Read Mike’s great article on bodyweight squats:

Bodyweight Squats Muscular Endurance Challenge

Hey there, it’s Mike from TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com

I told you last week that I’d be sending you out a training challenge this week. Well, here it is. I challenge you to try to beat my results at this little 5-minute routine. You’ll see my results below.

I’m sure if you’ve been reading my info for some time that you know I like to get creative in the training routines that I recommend trying. I think trying different training styles and routines keeps things more interesting and can be motivating if you set specific goals for certain exercises.

Tip! Egos: In many ways most people allow their egos to defeat them and get in the way of the full potential. You might not get this but, bodybuilding is not about you! Lose it, or keep on losing in life.

In fact, if you didn’t already see it, one of my unique training ideas was recently featured in the popular international magazine, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Jul/Aug issue pg. 18.

So my boredom buster this week is something I just thought up recently. I set a challenge with a couple of my training partners at my gym to see who could do the most repetitions of bodyweight squats in 5 minutes. I will qualify that these are meant to be full squats all the way down to thighs parallel with the ground, not the little “half way down” squats that you see so many people doing.

You basically just keep squatting for as many reps as possible in 5-min. You only rest a couple times here and there for a few seconds if you need it to help you keep squatting.

I liked this idea because I thought it would be drastically different from the normal 3 sets of 10, 5 sets of 5, 7 sets of 3, and so on. No matter how you break it down with weighted squats, you’re usually in the range of 20-40 total repetitions in a given workout.

However, with max repetition bodyweight squats in 5-minutes, your numbers easily can get up to well over 100 reps. Let me tell you… even though you’re not squatting heavy weights with this unique training style, the high volume of repetitions really pumps your legs and gets you dripping with sweat. Also, if you’re not used to this high volume, your legs will be in for some deep soreness for about 2-3 days afterwards.

So the results? Well, in my first attempt at 5-minute squats, I pumped out 157 reps. About a week later, I tried it again, and beat my 1st number by repping 163 squats. Then the following week, I once again beat my former scores by blasting through 169 squats.

I’ve set the goal that I’d like to get up to 200 squats within the 5-minute time frame. Considering that you have 300 seconds in 5-minutes, I figured 200 reps might be about at the maximum possible capacity as you really need to be repping quickly to do 200 parallel squats in 300 seconds.

Bodybuilding Done Right. Busy Man Fitness

For example, this muscular endurance goal of 200 squats in 5-minutes is on the totally opposite end of the spectrum when compared to a different goal that I trained for last year when I was training in a pure strength mode working up to a 405-lb deadlift. Changing things up like this and training for wildly different goals at different times can really help keep you interested in your workouts.

Alright, so go ahead and give this little 5-minute squat challenge a try (remember full squats, no halvsies).

Update: several weeks after running this article, I ended up beating my goal of 200 bodyweight squats in 5 minutes by pumping out 214 reps! Oh my, the burn!!

Good luck!

Feel free to forward this link to any friends, training partners, or family that you think might want to try this training challenge.

About the Author:  Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Founder – TruthAboutAbs.com & BusyManFitness.com

Is there a way to get a muscle building effect with cardio? Recent research says “yes” you can build muscle with interval training. This shocking research study goes against the grain of every major bodybuilding concept that you have ever heard but now you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Most people always thought that weight lifting builds muscle and cardio workouts burn fat. While that is partially true, why not build muscle and burn fat with the same exercise?

Most people typically fail because they are performing slow and steady cardio. Not only is slow and steady cardio boring but as I explain in The Physique Formula, this type of workout actually shuts off your anabolic natural muscle building hormones that cause you to build muscle and lose stomach fat. This is why most people struggle to lose those last five pounds of fat that are stuck on your lower abs, glutes and hamstrings.

Don’t think that you have get on the treadmill or bike to do muscle building cardio like recent research has shown. Not at all, you can actually get the same effect during your workouts and they don’t even need to be workouts in the gym. Tabatas are a method of training that have been shown to accelerate the fat lose process faster than typical interval training and almost double the fat loss of steady state cardio.

Here’s how to get the muscle building cardio effects by using tabatas in your workout.

-Pick a compound full body exercise like the bench press, squat, deadlift, chin-ups, dumbbell shoulder press, dips or lunges.

-Pick a weight that you can do for 15-20 reps.

-Perform as many reps as you can in 20 seconds.

-Rest for 10 seconds.

-Perform another round of as many reps as possible for 20 seconds.

-Rest for another 10 seconds.

-Repeat another round for the final 20 seconds then rest another 10 seconds.

-Perform this type of tabata set for another 2 sets.

-Select 3 other full body exercises (2 for the upper body and 2 for the lower) and perform the same amount of sets.

Record the weight used and the reps done because next time you train you are going to get a better muscle building cardio effect because you’ll do more reps with the same weight.

Discover the quickest way to build muscle and burn fat with a sample bodyweight workout routine. Jimmy Smith, MS,CSCS is a Men’s Fitness muscle building expert.

Only ultra-endurance athletes come close in terms of low body fat levels, but endurance athletes like triathaletes and marathoners often get lean at the expense of chewing up much of their lean muscle.”

There seems to be a contradiction unless I’m missing something. Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week ‘transformation’ prior to every event instead of staying ‘lean and mean’ all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, shouldn’t be staying in great shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event?”

ANSWER: Thanks for your question. There’s a logical explanation for why bodybuilders and other physique athletes (fitness and figure competitors), don’t remain completely ripped all year round, and it’s the very reason they are able to get so ripped on the day of a contest…

You can’t hold a peak forever or it’s not a “peak”, right? What is the definition of a peak? It’s a high point surrounded by two lower points isn’t it? Therefore, any shape you can stay in all year round is NOT your “peak” condition.

The intelligent approach to nutrition and training (which almost all bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors use), is to train and diet in a seasonal or cyclical fashion and build up to a peak, then ease off to a maintenance or growth phase.

I am NOT talking about bulking up and getting fat and out of shape every year, then dieting it all off every year. What I’m talking about is going from good shape to great shape, then easing back off to good shape…. but never getting “out of shape.”

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Here’s an example: I have no intentions whatsoever of walking around 365 days a year at 4% body fat like I appear in the photo on my website. Truth be told, that is day of contest condition.

Off-season (when I’m not competing), my body fat is usually between 8 – 10%. Mind you, that’s very lean and still single digit body fat.I don’t stray too far from competition shape, but I don’t maintain contest shape all the time. It takes me about 10-12 weeks or so to gradually drop from 9% to 3.5%-4.0% body fat to “peak” for competition with NO loss of lean body mass, using the same techniques I reveal in my e-book.

It would be almost impossible to maintain 4% body fat, and even if I could, why would I want to? For the few weeks prior to competition I’m so depleted, ripped, and even “drawn” in the face, that complete strangers walk up and offer to feed me.

Okay, so I’m just kidding about that, but let’s just say being “being ripped to shreds” isn’t a desirable condition to maintain because it takes such a monumental effort to stay there.

It’s probably not even healthy to try forcing yourself to hold extreme low body fat. Unless you’re a natural “ectomorph” (skinny, fast metabolism body type), your body will fight you and you’ll always be hungry.

Not only that, anabolic hormones may drop and sometimes your immune system is affected as well (and I hate to say this, but sometimes – for some people – even the, uh… “reproductive functions”… decline a bit when you’re that lean).

Hey, I’m just being honest. It’s just not “normal” to walk around all the time with literally NO subcutaneous body fat.

Instead of attempting to hold the peak, I cycle back into a less demanding off-season program and avoid creeping beyond 9.9% body fat. Some years I’ve stayed leaner – like 6-7%, (which takes effort), especially when I knew I would be photographed, but I don’t let my body fat go over 10%. Thats “the line” I draw – it’s like a personal “rule” for me.

This practice isn’t just restricted to bodybuilders. Athletes in all sports use periodization to build themselves up to their best shape for competition.

Is a pro football player in the same condition in March-April as he is in August-September? Probably not. Many show up fat and out of shape (relatively speaking) for training camp, others just need fine tuning, but none are in peak form… that’s why they have training camp!!!

There’s another reason you wouldn’t want to maintain a “ripped to shreds” physique all year round – you’d have to be dieting (calorie restricted) all the time. And this is one of the reasons that 95% of people can’t lose weight and keep it off – they are CHRONIC dieters… always on some type of diet. Know anyone like that?

You can’t stay on restricted low calories indefinitely. Sooner or later your metabolism slows down and you plateau as your body adapts to the chronically lowered food intake and reduced body weight.

But if you diet for fat loss and push incredibly hard for 3 months, then ease off for a while and eat a little more (healthy food, not “pigging out”), your metabolic rate is re-stimulated.

In a few weeks or months, you can return to another fat loss phase and reach an even lower body fat level, until you finally reach the point that’s your happy maintenance level for life – a level that is healthy and realistic – as well as visually appealing.

That’s how we physique athletes do it…

Bodybuilders have discovered a methodology for losing fat that’s so effective, it puts them in complete control of their body composition. They’ve mastered this area of their lives and will never have to worry about it again.

If they ever “slip” and fall off the wagon like all humans do at times … no problem! They know how to get back into shape fast.

Bodybuilders have the tools and knowledge to hold a low body fat all year round(such as 9% for men, or about 15% for women), and then at a whim, to reach a temporary “peak” of extremely low body fat for the purpose of competition.

Maybe most important of all, they have the power and control to slowly ease back from peak shape into maintenance, and not balloon up and yo-yo like most conventional dieters.

What if you had the power to stay lean all year round, and then get super lean when summer rolled around, or when you took your vacation to the Caribbean, or when your wedding date was coming up?

Wouldn’t you like to be in control of your body like that? Isn’t that the same thing that bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors do, only on a more practical, real-world level?

So even if you have no intention of ever being a bodybuilder, don’t you agree that there’s something of value everyone could learn from physique athletes?

Don’t model yourself after the huge crowd of “losers” who gobble diet pills, buy exercise gimmicks and suffer through starvation diets like automatons, only to gain back everything they lost! Instead, learn from the leanest athletes on Earth – natural bodybuilders and fitness competitors…

These physique athletes get as ripped as they want to be, exactly when they want to, simply by manipulating their diets in a cyclical fashion between pre-contest “cutting” programs and off season “maintenance” or “muscle growth” programs.

Even if you have no desire to ever compete, try this seasonal “peaking” approach yourself and you’ll see that it can work as well for you as it does for elite bodybuilders.

For more information about Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, the “longevity lifestyle with more muscle,” click here.
About The Author
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting www.burnthefat.com

Tip! Ashamed to ask for help: The smartest thing I did when I was first started bodybuilding and competing was to ask for help. Knowledge is power when you adapt it to your personality.

Bodybuilding enthusiasts and athletes looking to gain an inside competitive advantage constantly battle with the temptation to take steroids or not. Deciding to body build naturally is much better than taking the steroid route. There are a number of good reasons to support this statement.

First off, have you ever seen what happens to a bodybuilder when they go off muscle enhancing anabolic steroids? Two words that muscle building enthusiasts never want to hear, atrophy (get small), and strength lose. The fact is a steroid induced bodybuilder should not stay on steroids day in and day out for years on end. It is suggested to cycle your administration, say, 6-10 weeks at a time, and then go off for an extended period of time before starting again. Weeks following going off tend to equal muscle atrophy, decreased strength, and even depression.

Natural bodybuilding may not elicit that huge, rapid spike in muscle growth in a super short time, but illustrate a long term, stable growth curve. It may take longer to develop muscle strength and size, but when you have it, you have it as long as you keep training at an intense level. However, as witnessed many times by former steroid users, a rapid shrink in size and strength occur to levels sometimes below the natural bodybuilders production. How much fun is that?

Tip! Feed the Spirit! Bodybuilding Champions understand the mind is their biggest competitor and the heart is their biggest asset. If you kill your spirit or passion for the sport, you have lost the main purpose for your efforts.

Take, for instance, a professional baseball player who administers generous amounts of steroids one year and hits 58 home runs, but is only able to hit 16 during his next, steroid free season.

Since we all want instant results, steroids may be attractive, but the medical side effects don’t quite seem worth it.

Is adding ten pounds of muscle more important than increasing heart disease risk, cancer risk, or manipulating your natural hormonal balance? This question is only for you to answer, not me. In my opinion, the risks far outweigh the benefits which are only visible when you are taking steroids. Size and strength quickly decrease after ceasing steroid use.

Tip! More is not better! ? Bodybuilding Champions work smarter not harder. Efficiency and knowledge is the key to becoming a true champion.

Steroid users seem to have a greater risk of injury from the muscle tissue growing faster than the, trying to adapt, connective tissue. The workloads are more aggressive, more frequent, and with faster muscle building recovery times. Once again, do you want the injury prone “quick fix,” or the slow, but steady wins the race approach? Just remember, the natural bodybuilder will probably show better results compared to the steroid user who has not used steroids in years. Are all the health risks worth it?

Anabolic steroids are illegal if not administered by a physician. I known people who have died, and even been thrown in jail for using, and selling anabolic steroids. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

There can also be a sense of addiction for the non-natural
bodybuilders. The performance enhancing, drug user gets a very good feeling when their bodies are pumped up and buff. However, the opposite happens when they stop the steroids, and the muscle shrinking process begins. Imagine the feeling these athletes get. Their body image quickly erodes, and thoughts of the next muscle producing cycle are rolling around in their heads.

Aside from the health, and legal risks, it also costs quite a bit of money to take muscle enhancing drugs.

Tip! Never forget where you come from! ? Bodybuilding Champions never forget what the sport has taught them, where they have been or who has helped them along the way. Bodybuilding and life share the same principles: what you gain inside is more valuable than anything physical.

Hopefully, I convinced you to not take the performance enhancing pathway, but to use your resources, and energy into training smarter. If you are a natural bodybuilder, and want an advantage, you must train in an intelligent manner. That means providing the proper intensity of muscle producing stimulus, followed by adequate rest. The natural bodybuilder must pay extra close attention to sound training practices, in order to continue that gradual, continuous climb up the muscle development ladder.

Just remember to be patient and think long term results, not quick, short term, hi-risk muscular development. If you make a chart listing all the positives versus the negatives when it comes to natural bodybuilding versus steroid induced training, the natural bodybuilding positives far outweigh the drug induced positives. Therefore, in my eyes, natural bodybuilding is a much better training system than anabolic induced bodybuilding.

Optimum Anabolics Bodybuilding Program Top converting natural bodybuilding and fat loss program for 6 years now comes to ClickBank. Promo tools @ www. musclenerdfitness. html.

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Truly Huge Bodybuilding Book. The Secrets To Gaining Muscle Mass Revealed.

Jim O’Connor- Exercise Physiologist

Quick And Easy Bodybuilding Guide.

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Jim O’Connor, a Beverly Hills Exercise Physiologist, and former
competitive bodybuilder, is passionate about promoting natural
bodybuilding. He actively teaches bodybuilders how get
steroid like results through his website
Natural Bodybuilding Info.

When you are seriously body building, proportion is so important.  Many people overlook their calf muscles because they are so small.  More often than not, the calf muscles are difficult to notice as well.  But, the calves are just as important as any other muscle in your body.  Don’t neglect those calf muscles and work them to their fullest potential.  Use wide and narrow stances when lifting to hone the calf muscles.

Many people want to develop their deltoid muscles because they are one of the most prominent muscle groups on the body.  The delts are in your shoulder area and can make you look proportionally fit and trim.  Doing lateral raises can work your delts to new heights, but do these raises leaning slightly forward.  It’s normal to want to try and lean a bit backward, but if you do this, you won’t be working this muscle group fully.

If you really want to grow some strong muscle mass, you will need some type of a supplement.  Most often, you will get the best results from a protein supplement.  These help bring the necessary energy into the body that you will need for some strong, intense, and prolonged workout sessions.

It’s a good idea to work with a training partner during your body building workout.  A partner can provide motivation as well as tips and advice to help you maximize your training and concentrate on your goals.  They can also push you beyond what you feel your limits are and make you work harder than you could on your own.

Nutrition is very important to a body builder.  Probably the best body building tip we can offer up is to stay very hydrated and eat well.  Instead of three big meals a day, eat 5 or 6 smaller ones that are well-balanced and filled with protein and carbohydrates.  The carbs will provide you with energy and the protein will contribute to your body building power.

It is always wise to remain wide open to help and advice when first setting out on a body building program.  Many people love to share what they have learned through experience and the hard school of knocks.  Body building tips abound, so keep those ears pricked and mind open.  Listen to the help being given and take advantage of all the free help you can find!