7 Best Nutrition Tips for Athletes

Food is the fuel that helps athletes perform their best. Without it, endurance, strength and overall performance will be down. If you want to get the most out of your workouts and athletic capabilities, your diet should be a top priority in your fitness efforts.

 

In order to perform your best at game time, your body needs the right nutrition. Here are some tips from to help maximize your athletic performance and avoid injury.

 The seven key components to your contest preparation are weight training, protein, cardio, calories, carbs, fats, and supplements. The only 2 things that will remain primarily consistent is your protein intake and your weight training.

 Weight Training
 –Typically stays consistent throughout you training. Small adjustments will be implemented toward the last stages of your preparation.

 Protein
 – Typically stays consistent throughout your training. There may be some slight modifications at the end of your preparation to help achieve that shredded look.

 Cardio
 – Should be used as a tool, not a crutch. We are not advocates of doing 2-3 hours a day of cardio. We try to stimulate your metabolism and get you as lean as possible through your diet and use cardio as only a small part of the training.

 Calories
 – Should be kept as high as possible to help keep you full, mentally alert, and energized for training. Calories will be adjusted as necessary.

  Carbs
 – Carbs, Carbs, Carbs, Carbs! Everybody love carbs! But not everyone can eat them… Carbs can be a necessary tool for keeping muscles pumped, keeping glycogen levels high, helping with mental alertness and getting you through those hard workouts. The key to carbs is finding and balancing the ones that work best with your body

Fats
 – Like carbs, fats play a significant role in your physique. Some fats are good and some fats can destroy your body shape.

Suppliments
 – There are plenty of supplements out there on the market.

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Top 8 Best Fat Burning Exercises - Workouts Easy

If you're looking to shed some unwanted pounds, take a look at 10 of the best fat burning exercises which (when combined with a healthy diet) will help you to achieve the body of your dreams.

Interval training
One of the best ways to burn fat is through interval training. It doesn’t matter whether you complete your interval training through running, on a rowing machine or a bike, the exercise will help you lose weight. This is because interval training increases your growth hormone and adrenaline levels - both of which suppress your appetite and help your body to burn fat.

 Cross Country Skiing
Cross-country ski machines have a very high calorie and fat burning potential and is a non-impact exercise. Unlike other exercise machines, using a cross country ski machine requires skill and coordination.

 Rowing Machine
 Rowing is regarded to be the most complete exercise because it works all of the body’s major muscle groups such as the legs, buttocks, back, abdominals and arms. It is a safe and non-impact activity but is not recommended if you have low back problems. Generally, rowing is an excellent exercise for burning fat, endurance and strength conditioning workout; however, it is very exhausting and difficult to sustain for long periods.

Train with kettlebells
Introducing weights such as kettlebells into your workouts is another excellent way to see fat burning results. Training with kettlebells helps you to tone up your problem areas and therefore burn fat (as the more muscle mass a person has, the more calories they burn.) The aerobic nature of kettlebell exercises also helps to blast fat by raising your heart rate. Many gyms offer kettlercise classes or alternatively you could follow along at home with an online tutorial.

The plank
Alongside being a great core exercise, the plank also causes your body use calories, therefore making it a great exercise to burn fat. To increase the difficulty of the exercise, you can also extend your body from the plank position into the press up position and extend one arm out in front of you. Then repeat with the opposite hand, return to the plank position and complete the sequence again. To fully master the plank, try out our Virtual Plank Challenge.
 
 Stationary Recumbent Bicycle
Recumbent bicycling has all the advantages of upright cycling but is more comfortable than the upright version because the lower back is supported. The ergonomically designed seat makes recumbent cycling perfect for people who have lower back problems or are overweight. It also provides a good work out for the gluteal and hamstring muscles since you push the pedals forward instead of up and down.

High knees
A simple but effective fat burning exercise is high knees. Remember when carrying out the exercise to bring your knees up as high as you can towards your chest and keep your back straight, swinging your arms to stay balanced. This exercise will soon get your heart racing which is essential for burning fat.

 Walking
 Walking is highly recommended for the sedentary or overweight individual as a basic exercise to induce fat and weight loss. It is considered as a low to moderate exercise and should be done briskly and continuously for at least 30 minutes in order to achieve successful fat and weight loss.

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Best 4 Dumbbell Exercises For Legs

If you want to build an awesome pair of legs, this dumbbell leg workout will put you well in the right direction!
Legs are often neglected in the gym because of the effort you’ve got to put into training them.
But it’s so important that you do train legs – no matter whether your goals are to build muscle, lose fat and tone up or strengthen your muscles.
Dumbbell exercises for legs target the upper, lower and inner thigh muscles as well as the calf muscles (calves).

1. Goblet Squat

The goblet squat can be a great alternative to squatting with a bar on your back, especially for beginners to learn the squat technique properly.
Having the weight distributed in front of you causes a different challenge, and will also give your abs a blasting.

- Hold the dumbbell with your palms facing up (hence the ‘goblet’ part of the name), with your feet around shoulder-width apart and your chest forwards, shoulders back.
- Keeping a straight back, bend your knees and move your butt back and down, so your weight is through your heels. Aim to get your butt as close to the ground as possible.
- Keep your chest facing forward.
- Tense your abs and push back up through your heels to your starting position.

2. Lunges  For leg and glute development, it is a close competition between Squats and Lunges as to which is the best. Both are great and worth doing in your leg workout. What I can tell you is that if I don’t do one for a few weeks, when I bring it back into the workout it blasts my legs. For that reason I suggest Lunges AND Squats. As for the lunges you can do variations such as: Standing, Walking, Forward, Angled, et cetera.

3. Step-Ups  Here is a great exercise that takes your leg training to A New Level LITERALLY! The Step-Up done properly may be the best Glute Developer. Men may not worry about shaping their glutes as much as ladies do. Ask a woman though and I bet you she tells you, “WE SHOULD!”

4. Calf Raises  Pick up a Dumbbell or Two and get to Raising. Single or double leg variations are both great. Depending on balancing I ssues you can hold one or two dumbbells and work your way down to just bodyweight for a drop set thoroughly burning them out.

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Top 11 Amazing Health Benefits of Making Love

Most people think that making love is a kind of physical enjoyment and a good way to have a healthy relationship. But making love can do more than make you feel good and close to your partner. It can actually make you both physically and mentally healthier. Sexual activity benefits your body in the same way as exercise, it boosts heart health and immunity and reduces blood pressure. Thinking beyond the pleasure of making love, there are other various Health benefits of love making, that it keeps you young, boost your mood and immune system, helps you live longer and much more. Read the article to see how making love can benefit you.

Here I will try to discuss 10 amazing health benefits of making love. You may like this !

1. It Helps You Sleep Better.

The sleep that you get just after you’ve made love will be much more relaxed. Getting a good night’s sleep will make you feel alert and overall healthy. One of the brain’s stress-relieving chemicals, oxytocin, is released during it. That oxytocin does not only increase endorphins and decrease pain, but it can also help put you to sleep. Feeling loved, decreases stress, which makes worries disappear and allows you to fall into a deep sleep.” It also involves muscle contractions and movement that deplete the body of energy, allowing it to be flooded with those feel-good, soothing hormones.

2. It boosts mood

Oxytocin promotes feelings of joy and happiness.An investigation of 30,000 American people somewhere in the range of 1989 and 2012 found that having intercourse at any rate once every week in a submitted relationship was sufficient to satisfy individuals.It’s more than the coital demonstration that brings Health benefits of love making. Investigations of more established grown-ups found that clasping hands, embracing, kissing and common stroking likewise add to a more prominent personal satisfaction.

Getting it on can avoid sadness, as well. Studies demonstrate that people who have sex with their accomplices have more prominent fulfillment with their psychological well-being. (Lamentably, the advantages didn’t reach out to masturbation.)Yet, the lift doesn’t seem to work for easygoing sex or hookups. One investigation of about 7,500 US undergrads crosswise over 14 state-funded colleges found that the individuals who had more hookups had brought down dimensions of bliss and confidence, and more elevated amounts of sorrow and uneasiness.As opposed to the thought that men are bound to approve of easygoing sex, the scientists found no contrasts between the genders.

3. It Burns Calories.

 S-x is a great form of exercise and helps burn those stubborn calories. Studies suggest that s*x on a regular basis is as good as pumping some iron in the gym. Also, it involves muscular movement of the thighs, legs, arms, shoulders and lower abdomen which equals a total body workout. The average session burns about 150 calories, comparable to an easy yoga session or a walk. It’s a nice exercise. It burns calories, especially if it is doing by a variety of styles and position. S*x is a good way to lose weight.

4. It Boosts Your Immune System.

Making love just once or twice a week has been linked to having higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin, which can increase your protection from colds and other infections by up to 30 percent.

5. It Keeps You Young.

There’s no doubt that an active romantic life makes couples live a happy and longer life. Research suggests that regular lovemaking allows the release of endorphins and boosts the skin’s production of vitamin D, which in turn makes one look and feel young.

6. It Helps to Get Relieves From Stress.

A big health benefit of making love is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their activity. Researchers found that it helps to get relieves from stress.

7. It Helps to Improve Fertility.

Frequent exercise regulates menstrual cycles, which makes conception easier. Orgasm is a fact here which actually assists with fertilization. All those of you who are planning to become mommies anytime soon, here’s good news! According to this report, better practice leads to better chances of conception (Yay). The best way to achieve this is by not treating it like a chore; instead better the quality to increase your chances of getting pregnant.

8. It Helps Fight Disease.

A good session of lovemaking helps in combating a lot of diseases in both men and women. You will be surprised to know that making love reduces the risk of cancer, heart diseases and even common cold.


9. It Helps to Reduce Pain.

Making love is a nice natural pain reducer. According to studies, vaginal stimulation may lead to increased pain tolerance which in turn has the power to ease out pain during periods, arthritis and migraine. As the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. For chronic pain sufferers, forget about popping toxic pain pills, it is the way to go. Migraines and chronic back pain have been shown to be reduced, thanks to these incredible natural healers. It also wards off the flu and colds. A lovemaking session can release the tension that restricts blood vessels in the brain.

10. It Helps Women More Beautiful.

It helps women to be more beautiful. During making of love, women produce the estrogen hormone in significant amounts. These hormones can make women’s skin smoother and makes hair becomes shiny. Sweat that released during practice can cleanse the pores and make skin glow. Beside that, love relationships can increase the amount of pheromone in the body that can make a woman look more beautiful and attractive.

11. It Promotes Overall Well-Being

If you are comfortably happy, then be assured that nothing else can challenge your health. And it has the capacity to promote the overall well-being of a couple. A steamy session powered by love can easily perk up your mood and keep you in a happy zone.

Researches shows that a positive relationship significantly improves the overall health and well- being. Happily married couples are less likely to develop health problems such as cancer and heart failure, and will live longer on average. Your body will experience a whole roller coaster of hormones during, and reminisce afterwards. The main hormone is oxytocin, also known as the hormone of love is called. This particular hormone is important for binding and cherish with your partner and will be released when you’re hugging and have contact with your partner.

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Six Pack Abs Diet – The Top Diet For Amazing Abs!

First, the bad news: No matter how much physical effort you put into sculpting a smokin’ six-pack — crunches, planks, squats, cardio, HIIT — no one’s going to see them if they’re covered by a layer of flab.
Now, the good news: You can learn how to get abs by eating healthy.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “abs are made in the kitchen.” Well, that’s about 50 percent true — nutrition and exercise go together like Bey and Jay or Elizabeth and Philip; one without the other is “meh,” but for real fireworks/results, you need both.

So if you’re already crushing the exercise portion of the equation, then all you need to do is get your nutrition in order.

1. Limit Your Calorie Intake

Your ideal diet must be such that it creates a calorie deficit within. This would ensure that the insulin production is kept under check and the blood sugar levels remain regulated. On the whole you must aim at cutting down substantial calories on an everyday basis. To give you a basic idea, 3500calories form 1lb. of flab and so cutting down on 500 calories a day would ensure a lb. of weight loss every week. Depending upon your potential and the ideal weight loss limits, you can work out the amount of calories to be sacrificed everyday and then eat accordingly. The link at the end of the article would help you on figuring out the exact calories that each food item contains by providing you with a detailed calorie chart of various foods.

2. Increase The Number Of Meals, Reduce Portions

A particularly good strategy is to eat several short meals a day. You must eat sensibly to spread the same diet throughout the day by increasing the meals and cutting down on meal sizes. This would ensure a steady metabolism and you would witness quick fat loss.

3. Eat The Right Foods

A low Gl. diet would be really beneficial as the bad carbs which cause a steep rise in blood sugar levels would be successfully avoided in this manner. Also, high protein, high fiber foods intake to increase the metabolism are advisable. On the whole, avoid trans-fats and any junk stuff or soft drinks as that would prevent calories from mounting within and would thereby invest you with the much desired six pack abs.

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The 9 Best Muscle Building Foods for Size and Strength

People who are training for gaining size and strength can sometimes overlook the importance of the right diet in their transformation. Eating the right food can put you on the fast-track to muscle gain.

Contrary to the popular belief, you don’t have to rely on supplements for your transformations. You can achieve your dream physique by eating real food. In this article, we’ll take you over the nine food items you should have on your grocery list.

Red Meat Red meat is a great source of protein.  It promotes muscle growth, thanks to its levels of zinc, iron and vitamins. Choose lean cuts though to avoid saturated fats.

Chicken/Turkey Breast Chicken and Turkey breast is probably the most consumed muscle buildings food due to their high protein yet low fat content.

Fish Most sources of fish are full of protein .Fishes rich in Omega-3 such as salmon and trout are excellent for muscle building and should be a part of your regular diet.

Eggs Eggs (the white in particular) are very high in protein and the white has no fat.  Many body builders eat a large number of egg whites as part of their daily diet to enhance muscle growth.

Dairy Products -Milk and Cottage cheese are great sources of protein and calcium. Cottage Cheese is a casein type of protein meaning it is slow releasing therefore is excellent to eat before bed to help muscle repair during the night.

Nuts Nuts also contain protein and also contain healthy unsaturated fats.  Because of their high fat content, you should restrict the amount you consume.

Oatmeal – Whole grain oats contain seven B vitamins, vitamin E, and nine minerals, including iron and calcium and they are high in protein – in fact, did you know that one ounce of oats has twice the protein of wheat or corn flakes??

Vegetables/Fruits Vegetables, and Fruits of all varieties are an important part of your muscle building diet. This is because they contain lots of minerals and vitamins and have high antioxidant profile that will help reduce the amount of free radicals from heavy training and accelerate recovery by healing damaged muscle cells.

High Complex Carbs Foods such as bran, barley, buckwheat, beans, brown rice, cornmeal, oatmeal, pasta, potatoes and whole grains are essential for muscle building. The slow releasing energy they provide helps you train harder and stops your body breaking muscle down to use as an energy source.

Your muscle building foods should come from a variety of Protein carbohydrate and fats. A well-balanced diet that includes sufficient levels of three of these nutrients , will insure you maintain build muscle , have energy, recover well and keep your immune system strong.

However  it is important to remember that for gaining muscle size you must consume enough calories and spread this out over 5-6 meals every day to optimise nutrient absorbtion and keep body fat levels under control.

By combining a well-balanced diet which includes all types of muscle building foods, with plenty of hard training you will soon begin to see your muscles increase in size.

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Diet For Abs – Ripped Sexy Six Pack Abs

Are you set on flattening your tummy or maybe you have a burning desire to show off a six pack stomach? Well, that goal is well within reach, you may just not know where to start. Many times, we get so wrapped up in how awesome we would look and feel and immediately jump into a less than perfect plan to achieve those six pack abs.

Your results may have been less than spectacular.

Your plan fizzles within a week or so because the emphasis is on ineffective diet and exercise strategies that cause us to work waaaaaay too hard and not smart, so you see NO change!

You need to step back and envision a plan that you know WILL work, results you can SEE. It worked for me and will for you.

The first step is educating yourself on what works and what doesn’t work so you can set realistic goals and expectations for achieving a six pack, or even just flattening your stomach. You can’t just decide one day ” I want flat abs” And start doing 100 sit ups and expect anything resembling a six pack!

So let’s relax and a get a plan that will not only get you six pack abs, but help you keep them as well.

The best most successful plan to get ripped abs used by thousands works because it puts diet first. Diet is 80% of the process in gaining ab definition. Cutting out foods that convert into belly fat need to be eliminated immediately. Like NOW. This needs to be done before you do one sit up or crunch!

It’s simple..reduce body fat percentage and you’ll lose fat around your gut as well. And the best way to do that is by radically changing our diet. I’m barely talking about exercise in this article for a good reason. Direct ab exercise without considering diet will not achieve your goals for a six pack, it’s a proven fact.

So work smart not hard! You can see results in about 4- 6 weeks, and look awesome at the pool or beach, following this mindset. Get pumped up about achieving your new body because it’s totally within your reach!

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