Ob2Ath
male - 40 years, Mesa, United States
Blog 15
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Workout Hard - Rest Harder
Growing up, my father worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines, and as a kid, I spent some time at the airport. Watching the planes take off and land. And after they land, watching the workmen begin the maintenance process on the planes. One type of plane stood out; Lockheed's L1011. The other airliners it looked as if maintenance was an ad hoc process, but the L1011 it was almost a work of art in motion. What took hours on the other airliners took about 30 minutes on the L1011, and it was ready to fly again. A workman explained to me that Lockheed designed the L1011 around efficient routine maintenance and quick turnaround.
Our post workout period should be planned around a similar concept, especially if you have aggressive weight loss or fitness goals. Rest and recovery is when you grow your muscles, not when you workout – it is when improvements to your fitness levels are made. Simply taking it easy and getting a good night's sleep helps you recover. You should already be drinking plenty of water. However, you can engage in a more proactive recovery process. Immediately post workout, consume foods and supplements that are quickly absorbed by the body, such as whey, creatine, glutamines, and a high-glycemic carb such as dextrose or waxy maize. Whey provides fast acting proteins, creatine helps with energy delivery, glutamines helps with muscle repair and growth, and the high-glycemic carb will reload glycogen (a source of energy) levels in your muscles. At night, prior to sleep, I eat a clean protein (I prefer casein), omega 3/6 supplements, glutamine, and arginine. Arginine assists with NO to the blood vessels, providing more blood to muscles, and helps clear out metabolites. Taking these measures is why I can manage two sessions of intense cardio (not a leisurely walk in the park cardio) a day. Every two or three weeks I like to get a deep-tissue massage, I can feel the difference on my next workout.
By being proactive in your recovery, you can sustain a much greater level of physical activity. Whether your goal is to lose weight, get in shape, or improve your performance in a certain sport, rest and recovery is an important part of any fitness plan. When you are working out, give it all you have, then take it easy.
Such proactive steps allowed me to sustain a level of activity which resulted in an 80 pound loss in 4 months. To learn other helpful tips, weight loss plans, and other ways to lose weight please visit my site. -
Weight Loss - More Attitude Than Aptitude
You finally decided you want to control your weight. Perhaps you have been like me; for years and years I struggled with being obese, since my metabolism changed in my mid-twenties. My main problem was my whole attitude towards my weight. I pretended I was comfortable, therefore I would always approach it with disdain, discouragement and without enthusiasm. I wanted to lose the weight, I enjoyed being slim before and did not like being fat. I wanted to lose my weight for all the wrong reasons, to look good, to conform to society's preference for being thin, because my then-wife was nagging me, but in reality I suppose I was resigned to being overweight. Naturally then every attempt would fail. It wasn't until last year when it finally hit upon me. During that time, I was listening to motivational and inspirational audio and reading similar books. I realized then, my whole attitude towards weight loss was completely wrong. So, I changed it.
This time I decided I was going to lose weight for me, not for anyone else. This was something I was going to do for myself. It was amazing how the change affected the outcome. When before I would never succeed, with my new attitude, I could not fail, and I did not. My weight dropped faster than anyone thought it was safely possible, and yet I did not feel bad. Instead I felt great.
The lesson here is before anyone attempts to lose weight, they need to start with the right motivation. The desire must come from within, not from outside pressures. As you will read on my site about my weight loss plan, my attitude was one of the top reasons I succeeded. Until one is ready from the inside, they will not have the commitment to sustain the effort required to succeed. On the other hand, when the attitude is right, failure is impossible. -
Discipline - the second key to lasting weight loss
There were two keys to my weight loss success. The first was finding weight loss information that actually works, not the politically correct feel-good pap that's printed all over the mainstream media. But information is only good if one applies it. That was the second key; discipline. After a lifetime of bad eating habits and sedentary living, it requires discipline to transform into a healthy lifestyle. Discipline to refrain from eating junk food and pick healthy choices instead, discipline to drag myself out of bed and to the gym instead of hitting the snooze button. Perhaps the greatest show of discipline lies not in doing those things, but to continue to do those things when you stumble. This is where many trying to lose weight fail; they get off to a good start, make a mistake – skipping a workout or perhaps binging – and they give up on their weight loss efforts. If you read my journal about my first 6 weeks of my weight loss plan , you will see that I did not have the discipline to completely stick to my own plan. Yet, when I stumbled, slipped up, I continued anyway. Very few people successfully lost weight without having setbacks. Those who do succeed did so because they had the self-discipline to press on in spite of their setbacks. This type of self-discipline is known as persistence. People who persist ultimately succeed, in weight loss, in business, in life. As long as you keep moving on, you will never loss the battle of your weight loss. The good news is that anyone can improve their self-discipline, regardless how much they have been lacking in the past. I found this page a great place to start reading ; it's short, direct, and very helpful. Stick with your weight loss efforts, continue to research weight loss information and you will have a great body in time for swimsuit season.
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Drink Your Way To Thinness!
As we know, summer is approaching and many people are getting ready for swimsuit season. Often this involves losing weight. One key to my weight loss was staying well hydrated. Water is essential to life, in fact life originated from water. Even in the bible (Gen 1:20) agrees with that. Water is like no other liquid; it can be a solution for many substances. Inside our bodies, countless chemical reactions, including those related to breakdown of fat into glucose, occur in water. Our muscles are 70% to 80% water. As we become dehydrated, these reactions become sluggish. Some estimates for every 2% our dehydration increases, our muscles can suffer as much as 10% decrease in performance. I can attest on days I slack off on water consumption I feel it during my workouts. A common misconception about drinking water needs to be cleared. Drinking water will not cause you to burn more fat, instead it will allow your body to reach its maximum fat burning potential. Staying well hydrated also benefits skin. Skin will be firmer, and look more youthful when one is well hydrated. For more about water and weight loss, look here . To learn more weight loss information please check out my site. Stay hydrated and look great for the summer!
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My Intro
Hello. Over a year ago, I experienced a very successful weight loss, losing 80 pounds in four months. Since it has been over a year, 14 months specifically, and the weight is still off, I have dedicated my time to helping others who are struggling with their weight. On this blog, I will be posting on a regular basis the little things I did that allowed me to have a big and permanent weight loss. For more information and resources, please visit my website at http://www.obesetoathletic.com . Stay tuned...
