Want Guns? Chisel your arms with these 5 steps

Doing bicep curls every night and not getting the results? Have you increased your dumbell weight from 10 lbs to 40 lb and while your arms are growing you don’t seem to be seeing the golden arms you wanted from the guys in the movies? If you take a 5 step approach that addresses each of the areas you need to attack,  you will  build arms that will not only grow but shine like the starts as well.

1) Don’t only work the arms! Focus on all body parts, but only one at a time. Targeted Hypertrophy of all body parts.

- This entails working each body part once a week and working it hard. You can not work the arms themselves more then this or they will not have an adequate amount of time to recover.

- Progressive Overload- Increase in either weight or the amount of reps for every set.

- 8-12 reps per set- its light enough for good form; heavy enough to force growth. The NSCA states, “Bouts of anaerobic training, 8 to 12 reps per set, are best for increasing muscle hypertrophy”. A lower rep range of 4-8 reps is also recommended towards the end of each cycle to combat potentially slowing results, or if you’re just plain bored.

-Don’t work for more than 1 hour. Limiting the release of catabolic hormones is crucial for us naturals. There is a point of diminishing returns in bodybuilding. Maximize muscle stimulation in minimum time, and then STOP!

2) Mix it up- Confuse the arms- Don’t just do standing bicep curls.  Do 6-7 different bicep exercises that each attack the biceps from different angles. Here are some examples:

Bicep Curls

Standing with one leg in front of the other and knees slightly bent (safe lifting stance), face your hands away from you body. Curl your forearms up keeping your elbows tight into your body.

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Static Bicep Curls

In your lift stance, hold your left forearm at a 90 degree angle with your bicep. Do four curls with your right hand. Then switch hands with your right forearm at a 90 degree angle.Do 16 reps of this exercise total. So 8 curls per bicep.

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Hammer Curls

With your hands by your side and palms facing your thighs, curl up then back down.

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Twenty Ones

Start with your hands by your sides for a normal curl. Curl up half way then back down. Repeat 7 times.From half way, curl all the way up back ot the half way point. Repeat 7 time.Last do a full bicep curls 7 times.

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Cross Body Curl

With hands by your sides, curl your forearm across your body in a circular motion up to your shoulder. Switch hands with every rep.

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Concentration Curls

In a left lunge position, lay your left elbow on your knee. Place you right elbow against your left wrist and curl

your arm up. Switch hands.

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Outward Curls

With the palm of your hands facing away from your thighs, curl both of your arms up to your shoulders.

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Corkscrew Curls

In your lifting stance, move your forearm in a corkscrew motion as you curl up to your shoulder. Alternate arms after each rep.

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Curl and Hammer

Do a standard curl up, twist your hands and hammer down.

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In and Out Hammer Curls

Perform a regular hammer curl. When you lower your hands, twist your wrist away from you body and hammer curl up.

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In and Out Bicep Curls

Same as the In and Out Hammer Curls only now you are doing regular bicep curls.

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Strip Set Curls

You are going to do 3-4 sets of bicep curls. With each set you are going to lower your weight. If you start with 25s, move to 20s, then 15s, then 12s.You only need to do this exercise once, so I usually save it as the last of my exercises.

3)  Moderate the calories- bring excess responsibly

Remember that you can not build muscle unless you are giving your body enough calories to build muscle tissue. This means that if you don’t eat enough calories to gain weight, you can’t build muscle. So first you need to figure out… How many calories do you need to eat to build muscle:

There are 3 factors that come into play when calculating your Daily Calorie Expenditure

1. Resting Metabolic Rate RMR – The amount of calories your body would burn if you just lay still all day.
2. Occupation – The amount of calories your job or daily life would burn
3. Exercise – The amount of calories your daily exercise burns

Calculating Resting Metabolic Rate

The best way of calculating your Resting Metabolic Rate is with something called the Katch-McArdle formula.

RMR = 370 + (21.6 x lean weight in kg)

To get from pounds to kg simply divide pounds by 2.2.
You’ll also need know your body fat percentage. This is where a cheap pair of body fat calipers comes in very handy. If you have 15% body fat at 160 lbs that means you carry 24 pounds of fat and your lean weight is 136 lbs.

Calculating Calories Burned From Occupation

Different daily activities obviously have different energy requirements. That’s why it’s important to factor in your occupational calorie burn.

Light work – multiply your RMR by 1.5

Moderate work – multiply your RMR by 1.7

Heavy work – multiply your RMR by 1.9

Calculating Calories Burned From Exercise

Here are a sample list of exercise activities and their calorie burn for 1 hour:

520 – Aerobics (high intensity)
400 – Aerobics (low intensity)
370 – Badminton
865 – Boxing (sparring)
385 – Cycling (10 mph)
250 – Cycling (5.5 mph)
760 – Judo
445 – Rowing machine
1000 – Running (6 mins/mile)
750 – Running (9 min/mile)
615 – Squash
630 – Swimming (fast)
415 – Tennis
270-450 – Weight training

Adding It All Up

A person weighs 160 lbs with 15% body fat.

This means they carry 24 lbs of fat.

160 – 24 = 136 lbs lean weight

136 / 2.2 = 61.8 Kg

His resting metabolic rate = 370 + (21.6 x 61.8) = 1704.88

He works an office job…..

1704.88 x 1.5 = 2557.32

He also does weight training 5 days a week for 40 minutes at a time which burns 170 calories. His Daily Calorie Expenditure on training days is therefore:

2557.32 + 170 = 2727.32 calories

Putting it all together, this guy burns 2727.32 per day on weekdays.

Assuming he moves around as much at the weekends as he does during his working week, we simply add 2 days minus the weight-training sessions to give a weekly total of 18751.24 calories (5 x 2727.32 add 2 x 2557.32).

Then we divide this figure by 7 to give us an Average Daily Calorie Expenditure of 2678.75 calories

4) Cardio- burn baby burn

While you don’t want to do too much cardio because you will burn the calories that the muscle needs to build tissue, you want do enough to burn off the excess fat stands in the way of forming those golden arms.  Plymotric exercises are the best. Because unlike running, the eliptical or other workouts that lack variety, plyometrics mix up the routine to further confuse each muscle group being worked on, further aiding muscle growth. Also, you can work the biceps and other upper body muscles with these types of workouts unlike typical cardio exercises.  I recommend two intense days of cardio a week for 40-55 minutes,  3 days spaced out from each other on your schedule.  So for example, do cardio on a Friday and then again on a Monday or Tuesday. The confusion and variety in routine that this will bring to your regimen will further put your body on a higher alert level, further enabling muscle growth.  Some examples of  excellent plyometric cardio workouts:

Upper Body Plyometric Drills

Overhead Throws
1. Stand with one foot in front (staggered stance) with knees slightly bent.
2. Pull medicine ball back behind head and forcefully throw ball forward as far as possible into the wall.
3. Catch ball on the bounce from the wall and repeat according to prescribed repetitions. Keep the time between pulling the ball back and starting the throw (transition phase) to a minimum. Can also be completed with a partner instead of a wall.

Side Throws
1. Stand with feet hip-width apart; place left foot approximately one foot in front of right foot.
2. Hold medicine ball with both hands and arms only slightly bent.
3. Swing ball over to the right hip and forcefully underhand toss ball forward to a partner or wall. Keep the stomach drawn in to maximize proper usage of muscle.
4. Catch ball on the bounce from
your partner or wall and repeat.

Over Back Toss
1. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Have a partner or trainer stand approximately 10-15 yards behind you.
2. Grasp ball and lower body into a semi-squat position. Explode up extending the entire body and throwing medicine ball up and over the body.
3. The goal is to throw the ball behind you as far as you and generating most of the power in the legs.
4. Catch ball on the bounce from your partner and repeat according to prescribed repetitions.

Slams
1. Stand with feet parallel, shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.
2. Pull medicine ball back behind head and forcefully throw ball down on the ground as hard as possible.
3. Catch the ball on the bounce from the ground and repeat according to prescribed repetitions.

Explosive Start Throws
1. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Knees should be slightly bent.
2. Pick medicine ball up to chest level.
3. Quickly explode up and press the ball straight out as far and fast as you can.
4. As you press the ball forward explode with either leg so that you actually sprint forward a couple of steps.

Single Arm Overhead Throws
1. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
2. Grasp medicine and lower body into a semi-squat position. Explode up extending the entire body and throwing the medicine ball up into the air.
3. The aim is to throw the ball as high as you can and generating most of the power in the legs.
4. Catch ball on the bounce and repeat.

Squat Throws
1. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Knees should be slightly bent.
2. Hold medicine ball at chest level and squat down to a parallel position.
3. Quickly explode up and jump as high as you can. As you start your jump you should start to shoulder press the ball up and reach full extensions with the arms when you are at the peak of your jump. Push ball as high as possible into the air. Try to minimize the time spent in the squatted position. It should be a quick squat and jump.
4. Catch ball on the bounce and repeat according to prescribed repetitions.

Plyometric Push-Ups
1. Start by getting into a push-up position.
2. Lower yourself to the ground and then explosively push up so that your hands leave the ground.
3. Catch your fall with your hands and immediately lower yourself into a push-up again and repeat.

Return from this plyometric drills article
the main plyometric training section

Lower Body Plyometric Exercises (Low Intensity)

Squat Jumps
1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, trunk flexed forward slightly with back straight in a neutral position.
2. Arms should be in the ready” position with elbows flexed at approximately 90.
3. Lower body where thighs are parallel to ground and immediately explode upwards vertically and drive arms up. Do not hold a squat position before jumping up keep the time between dipping down and jumping up to a minimum.
4. Land on both feet. Rest for 1-2 seconds and repeat
Prior to takeoff extend the ankles to their maximum range (full plantar flexion) to ensure proper mechanics.

Jump to Box
1.Stand facing box with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
2.Lower body into a semi-squat position and immediately jump up onto box. Do not hold a squat position before jumping up keep the time between dipping down and jumping up to a minimum.
3. Feet should land softly on box. Step back down (not jump back down) and repeat.

Lateral Jump to Box
1. Stand side on to box with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
2. Lower body into a semi-squat position and jump up onto box. Do not hold a squat position before jumping up keep the time between dipping down and jumping up to a minimum.
3. Feet should land softly on box. Step back down (not jump back down) and repeat.

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Lower Body Plyometric Exercises (Moderate Intensity)

Split Squat Jumps
1. Stand with feet hip width apart. Take left leg and step back approximately 2 feet standing on the ball of back foot.
2. Feet should be positioned at a staggered stance with head and back erect and straight in a neutral position.
3. Lower body by bending at right hip and knee until thigh is parallel to floor then immediately explode vertically.
4. Switch feet in the air so that the back foot lands forward and vice versa.
Prior to takeoff extend the ankles to their maximum range (full plantar flexion) ensure proper mechanics.

Tuck Jumps
1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, with arms at sides.
2. Jump up bringing knees up to chest.
3. Land on balls of feet and repeat immediately.
4. Remember to reduce ground contact time by landing soft on feet and springing into air.

Lateral Box Push Offs
1. Stand to side of box and place the left foot on top of box.
2. Push off the box using the left leg only and explode vertically as high as possible. Drive the arms forward and up for maximum height.
3. Land with right foot on the box and left foot on the ground to the other side of the box.
4. Repeat from this side.

Bounding
1. Jog into the start of the drill for forward momentum.
2. After a few feet, forcefully push off with the left foot and bring the leg forward. At same time drive your right arm forward.
3. Repeat with other leg and arm
4. This exercise is an exaggerated running motion focusing on foot push-off and air time.

Bounding with Rings
1. Jog into the start of the drill for forward momentum.
2. After a few feet, forcefully push off with the left foot and bring the right leg forward. At same time swing left arm forward and land into the first ring, which is 3-4 feet out and to the left, with the right foot.
3. Continue and repeat with other leg and arm into the second ring, which is now 3-4 feet up and to the right.
4. This exercise is an exaggerated running motion focusing on foot push-off and air time.

Box Drill with Rings
1. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart with your body facing the first ring.
2. Hop forward using both feet and land in first ring.
3. Now hop to the left and land in the ring to the side. Now jump backwards to land in ring behind you. Finish by jumping to your right to land in final ring.
4. Rest and repeat. Remember to keep ground contact time between bounds to a minimum.Hurdle Jumps

Lateral Hurdle Jumps
1. Stand beside object to be cleared.
2. Bring knees up and jump vertically but also laterally off ground and over the barrier.
3. Land on both feet and immediately jump the other direction over barrier.
4. Try not to pause between jumps or sink down into a squat position.

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Lower Body Plyometric Exercises (High Intensity)

Zigzag Hops
1. Stand to the left of an agility ladder or similar object approximately 1-2 feet away.
2. Forcefully push off both feet and land the on the other side of the ladder.
3. Repeat and land feet back on the other side, continue repeating and so on down the ladder.4. Do not “double hop” upon each landing and keep ground contact time to a minimum.

Single Leg Tuck Jump
This is the same as the tuck jump exercise above only one leg is used. Upon landing another jump is performed immediately with minimal ground contact time and with the same leg for the desired number of repetitions. This is repeated for the other leg after a rest period. Single leg plyometric exercises are typically more advanced and require greater strength and balance. They are suitable for sports were a takeoff is completed on one leg.

Single Leg Lateral Hops
1. Start by standing on one leg with your hands on your waist or at your sides.
2. Proceed to hop to the side while maintaining your balance and hop back to the starting position.
3. You can place a rope on the ground or any object on the ground. The object can be small in size and height or large to increase difficulty.
4. Repeat continuously.

Depth Jumps
1. Stand on box with toes close to edge, feet shoulder width apart.
2. Step off (do not jump off) box and land on both feet. Immediately jump up as high as possible and reach up with both hands towards. The jump should be vertical with no horizontal movement.
4. Ground contact time should be short unlike in the diagram. Landing should be soft.Note: Start with a box height of 30cm (12in). Intensity can be increased by gradually increasing the box height to a maximum of 107cm (42in) but this is only for experienced athletes with a substantial strength training background.

5) Compound it!

While Targeted hypertrophy is necessary, Combination arm exercises that also work other body parts are just as vital. Why? Because everything is connected. You don’t want to transfer fat and stagnate muscle growth in other parts of the body, it just doesn’t work. You will see better results in each muscle being worked on, biceps included, if perform compound exercises.  Here are some examples of compound workouts that include biceps and triceps:

Close-Grip Chin-Up (w/palms facing toward your face)

1. Hang from the chin up bar with your hands in a supinated grip (facing your body) and slightly narrower than your shoulders. Your feet should not be touching the ground.
2. Slowly pull your body up until your chin is above the bar.
3. Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until you’ve repeated the desired number of reps

Dips

One hangs from a dip bar or from a set of rings with his arms straight and shoulders over his hands, then lowers his body until his arms are bent to a 90 degree angle, and then lifts his body up, returning to the starting position. Short people are able to cope better with a narrower grip, but not with a wider one. Tall people have greater ease in this exercise overall as their reach to body size ratio is greater.

Close-Grip Pushup

Fingers going forward with palms on the floor, slightly narrower than shoulder width and directly underneath the shoulders, toes on floor and with your body balanced in this way, lower your body until the chest nearly touches the floor (or your hands) and then push yourself back up again until arms are nearly locked.

Twisting Dumbbell Curl

Grasp a pair of dumbbells and stand straight up holding the dumbbells by your side. Your arms should be slightly bent and your palms facing in towards your body (thumbs forward). Before starting the movement curl the weight up slowly to put the tension on your biceps. Starting with your weakest arm (usually your left), curl the dumbbell up. As you curl up rotate the dumbbell from a neutral position (palms facing in) to an underhand position (palms facing up). Squeeze your bicep at the top of the movement, the slowly lower the weight back down without letting it touch your body. Repeat on the other arm. That’s 1 rep, now repeat for desired reps!

Conclusion

So I hope these 5 steps help you in building your new golden arms. Is there anything that I left out? Do you have any suggestions of comments? I would like to hear. Thanks

Tom

Can’t do any pull-ups? Here’s how to go from 0 to 20 in 60 days

Is the top of the pull-up bar more of your practice swinging bar for your future career as a circus trapeze artist? Do you find yourself swinging your body instead of raising it? It doesn’t matter how heavy you are or how out of shape you think you are in, if you put in the time and the work over a 60 day period you can go from a droopy back zero to body raising hero in no time.

Let’s start off by examining why people can not do a pull up in the first place. A pull-up is an upper body compound pulling exercise where the body is suspended by extended arms, gripping a fixed bar, then pulled up until the elbows are bent and the head is higher than the hands, utilizing an overhand (pronated) grip. A traditional pull-up relies on upper body strength with no swinging or “kipping”^[1] (using a forceful initial movement of the legs in order to gain momentum). The exercise targets mainly the Latissimus Dorsi muscle in the back along with many other assisting muscles.  So basically, if your back muscles, and to a lower extent your biceps, together can not lift the weight of the rest of your body…you can’t do a pull up.

Therefore, to strengthen your back muscles while not being able to do it through pull ups, attack the back with other workouts that target the back.  Here is what you:

1. Lawnmower Rows

There are a couple different ways for doing these. I prefer to do them off the floor with both feet on the floor, with a staggered step and one hand on the dumbbell rack.

But for the most part a lot of others like to use a weight bench. Place one leg (knee) up on the bench for support, and the other on the floor creating a base. In both positions bend over so your back is parallel with the ground. Now reach down and pick up a dumbbell while keeping your back flat and parallel to the floor. The other arm should be locked out on the bench.

After you have a dumbbell in one hand, arm fully extended and palms facing inward. Lift the weight up to your side under control.  Lower it slowly under control on the eccentric movement and then repeat using the other arm.

Without cheating lift the dumbbell as slowly as you can. Keep your stomach tight, and do not rotate your body especially your hips. Once you’ve “rowed” lower the dumbbell slowly and repeat.

One-arm dumbbell rows personally are one of my favorite back exercises. And for a big thick back you need to use heavy dumbbells. But, if you have a tendency on each rep to get that old lawn mower started then you are not doing this movement right. Doing them that way will make you a point of discussion on how not to do things in the gym, and of course they will not increase size or strength if done in that manner. So, are you a lawn mower starter when it comes to dumbbell rows?

Remember, to keep your back parallel with the floor resting one arm and a knee on a bench. Grasp the dumbbell with the free arm, raise the dumbbell right up to your side squeezing the lats then lower the dumbbell to the starting position about an inch off the floor. Do 6 to 8 reps for strength and 10-1 2 for lean. Always start with your weaker side or weaker arm.

2. Do negatives.

The word “negative” is used to describe the lowering of the weight during an exercise. For example, when you’re lowering the bar to your chest while bench pressing… that is the negative. During pull ups, the negative would be the point when you are lowering your body downward after pulling yourself up. At this point you may not be able to do the pulling up part of the exercise, but that’s only 50% of the work. How about the other 50%? That’s where negatives come in. You end up using the same muscles to lower yourself as you would to pull yourself up. This means negatives will help improve your ability to do the pulling part of the pull up.

In order to do negatives, you have to start off at the point when you’re already pulled up. There are 2 simple ways to do this. First is by jumping. Grab the pull up bar like you normally would, but then instead of trying to pull yourself up, jump up so that your chin is above the bar the same way it would be if you did the actual pulling yourself. The other (and even easier) way of doing it is to just stand on something that is high enough for you to already be in that already-pulled-up position. Depending on your height, standing up a dumbbell may do the trick.

Now that you’re in the position to do the negative part of the pull up, you’re goal is to lower yourself down as slow and controlled as you possibly can. Focus on the muscles being used, and try to keep your body as stable as possible. Once you have lowered yourself back to the starting position, repeat this all over again. Don’t let go of the bar and take a break. Do the negative, then go right back into that already-pulled-up position… and then do another negative. Do a few sets of as many as you can.

3. More pull ups .

Now if you get to the point where you can even do one pull up, you can now keep doing that pull-up over and over again.  Each time you do pull ups, make it your goal to do one more pull up than you did last time. If, for example, you can only do 3 reps today, make it your goal next time to do 4 reps. It may or may not happen that next time. You may still only do the same 3 reps. You may even do 3 and a half reps. Or, you may actually get all 4 reps. Either way, the best possible way to increase the number of pull ups you can do is to actually walk up to the pull up bar and try to do just one more rep than you were able to do the previous time. With enough intensity and focus, you can do it. If you can’t, just try again (and try harder) next time. If you can… then 5 is your new goal.

4. Dead Lifts

Deadlifts is the best exercise for posterior chain muscle strengthening. This chain includes erector spinae, glutes and hamstrings. It is also the biggest Muscle Builder [ other than squats ] recruiting more muscle motor units than any other exercise. And lower back is the most important muscle of your body and for good reason – Stability.

Steps

1. Place a barbell loaded with weights in front of you.

2. Now grab the barbell using an underhand grip with one hand and overhand grip with the other hand. Remember to keep your back as straight as possible and contract your back and hamstrings.

3. Now raise the bar from the ground using your hamstrings and glutes.. You should keep your legs slightly bent, back straight and head looking up. The initial movement is to be provided by your heels and not toes or elbows.

4. Raise it o the point where your body is erect. Do not hyper extend your body as the weight shifts to the lumbar spine. Hold the bar for a moment at the top of the lift and remember to lock out. Complete the lift and do not go only half way through.

5. Now lower the bar slowly at a steady slow pace by bending at the hips first and then at the knees and let the weight touch the ground for a moment before you begin the next rep.

And do you want to mix it up before you rock the pull up? Try these.

Additional Back Exercises

These exercises will help you add variation and avoid boredom. Also hitting muscles from new angles is an excellent way to develop new neural connections thereby stimulating faster muscle growth.

• One Arm Dumbbell Rows
  
• Good Mornings
  
• Hyperextensions
  
• Pullovers

Good Luck with your pull ups quest!

What do you think? Any suggestions on pull up improvement? All comments and feedback are welcome.

How to burn calories while doing nothing

Be like this, But don't look like this!

Are you not getting the results at the gym you want? Are you sick of seeing all of the buff guys and lean gals sitting around socializing while your busting your butt and it seems like they have the results when you don’t? There is nothing more discouraging then to stay in envy of others when you are doing all of the work. What you need to do is realize that you are  hamster and you need to jump off of the wheel. Stop working that much.  Don’t only work your body. Let your body work for you! That’s right, you should work your body a little bit, but most of the time…the body does the work!

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. A body that consumes 2500 calories a day, and burns 2500 calories a day will stay at the same weight. A body consuming 2500 calories daily but burning only 2000 will gain weight at the rate of about one pound a week.

You can do quite a lot to speed up your metabolism — the secret of burning calories lies in knowing what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.

You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive — even when you are lying down, doing nothing. BMR accounts for approximately 60 percent of the calories burned for an average person.

2. Burning Calories for Activity
This is the energy used during movement — from lifting your arm to operate the remote control to cleaning the windows. This accounts for approximately 30 percent of the calories burned by an average person.

3. Dietary Thermogenesis
The “thermogenic effect” described as meal-induced heat production — the calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food.

So what? Well here is what you can do to prepare your body to work for you…WHILE YOU DO NOTHING!:

1) Build Muscle
Increase the amount of muscle in your body. The more of it you have, the more your calories your body will automatically burn. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. In a recent study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15 percent. This is because muscle is metabolically active and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you are not moving. Training with weights just 3 times a week for around 20 minutes is enough to build muscle. Not only will you be burning more calories, you will look better — whatever your weight.

2) Eat Spicy Food
There is evidence to show that spices, especially chilli, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50 percent for up to three hours after you have eaten a spicy meal. Drinks containing caffeine also stimulate the metabolism, as does green tea.

3) Eat negative Calories!

As nutrition consultant Jessica Campos of Wellsphere writes:

Instead of having empty calories, increase your consumption in negative calories. What are negative calorie foods? They’re foods that basically must burn more calories than the food contains to digest them. What that means, in theory, is that since you end up with a negative calorie count, you are helping your body to lose weight. Remember that one needs to burn more calories than one consumes to lose weight. This is a proven scientific fact.

When it comes to burning calories, here is a very interesting fact- ice water. It keeps you full, flushes out your body, and …. it’s a scientific fact that it burns calories. Really. It’s a few calories here and there with all honesty, but every one counts, right? Your body works harder to digest that cold water than say room temperature water.

Negative calorie foods… to combine

Alfalfa Sprouts- put them in your salad.
Apples, Clementines, Cranberries, Grapefruits- add some to your oatmeal, mix them with yogurt, or just add them to your salad.
Apricots- it’s a great source of natural sweetener also.
Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage, Asparagus, Green Beans, Zucchini- with your meat. No butter!
Blackberries- mix them with yogurt.
Celery- with apples and fat free blue cheese (organic and no sugar)- it’s an awesome salad.
Mushrooms- white omelet with mushrooms and natural bbq it’s a great breakfast.
Onions- with spinach salad.
Papayas, Peaches, Pineapple, Plums, Prunes, Strawberries, Tangerines, Watermelon- great mixers or alone, are just perfect.
Peppers
Seltzer Water
Tomatoes, Turnips

4) Increase your EPOC!

Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity intended to erase the body’s “oxygen debt.”

Maximize your heart rate and your body burns em’ for you!

In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed. These include: hormone balancing, replenishment of fuel stores, cellular repair, innervation, and anabolism.

EPOC is accompanied by an elevated consumption of fuel. In response to exercise, fat stores are broken down and free fatty acids (FFA) are released into the blood. In recovery, the direct oxidation of free fatty acids as fuel and, the energy consuming re-conversion of FFA’s back into fat stores (a futile cycle) both take place.

The EPOC effect is greatest soon after the exercise is completed and decays to a lesser level over time. One experiment found EPOC increasing metabolic rate to an excess level that decays to 13% 3 hours after exercise, and 4% after 16 hours. Another study, specifically designed to test if the effect existed for more than 16 hours, conducted tests for 48 hours after the conclusion of the exercise and found measurable effect existed up to the 38 hour post-exercise measurement

6 ways to immediately decrease your hunger

Doing this all day?

Do you have a problem shedding those pounds because no matter what diet you try, you find yourself hungry? Have you skipped meals to find yourself more hungry later on and then binged? Does eating more “healthy” food leave you starving in place of the junk that you were used to?

Here are 6 things I did that brought me from eating 3,500 calories to 1700 calories a day within a week without
feeling like I was starving.

1) EAT PEANUT BUTTER! or any complex food full of nutrients that is high in satiety (fullness) for that matter. Also, make sure it is organic peanut butter, not one with hydrogenated oils/fats, cotiseed oil, or High fructose corn syrup like most brands.

A Purdue University study published in the International Journal of Obesity showed subjects who snacked on peanuts and peanut butter were shown to self-adjust their caloric intake spontaneously and ]did not add extra calories to their daily diets.

After participants consumed the snack of peanuts or peanut butter, their hunger was reduced for two and a half hours!

Peanuts and peanut butter produced more eating satisfaction and feelings of fullness than high-carbohydrate snacks.

Do the math for a second, most of you think this sounds crazy. One serving of Peanut butter is equal to two table spoons and has 190 calories. If you are to put one table spoon of nutritious peanut butter into your morning oatmeal or cereal or on your sandwich, that is 95 calories. Let’s start off by pointing out that most people drench multiple different forms of nutritionLESS additives, toppings, and artificial ingredients into their foods that are all high in calories. Examples are the non-organic forms of ketchup, mayonaise, refined sugar, steak sauce, bbq sauce, inexpensive forms of butter and olive oil and…oh yeah….don’t forget about the SKIM Mocha. If you were to even have even five to six  servings a day of a combination of all of the foods mentioned combined (which most of you do),  you wold already replace the calories from abstaining from peanut butter consumption.  This is of course only taking calories into consideration. What about nutrients? Organic peanut butter is packed with healthy fats, has an adequate serving of protein (about 8 grams per serving) and most of all, is low in carbs.

2) DRINK TEA- specifically green tea. This stuff will lay you over. Appetite suppression with Green tea works by promoting thermogenesis, which increases the metabolic rate, inhibiting fat digestion, and boosting your energy. It also increases fat oxidation which helps the body use fat as an energy source.

3) EAT MORE, BUT LESS! Have more meals but less food.  You tried that you say? Well let me ask you. How is it that you can skip breakfast, eat a lite lunch but loaded with unneccesary calories, think you are on your way, and then suddenly….whoops, you eat a monster carb filled dinner? You set your metabolism and your body up to fail, that is why.  If you do not regularly workout and your metabolism is slow, your body can not adequately burn off more than 400-500 calories within 4-5 hours. So if you eat more than this amount from 6-12 at night, don’t you think you are  walking into a fat storage trap? Eat more! But less! Five to six 300 calorie meals a day is great when you first go into super weight loss mode. This way, instead of barely dragging your body into dinner, you will be almost full and will have already have eaten four meals that day. I recommend a simple eating schedule as follows:

7AM

10AM

1PM

4PM

7PM

10 PM

4) MORE WATER. Water is an easy way to suppress your appetite. If you drink an 8-ounce glass of water when you first start feeling hungry you should notice that it curbs your appetite. If you just drink a full glass of water and wait 10 minutes you may see that your appetite is either completely gone or dramatically reduced.

5) JUMP OFF THE SUGAR HIGHWAY-

Our hunger increases because high glycemic, processed carbohydrates cause our bodies to produce very high levels of insulin.  High levels of insulin are known to trigger to an increase our hunger.  The high glycemic carbohydrates also decrease a hormone called glucagon that helps to normally control our hunger.

Glucagon’s role in the body is to communicate to the brain about how much body fat we have stored.  When we have ample body fat, our glucagon levels are elevated thereby suppressing our desire to eat and create more body fat.  When we eat highly processed carbohydrates, our glucagon levels are abnormally suppressed, and we lose the effect of one of the bodies most potent appetite suppressants. There are scientific studies that illustrate this point.

One such study fed one group of teenage boys a high glycemic breakfast and lunch and compared them with another group of boys fed a low glycemic breakfast and lunch.  The boys spent the entire day is a research center where there was a constant supply of food available to eat throughout the day.  Researchers monitored the amount of calories the boys consumed over a 12 hour period.

The boys who ate the high glycemic meals ate an astounding 83% more calories in 12 hours that did the boys fed a low glycemic meals. This study illustrates the harmful power of processed carbohydrates to increase our hunger.

6) And of course, what does the stuff not do? It is like the EASY BUTTON in the Staples commercials… PROTEIN!

Extra protein, it turns out, sends “stop eating!” messages to the brain. Previous research from the University of Washington, for example showed that simply increasing the amount of protein in your diet helps you lose weight even if you don’t shun carbohydrates one bit. Protein makes up 15 percent of most Americans’ daily caloric intake, while fat accounts for 35 percent and carbohydrates for 50 percent. In the study, subjects bumped up their protein intake to 30 percent and reduced their fat intake to 20 percent. Within three months, they were 11 pounds lighter on average, even though half of the calories they ate still came from carbohydrates. The group also reported feeling satisfied with less food. In other words, they lost weight because they consumed fewer calories.

The search for your new body starts here- Let the Metamorphisis begin!

You can change your body too!

metamorphises

Lard to Hard…

Carb eating machine to eating lean protein…

Potato chipped to physique ripped…

These are the transformations that you, yeah, that’s right I mean you, can implement to change your life now. If I did it, you can do it.

March 19 2009.  225 lbs, 5’10, 24% body fat

to

July 27 2009 161 lbs, 5’10 8.5% body fat.

That is the transformation that I was able to accomplish. I did not try any miracle drug, I never once went to the gym, I did not have to eat less for more the first 60 days.  Since I have gone from lard to hard I have taken a deep interest in fitness and nutritional experiments to further maximize my level of fitness. I am no medical expert nor did I study exercise science or kinesiology; however, I have a passion demonstrated by my results which I would like to spread to all of you.

So sit back, relax, and let your body quest begin!