Bulking and Cutting

Bulking: Someone should bulk if their primary goal is to build muscle. This means upping the food you eat (healthy food) to enable you to build muscle. You will gain some fat but you want to keep any fat gain to a minimum to not make it hard for yourself later. To bulk you must be in a caloric surplus, meaning taking in slightly more calories than you are burning. 

Cutting: You should cut if your primary goal is to lose fat. Cutting allows you to lose fat whilst keeping all of the muscle you've gained. You should go through phases of bulking and cutting until you are as muscular/fit as you like. To cut, your body needs to be burning more calories than it is consuming. 

All your excuses are lies

Leaving something for tomorrow never happens. Saying you don't have time. You do. Waiting until you feel better, it doesn't matter how you feel. Wishful thinking never made anything happen and results don't happen without starting. Every excuse you make is a lie. I've seen people with no limbs still pushing themselves and working out 5 days a week. I've seen people with diabetes and heart problems still go jogging at any time of the day. I've seen people with severe conditions who had to remain in a chair still trying to move their arms or head so they could be active and enjoy any freedom of movement. So now, what's your excuse ?

1000 blog readers

Today I reached 1000 page views on my blog website about health and fitness. In today's world, where 2.77 billion people use social media, videos and photos dominate. However, I believe reading, by any means, cannot be ignored as it develops the mind; increasing its ability and capacity to grow. 

Benefits of reading:

1. Mental stimulation                               
2. Stress reduction             

3. Improved focus/concentration         
4. Vocabulary expansion

5. Memory improvement

Peaceful Meditation

Meditation means training your mind's awareness and visualising a clear perspective rather than shutting down your thoughts or feelings. Observation without judgement which develops a great understanding of surroundings, perspective and peace. Meditation is an ability that allows you to be completely focused on what you are doing right in that moment. Similar to training a muscle, meditation requires practice until your mind is comfortable; as long as you are trying to keep yourself engaged you will only progress. 

Ego lifting, correct form & full range of motion

Tip: Lifting a heavier weight does not mean more muscle gained. Correct form and a full range of motion are 2 important factors that will contribute to muscle growth as well as your overall fitness. If you want to incorrectly lift a heavy weight, damage your joints and limit muscle growth just to impress people then go ahead but I would rather look and feel like a Greek statue.  

Ego lifting: Trying to lift usually a heavy weight without using correct form or full range of motion. Ego lifters cannot lift a weight with correct form and full range of motion which makes them prone to injuries. Never lift more than you can.

Exercise frequency, intensity & volume

Knowing how to approach your workouts will make the difference in your results. A lot of people will do 150 repetitions of press ups to train their chest on Monday and then wait a whole week to hit that body part again because they are too sore to do anything. This is counterproductive as the muscle is not being stimulated enough for it to grow properly. Instead of doing 150 reps of press ups one day per week, do 75 reps over 2 days or 50 reps across 3 days to target that muscle more frequently so that it can increase in size. 2 to 3 workouts a week per muscle group are optimal. These are 3 key factors of exercise: 1) Frequency - How often you do a certain movement (cardio or muscle building).