Workout Supplements, Good or Bad?

Why do some people have 4 different bottles with them to the gym? Do they really need to drink so much water or are they just too lazy to refill one bottle. Unfortunately they don't only have water in the bottles. What you are experiencing at the gym is some wannabe “hardcore bodybuilders”. These people bring at least 4 to 5 different bottles with different supplements that are supposed to give them muscle growth, energy and boost their testosterone level. Something that they can do without any of these products.

I don’t know why so many people believes in these products, maybe the pictures of the anabolic men on the products makes it believable. Americans are spending millions of dollars each year on workout supplements and the companies that makes these products are in war with each other and everyone are trying to get a piece of the money pie.

So how do you know which product you should choose when you walk into GNC? If you have never been to GNC I can tell you that they have everything you could imagine when it comes to workout supplements.  There are three things that can make a difference for you to buy a certain product:

1.       Design- Like clothes, a workout supplement depend on its design because the first thing that catches your attention is the design on the product, the pictures of muscular men and how they have been transforming from an unfitted person to a bodybuilder by just taking that product.

2.       Price- Some people believes that if it is expensive than it got everything I need and that is wrong, you are just fooling yourself and your wallet. Most of the expensive products have a lot of things that we don’t need but it just look fancy to have it written on the product.

3.       Reputation- If someone recommend it at the gym than it means it will work, but what if that person only believes that it works and what if that product only works for him/her. Not everything are made for everyone, do not forget about it.

I don’t want the be that person to make you sad, but unfortunately none of these products work and if they do, they will work on a small marginal that you will not have any help of. Why people think that their product work is simple, they only think it works!

So now I hope I made two things for you, first I made you sad because now you think it is "impossible" to be athletic and big but I also made your wallet smile by saving you a lot of money

I just hope the supplement companies don’t read about this.

Reasons to use machines at the gym

You might be new to the gym or you can be a "pro" but many people at the gym do not know if they should do their workouts on the machine or use free weights. There are some benefits with working on the machine but at the same time it has its downsides.

There are 3 good reasons to use machine rather than free weights

1.       Rehab purpose- As an athlete we are exposed to injuries all the time and we have to get back to the workout routines as soon as we feel that the injury is getting better. So by using machines you do not stress other muscles than it says that you are going to do. For an ex, on the arm curl machine it says that you are using most your biceps, so say if you are having an injury in your shoulder than working on this machine will eliminate the risks for your shoulder to get worse.

 

2.       Good thing for rookies- New at the gym and you don’t know how things work. With the machine you will have a perfect description on how you do the exercise and which muscle you are using. It will be a mini version of a personal trainer.

3.       Pushing yourself- With machines you can put on smaller extra weight that you can’t do with regular weights. Because the gap between the weights on the dumbbells are wide  so this makes the machine a better choice for the person that feels that they might be able to take an extra lb in arm curls

Mind Gym

As you all know I am huge motivation fan, I love to find new stuff that motivates me. There are always a few things that are my basic motivation and those are my family, friends and those that doubt me. These three motivators has been a huge part of my life and I think about them every time I step on a basketball court, gym or studying for a test. They say that motivation is something that can’t be taught to people it comes from the within. Motivation is personal, only you can find the importance in it. What motivates me might not motivate you.
A few days ago my coach handed me book and he said “I want you to read this, I think it could motivate you” my first taught was “No I don’t think a book can really motivate me, I already know everything that exist in motivation”. I was wrong; the book was definitely the best book I have ever read. I read the whole book in a few days and I don’t really like to read books. I woke up earlier to read the book, that is how much impact it had on me.  
The name of the book is “Mind Gym” and it tells you all the small secrets that every athlete needs. Just like going to the gym to get your body fit the book do the same to the brain.  Every athlete needs a mental game and the mental is as much important as the body. This book is good for everyone not just athletes, it will change your life in work and school too. Give it a few chapter and you will not be disappointed   

Youtube, the Best Motivator

I believe that in life you need a few things to boost you up so you can reach for success, one of them is motivation. Motivation is like an energy drink for the mind, motivation keeps you going when everything is against you. It could be everything in our life from going for a job or working out in the gym.

 Everyone sees motivation from their own perspective; some get motivated easily while some have issues with it. For me motivation has been my God, without motivation I would have never been here . When I feel that things are getting tough in life the first thing I will do is searching for things that could motivate me, it could be everything from a video clip or a motivational story. This way I keep going all the time without breaks and as I see it, this really works for me. 

Evert night before I go to sleep I watch one or two motivational videos on YouTube so when I wake up early in the morning I have no excuse from not going to workout.  

Common Mistakes At The Gym

You may be new to the gym, or you may have been going for years, but there are some mistakes that even seasoned trainers make again and again. If you’ve reached a plateau in your training or you’re not getting to where you want to be fast enough, there’s a good chance that you’re making at least one of these mistakes. 

1 You always stick to the same workout

Change your program after four to six weeks, otherwise you get into a pattern and you stop producing results because your body has hit a plateau. As well as changing your workout, you can mix it up by cross training – try a circuit or kickboxing class once a week.

2 You copy the hardcore gym members

It’s easy to think that to get as ripped as the biggest guy in your gym, you have simply to follow his lead. The problem is that without knowing what someone else’s fitness aims are, copying them could land you with unexpected results or an injury. The best solution is to read magazines and do your homework before you hit the gym. Be careful who you take advice from, because some fitness instructors are not highly qualified and won’t necessarily know what is best for you.’

3 You go every day

You may be someone who can’t do anything by halves, but working out every day is not sustainable – either physically or mentally. If you go every day you won’t be able to maintain a useful intensity and you’ll get bored, It becomes a chore and you’ll start missing sessions, beating yourself up about it and losing motivation. Incorporate proper rest days into your schedule.

4 You use the gym for socializing

Go to your gym often enough and it starts to feel like a second home. This is a dangerous moment. For a lot of people who go every day it becomes their social life, They chat for half an hour and their training suffer, then they go to the restaurant afterwards and suddenly they’re at the gym every night – but how much work are they actually doing? So get your priorities right. The gym is there to burn calories and get you fit and looking good.

5 You exercise aimlessly

Exercise is enjoyable for its own sake. But once the high of bashing out monster reps on the bench press wears off it can seem a bit pointless. Keep short-term and long-term goals in mind to keep you motivated, and chart your progress. A short-term goal might be to improve your treadmill speed by a notch. It’s a good way to keep yourself working towards your long-term goal, If you can’t think of a long-term goal, it’s the gym staff’s job to help you find one.

6 You only train on your own

Single-minded focus is commendable, but all top athletes use training partners to keep them going and push them to the next level of performance. Ideally you want someone who’s got the same goals as you and whose strength and fitness levels are just a bit better than yours, You’ll be pushed in every session and each will make sure the other goes to the gym.’

7 You never take a break

Slavishly following a workout plan for a whole year is likely to lead to burnout. If your training is getting stale and you’re not getting anywhere, take a break – but do it properly and have a couple of weeks off. It gives you what you need for a total recovery of your body and your mind, because boredom is the biggest killer. If you go on holiday, you don’t have to pack running shoes. Treat it as a way to reward yourself and help you reach your goals.

8 You beat yourself up when you have a bad session

Even the most motivated and energetic gym-goer can have a really crap training session. There’s often no real reason: your body just isn’t up for it. Don’t imagine that you’re going backwards. Sometimes you don’t feel great, but just being there is enough. People who are hard on themselves and start to feel negative about it tend to eventually stop going to the gym altogether.

9 You confuse a tired brain with a tired body

A tough day at the office leaves you shattered and in no mood for the gym, so you go home and try to get an early night but end up with a bout of insomnia. If that sounds familiar, you may need to separate mental and physical fatigue. People think they’re tired when all they’ve done is sit at their computers. Their brain is knackered but their body is keyed-up and ready for exercise. By going to the gym, you’ll get your energy levels surging and de-stress yourself in the process.

10 You work through colds

It’s often said that if you exercise when you have the beginnings of a cold, you’ll work it out of your system. This is nonsense. When you train you weaken your immune system because you ask it to repair the muscles you’ve damaged in order for them to get stronger. If you’ve got a cold already, lowering the immune system is going to bring that cold on even more. If you’re feeling ill, eat well and take two days off to recover so you’re fully fit to begin training again.

11 You stick to the machines

You’ve reached a plateau and are struggling to move that pin on to heavier weights on your favorite machine. But your body knows its limits better than you do and has shut down growth in the muscle group you’re targeting because its supporting stabilizing muscles aren’t strong enough. The best way to work stabilizers and make your other muscles work harder at the same time is to replace the weight machine with dumb-bells. You can get a lot more from dumb-bells because their movement is not restricted and they work both sides equally.

12 You don’t warm up specifically

Running on a treadmill for ten minutes won’t warm you up for a set of chin-ups. Try matching the warm-up to the muscle group – rowing is good for the upper body. Then do two light sets of 12-15 reps before you do your work sets. The same applies to cardio workouts. Warm up at 30-60 per cent of race pace.

Most important thing to bring to the gym

It’s around that time of the year when people realized that they have been stocking up themselves during the winter and now hitting the gym with hopes of getting ripped before the summer. 

To get ripped in 3 months it’s not as simple as many people might believe but it’s not impossible. It requires two things to get there the first thing that is  important is dedication. Without dedication you will give up when things starts to get really tough, remember this, if it was easy then everyone would do it!
Dedication is the most important thing to succeed but sometimes it feels that we leave small things out and focus only on big things such as working out every day, lifting heavy weights and etc… but something people don’t think about  is  how do you remember exactly how many sets or reps or weights you did during your last workout? That’s why your number one thing in the gym should be a note pad where you write down everything you do in the gym and also what you eat during the day so you can keep track and make sure you are progressing. 

You might think that this is not important and I thought that too until I really started to use it and I realized that every week I lifted more and my progress is amazing. 

 Honestly, I don't even know how I can read what I write but at the time in the gym my hands are always shaking from the pump.

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