The Best 5 High Intensity Strength Training Tips to Build Muscle

These high intensity strength training tips can help you get maximum benefit in minimum training time. Do you want to build more strength and develop more muscle in the most effective and efficient way? Are you spinning your wheels at the gym and getting very little benefit from your workouts? If you are frustrated in your workout efforts then you should pause to take a look at your training program, learn some of these high intensity strength training tips and then apply what you have learned to your workouts. You may find that you are amazed at the results.

1. High intensity strength training can help you get better results in less time. One of the most important points to remember about weight training exercise is that the benefit does not come directly from the exercise but rather from the recovery and rebuilding that takes place between workouts. The key for muscle development is brief and infrequent high intensity workout sessions that stimulate your muscles and then you MUST allow yourself sufficient recovery to rebuild and adapt to the stress. That is how you get stronger. The harder you train the more recovery is needed. 72 to 96 hours between workouts often works very well although up to a full week can sometimes yield excellent strength building results. Mentally it can sometime be difficult to adjust your attitude to the fact that you must limit the training time and number of workouts which can dramatically improve your strength training results.

2. Push your muscles to fatigue and muscle failure - To really stimulate your muscles to get stronger it is important that you use all the available muscle fibers. This is done by continuing to perform a weight training exercise until you reach the point of muscle failure. Actually very few people train with this much effort. Momentary muscle failure occurs when you can no longer complete another repetition in good form. This strenuous, high intensity exercise will be the stimulus for muscle growth. It is hard to train this way and it requires discipline to push yourself to muscle failure but it is the way to really get the best muscle strengthening results.

3. Much scientific research has shown that performing just one set of a muscle building exercise is extremely beneficial for getting good results. This is one of the most important strength training tips to build muscle and will reduce your training time and improve your results if done properly. Each exercise should be a 100% effort. Once you have completely fatigued one muscle group simply move onto another exercise and perform another set with a 100% effort. More is not better - higher intensity in good form is better!

4. Variety in your workouts is another useful high intensity strength training tip. If you always do the same group of exercises your muscles will eventually get used to them and slow down your results. In order to avoid such slumps it is a good idea to regularity change up the specific exercises your perform. This also helps prevent mental boredom. How often you switch things around can also vary. You may want to change some exercises every week or two, some athletes will change every workout or you can keep things the same for a month or so and then change all the exercises you do. The important thing is too keep things fresh and to train hard.

5. Use proper form - Unfortunately the vast number of folks who weight train with free weights or weight machine use poor technique and bad form. Most people perform their reps in a relatively fast manner just to get them over with or to be able to use more weight. If you really want to greatly increase the benefit of the muscle building exercise you need to lift slowly, pause briefly, and then lower the weight back down slowly. 5 to 10 seconds per repetition works very well. This will reduce the momentum used, increase muscle fiber recruitment, increase safety and make you work much harder. Doing your reps fast will simply do the exact opposite of these things and as a result provide poor results. Do not allow your ego to dictate the amount of weight you use. You DO want to be progressive and gradually increase the resistance but you always want to train hard and in proper strict form. Never sacrifice good form just so you can use more weight.

If you want to get Maximum Benefit from your weight training workouts than you should read The Fitness Center Handbook. (Kindle Version) which is now available! In addition you can learn more about High Intensity Strength Training at SuperMuscular.com.

David Waters has a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from the University of Massachusetts and is the author of The Fitness Center Handbook. He is also a founding member of The Nahanni Camping and Fishing Club.

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The Best 5 High Intensity Strength Training Tips to Build Muscle

These high intensity strength training tips can help you get maximum benefit in minimum training time. Do you want to build more strength and develop more muscle in the most effective and efficient way? Are you spinning your wheels at the gym and getting very little benefit from your workouts? If you are frustrated in your workout efforts then you should pause to take a look at your training program, learn some of these high intensity strength training tips and then apply what you have learned to your workouts. You may find that you are amazed at the results.

1. High intensity strength training can help you get better results in less time. One of the most important points to remember about weight training exercise is that the benefit does not come directly from the exercise but rather from the recovery and rebuilding that takes place between workouts. The key for muscle development is brief and infrequent buy a kindle sessions that stimulate your muscles and then you MUST allow yourself sufficient recovery to rebuild and adapt to the stress. That is how you get stronger. The harder you train the more recovery is needed. 72 to 96 hours between workouts often works very well although up to a full week can sometimes yield excellent strength building results. Mentally it can sometime be difficult to adjust your attitude to the fact that you must limit the training time and number of workouts which can dramatically improve your strength training results.
2. Push your muscles to fatigue and muscle failure - To really stimulate your muscles to get stronger it is important that you use all the available muscle fibers. This is done by continuing to perform a weight training exercise until you reach the point of muscle failure. Actually very few people train with this much effort. Momentary muscle failure occurs when you can no longer complete another repetition in good form. This strenuous, high intensity exercise will be the stimulus for muscle growth. It is hard to train this way and it requires discipline to push yourself to muscle failure but it is the way to really get the best muscle strengthening results.
3. Much scientific research has shown that performing just one set of a muscle building exercise is extremely beneficial for getting good results. This is one of the most important strength training tips to build muscle and will reduce your training time and improve your results if done properly. Each exercise should be a 100% effort. Once you have completely fatigued one muscle group simply move onto another exercise and perform another set with a 100% effort. More is not better - higher intensity in good form is better!
4. Variety in your workouts is another useful high intensity strength training tip. If you always do the same group of exercises your muscles will eventually get used to them and slow down your results. In order to avoid such slumps it is a good idea to regularity change up the specific exercises your perform. This also helps prevent mental boredom. How often you switch things around can also vary. You may want to change some exercises every week or two, some athletes will change every workout or you can keep things the same for a month or so and then change all the exercises you do. The important thing is too keep things fresh and to train hard.
5. Use proper form - Unfortunately the vast number of folks who weight train with free weights or weight machine use poor technique and bad form. Most people perform their reps in a relatively fast manner just to get them over with or to be able to use more weight. If you really want to greatly increase the benefit of the muscle building exercise you need to lift slowly, pause briefly, and then lower the weight back down slowly. 5 to 10 seconds per repetition works very well. This will reduce the momentum used, increase muscle fiber recruitment, increase safety and make you work much harder. Doing your reps fast will simply do the exact opposite of these things and as a result provide poor results. Do not allow your ego to dictate the amount of weight you use. You DO want to be progressive and gradually increase the resistance but you always want to train hard and in proper strict form. Never sacrifice good form just so you can use more weight.

If you are looking for additional ways to improve your workouts then you want our FREE manual - The 8 Things Your Must Do Build Maximum Muscle! - Please click here is you want Maximum Muscles! In addition you can learn more about High Intensity Strength Training at http://www.squidoo.com/high-intensity-strength-training-tips

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Should You Develop Healthy Eating Habits to Lose Weight?

Should you go on a diet or develop healthy eating habits to lose weight? For many people the first thing they think of when it comes to weight loss is that they should go on a diet. The truth is that for long term benefits the habit of eating nutritiously is a much better option for several reasons.

The very mention of "going on a diet" implies that you will later come off of that diet. That right there tells you that dieting is a short term approach to a lifestyle issue. Sure fad diets may work in the short term but in the long run they generally do not provide any real benefit. People want to lose weight and keep it off. By learning the proper methods of weight control and maintaining healthy eating habits you are much more likely to reach and stay at your desired weight. Providing highly nutritious foods in the proper amounts is the best way to fuel your body and control your weight.
Many "fad diets" gain short term popularity for the simple reason that they provide short term, fast weight loss. These diets are often based on eliminating some very nutritious foods and replacing them with shakes, energy drinks or other magic potions, diet pills, high fiber concoctions or high priced processed meals. Sometimes drastically reducing your calories is part of these diets. It is very important to remember that your body is fueled by the food you eat. In order to function at a high level, be healthy and energetic, it is vital to supply your body with highly nutritiously foods. Removing nutritious foods from your diet in a rush to lose weight is not a wise decision. In some cases fast weight loss can do more harm then good.

Most people understand that your bodies metabolism is vital to weight control. Think of your metabolism as your level of energy use. Using less energy can lead to weight gain since body fat is excess energy that gets stored in fat cells. By decreasing weight too fast it can actually cause your body to slow down your metabolism. This in turn can cause you to gain weight back after the initial fast weight loss of a diet. Known as the yo-yo effect, this is a leading cause of frustration for folks looking to lose weight and keep it off. By combining proper eating habits and sensible exercise you can effectively maintain your metabolism working at its proper level which will help with controlling your weight. Muscle strengthening exercise which directly increases your metabolism is very important, as is regular cardio endurance training.

A few key points to proper eating should be kept in mind. Eating several relatively small sized meals and snacks throughout the day is a better approach then larger, less frequent meals. Do not skip breakfast - it really is the most important meal of the day. Eating regularly helps maintain your metabolism. Select fresh foods and real produce, including organic foods, are much better food choices then highly processed, chemical and sodium filled foods.

Many people think that eating nutritiously is difficult to accomplish. The approach one should take is to develop healthy eating habits to lose weight, maintain proper weight and maximize your health. Habits, both good and bad, are hard to break. Once you establish good eating habits, those habits will be relatively easy to maintain for the simple season your eating methods are just that - a habit. Part of establishing a good nutritional program is learning how to grocery shop for good food choices. Most visits to the grocery store lead you to the same aisles and selecting the same food items. By getting used to always buying a selection of healthy, nutritious foods it will ensure that you have these items in your home.

Another misconception about proper eating is that nutritious foods are boring, bland and not very tasty. Nothing can be further from the truth. Proper food preparation, cooking methods, nutritious recipes and healthy food substitution can lead to some incredibly healthy and delicious dishes.
With the proper attitude towards your nutritional habits it can be a fun, healthy and delicious way to proper weight control. The dreaded "going on a diet" approach can be avoided as you develop healthy eating patterns on your way to good health and proper weight loss.

Do you think eating carbs will make your fat? Do you want to lose weight while eating delicious meals? If you want the real solution to diet and weight loss then you should follow a proper Fitness Diet Plan.

David Waters is graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education, has worked for many years as a fitness professional and he is the author of The Fitness Center Handbook.

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3 Best Weight Training Tips

3 Best Weight Training Tips – Are you getting the maximum muscle building results from your weight training workouts? Most people could train much better and get much better results. Following these weight training tips can make a huge difference in you workout results. Many folks spend long hours in the gym, pumping iron and lifting like crazy, yet show little benefit from their effort. Other people unfortunately shy away from strength training either because they do not understand the outstanding physical benefit they will get or they think it takes a lot of time. Proper strength training is performed in a high intensity manner. Using high intensity training methods will result in getting maximum benefit in the minimum of time. Actually the exact definition of exercise definition is Intensity = Work divided by Time.  Think about his and you will understand that proper weight training should be brief in time but intense in effort. By following these three strength training tips you can greatly improve the results from your workouts and will most likely reduce your training time.

Please note  that the weight training tips mentioned here apply to just about any type of strength training and muscle building exercise and weight training. Free weights (dumbells and barbells), weight training machines and body-weight exercises (such as dips, chin ups and ab crunches) all require similar training guidelines to provide effective strength training benefit.

A Vital Weight Training Tip – Use Proper Form!

Proper form – The laws of physics tells us a lot concerning momentum and the forces needed to move any object, such as a barbell or weight stack.  How does this apply to muscle building and weight training tips? This is very simple and cannot be disputed. The weight or resistance you are exercising with should never be lifted quickly. You should also not drop the weight.  Your weight training exercises should always be performed in a slow and controlled manner. By lifting the weight slowly you eliminate the use of momentum and force your muscles to contract with much more force. This means you will be getting a much better workout. It is simply harder to lift weight slowly then to lift fast. The idea is to make your muscle work harder! It is also much safer to train this way. But just how slowly should your movement be? one very common technique is to take 2 complete seconds to do the lifting motion, a full 1 second pause and then take 4 seconds to slowly lower the weight back down. This results in one repetition taking about six full seconds to complete. Most people train at a much faster pace thereby make the repetitions much easier to perform.  Some advanced training methods use even slower movements. These techniques are really very difficult to perform, requires a lot of effort and will take a lot out of you. The most important thing to keep in mind as you train is that you should use a slow and controlled speed of motion and perform the movement through a full range of motion.  Using such proper form and proper speed of motion greatly increases both the safety and the benefits of your muscle building exercise.

Weight Training Tips – High Intensity Effort

High Intensity effort – High Intensity training is not a new exercise concept but it got a large boost in popularity during the 1970′s by Arthur Jones, the creator of the revolutionary Nautilus fitness machines. The effectiveness of high intensity exercise has been clearly demonstrated by many top athletes, including Mike Menzter, a 5 time Mr. Olympia winner. But what exactly does the term high intensity exercise really mean?  Bascially it means that the strength training exercises should be peformed until the point of momentary muscle failure. This means to continue the exercise movement to the point when no further repetitions s can be done and the final one attempted is a “failed” rep, hence the name failure.  This is one of the most important weight training tips you can follow yet it is often ignored by people who workout regulary. This type of high intensity exercise means your muscles will recieve a strong stimulus to recruit more muscle fibers and become stronger by yout nest workout. You should keep in mind that a muscle building program is a combination of stimulating your muscles with exercise and than allowing your muscles to grow and develop between workouts when rest and recovery takes place.  High intensity exercise puts lots of stress on the body and it must not be overdone by performing too much in one workout or by exercising too frequently. The American College of Sports Medicine, the most respected authoritive organization that deals with the field of exercise, suggests that healthy adults should perform ten exercise 2 times per week, performing 8 to 12 repetitions each set. Since these recomendations are based on extensive scientific research it make good sense to try and follow these closely. Thes weight training tips are essentially based on the ACSM guidelines

Weight Training Tips for Workout Recovery

Recovery Period – The third tip to help you gat maximum results from your strength training is to make sure you have proper and complete recovery and rest during the time span between your exercise sessions. If a person is doing a complete body workout routine or if utilizing a split workout program (different body parts on different days), the necessity for the bodies recovery stays the same. This time span should always take at least 48 hours but generally a longer time period of 72 to 96 hours usually works better. Keep in mind that your muscles actually develop and grow during this time and you should want the recovery period to be sufficient. Initially the muscles have to have their basic recovery from the stimulus of the high intensity workout, then additional time to overcompensate and adapt. Ideally the muscle will recruit more muscle fibers and then be at a higher level of strength for the next workout.  To ensure that you get full recovery you should make certain that you get adequate sleep, proper nutrition and also avoid over training. Too much exercise or workouts done too frequently can be detrimental to your training results.

Always try to follow these three weight training tips – Use proper exercise form, exercise in a high intensity fashion and be sure to allow for full recovery.  With this the benefits of your muscle building workouts will increase dramatically.

Cardio Workouts Are Not the Best Way to Lose Body Fat

If you want to discover some areas where you may be going wrong in your ab workouts and your attempts at losing stomach fat, I have an interview for you here that you'll want to read.

In the interview, we discuss the topic of abs training and the biggest myths and mistakes we see in this field.
Here's a copy of the training portion of the interview below. We'll discuss the nutrition aspects necessary for losing enough body fat to carve out those six pack abs in another article.
CB: Okay Mike, so where does the average man or woman go wrong when it comes to training abs?
MG: Most people are probably going to be surprised with this answer. In their quest for 'six pack abs', buy a kindle I see people making is wasting WAY too much of their time training their abs directly... pumping away with all kinds of different abs-specific exercises.
I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. The person is trying so hard to get those abs to show, that they're spending almost all of their time in the gym with hundreds of reps of various crunches, leg raises, twisting exercises, etc. Meanwhile, all of that wasted time directly training the abs could have been better spent on a properly designed full body workout program that would elicit a much better metabolic response and increase the fat-burning hormone levels in their body as well.
After all, losing the stomach fat that is covering the abs is the MOST important aspect for most people to finally be able to make their abdominals visible. Unfortunately, pumping away with hundreds of crunches and leg raises does NOT cause much of a metabolic or fat burning hormonal response.
This is the main focus of my Truth about Six Pack Abs book... full body workout programs and proper nutrition to strip off that stubborn belly fat and reveal the six pack that's hiding underneath!
Of course it wouldn't be an abs book if I didn't focus on ab development too, but I make sure firstly that the most important concepts for lasting body fat reduction are understood.
CB: Do you see any gender differences in mistakes they make? And more importantly, do you see any gender differences in the response to various types of ab training?
MG: To be honest, I don't really see any need for men or women to train differently. Bottom line... the best exercises are the best exercises regardless of gender.
However, in regards to mistakes I see between genders... Yes, I tend to see women more often are deathly afraid to use weight training with anything but really light weights. That is a shame, because THE most effective way to gain control over your body fat for life, is to maximize your lean muscle that your body carries, as well as working that muscle hard through intense resistance exercise regularly.
It's important for women to realize that regular strength training using heavier resistance will NOT "bulk them up" (as long as caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key secrets for losing body fat and staying lean year-round. As a matter of fact, some of the leanest females that I've trained over the years are the ones that aren't afraid to work hard with the weights.
I also notice that most women (and a lot of guys too) spend way too much time with slow cardio workouts. This is simply not necessary, and the way I combine high intensity resistance training into full body routines provides enough of a "cardio" workout in itself usually. We'll get back to this in a minute though.
CB: What about old school sit-ups? Do you use these? Are they good, bad, or does it "depend"?
MG: Sit-ups are a controversial topic. I don't think they're good or bad per se, but rather "in between". I didn't include them in my workout programs. I simply don't feel they are necessary, and I think there are much more effective abs exercises to focus on. Personally, I almost never do sit-ups except occasionally for a little variety every now and then.
CB: Give us a weekly sample ab training program. How many days per week? What are a couple of the best exercises you'd pick? How many sets? Reps? Rest?
MG: Well, first I'd like to point out that the full body exercises that make up the majority of my programs indirectly work the abs and the entire "core" area to a fairly decent extent. However, I do include abs-specific exercises into the routines generally about twice per week. The "abs-specific" portion of the workouts generally only take about 5 minutes at most with very little rest between exercises.
Once people are past the beginning phase of gaining some initial ab strength, I try to get them away from the exercises that are too easy, where someone can do 50 or 100 reps, as is frequently common with standard crunches. Instead, I like to focus on higher resistance exercises that actually stimulate the muscle fibers to a much greater degree.
One example of a higher resistance abs exercise is hanging leg raises with a proper "pelvic curl up". It's funny but usually someone that has been wasting so much time with hundreds of reps of crunches can usually only do a few solid reps when they first attempt some of these higher resistance exercises.
We also make sure not to neglect some rotational movements, as well as some work for the deeper muscles like the transversus abdominis.
CB: What do you use for burning fat, intervals or slow cardio workouts? Or both? Any gender differences here? Or differences between fitness levels (beginner vs. advanced)?
MG: In most cases, my answer is definitely intervals... or as I like to call it "variable intensity training". In general, I think slow steady pace cardio is a waste of time, especially if the goal is lasting fat loss.
I think people need to get away from this thinking about "fat burning zones" and calories burned during the actual workout, and look at the bigger picture of what you're doing in your workout to stimulate the greatest metabolic response in your body... and the best metabolic and hormonal response is achieved through variable intensity training and strength training, not slow steady-pace cardio workouts.
Now I will say that if someone is really deconditioned and can't handle higher intensity exercise routines just yet, this still doesn't mean that they can't simply use lower intensity routines, but still use it in a "variable intensity" fashion, by alternating between higher and lower exertion levels throughout the workout.
That wraps up the "abs training" portion of the interview. We'll discuss the nutrition aspects that are necessary for losing enough body fat to get visible six pack abs in a separate posting.
Mike Geary
Certified Trainer
Author - Truth About 6 Pack Abs

Muscle Building Supplements - Protein and Creatine in your Diet!