beginners workout - very basic and vague i have better ones

The following workout should be used by individuals with little or no strength training experience. This workout will focus on improving your muscular strength and muscular endurance. Strength training will also improve your body composition by decreasing fat tissue and increasing lean tissue. An increase in lean or muscle tissue will assist you in burning more calories at rest. Additionally, strength training improves tendon, ligament, and bone strength, and strength training will improve your muscle tone.

You should perform strength training exercises 2-3 days / week with a minimal rest period of 48 hours between workouts.

Start with a weight that you can lift for 8-12 repetitions. You should increase the weight once you can perform 12 repetitions with the weight that you are using.

Strength training machines are recommended for beginners because they are generally safer than free weights. After you gain experience using machines and your fitness level improves, you can incorporate free weights into your strength training routine.

The following 8 exercises will utilize your major muscle groups: hips, legs, chest, back, shoulders, and arms: Start with 1 set of 8 - 12 repetitions for the first couple of weeks and gradually increase to a maximum of 3 to 4 sets per exercise per bodypart over a couple of months. As your strength level increases, you will also experience an increase in intensity of training and your workouts will get harder and harder. This type of full body routine should last you about 6 months. You can then fairly safely move on to an intermediate training routine.

* Machine Leg Press.
* Leg Extension.
* Lying Leg Curl.
* Machine Bench Press.
* Machine Shoulder Press.
* Seated Cable Row.
* Machine Arm Curl.
* Tricep Pushdown.

20 diet tips for all

I read a lot of bodybuilding magazines, read a lot on nutrition, and usually I find a few little gems or tips that I trial in my training. Some things seem to work well while others have no effect. So I got to thinking, what are some of the useful diet tips I've picked over my years in bodybuilding that virtually all trainers should be doing. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Eat enough protein.

If you are seriously trying to add muscle, you have to train hard, heavy and eat plenty of quality protein. As a general rule of thumb, to gain mass you should eat 3 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight every day. Eat plenty of lean meats, chicken and fish. I find that using a good quality protein supplement can easily add a virtually fat free 100+ grams of protein if taken 2 - 3 times a day. The best protein supplements on the market are based on ionised whey protein.

2. Eat 6 smaller meals per day.

This tip appears in just about every magazine you'll ever read. But that's because there are good physiological reasons to eat more frequent smaller meals. Smaller meals don't overload your digestive system as the usual 3 square meals a day will. This means you will utilise the nutrients in each meal more completely. Secondly, you will not allow your body to slip into a starvation mode, where it can begin burning muscle tissue for energy - you definitely don't want this. More frequent meals will prevent this problem. Remember, make sure you get protein in each meal.

3. Cut out simple sugars.

Ice creamsSugar plays havoc with your metabolism, especially with insulin and blood sugars. The best way to get the carbohydrates you need is through complex carbs such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta. Moderate fruit intake as most fruits are high in sugar. Stay away from lollies, chocolate, ice cream, honey, jam and soft drinks. Your metabolism will be much more stable, you will have more energy, and you will be leaner. Read food labels and check sugar levels on products.

4. Eat more earlier in the day.

Your body will utilise the food you eat much better if you eat more during the first half of the day, and less in the second half. This is generally opposite to how most people traditionally eat. If you eat more of your calories in the morning, you will tend to use the food for energy and building muscle. On the other hand, higher food consumption in the second half of the day will generally lead to higher levels of fat being gained. So the simple rules are, eat a bigger breakfast, morning snack and lunch, then progressively lighter meals through the rest of the day.

5. Take vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins and mineralsTaking a good quality vitamin and mineral supplement is like an insurance policy. Studies show that hard trainers require extra nutrients, especially vitamins and minerals. Deficiencies usually don't show up as a problem until you are severely depleted which is often too late. Typically, frequent illness or injury indicates a lack of one or more essential micronutrients. So it's a must to choose a good quality vitamin & mineral supplement - and take it every day! Just a word on a special class of vitamins, the anti-oxidants. Studies show that Vitamin C, E and Beta Carotene are especially required if you are an athlete to reduce the damage caused by free radicals from extra oxygen uptake. All bodybuilders should take 500 - 1000mg of Vitamin C, 500 - 1000 IU's of Vitamin E each day, and ensure your vitamin & mineral supplement contains adequate Beta Carotene.

6. Before training nutrition.

Generally, you don't want to be eating much food for at least an hour before a workout, but there are a number of products specifically designed to boost workout performance, and a few things you can do with your diet to boost workout intensity. On the product side, look for pre-workout supplements that contain nutrients such as complex carbs, Creatine, HMB, L-Carnitine, and energy producing amino acids. Another pre-workout tip is to be well hydrated, drink plenty of water for the few hours before training.

7. After training nutrition.

There are two critical time windows that all trainers can take advantage of after hard training. The first is within 30 minutes of actually finishing your workout. During this time, your muscles and system are extremely sensitive to the uptake of nutrients, however your digestive system is not operating well as it will partially shut down while you train and takes about 30 - 60 minutes to work optimally. So you should concentrate on consuming perhaps an isotonic sports drink, and maybe something like a protein / carb bar and recovery nutrients such as HMB, BCAA's, L-Glutamine and Colostrum. Normally, I would take these sorts of supplements on my way home from the gym. The second window occurs from about 30 minutes to about 2 hour after you train. Your body is now in a state where it will hungrily absorb any nutrition you provide - so feeding it the right mix is essential. Numerous studies have shown that the best nutrition is an easily digested protein / carbohydrate meal - something like MAX'S Extreme Growth is ideal for this purpose.

8. Eat low fat.

chicken_breast.jpgWhile a certain amount of fat is essential in your diet, it's actually a pretty low level, and from a general health perspective, low fat eating will means you will generally enjoy better health, stay leaner, and have more energy to train and build muscle. So stay away from fat laden foods. Virtually all fast food is high in saturated fats - eat only occasionally. Choose lean meats, use butter and margarine sparingly, and stay away from creamy sauces, toppings and deserts. In general, fats should account for no more than about 15 - 20 % of the calories you eat.

Nutrient Proportions
As I mentioned in the last point, you need to follow a diet plan that delivers the approximate food proportions:

Protein - 30% of calories

Carbohydrates - 55% of calories

Fat - 15% of calories

Remember that when you are working out your diet plan, protein and carbs contribute about 4 calories for every gram you eat. Fat contributes 9 calories per gram - so you consume more than twice as many calories from eating fat as from protein or carbohydrates, and that's why I advocate eating low fat. Another important point - there are two basic groups of carbohydrates, simple sugars and complex carbohydrates. Simple sugars should be avoided as I outlined above, as they are readily converted to and stored as fat. The carbs you should be eating are the complex type - breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.

9. Count calories.

calorie_counter.jpgThe only way to really be sure about your food intake is to count calories. I've mentioned this in a previous article but a good little piece of software for analysing food can be found here. An alternative is to go to a good health food store and get hold of a calorie, nutrition analysis book. Simply make a list of everything you eat each day, tally up the calories and compare with your diet plan. As a general guide, if your are on a mass gaining diet, I recommend that you consume 3,500+ calories a day. If you are trying to strip bodyfat, 2,000 - 2,500 calories per day.

10. Record your nutrient intake.

From the previous point, most good competitive bodybuilders plan what they will eat, and record every scrap of food that goes into their mouths, especially during contest preparation. A really good idea is to keep a training diary. I find the best is a purpose designed diary that has sections to record all the information you require. You can buy these from some gyms.

11. Don't skip meals

When you skip meals, your body goes into starvation mode, your blood sugar drops, you get very hungry, and are very likely to binge eat, which is one of the main causes of increased body fat. Having a regular supply of quality food throughout the day means you won't go hungry and your metabolism will remain stable.

12. Pre-prepare your meals.

prepared_meal.jpgI'm a big fan of pre-preparing meals for the day, or even for a few days ahead. During my competitive days I would grill several chicken breast and a fresh green salad and constantly snack on this during the day. I often prepared 3 - 4 days of chicken breasts, placed them in plastic containers and put them in the freezer. Then I'd just grab my daily rations on the way to work and I was always sure I got the right amount of quality food every day.

13. Drink plenty of water.

You've probably read this many times, but to a bodybuilder, drinking enough water is vitally important for a number of reasons. Firstly, hard training dehydrates you very quickly, especially in warm weather. Secondly, the extra protein eaten by bodybuilders is broken down and reused to form new muscle tissue as well as used for building other essential enzymes, compounds, tissues, etc. Also, a significant amount of waste product including toxic Ammonia is flushed from your system in your urine. Keeping the body well hydrated is essential to maintain proper elimination of these waste by-products. Generally you should aim to drink 3 - 5 litres per day depending on your activity level.

14. Use creatine.

Creatine Monohydrate is probably the next best bodybuilding supplement to using a quality protein. We consistently see major gains in size (3 - 6 kg) and strength in very short periods (4 - 6 weeks). Creatine works by giving you more energy to train, you can train harder so you make gains faster. It also helps your muscles retain more fluid - your muscle literally pump up. Creatine is a must for all serious trainers.

15. Low carbohydrates to strip bodyfat.

I wrote a long article about this in Ironman a few months ago. Basically, if you change your diet so that you eat very low levels of carbs over a several months or longer, your body reverts to burning fat as its major energy source. The result - you can strip bodyfat at an amazing rate. This is the approach most competitive bodybuilders use to get ripped for a contest.

16. HMB for muscle recovery and growth.

I've already mentioned Creatine, however another extremely promising supplement is HMB (Beta-Hydroxy Beta-Methylbutyrate). HMB is a metabolite of the BCAA L-Leucine and acts by dramatically reduce damage to trained muscle and therefore speeding the recovery and growth process. Recent studies have shown 3g of HMB daily produced a 300% improvement in muscle gains over a control group - definitely worth trying!

17. Eat clean foods.

As a general rule, you should always opt for unprocessed foods over highly refined foods. This means plenty of salads, raw and steamed or microwaved vegetables, wholemeal breads, unprocessed cereals such as rolled oats and natural muesli. You will build a much better quality body if you eat better quality food.

18. Eat slowly.

With today's busy world, its rush, rush, rush! Even when you eat, many of us devour our food rather than eat it properly. If you eat your food deliberately and make sure you really chew it, break it up in your mouth, especially animal proteins such as meat, your system will digest the food much more easily and you will assimilate the optimal levels of nutrient from your food. Just this little thing alone can make a big difference to the value of the food you eat - ensuring maximum growth.

19. Be consistent.

There's nothing like hard consistent training and a good quality high protein diet for consistent natural muscle gains. On the other hand, the easiest way to ensure you don't make gains is by not sticking to the game plan. You must follow your plan, virtually 7 days a week, 365 days a year - and then you will see good results. Many trainers who complain about not making progress are simply not sticking to a consistent game plan.

20. Good fats.

good_fats.jpgWhile I mentioned above that you should eat low fat, there are certain fats that are in fact worth including in your diet. The omega-3 oils found in ocean fish, canola, green vegetables and some nuts like walnuts have a very beneficial effect on your metabolism and health. This fat enhances IGF-1 activity, improves bone density, and protects against heart disease. I recommend eating fish twice a week or lo

Put your Mind & Body on "Autopilot"

i found this greaT article on mind and body

Did you know that habits are incredibly powerful tools for personal growth and success?


Think about the habits you have now and how they affect virtually every aspect of your life. Your weight and health are determined by your eating habits. Your relationships with people are determined by your social habits. Your success at work is determined by your work habits. You have sleeping habits that dictate how well you sleep. You have sexual habits. You even have buying habits; just take a look around your house and you will quickly see them. Our character, health and virtually every aspect of our lives are indeed determined by our habits.

If you ask ten people on the street what the word habit means, nine out of ten will tell you that a habit is a negative action that people do over and over again, like smoking, or procrastinating, or eating too much. Bad habits get all the press. Let’s look at the results of just one bad habit: smoking. Every year, over 400,000 people lose their lives to smoking-related illnesses in the United States. Imagine then, the negative power that exists in just that one bad habit. It is staggering.

Now I want you think about an even greater power, a power that can bring you success, health and happiness; a power for positive, permanent, and automatic personal growth: the power of positive habits. Let’s look a little closer at the meaning of the word habit. Random House dictionary defines habit in this way:

Habit: An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

The important words in this definition are acquired and almost involuntary. Let me ask you a question. When is the last time you sat down and said to yourself, "Today I am going to add a new habit to my life?" I would venture to guess that you have probably never said those words. As you read this article, you will see how easy it is to add positive habits to your life and the great power they have to change it. Think about the words almost involuntary. This means the habit is so powerful in your mind that it is almost unstoppable! With respect to bad habits like smoking, procrastination, and overeating, this is very bad. But with positive habits, this is very, very good.

What is a positive habit? A positive habit is simply a habit that produces positive benefits, actions and attitudes you want to acquire and make a part of your life. Why is there such great power in positive habits to effect change? Because habits, by their very nature, are automatic. After a period of time they can become permanent.

So how do we go about adding new positive habits to our life? It’s really quite easy. You simply begin repeating an action, attitude or thought process every day for at least 21 days. Research has shown that an action that is repeated for a minimum of 21 days is likely to become a permanent habit. Remember that positive habits have positive benefits and you will reap those benefits for as long as you maintain that habit. So now that we know what positive habits are, and how to acquire them, let’s look at some simple positive habits from the book that will help you reach your goals and have a healthier body.

Positive Habit #53 - Make it a habit to set goals

Since we are talking about goals, what better habit could you have then the habit of setting goals? Did you know that the most successful people all share the common positive habit of goal setting? A study was done to determine the importance of goal setting. College students who had gone on to achieve great success in business were asked to list their habits. The students who had made a habit of setting goals were in the top 3% of earnings in the population! It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of goal-setting as a positive habit. Goal setting is simple, yet 97% of the population never do it. By making goal setting a positive habit, you can start placing yourself in the top 3% of the population of successful people.

Here are some simple steps to help you start making goal setting a positive habit:

Step 1 - Define your goals, write them down, and be very specific; capture your goals on paper. It is amazing how many people never take the time to write down exactly what it is they want in life. Remember, you can’t hit a target if you don’t have one.

Step 2 - Determine what the time line is for reaching your goals; set specific deadlines for each goal.

Step 3 - Identify any obstacles that may stand in your way, list them, and state how you plan to overcome them.

Step 4 - Make a list of the people and/or organizations who will help you reach your goals.

Positive Habit #3 - Take Flax Every Day for a Healthy, Trim Body and Lower Cholesterol!

What is flax?

Flax is a blue-flowering plant known for its oil-rich seed. People have been eating flaxseed since ancient times, it has a pleasant, nutty flavor. The health benefits of flaxseed and flaxseed oil are significant and for that reason this habit is recommended as a primary habit for health and a trim and fit body. Here are some of the benefits of flaxseed and flaxseed oil:

Flaxseed contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. Several studies have shown that flaxseed can help to lower cholesterol in the same way that other soluble fiber foods like oat bran and fruit pectin do. A study at the University of Toronto showed that total cholesterol levels dropped 9% and LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) decreased 18% among a group of women who ate milled flaxseed cooked into bread every day for a period of 4 weeks.

Flaxseed is one of the richest sources of lignans and alpha-linolenic acid. Studies suggest that lignans may help to prevent certain cancers. Flaxseed is one of the few plants in the plant kingdom that provide a high ratio of alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) to linoleic (omega-6 fatty acids), it is an excellent source of healthy polyunsaturated fat.

A new study has confirmed that the positive habit of taking flax seed daily can help you get a trim and fit body. I interviewed Dr. Sam Bhathena, a researcher at the Phytonutrients Laboratory of the US department of Agriculture, he said, "we have observed that flax seed meal is much more effective in lowering cholesterol then soy. Several other studies have shown that in general, omega-3 fatty acids,lower lipid deposition, and help in reducing body weight."

Omega-3 fatty acids — More than half the fat contained in flaxseed is omega-3 fatty acid type, an essential fatty acid. There have been numerous studies reporting the health benefits of consuming omega-3 fats. Recent studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids which are abundant in flax seed can help protect you from coronary artery disease, stroke, high blood pressure, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Studies on the effects of flax seed on breast cancer are now under way. Omega-3s can also help boost your metabolism, helping your body to burn calories faster.

Flax is available as raw seed, ground seed and also as an oil which is made by cold pressing flax seeds. You can purchase raw flax seed, ground flax seed and flax seed oil at most health food stores. The easiest way to incorporate flax seed into your diet is to buy ground flax seed meal and add it to your food.

· Substitute for cooking oil or shortening in baked goods.
· Add ground flax seed to pancakes, waffles and cereals.
· Put ground flax seed on salads.

Here is a great recipe for a super health shake. Make a protein shake with 8 ounces of your favorite juice such as apple or orange, add 2 tablespoons of flax seed oil, 2 tablespoons of soy powder, 1 tablespoon of lecithin, fresh fruit such as bananas, papayas or blueberries. Blend with a hand blender or an electric blender. This power shake will provide you with the health benefits of soy; omega-3’s, fiber, antioxidants, and enzymes from the fruit, and the fat loss benefits of lecithin.