5 Easy Steps to Reveal More Muscle

You love lifting. You love the plain challenge and the simple rewards—beating your previous best and feeling a great pump afterward. And maybe you hate cardio. Devoting gym time to cardiovascular exercise feels as if you're burning away hard-earned muscle. But you're not—you're revealing it.

If gaining mass is all you focus on, soon no one will be able to distinguish your traps from your deltoids. For a lean and chiseled physique, you need cardio work (relax—no distance running involved). Just follow our 5 easy steps to reveal more muscle. You don't need much cardio (15 to 20 minutes twice a week max), and most of what you do need should be at a high intensity, as befits a man with a lifter's mindset. But after a few weeks, you’ll start to notice less fat and greater muscle definition. Consider it the fast track to the body you’ve always wanted—without feeling like a rat on a wheel.

1. Change the Cycle
You don't lift the same way all year, so why should the frequency, intensity, and duration of your cardiovascular workouts stay the same? They shouldn't.

When you're trying to add muscle, keep your aerobic work to a minimum—say, once or twice a week for about 15 to 20 minutes. This will limit your energy expenditure and allow your body to concentrate on building muscle.

When you're trying to get lean, increase your cardio training to two to four times a week, to help strip away excess body fat.

At all times, alternate your cardio methods so your workout's not so boring—treadmill running 1 day, rowing or elliptical training the next, cycling the day after that.

2. Separate Cardio from Lifting
Serious lifters worry that cardiovascular training will impede their ability to recover from intense strength training. That all depends on when and how you do your cardio.

Keep your cardio days and strength days as removed from each other as possible. That way your cardio won't hinder gains in strength and size. For instance, doing a tough cycling workout after you hammer your legs with squats and lunges isn't a good idea if your goal is to build bigger legs. Save your cardio for the next day, or even 2 days later, to rest your legs.

If you must do cardio and weights on the same day, choose a form of aerobic work that emphasizes body parts your weight lifting didn't focus on that day. So, if your cardio choice is rowing, which works your upper body as much as it does your legs, row on a day when your weight session doesn't concentrate on your upper body.

Whichever route you choose, just be sure to hit the weights first. You don't want to wipe yourself out before your weight routine—you won't get the most out of your session, and lifting when you're tired can be dangerous.

3. Don't Make an Impact
Your body has enough to contend with in repairing the damage that lifting inflicts on it. The last thing you need to do is break it down further with high-impact cardio training.

Concentrate on cardio workouts that minimize microtrauma—the small tears to muscle fibers that are part of the process of building new muscle. Running on hard surfaces like asphalt or concrete can be traumatic to muscles and joints. Jumping rope can cause similar problems.

Your best bets for low-impact exercise are swimming, cycling, and using an elliptical machine.

4. Ignore the "Fat-Burning Zone"
It's a myth that you have to work out continuously for 20 minutes before you begin burning fat. The thinking once was that you needed to exercise in a range between 60 percent and 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. Any lower was too easy, and any higher made it too difficult to efficiently use fat for fuel.

Ignore that theory. Your body uses more energy overall when training at high intensities—just look at the physique of a sprinter. Going all out also makes better use of your time. You can finish your cardio in an intense 10- to 15-minute workout.

Stick to interval workouts that feature short bursts of high-intensity movement followed by active recovery periods. This approach is best for your heart and for fat loss.

5. Choose the Path of Most Resistance
Changing the gears on a bike and altering the gradient on a treadmill, for instance, are great ways to increase intensity. Just be careful to find a level of resistance that won't reduce the amount of work you're able to do when you return to the weight room.

5 Simple Yoga Poses For Men

Gentlemen, start your engines. Here’s a compilation of 5 key yoga poses for men to jumpstart your practice. Let’s face it. Guys are built differently than gals. While yoga is accessible to men and women equally, there are certain poses that prove more difficult for the male anatomy.  You’re either born with strength or flexibility; but not both. The good news is that yoga has the ability to both strengthen and increase flexibility. These 5 simple yoga poses will prepare your body for a satisfying and fulfilling yoga practice.

1. Upward Facing Dog

Men are naturally built with a lot of upper body strength. This translates to tight chest and shoulder muscles that make certain poses more challenging (like those Chaturanga push-ups your yoga teacher loves so much). Up-Dog will give your chest and shoulders an effective, deep stretch.

2. Downward Facing Dog

 From the top down, Down Dog has some awesome benefits. While your head hangs heavy, it’s helping to release tension from the neck. As your heels reach towards the mat, your hamstrings and Achilles tendons are deeply stretched. This pose will prepare you for other poses that require flexibility.

3. Prayer Twist

 Twists are incredibly good for the spine. A lot of guys will work out hard at the gym, but not follow up with adequate stretching. The spine needs to be stretched as well, especially after weight-bearing exercises. Twists decompress the spine and help to re-hydrate the spinal column keeping discs hydrated and preventing deterioration.

4. Pigeon

Pigeon Pose is a hip opener. Men typically have less flexibility in the hip flexors, and this tightness over time can lead to a decrease in range of motion. Fascia is a fibrous tissue that coats muscles in the body. Think of it as saran wrap that gets tighter over time. The way to loosen this fascia is by deep stretching. Holding pigeon pose for several breaths will help to loosen the hip joint and gain flexibility over time.

5. Tree Pose

 Balance is another aspect of yoga that men often need help with. Start simple with Tree Pose. This requires balancing on one leg. Start by bringing your right foot to rest on the inside of your left ankle. Bring your hands to heart center and balance there for five breaths. Repeat on the opposite side. Next time, bring your right foot to rest on your left calve, and then work to bring it all the way up to your inner thigh. This will build focus, balance, and confidence.

5 Simple Strategies for Bigger Muscles

Strength training today suffers from the Starbucks effect. Just as it's increasingly difficult to fight off the sprinkles and foam when you order a cup of joe, it's hard to call yourself a modern muscle maker when you do a weight-lifting move without a few added kinks.

"It's great fun to watch guys trying to do squats while standing on stability balls," says former Olympic weight-lifting coach Harvey Newton, C.S.C.S. "But the truth is, if they just did the basics better, they'd produce the results they want without involving all the bells and whistles."

Now hold on, Harvey. Those big balls do a lot of good. On the other hand, all these half-caf mocha-latte workouts are starting to get on our nerves. Sometimes you just want to bust a move and make more muscle.

So we asked exercise experts to help us pinpoint ways to make the classic moves we all do—squats, rows, bench presses, and crunches—work better. Follow their advice and see fast results without the sprinkles.

1. Tap When You Squat
Experts agree: The squat is one of the best muscle builders in a man's portfolio because of the number of muscles the exercise engages. Experts also agree that most lifters perform it incorrectly. Namely, they don't squat down far enough, nor do they place the emphasis on their glutes by anchoring with their heels. This means the glutes are never fully engaged.

New York City–based trainer David Kirsch, C.S.C.S., author of The Ultimate New York Body Plan, offers this solution: Stand in front of a weight bench. Squat down until your butt touches the bench, then immediately press through your heels back to the starting position. Using the bench forces you to squat all the way down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, so the exercise will yield better results.

2. Give 'Em a Squeeze
As you prepare to lift, contract the muscles you're working and keep them that way throughout the entire move. "You won't be able to lift quite as much weight, but your muscles will be doing more work overall, so they'll grow," says Sam Iannetta, C.P.T., owner of Functional Fitness and Wellness Centers in Boulder, Colorado. "For instance, on the bench press, imagine you're trying to bring your hands toward each other but don't move them at all, so your pecs are squeezed together. You won't believe the pump."

3. Bring the Situp Back from the Dead
"Men spend entirely too much time doing crunches, which involve only a 30-degree range of motion—way too small for significant muscle building," says Patrick Hagerman, Ed.D., C.S.C.S., a professor at the University of Tulsa. "If you want to build your abdominals, do a full situp. Your abs spend more time working dynamically under tension, so they'll grow bigger and stronger. Full situps also strengthen the hip flexors, which can get pretty weak if all you do is crunches." (To improve your crunches, add a Swiss ball.)

To do situps right, lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent about 90 degrees, hands clasped lightly behind your head, and elbows out to the sides. Tuck in your chin, contract your abdominals, and roll all the way up until your chest nearly touches your knees. Then slowly roll back down.

4. Lose the Bench
By working while standing, you involve more muscles and burn more calories, says Douglas Lentz, C.S.C.S., director of fitness for Summit Health, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. "Except for a few sessions devoted to increasing mass, our athletes do almost everything standing," he says. "It engages your core, so your total strength increases."

A classic example is the bent-over dumbbell row. Most men lean over and brace themselves on a bench, then perform the exercise with one arm. Instead, assume a wide, stable stance and bend from the hips, keeping your back flat—and don't use a bench. Perform your rows from that position. You'll work your core for stability and do a bit more mid-section work. You won't be able to lift quite as much weight, but your entire body will benefit from the move.

5. Whittle While You Wait
Instead of sitting around working your mandible between sets, exercise another body part. "Supersetting helps you use your time better," says Lentz. And, if you do it properly, it builds more muscle. For the best results, alternate lower- and upper-body moves, such as a leg press followed by a lat pulldown. That way, each muscle group has time to recover between sets. Alternating upper- and lower-body exercises also keeps your heart rate revved up and stimulates your circulatory system, so you deliver more oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to your working muscles and burn more calories.

Five Steps to Safer Health Care

How can you improve your health care?


Patient Fact Sheet

Patient safety is one of the Nation's most pressing health care challenges. A 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lapses in patient safety.

This fact sheet tells what you can do to get safer health care. It was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association.

1:Ask questions if you have doubts or concerns.
Ask questions and make sure you understand the answers. Choose a doctor you feel comfortable talking to. Take a relative or friend with you to help you ask questions and understand the answers.

2:Keep and bring a list of ALL the medicines you take.
Give your doctor and pharmacist a list of all the medicines that you take, including non-prescription medicines. Tell them about any drug allergies you have. Ask about side effects and what to avoid while taking the medicine. Read the label when you get your medicine, including all warnings. Make sure your medicine is what the doctor ordered and know how to use it. Ask the pharmacist about your medicine if it looks different than you expected.

3:Get the results of any test or procedure.
Ask when and how you will get the results of tests or procedures. Don't assume the results are fine if you do not get them when expected, be it in person, by phone, or by mail. Call your doctor and ask for your results. Ask what the results mean for your care.

4:Talk to your doctor about which hospital is best for your health needs.
Ask your doctor about which hospital has the best care and results for your condition if you have more than one hospital to choose from. Be sure you understand the instructions you get about followup care when you leave the hospital.

5:Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery.
Make sure you, your doctor, and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done during the operation. Ask your doctor, "Who will manage my care when I am in the hospital?" Ask your surgeon:
       
                                           *Exactly what will you be doing?
                                            * About how long will it take?
                                        *What will happen after the surgery?
                                       *How can I expect to feel during recovery?

Tell the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses about any allergies, bad reaction to anesthesia, and any medications you are taking.