Hello, lets talk about nutrition. When loosing weight the thing that really made the pounds come off was that I changed the way I lived, in the sense of eating, sure exercise is very important and I would never want to down play its importance, but the key is what you put into your body. I am not saying anything new here, but hey the more you hear something the more likely you are to adopt that new belief. So when I was loosing weight I fallowed a certain regiment, it is a diet that now weighing 165 pounds have let the reins loose a bit, but it is still one that I belief in, because I am proof.
Eat at least six meals a day.
Make each meal count. If you eat anything it is a meal.
Eliminate any and all refined sugars and sweets.
Reduce caffeine intake and increase water intake. I drink about a gallon of water a day. No Alcohol! (something that during loosing weight I followed, but now I let go on this. I belief we can a bit. Drink your red wine, and hard liquors, but try to let the beer go.)
All heavy starches to be consumed by 1pm or 3rd meal of the day. Things such as bread, pasta and rice.
A serving of protein should be consumed with every meal. A serving is considered to be 4-6 ounces.
Limit dairy intake to 1st or 2nd meal.
All fruits should be consumed before 1pm. No fruit juice! No canned or dried fruits!
Multi-vitamin everyday. (I take many natural supplement more so then a multi-vitamin, this is due to me making the switch to vegetarian and I feel I need more of certain things. Also my favorite multi-vitamin is a prenatal vitamin for expecting mothers, it contains more iron and a few other things I need not eating meat.)
Maximum amount of time between meals should be 3 hours.
Protein always first choice then carbohydrates to added.
Limit sugary condiments such as salad dressing, ketchup, mayonnaise.
Meal replacement bars and shakes to be used if sugar free.
This is a very strict diet used for loosing weight, of course I did not mention exercise but that should be applied. The changes I have made is now I only eat three times a day and I do drink Alcohol, also I take a soy protein supplement, to get my 70-100 grams of protein daily for men; 50-70 for women. I don’t want anyone to do something that they don’t enjoy or are not comfortable with, I post this to show some steps I took. What I really recommend is that you take this as a suggestion and you implement what you can and start slowly. Good Luck! Progress is slow, but I have to admit seeing change gives you energy and drive, and it will come over time trust me.
Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind. Peace.
Goal: The goal for my body is to be 4-6% body fat, with improved flexibility and endurance, also toning is a major key in this regiment.
How to: To do this I have worked out a routine that I think will help me accomplish it includes the p90x routine with throwing in gym work, and supplemental home exercises as well.
Some of the new routines I am going to add to my work are:
After the second week increase time or remove rest time, adjust as you become stronger.
Stomach Vacuum
To execute the Stomach Vacuum, stand upright and place your hands on your hips, and exhale all the air out of your lungs, completely. Expand your chest, and bring your stomach in as much as possible, and hold. Visualize trying to touch your navel to your backbone. One isometric contraction of “X” seconds is one repetition.
Once mastered, the Stomach Vacuum can be performed in a standing, kneeling, seated, and lying position. Now you will have no excuse to avoid abdominal training if you are stuck in traffic.
First you want to breathe in. Then you want to simultaneously flex your abs hard while breathing out. Here is the trick…you want to purse your lips and make it a bit hard to force the air out. It should take you about 5-10 seconds to force all of the air out. As you let the air out of your lungs your abs should have the ability to flex harder and harder.
You can practice this exercise daily, since there isn’t any muscle breakdown like you get in resistance exercise. I like to do it in front of the mirror after I take a shower in the morning. You only need to do it once or twice…just try and see if you get better at flexing your abs over time. You will get a much harder contraction if you make a super tight fist while you do this as well.
What the Heck Does This Do?
This exercise “sharpens” up your abs quit a bit. You will want to practice this in front of a mirror (at home please). Once you have expelled all of the air, you abs should look defined (provided your body fat is low enough). What happens is that over time, your abs will look this way even when you aren’t flexing them!
The “Breath of Dragon” Increases the Mind-to-Muscle Link in Your Abs
Have you ever thought about what is involved in flexing a muscle? Your brain sends nerve impulses to your muscle to command that muscle to flex. Do you have a certain muscle that is easy for you to flex? That muscle has a strong mind-to-muscle link. What is the most toned muscle on your body? Most likely it is the muscle that you can flex the easiest (the one with the strongest mind-to-muscle link). How do you increase the mind-to-muscle link in a muscle that you want to tone? Practice flexing that muscle! ***Please Read The Above Paragraph Twice…Nobody ever talks about this concept!***
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) 60 second Jog, 30sec sprint. Do HIIT every Second Day.
“The Crazy 8 Body Weight Circuit”
Body Weight Circuits are hard, don’t underestimate this, they hurt and are truly one of the hardest routines I have tried.
-20-30 minutes to complete
60 Jumping Jacks: Done as fast as possible, but make sure you do full jumping jacks.
15-20 Spiderman Pushups: I’m just doing normal pushups until they become too easy. Typically it is a breeze for me to do 40+ pushups, but it is much tougher when you do these with zero rest in between jumping jacks.
Walking Lunges: I take 20 steps total. This is the easiest part of the workout in my opinion.
Spiderman Climb: I do a total of 20 of these (10 per side) I really feel these in my abs and oblique’s.
Wall Squat: Do for 45-60 seconds. This hurts! Don’t rest your hands upon your legs, since it makes it easier.
Planks: Do for 60 seconds. Tough after doing all these other exercises without rest.
5 Burpees: Make sure and do a full pushup at the bottom and explode as high as possible at the top into a jump. I’m still kind of uncoordinated with these…probably because I’m “smoked” at this point!
High Knees: Done as fast as possible. Do 50 total. I just count when my right leg hits the ground for 25. It is hard to count both legs for 50 since you are going fast. You will be dying about 1/2 way through.
Notes: Each exercise is done back-to-back with zero rest in between. You will want to rest, but immediately hit the next exercise. After this 8 exercise circuit is done, rest exactly 60 seconds. I usually run over to the microwave and set the timer. Those 60 seconds will feel like 15-20 seconds. Do this circuit 1 more time. Don’t add in the 3rd one until you are ready.
This is my new Weekly Schedule on the fourth week is a rest week:
Also week 1-3, Fourth Week is recovery week.
Monday:HIIT(GYM); Shoulder & Triceps; Abs Ripper(HOME); Plank Regiment & Additional abs workout(HOME); Cardio X(PM); The Crazy 8 Body Weight Circuit(PM).
Tuesday: Regular Running(GYM); Plyometrics(HOME)
Wednesday: HIIT(GYM); Back & Biceps; Abs Ripper(HOME); Plank Regiment & Additional abs workout(HOME); Cardio X(PM); The Crazy 8 Body Weight Circuit(PM).
Thursday: Regular Running(GYM); Yoga X(HOME)
Friday: HIIT(GYM); Legs & Back; Abs Ripper(HOME); Plank Regiment & Additional abs workout(HOME); Cardio X(PM); The Crazy 8 Body Weight Circuit(PM).
Saturday: Kenpo X(HOME); Jog outside.
Sunday:Rest/Stretch X.
Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind. Peace.
