Daily tip #24| Stretching

Everyone knows how to stretch. But unfortunately very few know how to stretch properly and what it is for. Follow along.

Stretching is a commonly seen thing, sadly, when asked, people think they're doing it to prevent injury, while in some cases the risk of injury after stretching increases.

Let me explain what stretching is, what it does and what's it for. Stretching basically helps maintain normal range of motion. It can also help fix muscle inbalances.

Stretching does not prevent injury, which usually occurs during normal range of motion, why would widening the range of motion help prevent injury? 

Stretching reduces the strenght of the muscle in it's tensed form, meaning you can get easily hurt if you do lifting after stretching. I suggest you warm up, not stretch, these are two different things. Some people also stretch after the workout, saying it will reduce the soreness, which it actually does not. 

The reason why people think stretching prevents injury is because they're confusing or mixing it up with warming up. Warming up does reduce the risk of injury and in fact, greatly.

With stretching you can also fix muscle imbalances, it's a wide subject, so I'll do an entire daily of it someday. Muscle imbalance is basically one or two big muscles doing the work for other, smaller, weaker muscles. For example your bicep and pec minor doing the work for your lower lats while you're doing pull ups, that's a really common one. How do you fix that? You stretch out your arm entirely before doing pull ups, stretch out both of your arms against a wall as far as you can - ofcourse, don't injure yourself. If you do this, the smaller and weaker muscles will start working, instead of letting the bicep and pec minor take over the work completely.

So, what is stretching good for? It is good for decreasing imflammation and increasing the range of motion, allowing you do reach better, or sit on your straight leg. There are many more uses for flexibility too, ofcourse. I see a lot of people not doing the stretching properly, you can actually injure yourself while stretching the wrong way. So how do to stretch the right way?

To stretch the right way, first of all warm up, and then cool down a little bit. You should choose a stretch and do it so you feel pulling in the muscle - don't go into the pain zone though. Many people get this part right, but they bounce or do the same stretch repeatedly in a few seconds, that is plain wrong. Once you get into the position, that right spot, you should hold and continue to hold for atleast 30 seconds. Then release. Once a day is enough, studies shown that three stretches of 30 seconds a day had the same result as one stretch of 30 seconds per day. If you're doing it right, your flexibility should increase in about six weeks, if it doesn't, increase the hold into around 60 seconds. Don't increase if you see improvement though! You shouldn't expect too much because it is, afterall, a slow process.

Besides improving the range of motion, stretching can be relaxing (exmpl. joga). I'm hoping this cleared up the misconseption of stretching and now you know!

Drink a lot of water, sleep properly, stop making common mistakes and you'll be much happier!

Read more »

Daily tip #23| HIIT

High Intensity Interval Training. You might have heard of it, you might have not, I'll explain what it is and what it does..



First of, what is it? It is basically performing at near your maximum speed for a few minutes, and then at an average speed for another few minutes, then near your maximum speed again, so on and so on.


What is near max or average? Let's make a scale, 1 being 'this is so easy I'll fall asleep' and 10 being 'OH GOD I am going to pass out'. Near max would be 8-9, and average would be 5-6. I think it's clear now? Alright, good.


Now, why choose HIIT? Research has found that normal cardio burns the same amount of calories like HIIT. But here's the catch, HIIT continues burning calories after you're done. HIIT also increases fat burning in muscle fibers. So? It burns more calories, it increases the burning of calories, how do you do it? Well, I'll have to let some hopes go, because HIIT should only be performed by medium-to-advanced joggers/runners/swimmers, whatever cardio you do, you can't be a beginner and do HIIT. HIIT really puts a lot of stress and demand on your body, if you're not used to it - you can easily get injured. Also, if you have joint problems, high heart pressure or some kind of heart disease you must talk to a doctor. You should have known to talk to him already if you have a good doctor though.




Let's get into how to do it. If you're just about to start HIIT, you should do a total of 20 minutes. 2 minutes intensively, 2 minutes moderately/lightly. It's very simple.

Run fast / 2 minutes
Run slow / 2 minutes
Repeat.

Swim fast / 2 minutes
Swim slow / 2 minutes
Repeat.

Cycle fast / 2 minutes
Cycle slow / 2 minutes
Repeat.

It's pretty simple, isn't it? Once in a while you can also attempt to do it like this once it a while:


Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 2 minutes
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 1 minute 30 seconds
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 30 seconds
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 1 minute 30 seconds
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute
Cycle/Run/Swim slow 2 minutes
Cycle/Run/Swim fast 1 minute


Yeah? You've got the idea. Always make sure to keep the fast at 8-9 and slow at 5-6, or it simply will not work!


Before you run off to do HIIT, always remember to warm up, that is a must! Your goals should also be down to earth, always keep in mind the next day! Today you might feel fine, but after an intensive workout, the next day you will feel completely beat, not allowing you to exercise properly, maybe have a light day then? To continue improving with HIIT you should increase either intensity or duration, never increase both at the same time!




If you have no idea on how to make a routine, here you go. You want to do HIIT once or twice a week, not more - atleast while starting out HIIT. Remember - you can overtrain with HIIT, if you feel like you've gained nothing in a really long time, or you're getting weaker, ease off a litte.


Rest is key, water is factor and a good post work out meal is a must! A little bit more motivation wouldn't hurt either! Sleep well, eat well and rest well!

Read more »

Daily tip #22| Fats

Fats are made to look evil by the media, and uninformed people too, ofcourse. While that is true, there are good and bad fats, although everything is bad when there's too much of it. So let me explain.


You might be confused with all the blame on fat for obesity, why would fat be good? Fat is actually crucial for the human body. Many processes of the body rely on fat, without fat, fat-soluble vitamins could not be distributed. One of the good fats is saturated fat, found in tropical plants, dairy products and meat. Why is it considered good? Well, saturated fats make 50% of the cells membranes, which gives the cells their very needed stiffness. Saturated fats are also very important for your bones. In order for calcium (important for bones) to be properly absorbed, half of the fats you consume must be saturated fats. Saturated fats also help protect the liver better from toxins like alchohol and others. These fats also enhance the immune system, letting you stay less prone to diseases. They're also needed to properly utilize important fatty acids like omega-3, these fatty acids are better kept in the tissues when there are more saturated fats.



So as you see, fats are essential in order to stay healthy. Unsaturated fats are also healthy, the difference between unsaturated and saturated fats is that unsaturated fats contain a double bond between carbon atoms, while saturated fats only have one bond.


Unsaturated fats reduce thickness of the blood and clotting, help you regulate blood pressure, they lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol, which is used to repair blood vessels and transport fat-soluble vitamins throughout the body.

There are also polyunsaturated fats which have two and more double bonds between carbon atoms. These fats are good too and they're in liquid form. Corn oil, fish oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil and hemp oil are all polyunsaturated fats. And as you know, they're in liquid form. Why did I mention liquid form?..


Trans fats.. These are the fats you should avoid. They're made by hydrogenating of partially hydrogenating oils. Why should you avoid them? They lower good cholesterol and raise the bad type. They raise the total serum cholesterol levels. Trans fats increase insulin levels and resistance, thus giving you more risk of diabetes, and making it worse for diabetics.




Trans fats are found everywhere, mostly found in processed foods, like baked goods, snack foods (mostly all of them, cookies, crackers, potato chips, popcorn) and fried foods like fried chicken and french fries.Trans fat consumtion should be kept to a bare minimum, for obvious reasons mentioned above. What you don't realise is that 'fat free' foods are the most horrible foods you can eat. Fat has gotten such a bad reputation from the media, when in reality it is essential if you want to be healthy. So what do companies do? They make 'fat free' products, with trans fats and refined sugars, which is obviously far worse than saturated and unsaturated fats. You shouldn't think that if you eat 'fat free' foods you won't consume any calories, in fact you might become even less healthy if you keep consuming trans fats.


Avoid those 'free fat', 'non fat' foods at all costs, carefully read the labels for anything that is 'hydrogenated' or 'partially hydrogenated'. Also avoid margarine and butter substitutes.


I'll recommend on how to cut down on these:

Eat healthy snacks, like sprouted nuts and seeds. They're rich in omega-3.
Make more foods with organic flax meals. (fibers, healthier digestion)
Use olive oil.
Use 'raw' butter and dairy products instead of 'fat free' ones, explained above why.
When cooking, use virgin coconut oil. (healthier intestinal tract, improves digestion, absorbtion of nutrients, helps control sugar levels, helps keep cholesterol healthy.)



After reading this post I'm sure you've realised mistakes which you might have been doing every day. Maybe  that's why that fat hasn't been in the mood to leave?..


As always, sleep better, eat after working out and drink water. Remember! It's better to cheat for a day than  quit! Have a nice day.

Read more »

Daily tip #18| Do you really need a gym?

I see a lot of people using the excuse 'I don't have a gym near/ can't afford a membership' for not working out. This is just plain lazyness, I thought everyone knew you didn't need to have a gym to get ripped, in fact, I don't suggest going to a gym until you've been exercise for atleast a year an a half on your own.


So, maybe you really don't need to go to a gym? Can you do handstand push-ups? Okay, can you do one-handed push ups? Only a few right? What about handstand clap-push-ups? Then why are you not working on those, and instead using weights for money, when you have the necessary weight for free!?

I'll cover a few basic exercises which people underestimate.

If you can do 50 squats and lunges, do you think you've mastered it? You're still far from that. Let me give you some variations you could try.. Sumo squat, one leg squat, front lunge, back lunge, plyometric lunge, walking lunge, jump squat, and there's more. Let's say you can do 50 of those. What about in a row? What about with a 40 lbs backpack? I bet you'd only do 10. Work on it!

So you've got your legs workout sorted, now, the upper body.. Pull ups. This is solely the best exercise for developing core, and upper body strenght. Can only do 4? Don't do 4, do three sets of 2 ( split your max into half ) with a maximum rest of 1 minute. Do this six days a week. If you can't even do 2, hold onto the bar, quickly jump up and hold yourself at the top, VERY slowly lowering yourself down until your arms are extended (8-12 seconds) you'll feel what's it like to workout, so why spend money on weights? You could also do a pyramid set of pull ups. The way you do it is: 1p - 30 seconds - 2p - 30 seconds - 3p - 40 seconds - 4p - 50 seconds -... And on, and on, and on, until you can't do anymore (p = pull up). And yes, you have to do the pull ups all over again, on the first set you do one, rest, on the second you do two, rest, on the third you do three, rest.. What if.. You're feeling confident with your pull-ups. Get your school bag/backpack and pack all your books in it, or maybe fit as many 2 litre bottles filled with water as you can, you could also use bricks if you're not worried about getting the backpack a little dusty. It'll be pull-ups all over again.. Even a little weight added onto you can greatly decrease your max. Work on until you get back up to 10-12, then add more weight. You see what I'm doing? You'll build loads of strenght.



If you can do more than 8 reps of something, you're not developing strenght anymore, you're developing your endurance. Anything up until 8 will develop strenght. I do not recommend going too heavy with additional weights though (nothing to knock you back down under 4 reps).


You can combine all of these into one day. If you don't have time, or want to go further faster, you should do them through-out the day. For example, going through a hallway and you see a pipe? Knock out 10 pull ups ( you don't have to do your max everytime ) just make sure you're building the number of pull ups/push-ups/crunches you did throughout the day. Sitting on the computer? Randomly run out of the room and do a few sets. This'll help you build up strenght and endurance faster. You'll feel way better through out the day too, don't believe so?

I need some suggestions about my style of writing, I'm not sure if I'm laying out my experience and thoughts in a short enough manner, what do you think about the quality?

So there you go, after reading this, do you really need a gym? With proper nutrition and adding weight to these exercises, you can go very far and get ripped, basically spending no money on a gym. I suggest you only start going to a gym after you've been doing these for ATLEAST a year.

Always remember - it's better to cheat a day or two off than quit.

And as always (from now on)!

Drink atleast 3litres of water, sleep properly, and don't make common mistakes. Happy exercising for free!

Read more »

Daily tip #15| Supplements

There are literally thousands of supplements and they all promise more than the other. Who to really believe? I believe, with hard sweat and good nutrition, you can build muscle on your own. But if you do want that 10% edge and have some money to spend, then surely, I have some tips for you.


First off, you might not even know what kind of supplements there are, just to name a few there is:


Protein powder,
Creatine,
Glutamine,
Tyrosine,
Taurine,
Beta-Alamine.


What exactly are supplements? A supplement is basically nutrition without calories. Food is nutrition with calories, I think that's a good example.


Now, out of all of those above, I only recommend using all natural, preferably isolated whey (protein) powder. If natural and isolated, whey powder is perfect in my opinion and experience. Natural means the whey has no toxins or metal scraps, no additional weird things that you didn't even know existed. Isolated means it is stripped off it's calories. If you're going to be doing this, I do not recommend your day consisting of every meal with protein powder in them, I suggest you only consume protein powder after workouts.


Alongside this, to help you build muscle or work out more intensively, I recommend green tea. Yes, green tea. It has the caffeine, and there are a lot of health benefits coming along with green tea. If you hate green tea, force yourself. But if you really really hate green tea, you can use coffee. Just plain green tea, and plain coffee, not a single tiny spoon of sugar, none of your beloved creams, nothing in addition, just pure green tea and coffee. You can't even imagine how many calories people drink. Do not buy the 'quick-made' coffee, use real, quality coffee beans and grind them, it's way better.





A lot of supplements have toxins in them, toxic metals and pesticides all in one package. You should always make sure what you'll be using, you could just be working out for nothing since you're going to kill yourself with all of that stuff. The fitness industry has changed quite a bit - 26 billion dollars a year. They're going to be pushing the cheapest-made and highest price stuff they can. You want to use a brand that has been tested by USP to be sure that what's on the label, is in there, and nothing additional. Brands can buy these research companies or have one within them, hoaxing the labels and the real nutrition, which can mess you up and let your work, time and money to waste, you don't want that.



Now something to help you weed out products.. I always say to remember, if a product claims to make you gain 16 pounds of muscle in less than a year.. It's full of crap. Hide your wallet and walk away immideatly, that will never happen since building muscle is very slow, and you really don't want to be changing workouts as quick as socks, because it 'isn't working'.


This is my tip for today, I hope you have a nice sunday night, don't forget to sleep the way you should, and be productive tomorrow!

Read more »

Daily tip #7| The saturday aftermath

Aaah, saturdays! You wake up to a beautiful green morning of lazyness. Unless you like to go out and drink on friday..

If you haven't read my friday's tip, here it is. If you've read it and still went out to get a nasty hangover, shame on you. But since you're here, I suppose I'll help you nonetheless..

Hangovers, aren't they nasty? You shouldn't care, because if you've read my past article, you should realise, that drinking is not a great activity.

First of all.. What exactly is a 'hangover'? A 'hangover' is your body trying to get out the poison (alchohol) out of it. All the throwing up and the headaches are direct signals from your body to YOU, telling you STOP WHY ARE YOU POISONING YOURSELF? After a long night it might start cussing too.



The first and most important tip is to drink water.  Dehydration is very likely after a night out drinking session. The majority of the effects of any hangover come from the dehydration of your body, caused by alchohol and caffeine. So if you're planning to attend a wedding, or a birthday which you can't miss and you know you'll be talked into drinking, you should start preparing yourself.



Drink loads of water. Water helps with dehydration and will lessen its effect when it does happen. You should be drinking over 2.5 litres of water a day. Research tells that water is what the body needs to function properly, from your brain working properly, to cleaning your body.



Eat something. Eating  something  before drinking should ease the effects of alchohol. If you like to drink more than on occasion, you probably knew that drinking on an empty stomach is not a good idea.


Do not take pain killers. Alchohol plus medicine might equal death. Wait until the day after to take any medicine (probably pain reducing, won't it be?).


Stop drinking. Stop drinking at least an hour and a half before going to sleep so your body could atleast try to get some of the alchohol out of your system before you crash.

Just STOP. You really shouldn't drink as much as the others do, do you? Are they literally forcing it down your throat? They might be encouraging you, but you have your own head on your shoulders, they shouldn't think for you. By the way,  if they are actually forcing it down your throat, you should find new friends.



These are the tips. I recommend you don't drink enough to get a hangover. If you're at an event, a few glasses of wine or beer out of respect for the organizer are fine. Well, unless you attend something like that everyday.

Read more »