GET RID OF LOVE HANDLES.

Love handles are areas of fat found on the sides of your stomach. Having any type of fat around your stomach can lead to internal fat which can surround your organs. According to Reader's Digest, this type of fat can increase your risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease. To lose your love handles, you need to do workouts that involve the oblique muscles found on the sides of your stomach. You can use the weight of your body and various fitness tools to achieve this goal.

Cardio Training

Any time you have too much fat on your body, you need to do cardio to help burn it off. You can do anything that will get your heart rate elevated and cause you to become winded, such as running, brisk walking, jumping rope, kick boxing, inline skating or versa climbing. Perform cardio for 45 to 60 minutes, three to four days a week.

Russian Twists

Russian twists work your obliques with the aid of a weight plate. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and the plate held in front of your stomach with both hands. Slowly rise so your back is at a 45-degree angle to the floor and rotate from side to side, moving the plate each direction that you are moving. Aim for 15 to 20 repetitions. When doing these, keep your lower body still and try to touch the floor with the plate on each side of your body.

Side Plank Lifts

Side plank lifts work your obliques with the weight of your body. Lie on your right side with your legs stacked and your forearm directly under your shoulder and flat on the floor. In a steady motion, lift your hips up by contracting your obliques, slowly lower and repeat. After doing 15 to 20 reps, switch sides. To increase the challenge, perform this exercise on your hand.

Hanging Oblique Knee Raises

Hanging oblique crunches are performed with a pull-up bar. Jump up and grab the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip and let your legs hang straight down. Keeping your upper body still, raise your knees up toward your left shoulder and squeeze your abs forcefully. Slowly lower and repeat to your right side. Continue to alternate back and forth until you've done 15 to 20 repetitions.

Windshield Wipers

Windshield wipers also go by the name pendulums. Lie on your back with your legs lifted and your feet parallel to the ceiling. Your body should be at a 90-degree angle at this point. In a steady motion, lower your legs back and forth laterally to each side until you've done 15 to 20 repetitions. When doing this, place your arms out at your sides to stabilize your body. If this exercise is too difficult, start by doing it with your knees bent.

HIIT TRAINING

HIIT TRAINING

It's Time to Hit the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

Are you bored with your cardio routine?
Have you hit a weight loss plateau? When it comes to burning fat at warp speeds while either cutting or bulking, I find that nothing fits the bill better than doing a little HIIT Training! Stay away from steady state mundane cardio when it comes to fat loss.

So what is HIIT?

HIIT is a training technique, in which low to moderate intensity intervals are alternated with high intensity intervals. It can be applied to running, or to exercises such as squatting, ropes, rowers, jump rope, plyos, burpees, slam balls and more. Anything that has the ability to crank up your heart rate really high for a short burst, then bring it back down to a lower level.

HIIT is considered to be much more effective than normal cardio because the intensity is higher and you are able to increase both your aerobic and anaerobic endurance. It has also been shown to speed up your metabolism, which helps you burn more calories throughout the day.

So how does it work?

Choose your exercise mode of choice - my personal go to is the treadmill. Your current fitness level and goal will dictate the rest intervals. For example: an exercise-rest ratio commonly looks like a 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 with your HIIT interval set at 20-30 secs.

Let's take a 1:2 approach and let's say your (high intensity interval) is set at 30 seconds, your rest or what I like to call active rest, would be 60 seconds.The rest period really isn't REST. We are just simply taking your heart rate back down before ramping it back up. On the treadmill, you might be running @9mph and your 'rest interval' may look like a fast paced walk or light jog. Perform HIIT training 2-3x/wk
for 20 minutes to achieve your best result.

In general, it's our natural mentality to want better results in less time. Unfortunately, many marketing gimmicks play upon this desire and fool decent people. It's good to know that HIIT is not one of these cases. The methods of intervals training have been researched and studied, with results that are tried and true. HIIT is a solid way for anyone to achieve their fitness goals. TIME to get serious!

An effective 45 minute HIIT workout has been given below.

Ramadan And Working Out

Pretty soon Ramadan starts for 1.57 billion people in the world and there’s a fair number of bodybuilders, workout and fitness enthusiasts among them. The biggest question for them is how to observe the first without compromising their goals in the latter. Here are some pointers.

1. Don’t Stop Working Out

The first and most important tip to be given comes right at the beginning: don’t stop working out. Your body maintains muscle mass as long as it feels it is needed and when you stop exercising, will slowly build back what it feels is unnecessary luggage that costs extra energy.Even though you may not make gains in muscle mass during Ramadan, you can at least preserve what you have if you keep your schedule up.

2. Adjust Intensity

In your regular schedule you may be able to do x amount of weight during benchpresses and do 90 lb curls without batting an eye. But if you usually do your workouts in the late afternoons and then try the same intensity during Ramadan – when you have already fasted for 8 – 10 hours and a long and busy day is behind you – you may not be able to pull that off.

There is nothing wrong with you here: after a long day, your carbohydrate reserves probably are depleted and carbohydrates are what let you work out with intensity.

What you may want to do is either adjust the weights you are using or the number of reps. If you want to stay with the weights you normally train with, allow for doing less repetitions and lower the weight if you fail to reach your normal number of minimum repetitions. If you want to lower the weight right from the beginning, then pick one that under the circumstances of the fast allows you a maximum of 12 – 15 reps.

3. Protein Timing

If you normally follow the rule of having several small doses of protein over the day, you of course can’t do that during Ramadan.

But if you manage to have a meal in the mornings, before fajr, and of course the larger ones in the evening and have some protein in both, you will at least somewhat make up for it: protein in food is absorbed much slower than protein from powders and will stay with you quite a bit of time.

If you want to use a powder at all, then it should be one based on casein, and not on the “fast” whey.

4. Carbohydrates In The Morning

Another reason for a morning meal is that you can not only have some protein at that time, but also carbohydrates. And as carbs let you work out with intensity, as we said above, loading up some of them in the mornings should counter a lack of carbs during the day.

If you are used to having a pre-workout meal this won’t make up entirely for it, but it at least should help tide you over.

5. Adjust Workout Times

This should work especially well if you can adjust to having your workouts within a couple of hours of this morning meal, as your carbohydrate reserves will then be quite high. If your workouts take place after a long day of fasting, you might feel rather drained.

6. Work Out When It Feels Best

However, many people of course can’t simply go and do their workouts when they would be most beneficial, especially during Ramadan.

A bit of flexibility might help: Instead of doing your workouts at your normal times, during Ramadan do them when you have time and feel the most energetic. A workout done when you feel you have the energy and can do it with intensity is better than a workout you squeeze in and do hurriedly, just because in theory your energy reserves would be better.

7. Get Enough Fluids

When talking about nutrition, we also shouldn’t forget about getting enough fluids. In my video about how much water you need per day, I said thirst is a good indicator for when you have to drink. However, during Ramadan you can’t drink when you are thirsty.

Therefore Ramadan is one of the few times where my advice is to load up on fluids preemptively, before thirst takes place. Especially for those of you living in hot climates this is rather important; even more so, when you want to do a workout during the day.

8. Don’t Go All Out In The Evenings

Strangely enough, despite Ramadan being a month of fasting, I know a good number of Muslims who actually gain weight during that month. Because what in many families is then served in the evenings more than makes up for what was lacking during the day.

Of course, it’s rather easy to overeat when you went without food for 10, 12 or even 14 hours, but do exercise some self-control. In the evenings, get that protein we talked about, but keep an eye on how many calories you consume.

9. Ramadan Is Tougher In Summer

Last but not least, don’t forget that Ramadan is more difficult to follow in summer than winter, because during summer daylight lasts much longer, you will have less time to eat and drink and also get less sleep.

Therefore, during the years where Ramadan takes place during summer, as this year, be prepared that you may not be able to put out the same workout performances you get when Ramadan takes place in winter.

When is the best time to take my Dietary Supplements?

Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet should provide you with all of the individual nutrients you need, but if you're diet isn't so good, some of those nutrients might be deficient. For example, a person who hates fruits and vegetables might not get enough Vitamin C and someone who refuses to eat dairy products will frequently need extra calcium.

Multivitamin

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                               Take your multivitamin tablet at a time that is convenient for you. Some people find that taking                their vitamin in the morning with breakfast is easiest for them to remember, but taking a multivitamin in the morning may not be convenient for everyone. Taking too many multivitamins in a short period of time can cause multiple vitamin overdose, which can cause  you to become very sick.

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                Be careful not to take too many multivitamins in one day. If you have, and you experience          symptoms such as severe headache, abdominal pain, nausea and upset stomach seek emergency care, as you may have developed hypervitaminosis -- multiple vitamin overdose.

Calcium

                Dosage. Calcium is absorbed most efficiently when it's taken in amounts of 500 or 600    milligrams (mg) or less at one time. If you take 1,000 mg of calcium a day, split it into two or more doses over the course of the day.

               

               Calcium supplements can interact with many different prescription medications, including           antibiotics, bisphosphonates and high blood pressure medications. You may need to take calcium supplements several hours before or after taking your medications.

                

               In the first place Calcium supplements of all kinds MUST be taken with food. If you take your     calcium supplement on an empty stomach you will actually run the risk of getting kidney stones.        

                (This happens because calcium taken on an empty stomach is eliminated through the kidneys. If              your body is deficient in Calcium your kidneys will not allow your body to eliminate the calcium. The free floating calcium ions attach themselves to oxalates from other foods and form calcium oxalate stones in the kidney. When you take your calcium supplement with food it will be excreted in the feces and not wind up in your kidneys where it can form stones.)

                Calcium is also taken with food because of its potential to upset the stomach and calcium is         usually combined with Vitamin D to transport it to where it is needed and magnesium to reduce   the possibility of constipation, a side-effect of calcium.

                If you require Calcium, Iron and Zinc, take all 3 at separate meals to avoid competition for            absorption.

Iron

                

               Choose times when you will have an empty stomach, at least one hour before or two hours after            eating.The reason behind taking iron with either a glass of orange juice or a vitamin C tablet is that        vitamin C will enhance the absorption of the iron. Conversely, milk, caffeine, antacids and calcium supplements are known to decrease the absorption of iron, so it is best to avoid taking these at the same time as the iron supplement.

                

               Avoid these foods 1 hour before taking the iron supplement and 2 hours after: dairy products, eggs, spinach, coffee, tea, whole grains, fiber or calcium supplements or antacids. They contain             compounds that interfere with iron absorption.

                

              Do take 75 mg of vitamin C with your iron supplement. The following foods provide this amount               or a little more: 7 oz. of orange or grapefruit juice, one and a half oranges, half a cup of kiwi, 1 1/4 cups diced cantaloupes or 1 cup of strawberry halves.

Compound Exercises Offer Multiple Benefits.

Those who are looking to build muscles, burn fat, acquire optimal function, and improve health factors, compound exercises are the way to go. What are they? Compound exercises are resistance exercises that target more than just a single body part. To perform these exercises multiple joints and muscle groups must be used. 

While “isolating” muscle groups during an exercise isn’t bad (i.e., bicep curls), it isn’t an efficient use of your time, your body and your hormonal resources. 

Time

Why train just one body part when you can train several in the same amount of time? When training with weight, aim to get the most amount of work done in the least amount of time possible by using exercises that include as many body parts as possible. 

Body

But the purpose isn’t only simple time economics. In most real life, sport and work situations, your body is a multi-link system working together to produce forces in very complex ways. It does not often “isolate” body parts. So spend most of your time training your body the way it functions: as a kinetic chain. 

Hormones

While it might be true that the priority of many people is form rather than function (or looks rather than operations), there is another main reason why multi-joint, compound exercises are more beneficial than single-joint, isolated exercises. 

Great physical effort (lifting weight) while using multiple muscle groups elicits a much higher level of positive hormones than while training just one muscle group. These hormones include testosterone, insulin-like growth factor 1, and growth hormone. These hormones help build lean muscles, burn fat, and improve your health. 

Some Examples of Compound Exercises

The exercises below should be a routine inclusion in your fitness program. They are just a few among the many exercises that Hyperstrike possesses in its exercise database. 

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Pushups
• Bench Presses
• Pull-Ups
• Bent-over Rows
• Various Presses
• Cleans
• Jerks
• Snatches

Practices for Increasing Strength and Size

Your diet is the first key to success. There’s no argument about it. Neglect your diet and you’ll neglect your goals. Make sure you eat the right foods spaced over 5-7 meals. You should use a BMR calculator to work out how many calories you need each day. From there you can tweak your diet to suit your goals.

Be consistent. Consistency is the second essential element required to reach your goals. If you train for a few months, go off it, come back on, goo off again don’t expect to get anywhere real fast. You need to stay focused on your short term and long term goals. Don’t take more than a week off weight training if you can help it. If you do take a week off, don’t let your diet slip. Keep your eye on the prize!

Less is more. Overtraining is one of the most common mistakes made by new lifters. Make you sessions short and intense, and give yourself plenty of time between workouts for muscle recovery.

Use supplements wisely. Supplements won’t get you big on their own! What they will do is fill the nutritional gaps in your diet and help you get nutrients into the body quickly when they’re needed most. Don’t replace food with supplements.

Technique before weight. It’s not the amount of weight you lift, it’s the way you lift it. All movements should focus on contraction and stretch of the muscle. You should never need momentum to help move the weight. Select a weight that allows you to just complete your set with good technique.

Select the right workout. It’s critical that you select a workout that meets your goals. To many people use the wrong workout routines and end up giving up due to lack of results.

Don’t get stuck in a routine. It’s easy for a lifter to get stuck in the same routine, same weights, same days, etc etc etc. Not only is this boring as hell, you’re not progressing with your training! Use intensity techniques like drop sets, supersets, tri-sets and negatives to shock your muscles into growth. Change your routine as soon as you stop progressing.

Track your progress. A workout log is your best training partner. I know you’ve heard it all before, but until you start using a log regularly you won’t realize just how much you come to rely on it for information about your workouts.

Stay focused when you train. Training is not all about talking, playing with your phone, and wandering around the gym trying to look good. It’s all about you reaching your goals. Get in there and focus on the workout you have ahead of you.

Never be afraid to try something new. Whether bit an exercise, supplement or workout routine, you should never shy away form new methods of growing bigger and stronger. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Now get back in the gym! Good luck with the training :)

PRE/POST WORKOUT SUPPLEMENTS : WHAT TO DO ? WHAT NOT?

Even if your training is perfect, an incomplete diet will prevent any muscle gains. If you want to grow, you've got to eat, and the most important key to growth is a caloric surplus. The excess calories will fuel growth and provide the energy to train. 

Rules

BALANCE YOUR PROTEINS: Take in protein of all types from all sources — fast acting, slow acting, whey, casein, egg, fish and animal proteins (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.).

JUNK IT UP: Don't be afraid to eat some junk food once or twice per week. This boosts your metabolism and gives your body a different type of fuel. Stick to the "clean junk." These are calorically dense, but not super greasy foods. Examples are pasta, burgers, steak, sweet potato fries and cheesecake.

BALANCE YOUR CARBS: If you want to grow, insulin spikes are your friends. You just have to time them correctly, like breakfast and postworkout. These are the times to have some fast-acting carbs that quickly replenish glycogen stores.


Pre-Workout 

1.Carb Supplement - 1 scoop
Should contain Vitargo, Karbolyn dextrose, or maltodextrin.

2.Pre-Workout Supplement - 2 scoops
Should contain NO boosters, creatine, beta-alanine and glutamine.


Post Workout 

1.Recovery Supplement - 2 scoops
Should contain BCAAs, creatine, glutamine, and NO boosters.

2.Carb Supplement - 1 scoop
Should contain Vitargo, Karbolyn dextrose, or maltodextrin.


Avoid stimulant-based products preworkout when you are trying to grow. Stimulants like caffeine restrict blood flow and kill your pump. They can also screw up your sleep pattern and ruin your appetite.

Branched-chain amino acids are great for building muscle. Try 5-10 grams of pure BCAAs three times per day: preworkout, postworkout and before bed.

If you can't get enough calories from food, then drink the rest. Weight-gaining shakes have a place, but don't depend on them. Whole foods should always be the primary source of calories.

Creatine should be part of any muscle-building plan. Five grams per day is perfect for cell volumization and a strength boost.

A fast-acting carbohydrate drink postworkout will spike insulin and aid in nutrient transport. Your creatine and BCAAs will get to the muscles quicker to start building and repairing.