Change that. There’s no reason why some rules can’t be broken. In fact, you don’t have to break rules, because when it comes to your diet, you make them. If you tell yourself that you’re not going to touch pizza, cake, chocolate, or anything else for a year, what do you think the chances are of that happening? Sure, it may be a good goal, but in reality, you’re setting yourself up for a disappointment. You’re going to have bad days, birthday parties, holidays, and everything else that will eventually force you to give into temptation.

Start by giving yourself room for error. Call this your “free day.” You can do this a number of different ways, but the main focus should be eating healthy on a regular basis, with an occasional splurge. I do it by eating healthy 6 days a week. I give myself one day (Sunday) to eat anything/everything I feel like shoving down my throat. This isn’t a license to purposely force feed yourself. Don’t eat that extra snack before bed on a full stomach, only because you know it’s your last chance to do it until next week. Instead, it’s a license to eat what you’ve been craving lately, and what you’re hungry for.

On Sunday, instead of eating oatmeal and a banana, I’ll pull out the Fruity Pebbles. Instead of a tuna fish sandwich on wheat for lunch, I’ll buy a meatball sub from Quiznos. For dinner, I might order pizza. I may even snack on some Oreos. Some may say that this is extreme splurging. Yet, I can maintain that diet for years if I choose to. There’s no comparison between eating healthy 6 days a week for a lifetime, and not eating healthy at all because you continue to ride the yo-yo. Instead of feeling guilty while eating the pizza, I enjoy it. Instead of losing my motivation to work out, my hunger (for the perfect body) grows stronger. I didn’t break the rules, I control them.

You can make rules that benefit you and your lifestyle. Maybe you’d rather give yourself a total of four days each month, instead of having a specific day to eat whatever you want. That way if you’re feeling down for a few days, you can take a break, come back and hit the ground running. When you give yourself these free days, you allow yourself to focus on eating healthy, instead of thinking about all the things you can’t have.

Post from: Trend Spike

Who Says You Can’t Splurge?

ECTOMORPH

* Referred to as the “Banana”

* Fragile Body

* Flat Chest

* Lean

* Lightly Muscled

* Narrow Shoulders

* Takes Longer to Gain Muscle

MESOMORPH

* Referred to as an “Hourglass” (Female) or “Rectangle” (Male)

* Hard Body

* Athletic

* Muscular

* Gains Muscle Easily

* Wide Shoulders

* Gains Fat Easier Than Ectomorphs

ENDOMORPH

* Referred to as the “Apple”

* Soft Body

* Wide Waist

* Underdeveloped Muscles

* Round Physique

* Weight Loss is Difficult

* Gains Muscle Easily

As you might have guessed, there are typical stereotypes associated with each body type. Endomorphs are usually viewed as sloppy and lazy. Mesomorphs are seen as strong, and popular. Ectomorphs are thought to be intelligent, but weak. Once you identify which body type you are, you can use that information to your advantage, when creating a diet or workout plan.

If you’re an ectomorph, you want to start off slow and increase intensity gradually. Keep your workouts under an hour, and use proper form. Otherwise there’s a good chance that you’ll over-train and/or injure yourself. Be sure to eat a lot and keep your calorie intake up. Chances are, you have a high metabolism and you don’t have to worry much about keeping the fat off. Focus more on lifting weights, and less on cardio.

Since endomorphs have trouble losing fat, it’s a good idea to stick to a strict diet. Include a lot of cardio in your routine. Depending on your goals, you could choose to lose the fat first, and then put on some muscle, or you could try to do both right from the start. In general, you shouldn’t have too much trouble building muscle mass.

You could say mesomorphs are lucky. They gain muscle easily, and don’t have much trouble losing fat. People with this body type can handle high intensity and high frequency workouts. Their goal should be to try to balance their diet and workout. Continue to build or maintain their muscle mass while losing excess fat (if any).

There are certain aspects of your body type that you can’t change, such as your bone structure. However, you can work towards gaining muscle and losing fat so that you appear to be stronger, more athletic, and healthier. What body type are you? Are you happy with your body? Do you stereotype other body types? What do you do to change your body? I’m somewhere in between an ectomorph, and a mesomorph. If I don’t eat 4+ meals a day and workout to build muscle mass, I become very thin, and my shoulders stoop down. On the other hand, when I do have the muscle mass, people comment all the time about how athletic I look. The advantage to being slightly ectomorphic…year round abs, and an easily attained v-shaped back.

Post from: Trend Spike

A World Full of Hercules’, DJ Qualls, and Fat Bastards

Go to your local health shop or gym, and ask someone what you should be taking to get the muscle you want. You’ll probably get a different answer from everyone you speak to. Chances are, you’re speaking to someone who doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about, or they’re taking steroids; neither of whom you want to take advice from….well unless of course you plan on taking steroids. I’ll make it easier on you. Let me break it down. First, I’ll leave you with a statement to live by:

The most important thing you must consume to gain muscle is food, period. There isn’t any supplement to date that can replace food, and there’s no reason to believe there will be any such product in the near future. Eat healthy food, and eat a lot of it.

Now, back to the supplements. If you can afford one, and only one, then buy protein. This can be in the form of a meal replacement, or a weight gainer, depending on what your goals are. Protein is made of amino acids, which are the basic building blocks of muscle. Just remember one thing, no protein = no muscle. Different studies have gone to persuade fitness gurus that a person should consume between 0.5-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight each day. This measure can vary with each person, each goal, and each activity level. If you’re trying to gain muscle at the fastest rate possible, without risking your long-term health, I would recommend 1 to 1.5 grams of protein. In other words, if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be consuming 150-225 grams of protein every day.

The next three items on your shopping list should be creatine, glutamine, and NO (Nitric Oxide). Don’t worry, if you’re on a budget, you can usually find these together in a single product. These supplements will give you more energy, explosive power, and quicker recovery. You’ll also see a “pump effect” and probably notice yourself looking more muscular than usual after a week or two. I won’t go into detail about how these supplements work; save that for another article.

You also want to take a good multi-vitamin. Again, food is the best source for the nutrients you need. If you’re eating properly, your daily intake of vitamins and minerals should be on track. However, to ensure that you’re not missing any gaps in your diet, it’s a good idea to take a multi-vitamin, even if only once a day. If you’re working out and trying to build muscle, your body is under heavy stress. Don’t let yourself run low on fuel.

There are hundreds of supplements out there. Many work…..many don’t. Others work differently for each individual. In this article, I’m providing the basic list of supplements that everyone should be taking while trying to build muscle. That’s not to say that these are the absolute only products on the market that work. Yet if you’re on a budget, these are the only ones you need. If you’re really low on cash, you can’t go wrong with food and a good protein powder.

So now you know what supplements to take, but what brands do you buy? Here are my recommendations:

Protein (glutamine, and creatine included) - CytoSport Cyto Gainer & BodyTech Shaker Bottle

NO (creatine included) - BSN NO-Xplode

Multi-Vitamin - Optimum Opti-Men

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5 Supplements Closer to Becoming the Alpha Male