Yo!

To help lost weight healthy, try these tips:

1. Eat smaller healthy meals about 6-7 per day which have high protein, carbs, essential fats (they help to burn fat and reduce your hunger), minerals and vitamins, this will increase your metabolism.
2. Exercise doing cardio and full body resistance training at least 3 times per week. Make sure to get at least 1-2 days off each week to rest and recover your body and about a week off every 5 weeks, over exercising will reduce your results and motivation.
3. Sleep 8 hours per night and go to bed early around 10pm. And don't eat before bed.
4. Don't eat candy and soda drinks, or sugar products.
5. You need to burn more calories than you eat, so count how many calories you eat each day for a few days or so and get an average, then just try to reduce by 300-500 calories per day and continue to exercise, you will lose weight and be healthy too. You are not starving yourself, but you will just have to skip on the dessert or 2nd's or big meals.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Kyle

Check out these studies on testosterone levels and strength training:

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2001 Dec;11(6):347-54.

The effect of short-term strength training on human skeletal muscle: the importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels.

Hansen S, Kvorning T, Kjaer M, Sjøgaard G.

Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense University.
Abstract

The effect of strength training and endogenously elevated hormone levels (plasma testosterone, growth hormone (GH) and cortisol) was studied in 16 young untrained males, divided into an arm only training group, A, and a leg plus arm training group, LA, in order to increase circulating levels of anabolic hormones. Both groups performed the same one-sided arm training for 9 weeks, twice a week. Group A trained only one arm (AT), the contralateral arm serving as control (AC), whereas group LA additionally trained their legs following the training of the one arm (LAT), with the contralateral arm serving as control (LAC). In spite of the attempt to match the two groups, the initial isometric arm strength was 20-25% lower for group LA compared to group A (significant for the arm to be trained). Isometric strength increased significantly in LAT and LAC by 37% and 10%, respectively, while the 9% and 2% increases in AT and AC, respectively, remained insignificant. Isokinetic strength increased at one out of three velocities tested for the trained arm relative to the untrained arm in both group A and group LA (P<0.05). Functional strength increased significantly by 20% in LAT, 18% in LAC, 19% in AT, and 17% in AC. Hormonal responses were monitored during the first and last training sessions. Resting hormone levels remained unchanged for both groups. However, during the first training session plasma testosterone as well as plasma cortisol increased significantly in group LA but not in group A. Plasma GH rose in all exercise tests, except during the last test in group LA, but was significantly higher in group LA than in group A in the first training session. In conclusion, a larger relative increase in isometric strength was found in the group having the highest hormonal response. However, due to the initial difference in isometric strength caution must be taken with the interpretation of this finding, which may only indicate a possible link between anabolic hormones and muscle strength with training.

PMID: 11782267 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Journal of Applied Physiology
Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 49-54, January 1997
EXERCISE AND MUSCLE

Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise

Volek, Jeff S., William J. Kraemer, Jill A. Bush, Thomas Incledon, and Mark Boetes.

Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(1): 49-54, 1997.---Manipulation of resistance exercise variables (i.e., intensity, volume, and rest periods) affects the endocrine response to exercise; however, the influence of dietary nutrients on basal and exercise-induced concentrations of hormones is less understood. The present study examined the relationship between dietary nutrients and resting and exercise-induced blood concentrations of testosterone (T) and cortisol (C). Twelve men performed a bench press exercise protocol (5 sets to failure using a 10-repetitions maximum load) and a jump squat protocol (5 sets of 10 repetitions using 30% of each subject's 1-repetition maximum squat) with 2 min of rest between all sets. A blood sample was obtained at preexercise and 5 min postexercise for determination of serum T and C. Subjects also completed detailed dietary food records for a total of 17 days. There was a significant (P <= 0.05) increase in postexercise T compared with preexercise values for both the bench press (7.4%) and jump squat (15.1%) protocols; however, C was not significantly different from preexercise concentrations. Significant correlations were observed between preexercise T and percent energy protein (r = -0.71), percent energy fat (r = 0.72), saturated fatty acids (g · 1,000 kcal-1 · day-1; r = 0.77), monounsaturated fatty acids (g · 1,000 kcal-1 · day-1; r = 0.79), the polyunsaturated fat-to-saturated fat ratio (r = -0.63), and the protein-to-carbohydrate ratio (r = -0.59). There were no significant correlations observed between any nutritional variables and preexercise C or the absolute increase in T and C after exercise. These data confirm that high-intensity resistance exercise results in elevated postexercise T concentrations. A more impressive finding was that dietary nutrients may be capable of modulating resting concentrations of T. nutrition; carbohydrate; fat; protein; steroid hormones

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Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 69, Issue 4 1442-1450, Copyright © 1990 by American Physiological Society

Hormonal and growth factor responses to heavy resistance exercise protocols

W. J. Kraemer, L. Marchitelli, S. E. Gordon, E. Harman, J. E. Dziados, R. Mello, P. Frykman, D. McCurry and S. J. Fleck

Exercise Physiology Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental, Natick, Massachusetts 01760-5007.

To examine endogenous anabolic hormone and growth factor responses to various heavy resistance exercise protocols (HREPs), nine male subjects performed each of six randomly assigned HREPs, which consisted of identically ordered exercises carefully designed to control for load [5 vs. 10 repetitions maximum (RM)], rest period length (1 vs. 3 min), and total work effects. Serum human growth hormone (hGH), testosterone (T), somatomedin-C (SM-C), glucose, and whole blood lactate (HLa) concentrations were determined preexercise, midexercise (i.e., after 4 of 8 exercises), and at 0, 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min postexercise. All HREPs produced significant (P less than 0.05) temporal increases in serum T concentrations, although the magnitude and time point of occurrence above resting values varied across HREPs. No differences were observed for T when integrated areas under the curve (AUCs) were compared. Although not all HREPs produced increases in serum hGH, the highest responses were observed consequent to the H10/1 exercise protocol (high total work, 1 min rest, 10-RM load) for both temporal and time integrated (AUC) responses. The pattern of SM-C increases varied among HREPs and did not consistently follow hGH changes. Whereas temporal changes were observed, no integrated time (AUC) differences between exercise protocols occurred. These data indicate that the release patterns (temporal or time integrated) observed are complex functions of the type of HREPs utilized and the physiological mechanisms involved with determining peripheral circulatory concentrations (e.g., clearance rates, transport, receptor binding). All HREPs may not affect muscle and connective tissue growth in the same manner because of possible differences in hormonal and growth factor release.

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Eur J Appl Physiol. 2000 May;82(1-2):121-8.

Hormonal responses to high- and moderate-intensity strength exercise.

The hormonal responses of nine male, strength athletes to strength exercise were examined. The athletes performed one moderate- and one high-intensity strength exercise workout. In the high-intensity workout, the load was 100% of each subject's three-repetition maximum (3-RM) for squats and front squats, and 100% of each subject's six-repetition maximum (6-RM) for leg extensions. In the moderate-intensity workout, the load was 70% of the high-intensity protocol. Rest periods between sets were 4-6 min for both workouts. Blood samples were taken before, 30 min into, and every 15 min for the 1st h after exercise, and then 3, 7, 11, 22 and 33 h after exercise, thus allowing examination of both the acute and prolonged hormonal responses. Blood samples were analyzed for testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), cortisol, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), insulin, sex hormone binding globulin, creatine kinase, total protein, glucose and lactate. The acute responses of testosterone and cortisol were greater during the high-intensity protocol as compared to the moderate-intensity protocol. The cortisol response was associated with an increase in ACTH concentration. LH and FSH showed no response to either protocol. Acute GH responses were not different between protocols. There were great inter-individual differences in acute GH responses to both protocols. There were no significant differences between protocols with regard to prolonged responses for any hormone. In both trials, IGF-1 concentrations were significantly lower at 0800 hours the morning after exercise as compared to concentrations found at 0800 hours the morning before exercise. The mechanisms responsible for reducing IGF-1 concentration in these trials are unclear, and it is not known if this reduction observed 22 hours after exercise is of physiological significance.

PMID: 10879453 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Endogenous anabolic hormonal and growth factor responses to heavy resistance exercise in males and females.

Int J Sports Med. 1991 Apr;12(2):228-35.

Kraemer WJ, Gordon SE, Fleck SJ, Marchitelli LJ, Mello R, Dziados JE, Friedl K, Harman E, Maresh C, Fry AC.

Exercise Physiology Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760-5007.
Abstract

To examine endogenous anabolic hormonal responses to two different types of heavy resistance exercise protocols (HREPs), eight male and eight female subjects performed two randomly assigned protocols (i.e. P-1 and P-2) on separate days. Each protocol consisted of eight identically ordered exercises carefully designed to control for load, rest period length, and total work (J) effects. P-1 utilized a 5 RM load, 3-min rest periods and had lower total work than P-2. P-2 utilized a 10 RM load, 1-min rest periods and had a higher total work than P-1. Whole blood lactate and serum glucose, human growth hormone (hGH), testosterone (T), and somatomedin-C [SM-C] (i.e. insulin-like growth factor 1, IGF-1) were determined pre-exercise, mid-exercise (i.e. after 4 of the 8 exercises), and at 0, 5, 15, 30, and 60 min post-exercise. Males demonstrated significant (p less than 0.05) increases above rest in serum T values, and all serum concentrations were greater than corresponding female values. Growth hormone increases in both males and females following the P-2 HREP were significantly greater at all time points than corresponding P-1 values. Females exhibited significantly higher pre-exercise hGH levels compared to males. The P-1 exercise protocol did not result in any hGH increases in females. SM-C demonstrated random significant increases above rest in both males and females in response to both HREPs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 1860749 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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So basically doing the strength lifting, like SQUATS and dead-lifts which uses the majority of your muscles increases testosterone levels which will than increase muscle size and strength of other muscles too.

Here are some tips to help with your speed.

1. First you need to watch your diet, get good amounts of sleep and get good nutrition in supplements and a creatine would help too.

2. You should get a skipping rope and practice your foot work and speed with the jump rope on 2 legs and 1 leg.

3. Increase your strength with squats, deadlifts, benchpress and body weight exercises.

4. Do short sprints

5. Work your core

6. Practice technique in the gym at home and in your mind to make it perfect.

7. Work on power development (strength plus speed = power)

Cheers,
Kyle

Today I had a great workout and personal best for the flat bench dumbell press and I reach a new weight gain goal too!!!

I warmed up with my jump rope for about 5-10 mins, then I started with some starting acceleration and warmup for my chest and shoulders using dumbells, I was with my girlfriend so I use Love as my secret weapon, the emotion of love and happiness is greater and more powerful than hate and anger which comes in a close second.

Anyway, I after warming up and taking a breather for about 5-10 mins I went for the heavy weights, I picked up the 45 kg dumbells (100 lbs each) Got in position and pressed out about 6-7 reps! I was pretty impressed with myself, before I was only doing about 3-4 reps with that weight, and this time I felt really good doing it!!

Also, I weighed myself and hit my first weight gain goal of a lean 73 kg (160.6 lbs), I really happy with that because I was able to put on almost 15lbs of lean muscle in the last 3 months!!!

My next goal is to get to 74 kg, then 75 kg etc.. untill I can get to about 85 kg, and if possible 90 kg+ (about 200 lbs) for my height and body type I think I could be a lean 190 lbs+ it might take me a couple years, hopefully less, but I love to workout and I'm smart with how I workout too.

Take care and have great workouts,
Kyle

How to get abs is a life style choice when it comes down to it, it's not easy to do if you are not focused and comitted to being lean, fit and health everyday all day. If you want to get great abs fast or at least a flat stomach, then you need to focus on a few things daily.

1. Diet

2. Cardio

3. Resistance Training

Diet:

In you diet you will want to keep it balanced with a combination of carbohydrates, essential fats, lean proteins, vitamins and minerals for each meal. Eat about 5-6 times a day a make your meals small to medium size, rather than 3 large meals during the day. Also, reduce junk food and candy or try to eliminate it completely from your diet. Don't drink alcohol or smoke. Some of these things are very difficult to stop especially if you are used to drinking, smoking, and not eating well, it can be a major life-style change that most people are not willing to do, but if you really want to get abs you'll make the sacrifices, and in return you will look and feel your best!!

Cardio:

If you have extra weight and fat on your body and core area, you will need to focus on you cardio, because it's possible under that layer of fat you have abs, but no matter how many crunches and sit-ups you do you won't see them until you shed the extra fat off them, and to do this it takes a consistence effort of cardiovascular training. So you can run, jog, walk, and stay active as much as possible everyday. I prefer to do actives and sports that I enjoy, like riding my bike, dancing, going for a walk or playing basketball on a regular basis to get my cardio exercise to stay lean and strengthen my heart and lungs too. Avoiding your cardio can have many side effects besides gaining more fat on your core so get up and get active if you are not already. Also, if you are eating more than usual you'll need to do more cardio, so stick to your diet as mention above with combination of cardio and you are off to a great start, but we are not finished yet please keep reading.

Resistance Training:

The abs and core are muscles and they support your spine and protect your internal organs, and give you good posture which will help with your breathing and will help you increase you activity, energy, fitness, and strength levels dramatically because all movements and lifts and exercises involve your core and abs. You need to make sure you are doing crunches, sit-ups, etc.. for your abs and core, also when exercising stand while lifting weights rather than sitting to increase core and ab strength. The more you strengthen and work you abs and core the more calories that will be burnt off you midsection around the clock. With combination with a good diet and cardio exercise you will quickly begin to see your stomach get smaller and tighter and your abs will come through.

Summary

Now you have the basic formula to get abs. Your diet, cardio, and resistance training, and remember it's a lifestyle choice, so you'll have to make tough decisions at times, like if you will each desert after a meal and if you will go out drinking with your friends. You need to really want to change to see the benefits and it's definitely worth it, because you will look and feel you best and many positive changes will happen in you life. Clothes will look better on you, you can go to the beach and not be shy, you will attract more people to you and you will reduce many health issues too, so overall it's a very healthy choice to make and go after.

Good luck with you goals of achieving your dream abs.

Everywhere you look today, someone has the diet to end all diets. Lose fifty pounds by the end of the week; the only side effect is you may get a catastrophic illness. To many times people who are desperate to shed weight whether it be a little or a lot are drawn into these fad diet plans. There is a better healthier way to achieve your weight loss goals.

Internal Dialogue
The first thing you must do is shut the derogatory comments down, even the ones you say in your head that no one else ever hears. You know the kind of things I am talking about, “I am to fat, and I am ugly….” The list goes on and on doesn’t it? It is a proven fact that the human brain is less inclined to act on negative stimulus, we need to think on positive things to get us motivated. Call out things you like about your appearance and ignore the things you do not. This exercise is so important that if you just cannot look in the mirror and be kind to yourself you need to take the mirror down! Yep, you heard right do not look in it again until you can say something positive! (Ok you may need to brush your hair in the mirror but do it quickly)

Changing Habits
The next key to weight loss success will entail changing your habits. Like anything else, you can do this gradually or completely cold turkey. Let’s look at both approaches to changing your diet:

Cold Turkey - This is an all out war on bad habits! Go to the kitchen and get a garbage bag or a donation box. You are going to clean out every bit of junk food in your refrigerator and cabinets. Throw away or donate the cookies, chips, and snack cakes, as well as the ingredients to make any of the above. You thought you were going to slip those chocolate chips by didn’t you? We could go on a long time about what constitutes junk food but let’s just say anything high in sugar, sodium and hydrogenated oils has to go. Now once this painful procedure is over take it straight to the garbage or donate it to a local shelter, whatever you do, get it out of the house now. And no snacking on the way! When you have replaced these items with health foods, fruits and vegetables, you can move on.

Gradual- Rome was not built in a day and you did not get over weight in a day, therefore it will not be undone that easily either. The gradual approach is one that takes a lot of discipline and is in fact harder than cold turkey in some ways. What you need to do in this case is to diligently begin taking one item of junk food after another out of your diet and replacing it with something healthy. Nature abhors a vacuum so do not just take something away. A good first step is to give up soda pop if you drink them, they are loaded with calories and sodium and many people lose weight just by dropping them. Replace soda with Gatorade or even tea anything to get the caloric intake down. Now precede day-by-day eliminating and replacing until you are eating a healthy diet.

Exercise
That is a dirty word to some people but I promise you friend you are never going to lose weight if you do not get off the couch and move. Start by walking a little everyday and increase until you are walking a lot or feel good enough for aerobic exercise. The main point is not so much what you do in the beginning but that you keep increasing the amount of exercise you are getting.

Conclusion
That is a basic start to losing weight if you combine the efforts of exercise and diet with some good vitamins and herbal supplements like ginko and Vitamin C you will see results even faster.
 

If you want to build big muscles with weights
don't look any further. Here we will show you
the smart way of building muscle, without drugs!

There a few keys to building big, strong, powerful
muscles that will turn heads, and increase your
performance in your sports or activities.

You must eat more than you burn off, you must
lift more weight, and you need to rest more.

Here we will cover the training methods to build
major muscles quickly, to blow away the competition
and surpass people who are currently bigger or
stronger than you.

The reason for this is that I will show you
techniques that most people don't do, because
they don't understand how muscles operate or
they get their information from steroid driven
bodybuilders who do a ton of sets and reps that
are not needed for the average no-steroid man.

First before we go into some techniques, you must
understand how muscle works. Muscles love to sleep.
if they could they would sleep 24/7. The only
way they get used is because YOU choose to use
them! So if you don't work out you muscles won't grow.

Also if you can't beat your last workout you
won't get bigger, so if you can't push the extra
rep or lift that extra 5lbs you will just stay
the same.

Ok so now here are a couple excellent weight training
techniques to build muscle, strength and power:

1. The King Set!
 

WARNING: Not for the faint of heart!

This is basically the exercise above the super-set.
So for this technique you want to pick 3 compound
exercises for each major/minor muscle group.

Then you aim for using a weight for 10 reps per exercise
back to back to back with 10 - 30 seconds rest max.
in between exercises, this is usually the time
it takes to get to the next workout station.

You will only need to do the king set ONCE per muscle group.
Then move onto the next muscle group. Do
a king set for every muscle group you want to work on for
the session at the gym but don't overtrain, 20 mins - 1 hour of weights
is ideal for recovery and rest and growth. This way you
will be more refreshed and leaving the gym with higher
energy than when you went in.

Record the exercises, reps, weight used, rest times too.
You goal is to fully rest for 2-3 days to fully recover and aim to beat
your current workout numbers, if you are too sore still,
don't workout on that muscle group. If you can beat your
numbers you will grow every time you come into the gym,
for hard gainers, 2-4 times a week is enough and try to avoid no back
to back heavy lift days.

For example, let's say you wanted to workout on your
chest, the 3 exercises you could choice are flat bench press,
incline bench press, and standing cable flies. Don't be
afraid to be creative, and switch around the exercises, you
don't have to do the same ones each time either, maybe
you could add dumbbells presses, or push ups, or decline
bench presses.

NOTE: Your body will remember how to do everything you have
done in the last 6 months, but even better the last
3 months.

2. The Giant Set!
 

WARNING: May cause muscles to grow larger and turn heads in the gym..lol ;)

This method of weight training is excellent for
building raw power and strength, as well as build
your muscles thicker.

You will be using much more weight and resting much
more in between sets.

Like the King set, you only need to do one Giant set
per muscle group.

Pick ONE exercise per muscle group.

So again lets use the chest again for an example, let's say your
choice is the flat bench dumbbell press, after warming
up, pick a weight you can lift about 5 times, after
repping the weight for an all out effort of about 5 reps,
rest for about 30 seconds to a minute and then rep out
the same weight for as many more reps as you can, you
may be able to do another 4-5 or so then, you can stop
or you can rest another 30 to a minute and rep it out
again for as many reps as you can which may only be 2-4
Try not to go past 12-13 reps for the total reps of the
giant set. The goal will be to increase the weight or
decrease the rest time in-between sets

(Note: the dumbbell press is a safer choice when
lifting heavy weight, and the bench press
takes great technique to do really heavy and you better
have a spotter, also flat bench can cause other injuries
as well, like in your elbows and shoulders, or back)

With these two muscle building weight training techniques
you will be able to literally control how big and strong
you get as long as you are recording everything trying to beat your numbers and eating
properly and resting allot to recover fully between workouts so you can go all out each time.

If you would like to build more strength, size, and muscle. Here are some quick tips:

Tip #1: Keep Your Muscles In Tension 100% Of The Time For Every Rep You Do While Lifting Weights.

Example Exercise - Bicep curl: 

1. Starting Position - Pick up the weight, Lift it slightly so your bicep starts to contract this is where your starting point to the lift is.
2. Lift the weight up as quickly as you can in control using good technique.
3. Lower and Repeat lower the weight slower with control, don't relax your bicep or rest during the rep or set. So when you lower the weight keep you arms slightly bent so the bicep will stay engaged rather that extending the arm straight and having the forarms and shoulders take over more, by doing this you can hurt your bicep and can cause muscle damage and making your bicep weaker, I see people do this at the gym but hey, maybe that's what they want to do, but this exercise and type of training I'm talking about is for power, strength and muscle. As you lower the weight you arm will gather energy for the contraction at the starting position.

SAFETY NOTE: While lifting weights if you keep the muscle in tension using good technique and control you reduce risk to injury.

SPEED BENEFIT: "You can rep as fast as you like while keeping the muscle your working on in tension, with control and good technique of course, so for althetes, power lifters, strength trainers, and even bodybuilding this is key."

A cardiovascular exercise program is needed when you are planning to compete in a marathon, sporting event or even if you just want to get yourself in better condition than your current fitness level for personal and health reasons.

When developing a cardiovascular exercise program, you first need to test your current cardiovascular fitness levels, and then you need to devise a plan to slowly increase the intensity and duration of your cardio workouts to increase your fitness performance.

To create your our cardiovascular exercise program, first you will need to test your current level of cardiovascular fitness, there are a few exercise tests that you can perform to calculate this with. It helps if you have a treadmill to use, most gyms will have a treadmill.

If you don't have a treadmill, go to a track found around football or soccer fields, many schools will have a 1/4 mile track to run around on the weekend. Time how long it takes you to run one mile, take a notebook so you can record your times and progress during your cardiovascular exercise program.

The purpose for keeping track of your times in a cardiovascular exercise program notebook is because as you become more fit you will get faster, and you will be able to run longer distances with less effort.

As you keep track of your workouts you will be able to run a mile in less time and take less rest meaning you are increasing results and performance. You will look back in your notebook and visually see your progress from when you started, it feels good to see.

Now that you know where you stand when it comes to your personal cardiovascular fitness level, you have something to work with. Fitness and performance are based on mathematics and science. This means that mathematically it is possible for anyone to improve his or her cardiovascular exercise fitness wheather you are a beginner or an advanced professional athlete.

You will always increase your results as you lower the amount of rest you get or you increase the amount of reps, weight lifted or distance you ran in a specific amount of time, or you do both, you will always keep progressing. But if you ignore your notebook and progress reports you will have trouble ever improving and you will stop improving in your cardiovascular exercise program.

You should plan to workout at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes to one hour for 4-6 weeks to see good results in your cardiovascular exercise program. Test your current level of fitness and keep track of your progress in a notebook.

Over time reduce the amount of rest you need and increase the amount of work you do in a specific time to increase your results. Mathematically you will always be able to increase you fitness, so go for it.
 

You want to know how to run fast. Well I am going to tell you exactly how to run fast and how you can go even faster with proper training. Running is a great way to exercise and stay fit, but if you want to good at sports you need to be a fast runner. The stronger and more powerful you are the faster you will run. Now I will go through some helpful tips and ideas to get you moving even faster than you are today.

Running Technique:
You must have flawless technique and body awareness to run fast or faster. When you run fast or sprint you will use different technique then walking or jogging. When you run fast you want to stay on the balls of you feet and stay on the ground as little as possible. Concentrate on driving the knee up while you spring forward on your opposite leg, then lower the knee and do the same with the other leg. Do not worry about pushing because there is no time; just bring your knees up and down as fast as you can. Use your upper body power to propel you forward by pumping your arms back at a 90 degree angle.
You will feel it in you glutes and hamstrings when you are at top speed, not your quads as much. Practice your technique in your mind and in the gym or track.

How to run even faster with Training:

You need to hit the weights at the gym if you want increase power and strength for running speed. Have you ever seen 100 meter sprinters, these guys are in the gym lifting. Now you must understand how to lift weights to become faster. Always contract your muscles or lift the weight as fast as you can, lower the weight in control. Do heavy weight lifting that you can only lift 5 to 7 times. This is your strength range; you will rely a lot on your Central Nervous System. So you must recover and rest between workouts to see the benefits.

Exercises to Increase Speed:

Everyone can increase force or strength applied to the ground when they run. The more force you push into the ground the faster you will run as long as your limbs still move the same speed. So do exercise that combine speed and strength, and look at your body with your mind not your eyes. The strength of your central nervous system plays a major role in how fast you will be able to run, not how big your muscles are.

Here are some great exercises that can increase your speed dramatically: Squats, Dead lifts, Lunges, Bench Press, 10 Meter Sprints, Skipping Rope, Push ups, Pull ups, Jump Squats. These are compound movements so you will not develop muscle imbalances. Train at least 2 to 4 times a week for 45 to 60 minutes per workout. Work hard and smart.

If you are looking to have powerful, sexy abs, then you have come to the right place for that information. To achieve a six pack or flat stomach you will have to do more than just crunches. You will have to do cardio exercises involving your core, like running, skipping, playing a sport, or something of your choice. And you will have to eat a healthy diet.

Here are some great tips to achieve a strong powerful sexy core to help you with all your other exercises too. You will be able to jump higher, run faster, lift more weight in all your exercises, and on top of that you will look and feel great.

Abdominal Tips:

1. When doing and abdominal exercise you must focus on crunching the abs together. So concentrate on moving your belly button in a line towards chest bone. You will feel a tight squeeze in your abs, but be careful at first, as you can put the muscle into spasm if you aren't used to it. This is how the abdominals work they crunch, not curl like a traditional sit-up.

2. Take deep breathes and drink cold water in between exercises to help reduce lactic acid build up, and to increase energy.

Abdominal Exercises and Tips:


Dynamic Core Stretch:

Stand up straight with your arms above your head go on your toes and reach up and then lean back sticking your pelvis out you will feel your lower abs tighten. Now come back forward with your arms still over your head and lean forward with your hips without bending your back. Try twisting your body around, but keep your body erect and stretched out, not slouching.

Hanging Leg raises:

This is an advanced exercise that involves more than just the abs, but is a great compound exercise that helps connect the abs with the hip flexors, which is useful for running, kicking, and jumping. So basically hang from a bar, if this is to hard, then use the leg raise stand. Now lift using your hips and pelvis first than lift you legs up, touch the bar if you can. And remember to crunch your abs.

Scissor Crunches:

This is a great total abdominal exercise that will target the entire abs, including the oblique muscles if you put a twist in it, just like with most core exercises. OK, for this one lie on the floor on your back with your legs stretched out and your arms stretched behind your head. Now raise your legs and arms at the same time, bring them up and towards each other as close as you can while focusing on crunching the abs together. For more power, raise you legs and arms together as fast as possible into a crunch position, then lower your legs and arms with control as soon as they are an inch off the ground power them back up, continue until your most powerful rep then stop and rest.

The Bridge/Plank:

Something that most people don't know is that the abs are more than what you see on the outside, for example a 6 or 8 pack abs. There is also an entire abdominal wall that can be argued is more important to strength than the visual abs. The reason for this is because the interior core protects your vital organs for impact damage. This is why know matter the look of your abs, like a boxer for example, if he/she gets hit hard enough in the mid-section they will bleed from the mouth and/or cause serious internal organ damage, bottom line it's nasty. So to help protect your insides more, add this to your core routine. And you can do this from different angles, reverse (chest facing up) and on the side too.

Here's how it works:

Go into a push-up position on the floor; now bend your arms one at a time onto your forearms, after a few seconds you should start to feel you abs tighten to support your body, this is actually strengthening the inner core, try to hold it for at least 30-60 seconds, or work you way up to that. For more of a challenge move your arms further in front of you increasing the stretch in your abs, and back and more resistance. Good Luck!!

Weight training is vital to your sports performance, because if you are matched with someone in skill, then it will take speed, power, and strength to defeat your opponent on the court, field or in the ring.

Some athletes even coaches and trainers get confused with the deference between,bodybuilding or muscle building vs. weight training for strength and power for specific sports.

For example having huge muscular legs does NOT mean you can jump very high, or run very fast; increased jumping ability comes from being able to lift with speed.

If the weight continues to increase and the speed stays the same, power and vertical jumping ability will increase only if you maintain your body weight.

When using weight lifting for sports the main goal is to improve and strengthen movements in your sport.
For example: If you want to run faster or jump higher, you need to perform compound exercises under resistance to mimic the same movement.

So if you do dead lifts, squats, power cleans,
snatches, clean and jerk, vertical jumps, depth jumps, lunges, calve raises, you will help target and strengthen the jumping muscles in you legs and some in your upper body.

Also when doing the specific movement or exercise don't go past to point where the speed and power of the lift is reduced, wait till you are fully rested, and increase the weight and do the same, on your last set you can do multiple sets with minimal rest in between with the heaviest weight for at least 3-5 reps, or do an all out total reps for more muscles growth and absolute power or strength.

Next time you do these exercises try for an extra rep or 2 on you all out max set(s) or multiple power sets.
Record your workouts for total weight lifted and the amount of time you take to rest and complete a series of exercises or sets.

Specific Compound Exercises for Sports in General:

1. Bench Press: You may think this exercise targets only the chest, but when done correctly should be using you whole body to help stabilize and lift the weight, this includes feet position, should position, is your back arched or not?, and your elbow alignment, as well as grip placement, and path of your movement, and if you are bringing the bar to you nipple line or not, all these small things can make the difference of you benching 300lbs or not.

2. Squat: Again the squat targets most of your body, not just your legs. There are many variations of the squat.

For example, there is the traditional low or high squats, hack squats or 1/4 squats, scissor squats, sumo squats, squats with the weight extended above your head with increase you back strength and power, but use less weight to start.
 

Olympic weight lifting technique is vital for proper form to achieve your full potential. There are two main Olympic lifts called the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch. For most people they will find the clean and jerk the easiest to learn out of the two, BUT the snatch is the most athletic movement in sports.

Whether you want to lift more weight or get stronger, knowing how power is developed in your body is key to getting stronger and more powerful in your sport, activity or weight training itself.

There are 5 key components to developing mega power:

1. Starting Acceleration
2. Progressive Acceleration
3. Power Output
4. Stability
5. Re-coordination

The First stage to power development is:

1. Starting Acceleration:

This is the initial burst of power in a movement, when you start from a dead stop and explode with power, the first few inches is where the starting Acceleration is developed. It will help your mind and body to learn to contract your muscles and release explosive power instantly.

For Example when doing heavier squats, or if you want to jump higher, you must practice starting acceleration.

Do this by sitting in a chair or on a box, in a position to explode back up, let your muscles relax, then spring up as fast as possible, for at least the first few inches. The focus is on the intial contraction and liftoff.

After practicing without weight you can add about 35% of your max squat, and do the same thing with the weight.

NOTE: It's a similar effect as the one-inch punch, start at a dead stop, and explode an inch with your fist, this is an example of what Bruce Lee did to help develop impressive strength, power and speed in his punch.

The Second Stage of Power Development is:

2. Progressive Acceleration:

This is where you train your body to be able to work at full power, speed and strength at various angles in a specific movement.

There are a couple ways to train for progressive acceleration, you can train for speed and strength. You should do both.

The purpose of Progressive Acceleration is to maintain or speed up as you rise in your movement (ex. squat), not decrease in speed. And you want to use full strength throughout the movement as well.

A great way to increase your progressive acceleration speed is by using a pool, for example when you are touching the bottom of the pool with your feet, squat down and spring back up off the bottom, you will notice that you are very light in the water, and you actually speed up as you rise, this teachs your mind and body to speed up the contraction of your muscles, even with little to no-resistance.

Another form of progressive acceleration performed by sprinters is running down a hill, this forces your legs to move faster than normal, and increase your muscle contraction and limb speed.

When developing more progressive acceleration strength you can try pushing against an unmovable object with all your force, as various angles, so for a bench press you can lock out the bar right at chest level and push your hardest for at least 10 seconds, then rest a couple minutes and lock the bar at mid level and do the same, then lock the bar at peak level and finish. (Important Note: If you feel you are not pushing your hardest stop and rest.) Progressive acceleration can be added to your routine 1-2 times a week.

The third stage to power development is:

3. Power Output

This is where you will have to really keep track and record your numbers, you want to basically do as much work in as little time as possible at top speed.

For example, "person A" who lifts 200lbs for 4 reps in 15 seconds is about twice as powerful than "person B" who lifts 200lbs for 4 reps in 30 seconds. Your goal is to increase weight lifted, increase speed, or decrease time. Numbers don't lie, if you work the numbers you will be in control of your progress and improvement.

The Forth Stage of Power Development is:

4. Stability

Having strong stability muscles is important, it's like making sure the wheels on you car are aligned correctly to make sure you can go at top speed with no problems.

Because you are performing weight lifting and resistance training, your stability muscles are going to be worked and become strong naturally, but if you feel you need to do more, then add some stability exercises to your routine, like standing on one leg or using a stability ball for balancing on or while lifting too.

The last stage to power development is:

5. Re-coordination:

This is at the end of your workout after the heavy training or weights. You basically want to practice the main functional movements that you may want to improve.

For example if you want to throw harder punches, then go hit the bag, or if you want to jump higher go practice your jumping technique. But only do about 5 - 10 good reps.

This will program your mind and body to remember the last movements done, so you will also subconsciously improve as well.

Final notes:

When developing your power, you can do all 5 stages in one workout or you can spread them out over your week of training, doing one stage per workout.

If you use the power development stages you will continue to get stronger and more powerful, because remember numbers don't lie.

Now with this information you are well ahead of most weight lifters, athletes, coaches, and even trainers, so if someone doesn't know the stages of power development then they don't really know power!