So many people have a confusion towards carbs and don't know how to treat them as a nutrient. I have read many articles that set people up for failure by either giving them bad information about carbs or making them fear carbs. Well I'm here to tell you how it is and give you a short and straight up post about how you should be treating carbs.
CARBS ARE NOT THE ENEMY!
This is the first thing I want to point out because its the biggest point I need to make in this blog post. So many articles and fitness fads going on tell people that carbs are bad and you need to be on a low carb diet to lose any body fat, hell I've even fallen into this before. But the truth is that you just need to train hard, lift heavier weights and eat the right carbs at the right time. First things first you need to get in the gym to lose any weight or body fat and the type of training you perform will dictate what type of carbs you have. Figuring out the type of carbs to eat is where most average Americans go wrong. As you already know most Americans are eating tons of sugars and breaded foods that are almost always processed. This brings me to my next point...
Intermittent fasting has been expanding in popularity right now more than ever and tons of people are confused and curious on what this diet style is. Intermittent fasting can be explained pretty simply, don't eat for 16 hours and then eat for 8 hours. But it doesn't work nearly as good if you leave it at that, because there are many steps and small modifications to this diet depending on who you are. So in this post I will break it down step by step so that you can follow it exactly how it is supposed to be and achieve the best results possible. Before I start the steps I want to address that this diet isn't for everyone, it works best with men because of testosterone levels, and if you have any medical issues this may not be the best diet or at least check with doctor first. If you cannot go with this diet you can surely take many parts out of it and apply it to you own diet.
Progressive Overload & Its Importance
Progressive overload is one of the biggest keys to achieving strength and muscle mass gains. There are a lot of people who either do not realize this, don’t realize they are doing this, or completely leave it out and don’t know what it is. If you’re a trainer or even just a gym rat who loves to work out and you do not understand the concept, read this now or forget about improving in the gym! Broken down into a simple term progressive overload is either increasing weight, increasing sets, increasing reps, increasing intensity, increasing duration, increasing frequency or decreasing rest periods as you work through a program. If you do not have a program and you are just performing random workouts at the gym, get a program ASAP, it will benefit you tremendously. I see a lot of people who come to the gym and repeat the same couple workouts they know day in and day out but they never change anything about it, then they go home and look in the mirror wondering why they aren’t growing. This is because you are leaving out this key concept.
Eating the right foods the right way is an extremely important part of living a healthy lifestyle, especially if you are striving to acheive your fitness goals. The way society is now a days really makes it hard for people to eat the right way because of all the fast food, proccessed foods, and junk beverages there are out there (especially since they usually taste so good!). So with this blog post I'm going to break it down and simplify it for you because it's truly much easier than people make it seem.
How you can acheive great abs by adding to your program
Anybody who works out will not deny the fact that they wants abs. Abs complete the physique regardless of what your fitness goal is.Most people get so close to getting those abs but then can't completely get the six pack, which is extremely frustrating. So this blog post is going to help you get those abs so you too can look like a bad ass Spartan from 300. A very important first step to get abs is to stop using machines and start using free weights, machines almost always take out the core aspect of the exercise. But you also must know good ab exercises to add into your program.
-This is all the best ways and steps to get crazy ripped-
Every body wants to be ripped and cut like this dude in the picture above whether they want to admit it or not. Its easier to achieve then people realize, but its also not the way most people think. People tend to see guys like this and think that alls they need to do is lift weights and do crunches everyday. But the truth is that when you lift weights everyday but never do any type of cardio or fat burning exercise, you wont be able to see the muscles like you can on someone who is actually ripped.You do need to lift a lot of weights but you also need to do some good high intensity circuit training to burn that layer of fat sitting over your abs. So now I am going to help you achieve that look and give you all the guidelines you need to really burn fat, build muscle, and end up looking ripped. There's two major components when it comes to getting ripped, your workout and your diet.
This post is for all the ladies out there that need to tone up and get into shape. One of the biggest troubles with training women is that they only want to do cardio because weight training will make you "get big" or "bulk up". Well I got news for you all, that is completely false! Now your probably thinking to yourself that I've seen plenty of buff chicks and bodybuilding women that look like men.
Almost all of the women who are buff or big like bodybuilders are taking testosterone supplements. The reason they need these testosterone supplements to gain muscle mass is because women naturally have a small amount of of this hormone, only a tiny fraction of the amount men have. This is a fact, therefore if your reading this you now know that weight training is ok to do and actually can produce much better results then cardio can if performed right. There are plenty of studies that show and prove that men and women don't even need to train differently to get good results. This also goes for the diet aspect, for the most part men and women don't need to eat differently either. The metabolisms of men and women are very much alike except in the fact that women burn a greater ratio of fat to carbs then men do. This is one reason why low carb diets are popular with women and tend to work better for them. Women also usually need to have a lower calorik intake then men do because of the fact that men have more muscle mass and less fat then women. Now I am going to break it down for you into the essential rules when it comes to women getting in shape and burning fat, from the diet to the workout.
Nobody likes getting injured, whether you play a sport or are just an active person it is important to stay healthy and functionable so you can carry on with your life as normal. There are two components when it comes to injuries, care and prevention. Most people focus on the caring aspect so they can get back to a normal state once they become injured, but why not prevent it in the first place? Thats why training in movement patterns and focusing on compound lifts that use multiple joints are two great ways to stay functioning good and also to prevent injuries. The body has 5 major movements which are; push, pull, hip hinge, bend at the knee, and twist at the core/mid section. If your program hits all 5 of these movements not only will you have performed and practiced the body's proper movement patterns, which will in turn create better movement and prevent injury much better then any isolation exercise, but you will have also used just about every muscle in your body by the end of your workout. The best piece of information you can possibly use to prevent injury and understand how the body and joints work/move is the Mobility Stability Continuum (As seen below).
A lot of people train hard but eat like crap and dont end up seeing the results their looking for. There are also some who eat great but dont workout or be active at all. Training and nutrition go hand in hand and result only come when you put them together. The best way to get into this type of lifestyle is to ease into it. Someone who eats a lot of junk food or drinks a lot of soda isn't going to want to put it all down instantly, but if they slow it down until those types of foods and beverages are completely out of their diet they will see results more easily. People who do drop all junk out of their diet immidiately are likely to end up binge eating after a small while. Training should also be eased into because a beginner can be easily overtrained. Start with a couple days a week and gradually increase the amount of workouts you do per week. Another great way to get into it is to hire a personal trainer (a good one!). Hiring a personal trainer is going to decrease your risk of injury tremendously because they will ensure that you perform correct form at all times (if their a good personal trainer). Not only will it decrease injury rate but it will also show you a lot of different exercises so when you do have to workout without a trainer, you know what to do.
