Valuable Sources to Help You Gain Muscle or Shed Body Fat

Earlier this week I gave you the appetizer into what it takes to pack on muscle or shred some body fat, but now I wanna give you more of a main course. There really is a lot more science that goes into dieting properly for the best results.

Bulking or cutting comes down to understanding your body’s daily caloric needs and then adding or subtracting the right amount in order to achieve your desired outcome over time. It is hard to give an exact caloric number here because everyone has different needs but I find that IIFYM.com has a great macronutrient and caloric intake calculator that will tell you the exact amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fats you should be eating on a daily basis.

Now that you have determined what your fitness goals are and you calculated your macronutrient needs on IIFYM.com, it can still be hard to know if what you are eating is perfectly in line with your long term plan. 

In my last post I had mentioned a diet-tracking app called MyFitnessPal, and here I want to reiterate that this app is a very powerful tool in reaching your goals. 

I use the app on a daily basis and it allows me to input my needed macronutrient numbers, track my calories, organize my meals, and it even has a barcode scanner to get quick information on any food.  

Go check out these invaluable sources and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

To find out more about the Fit Life Guru follow the link > http://bit.ly/1DwcQJu

Should You be Tracking Your Diet?

This week’s content is going to be all about customizing your diet to help you gain muscle (bulking) or lose body fat (cutting).

Before getting into it, I recommend reading my older post, “The Beginner’s Guide to Eating Clean”, if you haven’t already done so. It will give you a better understanding of what foods you should be eating while bulking or cutting.

Paying attention to your physical hunger signals could spell trouble

Okay, here we go.

First, it is important to understand your fitness goals and begin to develop a plan of action. If it is your goal to build more muscle, then you will want to follow a clean bulking diet. If it is your goal to lose body fat, then you will want to follow a cutting diet.

Second, you need to know where your main sources of nutrition come from. These main sources are called macronutrients and consist of:

• Proteins – meats, eggs, some dairy products, whey protein powders, etc.
• Carbohydrates – grains, pastas, root vegetables, sugars, fruits, etc.
• Fats – oils, butters, nuts, etc.

The Third and final step is to become aware of your everyday eating and form habits that support your fitness goals. If you want to take it a step further, you can also start tracking what you eat with an awesome smartphone app called MyFitnessPal. I use this app almost everyday and it really helps me organize my meals and track my muscle gains.

So if you are asking yourself, "Should I Track My Dieting or Not?" it is important to remember that when you combine healthy eating habits with the right diet plan for your goals, you will be well on your way to fitness success!

Bodybuilding Vs. Powerlifting

Earlier this week I introduced the basics of training for size or strength. Now I want to dive deeper into those training styles and shed insight on the extremes of them.

At one end you have bodybuilding, which is primarily associated with size training, and on the other end you have powerlifting, which is associated with strength training.

On a completely separate but also related note I’m going to mention YouTube here.

YouTube is a great way to learn a lot about fitness and weight training. There are a lot of serious weight lifters on YouTube that document their training and preach a lot of fitness wisdom.

I’d like to highlight a video on the difference between bodybuilding and powerlifting from YouTuber and serious weight lifter, Bart Kwan.

Also, Check out this article if you would like to learn more details about Bodybuilding Vs. Powerlifting. 

The Basics of Training For Size And Strength

Whether you are trying to increase your muscle size or you just want to be really strong, it is important to know and understand The Basics of Training For Size or Strength.

At the most fundamental level your body just wants to survive and thrive in its environment. In weight training this bodily need for survival translates to increased size or strength adaptations depending on the routine of exercises your body goes through.

Size Vs. Strength

The most basic difference between size and strength is training volume. This is the number of sets and repetitions (reps) that you do per workout. The more sets and reps you do for a specific body part the higher the training volume for that workout. Lower training volumes are associated with strength, while higher training volumes are associated with size.

The Basics of Training For Size or Strength will give you a more in depth explanation of these two training styles including rep ranges, rest periods, and even example exercises of each style of training.

As a new comer to weight training it is good to know these differences, however, an untrained body will adapt with gains in both size and strength. You will eventually face plateaus as your fitness level increases, but in the beginning you won’t have to focus on one style of training over the other.

The beginner’s guide to Eating Clean

Earlier this week I talked about the basics of fitness training and now I’m going to enlighten you about the basics of eating clean for your overall health and fitness goals.

Pesky cravings for something sweet or salty have all gotten the best of us at one point or another. Adopting clean Eating habits is probably one of the hardest habits you can form because it is ongoing and there is always so much food around us. In the beginning it can be hard to deny your cravings, but with a bit of commitment and discipline you can become a healthy fitness machine.

So let's get to it!

• Throughout all dieting research that I have done, I have realized that cutting out sugary drinks like soda and juice is the fastest way to reduce calories and sugar intake. It is always best to stick with the liquid of life; keep some water nearby and stay hydrated.

• The next biggest thing you can do is eat whole foods such as real fruit, whole grains, grass-fed and free-range meats, and unsalted raw nuts. Additionally it is best to stay away from any form of processed foods. These are foods that typically contain chemicals to extend their shelf life. If you can’t pronounce the ingredient or if the ingredient sounds like a chemical then you shouldn’t eat it.  The Most Common Food Preservatives and chemicals are phosphates, nitrates, sulfites, natural flavors, and MonoSodium Glutamate (MSG)

•  Lastly try to eat 4 to 6 smaller meals throughout the day. This frequency will increase your natural metabolism and in turn help you acheive your dieting goals. Also be sure to have a well-balanced mix of proteins, carbs, and veggies. 

I will touch more on dieting and macronutrient tracking in later weeks. If you have any fitness or dieting related questions be sure to comment to me on Facebook.com/TheFitLifeGuru

The beginner’s guide to Training

Most articles you will read are all about advanced lifts, sets, reps, and specific techniques to use when doing certain exercises, but the authors of these articles mostly focus on experienced lifters and never really explain things for a beginner.

With so much information already out there, choosing the right routine can be an overwhelming challenge, but with a little knowledge of the basics it isn’t hard to find the right program.

Whenever I'm at the book store or have some free time on the computer I like to stay current on the latest in fitness. One of the newest and most effective sources that I just started reading is TRAIN Magazine. This is not your average men's health or freak bodybuilding magazine. TRAIN Magazine has tons of information on training techniques, workout plans, proper nutrition, supplementation, and it's all from people with real acheivable transformations.

For all the beginners out there, check out TRAIN Magazine with A Novice’s Guide to Training