Foods That Help to Increase Testosterone Quickly and Naturally

To increase your testosterone there are a few ways. You can take the dreaded steroids, you can take other supplements, you can train with heavy weights and you can increase it naturally by eating certain food combinations. This article will reveal the best foods to eat to quickly and naturally increase your testosterone levels.

Meat

Meat is well known in bodybuilding for its high protein content; it also has many other benefits, elevating your testosterone levels being one of the major advantages. The healthy saturated fat found in the meat causes your testosterone levels to increase.

Eat beef a couple of times a day to boost your overall protein intake and send you testosterone levels through the roof.

Eggs

Eggs are one of the best sources of protein you can eat. It is the yolk that contains all the nutrients; this is where all the healthy cholesterol and saturated fat is. The fats found in the yolk will greatly increase your testosterone.

Eat up at least a dozen eggs a day, eat them in abundance and you will see a major increase in testosterone levels. The combination of the higher hormone levels and the quality protein the eggs provide will great fast muscle growth.

Fish oils

Fish oils are a great source of omega 3's. As many people don't eat plenty of fatty fish every day, they tend to be lacking in these healthy fats. Take omega 3 fish oil and cod liver tablets to give your body these vital fats. They will increase your energy levels, concentration, your skin, hair and nails will improve. But, most importantly the omega 3's will increase your testosterone a lot.

Take a tablet in the morning and before bed, preferably with other food. Take one after your workouts, with your post workout meal or shake.

Vegetables

Everyone knows how important it is to eat your greens, but most people end up forgetting about them. Eating green vegetables will give your body a big boost in nutrients and will elevate your testosterone.

All vegetables will help with the optimal production of testosterone in your body. Aim to get an array of different types every day. Eat at least two veggies with each meal.

Eat all these foods every day and within a couple of days you should feel a surge of testosterone, you will know it has risen when you have more energy, aggression, a higher metabolism, increased ease of muscle gain, increased recovery.

4 Exercises To Boost Growth Hormone Naturally And Quickly!

Utter the 3 dirty words "Human Growth Hormone" or "HGH" and one of two things will happen. Either you'll get a certain Major League Ballplayers to cup their hand to their ear and say..."It's my cousin's not mine!" OR you'll get the response "How could you talk about that drug?!?" Well as everyone that knows me can attest, I've never touched a drug in my entire life (recreational or performance enhancing) and I'm firmly against the use of any illegal or unsafe means for getting "ahead" either for myself or my loyal members.

That said, human growth hormone is NOT a drug. In fact, it's a naturally occurring hormone in your body that is responsible for well....growth! Muscle growth. How does it do this? Three different ways actually.

The first is via it's ability to bind to fat cells and metabolize them. HGH is a hormone produced in the pituitary gland in the brain and it is released throughout the day at various intervals and in varying degrees. Certain workouts can stimulate a burst of growth hormone release based on the actual exercises performed. More on that in a minute. Once released this hormone, as I said, can actually seek out and bond to the receptors on fat cells and metabolize them thereby helping you to get leaner and increase your percentage of muscle to body fat.

The second is via it's stimulation of another hormone in your body called Insulin Growth Factor 1. IGF-1 is a very powerful naturally occurring muscle builder in the body. Amp up those levels of HGH and you will get a parallel increase in IGF-1 as well. The combo is like a Georges St-Pierre knockout punch delivering maximum bang for the buck. One without the other is good (as a stiff left from MMA's best would be), but combine the two and your talking serious results!

Third the HGH actually improves protein synthesis. Well...we know that new muscle is made of protein right? Well, if you can get your body to become more efficient at putting those protein parts together (amino acids) then you can help it to lay down all new inches of the strong stuff!

So you can see....the hormone is important if you want to add some lean athletic muscle to your frame quickly. BUT there's no reason to have to follow your favorite athlete to BALCO or shady Canadian doctors to increase your levels of this natural power booster. NOPE, instead all you need to do is make sure you incorporate 4 MUST-DO HGH BUILDER EXERCISES in your workouts. So without further ado, let's look at what these are!

1. Bent Over Rows - Funny how the exercises most guys hate to do are the ones that are going to be the best natural HGH boosters huh? But it's true. This pulling exercise puts the legs, low back, core, lats, rhomboids, rear delts and biceps on immediate overload.

2. Hang Cleans - Want explosive muscle growth? Then you need to incorporate explosive exercises into your workout and there is none better than the Hang Clean. From the toes to the top of the head, virtually every muscle is incorporated into this exercise from the ground up and it's no reason why this one can send your HGH levels in the same direction....UP!

3. Deadlifts - Want all the benefits of the squat without having to load up the spine and risk long term low back pain in the process? Then make the switch to the deadlift and see how quickly you can not only round out those tree trunks but actually get the rest of your body growing as well with the increased levels of free floating HGH you'll have as a result of doing this exercise.

4. Pullups - Finally, you know that know Growth Hormone Boosting list would be complete without this "mother of all upper body exercises". The pullup is quite possibly one of the greatest mass developers of all time. Rumor has it that the cavemen used to do these hanging off the tusks of wooly mammoths....but I'm not really sure about that! The point is that it is still the undisputed champ of muscle building exercises and one of my HGH Releasing Quartet!

So, there you have it. No need to shy away from the word (or the letters!). It's ok, it's natural and it's in EVERYBODY! BUT, how you can get your own body to release more of it so you can accelerate your gains is what's important. Start incorporating the "BIG 4? into your workouts and you'll go a long way towards.

Tips on How to Grow Taller Naturally - Amazing Ways to Increase Your Height Fast

If you have a relatively short height then you may have at some point in life been a victim of jokes in your social circle. I am sure that most you must have also given in to the fact that you will forever have to face all this and that nothing can be done about your problem, especially if you have padded your growing years or puberty. I am going to give you the happiest news for you that is that you can still add a few remarkable inches to your height and that too without popping any pills or under going any medical treatments. All this is possible only by focusing on and rectifying three main areas of your life these are: diet, exercise and sleep.

A correct set of exercises if performed daily will add to your height those much desired extra inches. The exercises that you must do to increase your height are hanging by a post and letting your body completely stretch out, apart from this you can try swimming, this is another great form of exercise that can make each muscle in your body stretch out completely and help in increasing your height. Other than these there are also a variety of simple stretching exercises that you can do daily in your own home.

The main motive behind these exercises is that they help to reduce the curve in your spine that naturally gets developed in it as a part of the aging process. In order to support this high intensity work out routine you have to have a very healthy diet, such a diet should be high in calcium, as it is the main component that is required to strengthen your bones, apart from that you should eat a lot of proteins that help to increase your muscle mass, there has to be a good quantity of vitamins and minerals in your diet in order for you to have a healthy body that will support an increase in your height.

The last thing that you should focus on is a good sleep and rest routine, you see your body grows considerably when you are sleeping and this growth can be accelerated with certain sleeping postures, yes there are few sleeping postures that promote an increase in height while there are some that hamper this growing process so you have to make a conscious effort and improve your sleeping postures and practice them effectively to grow taller.

I have laid down for you all the important steps that you can take in order to grow taller, so go ahead and follow them and get the height that you always desired.

Bodybuilding - How to Accelerate Your Muscle Growth

Building muscle isn't easy, it isn't just lifting weights. Yes that is a very important factor as it is how you stimulate your muscles to grow, but if you are looking for fast growth you need to implement two other main factors into your bodybuilding routine.

Firstly you need to understand that when trying to build muscle through weights you are breaking your muscle fibres BUT don't worry because this is a good thing. Your broken muscle fibres come back bigger and stronger and all this is through the miracle of (drum roll)...REST!

Rest is an important factor for building those muscles because this is when your body repairs itself. Rest doesn't just mean sleep, it means resting some days of your routine - you should only be working out 3-5 times a week no more otherwise you won't give yourself enough time to recover and rebuild. Sleeping is also critical in the rest sector, sleep should be the minimum of 8 hours or less if you are going to have naps in your day.

As mentioned above rest is the period when your body rebuilds but do you think that the body does that itself? No! It needs your help especially when you try to build muscle. You need to give it the essential nutrition!

When bodybuilding you will need to consume a healthy and balanced diet. This is so that your body can be supplied with the energy to workout, go through the day and also give it the energy to recover too.

A decent body building diet should be high in protein and by high I mean that the amount you way you should consume (180 pounds in weight you should consume 180 grams of protein). Protein is the building blocks for your growth and by supplying enough to your body you will be able to repair those muscles faster.

You should look to consume 6 meals a day with each meal giving you about 30gramms of protein. This will give you the protein intake you need and also the energy and nutrition to last you the whole day.

Make sure that you have:

• A good healthy diet that is high in protein to build and recover your muscles
• At least 8 hours sleep
• Rest days from your workout

What Is Metabolism and How Does It Affect Us?

Metabolism is said to resemble a fire; in terms of how "big" or "small" it is. Essentially, metabolism is a general term given to describe all the activities and chemical reactions that happen in the body on a cellular level. This basically means how much work your body does and this is usually related to how many calories a person uses in a day. There are some key phrases to remember regarding metabolism.

Basal metabolism is used to describe the energy used by the body doing no physical activity at all that day. Knowing your basal metabolism is like marking a baseline on how much energy to consume. If you are a person who is desk bound to a job or generally inactive, your calorie intake should not vary too far away from your basal metabolism as you would have excess calories which will turn into fatty acids. In the same way, a construction worker who does a lot of physical work in a day requires more calories in a day when compared to his basal metabolism as he is active.

A high metabolism is a characteristic trait of an ectomorph. An ectomorph is someone who has difficulty gaining weight because of this trait. He is usually characterized as someone who has very little muscle mass and generally very lean. The high metabolism not only means that it consumes more energy which contributes to him being lean, but also that his body turn to using the glycogen in his muscle when it feels it is starved of energy, resulting in a state known as catabolism or muscle degradation.

A person with a low metabolism is used to describe an endomorph. An endomorph is someone who puts on weight easily due to the very nature of the body using the energy it gets from food slowly which results in a significant amount of calories to be stored as fatty acids. Endomorphs are also generally bigger in size and have a difficult time in burning calories which are stored as fats. Endomorphs however, are blessed with the ability to maintain anabolism or muscular productivity as the body does not "feel" that it is going through a state of starvation and thus will not turn to using the glycogen in the muscle.

Lastly, metabolism rate can be tweaked by both diet and exercise. Science has proven that when we consume food, the body will go into a state of overdrive as it has a new task of breaking down the food in the stomach and using it productively all over the body. This state will last generally for an hour before gradually falling down to suit the person's activity level. The same state also goes for exercise but instead of breaking down food in the stomach, the body goes to work repairing the muscular damage it faces during an exercise. An endomorph can use it to his advantage by consuming small meals throughout the day which will spike the metabolism more often which will thus burn more calories. When this is paired with intense exercise, this result in a fat burning ability which will ensure that he will lose weight easily.

An ectomorph must also follow this training regime but tweak it such that he consumes more full volume meals throughout the day. This raises his calorie intake so that it is easier for him to put on weight. The reason to integrate exercise into his plan to put on weight as muscle is 3 times denser than fat which will then be translated into weight gain on the weighing machine.

5 Most Common Fitness Mistakes That Officially Make You a Gym Idiot

1. Lifting too much weight too soon.

This usually applies for newbies. You are increasing the risk of torn ligaments, tendonitis, arthritis at the joints, and stress fractures to name a few. The more weight you lift, the greater the risk is. If your muscles are adequately stretched/warmed up, you are not going to hurt yourself. Lifting heavier is the only way to increase your strength and build some mass but you will do more damage than good if you lift much heavier than your muscle can handle.

How heavy is too heavy?

If you can't finish the set with a good form, reduce the weight.

2. Not stretching before and after a workout.

Don't stretch your muscles the moment you arrive at the gym. Do it after warming up. Stretching your muscles improves the range of motion of your joints. When the muscle tissues are too tight, a little tear could happen if you force a joint to move through its full range of motion. Warming up and stretching can prevent this from happening.

3. Not warming up before and cooling down after a workout.

Stretching is not warming up. It is really important that you perform a warm-up before stretching. It is not a good idea to perform stretching before your muscles are warm enough. Rotate your joints (from toes to your finger) followed by at least five minutes of aerobic activity. For each weight exercise, perform one or two sets of exercise with lighter weight to warm-up the muscles.

4. Not working out within the target heart range.

To get the maximum benefits of cardio, you need to workout within the target heart zone three or four times a week. Exercising at this level promotes weight loss and burns fat. It reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, obesity, and other health related effects. Doing cardio at least 3 times a week also helps lighten up your mood. If you are a beginner, start at a lower target heart zone (perhaps 50% of your maximum heart rate). As your fitness improves, exercise at higher intensity from 60 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate.

5. Running too far too soon.

Be moderate. Run too far and you can get injured and lose your motivation. To measure your fitness level, use X-minute mile instead of X miles per hour. A beginner will jog from 10 to 15 minute mile. A world-class-trained male athlete might run a 6-minute mile.

The process of building muscle is a trial and error. Most of the theories in bodybuilding are debatable and it can be overwhelming to digest all the information on how to eat and train the right way.

Raise Your Testosterone Levels With These Superfoods

Primarily considered a male hormone, testosterone is actually common to both male and female. 

However, testosterone is the principal male hormone, which not only affects your libido and penile erection frequency but also your whole body.  This hormone gives men larger hearts, lungs and other organs, builds muscle mass and controls stomach fat, while regulating mood, aggression and mental focus.  Therefore, steady and adequate levels of this hormone are essential for your overall well being.

Since testosterone levels start to drop in mid-to-late 20s, at a yearly rate of 0.3%, a man can experience a significant decline in his testosterone levels by age 40.  By age 50, most men will have substantially lower levels causing a series of sexual difficulties. 

Therefore, it is imperative that men do everything they can to build and sustain balanced levels of this hormone.  And you can raise your testosterone with these superfoods.

Essential Protein

Protein plays a key role in keeping production of the male hormone, testosterone, at optimal levels.  However, it is important to stick to leaner cuts of meat and low fat sources of protein since too much saturated fats can induce estrogen, which has a negative effect on your sexual activity because it essentially 'softens' testosterone.

Include these sources of high quality protein in your diet:

• lean cuts of red meat and skinless poultry (forget the lamb chops and Buffalo chicken wings)
• fish such as salmon, tuna, grouper and orange roughy (grilled or baked, not deep fried)
• beans, including baked beans, lima beans, garbanzo and kidney beans (all pack an additional punch of zinc and fibre)
• whole eggs ( I know they contain cholesterol but it is the 'good' kind -HDL),
• cottage cheese (1-2% fat content is preferred) with a serving of fresh fruit, &
• natural crunchy peanut butter

Just a further note about cholesterol:

Since testosterone is actually synthesized from cholesterol, a dietary supply is necessary, and whole eggs supply it in a 'good' form with low caloric effect.  Including vitamin C from fresh fruits and veggies on a daily basis will keep the 'bad' form of cholesterol LDL in check.  But if you have a severe case of cholesterol woes, best confirm with your healthcare provider to be safe.

Fats Needed for Hormone Production

A combination of fats are absolutely necessary for great testosterone production.  Omega-3s (EFAS) and monounsaturated fats (MUFAS) should be the prime fats in your diet along with a moderate amount of saturated fats (SFAS). 

Foods supplying EFAS:

• salmon (wild-harvested only), albacore tuna, and sardines
• vocados (the Aztecs called them 'ahuacatl' meaning "testicle", perhaps because of their shape and that they grow on the tree in pairs)
• nuts and seeds, including walnuts, brazil and almonds, pumpkin and flaxseeds, &
• oils such as flax seed, canola and wheatgerm oils

Foods supplying MUFAS:

• olives,
• oils, including extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed and flaxseed,
• avocados (definitely a double plus for this fruit),
• nuts and seeds, especially peanuts and almonds (including 'butter' form) &
• chocolate (dark only, at least 70% cocoa content - yes it is good for you and full of antioxidants)

Finally, cruciferous vegetables

These veggies are a 'must' have in your regular diet since they contain IC3s (indole-3-carbinol), which essentially controls estrogen levels, and as previously mentioned estrogen in effect 'softens' your testosterone!

To supply IC3s, Include these foods 3-4 times a week:

• cabbage, raw or cooked (including Chinese and Napa cabbages)
• bok choy
• brussel sprouts (2 servings of these can greatly effect your testosterone levels)
• broccoli, again raw or cooked, &
• kale
• radish, horseradish, daikon and wasabi are also included in this group (great if you like roast beef or sushi)

Most of the basic food groups are covered in the above lists and can be balanced with an intake of moderate low-glycemic carbs including fruits, veggies and wholegrain breads, pastas and cereals. 

If your hormone levels are currently low, raise your testosterone with these superfoods and you will see a marked difference over the next few weeks and months.

Start eating these superfoods while your testosterone levels are optimal and your hormone supplies will remain robust for many years, prolonging your sexual activities and health.

Best Bicep Workouts for Mass

Everybody wants defined muscles and huge bicep peaks but most people don't put in enough hard work to achieve their goal. They want ripped biceps but once it comes time to workout they don't work hard and end up quitting. Hard work is going to be the way you are going to gain bicep mass, not wishful thinking. If you are willing to commit yourself to work hard then I will give you a couple of the best bicep workouts for mass that anyone can use.

The key to a good bicep workout is how tired the workout gets you and how targeted the workout is. What I mean by how tired the workout gets you is how quickly your muscles fatigue during the workout. For example a chin up is going to get your muscle lot more tired faster than curling a 20 pound dumbbell.

I am going to go over some of the best bicep workouts for mass and explain how to correctly do each one for the best result. Remember that you aren't going to see the results you want unless you work hard through every single workout.

Remember before doing any of these workouts that you warm up by jogging and stretching for 10-15 minutes. This will insure that your muscles are warmed up and will decrease the chance of injury.

Close Grip Chin Ups:

There are many bicep workouts for mass but one of the most effective and simplest is the good o'le chin up. Start by grabbing the pull up bar with your palms facing away from you and your feet shoulder width apart. Lift yourself up until your chin goes past the bar. Lower yourself all the way down slowly to get the most out of the workout and stop once you arms are fully extended. That will count as one repetition and you should do as many as you possibly can. These can be very difficult to do but like I said earlier the faster it makes your muscles tired the more muscle mass you will gain.

Concentration Curl:

Concentration curls are also one of the best bicep workouts for mass because it targets the bicep extremely well. There really isn't another bicep workout that targets it as good. To do a concentration curl you are going to want to use a dumbbell and sit down on a bench. Grab the dumbbell and place your elbow on the inside of your thigh. Slowly curl the dumbbell up and then lower it slowly back down. That is a simple concentration curl and it will defiantly add mass to your biceps.

Those three bicep workouts are arguably the best for adding mass to your biceps but there are plenty of other quality workouts. I'm not going to go into any detail with these next workouts but I would highly recommend you check these out.

• Zottman Curl
• Hammer Curl
• Barbell Curl
• Drag Curl
• Spider Curl

If you can incorporate any one of those or more in to your workouts then you will begin to see great results. But you can do all of the workouts you want but without hard work you will just be wasting your time. Remember when you go to the gym it's all business and you are in there to get work done. If you can get into that mindset and use these workouts then I guarantee you will see added mass and tone to not only your biceps but also the rest of your upper body.

The Number One Reason Why You Fail To Gain Muscle

In this article I would like to share with you the number one reason why you are struggling to add more lean muscle mass to your frame. I think we can safely assume that you are already training and you are lifting weights at least three times per week, but no matter what you do in the gym you still fail to see any gains. Am I right?

You see, the number one reason why guys fail to gain muscle is not because they don't follow the right training plan or because they don't do the right exercises. It's not because of bad genes or because they are so called 'hardgainers'. It's simply because of bad eating habits.

The number one reason why skinny guys fail to gain muscle is simply because their diets are bad. You see, if you weigh 160 pounds and if you want to get to up to 190 pounds then the first thing you need to start doing is eating like a person who weighs 190 pounds.

The first thing that you need to focus on is making sure that you supply your body with enough energy. I am talking about calories. To make your body grow, to start gaining muscle you need to supply your body with more than enough energy and this energy has to come from calories.

The point I want to make here is that to gain muscle you are going to have to eat a lot and by eating a lot I don't suggest to start eating ice cream and burgers everything single day.

No way.

You need to gather your calories from high quality foods. You need to gather enough proteins to make sure that your body gets enough building materials for your muscles to grow, you need to eat enough complex carbohydrates to have plenty of energy and you need to eat plenty of healthy fats to make sure that your joint and hormonal production runs smoothly and efficiently.

When trying to gain muscle you need to focus on the basics. When training you want to focus on the basic training principles and you want to focus on proven and tested exercises. The same rules apply to your diet. There's no need to reinvent the wheel and start following some complicated bodybuilding diet when all you need to do to start gaining muscle is to simply increase your daily caloric intake and make sure that your daily calories come from high quality foods.

The Best Shoulder Workout Weightlifting Routines

The best shoulder workout weight routines are those that focus on building muscle mass and strength quickly and efficiently. They often consist of overhead presses and lateral weightlifting moves, which can rapidly result in deltoid muscle mass and increased strength in the deltoid region. The best shoulder workout will target the deltoid muscles, removing stress from the chest and upper back, and targeting the deltoids specifically. Many exercises are capable of working all three muscle regions simultaneously, but you want to focus your efforts more closely on the shoulder muscles in a good shoulder routine.

The military press is among one of the most popular methods of developing the shoulders. It is a move that has served many weightlifters well in the past, and will continue to be one of the best exercises for targeting the deltoids. With this simple press, you can rest assured that you are targeting the right muscles to bulk up the shoulders and increase your strength and stamina. The military press can be done in a seated or standing position. It requires that you keep your back straight, and the use of a back brace is recommended in order to avoid lower back injury.

Other popular shoulder routines include the dumbbell press and the clean and press. Either of these exercises can be added to your routine as a sure way to target the shoulders. Many of the best shoulder workouts include multiple exercises. Keeping yourself engaged in your workout is important to your long term success. Many weightlifters find they are more likely to stick to a routine if that routine varies from day to day. Tossing a variety of exercises into the routine can keep you from becoming bored or disconnected.

Proper targeting of the shoulder muscles can be achieved. You must focus your shoulder workouts on the deltoids and trapezius muscles. The best way to target the trapezius is though lateral presses. Switching up the direction of lateral presses allows you to build all sections of the trapezius region. By adjusting the angle of the lateral moves, you ensure that the upper, lower, and central traps are all worked equally. The best shoulder workout for you will be one that you can commit to. You may need to try out some of the various weightlifting exercises before settling on your standard routine. Once you've decided on a routine, you must stick with it, remaining dedicated to your long term bodybuilding goals.

Top 3 Dangers To Avoid When Bulking Up

Most folks have heard that in order to get big and muscular you need to eat BIG and feed those muscles - you are what you eat, after all.

While this is partly true, it's really only half of the story. The biggest problem facing many folks is that they will often gain fat as well as muscle while bulking up. If you're a skinny guy that might not be such a huge problem, but if you've already got a body fat percentage that is fairly high you can't really afford to take on any more without sacrificing your health.

Below I've highlighted the 3 main dangers that traditional bulking diets can pose, and the best way for you to avoid them.

1./ High Fat and Salt Intakes

Since you are consuming a larger amount of calories each day on a bulking diet not enough emphasis is placed on the quality of the calories that you are taking on, and where those calories come from. Most bulk up diets involve you consuming high amounts of salt, sugars, unhealthy fats, corn syrup and trans fats. As I'm sure you will agree, those things are recipes for bad long-term health and an increased risk of heart disease and other cholesterol-related illnesses.

2./ Insulin Resistance

Usual bulking diets make your body develop insulin resistance which can make muscle building difficult since insulin resistance makes your body send the carbs that you consume to your fat stores instead of your muscle tissue.

Insulin resistance can be hard to reverse, meaning that as time goes on it will become increasingly difficult to lose the body fat but easier to GAIN it...not good! This is a major reason why skinny people can stay lean despite eating pretty much they want.

3./ Underactive Thyroid

Too much fat gain can play havoc with your thyroid production. This hormone is responsible for speeding up the whole fat-burning process, and the fatter you are the less effective it becomes, resulting in you gaining fat faster - this is a nasty vicious circle that you should definitely avoid.

How To Avoid These Bulking Up Pitfalls...

As you can see, failure to understand how your body reacts to what you put inside it is a major cause of excess fat gain while bulking, but also of the increased chances of long-term health risks.

The key to avoiding these dangers is to reduce your high-calorie bulking cycles. In other words, many bulking cycles can last for several months - this takes a toll on your body and metabolism. Shortening your cycles to a few weeks will reduce the risk of fat gain and also get enough variety into your routine.

Focus on timing your meals appropriately too - don't just eat whenever you want throughout the day. Understand that your nutrient requirements fluctuate throughout the day. Understanding how and when to eat certain meals and food groups will maximize muscle gains and minimize fat gain. This is the art of nutrient timing.

How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle and Burn Fat Naturally?

Let's take a look at nutrition and more importantly "timing" of nutrition. If you have ever been to a gym you would have seen almost every guy and some girls walk out with a protein drink in hand.

They do this because they know how important it is to feed your muscle with a combination of protein and carbohydrates within half an hour of doing exercise. This is when your body needs the nutrition most and failing to give your body what it needs means it will have to take it from somewhere else. Most likely your muscles! Now that is not what we want.

So, back the question of how long does it take to build muscle?

Here are my top tips for muscle building and, most importantly, the best ways to burn fat:

- Drink a high quality protein product after each workout, within half an hour.

- Work out 3-4 times per week for no longer than 45 minutes per session.

- Eat most of your carbohydrates in the morning, have a small protein snack mid morning, eat a lean protein lunch with salad, vegetable and protein snack in the afternoon and another protein and vegetable meal for dinner.

- Eat a lot of citrus to help block the production of Oestrogen. (a hormone that gives you that jelly belly look!)

- Don't drink beer! It is highly Oestrogenic.

Following these top tips will see you build muscle mass fast but you have to be dedicated. Just how long it takes to build muscle naturally depends on many things but as long as you follow some simple guidelines you should have great success.

Top 5 Muscle Building Back Exercises

Do you dream of adding some serious mass to your back, but are unsure of the best route to achieve this goal? Well look no further, as we provide you with some of the most effective exercises that should be a staple of any truly great back workout. A big back is something to be proud of, so here are our chosen five back exercises to help you along the way.

#1 The Deadlift

If you're serious about your training program, and your goal is to gain impressive amounts of muscle, you'll definitely want to include deadlifts in your routine. Although this exercise can be daunting to first timers, if performed correctly, the deadlift is one of the greatest back exercises available.

Not only does the deadlift target the back muscles, it also directly trains the lower body too. In fact, this wonderful exercise works the hamstrings, thighs, core, lower back, upper back and traps, so you'll be utilising a huge amount of muscle stimulation in one simple exercise!

#2 Bent Over Barbell Rows

This fantastic exercise is another that provides you with a great deal of muscle stimulation over a large area. Not only will bent over barbell rows target your upper back, they'll also work your lats, traps, lower back and hamstrings. A further advantage of the bent over barbell row is that it requires little in terms of equipment, keeping you away from those pesky machines. Ensure that the weight you use is heavy enough to fully stimulate your muscles, but also allows for correct form and full range of motion.

#3 T-Bar Rows

Continuing with our theme of exercises requiring little in terms of equipment, we present the T-Bar row. Commonly found within the routine of old school bodybuilders, this lift is both functional and effective. The T-Bar row should be included within your training program to add thickness to your lats, whilst also adding mass to your upper back, traps, rhomboids and deltoids. As with all free weight exercises, ensure that the weight you add to the bar is heavy enough to stimulate your back without limiting your range of movement.

#4 Single Arm Dumbbell Rows

The single arm dumbbell row is a great addition to any program, providing stimulation to the middle and upper back, whilst also targeting the lats, shoulders, traps and biceps. Unlike the barbell row, the single arm dumbbell row allows for isolation of each side of the back, which is useful as back training covers such a large area of muscle. To really get the most out of single arm dumbbell rows, remember to focus on pulling the weight with your back muscles, not the biceps.

#5 Pull Ups and Chin Ups

For the most part, we believe that the most useful back exercises involve free weights. When choosing our top five back exercises, however, it was an easy decision to include pull ups and chin ups. Both of these exercises are highly effective within back training programs, and again require very little equipment. Beginners should first attempt to perform chin ups, with the palms facing towards the body, as they utilize more of the bicep than the pull up, making the exercise a little easier to perform. Once the chin up and pull up have been mastered, resistance can also be added in the form of a weight belt to increase the difficulty of the exercise

Most Common Workout Mistakes

According to doctors, workouts may help you reduce your risk of a lot of health conditions, such as cancer, depression and heart attacks. Aside from this, workouts make you stronger both physically and mentally. If you are working out without the help of a good fitness trainer, you are more prone to common workout mistakes. Here are 5 of those mistakes that you should avoid.

1. Workout goals

What are your workout goals? No matter what you want to achieve by working out, your workout sessions should consist of three stages: warm-up, exercise and the stretch-out stage.

Most people focus on the second phase, which is a mistake. Starting your workouts phase without warming up your body first is a bad idea. If you don't warm up before a workout session, you may end up hurting your muscles. The stretch-out phase is equally important.

2. Not Warming-up Before Each Session

With the warm-up stage, you are informing your nervous system of the physical stress it is going to go through. This stage will help your body prevent premature fatigue and skipped heartbeats.

The warm-up phase is more important if you are going to do some high interval intensity training exercises like CrossFit or sprinting. Even if you are going to do a workout of moderate intensity, you should warm up as it will get your blood flowing throughout your body.

3. Doing The Exercises The Wrong Way

After box jumping or deadlifts, some people complain about pain in their lower backs. Some people think that it is muscle soreness and shouldn't be taken as something serious. However, the thing is that you should learn to differentiate between muscle soreness and joint pain.

Mostly, joint pain may occur if you do an exercise the wrong way. It may also lead to injury in some cases. Therefore, it is important that you get some guidance from a fitness trainer.

4. Sticking to the Same Type of Exercises

Do you find your workouts boring? If so, it's time for you to change our workout plan. Doing the same movements over and over again may make it harder for you to get your desired results.

For instance, if you do jogging on a daily basis, you should change your route. Or you can increase or decrease your speed for a change.

5. Ignoring Other Body Parts

The human body is not a simple machine. It functions on different levels at the same time. Therefore, you should do workouts that will work multiple areas of your body. Focusing on the same parts may cause your body to lose balance. As a result, your body gets weaker and you don't see the desired results.

Therefore, we suggest that you choose a set of exercises that will work all of the important parts of your body that people usually ignore.

So, these are some common workout mistakes that most people make. If you don't want to end up hurting yourself while working out, we suggest that you avoid these mistakes. Hopefully, now you will be able to get the most out of your exercises.