5 easy to follow tips to pack on muscle mass

1. Never train hungry


If you’re hungry, your body is already starting to eat your muscle in order to provide energy for your daily needs, training on top of this will only use up important muscle as energy for your workout.

2. The importance of protein


Consume a variety of whole eggs, chicken, lean beef, fish and milk throughout the day if possible for high quality (bioavailable) muscle building protein, rather than supplementing your diet with supplement protein shakes. To find out how much protein you should be consuming for muscle growth use the following formula

Bodyweight (kg) x 2 = ____ g of protein

3. Post workout static stretching

Always stretch when finishing your workout, your muscles are tight, what you want to do is get it back to normal size & elasticity before you leave the gym. To grow bigger muscle, the muscle will need to be stretched and flexible to continue for growth, not to mention could lead to poor posture. Even though stretching is not the fun part and is boring, the benefits are well worth the 10-15 minutes and will help you recover quicker, avoid injuries, increase your range of motion, increase flexibility, reduce muscle cramps plus many more benefits.

4. Compound lifts & hard training to increase testosterone


The compound lifts and training hard will cause your body to be placed under the most amount of stress, and this releases and promotes the most amount of testosterone production in your body thus increasing muscle growth. Compound lifts are movements that use multiple muscles, e.g bench press uses chest + triceps, lateral pull down, biceps + back.

5. Eating and calorie intake



In order for your muscles to grow, there needs to be a positive caloric expendidure in your body, meaning you need to eat more calories than your body is burning off for energy. 15 x your body weight in lb’s is the general rule. Eat protein and complex carbohydrates in every meal. Stick to whole grains, oats, brown rice and wholemeal bread for good carbs.

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REMEMBER - WINNERS FIND A WAY, LOSERS FIND AN EXCUSE, WHICH ARE YOU?

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Weight Management Tips

Now after talking to a lot of you guys and asking you what you wanted us to write about, this was right at the top of the list, weight management tips that were easy to stick to but will still get results.

3 General rules for healthy lifestyle

1. Eat at least 6 quality small meals per day. Eating more meals per day increases the body's metabolism, gives you a constant flow of energy and reduces the likelihood of your body storing your food as fat.

2. Write everything down, having a visual diary of food habits can help break routine and help you see where you are going wrong. You are also less likely to eat bad foods if you know you have to write them down for someone to see.

3. Join a gym or hire a personal trainer with a friend, this has many benefits.
Foremost among these advantages are that you'll have a workout buddy, who can keep you motivated and keep you company while you get used to the gym environment and exercising regularly, and you'll save money because most gyms and personal trainers offer discounts when you train with a friend. Bodytorque offer personal training for only £15 per hour.

I’ve  also came up with the 5 best top tips for both weight loss :

Weight loss

1.  Sugar Free Chewing Gum

Chew gum or eat mints. The act of chewing is part of the digestive process which helps to simulate the process of eating. It has two main effects on you; it distracts you from your feeling of hunger and it makes your body believe that you are eating. The power of the mind mustn’t be understated here – if you convince your body that you are not hungry (through chewing gum or mints) then you will stop feeling hungry. 

2. For dessert, fresh fruit or berries

After a meal I know a lot of you all crave something sweet, have just one portion of fruit will supply your body with good sugars and stop your craving for sweet food, stopping the temptation of cake or ice cream.

3. Drink a glass of water upon waking

The water you drink first think will kick start your metabolism for the day and also start your rehydration. We lose our hydration at night from breathing out moist air, sweating and digestion, so since we are not in taking any fluids while we sleep we become dehydrated.

4. High intensity training

The “Fat Burning Zone” shown on most cardio equipment as only 60%-65% of max heart rate is really a myth and is NOT optimal for burning fat. At higher intensities, you are burning far more fat. In addition, interval training allows you to exercise at very high intensities for a much longer period of time than steady state, so again you burn more fat. As an added bonus, there’s also an afterburn effect known as EPOC (excess-post exercise oxygen consumption) when using high intensity training. You burn more calories for up to 24 hours after interval training, whereas going for a slow steady jog burns very little.

5. Offer to be the 'designated driver'

If you go out for dinner and drinks with family and friends, offering to be the designated driver will save you hundreds of empty calories.
In addition to drinking fewer calories, you'll probably eat less as well because alcohol often makes us "let our guard down" and eat when we are no longer hungry.

GET FIT

HAVE FUN

FEEL GREAT

For anymore information on weight management or for a FREE 30 minute personal consulation please contact us through one of the following and quote 'BodytorqueBlog' :

Our website : www.bodytorque.org.uk

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What is Functional Fitness?

The new big hype among fitness enthusiasts is functional strength and fitness. Now what do we mean by this? Functional strength and fitness is increased by mimicking real life situations with familiar equipment and working over different planes of movement. For example, a builder that’s used to knocking down walls with a hammer would have good muscle stability around the shoulder joint compared to somebody using a shoulder press machine. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint so therefore is designed to move on multiple planes of movement in circular motions rather than heavy weight on singular plane lifts. This can be replicated with Sledgehammer hits on a large tyre or kettlebell swings.

 

What are the benefits?

 

The movements promote muscle balance, joint stability and cardiac improvement. In comparison, though machines appear to be safer to use, they restrict movements to a single plane of motion, which is an unnatural form of movement for the body and may potentially lead to unbalanced muscles causing bad posture or injury.

 

In 2009 Exercise Physiologist Keith Spennewyn conducted research, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which compared functional training to fixed variable training techniques, this was considered the first research of its type comparing the two methods of strength training.

 

Results of the study showed very substantial gains and benefits in the functional training group over fixed training equipment. Functional users had a 58% greater increase in strength over the fixed-form group. Their improvements in balance were 196% higher over fixed and reported an overall decrease in joint pain by 30%.

 

 

 What equipment can be used?
 

There is a lot of equipment out there from a variety of shops but these can be costly. At Bodytorque, this is the specialty of the gym boasting a variety of equipment such as tractor tyres, kettlebells, kegs, battleropes, sandbags and sleds just to name a few.

 

To find out more about how Functional fitness can benefit you or to check the Bodytorque class timetable please contact us through any of the following to book yourself into a FREE trial class! :

 

 

 

Our website : www.bodytorque.org.uk

Email : Info@bodytorque.org.uk

Facebook : www.facebook.com/bodytorqueperformance

Twitter : @Bodytorquegym

Thanks for reading, we would be very greatful if you could please spread this link to inform others how they could also better themselves!

Strength and Conditioning For MMA

What is Strength and Conditioning?

Here at Bodytorque we take average gym go'ers along with amatuer and professional fighters and turn them into fitter, faster, more explosive athletes! Through using unconventional training equipment such as beer kegs, tractor tyres, sledge hammers and battling ropes (plus much more) we create specific programs to give our fighters the power and endurance to WIN fights!

Strength and Conditioning for MMA is Vital
Strength and Conditioning for MMA is one of the most vital training aspects from beginning amateurs to seasoned pros. Take an average athlete who is training in MMA and has a decent skill set and compare them to someone with that same skill set except this second person is faster, stronger, more explosive, and has better endurance. Who’s going to win? 

Strength and Conditioning Should be Year Round

 Strength and Conditioning training should always be ongoing. Often times, mixed martial artists take breaks from training in between fights which is understandable, but the successful ones are always still in the gym keeping active. One of the best times to focus on strength and conditioning for mma is when you aren’t focused on training for an actual fight. Then when your 8 week fight camp finally does begin, you are already an athletically improved version of yourself. 

 Where Can I Do Strength and Conditioning?

 Strength and Conditioning can be done at specialty facilities, such as Bodytorque, where classes are specifically planned to give fighters the winning edge over their opponents. (Location & timetable is on www.bodytorque.org.uk)

Strength and Conditioning Wins Fights!

 Many fighters are unaware of the importance that strength and conditioning for mma plays in the success of their careers. Have you ever watched a fight where one fighter looks to be years ahead of the other fighter in terms of technique? They execute flawless takedowns, crisp striking, and beautiful near submission attempts. BUT, then the 3rd round rolls around and that fighter is gassed. They’ve got nothing left. Their arms and legs are full of lactic acid and their breathing is extremely labored. We’ve all seen it before, and this is where the fighter with the greater cardio, endurance and explosive power, due to strength and conditioning takes the fight over and comes out with the win/win bonus.

 

 

At Bodytorque we are currently training fighters from a number of gyms in the merseyside and working very closely with world GBH title holder Bryan Creighton, British flyweight title contender Mick Gerard, English Kickboxing champion Danny Horton and many other pro fighters such as Ian Entwistle, Mark Ryder and Declan Williams to name just a few.

Still skeptical? Still not convinced? To find out more about Strength and Conditioning and the Bodytorque class timetable please contact us through any of the following to book yourself into a FREE trial class! :

Our website : www.bodytorque.org.uk

Email : Info@bodytorque.org.uk

Facebook : www.facebook.com/bodytorqueperformance

Twitter : @Bodytorquegym

Thanks for reading, we hope to work with you very soon!