50 simple tips to build a better body

7/28/2019 50 Simple Tips to Build a Better Body

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/50-simple-tips-to-build-a-better-body 1/27

Srdjan Popovic

Bloom to Fit

Simple Tips to

Build a Better Body 50



50 Simple Tips to Build a Better Body

Bloom to Fit www.bloomtofit.com Srdjan Popovic

1

Yours to ShareFrom me to you: this eBook is written for absolutely everyone.

It’s meant to be read, shared, glanced at, re-read, stored, and,

in some cases, even drooled over (maybe?).

I truly believe that there is something in here for everyone. I’m

confident that you’ll find at least a few of the tips useful and

relevant. Simple things you can implement to help take you a

little bit closer to your ultimate goal of building a better body.

So I ask of you only one thing: if you find even one tip in this

eBook useful, please share it with the world. I would do you

the honours of loving you forever!

Click on one of the following to share:

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Thank you!

Disclaimer

Please be aware that this eBook is

for informational and

entertainment purposes only.

It is NOT meant to be medical or

fitness advice and is not meant to

replace a personal trainer, doctor or

nutritionist.

None of the information in this

eBook is intended to constitute

specific medical, physical or training

advice. Please see your physician

before changing your diet, starting

an exercise program, or taking any

supplements of any kind.

Thank you!

http://www.bloomtofit.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.facebook.com/bloomtofit/app_190322544333196

http://clicktotweet.com/KajIe









2

WELCOME

Welcome!

First thing’s first: I want to say thank you for downloading this eBook. It

means a lot to me to have you part of my little tribe that’s dedicated tothe amazing journey of building a better body.

It’s true: we all want a better body . A better body is one that not only

looks better, but feels better too. A better body stands taller, moves more

efficiently, exhibits balance & coordination. A better body is a healthierbody that allows us to pursue long and exciting lives.

There are many factors that come into play when it comes to building abetter body: nutrition, functional strength, mental capacity, flexibility,

soft tissue health, and good sleep are just a few of them. They all have to

be in place, intricately combined to make your body better.

My goal with this eBook is to cover a little bit of each area. Although they

may not all apply to you directly, I’m positive that you’ll find at least afew tips that will help take your health and fitness to the next level.

I hope you enjoy reading this eBook as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you!

To your better body,

Srdjan Popovic

Bloom to Fit







3

Re-build your

foundation first.

Before you begin any sort

of training program, it is

of vital importance that you re-set

any muscular imbalances that

plague your body.

We live in a toxic environment, one

that forces our body to get away

from its primal design. Prolonged

sitting, inefficient training methods,

and poor postural habits are

creating biomechanical imbalances

and inefficiencies throughout the

body that, if left untreated, can lead

to some serious injuries.

Re-establish your foundation first

by focusing on three areas: 1) self-myofascial release (SMR) to break

through tension-filled tissues and

improve the health and elasticity of

the fascia that surrounds your

muscles; 2) regular static stretching

to re-lengthen tight muscles; 3)

specific corrective exercises to offset

any imbalances you may have. For

instance, many people have tight

chest muscles from lots of pressing

movements and hunched over

sitting. Using a SMR tool of yourchoice to break

through tight soft

tissues in the chest

and regularly

stretching the

pectoral muscles

would be your first step to correction.

Adding specific back

strengthening

exercises would be

the last step in

correcting this

specific imbalance.

Don’t

force good posture.

Don’t try to force yourself

to sit up straight. This is

counterproductive as it over-

fatigues your muscles. Instead,

work on strengthening the muscles

in your back and around your

shoulder blades. Exercises such as

pull-ups and bent-over rows work

great.

Here’s a something to remember:

you spend majority of the time

moving, reaching, and slouching

forwards. To improve muscular

balance in the upper body, perform

back strengthening exercises 3-5

1.

2.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/myofascial-release-for-a-better-body




http://www.bloomtofit.com/20-static-stretches-for-a-better-body



http://www.bloomtofit.com/best-tools-for-soft-tissue-work














4

Are you thirsty or hungry? Did you know

that it is common for people to confuse hunger with

thirst? A study done back in 2008 found that

drinking 16 ounces of water 30 minutes before a

meal helped participants eat about 13 percent less.

So if you’re constantly hungry, try sipping on some

water before a meal and see if the hunger cravingsgo away. If not, at least you’ll end up eating less.

times more frequently than you

would chest exercises.

Improve your sitting

posture. Did you knowthat, on average, we

spend more time sitting

down than we do sleeping? In fact,

we spend 9.3 hours a day with our

butts glued to the chair. Somehow, I

don’t believe our bodies were

designed for this.

Researchers have found that sitting

for more than 6 hours a day makes

you 40% likelier to die within 15

years than someone who sits less

than 3 hours.

When you sit for long periods at a

time, your hamstrings and glutesshut off. This causes them to get

tight and weak. Your glutes and

hamstrings are big muscles

designed to carry the load for many

activities. But when these muscles

get weak and can’t do their job, the

muscles in the lower back try to

step in to take some of the

load. They

overcompensate. And

this is exactly why

lower back pain is the

number one reason

people visit the doctor.

So what to do? Get off

your butt as often as

you can. Stand and

stretch. Walk around. Do some

bodyweight squats in the bathroom.

Find ways to get the muscles in

your posterior chain firing

throughout the day.

While you do sit, here’s what you

can do to improve your sittingposture: sit on the edge of your

chair. This is considered a more

‘active’ sitting position where the

body is required to stabilize itself

more. This deactivates fewer

muscles in the posterior chain and

keeps your core engaged while

seated.

Listen to your body.

Your body is a very

powerful machine, one

that is constantly sending

its user feedback on its status and

performance. It’s important to

listen to your body because it can

tell you what’s wrong.

It will tell you how it’s responding

to the foods you are eating or the

different forms of stress (training)

you’re doing. It will tell you when

3.

4.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-i-got-caught-red-handed-doing-squats-in-the-bathroom








5

it’s ready to work and when it

needs rest. It will tell you when to

feed it and when to hydrate it . It

will tell you if it’s in pain. It will give

you clues via your poop, your bodytemperature, or even your skin

colour.

Your body is constantly sending you

messages. You just need to pay

attention to them.

Fall in love with thefoam roller. The foam

roller is one of the most

effective tools for

improving the health and quality of

your soft tissues. This incredible

little self-myofascial release

tool is available at most gyms but is rarely

utilized by anyone.

Your soft

tissues -

muscles,

fascia

surrounding muscles, tendons and

ligaments – are constantly in use.

Inefficient training, poor postural

habits, and biomechanical

imbalances create painful triggerpoints throughout the body.

A foam roller works by effectively

breaking down trigger points and

releasing built up muscle tension.

The best part is that it’s cheap and

portable. Check out this complete

guide on foam rolling.

Learn to bridge.

Spinal flexibility is rarely

a topic of concern or

interest. But what if I told

you that increasing the flexibility of

your spine can help get rid of all

your back problems?

The spinal bridge, which you’ve

probably seen done a million times

by gymnasts (or random peeps at

the gym) can help lengthen your

spine and create more space

between your intervertebral discs.

It relieves back pain and even has

the potential to add up to one inch

to your height! Bonus!!

My buddy Greg from Kinobody put

together a great video guide to

teach you how to work your way

from the easiest to the most

complex variation of the bridge.

Stretch your back

immediately after aworkout. During any

form of intense exercise, the joints

in your spine move rapidly in many

directions. The soft tissues

surrounding the joints get stretched

and the fluid gel inside the spinal

discs is also loosened.

Here’s what renowned physical

therapist Robin McKenzie said:

“After activity, the joints of the spine

undergo a loosening process. If, after

exercise, we place the back in an

5. 6. 7.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-much-water-should-i-drink-a-day



http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-to-analyze-your-stool-for-a-healthier-digestive-system



http://www.bloomtofit.com/foam-rolling-exercises-for-a-better-body-your-foam-roller-guide




http://www.kinobody.com/1066/stand-to-stand-bridge-tutorial/













6

unsupported position for long

periods, distortion with the joint

readily occurs. This is true whether

we sit in a slouched position or

whether we stand, bending forward with our hands on our knees.”

So although it might seem appealing

to crash on the couch after a hard

workout, slouching after intense

movement can lead to joint

distortion.

To minimize back problems,

perform back stretching exercises

immediately after your workout.

The cobra stretch and the spinal

decompression exercise are my two

favourites.

Stop the crunching.For some reason, the

world is in love with

crunches. No matter what gym you

go to, somebody somewhere is

doing crunches. Guaranteed.

But Dr. Stuart McGill from

University of Waterloo brings up a

very good question: “What happens

when you perform a sit-up? ”

The answer reveals everything:

“The spine is flexed into a position at

which it damages sooner .”

Dr. McGill’s research has come to

find that a crunch generates at least

3,350 Newtons of compressive

force on the spine. But anythingabove 3,300 is unsafe. So every time

you do a crunch, you put an unsafe

amount of stress on your spine and

increase your

chances of lower

back injury.

Instead of crunches,try one of these core

strengthening

exercises: planks,

hanging leg raises,

or renegade rows.

Even better,

performing compound movements

that already utilize the core (i.e.

sprinting, kettlebells) means you’ll

never have to ‘work your abs’ again.

Strengthen your feet,

go minimal. 26 bones,

20 muscles, 33 joints and

hundreds of tendons, ligaments and

sensory receptors. These are your

feet.

Unfortunately, millions of years of biomechanical evolution have been

impacted by a simple, yet somewhat

carelessly thought-out invention –

8.

9.





http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-to-stretch-your-back-with-this-spinal-decompression-exercise




http://www.bloomtofit.com/the-plank-exercise-most-effective-core-exercise












7

Try cooking with coconut oil. This is a

great way to add healthy fats to your diet. Coconut

oil is a great source of medium chain triglycerides

which are more quickly (and likely) transported to

your muscles for energy (instead of being stored as

fat). Plus it tastes amazing!

the (running) shoe.

The shoe and its excess padding

take the foot out of its natural

environment. It takes away the

foot’s natural ability to sense what’s

happening.

The fix? Go barefoot. Or try the

Vibrams. They will strengthen the

muscles in your feet, improve

mobility of ankles, eliminate heel

lift, improve your overall balanceand stabilization and allow your

foot and body to move naturally.

They will bring you back to your

roots and bring your closer to the

environment.

Soak in the

explosiveness.

We’re all well

aware of the

benefits of regular sun exposure. It

helps boost Vitamin D levels and

your energy and mood levels. But a

recent study has found that 15

minutes of daily sun exposure can

boost your vitamin D3 levels, a

vitamin that has been

linked to increasing

your body’s fast twitch (type 2)

muscle fibers. These

are the muscle fibers

that you use in

explosive movements

such as sprints and

kettlebell exercises. Just anotherreason to get yourself to the beach!

Stretch more,

stretch often.

Stretching is a vital

component of a

well-balanced training routine.

Make sure you use a dynamicstretching routine before your

workout to prep your joints for

action and static stretches after

your workout to lengthen and

restore your muscles.

Static stretches should be

performed regularly, especially if

you’re working in sedentary offices

or you’re aging. If you’re in your

40s, you should be holding your

stretches twice as long. As you age,

your muscles become less pliable

and need to be stretched for longer

periods for best results.

You should also spend twice as

much time stretching your tight

muscles as your flexible ones. Find

your problem areas. If you sit in a

chair for long periods at a time, for

example, you’ll want to stretch your

hamstrings more often than your

quads. The lower back and

10.

11.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/vibram-fivefingers-a-revolution-in-footwear




http://www.bloomtofit.com/5-killer-dynamic-stretching-exercises

















8

shoulders are also problem areas

for many people.

Sleep less. We

all love sleep, but most of us have no

clue what’s

happening when the lights go off.

Overnight, your sleep follows a

predictable pattern, shifting

between deep sleep and REM sleep

(periods of dreaming).

Together, the

stages of REM and

non-REM sleep

form a complete

sleep cycle that

lasts about 90

minutes and

repeats about four

to six times over the course of a

night.

So here’s a tip to make getting out

of bed a little easier: set your wake-

up time to be a multiple of 90

minutes from the moment you go to

bed (keeping in mind that it takes a

person an average of 14 minutes to

fall asleep). What this does is it ensures that you don’t wake up in

the middle of deep sleep (which is

what makes mornings so tough). So

instead of sleeping the often-

recommended 8 hours, try setting

your alarm so you only sleep 7.5

hours. It sounds crazy but it works.

Stick to multiples of 90 minutes.

Sleeping plays an important role for

growth and recovery. To build a

better body you need your beauty

sleep.

Note: technology is making this a lot

easier these days. If you have a

smartphone, check out the free

Sleep Time app. Jawbone also offers

a neat little bracelet called UP that uses vibrations to wake you up at

the perfect moment.

Be watched.

Back in 1955, The

Hawthorne plant

of the Western

Electric Company in Illinios found

out something very interesting:

increasing lighting in the plant made

workers more productive.

But then someone pointed out a

confusing detail: productivity also

improved when they dimmed the

lighting. In fact, it appeared as if

making any change at all seemed to

result in increased productivity .

Here’s what happened: no matter

what the change was, workers

suspected they were being observed

12.13.


http://www.azumio.com/apps/sleep-time/


https://jawbone.com/up










9

and so they worked harder . This is

known as the "observer effect".

How can you take advantage of this

effect? Set up a support system. If

you have someone you trust always

‘watching you’ (keeping you

accountable), you will be more

inclined to work harder to achieve

your goals.

Re-build your

fascia system. Many of us have

done some serious damage to our

fascia system over the years.

Think of fascia as a spider’s web –

deeply intertwined and covering

every area of your body. It is a

seamless unit of tough connective

tissue that is very densely woven,

covering and connecting every

muscle, bone, blood vessel, nerve,

internal organ, and even the deep

layers surrounding the brain and

spinal cord right down to the

cellular level. Fascia is typically very

strong and, when healthy, is very

neat and organized, making it

incredibly flexible.

But, due to the toxic environment

we’ve created, we’re regularly

damaging our fascia with poor

postural habits, sedentary lifestyles,

and biomechanical imbalances and

inefficiencies. If we are to prevent

pain and potential injuries, we need

to do whatever we can to re-build

our fascia system.

Self-myofascial

release (SMR)

is one of the

best methods

of restoring the

health of your

fascia system.

By using a

variety of SMR

tools, you can

apply gradual

or

concentrated pressure on the

painful areas of your body to

release the tension stored inside

them.

Tools such as foam rollers, lacrosse

balls, hard medicine balls, tiger

tails, and Thera canes are very

useful in restoring your fascia. Use

them wisely.

Stretch for

strength. We allknow that a good

warm up and

dynamic stretching routine before a

workout is vital for preparing

muscles and joints for loading. We

also know that that statically

stretching muscles after a workout lengthens them to improve

flexibility.

But what about stretching during a

workout?

14. 15.

















10

Got Soup? Eat soup before your meal. This

is a simple trick to keep your main portions

smaller. Researchers at Penn State University

found that when subjects ate vegetable and

broth-based soups before a meal, they ate

about 20 percent less overall. If you’re smart,

you can pack your soups with nutrient-dense

vegetables to get all your servings.

Researchers in Boston have found

that stretching the muscle that you

just worked on for 20 to 30 seconds

between sets can actually increase

your strength by nearly 20 percent.

This can also help improve

flexibility over the long haul

which can minimize potential for

injuries. You’re resting anyway,

so you might as well stretch those

muscles.

Lose the

mirror. We are

all accustomed to

looking at the

mirror in the gym. We use them for

feedback (or checking ourselves

out). But in his book StartingStrength Basic Barbell Training (2nd

Edition), Mark Rippetoe asks an

interesting question: what kind of

feedback are we really getting from

the mirror?

The problem is that mirrors give us

invalid feedback. For any multi-joint

exercise that you’re doing, using a

mirror will (most often) only give

you information about one plane

(usually the frontal one because

you’re looking at it straight on). For

many exercises, this isn’t sufficient

feedback and can actually do morebad than good.

Think about a squat. Most squatting

stations have a mirror set up in

front of you, yet the most important

part of the squat technique needs to

be analyzed from the side (for

proper depth and spinal alignment).

This is stuff a mirror can’t tell you.

Start getting away from the mirror.

Learn to feel the exercise, not just

see it. You will begin to develop a

kinaesthetic sense of

movement as you pay

attention to all the sensory

inputs provided. Eventually,

just the feel of the exercise

will tell you if you’re doing it

right.

Note: I recommend getting

help from an educated trainer as

you begin to transition from visual

to kinaesthetic. The trainer should

inform you if you are doing the

exercise correctly so you learn what

the correct feeling is.

Don’t isolate.

Your body is not

designed to work

in isolation. It’s

designed to function as a single

16.

17.







11

Struggling to get your healthy fats? If

you struggle to get enough eggs, fish or organicmeat into your diet, an Omega-3 supplement

would be very beneficial. Fish oil and krill oil

capsules or liquids are your best bet for getting

your daily Omega-3 requirements.

system – and it needs to be trained

in that way as well.

Although a great starting point for

ultimate beginners, machines forcethe body to move the weight in a

way that complies with the design of

the machine. What this does is

create biomechanical inefficiencies.

Switching to barbell, dumbbell or

kettlebell training, however, allows

weight to be moved in the way thebody is designed to move it because

every aspect of the movement is

determined by the body.

Here’s a great example outlined in

Mark Rippetoe’s book Starting

Strength: There is absolutely no

way for a human to utilize the

quadriceps muscle in isolation from

the hamstrings in any

movement. There is no

natural movement that you can do to achieve this.

So why would you train

your quadriceps in

isolation? If you run, walk,

ski, or play any sport, the

quadriceps and hamstrings

function together to balance forceson either side of the knee. So since

they always work as a unit, they

should be trained as a unit.

So as your training experience

progresses, move away from

machines and isolation and move

towards compound movements.

Cardio after

weights, boss.

This is an ongoing

debate that will

never be settled. But here’s a study

that might open your eyes a little

bit:

During an extensive research study,

scientists from Japan have

discovered that when subjects

performed cardio before weights,

their growth hormone response to

the weight training workout was

blunted by roughly 1,100%

compared to when they did weight

training first.

That’s right - 1,100%!! Performing

cardio training after weight training

is 10 times more effective!

End of discussion!

Master the

kettlebell

swing. The

kettlebell swing is one of the most

powerful exercises on the planet.

It’s really an eye-opening

realization of what kettlebell

18. 19.







12

training is all about: explosiveness,

flexibility, functional strength, and

fat-shearing cardio. This exercise

works practically every muscle

group of the core and posteriorchain, while strengthening your

shoulders and re-instilling balance

throughout the body.

But there’s more to the kettlebell

swing than just swinging a

kettlebell around. In fact, there’s a

big difference between swinging a

kettlebell and performing a

kettlebell swing the right way (Bret

Jones, RKC). Here are some tips on

how to master the KB swing (feel

free to take the challenge).

Recover faster.

Sometimes a hard

workout can leave

you so sore that

you don’t want to get out of bed the

next morning.

A faster way to recover is to work

those muscles again. As odd as it

may sound, lightly exercising the

same muscle groups the next day

(aim for about 20 percent of yourone rep max for 20 repetitions)

delivers more blood and thus

nutrients and oxygen to your

muscles, helping them recover

faster.

Going for a long walk after a tough

leg day is an awesome example of

this. Give it a try.

Earth yourself.

When was the last

time you touched

the Earth with your

bare skin? You’d

probably have to think

back to your childhood

days for that.

Earthing is the simple

act of touching your

skin to the Earth and,

according to new research, it has

been found to deliver some

incredible health benefits.

If you think about it, majority of

people living in developed countries

never come in contact with the

Earth (with their skin). They are

always insulated from it whether

with shoes, transportation, or the

buildings they reside/work in.

Although it may not seem likethere’s anything happening,

touching the Earth with your bare

skin brings upon some interesting

physiological changes. The Earth

has a continuous, ever-replenishing

20.

21.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/30-day-kettlebell-swing-challenge











13

supply of negative ions. When we

touch the Earth with our conductive

skin, we absorb trillions of these

negative ions into our bodies. These

negative ions act like antioxidantsand have an anti-inflammatory

effect associated to them.

Earthing has also been found to

possess very relaxing and stress-

relieving effect.

Even just the simple act of walkingon the grass with your bare feet can

provide exceptional stress-relief.

And it also helps you sleep better

because it normalizes cortisol

rhythms and melatonin secretion.

Getting in contact with the Earth is

now becoming more and moreimportant as our exposure to

electromagnetic fields is growing at

an exponential rate.

Give earthing a try.

Squat right, go

deep. The squat

is a popular and

extremely effective exercise. The

movement is a primal one as we’re

designed to be able to squat

properly from birth. As we age, it

becomes more difficult to perform a

proper squat as we develop

biomechanical inefficiencies and

tight muscle groups from exposure

to our toxic environment.

The only effective way to squat is to

squat deep – hip joint past the knee

joint. What a lot of people love to do

is partial squats – not going down

all the way. This is because it’s an

easier movement

that allows you to

lift more weight

(ego boost?).

The problem is

that your

physiology is not

designed for

partial squats. A

partial squat

makes the squat

anterior

dominant – 90%

of the work is

done by the quadriceps. This

creates an excessive pull on your

shin bone and creates large shear

stresses on your knees. If you do

22.







14

this regularly, you can cause some

serious damage to your knees.

What a deep squat does is engage

the posterior muscle groups (your

hamstrings and glutes) as well. It

results in a 50-50 pull between

quadriceps and hamstrings/glutes

that balances the forces and

eliminates excessive shear stresses

on your knees. In the process, you

will also create stronger, sexier legs.

If you’re struggling to pull off deep

squats, it’s probably because you

have tight, inflexible hamstrings.

Start to regularly stretch and

strengthen your hamstrings before

you get into squats.

Walk more,walk often.

Walking has

always been a big part of my

routine. It helps me clear my mind,

get some fresh oxygen, stretch my

legs, and relieve any built up stress

that has accumulated over the day.

On a physiological level, walking

activates the oxidative energy

system. This is the system that

metabolizes fat for energy – theprimal source of fuel our body was

designed to run on.

One study in Japan (2011) found

that walking immediately after a

meal – even for 30 minutes – was

more effective for weight loss than

waiting up to an hour afterwards.

Mark Scisson (author of Primal

Blueprint ) also advocates this

especially if your meal was a high

carb one.

Bonus Tip: Want to make your

cardio session more effective?

Follow an intense interval session

with a long walk. The interval

session releases fatty acids from

their fat cells and the walking

session metabolizes them for

energy. It’s a great one-two punch

to scorch fat.

Strengthen

your eyes.

What’s a better

body worth when your vision

sucks? Not a lot, I’d say.

Strengthening your eyes is more

important than ever now that our

eyes are constantly glued to screens

of all sizes. In fact, poor distance

vision (or near-sightendness) is

usually caused by near-point stress.

In other words, staring at your

computer or phone for too long.

Here’s what you can do: Every

couple of hours throughout the day,

close your eyes, tense your body,

breathe in deeply and after a few

seconds release your breath and

muscles at the same time. By

forcefully contracting (tightening)

and releasing major muscle groups,

you trick your involuntary muscles

(like your eyes) into relaxing as

well.

23.

24.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/bioenergetics-how-your-body-shifts-between-energy-systems











15

Follow the

80/20 rule. The

biggest mistake

you can make when trying to

achieve a goal is to chase perfection.

Perfection is an illusion and often

one that sets you back more than it

propels you forward. This is

because the act of chasing

perfection places immense pressure

on an individual. It makes the goal

seem unachievable. The pursuit of

perfection is simply too demanding.

Following the 80/20 rule can help

you stick to your goals more

effectively.

When it comes to eating right, for

example, it’s all about choices. Youcan make good choices or you can

make bad choices. The rule of

thumb with which you can work

with is this:

Make the right food choices 80% of

the time.

That’s it! What this does is

give you room for error. It

allows for mistakes. It lets

you have cheat meals when

you find them necessary(not scheduled).

This rule takes some of

the pressure off and gives

you an opportunity to

make adjustments as you go.

Cinnamon forimproved

digestion. Here’s

something interesting I picked up

from Tim Ferriss’s book, the 4 Hour

Body :

Adding a little bit of cinnamon to

your meal has the potential to

reduce the glycemic index of the

meal by up to 29%!

If you’re not familiar with the

glycemic index (GI), it’s simply a

number that identifies what impact

that food willhave on your blood sugar levels.

The higher the GI rating of a food,

the more that food will cause your

blood sugar to jump. And blood

sugar spikes cause unhealthy

hormonal spikes as well. In general,

the more a food causes your blood

sugar to jump, the more weight you

will potentially gain.

The reason why cinnamon works is

that it slows the rate at which food

exits the stomach, which means you

25.

26.







16

Read “Why we get Fat” by Gary Taubes. If you’re

confused about why you’re overweight and why it’s hardto make a change, I recommend reading Gary Taubes’

book Why we get Fat . It’s a simple read, yet it will open

your eyes to the real reasons the world is facing an

obesity (and health) crisis. If you think you’re fat because

you’re consuming more calories than you’re expending,

you definitely need to read this book. And when you’re

done with that one, here are 50 more.

will feel fuller faster. It also lowers

LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

Adding 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of

cinnamon to your meal is ideal. If

you don’t like adding cinnamon to

your food, try this: add a teaspoon

of cinnamon to a glass of warm

water and drink this before a meal.

Photograph

your food

before eating.

You’ve heard of food journals

before. These are simple tools that

help you log the foods you’re eating

so you can analyze your eating

patterns. Although they can be

effective in certain

situations, they

do have onefundamental

flaw: they ask you

to log the foods

long after you

have eaten them.

They create

awareness long

after the choice has

been made and the damage has

been done.

A better option is to take a picture

of your food before you eat it. This is

called instantaneous intervention

because it makes you think about the choice you are making before

you actually make it.

It makes you aware before the

damage is done.

Exercise less,

lose more. Many

of us are under the

(false) impression that exercise can

get us lean. The truth is that, when

it comes to weight loss, exercise

alone won’t get you far. In fact, it

can do more damage than good.

This is because exercise is highly

correlated to appetite. The longer

and more intense your workout, the

greater your post-workout appetitewill be. And, if you’re not careful,

this can lead to some monstrous

post-workout cravings.

Also, the longer you exercise the

more cortisol (stress hormone)

your body produces. This hormone

blocks the release of fatty acidsfrom your fat cells and has been

found to also block the release of

testosterone, essentially rendering

your workouts as highly stressful,

muscle-wasting and inefficient.

27.

28.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/50-health-and-fitness-books-to-help-you-build-a-better-body



http://www.bloomtofit.com/keeping-a-food-journal-can-reveal-your-true-eating-habits



http://www.bloomtofit.com/why-exercise-can-make-you-fat













17

For best results, keep your

workouts shorter: between 45-60

minutes (warm-up and stretches

included) maximum.

Lower your

consumption of

carbohydrates.

For decades, we’ve been advised to

make carbohydrates the foundation

of our diet. It sits neatly at the

bottom of the Food Guide Pyramid

asking us to consume 6-11 servings

of it per day. But the world’s obesity

epidemic has suspiciously (and

drastically) been rising ever since

the introduction of the food guide

and its wacky theories. The

correlation there is undeniable. And

there’s actual science to back it.

Carbohydrates – sugars of any kind

– are making us fatter and sicker.

Specifically, a spike in blood sugar

levels from carbohydrate

consumption causes a spike in

insulin which leads to a domino

effect of hormones falling out of

balance. Fatty acids become locked

up in their fat cells by insulin and

we’re hit with a debilitating, fat -

accumulating problem.Autoimmune disorders quickly

surface as a result.

If you want optimal health and a

better body, you need to lower your

consumption of carbohydrates,

particularly those that are heavily

refined and processed. Keep yourdaily carbohydrate intake between

50-150 grams per day to minimize

insulin production and maximize fat

loss.

Increase your

consumption of

healthy fats. Fat

is your friend. Fat is the preferred

fuel of human metabolism and this

has been the case for most of

human evolution. Consuming

healthy fats from plants and

animals supports optimal function

of all the systems in your body. It

helps keep you full and satiated.

And, most importantly, fat has little

or no impact on blood sugar levels

and insulin production. It also takesmuch longer to metabolize than

carbohydrates.

The goal is to become fat-adapted.

Fat adaptation is the process of

resetting your metabolism by

eliminating carbohydrates from

your diet and replacing them withfoods high in healthy (Omega 3) fats

such as eggs, fish, certain nuts and

seeds, oils, and organic meats.

Avoid highly toxic partially

hydrogenated fats and trans-fats

from foods that are processed to

improve flavor (like fried foods)and shelf life (like sugary snacks).

The beautiful thing about becoming

fat adapted is that the energy you

get from consuming fat lasts for

hours. You stop feeling hungry and

lethargic after meals. You begin to

29.

30.







18

think more clearly as your brain

cognition improves. And it helps

you lose weight because of fat’s

minimal impact on hormones.

Use a trigger

for motivation.

A trigger can be a

powerful motivational tool. Here’s

an example of how to make and use

a trigger:

Let’s say you’re trying to find a wayto motivate yourself to go to the

gym. You can start by regularly

having a coffee right before you

head out. Build a habit out of it.

Coffee, gym. Coffee, gym. After some

time, having coffee before you go to

the gym will become routine, kind

of like brushing your teeth before

going to bed. It becomes a habit.

Now, on particular days when

you’re lacking the motivation to go

to the gym, all you need to do is

activate your trigger.

Have a coffee.

When you do that , you’ll be more

inclined to go to the gym right after

because now it’s a habit!

Triggers can be anything from

activity-based cues, visual cues or

even certain types of music. Be

creative and figure out how you can

use triggers in your life to motivate

yourself.

Figure out your

purpose. Setting

goals is great, but

if there is no deep-rooted purpose

behind those goals then the goal is

merely a wish. Your purpose is your

drive. It is your motivation. And it

will make your or break you onyour journey to a better body.

Before pursuing your goal, you need

to sit down and ask yourself why

you’re pursuing it at all. Get to the

core of that question. Find your true

reason. It needs to strike an

emotional chord. Something that

resonates with you on a deep level.

Whatever the reason is, write it

down in big bold letters and put it

up somewhere so you can see it at

all times (here’s a template). Read it

out loud to yourself. Memorize it.

Let it become part of your

subconscious.

Doing this will give you the most

powerful source of motivation.

Goji berries for

longevity. Goji

berries are the

most nutritionally rich berry-fruit

on the planet. They were

traditionally used in the Chinese

medicinal system because they area complete protein source and are

packed with vitamins and minerals.

They are also one of the highest

antioxidant-containing foods in the

world.

31.

32. 33.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Your-Motivational-Strategy.pdf








20

Adjust your

grip, engage

more muscle.

Anytime you perform a pulling

exercise – pull-up, lat pull downs,

barbell rows, etc. – you have a

number of grips you can use. And

your choice of grip directly affects

the degree to which certain muscle

groups are engaged.

For example, when you’re

performing pull-ups (wide,

overhand grip), placing your thumb

alongside your other fingers (not

wrapped around the bar) decreases

the engagement of your arm

muscles in the movement, meaning

you’ll be working your back a little

harder. The opposite works if you

want to bring arms more into the

equation. Adjust your grip

depending on what muscle groups

you want to target.

Make your own

protein bars.

Protein bars can

be a great snack or post-workout

meal. But most of today’s big-brand

protein bars are loaded

with sugars and additives

to improve flavour and

prolong shelf life.

The best way to get the

most out of your protein

bars is to make them

yourself. Doing so allows

you to control exactly

what’s in them. You can

play around with

different ingredients until you find

your perfect protein bar. If you

need a place to get started, here’s a simple raw-food style protein bar

recipe.

Eat alone. If

you’re overweight,

take a look around

and see who you’re hanging out

with. The people you surround

yourself with have a huge impact on

your eating habits. This is what

Thaler and Sunstein had to say in

their incredible book Nudge:

“Obesity is contagious. You’re more

likely to be overweight if you have a

lot of overweight friends. Anespecially good way to gain weight is

to have dinner with other people. On

average, those who eat with one

other person eat about 35 percent

more than they do when they are

alone; members of a group of four

36. 37.

38.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-to-make-raw-food-protein-bars-my-first-daring-attempt










21

Jump Rope Tip: One of the most effective jump

rope training strategies is to combine heavy and

light ropes in the same workout. Here’s a very

simple workout that will push your heart rate

through the roof and challenge your entire body.

Tip on Grip: One simple way to strengthen your grip

is to wrap a towel around the bar when you’re doing

any pulling exercises. The increased thickness of the

bar forces your forearm muscles to be more engaged.

eat about 75 percent more; those in

a group of seven or more eat 96

percent more.”

If weight loss is on the menu, try to

eat alone. Or find a (small) friend to

have lunch with.

Use the 30/30

breakfast rule.

The idea (which I

first saw promoted by Tim Ferriss

in his book 4 Hour body) is simple:consume at least 30g of protein

within 30 minutes of waking up.

What this will do is decrease carb

impulses and promote a negative

fat balance. Keeping your breakfast

high in protein will help accelerate

your fat loss.

Some good ideas for high breakfast

proteins are as

following: 1) whole

eggs, 2) protein-rich

whole foods such as

turkey bacon, organicsausages, or cottage

cheese, 3) protein shake.

If you want better fat loss results,

don’t skip breakfast and keep it

high in protein.

Heavy jumpropes for

insane power.

The jump rope is an incredible tool

for improving speed, cardiovascular

fitness, balance, coordination, and

agility. But it’s limited in some

departments.

A heavy jump rope has a number of

added benefits. It can

help increase work

capacity while

constantly keeping

your body guessing.

It also helps you develop power by

allowing you to change the mass

coefficient in the power equation.

All of these things lead to

developing exceptional grip and

overall upper body strength. If

you’re on the lookout for a solid

heavy jump rope, check out the

interchangeable CrossRope.

Sprint

regularly. When

it comes tobuilding a better body, there is

absolutely no better form of

training than sprint training.

Sprinting is a very explosive, full-

body activity that engages a number

of muscle groups in the body

39.

40.

41.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMNo9ipKm-o




http://www.bloomtofit.com/crossrope-the-ultimate-jump-rope-training-system










22

Conquer calories with smoothies: When you’re trying to build muscle,

calories are your friend. But it can be difficult to load up sometimes. A simple

way of loading up on calories is making high-in-(healthy) fat smoothies. Fat is

the most calorically-dense macronutrient so you’ll get more calories per gramof fat than any other macronutrient. Load your smoothies with avocados,

coconut oil/butter, almond/cashew butter, and a variety of nuts.

simultaneously, forcing them to

work in unison to propel you

forward. The functional and high-

impact nature of the activity

improves the strength of your

bones and connective tissues and

also increases your body’s ability to

take in and store oxygen.

Sprinting also has an incredible

metabolic carryover. Even a quick

10-20 minute sprinting session will

flood your body with natural fat-

burning hormones and raise your

heart rate and EPOC to levels that

turn your body into a fat-burning

machine even hours after the

session.

Sprinting is powerful and here’s

everything you need to know to get

started.

Take a week off. Plateaus suck.

We all know that.

And as much as we try to change

things up to get out of the rut, it

doesn’t always work.

Sometimes the absolute best thing

you can do for your body is give it a

complete rest for a full week. No

weights, no running, no training

whatsoever. Focus on walking and

feeding your body with quality

nutrients. You’ll find that, more

often than not, your strength will

increase over the course of that

week and your plateaus will be a

thing of the past. This is because

your body and neuromuscular

system have been given the chanceto fully recover. When you rest,

your body is able to use all of its

resources to heal and rebuild itself.

Build muscle,

rest less.

Building muscle is

all about instigating as much fatigue

on the muscle as possible. You want

even those small, deep muscle

fibers to be firing. The best way to

accomplish this is to minimize your

rest between sets (and exercises).

By keeping your rest periods short,

you never let the muscles recover.

In doing so, you fatigue the primary

muscles to the point where even the

smaller, deeper muscle fibers have

to step in to help get that weight up.

42. 43.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/sprint-training-why-sprinting-is-absolutely-critical










23

If you want to build muscle, train at

high volumes with light weights and

instigate as much fatigue as you can

on those muscles. Here’s how I used

these principles to put on 19lbs of muscle in 8 weeks.

Change up your

environment.

Biologically, we

are very much alike to our primal

ancestors. Back in those days, food

was scarce. It wasn’t so easy to

come by. It wasn’t the readily

available commodity it is today.

Back then, everything was about

survival. Any time we came across a

food, we couldn’t resist it. Any time

it was placed in front of us, we ate

it. It wasn’t really a choice.

The problem is that not much has

changed to this day, except for one

thing: we’re bombarded with food.

Today, food (for most of us) is

always in abundance. It’s

everywhere. But our survival

instincts are still forcing us to eat

anything in sight.

So what do you do?

Leverage this biological principal bysurrounding yourself with the right

foods and you’ll be forced to make

better choices.

Randomnize

your workouts.

If your workouts

are getting a little boring or you’re

struggling to come up with a quick

and efficient workout, use a deck of

cards or a dice to craft a completely

random workout.

With a deck of cards: assign an

exercise to each of the four suits in

the deck. Draw a random card and

let the number determine the reps

(you can figure out what the face

cards represent). As an example,

you can draw eight cards and do all

eight sets of exercises. Rest. Go

again. Be creative.

With a dice: assign an exercise to

each number on the dice. Roll the

dice and perform 20 reps of

whatever exercise you get. Roll four

times in a row, rest, then go again.Again, be creative.

Cards and dice can be great tools for

coming up with some killer random

workouts on the spot. Plus it’s fun!

Improve

performancewith music. A

study recently published in the

International Journal of Sports

Medicine found that music actually

improves muscle power output.

"...peak and mean power were

significantly higher after music than

no music warm-up during the two

times of testing. Thus, as it is a legal

method and an additional aid, music

should be used during warm-up

before performing activities

requiring powerful lower limbs'

44.

45. 46.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-i-gained-19lbs-of-muscle-in-8-weeks-with-visual-impact














24

Conquer portion control: If you struggle with

portion control, use smaller plates and bowls.

This will force you to consume less food. This

strategy is particularly useful at dinner and

holiday parties. Use the appetizer plate as your

main dish and only eat what you can load on it.

muscles contractions, especially in

the morning..."

Use music to pump yourself up,

particularly prior to intense

workouts. My favourite pump up

song is Eminem’s Till I Collapse.

Works like a charm!

Warm up with

bodyweight

exercises. Static

stretching should NOT be a part of your warm-up. Countless studies

show its negative impact on

performance when done prior to an

activity.

A more effective warm-up strategy

is to perform a bodyweight version

of the exercise you’re planning to

do as part of your warm-up (or part

of your dynamic stretching routine).

If you’re going to be squatting that

particular day, throw bodyweight

squats into your warm-up routine.

If you’re going to be

benching or pressing,

throw some push-ups in

there. Find a

bodyweight variation of the exercise you’re

planning on doing and

add it to your warm-up

to effectively prep the joints for the

action.

Build strength,

rest more.

Building strength

is not as simple as lifting a bunch of

weight over your head. If you want

to develop superhuman strength,

you have to understand how your

body works.

There are two parts to strength

development. The first is muscular

size. Bigger muscles are capable of

generating more force and thus

result in strength gains. But this

mostly applies to beginners.

If you truly want to build

superhuman strength, you have to

understand the neuromuscular

adaptation part of it. The efficiency

with which your brain is able to

send signals to your muscles to

contract is what determines how

strong those contractions are.

Stronger contractions result in

greater force being generated by

the muscles (thus more weight

lifted).

To train your neuromuscular

system, you have to train with

heavy weights and low volumes.

Use a weight that allows you to

perform 2-4 repetitions max and

never let your muscles fail. It’s also

47.48.











25

vital that you maximize your rest

periods between sets and exercises

to allow your neuromuscular

system to fully recover before it is

loaded again. Here’s some more infoon strength training.

Intermittently

fast. Intermittent

fasting (IF) is the

act of willingly abstaining from food

for a period of time. This act comes

with many benefits.

Your body can be in one of two

states: fed or fasted. In today’s

world where food is in abundance,

we spend as much as 20 hours a day

in the fed state. We are consistently

eating and storing energy, yet rarely

putting ourselves in the fasted state

to burn all that energy off.

Intermittent fasting helps restore

this imbalance. It also increases

longevity, improves mental clarity,

improves your relationship with

food, increases autophagy,

decreases insulin levels while

improving insulin sensitivity,

increases lipolysis (process of

releasing fatty acids from their fat cells), improves hormonal balance,

and naturally increases your levels

of growth hormone six fold !

The benefits are endless.

It ’s definitely something worth

checking out.

Go ahead and learn more about how

to get started with IF.

It can change your life.

Get feedback

with video.

We’re not allfortunate to be

working alongside competent lifters

and trainers so, at times, it gets

difficult to get the necessary

feedback and critique you need to

master any lifting technique.

Use a video camera to record

yourself performing the exercise.

Cameras are becoming cheaper and

can now be found on most

cellphones. This makes it super

easy to grab some nice footage of

yourself performing any exercise.

Watch yourself performing the

exercise. Analyze it. Make mental

notes for any changes you need to

make for next time. If you’re stuck,

there are tons of forums online

where you can ask experienced

lifters to take a look at your video,

analyze your form and give you

some constructive criticism.

Image Sources:

Page 3: http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/sitting-kills/Page 8: http://www.sleep4health.com.au/sleep-health-australia/sleep-

stages-what-are-they/

Page 9: http://doylene.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/myofasial-pain-

syndrom/

Page 12: http://thefitbox.com.au/training/running/barefoot-is-it-just-

hype/

Page 13: http://www.crossfitriverside.com/squat-baby/

Page 18: http://nutribulletblog.com/nutribullet-organic-goji-berries/

49.

50.


http://www.bloomtofit.com/how-to-get-lean-with-vi-phase-3-training-strategy




http://www.bloomtofit.com/intermittent-fasting-for-beginners-the-complete-guide-part-1












Bloom to Fit www bloomtofit com Srdjan Popovic

26

CONCLUSIONThere you have it my friends – 50 simple things you can do to build yourself a better body. I truly hope you both

enjoyed the eBook and found it useful and intriguing.

But I want you to know something important: just by downloading and reading this eBook, you have taken an

important step in your journey: you’ve moved a little bit closer to your ultimate goal of building a better body.

Only your next step is even bigger: you must take action. You must grab life by the horns and take a ride into the

wind. Try things. Experiment. Push yourself outside of the boundaries that so tightly confine you. Make mistakes

and learn from them. Explore and find ways to challenge your body in new ways. Open your mind to new

possibilities and never stop learning about your body. We have one life to live and I want you to build yourself a

body that will allow you pursue all of your dreams and ambitions.

Just remember that this is a personal journey. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to the person you

were yesterday. And don’t expect results overnight. Building a better body takes a lifetime. Every day is anopportunity to do something small that will take you just a little bit closer to where you want to be.

Please do me a very small favour. If, and only if , you found something within this eBook useful, please share it for

me. Help me spread the virus. Help me reach out to more people looking to build a better body.

Click here to share on Facebook. Click here to share on Twitter.

To your better body,

Srdjan Popovic

Bloom to Fit









50 simple tips to build a better body

Documents