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There are two chemical classes of anabolic steroids.

Despite the amount of media-bashing steroids have received over the years, it may surprise you to learn that steroids do have a number of legitimate medical uses. In males testicular cancer often requires the removal of the testes. After surgery, these men are often prescribed anabolic steroids to replace the testosterone that their bodies are no longer able to synthesize. This form of replacement therapy helps preserve the men’s musculature as well as such secondary sex characteristics as body hair, deep voice, and sex drive.

Adolescent males with pituitary problems can also be treated with anabolic steroids when they reach the appropriate age for puberty. The steroids are usually given for four to six months to initiate the growth spurt and development of secondary sex characteristics.

After certain kinds of surgery and cancer, most patients experience a loss of muscle tissue. Anabolic steroids can be used in such cases, with exercise and diet, to promote the regaining of lean muscle tissue.

Steroids effects, and anabolic steroid information There is research currently being conducted on anabolic steroids to see if one day they may be used as male oral contraceptive. Unfortunately the amount of negative press that steroids have received over the past number of years severely hampers this promising area of research.
Steroids effects, and anabolic steroid information will determine your decision on which types of anabolic you would be most likely to use.

Once the muscle-building properties of steroids became known, it was not long before athletes began experimenting in an attempt to get bigger and stronger. At first use was limited to weight lifters and bodybuilders, but it was not long before they made inroads into such other power sports as football, track and field, and power lifting.

Steroids effects and Anabolic Steroid information. Athletes are alleged to have been using steroids in the early 1930’s. In 1931 four Swedish Olympic athletes admitted to using the drug, Rejuven as a training aid. Rejuven was a German manufactured drug that contained the anabolic agent testosterone (derived from a natural source). Athletes were not aware that they were taking an anabolic steroid at the time. There were no rules against anabolic steroid use, because anabolic steroids as a class of drugs did not exist. The use of Rejuven in sports appears to have been an isolated incident. Clinical studies associating these drugs with anabolic effects first led to the suggestion in 1939 that anabolic steroids had potential for improving athletic performance. It seemed Steroids effects, and anabolic steroid information was getting very popular.

In 1954, Dr John Zeigler, was team physician to the American weightlifting team competing in Vienna. He was told that Soviet weightlifters were receiving Steroids to boost their performance. It was apparent to Ziegler that the Soviets were using steroids on their female athletes as well. Because steroids have masculinizing effects, it became difficult at times to identify an athlete’s gender.

The first steroid use among athletes in North America was probably in California. In 1958, successful bodybuilder, Bill Pearl (Mr. America, Mr. Universe), was told by Arthur Jones (inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines) about a new “chemical” that the Soviets were using. This aroused his curiosity and he began to do research on his own. At the University of California, a veterinarian informed Pearl about the anabolic steroid, Nilivar. This drug was used to promote strength and growth in cattle. Pearl took this drug for three months and gained 25 pounds of muscle mass. He also experienced a dramatic increase in strength. Steroids effects, and anabolic steroid information was beginning to cause some of the most dramatic changes of the decade.

In North America the first medically supervised studies of anabolic steroids and their effects on athletic performance, were carried out by Ziegler in California, in 1959. The drug used was Dianabol, and subjects reported tremendous gains in strength and size while using the steroid. Ziegler found that when he substituted a placebo (a medically non-active substance) for the drug, athletes reported the same results. He terminated the study when he learned that some of the athletes were taking up to 20 times the recommended dosage.

© Bob Howard 2006 Article 02/01 2006

steroids effects, anabolic steroid information

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With the return of warm weather in the spring, thoughts can never be too far behind of the approaching summer and the many wonderful outdoor activities that we’ll often associate with it and among our top favorite summertime activities will always be the trip to the beach. Warm blue skies, refreshing ocean breezes, hot sand, cool waves and the many attempts at constructing the perfect sand castle; you can swear you’re almost there just thinking of it. But that mental image just wouldn’t be complete without also including images of hard, bronze bodies in attractive swimsuits soaking up the sun. Let’s face it, attractive physiques will always be a top draw at the beach and the abs, or midsection, is the first thing that everyone notices.

But showing off beach body caliber abs certainly don’t come easy. Successful ab training is a combination of a healthy, lean diet, consistent cardio work, and a comprehensive abdominal training plan. While all of that may sound daunting, it is certainly within your ability to attain a chiseled midsection that other beach goers will positively ogle at, and you certainly still have enough time to do so. This article will provide you with the steps you’ll need to take to help you look your beach-body best.

Diet

The first thing you’re going to have to change will be your diet. It goes without saying that even if you had the best abs in the world, it will still look pretty ordinary if a layer of bodyfat covers it. Diet plays a crucial role in defining your midsection so some modifications will be required in order for your body to look it’s best. To begin with, get into the habit of using a diet log to keep track of your meals. Everyone is less likely to cheat when they know they have to write down everything they’ve eaten each day. An elaborate journal isn’t necessary either; a simple notepad can work just fine. Also, begin switching to six small meals a day now instead of three larger ones to help rev up your metabolism as well as prevent the stretching of the stomach and the abdominal walls which occurs when one gorges themselves in food.

Next, you’ll want to start creating a slight caloric deficit each day to help burn away the bodyfat. It is recommended that you work on losing only a pound or two, a week, of bodyfat. The weekly loss of any more weight than this, for the typical person, probably includes substantial amounts of water weight and muscle tissue and can wreck havoc on your metabolism. Remember, it’s the bodyfat that’s covering your abs that you’ll want to lose so a good rule of thumb is to cut back your daily energy requirements by only around 500 calories a day.

Now if you’re not sure what your daily energy requirements are for your current bodyweight (or the amount of calories you will have to consume each day to stay at your current weight), you can use this easy-to-remember formula as a guide. To estimate your daily total caloric needs, multiply 24 times 1.0 (if you’re a man) or 0.9 (if you’re a woman) by each kilogram of bodyweight you weigh. Then multiply that result by 1.7 (for a moderately active man) or 1.6 (for a moderately active woman).

(Men) 1.7 x 24 x 1.0 x bodyweight (in kg)

(Women) 1.6 x 24 x 0.9 x bodyweight (in kg)

To determine how many kilograms you weigh, divide your bodyweight in pounds by 2.2. Remember though that this formula is only a guide. It is highly recommended that you use the formula as a starting point, and then pay close attention to your body in order to fine-tune your calories according to how your body responds to your efforts. Look at your body in a mirror, if it doesn’t appear (or feel) as if your body is losing any weight after a week or two, then reduce the amount of calories you ingest even more.

Cardio

You’ll next want to start including cardio (aerobic exercises) into your weekly routine. There are few short-term options that can burn calories and strip away the bodyfat better than sessions of aerobic activities. It is no coincidence that even top-level bodybuilders will steadily increase their cardio workouts as a contest approaches to help really bring out their muscle definition. Begin by working out 3-4 times per week for 20 to 30 minutes at a time on a treadmill or a stationary exercise bike. Then work your way up to more intense sessions of at least moderate intensity for 45 minutes or longer by weeks 3 and 4. The last few weeks before you hit the beach, you’ll want to include interval training into your routine to really help blast away the last few pounds of bodyfat.

Exercise

Spot-reducing your way to abdominal definition is a myth. It is impossible to localize fat loss over any one specific area of your body and is the reason why it is important for you to also watch your diet and include aerobic training if you truly wish to showcase some beach-body abs. But the inclusion of some solid abdominal training is still important for great abs. Strengthening the abdominal wall will tone and help reduce, if not prevent, any unnecessary sagging of the belly. Also, abdominal workouts will certainly develop the muscles of the ab (particularly the rectus abdominus and the external obliques) and enable them to easily become more visible, sharper and tight.

While there are literally hundreds of abdominal exercises to choose from, it is important that several considerations are first kept in mind before performing any of them. First, it is strongly recommended that you learn how to focus on feeling the contraction of your abs when exercising and really squeeze the muscle at the top of any rep. There are many individuals out there who lay claim to performing several hundred sit-ups per day, but it is the quality that counts here and not necessarily the quantity. Become more efficient when performing your abdominal exercises and allow the muscle do the work and do not use the mechanical involvement of other bodyparts or even momentum to help swing the body in order to complete any reps. Additionally, make sure that you maintain continuous tension while performing your reps and never allow your body to rest at the bottom of a movement. Finally, be sure to breathe in during the relaxation phase of your movements and exhale during the contraction phase of the reps.

Having now prepared yourself, choose three exercises to perform for your abs and complete 2 sets, of 15 – 20 reps on each exercise, three times a week. Once again, focus on squeezing the muscle at the top of the movement and go in a slow, deliberate manner during each repetition. Recommended abdominal exercises for beginners during their first week would be crunches (with legs supported on a bench), seated twists, and knee-ups or lying leg raises. As the next few weeks progresses and your conditioning improves, you will need to increase the intensity factor for the abs to really shine. Begin by increasing the number of sets of each exercise from two to three and then add additional, more advanced, movements to allow for up to five exercises for your abs. Recommended abdominal exercises during this stage could include reverse crunches, crunches on an incline board, vertical leg raises, medicine-ball twists and decline-bench twisting crunches. You literally have from hundreds of movements to choose from. During the last two weeks before you hit the beach, begin cutting back on the rest time between your sets and also start to include supersets of your exercises in which you complete one set of each exercise without stop.

While there are still other factors that could be included for consideration of your ab training, consistently eating a lean diet, performing cardio work and exercising your abs with sufficient intensity will always remain at its core. Put in the work on those three tenets of abdominal development and you’ll be sure to possess a beach-body that will look great in a bathing suit and absolutely turn heads this summer!

About The Author

Nathan Boyd is author of the highly rated ebook, “The Fitness Lifestyle” and the current Director of Pro Fitness of Texas. Nathan encourages everyone in their pursuit of becoming physically fit and maintaining it for a lifetime. All questions and comments are always welcomed!

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Repetitions are the basic building blocks of any strength or muscle building program but it is something that many lifters take for granted. How often do you see people at the gym speed through their reps, breathe haphazardly or fail to complete each rep correctly from a technical perspective? There is much more to the simple rep than meets the eye.

The first thing to note is that a repetition consists of three elements - namely lower, pause and lift. The speed at which this is achieved depends on the desired outcome, but to maximize muscle growth a slow, controlled tempo is required. The process should never be rushed, jerky or bouncy but instead should be controlled and smooth.

The second consideration relates to how many reps need to be performed. Once again, this depends on what you hope to achieve but you can use the following as a basic rule of thumb:

1. A single repetition maximum (1RM) increases muscle strength.

2. A six to eight repetition maximum increases muscle size.

3. A higher number of repetitions will have more effect on muscle endurance and little impact on size or strength.

Your aim therefore should be to complete six to eight reps of a load equivalent to 75-80% of your 1RM. This will maximize your muscle building potential, provided you complete each lift with perfect form in a smooth controlled manner.

Rick Mitchell has written numerous articles aimed at helping athletes, from beginners to advanced, understand how to build muscle and increase strength. He has also developed several supporting web resources including Muscle Building Tips

Hamstring tears are very common soccer injuries. A study in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports shows that preseason strength training helps to prevent injuries to these muscles in the back of the upper legs (Volume 13, Issue 4, 2003). Players from two of the best soccer teams in Sweden were divided into two groups. One group received specific hamstring training of 10 weeks of twice a week, using a special device to overload the hamstrings eccentrically. The trained group had less than one third the hamstring injuries of the untrained group, and also had greater improvement in hamstring strength and running speed.

The findings of this study should encourage preseason strength training for other muscle groups stressed in any sports. While stretching can make muscles longer to exert a greater torque on joints, it has not been shown to prevent injuries. Muscles are injured because the force on them is greater than their inherent strength, so they tear. Resistance training makes muscles stronger so that they can withstand greater forces and therefore helps to prevent injuries.

You can help to prevent injuries by stopping exercise when you feel pain and by not exercising intensely when your muscles feel heavy or sore.

Muscles are made up of millions of individual fibers. When you first contact a muscle, you use only one percent of the fibers. As you continue to exercise, you contract more fibers, which share the load, place less force on each fiber and help prevent injuries. So go slow before you go fast. When you feel pain in one muscle during exercise, that’s a signal that it may be starting to tear and you should stop exercising. Every time that you exercise intensely, your muscles are damaged, causing them to feel sore on the next day. Exercising intensely when muscles feel sore injures them. So do not exercise intensely when muscle feel sore. It usually takes at least 48 hours for muscles to recover from hard exercise.

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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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“Do I need supplements to gain muscles fast?”, “What supplementations are needed for body building beginners?”, “Are the nutrients from my daily meals enough for me to gain bigger muscles fast?”

All body building beginners must have asked themselves these questions. You are reading this article because you would have probably asked these questions yourself.

The answer to these supplementation questions is an affirmative yes. Body building supplements are necessary if you want gain bigger muscles faster. This is because various supplements have their own benefits and they work together complementing each other to support muscle mass gain. You will probably not be getting enough of them through your normal meals and that is the primary reason why you need supplementation.

Since there are so many body building supplements in out there, choosing the correct and effective supplementation to gain muscles fast is a daunting task for a body building beginner.

Well, your anxiety will be solved in this article. As a body building beginner, you need only the basic supplementations to gain muscles effectively. You may need some other supplements when you are at the intermediate or advanced stages of body building.

So what are the basic supplementation to help a beginner to gain muscle mass?

•Protein Supplements – Without protein, you will never gain muscles. Protein is the fundamental supplement for every bodybuilder. You need 1 gram of protein for every pound of your bodyweight per day to faster gain bigger muscles. This is a lot of protein and most people will never get enough of protein from their meals.

•Creatine Supplements - Creatine can significantly increase muscle volume along with protein. It will also improve your weightlifting performances and raise your energy levels so that your workouts are more intensive and this provides for greater muscle gain.

•Glutamine Supplements – Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid, which makes up to 60% of the amino acids in the muscles. Glutamine helps in your muscle recovery after your workouts and also prevents muscle lost due to muscle catabolism.

•Multi Vitamins / Minerals Supplement – Your muscles need many vitamins and minerals for every stage of its function and recovery. Some vitamins and minerals are antioxidants and will also help in protecting muscle waste, help in muscle recovery and mopping up free radicals after your muscles are stressed out and damaged during your gym workouts.

As a bodybuilding beginner, these are the only supplementation you will need to help you gain bigger muscles fast.

Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders’ training regimes.

It is useful, therefore, to describe in detail the processes involved in actually doing these exercises. This will help beginners to start out using the correct techniques before moving on to potentially more dangerous heavy weights. If it also helps more experienced lifters to redress some of the little faults that have almost imperceptibly crept in over the years, all the better.

In this article we’ll take a close look at the crunch.

MUSCLES TARGETED: rectus abdominis

STARTING POSITION

Assume a supine position on the floor.
Place the calves and ankles on a bench with the hips and knees flexed to roughly 90 degrees.
Fold the arms across the chest.

UPWARD MOVEMENT

Flex the neck to move the chin to the chest.
Curl the torso toward the thighs until ONLY the upper back is off the mat.

DOWNWARD MOVEMENT

Allow the torso to uncurl, then the neck to extend back to the starting position.
Repeat or finish set.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Exercises to learn more about the issues covered in this article.