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Dieting and losing weight is something that many people are trying to do and it seems like some people are always on a diet to no avail. The term “diet” is a word that is somewhat meaningless when it comes to actually losing weight, because it something that is temporary. Read more…
Here's a great video from nutritional expert Dr John Berardi on how to cycle your supplements so that you don't develop any intolerances to them.
by Paul Atkins
A beginning step that anyone who is starting a new workout routine or diet plan needs to take is to look seriously at the foods they are eating. In order to get serious results you need to get rid of anything that can hinder your progress. This of course means anything that will work against you and slow your body down from being an efficient fat fighting machine. There are all kinds of things you can do to begin to eat healthy but for now let's keep things simple. To start there are 5 things that you must cut from your eating and drinking habits if you want to reach your fitness goals.
Refined Sugars: Refined sugars for those that don't know would be you plain old Dixie crystals white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, splenda or pretty much any kind of sugar that doesn't come from a cane or piece of fruit but rather a factory. The reason refined sugars are so bad for you is because that affect your metabolism in a negative way. They also affect you insulin response, even your mood. Getting rid of sugar like these from your diet means you're going to have to do some work as it will require the reading of labels. Since these kinds of sugars can be found in just about everything on the typical grocery store aisles doing your homework is a must.
Alcohol: First off it should be noted that not all alcoholic drinks are bad for you. That from time to time the circumstances warranted a drink is not only necessary but can be mentally helpful as well. However alcohol as a whole does carry many empty calories just like sugar. When you consider the fact that alcohol in general carries 7 calories per gram, you can start to see why alcohol generally should be avoided.
Alcoholic beverages do not hydrate you but rather dehydrate you which slows down your recovery time and can hinder the growth of lean muscle mass. Even though many consider alcohol to be a stimulant it is actually a depressant which negatively impacts your metabolism slowing it down and hindering your body from becoming efficient at burning fat. When it's all said and done eliminating alcohol from your diet will help to promote a body that grows muscle and burns fat, exactly what you need in order to accomplish your weight loss goals and fitness workout routines.
Caffeine: The thought of eliminating caffeine for many can be a very touchy subject. The touchiest seems to always center around the elimination of coffee. If we were to take coffee out of the equation for a moment and just focus on caffeinated drinks, almost all of these types of drinks should be eliminated from the diet of anyone is looking to get in shape. Why this is the case is because caffeine in general affects your body so as to dramatically slow down the process of lean muscle mass growth. In addition it can greatly impact the amount of sleep you get during the night which happens to be the main time your muscles recover and grow.
Drop Anything With A Butt. The days of being able to find some really good lean meats and proteins seem to be behind us. We live in a decade where meat is ruled by, hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals that have been used to process the meat and fish you need rendering them basically a useless source of high-quality protein. Many might not like to hear this, but there are several good vegetarian sources of protein from beans to tofu and nuts.
Gluten: Eliminating gluten from your diet will result in a diet that is healthier and one that lends itself to receiving the benefits from exercise and eating right. Similar to many other ingredients in our food today gluten does not occur naturally in the world but was created in a lab to increase the taste and texture of many foods as well as increase profitability. For those that don't know, gluten is a protein that actually comes from grain and seems to show up in just as many of our food products as does high fructose corn syrup. Why gluten is named what it is is because it comes from the Latin word for glue. Gluten does have a gluing effect to the products that contain it allowing our breads to be softer and more moist.
When considering what a healthy nutritious diet would contain you probably would never add glue to that diet. So why on earth would you eat foods that contain a main ingredient whose name is derived from the Latin word glue? The simple answer is you wouldn't. There are millions of people out there that are forced to cut gluten from their diets because they are allergic to it, yet for everyone else you would be wise to follow that same course. Finding foods that do not contain gluten is not too difficult, but if you need a little help select foods that contain millet, amaranth, quinoa, or oats and you will be just fine.
When you take time to separate out these basic harmful foods from your diet your body is able to free up what has been keeping it down and therefore work more efficiently than before. By eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you can give your body the high-quality fuel it needs to get you into the best shape of your life.
Getting Rid of foods and ingredients that harm your body will go a long way in helping you maximize the results of your work out routines and dieting programs. An in home workout program that combines healthy eating with intense physical fitness is P90X by Tony Horton.
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How do you know if you are getting the most from your core training program? It sounds like a simple question; but it's not. I mean with the ever increasing knowledge and understanding of the body's core, more and more information is being released for us to review and utilize. It's difficult to stay on top of the latest and most effective / efficient techniques. Read more…
This is the second in a series of 3 guest posts by my friend, colleague, and master-trainer, Matt "Wiggy" Wiggins. Part 1 appeared here.
Last time, I talked about how circuit training had been mis-applied, half-assed, and thereby rendered ineffective by masses. I also said what a crock of crap that was, and told you how circuit training could be highly effective…if you did it the right way.
Let's look a little more at what should go into a good circuit training workout.
First, you've got to do the right types of exercises. It doesn't matter if I'm designing workouts for athletes, military/law enforcement, fighters, or just the 'regular joe/jane' (<-my speciality!), I like to use compound movements that use a lot of muscles, allow you to move a lot of weight, lift in an explosive manner, and be super-efficient with your training.
While some isolation movements are Ok to use (hey, I do direct arm training…I'm just as vain as the next guy ;-), for the most part, I like using the compound movements. For example, instead of a lateral raise of any kind, I vastly prefer overhead presses. No chest flyes here – it's bench presses, various types of pushups, and parallel bar dips. Leg extensions? Pffft – as if. All squats, deadlifts, different types of jumps, and other explosive movements.
Second, you've got to map out a series of exercises that can be done in a row with little equipment. This is kind of a big topic, so I'll expand on this in a future post, but suffice it to say, if you need two different bars, a bench, rack, set of dumbbells, and three machines, chances are that you're not gonna be able to complete your circuits in the proper fashion (very little to no rest between sets) because either you'll be training at home and won't have access to that much equipment, be in a local gym that has that much equipment, but still won't be able to do it because there will be other people that will want to jump in on the equipment and screw up your workout flow, or you'll have to find a place that has that much equipment and allows you to come in and train at 2am when the rest of the world is asleep…and who wants to do that?
Third, you've got to get your rest periods dialed in. Circuit training is effective because of the manner in which it's performed – stack exercises that work antagonistic (or at least differing) muscles one after another. This way, one set of muscles is working, while others are resting, yet your heart, lungs, and body as a whole are still working.
Fourth, you need to use the right amount of weight. You could have a very effective circuit training program mapped out, but if you do it with too little weight, you simply won't be working hard enough. Use too much weight, and you won't be able to complete the circuits (or even individual sets) with proper form or explosiveness.
Go to www.workingclasscardioworkout.com for a cardio workout that doesn't need gyms, fancy machines, or even make you run a single step.
Look, I know how hard it is to build muscle. Trust me when I tell you it took me 20+ years to figure it out. But once I did--BAM!--muscle appeared almost overnight. Give me your email address and I'll send you the keys.