Men, Don't Pass Age 30 Without Preparing for This

I'm sure you're aware of the terms that are used by younger people to describe us mature men; ol' man, pops, gramps, and those are the nice ones. These terms are just one of the ways in which we can be reminded of what we already know; that we are getting older.

Nature also has a way of reminding us of this fact, it's called andropause, and it ain't pretty. We get wider around our mid-sections, become tired more easily, our once raging sex drives dwindle, and our sexual performance comes up short at times.

If you're over 30 and familiar with any of these symptoms, you could be experiencing andropause. What is andropause? Andropause is the natural process in which male testosterone starts to decline at the rate of about 1 percent each year after age 30.

Did you know that males are considered in their "prime" between the ages of 22-30? It's true, and then andropause kicks in and kicks butt, literally. But you don't have to be a victim of andropause, and you won't. Because like me, you're going to take this very simple precaution in order to avoid it. Exercise.

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Because when men build muscle, we are either maintaining or creating the best place for our testosterone to be stored, and testosterone is what defeats andropause. I am not saying you should become a bodybuilder, just that you must avoid losing any muscle mass. Especially in your legs and butt; which is normally the first thing to go.

That said, this is what we must do. Any exercise that strengthens our legs and core. Bicycling, burpees, cross-country training, obstacle course, tennis, and of course squats. These activities are great at maintaining and building our leg muscles and core. Our quadriceps, hamstrings, and calve muscles are the first places where testosterone is stored once our testicles make it.

That's why our legs and butts are the first thing to go. So I urge you to get in control of your testosterone by simply doing exercises that help maintain muscle. If you are in your thirties, exercising three times a week is fine, if you are in your forties, exercise five times a week, fifties, exercise every day.

Keep your workouts short, ten to twenty minutes long, and if you haven't exercised in years, please take it easy and allow yourself time to ease into a sensible routine. It won't take long to get results; reversing or avoiding andropause is actually easier to do than to go through it. Let's go.

Lose 1 Pound of Fat Per Week With This Diet, No Exercise Needed

Please keep in mind that while the following diet doesn't require any exercise to lose fat, a combined exercise and diet program is always the best way to get maximum results. Another way to maximize your results from this or any diet is to cycle it. Cycling your diet simply means to stop after four weeks, take one week off, then resume your diet.

There are a few reasons why you must cycle your diets. One, is so your body doesn't go into starvation mode; meaning it won't start to hold onto fat because it fears you are starving it. Another, is that your body tends to shed fat faster in the first four weeks of a diet.

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The practice of cycling will keep your body constantly in that four week fat burning zone so that you reach your goal faster. Cycling will also keep your diet efforts interesting, which will make it easier to stick too. How do you eat on your off-diet week?

Good question, and the answer is, clean and simple. Forget about adding excess calories during this week, only 100 extra calories of good fats. There's another catch; do 40 minutes of cardio every day during this week. Although cardio is optional, it will melt away fat, and leave your metabolism super-charged for when you start your diet again. Okay, now for your exercise-free fat loss diet.

Meal # 1: 1/2 serving of steel cut oats, 1 teaspoon of cottage cheese, one apple, and 12 ounces of water. About 170 calories.

Meal # 2: 1 Uncle Ben's whole grain brown rice cup, one apple, and 12 ounces of water. About 265 calories.

Meal # 3: 1 Morning Star Farms Veggie Pattie, a small salad with avocado wedge, no dressing, and 12 ounces of water. About 245 calories.

Meal # 4: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, one apple, and 12 ounces of water. About 195 calories.

Meal # 5: 1 apple, 12 ounces of water. 95 calories.

That's a total of 970 calories for each day. This fat-stripping no exercise diet contains much needed protein to spare muscle mass, complex carbohydrates for energy, and good fats to help you feel full. And drink as much water during each day as you want; it will curb your appetite. Let's go.

5 Reasons Why I Prefer Body-Weight Workouts

I am not writing this post because I am against free-weight workouts, I have nothing but respect for weight training. In fact, for the first 8 years of my fitness journey, I trained exclusively with free-weights. That said, my journey has been a continuous learning experience, and I have often learned from my own mistakes.

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As far as my workouts are concerned; the most valuable lesson that I have learned so far when it comes to getting the results that I want, is that a well planned body-weight workout program works best for me. So, why exactly do I prefer body-weight workouts over free-weight workouts?

1. No Injuries: In all of the thirteen years that I have been working out with my body-weight, I have had zero injuries. No muscle sprains, muscle pulls, muscle strains, nothing. 
2. Faster Results: More like results, period. I got stronger faster, and those muscles that refused to grow while I was working out with free-weights suddenly became bigger. I had only made small gains at best with my weight lifting program; although part of the reason for that was due to my overtraining.
3. Budget Friendly: My body-weight workout doesn't cost me any money, my equipment goes everywhere with me and is always ready for use. If I need more resistance for my muscles, all I have to do is get a little bit creative.
4. Shorter Workouts: Since I am working out with 40-100 percent of my body weight, every workout is intense, so there is absolutely no need to workout for hours. 
5. Faster Recoveries: Body-weight workouts are easier on your joints, so your muscles recover from them faster than when working out with free weights.

If I were to put all of these reasons that I prefer body-weight workouts over free-weight workouts together, they would add up to this one main reason. Body-weight workouts provide the results that I have wanted since I began my journey towards fitness; noticably bigger muscles.  

5 Reasons Why I Love my Soloflex Muscle Machine

The Soloflex Muscle Machine has been around since the 1978. You can read countless reviews about the Soloflex online. Most of those reviews will compare the Soloflex Muscle Machine to other home gyms. There are also many reviews online that provide lists of its pros and cons.

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What I am going to do is share with you the top reasons why I love my Soloflex Muscle Machine; which I have owned and used consistently for close to 15 years. I have no connection with the company, nor was I paid to write this post. Let's go.

1. Ease of Assembly: One nut, one bolt, and two washers. All you need is two socket wrenches, or two pair of locking pliers to assemble the Soloflex. That's it. I had mine out of the box, assembled, and I was performing dips for the first time within a half hour after its delivery.
2. I Can Do My Favorite Body-Weight Exercises: Prior to owning my Soloflex, I was unable to do dips, chin-ups, pull-ups, or decline push-ups. I have made major gains because of my ability to include these body-weight exercises into my fitness program, and I owe a great deal of my progress to my Soloflex.
3. I Can Still Lift Iron Weights: The Soloflex comes with attachment rods that accept conventional iron weight plates. If I had found that I didn't like the Soloflex weight straps, I could have left them in the box and pumped iron instead. 
4. Storage: The Soloflex Muscle Machine extends about two feet from a wall. I like to store mine in a corner; plus the butterfly attachment fits nicely over the frame out of the way, and the leg extension can be leaned against any wall, out of the way.
5. No Need For A Spotter: I can lift or squat as much weight as I can handle, all without the need of a spotter.

There are many reasons why I love my Soloflex, but these are the top five. I really enjoy working out in the comfort of my own home, and after purchasing my Soloflex home gym, I have enjoyed it even more.

Where to Find More Motivation to Workout

Finding the motivation that we need to begin or stick to a workout can be difficult at times. Motivation can come from within ourselves, or from someone else's wise or encouraging words. But these aren't the only places where we can find it. Motivation can also come from certain situations, we just need to recognize and take advantage of them while we are in them.

When I first began working out, I was motivated by the many articles that I read in Iron Magazine. Back then, I actually thought that if I trained like those professional bodybuilders who were featured in it, I would get as big and ripped as they were. When I found out different, I had to find my motivation elsewhere.

These days, I am motivated to workout and eat right because of this simple fact; it is the best thing for me. You should use this fact as a way stay motivated as well. Another way that you can find motivation is to stay aware of how your body might try and take the easy way out of everyday physical situations.

We must train our bodies to welcome physical activity. Example: if you're standing in a long checkout line with one item, and most of the shoppers ahead of you have full carts, never accept an invitation to go ahead of someone. Your body needs to learn how to tolerate these minor inconveniences.

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Then, and only then will your body and mind accept you starting a workout program, or doing your workout instead of looking for an excuse to skip it. And while you're standing in that line, stand straight, refuse to shift your weight to one leg. If you have a shopping cart, resist the urge to lean on its handle. And tell yourself that you love every second of it. Because you should.

This is how you motivate your body and mind. You and only you are in control of when it can rest, or when it is tired. I came to realize that most of the times that I've convinced myself that I was tired, I wasn't. In fact, I wasn't even close being tired. Another way to get your body and mind motivated is to stand whenever it is easier to sit down.

Say you're buying new tires for your vehicle, and you are in that waiting room full of empty chairs. It's going to take at least an hour and a half for the mechanic to mount the tires onto your vehicle's rims; stand up the entire time. Walk around, whether it be inside or out, and after your wait is over, ask yourself if you're tired. And be honest with your answer.

Now think about this; you can do three complete workouts in less than an hour and a half. Whether they be muscle toning, muscle building, or fat burning workouts. This is how you find that reservoir of motivation to either begin, or stick to a workout and diet program. So the best place to find more motivation to workout is in those everyday situations which cause "minor" inconveniences. Let's go.

Lose Fat Faster by Not Eating This Food Group

Years ago, my focus shifted from trying to get ripped after bulking cycles to simply eating as clean a diet as I could each and every day. But no matter how clean I ate or how much cardio I did, I have never been able to get below 13 of 14 percent body fat.

A few blog posts back, I talked about my having stopped eating meat because I felt it would be healthier for me. So far, my experience with eating a vegetarian diet has been nothing but positive. The most obvious result being a consistent drop in body-fat, and it didn't take any physical effort on my part.

You see, this drop in body-fat occurred even without cardiovascular training. So based upon my success at losing fat while eating a vegetarian diet, I am suggesting to those who may have had difficulties losing fat in the past to stop eating meat during their next attempt.

I am not suggesting you become a vegetarian. Just try one week without eating meat and see if you don't get better fat-loss results, I know you will. If you're still not satisfied with your results after the first week, eat meat the next week and then skip meat the following week. Then compare those weeks against each other to see where you got the most results. I bet it will be your vegetarian week.

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Why am I so sure that not eating meat while losing fat will work for you? Because of the further reduction in useless fat and saturated fat calories. And for those who might be concerned about not getting enough protein to help spare muscle tissue while losing fat, don't be. There is a long list of quality non-meat protein sources for you to choose from.

You can replace meat protein with whey protein powder, milk, ricotta cheese, and nuts. Since you won't be working out hard while losing fat, there's really no reason to worry about losing any more muscle than you are going to lose anyway. There is no way to avoid muscle loss entirely while dieting.

Eating a vegetarian diet while losing fat is a great way to further reduce the amount of calories that you consume. This will result in a faster reduction in body-fat, and you can easily replace those meat protein calories with a quality protein of fewer calories. So the next time you set out to lose fat, eat a vegetarian diet, and get faster results. Let's go.

Help Your Weight-Loss Efforts: Avoid Wearing Black Colored Clothes

Right now I bet many of you are saying, what? But I'm serious, I stopped wearing black colored clothes many years ago. Why? Because it makes you look thinner. But wait, that's one of the benefits of wearing black colored clothes, right?

Nope, it's not a benefit to me, and after reading this post, I'm hoping that you won't continue to view it as a benefit to you either. My purpose is to "lose" weight, not just "look" thinner. Wearing black creates an illusion, stop wearing it. Let your flaws show, and gain motivation from them.

The more I see my stomach creeping over my waistband, the more I become aware of how serious I need to remain in order win the battle over my body-fat. Wearing black colored clothes makes it too easy to accept the illusion of making progress, or hide the fact that you are losing progress in your fight against fat-loss.

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It creates a level of comfort that is counterproductive. If you stop wearing black colored clothes, you will gain access to a place of motivation within yourself that you never knew existed. Don't get me wrong, I do wear black clothes, just not outside.

I don't expect you to take not wearing black colored clothes to the extent that I do to find more motivation for your fat loss efforts, but I do have a suggestion. If you wear black while you're at home, stop. Allow yourself to see your body-fat stores, and take what you see as a reminder.

A reminder of what you will eventually defeat, no matter how challenging it is or how long it takes. We live in a quick-fix for everything society, yet there are no quick fixes for stored body-fat. The only way to eliminate it is to burn it off by way of diet and exercise. And it definitely can't be disguised, not forever that is. Let's go.