Month: February 2016

No time to train? Leonardo Da Vinci did!

No time to train? Are you busy?

How often have you heard “I don’t have time for…”, or have you used it yourself?

Do you think Leonardo Da Vinci ever said it? Probably not. Yet days have not been getting any shorter.
We all have, and always have had, 24 hours in a day.
Time is not important, it’s what you do with it that counts.
Just 20 minutes a day is enough to maintain a fit and healthy body

Can you say with hand on heart that you honestly don’t have time to set aside 20 minutes in a day?

Just a glance at your YouTube history will prove you a liar.
Have a look at your Facebook log. Also take a look at your WhatsApp / SnapChat history.

You know the culprits
If you really want to exercise, you will find a way. If you don’t really want to, you’ll find excuses. Have a look at the Excuse Blanket.

We are all naturally lazy. Don’t be ashamed of it. We all take the easy road, it’s part of our nature.

People who say “I don’t have time for fitness”, would probably, on analysing their reality of the situation, would see that they are deluding themselves.
With a little honest introspection, they would come to see that the excuses they make is just that, excuses. Their excuses become a blanket to hide under when the exercise monster arrives.

Have you ever said to yourself one of these things:

But it will take 30 minutes to get to the gym?
But it will take about 30 minutes to just drive to the gym!
But the gym is expensive and I am trying to save money!
But it’s not just the workout, you will need to eat after the workout, you will need to take a shower and you need to change your clothes 3 times!

My response to the contents of your excuse blanket is, don’t go to the gym.
You can do high intensity exercises home. You don’t need any equipment.

The shower and eating excuses are very silly. Don’t you have to take a shower and eat regardless of exercising?

With the right nutrition and constant training your recovery times will reduce dramatically. So if this is your issue, the only way it can get fixed, is by training more.

Running is also free! Well, almost! All you need are a pair of trainers. I’m sure most people can afford a basic pair of trainers. I do recommend investing in a good pair if you can afford it.

Some people have an intricately woven excuse blanket. If you don’t have one click here to buy one

Next time you tell yourself you’ve got no time, think like Leonardo Da Vinci. Like everyone else, you will have 20 minutes to spare.
You need to make sure that you invest in your body, because it is the best investment you will ever make.
Stay fit.
Sam


Habits of fit people – part one

Five habits of fit people

Habits of sixpack fitness. Abs of fire 5 habits

 

Fit these five habits into your daily life and you are five steps closer to full health and fitness.

 

1) Ultra Hydration

There are plenty of reasons to drink water, as I am sure, you have heard that around 60% of your body is made out of water. So logically makes sense that water plays such important role in your health.

You have more water in your body than a fish. Fish don’t sweat, but you do, especially when you exercise. When you sweat, you lose water and a loss of water causes muscle fatigue.

Water also slows down the aging process by keeping your skin healthy and slowing down the wrinkling process. Muscle fatigue is not the most damaging aspect of water loss, your kidneys can suffer too. Fit people drink plenty of water.

 

2)Fit without excuse

 When did you settle for an excuse rather than a workout?

  • Too many dumplings, too few dumbbells.
  • Muscle’s spraining, I’ll do no training
  • Mood is no good, I’ll hit the snooze
  • I’m just too busy, can’t get too fizzy

Don’t listen to excuses. All the above are just excuses.

A good athlete knows these are just excuses and it is guaranteed that 99% of the time he will be very happy that he didn’t listen to his excuses.

Even with minor injuries, you can still train other parts of the body or at least do some stretching.

 

3)Time Managers

 Schedule your food intakes to maintain high energy levels and avoid feeling sluggish.

You cannot exercise without Energy, neither can you with a full stomach .

You need to make sure you have had no food

 

 4)Protocol is no alcohol

 Athletes are very careful what they drink. If they are on a night out, they will stay away from high calorie alcohol with high sugar content such as cider and beer.

Alcohol intake will leave you dehydrated the next day and can cause your energy levels to be lower than usual.

 

5)They don’t sit at the bar, they raise the bar.

Being fit fit is a lifestyle.

Have you heard the expression, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” ?

Friends who catch up at bars have lower fitness levels than friends who catch up through physical activities.

 

In a nutshell

 More than 60% of your body is made out of water. Water also helps remove toxic substances from your body and it’s the logical action to drink plenty of water.

If you don’t feel like exercising, ask yourself why. Understand that 99% of excuses are just that, excuses. You will be surprised how much satisfaction you’ll get out of a workout. Your working out will release endorphins in your brain (The Happy hormone)

Eat 2 to 3 hours before your workout.

Drink alcohol occasionally, and only if you plan on having a rest day the following day.

Try to find places other than the pub to meet your friends.


Live by your Gym – Avoid wasting time commuting

Are you throwing away 450 training session a year? I was.

My gym was just 20 minutes away but in a year I discovered I had lost over 450 potential training sessions seating in my car.

How many calories do you burn driving to the gym? How many calories does the car burn?

Had I walked to the gym, I could have benefited from 40 minutes extra training on each visit, but I chose to sit in a car when I should have chosen a gym nearer home.

Sometimes it was even worse, I wasted over an hour because of the traffic. I spent £3 on petrol on every visit to the gym. Minimum wage per hour is around £6 after tax and NI deduction. Meaning if I was on minimum wage, I would be wasting another 30 minutes, as I had to work 30 minutes in order to pay for my petrol. That is not even taking into account my car insurance, taxation and stuff.

So in theory, I will be spending a total of 156 hours working, to earn money to cover the cost of traveling to my gym.

Taking into account a very optimistic 10 minutes, for getting dressed, getting in the car, parking the car, changing at gym, not even taking into account the shower time, then you are wasting 26 days each year on the gym journey alone. All that adds up to 468 hours. I forgot to mention the hours you have to work to pay for your gym membership too.

In my opinion, if your gym is more than 15 minutes’ drive away, your wasting too much training time.

There is one exception, if you can make the journey part of your workout, e.g. run or cycle to and from the gym, then you are not wasting any time.

If your journey takes a total of 30 minutes by car, here are some ways you could have better used those lost 30 minutes:

  • Tidy up the house
  • Prepare a meal
  • Watch an episode of SouthPark
  • Work on your mobility
  • Do a full Yoga workout
  • Do a high intensity CrossFit workout

 

Thirty minutes travel means 3 hours a week. In three hours you can:

Edit several video clips

Design a fully functional WordPress website from scratch

Do your grocery shopping followed by a haircut

Read several chapters of an average size book

Watch Star Wars

Prepare your meals for the whole week

Each minute of travel equals to …. Hours lost in a week.

If your gym is a long way away, but you really want to go, I suggest working out away from the gym half the time and spending the other half using the gym.

There are plenty of workouts which can be done outside the gym. These include body weight workouts and cardiovascular workouts such as running and cycling.

Find more home workouts on our home workout section.

For the purposes of this article, days are calculated as 18 workout hours, 8 sleep hours and 6 workouts per week.

 

 

 

 


How to get started and navigate through AbsOnFire

Quick tips on where to start 

You OWN a six pack ab already! You just need to shed off the excess fat! In theory it’s really that simple.  Let’s set them abs on fire! Keep reading and I guarantee you WILL get your 6pack abs in no time following these instructions.
If you are a total beginner, or not worked out for a long time, lacking motivation to start or too lazy, then read this article first

 

We have put together a number of effective and popular workouts in the form of a video. If you would like to browse through our workout videos, then click here

Before you jump into the exercises, it’s always a good idea to stretch! Check out this section for some simple stretches. Make sure you stretch your neck before every workout! Check this out for 3 simple neck stretches.

We are working on a new video series, called “Food Shopping With”. We basically find some healthy and fit people, and follow them around on their normal grocery shopping and get some tips. Our first guest was M-Daddy AKA Merdi. He used to obese and then transformed himself, maybe going a bit too far, he became anorexic, but managed to save himself on time. check out the interview we had with Merdi here.

 


A Fitness Virgin’s steps to a healthier life

Have you sat idle for a long time?

Are you a fitness virgin?

Not sure where to start? Perhaps you’ve never done any activity past your high school PE classes?

The following steps are going to release Adonis or Venus within.

Imperatives

1)Buy the right gear

Go out and buy a pair of running shoes. You don’t need 500dollar Nike shoes, decent shoes can cost as little 25 dollars.

You’ll also need some suitable clothing. And old T-shirt and a pair shorts will do.

A watch is useful for timing your performance.

2)Schedule Your first Run

It’s not hard. Schedule an evening run for tomorrow (Or the day after buying your shoes)

Cut down your carbohydrates (sugar, pasta or grains) on the day.
Eat a lot of fiber (fruit and veg) and good amount of protein (meat and eggs)
Drink plenty of water
Remember to stop eating 3 hours before your run

3)Stretching
Stretch for 15 minutes before your run. Do simple stretches, and don’t forget the all-important calf stretches.

Check out  our simple stretch section

4)Music
Plug in your headphones and play some music or an audio book.
Check out our list of running recommendations

5)Out the Door

Carry a small bottle of water with you and walk for the first 2 minutes. Then speed up for another 2 minutes. By your 5th minute you should find yourself gently jogging. Maintain a steady comfortable speed for about 15 minutes. Sprint for 1 minute. Turn around and jog back home.
Add a minute to your sprint daily.

6)Explore
Head to our Exercise section and have a look at some of our home workouts. Give them a try.

7)Bookmark this Page
Bookmark this page for your future reference.
Also subscribe to our mailing list for further free help and tips.

Eat well, drink well.