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Here’s a simple truth you already know: No amount of motivational posters will help you if you are not in the right place in your head, if you push yourself too hard, never let off steam and fail to manage your expectations. This begs the question: how do you get to that right place inside your head? Well, there are a few tips:  Give it time.  It’s not that we cannot stick to exercise for a long period of time because we’re weak; it’s because we try to do it overnight and on top of that we expect immediate results that don’t happen, that make us give up. Commitment to fitness is not something we can just turn on like pulling a switch in our heads; it’s always a gradual process. You start small and you build up from there, one effort at a time, one day at time. You have to slowly re-educate yourself and get used to the idea of exercise, incorporate it in your daily life in small ways first, and only then will you be able to commit to it more seriously long term.  Reward yo...

Prolonged periods of inactivity and a diet high in saturated fat and high sugar lead to visceral fat storage, fat in our midsection that surrounds our internal organs. Some of the fat from the fat cells in that area can get into the main vein that supplies and delivers blood to our liver and then end up in our bloodstream raising our cholesterol levels. So apart from being visually unappealing it can also cause a variety of health issues like increased blood pressure, hormonal imbalances, cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance which then leads to type 2 diabetes. All and all it’s not a pretty picture, on the inside or on the outside. The fat in this area is often the last one to go because its storage is a safety feature of sorts. The body sees it as a reserve needed to ensure our survival for when times are tough and food is scarce. The subcutaneous fat that we carry under our skin that leads to cellulite in women and saggy thighs in men, is a lot easier to get rid of as it is ...

Sleep is nature’s Borg Regeneration Pod. While many of our systems power down while we sleep many others power up so we barely save any energy at all between our sleeping and waking stage. While we are asleep our brains kick into high gear, doing a lot of housekeeping and repair in our mental connections. This is activity that improves the function of our brains when we wake up so we can remember things better, have more efficient ways to pull up memories, learn faster and respond quicker to unexpected emergencies. Similarly, when we are asleep our muscles also begin to undergo changes in their activity. Voluntary control and muscle function are largely disabled and involuntary movements take over. Muscle building and repair goes on during the sleep stage and the body uses the downtime to focus on cellular repair and the streamlining of its inner processes. This is when muscle soreness from intense exercise stops or gets better and muscles get stronger and bigger.   As a matter of ...

Everything starts for a reason and fitness is no exception to the rule. Unless you have a really good reason to start you won't be able to stay committed and follow through with your resolutions. The good news is that most of it is mental which means you can actually put a plan of action in place that will remove all the obstacles standing between you and your fitness goals:  Start small. What you really need is to change your habits, and how you feel and look will change on their own. The moment you concentrate on the action and not on the end result is when you truly transform, inside and out. Start with small changes in your diet and exercise habits, start by eating better and adding a few squats and planks into your daily routine or pick up a 30-day challenge. It is important that you stick to the small things first, before you demand anything more radical from yourself. The harder you push from the start the harder it’ll be to stay on track.  Find the right activity for y...

Studies show that most people gain weight when they are in a relationship. It’s not just that the hunt is over and we already have someone to share our life with and we don’t feel the pressure to stay in shape, it’s also the fact that we now have to coordinate everything we do with our other half we now share everything with. Staying in shape while in a relationship can be challenging, but it can also be something that brings you closer together and helps you bond. Something that makes you and your relationship stronger. It all depends on how you approach it. Recruit your other half to participate Work on the principle that couples who train together stay together. All you need is a little bit of planning with all parties being aware of the precise time and the kind of training you will be doing so everyone is mentally and physically ready for it. Talk it out, look at available options together, make it a couple thing and work around your schedules and other commitments. There are many...

ou can be a gamer and you can be into fitness, if you know how to find the balance between the two. More than that, one can complement the other quiet beautifully once integrated, there has been plenty of gamification in fitness and plenty of fitness in gaming in recent years. The two have a lot more in common than meets the eye: in both worlds we upgrade and level up our characters; we meet the targets and work hard for our gains. Both, essentially do the same thing, both have similar rules and both require you to spend time, and effort to improve your skill if you ever want to get better at it, better in the game of life, whether actual or digital.  Video games have been blamed for rapidly climbing obesity rates. They’ve been demonized and given more and more of a bad rep. Yet, they have never really been at the core of the problem which is slowly killing us all. The problem that isn’t about what we do, but about what we don’t do: move. A sedentary lifestyle is to blame for our b...

Here, there is some magic sparkling dust that you can sprinkle all over yourself and instantly feel energized and eager to get up and work it, work it like there is no tomorrow. Or, here is a magic pill that gives you an itch until you go and work it off running here and there like the Energizer bunny. And if these two didn’t work you’ll have go for the last resort-solution… grow a pair and cultivate a back-bone of some sort. Do it, not because someone on the internet told you that you should, but because it’s the right thing to do, the healthy thing to do. Motivation isn’t something extraordinary that some people just possess – it’s something you cultivate and promote in yourself every single day. No one likes pain, soreness, hell, even a little discomfort of any kind. And, let’s face it, it’s very comfortable sitting pretty in front of the screen counting hours before the next meal… but you know who else has that kind of lifestyle? Hamsters. And they have a running wheel which they u...