Buffing Up - building muscle mass

Due to the fact that women do not and cannot naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity.
In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.

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You are always busy. You don't have enough time to go to the gym. You don't even have time to stand up away from your computer. But you have a dream. A model's body. A six pack abdominal glory. Want to get that dream?

There are some easy abdominal exercises that you can do even at home. Here are some exercises that can easily be done:

• Crunches

Almost all people know how to do this. This exercise targets the upper abdomen. It's one of the basic but effective exercises. To perform crunches, you need to lie on a flat surface with your hands in your chest or behind you head. Contract your abs, then hold for 2 seconds, then return to your lying position. Proper crunches are in a continuous and controlled fashion. Concentrate on your abdominal muscles to pull your upper body up. Avoid using the neck or shoulders to push yourself up. This incorrect practice will cause stress and strains.



• Side Crunches

They are basically the same as regular crunches, except that the main focus is on the oblique muscles which are also called love handles. It also uses the same technique, only that you are crunching to either side of our abs. This would burn the sides of your abs.



• Lying Leg Lifts

This exercise targets the lower abs. with this kind of exercise, you are on the same position as with the crunches, you lie flat on your back and lift your legs six to twelve inches of the ground. This would exercise the muscles in the lower part of the abdomen. When performing leg lifts, place your hand under your buttock. It adds leverage and helps you get your feet elevated.

If you want to add more weight into the exercise, attach padded weights into your ankles. These weights can be purchased at the local sports store. If you do not want to buy weights, you can simply fill up old tube socks with enough clean, unused cat litter to make one or two pound weight.



• V- Crunches

It's almost like lying leg lifts except your chest is at a 45 degree angle starting out. Sit at the edge of a bench and reach back just enough to support yourself from completely lying on the bench. Once you’ve stabilized, bring your knees toward your chest. You would be creating a V motion. The base of the V would be your abs.



• Cat stretch

It's the same with the movements made by a cat when they stretch their back. This simple action is a quick and easy exercise. Get down on the floor with your hands and knees, with muscles relaxed and looking straight ahead. Next, tighten your abdominal muscles while thrusting you back upward as far as you can. Maintain the position for five counts before lowering your back.



• Bicycle Crunch

To do this, start y lying flat on the floor. Put your hand beside your head then raise knees up to 45 degrees angle and them perform a pedaling motion like what you do when you ride the bicycle.



• Standing Side Bends

Standing side bends encourages the loss of fats in the oblique muscles. To start, stand up straight with the stomach sucked in, legs straight and hands on the sides. Simply lean the body from left to right being careful not to rotate the hips and while keeping body facing front. There is a variety of side bends, this is the torso twists. Instead of bending side to side twist or rotate the upper body from left to right while keeping the legs straight.

You can remove your flabby stomach and replace it with six pack abs, as long as you have discipline and of course the will to do so.

Exercise and diet is essential in workout to sculpt the muscles, yet you also need to understand the types of workouts, body types, and more to reach an effective result. Most people find it difficult to get going with diet and exercise, and most times the reason rests behind misleading information and unruly expectations placed on us from media, television, magazines, and so forth. The fact is exercise assists in keeping you fit. The body types however play a vital part in reaching your target. Endomorph body types often are, built stocky. The stomach is primary were the bulk or stockiness rests. Now, you may think the endomorphs need to incorporate exercises that will burn fat quick, however contrary to your notion the endomorph types must workout to burn less body fat.

Endomesomorph body types require higher increases in muscle training. The Endomesomorph also requires more fat. This type of person is often spotted in football, or related sports. During workouts, Endomesomorph will burn large amounts of calories and fat. Now, you may think this is good, however the body requires fat to function properly, and burning too much fat and calories can cause deficiencies. Thus, if you are the Endomesomorph type, you need fatty foods, strength training, aerobics, and resistance training to reach a stunning physique.

Ectomorph types often are lofty, lean, and thin bodies. Their limbs often stretch, thus the goal of the Ectomorph is to reduce muscle while reducing fat respectively.

Mesomorph is muscular in form. Bodybuilding is probable for the Mesomorph types. Mesomorph body types could benefit from high-volumes of weight training, progressive resistance training, and lower volumes of fat intake.

Body types are important to understand, since knowing your body type can help you to choose the best diet and workout routines for you. Body types are necessary to understand, yet you also need balance. Bodybuilders frequently include exercises that will promote steroids, and adrenaline, thus reducing metabolism, which defeats health purposes of workout. Bodybuilders will rarely go for endurance or speed routines, since they often focus on building muscle mass. The notion is damning, since the cardiovascular system is lacking the endurance and speed it needs to work properly.

Various types of endurance workouts could build staying power and speed, including tennis, swim, jogging, running, and bicycling. Thus, regardless of the type of body you want to, always consider the respiratory and cardiovascular workouts. In harmony, you want to understand weight training, the types of exercise, and what each workout routine can do for your body, since once you gain knowledge you will understand what you need to do to achieve pleasurable results. As well, you want to learn more about exercise and diet balance, since balance is the ultimate solution to achieving a stunning physique.

Diets are the body's nutrients in proportions so to speak. The body requires fat, fibers, minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, amino acid, calories, cholesterol, and so forth, to function correctly. The body requires a balance in nutrients, which again the body types play a part in deciding what your body needs.

You may also want to learn more about what the muscles do and how they respond to the workouts to decide the best routines for your body type. Again, you want to incorporate strength training, weight lifting, aerobics, endurance, and resistance training into your routines regardless of the body type.

Now that you learnt about your body type you can start setting your goals, since goals is the start in sculpting the muscles and achieving stunning physiques.