How do some bodybuilders become so huge?

    Men or women, some bodybuilders have gorgeous muscles. Some may like, some may not, more or less, but one thing we have to admit, if it is not very-very extreme, everybody looks with envy on those great bodies.
    How do they achieve that awesomeness? How is it possible for some women, to gain that much muscle, and not to put fat on the problematic “womanly” areas?
    Lets’ star from the beginning: what is muscle building? How does a muscle “get big”?
   The muscle’s “getting big” action is called muscle hypertrophy, and it means that the skeletal muscles increase their size due to stimuli. Hypertrophy occurs as a result of training – anaerobic exercises- and the right kind of nutrition.

     For men is somewhat easier to build muscle, because of the testosterone hormone of which men produce higher quantities than women. The difference is pretty much, as males produce between 300-1000 but females female between: 15 – 70 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL = this is the unit in which laboratories measure testosterone levels). So, as with laic eyes, is also easy to observe, it is pretty obvious to tell the big difference between the two sexes.

     The testosterone is a predominantly male sex hormone, which is responsible for guys looking the way they do: developing the sex organs, muscles, bones, body hair, deepening of the voice, etc. So, the fact that men have a more muscular body, with narrow hips and wider shoulders, stronger arms is determined by the testosterone. For woman to achieve the same, meaning wide shoulders, back, muscular arms, narrow hips is difiicult, because they don’t produce the sufficient testosterone hormone to make them look like that. And here comes the question, how on earth get some women so “manly” bodies anyway?
      Well, one thing is a fact: it doesn’t happen as a natural result of going three times a week to the gym. Nor would you get the result going every day to gym, for 5 years. So, the subject women, who desires a muscular body , when does not get help from nature, she’ll get it from the “pharmacy”. (men also rely on steroids to make body changes occur faster and have literally “bigger” results)

      For a woman, to get very muscular, must be administrated some “help”, for example anabolic steroids, which contribute to achieving the male sexual characteristics, a more apple-shaped body, skeletal muscle growth, deepening the voice, body hair growth. Some of these, like a certain muscle growth is welcomed, but sadly, this is a package and you are allowed to buy only en-gros, that means, you as a woman, can achieve a great biceps, you won’t be that much predisposed anymore to having the muffin-top, but also may get hair all over, thickened vocal chords and so on.

      Some people do rely on steroids, mainly because achieving anything in the natural way takes long time, and genetics together with nature also make certain achievements impossible. 

Cravings due to being a woman

   For women losing weight, keeping it off, building muscle is much more difficult as for men. The women’s body puts a certain kind of bull-headed resistance to getting lean and ripped. That’s why is so hard, and it is especially so hard on the specific “womanly” regions.
   Our body just doesn’t give a damn what looks good, what is aesthetic or what our rational mind would like us to be. Everything is just about the survival of the human race and nothing else. When I was younger, I have been thinking that certain “muffin top” is due to over eating and that’s it. Well, I wasn’t wrong in that, but I must affirm, that it is not the whole truth, only a part of it. Yes, our organism does “deposit” fat, because we ate more than what we would have needed to cover our daily activities, from an energetic point of view. But why the heck does it deposit almost in one single place? If those 10 pounds would be equally distributed all over, starting from your little toe, through your calves, till your arm, shoulders, including every body part, we wouldn’t even notice it. But when it settles only on your hips or belly, it becomes annoyingly visible.

   And then starts the “diet”, not eating or low-carb diets, or other forms of self-torture, to get rid of the bump from wherever the certain woman is genetically predisposed to accumulate the fat, and after comes the sharp conclusion that it will start to come off from everywhere you wouldn’t like it to come off from, maybe your boobs will get smaller and you’ll become looking like a skeleton from waist up, meanwhile, your thighs and butt stays firm whit it’s fat. Or, if you are the other type, your waist will stay large and abdomen fatty, but your legs will become like two sticks. Of course there are some lucky women, who are very proportionate and get fat all over and also get thin equally from everywhere. But their number also isn’t so numerous.

    Why does the fat deposit itself around your hips/butt/tummy? Easy. Because you are a woman, supposed to have babies and that is just the area where they form. The uterus, where the fetus develops is inside. So, Nature was thinking, how to protect “future generations” better during development ?! And Nature was thinking and thinking and came up with an ingenious solution: what is the best thing that protect our organs, inside stuff? Ok,ok muscle…but, when you think, of gym classes at school, what was the thing that was used for some exercises keeping you not to hit yourself? That’s right! Mattresses! And why? Because they are puffy!
     My mother told me, that when she was already 8 and a half moth pregnant with me, she stumbled and fell. She was very afraid that I was hurt or will have some problems, because it was a big fall, and she ended up like a big frog on the street, but eventually I wasn’t hurt and didn’t affect the fetus or the pregnancy at all. Why is that? How can that happen? It can because Nature does take care of these situations. Just imagine, how many times have had been hit or fell the prehistoric women. Our race wouldn’t have been survived this well, if women and fetus would have been so fragile. But because Nature’s ingenious solution of many protecting layers functioned so well here I am and here we are. Have been for that the fat necessary? It wasn’t the only thing but it played a role, just like everything else out there. Everything is linked and forms a chain. That’s how the chain is strong, otherwise it would fall apart.
   

     Our empirical problem is that we don’t live in the Paleolithic anymore. Modern women can rest, they don’t get attacked, (at least usually), saber toothed tigers don’t chase them and many of us don’t even want to have children, but that is some modern choice and Nature didn’t hear about it yet…
     Although the “exemplification” may run wilder as our smilodon, it is true. “That” hard headed fat, that tough stuff of yours it is very hard to fight with, because your organism is biologically and evolutionally programmed to lie in ambush and wait every second of your life, to “over-eat” and immediately it will store it, of course, for worse times (because that’s what fat is, deposit of extra energy, that you may need at some hard, starving point in your life) and it will deposit it exactly where you hate it more, because you are “doomed” to have children and be a woman.
     This is the reason, why it is so hard. Keeping the fat off your system requires stamina and a will power of a mammoth (as we still look like in the prehistoric period). Fighting evolution is hard, mainly because the stuff has been going on since around… hundred fifty thousand years…and the idea, that the muffin top is not esthetic is relatively new with its fifty years. You know… 150 000 against 50. With 150 000 dollars you could buy a house, with 50 bucks you can’t even buy a quality pillow… you get the difference, right?

      But we are strong women and resist. We struggle to eat right, to work out…at least most of the time, but Nature again has something else, a hidden card in her sleeve and she’ll play it right. After 2-3 weeks of doing everything right and resisting the temptations something comes along which will turn your world up-side down and somehow destroy almost everything you did, to gain that dream figure of yours and that is, the menstrual cycle. This is also just as womanly, as the muffin top and belly fat and another thing you just can’t get rid of.

     As a first step, in the majority of the cases before even starts, you will be struck by what the scale says. Suddenly you will be with two pounds heavier than before due to water retention. Afterwards, this will most likely increase due to farther water retention and due to a larger calorie intake. Yes. Because you may watch what you eat and generally be very motivated, on that particular week you’ll just lose that ability and will have heavy sugary and salty food cravings, where you’ll eventually through in the towel, because it is just too damn hard to fight against your hormones, against nature itself. Ingesting sugary stuff will inevitably lead to weighing more, also eating salty foods will contribute to water retention. Water retention will cause you being heavier. As a result, the whole process will lead to some weight gain, but only because of you eating more and eating more of the “wrong” stuff, but the water retention will vanish in a few days, and you’ll regain your normal weigh. So, don’t get disappointed because of the first few pounds and try not to say: “I can eat, because now anyway it doesn’t matter”, because two pounds are only water…what above that comes may be something else…
     The bad news is, that anyway you fight, you’ll make only your life bitter, because in this time your organism just craves and period. The only thing you can do is to limit the cravings and substitute chocolate with grapes or chips with some puffed cereals. From two till four pounds depending on the person is normal. The fat gain, can be around half, till one pound, which in one week you can get rid of, when you’ll return to your normal lifestyle.

     The most important thing here to remember is not to panic and end up eating everything, “because it doesn’t matter anyway”, because it does matter.

Nail care

      Long and beautiful nails… isn’t just that a dream of most women? Many of us go to nail studious and apply fake ones, because their natural nails never grow as long as they would like them to have. They break, split easily and never look good.
      Nails, as everything else, they need to get care of. They don’t just “exist” looking good. Many of us don’t have very strong nails. Weak ones may be hereditary, as your hair or skin color. Somebody of your ancestors had it, and you have it too. Here, the question is not whether you inherited it or not, but what can we do about it?
      First you may take a look at your nutrition, if you are consuming enough quality food, packed with essential vitamins (fruits, vegetables, seeds, – but not roasted and salted, because these aren’t doing good, but are actually bad for your skin and nails). If in this direction things somehow look acceptable the problem must been taken care of directly, meaning not only through nutrition, so inner help but also from the outside. 

How to treat nails in order to make them look gorgeous?

Accessories for nail care

There are a few steps you need to follow:

     1.Hand washing
Although washing your hands is necessary for your personal hygiene it is not the best thing when it comes to nails. Try not to over-wash your hands. When you wash them be careful what kind of soap you are using because cheap soaps usually dry hands and nails. You may want to try soaps that are PH neutral, so they won’t interfere with your “natural chemistry”.
     2.After hand-wash
After washing your hands, especially if you used an unknown soup, or feel you washed them a lot try to put hand cream on your hands and on the nails. I am emphasizing “on nails” because many people when cream their hands, don’t pay attention and may be, that the nails get from only a little till none of the cream, which will lead to dryness and they may become easily breakable. So, insist to cream each nail on your each finger, even if you don’t have problem with all of them.
     3.There exist small hand creams that fit easily in every purse. Purchase one and keep it always in your purse. (This way it will always be at hand, when during the day it will occur to you to use it. It will take some time to get used to using it, but don’t quit, even if you use it ones a day it is more than nothing!)
     4.To use hand creams during the day for many may be not possible, because a certain work, that exclude using solutions that include some fat, or just never remembers, whatever the reason, you are still not hopeless. You may write somewhere (the fridge, by the door, etc.) to use a hand cream in the morning before you leave home and/or to use it every evening when you go to bed. This last one, in the evening should be accessible for everyone.
    5.Use a hand cream always after a shower, or bath, because than not only the pores of your skin get larger, but also your nails, which are much more permeable than your skin, become more receptive and the   nutrients, can get much better in them. If you don’t do this, they will dry even more after the contact with the water.
     6.In the evening, before you go to bed the creaming must be abundant, if you have longer nails, than don’t concentrate only on the top of your nails, but put an amount also on the inner side, because there the hand cream may stay longer, doesn’t wipe down as easily during your sleep, so the nails can get a 7-8 hour hydration!
     7.Use a nail hardener at start 2-3 times a day, after two weeks, if you start to see a difference, than it may be enough only once. But this depends how your nails react. Some may see a difference and get stronger nail faster, for some may take a while. If they got strong enough you may use the nail hardener only once a week.
     8.Do not use nail enamel all the time. Make breaks. For example, after 2-3 weeks of using make a break of 5 days, or even a week, when you cream them, use a nail hardener on the whole nail or only on the tip of them, after case. They also need to breathe, just like you need vacation.
     9.Don’t over use the nail file. Use it only when you cut them and need a little bit smoothing and when you use it, than make sure that you file only in one direction, otherwise you will make micro-fissures that may become bigger and eventually lead to breaks.
    10.And finally equip yourself with some patience, because repairing broken and nails in a poor state takes time, a general estimation is around 1 month, till they can regenerate.

Beautiful nails

What body type do you have?

Concerning the area where women store most of their body fat, there are two major groups:
     A. Women who store most of their body fat on the upper body

     B. Women who store most of their body fat on the lower body
Of course this doesn’t mean that they in no case deposit any fat anywhere else, this only suggests where the biggest percent of fat tissue is and also doesn’t mean that there aren’t any mixed bodies. Each big category has under categories, which I am going to present later. Now let us just focus on the characteristics (most general) of each group. 

A group – fat on upper body

 Women from this group usually don’t have a defined waistline, the waist and hip ratio is high. (See my other article about WHR – waist/hip ratio). From anterior view, the ilium bone is as wide, or approximately as wide as the femurs most lateral point. (This is also the point through which we measure the hip width). They usually accumulate fat around the Ilium bone just like a swim ring. They store more fat at first place on the abdomen, triceps (arms), chest and back area, but store little to none on the hips, thighs compared to the fat that may occur on the abdomen, they also don’t put a lot of fat on the gluteus. Their gluteus are more square shaped and relatively flat. From this body type come more women with big breasts, as from the type B. Also women from this body type usually are blessed with a better shaped calf muscle.

 Women with this body type wear different size up and down, meaning, if they need a blouse, they will buy for example size 44, but when they want a pair of trousers they will buy a size 42. So, for the upper body they need clothing of a bigger size, on the other hand, from the waist down, due to less hip width, they will need a smaller size.

B type – fat on the lower body
Women with this body type store little fat from their waist up, but they can put serious amounts of body fat from the waist down. They do have a low waist/hip ratio. This type has a big difference between waist and hips, having thinner waist but a bigger lateral prominence. The fat stores like two little cushions on the ilia, a big amount all over the gluteus muscle, and also a big amount on the sides, hips and so it goes down being less and less as it approaches the knees.This type usually comes with normal to small breasts. When I am using “big amount” I mean big when we compare it to the arm, chest and back area, where are relatively less fat deposits.

This body type has minimum one dress size difference between the upper and lower body. I say minimum, because depending on the fat the certain person “possesses”, it may wary 3, 4, 5 sizes. For example: when the person with this body type buys a blouse, she needs let’s say size 38, but if she wants to buy a trouser, she would look for size 40.

 Everybody who is reading this probably realizes that that is a very true fact, and there are not many people who are so proportionate that they could buy the same size for their upper and lower body. Why are then made the clothes like that? Well, I work in the clothing industry, and must say, the clothes are produced for a standard. They work after a well calculated ratio between every measurement our body has, because people come in so many shapes and sizes that we can’t think of individuals. As shown above, the clothing industry can’t favor one or the other body type. They make a standard model, and then the customer chooses the right size for the blouse, and the passing skirt even if that may be a few sizes bigger or smaller.

 The good news is, that 90 % of us, underneath our layer of fat we are very proportionate. May occur women for example with very wide pelvis having at the same time very narrow shoulders, but even in extreme cases, with proper eating habits and exercise it can be improved almost till pure perfection! :))