Burn Fat 'n' Build Muscle - Free guidance to burn fat fast and gain muscle mass

Try Workout Of the Day

2010-06-03T11:58:00.004+05:00

I wrote about Crossfit in my very very very early posts. Here is the link. I called it 'the next big thing'. Well...I would now like to correct my self. It is the NOW BIG THING. It is absolutely insane. The workouts are like 15 - 20 minutes long (including the warm up) but extremely high in intensity. I have been going to the guy for a long long time, but after trying this, I was seriously depressed because all that hard work did not REALLY make me all that fit!!

The main idea is a combination of strength training and cardio. Typically we do a strength training session and then a cardio session, BUT what these Crossfit super humans do is do both at the same time e.g. 21 clean and jerks without any rest and with a reasonably heavy weight. I have recently start some Crossfit routines and the numbers and times are impossible to reach e.g. 100 pull ups (kipping pull ups), 100 push ups, 100 Squats and 100 situps. Now, very honestly, this will completely burn you out. If you want to be FIT i.e. really really fit then go to a crossfit affiliated gym and see the changes in your body. Ahh but if you want to have that bodybuilder sort of look then, crossfit ain't for you. Crossfit is for people who want to adopt to a healthy liftstyle rather. You will definitely get a good physique, but more like a toned and defined look rather than a bulked up body builder look. At the same time, you get the strength and stamina. Maybe that's why everyday, more and more women and moving towards crossfit!!! HMMM!!!!

Go to the crossfit site and read about the concept. You can view lots and lots of their videos on youtube. There is this lady called Nicole and MAN is she strong. Go on...type in Nicole crossfit on youtube and you will see what I mean.

Try the easiest routine of crossfit and share your experience here :)

Top 5 tips to eat right

2009-08-30T14:17:00.002+06:00

The amount of information about eating right is OVERWHELMING!! Whereever you see there are people who have their own philosophy about eating right. Well, I can either be one of them or I can read through their philosolphies and tell you which are the most effective ones based on research and personal experience. I would I would go for the latter. I have gone through a number of websites and books to see what nutritional and the fitness industry experts class as healthy eating or the RIGHT WAY TO EAT. I found that most of them were saying more or less the same thing. One concetrated on one bit more than the other and vice versa. So here goes:

The more colourful the better: If you are eating a steak, it is usually dark brown in colour. Now just give it color, add a small portion of mashed potatoes (made with olive oil), some bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and chillies. Now that is colorful and at the same time, it will much healthier that just a piece of MEAT. You get fiber and complex carbs from the vegetables and mashed potatoes. You get the fat from the meat and olive oil in the mashed potates and protein from the meat. 'A complete meal' I call it. Add vegetables to add colour to your meal. Lots of vitamines and minerals along with fiber to help you feel more satisfied.

Stay hydrated: Doesn't matter how many times I talk about drinking water, it is not enough. I remember reading that if you are a body builder or you workout with heavy weights, you will increase your lifts by about 8% if you are hydrated as compared to when you are not. Just goes on to show you how good water is for you. I mean...we are about 80% water..aren't we? Ohh and if you are a body builder, protein can only bind with water. 1 molecule of protein binds with 2 of water. Have you ever noticed at 100grams of lean chicken breast has 21 - 25 grams of protein. What is the rest of the 75%? Well, about 70% or that 75 is water. So PEOPLE drink up!!

Never fill yourself to the limit: Smaller meals speed up your metabolism whereas larger meals speed it to the extent that your systems get exhausted and then slows down very quickly, UNLESS you have the capacity to cope with this load. Let's take a look at an example. If you have an old car, you travel at a speed of 30 - 40 miles an hour, the car will be fine and will take you from point A to point B. That very same car, if driven at 100 miles an hour will go fine for a while but chances are it may get heated up or might get some other problem. I know not that great an example but you get the idea!!! I suggest fill up to 2/3rds of your stomach.

Don't eat any a MEAL 2 hours before bet time: The reason for this is because when you sleep your matabolism slows down. If you eat something (especially carbs) before going to bed, they will not get used up and get stored as fat. Now noones wants that!! right? So give it a couple of hours before you go to bed.

Avoid simple sugars and saturated fats: This really is a no brainer. Simple sugars like any thing that has sugar and saturated fats like processed oil and butter etc. both should be avoided. Ohh and don't forget the ICE CREAM!! Ice cream has both simple sugars and cream i.e. saturated fat.

Follow these and you see a difference your lifestyle.

8 ways to lose weight without exercise

2009-08-30T14:00:00.004+06:00

Now many people grilled me on my No sweat fat burning method post some time back, saying why am I prmoting not exercising. The thing is that I want to help people with atleast one thing if not both. Either, start and keep them with exercising or get them to start eating right. Both would absolutely amazing if there is a person who saying I want to lose weight but I don't want to exercise, people look him like he is some lazy coutch potato. I don't think there is any thing wrong with not wanting to workout. Working out is important for fitness not for weight loss. Weight loss is a secondary phenomenon that happens when you get fit. If you just want to lose weight, you CAN do it by not exercising. What happens is people get put off when they hear that they cannot lose weight without exercise and they won't even try. I have a problem with people trying to take pills to lose weight but not really the not exercising issue.

I have come up with 8 things that you can do to burn fat and lose the extra weight. Here you go guys:

- Eat real foods: Basically, NO PROCESSED FOOD. I think this is the most common advice you will find for losing weight. The reason is that it is the best one. Stick to natural and real foods like lean meat, veggies, grains, nuts and fruits. Avoid anything that comes out of a package and with a brand name on it.

- Eat Frequently: Eat after every 2 - 3 hours as it increases your metabolism. You won't feel hungry or won't have carbohydrate cravings. Honestly, this is excellent advice. You will never BINGE EAT ever again.

- Control your portion size: Now it doesn't mean eat HUGE portions of chicken and whole grain bread sandwiches. Even though they are healthy, bug portions mean more calories so you might actually gain if eat too much of whole foods as well. Restrict your portion size. If you have a 12 inch subway sandwich, leave 6 inches and eat it after 2 - 3 hours. The same thing, same amount of calories BUT better digestion, increased metabolism and weight loss :)

- Water before and during: Drink water before and during your meal. Not right after your meal. There are some serious absorption issues. I always recommend take a glass of water before a meal and take one glass during the meal i.e. sipping as you go on eating.

- Don't fill yourself up: Eat enough to fill about 2/3 of your total stomach capacity. Only YOU can be the judge for that.

- Eat fats: Eat enough healthy fats from nuts and non-processed oils. They are great for energy and help you get enough calories in a small meal. E.g you need a 400 calories meal and using protein and low carbs you get about 300. Sprinkle one tablespoon of olive oil on it and you get those extra 100 calories to get the 400 calories.

- Eat junk once a week: You are allowed to cheat once a week so go all out. Eat WHATEVER you want. Just keep it to one day. Even better, just keep it to one meal.

- Take fresh juices: If you feel like having some juice. Go to the kitchen, switch on your juices and get some fresh juice. Avoid the other juices...Ain't always what they say it is.

There you go. Nice and simple wasn't it? Let me know what you think by leaving a COMMENT!!!

Top 5 foods to burn fat

2009-08-30T11:55:00.009+06:00

Let's be honest here. There no foods that BURN fat directly. There are a number of different theories out there but there is just one basic principle about foods that burn fat. Foods that raise your metabolism for long periods of time will burn fat. The longer the metabolism is raised for, the more fat burning will take place. I am not saying everything else is pointless. I am just saying that they may help the process...THAT IS IT!!

Animal protein is usually the best candidate as it takes longer to breakdown. Here is the breakdown rate order from quickest to slowest.

Simple Carbohydrates
Complex Carbhydrates
Unsaturated Fats
Saturates fats
Fibrous Carbohydrates
Dairy Protein
Animal Protein

Some people might want to argue with me. LOOKING FORWARD TO IT...BRING IT ON B_ _ _H.

Now let's get to the point. Top 5 fat burning food. Here it comes. The number 5 place goes to........

Avocado: Some websites call this a SUPER FOOD. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a super food, but they are pretty good. Very high in unsaturated fats, vitamins and have quite a bit of fiber. I don't want to get into how fats are good for you, that is a whole post on its own. Just remember unsaturated fats in moderate amounts are good to burn fat.

Fibrous vegetables: First of all these vegetables (and even fruits) that are high in fiber are low in calories and fill you up for a good amount of time. They are mainly carbohydrates so energy is not a problem. So basically all I am trying to say is listen to your mum...take in lots of vegetables :D

Lentils and Beans: Lentils are not used in the western world all that much...unless you are a vegan. The main usage of lentils and legumes is in the indian subcontinent. They are high in SECOND GRADE protein so one should always try to mix them up with some sort of LOW GI carbs to get a complete protein. Even if they are taken alone, they will help in reducing body fat.

Chicken: This one is a no brainer. Isn't it? Every where you look you see high protein and you can't have too much beef and even eggs so people stick to lots and lots of chicken. Turkey falls in the same category but I personally couldn't develop the taste for it. The meat i.e. chicken i.e. animal protein i.e. complete protein keep you full for longer. The thermal effect raises the matabolism for longer and it help muscles rebuild themselves after a workout.

An the WINNER IS............THE FISHES

Fish: Let's just say you get all the benefits from a fish that you get from chicken. The only difference is that the fish has healthy fats in them. Oils that are mono and poly unsaturated. Oils like Omega 3 and 6 etc. So a fish is excellent. to burn fat ohh and to build muscle as well. But that's a different story.

Hope you guys enjoyed the post. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Top 4 methods to increase HGH

2009-08-30T06:03:00.005+06:00

I have mentioned earlier the benefits you get from increasing HGH (Human Growth Hormone) production in your body. If you want to read some more about it, you can refer to my post about the fat burning hormones here. Here are the TOP 4 methods of increasing your HGH.

Max muscle usuage: Workout as many muscle groups at one time as possible. The more muscle you use, the more fatigue and exhaustion you will experience and therefore the body will release more HGH. Usually I recommend compound exercises but if you are not a beginner, then try to modify workouts. The idea is to activate your stabilizer muscles. But make sure you don't try to do a 250 lbs bench press, on a ball. You can seriously hurt yourself. Try doing all isolation movements like bicep curls, lat raises etc. on the ball. You can do some exercises on one leg as well. The main idea if engage more muscle than you usually would in a normal exercise. If you don't bench press too heavy, then bring your legs up in the air to work your lower abs. If you don't use heavy weights then try things like overhead squats. Ohh and do full body workouts in a weight training session. Not just once body part. Be creative and remember to be safe.

Low or no fats in your pre-workout meal: I remember reading that eating fats before a workout slows down the production of HGH. Some people recommend unsaturated fats before a workout for energy as they take longer to breakdown. That is for people who are not concentrating on HGH. There are some other reasons to workout as well you know :P

Don't take carbs till an hour after your workout: Some people might kill me for saying that and they might be right as well. The only reason is that one tends to take High GI carbs or simple carbs right after a workout which increase your insulin levels. Insulin in normal circumstances is an anti-HGH hormone. There are ways to increase both at the same time they are a bit of an extreme measure if you ask me. Not taking carbs after your workout can end up in low energy levels and slower and LESS muscle repair, so do this a couple of time a week to reap maximum benefits and keep a balance.

Get atleast 8 hours of sleep: HGH is released to its max when you go into deep sleep. After an hour after you go into deep sleep. If you don't get enough sleep, you can't get into deep sleep and therefore not get everything of the HGH.

I guess this sums it up...let me know what you think :).

How to get the ripped washboard six pack abs

2008-12-11T09:15:00.005+05:00

Are you looking to get those six or eight pack abs in your mid section? I’m sure you are!! Abs are the one thing that both men and women desire and try every trick in the book to get them. People do endless crunches and leg raises or just keep doing the cardio and what not. The first thing to understand is that just doing ab exercises wouldn’t help you see them. You need to have the proper diet and fat burning workouts in place. Basically, everyone has ab muscles, but they are hidden under a layer of fat. If you don’t get rid of that fat…doesn’t matter how many crunches you do. WON’T work. I recommend that you do 2 sessions of ab workouts a week and concentrate on full body workouts and cardio including HIIT.

Anyways, now that I have made my point about losing the fat, here is a routine that can help you really hit the abs from each and every angle. So once you get rid of the fat, you will see a much better definition.

Crunches 15
Leg raises 15
Crunches 15
Leg raises 15
Criss crosses 30 (15 second rest)
Criss crosses 30 (15 second rest)
Criss crosses 30 (15 second rest)
Hanging leg raises 15 (15 second rest)
Hanging leg raises 15 (15 second rest)
Hanging oblique leg raises 15 (15 second rest)
Hanging oblique leg raises 15 (15 second rest)
Plank 15 – 30 seconds (15 second rest)
Plank 15 – 30 seconds (15 second rest)

That’s it. It will take you about 10 minutes. Do an HIIT session right after this for about 15 minutes and you will have had an AMAZING workout in less than half an hour.

Do try and and let me know what you think.

The best home chest workout

2008-12-02T09:39:00.004+05:00

Most of the guys who go to the gym say that they want to get big biceps and a muscular chest. We won’t be talking about the biceps today, but as far as the chest goes - here is the single most important question that these guys ask.

Can I build a big and well-defined chest at home?

The answer to this question is ‘Yes’, you can build a huge chest by working out at home. If you manage to exhaust a specific body part and then feed it, you will see an increase in size. If you hit your chest from a number of angles so that the entire chest muscle group gets REALLY tired and then feed it with proper amounts of protein and carbohydrates, you will see an increase in you chest size and muscle mass.

Here is a workout routine that you can do on the days you want to work your chest or upper body. This workout can also be incorporated in a fat loss program – I will show you how.

Pushups burpees 15 - 20 for warm-up: Do the burpee but do a pushup as well when you go down.

10 pushups wide, 10 pushups shoulder width and 10 pushups narrow without any rest.

The following pushup movements should be very slow. 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down.
5 – 8 x 3 pushups wide (rest 30 – 45 seconds)
5 – 8 x 3 pushups shoulder width (rest 30 – 45 seconds)
5 – 8 x 3 pushups narrow or diamond (rest 30 – 45 seconds)

1 minute rest

In the following movements, do the first 3 – 5 reps very slow and without taking any rest continue the exercise as fast as you can for the remaining reps.

15 – 20 x 1 pushups wide (rest 30 – 45 seconds)
15 – 20 x 1 pushups shoulder width (rest 30 – 45 seconds)
10 – 15 x 1 pushups narrow or diamond (rest 30 – 45 seconds)

This is an intermediate workout. For advance level workouts, you can increase the 5 second up and down to 6, 7 or whatever you want. The slower the movement, the more stress you will feel. Also, you can increase the number of reps in you final set (i.e. the slow and fast combination)

For fat loss, you do not have to change the workout. All you need to do is do a lower body compound movement e.g. squats and/or lunges after this workout (I will post a lower body routine as well). This should be followed up by a protein meal. Keep the carbs low and try to take the meal in about 30 minutes to 1 hour of the workout so that you get the most benefit from the important hormones.

Understand the burn fat and build muscle hormones - Part 1

2008-11-14T11:28:00.007+05:00

The norm in the fitness world is to look at calories and metabolism for fat loss and muscle building. A vast majority of the experts don’t give much importance to hormones and their effects, mainly due to lack of knowledge. In this three part article, I will try to give an overview of the muscle building and fat burning hormones along with the how to manipulate them based on your fitness goals. Part 1 will talk about the three MAIN anabolic (tissue building) hormones. So here you go:

Testosterone is a male hormone mainly produced in the testicles. A small amount is also produced by the adrenal glands. In women, testosterone is produced in the ovaries and by the adrenal gland, although the amount is quite small as compared to the male production. The normal range in males is 350- 1200ng/dl and the range in females is less than 100ng/dl. Women often inject additional testosterone if they want to build muscles at the pro-level. Apart from being a MALE hormone, it is the number one anabolic hormone in the human body. In order to gain muscle mass, one should concentrate on boosting their testosterone levels which are usually the highest in the morning and if the right kind of workouts are done (anaerobic) then you can REALLY boost your testosterone levels post workout (they drop after a few hours). The higher the intensity, the greater the testosterone production. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone which suppresses testosterone

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is another anabolic hormone, which is produced by the pituitary gland and stimulates the liver to produce IGF-1 (Insulin like Growth Factor). HGH is also directly proportional to the exercise intensity similar to testosterone. It increases right after an intense workout and also during deep sleep. Insulin and cortisol both suppress the growth hormone. If you need benefits from the HGH and IGF-1 then you should try to keep insulin and cortisol quite low. The good thing about HGH is that you can burn fat and build muscle at the same time as one of the properties of this hormone is to breakdown fat (long story) and IGF help you grow.

Insulin is a storage (anabolic) hormone which is released by the pancreas in response to the food that you eat – mainly carbohydrates. If you get too many carbs in your system, the insulin levels rise to lower them and store them as fat for future use. That is just one part of it. If your body needs the carbs (i.e. post-workout), the insulin pushes the carbs to the muscles and also breaks down protein to help repair the muscles. Insulin spikes with high GI carbs and remains stable with low GI carbs so to avoid fat storage, one should try to stick to low GI throughout the day. Depending on your goal, you can choose what kind of carbs you need post workout.

Hope this was useful. Stay tuned, there is lots more to come.

Top 3 methods to really speed up your fat loss

2008-11-05T09:34:00.005+05:00

If you are already taking 5 – 8 small meals, controlling carbohydrate intake at dinner, doing cardio, drinking enough water and getting a sufficient amount of sleep, but still think that the fat loss is very slow – here are 3 ways that can really accelerate your fat loss.

Introduce healthy fats in your diet: There is a lot of ‘fat phobia’ around us. People try and avoid every possible kind of fat to avoid weight gain. Actually, all fats are not bad for you and may have heard this before – It’s true. If you take in unsaturated fats in moderate amounts, they help you lower cholesterol, burn fat, increase energy levels, increase the weight loss hormones and help you avoid going into starvation. Another benefit of these fats is that they slow down absorption which means that you get continuous and prolonged energy rather than one spike. Some examples of healthy fats are avocados, almonds, peanuts and peanut butter, fish oil etc. Make them a regular part of your diet and you will see how they help you shed those inches.

Do some high intensity workouts: I am not saying you need to workout at very high intensities all the time, but you should have at least 2 workouts a week which are not just low intensity cardio. High intensity workouts can be strength training, circuit training, HIIT, body weight training, taebo etc. HIIT is the best one, but if you are not really into HIIT, then concentrate on full body workouts working all major muscle groups. Just push yourself more than you normally do. These high intensity workouts will help accelerate fat loss due to a higher EPOC effect and also tone up your muscles. Other benefits are to do with hormones that help you burn fat.

Introduce Zig-zags in both your diet and workouts: Never and I am mean NEVER continue doing the same thing day in day out. Our brain and body are programmed to adapt to whatever we are doing. If exercise or diet becomes a norm for your body, you will stop seeing any major results or benefits. Introduce zig-zags i.e. doing one thing one day and another thing the next. You can have zig-zags in your diet with respect to calories and carbohydrates which have both proven to be very effective. Another kind of zig-zag used is in the exercises – alternating between high intensity and low intensity. It gives you the benefit of both methods and avoids you getting burnt out. You can also alternate between muscle building and fat loss on a week by week zig-zag to burn fat and build muscle.

Each and everyone one of my clients have seen a increase in their fat loss after practicing the three points above. There is a lot of research available to support these methods. I have only giving you some very basic ideas about each of these methods, just to guide you as to what is possible. Please leave comments if you need more information about any of the above and also leave any feedback. Till next time guys – Lots more to come.

Body fat - What is the easiest way to measure it?

2008-10-29T19:10:00.006+06:00

People usually measure their weight loss progress through body weight - which in my personal view is not the best method of tracking your weight loss. If you gain muscle and lose fat at the very same time, you will either gain weight (overall) or you will not see a major change in your weight...whereas you will have made improvements to your body composition.

You should always track your weight loss through body fat measurements, as they are a lot more accurate and give you a clearer picture. There are a number of methods to calculate your body fat percentage including the skinfold method, Bioelectric body fat analyzers and height and circumference method.

There is a lot on the internet talking about what the best method is, what you should buy to get most accurate results and why all other methods are point less. I'm not going to do that. Firstly, I'll just tell you that all methods work. You don't need a 10 decimal place accuracy to track your progress, you need estimates. All the methods will give you an estimate, one way or the other, so if you have a bioelectric calculator, then stick to it. Don't throw it away just because someone said that the skinfold or pinch method is more accurate.

I recommend all my clients to use any method, as long as you are actually tracking their body fat and not weight. If someone does not want to invest any money they, they just use my inch tape. The guys measure their waist once a week to see of there have been any change and the women track their hips and/or thighs. I agree that this is not going to be as accurate as the very well researched methods but it works pretty well. Guys always lose the maximum fat from the belly and girls always lose the maximum amount from the hips and thighs. You need to make it easy for yourself. You do not have to invest in any thing to get fit and even track your progress.

Hope this helps guys. I'll start posting more frequently, so stay tuned :)

World's Largest burger - 8000 calories!!

2008-10-22T23:22:00.006+06:00

Guys, I just wanted to share this with you. I read about the Quadruple Bypass Burger, claiming to be the world's largest burger and has food worth 8000 calories in it. Mind you, a normal human being eats about 2000 - 2500 calories a DAY and we are talking about 8000 calories in one sitting..hmmm!!! You can see it at http://www.heartattackgrill.com.

The Heart Attach Grill offers this burger and also says that if you get a heart attack eating this burger - Doctors, nurses and wheel chairs are ready for you. They will even drop you to your car on a wheel chair. They also point out that "The Government Requires Us To Inform You That Our "Nurses" Do Not Actually Have Any Accredited Medical Training"...so don't expect them to save your life...infact, they may probably help in giving you a heart attack :D.

The Burger place promoted all round unhealthy food and tries to prove that unhealthy is the way to go. They also sell filterless cigerettes as a dessert...lol (that one just made me laugh). I just found it very interesting and wanted to share it with you. Although this is a very unhealthy option, I feel very jumpy about going their atleast once. Has anyone of you been there?

Vegetarian/Vegan diet to burn fat and build muscle

2008-10-19T00:18:00.006+06:00

This post is a continuation of the previous post. I wanted to give you an idea of what a muscle building vegetarian meal is. You have lots and lots of options but it really depends on where you live. You can’t get meat substitutes and soy based products everywhere so you need to plan your diet according to what is possible for you.

Meal 1: Oatmeal or bran cereal with milk (soy or rice milk if you prefer)
Meal 2: Peanut butter sandwich (you can also use some jam or jelly)
Meal 3: Mashed potatoes with whole wheat pasta and Bolognese sauce
Meal 4: Tofu
Post workout meal: soy or whey protein shake with some sugar
Meal 6: Soy based product (burger, hot dog etc.) - mainly protein

You can add another meal before or after meal 4 which can be salad or fruits.

That following table was taken from http://ksteveh.tripod.com/protein.html. It outlines the High protein vegetarian foods that can be taken to build muscle.

Qty Protein Carbs Protein Fat Calories

Egg White from 1 egg 100% 0 4 0 16
Yves Veggie Back Bacon 2 slices 89% 1.2 10 0 44.8
Yves Veggie Deli Slice 2 slices 86% 1.3 7 0 35
Yves Veggie Hot Dog 1 dog 83% 2.2 11 0 52.8
Yves Veggie Ground Round 1/3 C. 78% 3.4 12 0 61.6
Breakfast Links 2 links 76% 3.8 12 0 63.2
Yves Pepperoni Slices 2 slices 76% 2.3 8.5 0.2 44.8
Yves Burger Burgers 1 burger 73% 6.7 18 0 98.8
Yves Veggie Turkey Slice 2 slices 70% 3.4 8 0 45.6
Yves Veggie Ham Slice 2 slices 70% 3 7 0 40
Boca Burger 1 burger 62% 8 13 0 84
Cott Cheese 1/2 C 61% 6.7 15 1.3 98.5
Super Soy Burger-Soy City 1 burger 56% 13.2 25 2.9 178.9
Second Nature Burger 1 burger 51% 8 15 2.8 117.2
Lightburger 1 burger 50% 14 16 1 129
Soy Cheese 1 slice 39% 1 4 2.3 40.7
Tempeh 113 g (1/4 pkg) 38% 3.5 11 6.5 116.5
Tofu-La Soyarie 1/4 pkg 113.5 g 36% 3 12 8 132
Green Chef Burger 1 burger 35% 8.2 13.8 7.5 155.5
Veg Cutlet 1 cutlet 34% 9.1 14 8.3 167.1
Veg Cutlet w/Spinach Zoglo's 1 cutlet 28% 14 14 10 202
La Soyarie Nutburger 1 burger 26% 6.2 9.6 9.3 146.9
Cheddar Cheese 1 oz. 25% 0.6 7.1 9.1 112.7
Green Chef Cutlet 1 cutlet 19% 18.4 8.4 8.1 180.1
Veg Pate (Fontaine Sante) 55 g 17% 12.4 5.8 7.3 138.5

The above are examples and there are a lot more variations of high protein vegetarian foods. Look into more combination proteins, stick to whole wheat and avoid over eating.

Here is sample fat loss vegetarian diet.

Carbs Protein Fat Calories

Breakfast
Bread 1 slice 18 4.2 1.5 102.3
Egg White from 4 egg 0 16 0 64
Whey Protein 1 scoop 2 24 0.5 108.5
Veggie Breakfast Links 2 links 3.8 12 0 63.2
Total 23.8 56.2 2 338

Lunch
Ratatouille 24.4 28.1 7.5 276.9

Mid Afternoon Snack
Celery 3 stalk 4.8 0 4.8 0.4
Bread 1 slice 18 4.2 1.5 102.3
Almond Butter 1 T. 4 3 8 100
Total 26.8 7.2 14.3 264.7

Supper
BIG SALAD 30.1 18.8 17.5 352.9
Boca Burger 1 burger 8 13 0 84
Total 38.1 31.8 17.5 436.9

Evening Snack
Strawberries 1C whole 12.5 1 0.7 60.3
Cott Cheese 1/2 C 6.7 15 1.3 98.5
Total 19.2 16 2 158.8

DAY TOTAL 132.3 139.3 43.3 1,475.30

If you want to lower your calories even more, then remove the breads and you will drop down to about 1200 calories.

Hope this was useful for you guys. Just to re-iterate - You can get an excellent physique through a vegan/vegetarian diet and you can get excellent results by sticking to a high protein vegetarian diet.

Hope this was useful for you. Stay tuned for some more information on vegetarian diets and some muscle building hints and tips.

Q&A - Vegetarian diet to build muscle quickly

2008-10-13T13:03:00.004+06:00

Question:

Is it possible to put on useful muscle mass on a diet mainly comprising of dal-roti, and sub-continent vegetarian food with a bit of lactose intolerance? One or two eggs per day (not sure of the conclusion of the debate about dietary and serum cholestrol relationship though), and occasional meat are okay.

Also, there are other constraints as well like:
- A 13 hour job including commute, leaving very little time to do any meaningful exercise on weekdays.
- Very little possiblility of taking 5-6 balanced meals. The staple remains, lentils/legumes and Whole-wheat/Polished-rice.
- No possibility of going to a Gym, hence relying on body
-weight, and a bar with some not-so-heavy weights.Will be delighted if something could still be worked out despite above limitations.

Answer:
I recently got this question and thought that writing a full answer would be useful for a number of people out there. The question is concentrating mostly around a busy life and vegetarian food. I will address both the concerns one by one, so here goes.

Yes! It is possible to gain muscle while on a sub-continental vegetarian diet. In order to build muscle you need sufficient amount of calories – protein in particular. If you cannot take lean protein such as chicken and fish etc. then the next best option is dairy which includes milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs etc. If you are lactose intolerant and are not allowed to take in a lot of diary then you take combination proteins. Combination proteins are when you combine more than one kind of food to make a complete first great protein. There are 4 major food groups for combination proteins:

Group 1: Whole grain breads, cereals, rice, pastas etc.

Group 2: Legumes – Lentils, beans, peas

Group 3: Vegetables

Group 4: Nuts and seeds

Now, you can combine foods from group 2, group 3 or group 4 with group 1 to get a complete protein meal. However, you have the possibility of getting carbohydrates and proteins with it as well, so you cannot call it lean protein but complete protein. Some examples of combination proteins are whole wheat bread and beans, rice (preferably brown) and potatoes/other vegetables, nuts and cereal. The only thing is that in the sub-continent, oil is used very frequently and in large amounts. You need to reduce the amount of cooking oil used – instead, use olive oil, omega 3 and 6 oils etc. So the answer is – YES, you can build muscle on a vegetarian diet. You can get the required amount of calories and protein to help you gain muscle mass. It is also very important to do the right kind of exercises to build muscle.

The second concern was about the lack of time. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym – unless you want to become a professional body builder. The important point is that you need to workout hard (10 – 20 minutes is enough) and keep giving your body nutrients to repair the muscle and at the same time increasing muscle mass. It doesn’t matter whether you workout at night or workout early in the morning, the key is to just DO IT. There are no excuses now. All you need is 15 minutes out of your day for a good workout and you are good to go.

I personally would recommend doing pull push sessions where one day you do pull exercises and the next day you do push exercises. You want to engage many muscle groups at the same time and exhaust them. This will take less time and give you better results. Don’t do things like single body part etc. That is more for the pros and people who are already is excellent shape. If you want to grow – then you need to increase your testosterone, HGH and insulin levels. You can’t increase insulin and HGH at the same time, so it really depends on your body type. If you are chubby then concentrate on the HGH methods otherwise use insulin.

You don’t need a nutritionist certified diet to build muscle, just eat all the healthy things around you when you can e.g. take a lunch box to the office, keep some almonds with you at all time, keep healthy snacks in the office fridge.

I have a funny feeling that there is A LOT more that should be written here so I guess I will post a diet guide and some exercises in the next couple of posts so stay tuned.

The top 5 fat burning exercises

2008-10-07T20:58:00.004+06:00

I have been writing about how to lose fat and how to design your own plans for some time now, so I thought I would write about some thing different - the best fat burning exercises that you concentrate on rather than searching the web or other places. As mentioned in earlier posts, you need to engage maximum and larger muscle groups to get the best results.

According to TT (Turbulence Training), you should do a squatting movement, upper body pushing, upper body pulling, single leg movement and a full body abs movement. If you think about it, you hit each and every muscle group which a high intensity and get the most out of it. However, wouldn’t it be useful if you do 2 or 3 exercises instead of 5 but still engaging all the muscles? The good thing about this is that you increase the release of even more HGH if you engage more muscle groups at the very same time. I have discussed some basics about HGH in previous posts and will be writing details very soon.

I intend to give you the 5 best exercises that take you one step ahead of the TT concept. These are some what intermediate movements, so if you find these to be very hard then either lower the weights or make the exercises slightly simpler.

Number 5: Pullup and hanging leg raise
The usual pullup, but when you get to the top, you raise your legs like a hanging leg raise, lower your legs and come back down. You engage your back, abs, biceps and forearms. Try this only if you can already do 10 pullups in one go.

Number 4: Squat and push
In this exercise you hold a barbell across your shoulders. Do a barbell squat and when you come up; go right into a shoulder press without pausing. This exercise will engage your thighs, buttocks, core, shoulders, triceps and back for stabilizing. If you want an advanced version, then change the exercise to ‘Lunge and push’.

Number 3: Deadlift and pull
You do a deadlift and continue to an upright row. Usually, the weights for a deadlift are reasonably heavy. This really depends on you – how much weight you want to use. My recommendation, it should be heavy enough for an upright row but not light enough that you don’t feel the deadlift. In this exercise, you engage your thighs, back, traps and deltoids (shoulders), biceps and forearms.

Number 2: High jump burpees
Start with lying face down on the floor. In one smooth motion, do a pushup, bring your legs in (towards the chest), do a squat and jump high. Now in the exact opposite manner, come back to the start position. If done with good speed and control, this is one the GREATEST fat burning exercises. You work your chest, thighs, calves, abs and shoulders. Joint this with the ‘Pullup and hanging leg raise’ for an amazing full body workout in less than 10 minutes.

And the winner is: Sprints
HIIT is ruling the world right now and sprints are ruling HIIT. Go to a track, do a warm up and then sprint for a good few seconds (10 – 30 seconds) depending on your fitness levels. 6 – 8 of them and you will be drained. Trust me!! All hormones, EPOC, RMR – everything turn to help you burn more and more fat.

Now all the exercises above will help you lose weight. The key is, to exhaust all major muscle groups. You are not trying to become a pro-body builder so you don’t need to concentrate on this head of the tricep or that part of the chest. Treat it as one muscle and just exhaust it. 15 reps for a 3 – 5 sets per exercise is good enough with a 30 second rest. The best way is to alternate between two or three exercises.

Hope this was useful. Please do leave comments and questions. Please digg it as well if you get the time and like what you see. Stay tuned for lots lots more.

Just an update

2008-10-04T11:54:00.004+06:00

Hi all. Sorry I haven't been posting much. I was actually away for a few days (actually I still am) with no internet and no laptop. Just got a chance to come online so I thought I would drop a small message just telling you guys not to be disheartened. I have an AMAZING post ready to be published as soon as I get back.

I am also really excited because I started my workouts 2 days ago. I stopped working during the month of RAMADAN due to fasting. So, now I am back on track. Been working out hard. My chest, shoulders and thighs are SO sore that I could not walk down the stairs this morning. It is fun though!! I feel energetic already.

I am thinking of my current routine as well...But I will do that in a week's time, one I have completed the whole thing once :).

Stay tuned guys, I have got lots amazing stuff still to come.

Post workout meals to burn fat and build muscle – Finale

2008-09-28T15:09:00.004+06:00

We have discussed 3 different types of post workout meals - One for muscle building and the others for increasing fat loss. These diets need to be incorporated with the right kind of exercises to get maximum results. I wanted to give you a few examples of all these types of the post workout meals so here goes:

Muscle Building

Whey protein powder with water and sugar
Hour later – Whole wheat chicken breast sandwich
--
Double Banana smoothie (with yogurt)
Hour later – Chicken lasagna

Fat loss method 1

Whole wheat turkey salad sandwich
--
Chicken steak with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables

Fat loss method 2

Egg whites
Hour to two hours later – Apple and orange smoothie with whey
--
Whey protein shake with minimum carbs
Hour to two hours later – Grilled fish and vegetables

Now these are just examples to let you know what kind of things you should be looking for. You can find a great deal of information on the net about what foods are simple carbs, complex carbs, High and Low GI carbs etc.

Create your own meal plan based on what your aims are. Write down what you want to achieve and don’t compromise on it at any cost. Read the article – ‘Are all calories the same’ to get some understanding of the calories and then select accordingly.

I hope this was useful for you. People often don’t give importance to the post workout meals thinking that we will gain whatever we have just lost during the workout. It doesn’t work that way. Post workout meals are extremely important – Some experts call it the second most important meal of the day. So make sure you take the right kind of meal for your aims and goals otherwise all your hard work may go to complete waste.

Let me know what you thought about the post. If you need more information, please give me a shout :-).

Post workout meals to burn fat and build muscle - Part 2

2008-09-26T12:14:00.007+06:00

In the previous post, I discussed the best post workout meal for building muscle. If you haven’t read it already, you can read it here. I did a lot of research on the best post workout meals to burn fat. There are just too many theories out there, but I finally read an article by Tom Venuto which stated that the best post workout meal for fat loss is just a normal meal with complex and natural carbs. I personally would say that one should take low GI carbs with protein and unsaturated fats. Here’s why.

After a fat loss workout – which should include full body workouts, you use up quite a bit of your muscle glycogen and you raise your metabolism due to the EPOC effect. Now your body needs the fuel. If you eat a normal meal as mentioned above, you will send the message to your body that you have some food coming, so don’t go to the muscle for fuel and don’t increase cortisol levels. Now, slowly and steadily the food that you have eaten will start getting absorbed and continue to get absorbed for quite some time. Because you are taking low GI carbs with proteins and unsaturated fats, you will slow down the absorption and during that time, a vast majority of the energy will come from the stored fats. This process will continue till such time that all the food has been absorbed.

Personally speaking this is a very good method to lose fat. Do keep in mind that you need to control the portion size. Don’t overdo it. However, you don’t get all the benefits from this method.

Once you do full body workouts or HIIT sessions, you get both the effects mentioned above i.e. using up of glycogen and raising the metabolism. But at the same time, it is known that if you work your entire body especially through HIIT, you increase your HGH (Human Growth Hormone) levels to amazing levels. The HGH is good for muscle building but at the same time, to is amazing for fat breakdown. The two peak timings of HGH are post workout and during deep sleep. If you eat carbs right after your workout, you stop the release of HGH. This is something you don’t want to do. The HGH forces your body to use fat as the primary source of energy instead of the carbs that have been taken and are in the blood stream. The best way to avoid lower your HGH is by:

- Taking only protein after a workout
- Taking in carbohydrates an hour or two after the workout (Low GI)
- Not taking any fats an hour before the workout

The above points will help you keep HGH raised after the workouts. Some people may say that you should take carbs after a workout an ANY COST. I disagree with that because our body is very smart. If you need fuel in your body and you don’t have carbs in your system or the carbs are very low, it will look for alternatives. We have processes like glycogenolysis, gloconeogenesis and lipolysis that increase the levels of carbohydrates or fuel in our system from fats and stored glycogen. If you do not have any stored glycogen, then most of it comes from fats. If you take in proteins, the body knows that you are not starving and will not increase cortisol (muscle breaking hormone). Basically, in very simple terms, you can breakdown fat and use it as energy and also provide some amounts of glycogen to the muscles. This will be particularly useful if you have quite a bit of fat.

I hope you didn’t fall asleep reading all that. I would recommend (personally) going with the second method as it includes the effects of the first method plus lots more. Stay tuned for some more details and meal examples.

Post workout meals to burn fat and build muscle - Part 1

2008-09-24T10:20:00.004+06:00

There are a number of views about post workout meals like it is the most important meal of the day (after the breakfast), it needs to have lots of carbs, it needs to have lots of proteins and bla bla bla. There is so much information on the internet, that you never know what is right for you. I remember when I was doing my own research I found people basing there arguments on things like you should not eat too much protein because it will turn into carbs and you will get fat. I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read this. What I intend to do is give you some basic scientific facts about your what goal goes with which post workout meal so that you can make your own decision.

Ok…so our topic today is post workout meals to burn fat and builds muscle. The most common type of muscle building post workout meal is - high GI carbs followed by low GI carbs and high protein and no fats. The idea is - after a muscle building workout, you are completely drained of the muscle glycogen (carbs) which is the primary source of energy for your body and you need to repair the muscles as you have put stress on them during the workout and created microscopic muscle tears. If you take the high GI carbs right after a workout and then take the low GI carbs and protein, you get the following effects.

- You raise you blood sugar levels
- You raise insulin levels
- You get low GI carbs and protein in your system for muscle repair

The sugar will rush to the muscles, get used up and fill the glycogen pools, which means that you will store the carbs/glycogen in the muscles rather than as fats. There is a lot behind this as well, but I don’t want to bore you unless you ask me to :-). Insulin is an anabolic (cell building) hormone and also promotes muscle synthesis (muscle building) - it will use the protein that you have taken and push it to repair the muscle (i.e. build the muscle). The remaining low GI carbs will provide continuous energy to your body in order to get the muscle repaired and not feel lethargic. This is the most widely used approach for muscle building. The mix of high GI and low GI carbohydrates is used to provide your body with quick regeneration properties and also getting constant energy so that you don’t feel tired. There are a lot more details to this but you get the gist of it :-).

This method is excellent for muscle building, but is it good for fat loss? The insulin level tells your body, not to use any stored fat as the body has too many carbohydrates anyway, so the majority of the energy comes from carbohydrates. How will you lose fat using this method? The answer is that you can lose fat and weight using this method only if the meal is very small. Once the high GI carbs run to the muscles and there are no carbs in the blood stream, the body may get some energy from the fats. However, it is important to note that the insulin levels will be raised (to some extent) which will minimize the fat usage but nonetheless, some fat can be used. Once you take the low GI carbs and proteins, you will slow down the usage of fats even more. Basically, this method is not all that great for fat loss. There are other more effective methods for fat loss.

Stay tuned for the next post there I will discuss a post workout meal that can help you burn fat. I want to know what you guys think so, please don’t forget to leave comments. Till next time :-).

The EPOC effect

2008-09-20T20:38:00.001+06:00

I have written a number of articles where I mentioned the EPOC effect, but I never wrote an article on what EPOC actually is. I won’t go into A LOT of detail at this point. It really depends on you. If you want to know more, leave a comment asking questions or just tell me that I should write more about EPOC.

EPOC stands for Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption, which means that the usage or need of oxygen increases after an exercise session. The extra oxygen is used to get your body back to its resting state. A number of operations take place in our body such as hormone balancing, replenishment of fuel stores and anabolism. The main thing that we should be concerned with is that it increases our metabolism after a workout. Depending on how strenuous the exercise was the length of the EPOC effect varies. The strenuous the exercise, the longer the EPOC effect. This is where the concept of burning fat during rest and sleep came from. So if you workout really hard, you will burn fat till hours after the workout and even while you sleep.

The common concept is that you just do cardio to lose fat as it increases your metabolism during the workout and an hour or so after. However, latest research shows us that you can increase your fat loss dramatically through strength training. Anaerobic training increases your EPOC effect for hours and hours after the workout, which means that your metabolism increases for a long long time and you burn more fat. The more and larger the muscle groups fatigued, the longer the EPOC effect.
According to research, the absolute best kind of workout for EPOC is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). I have already written quite a bit about HIIT so I won’t go into any details to bore you :-).

My recommendation to get the most out of the EPOC effect, is to workout as many muscle groups as you can at one time and completely drain yourself (you don’t need to workout for hours to do this…this can be done short and high intensity workouts. You can find examples in my previous posts) and do HIIT the following day. You will be amazed with the results.

Hope this was useful. Let me know what you think about this post. Let me know if you want to know more. Stay tuned for some very interesting posts, still to come.

How to design your own strength circuit training program part 2

2008-09-16T11:09:00.003+06:00

I hope you guys found the last post useful. Here are a couple more samples of circuit training.

Routine 1
Squats 20
Pushups 30
Lunges 20 each side
Rows 20
Donkey kicks 20 each side
Shoulder pushups 20
Jump squats 10
Pullups max
Squat n Row 20
1 minute rest

Plank 15 - 30 seconds
Pushups 10
Mountain Climbers 30 seconds
Repeat 1 - 3 times

This routine is one of my absolute favorites. If I haven’t worked out in quite a while, I do the above to make sure I hit every muscle group. In the second bit of this routine, your body is always tensed – especially the core. You will really feel this, so be prepared to get really sore the next day ;).

Routine 2
Pushups 15
Squats 15
Pushups 15
Squats 15
Jump rope 1 Minute

DB rows 12 Each side
DB rows 12 Each side
Jump rope 1 Minute

Shoulder press 12
Upright rows 12
Shoulder press 12
Upright rows 12
Jump rope 1 Minute

This is a fat loss circuit that is supposed burn a lot of fat, increase stamina and improve your overall body conditioning. Try these routines and tell me how you get on with them. I want to know what you think about these routines. Were they effective for you? Did you enjoy doing them?

Stay tuned for the EPOC effect post. Till next time.

How to design your own strength circuit training program part 1

2008-09-12T11:33:00.005+06:00

Circuit training is an excellent way to increases metabolism, elevates heart rate, burn fat, get an EPOC effect and get a full body workout. It is a type of interval training where you alternate between strength training and cardio vascular training. However, recently a number of other types of circuit trainings have come into play where you alternate between high intensity and low intensity exercises (both strength training), alternate between smaller and larger muscle groups and simply doing strength training for maximum reps, for one set and moving on to the next body part.

I would like to think that the best kind of circuit training is where you concentrate large muscle group, then the attached smaller muscle groups and finally a cardio movement. But this is not cast in stone. All circuit trainings are useful...heck...you can come up with your own circuit training method. The main concept is do one thing after the other. Here is a routine that I have often used.

Set 1:
Pushups
Triceps dips
Speed ball punches (imagine you are hitting a speed ball that boxers use)

Set 2:
Jump squats (with weights if too easy)Calf raises
Run in place with knees as high as possible

Set 3:
Rows
Bicep curls
Speed punches (Stand in a TAE KWON DO punching position and imagine you are trying to hit the person in front of you in the stomach really hard and fast)

Set 4:
Shoulder press
Lateral raises
Jumping backs

Set 5:
Hanging side leg raises (for the obliques)
Plank
Burpees

This is a routine that has given excellent results. Now it is up to you how you want to do it (or something similar). I usually do 20 reps per exercise, 1 minute for the cardio and 10 second rest per set and repeat the entire workout twice. You can do 30 reps, 30 seconds for the cardio and 30 seconds rest or any other method. The idea is to exhaust. Mix it up and make it interesting. I will be posting two more circuit training routine which are different to one above so stay tuned. Also, let me know what you think about this routine. Do you think it is unrealistic, too hard or is it exactly what you are looking for. Please leave a comment and do let me know. See you next time.

Brides Made Fit Reviews Nintendo's Wii Fit

2008-09-10T15:36:00.008+06:00

Burn Fat 'n' Build Muscle is proud to be associated with Brides Made Fit. A website that provide you with all the information you need to get rid of those extra pounds before your big day. Please visit Brides Made Fit at http://www.bridesmadefit.com

In a country where 60% of its people are overweight, it's no surprise that Americans would turn to an interactive video game to remedy the situation: Nintendo Wii Fit.

This $89 fringe from the Nintendo Wii uses an electronic balance board to measure players' health stats. This includes weight, body mass index (BMI), center of gravity, posture, strength, and agility. In order to improve results, players tackle objectives in yoga, strength, aerobics, and balance.

The more you play, the more minutes you bank up to unlock more challenging tasks. It's a great concept, but does a profession personal trainer, like myself, find it effective for the average American? Check out my podcast to watch me play the game and hear my review.

If anything, you'll get a few good laughs!

How to create your own fat loss exercise plan

2008-09-09T11:50:00.003+06:00

A number of you guys really appreciated the last ‘How to’ post…here comes another one :-). The best way to lose fat and keep it off is to have a good diet and exercise regularly. The last post mentioned ‘how to create your own fat loss diet plan’ and today I will discuss ‘how to create your own fat loss exercise plan’.

The first step is to establish when you can workout. Some say that the best time to workout is in the morning before breakfast when glycogen stores are very low. Others say that you should try to workout in the evening as you don’t have enough energy in the morning and you will burn what you have eaten throughout the day. Which one is better? Answer to this is – It doesn’t matter. Do what suits you best. Both have their benefits and working out is more important thing than the time.

Match time with diet plan: We have discussed what your diet should be like, so you need to match the timings with your diet. At the same time, you need to see what is possible for YOU to do. What I mean to say is that if you workout in the morning, your breakfast need to be different to when you workout in the evening.

Identify equipment: You may have some exercise equipment at home, you may be a gym goer (or thinking of joining a gym) or you may simple want to use your own body to do the workouts. Regardless of what you choose, you need to identify which one suits you best. You can work each and every body part with absolutely no equipment, so you don't have any equipment excuse.

Identify strength trainings: As a beginner, all you need to concentrate on is 4 major muscle groups. These are the chest, shoulders, back and thighs (or the entire lower body). Don’t break up your workout, do full body every time you do strength training. Look for compound exercises for these muscle groups. If you have some kind of exercise equipment, try and see how you can use that to work these muscles. Make sure that all are compound movements and not isolation. Compound movements use more than 1 muscle group. It can be 1 major muscle and 2 or 3 minor muscles or can be 2 major muscle groups. The key point here is that – the more muscle movement, the more the calorie burn. Try and make a plan where you completely exhaust these muscle groups. Start off with one exercise per muscle group then introduce supper sets, then alternate between upper body lower body. Whatever you think will exhaust these muscles. Exhausting is very important for EPOC (I will discuss EPOC in a later post). Don't do strength training everyday. I suggest doing it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you want to lose fat from your stomach, thighs or butt, don’t just do crunches or donkey kicks. Spot reduction is one of the biggest myths of the fitness industry. You need to do full body workouts.

Identify cardio: Do any cardio you like. It can be jumping jacks, cycling, walking etc. - whatever you like. However, you need to do it in an HIIT and varying format. During the beginning stages, do the HIIT training on days when you are not doing strength training. Once you think you are fit enough, do HIIT right after your strength workouts. This will burn calories like you cannot even imagine. On the other days i.e. the non-strength/HIIT days, do any kind of cardio for about 20 – 30 minutes, but keep changing your speed every minute or so. Go very fast, then very slow, then medium. Basically, mix it up a bit.

Resting days: I usually take Sundays off. It is very important to take ATLEAST one day off from working out. Too much of anything is bad for you. Take a day's rest and be sureto cheat as well :-). Good, isn’t it.

Write down your plan and see how best you can follow it. Shoot me with any questions you have and I will try my level best to help you out.

The Power Of The Eccentric Motion

2008-09-06T11:14:00.005+06:00

The following post is taken from http://www.weightgain4you.blogspot.com/

In this article I will be talking to you about a simple tip that was used years ago for explosive muscle growth, but for some reason it's not used as much these days and it should be!

This popular weight training technique was used by muscle building enthusiasts long before you where lifting and even walking for that matter. For it not to be used as much now is a real downer and people are missing out on the results it can bring them. So, follow me and read on below to start seeing more in your muscle building efforts.

In weight training, in order for the muscle to grow and develop, there needs to be a high tension and stimulus placed on the muscles (well durrr!). When the muscles are overloaded with more tension than they were put through the last time round the musculatory system requires your muscles to undergo hypotrophy, or increase in mass. Therefore, resulting in an increase in both muscle size and strength.

The larger the force of tension put on your muscles, the larger more they muscle tissue is stimulated. So in order for your muscles to get the best possible chance of growth, you need to implement a good stimulating technique into your weight training program.

Now, that’s enough of me babbling on, I guess you wanna here this old super powerful technique this whole article is about.

Well....Have you ever heard of the negative lift? Or eccentric contraction training? It's a weight training technique that places a huge demand on the muscle, even more so than just lifting a conventional weight. This increased amount of stress on the muscle is what is responsible for delivering increased results in muscle growth.

An eccentric contraction or negative contraction is the lowering position of a lift. When you lift a weight, the strain on the muscle is less than that of when you lower the weight. The increased tension on the muscle when lowering is because the muscle fibres are lengthened and the strain on each individual muscle fibre is increased. Thus, resulting in an increase in muscle growth potential.

Another example of this is included in a bench press. When you lift the bar up to the point of full extension, and then you begin to lower it again, trying not to let it come down too fast and smack you in the throat, this is what is known as an eccentric contraction. The longer you take to lower the bar the more muscle fibres are stimulated, and the chance of muscle growth are increased.

Check out this example of the negative lift. In this case the guy is doing chin ups on the rack:

Negative Lift Example

The human muscles are a wonderful thing, they can lift up to 40% more weight during the negative motion (or eccentric contraction) than they can do during the positive muscle contraction. The positive contraction of the lift is when there is a shortening of the muscle fibres. In other words, the concentric contraction (which is the positive contraction) is when you undergo lifts such as curling, pressing, or pulling down resistance.

That 40% of extra weight which can be lifted on a negative contraction increases your weight training intensity, and places a higher stimuli on the muscles. Therefore, resulting in optimum tension and stimulus for maximum muscle growth and development.

Please be advised that the negative weight training technique is proven to increase muscle fibre damage, and in turn intensify muscle soreness. This extra muscle trauma is the result of higher intense and more targeted muscle training. Along with this increase of intensity comes shorter training times and increased speed of the muscle growth process.

Building the muscle you want is easier than you thought, as long as you utilize the negative repetition. Introduce it to your weight training program now so you can increase the speed of which you build muscle mass.

Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & and get stronger? Click here to download this Insane Muscle Gain Free report.

How to create your own fat loss diet plan

2008-09-03T17:56:00.005+06:00

Here is the first of many ‘HOW TO’ posts that will help you create you own diet and exercise plans to achieve your fitness goals. It is very important for each and every one of us to know – how to go about creating our own diet plans. Following is a guide that shows you what steps to take.

Calculate your BMR: BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the amount of calories used to keep you alive. There are a number of operations taking place within our bodies and we need energy/calories to keep them going. You can calculate you BMR using any online BMR/RMR calculator or use the following formulas.

English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)

Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilos) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)

Add activity level: Apart from the involuntary operations happening in your body, you need energy for the voluntary actions as well. You need energy to walk, talk, run – basically do anything. You can take this into account by adding an activity level. Research has shown that the following factors can be used for accurate results. The final result is called TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e. marathon, contest etc.)

Calculate your average daily intake: Take a couple of days and note down what you are eating. Use the internet to get the calorie count.

Make first diet plan: The first diet plan should help you get back to your BMR level. E.g. If your BMR is 1800, take 1800 calories (first diet plan) for 1 – 2 weeks. This means that your body will be at equilibrium. Not gaining, nor losing.

Make second plan: This should create a calorie deficit. E.g. if your TDEE is 2000 cals, you should go down to 1500 or 1700 calories, but make sure you take above 2000 cals once a week; Preferably the weekend.

Follow these steps and you should be good to go.

Rules: There are some other rules that need to be considered. These are related to the timing of calories and the type of calories you are taking in. (take most of your carbs from fruits as they are rich in minerals and vitamins as well).

Breakfast - Low GI carbohydrates Fiber Slow Protein Unsaturated fats
Snack - Protein Unsaturated fats Low or no carbohydrates
Lunch - Protein Unsaturated fats Low GI carbohydrates Fiber
Snack - Protein Unsaturated fats Low or no carbohydrates
Snack 2 (or post workout) - Protein
Supper - Slow Protein Unsaturated fats Low carbohydrates

Things you need to avoid:
Saturated fats
Trans-fats
Processed grain
Process sugar

The above method will help you increase your metabolism, regulate your hormones and get healthy.

The 2 push routine

2008-09-01T16:10:00.004+06:00

This is a very interesting routine. There are only 2 basic pushing exercises and you do lots of variations to hit your full body to maximize calorie burning, increase metabolism, condition the muscle and boost your overall energy levels. Do this workout if you are short of time and dont have any equipment. The rules are that you are not allowed to rest and that's it.

15 speed squats
15 normal pushups
15 squats
15 narrow pushups
20 lunges each side
10 narrow pushups (use the 5 second up and 5 second down rule)
20 jump squats (jump high)
30 second T-hold (Get into a pushup position. Move your arms to the sides so that your body makes a T. Now hold)
30 second wallsit (Do a squat againt a wall and hold)

Repeat 1 - 3 times. Max rest - 1 minute.

This is an excellent routine. If you are week at pullups and chinups,you will also engage your back muscle to strengthen them, making it easier for you to do pullups. This routine is a full body fat burning routine. You can make this your only routine for a month and combine with a healthy diet plan. You will surprised with the results. The key is compound movements, high intensity and low periods of rest.

Try it and leave comments :).

The first fat loss

2008-08-28T17:37:00.002+06:00

I thought I’d tell you guys a small story about the very first time a saw success with losing extra fat. I had been doing lots of steady state cardio for with about 500 reps of different ab exercises a day and some very light bench press. Trust me, I didn’t lose 1 pound and my “trainer” had the nerve to say – ‘That’s just your body type. You can’t get lean.’ I just wanted to kill that guy. At this point, I started doing my own research. Although, the research was very incomplete, it helped. This is routine I was given by the trainer.

1 hour on the treadmill at intensity at 60% of my max heart rate
500 reps of my choice of ab exercises
3 x 30 bench press with 5 pound weights

Now does that look sensible? Anyways, after I did all my research, I created my own diet and exercise plan. My diet included milk, egg whites, chicken, yogurt, salad, whole meal bread and fruit. I avoided all carbs after 7pm. Took 7 small meals a day and drank lots of water. Now comes the fun part. This was my exercise routine.

Monday
Chest, shoulders and Triceps followed by HIIT for 15 minutes on a stationary bike

Wednesday
Back and biceps followed by HIIT for 15 minutes on a stationary bike

Friday
Lower body followed by HIIT for 15 minutes on a stationary bike

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
10 minutes on the stepper
15 pushups
15 squats
15 pushups
15 squats
15 pushups
15 squats
15 pushups
15 squats

A set of ab exercise routines (upper, lower and obliques without any rest alternating between upper lower and then each side of the obliques)
10 minutes on the treadmill

I followed the above routine for about 3 weeks an lost like 5 kilos and started to see some definition in my abs region. I also lost 2 and a half inches off my waist. It was so cool to through it in that trainers face. The funny thing is…he had 16 years of experience. I don’t know what kind of experience he was getting but he knew squat. I’m afraid there are a lot more trainers like that around as and we follow them blindly, hoping to see results. I’ll be posting some very interesting stuff very soon so stay tuned :).

Ana + Cata = Meta

2008-08-26T18:12:00.003+06:00

Every where you go, you will hear people talking about their metabolism, I have a high metabolism, I am increasing my metabolism, metabolism this, metabolism that. But what exactly is metabolism? If we can understand what metabolism is and how it affects our body, we can train and eat in a manner that effects the metabolism exactly like we want to it be.

In very simple terms – it is a set of chemical reactions to keep us alive. It is broken down into two major parts – Anabolism and Catabolism. When food/nutrients go into our body, two things happen. They get used as energy or they get stored for future use (if the food intake is more than required).

Anabolism is the series of reactions that helps create new molecules. Now these molecules can be anything, can be fat, can be muscle, can be bones etc. Catabolism on the other hand breaks down molecules for energy. Both anabolism and catabolism are taking place all the time. However, depending on our age, sex, time of day, food and physical activity one may be more dominant than the other. So at any given point, your body will be in either an anabolic state or catabolism state. For example, if you take a meal, you body will be an anabolic state and if you are starving yourself, then you will be in a catabolic state.

If we can control our metabolism to the extent that we build muscle during the anabolic state and lose fat during the catabolic state, then we can achieve the Burn fat ‘n’ Build muscle goal.

There are a lot more details on how we can control our metabolism and use it to our advantage e.g. there are a number of hormones that we need to control to direct our metabolism towards one source of energy and keep it away from others. Read the ‘No sweat burning method’ article which outlines what you can do to manipulate your metabolism in giving you what you want. If you are interested in fitness, then understanding metabolism should be the first thing you understand in detail.

The World's Largest Biceps - Is it worth it??

2008-08-23T17:00:00.004+06:00

Guys, just watch this video. It is really disturbing yet informative. I read about Gregg ages ago and was impressed with his training, workouts and the diet he promoted. After a few years a saw this video and was completely shocked.

Valuable lesson – STAY AWAY FROM STERIODS (unless you are absolutely 110% sure about what you are doing).

Body building is an excellent sport, but sometimes people take things a bit too far. Like my friend Gregg here. He was so eager to get the world’s largest biceps that he ended up losing a good chunk of his arm. Hope you all understand where I’m coming from.

Low GI for fat loss and muscle building

2008-08-21T16:44:00.006+06:00

There are a number of different kinds of carbs – simple, complex, fibrous, low GI, high GI etc. What do these mean? If you are not sure, please read my previous post here.

A number of articles are pointing out that LOW GI carbs are lean friendly. What does this exactly mean? Does it mean that carbs help us burn fat or do they helps us gain muscle mass?

In very simple terms, Low GI carbs are the carbs that get absorbed into our system very slowly and at a low rate. GI (glycemic index) determines how quickly a particular carbohydrate increases the blood sugar level. The lower the GI, the slower the rise in blood sugar levels. You may ask the question – Why do we need slow absorbing carbs? Well, basically when the carbs get absorbed very quickly, the amount of sugar is increased quite a lot. Your body tries to lower the carbs, as it doesn’t require that many carbs. The body releases a hormone called insulin which does three things:

- Lowers the carbs
- Stores them as fat
- Tells the body that ‘we already have too many carbs, don’t use the fats for energy’.

The above are not good for you. Insulin is very useful for you right after a workout (as you tend to use most of the carbs and the insulin helps you build muscle), it should not be spiked at any other time of the day. The LOW GI carbohydrates give your body constant energy at a steady rate so that you don’t get too many or too little carbs in your system and you avoid turning carbs into fats. But remember, if you take too much of any kind of carbs (even LOW GI), you increase the chances of converting them to fat.

Tom Venuto once wrote that it doesn’t matter whether individual items in a meal are low or high GI. You should make sure that the overall meal is low GI. E.g. potato on its own is high GI, but if you eat it with a chicken steak, it becomes low GI after mixing with proteins that gets absorbed at a very slow rate. Hope this makes sense.

If you stick to low GI for a fat loss program, you will minimize the chances of converting carbs to fat and also burn extra fat. If you want to build muscle – again, stick to low GI throughout the day, but take High GI with half an hour of a vigorous workout. I hope this has helped you understand what kind of carbs you should eat. Ohh, one more thing. Try not to take carbs after 6 – 7pm or keep them low in the evening/night. This again may increase chances of your storing carbs as fats over night because your metabolic rate slows down at night and if you don’t use up the carbs (or any other macro-nutrient), it will convert to fat.

Right!! I think that’s all for today…stay tuned. I will shortly start posting some workout routines and also a HOW TO guide. See ya!!

The jump rope workout

2008-08-19T12:59:00.005+06:00

One of the best and most affordable exercise equipments around is the jump rope. Athletes ranging from swimmers, to boxers, to martial artists use it for total conditioning. It is no longer a 6 year old girl’s toy. You can get an amazing heart pumping, fat burning, BMR raising, stamina building, muscle conditioning, strength increasing, co-ordination improving workout in a matter of minutes. You don’t even have to do it every day. Do it 3 – 4 days a week and that is it. The jump rope is an excellent addition to any weight loss/fat loss or muscle building program. You may have seen a number of Muhammad Ali’s workout clips where he is just skipping. Here’s one:

Here’s another video of a boxer skipping away.

Now, I don’t expect you to do what the guy above is doing, but you should be able to do the following.

Stretch your calves and legs, grab a jump rope and start skipping at a normal pace (you define what is normal for you). Skip for about 30 seconds then start walking in one place with knees as high as your waist and arms moving as well. Walk for 1 minute at a reasonably high speed then start skipping. Skip for 30 seconds at a higher speed. If the rope gets stuck in your feet, no worries…just adjust the rope and start jumping again. Repeat the above 6-8 times and you’re done. If this starts to get easy for you, start alternating between fast and slow skips rather than skips and walk. You will surely see benefits in you stamina, body fat percentage, speed and co-ordination.

There are some safety precautions that you should take. Make sure you are wearing proper shoes and are not skipping on a concrete or very hard floor. Don’t hold your breath while skipping and keep your back straight. One tends to start slouching while skipping which can be bad for your back and posture.

If you want to include skipping in your workout, you can replace the cardio with skipping. That should do for now...take care guys...see you soon.

Is ice cream healthy for you?

2008-08-16T21:07:00.006+06:00

I bet many of you just came to this post because you want to prove to yourself that ice cream is healthy, that ice cream can help you lose fat and help you build muscle? Well, there is good news for half of you and no so good for the other half. Research shows that the best kind protein is Whey protein. Whey is a by-product of the cheese making process and is present in dairy products It is now being used all over to world in form of Whey protein shakes and other supplements. The good news is - ice cream has lots of it. If you read some of my previous posts, you will find that if you are trying to build muscle, you should take-in high GI carbohydrates with fast absorbing proteins right after a workout. You get both of them from ice cream - sugar and whey. If you can buy a low fat brand of ice cream, it is possibly the BEST post workout small meal that you can take. Mind you, this is for people wanting to build msucle. If your aim is to lose body fat and you take ice cream, you won't get fat but chances are that you will slow down your fat burning ability. Reason being the amount of carbs that you will take in. It is advised to keep carbs quite low in a fat loss program. However, if you can find low fat and low sugar ice cream (of the diabetic ice cream), you can take it right after a vigerous workout. The good thing about a post workout meal is whether your aim is fat loss or muscle gain - the food you take in after a workout will get used up - atleast most of it. So even if you are on a fat loss plan, you can have ice cream right after a workout.

Who would have thought, ice cream - good for you :-). That's what I'm here to do. Make the impossible, possible :-). I recommend that you make a post workout shake with 2 scoops of ice cream. I have posted some recipes here. Feel free to try them.

I just though that I would write a small YET useful post to the point this time. Hope you liked it. Till next time guys. See ya.

A smooth diet or a smoothie diet?

2008-08-14T19:54:00.004+06:00

We all know what a smoothie is, (if not then please read about it here) and how it can keep us stay healthy and fit. There are a number of smoothie diets around and are quite well balanced from a nutrition and health point of view. These diets get you to drink a number of different kinds of smoothies ranging from energizers to filler (keeping you feeling full for longer) to system flushers and much more. The down side to this is that you get tired of drinking stuff all the time and trust me; you will get tired of it, not in a matter of months or weeks, but in days. Although, you can get all the macro-nutrients and good amounts of vitamins and minerals without spending much cash on supplements, you would finally want to get some solid food. Why not concentrate on a diet that is not ALL smoothies but smooth :-). That is very easy…just get rid of the ‘ies’ at the end…hehe!

I think we should use smoothie as snacks every single day and even include it in your breakfast if you want. Take your normal meals and for every snack, take a smoothie. Here is a SMOOTH diets that I followed for some time just to see how it works.

Option 1:

Breakfast: 1 bowl of Bran flakes cereal with skimmed milk and an apple

Snack 1: Peach and mango smoothie with 1 tbsp of olive oil

Lunch: Chicken breast with steamed mixed vegetables

Snack 2: Strawberry smoothie in low fat yogurt

Post workout: Banana smoothie with low fat yogurt and 20 grams of skimmed milk powder

Dinner: Tuna sandwich

Option 2:

Breakfast: Mixed fruit smoothie with 2 tbsp of oats and 1 tbsp of natural peanut butter

Snack 1: 1 pear and 10 almonds

Lunch: Brown rice with chicken

Snack 2: Plum and banana smoothie with an apple base

Dinner: Whole wheat tortilla wrap

These are just a couple of example of what I followed and it was very satisfying. I suggest that you try to take at least one smoothie a day as a snack. This is a very easy snack option and will save you a lot of time and effort. Hope this was useful for you, till next time guys…stay healthy.

Want a smooth path to healthy living? Grab a Smoothie!!

2008-08-12T10:19:00.006+06:00

For those of you who don’t know, a smoothie is a blended drink of fruit juices/yogurt and ice. The way it is prepared is that you have either a fruit juice or yogurt/milk base and you add a variety of fruits (ideally frozen) and lots of ice to it (to give it texture). First of all, it is VERY tasty, secondly there is no set recipe – you make what you want and last but not the least, it is very healthy. I usually use a base of low fat yogurt to get enough protein and some carbs, add low GI fruits and some ice. You can also use green tea extract (even though I am not the biggest fat of green team – I will discuss this later on), whey powder, multi-vitamin tablets and other supplements. Here are some recipes that you might want to try.

Orange-Pineapple Smoothie
1 cup orange juice
2 cups pineapple chunks packed in their own juice
1 banana
1/4 cup skim milk
1 Tbsp. honey
4-5 ice cubes

Tropical Smoothie
1 tub (150-200 g) Low Fat Yoghurt
1 cup Hi-Lo Milk
½ cup Orange juice*
1 Tbsp. Honey
1 cup Frozen fruit**
1 ½ cups Crushed ice

Banana Blackberry smoothie
1 medium banana, peeled
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup ice cubes

Supergirl summer smoothie
2 bananas, broken into chunks
1 cup cubed papaya (optional)
1 cup cubed fresh pineapple
1 cup cubed honeydew
3 cubes ice cubes
2 (6 ounce) containers fruit flavored yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice, or as needed

The Any Smoothie
Any 100% fruit juice, yogurt or milk
Any fruit you like
Any kind of ice
Blend in Any blender :-)

Here are a few more tips:
· Use frozen fruit (bananas and strawberries work well).
· Avoid sweetened frozen fruits.
· If it’s too thick, add more milk, 100 percent fruit juice or soymilk.
· If it’s too thin, add more fruit, ice cubes, yogurt (fresh or frozen) or tofu.
· It it’s too tart, add honey.
· If it’s too sweet, add lemonade or a small spoonful of lemon juice.

Smoothies are a very good addition to a weight loss, fat burn or even a muscle building program. You can treat them as a snack or an actual meal. They are healthy enough to even be used as breakfast. I highly recommend getting into the smoothie trend coz I’m telling you right now, this will be one of the best decisions you will ever make. I will be posting about the smoothie diet next time, so stay tuned :-).

Burn fat in an hour..........A WEEK!!

2008-08-09T23:14:00.004+06:00

What is the most common excuse that people have for not working out? It's that they don’t have time to workout. An average person works for about 8 - 10 hours everyday, comes home and either crashes on the bed, in front of the TV or runs to the fridge. Usually the people are so tired that they find time to do anything but workout. There are a number of reasons for that, revolving mainly around their diet and the type of work that they do. Instead of getting them to change their job or get disciplined in their eating habits (which they don't want - trust me), we can look for an alternative. Never fear - Usman is here :). I have designed a workout plan that is only an hour long. An hour you say, that is just another workout. Actually, no it isn't. I did not say an hour a day, I am saying - AN HOUR A WEEK. Is that good or is that good. 10 minutes a day for 6 days a week in the morning and you will be melting fat instead of burning it. Just think about it, 10 minutes a day, 1 hour a week, 4 hours a month, 48 HOURS A YEAR. That is easy...isn't it? NO, it isn't. The workouts are short but highly intense. It should be done before you breakfast when glycogen stores are at their minimum and if a need is created, the maximum energy will come from fats. You can multiply you effects if you take an all protein breakfast as you will increase your growth hormone (it help you burn fat) to dramatic levels for a couple of hours and then take the carbs. So if you have an all protein breakfast at 8, you can take a snack with carbs at 11 or 11:30. However, this is not necessary.

Ok then, here is the workout:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Warm up (1 minute)
10 squats
10 pushups
30 jumping jacks

Strength (5 minutes)
10 pushups – Very slow – 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down, but do not rest.

10 pullups or rows – The concentric movement (coming back to the start position) should be very slow i.e. 5 minutes. If you cannot complete 10 pullups/rows, jump to do the pullup but come back to the start position very slowly.

10 Upright rows – Grab something heavy (a bucket of water would do just fine), stand straight and the bucket towards your chest. Remember the 5 second rule.

12 jump squats – squat and jump as high as you can

Internal Cardio (4 minutes)
15 burpees
30 jumping jacks
15 burpees
30 jumping jacks
15 burpees
30 jumping jacks
15 burpees
30 jumping jacks

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Warm up (1 minute)

The idea is now to have sudden burst of high intensity movements. Imagine there is someone right in front of you and you have to beat him/her up REAL BAD. Here’s what you do:

1 minutes jump rope or jumping jacks
30 seconds just go wild kicking and punching as fast and hard as you can. You want to mutilate the other (non-existent) guy.

Repeat this 8 times and you’re done. Pretty simple, isn’t it? Try this with a healthy diet i.e. drink lots of water, take sufficient low GI carbs and proteins with low carbs at dinner and a few portions of fruits and you’ll be surprised. Trust me! I’ve got lots more to tell you guys so stay tuned.

Cycle your carbohydrates – Burn fat fast

2008-08-07T22:04:00.002+06:00

Did I just say CYCLING? Yes, I did. Cycling your carbs sounds funny doesn’t it? But let me tell you…it is one of the most power techniques of dropping a few pounds of fat very quickly. It has been used by professional body builders for a long long time near the competition season. Just look at those natural body builders a couple of months before competition and then on the actual day of competition. You won’t be able to see even a bit of body fat on them. How do they do it? Obviously, there is the workout and muscle mass factor but, they have that all year round as well so how come they do not stay LEAN throughout the year? It’s because of CARB CYCLING.

The idea of carb cycling is alternating between either high and low/no carbs or starchy and fibrous carbs. There are a number of different theories about what the best way to do this. Some say that you should have 5 days of low carbs and 2 days of high carbs, some say the best approach is replace starchy carbs with fiberous carbs for 3 days and then go back to starchy carbs for 3 days (with a cheating day), then we have experts taking the zig zag approach and taking high carbs during the major muscle group days and low/no carbs on other days. There is a lot of stuff out there, so we will discuss what should we be doing.

This is a technique where you can burn fat and build muscle. Let’s say if you are following the 3 day high and 4 day low carb. For the first three days, you do compound exercises and take in high carbs. During this time, you will be promoting muscle gain. For the next few days, you take in low carbs (but the same amount of fats and protein) and do some fat loss exercises i.e. full body workouts and HIIT. This will promote fat loss. You can also workout one day, rest the other. In the same way, you take in high carbs on the workout day and low/no carbs on the resting day. There are a lot of techniques out there. The idea is to get maximum gains in muscle with minimizing fat gain (or even losing it).

My personal recommendation is ‘any of the above’. You can try any of these techniques as all of them have proven to work. My routine is as follows:

Mon – Chest and Thighs with high carbs mainly around the workout

Tue – Triceps and calves with no carbs

Wed – Back and shoulders with high carbs

Thur – Biceps and forearms with no carbs

Fri – HIIT with high carbs

Sat – Abs and lower back with low carbs

Sun – Cheat day

On days when I need the energy and am trying to build muscle, I take in high carbs and on other days I take lower carbs with moderate exercise. Hope this has been useful for you. Please comments if you want to know more and I will write another post in greater detail. Till next time – stay tuned for lots more.

Best Fat Burning Exercise

2008-08-05T18:51:00.002+06:00

There are more than 100,000 articles, blogs and websites on the internet that talk about the best fat burning exercise. Some say it is walking, some are of the opinion that cycling or rowing burn the most fat, then you also have a category of people who promote weight training as the best fat burner. Each one has arguments for their exercises. The thing is that in order to make this decision we cannot only rely on the exercise. It is the exercise, intensity and the method of training that counts. For example, bench press is one of the best chest exercises and to achieve the final goal, you need to consider the intensity and method as well. If you use 2 lbs dumbbells and do 25 reps for 2 sets of bench press, you will never gain muscle. So the exercise alone is not enough to make this decision. Let’s analyze each of these aspects and try to draw a conclusion.

The best fat burning exercise should work all of your major muscle groups. These include the glutes, thighs, back, chest and shoulders. Simply put, the more/larger the muscle, the more calories you burn and the bigger the EPOC effect. So any exercise that works all of these muscle groups is a good fat burner. Exercises that do actually work the entire body or the major muscle groups are running, skipping, burpees, clean and jerk, high jumps, kettle bell swings etc. You get the idea. So which one is the best? In my personal view, anaerobic exercises are better than aerobic for fat loss. Many experts may at this point be like – ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about’ as it is a general notion that aerobic exercise is for fat burning. But we fail to realize that anaerobic exercise gives us the EPOC (Excess Post-workout Oxygen Consumption) effect for a lot longer as compared to aerobic exercises. This helps you raise your metabolism, increase your oxygen intake and in effect, burn more fat. I would say that the best exercise for a full body workout is clean and jerks or kettle bell swings. Don’t get me wrong, running is excellent, but there is A LOT of risk for injury. If you do the clean jerks or swings as a controlled movement at a medium to high intensity, you would be a lot safer.

As pointed out earlier, it is not only the exercise that determines whether it is the best burner or not. It is also important to note in what method the exercise is being done. As many others, I support HIIT as being the best method for burning fat, but majority of the trainers look at HIIT as alternating between low intensity and high intensity cardio. I think slightly differently. I prefer strength training workouts alternated with resting periods. For example, do 15 reps of clean and jerk followed by a resting period for about 1 – 2 minutes. Repeat this 5 – 8 times and you’re done. All the HIIT essentials are there – EPOC, carb and fat usage, cardio workouts, mass gaining workout, release of HGH and testosterone and lots more. It’s actually the same HIIT concept, with minor changes.

Ok, so the conclusion is that a full body workout like clean and jerk or kettle bell swings with medium to high intensity in an HIIT fashion is the best kind of fat burner. Stay tuned for a lot more hints and tips for BURN FAT AND BUILD MUSCLE.

To gym or not to gym...that is the question...or is it!!

2008-08-04T00:05:00.002+06:00

On the one hand there are people who look forward to going to the gym and on the other hand there are those who want to workout at home and avoid the gym completely. Which one is better for you? Can you do every workout at home? Is there any reason for you to go to a gym? Does it matter whether you go to the gym or workout at home?

In my case, I feel right at home when I’m at the gym, but there are people who do not feel comfortable there. It is usually the over-weight bunch who don’t want people to look at them whilst working out. Lack of confidence? Probably. Then there are others who don’t like the music or being around the sweaty and smelly people. They would much rather workout at home or not workout at all.

Then there are others who can’t live without going to the gym. They get into their car and drive to the gym; just to run on a treadmill or get on the stationary bike for 30 to 45 minutes or use machines/free weights. Why don’t they just run on the road side or ride their bike out doors or simply just buy a pair of dumbbells or a home gym (one off payment)? It would be A LOT cheaper and you will get the results as well. What is it that gets the people to spend their hard earned money every month and go to the gym? Is it the environment? The environment can provide you with the motivation to workout. When you see people working out, you want to do the same. You see this girl who has been running on a treadmill for 30 minutes, you would want to test yourself and see if you can do it too - Am I right? I know I am :-). You may get motivated if you see a guy with the physique that you want to achieve or you may just get a rush by just listening to the music. All these may help you get motivated and get you to workout. However, you can get the music, physique etc. at home as well. Put on the ROCKY exercise videos and you’re good to go. The question shouldn’t be; whether you need to go to a gym or not. The question should be – what will get you off the couch and start working out either at the gym or at home. The answer is HOPE and RESULTS. You start workouts with HOPES to achieve results and you continue with workouts if you get the desired RESULTS.

If you want to become a professional body builder then you should go to the gym (reasons might take too long). But if your ultimate goal is fitness, then you don’t need to go to a gym. You need the right guidance to give yourself HOPE and effective workouts for RESULTS. You can get the guidance from authentic websites, online personal trainers or BLOG (*wink wink*) and stick to the workout and diet routines. You can do every kind of workout at home in a matter of minutes.

Moral of the story – gym or no gym, all you need is to start working outs. You can send me an e-mail at ups1984@hotmail.com if you are interested in online personal training or need some guidance. You can get complete home workout diet and workout routines customized for you. See you next time :-).

Motivate to Burn Fat 'n' Build Muscle

2008-08-01T17:48:00.002+06:00

It’s really hard to find time to exercise with our busy schedules but at the same time, we want to stay fit, burn fat, lose weight and build muscle. If you don’t have any motivation, chances are you will never even try to make time for a workout session. If your workouts are short, interesting, dynamic and you are getting results then there is no reason for you not to be motivated…RIGHT? The two main aspects are that you should enjoy the workouts and secondly, you should be getting results. There is no point in running on treadmill for 45 minutes if you absolutely hate it, because sooner or later, you will quit. Here are some hints and tips that you can try to keep your motivation high.

Make a plan and try to stick to it: You need to invest some time in this one but it is well worth it. The first thing you need to do is take a pad and on the very first page/cover, write “My Workout Plan” in big block letters. Every Sunday (or your off day) sit down, take a cup of no-dairy, no-sugar, no-fat and no-taste hot chocolate (just kidding :)), take the pad and plan out what you should be doing the next week. I don’t mean to say that you should be changing your workouts every week, but make sure you are doing things that you are enjoying.

Track Progress: You don’t only track progress using the weighing machine or measuring tape. You can do it with workouts. Say e.g. you started off with 3 sets of 8 push-ups. But the following week, you were able to do 10 and then 12 and so on. This is also showing progress. It means that you are either getting lighter (burning fat) or getting stronger (building muscle). If you plan carefully, you can actually do both in the period of one week. Take away lesson; keep a track of what you are doing and how you are improving at it.

Workout in the morning: This is a suggestion because just like you wash your face, brush your teeth and have breakfast, you can workout for 10 – 30 minutes in the morning. Basically, you are already following a routine of getting from a sleepy head to Mr. I have a job. All you need is to add the workout in it. Simple!

Look forward to the workout: This actually goes hand in hand with tracking your progress. If you are working out in the evening, think about the workout before hand and set a small goal. ‘8 pushups were slightly easy for me yesterday, I’ll try and do 10 today’ – Something along these lines would do great. If you are workingout in the morning, think about the workout before you go to bed. GET YOURSELF EXCITED!

Look at pictures of people you admire: If you like the Jessica Alba’s body, look at her picture and tell yourself that this is where you want to be. This actually does a lot of good for me. It just gets to you stand and start working out there and then.

Eat right so you have enough energy: Make sure you are following a diet plan so that you have enough fuel in your body to actually do the workout. You may have read my posts on nutrition and you should know that nutrition is more important that the exercises regardless of your goal.

Visualize yourself as you want to be: Last but not the least. You need to visualize what you want to be. I would say, everyday before you come out of bed or fall asleep, visualize yourself with that body you want and how happy it will make you feel.

There are a number of other methods that one can follow but these are the ones I use and have found success in them. Taking time out for yourself should be very important for you and these are just some hints and tips that will help you manage the time more effectively and get the motivation levels high. See you guys soon.

The 3P workout method

2008-07-30T14:58:00.002+06:00

This is a very interesting concept. I came up with this when I was wrestling with my cousin about 2 years back and even though I was a regular gym goer, I felt sore the very next day. At this point I was intrigued to see what exactly I did during the wrestling session that it engaged the muscles that I had not worked on? The point to note is that the soreness was present in the smaller muscle groups in places like the calves, the lower part of the lower back, the end tip of the traps (shoulder muscles that attach to the neck) and the inner triceps. After thinking about it for some time, I realized that there were two major aspects to the entire wrestling session – Pushups and pulling. However, these were not the traditional controlled push and push movements that we do in a gym. There were a lot of jerks and sudden burst of power involved. After a lot of pondering and recalling I came up with the 3P method which can help you burn fat and tone up/define the muscles that you really want to show. The 3P stands for ‘Pull Push Partner’ routine. The thing is that you cannot do this workout alone, hence the term ‘Partner’. Here is what you need to do.

Look for an open area where you have at least 50 meters of space – like a track. You will start with a warm up which can be anything as long as it gets the heart pumping and makes you feel a bit warm. Now grab your partner’s hands in whatever way you feel comfortable and start pulling. The pull should not be a continuous pull, think of a rowing machine; the difference is that you are standing up and moving one step backward after each pull. So after each pull, take a step (or two) back and pull your partner towards you with one powerful jerk. As for the partner, he/she should not try to pull back but provide resistance. The partner’s arms and forearms should make an angle of about 90 – 130, back should be straight and knees slightly bent. These steps are very important to avoid injury. You are not to stop between pulls, it should be high intensity, high power and high speed.

Once you complete the 50 meters, start pushing your partner. The concept remains the same that the partner will provide resistance and you will get a GOOD workout. Repeat this 3 – 5 time and then you become the resistance provider and your partner can get the workout.

Some points that are very important – You and your partner should more or less be at the same level of fitness. You don’t have to be exactly the same but some what similar. WARM UP is absolutely vital. You don’t want to pull a muscle or anything so make sure you are warmed up.

I have actually used this technique on a few of my partner clients and it has worked very well because by the end of the workout, you will FEEL like you have had a workout. The workout reminds me of this machine where you sit and pull the handles, then push them with a big wheel on the side that provided resistance. At one time it was said to be the best machine for full body workouts. If you want to be innovative, you can replace your partner with some other kind of resistance provider like say a small car. Anything would do as long as you can pull and push it.

The 3P method works on the HIIT and Supersets concepts which are both excellent for fat loss and muscle gain. I for one always enjoy this workout so I would urge you to have a go as well. Please do leave comments on what you think about the 3P workout method.

Protein Shakes

2008-07-29T10:35:00.004+06:00

Protein shakes are very popular nowadays especially because of the high protein diet. Here are a few recipes of protein shakes without the use of supplements that you might want to try.

Pre-workout/Snack
3 scoops low fat and low sugar ice cream
½ cup skimmed milk
2 tbsp oats
1 tbsp peanut butter

10 – 15 crushed almonds
½ cup skimmed milk
¼ cup yogurt
2 egg whites

Post workout
½ cup skimmed milk
2 scoops of ice cream
¼ cup yogurt
½ bananas
2 – 4 ice cubes
2 egg whites - optional
1 banana
3 egg whites
½ cup evaporated milk
2 – 4 ice cubes
10 – 15 Crushed almonds
50 g skimmed milk powder
¾ cup skimmed milk
Milkshake powder or a low GI fruit (e.g. mango, peach, pear, apple etc.)

Here is a very good collection for protein powder shakes:
http://www.projectswole.com/diet/70-protein-shake-recipes

Instead of just giving you some recipes, I’ll give you some details about what you should be considering when coming up with a protein shake recipe.

If you are following a fat loss plan, you should consider taking a similar shake as the Pre-workout shakes showed above. Along with the protein, take some fiber (oats are probably the best option) or complex carbohydrates (Low GI fruits) and also introduce unsaturated fats like peanut butter, almonds, olive oil etc. This will help slow down the absorption process, therefore providing you with constant energy. You can take this as a pre and/or post workout meal as long is fat loss is your aim.

As for muscle building, the pre-workout shake should be the same as outlined above with the same concept. The post-workout shake should include fast absorbing proteins and carbohydrates. You can take sugars, as at this point your body will be craving for sugars. In simple words, you will use up these sugars or store them as glycogen in the muscles and liver (by the way, this is all good for you). Taking in these sugars will increase your insulin level which would be unlike any other time. Usually we want to control the insulin levels but after a muscle building workout you should increase the insulin levels and take in a good amount of proteins as insulin is an anabolic hormone and helps in protein synthesis (muscle building) when required. At other times, instead of building muscle, it builds fat so be careful or spiking insulin level at times other than post muscle building workouts.

I guess this gives you an idea of what you should try and do. Please note that these guidelines are for people looking for fitness. As far as Pro-bodybuilding goes, one needs to consider a number of other things as well.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for lots lots more.

Are all calories the same?

2008-07-27T22:51:00.006+06:00

A number of nutritionists out there just tell you to eat low calorie foods to lose weight and that’s it. This is known as the ‘A calorie is a calorie’ concept. This indicates that all calories are the same. Well, strictly speaking, the calories are the same BUT the effect that they bring with them can either help your goals or make it harder to achieve them. Let’s take a look at them in greater details.

We have three macro-nutrients:

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for our body. They are present in fruits, dairy products and gains. Carbohydrates (also known as carbs) are broken down into glucose to be used as energy and also converted into glycogen to be stored in the muscles and liver. If you take in more carbs than you require, your body will convert these carbs into fat and store them for future use. This is one of the reasons why low-carb diets are so popular. Basically, there are a number of different types of carbohydrates. The traditional method of carb classification is simple carbs, complex carbs (starch), fiber. Another method to classify the carbs is the Glycemic Index including Low GI, Medium GI and High GI carbs which are based on how quickly the blood sugar level increases where you take in the carbs. A similar method is the insulin index which is fairly new based on which carbs effect insulin in which way. The main idea is to stick to Low GI and complex carbs and taking minimum carbs at night.

Proteins are present in different kinds of meat, dairy products, plants, beans and lentils etc. The main purpose of protein is to provide muscle and other tissue repairing properties. As far as nutrition goes the important things to note is that protein takes a lot of time to get digested thus keeping you full for a long time and also gets absorbed slowly. Protein also has a thermal effect, increasing our body temperature and therefore our metabolism. High protein diets are very popular nowadays mainly because of the reasons mentioned above. Proteins can be used as a source of energy minimizing the use of carbohydrates and they are also the least likely of the three macro-nutrients to get stored as fat, you will get a goof fat loss effect. However, eating too much protein has two big negative. Firstly – you start over working the kidneys as a lot of waste is created from protein rich foods. Another big big negative is increasing the risk of intestinal/stomach cancer and ulcers. The right balance is required to get the best benefits from proteins. There are a number of different kinds of proteins, ranging from dairy, to plant to animal. The best kind of protein is said to be ‘Whey’ protein followed by egg protein. Whey is a bi-product of cheese making and SURPRISE SURPRISE, it is also present in ice cream. So a very good post workout meal = ICE CREAM…hehe. These proteins are complete and incomplete, get digested either very quickly or take their time. These effects are very important to determine your success.

Fats are of the good kind and the bad kind. These are saturated fats, unsaturated fats (mono and poly) and trans-fats. The good fats (unsaturated) are vital components of building tissues and cells so cutting out fats completely from your diet (which many people do) is absolutely wrong. You need things like nuts, olive oil, fish oil etc. in your diet to ensure a balanced diet. However, the amount of fats should not be very high as they are rich in calories. The unsaturated fats also help you slow the digestion and absorption process (i.e. helping you stay full provide slow and constant energy to your body).

Amount of calories
Proteins – 4 calories per gram
Carbohydrates – 4 calories per gram
Fats – 9 calories per gram

As you can see there are different classifications of different macro-nutrients, which means that they have different properties and effect us in different ways. If all calories were the same then eating only sugar in moderate amounts would help you lose fat, but does it? A calorie is in fact a calorie, but the effects such as saturated fat calories increasing cholesterol and unsaturated fats lowering cholesterol, insulin going sky high with High GI carbs and staying in control with Low GI are things that determine whether you will reach your fitness goal. I will be talking about each macro-nutrient in days to come to stay tuned.

Crossfit - The next big thing!!

2008-07-24T22:03:00.009+06:00

Crossfit is an exercise methodology created by Greg Glassman a former gymnast in the 1970s. In my personal view, if you don’t want to bulk up like a pro body builder, but want a well-defined body, lose body fat and improve your fitness level beyond your wildest expectations then Crossfit is for you. They concentrate on strength, speed and endurance, which cover almost all the aspects of fitness. You do strength exercises with high intensity with high speed to failure.

Here is a beginner’s workout for you to try.

Kipping pull-ups x 5
Push-ups x 10
Squats x 15

Continue doing this for about 20 minutes or for however long you can. The idea is to keep your self going. If you can’t do 5 pull-ups after repeating the routine 5 times, then do it 3 or 4 times. If you can’t even do one pull-up, then use momentum and jump and come down slowly, but try to keep going. This really exhausts your muscles. It is always recommended that you do the Crossfit training in teams or at least in pairs to keep the motivation high.

This is a tough and challenging method of training, hence the high number of drop outs. However, the numbers seem to be increasing very rapidly and people are getting excellent results with regards to fitness overall. If you are not into challenging your body and seeing how far you can push yourself before giving up then this is probably not the best training method for you. But if you want to see what you are made of, then grab your exercise kit and get ready for a workout of a life time.

Now finally, my recommendation - Look into the Crossfit method of training and try it. Go to their website at http://www.crossfit.com/ and learn their beginner movements. For now, you can start with the routine listen above. If fat loss and tone is your aim, you will be surprised with the results. Just make sure you follow a sensible diet plan. You can try the ‘1-2 zig zag’ method described in the previous post. The routine should be done on the high calorie day before breakfast for best results. If you want to gain muscle mass using this routine then you will have to increase the resting period and slow down the movements. This should also be supported with a muscle building diet plan. To get some guidance on what a muscle gaining diet plan should be like subscribe to get the 10 week burn ‘n’ build program and see how the muscle building diet works.

I think that should do for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with some more interesting stuff about how YOU can get to where you want to be. Till next time – Keep the motivation high.

The no-sweat burning method

2008-07-23T12:19:00.005+06:00

Do you want to burn fat without exercising, here is what you do.

- Calculate your BMR
- Add a factor for the activity level and get the total calorie in take amount
- Get used to the calories
- Create a zig-zag
- Lose body fat

There are some other rules that need to be considered. These are related to the timing of calories and the type of calories you are taking in.
Breakfast - Low GI carbohydrates | Fiber | Slow Protein | Unsaturated fats
Snack - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates
Lunch - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low GI carbohydrates | Fiber
Snack - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates
Snack 2 - Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low GI carbohydrates
Supper - Slow Protein | Unsaturated fats | Low or no carbohydrates

Never fill yourself up
Drink 8 – 12 glasses of water at least.
Supper needs to small and needs to be 2 – 3 hours before going to bed

Now let’s look at an example. My BMR is 1800 and I am just moderately active throughout the day. I add about 200 calories extra for the activity and finally coming to 2000 calories a day. This would be my maintenance level. Now I design a diet plan for myself taking into consideration the rules above and making sure I take in 2000 calories everyday. I continue with this for 2 weeks. This is to get my body to get used to and start running on 2000 calories.

After the two weeks, On Monday I take 2000 calories, but on Tuesday and Wednesday, I take in about 1200 – 1400 calories. I don’t skip any meals, I just reduce the portion size, ideally from the carbs. Just think about it, your body is used to running on 2000 calories, but for two days you create a deficit and making sure that you body knows that you are not in starvation as you will be eating 6 small meals and also at the very same time after the two days you go back to 2000 calories so your body remains used to the 2000 calories. The 600 calorie deficit that is produced needs to come from some where. You are controlling the cortisol by eating frequently; taking in low carbs so the only source left is FATS. So we are creating 4 x 600 calorie deficits a week, increasing metabolism and improving energy levels along with making sure that we take in all the nutrients. Make sense?

Shoot me with any questions.

That’s all from me today. See you guys tomorrow.

The first day

2008-07-21T19:25:00.005+06:00

Today was my first day back on training. I am following the free 10 week Burn 'n' Build program, which you can also download completely free of cost from the column on the right. I kind of modified it a bit. The diet didn't go as well as I had planned. I was planning to take in more protein and less carbs for today but due to lack of preparation, I had to settle for a few things that i didn't want. It is very important to keep eating every few hours. If you don't, the body tells itself to go into starvation more, your hormones start going crazy and you start deriving energy from protein as well i.e. muscle loss. If you eat a number of times, but in small amounts, you avoid the starvation mode, increase your metabolism, stay energized and always feel satisfied. Anyways, enough about the science stuff. I wanted to tell you about today's diet.
Today I had:
- A bowl of cereal (Fruit & Fiber) with fat free milk
- 10 Almonds
- 100g of chicken with a quarter plate of rice
- Yogurt and gram snack
- 250 ml of milk
- 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
Workout
- 250 grams of chicken, sprite (for the insulin spike), whole wheat bread.

I should have taken more protein in the breakfast, accompany the almonds with milk/yogurt/apple/peach/egg white etc. and I should have taken the rice just before the workout. Anyways, I'm sure I'll get it right tomorrow.

The workout was excellent. It was a Chest and triceps workout day and MAN!!! it was good. Doing almost every push up from wide, to narrow, to scatter to jump, to clap. I also did some isometric holds at the end. Ill be doing thighs tomorrow, which I'm sure will leave me lying on the floor :). In case you are wondering, I usually workout at home as my specialization is in home workouts and fat loss. I just thought I'd let you know :).

I guess I'll stop here for today. See you guys tomorrow..so keep visiting :)

The Burn ‘n’ Build Phenomenon

2008-07-20T23:02:00.005+06:00

You must have heard in a number of places that you cannot burn fat and build muscle at the very same time. This is supported by one main argument that you need to increase calories to build muscle and decrease to burn fat or lose weight. I don't want to go into details at the moment but I will be posting a detailed article very soon. Any how, the main concept used for this technique is alternating between muscle building and fat burning routines.

This way you can get the best of both worlds. There are a lot more details that need to be considered in order to develop a program that you can run with, but as mentioned the main idea is to just from one to the other. One way is to do muscle building workouts one week with high calories, high carbohydrates and proteins and avoiding cardio (HIIT can be done once or twice a week), then the very next week lower you carbohydrates, increase HIIT and full body strength work out. You will preserve muscle and burn fat one week and build muscle the next. It's quite simple. You can find more details in the FREE 10 week Burn 'n' Build program. I will be posting a number of workout routines, how make a workout plan, best times to do different workouts and lots lots more, so stay tuned. I will be starting my diet and workout routine from tomorrow, so keep an eye out for hints, tips and my progress. Please feel free to leave any comments. Till next time - Stay fit.

Burn Fat 'n' Build Muscle - The journey begins

2008-07-19T23:27:00.004+06:00

“I want a six pack like Brad Pitt.”
“How can I get a tush like Jessica Alba.”
“I am happy with the rest of my body, its just the belly I want to get rid of.”

Does this sound like something you would ask? If yes, then you have come to the right place. First of all, I would like to welcome you to my Burn fat ‘n’ Build muscle blog, a place where you will find all the answers to all your questions about health and fitness. Incase you don’t already know, my name is Usman Pasha. I am a certified sports nutritionist and personal fitness and aerobics trainer. I have been designing customized workout and diet plans for quite some time, in order to make it easier for my clients to achieve their fitness goals.

My aim is to make this blog a complete health and fitness hub where you will be able to find answers to any query related to workouts, nutrition, health, motivation and anything else you want. As the name says, the main focus will be on building muscle and burning fat at the same time. I know you must have read in a number of places that you CANNOT burn fat and build muscle at the same time. I will not pass a verdict on that just as yet. You will get the answer in a few weeks’ time; in fact you will get to make your own decision. Just to give you a taste of what to expect, please read my published articles (by clicking on the ezine articles link). You can also get a sample 10 week Burn ‘n’ Build program. All you need to do is enter your e-mail address in the Free 'Burn and Build' Program section and click on the ‘Give me my program’ button. It is completely free for you to try and comment on it.

In addition to writing about different health and fitness related issues and your concerns, I will also be posting details about my routine starting from Monday 21st of July (which is actually my younger brother’s birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE). I will keep you up to date with my progress and would also like to stay up to date with your progress. I hope to see you here very soon. Till next time – Stay Healthy.