Benefits of body weight training

Getting in shape and having a tone body does not have to be complicated. Simple body weight exercises can be a great option for achieving gains in strength, flexibility and your overall health. When people think of gaining body mass they automatically assume that they have to go lift weights. But there is also an alternative option as well and that is using your body weight to exercise. Also this method of training is free and does not cost you a dime. Below I will give you some benefits on body weight training.

#1. It’s super efficient

Exercises such as plyometrics are something that you can see very quick results from. Being a athlete growing up I always wondered and thought about how I could jump higher. And after doing some research I discovered plyometrics and they helped. Also another example of this type of training is called HIIT workout which are short and intense workouts that can help you have major results.

#2 It can combine cardio and strength training

A lot of times when you are at the gym you often go run on the treadmill for about 20-30 minutes or do some type of cardio and then go lift your weights after or vice versa. With body weight training this allows you to incorporate strength training and cardio at the same time.

#3. You will get a tighter core and get core strength

Performing these exercises will not only give you major core strength but will have better posture and relieve lower back stress as well getting tighter abs. Doing simple body movements while performing this type of workout will force your body to engage your core.

#4. There’s never an excuse that you can’t workout

When it comes to body training you will never have an excuse not to workout. You can’t say well since I can’t make it to the gym I guess I can’t workout because none of this training requires a gym. You can literally do this workout anywhere.

#5 You will never get bored

I know a lot of times when we lift weights we get into a habit of just doing the same thing over and over again and never switch up the routine. However with this type of workout you can switch it up and incorporate different exercises which can then spark your interest and you can get creative!

#6. It can prevent injuries

I know for myself when I get injured working out is the last thing on my mind. I don’t even think about going to the gym. But on the other hand you can workout and prevent these injuries from happening with body weight workouts. Also anyone within reason can perform these workouts.

While everyone will have different perspectives on working out, I think this is one of the best ways to workout besides lifting. If you are not comfortable going to the gym quite yet you should try body weight workouts and see how you like them. I will be posting a video on my YouTube channel soon of some examples that you can do. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me.

Coach Q

Think you are over training?

Over training is something that has been an issue of mine for many years. Playing basketball growing up I had an obsession of wanting to get better. So I would kill myself everyday in the gym for months as a time. Anybody who has me on Instagram and scroll through my old posts can see how obsessively I trained. With this being the case I found my body hurting 24/7. It was not until later in my collegiate career that I realized recovery was a major component when training. When your not allowing yourself to recover this can typically lead to injuries. If you are wondering if you are over training your body here some signs to look out for.

#1 Decreased Performance

One major sign of over training is a lack of improved performance despite increasing your training intensity. Some examples of this would be having a decrease in speed, strength, and endurance and also having slower reaction times are all common signs that you are over training your body.

#2 Excessive Fatigue

It is alright at times to feel sore from the gym or to be aching in pain because you worked out a certain muscle group the previous day. But fatigue eventually will accumulate in your body when you never allow your body to fully recover from previous workout. The key is when you feel your body start to ache excessively it is time to get the proper treatment and rest.

#3 Agitation and moodiness

Over training significantly affects your stress hormones which can cause a hormonal imbalance which then can cause you to have mood swings, and the inability to concentrate.

#4 Restless sleep

Sleep is the place where your body ordinarily has the best time to rest and recover. But the overproduction of stress hormones caused by over training may not allow you to completely relax which makes your sleep less effective.

#5 Nagging injuries

This personally affects me because when I was over training I would notice that if one part of my body was injured and I didn’t take the precautionary steps to fix it when I took a day or week off and thought it would be better it would flare right back up. So over training can cause injures that are very hard to get rid of.

#6 Physiological stress and or depression

Some people that live for the punishing workouts or training for competitions have a difficult time taking off from training. I know for me if the team trainer made me stay out of the gym for specific amount of days for me to recover from an injury I would get depressed because I couldn’t workout. Working out to me is a place where I can let out anything that has been bothering me for the past days or weeks and let out all of my frustrations. But when you realize that your body needs rest in order to get you to the next level that you want to be at, it is something you will implement in your training.

Never let people put limitations on you

When I was growing up my parents instilled in me that I could be whatever I put my mind to doing. And as we grow older we tend to move away from this belief and live under other peoples expectations of us. Regardless of what field we go into there is always somebody saying what you can do and what you can’t do and we tend to follow this. Playing basketball, this is something that I have dealt with my whole life. Having a natural skinny build people always told me that I was too skinny to play at the next level. Something that has always stuck with me was when I tried out for my middle school team and didn’t make it. I went home and cried and told my parents I never wanted to see a basketball again. My father being the person that he was always kept me motivated and he would go outside and rebound for me for hours. And every shot that I made he would build my confidence and tell me nobody could stop me. Of course having him in my corner was a major impact in my life but also the fact that he would believe in me is something that always propelled me.

Fast forward to my second year playing basketball at this junior college. I wasn’t getting the playing time I wanted so I went to the coach and asked him why am I not playing. This is what he said ” I think you have reached your potential, everybody has a cap that they top off at and I think you are there. I can’t see you getting any better or better yet playing at a high level”. Little did he know he made me into a beast. The following year I transferred and I saw we had him on our schedule. This picture was captured during the game and till this day I couldn’t tell you what emotion I was feeling

I Ended up having 29 points and showed everybody in that gymnasium that there are not such things as limitations. The moral of this post is to tell you that don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. If you want to do something make up in your mind that nobody is going to get in the way of my goal and press your way through it. When someone tries to put a limitation on you, use that as fuel to prove them wrong. The only person that can stop you is you. BE GREAT!

Coach Q

New to the gym?

When a lot of people first start going to the gym including myself I noticed that I was worried about what others thought of me. I was always concerned about how they would look at me or if I did a specific workout wrong I thought they would judge me. I literally would skip certain workouts because I was scared of messing up. I often find that this is one of the main reasons that people will not workout. Some of the things you might think are

I don’t know what kind of clothes to wear.
I don’t like the way I look
I’m so awkward. I’m afraid I’ll trip, or not know how to use a machine
What if it’s crowded and I have to stand around waiting to use the equipment? I’ll feel so uncomfortable.
I don’t want anyone to talk to me

If you find yourself in this situation today I want to put an end to all of this and help you become confident in yourself. Here are some tips that I want you to follow so you can overcome this fear.

#1. Never care about messing up during your workout.

I know this is harder than it sounds but this is something that I want you to put into practice. The only way to get better is if you mess up. When I first started seriously training I would go to the gym and always look around at everyone who was there before I started working out. I wanted to go to the space or corner where nobody could see me so I could get my workout in. But one day I realized that the people that are at the gym don’t care about what I’m doing, they are focusing on themselves so I thought why am I so focused on them and not myself? And that is when I started going to the gym confidently and didn’t care about what they thought. If I had to do a box jump and I fell I got right back up and did it again.

#2. Come to the gym with a plan

Your lack of confidence when it comes to working out can often come when you do not have a set goal or plan in mind. I used to go to the gym and literally copy what I seen other people doing and have wrong form and almost hurt myself. Having a set plan will eliminate all of this and you will be more focused when you are there. I found myself writing out my workouts in a notebook and after I complete each one literally crossing them out so when I finished I can look back and feel good about what I accomplished. It was always a mental thing for me. So never come to the gym not knowing what you want to work on. Always have a plan

#3 Be comfortable being uncomfortable

A lot of times when people workout they only want to do workouts that they know that they are good at. When the trainer says lets go run some stairs, they tend to shy away from something like this because they worry about tripping and falling so they are not comfortable. I want you to start putting yourself in positions where you have to adapt with being uncomfortable. Whether you hate speaking and you tell your boss you want to present and lead the meeting at work or if you are uncomfortable meeting people, the next time you are going out with friends I want you to introduce yourself with ten new people and get their names and carry on a conversation with them. You will soon realize if you practice this and step out of your comfort zone, you will become comfortable and confident within yourself.

I hope this article is helpful and you will break you out of the fear of being nervous to workout! Love you all

Coach Q

Never Settle

This time last year I didn’t know what settling was.

I wanted to talk about something today that has been on my mind for the past few months and that is never being content with settling.Over the past few months I found myself in a rut mentally where I was just being content with being average. I didn’t make the deans list last semester because I settled, I found myself not even wanting to go to the gym and workout after practice because I was settling. Coming off a year last year when I was killing my competition nobody could stop me. You could see in the picture above if you were to ask me how I felt it was a feeling I can’t even explain. The mind is powerful weapon and it showed. I was having a career year, and that summer I was so excited because of my accomplishments that I settled… It was the biggest mistake of my life.

My body wasn’t completely in shape like it normally was because I was missing workouts. I would stay up all night knowing I had to workout in the morning and sleep in till 12 thinking it was enough. When I knew someone who was hungry like myself last summer would have been on his third workout by the time I woke up but I didn’t care because I thought I’d be fine. This thinking caused me to have numerous injuries during the season this year which then affected my performance. I’ll never forget last year there was never a day that went by that I did not go to the gym and shoot jump shots every morning and night (Except if there was a snowstorm). Me and my roommate would go to the gym at 5 am and go to practice then come back to the gym after practice and shoot more. Which went to show why I had played the best basketball of my life. I’ve never been the one to make an excuse. If it is my fault this I will own up to it and settling is something that has been one the biggest obstacles in my life. I stopped working out at 5 AM because I got complacent with myself and thought I don’t need to work as hard anymore because of all the previous work that I put in. But I was wrong and it showed.

The moral of this post is to never settle for anything. Whether it’s a relationship, if your not happy and it’s toxic leave. If it’s work and your killing yourself everyday and tired of working for someone and want to go back to school or get a better job do it. Put the things that are most important to you first and if you aren’t achieving those things or you don’t find yourself being happy then make adjustments and get it done. Stop living up to other people’s expectations of you and make sure the only person your pleasing is the person you look at in the mirror.

Stop Settling!

Ever wonder about trying a Vegan diet?

Vegan diets are known to help people lose weight, but they are also many health benefits as well. A vegan diet helps you maintain a healthy heart. Also, this diet can help offer some protection against type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancers.

Benefits of having a vegan diet:

You will have to eliminate meat and animal products from your diet completely. This may be a struggle for some people at first but eventually, your body will be able to adapt to it. Also, with the vegan diet, you will need to start eating more vegetables than you were consuming before. This is key because you will start to intake more nutrients. The majority of the foods that you will be eating is grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds. Also, vegan diets tend to be richer in potassium, magnesium, folate and vitamins A, C and E.

Another benefit of going vegan is that you lose excess weight. When you are not consuming junk food and start having your source of protein be from plants, you will start to notice your body lose weight. Many of the animal-based foods are high in fat and calories so eliminating them may help you lose excess body fat as well.

It is also known to lower blood sugar levels and improve kidney function. This is a very good thing because this will lower your chance of developing type 2 diabetes. Also, the substitution of plants for meat protein can reduce the risk of poor kidney function.

Think of some of the strongest animals in the world, from elephants to the rhino to even some of the biggest dinosaurs on earth, all were plants eaters! So, the myth of you only get protein from meat is completely FALSE. Going vegan can be one of the most important decisions you can make in your life concerning your health.

Having trouble sleeping?

They say on average most healthy adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. But, if you are somebody like me you often find yourself scrolling through your phone late at night and then the next day complaining that you are tired. Am I right? So, because I was up until midnight or later my day is a complete struggle. My solution to that is to come back to my dorm after my classes are finished and take a nice long 3-hour nap. That 3-hour nap that I took has now messed up my sleep schedule once again because now I am not tired enough to go to bed at a decent time.

Lack of sleep can cause confusion, lower your immune system, and effect with your ability to get tasks done. People do not understand that sleeping is a habit just like eating healthy and exercising daily. Now I’m not saying that you missing a few hours of sleep is going to kill you but if you continue to miss the needed hours of sleep regularly this can cause an increase in serious health concerns.

Below are some tips to help you get better sleep and stay asleep.

1. You can schedule your sleep, set up alarms on your phone just in case you get carried away with different tasks during the day which will remind you to get into bed in an hour. That way you can prepare yourself and get ready to transition into getting in bed a lot more easier.

2. Try to stay off of your phone before bed. When using your cell phone it produces a blue light which affects your internal clock. When you are on your phone it will cause you to be more alert when you should be winding down. Also, you can find yourself losing track of time while your scrolling through your phone which will cause you to stay up past the time you were trying to sleep.

3. Exercising on the regular will also allow you to go to sleep better. If you find yourself being exhausted from your workout during the day you will find it very easy to fall asleep at night because your body is tired.

4. Lastly, I would suggest using sleeping apps that track your sleep cycle. These sleeping apps allow you to use different settings such as an alarm clock that progressively gets louder so you can wake up from your sleep in a calming way.

Hopefully you find this helpful, any questions or concerns feel free to contact me!

Coach Q

Workout tips for beginners

Everyone who goes to the gym has two agendas in mind, they either want to lose fat or they want to gain weight. The hardest part when wanting to make a lifestyle change is consistency. Someone once told me a little piece of advice that has stuck with me. That advice was the only person who can stop you, is you. Till this day I truly do live by that statement. During my basketball career, I learned that I had to somehow get an advantage over everyone that I played against. One of the things I learned was how to plan my workout and stay consistent with them. Waking up at 5 AM to train was one of the hardest things I had to do at first, but then, I realized that once I dedicated myself to doing it every day it became easier.

So, one of the first things that I suggest doing is going to the gym every day (7 days a week). Even if it’s going in there and doing something productive for 30 minutes, and on the 7th day you go in and use that as your recovery time and stretch. It’s the idea of being consistent that is most important. Another thing I suggest is to stay loose while you’re at the gym. Focus on the muscles you are exercising and relax the rest of your body. Being too uptight can hinder your results. When I first started working out, I would always overly concentrate on certain workouts wasting unnecessary energy whereas now when I go in there I can focus on my body and figure out what is tight and what I need to focus more on.

Some things that I would advise you not to do in the beginning is be glued to the treadmill. When you are constantly just walking or running on the treadmill you will get bored and tired of it. Once this happens your motivation to go to the gym will start to decrease and you will find yourself not wanting to go to the gym all at all. Therefore, you will begin to make excuses as to why you can’t go. A popular line that I am sure all of you have heard or even have said yourself is, “I’ll just go longer tomorrow,” or “I’ll just go harder tomorrow.” When in reality there should never be a time when you are “going harder” every time you hit the gym you should be giving it your all. That’s if you’re serious and you really want results. The last thing I suggest is going to the gym with a positive attitude. As long as you have a positive outlook while you work out, you will enjoy the results more. Of course, your body is going to be going through aches and pain but as my dad once told me, “If it were easy everybody would do it.”

Hope you find this information helpful, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube fitness page as I will be providing free weekly workout videos. Any questions or concerns feel free to contact me

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4w3oinzSGf_GWcu8tWWrlQ

Best Regards,

Coach Q