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Total body fitness

Remember how we referred to your body as a machine?  Well, the time has come to improve the way that machine is working.  This means physically.

Your body is a well designed machine, actually.  Each part of your body functions well because of the support that other parts play.

Your heart pumps oxygen rich blood to each cell in your body, delivering fuel to is so that it can perform its duty.  Your lungs supply your heart with that necessary oxygen.  Your brain keeps everything working, even those things that you don’t think about doing like your heart beating and your lungs breathing.

Your job is to give your body what it needs to continue to perform correctly.  While your diet is something for the next chapter, we need to address your body’s ability to do what it needs to through being physically capable.

What some people don’t realize is why their body has developed as it has.  Well back in the time of the cave man, the body had to do what it needed to so that you could stay alive.  It would store food in fat so that when there wasn’t enough food available, these fat reserves could be used.

Your muscles are necessary for functioning but they have been built to be used, not to sit ideally.

Your body is used to providing your muscles with the fuel that they need to work hard.  If you don’t work hard, your body can’t maintain a healthy muscle mass.

What’s Healthy?

As we mentioned early, to know what level of fitness your body is in, you need to take into consideration the vast number of measurements that we’ve already taken.  Your weight, your blood pressure and your body mass index are good indications of your overall health.

Yet, it goes further than this, too.  You should understand how well your body is working, too.  Do you have any physical limitations?  If you physically can’t lift things for fear of hurting your back, this could be a potential problem that needs to be considered.

If you have problems with your legs, your neck, your arms or anything else, you should address these specific concerns.  The best place to start is to work with your doctor to determine why you aren’t physically fit in those areas.  That way, you can improve your overall health and then improve upon your situation by knowing how to.

Where Are You?

As we’ve mentioned, it’s important for you to know where you stand health wise.  That means taking the measurements that we’ve listed.  You should weekly weigh yourself, the same day at the same time each week.  Keep a log of this information so that you can see your progression.

Talking to your doctor is a great place to start when it comes to determining your overall health.  You shouldn’t skip this step.

If you are overweight, chances are good that your heart has been affected by it.  You may not physically be able to exercise to a certain level.  We won’t even include that level of exercise here because your doctor must tell you what’s okay and what is too much.

If you aren’t having any physical limitations, pains or weight problems, that’s a great sign.  Now, look at your body in other manners to determine what you can improve on.  Even an overall fit person can often improve their body’s fitness through improving their body’s makeup.

Understanding where you are is difficult for many at first.  It’s a hard realization.  But, it’s not the permanent solution, its going to improve, one step at a time.

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Meal plans for athletes

Choosing the right way to eat to build muscle can be a little overwhelming.  But once you start eating the way you need to, it will become second nature to you.

Following is a list of good foods for you to eat in each of the categories you need to concentrate on:

Proteins
White meat chicken or turkey
Canned tuna
Canned salmon
Fresh Fish
Shellfish
Eggs
Tofu
Soy
Red meat like steak or roast

Complex Carbohydrates

Oatmeal
Potatoes
Yams, Sweet potatoes, Acorn squash
Rice
Legumes
Corn

Vegetables
All water based types.

Lettuce, Cabbage, Spinach
Asparagus
Bok Choy, Leeks
Tomatoes
Celery
Onions
Green Beans
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Radish
Zucchini Squash
Mushrooms
Carrots
Peas

Fruit

1 Apple
1 Orange
1/2 Grapefruit
3 Small Apricots
1 Banana
1/4 Melon
1-Cup Berries, Grapes
1 mango, small papaya

Dairy

1 yogurt
1-Cup low fat cottage cheese
1-Cup non-fat milk (I use vanilla soy milk instead!)
1/2 Cup non or low fat cheese

Wheat Products

2 slices whole wheat bread
1 bagel
2-Cups pasta
Whole wheat tortillas

Snack Foods

Rice cakes
Non-wheat cereals
Plain popcorn
Raw Vegetables
Nuts
Dried Fruit

A good diet is well-rounded and contains some of each of the food groups.  You should also include a supplement in your diet which we will get to in a later section.  As we’ve said, you should be eating 5 or 6 smaller meals every day instead of three large ones.  Space your meals about 2 to 2 ½ hours apart.

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Drinking Water and Weight Loss

Probably one of the best things you can do to help your body building workout progress the way you want it to is to drink plenty of water.  Water is good for you anyway, but for body builders, it can be especially important.

Water is part of every single metabolic process that the body undertakes.

Most experts recommend everyone drink six to eight glasses of water daily to stay healthy.  For body builders, you’ll need much more.

Soda, coffee, and tea don’t count either.  The caffeine can increase fluid loss, so you’re not getting the hydration you need.  Body builders need at least a half gallon to a gallon per day depending on the intensity of your workouts.

Water flushes out toxins and other metabolic waste products from the body. Water is especially important when following a “high protein” diet, as it helps remove excess nitrogen, urea (a toxic substance), and ketones. If you’re eating big to gain weight, then you need even more water to help your kidneys do their work.

Without enough water, the kidneys can’t function properly.

When this happens, some of the load is transferred to the liver. The liver metabolizes stored fat for energy. If the liver is doing some of the kidneys’ work, it burns less fat. In addition, water can actually reduce feelings of hunger.

Contrary to popular belief, drinking water can actually help you shed excess water weight. When water is in short supply, the body, thinking there’s a shortage, begins hoarding it. This water is stored in extra cellular spaces. In other words, your skin starts looking soft and puffy.

If you’re going to be using supplements in your body building program, and you should, water can help them work.  Supplements like creatine work in part because it pulls water in muscle cells, creating an anabolic environment needed for muscle growth.

For this to work properly, you need plenty of water. Plus, if you’re training hard, then you need a basic mega-vitamin.  Many vitamins are water soluble, and water unlocks the power of those vitamins.

A good diet is essential to an effective body building program.  You can workout with the intensity of a professional, but if your diet stinks, you won’t be doing yourself any good.  Consider the following general tips for your nutritional needs.

•    Drink skim milk or soy milk

•    Cut sugar from your diet.  Use artificial sweeteners instead.

•    No regular soda!  Diet is better for you anyway and doesn’t contain sugar

•    Pizza and hamburgers are a big no-no.  Not only are they high in bad fat content, they are highly caloric and can cause you to overeat

•    Eat lots of fish to increase your levels of Omega 3 fatty acids

•    Chicken breasts are good for you as well

•    Allow yourself one cheat day a week where you can indulge in something you’ve been craving.  Just don’t overdo it on your cheat days or you can undo all you’ve accomplished.

•    Limit the amount of fruit you eat.  While fruit is healthy, it can have a detrimental effect on your workout.

•    Protein and complex carbohydrates are very important

•    Instead of eating three large meals a day, eat six smaller ones

•    Don’t skip meals

•    Vegetables are always a good choice at mealtime

•    When eating out, choose foods wisely.

•    Avoid most fast food restaurants or opt for healthy choices – remember no burgers!

The body is very adaptable to change.  At first, you may have problems getting used to your new diet.  But once you get used to eating right, you’ll find yourself not even craving the foods you used to eat.

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Small waist

Where Are You Now?

Take a look at yourself right now.  What do you see?  If you are unhappy about any part of your body, chances are good that area of your body is bothering you because it’s an unhealthy area.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine where you stand right now.

•    Do you have aches and pains in parts of your body that are not from an injury?

•    Do you have clothing that doesn’t fit parts of your body well?

•    Do you struggle to do physical activities?  Do you avoid them because you know you can’t do them?

•    Are you unhappy with the way that your body looks?  Do you avoid looking in the mirror?

•    Have you been told by your doctor, your family or others that you need to consider your fitness?

If so, then you need to begin by understanding that change needs to happen.  There are several tools that you need to use to determine your health level currently.  You can find calculators for many of these available to you free of charge on the web.  You need to use them to understand exactly where you stand right now.

•    Your Blood Pressure: The pressure in which your heart pumps blood throughout your body.  You need this number to be there, but it needs to be in a certain range to be healthy.  For adults, this is generally 120 to 139/80 to 89.  Ask your doctor where your blood pressure is.

•    Body Mass Index: Your BMI is a measure of the percentage of fat on your body.  The higher this number is, the more prone to health risks you are.

•    Ideal Weight: In comparison to your height and body structure, your ideal weight is the weight that you should be, ideally.

These three things are critical elements for you to take into consideration when considering where you stand right now.  But, there’s much more for you to consider.

One thing that we want you to do besides getting the above information is to grab a tape measure and get one of the most important measurements out there:  your waist.

Your waist is important because it is the indication on your body of your potential health risk. Those that have a larger midsection are most prone to health risks.

This is an important piece of information because of how vital it is to your health.  Those that have a large midsection are the most prone to heart problems.

The fat that is here will push into your body, causing difficulty for each organ there.  Your kidneys, your lungs and even your heart are suppressed.  In effect, the fat here is likely to be what kills you, if you are overweight.

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Benefits of physcial fitness

What does the word fitness mean to you?

To each person, its something different.  To many it’s a word that brings on the cringe of pain, of doing something they simply hate and even something they will avoid at all possible costs.  But, that’s not necessary for most people.

In fact, fitness can be enjoyable if you know how to make it be just that.  In these series, these will teach you several very key elements to keeping yourself fit.  Each tip and tool given is something that you can do easily, without much help and with the ability to see benefits.

You won’t lose a magical 100 pounds this first three months.  You may be able to drop that amount of weight, though, in a year’s time.  In many ways, fitness can be fun and we’ll show you how to make it just that, healthily.

Instead of a gimmick diet, another useless fad and any type of crazy health food that costs more than all of the meals from your family, this is a simple, no nonsense approach to overall fitness that simply makes sense.

You’ll learn something and you’ll be able to implement these tools today to start seeing success.  Really, it can be that simple to be healthy.  Let’s make fitness fun, then.

Fitness And Where You Stand Right Now

Fitness is a term that is used to help define the ability to stay in the best physical shape.  You may ask, then, “What am I staying in shape for?”  To each person, this will be something different.

For most, it is a matter of staying healthy as long as possible.  You see, your body is designed to work as a machine.  When each part of the machine is cared for, the entire machine works the best that it can.  When the machine is neglected either in part or in the whole, then the machine won’t run well and eventually won’t run at all.

If a car, for example, is well maintained for many years, it will last many years longer.  If it isn’t taken care of, for example you don’t change the oil in it, you cut several years off the life of the car.  That’s costly to you, but when you look at this as your body, you are shaving away days, weeks, and even years off of your life when you don’t take care of your machine (your body.)

Fitness is a necessary part of life. Before we get on the soap box, remember that fitness is something that you can get into the habit of doing which makes it easy.

Fitness is not something that you have to struggle with.  When you were three you were probably taught to brush your teeth.  You learned to put your clothes on.  When you were learning how to do them, you likely hated it.

But, once you learned how to do it, it became something that you didn’t think twice about.  Do you worry about brushing your teeth today?  No, because it’s a habit.  That’s what we want you to think of when you think of fitness.

It’s just something that you do.  Granted, the first weeks of learning to be fit and staying healthy will be the hardest.  You’ll dread it.  You’ll find excuses about not doing it.  You’ll claim that getting fit is just too hard.  You just can’t give up what you love.  That’s not true.

In fact, if you have the will power to save your life by sacrificing for just a few weeks, you’ll see that fitness can be easily mastered by you.

Our first goal is to determine where you stand right now.  Don’t worry, this is painless, but it may hurt your ego a bit to do it.  Nevertheless, it’s an important first step.

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