It is nearly a year ago since Liverpool had their little resurrection.

Coming out with play not seen since their 90s days, they managed to absolutely slaughter top teams Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Just a few days ago, however, they suffered defeat at the hands of lower-level team Wigan, in a humuliating 1-0 loss. Fans were not happy with Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez.

This totals 9 losses since the season start, and now, even though Liverpool have been very supportive of their manager, it seems as if Benitez can do no more. There has seemingly been little to no noticeable improvements recently.

The real question is: Is this as far as he can carry Liverpool?

We Never Learn From Our Mistakes

It’s coming ever-sooner to Benitez’s 6th season at the club, and to be honest, he seems to be getting progressively less effective.

The same can be said for old manager, Houllier, who in the 2001 lead the team to victory.

However, every season after that seemed to disappoint, and live up to expectations, which eventually led

to his resignation. The fans seemed to only care about whether or not he could win the cup.

Houllier was forced to resign after much criticism about his tactics not being of the ‘liverpool way’, and also, of how he dealt in transfers. It seems to apply to Benitez aswell – people aren’t really feeling the way he manages is ‘Liverpool enough’.

In retrospect though, Benitez does seem to be following in Houllier’s footsteps, performing well in the early years, and worse in the later years.

But then again, if you look at the current Liverpool line up, which features man-beasts such as Fernando Torres, you can’t say that Benitez hasn’t  been able to build a very powerful team, and as a technicality, if you were to view all his players individually, the general consensus would be that the team is amazing.

Before A Baby Was Born

Think to 9 months previous though – Liverpool had just finished the season on a record high note. It was looking extremely well until Xabi Alonso‘s sale disappointed, and then, a quick defeat by the Spurs knocked their confidence.

It’s like they never really recovered from that, and they’ve remained on a low morale for all this time.

In addition to that, their consistency is poor.

Sure, the crowd loves how Liverpool manages to do flashy comebacks, and pull off elaborate shots, but there’s also the periods where these things are absent.

And when they are absent, there’s not much Benitez can say to redeem himself.

For example, in the recent Wigan match, the side seemed to lack everything a good manager should provide – Confidence, Morale,  and Tactics. In all honesty, it was poor play.

If the team is losing faith in Benitez, then I think we are all granted the right of doing the same.

Low-Fat Alternatives

Are there any other options really for Liverpool?

I suppose there is, but not many are really that practical.

I’m sure all the fans would love to see someone like Kenny Dalglish come in  and inject life to the club, but realistically, he’s been out of the managing game for ten years since he left Celtics, and trust me, ten years is a long time to have not done anything.

Realistically however, maybe big name managers like Jose Mourinho are on the cards. It seems likely, and his name always pops up in those articles about this very topic. Very controversial also, seeing as he was formerly Chelsea‘ manager.

The real problem is that Benitez is just losing popularity. Popularity he can only gain from success.

If he were to suddenly climb the tree of success, and reap it’s fruit for Liverpool, I have without a shadow of doubt that he would be sitting his backside comfortably on the manager’s chair.

But unless he can suddenly magic his way into victory, he’s going to remain fiddling.

Let’s do a quick reality check -

Manchester United are in over £700 million debt, the average team is blowing 70% of it’s revenue on player’s wages, and more than ever, teams are constantly looking

at administration.

So why are all these teams on the brink of implosion, and moreover, why the hell aren’t they doing anything about it

When I Was A Youth…

In the space of just twenty, short years everything about football has changed.

The early 90′s were a simpler time – a time where Fulham were still battling it out in Third Division, a time where Liverpool could actually win the Premiership, a

time where

football stadiums across England were filled with true fans, not afraid to support their teams on pitches dirtier than a Paris Hilton home video.

Nowadays, if you just looked at football from a glance, you’d only see the good side.

Compared to twenty years ago, football is looking fantastic. The pitches are all in pristine condition, the players are better than ever, and there’s more interest in the sport than anyone would have ever imagined.

But off the pitch, and into the finance offices are where things get ugly.

Money, Money, Money

It’s as if football’s addiction to debt is what’s causing this downwards spiral. With the Premiership alone owing the banks over £3 billion, the finance sheets are looking ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong though – debt per se isn’t awful, in fact the real problem is how much debt you’ve got relative to your income. That’s when things turn ugly.

It’s not just me who thinks that this a a huge problem, either.

Wigan’s Chairman, Dave Whelan, has been saying for ages that clubs should only be allowed to be in debt to 25% of their turnover. And this puts even his team, one of the better off ones, in the red.

Statistics wise, here are the worst-off six teams in the premiership:

West Ham – £110 million debt

Fulham - £193 million debt

Liverpool – £237 million debt

Chelsea – £311 million debt

Arsenal – £333 million debt

Manchester United – £719 million debt

Put that into percentage, and Manchester United are in 280% of their £256 million turnover.

Think about that. No way is football the lucrative business we all thought it was.

Put this into the long-term, combine it with the current recession, and look at the sight before you.

England potentially has a nationwide problem here.

International Problem

No, this is not just a plague of the British. Nor the Irish. Or the Welsh.

Indeed, this is a fully-blown global problem.

For example, Argentina has just recently recovered from a full on football hiatus because of their failure to agree on a new broadcasting deal, that sent dozens of clubs down into the pits of debt.

Things only resumed when the government stepped in with an offer to broadcast on state-run television.

Political intervention is what their football needed, how about ours?

Another example that springs to mind is Spain.

Spain allows clubs to negotiate their own TV contracts, and so the dominating clubs (Real Madrid and Barcelona), take nearly 50% of the entire Primiera Liga’s broadcasting income.

Strangely though, in Spain, they’re also trying to deal with a £3 billion debt.

UEFA has recently discovered that half of all European clubs are running with major deficits. Their findings included a report in which it was revealed that, although profits from clubs increased around 10%, players salaries’ went up around 18%.

That is certainly not a rational approach that will salvage football from it’s murky depths.

Why Don’t They Just Stop Spending?

Spend just a few minutes thinking about it -

To do well, you’ve got to have good players.

To have good players, you’ve got to pay them big salaries.

So if you’ve got the best players you can afford, and they’re still not good enough, you borrow some money and get some better ones.

There’s not one club that is happy to make a little profit, and just managed to come in at 13th. Everyone’s in football to win.

It’s been two years since Eduardo had his great fall.

It was at a fairly normal, even game against Birmingham City when Eduardo was aggressively tackled by Martin Taylor, causing him to sustain a double-leg break. Arsenal fans were horrified by this.

But the man who was truly devastated by this news was Arsenal captain William Gallas, who looked on the brink of tears. After all, one of his key players had just been put out of football, at least for the next 6 months.

And in addition to all of that, they then preceded to concede a late goal, which meant that Arsenal had effectively lost the premier league.

Aaron Ramsey‘s Fall

The tale of Aaron Ramsey is very similar to the one of Eduardo.

On the 27th of February, Aaron Ramsey was brought down by Ryan Shawcross.

As usual, most spectators looked on, as it looked like more football-drama.

But soon, it was brought to every one’s attention that this was not just a regular fall.

Clutching his ankle, Ramsey screamed out in pain, as all players, including rival players, ran over, calling for someone to help him.

Soon enough, Aaron Ramsey was being carried away on a stretcher. People was looking on in disbelief. Even Ryan Shawcross was shocked.

The ref quickly called for a red card, and Ryan Shawcross complied immediately, walking off in tears in sheer disbelief that he had potentially put a young player’s career out.

It turns out that Aaron Ramsey had a compound fracture of his lower right leg, caused by contact by Shawcross, when his ankle buckled.

Aaron Ramsey, an extremely taleneted and young player has just had his career threatened.

With a minimum of 8 months on the bench, it’s sad to see such a young player potentially never play football again.

Arsenal’s Being Targeted

In just under four years, Arsenal have had to deal with three of their key players suffering from broken legs due to aggressive challenges from other teams.

How can that just be coincidence? Even after the Eduardo tragedy (in which he returned to play football, and he was better after breaking his legs somehow), people still thought of Arsenal’s injury record as nothing more than bad luck.

But no other club has suffered as many injuries as them.

There’s a huge amount of different arguments for this, but regardless, all three incidents, in my eyes, have been overly aggressive during each ‘accident’.

Now, you might think I’m being biased towards Arsenal because I support them – nothing of the sort, I support Chelsea. But it’s clear that people clearly don’t like Arsenal.

Ryan Shawcross, through the tears and attention he got from people, got off with a three-game ban. A THREE GAME BAN. Does that really qualify as adequate punishment for a guy who has just potentially put a player out for life?

And then you remember all the incidents when Arsenal were accused of dirty play, that the media played it up, and things were blown out of proportion?

For example, Eduardo’s dive against Celtic, which did manage to get them a penalty, but the FA managed to get away with banning Eduardo for a good number of games, just for a dive.

Samir Nasri‘s stomp is another incident. He stomped a player from Hull City so lightly that it couldn’t have hurt a mouse, but yet he was branded a ‘savage’.

Fair? Far from it. Arsenal will have to face these kinds of injustices regularly, because it just seems that it’s ‘The Premiership vs Arsenal’.

But as much as they suffer, noone can be suffering more than Aaron Ramsey himself.

The aftermath of all the scandalous events hindering the progression of the English football team have just begun to set in.

John Terry Is a Womanizer

The pure chaos of the whole English team right now has been closely followed by the British press. After first discovering that captain John Terry had been having an affair with fellow player, Wayne Bridge‘s child’s mother, the reaction was astonishing.

The British public were seemingly disgusted with his behaviour – going so far to even boo John Terry on home

soil – something that was previously unheard of.

It wasn’t just the public that had decided that his behaviour was inappropriate – John Terry’s behaviour had repulsed the FA to the point where they had said that they were no longer able to comment on his behaviour, and abandoned hope of protecting John Terry’s pride.

Then, things got moved up into manager Fabio Cappello’s hands. He had decided he had enough of bad behaviour by his players. He even went as far as to say that ‘rich, young boys are the cu

Image via Wikipedia

rse of English football.’

Loss Of A Captain

And after a long, drawn out decision, he decided to remove the luxury of captaincy from John Terry. The decision was made on the basis that he has specifically chosen John Terry as captain to set a good example, and become a role model for others, and John Terry had not complied.

The public reaction to this was just the same as when Tiger Woods was revealed to be a womanizer – one of pure shock.

It goes without saying that morale at this point was pretty low.

An ex-captain shell of a human, going by the name of John Terry decided that he could do nothing but accept his fate. He commented on Capello’s decision describing it as ‘the right thing to do’.

Wayne Bridge’s Departure

Image via Wikipedia

And what about the poor, defeated Wayne Bridge? We almost forgot about him.

He made a personal decision by himself that he could no longer play in the English national team, along side John Terry. Taking his leave, he declared that he no longer thought that international football was where he should be, and left an already shocked public, even more so.

Fabio Cappello awoke that morning to an absolute horror – his defence was in shambles. Wayne Bridge was no longer playing, and there were serious doubts as to whether or not John Terry would ever play the same.

And as for the new captain? The decision was made so secretly that even the newly-appointed captain didn’t find out until he had heard it announced on television.

New Day, New Captain: Rio Ferdinand Steps Up To The Plate

Rio Ferdinand has taken over as captain of the English team, which I personally find ironic due to Ferdinand’s less-that-clean record of drug tests, and on the basis that Capello apparently appoints role models to be captains, this is surely hypocritical.

In addition to this, there has been much criticism over the fact that Rio Ferdinand has no previous experience captaining any side, and also alleged rape scandal surrounding him years ago.

In my own opinion, there would be no finer substitute captain than Wayne Rooney himself, but as a striker, football history tells us that strikers are usually poor captains, whilst defenders are usually the better defenders.

However, Cappello still has hope that Wayne Bridge will return to the squad in the near future.

In addition to the whole John Terry Controversy, however, looms the Ashley Cole Horror Story.

Ashley Cole’s Downfall

As a player, no one can deny that Ashley Cole is a superb player. From his clearances to his tackles, he does everything with power and finesse.

However, outside of the pitch, his performance is less so.

Before this controversy, there were already confirmed incidents where Ashley Cole had cheated on his (very beautiful) wife Cheryl Cole, but after a few weeks that had blown over, and Cheryl had declared she had ‘gotten through it’.

This time, it was exposed that Ashley Cole had been engaging in an affair with a model, once again tarnishing British football’s reputation as being a nation of womanizing, sexist idiots.

But this time, he didn’t get away with it.

Image by Downing Street via Flickr

Cheryl had decided she had taken enough of Ashley’s infidelity, and filed for divorce.

A big shock-twist for newspapers. The Daily Mail had a field day.

Ashley, now lonely, but surprisingly not deprived of his wealth, continued to play with Chelsea, a team that has had a hard time this year defending their players due to all their scandalous behaviour.

He Falls Down, Right About…Now.

So, in a regular game, the game seemed to playing out smoothly, until Landon Donovan, US soccer star, made an extremely aggressive challenge which resulted in Ashley’s left ankle breaking.

Ugly scene that was indeed.

The diagnosis has been confirmed, and Ashley cannot play for 3 months, which is highly damaging to not only the Chelsea line-up, but also to the English line-up.

Considering that the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is only months away, Cole will have to regain fitness quickly after healing.

Fabio Cappello Is Optimistic

Despite all this drama and controversy, Cappello remains unfazed.

He claims that he is ‘glad’ that all of this has happened right now and not ‘in May, where we really would be hurt by this news’.

In Cappello we trust? We sure hope.

His team’s an absolute mess at the moment, and as much as I hate to say this as a Londoner myself, it pains me that I know England’s chances are looking slimmer than ever.

Fabio Cappello is sticking rigidly to his two-striker exclusivity rule, even after watching some amazing footage of Wayne Rooney performing well as the sole striker for Manchester United.

‘My style is always two forwards,’  says Capello. ‘It will be Rooney plus one other.’

Despite the fact the rest of his teams a shamble, and his defence is in utter ruins, Cappello knows only one thing – his attack.

At least he’s sure about something.

Here’s one fact about Group H – Spain are going through. Here’s a second fact – the other position is going to be hell to secure for the other three teams.  With Spain ranked number 1, and the others 15+, at least one spot has been reserved…

Group H

Spain

Current World Ranking: 1

Spain were off to a flying start – qualifying for these group stages with two games still left to play. That makes it the ninth time in the row they’ve gotten into these stages. Pretty good going Spain, pretty good going.

But here’s the chunky bit.

Spain have knocked Brazil off the top spot. After many years of dominating the top spot, Brazil has finally fallen. It truly is a testimony to the amount of progress Spain has made over the last few years, and how much  they’ve improved as a team.

As a matter of fact, usually I would highlight the star player in each team, but for Spain, it’s exceedingly hard. It’s like the whole team deserves the top spot. So, I’m just going to say, take a look at the whole Spanish line-up, and you’ll find them rather impossible to beat.

Isn’t it ironic that the world’s number 1 has never even gotten into the top 3 teams at the world cup?

Switzerland

Current World Ranking: 18

Switzerland just managed to get that point they needed to get to these stages from Israel, and even after that, they’re still dragging their boots.

Still, Switzerland impressed at the last world cup, where, up until they lost against Ukraine in the second-round, they did not concede a single goal. And in addition to that, their Euro 2008 performance should have boosted their morale.

The side’s most able players are probably Bayer Leverkusen‘s Tranquillo Barnetta and Udinese‘s Gokhan Inler. But as well as their midfield duo, there’s also players like Alexander Frei.

However, in this group, they’re going to have to play hard.

Honduras

Current World Ranking: 38

A fairly unknown side – this being the second time they’ve ever gotten into these group stages – and they’re doing pretty good so far.

Having beaten El Salvador 1-0, they managed to qualify by the skin of their teeth. And all of it just after a military coup in June.

It goes without saying that over the last few years, the Hondurian national team has rapidly improve, boasting players like Tottenham midfielder Wilson Palacios and Wigan duo Hendry Thomas and Maynor Figueroa.

It would be a slight surprise if they manage to progress, but the odd are, this is as far as they’re going to go.

Chile

Current World Ranking: 17

I’m going to admit that I love the way Chile play. All attack, and no defence? Wasn’t it some crazy kung-fu master who once said that the best form of defence of attack?

That’s clearly untrue however, seeing as Chile’s conceded 22 goals so far. Seven of these came from their two meetings with Brazil.

Definitely not good for a country trying to become South America‘s best.

Marcelo Biesla has certainly done a good job with the team however, as they’re progressed greatly.

The line-up will come as a surprise to you. The Chile team is very young – so young that the average player for this nation is only 23.

With players like Sporting Lisbon’s Matias Fernandez and Al Ain’s Jorge Valdivia, Chile boasts very creative player. In addition to that they have Alexis Sanchez of Udinese and Monterrey’s Humberto Suazo to further variate the team’s play.

Chile are a big contender for the second spot in this group.

Now Group G is truly something – the definite power group out of all groups this year. With veterans like Brazil and Portugal, along with up-and-coming Ivory Coast, the odds are looking terribly bad for North Korea.

Is there an underdog hope for North Korea? Not in my books. And the competition between the other three times is going to be fierce. My bet is Brazil and Portugal going through, but at this point, anything can happen.

Group G

Brazil

Current World Ranking: 2

It’s weird talking about the world cup without first mentioning Brazil, five-times winners of this prestigous cup.

They are the only team that have gotten to these group stages every single cup to date. And they didn’t tarnish their record this time round.

Beating arch-rivals Argentina 3-1 on home turf, they’ve stormed into these group stages.

The Brazillians have always been given good odds when it comes to winning the world cup, but this year, it seems like it may be their time again.

Under management of former world-cup winning team captain, Dunga, it’s a fair statement to say that Brazil will once again be among the top five competitors in this cup.

The team, as expected, consists of extremely high-grade players. It includes Real Madrid‘s star midfielder, Kaka, as well as a flurry of other amazing players – such as Seville’s striker Luis Fabiano, Juventus‘ prized midfielder Felipe Melo and Barcelona’s  full-back Daniel Alves.

Definitely the team to watch out for.

North Korea

Current World Ranking: 84

North Korea are a bit of a mystery team right now.

With no real major stars to display their playing style, a good deal of predictions over North Korea’s skill are likely to be inaccurate.

It will come to surprise everyone if they manage to perform well in such a difficult group. And at a ranking of 84, it’s a near guarantee that they will not progress any further in these rounds.

As I said earlier, it’s very difficult to evaluate North Korea’s team, but from what I can see, I would have to say that Suwon Bluewings midfielder Ahn-Young Hak is likely to be a key player.

Ivory Coast

Current World Ranking: 16

In my opinion, Ivory Coast are the strongest team out of all the african teams. And it’s not just my own views on the topic – ask around, and I’m pretty sure you’ll get the same response.

For once, Africa actually has a good chance of winning this cup, and it’s been getting a whole lot of football fans very excited indeed.

This year, the team is looking particularly powerful as well. Their star player is definitely Didier Drogba of Chelsea, but they also have major talent in players like Manchester City defender Kolo Toure, and Sevilla midfielder Didier Zokora.

Portugal

Current World Ranking: 5

It’s been a bit of struggle getting to this point for Portugal.

Even with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carvalho on the Portugese side, they were stuck in fourth place of group 1, before making a last-minute push, getting them into these knockout stages.

Like Argentina and France, Portugal are a powerful side with a much-critisized manager, who goes by the name of Carlos Queiroz.

The Portugese side is fierce – as well as Ronaldo on their team, they have Ricardo Carvalho and Deco, both of Chelsea fame, and also, Atletico Madrid’s Simao.

Surely only one team can prosper in this group – and it’s nearly definitely going to be Italy. Although they’re maybe not as good as they were when they won the last world cup,  they’re definitely the most powerful team in this group.

And against the likes of New Zealand, they look even better. Will they win again? Maybe. Will they get through to the next round? Definitely.

Group F

Italy

Current World Ranking: 4

In typical italian fashion, this olive-loving nation secured the top place in a overly dramatic fashion – equalizing with Ireland in the last minute of the game.

Admittedly, their qualifying stages didn’t all go to plan as they would’ve liked, but no-one should see this as a sign of weakness.

That would be a mistake, especially seeing as they’re undefeated in this tournament so far. Early days yet, but predictions say that they could hold this title for a while longer.

Regardless of how powerful they currently are, they’re definitely weaker now than they were back in 2006. In the time period that has passed in between now and then, all that has seemingly happened, is that their best players have aged a few more years.

Their key player is definitely Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo. The rest of the team is looking fairly balanced, with players like Cannavaro in defence. As for attacking, there are no real stars, and that may be Italy’s downfall.

Paraguay

Current World Ranking: 30

Admittedly, Paraguay have given an exceptional performance in this tournament so far.

Qualifying with two games still left to play after beating Argentina 1-0, they soared into these group stages.

Just to show how far Paraguay have come, they finished just one point behind Brazil – truly a feat.

Paraguay should definitely not be underestimated, despite their current world ranking, as I predict that by the end of this tournament, that number will definitely be in the twenties, or maybe even the ‘teens.

Slovakia

Current World Ranking: 34

A new face to this stage of the world cup, Slovakia qualified by defeating Poland 1-0, thanks to an own goal by Polish player Seweryn Gancarczyk.

Winning European Group Three was an impressive feat itself, and a lack of real talent in the Slovakian line-up looks to stop their progression here.

With only Marek Hamsik providing high-grade football, it’s nearly certain that a team like England will dispatch of Slovakia 4-0 again.

New Zealand

Current World Ranking: 77

New Zealand are almost just here for the ride. It’s extremely unlikely that they’ll get any further than this.

If I’m going to be honest, I’m gonna have to say that the only reason they even got this far, was because the group they had to win was so amazingly low-grade.  It couldn’t have been too hard.

Just look at their team line-up – nothing more than a mixture of low-league players really. With exceptions made for Celtic’s Chris Kellen and Blackburn’s defender Ryan Nelsen, the team just looks like an average Coca-Cola Championship team.

No, I’m not saying he’s the most intelligent, the most tactful, or even the richest manager they’ve ever had.

Instead I’m just saying this – he’s the best.

Why do I say this? Look to Sunday 14th February, when Crystal Palace played rivals Aston Villa.

In typical Neil Warnock fashion, he swore fantastically at the camera, hand gestures and all, prompting ITV to make yet another Neil Warnock-related apology.

The Times describe him as a man ‘not afraid of controversy’, and Gary Naylor, one of football‘s greatest thinkers, describes him as one of the few football managers you either love or hate. I’m definitely ticking the ‘love’ box on my form.

He definitely doesn’t mind shouting out exactly what he thinks, that’s for sure.

Looking back at the post-game interview on Sunday, I’m sure he’s regretting saying some of those things he said, with ‘disgrace’ ‘criminal’ and ‘foul’ being a few of the words he exchanged with the cameramen.

I suppose there was a case for Neil Warnock’s anger though.

Crystal Palace played exceptionally well, especially as they held a winning spot twice during their game with Aston Villa, and were extremely unlucky to concede to a goal from a corner, that should definitely not have been allowed.

In case you didn’t watch the match, Aston Villa managed to score a highly-controversial goal from a corner, which should have clearly been a goal kick.

But in pure retrospect, hadn’t Crystal Palace done the same thing to the Wolves only a matter of days ago? Even though they won by a large margin, the first goal scored during that match was an incorrectly awarded corner.

And what did Neil Warnock say that time?

‘Football is a funny game.’

All the time smiling.

This time round however, he’s not looking so happy. Does anyone feel like repeating those words to Neil Warnock? I sure do.

However, later on in the evening, after Neil had finished his long, boring whine about him battling against unfair odds all his life, he transformed again into the funny man we all know, even joking about Aston Villa’s line up.

‘It was a good job that I forgot my glasses,’ Neil joked, ‘or the team sheet would have frightened me to death!’

Warnock then complimented rival team Aston Villa’s very own O’Neil, describing him as a ‘fantastic manager’. Aww. Like a true father of Crystal Palace.

Neil Warnock might seem cheeky and vile to those he triumphs over, but he’s definitely one of the funniest managers football has at the moment, and we need more of them in this all too serious game.

At a glance, you might think that Group E were just a weak group in general. However, teams like the Netherlands have a lot to offer, especially seeing how their line-up features powerhouses like Arjen Robbern. Are they good enough to play amongst the elite? Maybe.

One thing’s for certain though – there is little hope for any other team BUT the Netherlands against the likes of Spain or Brazil.

Group E

Netherlands

Current World Ranking: 3

The Netherlands are off to a good start – ripping through the first 8 games, winning them all, and only conceding 2 goals in total.

Their team is as powerful as ever, with an attacking front consisting of Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and Bayern Munich‘s Arjen Robben.

The midfield play isn’t too bad either as Robben’s club teammate van Bommel and Real Madrid‘s Rafael van der Vaart will be  filling these positions.

But away from all the goal scoring opportunities, there are major worries about the Netherland’s defensive line-up, as they have no real star defenders, nor have they yet found a decent replacement for goalkeeping legend Edwin van der Sar.

But the real worry comes from the team’s apparent lack of teamwork in their play. It’s been seen on more than one occasion ruining their chances of victory. However, they are sure favorites to get past  the group stages, and they are definitely a real threat to all other teams.

Denmark

Current World Ranking: 26

When it was announced that Denmark was to be in the most difficult qualifying group of all, nearly everyone lost hope in Denmark qualifying this year.

However, in a shock twist, Denmark beat a second-place Portugal to rise and qualify in first-place. Beating Sweden on the way, this is Denmark’s first major tournament since the 2004 Euro cup.

The team don’t really hold host to any big names, rather just a select handful of skilled players. These being Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, Juventus midfielder Christian Poulsen and former Newcastle forward Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Definitely the underdog to watch.

Japan

Current World Ranking: 43

Japan are team thought of as being ‘lucky’. After all, they were placed in a fairly easy qualifying group, and just managed to secure second-place.

However, there has definitely been some steady improvements happening within the team. In 2002, they managed to each the second round before being eliminated by Turkey.

Can they perform such a feat again? Maybe.

There is pressure on star player Shunsuke Nakamura, an ex-Celtic player, to provide team union.

Cameroon

Current World Ranking: 11

It was a close call this year for Cameroon. Two games in, they were bottom of their group.

Then ex-Rangers manager, Peter Le Guen seized control of the team from Otto Pfister, and he pushed them higher up in the table.

Aside from the difficulties early on in the tournament, Cameroon possess a variety of talent .

With Inter Milan‘s Samuel Eto’o being their key player, and star striker, and Sebastien Bassong of Tottenham playing in defence, Cameroon is looking formidable.

Group D is being cited as the ‘most one-sided’ group out of all the groups going to South Africa. Germany, with a world ranking of 6, are easily the superior team, with second-best team Serbia, at world ranking. Betting odds never looked so good, but it could be a Euro 2004 repeat, and the underdog could come out on top.

Group D

Germany

Current World Ranking: 6

Three-times winners of the World Cup winners have won this tournament more times that any other team – except Brazil and Italy.

They’ve been runners-up four times, and been in the semi-finals more than any other side in the world, with a total of eleven semi-final knockouts.

Narrowly beating Russia with a 1-0 lead, they entered the world cup with still another match to play.

A qucik glance at their team shows us just how much of a force Germany will be at South Africa, albeit maybe not as powerful as they had once been.

With Chelsea‘s midfielder Michael Ballack leading the team, and Bayern Munich‘s star striker Miroslav Klose, attack will not be a problem, and don’t forget Mesut Ozil, Werder Bremen‘s young, new winger, dubbed, ‘The New Messi’.

Germany are definitely going to be a threat.

Australia

Current World Ranking: 21

Despite his resignation, the legacy of Guus Hiddink remains – with the Australian team qualifying for the world cup without conceding a single goal, and picking up 14 points in total.

Anyone who keeps up-to-date with the Premier League will find Australia’s line-up extremely familiar. Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer, Everton defender Lucas Neill, and  Brett Emerton of Blackburn are all to be on the Australian line-up.

However, the star player is definitely Everton’s Tim Cahill, who will be a threat to even the most dangerous sides.

Serbia

Current World Ranking: 20

The fact that Serbia demolished Romania 5 – 0 during the qualification rounds just shows the leaps and bounds Serbia has made.

Much praise has been lavished on their extremely capable coach, Radomir Antic, a former player for Luton. His excellent coaching skills have been cited as the reason for Serbia’s sudden improvements.

Serbia’s line-up is decent too – Manchester United‘s Vidic and Chelsea’s Ivanovic in defence, Wolves’ Milijas in midfield, and Inter Milan‘s excellent striker Stankovic.

Their main weakness is likely to be the lack of international tournament experience the Serbian team have playing together. That coupled with being unluckily grouped with power contenders Germany could lead to their early knockout.

Ghana

Current World Ranking: 37

Ghana is undoubtedly one of the best African teams – being the only African team to qualify for the world cup this year.

The pure attacking power Ghana possesses is very surprising – a duo composed of Chelsea star, Michael Essien, and Inter Milan’s Sulley Muntari.

However, the rest of the Ghana team is weak, particularly the goalkeeping position, with no real solution for the position.

Although Essien and Muntari are clearly good enough to compete with the world’s best, the rest of the Ghana team is not. And because of this, there are major doubts as to whether they will even get past the first round.

Groups B & C are looking fairly one-sided at a glance – Argentina looks set to dominate Group B, whilst England is prepared to annihilate all competition in Group C. Despite this, nothing is set in stone, and there is still everything to play for.

Group B

Argentina

Current World Ranking: 8

You can’t deny that Argentina’s team is looking particularly powerful – with 2009 Ballor d’Or winner Lionel Messi attacking, alongside Atletico Madrid‘s Sergio Aguero and Angel di Maria of Benfica.

Historically, Argentina have been very big players in the world cup – twice they were winners of the world cup itself, and the only time they failed to qualify was the World Cup 1970.

However, Argentina’s defence is looking weak this time round, and Maradona’s complete and utter lack of skill as manager is only dragging the team down.

Nigeria

Current World Ranking: 22

In comparison to Nigeria’s earlier days, the line-up looks seemingly amazing.

Everton defender Joseph Yobo, Chelsea midfielder Jon Obi Mikel, and striker Martins seem to elevate Nigeria’s status in the football world.

Despite this, their team is still not enough to be considered a threat by many teams, and they are expected not to get any further than round 2, and the football world will be shocked should they proceed further than this.

South Korea

Current World Ranking: 52

South Korea are thought of as to be the weakest side of this World Cup.

However, previously, during the 2002 World Cup they did manage to place forth, beating powerhouses Spain, Portugal and Italy on their journey there.

These victories, however, are often considered to be an example of luck in action, and South Korea are not expected to repeat such a performance.

Even with star player, Manchester United‘s Park Ji-Sung, South Korea has many flaws on other parts of the field.

Greece

Current World Ranking: 12

The current Greek team is fairly uneventful – the team as a whole works, but put simply, they just aren’t good enough to compete with the likes of Portugal and Spain.

With no real star players, it seems pretty unlikely that they will spontaneously excel, but having previously won Euro 2004, anything can happen.

Group C

England

Current World Ranking: 9

Without a single win since 1966, England look ripe to win this time round. With a team often noted to be the ‘best of the best’ for a long time, people have often wondered why the side doesn’t excel.

Much emphasis is being put on new manager, Fabio Capello, and he seems to be capable of managing the team.

With players like Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and key striker, Rooney on the field for them this time round, they look to pose a dire threat to the competition.

Algeria

Current World Ranking: 26

Algeria are playing in their first world cup for 24 years since they last left Mexico 86, defeated in the first round.

Strangely enough, they have been blessed with two good players, Mr. Multi-Role Karmi Ziani, and excellent goal keeper Faouzi Chaouchi.

They play very much like your standard European team, and are predicted to get to the second round.

United States

Current World Ranking: 14

Look who’s up and coming!

The US have been in 5 world cups previous to South Africa, and predictions are saying that they are expected to get through to the knockout rounds now.

The line up is looking pretty healthy – Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey, Everton’s keeper Tim Howard, and star strike Landon Donovan of LA Galaxy fame.

Aside from this, the line-up given included 43 players, suggesting that consistency is going to a be a problem here.

Slovenia

Current World Ranking: 33

Slovenia is a bag of surprises. Gaining entrance by defeating Guus Hiddink‘s organized Russian team, they are looking surprisingly dangerous.

However, with no real star players, and a manager lacking in experience, it looks like they lack the class and organization needed to defeat stronger sides like England.

It’s coming. The big one. The one we’ve all been waiting for.

This summer, 32 of the best national teams are headed to host country South Africa to compete for soccer‘s most prized trophy – the World Cup. This time round it’s the 19th series, and the competition is looking more fierce than ever.

There are the repeat qualifiers in as usual – Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina (and the more powerful than ever, Spain), but along side them are the up-and-comers, like Greece, and also, the USA, all capable of surprising the soccer world.

As usual, in addition to these teams, there’s the usual slurry of hopeful dreamers – Nigeria, Mexico and rest of them.

With the groups now settled, and the draw complete, we now await squad announcements coming around mid-May, and after that, the tournament begins, starting on the 11th May.

South Africa

Current World Ranking: 86

Being hosts does have it’s advantages – as if South Africa do get knocked out in the early stages (which is looking increasingly likely), at least the travel home is next to nothing.

South Africa is looking exceptionally weak – in the 2006 Africa Cup, the team failed to accumulate a single goal before being eliminated.

Even with new manager Carlos Alberto Parreira, things are still looking glum. However, after placing 4th out of 8 in the recent Confederations Cup, they may exceed expectations, and surprise.

Mexico

Current World Ranking: 15

After the replacement of shaky coach Sven-Goran Erikksson, with Javier Aguirre, the Mexican side is looking better than ever. Even team captain Marquez has praised Aguirre’s ‘no-nonsense’ attitude, which he believes has greatly improved the play.

The players themselves on the Mexican team are looking sharper than ever too – Barcelona’s prized defender Rafael Marquez leading the team, and strong attackers – Arsenal’s Carlos Vela, and West Ham’s Guillermo Franco, the Mexicans look to pose a threat on the field.

Uruguay

Current World Ranking: 19

Uruguay are looking particularly unstable this year with a record of  6 wins, 6 losses and 6 draws.

However, whilst consistency may be one of Uruguay’s main troubles, they do have a few golden moments, many coming from star player Diego Forlan, striker for Athletico Madrid.

However, the rest of the team is less amazing, and may fail to perform under pressure. Only time will tell whether Uruguay can push through their inconsistent play.

France

Current World Ranking: 7

France qualified with a rather controversial start – the one goal lead they needed created by a blatant handball by Thierry Henry.

As controversial as it may be, France are going to South Africa in the summer, and with a very-strong line up – Manchester United‘s Evra, Chelsea’s Anelka, Gallas of Arsenal, Real Madrid‘s Lassana, Bayern Munich‘s Ribery, and to top it all off, Barcelona’s Thierry Henry. What a team, hey?

Despite this, eyes are all on coach Domenech, who is noted to be the reason why France continuously under-achieve, despite this line-up, and for the first time in a very long while, France are not one of the favorites to win.

Not everyone wants to be huge and muscular, and look like ‘beefcakes’. Here’s some reasons as to why:

• The Ladies. According to a variety of surveys, the majority of women do not find huge, bulky guys attractive. And, I know for a lot of you, they’re the reason why you even bother to work out.
• Finding clothes that fit. As a short-but-muscular guy myself, I find it hard to get clothes that actually fit. And clothes cost money. It’s not so good for your wallet.
• Sports. A lot of sports have weight boundaries, such as boxing. And others would just be harder if you were extremely large, such as dance.
• It doesn’t appeal to you. Some guys just don’t want to be big. Fair play.
• Budget. The human body needs more food, as the bigger it gets. Food also costs money.

Before I get onto explaining exactly how to get muscular without getting bulky, I’m gonna just remind you of a few things.

• You will gain muscle. You might not be as big as say, Arnold, but you’re going to get bigger. Even small guys get big.
• However, you will not look fat. We will be minimizing fat gains, and maximising muscle gains. This will give you a lean, healthy look.

Now, let’s break straight into how:

1. Limit Your Calories

. The amount of calories you actually need to consume vary greatly depending on how much you weigh, and also, how much activity you do. There is another article on how to work out the amount on GenXXL. However, avoid undereating as much as overeating. Undereating causes muscle loss.

2. Eat Low Calorie Foods. You’re still eating, so you’re not hungry, and also, if you eat the right foods, you can get away with eating a lot of it, and still being under your daily target/ Also, you some foods actually burn calories when you consume them. It’s a win-win situation.

Make sure that you get 1g of protein for every lb of bodyweight you do. And also, importantly, make sure you plan out your meals everyday, so you don’t fall victim to the evil snack eating temptations.

3. Cardio. Any form of cardiovascular exercise is good. Although it is time-consuming, if you really are determined to gain results, them add it.

It burns the fat away that you gain from eating so much (the 1g protein/lb rule will be the culprit here), and also, it allows you to eat more.

4. Do More Reps, Less Weight.

Don’t push as much weight. I know you’ve probably read about the 6 rep maximum rule somewhere, but ignore it. That’s for bodybuilders. Drop all the weights you lift by a bit, and just do more reps. You’ll still gain muscle, but in a less bulky sense.

This basically sums up the hows of muscle building with a lean look.

This is part 2 of the series.

In case you haven’t read the last part, this series is basically about the techniques reasons to quit eating junk-food for your own personal gain. I have already explained the benefits, and general good points of straying from junk food, so here I am with the second part with the series.

And, with no further ado…

5. Sports = Good

Sports are a great way of staying away from junk food. By playing a sport, it gives you a reason to stray away from the fatty stuff – you’ll play better if you do. Trust me, be picking up a sport, you’ll gain a tendency to look after your bodily nutrition.

And also, in addition to that, sport is just a great way to get in your cardiovascular exercises, and, if you play a sport like football, a really good way to get stronger too.

6. Learn to cook!

Healthy food doesn’t have to be bland, tasteless chicken breasts and dry wheat. Healthy food can be amazingly tasty, and in my opinion, often tastier than your poor-quality Big Mac and fries. Cooking is a skill, and you get better at it the more you do it.

I got a tip for you here – go find some good recipes, there’s many good websites online for that (RecipeZaar, Delias). Invest some time practising and honing your cooking skills. Trust me, before you know it, you’ll be happily eating away at your (healthier) food.

Plus, the ladies completely love it when a guy can cook.

7. Don’t Go For Perfection

Don’t try and be one of those up-their-own-asses kind of guys. You don’t have to completely eliminate junk food from your diet. I mean, that would technically be ideal, but in the society we live in today, that’d very hard. The 90/10 rules seems to work really good for a lot of guys.

The 90/10 rule is that basically, you’re healthy for 90% of the time, junk food eating savage for the other 10%. This approach is easy to apply, and can have a drastic change on normal peoples physique.

The longer you stay healthy, the more you will begin to enjoy it. I mean, sure, at the start you might be longing for the chocolate bar, but you might soon just not care. Taste adapts.

8. Self-Control is Everything

This one is the most important of all of them – control yourself. The junk food does not control you.  No one is forcing you to eat the junk. It is your own personal choice to do so.

Let me ask you this one question – between achieving your goal and eating a big mac, which one would you pick? And that’s all that has to be said. Remember, willpower can get you through every mental barrier you will ever occur. Don’t be weak. Muscle up.

It’s not an exact science – you eat more, you gain more. It’s basic, and one of the simplest fundamentals of bodybuilding. But, let me ask you the question anyway – do you know the right kind of food to eat?

I personally believe you do. If you have the effort to have gone out and read this far, then the chances are that you do know what’s good for you. You do realize what’s best for your health. However, these kinds of things are often far easier said than done. If you have an addiction to fast food (yes, you can get addicted), then your approach to actually quitting is incorrect. Fast food is a habit that’s hard to break.

The real question is actually this – how do you quit eating junk food? Here we are with a list of reasons -

1. Get A Reason

You’re probably thinking in your heads that this is stupid. You think you know what you want….but you don’t think about it often enough. Whether it’s that you want to lose fat, become healthier or feel better about yourself, write it down. Tape the piece of paper to your bedroom door. Constantly think about it. Remind yourself of why you are doing this. The more you think about, the further into your brain it will lodge itself, and motivate you.

2. Plan Your Life

Being healthy isn’t a habit. It isn’t something that you can just ‘do’. It’s not a simple task. It’s a whole lifestyle. You’re going have to think about changing your whole life before you actually take this seriously. Think about things like,

-Where you’re going to get your meals from?

-What you are going to cook?

-When are you going to cook these foods?

Make a plan for everything that could ever possibly require planning so, your shopping list, your recipe plan, your daily schedule..

3. Confidence is Key

Don’t be demotivated by the advertisements constantly flashing images of supplements and powders to help you. More importantly, don’t believe the obvious lies (the way Kool-Aid advertises itself as healthy, for example).

Remember this – if your body could choose all the food it consumed, it would definitely choose the healthy foods. Your body doesn’t need the junk food. Everything you think about junk food is just in your head – you won’t die if you stop eating it.

4. Don’t Sit There

Don’t just sit around waiting for miracles to happen. Changing your eating patterns isn’t something that’s going to magically happen overnight. It’s a long, tedious process, that requires dedication.

Mediocre tasks such as going to the supermarket, preparing lunches for work and just simply cooking are essential. They are key to your success. Remember, nothing ever happened without a cause.

Well, that was part one of the series. Make sure you read the next part of this series.

Now a lot of people think they’re eating healthily, but they’re just not. Food is deceiving, and the companies behind the food are even more deceiving. Here’s 8 foods you probably thought were healthy. But just aren’t.

1. Diet Cola

2. Bread

3.Fruit Juice

4. Cereals

So many cereals nowadays are being advertised as ‘healthy’ and ‘the best way to lose fat’. In re ality, they are loaded with salt and sugar, and, the majority of the time, all the minerals and vitamins provided are chemical based. Try something else for breakfast, because cereal is a bad choice.

5. Sport Drinks

They’re meant to ‘boost your energy’ and ‘make you faster’. More lies. What exactly is Red Bull you might ask. Sugared water. What use can you find from sugared water?

6. Granola Bars

Okay, so granola bars do look pretty damn healthy, being mainly made out of nuts and seeds and all that good stuff. However, did you ever think about what’s sticking it all together? That’s right – syrup. And then you get other bars – some even have chocolate chips – which are just as bad as real chocolate bars. Plus, they taste pretty damn bad.

7.

Salads from McDonald’s (Or fast food equivalent)

The actual salads themselves aren’t even particularly unhealthy. They’re pretty much fine. Now, the dressing on the other hand, is not only sugar and fat laden, but also contains multiple colouring and additives, which, in all honesty, just cannot be good for your body. You’re probably better off eating a big mac.

Food = Calories

Calories are essentially energy. That is to say, that you need them for literally every activity that you partake in. Basically, your body uses calories as fuel for walking, jogging, running etc. etc.

Anyways, this post will just breakdown how many you actually need.

Method 1-
The most basic way. It’s just a simple formula to work out how much calories you actually need. The only downside is that it doesn’t really work if your really small or really large. And also, it doesn’t really count your daily exercise etc. etc.

• Your body-weight in pounds x 18kcal = your daily caloric needs

So for example, if you weighed 180lbs, your calorific needs would be:

180 x 18 = 3240 kcal.

Eat less/more on either side to gain or lose weight. However, as you might of guessed, if your really big, you would get a ridiculous number. And if your really small, you’d get another ridiculous answer.

Method 2-
The Cunningham Equation. As you’ve probably guessed, there’s some weak points to the above method. Namely the fact that it doesn’t actually take into account your food choice, your exercise schedules or anything like that. Obviously if you have a big body, but are not fat, the above method is awful. It’s downfall is similar to the one of BMI measurements.

I’m not going to go into detail about this method right now (it’s long), but make sure you search around for it, or (hopefully), I’ll put up and article about it sometime.

People seem to believe that their body revolves around calories. BS in my opinion. It’s so much less about the actual size and calorific content of the food, and the actual food. Just to give you an idea why I think this is because NOT ALL CALORIES ARE THE SAME.

A balanced diet is far more important. Diet Coke claims to have 1 calorie inside, but that 1 calorie is not the same, as say, a calorie from a steak. There is a difference, and its large.

If you’ just want to lose some fat, or are just maintaining yourself, counting calories isn’t too important, just eat the right foods. If you eat 6 healthy meals a day, you’ll be fine.

However, if you’re looking to gain weight, then I do recommend counting calories, it works out.

So many excuses have been created for this, including:

-’My legs are fine.’

-’I run on the treadmill to train my legs’

-’Squats hurt my knees!’

No. Just no. There is no excuse for not training your legs. Legs are so key, and it is such a bad mistake to make. Here’s 6 reasons why you SHOULD train your legs.

1. More Muscle

More muscle anywhere is always good. Not only are squats proven to release the most testosterone compared to all the other exercises, more muscle always equates to a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means that you can consume more protein without having to worry about the fat and the rest of it as much.

2. Upper Body Gets Worked Too

The majority of effective leg exercises also train the upper body in one way or another. Here’s a few examples of how, just off the top of my head.

- When lifting heavy deadlifts (which you should be doing), your chest muscles also get worked very hard.

- During squats, you have to squeeze your abs hard enough to stablise yourself.

- You arms get worked by doing squats, which are probably the most effective leg exercise.

3. More Strength = Success

More strength is always handy. By having stronger legs, and stronger core muscles, this creates a faster growth on your upper body. For example,

-Legs are key to doing squats

-Bench pressing is helped a lot by having strong legs to stablize yourself with.

4. Symettry

Okay, so now I’m talking about those matchstick leg guys in the gyms. Let’s be honest here, as ‘individual’ as I do think you should all be, having puny legs and a ripped torso is just plain ridiculous. however, symettry is not.

5. Mentality

Training your legs is mentally hard, and very time-consuming. If I were to be honest, I’d say training legs is one of the harder places to train. It shows great mentality, and will boost your self-esteem if you manage this task.

6. Respect

No athlete will ever respect a man who only works on his ‘visual muscles’ (e.g abs, pecs). Be a real man and do it all.

Plateau is the bane of all bodybuilders. You lift and lift and lift for weeks upon weeks, and yet you still cannot see a significant strength gain. You are still doing the same weight and the same amount of reps. Most people who are stuck on a plateau usually get told something along the lines of, ‘ Change your routine, dammit!’. But there’s more to it than that. A mere change of routine isn’t going to solve everything.

So here are the REAL reasons why you plateau…

1) You Forget Certain Muscles

A lot of guys who get muscular, get muscular as a way of attracting women. Because of this, they usually only focus on their arms, chest and abs. However, this leaves key muscles such as your back and legs out, and as you know, these muscles help your arms. It’s an old, cliche saying, but it’s so true in this case  – ‘You’re only as strong as your weakest link’.

Designate time to focus on all your body.

2) Use Correct Form!

This is the most reoccuring thing that happens to amateur bodybuilders – they use incorrect form. Incorrect form will not only impede your progress, but it might not even be training the muscles you want! So get your form clean and correct, and this will help dig you our of the nasty plateau.

3) Bad Diet

Remember, half the workout is the diet. If you are eating utter crap, or just not eating enough, this will make your gains smaller. This is a simple one – bad diet = plateau.

4) You Jumped The Weights Instead Of Taking It Slow

When you feel like you need to up the amount you are lifting, ensure that you do it in small increments. Doing it in big lots always equals trouble.

Instead of just gently adding on more weight each week, you suddenly just add 5kg to your dumbell, and wonder why you aren’t getting any gains after several weeks. Simply lighten it. Now, you might be thinking your going back on yourself, but your wrong – you gotta go back to progress in this case. By lightening the load, you can begin to build some lean muscle, and slowly see some gains.

5) Change Your Routine!

The traditional answer to plateaus. Basically, just substitute some of your exercises for other, similar exercises. For example, change your barbell curl for an E-Z Bar curl. DO NOT try gimmicks such as supersetting or forced reps. Just stick to what you know. The basics are always best.

And that basically concludes this post. Get some use out of it, and comment me with your results.

But, before I begin, I must say DO NOT BE DEMOTIVATED. I have less-than-average genes, and because of the hard work I put in, it works for me.

When I was younger, my parents used to call me ‘beansprout’ because I was so skinny, so you can’t purely blame genetics for everything. And now peope tell me just how ‘lucky’ I am to have ‘great genetics’. Pure BS in my opinion. It was hard work that got me through.

So let’s take a little look…

Body types -

It is without a shadow of a doubt that there are literally countless body types, however, these 3 main classifications are the standard used.

Ectomorph – Skinny, thin torso with little bodyfat or muscle

Mesomorph – Muscular, ‘V’ shape torso, less bodyfat, more muscle

Endomorph – Large, round torso with much bodyfat

Obviously, these are the three extremes of body types, and the chances are, you’ll be in between two of these somewhere.

Skeletal formations also have a big part in determining how well your body is designed to get muscular. For example, the best bones to get muscular would be broad shoulders, small waists and medium-length limbs. Also, the thickness of the bones themselves can play a big part.

Another thing that plays part in seeing how well you will gain is the relationship between your nervous system, and our muscles themselves. The better the relationship, the higher amount of muscle fibres will recruited to do your work, so growth is dependant on this. And, on the topic of muscle fibres, the natural density of your muscle fibres is a factor in genetic advantages as well.

Myostatin, a natural gene, also has a big part to play. Think about it – in the stone age times, food was precious, and had to stretch. Having a huge body was not only expensive calorie-wise, but it slowed you down. Your body had limitations to stop you from getting too musular, however, this can be broken with enough hard work.

The gene ‘GDF-8′ is responsible for these limitations. The less of this stuff you naturally have, the easier it will be for you to gain muscle.

———

To conclude, I’ve got to say, don’t fret. Don’t panic. Hard work and dedication can work for you if it worked for me. Having a body MADE for bodybuilding is extremely rare, and the chances are that the majority of gym-goers are in the same boat as you.