Natural Health Care

Archive for the ‘Muscle’ Category

Did you know although many people choose the use of a weekly or bi-weekly treatment with a cleansing or hydrating face mask, they may not be getting as much out of the experience as they could? Many of the cleansing masks available fail to dig out the deeply set dirt and grime due to the lack of the proper ingredients. And, most of the anti aging skin care masks won’t do the trick, because of inferior ingredients as well.

The major problem with these and other cosmetics products is that they are primarily developed using synthetics, when they should be made up of natural compounds. Natural compounds inject your skin with the antioxidants, vitamins , minerals, and essential fatty acids that help towards ensuring that your skin is as healthy as it can possibly be. Synthetics simply can’t provide any of this.

I wouldn’t advise using most of the face masks on the market due to the low quality ingredients that they contain. These products, like so many others being sold, are simply filled with chemical preservatives and antibacterial compounds. You should avoid allowing chemicals to come into contact with the skin in any way, so stay away from most of the products that the major cosmetics companies are offering.

What you need to be using on your skin are formulas that contain nothing except all natural ingredients, but these natural products can sometimes be difficult for you to find. The problem with finding these products often lead people to try homemade recipes for masks, and these are admittedly better for your skin than most of the formulas I described. They still don’t offer you everything that you need however.

Some Fundamental Steps To Get You Started

1. Assess your existing level of fitness and your expertise with earlier types of training. The best way to experience gains is to build a totally new strength foundation. Then start performing an explosion phase. This will result in further inches.

2. Do Lifts. Total body strength is the key for such an athlete and there is no better exercise than the full back squat. This provides you with progressive increases on spinal loading, which, in turn, stabilizes you under tension, and as well improves stretch-response of hip muscles and hamstrings.

3. The squat should be the main exercise of your lower body workouts. 6-8 decent lifts gets the best strength improvements and vertical carryover. On the days of your upper body workouts, use the same philosophy, with the central exercises being bench press, overhead press variations, pull-ups and dips. Remember to work often overlooked muscles at the end of your workout – muscles such as hip flexors, the shins , transverse abdominals e.t.c.

4. Make sure to use a lifting technique in a safe and effective manner. Undergo 3-5 week strength phases for both lower and upper body. Done correctly, visible gains of 5+% on each lift should be seen weekly. Following this, you will be able to see how your jump is bound to increase.

5. Correctly use explosive and plyometric training as well as your strength training. These are your “field workouts” and are finished before your weight exercises. E.g., on Day 1 you start by using a series of tempo runs, sprints and low-intensity plyos (after the proper warm-up of course). By the time Phase 3 comes about, this will have slowly switched to shorter tempo runs, overspeed (downhill) sprints and high-intensity plyometrics.

6. Emphasis on the heavier weights will decrease as you advance through the phases.

7. Visualize by closing your eyes, imagining yourself exploding upwards. Visualize yourself with large leg muscles that are tightened like springs, prepared to blast you up into the air. Say to yourself “I feel myself getting more powerful and much lighter.” Then jump once more. You should notice a marked increase in your vertical leap. (Sports psychologists have long documented the effectiveness of “mental practice” in improving athletic performance.)

Do you have questions about the ideal regimen to build your muscles, as opposed to just getting fit and toned? The truth is, most bodybuilders prefer to mix up their routines so that they get the best of both worlds. We have everything you need right on this one website to cover all the major points on bodybuilding.

Bodybuilding vs. Fitness

We welcome both bodybuilders and fitness buffs. Some of you will ask, “What’s the difference?” Bodybuilders focus on intense training that targets specific muscle groups. You’ll find that these workouts give you strength and mass. Fitness is a term that describes general efforts to get your body into shape. It can include a cardio routine, light lifting or training on pulley or plate-loaded machines, or other ways to tone up your muscles.

Most bodybuilders combine the two for an optimal exercise plan. Many of them devote four or five days to workouts, and at each gym session they target a different group of muscles. On the remaining days, it’s wise to let muscles rest and repair themselves. Some people like to devote them to cardio workouts such as an aerobics class, cycling, swimming, or another activity that provides total-body benefits.

We want you to explore our workout plans so that you can choose the routines that fit your goals. There’s plenty of information on the debate between barbells and dumbbells, and we welcome your two cents on the matter. Our take on the issue is that dumbbells will focus on very specific muscular development, while barbells work better for building mass. What do you think?

Here you can learn when to go for more reps and lighter weights, versus fewer reps and heavier weights, and when to back off from training. You can also learn which burns more calories-lifting weights or a cardio class. Hint: Many people are surprised.