The Best Upper-Body Workout Machine Routine.

Weight machines are generally targeted more toward beginners, or those recovering from injuries, but they can be useful for anyone. Machines allow you to concentrate more on individual muscle groups by removing the total-body stability aspect of free weights; plus, it's quicker to transition between weight machines and change the load of an exercise with one movement of a pin. When training your upper body with machines, ensure your routine is balanced and progressive.

• The Perfect Plan:

Working your upper-body muscles in proportion is vital. It can be easy to focus on the "mirror" muscles such as the pecs and biceps, but keep in mind that you do have other muscle groups, too. Include two chest exercises, one shoulder move, two back exercises and one exercise each for biceps and triceps. A typical routine could include machine chest presses, the pec fly machine, seated shoulder presses, lat pulldowns, machine chest-supported rows, preacher curls and triceps extensions.


• Cable Considerations:

Consider adding cable machine exercises into your workout. The benefit of the cable machine is that you can change the direction and height of the force; they also maintain tension on the muscle throughout the entire exercise. They're also versatile, writes trainer James Stoppani in the "Encyclopaedia of Muscle and Strength." Swap two or three regular machine exercises for cable exercises. You could get rid of pec flyes, machine rows and machine triceps extensions, for instance, and replace them with cable crossovers, seated one-arm cable rows and overhead cable extensions using a rope attachment.

• Strength Versus Endurance:

Aim for a variety of repetition ranges in your workout. Traditionally, heavy weights and lower reps are considered best for strength gains, while lighter loads for higher rep sets are judged best for endurance. While this is true, mixing up your rep ranges keeps your training fresh and challenging. Perform your first chest, shoulder and back exercise for five sets of six to eight reps each, then your second exercise for chest and back, plus your two arm moves, for three sets of 15. Do this for four weeks, aiming to add weight or reps each session, then reverse the order in weeks five to eight by going higher rep on your first lot of exercises and lower rep on your second.

•The Machine Routine:

Machines can be highly effective, but you need to pick the right ones, warms strength coach Charles Poliquin. Watch out for biceps curls and triceps extensions that don't have adjustable seats; lateral raise and pec dec machines where you can't position the handles to suit your biomechanics; and be careful not to round your back when grabbing the handle for seated machine rows. If you hit a plateau in training and can't move up to the next level on a machine, consider switching to a similar machine for a few weeks, or attach a smaller 2.5- or 5-pound plate to the weight stack using the adjustable pin.

Killer Bicep & Tricep Workout For Beginners.

There is no better way to get a killer set of biceps and triceps than with a strength training routine targeting those muscles. Beginners should start with a lower weight, but one that is still challenging -- and keep the repetitions between 10 and 15. More advanced exercisers can use heavier weights and opt for a lower repetition range.

• Bicep Exercises :

Biceps muscles are easily targeted with a few simple exercises. Exercises like the bicep curl and hammer curl can be altered in several different ways to make them more challenging. For example, instead of a traditional bicep curl, you can perform a cross body biceps curl where you curl the weight across your body and up to your opposite shoulder. You can use dumbbells, a barbell, or a cable machine to perform bicep exercises, and both the bicep curl and hammer curl can be done with one arm at a time.

•Triceps Exercises:

The triceps muscle is located on the back of your arm and is known as a support muscle, but can also be targeted alone. Exercises like the triceps extension, skull crusher, bench dips and narrow pushups all target primarily the triceps muscles. While some of the exercises require weights, others like the dip and pushup can be done without weight -- and weight can be added once your strength progresses.

Top 5 Reasons Why should we lift weights?

If you’re ready to pack on some serious natural muscle while staying lean you’re in the right place!

Why should we lift weights?

Here are the top 5 Reasons

  1-  Strong muscles mean less chance of injury, degenerative disease, ageing, arthritis, and osteoporosis.
 
2-  Strong muscles mean a better quality of life, for much longer.
 
3- Muscles mean a faster metabolism, faster fat – burning and less chance of getting fat.
 
4-  Muscles mean you burn more calories – which means you lose fat quicker.

5-  A stronger body will help to make all other areas of your life more productive, easier to cope with and easier for you to be more successful!

And remember, always concentrate on form over how much weight you are lifting. If you lift too heavy with poor form it’s the fast track to injury so if you’re not sure and you want to check your form, ask one of your friendly trainers to guide you. Even if you’ve been working out for years it’s a good idea to check because we can fall into bad habits.

3 Best Exercises You Can Do At Home.

When it comes to getting in shape, the excuses we hear time and time again are ‘I don’t have time to go to the gym’ or ‘It’s too expensive to pay gym fees’. But who said anything about having to go to the gym to get into shape? A perfectly good workout awaits you in the comfort of your own home, but it can be confusing knowing which exercises are going to help you as you strive for the body beautiful. Well, there’s no need to be confused. Here’s the lowdown on some of the best exercises you can do without venturing into a gym packed with posers and meatheads.


1- Lunge:

An exercise which works your backside, front and rear thighs and your core muscles which are called into play to help you balance. Great for shaping your legs. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and take a big step forward with your right leg, bending your knee until your right thigh is roughly parallel to the ground. Keeping your torso upright, push through your right foot to drive yourself back into the start position and then repeat for the left leg. This is one repetition. How many repetitions you do will depend on the strength of your legs but do enough to create a nice burn. To make it harder, do it more slowly or carry something in your hands to increase the resistance.


2 – Triceps Dips:

A classic exercise which is traditionally done on parallel bars in the gym but can be modified for the home by using a chair. It works the backs of your arms mainly but the fronts of your shoulders and chest assist the movement. Sit on the edge of a chair and place your hands on the edge, positioning your feet away from it. Straighten your arms and slide your rear end off of edge and rest the soles of your feet flat on the floor with a bend in the knees.  Lower your body by bending your arms until a slight stretch is felt in chest or shoulder. Go down as far as is comfortable and then drive up to the start position to complete the repetition. Do enough to really feel it working the backs of your arms. To make it more challenging, straighten your legs or lift them onto another chair before starting.


3 – Step-ups:

An amazingly simple but highly effective exercise which targets your bum and the front and back of your thighs. Stand in front of a chair with your feet shoulder width apart. Step up onto the chair with your left leg by extending your knee and hip and bring the second leg up beside it on the chair. Then step down by leading with the second leg, bending the knee of the left leg as you step down into the start position. Repeat but this time leading with the right leg. Do as many repetitions as you are comfortable with but you really need to feel it working your upper leg and backside. The higher the level of the surface you’re stepping up onto, the more difficult it is.

5 Amazing Foods That Can Speed Up Weight Loss.

Weight loss efforts are often derailed by sudden cravings for high-calorie, low-nutritious foods, which leave us feeling hungry again too soon and send us into carb-craving energy crashes. Fortunately, we can stave off these unhealthy cravings by indulging in foods that leave us feeling fuller longer and which give a healthy dose of nutrition without unnecessary calories.

These 5 superfoods satisfy hunger without piling on the calories, they pack a big flavor punch, and they can even help your body fight off cancer and maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Try adding these delicious nutrition-packed powerhouses to your daily diet for amazing results.


1- Quinoa:

This highly popular “New World” grain cooks up just like rice. Quinoa is high in fiber and is full of protein. Use quinoa, plain or flavored, as a side dish, add it to soups and salads, or eat it like oatmeal.

2 - Kale:

This curly green relative of wild cabbage is packed with nutrients such as vitamins K and C, beta carotene and calcium. It also contains sulforaphane, a powerful cancer-fighting chemical. Kale can be sautéed, steamed, added to soups and even cooked into crispy chips.


3- Sprouts:

Sprouts can be grown from a number of seed types, including mung beans, alfalfa, sunflowers, and lentils. Sprouts are very low-calorie but highly nutritious, containing numerous vitamins and minerals as well as protein and calcium. Sprouts are great added to salads or stir-fries, or piled onto sandwiches.


4- Nuts:

Nuts such as cashews, almonds, pistachios, pecans and walnuts are full of fiber, protein and many vitamins and minerals. Notably, nuts contain a good amount of Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants thought to fight off heart disease and help maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels. A small handful of nuts with their dose of healthy fats can stave off cravings for less healthy foods. Eat nuts plain, use them to top oatmeal and yogurt, or try nut flours in baked goods.

5- Berries:

Fresh or frozen, berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, acai berries and cranberries satisfy a sweet tooth while dosing the body with powerful nutrients. Sweet and juicy berries have high fiber and water content to help produce a feeling of fullness without piling on the calories. Berries are great eaten plain, on top of yogurt or cereal, or blended into smoothies.

A Beginner’s Guide To Building Muscle Mass.

When it comes to building muscle, strength training is what you need to do. While cardio is great for burning calories and fat, only weight training can help you increase muscle mass and strength. Unfortunately, a lot of guys want to pack on muscle but have no idea where to start. We’ve put together these guidelines to get you started.

1. Stick to basic exercises workout machines can be overwhelming for a beginner. Start out with basic movements like bicep curls, chest presses and bench dips before trying out complicated machines.

2. Try splitting your workouts up to target different muscles each day
For instance, do arms and shoulders one day then do chest and back the next. This gives muscles groups a chance to recover before a workout.

3.  Start by working out only twice a week if you’re not accustomed to regular exercise. Begin with 8-10 repetitions of 8 different exercises each day. To mix things up a little, you may even want to do a set to failure (when you can’t do any more of an exercise without breaking proper form).

4- After a few weeks, increase the amount of weight you lift if you want to build muscle mass or increase the amount of reps if you want to focus on muscle tone. Each time you feel ready to add weight, increase it by at least 5 pounds. A creatine supplement for men may help accelerate  your strength gains and allow you to significantly lift more weight.

5. Don’t neglect your diet. If you’re looking to gain size, you need to eat a surplus of calories. Try adding 500 daily calories to your intake – this will help you gain a pound of muscle to eat. Make sure these calories come from high-protein foods like chicken breast, lean meats, Greek yogurt and nuts. A whey protein shake is another convenient  and delicious  way you can boost your daily protein intake.


6- Set realistic goals. You’re not going to become ripped overnight. Progress takes time, so savor the small goals on the way to your bigger goal. Maybe you have more energy, maybe you can lift more weights – enjoy these milestones.

7. Expect to be sore after a workout. When you first start a fitness plan, your muscles aren’t used to so much exertion. So if you feel sore the next day or so, don’t worry – it’s normal. You may be able to reduce muscle soreness after a workout by taking a post-workout supplement. Start to worry and consult a doctor if you notice any sudden pains, joint swelling or extended periods of pain (more than a few days).


8- Get a personal trainer if you can afford one. It’s a good way to stay accountable. Having a trainer can push you harder and help you stay motivated. A lack of motivation is one of the main reasons so many people fail at weight loss and muscle growth.

9. Stretch before and after a workout. Stretching for five minutes prior to your workout can boost flexibility and help prevent injury. Stretching after a workout can help reduce post-workout soreness.

10. Take a CLA supplement. Conjugated linoleic acid is a healthy fat that has been shown to bolster muscle mass when combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise. An anabolic formula is another supplement that may help you maximize muscle growth by providing your body with the nutritional building blocks for muscle mass.

3 Tips To Improve Muscle Recovery.

Learn some tips that will make you may have a faster muscle recovery and thus improve their performance in training and achieving your goals.

In bodybuilding, as important as nurture and train the body properly is knowing provide specific periods of not only the muscle recovery, but the body in general, to provide increasing earnings and longer lasting.


Train intensely is fundamental to stimulate the muscle, however, he becomes totally ineffective when not take into account an adequate muscle recovery. So just do not train properly and eat correctly, the correct muscle recovery is as important as other factors, for "the muscle grows is at rest," you have heard this phrase?

And when we talk about recovery, soon comes to the minds of most bodybuilders rest, sleep, the act of sleeping. Of course, this is one of the most important ways to recover from something stressful, but there are other methods that we can use for that muscle recovery is even more effective. Let's meet some of these methods?

1 - Triggers The Body a Conducive Environment  And Time  For Sleep:

Sleep is one of the main and most important stages of the recovery period. As important as food and as important as the training itself, sleep can be extremely anabolic and assist in muscle gains and reduction of body.


Today, divided into different phases, sleep represents in each one stage in which the body has different actions in various body structures and different impacts against it. And these range from synthesis and hormonal secretions, the protein synthesis, glycogen synthesis, relaxation of body and mind and etc.

Sleep all the time is not something that results or bring extra benefits, so the hours INTENDED FOR SLEEPING are essentially required to be overvalued and in fact exist. An individual, for example, that presents difficulties or inadequacies with the time to sleep, usually presents with numerous physical and mental problems, ranging from simple weariness even mental disorders.

Sensitive to light, temperature, sounds, touches, smells and other body is directly influenced during sleep and moments before it to perform this physiological state well or not. So try to sleep in pleasant surroundings without noise or any noise, away from the minimum brightness (some references show that even a simple LED on can bring harm) without strong odors and properly scheduled hours.
This will be essential to properly recover the body in the rest period and then increase still more intensity in training, making them increasingly have optimized efficiency.


2- Use Melatonin
Sleep well with melatonin:

Completing the previous tip on providing adequate sleep for muscle recovery, a tip that I personally use and find very interesting is the use of melatonin.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland after dark, so we can have sleep. But as they get older the amount of secreted melatonin decreases, which means that we have a quality of sleep worse. To solve this problem the tip is the use of any supplements melatonin base.
Use of melatonin-based supplements will make you able to regulate your sleep cycle, and presents several other benefits such as:
Strengthen the immune system;
Regulate the sleep cycle;
Reduce free radiciais;
Anti-oxidative effect;
More energy for the day, because you will have a better sleep, and  etc.

So whether or not trouble sleeping, melatonin can be an excellent accompaniment to a good muscle recovery after all sleep better never hurts.


3- Use massage for better recovery
Sports massage to relax the muscle:

Massage is one of the fastest and pleasurable recovery means that there is, but it is not accessible to all, as in Brazil therapist is priced a little high. But if you have the possibility to massage once a week or once a month, do not think twice, do it!
A good massage will make your muscles are relaxed completely, which is totally in favor of good muscle recovery. Furthermore, the massage will help to ensure a reduction in muscle tone, accelerating the elimination of metabolic waste and improves the blood circulation.
A good massage option for us bodybuilders is called sports massage.