Tag Archive for: Fitness And Wellness

How to Train Like an Old-Time Strongman

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When setting out to get into a shape, a good starting point is to find role models. Who are your fitness heroes? Whose physique would you like to emulate? Whose training philosophy most closely resembles your own?

Get this right and you can find yourself with a blueprint to follow and ample amounts of inspiration and motivation. Get it wrong and you’re asking for disappointment and frustration.

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An example of a ‘wrong’ fitness role model might often be found on YouTube. While there are some great personalities on YouTube in the fitness community, there are also some destructive forces that you must contend with. In particular are those who spout unhelpful training advice and use steroid-driven physiques in order to sell us on its merits.

They tell us we can look like them by training like them. What they leave out is the chemical assistance that helped them get there, or the crippling back pain that is the cost of developing all those ‘mirror muscles’ and approximately zero ‘functional strength’.

Why Old-Time Strongmen Are Great Fitness Heroes

So who might we choose to look up to instead? A good alternative might be one of the legendary ‘old time strongmen’. These are individuals who trained long before we had protein shakes – let alone steroids and yet they achieved physiques that are well beyond many of our modern YouTube stars!

What’s more, they could actually use that strength and would be able to do incredible things like bending iron bars and lifting huge amounts of weight. These strongmen trained using completely different tools and methods and the results more than speak for themselves.

So if you want muscle that’s not just for show and that has an amazing historical heritage, that is a much better way to train.

How to Train Like an Old Time Strongman

So with all that said, how do you go about training in such a manner? What tools and techniques did they use that you could replicate?

The first trick is to use functional tools that train your body from multiple angles and that require you to use supportive muscles and balance in conjunction with brute strength. These force us to use our bodies as intended: as a single unit, working in unison. This is how we are able to generate the most strength and actually use it in ways that are useful.

Some tools that you can use to train this way include kettlebells, Indian clubs, ropes and barbells with especially thick bars. Training with one handed movements is also a particularly useful exercise, as well using more unconventional lifts, like the Turkish get-up and ‘anyhow lift’.

Another tip is to make sure that you are training your grip. This is the secret weapon of any old-time strongman and anyone interested in building truly functional strength needs to give it serious consideration in order to ensure no energy is wasted and that all of it is directed at moving the wei
ghts.

Finally, combine this with a protein rich diet and if you want to go truly old-time: lots of raw eggs!

(Although maybe a little cooking to avoid a biotin deficiency… not everything was better back in the day!)

3 Vital Steps to Take When Starting a Fitness Program

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If you have decided to eat healthier and start a workout program to lose weight there are 3 vital steps you must take in order to be successful. If you do not take these steps you will set yourself up for serious trouble in the future.

Most people start with good intentions to start a fitness program but life happens and their well intended quest for health and fitness gets sidetracked once again. If you want this to be the start of a great journey to health and fitness then these three steps are vital.

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The three steps that lead to a successful start to a good fitness program are important, so that you can stay motivated and focused on your fitness goals. They are first to Decide, then to Commit and finally have Support.

1. Decide

Most people think just saying “I’m gonna start working out again” is enough to start a successful workout routine, but it’s not. If it were that easy we wouldn’t have the obesity problem that we have today. You have to first establish your “Why” for beginning your workout routine. “Why” have you decided this time to start working out. You need to come up with enough reasons so that when life happens and you feel you don’t have time or you don’t feel like working out, you have something to fall back on to keep you going. For example my “Why” to finally start my fitness journey was when I was put on high cholesterol medication by my doctor, a problem with sleep apnea and I was getting older. What is your “Why”? The more “Why’s” you have the greater the chances that your weight loss will last and your fitness journey with be a successful and lasting one.

2. Commit

Now that you have the motivation and reasons to get healthy and fit you must now “Commit” to a fitness plan. The key word being “Plan”. To lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle you have to be consistent. If you are just flying by the seat of your pants and don’t have a plan of attack you will not be able to maintain your good results. Have a knowledgeable person design a program for you or invest in a good DVD/Online workout program. There are many choices of DVD workouts available and you can do the program over and over again. Just make sure you find a DVD/Online fitness program you like and that you can grow with.

3. Support

The most vital step of all three steps is to have a good support base. Family, friends and group of people. Whatever you do you want the support to provide motivation, accountability, and comradery. All of these things are important when you get discouraged and want to quit your workout program. It has been proven that people with a foundation of support have greater success when participating in health and fitness programs. This is why Weight Watchers is such a popular option. So find yourself a person or group of people with like minded goals and commit to support each other to meet each others goals.

There you go, 3 vital steps to take when starting a fitness program. By following these 3 steps you will give yourself a better chance at completing your program and seeing great success. When things start to look bleak and you want to quit your exercise routine, remind yourself of these 3 steps to keep you on track.

5 Easy Health and Fitness Tips

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Getting started with a lifestyle of health and fitness is not really the hard demanding task that anyone usually believe it is. When you really think about this, the difficult element is often the beginning. Later on, the rest will likely be a lot easier after you really get the hang of it. All it takes is self-control along with responsibility.

Below are 5 easy health and fitness tips on how to get a head start on your route to superior health and fitness. Read every one and you’ll realize that it is actually easier than you maybe thought it would be. You only need to take the initial few simple steps.

healthHealth and fitness tips #1: Start small.

When your preferred food is something you have to steer clear of, there isn’t any meaning in leaving it out if you just binge when you can’t take the abstinence any more. Take moderate actions. If you consume the meal each day try and cut down on your consumption and make it just 3 times weekly. When you have managed that, decrease further and make it once every seven days. Doing this, you can still take pleasure in the foods but not build up your longing for these.

Health and fitness tips #2: Plan reasonably.

Establish goals for yourself. But it does not necessarily imply that you will need to kill yourself to get it so when you don’t you’ll also kill yourself. Establishing too high goals will usually only bring about failure and frustration. While you prepare, be sure that you is able to do it. How will you know? Remain realistic. You know what you are capable of. It is far better setting goals for yourself that you know you can apply. Achieving them gives you a feeling of achievement which will make you more self-confident and much more happy to continue with your task.

Health and fitness tips #3: Use a friend.

Sharing the pains and aches along with the pleasures of achievements with a buddy may help make the program easier plus more tolerable. In reality, those with a companion are better suited to stick to their plans than those who will be undertaking the projects on their own. Simply because if you have a friend with you, he / she provides an assistance system that can help keep you on course which will help prevent you from abandoning. In addition to having a buddy along with you encountering the same struggles definitely makes the process more fun and much more enjoyable.

Health and fitness tips #4: Have self-discipline.

This really is one of the few issues that can make or shatter your intends to finally live a healthful lifestyle. As a way to really stick to the plan, you should develop self-discipline especially when it involves things which you eagerly want to accomplish or stuff that you are used to doing. Temptations in the process will be many and you need to be willing to face all of that!

Health and fitness tips #5: Practice it for your self.

Many men and women set out to live a life of health and fitness in hope of getting noticed by other people. Even though this is a valid reason, at times, it’s not sufficient to see you through the full process. It is better that you just do this for yourself simply because you want a healthier and better you compared to do it for other people’s acceptance. After all, the only real acceptance that you ever need to have is your own.