NUTRITION

Build Muscle and Burn More Fat 20-Minute Workout | NICK RANA

It would be great if we could all spend a full hour in the gym each day. Then again, it would be great if our bosses would stop with the last-minute assignments, if there was no rush-hour traffic, and if you didn't just waste 15 minutes of your potential gym time watching YouTube fitness fail videos. The American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services both recommend Americans get at least 30 minutes of exercise five times a week. But the truth is that just 20 minutes can be just as good — especially if you really turn up the intensity. "If you're going to gain any recognizable training benefit, short workouts have to be hard workouts, and really short workouts have to be really hard," says Chad Timmerman, a USA Cycling Level 1 certified coach with more than 25 years of racing experience. Get ready to hurt. These seven 20-minute workouts will burn calories, build muscle, and eliminate any excuses about being too busy to get in shape.
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How Much Body Fat You Need to Lose to Uncover Your Abs | NICK RANA

Overall muscle definition is the sign of true health and fitness—but a six pack is the blue ribbon of weight room achievements. Even worse news: You can’t spot-reduce body fat. That means your only path to revealing your washboard is to reduce overall body fat, Jordan explains. The lower your number, the higher the likelihood of a drool-worthy stomach. Even though 18 to 24% is considered healthy by the American Council on Exercise, your abdominals are but a shadow at this number, says ACSM Health Fitness Instructor Jim White, R.D., owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach. Cut it down to 15% and you’ll start to see the upper two abs, but the bottom probably won’t be coming in as much. Trim off just two or three percent from there, and bam—your hard-earned six pack has stepped up from understudy to lead role. “If you’re anywhere from 6 to 13% body fat, you definitely have a six pack—in addition to being totally ripped,” White says. However, a small percentage …

The Miracle of the 12-Hour Fast | Nick Rana

The Miracle of the 12-Hour Fast
Going at least 12 hours without eating has pretty amazing weight-loss benefits, a new Salk Institute study has found. Groups of mice on various diets (normal food or food high in sugar/fat) were either allowed to eat around the clock or forced to fast 12 hours a night. Result: Mice that fasted at least 12 hours gained less weight overall than mice that were fed the same type and amount of food but had the run of the feed through all 24 hours. Even when the fasters got free “weekend passes” to gorge anytime, in the end they still put on fewer pounds (OK, grams) than the nonstop nibblers. And when non-fasting obese mice were put on the 12-hour fast, they dropped 5% of their body weight—though they were eating the same calories! 12 “Zero-Belly” Recipes >>>Opens in New Window The researchers, who hope to conduct human trials soon, theorize that overnight fasting makes the body switch from burning food to burning fat. Intermittent-fasting expert Mark …

10 Ways to Build Muscle Faster | Nick Rana

Seeing new and faster gains Opens in New Windowdoesn’t always require getting on a drastically different workout plan or following an ultra-scientific diet.

Small changes can add up to major results. Start making the following tweaks and build muscle faster.

1. Set strength goals Rather than focusing strictly on gaining “X” pounds of muscle—which may or may not be doable in a given period of time—work on getting stronger. Increasing strength improves your body’s ability to recruit muscle fibers, particularly the ones that make the biggest difference in the way your physique looks. Training for strength also makes your goals more tangible and concrete. If you shoot to hit certain numbers on your lifts and then meet them, you’ll see your muscles respond Opens in New Windowalong the way. Choose three exercises you want to see improvement on: one upper-body push (such as the bench press), one upper-body pull (like the chinup), and one lower-body exercise (try the deadlift), then get to wor…

Do pre workout Meditation and Breathing | Nick Rana

You’ve got an hour at the gym, but instead of focusing on repsOpens in a new Window., your brain is grinding on that big work project or a tiff with your partner. Your inclination may be to pick a workout so hard that the discomfort will drown out the noise. But there’s another antidote: meditation and mindfulness. These practices aren’t new to sports. “Pro athletes know the power of pregame routines,” says Corey Phelps, a Washington, D.C.Opens in a new Window.–based trainer who does meditation with clients. Tons of research touts meditation, and some specifically center on athletics. A study involving junior elites in NorwayOpens in a new Window. found that after 12 weeks of consistent mindfulness practices, athletes had better focus, performance, and recovery. And University of Miami football players who meditated 12 minutes a day for a month had improved concentration. Plus, distance runners doing a mindfulness regime showed higher self-confidence and lower anxiety before a big r…

Get More Muscle Without The Fat Nick Rana

It’s an endless cycle for some guys: Turn into a garbage disposal to bulk up, then crash diet to burn the belly fatOpens in a new Window. and reveal those hard-earned abs. Needless to say, that’s probably not the best way to go about changing your physique. (Also: You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.)
We’ll never call it easy, but it’s definitely possible to get strong and stay cut with the right balance of macros, nutrients, and training. Get More Muscle Without The Fat-NICK RANA
1. Increase your calories-Nick Rana “You can’t gain muscle or weight if you continue to be in a caloric deficit,” says Nick. “You need to take in more calories on a daily or at least weekly basis.” (Most guys, especially those new to the weight room, mess this part up.) A good estimate of how many calories you should be consuming is to take your body weight and multiply it by 16. (For example: 200 pounds x 16 = 3,200 calories.) If you don’t see any gains after two weeks, try increasing your calories by 200 p…

Human Growth Hormone Guide | Nick Rana

A “miracle drug,” the “fountain of youth”—human growth hormone (HGH) has a strong reputation for solving pretty much every health concern a middle-aged man has. Rumor has it, HGH can help you look younger, build more muscle, burn fat, boost your libido—and science says most of these things are actually true. But that doesn’t mean HGH is right for every guy. We did some digging to find out everything you need to know about the “healing hormone” and help you decide if you should talk to your doc about getting a ‘script.

What exactly is HGH? Human growth hormone (HGH), often known as just growth hormone (GH), is a peptide hormone produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. The name is on-point: In adolescence, it’s responsible for helping kids get taller. But GH is also a “master hormone,” explains Robert Kominiarek, D.O., a medical director and hormone specialist at the Alpha Male Medical InstituteOpens a New Window. in Springboro, Ohio. That means, even in adults, GH hel…

The Benefits of Infrequently Fasting | Nick Rana

The Benefits of Infrequently Fasting | Nick Rana By now, everyone’s heard about the life-extending benefits of caloric restriction. Lab results show that drastically cutting food intake can nearly double longevity in rodents, worms, and flies, and a massive 20-year study on rhesus monkeys, a species closely related to humans, found that the benefits of the diet seem to be universal: a resistance to cancer, heart disease, and age-related cognitive decline. There’s even a Calorie Restriction Society InternationalOpens in a new Window., with thousands of members who live off roughly 30 percent fewer calories than the number recommended by conventional medicine. The downside, of course – and it’s a big one – is, who wants to live a life of deprivation? But what if there were a shortcut? What if you could get the benefits of calorie restriction without the same degree of sacrifice? Many people now believe you can. The idea is called intermittent fasting (IF), and it’s becoming the diet du …

The Best Moves To Lose your Love Handles Belly Fat With These 10 Fat-Burning Exercises | Nick Rana

The Best Moves To Crush your Love Handles Belly Fat With These 10 Fat- Burning Exercises | Nick Rana

You’ve tried situps, cardio, and dumbbell side bends, but nothing seems to get rid of that stubborn belly fat on your sides. Sound familiar? It might be time to change up your gym routine—or start a new one. Commonly called “love handles or tyre,” that belly fat collecting around your torso is a key indicator of poor overall health. To get the best moves for a slim torso,10 exercises to shed love handles. "This workout is effective because it's fast paced and designed to target both the rectus abdominals and the transverse abdominals," he says. "To burn fat, you must do more then just crunches and situps; you need to recruit your entire body to enter a thermogenic state that leads to an accelerated rate of fat loss." Complete your dream physique with these 10 moves that will carve up your core fast. DIRECTIONS Vinod Ran…

The Best Types of Cardio Workouts for Weight Loss | NICK RANA

If you’re like most guys, you do cardioOpens a New Window. to help you stay leanOpens a New Window. and show off the muscle gainsOpens a New Window. you get from hitting the weights, aka “the usual workout routine.” And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to which type of cardio is best for burning fat, you have to decide which lean body type you’re going for. “If you train like a distance runner, you’ll get a distance runner’s body: little muscle, very lean from lots of miles logged at relatively slower paces,” “If you train like a sprinter—short, high-intensity workouts—you’ll get a sprinter’s body with muscle growth and fat loss.” Here’s something we can all agree on: Intensity is paramount. As intensity rises, more calories get burned. That’s why high-intensity interval workouts are a great choice for getting shredded while maintaining (or even gaining) muscle. Here are the expert-approved top 10 types of cardio to help you lose weight faster and show r…

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