Simple rules to gain weight for newbies

10 simple rules to gain weight for newbies

Rule 1. Eat

I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked by others on how to gain muscle. I always answer back with a question; what are your eating habits? Nine times out of ten they are poor. They either eat a ton of junk food or not nearly enough food, period. In your mission to gain weight, you must EAT! You must eat enough all day every day and create a calorie surplus. This does not mean eat everything in sight, but just enough for your body to utilize for your rigorous workouts.

Rule 2. Eat Right

Make sure the food you intake is of healthy choices. Get in good carbohydrates such as cereals, oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, pasta, wheat bread, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Choose healthy proteins such as turkey, chicken, beef, fish, skim milk, egg whites, and light cheeses. I would not worry too much about fats. If most of your diet is of the healthy variety and your goal is to gain weight, the fat content will take care of itself.

Rule 3. Eat Often

Looking back at my old habits, I was guilty of not eating often enough. I would eat a small breakfast and then eat a massive lunch and two dinners. Three meals a day was not the best approach. When I began weight training I started eating three solid meals per day with two homemade supplement shakes in between and one shake before going to sleep. The point is to eat frequently with most meals being actual food and possibly a shake or two added to the mix.

A sample daily menu could look as simple as this:

Breakfast:
1 bowl of oatmeal, sweet potato or healthy whole grain cereal with milk, banana, and egg whites

Midmorning:
Protein shake

Lunch:
One or two turkey sandwiches on wheat bread, piece of fruit or granola bar

Afternoon:
1 Bowl of oatmeal or whole grain cereal or sandwich with natural peanut butter, glass of skim milk

Post workout:
Protein shake

Dinner:
Chicken, beef or fish with pasta, brown rice, or sweet potatoes

Bed Time:
Protein Shake

Rule 4; Train

You will not gain muscle if you do not train. Not only that, but you will not gain muscle if you do not train hard! I cannot tell you how many times I look around the gym and see so many people playing on their cell phone and/or their MP3 player. So much time is wasted fooling with these devices that precious time is lost. These are the same individuals that tell me that they have tried everything and just cannot gain any muscle weight. Others simply are there to mingle, socialize, or just plain hang out. When you get to the gym show up with a goal, show up to train, show up to train hard! Love going to the gym, love training, have fun training, but train! I used to think to myself: the longer I waited between sets after a certain amount of time my muscles would start to shrink. True or not it fired me up to lift hard and heavy on my next set.

Rule 5:Train Smart

Do not train just to train, train smart. When I started I was doing 30 plus sets per body part sometimes up to 40 while spending 3 to 3 ½ hours per day in the gym. I was grossly overtraining, but that is how we all did it back then. My training partner would do 40 plus sets for triceps alone! In this case more is definitely not better; however, I see a lot of guys barely do much in the gym worth anything. Not enough work, not enough intensity, and not enough attention to form and function. Do just enough to work the muscle properly and then leave. Too much of anything is bad for you so adjust your volume, reps, movements, and splits according to your specific needs.
I am a big believer of using your fast metabolism to your advantage. Whereas many have written before regarding “hardgainers” needing to train less often, rest a lot and so forth I am quite the opposite. I feel someone with a fast metabolism can workout more frequently due to there quick turn around to repair muscle tissue. If your nutrition is sound and consistent, there is no reason not to work every body part twice per week.

A good split can look like this:

1.    Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
2. Thighs/Calves
3. Back/Biceps

Rule 6: Leave your Ego at the Door

How much ya bench? Who cares! If your goals are not sport-specific then do not worry too much about being able to bench a lot of weight. Your goal should be to be strong all over. I was never a big bencher, but I could always curl a ton of weight. However I was never worried about what others thought of my strength. My goals were to always push myself past my own limits, to challenge myself with every set and rep and to work toward realizing my own potential. Sure, push yourself, and sometimes max out and see where your strengths lie, but not at the expense of safety. Egos can sometimes get you hurt and cause an injury, taking months to repair.

Rule 7: Supplement Wisely

You see them everywhere: supplement ads. A supplement is just that: items in addition to your already well-rounded eating plan of solid food. Do not go overboard with powders, pills, and potions. They have their place in a program, but as a teen you may want to see how your body reacts first to good nutrition and hard training. After several years you may want to experiment to see which supplements will work for you. Rule of thumb: if you do decide to try a supplement do so one at a time, read the labels and take accordingly. If you have any questions ask a healthcare professional.

Rule 8: Rest

You grow when you are adequately rested. This means getting the recommended eight hours of sleep per night if not more. When your body is asleep it has the opportunity to repair and grow from that intense training session you did earlier. Lack of sleep equals less growth and improvement. Also, try getting in a 15 to 20 minute power nap before hitting the gym. It will recharge you and do wonders for your performance in the gym.

Rule 9: Seek Knowledge

Read about training, do your research and scrutinize everything. Just because it is written or said does not mean it is golden fact. Read articles. While ingesting all of this information you will form your own opinions, ideals and programs to fit your body and goals. Always seek to learn more.

Rule 10: Have Fun

Do not be a prisoner to the gym. Have fun. If you find yourself dreading the gym then back off a little, cut back on days per week you train for a while, relax a little more, and do whatever it takes to get that fire back. Your teen years should be great years to be spent being with your friends and being involved with school not living in the gym. Find a balance. Rely on your friends for support and invite them to train with you, but by all means have fun with it!



 

Sacrifice for a dream

If you can't sacrifice for your dream... then its not your dream.

Creative Vision

·         "A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown."Denis Waitley

Success and Failure is not final

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

listen to your heart

I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.

Believe in yourself

Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.

Winners

Winners lose much more often than losers. So if you keep losing but you’re still trying, keep it up! You’re right on track.

10 Signs You Have What It Takes To Build A Business Empire

10 Signs You Have What It Takes To Build A Business Empire

I believe there is a lot of similarities between being successful in business and sports, and therefore I am posting this article;

1.You Have a Vision

Successful entrepreneurs know exactly what they want and do visualize themselves doing it. They know “what” they need to do to achieve their entrepreneurial vision and they go ahead to establish “how” to do it. They establish through intensive but targeted networking. They are so open to new ideas and new people but do not make meaningless conversations. They have a natural curiosity when interacting with people and by so doing, learn about what people want.

2.You Are Courageous

Every successful entrepreneur has courage, that is the key strength you need when going against the odds. They may pose as confident but they are equally confronted with fears and doubts presented to any aspiring entrepreneur. Their strong will and vision is what catalyzes them to just take action and focus less on the negative outcomes. That is what sets aside the hopeful entrepreneurs and successful entrepreneurs, they don’t over-analyze situations or spend too much time thinking about the consequences; they just take action.
3.You Stick to Your Believe

All successful entrepreneurs strongly believe in their capabilities to succeed in their venture, that is what drives them to success along with their vision. Their inner belief drives them against all odds and hurdles and they will stop at nothing until they have hit the mark. While ‘ordinary’ business startups dread and shy off from challenges and business hurdles, successful entrepreneurs think outside the box and use these hurdles as a learning and correction tool to better their chances of success. They do believe, subconsciously or otherwise, that these hurdles fuel them.
4.You Are a Self Starter

Entrepreneurs like Donald Trump understands that if something needs to be done, you should start it by yourself. They put in place objectives and parameters and make sure that their project(s) follow that path. They come out as highly proactive individuals and don’t sit around waiting for opportunities to come knocking.
5.You Are Disciplined

These individuals are solemnly focused on making their business a success and they are keen to eliminate any distractions or hindrances to their goals. They have clearly stated strategies and outlined tactics on how to accomplish their goals.
Discipline takes them as far as strictly following their business schedules and activities, observing there spending and investing habits to adhering to their personal and general business principles and ethics. Simply put; they are disciplined enough to daily take steps towards archiving their business objectives.
6.You Are Very Confident

True entrepreneurs don’t question their ability to succeed or whether they are worthy of success. They are always confident with the knowledge that they can make their business succeed. Their confidence pushes them to take even bigger risks that come with bigger rewards.
When you come to think of it, a confident entrepreneur secures more trust and similar confidence in their clients and potential investors, another recipe for entrepreneurial success.
7.You Thrive in Competition

Many companies and businesses are formed because an entrepreneur believes that they can do better than another. They need to win in the niches they choose and therefore need to win in the businesses and ventures that they create.
True entrepreneurs take competition positively and formulate strategies on how to come up with better products or services that draw interest in the market.
8.You Are Open Minded

Successful entrepreneurs understand that every situation and event is a business opportunity. Ideas are constantly generated about efficiency and workflows, potential new business and people skills. They have a receptive mind to new ideas and the ability to focus on the business side of everything around them.
9.You Are Creative

One element of creativity is the ability to make connections between seemingly unrelated situations or events. A close look at trumps problem solving and investment techniques reveals that he formulates solutions from the synthesis of other seemingly unrelated items.
Creativity puts his products and services above all others of a similar category in the market.
10.You Have Passion

Although this comes as the last item on my list, passion is very vital for the success of any entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs genuinely love what they do. They are willing to invest in those extra hours to ensure that their business succeeds because they derive joy and satisfaction that goes beyond the money.
Successful entrepreneurs always read and research within their field on ways and techniques to create an outstanding and long-lasting business.

Quitting

"One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat."
Napoleon Hill

The best you can be

·         You are in competition with one person and one person only – yourself. You are competing to be the best you can be.

Inner strength

Push through it! Find that inner strength to want to be better. You have to want it because no one can do it for you. Train to better yourself and train strong!

work hard

·         Know that it takes work! You can’t expect it to come easy, or else everyone would look that way. Stay focused, determined and make achievable goals for yourself.

 

What woman starting out need to know about training

What woman starting out need to know about training;

There is no “one size fits all” plan and whilst following a generic plan can help you get started, it is often a frustrating path. The best investment you can make is to get yourself a Personal Trainer (me – lol). A trainer who will design and individualize a training plan specifically for you, your goals and needs. You will start out doing things the RIGHT way, instead of just randomly going in and doing whatever you feel like when you feel like. The benefits of having a trainer also includes accountability (which is very important), having someone there to show you the correct technique for each exercise (also very important – poor form leads to injury, ineffective and inefficient training, and is detrimental overall), and teach you about what you are doing and why, so that you can understand everything, with the eventual goal of being able to know what to do for yourself.

TRAINING

Learn and understand the importance of resistance training, cardio should not be the focus (in all honesty, you do not even have to do cardio to get the figure you want, but as you get more experienced with training or want to improve your cardiovascular fitness, then it can be beneficial to include).

WEIGHTS

Anything from two to four days of training per week is ideal to start with, especially in the gym. Each body part should be trained once a week, giving it plenty of time to recover before the next training session for the same body part.

Resistance exercises you should be doing are multi-joint, compound exercises, as they use more than one muscle, and are the most effective for not only building muscle, but also in burning fat. Compound exercises require more body parts  to perform than isolation exercises. The best compound exercises that you can do are the squat and the dead-lift, as they use pretty much every muscle in your body. Other compound exercises that are good to include are the power clean, bench press, shoulder press and pull-ups.

Complete at least two exercises for each muscle group. Always lift as heavy as you can for the number of reps you are set; the weight should challenge you... if it is too easy, you are not doing yourself any favors.

Be sure that you always use good form for EVERY exercise; otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury. All reps should be controlled and with good form. It is not about how much you can lift, but how well you lift. You WILL get stronger as you keep at it.

An ideal training time is approx.60 minutes; otherwise you become too catabolic and can end up losing muscle, which is not desirable.

So that your body does not get used to your training and stop adapting, every 4 - 12 weeks make small adjustments to your weight sessions. Adjustments do not have to be drastic and simply increasing the weight for the same session from one week to the next is a change that can make a difference. Other adjustments can include changing the order of exercises in a session or the number of sets and/or reps that you do for an exercise (and it only needs to be one exercise changed at a time, small adjustments over the weeks, not a complete overhaul of everything!).

CARDIO

If you ARE going to do cardio, make it as efficient and effective as possible. If you do High Intensity Cardio or High Intensity Interval training, you can get the same, if not BETTER results with a brief 20 minute cardio session instead of spending two or more hours a day doing it! If you feel that you need to do more cardio, then you can add a couple of additional 20 - 30 minute moderate intensity sessions to your training week. Skipping, stair sprinting/running, or rowing, are the next highest calorie burners after sprinting.

FLEXABILITY

Don’t forget about adding in some flexibility exercises, ideally 20 - 30 minutes a day on the days you train, preferably after you have done either cardio or weights, while your muscles are still warm, as this decreases the risk of injury. Stretching makes sure that you can move more freely and easily and helps elongate the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, for overall joint health and fitness.

CONSISTENCY

Understand that CONSISTENCY is essential; nothing is achieved without it. If you miss days, don’t stress over it; there is no need to “make up” for them either by doing more on another day - just forget about them and get back on track the next day. Remember the 70/30 Rule: As long as you do everything right 70% of the time, the other 30% allows for when things don’t go as planned because life gets in the way or some other reason.

EFFICIENCY

Never forget that when it comes to exercise more is not always best! You want maximal results for minimal time. You also need to remember that some of this is experimental, and about finding what works best for YOU, since everyone is different and responds differently to different exercise programs.

keep positive

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”

Benjamin Franklin

 

crying

·         Don't let the sadness from the past or fear of the future rob the happiness of the present.

 

 

Depressed

Some Natural Ways to Stop feeling depressed;

 

·      Understand the emotional Cycle

·      Spend time with positive people

·      Reflect on past success

·      Focus on gratitude

·      Change of scenery

·      Break your routine

·      Interact with animals and nature

·      Get moving, one step at the time

·      Think about the big picture

·      Do something to help yourself

 

Same situation, different solutions

·         "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails."John Maxwell

Problems are your own

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny."Albert Ellis

Stressed

·         "When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter five years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go."
- Catherine Pulsifer, Writer

Stress

·         Stress is not a state of mind, but something measurable and dangerous. It’s not an abstract concept that maybe you should do something about someday. You need to do something about it TODAY.

Stress is making you tired. Stress is making you old. Stress is getting in the way of you reaching your athletic potential. It may even be making you fat, and it may be keeping you from optimally producing at work. Stress is a debilitating inferno for our bodies, and even though there is piles of evidence as to how it impedes our progress and happiness, it often goes ignored as the cause of all our problems. 

Despite all the misery that stress causes, we seem to admire people who are highly stressed and do eleven things at once. What the super multi-taskers may not realize is that the stress is actually killing them!

Of course, everyone wants to be successful, but it ends up that if you first reduce your stress and create strategies for managing future stressors, you will be able to overcome those future obstacles that could send you spiraling toward disease. Seemingly unexplained fatigue, excess but body fat, suboptimal athletic performance, or distraction and inability to focus at work won’t even be an issue if you manage stress moment to moment.

This article will tell you five things you must understand about stress.

#1: There’s A Difference between Acute and Chronic Stress
There is a difference between acute and chronic stress and the two affect the body in profoundly different ways. Acute stress is the response we have to an immediate crisis like fighting an opponent, being chased by a wild animal, or even competing in an event like Olympic weightlifting.  All physiological processes respond instantly to a threat or stress—blood pressure and heart rate are at maximal—and you can actually feel the stimulating “stress” hormones being released.

All the essential processes are switched “on” and the non-essential ones are “off.” This means that growth, tissue repair, reproduction, detoxification, and all other processes are saved for later, while the body does everything it can to allow you to overcome your opponent, escape the mountain lion, or complete your lift. Once you escape or win, the maximal physiological stress response ends and heart rate, blood pressure, and hormones go back to normal. Restorative processes kick back on and tissue repair and healing occurs.

The problem for humans is that with those wonderful minds, we continue the stress response by fixating on problems and responding inappropriately to situations we can’t do anything about. Plus, because we have too much to do and live in a threatening society, we experience feelings of insecurity and intimidation that cause our acute stress response to become chronic.

However, fear and aggravations should NOT cause us to secrete the same hormones that we would secrete when we are running for our lives from a wild animal! Stress is the body’s way of responding to a challenge. By not turning off the stress response, we wallow in a corrosive bath of hormones.

#2: The Physiologic Stress Response Permanently Damages the Body
The effect of psychological stress can be easily seen in the body. Stress IS the plaque buildup in the arteries or the fat around your middle. For example,  the stress hormones such as cortisol will actually decrease plasticity and the ability to make connections in the brain. Fewer brain circuits will lead to brain atrophy. The result is poor memory and less cognitive function. Yes, stress makes you stupid!

Scientists have found that persistently high levels of stress hormones in a pregnant mother’s blood trigger changes in the nervous system development of a fetus that alter the child’s brain chemistry for their whole life. The part of the child’s brain that is responsible for memory will be smaller and there are fewer brain circuits. The early stress leaves a bad footprint on the brain that decreases the child’s ability to adapt to stress later on!

#3: Stress Makes You Fat because the Stress Response Alters Glycemic control
Studies show that psychological stress alters the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and get glucose—your major energy source—into your cells. The result is low energy levels and an altered glycemic control that leads to fat gain. In addition when the glycemic control is altered, and blood sugar is unregulated, inflammatory markers are produced by the body. One example is the inflammatory marker interleukin-6 (IL-6), and when it is produced it targets the Central Nervous System and can even trigger fever—that’s how powerful its effect is on your homeostasis.

A recent study from Japan provides insight into the effect of stress on IL-6 production and glycemic control. Researchers found that following the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 in Japan, patients with diabetes had worse blood sugar control, greater evidence of psychological stress, and higher levels of inflammation. The research group notes that this study indicates an association between the effect of altered glycemia and stress, and that it builds on previous data showing similar results when individuals are under profound and consistent stress.

The effect of elevated IL-6, inflammatory markers, and poor blood sugar control will be body fat gain. For example, a new study from Wake Forest University found that in a population of healthy individuals, levels of IL-6 and similar inflammatory markers were associated with higher stress and with abdominal fat and body fat even after adjusting for confounding factors such as age, lean mass, and handgrip strength.

#4: Stress Causes Aging on a Cellular and Genetic Level
Common sense tells us that stress causes aging, and scientists have found evidence of the aging on both the cellular and genetic levels. Research into the science of lifespan lengths of different species has shown that stress hormones will damage telomeres, which are attached to the end of each of our chromosomes and protect both the chromosome and the cell from becoming cancerous.

When we experience chronic stress and have high levels of cortisol interacting with cells, the cortisol will accelerate the shortening of telomeres. When telomeres get too short, the cell that the telomere protects can no longer divide, so it dies.

Studies on people who experience high levels of daily psychological stress show that they have much shorter telomeres than less stressed people of the same age. This means that their cells are older—when you are born telomeres begin at a length of 8,000 base pairs (measured in terms of blood cells in the telomere) and decline to 3,000 base pairs at middle age and then to 1,500 base pairs in the elderly. 

So, people who experience high stress show evidence of medically serious aging with much shorter telomeres—one estimate of the effect of stress on aging is that for every year of chronic stress, you age by six years. A study from the University of Utah found that people with longer telomere lengths live five years longer than those with shorter telomeres. This research group suggests the solution to slow aging is multifaceted: People MUST minimize the psychological stress they experience by having skills to manage it, but they also need a lifestyle (diet, exercise, supplementation, sleep) that will minimize the physical stress they experience since it also shortens telomeres. 

#5: Stress and Sleep: The Vicious Spiral into Chronic Fatigue
Lack of sleep causes both physical and mental stress, elevating inflammation, and making it that much harder to get adequate sleep the next night since we know that stress will directly alter your ability to sleep. Lack of sleep (and the stress related to it) will kill you if it persists!

Really—in animal models sleep deprivation has been proven lethal. The reason is that when you don’t get enough sleep for one night your immune system will be activated, which leads to the production of those inflammatory markers like IL-6. The inflammatory markers alter the central nervous system, which raise cortisol and other stress hormones, producing more stress and damaging cells and telomeres. A vicious cycle has started that will further affect sleep and compromise the integrity of the endocrine system—and it’s all downhill from there!

Lack of sleep will stress you out in a surprisingly short period of time and the effect on your mental and physical performance will be significant. For example, a recent study looked at how fatigue affects performance in college rugby players who competed in a five-day tournament, playing three games with inadequate rest and sleep. Results showed that on-field performance and neuromuscular function deteriorated as the tournament progressed, with a significant drop off by the third game (the team lost the second and third games). In addition, inflammatory markers—in this case IL-6 wasn’t measured but creatine kinase was—increased each day of the tournament, indicating a pro-inflammatory state.

Researchers note that the rugby players will be able to recover if given sufficient time to get both physical rest and sleep. However, if a player doesn’t get adequate sleep due to anxiety, exams, or a sleep disorder, they might not recover and a nasty pro-inflammatory state would be created that could permanently alter performance and health.

Studies into the effect of psychological stress on memory and cognitive performance show that when people have high levels of cortisol and are forced to perform memory or learning tasks, they perform much worse than when their levels of cortisol are lower. The longer term effect of high cortisol on the brain is persistent if not permanent, meaning that in order to reverse it, the stress hormones must be lowered AND some sort of restorative nutrient and activity must be performed, such as mediation and omega-3 supplementation.