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Fitness

SLOW WEIGHT LOSS VS FAST WEIGHT LOSS- WHICH IS BETTER?

Is slow weight loss better than fast weight loss? How slow is slow enough and how fast is too fast?

The proponents of slow weight loss may say “ slower the better “. Well, you can spend the rest of the year losing 10 kgs! Is that good enough? Come on!

The people advocating fast weight loss have even more bizarre goals. How about 5 kgs in 2 weeks, or 10 kgs in a month? It’s as if it’s a race against time. Is the earth going to end and you get to get a seat on the ark only if you are at certain kgs?

Or are you practising for some parallel Olympics and hoping to make India proud again?

Well, the answer is…. it depends!

The problem with an aggressive calorie deficit ( and therefore fast weight loss ) is that you could end up losing valuable muscle mass something that you would like to avoid or at the very least minimise.

Most coaches are aware of this but their approach to the issue is more often than not, less than optimal. People would tend to reduce the calorie deficit so much that they may sometimes take double or three times the amount of time than what it should usually take to lose a given amount of weight.

The trick to finding that sweet spot which lets to have maximal weight loss at a given body composition without losing muscle mass. This comes from experience and constantly monitoring progress

– Arunava Chatterjee

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Fitness

THE MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION: KEY TO HYPERTROPHY

Exercising is more than just execution. There is an equally important factor for maximizing your gains: How the exercise ‘feels’

 

The simple act of consciously feeling a muscle work through a full range of motion can enhance muscle fiber recruitment and activation. And the more fully and effectively you engage your muscles, the more they’ll grow.

 

The brain releases a chemical neurotransmitter called “acetylcholine” to communicate with muscles in the body.

 

When acetylcholine is released, it crosses the “synapses” (the tiny space that separates the nerve from the muscle) where it binds to receptors on the surface of muscle fibres. This causes muscle contraction!

 

When it comes to mind-muscle connection, we have to consciously try to fire up our neurons in the muscle to get it truly innervated.

 

Each muscle is innervated or controlled by motor neurons. These motor neurons are responsible for recruiting the correct muscle fiber (Slow twitch for low-intensity activity and fast-twitch for high-intensity activity). They are also responsible for how many muscle fibers we recruit and this is where muscle and neuromuscular innervation is important.

 

In an untrained individual or someone with poor muscle function, the body might only be using around half of the muscle fibers within a muscle. So using the glute as an example when we try to extend at the hip the motor units send signals to the muscle fibers in the glute to contract but this signal might only get through to half of the available fibers meaning a limited and weak contraction. In highly trained athletes with good muscle function, they will be able to recruit more than 95% of their muscle fibers which means a strong and controlled contraction. This leads to optimal performance. Not only this but it also reduces your risk of injury.

 

So how do you work on this mind-muscle connection to improve muscle growth?

 

1. Close your eyes and imagine your muscle contracting.
You don’t have to have that exact image in your mind but you should think about the muscles and how they are working while you’re completing the rep. Take yourself inside the muscle and imagine the fibers breaking down!

 

2. Flex in Between Sets
Taking an example of bicep curls, you just finished a set of bicep curls. After you set aside the dumbbells, simply stand where you are, and flex the biceps for a few seconds.


3. Slow eccentrics
This is a popular method for increasing time under tension but it’s also a good way to improve your mind-muscle connection. Performing the reps slower helps you feel the muscle working and stretching from start to finish.

 

Simply put, you can train as hard as you want but if your mind-muscle connection is not fully developed you will never reach your full potential.

 

Start your fitness journey today with the best trainers in Delhi!

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Fitness Lifestyle Nutrition

PRESERVE YOUR MUSCLE MASS WHILE BURNING FAT!

Nothing feels more discouraging than seeing your muscle mass dropping as you lose fat. Here are a few tips to combat the same.

 

1)Try to maintain your training intensity as you cut down. As you cut down it becomes difficult to train at the same intensity. However, you should try to push as hard as possible to ensure that your muscles are working at their maximum potential

 

2)Base your caloric intake on your current body fat levels. The less body fat you have, you are more prone to muscle loss. If you have a high body fat percentage, you can make a larger deficit since you have more energy stores to tap into!

 

3) Avoid excess cardio- Doing excessive cardio while already being in a deficit is going to make it more difficult to maintain muscle during a cut. Added to this, excessive cardio decreases mTOR which is essential for muscle growth and increases AMPK which is catabolic and bad for muscle growth. Stick to low-impact cardio.

 

4) Have enough protein in your diet to ensure muscle protein synthesis!

 

For nutritional guidance and training consultations, start your journey with the best trainers in Delhi.

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Fitness Nutrition

USING NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE AND EXERCISE TO COMBAT PCOS

Since puberty, you often find yourself vacillating between bouts of tears and moments of rage on a dime. When things are in balance, you generally feel good. Problems arise, though, when these hormones are imbalanced. One possible result: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

  • Living with PCOS raises a lot of questions around exercise and diet. But the good news is, that with the right approach to nutrition and fitness, PCOS doesn’t have to be a barrier to getting lean and feeling awesome.
  • Nutritional science has been proven to be extremely beneficial for PCOS not only in terms of fat loss in general but also by resetting the physiological dysfunction.
  • Since PCOS is a syndrome, it has numerous effects on the body right from symptoms limited to the reproductive sphere till much more broader complications like diabetes.
  • Nutrition and physical activity are the key modulators to reverse PCOS. Many nutritional foods have been proven to have positive effects in combating the inflammatory effects of PCOS as well as controlling the hormonal surge.
  • Foods high in antioxidants can help with the inflammatory effects and high fibre fruits and vegetables improve insulin resistance in women with PCOS. This can assist in restoring ovulation.

Note that eating in an overall caloric deficit for losing fat from the body is essential, regardless of how healthy you eat.

 

All diets should be coupled with regular, moderate exercise(30-40 minutes per day, 3-4 times or more per week). Insulin resistance is often a driving force in the metabolic and reproductive dysfunction, and exercise is a great way to increase insulin sensitivity and to reverse these problems!

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Fitness

Increase your immunity with Yoga in 10-minutes

The rise in COVID-19 continues and has called for a need to increase one’s immunity for prevention from and better management of illnesses and diseases.  Yoga is a life science comprising various poses that helps boost one’s immune system and incorporate healthy living into their daily lives. Today I’ll be guiding you through a short and easy yoga sequence of selected asanas and pranayama practices to improve immunity without you having to visit a fitness & health center.   Perform the following 10-min simple series of yogasanas to be done daily for increased immunity.
  1. Let’s begin with Mandukasana or frog pose. This is a great pose that helps to stimulate the immune system. The pose involves sitting in a kneeling position with fists pressing against the sides of your navel and you exhaling completely to bend forward over your knees. Relax your elbows and breathe easy in the pose. This asana stimulates your intestines, liver and pancreas and improves the functioning of the respiratory system. 
    2. When you come out of a bending position, gently come to an upright sitting position to neutralize your spine before going into a counter pose. It is vital to relax your spine and straighten it before moving to the next pose for healthy mobility. 
  2. Matsyasana or fish pose is another immunity boosting pose that helps in relieving congestion and clearing the nasal passages. Let’s try this by lying down, placing your elbows on the mat and putting the crown of the head on the floor. This lifts the abdomen forming an arc-like shape which expands the chest and increases lung capacity so that you inhale more fresh oxygen and exhale impurities that improves the immune system.
  3. Another type of asanas good for immunity is the half inversions. Halasana or the half plow pose, done lying down with legs above and beyond the head, is a half-inverted pose that stimulates the functioning of the body’s systems to protect against viruses. This pose is great for increased blood circulation. It increases aerobic activity, deepening the breathing for better immunity. 
  4. The Uttanasana or the forward bend is a standing forward fold that folds your body in half, lengthening and revitalizing your spine. This pose increases the flow of blood to the crown, relieves the sinuses and congestion and enhances the body’s ability to fight diseases. It slows and extends the breathing for better immunity.
  5. Finally, two pranayama practices which will be crucial especially during the cold weather of Delhi are Kapala Bhati pranayama or skull shining breathing and Bhastrika pranayama or the fire breath exercise. These poses are essential for the respiratory system as they involve fast and forceful exhalations and passive inhalations. Research has proven that these breathing techniques supply fresh oxygen to the blood, increase lung capacity and provide stress relief that significantly boost the immune system.
Try this sequence of 6 hand-picked yoga exercises curated specially for multi-level practitioners to rejuvenate and refocus during these testing times. Always remember to stay hydrated and safe!
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Fitness

Fitness In Work From Home Culture

Working from home has become increasingly popular ever since the pandemic started. While the culture has helped us all to stay connected even during the pandemic, it came with its own cons as well. With schools, offices, gyms and other organizations being shut, fitness became a point of concern for many and sticking to a healthy lifestyle seemed like a long shot.

From stress and anxiety to increased weight and pain in various parts of the body, we’ve faced it all. However, all of this can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle – harmful in the long run. It can lead to lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and a lot more. So what shall we do about it?

With Odds by Asad Hussain  stick to your fitness routines and reach your fitness goals by following these simple steps.

  1. Catch your rhythm – Habits are super powerful. They are behavioral practices that essentially influence your schedules as well as breaks. Tiny habit – a lifestyle transforming model that uses tiny daily habits to change your lifestyle over time is one of the most efficient ways to step towards a healthy lifestyle. Pick up one of your everyday habits and train your brain to do something as simple as doing 2 push-ups every time you attend an online meeting. This will in turn become a habit and help you level up your fitness game.
  2. Stick to the basics – Traditional ways of sticking to a healthy lifestyle always help. Be it taking the staircase instead of using the lift, walking to the vegetable market instead of taking your car or a healthy diet – they all are baby steps towards your fitness goals.
  3. Walk & talk – Each one of us has gotten used to attending long online meetings while lazing around on the bed or stilling on our desks. What’s better than transforming this time into a healthy habit? Take the walk and talk challenge for a change and thank us later for the miraculous results that it’ll bring along.

And if you’re someone who’s looking for an online fitness trainer, online nutrition consultation or a workout diet plan, head to Odds by Asad Hussain for a healthier body and transformed life.