Author: Bashir Murtaza

I'm Bashir and I'm the CEO of Blob Technology and founder of Blob Fitness. With experience in weight lifting, nutrition, and training others for 10+ years, I'm trying to help provide as much content and tools I can to help you along your fitness journey and learn as much as possible.

Forget Motivation, Get Disciplined

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

FORGET GETTING MOTIVATED, GET DISCIPLINED.

You want to start a new workout program. You buy new gym clothes, get new supplements, and you’re reading all of these motivational tips to get you hyped up to go get your workout in. You’ve got your favorite tunes on blast and you’re amped up! You’re motivated to get that workout in! You go get some, and you’re feeling on top of the world! A few weeks pass by and you’re sore and decide to take it a bit easy. You start easing up on the pedal. Eventually you kind of stop all together. Then the infamous “I don’t have any motivation to workout” comes into play. You do all the same stuff you used to get yourself motivated but nothing is really helping. It takes you a while, but then you find that motivation again… but the same loop falls into place once more. It’s time to forget about getting motivated, and it’s time to get disciplined.

MOTIVATION AND WHY IT DOESN’T WORK

Motivation is a good tool whenever you’re starting a new venture. Usually most new ventures start with motivation and a goal. You feel that flame inside of you burning and you’re ready to take this venture on full force. The problem is though, that motivation slowly fades away. You’re going to have days you just aren’t feeling motivated to do something and that’s completely normal.

When motivation starts to go away, no matter what we are trying to accomplish we may just not want to do it anymore. Then we stop whatever it was and we wait for motivation to come back. It’s literally a loop that constantly happens over and over again and leads us into the spiral of “needing to get motivated”. It’s normal to lose motivation though! When motivation is lost, that’s when you need to get disciplined.

motivation-loop

WHY DISCIPLINE CONQUERS MOTIVATION

You see people all the time devoted to certain things and you wonder “Wow, how do they manage to keep up with that task all of the time?” It’s because they’re disciplined. Where motivation fails is where discipline takes over. Discipline is what will get you through ANY task at hand. Not just in fitness, but in any goal you wish to achieve. Discipline will get you the results you want and discipline will help you achieve your goals.

There are many days I don’t feel like going to work out. I’m tired. I don’t feel like getting up early. I’m sore and my body is killing me. I think of how nice it’ll be to just get some rest and take a nice day off. I know I don’t have any motivation to get my workout done. When all these excuses start settling in and I know I can easily just not do anything. I make the more difficult choice and do it anyway. I go do the task at hand even with no motivation whatsoever. It’s easy to just say “I’m not feeling motivated to do this. I’m going to take a break”. That’s not the right answer though. You get up and do it anyway. It may suck, but you’ll finish the task at hand and you’ll be glad you did. You’ll be one step closer to reaching your new goal. You will not have any regrets about getting that task done vs if you just decided not to do it. Discipline breaks you out of the motivational loop and keeps you moving toward your goal.

HOW TO GET DISCIPLINED

You know discipline will break you free and get you to achieve your goals. However, you may be wondering, just how do you get disciplined? Honestly, my most simple tip is just doing whatever it is you don’t want to do. Don’t take the easy way out and just not do it. Now I know… that’s not very practical advice, and may be extremely obvious, but in the end, this is what it comes down to. However, there are things you can do in your everyday life to get you become more disciplined.

GET UP EARLY/MAKE YOUR BED

Getting up early has been one of the most beneficial things I’ve done to get more disciplined. Not only do you have more time throughout the day to get more done, but you will feel that much more productive. You’re starting your day off right. Personally, when my day starts at 4:30 am it’s hard to be less productive throughout the day. You already got that “one win”.

Another great thing to do is to make your bed when you wake up. It’s a great way to start your day by completing a task and getting your day started by being organized. Doing these 2 things when you first wake up will keep you more productive throughout the day. Making this a routine and sticking with it is building discipline. You’ll notice the positive effects of reaping into your other activities throughout the day as well.

TAKE A COLD SHOWER

Taking a cold shower every day is brutal. It’s uncomfortable, difficult, and well… cold. It’s not an ideal situation, but that’s the whole point. Taking a cold shower takes you out of your comfort zone. Just like discipline. Discipline isn’t meant to keep you in your comfort zone, it’s meant to break you out of it! Taking a cold shower is a mental and physical challenge, but once you build a routine around it, you’ll feel like you can take on any challenge.

BREAK A SMALL HABIT/BUILD A NEW HABIT

If you follow some of the routines above, you’ll build a routine around them and will instill discipline. However, the same goes for breaking a bad habit. Maybe you smoke? Or bite your nails? Whatever the habit may be, go about giving it up for 90 days. For me, I usually go cold turkey when it comes to trying to break a bad habit. Some people have an easier time of letting it go gradually. For example, stop smoking for 2 days, then 5 days, then 1 week, then 2 weeks etc. I find stopping all together works better for me but pick whichever method works best for you to break the habit.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Motivation is a great tool to have. It usually is what starts the journey to a more productive and fulfilling life. The main problem is that motivation will only last so long and discipline needs to take over. With discipline, you will accomplish your goals and push yourself further than ever before. Discipline will be in your everyday life and you will know that you can take on any challenge that comes forth.

Squat Bible – a Review

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Squat Bible a Review

The Squat Bible is a powerful book written by Dr. Aaron Horschig and Dr. Kevin Sonthana that will teach you how to master squatting in every way, shape, and form. You’ll learn various methods of squatting. These methods include the front squat, high bar squat, low bar squat, and the overhead squat. After teaching the techniques in great detail and going over every step of the squat, the book discusses various issues people face while squatting. Referred to as the “joint-by-joint concept”, Dr. Horschig goes over mobility, stability, and joint issues all the way from the foot to the shoulders. The book wraps up by going over all the real science of squatting and biomechanics behind it.

The Squat is a Movement First.

In the Squat Bible, the first chapter details how squatting is a movement first and exercise second. Most of us view squatting as trying to move the weight off from top to bottom and trying to move the highest amount of weight. However, squatting (or all exercises in that matter) is not simply just about moving the weight, but about the movement itself. If you can’t perform a 225 lb squat with good form, then what’s the point?

The continuation of this bad form will lead to constant injuries that will hold you back and may possibly even end your lifting career overall. A squat of 135 lbs with good form will always be better than a squat of 225 lbs with bad form, and this is what Dr. Horschig tries to emphasize. The book reviews many examples of athletes getting injured in various ways.

After giving examples of athletes who suffered the same injury the book states, “They could not squat well. They could not perform a deep bodyweight squat with adequate ankle and hip mobility, proper joint alignment, or muscular coordination.” This is something most individuals don’t emphasize. We need to master the basics before attempting the squat with actual weight. The chapter continues on to give proper and detailed examples of how to perform a proper bodyweight squat.

Performing the Squat

The second chapter of the book details how to perform a barbell squat. The barbell squat and bodyweight squat are obviously 2 different things. This chapter outlines the difference and details how the barbell squat requires more demand on the body and therefore has to be performed differently. The chapter also goes over fundamentals before you even touch the bar, such as core stability and proper breathing. What makes this very important and makes this book so great is that it teaches aspects that are often overlooked but will cause issues in the long run. It also follows a logical order of how techniques should be mastered hierarchically rather than scattering everything around and making it confusing to follow.

The chapter goes on to teach how to perform various squat positions with a barbell in a continued logical and highly detailed order. All squats follow the pattern of how to unrack the weight, the proper stance to have before you squat, and the actual movements of descending into the squat, bottoming the squat, and returning to ascent.

Surprisingly, the book does not cover how to re-rack the weight. I’ve seen people have issues before and would expect the book to cover. Each component of the squat is discussed in great detail with an easy to follow process of how to perform the movement and any accessories you may need. This chapter covers the high bar squat, low bar squat, the front squat, and the overhead squat.

Preventing and Overcoming Injuries

Where The Squat Bible really shines at is with Chapters 3 – 10. The Joint-by-Joint Concept (chapter 3) goes over mobility and stability and how our body must “move and flow in a united matter”. The concept isn’t revolutionary, but Dr. Horschig and Dr. Sonthana do a spectacular job breaking down the concept and additionally breaking up parts of the body into categories of stability and mobility.

After chapter 3, chapters 4-10 cover a different body part. Each chapter breaks down how each body part relates to the movement, how you may suffer certain issues from this body part, and how to fix it. Mobility chapters even have checklists of exercises you may pass or fail to check your mobility and how to overcome or fix anything you may have failed (or get better at the ones you passed). I can’t emphasize enough how insightful each chapter is and how it has personally helped me overcome a couple of injuries myself, and I’m sure helped to prevent plenty as well.

Squat bible mobility

Dr. Horschig testing for scapular instability. (Photo taken from the book)

The Real Science of the Squat

The final chapters of the book spend time debunking squat myths and discuss the real science of the squat. Squats already get a bad reputation, and it’s good to see the book address a lot of these myths and stating why they may be false, or why the myth may exist. The chapter, `The real science of the squat` presents all of the biomechanics of the squat and truly helps you understand how your body is working and maneuvering while performing the squat with or without weight.

squat bible squat angle

Dr. Horschig showing different angles of the squat. (Photo taken from the book)

Final Thoughts

The Squat Bible is one of the best books I’ve read on the topic. I know there are plenty of people who will ask, “Does there really need to be a book just about squatting?” and the answer is yes. Squatting is a very complex movement that can lead to severe injuries if not performed correctly. The Squat Bible manages to address how to perform the squat properly along with issues you may encounter when squatting and much more.

At the end of every chapter of the book, there is a list of references to prove that what they are preaching has been studied, looked at in great detail, and proven to work. If you’re new to squats I suggest you pick up the book. Even if you’re an expert lifter of 10 years, I still suggest you check out this book. You’ll learn something great if you’re a novice or an expert. I give The Squat Bible a perfect 5/5. You can follow them at @squat_university or YouTube under Squat University. Also, check out their website at Squat University here. If you’re looking for additional tips to help your squat, check out this post on tips to help your squat

You can get the Squat Bible from Amazon here.

Note: This is an affiliated link. 

Changing Your Mindset on Training

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

CHANGING YOUR MINDSET ON TRAINING.

Training. It’s difficult to make yourself to go train. You’re putting your body through hell. Destroying muscle tissue, fatiguing yourself and depleting almost all of your energy. It’s difficult and challenging which is why most people don’t like it. Yet training is what will make you better. Training will make you faster, stronger, give you more confidence, and overall make you better.

YOUR BODY

Your body is what carries you around day to day. On a daily basis, your body is working to make cells, fight viruses, digest food, repair and build muscle tissue, and so much more. Your body is what keeps you alive. Your body protects you from all the harmful things you encounter on a day-to-day basis. Once something goes into your body, it can easily kill you. It would make sense to prevent such things from happening to you. To do this, you must train.

When you train, you’re improving yourself and protecting your body. As a result, your body builds new muscle tissue to repair damaged muscle tissue, which will make you stronger and faster. If you ever played an RPG (role playing game) before, I’m sure you’ve tried getting the best armor set in the game at some point, that way your character wouldn’t take as much damage and it would even make you stronger in some senses. I like to think of muscle as my armor. Muscle is extremely dense and makes it harder to penetrate. Now it won’t protect you from everything, but having more muscle will make your body tougher and harder. It will make you stronger and faster. Working out and training is practically maximizing your physical attributes as if you were playing something like Skyrim.

YOUR MIND

Training doesn’t just improve your physical attributes, but also your mental attributes. When you exercise, dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin are released, all of which make you feel good. Best of all, you’ll gain confidence. You’ll feel better about yourself and about your day. You will be more productive and willing to get more done.

Exercising is also a struggle. I believe that in the day and age we live in, we aren’t truly challenged enough. Most things are automated for us and and we complain about things that truly aren’t a big deal. Training is physical and mental challenge and when you overcome it, you feel accomplished. You’ll feel like you can take on anything.

MINDSET ON TRAINING

Personally, I see training as a way of being prepared and ready for anything. Training will help me survive and overcome external obstacles, whether those obstacles have to be overcome with brute force, speed, or a strong mentality. Training improves all those aspects. You will be better prepared physically and mentally in any situation. Instead of seeing exercise as something on your list of “things to get to” you should make it one of your priorities throughout the day. It will be the one thing to keep you going and keep you healthy and mentally prepared. Why wouldn’t you make it one of your main priorities?

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I stated in the beginning, training is difficult. I get that, which is why it’s very easy to avoid. However, it’s one thing that’ll keep your mind and body healthy.

I know finding time for training can be fairly difficult. Even though it may be difficult to make time for it, it doesn’t mean you should skip it altogether. Even if you just do 30 burpees, you’ll be in a better place than before you did the burpees. Personally, I take a note from Jocko Willink and get up at 4:30am to head to the gym and get my workout in. I don’t have too much time throughout the day to workout, so I make the time. If you really want to do something you’ll make the time for it. So go make time to go train.

Why are Macros Important?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Why are Macros important?

Counting your macros can be one of the most beneficial things you can do and can change your results tremendously.

WHAT ARE MACROS?

Macros or Macro Nutrients, are the categories of what makes up your calorie count. This counts mainly as Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat. If you look at a nutrition label you’ll see that food is broken down by its macronutrients. You’ll mainly find protein in meats, carbohydrates in bread and starchy food, and fats in the oil, meats, nuts, or even some fruits like avocados.

When consumed macronutrients react a bit differently from another to supply your body energy.

WHY ARE MACROS IMPORTANT?

So why are macronutrients important to follow? Well, they play a big factor in your results and how you feel on a daily basis. Getting in the proper amount of protein can lead to better recovery and the amount of muscle gained/maintained. Also getting in the proper amount of carbohydrates and fats will affect overall fullness and energy levels. Let’s go over some examples of how following your macros can help your maximize your goals.

For our example we’ll be using Christopher Nolan’s Bane.

Bane is making it his goal to lose some extra weight. He’s been exercising and has been eating a pretty healthy diet but for some reason is still having a problem losing weight. Bane initially cut carbs from his diet and he was feeling a bit sluggish but the weight was coming off pretty fast. After some time, Bane stopped losing weight and was getting frustrated with his results. Bane then went on a binge and gained a great amount of weight back.

Now this isn’t ever single person’s case, but I see this specific scenario happen way too many times. Most people deprive themselves in one specific category. Once they start to plateau they get frustrated and start to gain the weight right back.

Depriving yourself in one specific category is usually not the best answer. I say usually because depending on certain health issues, something like a low carbohydrate diet may be more beneficial. I’ve done low carb diets plenty of times and it leads to that specific scenario. Just for reference, I’m not saying Low carb diets don’t have its benefits. However, it really depends on your goals and what you’re trying to achieve.

Going back to Bane now.

Bane has decided he’ll be cutting his calories and making sure to calculate his macros accordingly.

For Bane to maintain weight he needs to eat 2100-2300 calories a day. Since Bane wants to lose weight he’ll be cutting his calorie range down to about 1700-1800 calories a day. He’s having 131 grams of protein 130 grams of carbs, and 87 grams of fat per day. Bane follows his diet plan and does his daily exercise. He checks in after a week and notices he’s lost a bit of weight. Not a drastic amount but a healthy and adequate amount. The best part about it? Bane was feeling good the entire week. Bane didn’t feel deprived of foods/nutrients. Banes’s energy levels were good and little to no muscle mass was lost. He continues his diet the way it is and slightly cuts back on calories and his macros any time he may have hit a plateau. What’s also great is that the macronutrients above aren’t too strict. Meaning that the most important factor is the amount of protein he took daily. The number of carbs and fats he was in taking could vary depending on how he felt. This allows more wiggle room to fit in foods that you wouldn’t eat on an ordinary diet.

IF YOU FOLLOW YOUR MACROS, YOU CAN STILL HAVE ALL THE FOODS YOU WANT AND LOVE.

Yes you heard me right. If you’re counting your macros properly you can still eat all the foods you know and love and still see amazing results!

On my latest cut, I had to consume about 1800 calories a day. I was consuming around 130 grams of protein, 173 grams of carbs, and 65 grams of fat.

My diet looked something like this:

  • Morning – Protein Shake and Milk
  • Post Work – Protein Shake and Milk
  • Lunch – Chicken, and rice with broccoli or quesadilla.
  • Snack – Clif Bar or Starbucks Latte
  • Dinner – Burger and Fries or Chipotle Bowl

I had to have some of my favorite foods and I never felt truly deprived that I had to binge eat.

The best part about it, I went from 12% body fat to 8.5% body fat and only went down maybe 1 – 1.5 pounds of lean body mass.

Last time I went on a cut and dropped that much body fat I weighed about 112 pounds. Currently my Lean body mass is at 120 pounds and I weigh about 132 pounds.

You can achieve great and superior results if you follow your macros appropriately. If you’re on a cut, you can manage to decrease the amount of muscle you lose, and still lose weight without feeling like you’re depriving yourself.

If you’re in bulk and trying to gain weight, you can gain an optimal amount of muscle and limit how much fat you’re gaining and better recovery time.

BREAKING DOWN MACROS

Macros are broken down into Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. Each macronutrient acts a bit differently and how it makes you feel and your body responds to it.

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates are mainly sugar and starch. However, Fiber is also a carbohydrate and one of the most important forms of carbohydrates.

Carbs are mainly sugar and are usually the first thing your body breaks down in your body. Did you ever realize that you can have a whole can of soda (which has 150 calories and is made up of all sugar which is 41 grams of carbs) and still not really be satisfied after about an hour? However, if you had 41 grams of the worth of beans, vegetables, or oatmeal you’ll be full for a good amount of time. Fiber (Soluble) actually binds to cholesterol and sugar which slows down carbohydrate digestion. Fiber also helps with stabilizing your blood sugar levels and protect against heart disease. Carbohydrates are broken into 4 calories per gram.

Oh here comes Bane giving us a tip…

PROTEIN

Protein is possibly one of the most important macronutrients. Protein is responsible for building, restoring, and maintaining muscle. It’s also responsible for creating healthy blood cells, enzymes, hormones, and much more. Protein is made up of amino acids. There are 2 categories of amino acids, essential amino acids, and nonessential amino acids. Essential amino acids can’t be made by the human body. You can only get them from food. Non-essential amino acids can be made by the human body. Taking low amounts of protein can lead to muscle loss, weakness, the possibility of getting sick more often. On the other hand, taking too much protein can be broken down into sugar and can lead to weight gain. The recommended amount of protein to make sure you’re not in a deficient is 0.8 grams per kg or 0.36 grams per pound. For someone who works out regularly you want around 1.5-2.0 grams per kg or 0.65-1 gram per pound. Protein is broken into 4 calories per gram.

FAT

Fat has to be one of the most confusing macronutrients. Let’s get this out the way first, fat is not bad. Also fat does not make you fat. Unless you know… you consume way too much of it and you’re going into a calorie surplus. Anyway, there are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. Unhealthy fats are Saturated fats and Trans fat. Healthy fats are monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fats can raise cholesterol or LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) levels. This can lead to heart disease and other health risks. You can find saturated fats in foods that contain dairy or meat. Trans fat is worse than saturated fat in the fact that it raises your LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers your good cholesterol or HDL (High-density lipoprotein). Trans fat is usually found in baked foods, fried foods, and oils. Now onto the good fats! Monounsaturated fats as you can imagine does just the opposite of trans fat and saturated fat. It raises your HDL levels and helps lower your HDL. This lowers risks for heart disease and cholesterol. You can find monounsaturated fats in foods like olive oil, nuts, and avocados. Polyunsaturated fats include omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats can help reduce blood pressure, lower triglycerides, and improve blood vessel functionality, lower LDL, and raise HDL. You can find polyunsaturated fats in foods like flax seeds, salmon, tuna, and tofu.

FINAL THOUGHTS

To summarize everything, counting and keeping track of your macronutrients can lead to better results, higher energy, and a possible healthier lifestyle. Most people deprive themselves of one certain macronutrient category and find worse results and it leads them to frustration like Bane. Counting macros usually eliminates these issues and gives you more freedom in the foods you eat and allows for you to continue on with your goals without feeling deprived or having to binge. Be on the lookout for more articles about subtopics going more in-depth with each macronutrient and more benefits of counting macros.

REFERENCES

Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, Krauss RM. Saturated Fatty Acids and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: Modulation by Replacement Nutrients. Current Atherosclerosis Reports. 2010;12(6):384-390. doi:10.1007/s11883-010-0131-6.

Lattimer JM, Haub MD. Effects of Dietary Fiber and Its Components on Metabolic Health. Nutrients. 2010;2(12):1266-1289. doi:10.3390/nu2121266.

Dashti HM, Mathew TC, Hussein T, et al. Long-term effects of a ketogenic diet in obese patients. Experimental & Clinical Cardiology. 2004;9(3):200-205.

What is BMR?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

WHAT IS BMR?

During the day even without doing any activity, your body is always burning calories. It’s always using energy. The human body is always doing something that requires energy. On a top level, it’s activities like breathing, blinking, and even critical thinking. On a deeper level you have other things going on like your body creating new cells or breaking down nutrients. There’s plenty more that your body does that we don’t usually take into consideration but the in the end, your body is utilizing a great amount of energy per day and there is a specific amount you need just for your body to operate properly and that’s your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

WHY DOES BMR MATTER?

We have a basic understanding of what BMR is. However, why does it matter? Well with our BMR calculated we can now identify a couple of things. We know for one how many calories we need per day for basic functionality. In addition to that, now we can calculate how many calories we need to intake to either lose weight, gain weight, or maintain weight.

As an example, let’s say my BMR was 2000 calories a day and I was living a sedentary lifestyle. I can conclude that if I wanted to gain weight, I would add around 500-700 calories to that number coming up with 2500-2700 a day, since I required 2000 just for my body to function and would be burning those throughout the day. In that range, I would be gaining roughly .5 – 1 pound a week.

Same thing goes for losing weight, I would subtract around 500 calories from that number and be at 1500 calories a day. Depending on your lifestyle and how active you are, things change up quite a bit though. If you want to find out your BMR and how many calories per day are ideal for you, click here to calculate it.

WHAT LIFESTYLE DO I FALL UNDER?

Once your BMR is calculated. You now have a baseline understanding of how many calories you need to function. The example I gave above is for someone who has a sedentary lifestyle though. What happens if you have an active lifestyle? Or you’re an athlete? Well there are different ways of measuring your lifestyle. Usually “lifestyles” are broken up into 5 different groups: sedentary, lightly active, active,highly active, and extremely active. For a better of understanding of where you may fall into one of these categories, let’s break it down a bit.

SEDENTARY

Someone who gets little to no exercise per day. You don’t have an active job that requires a lot of moving or you may even be sitting/bedridden for the most part.

LIGHTLY ACTIVE

You may be exercising 1-3 days a week. You may not be too active but you at least take a couple of walks or jogs. This can also mean that you’re walking a bit everyday and having to commute.

ACTIVE

You’re exercising 3-5 days a week. This may also range in jogging or going for a run couple a times a week. You may have a slightly active job that requires you to do physical work but it may not burn you out.

HIGHLY ACTIVE

You’re exercising 6-7 days a week. This may also range from bike riding, running, jogging almost daily. Your job or daily work is physically active which requires you expend a good amount of energy.

EXTREMELY ACTIVE

You’re exercising 7 days a week or doubling up on workouts per day. This may range that you do multiple runs or bike rides a day. Your job is extremely active and you’re expending a great amount of energy per day.

What is the Wilks Formula?

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Wilks Formula

A Wilks formula allows a person to measure their strength. A wilks score is typically used amongst powerlifters to measure their strength against one another. The formula was created by Robert Wilks. What makes the Wilks formula so great is that even though (especially in powerlifting) you may be in different weight classes from someone else, you’re able to compare your strength. It’s also a great tool of measuring where you’re at in terms of strength in ratio to your body weight.

Examples of strength

There is usually a misconception that solely, whoever can lift the most weight is stronger. That seems like the most logical scenario but what’s often not taken into the equation is the person’s weight. Let’s say we have 2 males named Jerry and George. Jerry and George can both squat 350 lbs, bench 235 lbs, and deadlift 400lbs. However Jerry weighs 140 lbs and George weighs 190lbs. Jerry is significantly stronger than George. If you use the Wilks calculator you can see that Jerry has a Wilks score of 362.37 whereas George has a Wilks score of 291.87.

Gender plays a huge role in it as well. Sticking with the same numbers, but changing to it a female, you’ll see that a woman who at 140 lbs lifting the same amount has a Wilks score of 476.96, and a woman at 190 lbs has a Wilks score of 393.51. These 2 women would both be stronger than Jerry and George.

What is a one rep max

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

What is One Rep Max and How it Works

A One Rep Max, (also known as 1RM) is the potential maximum weight you can lift for at least one repetition. Plenty of workout programs base exercise weight based upon your one-rep max. For example, a program can say something like “Do Squats 3 sets of 5 reps (3 x 5) at 85% of your one-rep max”. You would take your one-rep max and multiply it by 0.85 and you’ll be given the amount of weight you should be lifting.

Using the One Rep Max Calculator

To take the example above a bit further, if I went to the one rep max calculator I can enter the amount of weight I lifted and the number of repetitions. So if I know I can squat 225 lbs for 5 reps, I can put that in that calculator to get an estimated one rep max of 253 lbs. I’m also given all the percentages of my one rep max from 95% to 50%. From the example, we said that the program would call for 3 x 5 at 85% of the one-rep max. From the calculations given, that would be 215 lbs. If I had already known my one rep max was 253 lbs, I can just multiply 253 * 0.85 and I would be given 215 lbs as well. This tool is also great because you don’t have to actually lift your one-rep max to find out what it is. You can get an accurate gauge by just entering the number of repetitions you can do at X amount of weight.

Changing Your Mindset On Food

Posted on by Bashir Murtaza

Changing your mentality of food.

Maintaining a diet is the key to seeing great results in your fitness journey. Whether you’re losing weight, gaining muscle, or even maintaining weight/muscle mass, your diet is the number one factor in seeing the proper results.

There is one common struggle people face along their journey, and that is maintaining a diet. Someone may be at a calorie deficit and be hungry and when they see something sweet and tell themselves “I need to have that”, they’ll have it. They get their instant gratification and then usually end up feeling guilty and just binging afterward. I used to suffer from looking at food as luxury and always cravings for things like donuts, soda, even candy. For me, a mentality shift is what helped me get over this and see food in a whole in a new light.

The Calorie

Calories make up all food. To put your diet into a very short and simplistic matter, your weight will fluctuate based on your calorie input and output. Consume excess calories, and you will gain weight. You consume an insufficient amount of calories, and you will lose weight. It’s as simple as that. However, what is a calorie? A calorie by definition is a unit of energy. Knowing this, food is made up of calories that give you energy. Food = energy. When you take in excess calories/energy, you gain fat. Your body is practically storing energy at this point. This is a natural survival feature your body will do. In the case of you starving, your body starts to eat away at the fat/excess energy and use it up to give you the energy to survive. However too much-stored energy is not a good thing for the human body and can cause complications for you… Which is the opposite of survival and will inevitably lead to possible fatal consequences.

Food is Fuel. Food is for survival.

Food is fuel for your body and helps you live day by day and gives you energy for daily activities. Food is now viewed as a luxury item we have in our life.We have all these crazy combinations of meals like a cheeseburger on a donut. Granted, having food as a luxury is nice. It tastes amazing and it’s nice to know we don’t have to go out hunting for our meals anymore (unless you’re into that). However, since food is a luxury, what’s the point in over-consuming? Have you ever noticed dogs seem to be an endless pit sometimes? They can just keep on eating and it seems like they can’t stop. The reason being is because dogs are practically scavengers. They follow a feast or famine diet. Dogs know they can go many days without food and when food is accessible they’ll get the most out of it since they don’t know when their last meal will be. The thing is dogs don’t know when their last meal will be, but humans have the luxury of picking and eating specific meals at any time, yet still eat as much as possible even when knowing they have easy accessibility to food when needed. If you have the luxury to eat whenever you want and whatever you want, why not use that luxury to optimize your performance and optimize your chances of survival? A great majority of Americans nowadays eat themselves to death… The complete opposite of what food is meant to do for you. Use food as a tool for survival. A tool to make you physically feel better and stronger. Don’t use it for the instant gratification that the food gives you because of taste.

In the end, all food comes out the same way.

Breaking the habits.

I know changing a mindset of food is difficult. It may take some time to adopt a new view on food as a whole. Personally for me, going on a specific diet helped a lot.Right now, I follow an “If it fits your macros” (IIFYM) diet style, but I developed the mindset of food being fuel when I was on a Paleo Diet (or the caveman diet). Having only strict meals and skipping out on certain foods was difficult, but it made me realize that food was mainly for fuel. I couldn’t have all the sweets and crazy exotic foods I always wanted and craved, but I got over it. The taste of the food didn’t matter as much and was not what I truly valued. I only valued how the food made me feel in terms of energy levels. Later I discovered the IIFYM diet but still kept the same mindset as when I was on a Paleo diet. Food is for fuel. I don’t indulge in food anymore just because it tastes good. However, it is great to have plenty of food of my choosing and not have any true restrictions, the key is to have self-control. Understand what is needed and not needed and what is excessive. If you’re having a problem changing your mindset, I would recommend going on a specific diet like Paleo or even Keto. Even though I don’t follow those diets, it helped me build a better mindset regarding food and gain self-control of my diet.

Final Thoughts

If you’re going to take more control of what you’re intaking you must start tracking your food. Go one day tracking all the food you normally eat day to day and just see how it adds up. A good amount of restaurants offer nutrition facts on their websites, or if you’re cooking food almost all food you buy will have nutrition facts on it. Track it and see where you fall in terms of your diet. Use the calorie calculator here to see how it compares to the food you’re eating on a daily basis. Even consider tracking your energy levels throughout the day. See how the food you consume affects your day to day life. See what gives you energy, which makes you full and satisfied, what makes you tired/lazy. You’ll be amazed at the conclusions you’ll end up with. Take control of your diet, and you’ll take control of your life.