Get Up: Fitness Rules For The Modern Man Below are few rules of fitness. Try to apply as many as you can and watch on as your body transforms into the lean and strong machine that you’ve always dreamed of… Breakfast really is the most important meal. Your body needs to refuel after starving overnight for 7, 8, 9 hours. You’ll prevent muscle breakdown, rev up metabolism, and supply your body and brain with much needed energy. 100% required. SLEEP! Too many people take sleep for granted, if you’re one of those people it’s going to kill you one day. Sleep deprivation causes stress, obesity, heart disease, decreased mental/athletic performance and a ton of other nasty conditions. Aim for 7-8 hours per night. Focus on protein. When it comes to building/preserving muscle it’s critical to A) ingest enough protein every day, and B) load up on protein before AND after workouts. Aim for 1g of protein per pound of LEAN body weight per day. Get 25% of that number 1-2 hours before and after a workout. If you weigh 160 pounds with 10% body fat, shoot for 144 grams of protein per day; 36g pre-workout, 36g post-workout. Eat protein as often as you can too. Besides its muscle-building potential, protein also burns up to 30% of its calories thermogenically through digestion. If you eat 1,000 calories worth of protein (250g), 300 of those calories will burn off naturally — without doing anything. Protein also has a powerful impact on satiety. Opt for whole fruit over juice. It has higher fiber content and more nutrients, plus you’ll stay fuller longer. Get your monounsaturated and polysaturated fats, nix the saturated and trans fats. Put simply: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats clean your arteries and promote heart health, saturated and trans fats clog your arteries like crazy. Cut out all trans fats and as many saturated fats as possible (those from coconut are OK). Take fish oil. It’s good for your heart. We like these brands. Eat fish too. Fatty fish like salmon and mackeral provide omega-3’s (heart healthy fats) and a ton of protein. Always maximize nutritional value. Choose foods that are jam packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, healthy fats, etc. In other words, avoid empty calories. Take a multivitamin every morning. Life gets busy. Sometimes it’s impossible to get the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your body needs through whole foods. Enter the multivitamin. Think of it as an insurance policy against malnutrition — it’ll supply the spectrum of vitamins and minerals in one little pill. It’s a must take. Every day. Learn this definition: Sugar (shoog-ar) – A nutrient that causes fat gain. With the exception of the sugar in fruit and dairy, eat as little sugar as you possibly can. Sugar will send your blood sugar spiraling, which spikes insulin levels, and ultimately causes the body to store fat. You’ll also develop diabetes. Surplus calories will make you fat too, but sugar is another primary cause of fat gain. Eating carbs isn’t a solo mission. Carbs consumed by themselves will speed through your digestive tract ridiculously quickly, leaving you hungry shortly afterwards. Not only that, but it’ll spike your insulin = increased body fat. Always pair carbs with some sort of healthy fats or protein to slow digestion. Stop drinking soda or other liquid calories. My only exceptions are dairy, protein shakes, and 100% natural fruit juice. Soda and other sugary drinks with actually make you more hungry than you were before, plus all that sugar has zero nutritional value. Anti-lean. Discriminate a little. White in the nutrition world is usually bad. White bread, white rice, white flour — it’ll all send your blood sugar on a roller-coaster ride and cause your body to blow up with body fat. I like to think of it as the Michelin Man phenomenon. Go wheat or brown whenever you can. Revisit the lunch room. Remember when your mom would pack you a nice tasty PB & J every day for lunch? Get her on the phone!! Peanut butter’s (the natural kind, not JIF or Skippy) an awesome source of mono/polyunsaturated fats that promote heart health, as well as provide a shot of protein and fiber. Who knew eating healthy tasted so good? Go green! Green tea…2+ cups a day…I swear it’ll add at least 5 years to your life. Green tea is extremely rich in these little miracle antioxidants called catechins (specifically ECGC), which fight cancer, prevent diabetes and strokes, lower cholesterol levels, and delay aging. It gets even better…green tea burns a ton of fat too. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. All three are extremely high in vitamins C and K (blood clotting), as well as antioxidants. They’ll help clear up any skin conditions and acne, fight cancer and disease, and add all of the other miraculous benefits that antioxidants have to offer. Don’t smoke cigarettes. Keep alcohol to 2 drinks or less. Having 2 drinks or less can help lower your cholesterol levels, any more than that and you’re in a world of trouble. Besides making you fat, drinking alcohol excessively can cause liver and kidney damage, osteoporosis and arthritis, heart disease, and blood sugar imbalances. Drink coffee. Coffee’s loaded with antioxidants, increases mental energy and focus, boosts physical power, and converts fat into fuel. One of the largest studies ever on the subject — over 400,000 people — recently found that drinking up to 6 cups of coffee/day reduces the risk of death.1 Drink water all day long. Besides being just a little bit important for virtually every single bodily function, drinking water can also help increase your metabolism and reduce hunger. A dieter’s dream — negative calories and decreased hunger. Eat oatmeal. Oatmeal’s loaded with fiber that can help lower LDL (bad cholesterol), promote heart health, slow digestion, and help keep you full for a ridiculously long time. Oatmeal also has a ton of phytochemicals, which fight cancer. Not cereal. For the most part all you’re eating is nutrionally devoid mess that consists of sugar, refined carbs, and artificial colors/flavors. Sometimes a toy, too. Eat flax seeds. They have the highest omega-3 content of any food, lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and decrease just about every risk factor associated with heart disease. Eat beans. The quadruple threat: fiber + antioxidants + protein + gas. Eat protein before bed. It’ll help keep your metabolism up, which burns calories. It’s also been shown to boost overnight protein syntheis by 22 percent.2 Don’t eat anything other than protein <2 hours before bed. When you go to sleep your metabolism slows. Any fat or carbs left in your stomach when you fall asleep will turn into body fat. stairs health Take the stairs. You burn about 4 calories per flight of stairs. That’s better than the big, fat 0 that you burn taking the elevator. Lift weights. It’ll strengthen your bones and build muscle. More muscle = more calories burned at rest. Plus you’ll look better. 18 other reasons why, here. Don’t drunk eat. Your body always prioritizes the digestion of alcohol before food. What’s that mean? Any food you eat while you have alcohol in your system will just sit in your stomach…and sit there…and sit there some more…until it’s finally stored as fat. Be an ingredient label expert. If it says high fructose corn syrup, white flour, or partially hydrogenated oil throw it out. Also, get in the habit of avoiding everything with high sugar, sodium, trans fat, and saturated fat content. Eat as few processed foods as possible. Processed foods are low quality and typically filled with sugar, sodium, and artificial ingredients. Go whole when you can. Avoid foods with a laundry list of ingredients. Fewer ingredients = healthier food. Natural food = 1 ingredient. Don’t eat foods that have sugar as the first, second, or third ingredient. Nutrition labels list ingredients in order of quantity. The first ingredient is the most present, the last ingredient makes up the least amount. Avoid artificial sweeteners. If you need to sweeten something use stevia or honey. Honey’s a natural antioxidant and digests slowly, keeping your blood sugar under control. CARDIO. Cardio is not just about burning calories. Increasing your cardiovascular fitness level can actually turn your body into a fat burning furnace. The higher your cardiovascular fitness, the more fat-burning enzymes your body will have. More fat-burning enzymes means that your body can more readily use body fat for energy. Interesting fact: people who are extremely out of shape run out of breath quickly because their bodies can only use carbs as fuel — they’re physically unable to tap into their fat stores for energy. That’s why dieting alone doesn’t work…you need to exercise to lose significant weight. Emphasize your abs. Everyone loves a ripped, cut-up, tight midsection. Everyone loves good posture and a strong back too. Abs are the surefire way to attract attention and make people swoon. Give it a rest. Give yourself a day off from lifting/cardio at least once every 4 days. Your body needs time to recover in order to grow. Do squats and dead-lifts as often as possible.You’ll burn a ton of calories and fat, and release high levels of HGH and testosterone — two hormones that promote muscle growth and fat loss. Be an educated supplement consumer. Supplements are called “supplements” for a good reason — they’re designed to aid superior health and fitness. Just know what you’re buying and do some research beforehand. Products like protein powder, BCAAs, creatine, l-carnitine, fish oil, and others are extremely effective for safe muscle gain, fat loss, and overall health. healthy milk Drink low-fat milk for the calcium and protein. Got milk? Besides getting an awesomely cool milk mustache, drinking milk is a phenomenal source of calcium. The benefit? Calcium is proven to be an extremely powerful reducer of body fat1. Don’t eat canned food. Canned food is either a) extremely high in salt, b) gross, c) devoid of nutrients, or some combination of the three. Due to processing, canned veggies get stripped of almost all of their vitamins and nutrients. Isn’t that why you eat veggies anyway? Go fresh if possible. If not, frozen is just as healthy. Say no to sodium. Too much sodium causes hypertension and heart problems. It’ll also make you look puffy and bloated. Always use strict form when lifting. You’ll prevent injury and maximize muscle gain. Stretch. Always stretch/warmup before and after exercise. Not only will it give you more flexibility and power, but it’ll ensure that you don’t get hurt. If you’re sick drink an Emergen-C. Vitamin C’s a potent antioxidant, which fights off illness and the common cold. Make vitamin C a regular part of your diet — Emergen-C’s a great source. Remember the ADEK, BC rule. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, which means your body’s able to store them for later use. Get your daily requirement and no more. The B vitamins and vitamin C are water-soluble, which means your body will pee out the excess. The implications? Make sure to get a constant supply throughout the day. Vitamin Water isn’t healthy. Might as well just say it, it’s vitamin enhanced sugar-water. It’s not worth the calories or body fat gain–take a multivitamin and you’ll be fine. If you really need to get your Vwater fix, make it a Vitaminwater Zero. Eat the egg yolk. The whites are essentially all protein and water…the yolk’s where all the good stuff’s at. The yolk literally has all of the egg’s vitamin A, D, E, & K, and over 90% of the egg’s calcium, iron, choline, and zinc. That’s liquid gold. What’s even better news is that more and more studies are beginning to show that the egg yolk has no effect on LDL (bad) cholesterol like once thought. tomatoes health Eat tomatoes. Tomatoes are jam-packed with lycopene, the world’s most powerful antioxidant. The current nutrition guidelines are out of date. The current nutrition guidelines/labels were created in the ’60’s and are severely out of date. Instead of aiming for 100% of your DV as suggested by the guidelines, realistically you should aim to get 200-300% of that DV. Eat lean red meat occasionally. Lean red meat’s a phenomenal source of creatine, a substance that increases muscular power. It’s also high in iron, phosphorus, zinc, protein, and selenium, an antioxidant. Avoid fattier cuts because they’re higher in saturated fats. Go go filet mignon.
