FITNESS REVIEWS AND IMAGES: 30Day

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Monday, 25 August 2014

The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner's Guide To Fitness Day 28

New Exercise and Fitness Review

by Bodybuilding.com Aug 25, 2014

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Congratulations! With yesterday’s tough leg day, you officially finished the weight training portion of the 30-Day Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Fitness. But you’re not done learning yet! And if your legs can muster the strength, you’ll do some more sprints tomorrow.

If you just said, “Yeah, right!” then you’re in the right mindset to learn more about pre- and post-workout nutrition. These two elements aren’t just for elite athletes. On the contrary, strategic athletic nutrition can make a big difference in how long it takes anyone to get back into the gym after hard training, and how much you’re willing and able to accomplish once you’re there.

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 02:10

Day 28 Challenge

Learn about pre- and post-workout nutrition.

Get an extra hour or two of sleep beyond the normal. Now that’s a challenge worth accepting!

Pre-Workout Power Up

As Steve indicated, the purpose of a pre-workout is to help you have a better workout, both mentally and physically. Many contain caffeine, a proven performance booster, but that’s definitely not all. Optimum Nutrition’s AmiN.O. Energy, one of our most popular products, also contains a number of popular ingredients in pre-workout supplements, such as:

Branched-chain amino acids: Leucine, isoleucine, and valine are the three BCAAs, which are the amino acids your body utilizes most heavily in order to build and repair muscle. Leucine is arguably the most important of these.

Citrulline and/or Arginine: Both these aminos can help boost blood flow and nitric oxide (NO) production, increasing muscular endurance and the “pump” effect during bodybuilding workouts like the one yesterday.

Beta-alanine: This amino acid helps your body buffer the lactic acid that builds up during exercise, boosting muscular endurance during high-energy work like weightlifting and sprinting.

Post-Workout Recovery

As Steve indicated in today’s video, post-workout nutrition is all about kick-starting the healing process and refueling nutrients which are depleted during exercise. A protein shake is the perfect capstone to your training, although as Matt Biss explains in our beginner’s guide to workout nutrition, BCAAs are also great in this setting. Research has indicated that they can even help combat the sort of post-exercise muscle soreness you’re probably feeling right now!

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You can learn more about individual ingredients discussed here in the following articles:

Aminos Are Essential: Lift Longer And Grow Stronger With BCAAs

In addition to being one of the most effective supplements for muscle growth, BCAAs delay fatigue, support strength and mental focus, and even boost fat-loss. Get the details!

Leucine: Build Muscle With This Anabolic Amino Acid

Leucine, a branched chain amino acid, is a protein stimulus gunslinger. Find out how it works and pull the trigger to build more muscle!

Your Expert Guide To CarnoSyn Beta-Alanine

CarnoSyn is the most popular, highest-quality beta-alanine on the market. It’s the version you’ll find in all the most popular pre-workouts and ergogenic supplements. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of it!

Citrulline Malate: The Fatigue Fighter!

No modern pre-workout or pump-boosting supplement is complete without citrulline. Here’s why this amino acid is earning its way to the ergogenic hall of fame!

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Monday, 18 August 2014

The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner's Guide To Fitness Day 22

New Exercise and Fitness Review

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Consistent, challenging training is a major part of the fit life, but it’s only one part. Some people believe it’s not even the biggest. When people who have transformed successfully tell their story on our site, they almost always say nutrition is more important than training. In some cases, they’ve put the ratio as high as 90/10.

This week, you’re going to get a taste of how physique athletes eat. Trust us, it’s better than you think! Here’s Kathleen to tell you more.

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 02:50

Day 22 Challenge

Plan your meals for the upcoming week.

Go grocery shopping.

Prep your meals!

Make Nutrition Work For You

Below, you’ll find sample meal plans and grocery lists for several levels of caloric intake, from a meager 1,500 calories per day up to 3,500 calories. Look back to the caloric demand calculator you used on day 8 to see which amount lines up best with your body and activity level. Then check out the sample day and shopping list from today that goes with that amount. Customize this plan to meet your cooking abilities, taste, and restrictions, but try to stick to it as tightly as you can. Remember, this is a learning experience!

Your Sample Meal Plans

Over the week to come, try to plan out as much of your eating schedule as possible ahead of time using your plan. Use at least one meal per day from your plan and maybe more, especially when you’re at home. If you’ve considered “cleaning house” and getting rid of the junk food in your life but haven’t done it yet, today’s the day.

All that planning may sound like a lot of work, but today is a rest day, so consider this meal prep your workout! You may have heard how bodybuilders and other physique athletes prepare meals days ahead of time and keep them in labeled Tupperware containers. They can tell you that this method works!

Below you’ll find links to the meal plans for some of our other most popular trainers, like Jaime Eason’s LiveFit and Kris Gethin’s 12-Week Hardcore Trainer. Check them out and compare them to what you’re doing this week in terms of what you would eat, how much, and when. All three of those variables matter. Become a student of performance nutrition, and you’ll develop the tools to achieve the body of your dreams!

What if I want to change my body?

That’s a great question. How much you eat, and what types and ratios of food you eat can sometimes seem hopelessly complicated. For now let’s stay focused on the basics, and on gaining a better understanding of what you’re already doing.

Your body burns fuel doing everything—even sleeping. This energy expenditure is measured in calories. How many calories you need can change from person to person, due to different amounts of muscle, activity levels, gender, and even your height. The EER calculator helped you estimate how much energy you use on an average day. But of course, that’s not the end of the story.

Your EER tells you how much you need to maintain your weight. If you wish to change your body composition, you will typically alter your calories from this number. In most cases, we reduce calories to lose body fat. By not eating enough food to meet our EER, our body is forced to strip off fat stores to meet energy requirements. Alternatively, when we wish to gain muscle mass, we often eat a little more than we need. These two alternative approaches are often referred to as “cutting” and “bulking.”

Don’t worry about trying to gain or lose weight during the 30-Day Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Fitness. If you want to take this opportunity to get serious about nutrition, just try to stick at your maintenance level and see how that feels. When you try new programs in the future, you’ll have a better understanding of your needs and what makes you feel and look your best.

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Recommended Food Lists

The Jamie Eason LiveFit Trainer
Approved Foods List

Every food item you need for a successful transformation.

12 Week Daily Trainer With Kris Gethin-Nutrition Plan!

Nutrition will make or break your transformation. Preparation and consistency are crucial to success. Kris shows you how.

Jim Stoppani’s 12-Week Shortcut To Size: Nutrition

In 12 short weeks, I can help you build more muscle while skyrocketing your strength. To succeed, your diet must be elite!

About The Author

Check out these awesome articles by some of the best writers in the industry.

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The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner"s Guide To Fitness Day 22

Friday, 15 August 2014

The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner's Guide To Fitness Day 21

New Exercise and Fitness Review

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Protein is probably the best-known supplement for athletes and gym-goers, but creatine isn’t far behind. This odorless, tasteless compound launched the modern age of sport supplementation back in the 1990s, and today, it is perhaps the most researched of all supplements, with more than 200 studies and dozens of peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals.

We know more than ever before about what creatine does and how it can help athletes, but myths and misinformation are still common in the media and in locker rooms worldwide. Steve will tell you more in today’s video.

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 02:12

Day 21 Challenge

Learn about creatine.

Rest or perform an optional bodyweight circuit.

Creatine Is King

As Steve mentioned, creatine won’t turn you into the Incredible Hulk. What it will do is help fuel intense, short-duration exercise like weight training and sprinting. Your body has plenty of creatine already, but it can struggle to keep up with demand, particularly as intensity goes up and rest periods go down.

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Creatine’s major appeal is that it can help you train more, and train harder, before you wear out. As Steve said, it’s the substance your body uses to get “one more rep.” If you don’t train hard or don’t want to, then it’s probably not something that you’ll need.

So who takes creatine? Among athletes, both amateur and professional, surveys have indicated that at least half take it, and potentially many more. Increasingly, women take it, and a growing number of middle-aged people and senior citizens take it as well. Why? One obvious reason is to help them retain muscle mass, which has been linked in studies to both quality of life and life expectancy. Creatine has also been linked to a range of health benefits in recent studies.

These articles can tell you more:

Creatine Q&A: Top 17 Creatine Questions Answered

Despite extensive scientific evidence, people still have numerous questions about creatine. Coach Nick Tumminello, author of the Creatine Report, clears up the confusion.

Before, After, Or Whenever: The Best Time To Take Creatine

When do you take creatine: before a workout, after, or any old time? Is the difference between them as great as some in the gym will have you believe? The answer might surprise you.

King Creatine: Your Expert Guide To The Sovereign Muscle-Building Supplement

Bigger, stronger, better—creatine monohydrate can help you do it all. Learn how this muscle-building king can serve your fitness goals!

If you’ve got anything left in the tank after yesterday’s free weights workout, feel free to tackle of the two bodyweight circuits below! One adds a suspension trainer such as a TRX into the mix, which makes movements like dips and push-ups even more challenging. If you’re not ready for that just, then stick to the pure bodyweight circuit.

On the other hand, if your body is screaming for a rest day, then by all means, listen! You’ve got plenty of fun training ahead in the last nine days of this trainer, and we want you to be ready.

5 rounds:

Pushups (To side rotation)
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Pullups
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Dips
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Burpee
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Side Lunge (Shown w/ barbell)
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Or:

5 rounds:

Ring Dips
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Suspended Fallout
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Suspended Push-Up
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Suspended Row
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

Suspended Split Squat
5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep

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The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner"s Guide To Fitness Day 21

The Ultimate 30-Day Beginner's Guide To Fitness Day 18

New Exercise and Fitness Review

by Bodybuilding.com Aug 14, 2014

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How was yesterday’s cardio challenge? It should have been tough, because there’s very little in our modern lives that can prepare us for the unique challenges of a 400-meter run after a hard set of bodyweight squats. However, you may have noticed that during that workout, life seemed to slow to a crawl, and everything else seemed remote and unimportant. Enjoy that feeling, because t’s one of the major appeals of hard physical training!

Today, you’re going to turn around from that tough workout and head right back into the gym for some more compound barbell lifts. Don’t worry, you’re up to this challenge! These movements are the ones that help full-body transformations happen more quickly than any machine exercise, and it’s well worth your time to get to know them. Steve will explain what you’re going to do.

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 02:34

Day 18 challenge

Complete a dynamic warm-up, free weight workout, and cool-down.

Take the Bar

Once you take the step into the world of barbell lifts, proper form becomes even more important, as does engaging in an effective dynamic warm-up. When you’re ready to wrap your hands around the bar, as Steve advises, leave your ego at the door and pick a weight that allows you to explore the movement. But before you hit the gym, take some time to absorb as much information about good form as you can find, such as through our exercise database video or the articles below the workout table.

Squats and deadlifts may sound a bit intimidating, but the nice thing about them is that they can be scaled back to any experience level. Don’t be afraid to try a more approachable version, otherwise known as a

For something like the barbell deadlift, you might have to start with some drills to help you nail the hip hinge, which is the deadlift’s movement pattern.