Tribute to Bruce Lee

Today is Bruce Lee’s death anniversary, even though the cause of his death is unclear and has various interpretations to it; what really is fascinating is the way Bruce lived his life. Bruce conquered the whole world with his charisma and his martial arts skills. He was not only a great martial artist but also was a philosopher. He was an actor, director, writer, author and choreographer, most of all he was a perfectionist.

Few of the famous quotes of  Bruce lee:

“Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, and it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”

Bruce lee formed JKD or Jeet Kun Do, which has very direct and non classical moments. He also referred it as style without style or “the art of fighting without fighting”. Bruce lee is the pioneer of mixed martial arts and he showed the world not to be rigid with one style or form but to be open and use whatever is useful and let go of things which are not. Bruce lee’s approach towards training and an unparalleled skill and proficiency in martial arts resulted in creation of one of the best physique’s world has ever seen, not only was it good but also strong. He was able to perform super human feats such as two finger push-ups, and one-inch punch. These feats are yet to be equaled.

-Bruce's striking speed from 3 feet away was five hundredths of a second.

-Bruce could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.

-Bruce did press ups using only 2 fingers.

-Bruce could thrust his fingers through unopened cans of Coca-Cola. (This was when soft drinks cans were made of steel much thicker than today's aluminum cans).

-Bruce was able to explode 100lb bags with a simple sidekick.

-Bruce would ride for 45 minutes (10 Miles) on a stationary bike.

He was the first to bring kung fu and JKD skills and philosophy on screen without any aid of special effects. He paved way for future action super stars like Jackie Chan, Jet lee, Jean Claude van damme and many more. Bruce not only influenced martial artists but also people from all walks of life. He was, is and always will be an inspiration for millions of fans around the world.

Flab to 6 Pack Abs

Well summers here and it’s time to get ripped and flaunt your six packs! The most desired body part that people want to have is the washboard six pack abs. Most of the people are relatively able to achieve a toned body with hard work and Dedication, however fail to achieve the six pack abs.

Now what is so elusive about six pack abs? The fact of the matter is people lack the understanding of training and most importantly the nutrition to achieve wash board abs. I don’t want to tell you people that it’s 80 percent diet and 20 percent training and stuff like that, its like “train diligently and diet religiously”. Well that being said I am not advising to do endless sit-ups or starve you to Death. The key to getting a toned body with a six pack is real simple, it takes three things:

1. Diet.

2. Cardio.

3. Weight Training.

Diet:

Try to eat as clean as possible, as in quality over quantity. Try to eat small but frequent meals, say 5 meals a day. Now that kicks your metabolism and the greater the metabolism the more fat your burn. You need to tailor your nutrition plan in such a way that you get a combination of protein, fat and carbs at each meal. Consumption of carbs has to be moderate, stick to complex carbs and foods like brown rice, yams and fruits and vegetables they are great source of energy. Stay away from bread, pasta and cookies, you need to lower your fat intake however you can add olive oil and salmon as a source to get fat into your nutrition. When it comes to proteins stick to lean protein source such as chicken, tuna and egg whites. Another important thing is to drink lots of water, I suggest at least one gallon of water a day. I don’t want to suggest any supplements, as I feel that until unless you are a competitive bodybuilder you don’t require any supplements.

Cardio:

The most important thing to get a six pack is to have a low body fat, which means you have to do lots of cardio vascular workouts to shed the excess baggage you’re carrying. Your body fat percentage needs to be somewhere around 6 to 8 percent to your abs to be visible or else all the hard training and the time spent in quest of six packs goes in vain. Choose your way of getting your cardio vascular workout, be it running on a treadmill or cycling, stair master etc. I suggest you people to do 2 to 3 times a week of cardio.  You can refer to my article “ABC of Getting Ripped”.

Weight training:

Well, all I want to emphasis in regards to training with weights is to maintain proper form when lifting weights and feel each rep and each set. Use relatively few exercises, use exercises which work for you and forget the rest of the exercises. Knowing what works for your body and what doesn’t is very important. Most importantly consistence is the key in training along with dedication. You can find tons of workout articles online to suit your needs.

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Fit at 50

Fitness is an ongoing process which requires lots of dedication and discipline. This article is dedicated to top five people who are fit despite being fifty and symbolize the physical culture. The kind of drive required to be in top shape at fifty is no joke, one needs to focus on lots of areas like weight training ,cardio and nutrition; figuring a way to work around injuries or at least not to trigger an old injury. The top five fit celebrities on my list are Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph lundgren and Madonna.

Jackie Chan needs no introduction; he’s a stuntman, actor, director and action choreographer. Jackie is known for his breath taking action and stunt sequences, the nature of his stunts are so dangerous that no insurance company insures him in movies in which he performs his own stunts. Jackie has been injured numerous times while performing stunts; he almost died while filming armour of god he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Jackie has a back ground in martial arts, acrobatics and ballet. He always emphasizes on exercising everyday and working on flexibility. He’s mantra of fitness is more of rigors and regular exercise rather than too much focus on dieting. According to Jackie boxing is one of the best ways to get in shape and can be a great stress buster. Jackie still continues to do death defining stunts and is in top shape for a 57 year old.

Known as the “muscles from Brussels” Jean Claude van damme aka JCVD, started martial arts from the age of ten. His styles consist of kick boxing, Muay Thai, shotokan karate and taekwondo. While studying martial arts and ballet van damme added weight training to his regime. In many of his movies he displaces his perfect physique and flexibility, thus ruling out the theory of weight training make’s one muscle bound. Now 50, van damme looks 10 years younger than what he is and his physique gets better and better day by day. He still can do the famous 360 degree helicopter kick and the splits he’s know for, he’s scheduled to fight Olympic gold medalist Khamsing who’s 38 years old. The fight is rumored to take place in Bangkok; it will be a Muay Thai fight.

Sylvester Stallone aka Sly is an inspiration both in the world of fitness and movie making. He is a classic example to prove what can be accomplished with sheer determination and hard work. Bodybuilding god Arnold Schwarzenegger once quoted “Sly has awesome will power”. Sly has a physique that can easy put a 25 year old to shame; he has had his fair share of injuries from his incredible physical pursuits. While filming training scenes for the movie rocky 4 sly had tore his pectoralis resulting in four hour operation. Sly has displayed great physique in his movies like Rambo, rocky and specialist. Sly always had an apollonian physique, no wonder he was inspired to take up weight training after watching “Hercules in chains” starring Steve reeves. Sly is in incredible shape for a 65 year old and is currently training for the movie expendables 2. 

  

Dolph lundgren is a Swedish actor, director and martial artist. He holds a 3^rd Dan black belt in kyokushin karate and was European champion in 1980 and 1981. His breakthrough in movies came when he starred in rocky 4, co-starring as villain with Sylvester Stallone. Dolph is very similar to van damme in terms of martial artist turning into action super star however Dolph is a huge guy towering at 6’5’’ and weighs anywhere from 225 to 240 pounds. His awesome physique can be seen in movies like rocky 4, he-man and universal soldier co-starring with van damme. Dolph follows straight weight training routine with martial arts training.

Madonna the pop icon, actress and entrepreneur she’s also know for her incredible passion for fitness besides her super music career. While age is catching up with her, she takes pride in keeping herself in top fitness condition. She practices ashtanga yoga, which is very intense form of yoga that build’s great cardio and helps to retain muscle. She also does karate, running, cycling and occasionally horse riding. Her lifelong commitment to health and fitness is commendable job and at 53 years of age she is an inspiration to many women. 

Mike Tyson’s weight loss and Vegan diet

The man, the legend I am going to write about needs no introduction. Iron mike Tyson is a boxing legend and one of the most powerful and enigmatic personality to grace the sport of boxing. Tyson Became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion of the world at the age of 20 years and 4 months after defeating Trevor Berbick thus lead to the beginning of new era in boxing, the “Tyson mania”. One thing always about mike was he was always in shape for the fight. His work ethic and the kind of training he went through during his career are legendary. Once mike quit boxing he went on from a chiseled physique fighter to a guy who looked like had serious weight issues.

 Mike Tyson’s weight loss is a remarkable exhibition of will, now to lose that amount of weight and be back in shape takes two things dedication and great will. Mike began his transformation and weight loss program in 2009 by becoming a vegan. Vegan or veganism is a vegetarian diet that one follows to lose weight. Vegan term was coined by Donald Watson from England in 1944. Veganism diet excludes meat, eggs and dairy products also animal-derived ingredients. Well that leads us to a question what does their diet comprise? Their diet includes grains, beans, legumes, vegetables, tofu, seitan and fruits. The benefits of vegan diet are lower levels of obesity and helps bettering the cardiovascular conditioning, which is vital.

Mike is said to have lost more than hundred pounds during his weight lose transformation. Mike is said to follow a diet which had tomato basil soup and water for six months and with lots of cardio like walking and did turn vegan as well thus helping in losing all those extra pounds he had gained over a period of time. Now mike is back in shape and more importantly healthy.

ABC of getting ripped

                                            

I want to give you people an overview of how to get a ripped physique following certain pointers. We always marvel looking at the ripped physiques of fitness models or bodybuilders, how is it possible for one to be obtaining such a ripped physique and maintain it? Well the answer is simple it takes a lot of dedication, hard work and knowledge. I would say it can be broken down into two phases, phase one is to bulk up so as to add muscle mass to the body to gain muscle size. Second phase is to shred the unwanted body fat by high intensity workout and cardio to achieve that ripped look. Now, when you are trying to gain muscle mass you tend to gain a lot of fat along with muscle, It’s something unavoidable. Bulking up is like you’re trying to make a beautiful statue and you need a big stone (muscle size) once that’s done, you need to chip away the rough edges to finish the sculpture that’s when you get the perfect statue (ripped physique). Well bulking up is an entirely different ball game which I am going to discuses in my future articles.

Once you are done with the bulking phase and added substantial amount of muscle mass to your body you are ready to get into the cut-up phase. When you’re trying to get ripped your main objective is to shred as much fat as possible without losing lot of muscle mass, although you do lose quite of bit of muscle size depending on the way you train. Two things play a very important role when you’re in cut-up phase, they are training and diet. Training usually becomes very difficult when you’re  in cut-up phase because firstly you have to increase the overall training volume like sets and repetitions then there is another challenge which is to work out while your cutting down on calories and carbohydrate  depletion. Dieting plays a key role when you’re trying to get ripped, there are lots of dieting strategies that you need to look into and remember “what you eat is what you are”. I recommend not diet to extreme rather than that, take it in phases so as the body gets ample time to adjust to training and dieting demands. Well I am going to tackle both the subjects in detail in my future articles.

Main objective of Cut-up phase is to get you that perfect muscularity and definition. Firstly you need to avoid simple carbohydrates from your diet and substitute it with complex carbohydrates, so as to make sure carbohydrate is not converted into fat. Ideally stick to broccoli and green beans. Increase your protein consumption by say 2 grams per pound of body weight so as to not lose the muscle size you have gained. Avoid red meat but can eat more of grilled chicken breast, turkey and lots of egg whites. Since fat is also required you can eat nuts, avocados. Next part is to reduce the calorie intake not drastically but gradually, eat 5-6 smaller meals. 

You need to do a lot of cardio say 4-5 days a week and has to be say 20mins a day then there again gradually increase it to 40mins a day , but make sure you don’t burn up too much and lose lot of muscle mass. Cardio works best in the morning and on an empty stomach, follow this cut-up phase for 8-10 weeks and you should achieve the ripped physique you always desired.

Awesome physique of Bruce lee

It’s an honor and great pleasure writing about the greatest martial artist of all time the legendary “Bruce lee”. It’s my tribute to the man who was a perfect combination of body and soul a legendary martial artist and renowned philosopher. Whenever I hear or think of muscularity first name that pops up in my mind is “Bruce lee”, he was lean, razor–sharp cuts, dense muscle not to the degree of professional bodybuilders but chiseled and well defined muscles. He was not genetically gift with great genetics unlike our professional body builders; he built his awesome physique with sheer hard work and dedication. Just standing five feet and seven and a half inches tall and weighed around 126 to 145 pounds, he turned his body into an ultimate weapon which not only looked awesome but was also very strong and powerful.

Bruce’s interest in weight training mainly grew as part of martial arts training. He was a renaissance’s man; he had achieved the muscularity, definition and proportion to the same degree as that of body builders of today. Bruce’s main focus was towards strength and speed, the chiseled and ripped to the bone physique was byproduct of his intense training. His body was graceful and tremendously functional; he would leap eight feet in the air to kick out a light bulb in one of his movies. He would demonstrate one inch punch which could generate so much of power that it would send the person on the receiving end flying in the air. Bruce was a pound for pound fighter , his reflex’s were so quick that he had to slow down for his movies, so as to capture his punches and kicks on screen, man he was lightening quick. He termed his approach towards physical training as “the art of expressing the human body”. He demonstrated extreme flexibility, lighting quick reflexes, grace and colossal power. He didn’t believe in being huge or big but believed in being capable of converting one’s strength efficiently and quickly.  Bruce had a well proportioned physique, but his best body part was his abs, it is said that he loved to work his abs and forearms.

Some of Bruce’s feats of strength are he could perform one hand push-ups or thumbs only push –ups. He was able to support a 125-pound barbell at arm length right in front of him, mind you he weighted between 126 to 145 pounds. How can we forget his one inch punch? That would send the opponent flying in air. He could side kick 300 pound heavy bag slapping against the ceiling. Lee was always on the look out to train his muscles in new and unique ways to stimulate more muscle fibers; he had a huge collection of books ranging from bodybuilding to philosophy in his personal library.

Below is lee’s workout program:

Clean & press 2 sets – 8 reps

Squats 2 sets – 12 reps

Bench press 2 sets – 6 reps

Pullovers 2 sets – 8 reps

Good mornings 2 sets – 8 reps

Barbell curls 2 sets - 8 reps

Bruce was well ahead of his time, be in terms of fitness or nutrition, he was a great martial artist and a wonderful human being. He can also be termed as first one who introduced MMA (mixed martial arts) in way because he didn’t not believe or limit himself to one style of fighting.  I would like to conclude this article with one of his quotes on martial arts and fitness, he said “if you’re talking about combat- as it is – well then, baby you’d better train every part of your body!”

An overview of supplements and steroids

From an average guy trying to gain few pounds of muscle to elite fitness athletes are eluded by supplements. They are always on the lookout for cutting edge supplements. From your local neighborhood gym to the high profiled and exceptionally equipped gyms cater supplements. Supplements are available in health food stores, grocery stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and on internet. Supplement industry is fastest growing industry in fitness world, more like a backbone to run fitness and bodybuilding shows hence helping to keep the sport of bodybuilding alive.

Now the question arises, what are supplements? As the name suggests it’s an alternative source of carbs or proteins, vitamins, herbs or minerals and amino acids which are taken as part of your nutritional diet. They come in form of tables, pills, powders or liquid form. Consumption of supplements is purely “Need Based”, meaning it can be either taken when you’re unable to get the complete amount of carbs or proteins from your daily diet or if you have a tight work schedule due to which you’re unable to eat substantial amount of proteins or carbs on a regular basis. Another scenario would be if you are a professional athlete or say an aspiring bodybuilder then its best advised to take these supplements along with the nutritional diet that you follow. In order to counter grueling workouts in the gym or the daily rigors of other demanding sports, you need to aid your body with lots of calories by means of proteins and carbs in form of supplements to help your body recovery and perform at its best.

Supplements are also available to get rid of fat and lean out, its available in form of fat burners and other supplements in general. In regards to distinguish which supplements works and which doesn’t, you can Google and get abundant download on that. On a personal note, I am not here to advocate whether consumption of supplements is right or wrong nor am I here to oppose it. As I have mentioned earlier it’s strictly “Need Based”. I am not here to sell products but yes I want to help people comprehend its functionality and purpose. I suggest anyone who’s just started weight training to first and far most focus on the exercises and the form you need to maintain while performing these exercises. As far as the nutrition goes get your carbs and proteins and other essentials through natural wholesome food, like meat, vegetables and fruits. Once you progress, depending on your nutritional demands, schedules and your goals decide to whether you need to incorporate supplements into your daily diet.

Steroids on the other hand are an entirely different story. Steroids are frequently referred as juice or roids; they are synthetically produced hormones, more like androgens produced in our body. There is hell lot of variations of steroids available today like anabolic steroids and growth hormones they are compounds derived from testosterone which helps build and repair body. It’s well known fact that steroids minister to gain muscle mass rapidly, reduce body fat considerably. Steroids makes us bigger ,better and faster ,however all said and done most important thing about steroids is these magical benefits are temporary. If you use steroids, you have more to lose than to gain considering the consequences of steroid abuse. Cardiovascular problems, baldness, prostate enlargement, high blood pressure, kidney problems, immune system changes, liver damage and the “Roid rage”, these are the few side effects of steroids. Itinerary of such side effects can give anybody a heart attack, and then the question that lingers in one’s mind is why people take steroids. Well I guess that question depends on each individual’s perception and thought process. We all are adults and we should be acquainted with the choices we make in life, steroid use is no different weigh the pros and cons then make a decision. It’s you as individual who needs to validate whether it’s worth doing steroids or not, you are the one who needs to answer that question to yourself eventually.

Hiking for fitness and body transformation

In this article I am going to write about a friend of mine who transformed his body from a chubby 203lbs to 180lbs of lean mean physique. My friend is software professional and works abroad, now his story was also the same as the other typical software engineers who always have a hectic work schedule and a pretext to support saying they lack time to work out. He wasn’t the kind of guy always though, he was lean and fit during college days and but started to accumulate lot of weight as he began his career as an IT professional. He did try to work out in gym but couldn’t do it not because of the will issue but because of the back problem he had developed due to nature of his work, he did undergo physical therapy to heal the problem. The therapy was quite effective but was also advised by the doctor not to do any sort of weight training as its going to jeopardize his back problem and might cause great damage to his ailing back.

Unfortunately for my friend he was back to square one, all his efforts went in vain as he had dedicated his time and energy to get back in shape however having been there and done, I know how frustrating it can be when all your efforts fall apart as house of cards. He again began to gain weight at a quick rate due to his body type, well yet another obstacle in his way. As he was figuring out ways and means to shred that enormous weight he had gained, one of his friends invited him to be a part of their hiking expedition to Washington; little did he expect that his onetime surprise activity would become his lifelong obsession. He finished his expedition and did notice a change in his mood and stamina; now mind you hiking is no joke even though it appears to be simple because you don’t notice the amount of cardio vascular fitness it builds due to constant walking on hiking trails.

He again went on couple of hiking expeditions and he began to think this could be a way or activity which helps him shred his weight. Once he finished these couple of expedition he noticed that he started to lose weight however, he had to modify his diet so as to build his stamina and also to keep up with his buddies. They began to hike quite frequently and on difficult trails. He did tune his life style by try to get physical activity as much as possible; walk to work (currently take bus and walk from the transit center to work place about 15 minutes). He continued his Physical therapy as part of back problem. Now his diet was as follows:

Breakfast - banana or couple of cereal bars

Lunch - regular food;

Dinner - 4 chapatti’s; avoid fatty and other junk foods; calorie conscious.

Well within 6 to 8 months he was shredded to mean lean 180lbs for his 5’11’ frame. Well I am in for some serious competition I suppose; here he is now with the best shape he can be in despite the back injury and the initial setbacks he had to face.

Well I am a firm believer in the saying “there are many ways to be on the top but the view is always the same”. I emphasize on being super fit and leading a healthy life style which has to be achieved by natural means, irrespective of the tools you use to achieve it. It can be weight training or doing a heavy bag work or even going for hiking, basics remains the same to be fit and do what you enjoy. There is no point in going to gym when you don’t have the drive for it or doing something which don’t enjoy, remember everyone is unique we have our own limitations so never compare yourself with others but try to outdo yourself every time.

Pitfalls of Dieting

                                              
Dieting is an integral part of one’s journey to achieve the desired physique and vitality. I would say dieting is as important as training because, training is more like stimulation and dieting is making sure you get all the nourishment by eating foods that help you build muscle and have a healthy life without overdoing it. Dieting is a pre-designed prototype of food intake to attain certain specific short-term goal, but it’s not an ongoing thing. The most over-rated word today by fitness freaks is “dieting”; the sad part of it is that, there is a big misconception that you diet all throughout the year. Well that’s not how exactly you achieve a shredded physique.

Well I am not trying to preach you that “this or that is the right way to diet” but to suggest you to not to go on a diet that needs a drastic change in your food habits. The reason I am suggesting you not to do so is: firstly in order to go under such diet your body should already be tuned to such diets by prior experience with dieting. You should start by small changes in your diet by cutting oily food and bit of sugar and reduce the calories a bit. Now, this sort of approach forms a foundation and gives you body ample time to tune and recuperate to future changes to the body and minister to endure the  extreme dieting. A word of caution though these extreme dieting techniques that you hear or read often has to be followed only for a brief period of time, because if you overdo it; not only  do you screw up your whole effort being put to achieve your desired result but also you would end up being sick and unhealthy. Best example would be the so called crash diet, Many people have fallen into ensnare of crash dieting; a crash diet refers to willful nutritional restriction (except water) for more than 12 hours. People normally do this in order to burn a lot of body fat for energy with the aim of losing a significant amount of weight in a short time. This sort of restriction causes the body to react by preserving fat stores and burning lean muscle tissue, hence has to be done only for brief period of time. Some of the side effects of theses diets are headaches; nausea, Dizziness, lethargy or low energy, cause cramping, kidney and liver damage. Before you jump into any sort of these crazy diets I would suggest you to just bear in mind that everything in life comes with a price, physical conditioning is no exception.

Workout for Women simplified - Myths and Facts

It’s an immense pleasure writing this article because it’s one of the most talked and a myth kind of subject. It’s a well known fact that everybody cannot gain muscle mass to the same degree as any other person comparatively, because we all are different in terms of our body make up. Now we always see women either hesitant or confused on whether to train with weights as they think, training with weights can make them muscle bound. Ladies I got good news for you! Weight training doesn’t make you muscle bound; yes you heard me right, matter of fact it can be counter-productive if you train smart enough.
The reason I say women have a less tendency to become muscle bound or gain muscle mass is simply because it’s to do with hormones. The key muscle building hormone is testosterone, this hormone is found in men at a much higher levels compared to women, where as women have higher levels of estrogen. Now lack of testosterone in women to a considerable degree makes it difficult to gain muscle, so becoming muscle bound is literally not possible until unless you are training like a professional bodybuilder. More over the presence of estrogen makes women more susceptible to gain fat. Women have a higher percentage of body fat and loose fat slowly compared to men, this higher percentage of fat in women helps them to have a healthy body during pregnancy. Women find it difficult to stay leaner for a longer period of time compared to that of men and this is due to the lack of testosterone comparatively, thus the possibility of women becoming muscle bound without high intensity workout is ruled out.

Now that the theory is ruled out let’s talk about the way women should train. The most important thing in women’s workout is to include lots of cardio, so as to not only burn off fat but also burn off fat at specific areas. Women have different problem areas when it comes to burning fat like hips, thigh’s and waist. As I said earlier women should include lots of cardio training along with weight training and also initially when they start their workout they should do circuit training. Circuit training is more like a perfect combination of weight training and cardio, even though no cardio exercise is done, the reason I call it cardio is because you are constantly moving. You move from one place to another to perform one exercise after another; however I am going to discuss the topic of circuit training in my future article.
So I would suggest women to do say 40 percent of cardio and 60 of weight training with light weight and high repetitions, that should be the ratio of cardio and weight training in their workout program. The light weight and high repetitions with cardio will aid them to achieve fitter and leaner toned physique. So, spice up your workout keeping these details in mind and you would see great result.

Goal Setting

In this article I am not going to talk about the nuts and bolts of training but how to set realistic goals and progress in your quest to achieve fit and well toned body. It’s always been a pleasure helping people training to get in shape, be it a college going kid, IT professional or even a middle aged businessman everybody wants to get in shape investing very minimal time. Now as trainer and someone who has been training for years, I can tell you there are no shortcuts to achieving that rock-hard physique, but yes there are few things that we can do to quicken the process. In my day to day interaction with people, lots of guys come up to me and ask questions like; can I have a six-pack in a month’s time? Or have a well toned body say with 8% body fat in couple of months? Now my answer to those people is simple, have a realistic and well defined goal.


Goal setting is a vital aspect of training which is always overlooked , goal setting not only saves time and endless effort you Putin the gym but also gives you a positive outlook towards your training. Now let’s say, your arms are 13inches and you want it to be 16inches in couple of months, that’s not something which would be realistic until unless you are ready to gain fat and not lean muscle mass. When someone sets such unrealistic goals they end up getting frustrated with little or no result, same goes for weight loss following crash diet and all those crazy stuff. I would urge all you people who are trying to reduce weight or gain muscle mass, you need to set realistic goals in phases, example you will reduce 3pounds in a month’s time investing at least 25-30minutes cardio thrice a week along with the weight training. Now the same theory can be applied to getting your arms to 16inches, first you have to train them for couple month or so to bring it up to say 14inches and then move on altering your arms workout to take it to the next level. To have well toned body, you not only need to set goals, train hard but also train smart. Training smart means to making sure you don’t over workout or train less frequently, but striking the balance which is apt for conditioning you. Before you plan your workout take a moment and set some realistic goals and I’ll bet it would be rewarding.

Why to Stretch

Stretching is a vital aspect in your daily workout, if you are trying to maximize your muscular development and fitness. People who already invest say ten minutes a day stretching need not worry to read this article. Stretching helps you strengthen & develop quickness, endurance and most importantly flexibility. Stretching is awesome activity that can be used to avoid injuries and muscle damage. Ever wondered why martial artist emphasize on stretching? Not just to do those fancy kicks. Yes stretching is what makes them develop speed, power and balance. Those round house kicks are not only great to watch but are also very powerful. Best example would be martial arts expert & Hollywood action star Jean-claude Van damme also known as “muscles from Brussels”.

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First important thing one must do is to thoroughly warm-up before stretching. Stretching a cold muscle is not a good idea, muscles are like rubber band. If you stretch a rubber band when it’s cold, it won’t stretch beyond a certain point and it breaks, same applies to muscles. So way to stretch is to warm-up first, then do the stretching exercise followed by your workout or you can do post- workout stretching. The best thing about post-workout stretching is that your muscles are already warmed-up and trained so need not bother about improper warm-up.

One of the biggest misconception about stretching is it’s mistook for warm-up. Now warm-up and stretching are two different things, Stretching is not warming up! It is, however, a very important part of warming up. Warming up is elevating the body temperature to a specific degree say about 1.5 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Stretching is beneficial in avoiding injury to joints, muscles, and tendons, reduce muscular soreness and muscular tension. Helps develop kinesthetic senses, enhances physical fitness. If you stretch too aggressively, it reduces flexibility and can cause injury, thus the way to stretch correctly is to avoid the pain threshold. Help yourself in a position where the target muscle feels tight but still comfortable and hold this position for 10-20seconds, and then release the stretch. Once you’re done with earlier discussed way of stretching then move further to bit intensify the stretching technique. Stretch the same muscle group again for say around 20 to 30seconds but focus on greater relaxation; it helps loosen up the muscles. 2-3 circuits of this system of stretching are enough to warm-up and cool down your body. Some of the body parts you can stretch before starting any weight training would be: Achilles tendon, Hamstrings, Adductors, Hip flexors, Lateral torso. We’ll try implementing these techniques in your daily quest for fitness and trust me will notice a difference.

 
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How Important is cardio

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How Important is cardio ? this is the question I am often asked by clients or anybody who likes to train.  Well Cardiovascular workout is exercising your body so as to elevate your heart rate to anywhere ranging from 60-80% maximum. As long as you keep your heart rate high, say 55-60% should be suffice to burn of the fat & 70-80% to stay fit with no fat on.

Cardio is one of the vital aspects in achieving total fitness & peak conditioning, which unfortunately is ignored time & time again. If you ever marveled how bodybuilders & fitness models maintain there awesome washboard abs, the key is cardio. Having a fit body to achieving six packs, cardio is critical. Workouts keeps you fit & works in developing individual body part, however cardio would be the tool which helps showoff the hard earned muscle ripping away the fat.

The beauty of cardio is that it can be performed anywhere any time, be it at the gym or in a small room while your on vacation. It especially can easy & interesting while you’re on vacation, where you don’t have access to any exercise equipments; well i would discuss that in my next article on cardio, but as of now let's focus on How Important is cardio. The key main factor for effective cardio session is intensity, you can choose to do cardio in gym or outdoor, which ever suites your needs.

The cardio performed in the gym can be:

Treadmill

Stepper

Rower

Stair climber

Stationary bicycle

The cardio performed outdoor can be:

Swimming

Power walking

Mountain biking

You just need to make sure you give in good 45minutes for cardio say 3 times a week, again various from person to person how mach fat they are carrying. Make sure you don’t over do it and burn off to much of hard earned muscle. Do what's been outlined in the article and you will realize How Important is cardio. Achieving your ideal physique isn’t that complicated, but involves lots of hard work and training consistently.