This is an e-mail question I got the other day from one of my online followers. It’s a very common question that I get on a regular basis so I decided to post this one for the benefit of all my readers…

Question:

Lee,

Thank You,
Roger

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Answer:

Hi Roger,

Of all the exercises out there I think I get more e-mails asking for variations to squatting than anything else. People will complain that squats hurt their knees, hurt their back, hurt their shoulders, or that they are just plain scared of doing squats.

And you know what, I think every single bodybuilder, weightlifter, or powerlifter out there has felt all these things to some degree or another.

After all no body in their right mind can get under a loaded barbell like that and say it “feels good”. I personally hate doing squats, but I love the results they provide. So for one workout a week I just bite the bullet and squat! Now any squat variation is a good exercise because it’s a big basic compound movement works multiple muscle groups.

Barbell Squats

Squats move your entire body through space while doing the exercise. This really stimulates the central nervous system and triggers a high level of neuromuscular activation compared to exercises where you just move your limbs.

But in all honesty I still think nothing can replace the good old fashion barbell squat. It’s a brutally tough exercise and the fact that it’s so tough is what makes it so effective. Now you can mix up the squat variations you do (i.e. a few weeks of dumbbell squats, a few weeks of front squats, a few weeks of back squats, etc.)

You can even change things up from time to time and do leg presses or hack squats as a easier variation. But you should always come back to regular squats as a foundational exercise in your workouts. You’ll find that as you make gains in the squat, the rest of your body will grow in proportion.

Now back to your original question about dumbbell squats; they are ok, but once you work up to any amount of weight at all they can be quite awkward to perform. And squatting deep with dumbbells is hard because the weights usually hit the floor before you truly do a “full squat”.

Dumbbell Squats

Hip Belt Squats

An alternative that you may wish to try are Hip Belt Squats. This will allow you to squat big, and squat deep, without placing stress on your back, shoulders, etc. It’s a better alternative to dumbbell squats in my opinion.

IronMind sells the hip belt squat attachments. But if you’d like more info about how to actually get the most benefit from this exercise. My friend and old school bodybuilder Dennis Weis (aka: The Yukon Hercules) has written a cool little e-Book called:

Hip Belt Squats ‘The Great Anabolic Equalizer’

This training guide will show you how to incorporate Hip Belt Squats into your leg workout routines for developing the ultimate in explosive quads. You will learn in explicitly calculated detail one of the best exercises for blasting your quads and hamstrings into the piston action force of a kangaroo kick.

Build large impressive KILLER QUADS! loaded with power and slabs of undiluted muscular refinement. The information in this e-Book training guide is encapsulated for easy, quick reading and effective application.

You can order your own copy now and get instant download access for just $9.95.

Just click on the “Add Item To Cart” button below to buy the
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According to Wikipedia they define Overtraining as:

Overtraining is a physical, behavioral and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness. Overtraining is a common problem in weight training, but it can also be experienced by runners and other athletes.

And just like a lot of the valuable stuff you’ll find on Wikipedia, that definition of overtraining is pretty dam accurate in my opinion.

The big problem I find with most of my coaching students and website followers is they pretty much “know” what overtraining is, but they can’t really tell if they are overtraining in their own workouts or not.

The root of all this confusion comes from the fact that what is overtraining for one person, is not necessarily going to be overtraining for another person. We all have different levels of fitness, different levels of work capacity, and different recovery rates. Not only that, but all of these factors will change within the individual as they get more experienced with their workouts and get in better physical shape.

A common e-mail that I get at least a dozen times a day is one of my followers will send me a copy of their workout routine that they are following and then ask me:
“Am I Overtraining or Is My Routine Ok?”

And you know what I CAN’T accurately answer that question. Anything I say will only be an educated guess. Only YOU can truly tell if you are overtraining or not by monitoring your progress (or hiring a coach who is going to monitor your progress for you).

But I’ll give you some guidelines here within this article that you can use to help monitor your progress. This will allow you to decide for yourself if you are overtraining and if you should make changes to your workout routine, or if you can keep on doing what you are doing.

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1. Strength Gains
Are you making strength gains with your workouts? You should strive to constantly improve your strength on a regular basis by either getting an extra rep on your sets, or adding an extra 5 pounds to the bar.

This is what we refer to as “progressive overload”. Now obviously it’s not alway going to happen each and every workout, but you should be seeing some noticeable progress in your strength as the weeks go by, especially if you have been tracking your workouts in a log book.

For your major lifts like bench presses, squats, deadlifts, rows, leg presses, etc. it should be fairly easy to make 5 pound jumps in weight on a regular basis. For the smaller isolation type of exercises like bicep curls, lateral raises, flyes, etc. the gains will come slower. After all there is a BIG difference between adding 5 pounds to a 200 pound squat compared to adding 5 pounds to a 20 pound dumbbell curl.

So right now do a quick self evaluation…
Have you been making steady strength gains over the past several weeks? Have you been able to set some new personal records with your major compound lifts? If so then chances are you are NOT overtraining.

However, if you have been lifting the same weights for months on end, or even worse you had to reduce some of your poundages on certain lifts, then you may very well be overtraining.

Gaining strength is one of the most easy to measure signs of progress with your workouts. And if you are not moving forwards, then you are moving backwards, it’s as simple as that.

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2. Changes In Bodyweight
Another measurable way to monitor your progress is by keeping track of your bodyweight. Any unexplained changes in your bodyweight could be a sign of overtraining.

For example, if you are currently training to gain muscular size and bulk and you are hitting the gym hard and consistently. But you find that your weight is actually going down, when it should be going up, then you may very well be overtraining.

On the other side of the coin, if you are training for fat loss and you are following a very strict diet, doing regular cardio, and hitting the gym consistently. But you are still not losing any weight, or worse you are even gaining weight. Then this maybe a sign that you are overtraining.

You see your body has to be coaxed into making progress, you can’t force it. When you try to force your body to change it sometimes backfires and does the opposite of what you want. And one of the ways it does this is through unexpected weight changes.

A prime example of this is with a lot of overweight people who try and diet themselves skinny. Have you ever known someone who went on a borderline starvation diet or maybe even cut back to eating just one meal a day in effort to lose weight?

What usually happens is that their body basically says “F-ck You” and it ends up clinging to all the stored bodyfat for fuel, while burning up precious lean muscle tissue in effort to slow their metabolism down. It does the exact opposite of what the dieter is trying to accomplish. In fact they may actually gain fat in this calorie deprived state.

Some words of advice that you should follow when trying to change your body, be that gaining muscle or losing fat, is that most people “over estimate” how hard improving their physique will be… But they “under estimate” how long it will take…

Bottom line, you don’t have to force yourself, torture yourself, or any such thing. You just have to be consistent with the basics over the long term in order to get the results you want.

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3. Energy & Motivation
The first 2 guidelines are concrete and measurable. Meaning they are actual numbers that anyone can monitor and instantly see if there is any change or not. But this 3rd guideline is more subjective and you have to be extra cautious when monitoring subjective things because human error and inexperience can really screw things up.

If you have been training hard and consistent for weeks or months on end and then all of a sudden you find that your strength, energy, and motivation for your workouts start to drop then this is very likely a sign of overtraining and it’s your body’s way of telling you that you need a rest.

But the problem here comes with less experienced fitness enthusiasts who often times mistake lack of motivation from plain old laziness as “overtraining” and then they may end up backing off with their training, when in fact they need to do the exact opposite and kick themselves in the butt and push it even harder.

For beginner and intermediate level bodybuilders it’s best to focus primarily on the concrete and measurable guidelines to determine if you are on the right track with your workouts and avoiding overtraining. But as you get more advanced in your training and you get in tune with your body, how you “feel” will be more accurate.

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A prime example of this occurred within my own training just recently…
During my contest prep for my last bodybuilding competition my daily routine consisted of approx. 2 hours of cardio, weight training workouts, as well as posing practice all while following a carbohydrate and calorie restricted diet.

Now a mild form of overtraining is actually quite normal for competitive bodybuilders in their pre-contest phase, especially when their main concern is pushing the limits with burning off as much bodyfat as possible.

But eventually things can take it’s toll. So occasionally when I’m feeling physically and mentally run down, even during contest prep, I purposely take a couple days off from training entirely…

No Cardio. No Weight Training. No Posing.
And I purposely eat more food as well to help fill out my liver glycogen stores and aid with my recovery.

After just 2 days of this I feel like a new man, I’ll literally gain about 5 pounds (mostly from the extra carbs and water weight) but I’ll be physically and mentally stronger and ready to kick it back into high gear and push it hard again.

Having this sense and knowing when to push it hard, and when to back it off is critical as you get more advanced. It will help keep you on the edge with your workouts and moving yourself in the right direction towards your bodybuilding and fitness goals.

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If you’d like to learn more about how you can push your training to the limit, while avoiding the negative pitfalls of overtraining. Be sure to check out my “Hardcore Muscle Building DVD”. This killer weight training muscle building workout program will show you how to push your muscle gains to the limit by training your body past the point of muscular failure. But at the same time, it will allow for adequate recovery time between training sessions to maximize your growth and strength gains. You can check it out for yourself right now at: http://www.LeeHayward.com/dvd

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…

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Hey Lee,

Thank you for your time.
Joe
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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

During the live I’ll be answering your questions on a first come, first serve basis. So if you have a question that you want to ask me, make sure to login early and send him a “Private Message” via the link below…

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

So if you have any questions about building muscle, losing bodyfat, training, nutrition, or any other bodybuilding related topic be sure to tune in live because for a full hour I’ll be answering your questions on the show.

I look forward to chatting with you later today!

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

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.

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

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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…

—————————–

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/

Anyway, the feedback from this program has been very positive. Skip has been coaching bodybuilders to get in top contest shape for over 20 years, so he really knows his stuff. He’s a master when it comes to effective nutrition strategies for packing on lean muscle mass AND getting ripped.

In fact, the only real “negative” thing that we’ve been hearing is some people don’t believe that
Skip La Cour is REALLY Natural…

A lot of people just assume that because he’s in great shape and a champion bodybuilder that
“He Must Be Taking Steroids…”

So the question a lot of people have been asking is:

Is Skip La Cour REALLY “Natural” ?

Now I was actually chatting with Skip about this very question today. After all, he’s been in the bodybuilding limelight for years so he’s been asked this question a thousand times before. And he had a very good answer to all the steroid accusations…

 
Question:

In natural (drug-tested) bodybuilding, there has to be “cheaters”. People who use steroids in the off-season or even during their contest prep and go off it in time for the drugs to clear their system. This is very evident from reading message boards and talking to people, there are plenty of cheaters in natural shows. Steroid users who compete in the drug tested shows and get away with it (you rarely even hear about anyone getting caught).

Even with this problem obviously existing, many natural bodybuilders get very upset when you “attack” them and say that they are liars. I can understand that, if they truely are natural and work really hard to get to where they are at they will obviously get upset when someone call them a cheater. Still, they have to realize that they will be subject to great scrutiny when there are cheaters present in the sport.

To get to my question now: Since there obviously are plenty of steroid users competing in natural bodybuilding; how are we supposed to believe that the very best show-winning guys are natural? A good steroid using bodybuilder will certainly beat a great natural one in a competition.

======================================

Skip’s Answer:

In every man’s life, he eventually must use his own intuition and instincts, man-up, and make his own decisions.

You have to do that when choosing a girlfriend, business partner, doctor, and even taxi cab driver.

Is every extremely attractive woman a gold-digging, manipulating whore? Some men believe they ALL are–and they create a set of patterns and actions based on that belief. Are SOME extremely attractive women gold-digging, manipulating whores? Yes. Can you always judge a woman’s integrity based on her looks (meaning the more attractive she is, the more “corrupt” she is)? No.

Is every extremely competent and successful potential business partner an unethical, con artist? Some people believe they ALL are–and they create a set of patterns and actions based on that belief. Are SOME extremely competent and successful potential business partners unethical con artists? Yes. Can you always judge a potential business partner’s integrity based on how much money he makes (meaning the more money he makes, the more “corrupt” he is)? No.

Is every doctor incompetent and does extra work on you only to fraudulently charge your insurance company? Some people believe they ALL are–and they create a set of patterns and actions based on that belief. Are SOME doctors incompetent and fraudulently charge your insurance company? Yes. Can you always judge a how competent and ethical a doctor is based on how many patients he has (meaning the more he has, the more “corrupt” he is)? No.

And, not every taxi cab driver is going to take you the long way to your destination just to rip you off for a little extra money–although many people believe that ALL taxi cab drivers are corrupt.

Just like choosing a girlfriend, business partner, doctor, or taxi cab driver, use your own instincts to believe who is truly drug free and who is a “lying, cheating, con artist.”

Get a feel for who they are by how they communicate–and then make you own decision. The internet, with all of the articles, blogs, videos, and podcasts that the bodybuilder communicates with will make your job of using your own judgement a lot easier.

Here’s another piece of advice:

I would guess that 10% of the human population would consider THEMSELVES happy and successful (and that is probably a stretch). I would guess only 50% of the human population would even say that they are even “satisfied” in life (again, that is probably a stretch).

The VERY WORSE thing you can do is make your personal decisions in life based on what random people who you don’t even know have to say (the “masses”). In fact, if you think and take action (or don’t take action) like the masses, you are going to have some serious challenges in life. No doubt about it. I would try to find out what the top 10% are thinking and doing–and take that route.

If you have an experience dealing with an unethical woman, business partner, doctor, taxi cab driver–or even a “so called drug free bodybuilder”–just MOVE ALONG and find someone you can TRUST. Don’t whine and complain like the unhappy, disgruntled masses do.

Successful people in life move on and find a good woman, business partner, doctor, taxi cab driver–BECAUSE THEY ARE FOCUSED ON GETTING WHAT THEY WANT IN LIFE and NOT WHAT THEY DON’T WANT.

Only whiners want to hear other people whine.

And, yes, there are extremely attractive truly good women, savvy and honest businessmen, competent and caring doctors, fair taxi cab drivers, and accomplished and well-developed drug free bodybuilders in the world who live with integrity JUST LIKE YOU DO–despite what the “masses” may think.

One more point:

Don’t ever waste your time trying tell an extremely attractive, good woman that you think ALL extremely attractive women are whores; telling a savvy and honest businessman that you think that ALL savvy businessmen are crooks; telling a competent and caring doctor that you think ALL doctors are all “quacks”; or telling an honest taxi cab drivers that you think ALL taxi cab drivers are crooks.

They don’t really give a damn what your issues, beliefs, or bad experiences are because they don’t apply to them. They just focus on the people in this world who know who they are and what they are all about.

That’s YOUR world–not theirs. They’ll just go ahead and let you live in the world you’ve chosen to live in. The more confidence they have in themselves, the less likely they’ll even step into your world and explain anything to you because they are so focused in living with purpose and direction in their own world. They won’t make it their personal responsibility to get you to cross over.

You know who does want to hear what you have to say about “bad” women, business, doctors, taxi cab drivers, and so called drug free bodybuilders?

The “masses.”

Use your intuition and instincts, man-up, and make your own decisions. Just remember that the beliefs you adopt will determine how you proceed in the future–and your level of success.

Train hard. Think BIG.

WOW…
That’s some potent food for thought, isn’t?
Not just for bodybuilding, but for life in general.

(Note: I hope you actually took the time to read Skip’s Answer above and never just skimmed through to the bottom. It’s worth taking a few minutes and actually reading what he has to say.)

Bottom line, I fully endorse Skip and his programs. This guy walks the talk and has competed in top level National Drug Tested Bodybuilding Shows, not only that but he’s maintained a lean, muscular, and healthy physique for over 20+ years now. That’s the kind of bodybuilding role model I look up to!

www.SimpleBodybuildingNutrition.net

Now I’ve been asked about muscle soreness so many times via e-mail, blog, facebook, & YouTube comments that I decided to answer it in specific detail with this video presentation below.

So please check it out and then leave me a comment below letting me know what you think…

And if you’d like to follow a proven training system that builds REAL Muscle Mass using
“Progressive Overload”, just Click Here to download a copy of the “Blast Your Biceps” program!

This 3 Phase Mass Building System will help you NOT ONLY Build Bigger More Muscular Arms…
But also get Bigger AND Stronger ALL OVER in Record Time!

If you have some burning questions on your mind about bodybuilding, fitness, & nutrition…

Things such as:
- How to structure your diet for a “Clean Bulk”…
- How to lose that last bit of lower abdominal fat…
- How to train around a nagging painful injury…
- How to build up stubborn muscles that just won’t grow…
- Or any other fitness related question…

Then I maybe able to help you out tonight during my Live Total Fitness Bodybuilding Video Chat!

Thursday August 18 at 9:00 PM Eastern Time I’m going to be available to answer your bodybuilding & fitness questions in real time at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv <<-- Click Here

I’m looking forward to chatting with you later tonight!

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get asked about ways to increase energy levels. People are always curious as to what foods they should eat and what supplements they should take to jack up their energy levels.

Everything from Nitric Oxide, Caffeine, Ephedrine, Ginseng, Amino Acids, Horny Goat Weed, Red-Bull, RockStar…

You name it people are looking for it and are willing to try it all. And yet the one thing that often gets ignored, but yet can improve your strength and energy levels better then any supplement or stimulant is sleep!

The benefits of getting adequate sleep are HUGE! Everything from speeding up your muscle recovery, increasing growth hormone levels, improving your athletic performance, improved heart function, cell repair, and the list goes on and on…

But one thing that may be of interest to you – is that sufficient sleep helps increase your motivation for exercise!

One of the biggest excuses people have for not following through with their workout routine consistently is being too tired to exercise. But one thing that you can do (and it costs nothing!) is simply taking a 20 minute power nap in the afternoon.

You will feel more alert and energetic afterwards, and once rested after your mid-afternoon nap, your mood, efficiency, and alertness level will improve greatly.

Scientists have proven that taking a 20-minute nap approximately eight hours after you have awaken will do more for your strength and stamina than sleeping in later in the morning.

Of course when you first come out of your afternoon nap, you will probably feel a bit groggy for about ten minutes, but once this dissipates, you will reap the rewards of being well rested, recharged, and ready to go for the rest of the day.

So if you are looking for a kick ass all natural energy booster with no jittery side effects, just take a 20 minute power nap when you get home from work or school.

It’s easy, it’s proven effective, and it’s FREE!

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…

Your Muscle Building Coach has gotten a new makeover…

Granted the proportions maybe a tad bit exaggerated, but that’s what I’m striving to achieve with my own workouts.

And speaking of workouts…
One question that I often get from my online followers is:

What’s the BEST workout?

Now I honestly don’t think there is a true “right” or “wrong” answer to this question as there are pros and cons to both types of training…

With weight training workouts you have endless variety in your training. Working out in a well equipped commercial gym allows you to work every single muscle group and train your body from all angles with the wide variety of equipment that’s available.

But let’s face it…
It’s not always convenient to get to the gym for a workout. And if you live in a small town there may not even be a decent commercial gym within a reasonable driving distance.

So having the option of doing a bodyweight only workout without having to go to the gym is important to your Total Fitness Bodybuilding routine. And even if you have the luxury of going to the gym everyday, there are still benefits to bodyweight training.

When you do bodyweight exercises and move your entire body through space, there is a higher level of neuromuscular activation, compared to doing exercises where you just move your limbs.

This higher level of neuromuscular activation places more stress and demands on your body and helps to stimulate a higher level of muscle growth. This is why squats are harder than leg presses and why pull ups are harder than pull downs. Whenever you move your total body through space it stimulates your central nervous system to a greater degree.

I’m sure you’ve probably experienced this already…

For example, if you do an all out set of squats you’ll feel a much deeper level of muscular fatigue than if you did an all out set of leg presses. Even though you’ll be able to lift a lot more weight with leg presses, they are not as physically demanding because of the lower level of neuromuscular activation.

Squats Are Harder Than Leg Presses Due To Higher Levels Of Neuromuscular Activation.

Now when it comes to bodyweight training a lot of folks are very limited in what they can do. They think in terms of doing push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and squats…
Then they start to run out of exercises…

Granted those are all great bodyweight exercises, but there is so much more that you can do with bodyweight training. And that’s why I wanted to let you know about a killer new bodyweight only training system that my friends Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock have developed called:

The Shapeshifter Body Redesign Program <<== click here

This is by far the best bodyweight training program that I’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the highest quality and most innovative programs I’ve seen in a long time, period.

Even if you are a hardcore gym rat like myself, you can still supplement your training with these killer bodyweight only workouts and take your personal fitness to a whole new level.

And you can get a sneak peak at this quality and innovative bodyweight training system by clicking the link below. Talk about a killer preview… This is seriously cool!

Video Preview of Shapeshifter Body Redesign: <<== click here

And there is a good reason for that because creatine is one of the few supplements on the market that can produce a noticeable enhancement in strength and lean muscle gains in a relatively short period of time.

I get more questions about creatine than any other supplement… - What is creatine? - Does creatine really work? - What is the best kind of creatine? - Are there any side effects from taking creatine? - Is creatine safe? - Dose creatine damage the kidneys? - Can teenagers take creatine? - Does creatine help build muscle? - Does creatine help burn fat? - How do you take creatine? - Should you cycle creatine? - Do you need to load with creatine? - Is creatine stable in water? - Should you take creatine before or after your workout? - Can you drink coffee while taking creatine? - Etc, etc, etc… These are the most popular questions that I keep hearing over and over again. So in this article I’m going to answer all these questions and cover the whole “Creatine Supplement Info 101″ to help you understand exactly what creatine is, what it isn’t, and how you can use it to get better muscle building results in the gym.

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a natural combination of 3 amino acids (arginine, glycine, and methionine). These amino acids are naturally found in foods like meat and fish. They help to regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the energy that is stored in the muscle cells. Creatine enhances physical performance by increasing the number of times that ATP energy can be recycled during physical exertion without increasing the absolute amount of ATP stored within our muscles. The body can produce creatine by assembling the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. However, the actual amount of creatine that is produced is minimal because it is quite low on the list of priority’s of metabolic functions for the body. There are numerous other proteins that need these amino acids that are more critical to our survival than creatine.

After all building a big muscular physique isn’t really high on the body’s priority list either. In nature having excess muscle mass increases the metabolic rate, and from a survival point of view this is a “waste” of calories and nutrients. So in order to reap the muscle building benefits that creatine has to offer we need to supplement our diets with creatine.

Does Creatine Really Work?

Yes, creatine “Really Does Work”…

When creatine is ingested into the body and taken up by the muscle cells, it binds with a phosphorus molecule to create creatine phosphate. It is then either used during muscular contractions or stored in the muscle cells. The more phosphocreatine that is stored in your muscles cells, the more potential energy each muscle cell has available. This equals a more powerful muscular contraction, more power output, and a higher tolerance for a greater workload.

The improvement in strength and energy when taking creatine supplements is usually obvious for most people. It is quite common to feel stronger in the gym and experience better muscle pumps within 1-2 weeks of taking creatine. You can think of ATP as the cell’s energy currency and phosphocreatine as a debit card with an adjustable balance – the balance being set by creatine deposit via the diet and creatine supplementation.

What Is The Best Kind Of Creatine?

There are many different types of creatine supplements on the market. The most common is Creatine Monohydrate. This is the predominant creatine supplement on the market. It is one of the earliest creatine products that gained wide popularity and made creatine world famous.

Over the years there have been other variations of creatine made such as Creatine Ethyl Ester (CEE), Micronized Creatine, Kre Alkalyn Creatine, Creatine Serum, Tri Creatine Malate, as well as several creatine mixtures where creatine is combined with other amino acids and supplements in a combo product. Some of the popular ones include: Cell Tech, NO-Xplode, Cell Mass, Super Pump 250, NO-Shotgun, etc.

With so many creatine options available it can be very confusing to know which one is “The Best Creatine” and which one you should use. Both from a cost effectiveness point of view and a physical performance and muscle enhancement point of view.

Some of the newer and more expensive kinds of creatine have been promoted as being better absorbed by the body, and thus producing better results than regular creatine. But for the most part these claims haven’t been backed up and supported by scientific studies. In fact some studies have actually found that some of these newer creatine supplements, such as Creatine Ethyl Ester, to be not as stable as regular creatine and even less effective.

My personal favorite and the one that I recommend to my coaching students is Creatine Monohydrate Powder, specifically Micronized Creatine. The only difference is that micronized creatine is processed into finer particles (up to 20 times smaller than regular creatine monohydrate). This makes micronized creatine easier to absorb and has a higher purity. Not only is this a very high quality form of creatine, but it is also one of the most cost effective forms as well. You can literally get 1000 grams of Pure Micronized Creatine Monohydrate for about $30. And this is enough to last you for over 3 months. It works out to less than $0.30 per day to supplement your diet with creatine.

Even folks who are on a very tight budget can still afford to supplement their diet with Micronized Creatine Monohydrate Powder and reap all the muscle building benefits it has to offer.

Anther good creatine supplement is Kre Alkalyn Creatine. This is a buffered creatine that remains totally stable when mixed with liquid. So it reaches the muscles cells at full strength. You can get the same muscle building effects from a smaller doses of Kre Alkalyn Creatine than you can from Micronized Creatine, but even at the smaller doses Kre Alkalyn Creatine is still a lot more expensive than Micronized Creatine (about triple the cost).

I’ve personally used both forms of creatine with good results. But obviously Pure Micronized Creatine Monohydrate Powder gets my top vote because it is the best value for your money. However, some people with very sensitive stomachs may find that taking the higher doses of creatine monohydate (i.e. 10 grams per day) may cause more stomach irritation compared to taking a smaller doses of Kre Alkalyn Creatine (i.e. 3 grams per day).

So for people with a sensitive stomach and digestive issues, going with the higher priced Kre Alkalyn Creatine may be the better option. But most people can get just as good of results for a fraction of the cost with Pure Micronized Creatine Monohydrate.

Are There Any Dangerous Side Effects From Taking Creatine?

It seems that anytime something shows promise for helping to enhance muscle growth or athletic performance people always assume that it must be “bad for you”. I think a lot of this flawed thinking has to do with steroids. People know that synthetic steroids can help improve athletic performance by building muscle and increasing strength, but when they are abused they also carry some negative side effects.

So when the average Joe hears about any supplement or product that can help improve athletic performance, he very often mistakenly thinks that there must be a downside to it as well (as in the case of steroids). But this is often NOT the case, especially with natural foods and food supplements. In fact most foods and supplements that help build muscle, do so because they are actually “Good For You”. Most of the bodybuilding foods and supplements that people take provide the vital nutrients needed to enhance the immune system, aid with recovery, and improve your overall health and fitness. It’s all these positive health benefits stacked together that provide the muscle building benefits as well. Creatine is NOT a steroid and it does NOT have any of the side effects of steroids. You are not going to lose your hair, get acne, have roid rage, fry your liver, or shrink your balls from taking creatine.

In fact there have never been any serious side effects from creatine ever recorded in research. I mean if creatine was a dangerous substance the FDA would have pulled it from the market long ago. But instead creatine supplements have been used by athletes and fitness enthusiasts for over 20 years now with very positive results.

Not only does creatine have positive muscle building benefits, but it also has numerous health benefits as well. Creatine has been shown to help with longevity, brain integrity, neuromuscular function, heart health, and chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia disorders. Creatine has been used with patients who suffer from muscle wasting diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease with positive results. Creatine supplementation has been shown to combat brain cell death and helping to preserve the proper functioning of the nervous system longer in life. In addition to that there have been studies that have shown regular creatine supplementation helped lower LDL levels (i.e. “bad cholesterol”) by over 30% in men and women with high cholesterol levels.

For the most part creatine is free from side effects; however it may cause water retention and bloating. This is especially true when one first starts taking creatine. But these side effects usually subside once the body is used to taking creatine. Also consuming adequate water intake what using creatine can help with these issues because the more water you drink, the more water your body will flush out of the system, and this actually helps to reduce water retention.

Another minor side effect that some people may experience is stomach irritation from taking higher doses of creatine (as was mentioned above). If you have a sensitive stomach than choosing a buffered Kre Alkalyn Creatine can help reduce the irritation because you can the same results from a much lower dose of creatine.

Dose Creatine Damage The Kidneys?

No, creatine has never been shown to cause any kidney damage. In fact there have been carefully controlled studies that have been performed on subjects who have been taking creatine for as long as 5 years with no adverse effects on blood pressure, kidney or liver function. Now these studies have been performed on healthy individuals. Of course anyone who has pre-existing liver or kidney problems should seek medical advice before using creatine (or any nutritional supplements for that matter).

Can Teenagers Take Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in the body. It’s safe and very effective for anybody to use regardless of age. So the answer is YES, even teenagers can safely supplement their diets with creatine and reap all the health and muscle building benefits that creatine has to offer. I always find it amusing how parents will usually not even think twice about feeding their kids “junk foods” like potato chips, french fries, pizza, chocolate bars, donuts, and candy. We already know that these foods are “unhealthy” and have numerous side effects such as high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, etc… Yet more often than not these same people will some how think that “Nutritional Supplements” are dangerous and will question the safety of such products… It’s a weird world we live it…

Creatine Is Safer Then Junk-Food…

Should You Cycle Creatine?

When it comes to creatine cycling you are going to hear mixed reviews. Some people believe you should cycle it on for several weeks, then take several weeks off before repeating the cycle. However, there has never been any studies or research that has show there to be any benefits to cycling creatine “on and off”. As was mentioned above in the sections on safety, there have been long term studies done on creatine supplementation where folks have taken creatine for up to 5 years non-stop with no negative side effects what so ever.

When you stop taking creatine, you also stop getting the positive benefits that creatine has to offer. But this shouldn’t come as any surprise, because this happens with virtually everything. I mean if you stop lifting weights, you are going to lose the benefits that lifting weights has to offer. If you stop eating a healthy diet, you are going to lose the benefits that healthy eating has to offer. So why should taking creatine supplements be any different?

In order to reap the full benefits of creatine I would recommend that you use it long term. Just like you would take your multivitamins long term, or take your protein powder long term. I don’t think anyone would assume that they can just eat a healthy high protein diet for a few weeks and then quit. We all know that in order to reap the results from proper nutrition you need to be consistent with it, day-in-and-day-out. And getting the maximum results from your nutritional supplements (such as creatine) is no different.

The only time I would recommend coming off creatine is for competitive bodybuilders who are a few weeks out from a bodybuilding show. The reason for this is that bodybuilders will temporarily dehydrate themselves right before a competition in order to rid their body of any excess water retention that’s under the skin. The idea is to be as ripped and dry as possible on the contest stage in order to reveal all the rock hard muscle definition. And because creatine pulls water into the muscle cells, it may blur some of the muscle definition. So to be on the safe side competitive bodybuilders should come off creatine at least 3 weeks before their competition.

Now this doesn’t apply to regular folks who are looking to lose fat and get in shape. Unless you are already dieted down and ripped to the bone shredded with virtually no excess bodyfat. Worrying about a couple pounds of water retention is pointless. You have to lose all the excess bodyfat first before water retention even becomes an issue with how cut you look.

Should You Load Creatine?

The idea of creatine loading is to saturate your system with creatine as quickly as possible. The standard practice is to take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate up to 5 times per day, for 5 days. Now I have to admit that the very first time I took creatine this is exactly what I did and it worked really well for me. I felt my muscles getting bigger and stronger by the day and by the end of that loading phase I felt like a tank in the gym. However, this isn’t really necessary especially if you are planning on using creatine over the long term. Just taking the maintenance dose of 5-10 grams daily will still top up your body’s creatine levels and saturate your system with creatine within a few weeks.

But if you are the impatient type who wants to get the biggest hit possible from creatine, you can go ahead and load with it. Granted it may cause water retention and some stomach digestive issues. But if you are not in that big of a rush, just take the maintenance dose and you’ll still get the same results within 2-3 weeks.

Is Creatine Stable When Mixed In Water?

Technically the answer is: “NO, creatine is not stable when mixed in water.” However, it’s stable enough for all practical purposes of mixing and consuming creatine supplements. You’ve probably heard the ridiculous rumors going around about how creatine breaks down in water so you have to drink it within seconds of mixing it up or it will be totally useless. Well, thankfully for us creatine is not that fragile. You can mix creatine in liquid and take your time drinking it, there is no big rush to instantly chug down your mixed creatine drink.

If you train at a public gym I’m sure you must have seen some of the local “muscle-heads” with 3-4 supplement containers all laid out on the sink in the men’s locker room mixing up their post workout shakes. Now while there is nothing “wrong” with this per say, they could save themselves the hassle of carrying around all those containers by simply mixing up their post workout shake before going to the gym, and then just taking the pre-mixed drink with them in a thermous or shaker bottle and drinking it after their workout. The pre-mixed shake will be perfectly fine and just as potent a couple hours later as it would be if you mixed it up instantly on the spot.

In fact there have been studies done on creatine mixed in water that has been left for 120 days. And even after 4 months of sitting in water the creatine was still at 80% of it’s original potency of when initially mixed. So you don’t have to worry about it breaking down and becoming useless within the matter of minutes after you mix it. There is nothing wrong with mixing your creatine drink up in the morning and then consuming it later that same day (as long as it’s kept cool of course).

Should You Take Creatine When Trying To Lose Weight?

Before we can answer this question we need to clarify something. “Losing Weight” should NOT be your goal. “Losing Bodyfat” should be your goal. There is a big difference. Weight loss can include losing bodyfat and losing lean muscle mass. We don’t want that, ideally you want to maintain (or even gain) lean muscle mass while you lose bodyfat.

So should you take creatine when trying to lose bodyfat? The answer is YES!
Creatine doesn’t have any direct impact on fat loss per say, but creatine will help you maintain your lean muscle mass while you are on a calorie restricted diet. This is very important because the more lean muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be, and the easier it will be to lose fat and keep it off. Plus you’ll look and feel a lot better as well.

I always take creatine when dieting for fat loss because it helps keep your muscles fuller and stronger as you get leaner. If you were to try and diet without creatine you would most likely feel weaker and your muscles would feel flat and depleted. Creatine helps to prevent this. The only time I would stop creatine is during the last few weeks before a bodybuilding competition to avoid water retention. But if you are not competing in a physique competition, then there is really no reason to come off creatine supplementation.

When Should You Take Creatine?

The most important thing when it comes to creatine supplementation is that you take it daily. As long as you are consistent with taking creatine you will keep your muscle creatine levels topped up and reap the benefits that creatine has to offer.

Should You Take Creatine Before Or After Your Workout? This is an interesting question and you’ll hear 2 sides to this one. Some people believe that you should take creatine before working out so the creatine is available in the blood stream to be used during your actual workout itself. Others believe that you should take creatine after your workouts because your depleted muscles will be able to absorb and utilize the creatine and other nutrients better. I actually prefer to do both. I’ll have 5 grams of creatine monohydate powder mixed in with a protein shake around midday. Than I’ll usually workout later in the afternoon. And right after my workout I’ll have a post workout shake with another 5 grams of creatine monohydrate mixed in.

On the days that I do not workout, I’ll simply have my midday protein shake with 5 grams of creatine. This way I’m consistently getting a steady supply of creatine, but I’m getting some extra creatine on my workout days to help replenish my depleted muscles and aid with recovery and growth.

Should You Mix Creatine With A High Sugar Drink?

When creatine first hit the market the big thing that the manufacturers were advising people to do is mix creatine with grape juice. The reason being is that grape juice is very high in simple sugars and it would cause an insulin spike, thus help shuttle the creatine into your muscles better. Insulin is like a double edged Anabolic Sword, it’s one of the most powerful anabolic hormones in the body. While it certainly does help transport nutrients into the cells, it can send those nutrients towards both FAT and MUSCLE gains.

So the key with using simple sugars to spike insulin levels is making sure you time them properly. You need to set up the right environment so when you spike your insulin levels it shuttles nutrients primarily into your muscle cells, and not your fat cells.

The ideal scenario for this is to first perform a hard high intensity weight training workout. And then right after consume a post workout shake that contains fast digesting simple sugars (to spike your insulin levels), fast digesting protein, and of course creatine. A lot of supplement companies make post workout drink mixes with simple carbohydates, protein, and creatine all mixed together. Most of which are pretty good, however they often tend to be a bit too high in sugar for my liking.

You can make your own post workout drink with whey protein, creatine, and simple carbohydrates such as dextrose. You could also use a sports drink such as Gatorade as the simple carbohydrates. In fact one of my favorite post workout shakes is mixing vanilla flavor whey protein, orange flavor Gatorade, and creatine together. It tastes like an orange creamsicle. Another post workout shake that I like a lot is mixing vanilla whey protein, apple juice, a dash of cinnamon, and creatine together. This tastes like apple pie.

These high sugar creatine and simple carb drinks are ok for taking right after a hard workout. However, if you were to take them at any other time when your muscles are not depleted, the insulin spike would most likely get shuttled towards the fat cells. So if you want to take creatine before working out simply have it mixed with water, or even a protein shake, and keep the simple sugars to a minimum.

Can You Drink Coffee While Taking Creatine?

Absolutely, coffee doesn’t hinder creatine’s effectiveness. You can still drink your coffee and use creatine. The whole issue of caffeine and creatine is simply that when you take creatine you need to increase your water consumption to shuttle the creatine into your muscle cells. And caffeine is a mild diuretic, so it causes you to lose water. So in order to combat this all you have to do is make sure you consume enough water to make up for what you lose through caffeine (i.e. drinking coffee). For most guys drinking about 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of water daily should be more than enough for this.

A good bench mark you can use to monitor your water intake is the color of your pee. If your pee is dark yellow you need to drink more water. If your pee is practically clear than you are drinking enough water.

Conclusion…

Well there you have it, a complete Creatine Supplement Information 101 with the answers to the most frequently asked creatine related questions. The bottom line, creatine is a very safe, healthy, and effective supplement that you can use to help increase your strength and muscle gains in the gym, as well as improving your overall physical energy levels.

Now despite all these benefits, creatine is NOT a wonder supplement. It’s not going to magically turn a 98 pound weakling into a 250 pound mass monster. It just anit going to happen… But when you add up all the benefits creatine provides, you are not going to find a better value for your money when shopping for supplements. That’s why I rank creatine as a “must have” supplement for all serious bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts.

If you have any other questions regarding creatine that you would like to me to cover, please feel free to post a comment below and I’ll do my best to help you out.

And if you’d like to get the best value for your money when it comes to creatine supplements, I’d highly recommend you pick up a container of Pure Pharmaceutical Grade Creatine Monohydrate Powder.

1000 Grams Of Pure Micronized Creatine Monohydrate for $29.99

That is more than enough for a 3 month supply of creatine. It actually works out to less than 30 cents per day! At that price you won’t find a better bargain for such a powerful muscle building and performance enhancing supplement. Click Here to order Pure Creatine Monohydrate Online.

More Creatine References:
- Earnest, C., Almada, A., & Mitchell, T. (1996). High-performance capillary electrophoresis-pure creatine monohydrate reduces blood lipids in men and women. Clinical Science, 91, 113-118
- Greenwood, M., Kreider, R.B., Melton, C., Rasmussen, C., Lancaster, S., Cantler, E., Milnor, P., & Almada, A. (2003). Creatine supplementation during college football training does not increase the incidence of cramping or injury. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 244, 83-88
- Schilling, B.K., Stone, M.H., Utter, A., Kearney, J.T., Johnson, M., Coglianese, R., Smith, L., O’Bryant, H.S., Fry, A.C., Starks, M., Keith, R., & Stone, M.E. (2001). Creatine supplementation and health variables: a retrospective study. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33, 183-188
- Pritchard, N.R., & Kalra, P.A. (1998). Renal dysfunction accompanying oral creatine supplements. Lancet, 351, 1252-1253
- Poortmans, J.R., & Francaux, M. (2000). Adverse effects of creatine supplementation: fact or fiction? Sports Medicine, 30, 155-170
- Kreider, R.B., Melton, C., Rasmussen, C.J., Greenwood, M., Lancaster, S., Cantler, E.C., Milnor, P., & Almada, A.L. (2003). Long-term creatine supplementation does not significantly affect clinical markers of health in athletes. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 244, 95-104
- Mayhew, D.L., Mayhew, J.L., & Ware, J.S. (2002). Effects of long-term creatine supplementation on liver and kidney functions in American college football players. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 12, 453-460
- Vannas-Sulonen, K., Sipila, I., Vannas, A., Simell, O., & Rapola, J. (1985). Gyrate atrophy of the chloroid and retina: a five year follow-up of creatine supplementation. Opthalmology, 91, 1719-1727
- Volek, J.S., Duncan, N.D., Mazzetti, S.A., Staron, R.S., Putukian, M., Gomez, A.L, Pearson, D.R, Fink, W.J., & Kraemer WJ. (1999). Performance and muscle fiber adaptations to creatine supplementation and heavy resistance training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 31, 1147-1156
- Arciero, P.J., Hannibal, N.S. 3rd, Nindl, B.C., Gentile, C.L., Hamed, J., & Vukovich, M.D. (2001). Comparison of creatine ingestion and resistance training on energy expenditure and limb blood flow. Metabolism, 50, 1429-1434
- Groeneveld, G.J., Beijer, C., Veldink, J.H., Kalmijn, S., Wokke, J.H.J., & van den Berg, L.H. (2004). Few adverse effects of long-term creatine supplementation in a placebo-controlled trial. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 25
- Burke, D.G., et al. (2008). Effect of creatine supplementation and resistance exercise training on muscle insulinlike growth factor in young adults. Int J Sports Nutr Exerc Metab. 18:389-398.
- Candow, D.G., et al. (2008). Low-dose creatine combined with protein during resistance training in older men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. In press.
- Dalbo, VJ, M Roberts, and C Kersick. “Putting the myth of creatine supplementation leading to muscle cramps and dehydration to rest..” Br. J. of Sports Medicine. (2008): Print.

When it comes to weight training there are generally 2 schools of thought when it comes to exercise form. First you have the typical personal trainer “fitness experts” who say you should perform all lifts with light to moderate weights and use very slow and controlled movements. Then you have the power and strength athletes who like to use more explosive movements, looser training form, and lift heavier weights. Which one is right and which one should you use in your training?

Well like a lot of things when it comes to working out there is no true Right or Wrong answer to this question. It all depends on the individual, the training situation, the level of training, and the fitness goals.

Obviously for beginners and people who are new to the gym, they need to learn how to perform the exercises with proper form using light weights. At this stage they just need to take baby steps, get used to the whole process of working out, and learn how it feels to exercise their muscles with weight training.

However, as you get stronger and start lifting heavier weights in your workouts with the progressive overload principle. You’ll find that your technique will have to change as well. For example, the technique needed to bench press 100 pounds is totally different than the technique needed to bench press 300 pounds. As you get stronger different muscles come into play, you need to pay a lot more attention to body positioning, your set up, how you actually contract the muscles to lift, etc… And this all requires a higher level of mental focus.

If you have the opportunity to watch advanced lifters train you’ll notice that more often then not they are NOT going to be using an exaggerated slow and controlled type of exercise form. In fact lifting slow and controlled is not really natural. It doesn’t carry over into real world strength and it is not how our muscles are meant to work.

Now I realize what I’m saying here is going to piss some people off. There are those die hard “fitness experts” out there who insist that slow and controlled is the only way and that if you use any speed or momentum in your lifting that you are cheating and that you are going to hurt yourself. But the fact is our bodies are designed for fast and explosive movements.

Real World Strength

Before we move on let’s just look at some activities from real world examples. Things such as running, jumping, throwing, etc. all require speed, momentum, and explosiveness. To prove my point, just stand up right now and try to jump as high as you can, but do it in a slow and controlled fashion… You won’t even be able to lift off the ground.

Have you ever seen a baseball player swing a bat slow and controlled? Heck NO! He’ll use momentum, speed, and explosiveness in order to swing the bat and hit the ball as far as possible. How about a boxer trying to throw a punch in a slow and controlled fashion? He certainly won’t have much knock out power.

Try swinging a baseball bat slow & controlled and see how far you hit the ball.

Try throwing a punch slow & controlled and see how much power you generate.

There are several activities outside of sports where using explosive strength is a must as well. Just think of trying to pull start a lawn mower or kick start a motor bike. You have to do both very fast and explosive or else the engine won’t get enough RPM’s to turn over and start. Bottom line is that real world stuff requires strength, speed, explosiveness, and even momentum. So why are so many people dead set against training this way in the gym?

Now I know some folks (usually young ego driven guys who have too much testosterone for their own good) like to go overboard and use too much weight with absolutely crappy form. You can see examples of this when barbell curls become reverse grip power cleans (kind of like the pic of Arnold above). And bench presses become a team effort push / pull exercise as the lifter drops the bar to his chest and his trusty spotter deadlifts it back up.

But there is that gray zone in the middle of the 2 extremes whereby you are training on the edge, pushing it hard, and also keeping relatively good exercise form at the same time. To see some examples of this type of training just go to YouTube and watch some videos from some of the top bodybuilders like Ronnie Coleman, Branch Warren, and Johnny Jackson just to name a few.

Ronnie Coleman doing HEAVY T-bar Rows!

Branch Warren doing HEAVY Dips!

In these workout videos you’ll clearly see that the guys are powering up big weights and they are using a bit of “Body English” to handle such poundages, but the form is still pretty good. Even through they are not lifting “slow and controlled”, they are certainly placing maximum workload on the targeted muscle groups. This type of training will stimulate muscle growth in ways that endless slow and controlled reps with the pink dumbbells will never achieve.

In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopaedia Of Bodybuilding he refers to this as “Power Reps”. Joe Weider calls it the “Cheating Principle”. Basically it’s just using a bit of umph in your movements in order to handle maximum workloads!

Power Reps For More Muscle & Strength

The use of any weight training technique will depend on the level of the trainee. So to keep it simple I’m going to cover all levels from beginners to advanced and outline how you can incorporate “Power Reps” into your own workouts.

Beginners (less then a year of training)

As I mentioned earlier, beginners should focus on simply learning proper exercise form. The easiest way to do this is to use light to moderate weights and really focus on feeling the muscles flexing and contracting with each rep. The best way to do this, especially at the beginner stage is by using slow and controlled form all the time.

Intermediates (more then a year of training)

As you progress with your training you will most certainly notice the naturally tendency to use more force and momentum to try and complete your reps as the weights get heavier. This is something you want to pay careful attention to. Used in the right way this can help you work the muscles harder. Used in the wrong way it will take stress off the targeted muscles.

My advice here is to start with a weight that allows you to maintain strict control for at least 6-8 reps. Then if you want to use a bit of “Body English” to power out a few more reps then that’s fine. This will allow you to perform a few extra reps that you normally wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do if you were “too strict” with your form.

Advanced (several years of progressive training)

Truly advanced lifters already know what works best for their body by the time they make it to this level of training. After all that’s what it means to be advanced. However for the purpose of this article I’ll outline some “Power Rep” guidelines here.

At the advanced stage you’ll have developed your own unique exercise groove from years of lifting. You’ll instinctively know if a little swing here, or a little leg drive there, will provide more muscle stimulation and deliver the maximum workload to the muscles. You’ll also know if you are over doing it and using too much momentum.

Here is a list of some common things that advanced lifters do to handle maximum poundages with the following exercises:

Bench Press
A slight bounce off the chest at the bottom to help rebound the weight up and not fully locking out the elbows at the top. This tends to allow for more weight and / or more reps to be lifted and also provide maximum muscle stimulation.

Squats
A slight rebound out of the bottom (when doing full squats) will help you get the weight back up. Again sometimes advanced lifters will not fully lock out the knees at the top and keep going, almost like a piston type of up and down motion.

Standing Overhead Presses
A slight leg drive will help move maximum poundages while actually cushioning the impact from the exercise. This absorbs some of the stress from the spine down through your legs.

Bent Over Rows
Like with the standing press a bit of leg drive will allow for heavier weights and can help move more weight and / or more reps.

Bicep Curls
A little swing at the start and even a slight back arch at the half way mark can help get past the sticky point in the middle of the exercise.

Lateral Raises
A little leg drive at the start and a slight swing in the middle will help you get more weight up. Also holding the dumbbells in the front vs. to the sides will help you lift more weight.

Lat Pull Downs
Arching your back will help you move more weight and actually help you fully contract your lats. Trying to keep your back totally flat when doing any pull down or rowing exercise actually prevents you from getting a peak contraction in the back muscles.

Those exercises work well for using “Power Reps”. However, your own discretion is advised. This isn’t a free for all to go out and use crappy form on all your exercises. It’s just another tool in your tool box that can help you take your muscular development to a higher level.

If you are going to incorporate “Power Reps” into your training you should save them for the final all out work sets. Start off your warm up sets using perfect controlled form. Then as you work up to your top weight for a particular exercise you can give it that extra push to maximize the weights lifted and the stimulation placed on the muscles.

And if you’d like to get a complete advanced training system with serious workouts for all your major muscle groups. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of my “Hardcore Muscle Building Program”.

This program will show you how to train beyond muscular failure to achieve maximum muscle gains in the gym. This is a serious muscle building workout program that incorporates high level advanced training techniques to maximize muscle stimulation.

Just click on the link below to get your very own copy…

DVD # 1 – Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps
DVD # 2 – Back, Biceps, Legs, & Abs

Click Here For More Information…

“What Should You Eat Right Before A Workout?”

and

“What Should You Eat Right After A Workout?”

Right around your workout is a critical time frame where your body NEEDS high quality, fast digesting nutrients to help replenish your muscles to aid with recovery and growth.

Taking advantage of this unique window of opportunity and getting it right can really help you get the most out of your workouts. Pre and post workout nutrition is very often the missing link for maximizing your strength and muscle gains in the gym.

So in this video clip below I’m going to show you exactly what you should have before, during, and after your workouts to ensure that you provide your muscles with the nutrients they need.

Here’s a quick re-cap of what a good pre and post workout nutrition plan would look like:

• 1 hour before going to the gym have a small protein and carbohydrate meal.

• 10 minutes before your workout have a pre-workout energy drink such as Extreme Rush to prepare you for the workout.

• 20 minutes into your workout have a serving of BCAA’s to help keep your body in an anabolic state.

• Right after your workout have a post workout protein shake with creatine and glutamine.

• About 1 hour after your workout have a solid food protein and carbohydrate meal.

Well there you have it, a complete pre and post workout nutrition plan laid out for you step by step. Now you are probably thinking right now: “That’s A LOT of stuff… It must cost a fortune to take all that…”

And I do agree that eating for bodybuilding isn’t cheap. After all it’s a lot more expensive to buy chicken breasts than it is to buy Kraft Dinner. But if you are really serious about maximizing your gains in the gym then you need to focus on consuming high quality nutrient dense foods, rather than cheap processed filler foods and junk foods.

Now as for the supplements that are covered in this video, they are actually more affordable than you would think. On a per serving basis supplements are a lot cheaper than most other food products.

For example, creatine costs about 15 cents per serving, glutamine about 30 cents a serving. Extreme Rush is about a $1 per serving. BCAA’s are about 40 cents a serving. The most expensive of it all is the protein powder which is about $2 per serving (but that’s still a lot cheaper than buying a steak). If you took all of these supplements just like I outlined here it would cost you $3.85 cents per workout.

Considering all the health and muscle building benefits that these supplements provide that actually works out to be a great deal in my opinion.

But I’d love to hear your feedback…
Please post a comment below letting me know what your pre and post workout supplement routine is and we can chat about it in the comments section below…

Now while I try my best to personally respond to as many questions as I can via comment reply’s, posting articles, hosting live video talk shows, as well as just targeting my website content towards the most commonly asked questions. There is no way I can physically respond to each and every single one personally, I just get way too many (as in hundreds per day!)

Now I do offer Customized Diet & Training Program services which you can sign up for if you want to work with me personally and have me coach you every step of the way through achieving your muscle building and fat loss goals.

But I’m going to offer a NEW feature to my website and YouTube channel called
“Ask Lee…” video Q and A.

Basically how it’s going to work is you send me in your question via video, and I’ll give you a personal video response. I think this is going to be a really cool feature to add value to my website, while helping you in your pursuit of a lean muscular physique.

Now I realize that it’s going to take a little bit of time and effort to put together a video question, and that’s why I’m going to give them higher priority over the gazzillion random e-mail questions that I receive on a daily basis.

This “Ask Lee” video Q and A is going to help me filter out the really serious folks from the ones who are just mindlessly sending me misspelled impossible to read e-mail questions.

And the fact that everyone and their dog now has access to some sort of video recorder; be it a webcam, digital camera, cell phone, or whatever… There is no reason why you can’t send in a video question. Bottom line, the better quality question you send me, the better quality answer I’ll give you.

Below is the first “Ask Lee” video Q and A
This comes from Simon, who had some questions about the 21 Day Fast Mass Building Program.

So again, if you have questions, I “may” have an answer… just send if your video and I’ll put together a personalized video Q and A for you!

You can e-mail your video questions to ask-lee-hayward@hotmail.com

A question that I’m often asked by my followers is about lifting straps to re-enforce your grip when lifting weights. How do you use them? When should you use them? etc… Now I’m going to be upfront and say that I personally believe in building up your grip strength naturally without the aid of lifting straps “most” of the time. A big mistake that I see folks doing is getting hooked on lifting straps and using them too often. I actually fell into this trap myself back in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s. I was using straps for all my rowing exercises and I did not do any direct grip training. The end result… My Grip Sucked!

It got to the point where I couldn’t even do a back workout without using straps. I didn’t really think it was that big of a deal until one day when I was watching a local powerlifting meet and I seen a lot of the lifters who were a lot smaller than me, lifting a heck of a lot more than me, and doing it WITHOUT using wrist straps!

This really got me thinking about what I could do to build up my grip strength in a hurry. That’s when I started researching about grip training and that eventually lead me to Heavy Duty Hand Grippers.

I am a huge fan of the Heavy Grips Hand Grippers and I think that all muscle building enthusiasts should incorporate them into their training.

Simply taking 5-10 minutes and doing some direct grip work 3 days per week after your normal workouts will make a HUGE difference in your grip strength and forearm development. In fact within 90 days of using the Heavy Grips I added a solid inch of mass to my forearms and increased my grip strength from barely being able to close the 200 pound gripper to mashing the 300 pound gripper shut.

That grip strength carried over into my weight training workouts as well and now I’m happy to say that I can do a solid back workout without having to rely on lifting straps to get it done.

Now with all that being said, do I still use lifting straps?

YES I do! But now I’m using them the way they were meant to be used. As a tool to help you occasionally push yourself beyond what your grip can normally hold. But not over using them to the point where you rely on them for all your rowing exercises.

For me I’ll put on the straps when I push myself to perform both heavy weights and high reps. Such as heavy “higher” rep deadlifts, heavy high rep dumbbell rows, high rep shrugs, etc. When doing higher reps your grip is more likely to give out before the stronger muscles of your back, traps, etc. reach failure. It’s times like these that straps can help. But I’ll still perform all my warm up sets and even heavy lower rep sets without lifting straps. For example, if I’m pulling a heavy single rep deadlift I’ll do so without the use of straps.

This occasional use of lifting straps along with focusing on direct hand gripper training allows you to get the best of both worlds. A stronger grip and big muscular forearms – PLUS – a tool to help you blast your back past the point of where your grip would normally quit.

In the video clip below I’m showing my friend Brent how to use lifting straps for the first time. If you have never used straps before or are unsure about how to properly set them up. I highly recommend you check it out…

P.S.
If you would like to get your very own set of Heavy Grips Hand Grippers just click on the link below. These are high quality heavy duty steel hand grippers that come in 6 different strengths; 100 pounds, 150 pounds, 200 pounds, 250 pounds, 300 pounds, and 350 pounds. This way you can train your grip just like any other muscle group with progressive overload.

Click Here To Order

Tune in tonight Thursday December 16 as Lee Hayward (Your Muscle Building Coach) shares some killer workout and nutrition tips that will help you build lean muscle, burn off stubborn bodyfat, and get in your personal best shape ever! Lee will be answering your questions live on the show on a first come, first serve basis. So if you have a question that you want to ask Lee, make sure to login early and send Lee a private message via the live chat window. The show starts at: 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time 8:00 pm Central Standard Time 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

Click Here To Watch The Live Show…
@ http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Note:
This will be my LAST live Total Fitness Bodybuilding talk show for 2010,
so please be sure to drop by and say “hello”

It’s very simple when you think about it, but the problem is how do we go about modifying our training and nutritional programs to achieve these goals.

When ever you focus on gaining muscular mass you need to be in a caloric surplus. After all, you have to EAT BIG in order to GET BIG. But the problem is with all the extra calories we often gain some excess bodyfat in addition to the muscle gains.

Then on the other side of the coin, when ever you focus on fat loss you have to be in a caloric deficit. And with the strict dieting you run the risk of losing muscle in addition to losing bodyfat.

This is a vicious cycle that has plagued bodybuilders for years…

So that’s why for the November 18 Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show I want to share some killer tips and tricks that you can use to structure out your year long training and nutritional cycle so that as time goes on, you actually get Bigger AND Leaner.

So be sure to tune in Live Thursday November 18 @ http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

The show starts at: 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time 8:00 pm Central Standard Time 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time For other time zones you can visit: http://www.timezoneconverter.com

Do You Have A Question For Me?

If you have any questions that you would like to ask me on the Live Talk Show with regards to how to go about cycling your training and nutrition program from muscle building phases and fat burning phases, please post them below in the comments section. I’ll be taking the questions posted here on a first post, first answered basis during the Live Talk Show.

So go ahead and post your questions now, and I’ll talk to you soon!

After all, isn’t this how the juicked-up beasts of the IFBB got to be so huge?

By while the pros have built mass… um… let’s just say “artificially”, there’s a way that YOU can build a massive amount of muscle and do it all naturally.

One of the most powerful chemicals in your body for building
muscle mass is growth hormone (GH).

In fact, one university study from Denmark found that a 9 week program designed to naturally stimulate GH release resulted in strength gains 300% over normal increases! Adding to that, men following the program increased arm strength by a whopping 37% compared with only 9% by the “control group” who only followed a “non-GH-stimulation” program. And remember… these GH increases were activated NOT by injected hormone, but by completely natural means.

===================================

The secret to turning GH into muscle!

===================================

Exercise intensity is key when it comes to activating a GH response in your body.

The goal with this technique is to keep your workouts fast and furious while focusing on exercise strategies that will naturally trigger a flood of anabolic chemicals in your muscles.

The “trigger” to make this happen is lactic acid.

Lactic acid is a natural by-product of muscle contractions and reduces the pH level of your muscles, which is why you get that “burning” sensation once you reach muscular failure on any given set.

Lactic acid buildup will actually damage muscle tissue if not
dealt with, so your body (as it’s designed to do), increases GH as one of the mechanisms for helping your muscles recover faster and shuttle out the excess acid.

The more lactic acid, the stronger the anabolic response needs to be to get rid of it.

That means more anabolic juices flowing through your body.

That means more MUSCLE from your workouts!

Now…

===================================

How to naturally “trigger” GH for faster muscle gains!

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• First, you need to choose 2 isolation exercises that focus on the same muscle group, but hit it from different angles or different areas.




• For example, Incline Dumbbell Flyes for upper chest and Decline Dumbbell Flyes for lower chest… or Seated Leg Extensions for quads and Lying Leg Curls for hams.




• You’re going to use these 2 exercises in a “superset” structure so you’ll perform them with no rest between ANY of your sets.




• Now, perform your sets in a very RAPID movement (fast up – fast down) and go for high reps (start with trying to hit 15 reps) until you reach muscular failure.




• These high reps will create more lactic acid in the muscles and trigger a higher GH response.




• Keep switching back and forth between these 2 exercises for about 6 sets each, always going for that higher rep range of about 15 reps… NO REST!

At the end of your sets, you’ll have a massive pump AND feel a strong burning sensation in your muscles.

That’s your sign that the alarm bells are ringing in your body and your endocrin system is calling out the Emergency Response Team to come in and jack up your GH levels through the roof!

Use this technique for a different muscle group for each day of your workout week and watch your body grow!

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Are you joining me THIS THURSDAY (Oct. 28)
for more “mass building secrets” ?

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In case you didn’t see my other email, there’s going to be a FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP this coming THURSDAY Oct. 28 called…

“5 Advanced Mass Building Secrets”!

It’s free to register and you’re going to be getting some real “workout changing” techniques to help you build more muscle in less time.

But seating is limited so you need to grab a seat NOW, ok?

Here’s the site where you can go and register:

Click Here To Register For Your Spot – (It’s Totally FREE!)

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Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll discover:

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• The #1 muscle building technique that allows you to build more mass in less time!




• The little known training secret that INSTANTLY targets 60% more muscle fibers for a mass-building meltdown!




• The most overlooked phase of your workout that’s absolutely DESTROYING your body’s natural anabolic response!




• FINALLY! The TRUTH about how often you need to train to maximize your muscle gains!
  (3 days/wk? 4? 5? The science doesn’t lie!)




• The ultimate “mass-killer” that affects 95% of all struggling gym rats…and how to defeat it once and for all.

================================

Only 200 seats available!

Click Here To Register NOW While You Still Can.

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You can attend LIVE from anywhere in the world and it won’t cost you a dime.

There will even be a FREE REPLAY if you can’t attend the Thursday Oct. 28 workshop but you MUST register to gain access.

I’ll be there… come join us!

all the best,
Lee Hayward
(Your Muscle Building Coach!)

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P.S.
One of the techniques that’s going to be covered will actually take the technique you just read and make it even MORE powerful!

There’s going to be A LOT of killer tips and tricks covered.

You don’t want to miss this one!

So make sure to click on the link below to reserve your spot right now…

Click Here To Register For The FREE Advanced Mass Building Secrets Workshop!

Tune in every Thursday night as Lee Hayward (Your Muscle Building Coach) shares some killer workout and nutrition tips that will help you build lean muscle, burn off stubborn bodyfat, and get in your personal best shape ever! The Live Show Starts at: 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time 8:00 pm Central Standard Time 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time Not sure what time zone you are? Click Here.

Tonight I’m going to do things a little different than usual…

Normally I like to take Q and A live via our chat window during the show itself. Now this works out great for those of you who can tune in Live and watch the show every Thursday night.

However, there are a lot of folks who live in other parts of the world (i.e. Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.) who like to download the replays of the show the next day. It’s cool that they can still catch the show this way, but obviously they can’t ask their questions LIVE on the show.

For the benefit of everyone (regardless if you can make the live show or not), I’m going to be taking your questions and topics that you’d like to have discussed on the show via the comments section below. Then later tonight I’ll simply go through all the comments in the order that I receive them.

So if you want to get your questions answered, be sure to post it ASAP in the comments section right below, I’ll be covering them all on a first posted, first answered basis!

Then after you post your question below head on over to http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv to watch the show live for 9:00 pm Eastern Time, or if you can’t make it, then be sure to download the replay after I post it up tomorrow.

Submit Your Questions In The Comments Box Below…

And then Click Here to watch the show @ http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Tune in every Thursday night as Lee Hayward (Your Muscle Building Coach) shares some killer workout and nutrition tips that will help you build lean muscle, burn off stubborn bodyfat, and get in your personal best shape ever! Lee will be answering your questions live on the show on a first come, first serve basis. So if you have a question that you want to ask Lee, make sure to login early and send Lee a private message via the live chat window. The show starts at: 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time 8:00 pm Central Standard Time 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time For other time zones you can visit: http://www.timezoneconverter.com

Click Here To Watch The Live Show…
@ http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Tune in every Thursday night as Lee Hayward (Your Muscle Building Coach) shares some killer workout and nutrition tips that will help you build lean muscle, burn off stubborn bodyfat, and get in your personal best shape ever!Lee will be answering your questions live on the show on a first come, first serve basis. So if you have a question that you want to ask Lee, make sure to login early and send Lee a private message in the chat window below. The show starts at: 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time 8:00 pm Central Standard Time 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time For other time zones you can visit: http://www.timezoneconverter.com

Click Here To Watch The Live Show…
@ http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

The Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show airs tonight
August 19 at 9:00 pm eastern time at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Tonight I’m going to continue on with the whole bodybuilding supplement theme that I’ve been using with my most recent YouTube videos.

In case you haven’t seen them all you can check them out at:

Part 1: Bodybuilding Supplement Overview

Part 2: All About Protein Supplements

Part 3: All About Creatine Supplements

Part 4: Must Have Supplements For Overall Health & Fitness

So for tonights talk show I’m going to focus the topic on answering your supplement questions and clarifying some of the stuff that I’ve already covered so far in my recent supplement review videos.

The show will be starting at 9:00 pm Eastern Time at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

I’m looking forward to chatting with you then!

Last night we had our weekly Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show
and I answered viewer questions live via the video chat window.

For those of you who are new to this website, I host a live Q and A
style bodybuilding and fitness talk show every Thursday night at 9:00 pm EST
at: http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

So if you have any questions about building muscle, losing fat, or anything
with regards to bodybuilding, working out, nutrition, supplements, etc.
Tune in every Thursday night and get the inside scoop from a veteran
“muscle-head” with over 19 years experience in the iron game

You can download the audio Podcast and listen in on your MP3 player.

Right Click Here To Download
The MP3 Audio File.

Note:
Unfortunately, the video replay of our talk show locked up and didn’t save
and record properly, but thankfully the MP3 recording was saved fine.

For our July 15 Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show I was joined by FAME Fitness Model Competitor and Author of The “Bones To Buff” program, Joey Vaillancourt.

Joey and I did a tele-conference call and discussed a lot of the unique arm specialization workouts that I have covered in my “Blast Your Biceps” program as well as some overall bodybuilding and mass building training techniques in general.

Right Click Here and choose “Save Target As…” to download the MP3 audio recording to your computer. I have to apologize in advance for the fact that the audio is a little low, so you’ll have to crank up your speakers to hear it. Also at the end of the call when we un-muted the lines for live Q and A there was some back ground static noise. But 90% of the call came through clear. We discussed some killer training tips on this call. Heck, I was even impressed with all the valuable stuff we covered here. It’s a must listen to if you are struggling with building up your skinny arms or any lagging muscle group for that matter.

Note:
Make sure to Subscribe To The RSS Feed and stay up to date
with all the newest Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk shows.

For More Information About “Bones To Buff” Click On The Link Below: “Bones To Buff” Muscle Building Program Transform Your Body From ‘Skin and Bones’ to ‘Strong and Buff’

For More Information About “Blast Your Biceps” Click On The Link Below: “Blast Your Biceps” How To Add 2 Inches Of Solid Muscle Mass To Your Upper Arms In Just 8 Weeks!

This show covered viewer questions with regards to
Mass Building Training, Nutrition, and Supplementation…

I dedicated the entire talk show to answering your questions
and we covered some very important ones such as:

- How do you create a body part specialization workout?

- What supplements should you take before, during, & after
your workouts?

- Can protein supplements cancel out the negative affects
of drinking alcohol?

- What’s best for building mass: heavy weights and low reps
or lighter weights and higher reps?

- How to know when should you bulk up and gain size,
and when should you focus on cutting up and losing fat?

You can download the MP3 replay now at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Tonight (June 3rd) I’m going to have Part 2 of 6 of our
Total Fitness Bodybuilding MASS Building Special!

Tonights topic is on Muscle Building Nutrition.

Without proper nutrition, even the best workout routine is useless. You absolutely
MUST fuel your body properly in order to maximize your muscle gains in the gym.

So if you are interested in getting some killer tips and tricks
for packing on solid lean muscular mass be sure to tune in
live tonight Thursday June 3rd at 9:00 pm Eastern time at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv

Starting with the May 27 Total Fitness Bodybuilding Talk Show
I’m going to be doing things a little differently than normal…

For the next several shows I’m going to focus on laying out
a good mass & strength building program that you can follow.

As you probably know, I’ve been primarily focused on fatloss
with my own training over the past several months while I was
preparing for my most recent bodybuilding competition.

But now that my bodybuilding show is over I’m really looking
forward to switching gears towards “Power-Bodybuilding” and
making some good solid gains in lean muscle mass and strength!

So if you are interested in getting some killer tips and tricks
for packing on solid lean muscular mass be sure to tune in
live tonight Thursday May 27 at 9:00 pm Eastern time at:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/tv