The Deck of Cards.

The first time I heard about this was an in article about Clive Iron Fist Myers. It was one of his favourite routines.

The idea is very easy to put into practise and will help build stamina, strength and energy. All you need is a deck of cards and some space to exercise. You could do this routine while on vacation if you want to maintain peak fitness.

First you need to decide on 3 exercises to do 1. Chest 2. Legs 3. Abdominals.
1. push ups.
2. Free standing squats.
3. Crunches.

Each exercise will be done in strict form with no cheating.

For the push ups, start in the low position and push up with slow steady motion until the top of the movement and then slowly lower back down under control. Breathe in as you go down and in as you push back up. This is one rep.

Free standing squats, fold your arms across your chest and perform deep knee bends slowly, under full control. At the bottom of the movement push with your thighs and come back to the top position. Breathe in as you go down and out as you come up.

Crunches, start by lying on your back on the floor with your feet on a bench or chair. Hold your hands beside your head NOT BEHIND. Raise your upper body from the floor as high as you can. Breathe out as you raise and in as you lower your upper body. Do not hold you hands behind your head and pull as this will put excessive strain on your neck.

Now take the deck of cards including the jokers. Give it a good shuffle and turn over the top card. Whatever the value of this card is the number of reps for the exercise. Face card values
Jack 11
Queen 12
King 13
Ace 14
Joker 15
With each card you turn over, do that amount of reps for the exercise, and then turn the next card over and move onto the next exercise.

When you are starting you may be unable to do a full deck of cards. No problem. Start with the number cards up to the eight. Add one more card at the beginning of each workout until you can use the full deck.

Make sure to breathe regularly as you perform these exercises and do not hold your breath at any time.

Shuffle the deck of cards each time you work out as the will randomize the number of each exercise.
You can change the exercises if you are unable to do the ones recommended. There are a multitude of variations on free standing exercises that can be performed with little or no equipment. If you do change the exercises try to do one upper, one middle and one lower body exercise.

The main idea is that you move from one exercise to the next as quickly as possible to keep up your heart rate and build up aerobic endurance.

When you have done this routine for a while you will be able to complete this workout in 20 minutes. If you want to you could add another deck of cards or two.

I recommend that you do this routine every other day to improve your health. There is no reason why it could not be done daily if you wanted to.

The purpose of this workout or any other fitness program you undertake is to make you fitter and healthier. If you start to feel unwell or have any pain while working out, slow down and listen to your body.

As with any new program it is recommended that you start slowly and build up gradually as you gain experience. Even Arnold had to start with low weights and learn from more experienced bodybuilders.

This article is provided as entertainment and no responsibility can be taken for loss or injuries incurred during physical exercise. If you have not undertaken any form of exercise for a while, please consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Fitness is not a competition with anyone else. It is just for you, so find what you enjoy and go have some fun.

You Can Have Washboard Abdominals And look Great On The Beach

Can you imagine walking along the beach in you swimsuit with everyone looking at your rippling six pack. All eyes jealously admiring your suntanned, muscular physique.

Ok heres the truth, “there are no easy ways to build washboard abs”!

But there are some ways that will give you fantastic results and some that will waste your time.

It seems as if there is a new “Super Fast Power Abdominals” gadget on the market every week. Most of them are totally useless and may do more harm than good. The only thing that will get a workout is your wallet.

Some of them may work for a while but when the novelty wears off, its packed in the back of a cupboard, never to be seen again.

They are all limited in what they can do. They only allow you to do a limited number of movements. And then you get the next gadget out! You would need to exercise in a warehouse to get everything in. And thats just for the abs!

I have even seen for sale, on eBay, with bids, a sun mask to place on your abs so that you will get sun tan where the muscle separation would be. I can imagine all the couch potatoes queuing up for this one.

If you do regular “Sit Ups” for millions of reps you are very unlikely to build rippling muscles but you will have great endurance. If you do “straight leg sit ups” it is possible that you may damage your lower back due to the strain placed upon it. It may be better to avoid sit ups at all costs. The same with “lying straight leg lifts”.

One of the best exercises for abs is crunches. Lay on your back with your feet on a chair or bench. Curl up your upper body towards your knees. At the top position, hold for a few seconds, while flexing your abs. You will only get a short range of motion with this exercise but it will work wonders.

There are many variations of the crunch. Try doing them with a twist to work the side oblique muscles. Lying on the floor, try doing Jacknife crunches, raising your legs as you crunch, and try to reach past your toes with your hands.

For best results you need to do between 8-15 reps to build abs that will be admired be everyone. And take all sets to total failure and some more.

Some trainers say that in a set of 10 reps the first nine are the warm up and the tenth produces the muscle. I think this can be improved if you think that the one that produces the results is actually number 11!

If you are carrying a layer of extra body fat you will never be able to display a set of washboard abs. Losing that extra few pounds can make all the difference.

Counting every calorie that you eat is not my idea of fun. I like to eat a high protein diet and find it works for me. I enjoy lots of chicken, turkey, beef, milk, and cheese etc, eaten with plenty of healthy salads.

Avoid all processed food and cut down on the carbonated drinks, even the “low cal” ones. You do not need the artificial sweeteners and chemicals.

If you have a sweet tooth and are sometimes tempted to have chocolate it may be better to have a small bar occasionally instead of obsessing about it and then pigging out with dozens of candy bars. Buy fresh fruit and each time you have cravings eat some fruit.

As with any new program it is recommended that you start slowly and build up gradually as you gain experience. Even Arnold had to start with low weights and learn from more experienced bodybuilders.

This article is provided as entertainment and no responsibility can be taken for loss or injuries incurred during physical exercise. If you have not undertaken any form of exercise for a while, please consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Above all, Have fun and be safe.

There is bodybuilding and there is serious bodybuilding. Serious bodybuilding encompasses training sessions, competitions, and strict regimens of diet and supplements. People that seriously build their body have bulging biceps, titan triceps and glutes of steel. Serious bodybuilders take what they do extremely serious and every part of their mind body and spirit participates in activities that promote elements that solely benefit their ultimate goal.

Ultimate goals can vary within the total realm of bodybuilding. There can be intermediate, moderate, and totally serious participation in bodybuilding. There are guidelines for women and guidelines for men, with each guide being helpful in different parts of the bodybuilding scene.

Supplements, vitamins, and protein drinks are a large part of the bodybuilding lifestyle. And it is a lifestyle. When you are serious about bodybuilding you create a lifestyle where by you eat differently than other people, you exercise in a more dedicated fashion than other people and you also include resting your body and recovering your body from the old ways far more than other people.

What exercises and how much is totally up to you as an individual. The level of weight training and the amount of time you spend under the weights is again a personal decision. However with serious bodybuilding there are serious consequences to being a slacker. You have to be committed to a daily routine that includes all aspects of bodybuilding success in order to see results.

Diet cant be neglected when bodybuilding is a goal. Choosing foods that fill the natural needs of your body and being disciplined to steer clear of foods that are wasteful or harmful is a key step in any type of bodybuilding regimen. Sometimes that takes a person on a personal pathway they have never forged before, but hopefully there will be a knowledge learned on this path that will carry mind body and spirit throughout the rest of life.

Rest and recovery is key to a embarking into a bodybuilding lifestyle. Getting the proper rest for your mind and body should not have to be explained. Yet there are people out there who neglect the idea that getting correct amount of sleep improves the activities of your day. The time you need in order to feel consistently rested may vary from that of your spouse, siblings, or friends.

Recovering from pushing your self too far, recovering from old habits that resurface, and recovering from a bodybuilding competition are part of the recovery process that generates happiness in life.

People who dont understand serious bodybuilding may have predisposed ideas about steroids and general unhealthful practices in order to gain recognition as an over bulked, under brained champion. When the opposite is true.

Welcome to the sleepless 21st century. Somewhere in your busy schedule you make time to get to the gym, eat healthy and buytake your supplements. However as the old saying goes “a chain is only strong as it weakest link” applies to your weight loss and bodybuilding efforts as well. Learn how a good nights sleep can be your best bodybuildingweight loss supplement.

Do not let your training program fail because you dont get adequate sleep. What is adequate sleep? This will vary by individual, but most likely you will need eight plus hours to be fully rested. If you are waking up with the help of an alarm even worse, hitting the snooze button a dozen times, you arent getting enough sleep.

There are many general health benefits that can be obtained from simply getting a good night’s sleep. A huge one is better cardiovascular health – sleep deprivation has been linked to a hardening of the arteries.

The importance of sleep is much higher for the person trying to gain muscle mass. Your body needs this rest to repair, rebuild and recover the muscle that your workouts have broken down. Sleep plays a vital role in protein synthesis and the release of growth hormone. Insufficient sleep affects growth hormone secretion that is linked to obesity; as the amount of hormone secretion decreases, the chance for weight gain increases. Remember that sleep is your number one bodybuilding supplement….and it’s free!

Some supplements you might want to give a try to help improve sleep would be ZMA, GABA, Melatonin, GH enhancers andor some testosterone boosters. These supplements have shown to help with getting to sleep, and to help establish healthy sleeping patterns. Sleep is vital and many studies have shown that we are simply not getting enough of it.

Do not drink anything right before bedtime. You do not want to consume water so you are not up all night running to the bathroom. You also do not want to consume any caffeine as it will be even harder to fall asleep. Caffeine shouldnt be consumed at all within 5 hours of bedtime.

Sleep has been proven time and time again to be very important in many aspects of your life. Lack of it can be very hard to make up for later. Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise, but studies have shown that most people have sleep as a much lower priority. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. It will lead to a much better day as you are fully recovered and can better concentrate. Life itself overall benefits greatly on proper sleeping habits

Dont let lack of sleep slow down the results you work so hard for in the gym.