Whether you’re doing cardio or strength exercises, you’re doing your body a favor. That’s why it’s important to optimize your workout routine to be the most efficient as possible, in order to reap maximum benefits.

Juices can help. They provide you with plenty of energy, nutrients and electrolytes you need for proper exercise. That’s a natural performance enhancer! A good juice also helps post-workout, to help your body heal and relax. Ditch the sports drinks and enjoy the natural goodness of fresh juices – your body will thank you later!

We generally don’t recommend strenuous exercise while on a juice cleanse, as calorie intake is usually minimal. Experienced juicers know their body limits, but novices could very well overstress their body.

Pre-Workout Nutrients

Electrolytes are very important for proper function of muscles and your body in general. Potassium, magnesium, zinc, and even trace amounts of salt are all present in juices to varying degrees, depending on the fruit used. Bananas are good for smoothies and juices thanks to their high potassium content.

Orange-colored fruits and vegetables are the best for pre-workout. Beta-carotene is an excellent antioxidant which helps protect against exercise-induced damage and oxygen stress. Carrots are excellent for that. Add a dash of garlic and ginseng for best results. Believe it or not, garlic is said to increase stamina (and is a potent human repellent).

Beetroot is great for increasing your oxygen uptake. It helps you exercise harder and for longer periods of time, thanks to nitrates in beetroot juice. Complex sugars found in fruit are a great source of energy, while adding some nuts ensures a steady release of fuel. And also don’t forget the dependable, trusty glass of water along with your juices.

Stay away from caffeinated drinks, even if they help you achieve better performance. Caffeine causes your body to lose water excessively and bump up your heart rate. Both of these effects could be dangerous!

Bulking Up

Weight lifting requires the consumption of protein that will be used to build muscle mass. The conventional wisdom is to eat lean meat and consume the so-called protein shakes. A protein shake post-exercise is one of the best way of gaining muscle mass.  Well, juices can help you do the same with natural nutrients and a dash of protein.

Green-colored juices are the best source of protein. Various leafy greens such as kale and spinach provide lots of fiber and protein, making them the best choice. Asparagus is great too. For an extra protein punch, add chia or flax seeds. At least a half of juice content should be comprised of various leafy greens. That’s a lot of greens as they don’t produce much juice. For the other half, use bananas, apples, or oranges, with some ground or sprinkled seeds.

After a Workout

There are several healthy juice options to take after a heavy exercise regime. While protein shakes and energy bars are a fine way of replenishing your energy stores after exercise, there are more natural options around.

Just like before exercising, your body will be in need of electrolytes and, possibly, energy. Proper hydration is also a must, so anything you ingest should contain at least some of the aforementioned nutrients. Juices fit the bill completely!

Light juices are the best for this. So pick simple recipes, and ensure that the juice will freshen you up. Some pineapple juice with a hint of celery and mint leaves is a panacea after a sweaty summer workout! Some swear by green juices after a workout – that’s also fine, although we prefer something slightly lighter and tastier, akin to a (much healthier) sports drink. Watermelon juice also works wonders. High glycemic index juices like blackberry or raspberry juices are great if your energy needs are high. Don’t go overboard and overload on carbs after the workout, though.

Read more about pre & post-workout nutrition!

 It’s best to prepare the pre- and post-workout juices at the same time, so you can come home to a nicely chilled juice right away. A few ice cubes can mellow the flavor if you find it too strong, while also refreshing you at the same time.

Whatever you do, make sure your juices are either freshly squeezed or delivered to your door. Ensure that only organic ingredients are used, otherwise you run the risk of ingesting nasty pesticides – why take the chance?

The post Essential Juices for Your Workout Routine appeared first on Workoutr.com.

HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training

The more and more popular type of training is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).
There is a lot of hype about it but not so much information about it. I have been using HIIT for a long time, I didn’t have too much patience for siting on a stationary bike for a long periods of time or run on a treadmill. First couple of times it was hard but it was fun and because of that I have continued to train HIIT almost daily.
In this article there will be a lot of information on how and why to use HIIT training for your fitness goal, if you are trying to lose fat or if you want to build endurance or just stay in shape.

What is HIIT?

Like I’ve mentioned before, it means High Intensity Interval Training. This means, you do opposite of your standard stationary bike where you are at one pace for a long of period of time.

HIIT is, doing a couple of exercises in a very high intensity for one period of time and then rest, and repeat, for an example, the simplest HIIT is, sprint 100m, then slowly walk to start and do sprint again, and repeat this for a couple of times.
This will make your heart rate go crazy and your body will be in state of shock, and your body will tend to use your body fat for energy rather than your muscles.

Benefits of HIIT

1. Time

When it comes to cardio, or working out in general, usually one hour is recommended, but for HIIT even 15 minute workout will help.
If you have a lot of thing that are happening in your day, busy lifestyle, or anything that limits your time, and you can’t fit gym session, HIIT will help you.

2. Health

It is proven that HIIT is healthier for your body that other types of working out.
You will faster reach higher hearth rate, and it will longer stay high during your workout, and that will improve elasticity and flexibility of your veins and arteries.

3. Equipment is optional

Most of HIIT workouts are simple, with only body weight exercises, but you can add some dumbbells, bands, pull up bar or something else.
If you don’t have a space for running near you, you can do your HIIT workout on a treadmill.

Check here for exercise equipment!

4. Endurance

There is a lot of studies that have proven HIIT effectiveness for greater endurance.
HIIT will maximize your VO2 max during your workout.
As your heart rate is going higher and higher with every workout that you do, your endurance will improve.
When I was preparing for a race, I was doing HIIT in the morning, run in the evening, or even some time, right before my evening race.

5. VO2 max

VO2 max or maximal oxygen consumption is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption during exercise that increase intensity over time. This means if you are doing HIIT workouts rather than some other kind of working out, in shorter time your VO2 max will increase more.

6. Afterburn effect

Steady state cardio focus on burning calories during exercise, while HIIT burns calories both during and also after your workout, and that is called after-burn effect.
Your body will burn more fat as an energy source 24 hours after your workout, in my opinion, if you work out in the gym, 6-8 hours before your gym session, do a HIIT workout to boost your metabolism, and to burn more fat in the gym.

7. Belly fat

There is no research that proves this theory, but, it is fairly simple.
If you work for one hour at steady state cardio, you will burn certain amount of calories, but if you do instead HIIT cardio for 45min or even one hour, if you can, you will burn a lot more calories during and after your workout, and after some time, this will definitively help you lose that stubborn belly fat.

8. Space

If you live in a house or in an apartment, you don’t need a lot of space to do your HIIT workout.
For push-ups, squats, jumping jacks or lunges, you don’t need a lot of space, or even some place to fit your treadmill.
Space and time friendly example workout are at the bottom of the article

Conclusion

For many reasons, HIIT is the thing for fat loss, but overweight or obese people will do HIIT much harder considering that their weight won’t be easy to carry around while sprinting or jumping around, so in these cases, is better to stay at steady state cardio for a while, and when they lose some pounds, and it’s healthier for their joints, they can do HIIT with no problem.
In my case, HIIT was very helpful, when I’ve stopped at my fat loss plateau, I’ve stared to do it for 3 times a week, but soon, I was doing almost daily.
Try it for a 2-3 weeks, and measure your results, contact me if it was helpful!
There is plenty of home fitness programs that are based on HIIT principles, so check that out also.

Examples of HIIT exercises

First, and the simplest;

1. Sprint

Find a track, measure a 100m (more or less), set a starting point and the end point.
Go to start, sprint your length and when you reach the end, walk slowly to start, and repeat for 10 times, or 5 for first time. Next time try to do 6, then 7 times, and you can track your heart rate during.
Or you can do this on a treadmill, run fast for 1 minute, and walk slowly for 30 seconds, repeat this for 10 times.
For both workouts, warm-up before with 5-10 minute run, and you can do this to cool down.

2. Tabata

Tabata is one of most popular HIIT workouts, it was invented by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata. Tabata is, 20 seconds of high activity followed with 10 seconds of rest, repeat this for 8 times, and this is approximately 4 minutes.

Example:
Jumping Jacks – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Push-ups – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Squats – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Mountain climbers – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds

3. Morning HIIT

This is my routine that I do every morning, exercises may vary, I change them every now an then, but the principle is the same.
I do 40 seconds of high intensity followed by 10 second rest.

Example:
Jumping Jacks – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Plank – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Push-ups – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Mountain climbers – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Jumping squats – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
High knees – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Jumping lunges – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Burpees – 40 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds

The post All you need to know about HIIT appeared first on Workoutr.com.

Rope jumping

Jumping rope is a cheap and easy workout that you can do almost anywhere. This exercise burns more calories per minute than any other workout (except trampolining). Jumping as a perfect exercise and plenty of fun. One of the best things about jumping rope is that you can do it with your kids. It  is a fantastic way to fit in a highly effective cardio workout session when you are on the go. Simply toss your jumping rope in your bag and you don’t need to look for the nearest gym.

Trampolining

Did you know that trampolining is more effective than any other workout routine? Almost 60% more efficient than jogging, even NASA astronauts use trampolines as a workout technique during their mission preparation. If you are looking something for indoor training then check our reviews of best mini trampolines.

Swimming

The extraordinary news for all beaus of swimming and for the individuals who are attempting to change their bodies – swimming is a super viable workout that will bring you astounding results. Swimming aides fortify your center and work distinctive muscle bunches. Swimming provides various medical advantages. It serves to lessen your circulatory strain, reinforce your heart and enhance your oxygen consuming limit. In addition, swimming is a perfect path for your family to get moving and have some good times together.

Running

There are numerous profits of running. It serves to alleviate anxiety, enhance your heart well-being, diminish the danger of sorrow, blaze over calories and enhance your general health. Running can really change the body like nothing else. It assembles solid, toned and muscular legs and makes them look more slender. I appreciate running, particularly at early hours in the morning, and I think its one of the best activities to do consistently. I generally feel an extraordinary after my run… Not just does running help to smolder calories, it likewise serves to enhance your general well-being. If you have problems with weather conditions, why not take a look at treadmills?

Push-ups

Shockingly, numerous individuals abstain from doing push-ups since this activity is a bit harder to perform, yet it can do ponders for your body. There are a lot of distinctive push-ups that work the diverse muscles in the shoulders and arms. Attempt to shift your push-up style to bring down your danger of getting to be exhausted with activity. Do push-ups work the abdominal area, as well as work the center. Do push-ups a couple of days a week to help shape the arms and general change the body. Besides, push-ups are useful for your heart and cardiovascular well-being. Simply verify you do them accurately – figure out how to do push-ups with your back straight to decrease back ache.

Squats

The squat is a compound, full-body practice that works more than one muscle group. This capable activity helps tone your glutes, fortify your body and smolder a considerable measure of calories. To support your calorie use and raise your heart rate, you can attempt to do hop squats. On the other hand stay in a squat hold with dumbbells in the hands to expand the safety and additionally feel the smolder. Doing squats routinely is one of the most ideal approaches to change your body and additionally enhance your physical well-being.

Lunges

To tone the muscles in your legs you have to do lunges. They provide you with stunning results because they do each leg individually, helping change your body. To include some cardio workouts and to , do some hops. I propose you to do 3 sets of 10 lunges a day for the best results. Since lunges are an exceptionally powerful workout for reinforcing, chiseling and building a couple of muscles, why not do them consistently? Start exercising to change your body today.

Cycling

A cycling workout is an great approach to work your legs and get an extraordinary results . Cycling is a sublime activity since you can inspire yourself at a higher power. It fortifies your legs, arms and back, urges your heart to work  more productively while helping in weight reduction. Cycling is  one of the simplest activities to fit workout into your regular routine. It gets you fit, spares you cash, and is useful for your well-being. Bring along your companion, or cycle solo, and we guarantee you that you will get the most out of it. Want to do it in comfort of your home? Check indoor exercise bikes!

The post Workouts That Will Transform Your Body appeared first on Workoutr.com.