Follow These Tips For An Effective Workout

Whether you want to lose 5 pounds or finally run a half marathon, fitness is an important topic for your life. Many people don't have any idea how to start becoming fit and that is why this article gathers some of the easiest and most effective tips and advice in one place.

To hep yourself stay with an exercise routine, pick one that you will enjoy every day. Choose an activity that you enjoy, this will help you to look forward to your exercise routine.

The basic strategy of increasing muscle mass is to lift heavier weights for fewer repetitions. Focus on one muscle group at a time: start with your chest for instance. Start by lifting light weights to warm up. Strive to complete between 15 and 20 repetitions as part of your warm-up. The second set should be 6 to 8 reps at a heavier weight. For the last set, bump up the weight by another five pounds.

Do you not have a lot of time for working out? Split up your workout. Do not increase the time you workout, but try to break it into a half. If you're trying to jog an hour a day, try doing a half hour right when you get up and another 30 minutes at the end of the day. If you're not interested in two trips to the gym, get one in somewhere else you find more preferable.

You will never get yourself a six pack of abs by doing crunches all the time. Your muscles may get stronger, but nothing will really happen with respect to the fat on your stomach. To get yourself a set of washboard abs, you must start eating better while doing resistance and cardio training.

If you perform repetitive movements, try counting backwards from your desired total. This will help you get a better idea of how many you have left and keep you motivated a lot better than counting up.

To speed up your weight loss, try increasing your workout density. What this means is that you should include more activities in a smaller time period in order to see better results. Make your exercises "denser" by shortening breaks in between intervals or remove breaks altogether between your sets. This is a great way to increase how much weight you're losing.

Once you have completed a set with a particular muscle group, take a few moments to stretch those muscles. Do the stretch for about 20-30 seconds. Proper stretching can help you increase your overall strength. Stretching has the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of injury.

Now that you've reached the end of this article, you are prepared to take the steps necessary to achieve fitness. Nothing can stop you from reaching your goals when you are motivated and continue to do the right things. You will start seeing results rapidly, and they will be enduring.

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What Is The Post-Workout Golden Window?

By Russ Howe

In the topic of how to build muscle people often look for unnecessarily complicated answers when the basic principles still work just fine. Today we shall examine one of those proven principles, the post-workout nutrition window. We are going to explain it for you step-by-step and get rid of some of the general myths surrounding it for you.

Despite the often over complicated world of health and fitness this is very easy to do once you have learnt the basic principles, much like the rules to building a leaner physique in general.

If you are a regular exercise enthusiast or trainer you may or may not have already heard people at your local fitness center or health spa talking about this. For a while it was simply a rumor, an almost mythical 'golden period' after a training session where your body would be able to make fantastic strides forward if you used the time wisely. It has since been proven to be a fact, of course, and today we're going to answer the most commonly asked questions. These include:

* How long does this golden window last?

* What type of foods should I eat in this period?

* What is the reason this actually exists?

* What happens if you don't make use of the golden nutrition window?

We'll be discussing all of the questions above. The magic window is something which occurs after you complete an exercise session. Basically your body is trying to replace all of the nutrients it has just lost.

It's crying out for food and because of this desperation it will literally gobble up anything you provide it with. The post-workout window is as simple as that, really. The trick is to learn how to provide it with the right type of nutrition to push your results even higher.

The window itself is believed to last approximately 45 minutes after you finish a workout, meaning you have three quarters of an hour to get some food into your muscles.

It wouldn't make sense to eat some complex carbohydrates or any food type which is going to take the body 4-5 hours to break down...

This is where shakes come in very handy. A post-workout whey protein shake followed by a source of simple carbohydrates will work wonders for your results. Quick carbs are usually associated with fast food or chocolate, of course, which isn't the direction we want you to go in. Instead, use healthier options like cereal or fruit.

These provide your body with instant energy, which it's craving after you put it through the mill at the gym. It will do it's best to use absolutely everything you provide it with during this time, hence the term 'golden window', but the possibilities are magnificent if you focus on only providing it with healthy, nutritious food in the first place.

Should you miss this golden window there is no need to panic. The damage by missing it once or twice is absolutely minimal, this is something which will enhance your results if you hit it on a consistent basis but won't wreck your progress if you miss it here and there.

For those who wish to know how to build muscle or even how to lose weight the post-workout window will become their best friend. It's an integral part of a good training routine and over time you will notice huge results from this proven method.

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