5 REASONS YOU ARE NOT LOSING WEIGHT!

Lets first of all admit that weight loss (or fat loss) is one of the major reasons why we work out in the first place. All those long hours in the gym, the running, watching what you eat etc., we do it to lose the inches around our waist as well as those annoying love handles. So, I can imagine how you feel after 6 months of hard work and still no progress, it’s discouraging and I know you just want to pack it all in and say to hell with it! Don’t, if you are truly and honestly putting in the time in the gym and on the road and eating clean and healthy foods in moderate portions (very important!) and still not losing weight, then its time to consider the other reasons.

HOW YOU MIGHT BE SABOTAGING YOUR TESTOSTERONE LEVEL & 6 FOODS TO AVOID!

If you claim to have never heard of testosterone, I would be tempted to call you a liar, and if you are a guy reading this, I would definitely call you a liar! Testosterone is that most manly of hormones we guys crave, its what separates the boys from the men, literally. Its what gave your voice its base, helped you get your muscles and male aggression and is even responsible for your sex drive (more on this later, I promise!)

Feeling a little tired? Not motivated to exercise, muscle wasting, fat increasing? You could be suffering from low testosterone level my brother. Testosterone is important to both men and women but triple important in men, so I will be writing this strictly from a male point of view for the guys. Recent scientific studies have shown that there has been a general drop in male testosterone levels globally, this is not good. Many theories and reasons have been advanced for this drop. 

BENEFITS OF INTERMITTENT FASTING APART FROM WEIGHT LOSS

When you talk of fasting here in Nigeria, the average person believes you are engaged in a spiritual exercise, that you want to strengthen your spiritual connection to God and are seeking his face and his guidance. However today I am looking at fasting from the purely physical point of view, while the spiritual benefits of fasting can never be over emphasized, it’s the physical that takes my interest today and it’s what I would love to talk to you about.

Let’s come clean at the beginning and say most people do not like fasting! Why should you? Who wants to be deprived of good food, the tastes, aromas and flavours? You must be a masochist or something. Hang on for a second though, science of late has found some wonderful benefits of intermittent fasting, benefits that are worth looking into if your goal is to be stronger and healthier.

When people think about fasting from the physical point of view, they automatically assume you must be trying to lose weight. Yes, but fasting is so much more than that, so today I would like you to come along with me on a journey of discovery to find out what else fasting can do for you, the reward is worth the trip, I guarantee it!

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY: TIMBALAND’S STORY

Its 2020! A new year, a new decade and a brand-new slate to make all your dreams come true. First of all, I want to remind everybody that I truly dislike the R word (Resolution) I prefer the term “Commitment”. Instead of making resolutions that wont last till Valentine’s day, I would love you all to make a personal commitment to all your goals this year, whatever they may be ; losing weight, eating healthier, building muscle, starting a new business, learning how to swim, being more sensitive and caring, the list is endless folks and nothing can be achieved without commitment, grit if you like.

There will be days when you will fall of the wagon (I should know, but more on that later), days when like kicks you around so thoroughly that you just want to give up and stop trying, that’s when you need to remember that its only commitment and grit that will see you through to the promised land people.

2019 was a year like no other for me and not in the way I expected, there was a death in my family, which I am still coming to terms with. I felt so lost that I haven’t been able to write this blog since April 2019, I suffered a serious injury and have not been able to workout seriously for months and I have a long road of recovery ahead of me, so excuse me if I appear a little keyboard rusty.

However, in every situation there is a lesson and if the adversities of 2019 have taught me anything its that it’s not how hard you get hit, but how often you can get back up (I stole that from Rocky!) So no matter what life has thrown at you, I want to encourage you to take this new year as an opportunity to commit yourself to your goals and aspirations and dig deep to find the grit to soldier on, day by day, week by week, month by month till you hit your goals. Its possible, as long as you don’t give up.

I was inspired to write this post by a story I read on the website of men’s health magazine, it’s the story of one of the most prolific producers of the late 90’s and early 2000’s it’s the story of Tim Mosley aka TIMBALAND. I found it very inspiring and I hope you do too.

Thanks, and do have a wonderful year!

At the worst of his troubles, Timbaland stood at 5 feet 7 inches weighed over 350 pounds, was prediabetic, going through a messy divorce, addicted to painkillers and did I forget to mention that he owed the US government over $4 million in unpaid taxes? Now that’s a lot of trouble for one person!

GRIT! THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT IN BURNING FAT AND BUILDING MUSCLE

Right now I know you are probably wondering, grit? What in the world is he on about again?! Well today I want to talk about the most important thing you need when trying to achieve your fitness goals, no scratch that, when trying to achieve any goal in life that is worthwhile, you need grit, true grit. Now what is this grit that I keep on banging about? Well how about defining it? Grit can be best defined as; courage, spirit, resolve, toughness, determination, hardiness, strength of character …. You get the picture!

Now that we know what grit is, how does it relate to achieving your fitness and life goals you may ask, well grit is that thing in you that keeps you going, it’s that thing that makes you wake up early, even when you don’t feel like waking up. It what makes you show up at the gym while ignoring the pain of your last workout, it’s also what helps you stay focused on achieving the type of fitness, strength and body shape you dream about  and it’s what stops you from quitting, even in the face of tiredness, pain, doubt , discouragement, and fear.

21 MORE LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HELP YOU BURN FAT AND LOSE THAT BELLY!

Last week we brought you 21 ridiculously easy lifestyle changes to help you burn fat. Thanks for all the feedback, some loved it, some hated it and some said it couldn’t be that easy! Guess what, it actually is! Today I will be concluding our lifestyle change series with part two, 21 more changes are here to help ginger, motivate and push you to achieve your health and fitness goals this year, I promise you, just give it a shot.

Thanks, and do have a wonderful weekend!

1.       USE THE STAIRS. Really? That easy? Yes actually, skip the lift and the escalator as much as possible people. This won’t make or break your fitness, but every extra calorie burnt is a deposit towards it.

2.       EAT LOW ENERGY, DENSE FOODS. These are foods that are high in water and low on calories, such as fruits, vegetables and salads. Studies have shown that including more of these will help you consume less calories overall.

21 RIDICULOUSLY EASY LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HELP YOU BURN FAT AND LOSE THAT BELLY!

With so much advice on how to effectively lose weight floating around the net, the whole process can seem so complicated that it can be likened to rocket science! Like rocket science it can also leave you frustrated and put you off on trying to lose weight. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way, weight loss is really as far from rocket science as it gets, there are a few basic principles to learn and stick to and I guarantee you, results will never be far off.

Today, in the first of a two part series, I will be giving you 21 quick, easy and uncomplicated tips to help you burn fat and lose that gut, these are simply twists to your lifestyle and nutrition that can kickstart your journey to health and fitness. I bet you thought it hard to be difficult to be effective right? Not so people, are you ready?

Thanks for reading, and do have a wonderful weekend!                                    

1.      Have a clear goal of what you want to achieve; it should be something anybody, anywhere in the world can understand at a glance, be it fat loss, muscle gain etc. Have you goal written out and pasted where you can easily see it whenever you are tempted to give up.

2.      Drink tea; research suggests that those who drink tea often (green, black or white) have lower BMI’s and less body fat than those who don’t consume tea.

3.      Eat more Pepper; studies have shown that capsaicin, the active ingredient in cayenne pepper helps to boost your metabolism and hence increases your body’s fat burning ability.

LL COOL J: HE’S OVER 50 AND STILL DOING IT WELL!

Everybody loves LL! This is a tribute that I should have written in January 2018 when he turned 50 years old, the word “ICON” is thrown about so much nowadays, that it seems to have lost its meaning, well today there is only one word that aptly describes this multi talented, multi award winning rapper/producer/actor/businessman: Iconic!

Now before you guys think that corefitness has gone from fitness to a hip hop blog, there is a reason for us talking about LL Cool J, apart from the fact that he has accomplished so much, he is a fantastic physical specimen, one of those guys that look better at 50 than he did at 25! So today we honour him by looking at how he keeps himself on top of his game, defying early adversity; aged 4, his father shot and nearly killed his mother and grandfather, yet he shook it all off to become the monumental success that he is today, and with abs to die for. No wonder the Ladies Love Cool James.

FAT BURNERS: YOUR SIMPLE GUIDE

Everybody has heard of fat burners, those magic pills that just melt away all that nasty fat blocking the beauty of your six pack, those malignant love handles and that evil cellulite hanging on your thighs like parasites! The truth is not that dramatic I’m afraid, fat burners are supplements after all and like all supplements they are meant to assist or boost your main fat burning efforts not become it. No fat burner, no matter what its advertisers claim can replace the time trusted methods of healthy nutrition, portion control and heavy work in the gym, get that straight right at the beginning.

However, fat burners can and do play a role as part your health and fitness plan, when you KNOW that you are eating right, watching your portion size and exercising to the best of your ability and the pounds are still not coming off as they should , then and only then in my opinion should you reach for those pills. Do fat burners work? In my experience, if you get the right ones, yes. Should you always use them, no!

THE RIGHT EXERCISES TO HELP YOU KEEP FIT AT EVERY STAGE OF LIFE

The health benefits of regular exercise can never be over emphasized, that is why I keep banging on about you engaging in some fitness regime or the other. Exercise has physical and mental health benefits, and we keep on discovering more benefits every day. Exercise can help protect you from a range of conditions including heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Exercise also improves mental cognition and coordination as well as improves your mood. So far so good, we need to exercise, but what are the most appropriate forms of exercise for you?

WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT? YOU NEED DISCIPLINE NOT MOTIVATION!

“I really want to work out and lose weight but I am just not feeling motivated enough” and with those infamous words you gave yourself another excuse as to why you still aren’t in shape and why you might never be!

It’s an annual ritual, people wake up every New Year’s Day with their resolutions made up (I hate that word!) one of the most common resolutions is “I will get in shape this year” and guess what? Six months later, nothing has changed, it was the same last year and the year before and the year before that!

The problem with motivation is that it comes and goes, some days you feel so invisible that you could beat up King Kong, some other days; you can’t even get out of bed.  The truth is nobody feels motivated all the time, so focus less on your motivation and concentrate on building discipline instead.

WANT TO BE STRONGER THIS YEAR? DO PUSH UPS!

If you are a guy you have probably been doing pushups since you were a kid, all men and some women have always used the push up as a measure of strength, including you, don’t lie! There’s something about this simple, ancient bodyweight exercise that just appeals to us. Conversely we all hate it! I included!  Why do we love and hate this quaint exercise so much? Well we love it for its simplicity and hate it because it tires you out so fast. Apart from being a muscle building exercise, it turns out the humble pushup is also a cardio workout in disguise. Lastly, many of us just do not know how to execute a proper pushup or pressup (they are the same thing folks).

NOW THAT THE PARTY IS OVER!

Its January 2019, all the leftovers in the freezer are finally gone, the booze, soft drinks, cakes etc. you look in the mirror and you’ve gained like 5kg over the past few weeks due to all those end of year parties. You have wrecked you nutrition, discipline has gone out the window and you feel totally out of shape, don’t worry just get back on the wagon and start again. Like you I have a weakness for Christmas and really let myself go this year, I haven’t worked out in 3 weeks and I am dreading my first Saturday morning jog tomorrow! Let me confess, this piece is to inspire myself as much as it is to inspire you.  As far as inspiration goes, this line from a not too old movie comes to mind.

5 HIDDEN CULPRITS OF WEIGHT GAIN!

You are doing everything right, or so it seems. You watch what you eat, you exercise as much as you can and yet, you are just not losing any weight, you look in the mirror and all you see is your flabby self,   glaring right back at you!

If this scenario sounds familiar, don’t despair, you are not alone. I have been there and done that too. Trying to get in shape, lose weight and build muscle and getting little or no results can be very frustrating and it even leads many people to give up altogether. If you are on that cusp, please don’t give up, if you are really, honestly doing all that you can and not getting results then its time to look under the rock for the hidden culprits.

BUILDING YOUR ABS; TRUTHS AND FALSEHOODS!

On social media there is nothing that goes viral faster than the image of an athlete or celebrity with a flat and chiseled mid-section, male or female! Let’s admit it, we are totally obsessed with chiseled abs and we all want that 6 pack, and who wouldn’t?  Abs are a sign of health, fitness, virility etc. you name it and the 6 pack represents it. They are also very rare and elusive, just like Bigfoot!

Like all things elusive, a lot of myths are misconceptions get woven into the development of your average 6 pack, today at corefitness we are going to look at building your abs, we will be analyzing the most common assumptions we have about how to develop your abs and whether they are true or false. At the end of this post we will know whether your current activities are helping or hindering your efforts at abdominal development. It doesn’t matter if you are a guy or a lady, young or old, seasoned workout pro or a beginner with “No Pack” this article is for you!

SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS OF TAKING WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS!

Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to lose weight?  Most of us over 30 are carrying more fat around our middles than we ought to and that’s a fact. Apart from the health implications of being overweight, we are constantly bombarded with media images of fit celebrities on Facebook, twitter, instagram…. It’s pretty endless. All this adds to the pressure to lose weight and look good, and where there’s pressure the urge to take short cuts looms strong.

Right off the bat I have to let you know that I have taken weight loss supplements in the past, out of impatience and ignorance. At my heaviest I weighed about 125kg and was so desperate to lose weight that I took anything I could lay my hand on as long as it promised to burn off my fat! Guess what? Some were total crap and a waste of money, while some worked wonders and I lost my appetite for food completely! However, there is a price to pay. Some weight loss supplements work, but at what cost? I suffered from loss of sleep, heart palpitations, constant sweat and anxiety; I could go on and on.

YOUR GUIDE TO THE BEST PRE AND POST WORKOUT SUPPLEMENTS!

You work out diligently, your nutrition is near perfect, yet you are not getting the fat burning and muscle building results you want. The only question left to ask is “what about your supplementation routine?”

Getting fit and staying fit requires a lot of hard work and dedication as well as knowledge, knowledge about supplementation is important and can never be over emphasized. Right off I need to let you know that if you eat rubbish or are not dedicated and focused in your exercise, you can pop all the pills you like and swallow as many shakes as possible, it won’t make much difference! Supplements are just that, to supplement hard work and dedication, it’s not a replacement.

8 MORE BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES YOU CAN DO ANYWHERE!

Hello everyone hope you are having a wonderful week? If not, don’t worry, I’ve got something for you to look forward to this weekend.  As promised and in continuation of our series on bodyweight exercises you can do at home, today I present 8 more bodyweight exercises you can do at home with minimal equipment and saves you a lot of time and money.

NO GYM, NO EQUIPMENT, NO EXCUSES! 8 BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES YOU CAN DO ANYWHERE!

I know the feeling; no time to join a gym and make all those early morning workouts, family and work commitments and a lot more excuses than I have fingers and toes!  How do I know this? Well because I have been there and done it!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not being preachy or condescending, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to squeeze in a fitness routine to your busy schedule, but you know what? It’s worth it.

Today’s article is inspired by my struggles to get into some form of fitness when I had very little time to spare and more importantly, when I had no money for gym membership! So as the first installment in a two part series, I am giving you 8 bodyweight exercises that are very simple to master and can be done anywhere and anytime. As the title implies, bodyweight exercises do not need machines weights and almost no equipment to carry out, all you need is some knowledge, your own body and gravity to create the torture effect!

3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTERMITTENT FASTING METHODS TO HELP YOU BURN FAT

Last week we looked at fasting and the weight loss benefits that come from it. this week I would like to conclude by talking about the different types of fasting methods you can adopt, as we all lead different lifestyles, there is no one fasting method to fit everybody’s needs. Today I will be writing about 3 different types of fasting methods that you can adapt to your lifestyle, right off I need to say that they all work and fat burning while preserving muscle mass is guaranteed with every one of them. I will also be giving you my personal pick of the bunch and will give you the pros and cons of every fasting method so that you can make an informed choice today.