“FIT IS NOT A DESTINATION, IT’S A WAY OF LIFE”

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

Starting off our today’s post with a beautiful quotation, “It’s not about perfection. It’s about the effort. And, when you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens. And that’s how change occurs.”

If you want to stay fit & healthy and away from the illness then you should establish a healthy lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle paves the way to do all those activities that you wanted to do; it gives you strength and robustness. Question, how to adopt a healthy lifestyle? Well, the easiest way to sustain a vigorous lifestyle is by doing regular exercise followed by a balanced diet.

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However, many hypotheses predict that life today is much busier than it once. That’s why a lot of people don’t have enough time to go to the gym and exercise. Still, they can maintain their healthy lifestyle by doing a few simple activities ranging from jogging, walking, swimming even dancing to simple (at home) push-ups or sit-ups. These activities can be performed anywhere and at anytime.

Let’s talk about healthy eating now. One of the healthier intakes is natural fresh fruits and veggies accompanied by drinking sufficient amount of water.  If veggies and fruits are not just your thing, and you just can’t avoid sizzling and finger licking junkies than you gotta at least limit yourself in eating such kind of unhealthy foods folks. Just avoid canned goods, sweets, fatty foods etc.

Last but not least way to adopt a healthy lifestyle is to stop utilizing unhealthy vices in every possible way. Too much smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages can significantly harm your body and health. It reduces your stamina and weakens your immune system. You should avoid these unhealthy vices. I understand, you like going to the parties get drunk and all; you should enjoy the parties, nobody is stopping you from that, but try to limit your alcoholic intake. Additionally, start taking health supplements to boost up your energy levels and brain cells. A couple of vitamins, mineral water could help.

“Cleanliness is half health” – said by doctors. It is also an essential part of adopting a healthy lifestyle. Make sure to clean your environment, maintain fresh air at home. How?  Plants! Go grab a few pots and a little sweet soil-plant a few seeds and you are good to go. Nevertheless, these are the only guidelines in adopting a healthy lifestyle. The only way to make it work for you is the commitment by yourself in following these simple steps that will surely help you become happy and healthy.

THE BEST GUIDE TO BUILDING MUSCLE WITHOUT GETTING FAT

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

“The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow”

If you wish to build huge muscles without gaining stubborn fat, you’ve reached to the right place pal! This guide consists of exclusive information that I have procured through my bodybuilding experience. On following some very simple steps and understanding some basic rules in the guide will let you build a physique you were dreaming of till now.

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In this guide, you’ll find

  • The ultimate combination of massive strength work, higher-rep, muscle building exercises, and even cardio to enhance your muscle building without gaining fat.
  • The ultimate four models that’ll highlight how muscle fiber you can build naturally.
  • Ways to build lean muscle with minimum fat gain.

Hint:- Avoid the dirty junkies, Follow a modest caloric surplus, and stick to the step-by-step plan we outline instead.

I would urge you to motivate yourself before reading this blog, generate a bit of boost, pump yourself with some pushups or bicep curls whatever BECAUSE this is going to be the most essential blog you’ll ever read on how to build lean muscle without gaining the extra stubborn fat.

MY EXPERIENCE!

Let me take you back to the time when I was 33 and 73kg. I was already consuming 3000 calories is looking forward to taking another 2500 calories. I was enslaved of the dirty-bulk and the seafood diet. I ate everything! And made a commitment to devour everyday calorie no matter what!

The conception behind all this pathetic activity was “the more you eat, the more muscles you build,” which was absolutely wrong!

I relentlessly wanted to be stronger, bigger, muscular and healthier. I changed my physical routine completely. I stopped playing basketball and football and focused only on eating stuff and lifting heavy weight.

But very soon, after following the above-mentioned strategy (the more you eat the more you build muscles) I felt extremely sick! My stomach ached. From drinking so many dairy-based proteins shakes I discovered I’m lactose intolerant (from my DNAFit test). I remember I spent my whole winter break in the doc’s office trying to see what is going on with my gut, and why I kept on farting! MY GUT HURT!

However, I was making progress; I was achieving what I was looking for; after a few months, I weighed around 85kg

But, the problem was that, instead of being healthy, lean and strong, I felt and looked like a crap.

And I had recognized that I’ve made a big mistake! But, the point is that I was not alone in this.

After a little research, I got to know that, most of the skinny guys make the same mistake; trying to gain too much weight as quick as possible.

Here’s what you should learn from my experience

Don’t be deceived by flashy ads and absurd promises. You’ll end up being a fat ass having man boobs than bulging biceps.

You can do better than this, you should do better than this and it all starts with setting practical expectations on how much muscle you can get build without getting fat.

You need to take into the account the physical possibility before setting up any goal. Here’s what I mean “an average guy shouldn’t expect to eat, train and look like a stage-ready bodybuilder.

FORGET THE SCALE WEIGHT (The most Prior and the most important)

Here’s the thing; both the anxious bulkers and those struggling to lose weight obsess over scale weight are wrong!

Keep in mind that our goal is to build lean muscle, not weight!

The great Vince Gironda says “If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, what difference does it make what the scale says?”

The mirror is the best judge you meet every day, not the number on the scale.

To all the folks who wish to build big ass muscle and look great, it’s all about getting lean first. The ideal is 10% body fat or lower. Achieve this and you will competently build more muscle, ultimately, end up in looking great!

Be realistic about your goals and expectations if you are a skinny-limbed dude.

Can you really expect to build the body of an NFL running back? An average 5’-6” – 6’-0” guy weighing 165-185 lbs with 8-12% body-fat looks much better and muscular than the guy weighing 200 lbs with 15% (or more) body-fat.

I would urge you guys to ‘take measurements’ instead of looking at the scale. Note down measurements of your chest, waist, arms, thighs etc. every two weeks. Take a few snaps of yourself too to track your progress.

You see, the scale seldom tells you the full story. However, the fusion of measurements, snaps and the scale portrait a clear picture.

Before setting any goals, you should consider the following;

Many folks see the professional athletes on the social media or on magazine covers and decide, “This is the kind of physique I want, and that’s how I wanna look like!” Here’s the thing, it’s great to set pro examples and inspirations, there is no problem in that, but you must understand the following three aspects that make these individuals a little different.

  • THEY ARE COMPLETELY INTO BUILDING THEIR BODIES. Everyone has got priorities in life, you must have too. The pros in this race are completely focused on eating, sleeping and training their bodies to be in great shape. This is the kind of luxury most busy men and women with a 9-5 job, lack.
  • Most of the People I know from the bodybuilding industry use Performance-enhancers.
  • Let me get this straight, most of the professional athletes and bodybuilders are genetically superior. They are the exception, and shouldn’t be the expectation of yours. Trying to equalize genetic outliers is a mug’s game. Never do that!

However, still, the question remains i-e “how much muscle can you build naturally without getting stubborn fat?”

HOW MUCH MUSCLE YOU CAN BUILD.

You are the average person with a family and obligations outside of eating, sleeping and flexing your muscles. Here are some of the leading models from the reliable authorities to explain how much muscle you can gain.

MODEL NO. 1 ALAN ARAGON

A renowned researcher and author named Alan Aragon who runs the famous “Alan Aragon Research Review” has formulated a model that provides a clear-cut breakdown of the maximum rate of muscle gain. Here it is!

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For Example; George is 25 years old person who hasn’t seen dumbbells since high school. Let us say that he weighs 140 pounds.

An Year Later

140lbs x .0125% = 1.75 pounds per month = 21 pounds per year.

If George takes sufficient calories, works-out 3-5 times per week, and sleeps 6-8 hours every night, then he might gain about 21 pounds in a single year.

Two Years Later

161 lbs X .0075% = 1.2lbs per month or 14 pounds in a year. George is still gaining at a remarkable rate and showing great progress.

Three Years Later

175 lbs x 0.0037 = 0.65lbs of muscle per month, or 7.7 pounds in a year.

This puts George at the maximum weight of 182 or 183 pounds. Obviously, he might continue to gain muscle after this, but it will be slow as compared to the previous years.

The bottom line is that the potential of your muscle to grow decreases each year you train. Progress slows and tops out around 40-50 pounds of lean muscle total.

MODEL NO. 2; The Lyle McDonald Genetic Muscular Potential Model

Another renowned author and researcher professionally known as the head honcho at” Body Re-composition” has got the same views and agrees quite much with the Aragon’s model.

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The rate of lean muscle growth slows down dramatically as you continue to train for a longer time. There’s a cap of 40-50 pounds of lean muscles for men, just like Aragon’s model. The cap for ladies is approximately 20 pounds. Your age also plays an important part. A 30-40-year-old adult will struggle to gain as fast as compared to the 18 years old dude with the raging bull’s testosterone.

According to Lyles, “After seeing a pro bodybuilder stepping on stage at 260 pounds or more and shredded, the idea that a natural may top out at 180-190 pounds of lean body mass (if that) can be disheartening.

Of course, to the general public, an individual at a lean 180-190 pounds is still pretty enormous.  It’s just that compared to the absurd size of a pro bodybuilder, it seems absolutely tiny. But it is a reality.”

The bottom line is that there’s a heck of a chance, you can look your best between 165-185 lbs, but not at the size of a professional. Lyle’s model shows us that our muscle growth gets slower and slower as soon as your initial training starts. So, according to this model males can expect to gain 35-50 pounds only if they start lifting at their hormonal peak in young adulthood without any drugs. The females, about half of that.

Lastly, people with bigger overall bone structure and bigger joints may have a significant genetic hormonal advantage to gain lean muscle as compared to the other skinny-limbed folks.

MODEL NO. 3; The Casey Butt Equation

Casey Butt, a Ph.D. is a body sculptor and a professional natural bodybuilder who’ve studied the body structures of thousands of bodybuilders and weightlifters to calculate the maximum muscular potential for steroid-free lifters.

His formula is quite complex and is based on the idea that bone structure plays a vital role in defining how much muscle an individual can gain. He formulated an equation, which takes into the account the measurements of your wrist and ankles and determines how much lean muscle you can gain.

The equation goes like this;

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Seems terrifying right?

Without getting into the depths, the bottom line is that if you are a skinny small jointed person, like most hard-gainers you simply cannot gain or build muscle as compared to thick jointed people.

And the reason for it is that bigger jointed people have the support to build more lean muscle. Devastating right? But, you don’t worry if you are a smaller jointed person. Your muscle gains may end up dramatic and you’ll appear more muscular than your scale weight shows.

MODEL NO. 4 THE FRANCIS HOLWAY IN THE SPORTS GENE

This model, similar to the Casey Butt’s model, relates the muscular potential to bone structure. Just “like a muscle, bone responds to exercise and repeated stress.”   The repeated stresses amplify your bone’s ability to carry more muscle.

Stronger By science explains, “In measurements of thousands of elite athletes from soccer to weightlifting, judo, rugby, and more, Holway has found that each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bone supports a maximum of five kilograms (11 pounds) of muscle. Five-to-one, then, is a general limit of the human muscle bookcase. The limit for women is closer to 4.1 to 1.”

The bottom line is that you can build bigger and denser bones to carry bigger muscles through repeated training. So, there is a possibility of getting a bigger frame through heavy lifting and training, irrespective of how much muscle your frame can support.

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

We get the three key points above;

  1. The longer you train naturally, the potential to muscle growth decreases. And, you can never have new gains forever.
  2. How much muscle you can build depends completely upon your bone structure.
  3. There is a limited rate of growth of muscles.

Wish to know exactly how much muscle you can build and how fast? Read below.

If you are a skinny dude then don’t use the “I’m skinny hard gainer” as an excuse. Just as I said, you can still build an impressive body!

Always focus on what actually matters;

  • Training with much efforts and consistency
  • Sticking to a strict muscle-building diet
  • Getting enough sleep for the recovery

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But please!

SAY GOODBYE TO THE DIRTY BULK

Among the all the dumb fitness conceptions, the classic “dirty bulk” is the one that is extremely stupid. That’s just a proclamation due to too much competition. In the classic dirty bulk, you’ll end up in devouring all the crappy fast food and weight gainer shakes like it’s going out of style. It is based upon consuming more calories to gain as much size as possible. And guess what, you’ll gain plenty of muscle, but, much of it will be fat! What’s the point in bulking if you look like a fat ass?

You would definitely want a bigger chest, arms and muscular legs, not squishy love handles, saggy tits and a beer abdomen.

Why should you always avoid the classic dirty bulk? Here are the 5 main reasons for it, suggest what to do instead to get jacked, stay jacked and live happily ever after.

Presenting you the 5 tremendous fuck ups.

  • Consumption of too many calories
  • Fat Hyperplasia ( This is bad )
  • Reduction in Insulin Sensitivity
  • Development of Pathetic habits
  • Rushing

CONSUMPTION OF TOO MANY CALORIES

To be honest, you don’t need that much amount of calories to build muscles. That only works with the heavy lifters who are on a boatload of steroids, not the average guys. Those guys are consuming around 5000+ calories per day.

Keep in mind that our body can only gain so much muscle with its natural growth mechanisms at work. By consuming around 300 – 500 calories above maintenance would be enough to gain lean muscle, excluding fat.

What are the “above maintenance calories?” Think of it as taking 1 – 2 protein shakes and a banana or two per day. That would be your “Above maintenance calories.”

Not interested in bananas? An extra sweet potato and a chicken breast each day could also work.

FAT HYPERPLASIA

Your body increases the number of fat cells your body needs for survival mechanism when you overeat. This is what we call a Fat Hyperplasia that makes it very difficult to get rid of fat going forward. What is alarming here is that these kinds of cells can never be destroyed; you can only make them smaller.

When you follow the “dirty bulk” program, you become fatter. It will make your body to store extra fat in the future. Furthermore, it will make it extremely hard to get rid of the unwanted fat in the future.

REDUCTION IN INSULIN SENSITIVITY

Your body, all the time is either burning the fat or building the muscle. And the main switch behind this is none other than “Insulin.”Insulin keeps on triggering protein synthesis, which means when you’re sensitive to the insulin it will make your body to effectively burn the stored fat and convert your food in to energy. In short, it restrains the breakdown of protein and transforms amino acids into your muscle.   

Insulin is one of the extremely powerful muscle-building hormones. But, the problem is that most people are quite undiplomatic to insulin, making them insanely impossible to build lean muscle without adding an extra tire with themselves.

You’re continuously pulverizing food to your body, when you follow a dirty bulk, ultimately, forcing insulin to work double-time. This triggers three main problems.

1). Fatigue to the digestive system by giving it no break. This will make quite difficult to digest the food you are taking in.

2). Eating consistently, especially the carb containing meals will spike your insulin repeatedly. In order to enhance the lean muscle gain without getting fat, you’ll need to spike your insulin strategically.

3). When you’re on a dirty bulk, you’re more likely to gain fat. This results in a lot of consequences like decreased levels in insulin sensitivity, eventually, making it harder to lose fat and build lean muscle.

The best option is to follow a clean diet plan what fits your own genetics.  The progress will be the best and it is a good way to build lean muscle without gaining the unwanted fat.

DEVELOPMENT OF PATHETIC HABITS

It is true that devouring mass gainer shakes and drinking a gallon of milk every day would increase your scale weight. But, if you don’t look like how you want to look like in the mirror, then the scale doesn’t matter at all.

You don’t need to say “I’m bulking bro” and eat like a spoiled six years old kid. You need to keep your eyes on your goals and understand that you shouldn’t be developing habits that may harm your body. Be the long game player.

RUSHING

Remember that, there’s a limit to how swiftly you can build muscle. More food doesn’t mean you’re building more muscle. Try to eat slightly more calories than you need, and that’s it, you are good to go. So, the bottom line is that there is a limit to the amount of muscle build at any particular time.

THE KEYS TO BUILDING MUSCLE WITHOUT GETTING FAT

In building lean muscle without getting fat, time and consistency is the main key!

Here’s how it’s done. You need to assign to a strict 3-6 month program and not a month of bulking, followed by the month of cutting.

Keep in mind that the muscle building process is slow. Assume it like gaining 2-3 lbs of muscle MAX per month with proper diet, training and rest.

Stick to the program and follow the below-mentioned things.

Here’s the list.

  • Eat For a small Caloric Surplus
  • Eat Everything Clean
  • Eat Good amount of Protein and Relatively Good amount of Carbs
  • Time Your Carbs
  • Get a “Diet Week”
  • Lift Heavy ass weights and Get a Pump
  • Do the Accurate Kind of Cardio
  • Lose redundant Fat Before You Bulk

 

  1. Eat For a small Caloric Surplus

In order to keep your body weight level, you need to have a proper calorie intake. You have to eat above 400-500 calories to build good muscle. This strategy or diet plan is quite far from “the eat everything” diet that leads to gaining excessive amounts of body fat.

Question; How many calories should you eat? An answer with the simple equation is given below.

Bodyweight (lbs.) x 16 + 500 calories

So, for instance, 160 lbs x 16 + 500 = 3060 calories

What it shows that a 160 lbs dude would need around 3060 calories to build lean muscle. This number isn’t for everyone, remember it. You need to calculate this for yourself; chances are that you’ll need a little extra or less. DM if you have any questions.

You can also keep an eye on your calories with an app like “MyFitnesspal.” Be consistent with your diet plan. If you’re not noticing an increase in your weight, then be flexible, eat a banana or try drinking muscle building shakes.

Keep in mind that your body should be having more calories than you burn. Go for a slight small caloric surplus which will give your body a fuel to build muscle while restraining fat.

2. Eat Everything Clean

To be honest, you don’t need dried chicken breast and broccoli all day; there is no need to haul food containers in a cooler. However, devoting your afternoons crushing Baconators would turn you into a fat slob.

Who cares how big you are if you and your body doesn’t feel healthy. Be careful with it or else you will fail very soon in the game.

You should look for sources and the amount of protein in your foods. You can consider foods having an excess of:

PROTEIN: – Provides building blocks for muscle by producing amino acids. Eat one of the following with each meal.

-lean beef, seafood, wild game, chicken, turkey, bison, eggs, and venison.

Baked or grilled is your best bet.

FATS: – They are very important for strong hormone levels.

You’ll acquire some of your protein-containing foods. Also eat nuts, avocado, and some oils like coconut and olive oil.

CARBOHYDRATES: – Carbs are important for energy generation and discourage the breakdown of muscle tissue for energy. lessen or eliminate refined crap and most white foods, such as flour and sugar. (Rice is an exception.)

The greater part of your carbs should come from rice, potatoes, squash, oats, barley, quinoa, 100% whole wheat bread, fruits, and vegetables. These foods provide a boatload of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants for both health and performance.

  1.  Eat Good amount of Protein and Relatively Good amount of Carbs

You require both protein and carbs to maximize the muscle building process. The quantity of protein you require to build lean muscle is often considerably overstated.

You only need .82g/lb. -1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Simple.

This means a 160lb man needs 131g-160g of protein per day.

Can you have more? Sure, but according to the 2011 study, Phillips and Van Loon found that .82g/lb. of body weight to be the upper limit of protein synthesis. In simple words, eating more protein won’t make any difference regarding how much muscle you build.

And, what about the carbs?

Everyone’s skipped on the low-carb bandwagon at some point. These diets work quite well for fat loss but not for building muscle.

Here’s what the problem is.

Carbohydrates are protein thrifty. This means eating carbs will secure your body from breaking down stored muscle tissue to provide energy to fuel your day.

This means consuming a moderate-high carb diet helps you maintain the lean muscle you’ve already built rather than breaking it down for energy.

In addition to that, your workouts will also suffer due to a low carb diet.

You’ll be sluggish and have terrible pumps. You’ll end up flat and disheartened, not pumped and jacked.

Carbs are your friends. They’ll spare the muscle you have, improve your workouts, and help drive nutrients into your cells to maximize lean muscle gains.

For Proteins, Eat .82g/lb. -1g/lb. of protein per pound of body weight, or 131-160g for a 160-pound person.

For Carbs, Eat 1.5-2g of carbs per pound of bodyweight to maximize lean muscle or 240-320g per day on workout days.

  1. Time Your Carbs

If you want to build muscle without the filthy fat than you need to control one stubborn bastard hormone: insulin.

When you consume carbs, insulin is secreted and your body sets into a storage mode. That’s ideal for building muscle. But you don’t need to be always in storage mode or else you’ll put on fat.

What’s the solution? Cycle your carbs to manage insulin so you can put up muscle and burn fat on demand. Here’s a more simple way to carb cycling.

On work-out days, consume more carbohydrates throughout the day. Eat oatmeal in the mornings, faster-digesting carbs like rice after your workouts, rice at lunch, and sweet potatoes in the evening. To put up muscle you’ll need to enhance insulin all over the day.

On off-days, keep carbohydrates relatively lesser; such as 1-1.5g/lb. of body weight. Move most of your carbs into the afternoon and evening. This confines number of insulin spikes all over the day, aiding fat burning, preserving insulin sensitivity, and gives you sufficient carbs to build lean muscle.

As a plus, moving your carbs into the evening encourages the release of serotonin, a precursor to melatonin to enhance your sleep.

  1. Take a “Diet Week”

To make the most of lean muscle while preventing fat gain you can cycle your calories to preservation for one week every six to eight weeks.

This assists you in three ways.

  • A break to the digestive system. By dialing back a few hundred calories you’ll give your body time to restore.
  • Improved insulin sensitivity. The more sensitive your body is to insulin the better you’ll be able to reduce fat gain.
  • A much needed mental break. Eating to put up muscle is a tiring job. This break gives you the mental firepower to restore your form and come back full-speed.

What To Do:  

Multiply your bodyweight (lbs) x 16, so a 160-pound person would eat 2560 calories for one week. Then ramp your calories back up. You’ll feel revitalized, should be a little leaner, and ready to take over another sprint.

  1. Lift Heavy ass weights and Get a Pump

Or else, try to do the following.

Use Compound Movements: wish for more results in a smaller time? Go for the big lifts.

They’ve been around for a long time. And the motive is quite straightforward: They work preeminent.

Lower body: squats (all forms), deadlifts, and lunges

Upper body (chest): bench press, dumbbell bench presses, dips

Upper body (shoulders): barbell shoulder presses, single arm dumbbell press, push press, seated dumbbell shoulder press

Upper body (back): barbell rows, cable rows, dumbbell rows, pull ups/chin ups, lat pull downs.

Use a variety of rep ranges: If you are going to build ‘lean’ muscle, you need diverse rep ranges to improve your potential to get stronger and improve your capacity to build muscle. What this indicates is that you need to be strong enough to lift heavy ass weights for a higher number of reps, and added volume.

Lift Heavy: Train yourself vigorously and be stronger and stronger. Your muscles necessitate what we call ‘mechanical tension’ to increase You’ll turn on more muscle fibers, which helps you get leaner and fatigue those muscle fibers to grow quicker. Get stronger on the blend of exercises with rep schemes like 5×5, 6×3, 4×6, or our favorite: the Minimalist Muscle pyramid rep schemes. 

Get a Pump: Do you feel the crazy swell (expansion or pump) in your arms after biceps curls? This is the pump, a vital constituent to building muscle.

Pick any work out and do 3-5 sets of 8-16 reps with 45-60 seconds of rest.  Lifting hard with no full rest will bestow you the muscle building pump.

Create Muscular Damage: Do you still remember the soreness after hitting legs for the first time in months, or heck, years? This is muscular damage. This kind of activates your body to send nutrients to the tear areas so they get back bigger and stronger. Use 1-2 high-rep finishers like high-rep goblet squats or bodybuilding methods for instance drop sets to finish your workouts.

  1. Do The Accurate Kind of Cardio

Ignoring all cardio when you’re trying to build muscle paves the way to add fat and get out of shape. Only cardio can do but not the old one.

You should go for a walk every day. Take 15-20 minutes after dinner and go for a stroll. If your phone tracks steps, go for 8,000 steps a day for in general health.

Take 10-15 minutes twice per week and focus and execute some form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

  1. Lose Redundant/Unwanted Fat before You Bulk

One of the best-kept secrets of building muscle while minimizing fat is “to get lean first.”

Surplus body fat works just like an organ pumping out vicious cytokines which increase chronic inflammation and cortisol.

Sadly, cortisol also counteracts and slows down the function of testosterone, mounting fat and making it near to impossible to build muscle.

Additionally, the more body fat you have the more likely you are to be insulin resistant. This means your body will have one hell of a time breaking foodstuff into utilizable energy for training and building lean muscle.

So here’s what you should do. If you’re a man and can’t see a spec of abdominal definition, 15% or so, or a female above 21% body fat you need to lose fat first.

If you don’t? Sure, you can gain 11 pounds, but 7 of them will be fat, not muscle.

Take 8-10 weeks and diet down first. It could be the most powerful way to build muscle instead of fat.

The Final Word On Building Muscle Without Getting Fat

There’s a limit to how much muscle you can naturally build. Your bone structure, habits, and training experience will all play a role.

You can’t expect to be the size of pro bodybuilder. In fact, it looks like you can expect to gain about 30-50 pounds of muscle if you’re a guy and half of that as a female.

But above all else, your habits in the kitchen, in the gym, and your consistency with both are what determine your results.

The good news? You’re now in control And you can do better.  

 

THE BEST ABS EXERCISES YOU SHOULD CONSIDER!

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

Ever wished for the head-turning abs? Those rock-hard and killer abs folks at the beach are jealous of? Of, course you do! Everyone does! And, if you research a little, you would definitely come to the conclusion that abs are made in the kitchen. So, this means you need to get rid of the stubborn fat around your body to show off your abs. But, what if you are already doing that; not eating crap and all fat-producing junkies and still getting no positive results. What should you do now?

Well, then you should look for the other ways to shred away all the fat to reveal your abs. One of the other ways could be in the shape of different abs workouts. After giving a shot to these herculean workouts, you’ll be able to target every area of your abdominal muscles which would result in the increase in muscle strength and size. In addition to that, when you boast a strong core, you will notice an enhancement in the overall performance of your body. In the segments down below, I’ve incorporated few badass abs workouts that are worth-considering and good enough to make a difference!

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But before we proceed, let’s have a look at a few

 

  • THINGS TO CONSIDER WHILE WORKING OUT FOR ABS.

 

You might’ve seen, whether at the gym or on social media or on YouTube while looking for the abs workouts that people are actually putting in 30-40 minutes of workouts for abs. Well, you can do that if you want, but, you really don’t need to, to be honest. That’s because your abs muscles aren’t that big; usually, your glutes have more mass than your whole abdominal region. So, hitting your abs for 30 minutes isn’t just a good idea. I reckon 10 minutes or so are more than enough to hit your upper, lower and oblique.

  • HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WORK OUT ABS?   

When you are working on your whole body, you don’t need to hit the same muscles every day. You at least need a day for the recovery of the muscles. For the best results, I would urge you to have at least a gap of two days between exercising the areas of your body. Your body needs around 48 hours for recovering the shredded muscles – research says.

But, here’s the thing. Should you follow the same routine to train your abs?

Well, not really. That’s because your core muscles are a bit different than the others. More precisely, these are “stabilizing core muscles” which means, these are the muscles that are engaged all the time and are used daily. Additionally, the core muscles are relatively small and its fibers recover swiftly.

So, the bottom line is that you should work on your abs every day for about 10 minutes. I personally follow that too. Spending only 10 minutes on your abs isn’t a big deal and you can exercise at just about any point of the day. I personally try to exercise my abs right after my normal workout. You can do it at any free time; you can shift it up prior to the normal workout as well. I have different kinds of abs exercises so it makes our normal routine workout a little more exciting and unique.

  • EQUIPMENT FOR WORKING OUT ABS

Here’s the thing, you DON’T need any equipment for a badass abs workout. The equipment however, can create an extra bit of a resistance to make your workout a little more efficient. If you’ve been doing the same traditional abs exercises without getting any significant results, then certain types of equipment could help you a lot in getting rid of the stubborn fat around your body.   

One of the common equipment and related exercises include

  • AB WHEEL

The ab wheel is equipment that enhances the tear of a muscle fiber. Actually, it stretches and pulls your abdominal muscles vigorously, leading to the shearing of the abdominal muscles’ tissues. In all the workouts or exercises, an excellent way to boost the strength and size is through the extension of the level of tension of the muscles. You can use ab-wheel by keeping your knees on the ground and holding the wheel against the ground out in front of you.

After that, allow the wheel to slowly roll out in front of you, you will feel the stretch. Make sure to tighten your core. Inhale and exhale the air accordingly.

While doing this exercise, you should keep your back and glutes tight to avoid sag. This type of body movement will also cause tension in the muscles of your glutes; you will feel a burn in your booty if done right! After rolling out the ab-wheel in front of you, you should stretch out as far as you can without touching the floor. Hold on here for 1 or 2 seconds and then roll back to the start. How many reps you need to do? Well, there are no specific reps, do as many as you can until you just can’t roll back the wheeler.

 

  • BARBELL ROLLOUTS

 

Can’t find an ab-wheel? A barbell could be an excellent alternative to the ab-wheel! 

Simply, Grab a barbell and place 10 lbs (pounds, kgs) or so plates on each side. Again, position yourself on your knees and in the same way; hold the bar against the floor, as if you’re going to push the barbell along the floor. After that, while keeping your abdominal muscles, back and butt tight, allow or push the barbell out in front of you along the ground. Stretch out as far as you can and stop when your body is about to touch the ground, hold here for a moment, and then pull yourself back.

There isn’t any significant difference between the ab-wheel and the barbell. The ab-wheel however, rolls backward naturally and will not cause much of a resistance while rolling back. On the other hand, the barbell requires more effort due to the weight resistance. So, consider barbell rollouts as an even larger step from ab-wheel exercise.   

  • WORKING ON YOUR UPPER ABS

Upper Abs workouts, you probably know a lot about those; you might’ve seen people doing those, but for the newbies’, let’s zest it up a bit with these alternative upper abs workouts.

 

  • SIT UP AND THROW!

 

You will need a medicine ball for this exercise; this exercise can produce more efficient results when you have the added weight of resistance. Before starting the exercise, you must tuck your feet under heavy dumbbells. You will be all over the place if you don’t anchor your feet.

Start it off by holding the medicine ball to your chest, and then go down in the regular sit up position. If you are working out with your partner, then chest pass the ball to your partner standing in front of you while you’re moving up. If you are working alone, then chest pass it to the wall instead and catch the ball on the rebound while crunching down. Now, go back down with the ball then on the next up movement repeat the same procedure. It’s better to use the wall instead of a partner because it will help you work on your timing as well as controlling the intensity of the exercise.

 

  • WEIGHTED SITUPS

 

Weighted sit ups is the traditional abs workout but, with a little more resistance.

This one is just an improvisation in the regular sit-up. By holding down some weight against your chest while doing a sit-up will provide that extra resistance which will not only tighten your midsection but help increase its size and definition. If you’re looking to increase the physical size of your abs, then weighted sit-up is the way to go baby!

Position yourself on the floor and hold a dumbbell or a plate (according to your capacity) above your chest. You can either hug the weight or hold it a few inches in front of your chest; in this way, your triceps and biceps will also get engaged. Crunch your body up till it reaches 90 degrees and stop. If you keep going the strains will be transferred to your back, and that’s just what we do not want. So, you need to stop when you feel your body is at 90 degrees and then repeat!

Do not throw your body up, use light weights for this one. The optimum weight is the one with which you can move freely while performing the exercise. If you are a beginner, don’t use any weight at all, get used to the exercise and then fire up your routine later on.

Weighted sit-ups can be done in two ways, either you can perform it for 30 seconds to a minute or you can go for 30 reps. if you can easily do 30 reps, increase the number of reps, or increase the weight depending upon your choice.     

 

  • MEDICINE BALL V-UP

 

We are going to need the medicine ball here again! Well, here’s the thing, if you really want to workout at your home while spending little amount, look for one of these things! It will not only improvise your abs workouts but would take your cardio exercises or workouts to the next level!

Let’s talk about Medicine Ball V-Up exercise, start the workout by lying on the ground. After that, get your legs to straighten and up into the air, hanging a little toward the floor. After that, hold the ball in your hands up above your head. Now, lift your legs and while keeping your lower back on the floor, push yourself with the ball in your hands towards your feet. I really like this exercise personally, because it allows me to hit both the lower and the upper abs both at the same time through a single body movement. The legs movement crunches the lower abs while the medicine ball burns the upper abs.

You can do this exercise for about 30 seconds in your abs-building-circle and repeat.

 

  • WORKING ON YOUR LOWER ABS

 

Most of the folks in the gym are only interested in working out the upper portion of the abs.  Most moves with a sit up motion including crunches are done for shredding the upper abs only. Additionally, most of our daily movements also use the upper abs. The lower abs, however, remains unused for most of the time.

That is why in most of the cases your upper abs are more defined and pronounced as compared to the lower ones. So, it becomes very important to exercise your lower abs daily and sturdily. Here are few efficient exercises for the lower abs.

 

  • FLUTTER KICKS

 

This is a traditional lower abs workout and has always proven to be a good one! Lie down on the floor, and straighten your legs. Lift your legs a little off the ground while keeping your knees straight. After that, Kick one leg up off the ground, then straighten it back and then repeat it with the other leg. It’s just like kicking and you can kick as high off the ground as you need. The more feet closer to the ground, the more will be the resistance and tension on your abs. You can do flutter kicks for 30 seconds or more, and then move to the next one.

 

  • SCISSOR KICKS

 

After the flutter kicks, I like to do scissor kicks; it is the same as the flutter kicks only, instead of kicking legs up and down you need to sway your legs left and right, with the feet cross one another. You can switch the feet below and above the other.

 

  • WORKING ON YOUR OBLIQUES

 

The Obliques are the parts or areas that receive the least amount of care when working on abs for the reason that, it requires a twisting motion to be burnt. Our very few exercises tend to target our obliques, so we need to give these a proper attention. Thankfully, in order to target this area, you don’t need to do numerous oblique moves.

 

  • RUSSIAN TWIST

 

For this exercise, you’ll need to position yourself in the up position of a sit up.

You’ll need a V-shape with your thighs and your torso. You’ll place more tension on your abdominal muscles when you lead back further, but make sure to keep your lower back off the ground. With one hand over the other, hold your arms out in fists. Now, without bending your back, twist and touch your fists to the floor, twist to the other side after that and touch your fists to the ground.

Just like the other abs workouts, do this one for about 30 seconds or more.

If you want to improvise this one, then you have few options. For instance, by using a medicine ball which I reckon could help you a lot in generating more resistance. The ball is easy to hold and makes you feel more like an athletic training move. For ultra resistance, you can use a weight plate too.

 

  • PLANK SIDE CRUNCH

 

You might’ve heard its name, it’s quite common and static move that can be amplified.

There are numerous ways to improve the plank side crunches. One of them is by simply getting into the plank position, supporting on your toes, and elbows while keeping your back straight! After that, rip your elbow down to the side while pushing your right knee up.

Move your elbow closer to the knee. Return to the beginning and repeat the same procedure on the other side. In this way, you will be working on your entire core including oblique muscles too.

CONCLUSION

 

 

In the end, I would like to tell you that great Abs needs greater effort, dedication and time. Be consistent with the exercises which I just told you and I guarantee that you will see fascinating results. Also, be flexible with your exercises too, learn to improvise and keep yourself motivated!

 

CAN YOU GAIN WEIGHT FROM EATING TOO LITTLE?

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

 

“Eat for the body you want, not for the body you have”- Unknown

You are keeping an eye on your consumption/intake and tracking your exercise painstakingly, but still seeing no positive results. Why? Many nightmares run through your mind while been stuck in this particular situation. Like, are my hormones off? Is my metabolism slowed to a snail’s pace? Etc. In addition to it, it is likely to have a question in your mind that ‘is it really possible to gain weight from eating too little?’ In the discussion down below, I have tried to explain what exactly is going on and what steps you need to adapt to encounter it. So, without further delay, let’s get started.

Ever since I became the coach, this is the same question that comes time to time from both my clients and colleagues. They get significantly angry and frustrated at this situation. And yeah, it’s quite understandable why.  Gaining weight and stubborn fat around your body while limiting yourself to very less amount of food could be quite annoying. In some cases, despite doing everything they can, including starvation and exercise, some people still fail to put a limit on gaining weight. Instead, faces the situation contrary to it; they gain extra weight!

 If you do a little research regarding this particular situation, I am sure you will find a lot of blog posts, articles and related explanations. And in the bunch of garden variety, you will find few fitness gurus saying “the laws of conservation of energy apply, and people are not tracking their calorie intake.” Other people may seek it as “starvation problem/mode” or some strange metabolic or hormonal problem.  

So, what’s the deal? Is there really a problem with people who gain weight while not eating too much? Or it’s just doubtful hearsay. So, let’s find out! And get rid of the myth.

You should know that thermodynamics exists and don’t lie. Back in high school, you might have heard about “the laws of thermodynamics,” I am talking about the same thing, but relatively, in a little different concept. So, according to this law, energy balance is a consideration of the energy input, output, and consumption. Where energy in is equal to energy out. Food is our basic form of energy containing calories. So, we can take it has “calories in, calories out.”

So, in a more definite way, it means that we generate energy in our body through the food we eat, and we expend this energy through;

  • Natural Metabolic activities (Circulating blood, breathing, etc.)
  • Basic body movements (Daily activities, exercise, etc.)
  • Heat Production (Thermogenesis)
  • Excretion and Digestion

It must be kept in the mind that our energy balance determines our bodyweight. The concept is quite simple. If we are absorbing more energy than we expend, we gain weight. Likely wise, if we are; this more energy than we absorb, we lose weight. This conception, in many settings, has been tested again and again by scientists and researchers. It is just as near as we can get to systematic and scientific facts.

Admittedly, there are a lot of things that significantly influence either side of this particular equation, which can a right confuse an individual. So, the bottom line is that you shouldn’t be disregarding the laws of thermodynamics.

But, the questions arises, ‘what about the unusual and unexplained weight changes?’ Like, the time you had a big dinner and woke up lighter? Similarly, when you think you are doing everything you can but still not losing weight. Why?

Well, even if we think we are catching up with the conception of energy in, energy out, actually, we are not. You might be thinking, how about that low carb doctor who implies that insulin-resistance (or some other hormone) mucks up the equation? Well, hormones may control lean mass or fat mass proportion you gain or lose, but they still don’t disregard or invalidate the energy balance equation.

Here’s One Reason Why! Tracking Metabolism or recording metabolism is a little tricky task due to the fact that your precise metabolic demand and responses are not that much easy to measure. However, we usually approximate our metabolic rate. The detailed measurement of proper and accurate metabolic rate depends upon the tools we use.

One of the best ways to precisely measure the metabolism rate is through “hermetically sealed metabolic chambers.” But, not many of us hang-out with this in our daily life. This means we are actually estimating our metabolism by our fitness trackers. These estimates can be off by 20-30 percent (even more) in normal, young or healthy people because they are only based upon calorie intake.

It would be easy for us to decide or program our diet if we could measure how much energy we are spending and absorbing/taking from our foods. Also, we could also determine whether we are actually eating too little to reduce the bodyweight or not. But, the problem is that, even if we could know this, it would be useless for us because energy output is dynamic and varies dramatically with time. We can’t actually know what our metabolism is up to and how it is related to the food we eat.

So, most of the time we are making guesses and these guesses aren’t that much beneficial because most of the time, we’re either under or overestimating the solution. So, this makes the idea of “eating too little” a little more subjective. Recall it. By “eating too less” do you mean…

  • Eating less than usual?
  • Eating less than you’ve been told to consume?
  • Eating less than feels right?
  • Eating less than you need to be fit?
  • Eating less than your predictable metabolic rate?
  • Eating less than your actual metabolic rate?
  • And how often does that apply?

Are you significant

  • Eating too little at one meal only?
  • Eating too little on one day only?
  • Eating too little every day?

Now, without having a clear idea behind these questions, you can see how easy it is to identify whether or not you are ‘eating too little’ as compared to your energy intake and expenditure. So, if you aren’t losing weight, most probably you are underestimating your energy intake which means your metabolism rate is slow. Yes! You are eating too little, but still, it’s not less than your actual energy expenditure.

You see, most of the time, the problem is with our sagacity.

We, the human beings, are quite bad at correctly judging things, like how much we are eating and how much we are expanding. We have the common misconception of eating less and burning more.  It’s not that we are untruthful (sometimes we do inveigle ourselves), but, it’s that we actually strive to measure portion sizes and calorie counts.

In today’s world, this is quite difficult when plates and portions are huger than ever, where energy-dense, deliciously tasting and highly-brain manipulating foods are omnipresent, inexpensive and socially encouraged.

When people actually start to track their portion sizes using some scales or Software-applications, they get tremendously shocked to discover that they are consuming way more food than they imagined.

“You are what you eat” Eat crap, look crap, feel crap; Eat Good, Look Good, Feel Good.”

Sometimes, we do quite right with our meals, but energy can sneaks when we don’t even realize it. Here’s a story to explain this.

You are going to dinner with friends to a popular and well-known restaurant. Ordered healthier meals comprising of emphasized proteins and veggies and clean carbs, plus have some alcohol and Cheesecake as a dessert. Curious to know how much energy you consumed, you measured it up. Discover TWO THOUSAND CALORIES OR MORE!

Think about a situation in which you are very careful about all your meals and under-eating almost every meal during a week and estimate your write calories. Then, during one single meal, you took a little dessert and an excellent or accumulated +500 calories. This could be extremely annoying and frustrating when is happening by daily and weekly, leading to gain weight and stubborn fat. You’ll probably feel like your metabolism is broken. And possibly, you would think that losing weight by eating too little is just impossible!  

But, again, the laws of thermodynamics are not divulged and make the nature of metabolism dynamic and hard to understand. So, if you are gaining weight while eating too little, that’s because your metabolism isn’t working like a computer. The human body comprises of complex mechanism and dynamic system that reacts swiftly to changes in its environment.

So, when you under-eat or over-eat over the long period, your body gets used to it and your complex system adapts it. For instance, when you eat less, you expend less energy for digestion. Similarly, when you weigh less, your resting metabolic rate decreases. In the same way, your calorie-burning-process through physical activity decreases. Ultimately, your digestive system becomes weak and starts to absorb more energy from your food.

Your body also adjusts your hormonal feedback and signaling loops. For instance, your appetite and hunger hormones trigger when you want to eat more, and are stimulated by more foods. Similarly, one another hormone Satiety goes down as well, making harder for us to feel full or satisfied. Similarly, your thyroid and sex hormones lessen. Your daily planned 500 calories can deficit and become 400, 300, or 200, even if you intentionally work-out as much as you had before.

Speaking of exercise, the human body has a comparable mechanism when we try to out-exercise an excessive intake.    

According to research when you increase your physical activity above a certain limit, it accelerates;

  • More appetite and more calorie consumption
  • Facilitates the energy absorption
  • Lowered resting or basal metabolism
  • Less wriggling and involuntary movements

The bottom line of this conversation is that metabolism is quite a subjective and complicated subject to talk about it. You may lose weight while eating less, depending upon how much less you eat and for how long you do it. Contrary to that, you may even re-gain weight in the long run due to these physiological and behavioral consequences.

Our metabolisms consist of significantly diverse activities and vary dramatically from person to person. Consider two people having the same age, sex, body-to-mass ratio, height, weight, etc. Now, according to scientific principles and rules of laws, they should possess same energy expenditure and energy needs.

But, in reality, we all know this isn’t the case, because we all know the two persons we are considering could never have the same daily activities. Even your sleep deprivation can cause 5-20 percent variation in metabolic rate. From day to day, even in the alike individuals, the metabolism rate could fluctuate from 100 calories from day to day.

I hope now you monitor how these equations used to predict calorie needs for the average person might not be as accurate as you think. This is why; you couldn’t lose weight, even if you think you are eating less. The estimates you made just weren’t excellent.  

WATER RETENTION IS A THING

We have one hormone called, Cortisol that regulates our fluid level in our bodies. This Cortisol significantly depends upon our stress levels. These are one of our stress hormones. When we feel stressed out due to the food and nutrient restriction, the Cortisol typically goes up which makes our bodies to retain more water. Ultimately, this makes us feel softer and chubbier than we actually are. This water retention conceals the fat loss that is happening, making it look like we aren’t losing fat and weight. This is what we expect from water, one of the essential ingredients of life.

So, could thoroughly track your daily intake work? Well, that takes us back to what we’ve discussed so far. Up till now, you might be scratching your head after knowing the complex mechanism of metabolism. The answer to this is quite clear, that is, even if you trying to tracking your intake, logging your meals, counting your steps meticulously, you will still not be able to generate accurate results because of the complex mechanism of metabolism and errors in your own measurement.  

You might be over-estimating or under-estimating your energy expenditure and needs. So, based on these results, you might be absorbing more energy in digestion than you realize. You’ll always miss some data, for example, you have to incorporate the effect of that small chicken nugget bite, which you might’ve taken from your kids’ plate, or that extra scoop of peanut butter, etc. Keeping an eye on all these things will make your life quite inconvenient.

Another scenario could be, maybe you are counting your exercises as high-intensity, even though you spent a large amount of it resting on a bench between low-rep sets. Perhaps you over-exercised and tear off that day, or maybe you were so hungry after an intense workout, you ate more than you intended. Your power vs. endurance training is not designed to your own DNA.

Well, it happens. We are all human beings, not robots.

However, measuring and tracking energy consumption could make a difference. When we measure and track it for a while, we gain the necessary experience and we become more aware of what we’re eating and how much we’re eating. After that, we can get a real data which we can use to make ourselves consistent and accountable.

However, keeping a track-record of anything daily or even hourly could be a tiring and time-consuming job. Most people would never do it throughout their lives. The chances of getting doubtful results are more. We may misrepresent the actual amount of calories we take and burn, which can ultimately, leads us to believe that we are eating less than we’re burning.   

But, the good news is that we can still lose weight.

If you truly feel that you are precisely tracking your intake, exercising consistently at least 5-7 hours a week, managing your stress and sleep, getting expert nutritional advice, and covering an excellent the fundamentals, then you are in a good position to consult further testing with your doctor.

Here is what you can do, if you feel your intake is less than your needs.

MEASURE YOUR INTAKE

 

The essential step is to measure how much you are eating. You can take whatever tools you prefer, your hands, scales, photographs, etc., doesn’t matter. You can track your daily intake for a few days or a week to see if it contributes to what you thought you were eating. Sometimes, we are often astonished. Just the act of tracking amplifies our awareness of our intake, which could assist us in making better decisions.

 

BE SYMPATHETIC WITH YOURSELF

 

You might think to be strict to yourself could be a good approach, but, it’s not. As a matter of fact, it will make you more stress-out. Love yourself and be gentle, few researchers explain that being kind to yourself helps a lot in building a healthier body. You will achieve your fitness goals swiftly and feel less anxious and stressed. Don’t get angry at yourself, you will make some mistakes, it happens to everyone. Recognize them, accept them, forgive yourself and then get back in the race.

 

CHOOSE LESS-PROCESSED FOODS

 

Foods that aren’t fluttery-rewarding or hyper-palatable are quite challenging to overeat. And the reason behind this is that such type of foods doesn’t cause leptin resistance and hypothalamic inflammation. Such kind of food contains a large number of vitamins, minerals, water, fibers, bacteria-fighting components, phytonutrients, etc. Less-processed foods are lower in calories as well. They are also quite better at keeping you satisfied and full.

You should also choose such foods that you enjoy a lot, this will help you out in developing the consistency. You can also experiment with your macronutrient levels. Some individuals respond better to more carbs and lesser fats, while, some respond quite exceptional to higher fats and fewer carbs. It must be kept in the mind that, there is no single best diet for all. Because, we all have different choices and similarly, there is great variation in response to the foods we eat as well. So, play around this a little, and make better decisions by finding what works best for you.

 

OWN YOUR DECISIONS AND CHOICES

 

When you sit down to eat, let your adulthood and moral and deeper principles guide you. Make better food choices by acknowledging the results you would look ahead to.

I would recommend you avoid playing mind games like ‘if I’m good then I get to be inferior’ or ‘if I act like I didn’t take the cookies, then it didn’t happen. Let your wisdom, and maturity face your behavior. Convince yourself and accept that all choices have different consequences. And, most importantly, welcome to indulge sometimes.

In the end, I would urge you to get coaching – Contact me, if you are still facing trouble. Remember that behavior change and sustained weight loss is hard and takes time, especially, when we are alone in the race.

Reach out a qualified and compassionate coach or a professional who can navigate these tricky scenarios and guides you right. Always remember that your willpower is the key, it will hurt, it will take time, proper dedication, sacrifices to make a difference.

ARE FIT PEOPLE HAPPIER?

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

“Physical fitness is the first requisite of Happiness”- Joseph Pilates.

Being a fitness instructor, bodybuilder, online coach and nutritionist, I usually come across one very common question that is “Are fit people happier?” Well, let me tell you very explicitly that either you love it or hate it, but making regular exercise a habit is known to amplify the finest health. Though many folks scowl at the anticipation of sweat, spandex, and sit-ups, regular exercise may be a prescription for more than just keeping the doctor away. And according to some research, the link between physical fitness and happiness has been discovered. But still, the question remains, do exercise makes us happy?

Happiness is quite a subjective abstract. But, few scientists and researchers are of the opinion that happiness is the emotion that has to do a lot with genetics and an array of environmental factors like education, income, relationship status, religion, and health. And most importantly, the one that precepts of personal happiness is physical health. You know, exercise has been proven to be a cure for almost everything in life from warding off sickness and diseases to maintaining or regulating a hormonal balance and managing stress. These are the few reasons why people who workout are happier than those who do not. When you exercise, you basically are stimulating the production of disease-fighting proteins known as antibodies, which fights and encounters invaders like bacteria and virus.

In addition to that, regular exercise makes you physically active which is quite essential in combating the stress and sickness, a key component of happiness. So, what triggers happiness when we exercise? Well, when we work out we build or amplify more muscles and more stamina. Our daily activities like climbing stairs, carrying grocery become much easier. In addition to it, when you workout, your brain releases a special chemical called endorphins, which plays a key role in producing feelings of euphoria, which generally is associated with “high.” This special chemical amplifies the production of sex hormones, such as norepinephrine, which enhance mood and create a sense of well-being.

Just as I interpreted earlier, exercise can also increase happiness by assisting to reduce stress. This is because when we workout, we kill or burn the stress hormone commonly known as cortisol. High Cortisol level and too much stress can trigger feelings of nervousness and anxiety while declining motivation and proper functioning of the immune system. So, how much you should exercise to make yourself happy? Well, for the time being, it’s not clear about the certain amount of exercise which can guarantee happiness. But some scientists and physicians suggest developing a habit of doing 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise can help get over depression and anger.

But, as we know, every picture has two sides, similarly, exercise may contribute to happiness and helps in the reduction of depression and anger but it’s not the only cause of a smiling face. Fitness freaks aren’t guaranteed happy living either. What I am trying to illustrate is that, although physical activity has a great influence on our sense of well-being, it is also very essential to have the wisdom of purpose, belonging, financial security and positive interactions with the society.

It is also possible that happy people are more likely to workout or exercise than the others and that exercise could have no effect on their prosperous life. In addition to that, it is also not clear whether physical inactivity causes downbeat feelings or not. Usually, whenever people get into the depression, they tend to avoid exercise.

Also, there are few cases appeared in when exercise contributed to the unhappiness like in the case of exercise addiction, and fitness freaks and enthusiasts who tend to test their bodies beyond their capabilities, end up in getting dangerous injuries. Sometimes, lack of proper knowledge of how the body works in reaction to the workout. Many fitness enthusiasts faced cardiac arrest because of excessive exercise and fatigue.

Excess of anything is bad for health; I keep on repeating this quotation in my blogs. A balanced life is a key. Happiness is among the many benefits of exercise and I reckoned it’s probably still worth taking a jog around the neighborhood or lift some weights. Regular exercise keeps you healthy, active and sharp, even reduces stress, but you must keep this in your mind that this is not the solution to all the health issues. Some of them need proper medication and prescription.

So, the bottom line of today’s conversation is that exercising regularly could be very beneficial for your health. And health, I reckon, is directly related to our happiness. If you’re healthy, feeling good and strong, then you’ll be prosperous with your life and yourself too. Always remember that it’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself and to make your happiness a Priority. It’s just necessary.

SHOULD YOU INVEST IN DNA FITNESS AND DIET TEST

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

Ever since I heard about the emergence of fitness and diet testing on the consumer market, I was tremendously mesmerized. The concept of a plan based on our own DNA’s just gained my affection. And, I really like this idea; it made me anticipate that DNA testing could be more helpful in the long-run. I was really curious to know what my DNA could tell me, and whether it could further help me to improve my health lifestyle through fitness and diet.

GENETIC TESTING

When taking these tests, I have discovered that these tests are really important & useful and totally fascinating to properly know the various things that are being tested for. Here a question arises “what are genes?”

GENES

A gene is defined as a segment of the DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule, which consists of the instructions for how, when and where your body makes each of the many thousands of proteins necessary for life. Our every gene consists of thousands of combinations of 4-letters that makes our genetic code. These are A, T, C and G. Indications of a predisposition to dietary issues or sporting potential can be made through different variations. We are blessed to be a part of such an advanced era where access to DNA testing has amplified a lot.

HOW IS GENE TESTING EXECUTED?

One of the very common examples of gene testing is an “A heel Prick Test.” You might’ve heard about this test before. These are carried out on all the newborn babies in the US & EU to detect few rare but serious health conditions. After that, the necessary DNA data collected from these tests are used to diagnose people with genetic conditions. However, consumer prescribed DNA tests gets results far less clinical and ruthless. For now, they are quite limited to emphasize and define correlations between gene expressions and exercise-related or dietary character. A simple, quick and non-invasive approach to collect DNA data is embraced by these kinds of tests. The DNA from cells is picked up from the inside of your mouth.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FITNESS DNA TEST

The company that I came across, providing DNA-based diet and fitness testing was “DNAFit.” I was not only the fan of what they were offering but also loved their strong branding.

The DNAFit offered a test kit which was really impressive. It was quite well-presented and easy to get used to it. The test was very simple; I woke up in the morning, opened a pack containing swab and rubbed it inside of my cheek for a minute. The swab was then enclosed in a tube, barcoded, and sent back to DNAFit for processing.

REPORT AND CONSULTATION

After a couple of weeks (because like you guys know, I live in Hong Kong), I got my hands on the reports. I found the reports very helpful. They appeared in a professional report format. They can be downloaded with a single click to refer to time and time again…

The report you get is very compressive, highlighting and explaining each and every aspect of providing you with your results and recommendations. I really love this kind of stuff; I get to know all my data and results in a really organized manner.

My personal DNAFit Infographic;

Also what I got:

  • Introduction to genetics and genetic engineering
  • A summary of key results
  • Results covering an explanation relationship with attribute tested
  • Additional information
  • Glossary

Though DNAFit presented a lot of data in a very clear way still, it is important to consult one of their experts to talk through this. The expert will talk you through all the aspects of my report in depth and help you in understanding the implications of the result. Working hard to improve aerobic potential may only witness small improvement to other athletes. Nevertheless, with the assistance of coach interpreting these results, anyone can tailor there training and fitness lifestyle to short & long-term goals.

So, I learned that implication of the results can be a “little” complex. It would be beneficial to seek the advice of an Athlete expert if you’re utilizing these results to amplify your sports performance.

PACKAGES AND PRICING

The price range for DNAFit testing for fitness starts from $2450 HKD with a premium version which includes additional benchmarking and reporting.

DNAFit testing kit + DNAFit’s Expert advice and your consultation can be done with 50% discount code: ARCH18

Ulisses Jr. off camera about DNAFit, 

MUSCLE ENHANCERS; DO THEY WORK?

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

“Your love for what you do and willingness to push yourself where others aren’t prepared to go is what will make you great.” – Laurence Shahlaei

You know you are not the only one who enthusiastically follows fitness icons like Arnold, Rock etc. and sees their pictures with massive muscles and wonder how they do it. Some of these bodybuilding professionals are blessed genetically to pack on the muscle. (More about this and power of your DNA soon)

While, very few work hard and earn their dreamed physiques, while others turn to a more unconventional way of achieving that; yes! I am talking about drugs and steroids used as a muscle enhancer, which could be very harmful to health (on various conditions if not done under medical supervision). So, you might be wondering how you can enhance your muscles and build a strong body by not just working out and taking protein shakes WITHOUT reaching for a Steroid injection. Well, I’ve got all the answers for you regarding muscle enhancers, what are the good ones, what works and most importantly, what is just a complete bust!

THE GOOD ONES!

  • PROTEINS

Protein is a traditional ingredient for cellular rebuilding. This is the end all be all when it comes to muscle enhancers. Protein isn’t just a supplement or muscle enhancer, it’s a line on the back of food labeling. It must be kept in mind that without a Protein, not even a single other muscle enhancers will work. Your muscles are made up of Proteins. You can increase the size of your muscles by working on them, tearing the muscle fibers down and build them back with the help of protein. Working out without protein consumption will surely increase your strength but you’ll never be able to increase size.

In the same manner, taking only protein without working out will boost up your energy and won’t increase the size of your muscles, so, a proper balance is a key.

Different kinds of protein options are available for you. You can take entire chickens in every meal to increase your high-quality protein, low fat and low carb levels. But, honestly, eating an entire chicken every meal really doesn’t sound great! There would be so many rotisserie chickens consumption which will definitely make you hate chicken. That’s what we do not want actually. There comes the need of Protein Powder.

One of the very best proteins easily available on the market is Casein, which greatly regulates the protein level in your body when you are working out and rebuilding your muscles. Whey Protein is another really great option. Both of these proteins absorbs slowly and ensures the safe level of protein availability. Whey Protein is much cheaper than Casein. I recommend you to always take some protein before going to the bed. By doing so, your body will digest the proteins easily and after these are digested, they can be converted into the muscles. Your muscles grow rapidly when you are sleeping.

  • CREATINE

Creatine is a thing you’ve heard thousands of time, after Protein. A Few decades ago, if you were going to the gym, you might have heard the word Creatine and assumed that someone was talking about an asteroid. Now, it might not be wrong to say that, for the reason that it does have that ring to it. It’s not something you should skirt away from; your body produces creatine naturally. Creatine actually provides essential energy used by fast twitch muscle fibers for significant moves like pushing up the bench press barbell.

But the energy provided by creatines zaps up quickly allowing you to push or sprint for a little time. That can be countered by taking more amounts of creatines, which will provide you more energy instantly and will allow you to explode up with the barbell a couple of more times. Ultimately, you will add up more resistance to your muscles and tear them down much more, which will result in a rapid increase of the size of your muscles.

  • NITRIC OXIDE

I’m absolutely not urging you to just grab a box of whippets and start inhaling the gases before heading towards the gym.

It is one of the fantastic bodybuilding supplements and health supplements you should be considering. That’s because according to Nutrition Express 2018, Nitric Oxide has far more health benefits attached to this than just muscle enhancement. Nitric Oxide greatly improves information conduction between the cells of your brain and nervous system. It also

  • Regulates your blood pressure
  • Boosts your senses
  • Reduces inflammation
  • Ability to fight harmful bacteria
  • Protect your body from tumors etc
  • Protects against gastric motility
  • Enhance erectile dysfunction

In terms of bodybuilding, it enhances the flow of oxygen in the blood, the more the oxygen provision, the more will be the energy generated, and the more will be the muscle growth. The mechanism is simple to understand, it simply sends proteins, amino acids, and other muscle formation material to the muscles. Concisely, you’ll be able to earn a lot of your workout and your body will recover fast. It must be kept in the mind that your body lack suitable level of Nitric oxide if you’re a starter due to poor diet intake consisting of foods with high cholesterol and fats. Fatty foods reduce your Nitric Oxide level a lot. So, you must get used to maintaining a healthy diet plan for maintaining a suitable level of Nitric oxide.

  • AMINO ACIDS

Commonly referred to Branched-Chain Amino Acids are valine, leucine and, isoleucine. Almost all kinds of meat proteins contain these three common amino acids. Branched-Chain Amino acids lack in plant-based proteins. So, you’re not going to receive your complete amino acid regimen, if you are a vegan. The fact that you should consider the proper Amino Acid intake is that these are extremely important in assisting your muscle recover.

Amino Acids reduce potential muscle strength from working out and help your body consume more protein to rebuild your muscles. It’s the kind of supplement you’re already getting enough (in some cases, you need to determine this). Chances of getting enough BCAA become prominent when more than half of your protein is coming from actual animal protein, such as chicken, eggs, and steak etc.

Likewise, if much of your protein comes from plants, vegetable-based proteins, beans or non-meat proteins, there’s a good chance you’re not getting anywhere near the necessary BCAAs you need. In which case, adding in this supplement is crucial.

 

EXTRAS:

HOW TO GET ROCK-HARD ABS AND GAIN MUSCLE WEIGHT

Posted on by mack fitt pijewski

Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym.. but also in the GYM

A physique that is muscular, defined and ripped is most likely to turn heads in the gym. Ripped and Rock-hard abs play the part of this whole physique package. No doubt, work on weight room floor is a must if you’re going to build muscle, but your diet is just as important – if not more so.

You can achieve your goals of gaining muscle and rock-hard, ripped abs by following some right principles, exercises and balance of macronutrients. Down below, I’ve incorporated few of these.

1. CONSUME GOOD QUALITY CALORIES

 It should be kept in the mind that Calorie surplus is the prior requirement for building muscles. But this doesn’t mean eating a huge quantity of ice-creams and hot dogs. Just 250 – 500 calories would be more than enough to get the job done; gain muscle. Now, in order to track out your daily calorie burn rate, use an online calculator like MyPlate, BMI calories or Calorie Mama App, etc. These platforms take in to account your body data like gender, weight and activity level.

Don’t go for high-calorie junk like sugars, refined carbs, and saturated fats when you are going to consume calories. Prepare high protein (lean) meals, including healthy fats and whole grains. For healthy fats, you can use dry fruits and avocados. IGNORE alcohol, fancy drinks and coffees; it will waste your calories.

2. LIMIT CARB INTAKE

In order to achieve a defined shape, you should reduce your carb intake. You DON’T have to go no-carb or even super low-carb to look defined. Modestly reducing your carb intake could result in getting rid of the stubborn fat! That fat that covers your stomach and prevents your six packs from showing. According to a Journal of Nutrition, it was observed that consuming 40-45 % of daily calories from Carbs boast positive effects on fat loss and distribution.

This is 200 to 215 grams daily for a standard 2,000 calorie diet. With such a plan you are still able to enjoy one or two pieces of whole fruit, a half cup of grains, such as brown rice or oatmeal, at most meals. In addition to that, you can still enjoy taking some daily dairy.

3. CONCENTRATE ON YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE

Do you know that a sufficient amount of your total daily calories comes from Protein? Proteins are the source of amino acids that enhance your muscle growth and repair process. It is recommended to take 0.72 – 0.91 grams of proteins per pound of body weight daily for bodybuilders and strength building athletes. So, if you are a person of 150 pounds, this amount is 108-137 grams of proteins daily.

I recommend you to divide your specific protein needs up among four or five meals. This could be done by eating two boiled eggs in your breakfast, grilled chicken breast in your lunch, flank steak in your dinner with low fat, Greek yogurt.

TIPS AND TRICKS!

Here is a key trick for boosting up the growth of your muscles. Schedule one of your favorite meals right after your workout! By doing so, not only you will replace your burned calories, but you will enrich your muscles with nutrients for growth and recovery. Add about 20-25 grams of proteins in this meal, a post-workout whey Protein smoothie made with fruit and milk could be a nutritious option.

4. COMPOUND MOVES

Massive, compound moves, such as squats and deadlifts will pay the PRICE! These types of exercises help you build muscles by multiple joint movements at once and activate many core muscles to define your shape. Try to do these exercises in terms of smaller, isolation exercises such as bicep curls. Make choices, and try to do at least one exercise that primarily focuses on major muscle group covering chest, back, arms, shoulders, hips, buttocks, and thighs. Some of the exercises that will definitely and effectively build your muscle include barbell squats.

  • Leg curls
  • Step Ups
  • Dumbbell shoulder press
  • Barbell rows
  • Dumbbell chest press
  • Dips

Down below, I’ve illustrated few tips on how to do these exercises to effectively build strong muscles and abs.

TIPS FOR WORKOUT

In order to constantly challenge your body and get positive results, you should vary your weight routine every month. Here are few effective tips for you to go through.

  • LIFT HEAVY

In order to get your muscles get bigger and stronger, you must challenge the muscle fibers to break down and tear off. When you are up to lifting weights, go for heavy ones that you can manage for at least five to six reps. Increase weights when eight reps feel easily doable. You need to do at least three sets of each exercise. Most importantly, give your muscles a little rest for the recovery and while in recovery mode, eat healthy food! That’s the way to go.

  • GIVE UP CRUNCHES

Here’s the thing! STOP DOING CRUNCHES all the time. You should train the superficial rectus abdominis, the front sheath of your abs. don’t burn your fats for the reason that they are relatively limited in their ability to sculpt your washboard belly.

You should increase ab-building compound exercises; do three to five extra ab-specific exercises per week. And, at each, include 5-10 Abs burning exercises. Down below, you will find exercises that focus on flexion, rotation and bending. You must try to do at least eight reps for each exercise before moving to the next.

THE LEG RAISES

This exercise targets both of your upper and lower portion abdominal regions. And, it requires the most core stability to keep from swinging.

  • Grab the “pull up bar” with an overhead grip or place your arms into abs straps.
  • Don’t just use your hands to pull yourself up and down. Engage your abs by pulling your belly button in toward your spine.
  • Raise your knees up past your hips and repeat it.

SPIDERMAN PLANK

  • This exercise is also a very effective exercise and targets particularly the deep transverse and the obliques.
  • Get yourself into the top of a push-up or a plank resting on your toes and forearms.
  • Pull the knee in and around the side of your body and lifting it up… Try to touch your right triceps with it.
  • Keep your body rigid and repeat the process by switching to the left.

ROLL-OUTS

This exercise could be very effective but hard for the beginners. Try the similar exercise with a stability ball instead, it will work!

  • Get your hands on the stability ball and keep your stomach strongly pushed in toward your spine.
  • Roll the ball as far as you can. And, after that, roll it inwards… That will be your one rep. Repeat the procedure.
  • Maintaining a rigid back is the key here. Make sure to do a set Do a set or two of the roll-out angling to the right and then the left to put more emphasis on the obliques.

CABLE WOODCHOP

Last but not least is the cable wood chop. Use a cable machine set at shoulder height to do so. This exercise burns your various muscles Such as the quadrates, lumborum, and obliques, which are responsible for twisting and contribute to a cut-looking middle.

  • Stand with your left side facing the cable machine and grab the handle with both hands. Step away slightly so you feel the tension and plant your feet hip-distance apart.
  • Keep your arms extended and twist away from the anchor point, to the right.
  • Control your return to the starting position so that you resist the rotation slightly, rather than get pulled by the cable. Do all the reps on one side and then switch direction.

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