Health and Fitness Articles

Common Weight Loss Mistakes

2010-02-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

It has been proved time and time again, a healthy lifestyle is the fastest way to lose weight quickly and keep it off. People who continue to live a lifestyle that encourages weight gain will never be able to shed the pounds.

There are 3 common mistakes that many people do in losing weight. Here it is:

1. Starving your body
It is better to eat as many as five or six small meals a day so that your body thinks that it is consuming as much meals as ever. More calories are burnt if smaller meals are eaten throughout the day than if two or three huge meals are eaten.

2. Eating the wrong foods
Fruits, vegetables and other fiber filled foods like whole grains will fill you up. Protein is necessary in your daily diet and protein sources like tofu, skinless chicken, eggs and dairy products with low fat are excellent for you. No doubt high fat foods are very tasty but remember they have double the amount of proteins and carbohydrates.

3. Doing the wrong exercises
What you have to remember is that a pound of hard muscle is only 1/3 that of fat.
Muscles in fact burn calories even while you are resting. So do not be afraid of strength training. Aerobic exercises are the best and help you to lose weight very quickly.

If you want to lose weight quickly possible then you should eat all the foods that help you in increasing your metabolism and exercise correctly so as to make your body burn calories even when you are sleeping.

http://howtodiet-shining.blogspot.com/2010/02/3-mistakes-that-many-people-do-in.html

Ab Workout

2009-08-13T04:32:00.000-07:00

Quick Ab Workout

To make the most of an ab workout, like any other muscle group intensity is more effective than quantity. Many people make the mistake of doing hundreds of sit-ups and crunches when you can get a more effective workout by increasing its intensity. The benefits of doing weighted crunches and sit-ups are shorter workouts and less need for frequent workouts (everyday).

Weighted Sit-Ups (Use a bench to perform this exercise- reduces stress on the lower back)

Like with any muscle group workouts, the aim is to fatigue the muscle group to point we’re you can no longer perform the exercise sufficiently. If done unweighted, this can take hundreds and hundreds of reps to exhaust the ab muscles. This is why I recommend doing them weighted aiming for 8-12 reps in the first two sets and finishing the workout when you can no longer get 5 reps. This simple method works all of your ab muscles but with more emphasis on the top four packs.

Weighted Twisted Sit-Ups

This is essentially the same movement as a conventional sit-up except at the top of the movement your twist your lower abs to one-side (hold for 3 seconds) then twist back and go back to the conventional movement. This should be done alternating from one-side for one rep and the other for the next. This is an important inclusion into your ab-workout as puts more emphasis on the lower packs and also the oblique muscle (below the abs).

Simple Shoulder Workout

2009-08-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Shoulder Workout

Just a quick note, all workouts should begin with proper warm-ups and stretches. This especially important for shoulder workouts as the shoulder muscles are the most susceptible to injury.

Bar/Dumbbell Overhead Press

This is a simple movement in which you lift either a bar or dumbbells from shoulder level to above your head. Always keep either your grip on the bar/dumbbells at the point where your elbows are bent 90 degrees (shown in image). When performing this exercise I recommend using a bench to help support the weight (decreases the involvement of leg and back muscles: easier for beginners). For a final note (if using dumbbells) move the weights towards each other as your moving upwards in the movement, this puts more stress on your deltoids and traps to enhance the effectiveness of the exercise.

Front Raises

With your legs shoulder width apart pick up the dumbbells and hold them to the side of your body with plates facing outwards. Make sure your arms are extended outwards with your elbows only bending slightly, and then raise your arms upwards until the weights reach shoulder height. Finally, slowly move the weights back down to your sides. This exercise works your anterior deltoids and traps.

Lateral Raises

This movement is almost identical to frontal raises but with the dumbbells facing inwards. However, the start of the movement is slightly different. Have the weights almost touching in front of you, then slowly move the weights outwards until you reach shoulder height. This exercise works your traps, lateral deltoids as well as your anterior deltoids. Please note that when performing these raises, keep the weight moderate and not too high as this can cause shoulder problems.

Dumbbell Shrugs

Finally, although not actually a shoulder exercise I implement this into my shoulder routine to work the trapezius muscles (movement shown in image). In this exercise you simply use your trapezius muscles to lift the weight in a shrugging movement. Common mistakes I see when people perform this exercise is rolling the weights in a circular movement (can cause injury). You need to simply lift the weight up-down. One other mistake is to use the arm muscles to gain momentum and take the stress off the muscles you’re trying to work (counterproductive).

Simple Back Workout

2009-08-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

Pull-Ups

This exercise is extremely important for an effective back workout. Pull-Ups are very similar in terms of execution to chin-ups but the key difference is the palms of your hands will be facing away from your body. This exercise works the back and rear shoulder muscles. This exercise should be started unweighted as it can take some time to get used to. The best way to improve your pull-up reps is to simply persevere with them. I recommend doing this exercise at the start of your workout and then move on to lat pull-downs (read further).

Lat Pull-Downs

Lat Pull-Downs are basically the same movement as pull-ups but in reverse. With the use of a cable machine and the appropriate extensions (shown in image) you want to hold the bar at least shoulder width in length and wider. Once you’ve gripped the bar you want to pull it down to your chest using your back muscles. You will be leaning slightly forward at the start of the movement and so you need to leaning backwards on your way down so you finish the movement leaning back slightly (Make sure you don’t use momentum for other muscle groups to execute this movement). When you let the weight back up, you will be doing this movement in reverse.

Dumbbell Rows

This is great back exercise for building muscle but it is important that your form is correct to prevent injury. Spread your feet apart a good distance to achieve good balance; lean forward to pick up the dumbbells (make sure your lower back is arched backwards to prevent injury). You then want to lift the weights using lat muscles, you want to move high enough until your lats move into each other. On the negative movement you want to stretch your back muscles in the opposite direction. Common mistakes people make with this exercise are not arching their lower back (can cause back problems) and using their arm muscles to create momentum carrying the weight upwards (this can also cause back injury). Make sure you can feel your back muscles working and make sure you don’t bend your arms (biceps become over emphasized in the movement this way).

Final Note: I do exercises for my lower-back in my leg workout which will be explained in my next post...

Easy Workout for Biceps

2009-08-08T16:57:00.001-07:00

Chin-Ups

Use an underhand grip on the bar to pull yourself up until your chin meets the height of the bar. This is a great compound exercise to start your workout as it works your forearms, back, shoulders and more importantly your biceps. This type of exercise will help with your overall strength and not just one muscle group. I recommend you start your first couple of sessions with unweighted chin-ups as they can be quite difficult to begin with. When you’re able to do more than 8 reps comfortably, start adding weights (can use bag pack with weight plates).

Dumbell/Barbell Curls

This is a crucial exercise for your biceps muscles with many variations of the exercise. I recommend sitting on a bench tilted 45 degrees and lifting the weights directly without twisting the weight in the initial movement. This puts more emphasis on the biceps and less on the forearms (I recommend doing hammer curls for forearms).

Hammer Curls

This exercise uses the basic movement of the conventional curl but the dumbbells are facing upwards instead outwards. This exercise also works the biceps but also works the brachialis and forearm muscles. This is a good exercise to finish off your workout.

Effective Triceps Workout

2009-08-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

Close-Grip Bench Press

This is basically the same movement as the bench press but with a different grip. Hold either the dumbells or bar so the weights are only your shoulders width apart. This exercise works all of the triceps muscles and is the most effective for gaining muscle mass.

Tip: This is a compound movement (multiple muscle groups used) and so should be done at the start of training session.

Cable Rope Pull-down

The rope is an extension used on a cable machine. When using this place the rope extension to the top of cable machine. Once you have selected the correct weight you want take two steps back and lean forward 45 degrees with each hand gripping either end of the rope. Slowly pull the rope down, while doing this movement remember that you want to slowly move both arms away from each other until your elbow is almost fully extended. This also works the three heads of the triceps muscles.

Close-Grip Push Up’s

(See Close Grip Bench Press for Grip) This can either be done weighted (weight plates in bag with two straps) or unweighted. This is the ideals way to finish off your triceps workout.

Simple Weightlifting Diet

2009-08-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

1.When choosing what to eat make sure you include foods high in protein such as chicken, lean meats, fish and dairy. I also recommend supplementing your diet with a whey protein. This supplement is useful for when you have no time to cook a meal or for after your workout (when protein is most needed).

2.Don’t forget that you need to consume more calories than you can burn daily. There are many features on the internet which can calculate this such as - (http://www.freedieting.com/tools/weight_gain_calculator.htm). You cannot build muscle unless your body has the mass to support it. This is why many weightlifters plateau in their muscle gains.

3. Don’t forget that carbs are also important. You won’t be able to lift optimally if you do not have the energy to do so. I recommend complex carbs such as whole grain foods (oats, wholemeal...etc) which supplies long lasting energy throughout the day. Although be sensible with your carb intake as your aim is to build more muscle and not simply put on fat.

4. Essential fats are also extremely important for your body to run optimally by maintaining important hormone levels (test) and maximising your metabolism to burn fat and preserve muscle. EFAs can be found in eggs and fish.

Guide to Building a Bigger Chest

2009-08-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

1.Big muscle groups like chest muscles respond more positively to heavier weights. When training you want to go heavy enough that you stay in the rep range 5-8. Many studies have mentioned that 8-12 reps are the most effective for hypertrophy (activating the most muscle fibres) and building muscle but these studies are limited to three or four sets. I believe if you stay between strength hypertrophy you can build more strength and by adding extra sets to fatigue; by the end of your workout your body will need to use your fast and slow muscle fibres to lift the weight.

2.Don’t just flat bench, by all means make this the basis of your workout but with a combination of dumbbell flies (or machine equivalent)and variations of the bench press (Incline Bench Press!) you can hit all muscle sub-groups effectively.

3.When planning when workout routine I recommend spacing it three days after an arms workout (triceps-biceps) to allow your triceps muscles to recovery in order for you to lift optimally.

4.Finally, keep your diet consistent, make sure your eating over your calorie maintenance whilst and consuming enough protein.

Building Muscle through Effective Rest

2009-08-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

As you should know, the key to building muscle is through repair of broken-down muscle fibres (stimulated by weightlifting). How long do we need to rest? The consensus from studies has shown that when we exercise our muscle groups it takes up to five days for them to repair. The important thing to remember is big muscle groups such as your back, chest, shoulders and legs take longer to repair and should only be worked once a week. Overtraining these muscle groups more than once a week will be non-productive as they will be weaker for next week’s training session.

However, smaller muscle groups of such as triceps, biceps and forearms can be trained twice a week providing your diet is good and high in protein. The best way to do this is to have a light biceps session at the end of your back workout (biceps accompany back exercises) and likewise for triceps at the end of your chest session. This is an effective way to change up your routine for a month and shock your body into promoting further muscle growth.

Finally, sleep is very important; for overall health it is recommended that you get over 8 hours sleep, a minimum of 5 is essential for your body’s recovery from training sessions. This allows you to enter stages 1 and 2 of sleep effectively where HGH is released and other chemicals promoting recovery.

How to Speed Up Your Metabolism

2009-07-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

There are many ways in which you can speed up your metabolism helping you burn more calories day to day. Firstly, eating regular meals throughout the day raises the amount of calories you burn digesting your food. Eating regularly promotes the metabolism to burn as many calories of your current meal as it can, instead of storing a certain amount of calories waiting for the next one. If your meals are spaced out you your body responds by storing calories to prevent the body going into survival mode.

Eating plenty of protein and complex carbohydrates are another good way to speed up your metabolism. It takes longer for the body to break protein and complex carbohydrate chains thus more calories are burned when consuming food with plenty of these macro-nutrients. Adding chicken, oats, oatmeal and whey protein...etc will be beneficial to your diet.

Finally drinking cold water can speed up your metabolism as your body has to regulate the temperature of the water you drink.

Common Mistakes Beginner Weight Lifters Make

2009-07-08T15:13:00.001-07:00

The following are the mistakes I see many beginners make when starting a weight training routine. Probably the most common mistake made is not making changes to their diets, as I’ve mentioned previously, the body is very adaptable and when muscle is broken down through weight training its capacity to use of calories (mainly protein) increases greatly to repair muscle tissue. In most cases, deficiency in your diet is actually detrimental to your health goals as you will be breaking down more muscle tissue than your able to repair.

Moreover, increase the amount of protein in your diet i.e. through Whey Protein, Chicken...etc. Ultimately, a diet supplemented with vegetables and a variety of healthy foods rich in vitamins and minerals is very important in speeding up the recovery process.

Another mistake I often see is people not eating enough, in order to grow more muscle you need to be consuming a surplus of calories and to be gradually gaining weight. Without doing this, you capacity for building muscle will plateau very quickly.

Finally it is very important that you schedule you meals and the most important ones are before and after you workout, this is where you will need a good mix carbohydrates and protein to fuel your workout and start the recovery process after your workout.

Keeping Fit

2009-07-08T14:38:00.001-07:00

To keep fit you need to be prepared to work extremely hard and remain focussed and motivated if you want to maintain it. Most people find this difficult as they are always looking to obtain results in the quickest possible time and subscribe to extreme diets. Using these diets leads to dramatic weight loss but they are surprised when they gain the weight quicker than it took to lose it. The reason for this is the body is very adaptable and our metabolisms increase and decrease all the time to adapt to our diet and activity levels. If you consume an extremely low amount of calories your metabolism will go into survival mode and slow down.

The best advice I can give is to keep your diet consistent and supplement it with cardio to a level you can manage all year round. Always maintain your calorie consumption above 1200 if you’re doing regular exercise. Ultimately, being healthy and fit is not just about losing weight, it is also about improving your performance levels in both strength and fitness training.

How to Gain Muscle Mass

2009-06-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

How do I gain muscle you ask? It’s actually a very simple concept but the reason people don’t see a result is because they don’t understand that it takes time. As a result people constantly change their routines and their diets trying to fix a problem that probably doesn’t need to be fixed. If you follow a few simple rules you will be building muscle in no time. Planning is the single most important part of building muscle and is essential to your success. In terms of weight training, you want to devise a simple routine covering every part once a week. For a beginner, three training sessions a week will be all you need.

If you do some research you should be able to find a simple routine and some associated exercises which you can try out and decide which ones you would prefer in your routine. My advice is to follow a routine for the first couple of months and add exercises and change your routine according to the exercises you like and your experiences on which muscles groups to work and when.

When performing these exercises you want work selected muscle groups until they tire and you can barely manage reps even with a lower weight than what you started with. You want to change the intensity of exercises each week; I recommend adding more sets to your exercises week after week and increasing the weight on the fourth week.

The benefits of Weight Training for Loosing Weight

2009-06-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

Many gym-goers do not know this, but strength training can have a significant impact on burning excess fat and allowing you reach your fitness goals. The reason for this is strength training causes your metabolism to adapt and become more efficient in burning calories. There are two ways in which this is achieved and this is by strength training itself and recovery from it in the days following your workout.

When you are lifting weights your body burns off glucose (energy supply) to fuel the exercise. This increases the body’s need for carbohydrates and if at a deficit, the body will need to use its secondary fuel source, fat. This is why it’s always a good idea to have a strength training session before a cardio workout as your body will be in a more productive state to burn fat stores.

The benefits of weight training last for a few days after as your body needs more calories to recover and build muscle (mainly protein). This results in your metabolism being faster for a few days after your resistance training workout.

Essential Supplements for your Workout

2009-06-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

Before I start, supplements should not be used as a substitute for a good diet but to ensure your getting the amount of macronutrients (protein;carbs;fats) and vitamins and minerals. The first supplement I recommend is a multi-vitamins and fish oils these enable your body to perform and recover for intense workouts more efficiently. The reason for using a supplement is to ensure we have covered all the bases and consume all the essential vitamins and minerals as this can be extremely difficult with diet alone.

Any deficiency can negatively affect the immune system, thus making injury and illness more possible from intense workouts. This supplement is essential for all your fitness goals whether it be to build muscle, lose weight or simply become fitter.

If you aim to build muscles mass there are other supplements which I regard as being important or at least beneficial to your goals. Planning a good diet and being consistent with it is very difficult especially if you have to cook meals 5-6 times. This is why you should supplement your diet with a whey protein supplement to supply the meals either side of your workout.

Creatine is another supplement I recommend if you goal is build muscle mass. It is not essential but definitely proves useful in building muscle and maintaining it. One of the main benefits of creatine is it can be used as secondary energy source allowing you lift heavier and longer. This allows your maximise your gains through every workout.