Me either;) so I chose different way of looking at it...
Chose your own, exciting daily routine you will want to commit to
Treat your workouts like business meetings or appointments. Schedule them in your calendar as recurring
events every week. You’d never miss a meeting with your boss or a date night
with your partner. Treat your workouts with the same level of urgency and
respect.
Try to space your workouts
over the week and keep at least 1 day between them. Try to combine one push and
one pull muscle group in each workout session, such as:
·Chest and back
·Shoulders and arms
·Legs
If you’ve never lifted weights
before, please please please please please find someone who has, so they can
build a good program for you and show you proper technique. Don’t just turn up
at the gym and jump on the machines—you’ll
make zero progress and give up.
Find a friend and ask them to
come to the gym with you for a few weeks. Better yet (and if you can afford it)
hire a personal trainer. They’ll not only show you what to do and how, but
they’ll hold you accountable too.
As a final option, find a
program and watch the instructional videos on your phone at the gym before
you start an exercise. Always focus on form first and weight second. If you
lift heavy because everyone else is, you’ll injure yourself and you’ll be out
of the game.
To build your foundation, you
want to focus on keeping your metabolism high when you’re NOT in the gym, which
means moderate weight for 10–15 reps over 4 sets per exercise. Bonus points if
you add super sets or pyramiding. I added super sets to my routine 2 years ago
and I’d estimate it increased my progress by at least 30%.
Before you workout, have some
sort of pre-workout snack. Coffee is a popular pre-workout, but I like a banana
and a few scoops of Optimum Nutrition’s pre-workout powder. You need energy
stores to lift weights and sugar (such as fructose from fruit) converts into
useable energy fast. Don’t eat a huge meal before going to the gym.
When you’ve finished your
workout, make sure you eat protein and fast-digesting carbs within an hour. I
like to have a protein shake and some fruit, like 2 bananas or a tin of
pineapple slices.
After a workout your body goes
into a catabolic state where it starts to break down muscle for fuel, so having
a high-carb meal prevents that and keeps you in an anabolic state (muscle
building) as your body starts to repair the (good) damage you made to your muscles
(micro tears) during your workout.
Once you’ve built your
foundation (lost excess fat) and want to put on some muscle, you can lower your
reps (from 10 to 6–8) and increase your weight.
When you want to continually
gain muscle over time, I’ve found it helps to do 1 of the 3 things during every
workout for at least one exercise:
It’s a lot easier to lose fat
first and then gain muscle. Yes you can do both at the same time, but it’s
hard. You want to give yourself the best chance of success, so focus first on
losing the fat and then building the muscle.
I like to call it your
foundation—if you build a great (low body
fat) foundation, it’s easier to stack muscle (lean or bulk) on top of it down
the track. If you’re overweight right now, you’ll have quite a bit of
subcontinous fat covering your muscles anyway, so why not get rid of it first?
In my experience, the best way
to lose fat is not to do cardio. Slow
cardio (walks, treadmill, bike, etc) burns up fat but also muscle. Cardio is
great for your heart, especially HIIT, but isn’t necessary to lose fat.
There’s a bunch of research
online about cardio versus lifting weights for losing fat, but I prefer to use
diet and weight training (moderate weight, high rep—if you’re female, you won’t put on bulk) to lose fat.
Control your calories via food
(a 500 calorie deficit per day based on your BMR) and keep your metabolism burning
using weights.
When you think about where
most people come undone, it’s normally not in the gym. It’s relatively easy to
workout 3–4 times per week for most people. It’s the food temptation that’s the
hardest. I’ll talk more about that below.
To build your foundation, you
first want to get your BMI (Body Mass Index) into the normal range, at around
20. You can calculate yours here. Once you’ve done that, you’ve got a foundation
on which you can start to build some good, lean muscle quite quickly.
An
extremely effective fat loss and muscle-building blueprint anyone can use.
There’s a huge connection
between physical wellness and mental clarity. When you’re in shape you have
more energy. You can get more done. You think better, sleep better and just
make better decisions, period.
As we close out 2015, losing
weight will be the most popular resolution people around the world make on New
Year’s Eve. But as the statistics show, most people will fail. And they’ll fail
for two primary reasons:
1.The system is designed around
failure
2.They’ll focus on the wrong
things
The weight loss industry is
worth an absolute boat load of money and it’s in their best interest to keep
you overweight. Otherwise you’ll stop buying their gimmicks, pills and powders.
They peddle overnight solutions to weight loss, when deep down we all know they
don’t work. But we keep buying them because the promise of being in shape is a
powerful motivator.
If you’re overweight now and
are serious about losing weight in 2016, I wrote this post for you. More
specifically, I’m writing this post for people who want to lose weight but then
gain an actual physique that’s worthy of a compliment. Being “skinny fat” isn’t
fun.
I normalny write
bout productivity, success, startups and marketing, so why the hell am I
writing about weight loss? Well, over the years I’ve learned that how you
perceive yourself determines how far you go in anything—business, relationships, etc.
Using pure willpower to overcome cravings doesn't always work. (If it did, dieting would be easy and we'd all be at our own healthy, feel-great weights.) Guess what? You don't have to tough out an unrelenting yen to house a box of Cheez-Its, you just need to fool yourself into thinking you didn't actually want to eat the junk food in the first place. It's easier than you think; here are tips from experts and recent studies to help you stay on track.
Visualize an internal pause button
The next time you want to reach for a big bowl of Chunky Monkey, picture yourself hitting a pause button in your brain. "If someone were to ask to borrow a lot of money, most people can stop and say, 'I'll think about it,'" says Coral Arvon, PhD, director of behavioral health and wellness at Pritikin Longevity in Miami, FL. But when that chocolate cake or bottle of wine is in front of us at the end of day, the majority of us don't hesitate to indulge. "Think 'pause,' and consider your decision for 10 minutes before making an actual decision," Arvon suggests.
Substitute junk food with healthy foods that resemble junk food
Find a healthy alternative that shares some of the same qualities as the fatty food you've got a craving for, says Jonathan Alpert, a New York City-based psychotherapist and author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days. Craving the crunch and salt of potato chips? Make a batch of satisfyingly crispy kale chips. Eyeing the carton of ice cream in your freezer? Whip up a fruit-packed smoothie bowl instead. "Over time your taste buds and brain will adjust and learn to like these healthier options," says Alpert.
Imagine yourself eating
Thinking about eating a bag of candy makes it more likely you'll eat less of it when you actually start eating it, according to a 2010 study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers. Study participants who visualized eating 30 M&Ms before indulging in a bowl of the candies ate fewer M&Ms than two other groups who imagined eating only three candies or no treats at all. Researchers say the key lies in thinking about eating the food versus merely thinking about or visualizing it.
Tell yourself you can have anything
When you think about going on a diet, hunger pangs, deprivation, and waving goodbye to your favorite foods probably come to mind. Problem is, denying yourself your favorite foods immediately sets you up for failure, says Amy Goodson, RD, sports dietitian for the Dallas Cowboys and co-author of Swim, Bike, Run, Eat: The Complete Guide to Fueling Your Triathlon. "You want to make changes you can do for the rest of your life. The key is to eat what you want, but not everything you want," says Goodson. "You can still enjoy one to two splurges during the week as long as you stay on track the rest of the time."
The obstacles to losing weight, however,
are not insurmountable. The National Weight Registry is tracking over 5,000 individuals
who have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept the weight off for five years.
Insights from their success stories are consistent with these five tips from
Dr. Rankin:
1.)
Focus on a change of heart, not a change of mind. Losing weight through changing
what and how much you eat doesn’t happen because you rationally decide to lose
weight. You have to have a change of heart; that is, you must get in touch with
your deepest, heartfelt desires.
Your motivation
may not be positive. Indeed, it may stem from a fear of loss. For example, you
may not want to get sick. Or you may not want to be ostracized. To get in touch
with your motivation, think about the negative consequences of not changing as
well as the positive ones. Getting fit must become a priority and your life
must be organized accordingly. Nobody can change you but you, and once you’ve
made the changes, you need to stay focused. Successful individuals keep their
motivation in the forefront of their minds all the time.
2.)
Practice self-discipline. Self-control is a muscle that, like other
muscles, needs exercise and strengthening. Change doesn’t happen because you
want it to happen. Each time you resist temptation, you are developing greater
self-control. Success breeds success. Facing down temptations builds strength
for future decision moments. Some of my clients throw away their favorite food
as a symbolic act that shows they have control over the food and not the other
way round.
Self-discipline
is required for behavior change, but does that mean that the lack of
self-discipline causes obesity? No. That would be like saying aspirin helps a
headache go away, so headaches are caused by a lack of aspirin — which is
nonsense!
3.)
Eliminate or reduce sugary, fat-laden foods. Such foods create physical changes
at a cellular level that alter how our brains and bodies react. When analyzing
your level of addiction, consider both physical dependence (changes at the
cellular level) and psychological dependence (the habitual repetition of a behavior
in an attempt to satisfy an emotional need). For example, how often do you use
a sugary treat to lift your spirits?
What is often
misunderstood is that these dependences exist on a continuum. You can be
mildly, moderately or severely dependent, and the degree of dependence
determines how difficult it will be to change.
4.)
Make history your teacher, not your jailer. You can learn from your mistakes.
Instead of [beating yourself up] when you fail to keep your promises to
yourself, seek to gain self-knowledge so you won’t repeat the error. No one is
perfect. Be sure to acknowledge what you are doing right, not just what isn’t
working.
5.)
Surround yourself with friends, family and colleagues who will support your
effort. Getting
fit and losing weight absolutely require others. Although you alone can make
the changes you need to make, you can’t make the changes alone. Not only in
terms of eating, but in all areas of our lives, we are much more influenced by
other people than we imagine. One of the most potent forces for positive change
is the emotional support of the individuals who surround you.
You must, however, ask for the support
you need. Don’t assume that others know what would be most helpful to you.
Similarly, you need to avoid those people who aren’t on the same page as you.
Social pressure can work for you or against you. Hang out with the right
people.
Change is difficult, and whoever finds a
way to bottle and market motivation and self-discipline will make a fortune. In
the absence of such a product, however, the next best thing is helpful insights
into the process of changing our behavior.
Dr. Rankin reminds us that, for better or
worse, our core, emotional values will ultimately determine our choices. Once
we identify our heartfelt desires, we can use them to create a healthy
lifestyle that reflects our best self. Our deepest values can be summoned to
keep us on track, especially when we are facing temptations and distractions.
They can also serve as our compass when we go astray.
If we are willing to remain diligently
committed to our emotional values, we can be confident that we will succeed in
realizing our health and fitness goals. And when we do, maybe some of us will
go one step further and give support to family and friends so that they can
join us in becoming healthier and happier.
Any sports psychologist will tell you that performance is 90% mental.
And yet, reconciling mindfulness with the labored physicality of our workouts can seem like an oxymoron, as sensible as the Little Giants peacefully going to war with their faraway neighbors.
Those who take advantage of the greatest of performance enhancers (the brain), make time for meditative practices surrounding their physical activities. Because being aware of what’s going on within and around ourselves is more powerful than we may realize.
Dr. Steven Selchen, director of mindfulness-based therapies at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center says:
“I often talk about mindfulness as training the mind the way physical exercise is training the body… Mindfulness is more about tuning into our experience so we can handle it better.”
For gym time, the mental state you create for yourself directly affects both your results and the amount of satisfaction you receive.
Let’s take a look at how to increase your mind-body connection with meditative practices and take your workouts to whole new level.
WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Mindfulness is the quality or state of being aware. It is achieved by staying focused upon the present and one’s thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations within this space.
What can this do for you?
“Mindfulness helps train the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that creates a calm and alert state of mind, which helps us stay focused, avoid distraction and perform at our best,” say Dr. Kirstin Race, Ph.D. and founder of Mindful Life and author of Mindful Parenting.
According to Dr. Race, bringing the attention inward activates the insular cortex as well, resulting in an experience of heightened sensory awareness and improved communication between mind and body. This state of awareness helps us perceive physiological changes in the body and make rapid-fire adjustments based upon what we perceive both inside ourselves and from the outside world.
The best part is? You can increase this perceptive and adaptive capability.
“It’s like strengthening a muscle… The more we practice, the stronger we become.”
So you be more focused, better at avoiding distractions and perform at your best – always.
Meditation is the physical practice of becoming mindful and realizing the benefits of a more conscious, tuned-in existence. Meditation keeps the monkey mind stay centered, helping us remain calm and rested yet mentally alert.
The benefits can be accomplished while seated quietly on a cushion or while running full sprint. Here’s some techniques for a more mindful and physically rewarding exercise program.
Weight Training is Superior to Cardio For Physique Transformation – Here’s Why
If you ask any physique or fat loss expert they will likely tell you that weight training is superior to cardio for toning up, dropping body fat or anything physique related.
However, the general public still believes cardio to be the best solution. This is probably because early research showed cardio burns more fat within the workout; however, they did not account for fat loss over the course of a day, week or year.
Further, this does not account for the overall result, with weight training helping you add muscle, tone up, improve strength and look far better overall. If you really want to improve confidence, (or simply look better naked), weight training, or a combo of both, is going to be key.
Since this initial research, new evidence has further supported the use of weight training for fat loss or physique enhancement. This is because it boosts fat burning hormones, increases your metabolism, improves insulin sensitivity (carb tolerance) and other benefits that cardio simply doesn’t provide (1)!
If you are still on the fence or unsure what’s really best, this article will provide a breakdown of the benefits and review cardio vs weight training for fat loss.
Aerobic vs Anaerobic Training & Energy Systems
Before we break down the unique differences and benefits of weight training vs cardio here’s a brief overview of the energy systems required and how our body provides fuel during cardio or weight training.
In short, cardio utilizes the aerobic energy system as it is performed at lower intensities. This energy system allows you to perform it for prolonged periods of time. In contrast, resistance training utilizes the anaerobic energy system which only lasts 2-3 minutes but provides much more energy in the form of ATP.
Some of these distinct differences between aerobic vs anaerobic energy help explain why weight training is superior to cardio. For example, anaerobic training will burn greater amounts of ATP energy, which is generated from the breakdown of food sources or macros (carbs/protein/fat) through different energy pathways (2).
Benefits of Cardio Training vs Weight Training
Firstly, though, I would like to emphasize that weight training and aerobic training both burn calories and have a multitude of benefits; however, your body responds to these two types of training in completely different ways.
The physiological adaptations associated with aerobic training consist of (2):
Increased cardiac output
Reduced heart rate
Increased stroke volume
Increase in type 1 muscle fibers
Increased mitochondrial density
Increased myoglobin activity.
In contrast, the physiological adaptations associated with anaerobic training consist of (2):
While cardio is still useful for burning calories and cardiovascular health, sadly, it will not help add muscle tone or preserve muscle tone while dieting; in fact, it can actually increase muscle loss if you are not careful.
To optimize our body composition, we want to reduce body fat while maintaining, and in many cases even slightly increasing, lean muscle mass or tone. Resistance training is far superior for achieving this.
Additionally, weight training increases your hormone levels, metabolism and EPOC, carbohydrate tolerance and your resting energy expenditure. All of these will help you reach your physique goals more efficiently and most importantly, help you maintain them.
Weight Training Boosts Your Metabolism to Enhance Fat Loss
Remember, to lose fat efficiently you must be in an energy deficit.
There are multiple ways in which you can enter into an energy deficit. For example, you can increase your physical activity levels or, as most people do with a diet, decrease calorie consumption.
Along with this, another effective way is to increase your resting energy expenditure or the amount of calories you burn at rest!
One of the reasons why weight training is so effective for fat loss is because it quickly increases your metabolic rate, helping you burn more calories that day or the day after. Now, if you perform weight training every day, you will have an elevated metabolism forever (or, at least until you stop training) (3)!
Additionally, research has shown that as you increase muscle mass your resting energy expenditure goes up. So you begin to burn more calories at rest, without even adjusting your food intake (4)! Remember, this won’t happen from 1-2 LB of muscle, but, after a couple of years and 10LB + of muscle gained, you will see more of a significant difference!
Although cardio training does help boost your metabolism in the short term, this only lasts for a couple of hours after exercise, not for the whole day or even into the next day like resistance training (5).
Here’s a graph to demonstrate this:
Finally, remember, cardio doesn’t help add muscle and can even cause muscle loss when it’s combined with a low-calorie diet!
The Research on Cardio vs Weight Training
One group of researchers investigated the effects of cardio vs resistance training during a low-calorie diet and the effects on muscle mass and weight loss.
Both groups lost a significant amount of body mass (as mentioned earlier calorie deficit is key for fat loss).
However, the cardio group lost 4kg / 9lb of muscle mass whereas the weight training group did not lose any, indicating that all of the weight lost in the resistance training condition was fat mass. In other words, the weight training group lost 9lb more fat and preserved all their muscle mass!
Finally, these researchers also demonstrated that calorie expenditure was significantly greater in the weight training condition compared to cardio, supporting the points discussed in the chapter above.
So is Cardio the Enemy of Fat Loss?
Cardio has an immense amount of health benefits for the body and can still be effective for fat loss when used correctly (7).
Remember, if your goal is to optimize fat loss then you should focus more on weight training and increasing muscle mass and energy expenditure. This isn’t to say the odd bit of cardio won’t be effective. You could still do 2-3 sessions on top of weight training or do a 10 minute warm up and cool down after your main weight training session.
The main point of this article is to clarify that 5x cardio sessions vs 5x weight training sessions will yield very different results over weeks and months on your physique, metabolism and muscle mass.
Ultimately, you will not look or feel the same if you just perform cardio. It’s also worth noting this site is about advanced and optimal results, not ‘average’ results. Sure, if an individual is 40LB overweight and just starting out, even 3 cardio sessions a week will work wonders.
In summary, cardio isn’t bad – it is just that it should be used strategically and, ultimately, should reflect your own personal goals and ideal physique.
What About HIIT Cardio Training?
If you are familiar with HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training you will know it’s a great form of cardio that actually produces results more like weight training.
Dozens of studies have shown that HIIT provides superior results to cardio, and in less time. In fact, research has shown that HIIT increased fat loss by 930% compared to steady state cardio (8).
The key with HIIT training is it mimics weight training by performing short intervals at high intensities. Therefore, if you’re still looking for that fix of cardio or the heart/health benefits that cardio provides, a combo of HIIT and weight training is perfect.
There you have it – hopefully, you can now see why, for fat loss, weight training is the superior choice to basic cardio. Here are a few points to remember:
Weight training creates more fat loss and increases muscle mass & resting energy expenditure / your metabolic rate.
Normally cardio may decrease muscle mass and resting energy expenditure over the long run, especially when combined with a calorie deficit or insufficient protein intake.
If you want to be lean and toned, or lean and muscular, weight training must be your main priority.
Some cardio on the side is still fine, plus HIIT is a very effective add-on to still reap the heart, lung and health benefits of cardio!
References
1.) Donnelly, J. E., Blair, S. N., Jakicic, J. M., Manore, M. M., Rankin, J. W., & Smith, B. K. (2009). Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults (vol 41, pg 459, 2009). Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(7), 1532-1532.
2.) Haff, G. G., & Triplett, N. T. (Eds.). (2015). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning 4th Edition. Human kinetics.
3.) Peterson, M. D., Sen, A., & Gordon, P. M. (2011). Influence of resistance exercise on lean body mass in aging adults: a meta-analysis. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 43(2), 249.
4.) Hunter, G. R., Wetzstein, C. J., Fields, D. A., Brown, A., & Bamman, M. M. (2000). Resistance training increases total energy expenditure and free-living physical activity in older adults. Journal of Applied Physiology, 89(3), 977-984.
5.) Holloszy, J. O. (1973). Biochemical Adaptations to Exercise; Aerobic Metabolism1. Exercise and sport sciences reviews, 1(1), 45-72.
6.) Wilkinson, S. B., Phillips, S. M., Atherton, P. J., Patel, R., Yarasheski, K. E., Tarnopolsky, M. A., & Rennie, M. J. (2008). Differential effects of resistance and endurance exercise in the fed state on signalling molecule phosphorylation and protein synthesis in human muscle. The journal of physiology, 586(15), 3701-3717.
7.) Warburton, D. E., Nicol, C. W., & Bredin, S. S. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. Canadian medical association journal, 174(6), 801-809.
8.) Tremblay, A., Simoneau, J. A., & Bouchard, C. (1994). Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism, 43(7), 814-818.
