Hey Angels, it’s Ally!

Today, we’re taking a journey into the promised land – a topic that’s so widely talked about, yet so few people in the fitness community seem to understand it.

When talking about weight loss, the first word that comes to the mind of most women is “diet”.

And men in the fitness community usually try to stay away from the term “weight loss” as much as humanly possible.

But today, we’re not going to talk about the dieting most women think of…

We’re going to look at the facts – the only actual ways one (man or woman) can go about losing weight.

That being said, I know surgical options always exist, but for the sake of giving you valuable, practical, applicable information, we’re going to skip right past them.

Without further ado, let’s get right into it.

When you get down to the bottom of it, I mean the real bottom, the core of what your body is capable of, you can narrow down weight loss to 4 specific approaches.

Each of these approaches is somewhat related to the others and combining them in a way that is most sustainable for your lifestyle is definitely the way to go.

Let’s take a look at each one individually so you can make the best decision about which will work best for you, your goals, and your lifestyle.

Approach Number 1 – Exercise

Exercise?! How shocking!

All jokes aside, regular exercise, or at the very least, physical activity should be a part of everyone’s life. Literally everyone.

Adding an exercise routine to your daily activities isn’t only a great way to reduce and maintain healthy weight – oh, no, no.

It promotes an overall healthy lifestyle.

The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that adults should exercise at least thirty minutes a day in order to lead a healthy life – and that’s not even talking about weight loss as a goal.

Turning exercise into a habit will without a doubt improve your cardiovascular endurance, your flexibility, your joint range of motion, your balance, coordination, not to mention improving muscle tissue and strength.

We also know that people who regularly exercise report a sense of better mental well-being.

Okay, but what does that have to do with weight?

Well, everything, really.

In order for your exercise regime to become a part of your life, a habit that you can’t go without, you can’t just go about it as “a way to lose weight”.

You have to know all the positives – how it makes you look better, feel better, how it helps your body fight disease, and how it gives you a true sense of accomplishment after every workout.

For the sake of simplification, I’ll say that any form of exercise will help you lose weight as it will not only increase the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis but also your body’s rate of metabolism.

Keep in mind, almost every diet that you come across is destined to fail if a training regimen does not accompany it.

I’m not going to go in-depth about the different types of training and which one is better for promoting weight loss, but just know this – the more you move throughout the day, the more energy and motivation you will have to keep moving and be active throughout the day.

So if you’re currently jumping from diet to diet and from treadmill to treadmill without seeing a consistent result that you can be happy with…

Maybe it’s time you take a closer look at your weight loss goals and try to incorporate a workout regimen that includes resistance training alongside all your cardio efforts.

Approach Number 2 – Nutrition/Food Intake

When talking about the proper “food intake” or IIFYM, there are many factors to take into consideration – such as your weight, your age, your activity level, and so on. They’re all crucial variables that you need to have in mind.

Luckily, there are a quintillion online calculators, that can at least give you an idea of the numbers you should be chasing.

But they’re not good at predicting your activity level – only you are. If you’re running errands all day or your job involves you being active and on your feet – your expenditure of energy increases.

That being said, we know one thing for sure – if your goal is to lose weight, then you must burn more calories than you consume on a daily basis.

When your energy consumption and energy expenditure are balanced, your weight will remain the same.

Calorie surplus – weight gain.

Calorie deficit – weight loss!

It’s really that simple.

Right now, our goal is to lose weight, so let’s look at the two to decrease the amounts of calories you intake.

1. Consume Less Food
   That sounds harsh, but let’s elaborate.
   If you want to lose weight, you have to decrease the total number of calories you consume below your BMR (the average number of calories your body burns throughout the day).
   So this can be as easy as skipping a snack, skipping a meal, or consuming a little bit less food in every meal. This means you can still eat what you’ve always eaten but in smaller amounts.
   Even though it’s “an approach”, it’s not a healthy one.
   If you’re usually eating foods that are nutrient-deficient, your body isn’t going to get all the resources it needs to maintain your physical and mental well-being.
   This is the approach of many “diets” that end up wasting people’s time and leaving them worse off than before in regards to their weight and health…
2. Change The Foods You Eat
   In comparison to the last approach, this one is heaven-sent. Let me give you an example.
   Say that someone is used to eating lunch that is high in fats like the food served in most fast food restaurants.
   That person decides to change their routine for a week – they start having lunch every day that is packed with healthy nutrients, low in calories, and doesn’t involve any processed foods.
   This person will not only decrease their calorie intake by a large number (on a week by week scale) but will also improve the quality of food they’re consuming!
   They will not only begin to lose weight but improve their overall health as well.
   Just by giving their body access to new nutritionally-balanced foods, their body will thank them by functioning optimally.
   This is where the concept of IIFYM comes in, but we’ll leave that for another time…

Out of the two options, the second is obviously preferred.

However, it’s not as easy to implement dietary changes as some people might think.

The reason for that is that it involves a lifestyle change that a lot of individuals just can’t deal with.

But if you decide that the food intake approach is your approach to lose weight, you’re making an effort to cut off foods that are highly processed, high in fat, and low in nutritional value.

Is this the approach you’re taking?

Approach Number 3 – Stimulate Your Metabolism

In my opinion, a very undermined and often skipped approach, stimulating your metabolism essentially means increasing the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis.

Meaning that if that you increase your metabolism to a level where your body burns more calories than you consume, voila, you’re losing weight.

Everyone has, as I mentioned above, a little something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (or BMR).

Your BMR refers to the amount of energy that your body uses when at rest in an environment with neutral temperature. To determine your BMR value, you need your digestive system to be inactive which usually means fasting for half a day.

The part of your system that’s responsible for the “fight or flight” also has to be inactive.

When those two elements are in place, you can determine your BMR – the number of calories your body burns just for using its necessary mechanisms.

There are a ton of metabolism stimulants, supplements, and herbs you can try that focus on increasing an individual’s BMR, so let’s take a look at a few different approaches.

First of all, we have to mention prescription metabolism stimulants – as the name suggests, you need a prescription from your doctor to get these because they’re often accompanied by side effects and nasty drug interactions.

Second, there are a bunch of synthetic and herbal alternatives that you don’t need a prescription for that aim to increase your BMR, but the FDA does not approve the majority of them.

When taking into consideration all the headaches, abdominal pain, bloating, and other side effects, and the fact that the FDA rigorously researches them and does not approve any of them for long-term use…

We can see why these probably aren’t an option for us.

Of course, you can go ahead and try that option, only after you consult your doctor.

But leaving all these suspicious and untested drugs behind, let’s look at some completely natural ways to increase your metabolism!

1. Magnesium – Magnesium is a mineral that every cell in your body needs to function. It’s used in over 300 biochemical reactions such as the optimal function of your muscles, nervous system, even your heart. Foods high in magnesium that you can try are nuts such as almonds, cashews, peanuts, oatmeal, legumes, whole-grain cereals, and nearly all green vegetables!
2. B Vitamins – these are the vitamins responsible for DNA synthesis, the function of the central nervous system, as well as energy production in the body. Foods high in vitamin B include spinach, beans, melon, eggs, broccoli, and poultry.
3. Healthy Snacks – consuming small but healthy snacks as you’re going about your day is a great way to boost your metabolism. It can minimize food cravings and reduce overeating tendencies that most often lead to weight gain. These snacks should include foods that are low in fat and high in protein as well as complex carbohydrates. Just to name a few, you can go with peanut butter, fruits, cottage cheese, soups, salads, and so on.
4. Eating Breakfast – if you’ve not read my post about the importance of breakfast, you’re missing out. Clinical studies show that eating breakfast may increase your resting metabolism by up to 10% while reducing the risk of obesity! Believe me, having breakfast is always a good idea.

And last but not least…

Approach Number 4 – Appetite Suppression

Believe it or not, appetite suppressors are becoming a big part of weight loss plans nowadays for their ability to reduce food cravings.

How do they do that?

I’m glad you asked.

Appetite suppressants decrease the body’s food cravings by increasing the levels of serotonin in your brain. Clinical studies have concluded that when an individual’s serotonin levels are low, they are more likely to develop overeating tendencies.

But I can tell you this – if you’re going to commit yourself to losing weight (and losing it for good), you’re going to need to make a few small lifestyle changes that, over time, will help you achieve that goal.

Sure, exercise is an excellent way to lose weight, but if you’re constantly giving in to your food cravings and not watching your nutrition, it’s not going to be of much help when it comes to weight loss specifically.

I hope this post gave you some clear pointers as to how you can approach your weight loss plan – and if you need a professional’s help, feel free to reach out.

So tell me – which of these approaches do you think is the best for you and your lifestyle?

Talk to you soon,

Ally

Hey Angels, it’s Ally!

Recently, a friend of mine asked me a question that has really stuck with me since.

She asked; “Why is there so much misinformation in the fitness world?”

I focus a lot of my time toward helping people achieve their fitness goals, and through the years I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t make an effort to differentiate between the truth and the misconceptions. They just let all the false information slide, not knowing that it does affect them in one way or another.

We’ve all done the things that are proven to work – barbell training for strength, a caloric deficit for weight loss, cardio for endurance, etc.

But somehow, fitness remains mostly misunderstood.

I believe that misinformation spreads fast because it’s easier for people to accept. In fitness, and life in general, people love shortcuts. Our brains love following simple rules and instructions, and resisting change when it happens.

All these “boot camp” and “CrossFit” trends have become incredibly popular nowadays.

The problem again lies in the “no pain, no gain” attitude.

People, especially those who are new to the gym, tend to burn themselves out quick by doing advanced workout routines and drastically changing their diet in a short amount of time, leaving themselves under the impression that being fit and working toward your goals is something painfully difficult.

This behavior perpetuates the short-cut chasing.

It paints a picture of the health and diet world that doesn’t encourage people to make small, consistent changes, but instead go all-in toward what they’re doing, only to make their journey unpleasant and unproductive.

Today, I want to bust the most well-known myths about working out so you can get a clear perspective on what advice to avoid in the future.

When I say myth, I’m referring to information that is widely available and shared throughout the fitness community, and does nothing but give people the wrong impression about fitness, slowing them down from achieving their real goal.

That’s why busting these myths will be so sweet!

Let’s get into it.

Myth 1: The “Lean Muscle” phenomena.

Around the fitness and diet community, the term “lean muscle” comes in the opposite of the term “bulky.”

We all know that person who’s on a “lean muscle” gaining diet…

Well, let me tell you this – there’s no such thing as lean muscle. When people say this, they’re most likely referring to “lean body mass.” Technically, all muscle is lean muscle.

So when someone’s talking about building lean muscle, this is the absolute same as burning fat and building muscle. An increase in lean body mass is essentially the weight you gained minus the fat you gained.

So forget about the “no-carb lean muscle diets,” and focus on what works for you!

Myth 2: Strength training is all about machines and heavy weights.

The fact is, “heavy” is an extremely subjective term.

What strength training truly means is adding resistance when working your muscles. This resistance doesn’t need to come from the heavy weight on the bar.

Strength can also be built and maintained through bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, medicine balls, everything that essentially causes your muscles to contract against an external resistance.

What the increase in strength indeed refers to is your ability to continuously increase that load and improve your tone, mass, and endurance.

Once again, focus on what works for you! You can severely injure yourself by putting too much weight on a bar just so you can “build strength”!

Don’t do it, promise?

Myth 3: If you aren’t sore, you didn’t work out hard enough.

This myth is a big one for the “no pain, no gain” people.

The truth is, soreness is essentially your body’s response to inflammation. You can’t measure your progress based on one of the many chemical reactions going on inside your body.

You don’t need soreness to gain strength or mass. If you have a killer workout and you’re sore the next day, the only thing that means is that you expended a little bit more energy than you had to.

If you, however, have an unusually intense workout and wake up the next day sore-free, that means you expended just the right amount of energy.

High-five!

Myth 4: You need to stretch before you start working out.

Although true to some extent, it’s mostly misunderstood. Everyone can agree that jumping right into your one rep max can cause more harm than good, but the static stretches should be left for after you’re done with your workout!

Replace the word “stretching” with a dynamic warm-up, and you’re going to achieve the desired result – improving the mobility and elasticity of your muscles, preparing them for higher intensity.

Foam rolling is a great option here, as it keeps your body moving and helps you improve your range of motion. This allows you to go deeper into your exercises and put the stress of the entirety of your muscle tissue.

Myth 5: Crunches will give you rock-hard abs!

Nope, nope, nope. Crunches surely will help you develop your abs and strengthen your core, but they definitely aren’t the most efficient exercise for the job.

Some people, especially newbies, tend to look at sit-ups and crunches as the holy grail of ab workouts! But why not try something that doesn’t involve lying on your back and straining your neck?

Different variations of the plank, the squat, the leg raise, and the reverse press up are all better alternatives that will help you build stability and strength in your midsection.

Myth 6: Sweating means intensity!

Then there’s the sweating misconception. A lot of people tend to believe that how much you sweat is directly related to how much calories you burn, and it’s really not that simple!

The reason you sweat in the first place is that your core temperature increases. When you exercise, your muscles release heat. So naturally, when you’re going through a tough workout, you tend to raise your internal temperature more, and in turn, sweat more.

But this isn’t the only variable!

The temperature you work out in also plays a significant role.

So does the humidity in the air.

In an area that’s particularly humid, you’ll feel like you’re sweating more. That’s because it’s not the release of sweat that cools your body down, but its evaporation. If your gym is really humid, chances are sweat can’t evaporate as easily, giving you the impression that you’re sweating more than usual.

Myth 7: Doing a lot of cardio is the best way to shed fat.

Sadly, no. Spending a few hours on the treadmill won’t mean anything if your diet (and the rest of your workout regime) don’t follow the same goal.

To be entirely accurate, to shed a pound of fat you need to burn around 3,500 calories.

Translate that to cardio, and that’s a pretty crazy number!

Just look at this chart created by the American Council on Exercise. The average person will burn around 14 calories a minute while running. So if you’re running a 10-minute mile, you’ll be burning about 140 calories (of course, other variables are included in your personal equation).

To achieve real weight loss, cardio just won’t suffice. You need to adopt a healthy diet and participate in activities that trigger EPOC – exercise post-oxygen consumption. EPOC means your body will be burning calories during the time after you completed your workout. You can achieve EPOC through high-intensity interval training (known as HIIT) and different types of resistance training.

Myth 8: Too much protein is bad for your kidneys!

This myth is valid only for a tiny percentage of people, and shouldn’t be considered general advice.

Researches show that a surplus of protein may stress the kidneys and further complicate the condition of people who have an existing kidney disease.

No evidence suggests that high protein intake has any effect on renal and hepatic function.

If your kidneys are healthy, you will have no problem handling high-protein diets, as long as you stay hydrated!

Myth 9: Don’t eat carbs before bed, you’ll get fat!

We’ve all heard this sentence at some point.

The fact is that, even when you’re asleep, your body needs energy. After a hard day (or a hard workout), your body will digest carbs and replenish the glycogen stores in your muscles while you’re sleeping. Sure, an excess of carbs will promote storing fat, but… so will an excess of anything, really.

*A lot of carb-rich foods can help your body release the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin enables your body to achieve more profound relaxation and better sleep!

And finally, the crème de la crème of fitness misconceptions…

Myth 10: Spot reduction.

If you ever hear someone tell you that you can “target fat loss” to certain areas of your body, you have the God-given right to remove yourself from that conversation!

If that were true, everyone would be walking around rocking a 6-pack, just because they did a gazillion crunches.

Not a single study has proven this. The scientific consensus points to the fact that when you’re losing fat, you’re losing it all around your body.

I feel like nine was enough, but I really couldn’t make a fitness misconceptions list without this!

Where does that leave us…

In a world full of false information, the people are always talking about the “right way” to do things – and that’s where the problem lies. For the brain, the “right way” is most often the “easy way.” For you, however, that’s not the case.

I hope I managed to debunk a few misapprehensions for you, and from what I see and hear in the community, these are the ones that have the most damaging effect on your long-term gains and mind frame toward fitness.

So if you’re new to the gym, always order the information you receive in the following way;

1. What you feel like is best for you.
2. What science (or your coach) says.
3. Everything else you hear (from friends, and on the Internet).

By only allowing the right type of things to influence you, you’ll be on your way to a positive and productive fitness journey, and in time, you’ll learn more about yourself and what works best for you.

Once you have that experience, all the myths and misconceptions about fitness will slide right off you, I promise.

Hey Angels & Alphas!

A while ago, we talked about the importance of keeping your gut healthy.

We learned what the gut microbiome is, as well as all the benefits that come with taking good care of it.

Hopefully, by now, you understand that taking this extra step toward improving your health brings incredible benefits to your overall fitness and wellbeing.

By keeping the bacteria in your gut healthy and productive, you’re going to see an increase in your energy levels, a strengthening of your immune system, as well as better memory and brain health.

And who doesn’t want that?!

Today, I want to give you some practical tips on keeping the bacteria in your gut working for you instead of against you!

Without further ado, let’s get into the 7 most popular science-backed ways to improve your gut health and achieve a balanced and productive microbiome!

Reduce Stress

When it comes to health, stress is always a crucial factor. Managing it is vital for your overall health, and not just your gut health.

Nevertheless, the connection between your gut microbiome and your brain has long been proven, and we know that the two communicate all the time!

Through gut hormone signaling, tryptophan signaling, microbial metabolites, and other similar pathways, the composition of your gut microbiome gets majorly altered.

This works both ways – if you’re experiencing inflammation or you have a leaky gut, this can contribute to developing stress-related disorders.

Studies on animals such as this one have concluded that even short-term psychological stress ultimately damages the microorganisms that “live” in your intestines.

That’s why I put stress first on this list – I believe that one of the best ways you can improve your gut health is to reduce daily stress with mindfulness, rest, and meditation.

That being said, there are two different “types” of stress that impact your gut health negatively, and they are:

1. Psychological Stress
2. Stressing the Senses (with deafening noises, very hot/cold weather, even unpleasant visual stimulus).

You can deal with these by using meditation, muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, foam rolling, or just a day at the spa.

One thing’s for sure – the world is at no shortage of ways to reduce stress. Make sure to use them!

Avoid Smoking

Perhaps one of the most obvious ways people damage their gut health daily is by smoking.

Smoking not only affects your gut health but also dramatically increases the risk of cancer and has a negative impact on your heart and lungs.

In 2018, research was published that studied smokers over a span of 16 years! It found that smoking directly impacts the intestinal flora and increases the number of harmful microorganisms in your gut. You can check out the study here.

An even more recent study found out that smoking increases the chance of developing IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), as well as other systemic and intestinal conditions.

Avoid Sugar & Artificial Sweeteners

Let’s look at a couple of animal studies.

First, this 2015 research on diet and cognition concluded that animals on a Western diet (meaning a diet high in sugar and fat) had imbalanced gut bacteria levels, leading to worse nervous system performance and a variety of cognitive and behavioral changes.

Later on, another study on animals found out that aspartame (an artificial sweetener found in most store foods) increased the number of bacteria strains related to metabolic diseases. Metabolic diseases are conditions that increase the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease. Yikes!

Does any of this come as a surprise? If you’ve done some research on gut health, you most probably realize that sugar and artificial sweeteners wreak havoc on your microbiome. (Partly because of dysbiosis, a condition that imbalances gut microbes).

Moving on to a more human study, check this one out. It concluded that artificial sweeteners may be causing an increase in blood sugar, even though they’re not actually sugar. This means that they negatively impact blood glucose levels, which can lead to a variety of health complications.

It’s a fact – high-sugar diets alter the function and composition of your gut microbiome. Harmful bacteria loves sugar, so if you reduce your sugar intake, you’re substantially limiting your bad bacteria’s food supply!

So try to stay away from the western diets that are high in refined sugar and highly processed foods. Make sure you keep the sauces, sweet beverages, and candy to a minimum.

Speaking of bad foods…

Avoid GMO

I don’t know what you’ve heard about GMO, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t really on the positive side of the spectrum.

Technically, a genetically modified organism shouldn’t be all bad. But for the most part, these foods get modified in a way that lets them resist and withstand the harsh chemicals that get sprayed on them.

Every time you’re eating GMO food, you’re risking consuming a chemical known as glyphosate – a major contributor to dysbiosis and leaky guts.

Exercising on a Schedule

If you’re here, you’re probably someone who exercises regularly.

But did you know how much you’re doing for your health just by doing this?!

Everyone knows exercise is healthy and awesome, we’ve all heard this a billion times, but did you know that exercise is one of the most significant contributors to healthy gut microbiome composition? Not to mention, exercising regularly helps keep your heart healthy and your weight balanced.

Here’s a great study outlining the impacts of exercising on gut health and managing excess weight.

And here’s a great study from a couple years back that shows that athletes generally hold a wider variety of gut bacteria than nonathletes. (Their diets weren’t the same either, so take this with a grain of salt. No pun intended.)

From this, we learn that exercise increases the number of “good” species of bacteria in our body’s biome. Athletes were also reported to have a larger number of commensal bacteria – bacteria which we derive valuable nutrients from.

To make sure you’re getting the adequate amount of exercise to keep your gut healthy and balanced, the golden rule is at least 3 hours of moderate-intensity training every week.

Probiotics and Fermented Foods

Now we know that we should avoid sweets, processed foods, and GMO if we want to keep our gut biome healthy.

But are there any foods that benefit our gut bacteria?

Well, of course!

Some people just choose to use probiotic supplements that you can pretty much get at most food stores and drug stores. (Research has shown that they work and that they help prevent inflammation.)

But there are a couple of foods out there, classified as fermented foods.

They are a natural, chock-full source of probiotics, and consuming them has shown to improve gut health!

Some of them include:

Kefir – a delicious fermented probiotic milk drink.

Sauerkraut – a finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by lactic acid.

Pickles – if they’re not made with vinegar, they’re really healthy, and they aid blood clotting.

Kombucha – delicious tea full of healthy probiotic properties.

Natto – a fermented soybean product. A Japanese staple dish that contains the healthy Bacillus subtilis bacteria.

Kimchi – a tasty (but spicy) Korean side dish. Contains bacteria that aid digestive health.

Getting Enough Sleep

I sort of wanted to talk about this in the “stress” section, but I believe it deserves its own.

Honestly, getting enough sleep (and that being good-quality sleep) is probably one of the biggest contributors to long-term microbiome balance.

But by improving both your mood and your cognition, it essentially works wonders for managing stress and aiding healthy bacteria.

Check this out – a study did on the irregular sleep habits of animals! It concluded that disturbed sleep is directly linked to high risks of inflammatory conditions, which in turn are directly connected to the gut microbiome!

This is big! A regular sleep schedule, going to bed at the same time every day, and focusing on the quality of your sleep are all things that will positively impact your gut health!

The truth is, poor sleep changes the composition of that microbiome in a bad way.

The golden rule of thumb is at least 7 hours of sleep every night. The focus shouldn’t really be on length but on sleep quality. Think about your breathing patterns, your pet disturbing your sleep, snoring, etc. Fixing these things goes a long way toward improving your sleep quality.

Conclusion

Keeping your gut healthy has a variety of benefits for your body and your mind.

By taking these actionable steps toward keeping your gut microbiome balanced and healthy, you’re doing more for your health than you believe.

Honestly, with all the benefits that a healthy gut brings, you can’t not work toward it.

If you’re here, you probably want to improve your health, your physique, and your cognition (among other things).

And every method I’ve shared with you today will help you do just that.

Basically, you can use this as your “healthy lifestyle checklist,” but always remember to consult your doctor/physician before making any drastic changes to your diet/lifestyle.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

You know it, I know it, the world knows it – people *love* overcomplicating things.

Fitness is one of those things that’s both easy and hard. It’s easy in the sense that getting from A to B is not at all complicated. It’s hard in the sense that people can easily start overindulging in information and create misconceptions that will stop their progress in its tracks.

Today, I’m here to change that. We’re going to talk about the simplest ways you can narrow down your entire fitness journey and turn it into what it’s supposed to – a healthy lifestyle of constant progress toward a goal.

To do this, I’m going to give you everything you need to know and separate it into two categories – exercise and nutrition.

By the end of this article, you will have all the information you need to get started on your journey and begin making massive progress.

Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

Simplifying Exercise

STEP #1 – SET A GOAL

First and foremost, you need to choose a goal. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to gain muscle? Do you want to become better at a sport you already participate in? Or do you just want to get fit and be healthy?

You don’t have to limit yourself to one goal – for example, you might want to lose weight *and* gain muscle.

Whatever the case may be, this is the point at which you decide what you want. This is the first and most crucial step in your fitness journey, as it will determine how you’ll take the rest of your steps.

STEP #2 – CHOOSE A PLAN

Once you’ve decided what your goal is, it’s time to find an appropriate routine.

You can do your own research on this if you’d like, but the basic premise is all the same.

Whatever your goal is, you’re most likely going to need a mixture of strength training and cardiovascular training to make it happen.

Choosing a routine, in this case, has more to do with exercise variations and intensity than anything else.

In general, gaining power and building muscle will primarily emphasize resistance training over cardio. For increasing strength, your focus should be on low-rep resistance training programs. For gaining size, your focus should be on hypertrophy programs.

If your goal is to lose weight or lean out, you will still need a mixture of strength training and cardio, but the emphasis here will be on cardio. Not just any cardio, though, HIIT. Study after study, it remains the best type of training to lose weight, right next to full-body workout programs.

If your aim is to improve mobility or sport-specific movements, you should find a program that has *that* goal and only *that* goal in mind. These programs are often highly individual, but not a lot of people set these goals, and those who do probably already have a good idea of what they should be doing.

STEP #3 – GET THE BASICS RIGHT

Regardless of what your goal is, the only thing you should be focusing in the beginning is mastering the basics.

I have always advocated perfecting the basics as the best thing a beginner can do, and everything I see in fitness reinforces that.

For strength training, your fundamental movements – the bench press, squat, deadlift (or bent-over row if you dislike deadlifting) are ones that should be done the most. You’re not going to be going all-in on weight every workout, but you are going to perform them every workout so your muscles can get used to the actual movement. Some trainers go as far as not putting any weight on the trainee’s bar until they start doing basic movements with extreme precision.

For weight loss, mastering the basics means learning the process of calories in and calories out. This is not to say that you shouldn’t be perfecting your cardio, but when it comes to burning fat and leaning out, diet will always be more important. More on that later.

STEP #4 – OVERLOAD… PROGRESSIVELY

Once you’ve started working toward your goal and you’ve got all the basics down, you’ll have no problem getting results.

This beginning period, however, will only get you this far. If you want to progress toward your goal, the most fundamental concept you need to understand is progressive overload.

Progressive overload is the gradual and continuous increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training.

This is done by either increasing the volume or the intensity of your exercise.

For gaining muscle strength, this means adding more weight to the bar and/or more exercises of a given muscle group during the week.

For gaining muscle size, this relates to a higher number of high-intensity repetitions, or once again, more exercises of a given muscle group during the week.

For weight loss, this means gradually decreasing the overall number of calories you consume in a day. In this case, this is only done to a point. You don’t want to reach a point where you’re starving yourself, only a point where you can predictably lose weight.

STEP #5 – TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Once you’re making results and progressing on your path, the only thing you have left is to track your progress.

The best way to do this, as we’ve talked about before, is keeping an exercise/diet journal. Journaling will not only help you keep track of your progress, but will also help you achieve your goals faster.

Once you’ve successfully set a goal, made a plan, got the basics right, and made progress, you review your progress and start again at square one. Good job!

Simplifying Your Diet

STEP #1 – CALORIES IN VS CALORIES OUT

This is what both weight loss and weight gain boil down to.

Calories are energy, and if you want to lose weight, you should be using up more energy than you’re putting in your body. Therefore, leaving your body in a calorie deficit.

Naturally, if you want to gain weight, you should consume more calories and be at a surplus, so your body can transform this extra energy into muscle (or other, usually less desirable things.)

This happens alongside the first step in the “simplifying exercise.” When you’re choosing your goal, be it weight loss or muscle gain, you’re making a decision on whether you should be at a calorie surplus or a calorie deficit.

STEP #2 – FIND YOUR MACROS

This happens alongside step two in the “simplifying exercise.”

When you’re making your exercise plan, you should also create a diet plan that breaks down the number of macros you’ll need to make progress with that exercise regime.

Here’s the general rule of thumb:

If you’re losing weight, focus on high protein (40-50%), low carb, and low fat. (20-25%)

If you want to maintain your weight, focus on 40-45% calories from carbs, 30% of calories from protein, and the rest on fat.

If you want to gain muscle, focus on high protein (35-40%), high carb (40%), and low fat (20%). (Or switch carb and fat and keep the same distributions.)

A lot of these numbers *might* change based on your body composition, current activity level, and caloric needs, so if you can’t get a trainer to help, you can use a calorie calculator online. Naturally, though, you can’t expect precise accuracy there.

An important note here is that even though you have the numbers down, you should still be focusing on more nutrient-dense foods that contain micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

STEP #3 – CUT NASTY FOOD OUT OF YOUR DIET

Most of us already know that our diets can use a little cleaning.

There’s no need to completely overhaul your entire diet because you still have to keep it sustainable. For the sake of achieving your goal and matching the macros you’ve set for yourself, there are the foods you should be consuming less of:

Sugars, desserts, chips, fries, sweet seasonings, and pretty much everything that has to do with trans fats. Remember – trans fats are your *biggest* enemy! 

STEP #4 – SUPPLEMENT (ONLY IF YOU NEED TO)

If you live a busy lifestyle and you can’t afford to spend a lot of time cooking and meal prepping, supplements are a no-brainer.

After all, it’s much better for you to drink a protein shake than grab nasty fast food that’s full of trans fats.

In general, supplements * shouldn’t* serve as an actual “supplement” to real food, but they can help you reach the numbers you’ve set for yourself and therefore give your body the nutrients it needs to move forward.

I didn’t really want to dedicate a separate point to “making a diet” because I don’t like that approach when it comes to beginners. It’s much healthier and much more sustainable for you if you just decide what macros you’re chasing and try to reach them with the least amount of nasty food possible.

Sometimes, though, supplements come to the rescue and help us reach those macros.

Putting it all together…

As you can see, reaching your fitness goal doesn’t have to be complicated.

It’s really simple – set a goal, make a plan, track your progress, and repeat.

Don’t get me wrong – if you want to study the ins and outs of every aspect of fitness, you’re welcome to do what. But more often than not, beginners get petrified by the amount of information that’s out there.

This article serves to prove that making the first step on your journey and reaching your goal is really a simple process everyone can follow – use this as a checklist whenever you’re wondering what you should do next.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

We’ve talked about vitamins and minerals many times before, but never in detail. I feel like vitamins/minerals are a topic that gets talked about a lot, and I’m happy about that. At the same time, a lot of the voices surrounding it are only there to help the fitness industry benefit.

Nevertheless, vitamins and minerals are crucial for you, regardless if you’re an athlete or not. Some studies out there point out that vitamin intakes should generally be higher for athletes to improve optimum performance. However, there’s no specific guideline on how much vitamins/minerals an athlete should be taking.

If you work closely with a dietitian or a nutritionist, they’ll help you get a better idea of the vitamins you might be deficient in. Those are truly the only ones you need to focus on.

There hasn’t been much evidence supporting the idea that taking extra vitamins helps improve performance (more on that later). However, there has been a ton of evidence proving that vitamin deficiencies are nasty and can cause an enormous amount of problems if not properly addressed.

Today, I want to shine light on the most famous vitamins and minerals that gym-lovers and athletes love taking. They are staples in vitamin supplements often recommended by nutritionists, and statistically speaking, you might have a deficiency in at least one of them.

So regardless if you’re an athlete or not, let’s get into it.

The B-Vitamins

The B-Vitamins are regarded as some of the best vitamins for increasing your energy and focus. A deficiency in pretty much any B vitamin would lead to having less energy and worse cognitive capabilities. This means bad memory, low concentration, and even low mental resilience. People who are deficient in B-vitamins have even demonstrated slow learning ability. Yikes.

That’s why they’re in pretty much the staple in almost every vitamin supplement. They’re used in everything. From breaking down nutrients into serotonin to proper cell function.

If you want to get a boost of concentration and productivity (or at least up to the normal level), make sure you’re taking enough B-1 (Thiamin) B-3 (Niacin), B-6, B-9, and B-12.

• Vitamin B-1 is known as Thiamin. It plays a crucial role in breaking down carbs and protein. Good sources include peanuts, black beans, and grain products. Good sources: Whole or fortified grain products, pork, peanuts, and black beans.
• Vitamin B-3 is also known as Niacin. Good sources are peanuts, fish, brown rice, and whole grains.
• Vitamin B-6 is involved in a vast amount of metabolic pathways – it’s essential for the optimal breakdown of food (and particularly carbohydrates) from big nutrients into small units the body can use. Good sources include bananas, tuna, chickpeas, and pistachios.
• Vitamin B-9 is called Folate, and it’s essential to the production of red blood cells. It also helps create and maintain new cells. It’s one of the building blocks of DNA and RNA. Good sources include avocados, leafy greens, broccoli, green peas and more.
• Vitamin B-12 is one of those vitamins labeled a “performance enhancer”. When it comes down to it, I suggest you watch your supplement intake and focus more on food sources (if you can). Vitamin B-12 is only found in animal products.

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you’re most probably aware that it’s a common deficiency. What I’ve seen as the best alternative to that are breakfast cereals or plant-based meats. Be sure to read the label and make sure the label says “fortified”. Meaning the food is vitamin and mineral enriched.

B-12 is a common supplement, but you need to check with your doctor or nutritionist to make sure you need it. Good sources include milk, cheese, eggs, meats, and the above-mentioned fortified cereals.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of the easiest to manage – you get it from the sun! That being said, depending on things such as your location, skin color, and weight, you could be absorbing Vitamin D differently.

When it comes to Vitamin D3 (one of the two main forms, the other being D2), it’s regarded as one of the best focus and concentration supplements. It plays an important role in the nervous system, as it’s involved in over 200 processes around your body, from your bones to your mood.

Needless to say, that’s not a deficiency you’d want. To perform at your best as an athlete, you need that optimal cognitive function.

In western society, about half the people are deficient in Vitamin D3 – essentially risking physical and mental issues. This, too, is common for vegetarians and vegans.

Some great sources of vitamin D – direct sunlight! Also eggs and fish – tuna, salmon, sardines, oysters, shrimps, etc. For plant-based diets, go with fortified soy milk.

Vitamin A

You’ve probably heard how essential vitamin A is when it comes to vision. But there’s more! It’s also a powerful antioxidant. What’s important about vitamin A is that it can be dangerous when it’s in excess – make sure you’re not overdoing it with your supplementation.

Sources of vitamin A include carrots, pumpkins, spinach, sweet potatoes and more.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Regarded as one of the best supplements out there in the world of vitamins, they’re responsible for a huge array of functions from your liver, to your heart, to your eyes.

But the more important benefits of Omega 3 come through as improved cognitive functions. It’s proven to directly affect brain size, improve memory, boost your attention span, and heighten the speed of neural transfer while working on a complex task.

Most people nowadays are deficient in Omega 3, and that’s not good news. Low-fat diets are making this deficiency popular, and the irony here is that this leads to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Also, depression and a whole bunch of cognitive/attention disorders.

When it comes to Omega 3, they’re crucial regardless if you’re an athlete or not.

They’re found in salmon, oysters, fish oil, flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and dairy.

Magnesium

We’ve talked about how awesome Magnesium is before, but we’ll do it again.

Magnesium has been proven to assist healthy bone mass, better workout performance, and blood sugar regulation – in clinical research. It’s a crucial component of thousands of chemical reactions in your body. It also plays a role in converting B-vitamins into their active form.

Magnesium has also been linked to lower stress and anxiety levels. It helps your entire physiology run smoothly, and those who take it often report feeling relaxed, calm, and more focused throughout the day.

If you’re not supplementing with it already, give it a try. Other than that, you can find it in almonds, cashews, avocados, seeds, and best of all, dark chocolate.

Calcium

Many regard Calcium as the most important nutrient for athletes. However, most people nowadays are deficient in it – or at least consume less than the optimum daily dose.

Calcium intake is mostly a concern for female athletes. I won’t go into detail, but make sure your calcium intake is high if you’re training – especially if you’re young.

You should monitor your calcium intake, and make sure you’re consuming at least 1000mg a day. If you have a dairy sensitivity and you can’t get calcium from dairy, supplementation is often the easier option rather than chugging glasses of skim milk all day.

Iron

Iron plays a huge role in transporting oxygen throughout the body. Iron deficiencies often lead to fatigue and lower physical performance.

For the athletes who train less than 4 days a week, iron deficiencies are most likely not a problem. But if you’re training 6 days a week, every week, you must get checked for an iron deficiency. Like right now.

Athletes usually use up iron quicker than non-athletes, but nevertheless, optimal iron intake is crucial to proper growth and body function.

Some great sources include beans, spinach, oats, clams, beef, and turkey.

What about Sodium?

The combination of sodium and chloride (essentially table salt) makes a frequent appearance in sports supplements.

The only thing you need to know here is that if you’re doing cardio all the time and you’re sweating a lot, you might be risking a sodium depletion. Weigh yourself before and after training sessions and try to determine how much fluid you’re losing. Stay hydrated, and make sure you get some more sodium in if you plan on sweating all day.

Conclusion – Don’t Just Take Multivitamins

If there’s one thing I want you to know about vitamins, is that they’re not simple. Some cause problems when you’re deficient, other cause problems when they’re in excess.

But hopefully, you can now identify some of the markers of these deficiencies (or their opposite).

The solution is probably not laying around in a bottle waiting to be taken in tables every day. The solution to optimal vitamin intake is in your diet, and most importantly, you have to figure out what vitamins and minerals you’re deficient in – and get that handled as soon as possible, regardless if you’re an athlete or not.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

With every country around the globe during their best to “flatten the curve” of the pandemic, many of us are laying back and taking time off the gym in response to these “shelter at home” suggestions.

And while losing weight is still completely doable, perhaps for the time being the best option that we have is to focus our efforts on maintaining our current weight.

Why? Because it’s completely normal to be feeling stressed and anxious in the face of so many life and career uncertainties. You might be tempted to shelter at home with whatever junk food you can get your hands on or order takeaway every day until the pandemic is over.

But what’s best, most healthy, and most productive for you is that you combat the inactiveness and stress-eating so you can maintain your weight and actually make some progress. You can come out of this better and stronger than you were before, all you need is the right plan.

That’s why today, I’m here to talk about the 7 best tips you can follow to prevent weight gain while being sheltered at home and actually make progress toward your goal even though you probably won’t be seeing a gym in the next few weeks.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Set your daily calorie goal

Just because there’s a worldwide pandemic, this shouldn’t mean that we should throw all our planners out the window. And whether you’re focused on losing weight or just maintaining it, you have to keep tracking your body’s energy expenditure, i.e. measuring the calories you put in your body.

There are thousands of apps and solutions out there for you to choose from, but the old-school way of writing everything down will never go out of practice. Logging every day

will help you check in with yourself, stay on track, and make sure you’re not overeating (or undereating) so you can lose weight consistently. 

2. Take a careful look at your shopping list

When we’re sheltered at home, we have to make every trip to the store count. Especially if you’re trying to eat on a budget, now is the perfect time to take a step back and become more intentional with what you buy. It’s a great time to start reducing processed foods and stocking up on healthy options – fresh and frozen fruits and veggies, beans, rice, whole foods, etc.

Not only will this contribute to eating healthier foods on every meal, but it will also reduce the sweet and tempting snacks that are stopping you from maintaining your weight.

3. Set a meal/ snack schedule

It’s no secret to anyone – following a consistent schedule of healthy foods is literally the perfect way to diet. Over time, it helps you maintain your weight, spot your cravings and stop them in their tracks, have more energy throughout the day, and perform better in the gym. What more could you ask for?

Plus, when you have a schedule, you’re way more likely to make smart, healthy choices and habits every day. This consistency adds up in the long-term and helps you achieve your goal way faster than people who *don’t* incorporate a schedule.

All you really need here are a calendar, notebook, or app, which you can use to write down your schedule of meal and snack times for the day. Don’t forget to create reminders and use them as a cue for when you should be logging your meals and intake.

4. Establish an empowering morning/ evening routine

Building up on our last point, we have to say that deviating from any type of routine or schedule can be detrimental to your efforts. And right now, in a situation where your mood can easily be ruined by what you hear on the Internet, it’s even more important to develop routines that keep you sane and productive throughout the day.

Not to mention, trying to re-establish your routines later might be just as stressful as deviating from them.

That’s why you should give your day a frame. A wake-up routine and a pre-bed routine. This will give you the needed structure you need in your day and bring back the balance that feels pretty much gone during these times of uncertainty. This will also contribute to getting better sleep, which in turn keeps your metabolism strong (and you healthy.)

Creating these routines shouldn’t be hard. The key is in racking up small wins as soon as you start the day – don’t hit the snooze? Win number one. Drink half a liter of water? Win number two. Meditate for ten minutes? Win number three. Once you start building up these small wins, your day will be positive and energized and you’ll have an easier time de-stressing and staying productive

5. Meal prep your snacks

During these stressful times, it’s so easy for us to fall into impulsive eating and stock up on high-calorie snacks. But if we know this is happening, we can stop it in its tracks, and that will go a long way toward helping us maintain healthy weight during quarantine.

What you should do is prepare a bunch of low-calorie, nutrient-dense, delicious snacks that you can opt for any time. Pro tip: keep your snacks somewhere out of reach, so by the time you reach them, you’ll have time to check in with yourself and see if you’re really hungry or if you’re just impulsively reaching out for something sweet because you’re stressed. 

6. Find new ways to deal with stress

Stress is detrimental to weight loss and weight maintenance. These two things just don’t mix. Stress skyrockets our cortisol levels, which in turn leads to more cravings for comfort food. That’s why we should always be looking for new ways to de-stress and relax ourselves, especially in times like these.

Lucky for us, finding new ways to relax is actually… relaxing! Try putting on your favorite songs, trying a guided meditation, reading a book, calling a friend or family member, taking a walk outside (at a proper distance), listening to a podcast, trying on new essential oils… the possibilities are endless, and they’re so, so needed!

7. Make a commitment to staying active!

One of the best ways to reduce stress and lose weight at the same time – get moving! At least once a day. Not only do our bodies desire movement and release feel-good endorphins when we do it, but it’s also a great way to burn some of the extra calories you might be getting from snacks.

And gyms being closed doesn’t mean we can’t move anymore. Take walks, do a jog every morning, or put on a YouTube video or app to add some variety to your home workouts. Believe me, there are plenty of ways to stay in phenomenal shape through exercise even if you’re just sitting at home and you have little-to-no equipment. Take that chance and walk out of this quarantine a better, stronger, and healthier you!

Hey Angels and Alphas,

Now, you probably already know how important warm-up and cool-down routines are. They help us prevent injury, stay on top of our game, and reduce the negative drawbacks of intense exercise such as soreness and stiffness.

They’re basically the two doors to a powerful, productive workout – one on the way in and one on the way out. That being said, a lot of people still experience problems with these routines. Not only do people spend less time on these routines than they should, but they’re also really confused as to how to do them correctly!

Today, we’re here to answer these questions and settle it once and for all – what are these routines all about, how should they look for you, and why should you invest the time and energy to make them a habit?

Let’s get started.

Welcome to warm-up 101.

The goal of a warmup is to get you and your muscles prepared for the exercises you’re going to do that workout. In this case, this means warming up your body temperature so blood can easily flow to the muscles that you’re using and distribute energy properly.

Naturally, your warm-up should be adjusted to prepare you for exactly what you’re about to see or do – soccer players warm-up every point of their legs and core, basketball players warm-up their shoulders and arms, and gym-goers warm-up the muscles that they’re about to use.

Warmups put your body out of that inactive, lying-in-bed state and put you in a state of preparedness. If you’re forcing your stiff, cold muscles, joints, and tendons to take loads that they’re not expecting, you’re taking a huge risk. Most injuries in the gym happen because we weren’t prepared for whatever we tried to do.

Here’s what all of them have in common – warm-ups are all dynamic! You should constantly aim to be in motion, moving, and getting your heart rate up to the point where you’re ready to get into intense or heavy exercises. 

A lot of people make the mistake to include static stretching in their warm-up routine, which only ends up backfiring most of the time. Static stretching prior to your workout will diminish your strength, and that’s very counterproductive to the exercise routine of a weightlifter, for example.

Okay, so what *does* a warm-up include?

Here are the golden rule pointers:

• Constant low-intensity cardiovascular activity such as walking, jogging, or light biking.

• Dynamic stretching – for example, a series of lunges, jumping jacks, toe touches, windmills, trunk twists, and so on. (Essentially, dynamic stretches are stretches that go from and to a certain point without particularly holding a given stretch. Their sole purpose is to get the body pumped and moving.)

• Doing every exercise you’re about to do that day for one set with little-to-no weight.
• Gradually diving into your workout while starting slowly and steadily increasing intensity.

If you follow this, may we say, anatomy of the perfect warm-up, you’ll have no trouble preparing your body for your workout effectively and reaping the benefits such as more strength, more endurance, and loosened, explosive, ready-to-go muscles.

Your warm-up should ideally consist of 10 minutes of low-intensity cardio backed by a series of dynamic stretches, followed by five minutes of doing no-weight movements and gradually starting to put on weight. 

Keep in mind that, even though you can create and follow this universal warm-up model, the more intense you plan your workout to be, the longer and more in-depth your warm-up should be.

Warm-ups that incorporate dynamic stretching exercises often include the side shuffles, hip openers, leg swings, as well as the exercises we mentioned above.

Let’s talk about cool-downs!

After you’ve completed your workout and you’ve put your body through a real challenge, your cool-down routine will be your saving grace from soreness, stiffness, and pain. 

The bad news is, most people tend to ignore it! I know, I know, the last thing you want to do after an intense workout is to spend another 10-15 minutes doing ouch-inducing (but actually really relaxing) stretching. 

But what you need to realize is that your cool-down will gradually slow down your heart rate, relax you and your muscles, and help you stretch out the stiffness that’s just waiting to settle in.

Cool-down routines always include some type of motion before you get to static stretching, especially if you were just lifting heavy. Static stretching, as we all know, drastically improves our flexibility and performance, but it’s also great for injury prevention.

As with a warm-up, what cool-down exercises you choose depends solely on what you were doing before that. If you just ran half a dozen miles, you might take a few moments to shake off and walk around before you begin stretching. The key is in alleviating every muscle group you worked on during your workout.

Here are my guidelines for a cool cool-down:

• Don’t just stop whatever you’re doing in the gym after you’re done. Instead, gradually slow your pace and the intensity of your exercise. So, if you’re running, start reducing your speed until you’re at a jogging intensity and walk a few minutes before stopping.

• Stretch out your muscles with static stretches. Static stretches are stretches in which you reach and hold a position (like a lunge) for an extended period of time. Hold whatever stretch you’re doing for at least 20-30 seconds so your body can overcome its stretch reflex.
• Breathe deeply through every stretch you do.

I know what you’re going to say. “I don’t have time to do a cool-down!” 

But please realize, cooling down is not something you should (or want to) skip. It will skyrocket your athleticism if you haven’t done it until now, and it’s just so relaxing! Everyone could use a good stretch once in a while, even more so if you’re training 4-5 days a week!

Examples of static stretches: the hamstring stretch, the posterior capsule stretch, the quad stretch, and the long lunge.

Remember: Exercise breaks down muscle tissues. The time you spend recovering is the time when they adapt and rebuild to become stronger. If you keep hitting the same muscles every day, you’re not giving them the opportunity to recover and rebuild. 

Cool-down routines help you improve that recovery, but you still need to space out your workouts to allow your body enough time to rest. That being said, why *would* anyone who is serious about training miss them?

I promise you, once you try them, you won’t want to go without them. They’ll help recovery, relax you, and improve performance. What more could you ask for?

To conclude…

We have to be kind to our bodies. And while there are just so many benefits to warming up and cooling down, we can’t ignore the fact that they help us ease in an out of the activity we’re participating in, and that’s perhaps the best thing they do for us.

And once you find a routine that works for you, you’ll see dramatic improvements in your performance and recovery – only the two most important things in training.

But that’s where the key is – finding something that works for you. 

Your warm-up could be super simple, like walking to the gym and going up that huge flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. And your cool-down routine might involve just ending your workout five minutes early so you can relax and stretch out.

These routines don’t have to be long. They don’t need to be complicated. They just have to be there! You have to make that effort and invest in your athleticism, but rest assured – that’s an investment that pays off.

Hey Angels, it’s Ally!

Let me ask you something – do you bring your headphones to the gym?

Have you ever felt a grumpy sensation when you realized you forgot them at home?

For some people, that’s enough of a reason to run back home and get them. Exercising without music might seem unfathomable for some of you, regardless of whether you listen to heavy metal or the latest pop hits.

Now, I’ve been a personal trainer for years, and while working with so many people, I’ve noticed something intriguing that relates to the way they treat their gym playlist. Even though they have mixed feelings about the scientific benefits of music during an intense workout, playing their favorite playlist certainly makes them grind harder!

But what about the actual science behind it – have you ever wondered about how different types of music impact your physiology?

Well, science has some things to say about it.

For some athletes (and for many people who run, jog, and light weights) listening to music is not superfluous – it’s an essential part of reaching peak performance and having a gratifying workout. Some people prefer audio books and podcasts, but many others depend on bumping beats and thoughtful lyrics to keep themselves pumped under the bar!

In the last ten years, research on workout music has produced a lot of interesting studies. Psychologists have refined their ideas about why exercise and music are such a great pair.

Music distracts people from pain and fatigue, improves your mood and endurance, and reduces the perceived effort. Some studies have even shown music to promote metabolic efficiency.

Today, I want to summarize all the benefits of the great playlist during the gym session – the benefits that have valid scientific backing!

I’ve gathered these benefits and separated them into four elements…

Let’s dive in!

1. Mood

Take a moment to reflect – what mood are you in right now?

For years now, scientists have been talking about the countless benefits of music on the brain. It reduces stress levels, eases anxiety, and releases dopamine in the brain – just like exercising.

But that’s not all it can do for your mood.

One of the most beneficial effects that music has on your body is that it makes it easier for you to focus on yourself and get cheerful.

Let’s face it – a lot of people listen to music to get into a great mood during workouts, while getting ready to get out, in clubs etc.

A study done in 2013 concluded that people who often listen to music use it as a way to alter their mood and become more self-aware. Study participants said that music centered their focus on themselves and gave them an escape from the present.

Social scientists have shown that music helps people reflect on who they are, who they want to be, and the line in between. Even if you’re not feeling like it, music can get you in the cheerful focused mood you need to power through a workout.

Sometimes, it can be hard to find the focus necessary to give your 110%.

Putting on your headphones can help you zone-out, reduce the chatter, and focus on the task at hand. (more on the positive distraction later)

So even though it won’t make you lift heavier, music will certainly allow you to lift more, in a sense.

Imagine you’re sitting perfectly still, listening to enjoyable music. Even in this case, you’re going to see a lot of electrical activity in brain regions important for focus and coordination, including the cerebellum, ventral premotor cortex, and the motor area.

Some studies conclude that this neural communication is what makes people want to move in the rhythm of the music.

Speaking of which…

2. Pace

Music is all about tempo and speed.

Psychologists discovered that some songs make you want to move more than others do, and called it a song’s “call rhythm response”.

We all have the instinct to sync our movements to whatever music is playing – tapping our toes, nodding our heads, snapping our fingers. Even if we often repress that instinct, it does occur in a lot of situations.

Researchers say that a lot of songs just possess “high-groove” qualities and the brain gets excited and induces movement.

That’s because music and dance go hand-in-hand. Put on one of your favorite tracks, and you’ll instantly invoke such a response.

The rhythm of your playlist stimulates the motor area of the brain and tells it when to move, making self-paced exercises easier. All you have to do is “tune in” these time signals.

How amazing is that? Your playlist has the ability to make you move any time!

If you’re running on the treadmill at the gym, sometimes all it takes is a lapse of your concentration, random chatter, or even someone on the treadmill next to you to throw you off your pace.

With music, you can keep a steady pace since you always have a target you can use to go to default. Even if you don’t feel like you need to run or move in the exact pace with your workout music, synchronizing may help your body use energy more productively.

A lot of misconceptions occur on the topic of music when working out – one of which is that music can help you lift heavier.

This is not the case.

The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research did an analysis in which they addressed this misconception. They tested two groups of people – one didn’t listen to music, and the other picked their playlist. Both groups reported no change in the amount of weight they can lift, but a dramatic increase in explosive power and speed under the bar.

Remember – music is all about tempo and speed.

Moving on, even though the word “’motivation” can be defined as the sum of the first two factors – pace and mood – I believe it’s vital that we talk about it separately.

3. Motivation

What’s the number one song on your playlist right now?

Is it one that pumps you up and gets you excited, or one that’s more mellow and relax your physiology?

A 2010 study by the National Institute of Health concluded that cyclists that listen to fast-paced bumping music worked out harder, with around 130 beats per minute being the optimal range for workout songs.

When listening to faster music as compared to music at a slower tempo, they not only worked harder, but enjoyed doing so, and reported enjoying the music more when it was played at a faster tempo.

Songs in the 120-140 beats per minute range had the maximum effect on moderate exercise.

But what about you? What music inspires you to work harder?

A prime example of a motivational song would be the Rocky theme. That song became so widely accepted as inspirational that it became a household term and anyone who hears the song nowadays relates it to that specific moment in the movie when Rocky is training, instantly reinforcing a boost of motivation in their bodies.

The chances that some songs impact you more than they do other people is dramatically high – people establish neural pathways in the brain that in a sense tell them how to respond to certain stimuli.

What’s annoying to you might be motivational for someone else, and vice-versa.

If you’re choosing to work out to music that has lyrics, those lyrics will speak to you throughout your training and impact your physiology.

Listening to your favorite pump-up playlist is guaranteed to release mood-enhancing hormones (like the above-stated dopamine and opioids) that will fill your body will motivation, help you want to work out harder, and raise your pain threshold.

Scientists have proven countless times that high tempo music like EDM, techno, and metal proactively stimulate the motor function in your brain.

This is the same part of the brain that makes your body want to move – the perfect addition to a workout.

Upbeat music has more information for your brain to process – this takes your mind off the other distractions.

Speaking of distractions, the final (and in my opinion most powerful) benefit of music…

4. Focus

Here’s where it all comes together!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a firm believer in making every second count, but to be completely honest, running on a treadmill for an hour isn’t the most exciting task in the world.

Just think back to that feeling you get when you’re 3 minutes away from being done with cardio…

Nobody ever goes “aww, I wish I could run for another hour”.

However, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like listening to music makes time pass faster than it usually does – especially on the treadmill. When we do things that we don’t particularly enjoy doing, it’s like our brain is looking for distractions to take us off that task.

Sometimes, when the music that’s playing through the gym speakers isn’t a genre that you like, it feels like every song takes 10 minutes to finish!

Not to mention the endless sounds of people chatting, machines grinding and bars hitting the floor. Without your pair of headphones, sometimes it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed, get distracted, and lose focus on what you’re doing.

Imagine you’re working, at home or the office. Minimal distractions are always going to be one of the keys to a job well done, and it’s the same in the gym.

That’s why it never hurts to turn off the world inside the gym once in a while, creating your personal training bubble that helps you optimize your workout and take your mind off the physical strain of working out and your perception of pain.

We know, some people simply love working out and don’t need all of that, and that’s okay.

But if you’re trying to get in serious shape, lose a lot of weight, or grind toward a competition, sometimes that personal bubble is a necessity.

By always having your favorite playlist ready to go, you can quickly turn a workout from unenjoyable to enjoyable, and an enjoyable workout into an unforgettable one.

A quick study before I go:

WebMD says the faster the music, the fewer distractions you’ll get. The Guardian Magazine concluded that working out with music not only made the participants in their study be more focused, but it allowed them to be less aware of their exertion, benefitting athletic performance by up to 15%.

So where does that leave us…

Do you remember the first workout you had after putting together a kick-ass playlist?

You feel like you’re on cloud nine before you’ve even stepped in the gym.

Some people squirm at the thought of working out without pumped songs blasting in their ear, and with over 1,000 studies on music conducted since 1911, we can see why that’s the case.

In this blog post, I wanted to outline to you what science has agreed on to be the real benefits of music on physical performance.

In short, gathering a playlist of your favorite workout songs will without a doubt improve your performance – pumping you up, improving your mood, reducing fatigue, all while taking your mind off distractions and the strain of physical workout!

And even if a hype song won’t increase your one rep max, it’s certainly going to help you get there faster.

So don’t forget that sweet pair of headphones next time!

Hey Angels & Alphas!

Today, we’re going to go straight into it. I’m going to talk about one of my favorite topics – nutrition. More specifically, the impact that your diet has on your energy levels during a workout.

We all know that the body utilizes food for energy, but how exactly? And how do we plan our meals so we’re efficiently providing energy to our muscles when it’s needed?

Well, I’ll tell you!

The reason I’m sharing this with you is that I honestly believe this might change the way you go about your diet. Honestly, once you get a basic understanding of how you can eat to boost your sports performance, doing it becomes effortless.

But in order for you to understand how food directly impacts your energy levels during a workout, there are a few things we have to go over first!

(Please feel free to check out my blog post titled “Healthy Eating: Understanding Your Protein, Carb, and Fat Intake” to get a better idea of the characteristics of the major macronutrients).

First of all, how does the body turn food into energy?

There’s a couple of ways we can look at this. All the food you eat is essentially a rich cocktail of macro and micronutrients.

These nutrients go through a variety of energy systems throughout your body. What system they choose to use is based on the type of nutrient. Proteins, carbs, and fats all get processed by the body through their each energy system.

The end goal is for these nutrients to turn into adenosine triphosphate. Without sounding too science-y, you most probably know this as ATP. Through the breakdown of ATP, we receive the energy we need to contract our muscles.  

What are these “energy systems”?

You can look at it like this.

• Protein is used to nourish and repair your muscles and body tissue. It’s not primarily used as an energy source for physical activity.
• Carbohydrates are responsible for fueling mostly moderate/high-intensity exercise.
• Fat is used to fuel exercises that focus on low intensity stretched out over a period of time.

Carbohydrates and fats essentially go through their own metabolic pathway so they can turn into ATP. But your body can’t really store a lot of ATP, so you can’t just rely on that. You have to also be generating it while you’re working out.

To learn how to do that, you need to know the two primary ways your body turns nutrients into energy – aerobic and anaerobic.

You can divide each of them into a variety of combinations of energy systems. Your body determines which type to use based on the situation and its available resources, so let’s look at both of these individually.

Aerobic Metabolism

The main difference between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism is that aerobic metabolism requires oxygen.

With it, you’re mostly “burning” carbohydrates, fats, and protein and turning them into energy. It’s essentially your body’s way of producing energy long-term. It focuses on the sustained, continuous production of energy, so it’s not efficient when it comes to generating massive amounts of force in a short amount of time.

This way of producing energy is slower because your body requires oxygen to move around the body and convert nutrients into ATP.

You can think of jogging, walking, low-intensity cardio drills, anything that doesn’t really get your heart rate up all that much (above 50% of your max heart rate).

Most often, when you’re exercising, your body switches back and forth. Imagine a sport like football that involves a lot of running and big short bursts of energy.

At the beginning of your workout, your body will most likely be using anaerobic metabolism ATP. Then, your heart rate increases. Your lungs open up, and you have access to way more oxygen. After that, aerobic metabolism starts taking control.

The byproduct of the aerobic metabolism of carbohydrates are water and carbon dioxide. You mostly get rid of those by breathing and sweating! But the anaerobic metabolism of carbohydrates produces lactic acid as a byproduct.

If you reach your lactate threshold (the high-intensity “burning” point of an exercise), this means that oxygen in your body is not moving quickly enough. So you stop generating ATP, and your anaerobic metabolism comes back to save the day.

Let’s sum up what we know about aerobic metabolism:

• Aerobic metabolism requires oxygen.
• Your body uses aerobic metabolism when providing energy for low-intensity exercise.
• Aerobic metabolism provides the energy you use for your daily body functions. Walking, breathing, talking, etc.
• Aerobic metabolism produces water and carbon dioxide in the body.

Anaerobic Metabolism – glycolysis

Have you heard about the phosphate system? It’s basically what drives short, intense bursts of exercise. (Such as a heavy squat or a 100-meter dash.)

It’s an energy system based on ATP and creatine phosphate, and it doesn’t require oxygen. So how exactly does it create energy?

Simple. In the first 3-4 seconds of an exercise, it uses up all the ATP that’s stored up in your muscles. After that’s gone, your body resynthesizes ATP using creatine phosphate. When both of these are used up, your body goes back to square one and decides which of the two systems to use to generate ATP.

This way of generating energy comes only from carbohydrates. Your body breaks down glucose for energy without the need to utilize oxygen. As I mentioned above, this leads to you building up lactic acid in your muscles until you reach your lactate threshold.

With the right training regimen, athletes slow the buildup of lactic acid. They use calculated workout methods that aim to bring up the lactate threshold and increase the athlete’s VO2 max.

Let’s sum up what anaerobic metabolism is all about:

• Anaerobic metabolism relies on carbohydrates and does not require oxygen.
• Your body uses anaerobic metabolism when providing energy for lifting, sprinting, and other forms of intense exercise.
• Anaerobic metabolism kicks in when your body needs to produce big short bursts of power for a short period of time.
• Anaerobic metabolism produces lactic acid in the body, leading up to the burning sensation you feel when you work out.

Now, we know all about how our body turns nutrients into energy.

But how do we use that to our advantage and gain an extra edge in our performance?

I’ll tell you…

Consuming the right type of food for your workout!

When talking about specific macronutrients, each has its own use. As I stated above, protein is primarily used to repair the body tissues.

Fat is excellent fuel when it comes to endurance-based training. However, it’s simply not an adequate source of energy when it comes to explosive, short burst exercise. Technically, if you have enough fat stored as fuel and you have access to oxygen, you can do low-intensity exercise for days.

But If you want to continuously improve exercise intensity, you need carbohydrates. They’re more efficient than fat. If your glycogen (carb) stores are full, you can go up to 1,5-2 hours of intense exercise. The downside here is its low and limited energy stores.

Higher intensity always requires carbs. And not just any carbs. If you’re planning an intense workout, you should eat a meal consisting of easily-digestible carbs at least an hour before you head for the gym. If you get there and your carb stores are not full enough, your body will tap back into fat metabolism and demolish your weightlifting.

If your goal is better athletic performance, you need to feel ready for the right workout every time. To do this, you need to consume the correct type of energy.

Healthy carbohydrates are the best nutrients for boosting energy during a workout session. They help your body run optimally on many levels.

Easily, the best pre-workout energy foods are carbs. Both simple and complex. Simple carbs can include fruits, veggies, juices, and complex carbs include foods like oatmeal or whole-grain bread.

The best way to utilize the benefits of the right type of energy is to consume it at the right time prior to your workout. Every person digests foods differently, but nutrient timing is an essential concept that everyone should learn about individually.

You can’t eat your energy-giving foods too long before a workout. This way, your body will have already used up all the energy you got from them.

You also can’t limit your intake to half an hour before a workout or less. If you eat too close to your workout and you go all guns blazing on your one rep max, you’re going to get nauseous. (Digesting food requires blood to flow to your stomach and exercising points it elsewhere – the cause of workout nausea)

To properly time your pre-workout meal, you need to adjust. You need to learn how your body works and digests food, and how long it takes to turn it into energy.

When it comes to proper nutrition timing and eating for athletic performance, trial and error is your best option.

Start taking notice of things like how long it takes for you to get energy from certain foods, and you’re automatically tracking them in your head. You’ll learn how foods make you feel, how your body responds to different diets, as well as how energy flows throughout your body.

That’s the key to using food to boost your performance in the gym or in your sport.

And now, that key is in your hands.

Talk to you soon,

Ally

Hey Angels and Alphas,

From all the topics in fitness, diet and nutrition have to be the most misunderstood ones. 

Athletes, dieters, and gym-goers know how important healthy eating is, that’s exactly why there’s so much information about it floating around in the community. Everybody is trying to tell people what to do, what to eat, when to eat, etc. 

Moreover, with so many people and companies sharing their views and ideas, the diet and nutrition world has become flooded with biased information.

Naturally, this means a ton of misconceptions, myths, and misinformation reaching the people that actually need the right guidance.

Today, that’s precisely what we’re going to talk about. We’re going to address the 5 biggest diet and nutrition myths in the fitness community, so you can get the right perspective on your dieting efforts and make the most out of them.

Let’s jump right in.

Myth #1 – Fat is bad for you.

This is probably the biggest misconception in the dieting world. 

It’s really common for women to fall into this myth and make horrible diet choices based on it. 

Fat has suffered an onslaught of bad media, and “low-fat” crazes are the next big thing in fitness because they claim everything with fat in it automatically puts fat on you. Thankfully, that’s not true.

Let me explain a little bit more about the different types of fat out there.

Saturated fat is a healthy energy source for the body. It keeps you feeling full for long periods of time. Your body naturally stores excess carbohydrates as saturated fats. Research has proven that diets high in saturated fat usually equate to lower total caloric intake. Research also shows that places in the world where saturated fat consumption increases, obesity declines.

Monounsaturated fat is well-known within the avocado lovers community (it’s a real thing). It’s mostly found in high-fat fruits and nuts (like almonds, cashews, etc.) Monounsaturated fats help your body manage cholesterol, and some research links them to fat loss.

Polyunsaturated fats are also labeled as good fats. They’re found in fish products like fish oil and salmon, and they’re also found in plants like quinoa. They contain essential fatty acids, such as omega-3 and omega-6. They are absolutely vital to the proper functioning of our physiology and cannot be produced by our own bodies. They improve heart health, fight inflammation, promote bone health, and they even support your mental health.

Trans fat is where things get nasty. These are the fats found in deep-fried foods, French fries, pizza, margarine, and other highly processed foods. You should be wary of these. Coincidentally, there are the fats that are found most often in nowadays’ fast foods. They will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on your body, diet, and health.

Now that you know the different types of fats, it will be easy for you to realize that it’s *not* your enemy. Trans fats are definitely the nemesis of your fitness and diet journey, but other than that, other types of fats are wholly beneficial to your health. They help vital bodily processes, they help you maintain good health, they help you manage your weight, and so much more. 

You *need* fat to be healthy. This brings us to our next point…

Myth #2 – Eating low-fat will help you lose fat.

This could not be further from the truth.

Fats are essential to the functioning of our physiology. 

In an earlier post, I gave the example of research done off the coast of New Zealand. The native residents of the Tokelau area consume a diet consisting of over 50% saturated fat. Yet, they top the world rankings in cardiovascular health.  

Many health organizations pointed the finger at fats because of alleged relations to cancer and heart disease. This, however, was entirely disproved. 

As stated above, in countries where fat consumption rises, obesity drops. There could be many reasons for this, like the fact that fat keeps you satiated for longer, but the statistics support the fact that higher fat consumption equals in lower total caloric intake. 

In a study involving around 50,000 women in the span of 8 years, half the participants went on a low-fat diet while the others didn’t. The study concluded that women on the low-fat diet didn’t really lose any weight. Moreover, they didn’t decrease their risk of heart disease. 

Please remember – fat will not make you fat. Excess calories will. Don’t stay away from fat because of biased information, it’s healthy for you! (Not trans fats, though.) 

Myth #3 – You should never ‘cheat’ on your diet.

Okay, no. What kind of message are you sending to yourself if you say this? That you should comfort to some standard while completely disregarding the things you enjoy?

We’ve talked about this a lot – the concept of sustainability. You will simply not have the willpower to stay loyal to a diet you don’t enjoy. 

It’s perfectly okay if you decide to go off your strict eating plan every once in a while. If you can make the switch from a diet high in trans fats and processed carbohydrates to a diet that focuses on vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, you’re well on your way to healthy eating. 

However, this doesn’t mean that you have to be strict and disciplined all the time. You know I’m a supporter of the 80/20 principle. If you do the right thing 80 percent of the time, you can allow yourself some indulgence in your favorite sweet and tasty foods. 

What’s important is that you don’t let your cheat days turn into cheat weeks and cheat months. You do need discipline if you are following a healthy diet, but discipline doesn’t mean torturing yourself. It means doing what is optimal for you and your lifestyle. If this means eating sweets one day of the week, this is completely okay, and it’s *way* healthier in terms of your overall health.

Myth #4 – Good Nutrition is Expensive

The idea that healthy food costs more than junk food is a common one. I’ve had trainees tell me that they want to eat healthier, but can’t afford to. 

In reality, cooking food yourself is the most affordable way to get your amount of healthy nutrients in. People believe junk food is cheaper because huge fast food chains charge a *lot* for salads and healthier fast food alternatives.

Some studies that compare the price per calorie of food suggest that unhealthy food is cheaper, but they’re not telling you the whole story.

It’s precisely these cost per calorie studies that are negatively influencing public perception. Using this measurement, the lower-fat dessert will *always* appear more expensive because it contains fewer calories. But studies that compare the price per unit weight of food suggest that healthy food is cheaper. 

While good food *can* be more expensive, it doesn’t have to be. Delicious home-cooked meals can go for less than a few dollars, and a meal prep regimen will allow you to eat healthy, tasty, and affordable food throughout the entire week. 

Overall, there is little-to-no support for the argument that healthy food is more expensive. Quite the contrary.

Here are a few super affordable and healthy food choices: broccoli, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, butternut squash, brown rice, beans, quinoa, edamame, bananas, oranges, canned fish, cottage cheese, eggs, and yogurt.

Myth #5 – The best way to start a diet is with a cleanse/detox.

While detoxes *can* be useful, they’re not really necessary for anyone. 

Your body has a super-efficient system for filtering out harmful substances. Unless you’ve been poisoned or something. This system is made up of the liver and the kidneys. Our kidneys filter out any waste from our diet, and our livers can process and detoxify the chemicals we digest. Paired together, these two organs do wonders for cleansing your body. 

Detox diets are often deficient in protein. While five glasses of juice a day will help you lose some weight, it will not help you maintain less muscle and will end up only hurting you in the long run.

The entire detox mindset is kind of silly. You sentence yourself to ten days of torture, and once they’re over, you can pretty much get back to eating whatever you want. Don’t fall for this, as it is not beneficial to your body. Nor is it useful to your mindset on proper nutrition.

Conclusion…

We’ve reviewed the most common healthy eating myths out there. Just by taking in the right information and debunking these myths, you’ve already done more for your diet than most people. 

To summarize:

• Fats are essential to you. Avoid trans fats and enjoy all other types of fat.
• Allow yourself cheat days if you’re on a strict diet. If you’re not on a strict diet, follow the 80/20 principle. 
• Good food is more affordable than junk food if cooked at home.
• Detoxes are largely unnecessary.

That being said, I hope you take all of this advice to heart and make the necessary implementations in your diet, so you *can* achieve your fitness goals faster.

Trust me, your body will thank you for it.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

We know that self-isolation has been widely suggested to protect us against the ongoing pandemic, but we know that being stuck at home and having our routines shifted around can lead to many unhealthy behaviors, including overeating due to boredom and stress.

And while taking comfort in our favorite food is a normal reaction when we’re feeling stressed, overeating continuously can negatively impact our mood, our health, and our anxiety levels.

Today, we’re looking at 8 ways we can stay on track with our fitness goals by preventing comfort eating while we’re stuck at home. Let’s get right into it.

*Disclaimer. It’s important we’re clear right off the bat – stress eating and disordered eating are two completely different things. If you feel like you have a disordered eating tendency, these tips shouldn’t be relevant to you. For information about eating disorders, consult a doctor or physician so they can correctly address your needs. That being said, let’s get started.

1. We have to start by removing temptations.

Even though having a bowl of your favorite colorful candy or a cookie jar on your counter, this can easily lead to unaccounted calories and therefore overeating.

Having tempting foods at arm’s reach almost always leads to frequent snacking and overeating because when we’re working at home or just going about our day, we tend to get distracted and reach for our favorite snacks even when we aren’t hungry.

There’s actually research out there that suggests that visual exposure to high-calorie foods creates stimulus in your striatum, the part of your brain responsible for modulating impulse control. This, in turn, leads to cravings and overeating.

So if you do keep a snack shelf at home, make sure it’s out of your sight so you can reach for a snack when you actually need one. There’s nothing bad about snacking, but overindulging too often can and will harm both your physical and your emotional health.

2. We also need a healthy meal schedule.

Just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean you should change your normal eating schedule. If you’re used to a schedule of three meals a day, just keep doing that even if you’re working from home.

When your day-to-day schedule gets disrupted, it’s easy to stray from your normal dietary patterns. That’s why it’s important for us to make an effort to continue our regular eating patterns and be mindful of our needs and preferred eating times.

If you’re really thrown off, and you find yourself reaching for snacks too often, make sure your schedule has at least two solid meals a day and base your snacks around that so you can reach a comfortable consistency with your eating habits.

3. Remember not to restrict!

One of the best nutritional rules anyone can follow to prevent overeating is to not deprive themselves of foods they love. More often than not, being overly restrictive with your food intake will backfire on you with cravings for high-carb, high-calorie foods, naturally creating an easy path to overeating.

It’s never a good idea to follow an overly restrictive diet. It’s never a good idea to deprive yourself of food, even more so when you’re stressed.

Research has shown this – restrictive diets are not only ineffective and unsustainable in the long-term, but they also have adverse effects on physical and mental health, skyrocketing your stress levels even more.

4. Staying hydrated.

Drinking enough fluids somehow always makes it into lists on how to stay healthy and prevent overeating, and for good reason. Not only is maintaining proper hydration vital for your overall health, but science tells us it can help prevent overeating related to anxiety and stress.

Research has found a direct link between a higher risk of obesity and chronic dehydration. Dehydration also alters your mood, focus, and energy levels, which can either work for or against your eating habits.

If you have difficulty drinking more water than you feel like you need, add a few slices of fruit to your water so you can give it flavor. This will help you stay hydrated throughout your day without adding any significant amount of calories to your diet.

5. Staying active!

Perhaps the biggest problem with being stuck at home is that our activity levels plummet, leading us to boredom, stress, and increased risk of unnecessary snacking. That’s why it’s important that we always make time for physical activity, even when we’re stuck at home.

If you’re feeling bad about the fact that gyms and workout studios are closed, you have to make an effort to do home workouts, take hikes, jog and take walks, and just do anything you can to maintain your activity levels.

It’s no secret that physical activity helps us improve our mood and alleviate stress, instantly reducing your chances of stress eating.

6. Practice portion control.

Do you realize how much overeating happens just because people eat snacks directly from the containers in which they come in?

For example, a bowl of ice cream is more than enough to satisfy all your cravings, but if you’re eating directly from the container instead of taking out a single portion, nine times out of ten, you will end up reaching for another spoon. And another spoon. And another spoon.

To prevent this, always make sure you single out your servings in portions of food instead of eating out of large containers.

7. Make your meals count!

Fill up your shelves with filling, nutrient-dense, low-energy-density foods, and you’ll see a massive change in your overall health – that’s a promise. Not only will you reduce the tendency to stress eat and munch on highly palatable foods, but you’ll also be making smart choices that actually nourish your body and fill you up in a healthy way.

Filling foods are foods usually high in healthy fats, fiber, and protein. These include seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies, beans, eggs, and more. They’re both satiating and satisfying, helping you prevent the casual munch on chocolatey snacks.

8. Prevent boredom!

If you find yourself with a lot of extra time on your hands, boredom is a guarantee. It will quickly set in once you’ve tackled everything on your to-do list that day.

However, if you want to prevent boredom and make sure it’s not a reason for sacrificing your health, find ways to make good use of your spare time. New hobbies, physical activity, interesting projects, these are all options you can use to fill up your otherwise busy schedule.

This is the perfect time to be learning new skills, focusing on home improvement, organizing your life, taking an educational course, or start a new business endeavor.

Learning new things or starting new projects doesn’t just prevent boredom, but also helps you feel more productive and release the stress that comes with being stuck at home.

Bringing it all together…

Due to the current circumstances, you might be finding yourself stuck at home, feeling stress and bored all the time, and making poor decisions that lead to overeating and weight gain.

And while indulging in stress foods is a part of our nature, we can’t let it turn into a habit and take a toll on our physical and mental health.

With these tips, you’ll be able to control the stress and anxieties you feel that are the root causes of overeating and overindulging. Follow them and keep a checklist nearby, and I guarantee you, you will walk out of this situation a better, healthier, happier you.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

As we speak, we have the top strength and conditioning experts in the world trying to figure out a rest period general rule of thumb for your training.

For years, we’ve been told that the more weight you lift, the longer you should wait between your sets. But as more and more research is being done on this subject, this has been exposed *not* to be the case.

So what is the optimal, best amount of time to wait between sets? And how do different rest periods serve our individual fitness/training goals?

Well, as you can probably guess, that differs. The same reason researchers can’t decide on a general rule of thumb for rest periods is the same reason that you can’t go for an all-in-one approach.

The fact is – rest periods matter, and they have a massive impact on both your performance *and* how your workout plays out as a whole. Not to mention, they are a big variable to consider when working toward a specific training adaptation (e.g. training for strength, training for endurance, etc.)

That’s why today, we’re going to put ourselves in a couple of different situations and depending on the goal/perspective we have, we’ll decide on the most optimal rest period (based on science!)

Before that, here are some factors we have to consider about rest intervals…

When it comes to determining your rest periods based on your goal, there are a few things you have to consider. In the list below, we’re going to highlight a few of the most important ones. Keep in mind that these vary from training to training, from athlete to athlete, and from person to person.

What’s your current fitness level? If you’ve been into weightlifting for a while, you’ll have probably advanced to the point where you can sustain higher intensities for longer periods of time. The more fitness experience you have, the more intensity you’ll be able to maintain – in terms of both physical and neural efficiency. 

What’s your training history? Forget how long you’ve been lifting. Consider how much you’ve advanced and how much your strength and endurance you’ve gained since you’ve started your fitness journey. The more progress you’ve made, the more stimulus you’ll be able to handle.

What exercises are you doing? The rest interval between two strength exercises will generally be different than the rest interval between a strength and an endurance exercise. Naturally, movements that require a lot of strength are taxing on the muscles and nervous system, so those are exercises after which you’ll need more rest.

More considerable factors include your exercise order, your exercise intensity, and things like your current training status (off-season, in-season, etc.)

When you’ve taken all these things into account, you can get a good foundation of what you expect to be an optimal rest interval.

That being said, let’s take a look at what you need to know about rest periods based on the results you’re looking to achieve…

If your goal is weight loss…

Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets.

If you want to boost your muscular endurance and get in better overall shape, you should keep your rest periods relatively short.

Most strength and conditioning experts agree that you have to both (1) keep your heart rate up and (2) give your muscles the oxygen they need to recover properly. This means that even while you’re resting, you should still be moving around. Essentially, your goal is not to stand still and rest, but to transition from low-intensity movements to high-intensity movements and vice-versa.

This enables you to burn more calories than you otherwise would just by resting, and it also helps your muscles recover so they can gradually push for more intensity.

If your goal is increased muscle endurance…

Rest for 30-60 seconds between sets.

(Or rest for the exact amount of time that will allow you to reach your repetition goal for the next set.)

A study published way back in 2009 has some interesting things to say about this. They took a group of people and put them through different rest intervals during strength training sessions.

They did it to find optimal ways to create new training adaptations via rest periods, but what they concluded was really profound.

They discovered that when it comes to single-joint exercises like the machine fly, 3 minutes of rest is sufficient rest between sets. But when it comes to multi-joint exercises like the bench press, the participants responded better to a 4-5 minute rest interval.

However, they also discovered that the optimal rest period when aiming for a muscle endurance adaptation to their training was no more than 1 minute between sets.

When we usually think about strength training for endurance performance, we tend to believe low weight, high reps is the way to go. Naturally, this means more than 12 reps per set of an exercise with around 1/3 of your one-rep max.

But because this type of training relies more on oxidative metabolism (and increases your mitochondrial density), the most optimal rest duration is technically the amount of time you need to be able to perform your repetition goal. More often than not, this is between 30 and 60 seconds.

If your goal is to build strength…

Rest for 3-5 minutes between sets.

Remember that study a couple of paragraphs ago? Another study was done in March of 2016 that built upon it, and it analyzed the differences between 5, 3, 2, and 1-minute rest intervals in strength training.

Every participant took eight strength training sessions with two exercises (machine fly and bench press), and they trained with weight near their one-rep max.

The study concluded that participants needed a bare minimum of 2 minutes for single-joint exercises and a bare minimum of 3 ½ minutes for multi-joint exercises.

Why such long rest periods?

Because training for strength is different than training for endurance. Your muscles need more time to replenish the energy they need for contraction (and to allow the nervous system to recover.)

When you’re lifting heavy weights (meaning 8 or less reps), these long rest periods are a must – they’re essential for the optimal activation of muscle fibers, which is exactly what you want when you’re training for strength. It’s that activation that leads to the hormone response responsible for muscle growth.

If your goal is hypertrophy/muscle size…

Rest for 60-75 seconds between sets.

Sixty to ninety seconds is the ideal rest periods for those who want to achieve an increase in the cross-sectional size of their muscles.

Resting for anything longer than 75 seconds basically compromises the metabolic stress that you’re working so hard to achieve. This decreases the potential you have for muscle growth.

And resting for anything less than 60 seconds won’t give your muscles the ability to recover and recuperate so it can perform well in the next set.

If you’re new to resistance training…

Rest for longer than you feel like you should

If you’re new to strength training, you need to utilize every second of those rest periods. Many beginners often push themselves in the gym to the point of feeling sick, especially when it’s their first time training a huge muscle group like legs or back.

Because of this unexpected stimulus, you can throw your physiology into a bit of a frenzy. Whereas if you just take your time and rest for more than you think you should (or someone is telling you), you’ll have much better results both during training and in your post-workout recovery.

When you’re a little bit more advanced, you’ll be able to rest less during workouts without much of a problem, but that’s only when your body has gotten used to this type of stimulus.

As a general rule of thumb here, rest enough to not be short of breath but don’t let your heart rate and body temperature return to resting levels.

Putting it all together…

Studying and optimizing your rest intervals is one of the most beneficial things you can do to adapt to a new method of training.

That being said, rest interval transitions should be done slowly – and attention should be paid to every factor in both your current training level and the level you’re trying to achieve.

While it’s true that the general advice “more weight, more rest, less weight, less rest” can be a good oversimplification, it’s just that – an oversimplification. In reality, your rest periods depend entirely on your fitness level and the goal you’re trying to achieve.

But I hope that this article brought some clarity on both of these topics. Now, you have an idea of how rest periods generally work, and how to create a rest period that supports both your fitness performance and your growth.

Well, you did it. You spent the last couple of weeks studying and working hard, but you finally got your personal trainer certification. You love fitness, and you’re now a true expert at it. To you, it might even be the most obvious career choice.

You’re confident in your skills and abilities, and you’re ready to start changing lives and getting paid for it. 

Now what?

How do you begin signing clients, creating content, building your network, and making a name for yourself?

How do you start applying what you learned and helping people reach their desired body goals? 

Well, Angels and Alphas, that’s exactly what we’re here to talk about today!

I’m writing this as your introduction to the personal training industry, and hopefully, by the end of this post, you’ll have no doubts as to what you have to do next to start your career as a certified PT online.

Let’s begin with the first (and probably most important) tip for those of you who want to start landing clients for their training service, growing their online audience, and expanding their network.

Personal Trainer Tip #1 – Brand Yourself Online

Now, it’s no secret to anyone – fitness coaches excel online. Thanks to the Internet and social media, you no longer have to stay at the gym all day training people.

That’s not to say you can’t do that, but for most coaches who newly enter the industry, the Internet is a big opportunity.

An opportunity to get recognized, bring awareness to what you do, and start helping people reach their body goals even if they’re on the other side of the planet.

Here’s the crux. Your branding is essentially your online image — the collection of thoughts and emotions people have about you and your service. 

Coaches with great branding have clients lining up on waiting lists to work with them, while coaches that don’t really pay attention to branding struggle to gain traction. 

Your branding compiles everything from your website content to your Instagram bio.

From your Facebook posts’ comments to your online advertising. 

You can look at it this way. Marketing yourself means getting the word out about you and your service, while branding determines what that word is. 

Will you brand yourself as a blood, sweat, and tears hardcore trainer, or a fitness coach that emphasizes diet, yoga, and meditation? Will you brand yourself as someone who helps thousands of clients, or someone who works with a select few? 

You have to enter the scene with at least an idea of the branding you want to establish for yourself. If you don’t, you risk becoming soulless and having other people determine your branding. Keep in mind; this isn’t something you should have a fully clear idea of.

You should think about your branding long-term and grow into that branding as time passes.

Bringing us to our next point…

Personal Trainer Tip #2 – Specialize

People love working with experts. We can’t help it. Ever since that time you first stepped into a doctor’s office, you know what a specialist looks like. They are like a beacon of authority in what they do, and people always reach out to them for help.

Even though this relates to branding, it deserves a different approach. Your specialization will determine what kind of people ask for your help. It’s your “thing,” your secret sauce.

For example, if you position yourself as a powerlifting coach and you specialize in that niche, it’s only natural that you’ll be contacted by people who want to get better at powerlifting. Same with wellness coaches, running coaches, fitness coaches, calisthenics coaches, you get the idea.

Find your “thing” and specialize in it. You’ll have a lot more success when you can target a specific problem and help people solve it, instead of running about trying to solve everyone’s problems. If you’re everywhere, you’re nowhere. Remember that.

Personal Trainer Tip #3 – Promote Yourself Online

As a personal trainer, you’re a service provider. As a service provider, you must create an offer for your services that essentially turns a problem’s solution into a product.

This could be your coaching sessions, your online programs, your meal plans, anything that you’re expecting to get paid for as a coach. 

Once you have that offer figured out based on your branding and specializations, it’s time to get the word out there – marketing time!

• Paid Advertising
  Advertising online is both easier and harder than it ever was before. Nowadays, you can literally spend a few dollars and show your offer in front of thousands of people. The tricky part is actually creating advertising that’s persuasive and valuable for your prospects. An ad that speaks to their problem, and positions your product (technically service) as the best solution to that problem is undoubtedly going to bring you results.I’ve seen personal trainers advertise their services and courses on Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, YouTube, SnapChat, LinkedIn, you name it. As far as channels go, you have complete freedom to share your message (as long as you’re compliant with ad guidelines, of course).

• Free Content
  Don’t worry though, if you aren’t really into paid advertising, or you don’t know exactly how to run and manage ads, you can skip that part for now.Regardless of whether you do ads or not, you’re still going to be posting a lot of content Every piece of content, regardless if it’s a blog post, a social media post, an infographic, a YouTube video, and so on, serves multiple purposes.First, it lets you provide value to your audience for free. Second, it puts you in the shoes of an author, therefore positions you as an authority in your field. Third, it lets you freely express your views on certain topics in the industry. Especially when it comes to fitness, the possibilities for content are endless! I suggest you choose at least one social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) and use it to share information about fitness completely free.Post videos of workouts, share tips, views, comment on other people’s content, engage with your “colleagues,” etc. This way, you’re helping people while getting the word out about what you do.It’s not only a great way to stand out in your niche, but it’s also a great way to bring awareness to your services and land clients who share your views and want to work with you.
• Free Assessments
  Offering free assessments is one of the best ways to give value and land clients. To do this, you don’t really need to spend any money on ads or create any extra content. It’s a great way to practice working with people if you don’t have that much experience as a trainer yet. Start letting people know that you’re offering a free, no-obligation, fitness assessment, and take your prospects through it.You can frame this as a consultation or even a short private coaching session. In it, you can essentially bring people results in less than 30 minutes by finding out a problem of theirs and providing them with a step-by-step solution to solve it. It’s a great way to let people get to know you, your method of work, and do that while bringing them real results in a short period. 

Fitness Coach Tip #4 – Have a Perfect Website!

Your website is like your temple — the central social hub of all your other online channels. 

It’s the first place people go to learn more about you. Even if they see you on Facebook or Instagram, they’re going to go to your website if they want solid information.

That’s why investing in a well-designed, well-written website is one of the best things you can do for your online branding and marketing. 

A sloppily designed website will make you look sloppy. A thought-out website will give people all the information they need to decide whether they want to work with you or not.

On your website, you can list your services in full detail; you can share your message, your story, your vision, your mission, and have a section full of free and useful content people can enjoy.

This is the place where you’ll likely be collecting most of your leads. 

A note on e-mail lists…

Building a list of e-mails is vital! 

Regardless of who you are, what you do, and what you’re selling, you need to be collecting an e-mail list. This is not up for debate!

Your e-mail list is your biggest asset, so treat it as such. 

For the most part, all your branding and marketing efforts should be targeted toward building a list, not selling your service directly. This is a topic for another time, that’s why I’m not going to go into much detail here.

But remember – if you’re not growing your e-mail list, you’re not growing your network. 

Fitness Coach Tip #5 – Build Case Studies 

So far, you’ve built your brand identity, you’ve started promoting yourself, and you’ve probably got a couple of clients that are ready and excited to work with you.

At this point, the only thing you should be focused on as far as building your credibility is creating case studies of all your clients, regardless of the results you’ve helped them achieve.

You can take testimonials, they do work, but case studies are such a powerful tool for both marketing yourself and keeping track of your progress as a coach. 

There’s no better credibility than actually delivering excellent results, and people know that. In the online coaching business (regardless if its fitness, dieting, wellness, business, you name it), it’s often the people who build the most trust in their clients that end up getting ahead. 

And that’s completely normal – if you need help with something, you’d obviously trust the person who has done it successfully hundreds of times before! Why wouldn’t you? 

Case studies are the ultimate tool for all coaches. You shouldn’t only be using them; you should be heavily focusing on them. It doesn’t matter if you have a shiny new website or a well-designed ad. That should be the icing on your branding cake. What matters is that you genuinely bring people results, and there’s no better way to show that than building a few great case studies. 

To conclude…

As you can see just from this short post, being a personal trainer in today’s digital age is no easy task.

You not only have to define yourself as an online brand, but you also have to promote yourself and your services.

And you not only have to promote yourself, but you have to make sure you’re building your list, growing your social media following, and expanding your network every single day.

…And you not only have to do that, but you have to turn this list and this network into an asset that continuously brings you clients.

…Moreover, you have to make sure you’re delivering real results to your clients and building great case studies.

But you know what?

If fitness is your passion, and you really want to succeed as a trainer, I promise you… all of this will feel like a walk in the park!

Full-body Workouts, Upper/Lower Splits, and the Push/Pull/Legs

Hey Angels and Alphas,

You can’t deny it – one of the leading long-term contributors to achieving your fitness goals will be the way you’re scheduling and structuring your workouts.

Of course, nobody is going to magically invent a routine that solves all your problems and gives you the body of your dreams overnight. But that doesn’t mean that striving for it is a bad idea!

If you want to be the most productive you can be in the gym and reach your strength or weight goals faster, you have to decide upon a consistent, productive training split.

You’ll probably go through a lot of different ones over the course of your journey. Through some parts of your life, you’ll only have the time to squeeze in 3 workouts a week. While at other times, when you’re more focused on your fitness goal, you can allow yourself 6 days of training.

These splits are the structure by which your average week in the gym goes by, and learning more about your options is essential to making the right fitness decisions long-term!

To organize the perfect training program, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

• What’s my goal right now?
  Are you pursuing rock-hard triceps and chiseled abs? Are you just trying to stay fit? Or are you planning to pursue a competitive goal?
• How experienced am I?
  If you’ve been training for a long time, you can allow yourself a higher training frequency.
  There’s no problem moving from a 5-day routine to a 6-day routine, but beginners or people who only train 1-2 times per week should be careful when it comes to sharp jumps in the intensity of their regimen.
  Also, take into account your weaknesses at this point. If you’re doing a longer split, you will have the opportunity to fit an extra body part in your workout so you can add a little bit more emphasis to it.
• How many days a week can I train?
  If you’re always running around, juggling a dozen things between work, family, and your social life, you might not have the physical capacity to dedicate 6 days of the week to working out. (Even though short workouts work wonders, but that’s another story.)
  But if you’re fully dedicated to reaching a specific goal, you have enough time to pursue it, and you’re giving every major muscle group enough rest in between training days, 6 days a week of training could actually be a significant benefit.
  Keep in mind that, just because you’re bringing more work days doesn’t mean you’re increasing intensity. What you are doing is decreasing the amount of rest you get between those days. So be careful and DON’T work out the same muscle group directly without giving it at least 48 hours of rest.
• How much rest do I need?
  Rest days aren’t what you do on your day off your routine. Rest days are a part of your routine, and they should be treated with the same importance as training days.
  And we’re not talking about just physical recovery. If you’re living a super busy, stressful life, you might need more physical rest than the average person. And that’s completely okay. But if that’s the case, you also need to do something to re-charge your batteries. This could be a rest day. It also could be a day dedicated to self-care or a day you spend outside!
  Either way, don’t fall in to the trap of demonizing rest days and labeling them as “days of not chasing your goal”. Because in fact, those are the days when you experience your most significant growth.

Once you’ve answered these questions for yourself, it’s time we start taking action!

Down below, I want to talk about the 3 most popular training splits in modern fitness – the full-body workout split, the push/pull/legs, and the upper/lower-body split.

There are a billion options you can choose from when it comes to actually structuring your exercises, sets, reps, and rest periods, so we’re just following a general model.

And the basics are always the right place to start.

If you’re stepping inside the weight room for the first time, stick to the first option – full-body workouts.

As you get more advanced, you gain the experience necessary to be more aware of your body, of all the exercises you do, and how much intensity you can handle on each.

Advanced lifters can handle less rest, more intensity, and more volume. Therefore, for those of you who have some experience under the bar, refer to the 4 questions and then make the best decision for yourself!

Let’s look at the 3 most popular training splits right now and I’ll give you an example at the end of each!

1. The Full Body Split

This is a training split most often categorized as a beginner’s go-to. And for good reason!

Training all your major muscle groups in one go usually involves doing just a few exercises with only a few sets on each.

This lower volume gives your body the ability to start adapting to this new stimulus, utilize more muscle fibers, and reduces the muscle soreness that sometimes discourages beginners.

Not to mention, full-body splits often get linked to more fat burn, as well as faster strength gains for beginners.

The split usually involves training all big muscle groups in the same workout and repeating that 3 times a week, with 48 hours of rest between training days.

Here’s an example week of training with this split:

• Monday: 1 exercise for each major muscle group, 4 sets, 10-12 reps
• Tuesday: Rest
• Wednesday: 1 exercise for each major muscle group, 4 sets, 10-12 reps
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: 1 exercise for each major muscle group, 4 sets, 10-12 reps
• Saturday: Rest

2. The Push/Pull/Legs

This is a classic split, a favorite among all gym goers.

With time, as you progress in your fitness journey, you’ll develop the resilience necessary to train your body with more specificity.

One of the most common ways of categorizing which muscles to train on which day is looking at your major muscle groups, and the movements they’ll be doing.

Essentially, it entails grouping all your pushing muscles – your chest, shoulders, and triceps, and training them on the first day. Then taking all your pulling muscles – your back and your biceps, and training them on day two. And finally, leaving the best for last, training your legs on day three.

Abs can be trained pretty much every day.

The reason they’re grouped this way is that by using multi-joint exercises, you are essentially training all the muscles that are aiding that movement.

If you’re doing a barbell row, you’re engaging your biceps and your rear delts. If you’re bench pressing, you’re also hitting your triceps and your shoulders.

Alternatives such as the 4-day or 5-day split might not allow enough recovery time for these major muscle groups, so this split naturally became the most productive choice for the average but ambitious gym goer.

The Push/Pull/Legs split also allows you to efficiently work on your weaknesses by adding a third exercise for the muscle group you want to focus on.

For example, if you notice that your rear delts aren’t looking as sharp as usual, you can add one more exercise that solely focuses on them during your pull day.

With this split, you can either choose to rest once every 6 days or once every 3 days. If you choose the latter, you’ll essentially be hitting the entire 3-day split twice in the course of 8 days which is excellent when it comes to training volume for bodybuilding.

Here’s a quick example:

• Day 1: Chest, shoulders, and triceps – 2 exercises each; 4 sets; 12, 10, 8, 6 reps.
• Day 2: Back and biceps – 3 exercises each; 3 sets; 12, 8, 6 reps.
• Day 3: Legs – 4 exercise; 3 sets; 12, 8, 6 reps.
• Day 4: Rest or Repeat!

3. Upper/Lower-Body Split

The Upper and Lower-body Split is a super productive choice for the intermediate level lifter who wants to start transitioning form full-body workouts to the more impactful splits like push/pull/legs.

It allows you incredible control over your volume of work – you keep your volume low and slowly increase it until you can reach a point where you can train your upper body in two separate days.

You perform the split by separating your body into your upper part – chest, back, shoulders, arms, and abs, and the lower part consisting of your quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and abs.

Yes, abs can be done pretty much every day.

By using this split, you can quickly identify your weak spots, so you know for sure what body parts you need to start emphasizing.

By increasing the volume for your weaker body parts, you’re building a solid foundation that will make the transition into advanced methods much more smooth.

With the upper/lower split, you can either choose to do 6 to 8 reps per exercise and put the emphasis on strength, or focus on hypertrophy by picking a wider rep range like 10 to 12 or even 15.

Because you’re doing a bit more volume for each body part (compared to full-body workouts), you’ll need more rest days before repeating the same workout again.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Day 1: Chest, Back, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps – 1 exercise each, 5 sets, 6-8 or 10-15 reps
• Day 2: Quads, hams, glutes, calves, abs – 1 exercise each, 5 sets, rep ranges 10 down to 6 or 15 down to 10
• Day 3: Rest.

And repeat!

Pro tip: You can also repeat the split once before you take a rest day, but I recommend doing this only if you’re past the beginner stage. If you want to just generally increase intensity for smaller body parts, you can try doing 2 exercises for each body part, for 3 sets each!

But we’re going deeper…

So far, we’ve looked at the 3 most popular training splits in the fitness community!

Your natural progression from total-body workouts, to an upper/lower split, to then a push/pull/legs split… is something that will happen in the course of your journey.

Maybe not even in that order.

But with time, you’re going to try different things, you’ll find out what split suits your lifestyle the most, and you need to be using the one that’s the most productive and enjoyable for you.

We’re not going to stop at these 3 training splits…

What about more advanced splits?

Are there ways you can train that will let you get more out of your exercise in a certain situation?

Training splits that are engineered around your lifestyle, your weaknesses, and your body’s neurological needs?

For those of you who want to go in-depth on the topic of choosing the right training split…

I’ve created a Part 2 of “How to Choose the Right Training Split for Your Goal”, in which I’ll go over the more advanced, specific, complicated training regimens out there.

So If you want to learn more about training splits like the 4-day, the 5-day, the Intensive/Extensive split, and more…

I’m waiting for you in Part 2 – read right here!

Hey Angels and Alphas!

Now… you know how I feel about strength training.

It’s one of my muses for sure, and with time, more and more people are starting to recognize it. Especially in women’s fitness, strength training went from taboo to widely accepted over the last decades, and I’m really happy that happened.

More and more people are opening their eyes, ears, and mouths when it comes to strength training. And they’re asking questions. Questions whose answer might be the difference between “one day” and “day one”.

As always, I’m here to help. Today, I’ve answered the most common questions that new gym-goers are asking in regards to weightlifting and resistance training.

I’ve focused on answering every question with extreme simplicity because I believe starting with the basics is the only right way to approach this.

You can’t rush into strength training and lifting weights without first taking the time to master the basics and, of course, get all your questions about it answered.

Let’s get right into it!

How do we define strength training?

Strength training is a form of exercise in which your focus is to use your muscles to resist against an outside force so you can stimulate muscle growth and strength gain.

You can also call it weight training or resistance training, but the basic premise goes. You create resistance and put it against your muscles so you can work them to your desired intensity. You can do this with weight machines, dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, hand-held weights, your own weight, and the list goes on.

It can be a class activity but most people approach it individually.

Why should I do it?

Muscle building is the most popular benefit of strength training, but that’s only because the media focuses on it.

Strength training provides a variety of benefits that go way beyond just strength and muscle gains!

• You’ll improve your performance in sports like football, hockey, cycling, martial arts, etc.
• Prevent lifestyle diseases and strengthen your immune system.
• Sculpt your dream body and get in the best shape of your life.
• Improve your balance and functionality.
• Recover faster from injuries and fractures.
• Develop mental resilience and perseverance.
• Burn calories even after you’ve finished your workout and lose weight more quickly.

You can quickly check out my blog post on the four different approaches to strength training. There, you’ll learn how to use strength training to work your power, agility, explosiveness, and endurance.

Who is strength training for?

Everyone. If you’re able to strength train, you should. It’s a lifestyle endeavor that helps you see yourself grow and improve. Who doesn’t want that?!

Young men, young women, adult men, adult women, older men, and older women… everyone can benefit from a form of weight training!

For those of you in cardio-based sports, strength training (and more specifically stability training) is a must! To perform at a high level in your sport, you’ll always need the right balance between strength and cardiovascular work.

Different variations of strength exercises should be incorporated in your regimen, no matter how it currently looks like. Regardless if your end goal is performance, weight loss, a marathon, or Olympic competitions. You need to add strength training to your workout if you wish to see your body and performance grow in a balanced, timely, and productive matter.

Where is the best place to strength train?

Some people prefer starting with strength training at home. And that’s completely okay. All you’re going to need is a little extra equipment as you go.

However, the majority of people who follow regimes and plans often visit health clubs, gyms, fitness centers, or gymnasiums. These places are probably your best bet if you’re already advanced and need to add a variety of equipment and weights to suit your needs.

Both approaches have their ups and downs, to be honest. It’s either one of the two, so I’m not going to convince you which you should try. Just got with your gut. If you want to start at home, do so.

What equipment do I need to start strength training?

If you’re training at home, you can probably get away with a dumbbell, adjustable weight, or two resistance bands. As you start progressing, you’re going to need some essential equipment, but if you’re creative, you can pretty much find it all at home.

Things like yoga mats, inflatable balls, lifting gloves, and other such appliances will sure make your experience more comfortable, but they’re not completely necessary for beginners.

If you’re working out at a gym, the general rule of thumb applies! Always keep a water bottle, a towel, and the proper shoes and clothing in your bag.

Gyms usually have a variety of weights, machines, benches, bands, and so on. There’s often a room or separate area of the gym that’s dedicated to free weights – barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, plates, and everything else you need to hit the right intensity for each exercise.

What should I focus on as a beginner?

As a newbie, you need to focus your attention to mastering the basics.

A few basics movements are going to amount for the majority of your beginner gains. The squat, the bench press, and the deadlift are the three exercises you should always strive to master first.

Developing proper form while using focused reps with low intensity is the best thing you can do as a beginner to guarantee yourself a healthy and productive lifting journey.

To do this, focus mainly on the major compound exercises.

What’s the difference between compound and isolation exercises?

Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that target more than one muscle group. For example, the squat. It targets your glutes, quads, core, and calves. The bench press – targets your chest, triceps, and shoulders.

Isolation exercises, on the other hand, focus on, well, isolating a muscle group so you can achieve a higher intensity of work on that specific area.

How do you define good form?

In the broad sense, doing an exercise the way it’s supposed to be done.

It means following the body position and movement to ensure that the lift is productive and safe and the weight is being applied where it needs to be.

Continuing with our squat example, this could mean keeping your feet a little bit wider than shoulder width apart, firm on the ground, with your heels anchored, and your back straight.

But keep in mind – everyone has their own definition of good form. Just make sure that yours grasps the overall concept of safety, efficiency, and proper muscle targeting.

How should I be breathing while lifting?

Advanced lifters have a couple of techniques of their own, but the general rule of thumb is that you should exhale on the active part of the exercise. For example, when you’re doing a squat, inhale when you’re dropping down to the ground, and exhale when you need to push yourself up.

Honestly, it’s pretty easy to forget to breathe right when you’re weightlifting.

This is something that beginners don’t pay a lot of attention to; however, it’s one of the most critical factors of good form.

How many times a week should I strength train?

At the very least, you should dedicate at least one day a week to strength training.

However, that’s just a foundation.

If you want to see real benefits and make strength training a part of your lifestyle, you need to reserve at least three days a week to focus on the weights.

And if you’re had a couple of years under the bar and you’re trying to reach your body’s full potential, you should be training 5-6 times a week on a regimen that allows proper recovery.

How do you warm-up and cool-down after a workout?

Your warm-up should be a basic routine that includes 5-15 minutes of light dynamic repetitions of the exercises you’re going to do that day.

Before you get to the real weights, you always need to get your major muscles and your supporting muscles to be in-line and ready for higher intensity work.

Your cool-down, on the other hand, is here to help you relax and recover. Cooling down is best done with some stretching, foam rolling, or low-intensity aerobic work.

You can also read this blog post to learn how to make sure you’re always recovering correctly after a workout. Also, I go more in-depth on the most common gym injuries in this post.

Should I get a PT?

Hiring a personal trainer is an excellent idea if you’re serious about getting results quickly and efficiently.

Most gyms have a set of personal trainers that you can get for each of your workouts, but you can just as well hire a private PT for your training sessions.

They’ll create your training program, help you learn more about your body, and tell you how to behave in terms of nutrition.

The only crux here is that you have to make sure your trainer is qualified and experienced in handling clients who have a similar goal set. More on that in a later post!

What’s a “spot”? How do I spot someone?

If you’re bringing a friend along for your new strength training adventure, you’re in luck. You’re going to have someone there to watch you and assist you while you lift for safety purposes.

When you’re spotting, you may assist someone just as the weight is about to overwhelm them. You can also place your hands on the bar and not apply a lot of force so you can simply guide your friend through the correct form of motion during an exercise.

If you’re a beginner, I suggest always getting a spot for your last sets.

Conclusion

We can conclude this strength training FAQ with the following…

If you’re thinking about strength training and you’re looking into it so you can learn more, you already know it’s right for you.

In this post, I hopefully managed to answer every question that you might face on your beginner’s journey into weightlifting.

No excuses now – it’s time to take the first step. 🙂

Hey Angels and Alphas,

I think the biggest roadblocks on the road to fitness success are the mistakes we’re making without even knowing that they are mistakes.

If you’re doing something and you *know* it’s not beneficial to your fitness journey (for example, cake), it’s up to you to correct that behavior and move on.

But what happens if you don’t even know you’re doing something wrong? How can we realize the mistakes we’re making on the way to fitness success if we don’t even know they’re mistakes?

That’s exactly what I’m here to talk about today – the 8 biggest mistakes women are making in the gym without realizing it.

If your fitness progress is currently at a halt, most likely, you’re doing one of these things without realizing it, and they are jeopardizing your ability to move forward toward your goal.

After you’re done reading this article, you’ll be able to identify these mistakes you’re making unconsciously, and you’ll have the knowledge you need to deal with them.

Let’s dive right in.

Fitness Mistake #1 – Avoiding Heavy Lifting 

We’ve talked about the benefits of heavy lifting over lifting light weights a dozen times. If you haven’t realized it yet, the benefits of living heavy are numerous, and they are all amazing.

It doesn’t matter if your goal is to lose weight or to develop a more athletic figure – heavy lifting is the way to go. Lifting heavy aids in fat loss, although most women generally think the opposite. They believe that they’re going to wake up one day and look like the Incredible Hulk. Far from it, sweethearts!

A big advantage of weight lifting is the ability to burn more calories during and after exercise. When your body is craving oxygen, your caloric expenditure bumps up, therefore causing an increase in metabolic rate. This leads to more fat burning, and coincidentally, fat loss. 

Moreover, resistance training will help you develop a better foundation of muscle on your frame, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn just by sitting at home. It sounds like a great deal!

Don’t be afraid to grab the weights and add strength training as a part of your program. You’ll see enormous benefits regardless of your fitness goal. Other benefits include quality of sleep, more energy, a stronger immune system, and more!

Fitness Mistake #2 – Low-intensity Training

Most women in fitness gravitate toward low-intensity workouts, cardio-based workouts, or both. Some girls just focus on the number of sets and reps they do with a complete disregard for actual training intensity.

Doing 30 sets in a workout won’t make much of a difference if you’re too afraid to break a sweat. 

Instead, you should focus on making the most out of your time in the gym. Your workouts don’t have to be long, even though you’re naturally more enduring than guys are. When you step out of the gym, you should feel like you’ve pushed yourself to the limit – low-intensity workouts will not do that for you.

Fitness Mistake #3 – Too Much Cardio!

You should keep your cardio to 3-4 days a week, and no more than half an hour every session. Keep in mind, strength training should be a part of your training regimen for you to get the most out of your cardio.

Doing too much cardio has a lot of adverse effects on the body. Burnouts, lack of appetite, plus the added risk of losing muscle. If your goal is to be lean and healthy, doing too much cardio will only set you back.

Research proves that doing too much cardio increases the amount of cortisol in your system. This makes your muscles stiffer and more tense, therefore slowing down your metabolic rate. Ultimately, this jeopardizes weight loss.

Fitness Mistake #4 – Too Much Ab Work

I see this every day. Both boys and girls are racking on crunch after crunch, hoping they’ll get their abs to show.

A lot of women in the gym go as far as putting immense pressure on their abs. This is because having a slim waist and visible abs is a really common goal. However, ab workouts will *not*, I repeat, *not* shred layers of fat laying on top of the abdominal muscles. You can’t reduce fat by banging on crunches for half an hour. 

If a toned mid-section is what you’re aiming for, you should be incorporating hypertrophy core work (ab training with weights) along with a balanced diet so you can reduce your fat and actually make the muscles in your abdominals stronger. Eating real food, avoiding processed junk, and incorporating weights into your ab workouts are the only ways you can develop a strong, firm, lean mid-section.

Once you drop the fat down to the point where your abs are visible, you only need to work them out 2-3 times a week. 

Fitness Mistake #5 – No warm-up/ No cool-down.

I know. If you’re living a hectic lifestyle, you’re often in a rush – even when you’re at the gym. Sometimes, we all want to get our workout done and head home, but this has adverse effects on our workout performance. 

Rushing leads to quick workouts, which often provide inferior results when it comes to building muscle and losing weight. Not only that, but they can a recipe for injury.

Taking the time to implement a warm-up and cool-down routine goes a long way to improve the results you’ll get at the gym, even though it might not always seem like it. 

Stretching is usually regarded as one of the most undervalued practices in fitness. Still, its benefits are incredible – improving joint mobility, muscle stability, blood flow, energy levels, and so much more. Perhaps the most significant advantage of stretching is the minimized risk of injury during workouts. 

Stretching protocols are numerous, but I usually recommend women do a dynamic stretching routine before they workout and a static stretching routine after they finish. 

Fitness Mistake #6 – Really Long Rest Periods

Following your rest periods length is a problem for both men and women. Especially in this world of social media, one quick Instagram cruise between sets can turn into 5 minutes of sitting around near an exercise machine. Same with talking to someone at the gym or just getting lost in a song that’s playing through your headphones. 

Athletes beware of this, so they follow their rest periods closely. Every rest period has a specific purpose, especially when we’re talking about strength training and hypertrophy. 

Rest times can go anywhere between 15 and 120 seconds. Women who focus on strength training should usually rest up to 3 or 6 minutes between heavy sets. This is a separate topic, and it’s really complicated, but basically, the more you’re emphasizing strength gains, the longer your rest periods should be. Whereas if you’re aiming for hypertrophy and fat loss, you should keep your rest periods low.

Fitness Mistake #7 – Not Hydrating Enough

No matter who you talk to and what your problem is, the solution always seems to be drinking more water. 

This is especially true in fitness, but there’s a reason for that.

When you’re training and contracting your muscles, metabolic heat gets released in the body. The body then begins to sweat in order to maintain its average temperature. 

Water is an essential part of the process of replenishing the amount of water you lose during training. If you don’t do that, you’re basically asking for trouble. Water is also vital for carrying nutrients around the body, aiding in your post- and pre-workout digestion. 

Don’t ignore it and always bring a 1L+ bottle with you when you’re training, especially if you’re planning to break a sweat.

Fitness Mistake #8 – Doing the Same Workout Over and Over

While men typically change up their workouts whenever they please, most women tend to stick with the same training program for long periods of time. 

While changing training programs often is definitely not the right way to go, you should give every program at least 3-4 weeks to show its effects on your physical and mental state. 

I’m not a big fan of the whole “muscles get used to the workout” idea. To the intensity, sure, but to specific exercises? No way. That being said, repeating the same workout over and over again will actually stump your progress.

Remember, in fitness, rest is just as important as work. If you’re doing the same workout every day, you’re not giving your muscles any time to repair. You’re just continually stressing the same body parts, and you’re actually hindering their development.

While we can talk for days about what the optimum workout split is, just keep in mind that you need to give each body part *at least* 48 hours of rest before you train it again. This is the golden rule of training regime creation. 

To wrap up…

You now know pretty much every mistake (that doesn’t look like a mistake) that you might face on your fitness journey.

Most of them are rooted in misconceptions that are always floating around in the fitness world, and understanding them gives you a new and fresh perspective on training as a whole.

Now that these misconceptions have been debunked and removed from your psyche, it’s time we get to work again – and do it the right way!

Hey Angels and Alphas,

As you know, hormones are chemicals that are produced by the various glands spread across your body. They make their way through your bloodstream, preforming the duties of messengers and making sure various bodily processes are working optimally.

One of these important functions is regulating your mood and energy, and certain hormones are known for promoting feelings of positivity, happiness, pleasure, and fulfillment.

These hormones, more commonly known as “happy hormones”, include:

• Serotonin is a hormone and neurotransmitter that helps your body regulate mood, sleep, appetite, memory, digestion, and more.
• Dopamine is the ultimate “feel-good” chemical, as it plays a vital role in your body’s brain reward system. It’s associated with pleasure, learning, motor system function, and more.
• Endorphins are the body’s natural pain reliever, and they’re produced by your body in response to discomfort, stress, and fear. Endorphins are also released when you eat, train, or reward in other reward-producing activities.
• It’s often called the love hormone. It’s essential to many bodily processes such as childbirth, parent-child bonding, relationships, trust, empathy, and it generally increases with physical acts like cuddling, kissing, and so on.

Today, we’re going to look at these natural mood-boosting hormones and find out how to make the best out of all of them. Let’s get started.

Exercise plays a vital role in the management of these hormones.

Exercise has many physical health benefits, but it’s also well known to have a positive impact on mental health and emotional well-being.

The very common term “runner’s high” is a result of the endorphin release that happens during exercise.

That being said, exercise doesn’t just work on endorphins.

If you partake in regular physical activity, you’re boosting your dopamine and serotonin levels.

Bring this together, and exercise becomes one of the best options for boosting your happy hormones and becoming happier, more productive, and more fulfilled.

And so does going outside.

If you’re looking to boost your endorphin and serotonin levels, spending time outdoors is one of your best and simplest choices.

According to research done over a decade ago, exposure to sunlight alone can boost production of both these chemicals and make you happier and more positive.

If you’re stressed right now, start with 10-15 minutes of walking outside every day. Parks are a great place to do this since being around nature always has a positive effect on people.

But what about diet?

It’s a fact – the enjoyment you receive from eating something you love can trigger spikes in dopamine, as well as endorphins. Studies have shown that sharing your meal with someone you love can also boost oxytocin levels because of the bonding over meal preparation.

Many foods also have a direct impact on your hormone levels, so remember this when you’re planning a happy hormone boost meal:

• Foods containing probiotics – yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles – they influence the release of these hormones.
• Yogurt, eggs, almonds, and meats are linked to dopamine releases.
• Foods high in tryptophan can help increase serotonin levels.
• Spicy foods trigger endorphin releases.

There are also supplements out there.

Many nutritional supplements are aimed at increasing the levels of happy hormones you have, but most of them are built upon or directly linked to one of these nutrients:

• Green tea and green tea extracts trigger dopamine and serotonin releases
• Tryptophan, for the reasons we mentioned above
• Probiotics for dopamine and serotonin
• Tyrosine, linked to dopamine production

All in all, experts who have studied the effects of these supplements have come to a variety of conclusions, and there’s more research needed to prove the supportive benefits of these supplements.

While supplements can be helpful, they’re not recommended for most people, especially those who have certain health conditions since they can interact with certain medications due to their hormone-changing properties.

What about our hobbies and social activates? Can they help too?

Yes, even laughing with a friend can relieve feelings of anxiety and stress, and turn a frown upside down due to its dopamine and endorphin-boosting qualities.

Have you ever heard the phrase “laughter is the best medicine?”

Moreover, bonding over something funny with your friend or a loved one could even trigger oxytocin releases.

Moreover, listening to music is also an amazing opportunity to boost your hormones.

Research has shown that listening to instrumental music can increase dopamine production, especially if it’s that type of music that gives you chills.

But simply listening to your favorite tracks is enough too. Putting on some music you enjoy will rarely fail to put you in a good mood, and a positive change in your mood increases serotonin production.

Not only that, but musicians also experience endorphin releases when creating music. Creating, performing, dancing, singing, they’re all linked to endorphin releases, which is why a lot of musicians experience a creative high they describe as a “flow state.”

Getting a good night’s sleep is vital to your hormones.

Not getting enough sleep makes you cranky – that’s no secret to anyone!

Not getting enough sleep means tanking your hormones (especially dopamine.) This obviously has negative effects on your mood, not to mention, your physical health.

Not getting enough quality sleep can affect your health in multiple ways.

That’s why setting aside 8 hours a night for quality sleep helps you restore the much-needed hormone balance in your body, automatically making you feel better.

Here are my quick three tips for getting a good night’s sleep every night.

• Decrease your caffeine intake in the afternoon, and don’t go heavy on the carbs before bed
• Create a quiet sleeping environment with no screens, light, or noise
• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, create a sleep schedule

What’s the role of meditation on these hormones?

If you meditate already, you probably already know how powerful it is when it comes to reducing stress and improving sleep quality.

Some studies done back in the early 2000s have linked meditation to increased dopamine production (during the actual practice.) Later research even linked it to endorphin releases.

If you’re not sure how to start, choose a comfortable place to sit, sit down quietly, and observe your thoughts. Don’t try to cling to thoughts, judge them, or remove them. Simply observe them quietly by acknowledging their temporary nature.

Do this for 15 minutes a day, and you have a new secret weapon when it comes to dealing with stress and anxiety.

Overall, finding new ways to manage stress will always mean you’re impacting your hormones positively.

Everyone experiences stress, there’s no denying that.

But living with it all the time without making an effort to relax, especially around stressful life events, can tank your dopamine and serotonin production, ruin your mood, and making it even harder to deal with stress in the future.

If you’re experiencing stress, the best advice you can get is to take a break from its source.

Everything we discussed so far will go a long way to helping you deal and reduce that stress by boosting your serotonin, dopamine, endorphin, and oxytocin levels. That being said, your journey toward a happier you stars when you acknowledge the importance of your hormones and you make an effort to work with them – not against them.

Hey Angels and Alphas,

Whether you’re someone who is just now entering the world of nutrition or you’re a seasoned pro who counts every single calorie, chances are you should be paying more attention to nutrient deficiencies.

Often times in the fitness and nutrition community, everyone talks about protein, carbs, and fats while completely ignoring micronutrients. In reality, this just goes to show how much misinformation there is out there. Because once you realize how vital certain nutrients are to the proper functioning of your body, you just have to make them a priority.

And while getting the adequate amount of nutrition is possible from a balanced diet, the modern-day Western diet is especially low in a few key nutrients.

Today, we’re going to talk about the five most common nutrients deficiencies that people all over the world are suffering from – and of course, we’re going to talk about how to handle them.

Let’s get started with, by far, the most common nutrient deficiency in the world.

#1 – Iron Deficiency

Iron is an essential mineral that’s a vital part of red blood cells, in which it serves the purpose of binding and transporting oxygen to the cells.

Iron deficiency is extremely common, especially in young women, children, and those following a vegetarian/vegan diet. It affects more than a quarter of all people worldwide. It’s one of the causes of anemia, chronic fatigue, a weak immune system, and even impaired brain function.

There are two types of dietary iron:

Heme iron:
Heme iron is very well absorbed by the body, and it’s found in many animal foods – particularly red meat.

Non-heme iron:
This type of iron is more common since it’s found in both animal and plant foods. That being said, it’s not as easily absorbed as heme iron.

One of the biggest problems with iron deficiencies is that they’re really common in kids – almost half of preschool children suffer (mostly unknowingly) from a lack of iron in their diet. Unless their diets are focused toward more iron-rich and iron-fortified foods, most children are very likely to lack iron.

Another more common cause of the iron deficiency is found in young women – especially during pregnancy. And of course, vegetarians and vegans risk this deficiency because they only consume non-heme iron.

Here are some of the best sources of dietary iron:

Heme iron:

1.  Red meat. 100 grams of ground beef can amount of almost 40 percent of your required daily intake.
2. Oysters, shellfish, clams, mussels, sardines. Most fish products.

Non-heme iron:

1. Dark and leafy greens! Broccoli, spinach, kale – all rich in iron.
2. Seeds. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, squad seeds.
3. Beans. 100 grams of cooked beans equates to a third of your daily iron requirements.

Fact: You shouldn’t supplement with iron if you’re getting enough. But if you’re not, supplementing is an easier option. Keep in mind that vitamin C enhances the absorption of iron. Oranges, bell papers, and other vitamin C-rich foods can help you maximize your iron absorption.

#2 – Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D travels through your bloodstream and into your cells, essentially carrying information about whether a gene should turn on or off. Nearly all the cells in your body have a receptor for this vitamin.

Vitamin D’s most famous source is the sun! Most specifically, it’s produced when cholesterol (in your skin) is exposed to sunlight. Studies have shown that people who live far from the equator are likely to be deficient in vitamin D and therefore, have to make an extra effort to include more of it in their diet.

In the US, over 40 percent of people are deficient in vitamin D. Even more so in older adults and people with darker skin, because their skin produces less vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

A major issue with this deficiency is that people often don’t realize they have it – the symptoms are super subtle, and actually develop over the course of months and years. The more time you spend deficient in vitamin D, the more likely you are to experience muscle weakness, impaired immune system function, and a higher risk of bone fractures.

In reality, not a lot of foods contain significant amounts of vitamin D.

Here are some of the few that do:

1. Egg yolks. One egg yolk from a large egg can contain up to 10 percent of your daily vitamin D requirement.
2. Fatty fish. Sardines, salmon, and mackerel are very rich in vitamin D. They should be your go-to option since 100g of serving of cooked salmon can provide you with all the vitamin D you need for the day.
3. Cod liver oil. Not famous, but chock-full of vitamin D.

#3 – Iodine Deficiency

Iodine is an absolutely essential mineral when it comes to optimal and productive thyroid function (and the production of thyroid hormones.)

Thyroid hormones play a major role in a variety of bodily processes – such as your physical growth, your brain development, and the regulation of your metabolic rate.

But regardless of how important it is, it’s still one of the most common deficiencies in the world. It affects nearly a third of the world’s population!

The most common symptom of this deficiency is an enlarged thyroid gland. It naturally leads to increases in heart rate, weight gain, and shortness of breath.

Several studies have linked the iodine deficiency to very harmful conditions, especially in children. You have to make sure you’re getting enough iodine to ensure that your basic bodily growth and developmental processes are working normally.

Here are some great sources of dietary iodine:

1. Fish – 100 grams of fish contains, on average, 50-60 percent of your iodine requirements.
2. Dairy – best choice is plain yogurt.
3. Eggs – two eggs a day keep an iodine deficiency away.
4. Seaweed – kelp has more iodine than you would ever need! 1 gram contains more than 500 percent of your daily requirements.

Keep in mind, iodine is commonly found in soil and ocean water. This means that if the soil is low in iodine, it’s going to produce food that’s low in iodine.

#4 – Magnesium Deficiency

We’ve talked about the importance of Magnesium for athletes many times, but now, I want to stress out how important it is even for the people who don’t actively train.

Magnesium is an essential mineral for healthy bone and teeth structure, and it’s required in more than 300 enzyme reactions throughout the body! That being said, almost half of the American population consumes less than Magnesium than needed.

A low magnesium intake is closely related to many severe conditions such as metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Some studies even find that nearly half of the people who are hospitalized are deficient in Magnesium.

Some of the most common symptoms of this deficiency include – muscle cramps, restless leg syndrome, fatigue, migraines, and abnormal heart rhythm.

But there are more subtle symptoms that have to do with insulin resistance and high blood pressure – both things you don’t want to be dealing with on a long-term basis.

Here are some of the best dietary sources of Magnesium:

1. Dark and leafy vegetables!
2. Dark chocolate – 100 grams of dark chocolate provides you with half of your daily Magnesium intake.
3. Nuts – especially almonds!
4. Whole grains – one cup (250 grams) a day will give you more than enough Magnesium for one day.

To conclude…

We can say with almost absolute certainty that anyone who is reading this will be suffering from at least one of these deficiencies. Considering the huge amount of people who are deficient in these basic (but vital) minerals, it’s highly likely that we fall into at least one of these categories.

And if you’re a young woman, older adult, vegan, you’re at an even higher risk of more than one micronutrient deficiency.

The best way to handle these deficiencies and get your health on the right track is to focus on a balanced diet that contains whole, nutrient-dense foods. The more attention the fitness and nutrition community pays to macronutrients such as protein and carbs, the less time we have to talk about their micronutrient counterparts.

That being said, they are still there, and they’re still important, so we have to make an effort to consume the right amounts of them if we want to stay healthy and make progress on our fitness journey.

Even though it’s hard for most people to obtain the necessary amount of these nutrients through diet alone, it is possible – if you focus on the right foods. But if you’re one of those people who just doesn’t have the ability to micro-task and make sure they’re getting enough of everything, supplements are also a great option.

Finally, let this post be a reminder that you should check your diet and maybe even go see a professional to learn what type of nutrient deficiencies you have – so you can ultimately handle them and stay safe, healthy, and growing.

Hey Angels & Alphas,

Today, we’re here to talk about one of the most (if not the most) essential concepts in all of fitness and training – the focus on long-term results.

I’ve talked about this on social media a few times, but I feel like I can’t stress it enough.

In the world we live in nowadays, everybody is looking for quick results. And that’s okay. That’s how the brain works, and that’s how we usually operate as people. On top of that, society is always bombarding us with more and more information, and more and more marketers are using the “quick fix” or the “just do this” narrative to attract people.

However, it’s not effective from a personal health and fitness progress point of view. Have you, yourself, dieted in order to achieve a weight loss result? If yes, you’re not alone.

The statistics speak. Over 40 million people in the United States alone go on a diet each year. Dozens of billions of dollars are spent on weight-loss. That being said, why is it that so many people still struggle with weight management?

Is this about our diet, or is this an issue of how we approach dieting?

Let’s break down the differences between the fitness “dieting” and fitness “lifestyle” mind frames. This way, you’ll hopefully get a clear picture of where you have to bring your awareness to, and the steps you have to take to achieve your results.

And it’s not just about weight loss; this applies to everything we do in life – from our fitness to our health, to our career, everywhere.

Let’s dive in.

What’s Dieting, and Does It Even Work?

When you look at diets in the traditional, modern sense, there are a handful of characteristics that are present in all of them.

• You categorize foods as “good” and “bad” for you.
• You restrict your calorie consumption.
• Your progress is number-dependent, not result-dependent. In other words, reaching a number on a scale becomes your goal.
• Diets have an end date.

In their nature, diets are temporary. Usually, when you get on a diet, you have a specific result you want to achieve – be it weight loss, weight gain, or handling some internal body issue. But when you frame your eating habits as a diet, you put a conceivable end in sight.

When you’re on a diet, your goal isn’t to improve your life. It’s to “survive” until the diet ends. In reality, your diet should not be a process of perseverance. You’re not supposed to just hold on a little longer until you finally get to see the result you’re after. Diets are looked at as something abstract from your normal life, something you have to do to get somewhere. That’s just not a good way to look at things.

Why?

Let’s face it – dieting ultimately fails when it comes to long-term weight management. It just does!

Here’s a research analysis published back in 2007 in the “American Psychologist” journal. They analyzed clinical data from over 30 studies and concluded that dieting does not work. Diets help you love an average of 5 to 10 percent of your body weight – in the short term. Nevertheless, it’s implausible that you’ll maintain that weight loss effect.

The research shows that over 70 percent of everyone who went on diets later regained the weight they lost. Not only that, but they added more weight on top! So not only is dieting ineffective, but it’s actually counter-productive.

On top of that, intense exercise regimes made dieters feel horrible. Once they achieved the weight loss result, they reported feeling that they needed to endure their workouts for their prescribed period.

Only to have all that weight come back, and then some.

Imagine being on a diet and getting a wonderful, sweet, chocolatey gift from someone. You might say, “Hey, I can’t eat that right now. I’m dieting. But in a couple of months, when my diet ends, I’ll finally be able to enjoy food again!”

And when you look at it from a long-term respective, that’s just uncomfortable and punishing. Your diet isn’t something you should have to endure.

Have you ever dieted for weight loss?

Most of us have. At some point. Especially when you’ve got a summer trip or an important event in the near to mid future. In this case, a diet feels like the “quick fix” solution to looking good on a trip or drawing eyes at that event.

But I’m here to tell you that diets are only there to bring you short-term results, and in most cases, will end up doing more harm than good.

If you really want to achieve results that will stick around…

If you believe that success comes from enjoying the journey, not rushing to the destination…

And if you feel like your eating habits are not something that you should be persevering through…

Then you don’t need a diet. You need a change of habits.

A lifestyle change.

What’s the Difference Between A Diet and A Lifestyle Change?

People fear the word change. They don’t like the fact that they’ll have to do something unpleasant for a little while. Which is ironic, because that’s what diets are for the most part.

When you focus on long-term lifestyle changes instead of short-term dieting, you’ll quickly discover a few things.

You’ll be less likely to experience cravings. There will be no food deprivation. No weakness and exhaustion. No mental stress. No harm to your body.

Lifestyle changes are much more about listening to what your body is telling you.

It’s not about achieving a short-term goal that disappears after a while. It’s about creating and sustaining a permanent result.

How Do We Make a Lifestyle Change?

In their very nature, they’re permanent. The most common goal for people on diets is weight loss, but when you make a lifestyle change, you’ll discover that your results will not disappear. That’s because lifestyle changes have no end in sight.

You won’t constantly be thinking about how to survive another day without your favorite sweets. When you’re in it, you’re in it for good. And you feel completely okay with that.

When you start adapting your life and behavior to match your new lifestyle goal, things change at a slower but more secure pace. Instead of throwing away all your sweets & treats, you might decide to save them for specific days of the week and look for healthier alternatives.

You start enjoying your food more by adapting your life to this new habit.

Your diet isn’t a chore anymore. It’s your day-to-day healthy living reality.

Lifestyle changes are about developing new habits that will, in the long-term, bring you closer and closer to the life you want to live.

While the focus of your diet is to make a short-term change in order to get a result, a lifestyle change is about creating habits that let you live your life without the need to make any changes.

As a counterpart to the study we talked about earlier, check out this one. Researches here concluded that lifestyle changes contributed to the dieters’ ability to keep weight off.

While diets focus on limiting foods and calories, lifestyle changes include things like eating breakfast regularly, exercising daily, tracking your weight management progress, and so on.

When you create this mindset shift within yourself, you don’t limit your result to weight loss. You’ll become healthier and more disciplined, you’ll sustain your progress, and you’ll do it without the need to persevere through it like a prisoner serving a sentence.

Lifestyle changes are about being mindful of yourself, your needs, and your goals. They’re about sticking for the long haul, not satisfying yourself with a short-term result.

Naturally, this means:

• Focusing on moderation, not restriction.
• Exercising regularly, not just for a short period until you get a result.
• Listening to your body’s needs instead of ignoring them.
• Losing weight at a slower, but healthier, pace.
• Not attaching your progress to numbers.

To conclude, I can honestly say that if you’re on a weight-loss journey, dieting is not what you need. If you’re still jumping from diet to diet, it’s time you recognize the fact that there’s a long road ahead.

While losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time with a diet is tempting, it’s also bad for your health and will result in regaining your weight.

What you should do is aim for lifestyle changes, developing new habits, and truly focusing on your health and wellness instead of the number on the scale.

I promise you, if you choose to follow this path, you won’t regret it.

Hey Angels and Alphas!

Today, we’re talking about a topic that goes beyond the physical and into the world of sports psychology!

We all know fitness has a mental aspect to it, but it’s something we can never really give a concrete definition to. It’s like some athletes just naturally possess qualities that set them apart from the competition in a positive way, give them laser-like focus, and help them cope with setbacks.

And here, we’re talking about top level athletes. Athletes who know how valuable that mental aspect is, so they invest more of their time and energy toward understanding it and mastering it.

If you take a closer look at the athletes who focus on developing their mental qualities, we can see they are just as strong and confident outside the field as they are in it.

Whether you’re an athlete or not, you definitely know the feeling of developing these qualities – in the times when you genuinely learned from a mistake you made, overcome a setback, or dedicated your full focus and attention toward the goal you were chasing.

So it doesn’t matter if it’s in the gym or outside of it, everyone can benefit from the mental health training techniques that sports psychologists teach the world’s top athletes.

A stable and focused mind is always going to give you an edge in your approach – be it for a sport, a competition, or just your everyday life.

So, let’s begin by giving a definition to sports psychology – just so we know what we’re getting in to!

Once you have an understanding of this concept, you’ll see how easy and yet powerful it is to use sports psychology techniques to train your mind all the way until you reach your desired goal.

Let’s get started.

What is Sports Psychology?

The best definition I’ve heard for sports psychology is a branch of science aiming to learn more about the impact our mind has on our athletic ability in different sports.

This scientific approach toward understanding an enhancing your performance via your cognitive ability allows us to learn more about relevant topics such as motivation, focus, and mental imagery.

A lot of athletes hire professionals that study how psychology influences sports, exercises, and physical activity. They teach them how to get a mental edge in their sport, improve their motivation, help them cope with the pressure of competition, and guide them toward achieving their sporting and health goals – all through the power of mental training.

These sport psychologists don’t just work with professional and amateur athletes. They also work with regular people – those who want to feel more joy from exercise, those who have trouble sticking to a program, and even the people who are just trying to get through a plateau in the gym.

Regardless if you’re an athlete or not, there are psychological techniques you can use to improve your cognitive health and maximize your performance during physical activity.

Maybe you’ve reached a point where you’re not motivated enough to go to the gym, or you’ve completely stopped seeing progress toward your goal.

If that’s the case, then it’s pretty clear that something is going on in your subconscious that needs your attention. Athletes who are aware with the concepts of sport psychology have no problem sparking their motivation back up – they find it easy to see their “why” because they’ve practiced meditation, mental imagery, self-talk, and other cognitive training techniques.

And after all, if you want to do something significant, you have to give yourself a significant reason to do it. Through sports psychology, you can use the power of your mind to make that reason real to yourself through visualization and goal setting.

So if you want to use these techniques to improve your performance in the gym (and out of it), hack your brain to be in a positive, focused state all the time, and set goals that motivate you instead of overwhelm you…

Here are four of the most effective cognitive training techniques sport psychologists use to help the world’s top athletes perform at their best!

Technique 1. Goal-setting and routine creation.

Goal setting is the strongest tool at your disposal. Your mind has given you the ability to make choices and decisions that better your life – and only you get to decide what bettering your life means. The top athletes in every sport are using complex strategies, plans, and routines to move closer and closer toward their goal – they aren’t just aimlessly practicing their craft.

A physique competitor might be adjusting their strategy to lean out more this season. A basketball player might be taking an extra hour working on their agility today. And a businesswoman might be practicing her skills by speaking in front of the mirror before every important meeting.

These are all examples of setting goals in the right way. Dynamically instead of statically. They’re all identifying their weaknesses, and adjusting their goal to work on improving their skills where they most need it.

Sports psychology research in the past two decades shows that setting goals the right way comes down to making them;

1. Challenging

Constantly tailor your goals to fit the sweet spot between challenging and reachable. Don’t expect to increase your squat every time you step in the gym. Setting goals too high will overwhelm and frustrate you while setting goals too low will not give you the necessary motivation to go out and achieve them. Be realistic and continuously come back and revisit your goal, adjusting it to fit that challenging/reachable sweet spot.

2. Measurable

Try to find a unit of measurement that helps you track your progress over time. In fitness, there’s variety – weight, macros, PRs, you name it. But in other sports, for example, it could be a goalkeeper daily saves, or a basketball player’s steals throughout a particular game.

3. Specific

If you know exactly what you have to do, doing it becomes easier. Athletes don’t get up in the morning saying “I want to perform better.” They wake up saying “Today, I’m working on this, this, and this.” If you have a specific, defined plan for what you need to do, you’ll naturally gravitate toward taking action.

4. Written down

A Harvard University study on habits and behavior concluded that tracking your progress and writing down your goals increases the chance of their attainment. Not to mention, a journal is an excellent source of motivation and helps you remember where you started.

Another great goal-setting technique is small-chunking. Basically, it means that you should be breaking down all your goals into small parts, making them more manageable, and then focusing on your next immediate target.

These small chunks of your overall goal create routines that you can follow all the way to success. These routines help you target your focus, prevent distractions, and spend your energy in a controlled matter.

They make the entire process of managing your growth and progress much more straightforward – they help you identify and learn from your mistakes while allowing you to focus on what you’re doing right and build up the confidence you need to do better next time.

But perhaps the most important part of successful goal-setting is not even about the outcome. It’s about the realization that you have to create your own process, and make it one you enjoy. When you’re focused on improving, things are in your control.

Outcomes though are something you can’t control. But if your focus is on the process and the small-chunked goals you set for yourself, your confidence and ability will keep improving even when the outcome isn’t what you wanted it to be.

Technique 2. Visualization and mental imagery.

All successful people practice visualization. They’re masters at seeing success in their mind, then turning it into reality.

Recent discoveries in neuroscience show us that just imagining ourselves performing an activity will activate the same regions in the brain as when we’re physically performing the task. Visualizing yourself practicing and/or winning is an excellent way to prepare yourself for what’s coming.

When an athlete is imagining scoring a goal, winning the belt, or finishing first, they’re building up the mental imagery necessary to perform that way in the real world.

When you’re exercising, use a variety of positive mental images to create feelings of power, happiness, and excitement, and then visualize them during your workout. Next time you’re doing a squat, imagine a gigantic magnet pulling the weight from your shoulders as you start moving up.

This type of visualization will help you build newfound ability and confidence in any area of your life you apply it to.

Here’s the expert advice on how to maximize the impact of your mental imagery!

1. Activate all of your senses.

When you’re imagining yourself, evoke as many as your senses as possible. Imagine what you’re hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, touching, and feeling in that moment, and take a mental snapshot. The more senses you can activate, the more real the image becomes to you, and the more impact it will have on your psyche.

2. Involve a timeline.

When you’re visualizing yourself, do it from beginning to end. Don’t just imagine yourself winning. See yourself practicing, strategizing, exercising, focusing on your weaknesses, going out there, and earning your victory. Go through every emotion you can find and build your mental image piece by piece.

3. Use the first-person perspective.

Take that moment of you winning. Close your eyes, evoke all your senses, and experience it as if it was happening in front of your eyes right now.

* Watching video footage of yourself performing a task/exercise is one of the best ways to strengthen your mental imagery.

Technique 3. Positive self-talk.

Planned, specific, positive self-talk is something all successful people do – and with good reason.

It’s powerful! So much that depending on how you use it, it could make or break you.

If you’re in your head all day beating yourself up over past mistakes, doubting yourself, and spreading negativity like Nutella on bread, it’s going to be impossible for you to perform like you would when you’re “in the zone.”

Research done by the Association for Psychological Science confirms that the way athletes talk to themselves during training/competition makes a dramatic difference in their physiology and the way they perform!

So if you ever happen to beat yourself up over something you did (or didn’t), just remember that negative thinking is common. An inner critic lives in everybody.

But if we’re aware that these thoughts exist, we can slowly start replacing them with positive self-statements!

Here are three methods of self-talk you can try right now;

1. Motivate.

Research shows that motivational self-talk helps you perform tasks that require strength and endurance. It boosts your confidence, hypes you up, and allows you to create a loop of positive, inspiring, motivational thoughts.

2. Instruct.

Next time you’re doing a set, check in with your body and talk yourself through the entire range of motion of each repetition. In a situation like this, telling yourself to squat deeper or keep your feet aligned will be a better option than motivational self-talk like “I can do this.”

3. Use cue words.

Cue words are simple phrases or even noises that bring you back to a mental image or a focus point. Repeating words binds them inside your mind, and when you happen to hear them (or purposefully remember them), your physiology responds. Use that to your advantage when you want to redirect your focus.

Technique 4. Breathing and meditation.

The words psychology and meditation go hand-in-hand. In fact, meditation is psychology’s most well-researched tool. Countless studies have concluded that it helps you become more focused, reduces stress and anxiety, and promotes overall health and well-being.

Nowadays, most sports teams have scheduled meditation routines.

Mastering meditation helps you block out doubts, worries, and mistakes while blocking out the distractions around you. Meditation allows you to create a you-bubble in which the only things that exist are you and the object of your focus.

A basic way to meditate involves focusing on the sensations going on inside your body (like breathing) and ignoring everything else. With time, you learn how to sustain your focus for longer, and at that point, every distraction becomes a conscious choice.

While you’re paying attention to your breathing, you’re being fully present in the moment.

Control your breath to produce different psychological effects.

If you want to be calm and grounded, breathe deep.

If you want to be sharp and pumped up, energize the tempo of your breathing.

* And if you want to psyche your opponent out, breathe normally while they’re gasping for air…

Meditation and breathing are a powerful combination. You can use your breathing to create energy in your body, and through meditation, learn how to focus and target that energy anywhere you want.

But if you really want to feel the benefits of meditation, I suggest you do a little research so you can choose a method that you truly enjoy doing!

Where does that leave us?

To conclude, we can say there are a billion different ways athletes gain a psychological advantage in their field using sport psychology.

But the four techniques you learned today will serve as a perfect foundation for your mental training – it doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete, a gym goer, or just someone who likes going outdoors and being active.

If you practice and master these four techniques, pretty soon you’ll be able to;

• Set clearer goals.
• Control your mood.
• Control your focus.
• Avoid distractions.
• Create a positive thought-loop.
• Develop a better mind-body connection.

What do you think – if you’re able to learn and cultivate these things in your life, is any goal out of reach for you?