Beat Dehydration and Improve Your Performance

Many people still underestimate the importance of proper hydration during their workouts. Because water is a key component of your body, making up 60 to 65 percent of total body weight, dehydration can diminish energy and impair performance. Even a two percent loss of body weight through sweat can put you at a disadvantage while exercising. Research also shows that properly hydrated resistance-trained weight lifters can lift more than those who are dehydrated.

Follow the Tips Below to stay hydrated during your workouts:
• Shoot for eight to ten eight ounce glasses of water daily

• Remember fluids throughout the day. This may be as simple as using fountains, coolers, or carrying a water bottle for drinking throughout the day.

• Hydrate 2 to 3 hours before training. Aim for at least 16 ounces (2 cups) of fluid at this time and an additional 8 ounces (1 cup) 10 to 20 minutes prior to lifting.

• Drink during and after training. Sports drinks can help ward off dehydration and muscle cramps because they help replenish both fluid and electrolytes (i.e., sodium and potassium) lost in sweat without overdrinking. Just be weary of those containing artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, acesulfame K or high fructose corn syrup.

Nutrition is the Key to Reaching Your Fitness Goals

Whether you want to burn fat or build muscle what, when and how much food you consume can be the key to your success or keep you from succeeding. No matter how often and how hard you workout you cannot out train a crappy diet. Many guys fail to bulk up because they aren’t eating enough or enough of the right things. At the same time many of you fail to lose weight or build muscle tone because you of your eating habits.

A few simple changes can be the difference in finally reaching you goals.

First, eat small meals with correct portion size every 2-3 hours
Plan to eat every 2 -3 hours, whether it’s a full meal or just a healthy snack. When you eat more often, your blood sugar level tends to stabilize, which means you are less likely to experience severe hunger. Since your body only needs so many calories at a given time, excess calories become stored as body fat. The longer you wait between meals, the more likely you are to overeat at your next meal prompting your body to store more body fat.

Second, don’t skip breakfast
Eat a big breakfast, a medium sized lunch, followed by a smaller evening meal, with small frequent snacks in between. After sleeping at night your metabolism has slowed down. Eating a big breakfast gets your metabolism revved up first thing in the morning to help you start burning fat. You should make an effort to eat larger meals in the early part of the day when you are most active, and can use those calories as energy throughout your day. In the later part of the day when you are less active, your body requires fewer calories so make sure to eat smaller meals as the day progresses.

Third, stop drinking your calories
Many people drink a large number of calories during the day without even knowing it. Super sized soft drinks and flavored coffee beverages can have 300 to 700 calories or more. First make sure to stay away from super sized beverages (stick with 8 to 12 ounces), second making the switch to water can lead to a 20 pound weight loss or more over the course of a year. Non-calorie beverages such as water and green tea are your best choices.

Aim for .6 to .7 ounces per pound of body weight. For instance if you weigh 160 pounds aim to get at least 96 ounces per day. Having 16 ounces of water upon waking in the morning is a good idea because you have been dehydrated during your sleep. With each meal you should also drink one to two cups of water. Carrying a water bottle to work or school and sipping throughout the day, helps keep you hydrated and full between meals. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to have a drink as this is a sign that you are already dehydrated.

Remember, Small changes go a long way to getting you where you want to go. Make the change today.

The Definition of Insanity

Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Think about this quote for a second and ask yourself, does this quote apply to me?

Well, if you have been doing the same workout for years and aren’t getting the results you want then guess what? You might be a little insane. First of all don’t feel bad at least you’re still going to the gym right? The problem is you need to learn what is going to get you the results you’re after.

Chances are the intensity of your workouts is too low and you’re not breaking out of your comfort zone. Until you push beyond your comfort zone you’ll maintain at best. Don’t be afraid to sweat and don’t be afraid of being sore. These are two indicators that you’re pushing yourself hard, and when you push yourself hard results aren’t far behind.

Stop the insanity now and push yourself to the next level. For more tips visit us www.workoutquest.com

7 Habits of Highly Effective Weight Loss Programs

1. Eat Breakfast
After sleeping at night your metabolism has slowed down. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism revved up first thing in the morning to help your body start burning fat.

2. Eat Frequently
Plan to eat every 2 -3 hours, whether it’s a full meal or just a healthy snack. The longer you wait between meals, the more likely you are to overeat at your next meal prompting your body to store more body fat

3. Lift Weights
Weight lifting not only builds muscle but also increases your metabolism. Every pound of muscle you build increases your metabolism enough to burn an additional 50 calories per day, so gaining 5 pounds of muscle will help you shed over 25 pounds of fat over the course of a year.

4. Perform Interval Training
Interval training is a great way to burn a ton of calories in a short period of time. It also forces your body to continue to burn more fat in the following hours than you will at a steady state low intensity cardio resulting in faster fat loss.

5. Decrease Caloric Intake
Research has shown that Americans often underestimate how many calories they are consuming each day by as much as 25%. Therefore they think they should be maintaining or losing weight, when they are actually gaining weight. Measure out correct portions at home and eat only half of your oversized meal when eating out.

6. Drink Water
Super sized soft drinks and flavored coffee beverages can have 300 to 700 calories or more. Making the switch to water can lead to a 20 pound weight loss or more over the course of a year and avoiding dehydration lets your body perform to the best of its ability.

7. Set Realist Goals
Realistic weight loss is ½ to 2 pounds a week. Remember you didn’t put the weight on overnight so don’t expect to lose it that quick. Write your goals down and review them every night. Research shows people who write down their goals and review them daily are more successful than those who don’t.

I’m Not Losing Weight, Why?

Q: Six months ago I started doing cardio to lose weight. I began walking 30 minutes three times a week, now I’m running 60 minutes five days a week. I feel like I’ve been putting in a lot of time, but I haven’t lost any weight in the last two months, why?

A: To continue to lose weight you may need to adjust your training regime. The problem is the fact that your body adapts to the stimulus you give it. If you lift weights, for example your body responds by getting stronger allowing you to lift heavier weights; if you eat only two meals per day your body adapts by slowing your metabolism (not a good thing if you want to lose weight) so you don’t starve. When you do aerobic training as in your case, your body becomes more efficient at running, so your body requires less energy to complete the task, resulting in less caloric burn.

When you started running 60 minutes it used to be very hard, on an intensity scale of 1 to 10 it might have been an 8 or 9 (meaning it’s harder), now that you’ve conditioned yourself it may only be a 5 or 6 (meaning it’s easier). So to continue to improve you have to workout harder and harder to achieve weight loss. To do this you can run longer, add hills or go faster which will bring your intensity back up to an 8 or 9. If weight loss is you goal, there’s no fun in running 70 minutes up hill to burn the same amount of calories you used to burn in 60 minutes on flat land.

While you can increase the time of your run to burn more calories, to make your workout more time efficient my recommendation is to add hills or speed increases. The best way to do this is with interval training, which will be a little harder, but saves you a lot of time and gets a much better result. If you can currently run 30 minutes you'll add work intervals such as small hills or all out sprints (level 9 or 10) for 60 seconds every four minutes.

As you improve from month to month gradually decrease your rest interval time from 3 minutes to 2 minutes and finally to 1 minute. The shorter rest intervals will keep your work intervals feeling hard; a level 8 or 9. As you get better conditioned you can also add steeper hills and faster sprints keeping it at a level 9 or 10 and you’ll never stop burning fat.

Example:
Minutes 1-3 normal pace
Minute 4 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minutes 5-7 normal pace
Minutes 8 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minute 9-11 normal pace
Minutes 12 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minutes 13-15 normal pace
Minute 16 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minutes 17-19 normal pace
Minutes 20 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minute 21-23 normal pace
Minutes 24 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minutes 25-27 normal pace
Minute 28 sprint or hill (level 9)
Minutes 29-30 normal pace

Train With Weights To Lose Fat

Did you know that for every pound of muscle you gain, your metabolism increases enough to burn an extra 50 calories per day? This may not sound all that impressive, but if you gain five pounds of muscle you’ll burn an additional 250 calories a day just sitting there carrying around that added muscle. Over the course of a year you’ll shed 26 pounds without any added cardio or diet changes.

If you’re not lifting weights start today and begin shedding fat and tone up. For help with muscle building workouts visit workoutquest.com.

Is 15 Minutes of Cardio Enough?

Question: I can only get 15 minutes of cardio work in, is it worth my time?

Answer: Definitely. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend healthy adults do 30 minutes five days per week at a moderate pace or 20 minutes of vigorously intense cardio a day three days per week to maintain health and reduce the risk for chronic disease. Even 15 minutes produces positive benefits.

There are a couple of ways to get a great cardio workout done in 15 minutes. The first is doing interval training. Although it’s a bit more challenging, you burn more calories and improve your endurance faster than when you workout at a moderate intensity. To do it, work at intensity higher than your regular pace for one minute then slow down for one minute of recovery. Repeat the pattern for 15 minutes. This can work whether you are jogging, cycling, rowing, stair climbing or to name a few.

The second option is adding cardio cycles into your resistance training workouts. Instead of sitting there for 30 to 60 seconds between your sets, try jumping rope, doing mountain climbers or squat thrusts between your sets to keep your heart rate up and burn more calories. Cardiovascular workouts don’t have to be done on a machine in their own workout; it simply means to work your heart and lungs. This type of workout is guaranteed to give your cardiovascular system a great workout and doesn’t take any more time than you’re already working out.