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Quickest WAY TO A
beach body WITH the summer months fast approaching, now is the perfect time to take your training and diet programme up a few notches so you can build a leaner, more muscular body that turns heads on the beach. But if you’re seeing too much flab and not enough muscle when you look down at your abs – or where they should be – don’t despair. There’s still time to get in shape.
FAIL TO PREPARE, PREPARE TO FAIL First of all, you need to make a plan. Before you pick up a dumbbell or sit on a bike, you need to know why you are doing it and what you hope to achieve. Do you want to build muscle or gain weight? Do you want to lose weight and tone up? Once you’ve decided on your goal, write it down. Tear out a picture of the way you want to look from a magazine and stick it on your bathroom mirror so you see it every day. Keep a basic monthly eating and exercise calendar on your fridge. Studies show that people who keep a written record of what they do are more successful at getting in shape. The next step is to sort out your diet. Packing on inches of new muscle and getting those ‘killer’ six-pack abs isn’t about working out for hours each day. You could spend all day in the gym, but if you don’t let the right nutrients pass your lips you’ll never get the body you want.
TIME TO GET MOVING
WHAT NUTRITION DO I NEED?
When it comes to exercise, you’ll get the best results with a combination of weight training and aerobic exercise. Aim to train with weights 2-3 days each week. Each workout should last 45-60 minutes and include compound exercises.
Firstly, eat smaller, more frequent meals, preferably five or six per day. If you’re only eating 2-3 meals per day, work on raising it to four one week and then five the week after. That’s when products such as protein bars and shakes are effective. They give you instant access to high-quality nutrition if you don’t have the time to cook and prepare healthy meals. Just eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and a convenience protein source in the middle of the morning and afternoon to keep you feeling full until your next meal.
Cardio plays an important role in helping you lose fat, but don’t overdo it. Doing 30-45 minutes of intense cardio 2-3 times a week – combined with a good diet and a proper weight training routine – is a better choice than doing endless hours of lowintensity cardio, which can lead to a loss of muscle as well as fat. But the most important step is simply to get started. Don’t put this off and decide that you’re going to “start fresh” next week or next month. Start today and don’t give up until you’ve achieved your goal. With hard work, persistence, you’ll be surprised at what your body is capable of.
Include protein in as many of your meals as possible. Foods high in protein include chicken, fish, milk, lean beef and eggs. Vegetarians can accomplish this by eating egg whites, low-fat dairy products and tofu or soy meat substitutes. The protein serving should be roughly the same size as your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. What about carbs? You don’t need to cut them out altogether. Fruits and vegetables provide vital antioxidants, are low in calories, and help to fill you up so you don’t feel hungry. It’s best to cut down on the high carb foods (i.e. pasta, bread, cereal) and replace them with fruits and vegetables. At breakfast, for example, rather than filling your bowl with cereal, cut the serving size in half and replace it with fruit such as blueberries or strawberries. You can also add berries and bananas to yogurt. For lunch, add grapes and sliced apples to chicken salad, or tomatoes, radishes and peppers to a beef salad. Fat should make up 20-30% of your daily calorie intake, with the majority coming from monounsaturated sources (such as olive oil, peanuts, hazelnuts, avocados, macadamia nuts or pecans). Your diet should also provide 1-2 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids daily, which you can get from fish such as salmon or mackerel, or a high-quality essential fatty acid products.
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