Author: Nick Hawkins

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Sprinting

🔹 When sprinting, your heart rate speeds up to its maximum limits, while increasing the demand of blood flow to your legs.

🔹 Over time, sprinting can boost your heart, which allows you to workout more efficiently. This is because you are able to take in more oxygen as your cardiovascular system develops.

🔹 Sprinting is also known as an anaerobic exercise, which means that it requires a short burst of energy to produce lactic acid. This type of training increases your anaerobic threshold and the rate at which your body can produce lactic acid, allowing you to work harder for a longer period of time.

🔹 Sprinting also helps with making gains the same way that weight training does, because of the short burst of energy your body produces while targeting the fast twitch muscle fibers.

🔹 Sprinting increases your metabolism and burns more calories in a short period of time. It also burns calories after your workout; some call this the after burn effect.

🔹 So don’t waste your time jogging. Try hitting those sprints to optimize your gains and fat burn.

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Cardio before or after workout?

Cardio before or after workout?

To simplify your decision, put what’s most important to you at the beggining of your workout.

For example, if you’re looking to build strength, implement your weight training first, or if you are trying to focus on endurance, put your cardio before your workout.

Studies have shown that performing too much cardio can be a hinderance to muscle growth. However, if you are a competitive bodybuilder, you want to implement HIIT cardio into your workout routine to prevent muscle loss.

In contrast, doing steady state cardio has a lot of benefits for people trying to lose weight, and it is usually best added after your workout or on a rest day.

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Know Your Protein Powders

🔹It can be difficult targeting the appropriate amount of protein for your physique goals. This is where supplementation comes in. 

🔹I’m not a big advocate for buying protein powder. It’s  better to get protein from a natural food source, yet I do advise people to consume protein as a last result, if they are having a hard time reaching their macros.

🔹There are several forms of protein powders, but my main focus today will be on the types of whey and casein. Whey is fast digestive and casein is slow digestive, and they both benefit for different purposes.

🔸Concentrate: This protein has gone through the least amount of processing but the downfall is that it contains lactose and fat. This protein is calorically dense so it’s best to consume while bulking and not so much while cutting.

🔸Isolate: A high percentage of the calories comes from protein. The good thing about this supplement is that 90% of the lactose and fat are almost completely removed. So you can get 30 grams of protein for 120 to 130 calories, which is good if you’re focusing on being in a caloric deficit.

🔸Hydrolyzed: This whey protein has been  moderately hydrolyzed, which means that it has been broken down so your body can absorb it more efficiently. This supplement is often used for medical protein and baby formula. It tends to be expensive because of all the processing it goes through.

🔸Casein: Casein does not optimize on protein synthesis as much, and digest much slower than whey. Because of its slow action, casein is best taken before you go to sleep. 

🔹The most important thing to consider while picking protein is the quality of the brand and the protein to calorie ratio. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

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Building Strong Core Strength

🔹 A strong core can benefit you in various ways, such as preventing injuries, reducing back pain, and stimulating proper posture.

🔹 While working out on the core, people often target the rectus abdominis (the six pack) yet  leave out the internal and external obliques ( side abs), and the transverse abdominis (underneath the side ab). 

🔹 Building a strong core requires more exercises than just crunches.Not to mention, the abdominals have limited and specific movements that consist of different muscles that run through the entire length of the torso. Here are a few core workouts to add to your regimen. 

🔹 Planks are one of the best exercises for working the core and burning calories. Doing a plank hold will engage  multiple muscles at once, while benefiting the core strength of your body.

🔹 Decline crunches are great for eliminating the tendency to use momentum to complete the movement. Increase the decline angle over time in order to progressively overload.

🔹 The Russian Side Twist targets your obliques. Try adding a dumbbell or medicine ball increases to make this workout more challenging.

🔹 Hanging knee raises with a twist can help build muscular stability in the upper back and shoulders. This workout can increase both muscular size and strength.

🔹 Cable Crunches enables you to  increase resistance, allowing you to train to failure using heavier weights. 

🔹 Cable Side Bend  targets the obliques and improves stability in the lower back. 

🔹 If you have any questions regarding fitness or nutrition, sign up for my mailing list http://eepurl.com/hiB9X5

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Build Massive Shoulders

🔹 The shoulders are one of my favorite body parts to workout on because it helps create an aesthetic physique.

🔹 Here is a simple breakdown of compound and isolated exercises for each delt .

🔹 Shoulder presses in the form of the Arnold press and overhead press target the entire shoulder, mostly the front and side delts. I recommend these exercises at the beginning of your workout.

🔹 After you can proceed to target each individual delt to correct any imbalances or areas where you want to achieve more gains.

🔹 Don’t forget your Rear Delts! This muscle is often ignored since they cant be seen in the mirror.

🔹 Neglecting your rear delts will cause you to end up with “rounded shoulders,” imagine a lump pointed forward. This appearance is due to the lack of rear delts which results in the image of an awkward lump.

🔹 You definitely don’t want that. So be sure to always include your rear delts so you can develop those 3D Boulder Shoulders!

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Build A Stronger Back

🔹Are you having a hard time building your back muscles? If so try these workouts and optimize your gains so that you can gain a cobra back.

1️⃣ Deadlifts – Trains the posterior and activates a numerous amount of muscles. It’s important to perfect your form before lifting heavy to avoid injury.

2️⃣ Barbell Rows – This is also a compound that targets your lats and upper back. It also activates the muscles in your arm.

3️⃣ Pull Ups – Great back builder. Once you get strong enough, add dumbbells between your feet.

4️⃣ Lat Pulldowns – If you’re not able to do pull up yet this exercise will help you get there

5️⃣ Dumbbell Rows – You can perform with either 2 or 1 dumbbell at a time while leaning over a bench to improve any muscle imbalances you might have.