Rajesh Panda

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How To Gain Muscle Naturally – 10 Proven Ways

1. Eat More Protein

One of the most important things you can do to gain muscle is to make sure you’re eating enough protein. Protein is the building block of muscle, so if you’re not consuming enough of it, your body will have a difficult time adding new mass. Aim to consume 0.7-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.

2. Lift Heavy Weights

If you want to gain muscle, you need to be lifting heavy weights. Lifting heavy weights forces your muscles to adapt and grow in order to become stronger. While you don’t need to lift weights that are so heavy that you can only do one or two reps, you should be lifting weights that challenge you.

3. Increase Your Training Volume

In order to gain muscle, you need to be consistently challenging your muscles by doing more work (i.e., increasing your training volume). This can mean adding more sets, reps, or weight to your lifts, or simply working out more frequently. The key is to gradually increase your training volume so that your muscles are constantly being challenged.

4. Use Compound Exercises

Compound exercises are exercises that involve multiple joints and muscle groups. These exercises are ideal for gaining muscle because they allow you to lift heavier weights and target multiple muscles at once. Some examples of compound exercises include the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press.

5. Take Rest Days

Rest days are just as important as training days when it comes to gaining muscle. When you train, you create tiny tears in your muscles that need time to heal in order for the muscles to grow back bigger and stronger. That’s why it’s important to take one or two days off from lifting each week so that your muscles can recover and grow.

6. Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is another important factor in gaining muscle. When you sleep, your body releases hormones that help repair and rebuild damaged tissue, including muscle tissue. Additionally, sleep helps improve recovery from workouts and reduces stress levels, both of which are important for gaining muscle. aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

7. Manage Your Stress Levels

Stress can have a negative impact on both physical and mental health, and it can also impede your ability to gain muscle. When you’re stressed, your body releases hormones that can break down muscle tissue. Additionally, stress can lead to poor sleep and increased levels of anxiety, both of which can impact your ability to recover from workouts and build new muscle mass.

8 Limit Alcohol Consumption

Drinking alcohol can also impact your ability to gain muscle mass because it dehydrates the body and impairs recovery from workouts . When you’re trying to gain muscle , it’s important to limit your alcohol consumption or avoid it altogether .

9. Stay Hydrated

It’s also important to stay hydrated when trying to gain muscle . Dehydration can impair recovery from workouts , so make sure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day .

10. Don’t Forget About Cardio

While lifting weights is essential for gaining muscle , don’t forget about cardio .Cardio helps improve cardiovascular health and stamina , both of which are important for an effective workout routine .

15 Proven Benefits of Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is any activity that makes your large muscle groups work and that gets your blood pumping. Many people also refer to these as cardiovascular activities.

According to experts, you should aim for about 75 minutes of vigorous activity or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week. Examples of vigorous activity include cycling and running. Moderate activity includes things like swimming or brisk walking. Regardless of what you choose, the key is to get up and get moving.

You may wonder why aerobic exercise is so important. The fact is that it offers an array of benefits. Keep reading to learn more about what benefits aerobic exercise does for your health, the top benefits of aerobic exercise, and why you should regularly engage in it. Understanding the benefits offered is the best way to encourage yourself to get active and stay active at any stage of life.

Your Body and Aerobic Exercise

Engaging in aerobic exercise means repeatedly moving large muscles in your hips, legs, and arms. Once you start doing this, you will notice the way your body responds right away.

During this type of activity, you will breathe more deeply and faster. This is beneficial since it maximizes the blood flow into your lungs and muscles. As you continue to participate in your chosen activity, the small blood vessels, called capillaries, will get wider, allowing them to deliver more oxygen to the muscles while effectively carrying away waste products, like lactic acid and carbon dioxide.

Even better, your body will begin releasing endorphins. These are the body’s natural painkillers that help promote an increased feeling of well-being.

Benefits Offered by Regular Aerobic Exercise

It doesn’t matter what your athletic ability is, nor does your weight or age matter – aerobic activity will be beneficial for you, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Regardless of your age, aerobic activities offer several health benefits. As your body begins to adapt to this regular activity, you will begin to get fitter and stronger.

Some of the top benefits offered by participating in regular aerobic exercises include:

Aerobic Exercise Benefits :

1. Improved Heart Health

Your heart is one of the most important organs in your body. Because of this, you must take steps to ensure it remains healthy. Today, heart disease is the top cause of death in the U.S. Because of this, you must keep it as healthy and strong as possible.

Engaging in aerobic exercises can help improve blood circulation through your body while improving cardiac output strength. As mentioned above, it is a good idea to get a minimal amount of aerobic exercise each week for superior heart health.

2. Reduces Blood Pressure

Engaging in cardiovascular exercise can help you manage the symptoms of high blood pressure. This is because it effectively lowers your blood pressure. If you want to control high blood pressure, you may need medication; however, engaging in regular aerobic activity can help with this goal, too.

3. Maintain a Healthy Weight

When you reach and maintain your goal weight, you will look better and feel better and be healthier. However, this process involves regular aerobic exercise.

While other exercises are beneficial when trying to lose weight, it has been proven that aerobic exercise provides the fastest and most notable results. Because of this, you need to ensure you engage in it regularly.

4. Increased Muscle Tone

In the past, it was believed that if your goal was to build muscle, cardio was not the way to go. Instead, resistance training was needed, which helps you increase your strength.

However, today, countless studies have been published that have proven this isn’t the case and that intense cardio exercise can increase muscle mass. When done properly, aerobic exercises can lead to the same level of muscle growth you would expect when engaging in resistance exercises.

5. Reduce the Risk of Some Cancers

When you are physically active and regularly engaging in aerobic exercise, it will reduce your risk of developing some common cancers. In fact, research has proven that adults who engage in more physical activity can reduce their likelihood of developing the following types of cancer:

  • Stomach (non-cardia and cardia adenocarcinoma)
  • Bladder
  • Lung
  • Breast
  • Kidney
  • Colon (distal and proximal)
  • Esophagus
  • Endometrium

It can also help to improve the lives of cancer survivors. Research has proven that getting regular physical activity will improve your physical fitness and help you get stronger and feel better after beating cancer.

6. Mood Improvement

It’s estimated that one out of every five people experiences some type of mental illness. Many of the people in this category experience anxiety and depression, and other illnesses that may affect their daily mood.

In a recent study, aerobic exercise helped to reduce the symptoms associated with depression than those who did not engage in this activity. In fact, there is evidence that engaging in just five minutes of aerobic activity can help elevate and improve your mood. What this means is taking a brisk walk around your block or to the mailbox can mean the difference between a bad day and a good one. Just to be clear, any level of physical exercise is beneficial for your mood.

7. Regulates Blood Sugar Levels

Regular workouts will help to balance your insulin levels. Over time, this can result in lower blood sugar levels while helping keep your body weight under control. If you have type 2 diabetes, engaging in aerobic exercises can also help with this condition.

Along with helping improve cases of type 2 diabetes, regular cardio activity can reduce the risk you will develop. The same is true for metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome occurs when someone experiences all or some of these issues:

  • Excessive fat around the waist
  • High blood pressure
  • Low HDL cholesterol
  • High blood sugar
  • High triglycerides

You will likely begin to see benefits for these conditions if you engage in the recommended 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week. Surpassing this will help to reduce your risk further.

8. Strengthen Bones and Muscles

As you get older, you must take steps to protect your muscles, joints, and bones. After all, these are responsible for helping you move and supporting your body. When you keep your muscles, joints, and bones healthy, it will help ensure you can handle day-to-day activities while remaining physically active.

When you engage in bone-strengthening, muscle-strengthening, and aerobic physical activities at a moderately intense level will help to slow down the loss of bone density that often occurs as you age.

A hip fracture is a serious health condition that can have significant negative effects. This is particularly true for seniors or older individuals. Physically active people have a much lower risk of suffering a hip fraction than inactive individuals.

With older adults, physical activity will also help to reduce the possibility of falls and serious injuries resulting from falls. When your physical activity program involves more than one type of exercise, fall risk is reduced even more.

Some of the different types of physical activity to engage in to help with this include balance activities, muscle strengthening exercises, and aerobic activity. You should also consider weight-bearing activities, like jumping jacks, brisk walking, and running, which produce a force on your bones. These are going to improve bone strength while reducing your risk of falling.

However, engaging in regular aerobic activity offers other benefits, too. For example, if you are dealing with arthritis or another type of rheumatic condition that impacts your joints, aerobic exercises can help.

9. Improved Confidence

When you feel good, you will put your best foot forward. People who feel good tend to walk taller and face their day with more confidence. When you engage in aerobic exercise, you will begin to feel your muscles define and break the personal records you have set. This is all going to lead to improved self-confidence.

For most people, this is something that will carry over into daily, life too, helping you perform better at work, be more present with your family, and just feel happier overall. What’s even better is that when you begin to feel more confident, you will also start to make healthier choices. Rather than viewing your health and taking care of your health as a chore, it will be something you look forward to improving.

10. Improved Sleep

Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night? If so, you should try cardiovascular exercise while you are awake. According to one study that involved people with chronic sleep issues, it was proven that engaging in a regular exercise program combined with good sleep hygiene is a great way to overcome insomnia.

Individuals in the study who engaged in some type of aerobic activity for 16 weeks and then completed a survey regarding their mood and sleep reported improved sleep quality and duration. They also reported improvements in how they felt during the day.

However, a pro tip is to make sure you don’t exercise too close to your bedtime. This will make it more difficult to fall asleep. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you complete your workout a minimum of two hours before you go to bed.

11. Improved Gut Health

According to a recent study, cardio exercise can impact and change the microbes’ makeup in your gut. Microbes play a huge role in overall inflammation levels, which is often an early sign of some type of illness or condition.

During the study, researchers requested that those participating exercise three to five times a week for six weeks. Throughout the study, there were increases in butyrate concentrations, which is a fatty acid that helps keep your gut “happy.” This is because it helps reduce inflammation and produce energy.

This was one of the first studies that proved exercise can impact your gut positively.

12. Increase Your Lifespan

Science has proven that physical activity will reduce the risk you have of dying early because of some of the leading causes of death, such as cancers and heart disease.

It’s worth noting that only a few lifestyle choices will impact your health significantly. If you are active for a minimum of 150 minutes per week, you can enjoy a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality than inactive individuals.

You also don’t have to engage in vigorous-intensity or high amounts of activity to reduce the possibility of premature death. The benefits can be seen with any level of physical activity as long as you are consistent.

13. Improved Memory

Regular physical activity can help reduce the loss of brain tissue when aging. It will also help enhance cognition. This means that over time, as you continue being physically active, your memory will improve and last longer, even as you get older.

14. Safe for Everyone (Even Children)

Aerobic exercise is recommended for almost all groups of people. This includes older people who are dealing with chronic health conditions. In this situation (and for most people), it is good to consult with your doctor to see what is safe and what will work best for your situation.

It is important to make sure your children engage in aerobic exercise, too. Today, cardio activity recommendations are higher for children than adults. It’s a good idea to make sure your child is moving a minimum of 60 minutes per day (or more). While moderate activities are fine, you should make sure your child gets into the vigorous zone a minimum of three times per week.

15. Accessible and Affordable

You don’t have to invest in any type of fancy or expensive equipment or even get a gym membership to start working out. Getting regular exercise every day is as simple as going for a walk around your neighborhood or going to the local trail with a friend for a jog.

You can also check community centers or local schools to see if they offer pool access to the public. Many locations provide free access to residents or that have a sliding scale rate. You may also find options for inexpensive or free fitness classes.

Consider looking online for free exercise sessions too. Sites like YouTube are full of options. You can also use a paid app to find customized workouts for your abilities and physical activity level.

Due to healthy people being more present at work and more productive, some employers offer free or discounted memberships for workers that join a local gym. Even if your employer doesn’t offer this, you could receive an incentive to get healthy from your insurance provider.

Are You Ready to Get Active?

As you can see, there are countless benefits offered by engaging in regular aerobic exercise. If you aren’t doing this now, it is a good time to start.

If you aren’t sure how to get started, talk to your doctor. They can help you ease into these activities to do so safely and don’t suffer an injury. Don’t wait to get active. The longer you wait, the more your health will deteriorate. Also, remember, it is never too late to get started, no matter your health now or your age. Get moving, and you will see all the benefits mentioned here and more. Your body will thank you, and you will feel so much better.

Are you ready to get up and get active? Taking the first step is often the most challenging, but as you can see from the benefits listed here, it will be more than worth it in the long run. 

Does cardio Kill Gains?

So I’ve gotten this question so many times, The question is does cardio kill gains? The Short answer is no, Cardio does not kill gains if done correctly along with maintaining a proper diet.

But before we can determine if cardio actually kills gain, we need to really understand what you actually need to build muscle. We can then determine whether or not cardio looks like it would be detrimental to muscle gains hypertrophy based on that criteria.

 

So what do you really need to build muscle? There are three main things. Firstly You need to be in a caloric surplus, secondly you need to be eating adequate protein. This is something most people do wrong. And lastly, you need to focus on progressive overload in your training. 

 

And progressive overload is just a fancy way of saying that you need to lift heavier and heavier weights over time. That means that you’re increasing your strength, which is a very good indicator for muscle gains.

So let’s break this down into more detail and analyze if cardio actually detrimentally affects any of these. So the first thing that we talked about is that for you to build muscle you need to be in a caloric surplus. So to build muscle, you need to be in a caloric surplus period.

 

 Unless you’re a complete beginner, a complete newbie to weight training. But even if you’re a complete beginner and can gain some muscle in a caloric deficit, a caloric deficit is still not optimal for muscle gains. So generally speaking, we’re going to say you need to maintain a caloric surplus to gain muscle at least for optimal muscle gains.

So cardio does burn calories. That’s pretty obvious. We all know that which in turn has led people to claim that cardio will stop you from building muscle and even that it might even burn muscle because it actually helps stop you from achieving a caloric surplus. 

 

So if you don’t eat the calories back that you actually burn from cardio, then you’re going to be ending up dipping into a caloric surplus. Most likely it depends on how many calories you eat in a day and how much other activity you have. What are your basal metabolic rates, what’s your metabolism actually is.

So there are lots of factors to consider. But cardio obviously burns calories and if you do too much cardio and you don’t eat back those calories, you’re going to dip into a caloric deficit. And if you’re in a caloric deficit that’s not optimal for gaining muscle, in fact, most people will not be able to gain muscle in a caloric deficit. 

 

So that is possible like that means that cardio could be detrimental to muscle gains, but only if you’re not doing your calorie intake, right? But even still, that doesn’t mean that your body is going to automatically start breaking down muscle for fuel if you dip into a caloric deficit.

 

You can actually use the caloric deficit intelligently for the purpose of shredding fat. The way you do that is by taking a high protein intake and maintaining a moderate calorie deficit while focusing on heavy compound weightlifting.

 

That way you can maximize fat shredding while at the same time maintaining muscle mass. So your body isn’t automatically gonna break down muscle for fuel. In fact, carbohydrates in your body are a preferred source of energy. 

 

And after your body has really consumed all the carbohydrates that you’ve recently consumed in meals or in snacks, then your body is going to tap your stored carbohydrates in your muscles and liver for fuel. And these carbohydrate stores are called glycogen. 

 

So you store glycogen in your muscles and liver and you can use those stores later for fuel. So glycogen stores vary in each person. It depends on a lot of factors, but muscle glycogen typically provides about 1400 to 2000 calories for about 350 to 500 g of glycogen, which is roughly enough for about 90 minutes of endurance exercise for the average adult. 

 

So when your glucose and your glycogen levels are depleted, they’re not available anymore. Then your body will preferentially break down fatty compounds known as triglycerides, which are present in fat tissue.

 

So fat, if you don’t know, has nine calories per gram and that’s more than double the four calories per gram in both carbs and protein. So fat actually provides a very efficient high energy fuel source. It’s not your body’s preferred source of energy carbohydrates are, but it is a very efficient high energy fuel source. So thankfully your body will metabolically prefer to preserve muscle. And when possible, it’s going to break down both carbohydrate and fat stores for fuel first. 

 

So you obviously need muscle tissue to survive, you need it to move. If you didn’t have muscle, you wouldn’t be living. So your body is going to do everything that it can to spare muscle tissue. So you’re going to work through your body’s carbohydrate stores and fat stores before your body starts tapping into your muscle tissue. 

 

So when your fat stores are extremely low or depleted, that’s when your body will then have to turn to protein. So after it goes through carbs, after it goes through your fat stores, it’s going to have to turn to protein. And when the glucose and fat stores are depleted, your body is going to have to turn to protein as I said, and it’s going to have to break down individual amino acids for energy.

 

So for carbohydrates and fat, your body can store those either as glycogen or as fat in the fat stores in your body, but your body does not store amino acids, that is why breaking down muscle is the only way to release amino acids for fuel. So, in typical conditions, when you’re eating on a regular basis and you’re not at a super low body fat percentage, your body will not use muscle for energy. And typically, protein is really only used for fuel in a starvation state. 

 

So it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be tapping into your muscle and breaking that down.So no, you’re not automatically going to lose muscle, you’re not automatically going to lose your gains when you’re in a calorie deficit. 

 

So the answer to this first one is if you’re just kind of intelligent about it, like you don’t even need to put that much thought into it, But if you just eat the calories back and you’re not at a super low body fat percentage and just doing ridiculous amounts of cardio, then you don’t need to worry about cardio making you lose your gains. 

In terms of calories in versus calories out. So the second thing is that if you need to build muscle, you need to be eating enough protein. Now, cardio has absolutely no effect on this. You just have to be sure to hit your protein target, which really doesn’t change. If you decide to include some cardio in your training program. So cardio has no effect on the second thing that you need to build muscle. 

 

Now, the third thing that you need to build muscle as we talked about earlier is you need to focus on progressive overload in your training. Now, if you’re working for hypertrophy, which is just a fancy name for muscle growth, then you can still accomplish that with a mix of cardio and resistance training. 

The number one driver of natural muscle growth is progressive overload. Which as we talked about before, simply means that you’re lifting heavier and heavier weights over time. That’s a very good indicator that you’re building strength and muscle. But you can still create overload in a fatigued state. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this.

 

 It’s not optimal for gains, But is a way to create overload. So you could do cardio even before or after resistance training workout. It’s actually a different stimulus to the body than a quote unquote fresh overload, which you would likely have during your first few sets of a normal resistance training workout. 

 

Now lifting heavier and heavier weights over time with proper form. As I said earlier, is a very good indication that you’re gaining strength and therefore muscle, but you don’t necessarily have to be completely fresh to achieve overload. You can actually be in this fatigued state. So no cardio doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t be working on progressive overload in your training. 

So let’s recap what actually kills gains. There are three things,not eating enough calories, not eating enough protein and not applying the principle of a progressive overload, whether you’re in a fresh or fatigued state. 

So now that we’ve really looked at the three main things that you need to build muscle, and we’ve determined that cardio won’t, it doesn’t look like it will kill gains if you program it intelligently.

 

In reality, we’ve only really kind of scratched the surface of this question. There’s a lot more to cover. There are many other factors that we really have to consider, like training intensity, training frequency, training modality and training timing. So, to start diving into these other factors, let’s actually compare elite marathon runners to elite bodybuilders. 

 

So elite marathon runners obviously focus a ton on cardio and they complement all of their running with resistance training. But elite bodybuilders, on the other hand, obviously focus on resistance training and they complement their training with cardio. From these extreme examples, it’s really easy to see that muscle adaptations can differ greatly in response to aerobic training versus resistance exercise. 

 

You just have to look at the top marathon runners in the world and the top bodybuilders in the world. And you see there’s an obvious difference, even if you look at the top natural bodybuilders. So we’re not even talking about drugs and the effect that drugs should have on someone’s physique. 

 

You’re looking at elite marathon runners versus elite natural bodybuilders. You can see that depending on how you structure your training and how you structure your nutrition. You can have vastly different results, even if you’re doing the same, you’re doing cardio and resistance training, the way that you program it is really the difference in determining what your physique actually looks like. The more that you train for one of those, the harder it’s gonna be to really reach the same level in the other. 

 

So, an elite natural bodybuilder can’t go out and run a two hour and 10 minute marathon. That just doesn’t happen, and an elite marathoner probably isn’t going to go out in a bodybuilding show, so the point here is that you can’t really reach the same level in each of them, especially if you’re trying to get to the top of whatever thing you’re focusing on. But the point here is that aerobic and resistance training aren’t incompatible when we’re looking at real world studies. 

 

So now you might be thinking that all sounds really logical, but why do most people in the fitness community believe that cardio kills gains? Well, it actually started with a handful of studies that were published decades ago. And all of these studies were actually compiled and analyzed in a 1999 meta analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland and also at the Australian Institute of Sport. So a total of 11 studies were included in this meta analysis. And they had all explored the interference of concurrent strength and endurance training. In other words, the interference of cardio and weight training.

 

So, five of these 11 studies in this meta analysis found interference in strength developments when you added cardio to a weight training program. One of the studies in this meta analysis found the interference in endurance development when both cardio when endurance training and weight training were combined. And the remaining five studies in this meta analysis found no interference effects income, current strength and endurance training. 

 

So it doesn’t seem like you can really draw any conclusive statements from this because five of the 11 studies found interference and five found no interference. Yet researchers began their published meta-analysis by stating that “concurrent strength and endurance training appears to inhibit strength developments when compared with strength training alone”. They went on to say that quote. 

 

Our understanding of the nature of this inhibition and the mechanisms responsible for it is limited at present. This is due to the difficulties associated with comparing results of studies, which differ markedly in a number of design factors, including mode frequency duration, and intensity of training, history of participants, scheduling of training sessions and dependent variable selection. 

 

And in an attempt to really explain the inhibition of concurrent strength and endurance training. The researchers hypothesized that qu “skeletal muscle is placed in a situation of conflict when concurrent training is performed, the muscle is attempting to adapt to both forms of training. However, this is not possible because adaptations to endurance training are often inconsistent with adaptations observed during strength training”. 

But there is a pretty huge missing piece to this puzzle that the researchers noted in their published findings, they said  “The effect of concurrent training on strength development in different muscle groups has not been systematically investigated”. In fact, one of the five studies that this meta analysis used to confirm their hypothesis that cardio interferes with strength development, even found that lower body strength but not upper body strength development was compromised when running was added on top of a strength training program. 

 

So they had a strength training program. There were 56 male rugby players that were used as subjects in this 1994 study that was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and these 56 male rugby players, we’re focused on doing a strength training program and then the researchers added cardio in the form of running on top of that. And they found that lower body but not upper body strength development was compromised. So that’s a pretty kind of obvious finding that’s something that you might expect. 

 

But The whole point of this is that this 1999 meta analysis seems to really be less conclusive than its abstract seems to claim. But thankfully, we do have more current research to rely on. Only recently have human experiments offered support that this Interference effect could actually be due to incompatibility between cellular pathways controlling protein turnover, which is the continual process of protein synthesis and degradation. 

 

In the year 2012, study from the University of Sweden on 10 healthy, moderately trained men between the ages of 21 – 29 completed a five week program to test the changes in quadricep volume, cross sectional area and signal intensity between an aerobic exercise and resistance training program versus just a resistance exercise only program. So this is a small study size with only 10 people, but it was well designed. Each of these 10 subjects went through both training protocols and you might ask, well, how do they do that? 

 

Well, actually one leg of each subject was assigned to concurrent aerobic and resistance exercise, whereas the opposing limb was subjected to resistance exercise only. So again one leg of each participant of each subject was doing cardio plus weight training, and the other leg was doing weight training only. Now the aerobic exercise in this study was one legged stationary bike. I am not exactly sure how that works, but anyways that’s what they were doing for cardio. And the resistance exercise was unilateral leg extensions that were performed for four sets of seven reps with maximum resistance. 

 

It’s also important to note that the aerobic exercise was performed six hours before the resistance exercise for every single subject. Okay, so what were the results from the study? The researchers determined that increases in strength and peak power were comparable in the cardio plus resistance training group with a 9% increase in strength and 29% increase in peak power. And the resistance only training group with an 11% increase in strength and 24% increase in peak power. Okay, so the increases in strength and peak power were comparable in both the Cardio Plus Resistance Training Group and the Resistance Only Training group. However, the Cardio Plus Resistance Training group showed a greater increase in quadricep volume Than the resistance only training group with 14% vs 8%. 

 

The Resistance Training Plus cardio group also showed a greater increase in muscle fiber cross sectional area than the Resistance Only Training group 17% versus 9%. And quadriceps. Signal intensity increased 12% in the cardio Plus Resistance Training group, but not at all for the Resistance Only Training group.  So, the results really suggest that “the increased aerobic capacity seen in the Aerobic Plus Resistance Training Group is accompanied by a more robust increase in muscle size compared with Resistance only”. That’s very interesting. 

So if your main goal is to improve your explosive strength and power, then high frequency cardio probably won’t really help you. But we don’t just train for strength, at least not personally, we train to build muscle. We do want to get stronger but we really want to become more athletic, more functionally fit. 

 

So if that’s your goal then cardio can really help to complement your outcome. Okay, so what’s the main takeaway here? When programmed correctly cardio can help improve your results, your body composition and your overall health. Resistance training, coupled with 2 to 3 days of light to moderate intensity cardio can lead to greater gains in strength training alone. But there are two important considerations to keep in mind. For one. 

 

You want to add cardio but you don’t want to go crazy. So as I said, 2-3 days of light to moderate intensity cardio are probably optimal for muscle gains. For two, you should try to separate your cardio and resistance training sessions by at least six hours to minimize any chance of interference between the two. 

 

And don’t forget, cardio, which is again short for cardiovascular training is vital to optimal health and aerobic capacity.Our goal is to get into the best shape of our lives and that’s what we want to help you to achieve as well. We want to have incredible physiques, but we also want to be strong, athletic and super healthy. And I’m sure that’s your goal as well. So don’t skip cardio. That’s going to be a rap for this article.

The Handy Guide To Lose Belly Fat

Belly fat not only makes it difficult to find clothes that fit properly, but it is the most dangerous type of fat to have. So how can you effectively and safely lose belly fat to attain and maintain proper health? There are scientifically proven ways to lose belly fat.

 

Belly fat, or visceral fat, is the fat that lingers in your abdominal area, but what you may not realize is that it is also surrounding your major organs, including your kidneys, liver, intestines, pancreas, and heart. Visceral fat, at high levels, can put you at risk for diabetes, stroke, artery disease, heart disease, and has even been linked to certain cancers.

 

There are risks to having belly fat, but there is also a way to eliminate enough to get you to a healthy percentage. In the following article, you will learn:

  • What foods are best to get rid of belly fat
  • What foods are best to avoid
  • Best exercises for belly fat
  • How to lose belly fat naturally

As a personal trainer and CrossFit enthusiast, I have studied the area of body fat intensely. It may seem as though losing belly fat is an uphill battle or impossible, but it’s quite achievable. Like anything else monumental, take it one step at a time and maintain a positive attitude. 

What Is Belly Fat?

There are three different types of body fat:

  • Triglycerides: this fat circulates through your blood
  • Subcutaneous fat: the fat layer directly beneath the surface of the skin
  • Visceral fat: Visceral fat is just under the muscles of your stomach.

It may seem like belly fat does little more than make your clothes tight, but it impacts your health a great deal. Visceral fat can be harmful to every organ because of the excess hormones and the chemicals that are produced. 

 

Visceral fat can put your cardiovascular health at risk and is also known to cause colorectal cancer, as well as Type 2 diabetes. There is a way to determine if you have excessive belly fat, and that is to take measurements of yourself. Wrap a measuring tape around your stomach (no clothes), above your hip bone. 

 

The measurements that generally correlate to too much belly fat for women is 35 inches or more, and for men, 40 inches or more.

Which Foods Are Best to Get Rid of Belly Fat?

To rid yourself of unwanted belly fat, the first thing you will need to do is watch what you eat. It’s hard to put away snack foods due to convenience, but once you understand the health benefits of certain foods and how easy they are to incorporate into your day, it will become second nature.

Avocados

Avocados are a true miracle of nature, packed with good fats and loads of fiber, numerous vitamins and minerals, and heart-healthy antioxidants. Avocados help to regulate your blood pressure because they are a natural diuretic and help to rid your body of unwanted sodium and fluid buildup in the body.

 

A recent study showed the effects of avocados on two groups of adults. One group ate fresh avocados daily, while the other group consumed the same amount of calories but without the avocado. The study went on for three months and after this time, the group that ate the avocados saw a reduction in belly fat; this was not noted in the group that did not eat avocados.

 

You may not find that you want to eat an avocado every day, but incorporating them into your diet will provide health benefits. There are several delicious meals and snacks that can be made from these delicious fruits. 

Nuts

Like the avocado, nuts provide ample nutrients and vitamins such as, plant protein, fiber, antioxidants, and magnesium, which is crucial to mental health and proper sleep.
 
Eating as little as a handful of tree nuts, such as almonds, cashews, macadamias, pine nuts, pistachios, pecans, walnuts, and more, will promote a lower body mass index (BMI) and lower blood pressure than someone who does not eat nuts. People who consume a moderate amount of nuts also see smaller waistlines, which is an indicator of less visceral fat accumulation.
 
Nuts are great additions to salads, add to cooked vegetables or stir-fries, or even add to a dry fruit medley and take as a convenient snack on a hike. 

Whole Grains

Many diets, including the paleo diet and keto diet, steer away from eating grains of any kind, but they are necessary for your overall health and the reduction of belly fat. 

 

There was research conducted that included more than 2,800 participants concluded that whole grains had a positive effect and reduced belly fat, whereas refined grains (white rice, pasta, bread), caused an increase in visceral fat.

 

There is no reason to avoid all grains, especially if they are consumed in moderation and are chosen carefully. Whole grains will help increase your energy levels when you are exercising. Your consumption of whole grains should match your energy output level and be consumed more if you are active, and less if you are staying idler throughout the day.

 

Healthy whole grains include oats, quinoa, and wild or brown rice. You don’t need to eliminate grains to lose belly fat, and you could be hindering your overall health by eliminating them from your diet.

Lentils

Lentils are an underrated superfood that is not only gluten-free but can be used in several capacities in various dishes. Lentils are also full of incredible nutrients such as minerals, antioxidants, vitamins and are a high source of fiber.

 

Lentils are also an incredible food for busting belly fat. Not only does a diet that has a healthy dose of lentils help you lose visceral fat, it helps with bowel regularity and is excellent for lowering cholesterol.

 

Salmon

Wild salmon is a high source of vitamin D and is important immune system, mental health, and bone-density regulation. Research shows that low vitamin D levels in your blood are tied to an increase in all-over body fat and visceral fat for women and an increase in visceral fat in men.

 

Salmon is one of the best sources of vitamin D; as little as a 4-ounce portion of salmon can provide up to 80% of your daily vitamin D. There is a clear indication that vitamin D levels directly relate to body fat loss or any accumulation.

 

Which Foods to Avoid

If you are looking to decrease your belly fat, there are certain foods that you need to steer away from that cause increased belly fat and can lead to a decrease in your health. When grocery shopping, stick to the outer edges of the supermarket when choosing your foods. 

 

The outer limits of a grocery store include fresh vegetables, fruit, and fish, while the inner isles include foods that are high in fat.

White Bread

It’s always the tastiest things that are bad for you, and white bread is no exception. It is highly refined and is a top culprit in the production of visceral fat. While studies show that a healthy limit of whole grains can help combat belly fat, white bread leads to belly fat.

 

 

Too much white bread can lead to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Included in the bad carbohydrates that cause weight gain and belly fat are refined pasta and rice.

Sugary Beverages

Sodas are full of sugar that lead to belly fat, weight gain, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. Coffees and teas are among the most highly sweetened beverages, especially when ordered at a coffee shop with syrup added.

 

 

Among some of the drinks that are highest in sugar are fruit juices, including unsweetened ones. Real fruit juice has a high sugar content and drinking large quantities should be avoided.

 

 

Real fruit juice does provide vitamins and minerals, but the fructose in those juices has been known to drive insulin resistance and can increase belly fat. 

 

 

Drinking liquids that are high in calories is another way to gain excess belly fat because they contain a high amount of calories, but you will still need to eat to fill you up.

 

Alcohol

Alcohol is a significant contributor to ‘empty calories’ that do nothing to fill you up or offer nutrition. Alcohol is known to slow the fat burning process, even with exercise, so you will have a hard time getting rid of the fat that is typically stored in the belly from drinking alcohol.

 

 

The ‘beer belly’ was not named ironically, but for the excess weight that you carry when drinking alcohol in excess. People who typically drink little to no alcohol are less likely to have a high rate of visceral fat than those who drink every day or have several drinks on a given day.

 

Trans Fats

 

Some of the tastiest and most convenient foods contain trans fats, but they are by far the most unhealthy fats you can consume. 

 

 

Trans fats are made by adding hydrogen to unsaturated fats so that they become more stable. Many foods that are high in trans fats tend to be junk food or foods that are typically unhealthy, such as chips, cookies, crackers, and baking mixes, among hundreds of other pre-packaged foods.

 

 

Not only can trans fats cause inflammation, but they can lead to insulin resistance and various other diseases, including heart disease.

 

Best Exercises to Get Rid of Belly Fat

exerciseforbellyfat

Any exercise is a great way to burn fat, especially if it makes you sweat and gets your heart rate up, but some exercises are going to help you burn belly fat quicker than others. To get rid of belly fat fast, engage in rigorous physical activity every day. Some of the best exercises are listed below.

 

The first step that anyone can take to help burn visceral fat is to engage in aerobic activity every day. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise can help lower both belly and liver fat.

 

Some of the best cardio exercises you can do are:

  • Biking
  • Rowing
  • Brisk walking
  • Running or jogging
  • Swimming
  • Dance class or exercise class
  • Tennis

When choosing an exercise, make sure it is something you enjoy so that your chances of sticking with it increase, and you will be more highly motivated. If you don’t enjoy being outside, it’s best not to choose kayaking or biking as your form of exercise.

Interval Training

Interval training at high intensities incorporates short bursts of intense exercise as well as lower intensity exercise. Not only is interval training great for cardio, but it is a huge fat burner and will help reduce your waist size dramatically if you stick with it every day. 

 

Interval training is a great way to burn belly fat because your body is continuously working at different capacities with little to no break during your exercise cycle. Interval training allows you to gain muscle tone and burn fat easier because your body will not get used to the same exercises all the time and hit a plateau.

Final Word

If you wonder how to dissolve belly fat fast, there is no easy solution, but there are easy answers. It is not a matter of how to get rid of belly fat, but how you go about doing it. It comes down to healthy eating, exercise, and avoiding foods that are high in extra calories with little to no nutritional benefit.

 

It will not be a quick fix, whatever you choose, but determination and perseverance will lead you down a steady path to a healthier life. It’s a tough climb, but it will guide you on a healthier and longer journey through life.

Get Started

Now that you have the tools and knowledge to get healthier and burn visceral fat, figure out what activity you love to do and work it into your daily routine. Remember, variety is the key when you are burning fat, so mix it up every day. Choose a diet you can stick with and a cardio activity you enjoy, and soon, you will see your belly fat melt away.

 
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15 Amazing Benefits Of HIIT Workout

If you are interested in personal fitness, you have likely heard about high-intensity interval training (HIIT). While this type of exercise is increasing in popularity, not everyone knows about the extensive benefits of HIIT.

 

We began this list as an exploration of how HIIT compares to other types of workouts. The results we found were astounding and showed a clear advantage for those who do HIIT. To help you get the most out of your workouts, we thought we should share a few benefits of high intensity interval training that you can expect. 

 

The benefits of HIIT cardio and other forms of HIIT are numerous. Generally, HIIT workouts can offer you some significant physical advantages. They are also very time-efficient, making them ideal for those with a busy schedule.

 

It is important to point out that many of the benefits of HIIT workouts are also present in other forms of exercise. In most cases, HIIT often delivers those benefits in greater quantities and in a shorter amount of time. Evidence supporting that idea continues to appear through studies. Each strengthens the notion that HIIT is an ideal workout for enhancing your overall health. 

 

In this article, we will take a look at the top 15 benefits of high-intensity interval training. We’ll begin with some of the physical benefits of these workouts, then discuss some of the less-obvious benefits of HIIT. Below is a quick preview of the topics we will cover:

 

  • Improved fat loss
  • Increased muscle growth
  • Better endurance
  • Greater calorie burn
  • Cardiovascular health
  • Full-body exercise
  • Faster metabolism
  • Lower blood sugar
  • Lower blood pressure
  • Better oxygen consumption
  • Long-lasting effects
  • Bodyweight options
  • No location restrictions
  • Mental stimulation
  • Time-efficiency
 

Read on to learn why you should begin incorporating HIIT workouts into your regular routine. 

Improved Fat Loss

Losing body fat can have a significant positive impact on your overall health. That is why burning fat is one of the most common workout goals. What few people realize in their fat-loss efforts is that certain workouts are far more effective than others. 

 

When the average person tries to lose fat, they are likely to engage in steady-state cardio such as running or cycling. These low-intensity workouts can be effective, but they can also be monotonous and time-consuming. Also, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that activities like jogging are not the most effective when it comes to fat loss. 

 

Despite common perception, HIIT workouts are far more effective than other types of cardio. Numerous studies now show that those who do HIIT workouts lose a much larger percentage of body fat than those who do other types of workouts.

Increased Muscle Growth

Along with losing fat, gaining muscle is another standard fitness goal. Fortunately, HIIT can help here as well. Unlike with fat loss, HIIT does not have a specific advantage over other workout forms when it comes to muscle growth.

 

Traditional weightlifting programs are better suited to giving your visible gains. However, HIIT workouts can increase muscle mass as well. Those increases will occur in the muscles you use most during your HIIT workout regimen. 

 

HIIT may not be ideal for muscle growth, but the potential for even a slight increase in muscle mass is another benefit of HIIT. 

Better Endurance

HIIT workouts tend to be much shorter than standard cardio workouts. That is why so many people are surprised to find that HIIT can help improve your endurance. 

 

Regardless of what you might expect, even a short bout of intense exercise can work wonders for your overall endurance. That means that next time you go out for a long run, your HIIT workouts may make it a bit easier. At the very least, you won’t need to worry that your short HIIT workouts are a detriment to your endurance. 

Greater Calorie Burn

HIIT workouts prove to be very efficient in burning calories. That is the prime reason why people are able to lose more fat while following a high-intensity workout routine.

 

A HIIT workout is often shorter than the average weightlifting session or cardio workout. Despite being a shorter workout, HIIT allows you to burn just as many calories. In some cases, the calorie burn of a HIIT workout shows a significant advantage.

 

Those dedicated to a weight-loss journey know the old saying about calories in and calories out. Part of that battle takes place during your meals, but the other half comes down to hard work during your exercises. With HIIT, you can be sure that you are getting the most out of your workout in regards to burning the calories you consume. 

Cardiovascular Health

Regularly performing HIIT workouts can help improve your heart health. There are some HIIT routines that focus specifically on your cardiovascular endurance. However, any form of HIIT seems to strengthen the heart and circulatory system.

Many Americans pass away due to heart-related conditions. Plus, many of those conditions can be improved or discouraged through regular exercise. Still, many people put off physical fitness until it is already too late. 

 

If you are interested in preemptively caring for your heart health, HIIT is a great way to go about that. HIIT may have the capacity to help those with heart conditions. But no matter the health of your heart, HIIT will have a positive impact on your cardiovascular health. 

 

However, you should know that HIIT is not the only form of exercise that you can use to help your heart and arteries. In fact, longer exercises of moderate-intensity prove to have some similar benefits. 

Full-Body Exercise

Giving all of your workout attention to one body part or one movement is not a wise method. That approach can lead to some significant strength and mobility imbalances in your body. To avoid that, you’ll either need to dedicate certain days to opposing muscle groups or find a way to engage in full-body exercise.

HIIT workouts are one way that you can take that second route. As you test HIIT workout routines, you’ll find that many of the most popular routines target most of the major muscle groups in your body.

This full-body approach is just another way that HIIT can add some convenience to your workout planning. It is also a way to make sure that you are boosting the strength of your whole body in a balanced way.  If you love working out on an exercise bike then you can opt for a exercis bike with moving arms that would help you to get full-body workout form the comfort of your home.

Increased Metabolism

Metabolism refers to the chemical processes that take place in order to keep your body alive. Those reactions can have an effect on how readily your body burns calories and can affect your overall mood. Generally, having an increased metabolism will help you lose weight.

 

Compared to other exercises, HIIT workouts appear to have the greatest positive impact on metabolism. Even a few minutes of intense work can improve your metabolism more than a longer moderate exercise.

Some studies suggest that HIIT can help encourage your body to burn fat rather than carbohydrates. If that proves to be true, it is just another example of how valuable HIIT can be for those attempting weight loss.

Lower Blood Sugar

By now, you know that HIIT workouts have something to offer just about anyone. They may be especially beneficial for those with type 2 diabetes. Those with such insulin resistance know the importance of monitoring blood sugar levels. 

HIIT workouts offer two advantages to those with diabetes. First, they help to reduce your overall blood sugar. Second, they work to improve your insulin resistance over the long term as well. In both these efforts, HIIT is more effective than running or jogging at a slow pace. 

 

Lower Blood Pressure

Another standard health concern among the general public is high blood pressure. High blood pressure places stress on your circulatory system and can lead to the collection of plaque on your arterial walls. When unabated, high blood pressure can be deadly. 

Working out at a high intensity is one of the best ways to reduce blood pressure. HIIT workouts can help lower both your systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Again, the benefits in this area offered by HIIT surpass what standard workouts can give. 

As is the case with cardiovascular issues in general, high blood pressure often goes undetected until a more serious condition can be diagnosed. As such, it is a good idea to take up a healthy diet and physical exercise in advance. HIIT is just one of the many activities you can incorporate into your routine to keep your blood pressure in check. 

Better Oxygen Consumption

The amount of oxygen that your body can consume affects how well you can generate energy while you are active. The more oxygen that you can transfer from your bloodstream to your muscles, the more athletically effective you can be. 

Generally, distance athletes such as marathon runners and cyclists have impressive oxygen consumption capabilities. But that does not mean that you need to engage in that kind of activity to achieve similar results.

Anyone, not just top-tier athletes, can benefit from improved oxygen consumption. HIIT workouts are one of the best ways to achieve that benefit. Even compared to some steady-state cardio workouts, HIIT can create a greater increase in oxygen consumption in a shorter amount of time. 

Long-Lasting Effects

What may be the most valuable benefit of HIIT workouts is that many of the other benefits stay with you long after the workout has ended. We have already touched on many of those advantages already. But it is important to recognize that HIIT tends to have a much longer-lasting positive health effect than other workouts.

This is particularly notable when it comes to calorie burn. While you will burn plenty of calories during your HIIT workout, you will also continue to burn calories during the hours after your workout is over. This prolonged calorie burn can work wonders in your weight-loss goals. 

However, longer calorie burns are not the only lasting benefit of HIIT. As referenced before, HIIT can boost your metabolism and improve your insulin resistance. 

Bodyweight Options

Another barrier to a regular fitness routine is equipment limitations. Most people don’t have enough weights or benches to begin a comprehensive strength training routine at home. Others are hesitant to spend money on a gym membership. 

Luckily, HIIT workouts solve both of those limitations. That is because you can perform a complete HIIT workout using nothing more than your bodyweight. 

But combining multiple bodyweight exercises, you will never need to set foot in an expensive gym or dole out cash for home exercise equipment. Instead, you can complete an intense workout with no equipment at all. 

No Location Restrictions

This point shares a strong relationship with the last one. Considering you have no equipment limitations for HIIT, you also have no location restrictions.

The lack of equipment means you won’t be tied to a single location every time you want to workout. Instead, your workout can take place in a location that is comfortable for you.

Many HIIT workouts can happen in the safety of your home. But if you want to add some additional excitement to your exercise, you can choose a novel location for your HIIT workout. Performing HIIT in an area like your local park is a great way to work out while getting some fresh air, too. This flexibility also makes it so that you can work out easily while you’re traveling. 

Mental Stimulation

Another great benefit of HIIT workouts is that you can vary them a lot. It is a common complaint that working out is simply too boring. Those who struggle through hours of weight training or running may have some legitimate claims in that regard.

HIIT workouts eliminate that boredom because they come in many forms. The defining features of a HIIT workout are the limited time frame and the high intensity of the exercise. However, HIIT does not mandate which exercises you do.

That freedom allows you to develop a routine that you find engaging. By following an intriguing workout schedule, you’ll have a better chance of sticking to your workouts and remaining motivated for your next session. As soon as your HIIT workout becomes dull, you can switch to one of the many other forms of HIIT available to you. 

Time-Efficiency

The last of the many benefits of HIIT workouts is that these workouts are very time-efficient. Many people avoid working out because they are operating with the false belief that they don’t have enough time.

Most adults have a tight schedule, and working out is one of the tasks that might not make it onto your to-do list. If you are trying to fit a workout into a packed daily routine, HIIT is the right choice for you.

We have already shown you the many health benefits that HIIT workouts grant you. What you might like even more is that these workouts can be short.  At times, a 20 to 30 minute HIIT workout is long enough to enjoy those HIIT benefits. By comparison, other workouts can take hours to complete. 

That means that HIIT is not only beneficial, it is also highly convenient. A short workout can set you on the right track towards your fitness goals. Even if you only have ten minutes of free time three times a day, you can still get in a decent HIIT workout.

Conclusion

The benefits of HIIT workouts are hard to understate and are something you can easily achieve. All you need to do is develop a regular HIIT workout routine and stick to it to see the results. 

Do let me know your thoughts on the listed benefits of HIIT Workout in the comment section below.

If you think I missed any other benefits the should be included do let me know.

Cardio Workout Guide For Beginners – The Basics & The Benefits

People have love hate relationship with Cardio. Some people like doing cardio, whereas others don’t. Well the primary reason behind this is the lack of proper knowledge about cardio and the huge health benefits it brings if done correctly.



Confused ? Don’t worry, In this Cardio workout guide we are going to talk about the basics which will answer all your questions and will help choose the right type of cardio for your fitness goal.

What is Cardiovascular Workout ?

 

Before we talk about cardio workout, let us first understand what exactly is called Cardio ?

 

Well, Cardiovascular also known as Cardio, is a biological state when the heart rate is more than the normal.   Let’s understand, for a healthy person the normal heart bit is 70-75 bits/min.

 

Cardio exercise uses large muscle movement over a sustained period of time keeping your heart rate to at least 50% of its maximum level

How Much Cardio Should You Do ?

As per the Physical Activity Guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Adults should do at least 150 minutes to 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

 

If you break it down to daily, then it would be like 30 minutes – 1 hour of moderate-intensity or 15-30 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

Health Benefits of Cardio Workout

As per the Physical Activity Guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Adults should do at least 150 minutes to 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.


If you break it down to daily, then it would be like 30 minutes – 1 hour of moderate-intensity or 15-30 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

Let’s understand, whenever we perform any sort of physical activity, the heart rate goes up and it starts pumping more blood to the cells in our body.  

 

This enables our cells to burn more fat during both exercise and inactivity. Your heart is a muscle and working out this muscle, makes it strong which in turn helps improve your overall Cardiovascular health.

 

Some of the Key Benefits of Cardio Workouts are as follows
  • Increase cardiovascular endurance and reduce risk of heart disease.
  • Helps reduce the blood pressure and cholesterol.
  • Improve the lung capacity.
  • Reduce risk of risk of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Improves the thinking ability.
  • Maintenance blood glucose level and reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
  • Improve sex life
  • Promote Better Sleep
  • Helps to burn fat and lose weight.
  • Strengthen immune system.

Maximum Heart rate calculation

Before starting any form of cardio, you should know your max heart rate. So how to calculate that. There is a general formula that is used to calculate the maximum heart rate of a person. 

 

Max Heart rate Formula:  220 – Your Age

 

So if your age is 40, then your max heart rate would be around 220 – 40 = 180 heart beats per minute, that would be full physical exertion like sprinting all out.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends people to target for reaching between 50% and 85% of their maximum heart rate during exercise. Below is a simple table that shows the maximum and ideal heart rate according to age.

Types of Cardio Workouts

There are mainly 4 different forms of Cardio. Each one of them has its own benefits. Beginners should start slow with low intensity and as the fitness level increases they can do more of high intensity cardio.

    • Steady state Cardio Training
    • Interval Training
    • Circuit Training
    • HIIT Training

Steady State Cardio Training

Any workout that increases your heart rate above 50-70 % continuously for a sustained period of time is called low-intensity or steady state Cardio.  

 

The example of steady state cardio could be walking or jogging at a constant pace for specific distance or duration.

Steady state cardio could be great for muscle recovery, and can be extremely ben

Interval Training

This type of training would be like walking for 3 minutes and jogging for 30 seconds.  And repeating this cycle for a specific time period. These type training could be helpful for increasing cardiovascular endurance. 

 

Studies have shown that regular interval training can help lose more fat and burn more calories.

Circuit Training

You can do circuit training combining strength exercises with cardio based exercise. For instance 4 exercises, side to side hops, side dumbbell raises, lunges and pushups.

 

You can take complete rest between the exercises or do the complete circuit, take rest and do the circuit again. This is a great way to combine strength and cardio training together.

HIIT Training

More advanced fitness person you can consider High intensity interval training often called HIIT. An example of this would be to sprint for 30 seconds and then walk for 30 seconds and repeat this cycle for say about. 

 

This would be like 1 to 1 ratio meaning sprinting for 30 second and walking for 30 seconds. Some athletes also prefer to do HIIT with a 2 to 1 ratio, meaning sprinting for 30 second and then walking for 15 second.

 

There is no set and stone way of doing HIIT. So you can do it to whatever suits your level of fitness.

 

Which type of Cardio is good for me ??

At the end of the day it all depends on your level of fitness and fitness goals. If you are a beginner, it’s always recommended that you start slow with one form of cardio that you can do regularly and as your fitness level increases gradually try other forms of cardio. 

If your fitness goal is to lose weight or just burn the stubborn belly fat then you should probably consider doing sprinting and then slowly move to HIIT once your fitness level increases. Similarly if your goal is just to stay active and  maintain good cardiovascular health, then you may consider doing steady state cardio more often for a longer period of time.

And if your goal is to build muscle at the same time and increase cardiovascular endurance then your Circuit training could be a great option for you. As in circuit training both the strength and cardio can be combined together in one circuit which helps build muscle strength and improves cardiovascular health.

How To Lose Weight on a Stationary Bike

Are you looking for a way to lose weight, get fit, and feel good? Do you need something you can do year-round, even if the weather doesn’t cooperate?


A stationary bike may be the weight loss solution you need in your life. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, hailing, or fifty-below because you can hop on a stationary bike anytime. Plus, you’ll never outgrow a stationary bike because you can easily increase the intensity of your workout.


We get it. It’s not easy to find a weight loss plan that keeps you engaged and works your entire body. Biking is an aerobic exercise that also tones your muscles, and hopping on a stationary bike makes exercising safe and weatherproof!


If you’ve considered riding a stationary bike for weight loss but don’t know where to start you’ve come to the right place. From understanding the different bike types to learning how long to ride for results, we can teach you how to build a stationary bike weight loss plan. 

Why Should I Use a Stationary Bike?

Using a stationary bike for weight loss means burning more than 600 calories per hour, making it a productive use of your exercise time. Stationary bikes also build muscle which ultimately burns body fat, but those aren’t the only benefits.

 
  • Cycling is something anybody can do, regardless of their fitness or skill level.
 
  • As a cardio activity, cycling improves heart and lung health, improves your entire circulatory system, and can boost your immune system.
 
  • Cycling is a low-impact workout that requires fluid movements, making it an excellent option for your joints.  
 
  • You can work multiple muscle groups, but especially your lower body.
 
  • Interval training, a mixture of short, intense bursts, and longer, less intense rides improves your overall fitness, which you can easily perform with a stationary bike.  There are a lot of cool benefits of hiit training indeed.
 
  • You don’t have to worry about bad weather, road hazards, or drivers not seeing you. 

What Type of Stationary Bike Should I Choose?

Choosing the right stationary bike for weight loss is easier than it sounds. Whether you start a gym membership to gain access to several bikes or decide to purchase one for your home, it helps to understand your options.

Common Bike Types

Though features may vary, stationary bikes can be one of three types – recumbent, spin, and upright.

  • Recumbent bikes involve a slight recline with the pedals in front of you instead of beneath you. These cycles are excellent choices for people with back problems.
 
  • Spin bikes operate like mountain bikes and mimic the feeling of riding outside thanks to a weighted front wheel providing resistance. 
 
  • Upright bikes look, operate, and feel like an ordinary cycle.

Display and Programming

 

Many stationary bikes have displays that allow you to monitor speed, calories burned, and much more, depending on how high-tech it is. Additionally, you can program workouts, create routines for different days of the week, and even try pre-programmed workouts based on your fitness level, weight, and age.

Additional Features

From water bottle holders to heart-rate monitors, stationary bikes can include some convenient upgrades. If you like to read books or magazines while riding, you could pick one that has a built-in book rest.


Tip: If you choose to purchase one for your home, it’s a good idea to buy a stationary bike with a two to three-year warranty included.

What is Resistance, and Why Does it Matter?

If you read this far, then you probably noticed the word “resistance” used more than once because it’s an important factor for using stationary bikes for weight loss.


Adjusting the resistance on your cycle impacts how much effort you need to use to move the pedals. The more resistance you experience, the more calories you burn.


Tip: Don’t set the resistance too high when you’re starting. If you experience too much pain after riding, you may want to lower the resistance.  

What is the Proper Form for Riding a Stationary Bike? 

At a gym, you can ask for assistance to set your stationary bike at the proper levels, but at home, it’s all on you. Here are some tips to help you set your stationary bike to the right levels so that you can keep good form through your workout.

  • Set the saddle so it’s about even with your hips so that your legs extend and bend comfortably as you pedal.
 
  • Adjust the handlebars to keep your back upright and avoid reaching too far forward to grasp them.

How Long Should I Ride a Stationary Bike to Lose Weight?

Even if your cycle includes preset programs to follow, it helps to know how long to ride a stationary bike to lose weight. As noted above, cycling burns some serious calories, but going hard for sixty minutes isn’t always the best option, especially for beginners.

 

 

 

 

Setting routines for your fitness and experience level is the best way to ensure you stick with it because you minimize chances of injury, keep it interesting, and challenge yourself without going too hard.

 

Build-up Routines for Beginners

 

 

For those just starting, it’s a good idea to try a 30-minute workout first. Build up your time by a minute or two every few days. Try to vary your speeds throughout the workout to maximize your gains. 

 

  • Warm-up at a low intensity for up to 10 minutes.
 
  • Alternate between 5 minutes at a medium intensity and 1 minute at high intensity.
 
  • Don’t forget to cool down for at least 5 minutes at a low intensity.

Routines for Experienced Cyclists

 

Once you have a feel for things and want to focus on using your stationary bike for weight loss, it’s time to get creative. 

Play around with intensity levels and resistance to push yourself a little harder. Keep the warm-ups and cool-downs to 10 minutes or less, but ratchet up your medium and high-intensity cycles. 

Losing Weight with a Stationary Bike 

Cycling works multiple muscle groups and boosts your overall health, so stationary bikes represent a low-impact way to burn calories, get fit, and lose weight. Of course, you still have to manage a balanced diet so that you can burn more calories than you eat. 

 

Now that you know how to lose weight on a stationary bike, it’s time to get moving! If you have questions or comments, feel free to reach out to us for more.

8 Surprising Health Benefits of Stationary Bike Workout That You Should Know

Whether you are already using a stationary bike or planning to purchase one or just want to know the potential health benefits of stationary bike workout then read on as in this article we have listed the top 8 health benefits of exercise bike workout that will help you take an informed decision be it on on purchasing a an exercise bike or setting up a regular workout schedule.

 

 

Working on a stationary exercise bike brings a lot of health benefits some of the key benefits are 

#1 - Burn Calories:

Cycling on a stationary exercise bike can help you burn calories at the same time to tone your body. It has been found that a quick 30 minutes of exercise on a stationary bike can burn somewhere between 260 – 300 calories depending on your age, body weight and other factors. 

 

A stationary bike workout can help you lose body weight if done regularly along with maintaining a proper diet. HIIT workout on stationary bike are becoming more popular day by day and it’s a great way to melt down unwanted body fat as well.

#2 - Improve Heart Health

Riding on an exercise bike improves the aerobic capacity of the body while increasing the heart rate. As a result the heart gets more oxygen by pumping more blood throughout the body. Which makes the heart strong and healthier. 

 

People with existing cardiac conditions may need to be careful and keep track of the HR (heart rate) and rate of perceived exertion and maintain those parameters within safe ranges to avoid any adverse effects on the heart

#3 - Maintains blood sugar and type-2 diabetes

For a long time researchers have known that exercise is very helpful for maintaining healthy  blood sugar. May it be high intensity or moderate intensity, all sorts of exercises help reduce the blood sugar level and also improves the insulation sensitivity of the body for optimal blood sugar control. 

 

The best part is most exercise bikes now-a-days come with an option to control the exercise intensity by changing the resistance on the knob or on the digital display.

#4 - Reduce Cholesterol

As per a study conducted it has been found that people who are doing regular indoor cycling along with maintaining a low calorie diet were found to have significant increase in HDL level and reduction in LDL level compared the non-exercising groups.

 

The study concludes that indoor cycling along with low-calorie diet helps in reducing weight and controlling serum lipids.

 

We highly recommend that you don’t stop your cholesterol medicine immediately. 

Do regular workout on stationary bikes along with that get your blood lipids tested and consult your doctor for any change in the medication.

#5 - Improves Stamina

Consistent exercise helps build your stamina and endurance. The key here is the consistency. If you workout on your bike on a regular basis and gradually increase the intensity level as your fitness level grows then you can increase your overall stamina and performance which will help to perform better in day to day life.

# 6 - Promote better sleep / Sleep improvement

It has been found through several researches that regular exercise can help with chronic insomnia and sleep apnea. It can help regulate your improper sleep patterns and improve the quality of your sleep. 

 

Recent studies have found that If you do some moderate intensity workout at least one hour before the bed time then it can help you fall asleep more effortlessly and improve the sleep quality as well.

# 7 - Improves joint mobility

Unlike any other cardio workouts like running, jogging, sprinting, skipping where your joints are heavily involved, exercise bike workouts are smooth on joints. The cycling movements help lubricate your joints which reduces the pain any stiffness if you have. 

 

Because of the low impact nature and benefits on joints, often Doctors recommend stationary bike workout as part of rehabilitation programs post any knee surgery.

# 8 - Strengthen legs

When you paddle on an exercise bike you mostly involve your lower body. Your leg muscles like calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps are heavily involved and will get stronger over time.

 

If you use a dual action exercise bike then you can also work on your upper body muscle groups.

5 Best At-Home Cardio Workouts For Weight Loss – No Equipment Required

Cardio For Weight Loss

There is no denying that a regular cardio workout improves cardiovascular health and increases the overall longevity of our Life. If your goal is to lose weight then Cardio exercise can help you greatly to achieve that. 


In this article I am going to discuss 5 simple and easy to do cardio exercises that can help you burn the unwanted body fat fast all from the comfort of your home.

How Cardio Helps You Lose Weight

Well, let us face it, if you are trying to lose weight, you know what it takes. Basically, you must do regular exercises both cardio and strength training along with maintaining a proper diet.

 

You can learn the basics of cardio and how a beginner can take advantage of this then you can have a look on our Beginners guide to cardio exercise.

 

To lose weight you must burn more calories than you eat. While some people consider dieting for this. But the recommended way would be to do regular exercise along with maintaining a healthy low calorie diet.

 

Cardio plays a key role in weight loss because when you do cardio, your heart rate increases and reaches a target heart rate zone. you start sweating and inhaling more oxygen than normal which helps burn the stored fat in your body and promotes weight loss. 

How much Cardio you need to lose weight?

As per the Guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Adults should do at least 30 minutes – 1 hour of moderate-intensity or 15-30 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. They also recommend  that one can combine this with strength training to increase the strength and endurance while losing the unwanted body fat

 

It has been found from studies that one needs to burn around  3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of body weight.  So in general if you can burn 500 to 1000 calorie per day then you can lose 1 to 2 pound in a week.

 

That being said, the amount of calories you can burn during a cardio workout session depends on several factors like your age, genger, body weight, metabolic rate etc etc. 

Factors that affects weight loss

  • Age – The more your age, the less is the weight loss
  • Body Weight – The more your body weight, less you lose.
  • Gender –  Male lose more weight than women. 
  • metabolic rate – The more your metabolic rate, more easily you can lose weight.

Planning your cardio workout for weight loss

So before you start with your cardio workout journey for weight loss you need to keep a few things in mind in order to get the optimal results from the workout sessions.

 

If you are just starting out then should consider the following few points for long-term success.

 

Schedule your workout  – It’s really important to schedule some time each day for your workout. Preferably 1 hours in the morning time should be enough.

 

Get yourself good quality shoes – Since most of the Cardio workout involves heavy involvement of the lower body, legs play a vital role in that. So getting yourself comfortable quality shoes would going to pay off. 

 

Start with warm-up – It’s always recommended to start slow with a little warm up preferably 5-10 minutes of low intensity movements. 

 

Maintain a healthy diet and Hydrate yourself properly –  Make sure you are taking a healthy diet and hydrating yourself often during the entire day to get the max results.

 

End with Cool down and stretching – Including a cool down followed by stretching after each cardio session is really crucial. 

 

Switch exercise – In Order to ensure that you don’t get bored by doing one particular type of exercise everyday, you can mix different kinds of exercise. For example if you are doing 3-4 days of high intensity cardio workout, then you can consider to include 1 – 2 days of power yoga in between. Which helps you in muscle recovery.

Word of caution: Before you start with a Cardio workout plan for weight loss you should keep in mind not to over do it. For most people anywhere between 20 – 60 minutes of cardio workout would be helpful for healthy weight loss.

Types of Cardio workout that helps in weight loss

Out of different types of cardio workouts that are available out there it has been found that HIIT (High intensity cardio workout) are by far the best type cardio workout to consider if you are planning to lose weight. 

 

 

 

 

 

Have listed below some really effective HIIT Cardio that you can do from the comfort of your home.

Running stairs

Running stairs is an intense cardiovascular exercise that can be performed from the comfort of your home, absolutely no equipment required. Everyone can get access to a set of stairs.

The best part about running stairs is that you get to leverage gravity thus the heavier you are and the fast you climb the stairs the harder you are forced to work and the more calories.

How to do running stairs: 

You can do this like interval cardio training by just climbing the stairs as fast as you can for 20 – 30 seconds and then take a 20 seconds of break and repeat the process. You can use a timer for this. 

Time duration  and Calories Burned –

You can burn 19 calories per minute running up stairs and 4 calories per minute walking down stairs. So you easily burn a good amount of calories by doing it 30 – 40 minutes a day.

Jumping Jacks

Jumping jack is  a great form of cardio workout that can help you burn maximum calories in a short amount of time. Jumping jacks is considered a good exercise for total fat burning.

How to do Jumping Jacks:

 

 

Begin in a standing position, arms at your side, feet together. Jump and create an “X” with your arms and legs. Jump back to standing, arms at your sides, feet together.

 

Time duration  and Calories Burned:

 

If your goal is to maximize fat loss in a short amount of time, then you can consider doing Jumping jacks the HIIT way. For example you can do it for 20 seconds and then take rest for 10 seconds. That way you can reap maximum benefits out of Jumping jacks.

 

 

A person weighing 120 pounds can burn nearly 8 Calories per minute while a 250 pound person can burn 16 calories/minute with Jumping jacks.

Burpees

Burpees are a challenging exercise that works on all the major muscle groups in your body. If you are looking for a way to burn calories while building strength and endurance and cardiovascular fitness then burpees could be great help.

Burpee is essentially a combination of 4 exercises. It consists of a jump, squat, plank and push up. Burpees are really effective if you do that properly as it is a total body strengthening exercise.

 

How to do Burpees :

Stand upright with your feet hip width apart. Crouch down and place your palms on the ground, jump back with both feet extending your knees and hips completely then drop your lower chest to the floor.

 

Push up and lift the chest off the floor jumping forward with both feet at the same time. Stand upright and jump up clapping your hand overhead. Repeat the entire sequence.

 

Time duration and Calories Burned:

Burpees can be done as part of HIIT workout. If you are a beginner then try to do at least 8-10 reps in a row then take rest. It’s always better to start slowly as burpees are one of the most exhausting exercises out there. 

 

 

As your fitness level increases you can increase the number of reps you can do 40 seconds burpees and take 20 seconds rest. Burpees are a great form of exercise that can burn somewhere around 10 – 15 calories per minute.

Mountain climbers

The mountain climbers basically target the legs and the lower abdominal. It’s a great exercise to burn your lower body fat simultaneously improving your cardiovascular health. 

How to do Mountain Climbers:

 Start with a plank position, pull your right knee into your chest. Quickly switch and pull the left knee as you extend the opposite leg. Repeat this movement while maintaining a neutral spine and strong core.

Time Duration and Calories burned:

You can do mountain climbers non stop for 40 seconds then take 20 second break.

A 130 lb person can burn around 10 calories per minute with mountain climbers.

Alternate Jump Lunges

The lumping lunges are basically an advanced variation of the basic walking lunge. It helps in strengthening  your glutes, quadricepses, hamstrings and calves at the same time it creases your cardiovascular health while helping burn the lower body fat.

How to do Alternating Jump Lunges:

 Stand upright with the feet hip width apart. Jump into lunge position bending both  knees by 90 degrees. Jumping again, switching the feet position and landing into lunge position again. Keep your torso upright.

 

Time Duration and Calories burned:

 

If you want to reap the best results out of Jump lunges then you can continue doing it for 40 second and then take rest for 20 seconds. You can do 2 rounds of it in a circuit and take 1 minute of rest in between. A 140 lb person can burn around 80 calories with just 10 minutes of Jump lunges.

The Bottom Line –

No matter which exercise you do, you need to be regular with your routine and monitor your daily calorie intake to get the best results. So don’t listen to anybody, set a goal, stick to it and enjoy a healthy fit body. After all Health is the true wealth!

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4 Simple Chest And Tricep Workout For Beginners

4 Simple Chest And Tricep Workout For Beginners

Every man loves the day when chest and triceps are on the workouts menu. Well when it comes to the actual workout, there are lot of options and variations available based on the different strength levels.

 

Today in this short article we are going to show you 4 simple, easy to do, yet effective chest and triceps workout for beginners that can be performed from the comfort of a living room. All you need is a pair of dumbbell, that’s it. So without further ado, let’s begin.

 In this short article we will be working on your chest and triceps. 

 

 This is primarily a strength workout which will help you gain lean muscle mass. 

 

 You will be doing 

 

   * 12 REPS of double arm chest press to strengthen your chest.

      Double arm movement will also ensure more stability and engagement of your core.

 

   * 15 reps of standing triceps extension, which will isolate your triceps and activate your core. 

 

   * 10 reps of Straight Arm Pull-Over for stronger chest.

 

Workout focus : Chest, triceps

#1 Double Arm Chest Press

This exercise targets your upper body pushing muscles, the triceps, pectoral and deltoid.

It helps in developing muscle endurance, strength and stability of the shoulder joint.

Step By Step Instructions :

 
Back resting on the floor, elbow slightly below the shoulder level, feet folded close to the hips, shoulder width apart.
 
Dumbbell held in one hand, forearm directly under the dumbbell, push the dumbbell up extending the elbow fully, repeat the movement.

Change to alternate hand after 12 reputations and continue.

#2 Standing Tricep Extension

The standing triceps extension works all three heads of the triceps. It is a great way to build strength and muscle endurance in the arm.

 

Step By Step Instructions :

 

Stand upright with feet shoulder width apart.

 

hold the dumbbell in both hands behind the neck and upper arm parallel to the head.

Raise the dumbbell overhead keeping upper arm fixed and hinging from the elbow. Keep the abdomen tight. 

#3 Straight Arm Pull-Over

Step By Step Instructions :

 

Lie down on a bench, making an arch (your lower back should not touch the surface of the bench) in your lower back. 


 


Hold the dumbbell with both the hands straight over your chest at arms length. 


 


Both palms pressing the dumbbell from both sides. This is your starting position


 


Caution: Always ensure that the dumbbell used for this exercise is secure. Using a dumbbell with loose plates can result in the dumbbell falling apart and falling on your face.


Now without bending your arm, lower the weight slowly in an arc behind your head while breathing in until you feel a stretch on the chest.


 


Return back to the initial position under control without bending your arm and exhale as you perform this movement.


 


Keep repeating the movement for the prescribed number of reputation.

#4 Bent Over Tricep Kickback

Tricep Kickback is one of the most effective tricep workout that works directly on the long head of you tricep. And with the bent over position, you work against the gravity while getting the full range of motion. Which helps you in getting a really good stretch on your tricep muscle.

 

Step By Step Instructions : 

 

Slightly hinge forward, keeping you back straight, row the dumbbell in to postion, elbow pointing slightly above your back.

 

Now extend the elbows slowly while flexing the triceps. Exhale as you extend the dumbbell behind your body and flex the tricep.

Inhale while slowly bringing the dumbbell back to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

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