Top 6 Ab Training Mistakes

October 21st, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Exercise Technique, Fitness Tips, Weight Training 5 Comments »

Want thick, dense abs that stand out like a washboard? Want a ripped midsection with veins and shredded striations? No? How about this: Want to look good naked?

Well, you will never achieve any of those goals if you train your abs once a week with three sets of crunches for 100 reps, or if you eat like a horse. Avoid these 6 common abdominal training mistakes and your abs will dial in. Whether you are a bodybuilder, an athlete, or a novice, chances are you are making several of these mistakes in your training right now. Take heed!

A great example of male and female abs gone right.

The Top 6 Abdominal Training Mistakes

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Tags: 6 pack, ab training, abdominals, abs, Conditioning, fitness, six pack, weightlifting

Introducing JackedPack

October 4th, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Product Reviews, Supplements No Comments »

Deciding which nutritional supplements to take is a challenge for most people. The sports nutrition market is currently so over saturated in most categories that it makes it very difficult to discern which products actually work, which ones taste good, and/or provide the best value for money. It’s silly to go out uninformed and drop $50+ dollars on a single product and get a nasty surprise if the quality isn’t up to par.

JackedPack solves this problem by taking guesswork out of the equation. For under $10/month, subscribers receive a monthly box of new samples from the best brands in sports nutrition delivered right to their door. This way members can test a wide variety of products ranging from standard supplement categories like pre-workouts, protein powders, fat burners etc. to unique items like protein cookies and breads. As they like to say,

“It’s like Christmas for meatheads every month!”

If members enjoy the samples, they can buy the full size items through JackedPack at a great discount.

The guys at JackedPack are also building a likable brand with a great sense of humor that comes through on their online content, workout articles, and monthly product descriptions.

Team JackedPack will be contributing some content to Project Swole in the coming months so check them out at www.JackedPack.com and use the promo code SWOLE to get 50% off your first month.

Connect with JackedPack on Facebook and Twitter, but always place your order through the links here at Project Swole so JackedPack will know that Swole sent you!

I received my first JackedPack the other day. Took some pictures. I’ll post a review shortly when I have a chance to go through it and try a couple things.

Tags: jacked pack, jackedpack, samples, Supplements

Top 6 Arm Training Mistakes

October 1st, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Exercise Technique, Fitness Tips, Weight Training 7 Comments »

Want big arms? Want lean, shredded arms? Then don’t make any of these arm training mistakes. Here are 6 great arm training tips for bodybuilders, fitness athletes, sports athletes, and newbies alike. Forget the myths, stop the mistakes, and train your arms proper!

The Top 6 Arm Training Mistakes

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Tags: arms, biceps, exercise, exercise technique, mistakes, myths, triceps, Weight Training, weightlifting

How to Gain Lean Muscle Fast

September 24th, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Diet, Fitness Tips, Nutrition Tip No Comments »

Are you in the market to gain muscle?

Building some hardcore muscle—without gaining fat along with it—is easier than you might think.

Here are some tips to start building muscle today.

Pump Up With Protein

Because muscle fibers are made up of many different proteins, protein is the #1 necessary ingredient to build muscle.

One study found participants who ate 20 grams protein every 3 hours significantly increased muscle building potential, compared with those who ate 40 g every 6 hours. [1] So, eating good amounts of protein throughout the day feeds muscles and keeps them raring to go.

The ideal daily protein intake is about 1 g protein per pound body weight. [2] So, a 200-pound man should eat about 200 g protein a day. Of course, this differs depending on individual needs.

The best high protein foods to eat are chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef, eggs, beans, nuts, milk, and cheese. [2]

Many bodybuilders also use protein supplements, which provide a heavy dose of pure protein. Whey protein powder is generally the best choice because it has high protein content and lots of muscle-building branched chain amino acids. [3]

Be careful, though. Protein shouldn’t make up more than 30% of your caloric intake. Too much protein increases risk of kidney problems, dehydration, and other issues. [4]

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Tags: bodybuilder, bodybuilding, build muscle, building muscle, Diet, exercise, fitness, gain muscle, muscle gain, nutrition, workout

5 Tips for Building Muscle With Hypertrophy Training

September 19th, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Fitness Tips 1 Comment »

In the eternal quest to perfect your body, a lot of methods and training regimens will only let you down. However, if you want to build muscle like a pro, hypertrophy training is one of the most effective methods.

When it comes to building muscle mass and strength fast, hypertrophy training can give you results in almost half the time that other strength training regimens take.

This kind of efficiency is what makes hypertrophy training so popular among body builders, but it is important know a few tips and tricks first.

Here are five tips for building muscle with hypertrophy training.

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Tags: bodybuilder, bodybuilding, build muscle, building muscle, gain muscle, hypertrophy, muscle gain

B Vitamins Enhance Muscle Building

September 17th, 2013 Posted in Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, Nutrition Tip 2 Comments »

Take Your B’s to Build Huge Bis

Few people know the 8 B vitamins by name, but were you aware that they all contribute to the body’s ability to build muscle? They are often referred to as the vitamins that provide immune support and while this is helpful when training hard which can place a stress on the immune system, their role extends far beyond this.

Each plays a role in the metabolism, which is the processing of the foods we eat to ensure the release of energy needed to power muscle function, but also helps to support the nervous system to make co-ordinated movement possible. Here we take a look at each in turn, considering their importance and where they can be sourced from the diet, as well as how else you might be able to top up your intake of these essential nutrients.

Vitamin B1

Also known as thiamine, this vitamin is needed for the production of ATP, the substance which the body uses for energy release to enable muscle contraction to occur during weight training. It’s therefore no surprise that tiredness can be a sign that you aren’t getting enough of this micronutrient, which can interfere with the effort you are able to put into training.

Thiamine also controls the movement of electrolytes across cell membranes, which is needed for the nerves and the muscles that they control to function. The richest sources of this B vitamin are meats, brewer’s yeast, whole grains or cereals that have been fortified with b vitamins; in many countries it is mandatory that refined flour and white rice have thiamine added to them, as the processing removes the majority of this vitamin.

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Tags: build muscle, Diet, food, health, muscle gains, nutrients, nutrition, vitamin b, vitamins

Top 6 Shoulder Training Mistakes

September 16th, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Exercise Technique, Fitness Tips, Weight Training 4 Comments »

Having great shoulders really makes you appear sleek and powerful. However, chest and back training does not suffice when attempting to build spectacular shoulders. You must train the shoulders directly, intensely, and often. Be attentive of these 6 common mistakes that people make when training shoulders.

The Top 6 Shoulder Training Mistakes

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Tags: deltoids, exercise, exercise technique, overhead press, shoulder, shoulder press, shoulders, training, Training Articles, Weight Training, weightlifting

Top 6 Chest Training Mistakes

September 10th, 2013 Posted in Bodybuilding, Exercise Technique, Weight Training 8 Comments »

Your chest is a large and complicated muscle. Considering its size you would think it would be easy to stimulate growth. Do some flat bench, another secondary movement, and your chest starts growing. Unfortunately the pecs are a much more muscle group area than that. In fact it is downright complex.

Training the pectoralis is a major puzzle to most bodybuilders, thinking a couple sets of bench press is all it takes, or going to the other extreme by dedicating a full day to 20 sets of different bench press variations. In this piece we would like to expose the answer to this puzzle by discussing the six most prevalent chest training errors and then providing tips to avoid them.

Read carefully; you will be surprised how many mistakes you are likely making.

The Top 6 Chest Training Mistakes

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Tags: chest, chest training, exercise, exercise technique, mistakes, myths, pec training, pecs, training, Weight Training, weightlifting

Use That Body Weight For Good Fitness

September 6th, 2013 Posted in Exercise, Flexibility 1 Comment »

I recently made a post on how to exercise while traveling. Below you will find a few ideas that you can perform. These can be done at home as well, which can save you a ton of cash in gym memberships.

You won’t get nearly the results you’d get from training regularly with real free weight equipment, but certainly it works in a pinch.

Lunges – Take a step forward, bend the front leg until your thigh is parallel with the ground, and step back. Repeat on the other side. Be careful not to come down hard on the knee of the back leg.
Chair Dips – Sit on the edge of a chair, with your legs straight out in front with your knees locked. Place a hand directly under each cheek, and scoot your bottom off of the chair. Slowly lower your body, and when you have gone down as far as you feel comfortable, push yourself back to the top.
Jump Squats – Bend at the knees, back straight, eyes looking ahead. Touch your hands just below the knees, and jump straight up. Land softly, and repeat.
Push-ups – Laying face first on the floor, place your hands on either side of you chest. Keeping your legs, and back straight, push yourself straight up off of the floor. After you have reached the top, lower yourself down.
Planks – Start off in a push-up position, except this time place your elbows, resting on your forearms. Simply hold this position for 30-60 seconds.

There you have it. Do two to three sets of this routine, with 10-15 reps per set, and you have just done a body weight routine that will build muscle and tone up what you already have.

Tags: body weight, bodyweight, exercise, fitness, workout

How Long Does It Take to Become a Certified Personal Trainer?

September 5th, 2013 Posted in Business 1 Comment »

The Personal Training Attitude

Becoming a personal trainer is something that only a select few are suited for. For one thing, it’s not enough to simply enjoy physical fitness yourself, although that is certainly a prerequisite if you want a career you love. You will need to exhibit specific strengths (pardon the pun) in order to excel in such a field.

You’ll definitely have to be committed to keeping yourself in shape; after all, who wants to listen to a personal trainer that isn’t fit? That’s like trusting a driving instructor that’s never been behind the wheel of a car. However, you also need to have the right disposition. If people want to be barked at and ordered around, they’ll join a boot camp class.

It’s the job of a personal trainer to motivate, not command. You need to be patient and nurturing and employ excellent communication skills. And above all, you have to be passionate about helping others become the best version of themselves. But you also need a fair amount of training under your own belt before you can train others if you don’t want to push them too far or cause undue physical harm. As a result, it may take you a little time to become a personal trainer.

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Tags: Business, dietician, exercise, fitness, industry, nutritionist, personal trainer, personal training, trainer, training