Hydration

All life on this planet begins with water.  There's a reason why we are searching the galaxies for a planet with water so we may one day journey across space to build a new home.  Without water, life as we know will not be able to exist.

Protein Smoothie (Delicous and Healthy)

Should I lose weight (cut) or try to build muscles (bulk) first?

Let's put this out of the way first.  Losing weight and losing fat are completely different things.  Losing weight means you are losing water weight, fat, and even muscle.  Losing fat means shedding extra fat off.  When we want to slim down, we want to get reduce the fat, but still keep the lean muscle.  To lose fat, you have to be in a caloric deficit.  Meaning that you take in less calories than you burn which leads to fat loss.  But the thing is people want to be muscular when they lose the extra fat.  When someone overweight losses all their fat, they typically don't have much muscle.  Scientific research has shown that building muscle first will make losing fat much easier.  Having more muscle burns more calories.  When our body adds more muscle mass, it requires more calories to maintain it.  Which is great for people trying to lose fat.  Instead of storing excess calories, our body instead feeds the calories to the muscle.  The reason behind this is because having more muscle mass increase your metabolism (the rate in which you use calories).  Even when you are resting, your muscle will use and burn calories.  So it is better to try build muscle mass first before trying to go on a cut.  And here is the best part.  When your metabolism increases, you can eat more food and still lose fat.  Which is why athletes can consume around 4000 calories and still stay very lean.  Remember more muscle mass mean more calories burned.  As a result, when you do go on cut, you metabolism will higher making the process more efficient.

Plan

Example:
First two month: Work on form and technique/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


Next two month: Work on strength (4-6 rep)/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


Next four month: Work on hypertrophy (8-12 rep)/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


After completing these eight months, you should put on a decent amount of muscle mass.  Now you should begin your cut.  Since having more muscle mass increase metabolism, you cut should be fairly simple.  Just keep going to gym doing 8-12 rep exercise and doing more cardio while also decreasing your calories by 200 under the amount to maintain your weight.  If you consume 2500 calories and burn 2500 calories, your weight will never move.  If you consume 2300 calories and you burn 2500 calories, you will gradually lose weight.  Try to lose about 0.5-1.5 pound a week.  At first you will lose weight very rapidly due to water weight during the first few weeks.  But after the water weight is gone, your weight will dramatically slow down.  If you lose 6 pounds in one month and you continue your cut, you will lose around 24 pounds in four months.


(Be looking out for the "How to Build Muscles" post)

Busy schedule, no time to workout

Swole Food (Carbohydrates)

Carbohydrates

Swole Food (Proteins)

Protein

Importance of Healthy Lifestyle

Why is adopting a healthy lifestyle important?

Why is it important?  Because it could save your life.  Throughout my years, I strongly believe that living a healthy lifestyle can prevent many diseases and illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, stroke, type II diabetes, osteoporosis, etc. Adopting a healthy lifestyle does not have to mean going to the gym everyday and train like an Olympian or run 100 miles per day. It means following a healthy and nutritious diet, getting involved in more physical activities, getting a good night sleep every single night, and managing your stress level. Physical activities can be as simple as walking to class instead of the bus, biking, swimming in a pool, playing sports with friends, or even doing yoga. Anything to get your body moving and away from watching TV or sitting in-front of the computer all day. I understand that many diseases and illnesses may run in your family, but that does mean it is an excuse. Both of my brothers, my father, and my grandparents all have type II diabetes mainly due to their lack of physical activity and poor diets. Even though type II diabetes run in my family, it doesn't mean I have type II diabetes. I have been able to not develop it due to the lifestyle that I live. One day when I get older, I may or may not develop type II diabetes, but I will do everything in my power to not let it happen. I mean do you really want to wake up every single day in pain and having to take dozens of medication prescribed by your doctor just to stay alive? I rather just exercise and eat right. It is much less of a hassle which will reduce your stress and, most importantly, it will save you a lot of money. Money that could use for your own enjoyment such as buying clothes, cars, video games, etc. instead of it being used to pay medical bills and prescription medication which can be very expensive. I am absolutely certain that everyone wants to grow old and have a long and healthy life instead of a life where you are closer to dying every second you live.