4 Proven Ways to Build Strength & Power

Developing maximal strength adaptations is beneficial for everyone from elite athletes to the elderly and everyone in between.

Because strength is key for most of the population, human performance researchers and sports scientists have teamed up over the past few decades in order to determine how to maximize progress with the latest scientific training protocols.

Essentially these researchers have been looking for the safest and most effective way to manipulate certain variables of training such as load, intensity, volume frequency and exercise selection.

Within this article I will provide you with four of the most recent breakthroughs in human performance research to help YOU build maximal strength in the shortest possible time!

From increasing your squat to help your legs and glutes grow, to improving sports performance, the methods in this article will give you the background and knowledge you need to maximize your current workouts.

Here are 4 scientifically backed tips to help you build strength.

Background: Principles of Strength Training

Before we dive in, it’s important for me to give you a quick review of the basic principles of strength training.

While the latest training technique with bands or chains may seem sexy, like everything, the main principles of strength training that were discovered years ago that are still key today.

For example, here are some of the key and fundamental principles of strength training you must master and focus on:

• Load/weight on the bar,
• Number of sets,
• Repetitions,
• Changes in exercise selection,
• Rest period length,
• Careful manipulation of volume (sets x reps),
• Intensity … these must all be accounted for (1).

Essentially, in order to continually force your body to adapt to strength training, you have to train with sufficient loads that are going to challenge your musculoskeletal system.

Recent research suggests that for untrained individuals to maximize strength training adaptations they need to train with at least 60% 1RM, 3 days per week, 4 sets per muscle group.

However, for trained athletes, a mean training intensity of 85% 1RM, 2 days per week, 8 sets per muscle group has been shown to enhance muscular strength (2).

In short, you need to lift heavy, several times per week, progress the weights, stay consistent and eat well

Now we’ve covered the basics, you’re ready to take your strength training to the next level with these four tips!

1. Linear Periodization To Maximize Strength Gains

Periodization refers to the systematic (orderly) variation of key training variables.

There have been several different periodization models that have been shown to provide favorable strength adaptations (3).

The first model of periodization to gain traction was Linear or Traditional periodization. This consists of several training blocks starting at high volumes with low intensities and gradually progressing to periods of high intensity and low training volumes (4).

In less technical terms, you would start with lots of sets but less weight then switch to higher weight with less sets.

While this has been effective for many, linear periodization can be slightly boring within a training regimen due to infrequent variations or changes in exercises etc. Also, linear periodization may increase the athlete’s risk of overreaching as they repeat the same exercises etc. (5).

2. Non-linear or Daily Undulating Periodization To Maximize Strength Gains

Recent research has brought to light a new model of periodization referred to as nonlinear or daily undulating, in which volume and intensity are varied on a daily basis (rather than every 1-2 months like above).

For example, in a linear approach you may do 6 weeks of hypertrophy training, 4 weeks of strength training, followed by 3 weeks of power training. However, in a NON-linear or Daily Undulating Periodization approach you may perform a hypertrophy, power and strength workout all in one week!

This model of periodization seems to provide athletes with more frequent variations in volume and intensity and may reduce boredom, injury risk and actually result in improved maximal strength training adaptations as the body is provided with new and unique stimuli multiple times in one week.

In fact, one group of researchers directly compared traditional periodization to non-linear on maximal strength training adaptations.

27 strength trained men were split into three groups non-periodized, linear-periodized, and non-linear and each followed their respective training regimen for 12 weeks.

At the conclusion of training effect sizes revealed that non-linear periodization resulted in improved maximal strength training adaptations on the leg press and bench press

(4.6KG & 2.9KG VS 1.1KG & 0.6KG) respectively (6).

These results have been replicated on various occasions; another group of researchers ran a similar investigation and demonstrated average strength gains on the bench press and leg press to be 14.4% and 30.1% greater following a non-linear model (7)!

How to Apply Non-Linear Periodization to Maximize Strength

The benefits of a non-linear approach are that it provides the athlete or lifter more flexibility in organizing their workouts. If your goal is maximal strength on the “big three lifts”, an example routine following a non-linear approach is listed below.

Monday: Squat, Bench Press, Dead Lift –  Hypertrophy

Wednesday: Squat, Bench Press, Dead Lift –  Power

Friday: Squat, Bench Press, Dead Lift –  Strength

3. Applying Resistance Bands to Maximize Strength Gains 

Once you have your weekly routine planned out, another way you can maximize strength gains is by adding variable resistance training techniques such as elastic bands.

Elastic resistance bands have previously been shown to improve both strength and power adaptations in highly trained athletes.

In theory, overloading the eccentric portion (lowering) of a lift with added resistance from the bands may force the neuromuscular system to recruit more type two fibers, increasing maximal strength gains (8).

One study particularly applied resistance bands to a non-linear strength training plan. These researchers took 14 college athletes and split them into two conditions.

The control group followed the same workouts without resistance bands. However, the banded group added 30% of their 1RM in band tension on the back squat and bench press exercises on their power days.

After 5 weeks of training the resistance bands group demonstrated greater improvements in rate of power development, back squat 1RM and bench press 1RM (9)!

You can order these bands from stores such as EliteFTS or MyProtein.

4.  Creatine Monohydrate to Maximize Strength Gains

Once you’ve effectively applied the basics including overload, progression, non-linear periodization and variable resistance training you’re ready for the final piece of the puzzle, creatine monohydrate!

Creatine is arguably the most effective and widely used sports supplement and rightly so.

Creatine works by increasing the amount of readily available ATP energy in the muscle. ATP is the energy system that fuels high power/strength activities, helping our muscles contract and produce force. It’s basically like the gasoline to your car, it provides all our cells with energy to function.

One group of researchers examined the effects of creatine supplementation on strength and strength endurance in highly trained power lifters.

At the conclusion of training, strength gains on the bench press increased by 20lbs in the creatine group compared to only 5.6 in placebo. That’s a 400% greater increase!

In regards to strength endurance, the creatine group demonstrated average increases of 39.7% compared to only 7.1% in the placebo, over 500% greater gains! (10)

But before you ask, this wasn’t just a one-off or poorly designed study. These results have been replicated time and time again and researchers conclude that creatine just may be the most effective supplement for strength and power gains as well as muscular growth (11).

In fact, research has demonstrated an average increase of 4.4lbs of muscle mass when taking creatine paired with resistance training compared to no creatine (12). It’s also extremely safe, cheap to buy (a bottle is $10) and healthy!

Time To Maximize Your Strength Gains!

There you have 4 effective and research-proven techniques to boost your strength. For most, working on the basics first will provide the biggest reward. If you are highly advanced, using techniques such as resistant bands, forced reps, cluster sets etc. can also help bust plateaus and provide quick improvements. Learn more about Advanced Training Technique tips in this article: https://www.rudymawer.com/blog/5-advanced-workout-methods-for-rapid-muscle/

• Before adding any special tips into your strength training regimen make sure you have your basic principles in check. These include the chronic alteration of load, number of sets, repetitions, exercise selection, order, rest period length and the careful manipulation of volume and intensity.

• Next, non-linear periodization or DUP provides you with more frequent variation of volume and intensity which has been shown to lead to improved strength adaptations (you may also enjoy it more as your routine changes within a week).

• Adding resistance bands to your big three lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) may help optimize strength and power development by providing added resistance throughout the entire strength curve.

• Lastly, supplementing with creatine will help you train harder and quickly improve your strength gains. It’s also extremely effective for adding muscle mass, safe, low in cost and provides health benefits.

1.) Kraemer, W. J., Adams, K., Cafarelli, E., Dudley, G. A., Dooly, C., Feigenbaum, M. S., … & Newton, R. U. (2002). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 34(2), 364-380.

2.) Peterson, M. D., Rhea, M. R., & Alvar, B. A. (2004). Maximizing strength development in athletes: a meta-analysis to determine the dose-response relationship. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 18(2), 377-382.

3.)  Stone, M. H., O’bryant, H. S., Schilling, B. K., Johnson, R. L., Pierce, K. C., Haff, G. G., & Koch, A. J. (1999). Periodization: Effects of Manipulating Volume and Intensity. Part 2. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 21(3), 54.

4.) Willoughby, D. S. (1993). The Effects of Mesocycle-Length Weight Training Programs Involving Periodization and Partially Equated Volumes on Upper and Lower Body Strength. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 7(1), 2-8.

5.) Zourdos, M. C. (2017). Physiological responses to two different models of daily undulating periodization in trained powerlifters.

6.) Monteiro, A. G., Aoki, M. S., Evangelista, A. L., Alveno, D. A., Monteiro, G. A., da Cruz Piçarro, I., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2009). Nonlinear periodization maximizes strength gains in split resistance training routines. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(4), 1321-1326.

7.) Rhea, M. R., Ball, S. D., Phillips, W. T., & Burkett, L. N. (2002). A comparison of linear and daily undulating periodized programs with equated volume and intensity for strength. The Journal of strength & conditioning research, 16(2), 250-255.

8.) Anderson, C. E., Sforzo, G. A., & Sigg, J. A. (2008). The effects of combining elastic and free weight resistance on strength and power in athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 22(2), 567-574.

9.) Joy, J. M., Lowery, R. P., de Souza, E. O., & Wilson, J. M. (2016). Elastic bands as a component of periodized resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 30(8), 2100-2106.

10.) Kelly, V. G., & Jenkins, D. G. (1998). Effect of oral creatine supplementation on near-maximal strength and repeated sets of high-intensity bench press exercise. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 12(2), 109-115.

11.) Buford, T. W., Kreider, R. B., Stout, J. R., Greenwood, M., Campbell, B., Spano, M., … & Antonio, J. (2007). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 4(1), 6.

12.) Kreider, R. B. (2003). Effects of creatine supplementation on performance and training adaptations. Molecular and cellular biochemistry, 244(1-2), 89-94.

https://www.rudymawer.com/blog/4-tips-build-strength/

Practice Consistency As A Skill

Of all the areas you can focus on in your training, the single one that yields the biggest results is consistency. Whatever your training goals, consistency is important across the board in achieving them. This article focuses specifically on the most common goals of building muscle and burning fat, but the principle applies to all aspects of training. 

To train consistently, you will have to train when you don’t want to, when you’re injured, and when you’re tired. But working around these obstacles with a balanced approach will keep you motivated and moving forward. Too often we all put the brakes on training due to injury or tiredness. Yes, you must take time to rest, and should follow proper injury rehab protocol, but don’t use it as an excuse to opt out of training altogether. Ask yourself, is that voice in your head protecting you, or are you just making excuses?

We are the “Intsa” generation. We want everything now. Our movies, music, news, and even our fitness goals. We’re told to do weights and cardio at the same time, that HIIT workouts will solve everything, and CrossFit is the way. Take the blue pill and you’ll lose 10 pounds! Eat no carbs, eat loads of protein, eat fat, don’t eat fat. 

So much of the advice we get is extreme and only sustainable in the short term, but true gains in fitness take time and consistency. Whether it’s muscle gain, fat loss, or learning a new skill, be prepared to put the work. It will be rewarding, and if you can learn to enjoy the process, there is a much better chance of achieving your goals and maintaining at that level for longer. 

What Does Consistency Do for You?

When you train consistently, you give your body a more gradual curve to adapt to the stress of training, easing its way to higher levels of fitness. The longer period of time you develop a base of fitness, the less effect an interruption of training has. There is a common trend of doing something different all the time, going for the latest training method or exercise. But this hinders building the vital consistent base. Too much variety and variability can result in a reverse of adaptations, rather than greater gains. 

Consistency occurs in the small areas. Focus on the day by day, session by session, and meal by meal. It’s a skill that needs to be worked on and applied daily. Working on it on a daily basis also makes it easier to manage when you mess up. Make a bad food choice? Make a good one the next meal, and you’re back on track. Bad training session? No problem, you have another session tomorrow to do better.

The more infrequently you train, the greater the importance is placed on each session. Your inconsistency leads to too much stress, as you try to make up for the missed sessions by doing extra hard training. These hard sessions will not make up for the missed training, and could potentially lead to overstressing the body, resulting in a decrease in performance, injury, illness, and further missed sessions. 

By contrast, when you train consistently, you don’t need to go all out each session. There is more room and flexibility for variation in intensity. There is even room for outright bad sessions. You have more opportunity to try different set and rep schemes, and different exercises. Your sessions can be shorter, which is less stressful and gives you more time outside the gym to live life. Consistency enables increases in skill and technical proficiency, as you spend more time working on these areas.

Obstacles to Consistency, and Some Solutions

Your kids’ birthdays, work, holidays, and the rest of life will always try to throw you off track. You need to accept that there will always be something that life throws up that will get in the way of your training. Don’t use these as excuses. Have backup workouts to go to if your energy is low or you’re short on time. Go shorter, or just do bodyweight, or a little skill work, but don’t skip the workout. Consistent short, targeted, and intense workouts are far better than irregular 1-2 hour workouts. 

Do your best to get ahead of the curve by planning ahead. Have some pre-made meals in the freezer. Always have a few key ingredients in your cupboard, so you can rustle up a quick meal, and have a few go-to meals you can make with your eyes closed. Cook for two nights instead of one. It’s the same prep, cooking and cleaning time. 

Keep spare workout gear in your place of work or in your car so you don’t get to the gym and realize you forgot it. Get up earlier and train in the morning before your day starts, and you won’t be frazzled from a full day in the office. If you leave the session till the end of the day, all your willpower will have been used up and you won’t train. 

Allow yourself to be human in your training. The perfection mindset breeds failure. When real life happens and things aren’t so perfect, people who think this way throw in the towel fast. Don’t strive for perfection all the time. Stop waiting for the perfect time to train, to start a new program. Focus on the now, start now. You can change in the now. You haven’t got control over achieving perfection, but you do have control of what you do now.

Get out of the mindset that if you don’t have access to a gym, you can’t train. The world is your gym. Do a set of push ups at work. Get a pull up bar at home. You don’t need to be in gym gear and in the gym to train. Train at home first thing in the morning. You can get a lot done in a few minutes. 

Add new movements and challenges to keep things fun. Variety also prevents injury from over-trained muscles. You still need to build that solid base, but once that is in place you can add in some variety. For example, choose handstand push ups instead of military presses. Both are vertical pressing exercises, but handstand push ups are way more fun! 

Consistency creates momentum, and vice versa. Pick a number of training sessions per training block to help build momentum. It’s much easier to build on 10 sessions than 2 sessions. By just adding one more you’ve hit 11 sessions. Keep building! 

Nobody Said It Would Be Easy

Consistency results in adaptability, which you can fall back on physically and mentally during challenging periods or as a result of interruption. If there is no consistency in your training, there will be little or no foundation for an adaptive response. To produce a given training goal or objective, training needs to be consistent and regular. Not being consistent in your training will lead to losses, not gains. 

Life is going to get in the way. Some days, you’re going to be tired, the session will seem too hard, and you’re not going to want to train. Accept these obstacles as a fact of life and training, but don’t use them as an excuse. Consistency matched with quality workouts, good recovery, and a balanced diet equals results.

https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/practice-consistency-as-a-skill

Morning Rituals of Tony Robbins, Oprah, Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga and the Most Successful People

HOW TO BUILD MUSCLE?

HOW TO BUILD MUSCLE: THE BASIC GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS

Want to know how to build real muscle quickly? That all depends on whether you want to get big or get strong. Both involve lifting weights and getting the right nutrition, but the ways of going about them are slightly different. Here, we’ll let you in on the right methods for you, whether you’re just looking to increase your overall size or strength.

LIFTING WEIGHTS TO MAKE GAINS

People often expect that they’ll have to spend all day and night at the gym in order to get big. That’s not really true. Experts recommend training just two or three times a week to make decent sized gains, but a lot of routines out there are based on a five-day program. Shorter bursts of more intense training are better than prolonged periods of light exercise when it comes to building muscle.

Intensity is key to getting bigger muscles quickly. The quantity or sets and reps you do is of paramount importance: the more intense and rapid the workout, the faster you’ll see results. Your muscles begin to grow whenever their cells are placed under “metabolic stress”- and if you’ve ever felt your arms bulging after a workout, that’s exactly what’s happening: your muscles are producing the extra chemical by-products needed to lift the weights. So, what does all this mean? Basically, you’ll need to do a whole lot of lifting. A good example of
a routine would be 3 to 5 sets of between 8 and 15, where you’ll be struggling to compete by the end but could maybe manage one or two more. You need to push yourself hard, but not to the point of failure. And getting rest between the sets if extremely important- though it shouldn’t be more than a couple of minutes- because muscle tiredness if what we’re looking for.

This brings us back to the question of: “how often should I be training?” The five-day routines mentioned above- where one day is for your chest, another for your legs, etc.- is still the preferred way of gaining muscle, but you can definitely get enough done in just three days if the workouts are intense enough.

Below I’ve included an example of a chest routine that I prefer when making gains:

Around 4×12 reps of:

Decline press

Incline press

Bench press

Remember not to break for more than two minutes between sets. This is vital to increasing muscle mass.

LIFTING WEIGHTS TO BUILD STRENGTH

The only way of getting your body to become stronger is to show it that it has no other choice. That means, unlike lifting to build muscle, you need to test your body to breaking point. You’ll be using much heavier weights with far fewer reps, and expecting to fail a few times as you push your body to the max. Of course, you’ll need to take longer rest periods between these exhausting exercises, but your body simply won’t be able to recover properly without them.

For this type of routine, you should be using rep ranges of around 3 to 6. Your weights should really push you hard, so that you can’t lift anymore after completing your set. Because the workload is so much more, you’ll need to give yourself at least four to six minutes between each set, giving your body enough time to get ready for the next challenge.

Because you’ll be lifting a lot more weight at about half the amount of reps required for building muscle, you should first use some lighter weights in order to get used to the movements involved. This practice could be used as part of a warm-up routine before you start increasing the loads. When it comes to reps in a set, you should start off with, for example, 3 reps, then move down to 2 and so on, as your body becomes more and more tired.

Resting periods are crucial if you’re looking to build strength. That’s because your muscle groups need to fully recover before you start training  them again. Typically, you’ll need one or two days for your muscles to get back to normal, but you definitely shouldn’t wait more than three days to start training again if you want to see real gains.

Strength training really requires you to use all your muscle groups in coordination rather than just isolating one or two at a time. For this we’d recommend doing upper/lower body groups on different days, either that or back/front groupings instead. We’d recommend doing this four times a week but you can definitely get away with just three.

Here’s a quick back workout that focuses on the whole body :

(All have a rest period of 2-3 minutes between sets)

5 deadlifts (5, 5, 3, 3, 1)

5 T-bar rows (4-6)

5 single-arm dumbbell rows (5, 5, 3, 3, 1)

5 seated cable rows (4-6)

5 Hammer Strength rows (4-6)

BY AMY ROBERTS http://clik6.com/how-to-build-muscle-the-basic-guide-for-beginners/

The Effects Of Negative Emotions On Our Health

If you think emotions aren’t directly correlated with your biological systems, think again!

Humans experience an array of emotions, anything from happiness, to sadness to extreme joy and depression.

Each one of these emotions creates a different feeling within the body.

After all, our body releases different chemicals when we experience various things that make us happy and each chemical works to create a different environment within the body.

For example if your brain releases serotonin, dopamine or oxytocin, you will feel good and happy. Convexly, if your body releases cortisol while you are stressed, you will have an entirely different feeling associated more with the body kicking into survival mode.

What about when we are thinking negative thoughts all the time? Or how about when we are thinking positive thoughts? What about when we are not emotionally charged to neither positive nor negative?

Let’s explore how these affect our body and life.

POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE

Is there duality in our world?

Sure, you could say there is to a degree, but mostly we spend a lot of time defining and judging what is to be considered as positive and what we consider to be as negative.

The brain is a very powerful tool and as we define what something is or should be, we begin to have that result play out in our world.

Have you ever noticed, for example that someone driving can get cut off and lose their lid, get angry and suddenly they are feeling negative, down and in  bad mood?

Whereas someone else can get cut off while driving and simply apply the break slightly and move on with their day as if nothing happened.

In this case, the same experience yet one sees it as negative while the other doesn’t. So are things innately positive and negative? Or do we define things as positive and negative?

CUT THE PERCEPTIONS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

After thinking about it for a moment you might realize that there are in fact no positive or negative experiences other than what we define as such.

Therefore our very perception of an experience or situation has the ultimate power as to how we will feel when it’s happening and how our bodies will be affected.

While we can always work to move beyond our definitions of each experience and move into a state of mind/awareness/consciousness where we simply accept each experience for what it is and use it as a learning grounds for us, we may not be there yet and so it’s important to understand how certain emotions can affect our health.

“If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him.” – Hippocrates

MIND BODY CONNECTION

The connection between your mind and body is very powerful and although it cannot be visually seen, the effects your mind can have on your physical body are profound.

We can have an overall positive mental attitude and deal directly with our internal challenges and in turn create a healthy lifestyle or we can be in negative, have self destructive thoughts and not deal with our internal issues, possibly even cloak those issues with affirmations and positivity without finding the route and in turn we can create an unhealthy lifestyle. Why is this?

Our emotions and experiences are essentially energy and they can be stored in the cellular memory of our bodies.

Have you ever experienced something in your life that left an emotional mark or pain in a certain area of your body? Almost as if you can still feel something that may have happened to you? It is likely because in that area of your body you still hold energy released from that experience that is remaining in that area.

I came across an interesting chart that explores some possible areas that various emotions might affect the body (featured above).

When you have a pain, tightness or injuries in certain areas, it’s often related to something emotionally you are feeling within yourself.

At first glance it may not seem this way because we are usually very out of touch with ourselves and our emotions in this fast paced world, but it’s often the truth.

When I’ve had chronic pains in my back, knees, neck or shoulders, it wasn’t exercise, physio or anything in a physical sense that healed it, it was when I dealt with the emotions behind it.

I know this because I spent the time and money going to physio and even though I wanted and believed I would get better, something wasn’t being addressed still. The more I addressed the unconscious thought pattern and emotions throughout my body, the more thins loosened up and pain went away.

When you get sick or are feeling a lot of tightness and pain, often times our body is asking us to observe yourself and find peace once again within yourself and your environment. It’s all a learning and growing process we don’t have to judge nor fear. 

YOU HAVE THE POWER

Davis Suzuki wrote in ‘The Sacred Life’, ‘condensed molecules from breath exhaled from verbal expressions of anger, hatred, and jealousy, contain toxins. Accumulated over 1 hr, these toxins are enough to kill 80 guinea pigs!’

Can you now imagine the harm you are doing to your body when you stay within negative emotions or unprocessed emotional experience throughout the body? Remember, you have all the power in you to get through anything life throws at you. Instead of labeling with perception the concepts of negative and positive as it relates to each experience you have in your life, try to see things from a big picture standpoint.

Ask yourself, how can this help me to see or learn something? Can I use this to shift my perception? Clear some emotion within myself? Realize something within another and accept it?

Whatever it may be, instead of simply reacting, slow things down and observe. You will find you have the tools to process emotions and illness quickly when you see them for what they are and explore why they came up. If you believe you will get sick all the time, and believe you have pain because it’s all out of your control, you will continue to have it all in an uncontrollable manner until you realize the control you have over much of what we attract within the body.

Joe Martino http://simplecapacity.com/2016/04/the-effects-of-negative-emotions-on-our-health/

19 Genius Health Tips

19 Genius Health Tips Lazy People Will Appreciate

Working hard or hardly working?

1. Stock up on frozen veggies and berries to have on hand when you might need them.

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It’s so much easier than having to remember to buy them fresh, and then also having to remember to cook them before they turn into gross smelly puddles of goo in the back of your refrigerator.

Toss your frozen berries into oatmeal or eat a few as a sweet dessert. And cook up your frozen veggies as side dishes, in stir fry, soups, and more.

2. Buy a season (or a series) of a very addictive TV show. Force yourself to watch it ONLY while you’re running on the treadmill, using the elliptical, or pedaling a stationary bike.

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This was a tip from the story 14 Former Couch Potatoes Share Their Best Tips For Getting In Shape. Try it with 24, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Pretty Little Liars, or Homeland… or any other show that’ll keep you pretty riveted and desperate to find out what happens next.

3. Eat from small plates, bowls, cups, and jars to help manage your portion sizes.

ambitiouskitchen.com

Some research suggests that you’ll have an easier time with portion sizes (and feeling good about limiting portion sizes) when you eat from smaller plates and bowls. Because when you have a small portion on a big plate, you feel like you’re depriving yourself — but when that same portion takes up a lot of real estate on a smaller plate, you’ll think you’re eating more.

Get the recipe for the almond butter, strawberry, and banana overnight oats here.

4. Or eat from plates and bowls that are a different color than the food you have in front of you, also to help with portion sizes.

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Other research has shown that people tend to eat more food when the food is roughly the same color as the plate, compared to people eating food that contrasts with the color of the plate.

5. Prepare a box of grab-and-go snacks on Sundays so you always have something healthy to nosh on every day.

Kelly / Via newleafwellness.biz

Make sure you take them with you each day. Snacking on healthy things throughout the day will keep your energy up and will keep you from overeating at your meals. Here are 22 healthy and filling snacks under 200 calories for some inspiration!

6. Make good friends with a slow cooker.

thefoodiecorner.gr

Cooking with a slow cooker is basically the easiest kind of cooking. And you can make all sorts of healthy stews and soups and other stuff with them.

Here are 24 healthy and delicious things you can make in a slow cooker, here are 27 delicious low-carb dinners to make in a slow cooker, and HERE are 33 delicious paleo recipes to make in a slow cooker.

Get the recipe for those slow cooker vegan coconut rice pudding bowls with mangoes and pistachios here.

7. Carry around a big old water bottle wherever you go.

Via kickstarter.com

Via kickstarter.com

 

Always be hydrating! If you need some ~inspiration~ to get your water in, here are 13 easy ways to drink more water every day. OR, you can also back the Kickstarter for HydrateMe, a water bottle that syncs with your cell phone, tracks how much water you’ve been drinking, and glows when you need to drink some more (pictured above).

8. Drink a cup of black coffee before you work out, because it’ll help you burn more fat.

ABC / Via thotzee.tumblr.com

ABC / Via thotzee.tumblr.com

 

FUN TIP. As BuzzFeed Life previously reported, caffeine in coffee will free up your fat cells for your body to use as energy, according to Tim Coyle, exercise physiologist at ComiteMD. And it’ll also jazz you up a bit, which means you might even work out harder than you normally do. Read 17 things everyone should know about metabolism for some more facts and tips.

9. And eat some protein within half an hour after you work out, so you can build muscles ~faster~.

Old Spice / Via reddit.com

“When you work out, you break down muscle tissue and your body absolutely depends on protein in order to build that muscle back up. And muscle is the key to increasing your metabolism,” Albert Matheny, C.S.C.S., co-founder of Soho Strength Lab and advisor at Naked Nutrition, told BuzzFeed Life in a previous story. A Greek yogurt could be a good option here.

10. Keep your hair dryer in your gym locker.

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This basically forces you to get to the gym, OR ELSE. Very sneaky.

11. Prep all your workout gear the night before, so it’s all ready for you when you wake up.

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When you don’t have to dig through your drawers for your gym shorts, getting up and at ‘em gets a lot easier. It’s the small things, you know.

12. Go ahead and sleep in your workout outfit, if you have to.

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The ultimate in lazy = not even having to change out of your pajamas. Boom.

13. Fill half your plate with vegetables for lunch and dinner, and then make sure you eat the vegetables first.

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Vegetables are obviously good for you, so you should be eating them for like a million reasons. But something that some people don’t know is that, due to the high-fiber content in a lot of veggies, they can actually make you feel full and satisfied pretty quickly. Eating your veggies first before you get to the other stuff means that you’ll be less likely to overindulge on things that are less nutrient-dense and filled with ingredients that aren’t so good for you. Read 29 small ways to change your eating habits big time for more tips like this.

14. Leave your blinds open at night, so the sunlight helps wake you up in the morning.

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This is especially helpful if you’re trying to get into a habit of working out in the morning, btw.

15. Prep your lunches for the week on Sundays so you can just grab them without thinking when you’re out the door in the morning.

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Here are 17 tricks to help you eat healthy without even trying (and they’re all about prepping meals for the week).

Get the recipe for the grilled chicken veggie bowls here.

16. Set an alarm about an hour before you want to be asleep, so you can harass yourself to get moving on your bedtime routine.

Carolyn Kylstra / BuzzFeed

Getting good sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Good sleep involves a few things: Having a regular sleep schedule; actually sleeping for seven to nine hours a night; and having peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. It also really helps if you’re going to bed and waking up at a consistent time every day, BuzzFeed Life previously reported.

Help yourself in more ways than one by making sure you’re in bed at the same time every night (and also make sure that time isn’t like 2 a.m.) Setting an alarm to go off at 10 p.m. can alert you that you should start washing your face and doing everything else you need to do before bed, so you can consistently be tucked in by 11.

17. Lower your thermostat before you go to bed to about 65 degrees for a better night’s sleep.

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The National Sleep Foundation recommends this temperature because some research has shown that it might help promote better sleep.

18. Put your phone on airplane or do not disturb mode before bed.

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To make sure that you aren’t woken up throughout the night by dings and noises that can seriously just wait until morning.

19. And take a few minutes every day to unwind.

Lauren Zaser / Justine Zwiebel / BuzzFeed / buzzfeed.com

Chronic stress can wreak havoc on your health, so it’s important to do what you can to limit your stress and find ways to relax and unwind. This restorative yoga pose is one of the three best yoga poses for stress relief. If yoga isn’t your thing, here are 26 genius tricks to help you deal with too much stress, and they’re all super easy. Maybe something on there will speak to you.

Carolyn Kylstra https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolynkylstra/lazy-human-health-tips?utm_term=.cvEXnjOLQ#.ield6qyv8