trimlife hormone

Transcription

trimlife hormone

Editorial Team
Chief Editor: Jyoti Dabas
Co-Editor: Dev Biswas
Design: Satabdi Das
from the editor’s
desk
Welcome to our June issue! There is great excitement in bringing this issue to
you this month and you will find a richer and ‘fatter’ magazine now as we continue to grow stupendously :)
You will read about the ketogenic diet: when you should follow it and when you
should not!, learn the basics of building a strong core and also know the science behind that stubborn fat which refuses to leave your body and more.
With the start of Ramadan this month, a lot of our readers would have questions
about what to eat, when to eat and similarly a lot of questions about their training. You will find all your answers in a succinct article covering this in detail.
SQUATS association with Menno Henselmans continues to deepen. We have
great respect for his rational approach in making sense of all the research that
is available on nutrition and training. You will get to know him better through his
article ‘Why Diet Fail and ‘Eat Less, Move More’ is Bad Advice’. He has also
agreed to come to meet us in India and be a part of ‘SQUATS Connect: Wellness Convention 2016’, to be held later this year. But I am not supposed to talk
about it now! More details about the Convention will follow soon!
You will also find a heart warming story of how a person’s confidence in their
mentor and their hard work gave him a new lease on life. The SQUATS consultants are not magicians but some stories really do make us believe that we are
no less. The transformation of the month is also just as inspiring if not more.
After reading these stories you will also agree that overcoming any obstacle in
life is a test of your resolve and determination. You will always come out
stronger on the other side.
Editorial Email: fitmag@squats.in
Contributors
Harshad Menon
Bala K Reddy
Imran Shaikh
Shraddha Bhavalkar
Pratik Thakkar
Dr Aniket Jadhav
Karishma Arora
Shikha Dhuper
Trina Roy
Aditya Bajaj
Menno Henselmans
Dev Biswas
Jyoti Dabas
For Sales and Adverts
ROHIT CHATTOPADHYAY
Rohit@squats.in
RAJIV AMBAT MENON
Rajiv@squats.in
Cover Photo
Model: Shweta Sakharkar S.Q.U.A.T.S Corporate Office
So dear readers, if you take anything from this issue, take away the fact that we
want you to feel challenged, we want you to explore your boundaries and then
go further. It is what makes us feel alive and in control.
As always, if there is anything you love or hate about the magazine, please do
send me your feedback and suggestions at jo@squats.in
Until next month..
Stay Fit. Stay Healthy.
Regards,
Jyoti Dabas (N.D.)
Chief Editor, FITMAG
Office No. 210, 1st Floor, Victoria
II, Fortaleza, Kalyani Nagar, Pune411014
E-mail: info@squats.in
Phone:+91 82139 31874
Disclaimer
FITMAG is the digital monthly magazine of
TM
S.Q.U.A.T.S . The opinions expressed by the
columnists and contributors to FITMAG are not
necessarily those of the editor or publisher. Fraudulent
or objectionable content and advertising is not knowingly accepted. Advertisers and advertising agencies
assume liability for all content of advertising and any
claims arising therefore. Articles appearing in FIT MAG may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the express permission from
TM
S.Q.U.A.T.S . All Rights Reserved.
SQUATS UPDATE
The Month That Was…
It will be an understatement to say that
SQUATS has had a busy month. We have in
fact had a whirl winding month!!
binars, D3 also started its operations and
delivery of its amazing diet food to select
areas in Pune.
There were seminars in Delhi, another one
at Vodafone’s offices, then a couple of we-
See it all in the pictures of the month that
was..
Wolfpack Seminar @Delhi
Early Sunday morning, over 170 people gathered to hear JC
strut about the stage in his usual swag.
Delhi and Rock Music go hand in hand. With the Glycogenesis
process in the background, the band belted out rocking tunes!
Corporate Seminar @Vodafone Office
Over 70 people attended the ‘Quantified Nutrition and Physical
Exercise’ seminar at Vodafone’s Pune office
03
The seminar lasted over 3 hours and it was a very attentive
audience; also it is impossible to not listen when JC talks!
SQUATS FitMag | JUNE 2016
Start of Webinars with the first one on Strength Training by Melvin
Over 300 registered for the online webinar ‘Strength
Training and its Importance’ conducted on June 5 by
Melvin; On June 8, JC conducted another webinar on
‘Nutrition & Fitness Tips on Fasting during Ramadan’
More such webinars are planned in June:
1. Diabetes: Prevention & Reversal by Aniketh
Shetty on June 19 at 10AM IST Register here: https://goo.gl/tNyVLd 2.
Ayurveda and Injury Rehabilitation by Dr Aniketh
Jadhav on July 3 at 10AM Register here: https://goo.gl/G6J9xd
D3 starts Delivery of Healthy Diet Food
Fitness is addictive: Ali and Abizer got fit and decided to help
others do the same; With SQUATS they launched D3 - Diet
Food Delivery service in Pune
D3 rolled out its service on 22nd May and received great feedback; it continues to deliver delicious food to those who want
to eat health; Call 097661 09284 to know more
Fundraising Update
It was heart warming to see so many of you contribute to help
make the dreams of an Indian athlete and sprinter, Ravi Nadar
come true.
We received INR 60,000+ from you and the full amount has
been transferred to Ravi’s account. He is training hard and
feeling stronger everyday.
A message from Ravi, “I feel your good wishes, prayers and
blessings inside my soul. I will give my best till my last
breath.”
04
COACH OF THE MONTH
From a fit sportsperson to a
bed-ridden injured athlete,
this SQUATS coach had given all hopes of getting on
the freight train to becoming
fit again. But then, miracles
do happen in the SQUATS
world, and today he is
someone who isn’t just fit
himself but has been making
hundreds others taste a part
of his own transformation.
Our Coach of the Month will
receive a free stack of supplements courtesy FITTCITI
“..there is no alternate
to hard work”
SQUATS
COACH OF THE MONTH
VIJAY TAMBI
05
do you prioritise? Dev Biswas catches up with our
SQUATS coach of the month:
Vijay – Before starting any diet, I
always have a call with my clients
and try to understand their levels
of dedication, their goals and their
preferences.
Dev – Let’s start with the cliché
- “SQUATS coach of the Month”!
Big deal! How do you feel? Vijay - Its really unbelievable to
know that I’m the SQUATS Coach
of the month. Frankly speaking,
I’m still in a state of shock. Really
feels amazing and motivates me to
do even better going forward.
Dev – It certainly should feel so!
So Vijay, tell us about your journey into fitness. Our clients do not know as much
about nutrition or fitness as us,
hence I make sure I answer their
doubts right before starting the
program itself so that they don’t
get stuck midway.
Dev – That’s indeed important
and that defines you as an able
coach. It actually puts the
clients at ease. Tell us, how did
SQUATS affect your life and what
is your SQUATS-Connect specialty that you’d like to mention? Vijay - Being a sportsperson I have
always been a fit person, till an
injury hit me badly in no time I
turned from fit to fat, though I was
never an obese person. At 20, I
started to look like 30+ but still
avoided all kind of fitness regime.
Four years back my friend took me
to the gym, and since then, I
haven’t looked back. SQUATS gave
me the opportunity to learn more
and get into the fitness industry.
I’m thankful.
Dev – They say charity begins at
home. In your case you’ve told
me that you’ve delivered amazing results to your own family as
well. Please elaborate on that. Vijay – Well, SQUATS has changed
my life in its entirety. At one
point, I had lost all hopes of revealing my abs (Yes, that was important to me as an individual at a
point being an athlete, it still is),
without trying dangerous and unnatural ways. But then SQUATS
happened to me and I got educated. It not only transformed me but
literally changed my entire mindset about fitness. From an unhealthy ex-sportsman to getting on
the FitFactor stage was unbelievable. SQUATS is family to me.
Vijay – Yes, I started guiding people first in my own home. My
mother had been suffering from a
knee and back pain since a long
time and was diabetic as well. But
now, she’s completely fit and
healthy. I’m happy that I’ve used
my knowledge correctly to take my
own family to a state of better
health.
Dev – That really sounds great.
Having helped my mom lose 10
kg recently, I completely understand how it feels to give your
family the gift of “Health”. Going forward, let’s talk about how
your working with clients. What
06
Dev – That’s a great thing.
SQUATS is SQUATS because of
the bond that 30 thousand people share here. Certainly, it’s a
huge and strong family. Lastly,
your message for our readers? Vijay - Fitness is not only about
how you look outside, it’s more
about the inside-out beauty and
health. To achieve what you dream
of, you have to work very hard.
Your 9-5 job may not be your
dream, but in order to achieve
your dreams, you have to work for
it, even much beyond that. There’s
no alternative to Hard Work
WHAT VIJAY’S
CLIENTS HAVE TO
SAY ABOUT HIM…
“The best part of training under
him is he always motivates me
to do more to get best out of
me. Even my workouts getting
better with him, loving my fitness journey with him ..Not
only i am growing physically
but my confidence is sky high.”
~Sagar
“..best thing about him is that
he understands the problem
of a foodie and suggest diet
accordingly. He also keeps
making things interesting by
mixing new ingredients and
jumbling schedule which helps
to maintain the diet with minimum efforts. He is a Great
trainer and a motivator.“
~Shailoneil
“..he is very friendly and motivating.. always available to
clear any doubt. Getting
trained by him helped me
achieve my fitness goal. A
great trainer and kind person.“
~Anonymous
To hire Vijay as your mentor log
on to squats.in .View his complete profile here.
FEATURED ARTICLE
The whole world is going gaga over
the Keto or Ketogenic Diet with so
many benefits being known some
are even calling it “The Perfect
Diet”. I personally think there is no
such thing as the perfect diet; the
diet will change according to your
goals. I feel Keto is a nutritional
system rather than a diet. So let’s
look in when you should do keto
diet.
FAT LOSS – Keto is a High Fat,
moderate protein and low carb
diet, the most
wide spread use
of keto is done
for fat-loss but
there are other
h e a l t h a d v a ntages alongside
it, read on and
you will know
more about it.
reduces its frequency of occurrence. In fact studies show that
kids who follow keto have reduced
the seizers to 50% while some of
the kids completely recovered. Not
only that but the A number of patients previously using multiple
anticonvulsant medications become seizure-free or maintain a
significant reduction in seizure
frequency even after the keto has
been discontinued, suggesting the
diet may have disease-modifying
effects in some people with
KNOW ABOUT
epilepsy. (Ref1,2)
PARKINSON – It is neurodegenerative condition, where the person
suffers from tremors, stiffness of
muscles, difficulty in balancing
themselves. When these patients
where kept on a keto, the patients
experienced a mean of 43% reduction in their symptoms after a 28day exposure to the keto. (Ref3)
CANCER – Cancer cells need glucose to thrive, carbs eventually
get converted in
to glucose. Thus
by restricting the
carbs intake
there will be absence of glucose
which will starve
the cancer cells,
thus is beneficial
for cancer. glucose is one of the
main component
of cell growth,
and it is conceivable that the
keto may restrict
that aspect of
malignant cell
KETO DIET:
EPILEPSY AND
OTHER NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS – Keto not
only help to
control the
seizers but also
07
WHEN TO KETO
AND WHEN NOT TO
BY DR ANIKET JADHAV
Dr Aniket is highly motivating
and patiently shares his
knowledge with all his clients.
To hire him as your mentor,
log on to squats.in
View his complete profile here
transformation. Normal tissue
can adapt readily to using ketones (instead of glucose) as a
substrate, but malignant cells
probably do not have the same
degree of metabolic flexibility.
(Ref4)
to build muscles will find it difficult to build muscles on keto,
insulin is the most anabolic hormone in our body, in keto insulin
spike is kept to minimum so
without carbs building muscle
will be very difficult in keto.
DIABETES - diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which the body
has increased blood sugar level
in the body. It happens because
of two reasons, first one is
where the insulin production by
the pancreas is insufficient this
is type 1 Diabetes. Second is
where you body produces
enough insulin for proper functioning of the body but your
body doesn’t respond to it as it
has become insulin resistant this
is type 2 Diabetes or also called
as Insulin resistance Diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes is not inherited
but because of lifestyle habits
like poor eating habits, no exercise, sedentary lifestyle, over
weight increases the chances of
diabetes. Keto is especially
helpful with type 2 diabetes,
keto not only helps to control
the blood sugar level but many
people are able to discontinue
their diabetes medication.
(Ref5)
SPRINT ATHLETES – Keto increases endurance, but when
your body needs sudden burst of
energy like in 100m/200m sprint
body goes into anaerobic mode
where it relies on energy
sources that are stored in the
muscles which in this case is
glycogen which we get from
carbs and hence we see better
results
HDL & LDL – A study conducted
on Obese people found out that
keto not only helps to reduce fat
in the body but along with that
decreases the triglyceride level
and LDL cholesterol and increase
the HDL cholesterol in the body
(Ref6)
PCOS AND FATTY LIVER – both
the conditions are related to
insulin resistance due to high
carbohydrate intake, keto is
useful to treat and reverse the
both the conditions. Although it
was just a pilot study the result
seen in the women was significant. (Ref7)
Now as we have seen the benefits let us see on the flip side
of the coin and see where having Carbs Diet will be beneficial.
BUILDING MUSCLES– As the carbohydrate in Keto is restricted,
someone who is skinny and want
08
DECREASED POWER – Someone
who is in powerlifting or strong
man they too need the same
burst of energy like sprint athletes but probably more will
benefit from having carbs in
their diet.
They may get
stronger eventually once they
are keto adapted but until that
the performance goes down
drastically and it also starts
playing on their mind and some
people may not overcome the
psychological barrier. If an athlete can overcome this he may
get stronger on keto as well.
References
Ref1: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2898565/
Ref2: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/934725
GUEST COLUMN
Want to learn about how to improve your endurance and get better results from your hard work in
the gym? Let’s look at two supplements that will take your endurance and fitness to the next
level.
IRON
If you are feeling fatigued even
before heading to the gym,
chances are you are low in iron.
Iron is a component of haemoglobin that binds oxygen and allows it
to be transported from the lungs
to the muscles via the blood.
There is little doubt that a reduction in haemoglobin concentration
(i.e. iron deficiency anaemia) has
a detrimental effect on exercise
performance. Anaemia impairs
blood gas transport, thereby limiting work capacity.
Considering that dietary iron recommendations are 1.3 to 1.7
times higher for athletes than
non-athletes and 1.8 times higher
for vegetarians than meat eaters
Fish Oils contain Omega-3 fatty
acids which benefit heart health,
regulate cholesterol profile and
also support general brain function. An average citizens diet is
IMPROVE YOUR ENDURANCE
WITH THESE TWO SUPPLEMENTS
BY KARISHMA ARORA
you can see how iron deficiency is
one of the most common deficiencies to be found. It is important to
note that iron deficiency is an especially common problem
for women and adolescent athletes.
Iron can be found in red meat,
chicken and other poultry products. If you’re deficient in iron, it
could make you feel tired and
weak. To counter this, you should
invest in iron supplements. Since
it is toxic to have too much iron in
your system, consult with your
doctor about what dosage amount
of iron supplements is appropriate
for you.
Karishma is a four time
Gold Medalist in Women’s
Fitness Category and a
contestant in MTV Roadies X4
10
FISH OIL
No matter what your health and
fitness goals are, fish oil, is one
supplement that is bound to benefit you, irrespective of age, fitness
level, gender and other differentiators.
found to be severely deficient in
omega-3 fatty acids.
When it comes to building muscle,
fish oil supplements have a double
benefit. Basically, synthesis less
degradation results in tissue gain.
EPA and DHA, in fish oil help increase rate of synthesis and decrease degradation, hence providing extra muscle building benefit.
For improved endurance, it is essential to have fish oil, especially
if you don’t consume seafood on a
regular basis. Fish oil helps nervous system function, immune
function, and muscle recovery.
Make sure the fish oil supplement
you are taking has EPA and DHA,
two essential fats.
ARTICLE BY COURTESY OF:
FEATURED ARTICLE
WHY DIETS FAIL AND
‘EAT LESS, MOVE MORE’
IS BAD ADVICE
How defying conventional wisdom of ‘Eat
Less, Move More’ will
finally help you get
permanent weight loss
It’s safe to say obesity is a problem. Over 2 out of 3 people
in the US are overweight and over 1 in 3 is obese (Ref1).
Even with help, most people don’t lose more than a few
percent bodyweight after years of dieting and the majority
of people gain back most of the weight they lost (yo-yo effect, Ref2).
by MENNO HENSELMANS
My clients routinely lose this amount of fat in a matter of
weeks. Moreover, they achieve not only large, but also lasting body composition change.
I mainly coach bodybuilders, and bodybuilders are not very
well-liked. I understand why: in the media all you see is unnaturally muscular, tanned men and women lined up in what
seems to be some sort of muscle worship fetish. Yet in spite
of their poor reputation, this stigmatised subculture does
know the cure to obesity.
Basically, bodybuilders achieve what everyone on a diet
wants: to lose fat, not muscle. That’s why I essentially treat
all my clients that want to lose fat like I would treat a
bodybuilder. Bodybuilding is just the more successful version
of ‘dieting’.
But who am I kidding? You already know how to lose fat,
right? Who cares about bodybuilders? Everyone knows: “Eat
less, move more.” Dead wrong. This piece of advice is single
handedly responsible for more failed diets than McDonald’s.
Here’s why.
WHY DIETS FAIL?
Mother Nature gifted us with a supreme ruler that tells us
when to eat and how much to eat: the sensation of hunger.
Like other feelings, hunger gives us purpose and direction.
Hunger motivates us to eat something like fear motivates us
to avoid something.
11
Research has found that not being
hungry is the most important predictor of successful weight loss
(Ref3). Not monitoring your diet,
not self-restraint, not seeking
help. Hunger is the enemy. Hunger
makes you eat more than intended. Without hunger, dieting would
be as easy as just consciously deciding to eat less.
and we’ll basically eat whatever’s
available until we’re satiated.
This is why most diets fail in the
evening. After a long, stressful day
at work, you come home hungry
and your brain is too foggy to think
about what to cook. You open your
fridge and a pack of ready-to-eat
microwave wraps looks you right in
the eye. Decision fatigue has set in
and
you
don’t have
Hunger is
a
f o r- Self-control is a limited abili- the cognitive
resources
midable
ty. Humans are relatively
anymore to
adversary,
your
because
good at it, but we are not resist
h u n g e r.
evolution
made our
robots. When our cognitive T h e r e f o r e ,
you opt for
hunger
regulation ability has fatigued, our prim- convenience
foods instead
h
oitive instincts take over.
of
diet
meostatic
foods.
in nature:
the leaner you get, the hungrier
THE COST-BENEFIT OF MOVING
you become (Ref4). That’s great if
MORE
you need to get off your butt to go
Common advice is to take the
forage or hunt so you don’t starve.
stairs instead of the elevator. Or
Not so much when you’re having a
park your car further away from
stare-down with an extra large
work or your house so you have to
pizza in the supermarket.
walk a bit. The benefit is self-evident, right? Actually, it’s not, and
DECISION FATIGUE
neither is the cost.
There’s a second piece of the puzzle of why diets fail. Hunger is uncomfortable, but why do we give
• You burn 19.7 calories when
climbing 11 floors of stairs
in to it against our better judg(Ref7). That means if you climb
ment?
29 floors of stairs every day, you
It’s the same reason we procrastinate on our studies, don’t go to
bed on time and make impulsive
decisions. Some psychologists call
it ego depletion. Somewhat like a
muscle, the brain becomes fatigued after exertion. We have a
limited capacity for higher-level
decision-making, which includes
decisions involving math, logical
reasoning and complex tasks requiring rational thought or planning. We suffer from decision fatigue.
burn off 1 small apple worth of
energy. The energy expenditure
of descending stairs is less than
half of that.
• If you park your car a mile away
from work (1.6 km), you burn 80
calories to walk to work. Less
than in a banana.
These small benefits do not weigh
up against the hidden cost: decision fatigue from fatiguing your
brain every time see a staircase or
you have to park your car. Constantly thinking about ways to increase your activity level requires
effortful self-control. Combine this
with a stressful day at work and
you’ve got the recipe for a cheat
meal. A single cheat meal can undo
weeks or even a month of ‘moving
more’.
As a long term strategy, ‘moving
more’ is even worse. As you lose
weight, your body becomes more
conservative with energy and motivates you to lower your activity
level by making you lazier (Ref8).
Bodybuilders realise this. Below is
a photo from the Arnold Classic, a
major fitness conference. It went
viral in fitness circles under headlines as ‘bodybuilders not fit
enough to take the stairs’. No,
bodybuilders just know that taking
those stairs is a needless effort.
Self-control is one of these complex decisions. Self-control requires us to consciously decide to
override our primitive urge to eat.
This kind of self-control is a limited ability (Ref5).
Humans are relatively good at this
compared to other animals, but we
are not robots. When our cognitive
ability has fatigued, our primitive
instincts guide our actions (Ref6).
12
Photo taken at Arnold Classic went viral with tagline - ‘Body Builders not fit
enough to take the stairs?”
Conserving mental energy is far
more important than expending
physical energy. Bodybuilders instead invest their energy in structured exercise.
‘Move More’ vs. Structured Exercise
None of this in any way implies
that exercise is bad for you on a
diet. But the crucial feature of
successful exercise is structure.
Structure is the key to lifestyle
change. You need to plan in advance so that you avoid having to
make dozens of daily decisions
about diet and physical activity.
Investing in a structured exercise
program frees your mind from decision fatigue. As the saying goes,
“Failing to plan is planning to
fail.”
WHY CARDIO IS OVERRATED
So what kind of structured exercise should you do? High intensity
exercise like weight training is
best. High intensity exercise
spares muscle mass on a diet
(Ref9). If you don’t engage in sufficiently heavy exercise when losing weight, you will likely lose
muscle mass. You may think you
don’t care about muscle mass, but
the more muscle mass you lose,
the more your metabolism slows
down. So the less you have to eat.
I did no cardio whatsoever – just
weight training – to get in condition for the photo shoot below.
Almost none of my clients, including competitive physique athletes,
do cardio.
Building muscle mass increases
metabolism. Researchers have
compared natural bodybuilders to
a control group with the same fat
percentage and height. The bodybuilders had a 14% higher resting
metabolic rate (Ref10). When both
groups were inactive all day, the
bodybuilders burned 354 more
calories because of their increased
level of muscle mass. That means
the bodybuilders burned more
calories by sitting on their butts
than the inactive subjects did
when walking 4 miles (6.4 km) a
day. And by no means do you have
to become hugely muscular to
benefit from this. Elderly people
can increase their resting energy
expenditure by 8% in just 16 weeks
(Ref11) of weight training.
A recent 12-year study of 10,500
Average Joes found that in the
long run, weight training was over
twice as effective as vigorous aerobics at getting a slimmer waist
(Ref12). The short-term benefit of
burning a few extra calories with
cardio does not weigh up against
the long-term benefits of increasing your metabolism with high-intensity exercise.
Don’t like weight training? No
problem. Explosive sports like rowing, tennis, martial arts, korfball
and volleyball are also considered
high-intensity. Long-term sustainability in your lifestyle is more important than what kind of exercise
you choose.
Researchers have
compared body
builders with control
group having the
same body fat and the
body builders
BURNED 354 MORE
CALORIES because
of their increased
muscle mass!
EAT MORE, NOT LESS
So neither ‘moving more’ nor forcing yourself to perform exercise
you despise is sustainable. Therefore, neither is successful in the
long-term. The same goes for the
diet advice to ‘eat less’.
‘Eating less’ implies sticking to the
same food choices but simply eating less of them. This requires constant self-control by constantly
eating less than your appetite signals you to. As the diet progresses
and you become hungrier, you
must eat even less as your metabolism slows down, which is
when the struggle becomes exponentially more difficult. It’s no
surprise that this is how most diets
fail.
The solution? Eat more, not less. In
my photo below I was eating close
to 9 pounds (~4 kg) of food every
Left: Sashimi Omelet Wraps by ManageMyMealPlan; Right: High Protein
Cheesecake: Recipe at Bayesian
Bodybuilding
13
was just as satiated, even though
both groups were eating the same
amount of protein and fiber (Ref13). The paleo group also managed to consume the same amount
of nutrients while eating 24% fewer calories.
Connor before and after 8 weeks of
coaching by Menno Henselmans
day. I just ate low-calorie foods. I
mostly ate fruits, vegetables and
lean animal protein sources. In
fact, it’s rare that I don’t eat at
least 4.5 pounds (2 kg) of food in a
given day.
Eating more low-calorie foods is
the reason paleo diets are so successful at causing fat loss. One
study compared overweight men
eating a paleo diet to the government-approved Mediterranean
diet. The paleo group automatically consumed 24% fewer calories
than the Mediterranean group and
With a little creativity, you can
still eat amazingly delicious foods.
I ate a huge slice of this cheesecake every day for example.
Whether you eat keto, paleo, vegetarian or low FODMAP, you can
eat awesome recipes with minimal
cooking.
For example, the typical Mediterranean lunch: 2 large slices of
whole-wheat bread with cheese, 1
glass of semi-skimmed milk and an
apple. Compare that to these 3
huge Sashimi Omelet Wraps. Both
meals contain ~620 calories, but I
know which I prefer.
If you manage your meal plan
carefully, you don’t even need to
track your calories. My client Connor made his 8-week transforma-
tion without any form of calorie
monitoring. I advised him a list of
foods to eat and when to eat
them. Along with careful lifestyle
and appetite management, he ate
as much as he wanted.
Conclusion
Hunger, failure and weight regain
have become the norm in diets.
The reason is not lack of willpower
or genetics. Unless you have a serious medical condition, there is
no reason you can’t get lean and
stay lean. Bodybuilders do it all
the time. It doesn’t require endless hours of cardio, eating bland
food or constant hunger.
Instead, invest your energy in a
structured exercise program instead of trivial decisions about
your activity level. Most importantly, you must have a good diet
strategy to manage decision fatigue and hunger.
This article was first published on
paleofx.com
References available on request
Menno Henselmans is an Online Physique
Coach, Fitness Model, Scientific Author and
the Founding Director of Bayesian Bodybuilding. Once a former business consultant specialised in advanced statistical data analysis,
he traded his company car to pursue his passion - help serious trainees attain their ideal
physique.
The Bayesian method he follows goes beyond
the scientific system and forms rational beliefs based on available information. With a
long history of natural body building, his
work is well known in the fitness community
to be data driven and evidence based.
An international public speaker, his work has
been translated into many languages Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, Turkish, Italian,
etc.
Menno is on the Board of Advisors for the
SQUATS Academy. He will also be personally mentor a short 4 week Elective
as part of the Advanced course with the
SQUATS Academy. To know more about
these courses, send an enquiry email to
academy@squats.in
14
HEALTH QUIZ
WHAT IS YOUR
HEALTH IQ?
1
The normal BMI for an adult is?
A. Below 18.5
B. 18.5 - 24.9
C. 25.0 - 29.9
D. Above 30
2
Which of these age group needs the most
calcium daily?
A. Elderly people (after 50 years of age)
B. Younger children (2-8 years of age)
C. Older children (9-18 years of age)
D. Adults (30+ years of age)
3
Visceral Fat is the fat found under the skin?
A. True
B. False
4
What is the optimal daily protein intake for a
70kg man practicing strength training?
A. 70 grams
B. 125g
C. 25-40% of calorie intake
D. 150g
8
Liposuction is the easiest way to lose belly
fat?
A. True
B. False
5
Smoking can help in reducing Belly Fat?
A. True
B. False
6
If you eat too much Fat, you will become Fat
A. True
B. False
7
15
9
At what age does exercising most improves
bone health?
A. 13 - 18 years
B. After 20 years
C. After 30 years
D. After 50 years
10
How much physical activity do you need?
A. 20 minutes every day
B. Depends on your current fitness condition
C. 90 minutes every day
D. 150minutes per week
11
Waist-to-hip circumference measurement is
considered a better alternative to determine
body fat than the BMI score
A. True
B. False
12
In order to lose weight, one must have a
light dinner
A. True
B. False
Answers are available on the next page
THIS QUIZ IS COURTESY OF SQUATS ACADEMY
Which of these is not true?
A. Gaining weight increases the risk of osteoporosis
B. Proper calcium content in the diet is not
enough to maintain bone health
C. Vitamin-D deficiency is very common and
can go un-noticed
D. Your bones start thinning after 30 years of
age
CHECK YOUR
ANSWERS
Give yourself 10 points for
each correct answer.
7. (A). Gaining weight resulting in
obesity leads to many health
problems like increasing your
risk of high blood pressure and
other cardiovascular diseases,
but osteoporosis isn't one of
them. 1. (B) 18.5 - 24.9
2. (C) Older children (9-18years
of age) are in maximum need
for calcium as almost 90% of
their bone structure gets established by the time they
reach adulthood 3. (B) False. Fat can roughly be
classified into two types - Subcutaneous Fat and Visceral
Fat. Subcutaneous is the one
found under the skin while Visceral fat also called belly fat or
abdominal fat, surrounds the
organs such as liver, pancreas,
stomach etc. Even thin people
can have high Visceral Fat. 4. (B)125g. The most optimal
protein intake for weight lifting
individuals is 1.8g/ kg/ day.
Anything above is proven to
provide only small increments
in net protein balance in the
body. 5. (B). Some people believe that
smoking helps with weight
loss, but it actually causes redistribution of fat to the abdominal area. A study published in
the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition states that smoking is not an efficient way to
control body weight - it does
not help prevent obesity, and
could favour visceral fat accumulation thereby increasing
the risk of metabolic syndrome
and diabetes. 6. (B) False. Fat accumulation is
the result of consuming excess
calories than your body can
burn. These calories might not
necessarily come from fat. A
high fat diet with overall low
calorie intake can result in
16
alone but the average of calories consumed over a period of
time. If the calories consumed
during breakfast and lunch is
in excess of total calories required then the result will be
weight gain, even if dinner is
skipped. weight loss also. 8. Unfortunately, there is no short
cut to lose belly fat because in
the end you will end up storing
body fat somewhere else and
that may make you feel even
worse. Taking a whole body
approach is the safest and
best way to eliminate visceral
fat 9. (A) 13 - 18 years. Early years
are the most important when it
comes to bone health. Research suggests that
teenagers engaged in weight
lifting exercises have been
found to have excellent bone
health in their later lives. 10. (D) 150 minutes per week. It’s
best to try and spread that time
out for 30 minutes (or more) a
day for at least five days a
week. People who have a
moderate level of fitness are
much less likely to die early
than those who have a low
fitness level. In addition to
helping you lose excess
weight, physical activity helps
manage stress, enhances selfimage, and improves your
sleep habits. If you’re inactive,
doing anything is better than
nothing. Start today! Dinner should be consumed 23 hours before sleeping so that
the last meal does not interfere
with your sleep.
HOW DID YOU SCORE?
Above 100: Excellent. Your
knowledge about Health and
Nutrition is stupendous. You
definitely know what you are
talking about and are looked up
to by other people for your expertise. Keep it up!
70-100: Good. You know some
things about Health and Nutrition and we all learn something
new everyday. Keep questioning
common myths and beliefs!
40-70: Average. You are curious
to know about Health and Nutrition but cannot find the right
sources. Stick with us and we
will show you the right path.
Below 40: Poor. Everyone starts
some place. The only way you
can go is up. Be inquisitive
about things and do not take
them at face value. Stick with us
and we will show you the right
path.
11. (A) True. Since the BMI score
cannot differentiate between
the muscle and fat content of
the body, the Waist to Hip Circumference is a better measure of body fat. Those who
have a muscular frame but low
body fat will have a high BMI
and yet not be at a risk for
health-related problems 12. (B) False. Fat gain or loss is
not dependent on one meal
HEALTH CROSSWORD
ACROSS
DOWN
4. Another word for ‘Fats’
6. Found in fruits
7. Diet in which carbs are less than 5%
8. Process performed by the body to
yield energy
9. Made up of repeating units of Amino
Acids
10. Form in which body stores glucose
1. Disease caused when the body desensitises to Insulin
2. Polysaccharides that can neither be
digested nor provide energy
3. Compound created by one cell that
travels to and simulates another cell
5. Science of eating and metabolising
food
Answers will be revealed in the next issue
Special thanks to Trina Roy for contributing this challenging Crossword!
17
HEALTH WORD SEARCH
>
>
>
>
Organic compounds which are needed in small quantities to sustain life
Found in all parts of the body and is the medium to transport the body’s food material
Most prevalent type of Lipid
Breakdown of glucose
>
>
>
>
>
Hypertrophy which is highly prevalent in bodybuilders
Nutrients pass through this organ before they enter general circulation
An index to categorise food as per its response to blood glucose
Breakdown of complex biomolecules into simpler molecules for energy production
Occurs when metabolic rate increases above normal
> Protein hormones released from the pancreas
> A period of time when results are stalled
Answers will be revealed in the next issue
Special thanks to Trina Roy for contributing this challenging Word-Search!
18
FEATURED ARTICLE
LEARN THE ART OF
KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF
Losing weight is only half the battle won. Holding on to that
trimmed look for good is another
story!
All that effort which you put in for
months accounts for nothing if you
are not able to maintain your
weight. This is one question which
I hear often from my clients ”How will I maintain my weight
after I reach my goal?” Well, let's
find out.
First lets explore why most people
find it difficult to keep off the
weight in the long run. Most of it is
down to poor dieting strategy
when losing weight, which leads to
metabolism showdown. You start
with calories deficit and you lose
weight. After a couple of weeks
weight loss stalls and so you reduce the calories further down
which again kick starts the weight
loss. Feeling like you have
achieved the Holy Grail of weight
loss? Well, No. When you stay at
calorie deficit for a long time and
then keep reducing calories, your
body adapts to this situation of
being in calories deficit and starts
consuming less calories for same
activities than before.This is called
metabolism slowdown. Now, when
you go back to your ‘normal’ diet,
you would be at calorie surplus
and hence gain fat. To avoid this,
always plan your diet well, follow
reverse dieting approach and try
to finish your diet above your previous maintenance calories.
There are a few other tweaks you
can do to your ‘normal’ diet routine which will keep the weight
under control. One of the things
you can do is avoid having carbs
for breakfast. Morning is the time
when cortisol levels are high and
body is in fat burning mode, introducing carbs would release insulin
in the body and this in turn will
19
nullify the effects of cortisol. Result is, no more fat burning.
So try and stick to fats and proteins for your breakfast. This is not
it, protein and fat are high satiating food, so you may end up eating
less calories over the whole day.
Win Win!! Also, for the rest of your
day include sources of complex
carbs rather than simple carbs,
include enough dark green veggies
and keep the water intake high.
Another important factor while
trying to keep your weight off is to
consume calories around your
maintenance point. Good thing is,
you don't have to do a lots of calculations to find that sweet spot.
By doing some trial and error you
can find your maintenance calories. All you have to do is monitor
your weight weekly. If you observe
a weight gain, reduce some calories for the next week and continue this pattern until your weight
gets stable.
Don't :
• Eat Processed food from a box/
Package
• Fill your body with toxins
• Eat high-sugar food such as candies, ice-cream, soft drinks and
other sugar-laden drinks (like
sugar-added fruit juices)
Aditya is one of the few who
don’t just know their nutrition and training principles
but can easily explain it to
their clients. His clients also
love him for his patience and
support. To hire him as your
mentor, log on to squats.in
View his full profile here.
Do's:
• Avoid carbohydrates in breakfast
• Add sources of complex carbs to
your diet rather than simple
carbs
• Have a good amount of green
veggies
• Add resistance training to your
exercise schedule
• Have a good sound Sleep
• Keep yourself hydrated. Drink
atleast 4-5L of water daily
COVER STORY
DO YOU BELIEVE
IN MIRACLES ?
THIS
THIS
THIS
IS NOT A USUAL TRANSFORMATION STORY..
IS NOT ABOUT INCH LOSS..
IS NOT ABOUT FAT LOSS..
THIS IS NOT EVEN ABOUT STRENGTH GAIN..!
THIS IS ABOUT HOW A PERSON TRANSFORMED
..FROM THE INSIDE OUT!
Sometimes unknowingly
you become a blessing in
someone’s life. Ekanki
Arora Seth had been mentoring Ashok Goyal for
over 3 months. His transformation was a miracle
for him but for Ekanki she
was just doing what she
knew best. Ashok called
us at the SQUATS office to
share his happiness and
thats how we came to
know about our miracle
worker.
We want to share with
you this story not just because it is a testimony to
Ashok’s determination
but also it will inspire you
to not give in. You cannot
let life beat you down.
Take control of your
habits, of your lifestyle
and most of all you don't
have to do it alone. Seek
help because even the
best in the world need
guidance and support.
Take charge of your life
like Ashok did…
21
IN Ashok’s WORDS..
“After experimenting all possible ways to lose weight, it
was SQUATS that set me on the right path. It was not an
easy task for a person who had a medical history of diabetes
and hypertension of 20 yrs, high cholesterol and suffering
from Hematuria (blood in the urine) for last 3 years.
Ekanki Seth Arora, my mentor has been instrumental in
carefully planning my diet and workout while keeping all my
vital parameters under control. From my side it took undeterred determination to fight diabetes and hypertension,
diligence, prudence and commitment which brought about
the change that I always dreamt of.
My medical transformation followed where Hba1c was 8 and
improved to 5.7, weight reduced from 80.6kgs to now
69.5kgs. My waist has also reduced from 36 to 32 inch. My
cholesterol levels are also under control with no help from
any pills. Since I started my diet, I am very happy to say
that I have not lost any blood in my urine.
SQUATS did not just transform me physically but far and
more important, transformed me internally. I am going to
be almost 42 years old now but people now assume me to be
a decade younger. Very soon I will be having six packs which
is a promise I have made to my mentor Ekanki.
Friends I just want to say believe and trust in your mentor
and the results will follow. Thanks a lot Ekanki Ma’am and
SQUATS for giving me a new life!
Regards,
Ashok”
“Whatever the mind
can conceive and believe, it can achieve”
22
About 2.5 months back Mr.Ashok Goyal consulted
with Ekanki and explained to her his medical conditions. She learnt that he had been suffering from
Type 1 Diabetes since he was 15. When a person suffers from Type1 diabetes, his body is not able to
produce enough of insulin to lower the blood sugar
and the person has to be dependent on insulin shots
that his body is no longer able to produce. About his
diet, Ekanki tell us, “The kind of diet he was eating
had fruits (which contains sugar), milk (again contains sugar) and some fibre. I was a little shocked”.
The truth is that not many people realise the
amount of sugar that is actually present in their diets.
Even though she knew the Keto diet would be a suitable diet for him, she was a little hesitant on taking
up his case as regulating medications was quite necessary. This is really the realm of physicians and
SQUATS consultants are not doctors to be prescribing
medicines or to regulate them. But Ashok’s confidence and after ensuring reasonable checks, she decide to take up his case.
ABOUT THE DIET:
“We started with ketogenic diet, its not an unknown
fact that how LCHF diet helps in reducing insulin
requirements, levelling blood sugar and I strictly told
him to closely monitor his blood sugar levels (fasting
and post meals both).”
The diet started working for him during initial few
days only, his blood sugar stabilised and he started
reducing his tablets one by one. Since, his diet
strategy has been kept but along the way she made
him try fat cycling and several other tricks to keep
things interesting and moving along.
Besides his reducing body fat, his visits to his doctor
also reduced from every week to once or twice in a
month which was just to get his medicines regulated. His medication came down to only 2 tablet a
day, from 8 tablets plus 2 insulin shots a day!!
Ekanki says she was amazed at Ashok’s dedication
towards the diet and workouts which helped them
achieve better results for him.
ABOUT THE TRAINING:
“Initially I gave him a basic strength training programme as I had to keep in mind his medical conditions as well and to my surprise his energy levels kept
improving”.
Very soon Ashok asked for a more challenging plan
as he found the basic plan too easy. He was then
moved up to HIVT (High Intensity Volume Training).
His strength and energy kept improving and he noticed lean gains along with losing body fat percentage!
Now he is following another training plan which consists more of compound lift but is also very challenging.
23
“I wish to meet and help
more such people in my life.
It was his will towards attaining better health and
without this kind of dedication it would have never
been possible.”
~ Ekanki
Ekanki recalls that Ashok never complained of being
low on energy which he used to feel before he started
this journey with SQUATS. His stamina and energy
improved while in keto. Also the way he kept up the
training intensity meant that she never had to keep
him in deficit as his metabolism also kept improving.
Everyday she heard from him about how young he
had started feeling, it was like a new life to him.
So, the results came from strength training without
any cardio other than warm up along with following
the keto diet.
Readers are advised to not try any diet or training
program without help of their doctors and Fitness
Consultants.
To hire Ekanki as your mentor, you can log on to
squats.in
View her complete profile here.
FEATURED ARTICLE
KNOW THE
SCIENCE BEHIND
STUBBORN
BODY FAT
by BALA KRISHNA REDDY
Stubborn Body Fat is the main problem of majority of the population
wanting to lose weight. Now there are places where you will
find that you can easily lose fat (let’s
call this Easy fat) and then there are
places, no matter what you do, the
fat doesn’t go away (call this stubborn fat). For men, it is mostly observed in the lower back and lower
abs, whereas in ladies its the entire
lower body. Why are these stubborn fats so stubborn to lose in first place? 24
I asked this question to my roommate and the answer I got is “because they are stubborn”. I was
wondering how he cracked the interview in a fortune 500 company!!
:D The real answer to this question is
- ‘Adrenoceptors’.
“Adrenoceptors are membrane
bound receptors with sub types
alpha and beta, located throughout the body on neuronal and
non-neuronal tissues where they
mediate a diverse range of responses to the endogenous catecholamines noradrenaline and
adrenaline”. I know this sounds
Greek and Latin. Forget about it, a
simpler way is explained below:
Without getting into too much
technicalities. Easy fats have more
beta receptors than alpha receptors, whereas stubborn fats have
more alpha receptors than beta. So the betas release fat faster but
the alphas block the fat cells
(avoiding lipolysis, i.e. fat oxidation). Because of more beta receptors, easy fat cells release fats
faster whereas with low beta receptors, stubborn fat cells release
fats slower. Now that we know about these
receptors, we’ll start understanding how insulin affects them. We
all know about Insulin hormone.
Remember, it is one of the most
anabolic hormone. But in this scenario of losing fat, we should
probably hate it (since Insulin
stops fat oxidation). Alpha receptors are more sensitive to Insulin
than Beta, meaning Insulin is not
your friend when you are trying to
lose fat, more importantly stubborn fat. Now this can be tackled by fasting
longer, when you don’t consume
food for hours (e.g. skipping
breakfast is a good thing for fat
loss. You might even consider skipping another meal after breakfast
depending on the person). So when
you fast longer your insulin levels
drop gradually and this in turn increases fat oxidation and some of
it is stubborn fat. Now the question is how long a person should be
in fasted state. Don’t start fasting
for days and starve! Fasting win25
dow shouldn’t be too small reducing the fat oxidation to minimum
and it shouldn’t be too long which
can result in muscle breakdown. Now let’s talk about blood flow
and how it affect these receptors: Burning fat is done in multiple
steps in our body. First fat is released from your adipose into the
blood, this released fat has to
move to an active tissue, where it
has to be burned. So blood flow
plays an important role in fat oxidation.
Now Alpha receptors are known to
restrict blood flow and thus the
released fats are not effectively
transported to active muscles for
fat oxidation from these places.
But studies have shown that fasting not only regulates the insulin
levels but also helps us in increasing blood flow in the adipose tissue. Some more tips which can help us
get rid of this stubborn fat are • Increased activity levels during
the fasted state • Consumption of green tea and
caffeine will help during the fasted
state • You might consider to add weight
training session before breaking
the fast (do not forget to consume
BCAA pre and intra workout)
increasing strength gains simultaneously. Now there have been drugs which
promote beta receptors and block
alpha. This results in increased
strength and faster fat oxidation.
But there are adverse side effects
to them, some of them being palpitations, tremor, headache and
metabolic effects. And there have
been many cases where even
death has occurred in higher
dosages. We do not want anyone to indulge
in any of these Agonist and Antagonist drugs, for your safety and
health. But what we suggest is
fasting longer could help you in
losing more fat especially the
stubborn body fat. References: 1. http://www.researchgate.net/
…/…/
0fcfd510a49d5ec74e000000.pdf 2. http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/1337342 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/20048511 4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/18545194 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/14719995 While on this topic, lets also explore the role of these receptors in
strength gains: R O L E O F R E C E P TO R S I N
STRENGTH GAINS We have something called agonist
(helpers of receptors) and antagonist (blockers of receptors) of both
alpha and beta receptors.
Beta Agonists promote more beta
receptor activity, which implies
faster fat oxidation and these fats
act as energy while performing
resistance training. So these beta
agonists actually increase the exercise capacity of a person. Many
researchers have now confirmed
this to be true. Alpha Antagonists block Alpha receptors, thereby promoting fat
oxidation and which also leads to
strength gains. They do the work
of burning stubborn fat as well as
Bala chisels Greek Gods or
Goddesses out of his
clients. The phenomenal
transformations will have
you looking back and forth
between the before and after
pics to check if it is the same
person! To hire him as your
View his full profile here.
DOCTORS CORNER
a week should be rest day. • Every workout must begin with a
warm up and end with a cool
down. A warm up is necessary to prepare the body for exercise by increasing heart rate and blood
flow to working muscles. The
warm up should start slow and
easy. The goal is to break a
sweat. After 5-10 mins, warm up
should focus on muscle more
specific to the exercise activity
planned. STEPS TO
PREVENT INJURIES
by SHIKHA DHUPER
The joints that are found in the
human skeleton are similar to
joints used in construction of
buildings, furniture, and machines.
Both human and non human joints
adhere to same basic design principles and both illustrate strong
inter relationship that exist between structure and function. The basic principles are as follows: • Joint (articulation) is used to
connect one component of a
structure with one or more other
components. • The design of a joint and material used depends partly on its
function. Eg. If the function of a
joint is to provide stability or
static support, its design will be
different from the one desired
for mobility. There are a lot of materials that
come together to form the joints in
the human body - bones, bursa, capsules, cartilage, disk, the fat
pads, labra, meniscus, plates and
tendons. For an individual who is physically
active, there is a possibility of an
injury. While some injuries are difficult to prevent against, like fractures and ankle sprains, many others are preventable.
26
Unlike in fractures, soft tissue injuries management is essentially
conservative and physiotherapy
appears to b the mainstay of treatment.
Here are some guidelines that you
can follow to reduce your chances
of these preventable injuries:
• Start slow with any new exercise
program or when resuming exercise after a break. • Aim for slow progression,
whether in workout time or in the
weights being lifted. • Listen to the warning signs your
body like little aches and pains in
joints and muscles. Pain is the
key factor telling the body something is not right. ‘No pain, no
gain’ is a misconception. • Flexibility is an essential part of
every warm up. Once the muscles are warm they are more
elastic and are easily stretched. • The other important routine that
gets ignored by most people is a
proper cool down. Cooling down
properly and stretching immediately after workouts will decrease
muscle soreness and aid in recovery, both helping to prepare
for next workout sessions. • Also a proper well balanced diet,
can aid in injury prevention. Poor
diet leads to muscle weakness,
decrease in strength and endurance. • Lastly, keeping hydrated is essential as well. A body with adequate level of nutrients and water
intake will assist you in achieving
the intensity you desire.
• If your body is tired or too sore
from the previous workout, do low
intensity workout. • It is important to add variety to
every workout routine to prevent
repetitive or over use injuries and
to breakdown the regime and
ease the parts. • Getting adequate rest is a critical
component to any workout routine and the time spent allowing
the body to recover helps in preventing injuries. At least a day in
Shikha is a physiotherapist
based in Raipur and has
helped hundreds to effectively heal their pain.
EXERCISE CORNER
REVEALING SECRETS TO A
STRONG CORE!
by HARSHAD MENON
There is absolutely no secret for
hard work you just work hard for
it, everyone wants a strong core
but just like everything else, you
have to work hard for it.
WHAT IS CORE?
Core muscles includes all the muscles that help move, support &
stabilise your spine. They include
oblique’s, rectus abdominals, and
transverse abdominals.
Knowing the muscles is very important because you will have a better idea of the work that needs to
be done to strengthen the complete core.
Many people believe or argue that
heavy squats and deadlifts will
strengthen the core sufficiently, I
think it’s a mistake. There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that
you do engage your core muscles
when you squat or deadlift but it is
this thing that actually can limit
your PR (personal record)!!! And so
it works both ways.
The table here will give you a better idea of how to engage your
ACTION OF THE
MIDSECTION (CORE)
Harshad brings about jawdropping transformation in
his clients. He motivates and
drives them to never give
up. To hire Harshad as your
View his complete profile
here
28
“Many people argue that heavy
squats and deadlifts will strengthen the core sufficiently, this is a
mistake!”
DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY MUSCLES
Core Flexion
Bend forward, or “curl
up” action
Rectus abdominis
(trunk flexors)
Core Extension
Stand up straight and
bend backwards
Erector spinae (back
extensors)
Core Rotation
Twist to the left and
right
Internal and external
obliques
Lateral Trunk
Flexion
Bend to the side
Obliques and one side
of rectus abdominis
and erector spinae
Compression of
the abdomen
Draw your belly button
into your spine
Transverse abdominis
core with different movements.
So now that we know what our core muscle is made of
and how to engage them, we can work out these muscles better.
Start with basically building basic strength in your core
muscles. Start by working your oblique’s, rectus abdominals, transverse abdominals. Also your erector spinae.
Train your core daily by doing upper, lower and obliques
in a split of 3 days also back extensors can be trained on
any one of these days.
Single Leg Plank Walk; Source: BenBruno.com;
Watch the Video here
For a strong lifter, all these exercises won’t be enough
to provide the stimulus that is required to get stronger.
This is simply because these exercises eventually become too easy for them. For better results you need to
challenge yourselves more.
Here are Some exercises which will help you push yourselves and get even better.
SINGLE LEG PLANK WALK
Get into your basic push up position and lift one leg off
the ground. Walk forward using your hands. Your arms
will be straight the whole time and hips will be steady.
If you are working on a the floor, you can keep a cloth
underneath your foot. Now keep moving forward as
much as you can. Switch legs and repeat. Perform for
as many sets as you want. This will also work your
shoulders and you will see that your heart rate also increases when you perform this. Squeeze in your abdomen for added benefit.
SINGLE LEG FALLOUTS
Lot of gyms have TRX so you people can try this as well.
Adjust the TRX such that the straps reach your waist
high now lift one leg off the ground you extend the
strap and get into ab wheel roll out final position. Since
the base support is very less it makes the workout very
hard perform as many reps as you can (till failure).
Perform these exercises along with a structured diet
program and you will see that you are getting stronger
and building a chiselled core. The secret is to be patient
and keep challenging yourself!
Single Leg Fallouts; Source: BenBruno.com;
Watch the Video here
29
FEATURED ARTICLE
It's time to turn determination into action. You can access a lot of things
online to help you train hard, get you
the perfect diet plan, etc. But nobody
can come to your house and light that
fire within you to get you moving. You
have to take actions to achieve that
perfect goal. However it’s easier said
than done. How do you stay motivated
and how do you stick to your plan?
DREAMS WITH
DEADLINES
BY SHRADDHA BHAVALKAR
You have a well-laid-out plan and
you decide to follow it. It is the
time to set the bar high and start
tweaking the variables. You know
the actions you need to take to
achieve that perfect goal. However it’s easier said than done. How
do you stay motivated and how do
you stick to your plan?
Even though, at the end it is simply a test of your nerves, there are
some measures that have helped
me and my clients in the past.
Here are a few of them:
DO NOT COMPARE! “But that lady lost 10% in 40 days.
I just lost 6. I should just quit”.
31
Don’t quit. You are unique and you
have every reason to be proud of
it. If you followed the plan religiously; please pat your back and
move forward with bigger goals.
There are a lot of factors that affect your results – your starting
BMR, your genetics, body type and
more. Remember – once all the
dots connect, you will reach there.
It’s science. Without exceptions.
SKETCH IT, WRITE IT, BELIEVE IT,
LIVE IT! Write about ideal physique you
want to achieve. Go crazy with
your imagination. What fat % you
want to achieve, what kind of
muscle mass you want to gain. Be
specific. Any injuries you want to
overcome or may be, improve a
particular body part. Go a step
further and sketch it!
TAKE IT ON PRIORITY BASIS Take out time for your health.
Even if it means 25 mins a day; do
it. Schedule your day in such a way
that you have a time slot to workout. Remember, you might have a
hundred excuses, but only one reason to continue is enough to
change your life!
INVOLVE FRIENDS Try to motivate your friend to join
you on this fitness journey. When
you have company you are less
likely to skip your workout and it’s
easier to push each other to go on
till the end. Get in touch with
people who have the same goals as
you. Join our Facebook group –
‘s.q.u.a.t.s’. It's free and packed
with motivation, information and
direction. Each day you will witness life changing transformations.
Its an epitome of the fact that
nothing is impossible.
LEARN, LEARN, LEARN! Learn, read and research. This will
definitely help you stay on the
right track. You need to understand you body to challenge it.
Your body adapts to change when
you expect more out of it.
BE PERSISTENT AND PATIENT. DO
NOT OVERTRAIN Rome was not built in a day. Your
body is every bit as beautiful a
structure as Rome. Give it time, do
it right. People workout 4 hours a
day and expect to see quick results. They are actually just harming their bodies. One hour of consistent workout will show better
results. Do NOT over train. Track
your meals and workout. Log
everything you eat.
DECLARE YOUR GOAL You might keep your dream to
yourself but make your goals public. Studies have shown, people
who publicly declare their goals
are more likely to put in efforts
than those who just plan it in their
heads. Set small goals: for example meal planning, hydration or
training. The moment you achieve
these mini goals, you have made
progress. It will keep you pumped!
LAW OF ATTRACTION Now I am not talking about attraction of the opposite sex... lol But I
am talking about attracting the
ideal physique and health for yourself. How can you do that..? Surround yourselves with people who
would keep reminding you of your
goal. Get in touch with people who
also are on the same transformation journey like yourself so that
32
you won't feel you are alone. Think
about how beautiful and strong
you will be at the end of the journey. Positive thoughts will attract
positive change.
FIND TIME FOR YOURSELF No matter what your schedule
looks like, make sure you find time
for yourself. Do things that make
you happy. Make it matter to you.
Say no to things that are unnecessary like events, favors or work.
Rather be home with your loved
ones or do whatever you feel like
doing.
REWARD YOURSELF Achieving a fitness goal needs a lot
of dedication. Its tough to balance
one’s lifestyle with one’s schedule.
So pat yourself on the back from
time to time. Reward yourself and
acknowledge your achievements,
so that you are encouraged for
future goals. So if you are on a
diet, a cheat meal might not be an
option. So ask yourself what will
motivate you further. May be getting into smaller size clothes might
make you feel better so go buy
yourself new clothes, do a photo
shoot with a friend, buy new pair
of shoes to help you train hard just few suggestions. But yes go
pamper yourself because you deserve it.
DAMAGE CONTROL We all have crazy schedules and
sometimes we miss workout or
have a cheat meal. Its human,
right? Don't be extremely hard on
yourself. Take this into consideration whenever setting any goals
and give yourself some buffer
days. When we started we had a
big picture in mind so small delays
aren't going to change that. If you
fail, get up, figure out what went
wrong and restart!!
Shraddha’s clients love
her attention to detail
and how she takes out
time to make them understand their plans and
the process. You can
hire Shraddha as your
mentor by logging on to
squats.in
View her complete profile here
SPECIAL FEATURE
1. The timings of food and
drink ingestion may not be
optimal due to daylight
fasting.
2. Acute hypo hydration occurs during daylight hours
especially during bouts of
strenuous physical activity
in the heat.
3. Sleep deprivation and disruption to the normal circadian cycles.
4. Low energy levels due to
disruption in macro/micro
nutrient intake.
The biggest question for all
practicing Muslims is how to
go about practicing fasts
while still maintaining our
yearly physical and athletic
goals.
To begin with be rest assured that Ramadan fasting
does not negatively affect
muscle gain.
NUTRITION & WORKOUT
DURING RAMADAN
by IMRAN SHAIKH
Ramadan is the ninth month of the
Islamic calendar and is observed
by nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to
commemorate the first revelation
of the Holy Quran. This annual
observance, regarded as one of
the five pillars of Islam, lasts for
29-30 days based on the visual
sightings of the crescent moon.
Fasting is obligatory for all adult
Muslims from dawn to sunset. Muslims must refrain from consuming
food, drinking liquids and also
from all sorts of sinful behaviour
that may negate the rewards of
fasting. Each day, before dawn
Muslims observe a pre-fast meal
known as the ‘Suhur’. The fast
breaking meal at sunset is known
as ‘Iftar’.
33
As the Islamic calendar is lunar,
Ramadan occurs at different times
of the calendar year over a 33
year cycle. This results in Ramadan being undertaken in
markedly different environmental
conditions between the years in
the same country. The duration of
the fast depends upon the geographical location and the season
of the year and can be as long as
18-21 hours a day in the summers
of temperate regions. This year
the fasting hours in the Indian
subcontinent along with the Arab
states varies from 14 to 16.5
hours. In India, this year Ramadan
fasting is for around 15 hours a
day.
Let us understand the effects of
Ramadan fasting on an individual:
Numerous studies have inferred that practicing, exercise or training during Ramadan can in fact be beneficial in reducing body fat and
improving lipid profile. No
adverse effects whatsoever
on the renal function, immune and inflammatory systems were observed.
Fasting in Ramadan also has
several other health benefits:
1. Improved mental discipline
2. The potential for restored
insulin sensitivity and nutrient partitioning.
3. Higher growth hormone
outputs during the fasts
So be sure you keep these points
in mind while training in the holy
month of Ramadan:
Do not stop working out.
Your body generally retains muscle
mass for as long as it feels there is
stimulus and need. When you stop
exercising your body will slowly
start disposing off what it feels is
an unnecessary impediment costing extra energy. Maintaining
muscles requires calories/energy
and a stimulus need.
Frequency and timing of eating
between breaking and starting
the fast are key.
Ramadan in summers is obviously
much more difficult with the fast
and daylight lasting much longer.
The heat will induce nausea and
dehydration. Also you will have
less time to eat, drink, sleep and
train. Adjust your timings and plan
accordingly.
Optimise yourself from feeling
drained.
After a long day of fasting your
carbohydrate and glycogen reserves will be totally depleted.
The large release of growth hormone from fasting alongside the
increased insulin sensitivity from
not eating all day long and the
quick absorption of food at Iftar
will totally rejuvenate you and
freshen you up while giving you
the most optimal muscle density
and pump.
Training Schedule flexibility.
Working out in fasted is a bad
idea. It’s not optimal or healthy.
Since you are already dehydrated
it can be far too catabolic and you
may even pass out or end up at
the hospital.
Try to fit in your workouts between Maghrib (Sunset) and Isha
(Night) or after Isha (Night)
prayers. In case you have access
to a 24 hour gym then you can
even consider working out right
before Suhur in the morning.
Nutritional Adjustments.
The first nutritional tip is to carefully plan your meals. Secondly,
Ramadan is no excuse to go all out
and eat sugar and junk. Getting
carried away at Iftar spreads and
trying to make up for a long day of
fasting is a quick way of getting
fat and unhealthy. You have some
lenience with sugars since you will
be glycogen depleted, but going
overboard will make you sick and
beat the whole point of fasting as
well as improving your insulin sensitivity. A few dates as per Sunnah
(Practice) will be sufficient to replenish glycogen levels.
34
Foods to avoid
Just as you should avoid sugary
junk, oily, fried, genetically modified and processed food throughout the year, you should also avoid
them during Ramadan.
It’s not hard, just think of how
much you eat normally and
reschedule those smaller meals
into larger and less frequent
meals in the time frame that you
have in your non-fasted hours.
Adequate protein intake is of utmost importance. Ensure you get
about 1.2-2 grams of protein per
kilogram of your lean body mass.
Macro nutrient intake and timings
At Suhur, the ideal foods are slo
digesting ones that give you a
sense of fullness and provide long
lasting energy. Casein protein,
complex carbs and good fats are
ideal. Ensure you eat a slow digesting source of quality protein
such as cottage cheese, fats and
loads of fibrous foods. That will
help keep you satiated and full for
longer.
At Iftar, quickly and fast absorbing
proteins and carbs are ideal when
you plan to workout. One of the
Sunnah (Practice) is eating dates
and water first thing at Iftar.
Dates are rich in nutrients unique
to enhancing hydration as well as
rich in potassium and extremely
ideal for quickly replenishing
glycogen levels.
Lower training volume but train
with intensity
During Ramadan you shouldn’t
train longer than 40 minutes to an
hour. You should lower the number
of sets and your volume of exercises while focusing on preserving
strength. Focus on heavy compound movements that hit every
muscle nice and quick. Intensity is
the key and not volume as high
volume training requires lots of
food, water and rest which is not
a luxury you have during Ramadan. Hit it hard, do it with intensity, get it done and get out.
Avoid cardio as during Ramadan
you are fasting and burning calories with weights. It will further
dehydrate you which is the last
thing you want during Ramadan.
I have covered all aspects of Ramadan fasting along with workout
and nutrition tips. Hope that you
will find this helpful in preparing
your own workout and diet charts
during Ramadan.
Ramadan Kareem!
References:
Ref1: http://journals.humankinetics.com Ref2: http://www.iosrhphr.org/
papers
Place the bulk of your calories
immediately after your workout in
your post workout meal.
Water Intake
Water is important, dehydration
causes catabolism and muscle after all is heavily made up of water. Water is necessary for life,
cellular functions, organs, your
brain and more. Water also helps
digest food so that it can provide
us with energy, it helps to transport waste out of the body and it
is important in controlling body
temperature. Fasting in Ramadan
especially in the summers will dehydrate you. Load up on water
ahead of time.
Imran is a Nutrition Coach with
SQUATS and his clients love
the personalised diet plan and
workouts he shares with them.
If you need him to help you with
yours, log on to squats.in
View his Complete Profile here.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Sangeeta Goswami lives
in Mumbai. She is a fitness instructor at Bokwa Fitness and Chief
Head of Finance at ICIPL
CHICKEN SOUP
…FOR THE HEALTHY SOUL
INGREDIENTS
• Few coriander leaves or palak leaves
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock (water saved after
boiling chicken pieces)
• 100 gm Chicken boneless pieces
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• Salt (as per taste)
METHOD
NUTRITION FACTS
• Take a sauce pan & bring the stock to a boil
• Add boneless chicken pieces boiled in stock
already.
• Add ginger garlic paste, pepper & salt.
• Garnish with coriander or palak leaves &
serve hot.
SERVES: 1
CALORIES
105 KCal
FAT
PROTEIN
CARBOHYDRATES
35
1g
23g
0g
Now you can win INR 1,000 if your recipe
gets selected to be our Recipe of the
Month. All you need to do is post your
recipe along with the pics on D3’s FB
group. Tag your post with #fitmag #D3 and
we will be able to find your entry easily!
NUTRITION TALK
In this new segment in Nutrition
called ‘Table Talk’ we will have
the best coaches in SQUATS about
various topics, all in a layman
language. This will help break
myths and learning easy.
Today, we have SQUATS Coach
Pratik Thakkar with Dev Biswas
talking about GI, GL and carb timings. So let’s get started!
DEV – Hey Pratik, to kick this off
let’s address the elephant in the
room and directly jump into what
GI and GL is. There has been a lot
of hype about these.
PRATIK – Yes, GI has been quite a
buzz indeed. It’s nothing but just a
number associated with carbs that
indicates the particular food’s effect on a person’s blood glucose
tion of it. Or the reason why watermelon
is “bad”. “High GI =
bad” is the mantra.
PRATIK – Exactly, and
t h a t ’s w h e r e a dvanced concepts like
GL comes into play.
Why don’t you tell us
about GL?
DEV – Sure. First let
me address the problem with GI as a
means of assessing
the effects of carbs.
Say we label a certain food bad
because of its high Glycemic Index, for example water melon (GI
– 72). Now, this concept tends to
ignore the amount of carbs needed
f o r
the
KNOW ABOUT
GI, GL AND
CARB TIMINGS
in conversation
DEV BISWAS and PRATIK THAKKAR
blood sugar raise. 100 gm of walevels. 100 is the standard, that’s
termelon just has 6 gm of carbs.
the equivalent of pure glucose.
So the relative blood sugar raise
That’s the nerdy definition. In rewould be really low. That’s where
ality, it is a measure of how much
b l o o d g l ucose a parInsulin Index is a more realistic conticular type
cept since it also incorporates effect
of food raises. That’s it.
of proteins and fats in rise in insulin.
DEV – And In the end the insulin rise matters and
t h a t ’s t h e
not just the blood glucose response,
sole reason
of justificabe it fat loss or muscle synthesis.
tion
of
brown bread
the GL or Glycemic Load is useful,
over white, or that of brown rice
since it is a measure of the blood
over white.
The brown version
sugar raise which also takes the
raises blood glucose by a lesser
quantity of the food into considerlevel compared to the white varia-
36
ation whereas GI completely ignores the quantity. And that actually matters, since quantification
is indispensable when we’re talking about nutrition in a scientific
view.
PRATIK – Exactly. Quantification is
the basis of any good nutrition
program. I’ve heard people talking
about these diets called GI diet
and what not. See, quality of a
food is certainly important but it
doesn’t supersede quantity if your
goal is getting without the added
accumulation of fat. And that in
turn becomes the reason of multitude of other problems. When going on a well-planned diet, it’s
always a good idea to consider GL
instead of GI. The following link
can be referred to - http://
www.alsearsmd.com/glycemic-index/
DEV – That link will indeed be
helpful for the readers. I’d like to
mention another advanced concept
in this regard. The insulin index.
Where the GI and GL only talk
about carbs, Insulin Index is in-fact
a more realistic concept since it
also incorporates all the other
foods (protein and fat) that raise
insulin significantly, since it’s a
well-known fact now that carbs
are not the only foods that raise
insulin, and at the end the insulin
rise matters and not just the blood
glucose, be it fat loss or muscle
synthesis.
But Pratik, these are but theoretical concepts. Tell me, how does it
manifest into using it to our benefit? Say, let’s talk about carb timing and quantity.
PRATIK – Sure Dev. People often
get confused as to what diet to
follow. Low carb diets have been
really fruitful so people tend to
adopt it. Now while coming back
up people do not know how to add
carbs back to their diet. A good
way to reintroduce carbs is going
for a low carb diet with 20-25% of
your calories coming from carbs.
Best time to consume it is post
workout, reason being the glucose
transporters namely GLUT4 and
GLUT12, which determine whether
the carbs you consume will be
used for energy or stored as fat
are actively present on the muscle
fibers. This helps us to minimize
the fat gains as your glycogen is
depleted after a weight training
session and thus the GLUTs will
pull them in the muscle fibers first
promoting sarcoplasmic growth.
Clean High GI carbs should be your
go to option as it will lead a rapid
spike in insulin thus promoting
rapid clearance of glucose (blood
sugar) from your system and storing it in your muscles.
DEV – Right, and later one can increase the amount / ratio of carbs
in their diet based on how their
body is reacting to it. It is better
to consume most of them post
workout but if it is too big a quantity, then pre workout and at dinner works well too. Pre workout,
complex sources would be a better
choice as it will give sustained
flow of energy whereas simple
might spike insulin and come down
fast thereby making you feel weak
due to a sugar crash and induce
fatigue and cravings.
PRATIK – Yes, and dinner is another
ideal time as your insulin sensitivity is the highest at night and thus
carbs are good here. Also, they
will promote growth and repair as
you fall asleep. Carbs generally
38
have good SI (Satiety Index) which
will induce good sleep and no cravings at that time. I’ll ask you a
question that most of the people
ask me. I have my own answer for
this but I want to hear your views.
“How to minimize fat gains while
bulking or how to accelerate fat
loss, keeping all other variables
constant?”
DEV –The answer to this basically
boils down to nutrient timing. And
on that concept, Intermittent fasting is a great way to address the
problem. It significantly improves
a lot of your physical systems.
From insulin/leptin sensitivity, to
burning fat effectively, to decreasing inflammation, there are a host
of other benefits that IF offers besides fat reduction.
PRATIK – That’s exactly what I answer as well. I often make my
clients do the 16:8 variation where
you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8
hours. In the fasting window you
drink water, green tea, coffee and
green smoothies. I’ve tried the 5:2
variation myself but I feel it’s too
hard on your body. 2 day continuous fasting really takes a hard toll
on the body. Not recommended.
16:8 is good.
dopt=Abstract (Why IF is the best
for fat loss)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/15699226 (Why skipping
breakfast is good for your health)
Dev and Pratik are Fitness
Coaches on squats.in
To view their complete profile,
click here:
Dev Biswas
Pratik Thakkar
DEV – Yeah, and concepts like carb
backloading can be effectively
combined with it where you eat all
your carbs only around the workouts. But again, carb backloading
is again another cast topic in itself, Let’s keep that for some other time. For today, it has been a
great talk! Thanks a lot for joining
us!
PRATIK – Thanks Dev, this was
great! Hope the readers also enjoy
it just as much.
Studies:
pubmed/22425331 (IF and lower
cases of diabetes/heart disease)
pubmed/18805103 (IF and reducing
coronary heart disease, one of the
biggest killers of our time)
pubmed/21410865?
TRANSFORMATION OF THE MONTH
didn’t give up! So do you now
spread the word of fitness? Faisal – Oh yes, by all means. People ask me for tips and suggestions
and I tell them to stop sugar, reduce carbs, start strength training,
drink more water. I give all the tips
that I have learnt from SQUATS. I
have realised today, that Health is
He used a machine to sleep peacefully at nights. A constant sufferer of Sleep Apnea, weighing 113 kg, he never
imagined that one day he would be able to sleep peacefully without the machine. He also never thought that he
would see the digits 87.00 flashing on his weighing
scale. Our Transformation of the month will receive a
free stack of supplements courtesy TRIMLIFE. Lets meet
FAISAL SAIT
Dev – Faisal you lost 26 kg and
are a whole new person it seems.
What do people around you say
to you? Faisal – Haha! I get two different
kinds of reactions. Some congratulate me on my transformation and
ask me “how did you do it?” while
some ask me “Are you sick?”.
(Laughs). Both the statements
make me happy. It makes me feel
content about my hard work. People notice. I have changed. I look
different.
Dev – You sure do! So who do you
credit this achievement to? Faisal – Mostly myself..Haha! No,
my coach Harshad has a big role to
play in my transformation. He was
a great support, a great mentor.
Without him, this was impossible.
So mostly him. And yes, definitely
my family. They supported me a
great deal. Their patience and
support was important.
Dev – How has your transformation changed your life? Faisal – I needed a machine to
sleep earlier. Now I don’t need
any. I had sleep apnea. Being 113
kg is a very uncomfortable thing.
Carrying all that weight around is
really tiring and it makes you feel
sick, all the time. With time, you
get used to it, but it does feel uncomfortable. I realised that after
realising how light I felt after
shedding all those extra pounds.
Yes, life certainly feels different
now.
Dev –Faisal, let’s talk about your
background. What do you do and
39
how did you manage your schedule? Faisal – I have an export business
and I am really occupied most of
the time. And believe me, it was
really difficult managing the routine that I was on. Actually, no lets
call it ‘different’. And that change
was really difficult to adhere to.
At one point in the initial weeks, I
even thought of giving up. But
then I was also experiencing a
change for the better. And it was
enough to motivate me and keep
me going. 1 kg, 2kg, 5 kg to 26 kg!
And now I am a changed person!
Dev – Yes, change is difficult initially. But we’re glad that you
everything, and that anyone can
achieve good health with consciousness effort.
Dev – That’s great to know.
Would you like to give any tips,
or message to our readers? Faisal – I have seen people getting
all worked out about leaving their
rice and chapatti. But they should
understand that keto is not the
only diet. You can eat your rice,
and still lose weight. The key is to
trust your mentor and follow
things with utmost dedication. Lastly, my message – If you want to
make a change, don’t wait for tomorrow. Start it Right Now!
JC’s ARCHIVES
EAT BIG TO GET BIG? ------------------------------- If we start arranging the biggest
lies in the world of bodybuilding, I
think this would be on top of the
list. You never get big by eating
big, you get big by eating smart. You must have met people who
can eat like pigs and still stay the
same. I have seen many! These
people are called ectomorphs their metabolism is very high
(genetics). So even though they
don't get fat easily, they don't get
muscles easily either. They will
have trouble getting big shoulders especially or bigger quads. Then there are people, who simply get fat even by smelling food,
me for instance. Although we get
good muscles relatively easily if
we worked hard enough, we also
tend to get fat pretty quick. Keeping body fat below 8% is absolutely challenging and we have to
watch what we eat. Then the last category - Mesomorphs, now these people are
just genetically gifted. Tall, broad
and naturally built to build muscles, For example the Africans
and Irish people. Their nutrition
partitioning system is the best! Now if you were a mesomorph,
or an ectomorph you would get
big by eating big (of course, you
still need to be smart though).
But if you were an endomorph
like me, you'd end up getting fat
in no time. Sometimes fat under
the muscles may give an illusion
of being big, but you'll realise it
soon when you jump and can see
your stomach going up and down
- that's fat ! So never ever ever eat too much.
You should know your BMR, and
how many calories you need in a
day. This comes with trial and
error.
Remember, you can eat fat burners temporarily, you can boost
your metabolism temporarily, but
over the stretch of 50-60 years, if
you want to be fit, you need to
know your true metabolic set
point and eat accordingly. Most
bodybuilders and wrestlers fail to
address this issue and end up
becoming lumps of fat during
their old age. You can't do that, you shouldn't
do that. Most people will disagree
with counting calories, but hey
there are people who are still
using the imperial system  when
the whole world has moved to
metric system, no offence! But,
upgrade yourself.
This article was originally posted by JC in the SQUATS
FB Group in August 2015. We will be sharing more of
his pearls of wisdom in our future issues.
40
THE LAST WORD
ARE YOU
BREATHING
CORRECTLY??!
BY JYOTI DABAS (N.D.)
This is not a trick question. Let’s check if you are: Take a deep breathe. Fill your
lungs with as much air as you can and exhale slowly.
Now tell me did you expanded your chest and probably pushed back your shoulders
to take in all the air. If you did, you are not breathing right. In our everyday lives we
go about utilising only 1/3rd capacity of our lungs and so we are not taking in as
much oxygen as we are meant to take in.
Notice a baby or an animal breathing, their belly will rise and fall with every
breathe. When we were born we used to breath correctly – with our bellies. With our
diaphragm rising and falling as we exhaled and inhaled.
The bottom 13% of our lungs bring in 60ml oxygen per minute while the top 7% brings
in only 4ml. We go about our days with shallow breaths that compromise on the
amount of oxygen we take in every day, every second, with every breathe.
Deep breathing for only a few minutes is known to relax your body. You can try this
now. Either lie down or sit up with your back straight. Now keep your hand on your
belly and inhale for 3 seconds – feel your belly rise up (your chest might also expand
but your belly will rise further). Exhale slowly for 5 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times. After,
you will experience a calming, relaxed sensation (this might even make you sleepy!).
Breathing is one of the things we take for granted. Shallow breaths reflect a stressed
state in the body. You can consciously intervene to bring your body out of this
stressed state. Even in Yoga, pranayama is the control of prana (life) through breathing. The body’s energy is seemingly drawn out through deep conscious breaths.
Jyoti is the Chief Editor
of FITMAG, Director of
SQUATS Academy and
a certified Naturopathy
Doctor. She writes
about nutrition, weight
lifting, yoga, meditation
and more in her personal blog FitButHow
View complete profile
here.
So now you know the right way to breath, but since you have been breathing wrong
for so long, it will take you practice to now start breathing correctly.
Start today, be conscious. Especially when you are angry, stressed, or tired- take
time to notice how you are breathing, then correct it. Thats it, easy no?
This article was first published on fitbuthow.com
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