How to Build Muscle

Here are some tips to gain muscle bulk. This would be for men, or women who want to bulk up.   

• Lift heavy weights 6-10 reps. The last 3 should be very hard.

·         Rest in between weight workouts for a day; you can do cardio on the off days. If you feel like your body needs more time to recover, listen to it. Replace your workout with a good recovery workout or stretch that day. Follow the program, but you can also adjust to your body’s needs.

·         Sleep at least 8 hours. Your body actually uses the rest and sleep times to build the muscle not during the workout, that’s when it is tearing it down to rebuild stronger.

·         Drink water so that you avoid dehydration. Your body uses water to repair the muscles.

·         Eat enough calories to rebuild your muscles

·         Eat whole foods, meaning not from a box. Meats, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and wholes grains.

·         If you need to gain weight to gain muscle, eat calorie dense foods like grains, pasta, olive oil, and mixed nuts. You should also get enough veggies, but if you have a salad, add beans, rice and cheese to it to get enough calories.

·         Eat enough protein. You will need 1g protein per pound of body weight daily to build muscle. So if you weigh 160lbs you will need 160 grams of protein. That can come from meat, fish, dairy, beans, eggs, soy, whole grains, even some veggies have protein, and protein powder.

·         Eat 5-6 times a day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. That will help keep your body in the mode for food, help you get enough calories, and help your metabolism.

·         Drink Recovery drink right after workout to help repair the muscles for the next workout.

 Good luck, and keep Pushing Play!

Helping to speed up your metabolism

One thing I have discovered is that people who regularly "diet" end up with slow metabolism's. They have been frequently starving themselves and their body did what it had to do to survive. It slowed its metabolism so that it could survive and store extra for times when there is even less food. So what do you do when you get caught in this situation? It feels like you are trapped and there is no way out, because if you add calories, then it seems like you immediately gain weight! Well, you need to get your body back in balance, and one of those things will be adding more calories to your diet. Here is a list of things that you can do to help your metabolism get back on track. I would say that you should get it back on track first, then you can safely try to loose weight again, but only by taking 500 calories a day out instead of going on a strict diet. Of course eat healthy, but keep track of your calories because loosing weight is a matter of numbers. You just need to subtract 500 calories a day from your diet to equal one pound a week. So here it is:

1.       Eat 6 small meals a day- keeps your metabolism working all day, and not going into storage mode.

2.       Exercise daily- you need to build muscle, not just cardio. Muscle burns fat even after you are done working out.

3.       Drink lots of water

4.       Get enough sleep at least 7 hours

5.       Eat whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, and low fat meats (unprocessed food)

6.       Work out first thing in the morning before you eat to start up your metabolism then eat right away after your workout.

7.       Know how many calories you burn in a day (body bug, fitbit, etc.) or calculate your BMR see number 9

8.       Keep track of the amount of calories you eat to lose weight safely it should be no more than 500 less than what you burn in a day. Free websites that can tell you approximately how many calories are in a food item. http://www.caloriescount.org/calculator.html

9.       How to calculate a normal BMR for a woman.    BMR=655+(4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

10.   Take the amount of calories you consumed in the last 24 hours minus the total calories burned in the last 24 hours equals the deficit or surplus created. You want a deficit of 500 to loose one pound of fat in a week.

11.    Eat spicy foods with hot peppers.

12.   Avoid caffeine and soda and other food that has low or no nutritional value.

13.   Take multi vitamins daily.

14. I drink Shakeology every day. That helps me to have a highly nutritious meal that is also low in calories. Plus it is tasty and easy- I dont go a day without it.

Working out when Pregnant

When I was pregnant with my last baby, I worked out as normal for as long as I could, but then I wanted something that was made more for someone who was pregnant. So I ordered Yoga Booty Ballet Baby on the Way workout video. I did that for the last 3 months of my pregnancy, and really enjoyed it. They do all the exercises you are supposed to do when pregnant. It makes it easy to take care of yourself. I thought it was a great workout, and was perfect for me in the last part of my pregnancy. Not too strenuous, but I felt like it was a good work out for me. I recommend it to all pregnant women. You don't have to stop working out just because you are pregnant. (Unless your doctor tells you to.) Take good care, and good luck!

Arlene's Shakeology Story

I am Diabetic and 58 years old. I have been Diabetic for 14 years and until the last 4 years, even though I was watching my diet and trying to loose weight and succeeding with that I was unable to get my blood sugar under control and it just kept getting worse every time I went in to the Doctor and had my quarterly blood test done My A1C (which is a test that shows the average blood sugar for the last 3 months from the time it is taken and gives it a number) was always up in the 7.6 range, and it needs to be in the 6.4 range- or lower is better.  So then My Daughter introduced me to Shakeology so I was willing to give  it a try and see if it can help me in any way.  I took it and it was just 3 months later I went in for my test and I was so amazed it was 6.3. I had never before gotten it that low and the only thing I was doing different was drinking Shakeology everyday. It also helped me to feel better.  I was absolutely sold  and I will take it for the rest of my life. I know it has been a life saver for me.

 Arlene Dalton

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