Build Lean Muscle through Diet and Exercise

Lean muscle is important since it helps promote weight loss by increasing your body’s metabolism. Unfortunately, many individuals just starting out are unaware of how to build lean muscle effectively through diet and exercise. To build lean muscle you will need a balanced diet, portion control, weight training and aerobics all to slim down in a healthy and efficient way.

Build Lean Muscle with Lean Muscle Diets

Exercise is not enough to build lean muscle. If you are looking for how to build lean muscle you need to focus on just as much of what you eat as well as what you do in the gym. When done properly, you can build up your body’s natural metabolism, store less fat and ultimately lose weight faster. The most important thing to remember is to not cut down your calories dramatically. Not only does this deprive your body of nutrients, but can actually reverse the effects of your metabolism – thus, making you gain weight faster.

Find your specific guidelines for how many calories you should consume based on your body weight. Then, rather than cut, remember you need to add in a couple hundred extra calories to build lean muscle.

Example: A person on a 1,500 calorie per day diet may need 300 to up to 500 extra calories for their lean muscle diets.

A few other guidelines to abide by when you are trying to build lean muscle include:

Ensuring no more than 20% of your intake is protein
Protein should come from low-fat origins such as fish, poultry and other low-fat protein options
Never fry your proteins
Do not consume more than 70% of your calories in carbohydrates
Avoid simple sugar items such as candy or chocolate sweets
Introduce complex carbohydrates into your diet (i.e. vegetables and whole grains)

Building Lean Muscle with Weight Building

You cannot build muscle without a little weight building in your workout routine. During your weight lifting, avoid any isolation workouts which increase the muscle mass only in one specific region of your body. For example, triceps or biceps exercises. Use a compound routine that uses multiple-joint areas during your weight lifting routine instead to build lean muscle all over, rather than concentrated areas.

Building Lean Muscle with Aerobics and Cardiovascular Training

Cardiovascular training and aerobics help burn fat and make way for your body to build muscle. These will also improve your lung function and heart health, which are important for an overall healthy body. Try doing two cardio or aerobic sessions per week that are at least 30 minutes long and achieve your target heart rate at the same time.

Never push your body beyond its limits while you are trying to build lean muscle. If you are new to working out, start with a moderate routine rather than a high-depth routine. Injuries can be severe enough to not only prevent working out in the future, but prevent weight loss as well. Only you know your body’s limits; therefore, ensure you are only pushing your body to a desirable limit. You can increase the intensity of your workouts each week until you are slowly achieving your goal. The bottom line to remember is it is not how fast you go about it, it is how you build lean muscle that counts.

Best Fat Burner | Green Tea

Losing weight means burning fat; therefore, individuals that want to have lean, healthy bodies need to use the best fat burner to get them there. Green tea packs a powerful punch and according to recent findings, it is the best fat burner available today. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, green tea contains thermogenic properties, which have been proven to boost a person’s metabolism; thus making it the best fat burner available.

How Green Tea is the Best Fat Burner

Those who already drink green tea are aware of the antioxidants it contains, known as polyphenols. The most important polyphenol within green tea, EGCE, contains thermogenic properties. What does that mean for you? That means green tea fat burner properties boost your metabolism and burn fat. Within 24 hours of consuming green tea a person’s metabolism is boosted by four percent. If a person continued to drink just a few cups of green tea throughout the day, their body would continually receive these bursts of fat burning properties.

Green tea is also the best fat burner for other reasons. Aside from physically burning fat, green tea suppresses the appetite and works as a diuretic for the body. Most people know that diuretics promote urination, but what they don’t realize is that frequent urination helps remove toxins from the body. What does removing toxins do? Toxins built up in the body store fat; therefore, if they are removed, the body is able to burn fat faster.

Furthermore, green tea has been shown to play with a person’s cholesterol – in a good way. In order to be at low risk or no risk for heart disease, a person needs a healthy balance of good cholesterol (known as HDL) and limit their bad cholesterol (known as LDL). Green tea, the best fat burner, has been shown to balance out HDL and lower LDL cholesterol, leaving a person with a healthier heart and arterial function.

How Much of the Best Fat Burner Do You Need Daily?

Unfortunately, there is disagreement amongst experts on how much green tea a person needs in order to reap the benefits of it. While some experts recommend just one cup a day, others recommend up to four. Therefore, it is recommended that two servings per day are best to start. Green tea, however, does contain caffeine; therefore, those with sensitivity to caffeine should avoid drinking it past the evening hours to prevent sleep disruption.

Green Tea In Shakeology | Best Fat Burner Green Tea Options

A person doesn’t have to drink the green tea fat burner in its tea form to get the benefits of this best fat burner. In fact, there are ways to introduce green tea into the diet without having a hot cup of tea a few times per day.

A new way to introduce green tea into your daily diet is through meal replacement shakes, such as Shakeology. Shakeology offers a green tea meal replacement shake that introduces a decaffeinated version of green tea into the body and still provides the best fat burner advantages, but without the extra caffeine boost.

Green tea can also be turned from a hot tea into an iced tea for a treat on a hot day. Simply brew a regular cup of hot tea and cool it to room temperature. Add ice and mix to create an iced green tea that will act as a fat burner and refreshing drink for the day.

Cooking Light Is Easier Than You Think

The term “cooking light” often strikes fear into those who hear it. Many assume that delicious recipes cannot be obtained through cooking light recipes, however this belief is more than false. The fact of the matter is, recipes that you already enjoy can most likely be turned into a lighter,healthierversion, with just a few changes – without sacrificing taste.

Cooking Light | Tips for Frying

If you are trying to maintain a healthy weight orlose weight, you most likely have omitted all fried foods from your diet. The good news is you can still have delicious recipes that include frying and still be cooking healthy. Frying is often considered “unhealthy” simply because of the soggy, oil content that remains on the food when you eat this. By combating this issue, however, you can enjoy fried foods and still eat right.

Keep Your Oil Clean – Debris from fried foods can buildup in your frying oil and begin to burn. Remove this debris with a slotted spoon to keep it out of the oil during frying.
Use the Right Breading – Believe it or not cooking light does not omit breaded foods. When foods are breaded improperly, however, it inflates calories by making the food absorb more oil than needed. Use only enough flour (all-purpose is best) to coat the food. Use carbonated beverages when making a batter, which will eliminate oil absorption.
Pair it Right – Instead of pairing fried foods with French fries or other fatty, high-calorie foods, pair it with a light salad, steamed vegetables or some sort of healthy option instead.

Color Counts when Cooking Light | Cooking Light Recipes

Most cooking light recipes will focus on the main course, but forget the side dishes. Therefore it is your job to find healthy side dishes to pair with your entrée. Vegetables are often the best option because they are low in calories, contain vitamins, nutrients and minerals as well as essential antioxidants. Any vegetable is not enough, however. The color of the vegetables is just as important. The more vibrant and rich the color is of a vegetable, the more likely it contains higher levels of nutrients, immune boosters and minerals. Bright green spinach, for example, is packed with essential nutrients and often is recommended in cooking light recipes.

Go Whole Grain when Cooking Light

A lot of delicious recipes call for pasta, rice or another form of grain as a side dish or component of the main dish. The good news, however, is you can turn those recipes into cooking light recipes simply by opting for whole grain options rather than processed grains. Omit white rice for brown rice, processed pasta for whole grain pasta and even use bulgar wheat or whole grain couscous instead of other traditional grains. By adding in these whole grain options you are boosting your fiber intake and adding essential minerals and vitamins into your daily diet.

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10 Foods That Burn Fat

Fat Burning Workouts: The Importance of Routines

Everyone knows that working out is essential to burn fat and tone muscle, but what most people do not focus on are fat burning workouts and the routines that define them. A workout routine is a structured exercise that is defined by time, repetitions and activities – all of which will promote fat burning and weight loss faster than individuals that do fat burning workouts randomly and without guidance. Consider some of these professional tips to help turn a typical workout into a burning machine.

Using Treadmills for Fat Burning Workouts

Most individuals hop on the treadmill, reach for a remote or magazine and walk at a leisurely pace. Though some run too, this isn’t always the most effective for burning fat. Not all muscles are being completely utilized during a treadmill workout, but that doesn’t mean you have to skip the treadmill altogether to burn fat.

Quit Bouncing – Though people think the more they bounce during the treadmill workout the more they burn, this is untrue. Instead focus on staying even and moving forward, rather than bouncing up and down.
Start Squeezing – What do you normally do with your glutes while on the treadmill? Most likely nothing. Start adding squeezing of the glutes to your fat burning workouts on the treadmill. Not only will this help tone the glutes, but burn more calories all around.

Fat Burning Workouts on the Elliptical

Elliptical users are just as guilty as treadmill users in terms of not utilizing their workout to its fullest. It’s time to boost the calorie and fat burn by upping the challenge of an elliptical altogether.

Use Your Arms – Using an elliptical for the leg portion only will not give your body a full workout. If the elliptical machine has arms, use them.
Work Your Own Pace – Often the elliptical’s natural motion determines a person’s rate and workout pace. Rather than flow with the motion of the machine, push yourself to move the machine harder and faster – all of which will burn more fat than simply riding the motion.
Intervals are Key – Make an interval goal during your workout. Perhaps changing the intensity every other song or every three songs on your MP3 player can be a good starting challenge.

Fat Burning Workouts on the Stair Stepper

Stair steppers are great for burning fat, but a large majority of the body still goes unutilized and often you are using the same pace no matter how many months you have been doing fat burning workouts on the stair stepper itself.

Fix Your Posture – While on the stair stepper, stand up straight rather than slouching forward. Begin squeezing your shoulder blades together as if you had a balloon in between them on your back.
Take Deeper Steps – Rather than only pushing as far as you want against the stair stepper’s resistance, consider taking deeper, heavier strides. By pushing down deeper against the resistance, you can burn more fat and tone your legs faster than simply moving along with the machine.

Fat burning workouts are effective at toning and burning calories, but if you add a little extra step to your fat burning workouts routine, you can burn more, tone faster and increase your resistance than simply moving along at the same speed.

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Best Way To Boost Metabolism

10 Foods That Burn Fat

You are what you eat. If you have been trying to lose weight and burn fat, perhaps it is time to take a look at what you are eating. Even the healthiest diet can be wasteful if foods that burn fat are not integrated into that healthy meal plan as well. Believe it or not, some foods can help the body burn fat and lose weight faster than others. Therefore, integrating these foods that burn fat can help you reach your weight loss goals faster than without them.

Here Are 10 Foods That Burn Fat

Berries

Berries have made a comeback in terms of antioxidants, especially in terms of detoxifying the body from toxins that make weight loss slow. Berries, however, are also a great source of fiber, which helps boost weight loss. Blueberries for example, have 3.5 grams of fiber in just one cup serving and blackberries have 7.4 grams of fiber in one cup.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal might be boring, but it is a definite winner for foods that burn fat. Oatmeal is rich in fiber, which can fight off hunger and normalize blood sugar to prevent over eating. Just make sure you are not consuming sugar-filled varieties of oatmeal, which will do the opposite effect.

Turkey

Most likely turkey is already in your diet for a hearty protein, but what you may not know is turkey is on the list for foods that burn fat. Not only does turkey have the lowest number of calories of any protein, but turkey contains amino acid leucine, which keeps your body’s metabolism running at full speed throughout the day.

Almonds

Almonds are high in protein, but also have been shown by a recent study at Perdue University to curb appetite and prevent over-eating. Integrate a serving of 24 almonds into your diet as part of the foods that burn fat to help curb hunger and sustain your appetite longer. Just make sure to avoid fried or over-salted almonds, which can reverse this effect.

Low-Fat Yogurt

Everyone knows that yogurt contains calcium, but what you may not know is that calcium is a mineral that has been shown to combat fat in your body. A diet that is rich in calcium can prevent the body’s production of calcitrol, which is a hormone that makes your body store fat for survival, rather than burn it. Thus, low-fat yogurt has made the list of foods that burn fat, because it literally does.

Protein Powder

There is a reason your muscle building or weight loss shakes contain protein powder. Protein powder contains amino acids, which have been proven to burn fat in the body and build muscle.

Olive Oil

A healthy diet does include fats, which is why olive oil has made the list of foods that burn fat. Olive oil or other monounsaturated fats (i.e. canola oil) keep hunger and cholesterol levels under control better than any other fat.

Peanuts

Individuals who add 500 calories of peanuts to their diet, according to Purdue University, for three weeks have shown at 24% drop in triglycerides, the fats in blood that lead to heart disease. Therefore, peanuts are on the list of foods that burn fat because it burns harmful fats within the blood that lead to poor circulation and heart disease.

Eggs

Your body requires B12 in order to burn fat and eggs have more than enough of that to go around. If you eat eggs daily for breakfast you can increase your body’s B12 and thus burn fat. People with high cholesterol, however, should first consult a physician before adding eggs to their list of foods that burn fat.

Avocados

Avocados are on the list of foods that burn fat because of their outrageous fiber content. One avocado contains anywhere from 11 to 17 grams of fiber – which curbs appetite and helps your body burn fat faster and more efficiently.

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Shakeology: Get Your Shake On With A Healthy, Effective Meal Replacement

The fitness industry is loaded with meal replacement options and unfortunately, most are ineffective at doing what they are supposed to over a long period of time. Enter Shakeology. Shakeology, by Beachbody is a new type of meal replacement shake that has proven itself effective in a 90-day independent study. How can it help you lose weight, maintain muscle and overall improve your health?

Shakeology Ingredients

Though it may appear to be a simple powder, what is in each dose of it is complex. Shakeology ingredients consist of 70+ high-quality ingredients that give your body more than just nutrients – it gives you overall well-being. Some ingredients include:

· Proteins
· Essential amino acids
· Prebiotics
· Digestive enzymes
· Antioxidants
· Phytonutrients
· Vitamins and minerals

Proteins and essential amino acids help your body build and repair muscles from exercise while also reducing hunger and craving throughout the day – all of which helps you maintain your healthy weight. The prebiotic and digestive enzymes help promote your body’s overall digestion, boost the immune system and increase nutrient absorption so that your body can burn and utilize the calories you eat faster and more effectively. Antioxidants and phytonutrients have already proven themselves effective in overall health and do so as well in Shakeology ingredients by providing your body with increased longevity, improved immune system, decreased inflammation and ridding your body of harmful free radicals.

Though the beneficial Shakeology ingredients are important, what is more important is what Shakeology doesn’t contain, such as:

· No caffeine
· No refined sugar
· No artificial coloring or flavorings
· Gluten-free

Though the shakes appear in different colors, the classic brown or green shake colors come from all natural colorants that include:

· Herbal powder
· Grass powder
· Vegetable powder
· Spirulina
· Berry powder

How Shakeology Works
Shakeology allows the body to eliminate toxins and absorb nutrients more efficiently than it does on its own. Digestive enzymes and prebiotics give the body a chance to eliminate toxins that build up naturally in your digestive tract. Individuals can curb cravings with the Shakeology plan and help their body shed fat that has stored up and burn calories through regular, healthy exercise.

Vegan Meal Replacement with Tropical Shakeology – Coming Soon! | Shakeology Ingredients

Vegans often have to omit the use of meal replacement shakes for a simple reason: dairy. Coming in February 14th, 2012 vegans can enjoy Shakeology’s new flavor: Tropical Shakeology. Shakeology is an effective vegan meal replacement that offers micronutrients to increase absorption and curb appetite without the worry of dairy or animal by-products. Those looking for vegan meal replacement can enjoy micro nutrients in Tropical Shakeology such as:
· Camu-Camu
· Luscious Papaya
· Acerola Cherry
· Pineapple
· Banana
Instead of whey protein, which contains dairy, Tropical Shakeology gets its protein source from sprouted brown rice.

Watch More Information On Shakeology

How To Lose Weight | Healthy Weight Loss

How to Lose Weight without Sacrificing Your Health: The Truth About Calories

Too many times have individuals taken the term “lose weight” and spun it off for an excuse to use diet pills, binge diets or any other unhealthy method available instead of focusing on healthy weight loss. The fact of the matter is, losing weight is supposed to be a healthy lifestyle change – not something that sacrifices your overall health. Continue reading How To Lose Weight | Healthy Weight Loss

Struggling With Your Weight? | P90X Advice

Struggling With Your Weight

If you have found yourself on my page then you are probably like the millions of other people out there who are struggling with your weight and body issues. I don’t think that there is anyone out there who is completely satisfied with their body. And even if you are in great shape and are healthy, there is always some room for improvement.

I have found that there are many weight loss and health products out there. But the problem is that it is difficult to figure out which are just fads and which are the real things. In my experience, the best health and weight loss programs are those that entail a change in lifestyle, and not just a quick fix. And, the program will only work as much as you are prepared to put in the effort and make the necessary changes. But, making the decision to lose weight and get fit and healthy is the very important first step in the journey.

· One of the best ways that you can get fit is through a process known as muscle confusion. It is exactly how it sounds; you perform different exercises and mix them up in order to confuse your muscles. Our bodies get used to certain exercises if we do them over and over again, and the results are not as great as when we first started the exercises. A great tool to help you with this is P90X, which enables you to confuse your muscles using different exercises taken from different exercise ‘genre’s like yoga, cardio, resistance training, etc.
· Obviously, to get the p90 results you have to have a good nutrition and eating plan too. Whenever you want to lose weight, build muscle and become leaner you have to eat A LOT of protein. Protein essentially builds muscle, and this is why it is so important. As I said earlier, to get the results that you want to have to make a lifestyle change, and that includes changing your eating habits.

So, how does the P90X workout plan actually work?

There are three key essential things that you will have to do if you decide that you really do want to improve your body and your health using this program.

1. Firstly, you have to change the types of exercises that you do in one routine, and incorporate more. For example, you could go from a cardio workout directly into resistance training. You have to do the swap even if you are using workout machines.
2. If there is one exercise that you really enjoy doing, then by all means, do it as much as you want. Just make sure that you alternate between the levels of speed or difficulty. In other words, if you are walking go really fast for a few minutes, then slow down for the same amount of minutes, and then go back up again. You should keep doing this for the duration of that particular routine
3. Rest breaks. Try to keep your breaks between exercises as short as possible. I would advise you to keep your breaks at one minute or less for lean muscle development. Allowing your body to recover lost energy by taking breaks while working out is key in development. However, for strength training, taking longer breaks is recommended to allow your muscles to fully recover for the next set, going this route will cause you to lose your pump but gain power.

I hope you have found some useful tips here. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you do the exercises correctly for maximum results. Exercising for hours while doing them incorrectly will only add stress to your day and disappointing results. So if you are struggling with your weight, find a way to get your body working itself in many different ways for quicker and leaner results.

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Best Way To Boost Metabolism

As I was reading up on some of the headlines today in the world’s news, it came to me that I should write about the best way to boost your metabolism. After all, everyone is wondering how in the heck can I lose weight without exercising? The answer is, you can’t if you want to do it naturally and be healthy doing it.

Metabolism is like an internal community of hormones and enzymes in your body that turns your food into fuel. The rate at which we burn or not burn calories can be attributed to our metabolism. This is the ultimate determining factor of how quickly we lose weight or gain weight.

One very effective way to boost your metabolism is to engage in lots of exercises on a consistent basis. It’s not enough to do some exercise today and refuse tomorrow. It has to be consistent if you want to see any significant results. Note also that I’m not talking about just any kind of exercises, but specific metabolism boosting exercises, such as stair climbing, wind sprinting and resistance training among others.

If you have a lot of extra weight on you overall, chances are it’s because your metabolism is too slow. Obese people find this very hard to believe. The faster your metabolism the faster your body burns the calories in the food you eat. This is done by turning your food and fat into heat energy.

Other things that determine your metabolic rate are age, gender, and percentage of lean body mass. This, and believe it or not, hereditary plays a factor.

Every pound of muscle in your body burns 35 to 50 calories a day versus every pound of fat, only 2 calories per day. As such, you know that the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism. So someone who has more muscle than the other but are the same weight overall could actually eat more and gain less than the person who has less muscle in their body.

Cardiovascular exercise is good for anybody because it helps to boost metabolism. Resistance training is even better; you get a bigger boost, and you build muscle. Both of them work well for you anyway, however, to live a truly healthy lifestyle, you need to combine resistance training, cardio, and healthy nutrition.

If weight loss is your goal, don’t forget that it is easier to gain your weight back after you have lost weight because your body needs less calories to sustain your smaller body mass. You body doesn’t work as hard as if you were bigger, where it works faster.

So in summary, the best way to boost your metabolism is to exercise daily, build muscle, and eat at least 5 to 6 times per day in proper portions with your snacks being low calorie and high protein for maximum support.

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Transformation Of The Day 01/21/2012

Name: Jeremy Yost
Age: 33
Program: P90X

Jeremy Yost gets my transformation of the day. It’s no wonder by the picture above that Jeremy had to make a change in his life. He was basically a dead man walking at age 33, stepping on the scale at 370lbs. He was on medication for high blood pressure and had a hard time walking properly due to severe arthritis.

He couldn’t spend time and do the things he wanted to with his wife and 2 kids. The only thing that he could do and did, was stay inside and live on the couch.

One day, a friend approached him about his weight and asked him a true friend question. He asked Jeremy how he would feel if another man had to replace him and raise my sons.

Jeremy didn’t know the reality of the life he was living and the consequences that came with being overweight and obese. Sometimes it takes a wake up call from someone who really cares to wake you up and realize that you need to step up and be a man and do something now to change your life.

After recommendations from his friends that were doing P90X, he knew it was for him with the results he saw them have.

Along with achieving something big in life comes struggle. Life will always try to slow you down and put things in your way to success to build your strength of character. For Jeremy, it was the battle to change the way he ate. He was always tempted to eat poorly, and because of his arthritis in his ankle, he experienced intense pain.

Just like Tony Horton from P90X tells you,“Do your best and forget the rest”, Jeremy felt like Tony was personally talking to him. Jeremy had to do the modified moves that were provided with the P90X program and he just did his best of what his body could do.

It paid off. Thank you Jeremy, for the inspiration transformation of the day.

A note from Tony: If success was easy, everyone would have it. It takes strength of character, a plan, a true reason why you need to change to do something different in your life. We all have bad habits, for Jeremy it was poor nutrition, but the bad habits can be tamed and changed if you have a purpose bigger than the obstacles that keep you from being your best. Everyone has the ability to be great, the only difference is, most people spend a lifetime failing to define their reason “WHY”.

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