With any activity you engage in, it is important to set a few ground rules. Know what is thumbs up and what falls into the category of a "No-no". Whether you are just venturing into new territory at the gym and making the jump from the treadmill to the weight racks, or all this buzz about the importance of strength training for weight loss and injury prevention has finally jump started your lifting battery: let's talk the fundamentals. Before you blow your mind with decisions about sets, reps, free weights or cables, stability ball or standing, and on and on, here is a VERY informational article from a guest blogger: Mariska Tilly (from guestpostu.com). As always, I am only giving you a view of the tip of the iceberg, send me all your questions and comments for more details!!

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GUEST BLOGGER: Mariska Tilly

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Muscle building: Dos and Don’ts

If you are looking to bulk up for the summer (and improve your overall well-being), there are some things you should know. To make it easy for you, I’ve organized my favorite tips into Dos and Don’ts. Sound good? Read on!

1. Don’t Over Train

Remember that if you work out for too long, then you are just going to lose muscle, instead of gain it. The kind of body you have will determine how long you should work out for. For instance, ectomorph bodies are better at handling overtraining than mesomorph. Still, err on the side of caution, because overtraining will cause your body to release a hormone called cortisol, which makes your body store fat and prevent muscle gain.

2. Do Eat Right After

You muscles are not getting bigger in the gym. They are actually breaking down. When your muscles get all swollen from exercise, they become like vacuums sucking up all the nutrients they can to repair themselves from the damage you just did to them. This is why it is so important that you eat or drink a shake right after your work out. If you do not have the proper amount of nutrients in your body, your muscles are not going to heal properly. In fact, you will lose mass instead of gain!

3. Don’t Isolate

Doing too many isolation exercises is a big "don’t" when it comes to gaining muscle. The best work outs for anyone are exercises that utilize many muscle groups and joints, such as dead lifts, squats, bench press and pull ups. These work outs will work more of your body all at once. Contrastingly, isolation exercises just target one muscle at a time and are more for toning and producing the cut, lean muscle look. This can be good, but if you are trying to focus on maximum gains and actual health, this is not the way to go (at least until later on, when you have added the pounds to your body that you desire).

4. Do Dead Lifts

(Me deadlifting YEARS ago, 225lbs at a competition. Doesn't that look fun!?)

The dead lift is the greatest exercise ever invented. This workout will penetrate just about every muscle in your body. Doing dead lifts just once a week will give you quick results and you will notice a full body transformation taking place. Just be careful when doing these, because if you do them wrong, you could easily injure your back. Make sure you know the technique before you try and lift anything heavy. Start out with low weight and practice keeping your back straight. If you are lifting heavy and feel yourself start to lose form, just drop the weight. This is much better than pulling something in your lower back.

5. Don’t Skip Out

Never skip meals. If a diet is not done maintained, then it does not matter how hard you work out, you will not build any muscle. You must prepare a diet plan that is customized for your body type. Speak with a physician to do this. You must stay true to this diet. It is a very big commitment to make and it will take lots dedication.

In the long run, it is not about who trains the hardest, it is about who trains the smartest. You must know exactly how to diet for your body type, how much to work out and how often to work out. This may take some time, but keep at it and you should figure it out, especially if you are motivated to look good!

Mariska Tilly writes about fitness, personal finance & saving money at www.boatinsurance.org.

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PS While I enjoy my Wednesday night out alone after bootcamp (which consists of sushi, Sapporo and my laptop, since this is how I blog), let's all remember I am a personal trainer first and a (very talented) blogger second. If this article creates the itch to train, hit me up!! Let's get on a PROGRAM. Structured lifting is much much more effective and worth your time than wandering to the weight area and drifting through a few exercises.