Muscle Madness

Muscle Madness

Eating Healthy on the Run

Eating Healthy On The Run

Whether your traveling on the go or around the
home, you don’t need to give up healthy eating
simply because you are on the run.  The fact is,
healthy eating is even more important when your
trying to keep up with a busy schedule.

Having a good diet will help your body to handle
stress better.  As you hustle about, a healthy meal
is probably the last thing you think about.  The
following tips can help you eat when your on the go.

Restaurants
With tempting menus, large portions, and a festive
atmosphere, it’s easy to skip healthy eating.  It’s
okay to splurge every now and then, although you’ll
pack on a lot of weight if you make it a habit.
When you eat out at restaurants, always be smart
about it.

Airports
An airport can be a very stressful place, although
you shouldn’t scrap your diet because of it.  Eat
because you are hungry, not because of stress,
boredom, or to kill time.

In your car
Keep some healthy snacks in your car at all times,
so that when you get hungry – you have them.

At home
Evenings and mornings are busy times in most homes.
Making the time to eat can be hard, although you
shouldn’t run out the door without eating breakfast
first.  Cereal with milk, a banana, muffin, or even
a bagel is a great way to start the day.

Anytime you are on the go, always make sure that you
make the right food decisions.  You can take healthy
food with you if you need to, so that you have it
when you need it.  Eating healthy on the go is easy
to do, once you know how.  Never sacrifice healthy
food for junk, as your body will regret it later.

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May 9, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , | Leave a Comment

Healthy facts of potato

Fast Facts On Potatoes

Throughout America, potatoes are the most popular
vegetable, even being ahead of other well known
vegetables such as lettuce and onions.  You can
cook potatoes in a variety of ways, and they are
included in one out of three meals eaten by almost
all Americans.  When they are prepared in a healthy
way, a potato can be an excellent source of energy
and also pack a nutritional punch.

Like oranges, potatoes are very high in vitamin C.
The fact is, one medium potato contains 45% of the
vitamin C that’s recommended for good health.
Potatoes are also high in fiber and carbohydrates
and contain more potassium than a banana.

A potato is naturally low in calories and contains
no fat, sodium, or cholesterol.  The skins of the
potatoes provide a helpful dose of fiber, iron,
potassium, calcium, zinc, phosphorus, and several
B vitamins.

You can prepare potatoes by boiling them, steaming
them, or even roasting them.  If at all possible,
you should avoid putting potatoes in the refrigerator
or freezing them, as cold will turn the potato
starch to sugar and cause them to turn dark when
they are cooked.

When you store potatoes, keep them in a cool, dark
place. Too much light will cause them to turn green.
You can store them in the basement if you have
one, as the basement is the best place to keep
potatoes.

From mashed potatoes to baked potatoes, a potato
is something we all know and love.  They serve
many different tasty foods, and they provide our
bodies with plenty of healthful benefits.  We all
eat potatoes, some of us even grow our own.  Whether
you grow your on or buy them, the potato is
the one vegetable that makes everything just a
little bit better.

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May 9, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , | Leave a Comment

Breakfast in the morning

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

A lot of studies and research has shown that kids
who eat breakfast perform better in school and
have a healthier diet.  Eating breakfast will help
promote the proper growth and maximize school
performance as well.

Breakfast is often times a victim of the morning
time crunch.  Even though you may be tempted to
skip breakfast, you can simplify your morning
routine by following these 8 tips:

1.  Finish homework and pack school bags
at night.
2.  Decide on what your children will
wear to school before you go to bed and locate
lost shoes for the following day.
3.  In the morning, get up 15 minutes
earlier.
4.  Give up computer games and morning
television.
5.  Have healthy foods on hand.  You
should also shop for breakfast foods with your kids
and take into account their personal preferences.
6.  Set the cereal out the night before.
For younger children, fill a zippered plastic bag
with her portion, then add the milk in the
morning.
7.  Allow your children to use the
microwave often, as most breakfast foods can be
prepared in under 5 minutes.
8.  Allow your kids to eat in the car or
on the way to school.

There are several foods that you can eat for
breakfast, even leftovers from supper if they
are sufficient.  You can eat bagels, pizza with
fruit juice, pretzels, or the normal bacon and
eggs that breakfast is known for.  Most foods are
a snap to prepare, and won’t take you but a
few minutes.

The next time you are in a hurry in the morning,
remember that you are probably about to skip the
most important meal of the day. If you follow the
tips above, you’ll find that you have plenty of
time for breakfast.

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May 9, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , | Leave a Comment

Eating and Exercise

Eating And Exercise

Anytime you exercise, you do so in order to try and
maintain good health. You also know that you have to
eat as well, so your body will have the energy it
needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks
of life. For making the best of your exercise, what
you eat before and after you workout is very important.

No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio
workout or a resistance workout, you should always
make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and
carbohydrates. What makes that determining percentage
of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not
you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the
intensity level that you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal
is an hour before you start. If you plan to work
at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre
workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you
plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you
will probably need your meal to be between 4,000
and 5,000 calories.

Those of you who are doing a cardio session will
need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein.
Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from
the extra carbs with enough protein to keep your
muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For resistance exercise, you’ll need to eat a mix
of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help
you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform
each set you do and the extra protein will help
keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you
exercise.

Eating after you exercise is just as important as
your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise,
whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy
in the form of glycogen. The brain and central
nervous system rely on glycogen as their main
source of fuel, so if you don’t replace it after
you exercise, your body will begin to break down
muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert
them into usable fuel for the brain and the
central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance
exercise, you’ll break down muscle tissue by
creating micro tears. What this means, is that
after a workout, your muscles will instantly go
into repair mode. Protein is the key here for
muscle repair, as you don’t want muscle breaking
down even further to create fuel instead of
lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you’ll
need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably
those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat
pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources.
Also, try to consume 30 – 50 grams of there
types of carbs after you exercise. After your
cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 – 10
minutes.

Once you’ve finished a resistance workout, you
will need to consume a combination of carbs and
protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance
workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating
micro tears.

You’ll need protein as this happens to build up
and repair these tears so that the muscle can
increase in size and strength. The carbs will
not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but
will also help the protein get into muscle cells
so it can synthesize into structural protein, or
the muscle itself.

After your resistance exercise, you should wait
up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won’t
take blood away from your muscles too fast. The
blood in your muscles will help the repair process
by removing the metabolic waste products.

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May 8, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , | 1 Comment

Cardio Exercises

Cardio Exercise

Everyone has wondered at some point in time which
cardio exercise is better. To put it in simple
terms, both low and high intensity exercises will
help you to burn off body fat. The question here
is which is the most effective to burn off more
body fat.

When scientists first discovered that during
intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which
is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored
in your liver and muscles for energy. During low
intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of
fat.

If your wondering whether or not it works, the
answer is no because there are so many obese people
still around. Even though they are working out
with low intensity routines, it still makes you
wonder how it can be.

The scientists were right when they said the human
body burns more body fat during low intensity
exercises like walking or swimming. During a
high intensity exercise such as running, the body
will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of
the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are
still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of
glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your
food you eat will later get converted into
glycogen to fill up the store and won’t be
converted to body fat when they are left unused
for energy.

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your
metabolism even after you have completed your
workout. What this means, is that your body will
continue to burn body fat hours after you have
left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent
in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and
more calories during and after you have finished a
high intensity cardio exercise that it will with
low intensity.

You can inject high intensity exercises into your
cardio workout by introducing some interval
training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then
break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or
so. Then, walk briskly again until you have
caught your breath and then sprint for a minute
before you walk again. From this point, simply
alternate your running and walking for the
next 15 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about cardio is the more
you do it, the more energy you’ll have. Cardio
will help you to burn calories, although its more
useful for keeping your energy levels high.

If you’ve never tried cardio before, you should
give it a shot. If you like to exercise, you’ll
find cardio the best way to boost your energy and
keep in top shape. If you are just starting out,
you’ll want to go slow and keep your cardio
exercise in track – as it is very easy to over
exert yourself.

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May 8, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , , | Leave a Comment

Keep Yourself Hydrated

Water And Exercise

The human body is made up of over 75% of water, and
as we all know, we cannot live without water. The
fact is, we can only survive for a total of 3 days
without water. Water has however, been replaced in
most diets by soft drinks and other sugar sweetened
refreshments. Keep in mind that water is a healthier
and necessary for leading yourself towards a better
health and longevity.

Your own personal need for water can vary greatly
due to exercise, weight, and temperature. Research
has proven that over 2/3 of adults don’t get the
water they need on a daily basis. By drinking water
on a regular basis you can replenish your body and
keep it well hydrated and functioning as it should be.

A majority of us wait until we are thirsty before
we drink water. Keep in mind, this way isn’t a
reliable gauge of the water needs for the body. By
the time you are thirsty you have already lost two
of more cups of the body’s water supply. Therefore,
drinking water regularly is much better than simply
waiting until you are thirsty.

It is very important that you don’t substitute
beverages with alcohol and caffeine for water. The
reason behind this is that those types of beverages
act as a diuretic and can cause you to lose more
weight through increased urination. You may think
and feel as if you are getting more water through
these beverages, although the fact is that you
are letting it go almost as fast as you consume it.

Anytime you exercise, you need more water. Due to
perspiration, your body will lose quite a bit of
water. For each pound lost due to exercise, you need
to drink 2 cups of water. Even when you lay down
to sleep, your body loses water. By drinking a
glass or more of water before you go to sleep, you
can wake up with your body functioning as it should
be.

It should become more obvious that when you are sick
you’ll need more water than any other tine. When
you get a cold or the flu, your body can become
dehydrated quite quickly. You can help to prevent
this by drinking more water at times when you become
sick.

There are several mixed opinions as to whether
purified water will actually provide benefit. This
is a subject you should explore yourself as you
determine the best type of water for yourself.

Always make it a habit to drink water on a daily
basis. You should keep a bottle of water with you
at all times and drink it throughout the day. You
should also teach yourself to drink water instead
of other beverages that don’t replenish the nutrients
your body needs.

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May 8, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , | Leave a Comment

Free Weights vs Machines

Free Weights VS Machine exercise

Something you need to keep in mind and never forget
is that when you exercise, you are training for
life. You still may spend an hour a day in the
gym, although that will still leave another 23 hours
or so for your muscles to function without using
any fancy equipment.

Whenever you do any type of exercise, the movement
of your body during the exercise is known as the
range of motion. The more difficult the range of
motion is, the more effective the exercise will be,
because your body has to work twice as hard to
perform the movement.

Take for the instance the classic dumbbell bicep
curl. If you aren’t familiar with the exercise,
it is performed by standing up straight with your
palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held
down by your sides. You’ll contract your biceps
to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder height,
then repeat the exercise as many times as you wish.

Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep
curl machine, you should sit down, brace your
upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in
front of you, then perform the same movement as
above to move the handles in an upward motion.

Now, looking at the muscle contractions in this
exercise, you are contracting essentially your
biceps if you are using the curl machine, and
that is pretty much all you are doing. When you
use the machine you are sitting down, which will
limit just how much your shoulders give. The
machine has several muscles used in this
exercise limited to the biceps, as well as
the muscles in your forearms and fingers.

Most of the time, when using machine weights, you
will always be limited as to what type of exercise
you can perform. You must always follow a strict
procedure, which is pretty much the same with
free weights. Unlike free weights, machine
weights offer a certain degree of resistance.

One of the best thing about free weights is the
fact that you move a little chuck around to
select the weight you want to use. Instead
of dragging it over to your exercise area,
you simply select it on the machine. When
you are tired during a workout, this can be
a blessing.

A lot of people argue in the fact that free
weights are the best for your body. While this
is normally true, many people out there feel that
machine weights are the best. There are pros
and cons with both machines, although free
weights have been around a lot longer and have
been proven time after time to achieve dramatic
results.

Body builders for example, have used free
weights over the years to build very impressive
bodies. If you ask most of them about machine
weights, they would probably laugh at you and
tell you that you need to quit joking around.

In a nutshell, free weights will use more of your
muscles than the machines do, which makes them
more effective overall. This doesn’t mean
that the machines are a waste of use, as they
offer some great advantages. In some cases,
it is best to stabilize the muscles that are
being used in a movement, which is where machines
are the best to use.

The decision on which to use for you should be
based on what you hope to achieve with lifting
weights and where you plan to use the equipment,
such as home or at a gym. Both systems are
great for your body, although the free weights
are best to use if you want the best possible
workout, and always ensure that your muscles
are getting the right workouts they need.

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May 8, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , , | Leave a Comment

Exercise and Sleep

Exercise And Sleeping Better

The amount of physical exercise that you exert during

the day is one of the key ingredients to helping you

get a good sleep at night. The more active your

body is during the day, the more likely you are to

relax at night and fall asleep faster.

With regular exercise you’ll notice that your quality

of sleep is improved and the transition between the

cycles and phases of sleep will become smoother and

more regular. By keeping up your physical activity

during the day, you may find it easier to deal with

the stress and worries of your life.

Research and studies indicate that there is a direct

correlation between how much we exercise and how

we feel afterwards.

You should try and increase your physical activity

during the day. The goal here is to give your body

enough stimulation during the day so that you aren’t

full of energy at night.

Your body requires a certain amount of physical

activity in order to keep functioning in a healthy

manner. It is also important to note that you should

not be exercising three or four hours before you go

to bed.

The ideal exercise time is in the late afternoon or

early evening. You want to make sure you expend

your physical energy long before it is time for

your body to rest and ready itself for sleep.

You should attempt to exercise at least three or

four times a week for a period of 30 minutes or so.

You can include walking or something simple. If

you prefer, you can include strenuous activities

such as running as well.

The goal here is to increase your heart rate and

strengthen the capacity of your lungs. By adding

a regular exercise activity to your daily schedule

will help you to improve your overall health and

help you emotionally as well.

Along with running and walking there are several

other physical activities that you can add to your

daily life to increase your level of physical

activity. If you are battling not sleeping, you’ll

find aerobic exercise to be the best.

Your goal with exercise is to increase the amount

of oxygen that reaches your blood stream. Overall,

there are many types of aerobic exercise for you

to choose from. The activities include running,

biking, using a treadmill, dancing, and jumping

rope.

There are some non aerobic exercises that you may

find beneficial to help you solve your amnesia

problem.

Yoga

Yoga is an exercise that has a stimulatory effect

on your nervous system, especially the brain. Yoga

utilizes breathing techniques and yoga postures to

increase the blood circulation to the brain, promoting

regular and restful sleeping patterns. The regular

practice of yoga will help you to relax as well

as relieve tension and stress.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi is an ancient art of breathing and movement

that was developed by the Chinese monks. The

movements involved are slow and precise, which is

ideal if you have joint pains or you are unable

to participate in high aerobic exercises. Research

has shown that Tai Chi can help with insomnia by

promoting relaxation.

If you discover that you don’t have any time to

exercise on a regular basis, you should try to

sneak moments of activity into your schedule.

Whenever possible, you should take the stairs instead

of the elevator, as little things like that will

do wonders for your body.

You should also park your car around the corner and

walk that extra block or two to get to your

destination. As you may know, there are many small

things you can add to increase the activity in

your life. Your overall goal here is to have a

healthy and well balanced life – with plenty of

sleep.

 

To find out more, CLICK HERE

May 8, 2009 Posted by | 1 | , , | Leave a Comment

Eggs

My protein powder and mass gainers are in the rubbish bin. No i did not purposely throw them away and no i do not think they’re not good. But, they’re finish. I’m out of cash so i use eggs! Natural souce of protein. Eggs contain about 6 grams of high quality protein, and comes with a rich variety of vitamins and the essential amino acids. So daily i consume up to 20 eggs.

April 25, 2009 Posted by | 1 | Leave a Comment

Signs of over training ?

Went to the gym today. The plan was to train legs. Did some squats. Seriously i didn’t have the mood to train legs today. I did a few reps and was like what am i doing here?! I should be at home resting. Cause today will be my 6th day in the gym. And i’m not on steroids so naturally i need longer time to recover. Today was a mistake.

Symptoms of overtrainings are

  • Injury
  • Lack of ability to get a pump
  • Lack of appetite
  • Strength lost
  • Depression
  • Sickness
  • Moody
  • Lack of sex drive
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Lack of desire to train
  • Tension
  • Abnormal sense perceptions
  • Muscle degeneration

Ways to recover from over training

  • Balance diet
  • Intake more protein
  • Sleep
  • Take a week off
  • Lessen the load of training

 

Over training occurs when you train to frequently and never give adequate rest to the specific muscle group. Training itself causes microscopic tears to the muscle and recovery is when you rest yourself by sleeping and a balance diet. Hitting the muscles intensely and frequently will only tear the muscle more making it harder and longer to recover.

Currently i’m experiencing lost of appetite and lack of desire to train.  I’ll increase my protein intake and rest more. I’ll change my training split. Maybe i’ll take a week off.

Conclusion

Overtraining can kill your effort of getting your dream physique. Train hard but train smart. All the best mates!

 

Nabil Syafiq

April 11, 2009 Posted by | 1 | Leave a Comment

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