 Image credit: Derick McKinney from Unsplash So you want to get in shape. This is all you hear about on the news. You see your favourite actors on TV doing those "I will get in shape" commercials. These men and women will start tomorrow morning with a ton of fat on their face. They will put on lean muscles. They will then end the day with slimmer. Some of them will still have fat on their thighs. What are they doing with their hands? What is going on? It is not a diet, it is not a pill. These people are taking action and they are getting the results. Why? Because they have a plan that is set in motion by a vision. They have a game plan.
You are not going to get in shape on your own. You are going to get in shape on your partners game plan. You do not have to be perfect. You just have to be prepared. You need to know what you are doing. You need to have a game plan. The game plan starts with you. When you say to yourself you are going to get in shape, you have to begin with you. You have to be 100 percent committed to it. You need to have an action plan to do it. You need to have a goal. You need to know when it is time to stop. You need to know when to continue. You need to set a date by which you will get in shape. Once you have that date, you need to execute the plan. The plan is set, you know when it is time, you have an action plan set in motion, you have a date by which you are going to do it, you have a goal, you have your friend who is ready to help, now let's execute the plan.
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 If you‘re trying to build muscle but are not quite getting the results you want, there are probably things you‘re doing wrong.
And while many people focus on meaningless things, such as following the latest muscle-building celebrity workout, or buying a weight-gain supplement, the more important things are being ignored. For the goal of building muscle mass, you have to: 1. Eat big! Establishing a caloric surplus will massively optimize your muscle gains. The caloric surplus should be made up of good amounts of all 3 macronutrients - Protein, fats, and carbs. The optimal daily intake forms at ~1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, ~0.45g of fat per lb. of body weight, and 3-5g of carbs per lb. of bodyweight. 2. Lift big! If your workouts are not challenging enough, you‘ll have a hard time gaining muscle whatsoever. For the goal of gaining bulk muscle mass, you should focus on challenging sets of 6-15 reps, which bring you close to failure. This will create a good stimulus for growth, given that you consistently do sets that challenge you in a new way. 3. Recover well! Though training big and eating big are the two detrimental factors for muscle gain, recovery is actually where the magic happens. The two most important aspects of recovery are your sleep and the time frame between the separate workouts. Generally, it is recommended that you sleep 6-8 hours per night and train each muscle group once every 3-4 days. By doing all of the above, you will create a good muscle growth stimulus, grant sufficient nutrients & time for the body to recover and grow stronger. This is how you gain muscle.  Image credit: Gabin Vallet from Unsplash If you want to achieve a healthy and toned body, it's important that you understand which exercises are effective and which aren't. Some exercises will actually help you lose weight and help the development of specific muscle groups. In case you're a bit confused about which exercises are good for which body fat levels, here are some of the top exercises that will help you get into shape.
1. Insanity: This is an extremely intense cardio exercise. However, it is proven to help you burn fat in a fast rate. This kind of exercise not only helps you lose the weight you want, but also helps you increase your metabolism. This particular exercise helps you to improve your cardiovascular fitness, increase your metabolism, and also reduce stress. 2. Sprinting: Sprinting is another great cardio exercise that helps you to lose weight in a speedy rate. Running for a short distance will also help your lungs become more efficient, reduce the risk of obesity and asthma, and will also increase your metabolism rate. It is also known to increase muscle mass. 3. Squats: This particular exercise helps you to lose weight with great intensity. You don't have to spend a lot of time to start seeing results. In case you want to increase your metabolism rate, you need to keep pushing yourself with this exercise. This exercise also works on your legs. They are the muscles that help you run longer, and you will also become more flexible. 4. Running Hills: This exercise has a great impact on your metabolism rate, and helps you burn fat at a phenomenal rate. Running up hills also helps you to develop your gluteus maximus. This is an area which many people neglect. They think that running doesn't work on this particular muscle group. Well, the fact is, this movement helps to develop glutes tremendously. Running up hills is another excellent cardio exercise, and helps you to lose weight in a faster manner. 5. Stairmaster: This particular exercise is said to work on the entire body. It helps you to develop muscle strength, and helps you develop heart muscle. The reason why it is considered as one of the great cardio exercises is because many people tend to gain weight slowly and gain heart muscle slowly. This exercise also gives you a good cardiovascular fitness. It helps you to lose weight in a faster rate, and also build muscles in a faster rate.  Image credit: Beth Macdonald from Unsplash Hitting the daily step goal is a big part of most people’s smart watch experience. The number is front and center when you look at the mobile app dashboard and it’s easily viewed on most devices, making it super easy to check your progress throughout the day. But coming up with a step goal and reaching it are two different things.
For most people, it takes effort to hit a step goal every day, Fitbit has some tips to help you reach your step goal over...  Image credit: Photoholgic from Unsplash If you've started running due to keeping yourself fit during lockdown or maybe it was your New Year's resolution for 2021, you might have questions about what might be your best approach. Runner's World asks an expert to help keep you safe and away from the injuries...
 Image credit: congerdesign on Pixabay We’ve all faced times where no matter how hard you try, you just can’t stick to a healthy routine. Just thinking about exercise or cooking a healthy meal can be daunting, and with fast food being, well, fast, it’s not difficult to see why so many struggle to stay motivated with a healthy lifestyle. It happens to everyone, there probably isn’t one person who can say they have never had a period of time where they have had some time away from eating right and exercising as often as they should.
Finding the motivation to look after yourself doesn’t mean that you need to spend hours in the gym or spend one day a week prepping healthy meals, you can do it so much easier. Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can stay motivated below: Give Yourself A Real Reward No, this doesn’t mean eating an entire cheesecake after a run, it’s about giving yourself something that is going to help you get closer to your goals. Why not indulge in an episode or two of your favourite tv show or reading about the Association of Naturopathic Practitioners after your workout, to enable your muscles to recover? Or treat yourself to a massage after two or three weeks on track with your exercise routine. After you have eaten a healthy meal, reward yourself with some self-care such as taking a hot bath or home spa-treatment. You are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, so the best thing you can do is to stop rewarding yourself with junk food, one of the main causes of a bad diet. Exercise will slowly become a habit, and your motivation will grow as you reward yourself in a positive way. Set Yourself A Commitment Contract We can make a promise after promise to ourselves, however, research shows us that we are more likely to eat well and exercise when we make the commitment to some one else such as our family or friends. Why not set a contract with your family to state you will workout three times a week for 30 minutes and that you will cook at least one healthy meal each day so you can be healthier for them? Turn Your Workouts Social In the world of today, it is very common to see people using social media as a way to stay accountable for their progress or commitment to living a healthy lifestyle. Whether it’s sharing their weekly weigh in, showing progress pictures, showing methods of exercise, or sharing pictures of your food, sharing them on social media may be a good way to keep you on track. Always Remember The Why There is going to be a reason why you want to live a healthier lifestyle, so, remember what it is when you feel yourself slipping. Whether you’re doing because you’ve gained a little weight over Christmas or through pregnancy, or you’re trying to minimise the risks from an underlying health condition, always think back to the reasons why you are making changes. Remember changes aren’t going to happen over night, therefore, you shouldn’t expect them to. Don’t give up at the first hurdle, in fact, don’t give up at the tenth. No one said that making changes towards a healthy lifestyle was easy. Do you have any tips on how to you can stay motivated? Please share them in the comments below. Image credit: photoholgic on Unsplash There is a good chance that you may have over indulged the last few days and need thinking that you need to work off all those treats. Runner's World spoke to a sport and eating dietician about how running should never be a validation of what you eat, at any time of year. You can find out more here...
 Image credit: Kike Vega on Unsplash Wellness and stress-busting pretty much go hand in hand, so it’s fair to say we could all benefit from a bit less stress. Thankfully, there’s more than one way to make that a reality. In fact, myfitnesspal.com have counted 31 ways to reduce stress and put them together in this list...
 Image credit: Total Shape on Unsplash If you think you're doing enough exercise and eating healthily but you're struggling to lose weight then join the club. So many of us think we're ticking all of the boxes for burning fat - and not getting any returns for our effort. The Sun has a guide to help you get those bad habits gone..
 Image credit: Lisa Wall on Unsplash For many people, fitness is not about attempting to sculpt a chiselle six-pack or being able to run a marathon in under three hours. It’s simply about staying in good nick. Being able to say, without crossing your fingers, that you are a reasonably healthy adult. Coach Magazine has the perfect guide to keeping yourself fit regardless of how old you are!
 Image credit: Airam Dato-on We all got into home video workouts during the first lockdown. It was a novel way to train and then there was the phenomenon of Joe Wicks’s PE lessons on YouTube providing daily motivation to get moving. However, unless someone in your household joined you, following online video workouts can feel a little lonely, especially if your fitness routine once revolved around meeting friends at group exercise classes. Use these two services to work out with your friends remotely. Coach Magazine has more...
 Image credit: Talaviya Rahul on Unsplash Low-impact activities like swimming, cycling and weightlifting are often touted for their joint-friendly properties, but low-impact workouts have more to offer than just being easy on your joints — a lot more, according to fitness experts. myfitnesspal has 11 benefits to having a low-impact workout!
 Image credit: Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash We all know about the physical benefits of sports and exercise. If you want to build muscle, you lift. If you want to improve aerobic fitness, you might want to run… What do you do when you’re struggling with your mental well-being? myprotein.com has the stats on this one...
 Image credit: Evieanna Santiago on Unsplash With the increased popularity of intermittent fasting, what the ideal time is to stop eating at night has been hotly debated. For many years, R.D.s have been urging weight-loss clients to eat dinner earlier and stop snacking a few hours before bed. It seemed like a no-brainer, but researchers from Brigham Young University decided to put the theory to the test. Runner's World has the insight on this one!
 Image credit: Unsplash A recent study found that people who reported lower levels of exercise during Covid than previous exercise habits also reported a decline in their mental health. You can read more over at Runner's World...
Image credit: Derick McKinney on Unsplash Losing weight is never easy and there’s no one tip that’s going to change that. However, it doesn’t have to be as complicated a process as many of us make it, like counting every calorie or stripping our diet of entire food groups while trying to follow aggressively restrictive diet plans. Coach Magazine has the full guide for you...
 Image credit: Jennifer Burk on Unsplash If you’ve started to notice that you get out of breath after one flight of stairs, it’s time to work on your fitness. The good news is that it won’t take that long to improve no matter what type of exercise you choose. Think a month or two, if not a few weeks, although of course some disciplines will help you improve faster than others. Coach Magazine has the full story!
 Image credit: Artem Labunsky on Unsplash Feeling hungry is a normal part of life and is a signal that your body is lacking the energy it needs to function to its highest ability. Most people tend to get hungry before their next meal and hunger can also be increased if you've done more exercise than usual. The Sun has 10 reasons why!
 Image credit: Andres Urena on Unsplash There is a myth that people should try and do 10,000 steps a day to keep themselves on a healthy track but do you really need to do that many? Fitbit.com has the views!
You can also find a very in depth guide on why walking is good for you over on moccasinguru.com.  Image credit: Renee Fisher on Unsplash Weight loss is more than just calories in and calories out — other factors such as quality of sleep, stress levels and a positive mindset can influence the number on the scale. The latter is important because approaching weight loss with a rock-solid mental game not only sets you up for success to lose weight, but it’ll also help you keep it off long term. myfitnesspal.com has the theories...
 Image credit: Limor Zellermayer on Unsplash Of all the roles life has carved out for me, this one has to be one of the most unexpected.
But sharing my DIY lockdown kettlebell regime on social media, primarily for the purposes of self-motivation, has resulted in an avalanche of requests for help and support for others - mainly women - wanting to do the same. BBC News has the Covid-19 story...  Image credit: Nathalie Désirée Mottet on Unsplash Home schooling. Constant hand washing. Social isolation. These past few months have been enough to move a Zen Buddhist to distraction. So if you’ve found your running workouts tougher than normal, that’s understandable. A new study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that just 45 minutes of stress can impair subsequent running performance.
Runner's World has the full story..  When it comes to reducing your risk of getting sick, you can’t beat washing your hands and not touching your face. But something you already do is also helping to keep your immune system in top condition so it can better fight off all viruses: working out. Fitbit.com has the good word...
 Regardless of your age or level of fitness, walking is possibly the easiest form of exercise, but for those of you who want to loss weight, just how much do you need to do to lose weight? myfitnesspal.com may have the answer for you..
 Image credit: gotslimfit.com After weeks of lockdown, there could be a lift in people returning to work but what can you do to boost your immune system to get you ready? The Sun has a few ideas..
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Author - ChrisAuthor, Editor, Creator of Learn Develop Live Archives
June 2021
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