Bodybuilding – Bulking Stage:

Bodybuilding is a far more complex sport/art/hobby than most people realize. Looking in from the outside you could be forgiven for thinking it's simply a matter of lifting a few extremely heavy weights then eating copious amounts of meat. Little do the outsiders know the amount of science that goes into bodybuilding and how it pays to know what adenosine triphosphate is, or how hypertrophy occurs; and nor could they probably appreciate just how many stages and elements there are in most bodybuilding training programmes.
You see the best training programmes don't stay the same all year round. Rather they evolve and change with the bodybuilder using them. If you want to get a lot out of bodybuilding then you need to come up with a training programme that has phases and stages and that lets you recover and focus on various body parts.
One of the most popular ways that this is often achieved with with a 'bulking and cutting cycle'. Here we will look at what bulking and cutting means, whether you should do it, and how to go about adding bulk.
What Are Bulking and Cutting?
Basically as a bodybuilder you have two principles aims and they are to build muscle, while at the same time reducing body fat and revealing your ripped striations for the world to see. If you have lots of muscle but too much fat, then you'll just look large rather than heroic, while if you have no muscle and no body fat then you'll look skinny and unwell.
However of course it can be quite hard to gain muscle while not putting on fat. This is because you need to eat a lot of protein in order to build mass, and at the same time you need to eat a lot of carbs in order to give yourself the energy you need to train hard enough. This leads to lots of bulk fast, but the bad news is that it also leads to a lot of unwanted weight gain and you're likely to find that you end up putting on the kind of bulk that you don't want.
This is where cutting comes in – once you've reached the size you want to you then focus on just stripping away the fat and the body fat percentage to reveal the cuts and the definition in that muscle. You lose fat faster than you lose muscle, so by not eating a lot and doing lots of cardio you can strip away the excess fat to reveal the muscle you've gained before you start losing any muscle mass. A professional bodybuilder will then time this so that he has completely lost his body fat just in time for competition meaning he looks ripped and bulky. There are other ways to gain lean muscle and keep definition, but bulking and cutting is arguably the easiest and ergo the most popular.
Bulking
Here we are going to look at just bulking and how to achieve that stage. There are several things you can do to start indiscriminately putting on weight. These are:
Eating a Lot
That means mostly protein, but really eating whatever you can get your hands on to make sure your body has lots of energy and lots of amino acids. Eat tonnes of meat and don't worry too much if it also contains carbs.
Using Weight Gainers
Weight gainers are shakes that act like protein shakes but also include carbs. This is an easy way to give yourself lots of calories for building muscle and hitting the gym and to add to what you would get just from your diet. Use a weight gainer at least two or three times a day and you can guarantee to start to see gains being made. 
Lifting Heavy

The idea here is gaining strength and size – not gaining definition and cuts – and this impacts on the way you need to be training. To build size essentially you want to be lifting as heavy a weight as you can, and doing it for just a few repetitions – rather than doing lots of repetitions of a light weight. Make sure you always go past the point of failure by At the same time you're aiming to keep mixing it up by trying different things, and to really hit each muscle group with lots of exercises to stimulate growth. This means using a 'split routine' that focuses on a different body part each day.
You should also try to include compound movements into your workout. These are the movements that don't isolate a single muscle group, but rather force you to work all of them in unison. The 'big three' compound movements are 'bench press', 'deadlift' and 'squat' – so try and include these in your routine.
Resting
Bulking means working hard and resting hard, and actually it's the more pleasant stage compared to cutting as it allows you to eat a lot and then lie around. You want to be using brief bursts of intense training, and then resting and getting lots of sleep. This is because your resting periods are when the body will start to repair the damage you've done to your muscle fibers ensuring they grow back thicker and thus increase the size of your muscles.
This is why a split shift works the way it does – you spend individual days really working on a particular muscle, but then focus on a different muscle subsequently thereby giving the first muscle group a chance to 'grow back' and recover. Make sure that you also get a lot of sleep and don't do too much CV the rest of the time.
Hormones
Increasing your production of anabolic hormones is highly useful for whether you are bulking or cutting helping you to build tissue and burn reserves. There are various ways you can increase your growth hormone – for instance using squats and other compound movements – or taking hot showers. Likewise you should eat red meats, and also try using pro-hormones that increase your testosterone levels such as tribulis terrestris.

Bodybuilding Terminology:

Getting into incredible shape and building huge amounts of muscle is like getting free entrance into a mystery club. The admiration you pick up from different meat heads, the brotherhood in the rec center, and the sites and items that no one but you can truly appreciate... its all undoubtedly some piece of the fun. However then this has a downside to it also – that being that it makes iron pumping practically impervious for anybody on the outside. It's cliquey, its threatening and its exceptionally compelling – so how are new individuals expected to begin? Especially when they can barely even see half the articles composed on the subject?

To make matters a bit easier, I'm going to take you by the hand and lead you through some of the odd terminology and jargon used on bodybuilding sites and in bodybuilding books so that you can at least understand a little bit of what's going on and what you're supposed to do. This will be your resource for all the unusual terms and phrases you come across in the land of bodybuilding and muscle building, and you can use it as you might use a French to English dictionary when visiting Paris.
Amino Acids: Amino acids are the carbon compounds that make up protein. In other words they are the reason you eat protein in the first place, and they are crucial for building muscle as well as various other functions around the body.
Amino Acid Profile: The amino acid profile of a food group refers to the precise combination of amino acids it has and how useful these are to the body.
Anabolic: An anabolic state is a state in which the body is building muscle and burning fat while also repairing other tissues. We go into an anabolic state after training. Anabolic hormones are hormones that trigger that state in the body.
Anaerobic: Anaerobic exercise is exercise where you've reached the point at which you can no longer deliver the oxygen you need to where it's needed fast enough.
ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate – this is what our body needs glucose for and is the most fundamental type of energy necessary for all life on earth.
BCAAs: BCAAs are 'Branch Chained Amino Acids' and these in turn are little combined amino acids that are in the correct format for your body to get the most use out of.
Bilateral: Bilateral exercises refer to any exercises where you use both arms at once – so curling in each arm at the same time rather than doing one dumbbell at a time.
Bioavailability: Bioavailability refers to how useful a protein or another food item is for your body. If it is highly bioavailable then that means your body can easily extract the nutrients and amino acids it needs. If it's not then that means a lot of it is going to just pass through your system and be of no use.
Burn: Burn is the feeling you get during a workout like your muscles are on fire. It's a good sign that your workout is going well.
Catabolic: A catabolic state is the opposite of an anabolic state where your body is burning tissue and energy to allow you to continue your performance. This is useful for losing weight.
Cheats: Bodybuilding is the only sport where cheating is good. Basically this means swinging your body in order to pump out a few more reps, and this is useful if you want to carry on training when the going gets tough.
Calisthenics: Really this is just a posh term for bodyweight exercises.
Casein: An alternative form of protein shake, casein is 'slow release' compared to whey protein making it useful for taking just before sleep.
Compound: Compound exercises are those that use lots of muscle groups at once in unison, thereby mimicking the way that we use our muscles in real life and resulting in the production of more growth hormone.
Converging: Converging movements are ones that have you use one side then the other and alternate.
CV: CV is cardiovascular exercise – in other words aerobic exercise that gets your heart pumping and burns fat.

Cycling: Not only riding a bike – this also means going on and off a certain supplement in order to manage the levels of it available in your body.
Decline: Decline exercises are the opposite of incline exercises – in other words you are leaning backwards normally using your legs wrapped around some pads to hold you in position and preventing you sliding onto the floor head first.
Drop Sets: Drop sets are sets of exercise where you are going to gradually lower the amount of weight you are lifting. This is useful because it enables you to lift for more repetitions than you otherwise could.
Dynamic Tension: Dynamic tension was invented by Charles Atlas and involves simply moving your arm through a range of motions as though you were lifting a weight while tensing that muscle. Allegedly it can lead to muscle gains similar to those achieved by doing the exercise with weights.
Failure: The point at which you can perform no more reps.
Free Weights: Free weights are weights that aren’t resistance machines, in other words dumbbells and barbells that you can pick up and put down. These work more of the supporting muscle groups as thy force you to stabilize your body.
Forced Reps: Forced reps are repetitions where you are going past failure. Cheats are a form of forced reps, as are drop sets.
Giant Sets: Giant sets are huge sets of exercises that aren't just 'sets and reps' but rather an on-going monster of different exercises with no real rest in between.
Hypertrophy: Hypertrophy is the technical term for muscle growth.
Incline: Incline movements are any movements where you are sitting more upright rather than lying completely flat or back.
Isolation: Isolation exercises are exercises where you isolate a single muscle group and target it on its own. You can achieve this by holding your upper arm still while doing curls for instance. This kind of exercise doesn't build real world strength, but is brilliant for targeting specific muscles.
Isometric: Isometric exercises are those where you are holding a position rather than moving anywhere – for instance just holding a handstand or plank.
Loading: You load a supplement like creatine by having lots of it when you first start taking it so that the body has a ready supply and the levels are higher in your body. You will then settle into a normal routine of using it.
Microtears: Microtears are the tiny tears in muscle fibers that we cause when we work out. It's repairing these that causes hypertrophy.
Negatives: Negatives are the part of the exercise where you lower the weight. If you can't lift a weight you can get a good work out just from lifting it with both hands or with the help of a friend and then lowering it as slowly as you can.
Plyometric: Plyometric exercises are exercises that involve explosive movements like clapping press ups. These work the 'fast twitch muscle fibers'.
Pump: Pump is the word for the feeling after and during a workout where your muscle is blown up like a balloon from all the blood directed there.
Range of Movement: The range of movement is the whole arc of the motion that you go through when you perform a particular exercise. The greater the range of motion, the more of the muscle you will train.
Resistance: Resistance is whatever you are pushing against – it may be a weight, it may be gravity + your own bodyweight, or it may be a resistance band.
Resistance Machines: Resistance machines are the big machines that guide you through movements and target one muscle group specifically. They are useful for beginners and aren't as effective as compound moves.
Splits: Split routines are training programs where you break them down into muscle groups and days so that you might train your biceps on the Monday, your triceps on the Tuesday, your lats on the Wednesday etc.
Spotting: Spotting means helping a gym buddy through repetitions and also being on standby in case they should get pinned.
Stack: Your supplement 'stack' is the list of different tablets, pills and shakes you are currently using.
Static Contraction: Static contraction means just pushing or pulling against an immovable object – for instance squeezing a ball between your thighs consistently without actually moving, or pushing against a wall like you were trying to push it over.
Super Sets: Super sets are sets where you do two different exercises, then rather than rest between sets you just alternative. Often you will train complimentary muscle groups this way by doing say tricep dips in a super set with bicep curls.
Unilateral: Unilateral exercises are the opposite of bilateral exercises and involve using just one arm at a time then swapping.
Vasoconstriction: Vasoconstriction is when your blood vessels get narrower. This is not what you want because it increases blood pressure and prevents your body from delivering the nutrients you need to the muscles.
Vasodilation: Vasodilation is the dilation of the blood vessels and is good news. Supplements like NO2 (nitric oxide) are designed to help vasodilation.
VO2 Max: Your VO2 max refers to how much oxygen you are able to get out of the air and corresponds to cardiovascular fitness.
Whey: Whey is everyone's favourite protein source, a bi-product of the cheese making process and the ingredient used in most protein shakes.

Bodybuilders! Does Gaining Muscle Make Your Face Less Attractive:

An odd thing happened as of late, which was that individuals began to let me know I was preferred looking over I used to be. Not dependably in those expressions obviously, they were hesitant about it, yet they'd begin saying things like 'you're looking decent nowadays or 'you know, you're not half as terrible as you used to be'. My companions are beguiling like that.

From the beginning I couldn't put my finger on what it was, until I got together with a companion I hadn't seen for a couple of months and she remarked that my face looked slimmer and that it looked 'decent'. I obviously was satisfied at the remark, regardless of the fact that it was a bit odd, until she then happened to let me know that I looked 'for the most part slimmer'. For most individuals that could be a compliment, however to a novice beefy beefcake its an incredible inverse.

I examined the matter with my sweetheart and she let me know that I did seem to have lost muscle, and that it demonstrated in my face. She excessively was a fan. So obviously the inquiry then raised itself: does building muscle make your face less engaging? I realized that young ladies by and large favored a toned look to an Arnie look, yet might it be able to be that even my face looked more regrettable when I began lifting substantial weights?

This additionally made a situation. Obviously I was vexed that everybody had let me know I'd shed pounds (I had been recouping from a knee harm), so I needed to heap muscle once more on. Anyway might it take a swing at the expense at my recently enhanced looks? (Simply to get some viewpoint here I still didn't look like Tom Cruise or anything, I simply got a little less demanding on the eyes... )

Does Building Muscle Make Your Face Less Attractive?

I pondered it, and took a few estimations, and found that the riddle developed. The thing was, that I really wasn't any less brawny than I had been. Truth be told, in the most unmistakable spots I was really now stronger than in the recent past. I had greater arms, a greater midsection and more created shoulders. So what was going on?

Inevitably I establish the demonstration: while the vast majority of my build had kept on improing, my traps had really endured. This was in light of the fact that I battled to shrug without putting weight on my knees (you have a tendency to shrug remaining up, however obviously there are different approaches to do it) and had picked to essentially uproot the activity from my preparation.

For the individuals who have no idea, the traps are the back muscles that encompass the neck (rather than the lats which are placed under the armpits) – and my neck itself might have gotten weaker since I dropped the traps as well. All of a sudden then, I understood that my face looked slimmer since the neck and traps around it looked slimmer.

In short then, since there was less muscle around my neck and my neck was slimmer, it made my jaw line look more characterized. So building muscle for every say won't make your face look less characterized and magnetic, however advancing your traps and your neck simply might. In the event that your jaw is a characteristic that you're pleased with, then that is something to consider when preparing. Note however that you shouldn't simply drop the traps completely from your workout, as it will bring about a muscle lopsidedness that could influence your carriage and reason damage. An answer may be to develop some stubble around your jaw, or it may be to refocus your preparation objectives through and through; however in any event you're mindful no

Oversleeping Side Effects:

Every man in the word want  oversleeping. We work all the day and busy many activities ,after this hard work we do a short nap on lovely bed . This dangerous activity of short nap we all do. By human body it is necessary to sleep . It is good for us. That is what we have been told all of our lives. Lack of sleep creates many serious problem for a normal person. You hear that everywhere. That is why there are plenty of treatments, medications and home remedies to deal with issues like insomnia.
But what about the opposite? What happens if you sleep too much? or oversleeping Can it be a problem? In fact, yes it can. Oversleeping can cause certain issues. Unfortunately, since it is not publicized as much as insomnia, most people are not aware that oversleeping can be a problem that can cause the body some nasty side effects.
The Causes of Oversleeping
Most people think of someone that sleeps a lot as just being lazy. They do not realize that, in fact, oversleeping can be caused by a medical condition. Hypersomnia is one medical disorder that causes people to feel tired and sleepy throughout the day regardless of how much time they have rested the night before. The condition also causes sufferers to sleep for long periods of time at night. This need for sleep will cause some problems to the person like feelings of anxiety, low energy levels and memory problems.
There is another condition named sleep apnea, which is a breathing problem that causes people to stop breathing for short periods of time when they are sleeping. This in turn brings them out of their deep sleep cycle for several times throughout the course of a night which leads to an increased need for sleep.
However, not everyone that oversleeps suffers from a medical condition. There are plenty of people that do this irregularly and most of the times it is because they slept too little the previous night. If you are not fully rested and do not get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night you will wake up feeling very tired and will continue to feel this way throughout the day. That means that you will have to make up for it the next night by sleeping a few extra hours.
Of course, there are some psychological factors that can have an impact on the way you sleep. Feelings of anxiety, depression or lack of motivation can cause people to oversleep. Even the weather can affect your sleeping patterns. Rainy days just suck all the energy out of you and leave you tired without the willingness to do anything. In the winter we all know how difficult it is to get out of our comfy, warm bed and out into the cold. And, of course, let’s not forget that there is a good portion of people that oversleep because they are just plain lazy.
Physical Side Effects of Oversleeping
Unfortunately, oversleeping can indeed cause a host of nasty side effects for those that do it for a long period of time:
• There have been some studies conducted by American scientists that show a correlation between oversleeping and diabetes. People that sleep more than nine hours or less than five hours per night have shown to be 50% more likely to suffer from diabetes. Mind you, oversleeping is not shown to cause diabetes. However, it can be a symptom of underlying medical problems which can also lead to diabetes.
• Although this is a problem more common with people with insomnia, depression was proven to be present in people who oversleep. In fact, 15% of all people that suffer from depression also sleep more than nine hours per night.
• By sleeping more you are being less active. This gives the body less time to burn off its energy which otherwise gets stored as fat. Eventually this will lead to obesity, which by itself can cause a lot of other medical problems.
• One of the most common and most unpleasant side effects that most people who oversleep experience is headaches. This is caused by the effect that oversleeping has on the neurotransmitters of the brain.
• The relationship between back pain and oversleeping is a tricky one. Unless you sleep on a special, expensive mattress you will eventually get back pain from oversleeping. At the same time, people that already have pain in their lower back should try to be as active as possible which, obviously is not the case if you are lying in bed all day.
• There is a disturbing connection between oversleeping and heart disease. Studies conducted on people have shown that those that oversleep have a 38% increased chance of suffering from coronary heart disease.
• Even though it is not fully understood why yet, there is concern that people who sleep over 9 hours every night have a higher death rate than those that sleep for 7-8 hours.
Psychological Side Effects of Oversleeping
As if the physical side effects were not bad enough, oversleeping can also cause people some serious psychological side effects as well. When you wake up and see that it is 11 or 12 o’clock, you realized that you wasted your time doing something that was bad for your health. This can really make you feel bad and can cause you to start the day in a foul mood.
We all know that the way you feel when you get up in the morning is pretty much going to dictate your mood throughout the rest of the day. Oversleep and you will feel tired and angry. It can cause even more problems to your mind if you are currently trying to correct this problem by establishing better sleeping patterns. The worst problem is that you know that since you are tired today then you will probably oversleep tomorrow as well. It is quite shocking how sleeping more hours than you should will actually leave you feeling as tired as when you sleep just 3 or 4 hours.
Of course, feeling this way for a longer period of time will eventually lead to depression. It is no wonder that a study has shown that 15% of all people that suffer from depression also have issues with oversleeping. However, there is some sort of good news after all. Apparently, studies have shown that a good way to deal with depression is with sleep deprivation. By using this method you will not only get rid of your feelings of depression, but with a little luck you will also get rid of your oversleeping problems as well as have some extra time in the day to spend on yourself.
Oversleeping can be a nasty habit, but it can be controlled. First of all, if you know that you sleep regularly over 9 hours per night then you have to realize that what you are doing is wrong. Stop idealizing sleep and see it for what it is: a function of the body required in order to survive. Treat it as such. Take this matter more seriously and plan a strict sleeping schedule and stick to it. This way you will avoid future health problems, as well as ensure that you will wake up every day in a sunny disposition ready to take on the world.

 Six Ways to Pick Up the Exercise Habit Again:

There are countless people out there who have never been able to stick to a training routine, who have tried and failed countless times to find a workout that works for them or to simply maintain the enthusiasm and the motivation necessary to punish themselves in the gym every day. However there are also those who have managed to stick to a training routine, who once did have the body they wanted (or at least were getting there) but then stopped and lost it again. These people are a different breed – they are people with the potential and the sticking power to accomplish their goals, but who for whatever reason have found that life has gotten in the way and they've had to stop. For such people getting back into the gym can sometimes be just as difficult though, and sometimes it can even feel a bit futile after losing it once already.
This article is for those people then, the ones who once gave up the iron to turn to a pedestrian civilian lifestyle. Here we're going to look at how to go about getting back on the horse, and how to reignite that spark.
Remember What Motivated You the First Time
First of all, you clearly cracked this code once already. You know how your own mind works and you clearly know how to motivate yourself. Try to dig deep into that psyche and remember what drove you forward then. Why did you get up early in the morning and run to the gym? How did you talk yourself through the more difficult runs? If you can tap into this driving force once again then you should find it works just as well now – or even better thanks to the muscle memory and the added challenge of older age.
Recruit Your Old Partners
What does every Super Hero or action hero do when he comes out of retirement and dons the cape once again? He calls together the old team of course! If you used to train with someone once before then you'll know each other's rhythms and you'll know what works for you. At the same time this gives you both a little motivation in the form of competition as you see who can get themselves back into perfect shape faster.
Take Up a Class
If you're struggling to get back into the swing of things then it might be that you need a little more encouragement this time around. Sometimes we struggle to talk ourselves into exerting ourselves when we could be slobbing out in front of the TV, and that's why joining a class or club is such a great move. This way you'll have the other class members to motivate you to get out of the house and get moving, and you'll have paid in advance and won't want to waste that money.
Fit it Into Your Lifestyle
Often what makes people stop training can be summed up as just 'life'. This is what happens when work gets harder, we have kids we need to look after and generally we don't have the same time and energy as we used to. The solution is to write yourself a training programme that takes this into account and that is designed to fit into your lifestyle.
When you write your new workout plan then, don't just write which weights you need to lift on which days, but rather schedule in when you're going to read your favourite book and when you're going to do washing up or walk the dog. This way when it comes to working out, you won't think 'oh I should be washing up' or 'I'd much rather just read' – because you'll have that scheduled in for an hour's time. In fact this way your entire life will become hugely more productive.
Train at Home
If you're short on time and energy as we've established you probably are, then you aren't going to want to drive yourself to the gym, walk in the rain and then train before having to drive back in sweaty clothes. The solution? Create a home gym so that you have somewhere to train that requires no effort at all to use. Make sure there's plenty of space and it's all set up and ready to go at all times – and if you don't have time to train then at least do ten minutes of bench press in the evening. Doing a little of something is always better than doing nothing at all.
Train Hard and Fast
The other way you can get around the small issue of time is to learn that you don't need to work out for a long time to get into shape. Actually often the reason that we take a long time to get into shape is not that it takes that long to lift the weights, but that we're resting for ten minutes between every set. Eliminate that rest time, learn to use drop sets and supersets (look them up) and you'll be able to get a great workout in twenty minutes.

How to Stay Fit During an Injury:

When faced with an injury, it’s easy to give in to the temptation to give up and lie on the couch watching TV all day. Unfortunately, by the time that injury is healed, you could lose quite a bit of the fitness level you worked so hard to achieve in addition to possibly packing on unwanted pounds.
While it’s important to rest an injury, if it is only affecting one part of the body, it’s essential to participate in regular physical activity to maintain fitness levels. Consider one or more of these activities to keep you going until you can return to your preferred workouts.
Swimming
For leg injuries, swimming or just running in water is one of the best ways to maintain fitness levels while eliminating the risk of high impact activity; the water provides almost risk-free resistance. Runners and just about any type of athlete can benefit from running in the water.
Run in the water just as you would on land, making sure to keep your posture upright. By incorporating intervals, such as running at an average pace for several minutes followed by running with a higher intense burst of energy for one minute, you’ll get a great workout.
While you probably won’t get the same experience as you would by running on trails through spectacular mountain scenery, you will get those feel-good endorphins. Endorphins are known for providing a great mood boost which can also help to speed healing while maintaining your fitness level.
Spinning
Spinning is an excellent exercise for maintaining cardiovascular fitness while injured. Runners might even experience increased endurance by participating in this workout when returning to their regular routine.
For an optimal workout, your spinning sessions should be 1½ times that of your regular routine. For example, if you normally run for one hour, spin for 1½ hours. The absence of high impact on your body during spinning facilitates a quicker recovery, allowing you to work harder and longer than normal.
Some marathoners have found that by taking a break from running and switching to spinning periodically, they were able to shave several minutes off of a personal best when returning to the race.
Circuit training
Circuit training allows you to focus on larger muscles that haven’t been affected by injury. By building muscle, your metabolism will get a great boost, allowing the body to burn more calories while getting a cardiovascular and strength training workout all in one session. More muscle also provides a metabolism boost which means you’ll burn more calories even when you aren’t exercising.
Pilates
Pilates is considered one of the best cross-training exercises around. Even when you aren’t injured, this is an activity that can be highly beneficial for athletes of all types. It serves to build core strength and increase flexibility; helping to prevent future injuries as well.
Practicing Pilates helps athletes and casual exercisers gain more control over their bodies, essentially making them less prone to injury. It also increases stamina and strengthens abdominal, pelvis and back muscles, giving runners and other athletes more endurance when returning to regular activity.