Look at the size of musle

You can add more musle by the given informaton and it is safe too,

Amazing muscle

8 Ways To Fry Your Thighs

1. I come from a boxing background and I like to stay loose, so I will stretch 15-20 minutes before I train quads. I thiknk gorging the muscle with blood is one of the biggest precursors to muscle growth, and the more you stretch the muscle fiber, the more blood it can hold. I start with my quads first, then my hams. Hamstrings are incroporated into a lot of quad movements; if you've ever pulled your hamstring, you know you can't train your quads at all.

2. Strict, heavy squats are the way to add quad size. Bit you get to a certain point where you have the right amount of size on your quads and you're just going for more sweep and muscle density. Full range of motion hack squats really hit the outer sweep of the qyad.

3. I always like to make sure I never go so heavy that I can't do at least eight reps, and I try to never do more than 15, unless I'm doing it on purpose.

4. Since the legs are a very large, dense muscle group, I think it takes many sets to properly work them. i typically do 6-10 sets per exercise, using the first three sets as a semi warm up. I also like to test myself and see how strong I really am and how much I can take. I've learned that doing 6-7 sets really burns my muscles out. I still experience muscle soreness, and I honestly belive it's from doing the extra sets. Precontest, I might do as many as 10 sets of each exercise per bodypart.

5. I training quickly and intensely, allowing myself only 7-20 seconds between sets. I feel the leg shouldn't be receoved before the next set; they'll have plenty of time to recover when I get out of the gym. Between sets, I shake the muscle out a bit, just to get the blood in there. I'd never advise this pace for begineers or for those wo want to gain muscle mass. In the end, you need to be very instinctive about your rest intervals, just like other training variables. Find what works for you.

6. I don't lock out at the top of squats and leg presses. Tis takes the muscular straing off the muscle and puts too much pressure on the knees themselves, making the joint vulnerable to injury.

7. For quad separation, the most important thing is using afull range of motion and really squeezing the muscles. Don't just fly through the exercise; do it at a slower pace and try to hold the weight for as long as possible. I really believe that pulls out the striations and separation.

8. My quad workout is very basic, but basic works. The exercises I do are pretty much the same for each workout. My legs fee liek rubber at the end, tending to cramp up if I sit down or get in the car, so I move around for about 15 minutes afterward.
   
   

Simple Fitness Tips for College People

Just because you are supposed to be expanding your mind in college does not mean your belly and hips have to follow. Regular exercise not only burns calories and boosts your metabolism but can help you think better. Before the typical party fare of pizza and beer gets the best of your body and brain, try these fitness tips.

1. Walk or ride your bike to class
2. Set aside 30-60 minutes each day for weight training
3. Enroll in a fitness class
4. Use the stairs
5. Take walks or bike rides between classes
6. Learn how to dance
7. Play intramural sports
8. Take an athletic study break

Pain in the Mass (Ten Most Common Causes of Training Injury )

Weight training isn't a picnic or a walk in the park; it's sweaty, gut busting work that, if done correctly, has you treading the thin line between growth and injury. If you train intensely - the only kind of training that stimulates growth - you continually flirt with muscle damage. Rubbing up against the danger zone is where the muscular gains lie.

Injury is always just ahead for the careless weight trainer. There's something inherently dangerous about pushing, tugging and straining against cold, hard iron with all your might. But how else are you going to stimulate those gains? Because the quickest way to sidetrack progress or derail a bodybuilding career is through debilitating injury, you need to be a bit clairvoyant, learning to avoid injuries before they happen. You can accomplish this by listening to your body's feedback and then making the appropriate adjustments. Here are the 10 most common causes of injury - let the bodybuilder beware.

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1. Incorrect Technique

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The most common weight training injuries are related to poor exercise technique. Incorrect technique can pull, rip or wrench a muscle, or tear delicate connective tissue quicker than you can strike a match. An out of control barbell or stray dumbbell can wreak havoc in an instant.

Each human body has very specific biomechanical pathways. Arms and legs can only move in certain ways, particularly if you're stress loading a limb with weight. Strive to become a technical perfectionist and respect the integrity of the exercise - no twisting,, turning or contorting while pushing a weight. Either make the rep using perfect technique or miss the weight. Learn how to miss a rep safely; learn how to bail out.

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2. Too Much Weight

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Using too much weight in an exercise is a high risk proposition rife with injury potential. When it's too much: if you can't control a weight as you lower it; if you can't contain a movement within its biomechanical boundaries; and if you have to jerk or heave a weight in order to lift it.

An unchecked barbell or dumbbell assumes a mind of its own; the weight obeys the laws of gravity and seeks the floor. Anything in its way (or attached to it) is in danger.

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3. Bad Spotting

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If you lift long enough, you'll eventually reach a point where you need to have a spotter for a number of exercises, including the squat and bench press. When you work as hard as you're supposed to, you occasionally miss a rep. Nothing is wrong with that - it's a sign that you're working to your limit, which is a good thing if it isn't overdone. Yet when you work this hard, you need competent spotters. A good spotter should conduct him or herself at all times as though the lifter is on the verge of total failure. Your training partner can also lend a gentle touch that allows you to complete a rep you'd normally miss. A top spotter needs to be strong, sensitive and ever alert to the possibility of failure - not looking around or joking with friends.

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4. Incorrect Use of Cheating & Forced Reps

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Cheating and forced reps are advanced techniques that allow the lifter to train beyond normal. Taken past the point of failure, the muscle is literally forced to grow. When incorrectly performed, a cheating or forced rep can push or pull the lifter out of the groove. The weight collapses and a spotter must come to the rescue.

Cheating movements work; real world data prove this statement. Yet cheating, by definition, is dangerous. Any time you use momentum to artificially goose rep speed, thus allowing you to handle more poundage than when using strict techniques, you risk injury. To play if safe, use the bare minimum cheat to complete the rep. On forced reps, make sure your training partner is on your wave length. Don't go crazy.

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5. Training Too Often

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How does overtraining relate to injury? It negatively impacts the body's overall level of strength and conditioning. Overtraining saps energy, retarding progress. You can't grow when you're overtrained. It also interferes with both the muscles and the nervous system's ability to recuperate - ATP (adenosine triphosphate, an energy compound in the cells) and glycogen stores are severely depleted when an agitated metabolic status is present. In such a depleted, weakened state, is it any wonder that injury is common, particularly if the athlete insists on handling big weights? The solution is to cut back to 3-4 training sessions per week and keep session length to no more than an hour.

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6. Not Stretching

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Stretching is different from warming up. Properly performed, a stretch helps relax and elongate a muscle after warm up and before and after weight training. As a result of warming up and stretching, the muscle is warm, loose and neurologically alert - in its most pliable and injury resistant state. In addition, stretching between sets actually helps build muscle by promoting muscular circulation and increasing the elasticity of the fascia casing surrounding the muscle. Finally, if you perform muscle specific stretches at the end of your workout, you'll virtually eliminate next day soreness.

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7. Inadequate Warm Up

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Let's define our terms. A warm up is usually a high rep, low intensity, quick paced exercise used to increase blood floor to the muscle. This quick, light movement raises the temperature of the involved muscle while decreasing blood viscosity and promoting flexibility and mobility. How? Everyone knows that a warm muscle with blood coursing through it is more elastic and pliable than a cold, stiff muscle. Riding a stationary bike, jogging, swimming, stair climbing and some high rep weight training are recommended forms of warm up.

Try a 5-10 minute formalized warm up before stretching. If you choose high rep weight training, try 25 ultralight, quick reps in the following nonstop sequence: calf raise, squat, leg curl, crunch, pull down, bench press and curl. Do one set each with no rest between sets. This can be accomplished in fewer than five minutes and warms every major muscle in the body.

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8. Negatives

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Negative (eccentric, or lowering) reps are one of the most difficult and dangerous of all weight training techniques - and very effective at stimulating muscle growth. What makes negatives so risky? The poundage you can handle in negative exercises is likely to be the heaviest you'll ever lift.

Normally, we only lift what we're capable of moving concentrically. In negative training, we handle a lot more weight. Most bodybuilders can control approximately 130% of their concentric maximum on the eccentric phase of a lift. Someone using 200 pounds for reps in the bench press, for example, would bench roughly 260 in the negative press. Because of the increased weight used with negatives, you need strong, experienced spotters. Exercise extreme caution. If the rep gets away from you, the spotters need to grab the weight immediately.

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9. Poor Training

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If you undereat and continue to train hard and heavy, you're likely to get hurt. Again, it relates to your overall health: Before of heavy training when in a weakened state brought on by severe dieting or restricted eating. It's best to save the big weights, low reps, forced reps and negatives for nondiet growth periods. While dieting requires reduced poundage, this doesn't mean you can't be intense in your workout - it just means you need to use lighter weight.

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10. Lack on Concentration

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If you're distracted, preoccupied or lackadaisical when you work out, you're inviting injury. Watch a champion bodybuilder train and one thing you'll notice is his or her intense level of concentration. This is developed over time, and the athlete systematically develops a preset mental checklist that allows him or her to focus on the task at hand. More concentration equates to more poundage. More poundage equates to more growth. More poundage can lead to getting hurt if you don't pay attention. Train smart.

Ten Tips to Building Workout Intensity

There you sit, totally confused about why your muscles aren't responding the way you expected. You've read tons of articles, you eat right, sleep enough, take supplements and train like a warrior. Still, you aren't getting your intended results. You start to give in to frustration and wonder if all the effort is worth it.

But what if I tell you that you just think you're training as hard as you can? Consider the following factors that could hold you back, and the secrets to surmounting them.

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Secret #1: Applied Intensity for Success

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The secret for most successful athletes is to develop highly refined competitive skills and to perform them with intensity. Especially for those who weight train, mastering intensity is a key ingredient toward fulfilling the goal of training for size and muscularity. But you need to build up to full intensity by first developing the physical skills and strength needed.

Intensity is defined as the application of maximum physical effort systematically applied to a technically developed motor skill. This means you must be experienced in technique before intensity is applied. Therefore, if you're inexperienced and attempt a maximum deadlift with bad form, you may get injured. But performing a maximum deadlift with expert skill and good form will aid in the prevention of training accidents.

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Secret #2: Going for the Gold

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Before you can be the best that you can be, you must first master the physical discomfort associated with intense physical activity. "No pain, no gain" refers to the mental development of pain tolerance to push your muscular endurance to the absolute limits of failure - thereby stimulating muscle growth.

Strength and endurance athletes use such terms as "pushing it to the limit", "to the max", and "hitting the wall" to describe these upper limits of performance. However, these don't imply reckless and dangerous techniques for maximum performance at any cost. Just the opposite. With regard to exercise, the terms refer to the skilled use of weight training techniques systematically applied to a working muscle group sufficient to cause temporary failure - without causing muscular injury. Therefore, you need to distinguish muscle burn and muscle fatigue from the pain of injury.

The burn from muscle fatigue subsides within 20-30 seconds, whereas injury pain is pronounced, sharp and continuous. Know your physical limitations ad learn to read your body's signal.

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Secret #3: Breaking the Pain Barrier

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The next step is to break through the pain barrier. To do so, you must first develop pain tolerance.This is developed by progressively increasing intensity so your body gradually adjusts to sensory overload. Eventually, the same weight, pressure, endurance and muscle fatigue experience will feel less intense. To a beginner,a 20 pound dumbbell curl would feel heavy and cause considerable muscle burn and fatigue. After 3-4 workouts, those same dumbbells would feel much lighter. In a month, 30 pound dumbbells would feel the same as 20 pounders. In other words, your muscles adapt to the increased weight and respond as if the same weight was lighter.

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Secret #4: Be Mentally Prepared

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Expect some pain. This prepares you emotionally for increased physical intensity. Unfortunately, pain has become a four letter word in our culture. All manner of media messages condition us to view pain as undesirable, something to be avoided. Television commercials direct us to treat pain with an ever growing arsenal of painkillers. We're often admonished not to strain ourselves, not to overdo it. Such statements program us to become pleasure seekers without first developing the discipline or the ability to work through pain or difficulties.

To combat this trend, you can psychologically alter the perception of pain as something to tolerate, even strive for. As time progresses, the same pain level feels lessened, And your brain reinterprets the pain as acceptable. Surprisingly, with continued physical work in the pain zone, your muscular responses of increased size and strength will be mentally perceived as pure pleasure. This is the very point where your brain begins to transform these pain sensations into feelings of euphoria. As well, continued neurological exposure to pain stimuli produces a diminished response to the same level of pain.

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Secret #5: Brains over Brawn

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To get your brain to reinterpret pain as pleasure isn't difficult. It requires three elements: 1) constant effort, 2) repetitive exposure and 3) absolute determination to succeed. Getting used to noninjurious pain is similar to gradual immersion into a hot Jacuzzi - you slowly allow your body to adjust to the intensity of the heat. In the same manner, if you gradually increase your training intensity over a month, your brain won;t experience abrupt feelings of physical discomfort. As time passes, muscle fatigue, muscle burn and the burden of weight become commonplace and expected. Once you've attained this upper limit of pain tolerance, it becomes your future barometer of intensity.

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Secret #6: Pleasure in the Pain Zone

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What turns intense physical effort into pure ecstasy is the victory over your feelings, fears and self doubts. When you achieve that next big step by piling on more weights and grinding out those extra reps - continuing to strive beyond your previous limits - you've reached the benchmark of a true athlete. Those of you who can achieve this level will enjoy the sheer pleasure of victory over your past limitations. The next time you reach 12 reps on a set of squats, challenge yourself, and be confident that you can increase your poundage by at least 10% to the amount required to perform 8 - 10 reps safely. (Make sure that a skilled spotter helps you.)

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Secret #7: Conquer or Be Conquered

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Fear of pain, stress and failure may be grounded more in emotion than in your physical inability to succeed. If you're motivated by "fear reduction," you'll do anything to avoid fear rather than confront it and achieve a victory. Suppose that you can bench press 250 pounds, but you tremble at the prospect of pushing 275. This is precisely where you need to develop your confidence by moving forward and taking that next big step.

You get out of weight training what you put into it. Big, muscular gains are the visible signs of victory, but the emotional payoff motivated you to continue to training with intensity.

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Secret #8: Memories

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Old experiences of pain may teach you to avoid pain rather than confront it and work through it. A curious human phenomenon is that we cannot fully appreciate pleasure until we've fully experienced some sense of pain.

These days, we Americas are conditioned by television, technology and automation to reduce effort, avoid discomfort and seek immediate gratification. Consequently, we overemphasize pleasure, which weakens the discipline needed for achievement that requires intense and prolonged effort. Giving up is so much easier that pursuing a difficult task. This is why so few becomes superstars while millions remain wanna-bes. Take not: Prolonged effort is the chief ingredient for athletic success (not to mention riches and fame). If you're serious about making improvements, you must keep moving forward and challenge your fears of failure. Be confident that each attempt you will make will improve your skills and increase your strength.

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Secret #9: Survival of the Fittest

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While waging the internal battle between pleasure and pain, you must decide your long term goals. If you pleasure seek for only what feels good, you'll probably avoid most of the experiences that feel bad. The danger therein is that even a little bit of effort begins to feel bad, with the consequence that you avoid doing anything that requires any intense work whatsoever.

The work ethic may seem like an unpleasant choice, but in the long run, the rewards from your efforts are felt as a pure victory. Great achievements demand great efforts, and nothing worth having comes easy. If it did, then everyone would have it at no cost.

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Secret #10: To the Victor Go the Spoils

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You must sacrifice laziness, pain avoidance, and pleasure seeking to develop the pain tolerance for hard work. Hard work helps ensure that your sustained efforts will lead you in the direction of achievement. Realistically, you must battle against fear, apathy and pain avoidance to defeat your worst enemy - most likely yourself.

Your mind is the strongest "muscle" in your body. If you believe the molly coddling bromides such as "Don't strain yourself", "You can't do this", and "Pain isn't good", you'll be imprisoned by your fears as long as they remain unconscious and unchallenged, The choice is yours: Be guided by your fears of be self directed by your own free will.

If you're intimidated by the thought of adding more weight to the bar when you can if fact safely handle it, you aren't tapping into your true physical potential. Now is the time to reconsidered your options. Remember, to defeat your fears, you must face them with the conviction and courage that you'll ultimately succeed

Getting Big the Right Way

1. Warm Up Thoroughly

Before you start hitting your target weight with six to eight reps, it is essential that you warm up the muscle. A few minutes of cardio and light stretching are a good way to raise your body temperature. Once you have done this, it is also important to get used to the feel and range of your first exercise. That is why your routine calls for one light warm up set at the beginning of most exercises. With a light weight, track through the motion of your first exercise with 15-20 reps. Do not push yourself to failure with this set - choose a weight that is light enough for you to concentrate on the motion instead of the weight itself.

2. Use Textbook Form

The purpose of weight training is to fatigue the muscle, not to complete a predetermined number of reps at any cost. It is essential that you use the same perfect form for working sets that you used while warming up. When you can't complete a rep using textbook form, you have succeeded - you have worked the muscle to failure. At this point, end the exercise. Do not squirm and twist your body to force out additional reps. That is called working the muscle to injury.

3. Use The Proper Amount Of Weight

This is a corollary to safety tip 2. Choose a weight that allows you to complete six to eight reps using textbook form. Again, the purpose is to work the muscle to failure, not to lift a certain amount of weight. Inicrease your weight slowly, so you get a sense of what your body is capable of lifting and how many reps you can expect to lift with that weight.

4. Use Safety Equipment

A weight belt is of primary importance - it protects and lends support to the injury prone lower back. A weight belt also restricts your movement to keep you from slipping into poor form as you get progressively more tired during a set. It helps you emphasize your target muscle and reduces the change of injury. It is the only essential piece of safety equipment. Weight gloves may be beneficial for improving grip and avoiding slippage, but that is a personal choice. You may want to see if weight gloves make you more comfortable. Other equipment, such as knee wraps and wrist wraps, are probably unnecessary until you progress to the intermediate or advanced levels.

5. Work Out With a Training Partner

You may not have this option, but if you do, a training partner can be beneficial to your workouts for many reasons. Training partners can provide motivation, but, even more important, a good training partner is there to spot you and ensure that you never slip out of textbook lifting form. They can help lift part of the weight so your form remains stellar. If you do not have a steady training partner, you should seek out someone to spot you for your heavier lifts, particularly near the end of your workout. Most people in the gym are willing to lend a hand, regardless of your level.

6. Choose a Reputable Facility

The best option for the best workout, of course, is a primo facility with state of the art equipment. We realize that not everyone can afford that. When you choose a place to train, make sure the equipment is in good working order - old or faulty equipment can cause injury as readily as poor form. Similarly, if you choose to work out at home, give your equipment an honest evaluation. If it does not measure up, get rid of it and seek a feasible alternative.

7. Seek Professional Help

Many neophyte bodybuilders attach a stigma to working out with a trainer, as though they should know everything about bodybuilding the first time they enter a gym. If you can work with a trained professional, you can learn the ropes much faster and possibly avoid errors that many beginners make. At the very least, the facility you choose should have a trained professional to answer questions you might have.

8. Avoid Overtraining

One of the things a trained professional will tell you is that excessive training will not lead to faster gains - it will only increase your chances of injury. If you are beginning to see results from performing three sets in the six to eight rep range, you might be tempted to double the number of sets to double your results. But conversely, this level of stress on your muscles may begin to tear them down, actually impeding gains. In addition, overtraining can lead to cumulative joint and / or muscle tissue damage. You might night notice this for months or years, but the damage could put a damper on - or end to - your bodybuilding endeavors.

Workout Program

Monday: Chest / Back

1	Cable Lat Pulldowns (alternate sets below) Behind neck wide grip Narrow grip to chest	2 x 10 2 x 10
2	Bent over Barbell Rows	3 x 10
3	Seated Row Machine	3 x 10
4	Dummbell Pullover (superset with) Dembbell Flys Pullover Flys	3 x 10 3 x 10
5	Bench Press	3 x 10
6	Pec Deck Chest Machine	3 x 10

Tuesday

Aerobics for 45 minutes

Wednesday: Legs / Abs

1	Squats	3 x 10
2	Barbells Step Ups (alt legs)	3 x 10
3	Leg Extension Machine	3 x 10
4	Leg Curl Machine	3 x 10
5	Stiff Legged Deadlift	3 x 10
6	Hanging Knee-ups	3 x 10
7	Crunch / hip-ups	3 x 10
8	Negative Lying Knee-ups Buddy Exercise Resist Partner Pushing Knees Down	3 x 10
9	Bar Behind Neck Trunk Twists Seated Standing	3 x 50 3 x 50

Thursday

Aerobics for 45 minutes

Friday: Shoulders / Arms

1	Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press (Alternate Sets Below) Palms Forward Palms Reverse (twisting)	2 x 10 2 x 10
2	Barbell Shurgs	3 x 10
3	Dumbbells Deltoid Flys (Superset Sets Below Lateral (arms to side Front (one arm at a time)	3 x 10 3 x 10
4	Lying Triceps Curlbar Extension	3 x 10
5	Standing Cable Triceps Extension	3 x 10
6	Seated One Arm Scott Curls	3 x 10
7	Seated Curl Machine	3 x 10

Saturday

Aerobics for 45 minutes

Sunday

Aerobics for 45 minutes

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Fifty & Fit Nutrition Plan

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Morning

8 oz of water, 1000 mg HCA, 400 mcg Chromium Picolinate, 200 mg L-Carnitine, 30 mg COQ10, 50 mg DHEA, 250 mg Ginkgo Bilboa.

Ride stationary bycycle for 45 minutes or one hour of weight training approx.

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Grapefruit juice	8oz	70	0	17	0
Water	8oz

Breakfast

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Oatmeal w/skim milk &	1 cup	140	2	24	9
Raspberries	1/2 cups	40	0	8	0
Egg Whites (scrambled) w/one yolk	4	129	5	2	18
Whole Wheat Toast (Dry)	2	140	2	24	6
with Honey	1 tbsp	60	0	16	0
Coffee	cup	4	0	0	0

Also: 8oz water, 2 multivitamins, 500 mg vitamin C, 400 IU Vitamin E, 1000 mg flaxseed oil, 200 mg grapeseed extract.

Mid Morning Snack

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Apple	1	81	.5	21	0
Brown Rice	1/2 cup	110	0	23	2
Albacore Tuna	3 1/2 oz can	85	2	0	21
water	8 oz

Lunch

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
grilled chicken 1/2 breast (Skinless)	4 oz	196	5	0	36
sandwich on whole wheat		130	2	22	5
w/lettuce and tomato		20	0	5	0
pasta salad vinagrette	1/2 cup	140	4	4	5
water	8oz

Mid Afternoon Snack

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Bran Muffin	1	140	3	29	4
Non Fat Yogurt w/fruit	8oz	190	1	35	12

Also: 8oz water, 400 mcg chromium, 1000 mg HCA and 200 mg of L-Carnitine

Early Evening Snack

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Apple Slice with carrots & celery sticks	4 oz	105	.5	27	1
water	16 oz

Dinner

Food	Amount	Cal	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Swordfish (Broiled)	5 oz	220	6	0	30
Brown RIce	1/2 cups	110	0	23	2
Broccoli	6oz	55	0	9	5
Red Wine (Cabernet, etc)	8oz	160	0	9	0
Whole wheat roll	1	130	2	22	5

Before Bed

8 oz of water, 1 multivitamiin pill, 500 mg vitamin C, 400 IU Vitamin E, 1000 mg CLA, 200 mg grapeseed extract, 1 mg melatonin, 50 mg DHEA, 30 mg CoQl0, 400 mg saw palmatto, 500 mg calcium, 100 mg magnesium.

Totals

Calories	Fat Grams	Carb Grams	Protein Grams
2453	35	340	60

Fifty & Fit

Ok, so you're over fifty, you've got a slow metabolism and a fast-paced career schedule (long hours, travel, inconsistent meals and exercise). Are you destined to be fat and tired, or can you have a successful career and vitality too? The latter is possible as long as you apply sound nutrition and exercise principles to the reality of your life style.

Avoiding body fat deposition (or losing it) is primarily a matter of ingesting fewer calories than you use. As you grow older, your metabolism slows down and, for most of us, your activity level declines as well. Thus, we typically are burning fewer calories at rest at a time in our lives when we are "at rest" more of the time. The challenge for a "Fifty and Fit" diet and supplement plan, then, is to not only provide the right level of calories, but also the nutrients that will stimulate the older metabolism to operate at an optimum level, promoting energy and vigor along with a slim appearance.

There is no substitute for a balanced diet. Powders, liquids or pills cannot substitute for solid food and yield permanent, healthful results (if God had meant us to live on supplements, we would have been born with a blender in our mouths instead of teeth). A balanced diet should consist of 2500 to 3000 calories a day (more depending on athletic activities) split up into proper proportions of protein (23 to 30%), fat (20 to 25%) and carbohydrates (45 to 55%). Note, that while the "zone" diet, recommending 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbohydrate, is currently getting a lot of publicity, that level of fat is probably not appropriate for the over 50 metabolism. These nutrients should come from a variety of foods spread throughout the day. In fact, it is important to eat often to spur your metabolism. If possible, five small meals a day (compared with two or three) would result in both decreased transit time (going to the bathroom more often) and increased metabolism (burning calories more quickly since your body knows it will be fed again soon). By eating often, we process food faster and more efficiently. When you eat once or twice a day, the body slows down and stores as many calories as possible in fat.

Too busy to eat three meals a day, let alone four or five? This is where recognizing the logistics of your life style comes in and planning to compensate for it. Cut up carrot sticks, celery sticks and apple slices and bring them with you in Tupperware containers for between meal snacking. Similarly, carry the 3 1/2 ounce, easy opening cans of Albacore tuna with you, available at most grocery stores; or keep a blender at work and utilize a good quality protein powder between meals. If it is difficult for you to find the time for breakfast in the morning (easily the most important meal of the day, since it is preceded by an eight hour fast), cook up a large batch of oatmeal (not instant) once a week and heat up a small portion in the microwave every morning (add yogurt or a protein shake if you don't have time for eggs as a protein source).

In addition to eating often, it is even more important to drink water often to keep your metabolism up. In fact, this is the single most important (and least expensive) diet aid available. Frequent hydration promotes elimination, allows optimum absorption of nutrients and maintains a feeling of fullness (thus suppressing appetite). Here again, a busy lifestyle may make it difficult to take in enough water. You need at least half a gallon a day (more if exposed to heat and exercise - professional bodybuilder's typically down three gallons a day). Don't count on yourself to visit the drinking fountain for your "8 glasses a day". Instead, carry those 1 1/2 liter bottles of water, found in all grocery stores, with you wherever you go (in the car, at work, on the plane); make sure you down at least two of them a day (you can always refill them if you are concerned about expense).

The attached sample menu includes choices for each food group based on how different types of proteins, fats and carbohydrates impact our metabolism.

Proteins build muscle and provide the necessary amino acids for metabolic functions. They are harder to digest than fats or carbs, so we use calories in metabolizing them. Most vegetable sources of protein aren't complete (don't contain all the necessary amino acids we require, especially the branched chain aminos), and many animal sources are also high in fat. The best sources for a "Fifty and Fit" diet are egg whites, fish and white meat of poultry (turkey or chicken breast without the skin). You can estimate protein by figuring six grams of protein per ounce of meat or fish, nine grams per ounce of chicken or turkey breast and four ounces per large egg white. Try to get about 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal, not to exceed one gram per pound body weight in the course of a day. Your body will probably not be able to utilize much more protein than this at one time, and any excess will be stored as fat in addition to being hard on the liver and kidneys.

Fats provide a secondary source of energy (after carbohydrates), are easily absorbed and stored (usually in places and quantities not to our liking), but are important in brain and hormone functions and as transport intermediaries in a variety of metabolic processes. Since a gram of fat weighs 9 calories (versus 4 for a grain of protein or carbohydrate), a goal of any diet is to limit fat consumption. Just as important, though, is picking the right fats to consume. Recent research indicates that small amounts of "good" fats lower both insulin resistance and the glycemic index of carbohydrates, avoiding insulin surges and allowing us to burn fat as fuel while encouraging storage of carbohydrates as glycogen instead of fat (kind of like stoking a furnace to get the fuel to burn properly). Fats in the "good" category include mono - unsaturated fats such as olive oil use in cooking and salad dressings); poly-unsaturated fats such as canola or safflower oil (also good for cooking); and fish oils (which provide Omega 3 essential fatty acids, notably linolenic acid, EPA and DHA, necessary for good health) found in salmon, herring and Ahi tuna; and flax seed oil (which provides Omega 6 essential fatty acids, most notably linolcic acid) best talcen as a supplement (liquid or capsule). One other "good" fat related to linoleic acid is CLA (conjugated linoleic acid ) which has been found in animal studies to enhance immune function, support lean body growth and have anticarcinogenic properties (available as a supplement). Fats to avoid (as much as possible) are animal fats, dairy fats, tropical oils (palm and coconut) and any hydrogenated (solid) oils (margarine, shortenings, etc - if it is solid on your table, chances are it will be solid in your veins).

Carbohydrates are our primary source of energy and provide glucose (blood sugar) for immediate energy and glycogen (stored in muscle cells and the liver) for a stand-by energy source. Simple carbohydrates (sugars) from candy, processed foods, fruits and some vegetables, give a boom and bust, yo-yo sugar curve, while complex carbohydrates offer long- term energy because they are broken down more slowly for a longer blood sugar curve. More importantly, large amounts of simple carbohydrates cause sugars in insulin, a condition in which you can't burn fat as fuel. Plus, as we get older, our cells become insulin resistant (insulin normally signals our muscle cells to store carbohydrates as glycogen), resulting in ever larger proportions of carbohydrates to be stored as fat! Clearly, as we get older, we must limit carbohydrate intake and be choosy about which forms we ingest, especially in this fat-free processed food era we live in (the "Snackwell" age) - the fat has been taken out of foods and replaced with sugar. Just remember that the insulin resistance syndrome we experience as we age, if not influenced and controlled by diet and exercise, can lead to Diabetes and an early grave. Sugar Kills!

Strive to use complex carbohydrates in their high fiber forms: oatmeal (thick flakes, not instant), brown rice (not white rice), baked potato with the skin (not mashed potatoes, and no butter on either), barley, corn, celery, figs, prunes, etc. The more fiber, the harder it is to digest and the more calories you will burn in the process. A high fiber diet imparts a feeling of fullness (appetite suppression), provides bulk for decreased transit time and better elimination, while increasing our metabolism to burn more calories. Finally, soluble fiber yields phytochemicals that act as antioxidants and protect against heart disease, such as Betaglucan. Many vegetables contain phytochemicals as well, such as broccoli (sufurafane) and tomatoes (lupein). If you're on the road and cannot get enough fiber, then consider a fiber supplement such as Metamucil, but try to make sure you have some combination of grains, vegetables and fruits at every meal (no, french fries don't count).

For an older, career-oriented individual (short on the time for a perfect nutrition program), supplementation with vitamins and minerals makes good sense. Far from being expensive, consider it cheap health insurance. Since vitamins and minerals are catalysts working in conjunction with proteins, fats and carbohydrates, it makes sense to take them with food. For the sake of convenience, I suggest taking supplements with your morning and evening meal (if your first full meal isn't until lunch, take your morning supplements with lunch).

In addition to a good quality multivitamin / mineral pill, I suggest taking additional antioxidants including COQ 10 and grapeseed extract, along with increased amounts of vitamin E (800 to 1000 I.U per day) and vitamin C (1500 to 2000 Mg per day).

Supplemental herbs should include saw-palmetto (prostate protection), ginkgo biloba (mental acuity) and garcinia cambogia (taken first thing in the morning with Chromium picolinate and L-Carnitine to stimulate fat metabolism). While MaHuang is an effective thermogenic agent, it may be too strong in nervous side effects to be included for inclusion in this diet plan.

A final "supplement" to discuss is booze. To keep heart-healthy, some alcohol is a good thing (keeping the blood thin, etc). But forget beer (all that stuff about a beer belly is true) and go for wine, especially red wine. Grape skins (which make wine red) contain proanthicyanidins and salicylates, both shown to protect against heart disease. As an adjunct for health, we're talking a glass a day, not a bottle a day.

Exercise is obviously important in keeping our metabolism stimulated and should be balanced between cardiovascular (aerobic) training and resistance (anaerobic) training. While the former will burn fat while the aerobic pace is maintained, the latter will cause you to burn fat after resistance training is over, as the muscles repair themselves. Both are necessary to be "Fifty and Fit."' Fat burning training is based on low intensity, long duration aerobic activity. To determine the correct level of intensity (whether on a stationary bicycle, jogging or on a stair stepper), one must bring his heart rate up to 65% to 70% of aerobic capacity. The standard formula to determine that heart rate is to subtract your age from 220 and multiply by 70% (220-30=170 x 7O% = 119 beats per minute). The accurate and prudent way to determine your aerobic capacity is to have your doctor run a stress test, along with a complete physical to determine your limits, not just aerobically, but in all health aspects. Once your aerobic capacity is determined, you should attempt to maintain that heartbeat level for at least 30 minutes at a time, preferably in the morning before eating to maximize your fat burning potential (since most glucose would have been used while you were sleeping). The heart rate may be approximated by occasionally checking your pulse or by employing a heart rate monitor. One other benefit of aerobic fat burning training in the morning; is that you "turn up" your metabolic set point for the rest of the day.

Resistance training should be done a minimum of 3 times a week for between 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours per session. Exercises will be done in sets of 8-12 repetitions emphasizing compound exercises (exercises using a combination of large muscle groups) that will stimulate your endocrine gland system to release anabolic hormones resulting in increased muscle and decreased fat. Curls for the girls does very little compared to squats or pullups. The following program assumes one hour of weight training three times a week and 45 minutes of aerobics four times a week (alternate days).

The following are sample Workout Programs and sample Nutrition Plan..

Stacked to the Max

Tired of throwing around heavy barbells in search of thicker pecs? For variety, try this balls-out machine workout for maximum shock value...

I've been in this crazy business for 30 years. Machines come and go, champions come and go, but one thing that never changes is the basics: the mainstream exercises and training principles that act as the glue to keep a consistent workout program in place.

As a Master's Olympia champion, I am asked by many young bodybuilders if there are any secrets to my longevity. The secrets are simple: perform each movement with precise form and technique; develop a link between the mind and muscle; and strive for intensity, focus and complete concentration. My goal is to lift until I experience that burning sensation. I want to feel the muscle, not the joints and tendons, handling the heavy loads.

The mind muscle link applies equally to free weights and machines. After all my years of toiling in the gym, I know that the last thing I want to do is endlessly repeat the same chest routine. Varying my workouts helps to overcome the monotony of training, and that's why heading to the machines, just for a change of pace, is so important to the effectiveness of my chest routine.

Packing on pec mass through machine training is no problem, provided that I select exercises that don't get too high tech. Yes, I will experiment with all the new equipment that comes along, but the more basic and traditional machine movements are the ones I rely on to build a chest that's chiseled with cross-striations and balanced from top to bottom.

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Shake it Up

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Making consistent progress over the long term means varying intensity from one workout to the next. For all movements in my chest program, incline bench presses (the lone free weight exercise in this group), vertical bench presses, pec decks and cable crossovers, I will do four sets of either 10 - 12 reps (if I'm working light) or five reps (if I'm working hard and heavy). On a heavy day, I'll typically do a warm up set of 12 - 15 reps and then follow with three sets of five reps with a fairly heavy weight.

On lighter days, my rule of thumb is to increase the weight in 10 to 20 pound increments. I'll go to muscle failure on the fourth and final set to break the muscle down. And to keep things fresh, I will periodically experiment with drop sets; it's another method of stimulating growth and packing on maximum muscle mass.

I'm really like a little kid in a sandbox playing with a new toy. My goal is to have fun with bodybuilding. There's no sense walking in the gym if you're not going to enjoy yourself.

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Top Heavy

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My chest routine begins with incline bench presses. I do these when I'm fresh so that I can handle the heavy poundages required to add thickness to my upper chest. How heavy will I go? It depends on how I feel when I walk in the gym. I trust my instincts, and my body, to tell me what I'm capable of on any given day.

The incline barbell press is similar to its flat bench counterpart; the primary difference is that I place myself in a fixed position that allows me to isolate my upper pecs. I slowly lower the bar to my clavicle before propelling the weight from my elbows, not my hands, to the top. I go for a squeeze, contracting my upper pecs, then lower the bar to my clavicle. I'm very careful to keep the mind muscle link in place for every rep, especially towards the end of the set. The emphasis, as always, is on keeping tension on the muscle at all times. If you let the muscle relax, it will not grow.

I go next to the vertical bench press, which is almost like doing a standard bench press. The unique alignment of this movement, however, puts my arms in a pre-stretched position than enables me to get a different type of contraction. I keep my back arched throughout the movement to isolate my pecs. I try to push with my elbows and really feel the muscle involvement, that mind muscle link of complete concentration. I never try to push with my hands or force the weight to do anything. My upper body stays under control and focused on working the pecs in complete isolation. I never press from my shoulders; doing so puts more emphasis on the delts than it does on the pecs.

I vary my grip from workout to workout. Sometimes I'll use the palms down approach standard with this machine; at other times, I'll grab the vertical handles with my palms facing each other, which is not unlike the hand positions I used on the old Nautilus chest machines. By using a vertical grip, I can change the angle of attack on the muscle. I've notice that the vertical grip lets me feel a greater contraction in my pecs at the top of the movement, allowing me to generate more squeeze and to stretch the pecs farther back in the starting position, much deeper than with the standard grip. Be aware, however, that with the palms facing grip, you engage more of the triceps in the action, so they'll get a little pumped too.

Now I'm ready for the pec deck. Alignment is crucial: My elbows are parallel to the floor and move evenly across the center of my pecs. I push from the inside of my elbows and squeeze right down the middle of my chest. Keep in mind that it's a strict movement, don't jerk your body around. Focus all your mental energy on squeezing the pecs.

After the pec deck, it's time for cable crossovers. I never bend too far at the waist. I flex, but do not hyperextend, my elbows in the starting position. This allows me to drive with my chest, placing the emphasis on contracting the pecs. Of course, I go for an intense squeeze at the bottom, pushing the handles together and letting the pecs do the work. At times, I will actually move beyond the crossover position at the bottom, turning my wrists over so that my palms are facing the floor. I'll go for an extra squeeze, holding the contraction for one or two seconds before releasing it nice and slow as I return to the top.

The key to building mass with machines is to feel what you're doing. Don't be robotic. Focus on the muscle you're isolating. You can't always train balls out with heavy free weights, and this mostly machine workout for chest is an effective alternative. It's worked for me, and I've been training injury free for more than 30 years.

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Don Long's Bicep Training

I train biceps once a week as part of the following bodypart split:

Day	AM	PM
Monday	Chest	Calves
Tuesday	Quads	Calves
Wednesday	Biceps & Triceps
Thursday	Delts	Calves
Friday	Hamstrings	Calves
Saturday	Back
Sunday	Cardio work & abs

I complete a heavy session in the morning followed by a lighter schedule in the afternoon. I work a major bodypart in the morning, and then Monday through Friday afternoon, I go back to the gym and do what I call touch up work on certain bodyparts, the ones that I feel need a little attention.

The absolute cornerstone of my biceps training from the start has been the routine shown in the accompanying chart. It's a routine that can be used by beginners and advanced bodybuilders alike, within the boundaries of their strength capabilities (the poundages shown in the chart are for informational purposes only.

Don Long's Biceps Routine

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Poundage
Standing dumbbell curls	1	16	2x45
	1	12	2x55
	1	10	2x65
	1	8	2x75
Barbell curls	1	16	80
	1	12	130
	1	10	150
	1	8	180
One arm cable curls	1	16	75
	1	12	90
	1	10	105
	1	8	120
Rope hammer curls	1	16	90
	1	12	110
	1	10	130
	1	8	150

The range of exercises I employ ensures that every aspect of the biceps muscles receive full stimulation: dumbbell curls for peak; barbell curls for all around mass; one arm cable curls to enhance shape; and rope hammer curls for forearm and brachialis tie in development.

I'm not too macho to admit that the descending reps design of the program is one I first saw outlined by a woman bodybuilder. It made such good sense to me that I immediately adopted it.

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My Top 10 Tips for Maximizing Biceps Development

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1. Prior to the actual biceps workout, stretch the target muscles, then warm up thoroughly with a couple of light high rep sets. I have bone that from day one and have never experienced any injury problems.

2. Find your own strength levels in line with the descending reps program. (Again the poundages shown in the chart are for informational purposes only.)

3. For growth, you have to train as heavy as possible within the recommended rep range.

4. For the first two sets (16 and 12 reps, respectively), use a weight that allows you to just complete the required rep range without failure occurring.

5. For the last two sets, use a weight for which failure occurs at the 10th and eight rep marks, respectively.

6. Don't go past failure into the forced rep zone. Not doing forced reps is another reason (besides warming up thoroughly) why I feel I've remained uninjured.

7. Use strict style without bending your torso. During a real heavy set of barbell curls, you may have to cheat a little to complete the last two reps or so, but don't cheat until it's impossible to complete the set without doing so.

8. As you complete each rep, visualize the biceps working, make mental contact with the muscle as it rolls into a contraction, and form an image of the peak swelling.

9. Particularly during the last two sets of each exercise, aim for the maximum pump and a killer burn.

10. Rest between sets only as long as it takes your partner to do his set. One arm cables are an exception.

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Benefits of Cable Work

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I use cables because they offer the opportunity to exert stress and, therefore, greater muscle stimulation during the negative (downward) phase of a rep. During this downward phase, you can control the weight and release it slowly in a way that free weights just don't allow.

When I do my single arm cable work, I complete one set with my left arm and then go straight back to my left and so on until I've completed four sets with each arm. Basically, I'm curling nonstop. The rest periods allowed each arm equate to only the time it takes to work the other arm.

Curling in this nonstop manner ensures that I get a great pump, and the mechanics of the cable apparatus makes the rhythmic completion of sets very easy to do. With free weights, I'd have to gather four sets of dumbbells around me, but with cables, I just alter the pin in the machine and proceed from one poundage to the next.

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Going for the Peak

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I attribute my biceps peak to the way I perform standing dumbbell curls. I execute them in alternate style; one rep with my left arm, then one rep with my right arm, back to my left arm and so on. At the start of each rep, my palm faces toward my side. As my forearm approaches the point where it is parallel to the floor, I rotate my wrist so my palm faces upward. I also lean a little to the side as I complete the second part of the upward phase of the rep; this really hangs the biceps 'out there' and makes it do all the work.

As I reach the midpoint of the rep, I push my elbow forward a little and then, while visualizing the biceps peak rising, I flex the muscle for a full contraction. This last action is like doing a one arm biceps pose while holding the dumbbell. I have been doing standing dumbbell curls in the aforementioned style since I started training, and I know that they're the reason I've developed my biceps peak to the max.

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Lagging Biceps

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If your biceps are a weak bodypart, don't be afraid to train them several times a week. Getting the blood and nutrients into the muscle more regularly will spur them into growth, and your mental desire to improve will outweigh any considerations of not allowing what is normally considered to be adequate recuperation time. Biceps are one of the smaller muscle groups, and they don't need the same period of recuperation as a large muscle group like quads or back. With regard to recuperation, I think the most important factor is getting eight hours of solid sleep a night. The bottom line with biceps; if you want them badly enough, you'll get them!

Amazing muscle

Look at the size of musle

You can add more musle by the given informaton and it is safe too,

10 Quick Tips to Build Mass

Muscle mass is the straw that stirs the drink in the sport of bodybuilding. Talk all you want about symmetry, shape and definition, but in the final analysis, muscle mass is the defining element of a physique. The mass building equation has three components: a correct diet strategy, hardcore training and high tech supplementation. It;s not rocket science, but there are tricks to it, nonetheless.

To save you time and trouble, I've complied 10 tips to jump start anabolism and create a positive nitrogen balance - to pack on muscle mass, you need to take in more nitrogen via protein and training than you excrete through the natural metabolic process.

1. Emphasize the Negative

Muscle growth is the logical byproduct of muscle contraction. Much emphasis is placed on the concentric phase of a lift where the muscle shortens as it contracts. But the stretching of the muscle during the eccentric, or negative, phase where the muscle lengthens while maintaining tension can directly cause muscle hypertrophy, too. Emphasizing the negative is an easy technique to overload muscles and promote radical gains in mass.

2. Eat Fish

Fish containing higher amounts of fat - salmon, for instance - provide us with the ever popular omega-3 fatty acids. Why is this important? The omega-3s make the muscle more sensitive to insulin; hence, they fuel glycogen storage and amino acid entry into muscles while also preserving glutamine stores.

3. Increase Sodium Intake

I'm not kidding. Sodium is an essential mineral that is an absolute must for muscle growth. Sodium has a bad rap because it can cause water retention - anathema to contest ready bodybuilders. On the plus side, sodium enhances carbohydrate storage and amino acid absorption while also improving the muscle's responsiveness to insulin.

4. Stop All Aerobics

Aerobic exercise has a detrimental effect on mass building. Aerobics interfere with strength gains and recovery while burning up valuable glycogen and branched chain amino acids (BCAA). Adding mass is the best way to upgrade your resting metabolic rate (RMR); is the RMR is elevated, more calories are burned and it is easier to stay lean.

5. Lift Explosively

The amount of force a muscle generates is proportional to the amount of muscle growth you'll be able to create. Force is defined as mass (the weight you use) multiplied by acceleration (the speed at which you push a weight against resistance). To generate more force, then, progressively increase your poundages while lifting explosively - in this context, you actually increase speed during the second half of the rep.

6. Dramatically increase your calories for three days

You will never achieve a positive nitrogen balance with a low calorie diet. It takes raw materials - carbs, protein and fats - to build new muscle mass and support recovery. Increasing your calories by 50% (from 3,0000 to 4,500 per day, for instance) for three days can spur growth while adding little if any bodyfat. The key is to limit the increased calories to a designated three day period; you'll be able to stimulate growth by improving muscle sensitivity to insulin and by providing more carbs for glycogen storage. If you are in a overtrained state - and if you're not gaining any new muscle mass, this is probably the case - the additional calories will promote anabolism before fat storage is able to kick in. That's why you want to limit the 50% increase to a three day period. After that time, return to your typical intake of daily calories; you'll have stimulated new growth without adding unwanted fat.

7. Rest

Many bodybuilders are unable to pack on mass because they are always training and, therefore, always recovering from those grueling workouts. Taking a couple of days off can restore glycogen, increase anabolism and allow hormonal indexes such as testosterone and cortisol to return to optimal levels.

8. Eat in the Middle of the Night

Anabolism depends on an excess of calories. As you are well aware, bodybuilders eat four to six times per day to increase the absorption of nutrients and to provide a steady influx of carbs, protein and fat. Expanding on the four to six meals per day plan is to include a protein drink in the middle of the night that can encourage additional growth. Glutamine EFX, providing 30 grams of protein and carbs along with the 'big three' (see tip #10), is a good option for this late at night infusion of nutrients.

9. Increase Strength Through Powerlifting

Your muscles respond to training in three ways. When you train with high reps (more than 15), there is an increase in endurance with no substantive improvement in size or strength. The six to twelve rep range - the range that all big bodybuilders rely on - promotes an increase in both size and strength. Powerlifters generally stay with low reps, two to four per set, which supplements strength with slight variances in size. However, if you set aside one week of training to pile on the weights with low reps the subsequent improvement in strength will make you stronger when you return to the six to twelve rep routine. Here's the formula: More strength equals more tension on the muscle equals more growth.

10. Supplement with the Big Three:
Glutamine, Creatine and BCAA

Glutamine is known as the immunity amino. If you are overly stressed from dieting or training, the immune system kicks in, releasing glutamine into the bloodstream. Having low levels of glutamine will inhibit muscle growth - that's why supplementing with glutamine is important.

Creatine is associate with added power and the ability to produce more adenosine triphosphate (ATP) - the chemical fuel source for training and growth. Supplementing with creatine allows bodybuilders to raise creatine levels in the muscle - therefore enhancing strength and ATP - without the unwanted fat that you'd be saddled with by getting all your creatine exclusively from food.

Branched chain amino acids act as a handy fuel source when glycogen stores are low. Adding BCAA to your nutritional program will increase your nitrogen balance while preventing the dreaded catabolic state that derives from overtraining or overdieting.

Eat your meat

The more protein you eat, the better, and the best form of protein for mass is meat, especially red meat. That's where you get your muscle building nutrients, your strength reserves and the necessary fats for joint protection. Make all of these tenets second nature to your bodybuilding lifestyle and you will gain good solid mass.

Flirt with maximums

Check out your strength levels every so often by maxing out with one or two reps. Remembers, though, that any time you play around with benchpress poundages above 405, you flirt with danger. The body cannot consistently take that type of training. When you want to test your max, do not take big jumps. Rather, work up gradually to keep your body accustomed to the changing forces and their deflections at each level. For example, I go up to 500 pounds for two reps on the incline barbell press, but I do not jump directly from 405 to 500. Instead, I make sure I can do 465 for at least four reps before I go to my max.

Perform optimum reps

I like to train heavy, but I also like to use lots of reps. I recently performed incline barbell curls with 405 pounds for 10 reps, but I consider that to be medium to light weight, and, therefore, not mass training. My favorite number of mass reps on a regular basis is 10, to failure, of course. However, that doesn't mean you should avoid going as heavy as possible now and then.

Don't count exercises

There is no optimum number of exercises. Most bodybuilders prescribe four sets each of four or five different exercises per bodypart, but for some muscle groups, there might be only one or two movements that work them effectively. In those cases, you should do 16 - 20 sets of one exercise, or 8 - 10 sets each of two exercises.

Utilize optimum sets

Use a range of 16 - 20 total sets per bodypart.

Avoid injuries

Be wary of dangerous exercises. Squats and flat bench presses, for example, possess the highest injury potential, so I stay away from them. I can't count the number of individuals whose bodybuilding careers were ended by torn pecs, slipped discs or strained erectors. With proper knowledge and execution, you can get commensurate or even better growth from exercises that work those muscle groups thoroughly without placing undue stress on tendons and ligaments.

Experiment to find your best mass building exercises

I used to perform lots of squats, and I became incredibly strong with them, going as high as 40 reps with 315 pounds. But there came a point where, even at that level of intensity, my legs weren't growing to my satisfaction. I discovered that my lower back and hips were taking too much of the stress; the solution lay in working my quads more exclusively. I therefore stopped squatting and switched to leg presses and hack squats instead. My legs are now better than ever.

Find areas of improvement

Assess your physique to determine which muscle groups need to be brought up in size, then go to the gym with that in mind, concentrating on working those areas first. Begin your workout with a barbell movement and follow with dumbbells. If you use cables, do so at the end of your workout. Never count cable sets as muss building sets.

Utilize Compound Movements

How you perform an exercise is perhaps the most important dynamic in building mass. If you want full, hard bulk, do not isolate. Instead, use what Dave Draper calls 'body thrust' to compound the involvement of all the muscles in the area. Also, don't fall for the theory that cheating robs you of separation. On the contrary, it augments the compound benefit and builds even greater size so that there's more muscle in which to carve separations.

Use Free Weights for all Heavy Sets

As heavy as some machines might feel, they do not involve as much of the ancillary muscles areas as do free weights and, therefore, do not build as much compound mass.

The Seven Sacred Rules for packing on musle Weight You Should Never Break

1. Eat at least five times a day, every two to three hours. You must keep your system saturated with amino acids and glycogen from protein and carb sources, respectively, if you want to push muscle growth to abnormal levels. You never know when your body will need these precious nutrients. What's more, not eating every few hours can cause the starvation mechanism to kick in, which signals your body to begin consuming its own muscle tissue.

2. Center your bodybuilding program around the big compound movements, such as squats and presses. You should strive for maximum efficiency of effort, or to work as many muscle groups as possible with as few sets as possible. Squats, for example, train not only your quads but also your lower back and glutes, so direct work for the muscles that assist during the squat should be minimal. This leaves more of your recovery ability to help in the growth process when you're out of the gym.

3. Don't do more than 30 all-out work sets at any workout, and less is usually better. Overtraining is the number one reason most bodybuilders can't pack on muscle weight.

4. Don't train more than two days in a row. Your muscles aren't the only things that have to recover after a heavy workout; your entire nervous system needs a rest too.

5. Have a protein drink immediately after every traning session. Research indicates that boosting insulin levels right after an intense workout promotes muscle protein synthesis, which leads to faster growth.

6. Take a break after four to six weeks of high intensity training. Either take a full week off or downshift your intensity for two weeks. This lets you recuperate fully and in many cases promotes a new growth spurt.

7. Keep your cruise control on. Try to keep your cool during the day no matter what. Getting overly excited can stress you out and cause excessive energy burn, energy your body could be using to fuel extraordinary muscle growth.

Training Duration

If you follow the exercises, sets, reps and rest prescription, you should complete your resistance training in about an hour. Never mind those two hour plus sessions; who could possibly maintain the high level of intensity and mental fortitude of a marathon training session? What matters is the quality of your workout measured by the intensity you create, not the length of time you spend in the gym. Remember that.

Training Frequency

Say you train your entire body on Monday. Should you do it again on Tuesday, or wait until Wednesday? The answer is that your body requires a minimum of 48 hours to fully recover after exercise, sometimes even longer. Physiological processes at the cellular level require rest and nutrients before you can train that same muscle group again. A good rule of thumb: If you're even slightly sore, you're not ready to train that bodypart again.

If you're an advanced bodybuilder and split up your workout into, for example, one day for upper body and another for lower body, you can train on consecutive days as long as you don't repeat the same workout. As a beginner, you don't want to go more than 96 hours (four days) without training the same muscle group again. Timing too infrequently results in submaximal gains.

The answer for the beginner, then, is to train every 2-3 days (or three times a week). A Monday - Wednesday - Friday (or similar) schedule is ideal.

Use a Full Range of Motion

Use a full range of motion in your exercise movements. You want to work each target muscle through its natural range of motion for complete development and to prevent injury.

Rest between Sets

In general, rest as long as it takes for you to feel recovered from your previous set. That normally ranges from 45-90 seconds. Larger muscle groups take a bit longer to recover; smaller muscle groups clear low pH levels are are ready to go more quickly. Don't fall into the all too common mistake of talking with your buddies for 3-4 minutes between sets, during which time your muscle can become cold. This is counterproductive and lengthens the time you spend in the gym.

If you want to emphasize strength, take a little longer rest between sets. On the other hand, less rest means you won't be able to lift as heavy, but you'll be stressing your endurance. Of note: How much you can lift on a given set and the number of reps you do are directly related to the length of your rest period.