Muscle Blog

10 steps to a happy, healthy pregnancy

The health of a baby undoubtedly starts upon conception, and it is therefore essentially important that your pregnancy be a happy, healthy one. Below are 10 steps that you can take to a more happy, healthy pregnancy, and a happy, healthy baby!

Eat breakfast to lose weight

Most people might find it counterintuitive that you must actually eat more in certain instances to lose weight. However, there is a reason for the saying that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Hardly an old wives tale or an antiquated axiom, breakfast is the most medically important meal of the day, especially for someone who wants to lose a few extra pounds.

Alcohol more dangerous than drugs

Alcohol is one of the most age old vices, yet its social prevalence and acceptance make it look like a harmless indulgence.

If you asked the average person whether street drugs were more dangerous than alcohol, it would be no contest. With the war on drugs in our faces, it is no wonder we have this perception. But the reality is a bit more complex than what meets the eye.

Fitness Rules You Should Break

Research on health and fitness is continually being done to help individuals achieve healthy bodies in the most safe and effective ways possible. With information from new studies, experts agree that some exercise rules should be broken and replaced with better and safer alternatives.

Stretch marks

Stretch marks are the name used for the lines that appear on a person’s skin after the skin has been stretched too far. The stretch marks may be red and raised shortly after appearing. The marks are usually a couple of inches long. There may be just one or two parallel lines or several.

Dealing with Cellulite

About 90 percent of women have some form of cellulite. It’s safe to say that most of them wish they knew how to get rid of it. Medical science has yet to find a cure, but there are definite ways to work at diminishing it and preventing new areas of cellulite. First let’s look at what exactly cellulite is and it’s causes.

The Dangers of Dehydration

The dangers of dehydration are very real, yet not always considered. Although people are always apt to quench their thirst, the habit of reaching for beverages such as coffee, sodas and alcohol can cause more damage than good. The human body craves a large amount of water and, without an average of eight to ten glasses per day, one risks serious illness and possibly even death.

Top 10 Foods That Help Control Cholesterol

High cholesterol can be managed successfully through taking an active approach to treatment. The following paragraphs will discuss the top ten foods that help control cholesterol levels.

Tips To Fight Your Beer Belly

How many people do you know that constantly complain about having a beer belly? Well, I know plenty! Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a beer belly. What you may be considering a beer belly is actually fat that has accumulated because you'd rather sit all day drinking beer rather than exercising. Believe it or not, there are many people who drink beer and exercise who are in great or fairly good shape. Meaning their gut is not all over the place.

Muscle Breakdown and Repair - Avoiding the Pitfalls

Gaining Muscle seems like a straightforward process at first glance. You go to the Gym, lift some weights and your muscles grow. However, the complicated science of muscle growth, and the dangers of muscle breakdown and degradation mean that careful consideration should be given to how we work out, what we eat to recover and what are fitness goals are.

Understanding Healthy Diet for a Healthy Living

For a healthy living throughout your life you need to have healthy diet habit. Do not think that healthy diet is one that makes you hate the food you like very much. It is about making you feel full of energy all the time and to keep yourself healthy most of the time. You need to know some of the basics of healthy eating so that you follow a healthy diet in your day to day life.

You should know what type of foods are healthy for your body and what are the junk foods that increases the risk of acquiring diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart ailments. You should know all the healthy choices available in those foods so that you always select the right kind of food all the time, even when you are partying. If you know the healthy foods you can avoid the foods that increase the risk of illness.

The need for a Detox Diet

Detoxification which is otherwise called Detox is a process by which the toxins in the body are removed. Detox diet is a diet that helps in removing the toxins from the body. Toxins in the body are produced in the body when it functions normally or through the foods that we consume and through what we inhale.

A Detox diet is a well planned diet that consists of food items that helps you minimize the chemicals taken in through foods. Usually the organic foods have fewer chemicals in them. Hence organic foods are recommended in the Detox diets.

The Use Of Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic steroids are those that build up the muscle and protein in our bodys. It is a popular steroid among the body builders and athletes. Anabolic steroids are mostly used for non-medical reasons than medical reasons. Anabolic steroids are prescribed to the patients in quite a few illnesses where the patient loses their weight much.

By taking anabolic steroid the patient builds up the lost weight due to the illness. It should be noted that the intake of anabolic steroid might have side effects. Hence it is necessary that you take anabolic steroids with consultation from a doctor.

Acne: Cause, Preventions, Treatment

Are you suffering from acne? Acne is a condition in which the pores of the skin get clogged and form whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples. These different types of acne are essentially lesions that develop on the skin.

As those who have dealt with acne can surely attest, acne is an embarrassing condition that many sufferers struggle to prevent, treat, and control.

Pregnancy Diet and Exercise

So, you’re expecting a baby and you want to (as far as possible) maintain the body you had before you fell pregnant or, at the very least, return to ‘normal’ as soon as possible after Junior makes his or her arrival.
There is much you can do to achieve these goals, starting of course with healthy eating and exercise.

The rule of thumb here is to have a balanced diet, which means that you should be eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, protein, grains and consuming lots of hydrating fluids. And, while you certainly should remain active, exercise should be at a more sedentary pace. So slow things down a bit, but not to a complete standstill.

Get Soccer Fit in 2010

Heard the saying ‘There’s no motivation like self motivation’? No? well, it is 100% true when it comes to you and your fitness levels in this year of the FIFA Soccer World Cup when our country is going to be over-run with super-fit, world-renowned soccer stars and all of their attendant supporters, hangers-on and so forth. So, self-motivate you must if you want to get fit and get into shape this year.

Protein vs. Carbohydrates

The following question is asked often and on an ongoing basis: “Which are the right foods to consume after a long, hard workout?” The answer to this question is not a straightforward one as it is, almost as a rule, going to depend on the type of exercise you are doing.

While weight training is anaerobic, which means it is done with little or no use of oxygen, jogging is an aerobic exercise, which requires the muscles and body to use large amounts of oxygen during the training.
The body needs both protein and carbohydrates after long bouts of exercise to help replenish (carbs), rebuild (protein), and repair (protein) what was lost and broken down. Therefore after weight training, it is recommended that more protein than carbs be consumed and after prolonged running more carbs than protein be consumed. Though ideally, a combination of the two depending on the type and intensity level of the workout should be incorporated in to the meal.

EAS Supplements

EAS is a well-known science-based sports nutrition brand that has been around since 1990. It was founded by Bill Phillips, whose name might be familiar because it was he who wrote the international bestseller Body for Life. It has since been sold to Abbott Nutrition, a division of Abbott Laboratories. Two of EAS’ better known products are Myoplex and AdvantEDGE.

The entire EAS range is divided into 4 categories, namely: Daily Nutrition, Strength Building, Maximum Recovery, and Precision Supplementation. These products all have a significant role to play in the nutrition and supplementation of the serious bodybuilder’s regime.

BSN supplements

If you take your bodybuilding as seriously as the internationally renowned professionals do then you will know that this sport calls for you take your required calorie intake as seriously as they do. As you may or may not know, muscle is one of the body’s most difficult tissues to maintain so there has to be a very high input of calories for your body to respond well and appropriately to the bodybuilding regimen.

And hand in hand with the correct calorie intake for the bodybuilder is supplementation. There are many sceptics out there, probably as many as there are those who believe in taking supplements. There is much hype around the use of them - their benefits and disadvantages. But those at the top swear by assisting the body’s natural ability to produce an awe-inspiring physique.

Body for Life

Do you want a Body for Life?

Apart from being an annual physical transformation competition for competitors from around the globe, Body for Life is also a non-competitive 12 week diet and exercise program that was created by Bill Phillips. Mr Phillips, the owner of EAS (a manufacturer of nutritional supplements), was once a competitive bodybuilder himself so he is all to familiar with the hard graft that is part and parcel of achieving the ultimate reward: a body for life.

HCG Diet - Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

hCG Diet – For and Against

There is much talk surrounding the advantages and disadvantages of the hCG diet. There are those who argue that it is possibly one of the best and most effective diets of the past 50 years, and then there are those who are very strongly opposed to it.

What is hCG?

hCG stands for human Chorionic Gonadotropin, a hormone present in both men and women, and which is produced in large amounts by women during pregnancy. It is during pregnancy that this hormone almost solely controls a woman’s metabolic functions. Research suggests that in men and non-pregnant women hCG has the same effects on the metabolism as it does in pregnant women. hCG injections or supplements are typically given to women who need help with ovulation and to men who want to increase their sperm count. A daily hCG injection is also one component of the controversial hCG diet plan. The hCG hormone can be made synthetically or extracted from a pregnant woman's urine and then processed for use by other humans.

Growth Hormones

Growth Hormone – what it is and its benefits

Human Growth Hormone, or HGH. What is it? According to medical science HGH is secreted from the pituitary gland that is situated at the base of the brain. What it does, according to Dorland’s medical dictionary is “directly influence protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism and control the rate of skeletal and visceral growth.”
But, as we grow older HGH production starts to decline in the body. After the age of 30 it declines by 25% per decade, so by the time we are 60 our bodies are only producing 25% of original capacity. Could this be the reason that we don’t live to the ripe old age of 140? If our bodies continued to produce HGH at 100% capacity we would be older, taller, and a lot more muscular.

Testosterone

Testosterone

Higher levels of testosterone in the blood stream lead to bigger muscles and lower body fat levels. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid that is the principal male sex hormone. Though it is secreted by the adrenal glands it is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females. It is the primary muscle building hormone, and for this reason it is used by many bodybuilders.

Its key function is to maintain the health and well-being of men, and to lesser extent women. The male body produces an average of 40 to 60 times more testosterone than the female body, with women being more behaviourally sensitive to its effects. Apart from maintaining male characteristics it also helps stimulate protein synthesis which accounts for muscle growth.

The Perfect Six Pack

The Six Pack – worth the effort

The ‘six pack’ has long been viewed by men and women alike as the ultimate reward for the dedication to diet and exercise that results in a perfectly sculpted, muscled stomach. It will take commitment, patience, time, and even willpower to achieve a six pack, and once you have achieved a beautifully defined six pack of your own you will agree the effort was well worth the reward.

The key here is to build strong muscles and at the same time loose fat, as the best toned muscles will not be visible under a layer of blubber. How to go about this? Let’s take a look below:

Know your supplements

There is an almost ridiculous amount of supplements available on the market today for the serious, and even the not so serious,bodybuilder. Open almost any magazine and you will find adverts for a wide variety of different supplement brands and an even bigger choice of different supplements.

Visit any pharmacy and you will be spoilt for choice.It can take an inordinate amount of time to research and wade through the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to looking for what you want in terms of supplements to enhance your workout and performance.

It can also be quite difficult to sift through all the available information to find the products which really do work and to discard those which don’t.

Below we’ll take a look at a few options, listed in order of importance and relevance that can assist you in reaching your bodybuilding goals.

Creatine

Creatine – to use or not to use

So, you want a beautifully chiselled, muscled body? Hours in the gym will get you just that, and of course there is always creatine to help.
Creatine is a legal supplement that primarily benefits elite athletes and body builders who use the substance in conjunction with a scientifically designed eating and exercise routine.

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