Strong Bodies

The scale is lying to you

11-05-19

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Do you believe abdominals should be part of your workout?


There are people who believe that doing hundreds of them will help them to get rid of the belly fat and there are people who never do abdominals because they are “made in the kitchen” or because you “engaged your core” with many other exercises.


I respect both perceptions, but I don’t fully agree with either of them.


Of course, proper nutrition is the biggest part of having a flat stomach, but there are other factors as well like strength training, proper cardio, recovery, balanced hormones, supplementation and genetics.


THE RIGHT NUTRITION IS NEVER STARVATION. The ideal nutrition is based on a balanced and consisten combination of macronutrients (Protein, good carbs, essential fats) that nourish our body, divided in 5/6 meals per day.

STRENGTH TRAINING TO MASTER OUR METABOLISM AND DEVELOP MUSCLE MASS. I can never say this enough. In this case, I have treated abdominal muscles like any other muscle of our body and train them as they deserve. I understand that we engaged the core during most other exercises, but if we engaged the triceps during chest exercises, does that means we don’t have to work or isolate the triceps?.

PROPER CARDIO. Cardio is essential to increase fat burning, but only if we do it at the right time and we manage our heart rate to stay in the “Fat burning zone”.

RECOVER, SUPPLEMENTATION AND BALANCED HORMONES. Stress, lack of sleep, lack of micronutrients and unbalanced hormones are some of the biggest reasons we keep fat around the belly area. But there is hope and natural, healthy solutions.

Laly

The Stage Experience

09-24-19

Five minutes before going on stage, we were all aligned behind the curtains waiting for our turn to shine.


I remember hearing some of the girls commenting about how much they wanted it to be over and eat whatever they want or go home to sleep. Some other girls were so nervous that they couldn’t even talk because they were shaking almost in a panic.


Although I understood how they felt, I couldn’t help but try to encourage them to enjoy that moment!... it was our moment and they were missing it!


We all knew how much time, work, effort, money, and sacrifice it took for us to be there. We had all prepared for months just for that performance, the moment to shine and show our friends and loved ones that we had made it!


Regardless of whether we were getting a trophy or not, just to be there was a triumph...

I am sure there were many other girls who wanted to be there but they didn’t make it, so just to be there was a privilege that we deserved to encourage and enjoy.


But our minds play tricks on us and most of time we miss the best moments of our lives thinking about what’s coming next, the past hard moments or fearing what other people think...


Winning was a surprise to me, because I knew there were girls that look better, but I believe what helped me the most, was the simple fact that I enjoyed every single second of it...

Laly

Should we do abs?

10-31-19

The number on the scale says nothing about the body composition.


Knowing and understanding this truth, could take away a lot of frustration from the people that are obsessed with the scale, starvation diets, counting calories or excessive cardio.


One more pound of muscle in the body, burns 50 more calories per day while at rest, which means, 10 more pounds of muscle are going to increase the metabolism rate by 500 more calories burned in a day without having to workout more.


The pieces of the puzzle of a healthy, consistent lifestyle that helps to grow the muscle and burn the fat are:

Weight Training: Appropriate routine that challenge the muscles to grow.

Cardiovascular Training: Moderate aerobic routine that promotes fat burning and heart health. Better if is done after weight training.

Nutrition: Consistent eating habits that nourishes the body. Five to six meals per day based on the right combination of macronutrients: Protein, Good Carbs and Essential Fats.

Supplementation: Micronutrients and gut health are essential to support the functionality of the body. The most important supplements are: Multivitamins, Omega 3, Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes.

Stress Management: Sleeping, recovering and evolving are as important as training and eating healthy.


In conclusion

The focus should be on increasing the pounds of the dumbbells or the muscles.

The number on the scale is not always a mark of health.

Yo-yo diets are only going to sacrifice the muscle mass which means the metabolism will go down as well.

More cardio is not the answer! Smart cardio is.


Laly