The title of this article is quite misleading. I'm not writing this to mislead you I just know that there are truly a lot of people out there who would categorize themselves as "hard gainers". Let's look at what most people feel constitutes a hard gainer. Most of us feel that if we go to the gym and give 100% effort during our workout and we comply with a proper diet, there should be no reason why we aren't able to gain mass amounts of muscle. However, if you were to go to the average gym in your cit y you would notice that there are a lot of people there who don't seem to be very muscular but do tend to work out regularly. Surely they fit the description of a "hard gainer"? I hate to break it to anyone who's reading this article looking for some new ground breaking information to help hard gainers because there is none. The reason there's nothing new to help hard gainers is due to the fact that there is no such thing as a hard gainer. The first thing people who have trouble gaining muscle need to do is let that term go. That term is nothing more then a glorified excuse. And a lot of the health companies love preying on that term in hopes of you buying their products. The sooner you let that term go the sooner you will be able to start making gains.

There are not many things in life that you can't accomplish if you don't have the belief that you can do so. Body building is no different. You have already adopted the term hard gainer which means in the back of your mind you feel that you ju st can't put muscle on. How do you figure you will be able to gain muscle and lose fat if you don't have the confidence in yourself to do so? The first thing you need to do is eliminate any negative thoughts from your mind. The most important part of any project (yes building your body is a project) is to plan ahead. Make your goals apparent before you even start to consider lifting weights! Knowledge is the key to many things in life and gaining muscle is no different.

What most people who cons ider themselves hard gainers seem to do is, overcompensate and make their workouts too long and inefficient. The fact of the matter is, if you over train on a regular basis, you'll be lucky if you don't actually lose the muscle you already have. There is no need to add more reps and sets nor do you need to try the newest, hottest workout. You, for the most part, need to go back to the basics. Its not rocket science here it's actually quite easy. Stick to heavy compound exercises and make sure to do le ss then 6 reps per set. Also when using maximum effort you need to rest at least 3 minutes between sets. The 2 biggest mistakes trainees make when trying to gain muscle mass are a poor diet and poor recovery time. You can't work any muscles out more then once a week when doing maximum effort exercises. If you do so you'll be breaking your body down more then you could ever repair in order to gain muscle. Just like a car, when you put wear and tear on it you can't expect it to not need premium fuel. S o why is it that we think we can go to the gym and work our bodies out without putting the best foods back into them? If you use heavy compound exercises, fuel your body with high quality protein and rest between workouts you'll see the gains that once eluded you, appear before your eyes. The hardest part of being a hard gainer is getting past the excuse

"I'm so frustrated! I cannot get any bigger and I'm not getting stronger!" Sound familiar? Maybe you've said it yourself. You go to the gym religously, spend hour after hour doing bench presses for your chest, rows and pulldowns for your back, barbell curls and tricep extensions for you arms yet nothing is happening. Or at least not what you were hoping for when you started bodybuilding.

Here's a true story: Some years ago I was approached by a gym buddy who asked me what my thoughts were o n his training. His frustration was over the fact that in over 3 years of working out and lifting weights, his physique had changed only minimally and his lifts were not much better than when he had started.

I had been watching him and sometimes working out with him for a couple of years so I was aware of his training style: On chest days he would typically start off with some warm-up reps and then would get started on the flat bench. He would usually pyramid up from a starting weight where he wo uld do 12-15 reps and typically would finish at about 4 reps on his sixth set!

Then, he'd usually go to the incline bench, grab the heaviest weight he could handle for 5 or 6 reps and would do another 4 sets with that. He would then go to an incline chair and do more incline dumbbell flyes. After this, he would further blast his poor chest muscles with pec deck, decline and sometimes cable flyes. By the time he was done with just his chest, he'd spent almost an hour and typically had done anywhe re from 18 to 24 sets!

What this guy didn't need was advice, he needed a REST! He was so overworking his chest muscles that by the time he came back to work them the following session (sometimes only 4 days later), they could not possibly recuperate/recover from the blasting he had just given them. If this guy had been in his 20's he might have had a chance but the fact that he was in his early 40's only made things worse.

This story perfectly illustrates one of the main reas ons why people have such a hard time building muscle: Overtraining.

Muscles grow by being subjected to stress. You lift a weight, stress the muscle and if all goes well, in time that muscle will grow to accomodate the stress being put on it. But the muscle does not grow while you are in the gym. That is when you are actually breaking down the muscle. The growth/repair comes when you give your body enough time to repair the muscle that has been worked thereby allowing it to grow. Overtrain ing occurs when the muscle is put under too much stress and the recovery time is not enough for it to repair itself.

Another example of a specific muscle being overtrained is the biceps/triceps group. Too many times, I'll get to they gym, start my workout and see some guy doing biceps. Set after set after exhausting set. I'm done with my workout and they're still doing curls. It is unnecessary and counterproductive.

So What Is The Exact Number Of Sets I Should Do?

There is no set formula for any one person. What works for you might not work for me. What works for an 18 year old will almost certainly not work for a 50 year old! The truth is that it is trial and error. You will have to find the "sweet spot" in your training that allows you to stress your muscle fibers but also allows you to come back on your next session and blast them again. As a very general rule and depending on age and experience, hitting each muscle group twice a week should be something to shoot for. But if you are not making gains, take a look at both the number of sets you're doing and the frequency that you're working a group. Remember, sometimes less is more!

For a complete healthy lifestyle, you must include strength training into your weekly schedule.

There are many benefits to strength training, including increased muscle mass, bone strength, and fat burning ability.

However, these are only side benefits. The main objective to strength training is to keep your body strong and able as long as possible throughout your lifespan.

Below are some strength training tips that you should follow.

Strength training tip 1 - strength train o ften
Maintaining your strength requires that you perform strength training sessions often, and to be consistent. You don't have to strength train everyday, but don't go weeks between sessions. Performing each session 1 or 2 days apart is sufficient.

Strength training tip 2 - warm up before your each session
Before you put your body into action, you need to prep your muscles and joints properly. Perform a light warm up session to deliver nutrients and oxygen to your muscles and loos en your joints. This helps increase performance and prevent injuries. To warm up, do some light cardio exercise for five to ten minutes. Alternatively, using very light weights, you can perform 3 sets of 10 reps with primary muscles that are going to be used.

Strength training tip 3 - stretch
To further enhance performance and prevent injury, you should stretch your muscles before, during, and after your strength training sessions. Lifting is only one part of strength training. The other p art of strength training is flexibility. Many people ignore the flexibility aspect of strength training because it is not as apparent as hoisting up weights. However, if you only concentrate on the lifting aspect, you only strengthen the muscles in one direction. By not strengthening your muscles in the other direction by stretching, you can pull or tear them, causing a lot of damage. After your warm up, stretch your primary muscles until you feel loose enough to begin your session. Stretch in between sets to stay lose, and stretch after your session for proper recovery.

Strength training tip 4 - perform multi-muscle, multi-joint exercises first
The best way to start your workout is to start with the core lifts. These lifts, such as the bench press, pull up, and squat, involve the movement of many muscles and joints in the same routine. Because of this, and the fact that you can actually lift more weight with these routines, they provide the most muscle building potential. Doing these lifts first also prevents injury because it ensures that all muscles involved are fresh and are able to balance the weight properly. Doing tricep extensions before bench presses for example, is extremely dangerous. Your shoulders and chest may be able to bear the weight, but your triceps may be too weak, causing you to drop the bar on your chest (This is exactly what happened to me when I first started out). So remember, do core lifts first and isolation lifts after.

Strength training tip 5 - take a to tal body approach and shun spot training
Balance is key. This is probably the golden rule of strength training. Many people make the mistake of over emphasizing one part of the body. They say things like, "all I want to do is work on my abs." This not only can lead to having a body that looks out of proportion, but can also lead to serious injury. For example, if you strength train your abs but ignore your back, you can eventually pull or tear your back muscles on one of your ab sessions, or when p icking something up. Another common mistake people make is do leg extensions to strengthen the quadriceps (front of the leg), but not do leg curls to strengthen the hamstrings (back of the leg). This often leads to a pulled or torn hamstring when they run, or simply overstrides when walking. If you're going to strength train, you must take the total body approach. The muscle groups that you have to be concerned with are the neck, chest, back, abs, and legs. You can do a total body workout every other day, or concentrate on one or two muscle groups each day.

Strength training tip 6 - perform 3 sets of 10 reps
This means that you'll lift a weight 10 times, which will equal 1 set, rest for a minute or two, then repeat the process until you complete 3 sets. This is a general rule of course, as it provides your muscles with a balance between strength training, endurance training, toning, and sizing. Some people like to concentrate on building strength and size by adding more weight and performin g less reps, 5 for example. Some people like to concentrate on toning and endurance training by lifting less weight and performing many reps, 15-20 for example. If you're just starting out, use the 3 x 10 rule. There's no need to get fancy at this time.

Strength training tip 7 - use proper breathing techniques
When strength training, your body has an increased need for oxygen. This is especially true during a set, when the muscles are being fatigued with each rep. To provide your body with a fresh supply oxygen, breathe in on the way down (the lengthening part), and out on the way up (the shortening part). Don't ever hold your breath, as it may cause you to faint, or it may cause a hernia from the pressure.

Strength training tip 8 - quality is better than quantity
To train your muscles properly, you need to perform high quality reps. Many people think that the more reps they do the better. However, this may not be necessarily true. Take the people who do hundreds of sit ups , say 250 for example, to get that six pack. Many times, they just want to get the set over with, so they do fast, incomplete, out of form, poor quality reps. After a couple weeks of this approach they see little or no results. They could have saved themselves lots of time and energy by doing 25 high quality reps instead. When strength training, perform your reps slowly. Go all the way up on a 3 second count, squeeze at the top, and all the way down on another 3 second count. Don't swing, and concentrate o n using only the muscles that the lift was intended for. Finally, remember to use proper breathing techniques.

Strength training tip 9 - get enough rest and replenish
Some experts say that strength training is not so much a matter of lifting a ton of weight as it is a matter of the body's ability to recover. In a way, this may be true. Here's what I mean: when you strength train, you create micro-tears in your muscles. Also, lactic acid builds up in the muscles, which causes the normal sor eness and tightness after a workout. When the body is allowed to repair itself after each workout, it in essence "becomes stronger" by repairing and building over micro-tears with more muscle, and increasing its ability to remove lactic acid from the body. To allow your body to recover, you must give yourself enough time to rest and replenish. Take a day off in between sessions. Get some sleep, drink plenty of water, and eat plenty of complex carbs and protein

Since times fitness experts recommend running, walking, weightlifting etc for a fit body. There are many outdoor sports like basketball, football etc which are very good physical activities. If you are aiming for a perfect body then choose a right trainer to receive proper guideline. It is not advisable to try out exercises by yourself because every movement of the body affects some organ or the other and so a trainer with proper knowledge of the subject is required.

Weightlifting is one of the me thods to create a tougher body so that you become fit to participate in many events. Weight lifting is practiced to strengthen some particular parts of the body. Before beginning it you are supposed to wear the gloves so that you do not feel the corns in your palms.

Gymnasium is one of the ideal places for the budding athletes and health conscious people. Here you will find two types of apparatus used for different purposes i.e. machine, which displays the number of workouts performed by the user and also free weights. The machine is very useful in tracing the actual capacity of the user. They both have a different function and are used to better different parts of the body.

There is another set of exercise especially for the patients suffering from heart illnesses such as heart attacks, coronary heart disease or atria fibrillation, which needs to be consulted with a physician. For such people, light exercises are suggested for the systematic movements of the cardiovascular system such as brisk walking, light weigh lifts etc.

Even the routine dietary pattern plays a major role in shaping your body. The most recommended form of diet is the combination of solid and fluid intake. The food must build up the body tissues and strengthen the muscle fibers. Nutrition?s like carbohydrates and proteins are the building blocs of energy in our body.

Now a day it has become a necessity to build an energetic and a strong body because we need to be physically as well as mentally tough. So manage at least some time daily to work out with the exercise schedule

I seem to be finding myself doing cardio before bed due to a hectic schedule and time constraints as of late.

Are there any problems with this?

Well there are a few good reasons not to cardio right before bed. My experience is that cardio near bedtime lowers the quality of my sleep significantly. It takes me forever to get to sleep if I do cardio within 1 to 2 hours of bedtime, and I'm more likely to wake up at night.

Furthermore it seems athletes get that 2nd wind or rush after a w orkout which would cause your mind and body to be too energetic for sleep. Diet can also play a big part in this as well, but I?ll save that for another time.

Ideally, you want to have your cardio in at least 3 hours before bed. This will give you time to have a last meal before bed and for it to digest properly. Going to bed on a full stomach is not a good idea, and though some, like myself, sleep better with a full stomach, the majority do not.

Depending on your goals, cardio should be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, or when ever your schedule allows

Exercise reduces the chances of developing health problems. If you are suffering from obesity and diabetes, immediately plan an exercise schedule. Exercise and fitness programs are useful in managing your blood sugar levels. Adhering to an exercise program is necessary if you need to see results.

The most common heath problem in America is high triglyceride levels (high cholesterol). This problem is closely associated with other problems such as strokes and heart attacks. So to prevent this proble m, it is better to pursue a wholesome diet. At the same time a regular exercise schedule is required too.

Nowadays people prefer to stay indoors due to the various entertainment devices at home. No activity has led to obesity. Parents must encourage their children to take up sports like basketball, volleyball and other exercises. Most of the Americans have become health conscious and are engaged in diverse sports types like swimming, aerobics, sports, running etc.

Brisk walking has become a ver y easy form of exercise today because it does not require any training. Volksmarch is a very popular activity in Germany where many people get together and go for a long walk in the evenings. They also enjoy eating together. So, go out and start exercising to stay healthy and fit

Fitness is a state of the human body that allows it to function up to its full potential. It is the ability to do regular jobs without any strain, while being alert and energetic enough to endure any stressful activities. It is basically a condition wherein, all the major parts of the body, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bones and muscles are in proper working condition. There are four aspects related to physical fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance and flexibil ity. Fitness programs are the path to having a healthy body. They are the perfect way to incorporate exercise into the daily routine. Fitness programs, when followed religiously, are a remarkable way to counter several diseases, even in old age. Fitness programs need a lot of commitment and hard work.

There are several stages in incorporating a fitness program into your daily routine. The first thing is to check your present health condition to determine what kind of a program would suit you. This re quires a basic health check up of blood pressure, diabetes-check, and a full work over for any suspected diseases, and past injuries. Also, consider your family history. Are you prone to heart attacks, strokes, arthritis, and other ailments? A major aspect in physical fitness is the body?s composition, which indicates the makeup of the body in terms of the ratio of lean mass to fat mass. Lean mass is comprised of muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs. Fat is fat.

Fitness programs take all these phys ical conditions of the person into account. The ideal exercise regime for a person will suit his/her body type. This is also contingent upon one?s objective be it weight loss, physical strength, or others. Fitness programs are composed of several kinds of activities such as: aerobics, aquatic exercises, golf, walking, skipping, jogging, swimming, bicycling, running, skiing, or playing sports like tennis and squash.

Fitness program should be chosen to suit your fitness level. They should be enjoyable , with realistic goals, and should fit well with your lifestyle. Some people may not see immediate results. Depending on the program as well as their body type results may vary. However, patience is very important. Choosing more than one type of exercise would also make it interesting. You can opt for an instructor for special kinds of fitness programs or for group fitness programs. People with disabilities need to follow fitness programs consistently.

There are many professional fitness centers that have sophisticated equipment to suit all kinds of people and their fitness needs. These centers have professionals and medical specialists who would be able to offer advice about the best kind of fitness program to take up. They provide customized workout routines, nutrition plans, personal trainers, and expert guidance to make the results last