The Garry Bodybuilding Workout Program: The Most Intense Muscle Building Program Ever

This is the most intense workout that I have ever tried out myself. Due to its high intensity, this program is not recommended for people are just starting out or who are relatively new to training. These people should start off with these programs instead. Newcomers should start off with the first program to get their bodies into the idea of breaking down and rebuilding muscle. Once you are ready, you can progress to the second program in the above link, which is similar to what most bodybuilders do.

The Garry workout program was supposedly designed for advanced bodybuilders whose muscles are already used to intense training. It is used to boost muscle growth and blast through a plateau for a limited period of 2 months for accelerated muscle growth. The high intensity of this program lends itself to the fact that it can't be sustained for too long. Since you are working till failure on every set, for many sets, it takes a toll on your nerves and central nervous system.

Since this is a great shocking technique, muscle growth is boosted through this period as the body tries to adapt to the extreme stimulus. As a result of the strain it places on the joints, energy systems and metabolic system, the program should only be followed for a very short time before switching back to normal training.

You should only do this program when on your bulking phase. Restricting calories on a program of this intensity could lead to muscle breakdown. Make sure that you are getting enough calories from a good bulking diet (click here to build your own).

How the program works

The program incorporates German volume training (high reps, high sets), limited recovery time per set and repeatedly forcing muscles to failure, driving them to complete exhaustion with each workout. The goal of this program is to enforce rapid hypertrophy by shocking the body into accelerated growth. This takes its toll on the central nervous system as well as the metabolic system over time, which is why it is advised that beginners, people with injuries or other medical conditions and people who have already overtrained do not try this type of program. The body starts showing a negative response (over-training) if the program is followed for longer than 2 months.

Program rules

The program runs for 6 days a week

The program is in a 6-day split, focusing on one muscle group per day. All major muscle groups are worked in the program, but through only one exercise. The only rest day is day 7. You need to follow the program fully, not cutting out a single day.

Perform only one exercise per day

Do only one exercise per day, excluding a warm up and cool down. This is shown below. You can only add warm-up and cool-down exercises but do not stress the body more than what is described below. I would personally recommend a cardio-style warm-up and an exercise-specific warm-up, depending on the exercise for that day. Don't do any other weighted exercises as a warm up and make sure that your muscles aren't fatigued at all before the exercise. The point is to exert the most out of the muscle in the shortest amount of time. 

Resist the temptation to do any isolate or additional exercises. Try this out for a few weeks and you will see that the exercises here are more than enough for growth.

  Perform every set till failure

You need to work until complete failure with every set. Forced reps are allowed. I did mine until I couldn't move the weight at all. If you can do another rep, you're not done.

You must follow the prescribed times

Every set has a resting period of exactly 30 seconds before the next one, with the exception of squats and dead lifts having 1 minute rest intervals. Do not rest longer or shorter than this between sets. This maximizes short-term fatigue.

Keep doing more sets until failure until you cannot perform a single full rep 

This blasts your muscles and will test your muscular endurance, but keep on performing sets of the exercise until you cannot do a proper repetition with the right form. As you can see below, it might take a loooot of sets before you fail to do a single rep.

The program

Day 1: Squats
(60 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 15-7-6-4-4-4-4-2-1)

Day 2: Standing Calve Raises
(30 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 15-15-15-14-14-1-1-1-10-9-8-5-5-5-3-2-2-2-2-1) 

Day 3: Russian Twists
(30 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 20-20-20-18-16-14-10-7-7-7-6-5-4-2-2-2-1-1-1)

Day 4: Deadlifts
(60 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 12-11-10-10-10-9-8-7-6-6-5-5-5-5-4-2-1-1)

Day 5: Dumbbell Bench Press
(30 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 12-10-8-6-4-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1)

Day 6: Pull Ups
(30 second rest in between sets) (Until failure) (E.g. 25-25-25-23-20-19-27-17-14-12-11-9-6-5-4-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-1)

Day 7: Rest

Additional notes

• Use dumbbells for the bench press exercise because the intensity of this program could easily get a bar stuck on your chest.
• The workout goes very quickly (It took me less than half of my usual workout routine to complete).
• I struggled to do the squats till failure. On most occasions I ended up resting for longer in the middle of my sets.
• My calves exploded on this routine. I use this kind of principle for my calves often because of that.

Give this program a try and tell us about your experience in the comments below. STAY STRONG!

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Get Bigger Calve Muscles Right Now - You're Doing it Wrong

Calves are what I call a 'gene-muscle'. Some people can grow their calves into mini boulders while others can't, even though both could be working just as hard on them every week. Unfortunately, the size that your calves can grow in proportion to the rest of your body is largely predetermined to luck-of-the-draw genetics. Don't lose hope though, there are still ways to get them show-ready and larger than life with smart lifting and a few changes to your work-out routine. Check out these smart tips that will turn your puppies into bull dogs.

How to get bigger calf muscles

Treat your calves like any other muscle group

Firstly, the calves should be treated like any other muscle group. They differ from the other muscle groups in a variety of ways. They were made to take more heat before failing. In the wild, you died if your calves gave out when running away from Mr. Lion (not Luscious) and other tribes. They are made up of more slow-twitch muscle fibers and less fast-twitch muscle fibers. The abdominal muscles are another example of muscle types that are mainly composed of slow twitch muscle fibers.

This is why most people think that you should train them differently. You should, however, train them the same as other muscle groups. If you train them using higher reps (but lower weights) and at higher frequencies (more times a week than other muscle groups), you are appealing to their slow-twitch nature. By doing this, their slow twitch nature will be stimulated, instead of the few fast twitch fibers that have the most potential for massive size.

Instead, you want to increase the fast-twitch part of the muscle (therefore increasing the potential for increased size). You do this by appealing to the fast twitch part of the calf muscles. By training them according to their slow twitch nature, you are enforcing the fact that they don't grow like the other muscles. If your calves are trained like they are just as fast-twitched as other muscles, they will adapt and change.

Lower the rep range

Would you train your chest at 20 reps for 4 sets? Decrease your rep range and increase the intensity by raising the amount of weight that you put on them. This will appeal to their fast twitch fibers and you calves will grow bigger.

Work to failure

Your calves burn because they would rather work with oxygen energy instead of glycogen energy (lactic acid is released when we exercise at energetic rates higher than what oxygen can replenish). Work them to failure in the same way that you would push your bicep muscles. The burn is their way of telling you that they are uncomfortable. Let them get so uncomfortable that they are forced to change.

Rest times

If you are working on your calves every day, you are not working them hard enough per session (not enough to cause delayed onset muscle soreness). You might not be giving them enough rest to grow and improve for the next workout. You should try to grow the size of your calves in the same way that you do with chest and back muscles, even though they will give you more resistance when you try to do so. Your body prioritizes calf function over other muscles, since they are so important for you to escape danger. If they don't have enough rest, they would rather decrease size in order to be ready for the next time you need to run away. Just like how training chest muscles too often won't give it them the time that they need to recover, training the calf muscles too often won't give the fast twitch muscles enough time to recover and grow. 

For those who don't know the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers

Fast twitch muscle fibers are the fibers in the muscle that are used for short periods, but at higher intensities. They rely on glucose instead of oxygen for energy because oxygen will take too long to add up in the fiber for the amount of power that the muscle needs right now. They grow a lot bigger than slow twitch muscle fibers.

Slow twitch muscle fibers are the muscle fibers that are used at low intensities for longer periods of time. They reply on oxygen for energy. Since they don't need to store glycogen, they grow a lot smaller than fast twitch muscle fibers.

For a good example of the size potential differences between fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, think about the muscle differences between sprinters and marathon runners. Sprinters use fast twitch muscle fibers, since they need a lot of energy in a short space of time. Conversely, marathon runners rely on slow twitch muscles because they use less energy, but for longer periods of time. 

Are you working them hard enough?

If you train your chest to failure, why are you not training your calves to failure? Calves are harder to train to failure because you will initially have a larger portion of slow twitch muscle fibers. Their slow twitch nature is reinforced by being repetitively used in low-intensity, high endurance movements like walking and running - which we all do a lot of in life.

This means that when you do exercises that recruit fast twitch fibers like calve raises, your higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers release more lactic acid as a response (you feel a burn in your calves before you reach failure). Every time you work your calves, work past the burn until they start to fail and you can't move the weight anymore. Once you are failing to execute full reps on them, you are reaching failure. In order to start increasing the fast twitch fibers in your calves, you need to get used to working your calves to failure every time you work on them. This will take some time to get used to, because your calves are naturally inclined to burn and make you stop BEFORE they fail as a survival mechanism. As a rule in survival, your calves are programmed to never fail, because reaching failure means that you would not be able to get away from dangers (like animals in the wild).

Once you have reached failure, try to do a few forced reps (with as much of the full rep movement as you can) because calve muscles are also programmed to recover as quickly as possible to ensure your natural mobility and survival.

From the beginning of your movement, make sure that you complete the full movement of each rep. Start with your heels as low as what feels naturally possible and lift them as high as you can. You should be struggling to get your heels as high up as possible with each rep, meaning that you almost pause for a second at the top of each movement by trying to reach the highest point possible. Pause here and let those puppies suffer.

Don't rush through your movements. This would be your natural instinct to recruit slow twitch fibers by turning it into a semi-cardio activity. Yes, doing this will burn. The burn is a good indication that you are challenging them more than what is naturally expected.

But just like when you work your other muscle groups; it is about increasing strength and size, not speed. The slower you go, the more it should burn. The more you work through the burn, the closer you get to failure. The more you cause your calves to fail, the more that they are forced to grow those fast twitch muscle fibers.

Use a lower rep range

You bench at a range of 8-12 reps, right? Then why are you doing calf raises in the 15-20 rep range? It is easier to use the fast twitch muscles in our chest but easier to use the slow twitch fibers on your calves. Using heavier weight and failing on lower reps just feels wrong on your calves because they are not designed to do so - but the whole point of this is to grow your calves past what they are naturally inclined to grow and have their size proportional to the rest of your muscle profile.

 To do this, put them on the same regimen as the rest of your body, whether if feels 'comfortable' or not. Make sure to reach a point of failure and do a few forced reps. Get used to using a lower rep range, and then alternate between rep ranges every few weeks to keep them on their toes (pun intended). Switching to high reps every now and then benefits muscle growth in all muscle types.

Muscle confusion

Your calves will get used to their exercises very quickly, because they are naturally essential to our primal survival. Do you need a good counter measure? Use calve exercises until they reach a plateau and then change the exercise to keep them growing. The change could be something as simple as swapping the standard standing calve raise machine for standing dumbbell raises on a step, or using a barbell on your shoulders, or doing raises on the flat ground, or changing rep ranges (and rest times in between sets). You should be changing your calf exercises more regularly then other muscle groups because of the fact that they adapt so quickly.

Different exercises for different goals

Different calf exercises will affect the calf muscles differently, so be sure to do a mixture of exercises to grow the different parts of the calf evenly.

Standing calve exercises (on a straightened knee) will stimulate the gastrocnemius more. This is the part of the calve that looks like a tennis ball at the back of your calve and gives the calve the shape and definition which looks very aesthetic.

Seated calve exercises (bent knee) help to widen your calves and add bulk, which is important to keep your calves in proportion with the rest of your body.

Lifting you toes while keeping your heels on the ground under a weight will increase the size and strength of the front part of the lower leg. These are the muscles that are the closest to your shin. You can do this by holding a dumbbell or kettlebell on your toes and balancing them with your hands. Lift your toes while balancing your heels on the ground. You can pivot your heels on a step for a greater range of motion.

The usual stuff

Your calves need nutrition just like all the other muscle groups

They require a good bulking diet to grow in size. Make sure that your diet includes enough natural food to keep your immune system strong. Supplements are a great way to make sure that you reach your daily macro nutrient targets. An energizing pre workout can increase calf performance and recovery.

Avoid catabolism

Make sure to follow these tips to make sure that your muscles are not breaking down and undoing all of your hard work.

Was this article helpful? Let us know in the comments below. STAY STRONG!

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Bodybuilding Makes You Smarter

Bodybuilding actually makes you smarter. You will do better at your studies, perform better at work and have greater cognitive power if you are a bodybuilder. Taking part in the sport will increase your overall IQ over time. Here is a list of reasons why.

Why bodybuilders are smarter

The better the body, the better the brain

Our bodies are interconnected. Our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual states are in tune and dependent on one another. A mental state cannot work without a physical state. Therefore, the healthier our physical bodies are, the better we can perform mentally. Lifters work to improve their physical states and this leads to natural, healthy mental performance. Since our bodies are healthier and stronger than normal, our brains are housed in bodies that are more physically able to provide more for our brain's needs. Having a body that is less challenging to physically sustain translates to having minds can run more freely without needing to adapt to physical demands like physical weakness and other bodily problems.

Bodybuilding increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain

Physical exercise - especially high intensity exercise - increases our body's ability to transport blood around the entire body. This benefits our brains without our realizing it. The amount of oxygen that we take in with each breath though our lungs increases. Additionally, the percentage of that oxygen that we can actually use within our bodies increases as well. This translates means into more blood-rich oxygen for the brain to use. Ever heard of the concept that the deeper we breath in, the healthier and smarter we are? There is no need to walk around taking ridiculously large breaths all of the time. Simple exercise increases our blood flow and our blood oxygen levels. 

Bodybuilding provides the escapism and mental breaks that are needed for brain health

Over training is just as dangerous for the brain as it is for our bodies. Reading is a great way to physical rest, just like how exercising is a great way to rest your head while still advancing in life. These mental breaks give your brain a chance to rest, recover and recap on its current challenges before being used again at a higher intensity. Have you ever noticed that you get great ideas while working out? The reason for this is because the refreshing break with a low-thought activity (and increased blood flow to boot) puts the brain in a powerful place where it can settle and develop. The brain is a muscle which has a mental output instead of a physical or forceful output like the other muscles. Exercise is a great way to speed up mental recovery and adaption (growth) from daily stimuli and stresses placed on it. For example, exercise is a great way to get over addiction (it is often used in rehab centers for this reason) due to its ability to re-settle the brain.

Better choices

The choices that bodybuilders make improve their brains as well, although they make these choices to primarily improve their bodies. Bodybuilders are more likely to drink less alcohol, avoid smoking and eat less junk food - all of which damages the brain. The choices that we make that enhance our bodies are almost always likely to benefit our brains at the same time.

Bodybuilding gives you a goal

Bodybuilders have a great sense of purpose because they have goals that they achieve and then set new goals to work towards. This 'sense of purpose' and 'sense of achievement' after reaching predetermined goals are highly beneficial to our mental states. Our brain positively responds to these cycles and indirectly increases our mental confidence, performance, and refreshment. Also, lack of mental goals to visualize and work towards end up dulling and aging the brain faster than it should.

Prevents mental problems before they happen

Exercise is one of the best ways to fight depression - a mental condition - and people who take part in bodybuilding for a prolonged period of time are less likely to develop negative mental conditions later in life like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, panic attacks, addiction, insomnia, paranoia, and personality disorders. Bodybuilding might be preventing you from getting an underlying mental condition that you would have experienced later on down the line if you didn't hit the gym.

Bodybuilding keeps you younger

We age as the cells in our bodies slowly lose their ability to regenerate and start to die off. Exercise slows down this process because through the challenges that exercise brings, we unknowingly reprogram our bodies to keep adapting to a stimulus and as a result our individual cells learn to regenerate at a faster pace. In the case of aging, it takes a longer time for our cells to lose their ability to regenerate. Because of this, they start dying much later than usual. It is as if they if been put under an increased demand to regrow for longer periods of time (years into old age). This is why medical aid schemes can determine your health status through an 'age test'. The younger your body appears in this test, the healthier you are. Our brains are very susceptible to aging just, like our bodies and physical appearance. Two people might be the same age, but their physical health will be different. This means that their bodies are operating as if they are older or younger than their actual age. Bodybuilders undergo exercising and dieting regimes that end up reversing the aging process. It unfortunately does not benefit us fast enough to reverse aging, but it slows it down at a great pace. This brings benefits for minds as well as our bodies and appearances. Being able to operate as if you were younger means that you could have the bright mind of and 21 year old, even though you are 60 years old. Don't believe me? Here are the studies that prove it. 

Bodybuilding relieves stress

Just like how the steam room could relieve stress placed on the body, exercise relieves mental stresses placed on us throughout the day. If these mental stresses and not relieved (like through exercise, relaxation, or social interaction), they can accumulate and lead to diminished cognitive function and even negative mental conditions mentioned above.

Bodybuilding makes you happier

Exercise releases endorphins, the brain's 'happy hormone'. Exercise also helps to eliminate stress hormones that the brain releases when under stress, much like how our muscles release lactic acid when under stress. The endorphin release is what gives you that great 'on top of the world' feeling when you leave the gym and is why some of us feel a little depressed when we don't work out for a few days. By regulating mental hormones like endorphin release and stress hormone elimination, regular exercise keeps your brain healthy and happy, allowing it to grow and develop to its best potential all the time; as well as preventing any negative stress build-up that might accumulate through time.

Higher immunity = More brain growth time

Bodybuilders generally have a higher immunity than other people and get sick less often, which is great for our brains. When we get sick, our brain development is slowed down as our bodies prioritize survival and fighting sickness instead of increasing our mental ability to respond to cognitive challenges. This is why it is harder to take in information, work, or pay attention when you are sick. The less time we are sick, the more time we have to stimulate our brains through social interaction, studies or work and the better our brains recover and grow as a response to that.

Nutrients

The same nutrients that are great for our bodies are often favourable for our brains as well. Fish, protein, complex carbs, vitamins, glutamine, fish oil and veggies which are a large part of bodybuilding diets are fantastic nutrient sources for the brain as well. Exercise increases the absorption and utility of these nutrients in the blood stream, which makes them more available for our brain just as much as these nutrients are readily available for the rest if our bodies to use.

Hormones

The hormones that are increased by regular exercise (especially compound movements) like testosterone, growth hormone and insulin are all improved. All of the hormones benefit your brain as well.

So there you have it. Bodybuilding makes you smarter! STAY STRONG

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Making Friends at The Gym

The gym can be a great place to make good friends with people who have the same goals and ambitions as you. Many great friendships have been formed in gyms and if you want the kind of friends that like to be active and live a healthy life as well, the gym might be a great place to start.

You might want to start building your network of exercise-related contacts to help you get into the fitness industry, or just make a few mates that will be a positive influence.

How to make friends at the gym

Don't be annoying

First off: Don't be the person that everybody wants to avoid. See the most annoying people in the gym and make sure you are not one of these people. Make sure you aren't the annoying guy at the gym because you won't make any friends at all that way.  

Make sure that your first objective for going to gym is to work out. Don't go to the gym just to make friends. This comes across and you won't win the respect of anybody there if that is the case.

Train hard. Look good and exercise as well as you can. People around you notice these things. Ironically, people who go to gym for the right reasons end up making more friends than people who attend for nothing but social interaction.

You should not go to the gym in jeans and a shirt to look good. That will make you look silly and unfocused on training hard. Look good by being presentable. You might be at gym, but take some pride in yourself. I'm referring to things like brushing your teeth and wearing clean gym clothes. The bigger and stronger you are, the more likely people will want to be friends with you. Use this as motivation to do your best at the gym. Just as much as you notice the people who are really performing their best at the gym, you want to be one of those people so that others can notice you too.

Be approachable

Start by being approachable. You might look intimidating without knowing it. Many people do. If your eye meets someone else's (which will happen by accident), smile. Smile often to give off the impression that you are kind, a nice human being and easy to talk to. Open up your body language. If you are on your phone between sets or if you are using headphones, then people should respect you and not bother you. Ditch these things if you want to make friends.

Talk to a variety of people

You might want to be friends with the biggest and coolest looking guys in the gym exclusively, but going up to these people in the middle of their training session is going to irritate them. You don't want to be the irritating guy. Be nice and pleasant to everybody at the gym. Greet the staff, cleaners, the old guy from the steam room that talks to everybody and even the people that you wouldn't usually associate yourself with. They are generally nice people, and once you make friends with these people, you will be introduced to more and more people until you know almost everybody around the facility.

Don't talk down to anybody. Do not judge the guy that does cardio along with weight training and don't say bad things about people to others at the gym. This will give you a bad reputation.

Gym at a set time

Most people gym at the same time routinely. If you are able to gym at the same time regularly, you will start to recognize reoccurring faces, and start getting to know the people there. Going to gym at a different time can sometimes feel like walking into a different gym altogether. Personally, whenever I gym at a different time from normal, I am surprised at all the strangers there. The funny part is that they all probably think I'm a newbie because they obviously haven't seen me before either.

Take baby steps

Don't rush in and try to start conversations with everybody. That will be annoying to the other gym members. Start with smaller steps. Make it a habit of smiling often. Greet people as you walk past them. Try to greet everybody you can and not only certain people. A simple 'how you doing' will do. Don't stop everybody to shake their hands if you don't know them. 

When working on exercises that need spotting like the bench press ask people around you for a spot - but make sure not to cause them inconvenience. Don't take up too much their time so that they can't focus on their own workouts. If someone is using a machine or weight that you want to use, ask how many sets they have left. If the number is 3 or greater, it is okay to ask if they mind sharing the machine with you. Most people won't mind sharing weights with you as long as it doesn't slow down their own workout. If the number of sets they have left is 2 or more, asking to share will sound silly so just wait until they are done. 

Feel free to ask people for advice when you need to, but don't ask a million questions every time you see them. Most people love giving advice and they will enjoy talking to you about what they know. You might want to ask someone how they got such big calve muscles or how to do better at your bench press. 

Don't overdo it

This is very important. Don't ever talk to someone for so long that they end up taking too long in-between their exercise sets. They will start to associate you with slacking off and will try avoiding your conversation altogether if they think it will lead to decreased performance in their training. 

If you want people to like you, you need to try to end up doing most of the listening in a conversation. When we talk, we often focus so much on what we are saying that we don't realize that the person who is listening is just waiting for you to end talking so that they can get away. You don't want that to happen to you. Develop the ability to distinguish whether the person is interested in talking to you or not. Most people won't tell you that you are irritating them out of courtesy, so try to draw the line between being annoying and friendly. 

If someone has earphones or is on their phone, don't bother them unless you know them. There are many people who don't like chatting at all when they're working out. You need to distinguish the difference between the people who don't mind interacting with others and the ones that don't want to socialize at all. 

Take it easy. Just because someone greeted you back doesn't mean you should be asking for their number. People will take time to start seeing you as a buddy in the gym as opposed to a stranger. Slowly but surely, get to know all the people a little more and more each time you can and let things happen naturally.

STAY STRONG!

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Benefits Of Drinking Lemon Juice For Athletes

Drinking lemon juice can be very beneficial to your body. Making it a daily routine can be helpful in keeping you healthy. The healthier you are, the more time you can train in the gym and the less down time that you are forced to spend grounded from that nasty flu or cold. Read more about this along with other benefits below.

Benefits of drinking lemon juice (With water)

Lemon benefit 1: It boosts your immune system

Lemons are high in vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system. Drinking lemons in liquid form (lemon juice) allows for quick and usable absorption when your body needs it. Drinking it daily allows your body to get more of the vitamin whenever you have a deficiency - which you might be unaware of even having. Don't wait for sickness to let you know you're vitamin C deficient. You don't know when you need vitamin C, so taking it regularly will do wonders to prevent the sicknesses you didn't know you were going to get. This proactive approach allows you to fight off illnesses before you get sick, not when you're already sick and it's too late.

Lemon benefit 2: Recovery, joint strength and injury prevention

Even though lemon juice is acidic, it assists your body to remove excess acid from your body. This can help remove some of the lactic acid build up from exercise. Doing so will speed up recovery and get your muscles back on track sooner. Add the vitamin C content to the mix and your joints will have more of what they need to get stronger. This helps to prevent injury. Here are other great ways to speed up recovery from exercise. 

Lemon benefit 3: Lemon juice makes you look good from the inside out

Lemon juice is used topically on the skin to help with pimples, wrinkles and to fade freckles. But taking it through a drink will make you look better from the inside out. It will give you a healthy glow and add a natural radiance to your skin. Its detoxing properties (see below) will help your body to remove impurities. This, combined with the extra vitamin C, will help to keep your skin looking young and fresh. Wounds and scars will take less time to heal and it also contributes to healthier hair and nails. Click here for more tips on improving your skin.

Lemon benefit 4: It provides energy, suppresses appetite and helps fat loss

Drinking lemon juice is a gentle, subtle way of losing fat without sacrificing any muscle. Even if lemon juice helps you to lose a few grams of fat a day, doing this daily will make a huge difference over a long period of time.

Lemon benefit 5: Lemon juice detoxes you

Lemon juice helps the body to release toxins in the blood and muscles. Furthermore, if you drink warm lemon juice and water first think in the morning, it helps you digestive system and allows your body to eliminate it's natural 'waste' easier and smoother. Think of lemon juice as the crowd control of your colon. It also boosts liver and kidney performance because it helps them to get rid of the toxins that often keep them too busy to focus on other functions. When the strain on your liver and kidneys are lessened because there are less toxins for them to deal with, they can dedicate more of themselves to other functions like regulating metabolism and important nutrients.

Lemon benefit 6: Healthy alternative to water 

Pure water is the healthiest thing to drink and should form the majority of all your liquid consumption. A squirt of lemon in your water once a day is a nice break from the boring taste of plain water, but won't have any negative health impacts - as long as you don't overdo it (see tips and advice below). A squirt of lemon juice in water is also extremely low in calories. Don't add sugar if you want to keep the calories low.

Lemon benefit 7: Vitamins and minerals 

Lemon juice has other useful nutrients that are good for your body and increase your overall health. These nutrients include potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin A and pectin fiber. Pectin fiber aids digestion and reduces cholesterol. See the benefits of these minerals here.

Lemon benefit 8: Anti-bacterial properties 

The antibacterial properties in lemon juice make it a good remedy for sore throats (and preventing them). It will help you to fight the fight against any other bacteria that you aren't aware of around you. Lemon juice is also antiseptic. The regular presence of lemon juice in your mouth can deter germs that cause bad breath, plaque and gum disease. Just be careful - too much lemon juice can wear at your teeth since it is acidic. Read more on that below.

Lemon benefit 9: Boosts heart and physical performance

Lemon juice thins your blood which is good for your heart, circulation and cardiovascular system. Your body will have an easier time and be more efficient at delivering nutrients to your muscles during training. Improved blood flow will also shorten recovery times.

Tips and advice

Be tooth smart

Drink lemon juice diluted in water. Lemon juice is acidic and can cause tooth decay, so don't drink it on its own and be sure NOT to drink it before or after brushing your teeth. As long as you do this, it won't have a negative effect on your teeth.

Don't overdo it 

Lemon juice thins your blood, which is a good thing. With too much thinning, though, your blood won't be able to clot. If you cut yourself and your blood is too thin, it will keep flowing, causing more blood loss than normal. One glass of lemon water (2-4 table spoons lemon juice mixed with water) daily is enough to get all the benefits of lemon juice, without thinning the blood too much.

You can get very similar benefits from drinking apple cider vinegar. Do you know of any other benefits from lemon juice? Let us know in the comments below. STAY STRONG!

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How Bodybuilders Make Money

How bodybuilders earn an income

This is how you break into the bodybuilding industry in the first place.

Bodybuilding is expensive

Bodybuilding is one of the most expensive sports out there. The cost of supplements, nutrition and food needed to grow your body is no joke. 

Once you get serious, you can't simply go to the gym and eating whatever you want, whenever you want. A proper diet that ensures the best muscle growth is costly. 

Unfortunately we live in a world where the healthiest and most nutritious food is also the most expensive food. People in this sport can generally expect to spend up to a third of their salary on gym memberships, supplements and food.

It costs money to get ahead.

Will most people make enough money from bodybuilding?

Even while paying the high price for your passion, can you make enough money through bodybuilding to support your aspirations and make a living out of it?  

Short answer: No. 

You need to get a job to support your dreams. You need some sort of income to buy the supplements and food that you need to achieve your desired physique.

Long answer: Yes. 

There are many bodybuilders who make enough to live off the sport. Some even make a lot of money from it as well. Working in the industry as a full-time career option is rare and highly coveted - yet definitely possible. 

How bodybuilders make money

You need to do a combination of things to earn a proper salary as a bodybuilder.

1. Win cash prizes at bodybuilding competitions

2. Get sponsored by companies

3. Model

4. Personal training

5. Be a contest coach

6. Monetize and expand on your personal brand

7. Entrepreneurship

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1. Win cash prizes at bodybuilding competitions

This is not how bodybuilders make a living, but his is the first thing that comes to mind when people consider the income of body builders.

This is like an occasional bonus for the best of the best in the industry. The competitors at the top of their category do not count on getting this money - and you can't either.

A plan to live off prize money exclusively is going to get you in a financial mess - and a whole lot of disappointment. Congratulations to those who win money at shows, but don't count on it.

Even the top guys don't live off prize money. They still have to do the following things to stay in the industry full time. Check out these tips to win more bodybuilding shows.

Work for your salary.

2. Get sponsored by companies

If you perform well enough at bodybuilding shows, there will be companies who might be interested in sponsoring you. These companies are almost always supplement companies who want to use your image to sell their products to their target market.

Their market would be the people who want to look like you and be like you. These companies are not limited to supplement companies only. They can be energy drink, gym, clothing or other corporate companies. 

As stated in our 'make a career as a bodybuilder' article, getting a sponsorship is not as easy as stepping on stage and hoping that companies are going to chase you down with cash in their hands.

Most of the time, you are going to have to work for it. The competition for sponsorships is super tight. Therefore, it is essential to build strong relationships with prospective sponsors (learn how to forge relationships with the right people in the link above).

Some bodybuilders make a living with this kind of money. However, the numbers of bodybuilders who can live off their sponsorships are below 10% among the pros.

A sponsorship could be as small as a year's supply of their brand of supplements. They usually aren't enough to cover your nutrition costs, never mind everything else that comes with staying alive.

A sponsorship are rare and doesn't as pay as well as you'd think.

3. Modelling

Modelling and guest posing gigs can provide for good additional income.

This is also usually not a lot of money until you become well known and have established a strong brand that people recognize and want to pay for.

This is also very competitive, so it will be hard work for you to differentiate yourself from the crowd and get noticed by those who pay for models.

The amount of bodybuilders who make a living from modelling is quite low, but higher than the amount who live off sponsorships. 

Almost all bodybuilders combine a variety of these income streams to make a decent living.

Align yourself with the right people.

4. Personal training

Many bodybuilders become personal trainers as a way of doing what they love and working in the same industry to pay the bills.

The bodybuilding sport and this career choice often complement each other. The better people perform in bodybuilding competitions, the more clients with the same goals will want to be trained by them and therefore the more they can make from training others by charging more per session.

You can leverage your performance at shows to eventually train celebrate or A-list clients.

Working at a gym always has great benefits for a bodybuilder. The bodybuilder gets to network and has a bigger chance of meeting someone who could help him get further in his career. A friend of mine got a large contract from somebody that he met at his gym.

Although you need to get qualified first, it is easy to make a living from personal training. It is most likely not going to make you rich, but staying within the industry can bring in more opportunities.

A large amount of people who regularly compete in bodybuilding shows are personal trainers. If you want to be a personal trainer but are put off by the amount of other people going after the same job, specialize. Focus on training children and teens, pregnant woman or people who are recovering from injury.

Help others to help yourself.

5. Be a contest coach

Being a contest coach, just like personal training, can provide a steady stream of income that you can depend on - but won't make you rich. 

In order to become a contest coach, you need to know how the contests work. You need to have the skills to transform a newbie into the best performer that he or she can be onstage. 

You need a reason for people to believe that you can really help them to do the best they can at these shows. The better you do at your own shows, the more sought after you will be to others who want to be as successful as you.

6. Monetize and expand on your personal brand

If you want to make money out of bodybuilding, you need to develop your personal brand. You should become a well-known brand that people admire. 

How to grow your brand as a bodybuilder

1. Place well in bodybuilding competitions.

2. Build a big following on social media.

3. Get as much publicity from the media as possible.

4. Offer to write guest posts for websites and blogs that the industry pays attention to.

You should aim to reach as many people as possible. They should see your name repeatedly and start respecting your authority in the sport.

Once you have developed a brand within the industry, you can start capitalizing on it by selling you own merchandise, partnering with another company to use your brand to reach their target market, or becoming a product ambassador for larger companies.

The bigger your personal brand gets, the more opportunities will make themselves available to you.

Once you are well known, magazines and other media might offer you good cash for interviews, appearances, etc.

Build your brand.

7. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is an often over looked, and possibly lucrative, way to make money out of bodybuilding.

If there is a product or service that you can provide that people are willing to pay for within the industry, you have a great business opportunity.

Starting a business in bodybuilding has many possibilities. There are many ways of going about it. Although you can make endless amounts of money this way, it will require sharp business skills.

The chances are also very high that you will make nothing (or even lose money) when you try to start a business.

Look for business opportunities.

Extra tips and advice to earn money from bodybuilding

Decide: Are you in this for the cash or just for fun?

Unfortunately, bodybuilding is not like other sports because you can't try to qualify for a team and then get a salary depending on the club you belong to. 

If you want to make a living from it, you need to be clever about it. If you want to take up bodybuilding seriously, you need to decide whether you are going to do it for the sport of it or if you are going to need to make an income from it as well.

If you don't need an income from it and have another way of making a living for yourself and can afford the expenses like nutrition; then feel free to pursue it the best way that you choose.

Many of the greats have other forms of income and do bodybuilding professionally, even though they don't earn enough via the sport alone.

On the other hand, if you want to make your earnings from bodybuilding alone, you will need to be smart about it and plan well. You cannot rely on cash prizes from contests, so you will need to decide what other areas (listed above) you are going to pursue to make a steady income.

Some things shouldn't be monetized.

Think long term

If you are planning to live off bodybuilding, you will need to make a short-term, mid-term and long-term plan regarding your finances.

Perhaps you should get a normal job while you study to become a personal trainer, and once you are a personal trainer, work on starting a business that works well with your passion for bodybuilding.

If you don't plan right, ending your next muscle plateau is going to be the least of your worries.

Multiple revenue streams

The key to making a lot of money is through multiple revenue streams. Don't rely on only one way of making money.

Your first goal should be to establish a steady form of income. Your second goal should be to somehow get a secondary income. With the extra money from the secondary income, you can figure out the best way to turn the additional income into more money.

Don't stop until you're satisfied.

Think different from everybody else

As with any industry, the better you can differentiate yourself from the rest of the crowd, the more successful you will be.

If you stand ahead of the rest on stage as a personal trainer or business, you can make a lot of good money. Originality wins.

Be money smart

Save and use your money wisely. Make sure that you always have enough for 'rainy days' and keep your expenses as low as possible.

The worst thing you want is to cut supplements in the middle of the month because you thought you would get more money but didn't.

Don't let your bulking diet drill your wallet into the ground and halt your progress.

We hope this info was useful. Please let us know if it was in the comments below. STAY STRONG!

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