Michele Maroldo

Call it what you will but it all adds up to the same desire.  I can’t tell you how often a guy will tell me he wants to “put on size” and it’s just not happening.  Without all the hull-a-ba-loo I will give you my take on this ever popular quest.

There are so many variables that will determine the outcome of your goals.  Examples of such variables could be listed as:  Age, Metabolism, Body Weight, Body Fat/Muscle ratio, Training, and Diet.  I will say that for the most part, the guys having trouble “putting on size” are the ones with the higher metabolism.  If you’re reading these blogs, you must know by now that one of the main elements of gaining size is eating.  Now, for a person with a higher metabolism they are eating, and eating, and eating all day but their bodies are blessed (or not) with the ability to immediately burn off everything they eat.  They are high-strung people, always on the go, and usually tall and lean by nature.  So my advice in the nutrition department would be to continue eating much and often.  Meals should include fats, that’s right, fats.  The beauty of fats is that they equal strength and of course, strength equals size, muscular size.  Before I continue I should stress now that you must decide whether or not you are afraid to “gain a little fat” along with your new-found muscle mass.  To me the trade off is a no-brainer.  You can always get rid of that little extra fat you may gain in your bulking phase but if done properly, you will not lose the new muscle you have gained as well.  Read the rest of this entry »

You need to exercise and work out but you just don’t have the time to leave the house and drive to a gym to get in a thirty minute work out.  Why not stay home and exercise?  There are plenty of things you can do at home to get in a good work out in a short amount of time.

If money is not an issue and you have available space in your home you can invest in a universal type of exercise equipment.  Examples of these would be a Bowflex, Soloflex, or similar type apparatus in which you can train your entire body with one machine.  Another option is to purchase a set of dumbbells at a local department store and use them to target each muscle group.  And last but not least, you can always substitute dumbbells by using cans of food or by filling up empty milk gallon containers with water or sand.  Use these as you would dumbbells and you can effectively train each muscle group.  Furniture also comes in handy as an apparatus.  Use a chair or a bench, even a bed as place to lean or lay on while using dumbbells or a dumbbell substitute.

For cardiovascular training, you can run in place, do jumping jacks, or go for a walk outside.  You can also purchase an aerobic video or DVD that you can do at home.  Again, if money is not an issue and you have available space, consider purchasing a stationary bicycle or treadmill.  These provide an excellent way to get your aerobic exercise done.

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If dieting seems easy at first and slowly becomes more and more difficult, you may have reached the “dieting doldrums”. Learn how to stay on your weight loss track and avoid the common dieting pitfalls.

Each year millions of Americans begin some sort of weight loss program in an attempt to lose weight. While some may prove to be successful, a mere 20% will be able to maintain their loss. And to make matters worse, some will have regained all the weight they’ve lost plus additional weight leaving them fatter.

Losing weight is a tough battle in and of itself but keeping it off is even tougher. Here are 7 tips and tricks to combat the known pitfalls that can sabatoge your weight loss goal and help you successfully lose the weight and keep it off.

1) Scrap Your Scale: If you must weigh yourself, limit it to once a month or once a week if necessary. There may be meals that contain more salt than others and you may be carrying more water weight that day. Your body may be in a neutral mode and not be showing a loss that day. Whatever the case may be, weighing yourself every day can wreak havoc with your mind. You may become so depressed and angry that you immediately run to the kitchen and start consuming the first thing you get your hands on and it will almost always be the seven-layer chocolate cake you’ve hidden in the freezer for a special occasion. I’ve had clients who have weighed themselves every day, one girl weighed herself every hour! While that may be an obsessive person with a borderline eating disorder, we all need to be careful not to obsess about the numbers on the scale. Add to the fact that if you’re weight training as part of a weight loss program, muscle weighs more than fat and so the scale may be deceiving you.

2) Progress Past a Plateau: If you’ve reached a plateau and you find that you’ve stopped losing weight after weeks of dieting, don’t get discouraged and give up, you may just need a change in your routine. I like to refer to this as “shock training”. If you’re just dieting and not exercising, add some form of aerobic and/or weight training to your regime. If you have been exercising try changing your exercise routine, add more aerobic training or change the type of aerobic training you are currently doing. You may also need to make a change in what you’re eating. The idea is to shock your body by doing something out of your normal routine and then it will get back on the weight loss track. Read the rest of this entry »