How Alcohol can Affect your Weight and Fitness Goals
The year-end is here and alcohol may be unavoidable from your social events, such as Christmas and the New Years. (Yes, it’s 2021 already! Where did all the time go?) If you have been exercising regularly and keeping your nutrition in check, it is important to understand the effects of alcohol on your fitness.
You probably already know that alcohol consumption can lead to weight gain, because of the extra calories. This is also shown in research. But there is actually a lot more reasons why alcohol consumption can prevent you from reaching your weight and fitness goals. Not having a balanced approach to consuming alcohol could be what is standing in your way of reaping the rewards of all the hard work you’ve put in so far.
Here I’ll be taking you through some of the ways how alcohol can cause weight gain and negatively affect your fitness. Not forgetting practical tips to manage your alcohol intake. If you’re serious about shedding your belly fat and putting on significant amount of muscle, make sure you reduce your alcohol intake, or even better, cut it completely!
Evidence-Based Guide to Fitness Habits
Have you ever looked at a fit person and wondered how he or she stayed this lean all year round? How would it be possible for that person to eat healthy all the time, and show up to the gym 5 times a week without fail?
Chances are, you probably know someone like that. And you might think to yourself that he or she is just an extremely motivated individual, hard-wired to enjoy the tortures of life.
Well, the good (or bad) news is that it is nearly impossible to sustain such motivation for long periods of time. The fact is that this ‘madly driven’ person you wish you could be, would actually find it very hard to continuously endure such pains too.
So how does this person resist temptations and stick to the program all the time? The answer lies in changing habits.
In this article, I’ll be taking a scientific approach on how to build good habits for fitness and how to break bad ones. Let’s dive in.
4 Reasons to Lift Weights
The main and perhaps only reason you lift weights is to build muscle. In fact, unsurprisingly, the leading motivation that people hit the gym is to put on mass, or to look ripped. However, there are many other reasons you should be lifting weights, arguably more important ones. That is why I always recommend everyone to lift weights. Truth be told, focusing on the other multitude of reasons instead may actually be more motivating for you.
Personally, lifting weights changed my life for the better. Check out some of reasons how it can do the same for you!
Answer to Skinny Fat
Skinny fat. An oxymoron that gained popularity in the last 10 years. How can someone be both “skinny” and “fat” at the same time? This frightening combination of words is actually applicable to more people that you expect. Those who are skinny fat face a huge dilemma. The weighing scale says “skinny” but the mirror screams “fat”. They are too skinny with their shirt on, yet look too fat with their shirt off, not forgetting a myriad of health problems that come with it.
Even if they’re motivated to do something about it, they’ll probably still be very confused on what to do exactly - whether to focus on eating more to build muscle (bulking) or eating less to lose fat (cutting). There are also experts who recommend body recomposition, which is gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. But which is the best method to curb skinny fat? How should a skinny fat person approach diet and exercise?
In this article, I’ll be explaining what exactly is skinny fat and the best method(s) to fix it. Let’s dive right in.
Enduring Pain is the Road to Success
Everyone experiences pain in their lifetime, whether it’s the physical pain of accidentally knocking into something, mental pain of waking up early to get to work, or emotional pain when you lose someone you love. But what exactly is pain and how is it related to fitness?
Pain is basically a discomfort highly associated with effort. When your body is put through an environment that it is not used to, it will warrant attention to your brain through pain. This can be either psychological or physiological. As you push yourself beyond your body’s limit, your brain will try and protect you by saying, “Hey, this does not right, stop whatever you’re doing and take a break!”
However, when done right, pain is actually necessary for growth, both physical and mental. It is therefore important to make sense of and find purpose of the pain. How you handle pain can define how successful you are, not only in achieving your fitness goals, but your life goals as well.
In this article, I will be going through the types of pain you will experience during your fitness journey, the positives of pain, and tips to endure pain. Let’s dig in.
Everything you need to know about Newbie Gains
You’ve heard the benefits of lifting weights. It improves your metabolism, reduce risks of diseases, and helps with better posture. More importantly, for the guys, you want to put on slabs of muscle to fill your shirt, and for the girls, to have toned legs, arms and back to wear fitting clothes more confidently. And so you made a decision to sign up for that gym membership.
However, stepping into a gym for the first time and picking up your first dumbbell can be intimidating. New movements and terminology can be overwhelming. But good news for you! If you are new to lifting weights, you can put on muscle incredibly quickly. That’s a special advantage that many seasoned lifters would envy. You can progress with relative ease - as much as 15 kg of muscle for men, or 8 kg of muscle for women, in just one year of proper training! This is the power of newbie gains, which refers to the rapid increase in muscle and strength for individuals who just started lifting.
In this article, I’ll be explaining more about newbie gains, how to maximize them, and what’s next.
Let’s get started.
What You Need to Know About Stubborn Fats
You’ve been working out, eating “clean” for several months and have seen progress. Your weight has dropped, your clothes are looser and you seem to be in better shape when you look in the mirror. You’ve lost fat around your arms, face and back too.
However, that bulging belly / love handles can’t seem to go away. Furthermore, it seems like your hips, thighs and butt fat are still holding on to your body for their dear life. No matter how hard you workout, or how “clean” you eat, those stubborn fats can’t seem to go away. You get immensely frustrated and you wonder whether there is something wrong with your body, and if you need to do specific exercises to get rid of those stubborn fats.
If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. Many have experienced the same issue. If you’re a guy, you probably struggled with fats at your belly. If you’re a woman, chances are that the stubborn fats are at your thighs, hips and butt.
Well, don’t worry. In this article, I will be explaining the science behind stubborn fats and how to lose them.
Let’s get started.
Surround Yourself with Right People
The people you surround yourself with will be the biggest influence on your (fitness) life.
According to research, the people you habitually associate yourself with can determine as much as 95% of your success or failure in life. We are actually way more affected by our environment than we think. In the words of motivational speaker Jim Rohn: You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. These people affect what sorts of conversations you participate in, what lifestyle you follow, and your attitude and behavior about certain issues. Eventually, you start to think, behave and make decisions like them.
Therefore, it is important to hang out with the right people for healthy personal growth.
Check out these tips / practical steps you can take to improve your social environment and better achieve your goals!
10 Muscle Building Mistakes You’re Probably Making
Everyone wants to build muscle.
Building muscle not only gives you a more aesthetically pleasing look, it also improves your overall health. Studies have shown that increased muscle mass is linked to reduced risks of hypertension, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases, among others. In addition, with increased muscle mass, you will have increased metabolism, stronger joints and tendons, improved posture and balance, and stronger bones. Furthermore, more muscle means more strength, which will help in Activities of Daily Living (ADL). And the list goes on.
However, building muscle is a challenging task for many. This is because of the misconception that you can get to the physique you want by simply going to the gym and lifting weights. Unfortunately, there is much more to effective muscle building than that. If you struggle with muscle building, make sure you’re not making any of these mistakes!
The 5 Biggest Fat Loss Mistakes
Here’s a situation I’m sure many of us faced before. You step on the scale, seeing the numbers increase daily, or look at your belly in the mirror, realizing it is forming layers and layers day after day. You tell yourself you have to do something about it, and make a resolution this year to lose weight.
You know you have to eat less and get some form of exercise on most days of the week. You follow quick fixes from the internet like crazy fad diets and bulletproof coffee. You feel good, but when you step on that scale again and look in the mirror, nothing has changed. You wonder what you’re doing wrong and by the second month, you throw in the towel and give up.
You’re not alone. In fact, a study showed that although 77% maintained their resolutions for 1 week, only 19% continued for 2 years. What makes that 19% succeed where millions have failed? They do a lot of the right things, of course. But we must first be able to recognize the mistakes we are making, correct them, and then we can be on our way to achieve our fitness goals.
Check out the 5 biggest and most common fat loss mistakes!