Spartan Fitness Reviews
Helpful Resources On Muscle Building And Weight Loss

My mom always told me to sit down and eat my food slowly. So just like any other defiant teenager, I stood tall and inhaled my entire meal as fast as humanly possible. Although I hate to admit it after all these years, my mother was actually giving me very good sound fat loss advice – and good eating habits too.

Some of you might be surprised to hear that the rate at which you eat can affect your body fat. In fact, new research has recently proven that overweight people tend to eat more quickly and also eat more food per bite.

This research confirms findings from earlier studies, which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in total food intake. In other words, the more time you take to eat, the fewer calories you are likely to consume. And conversely, the more quickly you eat, the more calories you are likely to consume.

But that’s not all! Research has also shown that you can use this phenomenon to achieve even greater fat loss results. There are several foods that either force you to eat more slowly, or force you to eat fewer calories. Adding some of these foods to your daily routine is a very smart fat-burning nutritional technique.

Foods that force you to intake your calories at a slower pace include:

Foods that have a high fiber content will make you feel full more rapidly. Examples are vegetables such as green beans, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, etc.

Foods that have a high water content will also make you feel full more quickly. Some examples are fresh fruits such as berries, melons, apples, and pears. Others are cooked whole grains such as barley, brown rice and oatmeal. These grains absorb a lot of water during the cooking process, which causes them swell up. This increased volume helps you feel full more quickly, and thus you don’t need to eat as much of it before you feel satisfied.

Foods with a high chew requirement will make you eat more slowly. Even if you try to eat these foods fast, you simply can’t because it takes so long to chew them thoroughly. Examples of foods with a high chew requirement are fibrous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.

Foods with low binge potential such as high fiber vegetables, lean sources of protein and legumes are also good to eat, since generally, you will get tired of eating them before you can overeat!

Based on these studies’ findings (along with years of my own empirical evidence), I have come to the conclusion that you should avoid drinking ANY beverage that contains calories (with the exception of an occasional protein shake, while on an accelerated fat loss program). You heard me right – liquid calories should to be avoided! This includes drinks such as sodas, flavored coffees and fruit juices. Believe it or not, liquid calories are some of the biggest sources of excess and hidden calories.

“Eat your food slowly!” Ah, I can still hear my mom yelling at me from across the kitchen table, in a vain attempt to teach me proper table manners. Her words fell on deaf ears then. But now, I am convinced that she was right all along. So go slow at the table so you can go fast towards your fat loss goals!

By Nick Nilsson

Scorch your Rectus Abdominus (Six-Pack) with the Crunch
Pulldown. It will hit those abs in a way they’ve never been hit
before! This is NOT your standard cable crunch!

The Crunch Pulldown is a very simple exercise to do, perfect for hitting the abs in a way they’re not used to at all. For this one, all you need is a high pulley and a bar attachment.

Hook up the bar to the pulley and set a moderate weight on it. You don’t want to go too heavy or you won’t be able to perform the exercise. After you do it once, you’ll get a better idea of how much weight you can use.

Lie on your back under the pulley. In my own gym, I have an adjustable-height pulley and have it set a few feet off the ground so all I have to do is reach up and grab the bar. If you have just a regular, unmoveable high pulley, the exercise will work exactly the same way but you’ll have to grab the bar first THEN lie down in position rather than lying down first then reaching up and grabbing the bar.

Once you’re on your back (with your head directly under the pulley), pull the bar down so that your elbows are bent about 90 degrees. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees and feet placed flat on the floor. The bar should be 8 to 12 inches above your body. That’s the start position.





Now crunch up. But here’s the trick – as you’re crunching up, DO NOT use the weight to help pull yourself up. Instead, perform a pulldown movement as you’re crunching up. To do this, just pull the bar down towards your lower chest until it touches your lower chest, all while crunching up.

So not only do you get the normal tension from the crunch movement, you’re also getting tension on the abs using the weight from the pulldown movement. This really fires up the six-pack muscles to help them stand out. It’s a unique angle of resistance that your abs have probably never felt before!

To see pictures of this exercise in action, click here!

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available at spartanfitnessreviews.com/cblinks/betteru.html

By Nick Nilsson

The humble gym towel can actually be an extremely effective training tool!
When you get done putting these quick and easy methods to the test,
you’ll never look at your towel the same way again.

The towel is your friend…

And to prove it to you, I’ve got 10 ways you can use your gym towel to get a great workout (not counting mopping up sweat, of course).

1. Towel Chin-Ups

Throw a towel over the chin-up bar and grip the ends. Now pull yourself up! Gripping and holding your entire bodyweight up on a loose towel is GREAT for the grip and will activate a lot of muscle fibers in your lats because of the instability.





2. Towel Calf Stretch

Lay on your back on the floor and loop your towel around the forefoot area of one of your shoes. Now pull HARD towards you, stretching the calf. This technique works extremely well because you can very easily adjust the tension of the stretch. Forget fancy stretch straps – just throw a towel over!

3. Abdominal Sit-Ups

This is a GREAT abdominal exercise…roll up a towel, lay down on the floor and slide it under your lower back. Now do a sit-up. The rolled-up towel braces your lower back so that instead of using hip flexors and putting stress on the lower back, all the tension of the exercise goes directly onto your ABS.

Be sure your not pulling on your head – you can also make it easier by holding your arms across your chest or at your sides.

4. Towel Bodyweight Tricep Extensions

Throw a towel over a railing or something else a few feet off the ground. Now hold onto the ends. Set your feet back a few feet. Now, keeping your body stiff, bend at the elbows ONLY then extend back up. The instability of the towel grip will set your triceps on fire!

These pics show the exercise done on a bar – just loop a towel over the bar and grip the ends. Move your feet closer to make the exercise easier.

5. Towel “Fat” Bar/Handles

Thick bar and thick handle training is GREAT for the forearms and grip strength. You can accomplish this cheaply by simply wrapping a gym around the bar or the dumbell handles and then gripping around THAT as well.

The padding and “squeezability” (I sound like a toilet paper commercial…cripes) of the towel around the bar activates a tremendous amount of muscle fibers in the forearms and hands.

6. Towel Pushdowns and/or Pulldowns

The easiest way to set this up is to attach a single handle to a high pulley then loop a towel through that. Grip on the ends of the towel and do a pushdown or pulldown (depending, of course, on what exercise you want to do)! It’s just like using a rope attachment but without the solidness of a rope (or the knots on the end to brace your hands).

7. Towel Pull-Up Rows

This exercise gives you some excellent options for training your back in pretty much any situation you find yourself in. As long as you can loop a towel around a solid object, you can grab the ends and perform a rowing movement…two hands on the ends or even one hand gripping both ends to do one arm at a time rows.

8. Towel Cable Face Pulls

This is a great rear-delt exercise. Attach the single handle to a high pulley and loop the towel through. Use a light weight to start with. Grip the ends of the towel then take a couple of steps back so your arms are directly forward, out in front of you.

Now, pull the cable towards your face, bringing your hands out to the sides of your head, trying to pull the towel ends out to the sides as you do so. This one is excellent for the Rotator Cuff.

9. Towel Cradle Sit-Ups

Lay on the floor with the towel end held in your hand and with the towel itself across your upper back (like you would hold it if you were drying off your back with it).

Now perform a sit-up…instead of trying to pull yourself up using your abs, though, pull yourself up using the TOWEL. Come up and to the right by forcefully pulling on the RIGHT end of the towel, while bracing with your left. You’ll be surprised at how strongly this hits the abs.

10. Neck Training

Using a towel is a great way to do isometric training for your neck. Basically, you just put the towel around your head (any direction – front, sides, back) and pull on the ends, resisting that pull with your neck muscles.

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And that’s just the beginning! Take these techniques and try and think of other ways you can take the common gym towel and come up with multiple uses for it.

I told you you’d never look at your gym towel the same way again!

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available here!

By Nick Nilsson

If you have a hard time feeling your chest working when you do chest
exercises, THIS is the information you need. I’ll give you my best
techniques for ensuring maximum activation of your pecs with
every set and rep you do.

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One of the most comment training questions I get with regards to chest training is simply not being able to feel the pecs working at all when doing chest exercises!

And when you can’t feel the pecs working, you know darn well that actual muscle development is simply NOT going to happen.

So enough about the problem…how do you FIX it?

I’ve got a number of techniques for you to try out, some of which may work better than others for you.

But they should get you well on your way towards the chest development you’re looking for.

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1. Pre-Exhaust Training

When performing a movement like the bench press, the pecs are definitely involved but can be easily pushed into a secondary role by the front delts and the triceps.

So instead of doing a regular bench press movement, you will instead do 6 to 8 reps of dumbell flyes (an isolation movement for the chest) THEN immediately go right to the bench press.

The idea here is to “pre-exhaust” your pecs so that when you do the bench press, your pecs are the weakest link and the shoulders and triceps then push the chest harder than it would normally be pushed.

When you have to stop, it’s going to be pec fatigue that ends the set while the shoulders and triceps are still relatively fresh.

2. Feeling The Flye

Now, the pre-exhaust training is all well and good…but what if you can’t feel your pecs even doing FLYES? Pre-exhaust won’t be much help.

The first thing you need to do is get off the flat bench and onto a Swiss Ball. Get into position on the ball and wrap your entire back AROUND the ball. Don’t just put your shoulders on the ball and keep your body straight, like many people are taught with the ball.

To get the most out of flyes, you need to open up your rib cage and get your shoulders back (which helps focus the tension on the pecs instead of the shoulders). The ball is PERFECT for this position. So lay back on the ball, wrap your back around it and consciously force your shoulders back and down. THEN do a dumbell flye.

Imagine on the way down like you’re trying to push your chest up to the ceiling. And imagine on the way up that you’re wrapping your arms around a big tree.

When doing flyes, don’t hold the dumbells perfectly parallel to each other…hold them at about a 45 degree angle to your body (thumb end in closer to the head – pinky side outwards). This takes stress off the shoulders and helps keep tension on the pecs.

3. Tilt the Dumbells

When doing dumbell presses (either on the ball or the bench), tilt the dumbells down and in…if the dumbells were pitchers or water, it would look like you’re pouring them on yourself.

This tilt (and make sure and keep that tilt through the whole exercise) keeps tension on the pecs. If you keep them horizontal or tilting outwards, the tension goes to the shoulders.

4. Concentration Flyes

These are done standing, in a bent-over position, with light weight. They’re a great exercise for developing that “feel” in the chest. They won’t build a chest – just assist in getting that connection.

Grab the dumbell and bend over a bit. Now, keeping your arm slightly bent but stiff (no movement other than at the shoulder), bring the dumbell up and across your body as though trying to touch it to your opposite shoulder.

Because your arm is hanging down and the dumbell is coming across your body, it takes the front delt pretty much completely out of it, forcing the pec to do all the work. Hold at the top and SQUEEZE the pec hard.

Remember to go light on this one – it’s not about building but developing that mind-muscle connection. And be absolutely sure you’re NOT bending your elbow – the movement must occur only at the shoulder.

5. The Rolled-Up Towel Trick

This is a technique I came up with to force the shoulders down and back (as I mentioned with the flyes above) and get the pecs involved in the bench press. This is done on the flat bench.

Roll up a towel and lay it lengthwise down the centerline of the bench. Set it on the bench right between where your shoulder blades will be. Your head should be on a flat section and your butt should be on a flat section.

Lay down on the bench, feeling the towel run right down your spine. This elevation immediately forces your shoulders back and down (the proper position for benching and feeling it in your chest). It’s not particularly comfortable but it’s a great teaching tool to force your body into the proper position.

6. Stop Trying To Go So Heavy

Half the time, you’re probably just trying to go too heavy on the chest exercise and you just lose the feel for the exercise. Back off on the weight and feel the pecs working rather than focusing on blasting up the weight.

When you load the exercise heavy, your body immediately turns to its strongest movers. If your chest isn’t part of that A team, it won’t be called upon.

7. Don’t Grip So Hard

One of the things I’ve noticed with chest exercises is that the harder you grip the bar/handles, the more the tension gets moved to the shoulders and triceps.

Try easing up on your grip a little – not to the extent that you make the exercise dangerous, but back off on the death grip and see if you feel a difference.

8. “Shocking” High-Rep Training

This is best done on the very first set of your workout with NO warm-up. You’re going to just be using a moderate weight, so don’t worry about not doing a huge warm-up. If you have a decent amount of training experience, you’ll be just fine.

We’re going to literally “shock” your chest muscles into responding here. Load the bar with (or select dumbells) a weight you’d normally be able to get about 12 to 15 “strict” reps in your regular workout.

Now lay down and CRANK OUT as many reps as you can with that weight as fast as you possibly can. Don’t worry if your form isn’t perfect…just hammer the reps out.

And when I say crank, I mean CRANK…don’t bounce the bar off your chest or anything but you must quite simply EXPLODE out of the bottom of every single rep…and don’t even think about slowing down to get the negative.

The idea here is very rapidly call upon every available muscle fiber worked by that exercise to contribute an emergency situation, especially the power-oriented type 2 muscle fibers.

And this emergency idea is why you’re not going to do a warm-up…we want it to be a TRUE emergency situation where you go from zero to kablammo!

ONE set of this is all you need. Because once you do that first set, not only will the entire area be fatigued, you won’t be able to get nearly as many reps and it won’t have the same emergency effect on your body.

9. Static Contraction Holds and Pushes

This can be done on almost ANY chest exercise…though it doesn’t work too well on dumbell flyes or presses. It works best on cable cross-overs or pec deck, where the tension is greatest at the top, when the arms are close together. It’s also pretty good on barbell bench.

A straight static hold means just hold that contracted position for as long as you possibly can. Then fight the negative all the way to the bottom.

This systematically exhausts all the muscle fibers of the chest AND gives you time to really get your mind into the muscle, shifting your arm and body position during the hold until you really feel it targeting the pecs. By taking this time, you get to feel what you don’t normally get during a standard exercise.

And those pushes I mentioned?

As you’re holding that static contraction, have a partner push down on the weight stack (if you’re on a pec deck). Just a quick push is all you need. This sets off a stretch reflex in the pecs, activating even more muscle fibers. It’s basically another emergency situation.

When using cable cross-overs, have your partner put their hands in between yours and push outwards really quick. If you’re doing a static hold in the top position of the barbell bench, have them push down on the bar really quick while you maintain the hold.

A couple of these pushes is all you need.

10. Cable or Band Push-Ups

This technique combines two type of resistance – a bodyweight push-up and direct outwards-pulling resistance of cables or bands. When you put them together, it’s CRAZY how much tension you’ll get on your pecs.

It’s like combining a static hold with a dynamic exercise – two of tension, both targeted on the pecs.

For the cable version, set two handles on the low pulleys and use a light weight. Kneel down holding both handles. Now set your fists on the floor in the push-up position. Straighten out your body and start doing push-ups.

The cables will be trying to pull your hands directly out to the sides. Your pecs have to fight this outwards-pulling tension. When you add in the push-ups, you’ll feel these even more in the chest than you usually would, simply because your pecs are ALREADY working by holding the cables in place.

It’s a two-for-one exercise that will light your pecs FAST.

You can easily accomplish the same thing with bands by hitching a couple of bands to solid objects out to the sides of you. The just hold the bands in your fists or loop around your wrists, make sure you get tension in them, then do the push-ups.

YOUR CHEST WILL BE TOAST…

I have to say, if you’ve not really felt your pecs before, these techniques should get you seriously moving in the right direction. I would recommend taking a few “chest” days and just trying all these techniques to see which ones work best for you.

For pictures and video of many of these tips in action, click here!

Click Here For Your Free Sony BluRay Player

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available here!

By Nick Nilsson

Have you ever wished for a diet where you ate bacon, eggs,
red meat, butter and sausage all day? Surprise!
It’s not the Atkins Diet.

The Atkins Diet has been in existence for over 30 years and has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last few years.

Pioneered by Dr. Robert Atkins, the theory behind the Atkins Diet is simple. Your body prefers to utilize carbohydrates (such as in grains, cereals, breads, etc.) for energy and will burn them first prior to body fat. By cutting down dramatically on carbohydrates in your diet, you force your body to burn fat for energy.





Reducing the carbohydrates in your diet puts your body into a state called “ketosis.” This word is derived from the “ketones” that are used by your body for energy when sugars/carbs aren’t available. When you are in this state of ketosis, your body is producing ketones from your fat that is being burned for energy. Ketones are essentially the leftovers from this process and are used in place of sugar in the body.

One of the major misconceptions about the Atkins Diet that has been widely reported is that you can or should eat extremely unhealthy, fatty foods all the time. This is not actually true. Dr. Atkins recommends that you limit your intake of these types of foods (e.g. butter, sausage, bacon, etc.) and instead focus on healthy fats such as olive oil, fish oil, nuts, etc.

The Atkins Diet has many positives and negatives that have been associated with it. Some of the positives include:

Rapid Weight Loss – though the first couple of days the majority of weight lost is water, your body does become more efficient at fat burning and you do lose fat.

Reduced Mood or Energy Swings – eating carbohydrates (especially sugary ones) can lead to mood and energy swings. This is often seen as the post-lunchtime or afternoon energy crash. When you eliminate the carbs, you eliminate the source of this problem.

Reduced Consumption of Refined Foods – highly refined foods are the source of many health problems. The more processed a food is, the less nutrients are generally in it. The Atkins Diet encourages a focus on the consumption of more natural state foods such as vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs and healthy oils.
Some of the negatives that have been associated with the Atkins Diet include:

Rapid Regaining of Lost Weight – this can happen when a person comes off the Atkins Diet. They regain all the weight they lost. One of the major reasons for this is that when you eliminate the carbs from your diet for a long period of time, your body becomes more sensitive to them. When you go back to your regular eating habits (which may not have been great to begin with), your body reacts more strongly to the sugar and carbs in foods, leading to weight gain. This weight gain can be reduced by easing off the Atkins Diet gradually rather than by feasting on carbohydrates.

Lack of Food Choices – it can be difficult to find things to eat that are low carb. Most grocery stores are primarily stocked with carbohydrate-laden foods and it can get boring eating the same things over and over again. Luckily, with the popularity of the Atkins diet and other low carb diets, there are many delicious recipes available to help alleviate this boredom.
The Atkins Diet may not be for you but by incorporating some of the principles in it, such as lowering your carbohydrate intake and eating more natural-state foods, you may find that you can achieve great results without ever having to restrict yourself. It may take a little longer but the results will be more permanent as it is more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available here!

By Nick Nilsson

Find yourself short on time to cook a good meal? I know I do! Learn my “secret”
recipes that are extremely quick and simple to make. I’ll give you
my favorite muscle-building meals!





If you’re like me, you sometimes find yourself short on time to cook yourself a good meal. And if you’re also like me, meaning a lazy cook, sometimes the motivation to really make a grand meal is short, too!

So what do you when this happens but you still want to reach your muscle-building goals?

I’ve got three great “recipes” (and I use the word “recipes” in the loosest sense possible!) to share with you that will help you stay on track towards massing up.

Keep in mind, even though I’m going to inject a little humor into this list, these are examples of actual things you can prepare for yourself to help make your life easier! I just want to show you that decent nutrition doesn’t have be dull as dirt or taste like it either.

**** Also it’s important to note, I’m NOT a nutritionist And I don’t claim to be! So
PLEASE don’t make a gigantic vat of mashed potatoes then complain because
you’re diabetic and your blood sugar is so high that you’re sweating maple syrup.
These recipes are for “entertainment purposes only,” so if you DO follow them,
personal responsibility is the keyword here! ****
These recipes are simple to make, don’t take long to cook and are geared to my own personal skill level of cooking, which is boiling, microwaving, toasting (in a toaster, not one of them fancy toaster oven things), some basic frypan work and ripping open packages like a starving raccoon…

With these recipes, I’m not going to include salads. You’re on your own with those. Personally, I eat them as often as I can (and you should too!), taking advantage of the convenient prepackaged salad bags from the store, throwing in some grape tomatoes, almonds, broccoli, carrots and whatever else is in the fridge that looks like it might go well in a salad and isn’t TOO far past the date. Add some healthy dressing (on a side note, salsa is actually surprisingly good on salad) and voila! You’re good to go.

Getting plenty of vegetables is also important – rather than force my personal vegetable preferences onto you (which are broccoli, snap peas, carrots, and chocolate covered almonds) just make the effort to eat vegetables as much as you can every day. Fresher and less processed is better, as is organic, but just do the best you can with that. You would have to REALLY go to town to eat TOO many vegetables so don’t be shy with them.

I’m also a big fan of taking vitamin and mineral supplements because no matter how “balanced” your diet appears to be, food is so depleted of nutrients right from the start these days that you’re probably not getting nearly as many nutrients as you think you are from your food.

Let me put it this way, I’d rather have “expensive urine” (many doctors seem to think this is all you’ll get from taking vitamins) than a debilitating illness caused by simple vitamin and mineral deficiencies that I then have to take expensive drugs to basically just mask the symptoms of.

But I digress…

To make best use of these recipes for those short on time, Tupperware will be your best friend. Make a LOT when you DO make something and save the rest for later. It’s great to make things fresh but it’s also great to just sling something you made yesterday into the microwave and eat it again (and again after that, if you made a WHOLE LOT!). It’ll save you from eating cereal three meals a day (not that I’ve ever done THAT, of course…).

Serving sizes are totally up to you. I usually eat the majority of what I make then save some for the next day, especially if it’s a post-workout meal.

So let’s get into those muscle building recipes…

1. Spaghetti with Cajun Meat Sauce

This is a great, protein-rich post-workout meal. Tastes great and serves 1 to 4 people, depending completely on how hungry you are and your willingness to share with others.

1 pound of whole wheat spaghetti (a healthier way to go)
1 jar of sauce that’s thick enough to cover up the taste of whole wheat spaghetti (that’s my own opinion, at least!)
1 pound of lean ground beef (I like ground sirloin for this because it’s leaner)
Some pre-packaged Cajun spices – I get big containers of these at Sam’s Club but most grocery stores should have some version. This really spices up the meat sauce nicely.
First, put some water in a big pot and set the stove on high to bring it to a boil. Fill a sauce pan/fry pan about halfway up with water. I like to put the ground beef in the pan BEFORE I add the water so it doesn’t splash all over the place when I dump the meat in (found THAT out the hard way, of course – the dog was happy about the meat water all over the floor but the shirt I was wearing will never be the same).
Bring the water in that pan to a boil and throw a bunch of Cajun spice in the pan with the meat. Don’t be cheap with it! Stir it in and smash the meat up so it’s not all clumped together.

When the spaghetti water is boiling, dump the spaghetti in. Let it boil for 9-10 minutes then drain. The meat will be boiling while the spaghetti is boiling – if the meat gets done first, drain it then cover it up. It’ll keep its heat as long as it’s covered.

Empty the sauce jar into the spaghetti pot and stir it up. If you’re not sharing the pasta with someone who doesn’t like meat, feel free to throw the meat in the spaghetti pot, too. If you ARE sharing, serve out some spaghetti into a separate big bowl THEN toss the meat in there. It’ll just work out better for all concerned that way.

Serve sitting on the couch with an oven mitt under the bowl because it’ll be dang hot on the bottom! And it’s better NOT to wear a white shirt while you’re eating it. ‘Nuff said.

2. Scrambled Eggs and Oatmeal With Yogurt And Fruit

This is a great breakfast meal that will keep you from getting hungry for HOURS. The fat in the egg yolks keeps you satisfied while the thick oatmeal will keep your digestive system busy for a long time. Lots of fiber to work on!

6 whole eggs – not egg whites, WHOLE eggs! They’re not bad for you like many people seem to think. The yolk is where most of the nutrients are. Tastes a whole lot better with yolks, too. Adjust the number of eggs to your preference.
1 gob of Smart Balance margarine to coat the bottom of the pan. Cooking spray will work for this as will olive oil.
1 dry cup of Quaker Oats – either the Old Fashioned or 1 Minute oats are fine here. Adjust the quantity of oats to your preference.
2 cups of water (basically, double the amount of oats you put in).
A bunch of fruit – whatever your favorite fruit is. I find berries or grapes work best because you don’t need to cut them up. Wash them before eating them.
1 Thing of yogurt – this is the technical term for however much yogurt you want to put in the oatmeal. If I have individually packaged yogurts, I’ll just dump one of those in. If I have a bigger container, I’ll scoop a pile of yogurt in until it looks like enough. You’ll figure out how much you want to put in.
First, get the fruit ready. Wash it up and put it in a small bowl. Crack the eggs into a bowl/cup and scramble them. If you’re talented, you can crack them with one hand and not slop them down the sides. After cracking about 30,000 eggs in my lifetime, I’m still not talented. I managed to do it once then the next time I ended up with a dripping fistful of egg and shell.

** On a side note, it IS possible to squeeze an egg with one hand and break it. A friend of mine once told me that you can’t put an egg in the palm of your hand, squeeze it and break it. He said it wasn’t possible (he was a physics major). So I grabbed an egg and squeezed it REALLY tight. Three seconds later, it exploded so hard the yolk popped out and flew 6 feet across the room and actually landed right in his shirt pocket!

So anyway, THAT being said, measure out a cup of oats, dump it in a good-sized bowl, then add double the amount of oats in water, e.g. 1 cup of oats, add 2 cups of water. You can adjust the water later, depending on if you like your oatmeal a little soupy (like I do) or masonry thick (like my wife does).

Nuke it for about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes. While that’s going, turn on the stove and get the pan for the eggs heated up. Throw a gob of Smart Balance margarine in the pan (that’s a great brand – it’s actually a reasonably healthy margarine and tastes good). Olive oil works really well here, too, as does non-stick spray. With the olive oil, it’s a good idea to have a spray bottle for it so it doesn’t all pool up in the corner that your stove burner leans to (you know what I’m talking about).

Make sure the whole bottom surface of the egg pan gets covered with something slippery or you’ll regret it later when you try to keep eggs from getting all crusted up and nasty along the sides.

Pour the beaten eggs into the pan and watch them cook. Stir them around once the bottom starts to get solid. Keep stirring and scraping the sides off to avoid the crust I mentioned above.

Your oatmeal should be done about the same time the eggs are. So put the eggs on a plate and set it aside for now.

Take your bowl of oatmeal out of the microwave then dump the yogurt in, then the fruit. Stir it all up (not the eggs, just the fruit and yogurt) and you’re good to go.

This meal will keep you going for hours!

3. Meat and Taters

“Meat and potatoes” might be a cliche but for me, there’s not much that works better for supporting muscle growth than a nice piece of meat (or chicken or fish) and a big bucket of potatoes. And if that sounds corny, it should, because sometimes I’ll throw some corn in with the potatoes.

Let’s talk about potatoes first, then I’ll give the inside scoop on how to cook meat (I think I can hear my wife laughing in the background as I write about my cooking skills…).

First, grab 3 or 4 good-sized potatoes. I try to get red potatoes since they can’t be stored as long as other potatoes therefore they’re fresher when you get them rather than having been sitting in storage for a year.

I prefer to microwave potatoes since it’s faster than boiling and they turn out really well. Wash any crud off them then slice off any questionable areas. Stick a fork or knife in them a few times to “aerate” so they don’t explode in the microwave (unless you enjoy scraping your dinner off the sides).

For each potato, figure on about 3 to 5 minutes of cooking time, depending on the size of your potato and power of your microwave. You’ll know they’re done when you can easily stick a fork right through – just don’t leave the fork in the microwave or you’ll be in for a surprise.

Dump in a big bowl, mix in some margarine (or if you’re on a low-fat kick, pour some ketchup in it), add some sea salt and you’re set. You can also throw in can of corn (nuke it first – not the can but the corn) to spice things up.

As for the meat, if you’re good with a gas or charcoal grill, more power to you. You’re a better cook than I am and I don’t know why you’re even reading this part. If you have one of those George Foreman countertop grills, those work really well for meat (especially the ones that you can pull the grill things off and put them in the dishwasher – the ones that you can’t remove are a pain in the butt to clean, so if you’re going to get one, get the removeable grill version). Follow the instructions that came with the grill for the meat or chicken or fish you’re cooking.

If you’ve got some chicken breasts that you just want to “fire and forget” rather than tend to on a grill, throw them in pan, pre-heat the oven to about 400 degrees, dump some spices on them (whatever you like), cover with tinfoil to keep the juices in, and cook for about 30 minutes or so (SET THE TIMER!). If you want to get REALLY fancy, slice up a lemon and toss a few slices on top with some black pepper.

There you have it. Meat and potatoes. Perfect for a big post-workout meal that will help you pack the pounds on.

I also like to use potatoes, corn and ground beef (or sirloin) to make “Lazy Cook” Shepherd’s Pie. Microwave the potatoes and corn as above. Boil the meat as in recipe #1, then dump it all into a big bowl and stir. You’ll be 5 pounds heavier by the end of the meal!

Conclusion:

As you can see, cooking tasy food for building muscle doesn’t have to be hard and recipes don’t have to be these complex things that take hours to make and require more than very basic cooking skills. With my recipes, if you can do a few simple things without burning yourself, that’s about all the skill you need.

And if you’re interested in learning some recipes for fat loss, I’ve got 3 excellent ones that I can share with you as well! Go back up to the top of the article and reread it. It’s the same stuff…now just eat less of it…

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available here!

By Nick Nilsson

For those who work for a living, it can be extremely tough to get
the 5 or 6 meals a day often recommended. I’ve got a plan that
can help you get the calories you need on
limited time (and appetite!).

Three square meals a day…breakfast, lunch and dinner. Can a person achieve great muscle-building results with just three meals a day?

Absolutely…and I’ll tell you how.

It’s all about meal timing and quantity.

Before I get started, please note it IS very true that you’re better off eating smaller, more frequent meals, both for muscle building and fat loss. I’m not going to argue with that.

The problem arises because many people simply CAN’T get more than 3 meals day.

Here’s my solution…

1. Plan to train in the late afternoon/early evening, if you can. For our meal timing, this will be the best option.

2. Have a moderately large breakfast…eggs, oatmeal, broccoli…whatever else you normally eat. Breakfast is the second most important meal of the day (for our purposes here, at least) and it’s not going to be your biggest.

3. Have a medium-sized lunch…at this point, you’re looking to not overload your digestive system with food (you already did that with breakfast) because you’ll be training fairly soon.

4. Do your workout and have your post-workout shake.

5. DINNER is going to be your biggest meal of the day. Because your body is primed to take full advantage of whatever you eat after training THIS is the time to load up. You should get at least half your days calories or more in this meal…overloading calories like this is extremely anabolic and your body will thrive on it.

6. Next day, repeat.

That’s the plan! It’s nothing complicated, of course, but I’ve been using this type of eating and training schedule for a long time and it’s been extremely effective for me.

If you can squeeze in a few small snacks during the day, go for it! But if you don’t have time for 5 or 6 meals a day, don’t stress about it. Your body can cope and you can definitely still make great progress!

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available at here!

By Nick Nilsson

The name is a mouthful but the training will send your
metabolism through the roof! Combine the power of supersets
with the fat-burning power of Lactic Acid-based training
and you get a workout that will peel the fat right off your body!

To really fire up your fat-burning furnace, you need a workout that addresses not only calories burned DURING the workout itself, but also calories burned AFTER the workout. But it doesn’t end there…to REALLY maximize your results, you need to also address your body’s HORMONAL response to training.

When you put all these factors together, you can SERIOUSLY increase the fat-burning drive you generate with each and every workout.

Let’s look at the factors one at a time:

1. Calories burned DURING the workout

Every time you exercise, you burn calories. Makes sense! The amount of calories you burn depends on the specific exercise you’re doing, how intense it is and how long you do it for. I won’t spend much time on this one as pretty much everybody knows instinctively that the harder and longer you work, the more calories you burn.

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2. Calories burned AFTER the workout

Here’s where it gets interesting…the more intense the exercise you perform, the more your overall metabolism is boosted and the more calories your body will burn AFTER the workout as it strives to recover from the training.

The practical result is this…if you do long, slow cardio training for your fat loss, you will burn calories during the workout, but your metabolism will go back to its normal rate very soon after. If you increase the pace (e.g. through interval training), you create a MUCH greater demand on your body and your metabolism is jacked up long after your workout is done – this can be for up to 24 hours after!

When it comes to fat loss, intensity is the key, not your resistance to boredom during repetitive movement.

3. Your HORMONAL response to training

Here’s the one most people don’t know about. When you exercise, whether it be for fat loss or any other purpose, your body secretes hormones in response to the training. The big one that we want to key in on for fat loss is Growth Hormone.

Without delving too much into the science of Growth Hormone (GH for short), it’s enough to know that one of the primary functions of GH is to send a signal to your body to burn fat for fuel (it’s also involved in many other functions, including muscle building, immune system function and connective tissue repair).

So how do we maximize the release of natural GH in the body from training? Lactic Acid.

Lactic Acid is one of the key “ingredients” that we want the body to produce in order to maximize the release of GH. When the body detects large amounts of Lactic Acid in the blood stream (it determines this by tracking the acidity of your blood), GH is secreted in response.

In a nutshell, the greater the burn, the greater the GH release.

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—

So how do we maximize ALL THREE aspects of fat loss that I mentioned above? We will do it through a training technique I call “No-Rest Lactic Acid Supersetting.”

We are going to combine several techniques that are extremely effective for maximizing the production of Lactic Acid in the body. I’ll tell you up front, this training WON’T be easy (if you find it easy, you’re not working hard enough!) but it’s VERY effective.

The first part of the equation is high-rep training. There is NO doubt that high reps will produce Lactic Acid. The bonus with high-rep training is that it also helps improve the capillirization of the muscles. In English, this means it helps improve the blood supply to the muscles by increasing the amount of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the muscles. One of the reaons muscles don’t grow? Poor blood supply. So high-reps can not only produce Lactic Acid, they can even improve the growth potential of a muscle!

The next part of the equation is Supersetting. Supersets involve moving from one exercise directly into another exercise, with no rest inbetween the two exercises. This is a great way to increase the burn from Lactic Acid. The specific type of Supersets we’ll be using with this training technique are “Antagonistic Supersets.” This means we’ll be working two opposing bodyparts at a time, e.g. back and chest or biceps and triceps.

The final part of the equation is that we’re not only NOT going to take any rest between the two Superset exercises, we’re actually not going to take ANY REST AT ALL (except when we move to a different Superset combination).

The body clears out Lactic Acid when it gets a chance to rest. By removing complete rest from the equation, we’re going to dramatically ramp up the production of Lactic Acid in your body and, as a result, ideally dramatically ramp up the production of Growth Hormone in response.

All this, in turn, will lead to increased fat loss by increasing Growth Hormone and burning LOTS of calories during the workout AND after the workout, because of the high intensity level.

A quick note about Growth Hormone: there are plenty of websites and magazines that will try to sell you HGH pills to increase your GH levels. While some nutritional supplements can be moderately effective at boosting GH levels (glutamine is one), the vast majority of these HGH ads are scams and should be avoided. Your body, with proper training, can produce ample amounts on its own.

How To Do It:

I will use chest and back as the example bodyparts for this training program. We will be switching between dumbell presses on the ball and standing dumbell rows (using two dumbells in bent-over row position). I find this to be a good combination because you can use the same dumbells for both exercises and perform them in the very same spot.

The key with this training technique is speed, not only during the sets but switching between exercises. At the end of the article, I’ll include a link to a demonstration video of this technique in action.

First, select a pair of dumbells that you know you can get at least 20 reps with on the dumbell press. For this technique, 20 reps is going to be the MINIMUM number of reps we want to hit on the first set of dumbell presses.

Get into position on the ball and begin pressing the dumbells. Keep a fairly quick tempo on the presses using a powerful movement, not worrying about squeezing the muscles or getting any slow negatives (the lowering phase of the movement). It should be a fast, powerful movement to get as many reps as you can.

Big note here…DO NOT sacrifice form for speed. If you’re flailing the dumbells around, you’re going to hurt yourself. While the movement is fast, it should be UNDER CONTROL at all times.

Do as many reps as you can until the Lactic Acid burn forces you to stop. The last reps will see you moving a LOT slower than you started but keep going until the burn stops you.

Now set the dumbells down and IMMEDIATELY get into position for the two dumbell rows. The two dumbell row is performed exactly like a bent-over barbell but using two dumbells instead (the link will also include demo pictures on how to perform both of these exercises).

Begin rowing with the same quick tempo. Be VERY careful that you’re not bobbing up and down excessively as you do this exercise. It’s fine to have a little movement – it’s natural as the weight comes up and down. But you should do your best to keep your lower back arched, your abs tight and your torso as still as possible.

Again, perform as many reps as you can until the burn stops you and you have to set the weights down.

Now IMMEDIATELY put all thoughts of rest aside! Grab those dumbells, get back on the ball and starting cranking out more dumbell presses!

Your reps will most likely drop fairly significantly on this second round through due to muscle fatigue and Lactic Acid accumulation. Get as many reps as you can, though. Personally, I may start my first set with 30 to 40 reps and get 8 to 10 on the second set.

Finish the pressing reps then go right back to the dumbell rows for as many reps as you can. Keep going back and forth between exercises until you’ve done the prescribed number of sets for each bodypart (see below for recommendations).

Be sure to push yourself on those sets! Make sure you stop because of the Lactic Acid burn and not because you’ve counted enough reps and you’ve lost track.

As for number of sets, here are my recommendations…

If you’re going to do your entire body in one workout use the following set guidelines:

Back and chest – 6 sets each
Quadriceps and Hamstrings – 6 sets each
Shoulders and Calves – 3 sets each
Biceps and Triceps – 3 sets each

The reason shoulders and calves are paired together is that neither muscle group really has an antagonist to it.

If you’re going to split up your workouts, I would suggest picking two of the combinations (whichever combos you like to do together) and use the following set guidelines:

Back and chest – 8 sets each
Quadriceps and Hamstrings – 10 sets each
Shoulders and Calves – 5 sets each
Biceps and Triceps – 5 sets each

This means if you want to do back, chest, biceps, triceps, do 8 sets each of back and chest then 5 sets each of biceps and triceps.

Take 1 minute rest in between bodypart combinations or judge it by the time it takes for you to set up the next two exercises.

Perform this training program three times a week, e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday if you’re doing total body workouts. If you’re splitting your body up, do Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

Follow this training technique for 3 weeks and then check the mirror!

A small note about Growth Hormone:

DO NOT eat anything before training when you’re doing this program. It’s best to perform this training on an empty stomach. The reason for this is that GH secretion is reduced by both elevated blood sugar levels and/or elevated insulin levels in the body. When you eat something (specifically carbohydrates), your blood sugar will rise and insulin will be secreted as a result. Insulin is a storage hormone and works directly against GH.

AFTER training, it’s a whole different ballgame. You CAN take in carbs and it won’t affect the post-workout fat-burning process. Because of the tremendous demands on the recovery systems from a hard workout, your body will continue to use stored fat to fuel the recovery process even when you take in carbs.

So be sure to take in some good post-workout nutrition in the form of liquid protein and carbs. It’ll help speed recovery and keep your body from eating up its own muscle tissue.

Conclusion:

If you’re looking for a shock to your body to kick-start your fat loss, give this program a try. It’ll place tremendous demands on your body and put your fat loss into high gear!

To watch a video of this technique in action and to see pictures of the two sample exercises, click on the following link:

http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx/betteru&l=1104

Other Resource articles:

1. Supersets – What They Are, Why They Work, and Several Unique Variations You Can Try In Your Next Workout
here

2. What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn’t The Best For Fat Burning?
here

3. The Insider Secrets of Interval Training – Learn How Now!
here

4. Fat Loss Article Index – Fitstep.com
here

5. Are You Cheating Yourself Out Of 50% or More Of Your Hard-Earned Results?
here

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available at here!

By Nick Nilsson

Are we doomed by our genetics to gain fat? Is your inner
caveman causing your waistline to expand? What can we do
to work with our ancestry and not against it?




It is important to know why we get fat. Once you know the underlying reasons behind fat gain, you can take that information and apply it to fat loss. Knowing why something happens is the first step towards changing the result.

The one major reason we get fat is that we put in more than we burn off. This may be an overly simplistic view but it’s also a very liberating one. It shows you that if fat gain is not that complicated, fat loss is not necessarily that complicated either.

But what are the origins of our body’s amazingly efficient fat storage mechanisms? In a nutshell, why do we gain fat so easily?

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Your Inner Caveman

Our earliest ancestors did not go to the supermarket to hunt for food. They didn’t point at a cave drawing with a Big Mac on it when they were hungry. They did not sit at a desk all day. They didn’t drive everywhere they went. In fact, fast food had to be chased down before it outran you!

The daily life of the earliest humans, whom we owe our genetics to, was consumed with getting enough food to survive. In order to eat, they had to either hunt it or gather it. As you can imagine, this burned a lot of calories.

With the start of agriculture, people no longer had to hunt down or forage for their food. They could stay in one place and grow it. Animals were domesticated. They could sell this produced food to others in return for other goods or services. This is known as the Agricultural Revolution and it was the start of our society as we know it.

Agriculture became the primary means of food production in the world. The story changes during the 1900’s, however. As we progressed as a society, manual labor was no longer required of most people. Machines were starting to take over more of the hard labor jobs. This led to less and less physical activity by a growing number of people. It was the start of the modern obesity epidemic.

To sum it up: these days food is plentiful and easy to get and physical activity is no longer a part of daily life.

Thank Your Ancestors

The human body of 50,000 years ago when we were hunter/gatherers is exactly the same as the human body of today. Our body had successfully adapted to continuous cycles of feast and famine. How did it adapt? It adapted by developing extremely efficient fat storage capabilities.

By storing large amounts of fat whenever possible, the body would protect itself against the inevitable famine to come when food was scarce. By storing up large amounts of energy, our ancestors could survive the harsh conditions and thrive. In winter conditions, it would often come down to survival of the fattest, not fittest.

Our bodies are still programmed with this desperate need for storage even though, due to highly available food supplies, we don’t really need it anymore. This is the reason you can often put on fat quite easily but have a hard time taking it off. Your body is protecting itself against the famine that it thinks is coming.

Compound this need for storage with reduced physical activity and readily available, calorie-dense foods and you have the recipe that has resulted in rampant obesity in our society today.

Diet = Famine

If you’ve ever been on a diet you’ve probably experienced that quick weight loss when you first start then the gradual slowdown and sometimes complete stop in progress that comes after a few weeks.

You can thank your ancestors for this one too. When you dramatically reduce your calories, such as when you begin a diet, your body starts using up the stored fat quickly. Your metabolism is still high and you are losing weight.

The trouble is, your body can’t distinguish between the lack of available food known as famine and the voluntary reduction in food known as dieting. To your body “diet = famine.” After a short period of time, your body will go into a panic state. You are losing your energy stores too fast and your body will do everything it can to slow down or put a stop to it.

-The first thing that will happen is that your metabolism
will slow down. You won’t burn as many calories during the
day, regardless of how much you are eating or exercising.

-The next thing that will happen is that your body will
step up its burning of muscle tissue. Muscles are very
metabolically active and require a lot of calories to
maintain. Your body knows this and, in its effort to
reduce the drain on its energy supplies, will start
destroying muscle tissue. Your body will metabolize your
muscle into energy in order to hold onto its fat stores.

This vicious cycle will continue every time you further reduce calories in order to compensate for a slower metabolism. Your body will slow your metabolism down even more and destroy more muscle tissue to reduce energy usage.

How do we avoid this problem? There are a number of ways to approach it:

1. Reduce your calories slowly. If you are trying to lose fat, don’t slash your food intake rapidly. This will throw your body into a panic, causing it to grind your metabolism to a halt.

2. Mix up your caloric intake. Don’t eat the same things in the same amounts every day. Eat a little more on some days and a little less on other days. It’s what you do in the long term that will really affect your results.

3. Exercise. Since most people don’t actually have to exercise as part of their daily life, you must take the initiative and make it a point to exercise regularly. It helps by burning calories and giving your body the stimulus to preserve muscle mass (it’s the old principle of “use it or lose it” at work).

4. Reduce your intake of processed foods. Your body is not readily equipped to efficiently process Twinkies. Try to stick to foods that are closer to their natural state, such as whole grains, lean meats, etc.

Remember, your body is an extremely efficient fat-storing machine but, with the right knowledge, you can very easily work with your biology and not against it and get the results you want.

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——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available at here!

By Nick Nilsson

Experience the power of extremely targeted, high-frequency
training. It literally has the power to turn your weakest
bodyparts into your best!

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Everybody has them but nobody wants them. What are they? Stubborn, hard-to-develop bodyparts. For me, it’s shoulders, calves and biceps. For you, it may be chest and triceps or perhaps hamstrings and quadriceps. No matter what the part, the solution to it remains the same: specialization!

Specialization is a technique that provides highly-targeted training overload to one or more bodyparts. This can be in the form of additional training volume and/or training frequency, i.e. do more sets for it and/or train it more often. Just like medical doctors specialize in certain areas of medicine, you will learn how to specialize on a particular bodypart and excel with it.

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I’m going to show you a particular specialization program that I’ve found to be EXTREMELY useful for developing stubborn bodyparts. It’s not hard to do and it doesn’t take long to do but it has the potential to shatter plateaus in hard-to-develop bodyparts like a brick through a plate glass window.

How To Do Daily Specialization:

The name of the program is Daily Specialization and, as the name implies, it’s done on a daily basis. In a nutshell, you will do just 1 set of 1 exercise for 1 bodypart twice a day, every day. It’s very simple but very powerful and it can be done with any bodypart you like!

I will use dips as an example here but you can use any exercise you like. Choose an exercise you can do at home for your selected bodypart to make it easier and more convenient to do (chances are, you’re not going to be going to the gym twice a day to do 1 set of 1 exercise!).

If you have weights at home, it will broaden your selection but I find that bodyweight exercises (that use your bodyweight for resistance, e.g. dips, chin-ups, push-ups, etc.) are most effective.

Using dips as the example, on Day 1, very soon after you wake up, do as many dips as you can. Go to failure, doing as many reps as you can then stop. That’s your morning workout. You’re done.

Do everything else in your day as you normally would, even your regular workouts for that bodypart if they’re on your schedule. This program exists completely outside your regular workout schedule.

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At night before you go to bed, do another set of dips to failure. That’s it. When you wake up the next day, do another set of dips to failure, just like on Day 1. Keep this up for as long as you like – anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the results you want and whether you want to switch to another bodypart or not.

This is the entire program! As a quick note, you can add a third set in the middle of the day on non-training days in order to speed results. It will give your body a little extra stimulus for that bodypart. Also, do only one bodypart at a time with this program. If you add in more parts, you will dilute the training stress and diminish the effects of the program.

The key to success with this program is consistency. You MUST do it consistently every day, twice a day, without fail to provide that constant training stimulus to the body. Even if you don’t feel like it, do it. Even if you’re tired and you don’t get nearly as many reps as usual, do it. Even if your muscles are sore, do it. The only exception to this rule is if you’re sick or injured. Do this, and you WILL get results.

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Why It Works:

Physiologically speaking, the body becomes its function. If you run long distances, your body will have a tendency to become smaller and lighter to be better able to cope with the stress. If you lift weights, your body will have a tendency to become more muscular in order to deal with the resistance.

We target this highly-efficient adaptation process by training stubborn bodyparts with very high frequency. Your body quickly learns it needs to build up that bodypart in response to this constant workload. Your body will very quickly start allocating recovery resources towards rebuilding that part bigger and stronger.

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You keep working it and your body will keep building it. This program harnesses the adaptive power of your body and channels it into a specific bodypart for maximum results. The results are consistent and phenomenal!

Let me give you my experience with Daily Specialization. I used this program for my shoulders, doing handstand push-ups. At a bodyweight of 200 pounds, when I started I couldn’t do a single full rep, only a few partial reps.

After 12 weeks of consistently doing handstand push-ups morning and night, I was able to perform 40 full reps at the very same bodyweight. If you think about this for a moment, it’s actually quite shocking! Could you imagine barely being able to bench press your bodyweight one day then, 3 months later, being able to press it 40 times!

The results came little by little but on a consistent and daily basis. Over the 3 months (which were going to go by anyway, regardless of whether I did this program or not) this resulted in HUGE gains in muscle development and also carried over to strength in exercises such as shoulder press and bench press.

You can easily achieve powerful results like this with the Daily Specialization Program.

One of the greatest benefits I found with this program wasn’t even the improvement in strength and muscle development. Working the stubborn bodypart twice a day to failure actually made my stubborn shoulders not stubborn anymore!

The constant workload, in addition to building strength and muscle mass, also greatly increased the circulation/capillarization in the muscles. Poor blood circulation is one of the biggest causes of lagging muscle development. This greatly-improved circulation meant more nutrients could get into the muscles more easily, which means easier muscle growth in the long-term.

Not a bad result for a few minutes of effort every day!

I want you to pick a lagging bodypart, pick an exercise for it and try this program for yourself. I guarantee you will see consistent results. Your body will simply have no choice!

Interested in learning more about other Specialization Programs and how you can use them to shatter training plateaus? Click this link now to find out about other highly-targeted Specialization Programs.

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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available here