Category Archives: Bodybuilding & Fitness

Progressive Overload

Posted on by
Reply

Casey Rice headshot

Casey Rice

Contributing Writer

Progressive Overload

 In the realm of bodybuilding and fitness, there are many key aspects one should pay close attention to. Intensity, volume, frequency, recovery, reps, and sets are just to name a few. But in terms of building lean, raw muscle, the general consensus points its finger towards the concept of progressive overload.

Progressive overload defined;

Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training.

It was developed by Thomas Delorme, M.D. while he rehabilitated soldiers after World War II. The technique is recognized as a fundamental principle for success in various forms of strength training programs including fitness training, weight lifting, high-intensity training and physical therapy programs.

In layman’s terms, move up in weight or increase your volume throughout the course of each of your preceding workouts. Do this and you’ll be utilizing the concept of progressive overload.

Casey Rice 4

BIO:

 Casey Rice, is a 25 year old WNBF professional bodybuilder. He exemplifies the hard work and passion for bodybuilding throughout his everyday life…All day every day.
He recently graduated from The State College of New York in Oswego with a degree in Health & Wellness management. He’s currently matriculating through a second degree in dietetics/nutrition to acquire an RD, where his main goal is to have his own nutrition consultation/Personal training company.

Bodybuilding Accomplishments:

2013 – 1st place Lightweight and 1st place Overall at the INBF Natural USA’s (Earned Pro Card)
2011:OCB NYS Championships 3rd place open (lightweight)
2011:INBF Natural USA’s 3rd place open (lightweight)
2010:Can/am 4th place novice (lightweight)

 

Casey Rice 5Casey Rice 7

Bodybuilding Supplements

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

bikini girl leaning forward

gain-muscle-mass-1

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) Dips are a great exercise that work your chest, shoulders and arms at the same time. They help improve strength on the overhead and bench press

2) Blueberries have 5x the antioxidant power of apples or carrots. In fact, the wild variety has 2x the antioxidant level of cultivated ones.

3) Canola oil is a great choice to use when cooking. It only contains 7% saturated fat compared to 16% from the common Soybean oil.

4) Most know that excess consumption of sugar causes many health issues. Less widely known is it can also decrease testosterone by nearly 25%.

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Incoming search terms:

  • bikini girl on quad
  • bodybuilder shoulder

Increase Your Water Intake

Posted on by
Reply

 

waterWater is an absolutely critical component to the muscle-building process and to overall body health in general. Failing to keep yourself properly hydrated throughout the day will have a negative impact on literally every single process within your entire body!

Most people know that they should be drinking “plenty” of water every day, but how many actually do?

If you really paid close attention to your water intake you’d probably be surprised at how little you actually consume.

What makes proper water intake so amazingly important?

Well for starters, it’s the most abundant element in your body. It is ranked only 2nd to oxygen as being essential to life.

Your body can survive for weeks without food, but without water you’d be dead in just a few days.

Roughly 80% of your body is made up of water; the brain is 85% water and lean muscle tissue is 70% water.

Research has shown that being even slightly dehydrated can decrease strength and physical performance significantly. In fact, merely a 3-4% drop in your body’s water levels will lead to a 10-20% decrease in muscle contractions.

Not only will water increase your strength, but it also plays a large role in preventing injuries in the gym. Highly intensive training over a long period of time can put unwanted stress on your joints and connective tissue, and water helps to fight against this stress by lubricating the joints and forming a protective “cushion” around them.

So, just how much water is enough?

To find out how many ounces of water you should be consuming every day, multiply your body weight by 0.6. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be consuming around 90 ounces of water every day.

150 x 0.6 = 90

I know it sounds like a lot, but if you plan your day out properly it shouldn’t be a problem. Keep a water bottle with you at all times and sip from it periodically. Keep water in the places where you spend most of your time: in your car, at work, on your nightstand etc.

Another good method to ensure that you drink enough water is to pre-fill a few 16 ounce bottles at the beginning of the day. This way you can have a visual representation of where your water consumption is at any point in the day.

For the first few days you’ll probably find yourself running to the bathroom quite frequently, but your body will soon adapt to the increased water volume and this will no longer be a problem.

Bodybuilding Supplements

______________________________________________________________________

Source:

8 Things You MUST Do To Build MAXIMUM Muscle By Sean Nalewanyj

Incoming search terms:

  • ripped endomorph
  • ectomorph ripped
  • endomorph example
  • reg park

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

bikini girl

side chest pose

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) The next time you’re craving sweets, opt for dried fruit. Besides sugar and calories, they’re also packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

2) To keep eggs, milk and meats fresh longer, be sure to store them in the back of the fridge where it stays the coldest.

3) One easy way to increase performance in the gym is to take deep breaths. More oxygen flowing to the muscles equals training harder, longer.

4) Incline flyes are a great way to finish off a chest workout. To get the most benefit, squeeze your pecs for a full second at the top.

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

Lauren1

bb1

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) Side-lying planks target the abs, hips and back. Try to keep a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. Perform 2-3 sets, 30 sec each side

2) Here’s a great bodybuilding meal: 8oz grilled chicken breast, 6oz sweet potato, 2 cups of mixed veggies (broccoli, cucumber, spinach, etc…)

3) On your next leg day, start with barbell front squats. They are a quad dominant exercise that really aid in developing quad thickness.

4) Reverse grip bench press is a great exercise for increasing lockout ability on the regular press. Start off on the Smith machine to get comfortable.

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Anyone

Posted on by
Reply

Luke Aubin Headshot

Luke Aubin

Contributing Writer

Anyone

 

Anyone who tells you that bodybuilding is about lifting heavy weights and eating as many calories as you can either A) has no idea what their talking about or B) is not a bodybuilder.

Yes bodybuilding is about lifting weights, but not necessarily heavy ones all the time. Yes, it is about calories, your have to feed your body if you want it to grow, but what kind of calories? How many? You can’t just go to a drive thru, spend 40 bucks, workout, and expect to get muscular and lean, it won’t happen!

If I have learned one thing through becoming a natural bodybuilder it is that bodybuilding is a science in every way. Everything is measured, recorded, written down and tallied in an effort to achieve aesthetic perfection and a lean, hard physique.

Whole foods can never be replaced in the life of a bodybuilder. Supplementation is key, don’t get me wrong, but whole foods will help you grow along with supplementation far more than supplements on their own! Egg whites, whole eggs, chicken, lean beef or turkey, green veggies and yes even carbs like oats, sweet potatoes and brown rice all have their place in the bodybuilders kitchen and if their not in yours then your lacking vital nutrients and hampering your efforts to achieve your goals!

My diet right now is made up of egg whites for 2 meals, fish or chicken (lean protein) for 2 meals, oats post workout and the rest of my carbs are made up of vegetables like broccoli, asparagus or brussel sprouts. That’s it!

Now, that being said, I am dieting for a show, but in the off season my diet won’t stray very far from these key elements because they are what have given me great results. The calories, number of meals and frequency may increase, but I won’t be cramming my face with processed, greasy foods, if it won’t help me build muscle or reach my goals then I won’t put it in my body, and neither should you. Plain and simple. Stick with the basics, stick with what works, and the results will follow!

 

BIO:

Luke was born and raised in Owen Sound, Ontario, a small town on Georgian Bay. Having a french father, he speaks both French and English, which he found quite useful during his time spent in Ottawa for school. Due to the fact that he spent far more time and money in bars and clubs than he did in school, he moved back home to Owen Sound to work. A lifestyle of excess finally caught up with him and he suffered a stroke. After spending a week at the University Hospital in London, Ontario he was released since he had no lasting effects from the stroke. He could not get motivated nor did he care enough about himself to lose the weight. All that changed when he had a son. Finding out his girlfriend was pregnant was the jump-start he needed and he hasn’t looked back since! now lives and breathes fitness, and he tries to pass every ounce of knowledge he has picked up along his journey to anyone looking for help! He’s constantly in search of new information on training and diet and is currently trying his hand at natural bodybuilding, aiming for his Natural Pro Card. He has lots to learn still and that’s what he loves about fitness so much, as there is always more you can do to your diet and training regime to increase your performance and gains.

Bodybuilding Supplements

Incoming search terms:

  • can you obtain aesthetic perfection without supplements

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

fit_girl_USA

Tommy2

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) Eat 1-2 serving of nuts and seeds per day. They are packed with good fat,vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. Try them on oatmeal or salads.

2) The one-arm snatch is a great exercise to build strength, stamina and mass throughout the hamstrings, glutes, back & shoulders. Perform 5×5.

3) Kettlebell swings are a great exercise to strengthen the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, core & back) and are a serious calorie burner.

4) When it comes to tanning, the safest option is a spray tan. Using tanning beds more than once per month can increase your risk of cancer 50%

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

bikini girl sitting

bb_flex

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) If your short on time, try this 15 minute cardio blast (1 minute each exercise, 3 rounds): Running in place (knees high), Mountain climbers, Jumping jacks, burpees, Squat jumps.

2) Pre-exhaustion is a method in which you fatigue a muscle group with an isolated exercise, then perform, a compound movement for the same muscle group. For example, perform dumbbell side lateral raises before doing overhead barbell presses.

3) Fruit like apples, oranges & berries are packed with vitamins & fiber. They are also processed in your liver (less likely to store as fat).

4) Wanting red meat when dining at Applebee’s? Skip the sizzling steak fajitas (1,410 cal) and opt for the Asiago Peppercorn Steak (390 cal)

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

fb_model1

bb2

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) Vitamin C can aid in your fat loss goals. One of its benefits is inhibiting the release of cortisol, the stress hormone that can store fat

2)Sunflower seeds are packed with good fat, vitamins and minerals. Grab some, instead of chips, the next time you’re craving a crunchy snack.

3) To build lean muscle, eat protein at every meal/snack. As little as 10 grams will start protein synthesis and 20g will last 2 hours.

4) The Bosu ball is a great tool to strengthen your core. However, with squats and deadlifts, your core is more engaged standing on the floor.

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day

Posted on by
Reply

sexy 2

bodybuilder most muscular

Bodybuilding Tidbits Of The Day 

1) Both vitamin C and vitamin E serve many purposes including, limiting the amount of post workout inflammation and speeding up recovery.

2) If your goal is mass & strength, rest up to 3 min between sets. This will maximize strength levels. If it’s fat loss, rest only 1 min.

3) If your gym has rings, TRX or Blast Straps, perform inverted rows on your next back workout. It targets the core, biceps and of course, back.

4) Push ups have many benefits like, strengthening the forearms, tri’s & chest, increasing the metabolism & working your core. Try 10×15.

Bodybuilding Supplements That Work

Incoming search terms:

  • blast strap inverted rows bodybuilding
  • سكس2