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.