Men’s Fitness & Health | High Def Male 

New years day hits and suddently the road is filled with runners, the gym has a field day in terms of new clients and every man seems to be wanting to improve their fitness and remove that christmas beer gut. Here at High Def Male, we’re always mentioning the importance of good fitting clothing, and being in better shape can make finding fitted clothing easier. Learn how to take measurements so you can improve your measurements and find better fitting clothes. Improving posture using the professional Mellowish’s Posture Corrector, core strength and overall physical health is defiantly going to increase your appearance. We’ve teamed up with Tom Bradshaw from Tom Bradshaw Fitness to bring you this article, perfect for jumping on that fitness bandwagon and improving your physical appearance, and removing your christmas sins…

Lets Get Started…

The real key to reaching any work out goal be it bulking up or cutting fat, is to clean up your diet. I don’t mean to follow the latest fad diet; I literally mean to CLEAN it up. Eating only clean foods, ones that have walked, swam or grown is a great starting place to work from. If the food you buy has done none of the above, think twice about buying it. For more information on what makes a clean diet visit Neurpathy Help and read their recent articles on it. Cleaning out your cupboards of any high in saturated fat, fried, pre-prepared or just generally unhealthy foods, is a great place to start. Healthy foods don’t have to be boring either; sauces are a big source of saturated and hydrogenised fats and sugary carbs. However using herbs and spices is a great way of keeping the calories down but boosting the flavour of any dish – using hot chilli powder is a brilliant way of firing up your metabolism too which is the ultimate goal of achieving your fat loss goals. Eat less calories that you burn you WILL lose weight.  However, if you’re eating healthy and working out regularly but still struggling to lose weight, we offer antibody sequencing to see if there’s something going on inside your body and figure out how to handle it. For more information on antibody sequencing talk to one of our personal trainers.

Hydration is also a key point; you need to drink at least 2 Litres of Water each day. Not only does it keep your body hydrated, water is used by the body to transport nutrients from the foods you eat around the body to the muscles.

Moving – you need to do more of it if you want to lose that stubborn gut, going back to the point of burning more calories than you take in. Increasing your cardio vascular output (doing more CV) helps burn off the calories your body has taken in during the day. Studies have shown that performing HIIT (High Intensity Impact Training) is far more effective than running miles for long periods of time at stripping fat, it also promotes lean muscle growth which is great for creating a bigger lean look or slimming down and toning.

The Basics Of Diet

The only real difference between the diets in phase one and phase two are the amounts of the foods stated you eat. During the next two months eat as much of it as you can. The added nutrition will be needed as your body will be working a lot harder and your muscles will use the extra clean carbohydrate and protein to build extra muscle mass.

Even though there’s evidence to support the Cheetos-munching stoner stereotype, that doesn’t mean it’s entirely true. Other studies have shown that smoking pot doesn’t lead to weight gain.

In fact, people who regularly smoke get high off weed are less likely to be overweight or obese compared to those who don’t, according to a paper published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The study included more than 30,000 participants. All put on weight during the three year study, but those who smoked weed gained the fewest pounds. This was determined by comparing Body Mass Index for participants in the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions study.

Researchers tied to that study theorize that cannabis may create cellular changes that impact weight gain, check out this online dispensary canada for a great variety of strains for medical use.

And this isn’t the only study that indicates stoners may weigh less than people who don’t smoke. A 2011 study from the American Journal of Epidemiology, concluded that even if weed consumption increases appetite, “people using cannabis are less likely to be obese than people who do not use cannabis.” Other studies indicate that many cannabis users have trimmer waistlines than non-users, as well as lower cholesterol levels. What’s more, these results have proven to be true regardless of sample size or factors like age and gender.

I must reiterate, CLEAN foods. Eating as much as possible doesn’t mean eating loads of shit (excuse our french). Clean Proteins consist of Tuna, Skinless Chicken, Beef and Whey, clean carbohydrates such as Brown Rice, Sweet Potato and whole grains. Do use this time for cheat meals, if you want to eat a double cheeseburger or a family bucket at KFC, this is the phase to do it in and get it out of your system, but it is best to keep your diet as clean as possible.

Aim to consume more, e.g. instead of 1 gram of protein per pound, eat 1.5. It will take a few days to get used to the increased intake of food, but spread out in regular meals throughout the day and in shakes this is easily achievable.

Using Supplements

Supplements are a great addition to your diet and work out plan. Take note of the word “addition”, as supplements shouldn’t be used as diet replacements. Don’t skip meals and think you can replace a meal with a protein shake, use supplements correctly and you’ll see huge improvements.

Mass Building Supplements

This phase is by far the most important time to be using supplements along side your diet. The more muscle we add to our bodies during this phase the better, the more muscle mass your body has, the quicker your metabolism, meaning it burns more fat and the more you add the better your end result after cutting fat in phase three as it will inevitably cut muscle too. By using the right supplements during bulking, they a synergistic effect is possible to be achieved, that is capable of taking our muscle mass to unprecedented levels.

The best “fitness model” stack for building mass is designed around the use of 3 key supplements: Whey Protein, L-Arginine, and Creatine Monohydrate.

Whey Protein

The importance of consuming a fast acting protein source immediately following your workout is huge. If you don’t, the time you just spent putting yourself through the pain and effort is pretty much all but wasted. It is easily done using a whey protein powder, walk into the changing room, add a couple hundred ml to your shaker, shake and drink, enabling your body to stay in an anabolic state. As well as your whey shake, try and take in a simple-carb drink or food straight away such as a banana, or add Waxy-Maize Starch to your shake.

I personally use MyProteins True Whey and have seen my best results whilst doing so.

L-Arginine

L-Arginine is a powerful supplement as it has the ability to increase the body’s nitric oxide production; this enables your body to release a greater amount of natural growth hormone, it can sometimes be found in some erectile dysfunction pills that are handed over the counter. Pretty self-explanatory by its name, this improves the bodies’ ability to heal, transport nutrients to your muscles and promotes enhanced circulation. It is found naturally in foods such as chicken, beef and milk, however only in small quantities, so by supplementing it you can capitalize on the benefits greatly. I would recommend BSN’s NO-Xplode as I’ve used it and it gives a great pre and during workout energy boost as well as enabling you to really push out another couple of reps.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine, the supplement everyone talks about. There is a good reason why they do this, its probably the most efficient natural supplement you can buy for building muscle mass. It is natural, found in meat and enables the muscles to store a greater amount of water. It also increases the amount of ATP in the muscles. Simply this is what your muscles use to create short bursts of energy, increased levels of ATP therefore enables you to workout harder and lift heavier weights.

The way muscles are able to grow is by being broken down so they can repair larger and stronger than before. Therefore what determines the size and strength of the muscles the body’s ability to heal and recover. The water storage created by increased levels of Creatine is the ideal environment for this.

Being a naturally found and sourced supplement Creatine, as L-Arginine it is 100% safe and is used all over the world by guys in local gyms up to professional athletes. I would recommend checking out MyProtein again for various Creatine products available at really good prices. Always follow the guideline amounts of the product labels.

Multi-vitamin

As in phase one, a good quality multi-vitamin is massively important. This is if you’re an athlete or just in general life, but even more so when you’re training hard as your body needs increased amounts. I use MyProtein’s Alpha men.

Whether you’re looking to build muscle, you’re an active person or simply need to get the correct amount of protein into your daily dietary intake private label supps can finally make your dreams of seeing your own brand.

Weight Gainer Supplement

There is not a must in adding a weight gainer, however it makes things a lot easier during this phase as it’ll give you a massive level of protein and carbohydrate your body needs whilst keeping costs of food down. I personally recommend Interactive Mammoth 2500 as have used it and had huge results.

Sample Supplement Schedule

So good luck getting rid of that christmas gut. There are some great exercise plans out there to go with this diet and supplement guide, we will also be bringing your further workout plans throughout this coming month!

ByTom Bradshaw