TAG | body
I build true athletes, and athletes look amazing. The days of people thinking skinny women look good are gone and most men aren’t working to look like Arnold either. Healthy and Strong is the new Sexy. Despite what most people think, anybody can have any body type they want. I’ve been as heavy as 185lbs as a power lifter, and recently as light as 144lb as rower. I can go up and down as needed by altering my calories, reps, and sets in the gym.
The Blueprint
Most people need to lose fat, others need to gain muscle, and some need to do both. Getting the health look is easy when you know what to do. If you follow magazine articles or old methods, you’re just spinning your wheels.
Losing Weight
It’s always been true that to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in. A 500 calorie per day deficit works great. Going beyond that will only harm your body and leave you with temporary results.
Use Fitday.com to count your daily caloric intake and wear a heart rate monitor to count calories burned. At the end of the day you burned 500 more than you ate, you’re right on track.
When exercising use high weights for low reps. This will make you stronger without making you bulky.
Gaining Weight
If you are stick thin, you need to eat 350 to 500 calories per day more than you burn in order to gain muscle mass. Make sure to eat the right proportion of Protein, Carbs, and Fat depending on your fitness routine. Make sure not to take in too many calories or it will store as body fat.
When lifting, high reps for many sets will cause your muscles to grow. Keep an eye on your proportions, and don’t neglect any areas. You don’t want to be the guy with huge arms and chicken legs.
Your body is always talking to you. Every time you feel stiff, tired, hungry, happy, strong, or cranky that’s Bio-Feedback.
Most of us aren’t eating right or sleeping enough so we feel tired. Instead of getting adequate sleep we drink coffee and lumber through the day until five o’clock. This may alleviate short term symptoms but it’s only making things worse.
Imagine driving while running out of oil, as you feel the cars power diminish you just stomp on the gas. That’s kind of what you’re doing.
Listening and hearing aren’t the same
I want you to think about how you feel. After a lifetime of ignoring bio-feedback it takes some work to rebuild your awareness. If you feel good ask why? Every time you get a headache, stomach ache, or back ache I want you to ask yourself what could be the cause?
Clean it up
There are so many items I cut out of my diet as a result of how they negatively affect my body. Artificial sweeteners and Mono Sodium Glutamate give me headaches. Energy drinks give me anxiety. I avoid any foods that give me excessive intestinal gas. That’s a sign that your body isn’t digesting it well, or doesn’t have the enzymes to break it down. And alcohol is an intestinal irritant and decreases performance.
It’s not rocket surgery
You don’t need to be a doctor or a researcher to experiment with your body. Take some things out of your diet you feel may not be helping, add some vegetables, what’s the worst that could happen. Get a full night sleep and start with a good breakfast, maybe you won’t need caffeine.
Expertise
At Solid Body our Strength and Conditioning coaches have years of experience helping athletes. Let us help you reach your goals whether it’s a marathon or losing five pounds, we can get you there.
Solid Body Fitness
617-365-0905
Jason@SolidBodyFit.com