Dumbbells or Barbells?

 

What is your preference? Dumbbells or barbells?
We typically aren't limited to only barbells or dumbbells. Most trainees should use both barbells as well as dumbbell movements, because both have their own benefits and drawbacks.
So which one is best for you?
There are many factors involved so I would just outline some factors as described by experts.
Basically if you are in a power sport such as Powerlifting, Olympic lifting etc your sport mainly demands the work of both hands together, so you should mainly focus your training on barbells. On the other hand if you play basketball, volleyball, tennis or martial arts etc, then dumbbell drills should occupy the major portion of your training.
Availability & Cost: Dumbbells cost much more than a barbell. So if you are going to set up a gym in your home and if finance is a problem you will end up using exclusively barbells.
Strength Needs: If your sport demands ability to overcome large loads (Powerlifting, Olympic lifting etc), barbells will be your priority. The instability caused by dumbbells can limit the load you can lift.
So what is the conclusion?
Don’t limit yourself to barbells and dumbbells. Don’t forget that we have lot more options like machines, elastic band exercises, bodyweight exercises, kettle bags and lot more… Variety keeps the workouts more interesting. So exercise your creativity when it comes to your exercise selection.

Young Dorian Yates Photo Collection

2009 IRONMAN PRO FINAL RESULTS

1. Silvio Samuel*
2. Moe El Moussawi*
3. Ronny Rockel*
4. Hidetada Yamagishi*
5. Ahmad Haidar*
6. Eddie Abbew
7. Mohammad Bannout
8. Mark Dugdale
9. Marcus Haley
10. Johnnie Jackson
11. Troy Alves
12. Oliver Adzievski
13. Martin Kjellstrom
14. Thomas Benagli
15. Constantinos Demetriou

*Qualifies for 2009 Mr. Olympia

Call outs:

Here is the order in which the competitors were called out for comparison:

1st: Eddie Abbew, Mo ElMoussawi, Ronnie Rockell, Mohammed Bannout, Silvio Samuel, Hidetada Yamagishi
2nd: Eddie Abbew, Mohammad Bannout, Mark Dugdale, Ahmad Haidar, Marcus Haley
3rd: Oliver Adzievski, Johnny Jackson, Martin Kjellstrom, Troy Alves, Thomas Benagli, Constantinos Demetriou
4th: Omar Deckard, Oleg Emelyanov, DeShaun Grimes, Adorthus Cherry, Evgene Mishin
5th: Fidel Clark, Aiman Faour, Cesar Mendible, Don Long
6th: Tamer Elshahat, Marc LaVoie, Darron Lytle, Rusty Jeffers
7th: Hidetada Yamagishi, Ahmad Haidar, Mark Dugdale, Mohammad Bannout, Eddie Abbew
8th: Moe Elmoussawi, Silvio Samuel, Hidetada Yamagishi, Ronnie Rockel
9th: Omar Deckard, Tamar ElShahat, Thomas Benagli, Constantinos Demetriou
10th: Mark Dugdale, Marcus Haley, Mohammad Bannout, Eddie Abbew, Ahmad Haidar

Silvio Samuel wins the first pro show of the year 2009

Silvio Samuel was the hot favorite and he won the show with his very hard conditioning and ripped looks. Though the judges critiqued his blocking physique, they had no other option but to award Silvio the victory.

Moe El Moussawi looked much bigger than in Mr.Olympia 2008, but he was holding a little bit of water which gave an edge to Silvio.

Ronnie Rockel as always came in with a smile and posed his way to the top 3. He was the person with more fullness and muscle maturity than anyone else on stage.

Hidetada Yamagishi came back to the pro stage with a bang. His conditioning was spot on. The amazing thing about this competitor is that he keeps on gaining muscle even while on dieting. He is sure to do some damage to the top spots of Mr.O this year.

Officially the 2009 Pro season has begun and Silvio takes up the first Victory. A lot more of muscle mayhem to come.

Here are some pictures from Flexonline.com(A special thanks to Flexonline for having the pictures published with such a good clarity at the earliest)

Healthy eating

Change is the only thing that never changes in life. So we prefer dining out once in a while. People on strict dieting fear eating out. So here I will be outlining some strategies to eat healthy food even while eating out.

Food is not costly in this country, and as a result the portions of food are often large. If you are smart about what you eat, you can get a healthy meal without interrupting your diet.

Avoid fried foods. Frying adds more fat than any other type of cooking. Restaurants often use cheap oils(hydrogenated oils), a source of trans fats.

Avoid dishes cooked with gravy and heavy sauces. Most of the gravy dishes are prepared with fatty pan (butter, ghee, drippings from meat, etc.,). It is considerably high in saturated fat. Sauces are made from cream, which is also high in saturated fat.

Ask the waiter for the size of your serving. If they are bigger than your usual meal, consider sharing your meals with someone else. And it is not a compulsion to eat everything on your plate. Take the leftovers to your home for another meal.

Investigate on how the dishes are prepared. Ask the waiter, whether the meal you are interested in is prepared with butter or ghee or animal fat. If it is, consider asking the waiter if the dishes would be prepared with olive oil instead, or that it be steamed or baked with less fat. Stay away from meal prepared with lots of cream and cheese.

Eat a light snack before going out. Munch on a piece of carrot or fruit before going out. That way you won’t be ruthlessly hungry on your dining table in the restaurant.

Share your dessert. If you have a sweet tooth, consider sharing your dessert with others on your table. This way you will get the full taste, but with only a fraction of the calories, sugar and the fats.

Milos Sarcev Wallpaper

How much water should I drink in a day?

General recommendation for a healthy individual is two liters per day. But if you are big, you need more. If the climate is hot, you need more. If your activity is high, you need more. The list goes on and on and on…

Human body is 75% water. We need lot of water for energy, detoxification, fighting dehydration and overall well being. So drink lot of water throughout the day.

Mohtesham wins silver in World Body Building Championship

Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan is an Indian bodybuilder who has won several Indian titles.

He competed for India in the Musclemania World Bodybuilding 2008 contest, in the heavy weight category of 90 kg plus, winning the silver medal from more than 400 entrants.

He works with Indian Railways and has two daughters.

He is 6 feet 2 inches tall.

He is a religious person.

He is not coached, preferring to train on his own by watching Arnold Schwarzenegger’s videos and poring through Schwarzenegger's books on bodybuilding.

The secret of his rippling muscles is eight hours of pumping iron a day backed by good diet.

A kg chicken, 30 boiled eggs, 12 oranges, a cup of sweet corn, 150 grams of oat meal, 200 grams of green salad and four glasses of sweet lime (Mosambi) juice was his standard diet during preparations which cost Rs.1,200/-.

He also belongs to the Nizam of hyderabad (Shaibzada) family.

Note: The video will be preceeded by a advertisement.

 

Hidetada Yamagishi on the way to Iron Man Pro 2009

Yesterday (6^th January 2009) I got an opportunity to communicate with one of the best upcoming bodybuilders in the Olympia arena “Hidetada Yamagishi”(The communication took place in Milos Sarcev Discussion Forum). Hide made his Olympia debute in 2007 and shocked the world with his muscle density and fullness. He stands 5feet 8inches tall and competes at around 200lbs. He is Japans pride in bodybuilding.

As with any Milos’s men Hide scores the stage with complete aesthetic posing routine and stunning conditioning. Hide has a blog on Koloseum and he updates it on a regular basis. For those of you who think that Americans rule the bodybuilding ring, Hide will prove it wrong very soon.

For the 2007 Olympia Hide was trained by ”The Mind” Milos Sarcev and for this year he is being trained by the champion trainer Charles Glass. As Milos is very busy with his business dealings he has asked Hide to train with Charles. But sill Hide is a Koloseum athlete and enjoys his daily dose of amino products manufactured by Koloseum. When asked about Charles being trainer of Hide, Milos says, “For everyone to understand - Hide is my dear friend, true brother and "my athlete"...My present job doesn't allow me enough time to train him - so I certainly recommended that he should train with Charles while he is in Venice…I respect Charles as a person and a trainer...and have only the very best things to say about him...(I know that many people want to believe that I have something against every trainer or a 'guru"...which could not be further from the truth...)”

While many people debated that Hide will place on the top 5, Milos said that he might win the show as well.

I sincerely feel that Hide will step on stage on his life time best and give all the competitors a run for their life and may as well take the Iron Man Pro 2009 title.

Some pics of Hide

Hide 6 ½ weeks out from Iron Man Pro 2009

Hide 3 weeks out from Iron Man Pro 2009

Iron Man Pro 2009 is on 24^th January 2009 at the Los Angels Convention center. Let us all wish Hide best wishes to win the show.

The Green Tea

Green tea is becoming popular day by day with so many new health benefits like fighting cancer, HIV, Asthma, Liver disorder, Heart disease and many more. But here I will limit myself on explaining its benefits as an antioxidant and weight loss agent.

Tea leaves contain the following nutrients and substances:
catechin
caffeine
the amino acid theanine
butyric acid
Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, E, F, P, & U
chlorophyll
minerals
pectin
saccharides
saponin.

Green tea, black tea, and Oolong tea have one thing in common: they all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The only difference between them is that green tea is produced by steaming and drying the leaves while the black tea is produced by withering, rolling, fermenting and then drying the tea leaves. As the green tea does not undergo the fermentation process, its active ingredients remain largely untouched and hence regarded as most potent form of tea.

Green tea and weight loss:

Many studies suggest that green tea extracts may boost metabolism and help burn fat. One study confirmed that green tea improved weight loss and helped maintain weight in overweight persons and in obese individuals. Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells. If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you’ll be obese.
Researchers found out that substances in green tea known as polyphenosls, specifically the catechins, are responsible for the herb’s fat-burning effect. polyphenosls have been noted to promote weight loss by increasing the metabolism of fats by the liver, inhibiting lipase (fat absorption enzyme) in the digestive tract, and providing a feeling of fullness. Catechins do not function as a stimulant.
Another study said that green tea helped you burn 70 calories a day in normal individuals. That is about 7 pounds of fat a year.

Green Tea The Powerful Antioxidant

Antioxidants are substances that scavenge free radicals -- damaging compounds in the body that alter cells, tamper with DNA (genetic material), and even cause cell death. Free radicals occur naturally in the body, but environmental toxins (including ultraviolet rays from the sun, radiation, cigarette smoke, and air pollution) also give rise to these damaging particles. Scientists believe that free radicals contribute to the aging process as well as the development of a number of health problems including cancer and heart disease. Antioxidants such as polyphenols in green tea can neutralize free radicals and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage they cause.
The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E. This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer.

References

Kovacs EM, Lejeune MP, Nijs I, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Effects of green tea on weight maintenance after body-weight loss. Br J Nutr Mar 1, 2004;

Katiyar SK, Mukhtar H. Tea antioxidants in cancer chemoprevention. [Review]. J Cell Biochem Suppl . 1997;

Heavy weight or light weight

Rohan:
Hi Lee,

I have a big doubt. Many of my gym mates tell me that lifting heavy weights will make me big and doing more reps with light weight will bring in cuts. But i do not see results that way.

Lee:
Hey Rohan,

Heavy weights for mass and light weight for cuts is one of the biggest myth in bodybuilding.
Let me explain to you, There are two types of muscle fibers in our body.
1. Slow twitch muscle fiber(TYPE 1)
2. Fast twitch muscle fibers(TYPE 2)

The fast twitch fiber responds for heavy load and explosive movements. This is the muscle fiber which has the capacity of growing fast. So when you are bulking up, try to do more compound movements which can help you gain some solid muscle. The slow twitch fibers respond well to longer duration of stress(i.e.,high reps) these fibers do not grow as fast as their counterparts but if you miss out these in your workouts, your body wont look balanced. So for optimal muscle gain and balanced looking physique do a combination of heavy compounds and isolation movements.And remember this, "Diet and rest play equally improtant role for gaining muscle".

Doing 1000 reps without weights wont bring in cuts. So you have to use optimal weights(resistance) if you want to work your muscles optimally. For displaying cuts, you need to get rid of the fats under the skin.So to get cuts - diet, cardio and workout is the key and light weight has noting to do with it.

And finally, dont get carried away by the words of some gym doctors who have not done anything other than advising fellow gymmers. Get the help of a qualified health professional.

All the best Rohan!!