Low Intensity Cardio + Calorie Deficit = Effective Fat Loss

Burning fat is not rocket science, so don’t complicate it. In order to effectively burn body you need to be consuming less calories through food then you burn, plus you need a vehicle in which to convert the fat into fuel (cardio). Performing low intensity cardio after 30-45mins of weight training is a great way to burn fat. Once your body has used it’s primary fuel source (glycogen), it will turn to other sources for fuel. If you train with weights first, you give yourself a head start by depleting glycogen levels.

Three time per week, do 30 mins of weight training followed by 30-45mins of low intensity cardio. Measure your results at the end of the week and if you didn’t lose the weight you wanted, drop your calories by 300 per day and try again. Repeat until you get the results you want!

Always Choose Slow Digesting Carbohydrate Sources

Humans were not built to ingest large amounts of fast digesting carbohydrates in large quantities. When you consume excessive amounts of fast digesting carbs like white bread, candy, cakes etc you’re basically giving your body a ton of energy that it can’t do anything with. So what does it do? Stores the excess fuel as fat.

Good sources of slow digesting carbohydrates are brown rice, pasta, whole wheat bread, oats etc. These sources digest slowly and release energy over an extended period. Not only are these sources better for weight control, you’ll have more consistent energy throughout the day.

Building Shoulder Muscles Means Lifting Heavy Weights

Building impressive wide, thick shoulder muscles is essential to having a well rounded physique (plus the ladies love em’!). A lot of guys get stuck on shoulders doing the same unsuccessful exercises week in week out with little results. If you want big shoulders you need to be moving some heavy weight. This means doing one of the 2 big shoulder movements every time you work your shoulders. These movement are Military Press and Dumbbell Shoulder Press (pictured).

You want to be getting about 6-10 good reps on these movements, for at least 4 sets. Focus on progression of weight and reps and mix these 2 exercises up to keep your muscles guessing. Don’t forget to warm your shoulders up thoroughly before every heavy shoulder workout. You won’t be lifting anything with a torn rotator cuff 

Use Protein Powder To Help Recover From Intense Workouts

Protein is the building blocks of muscle, without enough daily protein you will not build muscle — it’s that simple. The common belief is tat muscle building takes place in the gym when you’re working out. This couldn’t be further from the truth. When you lift weights you’re actually breaking down muscle tissue, tearing it up, literally! This is what makes your muscles up to 20% larger after training. The actual muscle building process (growth of lean muscle) happens when you’re resting.

To aid in recovery from intense workouts and kick start protein synthesis (muscle repair and regrowth) drink a protein shake within about 30 mins after you finish your workout. There’s no concrete evidence that tells you exactly how much protein to have, but 30g is a good guide. That’s about 1.5 scoops of most good whey protein powders. Gym junkies is a great source to look for protein and other supplements.

For Women, Do Glute Kickbacks To Tighten And Tone Your Butt

For Ladies looking to tighten and tone the butt, try doing glute kickbacks. Glute kickbacks are an awesome exercise to target your butt muscles and really firm the butt. You can start by doing the exercise with your own body weight (as pictured above) and then move on to adding resistance with bands or machine (gym). The movement of “kicking back” directly targets the butt muscles, which you’ll really feel if you try this exercise!

Don’t be afraid of adding on some weight. Females don’t have the testosterone to build muscle like men, so adding some weight will simply build you a more shapely butt, not a big one! A general guide for rep numbers would be 10-20, and 3-5 sets.

Set Short Term And Long Term Goals To Stay Motivated

Keeping motivated is one of the hardest part of reaching your fitness goals. Getting to the gym, on the bike, or out for a run is hard when you’re deflated and demotivated. The big mistake many people make is setting one big goal and trying to reach it. For example, you might say, “I want to lose 50 pounds”. This is a great goal, but is going to take a while to reach. Keeping motivated when you’re losing 3-4 pounds per week (which is great weight loss!) can be tough.

One of the best ways to keep motivated is to set small attainable goals that you can hit every few weeks, as well as larger more long term goals. So in this case what would be a better approach is to set yourself a goal that you can hit every few weeks, and keep your 50 pounds overall goal. You’ll feel great when you hit your mini goals and make sure you stay on track to hit your main goal.

Reduce Your Calories By Making The Right Drink Choices

One of the hardest things for some people when they first start their weight loss journey is reducing their calories down to a point where the body will stop storing fat and start using it for energy. One of the easiest ways to reduce your daily calories is by choosing the right drinks. You’ll be amazed at how many calories are in a couple of large sodas or sweet teas, and how much of your daily calories actually come from these drinks.

Start getting used to drinking water. Water contains no calories. Always choose water when you go out to eat. If you need some flavor (and we all do) choose diet sodas. Diet sodas also have no calories and are a good choice for those looking to drop some fat. But keep in mind that diet sodas also contain caffeine and chemical flavorings, so drink them occasionally.

Increase Fitness Fast With High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Short on time but want to get fitter faster? Try high intensity interval training or HIIT. HIIT is the process of raising and lowering the heart rate for a short but intense training session. Instead of doing slow steady heart cardio (like jogging) for 45 mins try swapping over to an intense HIIT session of around 20 minutes. You’ll burn the same amount of calories in less than half the time!

A simple example of a good HIIT routine which you could perform either outside or on a treadmill would be:

1. 2 minute warm up at approximately 50% of your maximum heart rate
2. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
3. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
4. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
5. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
6. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
7. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
8. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
9. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
10. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
11. 30 seconds running at full speed, 1 min of slow paced jogging
12. 3 minutes of fast paced walking

Always Do Your Compound Exercises Before Isolation Exercises

There are two types of weight training exercises that people use in the gym. Compound exercises are the big ones, the hardest ones, the ones that build the most muscle. A compound exercise is one that uses more than one joint to complete the movement. Good examples of these are bench press and squat. Isolation exercises are good for muscle building too, but much less effective than compound movements. Good examples of these are bicep curl and leg extension.

You should always start your weight training routine with compound movements. These exercises require the most energy and are responsible for the bulk of your muscle mass gains. It only makes sense to give them priority. Here’s an example of a well laid out chest workout as an example:

1. Dumbbell bench press (compound)
2. Incline bench press (compound)
3. Check dip (compound)
4. Cable flyes (isolation)

Cook With Olive Oil Instead Of Vegetable Oil For Health

Most people don’t know the difference between olive oil and vegetable oil. Olive oil is shown to increase good cholesterol levels while decreasing the bad cholesterol levels in our bodies, and helping to prevent against heart disease and certain types of cancer. Additionally, olive oil works to promote the secretion of bile from the pancreas.

On the other hand vegetable oil is high in saturated fats, which is more likely to add to your cholesterol problems if you have any. One thing to note when choosing olive oil vs vegetable oil (and this is why I still have vegetable oil at home), olive oil has a very low burn point. Meaning if you want to cook something on very high heat (i.e wok dish), then you need to use vegetable oil. For everything else, olive oil is the much healthier choice.

Build A Balanced Physique Using The Right Upper Body Exercises

I’m sure you’ve seen that guy in the gym that’s really big but their physique just doesn’t look very balanced. The shoulders or chest could be too big and out of proportion, or the arms look too big for the back, or something like that. When building your upper body it’s important to keep everything balanced. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when trying to build upper body muscle is working the chest more than back. The chest is an impressive muscle, something you can see in the mirror and want to work hard. But don’t neglect your back or you’ll look out of balance!

Guys who work their chest too much and their back not enough tend to look like their shoulders are “pulled forward”. This is not a good look. To combat this make sure you’re hitting your back with the same intensity that you hit your chest, big weights and majority compound exercises. Switch up your workout routine every 4-8 weeks and make the back a priority. Do this and you’ll be on your way to building a well balanced physique.

Improve Your Diet With This Acronym: Eat Less “CRAP”, Eat More “FOOD”

Here’s a fun tip in the form of an acronym that can help you to remember which foods to eat more of, and which foods to ignore. The acronym goes like this:

Eat less CRAP, eat more FOOD.

Eat less CRAP:

• C – Carbonated Drinks
• R – Refined Sugar
• A – Artificial Sweeteners and Artificial Colors
• P – Processed Foods

Eat more FOOD:

• F – Fruits and Vegetables
• O – Organic Lean Proteins
• O – Omega 3 Fatty Acids
• D – Drink Water

Use Circuit Training To Optimize Fat Loss & Muscle Growth

A common mistake many gym goers make when planning their workout routine (see all workout tips) is not leaving sufficient rest between exercises that work the same muscle groups. Not letting the muscle rest can result in fatigue and sub-par results. So how do you fit all your workout into the time frame you need? Circuits.

Circuits are basically a set of exercises performed one after the other, with a rest at then end. Circuits are great for muscle building, fat loss and general fitness. You can get a whole body workout routine and get your heart rate right up in just one session. Perfect for people who have little time to hit the gym. Machines are often the best choice for circuits as they’re easy to setup and get a set out.

Some gyms might even have a room dedicated for circuit training which would make life even easier for you.

Have you used circuit training before and got good results?

Eat Foods Rich In Potassium To Help Fight High Blood Pressure

While most of us are aware of the dangers related to high sodium intake, very few health sources discuss the benefits of proper potassium intake. Both sodium and potassium play a key role in cellular function. In fact, potassium is the primary ion contained within cellular fluid.

Good health is directly related to maintaining a proper balance between sodium and potassium. Low potassium intake has been shown to increase hypertension, heart disease and even high blood pressure. Unfortunately, most of us under eat potassium because it is not on the health radar screen.

Researchers in China found that moderate potassium supplementation reduced high blood pressure by a significant amount. Foods rich in potassium include spinach, potatoes with the skin left on, dried apricots, baked acorn squash, yogurt, salmon, avocados, white mushrooms and bananas.

Do you currently monitor your sodium intake? How about your potassium intake? Let us know in the comments section below.

Build Up Your Tiny Calves By Making Them Strong

It is commonplace in the muscle building realm to attack the calves with higher rep sets. Unfortunately, this approach usually doesn’t work well for those of you with stubborn, tiny calves. For that reason, it’s a good idea to try something a bit different.

Instead of training your calves with high reps, focus on making them as strong as possible. Try using a combination of seated calf raises, standing machine calf raises (or leg press calf raises) and standing barbell calf raises. Work within the 8 to 12 rep range and perform as many reps as possible per set. When you can reach 12 reps on a set, add weight.

Use this approach on all sets, never wasting a set. For best results, use 3-4 sets per exercise, or a total of 9-12 sets for calves per workout. Calves generally respond well to training frequency, so it’s ok to work them in this manner twice a week.

Are you struggling to build up your calves? Have a training success story? Leave a comment and tell us what has and hasn’t worked for you.

Cultivate Your Motivation By Starting Your Day With Videos And Articles

Most of us find the motivation to start a workout or eating plan, but lose steam rather quickly. We grow overconfident and assume our motivation will last forever, but take no measures to assure that it does.

One of the best ways to keep our motivation strong is to cultivate it. The Merriam-Webster definition of cultivate is to foster the growth of. Foster means to promote the growth or development of.

To foster your motivation, try starting your day by reading a fitness or diet related article, or by watching a motivational video. By giving our lives a motivational jump start each day we are reminded of our goals and what we desire. On the other hand, the more we distance ourselves from our goals, the more likely we are to lose steam.

Let us know in the comments section if this tip has helped you sustain your motivation.

Choose Fruit Before Fruit Juice For Its Nutritional Value

If you’re looking to maximize your nutrition and avoid empty calories, choose fruit over fruit juice. While the term “100% real fruit juice” sounds healthy, it is not much better than drinking a 12 ounce Coke.

A 12 ounce can of Coke contains 40 grams of sugar. 12 ounces of processed orange juice contains 39 grams, while 12 ounces of grape juice contains a whopping 60 grams of sugar.

In addition, fruit juice is really just fruit with most of the good nutrition removed. Fruit juice contains very little skin or pulp, which are the nutritionally dense parts of the fruit. Juice also lacks the fiber content of fruit. In fact, most ‘100% real fruit juice” products are fortified with vitamin C to make them look more nutritious than they really are.

Choose fruit over processed fruit juice. It’s a far better choice.

Are you a fruit juice drinker? If so, do you plan on switching over to real fruit?

To Get Better At Pull Ups, Do Them Every Day

Pull ups can be a frustrating exercise. Most of us can do only a handful at a time if we’re lucky. How then do you improve your pull ups strength? By doing them every day. Try this approach five to six days a week, giving yourself one or two days per week to rest.

Start your daily workout by doing 3 sets of as many pull up reps as possible. It doesn’t matter if you can only get one or two reps, try your hardest. After these 3 attempts are done, do 10 negative pull up reps. These are performed by lifting yourself up to the bar via a bench, and slowly lowering your body until you are at an arms extended position. Make each negative rep last 3 to 5 seconds if possible.

Try to add at least one rep per week to one of your first 3 sets. This doesn’t seem like much, but after 3 months you should be up to 5 reps per set. At this point, you can stop doing pull ups every day and start training them using a more normal schedule.

Did this tip help you improve your pull ups strength? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Find Healthy Recipe Alternatives To Fight Your Junk Food Cravings

If you are struggling to eat healthy, have no fear. Fighting cravings for junk food has never been easier.

Here’s what you need to do. Start my writing down your top 5 sweet and salty junk food choices; bad foods you eat on a monthly basis. Now, head to Google and search for the following:

• Healthy ____ alternative.

Spend about 10 minutes looking through the search results. You should easily come up with 5-10 healthier alternatives/recipes for each of these junk food choices.

Next, search for “healthy snack recipes”, “healthy junk food recipes”, and “healthy fast food recipes”. These searches will yield hundreds of quality recipe choices.

From this research, compile a list of your top 10 junk food alternatives. Keep this list in your purse or wallet, or on your refrigerator. Make sure you keep these ingredients or food choices on hand at all times.

What healthy junk food alternatives did you find? Let us know in the comments section below.

Use A Probiotic Supplement For Digestion And Immune System Health

Probiotics are a little known, but important dietary supplement for health. Probiotics are bacteria that assist in maintaining a healthy balance of microflora in the intestines. Microflora is simply a fancy way of saying the microorganism population of the intestines.

While the prospect of supplementing with a bacteria seems like a strange concept, the benefits of using a probiotic are numerous. Decreased, or lowered levels of beneficial bacteria can contribute to infections and intestinal issues. Supplementing with a probiotic can:

• Help relieve or minimize symptoms related to diarrhea.
• Help reduce inflammation, and work to relieve conditions such as IBD (inflammatory bowel disease).
• Work to prevent intestinal and digestive system infections.
• Relieve gas and intestinal cramping.

If you have stomach or digestion issues, or you simply find that as you age you are more prone to diarrhea, probiotic supplementation may be just what you need.

Have you tried a probiotic supplement? Has it helped?