How To Become Healthy, Athletic and Attractive

In this article I will talk about how a healthy, athletic and attractive body creates and what it needs. What are the systems, what stands they for and inner part of the body. After you read the article, you will have general knowledge about how to grow muscles, what needs to grow muscles and what are muscle groups.

We will discuss nutrition tips to become healthy and to reach your goals. You will learn how to calculate your calorie, macro requirement for your purpose by your own.

You will learn what are the affects of warm-up, cool-down stretching and how to perform them in optimum way.

You will have knowledge about what cardio actually is, what is the purpose of it. How you should perform cardio, how much you should do cardio?

---

Content

A. Nutrition

1. Calorie requirement and calculation

2. Macro requirement and calculation

3. Weight gain, loss and maintain

B. Workout

1. Warm up

2. Cool-down, stretching

C. Proper Sleep

D. Systems

1. The musculoskeletal system

2. Neural system

3. The respiratory system

4. Digestive system

E. Skeleton Muscles

1. How muscles growth?

2. Recovery duration and systems

2. Progressive overload

3. Muscle groups

F. What Cardio Actually Is?

1. How it should be?

2. People who should prefer Liss cardio

3. When should cardio be done?

4. How much time should it take?

---

Nutrition

The body needs macros (carbohydrate, protein, fat), several vitamins and minerals. In order to develop and work properly, you have to supply them to your body. On the other hand, there are good and bad bacteria’s in our body that take shape due to what we eat. Resent researches show that the bacteria type in brain are exact same with gut bacteria’s. We can clearly say that nutrition not effects only our body functions also effects the brain functions.

The foods we eat directly affect the functioning of the body and brain.

Prepared and processed foods have low nutritional value. It increases the number of bad bacteria in the body, negatively affects the functioning of hormones. Therefore, it is important to consume foods with high nutritional value.

Regardless of the purpose, getting enough of each nutritional value (carbohydrate, protein, fat, fiber…) is necessary for the body to function properly. Keeping any of these nutritional values ​​more or less than necessary for a long time will tire the body and cause the body to not work properly.

3.7 liters of water for men and 2.7 liters for women should be consumed daily to remove toxins from the body and help the digestive to circulatory systems work. These values ​​vary according to living conditions and conditions. A certain level of salt can be consumed to increase the body's water retention. Salt consumption is very important, especially for people who live or work in very hot conditions. Salt water drunk in the morning on an empty stomach helps to clean the intestines and work properly.

It is important to consume 25-35g of fiber daily to support digestion.

Restricting sugar consumption benefits the person from skin health to brain functions. The structure of sugar is the same as the structure of hormones. It attaches to the receptors before the hormones, preventing the hormones from working properly.

Oils rich in omega3, which are liquid at room temperature, are of great importance for skin health from hormone health. The omega3 and omega6 balance of the body is important for cardiovascular diseases. Today's nutritional conditions include a diet rich in omega6 and poor in omega3. To prevent this, we should consume foods rich in omega3 such as fish, olive oil and walnuts.

Due to ready and fast consumption, the number of chewing and the resistance they encounter while chewing have decreased. This not only caused the deterioration of the jaw and tooth structure, but also negatively affected brain development.

• Carbohydrates are important for energy, performance and mood.

• Protein is essential for muscle repair and development.

• Fats are essential for the functioning of hormones.

Calorie Requirement and Calculation

Mifflin-St Jeor Equation:

For men: BMR = 10W + 6.25H - 5A + 5

For women: BMR = 10W + 6.25H - 5A – 161

Revised Harris-Benedict Equation:

For men: BMR = 13.397W + 4.799H - 5.677A + 88.362

For women: BMR = 9.247W + 3.098H - 4.330A + 447.593

Katch-McArdle Formula:

BMR = 370 + 21.6(1 - F)W

Where:

• W is body weight in kg

• H is body height in cm

• A is age

• F is body fat in percentage

To measure Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) multiply your BMR with;

• Sedentary (little to no exercise + work a desk job) = 1.2

• Lightly Active (light exercise 1-3 days / week) = 1.375

• Moderately Active (moderate exercise 3-5 days / week) = 1.55

• Very Active (heavy exercise 6-7 days / week) = 1.725

• Extremely Active (strenuous training 2x / day) = 1.9

Macro Calculation

Fat= kg*0.66 – kg*1.1 (gram)

Protein= kg*1.5 – kg*2.2 (gram)

Carb= [the calorie requirement minus (fat*9 + protein*4) ]/4

Weight Gain, Lose and Maintain

• If you take in more calories than you need, you will gain weight.

• If you take in less calories than you need or burn more calories than you take, you will lose weight.

• If you take in as many calories as you need or spend, you will maintain your current weight.

Muscle mass increases the basal metabolic rate. As muscle mass increases, the amount of daily calories needed increases.

The order of energy in the body is carbohydrate, fat and protein. When there are not enough carbohydrates, the body begins to break down fat.

Brown fat cells in the body have more iron and mitochondria. It supports fat burning and creates a healthy, diabetes-free body. Cold weather conditions and exercise increase the number of these cells.

Muscle glycogen stores are always self-renewing. Stores depleted in a workout use ready-made nutrients in the body to replenish. If any, that is, if a carbohydrate-heavy meal is consumed before the training, the available glucose is re-stored. If there are no carbohydrates available, the fats that the body stores in the tissues are converted into glucose in the liver and sent to the muscle cells.

The opposite of this process is also valid. High carbohydrates, namely glucose, are converted into fatty acids in the liver and stored in the body.

Consume protein-rich meals after training to keep muscle growth and weight gain optimum.

During the weight gain phase, distribute your calories to more meals to keep the body away from catabolism and force continuous production.

Eating high-carbohydrate meals for 3-4 days before performance ensures that the energy stores of the muscle tissues are sufficiently full and the performance is higher.

Workout

Human body were built to move. We have to move constantly to be healthy. Muscle mass and regular movement highly prevent diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases even they are high genetic factor diseases. To prevent muscle atrophy and live a comfortable life we have to workout and increase the muscle mass.

For a quality workout, the body must have reached a certain body temperature. Warming up provides that heat for the body by increasing blood flow to the muscles, prepares joints and ligaments and helps create the mind-body connection.

Cool down and stretching helps relax contracted muscles while restoring an accelerated heart rhythm to normal. By helping to remove the lactic acid created by stress in the muscles, it allows us to perform better in the next training.

Warm-Up and Importance

Movements that prepare the body for the workout:

• Short duration run.

• Low intensity movements that targets joints.

• Increase blood flow and body temperature.

• More blood and nutrients are transported to muscles and joints.

• The flexibility and durability of the body increases.

• Pulse and breath are prepared for the workout.

Optimum Warm-Up Routine

Cool-Down Stretching and Importance

Stretching movements that are done after the workout:

Separated in to active and passive:

i. Stretches performed with outside help and with fixed stops at the endpoints are called passive stretches.

ii. If the person makes an effort to stretch or uses active movements rather than holds, these are active stretches.

• Increases recovery and excretion of lactic acid.

• Increases muscle growth by causing micro tears.

• Helps regulate hearth rate.

• Decreases muscle soreness.

Passive stretching before resistance training;

• Decreases efficiency of workout by increasing range of motion.

• Decreases micro tears.

That is why you should do active stretching before your weightlifting training.

Optimum Cool-Down Stretching Routine

Proper Sleep

The body has its own clock called circadian system. Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. The circadian system regulates metabolic processes in the human body, such as when hormones are released. What controls this system is the pineal gland in the brain, which is sensitive only to light.

Irregular sleep and therefore irregular light coming into the eye disrupts the functioning of this gland and the whole system. This causes serious hormonal, physical and mental disorders in the body.

The body is a holistic working organism. Everything is interconnected and affects each other. The slightest bad habit replaced with a good one will create a big change from physical health to mental health.

Systems

The musculoskeletal system: It provides shape, support, balance and movement to the body.

Neural system: It is a system that allows living things to perceive their internal and external environment, obtains and processes information, provides the transmission of signals to different parts of the body thanks to the network of cells, and regulates the activities of organs and muscles.

The respiratory system: The respiratory system is the system that replaces carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in the blood with oxygen gas (O2).

Digestive system: It is the system that deals with the intake and digestion of food, the absorption of necessary nutrients and energy, and the removal of waste materials from the body.

These systems guide and develop an athlete. Understanding their role and impact is the first step of learning.

Skeleton Muscles

They are tissues that can consciously contract and relax in the body and stretch and straighten. They are attached to bones by tendons. They are striated muscles. Muscle types vary according to the direction of the muscle lines. They give the body the ability to move.

It has a cable-like structure consisting of many nucleus and many myofibrils.

The smallest contractile unit found inside each muscle cell is called a sarcomere. Each sarcomere contains thick myosin and thin actin protein filaments. Contraction occurs when the actin filament slides over myosin.

There are different types of muscles that respond to different stimuli. (slow twitch, fast twitch)

ATP, phosphate and calcium ions in the creatine phosphate molecule are required for contraction to occur.

How Do Muscles Grow?

Muscle growth is called muscle hypotrophy. The body under stress sends a signal to the brain against the external stimulus (against stress) via the nervous system. The brain then processes the signal and, in response, orders the muscles in the appropriate area to contract. The greater the stress encountered, the more intense the contraction response of the muscle will be. Micro tears occur in muscle tissue as a result of stress. The body carries the protein building blocks absorbed from the digestive system to the damaged tissues and begins to repair. The body, which is under more stress than it can handle, creates a larger structure while renewing the muscle tissue to adapt to the environmental conditions. While micro-tears in muscle tissue occur in the gym, tissue regeneration usually takes place during sleep at night, under appropriate hormone and nutritional conditions. So when we are going to pass our next training to give enough time to our muscles to recovery.

Does Your Body Ready To Next Training?

Recovery depends on 3 systems:

1. Nervous system

2. The musculoskeletal system

3. Respiratory system

All three systems should be ready for the next workout.

How do we test and find out?

Nervous system

The nervous system is best determined by grip strength. By measuring, you can compare your grip strength and understand whether your nervous system is ready or not.

The musculoskeletal system

The muscle group should rest for 48 hours until the next training day. For some regions, this time may be reduced. (forearm, biceps, triceps, calf). These regions are muscle groups that recover faster.

Genetic factors can shorten or lengthen this period.

Training intensity also affects the recovery time of the muscle. Someone who does light-intensity training can work the same muscle group the next day when appropriate.

Just because one muscle group is sore, doesn't mean you can't work other groups. You can train independent muscle groups on the next training day.

Respiratory system

To understand that your diaphragm, respiratory system, is ready for the next workout, you should measure your CO2 resistance.

After getting up in the morning;

• 4 times inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth

• Take the 5th deep breath from the diaphragm

• Start the timer

• Exhale as slowly as possible through the mouth

• Stop the timer where you run out of breath

Out time:

• 25-30 seconds; you didn't rest

• 30-60 seconds; you are in the green zone

• 65-120 seconds; you are completely recovered

The number of nerve endings in the muscle tissue increases during stress, and it creates greater mind-muscle communication called mind-body connection. This, in turn, affects the intensity and strength of contractions. The more nerve endings active, the greater the muscle growth. Therefore, the nervous system is a very important factor in muscle development.

The number of muscle cells is constant at birth. Instead of cell number increase the volume of the sarcoplasm in it or the number of myofibrils in its structure increases and the muscle undergoes hypotrophy.

Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is the name given to gradually increasing training parameters such as the weight used, the frequency of work, and the number of repetitions or sets. Over time, the body reacts to increasing stress by adapting and improving itself. This leads to an increase in strength and volume in the muscles.

What Are Muscle Groups?

The body has big and small lots of muscle and muscle group. Some of them carry the main load, others balance them. Then, what are the muscle groups we should focus?

Muscle groups are also separated due to their line directions.

• Shoulder(deltoids) (front, lateral, rear)

• Back (Trapeze, upper back, lower back)

• Chest (upper, middle, lower)

• Biceps (short head, long head)

• Triceps (inner, outer, middle)

• Abs (oblique, upper, lower)

• Quadriceps (outer, inner, middle)

• Hamstrings

• Calf (outer, inner, tibialis)

• Forearm

Those muscle groups are basis and the one who wants to build muscle should focus on them.

What Cardio Actually Is?

Cardio exercises are types of exercises performed to increase calorie expenditure and improve aerobic capacity by working large muscles for a certain time and order.

It helps to keep the heart rate and blood pressure low in daily life.

Those who want to increase their endurance, fat burning, efficiency of the heart, lungs and cardiovascular system should do cardio.

The fat burning of cardio is based on the principle of using the excess fat stored in the body for energy by consuming the glycogen stores in the muscles as a result of high effort.

How it should be (hiit, liss)

Hiit cardio: doing low and high tempo exercises in a certain order, for a certain period of time. It is based on short bursts of heart rate and repeated sets.

Liss cardio: It is low and medium tempo exercises performed in monotonous order at a higher heart rate than the resting state but lower than the maximum effort.

Hiit cardio in the form of a set created from different movements, also support muscle development. Thanks to the selected movements, it is possible to work out areas such as abdomen, shoulders, legs, and arms during cardio.

Who should prefer Liss cardio;

• Hypertension patients

• Those have hearth diseases

• Patients who have undergone surgery and have stitches on their body

• Briefly, people who should not create high pressure in their body

• Those with joint and tendon pain

When should cardio be done?

Since cardio increases catabolism, it should be done on a separate day from resistance training focused on muscle development.

For people with very high fat percentage, liss cardio can be done after resistance training.

How much time should cardio take?

This time varies depending on the exercises you do and the energy you spend. While the cardio time of someone doing hiit cardio takes 30 minutes, for someone doing liss cardio, this time can be 60 minutes or more. As the difficulty and tempo of the movements decrease, the duration increases.