In this article, we will give you four simple steps to follow if your plan is to get fit or lose weight after 40. By the time you finish reading this article, you will learn how it is simpler (not easier!) than you think. Let’s go!

Step #1: Access Your (Medical) Condition

Although it is not “40 years old” but “40 years young” you are no longer 18. Think about your current state and any medical conditions or health issues you might have.

First, step on a scale. If you are severely overweight, you can’t immediately start playing basketball or CrossFit, you can injure yourself. You need to lose weight first, start intense physical activities later. You can start with some home weight loss exercises.

Also, if you had any prior injuries, especially chronic ankle and knee problems, choosing high-impact activities right away is not a good idea.

The same goes for chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or similar. Exercising is a great way to improve your health, but you need to choose the right type.

Even if you are healthy with no prior injuries, it is a good idea to consult your doctor before starting anything. Do a systematic medical checkup, and tell your doctor that you want to get fit. He/she will probably have some good advice for you, but the one you are most likely to hear is “keep slow but steady progress!.” We will get to that later.

At this point, it is a good idea to take pictures, measure your body fat, get blood tests and save all that information. You can also do a full body composition test (Dexa scan for example) that will give you exactly how much fat and muscles you have. Later, you will use these numbers and photos to compare, tracking your progress, which will serve as incredible motivation.

Step #2: Pick Your Activity

Now that you know your starting position, it is time to pick your activity and start exercising and getting fit:

Brisk Walking

If you are overweight or been completely sedentary for years and years, or if you had injuries, choose brisk walking. It is simple, requires no equipment, you can do it anywhere, but it works! Start easy, by brisk walking 15 minutes per day. After ten days, increase that to 30 minutes. After a month, increase it to 45. Make that habit stick!

What makes walking the best option for people who are out of shape at any age is that it is low-impact. Walking doesn’t tax your body as running does, but it gives you many benefits. Not only that you are burning calories as you walk, but you are also getting your heart rate up (that’s why it needs to be “brisk” walking), which will impact your cardiovascular health. However, because this is walking, not running, you won’t feel winded, and won’t get sore the next day, which will make it much more pleasurable.

You are also spending time outside, and you can actually talk as normal while waking, making it an ideal opportunity to work out with friends or your spouse.

Cycling

Cycling is, like walking, low-impact activity that you can safely do without any knee/ankle/back/hip pain. What also makes it a great option is that it is fun, and can be more challenging, if you choose to.

A bicycle is also excellent for transportation, and you can use it to go to work. That way, you will guarantee to get physical activity every single (working) day. When you get better and build endurance, you can even go on short cycling trips over the weekend, enjoying the countryside. Join a local club and enjoy some group activities too.

However, cycling has one drawback – you need to have a bicycle. Although they are not expensive, if you want to cycle regularly, it is worth investing in a better model.

Our suggestion is to start renting a bike every weekend. If you do it four weekends in a row, then consider buying one. You don’t want to buy a bicycle only for it to rot in your garage, unused. Invest money only if you plan to use it regularly.

Swimming

Swimming is another excellent option for people who are looking to get fit. Like cycling and walking, it is low-impact, as you are in the water.

Moreover, swimming is a total-body activity, which makes it incredibly valuable, as it counters all-day sitting, something we are all doing too much. Also, being in the water is incredibly relaxing, and your mind will rest while you work your body.  

Yes, swimming is hard at first, and it takes time to learn the proper technique. But once you do, you will build endurance rapidly, and in no time at all, you will start swimming laps. What also makes swimming great is that you can get a lot done in 60 minutes or less, no matter how advanced you are.

The drawbacks of swimming are that you can’t swim anywhere, and you have to go to the local pool when it’s open. Plus, you need basic equipment such as swimming suit, towel, slippers, goggles and similar. That means you have to pre-plan the activity, you can’t do it in random hours.

Jogging

If you are not too overweight and don’t have injuries, jogging might be a good option. It is fun to do, you don’t have to spend too much time on it and is a very effective form of cardio as it burns a tone of fat and helps your respiratory and cardiovascular health.

To minimize the stress on your joints, make sure to jog on a track, never on concrete. Although you can do it in anything, invest in a quality pair of running shoes that are designed for your foot type and gait. Ask people who are working at sports stores for help, they will recommend to you what’s best.

It’s essential that you focus on the form, reducing the impact. Take shorter steps, and try to distribute the force, not just hit the ground full-force heel-first.

Make sure to start slow, jogging only 1 mile, 2x per week for the first 2-3 weeks. See how it feels, and gradually increase the distance, and the frequency.

If you continue doing it for a while, think about preparing for a half-marathon. Doing something like that will keep you motivated, and you will awaken your competitive spirit again.

Step #3: Take Care Of Your Nutrition, Rest, Stress

While you will improve your fitness through exercise, it is imperative to understand that it is only a part of being fit and healthy. You will have to take care of your nutrition, rest, and stress management.

As for nutrition, the time of eating only junk, and heavy drinking is long gone. You could do it in your twenties and still stay healthy and lean. Now hangovers are worse than ever, and fat sticks to your gut at the speed of light.

It’s OK to have something sweet from time to time, and have a beer with your buddies, but try to balance out the majority of your nutrition. Eat veggies and fruits, quality meat (or other protein sources if you are vegan), and healthy fats that come from fish, olives, and similar. Don’t dwell on counting calories, just make healthy food choices and track your body composition.

As for the rest, you should get 8 hours of sleep per day. If it is impossible to do it during the night, schedule a daily afternoon nap, to sneak more hours in, it all counts. Not getting enough rest will not only ruin your productivity at work but will also stall all of your fitness progress and make you binge junk food.

The same goes for stress. One of the best ways to destress is exercising, but try to incorporate something like meditation, yoga or breathing exercises. Even a light stretch and taking 5 minutes to unwind during your working hours can do a tremendous amount of good for your mental wellbeing.

Step #4: Never Stop!

Getting fit after 40 is not about six pack abs and beach bodies, it’s about longevity. You want to stay fit when you are 50, 60 and beyond. And to do that, you need S.M.A.R.T. planning, tracking, and continual progress.

Pick the minimal amount of exercise you can do, but do it regularly. If it’s only 30 minutes, 2x per week, that’s great, just do it. Once you build up the habit, you will increase the amount per session, and the frequency.

And to stay motivated, track your progress. Pictures, weight, waist circumference, blood tests, miles covered, all of that will keep you motivated, knowing how much you accomplished.

As for nutrition, it is a good idea to create a food log. You don’t have to track every ingredient, just write down what you ate that day. And you can also track days without sweets, soda, fast food, cigarettes.

It doesn’t sound like much at first, but look here: If you don’t eat sweets only two days per week, that is a total of 104 days a year. So more than three months per year without white poison!

Conclusion

As simple as 1-2-3-4, getting fit over 40 is all about consistency, and making steady progress. Don’t do anything radical, but whatever you choose to do, do it consistently. You will start noticing improvements in no time, looking and feeling like you haven’t in years. It’s never too late to start living healthily, so start now!

The post How To Start Getting Fit After 40 In Four Simple Steps appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

Who is affected by neck pain?

According to a study published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, neck pain is a serious problem in high-income countries. Residents of the United States have a 50-50 chance of developing nonspecific neck pain.

Nonspecific neck pain can be chronic or acute. Risk factors include being an older woman with a highly demanding job, smoking, and having a low amount of support at work. Even though neck pain is common in high-income countries, people with low incomes are more likely to develop it than people who have higher incomes.

Symptoms of nonspecific neck pain include numbness in the limbs, decreased neck mobility, headaches, and migraines. Over-the-counter medication is used to treat the pain and inflammation, but alternative therapies like mobilization, mindfulness, and acupuncture are often better choices.

How is neck pain defined by chiropractors?

At Better Health Chiropractic in Juneau, we regularly see patients with neck pain, usually with acute rather than nonspecific conditions. According to a study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, acute neck pain develops quickly and lasts for a short amount of time. This injury is usually “caused by a sudden force, a traffic-related whiplash injury, for example; straining the neck while lifting; or maintaining a prolonged awkward posture; or it may have an insidious onset.” While the acute condition is often induced by trauma, it can also be caused by problems in the shoulder or arm.

How can neck pain by treated with exercise and qigong?

In this same study, chiropractors treated patients with acute neck pain and gave them exercises to relieve it, including both qigong and exercise therapy.

Qigong is a practice focused on postures, breathing work, and movement conducted slowly and deliberately. It works the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, as well as connective tissues, and is known to calm the mind. In the nonspecific neck pain study, patients who used qigong saw their pain reduce with regular sessions, but return when exercise was stopped. Overall, they experienced mindfulness, physical quietness, and more energy while practicing it.

Patients who were treated with exercise therapy also saw positive results. Patients reported feeling empowered by this therapy because the exercises reduced their pain. At the same time, their overall posture and general wellbeing improved. Many patients continued exercising after the study was over because of its effectiveness.

If you are interested in trying qigong, it is usually taught at schools that also teach Tai Chi, as the practices are closely related. If neither are taught in your area, there are also online programs and videos that you can watch to learn the techniques.

Moreover, you can do home exercises to get neck pain relief. By strengthening and stretching the muscles around the neck, shoulders, arms, and core, you can prevent future pain. You can do these on a daily basis.

What neck stretches are most effective for pain relief?

There are four useful neck stretches:

• Bending the head from side to side (lateral flexion)
• Dropping the chin to chest (flexion)
• Dropping the back of the head and lifting the chin (extension)
• Turning the head from side to side (rotation)

When patients visit chiropractors for neck pain, these stretches most often used to set baseline measurements. Doing these on a regular basis will improve your neck pain in measurable ways. In addition, you can try to place the back of your neck on the floor for a stretch to improve flexibility in the neck and relax your shoulders.

How can yoga strengthen the neck?

Strengthening the neck is also a key element to reducing pain. To start, add resistance to stretching exercises. When you drop your head to the side, put your opposite hand to hold it down. Then, use resistance to create a deeper stretch. Don’t overdo it, or you might pull a muscle. Repeat on both sides. You can use your opposite hand on any of the neck stretches, but integrate resistance slowly because neck muscles are easily strained.

Yoga exercises, including cobra pose, locust pose, half tortoise, and camel pose, also work the neck and shoulders. Often taught in Bikram yoga classes, these postures involve gentle backbends that work the spine, shoulders, and neck. In a research study published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, yoga improved range of motion, strength, and balance, as well as overall quality of life. More studies need to be conducted to understand all the benefits. However, early studies have been promising. Doing specific poses for neck pain can help your pain significantly.

About Dr. Brent Wells

Dr. Brent Wells is a graduate of the University of Nevada where he earned his bachelor of science degree before moving on to complete his doctorate from Western States Chiropractic College. He founded Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab in 1998. He became passionate about being in the chiropractic field after his own experiences with hurried, unprofessional healthcare providers. The goal for Dr. Wells is to treat his patients with care and compassion while providing them with a better quality of life through his professional treatment.

The post Best Exercises to Eliminate Neck Pain appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

It’s true that working out with a personal trainer and top-of-the-line equipment can help you to achieve your goals more rapidly, but the truth is that any kind of activity is exercise. As such you can get all the same benefits while working out at home with no help beyond free YouTube videos and, better still, you can get those same results by doing those same things that you already do every day, such as housework.

However, if you do want to reshape your body through chores instead of using a gym you need to be aware of one simple truth. The notion that it is possible to burn enough calories to lose weight only through regular chores is nothing but a myth.

There are many articles that offer some very useful statistics when explaining how many calories one burns doing housework. But take a moment to think. If those activities are so intense, why aren’t you slim yet? Those are chores that you do regularly, right?

And there is the truth of the matter – you cannot replace a workout with simple chores. But you can turn housework into a workout.

This means that you’ll need to change the way in which you do all those necessary daily activities. It is necessary to add an element of actual exercising to them and make every move dynamic to maximize its fat-burning cardio effect. And you need to make sure that you get no less than thirty minutes of those dynamic chore-exercises daily for this simple program to have a significant body-reshaping effect.

5 Ways to Turn Chores into a Workout with a Few Changes

1.    Burpees + weights + dusting

Take a look at how to do a burpee rightbecause from now on this should become your favorite exercise. It’s one of the most effective exercises for burning fat and toning your muscles, and therefore you should strive to incorporate it into your day as often as possible. When doing chores, dusting is an ideal activity to ‘interrupt’ with a burpee.

Start with 3-5 burpees and then dust one room or several pieces of furniture while regaining your breath. Then repeat as many times as needed. If you want to boost the weight loss potential of this mini-workout, wear weights while performing this activity. By doing this you will ensure that your muscles get a different type of exercise while you ‘rest’ by doing the actual dusting.

2.    Squats + lunges + cooking

Cooking is another important opportunity for participating in your chore-workout routine because it will usually be your most frequent household activity. You can take advantage of this and maximize the weight loss efficiency of this work by adding some aerobic exercises into the mix. Squats and lunges are a good choice for the kitchen, or just squats if space is limited.

Bear in mind that you should wear rubber-soled shoes to prevent slips and falls.

All this exercising in the kitchen will be essential if you want to lose weight fast. When your plans are grand, like shedding 10kg in a month, you’ll also need to boost workouts with a special diet. Working out while in the kitchen should help you stay on track with your motivation for making healthy meal choices for fast weight loss. As working out burns only a limited number of calories, you’ll need those balanced low-calorie meals to achieve significant progress.

3.    Power-walk/jog/ride a bike during a grocery run

Don’t have time for a jog in the morning? Then make the most of your grocery shopping trip. The nature and intensity of the exercise you do whilst shopping will depend entirely upon your resources, but even simple walking provides a healthy alternative to driving.

However, when weight loss is your ultimate goal you need to consider more intense aerobic travel methods. This means jogging or riding a bike. Power-walking can be an option as well, but this is only really applicable if the shops you need to visit are nearby.

A backpack is handy for this kind of grocery run, and it has to be one that sits snugly on your back and distributes the weight evenly. If this is done properly it will provide a good resistance effect when you are bringing the groceries home. If it isn’t it could hurt your back.

4.    Bicep curls + taking out the trash

Are your trash bags heavy? Use the process of lugging them outdoors as an impromptu weightlifting workout. To maximize benefits spend 5-7 minutes doing bicep curls by lifting a bag with each arm.

5.    Dishes + calf rises

Utilize your time when washing dishes by doing calf raises. This exercise is very simple but you’ll be amazed by how much it helps shape your lower legs. If these become too simple add micro-jumps to the mix. Pretend you are jumping a rope, but without the rope.

Again remember to be careful and wear non-slip shoes.

The post Turn Chores into a Workout: 5 Ideas on How to Reshape Your Body Without Gym appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

You are not alone in your journey, and you are definitely not alone in feeling a little behind in body building. You can, however, do a few things to push your body goals faster and make your work out more effective. Here are 6 muscle building tips you can follow.

1. Work Your Biggest Muscles

While the idea is to develop your muscles equally, you can definitely work on your big muscles and get them ahead of the others. It’s easier to build up muscles that have already been developed and this will show you faster results. This is called protein synthesis and it works with muscles that are pre-developed. This can be a form of motivation for you. Weights and lifting are usually the go-to work out routines to bank on if you want bigger muscles and faster results.

2. Eat Something Every 3 Hours 

You may find this a little contradictory to your bodybuilding goals and may be a little too frequent than your eating habits, but this is actually an effective technique for faster muscle development. Of course, you should invest in protein and carbohydrate meals because these two compounds are your best friends when it comes to muscle building.

While protein and carbohydrates may be too heavy, be sure to pair your meals with food that can help give you a fast metabolism.

3. Down the Carbs After Your Workout 

Working out can bring exhaustion and hunger that could tempt you to eat anything you want right after your workout. After all, you deserve a reward, right? Eating after your workout is fine. In fact, eating carbohydrates is highly recommended because this type of compound is responsible for restoring energy to your body. According to studies, eating carbs can help rebuilding muscles faster after a workout routine. After the gym, you can eat carbs such as yogurt, bread, cereals or starchy vegetables to replenish your strength.

4. Stay Focused On the Task At Hand

It’s easy to get distracted by other people with you in the gym, especially the ones who have been there a while and have the body you want. It’s easy to feel little compared to these guys. While it’s perfectly normal to compare your muscles to theirs, their bodybuilding journey is different from yours. Take them as inspiration, more than anything else, and focus at your own bodybuilding journey.

You will be exposed to many kinds of exercise routines such as weight lifting, pull ups, squats and many others. It is important that you stay focused on each of these when you are doing it.

5. Have Some Milk Before Bed

Milk is known to give you a sound sleep, but did you know that it can help decrease the breakdown of protein while you are asleep? This action allows protein to stick with you and seep into your muscles for faster development.

6. Water, Water, Water

Water should be your constant drink and you should stay hydrated at all times. Bigger muscles mean bigger water intake because your body would require more for hydration and circulation. Drink water as much as you can, or at least a gallon per day. That being said, you should also avoid other beverages and stick to water as much as you can.

Being skinny may have its perks but for guys in the gym whose goal is to build up their muscles, it takes a lot of hard work, perseverance and discipline to get the body you want. Don’t worry, you’ll get there. When you do, it will definitely be more than pride for reaching your body goals.

The post 6 Muscle Building Tips for the Skinny Guys appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

But rather than having bad feelings about staying fit, why don’t you try these tips:

Eat well

Nutrition is a big part of being and staying healthy, especially in your 50s. However, specific diets are often very expensive and tiring for both the body and the mind. Most people fall of the bandwagon just because these put so much strain on you – you are on a diet, everything is forbidden!

Try a lighter approach instead.

Avoid sweets, for starters. They are not good for your blood sugar and they have no nutritional value. But if you feel like having a piece of cake at a birthday party, don’t shy away from it. As you progress, your body will need less and less sweets and you’ll eventually give them up entirely. The same goes for junk food, pastries and bread.

You can also look for healthier solutions like healthy sweets with honey instead of sugar, dark chocolate or almonds. Try having a veggie burger instead of the junk food one. There are plenty of replacements for other things as well.

Drink a lot of water

Water is essential in your life but you often forget to take it, don`t you? It’s A common problem. You saturate your thirst with juices, sodas and similar unhealthy drinks. But water is a excellent replacement for these.

Set a reminder for yourself and get into the habit – take a bottle with you everywhere. After a while, you won`t need a reminder.

Take a walk

Exercising in the traditional sense – the gym, running and so on – can be just as stressful for your body and mind as going on a strict diet. It’s just something you are supposed to do but really don’t want to. It can be boring as well. However, there are better approaches.

Taking a walk every day is one example.

It’s relaxing, you can do it with friends, family members or pets. You can also look at great scenery, talk while you do it or listen to music. It’s also beneficial to your mental health.

Sleep well

Getting enough sleep is crucial. Go to bed early and wake up early. You`ll get a full day to enjoy and you will never be tired.

Find fun activities to do

Other than walking as a way to stay fit, you can also do plenty of other things. For instance, there is yoga, dancing, doing some appropriate sports, pilates and so on. Find an exciting activity that you love and you`ll never feel stressed about working out. Instead, you`ll look forward to it and have fun doing it.

Have some down time

Activities are important but so is relaxing. Allow yourself to rest and have some down time – read a book, watch some TV, take a nap and so on. You`ll feel much better and enjoy your day a lot more.

Warm up before exercise

“If you are going to do an activity that requires your entire body to be involved, it’s best to stretch and warm up before doing it. Your body will be prepared and no exercise will be too straining or difficult after that,” says Filip Haskel an HR manager Britstudent and Australia2write.

Get a partner…

No matter what you are doing – be it staying away from sweets, walking, doing a fun activity – it’s always better if you have a partner. Do it with a spouse, a friend, a family member or find a complete stranger who likes the same things you do. It will be much easier to stick with what you started if you have someone to support you.

… or a dog

“Dogs can be amazing. They make you get out of the house whether you like it or not. You have to walk them, play with them and so on. Dogs can be wonderful partners in any activity you do, especially walking,” says Anna Trent a Lifestyle Coach at Write My X and 1Day2Write.

Reduce your drinking

If you still drink and enjoy it in your 50s, make sure that you stay moderate. For instance, don`t get drunk or drink every night of the week. It’s bad for your health and your appearance as well as your mental health. An occasional glass of wine or beer isn’t going to hurt anyone but spirits and consistent drinking can really hurt you.

Being fit doesn’t mean you have to invest in an expensive diet or a gym membership. You can stay fit and still have fun doing it. Hopefully, these tips will help you enjoy your 50s.

Adelina Benson works as an email marketer and writer with AcademicBrits and OriginWritings. Her main tasks involve managing the quality of business emails and developing email marketing strategies. When she has free time, she likes to write helpful articles on topics that interest her.

The post 10 Tips That Can Help You Stay Fit In Your 50s appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

Gyms can be intimidating. The amount of people, available machines, and pressure to perform can sometimes discourage us from wanting to go. If you’re feeling apprehensive about getting to the gym, consider exercising outdoors (weather permitting).

Outdoor exercise has numerous benefits over indoor exercise, including cleaner air, lack of membership fees, a more rigorous workout, and benefits to your mental health. In a study from Exeter, participants who exercised outdoors had higher levels of enthusiasm, pleasure, and self-esteem, as well as lower levels of tension, depression, and fatigue than participants who exercised indoors.

Despite outdoor exercise being objectively more difficult, those that exercise outdoors are generally able to exercise longer and push themselves harder. Here are five workout ideas to try for yourself outdoors.

Walking Lunges with Overhead Reach

A walking lunge with overhead reach is a multi-joint exercise and a great warm-up before the rest of your workout. This exercise utilizes all of the muscles that cross the hip, knee and ankle joint, warming a lot of muscles at once. By moving through two planes of motion, it doubles as an excellent dynamic warm-up.

Begin by standing on one leg while holding your opposite knee at hip level. Step forward as you inhale, lunging and swinging both of your arms overhead. Hold this lunging position before shifting your weight to your leading leg to lift you up while bringing your arms back down. As you return to a standing position, exhale. Repeat this motion anywhere from 8-15 times.

Alternating Split Squat Jumps

            Split squat jumps are similar to the walking lunges, however at a much higher intensity. Increasing your workouts’ intensity is ideal for trying to reach a fitness goal – like looking sharp for an upcoming wedding – in a set amount of time.

You begin by standing upright with your hands held behind your head. Then, you take a step forward and drop into a split squat so that your leading thigh is parallel to the floor. When returning to a standing position, push up from the balls of your feet to rapidly jump up. While in mid-air, switch your legs to land in the opposite stance and then lower yourself back down into a split squat. And then repeat.

Spiderman Push-ups

            Spiderman push-ups are great for working yourpectoral muscles, deltoids, and triceps. They’re a higher intensity than traditional push-ups, so you won’t need to do as many to get the same results. This means you’ll reach your goal to look fit for that upcoming wedding faster, and won’t have to stress about how your rental tuxedo fits for the occasion, either.

You begin by starting in a traditional push-up position. The only variation between a traditional push-up and a spiderman pushup is your leg movements. For each rep in a spiderman pushup, you also alternate bending your knee towards your elbow to mimic a spiders legs. Everytime you go down, you switch which leg you bring towards you.

Pike Push-up

A pike push-up targets your shoulders better than a traditional push-up while also working your chest.

To begin, assume the usual push-up position. Then, left your hips so that your body forms an upside down “V”, similar to the downward facing dog yoga position. With your legs and arms as straight as possible, begin bending your elbows and lowering yourself so that your head is almost touching the ground. Then, push-up.

Hill Sprint

Hill sprints are short and high-intensity, utilizing gravity to build strength in all of your running muscles. These sprints function the same way that turning up the incline on your treadmill at the gym would. To accomplish them, find a steep hill with an incline and use it to sprint up on. You should only do a couple when you’re starting out, as you’ll need to build an endurance for the high-intensity.

The post 5 Outdoor Workout Ideas appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

As the name might indicate, the main difference between bodyweight exercises and classic weight training is that the former makes use solely of your mass to create tension, burn fat, and expand muscle tissue. The latter relies on additional equipment, which is seen as a downside when you are seeking a simple exercise routine.

If that is your case, then bodyweight training is certainly the right choice for you. The exercises engage every single part of the body, as long as you are careful to target it. This includes anything from the thighs and arms, all the way to the heart.

Due to this, not only do you end up being in great physical shape, but you are also healthier in general. To establish just how that happens, here are the three major benefits of this type of physical activity.

3 Benefits of Bodyweight

1.  Combines Strength and Cardio

An efficient exercise routine delivers incredible results because it is focused on one singular aspect. Some programs aim to improve endurance, while others are designed specifically to build brawn. There are also training schedules that steer towards one specific body part or a particular set of skills that improve athletic performance.

There are numerous workouts available online, most modern programs focusing their exercises on strength. Depending on the routine you adopt, you can add in some sessions that target cardiovascular health specifically. However, bodyweight training combines the two types in one simple routine that will improve both aspects simultaneously.

What is more, they target every single body part if you plan each session accordingly. The best way to go about this is to integrate 60 seconds of cardio bodyweight movements, such as high knees or burpees, in between your regular push-ups, lunges, and whatever other strength exercises you prefer. This will fortify the heart, build lean muscle, and tone you limb to limb.

2.  Fast and Efficient Weight Loss

It’s no secret that most people who take up a regular workout routine seek fast and efficient weight loss. Toning the body in a short period of time is essential during the warmer months of the year mostly, but also throughout its entirety if you value your health and fitness. And even though many programs promise this benefit, few actually help people achieve.

One of those select few is bodyweight training. This type of physical activity activates your innate flight or fight response via tension, which signals your body to burn fat so that you stay alive. Even though working out is by no means a life or death situation, your neurotransmitters don’t really differentiate between these various stressors.

What is more, bodyweight training usually consists of high-intensity intervals, which are known for their efficiency. In fact, as little as 30 minutes per week of them can deliver comparable results to partaking in long-term exercises or professional sports. This has been demonstrated by a recent study conducted in June 2018.

3.  Accessible and Convenient

Finally, it’s important to mention that bodyweight training is accessible and convenient. It doesn’t require any additional equipment, and you don’t have to purchase a gym membership to engage in it. In fact, it can be performed just about anywhere. Building lean muscle is thus possible whether you’re at home, at the office, or in the middle of your college’s campus.

As previously mentioned, this type of routine relies solely on the weight of your own body to deliver visible results. Therefore, no financial investment is necessary. Consequently, besides being extremely opportune and available to just about anyone, it is cost-efficient as well. After all, who doesn’t dream of a workout that isn’t just affordable, but actually free?

The recommended way to approach it is at home, so that you have the necessary space to fully focus on the routine. However, when you are short for time and want to squeeze in a bit of training during your lunch break, a few pushups at the office won’t hurt anyone.

Final Thoughts

It’s no secret that exercising regularly has amazing advantages for the entire body. What sets bodyweight training apart from the crows is its ability to combine strength training with beneficial cardio which results in a shaped body that is also healthier overall.

What is more, you can drop pounds a lot faster with this type of workout as well. The tension created by the high-intensity intervals behind bodyweight exercises puts just enough strain on your system so that fat is burned at a sped up pace. And to top it all off, it is also one of the most convenient workouts out there, as it is completely free and can be pursued anywhere.

If you are serious about pursuing an exceptional body weight program today, follow the link :  Get started right away!

“Luke S. Mitchell is an MS Undergraduate in Sports Journalism and manager of Defend Your Healthcare. He is interested not only in the mind-body relationship and how motivation shapes our bodies but also in how we draw energy just from one simple yet powerful thought. You can find him on Facebook and Twitter.”

The post Benefits of a Bodyweight Workout Routine appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

As June comes to a close so does Men’s Health Month. However, the ending of the month does not mean that men should give up on their health and wellness. Living a healthy lifestyle, both with the foods you eat and amount you are active, is extremely important beyond the month of June.

Living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle has many benefits, both physically and mentally, and allows you to meet your full potential. Being the best possible version of yourself includes building up a level of fitness that will help you live well and set an example for those you care about.

Here are 5 reasons why every man needs to maintain their fitness beyond Men’s Health Month.

Keeps Your Heart Healthy

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. In general heart disease includes common issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, and stroke, among many others. While there are many causes for heart disease, lack of fitness and exercise routine is one of the larger culprits.

Exercising on a regular basis and keeping up your fitness level improves your cardiovascular and circulatory systems. The movements you are making when exercising gets your heart pumping, thus increasing blood flow and keeping any blockages from forming. Exercise and overall fitness is also a great way to work out any stress, which is another leading cause of many forms of heart disease.

Enhance Your Sexual Performance

Going along with the improvements to your cardiovascular and circulatory systems that come with being fit, improvements in those areas also help to enhance your sexual performance. Among other tasks, increasing your physical fitness is one small thing you can do everyday to help combat common sex-related issues such as erectile dysfunction and a low libido.

The improvements to your cardiovascular and circulatory systems that come along with being fit increases the amount and strength of blood flow throughout your body. Increase in blood flow makes it easier to get and maintain an erection, thus improving your sexual performance. Fitness also increases your stamina. Being fit means that not only will you be able to get and maintain an erection, but that you’ll be able to last longer too.

Feel Less Achy

Exercising and maintaining your fitness means you are doing more for your body than just sitting at a desk or on a couch. Movement that comes with being fit stretches your muscles and helps with a variety of issues. For those of us stuck at a daily desk job, it can be hard to remember to stretch your muscles. Still, while you’re at work, there are some movements you can do to feel less stiff and get your muscles moving at least a little.

After work, it is important to make sure you are doing something to work towards fitness. This could be as simple as going for a walk or as intense as a full gym session. Either way you are moving your muscles after a long day of essential lack of motion. Conditioning your muscles can increase your flexibility, relieve joint stiffness, and relieve aches and pains.

Help Your Mental Health

Being fit and exercising regularly can also help your mental health. Whether stress, anxiety, depression, or some other form of mental health issue is plaguing you, adding a fitness routine in conjunction with other treatments can really help.

Exercising releases endorphins, the chemical in your brain that makes you feel good and happy. Working together with the routine your doctor suggests, this extra release of endorphins can help you to feel even slightly better. Putting your mind on the workout can help take your mind off whatever other thoughts are plaguing your mind or can even help to work through those thoughts.

Boost Your Mood

Along with improving your mental health, creating and maintaining a fitness routine can help you to just feel better in general. As previously mentioned, exercising releases endorphins. Every time you exercise, you get another rush of endorphins in your system. This makes you feel better and happier.

Fitness, and making yourself healthy, also just makes you feel good about yourself. You know that you are doing something to improve your well being and that is a powerful feeling. Knowing that you are doing something good and healthy for yourself makes you feel better about yourself overall, especially when you start to see results from the fitness routine.

The post 5 Reasons Every Man Should Stay Fit appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

Just 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram every day – that’s how much protein The American College Of Sports Medicine recommends for endurance athletes. It’s a snap to achieve this with a vegan diet and you’ll probably require less if you’re not an athlete. You just have to know how to maximize your protein intake. So, when your vegan gym buddies come over for dinner, treat them (and yourself) to a delicious, protein-rich vegan meal that will boost everyone’s fitness at the gym the next day.
​

Complete proteins are your best bet

Protein is essential for every organ, cell, and tissue in our body. The body produces 12 amino acids, but we need to get nine essential amino acids from our diet in order to be healthy. If you want to increase your muscles, your meals should contain all the amino acids in order to be a complete protein meal. It sounds difficult, but it’s really easy. When feeding your vegan friends, treat them all to a dish of legumes, such as beans and quinoa, which gives you all the proteins you need. That meal is complete in itself!

Legumes are a fitness food

According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, if you want to get big muscles, add 30 grams of protein at each meal. If you do, the study found, you can achieve 25 percent more protein synthesis to enable muscle growth. When planning a vegan meal for an exercise buddy who wants to build big muscles, a good rule to follow is to focus on legumes. Just consider this: one cup of black beans contains 16 grams of protein, while a cup of chickpeas contains 19 grams of protein. That’s all your friend needs to get the full amount of protein he needs.

Your meal needs protein boosters

There are some foods that help your body to better absorb protein. These include acidic foods such as fruits, orange juice, and vinegar, so consider adding these to your vegan meal. You can also get some great meal inspiration from restaurant vegan meals that make use of delicious protein-boosting ingredients, such as balsamic, garlic, and fresh greens. Since these foods contain proteases, enzymes that are found in your stomach which break down bonds between amino acids so that they can be absorbed by the body easier, they will increase the benefits of protein to your body. With more protein getting absorbed by your body, more of it will go to building your muscles.

Don’t forget the carbs!

If you follow a regular workout routine, you should be adding carbs to your protein-rich vegan meals. The addition of healthy carbs will also help to make it feel more satisfying. Eating protein and carbs together will help you build more muscle, burn more calories, and give you the energy to sustain your workouts. Blending carbs and protein in a post-workout meal is important to repair depleted muscles, so if your friends are coming to you for dinner straight from the gym, give them this delicious combination. Examples of good carbs to add to your protein meals include sweet potatoes and whole-wheat pasta. When combined with proteins such as lentils and wild rice, it will be a delicious and nutritious meal – no one will even miss a meat dish!

You can build muscle and become fit on a vegan diet. The trick is to make sure you’re eating enough protein. When cooking for your vegan friends, add healthy proteins such as legumes and whole-grains to the menu. Don’t forget to add foods that will encourage better absorption of protein by your body. The result? Tasty protein-rich foods that sneakily boost your fitness.

The post How To Create A Nutritionally Complete Protein-Packed Vegan Meal For Your Gym Buddies appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.

The keto diet has been relied upon for close to a century, and its effectiveness can be explained in the light of nutrition science and physiology.

But What Does Keto Diet Mean?

The keto diet (often referred to as the ketogenic diet) typically is a low-carb diet whose origin is traceable to the 1920s among epileptic patients as shown by Johns Hopkins Medical Center researchers.

The keto diet mimics fasting and achieves better results without any side effects. This diet is effective as restricts intake of high-carb glucose-rich foods.

The keto diet will work for virtually any person as it expands body fat at the expense of carbohydrates. Consequently, users lose excess body fat and weight. This approach to weight loss does not require counting of calories, fasting, or intense physical exercise to work effectively.

Now, which foods are recommended for your keto diet?

1. Avocado Oil

Do you believe that avocados are an incredible source of nutritional and medicinal benefits?

It is easy to mistaken this nutrient-dense food as keto-unfriendly since it has nine carb grams in every 3.5 ounces. However, 7 grams are fiber content, and only 2 grams’ account for its net carb count.

Avocado oil is a rich mineral and vitamin source. Such is the presence of potassium in avocado oil which most people miss in their diets. Research shows the essence of potassium in promoting the process of body transition into ketosis (1).

Avocado oil has been implicated in increasing levels of bad cholesterol in the body. However, research has disputed such assumptions, holding that avocado oil may trigger the reduction of bad cholesterol and triglycerides by 22%.

Include avocado oil in your keto diet, and reap its amazing benefits of your diet.

2. Chia Seeds

Seeds and nuts have won the hearts of many as high-fat, low-carb, and healthy foods. And such are chia seeds. These seeds have an adequate healthy fat content, and it is recommended that you include them in your keto diet.

Frequent consumption of chia seeds is associated with the incidence of cardiovascular complications. Indeed, such is the study which holds that other than heart disease, chia seed consumption may potentially minimize the risk for depression, certain cancers, and other chronic illnesses.

I love chia seeds for their high fiber content. This fiber serves to help you have a satiation feeling for longer while minimizing the body’s affinity to absorb more calories. (2)

Eat chia seeds today. Remember, a single chia seed ounce carries only one-gram net carbs which makes it a recommendable keto diet food.

3. Seafood

Are fish, salmon, and shellfish on your keto diet list? These foods are described as keto-friendly, and they have high selenium, B vitamin, and potassium content.

What’s more, they virtually are carb-free.

The carb content is seafood varies among different shellfish types. For example, some types including squid, clams, oysters, mussels, and octopus have between 3 and 7 grams of carbs. Therefore, be keen to account for their carb content if you must add these types to your keto diet.

Research has justified the inclusion of seafood to your keto diet. A study on insulin sensitivity shows that mackerel, salmon, and sardines which are rich in fat have ample omega-3s. omega-3s are essential in the reduction of body insulin levels while promoting insulin sensitivity among overweight and obese individuals (3).

Fish consumption has an additional benefit of improving immunity and cognitive health. All you need is a minimum of two seafood servings each week.

Then, there are those foods you must avoid by all means. These are what I can the keto-unfriendly foods.

Keto-unfriendly Foods

When I had to trim my food list, I was worried about having to ditch my treats and delicacies. However, I learned that when I followed my keto diet appropriately, my cravings vanished. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about, you’ll do fine. For your keto diet to work effectively, be sure to exclude the following from your food list.

1. Starches and Grains

Can you imagine avoiding bread? Many people are eating bread in some form each day. However, grains and starches may result in some problems. Indeed, grain induces internal issues and other allergies, and this is the reason gluten-free foods are the talk in town. Cutting out starches and grains, you benefit by avoiding
more carbs which could otherwise result in adding weight.

Indeed, research shows that athletes who avoid grain and starch achieve incredible fat-burning levels (4).

So, be careful to avoid oats, flour, pasta, rice, bread, and potatoes.

2. Sugar

Are fruit and candy your favorite delicacies? It is sad you must avoid them if your keto diet is to work effectively. If you cannot possibly contain your cravings for sugar even after switching into ketosis, you can still have your treats by savoring fat bombs.

However, consume fat bombs in moderation as they could easily make you revert to the vicious cycle that you are avoiding. Back to the foods to avoid, ensure that fruit juices, sodas, ice cream, pastries, and cookies are not on your keto food list.

Research shows that avoiding sugar enables the body to utilize the effects of ketosis to improve your blood sugar to discourage type 2 diabetes (5).

For a fruit junkie, you can find solace in moderate blueberry and raspberry consumption.

Note: The moment you successfully switch into ketosis, your cravings for sugar disappear naturally.

3. Alcohol

Most diets do not recommend alcohol. The keto diet is only interested in restricting carb intake. Therefore, you only need to avoid drinks with carb contents. Thus, beers, liqueurs, and ciders are virtually off limits.

You can consume such liquors as whiskey, tequila, brandy, rum, scotch, vodka, cognac, and gin. However, you must not use mixers which could be having carb contents.

The food list for the keto diet is long, and the foods to avoid are even more. I have presented just some of the most common. Look out for more posts from me for a deeper understanding of the keto diet.

The post The Keto Diet: What You Need to Eat appeared first on BodyweightCoach.com.