After watching this video you should be out of excuses! If watching Arthur’s success story doesn’t inspire you to start exercising or to be consistent in exercising, then you’d better check your pulse!
P.S. We are sharing Arthur’s success story to motivate you. We were not involved in his results.
I saw a video today about Dorian Yates 1994 Mr. Olympia performance. He was huge, ripped, thick, and symmetrical. His posing routine was right on and he won the Big Dance by dominating his competition.
But did you know he was plagued by injuries in 1994? That’s right, Dorian Yates admits to suffering many injuries and setbacks during his 1994 training season. He even said that at one point he wondered if he’d even be able to compete in the 1994 Mr. O.
So what made the difference? How can a man who’s injured come back to snatch the Sandow Trophy from the grasp of so many eager competitors?
One Word.
Perseverance!
Dorian never quit. He never stopped training and never gave in to the voice of defeat. Did he hear them? Of course he did. He’s human. But he ignored those doubts. He trained around his injuries and willed his way to success.
Regardless of your sport, there’s a lesson here for you.
Things might get tough. You might suffer setbacks. Sometimes it might seem like everything is conspiring against you. But… Unless you quit or give up you’ll find a way through. You’ll succeed where others fail because you persevere. You might not win the Sandow or the Super Bowl but you’ll have an edge over all the want-to-be competitors because you know the number 1 secret to success:
Never Surrender!
That means keep moving forward. That means Perseverance!
Now get to it!
Oh yeah, here’s the video. Make sure you watch it all and listen to Dorian’s Speech at the end.
Text above Copyright © 2012 Mega-Pro®
Findings from Studies on long term treatment with ephedrine, caffeine and an ephedrine/caffeine mixture.This mixture used to be popular in the fight against obesity. Due to health concerns and government regulations the FDA banned Ephedrine from Mahuang and other herbal extracts for commercial sale as a dietary supplement. However, a synthetic version of Ephedrine (HCL) is still available over the counter as a Bronchodilator to treat breathing difficulties.
But what about the safety concerns? The first thing to remember when taking any medication is to follow the dosage guidelines. Many people seen to think that if a little is good, then a lot is great! Well, that’s a dangerous way to approach medication of any type.
Rule number 1. Make sure you consult with your physician to make sure Ephedrine HCL will help you with your particular symptoms.
Rule number 2. If you’re taking Ephedrine HCL, make sure you follow the instructions.
Ephedrine HCL has been used for years to effectively treat asthma. And used in that capacity it has a good safety record. Part of this is because of the lower quantities of Ephedrine HCL present in Bronchodilators. But understand that Ephedrine is a potent drug that can be dangerous to any person with underlying cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. Hence the warning that it should only be taken after consulting and with the supervision of your physician.
In one study on the effects of Ephedrine HCL over a long period of time the following was stated about the side effects of the drug.
“The majority of patients reporting side effects were affected only in the first four weeks, in which 27 different symptoms were reported by 21 patients receiving E+C (Ephedrine + Caffeine), 25 symptoms by 12 patients in the E (Ephedrine) group, and 22 symptoms by 11 patients receiving C (Caffeine), and 5 symptoms by 3 patients in the placebo group.”
“The side effects such as tremor, tachycardia, and insomnia are temporary. We found no serious withdrawal symptoms.” (This was using a dose of 20mg of Ephedrine HCL a day for up to 50 weeks–which is more than Asthma patients use. The Study, “Safety and efficacy of long-term treatment with ephedrine, caffeine, and an ephedrine/caffeine mixture” was published the International Journal of Obesity in 1993)
Granted, the study was geared toward Ephedrine’s ability to assist fat loss while maintaining lean muscle mass instead of as a Bronchodilator, but it effectively address the question of the safety of long term treatment with Ephedrine HCL.
If you use Ephedrine HCL as a Bronchodilator, our OTC counter division has a product available to help you. http://www.mega-pro.com/index_otc.php
Image Courtesy: markuso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
How many times have you heard someone say, “I want to get in shape…But I don’t have time to workout…”Yeah, lots of times!
I just want to grab them, shake them by the shoulders and say, “You’re full of @#$!”
Anyone can make time to exercise! Even if it’s only 10 minutes a day, that’s 10 minutes more than nothing!
You might think that Mega-Pro®’s only interested in serious athletes like Bodybuilders, Powerlifters, Football, Basketball, Rugby players, MMA athletes etc. But the truth is; Everyone Deserves the benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle! Everyone Deserves the benefits of Regular Exercise!
So listen up! If you’re one of those people who says, “I don’t have time to exercise…” Then here’s some news just for you. “Yes You Do!”
Let’s go over a few questions.
There are many activities that could be listed. But these are easily the most notorious.
TV is probably the biggest culprit when it comes to “No time to exercise”.
Here’s one TV scenario: You’re bored. You switch on the TV to see if anything is worth watching. You flip through the channels, nothing seems good. Finally you settle for some show that you didn’t even know was on but that seems ok to watch. Well guess what? Not only did you just waste time “Figuring out what to watch” but now you’re going to waste time watching something you didn’t even care about!
Does that make any sense?
Um… NO!
That’s time you could use to exercise!
Here’s another TV scenario: You’ve had a busy day and missed your morning workout. You come home tired and turn on the TV to relax for a while. Next thing you know it’s late. Where did the time go? Well, you slipped into the mindless stupor of Television and wasted your evening.
You could have exercised!
But you were tired…
Yeah? Did you know that exercise energizes you and makes you feel better when you’re tired?
Now, you’ll notice I never said anything about watching your favorite show or tuning in for your teams game. The trick is to schedule your TV time instead of letting it schedule you.
Got it?
Good!
What about video games? Don’t even get me started on this one! What a colossal waste of time. People waste countless hours of their lives trying to achieve imaginary goals in imaginary worlds… All of that time could be spent doing things like exercising, hiking, sports, time with family, learning a new skill, etc.
OK. I know video games are important to some people. I have a friend who wanted to get in better shape. But he wasn’t willing to give up his video games. So he came up with an ingenious solution. He either rode his exercise bike or walked on his treadmill while playing video games. He never played his video games unless he was exercising at the same time. And guess what? He lost over 60 pounds in a year using that method.
Of course there are fitness video games now that are fun and healthy. You can try those too!
Let’s tackle Social Media Websites.
For some of us this is part of our job. We create relationships and provide value using Social Media. Social Media is all about connecting in one way or another. And connecting with others is good.
The problem happens when Social Media starts feeling urgent. It’s easy to think you have to check to see what you’re friends status is, or that you have to get the latest updates from people you enjoy communicating with. When Social Media feels urgent, it steals time from important activities like exercise because you’re allowing it to control your actions.
The best ways to combat this are to set time limits and schedule time for your Social Media playground. Then stick to your schedule! Another way is to make the commitment that you’ll match the time you spend on Social Media with time working out!
If you’re on Facebook for 30 minutes, then workout out for 30 minutes!
Even as little at 30 minutes exercise a day will create life altering results. You’ll feel better, handle stress easier, and have more energy for everything you do!
It’s up to you. You can either bemoan the shape you’re in or you can Do Something About it!
Mega-Pro® is here to help! We want you to succeed in your fitness goals! We want you to have the quality of life you deserve!
Examine your life today. Get rid of the time wasters. Stop making excuses and start exercising! You’ll thank us later.
Copyright © 2012 Mega-Pro®
A Missing Element in many exercise programs is nutrition.Good nutrition enhances the benefits of weight training—or any fitness program. The importance of Nutrition has received more attention lately, but many people still fail to understand that their eating habits can make or break their results.
Who wants to put hours in the gym without seeing a stronger, leaner, and healthier person staring back from the mirror?
Not me! And not you either!
So why would you overlook the need to give your body the fuel and resources it needs to repair and grow after a killer workout?
Right, you wouldn’t—at least not deliberately.
We want you to succeed with your fitness goals!
Here are some nutritional guidelines to stack your results in your favor.
Of course you know that to build lean muscle you should take in between 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass a day. But did you know that the most effective time to digest the protein in within the first 45 minutes after your workout? In a study by Levenhagen and Colleagues at Vanderbilt University it was shown that athletes consuming a protein/carbohydrate drink immediately after strenuous exercise experienced protein synthesis that was three times higher than the athletes who consumed the same mix three hours after finishing their workout! (Nutrient Timing by John Ivy, Ph.D., and Robert Portman, Ph.D.)
Along with the increase in protein synthesis, the athletes taking the protein/carbohydrate mixture immediately after working out experienced greater fat oxidation! That means they burned more fat than the athletes who waited three hours to take the protein/carbohydrate supplement!
So if you want to build more muscle and burn more fat, then take a supplement like Mega-Pro®’s Magnum Whey II immediately after you workout!
Give it a try for a month or so. Your body will thank you!
Copyright © 2012 Mega-Pro®
A few days back we talked about what motivates you to workout but there is another question that’s also critical to your exercise success.
You might train simply because you want to be in great shape. You might train because you’re getting ready for next Football season and you want to be first string instead of a bench warmer. The truth is all sports require some sort of physical training. Even the less than obvious ones like Auto or Motorcycle racing require physical preparation—I know if you enjoy those sports it’s obvious you must train but there are people who don’t know this!
What you’re trying to accomplish with your training carries a lot of weight—pun intended—on the type of training you should do. A person training for the 100M Breaststroke trains differently than a person competing in the 100M Sprint. An NFL Athlete trains differently than a gymnast. And it’s good that they do! Imagine a gymnast trying to break through the defensive line or a 350lb linebacker trying to vault in the Olympics!
Yeah…it could get ugly.
Now if you’re training for size, strength, and to chisel your physique, we’ve got a killer workout for you right here: http://megaprosports.com/mega-pro-workouts/
But we realize there are many other reason to train. So let us know what you want from your workout and we’ll hunt down the best training regimen possible for your goal and post it on our workouts page.
And remember, high quality supplements and nutrition are also key ingredients to massive success! http://www.mega-pro.com/index_sn.php
Copyright © 2012 Mega-Pro®
What do you do in the off season?Champions are made in the off season. Some athletes think of the off season as “time off”. They want to take a break from training and enjoy a vacation from their sport.
That’s fine. If an athlete wants to use the time between seasons to vacation from their sport, that’s their prerogative. Maybe their sport is their hobby instead of their passion. And that’s okay too. If you’re an athlete as a hobby then you can stop reading here. But if your sport is your passion, if it’s your breath of life or the blood flowing through your veins, then keep reading because I’m talking to you.
You’ll never see an elite athlete taking a long break in the off season. They might take a week or two off from training but then they’re right back in the gym. They understand this simple fact, “The off season is the best time to prepare for the Season!”
It doesn’t matter if the sport is Football, Basketball, Rugby, Soccer, Baseball, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Track and Field, Skiing, Cycling, or any of the other demanding sports we love, everyone who competes at the highest level in their sport understands the necessity of training in the off season.
So if you’re thinking of missing your workout or taking a break from your sport, just ask yourself, “Do I want to be the best I can be or is this just a hobby?”
If you want to be the best you can be, if you want to join the ranks of the truly elite athletes in our world then you’d better get back to your training and leave the off season to the athletic hobbyists.
One last thing, always remember the importance of proper supplementation and nutrition to your training! http://www.Mega-Pro.com/index_sn.php
No go train already!
Image provided courtesy of Arakorn
What is D-Aspartic Acid? What does it do? Where can I get it?D-Aspartic Acid is a naturally occurring amino acid that is clinically proven to boost Testosterone levels in men. One study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774316/) showed that the test group of men using D-Aspartic Acid—for 12 days—showed an average increase of 42% Testosterone in their blood stream over the basal level. The placebo group showed no statistically measurable increase in Testosterone. Simply put, D-Aspartic Acid works to naturally increase Testosterone in men!
That’s great news if you’re an athlete who wants to get the most out of your workouts. When you naturally increase your body’s Testosterone levels you enhance your ability to recover from even the most extreme workouts.
Combine D-Aspartic Acid with a smart exercise program, healthy diet, and plenty of rest and you may just have an unbeatable formula for size and speed regardless of your sport!
The study referenced above also showed that the Testosterone levels of the men using D-Aspartic Acid stayed higher than normal 3 days after discontinuing use and slowly decreased to normal levels from there.
So if you want the edge in your training and you want to use naturally according amino-acids to increase your body’s production of Testosterone, then D-Aspartic Acid is the way to go.
And there’s one other thing to mention. You’ve probably already figured this out. But it’s worth mentioning that increasing your levels of Testosterone also gives you that edge in the bedroom.
Remember, the key ingredient to a successful fitness program is you. Supplements help. Your nutrition helps. The type of training you do helps. But in the end, you have to show up and pound out those reps or nothing will help you!
Do you know why you workout?That might sound like a stupid question. But why you workout is probably more important to your success in the gym or your sport than how you workout.
Consider this. When people workout because they think they “should”, they want to “lose a few pounds”, or they want to “put on some muscle” they’re setting themselves up for failure in the end because those are weak reasons to hit the gym. The goals aren’t specific and there’s no passion behind working out. It’s just a means to an end.
Why?
Weak reasons result in weak resolve. Weak resolve means the first time they feel tired or grumpy or any of the thousands of other reason people use to justify missing a workout… That’s right, they miss the workout.
Do you think the best athletes—regardless of the sport—ever skip their workout because they don’t feel like exercising today?
Of course not!
Do you think they workout because they should or because their passion to succeed demands it?
Right!
If you really want success in the gym, then dig deep inside and figure out what working out means to you. Figure out why you must be huge. Figure out why you must be fast. Figure out why you must be lean. Or why you must be all of them! Not “why you should” or “why you want to”… Why you MUST! Now make it happen! Use those reasons to keep you going on the days when you don’t feel like working out!
You have to eat if you want to pack on muscle.But how do you know what or how much to eat? If you eat too much you’re going to put on loads of fat with your new muscle. You could end up looking like a Sumo Wrestler.
And if that’s what you’re after… Great! Go for it!
But most of us want slabs of lean muscle. And getting that is a balancing act.
It’s not as hard as you might think though. You just have to figure out how many calories need to burn every day to maintain your weight and then add to that. For most people their maintenance calories can be found by multiplying their weight by 14. If you weigh 170lbs, that’s around 2380 calories a day to maintain your weight (170 x 14 = 2380). From there a good weight gaining guideline is to add 30% to your daily calorie intake. You can do less—which results in slower weight gain but less body fat increase—or you can up the calories even more—which results in quicker weight gain with more body fat increase.
Here’s the formula for you:
Your Weight x 14 = Maintenance Calories x 1.3 = How many calories you should eat to gain weight.
Using 170lbs as an example again:
170 x 14 = 2380 x 1.3 = 3094 (daily calories for weight gain.)
The truth is that it’s hard to gain weight without gaining some fat. If it were easy then professional bodybuilders wouldn’t have to cut before competitions, they’d just pack on pure, lean muscle and go to the show without the hassle of contest prep dieting and training. What they understand is how much they have to eat to gain muscle with as little fat as possible. Most professional bodybuilders eat around 6000 calories a day! That’s a lot of food! But they have a lot of muscle too. Each pound of lean muscle burns 50 calories a day in a resting state. As bodybuilders get bigger, they increase their calories to maintain their muscle mass while still being able to pack on new muscle.
The key in putting on muscle while minimizing fat is to monitor your progress. If you’re gaining weight but losing definition then you’re eating too much. If you’re not gaining weight or gaining it slowly then you’re probably not eating enough.
So what’s a good goal for weight gain?
A realistic goal for weight gain—lean muscle mass—is about 1lb a week. That might not sound like much, but consider this. If you weigh 170lbs and you have a great workout program and combine that with good nutrition, then in a year you could weigh in at a lean 222lbs!
That brings up another good point. Calories are calories right? Yes and no. If you eat 3094 calories a day of junk food your body will react differently than if you eat 3094 calories of natural, nutrient rich food or supplements.
Junk food gives you a sugar high and then leaves you flat. It has few nutrients and creates toxins as your body processes it. Sure, you’ll gain weight… But it won’t be muscle and you’ll struggle with endurance and exercise because junk food just doesn’t give your body what it needs to grow or perform well.
Nutrient rich foods and supplements give you the vitamins, minerals, amino-acids, and other substances your body needs to function at its peak. And if you exercise hard and want to gain weight you need to maximize everything your body has to offer!