Water in Bodybuilding

There is one simple rule that says: "If you do not know how much water you are drinking then there is a big chance it is not enough for your body!". Lack of water immediately transforms in a less effective nutrition plan. When on a diet water is the most important ingredient you need to look at and so few people understand this. Many individuals start counting calories, fat grams, protein take in but fail to know how much water they drink. As mentioned above this means they are not drinking enough. It is very important in nutrition and bodybuilding in general to know how much water you consume.

You also need to know some other facts as well. First, if you are thirsty it does not mean you are dehydrated. On the contrary, knowing how much water to drink depends on how thirsty you are. Secondly, it is said that if your urine is dark then you are dehydrated. That can not be considered to in bodybuilding or in any other sport because there are many factors that can change urine color to dark. The last myth you have to understand refers to caffeine. Many individuals belive that it dehydrates the body. Well, studies proved that it actually hydrates people that are used to caffeine and together with teas and sodas they can even be useful in hydration for some bodybuilders.

As mentioned above, drinking water should be done when you are thirsty. There is a chance to overdue it though and it has to be avoided. Let us keep it simple. Before a workout be sure you are hydrated and drink a glass or two of water. Then, every 15 minutes you spend at the gym should translate in another glass of water, especially if you are sweating a lot. Do not neglect water in bodybuilding, fitness or any other sport. It can help out!

3 Forms of Creatine

Few people are aware of this simple fact but you should know that there are three forms of creatine available for buying: monohydrate, citrate and phosphate. 

What you also need to understand is that phosphate creatine is not easy to absorb by one's body and is not so effective in bodybuilding, so there is a big chance you will not get the expected results. 

With citrate creatine research is not conclusive although it does become more popular each day. Monohydrate creatine has been used in research in most cases and is the one that has the most proven results. 

This is why, until further news, you should try and look for monohydrate creatine in my view!

Use a Balanced Fat Burning Diet for Abs

By now you have to know that you can not get those sexy abs you are looking for this summer by doing hundreds of crunches and that you have to work hard in the kitchen as well. A bodybuilding diet is a must have if training and wanting to loose weight together with getting sexy, hot abs. If you do not burn that extra fat you have there over your muscles there is no way you can achieve your goal.

Here is another news flash if you need it! Everybody out there has great abs. Human anatomy can prove this. You have great abs there but they are covered with a layer of fat and water. The only thing you need to get to see your abs is reducing the body fat covering it and making it low enough for the muscles to show. In most cases this will happen when body fat falls below 10% for men and 13% for women. If you want those abs to show even better you need to lower it even more to get a defined aspect until around 6% for men and 11% for women. Yes, for women it is a lot easier but men usually throw more motivation behind it. We all love a woman with a flat stomach, those defined "six packs" are not really necessary. For a man we must agree that he looks better if the abs look better.

The basics for a fat burning diet stands in 40% proteins, 40% carbs and 20% good fats. This means that fruits and dairy products need to be eliminates because they have simple carbs that can slow down fat loss. Talking about carbs now you have to know that they must come from complex slow releasing ingredients like brown rice, sweat potatoes, oatmeal in a combination with sources full of fibres like broccoli (yes I know most people hate broccoli I do too) or green beans. Your proteins must come from lean red meat, tuna, chicken or turkey. The main sources of fat should be extra virgin olive oil or flax seed oil. There is no great philosophy to have a good balanced fat burning diet for abs. You just have to be motivated and stick in there!

Are energy drinks good for anything?

I am sure you noticed that you are surrounded by energy drinks commercials everywhere you turn and let's face it, they taste good and the wrappings and publicity basically sells them like crazy. Now I am going to ask you one thing: how many bodybuilders did you see drinking these "great" energy drinks? Think about it and tell me later because I already know the answer to that question. Did you ever look at the ingredients in these drinks? They have so much sugar and caffeine in them that some are actually above what can be considered healthy. You get yourself an energy kick but at what cost. Surely you will also find different minerals, vitamins, ginseng and other ingredients that are healthy but that does not matter when you put in so much of these two damaging ones. Think twice before purchasing one or at least take a look at the ingredients list, some of them are not that bad but 90% of all energy drinks are not healthy at all.

Common Mistakes in Bodybuilding

There are a lot of mistakes that one can do when working out and the list is quite big and can take months if not years until a bodybuilder can achieve the proper discipline to practice this sport. It is always a good thing to know what the most common mistakes are and should be a reality in training for novices and professionals.

First of all there is a need to talk about cardio workout. Most of us know that you can not loose waith and get a great waist without cardio. The problem is that a lof of people overdo it and this has a bad effect just as with any excess in one's life. The best way to handle this situation is analyzing your workout. If you are lean but do not look lean and cardio is not doing anything you should cut all cardio workout to 50% of what you normally do for some time. If results appear then this is your problem. A lot of people fail to understand this.

Carbs are vital to your workout. Starting a diet with small quantities of carbs can lower your metabolism because this is how the body reacts to the lack of carbohydrates. If you take on this type of a diet you have to realize that carbs are important and you should take in some shakes with high carbs as they are the ones that give you energy. If you do not have energy for your heavy workout the body can only suffer!

Many individuals (when trying to loose weight) will use lighter weights. In order to achieve your goal you have to maintain the same standard of training and using lighter weights will not help you loose pounds. Keep on training hard and work on your diet and supplements rather than lowering your workout!

Summer snacks

Summer is just right down the alley and everyone will be looking for food that does not add up too much. Summer diets start just about know and everyone is looking forward to looking his/her best when at the beach. Anyone involved in bodybuilding or fitness is in this situation. The problems also appear because there are a lot of outdoor barbecues and parties that do not serve that good of meals for one's body! If you want to approach the situation with health in mind maybe you would want to try out changing some snacks.

Why not start out with a fish burger instead of the regular burger served at barbecues? By doing this you immediately bring down saturated fat. Few people think about making a fish burger but bodybuilders will tell you that it is quite a treat and offers a different taste and is also nutritionally high. You can also try out barbecue beans, a Banana Colada Smoothie or some Peanut Butter Popcorn with a twist.

What to do when hangover is unavoidable?

Ok so hangovers are avoidable because you can always not drink but if you have to you need to minimize the damage. The previous post told you about the negatives of consuming alchool when mixed with bodybuilding. We need to be honest! Most of the visitors that will get to this site will be young and I am young and this means we all enjoy a drink or two once in a while. We do go to parties thinking about getting as much alcohool in as possible although we never admit this. With this in mind let us try and think about what to do when such a thing is sure to happen.

First of all think about dehidration. At least 2 litres of water need to wait for you by your bed for when you get back home. This simple task of leaving water there and driking it when you get home will aid your muscle a great deal by hydrating them and will prevent hangover. If you end up with a girl in the room (or man depending on your sex) be sure to make her go away as fast as possible because you will never get your buddies off your shoulders after this incident. This does not mean being rude, just speed up the process. Also, when getting himbe sure to drink a protein shake before going to bed. You can even mix it with the water that was waiting for you (that is if you can still stand). The last thing that needs to be done is having a big healthy breakfast rich in calcium, protein, iron and phosphorus.

The are just hints to do when you get to drink alcohool but the best thing would be to avoid it as much as possible, especially if you want to practice bodybuilding at a professional level!

Alcohol and Bodybuilding

If you are young there is a big chance at some points in time (for some more than others) a party will pop up. What are parties all about? Alcohool! That sweet liquid that gives you imense powers and helps everybody loosen up together with making couple hooking up a lot easier. The only question that comes up in this blog entry here is: does alcohool and bodybuilding mix? If you want an answer to this question you can only find one: NO! I am a drinker, I love getting heavily under the influence at parties but then again I am not into professional bodybuilding. A bodybuilder works hard to gain muscle and alochool does not mix well with this.

There are three main reasons why alcohol is not good for a bodybuilder. First of all it is made out of empty calories. It has no nutrients, just 7 calories per gram. If you per chance drink one shot of vodka you will take in around 100 calories. With teens like me one shot of vodka is usually just a beginning. Just try to think about how many calories you put in your body when you get that lovely dizzy feeling most people look for. It also slows down our metabolism so this also has to be considered.

The second thing that needs to be mentioned is that muscle growth is affected by drinking alcohool. The biggest effect is that protein synthesis is lowered by around 20% and the morning hangover also lowers training intensity. There are many negative body mass growth influences but these are the two that are the most important and easy to understand.

The last thing that should be mentioned is that alcohool will decrease testosterone and increase estrogen. This is also bad! Alcohool and bodybuilding do not mix!

One Gram of Protein per pound

Today's athletes and mostly bodybuilders are aware of the importance of protein in their raily diets. This is a very good thing to notice as I can see many individuals that start going to the gym who are interested in nutrition facts. One of the real problems that appear is closely linked to protein as few people realize the correct amount a body really needs. Some will continue to state that 70-80 grams of protein per day is enough. It has been proven to be wrong. A bodybuilder will put more stress on his muscles than a regular athlete and this causes an immediate need for extra nutrients. Eating food that is rich in protein like eggs, milk, red meat and chicken is the second most important thing in bodybuilding training after the workout itself. A good starting point for every begginer and some more experienced bodybuilders is to apply a simple formula of 1 gram of protein for 1 pound of bodyweight (although there is a need for even more with pros taking even double the amount in their organisms). For instance, if you weigh 100 Kg. you should have 220 grams of protein in your daily diet. For an average bodybuilder the grams of protein needed rise to 375.