Exercise No. 14 L Sit

L sit is an abdominal plus tricep and shoulder work out. This is a somewhat core hardening exercise and it tones your abdominal groups quite well if done right.

So pretty much just plant your butt on the ground, straighten your elbows, and pick yourself up with your traps until your butt comes off of the ground. If you're flexible enough in your hamstrings, you can pull your legs back into a V sit which is also a variation of it. Further more you can also take this movement to the next level by doing it on your finger tips. But if you haven't done this yet or you are not very good at it, don't try it on your fingertips. Good luck!

   -The Fitness Cookie

Stretching It

Stretching is another thing people are really big into when it comes to working out and getting fit. It's definitely good for your muscles and keeps you considerably limber as well. So let's talk about stretching.

People have told me in the past, "When you lift weights, stretch!" Actually, we weightlifters thrive off of joint stiffness when we're going for a max lift or something. So a tip on weightlifting if you like to stretch, stretch some other time after you lift, because if you stretch before you lift, everything will pretty much be all stretchy and easy to mess over. A lot of lifting coaches will probably tell you, your best days are when you haven't stretched but you are warmed up properly.

   I usually do my break dancing and crazy body weight things after I lift weights. I can usually tell if I've been practicing before I pop the squat or pump the press.

   Now running, go ahead and stretch afterwards, or before if you like. I find stretching afterwards to be how I get the best of results, if I do it. That's me personally. But the thing is, is you should only do what's best for you. Things I do are death for other people, and things other people do are death for me.

   If you're looking for a burst of strength that requires substantial stiffness in the joints, you need to warm up, but stretching is not the way to go. If you're going to do other stuff that calls for flexibility though, you need to warm up or else you're going to hurt yourself. Starting out a dance routine cold and you're going to be doing things like sticking one leg over your arm while the other is behind your head, I'll see you in the hospital the next time I break my wrist.

   I have seen people damage themselves due to lack of stretching when doing things requiring a lot of flexibility. So for dancers, warm up a little, stretch those tendons and muscles. For runners, before or after, after is usually best to avoid shin splints, I've had those and I know. Weight lifters, no need to stretch, only warm up with a light press or something and then lift.

   If you're going to do body weight exercises, your stretching and your warm ups are your work out unless you're one of the few of us who can do exercises that require clapping your hands and supporting your body weight with one arm. In that case you really should warm up prior to your muscle requiring affairs.

   Sure some of you reading this are probably thinking that what I'm saying is entirely wrong in certain areas, like the weight lifting. I'm going to guess and probably be right when I say that you don't lift weights if you think I'm wrong about that.

   Do stretch every now and then, it's good for the muscles, makes you feel good, and keeps you limber, to some degree depending on how you stretch. If you stretch like I do, you're probably going to be good for the rest of your days on this planet. I'll hand out a stretching routine to you guys who are curious about that and want to know. So just leave some comments and tell me to give you a stretching routine, because unless you don't, I probably will do it anyways. I'm just trying to get some comments here.

   Flexibility helps with being in good shape, but just being flexible won't get you in good shape, you have to work out to be in good shape, not stretch. But if you want to make things easier on yourself in things like dancing and other things, do stretch, it makes life better.

Energy Sources

Energy is a big part of being fit, and is something that comes with it. All people who are constantly tired and sluggish, do not exercise. If you're one of those people and you want more energy, start exercising. That two O clock feeling isn't a need for more caffeine, it's a need for being in good shape.

When you exercise three times a week, you're going to have more energy, when you exercise every day, you're going to have a lot of energy. Having natural energy makes your job less stressful, makes strenuous work less of a hassle, and you a better person because you're less cranky and because you feel good.

   Don't wave off the opportunity to have natural energy, because it's a lot better than artificial energy which makes you feel like crap. Natural energy will bring you out of the woods and into the daylight where you can run and frolic because the scary tired monsters are keeping you from being energetic.

Keeping A Clean System

If you're going to have a clean body and mind so exercise will be easier, you really shouldn't be having to do things like food and juice detoxes. Now sure, go ahead and take your time with those green drinks if you're really bad off and can't even bring yourself to having a bowl movement you feel so bad. Actually, that's what God gave us prunes, bran muffins, and raisin bran for. Scrub a dub dub!!! Anyways, I'm going to talk to you about keeping your system clean.

Here are a few inspiring words I've come up with. If you feel like crap, you're probably eating like crap. If you feel like crap because you're eating like crap, it's your fault you feel like crap. If you feel like crap because your eating like crap and it's your fault you feel like crap, you need to make some major adjustments because you feel like crap because your eating like and it's your fault that you feel like crap because of your crappy diet.

   Whew, now that's out of my system, let's move on to the fact that you should probably be eating healthy food so you can be clean!

   I can usually tell if I've eaten like crud before I work out because an exercise after I've had cake or an incredibly greasy bratwurst with mayonnaise usually ends up with me going back inside and saying something like, "Mom! I feel like I've had compost for lunch!" Compost isn't exactly great either because it's all fermented and filled with bacteria that your body really doesn't want to be friends with. 

   When you're eaten something with a lot of grease, salt, fat, sugar, and you feel kind of sick afterwards, is because your body has taken in something that's easily upset when you move into vigorous activities and might very well cause you urk your lunch all over your exercise ball. So a big tip, don't work out right after you've eaten, go swimming, I don't care, but if you're going to do something where you're putting your hands above your head or in front of you and they're lifting something heavy or you, which could be heavy, it depends on what your body fat percentage is, it can cause your stomach to get upset because it's being sloshed around in the middle of digestion and you end up not feeling so great.

   If you're going to exercise ten minutes or so after you've eaten because you don't have much time, I recommend you eat something that won't gunk up your system but is pretty solid. Like chicken, or some kind of vegetable. Grains can help but right before a workout if you can't wait, you should avoid something like bread or muffins, or any kind of cake because it mixes with your stomach acids and becomes as if it were in water and doesn't go over so well. Now if you're thinking Ezekiel bread or something really heavy, go ahead, if you can stomach the stuff, you'll probably be able to stomach it during a workout. I'm joking, Ezekiel bread's actually pretty good sometimes.

   Things that are heavy and work like scrub brushes such as bran, prunes if you want, whole wheat, and other kinds of things to eat are quite excellent for keeping your insides clean and feeling good for workouts. If you eat stuff that gunks you up on the inside, be prepared to not feel good.

   Here's something that should probably scare you into eating foods that keep you clean. We all take showers, right? At least here in America if you're not homeless or not hygienically conscious. 

   Your body needs to be clean on the outside if you want to feel good about your self and not feel nasty and conscious about the concern of if people can smell you or not. Now the inside of your body needs to be cleaned once a day, sure it sounds a little informative, but I'm being honest with you! The inside needs to be cleaned just as much as the outside, so if your foods that you eat that clean your system are a lot like soap for your insides. They keep your insides clean and free of stuff that makes you feel bad. I'm sure feeling dirt on the inside is worse than feeling dirty on the outside. So why not keep both inside and outside clean? It's not all that bad of an idea.

Muscular Structure and Result Time

A lot of you ask about the results of exercise. Results will take time, they usually take place after you start to see a noticeable difference in strength. Also, your muscular structure depends on the time required to see results.

It takes time, and work, to see results. It's a lot like starting your own business. In fact, when you start working out, you are starting your own business inside of your body with your muscles. So think about it, you have to work hard to get places, you have to work hard to get into those meetings with all of those important people, you have to work hard to sign all of those contracts, you have to work hard to own all of those buildings. Your muscles are just the same way. You have to work hard to get places, you have to work hard to lift all of those weights, you have to work hard to be able to run that marathon, you have to work hard to be able to do a hundred push ups at once. So being fit takes it's time, I wouldn't say it takes as long as getting a business booming, but it definitely takes time, a lot of physical effort.

   Your muscular structure plays a big part in your result time as well. Taller people, I speak for you, it takes a little time to see some difference in your muscular structuring over time of say, lifting weights. When you're taller, your muscles are usually longer unless you're one of those just outright massive people who are tall and broad. How I envy you. You could be lifting a solid one hundred pounds more than the shorter stockier guy next to you, but he could look just like you do because his muscles are wider. 

   It goes without saying, if you're tall, you're going to have to work harder to get bigger. 

   If your shorter, well have your fun and rub it in us tall peoples faces that your pecks are bigger than ours, but we'll rub it in your faces that our barbells have more bigger plates than you have littler plates.

   If you're lifting weights, expect anywhere from four to six weeks time to start seeing results. It also depends a lot on how you're lifting. If you're doing three different exercises for one set of muscles, results will happen faster than if you were doing just a normal work out with one exercise for one set.

   Now body weight, you're going to have wait about the same time if you're looking to get toned and stronger as if you were looking to get bigger on weights. 

   Your muscular structure depends on your results as well. You'll see results as fast any other person, just in slightly different times. But with differences in structures, certain parts of your body will be harder to see results on than with other parts.

   Results take time and your muscular structure will be the decision maker of how you're going to see those results. You get there with work, and work takes time, just like results.

High On Life and Avoiding The Poisons of It

A lot of people find themselves in the midst of substance abuse. It's dangerous, addicting, and leads to a ruined life of no progression. If you have a problem with something like this, you really should look at yourself and consider how much better you were off before you started doing what you are doing. Those things that make your body feel really good for a short time and then leave you in the worst of a mess after withdraw are some of the most dangerous things you could get yourself into.

   I'm going to give you a list of things that you shouldn't be doing if you want to be in shape and live a long time.

.Synthetic drug abuse (worst)

.Prescription medication/narcotics abuse and steroids (the second most dangerous)

.Paint/marker/glue/anything that could give a rush when inhaling addictions (that's just stupid if you do that)

.Natural drug abuse (marijuana mainly)

.Tobacco (plays a large roll in weakening your lungs)

.Alcohol

.Caffeine in large amounts

.Sugar

I'll crack down on you caffeine addicts to start out. There are instances where caffeine might be necessary in an all night job or something. But that's for people who might actually need it more than want it. I'm here to talk about people who have a need to have it right now or somebody's going to die addiction. There are a lot of you out there, don't think I'm stretching it because I'm not. 

   Things like five hour energy, Monster, Rock star, Red Bull, Volt, are all stupid things to be drinking if you're going to exercise. If I see somebody working out and they're guzzling something pumped with caffeine, I think, "You bucket of unintelligent-" I'm not going to finish that sentence, it wouldn't be right of me.

   If you drink a lot of caffeine before a workout, you have the danger of a crash. All throughout the country, people die on the weight sets because they've consumed caffeine for energy instead of natural substances or their actual adrenalin that's supposed to be the thing powering you. And when they're filled with caffeine, they go over to the weight bench, put on a few hundred pounds, and have a caffeine crash. If you have a caffeine addiction, you should probably cut it out. Sure you're going to get some nasty migraines for about two weeks, but afterwards your work outs are going to be a lot safer and you won't have that chance of crashing on the side of the road when you're running or falling off your bike or dropping a seventy pound dumbbell on your foot. Sure that's a little extreme, but it's happened before. A caffeine addiction isn't really a substance abuse, but it is something you have an addiction towards, so if you're addicted, and you're going to the gym pumped up on Volt, you need to stop it right now, because that's bad for you, and in some cases, dangerous.

I'll give you the lecture on synthetics even though you've obviously heard it before. They destroy your brain, they make you violent, you get seriously addicted, and chances of a slight overdose killing you are high as well. The withdraws are violently painful, they shorten your life extraordinarily, they take away thousands of irreplaceable brain cells, the make you physically unable after so much time. These take away the most important things you need, your brain cells, your ability to learn, and your ability to be in control of yourself.

   Crystal meth (ice) will make you violent. I've seen people on it. It will also make your decisions far worse than if you were dry. Heroin, that high, that feel good high, will destroy you. Because of how good it feels, and how bad it feels after breaking away for short breaks of time, you will become violent to get it, you will go to extremes to getting it if you can't afford it, and it will  destroy your life.

   All other forms of synthetics have pretty much the same effects and are just as dangerous some even worse than others because if you do it wrong it can kill you. So avoid synthetics. Those are the worst you can get into and the most addictive.

   Synthetic substance abuse=you are an idiot.

Narcotics abuse is extremely dangerous and among the most common. Because on certain things, an overdose will kill you, just stay away from the pain pill bottles people. You control yourself, and you're stupid enough to get addicted to something that was even prescribed to you in the first place, you need to go see a therapist after you put yourself in rehab.

   If it's been prescribed to you, that's a different story. You still need help as much as the person who stole it does. Because narcotics can be such a dangerous addiction, not as much as synthetics, it will alter your ability in thinking clearly because you have an addiction and your freedom to choose is at stake because you're hooked on something and can't get off of it. 

   Narcotics addictions go for performance steroids and other things of the like. If it comes in a pill, and you're addicted to it, you might want to talk to your doctor, and if serious enough, get yourself into a detox program or rehab.

I've heard of people sniffing things like glue, markers, and other crap that you can actually get a rush off of. I'll be short and concise. You are a downright idiot if you're sniffing something like that. Got it? I didn't say you were unintelligent because most people are unless you suffer from mental retardation which in most cases can't be avoided. But I'm saying you're not making a good choice. It's your choice to get addicted to something like that, and it's your own hole you've dug yourself down into and can't get out of. So please, don't sniff glue, marker, and/or anything else that might impede your mental and physical being.

Natural drug abuse isn't good for you. Most people I've encountered who smoke pot are usually uneducated and don't really have a role in life they exactly want to play. Their usual way of saying things is, "I can get rich with my guitar, not school." If it's green, and has been grown, it's most likely a lot safer than synthetics. I'm not encouraging you to start smacking on the beloved grass sticks though, those things are still not safe! Natural drug abuse weakens your teeth your mind. You won't have the physical performance you so desire either. If you want to be strong and healthy, and there's some kind of natural dug being waved in front of your face. I have a few words for you remember about that. No, no, no, no, and um, let me see, NO!

Tobacco is a pretty simple category to cover. Smoking causes lung cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer,  lung weakness, tooth loss, and probably butt cancer as well, no joke. Just chewing it will cause throat cancer, tooth loss, and mouth cancer and a few other things. Tobacco isn't healthy and it's not for ingesting in any manner. It's good for cuts scrapes and bruises, but that's it. If you saw what the inside of a cigar and a cigarette looks like, some of you have, you might say, "Hmm, looks like they stuck horse crap in some paper and thought it would be fun to burn and inhale." So no to cigarettes, they're not good for your lungs. I have a pretty strong pair of lungs myself, and if they were destroyed because of tobacco smoke, I would cry. Just keep in mind that nicotine ruins your lungs and teeth and breath and skin an everything of the like. If you like yourself every time you look in the mirror, don't smoke, because you're going to ruin that wonderful picture frame you see.

Next up is sugar. Sugar is an addiction that children can easily fall into as well. It's near to the same of alcohol when consumed in such large amounts. Not too long ago from this post, I went to the movies with some friends and consumed a five ounce box of Nerds in less than two hours, and came home and crashed on my bed. Sugar crashes are kind of like caffeine crashes. But when you have a sugar crash, you kind of just, go down and you just can't make yourself move. Also if you eat sugar a lot as a daily habit, most mornings you're going to wake up like you're having a light hangover. That's what we're going to call a sugar hangover. So too much sugar will also cause your body fat percentage to spike up as well. You're intake must remain in moderation, not a gallon of it every time the chance might even possibly exist.
   The only difference between sugar and alcohol is, is that alcohol is sugar in its purest of form. Your body can't handle sugar in its purest form, so if you eat a lot of sugar at one time, it's kind of like drinking an extremely alcoholic beverage, a lot of it. The only other difference is, is that you don't get drunk, but a sugar hangover is pretty similar to an alcohol hang over. Sugar in moderation, just like grease and fat and salt.

One of the more common topics is alcohol. This is a bad habit, a way of poisoning your body, and shortening your life. Yeah, sure, you can go to the gym and get big and strong, you can go running everyday and be able to pull off a marathon, you can be the best dancer on the floor, you can be the best athlete out in the field, alcohol won't affect that in your early life. But in your later life, it's going to make things a living hell unless you stop right now.
   Alcohol will break down your insides and make them not work as well in the future. It destroys brain cells and alters physical performance and heart functioning later on, your stomach lining and intestines won't be what they should be, your liver will get destroyed and fail, your kidneys aren't going to be able to handle it either. If you're going to be physically fit, I'm pretty sure you want to have your kidneys and liver so you can eat your healthy foods. No to alcohol.

So there are all of the harmful substances I can cover for you, the only one I would say you should be taking in is sugar, and it's best you do that through the more natural foods instead of candy and danishes.  Keep your body in the best of condition you can, because if you treat it well, it will treat you well. If there's something you want to do to make your life better, it's get in shape, and stay in shape. Do, don't just think about it, don't just consider it, do it. By doing it, I also mean resisting these harmful substances I've labeled. Alcoholics, drug addicts, smokers, sugar addicts, chemical sniffers, (yes you're on there) it's all a bad idea. Keep out of it, and keep in shape.
   Get high off of life, don't get high off of something that will give you the wrong kind of rush and leave you a mess afterwards. I myself love nothing more than to get high off of life itself and eat a ham sandwich afterwards, it's a thing I have. Do get high off of life, you'll love it, and it's good for you. When you get high off of life though, you need to put other things into consideration such as the strength of your mind. But that's a topic for another time and another place. Enjoy that exercise, and enjoy that strength, and when you hear somebody say enjoy it while it lasts, don't be the person to say it, be the person to prove the person who's saying it wrong by making that strength and that energy last.

You Really Should Be Drinking Water Instead

I hear a lot about people who drink soda and Gatorade and tea and juice all day long, and don't drink water, and they drink those things every day, and they can't stop being fat, because they can't stop drinking their sacred sugar water.

   This is a topic I'm not very positive on because this is one of the biggest reasons why people are overweight and out of shape. So I'm going to tell you some scary things about drinking like this. Ready Kids? 

Do you see that glass of terrifying clear liquid? Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about water. If you don't drink half your body weight of this each day, I'm talking about an ounce to a pound, you're not drinking enough. Don't add soda, don't add juice, don't add tea, and don't add energy drinks and coffee. Add only water, and drink a lot of it if you want to live a long time.

   If you have a kidney stone problem, that's your fault unless you have some weird disorder. Drinking a lot of water reduces kidney stones. Water keeps your kidneys clean and flushed out. If your pee is dark yellow every time you make your visit to sprinkle bowl, you're not drinking enough. Or you're drinking a lot of soda instead of water.

   Fruit juice is good once a day, have a glass of cranberry or blueberry juice once a day. It's ok to have a little fruit juice that's pure and good once a day. Something like one of those V8 fruit and veggie blends are great once a day. Soda every once in a while is fine, but soda every day is not good for you because of the sodium levels and the sugar content. It was funny, my brother was with some people when they did a test to see how much the dried sugar content of the average soda was, it turned out that it's about a whopping third of the can.

   That's not good.

   So drink soda once in a while, enjoy yourself on the occasion, but soda habits are among one of the worst because when you drink nothing but soda, your arteries are pretty much pumping Elmer's glue. Another thing about soda is, is that it contains a lot of salt. If you think that you're hydrating yourself with soda, you're an idiot because there's a lot of salt in soda. It dries you out, it's just like saying beer quenches your thirst.

   A good thing to drink during a workout where you're sweating a lot, say in football practice or something, things like Gatorade and Powerade are good to replace your electro lights and salts. An important thing about containing water, is that you have to have salt in your body so you can contain that water and absorb it. If you don't have salt in your system and you're drinking a lot of water, it's going to drain right out of you and you want be able to keep it in. 

   So on those long days of walking in the sun, or those hours spent working at the construction sight, you should probably be eating something with salt in it so you can contain your water. 

   Also, drinking from things like salt filters and others aren't as good for you as entirely purified water. One of those stone water filters that make your water come out so clean it literally takes in contaminates if you spill some on the floor it's so clean, is the kind of water you want. Those glacier stops also are a good way to get your purified inexpensive water. 

   I have to say, since I started drinking purified water instead of tap water and fridge water and mineral water, I feel a whole lot better because it's very light and doesn't take time to get into your system, it just goes right in and stays there until you either sweat it out or pee it out.

   Sports drinks are a wise decision when performing and working hard, but not all day long. At least ninety percent of your fluids that you're consuming, should be clear. 

   Your brain is eighty percent water, it's a true fact that's been proven over and over again. So if you're not drinking a lot, your brain isn't as hydrated as it needs to be, and common brain functions won't be as easy as they normally are. That's why if people are dehydrated, they're dizzy, and sometimes in serious enough cases, they go into shock or seizures.

   Drink water, there's a reason God put it on this planet. There wouldn't be so much of it if weren't made out of it.

What You Need To Do When Working Out and Eating Healthy

The way you eat is important when you work out. If you're overweight, you need to control your portions as you exercise and eat healthy, when your not obeice but not skinny eat healthy, but do eat a good deal, not too much though. When you're skinny, eat healthy, eat a lot, and keep working out until you notice some gain your arms. I'll help you out here.

When you eat, you need to balance things out, and you should probably avoid eating a lot of beef. That goes for stake and potato's every night, oh, and don't even think I'll leave out the regular pork chops. If you eat like that in the first place, it's your own effing fault your fat. Now if you do that every night and hit up the gym for those regular six hundred pound bench presses, I'll tell you I have some respect for you because I'm pretty sure your muscles are six times bigger than mine, but my advantage is, is that my heart valves are going to last longer than yours. *sticks tongue out* 

   But if you just sit around and eat like that, chances are you're well over weight. I myself love a little pork or fried chicken every now an then, but not three times a week like that McDonald's habit you and I have been discussing since the beginning of this blog.

   So I'll give some food tips for the skinny, the fat, and the in-between.

   

For The Skinny:

   If you have a problem with being skinny, it makes you uncomfortable, and you want to get a little bigger, food needs to not be an option be a priority for you. I come across this problem in the youth of America almost as much as obesity. So if you're skinny, get off your weak bony butt, start eating. You will go nowhere if all you eat is a bag of chips, a coke, and two pizza rolls once a day. If you're skinny and weak and you don't eat much, you don't have the nutrition to make your body become strong, and you aren't taking in enough to supply you with and replace your muscles with something more.

   So get away from the video games, and go outside and start doing something. Also, drink a lot of water. I'm going to cover that topic in my next post, beware because I'll tear faithful soda drinkers to pieces on that one.

   So yes, if you're skinny, eat before you work out, eat some more, work out some more, and sleep. You really should understand that eating is actually what makes you grow. I'm sure most of the people who have this problem, haven't become tall, because they don't eat enough. Or because they're too fat and their spines have become compressed from the weight. Simple? Yes.

   Also, when you're skinny, you have an advantage heavy people don't, you don't have that excess weight weighing you down, so all you have to do is get stronger. But you do have to get a little bigger.

   Another thing is, is if you eat healthy, but you're the kind of person that's nothing but fruit and salad at every meal and your head is disproportionate to your body because your rib cage it actually smaller than your head, go to the pantry, grab something with grain, iron, protein, and calcium, and eat it! Ok? Do it now!

   And also, don't just eat fruits and vegetables all day long for when you're snacking, you can go healthy with other things to side by those fruits and veggies. Crackers, cheese, a little poultry or fish maybe, not much, nuts, dried fruit, those all help for the daytime snacks.

   It really doesn't matter if you having midnight snacks, but that's if your looking to gain fat which you probably don't want to do. Because if you go from skinny to fat, you're going to be out of shape either way and I won't be there to sympathize you, I'll be standing there laughing.

For The, Challenged With Weight Because They Can't Give Up Their Mayonnaise And Butter Addiction: 

   That title I just put up there is meant will all due offense because I could really care less if you like me or not because I probably won't meet you any time soon in my life. Now if you're a friend of mine that I might make in the future by chance, you can probably take a fat joke. If you can't, that's not my problem, that's yours.

   When you have the problem of being a little heavy or a lot heavy, you should probably consider controlling your eating habits and balancing out your diet and eating a little better. If you've been eating healthy for some time, but can't get rid of the weight, it's time you start exercising, that will help. (Tip: Leg raises take the fat off like a cheese grater and build abs like a Trump building.)

   You need to stop eating unhealthy, that goes for eating out a lot, and eating a lot of ham and cheese. It's really simple if you're over weight, cut back a little, eat a little better, and start exercising. You'll feel better, you'll look better, and you'll be able to do things better.

For The Proportionate To Their Size But Are Still Out Of Shape:

   Get off the couch, stop playing video games, stay away from the computer, keep your phone in your pocket, don't take a nap, and go outside and start working out. 

   There are few of you that eat badly because if you eat badly, you're either outrageously skinny or overweight. But if you're one of those people who are normal, but eat badly, start eating better because when you eat good, you feel better, and when you eat good, you perform better on exercises.

   It's very simple and not hard. And eat the normal amount you do, just healthy. Got it? Good.

Work with these tips, and keep in shape my people, exercise and a good diet will give you a long life.

Exercise No. 13 Squats

I'm skipping all of the core exercises everybody knows about such as crunches and things of the like and getting into technique for squats and things like that.
   Squats are easy, and make your legs look pretty darn good. There are ways you can do these to get big legs off of body weight, but if you're looking to get big legs, I'll give you some tips on the weight set when I throw out some of those tutorials for those of you looking to get a little more toned and stronger. Let's start.

There are multiple ways to do squats, and there are probably more ways being thought of. 

Squats:

   For all of you people out there who do shallow squats, get over that shallow and go deep! Because the more you go down, the more of a workout you will get. 

   To start out if you can't gain your balance properly, just do squats like you would with a barbell, go about halfway down and come back up. 

   But if your doing body weight, go down to the Indian squat position. It will take a bit to get a good balance before you're able to do anywhere from fifty to a hundred fifty of these. 

   Those do cause a little discomfort when you're not used to them and you've done a lot in one sitting. It's kind of like cheesecake for the first time. So here are some other squat variations on getting bigger legs.

Pistol squats:

   Like you see the guy in the picture doing, pistol squats are where you do a squat on one leg. It takes a little balance.

   When you first start doing squats with intentions of moving on to pistol squats, it's recommended you be able to do at least twenty five Indian squats (that's what I call them, maybe that's what they're called, I really don't know) before you do one pistol squat, which is hard as fuzz. 

   So when you do this, it will be some time before you find your perfect center o gravity. When you go down on your first try, only go about halfway down a few times before you go all of the way down. If you need a little balance help, lean against a wall with one hand just enough to maintain your balance. Over time you will get it and become better and better.

Lunch For The Fit

Now we're at lunch, for all of you people looking to get in shape, this and dinner is especially where I do the crack down on eating out since those are the two main meals that have the words Five Guys and Beef O' Brady's on them.

   Now like I said, eating out isn't bad once in a while, I love to do it as well, but I'll continue you tell all of you, you shouldn't do it any more than once every two weeks at most.

There are a lot of good things you can eat for and with your lunch. Say it's just another day at the office but you want it to be slightly different, go ahead, take your lunch instead of going down to the pizza shop like you always do.

   Another tip on the fast food, when you eat out a lot, it adds up. You lose weight in your wallet and gain in it your stomach. You don't want that, do you? I thought not.

   Things like wheat bread sandwiches that aren't ham all of the time and are made with things like beef and chicken are a really good idea to go with on the lunch diet. Now you don't just have to have one thing. Things like an apple, an orange, a little bit of salad, something that's fruity of vegetable like is really good to side with on your lunch if it's a sandwich of sorts. 

   I'm better with my vegetables than I was when I was younger, but I could still improve on the fruit part. I'll get there though, just as you will.

   Something to consider on your fruit, looks is everything when it comes to eating fruit. It's not like it's a cookie or something that's been destroyed because the person that made them can't use a spatula, there's a lot of involvement such as things like, I don't know, the right vitamins, food poisoning, you name it.

   A lot of people talk and complain about how expensive produce is, but something else to consider as well, if you're making a sixty dollar visit to the grocery store every week, that can also be helped out by joining a local co-op or heading out to the fruit stand down the street. Those places save you a lot of money and they taste better too because the food hasn't been waxed, scorched by water, or improved with nuclear dust. I'm joking about the nuclear dust part, but wax tastes bad, so do preservatives, and lettuce is a whole lot better and crispier when it hasn't been put in hot water. I had a brother that worked at a grocery store, I would know.

   So chicken, wheat bread and taco shells, corn chips, all things of the such help a lot with exercise and getting that nutrition required for powering your body.

   Out here on the internet, you can find websites and cookbooks to order and recipes that will give you healthy food ideas that taste better than fast food and make you move faster and better. Because lunch is such an important meal of the day, almost as much as breakfast, and it's what will give you that energy to go about your day so you can keep strong and work hard and fast. Also it's to help avoid that mid afternoon feeling at the office as well. A good lunch can help so much on that.

Exercise No. 12 Supermans

This exercise strengthens your back, giving necessary strength to hold your body up while performing feats of strength such as planches and elbow levers. For those of you without a weight set, this will help very much in the beginning of back strengthening. And I mention to you, that your back will be sore for a bit once you learn these.

All that I can really say, is you lay on your stomach, contract your back, and raise your arms and legs off of the ground holding them as straight as possible until you come to a point of failure. As well as you can do this in reps like pull ups.

  

-The Fitness Cookie

Exercise No. 11 Leg Raises

There are variations on the leg raise. So I will target each of them. From the pull up bar to the ground. Let's begin.

First off, there are a lot of exercises that help you get abs and some pretty nice ones. But to be honest with you, I don't know if I'd have any without this specific exercise and the following variations that will be described.

   This form of exercise works out your hip abductors, abdominals, obliques, and if done on the bar, your lats and biceps as well. It's an incredibly effective way to target your abdominal muscles and get your desired results.

   So the first leg raises I will talk about are actually knee raises. On the pull up bar these are called knee raises, on the ground they are called reverse crunches. An excellent beginner workout to build you up to more advanced core strengthening.

   

Knee Raises/Reverse Crunches:

   Well, you hold onto a bar, and you raise your knees to your chest.

   On the ground. You lay down, and pull your knees to your chest and repeat.

Next will be ninety degree leg raises. Either on the ground or the pull up bar, you raise your legs until you are at a ninety degree angle.

Ninety Degree Leg Raises:

   Hold onto the bar, and raise your legs up until you are at a ninety degree or a right angle. Also known as the pike position. Once this is reached, you can hold as desired.

   On the ground. Lay down, and raise your legs up until they point towards the ceiling or sky. That easy. Just repeat until you can't anymore. And if you want to make it a little harder, you can raise your butt off the ground.

Good luck!

The Fitness Cookie:

Exercise No. 10 Tiger Bend Push Ups

Specifically for targeting the triceps, it's a good exercise for those of you without parallel bars who want to target these muscles without using weights, or if you don't have any. And it also works out your pectorals and deltoids.

This is a more difficult variation on push ups. For those of you trying to tone your arms and build tricep strength, these are very beneficial.

   So, how to do tiger bend push ups!

Tiger bend push ups:

   Start out in the regular push up position, drop back onto your elbows. Once you are on your elbows, lean forward onto the heels of your hands. Once you are on those parts of your hands, try not to bend your hips and keep your body straight. Once you are leaning onto your hands completely and you feel your elbows lift, extend your arms until you come to straight elbows.

   This is a good arm strengthening exercise and builds the muscle, so have fun and good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

Exercise No. 9 Dips

Dips are a decent way of developing your triceps with body weight, and there are variations and such that make them harder and cause growth in the back of your arms as well as your deltoids. Your pectorals do work some in dips, if you're looking from that from them, I'd recommend dips on a straight bar instead of parallel bars.

So, to begin with, dips are somewhat difficult, I'll offer a few before hand exercises and we'll proceed further more with dips.

   So, first, you should be able to do a good twelve or fifteen push ups with your arms at your sides to target your triceps. It will give you the general desired strength before hand in your triceps and deltoids.

   Good, you have your push ups. Lets do dips.

Dips:

   First off, to perform so, you must find parallel bars of the sort, or you could use the backs of two steady chairs. Now, let your body hang, your trapezius, triceps, and deltoids will be supporting your weight unless your bending your elbows as far back as possible and the weight is resting on your joints and biceps.

   Bend your elbows the other way, go down, and when you go down, simply push up. Just like that. It's hard at first, of course, but soon enough these come with practice and time.

   For beginners, you can do static holds where you hold the dip position with your arms bent to gather muscle memory, and you can do baby dips as well which are just very shallow dips and you will accomplish these with time. Good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

Breakfast Ideas for Fitness and Health

A lot of you probably ask yourselves, "what's good for a workout breakfast?" or "What's good for a plain healthy breakfast? I'll get you started on that since I've done a little research myself. Sorry if the picture makes you hungry.

For those of you who do drink coffee, you notice that in the picture that coffee is entirely black. It probably only has a little bit of sugar if not any. I don't drink coffee, but for those of you who do, you might as well get used to the taste of coffee that's not sugared up if you're looking to get in shape. I'll be honest with you, Late's every morning make you fat and out of shape because they're so mother fuzzing loaded with sugar cream and crap like that. It's a heart attack in a cup. So black coffee is better for you if you're going to drink it. And also, I'll just say, drinking coffee isn't good for you all around because the cons outweigh the pros.

   When you're eating breakfast and you're working out, you need the right foods to supply your body and muscles with the right kind of fats vitamins and nutrients. The seventy five ingredient egg McMuffin would not be a healthy breakfast. For the fact that you people can actually stomach those is enough to tell me that american's are already almost hopeless.

   A healthy breakfast would be something like a bowl of raisin bran, oatmeal or wheat blueberry muffins that are more fresh than the packaged ones. Also when you eat in the mornings, something with a little vitamin C would help with starting out your day. So a little bit of fruit, oranges or kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberry, any kind of fruit is good for you.

   When you hear people say things when you're eating like, "Watermelon is one of the worst for you fruits." you have my permission to tell them to eff off because any kind of red fruit is among the best for you. The red you want to worry about is the red in Gatorade or machine made fruit snacks. Any kind of red fruit, it's good for you.

   But in the morning, have your balance of grains, fruit, on the occasion a little bacon, protein like eggs, and dairy if you're not lactose intolerant such as yogurt.

   When you eat you shouldn't be saying gross or yuck, but if you're one of those people making a transition to good for you food from processed dumpster solids, you're going to feel a little sick at first since your body will be going through that detox process, but after about a week at the most, you're going to feel a whole lot better than you used to.

   So if you're going to work out, do yourself the favor of not eating processed and eat something that's natural and will supplement your body with better energy. It's a lot like gasoline, you have the cheaply made unleaded fuel that costs a lot and it runs out quickly and leaves your engine filled with fuel deposits and things that take the life from it. Now then you have the premium, this is an analogy, so bear in mind I'm making this up when I say cheap, you have the less expensive premium gasoline that powers your car so much better and actually cleans up the engine and powers it better and gives it better mileage.

   It's pretty simple, food that's bad for you is actually expensive and adds up after a while, the same goes for eating out. That healthy food I just gave you tips on, it's less expensive, comes in bigger amounts, tastes better when you're back to having your body in it's most natural state, keeps you fuller longer, gives you better energy to stay, and gives your muscles something to get big off of. Processed food on the other hand takes more than anything.

   You gain weight, your stamina and endurance fall out of place very quickly when you stop and your muscles don't grow anywhere near as well as if you ate right.

   So there's your food ideas, I'll touch up on that every now and then because there are different diets for different exercisers. But the same calories and some vitamins, just being taken in in a different way. So you enjoy that exercise and keep reading, I'll always have something to share.

Exercise No. 7 Muscle Up

Muscle ups are fun and challenging. They are great for gains and muscular growth because I'd say these are more along the lines of a plyometric workout which is solely based off of explosiveness. Unless you're very good at them and you can do them slowly. But to begin with, these are somewhat plyometric in their nature because most people require a little speed in their muscle up to get up past the bar.

First I'll teach you the muscle up, and then I'll teach you how to get past it and do them without kipping.

   It's best you be able to do about eight or nine explosive pull ups with a deal of speed. However many pull ups you can do in a row is your business, but eight or nine explosive pull ups are where you want to be. Almost to the point of plyometrics. That would be explosive exercise.

   So other than your pull ups, you should be able to do a decent amount of dips on the bar as well. Like fourteen or so. Another thing is it helps to be able to go into the push up position and do about ten push outs as far as you can go without falling off the bar.

   So, after that, you can start attempting the muscle up.

Muscle up:

   Pretty much, just do a pull up as fast as you can and pike your body. Kick back and use the momentum to go upwards while pushing with your shoulders once you're almost up and go into the dip position. Go down, and repeat. Just takes time and practice.

   Now, to not kip, just practice a whole ton and you'll get the momentum and strength needed from your shoulders. It's all a time movement.

That's the muscle up. Not too hard. And good for you. Just practice and work. You'll get it. Good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

Exercise No. 6 Front Lever

The front lever is the next level of lever. It's harder than the back lever because you don't have flexibility resistance helping you out on this one, it's all in your back muscles and core. First would be your biceps. Second is your rear deltoids, lats, shoulder blade muscles, traps, and then your abdominals, and obliques. The other minor muscles working are you quads and hip abductors which hold your legs steady.

So, the front lever. It's quite fun. The prerequisites would be about thirty pull ups in a row, twenty to to bar leg raises in a row, a thirty second ninety degree hold, a front lever with your legs tucked completely in.

   

Front Lever:

   First off you can perform these by just do them a few at a time for quick concise intervals. Your front lever will be performed by pulling your legs straight together and angling your arms and raising your toes until you can see them and keeping them there as long as possible. Your core will be challenged greatly but you will have succeeded in a front lever.

   Start through doing the tuck front lever, then progress by advanced tuck, 1 leg, straddle, and then full. Your arms should be at an angle, you cannot do this with your arms being in vertical alignment, they must be at a good 45 degree or more angle. Hold tightly, for this move is difficult, and not to mention take your time and don't  over train as it puts strain on your ligaments.

   It's not a difficult to explain movement, but is a bit challenging to perform. Good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

Exercise No. 5 Back Lever

Levers are extremely hard but beneficial to muscle growth since they're very heavy on the time under tension which breaks your muscles down and causes them to grow in calisthenics.

   The difficulty of this move is somewhat advanced. It works out your biceps, forearms, mid and lower back, as well as your pectorals and frontal deltoids. There's similarity in this and the back handed planche. This is just from a hanging position which makes it about half as hard.

My advised prerequisites for the back lever are a fair number of pull ups. A good twenty five in a row would do it. Then some flip around stuff on the bar and such. Get comfortable on the pull up bar and develop some good calluses. This is a high strain move. Not quite as difficult as the front lever because your back muscles holding your lower body up tend to be far stronger than your abdominals and obliques which are used in the front lever.
 
Back Lever:
   You can either use an overhand grip or an underhand grip in the front lever. Perform so by circling around while hanging from the bar until you are still holding on but with your back facing towards the bar. Now to fully perform the back lever you may straddle your legs at first, but I started with them straight together, and extend them until your body is at a full extension.
   The hand placement will support you, so make sure your arms go far back, your hands should be right above your posterior. Make sure your biceps are strong so you don't hyper-extend or pull anything.
   Your back levers will be high at first, but you're okay with that because they get better and lower with time until you hold a nice and straight one. Good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

   

Exercise No. 4 Handstand

The most basic of movements but still an impressive feat is the handstand. It's not hard, at all. So how do you get into it and learn how to hold your body up on just your hands? Well I'm here to help with that. I'll teach you step by step and also I will give you tips on how to make it look better and cleaner.

Just so you know, I drew that picture. Not bad...

   It's important that you get a good handstand if you get into doing handstands. I say this because I see a lot of people do handstands with poor form, and they can't stop moving around either because they don't have the core control, center of gravity, and the necessary shoulder strength. So I will build you into the handstand, that way you will not end up with bad form and you will be able to perform a spot on good looking handstand.

   Your first step into attempting the handstand, is being able to do forty push ups in a row. Why do I say this? Strength, that's why. Push ups build it up.

   Next is knuckle push ups. Get to about thirty of those.

   Now, when you're past the push ups, you need to progress into the tuck planche. After getting a good tuck planche, get to about five tuck planche push ups. This gives you necessary desired strength and stability. It's important you learn this because you can easily move around in a hand stand but you cannot move around in a tuck planche easily. So the tuck planche will allow you the stability instead of having to move around all of the time which makes your handstand look bad. A good handstand is a stead handstand.

   Now, to continue on this movement, try pressing out of a tuck planche a few times. Don't stick the handstand, just try sticking your feet out and up. Up is the direction you want to go. Once you have gotten to the press out, the handstand shouldn't a problem in the slightest for you.

   

Handstand: 

   To get into the handstand, you step into it performing somewhat of a middle split, but bringing your legs together or straddling the air with them. I find it easier to hold a handstand for long with my legs together, but you find your own preference for it.

   When you are in the handstand, shift your shoulders as desired, but do not move your hands. Arch your back slightly if you feel it to help, and keep your feet over head in a good position holding the center of your weight in the proper position. Keep your elbows from bending, but do not lock them.

   Straighten your shoulders. And to get a good straight handstand, you can simply stick your head between your arms and get a perfectly straight handstand.

The width you prefer to have your hands at when you do a handstand is your own preference. I personally don't mind about the width I have mine at. But you can simply change your handstand width at each attempt. And once you get good enough you can shift your hand placement width in the handstand itself. So good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

Exercise No. 3 Tuck Planche

This should be concise and to the point. As the tuck planche takes some time to learn but is beneficial and an excellent prerequisite for handstands and anything involving supporting the body on just the hands. So how do we do this? Let's begin.

To begin, you should be able to perform an L sit with ease and pseudo hold which would be a planche with your feet as added support. Each for at least ten seconds.

   To begin in the tuck planche, you need to be aware of your back positioning to keep it straight, most people will think it's a frog stand but the difference is you do a tuck planche with your knees between your elbows, not on them.

   So bring your knees between your arms, keep your elbows straight and maintain as straight of a back as possible, lift your knees from the ground for little increments of time to get used to the feeling, and then soon enough, start trying to hold.

   When you hold the tuck planche, your shoulders need to be over your hands, face your hands sideways to avoid hyper-extending your wrists and pull your knees to your chest. In the beginning your knees don't need to touch your chest, but as you bring them up, work to pull them up as high as possible to perform a clean fully tucked tuck planche.

   Work at your own pace and just take your time. This is very beneficial for your progression in other moves so have fun and be safe.

   -The Fitness Cookie

   

Exercise No. 2 Pullup Variations

Oh boy! We're going to learn one of my favorite exercises today! Pullups!
   So pullups are simple to do, but for most, outrageously challenging. I get a lot of complaints saying things like, "Pullups cause blisters on my hands!" And other things like, "They're too hard!" And worst of all, "I have no upper body strength to do it with!" First of all, I think that if everybody in this world could do at least two pullups each, we would all be super happy meaning nobody would be too overweight or just plain out of shape.
   So pullups work to cause your forearm to get used to the stress and movement while being under stress. You have to have a suitable grip at first to be able to do a pull up. I have a naturally strong grip, so it wasn't all that hard for me when I started, but it really helps a lot if you have a good grip. If you're falling off of the bar, try doing things like leg raises before you start doing pull ups if you're having a hard time training because that really works on your grip. Or you could just hand there for as long as you can, if I did that though I would be on the pullup bar eating meals and everything. So I just kept at doing pullups. When I was eleven, all of my friends had those piggy soft fifth and sixth grade hands and mine were pretty much like leather gloves. I actually think it was the handlebar grips on my bike at the time that did that though because when I got a new bike my hands weren't so rough.
   Now if you don't have the issue of a weak grip, you can just go ahead and jump right into pullups because they tone the fuzz out of your back and your core.
   So pullups work on your back and your biceps as well as your forearms. They really work on your biceps since those are a large factor in the movement you're making. So no bicep strength, no pullup. It's like your grip. You will notice bicep size when you start doing pull ups, and your arms will proceed to get bigger.
   Next up, my favorite part of myself when I flex in the mirror if I can get a good enough view, your back muscles. Your back muscles are super important along with this. No back strength no pullup. This strengthens your latissimus dorsi and causes it become toned and strengthened and larger if it's one of your small muscles.
   A few tips on actually doing pullups since some of you I know can't do any. If you go to the gym and see that thing that helps lift you up into pullups, don't use that because those are for wimps or somebody who's in physical rehabilitation.
   Even if you look like and idiot at the gym, that's why I recommend you get a pull up bar at home, just hang from the bar and keep pulling until you can actually pull yourself up once. So here are some pullups and the instructions that go with them.
   Also, which I'm sure a good deal of you are curious about, my best on pullups was thirty seven in a row. But those were half extension pullups. On full extension I've done thirty in a row. Full extension is a complete workout far more than half. So if you're into pullups, don't go half way down, go all of the way down if you want those to be considered real pullups.
   And here are your pullups.

Regular pullups:
   These aren't easy and they hurt your hands, I know. So to start out, you just need to hang from the bar with an overhand grip, get a good grip and make sure you're not going to fall off and die. But for some of you that may be an inevitable issue.
   So pull up while keeping your elbows straight and go up all of the way. Now when you go down, don't drop down to avoid dislocating your shoulders and elbows, and then repeat as many times as you possibly can.

Chin ups:
   These are underhand pullups, so you can only go up to your chin. So get that underhand grip, hold on, keep holding on even if you're getting blisters, I really could care less about pain because it builds character. So hold on, pull up, go to your chin, but don't put it over the bar to avoid a broken neck in case you have to let go, and then let down without dropping.

Wide grip pullups:
   Do a regular pull up, but with your hands wide apart. Easy? When you're hanging there, but not when you pull up.

Wide grip overhand behind the head pullups:
   For this one, it's required you do a wide grip to actually fit your head between your arms and up in front of the bar. When you pull up it puts stress on the lower part of your trapezius which hold your shoulder blades together so it can pull them close while your arms pull up in the back. If you can do this, you're pretty good off.

Starting with pull ups:
   Pull ups have never been easy for the human body to begin with. You can make them easy, but when you start out, they are hard.
   So, to get into them and condition your shoulders for pull ups, you can simply hold onto the bar, and pull up with your shoulders without using your arms yet. You don't have to go up, and it's good preparatory exercises for your body to begin. Get to pulling yourself up with your shoulders about ten to fifteen times, and then you can attempt a pull up.

As you can see, pullups are excellent for your back and and your biceps. Also, when you do a pullup, your clenching every muscle in your body and it actually requires your abs to work when you go up as well. So if you're looking for a way to shred away the excess stomach fat you all are so worried about. I'll tell you right now, it disappears with time.
 
Quick Tips:
   If you are in perfect form with pull ups, you will target your upper back and shoulder muscles. If you lean back a bit, you use your lower back muscles which are larger and stronger, and you can get more reps, which means more time for breaking down your biceps as well.
   Good luck.

- The Fitness Cookie

Dietary Needs For Exercise

Right now, I'm going to talk about physical health concerning nutrition. Nutrition lacks with a lot of people in today's society as most all of us know.

   Here's some things you all need to know, junk food is bad for you, if you eat out a lot, you're going to not be happy and you're going to feel like the trashcan on the side of the house. Like you're full of bad meat and Grandma's expired prune juice.

   Not eating healthy when you work out will prevent you from having the energy you need as well as the natural supplementing required for proper muscle growth. Whenever I over hear people talking about how they have not eaten fresh food in over a month, I find it quite disturbing. Especially since that causes to not be, "regular". But becoming regular is a discussion for another day. *smiley face*

   Considering a lot of people don't eat well and continue to work out, they would probably do a lot better than they're doing if they started eating well. Here's an example, if you take a person, who's trying to do eighty push ups in a row, and somebody else with the same goal, and they went at for about six months nonstop, they would progress. But say the one person doesn't eat as well as the other. Their diet consists of pizza rolls, hot dogs, cheese cake, candy, and things of the like. Now the other guy, eats things like, fresh bacon, eggs in the morning, salad and cold cuts during lunch, potato salad, beans, and spaghetti with fresh sauce and is an avid fruit and veggies eater for snacks.

   The guy who's diet consists of the processed foods is not going to progress as well as the guy who eats fresh.

   Now if you're into bodybuilding and eat out at McDonald's and steak houses every day you work out which is six times a week, that's your fault if you want to die of heart valve failure. Seriously, you want proof of that, go watch the CT Fletcher Story on youtube. That is one heck of a guy.

   So take things like your starches and carbohydrates. A lot of people eat a thing called empty carbs. Empty carbs are something that's been purged of its benefits. Things like white bread, white rice, it won't benefit you well. A lot of people eat sandwiches for lunch, so when you get your bread, don't buy the cheap white bread, go for say the honey wheat or soft wheat, and if you want that extra power and can stand it, whole wheat.

   I grew up on whole wheat, so I'm fine and alive when I eat it. I actually prefer wheat bread when I eat. Honey is also a favorite of mine. If it's white and it's a grain, chances are it's not going to power you. So go for things that either say brown, dark, or whole, or wheat. White is a bad word in the world of grain, all it really does is fill your stomach with something and you end up pooping it out without anything being taken from it.

   Another thing is, when you exercise a lot, unless you're trying to get super big, avoid a lot of meat. Fresh fish, chicken that's not fried or grilled, things like poultry and fish are excellent sources of energy for exercising. And if you going to do stake, make it the lean stuff, but don't get addicted to it. All kinds of meats are good protein suppliers.

   And then for protein you have dairy products and eggs. Eggs are super good, but don't eat too many of them or else you'll get fat or look like one of those guys on muscle mag. Trust me, muscle mag may be cool because of how strong those guys are, but it's hard to get a date when you can curl fifty pounds with your eyebrow. I haven't been there.

   When I work out, my favorite thing to eat before I start pumping iron is an egg sandwich with cheese melted onto the bread and mayonnaise. Sure I'm being a bad influence on the kids, but it's just so good! And especially even better when you have some bacon on there, oh yeah! But I do that like once every six months.

   But yeah, eggs, those are another thing to eat when you're into exercise. Tuna is good as well. Another thing is potato's when they're not deep fried. If you eat something like mashed potato's or a baked potato without all that butter and grease and salt, it's actually really good for you because professionals have proved, potato's get your insulin flowing, and that's something you really want when you work out. I'm not the biggest fan of potato's, but I do eat them on the occasion. It's kind of like asparagus.
   As told time and time again, there are plenty of foods that are good for you. In fact, there are more good for you foods than more bad for you foods. Did you know that? Probably not.

   So your diet needs to be balance out when you exercise. Juice all you want, I really don't give a horses backside about juice though because I think it tastes horrible as well as shakes. I eat my fruit and vegetables my way, and you drink yours your way.

   So anyways, that's the dietary talk for now. I'll start giving more instructions on exercises a little later on and some more instructions on meals and things like that if anybody wants to know.

Exercise No. 1 Push Ups (and variations)

Some of you may not have a weight set or don't want to pay for a gym membership because you have other things to spend your money on. So I'll give you one exercise today, I'm going to work from the top down on the body weight exercises. Some of these things, you can actually get pretty toned and muscular off if you do it right.

   I'll give you exercises that a lot of people only do in one way, these exercises will be explained in different ways to work out the same muscle groups in different ways.

.Push ups

Most people can do push ups, yes they're easy, but how many can you do is the question? And how often? And how do you do them? So I'll give you a few different push ups to work on.

   I'll start out with cutting down the old dog myths on the push ups. Your stomach isn't supposed to touch the ground when you do push ups, got it? If you're a tall person like myself with long arms, you can actually hyper-extend muscles if you go down to the ground all to often in a push up if you're not careful.

   Last I checked, most people don't want to be double jointed because they're muscles are stretched too far out.

   First here are push up instructions.

 

Classic push ups:

   Flare your elbows out somewhat keeping your hands at shoulder width. Go all the way down until your elbows are bent at a ninety degree angle, push back up and do over and over again. Easy, I think everybody knows how to do that. Now if you want to get a big work out from that kind of push up, do them but with controlled time. Take two seconds to go down, hold the position you're in for about a second, and then take two seconds to go up. If you can get to twenty of those in one set, you're doing really good.

Flare push ups:

   So on this one, you just flare your elbows out rather far, but not so far as to where you'll cause yourself damage. It's a lot like the classic push up, just with more flare. It works out your pectorals a little more than just a classic push up.

Tuck in push ups:

   For this one, it centers on your triceps. What you do is tuck your elbows in to your sides but you don't touch your body, but you keep them in while your hands are shoulder width. You press down and back up as much as desired. Some people think these are easier than regular push ups, but they're honestly a little harder.

Diamond push ups:

   This one is one of the harder push ups. You put your hands in the shape of a diamond. This flares your elbows out way far when you go down. Go down at least a little more than halfway. If desired, you can touch the floor, if you don't hurt yourself.

Clapping push ups:

   You keep your hands either far apart or shoulder width and hop off of them and clap and then land back on your hands. Now these are super hard when you take it to a new level. Such as clap behind your back, or double clap where you clap up front, in the back, and then land. And then you have the triple clap. You jump up, clap in front, clap in back, clap in front, and then land. It's really hard and I don't recommend you try it when you're a started because you'll hurt yourself and I take no liability for your injuries.

One arm push ups:

   This is one of the hardest push up. It emits immense force through your body in a diagonal motion. This one requires a little bit of technique. So you can keep your feet far apart, and if your looking into advancing, close together because it requires more balance. Also, if you break dance, this is a great exercise. So what you do is tuck your elbow in, if you flare it out, it's near impossible to go up because of the way physics work. So your elbow is tucked in and you hold your body in regular push up position, but as you go up, the side of you are not using an arm on, lifts up and to the side and the side with your arm turns downward as you go up to maintain your balance. When you come down to maintain balance, put all of the previous movements into reverse. This helps you maintain balance, and it's still hard as fuzz.

Knuckle push ups:

   You can do this as all of the previous push ups but just with a different hand position. Although an important tip is, is that if you feel your pushing the ends of your fingers too far back, lean more forward, it provides wrist strength and balance effort.

Archer push ups:
   Done by leaning to one side in the regular push ups position. It's not difficult, but more time under tension in this exercise will cause your muscles to develop and become stronger.

So I'm going to give a different page tutorial on things like handstand push ups and planche (I'll explain later on) push ups to work on. Those are the more advanced styles of push ups, and they're really not considered normal push ups like the ones I just gave you. So they'll make their appearance later on. Do look forward though, because believe it or not, I can do those two things, so I'll know very well what I'm talking about.

Fitness In the First Place and How You Need to Start

Welcome to The Fitness Cookie. This is a blog specifically discussing needs and required habits for the basic entry into fitness. This will be your entry, but soon enough as you get deeper into the blog, you will find new posts and new things and will go deeper and deeper into fitness which belongs to all who are capable of bettering their physic and becoming happy with themselves mentally and physically.
   Now the base of things you must be concerned about pertaining to fitness and getting started with it are few in number, but each topic has much to be covered. It builds things, and those things so happen to be as listed.

.Nutrition

.Strength

.Endurance

.Actually doing it

Further more, fitness builds your self confidence. It will also make you happier and better looking to yourself and other people. The human body was designed to go outside and do things, it was designed to consume beneficial things instead of greasy, sugary, salty, and fatty foods that will cause it to deplete in it's worth.
   The topic of this post is to start fitness now. So I will tell you how to start and the ways that you desire to become better and happier with yourself.

There's a state of mind all of us reach when we want to become a better version of ourselves and feel better. That state of mind is important to reach if you want to get into shape and feel better and become stronger. Or if you want to progress to new levels of fitness that you have not reached, you will need to have a strong desire to reach those places in your mind to physically become better than you were.
   So when do you start? This question arises quite often and many many people will ask me when I'm talking about fitness, "Where do I start? How do I start?"
   Those are two very prolific questions. People also ask me for tips and such on exercises to become stronger and how to do them and which way of doing them is better and how to build into them. I understand it's difficult to get into shape and to become stronger. You will also occasionally be slightly discouraged when you start because you are where many people are, at the beginning, and it's very hard.
   Nobody is going to make fun of you for starting and making yourself better. What they will make fun of is you not doing it. It's an unpleasant fact of life and you have to get over it. This is something I hear as well, "I don't like going to gym and doing the exercises that make me big because I'm small."
   Well gosh dang it! Those big guys that you see over there who are benching 400+ are the ones that are going to pick the bar up off of you when you can't push it off your chest! Any person who is strong, is a person who has been where you are. They are a person that has been weak, someone who started, someone who couldn't even do a push up. We are all born into this world, not being able to do push ups.
   It's your choice to be able to do push ups or not. So make the choice now. Will you start? Or will you stay?
  It's difficult to start, but it gets easier as you make healthy eating and exercise a habit in your life. The motivation you have to start will be the motivation that makes you get on the pull up bar or the monkey bars at the park two years down the road and do a few pull ups just for fun! You will get there if you start now! It is your choice to start, your choice to do, your choice to be motivated, your choice to be strong, your choice to be happy, and your choice to make those choices and many more that come with fitness.
   I will tell you something about your choice making, fitness is hard work, but life is hard work when you are not fit. Being fit makes life easier, easy life makes being fit hard. But without the challenge of fitness, how can you have the results as desired and become stronger?
   So start now, don't be a lazy bum who sits around with nothing to do. If you want to be strong, you know you need to be strong. I say need because that need means you will be happier and feel better. Now go out there, and do it now! Make the choice! And better yourself today! Every time you do something, you get better at it, and it's easier next time.

For further questioning on topics of fitness, email me at, Cookielovesfitness@gmail.com

-The Fitness Cookie