What's your Speed? Finding the Right Cardio Intensity

People often ask which is better, high or low intensity cardio? Truthfully there is no right answer for every person. Ultimately, it comes down to whatever works better for you. That being said, there are a few times when you might want to consider doing a low intensity cardio session rather than a high intensity cardio session, and vice versa.

When should you do low intensity cardio?

• If you are trying to put on muscle and have a hard time putting on weight, you’re whats known as a hardgainer. I would stick to low intensity cardio workouts in order to limit the calories you burn.
• If you are someone who prefers doing cardio in the morning while on an empty stomach, you should keep your intensity low.  If you do high intensity cardio you risk losing too much muscle.
• If you are already on a low calorie diet, high intensity cardio might stimulate your appetite too much resulting in increased temptation and cravings.
• If you are on an intense weight lifting program, high intensity cardio might be too much stress on your body. Your muscles need to recover!

When should you do high intenstity cardio?

• If you don’t have a lot of time to be at the gym, high intensity cardio is a great way to get a fantastic workout in a short amount of time.
• If you are looking for a highly efficient way to burn off stubborn fat, increasing your intensity will help your body burn those extra calories.  
• If low intensity cardio is just way too boring for you to do! I’m serious, it can get boring, so step up your intensity from time to time.  
• If you have a slower metabolism and want to keep fat gain to a minimum, while still eating a surplus of calories, you have to maintain a high intensity cardio program.

Personally, I feel like combining both methods of cardio can be very useful both physiologically and psychologically. Varying your routine breaks up the monotony and helps keep things fresh.

-Fazoo Fitness

Counting Calories: How to measure your macros?

Most people aren't really sure exactly how many calories they should be eating. This is usually because most people don't have the correct information to base their calorie intake off of in the first place. This extends to how much fat, carbs, and protein they should be eating as well. Obviously this is going to be different depending on whether you want to lose weight or gain weight, but it will also be different depending on your metabolism, your body type, how much you move throughout the day, etc. As you can see, their are multiple factors that determine what will ideally work for you, however, I will present you with a general guideline that works for most people from which you can simply adjust and edit your intake depending on the results that you see over time (after a few weeks). DISCLAIMER: If you are significantly overweight or have a pre-existing medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.

Your macros for muscle gain will consist of the following:

Split- 20-50-30, which means 20% fat, 50% carbs, and 30% protein

• Calories: 16-20 kcal per pound of body-weight- Those individuals who have slow metabolisms might want to keep it on the low end, whereas, those individuals with a faster metabolism will want to keep it towards the upper end.
• Fat: break-down should consist of 30% of protein or 20% of total calories- some fats will come naturally with the food you eat, if you need to add more fat look for natural sources like nuts, oils, avocados, etc.
• Carbs: 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of body-weight or 50% of total calories- Keep it to 2g if you have a slow metabolism and up towards 3g if you have a faster metabolism.
• Protein: 1-1.5 grams per pound of body-weight or 30% of total calories- This is an absolute must to gain muscle. Depending on your training intensity you might want to shoot toward the upper end of 1.5g.

(For more information on what types of foods you should eat check out "Keep it Clean; What goes into a healthy diet")

For example if you are 200lbs and have a fast metabolism:

Calories- 3600
Fats- 80g
Carbs- 450g
Protein- 270g

For fat loss its going to change a little bit:

More trial and error comes into play here due to varying differences in the amount of cardio logged per week and your metabolism.

Split- 20-40-40, meaning 20% fat, 40% carbs, and 40% protein

• Calories: 15 kcal per pound of body-weight- Start here, although you may need to lower it depending on your progress. You will however, automatically lower your calorie intake when reducing carbs, which you will see later.
• Fats: break-down should consist of 30% of protein or 20% of total calories- This may be higher depending on whether you reduce carbs overtime.
• Carbs: 40% of total calories- If you are not seeing the results that you want, drop your intake by 30g of carbs for the following week.(Reducing by more than 30g at a time could result in negative side-effects, including muscle loss and fat gain.)
• Protein: 1-1.5 grams per bodyweight or 40% of total calories- This might become higher depending on how much you reduce your carb intake. 

For example lets use the same 200lb person (metabolism is NOT important at the beginning, I recommend everyone starting at this level)

Calories- 3000
Fat- 67g
Carbs- 300g
Protein- 300g

Now, if you do not see results, lower your carb intake and adjust your macros accordingly:

Calories-2880
Fat- 67g
Carbs- 270g
Protein- 300g

This type of dieting is often used by competitors to slowly lose stubborn belly fat without sacrificing too much muscle. This is a healthy and effective way to lose fat and will steer you away from gimmick weight-loss diets and keep on track.

We encourage our readers and members of the Fazoo Fitness community to always approach your diet in a healthy and natural way.

What are your goals? What diets have you tried/ have they worked?

-Fazoo FItness

Everything You Thought You Knew About Carbs

Carbohydrates are often misunderstood because of the constant contradictory information; some people say you need carbs in your diet and others tell you to cut carbs out or that they're overrated. So which is correct? Should you eat carbs or not? Actually, they're both correct! The answer depends on your goals and consequently the diet that goes along with those goals. If your goal is to build muscle then carbs are going to be your best friend, however, if you are trying to lose fat then you might want to try to cut down on the carbs.

For muscle gain, sufficient intake of carbohydrates is necessary for your body to be able to generate the required energy you need to lift enough weight so that you stress your muscles. This is necessary in order for them to grow. Carbohydrates are quintessential for muscle growth as they assist protein in making sure your body does not enter into a catabolic or muscle-wasting state. So, when should you have carbs? You should try to plan most of your carb intake in the morning and post-workout, a sufficient amount should also be consumed before your workout as well. Keep in mind that you should ideally try to taper down your carb intake towards the evening and before bed. How many carbs should I be eating? The general rule is to keep carbs between 2-3 grams per pound of bodyweight. This should allow you to gain muscle without putting on excess fat.

For fat loss, your carb intake is a little different. You're going to want to have no more than 40% of your total calories consisting of carbohydrates, of which your total calories should be based on 15 calories per pound of body-weight. So if you are 200lbs, your daily calorie intake will be 3000 calories, which means you should have approximately 300g of carbs. if you do not see any result within 2 weeks, you should adjust your total carb intake. This adjustment should be made by no more than 30g, anymore than this and you risk the possibility that your body will compensate the loss by storing fat. With weight-loss you should restrict your consumption of carbs to your morning meal, pre-workout meal, and post-workout meal. This will decrease your chances of adding any fat.

Although carbs tend not to have as many fans as their nutritional counterpart protein, they are just as important. In order to maximize your benefit, make sure you adjust your carb intake to in order to meet your goals.

What are your goals? What's is your favorite source of carbs?

-Fazoo Fitness

Worked to Death: The Plight of Over-training

The more you exercise the more weight you lose, right? WRONG! Over-training is one of the main reasons why many people hit plateaus. This applies to training of all kinds, whether it be weight loss, strength gains, etc. This can sometimes even have an adverse effect on the body resulting in weight gain or loss of strength.

So how do you make sure your not over-training? One way, is to ensure that your body is receiving sufficient rest. Some of you might have heard the expression--oftentimes used in bodybuilding--your results come from outside the gym. That statement applies to any exercise program, not just in bodybuilding, so when your trying to bulk up, lose weight, or train for a triathlon, rest becomes one of your main concerns.

Your body needs to recover and you can only let that happen if you get sufficient rest. This means getting a good nights sleep but also it means understanding when your body needs a day to recharge. So don't be afraid to take a day off during the week, it can actually help more than you think.

How often do you train? Are you getting enough rest?

-Fazoo Fitness

The Art of Ab-domination: Sculpting a 6-Pack

Who isn't looking to get those beach-ready abs that leave people doing double-takes? Well believe it or not, they're easier to get than you might think. The key is to combine a "clean" diet with a well planed ab routine. First off, understand that your abs will not show if you do not have a low enough body fat percentage, typically this tends to be around 10% for men and 14% for women.

From personal experience, I have found that hitting your abs "hard and fast" is a much more efficient way of developing them. For example, use a circuit to incorporate an exercise for your lower abs (hanging leg raises), an exercise for your obliques (V-twist), an exercise for your intercostals--which are those finger-like muscles underneath your chest (side crunches), and finally your upper abs (high cable crunches). You can also work your transverse abdominus by doing a stomach vacuum.

In order to hit your abs "hard and fast," incorporate those four movements and perform them in a circuit. Perform a total of 3 circuits with minimal rest-time in between each circuit.This will efficiently work your abs by minimizing rest time and also allow you to finish your ab workout in under 15 minutes.

Oftentimes you'll see those people in the gym doing thousands of crunches in hopes of getting that 6-pack they've always wanted, but the truth is they're wasting their time. Check out Sample Routine and see samples of effective ab routines.

Remember to continuously change your ab routine by doing different exercises, but make sure you always hit the lower abs, upper abs, and obliques with every routine. Now go out there and get those washboard abs!

What are your favorite ab exercises?

-Fazoo Fitness

Keep it Clean; What goes into a healthy diet?

You always hear about the importance of eating "clean" in maintaining a healthy diet and helping you to achieve your fitness goals, but what does that really mean?

Essentially, eating "clean" is a delicate balance of consuming the correct amounts of proper carbohydrates, proteins and fats. This means cutting out refined carbohydrates, for example white bread, white rice, pasta, sugary cereals, and of course sweets. Instead of these refined carbohydrates, what you want to be eating is complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, ezekiel bread, brown rice, quinoa, and sweet potatoes.

The proper consumption of complex carbohydrates must also be paired with correct sources of protein and fat. When looking for protein sources, make sure to pick lean sources of meat, such as chicken breast, turkey breast, lean beef, fish, and eggs. As for fat, keep to the basics; foods like natural oils, avocados, nuts and nut butters are all great sources. However, keep in mind that fat is 9 calories per gram, whereas carbohydrates and protein are only 4 calories per gram. Consuming fats is an essential part of a healthy diet, but you want to make sure not to put too much fat into your diet.

In a future post I will explain the importance of carbs, fats, and proteins and how much of each you should have, but for now you can check out our Sample Diet for Lean Muscle Gain, which you can use to compare to your current diet.

Do your best to really focus on eating "clean" as it will skyrocket your progress toward achieving your goals, no matter what they are! When you eat clean, you are providing your body with the nutrients it needs to perform. Fueling your body properly will allow you to actually utilize what you consume and will give you what you need to take it to the next level in your training. It's tough to continuously eat clean, so don't be afraid to fit in a "cheat meal" every now and then to keep you focused on the task at hand.

So, next time you go food shopping try to include the foods I mentioned above, and be creative with your meals!

Tell me about what foods you include in your diet? How do you stay on track with your fitness goals?

-Fazoo Fitness

Jumpin' Out the Gym

Growing up did you ever wish you could dunk?

In order to increase your jumping ability you need to be able to create more power. As you may or may not know, power is the rate at which work can be performed. What this means is that first you must increase your force output, then you must increase the distance at which you are applying the force, and finally you must decrease the time over which the movement is performed.

Now, down to what you actually care about! Here is how to increase you vertical jumping ability:

Quad Strength
The best way to do this is by increasing your squat strength. When you do squats, your going to want to go down to at least 90 degrees. Also, you might want to incorporate single leg squats on a machine to evenly distribute the strength between both legs. Keep your reps pretty low, around 6-10 reps, because your trying to increase your total strength and power.

Calf Strength
Surprisingly, this is oftentimes overlooked when wanting to increase your vertical jump, but your calves are critical to the process, giving your body its final propulsion into the air. Ironically, this is actually pretty easy to train. When working calves, shoot for 10-15 reps, as they tend to require more volume in order to grow.  Make sure you get a really deep stretch on the bottom and pause for a second at the top of the movement, this will enable you to engage your entire calf. Standing calf raises, seated calf raises, and calf presses will be enough to increase the strength of your calves.

Hamstring strength
Lying leg curls and seated leg curls for 5-7 reps will increase the strength  of your hamstrings. You do not necessarily need to prioritize your hamstrings, but you should be concerned with the entire leg in order to really benefit yourself as much as possible.

Flexibility
Often overlooked, flexibility provides leverage for your legs when jumping. It is important to increase your flexibility in your quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors. Make sure to leave static stretching till after your workout and perform dynamic stretches before your workout.

Jumping Skills
Perform this on separate days of weight training.

Lunge jump: Start in a lunge position, then jump in the air and switch legs.
Box Jumps: Jump onto something a foot or two high, then jump off and continue.
Ankle hop: Jump with only your calves! So, don't bend your knees and try to jump onto something small using only your calves.
Stationary jumps: Jump as high in the air as you can, try to bring your knees to your chest.
Single leg jumps: Similar to the lunge jump, but your actually moving forward and only one leg is on the ground at a time.
If you introduce this routine, incorporating 3 days dedicated to lifting and 3 days for jumping drills, you'll be dunking in no time!

-Fazoo Fitness