CARBOHYDRATE CONSUMPTION

My friend and world-class natural bodybuilder, Chris Faildo, shared a dieting tip with me that has proved very useful. What he does is rotate his carbohydrate intake -- not only in amount, but also in type. For three days he will get his carbohydrates only from vegetable sources and keeps the total to around 150 grams. Then he will eat a more moderate amount of grainy types of carbohydrate sources for two days, then rotate back and forth. This is a very difficult contest diet -- especially when you need to train hard and heavily also. But, if you have seen the trademark condition Chris routinely shows in competition, you know that it works. I tried his method at the 1995 Mr. Universe contest and competed in my all-time best condition. As I look at pictures from that show, I am amazed at the cookie cutter shape I was able to achieve. I would have had trouble believing that this was possible drug-free if you had asked me a couple of years ago! Give this method a try. I'm sure if you stick it out, you will also be surprised with your results.

As a bodybuilder, I will always keep my protein intake high. If I want to get or stay lean, I will also watch the fat content in my food. What's left? Carbohydrates. This is the one nutrient that you must vary in amount to trick your body into getting lean.

As I learn more about nutrition, my theories sometimes change. I still believe that watching your carbohydrate consumption plays an important part in shedding body fat, but probably not for the same reasons as I once did.

I believe that eliminating starchy carbohydrates (at least for periods of time) are an effective way to lose fat because they are calories-dense and very easy to overeat more than any other reasons.

Regardless of all the different diets, nutrition theories, glycemic indexes of foods, and other complex and debatable factors, when it all comes down to it, effective weight and fat loss is a matter of calories consumed versus calories burned. If you eat more calories than you burn over the course of a day, you will gain weight. On the other hand, if you burn more calories than you eat over the course of a day, you will lose weight.

SHOULD YOU BULK UP?

Is it better to bulk up for added muscle growth, or stay lean all year around? Unfortunately, this is an area where there are no definitive answers.

One school of thought is that if you consistently ingest high-quality protein and train heavily and efficiently, it is not necessary to put on excess weight to gain muscle. The addition of body fat is not considered beneficial in the off-season to acquire more muscle. The more fat you put on, the tougher it will be to prepare for a show, so it is advised to stay within 10-15 pounds of contest condition.

Others feel that if you limit the amount of weight you can gain, you will also limit the amount of muscle you can gain in the process.

I have tried both methods during my off-seasons and personally feel it is better to bulk up -- but with some limitations.

I am definitely stronger when I am not restricting my calories -- regardless of the quality of those restricted calories. Consistently feeling stronger means heavier training sessions. Heavier training sessions over time leads to more muscle.

Carrying around a little extra weight also allows my body to fuel its energy requirements from body fat -- without threatening valuable amino acid stores (or protein). These protein stores can be used to build and repair muscle all year long - every single day of it!.

If you do decide to bulk up, be sure not to get too far away from contest shape. If you get behind schedule and need to drastically reduce your calorie intake to be ready for your show in time, you will undoubtedly sacrifice a lot of precious muscle in the process. This will negate the very reason you bulked up in the first place! As a natural bodybuilder, you do not have any chemicals to help you save muscle.

Whether you are a competitive or noncompetitive bodybuilder, ultimately you will need to decide how much body fat you are comfortable carrying. It may not be worth it to you to feel "sloppy" most of the year to display more muscle on that one day of the contest.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to eating in the off-season is "eat to gain muscle." Do not eat to get fat or eat to stay lean. Consistently feed yourself high-quality protein for muscle growth and enough carbohydrates to keep you feeling your strongest. After prioritizing those needs, consume as much fat as you feel comfortable eating.

SCHEDULING YOUR MEALS

Why are smaller, more frequent meals better than larger, less frequent meals? The body can better utilize the nutrients in the food. I heard this analogy used once to explain how smaller meals are beneficial to the bodybuilder. Think of steer, horses, or other "grazing" animals. They eat a little all day long -- and have tremendously muscular and lean bodies.

You should try to feed yourself every two to three hours. This will take a lot of planning, but if you want a quality physique, you must do it. There are many things you can do to insure that eating frequently will not be so difficult.

THE BENEFITS ARE MORE THAN JUST A GREAT BODY

Sound nutrition has many more benefits than just aesthetics. Applying good eating habits to your daily life will also help you mentally. If your body is a machine that needs fuel to run properly, then food is that fuel. The higher quality food you give your machine, the better it will perform. That means a better sense of well-being, sharper thinking, more strength in the gym, and better performance in other areas of your life, such as work and relationships with people. I believe when you consistently eat right, you have more "pep in your step," the sky seems a lot bluer, the air seems a lot fresher -- you become a happier, more optimistic person. It goes without saying you will need to put forth some effort -- and this can become very difficult. But isn't anything worth having always a little difficult?

Attaining a muscular physique that you can be proud of -- while sticking to your commitment of staying drug-free -- is one of these difficult tasks. Eating properly on a consistent basis is going to help you reach your goals. Eating well is the avenue to enjoying the great physique you desire.

I'm the kind of person that likes to check people out on Rip Off Report before I'll buy from them. Usually, you can tell from the sales letter whether that "guru" is worth anything by the sweeping claims that they make. Make a million over-night, okay that's a sales pitch that won't amount to anything. Make a million using my simple one-button program, obviously that's a sales pitch that will just waste your time and money. The more grand the claims, the more the scale tips on the scam-o-meter.

And what about those ads that promise you one (or ten!) free websites? All you have to do is sign up for their monthly contract, press one button, and wham, ten web businesses just waiting for management. You know that's a scam, right?

You know this, you feel it in your gut too. It might sound nice, but you're past the point of an easy fool.

First of all, anyone that can pump out ten websites for each customer is either a genius that spends their life making websites 24 hours a day or has a program that can create simple cookie-cutter websites at the press of a button. A cookie-cutter website, if you don't already know, is basically a website that looks like all the others, like a cookie cut from a mold.

From a strictly professional standpoint, whether these sites even look good doesn't matter. It's the fact that they are all the same that really hurts. To Google, you know the top dog cookie cutter who ranks websites professionally, websites that look alike are a very bad thing indeed. And hundreds (let alone thousands) of websites that look alike is just a death sentence, a pure waste of money.

Why bother with "money making" opportunities when you know they sound a little too good to be true?

If you're anything like me, you want to make a living online because of the freedom that can grant. Sure, the money has the potential to be great, but spending only a few hours doing something for your successful online business is sure a heck of a lot easier than 8 hours a day at someone else's business-for the rest of your life.

So, my thing is this: stop spending your money and stop wasting your time. Take the course that will change your life for the better. It won't make you a millionaire overnight, but it sure will give you the tools to make your business happen, realistically, and grant you the freedom you're looking for. And there's nothing sales-pitchy about it.

When traveling to an unfamiliar location it can be a difficult decision about where to stay. What are the considerations when comparing chain hotels to independently owned establishments.

As you know, chain hotels tend to be the larger, "cookie cutter" type of accommodations. Although, even if you choose a chain hotel, they are not necessarily company-run. There are many "chains" that are actually individual franchises. Franchise-type hotels will be required to meet some minimum standards established by the company representing the chain. The key concept here being "minimum standards". That can mean that not all the locations associated with the chain are equally clean and well maintained.) as others.

Often travelers will pick a chain hotel in an unfamiliar city so they feel like they'll know what to expect - no surprises. That's exactly what we did on our first trip to Belize. We reserved accommodations at a well-known chain hotel for our first two nights in Belize City. It was an incorrect assumption. We checked out after the first night for various reasons (not very clean, air conditioning didn't work, etc.) and found, with the help of a guide book, the most wonderful B&B - the Fort Street Guesthouse. It was like we stepped into an old movie - four poster beds, mosquito netting, amazing ambience, terrific owners.

So, let's lay out the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision.

Chain Hotel Accommodations
Pros
You know what to expect (this is true most of the time but not always)
Online reservations (most likely)
Takes most credit cards
Generous cancellation policies (often)

Cons
Tends to be a "cookie cutter" type experience
Often a sterile type atmosphere
More costly (this is not always the case, but remember - "You get what you pay for.")

Independently Owned Accommodations
Pros
Uncommon styles of accommodations (even underwater or in a cave)
A more authentic flavor
Can be low-cost (but not always)
A more personal experience with well-informed local advice
Can be part of the adventure

Cons
Not always sure what you're getting
Language barriers
Booking difficulties (often don't have an online reservations system)
Upfront deposits (smaller places need to charge some, or all, of the costs upfront)
Credit cards aren't accepted (smaller establishments often don't take credit cards)
Cancellation Fees & Policies (frequently there are no refunds, unless they can re-book the accommodations, if you cancel less than a certain amount of time in advance.)

In many countries there are associations that rate independent lodgings such as Bed & Breakfasts and Inns. It's always a good idea to see if the one you're looking at is part of an association, or has been rated by an independent agency.

With advanced planning you can make your vacation a memorable experience. Even if some things go wrong, hey, it's all part of the experience!

Of all the problems that copy and paste systems face, the cookie cutter dilemma is by far the most obvious. If you haven't heard of it already, you will eventually, as it is a problem that has been and probably always will be present in copy and paste systems. Suffice to say, for any copy and paste system to be successful, it needs some way around this issue.All said and done, the 'cookie cutter' dilemma simply refers to the fact that all the users of a given copy and paste system are going to be following the same 'mold'.

Can you imagine what that would be like? Can you imagine if you had a thousand other people who were using the exact same website as you, targeting the exact same keywords you were targeting, and using the exact same advertisements you were using? Needless to say, you'd end up competing against all the other users of the copy and paste system, and you'd all be competing with the same tools too!

Basically, you could very well find that a copy and paste system is not as effective as it should be simply due to this sort of competition. Forcing users to compete with each other (and every one else out there too!) is simply not a good way of setting up an internet based business. In fact, it is a sure way to fail at doing so.Sadly, the nature of copy and paste systems mean that all the users inevitably end up copying and pasting the same things. Similarly, if training is provided, then all users also end up marketing through the same avenues. Trying to use exactly the same tools to market within exactly the same places makes each and every user appear simply as a 'clone'.

Frankly, the only argument against the cookie cutter dilemma is the fact that due to the internet being so vast, there are ample opportunities out there no matter how many users end up using the same system. While this may be partially true, it does not detract from the fact that marketing is very often a question of being original - and cookie cutter solutions are not original at all.As time has passed there have been several copy and paste systems that claim to have overcome the cookie cutter dilemma. Whether or not this is true is another question entirely.

"Cookie cutter websites" are websites that are duplicated like using a cookie cutter. They are sold under the pretense of making the purchaser a lot of money. They usually make money for the seller not the purchaser. They border on being a SCAM.One of the best services that I could do for mankind on the Internet is to shout from the mountain top, "Do not buy ready made, "cookie cutter" websites". These usually only make the seller any money.A "cookie cutter" site is one that the builder creates so the title of the site can be easily changed to your domain name and the sites can be stamped out like using a "cookie cutter".

The site is sold under the pretense that all you have to do to make LOTS of money is buy the site and pay to have it hosted on the Internet. The site has ready made links to products and services from which you are told will make a commission each time a person clicks a link. Usually the products and services are sold by the company that developed the website so they make most of the money if you do get a sale.

They keep telling you, "Just think how much money you will make by having a site like this on the Internet".For those of you who have "cookie cutter" sites, it's time for true confessions. When I first started on the Internet I did not know the magic word "traffic". I was nae and thought that all you did was set up a website and the world beat a path to it to click on your offerings. I read an ad that said, "My little website made me $11,000 in a week". I thought, "Wow, if that site made him that much money, just a small percentage of that will be fine with me". Little did I know that the marketer who sold this "cookie cutter" site had a list of over 40,000 to which to promote the web site.

There were several testimonials in his sales letter about how people who had bought the site were raking in the money. When I later researched the testimonials, I found that these were from other Internet marketers who had large lists and could drive traffic to their "cookie cutter" sites.Beware of the fraternity of Internet marketers. They scratch each other's backs.I bought the site and guess what. The only benefit I received from it was from some really good bonuses that were attached to the deal. It was a "live and learn" experience.

I have justified it to myself that the bonuses were worth the amount I paid, but they really weren't.Since then I have seen many of these sites on the Net, and I really think it is a shame that people do this to other people.The time and money spent trying to promote someone else's "cookie cutter" site could be better spent creating your own site with your own personality.So much of what is sold on the Internet should require the seller to tell "the rest of the story" to quote Paul Harvey. The untold part of the truth is really a lie.You can build your own website with the right guidance and assistance.