How to Keep Fit While On Vacation

I recently took a short vacation and I thought that it would be beneficial for some of you to have an idea on what to do so you don't have to sacrifice working out. In terms of exercises, there a few things you can do in your hotel room or pretty much anywhere that can substitute for a gym or any equipment. Remember, this workout shouldn't be a regular one, just one that's in place of your normal workout routine for a few days.


This workout focuses on the main muscle groups of your body and mainly works your legs, chest, abs, shoulders, and triceps. Make sure your do a quick stretch before starting the workout. Do each exercise slowly and steadily, don't rush. Also, don't take breaks between sets. If you have to take a break, a 20-30 second one should do.

Travel Workout:

1) Squats: 1 set, 20 reps

These squats rely solely on your body weight, no weights are used. Stand with your feet close enough to be shoulder length apart. Hold your hands out and lower your legs as if you were sitting in an imaginary chair. Make sure you go down till your legs are parallel to the ground. Return back up to the starting position.

2) Sit-Ups: 1 set, 30 reps

While lying with your back on the ground, bend your knees at a 90 degree angle. Have your hands behind your head and come up with your chest coming up. Make sure your feet are on the ground and your back is straight while doing so. Return to the starting position.

3) Push-Ups: 1 set, 20 reps

If you can't properly do a push-up or still can't get up to 20 that's okay. There is a variant to the push-up that still focuses on the chest, back, and triceps, but is easier to do. The main difference is that your knees are on the ground instead of your feet/toes. This allows you to lift less body weight (everything but your legs) while still having an impact.

Now, after completing these 3 exercises, repeat the cycle once more and there you have it, the simple travel workout.

Optional: If for some reason you have access to a pull-up bar or an alternative, add in 1 set of 10 reps to the cycle.

The Best Lower, Mid, and Upper Ab Exercises You Can Do

Before I mention these different ab exercises, there are a few things that should be clear. This workout should only be part of your complete training program. It's important to keep your focus on larger muscle groups since your abdominals are auxiliary muscles. Second, this workout should not be done more than 3 times a week. Also, it there should be at least 2 days between each time you workout your abs, they tend to recover quicker than other muscle groups. Each exercise should be done in a slow steady motion, you shouldn't rush.  Finally, you should do 3 sets and 15-25 reps of each exercise.


1) Upper Abs

-Decline Bench Sit-Up: To do this exercise, lay yourself down on a decline bench. Start out with your back flat on the bench. Slightly come up a few inches off of the bench so that the tension stays in your upper abs. Bring your back down to the bench and repeat.

2) Mid Abs

-Ins and Outs: You can do this exercise on the floor or on a flat bench. While sitting, lift your legs up so that your only support is your hands and bottom. Make sure your hand are behind your back. Now push your legs in and out with your knees bending as you do this.

3) Lower Abs

-Leg Lifts: If you're doing this workout at home this exercise can be done on the floor but is usually done on the lateral lift machine at the gym. If at the gym, simply stand on the machine with your back straight on the cushion. Your only support is your elbows on the elbow cushion. Now slowly lift your legs up as high as you can and bring them down in a steady motion. These are simpler on the floor and are also effective. If at home, lie down flat on your back with your hands on the floor. Keep your body steady as you lift only your legs straight up to a 90 degree angle and bring them down slowly right before they touch the floor.

10 Simple Tips You Should Add to Your Daily Fitness Routine for Faster Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

1. Minimize carbohydrates as much as you can. Get used to reading nutritional fact labels and keep track of how much carbs you take in per day. Try to keep that number below 40 grams. Carbohydrates higher your insulin level in the body which triggers the fat stores to store fat.


2. Eat more protein. Whether it's chicken, beef, fish, or a protein shake, you need to be getting in at least 1 gram of protein for every pound you weigh. For example, if you weigh 190 lbs., then you should be taking in 190 grams of protein per day. Note that this is only for those looking to increase their muscle mass. Even if your goal is fat loss, you should be increasing your protein intake because it will keep you full for longer. Also, a gram of protein contains 3.5 calories compared to 5 calories per one gram of carbs and 10 calories per gram of fats.

3. If your eating less than 40 grams of carbohydrates per day, do not be afraid of eating fats. Remember that as long as your not eating that much carbohydrates, your body won't store the fat you take in because it uses it as an energy source. Instead, you'll be burning the fat you already have stored in your body.

4. Keep a record of your workouts and take note of weights, sets, and reps. This is important so you can track your results and increase your strength the right way. Don't go into the gym guessing how much weight you used last time or what speed you ran on the treadmill and for how long. Take note of everything and gradually work your way up. You'll see results faster.

5. Change your workout every 3 weeks. If you keep doing the same workout routine for a muscle group, your muscles will get accustomed to them and growth will be slow. This is where muscle confusion comes in. After 3 weeks when you start doing new exercises, your muscles won't be used to them and they'll need time to be. Muscle growth will be much faster this way. After the second cycle of new exercises, switch back to your original routine and so on. So you have 2 separate routines. Do one for 3 weeks, start the second one after, then the first one again, and so on.

6. Don't focus on 2 or 3 muscle groups, you need to workout your whole body. There is no such thing as spot training (training one muscle group and expecting it to develop). You must train all of your muscle groups so that more hormones can be secreted by your body encouraging growth and anabolism. You'll be surprised that you will have faster muscle growth by working out your whole body. Never think about skipping leg day. That's a common mistake. People skip leg day because they don't care if they have defined legs or not but in reality testosterone is secreted by your body more on leg day than any other workout day by a lot. The same goes for abs. Running on the treadmill and doing a bunch of ab workouts won't get you abs. You need to workout every muscle in your body and you'll burn fat and gain muscle a lot faster.

7. This continues from the last step in a way. Focus on larger muscles groups, not smaller ones. Keep the smaller ones for later. There is practically no fat burn in your body when you train 1 muscle in the gym all the time. Legs, Chest, and Back are what you should primarily focus on. These are large muscle groups. Your biceps are actually a small muscle when it comes to these, same goes for triceps and shoulders. These are known as auxiliary and you should workout these muscles within the week for maximum gains.

8. Your most calorie-filled meals of the day should be breakfast and your post-workout meal. You'll burn fat faster when you eat a bigger breakfast and you'll be less prone to eat unhealthy foods throughout the day. As for your meal after you workout, you should be eating 30-40 grams of protein. It's important to fuel your body and get as much nourishment to your muscles so that they can recover faster.

9. Don't train the same muscle group twice every 3 days. Even though you may not feel sore, your muscles are still recovering. After 3 days, they should be recovered so that you can train that muscle group again. Training the same muscle group more than once in less than 3 days will deplete your recovery process and the muscle will breakdown even more. By the time you recover, you will have made little or no gains. Give your muscles time. It may sound like a slow process but it's worth it. 20 grams of protein every 2-3 hours will increase the recovery period and your metabolic rate.

10. Women can drink soy milk or almond milk as a substitute to dairy milk. It contains far less carbohydrates and is said to have a better taste. You can add sugar free syrup for a low carb chocolate milk. Men shouldn't drink soy milk because it increases the estrogen level in the body which  slows down the release of testosterone.

Why You Need to Up Your Water Intake Today

Fat loss, muscle supplementation, energy gains, boosted metabolism, and more; these are all overlooked benefits of water. I say this because surveys show that over 85% of people in the United States don't meet their daily water intake needs. People don't realize that the cheapest and easiest to get drink is what could get them in better health almost instantly. Outside of fat loss and muscle gain, water has tons of health benefits which promote a better well being. Let's start with fat loss. The main reason water aids in fat loss is simply because it substitutes higher calorie drinks like juice or soda. If you make the simple choice to drink water instead of a can of Pepsi (which contains 150 calories and 41 grams of carbohydrates that are all sugars) for three meals of the day, then you are cutting out 450 calories and 128 grams of carbohydrates, way more than the limit I discussed in the last post. What if you substituted water for all your sweetened drinks? You would easily cut out close to 1,000 calories per day without even knowing it. It's crazy how you think that one little drink here and there won't harm but at the end of the day, all the calories and carbohydrates add up. It's all about making better choices. The next reason water aids in fat loss is because it increases your body's metabolic rate. It does this by regulating the temperature of the water to that of your body temperature and this process increases metabolism. It is also increases when you drink your food down with water. Drinking enough water in your day will also boost your energy. Dehydration tends to keep you in a tired mood so drinking enough water helps your heart pump blood more effectively causing you to be more alert. In turn, it also helps the blood transport oxygen and other essential nutrients to your cells. Water is known as "Natures Own Beauty Cream", when you are dehydrated, wrinkles and fine lines in your skin are deeper. Drinking enough water will hydrate the skin cells and give you a younger complexion. It also gets rid of impurities and improves circulation to your face making your tone glow. Overall, you and your body are happier with water. It suppresses headaches, reduces stress, and keeps you focused. Water truly is an overlooked beverage and it should be a main part of your diet today. According to Mayo Clinic, the recommended amount of water for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) a day and 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) a day for women. I hope this article made a clear enough point of how important water really is and you will definitely find it easier to meet your fitness goals with the proper amount of water in your diet.

Nutrition: 75% of Your Six Pack Abs are Made in the Kitchen

I have to admit that when I first starting working out, all I really wanted was some cut and defined six pack abs. Like many people (especially teens), I would have a not so healthy diet and eat 3-4 main meals a day with unhealthy snacks in between. Not enough water, not enough protein, and I wasn't smart about my technique. What I mean by the technique is that my workout would consist of a variety of ab workouts and some running, nothing else, everyday of the week. I did this on and on and I didn't seem to find any results. After a lot of reading and research, I finally took control over my body and worked it in a way that I've always wanted it to.

When I look back at my situation, I was facing two main problems. Nutrition, and technique. People always have the mentality that there is a such thing as "spot training", which I'll mention in another post. This doesn't exist and there is simply no way someone can develop a certain muscle while the rest of his/her muscles aren't developing. This is where the frustration gets to some people when they spend hours in the gym every week on the treadmill and on the ab mats and they wonder why their abs aren't popping out. Doing so simply exhausts the muscle and as any other muscle, it will feel tighter while being worked, feel sore the next day, but it won't develop because not enough hormones are being secreted and the muscle isn't being supplemented. Lets start with supplementation. No, I'm not talking about bodybuilding supplements like pre-workout hybrids and energy pills, but a strict nutritional plan. If you're just getting started in the gym and you want to get your nutrition intact, start following one simple yet crucial rule; eat 5-6 meals a day, preferably six. This will greatly increase your metabolism and you'll feel energized throughout the day and ready to go in the morning. These meals should consist of regular portions and you shouldn't eat so much that you can't eat a few hours later. The reason that metabolism increases with this method is that the body's digestive system is constantly doing its job and digesting food. The small portions every 2.5 hours will be used as an energy source and as the energy level increases, the body will need to burn from it's own products to keep up and this is how fat is "burned".
As you can see, this simple method will take you a long way and should be everyones first step when beginning bodybuilding.
I've gotten the question, "What should I eat?" asked to me a lot and I honestly can never specifically answer it. What people will do, especially girls, is that they will stay away from anything with a high fat content thinking that they will get fat from eating fatty foods. This is where people are wrong and now you'll find out that sugar-free foods are actually more beneficial to your fat burning goal than fat-free or low-fat foods. You need to keep in mind that fats are not the enemy, carbohydrates are. People don't realize how much carbs they eat hoping that not eating fats will help them cut their belly fat. Let me tell you how carbs and fats work together. Say you wake up and eat a stack of pancakes with butter and maple syrup on top. This is a meal mostly composed of carbohydrates but also has fats. When you eat the pancakes, your body will use the energy it needs and only what it needs from the carbohydrates and it just got plenty of them. It doesn't need the fats for energy so it stores them and all of the excess carbs into your fat stores. This is how people just get fatter. Say you just ate carbs and no fats, the body will not burn any of what it has stored and it will just use the carbs it is taking in as energy. The solution to this is the exciting part. It consists of somewhat of a diet designed to burn fat and increase muscle mass. The diet cuts out carbohydrates on the weekdays letting you take in a maximum of 20-25 grams of carbs a day and you're allowed to eat as much fat and protein as you wish. This is where the real fat burning takes place. Since you aren't taking in any carbs (barely), the body needs an energy source. The only energy source it has is the stored fat in your body. Your body will only burn the stored fat and use it as energy if minimal carbs are taken in. Another reason carbohydrates increase fat so much is because of insulin. Yes insulin is highly anabolic, but it directly triggers the body's fat stores to store fat.
Now how do we build muscle by not eating carbohydrates on the weekdays? Since our insulin is at it's minimal point on the weekdays, testosterone and growth hormone levels (two highly anabolic hormones) are through the roof. Insulin cannot be at a high level if test and growth hormone are and vice versa. This is where the body turns into an anabolic state and the protein taken in will practically flow to your muscles. By the way, if your goal is to build muscle, you should be taking no less than 1 gram per pound of body weight of protein. For example, I weigh 180 lbs. 180 grams of protein is the minimum amount I should be taking in.
Now lets get to the weekend. Note that if your goal is to build muscle, you should follow the weekend step, but if your goal is to loose weight, the weekend step can be beneficial but is optional. On the weekend, starting on Saturday morning, you should eat carbohydrates all day while eating minimum protein and a regular amount of fat. This is because we want to also use the anabolism of insulin throughout our week to increase muscle mass even more. The reason that this is optional for those aiming to loose weight is because the weekend step is mainly to focus on building muscle. For those looking to burn fat, it is fine to take an off-day and eat carbs along with protein and fats for one day.
I hope that this post was beneficial! Please email me if you have any questions and be sure to tune in for more posts.