
(9) - Know your numbers. How can you lose or gain weight if you don’t know how much you are eating? Usually, people over eat rather than under eat. It’s safe to assume most people looking to lose weight simply just need to eat less. But, what is less? Less of what? It’s wise to know your numbers because this will help you gauge what’s going on. “Calories in vs calories out” is a tool to help you develop an understanding of what’s going on. Of what food contain what and how much, ect ect. Tracking/counting calories is not needed, but it sure does HELP SO MUCH.
Begin in a standing position with one leg planted firmly on a slightly elevated surface – like a step. Raise the opposite hip and pelvis by hiking your hip towards the sky. Hold for 3-5 seconds. Slowly lower your hip and pelvis down towards the floor. Repeat this exercise as many times as you can until you feel fatigue (1-2min), then switch sides. Ensure the standing leg is straight and do not sway your shoulders side to side.
How to do it: Stand tall with your feet together, and brace your core. From here—holding onto a wall, counter, or sturdy chair for balance, if necessary—lift your right foot just off of the floor so that you’re standing on your left foot. Imagine a string through the crown of your head is pulling your spine straight toward the ceiling, and engage your core to avoid leaning to one side. Hold this position for 30 seconds or as long as you can, then repeat on the opposite side.
You can't scroll through Instagram without clocking a mammoth cheat day feast, but are real-life bodybuilders consuming such a crazy amount of calories every couple of weeks? Not quite. When he’s dieting for a competition, Terry incorporates ‘re-feed days’ into his schedule. This means he eats the exact same food, but essentially doubles the portion sizes.
The G-med and G-min perform similar functions, depending on the position of the knee and hip joints. With the knee extended, they abduct the thigh (out to the side away from the opposite leg). When running, they stabilize the leg during the single-support phase. With the hips flexed, they internally rotate the thigh. With the hips extended, they externally rotate the thigh.
Your questions kinda ties everything together. You are already aware of “nutrient density” which is AWESOME. This is important because I believe one food may be more “healthier” over another due to its “nutrient density”. The other food is still healthy because it still contains nutrients, but the nutrients could be more dense…so this is why I think one food may be “healthier”, while the other just isn’t as “healthy”. It’s not, not healthy.. Make sense?

How to do it: Balance on your right foot, keeping your midsection tight and shoulders back and down. Bend at the waist with both of your hands out to the sides and extend your left leg back as you fire the left glute. Your shoulder and heel should move together, forming a straight line. Return to starting position and switch legs, performing a set of 10 on each leg.
Begin in a standing position with one leg planted firmly on a slightly elevated surface – like a step. Raise the opposite hip and pelvis by hiking your hip towards the sky. Hold for 3-5 seconds. Slowly lower your hip and pelvis down towards the floor. Repeat this exercise as many times as you can until you feel fatigue (1-2min), then switch sides. Ensure the standing leg is straight and do not sway your shoulders side to side.


Bodybuilders often split their food intake for the day into 5 to 7 meals of roughly equal nutritional content and attempt to eat at regular intervals (e.g. every 2 to 3 hours). This method can serve two purposes: to limit overindulging in the cutting phase, and to physically allow for the consumption of large volumes of food during the bulking phase. Contrary to popular belief, eating more frequently does not increase basal metabolic rate when compared to the traditional 3 meals a day. While food does have a metabolic cost to digest, absorb, and store, called the thermic effect of food, it depends on the quantity and type of food, not how the food is spread across the meals of the day. Well-controlled studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly labeled water have demonstrated that there is no metabolic advantage to eating more frequently.[38][39][40]![]()

How to do it: Start by stepping forward into a lunge with your left foot. Place your right forearm to the ground and your left elbow to the inside of your left foot, and hold the stretch for two seconds. Then place your left hand outside of your foot and push your hips up, pointing your front toes up. Return to standing position and repeat by stepping out with your right foot. Continue alternating sides.

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Lie on your left side and position yourself so that your bottom forearm is directly under your armpit and your legs are straight with feet stacked. Brace your core and lift your hips in the air, forming a straight line from ankles to shoulders. Next, raise your top leg, without bending your knee, a few inches into the air. Hold for 3-5 seconds, lower the leg, and repeat. Complete required reps then switch sides.
Elsa Pataky's trainer, Fernando Sartorius, says that focusing on squeezing your glutes while performing a booty-blasting exercise allows you to activate the muscle group to their maximum potential. Cameron Diaz's trainer, Teddy Bass, founder of the trademarked booty-sculpting program called Rock Bottom Body, says you should get into a bridge position and memorize what it feels like to really engage your buns—and then try to feel that burn every time you work your butt. The point: Thinking about squeezing your glutes (and actually squeezing them) while strength-training helps you work the muscles in your butt harder.

The first step that needs to be taken is to determine if the tightness is due to a true lack of flexibility (perform the Thomas test above) or if it is because of weakness in the muscle itself. Once that is determined you need to focus on reducing the tension felt in the hip flexor and improving core control/stability so that the issue does not return. As with any condition, the root cause must be found (the root cause is not often at the site of pain) in order to get long lasting relief. This is why so many people unfortunately have to deal with this issue for several months or even years…..because the root cause was never found and they were just given generic information to “open up the hips” or “just stretch more”. Below are some common exercises I like to give to patient’s to start out with to help alleviate this condition. (Please keep in mind that every individual patient has different needs but these exercises tend to work in MOST cases.) The first hip flexor exercise involves actually strengthening the hip flexor while focusing on a neutral spine for core stability.
Are you sitting right now? Squeeze your buttocks, then release them: You should feel them tighten, then slacken. While slack muscles aren’t necessarily a bad thing—all of our muscles shouldn’t be firing at all times, after all—resting all of your body weight on your slack glute muscles (as you do when you sit) creates a lengthening of the fascial tissues within and surrounding the glutes, which weakens the gluteals’ natural tension. When the buttocks are excessively weak, the quadriceps and hip flexors have to work harder to compensate, and these muscular imbalances often sneakily follow us onto our mats to cause problems and pain. Want help? Try these poses:
Yes, genetically some of us put on muscle faster than others, but even then it’s fractions of a degree, not DRASTIC sweeping differences. We tend to get this question from men or women who are so thin and have such fast metabolisms, they probably need to put on 40-50+ pounds of both fat and muscle, before they would ever even think to use the word “too bulky.”
How to do it: Use just your bodyweight, dumbbells, or a resistance band around the top of your knee to activate your glute medius, Reames says. Assume the same setup of a basic squat, feet shoulder-width apart and knees neutral. Squat down, knees bent at 90° angles, and step to the side. Continue repeating this side-step motion down and return to your starting position.
The first step that needs to be taken is to determine if the tightness is due to a true lack of flexibility (perform the Thomas test above) or if it is because of weakness in the muscle itself. Once that is determined you need to focus on reducing the tension felt in the hip flexor and improving core control/stability so that the issue does not return. As with any condition, the root cause must be found (the root cause is not often at the site of pain) in order to get long lasting relief. This is why so many people unfortunately have to deal with this issue for several months or even years…..because the root cause was never found and they were just given generic information to “open up the hips” or “just stretch more”. Below are some common exercises I like to give to patient’s to start out with to help alleviate this condition. (Please keep in mind that every individual patient has different needs but these exercises tend to work in MOST cases.) The first hip flexor exercise involves actually strengthening the hip flexor while focusing on a neutral spine for core stability.

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your hips to come into a bridge position. Lift your left leg off the ground and extend it in front of you, keeping your pelvis level. Inhale as you slowly lower your hips toward the ground. Exhale as you drive your right heel into the ground and lift your hips. Do 10-12 reps. Switch sides.
There are nutrients within these fat sources which decrease inflammation, improve mental function, improve eyesight, and give you healthier skin, hair, and nails. When I'm crushing the iron in the gym each day, my goal is to be strong and big, but also healthy and mobile. To get that way, I eat all of these generously on a regular basis, and I also take omega-3 supplements daily, in the form of fish oil or krill oil.
I fortunately remember the nutrition label for many foods. If it doesn’t have a label, I remember what I’ve studied. It just sticks mentally and saves me time as I don’t have to input my calories via tracking. I use to track calories (started like 5yrs ago) which did help me get a better understanding (started to remember within 6m) of which foods had what and at what amount.
The first U.S. Women's National Physique Championship, promoted by Henry McGhee and held in Canton, Ohio in 1978, is generally regarded as the first true female bodybuilding contest—that is, the first contest where the entrants were judged solely on muscularity.[13] In 1980, the first Ms. Olympia (initially known as the "Miss" Olympia), the most prestigious contest for professionals, was held. The first winner was Rachel McLish, who had also won the NPC's USA Championship earlier in the year. The contest was a major turning point for female bodybuilding. McLish inspired many future competitors to start training and competing. In 1985, a movie called Pumping Iron II: The Women was released. It documented the preparation of several women for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup Championship. Competitors prominently featured in the film were Kris Alexander, Lori Bowen, Lydia Cheng, Carla Dunlap, Bev Francis, and McLish. At the time, Francis was actually a powerlifter, though she soon made a successful transition to bodybuilding, becoming one of the leading competitors of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
my name is Samtak and i recently started experimenting with some supplements after about 4-6 months of working out. as of right now i have a protein shake once a day with gainers in the protein powder and am trying to figure out how to use beta alanine and creatine in combination with BCAA. Can anyone help me figure out how to set out a good plan for better effects from these supplements? my current weight is 60 kg and i am 16
A: No. You should ensure that the squat and hinge motor pattern are both emphasized but other variations (front squat, sumo deadlift, safety bar squat, Romanian deadlift) should be included until you can master technique on the more advanced variations. For more information on exercise progressions and regressions see this article: Train Like An Athlete, Look Like a Bodybuilder.
There are many potential reasons, but I am going to keep it simple and give you just two. The first and most common reason people suffer from underactive glutes or “glute amnesia” is due to lifestyle. Even when people train hard every day, if they spend the majority of the remainder of the day sitting down, then they are simply not using their glutes. And remember the old saying - if you don’t use it, you lose it. Unfortunately, this is just what happens with your glutes.
A sedentary lifestyle can lead to having weak and tight hip flexors as they are always in the shortened position. Tight hip flexors can lead to a limited range of motion, poor posture, lower back, and hip pain, and even injuries. These muscles need to get a workout when you are standing and doing movements such as raising your leg to climb stairs, run, or ride a bicycle.![]()
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Most typical bodybuilding programs have way too many sets and reps and use the wrong exercises. However, if you lower the total volume, go heavier, and use compound movements as I’ve outlined above, there is nothing wrong with a body-part split for advanced lifters. In fact, it’s often less stressful to the joints than your average upper/lower split.

Firstly, let’s establish where your glutes are and what they actually refer to! Your ‘glutes’ — or your gluteal muscles, as they are more formally known — refer to the muscles in your butt. Specifically, there are three major muscles in this area: your gluteus maximus (the main, large muscle that shapes your backside), your gluteus medius and your gluteus minimus (two smaller muscles that assist the gluteus maximus in moving your body).