Alcohol and Bad Health --- The Link

Drinking beer is a good social thing. In fact, it’s the glue that holds social circles together. But when it comes to fitness and health, beer in excess can put a permanent dent on your aspirations and training goals.

Here are couples of studies that show the downsides of beer excess drinking.

Alcohol and obesity

You may love your beer, but drinking it in excess can spell disaster on your figure and health level. According to Swedish study published in the journal Obesity, drinking alcohol hinders blood testosterone in men while boosting cortisol levels, thus leading to impaired muscle growth, abdominal fat and a myriad of other problems. 

Alcohol and post workout recovery

Not only that, researchers at the University Of Helsinki found that binging on alcohol impedes post-workout recovery and muscle growth by limiting the supply of carbs and fatty acids for the body. This can only compromise your fitness efforts and lead to more setbacks and disappointments.

Training Shortcuts For Better Physic

Most men who are looking to get the perfect physic know they need to work out on a nearly daily basis—and that’s not easy. Don’t get me wrong, asquiring the perfect physic is not just a matter of aesthetics. Yes looks do matter, but real men should strive to get into the best shape of their life and increasing over-all health levels. Showing off comes secondary.

Therefore, here are a few lifestyle changes you need to make to help you get that sculpted physic.

Start at the bottom

If you’re looking to boost your strength for the workout and speed up muscle gains, then performing leg exercise at the beginning of the workout is the way to go. According to Norwegian study, starting off a workout with leg exercises leads to an increase in both testosterone and growth hormone, thus leading to greater fitness results.

Stretch for success

Men can also benefit from yoga. In fact, a study by the University of Maryland showed that yoga outperformed aerobic exercise when it came to flexibility and muscle strength. Furthermore, the same research revealed that regular yoga practice reduces levels of cortisol—the hormone responsible for abdominal fat, overeating and a host of other heath troubles.

Run From Hunger

According to many studies, running sheds colossal amounts of calories, helps you ward off heart-related problems, reduces stress and can get you into the best shape of your life. For more appeal, a study published in the Journal of Sports Science revealed that subjects who completed a long run reported low level of ghrelin—the hormone in charge of regulating hunger—than those who didn’t exercise.

Eat breakfast, but why?

When it comes to losing the extra weight and staying healthy for life, diet is vital. And the most important meal, as you may know, is breakfast. Study shows that you can decrease the likelihood of obesity by more than 78 percent if you eat breakfast on a daily basis.

Protein with Breakfast

A study conduced by the Perdue University  made clear that eating protein with breakfast can help you feel full for longer period, thus keep overeating and unhealthy snacking at bay—which is the reason behind weight gain.

Not only that, another study published in the International Journal Of Obesity showed that subject cut about 1000 calories form their daily calorie intake by just consuming 2 eggs and a bagel for breakfast, and lost 70 percent  more than dieter who ate a bagel and cheese as breakfast.

What to eat

Make sure to eat protein, such as milk, eggs, yogurt, whole grains, and consume fruit moderately. Ate your breakfast within an hour of waking up and three hours prior a workout.

Control your hunger with these 3 eating guidelines

When it comes to losing weight, learning how to control hunger and keep pangs at bay is critical if you’re looking for keeping the extra pounds off for good. For most fitness enthusiasts, the temptation of overeating is harder to overcome—especially during low moments of life when you feel down and need a carb-fix.

Therefore, here are 3 eating guidelines that can help:

Keep blood sugar at bay

Keeping blood sugar levels at bay is key for preventing overeating and weight gain.  And the best way to do so is via opting for food with low glycemic rankings. The higher the ranking, the spikier your blood sugar levels will be after consuming them. On the other hand, foods below 60 according the glycemic index have minimum impact on blood sugar.

Eat protein with every meal

According to many studies, subjects who ate protein with their meals on a regular basis reported low levels of hunger afterwards, thus preventing unhealthy snacking and overeating. Not only that, decent protein intake is vital for muscle growth and proper recovery, alongside a plethora of health benefits.

Banish the diet coke

Yes it’s true, diet cokes contain less calories than traditional sugary drinks, but they are not the best drinking choice if you’re looking to keep hunger pangs at bay. According to many studies, diet drinks contain high levels of artificial sweeteners, which can spike your blood sugar and boost your desire for more unhealthy drinks and snacking.

How to build the perfect physic

 When it comes to building the ideal physic, every fitness enthusiast is looking for an edge—whether with a new training plan or a miraculous pill that promises overnight change. Nevertheless, consistency and implementing the right training-diet strategies are the real keys to getting the body of your dreams.

Therefore, here are 3 ways that can help.

Start at the bottom

According to research, doing leg strength exercises at the beginning of a workout increases the levels of both testosterone and growth hormone (essential for muscle building and recovery), thus resulting in a boost in strength and greater muscle growth.

Lose weight with protein

Protein is key to muscle growth and recovery. However, this is essential ingredient can also help you lose weight by eliminating hunger pangs and cravings for unhealthy snacking. Therefore, make sure to eat plenty of protein with every meal—especially after a hard workout such circuit training.

Lift hard and heavy

To get strong, you need to lift big and heavy. No doubt. And using traditional lifts that load the spine, such deadlifts and squats, can lead to better muscle building results. Not only that, traditional lifts can help you ward off osteoporosis and boost bone-mineral density. In addition, these lifts can do wonders to your core strength and posture, thus you can kiss back pain goodbye for good.

How to Feel At Your Best All The Time

Feeling your best at all time is no easy feat. But it’s worth the sweat. Feeling at your best, to some extent, can help you put your fitness and life dreams on the fast track. On the other hand, being stressful and feeling under constant strain is the surest way to suffer from mental burnout and a premature failure. 

Without further ado, here are 2 ways to help you feel the best:

Time your sleep

Sleep is key to wellbeing and increased health. Therefore, if you’re feeling groggy when the alarm clock goes off, then you’re heading into the wrong direction. One way to help you tackle sleep deprivation is to set your buzzer for a total sleep that’s a multiple of 90-minute (7.5 or 9 hour for instance). That’s the length of the average human sleep cycle. Setting your alarm clock within these sleep cycles ensure that you’re not woken up during deep sleep, thus fall short with your resting period.

Banish stress

Keeping the monster of stress at bay is another critical approach. For instance, going for hard workouts days, back to back, without ample recovery increases the releases of stress hormones, which makes you more susceptible to colds and a host of other ailments. Therefore, during stressful weeks, don’t push yourself through tougher workouts. Instead, make sure to keep a keen ear on the way you feel both during and after the workout and adjust accordingly. Sometimes an off day might be just what your body (and mind) really need.

How to Keep Yourself Motivated For The Summer Workout

Keeping a workout regime running during the summer season is no easy feat. For that,  try out these 3 simple tricks for enduring consistency and success:

Build a ritual: 

People are creatures of habits; we tend to reiterate the same physical and mental patterns on a daily basis and what permits us to do so are the rituals we practiced over time. Therefore, if you turn your workout program into a ritual, you'll make it a part of your daily routine, therefore you won’t have to think much in order to do it--it will just happen on auto-pilot. You can do this by committing to a precise time and place for the exercise, regardless of your circumstances, for at least four weeks.

Use Positive Anchors: 

Anchoring is linking an exterior stimulus to an external experience or mental condition. Through associative conditioning, you can train your brain to correlate an outside trigger for a mental state that’s most suited for the exercise. For instance, I never go out for a run without my cap, and as soon as I wear it, my body responds instantly and knows that is time for working out. Of course, this happens with practice and time, but it’s definitely worth the hard work.

Peer up With a Partner

You’re the people you surround yourself with. If you blend with healthy and productive individuals, you're more likely to get what you look for, and the other way around. Therefore, be aware of those who you spend time with and do your foremost to mix with more balanced and successful people.