Eating on the run doesn't need to sabotage your physique. These protein-packed snacks are easy, convenient, and perfect for adding lean mass. 12 Packable Muscle-Building Snacks If you were under house arrest, life would suck, with one exception: You could prepare all of your meals under strict calorie and macronutrient control. No restaurant secret sauces to worry about, no drive-through maidens singing their siren song, no convenience stores on every corner. You travel about freely, however, and the only crimes being committed are dietary in nature. Even when you try to eat right on the run, it's hard to know what you're putting in your body. And sometimes you're well aware you're eating poorly; fast food's marketing muscle just makes unhealthy items that much harder to resist. Taking the time to pack smart muscle-building snacks will do more than help you avoid diet disasters. It'll help make sure all of your nutritional needs don't go unmet.   Click To Enlarge.Taking the time to pack smart muscle-building snacks will do more than help you avoid diet disasters. Let's take a quick look at 12 great ideas that you can use as you go about your diet plan that will support your lean-mass-building goals: 1. Chicken Wrap With A Whole-Wheat Tortilla First up on the list of packable muscle-building snacks is a simple Chicken Wrap. Use a whole-wheat soft tortilla, smear a small amount of low-fat mayonnaiseon top, and add in a pre-grilled chicken breast, shredded lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Wrap before placing in a Ziplock bag in your cooler for storage. This is a healthy meal that will supply you with both protein and wholesomecarbohydrates to fuel those hungry muscles of yours.  Click To Enlarge.Use a whole-wheat soft tortilla. 2. Nutrition-Packed Trail Mix If you're looking for a snack that you can take anywhere, nothing beats trail mix. Instead of purchasing the store-bought varieties, which are often loaded with sugar, create your own. Mix together almonds, pecans, and dried fruit with whole-wheat pretzels andsunflower seeds. Store in a Tupperware container for when your energy lags between meals.  Click To Enlarge.Instead of purchasing the store-bought trail mix, which are often loaded with sugar, create your own. 3. Homemade Protein Peanut Butter Balls Protein Peanut Butter Balls are quick and easy to prepare at home and will quickly provide your muscles with the nutrition they need. Mix 2 scoops of protein powder, ½ cup peanut butter, 1 cup of dry oats, and ¼ cup dried cranberries. Once a sticky mixture is formed (note that you may need to add a small amount of water to moisten), form into balls. Form a coating by rolling each ball in oats mixed with another scoop of peanut butter. Store in a Tupperware container. 4. Beef Jerky And An Orange For a quick source of protein on the go and one that doesn't require any refrigeration, beef jerky is perfect. Look for a lower-sodium variety to keep salt intake down and protein intake high. Pair an orange with your beef jerky for healthy carbs and fiber. Added benefit: The vitamin C in the orange will help to boost the body's absorption of the iron in the beef jerky, maximizing the benefits from this simple snack.  Click To Enlarge.The vitamin C in the orange will help to boost the body's absorption of the iron in the beef jerky. 5. Peanut Butter And Banana Roll-Ups If you love the combination of peanut butter and banana, peanut butter roll-ups are great for when you're in a hurry. Spread 1 or 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter over a whole-wheat pita or soft tortilla. Top with a sliced banana. Cut into smaller pieces and then store in a snack bag or Tupperware container. This snack contains a great balance of healthy carbohydrates and fats, but lacks some protein, so consider drinking a protein shake along with it. 6. Protein Pancakes Protein Pancakes are our next great muscle-building snack to take with you on the go. Whip these up first thing in the morning and they'll be ready when you need them. To prepare these, combine 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup of cottage cheese, 1 cup ofegg whites, and 1-2 scoops of your favorite protein powder. Once well mixed, pour onto a pre-heated pan coated with non-stick spray and pour batter evenly in the center. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes or until edges are brown and then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side. You should easily get 5-6 large pancakes from this recipe.
7. Mexican Tuna Tuna is always a great grab-and-go protein source. Make good use of it in your quest for lean mass. To prepare this muscle-building snack, open and drain a can of tuna. Combine with ¼ cup salsa, ½ cup kernel corn, and choppedmushrooms, peppers, and carrots. Top with chilli pepper for a nice metabolic boost, and garlic and onion powder if desired. If you plan to consume this within a few hours of making it, no need to keep it in a cooler. Any longer than that, and you should try and keep it chilled.  Click To Enlarge.Tuna is always a great grab-and-go protein source. 8. Apple With Low-Fat Cheese You likely won't be consuming tons of fruits and vegetables during a mass-building phase, as they do add quite a bit of bulk to your diet. But for health's sake, still strive to consume at least three to five servings each day for the nutritional benefits they provide. Apples are a great source of fiber and vitamin C and a quick-and-easy snack. Pair the apple with some low-fat cheese for added protein, a small amount of fat, and calcium, and you're all set. 9. Protein Shake With Raw Oats When you're really in a hurry and don't have time to prepare much of anything, nothing beats a scoop of protein powder tossed into a shaker cup along with ½ cup of raw oats and a few tablespoons of flaxseeds. This "just-add-water" snack will provide you with all three essential nutrients-proteins, carbs, and fats-and takes all of 30 seconds to consume. When you're trying to up those calories to build muscle faster, this is a great choice.  Click To Enlarge.Nothing beats a scoop of protein powder tossed into a shaker cup along with ½ cup of raw oats and a few tablespoons of flaxseeds. 10. Canned Salmon With Whole-Wheat Crackers Canned salmon is another welcome protein source. The high essential fatty acid content will supply your body with important nutrients for maximizing the muscle-building process. Mix canned salmon mixed with some low-fat mayonnaise, add a few whole-wheat crackers for healthy carbs, and you have a perfect snack for taking on the road. 11. Cottage Cheese With Canned Fruit If you do have a cooler at your disposal, pack a small carton of low-fat cottage cheese and a can of fruit in water (or very light syrup to keep the sugar content down). When ready to eat, simply open the can and dump the fruit and juice into the cottage cheese. This is a great way to instantly add flavor to a food that many people struggle to enjoy. 12. A Protein Bar Finally, if you're looking for another packable snack to always keep on you at all times, check out the wide assortment of protein bars available in our store. Seek out one that contains at least 20 grams of protein per bar, as well as some healthy carbs and dietary fats. Since you're building muscle, you can afford a few extra calories in your diet. A bar that contains 300 to 500 will likely be a great fit.
So there you have it: fast-and-easy packable muscle-building snack ideas for you to consider. With all of these choices, there's never any reason not to be getting in the calories that you need. | ||||||||
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
12 Packable Muscle-Building Snacks.
8 Ways To Push Past Adversity
No one ever said shaping up would be easy. Here's how to keep moving forward when the headwinds are stiffer than usual. Adversity: Overcome And Succeed Despite It When you look up adversity in the dictionary or online, some definitions may include hardships, misfortunes, or distress. Whichever meaning you choose to accept the fact remains the same. Regardless of whom you are or where you call home, we all deal with adversities of many types in our lifetimes and it never comes at a good time. The one upside to adversity is since it is inevitable, you can prepare to deal with adversity in general before it arrives and that can help you deal with whatever troubles you so you can move on with your life in a positive way. Types Of Adversity You Deal With Adversity comes in many shapes and forms. It can hit you from a physical standpoint or from a mental and emotional angle. Whether it is one way or the other, the fact of the matter remains you need to deal with it properly and quickly so you can move on because your bodybuilding and fitness aspirations are awaiting you and the sooner you can get back on track the better off you will be in both the short and long runs.  Click To Enlarge.Adversity can hit you from a physical standpoint or from a mental and emotional angle. Let's look at both types of adversity a little closer so we can plan on how to overcome them. Physical Adversity When I refer to physical adversity, I am referring to something that physically keeps you from focusing on what you are trying to do. This can be something like an illness or an injury that prevents you from training. If you are sick or hurt, it can devastate you and prevent you from striving forward. You cannot let this stop you because bodybuilding and fitness isn't just about the gym or weight room as we all know. Nutrition is the most important aspect of bodybuilding, fitness, and good health in general. When you are sick or hurt, this increases at least tenfold. Each good calorie that you take in and each bad calorie you avoid increases your chances for recovery.  Click To Enlarge.Nutrition is the most important aspect of bodybuilding, fitness, and good health in general. Staying away from the convenient and bad foods is just as important as the healthy foods you take in. The better you eat, the faster you will overcome your adversity and get back to training. Don't forget about your supplementation either. Taking your multi's, protein powder, and whatever other products you have at your disposal is crucial to get you off the couch and back to doing what you love to do.
Mental Adversity Mental adversity refers to either events or people that bring you down mentally and make you feel like you shouldn't go train or it doesn't matter whether you eat healthy or not. It brings you down to a sad or depressed state. Events like this can include losing your job, going through a breakup or divorce, a catastrophic occurrence like a fire or extreme weather doing damage to your home or the worst of all, the death of a loved one or a friend. Having to go through something like any of these events or others can make you extremely sad, lower your self-esteem and self-worth, and influence negative thoughts like bodybuilding is pointless or you aren't worth taking care of yourself. Regardless of the thoughts that go through your head, none of them are true and the sooner you realize that, the quicker you will get into a more positive state of mind and get back on track.  Click To Enlarge.Mental adversity refers to either events or people that bring you down mentally and make you feel like you shouldn't go train. People can have this same effect on people. Folks that are you are close to or even those that are strangers can affect your mental state. They can be negative because of things going wrong in their own lives and try to bring you down with them. Knowing they can make someone else feel bad sometimes makes them feel better. They could try telling you that you are wasting your time at the gym and you can't achieve those outlandish goals you set for yourself. You can't let people like this keep you from staying in your positive mindset and striving toward your own goals. Hopefully seeing that you can overcome adversity and live your own life for the better will inspire them to try to do the same. Overcoming Adversity It is one thing to prepare for different types of adversity but it is another to deal with this obstacle and move on in a positive direction. You have to do it though because letting adversity bother you is bad for yourself as well as those close to you. If you are sick or injured and are physically unable to train, you can do more than just eat properly. This would be a great time to start coming up with a new strategy for when you do return to take on the iron. You can study different exercises and read about nutrition information that can help you come up with a new plan to make gains again. You can find ways to train around your injury so you don't get hurt again. Perhaps you can find a new supplement to try so your immune system will have extra support. Working on a new plan will get you excited about what you are going to do once you get back to work instead of dwelling on the fact that you can't go to the gym now. If it is more mental than physical then you can do a lot to keep that positive state of mind so you won't stop doing what you are doing. The first thing you must do is keep yourself surrounded by positive people.  Hanging out with people that have nothing to feel good about does nothing except bring you down with them. This is the absolute last thing you need. As a matter of fact, you don't need it at all. A second way to keep yourself upbeat is to look back on how far you have come since you started. You have a lot to be proud of and there is nothing wrong with holding your head up high to show pride in your accomplishments. Looking back fondly at your feats will help you remember why you are doing this and that will help you feel better. BodySpace One final suggestion I have is to go on Bodyspace. Bodyspace is a great social network to get you focused again and reenergized mentally. Seeing the progress pictures and reading the blogs showing how people train and how good they feel will help you work toward having those same feelings yourself. Writing in your own blog about what is going on in your world and knowing people are there to help you out by either sharing a positive comment or sympathizing with your situation goes a long way in helping you. Take it from someone that has benefitted greatly from being on Bodyspace. You need to be on this site if you aren't yet. Never Quit When adversity strikes you, regardless of its form, dealing with it in as positive of a manner as possible will help you overcome it faster and get you back on the bodybuilding and fitness journey. Taking that journey itself is as great a way to prepare for adversity as any other. Not everybody can do this and you should be proud of the fact that you can. Hopefully that thought will help you overcome your adversity and prove why you can in fact do it. | ||||
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Transfomation Of The Week
 Jon Fildes Added 33 Pounds Of Muscle And Found A New Passion For Bodybuilding!
 Vital Stats Name: Jon Fildes Email: Jonfildes0407@aol.com
Why I Got Started Growing up I was quite an average size until the age of about 12 to 13. When I reached this age I got into competitive tennis and played many hours a day for about 5-6 days a week. When I was playing this much I didn't increase my calorie intake much at all so as a result my weight dropped rapidly and I became very skinny. As I reached the age of 15 I began to take tennis a bit more seriously and realized that I was not as strong as the other players at tournaments and this was hindering my performance as I simply did not have enough weight behind my shots. Having just finished school at 15 I came home and went into my room. I was due to start college in the next few months and didn't want to be the same skinny boy going into college for obvious reasons. I went to my mirror and took my top off and right then and there I made a promise to myself to dedicate to training hard and packing on some muscle mass.   Click To Enlarge.I Made A Promise To Myself To Dedicate To Training Hard And Packing On Some Muscle Mass. How I Did It By the time I went to college I had put on just under a stone from lifting at my local gym but didn't really know what I was doing and didn't pay any attention to nutrition. During college my interest in the gym grew as I began lifting with a friend and I began to enhance my knowledge of weight training. In the next year I put on more weight but noticed that I was putting on a lot of body fat which made me look kind of fat which was not appealing to me. I decided to devote time and effort into finding out information on nutrition as well as proper weight training form, exercises and overall weight training information. During my second year at college I began to see great results through cleaning up my diet and training properly. I lost about a stone in body fat and had achieved a much better shape to my frame. My passion for bodybuilding grew and grew and half way through my second year at college I decided this is what I want to be doing. I am just about to start university to study fitness and personal training and am excited to be enhancing my knowledge as well as my personal results. I aim to be a high quality personal trainer and start up my own business so that I can help others achieve their goals and fitness aspirations. I would also like to compete in a show in the near future so that I can take another step in my bodybuilding journey.  Click To Enlarge.I Began To See Great Results Through Cleaning Up My Diet And Training Properly. Supplements I personally don't use any supplements as I feel that it is best to progress by being consistent with sound nutrition and training and by doing this results will come. I have used protein shakes in the past but found them to be too pricey for me and I get just as good results from using whole foods. Diet For me diet and nutrition are very important and in my case is what made my results. I believe that results are made in the kitchen and not in the gym. This is a typical day's diet:
I drink a cup of green tea about 3-4 times a day which I feel helps keep mymetabolism elevated. I also drink 3-4 litres of water per day to help the nutrients be taken through my body much better as well as keeping me well hydrated and feeling fresh. I increase my carb intake by about 50g complex carbs pre workout and post workout by another 50g of complex carbs after taking in some fruit such as abanana to aid in the glycogen delivered to my muscles. Training I train one day on one day off and mix up my rep ranges from week to week. For example, I will go heavy one week, moderate the next and lighter the week after but still keeping the rep range within 4-12 and 12-15 on most isolation exercises. I mix up the exercises each week and never do the same workout twice. I will apply shock techniques to prevent a plateau as well such as superset's drop sets etc. I do 30-35 minutes of cardio in the form of stationary bike or walking about 3-4 times a week. This is not on a set day but more when I feel like it. I increase or decrease my cardio depending on how much other activity I am doing such as tennis. I stick to mainly low intensity cardio as I feel that this targets fats stores much better. However I am going to start doing some HIIT cardio to improve my cardiovascular endurance as well as burn fat more effectively. When training I focus on training with good form and technique as I feel that this is the best way to stimulate the muscle and break it down. Big weights don't necessarily mean big muscles or a good body shape. Its how you contract the muscles with the weight that you can manage for the set number of reps that you have targeted. An example of a typical weeks training would look like this:
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