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Cardio For Beginners

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Cardiovascular exercises have always been the preferred choice for most of the fitness enthusiasts for losing those extra pounds weather they follow a fat loss program, weight loss program, conditioning program or some other fitness oriented approach. Popular mainly for its fat loss enhancement function and cardiovascular benefits these can be done in more than one ways as used to be the case some years ago. Different forms of cardio include, but are not limited to Low Intensity Steady State (LISS), Moderate Intensity Steady State (MISS) and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). While LISS cardio; most commonly in the form of simple walking has undoubtedly gathered the greatest popularity mainly due to the ease of performing it, good tolerance among varied age groups from young to old irrespective of gender and no need for any special equipment other than free space;  new age equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes and the cross trainer deserve their fair share of liki...

My Muscles are not growing??

Muscular growth is one of the major goal that is desired by many. While it does have a genetic element influencing it right from the beginning following are some reasons/tools which may or may not be relevant to you: 1. Genetic potential: By how much a particular muscle will hypertrophy has a lot to do with the genetic potential of the individual. Some people have good biceps in comparison to triceps while some have really wide lats and rounded delts in comparison to pecs. 2. Caloric Intake: Muscles generally grow more in a caloric surplus in comparison to caloric deficit or caloric maintenance. Check you current intake and compare it with you goal oriented caloric intake. For more information read  Calculating Current Macros and Calories 3. Volume of training: The highest contributing factor to muscular hypertrophy is overall volume for the particular muscle group. Volume is expressed quantitatively as reps times sets times load. 4. Training age: How much time ...

Protein and the Indian diet

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Protein is one of the three macro nutrients, the other two being fat and carbohydrates. While the typical Indian diet provides plenty (sometimes even excess) of fats and carbohydrates, it is said that it doesn't do justice towards meeting daily protein needs. How much protein is actually needed by an individual each day is a totally different question which deserves its own discussion ( Click Here  for more on protein intake), so I won't even touch that here. However, I will list down below certain foods which would provide enough complete protein (well at least for me) to reach (my) daily protein goal. 1. Milk 2. Paneer (cottage cheese) 3. Beans/Lentils + Grains 4. Soy 5. Eggs 6. Chicken 7. Fish 8. Tofu If not consuming these foods on a regular basis a deficiency of protein may occur. For example monetary issues, lack of accessibility, not knowing how to cook, ignorance towards these foods, improper meal planning, etc. are some reasons due to which these m...

Managing Work/Study on a Fitness Program

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Most individuals starting/following a fitness program are either working or studying (in college/school). While this may be an easily manageable task for some, others struggle in coping with the stress that may often accompany managing multiple activities every single day. Firstly, the structure of a fitness program should be planned in such a way that it blends in with an individual's current lifestyle having minimum interference (if any) with their respective work/study life. Of course, having a "normal/general" lifestyle to begin with is a necessary precondition to this.  Secondly, having certain options (in diet, workout, cardio, etc.) goes a long way with adherence to the fitness program. For example substituting low intensity cardio sessions with high intensity ones not only saves time but may also help in a more caloric expenditure overtime. Similarly, splitting workout sessions (in certain cases), more eating options (for less available cooking time, taste...

Diet and Fitness -3 (Reverse Dieting)

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Starting and/or following an exercise and diet program for a period of time is one thing but what should an individual do after he/she has achieved his/her respective goal. For goals such as weight gain, etc which thrive on an increased caloric intake, after achieving the goal going back to maintenance slowly or even further increasing calories may be followed depending on the new goal the fitness enthusiast may have. On the other side, for individuals following a weight loss/fat loss program who have achieved their goal may find that things don't usually work out as they had assumed. While this may certainly not be the case for all, some fitness enthusiasts can face the issue of an ever increasing weight and/or increasing body fat percentage weeks/months after they completed the diet. In situations like these following a reverse dieting approach may prove to be beneficial. When following a weight loss diet usually the consumption of food (calories) steadily goes down, w...

Diet and Fitness -2 (Flexible Dieting)

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Most people starting/following a fitness program find it surprising to know that they can eat the foods they like and still achieve their fitness goals. The portion size of their favorite foods would obviously be limited, but they may get away with it if they are consistent. Flexible Dieting has been around for some time but is only recently gaining popularity mainly for the benefits it offers. The basic idea behind flexible dieting is that you eat the foods you like throughout the day by simply keeping track of their respective macro nutrients. Being close to or on point with your daily/weekly macro nutrient intake numbers may assist you in achieving your nutritional goal, provided that the macro nutrient numbers and your daily/weekly caloric intake values are correct to begin with. Some benefits of flexible dieting include flexibility to eat your favorite foods, varied food intake option, ease of preparing/combining foods you prefer, comparatively easier to adhere to diet...

Diet and Fitness -1 (Diet Plans)

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Diet undoubtedly is an important element of a fitness program. Most fitness goals such as weight loss, fat loss, weight gain, etc. are influenced directly by the type of foods consumed during the duration of the fitness program. A lot of individuals starting their fitness journey rely on either general diet plans or specifically prepared ones for the entire program. Benefits of these may include an easy to follow approach, knowing what to eat for the entire day/week/month before hand, quick results,etc. while drawbacks may include not knowing what dietary steps to follow after the program ends, adaptation of metabolism to a different caloric intake, weight loss/gain still continuing after the program is over and results are achieved, regaining weight and body fat weeks/months after the program(weight/fat loss) ended, limited food items included in program, etc. While these drawbacks are certainly not experienced by everyone, it would be wise to keep an eye out for them. N...