Don't Skip Cardio Day

I'm pretty sure most people who workout hate cardio just because it bore's them just to jog or do stair master at the gym. Did you guys know the most important IS cardio? that's because it helps build your core strength, and without core strength you can't really lift a lot of weights. Doing cardio actually benefits you in many ways, one of them is getting your abs faster and more marked up than ever just because of cardio. I'm going to mention some of the benefits of doing cardio, and believe me after reading this you guys will want to do cardio!

Benefits of Cardio:

• Helps in burning fat and calories for weight loss
• Speeds up the process of getting abs
• Makes your heart stronger
• Increases your lung capacities
• It helps in making you sleep better
• You feel more healthy
• You feel more in shape
• It relieves stress
• Improves sex life

You guys have to make sure you put in the effort, commitment and determination to include cardio time into your workout schedule. Running for 10 minutes on a treadmill or going out for a jog for 15 minutes helps out a lot. I'm going to tell you guys when to include cardio

 

Before Workout:

• 20 minutes on treadmill or stair master

After Workout:

• 10 minutes on treadmill, stair master, or bicycle

Do this everyday and I guarantee you guys will feel more confident and more in shape than ever, and eventually you guys will find yourselves enjoying cardio!

Nutrition

I have covered and discussed about all the muscle body parts, and now its finally time to talk about nutrition! we all know in order to get big you need to prepared to eat a lot! you can train like crazy and get a good pump at the gym but that won't benefit you at all afterwards if you don't get protein in there! consuming protein is extremely crucial for people who want to gain mass or even to workout. If you go to the gym with only one or two meals in your stomach, obviously you won't be able to workout as hard as you can, but if you consume three to six meals in a day, then that means you've got a decent amount of calories and carbs in your system which means you will have more energy at the gym and remember to also take supplements throughout the day because it helps the process of getting bigger since it's extra protein. You always want to make sure your goal is to get nearly one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, also make sure to fuel up the carbohydrates because of the exercises that are going to be done.  I'm going to give you guys some tips on what to eat. I'll be providing my meal plans, but you can customize it to fit your needs!

Breakfast (Meal one):

• 4-5 scrambled eggs with sourdough bread
• 3 pieces of bacon
• Whey Protein (one scoop) mixed with milk, bananas, strawberries and ice
• Fish oil pills
• Multivitamins

Lunch (Meal two):

• 12 ounces of chicken or steak
• Two cups of rice
• Vegetables

Pre-workout (Meal three):

• Whey Protein (one scoop) mixed with milk, bananas, strawberries, ice cream, and ice

Post-workout (Meal four):

• Creatine Monohydrate ( one scoop)
• 12 ounces of beef or fish
• 2 cups of rice

Dinner (Meal Five):

• Pasta mixed with Alfredo sauce
• Shrimps
• Broccoli

Supplements for Mass

So far I've covered all the muscle groups and talked about the exercises for mass. Now I will be concentrating on the best supplements to take to get massive. From personal experience there's honestly only four supplements that are necessary to get bigger.

First: Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is a natural substance that is within our muscle cells and also in food like tuna. Bodybuilders and athletes use creatine because of the fast pace at which muscle mass is built. The benefits of creatine Monohydrate is it gives a faster post-workout recovery, increase high-intensity muscle performance and a lean body mass.

 How to take it:
Take one scoop of Creatine Monohydrate before or after the workout (you can take it any time of the day but i prefer to take it after my workouts right away because i feel like thet way the creatine will go directly to my muscle cells and provides a better pump)

Second: Branched-Chain Amino Acid (BCAA)

Our bodies always uses BCAA's to help in muscle recovery. They drive nutrients to the muscle tissue, allowing for improved workout recovery.  BCAA's serve as an energy source during exercising so by taking this supplement will help restore the same nutrients that were lost in an intense training. It also helps in reducing pain from the muscles and improves metabolic recovery.

How to take it:
One scoop of BCAA
Drink during workout or any time before

Third: Glutamine

Glutamine's ability is to slow muscle tissue breakdown during intensive exercise which will help in improving strength and endurance. This will allow people who're weight training to lift heavier weights for longer periods of time and train more often.
Glutamine preserves your muscle tissues allowing your body to burn additional fat. It improves your immune system, and when your training hard it places stress only on the muscles but not your entire immune system. Glutamine restores the health of the muscle tissue, and the immune system ensuring rapid recovery for the body as a whole.

How to take it:
2 Scoops a day
1 Scoop in the morning
1 Scoop after workout

Fourth: Whey Protein (Gold Standard)

Whey Protein provides the body with a high amount of protein that helps the muscle growing process to be faster. Its usually consumed twice a day, in the morning and before going to sleep and its very easily digested so you don't have to worry about going to bed feeling bloated. Whey Protein improves muscle repair, when you complete an intense workout the body needs to repair itself and to do that it needs nutrients. You need protein in order to grow your muscles so then you take Whey Protein immediately after your workout the protein will start a rapid muscle recovery. It's a natural appetite suppressant, Whey Protein supplements and shakes can be used as meal replacements as well or even as a snack in between meals. Since our bodies need a good amount of protein and amino acids in order to function, Whey Protein actually contains high concentrations of amino acids that provide assistance in protein combination. It improves your metabolism because the more you drink Whey Protein throughout the day the more energy you get. With improved metabolism  you het a higher calorie burn throughout the day.

How to take it:
2 Scoops (mix with milk or water)
One Scoop in the morning
One Scoop before going to sleep

Tips on getting the perfect massive legs

Last few weeks I was focusing on giving you guys advices on how to get your upper bodies bigger. Today I will be discussing the lower body, which is legs, YAAAY for leg day! not really, anyway, I will be giving you guys some of the workouts that I perform and think are the best for getting massive legs. If you don't do leg day then do so! having legs that look like twigs or a stick isn't that attractive, and I'm pretty sure every guy wants to have nice muscular legs. The very phrase of leg day brings up images of you not able to walk, sit, and stand properly. If you're legs don't feel like jello the next day then thats when you know you haven't worked out hard enough. Now Im going to offer some leg workout exercises.

This workout is called Barbell Squats, I personally like starting with this exercise because I think its the hardest one in terms of squatting and balancing at the same time. Also, on this workout you always need to max out because this workout target every muscle in your lower body. It focuses on four muscle groups: quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. To perform this workout,  put the barbell on top of your traps. The chest needs to be up and your head facing forward. Go down slowly bending your knees and try your best not to move your hips back. In order to do that your knees need to move forward and always make sure the feet are aligned with the knees.

This exercise is called Leg Press, it primarily targets your quads but it can also target different muscle groups in your legs depending on the placement of the foot. To do this exercise, make sure to put down the safety bars that are holding the plates. Place your feet on the platform and slowly go down until your legs make a perfect 90 degree angle.

Dumbbell Walking Lunges is one of the most tiring workouts, it concentrates mainly on your quads. To perform this workout, put your legs together and the dumbbells to your side. Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. Go down until your knee is almost touching the ground and your posture needs to be straight. Your front knee should be in line with your front foot.

This workout is called Leg Extensions, it focuses on quads as well, this exercise is pretty easy to perform, put your feet under the two pads and grab the two bars on the side for a good grip. Using your quads, extend your legs as much as you can and hold on for a second then lower down your legs slowly.

This exercise is called Romanian Deadlifts, it concentrates on hamstrings. To perform this exercise, hold the bar at hip level with your palms facing down. Your shoulders should be back, your back arched, and your knees slightly bent. Lower the bar by moving your butt back as far as you can. Remember, always keep the bar close to your body, your head forward, and your shoulders back.

Lying Leg Curls focuses on your hamstrings, this workout is pretty simple and easy to perform. Adjust the machine lever to fit your height, put your feet under the pad, and grab the side handles of the machine. Curl your legs as far as possible without lifting the upper legs from the pad.

This workout is called Standing Calf Raise, it focuses on only your calves. To perform this workout, Adjust the padded lever of the calf raise machine to fit your height. Place your shoulders under the pad and position your toes facing forward. Raise your heels as you breathe out by extending your ankles as high as possible and flexing your calf. Go back slowly to the starting position as you breathe in by lowering your heels when you bend your ankles until your calves are fully stretched. 

Building your Shoulders, safely

It's actually quite easy to hurt your shoulders since its the smallest muscle on your body. When training shoulders a lot of guys get tempted to lift heavy weights because they want a strong rounded broad shoulders, but thats not an easy task. By overtraining your muscle and pressing hard can lead a long term painful shoulder injury, so you guys better watch out and take it easy on the shoulder workouts! try to do the weights you are able to do and then increase it once you find yourself lifting the weight more than 6 reps easily. Also, take into consideration of all the other shoulder exercises you guys did during the week. If you're shoulders feel sore then try to limit your workouts and weights because you can injure them easily. Remember to ALWAYS stretch before you start working out because believe it or not, stretching for 10 mins before every workout helps in preventing your muscles to get injured and you won't feel the muscles stiffness. Now that I discussed to always stay aware of the risks shoulder workouts might bring, I'm going to mention a few a workouts that you guys can do for building a stronger, rounder and broader shoulders.

This exercise is called Bent Over Low Pulley Side Lateral,  it focuses on your rear deltoids, which is the back shoulder muscles. To perform this workout, get a cable and hook it to the rope or find a cable pulley machine. Contract your glutes and keep your spine in a neutral position and then stand with your knees slightly bent and your upper body bent parallel to the floor. Do a lateral raise by lifting the cable up and out to the side.

This workout is called Reverse Flyes With External Rotations. To do this workout, you need to put the incline bench in 60 degree position and then grab a pair of light dumbbells because this exercise is difficult to preform with heavy weights. After you've done that, lie your chest down on the incline bench so it can act as a support to lift the weights. With your chest supporting you, raise the dumbbells up and out to the sides.

The name of this workout is Standing Low Pulley Deltoids Raise, this exercise focuses on your side deltoids. To preform this workout,  stand up with your left side facing a low pulley with a single handle held with your right hand and always keep your back straight and your head up otherwise you won't get the real effect of the exercise. Raise the pulley with the elbows a bit bent, keep your arm straight, lock your elbows when you bend them a little. When your arm is above parallel to your right shoulder, lower to the starting position but slowly. 

Personally, this is my favorite exercise to start with because it targets the whole shoulder muscle, so its a great workout to start with. Start with a weight you can do 8-10 reps and increase your weight by every set, which is a total of 5 sets. The more you increase your weights the less reps you do. To do this workout, you need to find yourself a chair as shown in the picture or a bench and sit on it with your back fully supported on the chair. Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height with the palms facing forward and once you lift the dumbbells only go half way up to keep the tension on your shoulders making the workout  harder and more effective. 

I like to finish up my shoulder workout with this exercise, its called Dumbbell Shrugs, it focuses on your Traps. To perform this workout, stand with your feet a bit greater than shoulder width apart and arms to your sides. Hold dumbbells at thigh level and shrug the shoulders straight up. DONT roll your shoulders because you might end up hurting your traps and we don't want that, so just shrug them up and down. You can also do this workout with a barbell or the smith machine. 

Problems With Getting A Bigger Back?

Have you ever wondered why you're back isn't getting bigger since you've been working it out and is considered a large muscle group? well, today i will be discussing a little bit about Back muscles , afterwards i will be following it up with a few of the exercises I think are useful. They certainly we're useful to me because the more I did those exercises the more my back started to shape up. If you haven't been getting a bigger Back then you need to rethink your training techniques. Whether the workout you're performing is done correctly or not. Im going to explain a little about the Back muscle groups, it consists of two major muscles, the Latissimus Dorsi and your Mid Back, which is connected to your Trapezuis. The Latissimus Dorsi's mission is to move the arms down to the sides and bring the body towards the arm when the arm is fixed.

Here are 5 workouts that will definitely help out if performed correctly:

The most important thing to focus on in this workout is to squeeze the muscle when you pull down the bar. To perform this exercise, you need to pull the bar down and hold it at your chest and pull from your elbows to hold it down and remember, SQUEEZE!

Deadlifts is probably one of the most important exercises. It targets almost every muscle group in your body. To perform this workout, grip the bar where its leveled with your shoulder widths. With your feet about hip width level, take a step back and take deep breath and then lower your hips and bend your knees until it touches the bar. After the bar passes your knees pull the bar back and go back to the starting position.

Bent Over Barbell Row is one of my favorite exercises, it targets the middle back and its also pretty difficult to lift a lot of weights on this workouts, so keep it light! but not too light. To do this workout properly, hold the barbell with your palms facing down, bend your knees a little bit and lean your body forward. Maintain that position and pull the bar to your mid section and remember to always keep your head up, otherwise you won't get the proper effect of the exercise.

Seated Cable Rows is a good workout to follow up after Bent over Barbell Row because it targets the same muscle. The objective is to give a bigger shock to the middle back which allows the muscle to grow. To perform this workout, you'll need to use a V-bar and a low row machine. Once you get that, hold the V-bar with your arms extended and pull back until your body is at 90 degree and remember to bend your back a little bit. By doing that your chest is going to be sticking out. Keep this in mind, if your chest isn't sticking out then you're doing the exercise improperly. 

Since we're done focusing on exercises targeting the middle back muscle, now we go back to focusing on lats again. The V-bar Pulldowns is a good exercise to end your workout with because it targets the whole lats muscle group. To do this exercise correctly, sit down on chair and put your knees under the pad and get into a comfortable position. Grab the V-bar, stick your chest out and lean

 your back a little bit. That will be your starting point. Once your in that position, pull down the bar as you squeeze on your lats. and keep pulling until the V-bar hits your chest, then rest for 45 mins and go back to your starting position.

Mass For Triceps

Previous Thursday I discussed how to get a bigger and more curled biceps. Today, I will be talking about how to get the perfect triceps. A lot of guys always complain "why aren't my arms getting bigger or why they're not big enough?". Even though triceps is one of the most important muscle group for bigger arms, it's relatively forgotten when looking to build massive arms. Too many people want massive biceps, but in reality the biceps are a smaller muscle group compared to triceps. The muscle that makes your arms look big are the triceps not biceps. There are many things you can use to build that mass you're looking for, such as, dumbbells, cables, barbells, and even your own weight by doing pushups that target your triceps. Some people will find out that the workout isn't always effective or just don't feel that pump in your triceps. The best thing you can do in any situation like this is to try out as many exercises as you can and see what specifically works for you. I'm going to elaborate a little more on triceps now. Triceps has three heads, the lateral head, which is located on the outward facing side of the humerus. The second one is the medial head, which is located towards the midline of the body. The third head is the long head, it goes along the bottom side of the humerus and is the largest of the three heads.

Here, I'm going to mention the 4 main tricep exercises for mass. Pulley Pushdowns is good to start with because the basic movement stresses the entire triceps muscle group, especially the outer and medial heads. Grab the bar with your index fingers no more than 3-5 inches apart in the middle of the handle. Fully bend your arms, pressing your upper arms against your sides, where they should stay through the duration of the set. Move your forearms down, and slowly straighten your arms. Hold the straight arm position for one second, while flexing your triceps intensely and the slowly return to the starting point.

Lying Barbell Triceps Extensions is a good workout to follow up, it's an exercise that has an intense stress on the triceps, particularly the medial and outer heads. To perform this workout you need to lie on your back on an exercise bench, while keeping your feet on the sides to provide balance. Extend your arms straight up above your head, bend your elbows allowing the barbell to travel downward until it slightly touches your forehead. Reverse the direction of the movement of the bar using only triceps strength to slowly straighten your arms.

The third exercise is the One-Dumbbell Triceps Extension, this workout focuses on the entire triceps muscle group, especially the inner and medial heads. Grab a dumbbell with your palm facing the inner-top plate and the dumbbell hanging straight down. To keep the weight from slipping, put your thumbs around the dumbbell handle for a better grip. Lift the dumbbell straight up above your head and lower the weight slowly behind your head until your arms are fully bent, then slowly raise the dumbbell back to the start position.

Lastly, standing Barbell Triceps Extension, this exercise concentrates on stressing the inner and medial heads of the triceps. Take a narrow overripe in the middle of a weighted barbell of your choice. With feet about shoulder width apart, extend your arms straight up from your shoulders. Keep your upper arms in the same position, while you lower the weight slowly behind your head until your arms are completely bent and then slowly raise the bar back to the starting position.

Remember, if you find these workouts not effective you can always find alternative workouts that are effective to you and enjoyable. 

Tips to bigger biceps

Last Thursday, I talked about tips and ways to get better chest mass. Today I will be discussing the best exercises for bigger biceps. Now, I know many people, especially guys workout their biceps more than twice a week because having bigger and stronger arms feel good but here's a word of advice, never overtrain your biceps. Overtraining your biceps will not only hurt it but also it won't grow any bigger. Therefore, given that biceps is one of the smaller muscle groups, it's wise to limit the training sessions to no more than twice per week. There's a major misunderstanding in bodybuilding is that biceps shape can be specifically trained for. I've had a lot of people at the gym ask me how i did get my biceps to be really curled and what workouts did I do in order to get it in that shape. I'm answering this questions for everyone out there, unfortunately there are no workouts for shape. Shape is determined by genetics depending on ones genes. Now that i got that out of the way, i suggest train for size with basic movements and stay away from the idea of shaping workouts. By training biceps on their own is a great idea because it will make the person focus in the exercise more with maximal intensity, and it will allow a faster recovery time since the workouts will be shorter.

Here I'm going to mention my favorite workouts for bigger biceps. First is my personal favorite exercise, Barbell Curls, to perform this workout get a weight that you're able to lift, hold the bar with a shoulder-width grip, with arms straight towards the floor and elbows to the sides, lift the bar all the way to your chest, as you lower the weight do it slowly for resistance.

Second, One-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl, this workout focuses the stress on the peak which is the bicep. To perform this workout, use a regular preacher bench, hold dumbbell with an underhand grip while closing your elbows in, allowing your arm to be extended on the bench, slowly curl the dumbbell trying to touch the shoulder of the arm being worked out.

Another good exercise in my opinion is the Incline Dumbbell Curls. I honestly believe this is one of the hardest exercises i've ever performed. It allows you to achieve a full range of motion while getting a full stretch on the biceps. Get less weight on this exercise because it's pretty difficult to get a good pump if you're not preforming the workout correctly. The way to do this workout is to lye down on an incline bench, hold two dumbbells with arms extended down and back, curl the dumbbells up and out with both and slowly keep doing that and you will feel the pump for sure!

Last but not least, Hammer Curls will help in developing your brachial, that's the muscle located on the side of your bicep. This muscle helps in the size of the biceps area making your arms look bigger. Performing this exercise is pretty simple, get two dumbbells and put your elbows to the side of the body, have your palms face each other and curl the dumbbells up the sane way you would do for a regular dumbbells curl.

Best Routine For Chest Mass

Today i'll be discussing about ways to get a bigger and a more defined chest, which I'm almost positive it's every guys wish! I assure you guys are going to love these tips about chest mass. The approach to a more defined chest is pretty simple. It's all about increasing calories burned following with the number of calories you burn after your guy's workout is over. In order to do that you have to  include in your workouts a few supersets which is combining two different workouts that target the same muscle or a different muscle, shorter rest periods will get guys more tired resulting in more burned calories and aiming for muscle failure, this means doing the exercise until you get tired.  This will definitely help in a greater definition for chest.

Now that i explained best way for a defined chest, lets move on to tips about chest mass. This honestly is one of my favorites! By pushing yourself to take more total sets to muscle failure will not just help in mass it will also help in endurance and strength. Starting with bench press is my personal favorite because its easier to control and balance than dumbbells but i want you guys to keep in mind that bench press is still harder than dumbbells and by switching up the exercise every now and then will actually give you guys more strength. Im provide you guys with some notes on how to do it. Choose a weight that you think will allow you to reach muscle failure ( a good weight to start off with is 25lbs for bench press and 35lbs for dumbbells). After your first and second sets increase the weight by 2.5lbs or 5lbs and continue with the muscle failure. On your last set get the heaviest weight you can lift and do muscle failure, if you need a spotter don't be shy to ask someone for help.

Finally, moving on to how to develop a bigger lower chest. This is exactly the same thing as the upper chest except lower chest is always a little more difficult to get because the upper chest is also being worked out while doing lower chest exercises making it harder to develop than your upper chest, however, its not impossible guys, hellll noooo! so don't give up! Muscle failure is going to be your best friend, therefore you will have to perform it on most of your workouts so pick the best weight for you that will let you reach muscle failure. Then once your done with the first 2 sets increase the weight by choosing the best one for you and do muscle failure. Remember guys, always take 1 min breaks in between sets because performing muscle failure can be extremely exhausting. Once you reach your last set increase the weight that you believe is the heaviest weight for you and get a spotter because its always better to be safe than sorry. Also, always keep in mind that when you're lifting the weight you consider the heaviest, muscle failure can literally be 6 reps or less.

I hope you guys found my advices helpful! i will be talking about more interesting stuff on my next blog post so stay tuned!! :)

About me: Welcome to the world of Iron Addicts

Hello to all the healthy and beautiful people out there! :) welcome to my blog! My name is Mustafa. I'm 22 years old, attending De Anza College, majoring in Journalism emphasis in Public Relations. I'm half Palestinian, half Lebanese but i was born and raised in Kuwait. I moved to San Jose about 4 years ago to pursue a better education in Journalism. I'm a gym addict, as you guys can see on my page title! I've had a passion for fitness ever since i was 10 years old i wanted to know everything there is to know about fitness. At the age of 16, i started bodybuilding. I've been doing it for 6 years and still counting. 

In my blog i will be discussing how to maintain a good diet plan, how to achieve the body you want, ways to get bigger or toned and what are the best supplements to take and what the results will be if they're taken properly. Every Thursday i'll be posting a new topic and advices on fitness/bodybuilding and nutrition. So please stay tuned! hopefully you guys will benefit from the advices i'll be giving out! :D