You are unhappy. It makes sense. You have been forking out for a monthly gym membership and putting in hour after hour of sweat inducing exercise, but weight is just not shifting. Worse than that, you have actually gained weight. Take some solace in the fact that you are not the only one. Reducing body…
A hardgainer represents an individual who finds it difficult to achieve gains in muscle and size. The body can be categorised by three main somatotypes: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. An ectomorph is naturally slight individual who finds it difficult to add weight, irrespective of whether it is muscle or fat. A mesomorph is an individual…
Training weak points involves the identification of weak muscles or muscle groups compositionally, and employing plans to develop these areas so that they become balanced with other muscles and groups. When many individuals begin training the focus is on developing muscle mass. Once this mass has been achieved, the focus should shift from quantity to…
If you have ever tried to lose weight through exercise, there is a good chance that someone has told you that the best way to do it is thorough fasted cardio. Fasted cardio is a training method which has stirred up divisive opinions, so what is it and what is the basis of those opinions?…
The effects of growing older are evident to everyone; reduced ability to recover, reduced mobility, diminished elasticity of the skin and so on. However aging or senescence also change the way in which protein intake from the diet stimulates muscle protein synthesis in response to exercise and relaxation states. If you are an individual aged…
Do you remember the time when you were first in the gym, making progress every single session? There wasn’t a time when you weren’t lifting more reps or adding size and strength, but then suddenly the progress stopped despite training and eating the same way. This continued for week after week and no matter how…
Both! Carrying out both HIIT (high intensity interval training) and LISS (low intensity steady state) concurrently may be most beneficial to fat loss. Glycogen is the preferred fuel source during LISS, and fats are the preferred fuel source during HIIT. HIIT will release the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline which translates to the removal of fats…
Technically, alcohol (ethyl alcohol) is a nutrient. However, it is one of those nutrients which crosses over into the domain of psychotropic drugs, causing both agonistic and antagonistic effects. Alcohol largely has received largely a wholly negative reputation with regards to health and well-being. The various negative outcomes of alcohol consumption do not require overt…
Recovery is crucial to achieving goals. Recovery represents the beginning of improving physical capacity. Whilst muscles are stimulated during exercise, exercise itself is catabolic – meaning that it causes breakdown of tissue. Recovery begins with preparation for exercise. If there are sufficient glycogen stores before exercise is undertaken, they will not be completely depleted, which…