What is "Muscle Building Food?"

In the bodybuilding world, you may hear about "muscle building food." What exactly is "muscle building food?" Is this food that actually builds muscles for you? "Muscle Building Food" is essentially food that aids in building muscles. It does not, by any means, build the muscle for you.

Most "muscle building food" is high in protein. Protein is essential to bodybuilding, because it aids in muscle growth, and it quickly repairs any damage done to muscles during workouts. Protein also has the ability to enhance your body's natural pain relieving hormones, which enables you to workout day after day, with minimal pain. The benefits of protein go on and on, but all you really need to know is that it is essential to your bodybuilding program.

Foods that are considered "muscle building foods" include eggs, beans, meats, poultry, fish, and dairy foods. Your diet should contain all of these foods, but you must use caution. Some of these foods, such as an abundance of meat and dairy, can also quickly put on body fat, which is not what you want. You must determine how many calories you need to consume daily, based on your own personal needs, and make sure that you are not consuming more than that in food.

Because of this, "muscle building food" isn't the only thing that you need. You also need protein supplements. If you are a bodybuilder, you cannot get the amount of protein that you need simply from the "muscle building food" that you eat. A good whey protein supplement is recommended, and you will hear a great deal of discussion and debate concerning protein supplements in your local gym.

There is a great deal more to "muscle building food" than just eating the food. The time of day that you eat the food matters as well. You will hear many theories and recommendations concerning this. The first step is to make sure that you and your muscles have enough energy for your workouts, which means that "muscle building food" needs to be consumed before workouts, including protein supplements. It is suggested that you consume pre-workout food and supplements about one and a half hours before your workout, so that the food has time to digest.

"Muscle building food" must also be consumed after a workout, preferably within twenty minutes, to prevent your body from going into a catabolic state. A carbohydrate is recommended, as well as more protein supplements. If you fail to eat within twenty minutes of a workout, and your body goes into a catabolic state, your body is essentially breaking down other muscles to replace what the muscles you have worked lost during the workout, which kind of defeats your purposes.

One thing is certain, if you are serious about bodybuilding, you must be serious about your diet, including "muscle building food," and you must be serious about protein supplements as well. Other issues that should be important to bodybuilders include the intake of vitamins and minerals, water, and of course, adequate sleep.

The Couch Potato Workout

There's good news for people who want to watch their weight without giving up watching TV. Now there's a new workout for couch potatoes and people who think they're too busy to find time to stay fit.

With time at a premium, many Americans are turning to creative forms of exercise. In a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the North American Spine Society, three out of four people said they used the stairs rather than the elevator at work, 58 percent said they started parking their cars far away in parking lots and almost half reported walking while on the phone.

At the same time, however, 46 percent of people described themselves as couch potatoes--a major contributing factor to being overweight. Many adults say they have procrastinated working out in order to do other activities, such as watching television, sleeping in, doing household chores or working.

Approximately three in four adults say they would exercise more if they could fit it into their daily routines, however, and a majority of adults say they would exercise more often if they could do it at home. Among noncouch potatoes, 80 percent would like to get more exercise, but say they don't have the time.

Meanwhile, more than 4 million Americans suffer disc problems. One out of four Americans over 30 will have recurring back pain, and one in 14 will seek medical care for back or neck pain this year, totalling almost 14 million visits per year. Back pain is the second most common reason that people visit a physician. Back and neck pain result in more lost workdays than any other condition. Due to absenteeism, medical and other related expenses, the cost of back injuries exceeds $80 billion each year in the United States. Exercise is one way to avoid back problems.

That's why it's important to find time to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. In addition to things such as climbing stairs and parking farther away, there are a number of fun ways to make your daily tasks opportunities to exercise:

• Feet Alphabet. This exercise can be done anywhere you are sitting, except while driving. It should not be hard to find a place. Simply write the alphabet in the air with each of your feet and ankles. You can do the letters in capitals or small letters and, for that matter, in any language you would like. Doing this two or three times on each ankle will begin to strengthen the ankle and maintain or improve motion.

• Doing the Dishes Neck Circles. This exercise is easily done while doing the always fun task of washing the dishes. As you are standing there at the sink, slowly rotate your neck in a clockwise position, trying to extend the tip of your head out as far as possible. After three or four rotations, repeat the exercise in a counter-clockwise position. Remember, these rotations should be done slowly and in a pain-free range of motion. Besides increasing the flexibility of the neck, these exercises can pass the time of doing dishes.

• Overhead Laundry Toss. Put the laundry basket directly in front of you and have the washer or dryer directly behind you. Grab a piece or two of dirty clothes, reach over your head slowly and drop the laundry into the washer. Again, start with dry clothes, then progress to wet clothes from the washer into the dryer.

• Remote Wrist Lifts. This can be done on any Sunday afternoon watching multiple football games. Simply take the remote control (use the biggest one you have from the pile of remotes) and, while sitting watching your favorite team or movie and with your arm pointing toward the TV, aim the remote at the ceiling, moving your wrist only. Hold it there for 10 seconds, then aim it at the floor, again only moving the wrist. Repeat this three to four times during every commercial. Be careful not to accidentally change the channel when doing this exercise or it may irritate people who are watching TV with you.

These are just some ideas from "The Couch Potato Workout: 101 Exercises You Can Do At Home!" by Joel M. Press, M.D., president of the North American Spine Society and medical director of the Spine and Sports Institute at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. "The Couch Potato Workout" describes numerous practical and functional exercises people can do to build strength, balance and flexibility as part of their normal daily routine.

Let's Get Emotionally Fit

In today's modern world, a lot of people are so obsessed with their physical appearance that they are even willing to invest on the latest skin care treatment, gym gadgets, or physical workout programs just to improve their body image. They work hard to sculpt their bodies after the body icons featured in celebrity mags. There is nothing wrong with physical fitness.

All of us want to feel good about ourselves. The inherent lust for attention and approval are necessary to boost one's self esteem.

But what about emotional fitness?

Is there enough demand and attention given to a person's emotional well-being? Are anxiety and depression signs of not being emotionally fit?

Enjoying a wide range of physical experiences start from childhood as early as we make our first step and learn to improve balance. Parents help their children develop strength and agility through physical exercises and giving them the freedom to run freely and explore their surroundings. However, some of us were not given the freedom to exercise our emotional muscles: to explore and express a full range of emotional experiences.

People who were raised to flex their emotional muscles are in touch with their own feelings and have the ability to express these feelings appropriately and without embarrassment. These people are considered to be emotionally intelligent.

Some people, especially those who belong to the older generations, have the notion that being outspoken, showing anger, or simply giggling to your heart's delight are disruptive behaviors and, thus, have to be discouraged. That is why people who grew up in restrictive environments tend to become timid and shy. They have difficulty expressing their emotions. They learn to bury their feelings and find it hard to build and maintain relationships which usually require emotional openness, honesty, and vulnerability.

Just like our physical muscles, emotional muscles can either be underdeveloped or overdeveloped. These distortions or imbalances may cause physical and/or emotional fatigue, pain and inflexibility. It is possible that your anger muscle can be overdeveloped, while your happiness muscle is underdeveloped. This means that you may easily get irritated or angry, but may have difficulty expressing joy and happiness.

People with overdeveloped sadness muscle may be prone to depression, compared to those with underdeveloped sadness muscle.

To be emotionally fit, awareness of one's feelings is very important, as well as finding healthy ways to express these feelings on a daily basis, or when the situation calls for it.

An effective emotional fitness program requires a sequence of strategies. According to Paulette Tomasson, a registered nurse with a masters in counseling psychology, you must be able to identify first where you are at in terms of emotional well-being, and where you want to go.

Ask yourself the following questions: "What emotions do I experience throughout the day? Does one emotion override the rest? Is the quality of my life compromised by an unexpressed emotion? Why am I unwilling to express that emotion? How can I put that emotion to good use? How can I build emotional fitness to optimize my personal and professional lives?"

After assessing where you are coming from, talking with family and friends can be the next step. A good counseling can also help you exercise your emotional muscles and achieve emotional fitness.

Now that we have taken care of our minds, learn how to take care of your body.

"7 Exercises for Better Sex"

A recent article in Women's Health may be of interest to you
It is titled as "7 Exercises for Better Sex"
If you are interested in reading it simply follow this link 
I hope you enjoy reading  it

The 3 Core Muscle Building Exercises You Should Be Doing

When it comes to building muscle I like to keep things simple. It's easy to get caught up in the hype of hot new products and exercises that promise to be the next best thing in muscle building. Theses fancy exercises and products use long "scientific like" words and explanations to show you they work to build the most muscle.

In this article I am going to get back to basics. I am going to show your three muscle building exercises you can't afford not to do and why you should be doing them. These three exercises are the grass roots of building muscle and are essential for any serious training program.

You might find it hard to believe, but with these three exercises alone you can pack on a serious amount of muscle. I refer to these exercises as the "core" to any good program. When I start planning I muscle building program for a client I always start with these three basic exercises and build the program around them.

3 core muscle building exercises:

Squat
The squat is the biggest exercise for packing on serious poundage. There's no argument about it. The squat is primarily a leg building exercise. You start the exercise with a barbell resting across your shoulders standing straight up. Then bending at the knees and hips you lower the barbell down until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor. And then push the barbell back to the starting position.

The main muscle groups pulled into action for the squat are your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. Secondary muscle groups include the lower back, adductors and to a certain extent your shoulder muscles. As you can see many muscle groups are recruited for this exercise making it the biggest exercise and biggest potential muscle builder.

Like all the core muscle building exercises, you should make the squat the first exercise you do on your leg training day. Because it's the biggest exercise you want your legs to be fresh and ready. If muscle building is your goal, aim for about 8-12 reps on the squat. Because you'll be lifting heavy weights a good warm up is vital. Squatting is very stressful for the lower body, especially the knees, so 5-10 minutes on the treadmill and some lights squats first up are recommended.

Bench Press
The bench pres is the king of upper body building exercises. For years the bench press has been used to measure a lifter's strength. How many times have you been asked "how much do you bench?" I bet you've never been asked how much do you squat or how many chin ups can you do.

The bench is a simple yet extremely powerful exercise that targets the entire chest (pectorals), front shoulders (deltoids) and triceps. To perform a bench press you must lie on your back on a flat bench, grip the barbell at slightly wider than shoulder grip and press the bar straight down to your chest.

The bench press is the biggest upper body builder because it allows you to move the most amount of weight possible. This is its advantage over the dumbbell press. With the help of a spotter you can also push yourself to lift heavier weights. There are also other advanced bench press techniques like board presses, bench press negatives and chain presses. See our link at the bottom for more details.

Wide grip Chin Up
If you were only going to do one exercise to work your back this would be it. The wide grip chin up is the ultimate test of a lifters power to weight ratio. This muscle building exercise is very demanding on the body.

The wide grip chin up primarily hits the lats, but also targets the entire upper back, biceps and forearms. To execute this exercise you need a chin up bar or assisted chin up machine. Hold the bar in a wide grip (greater than shoulder width) with your palms facing away from your body. Start in a "hanging" position with your arms fully extended. Pull yourself up until your can get your chin over the bar and lower back to starting position.

Most people will not be able to do wide grip chin ups without some lat/back training first. You can use the assisted chin up machine or lat pull down machine to strengthen your lats before attempting wide grip chin ups. This is the most demanding back exercise you can do so it must be the first exercise in your session.

When you should be doing these exercises

Like I mentioned previously in this article, these exercises are the biggest muscle builders and also the most taxing on your body so they must be done at the beginning of your workout to get the maximum benefits. I recommend that you do up to 5 sets on each exercise and vary the way you perform these sets each week. For example, the first week you do pyramid up sets, the second week you pyramid down and the third week you do straight sets. This keeps your muscles from getting accustomed to your routine. Good luck packing on some serious pounds!

For more information click here

another informational site here

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Bad Healthy Food 5 Sneaky Health Foods That Make You Feel Bloated

Saw this in the Women's Health magazine
Thought you might like it.

To read the article click here

Enjoy!!