Entre Nós

If this article caught your attention, it probably means you are ready to admit to yourself that that extra weight you've been carrying around is starting to bother you. That's great! If you feel that way, this is the perfect time to finally go ahead and do something about it. Before you start getting all depressed about going on impossible diets and painful exercise routines, let me tell you: it's not as hard as you may think. The only real obligation you'll have is to commit to a new start, a new lifestyle with healthier habits.

Don't believe anyone that tries to convince you that you can lose weight and gain muscle with any kind fast methods or miracle pills. That's a complete lie and even a danger to your physical integrity. This is a gradual process of reeducating yourself and your body, by eating right and increasing activity. The basic formula for losing weight is actually pretty simple: Eat less, burn more fat.

This doesn't mean you have to starve yourself. If your body goes into starvation mode, it will preserve the fat -its emergency storage, and eat away the muscle. You'll need a solid nutrition and exercise plan and a strong focus on your goals. You can rely on your personal physician to help you with this or can you can also investigate on your own. The important thing is that you make the decision to go forward and to stick with it. If you have a moment of weakness, don't worry too much about it, just go back on track.

Here are 10 reasons why you should consider changing your life for the better, losing weight and gaining a thinner, more muscular body:

Health - losing body fat will decrease the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, joint problems, diabetes and many more problems. Your body is your vessel in this world and if you keep in good working condition, you'll have less limitations and more life to enjoy;

Energy - Lighter meals and exercise will give you so much more energy and agility that you won't even recognize yourself on your daily routine. Everything will get done more easily with time to spare;

Good mood - besides improving your physical fitness, exercising decreases the stress hormones and increases the release of endorphins in the brain - the natural anti-depressants produced by the body;

Organized life - planning meals and times to work out, will also permit you to get your life more organized. If it helps, you can also keep a diary of your activities so that you can analyze your progress every week;
Focus - Maintaining focus on your goals and new habits is essential to succeed - in this plan and in other areas of your life;

Personal appearance - You won't dread looking in the mirror anymore. You know you'll begin to see the results of your hard work in no time;

The opposite sex - Yes, your personality will always be more important than your looks, but you'll definitely get more attention from the ladies with your new and improved self;

Self Esteem - Once you realize that, in spite all your doubts, you are achieving results, you will improve the way you see yourself;

Pride - You'll be proud of your achievements and your self confidence will rise;

Admiration and respect - People will acknowledge your efforts and respect you more. Some of them will even ask you for advice on how to do the same.

Are you inspired yet? Go ahead, put it on paper and sign it. Hang it on the wall and read it as many times has you need. Visualize the new you. Imagine yourself doing things you can't do right now, because you're overweight. Go for it and don't look back.

Posted in Build Muscle, Lose Weight, Workouts

Some of my friends told me that if I want a six-pack abs, I can just do a thousand crunches every day. I have found out that it is not the way to work your abs. From now on, if you do the ab workouts that work wonders on your abs, you will get the six-pack abs you are aiming for.

I can assure you that these iconic abdominal exercises like crunches and sit ups are outdated. There are other more efficient workouts for the abdominal that you may never do before. But before revealing the 3 effective abdominal workouts, let me explain the core muscles on our abs so that you gain more knowledge on why the workouts that I am about to reveal to you is super effective.

The Region of Abdominal Muscles

You need to use ab workouts that work effectively that target the different areas on our abs. Our abdominal muscles consist of 5 parts which are rectus abdominis, external oblique, internal oblique and transverse abdominis. Rectus abdominis is the six-pack muscle that assists our upper body bend and helps maintain good posture. This is the part that most people think of when they think of abs.

The next part is the external oblique. These are the muscles that start on the ribs and extend diagonally down the sides of your waist. External oblique are involved when you turn your torso and move your waist. Golfers, tennis players and hockey players usually make their movement which involves the external oblique.

The third part is internal oblique which is situated between the rib cage and external oblique and it extend diagonally down the sides of your waist. It is similar to external oblique which are used in torso rotation.

The fourth part is transverse abdominis which is a thin muscle that runs horizontally, surrounding your abdomen. It also functions as a compressor for the abdomen that keeps everything intact.

Therefore you need to do ab workouts that work every part of your abs and you will have a great six-pack abs ripping through your belly. Here, I give you 3 of my top abdominal workouts for you to put them into your body workout regime.

Abs Workout #1: Hanging Knee Raise

This workout is great for working your lower abs. In order to pull this manoeuvre correctly, you need to have a chin-up bar. Hang yourself fully extended on the chin-up bar, palms facing outwards, shoulder-width apart. Raise your knees to your chest, curling your pelvis upwards at the end. Do it around 12 repetitions. If you want a tougher hanging knee raise, you can hold a medicine ball between your knees. You can substitute this workout with mountain climbers if you do not have a chin-up bar.

Abs Workout #2: Plank or Bridge

This is a great workout for your transverse abdominis. There two types of planks. Normal plank and side plank which is tougher than normal plank. To do this workout correctly, start to get in a push-up position but bend your elbows and rest weight on your forearms instead of your hands. Your body should form a straight line and pull in your abdominal as you perform this plank position. Hold it at least 30 seconds or more.

Experts recommend that you do up to 2 minutes if you are more advanced. To toughen the plank workout, use a stability ball and bridge yourself up on top of the ball. This is definitely the best ab workouts that work tremendously good for your abs.

Abs Workout #3: Barbell Rollout or Stability Ball Rollout

This is a more advanced workout which really work hard on your abs. If you have barbell, equip the barbell with a pair of 2.25 kg or 5 lb plates. You can also use a stability ball or gym ball or even use a towel. Kneel on a mat or towel to avoid slipping your knees. Hold the bar with an over-hand, shoulder-width grip. Start your position with a slightly rounded position and roll the bar out forward as far as possible without arching your back or touching the floor. Hold for a few seconds and then return back to the starting position. Do it around 5 to 10 repetitions. In my opinion, this is one of the hardest abs workouts but super effective.

There you have it. These are my 3 top ab workouts that work effectively for the different areas on your abdominal muscles. If you are interested to learn more about the best solution for getting rid of belly fat and would like to learn how to build a six-pack, take action now and start planning and implementing a healthy nutrition and effective workouts and make progress towards your solid abs goal today!

Posted in Abdominal Exercises, Abs Workouts, Whey Protein

Higher reps for building muscle? No way. All conventional wisdom and general census is that lower reps with higher weights will result in muscle gain, strength and size increases, while higher reps lean and tone muscle. But to what extent is this true?While you might not build any weight doing 30 easy reps of 5 lbs weights for your bench press, higher reps can be very useful when it comes to increasing size.

The truth is that people aren't all created equal. Some people find it easier to put on muscle mass while others don't. Ever heard the term hard-gainer? Biology of the matter is that there are 2 main differences in the genetic make up of individuals that dictate their ability to gain muscle. So yes, your genes do have a role to play in your size. But you already knew that. What you didn't know was that even if your genes shout out "You're a skinny guy", with the right type of training, diet and rest, you can overcome your body's resistance to building muscle and actually gain muscle quite well.

What does this mean for the higher reps myth? Well Research has concluded that "hard-gainers" or that genetic group that does not stack on muscle easily responds very well to higher reps training than to the lower rep ranges. I, for one found that my body put on more muscle mass when I did 15 rep full body circuits than when I did the 5 rep circuits with much heavier weights.

Higher reps are not the enemy of a hard-gainer trying to gain muscle mass. In fact higher reps might be exactly what your routine needs and what it is lacking. In addition to this, you probably know that muscles react by growing to new challenging stimuli. Whether it maybe a need for greater endurance, greater speed, or greater strength. The muscle fibers will be stimulated to grow when pushed to their limits within any of these parameters.

In essence, for optimal results, it is best to get a range of all different work outs. High weights with low reps, or lower weights with higher reps. That way you can consistently stimulate all different types of muscle fibers to grow. Keep changing your work out routines every 4-6 weeks by changing the resistance, set or rep range, or even by switching between full body and split training. This will keep your muscles challenged and force them into constant adaptation and growth.

Do not simply focus on one weight training routine that one big guy in the gym told you works for him. Switch things around ensure that your muscles are challenged in all possible ways. Do not ignore the higher reps because you are afraid you will get leaner but instead incorporate higher reps into your work outs and observe the effect they too can have on your training.

As a side note however, do keep in mind that when using high rep ranges, continue to use weights that challenge you at that rep range. Though the dumbbells may be a lot lighter on a 15 rep work out than an 8 rep work out, make sure your muscles still find it difficult to complete the 15 reps. Increase the intensity and switch things up and you will surely gain muscle.

Posted in Build Muscle, Workout Routines, Workouts

Weight Training rest period are very important in a fitness regimen. Most people get so intense and focused on working out and just keep moving on with their routines that they forget rest is essential to recovery. Muscle is not built during a workout. It is actually built during rest. If you keep going and going without weight training rest periods then there is no recovery time and no muscle built.

As you lift weights in the gym you are tearing the muscle fibers apart. The weight you lift and how intense your workout is will determine the damage done to your muscles. In this case damage is a good thing. Once you stop working out the muscle begins to repair and builds new muscle. If there is not enough rest time then the muscle can't regrow as it should.

Most people get confused and do not understand the concept of recovery or why it is important. They think that muscle is built when they are lifting weights in the gym. They do not want to recognize that when they rest is when the real muscle building occurs. Making this mistake is not a smart move if you want to actually build serious muscle.

If you keep hitting the gym and working too much you will get very frustrated because you won't see results. If you do not allow for rest and recovery then you will never see the big muscles that you are working so hard to build. When it comes to building muscle you should have the mindset that less is more.

There are two types of rest that you need to ensure for good muscle growth. You need muscular rest which is the actual rest that will allow the muscle to rebuild. This takes about 48 hours. This is why trainers will tell you to not work the same muscle group on consecutive days. Generally you will work a muscle group every other day to allow for muscular rest.

The other type of rest is CNS rest. CNS stands for central nervous system. During CNS rest the system is able to recover from the stress weight lifting puts on the body. The amount of time for CNS rest can vary, but you should be able to tell for yourself how long you need. If you are not getting adequate CNS rest then you will have slower reactions, you won't feel on top of your game and you will not be able to do as much before you have to stop. It is CNS rest that can affect your body overall. It can stop you from being able to do strength training two days in a row. Some people may find they must rest every other day to allow for proper recovery.

It is important to listen to your body and to allow for weight training rest periods. You are only hurting yourself when you ignore rest. When you factor in rest to your workouts you will find you accomplish more. You are able to get a better workout and you build muscle much faster when you include rest periods in your routine.

Posted in Bodyweight Exercises, Muscle Mass, Whey Protein

Are you dreaming of having a strong, toned and wide pectoral muscles? Well, you can not have a pair of those if you do not work hard for it. Like they say, you have to pump iron to build your body up and ther eare many excellent and best chest workout out there that will surely help you achieve your goal.

The great thing about having a great body and a well developed, well toned chest muscles is that it gives you confidence in everything that you do. This is specially true in every man that I know and probably in every man in existence.

One of the best chest workout that every body builder agrees upon is called the dumbbell pullover. This is similar to a barbell pullover but instead of using large weight of a bar bell you'd use a smaller version.

For our topic here, we'll describe another great and powerful chest workout that you can do and add to your exercise routine every time you will go to the gym. This is called the Cable Crossover or more popularly known as the "Standing Cable Crossover". The name itself sounds very simplistic but how do you do this chest workout?

Here is how you do it. To perfectly execute the cable crossover, you must first choose the weight that you are willing to work on and choose also the position of the pulley's height. You then grab hold of the overhead pulley handles. This is the part of the chest machine that act as the resistance as it is connected to the weight. Before starting to pull, make sure that your arms and floor are in parallel with each other and that your hands, well the palm, are facing down. In this position start by bending your body over slightly.

The next thing to do, in an arc style fashion movement, lower your arms and bright your hands together. You then perform it reversely when you return to your original position.

Posted in Chest Workouts, Workouts

When someone begins an exercise regime, they often have a part of their body in mind that they want to improve. Perhaps you want bigger arms or legs. In this article, however, I will go over how to get a bigger chest. Many people seem to want bigger chests and will begin workouts to achieve this goal. Let's review some ways to help you get a bigger chest.

Firstly, make sure that when you start exercising with weights that you have someone to help you you by spotting you. This is to ensure that you do not hurt yourself. If you are serious about weightlifting, find someone who is knowledgeable about weight lifting or who has been doing it longer than you to truly make big gains.

For beginners or someone who is just starting, the best place to start is by doing push ups. It may be hard at first, but do as many push ups as you can until your arms fail you. It should hurt a bit at first after you do this exercise to failure but you will find that it is an easy way to get started and you can do it anywhere without needing an expensive gym membership or machines.

Next, perhaps the most popular exercise out there is the bench press. This exercise is often shown in movies or other media as being representative of bodybuilding. Indeed it is a very effective exercise at giving you a bigger chest. This should be the foundation of your chest building regimen.

Another variation of the bench press is the inclined benchpress. This hits your chest a little differently and can be an effective exercise if you have the machine or equipment available to do it. It can be a good way to hit some of the smaller muscles in your chest that you may not hit every time you do the normal benchpress.

These are the basic exercises for increasing the size of your chest. They should make the foundation of your exercise and if you stay with only these exercises going until failure each time you do them, you will find that you make quick gains.

Posted in Chest Workouts, Workouts

I'd willing to be bet that half of the guys who are working out today started just to get big arms. The fact is huge arms draw a lot of attention and are admired by both sexes (but especially by women). The perfect example of this is NFL referee Ed Hochuli, who, according to his Wikipedia page (yes, he even has a Wikipedia page) is well known for his big arms. You literally cannot get through a football game without one of the broadcasters commenting the size of his arms at least once. That is the perfect example of the effect having big arms has on people. Now here are few of my favorite exercises to get big arms.

These 3 exercises each work 1 of the 3 major muscles in the arm, the bicep, the tricep, and the forearm muscle.

Get Big Arms Exercise #1 - Biceps - Dumbbell Curls

Dumbbell curls one of the most well known arm exercises and for good reason, they're one of the best for building the bulging biceps every guy wants.

This exercise can be performed standing up or sitting down with your arm rested on the inside of your thigh. Grab the dumbbell with an underhanded grip and bring it up towards your focusing on keeping the rest of your arm steady while only using your bicep.

Perform 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions

Get Big Arms Exercise #2 - Close Grip Bench Press

What most people don't know is that the triceps muscle makes up 2/3 of your arm and therefore building up your triceps is the key to getting big arms.

No exercise builds up the triceps like the close grip bench press. You perform the close grip bench press the same way you would the traditional bench press but you use a grip that is only shoulder length apart. When doing exercise be sure to keep your elbows as close to the body as possible. Keeping your elbows tucked in tight isolates the triceps and ensures that you're not using any of your chest to lift the weights.

Perform 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions

Get Big Arms Exercise #3 - Forearm Curls

One often overlooked part of the arms is the forearm. Everyone makes a big fuss over the biceps and triceps but if you ask me there's nothing more impressive than a pair of gorilla forearms.

Forearm curls are performed the same way as bicep curls the difference being that you're only bending at the wrist. The key to doing this exercise is to perform the curl slowly, controlling the weight all through out the motion.

These 3 exercises helped me get big arms and I'm sure they will work for you too

Posted in Arm Exercises, Bicep Workouts, Workouts