The first thing you need to realize is that everyone, no matter who you are will end up with a weight loss plateau when reducing body fat. Basically, you will not be able to burn fat as effective as you did when you first started with your training.

If you burn fat as much as you did when you first started out, you would be in the negatives in terms of body fat percentage. Which is why your body kicks into survival mode and slows down in the fat burning process. This is why you might feel like you hit a weight loss plateau a few times before you reach your targeted weight goal.

Not only does your body become used to the low calorie diet but, it becomes use to the exercise you are doing. You will still burn fat in the latter portion of your routine however, it will not be as noticeable. That is why being consistent is so important in your weight loss goals.

Most people will see great results the first few weeks and then the results will not be so evident. So, people assume that they are not gaining any ground and bail out on their routine due to frustration.

Understanding that this is your body defense mechanism for survival, you will break through this weight loss plateau by being consistent and systematically increase your intensity.

The reason why you have reached this plateau for weight training and/or cardiovascular exercise is because of the combination of your body becoming used to the intensity level of the exercise and the ability of the body to conserve stored fat for survival.

By increasing your intensity when you hit your plateau, your body will break the plateau because of the new stress and demand it requires of the raised intensity. Your body sees that it will require a whole lot more calories to meet the new demand and draw from the stored fat as fuel, thus losing weight.

You may have many plateaus before you reach your goal. The key is to be consistent and steadily increase your intensity once you reached your plateau.

Therefore, it goes without saying that you should not go all out the first week you start your weight loss program. Sure you will see results fast, but you will top off before you even get started. You may be tempted to bail out before you reach your goal. Progression and Consistency is the secret to overcoming weight loss plateau and seeing true weight loss.

Written by Henry Chervenka

Another related article by Henry…
Info On Breaking Your Bodybuilding Plateau

• angles of your feet and
• weight on your feet.

Full Range Of Motion

One of the biggest mistakes in performing a squat is not using a full range of motion of your legs. You will see someone perform this exercise a quarter of the way of its full range of motion or at best, half way. When I say doing a squat to its full range of motion, I do not mean go all the way down to the ground. To get the full benefit of the squat, you need to go a little past the point of parallel of where your abs are positioned to the ground.

Leaning Forward

Never lean forward when performing squat exercises. This will kill your lower back. Always keep your back up straight and it is even wise to wear a weight lifting belt if you are lifting a heavy amount of weight.

Front Squat

One way to minimize the risk of a lower back injury is to perform a front squat. This is where the barbell is placed in front of you, resting on your shoulders and chest. It will force you to stand up straight because of the placement of the barbell.

Speed Of Movement

When you lower your body for squat exercises, never drop down quickly. This will destroy your knees. Always perform the squat slowly and under control.

Placement Of Your Weight

The placement of the weight on your feet determines what muscles in the thigh will be stressed.

If you put a lot of the weight on the balls of your feet when you perform the squat, you will activate more of the quadriceps muscles.

If you put more of the weight on the heel of your foot when you perform the squat, you will target more of the hamstrings.

Position Of Your Feet

The final tip on these squat exercises is the position of your feet. If you keep your feet straight, you will work the outer quadriceps. The more you angle your feet outward, the more stress will be put on your inner quadriceps.

Written by Henry Chervenka

1. What should you eat before going to sleep and
2. What time should you eat before going to sleep

The last meal of the day is more important then you might think. If you are not seeing the muscle gains you want or not losing the weight as fast as you should, it might be due to the type of foods you are eating before you go to sleep.

Note: When applying these fat loss tips, the main key here is to consume the right nutrition at the right time. You will see a increase in your muscle growth and a decrease in your stored fat if the rest of your diet is on point.

Fat Loss Tips #1

What you should eat before you go to sleep?

Your last meal should be…

1. High in Protein and
2. Low in Calories and Carbohydrates.

The reason for consuming high amounts of protein before sleeping is because your muscles will grow the most during sleep.

Muscles do not grow when working out, they grow after the workout when you are resting and when you sleep. During this time, all your other non essential functions are turned off. The body can now concentrate more on repairing the damaged muscles that were caused when you worked out. Having a meal that is high in protein will help that repair process. The amino acids that protein contains will go to the damaged muscles and repair the damaged cells, thus leading to the growth of your muscles.

The process of repairing damage muscles when you are sleeping will take energy to perform. The energy you want to use is the stored energy, which is your stored fat.

In order to use the stored energy as your main source of energy for muscle repair, you will want to have your high protein meal consist of fewer carbohydrates as possible and try to minimize your calories as much as you can. If you consume a meal that is high in carbohydrates before you go to sleep, you will use the carbohydrates as your main source of energy throughout the night instead of your stored energy (fat).

Here are some fat loss tips foods that are high in protein but low in carbohydrates…

• Fish
• Chicken
• Lean beef

Try to stay away from juices and sodas before you sleep as well because they contain large amounts of sugar. I like to have a small portion of fish (about 40 grams worth) with some lettuce and a glass of water for my last meal.

The fish gives me the protein needed without the added carbohydrates and is very low in calories. The lettuce is a complex carbohydrate that is very low in calories and water will keep my body hydrated throughout the night.

Fat Loss Tips #2

What is the best time to consume the last meal of the day?

I recommend one to two hours before you go to sleep. This will give your body enough time to start the digestion process and the amino acids from the protein will be ready to do their job.

These two fat loss tips will help increase muscle growth and faster muscle recovery by allowing your body to repair your muscles when you sleep.

Plus, this will help you lose body fat by using the stored fat as the main source of energy for muscle repair. Make sure you have at least 8 hours of sleep. Your body needs the time for your muscles to grow.

Add the above Fat Loss Tips to the rest of you diet program and you should see results.

Henry Chervenka

Other related article by Henry…
Low Carbohydrate Diet For Bodybuilding
Body Fat Loss
Healthy Fat Loss
Free Fat Loss Mini-Course…

Pulley Push Downs

The trick to getting a good pump with this exercise is to have the cable come close to you by having your body lean forward slightly and your elbows tucked near your body.

Also, use the full range of motion when performing this exercise so you get a good stretch on every rep. Make sure you lock on the bottom of the rep to get the maximum contraction.

Additional triceps training tips for pulley push downs…

• Using a overhand grip will work all three heads of the triceps.
• Using a reverse grip will work the long head of the triceps, which is the muscle closest to your body.
• Leaning forward at a 45 degree angle will also work the long head of the triceps.
• Performing a rope push down will work more of the lateral head of the tricep, which is the tricep muscle furthest away from the body.

Over Head Extensions

With this exercise, you have a lot of options to choose from. You have a dumbbell overhead extensions that you can do with one hand or two. Plus, you have a barbell over head extension.

Make sure you have a weight that you can handle and keep the triceps as straight as possible (do not change the position of the elbow when lowering and raising the weight).

Try to go as low as possible behind your head to get a good stretch on the triceps muscles and then lock on the top to get a good contraction.

Close Grip Bench Press

The important triceps training tip here is not to put the hands too close together on the barbell. It will cause extreme stress on your wrist with using heavy weights. You will want to have about two to three inches between your hands on the barbell.

Go all the way down and slightly touch your chest. Then go all the way up until your elbows lock. Keep your elbows tucked into your body when performing this exercise to incorporate more stimulation for the triceps. You can perform the close grip bench press on either a flat bench or decline bench.

Triceps Kickback

This exercise is more of a toning exercise for the triceps. So, you do not have to use a lot of weight to feel the results.

You will want to lean forward until your back is parallel with the floor and keep your back straight, not rounded.

Have your triceps in lined with your back and kick back your arm using your elbow as the movable pivot. Do not move your triceps, just your forearm.

This exercise can be done with dumbbells or cables and really works the lateral head of the triceps.

With the above triceps training tips, you can better target the type of results you want.

Written by Henry Chervenka

Related Articles by Henry…
Building Triceps Are Just As Important As The Biceps
Bodyweight Exercise For Triceps

Other sites…

• Pull ups (I attach weights around my hips)
• Wide grip lat pull downs
• Wide grip bent rows
• Wide grip seated rows
• Wide grip behind my head lat pull downs

My favorite exercises for middle and lower back are…

• Chin ups (I attach weights around my hips)
• Close grip lat pull downs
• Close grip bent rows
• Close grip seated rows
• One arm rows

Benefits Of Biceps Exercises After Your Back Workout

Exercising your biceps at the end of a back routine will be very beneficial to the growth of your biceps. Since your biceps are being used in every back exercise, they already have blood flowing to them and are warmed up.

The trick to bodybuilding weights for big muscle gains on your biceps is to do one basic exercise that targets the entire bicep. Doing too much volume for the biceps will make you over train them and you will not see muscle gains.

The standing barbell curl or the alternating dumbbell curl is a great bicep exercise after a hard back routine. Three to four sets with 6 to 8 reps in each set is good enough to see great results.

Henry Chervenka

Low steady pace cardiovascular exercise has its benefits, but not when it come to burning fat. The most effective form of fat loss for cardiovascular exercises is high intensity interval training, also known as HIIT.

The benefits of fat loss for HIIT is you will burn more fat then low steady pace cardiovascular exercise in less time. Your intensity is turned up to the maximum in intervals throughout your workout. But the time you spend in the gym is a fraction of the time you would of if you did low steady pace cardiovascular exercise to get the same fat burning results.

Can You Burn The Same Amount Of Fat Doing Low Steady Pace Cardiovascular Exercises?

Yes, but it will take you a lot longer to do so. You will start losing muscle mass instead of burning fat because the duration of your workout is so long.

And, in order to keep losing weight throughout the day, you want the most muscle possible to help speed up your metabolism. Since muscles burn calories all by them selves, it would make sense to try to keep your muscle mass intact when you do your cardiovascular exercises. That is why high intensity interval training is so important.

HIIT can be preformed in any type of cardiovascular exercise such as…

• Running
• Cycling
• Swimming

High Intensity Interval Training Will Work For Any Form Of Exercise

The basic principle behind high intensity interval training is that you sprint as hard as you can and then recover fully on a very low pace setting. The time you sprint and the time you recover will depend on how fit you are. Do not start another sprint until you have all your energy back from the previous sprint.

A lot of people like to sprint for 20 seconds and then recover for 40 seconds. For a less demanding form of exercising such as cycling, this sprint rest interval might work for you. For a more demanding exercise such as running, you might want to have your sprints at 10 seconds and your recovery at 50 seconds. Once again, it will all depend on how fit you are.

Another Factor Is Total Time Doing HIIT Training

I have notice, to get the best results you will have to do your high intensity interval training for 20 to 30 minutes. Of course, if you are a beginner, you might want to start out with 5 to 10 minutes and work yourself up to this level.

High intensity interval training is the best form of cardiovascular exercises to get the maximum results for fat burning.

Written by Henry Chervenka

Most of the carbohydrates you consume should be coming from a vegetable source or a complex carbohydrate. And, you should try to eliminate most sugars from your diet.

Once you have trimmed down your carbohydrates, your body will be burning more stored fat as a result. Sugars and other forms of carbohydrates are used first in the body as energy. Only when these carbohydrates are used up does the body use the stored fat as reserve energy. While on a low carbohydrate diet, you will be using stored fat a lot sooner which results in more fat loss.

The best two times to consume carbohydrates are…

• In the morning and
• Right after your workout.

This is when your body needs energy the most.

In The Morning - Good

Your body has been using stored fat as a fuel source and needs a more powerful energy source to deal with the added demands of your daily activity through out the day.

Right After A Workout - Good

You need carbohydrates to help refuel the muscles you worked out and help shuttle protein to that muscle for repair.

Before You Sleep - Bad

The worst time you can consume carbohydrates is right before you go to sleep. You do not need carbohydrates as energy when your body is in the resting mood. Instead of using your stored fat as an energy source when you sleep, you will be using carbohydrates instead and you will not be burning fat as a result.

Your last meal of the day should be a low carbohydrate diet or even better, not consist of any carbohydrates and should be high in protein.

Work Every Angle You Can

Attacking the calves from different angles will help spark muscle growth. For example, when performing the calf raise.

Standing Calf Raises

1. Start out by having your feet parallel to each other.
2. During the next exercise, have your toes pointed in ward.
3. Then in the last exercise, have your toes pointed outward.

You might even want to try to lean forward when doing these calves exercises to take advantage of all the angles. The different angles will work different parts of your calves. Training different parts of your calves will help make your entire calf grow as a whole.

Vary The Weights And Change The Sets

Keep your calves guessing. Never have them get used to one routine with the same weight.

One example is during the first week, try a pyramid system where you increase the weight load in every set. Then the second week, try a descending set routine where you will start out with a very high weight and then decrease the weight in every set. Variety will confuse the muscle and force them to grow.

Change The Rest Times Between Your Sets

One week try a 30 second rest interval, then the next week go with a 60 second rest interval. Another way to confuse the muscle.

Change The Amount Of Days You Do Your Calves Exercises

One week you might workout the calves everyday. Then the next week, you might workout out the calves one to three days. Just one more way to confuse the muscle and spark growth.

By Henry Chervenka

More information on how to build muscle the right way.

Another special feature about the abs is they can be trained everyday because they are a fast re-oxidizing muscle group.

Abs Tips And Your Training

Abs should be trained with high reps for each set. About 15 to 20 reps per set for each different ab exercise you perform. Of course, the number of sets and number of different exercises you perform each day will depend on how long you have been training your abs.

Here are 4 major abs tips to help get your abdominal muscles ripped and shredded by varying each of the following…

• exercises
• volume
• difficulty
• days

Exercises And Confusion

If you’ve read some of my other articles, you know that I was going to include Exercise Confusion in my Abs Tips. So, you should always perform different exercises to keep your abs confused from week to week. This will spark more muscle growth and help define your abdominal region more.

Volume

The volume can be changed as well to give your abdominal muscles more of a variety and make them adapt more to that change. This adaption will allow your muscles not to get comfortable in one set routine and force the abs to work in different intensities.

Difficulty

Changing the difficulty of the exercises will have a direct effect on muscle growth as well. Some days you may find yourself with less energy and want to go with a lighter ab routine. While other days you might have an abundance of energy and go all out with all the hardest ab routines. This mix and match system will give your abs a constant change of tempo and keep them growing from the new angles and stresses they will under go.

Change The Days

The final way is to change the days. One week, you might go for a six days straight ab workouts. And the next week, you might go every other day. Giving your abs rest can actually help them to grow. Just because they are a fast recovery muscle doesn’t mean you should push them every day. Every muscle needs a certain amount of time to fully heal and the abs are no exception.

Two Additional Abs Tips, The 1st is Breathing

You may be surprised to find that I list Breathing within my abs tips. Breathing plays a big role in getting more out of every rep you do for your abdominal exercises.

Breathing out every time you contract your abs will help you flex your abs and focus more on muscle contraction.

Breathing in slowly after muscle contraction will give you more body control and help you keep the right tempo for your return rep.

Your abdominal reps should be around four seconds each. One second on the contraction and three seconds on the slow controlled return.

Nutrition

The last of my abs tips is Nutrition. You can have all the ab muscles in the world, but if you have a thick layer of fat hiding your abs then you are defeating the whole purpose.

When you want to show off those abs, you need to train your body with high intensity interval training and put your body in a caloric deficit. This way you will burn fat throughout your entire body and eventually see the six pack you have under that layer of fat.

How Protein Works For Body Fat Loss

Your body digest protein slower then other nutrition and eating protein throughout the day will raise your metabolism, thus helping you burn more fat. Chicken, fish, lean beef and even protein shakes are all good foods to have when trying to get lean while maintaining your muscle mass.

If you are on a low calorie diet without eating the proper amount of  protein while exercising, you will start to lose muscle mass instead of burning fat. This is because the muscles are an easy source of energy and fat is a stubborn source of energy.

Instead of pulling energy from your fat cells, your body decides to take the easy route and take the energy from your muscles. But if you have a steady source of fuel (protein) being transported to your muscles, your body sees that your muscles are being used and goes to the only place left to pull energy from. And that is your stored fat.

Fruits And Vegetables Are Essential For Body Fat Loss

Make sure you have a nice steady diet of fruits and vegetables while you are trying to get ripped. More vegetables then fruit if you really want to get lean.

Fruits are high in antioxidants and help give us essential vitamins that our body needs for muscle mass and overall health. Vegetables are great for fiber, vitamins and minerals that all bodybuilders need in order to gain muscles and keep them on. Without certain key vitamins and minerals that we get from fruits and vegetables, our body will have a very hard time building muscles and losing weight.

Another key component for body fat loss is fish oil. A healthy intake of key essential fatty acids will help you lose more fat. Thats right, healthy fat will help burn fat. The fish oil will break down the fats that are stored in your body faster and give you energy at the same time.