Tag Archives: Body Building

Cheat and build muscle

So you’ve read a lot of articles on how to build muscle. But there’s something you just don’t know. There’s something they’re just not telling you. You’ve been lied to.

Everything you have ever read about proper exercise form is wrong. It could be hindering your progress and setting you up for an injury. If you want to build muscle faster and maybe even avoid some injuries along the way, read what I am about to tell you very carefully.

Despite everything you read about the importance of full range of motion, and strict exercise form the reality is that most people. Who are beyond the beginner level, will build muscle faster and more effectively by NOT using text book form. Not using a complete full range of motion on every exercise and by… dare I say it… CHEATING!

Have you thought about picking something up at waist height and lifting it to a shelf at eye height or above? Do you pin your elbows at your side, allowing zero movement in your body, only allowing your forearms to move upward as you hinge at the elbow? That might sound ridiculous? But that’s what you do when your perform a text book barbell curl.

Cheating and using a little momentum is 100% natural to the body. It’s just what you instinctively do when you lift something heavy. What is unnatural is just locking yourself into one rigid position, only allowing movement at one or two joints.

No two people are the same and some have injuries that they have to take into account. For example, I have a bad shoulder that has required surgery in the past. If I do a strict dumbbell curl with a dumbbell I can only use 25’s. Any heavier weight than that causes me a lot of excruciating pain. But if I adjust my body position slightly and lean over at just the right time and slightly swing through the painful portion of the exercise I can use nearly triple the weight without any problems at all.

Before I go off on a tangent, I should explain that everyone reading this who wants to build muscle and hasn’t been training for at least a year or two, should learn text book form first. Unless you know proper form and how to isolate and target the muscle you are training you will never be able to cheat effectively. After many years in the game I can cheat a bent over row with some extra leg drive and hip extension while still targeting my lats and upper back very effectively. A newcomer who tried to emulate my form would only work their biceps and lower backs, and probably get injured in the process. With the amount of weight a strong lifter can use, cheating actually takes stress off the lower back and makes it safer instead of more dangerous.

The same can be said for a barbell curl. When you are using a lot of weight the stress on your lower back with text book form is actually greater than if you used a little body language. However an advanced trainee can cheat and more effectively overload his biceps while sparing his lower back. The beginner, on the other hand would put less stress on his biceps and only work his front delts, traps and lower back. So this would be counterproductive.

You’ve got to put some practice in to make it perfect. After a year loosening up your form and cheating on exercises that safely allow you to do so and you will be pleasantly surprised at much it will aid in your quest to build muscle fast.

Well who said cheaters never win? I hope this article has helped all those who were about to throw in the towel, keep at it.

Jason Ferruggia,
Author, Muscle Gaining Secrets

Muscle Gaining Secrets

Flat Six Pack Abdominals, Lean Stomach

My friend Mike Geary told me about an interview he did with a fitness professional from NYC, non other than certified personal trainer, Geovanni Derice. In it he reveals some of the hardest hitting strategies for getting rid of stubborn stomach fat to uncover those flat six pack abdominals that everyone wants.

“GD: Welcome Mike to our 4-ever-Toned Fitness Journal. For those people who do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself, and how you can help our readers with their fitness, health and fat loss.

MG: Thanks for having me on, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 17 years now, ever since I was a teenager. I got involved in sports in high school which got me interested in strength training and conditioning.

At that point, once I started feeling more energetic, then getting stronger, and looking better, I was instantly hooked for life. I’m now 33 years old and I’m still addicted to the way living a healthy and fit lifestyle, makes me feel energetic, confident, and youthful on a daily basis.

I decided earlier in my 20’s that I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the excitement of being fit, and getting themselves in the best shape that they can. Since we’ve reached a tragic epidemic of obesity, heart disease, fatigue, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. That’s why I decided to became a fitness professional. It just gives me such a buzz to help others, who have been struggling for years to get into shape, and to show them that it can be done, and how it can be a fun process.

I’ve expanded over the years from just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals thanks to the internet. I hope that my passion for fitness, helps to inspire people to take action, and improve how they look at life.

GD: Mike, one question is: there are so many things out there as to what works and what does not work… if you had to pick the 3 things that work time and time again to get flat lean abs, what else would they be?

MG: The first and most important thing to get under control, in order to lose your abdominal obesity and get flat six pack abdominals is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your diet is more important when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your abs.

There’s so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss really is. After all, we are constantly bombarded by conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy, and you have all of these gimmicky diet books about various diets too many to mention. There’s so much conflicting info, that the average consumer doesn’t even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.

The second thing that works, is to focus on the intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn stomach fat.

For you to get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity, with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body, instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps, triceps, or calves.

For the third thing, let’s talk about actually training the abs specifically. When it comes to training the abs. I always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most part. They are OK for someone who is really unfit, but most people that already have some training under their belt need a much better stimulus for their abs than doing crunches. Although crunches are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of resistance. Just remember that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles.

I provide a wealth of great abs exercises in my book, but one of the highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your pelvis up as you raise your legs. Most people don’t ever do it the right way. To be truthfully honest with you, the majority of people cannot do this to begin with, but I provide some strategies in my book how to progress to doing these correctly.

GD: Where are most people going wrong when it comes to developing the coveted “6 pack abs”?

MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN thing that people are doing wrong to get those flat six pack abs is… are you ready for this?

They spend entirely too much time focusing on training their abs! WAY too much time spent on abs exercises. Crazy, but that’s the truth.

Remember, having a flat and visible six pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage.For you to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning hormonal environment in your body, and thus increasing your metabolic rate. That is not going to happen when you focus too much time training a small muscle group like the abs.

Instead, you must use the majority of your time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, back, and chest. That’s what stimulates your metabolism and the fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a flat six pack!

GD: Which exercises do you rate as the top exercises that people need to do if they are to get maximum definition with their midsection?

MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor abs exercises like lying leg thrusts. All these routines are described as well as illustrated in my book mentioned below.

However, maximum definition in the abs and midsection comes from losing body fat, the most effective exercises featured in my program for that one goal. Various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettle bell exercises that almost nobody ever does), squats, dead lifts, lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and other full body exercises and calisthenics. If you desire great looking flat abs, focus on the above methods instead of focusing so much on training the abs directly!

GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of ways to get one thing and that is fat loss. What do you recommend to your clients, to lose body fat and keep it off?

MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in my book, which makes up almost half of the book. The most important thing to achieve is that your diet is as natural, and as unprocessed as is possible. It almost always comes back to the over processing of food that makes it unhealthy, and it will wreck your metabolism and hormone balance in your body.

For example, why would you want to eat refined grains, if you can eat whole grains (even better are sprouted grains, as I usually recommend limiting grain foods overall for best results).

Why eat all that disgusting refined sugar that causes weight gain, when you can get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why do we eat highly processed, refined, and hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when we can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, even organically raised meat.

The point here is to not fall for some quick gimmick like extremely low carbs (although I do believe in a fairly reduced carb intake as that is a big problem for most people), low fat, super high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macro nutrient compared to another.

Your body needs all macro nutrients to thrive and obtain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Cutting out an entire food group out just works against what your body needs. I go into more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat (especially that stubborn stomach fat) for life in my book.

GD: Thank you very much Mike for taking the time to share with us all of this great information.

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview and got several useful bits of info to get you motivated and started on showing off your flat abs shortly. If you have not already got a copy, be sure to pick up a copy of Mikes Truth about Six Pack Abs Ebook, and discover for yourself the entire system he developed for ridding yourself of that extra abdominal fat for good!

Six Pack Abs

Vegetarian muscle building meal ideas

Details of his vegetarian muscle building diet is one of the most frequent requests Jason Ferruggia receives. I also often read on various forums people begging him for advice because they already are, or have been brought up in a vegetarian household. Since there is much interest in this topic he would like to share it with you today. Here’s what he has to say on the subject:

Mike let me explain my daily routine.

At Breakfast – My day always starts with a shake. This will usually include ingredients like rice, pea’s or hemp protein, or a combination of the three. I start by blending between 30-40 grams of protein in 8oz of organic coconut milk, and somewhere between 8-12 oz water. I also blend fruits like banana, mixed frozen berries, a tablespoon of cacao nibs, and 2 tbls of maca powder, which is known to increase testosterone production and virility. This shake is delicious beyond your wildest imagination.

Snacks – Some times a few hours later, I will have a few tangerines and some cashews or a pair of apples with some almond butter. The fresh ground almond butter from Whole Foods is one my favorite things and I could easily eat an entire container in one sitting. Occasionally I treat myself, I mix it with honey and kill the entire container, with a cup of hemp or almond milk.

I am big fan of high sodium (Salt) intake for strength and energy production so I always have a few pickles every day and add sea salt to much of food.

Lunch – This will usually consist of some kind of legumes or beans, which are a mainstay in any vegetarian muscle building diet, with organic brown rice or quinoa. I will sauté the black beans with peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic, and then mix that in with the rice. I top it off with salsa and some fresh avocado. That is my version of Mexican style rice and beans. Sometimes I just mix the beans and rice or quinoa with marinara sauce.

I will sometimes have a salad with that or eat some raw veggies or mix some steamed kale or spinach into the whole thing.

Occasionally I will have a couple almond butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. I have drastically reduced my consumption of peanuts and peanut butter due to the deadly toxins, that they contain, along with wheat because of it’s gluten content, hence it’s inflammatory properties, I substitute some brown rice bread for the occasions I do eat these.

Snack – Similar to above. When I’m not near food I always carry Raw Organic Food Bars with me and a variety of nuts. If I am home and have fruit for my first snack. I try to make this snack with raw veggies and hummus along with a decent amount of nuts.

I also drink another shake some time during the day which is usually right after I train. It is similar to the shake above except that I don’t include the coconut milk or the cacao but I do use the maca powder. I blend a banana, almond milk, water, frozen spinach (you don’t taste the spinach at all so this is nowhere near as gross as it sounds) and some extra protein.

During my workouts I drink coconut water or regular water. I try to drink at least half a gallon of water throughout the day (hopefully you will filter your own from the tap) out of glass or my bottle. I do my best to avoid drinks stored in plastic containers and bottles. Considering of the estrogenic effects of chemicals in plastics. I also drink a couple cups of green tea each day.

For Dinner – I normally cook some kind of stew consisting of a large variety of vegetables and some kind of legumes. For example, last week I got home, and all that we had was onions, squash, spinach and garlic. I threw it all in a pot with vegetable broth, salt, pepper and yellow peas, which have 10 grams of protein per ¼ cup (you would have to eat a lot of meat to equal the protein in two cups of yellow peas). That’s cooked for 2 hours, and then mixed in some quinoa. Other times we will mix brown rice in with a variety of other veggies and lentils. If I was trying to get lean I would probably skip the brown rice, as rice is full of starch. Adding potatoes (even just one) to the stews makes them creamier and even more delicious.

I severely limit my soya consumption because of it’s unfortunate estrogenic effects, but for the occasional cheat I will have some tofu with brown rice, or some kind of meat substitute with brown rice pasta.

I also eat soya and wheat (gluten) free veggie burgers one or two nights per week, and always have a huge spinach salad mixed with broccoli, olives, peppers, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and fruits such as apples, berries, nuts, seeds, avocado, and whatever else I can fit in there. I top that with olive oil, rice bran oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dessert – Occasionally, when I am going to cheat I will have some organic coconut milk ice cream. It is delicious and pretty healthy. Coconut milk contains healthy Medium Chain Fatty Acids and has none of the dangers of cows milk. I then sweetened with organic agave syrup.

The only other cheat dessert that I will regularly eat is organic, dark chocolate. Concentrated Chocolate is shown to have a variety of health benefits. The brands I buy are those that show their support for slave free, and fair trade practices.

So there we have a brief overview of my vegetarian muscle building diet. It’s very straight forward, and a whole lot healthier than eating pounds of red meat, and all that saturated fat.

Let me tell you a bit more about Jason.

He is a world famous professional fitness coach. His trade marked Muscle Gaining Secrets workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and other magazines and all over the Internet. To get more muscle building nutrition tips, and to access his training program, check out. Renegade Diet Program.

Jason Ferruggia's Renegade Diet

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