps, then move down to the 40s. Complete as many reps as possible, then move to the 30s. Keep moving down the rack, continually topping out your maximum pump on each set!

Pre-exhaust training
Start a set with an isolation movement, immediately followed with a compound movement. This will maximize fat burning during the set while isolating and really targeting the intended muscle group. For example, you would complete a set of leg extensions immediately followed with a set of leg presses. Build muscle and shed fat at the same time!

Are you looking to cut your body fat levels while at the same time building some new muscle? Perhaps Lactic Acid Training is right for you! Let’s examine how lactic acid works, then design a workout routine which will allow you to make the most of it.

First, let’s review the basics on lactic acid. When you train any muscle group, the oxygen in that muscle group is removed with each successive repetition. This oxygen-less environment delivers a byproduct called lactic acid. It is usually accompanied with noticeable pain, a burn or ‘pump’ as it is famously known. Lactic acid produces small amounts of growth hormone. Growth hormone, of course, builds new muscle and spurns the fat loss process in the body. Overall, this is why we train with weights. Take all of the science out of it, and we’re still moving weights in order to build muscle and shed body fat.

The goal of Lactic Acid Training is to stimulate the release of as much lactic acid as possible during your workout routine. Essentially, each workout will be cut into a series of 30 to 50 mini-sessions in which you will train to maximum lactic acid release on each and every set. You will take 15 to 30 seconds to compose yourself, stretch, and break up the acid which has built up in the muscle groups, and then you will target the next muscle group. This will continue from set to set until you have spent an hour maximizing your pump like never before – resulting in the release of growth hormone to build new muscle and shed fat, like never before. Welcome to Lactic Acid Training!

The training itself will resemble a standard circuit training routine. You will move from machine to machine, with a few exceptions. You aren’t trying to move a certain amount of weight. You aren’t trying to hit any certain repetition. The bottom line is that you tackle each exercise with the sole intention of releasing lactic acid. Every set should be dedicated to that burn, that pain, that feeling of complete muscle engorgement which is seen at the end of each set when lactic acid is released.

Lactic Acid Training gets easier with time. Check out the 1970s film “Pumping Iron” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger for a primer on how the top bodybuilders of the world loved training for lactic acid release – keeping in mind this was 40 years ago when the science was far from complete. Top athletes of that era to today know full well the gains to be made when training for maximum lactic acid release. And now – so do you!

If heavy compound exercises, plates of steak and potatoes, and highly effective bodybuilding supplementation are a weight lifter’s best friend, then the worst enemy of the bodybuilder would have to be dehydration.

Our bodies need water for just about everything we do. The new muscle we build is made of, among other things, water. We sweat while we’re in the gym, creating a demand for more water. While the average American can get away with only drinking a recommended 8 cups per day, you will want to live in the “gallon per day” world if you wish to maintain the hydration levels you’re going to need for effective muscle building.

Do you use supplements? Creatine and others place your body in a state of forced dehydration, making your water requirements even higher. What’s your diet like? If you eat a great deal of food in your daily effort to build muscle mass, then you are probably well aware of the added H2O requirements that come with giving the digestive system that much food to deal with every single day as you work to exist in a state of caloric surplus. More water is needed for this than you may realize.

Over 90% of the US Population uses caffeine on a daily basis – And caffeine is one of the greater dehydrators you will find. Cut back on all caffeine usage for 2 weeks, and you will very quickly learn just how much new water you hold in your muscle bellies!

Any use of alcohol will rapidly dehydrate the lifter. We’ve all heard that one glass of red wine can be consumed each night in order to deliver excellent heart health and minimize the chances of heart disease. However, red wine also delivers a huge dehydration effect, shrinking the muscles.

Being small and flat isn’t the only health concern associated with giving the body inadequate water. Kidney stones, perhaps the male equivalent to giving birth in terms of pain, are also associated with long-term dehydration. Take your cranberry supplements to get that ‘fresh start’, then keep it priority #1 to drink water all of the time. The headaches you see with dehydration are a huge sign that your brain doesn’t have the water is needs to function either.

As mentioned, we lifters certainly do a bit of sweating in the gym while staring down a brutal 80 minute barbell-based back workout, a 35-minute interval cardio treadmill routine, or the digestion of supplements and plenty of food. Water alone doesn’t have to be your only deterrent to muscle-wasting dehydration. Try Vitamin Water or Gatorade to help make your fluid consumption easier. Keep drinking!

Q:  Are dips on a roman chair better than dips done on machines or with a plate on your stomach between two benches?

A: It’s really personal preference and I recommend doing at least two of those because you hit different areas of the chest and shoulder and triceps. Dips with a plate on your belly, with hands on one bench and heels on another, really works the triceps alone, whereas Roman chair (depending upon whether you face the wall or face out) will work shoulders – at least – if not upper chest (facing inward) much more. Dips on a machine are certainly safest in terms of avoiding injuries.

Remember, you greatly compromise your shoulders doing dips both other ways so you must be careful. I recommend dips highly, however, I think you really need a lesson on proper form from someone who does them all the time and can provide tips. It’s the one exercise that I see done improperly all the time. Few people do it correctly to optimize results and minimize injury. In my book, I think Roman chair and machine dips are the best combination because the one between benches overarches the rotator cuff and it’s easy to fall between benches and tear super-spinaetus tendons in the rear delt.

Q: Thanks for your newsletter. I read it religiously and it has made all the difference in the world for me! However, I am a little surprised that you haven’t written about Myostatin inhibitors. There is a lot of hype right now about them and you haven’t said much about it. Can you tell me about these Myostatin products? Is it true that they can alter your genetics?

A: The reason you haven’t read anything about them is because people haven’t been asking. You’re right too; there is a lot of hype surrounding myostatin blockers. The problem is, it’s mostly coming from the companies trying to sell them! Myostatin is a gene that is a primary regulator for muscle growth; it has a direct effect on muscle growth. Basically, research has shown that, in mice, when they block the myostatin gene the mice have more muscle, genetically. And I’m talking 200-300% more muscle!

The theory behind these products is a good one for sure – block the gene that limits our ability to grow muscle. Unfortunately there is one issue with these products that has yet to be proven; that they actually work in humans. All the research done on them has been on mice… and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but we’re not mice. I realize that this doesn’t mean it won’t work on humans, but it’s not like these mice were just given a couple of pills either. Their genes were manipulated before they were even born – in vitro!

Just think of the implications here though! If we can block the gene responsible for limiting our muscle growth, then we can manipulate genes to change anything we want about ourselves! Ever heard the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”? Well, if you ask me, this sounds way too good to be true! I hate to rain on the Myostatin parade (and I hope I get proven wrong) but right now I think is this stuff is flat out useless!

For decades, a small contingent of bodybuilders and powerlifters has employed an approach to training called “super-slow training”. What is it? How does it work? What are the advantages and drawbacks? Above all, is it right for you?

Superslow 101

Select 20 exercises to be performed. Two for each major muscle group is a good estimation. Include squats, deadlifts, bench press, chins, curls, and your other standard bodybuilding training staples. Every muscle group should be covered. You will be performing all of these exercises in the same day.

The idea of superslow is that you are able to hit more slow-twitch fibers (normally ignored in weight training) by moving through the movement slower. For exercise #1, start with a standard exercise like the bench press. You will be performing five total reps. Count (or preferably, have a training partner count) the seconds of each lift. The positive, or “lift” section of the exercise will take TEN SECONDS. Move the weight up in a slow, controlled fashion for ten seconds. The negative, or “lowering” of the weight, will take FIVE SECONDS. That is fifteen seconds per rep, for five reps. this means that every set will be 75 second long. Move from the bench press to your next exercise, with 2-4 minutes rest between sets. Perform twenty sets in this fashion.

Advantages

Superslow allows more blood to flow into the region of the muscle being trained. It recruits slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are normally bypassed during standard, faster lifting, which hits those fast-twitch muscle fibers. Powerlifters have found superslow training to add numbers to their lifts. When they return to fast reps, their muscles have newly recruited fibers moving the weight, which often leads to strength gains. Bodybuilders have reported size gains, mainly in the upper body.

Drawbacks

Some trainers find superslow training hard on the ego, as they are using poundage’s about 20% lower than normal. Additionally, some bodybuilders report a drop in leg size if they are unable to “nail” the 2-3 sets they assign to legs. Typically, using higher set ranges (12 to 16 sets), leg size stays constant. Many trainers report a GAIN in upper body size and strength, but a DROP in lower body size and strength.

Jumping In

If superslow training intrigues you, give is a shot! Depending upon your training experience and ability to focus upon the muscle group being trained, you might find it’s just what you’ve been seeking to break a current plateau. You may also find that tossing in a few superslow sets each workout after completing your normal sets is a good compromise, which will allow you to continue the high set volume training you enjoy, along with the benefits of superslow sets.

Let’s face it most people do not have the slightest clue on how to work the shoulder muscles. This is due to the fact that unlike the arm training, shoulder training is a bit complicated. When working the shoulders the most common injury that body builders sustain occurs on the rotator cuffs. Basically this occurs due to vast volume of pressing i.e. bench press, incline press, overhead press to name but a few, and very little volume of work for the opposing muscles on the upper back.

To prevent such type of injury you begin first and foremost by trying to balance the training of your upper body. Thus for each set of pressing you undertake you should couple this with a set of rowing so as to balance the muscles of the shoulder girdle.

This methodology will provide dual benefits in that apart from preventing injuries it will also save you from developing a rounded upper back. It is very important to develop proper posture as this will enhance your performance due to the fact that you’re joints are stabilized and in the right alignment. Aside from improving your performance proper posture will add on to your aesthetic value.

Equalizing pressing with rows is a terrific start, although if you have been exercising in a not so balanced manner for some time then you should consider doing more work for the rotator cuffs. You should note however that this should be done side by side with a balanced training program. Most people make a common mistake of doing a set of heavy bench presses and coupling it with a few set of rotator cuff exercises using 5 pounds so as to prevent injury. This is absolutely wrong and does not make any sense whatsoever.

You should always keep in mind that your first line of defense against injury is a proper and balanced program design. If you are unable to come up with a properly designed training program, seek advice from a friend who is well seasoned or an expert in this field. Remember it is always better to ask and look foolish than to keep quiet and remain foolish. The benefit of a proper program design is that you will achieve high muscle gain while reducing the rate of injuries.

Below is an example a of simple rotator cuff exercises you can apply:

- Prone 90/90 RotationsStart Grab a light dumbbell or plate in each while lying down on a bench. Raise the plates gently off the floor by bending your elbows to 90 degrees and maintaining your upper arm at 90 degrees. This will be your starting position Next step is to keep your elbow in the same position and rotate it at the shoulder until the plates are out to the side of your head. Then go back to the starting position and repeat.

The direct rotator cuff movement is a wonderful addition to an existing sound muscle gaining program. This is just one of the basic rotator cuff exercises although there are many others which exist.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dane_C._Fletcher
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Effectively-Work-the-Shoulder-Muscle&id=1690698

Are you one of the muscle men? Do you train hard, eat right, use the right supplements, and give your body plenty of time to recover? Or are you just spinning your wheels, spending your days talking about how one day you’ll be some great bodybuilder – but you never quite make the steps necessary to achieve this incredible feat? If you’re all talk and no walk, it’s time to make a change. It’s time to get in shape!

The first thing you will want to do it adjust your diet. Start slow. Don’t begin an entirely new diet, or there’s a good chance you’ll fail. Rather, you should focus your energies upon one simple thing at a time. First, add protein to your diet. Just an extra piece of meat, three times per day, will make a significant initial difference. Then, move on to a few more changes. Perhaps you can cut the sugars out of your diet by cutting out the soda, slowly (but watch out for the caffeine headaches!) Add water as well, since the added protein may leave you dehydrated.

Next, start walking. Yes, you might flinch at the idea of moving around you block like an elderly woman. However, it will stimulate blood flow to all areas of your body – particularly to the muscles you want to start punching to new ceilings! Once you’ve walked for a week, get in the gym and complete a week or two of light, full body workouts. From there, move on to hitting each muscle group twice per week using a few more sets and a little more intensity. Finally, use this foundation of fitness and go all out – hitting everything on its own day and returning to the uber-successful 5 day bodybuilding split that is quite the standard.

One common problem that many bodybuilders face is that they are constantly changing things up. You don’t have to continually confuse the muscles of the body in order to become one of the muscle men – instead, you need to simply hammer the muscle groups of the body with a very effective and well thought out workout. You can’t be taking days off of the gym every week for whatever reason. We all have things that limit our schedule – but very rarely do we let them derail our training. If you miss anything more than one workout a month, you’re still spinning your wheels – and real muscle men do not do that! Got it?

Finally, stop talking. Don’t tell your mom, your girlfriend, or your buddies about the bodybuilding success you hope to soon achieve. Rather, just do it, man! Don’t plan out loud. Keep your mouth shut. Anytime you want to start babbling about yourself, instead go to the kitchen and cook a meal for later. Complete some crunches. Just do anything but waste time planning for something that doesn’t require that much planning, that you should be doing already. Just train baby – stop talking about it and just do it!

Bodybuilders Santi Aragon and Jonathan Irizarry hit some poses the day before their shoot with REPS Magazine in Las Vegas, NV. Both bodybuilders are featured in the Spring 2011 (issue 12) edition of REPS. See a lot more of Jonathan and Santi in the bodybuilding DVD Guns Vehas 2010 Volume 1, available now at MostMuscular.Com.

Source