Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’

Christmas Do’s & Dont’s

Yes it’s that time of year again when the weather takes a turn for the worst, fitness becomes less of a priority and the festive foods take over!

While it’s very easy to get caught up with the cold weather, snow and generally jolly moods, let’s not forget to keep focus on the well being of our bodies.

This may sound like hard work given all the elements we are facing but in actual fact it’s not really that difficult.  If you can sustain 30 minutes of cardio/resistance training per day that will see you through the month of December very nicely.

The trap you don’t want to fall into is going to work and finding yourself eating the cup cakes and other goodies in large trays that your very generous peers have left.  This will result in you eating nothing BUT SUGAR for 8 hours and this will continue for weeks because the next day another friendly peer will also bring in some festive yummies.

Then there will be after hour drinks and bar nights resuting in late dinners and so forth…and you will casually smile and accept what is going on because its Christmas!…Well it’s not quite Christmas, it’s the “lead up” to Christmas but you will only be more than happy to tell yourself that it is…

Now before we tackle the do’s let’s just quickly get the do not’s out of the way first as I like to end on positive and lighter notes…

Do Not…

- Do not starve yourself during the day so you can over indulge on snacks, goodies and Christmas diners

- Avoid sitting at your desk and snacking for 8 hours on cakes and goodies that your work peers have bought in!

- Separate yourself from your nearest and dearests December habits, they may not want to look after themselves as well as you do

- Avoid late night diners and going to bed straight after

- Do not get drunk on every given opportunity & avoid “one for the road”

- Do not be bullied into eating and drinking more because friends and family members are saying “go ooooooon……you know you want to”….it’s a trap!

Do…

- Drink plenty of water during the day, this will help release toxins from your body

- Do try the odd cup cake but don’t get excited and get caught up in the moment and find yourself elbow deep in tray full of assorted cakes!

- Continue to eat 3 regular meals during the day

- DO 30 MINUTES OF CARDIO/RESISTANCE TRAINING EVERY DAY

When I say cardio I am talking about going for a jog, swimming, skipping cycling any fitness activity that will have your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes.

Not only will this help you burn calories but it will keep your mind, body and immune system fit during the month of December…this will not only keep you active but it sets you up nicely for your New Years Resolutions.

Resistance training could be body weight exercises such as push ups, sit ups, squats, lunges etc…these exercises will help keep your muscles remain strong, supple, flexible, toned and well conditioned! 

Other advantages to 30 minutes of exercise per day is it keeps your immune system finely tuned resulting in you minimising your chances of catching a cold/flu and other airborn viruses that tend to pop up during the colder temperatures of December.

 I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and wonderful “Lead Up” to and Christmas

Deepak Bhangu
Head of Operations & Personal Trainer
Musclemadness

Build Mass While Sleeping

How sleep can help build you Muscle

You can spend hours and hours in the gym, lifting hundreds of kilo’s and forcing those last few reps out…but all that can quite easily be going to waste by simply losing out on sleep!

If you are staying up late, getting all worked up over something before bed or sleeping in a noisy environment then this is not going to help your cause, however if you find that you have reached that training plateau then spending a few hours in bed is a better solution to destroying yourself in the gym trying to get over the plateau.

Let’s have a quick look at the basics, if you are not getting enough sleep then your body’s growth hormone which you need to build muscle get disrupted and on the flip side its production of stress hormone cortisol which can cause fat gain will go up!

There are many other negatives that come hand in hand with lack of sleep, it can cause depression, weaken your immune system and make you more vulnerable to bacteria.

To avoid all of the above it is best to try to get eight hours of  quality sleep, lying in bed and updating your profile on facebook on your mobile device does not count, get some real shut eye! 

Consume Slow Release Protein  before Bed

Consuming a slow release protein will also be highly beneficial such as casein or mixing a weigh protein, fish, glutamine and flaxseeds to drip feed the body throughout the night.