The Body Power Expo at the NEC in Birmingham is on 9th and 10th May. There are loads of big names attending including Mariusz Pudzianowski, Victor Martinez, Dennis Wolf, Dorian Yates, Phil Heath and Flex Lewis. Visit the MuscleTalk stand situated near the main stage where we have guest posers, photo shoots and dancers. We will also have new designs of MT T shirts available at discounted prices. Come and have your photo taken on our stage area and meet some of the MT Team including MT sponsored bodybuilder Daz Ball.
Look forward to seeing you there!
We have a new forum for the Over 40s; everyone is welcome there, but the topic will be relevant to trainers who are over 40 years old.
The next Shape-Up competition will soon be underway and as it's proved so popular before we've dedicated a whole section to this and future Shape-Up competitions. The Shape-Up sub-forum is situated within the Progress Journals main forum.
New articles, interviews and reports in April:
- Interview with Body Fitness Competitor Louise Rogers
- Testosterone Boosters/Natural Anabolics - A Natural Way to Boost Testosterone
- PGCL - Bodybuilding's Most Hardcore Drug?
Past articles at Bodybuilding Articles, with categories of all our main articles and past newsletters contributions.
MuscleTalk T-shirts! - new designs coming soon!
*** Best wishes from James Collier and The MuscleTalk team! ***
See you at www.MuscleTalk.co.uk
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You can see the all new Muscle Shop at www.muscle-shop.co.uk and the complete range of manufacturers at www.muscle-shop.co.uk/manufacturers/!
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*** Consuming Fruit and Veg in Season ***
By James Collier, BSc (Hons), RNutr - Nutrition Consultant www.healthyaction.co.uk
We all know fruit and vegetables are good for us, and you've probably heard of the campaign '5 a Day!' encouraging us to consume five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. A mixture of fruit and vegetables needs to be consumed to provide a balance of vitamins, minerals and fibre, and different fruits and veg are higher in different vitamins and minerals; this is why we're advised to mix our colours. For example, oranges are packed with vitamin C, carrots are high in vitamin A, leafy green veg contain iron and vitamin B2, bananas provide potassium and so on.
Eating fruit and veg in season is ideal because with age the content of vitamins and minerals in fruit and veg can be less. The following list gives examples of better fruit and veg choices per season:
** Spring:
Asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, brussels, leaks, parsnips, swede, beans, lettuce, onions, peas, spinach, apples, oranges
** Summer:
Peppers, carrots, sweetcorn, onions, peas, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, cherries, peaches, plums, raspberries
** Autumn:
Cauliflower, sweetcorn, cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, spinach, apples, cherries, grapes, oranges, pears
** Winter:
Broccoli, brussels, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, spinach, butternut squash, apples, oranges
** All-year round:
Bananas, watercress
If you're confused about what one 'portion' is then use this guide:
- 1 apple, banana, pear, orange or other similar sized fruit
- 2 plums, satsumas, kiwi fruit or other similar sized fruit
- ½ a grapefruit or avocado
- 1 large slice of melon or fresh pineapple
- 3 heaped tablespoons of vegetables, beans or pulses
- 3 heaped tablespoons of fruit salad or stewed fruit
- 1 heaped tablespoon of raisins or sultanas
- 3 dried apricots
- 1 cupful of grapes, cherries or berries
- 1 dessert bowl of salad
- 1 small glass (150ml) of pure fruit juice or smoothie
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*** 3 Ab Exercises ***
By James Collier, BSc (Hons), RNutr - Nutrition Consultant www.healthyaction.co.uk
The following are three really effective ab exercises to help you achieve rock hard, defined abs. Ab exercises won't spot reduce fat from the belly, but strong abs are will strengthen the torso and help protect your spine.
Bicycles
The bicycle exercise is a great movement to target the rectus abdominis (i.e. the 'six pack') and the obliques (the waist):
- Lie face up on the floor and lace your fingers behind your head
- Bring your knees in towards the chest and lift your shoulder blades off the ground without pulling on your neck
- Straighten your left leg out while simultaneously turning your torso to the right, bringing your left elbow towards your right knee
- Switch sides, bringing your right elbow towards your left knee
- Continue alternating sides in a 'pedalling' motion for 12-20 reps
Vertical Leg Crunches
This is another effective movement for the rectus abdominis and the obliques. To do it right:
- Lie face up on the floor and extend your legs vertically with knees crossed
- Contract your abs to lift your shoulder blades off the floor, as though reaching your chest towards your feet
- Keep your legs in a fixed position and imagine bringing your belly button towards your spine at the top of the movement
- Lower and repeat for 12-20 reps
Exercise Ball Crunches
Exercise balls are excellent pieces of equipment to help strengthen the abs. You can perform crunches on the ball:
- Lie face-up with the ball resting under your mid/lower back
- Cross your arms over the chest or place them behind your head
- Contract your abs to lift your torso off the ball, pulling the bottom of your ribcage down toward your hips
- As you curl up, keep the ball stable
- Lower back down, getting a stretch in the abs, and repeat for 12-20 reps
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*** Food of the Month - Rhubarb ***
By Big Les - MuscleTalk Moderator & Nutrition Consultant - www.healthyaction.co.uk
Rhubarb has a long history, with a documented appearance in China 2700BC, its name Rheum deriving in part from the river Volga where it grew. Since then rhubarb has cropped up around the world, often prized for its medicinal properties. Using rhubarb as a food seems to have started in the 17th century in the UK, although it really got going when sugar became more widely and affordably available in the 18th Century. The Colonies, I mean America, caught on to Rhubarb late in the 18th Century. Its roots are a great laxative, and its leaves can make a pretty decent poison if you like that sort of thing.
More importantly, in climates such as the UK, rhubarb comes into season in April. Although commercial cultivation can be achieved all year round with green houses, any rhubarb lover will tell you the stuff grown in fields tastes the best.
By now you should be asking, why should a bodybuilder or athlete eat rhubarb? After all it is best known for its use in pies, crumbles and jams combined with lots and lots of sugar and usually butter. It doesn't have to be like that. Rhubarb is a good source of fibre - an essential for everyone. On the face of it rhubarb doesn't match up to a nutritional heavyweight like broccoli, however, it tastes amazing and has very few calories. In detail, 100g of rhubarb gives: 7calories, 93mg of calcium, 6mg of vitamin C, and nearly 1g of both protein and carbohydrate, fibre you get 2g.
Rhubarb is an excellent choice if you want to fill up without feeling fed up - while making sure everything keeps on moving - and bodybuilders I mean you especially because bodybuilding diets are notoriously low in fibre. So if you are cutting I hope you are paying attention. If you are ready to give rhubarb a try, then first you have to buy the good stuff, which is easy. Rhubarb should be firm and glossy, pale, tired looking stalks need to be recycled in the composting bin.
Now you have bought it, what do you do with it? Check out the excellent rhubarb recipe below. Second, chop it up and soften it by heating in a little water (with some sprinkle sweetener if you like). Like this, it can be added to jelly for a low cal treat, or added to anything where you would put fruit, even home made jam (with sweetener), or crumble (sweetener and low fat baking alternative of course), and someone has even made rhubarb cheesecake!
So there you have rhubarb, a nutritional lightweight that livens up your plate.
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** Informed Bodybuilding Nutrition eBook by James Collier - the ULTIMATE nutrition bible for bodybuilding.
For more information click here:
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*** MT Powerlifting Totals Competition ***
By Hazel - MuscleTalk Moderator
Check out the latest totals here
The table has been updated with members' PBs, so check out where you rank. Any members that have not posted their totals recently make sure you do!
Also check out the Cardio & Fitness forum Test your Mettle... What's your best? competition - open to all MuscleTalk members, just for fun so please join in! Also the MT 220lb bench press competition - how many reps can you do? Post the number of reps you manage and I will add them to the table on the first page of the thread.
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** IMPROVE YOUR GRIP with 'Grippers - Getting the most from your gripper'. The informative ebook from grip champion Steve Gardener tells you how to use your gripper more effectively to improve your performance in your sport:
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*** Recipe - Rhubarb Relish for Chicken ***
By Big Les - MuscleTalk Moderator & Nutrition Consultant - www.healthyaction.co.uk
** Ingredients
750g diced rhubarb
100g sweetener (experiment with this to taste its usually 140g of sugar)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
250ml cup orange juice
1 or 2 chilli (jalapeno) peppers, seeded and chopped
2 shallots minced
** Directions
Measurements are approximate - the best way to make this is to experiment.
With this recipe you stick it all in a pan, bring to boil, simmer and stir regularly until its relish like (took me about 30mins)
Another Rhubarb Relish
20g brown sugar
100g sweetener (again experiment for taste)
350g finely-chopped rhubarb
350g finely-chopped onion
250ml malt vinegar
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp freshly-ground black pepper
Once again, stick it in a pan, bring to the boil, simmer and stir regularly until relish like in consistency - again about 30mins.
Both can be stored in the fridge. They work brilliant with chicken, but also try with baked potato and tuna, on a cheese sandwich, and even on salmon (so I am told!)
More great bodybuilding recipes can be found in the eBooks 'Muscle Menus', 'Muscle Menus 2', 'Muscle Menus Vegetarian' and Muscle Menus Shakes, Bars and Smoothies
*** DVD Review - My House - Jay Cutler ***
Review by James Collier, MuscleTalk Co-Owner
My House is different to any other bodybuilding film, in that critically acclaimed director and photographer Jason Ellis gives you exclusive access into the life of 2-time Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler. Jay takes you on a personal tour of his new 6000sq foot Las Vegas compound and shows you his exciting car collection. His house really is something else too, and would be a lot of people's dream home with a huge kitchen, home cinema room, bedroom and more. Jay is also an enthusiastic car fan.
In addition to a tour of Jay's house, the champion reveals some of his secrets in an in depth interview on how to get to the top and achieve your goals in Bodybuilding and in life! He explains how he fought for the Olympia title year after year eventually being crowned in 2006.
The film is around 80 minuets which is shorter than most other bodybuilding films, and there is no training footage; it's just about Jay as a person which makes it a very enjoyable film. One major criticism is that the sound reproduction is very poor and there is a lot of distortion, which is not what you'd expect from a quality film and it makes it appear a little amateurish. However, My House is a great insight into Jay Cutler's life and is certainly a good watch for both die hard Jay fans and fans of competitive bodybuilding.
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The articles in The MuscleTalker are for information purposes only and are the sole expressions of the individual authors opinion and are those not necessarily shared by the owners of www.MuscleTalk.co.uk