Exercise 1 - Chest and Shoulders Lie on your back and grasp your weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched to the sides. With your elbows slightly bent, lift your arms above your chest until your hands are almost touching. Return to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 2 - Chest and Shoulders Lie on your back and grasp your weights with the palms of your hands facing up, and your arms outstretched above your head. Grip your weights and bring them over your head and down to your hips, by your sides - a semi-circular motion. Lift back to starting position and repeat.

Exercise 3 - Chest and Back Sitting with your back straight (preferably supported) and legs straight out in front of you, hold your weights in at your chest with your elbows out to the side (parallel to the floor). Push your arms out straight in front of you then pull them back in. Repeat.

How Many Reps/Sets To Do You've figured out the exercises you should be doing, but what about the number of sets and repetitions? Your decision should be based on your goals. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 8-12 reps for muscular strength and 10-15 reps for muscular endurance. They also recommend at least 1 set of each exercise to fatigue although you'll find that most people perform about 2-3 sets of each exercise. In general:

For fat loss: 1-3 sets of 10-12 reps using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired reps.

To gain muscle: 3+ sets of 6-8 reps to fatigue. For beginners, give yourself several weeks of conditioning before going to this level. You may need a spotter for many exercises.

Split your workouts into smaller workouts throughout the day.

Make the time. People who workout don't have more time than people who don't. They've just practiced making exercise a priority. Scheduling your workouts and treating them like any other appointment you wouldn't miss may help you stick to your program.

Do all those things you know you should be doing: take the stairs, walk more, stop driving around looking for that front row parking space, etc.

One of the best abdominal exercises for men is the basic crunch. There are a lot of people who figure the regular crunches just do not work but in fact this is one of the best exercises you can do for toning and shaping your stomach. It is all a matter of focusing on your core and squeezing your abdominal muscles as you perform each crunch, to ensure you are working the right muscles.

This is one of the most effective abdominal exercises for men, so lets see how you should be doing it. Lie flat on your back, knees bent, and arms folded with your hands behind your head. Concentrate on your core and squeeze your ab muscles, using them to push your torso up until your head is almost at your knees.

This is a full crunch and you should include at least fifteen reps in your set, and try to do three sets minimum.

Oatmeal can help you stave off your hunger and take inches off of your waist. Cravings are caused by a drop in blood sugar. Oatmeal is high in fiber, which will keep you fuller longer and stave off any snack attacks or sugar cravings. Fiber also allows you digestive system to work better, ridding you of any bloating or constipation and leaving you with a firmer midsection.

Eggs are full of vitamins and nutrients that burn fat and build muscle. Eggs contain vitamins A, D, E and B12, which the body uses to metabolize fat. They are also a great source of protein, which the body uses to build muscle. A study at Louisiana State University found that those who ate eggs for breakfast daily lost more weight than those who ate bagels, the Quick & Simple website notes.

You need fat to lose weight, believe it or not. Monounsaturated fats are a good thing, and you can find them in cooking oils such as olive oil and canola oil. Good fats also help lower your cholesterol and lessen food cravings. Olive oil has also been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's disease, and to help deliver nutrients to the brain. Other foods high in monounsaturated fats include olives, avocados and almonds.

The concentration curl focuses on the biceps. Excises that focus on the biceps are important for building strong arms.

Seated preacher curls The seated preacher curl works the biceps and also strengthens your forearms. This is a great exercise for the biceps since you cannot easily cheat and use other muscle groups to help with the exercise.

Standing dumbbell curls This is a good a good exercise for beginners when you start using free weights. An alternate to the standing dumbbell curls is the seated curls. The seated curls will help stabalize your back more proper.

Glucose, which is transported by your bloodstream to organs and tissues after eating carbohydrates, provides an essential source of energy for both your muscles and brain when working out. As energy and glucose needs to increase with exercise, it's important to eat enough carbohydrates in order to fuel your workouts. Having low blood glucose levels during exercise harms performance and can lead to physical and mental fatigue, sometimes resulting in weakness, dizziness and hypoglycemia. Glucose also prevents the body from using protein for energy.

When glucose isn't needed for immediate energy, the body stores it as glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscle. Glycogen stores are especially important when working out, as the body's energy demands may exceed the amount supplied by glucose in the bloodstream after prolonged exercise or when exercising with insufficient carbohydrate intake. According to Iowa State University, during low-intensity workouts, glycogen stores can be used to increase glucose levels in the bloodstream for as long as 90 minutes -- whereas during high-intensity exercise, glycogen stores provide energy for only about 20 minutes. Active people therefore need to replenish glucose regularly by eating plenty of carbohydrates. However, in less-active people with adequate glycogen stores, additional glucose is stored as fat.

Creatine and protein shakes are commonly used by weightlifters and athletes looking to bulk up or improve their overall physical fitness levels. Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in fish and meat and produced naturally in the liver, kidneys and pancreas, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Protein shakes are supplements used to fuel the body with protein in an effort to build muscle.

Creatine works by supplying the muscles with additional energy during a workout. This can help you increase the intensity of your workouts, although it has been shown to be ineffective for some people, the University of Maryland Medical Center notes. Protein powders are primarily used immediately following a workout to help replenish the body with much-needed proteins lost during an intense lifting session. Muscles are made of protein, considered the building block of all bodily tissues.

Contrary to what some people believe, protein supplementation is not necessarily a healthy way to lose weight, cautions Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky. Meal-replacement shakes that are high in protein cannot replicate or achieve the nutritional value of whole foods. Zeratsky recommends focusing on eating healthy, well-balanced meals and watching your calorie intake to lose weight safely.

Red meat has played a significant role in human evolution and remains a core food in most people's diet Red meat is naturally nutrient rich and provides so many of the essential nutrients our body requires for optimum health. Red meat is full of goodness; it tastes great, is extremely versatile and it deliciously satisfies appetites, whether eaten as part of a main meal or a snack. The goodness found in red meat Often, we are not aware of all the many nutritional benefits to be found in the food we eat and red meat is probably one of those foods. However, it is a truly amazing source of so many nutrients that are essential for healthy bodies: Protein Red meat is a significant source of high-quality protein, providing all the essential amino acids necessary for healthy body functioning and particularly important for growing children. The protein in beef and lamb is highly digestible - around 94% compared with a 78% digestibility in beans and 86% in whole wheat. Iron Red meat is a very rich source of haem-iron which is needed to form haemoglobin which carries oxygen in the blood around the body. Oxygen is essential for producing energy from food to help the body function. The haem-iron in red meat is well absorbed compared to non-haem iron in plant foods. Zinc Red meat is a good source of zinc; an essential nutrient for the immune system, growth and wound healing. The zinc in red meat and other animal foods is better absorbed than from most plant foods. Omega-3 fatty acids After fish, red meat has the second highest contribution of omega-3 and is an important natural resource of this nutrient. Omega-3s are essential to the healthy functioning of the nervous system and important to heart health.

But shouldn’t protein intake be a percentage of total calories? Quite a few programs and nutritionists quote percentage of calories, usually in the range of 10 percent to 20 percent, as a way to figure out how much protein a person needs to consume daily. This is a rough estimate of a person's minimum protein needs. It works because typically, larger and more active people need more calories, so the more calories they need, the more protein they will get.

What foods have the most protein? Meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, and nuts all have substantial amounts of protein. These articles can help: