Water It Down!

Water is the plentiful substance in the body and has many benefits to your health. It is involved directly or indirectly in almost every function of the body and is a key component in the weight loss equation.
Studies have shown that consuming adequate amounts of water can help the body metabolized fat stores, while a decrease in water can actually can cause fat deposits to increase.

How does this happen? The kidneys are unable to work at full capacity if they are not getting enough water which can cause the liver to take on some of the load. One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize fat into a usable energy. If the liver is helping with kidney function it is unable to work at its full capacity therefore resulting in less metabolized fat stores. Less metabolized fat means more fat that stays stored in the body. Drink more water!

During the weight loss process the body tends to produce more waste. An increase in water intake can help relieve constipation and return normal bowel function while flushing additional waste. Drink more water! 

Many people also retain water do to a lack of water consumption or increased salt intake. If the body does not get enough water it responds by retaining as much water as it can. Water is stored in the body outside of the cell (extracellular space) which makes the body appear swollen or bloated and often shows up in the feet, legs and hands. The best way to overcome this is to simply drink plenty of water. It will essentially flush out the water your body is retaining. If you are retaining water do to an increased salt intake simply consume less salt and…………”drink more water”! 

Water also has many benefits for the skin. Water has a perfect PH (around 7.5 acid vs. alkaline) which help leave the skin clear, healthy and resilient.  

Drink about 8 glasses (2 quarts) of water per day and add a glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight you are trying to lose. Spread out your water intake over the course of the day. Increase your intake on hot days or times increased activity.

One last thing!  DRINK MORE WATER……………!

Edison’s Medicine

 ”Run out of things that don’t work and that will leave you with what does work.” Thomas A. Edison

 Thomas Edison failed over 10,000 times before successfully creating the incandescent lamp (light bulb).

Insanity!

Have you ever heard someone give the definition of the word insanity? You know the definition, “Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.” Well, you can go to any local gym and find plenty of insanity. People working out, doing the same workouts week after week and seeing little to no result. Usually frustration sets in and the amount of work compared to the results is just not worth it anymore. You stop going to the gym.

Just rewind and read that definition of insanity and you can vastly improve your results at the gym or wherever you workout. Simply choose different exercises for each muscle group each time you workout. Their are literally hundreds of exercises and variations for each muscle group. By performing different exercises each time you work a particular muscle group the body is forced to go through an adaptation period which in return raises its conditioning to a new level. It will also make your workouts far more exciting. So, as that wacky infomercial said back in the 80’s, “Stop the Insanity!”  Start enjoying your workouts and the results that come along with them. Try some new exercises.

Fitness Programs Plus offers over 125 printable workouts for all walks of life.  1000’s of exercises.

A little quote to help you through the day.

“You must go the first mile before going the extra mile.”
Craig R. LePage

The Opposite of Procrastinate

Procrastination, the opposite of decision. History shows that the majority of  people who experience failure do not make quick decisions if any decision at all. If and when they make a decision it is often changed quickly. They procrastinate. According to famous author Napoleon Hill who studied some of the most successful people of our time, successful people make quick decisions and change these decisions slowly if and when they are changed. He also goes on to say that the majority of people who fail often lack confidence and are easily influenced by the opinions of others.

Your master plan must be accomplished by chipping away. Many people make the mistake of focusing on the final goal instead of how to get there. This is often done with fitness. People focus on losing 20 pounds before losing 1 pound. It takes many individual workouts to accomplish your final goal.

Find out what works best for you when making the decisions on how to get things done on a daily basis. I’m a list guy. If I make a list I can easily get everything done on the list in most cases.

The bottom line is that procrastination will get you nowhere. Make decisions, take control and get it done!

3,500: Is the Magic Number

3500 is the approximate amount of calories that equals 1 pound of fat. Why is that important? Well, lets come up with a quick example to make some sense of this. Lets say that an individual needs 2000 calories over the course of a day to maintain their current weight and still have enough calories to burn for activity. If this were the case their body would stay the same if they ate 2000 calories and performed their same normal daily activity. Now lets say that same person started eating an extra 500 calories a day (2500 total calories) and still was performing their normal physical activity. That’s an extra 500 calories a day over the course of each week which would equal an extra 3500 calories resulting in one pound of fat gained.

The same goes for fat loss. If that same person were to start eating 1500 calories per day they would lose one pound of fat over the course of a week. (-500 cals x 7 days = -3500 cals = -1 pound of fat loss)

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: The explination above is based on ”The Law of Thermodynamics” Energy in compared to energy out. This law is the foundation by which “matter” in this case the body exists.

There are many variables that play a part in the make up of ones body. The explanation above is a good place to start when trying to change your body composition. I recommend reading “The Seven Secrets of Weight Loss” if you would like to learn more about this subject.

Good day…….

Guess what?

It is here! The “Fit News Plus” monthly newsletter is now available, so sign up for you free subscription today. Fit News Plus will provide you with cutting edge fitness news and tips that will make your workouts more enjoyable. It will also include helpful articles, a focus on a particular area of the Fitness Programs Plus website and a list of the latest material added to the site.

Feel free to use the link on the side bar to your the right and sign up for your free monthly newsletter.

Privacy is important to us; therefore, we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone.

Are Supplements the Secret Weapon?

A supplement is a supplementary component that improves capability or adds to a deficiency in ones diet. The supplement industry is a billion dollar industry for the simple reason that people are always looking for that secret weapon, that magic pill. The big question is; do supplements really work?

That is a difficult question to answer because there are so many different types of supplements out there and many different companies that make them. General health supplements such as vitamins and whole food supplements like Juice Plus are recommended. They simply enhance the nutrients that you are not getting in your diet. Some multivitamins are better then others but I would recommend replacing them altogether with a whole food supplement like Juice Plus. It is simply a more complete source of nutrition.

Another type of supplement that works well is a meal replacement food supplement. (Met RX, MyoPlex, Ultra Met, etc.) These are engineered foods that are in the form of a shake. They are pretty tasty and can give you a well balanced source of nutrients and vitamins. Many people will supplement a meal with one of these shakes because it is easy and well balance. A great way to add structure to your meal plan.

Performance supplements are in a world of their own. It is my opinion that most of these supplements do not live up to their claims. Especially for what they cost. Every-time you turn on the TV or open a magazine someone has the new secret weapon that’s going to melt the body fat off of you or make you build muscle rapidly. The bottom line is that with every fitness myth has a very small bit of truth. The companies take that small bit of truth and use it as their marketing plan.  For instance, most so called “Fat Burners” are loaded with stimulants that will give you more energy which in return will make you burn more calories. This can lead to the reduction of body fat but it is far from the body fat melting off of you. One performance supplement that I have found to work well for muscle gain is Pure Creatine Monohydrate. When taking a good quality Creatine along with intense workouts you can see some pretty good gains.

Before taking supplements it is recommended that you consult a professional.

Don’t call me skip!

Your most important workout is the workout you want to skip. Almost everyone has has that workout at least once a week that they try and con themselves out of doing. You know all of the excuses…… I’m tired, I don’t feel good, It’s too nice of a day, I have to let the dog out, I had to stay late at work and the list goes on. These are the days that you really need to workout. If you let yourself skip these days you can be sure that it will lead to more skipped days and in some cases if you skip enough days you will stop working out altogether. If you truly are pressed for time, try and do something. Even walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes is better then a skipped workout. Don’t skip!

Order up some results!

Did you know the order in which you workout muscle groups can change your results? When performing your exercise routine you should workout the larger muscle groups first. For instance, if you are working out chest and triceps you would work on the chest first before working the smaller tricep muscles.

You see…. the smaller muscle groups assist the larger muscle groups in their movement patterns. Therefore you should exhaust the primary muscle (larger muscle) in this case the chest and then exhaust the assisting muscle (smaller muscle) second to assure the chest get maximum work. If you were to work the smaller muscle first it would not be able to assist in many chest movements and the chest wouldn’t get maximum work and the results would be poor.

The bottom line is: There are many ways of doing things. In this case try working bigger muscle groups 1st and smaller muscle groups 2nd. Another good idea is to work muscles together that perform similar movement. An example would be chest and triceps which both perform pushing motions or back and biceps which both perform pulling motions.