1. What is it and where does it come from?
N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, or melatonin, is hormone produced naturally by the body in the pineal gland of the brain. The release of melatonin correlates with the body's cycle of day and night.
The highest levels of the hormone are produced at night. Trace amounts of melatonin appears in foods.
2. What does it do and what scientific studies give evidence to support this?
Melatonin may play an essential role in sleeping and much more. As light inhibits its production, and darkness stimulates it, melatonin regulates the body's internal clock. Double blind research shows that this hormone helps people sleep, shortens the number of awakenings in the night, and improves the quality of sleep. It is also very useful in treating jet lag, as it promotes quicker recovery from that "out of it" stage one may experience after extended periods of flight. Research has also shown that having enough melatonin exhibits positive psychological benefits on a person's mood.
3. Who needs it and what are some symptoms of deficiency?
Frequent travelers and those who work rotating shifts could benefit by taking melatonin supplements. Sleep is definitely important to weight-trainers, bodybuilders, and athletes, as muscles grow and repair during sleep. Melatonin has been used by millions of people to gain quality rest on a more consistent basis.
4. How much should be taken? Are there any side effects?
Levels of melatonin intake should vary with a person's age. The body produces some melatonin naturally during sleep and many doctors and experts recommend a level similar to the body's own production, between one to three milligrams taken two hours or one-half hour before a person wants to go to sleep. Melatonin should not be taken during the day. Some uncommon side effects are reports of grogginess, sleepwalking, and disorientation. Pregnant or breast-feeding women should not take it. All in all, melatonin has great sleep promoting effects.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
7 Steps To Brutal Arms
If your arms have not improved over the past year, whatever you're doing in the gym is obviously not working. So-and-so many sets of barbell curls, followed by some dumbbell curls and a couple of sets of skullcrushers and tricep pressdowns - sound familiar? Well, it's time to do something drastic or you'll be stuck forever. Here are 7 steps that will give you a kick in the pants so you get back into the growth zone!
7 Steps To Kick Start Growth
Step 1: Assessment.
Bring out your training log and step back, looking at it as if you were reading someone else's. What you're looking for is stuff like favorite, ineffective exercises (identified as showing up frequently but always having the same weight and reps), stupid combinations (why first do preacher curls with a barbell and then do the exact same thing with a plate-loaded preacher machine while skipping dumbbell hammer curls?) and lack of variation from workout to workout.
Heck, pretend it's some cocky schmuck you'd like to put in his place, so be cruelly honest - the more mistakes you can dig up, the better. Every mistake you find brings you one step closer to getting some productive workouts for a change.
Step 2: Out With The Old, In With The New.
When studying the training log you probably spotted a number of exercises that show up just a little too frequently. I bet these coincide with exercises where you're either naturally strong and can use a lot of weight, or have a neat machine that you like to use. Well, not anymore. Cut them entirely for a month and only use exercises that you normally avoid.
Habit is one of the biggest enemies of progress, right up with laziness andovertraining, so smash that comfortable routine of yours with a vengeance. Hate forearm rolls, cable hammer curls and dips? Tough luck, you're doing them now! After a month or so you can bring back your old favorites, rotating them through your workout like you would any other exercise.
Step 3: Getting The Balance Right.
It's a classic mistake to focus primarily on biceps for arm growth. Sure, they look impressive once you get a nice peak worked up, but they're literally the tip of the iceberg. To get the kind of biceps you want you must train the brachialis, which is located UNDER the biceps and pushes it up. In addition, triceps make up almost two-thirds of the total arm thickness, and let's not forget the importance of the forearms to avoid "reverse-Popeye"-syndrome (beefy upper arms and twig-like forearms).
Furthermore, biceps is a relatively small muscle that grows best with a hit-hard-and-brief approach, so avoid the 16 set bicep workouts and spread the time and efforts appropriately. For example, 6 sets for biceps (making sure 2 of them hit brachialis), 8 sets for triceps and 4 sets for forearms is a reasonable split. See the sample workout for how such a setup could work.
Step 4: Timing & Frequency.
Overtraining arms is easily done. You often involve biceps and forearms during back training, with triceps getting a beating on chest day. If you're on a split that has you train through the entire body twice per week you could be hitting the same muscles almost every day, directly or indirectly. If you've read my articles in the past you know that I advocate a less-is-more approach of training each muscle group once per week as soon as you're past the beginner-stage. That should decrease the risk of overtraining considerably.
As for timing, keep your workouts short and brief: 30-45 mins is ideal, anything over 60 mins is borderline counterproductive. Last but not least, don't forget to use periodization so that you cycle between low-rep/high-rep training. Click here to read more about periodization.
Step 5: Pump Up The Intensity.
With a 30-45 min window (not counting warmup and stretching) you have to move pretty fast between exercises. You shouldn't have to walk around with a stopwatch, but aim for about a minute of rest between sets. Compound exercises like squats and deadlifts require a few minutes to catch your breath, but small muscles like those found in the arms recover relatively quickly - hit'em hard, then hit'em again to keep the intensity up.
You may also want to include some specific intensity boosters, such as forced reps, negatives, drop-sets and controlled cheating, to trigger that extra growth.
Step 6: Checking Secondary Factors.
Looking beyond the gym, try to see if you're short-changing yourself elsewhere in your life. Do you consistently get 8 or more hours per sleep per night? If not, you're robbing yourself of natural growth hormones and additional recovery. Do you eat enough calories every day?
Most bodybuilders know to eat enough protein, but that's not enough - you need a surplus of calories for the muscles to grow. If you've stayed the same weight for a while, try adding 500 calories per day and adjust as necessary. Just keep an eye on the gut - measure it with a measuring tape first thing every Monday morning.
Step 7: Track & Reassess.
The measuring tape comes in handy for tracking the progress of your arms too. Flex and measure at its thickest - repeat once a month to make sure you're making gains. If you gain a quarter-inch one month, half an inch the next, and then nothing for 4 months you know it's time to go back to Step 1 and figure out what's going on. This kind of frequent reassessment makes helps you avoid slipping back into the comfort zone.
7 Steps To Kick Start Growth
Step 1: Assessment.
Bring out your training log and step back, looking at it as if you were reading someone else's. What you're looking for is stuff like favorite, ineffective exercises (identified as showing up frequently but always having the same weight and reps), stupid combinations (why first do preacher curls with a barbell and then do the exact same thing with a plate-loaded preacher machine while skipping dumbbell hammer curls?) and lack of variation from workout to workout.
Heck, pretend it's some cocky schmuck you'd like to put in his place, so be cruelly honest - the more mistakes you can dig up, the better. Every mistake you find brings you one step closer to getting some productive workouts for a change.
Step 2: Out With The Old, In With The New.
When studying the training log you probably spotted a number of exercises that show up just a little too frequently. I bet these coincide with exercises where you're either naturally strong and can use a lot of weight, or have a neat machine that you like to use. Well, not anymore. Cut them entirely for a month and only use exercises that you normally avoid.
Habit is one of the biggest enemies of progress, right up with laziness andovertraining, so smash that comfortable routine of yours with a vengeance. Hate forearm rolls, cable hammer curls and dips? Tough luck, you're doing them now! After a month or so you can bring back your old favorites, rotating them through your workout like you would any other exercise.
Step 3: Getting The Balance Right.
It's a classic mistake to focus primarily on biceps for arm growth. Sure, they look impressive once you get a nice peak worked up, but they're literally the tip of the iceberg. To get the kind of biceps you want you must train the brachialis, which is located UNDER the biceps and pushes it up. In addition, triceps make up almost two-thirds of the total arm thickness, and let's not forget the importance of the forearms to avoid "reverse-Popeye"-syndrome (beefy upper arms and twig-like forearms).
Furthermore, biceps is a relatively small muscle that grows best with a hit-hard-and-brief approach, so avoid the 16 set bicep workouts and spread the time and efforts appropriately. For example, 6 sets for biceps (making sure 2 of them hit brachialis), 8 sets for triceps and 4 sets for forearms is a reasonable split. See the sample workout for how such a setup could work.
Step 4: Timing & Frequency.
Overtraining arms is easily done. You often involve biceps and forearms during back training, with triceps getting a beating on chest day. If you're on a split that has you train through the entire body twice per week you could be hitting the same muscles almost every day, directly or indirectly. If you've read my articles in the past you know that I advocate a less-is-more approach of training each muscle group once per week as soon as you're past the beginner-stage. That should decrease the risk of overtraining considerably.
As for timing, keep your workouts short and brief: 30-45 mins is ideal, anything over 60 mins is borderline counterproductive. Last but not least, don't forget to use periodization so that you cycle between low-rep/high-rep training. Click here to read more about periodization.
Step 5: Pump Up The Intensity.
With a 30-45 min window (not counting warmup and stretching) you have to move pretty fast between exercises. You shouldn't have to walk around with a stopwatch, but aim for about a minute of rest between sets. Compound exercises like squats and deadlifts require a few minutes to catch your breath, but small muscles like those found in the arms recover relatively quickly - hit'em hard, then hit'em again to keep the intensity up.
You may also want to include some specific intensity boosters, such as forced reps, negatives, drop-sets and controlled cheating, to trigger that extra growth.
Step 6: Checking Secondary Factors.
Looking beyond the gym, try to see if you're short-changing yourself elsewhere in your life. Do you consistently get 8 or more hours per sleep per night? If not, you're robbing yourself of natural growth hormones and additional recovery. Do you eat enough calories every day?
Most bodybuilders know to eat enough protein, but that's not enough - you need a surplus of calories for the muscles to grow. If you've stayed the same weight for a while, try adding 500 calories per day and adjust as necessary. Just keep an eye on the gut - measure it with a measuring tape first thing every Monday morning.
Step 7: Track & Reassess.
The measuring tape comes in handy for tracking the progress of your arms too. Flex and measure at its thickest - repeat once a month to make sure you're making gains. If you gain a quarter-inch one month, half an inch the next, and then nothing for 4 months you know it's time to go back to Step 1 and figure out what's going on. This kind of frequent reassessment makes helps you avoid slipping back into the comfort zone.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
HMB
1. What is it and where does it come from?
HMB is short for beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate. It is a new and exciting supplement that is one of the most popular body building supplements today. HMB is a metabolite of leucine, one of the body's essential amino acids.
There are small amounts of HMB present in many foods, primarily catfish, grapefruit, and alfalfa.
2. What does it do and what scientific studies give evidence to support this?
Many of the world's champions and athletes are using HMB and receiving dramatic results. Specifically, HMB plays a role in the synthesis of muscle tissue. It has the ability to burn fat and build muscle consistently in response to exercise. Backed heavily by science, HMB works for NFL greats like Shannon Sharpe and Olympic medallists throughout the globe. New scientific studies are being conducted on this supplement all the time. Recently, a study showed in a control group supplementing with HMB, that after taking 3 grams of HMB per day for three weeks, those who took HMB versus the random placebo takers gained three times more muscle on their bench press! Animal studies also suggest that it may increase lean muscle mass. A study conducted on humans showed that those who supplemented with HMB experienced enhanced strength, greater endurance, and increased fat loss. It's ability to boost endurance alone is an incredible result. A seven week long study showed a much greater gain in muscle when a group of 28 participated in a regular weight-training program. How does HMB do all this? It appears to increase the rate of protein being used to increase muscle growth, while decreasing the atrophy or tear down of muscle that occurs.
3. Who needs it and what are some symptoms of deficiency?
Basically anyone who is ready to experience some awesome muscle-building effects can benefit from HMB. Deficiency is not an issue, but building strength, getting cut, and trimming off the extra fat is. It is safe for men and women.
4. How much should be taken? Are there any side effects?
Generally, the research done involving HMB used 3 - 5 grams of HMB in combination with regular exercise (like weight lifting). Take it before training or before bedtime for best results. There are no known side effects when taken properly only BIG gains!
HMB is short for beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate. It is a new and exciting supplement that is one of the most popular body building supplements today. HMB is a metabolite of leucine, one of the body's essential amino acids.
There are small amounts of HMB present in many foods, primarily catfish, grapefruit, and alfalfa.
2. What does it do and what scientific studies give evidence to support this?
Many of the world's champions and athletes are using HMB and receiving dramatic results. Specifically, HMB plays a role in the synthesis of muscle tissue. It has the ability to burn fat and build muscle consistently in response to exercise. Backed heavily by science, HMB works for NFL greats like Shannon Sharpe and Olympic medallists throughout the globe. New scientific studies are being conducted on this supplement all the time. Recently, a study showed in a control group supplementing with HMB, that after taking 3 grams of HMB per day for three weeks, those who took HMB versus the random placebo takers gained three times more muscle on their bench press! Animal studies also suggest that it may increase lean muscle mass. A study conducted on humans showed that those who supplemented with HMB experienced enhanced strength, greater endurance, and increased fat loss. It's ability to boost endurance alone is an incredible result. A seven week long study showed a much greater gain in muscle when a group of 28 participated in a regular weight-training program. How does HMB do all this? It appears to increase the rate of protein being used to increase muscle growth, while decreasing the atrophy or tear down of muscle that occurs.
3. Who needs it and what are some symptoms of deficiency?
Basically anyone who is ready to experience some awesome muscle-building effects can benefit from HMB. Deficiency is not an issue, but building strength, getting cut, and trimming off the extra fat is. It is safe for men and women.
4. How much should be taken? Are there any side effects?
Generally, the research done involving HMB used 3 - 5 grams of HMB in combination with regular exercise (like weight lifting). Take it before training or before bedtime for best results. There are no known side effects when taken properly only BIG gains!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)