Over the past four months I’ve been going to the gym and I have noticed that many of the men there – young and old; slim and not so slim – were chugging down protein drinks. They drink it before they work-out or after they work-out. In addition, the gym even has a drinks vending machine that is dedicated to selling a variety of flavours of a ready mixed protein brand. But are there any real benefits to drinking whey protein? Will protein drinks give me the body of an Adonis or is it just marketing mumbo-jumbo to sell expensive powders? Am I missing out on huge gains? Let’s investigate! Continue reading Whey Protein: Do You Really Need It?
Tag Archives: gym
Get Fit 4 Free!
The global fitness industry is worth a staggering €70 billion per year! We contribute to that by buying supplements, sports wear and, most importantly, gym memberships. It takes a lot to get fit! Let’s look at the statistics:
- 140,000,000 people have a gym/health club membership worldwide
(Europe has an estimated 47.67 million memberships) - The global annual revenue from gym/health club membership is €60bn
(€30bn from Europe) - The average cost of a gym membership is about €40 each month.
- 67% of people never use their gym or health club
Here at LIIB we like to look after the pennies and want you to do so too. So, ditch that gym membership, save some money and get healthy for free (not free from healthy). I’ve compiled a list of exercise programmes, apps and youtube workouts- all for zero cost!
Free Fitness Programmes
Joe Wicks – The Body Coach
Joe Wicks is possibly the most popular fitness guru in the UK at the moment. With his affable charm and good looks, he has become a fitness marketer’s dream and now promotes his heath and fitness brand through many media channels. He has the voice of Jamie Oliver and the body of…not Jamie Oliver! Although Joe has a number of paid for products (books, apps, etc.) he does also offer his advice for free. I have added a few of his links here to save you time searching the internet. You can check out his HIIT workouts on his YouTube channel, The Body Coach TV and his book Lean in 15 as a PDF which features 10 of his “exclusive” Shape Plan recipes.
Russ Howe PTI -The Fat Loss Guy
Celebrity trainer Russ Howe PTI is among the UK’s most sought-after personal trainers. He has a reputation for being tough but he very effective in achieving fat loss with his training and his no-nonsense teaching style. Sign up for a free membership and receive thousands of hours of workouts, access to all Russ Howe PTI official workout plans plus you can follow his YouTube channel all for free!
HASfit
“Every Heart and Soul deserves to be Fit!” (or HASFit for short) gives you over 500 free on demand workouts and fitness programs that you can do at home or the gym. If you enjoy bodyweight training you are in luck as this is as the majority of their workouts are based on this philosophy. They are great for home exercise or for when travelling. If you’re a beginner, why not try the 30 Day Low Impact Workout or for those who are much more advanced there is the Warrior 90 Day Workout Routine. HASfit’s team of elite personal trainers provide a wide range of excellent workouts to get you in tip-top shape, regardless of your age. Check out coach Kozak’s 15 Min Tabata Workout below…for no cost!
C25K®
Tailored for first time runners, C25K® is the easiest program to get you to go from couch potatoes to 5K distance runners in 8 weeks. It’s designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks. Available as a free download via iTunes and Google Play in more languages than you can think of, there can be no excuse for not giving this free app a try.
FreeTrainers.com
“Since 2000, FreeTrainers.com has created free customised exercise workout plans for over 2 million people.” their website boldly states, and those numbers are actually pretty impressive! They will you to lose weight, tone up, gain muscle, increase cardiovascular fitness, increase strength, connect with others through support groups, learn about exercise and nutrition at no cost to you. Make FreeTrainers.com your resource in your quest for a healthier and fitter you.
Fitness Blender
Fitness Blender started because they believe that fitness should be freely available to all, no matter their income. They also want to ensure that there was a place where reliable health and fitness information was available on the web. The focus on the aesthetic of the body, they felt, had become the primary focus rather than the health of the whole body. Fitness Blender is only able to provide their expertise for free by ad revenue and the generosity of donations made by their users.
Find a Plan
Find a Plan is the world’s best place for free, comprehensive fitness plans, well, that is what bodybuilding.com says but to be honest, if it isn’t, it comes pretty darn close! Identify your goal: lose fat? Build muscle? Completely reshape your body? Here you can find the perfect program for you. All programmes are designed by top trainers and fitness experts and include video instruction, daily workouts, nutrition information and more.
There is an array of choice that is out there on the internet, some good and some not so good. You can spend many hours searching but the sites that I have listed each have a multitude of options and hundreds of fitness and weight loss programmes to choose from, all for free. We can no longer use cost as an excuse not to get fit and healthy.
Twink, Bear or Jock? Which One Is Your Body Type?
I just did the worst thing that a person can do. I may sound dramatic but it takes a lot of courage to do this heinous act. What did I do? I took a full body nude selfie of myself. Why? Well, not for any hook-up site. It was just see if I have made any progress on this fitness drive that I am attempting.
Now, I know that everyone has a different body shape but most experts suggest that before you embark on any exercise regimen you should know the type of body you have. But what are the different body types?
Which One Are You?
There are three basic body types and most people fall somewhere within these groups. The groups are:
Ectomorph = Lean and thin. Twinks and otters
Endomorph = Larger build that carry more fat. Bears
Mesomorph = Stocky and muscular. Jocks
There are pros and cons to having any one of these body types, so you shouldn’t be jealous of the body that someone else has. For example, ectomorphs typically have a high metabolic rate which means that they burn calories quicker than most, so they remain slim. But they also find it extremely difficult trying to gain weight or add muscularity to their physique. They have to spend a lot of time at the gym lifting weights to attain the body that moves them from twink to Muscle Mary.
Bear chub to muscle bear is a goal for many furry guys.
Endomorphs are larger and heavier people. They find it very hard to lose weight due to their slow metabolism, much slower than their ectopmorphic cousins. Conversely, endomorphs have a much easier time packing on the muscle. Bear chub to muscle bear is a goal for many furry guys.
But what about the mesomorph? What issues could they possibly have? Well, not much. They have high metabolic rate (not as high as the thin and lean “ecto-machines”), it is not too difficult for them to gain muscle and they don’t carry too much fat. They tend to be shorter- that’s all I can come up with as a “con” but for some guys, this is a real problem.
Take The Test!
Most people have their favourite builds that they find attractive but do you have the physique that you want? The exercises that you choose to do should be based on the physique that you have. But do you know if you are an ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph? Take the test at Bodybuilding.com and find out for yourself.
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