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How to Burn Fat Without Losing Muscle

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A lot of bodybuilders still rely on going through bulking and cutting cycles in order to get the incredible muscle physiques that they display on stage.

This makes sense because it is the quickest and most efficient way to add muscle. Adding muscle means being in a calorie surplus. The more calories you consume, the more anabolic your body will be – the more testosterone will be washing around your body and the less likely you will be to burn muscle for fuel. But of course, eating extra calories makes it even harder not to gain any fat – and especially when you’re getting them from sugar ‘weight gainer’ products and the like. muscle

Fortunately, this isn’t a problem for bodybuilders. They simply follow this period up with a period of dieting hard, which causes their body to burn the fat away from the muscle. A tiny bit of muscle is lost but mainly, it’s fat that will disappear. Hence the ‘bulk and cut’.

But you’re not a bodybuilder (probably). You probably don’t want to spend half the year looking overweight. So how can you use cardio to stay lean and add muscle at the same time?

The Problem With Cardio

The reason that most bodybuilders will stay away from intensive cardio when they’re bulking is that it puts the body once again in a catabolic state. When you run using steady state cardio, your body will supply energy by turning to your blood sugar and your fat stores.

Unfortunately, this means your blood sugar drops. And when your blood sugar drops, your body responds by releasing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Ghrelin release is always followed by cortisol (the stress hormone) and cortisol is followed by myostatin – a molecule that signals the breakdown of muscle. The more myostatin, the more muscle you lose.

Add to the fact that your body will get 15% of its energy from protein and you have a scenario that is not good for building muscle.

The Answer

There are a few solutions.

One such option is to walk. Walking will allow you to burn energy at a much slower rate and avoid completely depleting your energy stores. This means you never get to the point where you have very low blood sugar and you never start cannibalizing that hard-won muscle.

Another option is to use HIIT. This is High Intensity Interval Training, which means alternating between spurts of sprinting and periods of jogging. The good thing about this is that the sprinting portion doesn’t burn blood sugar or muscle and instead relies on energy stored as glycogen. You’ll spend less time in a catabolic state and lose less muscle as a result – and so many bodybuilders will use HIIT ‘finishers’ following a workout.

Finally, you can also use nutrition to protect yourself and reduce your chances of losing muscle. The best way to do this is by consuming BCAAs – branch chained amino acids. These have been shown to have a very positive effect in reducing muscle breakdown during exercise.

How to Get Six Pack Abs

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Most guys say that they want to lose their belly fat and would like to get a flat stomach. While this is an understandable aim however, it is also a rather unambitious one. Because surely what most guys would really like is to have a ripped set of six pack abs!

A six pack is one of the best indicators of overall health and fitness. It’s a look that the opposite sex finds highly attractive and that is most often sported by Hollywood actors, cover models and top actors.abs

It also happens to be functionally very useful and able to improve your performance in just about every movement and sport.

So how do you go about getting the look?

Diet

The first thing of course is to diet. That means you need to try to maintain a rough caloric deficit, as well as concentrating on precisely how and when you are eating your food in order to try and ensure that you don’t encourage your body to store any more fat than necessary.

Doing this will allow you to lower your body fat percentage and this is important because it is what will allow you to get your abs to show through your stomach.

Often you will hear that you will have visible abs as long as your body fat is sub 10%.

This is true, as at this low level of fat, even underdeveloped abs will protrude and be visible. However, if you combine exercise as well (see the next section), then you won’t need to get your percentage that low.

Someone like Chris Evans (Captain America) is a great example of how good your abs can look at around 12-15%.

Exercise

With that in mind then, you also need to focus on training your abs to increase their strength and make them thicker and thus more visible. To see how this can look, try contracting your abs right now.

You’ll find they instantly become more visible, which shows just what a difference the size of these muscles makes.

Your abs are actually made up from multiple muscle groups, but the part that creates the six-pack look is called the rectus abdominis. This is the sheet of muscle on the front of the stomach that is used in order to prevent the body from bending backwards and to help us lean forward.

To train this area then, you need to perform exercise that involve bending forward such as sit ups and crunches. What’s important is to make sure you feel the rectus abdominis doing the work and that you are folding at the stomach.

In other words, do not allow yourself to bend at the hips, in which case you won’t really be working the abs at all.

Another tip is to train the transverse abdominis too. This is the band of muscle that wraps around the core and that holds the stomach in while supporting the back.

This is what will help to keep your stomach flat, while the rectus abdominis gives it the detail.

Top 5 Foods That Combat Stress

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Nothing can ever replace the damage caused by stress to your body. Busy schedules, work deadlines, and other environmental factors promote stress and reduce the natural defenses of the body. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to combat stress. Healthy eating has a positive effect in reducing stress in a natural and effective way.

Here are top foods that combat stress.

stress1. Blueberries

Blueberries are a proven stress buster. It is crammed with antioxidants that revives and rejuvenates the damaged cells in the body and relieves stress. It neutralizes free radicals in the body and prevents cell damage. It also improves the body’s response to fight stress and anxiety. Besides, blueberries also improve immunity, which again, plays a vital role in reducing stress.

2. Dark chocolate

This could be an ultimate delight for chocolate lovers. Not all chocolates have the power to combat stress in an effective way, but the dark chocolate which has a relaxing effect on your body. Studies reveal that consumption of dark chocolate shows a reduction in cortisol- the stress hormone, thereby relieving stress. The cocoa has a high amount of antioxidant that lowers the blood pressure and relaxes the blood vessels. For a calming effect, go for chocolates that have over 70 % cocoa, says experts.

3. Avocados

If you are not trying to lose weight, avocados may prove to be beneficial for combating stress. The creamy fruit contains glutathione that blocks the absorption of fats responsible for the oxidative damage. The fruit also increases satiety and you feel more satisfied. This reduces stress and promotes a better health. Since it is high in fats, consider limiting your intake by adding just half an avocado in your lunch.

4. Cashews

Nuts have always been a great snack, but cashews have an added advantage. The crunchy nut is packed with proteins and omega-3s that reduce cravings and make you feel full. They are rich in zinc that helps in preventing stress. Zinc deficiency is one of the major causes of stress and anxiety. So, replenishing your zinc stores may help in preventing stress altogether. Having a few every day may seem beneficial for anyone. Besides, they can also be a great snack for those trying to lose weight due to its high protein content.

5. Salmon

Eating salmon has many heath benefits, the major being stress relief. The fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acid which is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Studies show that it helps in reducing the stress hormone cortisol as well as adrenaline and induces a calming effect. People who consume salmon on a regular basis have shown a reduced level of stress as compared to those who do not. In addition to it, salmon is also a great food for your heart.

Buying Diet Plans and Workouts – What to Look Out For and What to Expect

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There are many ways to approach weight loss  but one of the most popular options these days is to invest in buying an ebook, an online course or a set of DVDs. These programs are widely available online and through TV ads and they promise to make weight loss easy by giving us all the information we need laid out in front of us and removing any and all guess work.

But do these diet plans really work? Are they good value? And what can you do to get the most from them?buying

The Cynical View

One thing to consider is that diet plans can often be over-priced and poorly thought out.
This is not to say that they are ineffective or that the authors don’t know what they are talking about. Often though, the plans are designed in such a way that they will be very difficult to stick to and that most people won’t be able to keep them up for long.

These can often include elaborate eating plans that involve lots of preparation and cost a lot of money, or they might involve lengthy workouts.

Either way, this is not a concern for the author – as from their point of view they will still have sold a product that worked and the only problem was with your inability to stick with it.

Then there is the price.

A training program that costs several hundred dollars might be worth it in terms of the results, but there is no getting around the fact that most of the information is probably available online for much less.

This makes the product poor value at best and certainly not a good way to spend your cash.

The Promising Aspect

That said, this is of course not true for every training program. Some programs will be written with longevity in mind by people who really care.

And some will be available for much less, or will include lots of extras – perhaps personalization.
Personalization is important in fact, because everyone is different and different training programs work better for different people.

With all that in mind, you should have a better idea of what to look for and hopefully you can decide for yourself what would be good value for such a program.

More Advice

Perhaps the most important tip of all though, is that you mustn’t wait for your training program or treat it as gospel. Too often, people will read training programs and buy training programs almost as a form of procrastination.

This is like an unspoken agreement between the seller and the buyer.
While advice can make a big difference and help you to train faster, the reality is that losing weight should not be complicated and essentially amounts to eating less and exercising more.

You can start doing this immediately – there is no need to wait for a training program or diet plan. Don’t use it as an excuse!

Concurrent Training for Even Greater Fat Loss

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What’s the very best way to lose weight? Most people now agree that it probably has something to do with HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. This is a training format that challenges you to divide your time spent in the gym between high intensity bursts of sprinting or otherwise exerting yourself at 100% MHR and periods of active recovery at around 70%.

But what if you could do something to make this HIIT method even more impressive? How can you get even greater results from what is already a very effectual tool? training

The answer is to use concurrent training…

What is Concurrent Training?

Simply, concurrent training is a form of training that combines cardio and resistance into one exercise. This is why it can also sometimes be referred to as ‘resistance cardio’. The idea is then that you are going to perform some kind of rapid movement but while doing it, you will be pushing or pulling against some kind of weight or resistance.

An obvious example of this would be to ride a stationary bike but to increase the resistance setting to ten so that you have to use more strength in your muscles to turn the pedals.

Other examples of concurrent training include certain forms of calisthenics – like clapping push ups or push ups – as well as boxing, swimming, rowing on a heavy setting or the kettlebell swing. The kettlebell swing is of particular interest here because it allows you to lift quiet a heavy weight in a manner that is conducive to long sequences of exertion.

Why it Matters

So why is concurrent training so important? What’s exciting about it?

There are a couple of things that make this such a great too. The first is that by combining resistance and cardio in one routine, you are actually significantly increasing the challenge. You’ll find it harder to move your limbs due to the resistance and thus you’ll need more fast twitch muscle fiber. This requires more energy and so you’ll burn more calories than performing the same movements without the resistance.

Better yet though, when you perform concurrent training, you’ll be protecting your muscle from breakdown. HIIT does this to an extent already but when you include resistance work, you effectively send a strong signal to the body that you need the muscle and it’s not just deadweight slowing you down.

In biological terms, you will be breaking down muscles and flooding them with metabolites, both of which are signals that encourage growth. You’ll produce more growth hormone and more testosterone and these both trigger growth and fat loss.

Better yet, building muscle is great for weight loss goals. That’s because muscle makes you look more toned and honed and is often the quicker way to get the physique you want. Moreover, muscle is metabolically active meaning that you burn more calories by simply having muscle. If you add muscle work into your routine, you’ll burn more fat even when you’re asleep!

Why Sleep Is Essential For Our Health

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In today’s modern society, there are lots of things to do that causes we always come to feel we do not have sufficient time to complete everything. It is not unusual for many individuals to go to bed until midnight and then wake up too early every day to fit in everything. You may think that it is not such a negative thing. Ok, now let us take a peek at the significance of having a quality sleep for our overall health.

Numerous aspects of sleep are still undiscovered at present, even though experts have been engaged in many different scientific studies for decades. Clearly, sleep has long been a mystery. Even so, there are a few facts to convince you that sleep is an important activity.sleep

Simply have a look at a young child. When it happens to be the time for him/her to take a nap, soon you will have to deal with problems since the child will start conducting unpleasant things. Having said that, after getting a short nap, he/she will get back to be fun again. In reality, the same also happens for older people when they have sleep deprivation. Needless to say, they will not exhibit the same responses as toddlers will do, but similar things truly happen.

Some processes take place during sleep. A bodily chemical that influences growth, cell reproduction and regeneration in humans is issued while you are getting a good sleep. This hormone is very essential during the growth period of children. This clarifies the reason babies require sleep so many hours every day. HGH, or human growth hormone, is at the same time used for restoration of tissue structure that is the reason older people need eight hours of sleep every night for their bodies to get the rest they need to repair and re-energize.

Besides issuing HGH, while sleeping other important processes also take place. A system that protects against disease, for example, is affected by the quality of your sleep. Simply put, the body’s defense mechanism will not function normally in case you have sleep deprivation. It has also been known that acquiring a sufficient amount of sleep is important for an individual who wants to manage his weight.

In essence, the significance of sleep cannot be emphasized enough. Lack of sleep has unwanted side effects on your physical and mental condition such as finding it hard to concentrate and to make reasonable judgments. This can put you into a dangerous situation, especially when you must react to something extremely fast.

As just stated, sleep can be viewed as-as an activity for developing and rebuilding. It is needed to regain the energy that has been worn out all day. If you have quality, sound sleep, you will acquire an adequate amount of energy to carry out the new day’s tasks. Even so, bear in mind that the amount of sleep you must have may be not equal with others. Just make sure you always get the full amount of sleep required. If not, your system will begin asking for it.

A Useful Method for Losing Weight: Carb Backloading

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There are many different schools of thought when it comes to losing weight and there are many different systems, diet plans and strategies that claim to be the most effective in the world.

Of course not all of these can work equally though and so your job is to try and weed out the winners from the losers and to identify which strategies are most effective generally and also best suited to your specific lifestyle and biology.losing weight

For your consideration then: carb backloading!

What is Carb Backloading?

The basic idea behind backloading is that you are going to time your meals, or more specifically time your consumption of carbohydrates.

You’ll do this in such a way as to eat carbs like bread, pasta and others only immediately after you have engaged in intensive cardiovascular training.

More specifically than that, you will be timing your consumption of simple carbs in order to follow HIIT workouts. That means that you’ll a low-carb or no-carb diet for the majority of the day and then when you’ve finished an intense training session, you’ll be able to permit yourself to have some pasta or a sandwich.

Why Does it Work?

The idea behind this system is to first empty the energy stored in the muscles (glycogen) before turning to carbohydrates. What this is thought to do is to create a demand on the body that will ensure that the new sugar influx is not stored as fat.

You see, the body only stores excess sugar as fat when it doesn’t have any use for it. If your blood sugar is low when you eat, then your body will use some of the incoming sugar rather than store it. Unfortunately, low blood sugar also stimulates the release of many hormones and it doesn’t take much to get a good supply back.

Conversely though, the body also stores a small amount of energy in the muscle cells as glycogen to allow us to run and fight when we have low blood sugar and we are burning energy too quickly to rely on fat stores.

When this is depleted, the first priority for the body (after powering basic functions) is to restore this energy. Thus, any carbohydrates that you eat within a short window of opportunity will be sent to the muscle and not the belly.

How to Get it Right

Before you try this system, it is important to note that it doesn’t work if you only use steady state cardiovascular exercise. A gentle jog will use up the blood sugar and then turn to fat stores. Conversely, if you sprint or go at 100% output, then your body will have no choice but to use glycogen (because burning fat is too slow).

We can only maintain max output for a short amount of time though and this is where HIIT comes in – as the perfect way to use up this form of energy and create that necessary demand.

List Of Important Running Gears And Accessories

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People say that when you have a good pair of running shoes, you’re good to go. This is generally true, but if you want to make the most out of your running experience, you need to invest on some things.

Following are some of the important running gears and accessories that, although not required to make you a certified runner, can make your running comfortable and trouble-free.

running

1. Shorts.

Many varieties of running shorts are in the market today, but there are two that seem to stand out from the rest. One is the compression tights. Resembling cycling shorts, compression tights are made of fabrics that fit the body tightly so that when the runner is on the move, the muscles are held firmly. This compressive feature offers little chance of chafing. Also a favorite choice among runners, full split shorts have a slit on either side, which allows for the free movement of the leg. Although split shorts are typically short in length, they provide runners with unobstructed and easy stride.

2. Shirt.

Gone are the days of cotton shirts. Shirts with wicking quality, usually made of polyester, are the best choice for running. These types of shirt absorb sweat from the body and keep the temperature low. Thick, long-sleeved shirts are recommended for use during the cold climates and thin, short-sleeved shirts are for warm climates. For extra support and comfort, women are advised to wear sports bra.

3. Socks.

The best pair of running socks prevents blisters. Other sock brands also promise to keep the feet dry and in perfect condition even after running several miles.

4. Reflective vest.

When worn, reflective vest keeps the runner visible, making it very useful to people who run along the roadside or in the dark. It helps avoid accidents and calls attention when the runner is injured. In place of a reflective vest, some runners use reflective stickers, reflective jackets, and LED armbands.

5. Heart rate monitor.

This is important to people who like to keep track of their heart performance and improvements in the pulse. With a chest strap and wrist unit, heart rate monitor displays information on the heart rate and calories burned. Depending on the results of the heart rate monitor, a runner can figure if his training is working and at an appropriate intensity.

6. Running watch.

Because of its multiple uses, a running watch is almost a necessity. It can record distance, time, and pace. Most running watch models today also a have heart rate monitor function, and those that are even more advanced have GPS capabilities. GPS watches can monitor route and distance information, which can be downloaded and stored to track performance. They are a bit expensive, though.

7. Running belt.

One of the important running gears, especially among distance runners, running belt carries important items such as phone, keys, camera, and energy bars and gels. Most running belts are not bulky and do not bounce and budge while the runner is on the move.

Supplements And Your Health

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A lot of people these days are trying to make their health better. No matter where you turn, from TV to newspapers, you’ll see stories about people and how bad their health actually is. Even though there are many different companies out there that offer vitamins and supplements and claim that they will change your healthy, you’ll need to research what they offer and sure that you aren’t just wasting your money.

If you are looking to improve your health, you’ll need to at many different vitamin supplements to find which ones are the best for you. You should look at everything available, and not just try a few to see what happens. Dieting is the ideal place to start, as it can make the most improvements on your health. Dieting can change your body, and make you feel a lot better as well.health

These days, a lot of people eat way too much sweets and sugar, choosing refined products over healthy food. Even though it isn’t a bad thing to enjoy sweets and chocolate, you should never make a habit out of it. You can still enjoy your favorite foods as well, although you should be looking at the healthy benefits of food as well and think of everything as a whole.

If you include healthy foods such as salads, vegetables, and fruit into your diet, you’ll be eating healthy. Protein is also beneficial to your health, as it promotes the growth of your muscle. Those of you, who are serious about eating healthy but are unsure where to start, should contact a nutritionist. They will be able to tell you where to start, and how to achieve a healthy diet that will chance your life.

Even though you may be eating healthy or trying to eat healthy, you’ll probably find yourself wondering about vitamins and supplements and how much of an impact they have on your diet. Dieticians are ideal to consult with these types of questions, as they can answer any questions relating to vitamins that you have. They can also tell you which supplements are ideal to your health, and which ones you should include in your diet.

Different people will have different needs and requirements, making it essential to get advice from a qualified professional. If you get the advice from a professional, you’ll know what you can add to your diet. If you try to do it all yourself without the advice of a professional, you can end up not getting enough in your diet, or you could end up taking something that you shouldn’t be taken.

Exercise is also important to your diet and your health. Although supplements and vitamins will go a long way, exercise will do a lot for your body. If you exercise on a regular basis, and take the right supplements and vitamins with your diet, you’ll notice that you have more energy and you feel better than you ever have in your life.

Before you start with your new diet or rush out and buy your new vitamin supplements, you should always check with your doctor first to see if he has any recommendations. You should also tell him what type of exercise you are planning on doing, and see if there are any complications with your health. Getting a healthy lifestyle is always a great thing, although you should always consult with your doctor. This way, you’ll know the best way to start and how to go about getting in the best shape of your life.

Water and Healthy Eating

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Our bodies need the water to effectively digest food and perform all the necessary functions we ask of it each day. You don’t stop to realize what we ask of this marvelous machine, we just take it for granted that it’s going to function properly. Let’s take a look at the relationship of healthy eating and our body’s daily intake of water. There is a direct correlation between eating healthy and consuming enough water to absorb the vitamins and minerals we need from the healthy food we’ve eaten.

Do you know that your body is 98% water? Do you find this fact hard to believe? Most all of our body fluids are water, and many of our organs are mostly water. Do you suppose water is important to our daily functions? I would hazard a guess of YES.water

During the course of consuming our food, we drink water with our meals. We don’t even stop to think about the role this water plays in our digestive process. We drink it because we become thirsty when we eat.

What happens to the food and water as they enter our digestive system? They are both necessary components of the digestive process. Stomach acids need the water in order to properly breakdown the food as it travels through our stomach, and nutrients are absorbed by the blood. The food continues down the path of the intestines, still being broken down and absorbed through the lining of the intestines, still requiring the presence of water. All of the digestive process must have water in order to happen as designed.

At times, there are imbalances in our intestines that create an environment that won’t allow for proper processing of food particles, or doesn’t allow us to absorb any of the nutrients we need at all as they pass through our intestines. Stepping up our consumption of water can often correct this without the need for medication. We simply need to flush our system, as you might flush a slow drain.

Proper flushing of the body, filtering of the blood, and transmission of waste from our bodies can only occur when there are enough fluids present. The only way for enough fluids to be present is in our consumption of water. Only through the intake of necessary amounts of water do our kidney’s function as designed.

Many of the body’s organs depend upon fresh blood supplies in order to function properly. The kidneys and intestines require vast amounts of water in order to accomplish the difficult task of flushing the waste from our body. Now, if you don’t realize the importance of this task, you need to stop and think about waste. Wastes are produced from the daily processes your body goes through, toxic by-products that we don’t need to live, and don’t need to retain in our bodies. As a general rule, whatever we might need for our body should be absorbed as the food has passed through the intestines, whatever is left, is not needed.

Proper digestion, from beginning to end, cannot take place without water, lots and lots of water.