Minerals: Essential to Your Body’s Survival

Minerals are often clumped in with vitamins as something that is necessary for your body’s optimum health.  In this sense that definition is true: minerals are necessary for optimum health.  Many minerals are even considered essential minerals, as in the human body must absolutely have them to survive.  So what exactly are dietary minerals?

Dietary minerals are the chemical elements that your body requires to live (as do most living organisms) that are present in most organic molecules.  Translation: they’re the chemicals in your body and the bodies of most animals that keeps everything functioning the way it should so you can live happy, healthy, and normal.  The actual word “mineral” confuses many people, and it’s an archaic term from a time when science didn’t understand the functions of the body as fully as they do now.

Minerals, like vitamins, can be provided naturally through food, and can also be ingested through various supplements that are available to bodybuilders and the common public as well.  While the differences between vitamins and minerals is hard to describe (and some are the same), minerals are an absolute necessity for good health, and even life itself.  There are 17 minerals that are just essential for a human body to live and function.  Some have obvious and well known uses, others aren’t as well known but remain necessary.  Those 17 essential minerals are:

#1 Calcium: Everyone knows about calcium, which is used for muscles, heart, and building bone.  This mineral is where dairy products shine.

#2 Chloride: This is what produces the acid in your stomach, and is mostly acquired in your body through the intake of salt.

#3 Cobalt: This is also known as vitamin B12 and can be found in concentrated supplement form.

#4 Copper: Copper is a critical part of many enzymes that the body needs to function a full capacity.

#5 Fluorine: This is related to the word fluoride, which more people will be familiar with.  This mineral is what allows tooth enamel to form, allowing us our ability to chew food and eat.

#6 Iodine: Iodine is the mineral required for thyroid regulation.  An iodine deficiency is what causes goiters, which are often a problem in older age.

#7 Iron: Protein may build the muscles, but iron is what makes the protein work.  Iron is one of the most essential of the minerals of the body.

#8 Magnesium: Required for bones, this element tends to decrease in older age.

#9 Manganese: Think of this mineral as an enabler for enzymes.

#10 Molybdenum: Works with oxidation of cells in the body.

#11 Nickel: Helps strengthen bones and keeps them healthy.

#12 Phosphorus: This mineral is another part of keeping bones healthy, but phosphorus also helps the body create energy, and also assists in a wide array of other functions.

#13 Potassium: Potassium is actually an electrolyte that is extremely important in keeping the electrolyte count balanced and using sodium and water with maximum effectiveness.

#14 Selenium: This mineral is the ultimate enabler of antioxidant enzymes in the human body.

#15 Sodium: Is an important electrolyte and works hand in hand with potassium.  One of the most well known minerals

#16 Sulfur: Critical in working with certain amino acids in the body.

#17: Zinc: Zinc is one of the most important minerals and works with several enzymes to keep the boy healthy.

These are the seventeen essential minerals that help the human body function, and taking quality multi-vitamins will help keep your mineral levels healthy.

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Fat Smash Diet - Blast That Fat Away

The fat smash diet is a very popular diet that through intensive eating and working out (coupled with solid online support groups) can help many dieters drastically cut away weight and fat over a 3 month (90 day) program.  The fat smash diet is split into four specific phases, and has been lauded by many for its common sense approach to eating and dieting.  It has also been lauded by many dieters because of looser restrictions: you don’t have to follow the diet in an extremely strict line by line manner as long as you’re following the basic premises of it.

As mentioned earlier, this diet is broken into four specific phases, with an emphasis on heavy eating of fruits and vegetables throughout the whole diet.

Phase One: “Detox.”  This phase of the diet lasts a mere 9 days, but is considered one of, if not the, most important step of the entire diet plan.  During the detox phase you will mostly eat different fruits and vegetables and little else.  The point of this is to cleanse your body of junk and eliminate toxins from your blood that are left over like alcohol, caffeine, and bloat.

Increasing the amount of fruit & veggies you eat also increases your body’s ability to clean itself all the way down on the cellular level.  Unlimited fruits and veggies are allowed with the exception of potatoes and avocados, while small amounts of other food are allowed, but no meat.

Phase Two: “Foundation.”  This phase of the diet will last three weeks.  In this phase fruits and veggies still have the green light, but you also get to eat some lean meats now.  This phase lasts for three weeks, and you can have some chicken, turkey, and fish, along with 2 diet pops a day, if you want a sweet reward.

Phase Three: “Construction.”  This phase of the diet will last four weeks.  In this phase you can eat everything allowed from phase one and two, but you also get to enjoy whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread.  It also increases the amount of protein you can have, as well as adding quite a few other food items in small doses that were restricted before, such as fat free mayo, peanut butter, cheese, fresh juice, and some dessert.

Phase Four: “The Temple.”  This is the phase of the diet that should set your habits for life.  The idea is if you’ve made it this far in the diet, then you should be able to have the discipline and food knowledge to keep watching your diet within reason from then on out.  In this phase you can eat all the foods allowed before, as well as small amounts of white starches, small amounts of alcohol, and even some junk food.  The idea is control: that if you have a candy bar and soda once, it won’t become a habit and you’ll take a smaller portion of meat at dinner.

This is one of those rare diets that is trying to help the dieter create a life change in their diet habits that will allow them good health and habits through the rest of their life, and the dieter who manages that won’t be disappointed.

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Tyson Beckford Workout - Tyson Beckford Workout Routine

There aren’t many men who have accomplished what Tyson Beckford has.  There aren’t many places for 200+ pound men in the modeling world, but when you have the combination of athletic and bodybuilder’s physique like Tyson Beckford does, exceptions can be made.  Tyson Beckford has been a male model for almost ten years, and is now beginning to break into acting, as well.

Tyson Beckford has the athletic body of an excellent athlete and bodybuilder, and that is due in no small part to his specific bodybuilding workouts that help him to bulk up, and then shape and chisel his physique to its healthy and impressive appearance.  Tyson has been pretty open in interviews asking about his workout habits, and from this information we can glean a lot of useful information.

The “Tyson Beckford Workout” has to work for him, because he is an individual who makes his living by not only staying fit, but by looking really good while doing it.  Tyson’s workout involves working out five days a week, starting out with basic calisthenics to warm up, then moving on to weight lifting, and finishing with cardio.  He rotates which muscles he works out while weight lifting day to day so that the muscles that need rest get it, while he pushes those groups of muscles that have already been rested up.

One fact about Tyson Beckford’s workout that should be encouraging to even the most novice of beginners is that Tyson doesn’t have a personal training.  His entire training regiment is based around research from finding online articles and magazines like “Men’s Health.”  This proves that a person doesn’t need to be a professional trainer to come up with a workout routine that does wonders.  Doing research, picking the minds of professionals when you’re around them, and having the discipline to stick with a well set up exercise routine can help you hit the highest points of success.

Because of his job being a male model, there are certain areas of the body Tyson Beckford’s workouts cover in length.  Pecs is one of the obvious ones, and the way he maintains great chest muscles is to go heavy on a wide variety of exercises that help form the chest: decline, incline, dips, press…all the weight exercises that exercise different parts of the chest.

Another major part of Tyson Beckford’s over all fitness plan involves diet – which every bodybuilding program should have.  Diet is just as important as the actual exercises and workout cycles.  Tyson Beckford’s diet is very strict, according to him.  He never eats red meat or pork, trying to avoid the heavy fats and substituting better white meat for the protein.  He eats a lot of fish, chicken, vegetables, and salad, and that gives him the right calories and energy he needs to keep a good male model’s physique.

Tyson Beckford’s workout routines show that once again a combination of diet, a smart informed exercise program, and dedication can equal all the results you need.

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Glutamine - Amino Acid Supplements

Glutamine (also often referred to as glutamate, or glutamic acid) is one of twenty amino acids in the human body found in the normal genetic code of human beings. Glutamine is often referred to in areas of weight lifting and bodybuilding because there are glutamine supplements that are supposed to help fuel the body, as well as help to prevent the immune system’s vulnerability after highly physically demanding events like marathons or triathlons, or anything similar in nature.

Glutamine is often times recommended to individuals training to be endurance based athletes for high level competitions. The reason for this comes from scientific studies that were done after several people noticed that many of these great long distance athletes had a bizarre tendency to catch a cold or get sick after a competition. This seemed really strange for individuals who were in such amazing health. Why did these people tend to get sick, and why did it seem to consistently take place after these major competitions?

The reason that endurance athletes often catch colds or a minor flu after completing a marathon, or any similar high stress endurance event, is because glutamine levels are very low after such an athletic event, weakening the body’s immune system and causing the athlete in question to be particularly vulnerable.

Basically this is how glutamine works: glutamine is used by cells of your intestines for fuel. When the intestines don’t have as much fuel, this can cause the body to be especially weak and the viruses and bacteria that cause colds will find your body a much more hospitable host at this point. Using glutamine supplements can help endurance athletes to help lower their chances of catching colds or illness after a high stress major event like a triathlon. In addition to this, for some individuals glutamine has shown some effectiveness for dealing with certain digestive conditions.

While studies are still relatively new on glutamine and glutamine supplements, there is at least some evidence that these supplements can help keep the immune systems of endurance athletes slightly healthier and more likely to fight off colds, stomach flus, and other basic pains and discomforts. Because of these effects, glutamine has also been used because of its promise in helping more seriously sick individuals have an appetite and heal after or during treatments that are hard on the body, such as chemo.

While scientists are spending time on this use for glutamine supplements, glutamine has been used for bodybuilders for a variety of reasons. Many believe that glutamine is an excellent way to treat overtraining syndrome, and can also increase recovery from workouts, although actual studies are at best, mixed, on whether or not this is actually true and effective.

While glutamine supplements may help out certain types of athletes, it’s hard to say what the exact effect is for each individual will be, but the studies we have say that it does appear to definitely help endurance athletes from getting sick after a major event, and that’s where its best application may very well lie.

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Triceps Workouts - Balancing the Biceps

The triceps are another set of muscles that are very popular to work out, and which must be worked out to balance any gains in your biceps. There are several popular triceps exercises that can get the job done, and just as with the biceps, some of the most commonly learned and basic workout routines are designed to specifically to work out the triceps.

One of the popular triceps muscles workouts is called the “close grip” bench press. This bench press exercise is done the same way as a regular bench press designed to work out your biceps and chest, except it is done with a lot less weight because your hands are placed close together, only 4-6 inches apart, in the middle of the bar. These presses require far less weight, but the effect on your triceps is great, and this lift still affects the outer edges of your pectoral muscles, helping to have a more balanced chest workout.

A note on this exercise: just like with the “diamond” push ups that emphasize different muscles, with the close grip bench press you don’t necessarily have to lower the bar all the way to your chest the way you would with a regular bench press. This can be harmful to your wrists and lower arms. Your hands may even stop several inches above your chest, and that’s fine. You don’t want to feel any pain or stress on your wrists. If you do, you’re bringing the bar down too far.

This is an exercise that doesn’t require a lot of weight. Using proper technique for this lift alone is enough to increase your triceps, and help to balance out the muscles to insure optimum growth of all the arm muscles, and the top effectiveness of all your weight lifting workouts. While the close grip bench press might be one of the most popular and common exercises to improve the triceps, there are others, as well.

The reverse grip bench press is another bodybuilding exercise that does great work on the triceps. This lift is done by using a normal or slightly wider grip on the bar, but with your hands holding the bear in an underhand position like you would with a bicep curl. This exercise also requires less weight to be effective, and strong appropriate technique is of paramount importance. If you are performing the reverse grip bench press correctly, then there should be less stress on your wrists and you won’t feel the effect on your chest muscles as much as you do with a close grip bench press.

Triceps extensions can be done in many different ways, and are gaining popularity. This is when you take a dumbbell overhead with your arms straight, then lower it behind your head before raising it again. This can be done standing up or sitting down, one arm at a time with a smaller weight, or both arms together, with fingers knitted, on one larger weight. All these styles work.

These are just a few of the great workouts that build up your triceps and help keep your arm muscles balanced and looking great.

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Rodger Clemens Workout - Rodger Clemens Workout Routines

Roger Clemens is one of those rare athletes who has managed to stay a top notch performer far into the type of age where most players have long since fallen off from their prime, or have even retired, no longer able to perform at a high level. Clemens, like many players who seem to defy Father Time far longer than their fellow athletes, is renown for his off season conditioning and for not necessarily a gym rat, but Clemens did work out with religious fervor, and that’s why when many pitchers were fading badly in their mid-30’s that Clemens continued to dominate into his mid-40’s.

Early in his career, Roger Clemens would keep his legs in shape with long-distance running. While many pitchers skimped on the leg training (because how often does a pitcher actually have to run anywhere) Clemens would run four to five miles a day. That long range running wasn’t the only exercise involved in a Roger Clemens workout. Power weight lifting for the lower body and light toning weight lifting for the upper body were both major parts of Clemens’ workout.

Clemens would work out more lightly on days he was going to pitch, but that didn’t mean he would skip working out completely. On days he was going to pitch he might jog for a few miles.

The Roger Clemens workout routine now is based around a routine of four different workouts that get rotated to balance each other out with maximum efficiently. The Roger Clemens workout now focuses mostly on intense aerobic exercise. Good heart health and core health is paramount to remaining healthy and performing at a high level into older age. Clemens also mixes in some power weight lifting for his lower body and light bench work his arms, followed by agility drills.

There are two days that concentrate mostly on lower-body weight lifting. In addition to that, there is also a day that focuses mostly on using weights to work over the upper body, and then four sessions of cardio. The cardio workout is one of the mainstay of Roger Clemens’ exercise routine, and every workout also includes various abdominal exercises that are said to equal up to an incredible 750 sit ups. That’s not Herschel Walker territory, but it is still pretty impressive.

The day after pitching is when Clemens performs the hardest workouts of his rotations. Using common sense, the workouts decrease in difficulty, becoming a little bit easier every day until the next day he pitches, which is the easiest day of working out so he remains fresh for the game. Clemens also had one habit that set him apart. Most pitchers would throw once in between pitching appearances, but Clemens would throw twice.

The intensity of the Roger Clemens workout routine has made him a living legend, even among pitchers twenty years his junior who simply can’t keep up with the old guy. And the on field results are without questions. Two pitching triple crowns, two World Series titles, an MVP, and seven Cy Young awards, won in both the American and the National Leagues.

Natural talent is an amazing thing, but Clemens worked for his success and deserves every bit of it.

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Natural Bodybuilding - Bulking Up the Right Way

It seems like these days there are countless varieties and brands of body building supplements that hit the market promising the world. More and more of these also seem to be aimed at youth, and many young bodybuilders are buying supplements and similar materials to boost their performance. The problem is that some of these supplements don’t work, and many that do have possible harmful side effects. Why risk it?

It is always a good idea to try out natural bodybuilding exercises and techniques when you’re looking to bulk up for any reason. Many individuals new to bodybuilding may incorrectly think that only steroids and supplements can get someone ripped quickly, but that’s not the case. Good nutrition (not only the types of food you eat, but when and how much in relation to the day and your workouts) and an excellent natural bodybuilding workout based around your body type can get you amazing results in a relatively short time, and without the side effects of supplements or illegal drugs.

Natural bodybuilding is more than enough to get the competitive figure that you want. In addition to that, there is a difference between naturally grown muscle and supplement aided muscle, and natural bodybuilding = good health. The same can’t be said for someone taking steroids or 2,000% of the daily requirement for caffeine. These can lead to massive health problems including, in some extreme cases, even death.

If you really want to have a healthy and muscular body that attracts attention, then there is absolutely no question that you need to follow a strict regimen of regular bodybuilding workouts and a proper eating diet for building muscle, including natural muscle enhancing natural food supplements like whey proteins, which do amazing things to help you shape your body and since whey protein is natural, your body can fully break it down without negative side effects.

Eating proper nutrition is maybe just as, if not even slightly more, important than even the workouts themselves. The right diet and nutrition plan helps your body balance burning calories and building muscles. Football players aren’t buff just because they’re athletic and have a weight room: it’s amazing how many pounds of muscle you can put on in a short time when you consume the right number (and percentage) of fat calories, protein calories, and carb calories.

Natural bodybuilding is absolutely the way to go, and if you’re trying to gain muscle, don’t stay on a weight loss diet. To gain muscle, on average you want 17 calories per pound of body weight. 30% of all calories should come from proteins, 50% by natural (good) carbs, and only 20% from fats. If you can’t follow that exactly, make sure you get your protein.

As far as the natural bodybuilding workouts: stay with the exercises in your plan, and don’t think you’re helping by doing more than the recommended sets or reps. Your body can only take and recover from so much, and over training is a huge mistake that is really common to make. “Slow and steady” doesn’t sound sexy, but it’s the way to go and in reality, it really isn’t that much slower than all the unhealthy methods that claim to get such quick results.

Remember that above all else, health comes first, so natural bodybuilding should always be the right choice.

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Arm Exercises - Countless Ways to Bulk up the Guns

One type of exercise that a bodybuilder should never have trouble finding are arm exercises. There are tons of different lifts and exercises for every part of the arm from the shoulders to the wrists, and almost every muscle in the arm has not one, but multiple different styles of weight lifting that allows you to not only build bulk, but to constantly challenge each and every muscle so your body doesn’t adapt and stop you in your attempts to continue to bulk up.

What more, is that very similar motions or exercises can affect different parts of the body and your arms depending on how the bench is moved or inclined. There are dozens and dozens of ways to work out your arms, and arm exercises are among the most popular because they are not only some of the easiest weight lifting exercises to perform, but they are also many of the easiest to learn. Aside from that, arm exercises show results more quickly than many other forms of bodybuilding

Arm exercises are also some of the most popular exercises out there. Bicep curls, triceps extensions, and the famous bench press are three of the most popular and well known exercises. These are often the very first weight lifting exercises that teenage athletes learn, and remain mainstays of arm exercises because they are very effective in making arms stronger.

There are different variations of these exercises, and the differences in reps and sets can make even the same exercises have radically different results. No matter what type of a gym you go into, when you hit the weight sections there are going to be more arm lifts going on, and more machines based around arm lifts, than any other type of equipment. Since arms are often one of the most visible parts of the body, having good looking arms is a very high priority for most individual males, whether they are pro bodybuilders or amateurs who just want to strengthen up a little.

Free weights, dumbbells, bench presses, and arm exercise machines are consistently the largest section of virtually any gym you walk into. People exercise to get into good health, and to get noticed…and not necessarily in that order. Arm exercises are going to help you get noticed far more quickly than back exercises or leg exercises. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t exercise the rest of your body like back, shoulders, chest, and legs, but arms will most likely get noticed the most quickly and so they are sure to remain among the most popular.

One major caveat of arm exercises is that they have to be done correctly with proper technique. Sometimes the person working out does the technique wrong because they are working with too much weight – usually because of the misconception that using more weight will speed up the process (it won’t if it’s too much) or because they’re trying to impress someone in the gym. Don’t make these mistakes. You’ll get hurt and set yourself back months.

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Use the right arm exercise techniques, and you’ll be much happier with the results.

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Chest Workouts: Sculpting a Broad Chest

The arms aren’t the only part of the body that requires a good weight lifting routine in order to get into sculpted shape. The chest is an area that also requires a quality weight lifting plan, whether you are male or female. The goals may be different, as most men want defined chest muscles that result in a larger, broader, and muscular chests that they can show off while women want toning to make their bodies look good, and in some cases, to help keep the “lift” in that part of the body.

The chest is one of those areas that no matter whether it is male or female involved, the chest area requires a lot of different exercises and hard work to tone or to gain muscle. While there are many different machines and lifts that help to build muscles in the chest, many bodybuilders are fans of the basics. For those men who want to gain large amounts of muscle to show off their chest, a lot of sweat, blood, and hours upon hours of work and weight lifting are required to get the pecs that you want. In this case there are no short cuts, and because of the sheer size of the pectoral muscles, it is going to take that much more work to get the type of muscular chest you want.

If you’re female and looking to tone, don’t worry, the same types of exercises apply to you, as well. The fear of many women of becoming a ripped unfeminine bodybuilder isn’t realistic: you would have to eat thousands of calories and have an unusually high amount of testosterone in the body to even begin to worry about that.

When exercising the chest muscles, it’s important to know that the chest is made of two main heads, the “pectoralis major” and the “pectoralis minor.” There are two main types of motions used in weight lifting that allow you to work out these two muscles and develop a great looking pair of pectoral muscles. These motions are the press, and the fly. While both are needed in conjunction, the press is definitely the more important of the two types of exercises.

The more weight that you can lift through the full range of motion, the more muscle fibers that get involved. No matter what machines or exercises you look at using in order to work out your chest, nothing replaces the effectiveness for heavy presses (either barbell or dumbbell both work), as well as wide grip dips. These exercises allow you to really work out the muscle fibers in your chest and get into shape.

These exercises are considered “core lifts” and should be the absolute cornerstone of any weight lifting workouts designed with bulking up (or toning up) the chest. The occasional set of fly based motions have there place, but the press is definitely where most of your concentration should be.

Follow this advice, and your chest workouts are sure to be more effective and you will see and enjoy the results fast.

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Herschel Walker Workout - Herschel Walker Exercise

Herschel Walker was a fantastic running back who played for 12 years in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl twice.  While an ill-fated trade (for the Vikings) put a dent in the potential of what Walker might have been able to accomplish, he remains famous for his absolutely legendary workout regimen.  The Herschel Walker workout regimen is what kept him in shape even into his mid to late thirties, and remains well known as a shining example of dedication and how natural exercises even without weight lifting could give him an incredible bodybuilder’s physique.

There are two different workouts that might be referred to as a “Herschel Walker” workout right now: one mentioned in his book “Basic Training” and the one that Walker himself has done for decades now.  Most of the references to the Herschel Walker workout will be to his personal workout, which many people who haven’t followed his career often automatically think has to be exaggerated b.s.  But it’s not.

Herschel Walker never lifted weights, but looking at him you would never guess that fact.  The reason?  The best exercise is often resistance against your own body, and aside from the obvious running and sprinting, Walker’s entire workout consisted of only three exercises:

1.    Sit Ups
2.    Push Ups
3.    Chin Ups

Walker’s work out is a staggering 2,500 sit ups and 1,500 push ups a day.  Those numbers are right.  2,500 sit ups & 1,500 push ups every 24 hours.  That definitely proves that Walker’s body isn’t just for show: those muscles know how to work.  Walker’s philosophy on working out is simple: start every day very early in the morning before the distractions of the day come around, and do that work out without quitting every single day, 365 days a year, 366 on leap years, no matter what.

It didn’t matter if Walker was at home or on the road, every morning he gets up before everyone else and goes to an exercise area where he begins this iron man workout.  This doesn’t mean that you should start tomorrow trying to do 2,000 sit ups.  Many of us would be hard pressed to do 200 sit ups and half as many push ups in one sitting.  What Walker’s freakishly difficult workout regimen shows is that dedication is the absolute most important part of any workout program.

When Herschel Walker was an NFL player he never lifted weights, but still performed at a high level.  How many tailbacks get strong enough in “old age” in their thirties to effectively play fullback?  That’s exactly what Walker did in his last season with the Dallas Cowboys.

Dedication and mental toughness are the hardest parts of Walker’s workout plan.  He is adamant that these two factors will do more to insure your success than anything else, and he’s lived the life to prove it.  For nearly thirty years he has done the same workout, and he’s never skipped a day.

For anyone who wants to know the “secret” of the Herschel Walker workout routine, it’s consistency.  If you allow yourself one day off when it’s not an off day, then you’re going to just do the same thing later on and eventually stop working out altogether.  When the workout is a constant, a part of the schedule, you might even look forward to that sort of structured workout.

Remember, only the dedicated get ahead.

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