Post Workout Shakes and Supplementation

Post workout shakes and supplements are vital for getting the specific proteins and carbohydrates needed in order to get the maximum possible gains and speed up recovery. In order to get the equivalent from food you would have to be eating vast amounts which can be both difficult and much more expensive.

Having food as well also poses the problem of digestion. Digesting a shake will take a significantly less amount of time than a meal. There is no question whether shakes work or not, it is down to what powders you put in them, the quantities you take and when you take them.

Powders

Personally I use powders as they are easier to measure out the exact amounts to tailor to specific needs. There are many powders that claim to be the greatest advance in muscle-building and will cost you the earth. Below listed are the powders that I take and what each of them does. They are essential in order to build muscle and without them your gains will be slower and the inevitability is you will eventually plateau; in which you will gain no more muscle mass.

Whey Protein - A protein source used to aid recovery and repair muscle tissue. This is probably the most effective and necessary powder for building muscle mass. Its' effects can be improved with the inclusion of carbohydrate powder such as maltodextrin. It is very important to purchase un-denatured or cold processed whey protein. It is of vital importance to listen to this advice as otherwise the protein will be useless.

Maltodextrin - A form of carbohydrate that is used very quickly. It's converted to glucose and stored in the muscles to be used as fuel.

Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) - Proteins are made up of simple BCAA's. These then combine to create muscle tissue. Most can be manufactured within the body but there are a number known as essential amino acids that must be obtained from your diet. These are very effective for building muscle as they are the building blocks of muscle tissue itself. The BCAAs are valine, leucine and isoleucine.

L - Glutamine - It may not be a non-essential amino acid, however, it does become essential after intensive physical activity. It is therefore useful to pack your body with extra as it will aid and promote faster and better recovery of muscle tissue after a workout.

Creatine Monohydrate - Creatine occurs naturally within the human body and helps increase the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is broken down to release energy in order for the muscles to contract. It is what allows muscles to perform. In anaerobic exercise though there is only enough to produce maximal effort for a few seconds, hence why you must rest between lifting weights in order to perform again. Increasing the production of ATP then is extremely beneficial as you will be able to train harder for longer, making bigger gains in muscle size and strength. It also increases the rate of protein synthesis, the process of building muscle. Creatine also produces an effect known as water retention. This is when water is stored in the muscles. Ensure you drink eight glasses of water per day while on creatine.

Vitamin C - Helps with immune system support. Your immune system can be weaker after training so an inclusion of vitamin C with a shake can help insure that the chance of illness is kept to a minimum.

Electrolytes - Sodium, Potassium and magnesium are mineral nutrients that aid in muscle contraction, nerve impulse transmission and other biochemical processes. They are useful to have prior to a work out in order to make the workout as effective as it can be. To have the most effective training session each of these needs to be included in your shakes. Without them, the training session will suffer and the recovery. This will ensure your gains will be lower than they would if all are incorporated, meaning you will have to train and diet for longer in order to get the results that you want.

I would recommend consuming protein shakes no more than 15 minutes after a workout as this is when your body will be at its anabolic peak, up taking protein and any other nutrients it requires.


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Building Muscle - The Best Shoulders Workout

Shoulders are a smaller muscle group with 3 heads, so the best shoulders workout has to hit all 3 together and separately. To hit the front deltoids, side delts and rear delts with an eye to building muscle, this workout will include 4 sets each of 5 exercises, done as a superset followed by a triple set. It's important to use proper form and weights light enough to ensure you focus on your shoulders and involve your chest and arm muscles as little as possible.

This workout can be done in your local commercial gym or just as easily in your home gym. Start by setting up your bench so that your back is supported about 10 or 15 degrees short of vertical - you want to be leaning back just slightly. Place the bench just in front of your rack so the bar is easy to lift out when seated.

Start with a light warmup set or two of seated overhead press - use just the bar or load it lightly. Remember the idea is to avoid pre-exhausting the muscles but rather just to fill the area with blood and work the shoulders just enough to warm them up. Be sure to use a full range of motion so they get a mild stretch as well.

Step One: Shoulders Superset

This best shoulders workout starts with a superset of seated overhead presses and upright rows. If your shoulder mobility allows it, do your overhead presses behind your head, but if not then bring the bar down in front. The idea to using behind-the-neck presses is to avoid involving the chest in your lift, but it will still work nicely for your shoulders if you need to bring the bar down in front. Have your training partner or spotter stand just behind you to ensure you don't go too far back at the top of the lift and to help you re-rack the weight if necessary.

When you finish your set, immediately stand up and do a set of upright rows with that same weight. Only raise your arms until your elbows are level with your shoulders to avoid impinging your rotator cuff - your grip should be wide enough that your arms are bent at a 90-degree angle once your upper arms are parallel to your shoulders.

Most weightlifters will find they're stronger on the upright rows than the overhead press, so you'll find you can do a few more reps on those. Start your superset with a lighter weight that allows you to do 12 reps of the press and 15 reps of the rows, then over the 4 sets increase the weight slightly each set, ending with a final set of 8 presses and 12 rows. Be sure to maintain strict form throughout to avoid injury, and use a cadence of 1 second to lift and 3 seconds to lower the weight on both exercises. Limit your rest between sets to 30 to 45 seconds, then after your last set rest for 3 or 4 minutes before moving on to the triple set - remember to hydrate during the break!

Step Two: Shoulders Triple Set

Now that you've recovered from the two big compound shoulder exercises it's time to isolate the 3 heads and hit the rear, side and front delts individually with a shoulders triple set. Grab a pair of dumbbells you can handle easily and start with rear delt flyes. Lean forward about 15 degrees from the waist - if you're not sure how far to lean, look to your side in the mirror and see how far to lean forward to engage your rear delts when lifting your arms to shoulder height. Bend your elbow just slightly and then lock your arms in that position, raising them to the outside to shoulder height and then returning them back down in front of you. Don't worry about lifting the weights to shoulder height - your delts are only involved in moving your upper arms, so just focus on getting your elbows up to that height.

Immediately following your rear delt flyes, stand up almost straight, leaning forward just enough to allow the dumbbells to hang freely in front of your body. Keeping that slight bend in your elbows raise your arms to either side, again until your upper arm is in line with your shoulders. Lower them back down slowly and under control, then repeat until you've finished your reps for this set.

Again without taking a break, start into your front raises. Maintain the slight bend in your elbows and start with your palms facing your thighs, then raise the dumbbells out in front of you to shoulder height and back down again. You can do both arms at once or alternate one then the other based on your own preference. By this point in the triple set your energy will be flagging but don't let your form slip - avoid the temptation to lean back and swing the weights up, keeping to a controlled raise and descent.

Each cycle through the 3 exercises is one set, and after each set take about a 60-second break before starting the next set. Start with light dumbbells you can maintain strict form with for 12 reps of each exercise on the first set then increase the weight slightly each set, doing your 4 sets with 12, 10, 8 and 6 reps. Try to maintain a cadence of 1 second up, 1 second hold at the top, 3-4 seconds lowering the weight and no rest at the bottom of each rep for all 3 exercises.

By the end of the best shoulders workout you'll definitely feel the pump in all 3 heads and know that you've worked them fully. Avoid the tendency to speed up the reps so you can go heavier - remember that your goal is to build muscle so you want to maximize your volume, intensity and time-under-tension. Because the deltoids are relatively small muscles they heal fairly quickly with proper nutrition and rest, so this workout can be repeated two or three times per week on non-consecutive days. At first they may be a little sore the next day but that will fade as time goes on and as you grow your shoulder pumpkins you'll soon agree this is the best shoulders workout for building muscle!


D. Champigny is well known in the fitness world - he's a published fitness photographer, certified personal trainer, fitness author and publisher of the popular Getting Back In Shape Blog. For more help from Champigny, add him to your circles on Google+ today!

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Exercises and Workouts - 4 Points To Remember Before You Decide to Quit Your Workout

Tempted to toss in the towel on your workout program? Before you do give your program away, it can help for you to keep a few things in mind. It's perfectly normal and natural to have times of struggle, but the important thing is for you to learn how to deal with these difficult times in a healthy way.

Here are some quick tips to get and keep you going...

1. Every Bit Of Effort Helps. The first thing to think about is every little bit of effort you put in will help push you along in the right direction. Don't think just because you didn't do the full hour workout at the gym means you haven't made progress.

Even if you just did ten minutes of exercise, that's ten minutes more than you would have done if you had skipped your exercise workout altogether. Every bit counts. Don't ever underestimate that.

2. It Will Get Easier. Next, remember it will get easier. Sure, it may be a struggle when you first start out with your workout program. But that fight will not last for months on end. Eventually, you will reach a base level of fitness where it feels more than comfortable to carry out each exercise program.

Get past that initial hurdle. Typically this will last for around 21 days or so until new habits are built and you develop the foundational level of fitness.

Keep reminding yourself of this when you have those hard sessions, and you might just find it gets easier to keep pushing through.

3. Modifications Are Allowed. Also, remember changes are permitted. Feeling extra fatigued one day? Consider shortening your workout that day or add in some more relaxation focused yoga poses rather than your typical weight lifting exercises.

Modify the program as you go. It will take some of the stress away from the idea you have to do any particular activity. You don't.

4. Everyone Started Somewhere. Finally, remember everyone started out somewhere. If you feel it's pointless to try even because you have so far to go, don't stress. All you need to do is get going. Even the fittest people were once back where you are now, so keep your head up and continue to push forward. You will get there.

Keep these quick tips in mind as you begin your workout program, and you should find you stay more motivated and committed to your success.


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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Beverleigh_H_Piepers/123142

How to Build Massive Muscle Workout Program

Hello My Friend,

Do you know that "the best physiques were all built by hard work on the basic, heavy duty exercises?" There are NO exceptions to this statement. Even easy-gainers like John Grimek and Steve Reeves who could build up muscle very easily, would have never reached the Hercules sized muscles they built without maximum effort. John Grimek worked up to squats with 600 pounds, behind the neck presses with 300 pounds, and bench presses with 400 pounds and this was in the days before steroids, HGH and special lifting shirts and leg wraps!

Genetic advantages or not, John Grimek trained hard and heavy to earn the massive physique he acquired that let him become the only two time Mr. America. And so did every other person with steroid-free natural built massive muscle whose muscles aren't merely bloated, pumped-up tissue. WHAT these basic exercises are, and HOW HARD you must work on them for amazing results, is the "secret formula" you must apply to make a seemingly "simple exercise" into a "super exercise" when you perform it!

My Favorite Basic Exercises for MAXIMUM Muscle Growth

1. The Squat - Regular, parallel, heavy breathing style

2. Stiff-legged dead lift or bent-leg

3. Bench pressing - barbell or heavy dumbbells, Incline or flat bench style

4. Rowing - Bent over, barbell or dumbbells, one or two arm

5. Military Press - Seated or standing, barbell or heavy dumbbells

6. Power cleans barbell or dumbbell

My observation and experimentation has led me to believe that an exercise is productive in building "muscle mass" if it allows you to use very heavy weights -- brings into play the BIG muscle groups -- and creates lots of over-all body fatigue.

From this vantage point it's easy to see why most of the exercises followed by most weight lifters do not measure up to the standards required for building maximum muscle mass. Minnie-mouse exercises like Back-to-the-wall-concentration-curls, lateral raises, frontal leg extensions, triceps "kickback", lunges, cable cross-overs and other exercises of the like are a waste of time if your goal is to build Massive Muscles.

Save yourself time and possibly wasted years of effort. Do NOT bother with the little exercises if your goal is to reach your genetic potential for maximum muscle size and strength.

I, at times, get lots of flak from trainee's, "muscle-guru's" and want-to-be muscle builders when I write articles or give a seminar speaking the truth about sensible barbell training for building real muscle that lasts a life-time. The comments from meat heads, the "commercial-muscle-makers," the steroid-takers and others don't bother me one bit. I let them do their thing; my mission is to teach the truth to those who want to the real answers to building real muscle without all of the commercialism and hype.

Real muscles, like real men, are a rare find these days. Massive drug-free muscles can be attained, but the only way to do it is with HARD, PERSISTENT DEDICATED training and nutrition. Minnie-mouse exercises and way-to-restricted diets are NOT going to get you where you want to be. You need an honest approach with weight training and diet.

Here are a few reasons why basic exercises are the most result producing exercises.

Understand that the easiest way to build the small muscle groups (biceps, triceps, calves) is by exercising the big muscle groups! As an example, it's impossible to build a massive broad, powerful back, thick pectorals, wide muscular shoulders from doing heavy power cleans, over-head pressing, rowing and bench press work that I advocate, without building massive bicep and triceps size and strength. You couldn't do it if you wanted to! Forget about doing the silly pumping, primping, compound-set isolation exercises that others do and just train hard on the basic exercises! The big arms will come naturally.

Heavy high rep squatting will build thick, muscular calves. Sound impossible? Well, just try working your squats like I recommend, and you'll see your calves begin to grow uncontrollably no matter how they've refused to grow in the past.

Everybody wants muscular and trim abdominal muscles. You don't need a lot of abdominal work. Two or three sets of abdominal crunches (done in high reps, with resistance) is all you'll need to attain rock-hard abs. The hard heavy work on squatting, power cleans, presses, and rows will inevitably keep your mid-section strong and muscular. Another consideration for you to think about is this. A muscular, powerful waist is better and healthier for you than a "thin, pretty, but weak-waist."

Training with the big basic exercises will build a healthy body and lasting muscle size. These two factors are very important. In the days before steroids and crazy training routines, the bodybuilders kept their muscle size, strength and health as they aged into their 60's and 70's. How did they do this? They built REAL MUSCLE by doing hard work with heavy weights on the basic exercises. Today all the retired competitive bodybuilders and power lifters shrink up and you would never even know that they once lifted weights!

If you want health, strength AND big muscles that will stay with you for the rest of your life, you will only get them if you train HARD and HEAVY, eat HEALTHY and Hearty and stay away from drugs and other unhealthy habits!

Here's a sample program that you can follow. It will give you a very muscular physique if you work to your maximum limit on it.

Start with the back-squat. Warm up with one set of light weight for twenty reps in the given exercise. Then do two progressively heavier warm up sets, then load on weight until the bar bends, and do three sets of six to 10 reps each with this limit poundage. Push! Fight! Drive! The SQUAT is the NUMBER ONE exercise for building a HERCULES body!

End your workout with an abdominal exercise. Do any one that you happen to like. I prefer ab crunches on a flat bench, with a weight in my hands, but it's really just a personal preference, you can work your midsection with any "ab" exercise that you happen to like. Just do one to three sets, and run the reps at around twenty or thirty. Here's the routine written out:

· Warm-up - 1 x 20

. Squat - 3 x 6-10

· Stiff-leg dead-lift or bent-leg dead-lift - 3 x 6-10

· Bench press - 3 x 6-10

· Barbell row - 3 x 6-10

· Military press - 3 x 6-10

· Power cleans - 3 x 6-10

· Ab crunch on flat bench - 1-3 x 20-30

Do this routine - or a similar one, and your muscles will bust through your clothing after 12 to 20 months of training! The longer you train this way the thicker and more massive your muscles will grow!

The "secret" to building massive muscle size is MULTI-JOINT EXERCISES and HARD WORK. Remember this "secret" every time you lift weights and you'll build strength and muscle mass for the rest of your life.

My Motto is "Strength Demands Exercise and Healthy Demands Nutrition".


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Pre Workout Prep: What To Do For Best Results

Whether you're a morning or evening workout person, there are things you need to do in order to get the most out of your efforts. There are things you should not do, for that matter. Our bodies, no matter how much we'd like them to, will not perform their best if we don't properly prepare them for physical activity.

Have you ever been in the middle of a workout when all of a sudden, tunnel vision sets in and you've got to sit down before you pass out?

Or maybe you have trouble even getting started? Here are a few helpful tips to prime your body for peak performance.

Fuel the Right Way

Depending on what time of day you like to work out, fueling your body will be slightly different. If you're an early riser you'll be working on a bit of a deficit. Best thing to do, first and foremost, drink a glass of room temperature water. It will absorb into your body more quickly than cold water and you need to replenish what you've lost during your slumber.

Keep in mind that being properly hydrated is essential to athletic performance. Preparing for your gym session is a 24-hour cycle when it comes to hydration. Drink your daily recommended amount and then some to account for water lost during training.

Second, and this goes for both morning and afternoon gym goers, your pre-exercise meal should be composed of complex-carbs and protein.

Beware that fatty food before exercise can prevent much needed blood flow from reaching those hard working muscles. Opt for a protein shake blended with fruit or egg whites scrambled with your favorite veggies.

For those early risers, you may want to choose something higher in natural, fast absorbing sugars, like a banana, to account for the 8 or so hours you've gone without fuel.

Supplements

Look, it's difficult to get every nutrient we need just from our daily food intake. Most people are on constant calorie watch and what's more, ain't nobody got time for that! Do yourself a favor and fill out your diet with store-bought supplements.

Some of the most important to incorporate are:

• Magnesium

• Zinc

• Potassium

• Iron

• B-Vitamins

This list is of utmost importance in sports nutrition. For example, magnesium greatly influences your endurance levels. If you're low on this mineral, you can say bye-bye to any cardio plans you have and to your strength training goals.

Zinc and iron are huge contributors to muscle health. Being deficient in either of these impairs muscle function and limits overall working capacity. Zinc, especially, helps in muscle repair.

Taking a multi-vitamin daily will get you closer to meeting your body's needs - check out the liquid forms to maximize their absorption potential.

Warm-Up

There's a bit of debate on what type of warm-up is best pre-workout. Some believe that loosening the muscles too much prior to being active increases the risk of injury, and that very well may be so. A little light stretching would be just fine, but we'll leave that up to you. There are, however, other things you should definitely do.

First, you want to gradually increase your heart rate. A great way to do this would be walking or jogging, jumping jacks or 10-15 minutes on a stationary bike. You don't want to jump into the hard stuff too quickly - shocking your body isn't the goal here! Plus, building toward a higher level of difficulty loosens your joints and increases blood flow to your muscles, priming your body to be in fighting condition once the workout is in full swing.

Another great warmup tip is to perform body weight or low weight exercises specifically targeting the muscle groups you're focusing on that day. The cardio warmups are great for your cardiovascular system and necessary. But, performing exercises which isolate certain muscles will do wonders for muscle definition and performance. The added blood flow will ready your muscles for the more strenuous activities of the main workout.

No matter the advice you're provided, the most important thing is that you listen to your body. If you're feeling sluggish, maybe your pre-workout meal was too big or eaten to close to your workout. Or, if you're not seeing results your nutrition may be off or your warmup not well suited to your activities.

Whatever the case, trial and error is the name of the game. When figuring out what works for you, the best thing to do is to add or subtract only one thing at a time. This will make it easier to gauge what's working and what's not. Good luck!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Moataz_Elzieny/321206

3 Simple Tips For A Better Workout

When you work out very often, you quickly get stuck in your habits. You have a certain routine that you perform regularly, and after a while, that routine is much less effective because your body gets used to the exercises you do. That's the reason why I'm giving you some easy tips to improve your work out and make it more effective.

1. Combine your exercises.

Combining exercises is a good way to increase the intensity of your training. Combining is possible with the same muscle groups (several back exercises one after another) or different muscle groups. An example of the last point is to do a leg exercise (leg press/squat) with a back exercise (lat pulldown/pull-ups), whereby you'll change the exercise per set without taking a rest. These kind of exercises are also known by supersets (two exercises alternately) or giant sets (three or more exercises after each other). When you choose a combination of exercises for the same muscle group, you'll have as an extra effect taking hold of a muscle group in different ways in a short time. Without rest, it's possible to deplete all muscles and fiber out of that muscle group. When you choose to do different muscle groups after each other, you'll force your heart to pump blood from one muscle group to another. Pumping harder means a strong heart, and a strong heart means a better endurance. One to two hours of intensive strength training is as equally beneficial for your lungs and heart as four hours of jogging. The combining of exercises could save you a lot of time, and it also looks interesting.

2. Drop set.

Again, you don't take any rest between your strength training sets. Instead of doing this you finish a set, lower the weight by a few pounds and start with the next set. After that, do it again. With this, your muscles are continuously challenged, and you'll see results fast!

3. Circuit training

This looks like the first tip, but it's a bit different. Instead of alternating two exercises with each other, you'll now follow a circuit of all exercises to be performed. Try to take minimal rest between the exercises. When you've done all exercises, take some rest (two or three minutes) before you go on with the second round of all exercises.

Try it for yourself for a couple of days, and it will definitely improve your workouts!


For more tips for your exercises on bodybuilding and fitness visit http://www.moremusclemass.net. For more resources visit http://www.bodybuilding.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ben_Van_Delwijnen/1995224

5 Steps For An Effective Fat Loss Workout Program

If you want to lose weight, sooner or later you are going to need to start a fat loss workout program. This does not mean that you need to be spending hours in the gym everyday, but you should plan on exercising regularly. These 5 tips will help you to face your fat loss workout positively.

1. Begin Slowly.

You will need to start your fat loss training program slowly. If you make it too tough at the outset you may strain a muscle not able to exercise for a couple of days or even weeks. Your body will need time to get used to the extra exercise. Get started with a slow and gradual pace and then increase the intensity as you become comfortable with your new regime.

2. Weight Training.

An effective fat loss workout will need to include an element of resistance training, or weight training. Your body will create muscle when you workout with weights and because muscles help to burn calories and fat, the more muscle mass you have the better. If you are working out with weights 2 to 3 times a week you can reach your weight loss goal much faster. If you don't have access to weights, use cans or water bottles.

3. Cardiovascular Exercise.

Most fat loss training programs include some type of cardiovascular exercise. Any exercise that raises your heart rate and keeps it up can be considered cardio exercise like cycling, running, walking or swimming. In addition to increasing your heart rate, it also conditions your lungs, and burns fat. To get the maximum results from your cardio exercises, use interval training where you swap between higher intensity exercise with low intensity recovery periods.

4. Don't Want To Go To the Gym? No Problem!

There are many good ways to exercise at home to stay fit and healthy if you don't want to go to the gym. There are some great pieces of equipment that provide good ways to exercise at home that do not cost the earth to buy. Simple things like free weights, an exercise ball, resistance bands and a yoga mat are generally low cost and you can often pick up second hand exercise bikes, elliptical trainers and treadmills in your local classified ads or car-boot sales.

5. Be Regular And Be Patient.

Just doing one fat loss workout is not going suddenly make the excess weight drop off. Successful weight loss requires regular exercise and a healthy diet. You need to burn more calories that you consume and combining regular exercise with a healthy diet plan will give you weight loss success. But it will take time. Remember it took years to gain all that fat and it could take a year or more to lose it all. With determination, focus and motivation you will succeed.


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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jon_Allo/1079948

Nutritional Content for Workout Regimen

Utilizing time is essential for humans. A bad workout is simply not an option. Tough workout regimes are meticulously planned and intelligently implement. As a result, diet constitutes an integral portion of gym regime. In absence of a poor diet, the body experiences decremented energy levels. More so, without proper nutrients, exercise sets are difficult to complete.

As a result, it becomes all for naught. There are certain tips and techniques to adopt, enabling super-charged gym regimes. It will boost the energy levels, efficiency and time invested in gym exercises. Heading to the gym requires a cracking playlist, tank full of energy and sufficient rest. This ensures a fit and athletic body. Listed beneath are tips for a well-deserved body:

1. The workout regime

A typical workout day starts with the individual waking up. Following a tight exercise and diet schedule in conjunction with a gym plan ensures the desired results. The tips listed are ensured for a power workout:

2. Eating slow

According to a UK research, when bodybuilders and athletes ate slowly, it allowed faster fat burn during daytime while keeping insulin levels low. As an added advantage, the athletes had high energy levels, worked out more and burnt more fat as opposed to heavy-eating carbs athletes.

· Slow-digested carbs consists of whole grains

· Fast-digested carbs consists of bagels and white bread

The following list of carbs should be consumed prior to a gym workout:

· Oatmeal

· Fruit

· Sweet potatoes

· Wheat bread

· Buckwheat

3. Refrain from high-fat meals

According to American research report, consuming high-fat meals inhibits nitric oxide in blood veins for few hours. That's quite a wasted effort overall. Blood flow decreases after pumping muscles. Hence, refrain from eating high dosage of fats such as fast foods as well as packaged foods.

4. Green salad

An American research also came to a conclusion that eating green salad had the same effect on the blood vessels. Avoid eating a green salad two hours before the gym.

Prior to the Workout

Before heading to the gym, it's advised to have a rested and well-nourished body.

5. Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a replacement for grains, it's commonly found in pancakes and soba noodles. It is slow in digestion, but helps in burning fat. It helps in building up more creatine pre-workout in a human body.

6. Whey protein and creatine

According to an Australian research report, gym enthusiasts consumed a diet of creatine and protein for a 10-week period, before and after gym. This results in the following advantages:

· 87% increase in body mass

· 36% increase in bench-press

· 27% increase in squat strength

· 25% increase in deadlift

· 3% decrease in body-fat

7. Caffeine intake

According to various researches, an intake of caffeine increase burning of fat, endurance and decreases muscle pain. As a result, an individual can do more reps. As per a study conducted in University of Nebraska, subjects consuming caffeine performed an extra rep.

8. Arginine

As per a nutritional journal, subjects consuming arginine supplements over a period of 8-weeks increased their bench-press by 20-pounds more as opposed to those consuming placebo.

9. Cocoa-extract

As per a university of California study, scientists discovered that NO levels are boosted with cocoa consumption due to its ingredients. Taking a green salad with cocoa will increase reps.


Umar Asad is a an avid freelance writer having 5 years of experience in multitude of niches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Umar_Asad/2170110