Fitness Archives - Page 3 of 36

November 28, 2018 By Ranveer Allahbadia 2 Comments

How Vegetarians can put on Muscles?

PS : By bodybuilding, I don’t mean bodybuilder bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is simply putting on lean muscle and becoming a STRONGER individual. So ladies, this topic applies to you as well.

India has a population of over 500 million vegetarians. When I began my fitness YouTube channel-BeerBiceps, I promised to put out content for INDIANS especially. And, even though the other 800 million of us maybe enjoying our chicken once in a while, our diets are PRIMARILY vegetarian. We are possibly THE MOST vegetarian country in the world.

But, when you combine the worlds of muscle building and pure vegetarian food, the muscle-building game definitely becomes a little more difficult, but NOT impossible. If you’re smart about it there’s a way of building muscle without harming animals!

GROUND RULES THAT A VEGETARIAN BODYBUILDER MUST KNOW:-

1)You CAN BUILD MUSCLE with a pure vegetarian diet. Animal welfare for the win! Too many non-vegetarians in India keep dissing their vegetarian friends, WITHOUT being informed about the scientific aspects of dieting.

2)YOU NEED PROTEIN in your food to build muscle. And, standard Indian food is unfortunately very low in protein. Standard Indian meals (Roti, rice, subzi, dal) contain VERY little protein. Dal/Sprouts alone, WILL NOT help you put on muscle.

3)I don’t see GREAT vegetarian lifters or bodybuilders in this country, primarily due to either a lack of knowledge or wrong knowledge. So get educated about it first. It IS very possible. Get smarter to get STRONGER.

These are the introductory points. Let’s get straight to VEGETARIAN STRENGTH SCIENCE.

1^st thing you need to understand is BODYBUILDING & STRENGTH BUILDING are primarily 2 dietary factors – Calories & Protein.

1^st-your calories:Calorie levels vary depending on your height, weight, age and activity level. There’s no fixed number. If you want to get a rough estimate of how much you need, you can google a calorie calculator. If you don’t want to use too much math, you can go by a rough estimate. Look at how your daily diet affects your weight. Keep a track of your numbers on the weighing scale & see how your weight responds to your diet.

MAINTENANCE CALORIE LEVEL:If on a particular day, you go above your MAINTENANCE calorie level, you’ll put on weight that day. If you stay below it, you will lose weight.

If your goal is to build LEAN muscle, your job is to stay JUST above your maintenance calorie level. This is the case for all vegetarians, UNLESS you’re overweight. If you’re overweight, your job is to stay just below your maintenance calories for most of the time. But at the same time, you NEED to hit your PROTEIN goal. More on protein later.

How should you fill up these calories?

CONSUME a LOT of food.

Now this doesn’t mean that you go to your local general store and buy all the lays, maggi and coke. They’re high calorie but you need to fill your daily calories with CLEAN food.

As far as possible try filling this with protein rich vegetarian food. Don’t consume too much fat, but consume protein and good amounts of clean, complex carbohydrate (eg. Oats, sweet potato, wheat, brown rice).

The PROTEIN game

2^nd Get educated about COUNTING YOUR PROTEIN. In order to build even the slightest form of muscle, the rough estimate that gymmers take is around 0.4 into your body weight in pounds.

So if you weigh 50 kg (110lbs), you need have AT LEAST 0.6×110 = 66g of protein

But, if you want GREAT results, you should be going for around at LEAST a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. A 110lbs person should have 110g of protein.

SMART FOOD SELECTION

One of the REAL downsides to being a vegetarian is that MOST vegetarian protein sources are considered “incomplete protein”.

Any protein derived from animals – Chicken, eggs, fish is a COMPLETE protein. When you break down a molecule of COMPLETE protein, it is made up of ALL the essential amino acids. Without getting too deep into the science of it – In order to build muscle optimally, you need to consume all 9 essential amino acids through your protein consumption.

Animal protein – Has all the essential amino acids: It’s a complete source of protein. Optimal for building muscle.

Plant protein – Does NOT have all the essential amino acids. It’s an incomplete source of protein. Different plant sources will give you different amino acid profiles.

To counter this, you need to VARY your protein sources. So have dals, beans, pulses, mushrooms, leafy veggies, tofu and nuts!

Also, your best friends as a vegetarian strength junkie are :-

1)Unprocessed Soya – THE ONLY Complete plant derived protein

2)Paneer – India’s biggest gift to the world of fitness.

DAIRY IS YOUR FRIEND

Amp up your intake of paneer cheese, milk, curd! The only issue is – with dairy, you’re also taking in a lot of fat, so you need to keep a tab on how your dairy intake is affecting your calorie intake. Having skimmed milk dairy products is a great way to counter this problem.

JUST KEEP AT IT

As much as I want to promote vegetarian bodybuilding, the truth of the matter is that in most cases, putting on muscle as a vegetarian is a slower process than it is for your meat fuelled counterparts. But in my experience, the harder you work for something, the sweeter the result is. In this article, I’ve only touched upon the basics you need to know as a vegetarian strength enthusiast.

Your job is to educate yourself further and keep at it with your exercise regime. Things will only work if YOU DO!

November 23, 2018 By Trishala Chopra 10 Comments

Ice therapy or Heat therapy- which one should you use after a minor post workout injury or soreness

Whether you run a marathon or go for a trek, you come back with some amount of soreness of the muscles. This is not a factor of only a marathon or a trek, even after your strenuous gym workout there is a possibility of soreness.

Just recently, the players who ran a marathon had some minor aches and pains in their calf muscles. Before approaching me, they had already applied some pain relief ointments but it wasn’t relieving enough. They then got in touch with me to suggest them some kind of instant relief from their ‘Post-Marathon Pain’

My instant reply to them was,

“Drink lots of water & stretch yourself”

This is inevitable, both of this is very important but for a minor post workout injury or soreness, there has to be some kind of support system.

There are 2 things which is commonly used for relieving pain:

Cryotherapy (cold therapy) or more commonly called as ice therapy.
Thermotherapy (Heat therapy)

Which therapy needs to be used completely depends on the kind of injury.

Here are some markers which might be useful for the readers!

What happens when you apply ice?

Our body has skin receptors which pick up different sensations. Different sensations include touch, pressure, pain and temperature.
If you study more about the skin receptors, you will get aware that our body has more of cold receptors than heat receptors.
Whenever you apply ice, your skin activates the cold receptors and once they get activated, they block the sensation of the pain.
After an injury, the area might be red and swollen. Applying ice will help in reducing or preventing the inflammatory response. Ice causes vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels) which reduces blood flow temporarily.

When should you use ice therapy?

If the injury is sudden and acute then ice therapy can be used. Ice will help in preventing the swelling and giving pain relief by reducing the blood flow to that area.

For example: –

If you sprain your ankle during a marathon or trekking or while working out in the gym; apply a pack of ice to reduce the swelling. The earlier you apply ice, better would be the effect in healing.

Ice pack can also be applied on soft tissue injuries.

For example: –

Applying ice after a strenuous workout will help in relieving the muscle soreness and aid the recovery process.

Try using ice for 4 times day for 2 days, if the pain persists you can visit your doctor or physiotherapist.

When you should avoid ice therapy?

“Ice is good, but not always!”

Avoid applying ice on open wounds.
If you are a high B.P patient, avoid icing on the shoulder and near the neck region. It will raise up the systolic and diastolic pressure because of decrease in blood flow.
Do not apply ice before a workout but if your workout consist of stretches for healing the acute injury then apply ice will help in faster recovery.
If you are having issues with blood circulation, avoid icing.
If you have stiff joints, applying ice will increase the stiffness.
If the pain becomes chronic that is more than 72 hours, icing is not a good option as now ice is not needed to stop the blood flow.
If you have a low back pain for a long time, icing won’t work.

For how long should you continue with the ice therapy session?

For a minor post workout injury, 15 mins is the most optimal time.
To deal with acute soft tissue injury, 10 mins’ session is optimal.
Deeper the injury, longer is the icing time. For example, hamstring injury might need longer icing time then injury on the finger.
Be careful about the icing duration because excess of icing might cause pain due to lack of blood flow. If you have sensitive skin, applying ice directly to the skin might not be a good option.

How to use ice therapy?

Ice packs (frozen packets) are the best and most portable option as it will adapt and mould to the body part accordingly.
You can also hold ice in a towel and apply it on the injury. The towel here will give bee an addition to compression.
For the people who have sensitive skin, they can keep a barrier between the skin and ice. Thin cloth or light cotton can help in this case.

This was all about cryotherapy which is most commonly used, but what about thermotherapy (heat therapy)? Here is some basic information about the same!

What happens when you give heat therapy?

Heat therapy is also used for relieving pain and aid the healing process.
When you apply heat to the injury, unlike ice therapy which first causes vasoconstriction and then vasodilation whereas heat therapy directly causes vasodilation which increases the blood flow to the injured part.

When should you use heat therapy?

You can use heat therapy for chronic pain. After 72 hours, once the injury has crossed the acute stage and the inflammation is reduced, heat can be giving to aid the healing process.
Heating can reduce your stiffness as well because it increases the blood flow to the stiff part making it more flexible.

In what cases, you should avoid heat therapy?

Do not apply heat to the fresh injury. This can cause increase of blood flow which can increase the inflammation.
Never apply heat to the places where it is swollen. Only ice should be used till the swelling has come down.

For how long should be the heat therapy session?

18-20 mins is the most optimal time for heat therapy session but this doesn’t remain the same for all.
It entirely depends on the type of heating method used.
It is advisable to keep a barrier between the skin and the heat pack to avoid the direct contact and burning sensation.
Comfort level is very important in heat therapy sessions. You should get optimal heat, excess of it might make you uncomfortable.

How to apply heat therapy?

Whole body heat therapy like steam, sauna and jacuzzi can also be used to give you complete relaxation.
Applying heat pack without direct contact to the injured part is a great way to aid the healing process.

This basic knowledge on Ice and Heat therapy should help everyone who is working out or running a marathon or goes for a trek very often. So, next time before reaching out to any painkillers or pain relief ointments; reach out to the things mentioned in this article! But if you are not sure about your injury, it is always better to get in touch with your trainer, doctor or any physiotherapist.

October 29, 2018 By Komal Baxi 4 Comments

What is carb loading?

We have heard of the term Carb Loading’. Especially, those who have just taken to long distance running or cycling or mountain climbing. However, there are many questions on who, what, why, when, where and how should one do carb loading also known as ‘Super Compensation’. It is a strategy (yes you may call it a strategy!) that involves changes to training and nutrition which can maximize muscle glycogen stores prior to an endurance competition. It apparently also means reducing training load and resting the muscles to allow them to become completely loaded with glycogen. Let me highlight resting, which means involving in (low to moderate intensity exercise) which is as important as eating.

Now the question is –who should really do it!

Carbohydrates is considered the primary fuel for any physical activity. Our body usually has enough carb stores to utilize for short term exercises. Shorter term exercise is unlikely to benefit as the body’s usual carbohydrate stores are adequate.

However, when it comes to engaging in long, intense athletic events, your body needs extra energy to keep going. So basically, any one exercising continuously for 90 minutes or longer is likely to benefit from Carbohydrate loading. Sports such as cycling, marathon running, longer distance triathlon, endurance swimming and so on do require carbo loading so that the athletes can pull along the event with sustained energy along with minimal fatigue.

Normal muscle glycogen stores are usually in the range of 100-120 mmol/kg ww (wet weight) and it is expected to reach up to 150-200 mmol/kg/ww with proper carb loading. This extra supply of carbohydrate dramatically improves endurance of athletes! So yes it’s quite a fact that it works!

How it should be done!

Trust me it’s simple, since it’s all about carbs and rest!

Three to four days prior to the event, shoot up your carbohydrate intake to about 10 to 12 grams per kilogram of your body weight.

Reduce your training sessions.

And most important, rest completely the day before your big event.

Basically, 3-4 days of exercise taper while following a high carb diet, means you have successfully managed to elevate muscle glycogen levels.

What best to eat?

You should opt for simple carb rich foods like white rice, oatmeal, bread, pancakes, bagels, whole wheat bread and pastas, rotis, broken wheat like daliya, potato, peanut butter, dosas, Idlis, fish, chicken, rajma, chickpeas. Hummus is again a super power food.

Yoghurt is a great option too. Try to drink fruit juices instead of whole fruit during carb loading for best results.

Choose foods that are low in fiber and easily digestible.

Also, avoid high fat foods like cheese, butter, ghee, fried food or processed food to compensate for the extra carbohydrate-rich foods. Since your body requires more oxygen to your cells, too much of fat like cheese may actually slow u down as it makes the body acidic which hinders the oxygen supply to your cells.

Common Mistakes made while carb loading!

Carb loading requires an exercise taper. If u don’t rest, then it won’t turn out well!

In order to consume the necessary amount of carbohydrate, it is necessary to cut back on fiber and make use of compact sources of carbohydrate, such as sugar, cordial, jam, honey, jelly, tinned fruit. High fiber foods may be too bulky to consume at times.

Carb loading will most likely cause body mass to increase by approximately 2 kg. This extra weight is due to extra muscle glycogen and water. For some athletes, a fear of weight gain may prevent them from carb loading adequately.

Consuming too much high fat foods will make it difficult to consume sufficient carbohydrate. It may result in gaining body fat.

The bottom line is to eat to high-carb, low fat foods while carbohydrate loading!

October 28, 2018 By Anushree Ashtekar 5 Comments

How much water should be consumed before and during a workout?

Water is an indispensable part of our daily diet. It is a chemical component that makes up about 70% of our total body weight. It is also a component that is very easily taken for granted. Staying well hydrated is one of our body’s basic needs. In fact, for people who perform rigorous workouts and play a sport, optimum hydration is a must.

Thirst is a late indicator of dehydration; when thirsty, our body is already dehydrated at cellular level. The color of the urine can also determine our hydration status. Dark yellow urine indicates dehydration whereas clear urine indicates a well hydrated body. Along with the diet, we must also pay attention to what and how much water we drink.

But, why is it so important?

Pre-workout water intake: If we start our workout in a dehydrated state, it will adversely affect our performance. We would feel low on energy, stiff muscles and also get cramped easily. That is essentially because water forms a major part of our muscles and also helps in keeping the joints well lubricated. The water intake must start well 2 to 3 hours before a workout or any sporting activity. The water intake also depends upon the intensity of activity and the individual’s own body condition.

If a person sweats too much or works out in scorching heat, he must have at least 500-600 ml of water 2-3 hours prior to exercise. This will ensure good hydration status. If the workout lasts for a longer time, like over an hour, then it would be advisable to consume a carbohydrate drink (up to 8% concentration). This will help to prevent fatigue and dehydration.

Water intake during workout: The consumption here depends on the duration of the activity. If the exercise or sport event lasts for less than an hour, then there won’t be a chance to ingest too much fluid within the duration of the activity. Here, we can consume 1 small glass (180-200 ml) of plain cold water every 15-20 minutes. Cold water would make a better choice over water at room temperature because cold water has a faster gastric emptying time. Also, if the person has consumed enough dietary carbohydrates, the glycogen stores in his muscles and liver will suffice for providing energy to sustain the activity. In the case of a high intensity workout or sport event (marathon, game of football, etc) that goes for over 1 hour, the individual is at a risk of decreased performance due to dehydration, fatigue and hypoglycemia. Their fluid intake must include carbohydrates and electrolytes. Carbohydrate will prevent hypoglycemia. The electrolytes like sodium and chloride need to be replenished due to sweating. Also, sodium will help in water retention.
Post-workout water intake: After exercise or any sports event, we need to pay good attention to eating and drinking right. There arises a need to replenish the carbohydrates, salts and water that are lost during the activity. Immediately after the exercise/event, for the next few hours work on improving your hydration status. Do not start with any new activity without attaining good hydration levels. Replenishing the salt reserves must be your top priority as sodium has good fluid retention capacity which keeps up the urge to drink water. Fluid consumption, containing carbohydrates, salts and water, must continue up to 5-6 hours after the activity. The best way to ensure that you are hydrating yourself well is, to weigh yourself before and after the exercise/event and drink at least 400-500 ml of water for every 1 pound lost. Fluid intake needs to be planned and distributed at regular intervals.

It would always be better to carry a bottle of water with you wherever you go and sip on it regularly. Many a times, your performance in workouts and sports can be improved only with optimum hydration.

Lastly, whatever may be your goals, remember to consult a sports nutritionist about it..