by admin | May 23, 2022 | Fitness
Muscle Asymmetry And How To Fix It
In the context of beauty, aesthetics and performance, symmetry is one of the most important considerations in your goal to optimal fitness. However, due to the fact that people always tend to use one side of their body more, asymmetry occurs often. There are ways around it, so in this article we’ve decided to give you insight on how to fix any asymmetry in your body.
What Is Asymmetry?
By broad definition, asymmetry is the imbalance between two sides of the body. When it comes to measurements, symmetry is directly tied to beauty in anthropometry (the science that deals with the measures and proportions of the body).
This is due to the fact that there are ratios and measurements that can be used to describe an aesthetically pleasing body figure. Nevertheless, asymmetry is NOT just about looks, as muscular asymmetry can be further classified into two subcategories:
- Visual asymmetry
- Functional asymmetry
The first one, visual asymmetry, is basically the imbalance in the sizes of the two sides of the body (i.e one of your arms is bigger/more defined). On the other hand, functional asymmetry is the imbalance in the physical properties of both sides (i.e one of your arms is stronger)
Oftentimes, one leads to the other but that is not valid a hundred percent of the time, as in some cases, the smaller arm can be the stronger side.
Placing The Goals
In the context of developing an aesthetically pleasing physique that performs well and isn’t at a risk of injury, there are a couple of goals to set down:
- Achieving functional symmetry
Functional symmetry is achieved when both sides of the body are working in synergy and have the same strength output, strength endurance, mobility and flexibility
- Achieving visual symmetry
Visual symmetry is achieved when the ratios and measurements of the lengths and shapes of the muscles, are identical
The Approach
If your asymmetry wasn’t a product of a harsh injury, such as a torn muscle, there are things you can do to even out the size and strength of both sides.
Here are our best tips to help you bring up your weaker sides!
- Exercise form
On many exercises, we tend to use the stronger side of the body more, which results in a crooked range of motion and uneven tension. When doing any exercise, try and make sure that both sides are on the same plane and that you do not use any inertial movements (cheating).
Try and apply constant tension on the muscles that are working, through a moderately paced range of motion.
- Prioritize!
Whether you are trying to bring up asymmetrical sides of your body, or just bring up generally lacking muscle groups, prioritizing those parts of your body is one of your best bets. To prioritize a muscle group, increase the total training volume (number of sets and reps), but also increase the weight and time under tension, as well as the frequency of training.
An important note here is that you should be doing this for the asymmetrical muscle group, ON BOTH sides – Don’t just increase the output on one side!
- Exclude certain exercises
In many cases, individuals have overdeveloped muscle groups that prevent them from properly targeting certain lacking muscle groups. For instance, if your triceps are too developed, they would absorb most of the tension during pushing exercises, robbing you of solid chest and shoulder work.
In that case, bringing tricep work down to a minimum would be a good idea, along with including isolated exercises for the lacking muscle group.
Balance Is The Goal
Whether you are a professional athlete or a regular gym trainee, optimal symmetry should be one of your first checkpoints on your way to good fitness. This is especially valid for competitive athletes, as achieving such balance would allow you to focus on what the specific sport requires, rather than focusing on bringing up weaknesses.
Conclusion
By nature, the human body is NOT perfectly symmetrical, so even if you take a picture of half of your body/face and flip it horizontally to make it into a full body picture… It wouldn’t look natural!
In that context, you shouldn’t really aim to achieve perfection, rather than a fairly decent visual and functional balance. Use the right exercise technique and constant tension, while building your routine around your weaker body parts, to prioritize them.
by admin | May 22, 2022 | Fitness, Health, Massage
Nature Therapy – What Exactly Is It?
What Is It And Why Do So Many Psychologists Recommend It Nowadays, as you may have learned in a previous article of ours, going to therapy is quite common. Psychology, in general, is one of the areas of study with the most development in the last few decades. Due to the growing interest in the subject, we constantly find newer ways our brain is connected to different aspects of life.
One of the connections which we started exploring in recent years is that between humans and nature. Although we all know that we are entangled with our environment, we started understanding and using its benefits only recently, which is how nature therapy was born.
So What Is Nature Therapy?
The definition of nature therapy is relatively simple – it’s the practice of being in a natural environment in order to boost your mental health.
There are a few different types such as:
- Adventure therapy – rafting, skiing, climbing, and more similar activities done outside
- Meditation – meditating in parks, gardens, beaches, etc.
- Animal-assisted therapy – playing with dogs, cats, rabbits, etc. looking at birds, squirrels, and other wildlife
- Art therapy – drawing landscapes, sculpting wood, decorating leaves, rocks, and more
- Green exercise – running, doing yoga, cycling – outdoors, in parks, gardens, yards, etc.
- Horticulture – gardening, planting, and harvesting fruits and vegetables, trimming leaves, etc.
- Wilderness – camping, hiking, climbing mountains, visiting waterfalls, etc.
Many people try different approaches to find the one that fits them the best.
All of these can be done with the professional therapist that recommended them (if they’re willing to participate), with an organized group, or as a planned trip by the patient themselves. There are many more ideas that can be done as nature therapy, but these are the most common ones.
Benefits And Popularity
Being in nature is known to have a calming effect for pretty much everyone, especially right now, because of the urbanized environment we all live in. Looking at trees and flowers, enjoying the quiet vistas, landscapes, birdsong forests, or beaches is therapeutic to kids just like it is to the elderly.
Nature therapy is shown to help people battling anxiety, depression, ADHD, and many more mental conditions. Even though it’s not all-powerful and shouldn’t be used instead of medication, being in nature has a positive effect on these illnesses because it releases tension, reminds the person of compassion while managing to stay engaging for people with attention problems.
Many people with depression have stated that most of the nature therapy practices make them feel connected, which brightens up their day every time. Some share that walking barefoot is maybe the easiest way to get in the right headspace and start enjoying the different practices of nature therapy.
Another reason why it helps is that some practices are calming for people that are anxious, stressed or tired (art therapy, horticulture, and meditation for example), while others are engaging for people with attention problems or those who are restless (like adventure, green exercise and wilderness).
Conclusion
Nature therapy is a non-medicinal practice for relieving stress and managing different problems regarding the mental health of an individual. It is valuable and enjoyable for pretty much every person regardless of age, gender, or background and can be practiced all around the globe. Its benefits stem from our biological upbringing and the underlying causes of some of our troubles.
Nature therapy can help with sleep, emotional connection, anxiety, attention problems, and many more, and it does so while also providing a new and exciting experience. Nature therapy seems to be something that more and more people try and end up loving so much it ends up being a part of their lives they look forward to, and with all its positive sides, we completely agree with them.
Do YOU do nature therapy? If yes, what is your favorite? Comment below!
by admin | May 21, 2022 | Fitness
Muscle building Nutrition | Part 3 – Carbs Are KING
In the last part of this article series, you learned that protein and fats are the two essential macronutrients in your daily nutrition. These two contain essential amino & fatty acids, which regulate many processes, growth of tissues & body composition. For the goal of building muscle mass, however, there is one more very important nutrient in the foods you consume. In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about carbs and why they are an important aspect of your nutrition.
What Are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates, also known as “carbs” are the sugars, fibers, and starches, found in vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, milk, and other food products. This nutrient provides 4 calories per gram and when metabolized, gets converted to blood glucose & muscle/liver glycogen.
Glycogen is basically the stored form of carbohydrates. Most of that glycogen gets stored in the muscles and a lesser portion goes to the liver.
Carbs Are The KING Of Intense Performance
Now, during intense bouts of training activity, the body uses ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as its main energy source. However, the stores of that ATP are generally limited, and as your workouts continue, the body needs to find more sources of energy to REGENERATE that ATP, in order to continue the activity.
This is where muscle glycogen comes into play – In a process called “glycolysis”, the body uses muscle glycogen to restore ATP and continue muscular contraction.
What About Keto?
Carbs have often been demonized and this is the exact reason why trends like the ketogenic diet come to the surface. There are actually many people that consider the ketogenic diet to be optimal for high-intensity performance.
But the truth is that during a keto diet, the body starts utilizing fatty acids as the main energy source, due to the lack of carbohydrates.And, guess what, fats have 9 calories per gram, as opposed to carbs that have just 4 calories per gram.
This makes fats more than twice as caloric as carbohydrates. That exact caloric value, combined with the more complex structure of fats, makes them unsuitable for high-intensity performance. This is because high-intensity performance is optimized when you have an energy source that can be broken down RAPIDLY.
Quite logically, when we have a nutrient with a simple structure and 4 calories per gram (carbs) and a nutrient with a more complex structure and a higher caloric value, the winner is obvious. Studies have shown that no matter the trends, carbohydrates remain the KING of high-intensity performance, due to the fact they are the only nutrient that can be broken down into energy rapidly enough, during high-intensity training bouts.
Can you build muscle and get stronger on zero carbs? Yes, but the rate of progress will likely be suboptimal.
What Carbs Should You Choose?
When we look at carbs, there are two main types we can differentiate between:
- Simple carbs
- Complex carbs
Simple carbohydrates are called that way, due to their simple structure, which the body breaks down easily during digestion. This means that simple carbs are quick energy for the body and this can be used in certain scenarios. However, for the most part, this quick and easy digestion leads to sudden spikes and drops in your blood sugar levels, which can lead to what we refer to as a “sugar crash”.
Simple carbs are mainly found in refined sugar products, such as raw sugar, brown sugar, syrups, fruit juice concentrates, candy, doughnuts, etc. On the other hand, we have complex carbs, which have a more complex structure and release energy gradually.
If your goal is to build muscle mass, complex carbs are what you should primarily focus on. This type of carbohydrate will not lead to any blood sugar spikes and will grant sustainable energy, that is released gradually, as we already mentioned. Complex carbs are mainly found in grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables.
Here’s a list of the best complex carbs you can use in your muscle-building nutrition plan:
- Brown rice
- Lentils
- Oats
- Kidney beans
- Wholegrain bread
- Wholegrain pasta
Conclusion
If you are trying to build muscle mass, you should know that you can’t go without performing well in the gym. And well, quite frankly, optimal athletic performance is a matter of providing the body sufficient energy. Specifically for intense performance, the most potent energy source is muscle glycogen.
This implies that a suboptimal consumption of carbohydrates may actually hinder your workout performance, due to the low levels of muscle glycogen. Here’s the most important conclusion for this article – If you want to keep up with your gains, eat your grains
by admin | May 19, 2022 | Fitness
Muscle building Nutrition | Part 2 – Proteins & Fats
If you read part 1 of the muscle-building nutrition series, you now know that one of the most important things about nutrition during a building period is to eat in a caloric surplus. This extra amount of energy will allow the body to optimally recover the musculature, thus improving gains.
Now, besides caloric value, however, food also gives the body essential nutrients. In this second article of the muscle-building nutrition series, we will go over protein & fats and tell you more about why they’re important, how much, and what sources you should use.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
What Are Essential Macronutrients?
When the topic at hand is sports nutrition, the word “essential” can only mean one thing. Essential macronutrients are macronutrients that the body NEEDS but can’t produce on its own. If there is a lack of those essential macronutrients, it is likely that you would experience suboptimal recovery, tiredness, quick exhaustion, and in severe, chronic depletions, you may experience dysfunctions of certain bodily systems.
And well, while this sounds bad, we live in a world where all the food you want is right at your fingertips, meaning that you can easily avoid those depletions. All you have to do is to make the right food choices!
Protein – How Much & What Food Sources?
The name of the word “Protein” is derived from the Greek word “Protos”, which means “First/Of prime importance”. That is to say that protein is essential and there’s no wonder about that – You ARE protein… Especially your muscles, they are made up of protein and they NEED protein to recover and grow.
Protein is made up of amino acids, which the body uses for all recovery and physiological maintenance. There are 20 amino acids in total and 9 of those are essential (remember what essential means?) The optimal daily protein intake forms at 0.8-1g of protein per lb. of body weight.
If you are an omnivore, it is recommended to derive most of your protein from quality animal products, as animal products contain all essential amino acids. Oppositely, if you are plant-based, try mixing different types of grains and legumes, as plant products lack certain amino acids.
Fat – How Much & What Food Sources?
After protein, you have dietary fats, which are the second essential macronutrient in your daily nutrition.
The dietary fats in your nutrition plan will do the following:
- Help vitamin/nutrient absorption
- Protection of vital organs
- Body temperature regulation
- Give energy
Even more importantly, dietary fat will ensure that your hormonal system functions properly. Studies have shown that males who under-consume dietary fat, have LOWER testosterone levels, as opposed to males who get at least 20% of their daily energy from fats. And guess what – Your testosterone levels massively impact muscle growth, recovery and mood. The optimal daily fat intake forms at 0.35-0.45g per lb. of body weight.
Generally, most animal products contain sufficient amounts of fat, but if you need to add more fat sources, go for the following:
- Olive oil
- Avocados
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Coconuts
Conclusion
By taking care of all the essential macronutrients in your daily nutrition plan, you will ensure that the body has everything needed to recover and grow bigger and stronger. Protein and fats are the two ESSENTIAL nutrients we get from food, which as you learned, regulate the majority of bodily processes.
And then, we have carbohydrates, which are not really essential but can be a powerful thing to use during a muscle-building period. In the next part of this article series, we’ll explain to you EXACTLY why your carb intake is important for the goal of building muscle.
Stay tuned!
by admin | May 18, 2022 | Fitness
Can Cardio Exercises Build Muscle?
Best cardio muscle building exercises For years, the debate between weight lifting and cardio exercising has been going on with full power, as both sides have proponents. As you may or may not know, cardio has been dubbed as the number one health improvement tool, while weight lifting is claimed to be more oriented towards visual and functional development.
And though both have actual benefits for the body and all of its processes, one question remains – Can cardio actually help you build muscle? To answer this, allow us to dive a bit deeper.
What Is Cardio?
Generally, cardio is any low-intensity activity that is done for a prolonged period of time, such as:
- Jogging
- Skipping
- Swimming
- Rowing
- Cycling
These are aerobic activities that primarily engage the heart and the lungs, leading to more efficient energy transportation. This in turn leads to increased levels of endurance, where the individual can eventually sustain the activity for hours on end.
HOWEVER, prolonged, low-intensity activities only engage the slow-twitch muscle fibers, which don’t have a big potential for hypertrophy (growth). Nevertheless, there are ways to use cardio exercises AND build muscle.
The Answer Is… Sprints!
As we just mentioned, prolonged cardio activities only engage the slow-twitch muscle fibers, due to the fact you don’t really need to exert much. However, if you change the WAY in which you do the exercise (i.e running), the stimulus changes.
Sprints are without a doubt one of the most powerful tools to put in your training arsenal, ESPECIALLY for the goal of lower body development. By definition, sprints have all the characteristics of a muscle building exercise, because they involve short, power bursts that engage the fast-twitch muscle fibers.
Sprints are applicable for any cardio exercise, whether it’s swimming, cycling, running or skipping.
Just make sure to not do them right before or right after leg day, as sprints are demanding on the lower body and would require recovery time afterwards.
Sample Sprint Run Workout
Just like your normal gym workout, before you get into sprinting full-on, you have to go through a proper warm-up routine, where you’ll prepare and prime the legs for high exertion. The goal of the warm-up is to – Activate the muscles and fill them with blood, raise the heart rate a bit, raise the body temperature a bit.
A good sprint run warm-up can include:
- Light jogging
- Dynamic stretching
- Squat jumps
- Power breathing
When you feel like your body is loose enough, follow the steps in the table below.
| Run # |
Distance |
Rest times |
| #1 – Warm up run, 60-70% exertion |
30m |
1 minute |
| #2 – Warm up run, 70-80% exertion |
40m |
90 seconds |
| #3 – Full-on sprint, 90-100% exertion |
50m |
3 minutes |
| #4 – Full-on sprint, 90-100% exertion |
50m |
3 minutes |
| #5 – Full-on sprint, 90-100% exertion |
50m |
3 minutes |
Much like any other workout, you have to apply the principle of progressive overload on sprints, as well.
This would imply increasing the distance run, the number of sets or, changing the rest times. Sprint workouts can even replace your weight training leg workout in the gym, so if you have a day where you don’t feel like squatting, get up for some sprints!
Take Home Message
Prolonged, low-intensity cardio exercises are a great tool to boost your heart and lungs, but when it comes to visual development, this approach to training is not really what you are after. Nevertheless, you can take the same cardio exercise and switch the way of execution, in order to create a powerful muscle-growth stimulus.
Sprints should be in the training arsenal of every self-respecting trainee, who is looking to maximize the aesthetic development and strength of their lower body.
Do your sprints, don’t miss out!
by admin | May 18, 2022 | Fitness
Building A Garage Gym Part 1
The Pros & Cons Of Having Your Own Training Spot If you’re like me, you probably love going to the gym but hate having to wait in line for a machine or, even worse – The bench press on a Monday.
And, if you’re REALLY like me, you’d probably rather avoid paying the massive membership fees at an elite gym. So what’s the solution? Build your own garage gym! In time, it’s cheaper than paying all membership fees, and it’s a great way to get fit in your own home.
Plus, there’s no need to worry about crowded gyms when you have your own private workout space. In this two-part article series, we’ll cover everything you need to know about home gyms – Pros, cons, and what equipment you need!
The Advantages
Let’s be honest. We’ve all had the thought of a garage gym – It just sounds awesome! And well, truth be told, there are probably too many advantages to it. This is perhaps what pushes many people to build their own gyms. So without further ado, let’s have a look at the biggest advantages of home/garage gyms.
#1 ‘Merica-Like Freedom
As we’ve mentioned, we all know the struggle – You hype yourself up on a Monday to go for a push day, only for the bench press to be overtaken by five other dudes. Certainly, waiting for all of them is not just distressing but also robs you of your quality pumps due to the significantly longer rest times.
And while longer rest times may mean better performance, being independent and free in your training space is a must. This is where home gyms shine because they allow you to calculate your rest times precisely and not have to load/unload the bar for someone else. The most that can happen is for your wife/husband to share the bar with you, in which case you can be nothing but proud.
#2 No Distractions
If you are like me, every time you go to the gym, you are in THE zone and are focused solely on your workout. After all, this is why we put headphones on – To zone ourselves out of any and every distraction. But well, the truth is that oftentimes, we’ll encounter distractions at the gym, whether we want it or not.
For instance, there will be at least one guy, every now and then, who asks how many sets you have left, only to keep talking for 5 minutes, explaining how he used to squat four plates eight years ago. And guess what? That’s totally NOT the case with a home gym! The only thing that can distract you is, again, your loved one’s gains. 😉
#3 Your Own Playlist
Most times, we go to the gym with headphones on – This is where truly motivating music plays. It is oftentimes that you take the headphones off just to hear the speakers blast some liquid, chillstep.
In such situations, you may often catch yourself drifting away on the bench press. However, if you have a home gym, that changes. A home gym allows you to play whatever music you feel like listening to, at whatever volume you like.
The Disadvantages
All in all, having your own gym is a 95% good idea. However, there are some disadvantages to it, too. For instance, you don’t have as much equipment – Some of your favorite machines will likely be in a lack, and you will mostly focus on free weights.
Another thing is that training all by yourself is quite risky. Why is that? Well, because you don’t really have the chance to get a spotter. This is further accentuated by the fact that we perform at least slightly better in front of other people (regardless of how zen you are and how much you think you do it just for yourself.)
On a third note, we all know that a public gym can create some of your strongest friendships or even a relationship if you’re lucky enough to get into one with your gym crush. Last but not least, gym equipment is quite expensive, so for many of us, it will take quite some time to create a gym that meets most of our training needs.
Final Thoughts
In the end, building a home/garage gym is a worthwhile project that can yield some great results. A garage gym is not only your personal space but also a place you can go to get away from all of life’s distractions and focus on whatever you need to accomplish with your body in an hour or two.
But with this in mind, another question pops up: What equipment do you actually need for a home gym?
And well, this is exactly the question we’re going to answer in part two of this article series, so stay tuned with us!
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