Cicero
April 4th, 2012, 04:27 PM
I am creating this thread because I've seen a lot of posts about getting abs and what not. This is a general guide to a healthy lifestyle, but also a guide to help get you to your goal, whether it be abs or a leaner lifestyle. This is an accumulation of a bunch of different articles, from trusted sources. All the credit will be given at the bottom. -Rocky Balboa II
Cardio
Cardio is a great way to get abs and burn fat, cardio helps raise the heartbeat which helps to burn fat. But doing cardio on an empty stomach is a great way to lose muscle, and lower metabolism. To avoid muscle loss, be sure to eat 15-30 minutes before exercise, preferably something light like an apple, or crackers. Also, be sure to do strength training when your doing tons of cardio. When your doing strength training it will make sure your not losing any muscle that may be lost from cardio. You may hear that doing cardio in the morning is the best time to do it, well thats wrong.
You don't do better doing cardio in the morning vs. the night, though you may feel more energetic in the morning. Cardio is any exercise that helps to raise the heartbeat. The intensity of your cardio workout is just as important if not, more important. Intensity is everything, in order to burn fat you have to give it your all. The best way to do cardio is doing short breaks and long intensity, instead of walking for 5 minutes and running for 2 minutes flip it around. Run for 5 minutes and walk for 2, that will maximize your results for losing fat. High intensity is categorized in between 75% and 85% of your maximum heart rate (MHR).*
Overall, any cardio is good, but the recommended daily amount of cardio you should do a day is 150 minutes a week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To make cardio fun, try jump roping or playing a sport, and hey during commercials do a light jog!
Strength Training/Resistance Training
Strength training is great for raising metabolism, because it makes your body demand more calories in order to feed those muscles. Their are two different approaches to strength training, whether you want toned muscles (fail at 13-17 reps) or you want size and strength (fail at 8-12 reps). You must always add diversity to any workout plan your doing, or else you may hit a "plateau" (which means: "a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress") which is very bad. Muscles have memory, called muscle memory, when your doing a workout over and over again with no change, your muscles will not grow at all. It may tone them a little. But you will not add size or strength. Because the muscles remember workouts, which is good if you lose a bunch of muscle. If you lose all your muscle, doing the same workout you did before will lead to faster muscle growth. Because the muscles remembered your workouts.
Muscle grow by the tearing of the muscle fibers. Which in other words causes trauma to the muscles. The more you tear the muscle fibers, the more it needs repair. the following short article is from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/543764-why-do-you-get-a-burning-sensation-in-your-muscles-after-strong-exercising/
" During brief high-intensity anaerobic exercise, your muscles do not receive enough oxygen to meet the muscles energy production needs. Your body overcomes this by creating energy through a process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis breaks down the glycogen stored in your muscles into energy, called adenosine triphosphate. The process also produces pyruvate acid. The production of this pyruvate leads to acidosis in the muscle tissue, which diminishes your body’s ability to perform glycolysis. This is why high-intensity anaerobic exercise can only be performed for brief periods, typically one to three minutes, before your muscles exhaust their available energy. This provides a biological defense mechanism to prevent overexertion that could permanently damage your muscles. In the absence of oxygen, this glycolysis byproduct is converted into lactate. During intense anaerobic exercise, the levels of lactate in your bloodstream can build-up rapidly."
At the end of each workout, you need to replenish everything lost, a recommended drink you should have within 30 minutes after your workout is chocolate milk with a pinch of cinnamon.
Metabolism/Eating Right
When doing any workout plan, it's always best to eat right (and consult your doctor). What you put in your body is very important, if you decide to eat junk food while working out. Your body will not be getting the necessary nutrients to sustain a healthy life. Their are many different diets out there, the no carbs diet, the liquids diet, and Diets that say fats are unhealthy. For one, eating foods that have fat is healthy, in fact your body needs it. It's nothing like hamburgers but foods like olive oil, vegetable oil, and avocados. Humans need fat in order to survive.
Instead of thinking of calories as fat, think of them as energy. Because that's what they are! The meaning of calories is: "either of two units of heat energy".
If you eat over the amount of energy your body needs, it will be stored as fat. And that's where metabolism comes in...
What metabolism is, is the amount of calories needed to sustain living. A great easy way to figure out how many calories you burn is through this equation:
(your body weight) X 10 = _________ (your body weight times 10, which equals your RMR in calories)
Your RMR X 20% = ________ (your RMR, which was calculated up top, times 20% equals your daily activity burn)
Your RMR + Daily activity burn = __________ (your RMR plus your daily activity burn equals your energy amount, which is how many calories you burn in one day)
Your metabolism is very important for the fat loss process, if you eat under your metabolism, that's called a calorie deficit, which causes both fat and muscle loss, cause remember your not giving your body the full energy it needs. But as I said earlier, when combined, strength training and cardio builds and keeps muscle, and burns fat. Crash dieting can be very effective, at first, you may notice you lost a few pounds (which may be mostly muscle), but crash dieting is VERY dangerous to your health. What crash dieting is, is eating less than 1200 calories. Doctors say the lowest calories you should eat it is 1400-1500 calories a day (but all teenagers shouldn't eat less than 1500-1600 calories a day).
Great ways to boost your metabolism is to drink ice water (it takes your bodies extra calories to make the water to a desired temperature your body wants), drink green tea and coffee (caffeine makes your body burn extra calories), take a 10 minute cold shower, eat avocados, Protein, and spicy foods!
The "Big" secret to abs
Getting abs isn't a big secret. Its about eating right and exercise. Doing 1,000 sit ups won't give you abs. If you don't believe me go ahead and try, you may get them a bit toned, but your going to plateau. Your workouts must be diversified. As the saying goes "abs are made in the kitchen" it's 100% true. A caloric deficit is your best friend if your wanting abs (eating 1500-1800 calories is the best approach, or subtracting -400 from your calorie burn a day). Everyone has abs, because without them we wouldn't even be able to stand, sit or do anything. Theirs a layer of fat covering those abs. All you need to do is remove as much fat as possible. They say having 8-12% body fat for men (21-24% body fat for women) will make your abs show. Once you get to that range, all you need to focus on is building them up. Exercising your abs every day won't do good, but may damage them. Your abs are like any other muscle, they need rest. At least 24 hours of it. The following link contains great Ab exercises: http://men.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-flat-abs-for-men
Overall
Staying healthy overall can have its challenges, but if you stick with a workout plan. It will make you a healthier person, even if you don't get that much desired 6 pack, it doesn't mean your unhealthy. For motivation, try setting short goals, that can be easily achieved. If you can only lift a 20 lb. dumbbell, set your goal to try to lift a 25 lb. dumbbell by the end of the month. If your goal was to get abs, notice the small differences. Notice that 1% of body fat you lost. If your goal is to totally transform your diet, don't just change everything in one day, build up to that. If you go extreme and all the sudden stop eating everything unhealthy, it's guaranteed you'll feel discouraged and you'll fail. Switch out that morning donut to a protein bar, or instead of 3 cups of coffee in the morning do 2 cups, then when you fully transition to 2 cups, go to one. Then try to go to green tea (if you want) or with little to no half and half or sugar.
*I hope this was of help to everyone :D I worked hard on this thread and I hope it will help people to make some good decisions :). As always consult your doctor before doing any exercise/workout/dieting plan. I have done my research on a lot of these subjects. The information provided does not substitute that of a Licensed Physician. Neither I or VT are liable for any medical-related issues it's always best to see your doctor.*
If there are any errors please feel free to PM me. This wasnt phrased/written perfectly. So excuse any errors :) Written and assembled by: Rocky Balboa II
Credit
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/dos-donts-counting-calories
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/empty_stomach_cardio.htm
http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101_5.htm
http://www.livestrong.com/article/380818-how-much-cardio-should-i-do-a-day-to-lose-weight/
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/raising-fit-kids/weight/safe-weight-loss
http://www.ivy-rose.co.uk/HumanBody/Muscles/Muscle_Cell.php
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/543764-why-do-you-get-a-burning-sensation-in-your-muscles-after-strong-exercising/
The Dr. Oz Show
The Doctors*
P90X Nutrition Guide and Workout Guide
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/no-whining-dieting-10-ways-cut-excuses
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/metabolism-boosters
http://men.webmd.com/features/flat-abs-for-men-go-to-exercises
Cardio
Cardio is a great way to get abs and burn fat, cardio helps raise the heartbeat which helps to burn fat. But doing cardio on an empty stomach is a great way to lose muscle, and lower metabolism. To avoid muscle loss, be sure to eat 15-30 minutes before exercise, preferably something light like an apple, or crackers. Also, be sure to do strength training when your doing tons of cardio. When your doing strength training it will make sure your not losing any muscle that may be lost from cardio. You may hear that doing cardio in the morning is the best time to do it, well thats wrong.
You don't do better doing cardio in the morning vs. the night, though you may feel more energetic in the morning. Cardio is any exercise that helps to raise the heartbeat. The intensity of your cardio workout is just as important if not, more important. Intensity is everything, in order to burn fat you have to give it your all. The best way to do cardio is doing short breaks and long intensity, instead of walking for 5 minutes and running for 2 minutes flip it around. Run for 5 minutes and walk for 2, that will maximize your results for losing fat. High intensity is categorized in between 75% and 85% of your maximum heart rate (MHR).*
Overall, any cardio is good, but the recommended daily amount of cardio you should do a day is 150 minutes a week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To make cardio fun, try jump roping or playing a sport, and hey during commercials do a light jog!
Strength Training/Resistance Training
Strength training is great for raising metabolism, because it makes your body demand more calories in order to feed those muscles. Their are two different approaches to strength training, whether you want toned muscles (fail at 13-17 reps) or you want size and strength (fail at 8-12 reps). You must always add diversity to any workout plan your doing, or else you may hit a "plateau" (which means: "a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress") which is very bad. Muscles have memory, called muscle memory, when your doing a workout over and over again with no change, your muscles will not grow at all. It may tone them a little. But you will not add size or strength. Because the muscles remember workouts, which is good if you lose a bunch of muscle. If you lose all your muscle, doing the same workout you did before will lead to faster muscle growth. Because the muscles remembered your workouts.
Muscle grow by the tearing of the muscle fibers. Which in other words causes trauma to the muscles. The more you tear the muscle fibers, the more it needs repair. the following short article is from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/543764-why-do-you-get-a-burning-sensation-in-your-muscles-after-strong-exercising/
" During brief high-intensity anaerobic exercise, your muscles do not receive enough oxygen to meet the muscles energy production needs. Your body overcomes this by creating energy through a process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis breaks down the glycogen stored in your muscles into energy, called adenosine triphosphate. The process also produces pyruvate acid. The production of this pyruvate leads to acidosis in the muscle tissue, which diminishes your body’s ability to perform glycolysis. This is why high-intensity anaerobic exercise can only be performed for brief periods, typically one to three minutes, before your muscles exhaust their available energy. This provides a biological defense mechanism to prevent overexertion that could permanently damage your muscles. In the absence of oxygen, this glycolysis byproduct is converted into lactate. During intense anaerobic exercise, the levels of lactate in your bloodstream can build-up rapidly."
At the end of each workout, you need to replenish everything lost, a recommended drink you should have within 30 minutes after your workout is chocolate milk with a pinch of cinnamon.
Metabolism/Eating Right
When doing any workout plan, it's always best to eat right (and consult your doctor). What you put in your body is very important, if you decide to eat junk food while working out. Your body will not be getting the necessary nutrients to sustain a healthy life. Their are many different diets out there, the no carbs diet, the liquids diet, and Diets that say fats are unhealthy. For one, eating foods that have fat is healthy, in fact your body needs it. It's nothing like hamburgers but foods like olive oil, vegetable oil, and avocados. Humans need fat in order to survive.
Instead of thinking of calories as fat, think of them as energy. Because that's what they are! The meaning of calories is: "either of two units of heat energy".
If you eat over the amount of energy your body needs, it will be stored as fat. And that's where metabolism comes in...
What metabolism is, is the amount of calories needed to sustain living. A great easy way to figure out how many calories you burn is through this equation:
(your body weight) X 10 = _________ (your body weight times 10, which equals your RMR in calories)
Your RMR X 20% = ________ (your RMR, which was calculated up top, times 20% equals your daily activity burn)
Your RMR + Daily activity burn = __________ (your RMR plus your daily activity burn equals your energy amount, which is how many calories you burn in one day)
Your metabolism is very important for the fat loss process, if you eat under your metabolism, that's called a calorie deficit, which causes both fat and muscle loss, cause remember your not giving your body the full energy it needs. But as I said earlier, when combined, strength training and cardio builds and keeps muscle, and burns fat. Crash dieting can be very effective, at first, you may notice you lost a few pounds (which may be mostly muscle), but crash dieting is VERY dangerous to your health. What crash dieting is, is eating less than 1200 calories. Doctors say the lowest calories you should eat it is 1400-1500 calories a day (but all teenagers shouldn't eat less than 1500-1600 calories a day).
Great ways to boost your metabolism is to drink ice water (it takes your bodies extra calories to make the water to a desired temperature your body wants), drink green tea and coffee (caffeine makes your body burn extra calories), take a 10 minute cold shower, eat avocados, Protein, and spicy foods!
The "Big" secret to abs
Getting abs isn't a big secret. Its about eating right and exercise. Doing 1,000 sit ups won't give you abs. If you don't believe me go ahead and try, you may get them a bit toned, but your going to plateau. Your workouts must be diversified. As the saying goes "abs are made in the kitchen" it's 100% true. A caloric deficit is your best friend if your wanting abs (eating 1500-1800 calories is the best approach, or subtracting -400 from your calorie burn a day). Everyone has abs, because without them we wouldn't even be able to stand, sit or do anything. Theirs a layer of fat covering those abs. All you need to do is remove as much fat as possible. They say having 8-12% body fat for men (21-24% body fat for women) will make your abs show. Once you get to that range, all you need to focus on is building them up. Exercising your abs every day won't do good, but may damage them. Your abs are like any other muscle, they need rest. At least 24 hours of it. The following link contains great Ab exercises: http://men.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-flat-abs-for-men
Overall
Staying healthy overall can have its challenges, but if you stick with a workout plan. It will make you a healthier person, even if you don't get that much desired 6 pack, it doesn't mean your unhealthy. For motivation, try setting short goals, that can be easily achieved. If you can only lift a 20 lb. dumbbell, set your goal to try to lift a 25 lb. dumbbell by the end of the month. If your goal was to get abs, notice the small differences. Notice that 1% of body fat you lost. If your goal is to totally transform your diet, don't just change everything in one day, build up to that. If you go extreme and all the sudden stop eating everything unhealthy, it's guaranteed you'll feel discouraged and you'll fail. Switch out that morning donut to a protein bar, or instead of 3 cups of coffee in the morning do 2 cups, then when you fully transition to 2 cups, go to one. Then try to go to green tea (if you want) or with little to no half and half or sugar.
*I hope this was of help to everyone :D I worked hard on this thread and I hope it will help people to make some good decisions :). As always consult your doctor before doing any exercise/workout/dieting plan. I have done my research on a lot of these subjects. The information provided does not substitute that of a Licensed Physician. Neither I or VT are liable for any medical-related issues it's always best to see your doctor.*
If there are any errors please feel free to PM me. This wasnt phrased/written perfectly. So excuse any errors :) Written and assembled by: Rocky Balboa II
Credit
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/dos-donts-counting-calories
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/empty_stomach_cardio.htm
http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101_5.htm
http://www.livestrong.com/article/380818-how-much-cardio-should-i-do-a-day-to-lose-weight/
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/raising-fit-kids/weight/safe-weight-loss
http://www.ivy-rose.co.uk/HumanBody/Muscles/Muscle_Cell.php
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/543764-why-do-you-get-a-burning-sensation-in-your-muscles-after-strong-exercising/
The Dr. Oz Show
The Doctors*
P90X Nutrition Guide and Workout Guide
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/no-whining-dieting-10-ways-cut-excuses
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/metabolism-boosters
http://men.webmd.com/features/flat-abs-for-men-go-to-exercises