The following is a guest post from Chris via BornTough.com
Follow these diet and workout essentials
Other than the vital supplements that some individuals may lack, you need nothing but natural food and exercises to achieve any fitness goal. Unless you’re looking for abnormally huge bodies, you can achieve any muscle strength, body flexibility, stamina and endurance as well as weight loss goal via natural diet and hard workouts.
Right off the bat, even to shred pounds and replace belly fat with abs, your diet plays a more crucial role than anything else in your entire regimen. This is a fact that will be agreed upon by all athletes, whether it’s BJJ, boxing, MMA, Olympics, gymnastics, etc.
Though your workout regimens will affect your chances of success as will be discussed below, it should be noted that nothing will work if you can’t ensure regularity. With that clarified, let’s take a look at the essentials of diet and workouts that you’ll need to follow in all fitness training regimens:
Essentials for Diet
A good diet should follow the principles below:
Be Rich in Protein
Protein is necessary for any diet that promises fat loss as well as muscle gain. The basic structure of protein comprises a chain of amino acids that help the body repair damaged cells and make new ones. For weight loss, protein plays an effective role in decreasing your overall appetite and hunger.
Protein is also essential when trying to achieve a lean physique in order to avoid losing too much muscle. By preventing you from eating much altogether, protein can help you burn more calories even after you’ve engaged in a workout.
In a study involving overweight women, increasing protein intake from 15 to 30 percent of the total consumed calories resulted in the women eating 441 fewer calories in a day. It’s important to note that the experiment did not involve imposing specific dietary restrictions.
Sources of Protein
Keeping the above in mind, you can increase your protein intake by switching to:
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Grilled Chicken
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Fish
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Turkey
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Eggs
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Dairy Products (yogurt, cheese, milk)
Set it on Fiber!
Dietary fiber comprises inedible parts of plants that our bodies can’t normally digest, though they contain vital nutrients. Fiber is categorized as either soluble or insoluble fiber. You need a steady amount of both. Fiber is going to be one of the most important sources of nutrition for anyone who aims to lose weight in a healthy manner.
Though people who want to gain extra weight shouldn’t consume too much, fiber is necessary for the human body. Not only does it help the metabolism digest the food and excrete it out without problems, but it also satisfies hunger for a longer duration. This further helps in stabilizing blood sugar levels that can rise or drop due to massive changes in the body.
Sources of Insoluble and Soluble Fiber:
Soluble Fiber
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Oats
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Peas
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Beans
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Apples and Citrus Fruits
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Carrots
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Barley and Psyllium
Insoluble Fiber
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Whole-wheat flour
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Wheat bran
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Nuts
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Cauliflower
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Green Beans and Potatoes
Avoid Trans Foods
Trans fats and all other trans foods are the number one enemy of any healthy diet.
Eating processed foods and sugary drinks has disastrous consequences for everyone, regardless of whether you’re an unfit person, a fitness freak or even an athlete.
Trans foods include any and all forms of fast food items including frozen foods and any off-the-shelf products. The reason for not trusting any shelf products is threefold.
Firstly, all these foods have been laced with chemicals in order to extend their shelf life. Whereas, a healthy diet restricts the intake of any and every processed food that doesn’t come with fresh nutrients.
Secondly, processed fast foods are almost always rich in sugar (even though they mention a different chemical formula for it in the ingredient section). Sugar is synonymous with the destruction of your body’s insides and thus, is regarded as the enemy.
Not only will processed foods make you eat more because they’re not healthy and fulfilling, but you’ll also be damaging your body with all the unhealthy carbs and
Eat Healthy Carbs and Avoid Bad Carb Foods
For beginners and even those who have misconceptions about dietary facts regarding weight loss, this might come as a surprise, but not all carbs are bad. Healthy carbs are those that contain considerable amounts of fiber and protein in their composition.
Whereas, unhealthy carbohydrates are present in processed foods in excess without a sign of healthy nutrients in sight.
Sources of Insoluble and Soluble Fiber
Some common sources of healthy carbs can be:
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Quinoa
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Oats
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Buckwheat
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Bananas
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Sweet Potatoes
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Beetroots
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Oranges
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Blueberries
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Grapefruit
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Apples
Workout Essentials
Everybody thinks they have their workout figured out.
Some take the principle of “sticking to your workout routine” a bit too literally and never change their workout, even when it’s obviously reached its limit.
Set a Goal
The optimal workout will need to be a perfect balance of the following types of exercise:
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Strength
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Endurance
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Balance
This will require that you figure out your goal beforehand. For example, weight loss workouts differ from athletic routines such as boxing or BJJ workouts.
Supposing that you are training to compete, even then, you need to figure out which weight category you’re competing in. Additionally, you’ll have to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. People who have speed and agility wouldn’t want to bulk up and try to get used to unfamiliar territory.
As you can imagine, everything depends upon where you’re imagining to be. Having clarified that, it’s also essential to know that no goal is too unrealistic (except for the really unrealistic ones such as losing 40 pounds in a month or two).
You can achieve your fitness goals provided you put an effort towards understanding your body before engaging in any regimen. Once you have clear goals and knowledge about your current and target state (as in current and target BMI, current and target diet, current and target reps/sets limit, etc.), you can look for step-by-step solutions.
As we discussed before, your diet supersedes all and thus, will affect your workout routines. Again, what, how and when you workout depends upon what, when and how you eat, which inevitably depends upon your fitness goals.
Incorporate The Best Exercises for Everyone
Though each workout has its own unique characteristics that determine the best course of action along with its frequency, there are some universal workouts that fit all regimens.
A good example of this can be cardio exercises that fit all regimens. The reason they fit any workout regime is because they target the most essential muscles.
Take swimming for example, everyone from boxers to olympians recommend and incorporate this workout in their regimen. Why? Because it works every muscle system in your body.
Similarly, lunges, burpees, squats, planks, etc. are all staple exercises that involve raising heart rate and warming up the body, which is necessary for any and every type of workout.
Stick To Working Out, Not the Workout
The idea is to not stop working out. Sticking to a specific workout routine for long durations will eventually present its limitations. That’s why your diet as well as your workout needs to keep changing in order to avoid monotony. A good practice is to keep trying out new things in order to keep yourself motivated and make coming back to the things you love worth it.
However, the moment you start to think that you can cheat on your diet or that it’s not doing you any good, you’re on the verge of quitting. Make sure that you innovate while keeping the integrity of each essential principle intact. For example, adding more bicep and tricep exercises to the mix is okay when it’s the day for arms but not okay when you’re going for your legs or chest.
Working out too much or at the wrong time will have dire consequences. Instead, try going for HIIT. The idea is to keep on working out until you reach your goals. Your strategy will continue changing but it’s your job to make sure that it’s always for the better.
