Zen My Fitness – Linking Muscle and Mind

Posts Tagged ‘Muscle Building’

Build larger muscles, burn more fat or perform better then make sure you drink water. 

That’s it, no need to read any more but ONLY if you know how much to drink!

Do you know how much water to drink daily to help reach peak performance?

I mean too much water could be as bad as too little water! Over hydrating can lead to an electrolyte imbalance.

I use to run and exercise a lot and I kept away from processed foods and added salts, which I thought was a good thing.

After I had a blood test it showed I was very low in sodium which came from excessive sweating and was flushing out all the salts in my body, which inturn meant I was not absorbing water but it was passing right through my body even though I was drinking all the time.

I remember getting ready for a race and drank so much leading up to it, I felt bloated so I wasn’t even in the mood to run hard.

So here are some strategies to hydrate correctly during exercise. Read the rest of this entry »

These are 2 of the best muscle building tips on how to build a hot and lean body that I know will work for anyone.

It’s taken a few “trial and errors” but I found out the hard way, I hope it will save you some time?

If I tell you then it’s our little secret! … just kiddin’ but hell some people just don’t get it so it doesn’t matter!

Hold on there is a catch, it will be more effective if you discover your own muscle building tips rather than use mine.

Huh? you thought I was going to have all the answers?

Watch out here comes the ZEN: If you think I’m talking in circles well you are partly right.

In ZEN the truth can not really be explained in words, it can only be experienced. (Next time don’t just bench press and count the reps but focus and connect to the muscles doing the work, feel the lift, you’ll get the idea) .

It’s about others pointing the way, it’s a path to take all on your own to progress towards your goals, so create your own bodybuilding tips (hey and then pass them on).

Don’t always be the Grasshopper! Read the rest of this entry »

Completed July 2010

At the start of 2010 I started a body building program called Visual Impact which guided me through a fitness routine of body building.

With this program I was able to transform my body in 6 months! Just in time for summer and hitting the beach.

Visual Impact is a unique body building program that is very simple and easy to follow but definitely gets results.

I achieved my goal of becoming more muscular and dropping the skinny marathon runner look that I had for awhile.

If you are looking for the same type of change you should seriously consider this program.

Rather than review the program I’ll outline what I liked about the program.

If you do want to know more details about the program here are 4 videos explaining Visual Impact.

I was never really happy with my body shape and wanted to change my physical appearance, I had to positively transform somehow for whatever reason.

So I made a decision about four years ago I wanted to lose weight which I did with mainly running but I lost body shape as well.  I ended up with a skinny, un-ripped body and looked like I needed a good feed. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people only think of stretching routines as a method for increasing flexibility.

Recently I wrote about how stretching effects your GTOs (Golgi Tendon Organs) which helps you to lift heavier, and lifting heavier means you grow more!

But I want you to know about this other secret tip on how to “increase muscle size” by stretching during your work out when timed correctly.

It’s called fascia stretching.

Don’t mix this up for facial stretching, the “Celebrity Botox” kind.

I mean fascia, its a dense type of connective tissue, all of the muscle in your body is enclosed in this fascia.

The job of fascia is to help protect muscles and allow them to maintain their position throughout the body.

By stretching your fascia you can actually allow for more muscle growth to occur. Read the rest of this entry »

Ground and Pound, Clinch or Sprawl and Brawl, do you have a battle strategy in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)?

Every kick is an Abs Crunch

Well whatever your style, getting into the ring you need more than a chiseled midsection but one that is going to absorb punishment from hands, feet or any part thrown at you, then follow these MMA core workouts to build your abs.

Every kick delivered or a raised leg block is simply an abdominal crunch.

To get out of serious trouble in a grapple you’ll need an extraordinary strong abs strength.

Executing forceful escape manoeuvres off the ground comes down to core strength.

Trying to resist an opponent’s attempt to uncurl their bodies with floor spins or pushing off the cage with their feet will demand a solid foundation.

In MMA Cage fighting you need explosive movements and developing a combat core is crucial.

If your opponent is going to throw a body punch and you can’t take a shot you’re in trouble.

Get hit in the stomach and either you will lose your breath or be on the floor, it all depends on how good your core is.

You will need to absorb strikes and need to maintain a fight posture without fatiguing otherwise as soon as you drop your hands… LOOK OUT a huge round house kick is coming your way. Read the rest of this entry »

Be The Toughest Tabby Cat in Town

Tabata workouts are a fantastic high intensity interval training method for burning body fat.

It is one of the best hiit routines available that has proven results for increasing fitness.

Easy to incorporate into your workout, this style of training can be adapted to any exercise.

Amazingly it ticks all the boxes! It gives you;

• Muscle Gains √
• Burns Body Fat √
• Builds Endurance √

Nothing will bring you to your knees faster than doing this style of training.

Why do it? Read the rest of this entry »

Quickly go tell all your non-Yoga friends that they better start doing Yoga poses if they want to build muscle …. what? I can hear you say!

There are many parts of Yoga (8 parts in fact), but here we are only concerned with the Yogic benefits of muscle stretching and body resistance training to really allow you to develop to another level of  muscle building.

Leading by example are two actors (with nicely buffed bodies) that regularly practice this ancient Indian  exercise is Matthew McConaughey and Spiderman’s Tobey Maguire.

Both having lean muscular and athletic bodies.

MUSCLE STRETCH

In your younger days you were probably very flexible but as you aged, your body decided that stiffer shorter muscles were the way to go.

In your teens, your lower vertebrae starts to fuse, your hamstrings are no longer strings but more like surf boards, stiff and less flexible.

So for most of us adulthood brings on poor flexibility preventing a full range of motion in exercise, so we end up with limiting our results.

IF YOU DON’T GO ALL THE WAY DOWN ON A BARBELL SQUAT – TRY THIS! Read the rest of this entry »

This is a training plan based on what program Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Jr would follow to build the rock-hard physiques; needed to play the blade-fisted Wolverine and ultra cool Ironman.

How do actors (especially over 40s) like Robert Downey Jr and Hugh Jackman make it look so easy to get ripped, when it isn’t?

Actors get ultra fit and athletic looking for Hollywood movies very quickly!… ” but it’s all in a days work”.

Having personal trainers and staff watching them every minute, they are told what to eat, how to train, when to wake up and anything else that it takes to get ready for the movie.

I’ll out-line a program based on their training methodology.

To stimulate your body, I’d recommend incorporate this into your own training for 6 weeks and then go back to your current program and you will get the similar result, be just like Wolverine or Ironman!

Mike Ryan is Hugh Jackman’s personal trainer and he devised a workout and eating plan to meet movie requirements, and it’s deadline.

He helped over 40 y/o Hugh Jackman to get an amazingly built frame packed with hard muscle mass.

Jackman’s movie career is flourishing in many areas so he has to try and fit his training in where he can. Early morning starts are needed so they start at the crack of dawn.

‘We have a philosophy of training first thing in the morning,’ says Ryan.

Research suggests that people who train in the afternoons consistently do workouts of far less intensity than those who do train in the morning.

Read the rest of this entry »

Zen and bodybuilding combined develops the area of “muscle-mind link” which will increase  your training performance.

This process is called Synergy; simply put, it’s where you add parts together but the resultant is more than the sum of those parts!

Sounds magical? Not really but what it can mean is that we take advantage of this concept, apply it for creating an effective fitness body mind set  called muscle mind link that will produce better results.

The muscle-mind link is not new, some associate this with ‘psyching yourself up’ before the event but with Zen it’s done during the excercise (in realtime!) so we are adapting it in a different way.

Get Ready

WHICH EXERCISE ROUTINE IS THE BEST?

There are many fitness and weight lifting programs out in this big wide world. You’ll find plenty of programs all different in their approach.

It’s either short repetitions or long reps, slow cardio or fast cardio; do this but don’t do that! Yeah you get the idea.

Try a few of the programs, you could say well that’s a ‘cop out’ ! but find one that gets results for you, which doesn’t normally mean the easiest one, the ‘hurt’ box should appear a few times during your work out.

Read the rest of this entry »