ilya_muscle

It’s been a while…

Got completely out of habit of posting on here but now finally getting that itch back to start making content again!

Consistency is always key 🤓

☀️😎

So thankful to have this little boy in my life🐶

He truly showed me what unconditional love is ❤️

All that chewed up furniture is totally worth it😂

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#25 🥳

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Take your time with weight loss!

With summer right around the corner, there’s a huge temptation for people to jump on a crazy diet, a juice cleanse, taking weight loss pills, doing insane amount of cardio or even worse starve themselves 😳

Nothing good ever comes out of it!

Most people who choose rapid weight loss route usually end up with:

🤐 Disordered eating patterns
💇 Hair loss
🏃🏽‍♀️ Slower metabolism
💪 Muscle loss
😩 Increased fatigue
🤷‍♀️ Irregular menstrual cycle
🦵🏻 Loose skin

It’s just not worth it!

Instead, take a moderate approach by creating a small calorie deficit that will allow you to lose about .5-1.5 lbs a week!

Even if you don’t lose weight for couple of weeks - don’t change anything!

Trust the process, be patient, and consistent!

Impatience is what makes people think that diets don’t work.

Diets do work but only if you approach them with the right intent😊

Try, Fail, Fail again, Fail again, Succeed, Repeat♻️

You can’t defeat someone who never quits!

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Waiting for summer like…🐾☀️

Morning or Night 🌓

Sleeping on a plane 101 😂

seriously, treat your sleep like you treat your workouts and nutrition!

We put so much emphasis on training hard and eating right but so many people completely disregard proper sleep!

Lack of sleep usually leads to:

🍕 Increased cravings
🤬 Irritability/higher stress
🥱 Fatigue and therefore less movement throughout the day
🥴 Poor performance during workouts and poor recovery after
🌡 Higher levels of cortisol = more muscle breakdown

What helps me have better sleep is exercising🏋🏼‍♂️, reading a physical book right before📖, limiting blue light through a phone/TV before bed 📵, no naps😴 , thinking in advance what time I have to be up in the morning to get full 8 hours of sleep🧐, and of course avoiding alcohol🍷!

Good night 💤

Free weights or Machines

To be honest what made me choose this topic is seeing people day after day spending their entire workout sitting on machines😭

Come in, do a bit of cardio, hope on a leg press, then some machine crunches, followed by some preacher curl biceps curls, done🙃

That’s how most people workout. Especially in places like planet fitness. No offense😅

The reason is because it’s easy and comfortable.

But are we in the gym to be comfortable or are we there to step out of the comfort zone, challenge ourselves and change something about our lives?

Hence why I’d choose free weights(barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) over machines for vast majority of people.

Free weights are so much more superior in recruiting more muscle fibers while you’re training, challenging your stability, coordination and having a ton more carryover into your day to day life. Plus they’re just hard, making it more rewarding when you’re making progress.

Especially if you always sit at home, at work, in school - don’t come to the gym to sit as well. Move your body! 🤪

This is not to say machine don’t have their use.

They definitely do if you’re injured or to add more volume to your workout if you’re an experienced trainee.

But unless you feel like you mastered exercises like squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, rows, chin-ups, push ups you shouldn’t be touching any stationary machines.

I understand that free weights area in the gym can be intimidating but it can’t be an excuse to avoid it.

You just have to break that fear once and you’ll realize it’s not as bad as you thought🙏🏻

PS: cables are great!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re Ukrainian, Russian, American, white, black, asian. This is war against Humanity!!

Make your voice be heard!

Are fit people really that mean?

One of the biggest stereotypes that keeps so many people away from exercising and going to the gym is thinking that all the fit people are mean and somehow gonna judge you for not being in shape.

This thought process couldn’t be further from the truth!

Yes, experienced lifters can look focused, “in the zone” or intimidating on the outside while they work out but if you actually come up and ask for help or a spot you’ll realize they’re one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet!

There have always been a time for each one of us when we first get into lifting when we don’t know what the hell we are doing, so everyone understands where you at if you’re just getting started!

Let’s work, smile, and keep encouraging each other to be better!🙏🏻