Category: blog

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Food To Eat For Acne

FOOD TO EAT FOR ACNE

๐Ÿ”น Studies estimate approximately 80% of all people between the ages of 11 to 30 have experienced acne outbreaks at some point in their lives, and nutrition plays a key role in controlling those breakouts.

๐Ÿ”น It can be tricky and frustrating dealing with acne while trying to have a social life. These are the top foods that often lead to inflammation and breakouts for people.

โŒ Try your best to avoid the foods on the left. Not only are they not the healthiest, but they can trigger acne as well. In order to regulate hormones and lessen inflammation, it is key to avoid foods that are processed, have refined sugars, and are high on the glycemic index.

โœ”On the other hand, the right side has plenty of healthier food options, that are anti-inflammatory and low on the glycemic index. They say you are what you eat.. well the healthier you eat, the better you’ll look and feel, and ultimately reduce the likelihood of a breakout!

๐Ÿ”น Keep in mind that studies have NOT shown a direct connection between the food you eat and acne; hence this is more anecdotal evidence. That being said, most people find that their acne drastically improved once they eliminated some of these foods from their diet. Try and test some of this food one at a time to see whether it makes a difference!
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Building Bigger Traps

๐Ÿ”น Want to be a trap king or trap queen? You have to know this about growing bigger trapsโ€ฆ
๐Ÿ”น The trapezius are often recognized by the part that you see in the mirror, which are the upper portion of the traps. But the traps actually stretch down the back.
๐Ÿ”น Training the traps requires more than performing shrugs. If you want to target the mid and lower part of your trapezius, try these workouts and watch the gains appear right before your eyes.
Prone- Yโ€™s
Prone Reverse Flys
Bent Over Rows
Reverse Peck Deck
Scapular Pull Ups
๐Ÿ”น And to target the upper part of the trapezius, try these out for sizeโ€ฆ
Barbell Shrugs
Cable Lateral Raises
Above The Knee Rack Pulls
Standing Military Press
Upright Rows
๐Ÿ”น Whatโ€™s your favorite trap workout?
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How To Get Shredded

๐Ÿ”น Getting shredded is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Consistency is the most important thing, when it comes to revealing your ideal physique, but you need to also follow these five steps.
๐Ÿ”น You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat. This occurs when you’re body is expending more calories than you are ingesting on a given day. Your body will then resort to lipolysis (the breakdown of fat tissue) for energy. Tracking your food will help you to ensure you stay in a deficit as you begin to lose weight.
๐Ÿ”น Lift heavy. You need to give your muscles a big enough stimulus to remain and not be broken down for energy. Aim to maintain your strength as you lose fat.
๐Ÿ”น Get more sleep. Sleep is muscle protective. There’s been countless studies that show, those who get less sleep tend to lose more muscle and less fat than those who sleep more, even when calories are equated.
๐Ÿ”น Eat more protein. Protein is essential to support sufficient muscle growth and repair. The last thing you want, is to go through all this training and then lose the muscle mass you had due to not consuming enough protein.
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Progressive Overload

๐Ÿ”น What does it mean to progressively overload? ๐Ÿค”
๐Ÿ”น It means to increase the demands on your muscles through training โ˜๐Ÿฝ
๐Ÿ”น The goal is to improve muscle growth and strength ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿฝ
๐Ÿ”น A lot of times people plateau when doing this because they only focus on increasing the weights, but that can limit you if this is your only focus ๐Ÿ“‰
๐Ÿ”น Itโ€™s best to place variety in your workouts ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿพ
๐Ÿ”น A variety of progressive overload leads to an increase is muscle growth ๐Ÿ“ˆ
๐Ÿ”น You can switch up the tempo, decrease rest time between sets, increase the number of reps and sets, you can try different methods like test pause, or drop sets ๐Ÿ“Š
๐Ÿ”น There are many ways to progressively overload other than increasing the weight ๐Ÿ‹๐Ÿฝโ€โ™€๏ธ
๐Ÿ”น Whatโ€™s your favorite way to progressively overload? โ‰๏ธ
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How To Build Stubborn Muscle

๐Ÿ”น If youโ€™ve been hitting the gym forless than a year, you donโ€™t have lagging muscle-groups, your entire body is lagging. With that said, if youโ€™ve been training for a long period of time and are now starting to notice that a certain muscle is just lagging behind, it may be a good time to implement some specialization techniques. Here are 4 things Iโ€™d recommend if your goal is to build a lagging muscle.
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Tip Number 1: Increase Training Frequency
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๐Ÿ”น If youโ€™re currently training a muscle-group 1x per week, Iโ€™d highly recommend increasing that to 2x per week. Not only is this a great way to maximize training-induced protein synthesis, but itโ€™s an easy way to increase total volume.
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Tip Number 2: Prioritize
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๐Ÿ”น If your goal is to build bigger biceps, then why are you leaving them for the end of your workout when youโ€™re already taxed? Start prioritizing that muscle-group by putting it first!
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Tip Number 3: Progressive Overload
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๐Ÿ”น Progressive overload is the main pathway by which we build muscle. And unless weโ€™re gradually increasing the amount of work we do, no matter how hard we train, weโ€™ll never grow. Get back to the basics โ€“ if you want to build your chest, youโ€™ve got to bench press more weight. Want to grow your legs? Squat heavier!
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Tip Number 4: Eat Enough to Grow
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๐Ÿ”น No matter how intense your training isโ€ฆ if youโ€™re not providing your body the necessary nutrients for growth, youโ€™ll never build muscle. Itโ€™s like trying to build a house without enough bricks โ€“ it doesnโ€™t matter how many workers are present if they donโ€™t have the necessary tools for the job.
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What 500 Calories Look Like

The tricky part about counting calories is the fact that not all foods have the same amount of calories.

Foods that are higher in fat have more calories, given that 1 gram of fat is 9 calories, whereas protein & carbs have 4 calories each per gram.โฃ
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In addition, carbs & fruits/veggies tend to be much more filling, yet less calorie dense.

This means that you can consume a much higher volume of these foods and feel more full and satisfied.

This is why it is important that you strategically eat foods that are less calorie dense so you can avoid the constant feeling of hunger.โฃ
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That being said, you should not be completely avoiding all the foods on the left side of the diagram.

Rather, eat a balanced diet, while keeping in mind which foods can help you feel full for longer without consuming a large amount of calories.

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The Difference Between Fat Loss & Muscle Gain

There are dozens of ways to make gains and burn fatโ€ฆ but here are some key factors that you must implement on your road to successโ€ฆ
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๐Ÿ”น You can, eat 2000 extra calories over your maintenance level and gain tons of muscle mass, but most people will pick up a lot of fat in the process.

This would be counterproductive to the max!!!
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The best route is to stay in a calorie surplus to make the process easier and you’ll keep your lean body while making gains at the same time
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You want to do this with fat loss as well. Take small short steps towards your goal and don’t starve yourself.
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For both processes, patience is Key.
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Many protein recommendations for fat loss can come across as a bit high, however studies have shown that eating more protein rich food can increase your satiety and help defeat hunger while in a calorie deficit. Everyone is different and 2.7g protein per kg is not for everyone of course, but that is the UPPER limit from in a study for male endurance athletes. For female athletes, the protein range was between 1.4โ€“1.7 g/kg bodyweight.
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Resource:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30779631

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Barbell Row

Are You Training Barbell Rows?
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If you’re not doing Barbell Rows then youโ€™re leaving gains on the tableโ€ฆ Let me explainโ€ฆ.
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There are many different Rowing variations that you can try out, but one of the best rowing variations for building a bigger and stronger back are the Barbell Rows.
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They activate your Latissimus Dorsi, Trapezius, Posteriors Deltoids, Scapula Stabilizers, Rhomboids, and your Spinal Erectors.
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Your biceps and Shoulders will benefit from these exercises as well, and who doesn’t want stronger and bigger Biceps?!
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Fruit Juice Is Not Fruit

Have you ever considered the total amount of teaspoons of sugar in a bottle of fruit juice?

Many family households consume litres of fruit juice a week, unaware the volume of sugar inside.

Cheaper concentrated juices have heaps of additional sugar added.
Why?

To make the product taste more appealing and reduce the cost compared to 100% freshly squeezed fruit juice.

Itโ€™s common to pop into a supermarket and pick up a Meal deal with a bottle of fruit juice included.
(Average bottle between 250-500ml)

100% organic freshly squeezed orange juiceโ€ฆ. sounds like a good choice but little do many know it will have anyware from 22 – 44g of sugar per bottle.
This is equal to 5.5 – 11 teaspoons of sugar!

This isnโ€™t directly unhealthy, and of course this can be enjoyed alongside a balanced diet.

One drink can be the equivalent of adding 11 teaspoons of sugar to a cup of coffee or tea. You wouldnโ€™t let your children add 11 teaspoons of sugar to a cup of tea, but itโ€™s common to give children the equal amount of sugar, disguised as โ€œLiquid Fruit?โ€

Some make the mistake of swapping coke for fruit juice as a โ€œhealthyโ€ alternative when aiming to lose weight, without being aware that the fruit juice can contain more calories than the coke.

Liquid calories add up, if youโ€™re looking to lose weight, be conscious of what you consume.

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Healthy Fats

You can be quite flexible in how you reach your fat intake for the dayโ€”but, I recommend you get most of your dietary fats from healthy choices like: meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, oils, and fatty fish.
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Although I wouldnโ€™t overthink your saturated fatty acid consumption, I do suggest that you strive to get plenty of your daily fat intake from unsaturated fats.
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Ultimately, if youโ€™re reaching your minimum required fat intake for the day (0.4g / pound of BW)โ€”while making an effort to get a good deal of it from healthy fat sourcesโ€”youโ€™ll surely achieve all of the health and performance benefits that come from a healthy fat intake.