How to Prioritize Workouts when Work Life Gets Tough

Who doesn't get demotivated when life comes rushing at you hard? I know I do! This week, we have a great article from Vanessa Davis of Diet.st on how to find time in your schedule when so many other things are taking priority and killing your motivation. Enjoy and stay motivated!

TribeSports 15 Minute Workout

I found this workout routine on TribeSport's Instagram account, and I thought it would be fun to try. So give it a go today! It's only 15 minutes so I did two rounds. 

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Check out "A Day in the Life of Suzanne" on Dudunorth!

I did a profile for Dudunorth, as part of the 'Discipline' series. This profile was me summarizing my day step by step, complete with pictures. Please check it out because I'd like people to see a different side of me, and understand what is going through my mind as I'm doing some of these activities. You think it is not easy for you? Then we're alike because working out is not always easy for me too.

Dudunorth is a website that showcases exceptional talent by promoting the work of Africans in North America. Check out the site at Dudunorth.com.

Check out my full profile on Dudunorth here and learn how discipline is a major part of my life.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Interview with Cool Kay: Music is All I Do

An artist who is passionate about music and passionate about his body? Sign me up! I got a chance to talk to a budding recording artist, Cool Kay, about his music, and of course, his fitness regimen. The "Wind of Change" and "Molenu" rapper gave me some deets about what is currently happening with his music.

Eights & Weights: So tell us a little about Cool Kay? How did you get into music?

Cool Kay: Well, my name is Kayode Adekoya, and I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. I fell in love with music at a really young age. And no matter what I did, it continued to grow with time. After a while, I guess others noticed my affinity for music and started coming up to me to write songs for them. The more I got involved, the more it struck me that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

Eights & Weights: We've heard good and bad things about the Nigerian music industry. How difficult has it been getting into it? What kind of music out right now has served to inspire you?
Cool Kay: There is a good and bad side to every music industry. But if you work extremely hard, put in all the energy and consistency you’ve got, you will find a way to succeed. I fight for my music because it is my passion. So many artists in Nigeria have inspired me, and I don’t think I’ll be able to list them all out here. But there are so many rap and R&B artists both in Nigeria and around the world that have inspired me.

Eights & Weights: Obviously, after looking at a few pictures of you working out, I would say you spend some time on your muscles. At Eights & Weights, we are fiercely trying to promote health and fitness awareness, especially in Africa. What do you do on a daily basis to stay healthy? Is that something that is important to you?
Cool Kay: Fitness is necessary, period. I would advise everyone to get involved in some sort of physical activity. Trust me, your body will thank you later. I’m basically either making music or working out. When am not writing or recording, I make sure I hit the gym 3-4 times a week. I always have a planned out gym routine for the week to work on my muscles. Do you want to hear it?

Eights & Weights: Of course! That’s what we are here for!
Cool Kay: Okay, so I have a 4 times/week plan. On day 1, I focus on my chest and biceps, followed by 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio. On day 2, I focus on legs, triceps, and abs, followed by 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio. On day 3, I focus on my shoulders and back, followed by 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio. On day 4, I focus on chest, biceps, and abs.
Eights & Weights: That’s a lot of high-intensity cardio. I like it, especially since men sometimes think they don’t need to be doing cardio.

Eights & Weights: Have you found it difficult to stay physically active and eat healthy in Nigeria?
Cool Kay: Personally, I would say it’s not that difficult to stay healthy in Nigeria. A lot of the food is natural and fresh, and moderation really is key. I think that is where people struggle the most.

Eights & Weights: Alright on to you and what you have in the works. What music do you have out right now?
Cool Kay: A song called "MOLENU" which is already getting good response from the listeners.

Eights & Weights: Nice, so will we be seeing performances of Molenu soon? What can we expect from you in the near future?
Cool Kay: You’ll definitely be seeing some performances soon. I just released the new single and we have just started working on the online promo. After that, you will hear some airplay and then you’ll start to see more performances. Stay in touch with me online to find out what I have going on.

Eights & Weights: Great. Where can readers find out more about Cool Kay and your performances?

Cool Kay: You can find or hit me up on the following:
Twitter: @Coolkaymuzik
Reverbnation: Coolkaymuzik
Facebook: Coolkaymuzik

Eights & Weights: What would readers be surprised to know about you?
Cool Kay: I don't think I have done anything very crazy except for the fact that I could be in the studio for a whole week without coming out just doing what I love doing best: music.

Listen to Molenu below

Free embed music player from ReverbNation.com

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Jane Fonda's Workout

Does anyone remember this video? I think I'm probably the only one who still thinks this was awesome, and for all the wrong reasons :) But for real though, I love Jane Fonda.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Look Better Naked

Yes, you read right; that’s exactly what the title is. I was reading bits of this book ‘Look Better Naked’ by Michele Promaulayko, and I thought it would be fun to share some excerpts. To lay it all out there, I know a few men and women who after a few years of marriage, still feel self-conscious naked around their spouse. One lady actually confessed to me that she sucks her stomach in at all times while she’s naked with her husband. And this includes during sex. If I’ve learned anything about the human mind, it’s that loving your body truly is a process.

So why are we so self conscious? Well, according to the book, it’s because we feel we are not the best version of ourselves. We look around and see people who we believe are a version of what we can be, and we beat ourselves up because we think we’re not society’s definition of 'hot'. I do like how the book emphasized nakedness because when you’re confident at that level, when all your flaws are evident, you’ll definitely be more confident with clothes on.

Here are a few thoughts from the book that I thought were spot on:

To get more comfortable with your nakedness, do more stuff naked (apart from showering and sex). e.g.
•    Take a full on bath
•    Eat dinner naked
•    Sleep naked
•    Get a massage completely naked
•    Ladies, get fitted for lingerie
•    Take a nude photo – well, this one is kind of scandalous so be sure to keep the picture locked tight

Aside from exercise, you can make small changes to improve how you look. e.g.
•    Improve your posture
•    Reduce your salt and soda intake to minimize bloating

There’s a lot more in the book that I think everyone should take time out to read. But the essence of it is that how we look is really about how we feel. Below are a few of my own tips on how to look and feel better naked.

Groom: Whether it is your face or down there, a little grooming can go a long way to make you look and feel better au naturel.
Exercise: I don’t really have to stress this point too much. Generally, people who exercise regularly look and feel better about their bodies.
Timing: Don’t just eat a boat load of food and then look at your body in the mirror. Note when you feel the sexiest, and then you can check yourself out. Gentlemen, it may help if you do some push-ups before you look at yourself in the mirror. Pumped up arms and shoulders, and a pumped up back are sure to give you the boost you need ;)
Treat your skin right: Exfoliate. Put some cocoa butter on. Wash your face regularly. Get tuned into the beauty secrets that keep your skin looking great. It’s no secret that great skin makes you look and feel hotter.
Dance around your house in your underwear: Need I say more? Just make sure the curtains are shut.
Relax: Your body needs physical activity, but it also needs alone time. Regularly set aside time to relax and notice the difference in your skin and even your health.
Role models: Are you envying the wrong people? Celebrities spend hundreds of thousands on their bodies, and yet they still need make-up and airbrushing to look the way you see them in the media. Change your ‘body’ role model, and you’d probably realize that your body actually kicks ass.

Do you have a different technique that makes you look and feel better naked? Please share.

Cheers!

What I Want to Know is… 'What Size is a Healthy Size?'

 

Welcome to the new Eights & Weights segment called ‘What I Want to Know is…’ where readers send in their questions, and based on the area of focus of reader’s questions, answers are provided. This time, a major area of focus is on what is determined to be a healthy size.

Now, because we are human, and humans are very visual creatures, we create impressions based on what we see. We all have markers in our heads for what size we think is healthy or not, and if a person goes below or above that, then we believe they are unhealthy. But is our dress size really a good marker for health?

As long as you are comfortable with your body, size is really not that important. Size helps us approximate weight, but it is not an absolute. The factors that are actually medically important are a person’s BMI (an approximation for the body fat ratio) and waist circumference.

BMI: The BMI (or Body Mass Index) is a number generated using the following formula:

So what really is the BMI? It is really just the weight to height ratio of an individual; that is how a person’s weight is distributed around their body. Right now, BMI is one of the reliable indicators of the body fat ratio of an individual. There are other methods that require machines (such as underwater weighing), but a person’s BMI can be calculated using the information at hand: Height and Weight. An unhealthy BMI can put a person at a higher risk for either obesity-related or underweight-related diseases.

Now, what’s a healthy BMI? This is dependent on factors such as gender, age, and race (yep, as I recently learned, even race). But in general, the following standards apply:

To calculate your BMI, use the widget at the bottom of this post.

Waist Size:  I can almost hear you go “What does waist size have to do with anything?” But studies have shown that men who have a waist size of more than 40 inches, and women who have a waist size of more than 35 inches, have a higher risk for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and other heart diseases that may be tied to obesity.

These are some of the medically relevant factors in determining a healthy size. What do you consider a healthy size?

Two final points:

• I couldn’t end this without bringing up the world cup. Ghana, you tried hard, and took us far. But I guess we’re still out. Africa weeps, man.
• Again, thanks to those who nominated Eights and Weights for 11 categories in the Nigerian Blog Awards group B. My readers are the absolute bestest! Before I get all sentimental, I’ll just say that voting starts tomorrow July 5th. Be sure to click here to vote! Let’s bring those awards home :) 

Cheers!

Falling off the Bandwagon

It is a shame that most of the African teams in this World cup always seem to start a match out well, and then let the other team carry the match halfway through. Unlike the African football teams we’ve seen, we don’t have to give up all hope when we fall out of our exercise and nutrition routine and back into our old habits. There’s always the option to dust yourself off and try again.

Most people that are on a strict diet program tend to demonize food, and so when they backslide for a moment and eat that slice of birthday cake, it’s like they’ve sold their soul to the enemy. They get affected psychologically and start to think “I’ve already made a mistake, so I can go ahead and eat the whole cake and it won’t matter.” And then that one mistake leads to binge eating.

My opinion is that in order to stay healthy and fit, we need to change our relationship with food. If we treat cake as a complete no-no when we know we do love cake, do you know what happens? Our minds would constantly remain on cake. Thinking about cake 24/7 will inevitably lead to stuffing our faces with cake at some point because we feel so starved of something we enjoy. I was reading an article in SELF magazine the other day, where the True Blood actress Anna Paquin was interviewed. My love for her immediately grew when she said (and this is paraphrased), “I won’t feed you the lie most actresses do. I have to watch what I eat to stay fit. But I also believe that one dessert a week won’t kill me.” If we can have this type of relationship with food, we’d avoid the yo-yo effect caused by demonizing food and then bingeing on it.

This relationship is not only true of food. We also do the same thing with our exercise program. If we can’t make it to the gym one day, we think “I’ll make up for it tomorrow.” When we are too tired to go the next day, and the next day, we start to feel really guilty. Knowing we cannot make up for a few lost days, we turn our guilt into nonchalance and just stop going. Or as one of my readers felt this week, we may feel intense pain when we start working out, and that could drive us to wait a few days or weeks before going back to the gym. Our exercise routine could get so spaced out that our bodies don’t get used to exercising and we feel pain every time we work out. What happens then? We say “To hell with it!” and just quit.

Therefore, we also need to change our relationship with exercise. Exercise comes with pain, no doubt. But let’s not rest in the ‘now’, but the future. It will hurt for a few days or weeks, but as our bodies strengthen, we’ll see an increase in our endurance for pain, and a decrease in the pain itself. With these compounded, and as we see the effects of exercise on our bodies, we’ll be driven to do even more.

Now, let’s back up a little. We’ve talked about changing our relationship with food and exercise. But we also need to be a little softer on ourselves sometimes. Recognize that we may backslide just because that’s the way the human mind is wired. If we do backslide, how should we deal with it? We deal with it by realizing that a small mistake does not change our whole lives. So you missed one workout session? Jump back on the horse tomorrow and don’t dwell on today. You ate 5,000 calories in one meal? Oops! There’s always tomorrow. Continue controlling your portions then.

If you have a ‘falling off the bandwagon’ story, or have any questions, please leave a comment.

I’d also like to point out two things:

• The Nigerian Blog Awards group B nominations end today (May 27th). Please go and nominate Eights & Weights today before it’s over! Click on this link to nominate: Group B nominations.
• Starting next month, the Eights and Weights page will have a segment called ‘What I Want to Know Is…’ Please click here to send me a message about a question you have or a topic you’re concerned about, and it may make it to next month’s pool of questions!

Again, thanks for your support! Cheers!

                                 

Summer Series: Abs Like Whoa!

It’s still summer! Yes, we can’t all have packs that you can literally count, but we can work to get some abs to show off our bellies on the beach this summer. Mostly, when we speak about abdominal exercises, we envision the regular crunches or sit-ups. But in my experience, these can get boring pretty fast, and can also put a lot of strain on your lower back and neck. So I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the non-traditional crunches that don’t necessarily involve our fingers entwined at the back of our heads or our elbows taped to the sides of our ears. There are so many abs exercises, so it was pretty hard to narrow it down to a few of the best ones.


Abdominal hip lifts or raises: This exercise is great because it works both the front and sides of your abdominal when done right. It’s pretty easy just as the name implies, but it’s also easy to make some mistakes with the posture here. So how does it go?

• Lie flat with your back on the floor and your eyes looking up to the ceiling. I specify the part about the eyes because when you have your eyes to the ceiling, you probably won’t unconsciously lift your head off the floor.
• Lift your legs up while keeping your butt on the floor. Your legs should be straight up to the ceiling so the bottom of your foot is facing the ceiling.
• Put your palms on the floor on either side of your body for balance.
• While keeping your knees and ankles together, lift your hips off the floor (only your hips; not your head, and not your palms). Make sure you are using your stomach muscles here so don’t bend your legs towards your body because that works your lower back more than your abs. Again, try to lift only your hips off the floor while keeping your legs in their original position.
• Bring your hips back down to the floor and repeat. I found this great picture of how it looks at the Alaska Stars website.

Plank: The plank is also as simple an exercise as any, but here, posture also matters very much. So pay special attention to holding your butt and stomach muscles tight. It does not involve motion so it can be pretty hard to focus and maintain this position for an extended period. Here’s how it works:

• Assume the upper push-up position, with only your palms and toes on the floor.
• Transitioning one arm at a time, move your body to rest on your forearms (part of the arm from your elbows to your wrist). Most people prefer to clench their fists in this position.
• Try to keep your body as parallel to the ground as possible. This is where you need to tighten your stomach and butt muscles to prevent your butt sticking out or an extra curve in your lower back.
• Look down to the ground. This helps to maintain the position because if you look up, you could wreck your posture.
• Just hold this position for as long as you can. I like to do about 20 second holds. Hold for a while, break, and then repeat. Another good picture showing this exercise can be found at the Abs Like Stone website.

Belly Blaster: This is a variation of the plank. Here, rather than maintain the plank position, we turn it into a motion exercise.

• Assume plank position.
• Tighten your stomach muscles, and lift your butt up. As you lift up your butt, don’t let your stomach sag forward.
• Come back down to the plank.
• Repeat as many times as you can. Here is a picture showing a great belly blaster from Fit Yummy Mummy. I know, the name of the website was what got me too.

Side plank: This one is best done in front of a mirror because it’s a little difficult to feel if your body is straight or not.

• Assume the plank position above.
• Using only one of your arms, lift your other arm and your body off the floor, and let your body face the opposite side of the room resting only on one of your forearms, and the side of one of your feet. For example, if you are resting on your right forearm, your body should be facing the left side of the room. Only your right forearm and the right side of your right foot should be on the floor.
• Make sure your body is in a straight line from your head to your feet.
• You can put your other palm on your waist so it doesn’t get in the way.
• Release the fist of the forearm on the ground so the palms are facing the floor. Turn the forearm on the ground so that the fingertips are facing the same direction as your body (which would be the left side in our example).
• Repeat on the other arm.
• Make sure your body does not sag in this exercise so that you get the most out of it. Your hips should not be heading towards the ground, and your stomach and butt muscles should be tight. Looking forward also helps to maintain this position. Click the website name below for a picture showing a good side plank from the Abs Like Stone website.

V sit: This position is also relatively easy to describe, but it is something you have to build on because most people don’t have the necessary core strength to hold this position for long periods when just beginning an exercise program. However, it is a great strength exercise for the stomach muscles.

• Lie flat on the floor on your back with your arms at your sides.
• Lift up your legs so they are around a 45 degree angle to the floor.
• Slowly lift your shoulders and extend your arms so your body is in a ‘V’ shape with your arms extended forward parallel to the floor.
• If you cannot keep your legs straight in this position, you can bend your knees, but make sure your feet stay off the ground.
• Hold the position and repeat like we did with the plank.
• Here’s an example of the position from Vibra Body, and here’s a variation with bent knees from Hamilton Spectator.

Well, there you go. If you didn’t know you could get abs without crunches, I hope that has helped to provide you with some useful information. But as I always say, remember that you cannot lose fat in your stomach with strength training alone. You need the three steps: cardio, weight training, and stretching. And you also need to maintain a healthy diet.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Summer Series: See My Muscles

Ever notice how some people’s arms never seem to sag no matter how old they get? Those are arms that boys pray for, and women only dream of. We're still in our summer series and we're talking about killer arms today. You can get one step closer to your ideal arms by incorporating some of these exercises into your routine. Here goes!

Arm circles: Well, I like to call it swimmers’ circles. It involves circling your arms like a swimmer does in water. This exercise looks and sounds pretty easy, but when you get into it, you’ll feel that your arms are getting a pretty good workout. Stand up straight, and stretch your arms out on both sides of you, so you form a ‘T’. Make sure you stretch your arms, not have your elbows sagging down. Slowly circle your arms forward repeatedly. Note that you need small circles, not large ones, so a circle as big as your head is perfect. Do as many repetitions as you can, and then reverse the direction of the circles, so you can hit all muscles in your upper arms and shoulders. Do the same number of repetitions as you did for the forward motions. Here’s a picture that shows the position: Fitness Magazine.

Basic push-up: Presumably, we all know how to do a basic push-up/press-up. But again, it’s not so simple. Females tend to do it different from males because females tend to have less upper body strength. Here’s how it goes. Lie flat on your stomach. For the starting position, prop yourself up on your palms and raise your body off the floor. Your palms should be about shoulder-width apart. Keep your body as straight as possible (so your butt should not be sticking out or in) and tuck your stomach in. Your hands should be straight as well. Look to the ground because looking up can put unnecessary pressure on your neck. Slowly drop to the floor with control. Note that that weight of your body is still in your palms even in the down position. So you’re not dropping so far to the floor that your body touches the floor. Ladies, you can perform this exercise with your knees on the floor, but I encourage you to at least attempt some full push-ups. For a picture of the right starting and ending positions, visit appstate.edu.

Bench dip: This works out your triceps. Although they are called bench dips, you can use a low chair or even your couch. Here’s how it goes. Sit on a bench with your palms on either side of you on the bench, fingers facing forward gripping the bench. Plant your feet on the floor. Slide your bum forward until it is off the seat. Keep your arms straight in the starting position. Slowly (with control) lower yourself down and bend your elbows. Lower yourself down until your elbows are level with your shoulders, and then raise yourself up again. Try to keep your body straight during this exercise as we have a tendency to slouch or raise our shoulders to our ears. Do as many repetitions as you can. Here is the starting position: Trainers Aid1 and the down position: Trainers Aid2.

As always, don't forget the three steps: cardio, weight training, and stretching. The fun thing about our bodies is that we serve as weight too. So we just need to find ways to utilize our body weight.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Till next week readers. Cheers!

Summer Series: Tone Your Behind

Summer is here. Yay! Well, when the rain ends. And it’s about time to start working on those beach bodies. Over the next month, we will be talking about toning up for the sun.

Do you plan to rock those short shorts this summer? I know you bought them in the winter and thought “I’ll tone up. I have six months.” And then, here you are six months later. That’s okay. We’ll talk about a few of the best exercises you can do to tone up your bum.

The Squat: This is the quintessential butt exercise because you can really do it anywhere. If done properly, the squat really works out your body, especially your butt area. So how do you do a proper squat? There are so many different kinds of squats, but the most common is the chair squat. Here is the basis of the exercise:

• Push your bum back like your aiming for a seat
• Keep your feet planted on the floor either about hip width apart or slightly wider
• Keep your knees right above your feet, while making sure they don’t go forward beyond your feet. In other words, don’t over-squat where you can’t see your toes when you look down. Your knees should be right above your toes so that if you look down, you see your knees, then your toes.
• Keep your head straight
• Squat and then come up, squat and then come up. The repetitions expand and contract your muscles.

Lifting dumbbells on both sides of your body can help to intensify the squat a little bit. Here's a great picture that shows proper squat technique at girlwithnoname.com. Do several repetitions until you feel it in your butt. The amount you do depends on your body.

The Lunge: I love lunges because they work your bum and your inner thighs. You may need some space to do lunges to get the most out of the exercise. Again, there are many ways to do this, but the basis is:

• Step one of your feet back, and stay on the ball of that foot.
• Make sure your front foot is planted on the ground.
• Just like the squat, you should be able to look down and see your knee, then your toes. So don’t over-extend your knee.
• Keep your body straight.

The lunge is really about switching from one foot to the other, so you need balance to be able to get the most out of this exercise. Check out teamsugar.com for the basic lunge. Again, holding weights on either side of your body intensifies the lunge to get even more out of the workout.

Glute Kickbacks: This is one exercise that focuses entirely on the butt area.

• Go on your knees with your elbows on the floor. Your knees should be at around a 90 degree angle
• Make sure your spine is straight. We tend to curve our lower backs in this position.
• Extend one of your knees back and up so your foot is towards the ceiling, Make sure you extend with your knee so your leg retains its 90 degree position. Don’t move your leg or foot around.
• Bring your knee back down to the floor

This exercise is also about switching from one side to the other, but it is very important to keep your leg position as you raise and drop your knee. A good example of the kickback in the upward position is here: bp.blogspot.com. The downward position just has both knees on the floor.

There are so many other butt exercises, but I thought I’d stick to the most popular ones today. Please remember my three steps as you work out: cardio, strength training, and stretching. These exercises serve as strength training, but you should still incorporate cardio and stretching to get the most out of your workout, and to prevent injury.

Disclaimer: I have to mention though that any exercise advice given here is just that: Advice. I am not a personal trainer or trained fitness instructor, and so I simply give suggestions from my experience. If you are uncomfortable with any advice given here, please seek a second opinion.

Cheers!

Drop Dead Diva? I Want It and I Want It Now!

We live in a time where we can get almost anything we want in the drop of a hat. The fat can be sucked right out of you for the right price; you can have food delivered to your door if you don’t want to step outside; you can even access Facebook from your cell phone if you don’t want to wait till you get home. Because of this diva mentality, it frustrates us when we can’t control our health in the drop of a hat as well. Websites, sales people, and even pharmaceutical companies have preyed on this fact abundantly. To test people’s response to the quick health fix, I Googled the words ‘how to lose weight fast’ and came up with about 22 million responses. That’s how much we are being preyed upon. I found everything from diet pills to one-week boot camps.

Amidst the weight loss panic, people forget that too much of anything is not good for you. This includes dropping weight too quickly. Shedding pounds fast is a sudden change that can be too much for your body to handle. It can leave your heart and other organs too weak to handle the dramatic change, and as we talked about in a previous post, it can make you lose muscle as well. People with more toned muscles maintain a healthy weight more easily because muscles help burn fat.

But health is not all about weight, right? Even if you successfully shed those pounds quickly, and somehow manage to not damage your body in the process, your attitude towards food might change. For example, if you are on diet pills, you may think you’re invincible and eat whatever you want. I don’t need to tell you that eating everything every time is not good for you. There are so many foods out there that can harm your body when consumed on a regular basis. Another example is that if you cut everything out, you could begin to look at food as the enemy, and not get the nourishment that you need. And the arguably most important example is that if you work out stringently and cannot maintain the routine, you would probably fall back into your old lifestyle.

So what is the crux of the matter? Let’s set our diva attitudes aside when it comes to our bodies. If we consider our overall health, not just how we look, we will begin to understand that health is a process, not a target. Just as sudden changes in our situations and environments can have an effect on our blood pressure, sudden changes in our bodies can have a negative effect on our overall health. Plus, to be brutally honest, you can change the outside, but you can’t change your inside in the drop of a hat.

Please check out my other fitness articles on 360Nobs. Leave comments and suggestions.

Till next week!

Water - The Source of All Things Good?

Yep. All humans know that water is good for you. Water is one of the greatest creations because it’s everywhere, it’s cheap, and we all need it desperately. So why do we need it, and how much do we need to stay healthy?

Benefits

Water replenishes the body and makes you less tired. Most of us know that. But there are other positive benefits that may not be so obvious. One of them is the fact that drinking adequate amounts of water may help you eat less. The thirst and hunger sensations are usually triggered together, so thirst can be easily mistaken for hunger. If you keep your body well hydrated, it may reduce the frequency of your vending machine visits.

Water also helps to lubricate the joints, and regulate body temperature, thus contributing to a better athletic performance. So if you play sports or exercise a lot, it is essential to stay hydrated to reach your maximum potential. Plus, since water gives you more energy, that can’t hurt your performance either.

As you drink more water, you’ll also notice improvement with your skin. Water keeps the skin moisturized, more elastic, and radiant. Drink tons of water to keep your skin looking younger.

Quantity

How much water should we drink to stay healthy? A rule of thumb is to drink about 8 glasses of water a day. However, I would use this as a suggestion because there are so many other factors that affect the amount of water we should be drinking. Weather is one major factor. Because we lose water when we sweat, individuals usually need more water in the hottest months of the year. On the other hand, our bodies expel water simply by breathing. And when it is really cold, our bodies expel even more water when we breathe. So we also need more water in the coldest months of the year.

Because men tend to sweat more than women, and usually have larger muscles, males usually need more water than females for better physical performance. If you exercise though, you need more water than someone who does not because you sweat much more.

Other sources of water besides water

We also get a lot of the water we need from the food we eat. But because we have begun to rely on TV dinners and other packaged foods, we may need to make an effort to eat foods that keep us hydrated. Fresh fruits are a very good source of water because most fruits are made up of more than fifty percent water. Other liquids like milk, sports drinks, and juices contain a lot of water as well. But please be cognizant of the other contents of the liquids you drink. Sports drinks are good for people who work out because they not only replace the water, they also replace the sodium you lose in your workout sweat. As for juices, they may be hurting you more than helping you if they contain more sugar than fruit. As a side note, alcohol does not help with hydration. It actually dehydrates you. I just thought I'd mention that little fact :)

This week, try to drink more water to increase your energy and your workout performance. Don’t always wait till your really thirsty!

Thanks for your support! Check out my other columns at 360Nobs and Style House!

Cheers.

Spot Reduction

A major question asked by most people starting an exercise program is “Can I just work on my problem area?” Spot reduction is really the notion that we can focus on that one problem spot in our bodies, and reduce the fat in that region only. Well, I am afraid to burst your bubble, but spot reduction does not work. You can reduce fat all over and tone certain areas, but you cannot necessarily control where you lose fat (well, unless you visit a plastic surgeon).

So what should you do? Focus on burning fat all over your body by doing cardiovascular exercises and controlling your diet. To further concentrate on those problem areas, do some strength training that heavily involves those parts of your body. If your stomach is your problem area, there are so many toning exercises for the stomach that you can add to your workout, but it is also important to improve your posture while doing other exercises like push-ups. When we get our posture right, we also work our core muscles with most exercises.

Understanding spot reduction is simple. Muscles are separate from fat. Fat appears where it wants to on the body, and this cannot really be controlled. Women generally gain fat more easily around the thighs and butt, while men generally gain fat more easily around the stomach. However, though this is usual, it is not true for all people. Even where an area may be the first to gain fat in the body, it does not mean that it would be the first area where fat would be lost. Fat is burned throughout the body by physical activity. You can work on your muscles, but if there’s a layer of fat covering it, you need to burn off the fat. And weight training does not burn a lot of fat. To lose the fat, you need cardio exercises.

As you structure and follow your fitness program, I encourage you not to be convinced by late-night infomercials or commercials on websites where they claim they know the recipe to lose stomach fat or thigh fat or whatever specific area it is. Stick to your exercise plan of cardio and strength training to lose fat all over and tone specific areas.

If you recently started a diet or exercise program, I would love an update on your progress. Feel free to let us know how you’ve been doing!

Also, please check out my columns at 360nobs and Style House.

Cheers!

Alcohol and Your Abs

So I know either you are dying to hear about this, or you are really dreading it. A lot of people don't want to hear that alcohol may not be the best thing for you when you are trying to say fit. Alcohol, especially beer, generally contains empty calories with limited or no nutritional value. If you are drinking 2 to 3 beers a day, that is 300 to 600 extra empty calories. Putting your fitness in perspective, binge drinking is definitely counter-productive because when you binge drink, you mostly consume more calories than you have eaten throughout the day. And also, when you are drunk, there is the tendency to over-eat bad food. So the summary is: Cut down your alcohol consumption to special occasions, and if possible, stick to wine.

So what else can we do to get great six-pack abs? Here are three tips to consider:
Do your cardio: Because you can't really target a spot when it comes to exercise, you have to also lose weight all over. If you're in the corner doing some crunches and not doing some cardio, you may be wasting your time because your efforts may not show.
Don't just do crunches: There are several muscles in your stomach region, and doing traditional crunches may only target a certain area. The usual up-down crunches are only one type of stomach exercise, and since your body gets used to the exercises that you do, you need to switch it up. Vary the types of crunches you do, and try to do other stomach exercises that may not be so traditional. Some examples are the "bicycle", leg raises, or push-ups. Varying your stomach exercises helps to target all muscles in that region.
Suck it in: If you stand in an upright position, and hold your stomach muscles tight as you breathe in and out, you are actually working out your muscles! So take a brisk walk and control those muscles. This helps build a good posture as well so it's definitely worth trying.

Here are a few websites showing other stomach exercises apart from the traditional crunches. Check them out and apply them to your workout:

The Plank

Side plank

Corkscrew

Leg raises

Bicycle

Feel free to send me any questions you may have. Have a lovely week!
Motto for the week: Stay away from quick-fixes.

Healthy Option Week

As I said a few weeks ago, sometimes the easiest change to make with food is to replace something you eat with a healthier option. I figured we could challenge ourselves this week to try to make the food we eat healthier. Here are a few suggestions:

• Replace the pork, goat meat or chicken thighs in your food with fish or lean beef
• Boil or roast your meat rather than fry it
• If you eat spaghetti or pasta, try to substitute it with whole wheat spaghetti or pasta
• Replace one-quarter of your usual portion with spinach, broccoli, or any other green vegetable
• Rather than eat a sugary cereal, eat some oats in the morning
• Drink water or milk rather than soda
• Eat fruits for dessert
• Replace ice cream with frozen yogurt
• Replace packs of chips with popcorn
• If you’re craving chocolate, rather than have a chocolate bar, have some low-fat chocolate milk or some dark hot chocolate
• Replace white rice for brown rice
• Replace white bread for whole wheat or whole grain bread
• Use brown sugar over white sugar
• Drink green tea instead of black tea

Try these this week, and let me know how you feel at the end of the week! After one week, you're already on your way to making more little changes that can have a big effect on your health.

Understanding the concept of calories

Calories can be difficult to understand because you hear so many different things from different sources. But here is the basic idea: your body needs a certain amount of energy per day to function properly .i.e. to digest food, walk, talk, exercise, etc. The amount of energy your body needs depends on your weight, age, gender, and how active you are. We get calories from food, and through metabolism, these calories are converted into energy. So the amount of energy your body needs is directly proportionate to how many calories you need.

If you consume more calories than your body needs, your body stores the excess as fat. When you work out, you burn the excess calories; which means you are essentially burning off the fat. This is how you maintain your body fat ratio. This is why it’s important to understand that there's no magical way to lose weight. It comes down to two things: exercise and diet.

To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in every day. Visit https://www.caloriecount.com/cc/calories-burned.php for a tool to help estimate how many calories you burn per day based on your age, weight, gender, and level of activity. Note: it’s just an estimate. The amount of time it’ll take you to lose weight just depends on how many calories you eat minus how many calories you burn daily. When this value - i.e. amount you take in minus amount you burn - gets to about 3,500 calories, you have effectively lost about 1 pound or 0.45 kilograms (since 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound of fat).

Different levels of physical activity burn different number of calories depending on intensity. Please visit http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109 for a summary of about how many calories are burned with different types of exercises.

If you have more questions, please leave a comment or start a discussion on the Eights and Weights Facebook page here. Also, if there are individual fitness topics you'd like to hear more about, please leave a note on the Facebook page.

Cheers!

My motto for the week: To truly live better, strive to understand what your body needs.

The Key to Exercise is: "Start Doing Something"

Well, here we are! This one is difficult especially if you live in a city with limited access to gyms, or you work really late. It’s hard to exercise, but exercise is an important part of our overall health so we should find a way to fit it into our daily lives. Here are a few things we can do to push ourselves:

Get excited: First, get excited about it! Working out can be fun if you make it so. Get excited about possibly meeting your goals!

Sweat it out: Start some sort of physical activity. Whether it is walking more often, jogging on the beach, or playing with your dog, start something. Do something until you sweat. But again, don't overdo it the first time. For example, if you run 10 km (or 6.2 miles) during your first few workouts, you may strain yourself and kill your drive to continue.

Do your own chores: Yes, it’s hard if you have a maid, house-help, or if you have equipment that makes it easier to clean your home without actually bending over. But doing your housework gives you a good workout. If you have a backyard, do some gardening. Scrub your floors. Clean your windows.

Sit-ups alone equals nothing: If you’ve been doing 100 sit-ups every morning, and you have fat in your abdominal region, guess what? Your muscles may have been building under that fat, but to see those abs, you need to lose the fat on top. You cannot reduce fat in only one area of our body, so you need to do cardio exercises that help to lose weight all over. Some examples of cardio include running, walking, aerobics, and skipping.

Try new things: If there’s a class at your local gym, try it out. Buy a skipping rope and skip it out. Run or play volleyball on the beach. Buy some fitness DVDs and invite your fitness-minded friends over. Buy a bicycle. Whatever you do, have fun trying out something new that makes you exert energy. Remember to have fun with it!

Play a sport: If you know how to play a sport, fabulous! Sports are a great way to work out. Every corner in every city, there’s a football field, basketball court, or some playing field. Gather your friends together, and go play a sport. You will not only work out your body, but you’ll increase your coordination as well.

Dance your ass off: Whatever type of music or dancing you’re into, dancing is a great way to lose some weight, increase flexibility, and stay active. Plus, you’re having fun while you’re shedding pounds. So the next time you’re in the club, don’t sit at the bar; migrate to the dance floor.

Routine: Try to set aside a time period for working out. If it’s part of your routine, the chances are that it’ll become a part of your life. If you don’t set a time period for it, it’s easier to procrastinate.

Get a partner: If you surround yourself with people that want to stay active and healthy, you would be inspired to do so yourself.

If you have more tips on how you fit exercise into your daily life, please share it with our readers by leaving a comment. And don't forget, you can join the Eights and Weights facebook page by clicking here. There, you'll receive fitness tips, and have the chance to start a discussion on questions or ideas you may have. Next week, we will talk about understanding calories and how calorie counting really ties into weight maintenance.

Cheers!

My motto for the week: Your body is a temple; treat it that way.

Create a Nutrition Lifestyle

Most people seem to have trouble with where to start when it comes to diet and exercise. Because we live in a world of instant gratification, we are constantly looking for quick-fixes when it comes to our bodies and our health. But we have to accept that for any process to actually last a lifetime, it will probably begin pretty slowly. Also, no matter what the commercials on the television say, it cannot possibly be so easy or everyone would be doing it.

I was meant to write about how to jump-start both your nutrition and exercise regimen, but there is so much within each category, that I will split them into two weeks. This week, we will focus on the diet portion. I have documented some steps that I believe will help to jump-start a healthy diet (and of course hopefully avoid slacking off within the first week).

1.      Eat a healthy breakfast: Your breakfast kind of sets the tone for the day, so don’t eat a load of rubbish in the morning. And try not to skip breakfast. It just makes you hungrier so you eat much more during the day.

2.      You love what you love: Don’t give up food you cannot live without or you’ll be back where you started in a matter of time. Cut down, not out. For example, if you absolutely adore bread, you should probably not be on a protein-only diet. So many people think “If I cut out all food that seems ‘bad’, I’ll be fine”. But I don’t agree. Everything should be done in moderation. Cut out things that you know you can live without. Think about it. You'd be surprised to discover how much bad food you eat that you actually don't care too much for.

3.      The ‘Fast’ diet fad: Diet programs are exactly that – ‘programs’. People forget this and believe they can drink a Slim Fast, Muscle Fast or basically anything with ‘fast’ on the end of its name, and just shrink. Understand that these are created as part of a diet program, and if you do not follow the program to the letter, stay away from it entirely. If you look at the nutrition information on a can of Slim Fast, you will see that it is actually not that fantastic on its own. But as part of the program, it’s fine. Now, the program does require that you give up a lot of meals, so we’re back to item 1.

4.      Food Replacement: If you can replace something you eat for a healthier version, this is an easy way to lose some weight. Examples would be to replace white bread with whole grain, replace sugary cereal with a brand that includes whole grain or oats, replace white rice with brown, etc.

5.      Portions: We’ve heard this before. Just eat less. Don’t starve yourself, but don’t pile that jollof rice on your plate like your life depends on it. This is not boarding school; there will be more food tomorrow. And I know your mother said you must finish whatever is on your plate or in the pot, but you’re older now so you don’t have to keep doing that. Form the habit of eating till you’re satisfied, not till you’re about to blow up. This may take a few weeks to get used to, but your stomach will definitely adjust. I’ve read that it takes about 3 weeks for your body to adjust to a habit. 

      Also, sometimes, people believe because something is healthy, they should eat as much of it as they want. No. Everything has calories. Some have less, but the more you eat, the more calories you consume.

6.      Cut back on the booze: While you’re drinking that beer or martini, realize that alcohol has a lot of calories. Although you want to have a good time, you could wipe out days of working out by drinking too much. Beer and abs don't go together, no matter how much we wish they did.

7.      Water is the source of all things good: Reduce your intake of soda (Coke, Pepsi, etc.), and replace it with tons of water. Soda is a very sugary type of drink, and we all know that. On the other hand, water helps to replenish the muscles, helps with digestion, regulates body temperature, and does a ton of other great things to your body. There is a reason most of the world and most of our bodies consist of water. It is good for you. Period.

These are the main tips to jump-start your diet. Remember to go slow because if you shock yourself, you may start craving food even more and be right back where you started.

Next week, we’ll talk about jump-starting your exercise program. Sign up as a ‘Follower’ or join the Eights and Weights Facebook page here to get notifications when a new blog comes out every week. Please leave feedback, comments and questions.

Have a lovely week!