70 Year old Bodybuilder - Melanie

I just posted the training routine and some of the diet a 70-year-old bodybuilder Melanie from England.   She is in incredible shape it looks like she's about 40 years old.  She has been training for most of her life and really hard for the last 15 years.

She is living proof that if we continue to train scientifically and watch your diet we can stay in shape and look great for our entire life. 

http://bodybuilder.com/

Training Routine 10/19/14

I have been working out and world's gym about two months now.  I go in early in the morning in the atmosphere is great a lot of serious people in there.  In order to train hard you knew to be around people who are positive and have a lot of energy and want to work hard. 

My strength is increasing steadily and this week and I will get a little more rest  and try to get some more aerobics in.  I am bringing my lunch and breakfast each day and have a healthy meal prepared when I come home at night. 

I am also getting plenty of sleep and rest for that is one key to being in great shape.  If you do not get enough rest your muscles will  not fill out or grow.  And as we age we need to maintain our muscle mass.

Training news 09/15

My training has been going great so last week was a very busy and work at school,  My lifts are going way up, and  when the weights you're using increase so do your muscles. 

You simply cannot handle meaningless  lightweights add get any results except being toned.   If you want to get results you must be working to increase the weights you are handling.   

That being said you cannot sacrifice form though.   You need to maintain good form and all your exercises to get results and to prevent injury.

Just getting back to the training I took my leg press from 135 pounds to 350 pounds in about six weeks.  And my dumbbell bench presses from 25 to 65 pounds too

And I just getting in to the hard training now.

TRAINING WHEN TRAVELING 

OR ON VACATION

08/01/14

Visiting Daughter and Granddaughters

Brought mat - 25 pound dumbbells 
up 6AM -  run 1 mile of sprints up HIGH grass hill in park
Walk 1/2 mile there and back to park
200 pushuos
500 situps
100 free squats
100 curls- hammer curls - cleans and presses-  rows with dumbbells
20 minutes of yoga stretching 

I do not care where you are what you are doing you can still get a good workout when you travel and when you are on vacation

And you will FEEL so much better when you do!    make it habit you never stop

Free photo shoot for a bodybuilder/Fitness athletes who wants to take before and after pictures

Going to do photo shoots next week for all those bodybuilders and fitness people who want to do a before and after training session. We will do them twice a month and see what changes can be made

This is Debbie from Canyon country who is 64 years old and still training hard. Come on down if you can make it if not post your picks up here and tell us about your training

Apple - Strawberry Smoothie

I just created this delicious healthy Apple strawberry smoothie using my vita mix blender. 

The ingredients include

• One Apple cored
• 10 strawberries
• One cup of protein power
• Eight ice cubes 

Remember any smoothie or drink that you blend,  you need to drink within 20 minutes of blending to get all of the nutrition from it.

Should You Juice or Blend to be Healthy

Personally I prefer to blend my fruits and vegetables instead of juicing them.  I do this for a definite purpose.

When you juice you are extracting the water and nutrients from produce and trying to discard the fiber.  Without the fiber your digestive system doesn't have to work as hard to break down the food and can almost instantly absorb nutrients.  It can make the nutrients  quickly available to your body and in much larger quantities than if you were just eat those all of those fruits and vegetables. 

Is also the reason and I not use a juicer.  When you are juicing fruits, the juice that is made can release the sugar into your body at a extremely rapid raise. This is because of the fiber has been removed from the fruit and vegetables.   If you were only juicing fruit this can cause a huge spike in your blood sugar level which can be most unhealthy for your body.  High blood sugar levels can cause diabetes, mood swings and other physical ailments, 

When you use the blender you are also getting all of the fiber and skin from the fruits and vegetables you blend.  By blending you are able to break the fiber apart from the food fruit or vegetables, which helps create a slow even release of the nutrients into your body and bloodstream, and avoids the blood sugar spikes that can result from using a juicer and juicing fruits.  Also by blending fruits and vegetables it makes them easier to digest since the blender has broke the fiber apart.  Plus I have found making a smoothie in my blender is much more filling than just drinking juice from a juicer. 

Dr. Herbert Shelton states in his books is best not to combine certain fruits and vegetables so do not combine vegetables like carrots, broccoli, zucchini for they have high starch content. And starches are digested with enzymes different from those used for any other food groups.  If you combine these vegetables with fruit it can it can cause gas and other symptoms.  What he did fine is that you can combine green leafy vegetables with pretty much anything you want, that is what I combine them with spinach and kale.

The last part is make sure you try to drink but you made in the first 15 or 20 minutes after you've created it. Both the air and light will destroy many of the nutrients the longer it sits out after you have made it. So after you have made your smoothie or juice sitdown, relax, and drink it  also do not make too much and then try to store it. Try too make just enough for you to use in one session

Popeyes ice cream

I first tried this at the Blendtech booth will going to Cosco. I was in a hurry and just grabbed it and start walking toward took a taste of it.  And let me say it tasted incredible!!

I have now started make my own version the last couple of weeks.  My ingredients include;

• 3/4 Almond or coconut milk
• Spinach and Kale
• Agave nectar-  I only use 2 tablespoons- You can add more
• One cup of ice

I have a vita mix many high-end blender will do. Come by all of the ingredients and set the blender on low.  Blend for 30 seconds to one minute and then remove ingredients.

With the Agave nectar I only use a little bit of this to minimize the sugar content.

This is a great way to have your family or children enjoy health benefits of spinach and kale.   Try it I think you'll really like it.

Working the core muscles

This is been a hot button term for the last 10 or 15 years. Everyone talks about working the core. What the heck does that mean.

First of all there more than a few strength and conditioning coaches who feel that working the core is something they put minimum time into.   They feel it is a term used by trainers to train Hollywood celebrities and people who were not athletes.

The core muscles include both your abdominals and your lower back muscles. They are at the center of your body and they are versus what hold your body together. Virtually every movement or exercise you do involves those muscles. If they are strong and meet your posture is straight and for any athletic endeavor A strong core will enhance your performance,

And of course for bodybuilding or fitness having a strong core a flat stomach is absolutely necessary. And like it or not it is also the way most people at judge if you are in shape or not.  When you put on a bathing suit to to it or go swim or relax and Sun bath you want to have a flat well toned stomach. That is the standard for what is called a sexy body.

When you do exercises for the core they are not just for the muscles that we call the six pack. we are also working oblique muscles and also the muscles of our lower back. That means we are not just doing endless crunches. We are doing other movements that strengthen and also provide flexibility to our core muscles.

As a trainer I have witnessed many athletes who have incurred injuries by ignoring the core muscles and by also putting on excessive weight. Most excessive way is stored around the abdominal muscles. This weight then put extra pressure on your lower back to keep you in an upright position. This can waken your lower back and make you very susceptible to injury.

In addition any extra weight is going to put incredible pressure on your joints. Especially your feet and ankles knees and hips.  I do not care how much muscle you put on to try to make up for this excess weight your boat structure can only handle so much weight. It is like taking your car and starting to put 45 pound plates and it. There's become a point in time with your friend cannot support that way is going to collapse. So will your body

So you must keep this in mind as you start to develop your body had to train. We are all born with different types of bone structures and you need to take a good look at yours to see just how much weight you can carry. If you exceed this way but a large amount you are going to costly be injured and unable to train, and you will be most unhealthy.

And remember our goal for bodybuilding's health first. I don't care how much muscle you on if you feel awful it will not be worth it. And believe me I have known hi but it's a bodybuilders and Ashley's who have done just that. Well everyone is complimenting them on how big they are what's around the gym there most unhealthy.

Remember the abdominals are made up of four muscle groups. So we need to have a wide variety of exercises to hit all of these muscle groups. Many of these exercises consists of movement from a mat and also using an exercise ball. That's right bending down to pick up something also works your abdominals and your core.

Another group of exercises that address the core or Pilates.  These were created in the 1920s and they were designed to strengthen, tone, and develop the deep core abdominal muscles. They not only develop the abdominal muscles they also provide stability and flexibility when you were working out or playing a sport. They enable you to maintain body balance when you are moving in any direction. 

So make sure you do Core exercises in your workouts. You want to maintain a strong sleek,body, keep your lower back strong and flexible, and be able to maintain a good balance position all during the day. It will also help you create or maintain the hourglass figure that we all work hard to achieve.

I will soon put up some of my favorite exercises to about the car on my website

How to eat for optimal performance and workout

We all need carbohydrates for optimal performance. If you do not have enough carbohydrates when you are working out or competing you are simply going to run out of fuel. 

But not only do you need to eat carbohydrates to perform optimally you also need to time when you make them. Your body can only store 500 to 600 carbohydrates in your liver and muscles. So you not only need them to get a maximum workout or complete you also need to eat carbohydrates after your workout to fully recover and for your muscles to grow. If you combine some protein with your carbohydrates, your body will be even able to absorb even more carbohydrates thus giving you even more fuel.

For those are doing endurance sports or doing long time intense workouts carbohydrate loading can be very beneficial. Endurance training stimulates the sent synthesis of muscle glycogen,  So by doing carbohydrate loading you can increase the way your body stores carbohydrates.

Since I play and do high intensity sports and workouts I tried to eat A meal of 

60% carbohydrate

15% fat

25% protein

I want to make sure I am fueled sufficiently to have as intense workout as I can get. I do not want to push myself and then run out of energy. And as I stated before I make sure I eat again within two hours after my workout. 

Remember when you're doing intense muscle building or straining workouts your body continues to burn energy two- three hours after you are done working out,

So make sure you include your diet when you are planning out your workout routine. It is not unlike promising your car you will give a gas tomorrow when it is on empty today. Your car will not move and neither should you. If you do not have enough carbohydrates your body is going to use your muscles for a fuel.  Thus you can lose weight and actually look worse than you did before

How much should you warmup 

before you exercise

How much should you warm up before you exercise? I have received thousands of e-mails from athletes- bodybuilders- and working people asking this question.

First of all it depends on your type of workout you will doing and also on your individual body type. That being said you need to follow some general guidelines

1) The best warmup for lifting weights is to do the exercises you are about to do with a light weight and go through the full range of motion. That will warmup your body muscles that you are just about to use. DO NOT GO YOUR HEAVIEST WEIGHT ON YOUR FIRST OR SECOND SET UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET INJURED!

2) Do not go to do a long aerobic workout before you lift weights. You can often burn up the glycogen from your muscles before you even workout a that will give you a worthless workout. You need the glycogen to help you lift and get results.!

3). But one thing you need to do is to get your body temperature up some before you start. Whether that is done on the treadmill or some quick light weights it does not matter as long as you have got your blood pumping.  If I did not want to do a light set of all my exercises for warmup sometimes I would get on a exercise bike and ride it with no tension for about 8 to 10 minutes to get my blood flowing

The physiological reason you do a warm up is to assist your circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles. You want to increase circulation throughout the body in a gradual manner. A good warm up w ill safely prepare your body for the increased demands of your exercise routine. When your muscles are cold muscles they do not absorb shock or impact as well, and are more susceptible to injury.
Always make sure you do not just walk in and try to handle your heaviest weight. That just shows lack of discipline and patience in your workout and you will end up paying the price and injuries. 

How much protein do you need to compete

Recent studies have shown that the average American gets too much protein in their diet.  Of course being a bodybuilder or athlete you're not the average American. You are going to need more protein if you're training hard then they would because you will be breaking your body muscles down much more each day.

Athletes require more protein than inactive people to build, maintain and repair muscle and other tissues in the body. The more intense you train and the more intense your work out,  the more protein and nutrients you going to require to recover sufficiently.  If you do not get enough protein your body will not recover,  and you will actually lose muscle.   When you eat protein your body breaks it down into amino acids and these can be used for several different things. It can provide energy, but that is not it's main purpose. It is used for building and repairing muscle and tissues, red blood cells, hair and finger nails and for synthesizing hormones.

Extra protein does not build muscle or bulk. For that you need to increase your exercise level. If you do not exercise the protein was just sit your body and it will soon flushed out.

So make sure you get plenty of protein in your diet each day. That will ensure that your body can recover and make games that you agree should training well

Following link provides a good list of some of the most protein rich foods to eat

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/athletes-need-protein-inactive-people-2794.html

Should you handle Heavy or Light Weights to get Results 

This question has been asked for years now from every bodybuilder, fitness competitor, and athlete in every sport.

In over 40 years of training and training  with athletes I have seen it all.  From bodybuilders and athletes doing Max lifts of 1-3 reps in almost every workout to some huge athletes doing sets of benches with 135 lbs, but doing every rep as slow, controlled and with as perfect form was possible.   

So there is a wide variety of different philosophies out there on what you should be doing for the best results.  So here are some initial tips on what to do:

• Do not got for max lifts more than once a week 
• DO NOT CHEAT ON YOUR LIFTS AND USE BAD FORM
• Do not use so light a weight that you are not straining at all to finish your set
• Do not lift heavy all the time - it will be to hard on your joints 
• Throw a high rep - light weight day in your routine every two weeks.   

Also do not overtrain!    If you are constantly tired and dragging then you are not going to be making any gains either.  Take a day or two off or better yet do some cross training.

Speaking of cross training I always do some form of cross - sport training.   My routine includes 

• Tennis - I am ranked player and coach
• Sprints -  Agility drills - LOVE THEM
• Jiu Jitsu - wrestling -  a great way to get strong, flexible, and have fun
• Hiking -  we have a ton of great hiking trails here

Now all of these activities burn calories, work my fast twitch muscles,  work my core,  and build explosive muscles density.   I LIKE to eat and so by cross training I am not eating dry chicken breasts and dry salads which i did when I was bodybuilding and had stopped cross training.  Those days are gone forever.  

Now I can eat a healthy diet but sill have carbs when I want to.  AND I do.

My routine is weights -  Monday - Tuesday  - Thursday - Friday and i have a max of 15 -30 seconds between sets.  I KEEP MOVING BETWEEN SETS!   I do anywhere from 4 -10 reps and 3 sets of each exercise. 

REST?  I have heard and believe the saying " you are not ever overtrained you are just under rested" .   You need to have some down time and you need to  have some fun.   Do not ignore your Family.   Get out to a park and hike-  play tennis - basketball-  go bowling - swimming and TAKE EVERYONE!    That means go out and exercise and have fun while you do it. 

Keep track of your weights and try to increase them 

When is the Best Time to Train for Bodybuilding or Fitness

I spent over 17 years training a 4am at Golds Gym in Venice Beach California. Now I did not think anything about this for there were 20-40 other people in there also by 4:30AM and that included many females bodybuilders and athletes.

Was I stiff at that time of the morning? Not really but it does take longer to warmup the earlier you start. And you may not be as strong as you will be in later in the day, but I found that my strength was just about the same in the morning as it was in the afternoon. 

But you will also get your workout in each day not matter what happens for nothing, work-Family- etc issues will not be able to interfer with your workouts for you will have already got it in before you start your day.

Yes as you get older you will sometimes you need to stay late at work, you have dinner meetings, and Family events which will make you postpone or cancel your workout.

Now for some technical analysis. ! The latest research on your body's circadian rhythms, which are its internal clock, have shown that the peak of several of the most important (anabolic) hormones occur at both 3 and 11 hours upon your awakening. Well, according to science, if you wake up at 5:00 am, you are at your strongest at either 8:00 am and 4:00 pm..

Furthermore according to many strength coaches - such as Olympic Strength Coach Charles Poliquin, your joints like your knees, shoulders, may not be warm first thing in the morning.

What they are referring to is the synovial fluid which lubricates your joints require about 3 to 4 hours to reach an optimal level of warmth which will increase your bodies flexibility. This will provide a increase in athletic performance while decreasing the chnces of injuries.

So if you have the time to train at the 3 or 11 hours upon wakening then you now know it is your optimum training time. But do not worry if you do not. Some of the best bodybuilders and athletes in the world have trained at every hour of the day. When i was in at 4AM many of the top bodybuilders and athletes where right in the gym with me

Carmen's Training 03/01/14

She lost 5 lbs last week but she also pulled a muscles in her leg going way to HARD and LONG in jiu jitsu practice. 

Remember moderation is the key.  She is on the mend and should resume training this week.

Her diet has been clean, she has a new job, and she is motivated to get this done

And she will - a little bit more each week,  She should be back on the mats next week or so and back at the gym hard too

Carmen's Training 02/20/14

She actually gained a pound -  but that is a couple pounds of muscle with 4-5 pounds of fat being lost! 

DO NOT JUST LOOK AT THE SCALE!  Remember muscle weight more than fat and will give you twice a much energy

She had a incredible jiu jitsu - bodybuilding workout on the 2/19 and was still a little bit sore and tired last night