The Ectomorph

Lightly Muscled (bad to be an ectomorph, don`t worry, i`m one of them too )

While ectomorphs tend to have difficulty in gaining muscle mass, they also tend to accumulate less fat than most people. Also, ectomorphs need little or no cardio to maintain that lean and slim appearance. Too much cardio will increase their metabolism making it even harder to put on muscle mass.

Nutrition of an Ectomorph
An ectomorph should have a diet that is high in protein, carbs, and moderate in fat. Ectomorphs tend to be insulin resistant, so they need to consume more carbs in order to promote muscle growth. When selecting carbs, choose those that have a low glycemic indices so your weight gain will primarily be muscle.

Training for Ectomorphs
Ectomorphs usually put very difficult muscle mass, they train consistently and are often frustrated by the lack of gains. Ectomorphs aren’t as powerful as mesomorphs and here are some training tips:

Stick with basic compound movements and keep it simple because as i said, ectomorphs don`t need big variation of exercises.

In a short sentence, train hard like very hard my ectomorph friend! I sure do as an ectomorph!

]]> http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/06/the-ectomorph/feed/ 2 http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/05/insomnia-can-trigger-diabetes/ http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/05/insomnia-can-trigger-diabetes/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 19:02:55 +0000 admin http://muscle.iuhu.org/?p=2926 Do you often have insomnia or sleep less than 6 hours per night? You risk on getting sick of diabetes or you know the worsest effect.. you risk muscle mass loss!

According to scientists from Holland the body needs at least 6 hours of sleep a night to absorb the sugar in blood, sugar that is accumulated during the day thus preventing diabetes. Sleeping 6 hours a night also regulates your blood sugar level but for gaining muscle mass you need at least 8-10 hours of good sleep so do something with your insomnia.

Researchers found that those who sleep less than 6 hours a night are more prone to premature mortality risk by 12% and diabetes by 24% than those who sleep 6-8 hours a night.

Optimum duration of sleep is somewhere near 7 hours for a good rest in the case of normal people, and for a bodybuilder that tries to get some lean muscle mass on him 8-10 hours so remember the fact that insomnia can reduce your muscle mass and trigger diabetes !

]]> http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/05/insomnia-can-trigger-diabetes/feed/ 1 http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/04/dave-tates-quotes-about-reason-for-squats/ http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/04/dave-tates-quotes-about-reason-for-squats/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:30:40 +0000 admin http://muscle.iuhu.org/?p=2465 “Very few movements require the same degree of dedication, desire and determination as heavy squats. Squats are more than a physical strength builder and may be the only movement that builds a person’s character. Life is about standing up AFTER a heavy load takes you down.” – quote Dave Tate

“It’s a great excuse to wear a big ass belt that makes you look less fat when doing squats.” -quote Dave Tate

“Light squats need to be treated as though they are heavy and heavy squats as if they are light.” –quote Dave Tate

“One of the few lifts that can cause blood, sweat and tears to leave the body at the same time – without you knowing.” –quote Dave Tate

“Increases bone density.” and “I can’t stand to see a rack alone.” -quote Dave Tate

]]> http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/04/dave-tates-quotes-about-reason-for-squats/feed/ 0 http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/04/fish-oils-can-inhibit-muscle-recovery/ http://muscle.iuhu.org/2010/04/fish-oils-can-inhibit-muscle-recovery/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:01:49 +0000 admin http://muscle.iuhu.org/?p=2449 Fish contains high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids, which inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, and that`s bad for muscle growth and recovery because prostaglandins are important for building muscles. I won`t talk about prostaglandin but instead i will talk about the fish oils that can inhibit muscle recovery in immobilized persons.

Researchers from the Food and Nutrition Department at Seoul National University examined the effect of fish oils on muscle recovery in rats.
The rats were assigned like so:

The rats were immobilized for a few weeks and after the immobilization they were allowed to exercise their muscles. When a person is immobilized for certain reasons as fractures etc. the muscle that isn`t used anymore is going to atrophy, and in our case with these rats, the scientists are interested in the fastest way to rejuvenate and repair that muscle with a low degree of inhibition.

When the rat is allowed to exercise, the muscle has tension placed on it again and the researchers can examine the degree of inhibition in muscle recovery.

In the article i saw some scientific details but this is what you need to know in large about this experiment; the findings (in rats) indicate that dietary fish oil inhibits the early stage of muscle recovery by suppressing the activation of anabolic pathway Akt–p70s6k signaling and prostaglandins synthesis.

5 Step Treatment With Alkaline Water

How do i get alkaline water?

Here are some methods:

On the other hand, machines have a few advantages as well. There is no set-up and take down, all you need do is move a pin to change your weight. Exercise machines may be a bit safer than weights because the weights are never directly in line with or over the person using them. If you are doing presses and slip, you will not be injured (or worse) by the falling weights. So you don’t need a “spotter” with a machine. So weight machines may also be good for your goal to build big muscles.Circuit training is easier on a machine, due to the ease of changing setups.Which is better for your muscle building workouts? Deciding which is better, weights or machine may just be up to personal preference.
The best way to decide is trying each and decide what factors are most important to you.

1.Cycle: A period of steroid use often 8 or more weeks in length, followed by a similar period of disuse.
2.Pyramiding: This is when users build up to their heaviest dose on a cycle. Though prevalent in the early days of steroid use, this method was found unnecessary and is virtually no longer practiced.
3.Stacking: The process of combining drugs, or using more than one drug within a cycle.
4.Tapering: This is the opposite of Pyramiding. Users begin with their highest dose and gradually decrease in an effort to minimize the side effects associated with coming off. As with pyramiding, this method is obsolete.
5.Pin or Dart: These are needles used with syringes for injection.
6.UG or UGL: Underground Labs, or clandestine laboratories that produce steroids.
7.Gear, Juice, Vitamin S:Steroids
8.Test: Testosterone
9.Deca: This is a slang name for Nandrolone Decanoate, which was originally sold under the trade name Deca-Durabolin.
10.D-bol: This is a slang name for Methandrostenolone, which was originally sold under the trade name Dianabol or Naposim in Romania.
11.A-bombs: This is a slang name for Oxymetholone, which was originally sold under the trade name Anadrol.
12.Var: This is a slang name for Oxandrolone, which was originally sold under the trade name Anavar.
13.Winny/Winnie: This is a slang name for Stanozolol, which was originally sold under the trade name Winstrol.
14.EQ: This is a slang name for a veterinary drug called Boldenone Undeclynate, originally sold under the trade name Equipoise.
15.AAS: Anabolic Androgenic Steroids, this is the medically accepted abbreviation for steroids.
16.Tren: This is a slang name for any form of the drug “Trenbolone” which is available in several forms.
17.Clen: Clenbuterol is not an anabolic steroid. It is a prescription asthma medication that if used in high enough doses increases the metabolic rate, thus reducing body fat.

Other

18.Bitch Tits:A condition in which female like breast development occurs in a bodybuilder, also called Gynecomastia.
19.Bulking Up:Gaining bodyweight by adding both fat & muscle, a once common practice no longer in vogue among knowledgeable bodybuilders.
20.Burn:The burning sensation in a muscle that comes from the lactic acid and pH buildup resulting from exercising the muscle to failure.
21.Cap:The deltoid muscle of the shoulder, which can be divided into front, middle and rear heads for training.
22.Cheat Reps:When muscle fatigue begins to set in or the weight is too heavy, some athletes employ body English or ‘improper’ form to make the lift, using surrounding muscle groups or even momentum to assist in the movement.
23.Close Sport:Standing by, alert and ready to assist promptly if called upon by someone performing an exercise.
24.Circuit Training:A workout technique in which the individual goes from one exercise to another. One set per movement per round, with minimal rest, thus gaining some aerobic benefit at the expense of maximal strength gains.
25.Cramping:Exercising a muscle using shortened movements that causes a muscle to cramp, contracting painfully perhaps to the point of temporary fatigue to achieve a greater pump.
26.Cutting Up:Stripping the body of excess bodyfat while retaining maximum muscularity. Also can be called Ripped, Shredded, Sliced, etc.
27.Definition:Extremely low bodyfat coupled with superior muscle separation and vascularity; the physical manifestation of ‘dialing it in’. Adjectives that are used to describe this desired state include ripped, shredded, sliced, cut, striated.
28.Dialing It In:The process of training and dieting to get shredded for a contest. Adjectives include on time, on the money, peaking.
29.DPP:Short for Discipline, persistence and patience.
30.Flat:Describes muscles that have lost their fullness, commonly caused by overtraining, undertraining or a lack of nutrients and water.
31.Flush:To increase the blood supply to a muscle, thereby bringing in more nutrients.
32.Forced Reps:Additional repetitions of an exercise performed with the help of a partner when you’re unable to do anymore reps on your own.
33.Freak:Anyone with inhuman size or unproportional muscles. The person that makes you stare.
34.Free Hand Movement:Any exercise that can be performed without exercise equipment, using only your bodyweight, such as a push-up or squat without weight.
35.Full:The appearance of muscle pressing against skin. The best competitive bodybuilders manage to look simultaneous full and shredded.
36.Glutes:A shortend version of gluteas maximus, the largest of the muscles forming each of the human buttocks.
37.Guns:Another word for Biceps, alone for with triceps. Other slang words include Pipes, Pythons…
38.H.I.T.:High Intensity Training. A method that states it is not about doing ‘more’ or ‘less’ exercise but rather an appropriate amount on exercise to stimulate optimum muscle growth.
39.Isolation:A technique that focuses work on an individual muscle without secondary or assisting muscle groups being involved, which provides maximal muscle shape. A good example is the seated dumbbell concentration curl.
40.Lats:A term which is abbreviated jargon for the latissimus dorsi. This Latin term translates roughly into ‘lateral muscles of the back’. When viewed from the rear, and relaxed, the lats form large inverted cones.
41.Lean Body Mass:Fat Free body tissue, comprising mostly muscle. Lean mass is the primary determinant of the body’s basal metabolism (calories you burn at rest). In healthy men, bodyfat (bodyweight minus lean body mass) ranges from 8-12%; in women, 18-22%.
42.Mass:Size – lots of it. If you train hard and eat right, you can add muscle. A growing bodybuilder’s favorite word!
43.Muscle Confusion:A technique to counteract the cessation of growth that occurs when muscles adapt to the training demands placed upon them. To keep the body growing and getting stronger, a bodybuilder needs to vary his/her sets, reps, rest, weight used and exercise angles during each workout.
44.Negatives:The act of lowering a weight againt gravity, specifically, resisting gravity by lowering the weight slowly and under control.
45.One Rep Max (1RM):Your absolute strength in a given movement. Powerlifting competitions are a test of 1RM strength. For many bodybuilders, especially beginners, 1RM training is harmful because of the higher risk of injury. A weight that you can just complete in 10 reps is a good approximation for most people of 75% of their 1RM.
46.Plates:The weights that you put on an Olympic dumbell, specifically a 45 pound weight. Smaller weights are called quarters (25 pounds), dimes (10 pounds), and nickels (5 pounds).
47.Periodization:Also called Cycle Training, a predetermined approach to strength and muscle building in which bodybuilders train light for several weeks, then heavier, and then really heavy, and the process is cycled. Helps avoid injury and burnout.
48.Progressive Overload:Gradually adding more resistance during strength training exercises as your stregth increase.
49.Pump:The look and feeling a bodybuilder experiences when his/her muscles engorge with blood as the result of intense exercise.
50.Six Pack:A ab muscles so well developed that you can see the separate muscle under the skin where your stomach is. Other words include washboard.
51.Skull Crusher:The lying french press, in which you lower a barbell from full extension above your head down to your forehead and then extend at the elbows to press it back up.
52.Unilateral Training:It means working one side of the body at a time.
53.V-Taper:A person with big shoulders and a small waist.
54.Vascular:The visibility of veins on a bodybuilder as a result of exercise and low bodyfat (and perhaps higher blood volume).

A Hardgainer is a genetically-typical person (if there is such a thing).He/she is born with no special genetic ‘gifts’ which enable them to pack on muscle mass quickly. Such people cannot gain lots of strength using VOLUME training, but a hardgainer can make impressive gains using less frequent workouts with considerably less volume (see topic Supersets).Estimates of the percentage of the population who are “hardgainers” range from 60% to 95% (Steve Holman “The Home Gym Handbook” published by Ironman Publications).

Am I a hardgainer?

In some cases the “hardgainer-ness” depend on physical measurements such as wrist/ankle-size etc.But if you find it impossible to add some poundage regularly to each of your exercises every week or two using a “conventional/popular” training program (one that has you training with the weights more than three days a week), then it is highly likely that you are overtraining. You will be much better off doing fewer exercises and sets and training less often.

Overtraining, How do i know if i am overtraining?

Overtraining occurs when you train too often and with a such intensity that goes beyond the ability to recover.If your body cannot recover from the last workout then it will be unable to grow.
Overtraining includes:
-A higher than normal resting pulse
-Illnesses become more frequent and last longer than usual
-Muscle spasms while resting(eyelid twitch etc.)
-Shaky hands
-Loss of Sleep
-Loss of appetite
-Unexpected and unexplained fatigue
-Unintended weight loss
But don`t forget the most important symptoms like very slow or non-existent gains in exercise poundages in the gym and in extreme cases a loss of strength.
The solution is by training with supersets. In most cases the person who tries this for the first time will experience a rapid gain in strength and muscle mass, along with an increase in energy.

Your diet is the main factor in how your abs will look. “Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym!”

2. Minimize rest time in between sets.

Try to only take 1 minute of rest [or less] time in between abdominal exercises. The goal is to keep rest to 30 – 40 seconds in between sets. Keep those abdominals burning!

3. Contract and flex your abs in between sets.

This technique helps to build abdominal definition. Bodybuilders have been known to stretch and flex in between sets to increase muscle definition.

4. Perform cardio activity before your workout.

When the body is warmed up as a result of cardiovascular activity, you’re able to get a better contraction on your abs when you work them. The warm up enables you to better feel the deep muscular burning sensation when your abs are trained.

5. Train your abs on an empty stomach.

This allows you to burn bodyfat as fuel instead of carbohydrates.

I will try in the future to find the best routine of ab exercises and put them on the blog.

You can do these workouts like so:
- Warm up first with ten minutes of cardio and light bodyweight movements.
- Do the pairs of exercises as supersets, performing one set of the first exercise, then moving immediately on to a set of the second exercise.
- Rest for 1 minute before repeating.
- Choose a weight that you can manage with perfect form, but which leads to muscular failure by the end of the final set.
- Take one second the lift the weight, pause for another second, then take two to three seconds to lower again.
Mike Ryan`s tips:
-Train in the morning where possible – it’s the best way to ensure intensity.’
- ‘Always warm up sufficiently – not just with cardio, but by doing the movements before adding weights.’
- ‘Work on ‘progressive overload – always keep increasing the weight, and keep a training diary to record your progress.’
- ‘Mix things up – constantly change the tempo, speed, incline, grip – anything so that you’re not always performing the same movement.’
- ‘Feel the movement – focus on each muscle activation rather than simply aiming to finish the set.’
- ‘Work with a trainer – it will help with motivation.’
- ‘Don’t overtrain – learn what your body can cope with.’
- ‘Get plenty of rest – at least seven hours of good sleep a night.’