I thought it was pretty cool that he wanted to interview me. And as you know I’m always willing to offer a helping hand, be it helping someone build their body, or in this case help build a better body and hopefully better grades in school as well

The exact e-mail that I received below…

======================
Hey Lee,

Thank you for your time.
Joe
======================

So I helped Joe out and did an interview with him for his school project and I posted it up below. I thought it would make for an interesting blog post because we covered some good solid fundamental bodybuilding information. You can check it out and then please post your feedback in the comments section.

1. How do you personally define Bodybuilding?

The term bodybuilding can have different meanings depending on the context it’s used. In its pure essence “Body Building” is simply following a diet and exercise routine to Build The Body.

Some more advanced people will refer to the sport of Bodybuilding. This is where competitors (i.e. bodybuilders) will train for a competition and get on stage to compete and see who has the best built body in terms of muscle mass, definition, symmetry, and proportion. I am competitive bodybuilder myself and have been competing regularly since 1995.

However, in my business I use the term “Total Fitness Bodybuilding” which basically means taking consistent action through diet and exercise to build your body and improve your overall fitness level. Most of my online followers and coaching students are NOT competitive bodybuilders, they just want to use weight training, cardio, and proper nutrition to improve their physiques and get in their best shape.

2. Why is it important for bodybuilders to have knowledge of muscle groups?

The primary exercise for building the body is weight training. And this involves isolating the major muscle groups of the body and performing specific exercises to work those individual muscle groups. Now you don’t have to have a degree in Kinesiology, but you do need to know what all the major muscle groups are and their primary functions.

The major muscle groups that bodybuilders will work in the gym are:
- Chest
- Back
- Shoulders
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Calves
- Abdominals
- Forearms

Very often bodybuilders will group complementary muscle groups together in the same workout.

So for example, a common bodybuilding workout is training the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps together in the same workout. These muscles are all primarily pushing muscles and when you do any kind of pressing exercise for the chest; the shoulders and triceps come into play as secondary muscle groups. So bodybuilders will often group them together in the same workout routine.

Another common group is grouping Back, Biceps, and Forearms together in the same workout as these are all pulling muscles and when you do any type of rowing or pulling movement for the back; the biceps and forearms come into play as secondary muscle groups.

And finally the muscles of the Legs and Abdominals are usually grouped together and trained in the same workout. When you do exercises for the legs the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and even the abdominals come into play.

One of the most popular 3-day bodybuilding split routines is:

Workout 1: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Workout 2: Back, Biceps, and Forearms
Workout 3: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Calves, and Abdominals

I’ve got a series of workout videos on YouTube that cover a complete
3 Day Basic Bodybuilding Workout Split Routine

3. By how much will the results of a builder who uses proper form and good tempo differ from those of a builder who rushes his circuit and has sloppy form?

The main thing when it comes to building muscle is placing stress and demand on the muscles so that they have to adapt and grow stronger. This is achieved with progressive overload, meaning that you have to constantly try to lift heavier and perform a greater workload in order to give the muscles a reason to grow bigger and stronger.

Now you can actually accomplish this by using sloppy form in the gym. Granted this is NOT what I recommend, but you will often see bodybuilders who are big, strong, and muscular using poor lifting form. The reason they are still growing is because the workouts they are doing are still providing stress and demands to the muscles and stimulating them to grow. However, the risk of injury is very high when you use poor lifting form. It’s easy to pull or tear a muscle, tendon, or ligament when using poor form and jerky movements. A much better and safer approach is to use good lifting form and maintain proper control of the weights at all times and not letting momentum takeover. This is what I strive to do myself in my own workouts and what I teach my coaching students as well.

Remaining injury free is critically important when it comes to making long-term bodybuilding gains. If you get hurt you can potentially be laid up and out of the gym for weeks or even months. And this will hinder your muscle gains a lot more then taking your time and lifting more conservatively and using proper exercise form while in the gym.

So in the long term using good form and staying injury free will allow you to make better overall gains and stay consistent with your bodybuilding workouts.

4.How does nutrition apply to bodybuilding?

Nutrition is a very critical aspect to any bodybuilding routine. You can be consistent with your workouts, but if you don’t fuel your body properly you will NOT get optimal results.

You can compare your body to an engine. For example, if you have a high performance sports car would you fill it up with low octane gas and cheap low-grade oil? Of course not, you would only use premium gas and high-grade oil in the car. And you should treat your body the same way, only fuel it with quality nutrition.

Feeding your body lots of lean protein, green veggies, complex carbs, and healthy fats will go a long way to improving your overall strength and energy levels. It will also speed up your recovery from training and aid with muscle growth.

Another way to look at it is lets say you had a million dollar race horse, would you go out and feed that race horse pizza, ice cream, and French fries and expect it to run at it’s best? Probably not, I mean with that kind of money on the line you’d do everything you can optimize it’s performance by feeding it properly, training it regularly, giving it adequate rest, recovery, etc. to make sure the horse is in perfect health. Your body needs that same kind of respect as well when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle to function at it’s best as well.

5. Is there positive progress made by a builder who’s awareness of nutrition is poor?

Even though nutrition is very important, you can still make some progress with sub-par nutrition.

I’m often asked: “What’s more important – Diet or Exercise?”

Now while both are very important, I would have to give a slight edge to Exercise. The reason is that everyone has to eat. But you don’t have to exercise. So just by being active and working out on a regular basis you will still reap some benefits. Just like a high performance sports car will still run on low octane gas. Now the car’s performance will suffer and the low grade fuel may cause some engine damage over the long term, but the car will still run non-the-less.

What I often suggest for new people just starting out is to focus on their exercise routine first. Once you get that down pat and you are consistent with working out. Then focus on improving your nutrition. Often times the momentum that’s created from following a proper exercise routine will help motivate you to improve your nutrition and eating habits as well so that you can get even better gains in the gym.

6. Why should bodybuilders take nutrition seriously?

Bodybuilders who want to maximize their muscle gains and lose excess bodyfat need to take their nutrition program seriously. The more advanced you get as a bodybuilder the more important nutrition becomes. At the high levels of bodybuilding competition, the show is often won by the bodybuilder who has been the most disciplined with sticking to their nutrition program.

7. How can conditioning (i.e Aerobic Exercise) improve bodybuilding?

The primary form of bodybuilding training is lifting weights to stimulate muscle growth. But a secondary form of bodybuilding training is cardiovascular conditioning through aerobic exercise and this is mainly to aid with fat loss. The ideal bodybuilding physique is having a big muscular build with a lack of bodyfat. So that’s why cardio is very important.

In addition to helping with fat loss, cardio training improves your work capacity, endurance, blood circulation, metabolism, etc. So what you’ll often find is that bodybuilders who are in better shape cardio wise will recover faster from their workouts and this in turn will help them build more muscle mass and stay leaner.

8. Which is more important, nutrition or conditioning; or are both equally important?

Like I mentioned before, both are very important, however I would have to give a slight edge to Exercise or Conditioning. The reason for this is that everyone has to eat. But not everyone has to exercise. And when you get consistent with the exercise portion of your routine, it’s only natural that you’ll want to improve the nutrition portion of your routine as well. After all, no one wants to waste their time in the gym and miss out on potential muscle gains simply because they are
following a poor nutrition program.

9.What leads some bodybuilders to the use of steroids?

When it comes to bodybuilding the natural progression usually goes like this:

You start going to the gym and lifting weights.

• Once you maximize the gains you get from just working out, then you start focusing on improving your nutrition program.
  
• Then once you maximize the gains you get from proper training and proper nutrition you start looking into sports supplements to help get an extra edge.
  
• Then after you maximize the gains you get from training, nutrition, and supplements you may push the boundaries and look into performance enhancing drugs such as steroids.

It’s usually only advanced bodybuilders who really want to push the limits on what’s possible resort to steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Now granted there will always be some ignorant beginners who think they can shortcut the whole process and just jump into taking drugs right away, but this rarely ever works. The foundation of proper training and nutrition is a must before supplements or even steroids can make any significant differences in your muscular
build.

10. If you could give any advice to future bodybuilders, what would it be?

My number one tip would be to take action and get started NOW. A lot of people procrastinate and put things off. You’ll often hear people say that they’ll start exercising when they have more time, etc. But the truth is you are always going to be busy and you will always have other things going on in your life. You just have to bite the bullet and DO IT NOW! Don’t wait to start.

To help with this, try to surround yourself with people who are in better shape and more advanced than you. When you are around successful people the positive influence will inspire you to improve. Having friends who are in great shape will help pull you up and motivate you to get in better shape just so you can stay on the same level as they are.

And finally, you need to view bodybuilding and fitness as a healthy lifestyle. This is not some quick fix that you are only going to do for the short term. You have to commit to lifelong fitness if you really want to achieve all the benefits that bodybuilding can provide.

11. What influenced you to become a bodybuilder?

I started working out at 12 years old. My father was always an active person. He used to jog, ride bicycle, lift weights, etc. That had a big positive influence in my life while growing up. Just like a lot of kids, I wanted to be like my dad

But the big thing that really sparked my love of muscle was when I first saw
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Conan The Barbarian Movies.

I didn’t even know what bodybuilding was at the time, but I was just blown away that someone could actually be that big and look like a real life comic book super hero. I was determined that I would someday look like that myself. That’s when I got bit by the bodybuilding bug. All during high school I was obsessed with working out. I also participated in martial arts at the same time, taking karate lessons for 5 years. Then in my senior year of high school I entered my first bodybuilding competition. The 1995 Newfoundland Provincial Bodybuilding Championships. Bodybuilding just seemed to click with me and I enjoyed it right from the start. I was always a shy kid growing up, but for some reason I felt very comfortable on stage competing in bodybuilding. From 1995 on I have competed pretty much every year in local and regional bodybuilding competitions. My most recent competition (as of this interview) was the 2011 NLABBA Championships that took place on November 19, 2011.

Lee Hayward: Age 19 in 1997

12. What challenges do you face as a bodybuilder?

For a lot of bodybuilders dealing with social settings can be a challenge. Whenever we get together with family and friends it’s usually over food and drink. So if you are trying to follow a clean eating bodybuilding diet plan you’ll often be tempted with junk food, alcohol, etc. And you have 2 choices, either give in and indulge. Or be looked on as a social outcast because you don’t want be like everyone else.

It is like peer pressure on a higher level. Because not only are you tempted by “BAD” things like drugs, cigarettes, booze, etc. but even simple things junk foods and stuff that average people don’t consider bad will hinder your progress and cause you to gain excess bodyfat.

So hands down the biggest challenge that a serious bodybuilder faces is sticking with a healthy muscle building nutrition program while also dealing with people and everyday life. And the hardest part is that it’s usually our closest friends and family members who are the ones trying to tempt us with the bad foods.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback about this interview;
please feel free to post them in the comments section below and we’ll discuss them there

Burger and fries, fish and chips, etc. French Fries are the staple side dish at the greasy spoon diner and fast food joints.

Now the way most places cook them they are deep fried, loaded with fat, and not very healthy. But I’ve got a nice tasty alternative to French Fries that are not only Low In Fat, but they are also Low In Carbs as well!

Just check out the video below for all the details…

Here’s the Low Carb / Low Fat French Fries cooking instructions…

This is a very simple low carb / low fat alternative to french fries and they taste delicious. All you need is some Turnip Sticks (aka: rutabaga).

Now if your local grocery store doesn’t sell these already cut up, you can use a whole turnip and cut them up yourself into chips or wedges.

1) Simply spray the a baking sheet with some PAM and spread the turnip fries out on the baking sheet. I like to cover the sheet with tin foil first to make clean up easier.

2) Add seasoning and spices to taste, and bake them for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. The actual cooking time will vary depending on how thick the fries are cut.

3) Turn the fries over after 10 minutes in order to evenly cook both sides.

That’s it, tasty low fat, low carb french fries!

To give you an idea of the nutritional difference:
- Potatoes have 5.5 grams of carbs per ounce.
- Turnips only have 1.8 grams of carbs per ounce.

So you are only getting 1/3 of the carbs compared to making home made fries with potatoes. And because we are baking them, not frying them they are virtually fat free. All you are getting is the trace amounts of fat from the PAM spray.

Give this recipe a try, I’m sure you’ll enjoy these as a nice side dish to go along with any meal.

The Bodybuilder’s Cookbook! And if you want a No-Brainer Bodybuilding Nutrition Program that you can follow that not only fuels your body with the Perfect Ratios of protein, carbs, and healthy fats… But also Tastes Delicious and is FUN and Enjoyable to eat then you need to check out: www.AnabolicCooking.net

My good friend and fellow bodybuilding competitor Dave “The Muscle Cook” Ruel is the author of the Internet’s Best Selling Bodybuilding Cookbook – Anabolic Cooking!

The entire system has been recently updated & revised for 2012. And the best part is that for this week only Dave is slashing the price and you can pick up the Brand New 2012 Edition of Anabolic Cooking at a HUGE 50% Discount off the regular price!

Anabolic Cooking will turn you into the “Super Cook” that you never thought you could be…

Whether your goal is to build lean muscle mass, lose stubborn bodyfat, stay fit, perform better or simply improve your overall health, this cookbook is a “Must-Have” in your kitchen!

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P.S.
This is by far the best bodybuilding cooking system that
I’ve seen to help you reach your muscle-building goals.
I’ve been using these recipies for over 2 years now.
You will learn every aspect of cooking & nutrition
for building a lean muscular physique!

www.AnabolicCooking.net <<--Download Your Copy

This “Secret” can mean the difference between struggling in the gym with nothing to show for your efforts. Or making consistent muscle gains week after week.

It’s what separates an OK bodybuilder from a GREAT bodybuilder.

And NO, I’m NOT talking about steroids or supplements…

The REAL Secret To Your Muscle-Building Success is the Food You Eat!

Hands down nutrition is one of the most critical aspects to any bodybuilding routine. Once you get to the point where you are going to the gym and working out regularly. The thing that’s going to make or break your success is your nutrition program.

You can be consistent with your workouts, but if you don’t fuel your body properly you will NOT get optimal results. It’s as simple as that.

Everyday I get e-mails and comments from my followers saying things like:

——————————
“Lee, I can’t gain any muscle. I’ve been working out for
a couple years. This is the routine I’m following:
Day 1 Chest, Day 2 Back, Day 3 Legs, Etc…
Can you help me? Please tell me what I’m doing wrong?”
——————————

In 99% of these cases the root cause of their lack of results is NOT from lack of effort in the gym, but from having a poor nutrition program.

Very often when I follow up with these guys and ask what their diet is like I’ll get an answer like this:

“I eat right…”
Or
“I eat a lot…”

What the heck does that mean?
Can you decipher how many calories, protein, carbs, fat, and micronutrients are in “Eating A Lot”? (I sure can’t…)

Most guys who struggle to make gains in the gym are just ‘winging it’ with their diets. The extent of their nutrition program is when their belly growls they eat something.

Your Body NEEDS Premium Fuel For Optimal Performance…

You can compare your body to an engine… For example, if you had a high performance sports car would you fill it up with low octane gas and cheap low-grade oil? Of course not. You would only use premium gas and high grade oil in the car or else it wouldn’t get optimal performance. You should treat your body the same way and only fuel it with quality nutrition.

Another example, lets say you had a million-dollar race horse. Would you go out and feed that race horse; pizza, ice cream, chips, cookies, and french fries and then expect it to run at it’s best?

Probably not…

I mean with that kind of money on the line you would do everything you possibly can to optimize it’s performance by feeding it properly.

Your body needs that same kind of respect as well when it comes to nutrition in order to function at it’s best.

So the take home message here is if you want to maximize your muscle gains and lose excess bodyfat you need to take your nutrition program seriously.

The Bodybuilder’s Cookbook! And if you want a No-Brainer Bodybuilding Nutrition Program that you can follow that not only fuels your body with the Perfect Ratios of protein, carbs, and healthy fats… But also Tastes Delicious and is FUN and Enjoyable to eat then you need to check out: www.AnabolicCooking.net

My good friend and fellow bodybuilding competitor Dave “The Muscle Cook” Ruel is the author of the Internet’s Best Selling Bodybuilding Cookbook – Anabolic Cooking!

The entire system has been recently updated & revised for 2012. And the best part is that for this week only Dave is slashing the price and you can pick up the Brand New 2012 Edition of Anabolic Cooking at a HUGE 50% Discount off the regular price!

Anabolic Cooking will turn you into the “Super Cook” that you never thought you could be…

Whether your goal is to build lean muscle mass, lose stubborn bodyfat, stay fit, perform better or simply improve your overall health, this cookbook is a “Must-Have” in your kitchen!

www.AnabolicCooking.net <<-- Click Here & Save 50% This Week Only!

P.S.
This is by far the best bodybuilding cooking system that
I’ve seen to help you reach your muscle-building goals.
I’ve been using these recipies for over 2 years now.
You will learn every aspect of cooking & nutrition
for building a lean muscular physique!

www.AnabolicCooking.net <<--Download Your Copy

Learn The “Short-Cut” To Quickly Building
A Ripped Muscular Physique… For-FREE!

If you are looking to get in your Best Shape Ever, then you’ve come to the right place. Let me be YOUR Muscle Building Coach who helps you build a stronger, leaner, more athletic physique!

Click PLAY To Watch The Video Below…

These are the same training tips and tricks that I used personally to transform my body
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Click Here To Download Your Copy Of The “Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit” for FREE…

 

---

The average Joe Blow doctor will tell you to cut back on your sodium intake and will talk down about sodium like it’s the root of all evil. They’ll tell you about how it will cause high blood pressure, heart problems, kidney problems, etc.

But 99% of the time the doctor is giving this advice to sedentary individuals. Not hard training athletes and bodybuilders. So if your workout routine consists of walking from the fridge to the sofa and the occasional jog to the toilet then keep listening to your doctor’s advice…

However, if you are here reading this article right now there is a good chance that you are NOT the typical sedentary couch potato. And if that’s the case the rules about low sodium intake do not apply!

In fact for hard training athletes too little sodium can cause more problems then consuming too much. Low sodium intake causes muscle cramps, dizziness, and electrolyte imbalances, which can cause neurological problems, or even be fatal (yes you read right!)

Drinking too much water, with insufficient sodium intake, puts a person at risk of water intoxication (hyponatremia) which can cause a seizure or coma.

What Is Sodium?

Sodium is a mineral element and an important part of the human body. It controls the volume of fluid in the body and helps maintain the acid-base level. About 40% of the body’s sodium is contained in bone, some is found within organs and cells and the remaining 55% is in blood plasma and other fluids outside cells. Sodium is important in proper nerve conduction, the passage of various nutrients into cells, and the maintenance of blood pressure.

The body continually regulates its handling of sodium. When a person eats too much or too little sodium, the intestines and kidneys respond to adjust concentrations to normal. During the course of a day, the intestines absorbs dietary sodium while the kidneys excrete a nearly equal amount of sodium into the urine.

The concentration of sodium in the blood depends on the total amount of sodium and water in arteries, veins, and capillaries (the circulatory system). The body regulates sodium and water in different ways, but uses both to help correct blood pressure when it is too high or too low.

If the body has too little sodium (called hyponatremia), the body can either increase sodium levels or decrease water in the body. Too high a concentration of sodium (hypernatremia), can be corrected either by decreasing sodium or by increasing water intake.

Sodium Intake For Bodybuilders & Athletes

If you are doing hard weight training and / or cardio workouts and sweating a lot. Then you need to replace the sodium you lose in order to maintain a healthy electrolyte balance in your body.

And if you are following a fat loss diet or cutting back on your carbohydrates, then you actually need to “Increase” your sodium intake. Carbohydrates will cause your body to retain water and sodium. Generally for every gram of carbs you eat your body will hold 3 grams of water. So if you switch to eating a lower carb diet you will lose a lot of extra water and sodium.

When I’m dieting for fat loss I purposely add salt to my food and even flavor my food with high sodium condiments like soy sauce. It will help you feel stronger and it will replace the sodium that you lose from sweating doing your weight training, cardio, etc.

In fact a lot of the negative aspects people experience from “low carb dieting” such as feeling weak, flat, low energy, etc. is not really due to the carbs at all. But from low sodium levels in the body. If you experience any of these symptoms, increasing your salt intake will generally make you feel A LOT better and more energetic.

I even go so far as to carry salt packets (just like you get at the fast food restaurants) in my gym bag. This way when ever I feel the effects of low sodium during my workouts. Such as muscle cramps, dizziness, etc. I’ll rip open a packet of salt and chase it down with some water and within 5 minutes I’m feeling much better.

Bottom Line…

For athletes and serious fitness enthusiasts you are more likely to need to increase your salt / sodium intake rather than reduce it. You need to replace what you lose from sweating in order to keep your electrolytes in balance and train hard in the gym.

Now I don’t actually break out the calculator and count my sodium intake, and I doubt that many other people do either. But I don’t shy away from consuming sodium. The best advice I can offer is to keep tabs on how you feel, your energy levels, etc. and if you do feel light headed, dizzy, or experience muscle cramps during your workouts. There’s a good chance that low sodium is causing it.

Guest Post By: Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic, PhD, RD, CSCS

Have you ever wondered why krill oil was brightly colored red instead of yellow like other marine omega-3 lipids? Well, this red shade is not only pretty to look at, but it can help you burn more fat and increase your athletic endurance – added benefits we’re all looking for.

This pigment responsible for giving krill oil its unique color is a special red carotenoid called astaxanthin. If that isn’t just a mouthful enough to say, it has also has been demonstrated to have a laundry list of pharmacological effects including as an antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory agent. But, what we’re going to focus on here is fat loss and endurance.

Sources of Astaxanthin…

Astaxanthin is a colorful antioxidant that occurs naturally in a few different foods – mainly of marine sources. It’s the primary reason some fish and seafood are colored red; the pink flesh of salmon is a perfect example. However, you have to be careful. Many farmed fish are given a synthetic version of astaxanthin in their diet, or their flesh is dyed with it before being sold in the market because astaxanthin is lacking in farmed fish feed. In the wild, salmon and other fish get astaxanthin naturally from the microalgae they eat. In fact, microalgae is the greatest naturally-occurring source of astaxanthin; shrimp, krill, and salmon are red from eating it.

Another place to get astaxanthin in human diets is from bright yellow egg yolks, but again, this usually comes from a synthetic form of astaxanthin fed to chickens. Organic chickens are fed natural compounds containing astaxanthin, so that’s your best bet. Most red, yellow, and orange fruits and vegetables are colored due to other natural carotenoids, like beta-carotene. The best way for humans to get astaxanthin naturally is to eat a diet of wild salmon, trout, seafood, and organic chicken eggs, and take supplements rich in astaxanthin, like krill oil.

Krill oil is made from a species of krill called Euphausia superba, a tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that are approximately 1 to 6 centimeters long. Three of the most important nutrients in krill oil are: (1) omega-3 fatty acids similar to those of fish oil, (2) omega-3 fatty acids attached (conjugated) to phospholipids, mainly phosphatidylcholine (alternatively referred to as marine lecithin) and (3) astaxanthin, an antioxidant. Krill oil comes from the Antarctic, or colder areas of our ocean, but it is now harvested for feed for fish farms. Commercial fishing of krill occurs primarily in the Southern Ocean and the northern Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Canada and Japan. A small percentage is harvested for human consumption. Whales eat them by the ton, and they also make up a part of the diet of humans, mainly the Japanese and Russians. Click Here for more info & to order Krill Oil Supplements online.

Fat Loss, Endurance and You…

A group of Japanese researchers recently demonstrated that mice given astaxanthin in several different doses, along with a high-fat diet, had significantly lower body weight and body fat levels compared to mice fed a high-fat diet of the same calorie level. Astaxanthin also reduced liver weight, liver triglyceride content, and blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels. What this means is that when added to a high-fat, high-calorie diet, astaxanthin prevented mice from becoming overweight with a fatty liver and high blood fat levels. The way astaxanthin did this was not by reducing the digestion of absorption of dietary fat, but instead by increasing the usage of fat as an energy source. This was supported by a decrease in the respiratory exchange ratio (RER), which indicates that fat was used for fuel, instead of carbohydrates.

In another Japanese study, mice were given astaxanthin along with a daily exercise routine (and if you’ve never seen mice run on a treadmill, you’re really missing out). They were divided into four groups: sedentary, sedentary plus with astaxanthin, running exercise, and exercise plus astaxanthin. After four weeks the animals in the exercise groups were placed on a treadmill to test a range of physical parameters. Similar to the study above, astaxanthin increased fat usage during exercise and accelerated the normal decrease in body fat that occurs with regular exercise. It did this by increasing the movement of fats into the mitochondria for energy production via enhanced carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I) activity (a transport protein for fat located on the cell membrane). What this means is that astaxanthin supplementation spared muscle glycogen (a normal fuel source for exercise) and used fat stores instead.

Finally, mice given astaxanthin in doses of either 1.2, 6, or 30 mg/kg body weight for 5 weeks, along with regular swimming exercise, were shown to have a significant increase in exercise time to exhaustion (meaning they swam longer) than mice given a placebo. Blood lactate levels (a marker of exercise fatigue) were lower in the animals given astaxanthin, while blood non-esterified fatty acid and glucose levels were higher (indicating that astaxanthin spared blood energy sources). Overall, astaxanthin improved swimming endurance when given for only a short period of time.

What Dose is Needed for Humans?

Many people criticize animal research as being irrelevant to humans, but that’s not entirely correct. True, we’re a different species, but our enzymes, muscle function, and metabolisms are scarily similar. Plus, there are only so many humans you can poke holes in before someone starts to get suspicious. But I digress…

The doses used in these animal studies can be converted to human doses. All of the studies above used the same astaxanthin doses. At the lowest level of 1.2 mg/kg for mice, this translates to a dose of 0.1 grams (100 mg) for humans. At the minimum, humans can still take a dose of 0.012 grams (12 mg) of astaxanthin from all dietary sources and see results over no astaxanthin at all, because research with humans have shown this dose to be effective for reducing blood triglyceride levels, and increasing healthy blood HDL cholesterol levels. Further, doses have been suggested to accumulate over time, since it is fat soluble, so lower doses would act as higher doses with longer durations of supplementation.

Astounding Astaxanthin…

Overall, based on current research, astaxanthin holds promise as a fat-burning, exercise-enhancing, health-improving dietary nutrient. Further research will confirm this. We’ve also covered the EASIEST AND SIMPLEST way to not miss out by using a quality Krill Oil chocked full of astaxanthin like EFA Icon. This, in addition to eating a diet rich in red-colored seafood like salmon and shrimp, may increase the tools to keep your body lean, fit, and free of disease. And, in this age of chronic diseases and foods full of high-calorie anti-nutrients, we need all the tools we can get.

Get The Shocking Truth About The FISH OIL You Are Taking Now! WARNING: Do NOT Take Any Fish Oil Until You Read This… Click Here For More Info…

Here we are at the start of a brand new year, and the gym is going to be packed with people who are all committed to whipping their lazy butts into shape in a hurry.

You’ll hear them say things like:
“I’m going to lose this flab and muscle up”
“I’m going to workout everyday”
“I’m going to cut out all the junk food”
“This year I’m going to get ripped & jacked!”

Now while I appreciate their enthusiasm and desire to get in shape, it’s generally short lived. And you can see literally see the same pattern with every new year…

–>> In January the gym will be packed full.

–>> By February a lot of the new members will start to drop off.

–>> When you get into March & April the gym will be back to the same old regulars.

Do you know the main reason why so many people quit working out?
…They start off doing Too Much, Too Soon!

More is NOT always better…

When starting any new workout routine you are better off pacing yourself, starting off conservative, and focus on building up your work capacity gradually overtime. By taking things at a manageable pace and making slow steady improvements with progressive overload you’ll be able to stick to your program over the long term and actually make some solid progress.

After all, it probably took you months (or years) to get “Out Of Shape”. So don’t try to reverse everything in a couple weeks.

Rather then trying to go about transforming your physique and starting a brand new workout & diet program on your own, why not take the “Short Cut” and learn from someone who has been there before and who has already done what you want to do?

By having an experienced bodybuilding coach in your corner, you can save yourself from making a lot of trial and error mistakes. A good coach can set you up with a realistic muscle building & fat loss program, one that’s designed for your current fitness level and your body type.

Very often when an inexperienced person tries to set up their own muscle building & fat loss program they’ll either do too much too soon, or sometimes they won’t do enough, and very often they’ll just end up making a lot of rookie mistakes (especially with their with diets) that slow their progress.

So if you are interested in starting 2012 on the right track and following a proven training and nutrition system that will help you pack on pure fat free muscle mass, then you’ll want to check out the 21-Day Fast Mass Building Program. This is the Most Advanced Cycle Diet & Training Program that I’ve ever created.

This program will show you exactly how to…

• Gain up to 5, 10 and even 15 lbs of LEAN MUSCLE (a.k.a. fat free mass) to shape & sculpt your body.
  
• The secret mechanism bodybuilders have been hiding from you for DECADES. It’s how they get learner and more muscular every single year. And this has absolutely nothing to do with drugs or supplements.
  
• How to “Bulk Up” and “Cut Down” at the SAME TIME without the unhealthy and unnecessary fat gain. This is the program you need if your goal is to muscle up while trimming off that excess holiday blubber.
  
• How to guarantee 2012 becomes your breakthrough year. Get ready to shock your friends and family when you take your shirt off and reveal your new ripped physique!

And these aren’t just some hyped up over inflated claims.

In fact during the past year, over 6,000 regular guys have already put the 21-Day Fast Mass Building Program to the test, boasting their fastest muscle gains ever!

And unlike most workout programs that you’ll see online, this one has individual customization already built into the program. There are specific workout programs that you can follow based on the type of body you’d like to build:

–>> The Fitness Model Physique Workout
–>> The Muscle Model Physique Workout
–>> The Hardcore Bodybuilder Physique Workout

In addition to that, the nutrition program is designed with specific Cycle Diet Eating Plans that are customized for your individual body type.

Ectomorph Cycle Diet:
(The naturally skinny body type that needs to gain muscular bodyweight).

Endomorph Cycle Diet:
(The naturally overweight body type that needs to lose bodyfat, while increasing muscle mass).

Mesomorph Cycle Diet:
(The middle of the road body type that needs to gain muscle, while avoiding excess fat gain).

Simply put:
If you are ready to take action and finally get the fastest and leanest muscular gains of your life…
Then this program is meant for YOU.

And the best part…
For this week only you can pick up your very own copy of the 21-Day Fast Mass Building program for A HUGE 50% DISCOUNT off the regular price.

Just click on the link below to check it out for yourself and make 2012 the year
that you get in YOUR BEST SHAPE EVER!

Click Here To Download Your Copy Now…

As I look back over the past year I’m very grateful. It’s been an amazing year for me, with many ups (and a few downs) but overall it has been a very productive year.

And I feel very fortunate to be able to share it with you. As you know, I love helping my online followers reach their bodybuilding & fitness goals, it is a HUGE part of my life. And I look forward to finding new ways to help serve you even in 2012.

So to help kick off your New Year on the right track I want to give you 2 FREE e-Reports that will show you how a simple cycle-diet “trick” can help you pack on as much as 12 pounds of rock solid fat-free muscle mass this January!

In these 2 e-Books, you’ll discover why you don’t need to buy into the nonsense bulk up diets that only pack on pounds of fat, instead of quality muscle. You’ll also learn a secret technique that competitive bodybuilders have been hiding for decades to getting bigger and leaner year in and year out…

Not only that, but you’ll also get the EXACT Meal Plan that my friend Vince Del Monte used to gain 7.4 lbs of muscle in just 3 weeks (while actually lowering his bodyfat percentage in the process!)

Don’t even think about starting a new muscle-building workout or nutrition plan in 2012 until you read this info! It’ll change the way you build muscle… Forever!

Imagine starting your new year with some new personal bests in the gym and gaining lean rock-solid muscle mass – while trimming off some of that “holiday belly” in the process!

If you are committed to making 2012 the year that you get in your Best Shape Ever,
then you owe it to yourself to read these 2 free reports ASAP.


I wish you all the best in 2012 & Happy New Year!

Download The Death Of Bulking <<--FREE Download

Download The Anabolic Amplifier Effect <<--FREE Download

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When is the best time to have a protein shake???

——————————————————————————————–

A lot of bodybuilders (myself included) consider protein supplements just like any other protein food. So rather than thinking: When should you have a protein shake? Think instead of… When should you consume a high protein meal?

The standard bodybuilding diet calls for a high protein meal every 2-3 hours during the day. So if you can consume a solid food high protein meal, great, by all means do that. But if you can’t, then this would be an ideal time to supplement with protein to make up for that high protein meal.

Breakfast…

From my experience of working with literally hundreds of people over the years with regards to nutrition, I can tell you that the most challenging time for most people to consume a high protein meal is with breakfast.

The average person tends to sleep in too late and then they are in a rush to get to work, school, or whatever and they very often skip breakfast all together or they’ll quickly woof down the typical high carb “breakfast foods” (i.e. cereal & milk, toast, bagel, muffin, etc.)

Let’s just say that this is NOT the ideal way to start your day. This stuff is just loading you up with a ton of sugar and starch with very little real nutritional value. High carb breakfast foods like this will spike your insulin levels, easily get stored as bodyfat, and they will also lead to the typical sugar crash a few hours later.

A much healthier and better option for building a lean muscular physique would be to start your day off with a protein shake and some slow digesting carbs such as a bowl of oatmeal. This is still a very quick meal that can be prepared in minutes and it will kick start your day with a good serving of muscle building protein.

Mid-Morning…

For the mid-morning break most people will either run to the vending machine, grab a candy bar, go for coffee and donuts, or some other high carb sugar fix. A better option would be to fill up on some protein instead. In cases like this when a quick convenient source of protein is needed, a protein bar can often work great.

Now I’ll admit protein bars are not “perfect” by any means, but they are a heck of a lot better then candy bars, chips, and donuts. So packing a couple protein bars in your briefcase or schoolbag can help bridge the gaps between meals and provide you a quick protein source.

Lunch…

When it comes to lunch, most people do “OK” with getting some protein. Most people who brown bag their own lunches will usually include some form of sandwich with meat on it (i.e. tuna, roast beef, chicken, etc.) While this is still a relatively small serving of protein, it’s better than nothing. But you could jack up your protein intake with lunch by including a protein shake mixed up in a shaker bottle and take it with you to work or school.

After Workouts…

Another critical time for consuming protein supplements is right after a hard weight training workout. This is when your muscles are depleted and could really use the fast digesting protein found in a protein shake to help aid with growth and recovery.

So taking a protein shake with you to the gym (often referred to as a “Post Workout Shake”) and having it after your workouts would be another fantastic time to consume protein supplements.

Dinner…

When it comes to dinner most folks tend to do pretty good here. In fact this would be the meal where the average person consumes the majority of their daily protein intake. When I ask guys what they eat for dinner the typical answer I’ll get is:

“What ever the wife cooks…”
Or:
“What ever mom cooks…”

But luckily, most of our wives and moms tend to cook up a solid “meat and potatoes” type of meal for dinner so generally your protein intake is covered for this one.

Before Bed…

After dinner / before bed is another time with most people tend to get slack with their protein intake. Again the average Joe is going to probably be kicking back on the couch watching TV… Or maybe he will be sitting at his computer reading an article on www.LeeHayward.com about protein… who knows

And when he gets the munchies he will often reach for typical high carb snack foods like chips, cookies, crackers, etc. Now again I don’t need to tell you that this is just an insulin spiking, fat storing nightmare, especially when eaten prior to going to bed.

A good alternative here would be to consume a high protein snack instead. Below are some of my favorite tasty high protein snacks to have in the evening before bed:

• 1 cup of plain yogurt mixed up with a scoop of protein powder. This mixes up like a creamy pudding.
• 1 cup of cottage cheese mixed with a scoop of protein powder. Kind of similar to the yogurt pudding, but you get the curds from the cottage cheese in there.
• High protein blender smoothie. Mix up 1 cup of pasteurized egg whites, 1 scoop of protein powder, add in frozen strawberries, blueberries, etc. and blend it up to make a nice high protein smoothie.

Ok, so now you know the best times to have a protein shake. In my next post I’m going to cover the different kinds of protein powders that are available and which ones are the best for building muscle, without breaking your bank account.

Stay Tuned For That…

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Note:

If you’d like for me to create a complete “Done For You Customized Diet & Workout Program” that you can follow, just click here to get more info about my customized programs and one on one personal coaching.

These programs are an easy to follow “No Brainer” way to pack on lean muscle mass and burn away stubborn bodyfat. I’ll take all the guess work out of your workouts, your nutrition, your supplements, etc. and tell you exactly what you need to do day in and day out in order to get in your best shape ever!

Again the link to sign up for your very own customized diet and training program is at:

http://leehayward.com/blog/customized-programs/

Everyday I get tons of questions from my followers about protein supplements such as…

- Should I have protein shakes?
- Are protein supplements safe?
- Are protein shakes necessary?
- Will protein damage my kidneys?
- Can I just eat high protein food?
- Is it ok for a teenager to take protein?
- When should I take protein?
- What’s the best kind of protein?
- Do I take protein before or after my workouts?
- Will protein stunt my growth?
- Should I mix protein with water or milk?
- Will protein shrink my dick / balls?
- Does protein powder contain steroids?
- And on, and on, and on…

Those are just a handful of the many frequently asked protein related questions that I get asked on a regular basis.

First off, for all the absurd questions; like if protein will stunt your growth, shrink your junk, or if it contains steroids… The answer is NO to all of the above. Those are just stupid BS myths that get spread around by people who don’t have a clue what their talking about.

As for the questions with regards to protein’s safety, I think most of these come from concerned, but mis-informed parents, who are just looking out for their kids. But the fact is that protein powders are just natural food supplements. For example, whey protein, egg protein, vegetable protein, etc. So protein powder is just as safe as eating the natural foods themselves. And using protein supplements is safe for everyone; men, women, and teens.

Another common myth is that protein is bad for your kidneys and again that’s totally false. There has never been a single study what so ever that has shown a high protein diet causes kidney damage. Only people who already have pre-existing kidney problems need to be concerned with keeping their protein in check, and that’s something that would be looked after by a doctor. But again high protein foods & protein supplements Do NOT cause kidney problems to begin with.

Alright, so now that we’ve got the safety issues covered and we know protein is “safe” to consume. Now we need to cover the “why” questions.

Why use protein supplements in the first place?
Why not just eat high protein foods?

Well, you could and you should. There is nothing wrong with eating high protein foods. The only problem comes in with cost and convince.

Most typical bodybuilding diets require that you consume 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily, spaced out over 6 meals. Now if you have the time to cook, prepare, and eat 6 high protein food meals per day go for it. This will certainly help meet your protein intake needs.

The problem for most people is that we have a life outside the kitchen. So we either work, go to school, etc. and it makes it difficult to get in 6 high protein food meals each day. This is where protein supplements can help big time. You can simply mix them up in a shaker bottle and take them with you where ever you go and have a liquid high protein meal on the run. It’s harder to this with high protein foods like meat, chicken, fish, eggs, etc.

Another issue to consider is the cost. While most people look at protein supplements and think they are “expensive”, they are actually cheaper when you look at the big picture. Sure a 5 pound tub of protein powder is about $50 bucks (depending on where you live and the brand you buy). But you are getting 1600+ grams of pure protein from that 5 pound container. If you were to buy that much protein from lean beef, you’d have to buy about 20 pounds, and even at just $5 per pound it would cost you twice as much money on a gram for gram basis as buying the same amount of protein from protein powder.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should give up solid food protein and just live on supplements. But by including supplements in your diet you can make consuming a high protein diet much easier, and cheaper as well.

Ok, so we’ve established the basics here about protein safety and why we should use it. In my next blog post I’m going to cover the best times that you should have a protein shake.

So you can click on the link below to go check that out right now at:

What Is The Best Time To Have A Protein Shake?

Now I’m sure you’ve seen numerous websites and fitness gurus all preaching their so called “Holiday Eating Tips”. It seems every fitness coach out there has the need to share some tips this time of year on how YOU can minimize the damage of over indulgence during the holidays.

(I’ll let you in on a little secret, even the “Fitness Gurus” are not going to follow their own advice. They are going to pig out and eat what ever they want over Christmas, despite all the tips they listed in their latest “healthy eating article”.)

Well, I’m not your “typical bodybuilding & fitness coach”…
But I’m still going to offer some Holiday / Christmas Eating Tips. However, my tips are going to be totally opposite of anything you’ll hear from any other fitness coach.

Just watch the video clip below to see EXACTLY how you should eat over Christmas

Note: if you can’t watch the embedded video here on this page, you can watch the video on my YouTube Chanel at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VLzx5BpdzU

I wish you all the best this holiday season…
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, (or whatever holiday you celebrate).
Just enjoy yourself and spend some quality time with your friends & family!

What’s The Most Anabolic Muscle Building Substance You Can Get Your Hands On?

…Is It A Black Market Steroid ?
Nope.

…Is It The Latest Bodybuilding Supplement Stack ?
Negative.

…Is It Some Exotic Herb From The Amazon Jungle ?
Heck No!

The most anabolic substance known to man is “food”.

I’m dead serious about this. All the training, drugs, and supplements in the world won’t build an ounce of muscle mass without proper nutrition and adequate food intake. In fact when you get right down to it, the food you eat is the only real “Anabolic Component” of your entire muscle-building regimen.

Going to the gym and working out is NOT anabolic. The workout itself is actually catabolic and breaks down muscle tissue. Now granted it’s the stress of working out that triggers the adaptation response within the muscles so that they get the signal to become bigger and stronger. But it’s the food you eat that actually goes towards building muscle tissue.

So the question is how do we maximize the muscle building power of food in order to get big and ripped? Well the key is to understand exactly how your body reacts hormonally to changes in your food intake.

Yo-Yo Dieting… Chances are you have probably heard the words “Yo-Yo Dieting” brought up in conversation among dieters and weight loss experts before. Basically Yo-Yo Dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a term that was coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., at Yale University, in reference to the cyclical up-down motion of a yo-yo. In this process, the dieter is initially successful in the pursuit of weight loss but is unsuccessful in maintaining the weight loss long-term and begins to gain the weight back. The dieter then seeks to lose the regained weight, and the cycle begins again.

Ok, so to translate that into English it basically means that a fat person goes on a diet and they lose some weight. But after a while they get fed up with being on a low calorie diet and feeling hungry all the time. So they ditch the diet, pig out, and gain the weight back again.

Now most mainstream diet and weight loss gurus talk about Yo-Yo Dieting as a “bad” thing that should be avoided. But when you actually take a deeper look into the topic, you’ll see that it’s not as bad as the weight loss gurus have made it out to be.

You’ll hear all kinds of myths and misconceptions about Yo-Yo Dieting… People say stuff like… “it will ruin your metabolism”, “make you get fatter”, “make it harder to lose weight again in the future” and the list goes on and on.

But when you do your homework you’ll see that the research doesn’t back up these myths. In fact studies have shown that repeatedly cycling your caloric intake actually increases your food efficiency and doesn’t “ruin your metabolism”.

And while it’s true that most people will re-gain weight when they come off a diet. What is NOT taken into consideration is the actual body composition of that re-gained weight. There have been several studies that show a lot of the weight that’s re-gained after a low calorie diet is actually lean muscle mass and NOT just excess bodyfat.

Yo-Yo Dieting For Muscle Growth!

Competitive bodybuilders will regularly go through phases of “Yo-Yo Dieting” for the purpose of gaining lean muscle mass. They will follow an ultra strict diet before a competition in effort to lose weight and get ripped to the bone shredded. Then right after the competition is over they will purposely change their diets and gain back the weight they lost, along with several pounds of additional new muscle mass. The end result is they get bigger and more muscular with every single competition they do!

A prime example of this happens right after a bodybuilding contest when bodybuilders experience their post contest “Rebound”.  It’s during this short window of opportunity bodybuilders will literally make the most insane rapid muscle gains ever! If you’re not familiar with how the Post Contest Rebound works, then let me explain it for you… Bodybuilders will go on a very strict fat loss diet for at least 12 weeks prior to a bodybuilding contest. This is so they can strip away all their excess bodyfat and get as ripped to the bone shredded as possible. Their goal is to step on stage with NO Excess Bodyfat What So Ever! This is necessary in order to bring out all their rock hard muscle definition. However, once the contest is over the celebration begins. Can you imagine how good it must be for all those “starving bodybuilders” who have deprived themselves of their favourite foods for weeks on end to all of a sudden be allowed to eat them again?! Let’s just say that the typical foods most bodybuilders eat after a show are NOT the most “healthy”…

Pizza, burgers, fries, ice cream, cake, cookies, and chocolate bars are just some of the many things that will get devoured in ridiculous amounts… If they actually added up all the calories consumed it would be scary!

Now in most “normal people”, eating this much food would just be stored as ugly unwanted bodyfat. But when your body is depleted (as in the case of a pre-contest bodybuilder) this Over abundance of calories triggers the body to unleash HUGE amounts of Natural Anabolic Hormones that shuttle all this food towards building solid Lean Muscle Mass!

Note:
I’m am NOT suggesting that you purposely go out and eat “junk food” in effort to gain size. I’m just telling you what the majority of competitive bodybuilders will do when they “pig out” after months of strict dieting.

It’s actually quite common for bodybuilders to gain 20+ pounds of muscular bodyweight during the first week after a show!

Now obviously a lot of that rapid weight gain will be water and muscle glycogen being stored within the muscle cells. But about 5-10 pounds of it will be actual solid lean muscle mass.

Can you imagine the incredible muscle building results that you could make by going through this kind of rebound cycle again and again?

Considering the fact that the average gym member is lucky to even gain 5 pounds of muscle per year. You can now see why competitive bodybuilders are among the BIGGEST & Most Muscular guys in the gym, especially since they are literally packing on 5-10 pounds of permanent muscle mass with every pre-contest diet & post-contest rebound!

When following a strict bodybuilding contest diet you’ll lose a lot of bodyfat, as well as some lean muscle mass in the process. But once you start the post contest rebound the majority of the weight gained is lean muscle mass with only small increases in bodyfat.

All Good Things Must Come To An End… (Or Maybe Not ?)

As impressive as these results are for both competitive bodybuilders the key thing to realize is that these fast muscle gains are only temporary. Fast muscle gains come in spurts, it’s NOT a non-stop process.

When competitive bodybuilders are “pigging out” after a bodybuilding contest. They generally make incredible muscle gains for about 2 weeks before things start to slow down and plateau. After that if they continue eating excessive amounts of calories beyond the 2 week mark those extra calories will get stored as bodyfat, and NOT as lean muscle mass.

This is the biggest draw back to traditional Bodybuilding “Bulking” Programs. Guys will often go on a prolonged high calorie eating plan for 12 weeks at a time. Now granted they will make some fast muscle gains initially when starting the program, but they quickly get to the point where the gains in bodyfat are greater than the gains in lean muscle mass.

So do you want to know the “secret” strategy to avoiding these problems?

It’s simple… Implement Shorter and More Frequent Training & Nutrition Cycles!

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back…

Now if you’ve done any reading on the topic of fat loss, than I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of cycling your calories. I’ve talked about it here with regards to “Yo-Yo Dieting”. But the common strategy that most weight loss diet experts recommend these days is to temporarily increase calories to prevent the metabolism from slowing down and hitting a fat loss plateau.

What researchers have found is that whenever you start a low calorie diet you can make rapid fat loss progress for the first few weeks. But after that the body adjusts to the low calorie diet, the fat loss results comes to a screeching halt.

So to overcome this problem people have incorporated different kinds of calorie cycling variations. Having a “cheat day” or “high calorie re-feed days” planned into the fat loss program helps to prevent your metabolism from adapting to the low calorie diet, and it actually speeds up your overall fat loss results.

Not only that, but having a planned “Cheat Day” gives you a mental break as well. Temporarily going off your diet satisfies your food cravings and makes the process of following the fat loss program much more tolerable over the long term.

Now there have been tons of research articles published about this calorie cycling concept from fat loss point of view. After all we live in an overweight society where the average person wants to lose weight. But this same principle also applies in reverse to muscle building as well. It just hasn’t been documented as much because building muscle isn’t nearly as popular as losing fat.

So like I’ve already mentioned whenever you drastically increase your calorie intake over base levels your body will release higher amounts of anabolic hormones to shuttle those extra calories towards lean muscle growth.

This elevated anabolic response continues for about 2 weeks. After that, the body adapts to the higher calorie intake and your muscle growth progress hits a plateau. This is when you need to temporarily back off on your food intake and “Re-Prime” your body for another rapid growth “Rebound” phase.

Cycling your calories like this not only helps you make better lean muscle gains, but it also gives your digestive system a break from consuming excessive amounts of food all the time. A lot of people don’t realize this, but following a high calorie mass building eating plan is down right hard!

While it sounds fun initially to be able to eat a lot, it quickly becomes a chore. Having to regularly consume over and above your maintenance calorie intake day after day is very difficult. If you have ever followed a typical bulk up eating plan for any length of time you know exactly what I’m talking about here.

Just like when you are following a fat loss diet and you look forward to a cheat day when you can “pig out”. During a mass building phase you actually look forward to low calorie days when you don’t have to eat so much.

The 21-Day Fast Mass Building System is based on those exact nutritional cycling principles. The program is divided into 2 phases that complement one another, and keeps your body on the “Anabolic Edge” for maximum muscle growth.

The first phase of the program is a 1-week low calorie “Primer Phase”. This will give your digestive system a break, increase your insulin sensitivity, and elevate hormones and enzymes so that your body becomes very efficient at storing the food you eat as lean muscle.

Then once your body is primed for growth, we’ll switch gears and move into the 2-week high calorie “Overload Phase”. This will open up the floodgates for natural anabolic hormone production (IGF-1, Testosterone, and Insulin). It’s during this phase where you’ll literally be able to feel your body growing bigger and stronger by the day!

In addition to cycling your nutritional program, we’re also going to cycle your training routine. You see a HUGE mistake that bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts often make is not matching their workouts so that they complement their diets.

Obviously, when you are following the low calorie “Primer Phase” you are not going to have the same level of strength, muscle fullness, and power as you will when following the high calorie “Overload Phase”.

So to go along with the “Primer Phase” we’re going to follow a fast paced conditioning circuit routine that utilizes higher reps and more bodyweight exercises. This lighter training phase will give your joints and tendons a break, and prep your body for the heavy mass building power-training phase that’s to follow.

With the 21-Day Fast Mass Building System the scales are tipped in favour of lean muscle growth, because you’ll spend the majority of your time in a caloric surplus. While at the same time following a heavy mass building power-building workout program, thus allowing you to grow bigger and stronger!

But you will not experience the metabolic pitfalls that are associated with traditional long term bulking and heavy mass building workouts, because we’ll be strategically “Re-Priming” your body with a brief period of lower calories and lighter training every 3^rd week.

This short low calorie “Primer Phase” will also allow you to trim off any excess bodyfat that you may gain during the high calorie “Overload Phase”. This is a nice little side benefit of the program that ensures you make LEAN muscle gains over the long term.

With this system you’ll work WITH your body’s natural growth processes and NOT against them. You’ll literally take 2 steps forwards and 1 step back with every 21-Day Fast Mass Building Cycle. And you can follow this program for as many cycles as you like until you reach your desired level of muscular development!

If you’d like to give this hardcore mass building diet and training cycle a try for yourself, just click on the link below, check out the website, and download your copy of the 21-Day Fast Mass Building System

www.21DayFastMass.com

Note:
If you missed that one you can watch the video right on my YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Today I’m going to do a full 180 and share 5 Killer Mass Building Tips!

Just “Right Click” on the e-Book above to download your copy.
(Note: this is a FREE e-Book Download.)

These 5 Mass Building Tips are curtsey of IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Ben Pakulski.
I had the opportunity to meet Ben at this year’s Arnold Classic. The thing I really like about him (besides the fact that he’s a fellow Canadian) is that he isn’t one of those “Meat-Head” bodybuilders who is always going Balls To The Wall – Go Heavy OR Go Home.

Ben Pakulski and Lee Hayward @ The 2011 Arnold Classic.

You won’t see Ben just slap the plates on the bar while grunting, swinging, and cheating the weights up. Each and every exercise he does if very methodical and well thought out. He is a “Thinking Man’s Bodybuilder” and I like that!

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because right now is that Ben is releasing his brand new muscle building program: MI40 – How To Build Twice The Muscle In Half The Time!

It’s a unique training system that’s based on a 40 day program, 40 minute workouts, performing 40 second sets, and taking 40 second rest periods. The number 40 is the MOST optimal number for the most critical muscle-growth variables and for the very first time Ben Pakulski has organized this into a complete structured and progressive muscle building system.

The principles of the program are outlined in more detail in the FREE e-Report Download above. So I would recommend that you read it over and see if it sounds like something you’d be interested in trying out for yourself. Then if you’d like to pick up your very own copy of Ben’s New MI40 Training System, just click on the link below for all the details:

Check it out for yourself now at: www.MI40MASS.com

Last night during my LIVE Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show several of the participants asked me if I would be having a “Black Friday Sale” on my bodybuilding & fitness programs. And quite honestly I wasn’t planning on doing anything special, simply because I have been so busy with preparing and coaching people for our recent bodybuilding competition this past weekend. That I never really had time to organize anything.

But the folks who were on the LIVE Chat persisted and suggested certain programs that they would like to order if I would mark them down for a “Black Friday Muscle Sale!”

Bottom Line, they twisted my arm and here is a quick last minute discount of some of my more popular Muscle Building & Fat Loss programs.

I’m going to keep these programs on sale until Mid-Night Sunday Nov. 27 to be totally fair to everyone and give you a chance to pick up some good deals…
Enjoy The Savings!

Blast Your Biceps:3 Phase Mass Building Arm Specialization Training System. This program will help you to not only build bigger more muscular arms, but also get bigger and stronger all over in record time. Regular Price: $39.95 Black Friday Price: $19.95 (HUGE 50% Discount!)

Blast Your Bench:Hardcore Bench Press Specialization Training System that will help you build a thick muscular chest while adding as much as 51 pounds to your max bench press! This program also includes extra bonus routines: “Blast Your Squat”, “Blast Your Deadlift”, and “Blast Your Bench For REPS”. Regular Price: $47 Black Friday Price: $27 (HUGE $20 Discount!)

21-Day Fast Mass Building:Discover How You Can Use The Anabolic Amplifier Effect To Gain As Much As 5… 10… 15… & Even 20 Pounds Of PURE Muscular Bodyweight In Just 21 Days With The Fastest & Easiest Cycling Program Ever Created! And the best part is that you can repeat this 21-Day Cycle program as often as you need in order to reach your muscle building goals! Regular Price: $97 Black Friday Price: $39.95 (HUGE 60% Discount!)

Progressive Pull Up Program:“How To Master The Pull Up & Build A Massive Muscular Back!” If you struggle with performing pull ups and chin ups then you need this program NOW! Because Lee Hayward is going to take you through a complete graduated pull up video training system. Regular Price: $19.95 Black Friday Price: $9.95 (HUGE 50% Discount!)

Extreme Fat Loss Program:“How To Get Ripped To The Bone Shredded In Record Time.” Are you confused with fat loss nutrition? Have you ever wondered what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, what foods are good, what foods should you avoid, etc…? Well I’m going to put an end to your fat loss confusion right here and right now with a simple easy to follow meal-by-meal Extreme Fat Loss program. Regular Price: $29.95 Black Friday Price: $19.95 (HUGE 30% Discount!)

Vince Gironda – The Legend & Myth

He was known as the Iron Guru and a lot of today’s effective training methods have developed from the basis of what Vince was teaching his muscle building students over 60 years ago!

In fact, Vince even coached the great Arnold Swarchenegger back when he first came to America in the 1960′s. Vince’s teachings helps mold the physique for the world’s most famous bodybuilder ever!

The knowledge, depth, and complexity of Vince Gironda can be seen in all his works. Vince’s Gym in Studio City California was the first Mecca of bodybuilding. Established back in the 1940’s. There have been more bodybuilding champs and movie stars trained under Vince Gironda’s watchful eye than any other gym in the world.

Vince’s Gym in Studio City, California.

Unfortunately, Vince passed away in 1997 just shy of his 80th birthday. To say he was ahead of his time is an understatement. His love and passion for exercise and nutrition was overwhelming. But thankfully you can still get access to all of his unique and effective bodybuilding tips, tricks, and methods in the book “Vince Gironda – Legend & Myth” which is available at: www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

Click Here for more info…

In fact this is the book that I’m currently reading and I’ve literally been face and eyes into it, I just can’t put it down because I’ve been enjoying it so much!

And this blog post is going to basically be a quick summary of some of the insights that I’ve picked up so far from reading this 334 page piece of bodybuilding history!

First off, I must tell you that this book is NOT just another “workout program”…
Let’s face it, they can get pretty boring… But rather this is like an education to the way bodybuilding was back in Golden Era of bodybuilding… The “Pumping Iron” Days… And how the champs of yesterday trained and ate to build their classic physiques!

The Classic “Old-School” Bodybuilder Physiques!

His secret was in the combination of proper exercises, strict diet, and the strict adherence to exercise form. He used to say that the more you know about training, the less complicated the equipment you need. And the more you know about nutrition, the faster your results will be.

Now while Vince had some very unique methods with training and nutrition, he knew there were exceptions to everything and said that:

“Rules are made to be challenged, questioned, changed or completely broken.
There is no absolute right way, or wrong way, to workout.”

He expressed what he felt and showed things his way, but he was also open to alternatives for anything that didn’t work well for a particular individual.

Vince was the first guy to advocate that your bodybuilding success is 80% nutrition.
Now whether or not you actually agree with the number, you can’t argue with the fact that what you eat, when you eat it, and what supplements you take and when you take them is much more important than most bodybuilders could possibly imagine.

Vince had some very unorthodox eating strategies that he followed and taught to his students;

Do NOT combine carbohydrates with protein in the same meal:
Proper protein digestion requires a higher level of an acidic base in the stomach. Where as proper starchy carbohydrate digestion requires an alkaline medium. If you consume both together you’ll only get partial digestion and the residue will result in severe discomfort, gas, bloating, heartburn, and hyperacidity… Not to mention the dreaded bodybuilder farts LOL…
This is covered in much more detail on Page 54 of the Vince Gironda Program.

Vince was often asked about gaining weight and he would reply with a question of his own:

“Do you want increased body weight, or is it an increase in muscle size you are after?”

Of course the response would usually be “size”.

Vince claimed that muscle size is desirable, but not simply adding body weight, which will only smooth out your definition and increase the size of your waist and hips while causing a loss of symmetry.

The Steak and Eggs Diet:
Vince believed this was the best way to build quality muscle mass while stripping away excess fat from the body. He reported personally achieving his all time best shape of his life by following this diet… The specifics of his exact diet plan are outlined on Page 16 of the book.

Now of course in some cases guys actually did need to “Gain Weight” to fill out their frames. Especially guys with a naturally lean and slim ectomorph body type. In these situations Vince would often recommend the…

The European Weight Gaining Trick:
Vince claimed this special mix was a proven and tested way to gain weight and he stated that he had students of his who gained as much as 40 pounds by having this simple “in between meal” drink… Details on Page 58.

And speaking of different body types. Vince had a unique, but very realistic view on the subject of genetics and muscle building. He used to say that:

“Champions are born, NOT made.”

Now I realize that comment is going to ruffle some feathers, but if you really look at it from a big picture you’ll see that it’s actually very true.

Most people who take up bodybuilding could no more be a Mr. Olympia than they could be a professional basketball player, which requires another type of genetic extreme altogether. But does this mean all your training is hopeless???

Not at all, for the truth is: You can probably develop a body that appeals to more people and is more esthetically pleasing than that of most professional bodybuilders of today…

Don’t Do Sit Ups!
Another thing that really stood out was Vince’s stance on abdominal training…
He advocated minimal abdominal work. Vince did NOT do endless sets of ab work like a lot of people do. In his mind excessive ab training thickened the waist and actually slowed your gains. He believed in training the abs just like any other muscle group and to get a ripped 6 pack you focused on your diet and doing faster more intense training sessions.

Some other unique training theories that Vince Gironda had…

To increase a muscle’s size you must increase the intensity of work done within a given period of time. This means minimum rest between sets and pushing yourself hard during your workouts. A prime example of this principle can be seen when you compare sprinters and marathon runners. Even though the marathon runner is doing a greater volume of work, the sprinter is doing more work per unit of time thus builds more muscle.

Training To Failure VS. 60% – 80%…
Vince recommended training with weights that are in the range of 60% to 80% of your maximum for sets of 8 reps. He advocated shortening up the rest periods between sets before increasing the weights to get more concentrated work volume done per unit of time. In his opinion speeding up your workout is your best form of progressive resistance.

Vince Hated Doing Squats…
Another thing that really got my attention was that Vince absolutely hated doing regular back squats the way most bodybuilders and powerlifters do them. He believed that they over developed the hips and glutes and ruined your symmetry. And I can see his point of view on this. However, he was a huge fan of doing unique front squat variations and “sissy squats” to develop well balanced and proportional legs…

This is pretty deep stuff isn’t it?
And it’s just the tip of the ice burg… The book “Vince Gironda – Legend & Myth”
is jam packed with 334 pages of absolutely inspirational and fascinating info for any bodybuilding fan.

It’s one of those books that you can just get lost in…
Once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down, it’s that good!

And right now you can pick up a copy of this for yourself for a huge 50% discount over at:

www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

Click Here To Get Your Copy Now…

But this time around I’m in the middle of a strict low carb pre-contest diet and I’m only 6 weeks out from my next bodybuilding competition. So I didn’t want to blow my diet by eating cake and junk food. However, my girlfriend Trish surprised me with a healthy, low carb, high protein alternative…

High Protein Birthday Cake & Ice Cream!

These tasty treats actually fit in perfectly with a low carb eating plan. You see the “ice cream” is really a high protein smoothie that’s just blended up extra thick so you can eat it with a spoon. And the “cake” is a high protein brownie recipe.

There’s no added sugar, starch, etc. in either of these high protein treats so you can enjoy them guilt free, even when following a strict fat loss diet.

I have 2 YouTube videos showing exactly how you can make these delicious healthy recipes posted below:

So give’em a try and then leave me a comment below letting me know how you like them…

And if you’d like to get more healthy and delicious muscle building and fat burning recipes be sure to pick up a copy of the Anabolic Cooking Cookbook. This is THE Bodybuilder’s Cookbook with over 200 killer recipes that are healthy, high in protein, delicious, and easy to make at the same time. Again, just click on the link below to get your very own copy… Over 200 ‘Anabolicious’ recipes designed to help you pack on lean muscle mass and burn off bodyfat. Click Here For More Info –>>

Unfortunately high quality protein foods are also some of the most expensive foods in the grocery store. Things such as lean cuts of meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, dairy, etc. can really add up. Especially when consumed in the amounts needed for a good muscle building diet.

Now there are several ways that you can be a savvy shopper and save money on your protein foods. But one of cheapest ways to get a lot of protein is to go get it yourself.

Saving Money On Protein…

This past weekend I went out in search of some high quality protein with my dad and my uncle and we were quite successful!We went out Cod Fishing in my home province of Newfoundland and brought in a good catch. Cod is a white fish and is a great source of lean protein. In the grocery store Cod sells for about $7 a pound, it’s one of the more expensive fish. Over the course of our 2 day fishing trip we caught a total of 21 Cod fish. Now I never weighed them all out, but let’s just say it’s enough to stock a freezer with fish for a while. And besides getting a good stock of protein food, the fishing trip was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my dad and uncle… If you are an outdoors man yourself who likes to fish and hunt then you are already familiar with what a great source of quality protein you can get from these activities.

But Fishing Can Be Expensive…

If you are NOT into fishing and hunting and you try to jump into it just for the sake of saving money on protein… It isn’t going to pan out too well. The start up costs can really add up.

When it comes to fishing; if you had to go out and buy a boat, motor, fishing gear, etc. then that would cost a heck of a lot more than any savings that you would get from catching your own fish. In this case you would be better off buying your fish at the grocery store.

However, you probably know some people personally (i.e. family, friends, co-workers, etc.) who are outdoors men and who are into such activities. In cases like this just ask them about their past fishing / hunting trips. Every single outdoors man LOVES to tell stories about their adventures. And during the conversation you could mention how you’d like to try this yourself sometime and simply ask them if you could join them on a fishing / hunting trip in the future.

Very often they would be happy to have the company and an extra hand helping out. So you could tag along with them and borrow their supplies. That’s exactly what my dad and I did this past weekend. We went along with my uncle, who is a fisherman, and we used his fishing gear.

My uncle goes out fishing pretty much everyday of the fishing season. So he will catch more than enough fish for himself. He’ll keep what he needs and share the rest with family and friends.

So even if you are not interested in going out fishing yourself, you could ask around and you maybe able to get some cheap (or free) fish from local fisherman in your area.

Big Game Hunting…

Another great source of fresh protein is from game hunting. Right now it’s moose hunting season here in Newfoundland. And a moose can easily provide 300-400 pounds of meat. That’s A LOT of meat for a single family, so more often than not people who hunt moose will share the meat with family and friends.

While I don’t hunt moose myself, I still usually get a small freezer full of moose meat every fall that friends and family will give me.

So again, if you are into hunting then you can stock your freezer full of quality lean protein. And if you are not a hunter, just ask around and you maybe able to find some cheap (or even free) game meat from local hunters in your area.

Conclusion…

The best thing about getting your protein from fishing and hunting is that you are getting the real thing. This is natural food. No added hormones or chemicals like you often get from the synthetic fed farmed fish & meat that’s found in the grocery stores.

So by just asking around and looking outside the box it’s possible to stock your freezer full of lean protein, add some variety to your diet, and save some cash in the process!

And if you happen to be an outdoors man yourself… Please feel free to post a comment below sharing your experiences (i.e. the types of fish and game you get, etc.)
Heck, you can even share your “Biggest Fish Story” if you like…

P.S.
You can see some more pics from our fishing trip on my facebook page at:
Lee’s Fishing Trip Pictures…

However, the problem with this is that there is so much conflicting crap out there these days that it can be mind boggling!

That’s why I put together this video clip to show you how you can simplify your nutrition and maximize your muscle gains.

Just click PLAY to watch the video below:

Skip La Cour: The Author Of Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition

Skip La Cour is a expert at getting people in the best shape of their lives through following simple, but proven methods for building muscle and burning fat.

He is one of the most successful Natural Bodybuilder’s of all time. He has won 15 bodybuilding competitions in his career. Including the National Drug Free Championships 6 times. At the peak of his competitive bodybuilding reign, he was the most recognized drug-free bodybuilder on the planet.

Skip has recently compiled his all time best bodybuilding nutrition tips & tricks into his brand new program: “Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition” which you can download right on his website www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net

So if you are looking for a way to simplify your nutrition and maximize your results, just check out Skip’s Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition
System at: www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net

This is a guest article by: Skip La Cour
Author of Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition

The organizing principles of good nutrition that will take this area of your bodybuilding and training efforts to the next level!

1. Place A High Priority On Eating:
You must place a very high priority on the way you eat if you want to take your physique to the next level. The way you eat is far more important than the way you train. You’re in the gym for about an hour a day. It’s what you do during those other 23 hours of the day that are going to make the biggest impact on your progress.

2. Burn More Calories:
You must burn more calories than you eat if you want to lose body fat. It doesn’t matter if almost all of the food you eat is good, healthy food, you must burn more than you eat or you’ll get fat.

3. Don’t Look For The “Perfect” Diet:
Stop looking for the “perfect” diet. Nothing worth having in life comes without some sacrifice. Eating the way you must to build the body you want will be no exception. In the long run, it’s the challenges that we face that makes what we have rewarding. How enjoyable would life be if everything was easy? When you start adhering to a particular eating regimen, anticipate the discipline, sacrifice, and discomfort that comes with the pursuit of any worthwhile goal.

4. Keep It Simple:
Keep your diet simple. That way, you’ll give yourself a better chance to follow through and ultimately achieve successful results. If you must make your diet more complex,
do so on the weekends only.

5. Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals:
Eat smaller, more frequent and well-balanced meals spaced evenly throughout the day. Your body will use the nutrients in your food more efficiently. You’ll build more muscle and prevent body fat this way.

6. Eat Pre-Workout:
If you want to make sure you preserve as much muscle mass as possible, you should start eating a small protein-based meal with high-gylcemic carbohydrates before every one of your weight training and cardiovascular training sessions.

7. Set A Time Limit:
Set a time limit for your workout. Your weight training sessions should last no longer than one hour. More isn’t better—not when it comes to bodybuilding and training.

8. Eat The Right Carbs:
Carbohydrates serve as an essential part in the muscle-building process. Instead of trying to eliminate carbohydrates altogether, you should make sure you are eating the right types of carbohydrates at the right times of day. High-glycemic carbohydrates (potatoes, simple sugars are best before and after your workouts; low-glycemic carbohydrates like vegetables are great throughout the rest of the day.

9. Be Patient:
If you are not getting the results you want with your diet, you’ll need to raise your standards. You either need to do a “little more of this” or a “little less of that.” You may also need to make these changes for a longer period of time.

10: Accept All Responsibility:
Don’t blame your diet when you aren’t getting the results you want. Take 100 percent responsibility for your success and failure. Just about any eating program can be effective—if you follow through on a consistent basis. If you aren’t getting the results you want, assume that the problem is in your approach.

About The Author:
Skip La Cour is a expert at getting people in the best shape of their lives through following simple, but proven methods for building muscle and burning fat.

He is one of the most successful Natural Bodybuilder’s of all time. He has won 15 bodybuilding competitions in his career. Including the National Drug Free Championships 6 times. At the peak of his competitive bodybuilding reign, he was the most recognized drug-free bodybuilder on the planet.

Skip has recently compiled his all time best bodybuilding nutrition tips & tricks into his brand new program: “Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition” which you can download right on his website www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net

So if you are looking for a way to simplify your nutrition and maximize your results, just check out Skip’s Simple Bodybuilding Nutrition
System at: www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net

Since that time I have had the opportunity to train, coach, and get real world feedback from hundreds of people in person, and literally tens of thousands of people online via my websites.

Bottom line…
I’ve been around this sport long enough to know what works and what’s a complete crock of Bull-Sh!t.

For over a decade now my main mission in life has been to tell the truth about bodybuilding & fitness and to help my online followers, people like YOU, get in their best shape ever!

And I’m here to tell you that the NUMBER #1 thing that is going to make the biggest difference in your overall bodybuilding & fitness success is your Nutrition Program.

Now obviously you need to workout consistently, that’s a given. You can’t be like the wannabe’s out there who keep making up excuses about how they are “Too Busy” to workout, and that once they have more time they are “Going To Get Back At It…”

This whole working out “On & Off Again” (like so many people do) is a complete waste of time. It’s literally taking 1 step forward and then 1 step back. You can do that from daylight til dark and at the end of the day what did you accomplish… Sweet F_All… You are still at square one with nothing to show for your efforts.

But once you are past that initial novice phase and working out is now a part of your daily lifestyle. The single biggest factor that’s going to make or break your success and separate the men from the boys is the fuel you put inside your body.

You see there are countless people out there who hit the gym regularly and train hard. But they spend most of their time stuck in a rut going nowhere in terms of building a leaner more muscular physique because they fill their body’s with low quality “junk-food”.Not only that, but a lot of guys will piss their gains away by hitting the night clubs on the weekends, getting sh!t faced drunk, and then following it up by eating pizza afterwards. I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that’s a recipe for disaster!

Don’t Piss Your Gains Away Like This Guy…

So if you are really serious at all about gaining lean muscle and getting the body you’ve always desired, then you need to nail down a solid Bodybuilding Nutrition Program.

Now the problem with this is that there is so much conflicting crap out there these days that it can be mind boggling…

If you are confused when it comes to proper bodybuilding nutrition… I can’t blame you!
(high carb, low carb, high fat, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, cheating, & you name it.)

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel…
You see one of My Original Bodybuilding Mentors and 6 time national drug free champion,
Skip La Cour, has just released a complete Bodybuilding Nutrition System
that I want you to check out for yourself at:

www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

Skip Who…?Just in case you don’t know who Skip La Cour is, I’ll share a little bit of info about him… He’s one of the most successful Natural Bodybuilder’s of all time. And I’ve been a huge fan of his and have been following along with Skip’s programs since I started bodybuilding 20 years ago! He has won 15 bodybuilding competitions in his career. At the peak of his competitive bodybuilding reign, he was the most recognized drug-free bodybuilder on the planet. Back in the 1990′s it was hard to pick up a muscle magazine and NOT see Skip in there somewhere. And when I first seen his physique I knew then and there that was the type of body I wanted to build… Big, Strong, Lean, & NATURAL!

In fact, over the years I’ve bought up pretty much everyone of Skip’s e-books, I own several of his DVD programs, and I even have a framed autographed photo that Skip sent me a few years ago!

I have to admit that I’ve based a lot of my own training around the stuff that I’ve learned from following his programs. And the thing I like the most about this guy is that he “Walks The Talk”.

There’s NO BS with Skip. Not only does he look the part, but he’s proven that he knows his sh!t by winning at the highest level of Natural Bodybuilding Competition… That says a lot about a person!

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because I have personally studied Skip La Cour’s Bodybuilding Nutrition System and I’ve incorporated it as the foundation to my own eating plan. And I really think you can benefit from this program as well.

www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

But here’s the best part…
You see Skip has just revised his complete nutrition system and made it even easier to understand and follow. So if you pick up a copy of this program right now you’ll be getting the latest in Real World Nutrition Advice that will help you pack on pounds of ripped rock solid muscle while stripping away that soft ugly belly fat.

Here’s everything you’re going to get:

• Skip’s Bodybuilding Nutrition Book
  – 103 pages of simple and to the point eating strategies to help you reach your goals. 
• Skip’s Eight Week Mass Food Journal
  – Printable pages to track your food intake and meal planning.
• The Secrets To Getting Lean & Shredded Audio MP3
• Done For You Meal Plans & Food Exchange Lists
• The Top 10 Secrets of Best Bodybuilders Book
• The Disarming of the Alpha Male Book
• Skip’s Exclusive Guide To Supplements
• and more…
• Again, you can get all the details and download your copy at the link below:

  www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net <

  

You see it was about this time last year that I revealed my “Best Kept Secret”
for quickly packing on lean rock hard muscle mass without getting fat in the process.

I shared this “Special Program” with my good friend Vince Del Monte
and he went on to gain a whopping 7.4 pounds of pure muscle mass,
while actually losing 1 pound of bodyfat, in just 21-days!

And I want to share this exact same program with YOU Right Here!

Download Your FREE Muscle Building e-Books Below:

Download The Death Of Bulking

Download The Anabolic Amplifier Effect

In these 2 e-Books, you’ll discover why you don’t need to
buy into the nonsense bulk up diets that only pack on pounds
of fat, instead of quality muscle. You’ll also learn a secret
technique that competitive bodybuilders have been hiding for
decades to getting bigger and leaner year in and year out…

Not only that, but you’ll also get the EXACT Meal Plan that
Vince used to gain 7.4 lbs of muscle in just 21-days, these
e-Books could easily retail for $39.95, but right now I’m
GIVING them away to you! (no catch or credit card needed).

Just download your FREE Muscle Building e-Books from the links above.

Don’t even think about starting any muscle-building
workout or nutrition plan until you read this info!
It’ll change the way you build muscle… Forever!

Enjoy the free info!

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Everyone knows that when we age, certain systems in our bodies start to function at less than 100 percent. Women typically experience this phenomenon during menopause, when Estrogen levels start to fall below normal levels.

This same phenomenon can hold true for men. Testosterone is a steroid hormone made from the testes, which aids in the development of male reproductive tissue, and aids in prostate health. Other areas that testosterone helps develop are secondary characteristics, including increased muscle size and mass, bone mass, and the growth of body hair. As we age, our levels start to decline, similar to that of women, but not as fast. Research in the decline of testosterone levels and men’s health is starting to be researched more with some astonishing results.

Testosterone Molecule

One area of research that is gaining press is declining levels of testosterone, and death from cardiovascular disease. Research from Khaw et al, reported that men with higher levels of endogenous testosterone levels exhibited more favorable cardiovascular disease profile. These men showed higher HDL cholesterol levels and showed lower triglyceride levels, lower blood pressure, blood glucose, blood pressure, and a lower BMI.

The research done by Khaw et al. also showed that there was an inverse relationship with testosterone levels and mortality. Their research followed 11,606 men from 1993-1997, with a follow up in 2003. They found that 825 men had died and that 369 of those deaths came from cardiovascular disease, while the remaining 304 deaths came from Cancer. The inverse relationship between low levels of testosterone and higher incidence of death was high. They also found that men with Low Testosterone levels had an Increased Risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Another study by Laughlin et al. showed that 30% of men, 60 years or older, were estimated to have low testosterone levels. Men that exhibited these low testosterone levels suffered from low bone and muscle mass, increased fat mass (abdominal fat), low energy, and impaired physical, cognitive and sexual function.

Laughlin et al, also showed that men with lower testosterone levels had an increased risk of falls, hip fractures, anemia, type 2 Diabetes, depressive illness, and in some studies, Alzheimer’s disease.

Having low levels of testosterone has been shown to possibly increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Having higher levels of testosterone not only can be protective to the heart, but also can prevent increases in BMI, hip fractures, and positive moods in men!

NEXT: An Easy Way To Improve Low Testosterone Levels >>

Bottom Line:
Testosterone is not the “Bad Guy” that the media has sometime made it out to be. Having high testosterone levels is critical for maintaining good health AND building a lean muscular physique!

Unfortunately, following a healthy muscle building diet is a heck of a lot more expensive than eating an “average” diet that’s based mostly around processed foods. The higher costs of quality meats, fish, poultry, fruits, and vegetables certainly has an impact on ones ability to stick to with a solid bodybuilding eating plan. Especially if you are on a limited budget.

One of the more expensive bodybuilding foods is protein, especially lean red meat. And for a serious bodybuilder lean red meat is a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals. And despite what you may have heard, lean red meat is actually very healthy. When you trim off the excess fat; foods like beef, pork, bison, etc. are on par and sometimes even leaner than poultry.

And I have a simple tip that you can use to Instantly Save 25% Or More the next time you buy meat at the grocery store.

Now I have to tell you up front this tip is so simple that you’ll probably say;
“Duh, that’s just common sense Lee…”
But despite the fact that it’s common sense, you’d be surprised at how many people DON’T follow it.

To give you a real world example of this, I was at the grocery store the other day and they had eye of round beef steaks for $13.99 a kilogram. And an eye of round beef roast was only $8.99 a kilogram. So I literally saved $5 a kilogram (approx. $2 per pound) off my meat simply by cutting the steaks up myself.

It takes about 60 seconds to chop up a roast and make your own steaks, so it’s a simple no brainer money saving tip that you can use for your next BBQ!

And if you’d like to get some healthy and delicious muscle building and fat burning recipes that you can use when cooking up your food, be sure to pick yourself up a copy of the Anabolic Cooking Cookbook. This is THE Bodybuilder’s Cookbook with over 200 awesome recipes that are healthy, high in protein, delicious, and easy to make at the same time. Again, just click on the link below to get your very own copy… Over 200 ‘Anabolicious’ recipes designed to help you pack on lean muscle mass and burn off bodyfat. Click Here For More Info –>>

This is a question that comes up a lot among people who are new to bodybuilding. Now if you really stop and think about it, I think the answer becomes quite obvious… BOTH are important.

However, one is MORE IMPORTANT than the other and the answer may surprise you.
Just watch the video clip below to find out the answer…

We started off by driving the old Route 66 from Santa Monica, California to Chicago, Illinois.

This was the best part of the trip by far, it’s almost like going back in time as a lot of the towns and communities have been kept they way they were back in the mid 1900′s.

If you have never driven Route 66, then I’d highly recommend you add it to your “To Do” list. It’s the ultimate road trip!

After we finished Route 66 we drove east, crossed the Canadian border in Maine, drove across Atlantic Canada, and then took the ferry across to Newfoundland.

Below is an overview of our Cross North America Road Trip.

I’ve posted pics from our road trip on the Total Fitness Bodybuilding Facebook Page, just click on the links below to see the pics…

Santa Monica Pictures

Route 66 Through California Pictures

Route 66 Through Arizona Pictures

Route 66 Through Arizona & New Mexico Pictures

Route 66 Through Texas Pictures

Route 66 Through Oklahoma Pictures

Route 66 Through Kansas & Missouri Pictures

I’ve still got a lot more pics to post up, I should have them posted within the next few days.
So you can check back for those…

Keeping Fit While Traveling

During our road trip we did keep with a pretty good workout and nutrition plan. Now I’ll admit that we were not following a strict pre-contest diet plan or anything like that, so we had some flexibility. But we kept active with regular workouts and ate healthy the whole time.

Here are a few of the things that we did to keep consistent while traveling…

- We kept a cooler with us and stocked it with protein bars, trail mix, cottage cheese, and fresh fruit. That’s what we snacked on during the day in between meals.

- We had protein powder and greens powder and we had a couple drinks each day. Usually 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening.

- When we’d eat out at a restaurant we would start each meal with a large garden salad. This allowed us to keep lots of green veggies in our eating plan.

- When ever we had a combo meal that offered french fries, we asked the server to substitute vegetables or a garden salad instead. Fries are one of the worst things you can eat for piling on blubber (high-carb & high-fat all rolled into one) you are best skipping them altogether.

So even though our eating plan wasn’t super strict, it’s still was quite healthy by applying these simple tips.

In addition to that we also hit up several gyms along the way for regular weight training workouts.
I’ve posted up a couple training videos that we shot along the way at the following links…
Back Workout, Leg Workout, and Upper Body Workout

And when we couldn’t get to a public gym or a hotel gym for a workout we would workout in our hotel room with bodyweight exercises and rubber fitness band exercises. If you are looking for good quality rubber fitness bands, I highly recommend the Body Lastic Bands at: www.BodyLasticBands.com

Now while this certainly helped us maintain our level of fitness during our road trip, both Trish and I are really looking forward to getting back to normal and kicking our training up to the next level.

I’m getting the competitive itch once again and I think there’s another bodybuilding competition in store for me this fall. I’ll keep you posted with more details about that…

all the best,
Lee

“Lee, How Do I Stick To My Workout & Nutrition Routine When I’m Traveling?”

And the simple answer is… YOU DON’T !

WTF???
“Lee, are you saying that I should quit working out and eat whatever want when I’m traveling?”

NO, I’m not saying you should quit, but I am saying that most likely you won’t be able to stick to your “Current Routine” of diet and exercise. You have to learn how to be flexible in your approach when you are outside your normal environment.

Working Out When Traveling…

When you are away from home you won’t be able to workout at your regular gym, so chances are your workouts are going to vary some what. For example, you may not have the same equipment to train with, so you probably won’t be able to follow your exact routine or program as you do when you are home.

And if you are working out at a hotel gym you are going to be very limited in what you can do as most hotel gyms suck, but they are better than not working out at all.

What I do in these cases is simply do circuit routines. One day I’ll do an upper body circuit routine using what ever equipment is available. For example, I may do a chest exercise, back exercise, shoulder exercise, bicep exercise, and tricep exercise… Then repeat the circuit 3-4 times.

The next day I may do a lower body circuit routine, usually some form of squats, lunges, along with what ever leg machines they have available at the gym I’m working out at. And again I’ll do 3-4 sets of each exercise in a circuit fashion.

When I’m on the road I don’t really care if I’m using free weights, machines, cables, or even bodyweight exercises. All that matters is that I’m working the muscles.

I tend to move fast between exercises and get a good pump and sweat worked up. At the very least it will be enough to maintain your current level of fitness, and you may in fact stimulate some new growth by doing this because it will be totally new training stimulus compared to what you are used to doing.

Eating When Traveling…

When it comes to eating while traveling, you are definitely going to be outside your home base. You’re going to be eating in restaurants for a lot of your meals. However, with a little common sense you can still stick to a sound nutrition plan.

Practically every single restaurant these days serves fresh garden salads. Simply by starting each meal with a large salad will go a long way towards helping you eat right. You could even order a grilled chicken breast and have it chopped up into your salad for some extra lean protein.

Then when it comes to the main course, opt for your food to be baked, broiled, or grilled instead of fried. Have a baked potato instead of the home fries. Skip the deserts, or if you are craving something sweet, opt for some fresh fruit.

Little things like this all add up and can keep you on the right track to building a lean ripped physique, even when you are away from home. So keep these tips in mind the next time you are away from home.

Also be sure to watch your e-mail inbox for tomorrow, because I’m going to be sharing some advanced strategies to help you get that lean ripped look that we all want… So stay tuned for that!

P.S.
If you are not already on my Bodybuilding Tips e-Mail Newsletter. Than just fill out the form that’s at the top of this page and I’ll keep you up to date with all my latest muscle building and fat loss tips!

I just did a workout in the hotel gym, and I have to say I was quite impressed. Most hotel gyms suck big time, but this one is actually pretty good. It has a full line of benches and barbells, plate loaded leg press, dumbbells, cables, and of course lots of cardio machines. The only thing that it’s really lacking is a squat or power rack.

But again as for hotel gyms, it’s a pretty good one.

Even though I’m going to be on the road for the next month, I’m still going to keep up with regular workouts and sensible eating. Now granted I’m not following a contest diet or anything, but I’m not going to let my diet go to sh!t either. Pretty much every restaurant you go to serves “clean food” in addition to the regular stuff. So with careful choices in the restaurant for 2-3 meals a day, in addition to a few protein shakes per day, you can still keep up with a sound nutrition plan when traveling.

Anyway, that’s what’s new with me…
I’ll be posting regular updates of our cross country trip here on my blog as well as on Facebook.

But I also wanted to share an audio interview with you that I recently did with Mike Mahon from No BS Fat-Loss. Mike’s a really cool high energy guy and during the interview we covered lots of killer tips and tricks for building lean fat-free muscle mass. Specifically covering some of the training tips from the 21-Day Fast Mass Building program.

Just click on the link below to download this MP3 audio interview to your ipod (or any MP3 player) and pick up some unique training and nutrition tips that you can apply to your routine ASAP.

Right Click Here & Download Your 21-Day Fast Mass Building MP3 Audio

The only problem with this is that I very often get the munchies and crave a tasty snack that I can enjoy during the movie. (And just to let you know I get those movie munchies 100% naturally, I don’t smoke weed & get the munchies LOL)

One of the best movie night treats in my opinion is Nacho’s!

However, I have my own special way of making them that actually makes them a healthy, low fat, high protein muscle building meal. Just watch the video below to learn…

Lee’s Secret Bodybuilder Nacho Recipe!

After you try these nacho’s you’ll be calling me:
Nacho LEE-bre

Yes, that’s me being a Jack Ass while on vacation down in Mexico!

If you’d like to get more healthy and delicious muscle building and fat burning recipes be sure to pick up a copy of the Anabolic Cooking Cookbook. This is THE Bodybuilder’s Cookbook with over 200 killer recipes that are healthy, high in protein, delicious, and easy to make at the same time. Again, just click on the link below to get your very own copy… Over 200 ‘Anabolicious’ recipes designed to help you pack on lean muscle mass and burn off bodyfat. Click Here For More Info –>>

When it comes to fat loss, most people “Over Estimate” how hard it will be, yet they “Under Estimate” how long it will take…

If one of your fitness goals is to lose that gut and get visible six-pack abs for the New Year…

You need to start taking action NOW!

But one of the biggest problems that people have when it comes to fat loss is they find it difficult to stay motivated and keep consistent with their program. For the most part it’s not “lack of knowledge” that holds people back from fat loss success.

After all, practically everyone knows what they “NEED To Do” in order to lose fat
(at least enough to get started)…

We all know we need to exercise, we know we need to drink plenty of water, we know we need to avoid processed junk food, and all that basic stuff…

But as basic and simple as this is, most people still don’t do it… Why?

The reason is lack of motivation and momentum…
The hardest step to anything is the first step. Once you get the ball rolling it’s actually quite easy to keep it rolling and build on the momentum.

So how do you start building some serious fat loss momentum and take steps towards getting that ripped “six-pack” ?

Simple, you need to prioritize your first meal of the day. If you get your day started off right by having a healthy nutritious meal, it’s easier to keep that momentum going for the rest of the day.

Start Your Day With A…

When you have a healthy breakfast and then follow it up with several healthy meals in a row, it will fuel your body and motivate you to get to the gym and train hard. And after a good day of healthy eating and exercise you’ll also want to get to bed at a decent hour so you can get up and do it again the next day.

But it all starts with the First Meal of the day. If you screw this up and skip breakfast or hit the drive through window for some processed “junk food”, you are going to feel like crap. If you feel like crap it’s easier to blow off the day as a write off and say to yourself:

–>> “I’ll get back on track tomorrow…”

If you mess up a couple days in a row, then you’ll probably end up blowing off the whole week and say to yourself:

–>> “I’ll start back on my diet on Monday…”

This is the trap that many people fall into. Momentum works both ways, if you get the ball rolling in the right direction towards healthy eating and regular exercise you can keep it going. But on the other side of the coin, if you get off track it’s very easy to justify bad decisions and build momentum doing all the wrong things.

So my #1 Fat Loss Tip to help get you on the right track towards getting ripped “Six-Pack” abs is to make sure to start everyday off with a healthy high protein breakfast. This will fire up your metabolism and get the ball rolling for a successful day of diet and exercise.

And if you are looking for a delicious meal idea for a healthy high protein breakfast, why not give the following recipe a try tomorrow morning…

Delicious & Healthy Breakfast Meal
High Protein Low Carb Banana Pancakes!

If you’d like to get more healthy and delicious muscle building and fat burning recipes be sure to pick up a copy of Dave Ruel’s Anabolic Cooking Cookbook. This is THE Bodybuilder’s Cookbook with over 200 killer recipes that are healthy, high in protein, delicious, and easy to make at the same time. Again, just click on the link below to get your very own copy… Over 200 ‘Anabolicious’ recipes designed to help you pack on lean muscle mass and burn off bodyfat. Click Here For More Info –>>

]]> http://leehayward.com/blog/fat-loss-tips-for-six-pack-abs/feed/ 15 http://leehayward.com/blog/homemade-apple-protein-bars-recipe/ http://leehayward.com/blog/homemade-apple-protein-bars-recipe/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:37:33 +0000 leehayward http://leehayward.com/blog/?p=3686 I’ve got another tasty recipe for you to try… High Protein Apple Oat Snack Bars!

This delicious recipe was taken right from the brand new Metabolic Cooking Program that my good friend Dave Ruel has released over at: http://www.MetabolicCookingProgram.com

As you know, protein bars and meal replacement bars are crazy expensive.
Some of them can run as much as $5 for a single bar, which is nuts!

So by taking advantage of this simple recipe you can save yourself a small fortune by making your own homemade protein bars!

This is just 1 of 250 delicious, healthy, high protein recipes that are included in the
Metabolic Cooking Program!

So if you are sick and tired of stuffing your face with the typical bland boring bodybuilding diet foods, you need to check this out. Because finally you can EAT GOOD FOOD and enjoy tasty meals while building muscle and burning bodyfat at the same time!

And for the next 24 hours you can save a whopping 52% OFF the regular price of the complete
Metabolic Cooking Program.

Triple the taste while torching the fat!

Click Here To Save 52% Off All 250 Metabolic Cooking Recipes and Bonuses!

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