It’s been a ride so far here at stayfitbug.com and I have covered many topics, many of which have been suggested by readers like yourselves and those in other online communities. One of the biggest topics has been ‘how to build muscle mass with a high metabolism’. I have covered this topic through out various posts in the last few weeks, but the information is scattered across the site, so I intend to make this a bible post for all of you skinny men out there. I will help you get that muscle and I will make it my duty that you achieve from the information you pick up from stayfitbug.com!

You are what you eat

This we all know, but when you suffer, or should I say, when you are ‘blessed’ with a high metabolism, you just have to eat more. And these are the foods you will want to include in your diet.

• Spinach – This is muscle fuel and will help repair muscles after working out (but you have to eat loads of it)
• Pineapple and papaya – Will help speed up muscle recovery and will help breakdown and digest protein.
• Salmon – Or any other type of fish will help you (Especially for cardio training).
• Pasta and meat sauce – Is good for building and repairing muscle.
• Pork tenderloin – Will help reduce fat around your waist.
• Cold water – Will help with endurance.
• Chocolate milk – Helps with hydration. Chocolate milk gives the perfect balance of carbs, protein, and fat for a speedy muscle recovery.
• Coffee – Good for pain relief after workouts.
• Green tea – Good for muscle recovery.

Other great additions

• Peanuts
• Turkey
• Porridge
• Brown bread
• Brown rice
• Black beans
• Potatoes
• Eggs

If you are lost for what meals to include, have a read of killer foods for fitness (one and two).  That is still in it’s early stages and you will see more of killer foods for fitness, but in the mean time see my verdict on this book ‘Gourmet Nutrition’.

The high metabolism meal plan

In one of my very early posts I described how to eat in the early days of building muscle for mass, and this is how you should structure your daily meals.

• Meal 1. A GOOD breakfast like porridge with bread mixed in.
• Meal 2. Drink a gainer meal
• Meal 3. Lunch with a lot of carbs 2/3 and 1/3 proteins
• Meal 4. Drink a Gainer meal
• Meal 5. Dinner with 1/3 protein and 2/3 carbs
• Meal 6. Drink a gainer meal
• Meal 7. Eat a dish with 2/3 proteins and 1/3 carbs

Realistically this can be hard to keep up, as I have tried doing this on a number of occasions to fit around my daily schedule. But if you keep it to at least 5 meals on the busy days and 7 meals on your free days, you will put on weight for sure. If you really do struggle, like most people do nowadays, then you can always take a supplement and add that to your diet. Whey protein is my personal favourite as of now, but take a look at my personal view on how to use these supplements.

Note: Also make sure you have a healthy bank account; all this food can be costly, depending on how and where you eat. Again give the Gourmet nutrition book a read for some tips.

Resistance Training

How much and how often?

I have frequently talked about the importance of setting goals when training for results, and you will have to do this here too. But because we are talking about training to build muscle on a high metabolism/ ectomorph body type, the goal (no matter who you are) will be mostly the same.

1) Resistance training 3-4 times a week (1 hour a day)

2) One cardio training session a week. Depending on how skinny you are it could be a case of doing no cardio training at all in the early stages.

To see how to set your own personal goal, see my guest post on Dieselcrew.com

Lift Weights at Moderate Speed

Now, there has always been this myth that,

Lifting weights slowly = Bigger muscles

You can agree to disagree with me here, but I no longer believe this to be the case. For years I use to perform slow movement weightlifting and I would usually always achieve slow results… compared with now. With 2 years of power lifting and ‘explosive movements’ I would see results every 3-6 weeks!

The reason why lifting slow is bad is because,

1) It puts stress on the muscle from taking to long.

2) Allows pressure to build up in the joints… from taking to long.

3) Oxygen and energy run out before the muscle is even worked.

In general, changes will occur in your muscles when the muscles contract ‘intensely’. And this is why your weight lifting should not focus on slow movement. Yes… it may possibly give you an increase in strength, but you may lose muscle mass and you will only then be a strong, but still… skinny man!

The Ultimate Solution

There will be arguments on which is better,

Lift fast, or lift slowly? Why and for which type of goals?

But the key thing to remember is that weight training whether fast or slow is better than no weight training at all. But for you high metabolism types, the best thing to do is,

1) Start with lightweights – This will allow you to understand how to lift the weights properly regardless of the exercise.

2) Do the exercise properly – Once you have mastered how to do it, focus on control and execution.

3) Lift at moderate speed – Explosive yes! But not fast and not slow.

4) Increase the weight – Do the above 3, but always aim to increase the weight.

Structuring your weight lifting techniques like this will allow for the blood in your body to flow properly when lifting, and will give you the ‘pump’ that your muscles need. Do this and your muscles will grow!

You and the previous You!

See you in the comments.

Related posts:

1. How To Build Lats (Wings) Like These Other than the shoulder muscles, I would say that the...
2. Bugs Quick Tips Every week this list of ‘Quick Bug Tips’ will be...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Progryp 100% Leather Dipping Belt, One Size Fits All, Black A Durable And Comfortable Way To Increase The Safety Of Each Lift!

I can’t actually believe i have left it so late to share my favorite toy with you all. For those who don’t know what this is, a dipping belt is something you wear to add extra weight to your body while doing bodyweight exercises such as chin ups and pull ups (see ‘ How to build lats (wings) like these‘ ). This is what you need to have when certain exercises become very easy, which means you have gained strength and have gotten used to lifting your own body weight. exercises such as

• Chin ups
• Pull ups
• Dips

The reason I recommend the leather one is because it is more durable than material belts (lasts longer). if this product looks alien to you it could be becasue you don’t see many guys doing chin ups/ pull ups in the gym. If that is so, i can tell you this…. they do not know the secret to build functional raw strength! But if you have seen people using this and you have wondered what it is… now you know! For more understanding on how it works,

And again, read that post to get an idea of how i used it.

Related posts:

1. Help! I Can Barely Lift My Own Body Weight, How Do I Start? When I first began to get serious about working out...
2. How To Build Lats (Wings) Like These Other than the shoulder muscles, I would say that the...
3. Recommended Products Hello all Bug visitors Welcome to the related products page....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

You guessed it! I am back on my quest to find the most entertaining ways to exercise, and why not? You get to kill two birds with one stone.

1. Exercise/ keep fit
2. And have fun

Hopefully some of you have tried playing Rockband or Guitar hero after reading last weeks post. But it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day and this is a new post!

It’s time to start dancing to keep fit!

One of the reasons that dancing for fitness works so well is because traditional cardio training can get boring, and when you get bored, you lose motivation. Motivation is the very thing that you need to successfully maintain a good level of fitness.

Because dancing has so many variations and forms, it will be impossible to cover them all in one post. So welcome to part one of,

‘Working out is boring! Lets just dance’

Salsa

Salsa is great for both men at women, and for all of the men reading this, if you have not yet tried Salsa then I suggest that you should. The first time I saw guys dancing to salsa, I suddenly felt that something was missing from my ‘lady magnet-attracting’ arsenal, because all of the moves involving salsa dancing scream pure class and elegance… something that will get you the best of ladies on and off the dance floor.

The moves are sexy, yet they don’t need to be sexual, unlike some other forms of dancing (which usually promote a vertical representation of a horizontal desire).

This Latin dance is also popular in nightclubs and health clubs and all types of salsa dance are being taught as ‘dance fitness’. Salsa also has a strong global presence too, from the far-east (India, New Delhi) to the wild wild west (US, New York). So no excuses here… get Googling.

The Benefits

• Practice good form
• Looks graceful and elegant
• Attractive to the opposite sex
• Boosts self-esteem
• Learn to dance in rhythm (with it’s ‘have to move’ feel)

Cardio training comparison = Moderate intensity training (Do 2-3 salsa sessions a week)

The extras

• Lowers cholesterol
• Lowers blood pressure
• Use inhaler less (if you have asthma)
• Eases stress and tension
• Great for mind and soul

Ballroom Dancing

I mentioned that salsa dancing can be elegant and graceful. But ballroom dancing steals the crown on that front. I personally would never have been seen dead doing this dance, but after seeing how some entertainment moguls have brought this to the media mainstream and how good it can be, I began to think twice.

Benefits

• Posture – Good for back muscles, spine and spinal chord
• Balance – Strength in ankles
• Flexibility – Increase Range of Motion

Cardio training comparison = Moderate intensity training

Pole Dancing

Ladies, this one is for you, and you shouldn’t feel offended or uneasy by taking this up for fitness. In some parts of the world, Pole dancing has a bad stigma against it and is often perceived as just another form of stripping, while in some countries like Japan (how ironic), it is fully embraced and highly recommended as a fitness and sport activity.

Cardio comparison = Moderate to high intensity (3 -4 times a week with weight/ strength training)

Unless you have already been working out or have a natural strong upper body and core, taking up pole dancing will be a struggle to begin with as it requires brute upper body strength.

Think about it: One arm is supporting most of your weight as you try to propel yourself into a move or two.

So prepare to approach this form of dancing with some ‘here’s what I prepared earlier’ upper body strength. But again, this is not traditional cardio training, so not only will you be keeping yourself fighting fit, you’ll get to have fun, entertain and party with it.

As you can see so far, all of these dances are great alternatives to your everyday cardio or weight training routines. When you perform in these activities you won’t feel like you are exercising, will definitely not get bored, and you get to throw in some extra health benefits too. But stay tuned for part 2 of,

‘Working out is boring! Lets just dance’

See you in the comments

Related posts:

1. The Importance Of Goal Setting When Working Out How often do you here these types of quotes from...
2. Will Working Out Affect My Tattoos? The answer to that question is yes! See you in...
3. Machines vs Free weights? This ongoing debate regarding free weights (low-tech apparatus) vs. machines...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Other than the shoulder muscles, I would say that the Latimuss dorsi (Wings) muscles are the biggest contributors in promoting a large muscle bound appearance. These are the muscles that will give you a V-shaped upper back and make you look like these guys,

By having well developed lats, you can get away with wearing certain types of clothes that you can only usually wear confidentially if you have a well-rounded body (Even if you have slightly less developed arms). However, if you do have well-developed arms but have slightly less developed lats, you will just look like an ‘average Joe’ or even worse… adopt an unnatural and imbalanced appearance.

There are many exercises out there that can help you develop this muscle group, but we’ll list my favourite exercises that will help you develop a monstrous pair of lats.

Pull ups (Gironda Sternum)

I have talked about ways to build ‘real’ strength quite a lot in recent weeks, and this exercise is a really good way to do it.

Instruction

• Grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip, approximately shoulder width apart.
• Now hang with your arms fully extended.
• As you pull yourself to the bar, have your head lean back as far away from the bar as possible and arch your spine throughout the movement.
• At the upper end of the movement, your hips and legs will be at about a 45-degree angle to the floor. You should keep pulling until your collarbone passes the bar and your lower chest or sternum area touches it.

Warning! The first time you do this exercise you will struggle!

Most people will initially struggle when lifting their own bodyweight, and doing any bodyweight exercises will be a real test of your strength. Although you will probably fail miserably and end up doing,

3 Sets

Reps

1. 8
2. 4
3. 2

Your strength will gradually increase. But in the beginning stages you can always get a spotter to help you out. However, you don’t want to rely on that help too often, as too much help will hinder your strength gaining efforts.

You are talking nonsense… this is easy!

If you are reading this and thinking that, then you would have mastered lifting your own body weight. Unless you are some sort of transformer or mutant, there is no way to dramatically increase your weight. But you can do by using a dipping belt.

This accessory will be essential when developing real muscle mass on your lats. What this belt will allow you to do is add extra weight around your waist, making it heavier and harder to lift yourself up. Once you get to this level, then I would say ‘you truly are the best’.

Straight-arm pull downs

This exercise has to be good! Every time I am in the gym there is a queue for this machine.

Putting the sarcasm aside, this is for sure one of my favourite exercises, and the pain that it inflicts never seems to ease up overtime either. This exercise is also lat specific, so you can easily gauge your efforts.

Instructions

• Stand in front of a lat pull down bar with your arms outstretched towards the bar.
• Place your palms flat on the bar and pull it down to shoulder level.
• Keeping your elbows slightly bent and your wrists locked, pull the bar down towards your body in an arcing motion.
• Once you contracted the lats fully and the bar has touched or come close to your thighs, slowly allow the bar to come back up to the starting position.
• Keep your torso erect!

Dumbbell bent over rows

Back when I first started to workout, this was one of the first exercises I would include in my routine, and it still is a key exercise that I do today. This won’t just build your lats though. It will help build up your entire upper back and even your biceps.

Instruction

• Kneel over the side of a bench by placing your knee and hand (of the supporting arm) on the bench.
• Position your foot of the opposite leg slightly back to the side.
• Grab the dumbbell from floor.
• Pull the dumbbell to side until it makes contact with your ribs or until your upper arm is just beyond horizontal.
• Return until your arm is extended and shoulder is stretched forward.
• Repeat and continue with opposite arm.

These are the 3 exercises that I KNOW have helped in building the main bulk of my lats, and they are the exercises I have used when I am trying to get back into the groove. The good thing about doing these is that they tend to give the quickest result, which is great for boosting your confidence levels, as that can tend to drop quite frequently. Include these exercises into your routines and YOU WILL build a great pair of super hero lats in no time.

Which exercises do you use to build your lats?

See you in the comments.

Related posts:

1. 8 Ways to build great forearms (eliminate chicken limbs) This is the muscle group I am most passionate about...
2. How To Build Killer Shoulders? If there is one muscle group which I truly love...
3. How to build equal size Biceps and Triceps Whenever the summer months begin to approach and the clothes...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s that time again! It’s only been a few days since posting about ‘ building those neglected body parts‘, but I guess I am passionate about getting you to look your best and to look that little bit better than your peers. Anyhow, today is all about how to build stronger and better-looking ankles. I wouldn’t necessarily put scrawny ankles in the same category as chicken legs, as the exercises involved to build both do differ.

On most people (mainly guys), the ankles simply are not seen as a glamorous body part. You don’t hear people saying,

‘Ooh, flex those hot ankles for me’

Or

‘Take off those socks and let me see those lovely ankles’

It just doesn’t happen. However, I think this is not the case when women are concerned. Women’s ankles are naturally more feminine than a man’s set of ankles, and because of this, I find that ankles are one of the sexiest body parts there are (on a woman). This is why there is a market for ankle bracelets.

Why build a stronger and sexier set of ankles?

This is mainly targeted at guys, but if you are a lady and you have bony, unsightly and weak ankles, then this is for you too. So lets begin our journey to building strong and sexier looking ankles.

Strong ankles prevent injury

Injury is the number one reason why people take timeout from exercise and training, whether for sport or fitness training, but by having strong ankles you can prevent this. I have personally faced the benefits of this in previous sporting activities, especially in sprint training. There was many a time where I would literally not realize how fast I was running. I would suddenly stop running, yet my body would keep moving. When ever this happened early on in training it would lead to a sure injury, but as I began to build my ankle strength, my ankles would take the pressure and I would carry on as normal.

Improves balance

Having strong ankles will definitely improve your balance and not just for training, exercise or sporting activities either.

If you are,

• On the beach having a fight in the sand.
• On a very unstable train ride.
• Take long walks regularly.
• Take a serious blow to the body in a ‘real’ fight.

Stronger ankles will help you in all of these types of situations.

Building for a stronger and sexier set of ankles

Standing and balancing on one foot

Yes, I all know we done this in the playground as kids, but this is actually a very effective way to train your ankles to be stronger. What we didn’t realize as kids doing this, is that all that struggling and shifting around to keep balance is actually working the key muscles in our ankles. You can do this exercise anywhere, but only do it in a public place if you don’t mind that people might think that you are a bit loopy!

If you are already a highly balanced ballerina type, then try it with your eyes closed. Taking away one of your senses will make for harder work on your muscles.

Standing and balancing on one foot (with weights)

This is basically weight training for ankles. This is where you will really begin to build up muscle and strength. What you do is grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them in each hand. All of the rocking from side to side will be the movements that will work the ankle muscles. If you wish, you can also use a barbell and place it behind your neck and balance with that.

Standing and balancing on one foot with weights (on an unstable surface)

Warning! Only do this once you have mastered the above methods.

This is a real challenge and definitely a step up from the two previous methods, but will again… strengthen and grow your ankle muscles. My favourite for this is to grab a set of towels and role them up together, stand on and balance.

Balance and coordination

• Put the weights down
• Balance on one foot (or on an uneven surface)
• Get some one to throw a ball at you
• Or throw a ball at the wall (if you are alone)

This one is actually funny, as I used to do this all the time as a kid. But doing this will improve your balance and coordination while working your ankle muscles.

All of these techniques will do wonders for your chicken stick meatless ankles. The great thing about them is that they are simple to do and promote functional movements (and are unique, which most exercises like this are – forearms, neck). Start doing these today and in a few months time it would be great if you could post some before and after shots of your ankles for everyone to see

How do you work your ankle muscles? Have you tried any of the above?

See you in the comments.

Related posts:

1. 8 Ways to build great forearms (eliminate chicken limbs) This is the muscle group I am most passionate about...
2. Forget About The Gym! Play Rockband and Guitar Hero For Fitness In a previous post, I talked about unique ways to...
3. How to build equal size Biceps and Triceps Whenever the summer months begin to approach and the clothes...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For all of the female readers here, I do apologize for the headline. I’m not sexist… promise! . If you don’t already know, I will explain why taking up yoga for fitness will not only lead to building a lean, flexible and supple body, but the wonderful things it can do for your sex life.

For guys

You get to really test your strength and endurance.

For gals

You’ll be giving your guy PLENTY of reasons not to ever stray ever again.

For both

Increased excitement and fun.

A lot of what you read here has been learnt from various ladies that I have met since beginning to workout. They just happened to have a lot of experience and knowledge in yoga, knowledge that eventually got passed down to myself.

Does yoga really improve ones sex life?

Well… I wouldn’t have bothered to take the time out to write this if it didn’t. That would be a waste of your reading time… something that I would never do to you. So read on!

Guys… tell this to your ladies. Ladies… do as stated!

Yoga increases blood flow

Many of the positions that you perform during yoga sessions allow for the blood to flow a lot more. This is especially the case with positions like ‘the eagle pose’.

This position will send blood rushing to your pelvic area. When this happens it will make you hot, and when you put that heat together with stimulation, your desire will shoot through the roof.

Yoga strengthens the pelvic area

We always hear personal trainers and fitness geeks talk about the importance of building ‘the core’ (myself included). The pelvic floor is a part of that core, and when you work these muscles it will improve your’ range of motion’ (how far you can extend a particular joint- supreme flexibility). This in turn will give you,

• Stronger contractions
• Stronger releases
• More intense orgasm

Yoga eases tension and pain

In my early days of training, I would lay in bed at times with my ‘then’ partner, and they would say to me ‘Gosh, I like muscles and everything, but you are so tense!’ This is the same with women who workout, especially those who do moderate/ high intensity training. The bad thing about being tense is that it will also affect the pelvic floor area, and when this happens, good enjoyable sex turns into ‘work’. If it does get to that stage you might as well stop, and if you don’t, you might just break something (click…crack… snap!). Doing Yoga will ease pain by releasing that tension and relaxing your hips. This will make for a MUCH better sexual experience for both.

Get that mojo back… and some chakra action

What are chakras?

This is all yoga language. Basically, your sex life is governed by these chakras. It is the body’s energy that centres around your spine. When your chakras are in healthy working order, you’ll find that your sex life will be pretty healthy too, and yoga moves like the triangle and seated open-angle pose will stimulate your chakras.

Looking at the image above, your three “sexiest” chakras are

• The root chakra (located at your perineum–the area between your pubic bone and anus),
• The sacral chakra (in the centre of your lower abdomen)
• The heart chakra (in the centre of your chest)

Yoga enriches these critical areas with blood and “prana,” which is the life force (Yoga talk again). That will promote openness and decrease sexual inhibition, which will prepare you for sexual action and leave you feeling much happier overall.

Yoga is a confidence booster

The outside world is a noisy place, as we all know, with all sorts of information flowing in and out of our brains daily. Taking a yoga class will help you relax your mind in peace, allowing you to be more aware of your ‘actual’ self and understand your own needs.

Once you begin to adopt this mind frame, you can then easily translate this understanding and self-awareness to your partner. And when you do… they will know and love you for it.

Fantastic! You read on and got to the end of the post. My only advice to you now is to consult with your partner and try it out, and when you do, don’t forget to thank me for stepping your sex life up a gear.

Do you and your partner do Yoga as part of your fitness regime?

See you in the comments

Related posts:

1. Gym Partner Or No Gym Partner? For as long as I can remember, I don’t think...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As it stands, I am still on my quest to solve the problem of building those muscle groups that simply get neglected (forearms, Legs), yet are very important in regards to developing a well rounded muscle bound body.

In a previous article I talked about those individuals who have plenty of muscle, but don’t appear to have any when fully clothed. A big contributor to this issue is having a long neck, or just a very un-muscular one. But today we will discuss how to overcome this.

Talking from experience, having a long neck is a bad thing, because when you,

• Wear a shirt (and trousers)
• Wear a suit and tie
• Wear a collarless jumper

People simply cannot tell that you are finely chiselled underneath the clothed armour. So for appearance sake (and we all know you build muscle to impress others), building a strong and powerful neck is crucial, and when you do build it, you will,

• Stand out from the crowd
• Give the impression of power and strength

But looks aren’t everything! By developing strong neck muscles you will,

• Prevent injury (From performing many every tasks and during fitness and sporting activities)
• Protect your spine and spinal chord

What are the neck muscles?

The 3 main neck muscles are,

• Splenius
• Sternocleidomastoid
• Trapezius

These muscles are responsible for flexion, extension and rotation of the neck.

How do you build the neck muscles?

Now that I’ve gone over the textbook stuff, lets talk about how to build muscle onto your giraffe neck. When people think of muscles around the neck, they would probably have these exercises in mind.

• Front dumbbell raises
• Lateral raises
• Wide grip chin ups

These will all be great contributors to forming a great set of upper body muscles, namely your,

• Deltoids (Shoulders)
• Upper back muscles (Traps)
• Triceps
• Wings (The latissimus dorsi)

But one must put a real focus on developing the neck and ONLY the neck, here’s how.

Implement safety first!

1. Dedicate a ‘neck only’ day for exercising. This is to make sure that your neck doesn’t suffer from fatigue from doing other exercises. It also allows for more concentration, I guess you could this as one big isolation exercise.

2. Make sure you stretch before, after and in-between every neck exercise. The classic rotate left, rotate right neck exercise will be good enough. Either sitting or standing, turn your head to the side, as though you are looking over your shoulder, and make sure that you don’t raise or lower your head. You can use your hand to press against the side of your head to create more resistance (Hold for 10-20 seconds and do it 3 times for each side). By doing this you will stretch out the three main muscles – the splenius and levator scapulae on one side and the opposing sternocleidomastoid.

3. Ensure that you have the correct form… Always!

4. Use full range of motion

The exercises

The best thing about ‘these’ exercises is that you can perform them at anytime, regardless of where you are. In fact, perform each of these exercises as you read them. That should make for some truly interactive reading . Now it’s time to say good-bye to the long neck!

Make sure you are comfortable and relaxed in all of the exercises described, whether sitting or standing.

Neck Flexion

Target muscles: Upper trapezius and the splenius

This one is simple but very effective.

1. Begin the exercise by bending your head forward, allowing your chin to drop towards your chest.
2. Stretch until it feels tight.
3. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds, then gently raise your head back up.
4. Do this ten times and several times throughout the day.

Neck Extension

Target muscles: Sternocleidomastoid

I call this one ‘Mr Noddy’.

1. Place your hands on your forehead
2. Apply tension
3. Tilt and push your head down to your chest
4. Keep the tension and raise it back up
5. Do this ten times and several times throughout the day

Upper Trapezius Stretch

Target muscles: Trapezius

This is the triangular shaped muscle that connects your 2 shoulders and head together in the upper back area. This exercise is an important one as it will keep your neck flexible and help prevent injury.

1. Put your right arm behind your back.
2. Hold the right side of your head with your left hand.
3. Use your left hand to gently tilt your head toward the left.
4. You should feel a gentle pull on your right side, from the side of the neck down to the shoulder.
5. Hold for this position for 10 to 20 seconds.
6. Relax and repeat three times for each side.

The Chin Tuck

I call this one the ‘double chin’.

1. Using either hand, put your fingertips against your chin and gently push your head straight back.
2. Keep looking forward as your head moves back.
3. Hold the position for five seconds, and then relax.
4. Repeat this movement 5 times.

Neck Side Bend

Target muscle: Sternocleidomastoid

This exercise is similar to talking on a mobile phone while your hands are busy doing other things.

1. Begin by tilting your head so that your right ear moves toward your right shoulder.
2. Take it to the point of tightness or discomfort, but not to the point of sharp pain.
3. Relax and return to the starting position then tilt your head so your left ear moves toward your left shoulder.
4. Be sure not to rotate your head, or to raise your shoulder toward your head.
5. Do this 10 times each side.

There you have folks! Your official guide to eliminating your giraffe neck once and for all. Keep doing these exercises regularly and sooner or later you will develop a strong and powerful neck that will make you stand out from the crowd. Now here is the goal i am setting you,

Do you have a long neck?

How do you build your neck muscles?

See you in the comments.

Related posts:

1. The Bodybuilding ‘Pencil-neck’ Eraser Exercise If you are anything like me ‘A natural hard gainer’...
2. Unique Bodyweight Exercises (Part 4) This maybe de ja vu for many of you, as...
3. How To Build Lats (Wings) Like These Other than the shoulder muscles, I would say that the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This has been an on going problem for me, ever since I built my body up for muscle mass. But guess what’s surprising? I have a mesomorph body type; I am in my 20′s, yet my chest is in danger of being classed as having man boobs.

I have yet to fix the problem entirely and I have since had ladies make jokes that I have an A-cup chest… something some ladies don’t even have! This can affect anyone from those who have built muscle to those who want to lose fat. So for all those who have this same problem, read on and together we can all build our chests to how they should really look on a man.

Watch your diet

In general, man boobs would usually exist on those individuals who have 30% body fat or more and their chest would look like this.

Whenever this occurs, on almost any specific part of the body, there isn’t really any solid way to fix it apart from refocusing your diet. One will need to keep their saturated fat intake down. Tomorrow I will be posting ‘Killer foods for fitness (part 2)’. This will cover some of the best foods you can include in your diet to keep the fat off. If you are having real trouble you can always refer to ‘How to increase metabolism‘.

Once you have got your diet under control, you then want to get your body fat percentage down to at least 15% before you start to do any man boob fixing exercises.

What to avoid

If you are currently hitting the gym whether you trying to lose weight or gain muscle, it doesn’t really matter, man boobs are man boobs and you have to get rid of them. Maintaining a good diet is down to you, but in the gym, the one exercise that is regarded as the ‘manhood’ of all chest exercises is what you must avoid.

THE FLAT/ DECLINE BENCH PRESS

Why?

The classic flat or decline bench press exercise mainly focuses on the lower part of your chest (An area that you have already developed). By continuing to do this exercise you are only building up this area more. This will only hamper your efforts in fixing your man boobs and to build the perfect chest. What you need to focus on is,

INCLINE BENCH PRESS EXERCISES

This is the exercise that you want to put at the forefront of all your exercises at this man boob fixing stage. The incline bench press is the exercise that will give the support and structure for your upper chest. Here are the key incline bench press exercises that will work your upper chest.

• Barbell incline bench press
• Dumbbell incline bench press
• Front dumbbell raises

Work your upper back

The key reason for adding upper back exercises to your workout is to create balance. Not only that, it will also,

• Strengthen your ability to bench
• Prevent shoulder problems
• Improve your posture

And best of all, it will give your chest a great side view, making it look bigger!

Once you have finished with those, your chest will have gone from this,

To this

Building a perfectly shape chest isn’t always easy and like most things, it will take hard work and effort on your part. But once you have fixed those man boobs, the key thing is to then find a balance out and work with a variety of exercises to ensure you maintain the chest you have developed. Before I leave you, here is a routine to take away and follow AFTER you have fixed your man boobs.

This workout consists of more sets, more reps and will hit the chest from every angle and will give you the ultimate definition.

• Barbell or dumbbell bench press (flat and incline) 3 sets of 3-5 reps
• Dumbbell or cable fly’s 3 sets of 8-10 reps
• Push-ups – 3 sets of 20-50 reps

Do you have man boobs? Have you managed to fix them?

See you in the comments

Related posts:

1. Chest Day Workout Routine I’ve really been into the workouts this week ‘buggers, hence...
2. The Secret Chest Workout Yes… you read correctly. The secret chest workout! Well it’s...
3. Weightlifting Workouts – The Killer Strength Routine This is a weightlifting routine that can drastically improve your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In a previous post, I talked about unique ways to build muscles, forearms to be specific. The great thing about most unique approaches to building muscle is that they often put an emphasis on building functional strength. This is strength that you would use performing everyday tasks from pulling, pushing, climbing or lifting. These are benefits that you don’t get when using weights machines. These unique approaches are also very good for those that either,

1) Don’t have time for the gym

2) Simply not a fan of them

This is where RockBand and Guitar Hero would come into play.

For those who don’t know, RockBand and Guitar Hero are music games that simulate a ‘Rock band’ experience via a games consoles (PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii) and plastic (instrument shaped) controllers.

It was the year 2005 and it had been a few months since I graduated. I was (and still am) quite active in the online business world and I loved trying out new games in my spare time. September had arrived and I picked up a copy of Guitar Hero (version one) along with the controller. I won’t bore you with my life story, so to keep a long story short,

‘ It led to many memorable nights rocking out on a guitar to classic rock songs and a new found level of virtual rock stardom’

Fast-forward to 2008 and these games had now evolved into hugely popular family/ friend’s music games, leading to a fun fuelled Christmas holiday season. But the games now included,

• Drums
• Microphones
• Multi-player action (A physical or virtual band)

The key thing about playing these games over anything else is that you get the feeling that you are in a real band. You will sweat, rock out, take breaks and feel exhausted… just like you do in a real band. And if you have watched a real band on stage, whether it be the drummer, guitarist or lead singer, you will know that performing can be a hell of a workout.

Up until this day I would sometimes do 5-6 hours straight when playing RockBand. I usually like to be the drummer and I can tell you, it is a workout. The difference being that it’s a lot more fun than hitting the gym, and I would often play this instead of doing my usual ‘alternate’ home work out routine.

Being a drummer mirrors compound body exercises

I’ve often talked about the importance of performing compound body exercises when working out, and by being a drummer in RockBand or Guitar Hero, you can develop similar results to what that exercise can give.

Playing the drums in general is a very strenuous task. You will use all 4 limbs to play a number of repetitive motions many times. Although the game is a simulation, the actions you perform are still quite real.

In a 4-minute song at 120bpm playing a standard 8th note rock beat, you’ll hit your hi-hat 960 times and your kick, snare at 120times.

In 30 minutes of playing you can raise your heartbeat to round 120-140bpm. That is a lot of sweat.

So the key benefits here in comparison to exercising is that you will be working,

• All four limbs
• Heart
• Lungs

Ok, we know this is a fun and unique way to exercise, but be more specific, what muscles get worked and from what actions?

In RockBand and Guitar Hero you have different difficulty levels.

• Easy
• Medium
• Hard
• Expert

The real comparison between playing this and exercising in the gym is when you become an expert drummer.

Instruments and muscles worked

Cymbals

Once you start playing the cymbals on expert, you will feel worked out and the key muscles that will feel worked are,

• Shoulders
• Upper back
• Forearms
• Triceps
• Lower back (If you sit up straight)

Bass

In both games you will get this as part of the drums and again, when you get to expert level and start playing fast you will lift your legs up more and that will work your,

• Thighs
• Shin muscles
• Ankles
• Calves

That does sound good and I’m all for new approaches to fitness, but I’m no skilled drummer, what can I do to practice the movements?

Without a doubt, jumping on RockBand or Guitar hero can be a challenge for beginners. Or some people may not want to take up RockBand, Guitar Hero or drumming and just want to perform the actions involved. For both here are a couple of things you can do.

1) Get some drumsticks and practice on a pillow, there would naturally be no bounce so you’re forced to pull the stick back up rather than relying on rebound.

2) You can do the same for your feet with the bass. Do this in front of the television. I’ve also tried this exercise when I am resting between weight lifting sets at the gym. This means I get to perform two workouts, my normal one and a drumming one, now that’s what I call a good use of my time!

If you have not yet played these games and wish to try after reading this, please keep this in mind.

Purchase RockBand game only (for the music tracks)
Purchase Guitar Hero drums (better quality)

• In any form of exercise if you start to experience acute sharp pains, stop immediately. I’m talking nasty hard pain, especially in your chest. Not just mild discomfort.
• If you are drumming and your wrist start to hurt, stop and rest them.
• Also, build up your endurance exercises over time, if you haven’t played a single stroke before, start slowly, rest and then build up over time. This is to give your body time to adapt to the extra workload you are placing on it.
• If you have any difficulty breathing, again, stop and go and see your doctor.
• Lastly, if you haven’t done much exercise go and see your doctor first before starting just for a check up and get the OK to start again. I don’t want any of you hurting yourself following this advice.

As you can see, playing RockBand or Guitar Hero can be a quite radical, yet unique approach to improving fitness. You probably won’t gain any real muscle mass from doing so, as most of these activities are aerobic, but it will certainly increase your strength and endurance. Besides you get to kill 2 birds with one stone. Keeping fit while at the same time… having fun.

Do you play any musical instruments? If so has it had an effect on your fitness levels?

See you in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Benefits of boxing training for fitness When people think of fitness, they tend to think of...
2. Stay-Fit Bug | Killer Foods for Fitness (part 1) In the last few weeks there has been much discussion...
3. Gym Partner Or No Gym Partner? For as long as I can remember, I don’t think...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Prolabs N-Large 2

It’s that time again, to share the goodness with you all! I always do get asked about products that I have tried or tested, and I will continue to share whenever I do.  I actually started to use this product back in July, but I didn’t want to post anything about it until a few weeks had passed so that I could give a worthy verdict.

Product: N-Large 2 by Prolab (Monster supplement)

Focus: High Protein Gainer

MSRP: $23.99 for a 3.8lb (pounds) container (view the flavours and cheap supplement prices here)

Available: Online

Remember

Always aim for a good diet before beginning to take ANY supplement!

Why?

Because no supplement can be a replacement for a bad diet!

Just like cod liver oil, it can give the body any nutrients that it maybe lacking in, but it will not fix a bad diet. Get that in order first. If you want a good starter, check Bugs killer foods for fitness.

Many of you may have heard of or even tried N-Large 2, but for the purpose of those that are in the stayfitbug.com community on and offline and who have been asking, here is my verdict.

Now to begin with, I only decided to put this product to the test while I wait for newer product samples to arrive. They should be on their way in the coming weeks so keep your eyes pealed for some fresh recommendations.

N-Large 2 has gotten a lot of praise since it has been around, and after using it for 6 weeks, I can see why.

It works!

One of the key things I look for when trying these supplements is that they have to at least taste good, and this does taste pretty good for a supplement. If your supplement doesn’t have a good taste, then I really don’t see the point in taking it. That would be like voluntarily taking a disgusting tasting medicine… something you would not do. If you are, then stop!

N-Large 2 comes in 3 flavours

• Strawberry
• Chocolate
• Vanilla

I took the vanilla flavour, as that tends to taste good in most food variations.

It’s all pretty simple to make,

1) Mix

2) Stick it in a blender (recommended)

3) Drink

That’s all but a 2-minute job, so there is no messing about. If you want you can make your own mixes, but I just stuck to the instructions on the pack. For those 6 weeks I drank it 4 times a day along with my usual meals, but 3 times a day is what the average person should take for this to start to work and show results.

In the first 4 weeks of using this, I gained a whooping 14 POUNDS! (ONE WHOLE STONE). For myself, that is a great weight increase and a boost in the levels of proteins that my body needs. To be specific on the amount of calories I would consume daily, it was approximately 1900 calories (4 servings). It sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that I would be burning a lot of calories during my workouts, and taking a shake of this stuff after a workout would help replace those calories that I had lost.

Just like my other supplement review over at recommended products, this one also gave me no side affects. Quite often supplements like these can leave you feeling bloated (a horrible feeling), but that was not the case here.

My only problem with taking N- Large 2 is that if you decide to take it, you must keep on taking it. If you stop then all that weight and muscle you put on will just start to disappear, even if you maintain your workout schedule (which I noticed around week 7). So make sure you start as you mean to go on whether it is once a day or 4 times a day.

All is good and well here, and as I stated. It works! If you decide to give it a try, then,

1) Go for the Vanilla flavour

2) Take it in moderation

3) Start off with the 3.8 lb container. (Should last you around 2-3 weeks)

See you on the next review.

Related posts:

1. Optimum Nutrition – 100 Whey Gold Standard Review Product: Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Protein (100 whey protein gold...
2. Recommended Products Hello all Bug visitors Welcome to the related products page....
3. Bugs Quick Tips Every week this list of ‘Quick Bug Tips’ will be...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.