If you're smolderin' hot; drink Clif Shot

Lucky me! My boss Joe wants me to help him tear and lay shingles at his home. He thinks I will have met my match but he will sadly be mistaken.

Yea well he forgot I can add to his post haha on him. Let me tell ya folks he gonna be crying for mercy please boss can I get down please......

I will say he is correct on the drink though last time I did it by myself Post here so guess what I ain't scared and I will as well be hitting the Drink mix myself..

Even though we're doing this in the hottest month of the year, I have no worries my friend because I have a few tricks up my sleeve! When you're outside in the heat all day, you need to drink at least two gallons of water. Also eating bananas will help your muscles from cramping and fatigue. But my main trick is electrolytes! When sweat is pouring of you like a waterfall, you lose electrolytes. Losing too many electrolytes will lead to dehydration and even death! Thankfully I have found the remedy to avoid these problems. I will use a product called Clif Shot Electrolyte Replacement Drink. Not only does it fuel your body with tons of electrolytes to give you enough endurance to bike the Le Tour de France, it taste as good as homemade lemonade! It comes in three flavors: Lemonade, Apple Crisp, Cran Rasberry. So before and during work I'll mix some up with ice cold water in a shaker bottle and when the day is over I'll be picking my boss off the floor! I'll keep you posted to let you know how my tricks came to play out!

It will PUMP you UP!

I have tried NO-Xplode,I have tried Supercharge, I have tried Gakic,I have tried NO-Shotgun.But by far the best pre-workout supplement I've used is....... Super Pump 250 by Gaspari Nutrition.I have never had a supplement that kept my PUMP for hours!Not only does it work effectively,it also tastes like Kool-Aid!To get the full effect of Super Pump 250,you need to be sure you're consuming plenty of water,cut out your caffines,and take on an empty stomach.All you got to do is mix 1-3 scoops in 8-12 oz. glass of cold water and you'll be ready for an unbelievable workout.Like they say,"once you train with it,you'll never train without it."

Grade: A
Pump: A
Taste: A

Legs for the 40's Club

I had a really good leg workout today with my buddy Chris. It made me think about how much my leg training has changed from my 20's to my 40's.

For you guys in your 20's, there is no substitute for the bread and butter squats. No matter what anybody tells you, there is no substitute. Just remember work the muscle not the weight, good form builds good form. Keep you stance just a little wider than shoulder width, head up, chest out go down with a very controlled pace. Stop just below parrellel and drive up as fast as possible driving until just before your knees lock out. If you have a problem slumping your shoulders, drive your elbows and hips forward. This will keep your body in line and straight, Trust me it works. Try to keep you reps at a minimum of 6, anything below that is just for ego. The name of the game is squating effectively. Try to keep your time between sets around 1.5-2.0 mins that is more than enough recup time for the next set. If I remember correctly and feel free to correct me your body recups 80% within 30-40 seconds. Enough about squats for you young studs. Lets move own to the 40's guys.

What I have done to warm my knees and old muscles up is start my leg workout with off course some good stretching. Next I start off with walking ludges with dumbells, approximately 20 yards, 2-3 sets. I then go to machine controlled squats, total leg by paramont or hammer squate machine 4 sets 8-12 reps, and you cant go wrong with 21's on the hack squate, or leg presses, pick your poison. We finished them off with supper setting leg extensions with ham string curls. Final exercise was one legged hammy curls, be sure to concentrate on good form on those hams. There is nothing better than a great set of hams, it just makes a legs. FYI, another slang name used for hams back in the day, was thigh bicep, appropriate dont you think.

A little advise for you 40's guys, premedicate the day before legs workouts with a good
anti-inflamatory, and for sure use a good pre workout booster. I use Endorush, work great and dosnt make you short winded like alot of the energy drinks do. Please dont be to hard on me for the mispelled words, could not get the spell check to work.
Look forward to hearing comments from everybody, sorry I could not put 25 years of leg workout experience in one blog. My next blog I will try to take a shot, getting ripped in your 40's or maybe your 20's and 30's. Heck, everybody wants to be ripped. Have a great week and God Bless.

I am Legend

Yes, I am Legend: Man how did I get that nick name, dang hard to live up to. My buds at key supplements sure give me a hard time. Hope you guys like my quote, I promise I completely made that up on a really good day. I have recently re discovered my training again, I have never stopped in some 27 years, but just lost that fire. Training with Matt, William, and Chase has really helped me to understand these young guys are a bunch of chumps, just Kidding. It gives me hope that generation X has good work ethic and can caring the torch for us old guys. I am trying to talk myself into competing again, possible this summer at the Masters Level. I would love for my sons of 12 and 20 get a chance to see the old man show his stuff just one more time. Jury is still out on that subject, keep you all posted. For any unwanted great advice on just about any subject please feel free to drop me a line. I promise it will be interesting at the very least.

OUCH!!!

One of the first injuries that usually occurs to a person when they begin heavy weight training is the in their joints, and especially their shoulder joints. At the local gym that I workout at, almost every other guy who has lifted weights for any extended amount of time has had a shoulder injury of some sort and it is usually in the joints rather than a muscle strain or tear. It is a common mistake that many people have and I have recently experienced it so it is a problem that a couple of months ago I could relate to myself.

Prevention...

There are several prevention methods to avoiding a joint injury. The first precaution you should take is learn the proper form when you are preforming an exercise. Many people do exercises very wrong and do not even realize it be cause either their training partner showed them the exercise incorrectly or they have never even seen anybody doing it properly. And even though it is less common, some people can even hurt thenselves on machines by not ajusting it properly, beacause the odds ar that you are not the same exect body structure as the person who was on the machine previously.


Another thing that people do is get a sperman mentality and try to push weight that they cannot support. Just because you CAN lift a certain weight does not mean your joints CAN support it. Your joints are like your muscles and even though they may be weaker to begin with, you have to build up the strength in them as well because often times peoples muscles get stronger than their joints quicker than they realize and that will often times lead to injury.

Now...

For those who have already experienced joint injury or are experiencing an injury in your joints at this very moment, there are steps to recovery. It is always good to have an open mind toward going to a doctor and getting it checked out if the pain presists over some time or is too servere. If the injury is not to the point that you cant exercise, the best thing to do is usually lower the weight that you are using and maybe not use as much free weight until you can build up the strenghts in your joints. Use a weight that you can preform a fairly high amount of reps for more than a couple of sets until your joints are strong enough to move up in weight and don't jump up to quick if your not sure of your recovery. One other thing that might help aid you from preventing further injury is to supplement yourself with produst that help libricate the joints such as Fish Oil and Glucosamine. Glucosamine can also help used to support mobility and flaxability in the joints also.

If you are lifting weights and you haven't had a injury yet then consider yourself lucky but with the proper precautions you can keep your joints healthy and injury free.

Putting on Muscle Mass

Believe it or not just as many men come to me seeking how to gain weight as lose it. The following are the most common reasons gaining weight is so hard.

l. 99% simply do not consume enough food calories and are eating the wrong foods. It happens time after time someone will ask me how to gain weight, and my first question is "What have you eaten today", and without a doubt most will say not much or nothing yet. Folks you have to eat to fuel the body plain and simple. Most men simply do not consume sufficient amounts of protein, complex and simple carbs, fats, good dietary fiber, and they simply keep feeding on simple carbs that just won’t help in weight and muscle gain.

2. Overworking the muscles is another big mistake. A very big misconception is the more I workout the more my muscles will grow. This is very much wrong as if we subject our body to stresses beyond the normal level they can take we actually do just the opposite and burn muscle due to the stress. An example is working out a different muscle group everyday. When is your body suppose to rebuild as it is in a constant state of repair. Remember this; a body will only repair or build when we get proper rest sleep following a good intense workout. Anyone wanting to gain muscle needs proper rest after a workout this includes taking a day off after a workout getting to bed with 7-9 hours a sleep at night

3. Wrong Mindset Many fail to see that gaining muscle mass and weight goes beyond the physical. It begins with the mind, and having the right motivation and mental readiness to follow an exercise regime with adequate rest and making sure my diet is such to promote weight gain. This means getting enough protein, simple and complex carbs, and enough calories to promote the environment to gain muscle is an absolute must. We tend to be short term and want instant results unfortunately, it is unrealistic to expect optimal results in a matter of days or a couple weeks. Give yourself time gaining a couple ponds a month is good in an year you will add 24 pounds and believe me that will make a world of difference in your bodies overall tone.

Recognizing were we need to make changes in our attitudes towards your muscle and weight gaining goal is the first step. Implementing these few basic pointers you can do to get started in the right direction to gaining muscle mass.

1. Eat frequently to fuel the body by getting more calories than what your body is burning. So the first is to eat more. Try to get at least six meals a day. I have a really good breakfast for hardgainers, get some good high calorie protein bars, protein supplements or weight gain supplement and, eat foods that help to gain lean mass and not fat, such as beef, chicken, milk, vegetables, fresh fruits, peanut butter etc. Make a plan when to eat and stick to this plan be prepared.

2. When lifting weights make the workout intense for at least 3 times a week, with each time not more than 1 hour for best results. Go to the gym to workout not get into a conversation, keep your heart rate up with no more than a minute or two between exercise.

I will follow up more on this latter. Follow these simple steps with proper rest, good supplements, and adequate protein and calories gaining muscle mass even in hardgainers will happen. I will follow up with more articles on diet, weight training and bodybuilding supplements.