Here is a full body workout that will get every muscle in your body working and tone you up…
Here is the basic rundown
Complete each exercise 1 minute on and then rest one minute before moving onto the next exercise.
Take 2-3 minutes break when you finish all the exercises and then repeat again and again. Advanced will be able to complete + 3 rounds in 45-60 minutes… ENJOY : )

GSP is the greatest fighter of all time in my opinion. He trains separately in several different martial arts and embodies the true essence of a mixed martial artist by synergizing them all together when he fights. If you watch him you will understand and see that he uses his skill, he doesn’t fight like a brawler that just throws haymakers.

Here is a video of one of the best fighters of all time : FEDOR.
His fights, discipline and dedication to training should all of us to train harder !!! Enjoy

Here is a video of a few variations you can try with your hanging leg raises to build up your lower abs and also grip strength. To improve with hanging leg raises you really need to practice them as much as possible.
If you cant do them hanging, you can try doing them on a roman chair or using ab slings so you don’t have to grip and hold yourself up. If you don’t understand what i mean ask me when your at training next and I will show you guys what i mean at the studio or at bootcamp.

Healthy High Calorie Foods To Gain Weight

Hardgainers typically find it difficult getting enough calories to gain weight and build muscle. The secret to consuming enough calories is to choose calorie dense foods. You have to be eating lots of high calorie foods and beverages or you will be fighting an uphill battle.

Gaining weight doesn’t have to be a struggle if you are eating the right kind of calories. This can be changed if you begin to analyze your daily diet plan to include more calorie dense foods. Let me explain more about calorie density.
What are High Density or Calorie Dense Foods

High density foods are foods which (measure by volume) contain a high number of calories per serving. Calorie dense foods tend to be high in fat and/or sugar due to the fact that all proteins and all carbohydrates contain four calories per gram whilst all fats contain nine calories per gram. Moreover, some foods are more “calorie concentrated” then others as they contain less water content etc. Let me explain.

Visualize two kitchen measuring cups side by side (both the same size); one filled with chopped cucumber and one filled with raisins. Each cup now contains exactly the same VOLUME of food, right? But did you know that the cup of raisins has 37 times more calories? That’s right! The cup of cucumbers contains 14 calories, while the cup of raisins contains a whopping 520 calories. If cucumbers and raisins both have four calories per gram, then how could this be? The answer has to do with calorie density. The cucumbers have a lower calorie density because they have a higher fiber and water content. The calories in the raisins are more “concentrated”.

Typical calorie dense foods include things like fatty meats, salami, candy bars, rice crackers, cookies, potato chips, anything which is fried, cola, beer (although there is low calorie beers on the market nowadays) and ice-cream. These are all examples of high calorie foods and drinks because they are high in sugar and/or fat.
When making adjustments to your weight gain diet plan to include more calories, do so in a healthy manner. Don’t just look to be consuming more calories, look at the nutrition value of foods. Let me give an example. We all know fruits and vegetables and nutritionally very good for us.

Fibrous carbohydrates and vegetables such as lettuce, asparagus, cucumber, and broccoli are very low calorie foods. This is because these vegetables are high in fiber and your body has a hard time absorbing the caloric content of fiber. These types of vegetables also have a high water content.

So now let’s look at some “calorie dense” foods which will help pack on the pounds. Leave the vegetables in the pantry if you want to gain weight, and replace them with simple carbohydrates such as fruits which have a higher calorie density. This is because simple carbs are more concentrated and they contain less fiber. Fruit juice is even more concentrated then eating the fruit itself. Instead of having the one medium size orange, which contains about 60 calories, drinking a glass of orange juice will serve you better as it contains about 160 calories. Fruit and fruit juice therefore make a great addition to a weight gain program.

Complex carbohydrates (starches) such as whole grains, pasta, cereals, beans, potatoes and rice also have higher calorie densities than fibrous carbs. A typical serving of pasta contains about 800-1000 calories. Pasta and other complex carbs are great foods for gaining weight.

Now that you know what carbs to eat, let’s talk about fat. There is a common misconception that all fats are bad for you and they should be removed from your diet. This is untrue, there are good and bad fats. Fats have a major impact on the calorie content of foods, so they are an important consideration. Just keep in mind that fat should consist of about 15-25% of your total calories. You want to be getting most of you calories from carbohydrates and protein.
I
n small amounts, unsaturated, “healthy” fats are not only good for you, but they can help you gain weight more quickly. Just one tablespoon of flaxseed oil and two tablespoons of peanut butter would add nearly 500 calories to your daily diet and you’d hardly notice that any extra food was added.

In addition, you can supplement your healthy diet with protein supplements. It is often difficult to eat enough protein each day from normal foods, so supplementing with a weight gain supplement such as a soy or whey protein shake can help increase overall caloric intake. You want to make sure the weight gain supplement is a good mix of both protein and carbs and doesn’t contain too much sugar.

For example, a post workout shake containing 40 grams of protein, 80 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of fat would provide almost 500 calories. If you wanted even more calories, you could mix the powder in juice instead of water and also add flaxseed oil.

So, let’s summarize your plan for quickly and easily adding more calories to your diet. Continue eating the same healthy foods, just eat more of them. Healthy high calorie snacks is a great way to increase calories. Replace low density foods with high density foods. You could eat salads all day until your face hurts, but it won’t do much good for weight gain.

Eat plenty of starchy carbs including whole grains, pastas, rice, and potatoes. Don’t be afraid of adding some fat to your diet, just ensure it’s no more then 15-25% of your total calories. Some of the “good” fats will actually help you to gain weight. Most importantly – just because you need to eat more calories doesn’t give you permission to stuff yourself with unhealthy foods.
by David on July 14, 2008 · 203 comments

How to Build Muscle – 5 Muscle Building Tips
If you have been trying to build muscle for any amount of time then you may have noticed that there is a load of conflicting information around, especially in magazines and online forums. The problem is that most people do not know the truth about building muscle and they may mean well but they are just repeating what they have read in muscle building magazines which most of the time is just not true.
Here are my top 5 muscle building tips that have been tried and tested. So forget what you have read and heard and learn the real way to get the right nutrition for building muscle now.

Muscle Building Tip No 1
Do enough reps the right way. Most people seem to think that the best way to build muscle is to spend all day in the gym doing a thousand reps. This is not true. The best way to use reps to gain lean pounds is to do them right. You should do them slowly and then hold the exercise at the peak position for around 5 or eight seconds at a time. This will really make you feel the burn and get your muscles working hard. make sure that you have good form too. You need to do the rep properly in the first place. Doing 20 good reps is better than doing 100 bad ones. It is a more effective use of your time and efforts working out.

Muscle Building Tip No 2
Have a protein drink or bar before or after a workout and not natural protein. Natural proteins are great for most of your day. For post workout sessions however you need to turn to artificial protein like whey protein powder or bars. This is because this is the fastest digesting and absorbing protein you can get. This is one of the best building muscle nutrition tips you can get. This is exactly what you need when you have just done a workout and your muscle need to grow and repair.

Muscle Building Tip No 3
Always make sure that you get enough rest into your schedule. You should have at least 7-8 hours sleep each night to allow your muscles some time to build and repair. This is just as important as working out itself and should not be ignored. If you do not get enough rest then you are doing more harm than good.

Muscle Building Tip No 4
Drink enough water. Water is really important to any kind of fitness regime and muscle building is no exception. Your muscles need water in order to work properly. Make sure that you keep yourself hydrated after a workout.

Muscle Building Tip No 5
Creatine is one of the few effective muscle building supplements backed with credible research. Creatine supplements help to improve your energy and performance and makes your muscles appear bigger by bringing extra water into muscle cells. They should be taken as a supplement and not be relied upon too heavily. They are meant to enhance your performance only and your body will require more water when taking creatine.

How to Gain Weight – 7 Weight Gain Tips
Weight gain isn’t something that is easy to do, it requires patience and discipline to diet and training. Hopefully the weight gain tips on this site will help you to achieve your goals.
One of the best weight gain tips to remember is DO EVERYTHING BIG! That means eat BIG and lift BIG to get BIG. Say that over and over again in your head until you fully understand it. Many people think weightlifting is the key to gaining weight. Of course weightlifting is an extremely important part. However to gain weight, think beyond weightlifting! Your diet is just as important when it comes to gaining weight.

Weight Gain Tip No 1 – Get Counting
Count your calories on a normal daily basis. That doesn’t mean you have to change your normal eating habits – just eat as you normally would and count the calories you have consumed. This is of crucial importance to try to be as accurate as possible. Then get on the scales and weigh yourself.

Weight Gain Tip No 2 – Get Eating!
Eating is first and foremost the most important thing you need for proper weight gain. It makes sense that you need to eat more calories than you burn. This does not mean eating anything and everything within reach! It means you need to include in your weight gain diet, foods that will help you gain lean mass, not bad fats. 6 meals a day is a good start. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three other small meals at regular intervals throughout the day. Make it your goal to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours.

Remember the principal weight gain tip is to get BIG, you have to eat BIG!
Steak, chicken, fruit, milk, vegetables, cheese and assorted types of nuts are the foods to feast on. Eat 4 – 6 pieces of fresh fruit a day, and at least four tall glasses of milk. Low fat milk is a great, cheap protein source – take advantage of it. A sample snack meal would be a glass of milk, an apple, and a hand full of peanuts.
Plan your meals carefully and stick to the plan. What you eat is the most important ingredient in a successful weight gain program.

Weight Gain Tip No 3 – Get Lifting!
As stated above, proper eating is of utmost importance if you want to gain weight, but if you do not complement eating with weightlifting, all that gained weight will be fat – not muscle.
When trying to gain weight, try working out 3-4 times a week. Make sure you are weightlifting correctly! Lift hard and then recover for the next workout. Focus on the big exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, chin-ups, bench press, & military press. These are the exercises that will turn those extra calories into muscle and therefore help you gain weight. You are not going to gain weight by doing lateral raises and step-ups every workout.

It’s the multiple-joint lifts that will shock your system and stimulate your body into growth. Gradually add a little amount of weight each time you workout – this will help you strengthen those muscles. If you focus on strength, size will follow. You need to gain muscular strength in order to get bigger. Look around at your local gym – the strongest guys are also the biggest!

Weight Gain Tip No 4 – Get Weighing!
Weigh yourself at the end of a week. You’ll notice you’re gaining more weight after only one week! However, don’t expect miracles. You won’t have put on 10lb!. Remember that when it comes to weight gain, gaining anymore then 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthy and means you’re putting on fat instead of muscle. Patience is a virtue! What you want is to see 1 or 2 pound gains at the end of the week. It may not seem like a lot but add it up. You easily gain weight at the rate of 5-8 pounds a month!

Sooner or later you will stop gaining weight and it is now that you should concentrate on eating even more. So, when you stop gaining for at least 2 weeks, start eating an extra 250 calories a day. Every time you see you haven’t gained weight for at least 2 weeks, add an extra 250 calories.

Weight Gain Tip No 5 – Cut out the Bad Fat!
Avoid trans fats like the plaque, and go for the “good fats”. Yes, you want to gain weight, however you don’t want to gain weight that is in fact just fat. So, cut out the cakes, chips and candy. No more visits to McDonalds and steer clear of anything fried. High protein low fat foods like tuna fish (and other seafood), chicken breast, turkey, lean meats, fruits and vegetables etc, are the good clean foods to eat.

Weight Gain Tip No 6 – Get Drinking! (Sorry, water only)
Drink around a half gallon of water a day and even more if you can. Sure, that’s a lot of water, but believe it or not, it’s that water you need for the energy you need to gain weight! Dehydration can lead to all sorts of health problems, including less stamina at the gym.

Weight Gain Tip No 7 – Go to Sleep!
Get lots of sleep. This is one of the easiest yet most neglected weight gain tips. Sleep for a minimum of 8 hours night. You’re body needs it to function properly.
How Much Will I Gain?
Of course as the saying goes “everyone’s body responds in different ways, so it varies”. That said, if you do eat well, lift heavy, and use weight gainers or mass gainers, you can expect to gain about 10-15lbs within 8 weeks.
Supplements?
To gain weight, you do not NEED supplements, but they will help you gain the weight quicker. That’s what they are, supplementation to an already good diet and training program. Think of supplements as the finishing touch.

3 Top Reasons Why You Are NOT Building Muscle
Building muscle is simple, right? Eat more food, train hard in the gym and get plenty of rest. Add consistency into the mix and you are well on your way to transforming your physique. So why do so many people find it difficult to put on weight and build muscle? Here are 3 top reasons why you are not building muscle and seeing results from your training:

You Are Not Counting Your Calories!
This is the number one reason why most people are not building muscle. People who do not count their calories run the risk of under-eating. Without the proper number of calories your body simply cannot grow.

For muscle growth to occur you need to be eating a calorie surplus. A calorie surplus is best described as eating more calories than your body needs to put on weight. Without a calorie surplus you cannot expect impressive long term results. Sure you may build some strength and possibly even muscle tissue if you are a complete beginner, but do not expect this to last long.

In order to build muscle try consuming around 500 calories over your body’s maintenance level. If you don’t know what your maintenance level is, use an online calorie calculator. For a quicker way, take your bodyweight in pounds and times it by 16 and you should be left with a rough estimate of your maintenance level of calories.

To ensure you are gaining weight remember to weigh yourself once a week. This should be done once a week and first thing in the morning. Ensure you weigh yourself on the same day and on the same set of scales each week so you can measure your weight gain more accurately.

If you find you are not gaining weight then bump up your calorie intake by another 300 a day. Gaining around a pound of bodyweight each week is a good indication that your calories are on track. If you are a hardgainer you can possibly get away with putting on two pounds a week.
Be warned that consuming too many calories and putting on too much weight each week will lead to fat gains. There is only a certain amount of muscle tissue your body can build in a week so be careful not to go overboard with your calorie consumption.

Neglecting Protein Intake
Proteins are regarded as the building blocks for your muscles. Without protein the body will struggle to grow and rebuild damaged muscle tissue. Neglecting your protein intake will hinder your results so be sure to accurately measure how much protein you are consuming on a daily basis.

So how much protein do you need to build muscle? It’s best to shoot for at least one gram of complete protein per pound of body-weight to help you build muscle and recover sufficiently between workouts. If you weigh 200 pounds you need at least 200 grams of protein every single day. Some people will look at this and say wow, that’s a hell of a lot of protein, but with good preparation and planning we can hit this number with ease.

The secret is to consume around 4-6 meals a day. Write down what you are going to eat in these meals and track how much protein and calories are in each one. The main staple of each meal should be a rich protein source such as fish or chicken. The best protein foods for muscle growth are chicken, fish, turkey, beef, salmon, tuna, eggs, milk and whey protein powder. These are all complete protein sources which means they contain the full spectrum of amino acids that are necessary for optimum muscle growth.

Other foods such as nuts and peanut butter are also great protein foods. These foods contain considerably more calories due to their higher levels of fat content, so they can be a convenient way to consume extra calories for persons trying to build muscle fast. There is the misconception that fat is bad in your diet. Fat is not bad for you, learn why you need to eat fat to build muscle.

These articles are referenced from the website below. Check the site out as there are several more great articles to read. http://www.gainingweight.info/healthy-high-calorie-foods-to-gain-weight/

Building lean muscle and strengthening the entire body in the process is a great thing to do over winter because your body instinctively wants to eat more hearty meals to fatten us up to keep warm. Below are a couple of videos from my mass gain last year, in 12 weeks i went from 78.8kg to 83.4kg and then at the 16week mark my heaviest was 85.4kg. I put a little bit of fat on but managed to stay lean enough to still see my six pack. I know some of you will be thinking that’s not a big gain but Remember that this is a natural mass gaining program with no illegal steroids. I know plenty of people on the roids that have put on over 10kg in 8wks but i’ve also seen most these same people back to almost the same weight as they started 4months later or get fat and ruin their liver the process. My main aim with every part of health, fitness and training is to develop LONG TERM – LIFE LONG abundant health.

This year I have made a few alterations to my program that will increase my lean mass but also increase my power, strength, explosiveness, endurance and flexibility. I will be taking an updated video every 2wks and documenting the whole process. Whether you are doing our bootcamp or personal training sessions, if you want to do a mass gain over winter just ask me at the studio and i will get you a meal plan and program to follow.

So many people I’ve heard say “Its so expensive to eat and live a healthy lifestyle”
My question is “Can you afford not to live and look after your health because sooner or later the price of bad living will probably be cancer or disease ?”

Most of the same people that complain about spending money on good food or training are the same people that go out on the weekend and spend a few hundred dollars on smokes, crap food and alcohol and yet still wonder why they never get any results and 80% of the time feel like Sh!&. These are the sorts of people that wont invest $200 on a pair of good running shoes and wonder why their knees are constantly sore… I say to them ” Its better to spend a couple of hundred dollars on good shoes than to spend a few thousand dollars on a knee reconstruction”
But most of us have probably been stuck in the same mindset at one time or another in our lives. The important thing is that we quickly realize our errors in mindset and correct it.

Always remember that everything counts and everything you invest in yourself and your health will always return the greatest dividend. A common question i also get asked from people who have never trained with a personal trainer before is “why do people pay for training?” Obviously it can vary from each individual however our clients in our boot camps and personal training sessions have told us:
1. It’s because they could never train as hard and efficient on their own as they do when they train with us
2. It keeps them accountable knowing we are waiting for them at the studio or at boot camp
3. They subconsciously buy and eat better food because they know that they will have to write it down on their diet sheet that they bring into training each week.
4. they knowing that every session is specifically designed for them and their goals.
5. The money that they save every week from cutting out all of the smokes, crap (fast) food and alcohol pays for their personal training or boot camp sessions
6. They live a healthier lifestyle because they know what and when to eat it
7. Many are the happiest they have been in years and have even been able to give up their antidepressant medication from their boost in confidence and health from looking and feeling better
8. They love training hard and getting great results

So whether you are investing in yourself and health by spending $150 on personal training sessions instead of wasting $300 on alcohol bad food and smokes over the week or paying an extra $120 towards a better pair of training shoes that are going to protect you, everything counts. Everything you do to look after your health and fitness will give you the greatest reward in return. An Abundance of health and a great quality of life…

Leg Kicks are one of the most basic kicks in Muay Thai and also one of the most leathal. You can stop a fight with a leg kick if you hit the right spot. Kicking is a great way to also tone the legs and entire body. I always incorporate kickboxing into my clients training programs when they their goal is toning because of the total body workout it gives you when your training hard. Enjoy the video and practice as much as you can : )

Practicing body shots is a great addition to your boxing combo’s. Once you perfect your body shot you should be able to drop your sparring partner down onto one knee if you hit them in the right spot and generate enough power. Make sure you practice off both sides to enhance your skill and coordination. Its also great to practice body shots on a partner wearing a belly pad. I will try and get a video of what i mean, so stay tuned…

The one inch punch is a great punch that represents generating power within a very small distance. Here is a video of me demonstrating it to one of my clients. Its a great punch to practice, so have fun with it…