Can Antioxidants Help You Build Muscle? Free Radicals Destroy Your Muscles

Many people these days take antioxidants to counter the detrimental effect of free radicals. Antioxidants mopped up free radicals and convert them into harmless substances. Free radicals are known to cause body cell decomposition and therefore are the main culprit in our aging process. Free radicals are linked to aging diseases such as cancer and heart problems besides making us age more quickly. Since free radicals cause our cells to decompose, then free radicals will also degenerate our muscle cells. 

Staying clear of situations that cause a surge of free radicals to surge is one way of prevention and taking antioxidants as a supplementation is another. There are many situations that will increase free radical activities such as sun burn, stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, pollution, exercise workout amongst others. Yes, we get a surge of free radicals when we exercise especially intensive exercises because we are putting our bodies under tremendous stress when we exercise. These muscle destroying activities will continue for hours and even days depending how intensive your exercises are.

This is where antioxidants supplementing comes in. Since antioxidants neutralize free radicals, it helps your muscles to recover faster and stop the ravaging effects of free radicals on your muscle and thus allowing better muscle growth.

So if you want your muscles to recover faster and want to grow bigger muscles after your workouts, supplementation with antioxidants may help. There are many antioxidants supplements in the market. Vitamin A, C and E are perhaps the better known free radical fighters out there. Some other excellent free radical scavengers are Green Tea extract, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Beta Carotene etc

So our mums although may not have known about antioxidants and its effect of free radicals on our body was right when they insisted that we take our vitamins. Do protect your muscles and general health with antioxidants.

Bigger Body muscle bars...

Here is how to eat your way top massive gains 

Commercial Calorie bars are not new and they are not cheap, a good bar will cost you $2-$3 dollars a bar and I personally don't think they are worth the money… for that kind of investment I would purchase a good and proven weight gainer 

But for those of us who want mass, and are always looking at the mirror to see gains I have a great solution...Make your own MUSCLE BARS. 

Before I go on, I want to state some rather obvious facts: FACT NUMBER ONE - if you want to gain mass at an accelerated pace...EAT FAT! Yes don't avoid fat, fat is essential in the mass gaining process, dietary fats play a essential role in muscle building hormone production which ARE the Keys to outstanding muscle growth. 

I have never known any one to gain mass on a low fat diet, it just will 

Not happen and let me tell you, if you are getting fat on a high calorie diet, I would not accuse your fat intake, no! Rather I would accuse the simple sugars in your diet. Also a low fat diet will lower your testosterone levels, something you want to avoid when you are trying to gain weight... 

also you should Know that it is far easier to lose weight or fat if you first gain muscle mass(with some fat)first then try to lose the fat before trying to build muscle mass…this is true even if you are obese 

my overweight clients, I first get the to build muscle before trying to lose fat...it way easier since muscle tends to increase your metabolism on a permanent basis, making you a fat burning machine. However not all fats are created equal, you want to avoid the saturated kind (as found in animals) and consume 

The essential fatty acids...EFA's fats are energy and your body will burn it if you train correctly as espoused in the fastmuscles growth system...http://www.fastmuscles.com 

The recipe that follows is simple to make and it will provide you with several days’ worth of weight gain dense snacks... 

The next time you are heading out to your workouts; consume one of these babies and watch the energy boost. And you will not have to resort to the use of candy bars or some unhealthy snack 

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup apple juice concentrates (the frozen kind) 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 whole eggs 

2 cups whole wheat flour 

1 cup raw wheat germ 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1 cup sunflower seeds 

1 cup pecans 

1 cup raisins 

1 cup chopped dates 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; blend the butter, eggs, apple juice 

And vanilla together, sift together with flour, wheat germ, baking soda and baking powder then add them to mixture. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and press into an oblong glass pan than you have buttered and floured, now bake until the top is golden brown-about 30 minutes, refrigerate to keep fresh 

You will get 12 bars out of these and each one gives you 

561 calories 30 grams of fat, carbohydrates 51 grams, 12 grams of protein... 

And cost you less than a dollar each.... 

If you want to increase the portion value, include two scoops of massive growth 

Hope you enjoyed this article...

Abdominal Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders.

The abdomen contains the muscles that most beginners struggle with because they take a long time to develop and need a low level of body fat to be seen. The abdominal muscle group consists of three main muscles:

1. Rectus abdominis - commonly known as the abs, this is a large flat muscle wall that runs from the lower chest to the pubic bone.

2. Obliquus abdominis - commonly known as the obliques, this muscle runs diagonally along the side of the mid-section from the lower ribcage to the pubic area. The internal obliques lie underneath the external obliques.

3. Transversus abdominis - this is a thin strip of muscle that runs horizontally across the abdomen.

You can target these muscles effectively by performing the following exercises:

1. Crunches - 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the upper abs.

2. Pelvic tilts - 3 sets of 15-20 reps.This exercise will target the lower portion of the abdomen below the navel.

3. Side bends - 3 sets of 15-20 reps. This exercise will work the obliques.

As with all exercises you need to take care in scheduling specific body parts. To begin with you should incorporate your abdominal exercises into a program similar to the one suggested below:

Day 1: Biceps, Back, Abs

Day 2: Hamstrings, Shoulders, Abs

Day 3: Quads, Forearms, Calves

Day 4: Triceps, Chest, Abs

For the first couple of weeks complete one set but then add one set each week to a maximum of three. At the end of three months you will be ready to move on to more intensive intermediate level exercises.

7 Reasons Why Your Muscles Stop Growing. How To Get Muscle To Grow Again

Have ever wondered why your muscles stopped growing after a few months of training even though you are training very hard? Here are 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing and how to get your muscle to grow again. 

• You are training too hard – Every time when you train your muscles intensely, you are actually breaking down your muscles. So your muscles need to recover from the damages you inflicted on them. So train each muscle group only once or at most twice a week. 

• You are training too long – Keep your workout intense but do not workout more than an hour each time. After 45 minutes of intensive training, your cortisol level will increase. This hormone is known to destroy muscle cells. 

• You are sleeping too little – You need to sleep more for good muscle growth. Your muscles grow when you sleep. So sleep more than 8 hours a day and watch those muscles growing fast. 

• You are abusing alcohol – Alcohol is known to break down muscle mass plus many other body destruction ability. 

• You do not change your workout routine – You must change your workout routine every 6-8 weeks. Your muscles adapt to your routine and stops growing. 

• You do not progressively overload your muscles – You must try to increase your reps or weight every time you next train a particular muscle group. Otherwise, there is no reason for your muscles to grow. 

• You do not eat sufficient protein – If you want to build bigger muscles, you must eat more protein. Protein is the building block for your muscles. It is recommended that you need 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight equivalent. If not enough protein is consumed with your normal diet, do supplement with protein shakes. 

There you are, the 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing even though you are training hard. There are many more methods on how to grow your muscles bigger but these 7 reasons and how to overcome them will be sufficient for an average bodybuilding beginner.

History of Anabolic Steroid

Surprising it may seem, but tracing the <b>history of anabolic steroid</b> will reveal that there was prevalence of its use among professional athletes in ancient Greece. In those times, athletes used natural steroidal substances in order to enhance androgenic and anabolic growth in the body.

As the <b>history of anabolic steroid</b> unfolds, one would find that in early 1930s, German scientists discovered the drug in modern pharmaceutical form - albeit accidentally. There was however no immediate interest to pursue research into the drug's utility.

After a hiatus of nearly 2 decades, the first serious scientific attention to anabolic steroid came upon in 1950s when methandrostenolone or Dianabol was approved by the FDA for use in US in 1958 after it was known to have had promising trials in other countries.

In spite of sporadic trial and use of <b>anabolic steroid</b> from 60s through 80s, doubts remained as to whether it had any real effect. In 1972 a study was done whereby no big difference could be noticed between those who received <b>anabolic steroid</b> injection and those who were given placebo.

Later in 1996, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) decided to examine the effect of the drug by injecting <b>testosterone enanthate</b> in high doses intramuscularly at the rate of 600 mg/week for 10 weeks. The results gave clear indication of increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat mass among those who took the test as against those who took placebo injections.

Meanwhile, the US Congress approved the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990, and accordingly the <b>anabolic steroids</b> are placed into Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

It is not known how the history of <b>anabolic steroid</b> will trace its route in future. For now, as recently as on January 20, 2005, the CSA has been further amended to make way for Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, vide which both <b>anabolic steroids</b> and prohormones are now controlled substances.

Increase Your Training Intensity - Partial Repetitions

You can only build muscle tissue if you can generate progressively stronger muscular contractions, so this calls for an emphasis on finding ways to increase exercise intensity. This should not be confused with exercise duration as maximum training intensity will actually shorten the time needed to achieve maximal muscular growth.

In an earlier article I outlined the ways in which you can intensify your training. Here we'll focus on the role that partial repetitions have to play in intensifying the training effect.

One of the biggest dangers confronting serious bodybuilders is the tendency to overtrain. Bodybuilders at the advanced level must resist the temptation to seek improvement by simply adding more exercises or extra workouts to an already demanding schedule.

One way to maintain progress yet avoid overtraining is to make constructive use of partial repetitions. This allows the introduction of additional intensity without adding significantly to the duration of training. To get the most out of partial repetitions you should follow these simple steps:

1. Use a much heavier weight than you would for the full range version of the same exercise.

2. Perform partial reps only from the halfway stage or mid-point of the exercise.

3. Use this method primarily on lagging body parts.

4. Perform only one exercise for one set per body part.

5. Use only as a supplement to full range movement exercises, not instead of.

How To Build Muscles With Body Building Diets

Are you trying to get buff this summer? Okay, first of all, let me inform you that this can indeed be a process.

Don't expect to hit the gym a few times and see some significant results. For some odd reason this always bothers me. People go to the gym for a mere week and expect to be ripped like Van Dam. That's just nonsense. However, with the right weight training program and the correct body building diets, you can see a great difference in a couple of months. You see, it's all about how hard you train and how well you eat. If you are one of those folks who consume fast food twice a day, you'd better get ready to make some drastic changes. This will sadly get you nowhere. In order to get stacked you'll need to start one of the many recommended body building diets. I'm talking about a lot of protein, vitamins and minerals, but hardly any fat, sugar, and salt. Remember, you truly are what you eat. Just take a gander at the American population.

Are you currently searching for decent body building diets? These are easy to come by in this super age of technology and cyberspace. I too was looking to gain muscle a few months back. Although I'm not looking to acquire a body builder physique by any means, I do prefer some decent muscle mass. My first thought when it came to body building diets and weight training regimes was to hop online. I knew that the World-Wide-Web would have much to offer. After about an hour of surfing and reading, I had come to the conclusion that Whey protein is the bomb right now. We're talking it's all the rage in the body building circuits. Therefore I decided to weigh the options at hand. Because when it comes to contemporary whey protein, there are many products to choose from. In the end I purchased a whey protein mix from Wal-Mart. Go figure! Anyway, this nuance to the modern-day body building diets is basically an all-natural source of high quality protein. You can get a whopping 26 grams of it with one 8 ounce glass of milk. That's a hefty dose of the muscle building stuff if you ask me. Do this three times a day in addition to your weight training and you should surely see results soon. Now, when it comes to body building diets, you can't disregard you regular three meals. Make sure you consume healthy meals containing all of your daily vitamins. The collaboration of health food and whey protein is a sure win. It's time to get pumped.