With all those rigorous workouts and strict diets in store, the 6-packs are like the light at the end of a tunnel, always a mere reach away aren’t they? Dedication and hard-work are something that go a long way when it comes to helping you achieve this very goal! However, what if we told you that you needn’t hit the gym every day to do just that? Surprised? Well, check out our list of the Top 3 ways to get those 6 packs faster then!

Hydrate:

No matter however many times we might have mentioned this, but it somehow still doesn’t seem enough! Hydrate! Keeping yourself hydrated and well-watered can make or break all your efforts to achieve those perfectly sculpted 6-packs! There is a reason behind it though!

You see, when you are well-hydrated, your body helps you give your metabolism a boost, that in turn helps you burn more belly fat which in turn paves your way towards achieving those amazing 6-packs! And as water is something that ends up making you feel fuller for longer, it also helps you eat less, and thus makes you lose weight too! A win-win situation, isn’t it?

Cardio All the way!

Cardio is basically any form of exercise that helps to increase your heart rate! When you decide to include cardio in your workout routines, you make sure that you end up burning extra fat, especially belly fat, thus helping your abdominal muscles to be more visible!

When you do cardio for merely 3-4 times in a week with diligence, it was found that there was a significant reduction of the belly fat of people. And it was also discovered that the more cardio a person did, the more the chance of the person losing more belly fat! Simple rules really, but definitely something that needs to be followed with the utmost dedication in order to achieve your goals.

Yes to Protein:

Another sure shot way of paving a deeper and wider path towards your destination of getting 6-pack abs is by increasing your protein intake! Did you know that any high-protein food helps you lose weight and cuts down on belly fat too! You see, when you increase your protein intake, you end up decreasing your calorie intake significantly!

Apart from that, they also brilliantly help supporting muscle growth! Thanks to this very property, consuming proteins post-workout is always advised. Post your workouts, when you consume protein, the protein helps you heal and build muscle tissues too! And the best part? It was recently discovered that protein besides aiding in the process of weight loss, help you preserve muscles mass as well as metabolism! What more could you have asked for?

Just remember, crunches and planks are not the only things that will help you get those 6-packs, there are more way, so don’t beat yourself up if you can’t hold that 1 min plank! Just remember to follow a healthy diet and the right kind of workouts, and you are sorted!

The post Top 3 ways to get those 6 packs faster first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

Challenging one’s body is the first step you take to help in the lean muscle building process but if your nutritional intake does not match what your body needs during this time, then any physical activity you might indulge in going forward, could prove to be of no use!

Confused as to what you should be eating during this time? Well then, you are in luck! Here is a list of the top 3 foods that will compliment your workout routines brilliantly when you are looking forward to build lean muscles.

1. Chicken Breast

Considered to be a must-have pantry essential when you go down the lean-muscle building road, there is a very important reason why chicken breast proves to be a great addition to your diet! Filled with proteins, Vitamin B6 and Niacin, nutrients that have been known to be exceptionally helpful for anyone who is hopeful about building lean muscles, chicken breast truly is something that you should have stocked in your fridge, during this journey of yours!

The nutrients present in the chicken breast help your body function properly when you are indulging in exercises as a result of which, the process of muscle building happens quicker and in a more efficient way. And if that was not enough, then let us also tell you that high-protein diets that include chicken in them, have been known to also aid fat loss exceptionally!

2. Soyabeans

If you are a vegetarian or a vegan, soyabeans are your best bet at receiving the right amount of protein for your body! Did you know that a mere half cup of soya beans contain close to 14 gms of protein? Something to think about, isn’t it? And apart from the protein content present in them, soyabeans also happen to have healthy unsaturated fats, Vitamin K, iron and phosphorus!

The main function of iron in your body is to help store and then transport oxygen to your blood and all your muscles. When working out, your muscles need to receive the right amount of oxygen, else there will be no use of doing one rigorous exercise after the other! And if, by some chance, you happen to be deficient in iron, then receiving oxygen by your muscles can be quite a task!

3. Quinoa

Fuelling yourself with enough energy giving foods is also of vital importance when it comes to building lean muscles apart from indulging in protein rich foods. This is where foods with carbohydrates in them come into the picture. Quinoa is one such grain that has attained a lot of popularity among the masses in recent times!

A single serving of cooked Quinoa, i.e. 1 cup, contains about 40gms of carbohydrate, 8gms of protein and 5gms of fiber with hearty amounts of phosphorus and magnesium also present in it! Apart from carbohydrates, that help in providing energy to the body, magnesium also play a vital role in the functioning of your muscles and nerves!

All you need to remember is that, like we stated earlier, eating the right kind of food and indulging in the right kind of workout will help you brilliantly in gaining lean muscles! And if you are still sceptical about the whole thing, then just reach out to us and we will answer any questions that you might have!

The post Top 3 foods to eat to help build lean muscle! first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

Keeping water aside, we do have a few options for you to choose from so that you are able to keep up your amazing flow in the gym, while also indulging in some delicious elixir! So have a look at some hydrating post-workout drinks that you can sip on to help stay refreshed!

Coconut Water:

Coconut water is chockfull of antioxidants! That is what makes this delicious and naturally occurring elixir one of the best post-workout drink that you can easily indulge in, guilt-free! We are sure that you are familiar with a lot of post-workout drinks that they sell in the shops nowadays, like Gatorade and the likes?

Well, coconut water too, like those sports drinks contains high levels of electrolytes like magnesium and potassium. The idea is to go slow when you are using coconut water as a natural hydration drink for yourself, post workout. This will ensure that sudden dose of too much coconut water doesn’t upset your stomach and lead to bloating.

Another great part about consuming coconut water is that it contains a considerably lesser amount of sodium in it when compared to regular sports drinks. This property comes in extremely handy when one needs to hydrate after a brilliantly sweaty session at the gym. For anyone who is indulging in light workouts, coconut water makes for a great companion.

Tart Juices:

Did you know that tart juices like cherry juice, can help brilliantly when it comes to fighting sore muscles? Atleast now you have some use for that cherry juice that has been sitting in your fridge for such a long time! The many antioxidants present in tart cherry juice help reduce inflammation thus benefitting muscle recovery as well.

Your body’s lipid peroxidation also reduces when you consume cherry juice post your workout session, thus aiding the muscle recovery process even more. Another great benefit of consuming cherry juice is that it has also proven to prevent strength loss during workout sessions!

However, remember to not go for those juices that come in a carton and always try to opt for unsweetened cherry juice. Apart from this, remember to keep your cherry juice intake below 300 ml in a day.

Black/Green Tea:

Tea, be it black or green tea, has to be the most underrated beverage that there ever was and it can sometimes really surprise you as to how many benefits a small little cup of this warm liquid can offer you.

Ofcourse Green Tea has become quite popular in many weight loss circuits, but do you know the reason for this? Teas like green and black tea help very effectively in the process of fat oxidation, as during this very process the fat in your body is broken down into smaller molecules, that are sorted and are eventually used up to produce energy.

Thanks to the antioxidants present in tea, it too functions like the Cherry Juice and ends up helping with the recovery of sore muscles, whenever and wherever the need arises! Athletes can especially benefit from the consumption of tea, as it helps in providing less delayed onset muscle soreness.

So the next time you decide to skip that bottle of water post your workout because you are too bored of it, think about what we have written here and try using the alternatives as a way to rehydrate yourself after a workout! Are there any particular drinks you prefer from these? Let us know!

The post Top 3 Hydrating Post-Workout Drinks first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

However, if you are someone who literally cannot find time to workout, then maybe giving a go to HIIT would prove to be a good fit for you! That is the very gist of HIIT! You get to have brilliant health benefits in the least amount of time!

HIIT can easily be described as short bursts of intense exercises, where a break is established by alternating the intense workouts with low-intensity exercises so that the body has time to recover from the high-intensity workout! The maximum time a HIIT routine takes is 30 mins but it can also last for as little as 10 minutes. And now that you are slightly familiar with the concept of HIIT, have a look at the health benefits it offers!

• Metabolic Rate stays High for a longer amount of time

Did you know that the main calories that you end up burning as a result of the routine, is not during, but after the workout? HIIT routine literally enables you to burn more calories and keeps your metabolism working overtime even after you have finished exercising, and that too for quite many hours.

Another brilliant benefit of HIIT is that it just might divert your body’s mechanism to metabolize fats instead of the usual metabolization of carbohydrates. Even as little as a two minute HIIT routine (like sprints) could easily prove to be a great benefactor in increasing the metabolic rate to match that of a 30-minute running routine! The time difference is seriously astounding!

• Improves Oxygen Intake

Essentially, here, what we mean by oxygen intake is the ability of your muscles to use the oxygen in your body! Initially, to improve the oxygen intake of muscles, one would resort to running and cycling, and that too for quite a long period of time. But thanks to HIIT, you can now provide the same benefit to your muscles, in a much lesser amount of time!

A mere 20 minutes of HIIT 4 times a week, followed for 5 weeks diligently increases the oxygen intake by your muscles by 9%! Time consumed when indulging in HIIT when compared to traditional exercise routines is literally half while the calorie burning rate, oxygen intake rate and metabolic rate are exceptionally higher!

• Helps Reduce Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

Following a HIIT routine has also been proven to be brilliantly beneficial for your all-around health! According to many research, it has been found that HIIT helps reduce blood pressure effectively, specifically in obese and overweight people. When compared to continuous endurance training, which helps reduce Blood pressure in people over an extended amount of time, HIIT routines are able to do the same over a mere time of 8 weeks.

However, HIIT seems to have more effect on over-weight people when it comes to reducing Blood pressure, as compared to people with normal-weight! So if you are someone who is suffering from obesity and blood pressure at the same time, then you know what kind of workout routine would suit you the best!

Remember to always have a trainer around you when you decide to take up HIIT, so that you have someone to guide you through the whole routine, while making sure that you do not end up hurting yourself in your search of a healthier you!

The post Top 3 Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

You have all heard of pre-workout meals, haven’t you? Well, did you know why they are important? Working out on an empty stomach might be a good idea if you decide to do it early in the morning but if you workout a little later in the day, then having a good pre-workout meal will only prove to be beneficial for you!

In order to make sure that you make the best of your workout session, you need to fuel up with the best pre-workout meals that you can come across! From providing you with more energy to helping you repair your muscles after working out, the right pre-workout meals could easily prove to be lifesavers!

So want to know what can prove to be the best pre-workout food for you?  Well then, read on!

• Greek Yogurt with Dry Fruits

Dry fruits like raisins and sultanas are high in natural sugars, and even though you would think one needs to avoid the intake of sugar as much as one can, a quick source of sugar coming from dry fruits are your best and safest bet!

Where does Greek Yogurt come into the picture you ask? Well, we are sure that you know that greek yogurt is an amazing source of protein, and the protein in turn helps you optimize your workout brilliantly! Having such a combination of food 1 or 1.5 before your workout will prove to be exceptionally amazing and fruitful to your health and your regime too!

• Bananas:

There are so many benefits that bananas can offer when you include them in your daily diet, that counting down to them will only increase your love for them even more, but since we are talking about pre-workout foods, let us focus on this wonder fruits from that angle, shall we?

Being one of the best sources of simple carbohydrates and potassium along with natural sugars as well, bananas when consumed before a workout helps beautifully to boost your glycogen levels! But since the potassium present in bananas can only be stored for a limited amount of time in your body, eating one 30 minutes before your workout will prove to be beneficial!

• Smoothies:

Tasty and super healthy aren’t they? But did you know that most of the smoothies are full of fructose? This literally proves that smoothies are full of calories, and should not merely be classified as a ‘beverage’! Smoothies are meals in themselves contrary to popular judgement and can easily be had as meal replacements!

So in case you are looking for a pre-workout meal that helps provide you with a good source of fast-acting sugar and glucose, then fruit smoothies are the go-to foods for you!

• Oatmeal:

Ok, we agree, oatmeal are not the best looking or even tastiest option, but trust us when we tell you that they happen to make one of the best pre-workout foods that one can have! Containing complex carbohydrates and beta-glucan, Oats have proven to be brilliantly useful when consumed before a workout!

Try consuming oats atleast 2 hours before your workout! This helps in making you feel fuller for a longer amount of time, and also makes you feel energetic all through the day, as it releases energy slowly! And if you want an added amount of protein to the whole thing, then why not just add a scoop of your favorite protein powder to the mix and you are done! Nice eh?

The post Top 4 Pre-workout foods to give a whirl to! first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

Now comes the tricky part! How do you know which exercises are good for you during arthritis? Well, that is what we are here for! Check out our list of exercises to help you ease Knee Arthritis Pain!

Leg Raises (Lying Down)

1. Start by lying flat on your back on your yoga mat on the floor.
2. Keep your arms at your sides with your toes up.
3. Keep your leg straight. Do this while remembering to tighten your leg muscles.
4. Slowly lift your leg several inches from the floor.
5. Tighten your stomach muscles. This helps in pushing your lower back down.
6. Hold this position for 5 counts.
7. Lower your leg as slowly as possible when you are done counting to 5.
8. Repeat the process 4 times and then switch to the other leg to begin with.

The exercise proves to be brilliantly effective in strengthening your quadriceps that is the muscles in your thighs that are attached to your knee joint.

The Half-Squat

1. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-distance apart.
2. Proceed with bending your knees until you are a half-sitting position.
3. If you have trouble balancing, holding on to a chair could be a good idea.
4. Remember to keep your back absolutely straight with your chest lifted.
5. Do not slouch, lean forward or bend.
6. While keeping your feet as flat as possible on the floor hold the position for 5 seconds.
7. Slowly stand back up when you are done.
8. Ideally, you should not be feeling any pain while performing this exercise.
9. If you are a first timer, then do not attempt to do more than 10 repetitions of the squat. You can increase the number as you become accustomed to it.

The half-squat helps in strengthening the front and back muscles of the thighs along with your gluteus as well.

The Hamstring Stretch (Lying Down)

1. Begin by lying on the floor with both your legs bent.
2. In the next step, lift one leg slowly keeping it bent.
3. After this, continue by bringing your knee back toward your chest.
4. Proceed by linking your hands behind your thigh and straighten your leg.
5. Pull the now straightened leg back toward your head until you feel a stretch in your thigh region.
6. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds.
7. Slowly bend your knee and lower your leg back to the floor.
8. Even if you only do a stretch per leg, in the beginning, that too would prove extremely useful.

This exercise is exceptional when it comes to strengthening and stretching your hamstrings. Hamstrings are essentially muscles that are at the back of your thighs and attached to your knees too!

Preparing your knees before a workout will go a long way in ensuring that the exercises themselves have a long lasting effect on them. If you can, try to put a moist heat-pack on your knees for at least 15 minutes before you start your workout. This will help in decreasing any kind of stiffness that might be present and promote more blood flow to the knees. After you are done with your workout, putting an ice pack on the sore knees will help ease any pain or swelling that might be present too!

So we hope that these exercises prove to be a boon for anyone who is suffering from arthritis and help them ease the pain that the disease might cause! Do let us know if these exercises helped you! We cannot wait to hear from you!

The post Exercises to help you ease Knee Arthritis Pain first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.

But it can be quite a task to pick the perfect personal trainer for you! You could always start by observing the personal trainers in your gym and even ask around for recommendations. But to better pick a personal trainer, we do have here a few points that you can keep in mind. Have a look!

Focused:

You need to remember that a personal trainer has to be dedicated towards you. Her/his eyes should not leave you while you are busy sweating it out on the gym floor. If you think that your trainer is busier looking around while you are exercising then he/she is definitely not for you.

There is nothing worse than an unengaged trainer, who just tells you what to do and does not monitor you in the process. This could easily lead to you hurting yourself while exercising! Not a great experience!

A Great Teacher:

Anytime that they notice you are doing some exercise wrong, be it according to your posture or your technique, and they are open to correcting it, then you know you got a good trainer on your hands. Being strict is a good thing, and if your trainer constantly teaches you new techniques that will help change yours’ and cues you on what you are doing wrong, then remember, it really is for your own good! This means that they are truly paying attention to what you are doing!

Values your time (and makes the best of it) 

Remember those gaps that you take between your exercises? Well, if your trainer thinks that it is a waste of time and uses that very gap to squeeze in things like stretches or even uses this time to tell you what it is you are doing wrong and works with you on correcting the same, then he/she is a keeper!

They could also use this time to target some other muscle group in your body so that all your muscle groups are given their fair share of exercise! And if by the end of it if you genuinely feel like your time is being made good use of, then you know he/she is good for you!

 Knows your problems and aches:

A good trainer will always keep in mind any sort of issues you might have. If they are taking time to design an exercise routine around your spondylitis or your sore shoulder, then they are a keeper for sure! Any trainer who overlooks your pain and continues with the same exercise routine, that is worsening your condition, you need to say goodbye to!

Makes you look forward to working out:

What sort of a trainer would they be if they made you dread coming to the gym? A bad one, right? A personal trainer needs to motivate you, not de-motivate! A great personal trainer should genuinely want to make you come to the gym to workout and improve. They should be able to praise you when you are doing something well, and let you know, constructively when and where you need to improve!

Any trainer who makes you feel good about yourself and your accomplishments in the workout space needs a shout-out and is definitely someone you should stick to for long!

The post The Good Personal Trainer Qualities Checklist! first appeared on Fit Foodies Mantra.