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Consistency is key when it comes down to fitness and bodybuilding. You need to follow a routine depending on your goal and be consistent with it. But in this blog I would like to share some rules of fitness that can be implemented whether you are bulking or cutting. These will help either way.

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Eat
Whether you are in a caloric surplus or deficit, you need to eat with purpose. You can prepare meals if that is something you are interested in.

Stop tracking your weight
This is something I have mentioned in my previous blogs as well but there is absolutely no need to weigh yourself everyday. Or even at all! The most important thing is fat loss. You can invest in a tool that calculates a body fat percentage calculator. No real need for it but that is a much better thing to keep track of as opposed to weighing yourself.

Do what you enjoy
I personally love bodybuilding and lifting heavy, but you don’t have to do that if you are not into it. There are other activities like zumba, running, or swimming. The most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing so you can incorporate it into your life long time. Fitness can be something that you look forward to each day after work or school.

Rest day
I was to stress the importance of taking a rest day. You need to give your muscles a chance to rest and recover. When you lift weight, you break your muscles and they require sometime to heal. To clarify a rest day is only for exercising and not from dieting. Diet should remain consistent no matter what.

Follow a plan
Like I mentioned it is important to stay consistent. Following a good diet and workout can make all the difference in the world. If you are like me where you have to balance life with school and work, a plan can be very important to have a plan.

Drink water
Drink as much water as you can. One thing that I have noticed is that you get a really good pump at the gym if you drink more water. It is also a very helpful tool to get rid of fat from your body.

Sleep!
You will need to get enough sleep. I believe that is very important. Your muscles will heal during the time you sleep.

I know it is currently hard to go to the gym during quarantine. But this is the best time to start. You can go for a run and burn some fat. Doing something is better than doing nothing. As always remember the best advice is to start where you are, do what you can, and use what you have.

Since I started writing fitness related blog posts, I have covered quite a few things that I am passionate about. Shredding is by far the one thing that I am most passionate about. In this blog I wanted to share some helpful tips on getting cut and burning fat. I will share what typically works and what has worked for me.

Nutrition is by far the most important part of cutting. We have all heard that fitness is 30% exercise and 70% nutrition, and that abs are made in the kitchen. This is all very true. To get cut you will have to design your caloric intake very precisely. I recommend starting with a deficit of about 200-300 calories. This would be a good starting point but real progress will be made when you are in a much bigger deficit. But we need to ensure that we are not loosing muscle just to loose some fat. So what we need to do is, to slowly decrease calories each week or two.

Next thing also associated with nutrition is protein intake. Personally my goal is to make sure that I am loosing fat. I am not concerned with loosing weight. Loosing fat is the main purpose. Therefore it is important to keep your protein intake very high in this time to make sure you are keeping as much of the muscle as possible and only loosing fat. This will be done by keeping your protein intake at approximately 1 gram for 1 pound of body weight. This is the ideal amount of protein.

Next thing I want to talk about is training. You need to lift as heavy as possible. One of the biggest downsides of going through a cut is that you will loose strength. But you have to keep in mind that it is only temporary and it will return once you are done with your cut. But in this time you need to challenge yourself every day and still try to lift as heavy as you possibly can. I also recommend increase the rep ranges to loose more fat. But there is no need to over train.

Next thing I would like to mention is cardio. Let’s face it… Cardio is not fun and no one like to do it. But cardio can make all the difference in the world when it comes down to shredding. I would recommend you increase your cardio as you are decreasing your calories every two weeks. When I am going through a cut I try to push myself on cardio. I hate cardio so I try to burn 150-200 calories each day.

Lastly I wanted to talk about supplements. You can do all of this without supplements but they can help big time if you do it right. People who say supplements don’t work, don’t know how to use them. Fat burning supplement will work only if you are in a deficit. They will expedite the process. Caffeine is by far the best one. I personally would recommend taking carnitine, it is a great tool to help you aide in burning fat.

I know it is currently hard to go to the gym during quarantine. But this is the best time to start. You can go for a run and burn some fat. Doing something is better than doing nothing. As always remember the best advice is to start where you are, do what you can, and use what you have.

To maximize muscle growth you want to be in caloric surplus. This is simple eat more calories compared to what you are burning daily. Consuming more calories will do a lot of different things. It will give you more energy through out the day, mainly so you can put more into your workouts. And it will raise your testosterone levels. Testosterone is what builds muscle, it’s good to have a surplus. In addition your muscle protein synthesis increases which reduces the protein breakdown by your body.

This does not mean you can eat whatever is insight. You will not make a lot of progress if you eat a few mac doubles every day. This has to be quality food that has a ton of quality protein. Start with a small caloric surplus, just above your maintenance calories and then take it from there.

Next I would recommend lifting heavy. Focus on getting stronger. You will need to gradually need to increase the weight you are lifting and also the intensity of the workout. This is what is called progressive overload. You can increase the volume of training. Increase the overall reps and sets that you put in day to day. Slowly you will be able to gain more strength and lift more. When you lift more, you will get bigger add size and muscle.

Even though you want to lift as heavy as possible, you still need to do that with proper form. Proper range of motion is very important. If you want to maximize your gains, you cannot use partial motion in your training. You need to learn proper form when you first start working out because when a few months pass, training will become a part of your life and your form will be subconsciously incorporated.

Eventually you will develop mind muscle connection. That is the most beautiful thing ever. It’s like you’re communicating with your muscles through weights. I can’t really explain it but it is a great feeling. You eventually develop this ability that lets you go on auto pilot while working out.

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One thing I would definitely recommend is to train your muscles twice every week. Think about it… If you are training each muscle group once each week, you are hitting it 52 times a year. If you properly train each muscle group twice, this brings the grand total to 104 times. This is a great way to maximize your potential. Only thing is to make sure you get at least 48 hours rest before hitting the same muscle group again.

These tips are very simple yet very effective. Lastly my call to action is to get out there and try. Do something! Start where you can, do what you can, and use what you have.

I was watching this YouTube video and a few guys were getting their pictures photo shopped to make them look like male models. It was an interesting video. These guys are amazed by the end result of their edited picture which made them looked ripped. The video ends by each of the four guys saying that no one has time to work on a great physique, and that only actors have the money and time to do it. That is straight up BS!

That is the lamest excuse. It all comes down to how badly you want it. I want to write this blog to tell you that you can achieve any physique you want. I can’t believe people think that only actors have the time and money to build a great body.

You just need to want it bad! That’s step one. Work on your dream physique every day and eventually you will get there. Let’s put this in perspective. You have 168 hours each week. Let’s say you work 50 hours a week at work, 20 hours with your family, 60 hours sleeping, and another 20 for eating and other stuff. You still have 18 hours a week left! You only need to utilize 5 of those at the gym each week to get some serious results! So time should not be an issue!

Next up is the myth that you need a lot of money to get in shape…
No you don’t! You buy food anyways, you just need to clean up your diet a little bit. Other than that I recommend buying some basic supplements but that is only a recommendation. Even if you end up buying the best supplements they do not cost crazy. Let’s break it down. The only two supplements you will need are creatine and whey protein. You can buy a months worth of protein supply for like $50 and $30 worth creatine will last you 3-4 months. So there…. getting in shape does not require movie star money.

You do not need a Hollywood trainer either. You just need to learn certain workouts. You can get a world class education on YouTube. Try to Google some research articles if you wanna dive deeper into the science.

No matter how crazy your schedule is, you can still get ripped. It comes down to how badly you want that. Money and time is an excuse. A pretty lame one at that. Lastly my call to action is to get out there and try. Do something! Start where you can, do what you can, and use what you have.

There is no list of rules posted at your gym, but there are rules that everyone needs to follow at the gym. A lot of people are intimidated of going to the gym when they first start working out. There is absolutely no need to be intimidated. Everyone is focused on themselves. But there are a few rules in the gym you need to follow.

The most important rule is to re rack your weights. This is like the golden rule. First and foremost, if you leave your weights on the floor at the gym someone will eventually have to re rack them, it would most likely the gym staff. A little effort on your part saves them extra work. Secondly if you are loading up weights on a machine, please take it off once you are done. If you leave the weights on the next person has to take them off to put in their set. It’s overall a good gym environment where everyone re racks their weights.

A couple months back I was doing some chest flies. I try to take a 1-2 minute break between sets. I was taking some rest when this guy came in and started using the machine. I don’t get mad, but that pissed me off. I confronted the dude and told him that I was using that machine, in the most polite manner. The dude replied arrogantly “yeah just got one set”
This is pretty much like cutting the line at the grocery store. If the gym is crowded and you can’t get on the machine you want, go up to the person using it and just ask them if you can work in. 9/10 times the person using it will be open to you working in.

Next rule to follow is give people personal space at the gym. It is important not to stand too close to anyone at them gym. Most workouts will include some kind of movement, it is important to respect other people’s space and to not to prevent anyone from working out.

Lastly I would say to wipe down the equipment that you use. Everybody sweats during a workout, it’s only natural, but it is greatly appreciated if people wipe down the equipment they use in the gym.

Lastly I can’t wait for covid-19 to go away and for me being able to hit the gym again. For now I will keep the momentum going and work out at home. For you guys, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, practice social distancing and stay safe!

I have a gym membership at two different gyms and one by one they closed due to covid-19. It sucks! Social distancing is very important at the moment, so I will be doing my part to distance my self and you should do that same. I am working out at home at the moment but none the less it’s hard.

A week before the gyms closed…

I was at the gym getting a back workout in. To give you some background, I get up at 5 AM everyday for work and get off at 3 and go to the gym. 3 of the 5 days I have class for grad school. So I got to the gym and just started working out. After a couple sets I felt absolutely drained and just wanted to leave. I sat down and took a moment to think things through. I thought of some rough times I have experienced in my life and decided to get through my workout.

I reflected on the bad times and used my thoughts as motivation to fuel my workout. I kept repeating one bad instance in my head and before I knew it I had been working out for over 2 hours. I was able to get in one of the best workout sessions ever. I had an insane pump going and I was extremely proud of myself.

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This is exactly what I was other people to be able to do. Find what motivates you. For some people it’s a goal they want to achieve. For others it’s more about bettering themselves. For people like me, we use previous life events to motivate our workouts.

It’s easy to show up when you are full of energy. It easy to workout when you are having a great day but you transform when you show up when you are down, when you have no motivation. You need to train hard and not miss any days if you want to see serious progress.

Realistically speaking, you’re not gonna loose any gains if you miss a few days at the gym. But you need to train your mind if you are gonna transform yourself into the aesthetic freak you always dreamed of being. When you feel down that’s when you need to show up the most.

Lastly I can’t wait for covid-19 to go away and for me being able to hit the gym again. For now I will keep the momentum going and work out at home. For you guys, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, practice social distancing and stay safe!

In my previous blog I went over a few tips to cut and shred fat. In this post I want to share my experience with bulking and putting on mass. When you think about bulking you probably thing you can eat anything as long as you eat a ton of calories. Well… that’s not entirely true. If you want to put some muscle on you, you need to eat to build muscle. You cant just eat what ever you want and train 3 times a week to get huge.

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Eat!

First things first. You need to eat. A lot! There is absolutely no way you can gain muscle if you are not eating in a caloric surplus. Each day you need to consume more calories than you are burning and those need to be quality calories that go towards building muscle. How many calories you need to consume? A good estimate is to multiply your body weight in pounds to 15 -16. That is a good place to start, but over time it will be beneficial if you increase. For example increase by 200 calories every 2-3 weeks.

Eat the right calories

You don’t wanna make the mistake of eating everything in sight. You want to be selective in what you eat. Putting quality calories in should be the goal. Here is a list of good bulking foods. It’s best to focus on a high protein diet. Carbs and fats are very important too. But to simplify we will focus on a high protein diet. Typically it’s a good idea to make sure 40% of what you eat is protein. After all you are what you eat.

Skip the crap

Goes without saying but we need to avoid drinking soda and other processed food. Processed food has a ton of calories and is easy to consume and will make bulking very easy. But we are not seeking the shortcut, we are not gonna look for the easy way because it’s not gonna work. It’s important that we limit the sugar intake and other processed crap. I am not a big fan of veggies, in fact i rarely eat veggies. They are great for you but not the only healthy thing. There’s plenty of healthy foods that will help you reach your caloric goals.

Trainning

You already know it! You need to train hard. In bodybuilding, diet makes up 70% of your progress but do not forget that it won’t even matter if you don’t properly train. I recommend going heavy and doing drop sets and maybe even super sets. Training is fun when you are bulking. It’s a beautiful thing. You gain strength when you’re consuming a lot of calories, so lift heavy. I would recommending doing super sets on everything but compound lifts. Also drop sets will go a long way. Say you do 5 reps of shoulder press for 60lbs dumbbells, you would drop the weight to 30lbs and do another 10 reps and another 15 with 15lbs till you physically can do no more. That’s how you build muscle. Someone asked the legendary Muhammad Ali… “how many sit ups do you do?” Muhammad Ali replied “I don’t start counting till it start’s hurting”

My tip

I struggled with gaining weight and building muscle till one day a buddy of mine told me to eat a ton of peanut butter. Peanut butter is a phenomenal way of gaining weight and muscle. I like making my self a shake every day when I bulk. In this shake I add milk, oats, whey protein, 4 tbsp of peanut butter, and some honey. This shake comes out to be 1000-15000 calories. You drink this everyday… I can confirm you will add mass.

One of the most important aspect is to get enough sleep and rest. People often neglect this. Rest is when your body gets a chance to build and repair. Take melatonin if necessary.

Lastly as always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

What’s the hardest thing to do in fitness? It’s to get your body fat down. I am not talking about weight. To me at least, weight is irrelevant. In fact I haven’t weighted myself in the last 3 months. What is most important is to be able to bring down your body fat percentage. Once you are able to bring down your body fat percentage, your muscles are more visible and that’s how you look ripped.
When loosing weight or cutting, people over complicate things. You just need to be consistent with a few things.

What to do?

• Eat in a caloric deficit. This is the most important step. You need to eat less calories compared to the calories you are burning each day. Forget about cheat days, you need to be consistent with your diet. It doesn’t really matter what you eat, you just need to be in a deficit. That is how you will loose fat. No cheat days, you can have a cheat meal if you would like.
• Eat more protein. This one is important because you need protein to up keep the muscle. When you are in a caloric deficit there is a chance that you will loose muscle. To ensure that you loose fat and as little muscle mass as possible, you need to up your protein in take. My recommendation is to take in 1 gram of protein per 1 lbs of body weight. This will ensure that you loose fat instead of muscle. 17 cheap and healthy sources of protein.
• Lift heavy! I am not going to sugar coat it. It sucks when it comes to lifting on a cut. You have low energy and you are almost guaranteed to loose strength in the gym. But you have to hit the gym consistently and try to lift heavy. I would try to go for a high rep range. About 6-8 reps.
• Cardio. This one is not necessary but this can speed up the fat loss process. Adding 15-20 minute cardio sessions after your lifts each day will definitely go a long way.

Additional tip

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you know I love my supplements. A good supplement can make all the difference when it comes to a cut. It could be the added benefit you need. You can find the following ingredients in any good fat burning supplements but these are the two most important ones. Caffeine is a natural fat burner. Just sip on some black coffee with 0 calories and you’ll be consuming one of the best natural fat burners. The next one is L-Cartinine. This is one of the best and well known fat burning supplements. A must have for cutting season.

Food

Lastly I just wanted to the hardest part of this routine, which is food. Everything you want to eat is too high in calories. For example, you wanna eat a burrito from Chipotle… Too bad! That is like 60-70% of your total calories for the day. So what do you eat? i have a couple recommendations. Tuna is on top of that list. A can of tuna has like 200-300 calories and 60 grams of protein! You’re not gonna find better macros than this. A good healthy snack could be watermelon. Very low in calories and is sweet to satisfy you. Other than that protein shakes are a good way to take in protein with low calories.

Lastly as always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

I love supplements! Most people have a negative opinion on supplements but that’s their loss. In my opinion if you are following a good diet and a bad ass training routine and staying consistent with it… supplements can be a big help. In this blog I want to share some of my favorite supplements that are not very popular. These supplements are not widely used but I am a big fan of these and I think you need to add these to your arsenal.

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Ashwaghanda

This is a fruit/herb which looks like a tomato from the Himalayan mountains. You can find this supplement at your local vitamin shop. This supplement makes you relax and relieves stress. The less stressed you are the more chances you have to raise your testosterone and therefore build more muscle. Even if you’re not looking to build muscle you can still take this supplement and it will help you relax and sleep better. You will be in a better mood overall. Best dosage for Ashwaghanda is 600 mg of KSM 66. KSM 66 is the best quality in terms of this supplement.
Visit this article to check out 12 proven benefits of this great supplement.

Citrulline malate

This a fun supplement. There is a good chance that this supplement is in your pre workout but most pre workouts get the dosage wrong. The perfect dosage for this supplement is 6 grams. I love getting this supplement on its own. What does it do you may ask? It help you get insane pumps in the gym! Essentially this is the best supplement for pumping oxygen in your veins. It is really good for your health too, it helps your kidneys stay healthy and is naturally found in watermelons. This is a great supplement to add to your batch due to this being good for your overall being and also helping you get insane pumps in the gym.

Melatonine

One of the most important aspects to fitness and bodybuilding is for you to be able to give your body enough rest to recover. You break your muscles in the gym and eat a lot of protein but you need a good amount of sleep and rest for your body to develop bigger and stronger muscles. That’s where melatonine comes in. Melatonine is great sleep supplement. Take 3-5 mg a couple hours before you go to bed and it will help you get a restful sleep.

Fish oil

Last supplement I want to talk about is fish oil. Good old omega 3s. According to some bodybuilders it is the greatest supplement. It has so many different benefits. My favorite benefit from this supplement is that this supports bone health and is really good for your joints. If you are attempting personal records on squats, you do not want your knees to start hurting. Obviously you should always warm up well before you lift heavy but fish oil will help in this regard. This supplement has heart and liver benefits and can help with a lot more. You really cannot go wrong with this one.
Check out this amazing article to fish oil in bodybuilding.

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People often neglect supplements when it comes to fitness and bodybuilding. In my personal experience supplements can make a big difference and can help you achieve your fitness and bodybuilding goals. The following is a link to an article on bodybuilding, one of the best fitness organizations. This link gives a good insight into importance of supplements and the good kind: click here.

The following are my top recommendations of supplements:

Creatine

Creatine is my favorite supplement of all time. It is dirt cheap and it works! Creatine increases strength and size and improves anaerobic capacity. Basically, creatine retains water in muscles which adds size to muscles. Not a lot but it does create a significant impact. Other than that it creates ATP which helps with energy during workouts and therefore help in the strength department. Question is how do you use creatine? Take 3-5 grams a day. Creatine is something you need to load up on. What I mean by that is you take 3-5 grams for 30 days before you start seeing the benefits. This supplement works! Don’t sleep on it. Here is a link to a great article that backs up creatine’s benefits with science: click here.

Whey protein

One of the most important step of bodybuilding is to take enough protein. This supplement is not a must but can be extremely helpful. The macros for whey protein are great! It’s rare to find 20-25 grams of protein in about 150 calories in anything buy a good protein supplement. The only other thing I can think of is tuna. But do you really want to eat a ton of tuna every day to meet your protein goal? I bet you don’t! Therefore a good protein supplement can be extremely helpful.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a great supplement. It provides energy and enhances cognitive function. 200-400 milligrams of caffeine should do the job. The best time to take it is right before your workouts. This is something that is most likely in your pre workout. Caffeine is a very easily available supplement. You can have a cup of coffee right before your workout.

Pre workout

Caffeine is a pre workout supplement, but I personally take a good pre workout supplement before each workout. A good pre workout can make all the difference in your training routine. This is the most fun supplement. The loads of ingredients can make your workouts fun and get you to push your limits in the gym. In a future blog post I will be into detail about each of the ingredients in a good pre workout and what they do. Pre workout helps you with energy, helps you with focus in the gym, and can help you get an incredible pump in the gym.

I have a lot more to share. In my next blog, I will be going over some more supplement that are not as important but can go a long way. If you have to choose one supplement of the four listed above, I would recommend creatine. Follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn. If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to contact me.