In my recently rewritten article “A no-nonsense guide to design your workouts“, which is a three-part series, I offer no BS ways for beginners and veterans alike to keep their workouts fresh while consistently making gains.

Everywhere you turn these days, weight training seems to be the focus. And why shouldn’t it be? A proper weight training program produces many positive effects, including: increased muscle mass; reduced body fat; increased bone density; improved insulin sensitivity; improved self-esteem; and overall well-being. The list goes on. Yet with all the information available, why is it so hard for people to make progress? Because most of what is out there is BULLSHIT!!

Helping people is what being a trainer and a coach is all about. Most publishers and editors are so hell-bent on selling magazines, they print things like this: “Put 2 inches on your arms in 21 days;” “Have a chest like Arnold’s in just 6 weeks.” People, just like you, purchase this type of trash in the hopes that it might work. These writers and editors rely on your ignorance.

Having the knowledge and ability to help somebody achieve their goals goes far beyond writing an article about workouts. Writing workouts is actually a pretty easy thing to do. Just about anyone with a little bit of knowledge can do it, and many – unfortunately — do. The barriers to entry to become a personal trainer are so low, most certificates aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. In contrast, look at the barriers to entry to become a nurse. Several years of school filled with prerequisites, in which you need a 78 percent just to pass, coupled with many hours of hands-on clinicals. What education does a trainer need? Send away for some study guides, take a test, and “Bam!” you’re a certified trainer.

We all know that exercise is good for our health. Exercise helps to improve our cardiovascular system, and respiratory system; resistance exercise helps to improve muscle function and will prevent age associated muscle atrophy. But did you know exercise, especially high intensity exercise by flooding it with free radicals. Free radicals are chemical marauders that can affect every cell in your body causing DNA mutations, premature aging, cell death, muscle weakness, fatigue and chronic oxidative stress.

So how can you get the best benefits of regular exercise—without placing your body at risk in the process? Proper antioxidant support is one effective way: Extensive research shows that safe, natural substances including vitamins A, C and E, N-acetyl cysteine, lutein, rosemary leaf extract, turmeric, green tea, bilberry and grape seed extract are all potent free radical quenchers—and you can find all of them in a single daily formula from Vitamin Research Products called Extension Antioxidant.6-15

Supplementing with nutrients that will help your body to replenish its essential ATP levels is another key strategy—one that will improve muscle function plus increase your heart’s stamina and help it to keep up with the demands for more ATP during exercise.16

D-ribose is a pentose sugar that can help to maintain ATP regeneration in your body, especially following exercise. Studies document that D-ribose can supply extra amounts of ATP to your heart muscle in particular.17-18 Meanwhile, the popular antioxidant coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) also plays a vital role in ATP synthesis, and can improve energy production when your body is under physical stress.19 It’s no surprise, then, that research shows that regular CoQ10 supplementation can boost exercise tolerance, lessen fatigue and improve physical performance in active subjects.20-23

Whether you’re a casual exerciser or an amateur athlete, look for the highly bioavailable form of CoQ10, preferably the second generation CoQ10-H2™, to combine with Extension Antioxidant and D-ribose—which are all available from VRP—for a supplement-based strategy that can reduce your recover time plus maximize your strength, energy and endurance throughout each and every workout.

www.vrp.com

Exercise your face? Well think about it, your face is comprised of 20 muscles. Ask yourself, what’s the difference between working out the muscles in your legs, chest, or abs and your face? Facial muscles are the same as any other muscle in your body, and require the same type of stimulation to stay strong and of normal size. If they are not used they will become weak and unable to support the skin and adipose tissue that lies above them, promoting sagging and wrinkles.

Intent.com suggests the following to keep your face looking young:

* Raise your eyebrows as high as you can and hold them for five seconds.
* Open your mouth as wide as possible and stick your tongue out as far as you can and hold for a few seconds.
* Using your three center fingers, press down on your cheeks and smile as hard as you can to raise your cheek muscles against your fingers.
* Move your nose as much as you can from side to side.
* Lift your eyebrows as high as you can, open your eyes as wide as possible and frown at the same time.
* Pucker your lips out as far as possible into the shape of an “O.” Then change your expression into a wide smile. Repeat several times.
* Sit in a comfortable chair and look up at the ceiling. Pucker your lips and stick your tongue out as far as possible to exercise your neck muscles.

XYIENCE, maker of Xenergy, the official energy drink of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), announces that one lucky winner of its new Las Vegas/UFC Weekend Experience Sweepstakes will have a chance to spend the weekend in Las Vegas, attend a UFC fight and to train at XYIENCE team athlete Wanderlei Silva’s state-of-the-art mixed martial arts (MMA) training facility, Wand Fight Team. The sweepstakes, which kicks off on May 1 and runs through August 31, 2010 is being held in conjunction with up to 40,000 of XYIENCE’s independent retailers across the United States (excluding Ark., Fla., Miss, N.C., N.Y., R.I. and S.C.) The grand prize also includes airfare, hotel accommodations and two tickets to a UFC event. Entries can be submitted at www.xyience.com/promo. No purchase necessary to enter, though winners must be legal residents of the United States and at least 18 years old with valid proof of age. Winners will be selected at random and announced in mid September.

XYIENCE will also award 10 second-place prize packages that will include a video game console and a 2010 edition of an MMA video game. Thirty third-place winners receive gift cards redeemable for a future UFC pay-per-view event.

The hardest part to attaining goals is pre-payment. The goal is attained only after you’ve paid the price or done the work. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Attaining a goal requires effort and you get what you put in. The life you lead today is a reflection of the work you put in up to the present. The life you lead in the future is determined by the work you put in between now and then.

Many people bite off more than they can chew. They set lofty goals usually while they’re caught up in emotion, work hard for a while, don’t see big returns, get discouraged and quit. Achieving big goals is a lot of work and fitness is no different than any other aspect of your life. There is an old saying that if you save your pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. We need to set and achieve smaller goals and gradually we’ll realize bigger goals.

To reach a big goal, one must set small goals. Remember, every journey begins with one step. Simply take your big goals and segment them into smaller, more attainable goals. Look at these smaller goals as rungs on a ladder. Not only does each rung get you one more step toward the top, you must hit each one to safely and effectively reach your destination.

I know, I know — who makes an article with 11 tips and not 10? Well, I had a hard enough time getting down to the top 11. I felt there was absolutely nothing else to cut.

Anyway, summer is around the corner, and chances are you aren’t looking or feeling your best. You want to get in shape, but like most you’ve put it off again and again since January. The following are some changes you can make that will not only improve your look in a hurry, but your health as well. Everything on this list is designed to optimize your metabolism and turn you into a fat burning machine.

Top 11 tips Here

When most think of carbohydrate loading, the classic method of low carb consumption coupled with bouts high intensity exercise followed by a high intake of carbs a few days before competition comes to mind. The result, according to the theory, is super-compensation of glycogen storage in the muscle cells and liver. The theory holds that one must deplete their glycogen stores prior to consuming or loading carbs in order to facilitate super-compensation.

The average person’s total amount of muscle glycogen is approximately 300 – 500g depending on their gender, size, and level of training. The liver stores between 60 and 120g. A linear relationship exists between the depletion of muscle glycogen and fatigue during exercise. With less glycogen to produce glucose, hypoglycemia begins to affect the athlete. Typically, a person with a blood glucose level below 70 will start to feel light headed, lethargy, and have cold clammy skin. A highly trained athlete, on the other hand, can train at much lower levels than 70 for long periods of time.

As with all training topics there is conflicting evidence on what is the best method to achieve super-compensation of glycogen stores. studies are reporting similar results to the classic method, which so many athletes swear by, without carb depletion, while tapering their training (1,2,3). One thing is for sure, carbohydrate levels play a key role in training and competition success.

In order to figure out what works best for you, try different methods and keep a detailed journal. We all process carbs the same way, but we metabolize them at different rates. Keep mind, studies on training are by no means the end all be all. There are too many variables in most training studies to be reliable. Athletes, especially endurance athletes are over-trained. It is my opinion that athletes who are achieving super-compensation without depletion coupled with bouts of intense training, are doing so because they are over-trained and under-fed before starting the process.

The body is constantly working to stay in homeostasis. Physiology shows us glycogen storage is finite; the body needs a reason to super-compensate. Achieving a glycogen depleted state over a period of time produces an insulin sensitive environment, which is essential for more than normal levels of glycogen storage.

1. Eur J Appl Physiol 2002;87:290-295
2. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2003;285:E1304-E1311
3. Int J Sports Med 1981;2:114-118

The question, “What’s best workout for building strength and muscle?” has been the subject of heated debates for years.  My answer is always the same.  There is no one workout that is the best.  There is no one workout that works for all.  However, there are training principles that do apply to everybody.

Anatomically and physiologically we are identical.  A bicep is a bicep and has the exact same function from person to person.  An aorta is an aorta.  Our anatomical structures may have different shapes and sizes, but they all function the same.  This holds true for all tissues in our bodies from blood to hormones.  If this weren’t true medicine could not exist.  How could an anesthesiologist do his job if everybody were different?

Therefore, in order to get bigger, stronger muscles the same stimulus is needed.  That stimulus is short, intense training sessions.  Why short?  Because we have known for centuries the body can either train long or train hard.  A perfect example is to compare distance runners to sprinters.  Because of the types of training, one is emaciated looking and one is muscular.  Remember you can not sprint a mile.  Is it difficult to run a mile, yes?  But it is essentially impossible to run a mile with 100% intensity.

The other factor one needs to take into consideration for building bigger, stronger muscles is recovery.  How much or how often can you train?  Or better yet, how much “should” you train?  Here is where the differences in genetics lie.  Our muscles need the exact same stimulus in order to cause a chain of events that forces them to adapt by making bigger stronger muscles.  However, the rate at which we are able to recover from these intense bouts is as different as the shapes and sizes of our bodies.

So what are you to do?  If you’re training using the typical muscle building routine, which is 3 or more working sets per exercise and 4 or more sessions a week, and not getting anywhere, change it.  First, reduce your sets per exercise by half and only train each body part once a week.  If you still don’t make gains or you plateau after a short while, reduce your sets again.  Remember, if you’re training with 100% intensity and you’re not making gains, you’re not recovering.

More is only better when it comes to sex and money.