Mr Olympia 2012 taking place tonight!

An annual competition takes place this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada - Mr. Olympia 2012. It's gonna peak tonight, as the 212 showdown and Mr O finals start in under 9 hours from now.
 The prevailing opinion is that the top 2 battle will be between Phil Heath and Kai Greene, with Warren and Wolf placing in top 5 as well. Kai Greene is tied for 2nd place because you simply can't be the world's best bodybuilder if you fucked a fruit.

You can watch the live stream here

Nikola Weiterova

Nikola Weiderova for NUTREND

A video clip of the most succesfull bikini fitness competitor in preparation for Arnold Classic 2012.

Phil Heath - Becoming Number 13

This is a movie I like very much, as it is both entertaining and informational. It depicts Heath's period of life before last Olympia, what the training looked like, how he felt all the time. Great full-length movie, everyone interested in bodybuilding should watch it.

Zyzz

Aziz Sergeyevich Shavershian - many people know the story of Zyzz, and many have been motivated by it to live a healthier lifestyle. Zyzz was an Australian amateur bodybuilder born in 1989 - died in August 2011 by a heart attack in a Bangkok sauna (even though his brother Said "Chestbrah" Shavershian doesn't believe he died this way).
Zyzz started working out to become bigger. He did, and so did his name on the internet. Called "The god of aesthetics, son of Zeus, and brother of Hercules" by his followers, there's currently 250,000 fans on his facebook fanpage, up from 40,000 before his death. His legacy lives on and is only getting stronger.
A few facts I thought might be interesting:
-He covered his famous "Veni, vidi, vici" tattoo with roses in his last days in Thailand
-According to his brother, the Thailand authorities kept changing the cause of his death, even said he fell asleep on a massage table and didn't wake up. They also performed autopsy without permission before bringing him back to Australia
-He wrote a book of his personal knowledge and experience in bodybuilding
-He studied business and created his own supplement label "Protein of the Gods"

Ronnie Coleman

Ronald Coleman was born in Louisiana in 1964. He graduated in accounting, and after graduation he became a police officer in Texas. He joined a local gym, and accepted Brian Dobson as his trainer. They started preparing for Mr. Texas, which Coleman won in both heavy weight category and overall.
He won his first Mr Olympia in 1998, and became undefeated for 7 years, until 2005 (Jay Cutler defeated him). Along with Lee Haney, he holds the record for most Olympia wins in row (8). Another record he holds is Most wins as a IFBB professional - 26. He retired in 2007 after placing 4th in Olympia.

Chicken breast salad with fruit

This nice recipe for grilled chicken breast salad with fruit/veggies I have yet to try, but it looks great and easy to prepare. You can whatever fruit or vegetable you like to the salad - I am gonna try it with lemon or orange, but feel free to add strawberries or any kind of berries, tomatoes, or pepper.

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup pecans

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 heads Bibb lettuce - rinsed, dried and torn

fresh fruit/veggies of choice

1. Preheat the grill for high heat.
2. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken 8 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear. Remove from heat, cool, and slice.
3. Meanwhile, place pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pecans until fragrant, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
4. In a blender, combine the red wine vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil, onion, mustard, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth.
5. Arrange lettuce on serving plates. Top with grilled chicken slices, strawberries, and pecans. Drizzle with the dressing to serve.

Stefan Havlik in preparation for contest

New video of Stefan preparing for European Championship 2012, more precisely 2 weeks
before the start. This one is focused on legs.

Dorian Yates

Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates was born in 1962 in England. He set a a new standard amongst bodybuilders, after being the first above 250lbs who won Mr Olympia, all while maintaining very low body fat and high muscle density. The prime in his career was through years 1990-1997, winning Mr Olympia 7 times (6 times in a row), Grand Prix 8 times, and Night of the Champions once.
At the moment he works as a personal trainer, and is an author of some popular and great working training programs (Blood and guts).

Full list of his major achievements:

1990 IFBB Night Of The Champions, New York - 2nd place
1991 IFBB Night Of The Champions, New York - 1st place
1991 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Orlando, Florida - 2nd place
1991 IFBB English Grand Prix, Nottingham - 1st place
1992 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Helsinki, Finland - 1st place
1992 IFBB English Grand Prix, Nottingham - 1st place
1993 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Atlanta, Georgia - 1st place
1994 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Atlanta, Georgia - 1st place
1994 IFBB Spanish Grand Prix, Madrid - 1st place
1994 IFBB German Grand Prix, Duisburg - 1st place
1994 IFBB English Grand Prix, Nottingham - 1st place
1995 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Atlanta, Georgia - 1st place
1996 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Chicago, Illinois - 1st place
1996 IFBB Spanish Grand Prix, Madrid - 1st place
1996 IFBB German Grand Prix, Darmstadt - 1st place
1996 IFBB English Grand Prix, Nottingham - 1st place
1997 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Long Beach, California - 1st place

Body types

Have you ever asked yourself why can't you gain any muscle no matter how much you train, while your friend looks like a greek god after the same amount of working out? Or why can't you get as lean as you'd want to?
It all has to do with the body type you were born with.
Ectomorphs are the thin, low-fat low-muscle guys that find it hard to gain anything.
Endomorphs' body stores fat much more easily, and they have a hard time getting rid of it, but they have a lot of muscle mass too.
Mesomorphs are low in fat, but gaining muscle is not that hard for them as for ectomorphs at all. They are the sport types - often called the "good genetics".

Most people don't have the signs of one type only - almost everyone is a mixture.

Ectomorph 

Small frame and bone structure

Flat chest

Small shoulders

Thin

Lean muscle mass

Finds it hard to gain weight

Fast metabolism

Endomorph 

Soft and round body

Gains muscle and fat very easily

Is generally short and stocky

Round physique

Finds it hard to lose fat

Slow metabolism

Mesomorph 

Athletic

Hard body with well defined muscles

Rectangular shaped body

Strong

Gains muscle easily

Gains fat more easily than ectomorphs

Homemade cheeseburger with sweet potato chips

For those who enjoy a good burger, here is a healthy one for you. This is a lean beef burger stuffed with cheese and some veggies. Full list of ingredients and a very detailed preparation are shown in the video.

The Mighty Thor workout plan

Thor - being god requires godlike body, for which Chris Hemsworth needed to bulk up. He trained for 6 months under experienced eye of Duffy Gaver (former NAVY seal).
"It's pretty simple bodybuilding," Gaver says about the workout, which was used prior to last summer's Thor and this month's Avengers.  "We benched, but you'll notice that there's not a ton of chest work. Once you develop huge pecs, you look like another gym rat, and it makes everything else look smaller."

According to Gaver, Chris didn't touch single muscle-enhancing substance (yeah, right) - the key to gaining those 20 pounds of muscle was red meat, heavy lifts, and his complete dedication to this program:

Back	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4	Set #5
Superset: Pullups+pushups	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Pullups	20	15	12	10	10
Pushups	20	20	20	20	20
Leverage Iso Row	12	12	12	12	XX
Heavy Dumbbell Rows	12	12	12	12	XX
Hyperextensions	25	20	15	15	XX

Chest+biceps	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4	Set #5
Superset: Barbell bench press+dumbbell curl	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Barbell bench press	12	10	10	10	10
Alternate dumbbell curl	12	10	10	8	8
Leverage incline chest press	15	15	15	15	XX
Superset:	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Heavy barbell curl	12	10	10	10	10
Pushups	20	20	20	20	20

Legs	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4	Set #5
Barbell Squat: 5 sets of 20,15,12,10,10 reps	20	15	12	10	10
Leg Press: 5 sets of 20,15,12,10,10 reps	20	15	12	10	10
Superset: Leg extensions+Seated leg curl	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Leg extensions	15	15	15	15	15
Seated leg curl	15	15	15	15	15
Standing calf raises	15	15	15	15	20

Shoulders	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4
Push press: 15,12,10,10,8,6,4 reps, Giant set/4 rounds
Dumbbell shoulder press	15	12	10	8
Side lateral raise	15	12	10	8
Front dumbbell raise	15	12	10	8
Reverse flyes	15	12	10	8

Triceps	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4	Set #5
Tricep dips	15	15	15	XX	XX
Superset: Lying triceps press+Tricep dumbbell kickback	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Lying triceps press	15	15	15	15	15
Tricep dumbbell kickback	12	12	12	12	12
Overhead barbell extension	12	12	12	12	12

Abs	Set #1	Set #2	Set #3	Set #4	Set #5
Ab crunch machine	30	30	30	30	30
Ab circuit: 3x	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Situps	20	20	20	XX	XX
Flutter kicks	20	20	20	XX	XX
Hanging leg raises	20	20	20	XX	XX
Tuck crunch	20	20	20	XX	XX
Russian twist	20	20	20	XX	XX

2012 IFBB Mr Europe Grand Prix

Another Mr. Europe has taken place last saturday (April 28th) in Madrid, Spain. Some of the current top bodybuilders met here to fight for win, with Michael Kefalianos taking the 1st place. Below is the full result list.

1. Michael Kefalianos

 

 

2. Johnnie Jackson

 

3. Balta Abbaspour

 

 

4. Feras Saied

5. Sergey Shelestov

 

6. Daniel Toth

 

7. Gustavo Badell

8. Brandon Curry

9. Tomas Bures

 

10. Steve Benthin

11. Lee Powell

12. Leonid Istomin

13. Luke Timms

 

14. Jari Mentula

 

15. Varinder Singh

Chicken breast

Basis of every bodybuilder's diet, chicken breast is an excellent source of proteins. It contains about 150 calories, 30g of protein, and only 4g of fat per 100g. Most simple and faster way to prepare this meal is to just roast it on a pan - and with certain spices, it can taste pretty good. However, a lot of people prefer to marinade the meat, or to add various sauces - there are hundreds, maybe even thousands options as how to prepare your chicken. I usually like it with rice or potatoes.

Here are some recipes of my favourite preparations:

Hawaiian marinated chicken
Coconut Chicken Fingers
Chicken Breasts With Curry Green Onion Sauce

Stefan Havlik - Legs workout

Brand new video posted a moments ago by Stefan. Part of his leg training, getting ready for European championship 2012 by squatting 200kgs (440lbs).
Stefan is also preparing new DVD, containing his full Abs training routine (his abs are viewed as some of the best in europe in terms of development and visual appearance).

LEGS WORKOUT ROUTINE 6 days out European Championship 2012

Greg Plitt

Greg Plitt is a fitness model, actor, and an ex-military ranger. In my opinion, he has one of the best bodies and physiques on this planet. He appeared on more than 100 magazine covers, in about 10 movies, and he owns a webpage which contains tons of his healthy food recipes and training videos.

Check out his other videos too, as the speeches that he gives are often very motivating.

Gym fails compilation

Some of the fails are pretty brutal, some are funny. Glad nothing like this happened to me yet. What about to you?

Brad Pitt's Fight Club diet

Brad Pitt's physique in movie Fight Club has become kinda legendary. Many people look up to it while trying to get fit. I'll cover Brad's diet and exercise routine in this article. The fact that his body fat was really low (~5%) made it possible, as he stated, to have awesome abs without doing any straight-ab exercise.

He did 3 sets per exercise - 15 reps per set with weight that would make the last one go to failure, and more reps when doing bodyweight exercises.
Short rest time - 60 seconds between each set.

Monday – Chest
75 push ups
bench press – 25, 15, 8 rep
nautilus press
incline press
pec deck machine

Tuesday – Back
25 pull ups
seated rows
lat pull downs
t bar rows

Wednesday – Shoulders
arnold pres
laterals
front raises

Thursday – Biceps & Triceps
preacher curl machine
ez curls cable
hammer curls
push downs

Friday – Cardio

Saturday – Cardio

Sunday – Rest

 Now the most important part - diet. He followed a very strict, healthy diet - eating 6 times a day, with only supplement being whey protein powder. It looked like this:

Morning snack:  canned tuna in wholewheat pita wraps.
Lunch:  2 chicken breasts, with 75-100 grams of brown rice and green vegetables.
Afternoon snack:  protein bar or whey protein shake and 1 banana (this was pre-workout time).
Post-workout snack:  another whey protein shake and 1 banana.
Supper:  grilled fish or chicken, more brown rice, veggies and a large salad.
Bedtime snack:  low fat cottage cheese or a casein protein shake.

 I recommend to watch this movie, if you already haven't!

Slovak bodybuilding

Very nice video made by Zhasni, which makes me proud to be part of this nation and makes me wanna work as hard as I can to represent it.

Kai Greene - I got a Dream

Kai Greene is the one whose videos I watch for motivation. His speeches, his life story, his personality is what makes him truly special in the world of bodybuilding.

Stefan Havlik

I will start with one of my favourite bodybuilders - Stefan Havlik. Being from the same country as me - Slovakia - and being called The King of Slovakian bodybuilding, I always support him in international contests. Born in 1975 in Kosice, he's been training for about 15 years now.
His most notable achievement is winning Arnold Classic Amateur overall in 2012, allowing him to get his pro-card. He, however, declined it with words: "I'm gonna wait a few years until I can really compete with the big guys, I don't wanna be just a placeholder there."

You can get more info and all of his achievements on his facebook page

Best muscle building foods

There is food you should avoid, and there is food that you pretty much can't go without if looking to boost your muscles. Food rich in protein, food that raises your growth hormone levels, or contains important vitamins. Here are some examples:

Beef - not only it is a great source of protein, it also contains cholesterol, zinc, iron and vitamin B.
Brown rice - this whole-grain type of rice is slow digesting and provides you with energy long after you eat it. Furthermore, it boosts growth hormone.
Eggs - eggs are pure protein, and yolks also contain cholesterol - but don't be fooled, eating yolks is actually proven to lower your bad cholesterol levels.
Cottage cheese - another excellent source of protein which I have lately kinda fallen in love with, it is best to eat before sleeping as it contains casein - slowly digesting protein which will fuel your muscles through the night.
Milk - contains both whey protein and casein, so can be drank both before/after workout and before going to bed. Try to get organic milk which has 70% more omega-3 fatty acids than regular milk.
Oranges - have one before workout to boost your endurance, strenght and muscle growth.
Spinach, broccoli - both are good sources of glutamine and are considered one of the most "fit" vegetables that should be in everyone's diet.
Ezekiel bread - contains all 9 amino acids that body can't produce.

Branch Warren - No more sorrow

A tribute video to Branch Warren (recently won Arnold Classic). The music fits in perfectly too, so I liked this one very much. Check it out.

My chest routine

As monday is my chest day, I thought I would quickly share my routine with you.

Decline smith machine press - 5 sets (pyramid) - this is probably my favorite exercise, I simply can't wait to do it
Incline dumbbell press - 3 sets
Dips (chest version)
Flyes - 3 sets

Going to failure in each set is crucial for maximum muscle growth, so try to do it. If you have trouble going to failure, ie many repetitions and still can't reach it, simply switch to higher weight. I also try to add atleast 2 kilos to my bench press every monday to see how much have I improved.

Post-workout tips

What is the best to eat after working out? With correct food and supplements, you can maximise the effectiveness of your workout. Who wouldn't want that?

Protein
There are two basic types of protein - whey and casein.
Whey protein is crucial for your post-workout growth. It is absorbed in body very fast and is able to supply your muscles with amino acids which build new muscle. 30 grams should be enough.
Casein is absorbed slowly. It will start getting digested after the whey protein has been used, so your muscles won't be starving. Try to have 10-15 grams.

Carbohydrates
Another important thing to have are simple sugars. They raise insulin level in body and help deliver protein and other nutrients into muscles. Your glycogen stores were also emptied, and sugars refill them. Amount to take varies on your weight and goal, 20-80 grams.

Creatine
Creatine will not only aid you in gaining mass and strenght, it also helps you recover and will be stored in your body for next workout. 3-5 grams is enough.

Diet: Bulking

This diet will enhance your muscle mass gains, but it will also make amount of fat stored in your body higher. Bodybuilders use bulking to gain more muscle, and then they switch to cutting diet before going on stage to get rid of the fat and to get toned.
Here is an example of bulking diet. Amounts of food depend on your weight.
Breakfast
Whole eggs
Oats
Coffee

Meal 2
Lean steak
Brown rice

Meal 3
Chicken
Sweet potato
Broccoli

Meal 4
Fish
Brown rice
Broccoli


Meal 5
Chicken
Sweet potato
Broccoli

Pre-workout
Tilapia
Brown rice
Coffee

Post-workout
Protein shake with creatine and glutamine

Meal 6
Lean steak
Broccoli

Diets

Your daily nutrient intake varies depending on your goal – do you want to lose excess fat? Gain lean muscle mass? Or both at the same time? In following articles I will give examples of different diets that might give you an idea about what balanced diet and organised eating look like. You can and should customise these to your own preferences and your body weight. However, you should always try and have the meal at the given time – skipping it or having meal 1 simultaneously with meal 2 because you didn’t have time will only slow you down from reaching your dreamy physique. 

Water importance

Water is the single most important fluid for you. When you do not have enough of it, your whole body feels weaker. It is needed for every process in body.

1. Amount to drink
Generally advised is to drink 6-8 glasses per day. This, however, depends on your body weight and your goal. Higher weight and unordinary goals require more amounts of water. Every time you ask yourself how much you are gonna drink this day, the answer should be - more.

2. Water cleans body
It clears your body of toxins and other unneeded stuff. It's important while on protein diet to get rid of excessive nitrogen, urea, and ketones.

3. Liver
Your kidneys are dependant on water, and if they do not get enough of it, they can't function properly. Their job is then transferred to liver, which will process much less fat when doing both it's and kidneys' job, and will store the fat in body instead.
Water can also suppress your hunger and make you feel more full.

4. Fluid retention
Although it may logically seem opposite, water actually rids your body of excess water. This happens because of body getting used to receive a lot water every day, and it excluded the water stored in extra-cellular space. As a result of this, your muscles will get more toned and shredded.

High Intensity Interval Training

Often abbreviated as HIIT or HIT, this form of training can be applied to both aerobic exercises (cardio) and weightlifting. It is proven to burn more fat than classic exercising (CE), in the same or even less time.
While HIIT is a better way to burn fat, it is much harder to do than distance running. A person that's able to run 5kms by slow or medium paced jogging in one session might not be able to run 5kms by  HIIT.
The concept of HIIT is to alternate between sprinting and slow jogging/walking in ratio 1:2. I will give you an example of full exercise.

3 minute warm up - light/medium jogging
10x 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 1 minute of light jogging
3 minute cooldown - light jogging

After 5 rounds of sprinting/jogging you take a rest and walk for as long as needed - however keep it to minimum.

Speeding up your metabolism

Many people trying to lose fat reach for drastic methods like limiting their calories too much or even starving. In fact, it's bad for your body and doesn't help you to lose fat. Instead of starving yourself, you should try these tips:

1. Eating often
Try eating at least 5 times a day, or go for 6-7 if it's possible. Have a small meal every 2-3 hours, and never skip a meal - it will do no good. If you are at work or school most of the day like me, prepare your food the previous day or in the morning and take it with you. Note that the meals should be small - not the size you were used to before, when eating 3 huge meals.

2. Have a breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal of the day, the "starter" for your body. Have everything in it.
- for proteins you can choose eggs, milk or other dairy products - you can also go for a protein shake
- for carbohydrates, have a whole wheat bread, a banana, or any mix of berries
- for fats, I like to go for peanut butter or some fish

3. Protein
Eating protein with every meal will help you feel more full - as apposed to most of the diets which will left you hungry and crazy for more food. Protein also help body release and burn fats.

4. Drinking
Water. Drink it. And drink a lot of it. There's no better drink than water to keep you hydrated, and since it has 0 calories, you can have as much of it as you want. Suggested amount is at least 3 litres per day - but my personal advice is to go for 4-5 litres.

5. Sleep
Try to have a good night sleep - about 8 hours. If you wake up in the morning after a short and bad quality sleep, your body will be tired and incapable of processing calories, because it didn't get enough time to repair muscles and grow. This could lead to storing additional fat in the body and slowing your metabolism.