A lot of people who start of working out, and are considered in the beginning stages of it, have this tendency to always train. Every single day, they feel idle not doing something, and feel as if they have to train because they have seen all the experts doing it, so they feel bad and instead of resting, do some form of physical activity.

Now, this is encouraging that they are focused on keeping active and reaching their fitness goals, but are they really getting the most out of the training, or are they really just reaching further than they should?

The reason I mention this is because I think a lot of beginners, think they are on the level of experts and forget about the luxury aspect of the fitness lifestyle; resting and recovering. They fail to understand the importance of this part of training, that they push themselves so much, that when they reach a plateau or stop seeing gains, or are exceptionally exhausted, they wonder what’s going on.

The question many tend to ask me over and over again, is the simple one; how much protein is enough protein? There are basic ratios that assist in acquiring the right amount of protein in take, to build muscle mass but, there’s also goals that need to be looked at to assume how much protein is needed for a particular body type.

Someone who’s a hardgainer, may require a little more because of the overall requirement of calories to gain weight period, while other body types may just follow the basics. This article is going to just focus on the basics and not go into the nitty gritty of it, I’d rather leave that for another post. In fact, I am just letting you know why the numbers are the way it is, why you should or shouldn’t follow it and at the end of the day it’s up to you to choose which of the 2 ratios, is the one for you and you’re long term muscle building or maintaining goals.

This entry is going to be short and sweet, and straight to the point. Many of us have been performing certain exercises, in ways that do not directly target the muscles we’re looking to train. When we do bicep curls, some of us swing the barbell or dumbbell, without giving much resistance to the bicep itself. Did you know, it’s the negative (down movement), that is the most effective part of the bicep curl? Well, now you do. That’s why it’s always highlighted by those who are in the know, to slowly move the weight down, let the muscle completely extend and then slowly bring it back up in controlled movements. One of the best exercise to work on the peak of your bicep and really work it out, is the preacher curls. This gives you an idea, of how certain exercises, truly target the muscle group you want to.

But what about the shoulders? Preacher curls is a very basic exercise and no one would deny that movement and the form involved in it, but what about lateral raises? Did you know, most likely you have been performing the lateral raises completely wrong? If you aren’t sure, keep reading to find out the proper way to perform lateral raises.

One of the influences we experience or obtain when entering into the lifestyle of weightlifting, is having someone in mind we want to look like.

Nothing is wrong with this, but you have to be careful with who you pick to be your physique ideal or inspiration.

Continue reading to learn what is realistic and why you should choose certain physiques to idolize.

If you’ve been following my blog, you would know that I always emphasize and stress on nutrition. If you aren’t eating enough to build those muscles, nothing is going to happen. You’re going to be crunching out reps after reps, and becoming disappointed with your results. Your strength may not go up, weight may stay the same or you may end up losing (not in a good way), or any other type of discouraging act.

But on the other end of it, there’s the fact that some people push into the heads of newbs, that if they do not get their macros in, if they skipped a meal, or if they end up eating way below their calorie intake, they are going to be set back some and not see any gains.

I am just here to tell you, that that isn’t so.

Keep reading if you want to know why, and how you don’t need to be panicking if you had yourself a very hard and long day, where you didn’t get time to eat lunch or get in much calories.

I am going to make this post a little short and sweet, if I say so myself. This is being done so that you as a reader and visitor of my blog, can really ask yourself the question; “What am I?”

When you’re starting off with weight lifting, you have to make sure that you have an idea of where you want to go because if you don’t, sometimes you end up no where or in places you didn’t want to be in the first place.

To help guide you to that place, where you want to be, you have to ask yourself whether you’re a bodybuilder or a weight lifter.

What’s the difference you may ask? To you, it may seem that they are one in the same. But, in actuality, they are not.

Continue reading to learn the difference, so that you can start setting goals right now, to get to that specific place that you want to be with your physique.

Myth or Fact? If you went onto a fitness forum and asked anyone in there with any long term weight training or fitness experience, they would tell you that spot reduction is a myth. That you can’t do 50 sit ups or crunches and expect your midsection to lose the body fat it has stored in it. But then again, there’s research being done that says otherwise. Not only that but our old time idols like Arnold Schwarzenegger, used to do spot reduction training.

So, is it a myth or a fact? I decided to do some research and it seems that there is still some mixed responses in regards to spot reduction. Firstly, spot reduction is the belief that if you workout a certain body part, generally the abdominal area, you can reduce your love handles via doing side crunches or working out on your abs via sit ups.

Generally the long term consensus is that to lose body fat, in any area, one needs to lose body fat throughout their whole body. So basically to lose your body fat, you’re going to have to lose fat everywhere else and eventually fat will be loss in that desired area. On a T-nation article, which you can read here, they give you techniques you should use, to help with spot reduction. One of their suggestions, is to keep the area that you want to spot reduce warm while performing your exercises. For example, the author of the article used his weight belt and placed it backwards around his abs, to keep that area warm. Also, he did cardio on an empty stomach. The major idea is to cause blood flow to move towards that area you are trying to lose fat, and the body will use that adipose tissue to fuel the workout, with energy. Would make logical sense, if the energy used for an aerobic activity, came from the area of most blood flow, then spot reduction should be theoretically possible.

Although after reading the evidence behind it, it doesn’t seem productive to honestly focus so hard on reducing a particular body part, unless you’re looking to compete. At least, I personally wouldn’t perform any type of spot reduction exercise, with the intent to lose body fat via just doing sit ups for my abs. Instead, I’d rather go through an overall fat loss on my body. Even though, it seems that maybe if you’re having a hard time losing some of that body fat, after you’ve cut for however long, spot reduction might be a good try?

If you are interested in trying it out, check out the t-nation article I linked you to and read it. He goes into further detail, and provides some information you will need to know, to perform this ‘trick’, for the lack of a better word.

Either way, I have heard people claim to do spot reduction and not see any results. Maybe they didn’t follow the guidelines found in the article and just did sit ups till they turned blue. Whatever it may be, at the moment, spot reduction is deemed as a myth, at least in the overall sense. If you’re looking for a quick fix, of losing those love handles of yours, then spot reduction is the disappointing pathway to head down. If you rather see results, then eat below your maintenance and train 3 to 5 times a week and you will reduce body fat in that desired area and every where else on your body!