Build Muscle & Lose Fat Easier by Manipulating Your Training Variables

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another. You're cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you've gained back a couple of pounds. It happens to everyone. Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine. Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!

There are many ways that you can strategically modify your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all. However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the time under tension, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week. Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to obtain the best results from your workouts, doesn't it? Well, that's where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn't get stale. Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.

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Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Booooorrrrring! Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

•Try 10 sets of 3, with only 20 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a moderately heavy weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.

•Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise

•Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes. With this example, you could try sets of 5 reps at a moderately heavy weight every 2 minutes until you reach 20 minutes.

•Try a workout based on all bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, bodyweight squats, lunges, step-ups, etc.

•Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.

•Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.

•Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.

•Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.

•Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables. I hope this article gave you some ideas on methods for you to take your body to the next level. Keep in mind that no matter what style of training you are using at any given time, progression on subsequent workouts should be your goal. Work hard and train smart and watch your body change!

Elliptical Trainers and Burning Calories Secret Tips

Many people ask if the use of elliptical trainers is a good way to burn calories.

Ebooks!

One simple answer: Yes! Very much so.

Elliptical trainers are a great way to burn calories and are a fun workout at the same time. If you goal is to loose weight you do have to understand how a "calorie diet" works. To shed the unwanted weight you must burn more calories than you take in. Put simply, you must burn more calories than you eat. So if you decide to eat the slice of pizza be ready to do a ton of exercise to work that off.

Humans throughout the day will burn a certain amount of calories doing normal functions such as working at a job, walking around and doing housework. This has to be taken into account so you really do not have to workout to burn calories.

If you are physically active during the day you will not have to restrict your diet as much as someone who sits in an office chair all day.

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How can an elliptical trainers use benefit someone watching calories?

The user of an elliptical trainer will help you burn a tremendous amount of calories. By burning more calories it will allow you to loose weight faster and eat a little bit more since you have worked off some calories already.

One mistake many people make is they burn off 500 calories working out then they over eat and take in 700. This isn't really helping you as you are 200 calories higher than prior to working out. Doing something like burning off 500 calories and eating 400 calories is "better" as it allows you to still have 100 calories less that what you took in.

Rules to follow to build muscles

Do not underestimate breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal on the day. Breakfast counteracts your muscles to breaking down on the most effective way. On the night the blood sugar is goes down and if you not eat a good breakfast you stop your muscle from growing.

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Nutrition

Do not take nutrition instead of food. Nutrition works best as a compliment to your food or as a boost before training. But never believe that nutrition makes your muscle grow the way that real food does. Also test different to see what nutrition that fits your body best.

Eat every 3-4 hour

You muscle grow as long as you have the right amount of blood sugar in your body. As long as you have that the body knows its okay to build muscles. You have that right amount in your body about 3-4 hours after your last meal. That means you have to eat every 3-4 hour to maintain the right balance in your body and to continue to grow muscle.

Drink Water

Every chemical rejection in your body happens in a water based environment. If you do not drink water you are going to dry and your functions in your body works poorly. Functions like fat burning, muscle grow and condition.

Control what you eat

Analyse what you eat and see if you get enough to build muscle. One way to do that is to whey your food for three days. This is to see your how much protein, carbs and fat you get. Do this a couple of times a year to see your development. This is easy to do with help of a diet program

Vary the food

This is a key for success. The big advantage you get is that your body do not get used to one certain nourishment. The risk is also minimal that you get lack of something, and surely will get the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your muscles need to grow.

Eat right before training

You need to load your body right before you can perform a good workout. If you are training in the morning it can be good to eat lot of carbs the night before. If you are training in the evenings you have many meals to get you prepared for your workout.

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Eat right after training

After breakfast this is the most important meal for you. After training you muscle are broke down, and you need to eat as fast as you can after training. Your muscles need both protein and carbs to grow, and here can your nutrition drinks be very important. This gives you both carbs and protein fast.

About Vitamins - Everything you need to know!

Learning about vitamins can be confusing, especially when you are trying to figure out just what type of supplements you should be taking. We've all been told at one time or another, that if we ate a nutritionally balanced meal three times a day we wouldn't need dietary supplements or need to know about vitamins, but of course, this just isn't realistic in our society.

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A huge number of us are stressed out on a routine basis, and don't always have time to eat at all let alone a nutritionally balanced meal (and three of them?!). Vitamins should never be substituted for good nutritional intake. Your body needs fuel to accomplish all the tasks you have to attend to in a day. A good diet is one with plenty of calcium, protein, fats, carbohydrates, and fiber supplemented by vitamins as needed for specific health concerns.

Many food items are enriched with vitamins and minerals, like breads, pastas, and cereals. Information about vitamins listed on packaging includes the percentage of the daily recommended allowance of each, which will give you a pretty good idea how much you are getting of a certain vitamin or mineral. Calcium is an important mineral for women, and most sources about vitamins state that women should consume at least 1200-1500 mg of calcium daily. Most calcium supplements only contain 30-50% of the recommended daily amounts and must be supplemented by diet intake of other sources, such as cheese, yogurt, milk, and ice cream. About vitamin D, this is an important vitamin and is essential to bone health, and is included in some calcium supplements as well. Vitamin D can be absorbed through the skin via sunlight as well, but for people living in northern states, or for the elderly, this is not always an option, therefore a vitamin supplement is the answer.

Part of taking care of yourself is learning about vitamins and minerals that our bodies require for optimal health. Many sources are available to you to learn more about vitamins and how certain vitamin deficiencies as well as excess intake can be detrimental to your health. It's important to take an active role in your health, and be knowledgeable about vitamins in your cabinet and which are right for you. In addition to searching on the web, you can find an abundance of information about vitamins in various health publications, or you can even consult a nutritionist or naturopathic physician for advice about vitamins and supplements, and how you can implement them into your diet. Here's to your good health!