The journey to a beautiful physique - Body beautiful

Today I'd like to talk about the road that I dream of following, but frequently fail due to indiscipline and rewarding myself to soon (in the form of 'holidays' from eating well and excercise). This road has already been paved in gold, with the path already outlined and the vehicle already put before me! All I have to do is... FOLLOW THRU!!! Argh!!!! Why is that SOO hard to do???? Hmmmphhh....

I assure you ladies and gentlemen, t will happen some day, after this hari raya I'd say :)
You can bet my Asus W3 on it! HAH! :P

Ok. Anywayz, enuff of all that babble. I'd like to share with you, with your permission of course, the plan that I already have... the one that I've followed twice and reaped the benefits, only to fall back into the pit of dspair due to self sabotage :( Oh, there I go again...

Ok... The main goal is to get an athletic build. A lean body like all those male models seen on TV, like the short to middle distance runners whowhe they run, we can see all their muscle shaking as if they were walking anatomies!

The first step towards this is to have a good... NO! EXCELLENT well planned diet. Well, I won't want to call it a DIET. That word scares the hell out of most people.

Diet here does not mean restricting food to 1 apple per day and three leaves of lettuce for dinner. NO! That's starvatiion... and starvation mode is something that should be avoided at ANY COST (like I've mentioned before in my FAT LOSS post).

It's more like a change in eating habits. From one that's unhealthy and ordinary, to extremely synergstic and WONDERFUL!... :) And it also has to be something that CAN be practical and sustainable.

MEAL PLAN

The main thing to do is to eat smaller healthier meals at frequent intervals (almost) every day! The food however canNOT be just anything. It has to be a good combination of carbohidrates and protein, plus a good mix of vitamins and minerals... and NOT TO FORGET, lots and lots of water.

Ok, I mentioned healthier meals. But what does that mean? It basically means food with low or close to zero fat. Both the food itself and also the preparation of the food must be low fat. No deep fried chickens or mayonaise rich hot dogs for ya :) No twinkies and oreos for snacks. And absolutely no supersized value meals at famous franchise outlets :P

To get the body of my dreams, sacrifices have to be made... So I'd have to go for the healthiest possible combination of carbohidrate and protein that I can get my hands on.

For instance... Baked Black Pepper Chicken Breast plus steamed brown rice with veggies would be a great start. Or... Exrtra virgin olive oil pan fried egg whites with whole wheat bread, with a pinch of oregano and dill... and pepper... plus a pinch of salt (not too much though). All in smaller portions, 5 to 6 times per day.
Now, that ain't too bad is it?

Why 5 to 6 times per day? Because this way the body gets little input each meal. And because the input is much less, he body can process the food faster, resulting in better digestion, better calorie burn, and also better metabolism. And believe it or not, this PROMOTES FAT LOSS!!!

So, thats basically it for FOOD. Five to Six meas per day, everyday of good wholesome food!

The next step? ... Excercise

Cardiovascular or Cardio or Aerobics

Eating well alone will cause you to lose fat (thus lose weight and get lean). There's no denying that. But added with cardio and weights... the synergy produced is gonna make you LITERALLY jump out of your pants!!! (Sinc your waistline would shrink by many-many inches)

Cardiovascular activities (also called aerobics) are activities that raise you heart rate to a certain number of beats er second. Once the particular rate is achieved, it should be maintained for at least 20 to 30 minutes. One fat loss expert and natural bodybuilder has adopted this method for years now, and it has proved extremely effective, as he changed from an overweight fat boy to a single digit body fat muscleman!

Bottom line, cardio helps burn fat faster. As a matter of fact, twice as fast as compared t eating dieting alone (Ooops. Used the 'D' word again :P). So a good mea plan and cardio is a mandatory combination.

Weight Training or Pumping Iron

Most of my friends are afraid of lifting weights. They're afraid of getting too big like those steroid pushing pro bodybuilders. If only it were that simple...

If only they knew the pain it involves getting just half and inch increase in bicep measurement within one month. Naturally, it's a very2 arduous (yet extremely rewarding) process :)

Anyway, lets get back on track. Weights serve as the means to build up muslce tissue. Combined with a well timed and well managed meal plan, weight training will cause muscle fiber to build up. So, yes... it will make you muscular. But again I mention, it's ot that simple.... MEAL PLANNING and WORKOUT DURATION combined with the PROPER REPETITONS AND SETS is CRUCIAL!!!

There must be a pre-workout meal and a post-workout meal.

According to the this one course called MuscleNow, pre-workout meals should be eaten around thirty to one and half hour before a workout session. This food, will serve as the fuel during your workout session.

(A reminder though... muscle does not grow during workout. Muscle fiber is just torn apart during weight training sessions. It the time after that really2 matters... as you will see later)

Immediately after workout, a post-workout meal must be consumed. As the muscle fiber gets worked up during a strenous session of ligting heavy steel, it needs to recovers once everthing gets back to normal. The post-workout meal does just this by providing the nutrients needed to reconstruct and heal muscle cells. Without this meal, muscle won't grow, as nothing is provided for it's repair :(

All of this may sound simple... But trying to get the correct amounts of food as the pre and post workout meals can be quite challeinging. You'd only want something that's enough! This means, you don't want TOO little, for it might not aid in the healing process. You'd also wont want too much... because too much food WILL help in repairing muscle... but it WILL also aid in the accumulation of excess FAT! SOmething lean-wannabies don't want!

Bottom line, weights are for muscle growth. :)

Conclusion

As you've read, basically what's needed is:

1) A good meal plan
2) Aerobics or cardio
3) Weight training

Sounds simple rite? Hehehehe.

But I seem to have forgotten number 4.

NEVER DYING COMMITTMENT and SELF DISCIPLINE.

Without this, number 1,2 and 3 are worthless. The only way to greatness is perseverence.
And NEVER DYING COMMITTMENT and SELF DISCIPLINE is the key to any great thing in life.


Well... I think I've written enough! LOL!

Hope somebdy read this post. It's not mean as any medical advice or anything. Just my experience with the whole FAT LOSS and MUSCLE BUILDING thinggy.

Please do comment, for I have written without a draft at hand. I'm just writing stuff from the top of my head. So I might have missed a few things, or even worse, added some false content? LOL!

Anyway, good references are out there, and I think I'll give some of them in my next post, when I can get hold of that Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle book again (Where did I put you of Mr Outlaw Bodybuilder Tom Venuto. LOL!)

Okie dokie

Cheerios!!!