Hey everyone! Coach Jimmy here and I’m back with another foray into the wide world of Health & Fitness with the best articles from last week. Keeping up with all the latest trends, workouts, and diet tips on top of your already busy schedule can be super tough. I sift through dozens and dozens of articles that pass through my inbox to pick out only the brightest gems so you get the most out of your sparse spare time.
This week, we’re going to touch on some easy yoga poses for the guys, what your thyroid actually does for your body, sneaky ways to crank up the protein in your diet, some great sports to try out this summer, and we’ll challenge the status quo with what your meal schedule should look like when you’re working out. Feel free to post your questions in the comments below or hit me up on any of my social media profiles. Until next week!
The Best Health & Fitness Articles From Last Week
8 Yoga Moves for Men
Yoga can help you increase your flexibility and endurance, decrease probability of injury, improve your stability, and reduce post-workout soreness.
Let’s face it, most guys aren’t flexible enough to jump right into yoga. That leads to a bunch of frustration which sets up barriers that keep men from experiencing the amazing benefits that a regular yoga regimen can offer. However, if you can soldier through those first few weeks of uncomfortability from your tight joints and muscles, you can start to see results in all aspects of your life.
Sarah, a Certified Yoga Instructor in SoCal, has a fantastic list of yoga moves that target issues that most guys face when getting into yoga. These moves are also great for women too!
How Your Thyroid Works For You
When you try to pin down which organ does the most for your body, it’s easy to point at the brain or heart and call it a day. However, your thyroid, that little gland at the front of your neck, has a metaphorical hand in literally every process that goes on in your body.
It’s effectively the “brain” of your endocrine system and a healthy thyroid means a healthy cardiovascular system, hormone equilibrium, metabolism, and so much more. However, the flip side to this is true as well.
Most thyroid problems can be managed. The bad news is that until the conditions are diagnosed and treated, otherwise healthy aspects of diet and exercise can actually make matters worse.
There are two types of thyroid conditions that can affect your body’s ability to regulate its own processes, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, and the symptoms and treatment plans differ between them. Check out the full article to learn more about these conditions.
8 Cheap Ways to Sneak Protein Into Your Diet
Not everyone can afford to buy steak, chicken, turkey, or salmon to eat every night while on their weight loss journey. Sometimes, they can’t afford to have it once a week, but here’s a secret, you don’t have to get your protein from meat.
In fact, exclusively sourcing your protein from meat is nearly 10 times more expensive than getting it from other sources. For the broke college students or parents on a tight budget out there, this can be a godsend when you’re trying to eat healthy without burning a hole in your wallet.
According to PETA, it takes over 11 times as much fossil fuel to yield one calorie of animal protein as it does to yield a calorie of plant protein.
By cooking dishes with rye berries, lentils, peas, eggs, Parmesan cheese, low-fat Greek yogurt, tuna, or cottage cheese, you can drop your price per gram of protein down into pennies on the dollar while cranking your protein intake up to eleven.
5 Fun Sports to Try This Summer
Now that Summer’s here, it doesn’t just mean that you can break out the trunks and sandals to show off all your hard work over the winter. It’s the perfect time to mix up your workout regimen with something new so you keep making gains and blow past the dreaded plateaus. Whether water or sand is more your speed, Andrew’s list of summer sports will get you outside and working up a sweat in no time. Just don’t forget your sunblock!
How Often Should You Eat?
“The recommendations for eating patterns needs to be approached on an individual basis taking individual goals into consideration,” says Jessica Bachman, Ph.D.
Depending on where you take your advice, and when you took it for that matter, there are conflicting “rules” when it comes to how often you should eat throughout the day. Are three larger meals better than five or more smaller meals? Is it better to eat more in the morning or space it out evenly throughout the day? It’s enough to drive you mad!
There is far too much information for me to succinctly paraphrase it here, so I strongly suggest you read the full article after the jump to read up on the latest research so you can find the meal schedule that works for you.