Supplements Every Fit Women Needs to Take

It seems that the majority of performance enhancing supplements out there appeal only to men. Whether it’s a scary, intimidating brand name or an ad with a picture of a football player squatting 900 lbs., these messages may give you the impression that fitness supplements are part of the old boys club.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. There are a number of supplements out there that can help women tone up, lean out, and look better.

Green Tea Extract

Green tea is nature’s natural fat burner. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that green tea naturally boosted metabolism and fat burning after a single dose. Unlike other fat burners, green tea is extremely safe with a tiny risk of any side effects.

Other research has found that green tea has a long list of health benefits stemming from cancer risk reduction to cavity fighting.

However, studies show that you need to drink upwards of 8 cups of green tea per day to achieve these fairly remarkable benefits. If your life is too hectic to fit in hours of tea time, green tea extract is a convenient and effective alternative.

Calcium and Vitamin D

There’s a short window of bone building opportunity in your life. After you hit your late 20’s it’s all downhill. Whether you’re over the hill or a college freshman, calcium and vitamin D should be part of your supplementation regimen. Because physical activity works your skeletal system and your muscles, you need more calcium and vitamin D to help them build back up. The end result will be a greatly decreased risk of osteoporosis later in life.

CLA

What makes CLA a fantastic supplement for women is that it burns fat while decreasing appetite -2 things most women would love to have a bit more of. Even better, research suggests that CLA can actually spot-reduce belly fat. Like any fat burning supplement, it’s only as effective as your lifestyle makes it. In other words, CLA won’t be able to make up for an out of control sweet tooth or gym sessions replaced with Sex and the City marathons.

While it’s not quite as safe as green tea extract, side effects from CLA rare, and it’s a much better choice than ephedra.

5 Simple Ways To Recession-Proof Your Diet

If the last time you analyzed the cost of your diet was when Yahoo! stock was actually worth something, it might be time to bring your diet in line with our current economic times. Fortunately, you don’t have to radically change your diet to save cash.

A few small tweaks can add up to tremendous long-term savings. Better yet, cutting back on the monthly food bill doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the muscles you’ve worked to hard to develop.

Eat Plant Protein

If an accountant were to look at the cost of your food, he’d probably notice that over half of your expenses went to one single nutrient: protein. While protein is critical for muscle building, it doesn’t always have to be in meat form. By and large, animal protein is 4-5x more expensive than high-quality plant protein sources like soy, beans, and lentils.

Audit Your Supplements

The science is clear: most supplements do nothing. It’s wise to periodically turn yourself into a lab rat and test out which supplements are shrinking your stomach –and not just your wallet.

On the bright side, the supplements that work best, like whey and creatine, are generally the cheapest

Get Frozen Produce

$8.00 for a pint of strawberries?! That’s the kind of sticker shock that greets many people as they try to buy fruits and veggies out of season. You can cut this expense by 25%-50% by going frozen. The best part? Research shows that frozen vegetables have the same nutrition as their fresh counterparts.

Buy In Bulk

For most people, buying in bulk is more of a hassle then it’s worth. But for the aspiring bodybuilder who eats his weight in protein alone, it’s a wise investment. While joining a club like BJ’s is the obviously way to go, you can also purchase in bulk over the internet or even at your local supermarket which oftentimes has weekly specials for items bought in large quantities.

Make a Plan

You might find that you spend a fair amount of your food budget on last-minute grocery runs or meals on the go. It’s not a bad idea to make a draft of your weekly meals based on one part economics and one part physique building.

Fat Burning “Not to do” List

Sometimes a not to do list is more effective than a to do list due to the simple fact that avoiding something is easier than adding something new to our already hectic lives. When it comes to fat loss, even if you’re doing “all the right things”, a few mistakes can derail your results.

By following these critical “not to do” items, you’ll be well on your way to a lean physique.

Do Not Hit The “Fat Burning” Setting On Cardio Equipment

The ironic thing about the “fat burn” setting on exercise machines is that it doesn’t burn fat! To torch those love handles, you have to sweat and you have to work. That means hard running or peddling, preferably with all-out interval training.

A study published in Circulation found that interval training outperformed steady-state cardio in terms of overall fat loss, even though the interval trained group exercised for a fraction of the time.

Do Not Do Cardio On An Full Stomach

When hitting the weights, it’s critical not be in a fasted state in order to remain anabolic. However, research shows that cardio done while fasting is much better at shedding away fat.

You don’t have to starve yourself before your spinning class, but it’s wise to wait at least 2 hours after your last small meal before starting cardio.

Do Not Do The Same Thing Every time

While there’s something to be said for sticking with what works, if you only do sprints or only ride the exercise bike, you’ll eventually plateau. Once and a while mix up your workout routine with something completely different like power yoga, team sports, or a dance class.

Do Not Avoid All Carbs

It’s become popular to bash carbs as a cause of belly fat. While certain carbs can certainly induce fat storage, it’s not the case with all of them. It’s wise to avoid processed carbs like white bread, pasta, and sugar but it’s just as wise to include healthy carbs like beans, fruits, and veggies into your 6-pack diet.

Do Not Try To Spot Reduce Fat

No matter what late night infomercials will have you believe, it’s impossible to target fat in a particular area. If you want to get rid of fat in your abdomen, thighs, or butt, you should focus on eating a healthy diet and doing cardio regularly.

8 Fitness Trends That Will Rock 2010-2020 Part 2

In article #1 of our Fitness Trends That Will Rock 2010-2020 we documented the contradictory rise of cavemen and techno obsessed lifestyles and the demand for workouts to be fun.

Our final 4 trends paints a decade filled with a fair amount of sprinting, sweaty mall shoppers, and workout prescriptions.

#4 Death of Jogging

The writing’s on the wall: interval training blows away traditional steady-state cardio. The question for the next decade isn’t whether more experts will recommend interval training, but whether steady state will still be around.

Interval training is better for your heart, your body composition, and your joints. Expect more research to come out finding new and surprising advantages for interval training.

#5 Working Out 24/7

Ever see Fit Flops or Sketchers Shape Ups? These 2 footwear products reflect a growing dichotomy of lack of time and desire to be fit. Don’t have time to hit the gym tonight? No problem: just take a brisk walk with these special shoes!

While the effectiveness of these products remains to be seen, their popularity can’t be denied. Watch out for “resistance training” shopping carts and other everyday devices having the option to burn calories.

#6 Fit Health Care

More hospitals are squeezing gyms and physical therapy centers into their space. Why? Exercise works better and is significantly cheaper than most medical treatments. When you go to your doctor in 2015 with a sore back expect a prescription for an exercise routine –not a pill.

#7 Cheap Workouts

We’re all hoping the economy improves, but it’s not looking that way. On the bright side, gym membership and class fees are free-falling as health clubs scramble to break even. In a few years, activation and sign up fees won’t be around any longer.

The economy will also drive people to look for ways to get fit at home or outside. Sales of resistance bands have exploded in the last 5 years, and expect reasonably sized and priced workout equipment to be a mainstay in the home.

#8 Step by Step Bodies

People don’t want to put together their own exercise plan, or even follow it. While personal training sessions are declining in popularity, boot camps and Biggest Loser type competitions are on the rise. The “one size fits all”, comprehensive nature of these step by step packages appeal to our time-crunched culture that doesn’t want to put the pieces of the fitness puzzle together themselves.

8 Fitness Trends That Will Rock 2010-2020, Part 1

The 00’s saw the emergence of NO2 as a mainstream supplement, the low-carb craze, and people getting in shape from playing video games. By 2020, some of these trends will be nothing but fodder for VH1’s “I Love the 10’s”, while others will continue their meteoric rise.

What will the next 10 years bring?

Let’s look at our crystal (Swiss) ball to find out:

#1 Paleo-Mania

As scientists compare our genetic makeup with humans from ancient times, they tend to notice one thing over and over again: nothing’s changed. Even though most people think that we’re different than our caveman ancestors, research suggests quite the opposite.

In fact, many top health researchers suggest that it’s the “collision” of our ancient genome with our modern-day world that’s the underlying cause of obesity, diabetes, and injuries.

No wonder that the popularity of a Paleolithic lifestyle has skyrocketed, and will continue to do so. As more research emerges supporting the ideal diet as one reflecting our cavemen ancestors, and not the fatally flawed USDA food guide pyramid, the ranks of paleo enthusiasts will continue to grow.

Paleo-mania isn’t confined to diet. There’s growing interest in exercising like a caveman by sprinting up dirt hills, swimming, and lifting rocks.

#2 Techno-Health

People are increasingly interested in quantifying their workouts. They want to know how many calories they burned, how this compares to the last workout, and what effect their new routine has had on their body composition.

Expect a surge in the way technology influences every part of our workouts. Calorie tracking is just the beginning –look out for hydration sensors, accurate at-home body fat analysis, and text messages that motivate us to workout.

#3 Fun Workouts!

Not surprisingly, people are fed up with their menu of exercise options consisting solely of the treadmill and the weight room. That’s why fun workouts like Zumba, striptease exercise classes, and Wii Fit have taken the world by storm. Expect more and more gyms and video game systems to cater to the fun and adventurous side of fitness enthusiasts.

Don’t be surprised to see more and more people taking their workouts outside the gym and using the internet to hook up with sports leagues of all kinds.

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