Protein Pancakes The Best Recipe I've Found

I have been asked many times what is a good alternative breakfast and one of my favourite creative breakfasts is "PROTEIN PANCAKES" the beauty of these little delicious beauties is you can customise them to your taste. 

Ingredients 

• 1 Scoop / Serving of your Protein 
• 1/2 Cup or 70g of Oats 
• 1 Whole Egg
• 2 tbsp Full fat Greek Yoghurt
• 1/2 Banana 
• 3-4 tbsp Almond milk or Full Fat Milk
• Coconut Oil for the Pan

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients (except the Coconut Oil) to a food processor, blender. 
2. Switch On and leave till all ingredients make a smooth batter.
3. Pre-heat pan and add Coconut Oil  (I use a ceramic non-stick to avoid sticking pancakes)
4. Pour batter into the pan to desired size mine are normally around the size of a cup coaster. 
5. Cook on a low to medium heat and flip when bubbles appear on the surface. 
6. Stack them up and dig in. 

Extras 

You can add toppings to further improve your pancakes such as;

• Honey
• Nut Butter
• Fruit (Stick to berries)
• Maple Syrup (Don't go to Crazy)

Alternative Tastes

If you use a plain (neutral) flavour protein, you could get creative with your Pancakes. Why not add a tsp of Orange, Vanilla or Peppermint extract and 2 tsp of Cocoa powder to make some really amazing flavoured alternatives.

Keep your ingredients natural and clean. Please feel free to share or tag me in any great flavour ideas and if you cook and post them on Facebook or twitter (@CraigWilmore) I will retweet and share. 

Changing Habits

You will here me talking about habits when it comes to many aspects of taking control of life.

It statistically takes 66 consecutive days of doing something to make it a habit. Thats 1/5 of your year to make something that you need/want to be doing into part of your lifestyle.

Here is some great advice from "Seal Fit" Let me know what you think, leave a comment below.

Change Your Story To Change Your Performance

Stories have shaped human communication as long as we’ve existed. Look around. Our money, our religion, our businesses are all stories. And your story can shape your physiology, too. If it sounds like new-age manifestation mumbo jumbo, hang tight. I’ll show you how the story you tell about yourself helps or hinders your progress.

Henry Ford said it best: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right”

Imagine how dismal our favorite stories would be (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars) if the heroes just sat back and moped that they couldn’t do it. Not much of a story there, right? Instead they find some blind, often borderline foolish, belief that they can. And then they do.

You’re the hero of your story too. Act like it.

The As If Principle

There’s an interesting principle at work when we switch from positive thinking to positive action. The “as if” principle was first theorized by psychologist William James and popularized by author Richard Wiseman in a book aptly titled The As If Principle. 

If you want a certain trait or quality, act as if you have it already. This is the old idea of “fake it til you make it." Contrary to popular opinion, our actions aren’t determined by our feelings. Quite the opposite. Our actions can start to guide our emotions once we get the ball rolling.

We’re seeing more and more evidence to support this in numerous venues. There’s the influence of “power posing” in business and communication,¹ or the strange link between holding a pencil in your teeth and feeling happier.² Across the board we see that acting differently can lead to feeling differently. 

It all comes down to ownership of your story. Believing you can improve is one thing. Doing something about it is a different beast. So how does this work?

More Than Body, More Than Brain

We can look to the blossoming science of embodied cognition to give us clues. What we typically think of as “mind” seems to emerge from the infinitely complex interactions of all of the trillions of cells that make up the body.³ It’s not locked up somewhere in the brain.

Your actions change your body. Your body is your mind. Change your actions, and you can change your mind. It starts with the belief that you can. But it doesn’t end there. If you’re the hero of your story, it’s time to start acting like it.

References:

1. Cuddy, Amy J.C., Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney. "The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-027, September, 2012.

2. Buck R. “Nonverbal behavior and the theory of emotion: the facial feedback hypothesis.” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. May, 1980.

3. Wilson A.D. and Sabrina Golonka. “Embodied cognition is not what you think it is.” Frontiers In Psychology. February, 2013.

By Chandler Stevens

http://breakingmuscle.co.uk/uk/learn/change-your-story-to-change-your-performance

Upper Body Basics

what do you think of this? Ido refers to this as basics, however I have been training for 2 and a half years in this type of movement training. This is not what I would consider basics and believe that mislabelling is a sure way to dissuade or make people believe they can't achieve things that have taken him years to perfect.


Maybe his interpretation of the word basics is different? let me know what you think below. 

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR IDEAL BODY FAT PERCENTAGE

A common goal for anyone who steps foot in the gym is to shed body fat for good. Body fat is the fat that we can see in the mirror. The less body fat we have the more "cuts" you will be able to see. The higher your body fat levels the more fat that is covering our muscles. In order to see cuts you need to shrink the layer of fat that is directly under the skin and that covers our muscles.

HOW SHOULD YOU DETERMINE YOUR BODY FAT PERCENTAGE?

One of the most accurate and cost effective ways to measure your body fat is with a calliper. There are several other ways to take your body fat. Underwater weighing, dexa scan, bioelectrical impedance machines and callipers. Callipers are designed to clip the body fat and measure the fat under the skin. There are various  pinch tests. I recommend using a four or seven point calliper test. Regardless of whatever method you use the key element is consistency. It matters much less what the body fat number says as long as every time you check your body fat it’s moving in the right direction...down! Try to be as consistent as possible when taking your measurements. Try to do them under the same conditions, for example first thing in the morning after using the restroom. This will eliminate any discrepancies with inconsistencies and fluctuations throughout the day.

WHAT'S THE IDEAL RANGE?

Body fat numbers are not generally set in stone. Knowing where you currently are is just another measurement you can use to track progress.

For Men

Bodybuilder About to Compete: 3-4 %

Really Ripped Ab Look: 8-10%

Athletic with Basic Cuts: 12-15%

No Cuts: 15%+

For Women

Bodybuilder About to Compete: 8-12%

Figure Competitors: 15-17%

Toned and Lean: 17-20%

No cuts: 20%+

These numbers are not the end-all-be-all. Some men have thicker abs then others and their abs may show through the skin at higher body fat levels. Same goes for women, some women hold fat in areas that are not easily seen while others may read really low but have a lot of fat in one area.

This Is 200 Calories

This is a clever way to look at food using a 200 Calorie bench mark, to demonstrate quantities of food.

Food is one of the biggest factors when it comes to health and weight loss, do you know what your eating daily? 

If you have any questions please get in touch on Facebook (@The Real Fitness Ninja) or leave a comment below.



If you want to know the 5 supplements I take daily to complement my nutrition and workout schedule check this out 

---> CLICK HERE <---

The Science of Amazing Abs

Overview

Carving out a great six-pack isn’t an easy feat—which is too bad, since virtually every person I’ve ever met wants a defined set of abs. 

But too many people view six-packs as a kind of fitness status symbol, reserved for the genetic elite or those who spend more time in the gym than they do in their own home. And that’s simply not the case. 

Yes, your genetics and diet influence just how much muscle definition you have around your midsection. But the good news is that everyone has abs—regardless of how well you can see them. And that means that everyone can build better abs. 

You might have to relearn a few things, but by incorporating the principles below and trying some new exercises, you can build stronger, better abs than ever before.

Your Abs Have More Than One Purpose

Ever wondered why sit-ups became such a popular exercise? It’s because most anatomy books state that the purpose of your abdominal muscles is to flex your spine. As a result, people think that by creating a “crunch” type movement, you’ll build your abs the way nature intended. 

Unfortunately, most anatomy books are “at least 35 years out of date,” according to Mark Comerford, a researcher, physical therapist and founding director of Kinetic Control, a consulting agency that assists physiotherapists. He says that, while your abs do flex your spine, that’s just a small part of their duty. Your abdominal muscles also…

* Create movement: Let’s say you’re standing upright, and then you bend forward at your waist as fast as you can, as if you’re a boxer ducking a punch. When you do so, you’ll feel your abs activate; since you’re moving faster than the speed of gravity. Your abs will kick in to propel your torso downward. 

* Counterbalance movement: Ok, now pretend that you’re standing upright again, this time with your hands on your belly. If you were to start leaning backwards, you’ll again feel your abs activate, but this time in a different way. Your abs are doing the opposite of what anatomy books tell you. Rather than flexing your spine, those muscles are fighting the extension of your spine to keep you from falling over.

* Resist movement: All right, last example. You’re again standing upright, but with your arms reaching straight out in front of you at shoulder-level, with your hands locked together. Let’s say a friend tried to push your arms to one side, but you didn’t want to move. How would you resist their efforts? Your abs. Your core would activate to keep your arms pointing straight ahead. 

It’s important to do exercises that will work your abs in all of these different ways to protect your body from injury and reveal the lean body you desire.

Crunches Aren't the Enemy

Crunches fell out of fashion in recent years, as fitness experts and rehab professionals began speaking out against the exercise. Most cited the work of Stuart McGill, Ph.D., a respected spine researcher who found indications that doing too many crunches can cause serious damage your back. His theory: Because they require you to flex and bend your spine, performing these exercises often could cause a person’s spinal discs to push out too far, which could result in a herniated disc.

But the truth is that claims about crunches are highly debated. Carl DeRosa, Ph.D., the author of Mechanical Low Back Pain & Mechanical Neck Pain, says that your body position isn’t responsible for putting pressure on your discs – it’s how tightly you’re squeezing (or compressing) your muscles that has the biggest impact. Other experts like spinal researcher Michael Adams, Ph.D, say that a person’s discs can actually strengthen (like your muscles) and potentially become more resilient to injury as a result of doing abs exercises like crunches properly.

The bottom line: If you have a disc-related injury, crunches might not be the best exercise for you. But for healthy athletes, a few sets (not hundreds of reps) of well-performed crunches can help activate your abs. Performing crunches on a Swiss Ball or BOSU Trainer is exercise safer than floor crunches because they offer more support. Added bonus: Since you’re on a round surface, you also have a greater range of motion.

1. Weighted Crunches on a Ball or BOSU - Position a BOSU ball on the floor with the dome side up. Lie face-up with your lower back supported on top of the dome, with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent about 90 degrees. Hold a weight plate (or dumbbell) in front of your chest. Raise your head and shoulders and “crunch” your rib cage toward your pelvis. Hold, and then return to the starting position. Perform 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps.

Full-Body Exercises Help Build Six-Pack Abs

Almost every movement you do works your abs in some capacity—especially if you’re standing. Press a weight overhead, your abs engage. Stand on one leg, your abs are working. Struggle during a tough exercise and “cheat” a little on your form—yep, you’ll probably feel your abs coming to the rescue. 

These non-abs specific movements hit your midsection indirectly by working your “core” muscles, which are different from your abs. (Your core encompasses your entire torso, including your chest, glutes, back, and even neck muscles.) The following six movements work your core and help your abs “pop,” too.

2. Push-Ups: Everyone knows that planks are killer abs exercises. Push-ups are essentially planks crossed with a bench press, so you can strengthen your six-pack and build your chest. Start in the push-up position, with your arms slightly out in front of you and your elbows near the side of your body. Keeping your back straight and abs tight, lower your body until it almost touches the floor. Pause, then push yourself back up into the starting position.

3. One-Arm Push-Ups: This exercise is the king of upper-body pushing exercises, hitting every muscle that regular pushups hit while placing extra emphasis on your abs and obliques. Start in the pushup position but put one hand behind your back. Your other arm will be slightly out in front of you, with your elbow near the side of your body. Keep your legs wide (the wider they are, the easier the exercise). Lower your body down until your torso almost touches the floor. Pause, then push yourself up to the starting position. 

4. Standing One-Arm Cable Press: If one-arm pushups are too advanced for you, standing single-arm cable presses are the next best thing. Like the one-arm push-ups, the exercise strengthens your upper body, abs and obliques. Holding a cable in one hand, step out so that one foot is in front of you and the other leg is bent behind you. Lean forward slightly, pick your back heel off the ground, and tuck your elbow in. Drive the cable in your hand forward, pressing with your shoulder. Return quickly to the starting position and repeat.

5. Cable Chops: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your abs braced. Grab a cable in one hand and pull it across your body. Then turn your shoulders and hips, as if you are swinging a bat. You have three options for the motion: high to low, low to high, or you can press horizontally, from the shoulder level. For best results, mix them up.

6. Offset Dumbbell Lunges: These lunges are a great way to work your obliques. Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and grab a heavy dumbbell in one hand. Take a step forward with one leg and lower your body until your knee is bent at a 90 degree angle. Then step forward with your other leg to return to the starting position. Take a step forward with the opposite foot and repeat the movement. Continue this pattern as you walk across the floor.

7. Tight Rotations: This body-weight movement is a relatively new exercise, but just as effective as the classics. Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart with your arms straight out in front of you and hands locked together. Rotate your arms and torso as quickly as you can from left to right, keeping the movement between your feet – your shoulders shouldn’t extend past your left or right foot. Move your hips with your shoulders.

But You Still Need Ab-Specific Training

While nearly every exercise works your abdominal muscles in some way, the benefits of these movements are limited. Most only test the stability of your abs. They don’t develop other aspects of ab strength, like the ability to initiate movement. 

That’s why doing targeted abs movements is so important. Abs-specfic exercises allow you to strengthen your midsection completely, helping you build an impressive six-pack that’s built to move. And perhaps the best way to strengthen your abs is to do Swiss-Ball Pike Rollouts. A 2010 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that both the Ball Pike and Ball roll Out exercises were the most effective way hit your upper abs, lower abs, and obliques all at once.

8. Swiss-Ball Pike Rollouts: Start in a pushup position with your hands on the floor and shins resting on top of a Swiss Ball. Your hands should be shoulder width apart, with your back kept straight. To start the exercise, tighten your core muscles and pull your legs in towards your arms, lifting your hips in the air. Pause at the top of the rep and hold for 1-2 seconds. Then lower yourself back down to the starting position, sliding your legs back over the ball until your arms are extended out in front of you. Remember to keep your abs braced and your back straight throughout the movement. Perform 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps.

By : NICK TUMMINELLO 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/556757-the-science-of-amazing-abs/

Muscle Soreness and Recovery Tips - Relieve Muscles FAST!

Some basic and simple tips on recovery tips and how to deal with the dreaded muscle DOMS.



What do you do to recover? leave a comment below and let me know.

What makes muscles grow? - Jeffrey Siegel

Want bigger muscles here is the basic blue print for how!

interesting watch let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below. 

Stretching for Super-Stiff People - How to Get into Position

How flexible are you? A great tutorial on stretching and how to work into some of the deeper stretches. 
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. 

4 Simple Gymnastics Drills For Strength And Mobility

Gymnastics strength training provides countless benefits to those willing to commit to the process. By focusing on bodyweight progressions, athletes have the opportunity to increase relative strength, strength endurance, mobility, proprioception, kinesthetics awareness, and more. 

Additionally, the intense full-body muscle contractions and significant time spent under tension lead to great gains in hypertrophy, lean muscle mass, and fat loss.

The Road to Gymnastic Success

The greatest benefit from gymnastics strength training is not directly related to either ability or physique, but rather to your mindset and approach. In the fitness industry, just as in life, it is all too common to encounter people who want instant gratification and immediate results.

“Stretching, high reps, and joint prehab. There’s no time for that,” they think. They just want to hold a handstand, climb a rope, or learn a back flip. The big problem, though, is that these people often end up injured, plateaued, or both.

Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery. Coach Sommer, the founder of Gymnastic Bodies, likes to compare this shift in mindset to the difference in maturity between a child and an adult.

"Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery."

A child wants things right away, and if a task takes hard work, discipline, or commitment, the child is likely to give up and shift attention to something new. As a person matures into an adult, they are more likely to realize the potential benefits of focusing on one task for longer periods of time, even if it does require significant amounts of energy.

Four Basic Gymnastic Strength Training Tests

Here are four basic gymnastics strength-training tests to get you started toward long-term growth. 

For many of us, modern lifestyle and one-sided training have stolen our ability to complete these relatively simple bodyweight tasks, so do not be surprised if these end up being a bit more challenging than you first presume.

1* Hollow Body Hold

The hollow body hold is a foundational position in all of gymnastics, and as such it is one of the first positions you should master. Begin by lying down on your back, with your legs outstretched and together. Completely straighten your legs by flexing your knees, and ensure proper form by pointing your toes as far away from your body as possible. Also reach your arms overhead, completely straightening your elbows and looking up towards the ceiling.

From this outstretched position, engage your entire anterior core by lifting your arms and legs off the floor. You should focus on pressing your lower back into the ground while squeezing your entire abdominal wall. Be sure that your shoulders are slightly lifted and your ribs are tucked in rather than protruding from your chest. Ideally your body shape should be smooth and round, almost like a banana.

Hold this hollow body position for a full sixty seconds. To ensure there is no cheating, use a timer, metronome, or stopwatch to count your minute. If you cannot hold the position with integrity for the full time, then you might need to start with a scaled version such as tucking your legs in towards your chest or bringing your arms down by your side.

2* Arch Body Hold

This is the complete opposite position as the hollow body. Where the hollow body works the entire anterior core, the arch body position will expose any weakness along your posterior chain. Additionally, many people are chronically tight in the front of their bodies, and the arch body hold will open up tight areas such as your chest and hip flexors.

"This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors."

To start, lie facedown on your belly with your arms outstretched overhead and your legs straight and together. As you can imagine, the goal here is to completely arch your entire body as much as possible, so lift both your upper and lower body as high as you can towards the ceiling. Focus on engaging your glutes and mid-back so you are not exclusively arching from your lower back.

If you are like most people who try to hold an arch body position for sixty seconds, you will begin to tremble, shake, curse, and drop to the floor before the minute has expired. This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors.

If necessary, break down the arch body position in a similar fashion to the hollow body hold by bringing your arms down to your side, bending your knees, or both.

3* Bent-Arm Chin Hang

So now that we have thoroughly tested (and trashed) your core strength, we move on to the bent-arm chin hang. The key phrase here is time under tension, as you will attempt to hold your chin over a bar for, you guessed it, sixty full seconds. Grip the bar with a supinated, underhand grip, and pull yourself as high above the bar as you can. Keep your legs together, make sure your body is not swaying excessively, and hold on tight.

"The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle."

If you cannot yet do a chin up, then this bent-arm chin hang might help you get there due to the amount of time you will spend holding on above the bar. If you cannot hold this position for any significant period of time, then you might need to start on an incline by holding onto a set of rings set approximately to shoulder height.

If you can already do strict chin ups, then you may be wondering why bother just holding the top position for time? The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle. Your connective tissue needs longer to adapt, and as such you should spend time mastering the bent-arm chin hang before moving on to more advanced (and potentially injury-inducing) pulling movements such as muscle ups and rope climbs.

4* Standing Pike Stretch 

Finally, you get to relax and stretch. The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here. Stand up tall with your legs completely straight and knees locked out, and completely fold over forward, placing your hands on the ground as fully as possible. Your goal is to reach your hands behind your feet to the point where you can press your bodyweight up onto your toes.

"The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here."

If this position is unattainable for you right now, then try doing a partner seated pike stretch. Sit up tall with your legs outstretched in front of you, knees totally straight, and have your partner gently push forward on the middle of your back. Inhale and exhale with your partner’s pushes, and reach your hands towards your feet, all while pressing the backs of your knees into the floor.

Conclusion 

In any endeavor in life, you get out exactly what you put in. Impatient, shortsighted efforts will yield incomplete and poor-quality results, if not long-term injuries. On the other hand, a consistent work ethic, when paired with world-class programming and coaching knowledge, will allow trainees to continue to experience progress for months and years on end.

Chris Garay

https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/4-simple-gymnastics-drills-for-strength-and-mobility

Stress Is Ruining Your Fitness

Training really comes down to one thing: stress management. In the gym you add stress to try to push your body to a new level. Outside the gym, you do everything you can to alleviate the stress imposed in the gym.

When you achieve the right balance, you get what is called super-compensation, or training adaptation. When it’s wrong, you get over-reaching, which could make you too fatigued to train hard enough to stimulate change. If you go even further down the wrong track, you end up with over-training, which can lead to a near total system shut down.

Stress Is Stress 

Most people only look at the training performed in the gym or on the track when assessing levels of fatigue. However, the body doesn’t differentiate between mental, emotional, or physical stress. As far as the systems of the body are concerned, stress is stress.

That time your boss dropped a big pile of work on your desk that had to be done before you left the office was just as traumatic for your body as a max effort squat day. So the last thing you should be doing if you’ve just had one of those days is head to the gym and max out. This seems counter-intuitive. When you have a bad day, it’s natural to want to take out that aggression in the gym and let off some steam. But when you do, you’ve essentially had what amounts to two max effort sessions in the same day, as far as your body is concerned.

From Joel Jamieson’s, Certified Conditioning Coach manual. 

Stress In The Gym

Before we get to the actual stress-management solutions you can accomplish at home, let’s discuss some of the problems with most gym training models. Like it or not, anaerobic training produces the same type of energy seen in our fight-or-flight responses. It has to, because we need it to help us run away from predators for survival. But all that energy being produced so quickly has a damaging effect on your body. It is highly inflammatory, just like your stress-filled days at the office.

This is where movement quality comes into the picture. Movement quality has both a physical and a mental component. The energy systems and connective tissue are the bodily components, but they are driven by the autonomic nervous system and motor control, which are managed by the brain. The role of the nervous system is to perceive threat through the use of all of your senses and is linked to motor output functions (such as speed and power), and these functions are linked to your motor control.

The sympathetic nervous system drives extension-based postures and activities, such as running and jumping, as well as most lifts. In other words, it is your fight-or-flight posture and supports higher force activities. However, as motor control is based on threat perception, an over use of both this system and these postures results in negative changes in motor control. These changes to motor control lead to higher levels of fatigue. Those higher levels of fatigue lead to less movement variability – you become more robotic – and that leads to more injuries. In other words, spending too much time in your fight-or-flight postures performing high-force activities leads to greater likelihood of injury. What can you do to fix all this?

Protect Your Body From Threat 

The body perceives new activities as a threat. This applies whether it is a new load, new exercise, or a new distance – they will all be viewed the same way by the body. That drives you straight into your fight-or-flight system and instantly turns what is meant to be an educational session into something that is perceived by the body to be a maximum effort. So we need to slowly introduce new stressors to training. This is precisely why you shouldn’t learn the barbell snatch on day one in a gym. There are just too many things that are new if you’re not familiar with barbells and weightlifting.

As movement quality improves at each level, the first step is to add load. Once that step has stagnated then you can seek to add complexity – perhaps going from a hang power snatch to a power snatch. Once that has settled you can seek to add fatigue by adding volume before starting in on the next progression. The basic format is to add intensity, then complexity, before adding capacity.

Balance Your Stress Level

But don’t forget, new movements cause stress. To counteract all that stress you need training methods that soothe the body and allow your system to reset. For example, a day where you learn new moves should finish with an easy aerobic cool down to return the body to a suitable resting state that is responsive to training. Just as your warm up should prepare you for stress, your cool down should ready you to absorb the stress. And that is best done with a settled mind and body.

But all that could change if you chose the wrong recovery format. I’ve known beach volleyballers who weren’t great swimmers choose to go swimming for recovery the day after a tournament. Unfortunately, their bodies didn’t agree that it would be easy, so what should have been an easy session smashed them further. Walking in cool water might be a great choice for you, but unless you’re actually a good swimmer there’s not much chance that swimming will be a good recovery session.

Remember, if your body perceives a threat then it will react as if under threat with that same fight-or flight-response. Next thing you know, you’ve turned your recovery session into another hard session and your system will be depressed even more.

What Activities Are Best?

Some activities lend themselves better to recovery than others. Here are three I recommend:

Flexion-Based Postures: 

The parasympathetic nervous system features flexion-based postures. Activities like cycling and rowing make for far better choices than running, as it is extension based. Have you ever wondered why yoga has such a settling effect on the body? All that time spent in downward dog, a flexion-based posture, has a deep-seated link to promoting calmness within the body and mind.

Breathing: 

The quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to influence the parasympathetic system is to focus on respiratory function. Methods such as FMS have had highly successful results from exercises as simple as crocodile breathing. I have had clients who have found huge improvements for shoulder pain after five minutes of targeted breathing practice, combined with education about how to recognize and manage signs of stress.

Meditation: 

My good friend Chris Holder has done some interesting studies on using guided meditation to reduce stress among his Division 1 athletes. He and his colleagues found that following a daily guided meditation made up for poor sleep and dietary habits often seen in college athletes burning the candle at both ends. In my experience, the best time to perform this is before bed so that sleep quality is enhanced. Omvana is a free app that guides you through a twenty-minute series designed to relax the body and mind.

Train and Recover Smart

Once you’ve got your recovery figured out, the final step is monitoring training intensity and frequency. Most people can’t handle more than two or three hard sessions per week, and the days between should be filled with active recovery to stimulate the system, not further deplete or stress it.

The goal of training is to improve the body, not test its limits. Focus on adding guided meditation and focused breathing work, as well as aerobic recoveries and cool downs, and you will be surprised at how much better your body feels.

By Andrew Read

http://breakingmuscle.co.uk/uk/learn/stress-is-ruining-your-fitness

13 Legit Reasons to Start Bodyweight Training Today

"Getting fit doesn't have to be complicated"

Simple bodyweight exercises can be a great choice for achieving gains in strength, flexibility, and overall health. Best of all, they don't cost a thing and you can usually do them just about anywhere. Still not convinced? 

We've got 13 reasons why bodyweight exercises should be a key component to your workout regime.

Why Bodyweight Training Is the Best

1. It's a super-efficient workout 

Research suggests high-output, bodyweight-based exercises like plyometrics yield awesome fitness gains in short durations.   Since there's no equipment involved, bodyweight workouts make it easy to transition from one move to the next with little rest. And you've probably already heard that those short-but-intense HIIT workouts can yield major results.  

2. It can combine cardio and strength training 

Performing quick cardio sessions (such as 60 seconds of burpees or high-knees) between strength movements (such as a set of push-ups or lunges) will keep the heart pumping while still encouraging muscle and strength development.  

3. You can burn fat—fast

Just a few minutes of a bodyweight circuit training can have a major impact on the body's metabolism. If you've ever heard of the afterburn effect, you know that even when your workout is over, your body can still be revved for hours to come.  

4. At any fitness level, it's challenging

Bodyweight exercises are great because they're easily modified to challenge anyone. Adding extra reps, performing the exercises faster or super slowly, taking shorter breaks, or adding a ballistic movement (like a clap at the top of each push-up) are just a few ways to make the simplest workout tougher. And with each added modification, your progress is obvious. 

5. You'll gain core strength

Your core is more than just six-pack abs. In fact, at least twenty-nine muscles make up the trunk of the body, and many simple bodyweight movements can be used to engage all of them. Such exercises won't just give you tighter abs, you'll also gain better posture, relieve lower back stress, and improve overall performance.

6. It can increase your flexibility

Not everyone who does regular resistance training has to end up with tight muscles and inflexible joints. Bodyweight training can go hand-in-hand with building strength and flexibility. Completing bodyweight exercises through a full range of motion ensures your joints are moving freely. Plus, it can lead to improved posture and might reduce the chance of exercise-related injury.  Yoga, the fave no-equipment workout for many, is another great way to to improve flexibility while also significantly improving strength.  

7. There's never an excuse to not workout

 

Ask someone why they don't exercise, and chances are they have "no time" or it's "inconvenient." Luckily bodyweight exercises eliminate those common obstacles. When you only need a little space, it's easy to squeeze in workouts wherever you are. Exercising without equipment can also be used as a stress reliever whether you're working at home or on the road.

8. You'll achieve better balance

When it comes to this type of training, sometimes increasing resistance means increasing balance, too. For example, a normal squat can be ramped up by swapping in a single-leg squat (a.k.a. a pistol squat). Functional movements like that one can improve balance through increased body awareness and control.

9. You'll never get bored

It can be easy to get stuck in a workout rut of treadmills, bicep curls, lat pull-downs, and bench presses. That's why bodyweight training can be so refreshing: There are countless exercise variations that can spice up any workout routine. Working with a variety of exercises not only relieves boredom, it can also help break plateaus and spark further progress.

10. Mixing up your workout is easy

Indoor excercise isn't for everyone. Luckily you can do these moves inside or outdoors, alone or with a group of friends. Think about adding some strength moves to your next park run, or finishing a swim session with a quick bodyweight circuit to keep things interesting.

11. It's free

Gym memberships and boutique classes can quickly add up—but bodyweight training is free. Experts cite the low cost of bodyweight training as key to its rise in popularity.

12. It can help with injury prevention

Injury is one of the main reasons people stop working out, so preventing those aches and pains should be a big priority. Bodyweight exercises are generally safe for any exerciser regardless of experience, age, or fitness level. Many simple bodyweight movements can actually be an effective option for rehabilitation, even for those with significant impairments.  

13. You'll see results

Bodyweight exercises get results partly because they involve compound movements—meaning numerous joints and muscles are engaged in each move. Compound exercises such as push-ups and lunges have been shown to be extremely effective for strength gains and performance improvements and research shows improved core strength (see No. 5 above) translates to improved strength gains throughout the entire body.  

BY DAVE SMITH

http://greatist.com/fitness/start-bodyweight-training