The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (24 page)

•
Avoid watching disturbing shows at night on TV
as this may also increase your adrenaline levels thereby preventing you from a good night’s sleep.

•
Avoid eating a large meal at night
since the digestion process will prevent you from falling asleep.

•
Attempt to totally relax at the same time each night
. By doing so you condition the body to relax itself once the specific time that you choose arrives. Ensure that at this time no thoughts other than relaxation and falling asleep come to your head. You need to really learn how to block all thoughts concerning work or other life issues that may be trying to get in your head. Listening to soothing music set at a low volume with the lights off can help you relax and achieve the state necessary to go to sleep.

CONCLUSION

You need seven to nine hours of sleep each night (eight being the ideal) in order for your body to run efficiently. Deprive your body of sleep and you’ll have lousy fat loss and hinder your body’s ability to increase lean muscle tone. Without enough sleep the body stops producing anabolic hormones (muscle producing/fat burning hormones; e.g. testosterone and growth hormone) and starts increasing the production of catabolic hormones (muscle destroying/fat depositing hormones; e.g. cortisol). So, to make matters worse, you’ll also lose muscle, which lowers your metabolism. In addition, you will lack the energy and focus to get through your workouts, which will surely lead to overtraining. To top it off, research indicates that lack of sleep creates cravings and binges in addition to hardening of the arteries, which leads to heart attacks. In short:
turn off the TV, relax and hit the sack!

Part 3

Body Sculpting Exercises

Learning proper exercise technique is the backbone of every fitness program. If you train improperly you will not stimulate the intended muscle, and will risk major injury while receiving little or no results. When you learn to use proper exercise technique you will receive twice the results in half the time, guaranteed! We see people in the gym day in and day out who have no idea how to properly train their muscles. Some of them are professional bodybuilders, some are professional athletes, and some are even certified fitness trainers. Unfortunately, the ones who really suffer the most are people like you who rely on these role models for wisdom and guidance. We will show you the proper exercise technique to use for optimal results. Just remember to utilize your newfound knowledge. Like the old saying, “Feed a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” We expect the same of you. We don’t want you to read the book once and then forget everything you’ve learned. We want you to learn and utilize that knowledge to achieve astounding results.

Applying proper exercise form and technique is, without doubt, the most important component of any fitness program. Without it, many, many setbacks will occur. First, the musculature you intend to exercise will not be stimulated as efficiently as possible. Exercise should not be focused around just lifting barbells and dumbbells. It shouldn’t just be about how much weight you can lift. Optimum fitness is about the quality of exercise, the quality of your form and how you maintain that form, especially during heavier weight lifting. Proper exercise technique coupled with the Zone-Tone principle will bring you the most astonishing results with the minimum amount of sets. Why? Because as we have already discussed, one properly executed set is equivalent to five sets of “just going through the motions”. It comes down to this; if you want to get the most out of your workout, keep the intensity high without sacrificing proper form.

As you read through each exercise introduction, you will notice that we discuss many of those “Hot Spot” areas that most women are concerned with targeting, plus we make suggestions to help make each exercise as productive as possible. If you ever feel confused and would like us to elaborate on any of the information we have discussed, please refer to the resource page in the back of the book for our contact information. We are always available to answer your questions and look forward to helping you make this experience free of confusion and nothing less than amazing!

Tip: Throughout this section, you will see questions answered about exercises that can cause pain and discomfort. Please remember that doing or not doing a specific exercise is not going to stop body sculpting results. Yes, the squat is the best exercise for your legs-but if you have a bad lower back, don’t do it. If you can’t do a specific exercise because it hurts you, there is always another one that will give you the same results. The primary reason to weight train should always be to improve your health and help you look and feel great. If you perform an exercise that you know will ultimately hurt you, we guarantee you’ll be feeling really bad when you’re laid up in bed. Follow your instincts and play it safe
.

Chapter 6

Legs

For immediate Body Sculpting Bible support & coaching directly from James & Hugo, please visit
www.BodySculptingBible.com

Foot Stances and Quadriceps and Hamstring Development

To better target different areas of your legs, most specifically your quadriceps and your hamstrings, you need to pay attention to the stance in which you are standing. There are three main stances for each position (on the ground, and on a machine):

Shoulder-width stance
with toes pointed slightly out: This stance works best for stimulating overall thigh development.

Close stance
with toes pointed straight ahead: This stance works best for stimulating growth of the outer quadricep, better known as the vastus lateralis.

Wide stance
with toes pointed out at least 45 degrees: This stance targets both the vastus medialis, which is the inside head of the quadriceps near the knee, and the inner thigh or adductor muscles.

Toes straight:
Good for overall development.

Toes in:
Good for maximizing outer quadriceps and inner hamstring stimulation.

Toes out:
Good for maximizing inner quad and outer hamstring stimulation.

It is important to mention that every time a quadriceps exercise is performed, it is imperative to push mainly with the toes, as that will emphasize quadriceps recruitment.

For hamstring exercises, you should push mainly with the heels, as that will emphasize hamstring/glute recruitment. In addition, there is only one main stance you should be concerned with for recruiting your hamstring, and that is the wide stance (toes pointed out at least 45 degrees).

Barbell Squat