So I'm sure many of you, like myself, are working out
regularly to help maintain a healthy body. Not all of us are out there for the glorious physiques, some of us just want to be healthy! Well, one of the keys to maintaining a healthy body is to keep one's body fat percentage as low as possible.
Typically, women should have a total body fat percentage between 10% and 25% and men should have something between 2% and 18%. Now, don't quote me on these percentages, everyone has their own percentage that they see as ideal for their bodies, this is simply a percentage range that I found online. Also, typically any percentage over 30% is considered obese, and that applies to both men and women.
So how can you keep this percentage down? By eating healthy and working out on a regular basis! Eating
healthy foods is one of the best ways to keep one's body fat percentage down. If you eat nothing but
fattening foods all day all week and all year you'll only blow up that number along with your body. Watch what you eat! Low, or non-fat foods are good ways of keeping the fat down. Also, reducing sugar intake from cokes and candies. Little do we know that these tiny, "innocent" things are building up and harming our bodies. Take 1 coke away from your daily consumption, it'll make a difference trust me.
Also, by working out on a regular basis you'll boost your
metabolism. By raising one's metabolism your body will continue to use that excess fat for energy and it won't be sitting there piling up on you anymore. Keep active, and keep it up daily. Simple walks or quick visits to the gym will suffice, just make sure you're doing something. For all you gym goers and those who are looking to really help reduce body fat here are 5 quick tips that I follow whenever I work out. I got it from my magazine called
MensFitness.
Follow these 5 tips whenever you hit the gym and you'll start seeing the fat melting away quicker than ever! The tips include:
1.
Shorten your rest periods- by reducing rest periods to about 30 seconds or a minute between sets you'll keep your heart rate high up in the calorie burning zone. The longer the heart stays at this level the more fat it will consume and use up for energy.
2.
Train the whole body- by training the whole body every time your body will not only work extra hard, but it will also experience a boost in growth hormone. It's like being a kid all over again. The more the body is working to help muscles grow and expand the more energy necessary and the more fat being consumed.
3.
Alternate sets- by alternating sets you're giving yourself more time for rest. Do an upper body workout then go to a lower body workout or a workout that uses a different muscle group. Many times when in the gym people like to just blast a single
muscle group, but when you do this you're exhausting your body and your muscles, not allowing you to hit your full potential each time and slowing you and your work out down.
4.
Increase lifting speed- by doing this what you're doing is you're training your body work faster and harder. Your hear rate will stay high and your fast twitch
muscleswill be trained. Fast twitch muscles are our every day
muscles, they're the one's we really use. By increasing lifting speed, but still keeping it under control, you'll further develop these
muscles.
5.
Decrease reps- in following this tip not only should you decrease rep count, but you should also increase weight. Many people do not know that the success to true fat loss is muscle development. By developing muscle beneath fat, the muscle will literally eat up the fat and use it for energy and development. Increasing weight and decreasing reps is one of the best ways to help develop
muscle quickly and efficiently.
So, need more convincing? Check out the article from the
MensFitness website, here's the link
http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/strength_training/456 And check this link out as well. As I was writing this article a news feed popped up about more ways of burning fat. Check it out and see what you can learn
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30111205/The key to a healthy lifestyle is being happy with oneself. None of us have the ideal body, many of those who do are either very,. VERY lucky or they cheated their way there. Just be happy with how you feel, that's the best thing you can do for yourself. Personally, I never like to weigh myself or anything like, it's too personal. The way I judge whether or not I'm healthy is how I feel when I'm performing sports or when I'm out playing with friends. Only you can judge how you feel, just make sure you're happy and all else will fall in place
