10 tips for working out and reaching your fitness goals

• Have a specific goal before starting a program. Do not just go to the gym everyday not knowing what you are working for. If you know what you want (lose a certain # of pounds, gain a certain # of pounds, drop BF %, gain strength in certain lifts, etc) then you will be more motivated and focused to reach that goal. 
• You do not grow muscle while working out. (what you see at the gym is called "the pump", that is just all the blood flowing to those muscles as you work them) You get stronger when you rest. So you need to always try and get 7-8 hours of good sleep every night. 
• Diet is the most important factor when trying to reach any fitness goal. You will not lose weight or body fat or get bigger and stronger if you are eating fast food everyday. You need to try and stick to a clean diet as much as you can. 
• Have some clue about the human anatomy and where certain muscles actually are. If you do not know where a muscle is just Google it. If you unsure on how to do a certain exercise then Google it, or use www.bodybuilding.com They have every single exercise with a video explaining how to do it. I use it whenever I am unsure of something. 

• Keep a detailed training log with you when working out. You can not know if you are progressing if you do not have everything you do written down. There is no way you can remember how many reps and what weight you did for a certain exercise one week later after you did it. This is critical to your success in reaching your goals. 
• Breakfast should ALWAYS be your largest meal of the day. When trying to lose body fat, eating fat is good for you. Do not be fooled by marketing scams that get you to believe that you shouldn't ever eat fat because then you will become fat. Good fats are essential do a healthy diet.
• DO HILL SPRINTS . . . this is maybe the best form of cardio you will find in my opinion. Do hill sprints for a good 10-20 minutes strait and you will easily start dropping the pounds. Do not get on a treadmill and jog for 60 minutes this does nothing for you but making you exhausted and damages your joints.

Best cardio to lose fat

• Do not train for more than 45-60 minutes at single time.

Sprinting on the beach is also a great way to do your cardio

• You should try and do an intermittent fast in some way. You can do a 24 hour fast 1-2 times a week. You can do a 16 hour fast. There are many different forms of intermittent fasting. This is a great way to cleanse your body of all the toxins and "reset" yourself when training and dieting. 
• HAVE FUN.. going to the gym or doing some form of exercise should never feel like a chore. You should want to do it. Mix up your training and cardio so you do not get bored and less motivated to go.  Find something that motivates you deep down inside and hold on to that and use that to fuel your workouts. Do not just go through the motions when at the gym, why are you there if you are not trying to get better and take a step at reaching your goals. 

These are just a few tips to help you get started on your path to reaching your fitness goals.

Always give it your all every time you workout , get better every single day, every single rep, every single sprint.

This should be your mindset every single day in life

Yours in health,

AP

Fasted Walking

Lose weight by walking?!?

YEP, thats right.. something that most of us take for granted every single day is actually one of the best things we can do for our health.

If you want to see faster results when trying to lose weight, I would suggest doing a "fasted" walk around 5 days a week. What I mean by a fasted walk is right when you wake up in the morning DO NOT eat anything or take any calories in. Your body is already in a fat burning state and so by doing some form of cardio first thing in the morning your body will target your fat and burn that off.

This is also a good life tip in my personal opinion. Even if this means you must wake up 30 minutes earlier than you usually would before class or work.

Try this routine first thing in the morning at least on the weekdays when most of us have to be up sometime in the morning.

1) Get out of bed bright and early. Do not hit that snooze button 2-3 times and get that extra 10-15 minutes of sleep, you could be losing weight at that very moment.
2) Do one big "Good Morning" stretch .. I think everyone knows what I am referring to here.
3) Drink one LARGE glass of water to get your metabolism started, you are also dehydrated anyways after sleeping for the last 8 hours.. so this is a very important step to your morning routine.
4) NOW GO WALK.. Walk around your neighborhood for around 30 minutes at a good pace. You should get around 2 miles in actually which you don't even notice because your walking. If you are afraid of the cold weather or if it is raining and you have a treadmill in your home/apartment use this instead. Just watch half of last nights Sportcenter then hop off (everyone knows the new ESPN Sportscenter doesn't come on till 9am)
5) While your outside listen to your surroundings , enjoy mother nature. Most times when people are outside , they never pay attention to what is really around them. This is your time to yourself, I think everyone should try and take at least 20 minutes out of every day and just be alone and relax a bit and not worry about anyone but them self. So leave that Ipod at home and just enjoy life and the simple things.
6) Come back home and make a good healthy breakfast. Breakfast should be your largest meal of the day ALWAYS. You will start dropping pounds in no time with this morning routine. I PROMISE YOU.

Tip: Grab a TENNIS BALL when you go for your morning walk. Tossing it around and throwing it off walls or just bouncing it up and down will make the walk less boring if you are afraid of being bored; it will also help your hand eye coordination. Hand eye coordination is a very important skill in life that many of us lack. Doing this will help tremendously! You also can squeeze the ball if you are stressed, but I hope your not stressed this early in the day.. YOU JUST WOKE UP! It also could help build hand strength while squeezing the tennis ball.

DID I MENTION IT'S FUN?!?

Stay Thirsty  HEALTHY My Friends,

AP