Empire Fitness & Nutritional Tips
Empire wants to provide its members and communities with helpful information that can equip them to make healthy choices and motivational tip to reach their fitness goals. Fitness is a lifestyle that builds strength in every aspect of your life, whether is emotionally, physically, spirtually, or mentally. Let the help and success that you gain from Empire Fitness be a lifestyle that last forever!
Leave Everything in the Gym
This boils down to honesty. Be honest with yourself. When you look yourself in the mirror after your workout, ask yourself, "Did I give my all today?" That is what training is all about. You versus you. Push yourself to your limits and beyond. Learn what it means to tolerate pain and break through the pain barrier. Break records and always train to become at least one percent better than the last workout.
Excuses Pave the Road to Nowhere
Athletes make excuses about why they can't have a strong breakfast, why they ate a crappy lunch, and why they can't get to the gym more than twice per week. Really? You only train twice each week and on the other five days you can't train? The athletes who make excuses are simply giving themselves a green light to lose. You must be brutally honest with yourself if you want to achieve success. Avoid making excuses and learn to take responsibility for all your actions. Learn this skill now and you will be powerful not just during your years as an athlete, but for the rest of your life.
Don't Be Afraid to Fail
This is where many younger athletes go wrong. They set their sights on small goals, feeling they are not ready for the bigger goals. First you must decide that you are going to achieve a big, specific goal. That goal will drive your actions to greater heights. Every rep, every set, every workout, and every meal—they will all be done with the motivation to kick ass and take names to achieve your goal. Without a big goal, you will go stale and you'll hit a wall. Each workout must make us a better person, a stronger person, on all fronts: physically, mentally and spiritually. Each workout must push you out of your comfort zone so you begin getting used to overcoming obstacles, winning when the odds are against you, doing the little extra to prove to yourself that you're capable of achieving more than you thought possible from the onset. You continue living the code of no excuses.
Myths and Facts About FATS
Myth: All fats are equal—and equally bad for you.
Fact: Trans fats and some saturated fats are bad for you because they raise your cholesterol and increase your risk for heart disease. But monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are good for you, lowering cholesterol and reducing your risk of heart disease.
Myth: Lowering the amount of fat you eat is what matters the most.
Fact: The mix of fats that you eat, rather than the total amount in your diet, is what matters most when it comes to your cholesterol and health. The key is to eat more good fats and less bad fats.
Myth: Fat-free means healthy.
Fact: A “fat-free” label doesn’t mean you can eat all you want without consequences to your waistline. Many fat-free foods are high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and calories.
Myth: Eating a low-fat diet is the key to weight loss.
Fact: The obesity rates for Americans have doubled in the last 20 years, coinciding with the low-fat revolution. Cutting calories is the key to weight loss, and since fats are filling, they can help curb overeating.
Good Fats vs. Bad Fats
Good Fats: Monounsaturated Fats
Olive oil - Canola oil - Sunflower oil -Peanut oil - Sesame oil - Avocados - Olives - Nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews) - Peanut butter
Polyunsaturated Fats Soybean oil - Corn oil - Safflower oil - Walnuts - Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds, Flaxseed - Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) - Soymilk - Tofu
Bad Fats: Trans Fat Commercially-baked pastries, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, pizza dough - Packaged snack foods (crackers, microwave popcorn, chips) - Stick margarine - Vegetable shortening - Fried foods (French fries, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, breaded fish) - Candy bars
Tips: Try to eliminate trans fats from your diet. Check food labels for trans fats. Avoiding commercially baked goods goes a long way. Also limit fast food. Limit your intake of saturated fats by cutting back on red meat and full-fat dairy foods. Try replacing red meat with beans, nuts, poultry, and fish whenever possible, and switching from whole milk and other full-fat dairy foods to lower fat versions. Eat omega-3 fats every day. Good sources include fish, walnuts, ground flax seeds, flaxseed oil, canola oil, and soybean oil.
Top 10 Healthy Lifestyle Tips
1. Approach Your Meals As A Lifestyle Not a Diet
2. Make Fresh Produce Your Bestfriend
3. Meal Prep and Plan Your Goals For Each Week
4. Eliminate Added Sugars
5. Drink More Water, Hydrate Your Body, Drink More Water
6. Build A Foundation of Friends Who Are Trying To Achieve Similar Goals. Enjoy The Journey
7. Balance Your Diet - Don't avoid carbs or dietary fats entirely on your clean diet approach, or you'll find yourself dreading your meals. Get them in, adjusting the portion sizes to fit your particular nutrient and body goals.
8. Don't Eat Foods With Ingredients You Can't Pronounce
9. Focus On Nutrients, Not Just Calories. Focus Your Image Goal, Don’t Compare Scales
10. Be Stronger Than Your Excuses