The Best Morning Exercise Routine Ever.

This is a simple list of 5 exercises and 5 stretches. It is recommended to work up to your maximum amount of repetitions. Whatever amount of repetitions you can do, do them in sets of 3. This is not meant to be a full workout program but it is a nice way to start your day!

Exercises

1. Full body squats. You do these by standing with your legs shoulder length apart. Put your arms in front of you. Slowly lower yourself to a position where your thighs are parellel to the ground. Then spring up fast and reach for the sky. (Caution: You might throw yourself off balance the first couple of times. These will definitely help improve your balance. Work up to about 20 per set. Start with 5-10.)
2. Push-Ups. Form is important here. Keep your legs and body straight. No butt in the air! Look straight ahead and not at the ground. Slowly go down and come up fast. If you need to, put your knees on the ground, but still keep your body straight and your head looking forward. Work up to 20 per set. Start with 5-10.
3. Crunches. I prefer crunches to sit-ups because people can do them more easily and they don’t put the same strain on your back. Lay on your back with your knees bent. (Caution: Do not lock your hands behind your head. Put them to the side of your head or on your chest.) Crunch quickly. Go back down slowly. People often can do more crunches per set. Work up to 30 per set. Start with 10-15.
4. Horizontal Pull-Ups. I understand not everyone can do regular pull-ups for lack of ability or a good thing to pull up on. This makes them optional, but still something to add to the mix later. The key here is that after working your leg, arm, chest, and core muscles with the previous exercises, you really only have back muscles left. So I have made a modified pull-up that is horizontal. Simply find something that is relatively heavy. Something like that encyclopedia you never use. Lay down on your bed or couch and reach over the side. Grab the object and pull it toward you quickly and let it down slowly. A couch may be better because the armrest helps you get higher off the ground. While it may seem rather crude, it is a good way to get a back exercise in. It also works your biceps a lot too. The repetitions you do will vary depending on what you use, but I would say start at 10 and go up from there.
5. Jumping Jacks. After doing the above exercises, jumping jacks are a good way to engage muscles all over your body. Start with your legs together and your hands at your side. Jump to a position where your legs are spread about 3 feet apart and your hands clap over your head. These are relatively easy so you should start at 20 and work up to about 50.

Do these 5 exercises one right after the other with no rest. Take a short rest (1 minute or less), and then continue with your other two sets. After all three sets are down proceed to stretching.

Stretches

It is good to do stetches after you exercise because you will be warmed up and will be able to stretch further and with more ease. This will help you get the most out of your stretches.

1. Twists. I like to start out with twists. These mainly help to stretch your core. Just put your arms in the air like you are going to box. Then twist to one side and to the other. Keep doing this for about a minute. Work up to punching at the end of your twist.
2. Side Stretches. These are another favorite of mine. Put one hand on your hip and put one hand in the air reaching across your head toward the side you are stretching toward. Work up to leaning over as far as you can.
3. Feet Reach. Sit down on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Slide your hands down your legs as far as they can go. Work up to touching your feet. You can also add a stretch for each individual foot. Just spread your legs and reach toward one foot at a time.
4. Hammies and Quads. Ok, this can be considered two stretches as well. First, while lying on your back on the floor, bend one of your knees towards your head, and grab your leg with both arms. Pull it toward you to stretch the hamstring. Switch to the other leg. Stand Up. Put one hand against the wall and grab your ankle with your other hand. Pull your leg toward your butt. Switch. Work up to doing these twice and holding them for at least 30 seconds each. Doing each stretch once for 20 seconds is a good start.
5. Arm Stretch. Grab your arms by the wrist behind your head. First pull one arm to your left side, then pull the other arm to your right side. Work up to stretching as far and as long as you can.

Six Pack Exercises For Advanced Trainees

                                                           

So let's say you've been working on your abs for a while now and you've had some interesting results. However, you want to take it to the next level. Sit ups, crunches, bicycles and flutter kicks are too easy for you now and you'd much like it if you had an arsenal of more challenging, more advanced exercises to take your physique to the next level. So what advanced six pack exercises can you do to work on the abdominal area in new and more testing ways?

1. Windscreen wipers - This is a leg raise turned all the way up to 1000! If you happen to have cumbersome legs like mine then it's all but impossible. This is a great exercise for the slimmer guy who isn't carrying too much lower-body bulk. Bigger guys can do this too but there are more efficient exercises that can accomplish the same thing. Windmills work very well to build your obliques and your abs. Also, to turn up the exercise, you can perform hanging windshield wipers from a pull up bar to work on your forearms, biceps, triceps and shoulders as well.

2. Hanging flutter kicks - If you have ever watched the insane video of the 'bartendaz', a new york inner city calisthenics workout group, you'll know of the hanging flutter kick. If the regular flutter kicks are way too easy, then why not try this? You can also strap some ankle weights just to inject a few more molecules of evil into the entire exercise. One of the reasons it is so effective is because your legs will go through a greater range of motion since you are hanging freely in the air. Also, your arms and your upper body will get a great workout from having to hold you up and keep your body stable during the flutter kick movement.

3. Turkish get up - This exercise can be performed with a dumbbell or better yet, a kettlebell. The Turkish get up is a popular core conditioning and shoulder exercise. It is rather difficult to get the right technique but the video demonstrates how it is performed. Remember to have lots of space around you and also to use a moderate weight to begin with in order to prevent any injury.

4. Hanging leg raises - There sure is a lot of hanging isn't there? Hanging leg raises are some of the most brutal abdominal exercises around. They are especially tough on your lower abdomen and your hip flexors and they do an excellent job of adding definition and generally just making you very sore! If your legs are cumbersome and heavy then you will undoubtedly struggle to complete the exercise properly but stick with it and you will reap the rewards.

5. Windmills - Windmills are an advanced variation of the windscreen wipers. A windmill requires you to perform the circular action through a greater range of motion, further stretching the abdominals. It is a supreme exercise that cannot be taken lightly. Always be careful with the circular motion so as not to cause injury to your hip joints.

Are You Happy With Your Man Boobs?

                                       

Yep, we're talking Man Boobs here! How would you like to say gxodbye to skin that's flabby and has no definition? Wouldn't it be great to show off a nice chiseled look? You will feel 100 times better about yourself when you quit hiding behind loose-fitting clothes because you're ashamed of how your body, mainly your upper body, looks when you're not wearing clothes.

So, what do we do about this? Avoid appearing anywhere without a shirt? No, there are many things that can be done that doesn't require you to live your life at a gym. Most of us have lives and we can't afford to be at the gym all the time. You don't need to spend hours on a treadmill, or starve yourself, or look like a steroid freak. Women don't really care for men that have too much muscle.

Nice and toned, that's what we're looking for...I've seen men take weight off and neglect exercising the correct way and they wind up with loose-fitting skin that they're stuck with and now they have to figure out how in the heck to get that skin toned up. Unfortunately, a lot of that weight they shed was also muscle. All of this could have been prevented if they had worked out right while losing that weight. So let's discuss how to go about losing weight and staying toned at the same time.

Okay, if you've read this far I must have your attention. Well, here is the good news; this is not hard if you follow a few guidelines that I'll list for you here: 

• · Eat Well...You don't need to drop many calories you just need to clean up your diet.
• · Lift Weights...Keep in mind that your muscle keeps your metabolism peaked. Even when you're at rest. So that's why it's important to keep that muscle while you're losing weight.
• · Do Cardio...As you know, Cardio is very good for your heart. But it also helps get rid of fat.
• · Get your motivation going...The three items I mentioned above won't do you a bit of good IF you never apply them.

Did you know those 6-pack abs are created in the kitchen and not in the gym? Yep, it's melting the fat so that the abs can show that definition you want. You also probably already know that not all calories are created equal. The calories you eat at a McDonald's is not the same as the calories you get from, say a handful of peanuts. One of these clogs arteries and tells your body to start storing fat and the other is an essential fat that helps boost your metabolism. Guess which is the best? Peanuts? You're right. And please, do yourself a favor and avoid sugar as often as you can.

When you lift weights remember to include all your muscles, not just your arms and pectorals. A lot of guys totally forget their legs. I hate to tell you how funny you'll wind up looking if you do this. Keep in mind that your legs are one of your largest muscle groups and they need to be exercised as much as your arms or Pectoralis major muscle. Also, the more muscle groups you exercise the more your metabolism is helped.

So, what's the secret with cardio? Moderation is that secret. Too much cardio can actually make you smaller and wind up leaving your skin flabby. Start by doing cardio exercise around 20 minutes or so each session, maybe two or three times per week. You can run, jog, walk, bike, swim, play games like basketball, tennis and the like. Do some wind sprints, go hiking, etc. All these things will start melting the fat off of you.

There is so much more to each of the items above there's not room to list them all here. If you're interested in achieving a more healthy body you can get that information from the resource that I list below.

To your better health and body,

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6930918

The Top 5 Sources Of Protein

If you regularly hit the gym in order to build muscle, you will no doubt be constantly on the look out for good sources of protein. It's an endless, ongoing battle to find a good quality protein source with every small meal and if you follow popular advice, you're looking at doing this six times a day. No doubt you'll have come across the protein sources listed below, but they serve as a good reminder that they really are the best sources of protein available.

Chicken Breasts. Chicken is arguably the most popular source of protein available. It's tasty, versatile and absolutely heaving with good quality protein. An average chicken breast will offer you a very generous 30g of protein and the cherry on the top - they hardly have any fat. The only downside to chicken is that it can get quite expensive, especially if you insist on free range (like you should).

Tuna. Tinned Tuna flakes and tuna steaks are another perfect source of high quality protein. It does have its downsides though - tuna flakes can be a little on the boring side, even when mixed with mayonnaise and tuna steaks are more expensive than chicken. Nevertheless, if you manage to get more tuna in your life, you'll be better for it.

Salmon. Salmon is a very healthy and great tasting source of protein with the average salmon steak coming in at about 24g. It's extremely versatile and is especially nice with various sauces, seasonal vegetables and new potatoes. Crucially, it's not as expensive as tuna steak and you can probably pick up two salmon steaks cheaper than two chicken breasts.

Protein shakes. Anyone who visits the gym on a more than casual basis has probably began using protein shakes and for good reason. Protein shakes are manufactured to reflect your goals and can provide as little or as much protein, carbohydrates, sugar and nutrients as you need to support your goals. If you can't get your protein from real food, protein supplements are the next best thing and offer the ultimate convenient, fast food.

Cottage cheese. Some people despise cottage cheese and it's not hard to see why. Plain, low fat cottage cheese with no flavouring isn't nice, despite its generous 12g of protein per serving. However, if you shop around you will find some brands of cottage cheese with added pineapple, chives or other flavours, which are remarkably palatable.

By including plenty of fresh fish and lean poultry in your diet, you will more than likely hit the required amount of protein you need to pack on muscle. Protein shakes will help when you need some fast, convenient meal replacements and foods like cottage cheese are the perfect snack.

Building Muscle Through Your Diet

I could almost go to the gym for entertainment alone with all the skinny kids who come day in and day out, never lifting very heavy weight, performing the easiest lifts, and otherwise doing everything wrong. It's no wonder most of them disappear after a few months. The sad fact is that they just don't know what they are doing. It is clear that their objective is to get bigger muscles, but apparently it has never occurred to any of them to ask the big guys in the gym. Obviously they need to workout harder, be more focused, and do the hard lifts like squats and deadlifts, but I think one of the major problems for these folks is their diet. It doesn't ever occur to them that their eating habits have anything to do with it. They might understand that they need lots of protein, but often think that drinking a couple a few protein shakes is enough. It's not.

Contrary to popular sentiment, getting big requires some dead weight too. Those guys with huge rippling vein-filled muscles, did not get that way by watching what they eat. They got that way by eating everything they could get their hands on, and then dieting like crazy a few months before a contest or photo shoot. Remember how the fat kid was the bully in grade school? He wasn't necessarily the strongest, but he was the most dangerous because he had the most weight to throw around. The same thing applies in the gym. More weight on your body, more weight gets moved around, a more intense workout takes place, and bigger muscles result. It's that simple.

Now as far as what to actually eat, you still want a fairly balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables for fiber, antioxidants and sugars, carbohydrates for energy, and plenty of protein for muscle repair. Protein is particularly important, not so much because that is what additional muscle tissue is made of, but because your body will use up your existing muscle tissue if you don't have enough in your bloodstream. The last thing you want is to build a little muscle from a workout, only to lose it because you didn't eat enough protein, or eat it often enough. Protein should appear at least four times per day in your diet, NOT including post workout. And one of those times MUST be immediately before bed.

Diet is such a crucial part of how to get muscles that it cannot be done without it. You can do a perfect job of working out, take all the latest and greatest supplements, but in the end, you will fail.

Cardiovascular Fitness

The ability of the heart and lungs to provide the various body organs and tissues the required amount of oxygen is referred to as cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascular health can be maintained and promoted through various ways and complex methods. The process often evolves with time because of recent studies and discoveries made. Brilliant as it may sound, it often leads to a lot of misunderstanding. To better understand cardiovascular fitness, we shall discuss the basics such as the importance and benefits of having a fit cardiovascular system.

The goal to a healthy and long life is through a healthy cardiovascular system. The advantages and benefits of it are very worthwhile due to the fact that it has an impact even in simple activities such as working and sleeping. The concept of cardiovascular fitness revolves around the hearts ability to pump oxygenated blood to various tissues and body organs, as well as the lung's capability to oxygenate the blood being pump. The heating being a muscular organ, like any other muscle, strengthening it is possible. A strong heart improves the efficiency of the cardiovascular system in performing its duties. Physical benefits may also be felt.

The best way to achieve a fit cardiovascular system is through cardiovascular exercises. Through this type of workout, hormones such as endorphins are released which has properties similar to morphine. This produces a great feeling during workouts. Furthermore, an individual who exercises has higher energy levels that those who don't, giving them more energy to work for long periods of time. Sleep is also improved.

Our body's immune system is also affected by cardiovascular workouts. It boosts our immune system which improves the body's capability to ward off infections. Aside from the increase in energy, stamina is also increased. The increase in stamina can help you go through tough jobs every day, even without or little rest. A major health concern for most people is stress. Studies have shown that people who exercise are more than able to cope with stress than those who don't.

There are many ways in order to improve your cardiovascular fitness. Although many people would prefer going on exercise machines such as stepping machines, treadmills, and exercise bikes. It doesn't mean that you would have to go through these machines to be fit, especially for those who can't afford these machines or gym memberships. For those people who can't afford gym memberships or is too busy to go to the gym. Simple exercises at home may be done as long as the heart rate is increased. An increase in heart rate can be achieve through activities such as brisk walking, jogging, or even running up and down the stairs.

However, before partaking in any exercise or workout, it is essential to first consult a health professional. This is to ensure that you are fit enough to do the workouts you wanted, especially high intensity workouts. Your current heart condition should be assessed. This is to avoid certain injuries and even death. Consulting a fitness expert is also important so as to have the right type of exercise according to your fitness level.

Body Types and Training.

Body Types are 3:

ectomorph
endomorph

mesomorph

ENDOMORPH: They gain fat very easily. The body type is solid and generally soft. Endos are usually with thick arms and legs, their Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs. And they are usually strong in leg exercises.

When it comes to training they gain weight easily. But, a large portion of their weight is fat not muscle. They must always train cardio as well as weights. And they don’t need supplements as long as they have a high protein intake in their diet.

ECTOMORPH: They are usually skinny. They have a light build with small joints and lean muscle. They usually have long thin limbs with stringy muscles. Their shoulders are thin with little width.

When it comes to training they find it very hard to gain weight, as they burn up calories very quickly. Workout should be intense and short and focusing on big muscles groups. It is recommended that they eat before sleep, and use supplements.

MESOMORPH: They usually have large muscles and naturally athletic physique. They are the best body type for bodybuilding. It is very easy for them to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong, which helps them with building muscles.

When it comes to training they should focus on weight training. Gains are usually seen very quickly. They should mix weight training and cardio.

Health And Fitness

Being healthy can be quite a challenge, especially with all the temptations that surround us such as fast food, escalators, and many other factors. Compared to our forefathers who had to hunt for our food, everything has become more convenient to us. That is why following a health and fitness routine in daily life is a big challenge.

Exercise: Know The Basic Facts

Nowadays, you don't have to invest a lot of time to have a consistent exercise routine. All you have to do is to zero in on what type of workout you enjoy the most and schedule about 15 minutes or so into your life for it. 15 minutes isn't so bad, right?

Exercising is a lifestyle and it is not something that you do only if you have a looming big event to attend to and you have to squeeze into something that's too sizes smaller than what you have now. That is why it is important for you to enjoy it.

Another thing is that you need to have a variety of exercise routines. That way you will not only keep yourself from getting bored, but if you keep doing the same thing, your body will adapt and you tend to lose a lesser number of calories. For instance, if you love going out on a run 3 times a week, you can add yoga or swimming on a Saturday afternoon.

Aside from cardio, you must also do strength training since the latter can help you lose weight more than cardio exercises do. Cardio exercise greatly improves your heart and lung power. Strength training helps increase lean muscle, which is very important as we tend to lose our muscle mass (it gets replaced by fat) as we age. If you have a high lean muscle mass, your metabolic rate will also be higher.

With regard to strength training, you can choose to buy free weights that you can lift for about 10 to 15 times. Also, you must challenge your body - if you've eventually felt like the weights are effortless after you've lifted them for 15 times or so, it may be time to purchase a new one. Remember to be strict when it comes to balancing the number of times you lift with each arm so that you can avoid injury and disproportionate body parts.

Avoid The Pitfalls When On A Diet

Just because you've worked out doesn't mean that you can binge guilt free. Doing so would be nullifying all of the hard work that you've put into your exercise. To keep yourself from craving for a big meal after your workout, you can eat a healthy, balanced meal about 2 hours before you start.

Sticking to an exercise is not a piece of cake. To be perfectly honest, you will be faced with constant challenges from laziness, to bad weather conditions, to sinful food temptations that will destroy a healthy diet. However, if you stick to it with a good attitude and a persistence to accept it as a lifestyle, the results will be well worth it.

Strength Training

Strength training is not only for body builders and professional athletes. If not bulk, then, what are the benefits of strength training? They are myriad: maintaining (or boosting) body mass, metabolic process boosting, weight control, balance improvement, toughening your bones, clearing your brain, and managing various chronic conditions, including things like arthritis, back pain, depression, diabetic issues, weight problems and osteoporosis.

Body mass promotes overall health and wellness. After age 30, muscle starts being replaced by fat. Lean muscles use 35-50 calories/hours/pound while just sitting around. Fat utilizes only 5. You can easily control your weight better, if it is comprised of muscle, and not fat. Strength training (ST) pumps up your metabolic process even after physical exercise. Your body is going to burn about 100 calories extra daily more than those burned in the course of the exercise. The most intense ST programs, such as CrossFit, lets you use up 6 times as many calories in a ST work out over a cardiovascular training session of the same length. The weight and fitness advantages are apparent.

Strength training helps safeguard you from injuries. It strengthens bones, ligaments, and tendons in addition to muscles, combating osteoporosis and protecting you from injury from poor workout technique, bumps, and falls. The tough body helps you maintain your balance, and that lessens the number of falls.

Strength training lead to circulatory improvements that help with several chronic conditions. The improved circulation very likely explains the clearer thinking that is among the advantages of strength training.

How can you optimize the benefits of strength training? Continue to increase the weights and repetitions of exercises that incorporate the overall body. Be sure to alter your program at least every 3 weeks to steer clear of "accommodation." When the body does the same thing for too long, it no longer expends as much energy nor responds with muscle growth.

Of course, you want equipment that permits you to raise the weight resistance as needed. While a fitness center will have exercise machines or the free weights (dumbbells and barbells) at the called for weights, you may want the flexibility of working out at home or the workplace. You won't have the same amount of space, but you will certainly want close to the same variety of weights. A near ideal option is one of the "dial a weight" dumbbells from Bowflex. The Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbells allow you to pick a weight from 5 to 52 pounds per dumbbell. The Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells let you choose a weight from 10 to 90 pounds. These two accommodate everyone from the smallest-frame female to the largest man, unless he is a weightlifter. You are able to make use of this equipment throughout your years of strength training, changing the weight in less than 20 seconds whenever you need to.

Elastic bands/tubes, to be found in any sporting good store, too, give fast variable resistance while taking up practically no space. The bands increase in resistance as the color gets darker, so you will eventually need the whole rainbow.

Exercise machines, whether used at the health club or bought for home use, are also excellent, but bulky, costly, and require repairs and maintenance that can be inconvenient and very expensive.

Whatever equipment you choose, however, regular workouts three times weekly will bring you all the wellness advantages of strength training.

How Bodybuilding started

Bodybuilding goes all the way back to ancient Greece. "Gymnasium" actually means naked place in greek. they did not use resistance training as a form of body modification but rather a means to improve at the sport they participated in. The most notable of such athletes was Olympic wrestling champion Milo of Croton who reportedly would carry a calf on his back every day until it became a bull.

In the 11th century bodybuilding as we know it appeared in India. The Indians would use primitive dumbbell weights carved from stone to get bigger and stronger, it is also reported that by the 16th century weight lifting spread widely in India.

In the 19th century weight training became a way of improving health and increasing strength, and its popularity increased rapidly. People began to be exposed, to the physical culture.

"The Father of Modern Bodybuilding"; Friedrich Muller aka Eugene Sandow was born in 1867 in Prussia.

Not only was Sandow incredibly strong, he also had a muscle quality and an aesthetic comparable to that of a modern day bodybuilder. He was billed as the "world's strongest man". When he travelled to America.

It soon became apparent that as well as his feats of strength the audiences were just as interested in the physical appearance of Sandow. This led to the development of what is now referred to by modern day bodybuilders as a posing routine. Previously being called "muscle display performances."

And that's how bodybuilding started.

Warming up is Essential.

Warm-ups have changed over the last years, with the primary change being that we have moved away from static stretching and moved towards dynamic stretching, which prepares your body for the movements of your exercise session.


Static stretching is the conventional stationary stretches – where you elongate the muscle and hold the tension for 20 seconds or more. Research has shown that static stretching before exercise does not decrease injury potential, and may actually increase injury potential in stop and go sports like soccer, runners have typically performed static stretches prior to running thinking this will improve running efficiency and reduce injury risk, but neither of these benefits have been shown to be true with static stretching in the warm-up.


Dynamic stretches combined with movement preparation are the new way to warm-up. Dynamic stretches are those that are achieved through gentle movement through the joint’s full range of motion, and these stretches are typically only held a few seconds, but repeated 3-5 times per area. For example, leg swings forward and back as well as side-to-side are dynamic stretches for the hip area. Walking lunges are also a dynamic stretch for the thigh muscles and other leg muscles.
Your warm-up and the dynamic stretches and movement prep you choose should mimic the movements you will be performing in your exercise session. For example, golfers need to warm up with rotational movements and shoulder and upper back dynamic stretches. Soccer and basketball players need to warm up with lateral movements such as side shuffles. Runners need to prepare the calves, thighs and other leg muscles for the impact and repetitive movements of running.
If you are weight training, I especially recommend loosening up the quadriceps, hip flexors and chest and back muscles, as these are areas that get especially tight from sitting.
Your warm-up should last five to 10 minutes and your muscles should feel warm and loose afterwards. This will greatly benefit your exercise session, whether it is running or weight training, as joints that move well will work better during your workout.

Get The Perfect Body Physique

If you want to build a lean and muscular physique, it's important to know what your end goal is. After all... how can you get to your goal if you don't know where you're going? In this article, I'll reveal the ideal proportions for building a perfect physique.

Back in the early 1900′s, a man by the name of Alan Calvert published a series of measurement guidelines. He believed anyone who achieved these guidelines would end up with a nearly perfect physique. Eugene Sandow's measurements were within a 1/2 inch of Calvert's ideals. So it's no surprise that the winner of the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding contest actually receives a trophy made in the form of Sandow.

Here are Alan Calvert's ideal measurements for a perfectly-developed physique.

Chest (relaxed): 63% of height.

Waist: 8 or 9 inches smaller than chest.

Forearm: Wrist measurement x 1.875

Biceps (flexed): Forearm plus 20%.

Thigh: 35% of height.

Calf: 7 or 8 inches less than thigh.

Maybe I'm a nerd but I love these measurement games. Ok, so let's run through an example.

Say you're 6 feet tall with a 7 inch wrist. Here's what your ideal measurements would be according to Calvert:

Chest: 63% of 72 inches: 45.36.

Waist: 8 or 9 inches less than chest. 36.36-37.36.

Forearm: 7 inches x 1.875: 13.125.

Biceps (flexed): 20% larger than forearm: 15.75.

Thigh: 35% of height: 25.2.

Calf: 7 or 8 inches less than thigh: 17.2-18.2.

Personally, that's not my ideal. I'd prefer a leaner waist even if it means a smaller chest and smaller biceps.

Let's try another example. What about the man who stands 5'8 with a 6 inch wrist?

Chest: 63% of 68 inches: 42.84.

Waist: 8 or 9 inches less than chest. 33.84-34.84.

Forearm: 6 inches x 1.875: 11.25.

Biceps (flexed): 20% larger than forearm: 13.5.

Thigh: 35% of height: 23.8.

Calf: 7 or 8 inches less than thigh: 16.8-17.8.

All measurements above in inches.

One thing that I should mention is these figures were created with drug-free athletes in mind. Obviously those who are shooting up steroids will be able to easily meet or exceed these measurements. But for the natural, drug-free trainer, achieving these measurements is an important milestone and should be recognized as an impressive physical achievement.

This is by no means meant to be used as the upper limit to what you can achieve. With proper training and diet, these ideal should be met without 1-2 years and quickly exceeded.

Starting Body Building

The most demanding part to beginning a Body Building Program is to get started. Learn what to do, before you lift the weights. We will also discuss: How to record your progress, your new Diet and Meal Plan and building your Fitness Program.

What Should You Do First?

The first thing to do: you need to see your Doctor. If you haven't exercised in a long time, a physical examination may disclose some probable problems. If you have high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes; then, a physical examination will determine if you can do a body building program. Either way, make sure that you are fit to do the workouts.

How May You Set Goals?

You need to set a goal for your Body Building Program. What would you like to carry out? On setting your own rules, you are more likely to keep them. Make sure that your goals are:

1) Realistic - Do you have the time to do all of this? If you travel a lot or have a busy schedule, set your goals to accommodate what you can do.

2) Attainable - I can lose 50 lbs. in six months, instead of 250 lbs. in five years. Cut up the big goal; so, you don't get discouraged.

3) Practical - Do I have the resources to do the job? If you are working out at home, you will have to procure the free weights, exercise mat and other equipment. Not having the resources will only delay your program.

How Do You Keep A Journal?

A Journal is an outstanding tool to write down your progress and to alter your program to meet your goals. A Journal might list weekly records for your weight, exercises and workout routine. You may record what you eat, everyday. With a Journal, you will be more conscious of your food intake.

What Foods Should You Avoid?

Try to avoid the foods that might dynamite your body building program. They contain:

1. White Flour Products alike white bread, flour spaghetti, potatoes and rice. These carbohydrates turn to sugar in your digestive system.

2. Fried foods like fried chicken, chicken fried steak and French fries all contain fat.

3. Refined Sugar Products like soda, diet soda, fruit drinks, cookies and cakes.

What Can You Eat?

1. Whole Wheat Flour Products equivalent to whole wheat bread, whole wheat spaghetti, brown rice and sweet potatoes.

2. Grilled or baked chicken or fish.

3. Water, low calorie fruit-flavored water, and add more fruits and vegetables to your diet.

How May You Begin Body Building?

The best way to start Body Building or Weight Lifting exercises is to go to a gym or fitness center. Have the trainer show you the equipment, initially. In the week ahead, have the trainer critique your form and technique on these machines. At first, use the light weights. Make sure that you have the form and technique are correct, before moving on to the heavier weights.

What Other Exercises Should You Do?

On alternate days, you can begin your aerobic exercises. You might start on the treadmill or stationary bike. These machines are geared for beginners, so start out slow and build up from there.

After your body building workout, you could work your Abdominal (Core) Exercises. Sit-ups and leg raises help to flatten your tummy.

Stretching is also important, after your body building workout. Stretching helps to relax the "warm muscles" used in the workout. You could prevent muscle strain and muscle spasms.

Want to Discover More?

By beginning your body building program, you are on your way to achieving your goal. You have built the base, and now it's time to start seeing results.

Good Luck with your Body Building Training Program!