Michael Vazquez

If you’re looking to lose weight, however, you’re probably going to want to re-prioritize and make sure you’re squeezing it into your schedule. There’s evidence that doing your cardio in the fasted state (in other words, having not eaten for several hours) is a good way to lose weight, but if you have an intense workout sesh planned (think HIIT or heavy lifting), you’re probably going to want to fuel up so you can stay energized. Maintaining weight loss is a whole different monster than losing weight, and studies have shown that eating a high-quality breakfast is a common habit among people who managed to avoid regaining the weight that they previously lost. Some good protein-rich foods to eat for breakfast include: As is the case with any meal you eat while trying to lose weight, make sure that you’re watching your portions and keeping an eye on your calories.

But besides just looking good, training your chest muscles is also important for building strength and supporting you through all your upper body workouts. So as you can probably imagine, your chest muscles are utilized in many of your upper-body exercises, which means that training your chest regularly and building strength will add extra support when you’re working on your other upper-body muscle groups like your back and arms. On the other hand, if you have more intense chest-focused days on your schedule where you’re doing heavy workouts like bench presses, you’re going to want to give your muscles a couple of days in between these intense sessions so you can fully recover. Pushing yourself up off the ground takes a ton of force from your pecs, not to mention your arms, so it’s a great movement to master for your overall upper-body physique.

What I mean by this is that you can pump iron all day long and build impressive muscles with traditional weightlifting exercises, but this  isn’t necessarily going to help you outside of the gym (or, say, in sports)  if you aren’t also doing workouts that also push coordination and movement in addition to strength. Because of this, a lot of functional fitness workouts are going to use and coordinate multiple muscle groups at once with compound movements, rather than isolating individual muscles. The key things that you’re looking for are compound movements and/or complexes that work different muscle groups at the same time, activating your coordination and balance throughout the workout. This couple’s bodyweight workout adds a ton of compound and explosive movements so that you can give yourself a full-body workout that’ll literally help you carry your partner on your back!

Intermittent fasting (IF) is exactly what it’s name suggests: you fast for a defined period of time (aka intermittently), then have a dedicated, shorter period of time for you to eat and get your calories and nutrients in for the day. Many people choose to start intermittent fasting because they want to lose weight – and since fasting means eating less, it’s a pretty logical choice. it’s been proven to help improve your insulin resistance, but going without eating for long periods of time might not be great for your blood sugar. Remember, part of the beauty of intermittent fasting is that your insulin levels drop after a long period of not eating, which helps with the fat-burning process.