Archive for: November 2009

7 Reasons Why Your Muscles Stop Growing

Have ever wondered why your muscles stopped growing after a few months of training even though you are training very hard? Here are 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing and how to get your muscle to grow again.

• You are training too hard – Every time when you train your muscles intensely, you are actually breaking down your muscles. So your muscles need to recover from the damages you inflicted on them. So train each muscle group only once or at most twice a week.

• You are training too long – Keep your workout intense but do not workout more than an hour each time. After 45 minutes of intensive training, your cortisol level will increase. This hormone is known to destroy muscle cells.

• You are sleeping too little – You need to sleep more for good muscle growth. Your muscles grow when you sleep. So sleep more than 8 hours a day and watch those muscles growing fast.

• You are abusing alcohol – Alcohol is known to break down muscle mass plus many other body destruction ability.

• You do not change your workout routine – You must change your workout routine every 6-8 weeks. Your muscles adapt to your routine and stops growing.

• You do not progressively overload your muscles – You must try to increase your reps or weight every time you next train a particular muscle group. Otherwise, there is no reason for your muscles to grow.

• You do not eat sufficient protein – If you want to build bigger muscles, you must eat more protein. Protein is the building block for your muscles. It is recommended that you need 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight equivalent. If not enough protein is consumed with your normal diet, do supplement with protein shakes.

There you are, the 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing even though you are training hard. There are many more methods on how to grow your muscles bigger but these 7 reasons and how to overcome them will be sufficient for an average bodybuilding beginner.

This is a very good video on oblique exercising. Get rid of those love handles and tighten up the abs.

This video on oblique abs is done by Carole Childer. She has been a physical fitness trainer for more than 23 years. She is experienced in yoga, Pilates, sports conditioning, core strength training and nutrition.

Dumbbell Cross

Using a set of dumbbells. hold the dumbbells out to your side at shoulder width apart. Squat down and, at the same time, bring the dumbbells together in front of your body.

Be careful not to bend your knee past your toes.

With the majority of people experiencing some form of back pain in life an exercise program that assists in the strength and flexibility of the back will be highly beneficial.
It can help to reduce or eliminate back pain, or for those who have never suffered with back problems, it might be all that is needed to ensure that back pain won’t be a part of your life.

There are various exercises that can help with the strength and flexibility of the back. If you are already suffering from back pain it is best to consult with your doctor first as some of these back-strengthening exercises can aggravate a back that is already inflamed.

There are some excellent programs available now that target core strength training which assists in the support of the spine and the back muscles.

People with weak abdominal muscles will be more susceptible to back pain because the abdominals offer most of the core strength to the body.

There are some basic and effective abdominal exercises that will help to strengthen the abdominals and the best of those are exercises performed on the Swiss ball (which is a very cost effective fitness item), leg raises to the chest while supported in an upright position with your arms, and an abdominal wheel where you roll the wheel along the floor using the strength in your abdominals to maintain control and return to your starting position.

I prefer to use the exercise ball in place of the ab wheel simply because i own the ball and find it one of my most effective pieces of exercise equipment.

Fortunately all of these core-training exercises don’t require expensive apparatus and are highly effective without the need for weight machines.

Initially core training can seem extremely difficult, especially for those people who have never worked their abs before, but progress is usually quite rapid if it is done on a regular basis and it soon becomes a lot easier to bear once you gain some strength in those muscles.