Daily tip #39| DOMS

You might have seen a very fit and/or strong/bulky guy taking the elevator..


   Now why would he do that when he looks like he could outrun it with stairs? He might have the time to do it, is he lazy? But then if he's lazy, how is he strong/bulky or fit? It might be DOMS (Delayed onset muscular soreness).


  If you work out hard enough, you get micro tears in your muscles which your body then repairs. Delayed onset muscular soreness starts 1-2 days after a workout and can last for a week ( Yep! That truly is no pain no gain.) This delayed muscle soreness is great, it is by far my favourite.  It is a great indicator that you've had an effective workout, you are constantly reminded that your hard work did not go to waste! Delayed onset muscular soreness is also a great reminder that you have to keep feeding your muscles nutrtion, afterall, nutrition is the key to the lock of a great body!


Do not forget to drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes to become happier! 

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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!

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Daily tip #19| Abs

Let me ask you something.. Do you hate sit ups? I hate sit ups. And there is a very solid reason for it..


Before that, how many times have you seen the commercial where ripped models are using the product X and 'working out on it'? Many, I bet. Maybe you've bought one of those things too, and now it's just collecting dust. Never fall for those commercials, NONE of the things there work. Some of the commercials claim the product will get you abs only with 7 minutes of exercise per day!


... Now that is just outrageous. You can't get abs with a cheap plastic toy which bends and does nothing else, you get abs with 101% dedication, 90% work 120% rest and 200% nutrition. That's how you get abs, and that is how you get ripped, don't spend your money thinking 'maybe this one will work'. It will not, it never will. You can go to the gym, destroy yourself in there for two hours a day, three days a week and you're not going to achieve ANYTHING if you come home and eat pizza.


If you are buying these products, and believe me, A LOT of people are falling for these, you probably don't know how to work out your abs. The only exercise you might think of to get abs is sit ups, right? Well..



Sit ups.. They don't work. Sit ups are useless, and they can mess up your back. Do NOT do them. Ever. They're a complete waste of time. Your abs are not going to get the workout they need, it might seem like it's helping in the beginning, but you could've actually gone way further if you were doing something else, and you're probably going to start having problems with your back soon.

There is something, far greater than sit ups..


 And that something is crunches. Crunches are just plain wonderful. You lay down flat on your back, legs bent, hands behind your head lightly supporting your neck, looking up to the ceiling, you move your face towards the ceiling together with your shoulders. Do not begin doing a sit up, this is not a sit up, this is a crunch, concentrate on contracting your abs and as far as possible, as soon as you're at the most you can move your shoulders forward, HOLD. Hold that position for atleast two seconds, then slowly lower your shoulders down. Repeat. So what if you can do 20 sit ups, try 20 of properly done these, you'll see the HUGE difference. So, you work your way up to 20 of properly done these, now, take a big book, or a brick, or just something heavy you can fit, and hold it under your head while doing the crunches. This'll be like exercising with crunches all over again.


Form is KEY in this exercise. Do not concentrate on how many you do, concentrate on your abs, and the perfect form. If you don't, you'll end up working out your neck, or your hips. If you want to do that though, feel free, but it's not going to make your abs stronger.  Remember to move your shoulders straight up, no arms flailing around, no moving your head around. Try to lessen the tension in your neck, you have to learn to support it right, try different ways, just do not hurt yourself.



Why you would want to do this? This will strenghten your abs, and strong abs stabilize your lower back and protect you. They also look great!



Do not forget, nutrition is key to achieving abs. You can have rock hard abs, but nobody will be able to see them! Make sure to not make common mistakes, and sleep right!


Cheating a day is better than quitting.

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Daily tip #12| Common mistakes

I see A LOT of common mistakes people are making when 'dieting', and it's not something insignificant. If you think it's insignificant, it probably isnt. Let me help you by pointing out some of these..


Beverages: These are something that's taken for granted, you can get a lot of liquid calories. It has no nutritional, even if you drink 2000 calories, you'll still feel hungry, and then over-eat. You should always take note of what you are drinking, as this can be pretty big. Just say no sweetened soda and other drinks like latte, frappe, frozen coffee, smoothies or sweetened tea. Juice doesn't seem like a big deal, but eating the whole fruit would be far more benefitial, it would be more filling, it would have more fibers and few calories.



Skipping meals: Sounds logical, right? You want to lose weight, so you eat less calories = skipping some meals. That's a big NO. By skipping meals you're doing way more harm than good to yourself. Breakfast is the most skipped meal of the day, and it can be the most important one in your diet. Do not skip breakfast. If you're always running out of time, go to sleep earlier, you need more sleep anyways.



Giving into friends: You go to a restaurant, or come over at a friends house.. And there it is, a big bucket of ice cream, or pleasantly smelling hot pizza, your friend starts eating, looking at you weirdly as to why you're not taking a piece, you then-- WAKE UP! You have your own head on your body, you have to think for yourself, if anyone is insisting on you eating something, you have to nicely apologise and say you can't. You shouldn't lie saying you don't like that flavour, because you'd be tricking yourself too, you need to stay strong.



Forgetting your meal schedule: I see people forgetting when they have to eat all the time, if you do too, you should set an alarm to go off every two and a half hours, every day. This will not only remind you, it will also help you remember it better on your own since you'll be looking at the exact times every time it goes off. The good thing is this can be done on almost any phone.



Not drinking enough water: I can't stress how important water is, see this.



Weighting yourself too often: People are getting more and more obsessed about the scale, media doesn't really help with this fact. The thing about weighing yourself is that your weight changes constantly, in the morning you'll be one way, in the evening you might be shocked, how could you have lost/gained so much in one day?! Only to be let down the next morning.. What you have to do is weigh yourself daily, taking notes of your weight, then taking the average at the end of the week. You'll know your exact weight then.



Forgetting this is a lifestyle: If you think dieting is just a two-week thing which you have to last through, and then you're done - you're just plain wrong, it can be, but you're going to go back to the same weight you were before the diet, possibly even more since now you're 'allowed' to eat anything you want. What you have to realise is this can be a lifestyle, you can be healthy, fit, strong and flexible your whole life, you just have to make it you, and let it make you.

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