Bodybuilding Quiz: How Motivated Do You Feel?

October 15th, 2009

Copyright 2006 Marc David

Let me make a prediction…

96.8% of subscribers who actually are reading this have wished they had more passion in the gym.

And a full 99% of those still reading, do not have their goals written down anywhere.

Why is motivation so difficult?  How come the #1 question I receive is from somebody who asks, “I know what to do, but I just need somebody to motivate me to do it all year round.”

So let me ask you…

Can you clearly see your goals that you want to obtain?  No really.  Can you SHOW me what you want to accomplish in the next 6 months?

Personally I always thought that writing down your goals and to-do’s was crap.  Until I took a sticky yellow post-it and wrote down 4 things I wanted to accomplish on my website over the weekend.  Nothing fancy at all but clearly the things I wanted to do.  They were specific, simple and realistic.

Needless to say…

I did them all over the weekend.  And here I’d thought about them for 6 months!

Look… goal orientation is the key element in establishing strong motivation.

Let me say that again - Knowing what you want to accomplish is key in establishing the desire to actually do it!

A goal is nothing more than a stepping stone from one goal to another.  It’s the bridge between wanting to achieve something and actually achieving it.

So let’s being with the Six Steps you must do to go from thinking about it, to actually doing it.

:: A Goal Must Be Well Defined ::

If you’ve seen those Red Cross thermometers or any place that shows some type of chart with the money received and the ultimate goal.. that is pretty well defined.

Just think about it…

What sounds best to you?

a) I want to lose weight
b) I want to destroy 15 lbs of fat and get to 10% body fat with a year

Please tell me you picked B.  B is clearly more defined and therefore more obtainable.

:: A Goal Must Be Stated In Writing ::

Life gets in the way.  My story of wanting to do just 4
simple things to my own website that I had the ability to do just kept getting buried under the complexities of life and schedules.

Once it was a simple post-it note on my desk, it had a magical way of getting done as I checked off each item.  It didn’t require any more work on my part but it was defined and clearly visible.

Everybody says this right?  Even Tony Robbins, Tom Venuto, Jon Benson, Jeff Anderson, and the rest of them.

But guess what?  Those guys are right.  That is their secret to success.

They write down what they want and once it’s in writing, it gets done.

The rest of us think about it forever and never really get around to doing it.

Heck, if you don’t write down a grocery list of what you want, you’ll forget things at the store, get distracted and make 4 more trips that weekend.

Opps… maybe that is why I should take a list to the store.  Saves on gas too.

My point is, your goals MUST be written down.

:: A Goal Must Be Stated In The Positive ::

I’m not a medical doctor of some Neuro-Linguistic
Programming, but I know enough about the  subconscious to know it doesn’t understand negative goals.

Use a positive mindset when creating a goal.  “I won’t eat junk food” is better stated as “I will eat healthy foods eat day.”  Even better is “I will enjoy eating healthy foods each day.”

Now your goal is an affirmation which can be used to kick- start some action!

Rather then state what you won’t do, start telling yourself what you will do.

:: A Goal Must Have A Deadline For Completion ::

How many of you get excited about payday?  Or an up-coming vacation?  Or even a UFC fight in Las Vegas?

Simple.  It’s something to look forward to and think
about.  It creates a sense of urgency in ordering tickets and getting the hotel if you know you are leaving on a specific date.

If there’s no real goal for completion, there’s no sense of urgency after a bit and hence, most people quit the gym after 6 months.

Not only did they not have a clear goal most of the time but they had no deadlines for obtaining anything.

After a bit, it’s just a routine, gets boring and since
there’s no deadline to accomplishing anything, they get back to life and out of the gym.

:: A Goal Must Have Sincere Emotional Appeal ::

So let me ask you…

If you don’t really care, how much passion do you have for that thing?

Creating a goal should be a sincere effort with something tied to your emotional desires.

Heck if you don’t even care, trust me, your mind will find a quick way to end that gym session.

An emotionally charged goal will have a sense of urgency and that leads to passion to complete something specific by a certain deadline.

Passion is the fuel you are looking for and only you can create it.  Sadly, it’s not available in any gas stations that I know of… yet.

:: A Goal Must Be Difficult, Yet Realistic ::

With that said, if it’s too easy, it’s unlikely you’ll give
it enough attention to really focus on it or care.  “I’m
going to make it to the gym tomorrow,” is hardly an earth shattering revelation for most.  To make matters worse…

If it’s too difficult, you’ll get frustrated with the lack
of progress and your confidence in actually doing it will be compromised.  That means…

You need to create goals in such a way that with a
continual, concentrated effort, you know you can get the job done.

Imagine a mountain top with a red flag at the very top.  That is your long term goal (specific too).  But it’s unrealistic to think you can achieve that in 2 months.

But if you had little yellow flags along the path to that red flag, those would be short term, achievable goals you could look forward to with a sense of urgency because they could have a shorter deadline and time to completion.

How about losing 1 lb a week of fat?

How about gaining 2 lbs a week for those who are on a bulking cycle?

How about writing one question and answer a day for the Beginner’s Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding?  (That’s how I got all 250 pages of my first book done.)

Short term thinking but with long term results.

If you know you can get the job done, your passion for doing it will rise.

Now go get some yellow sticky notes!

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Age-Related Muscle Changes

May 18th, 2009

One of the hallmark features of aging is the loss of muscular mass and strength.  Much of this loss can be explained by changes to the neuromuscular system such as decreased number of motor neurons, decreased number of muscle fibers, and decrease muscle fiber size.  But it is important to ask whether these changes are a consequence of aging or simply a result of an inactive lifestyle.

Age-Related Changes to Muscle

The age related decline in muscle mass appears to occur in 2 phases.  The first or “slow” phase of muscle loss, in which 10% of muscle mass is lost, occurs between the ages of 25 and 50.  The majority of muscle loss occurs thereafter where an additional 40% is lost from the ages of 50 to 85.  Overall, the human body loses 50% of its muscle mass by the age of 80.  This muscle atrophy can be explained by significant decreases in both the total number of muscle fibers, as well as in muscle fiber size.

It has been shown that aging results in a loss of the power and speed producing fast twitch fibers (particularly IIb) and an increase in the more aerobic slow twitch fibers.   This seems to make sense since movements that demand a high velocity of contraction (such as jumping and sprinting) tend to be less in the older years. 

Mechanisms of Strength Loss

The problems with decreasing strength can be seen in its contribution to osteoporotic decline in bone density, arthritic joint pain, and an overall reduced functional capacity.

With the loss in muscle mass evidently comes a decrease in muscular strength.  However, as with muscle loss, most strength losses are not significant until the sixth decade.  As briefly mentioned, this loss in strength can be attributed to a decrease in the number of motor units (nerve-muscle fiber complex), the decreased number of muscle fibers and the reduction in muscle fiber size.  It is also known that a decline in leg strength precedes upper extremity strength loss in the elderly.  This is important due to the fact that strength, rather than cardiovascular function, is considered to be the most physically limiting factor in the elderly.   This is apparent when considering strength-limiting activities faced by many seniors such as getting up from a seated position or walking up stairs.

Encouraging is the finding that aging does not seem to effect eccentric strength.  This phase of contraction is an important consideration for the elderly due to the possible linkage between poor eccentric strength and the incidence of falls in the elderly.

The Importance of Active Living

Regular exercise is the most effective way to slow and counteract the effects of age-related muscle and strength loss.  Comparisons between active and sedentary older adults suggest that much of the strength loss with aging is due lifestyle factors.  For example, individuals who continue to use certain muscles on a regular basis do not show the same age-related decreases in strength.  In general, muscle atrophy, and thus strength loss, will occur any time the muscles are not required to work against a given load.  The result will be a decrease in protein synthesis accompanied by an increase in protein breakdown. Overall, the muscle atrophies and loses much of its strength, characteristics commonly seen in astronauts during space flight.  Incorporating regular resistance training is the most effective means of attenuating this effect.
Encouraging Findings

Studies have consistently shown that regular exercise can improve muscular endurance and strength in the elderly in a manner similar to that observed in young people.  One of the largest studies in this field was done at McMaster University several years ago.  The researchers looked at the effects of 2 years of twice/weekly strength training (80-85% 1RM) across 114 subjects between the ages of 60-80 years.   The results indicated steady increases in strength in each of the muscle groups tested with no evidence of plateauing.  There were also significant increases in muscle mass accompanying the gains in strength and, perhaps more importantly, there was evidence that these strength gains translated into improved function (as measured by walking and stair climbing performance).

Although there are certain unavoidable changes that occur with aging, it is possible to delay or attenuate the losses muscle mass and strength normally accompanying these changes.  Since so many daily living activities such as walking, climbing stairs, and standing up from a chair are so dependent on strength it is imperative to minimize the age-related loss in strength as much as possible.  The muscles in older adults maintain their ability to adapt; therefore, regular resistance training (2-3x/week) should be implemented into the lifestyle of such individuals.  Moreover, a similar strength training protocol needs to be employed in younger adults as means of prevention and staying healthy into the golden years!

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Abdominal Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders

May 13th, 2009

 

The abdomen contains the muscles that most beginners struggle with because they take a long time to develop and need a low level of body fat to be seen. The abdominal muscle group consists of three main muscles:

1. Rectus abdominis - commonly known as the abs, this is a large flat muscle wall that runs from the lower chest to the pubic bone.

2. Obliquus abdominis - commonly known as the obliques, this muscle runs diagonally along the side of the mid-section from the lower ribcage to the pubic area. The internal obliques lie underneath the external obliques.

3. Transversus abdominis - this is a thin strip of muscle that runs horizontally across the abdomen.

You can target these muscles effectively by performing the following exercises:

1. Crunches - 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the upper abs.

2. Pelvic tilts - 3 sets of 15-20 reps.This exercise will target the lower portion of the abdomen below the navel.

3. Side bends - 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the obliques.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your abdominal exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

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7 Reasons Why Your Muscles Stop Growing. How To Get Muscle To Grow Again

May 12th, 2009

Have ever wondered why your muscles stopped growing after a few months of training even though you are training very hard? Here are 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing and how to get your muscle to grow again.

• You are training too hard – Every time when you train your muscles intensely, you are actually breaking down your muscles. So your muscles need to recover from the damages you inflicted on them. So train each muscle group only once or at most twice a week.

• You are training too long – Keep your workout intense but do not workout more than an hour each time. After 45 minutes of intensive training, your cortisol level will increase. This hormone is known to destroy muscle cells.

• You are sleeping too little – You need to sleep more for good muscle growth. Your muscles grow when you sleep. So sleep more than 8 hours a day and watch those muscles growing fast.

• You are abusing alcohol – Alcohol is known to break down muscle mass plus many other body destruction ability.

• You do not change your workout routine – You must change your workout routine every 6-8 weeks. Your muscles adapt to your routine and stops growing.

• You do not progressively overload your muscles – You must try to increase your reps or weight every time you next train a particular muscle group. Otherwise, there is no reason for your muscles to grow.

• You do not eat sufficient protein – If you want to build bigger muscles, you must eat more protein. Protein is the building block for your muscles. It is recommended that you need 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight equivalent. If not enough protein is consumed with your normal diet, do supplement with protein shakes.

There you are, the 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing even though you are training hard. There are many more methods on how to grow your muscles bigger but these 7 reasons and how to overcome them will be sufficient for an average bodybuilding beginner.

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2 Simple Steps To Ripped Summertime Muscles

May 11th, 2009

Summer is on the horizon, and the time has come to kick back and relax under the sun. It’s time for beach days, barbecues and pool parties, and for any serious weightlifter these activities also mean one thing: it’s time for the shirts to come off and to showcase that rock-solid physique they’ve been working on all year. No one wants to be walking around with a soft, smooth and flabby body, and for the next month or two, all of those serious lifters will be shifting into “get ripped” mode.

How do they usually go about this?

They lighten up the weights and perform higher reps.

This has always been a widely accepted method of “cutting down” and if you ask most trainers in the gym they’ll tell you that “heavy weights bulk up the muscle and lighter weights define the muscle”.

Do you want to know the reality behind the “light weight and high reps” method of obtaining a ripped and defined physique?

It is completely, totally and utterly DEAD WRONG.

It couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there is no logical basis for this way of training whatsoever, and whoever dreamt up this downright ridiculous way of thinking has caused the vast majority of lifters to waste their time and impede their progress in the gym.

Let me clear this up once and for all: you CANNOT spot reduce. In other words, it is physically impossible to target fat loss from a specific area on your body. Performing bench presses with light resistance and high repetitions will not magically burn fat off of your chest or cause it to appear harder and more defined.

Every single time you wrap your hands around a barbell, dumbbell or cable, your goal is to stimulate as much muscle growth as you possibly can. There are no special, secret weightlifting exercises that will “define” your muscles or cause them to become more “ripped”.

Training with weights builds muscle mass, end of story.

So how exactly do you “define” a muscle?

The only way to “define” a muscle is by lowering your body fat level in order to make your muscles more visible. Body fat reduction can be achieved in two ways:

1) Modify your diet.

You should lower your overall caloric intake to around 15x your bodyweight and focus on consuming smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism naturally raised at all times and will keep your body in a constant fat burning state. Limit your intake of saturated fats and simple sugars, and focus instead on consuming lean sources of protein and low glycemic carbohydrates. It is also very important to keep your water intake high at a level of around 0.6 ounces per pound of bodyweight.

2) Perform proper cardio workouts.

Let go of the traditional method of moderate intensity cardio in 30-45 minute durations. If you want to maximize your body’s fat burning capacity and also minimize the muscle loss that inevitably accompanies a fat burning cycle, focus on shorter cardio workouts performed at a high level of intensity. These types of workouts will shoot your resting metabolism through the roof and will allow you to burn maximum amounts of fat even when you are at rest. I recommend 3-5 high intensity cardio sessions per week, spaced at least 8 hours away from your weight workouts.

That’s all there is to it, folks. Take the notion of “light weight and higher reps” and throw it right out the window, down the street and around the corner. Following this misguided method will only cause you to lose muscle mass and strength, and will not assist you in burning fat or defining your physique.

All you need to do to mold those rock-solid muscles for the summer time is this:

1) Train with heavy weights and low repetitions to build maximum muscle mass.

2) Modify your diet and implement cardio workouts to eliminate body fat and create visibly harder and more defined muscles.

End of story.

I’ll see you at the beach!

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Estrogen Helps Build Muscle

April 24th, 2009

Will estrogen assist with muscle growth? Is estrogen always undesirable when using anabolic steroids? Reports show that the use of anti-estrogen or aromatase inhibiting drugs may hinder gains during anabolic steroid use. Below is a snapshot of the comparative effectiveness of some aromatizable and non-aromatizable steroids, as well as the way estrogen can play a beneficial role in building muscle.


All anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) cause muscle growth by way of the androgen receptor (AR) found inside muscle cells. The steroid binds to and activates the androgen receptor causing the cell to increase protein synthesis. Although this is already well known, it is suggested that other processes may also be responsible for promoting muscle cell growth other than the AR.

 

As it turns out, when Testosterone, Nandrolone and Methenolone are converted to estrogen by the aromatase enzyme, it has a much higher affinity for the AR (3-4 times) than the original steroids.  Therefore, causing the muscle cells to produce even more proteins.  Does this mean we should stop using estrogen management drugs?  Absolutely not.  This is just a simple example why not to go overboard with the use of these drugs for fear of side estrogen related effects.

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Online Steroid Source Checks

April 23rd, 2009

Most everyone who has made the decision to begin using AAS has realized the importance of checking to see how legitimate their online source is.  Buying steroids online can be a tedious and overwhelming process especially with the amount of scammers there are out there today.  So, you may ask, “Why check more sources if I already have a good one?”  Well, there are several good reasons to keep yourself up to date on who is hot and who is not.

 

Every source has an expiration date, even if it’s to no fault of their own.  So, do you want to be left high and dry when you need your gear the most?  I didn’t think so.  So, common sense dictates that it makes sense to keep your finger on the pulse of the AAS scene so you can make a better informed decision on which source you might use in a pinch should your usual one go away.

 

It has also been said that it is better to utilize several sources at one time so all your “eggs” are not in one basket.   Many online steroid sources offer a “one-stop-shop” approach by stocking a very large selection of anabolic steroids.  This is to get you to buy your entire steroid cycle from them, to include your PCT drugs.  Although this seems pretty beneficial to the customer, the trap usually lies in the prices as they may be a bit higher than others.    Other online steroid sources have a small selection that consists of only their brand of gear and rely on a more personalized “mom and pop” approach to attract and keep clients.  How you choose to split up (or not split) your order, however, is up to you.

 

Last but not least……lets not forget the scammers.  Check, check, and re-check your sources.  Keep looking for new ones and keep an eye on them as well because you never know when you’re going to need them to buy your steroids online.

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Hey everyone!

April 23rd, 2009

Welcome to TSC’s news blog.  Please check back often for updated news about AAS, bodybuilding and the only unbiased source check board on the net!

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