| How to Do Weighted Push Ups Alone Posted: 10 Sep 2020 05:00 PM PDT Weighted push ups add weight to your back and shoulders, making this particular exercise even more challenging and beneficial if you're looking to gain muscle. The most important thing when doing weighted push ups by yourself is safety. While you can't stack multiple weights on your back without a spotter, that doesn't mean you can't still get in a good workout! [Edit]Choosing a Weighted Option - Strap on a weighted vest to increase the intensity level of your workouts. A weighted vest is an excellent investment that can be used in lots of different exercises, but it especially comes in handy with solo weighted push ups. If you're new to weighted push ups, get a vest that weighs somewhere between ; if you're more experienced and know what weight you can handle, you can buy a vest up to .[1]
- Some vests come with additional weights you can add on as you get stronger. Consider investing in one of these if you plan on increasing the weight over time.
- Weighted vests focus the additional load on your shoulders and upper body, which means your lower back should be safe while you work out.
- If you don't have good form and haven't mastered an unweighted push up, wait to use a weighted vest. It can injure your body if you aren't already a pro at regular push ups.
- In addition to benefiting your push-up practice, a weighted vest is great for cardio health. Try wearing it and taking a hike to get in an aggressive sweat-session.
- Use bands to challenge yourself and provide resistance during push ups. Long, thin resistance bands are easy to get in place by yourself, and there's no risk of hurting your back or shoulders from a slipping weight. Wrap the band between your first finger and thumb on each hand, so it's hooked across your palms. Position the band across your shoulders so that it's even with your elbows, and then assume your push-up position.[2]
- Make sure the band is flexible enough that you can extend your arms while the band is across your shoulders.
- As you get stronger, switch to tauter bands for even more resistance.
- If you're traveling, bands are a great option to bring along with you. They're lightweight, but they can do a lot to help you get in a great workout.
- Wear a backpack filled with water jugs for a makeshift weighted push up. Use a backpack with chest and shoulder straps so you can safely secure it around your body. Fill the backpack with as much weight as you want, then add towels to the empty space to keep the jugs from slipping around. Make sure to pack the backpack tightly with towels so the jugs stay balanced.[3]
- This method is fantastic if you're at home without any special workout equipment.
- Water jugs or bottles make it easy to adjust how much weight you're lifting. Use a jug for the main source of weight and add additional pounds with water bottles if you want to.
- Make sure to position the backpack up on your shoulders so that it doesn't strain your lower back.
- Slide a weight around your back, balance it, and assume a push-up stance. For this method, use a round, flat barbell weight rather than dumbbells or hand weights. If you can't lift the weight by hand, choose another method. Kneel on the ground and carefully grasp the weight behind your back. Balance it across your shoulders as you bend over, release one hand down to the floor, and then carefully get into position. Do your push ups while the weight balanced across your shoulders.[4]
- When you're done with the push ups, put your knees back on the ground, reach up with one hand to balance the weight, then carefully raise your chest and grasp the other side of the weight before moving it to the ground.
- This option is riskier because you're working with a heavy weight by yourself.
- You can generally only do this option on your own when using a single weight. It would be tough and potentially dangerous to load 2 or more weights on your back by yourself.
[Edit]Performing a Safe Weighted Push Up - Lower yourself onto your knees on an exercise mat. Depending on which method you're using to do a weighted push up, get your weighted vest, band, backpack, or barbell weight in position. Make sure you have whatever you need to start exercising.[5]
- The exercise mat provides a little bit of cushioning for your knees and can be used in many other exercises.
- If you don't have an exercise mat, use knee pads or even a pillow.
- Get down on the ground and place your hands shoulder-width apart. Position your hands so they're palm-down next to your shoulders. Make sure your weighted option is positioned across your shoulders and isn't putting a strain on your lower back.[6]
- If you decide the weight is too much, reduce it before you begin your push ups.
- Set your feet about shoulder-width apart and put your toes on the ground. Position your feet so the backs of your heels point toward the ceiling. At the most, set your feet apart. The closer together you put your feet, the more challenging your push up will be.[7]
- A great exercise to help get your body ready for push ups is the plank.
- Push your body up off the ground while keeping your back straight. From your shoulders to your heels, keep your body in a straight line. Extend your arms as if you're pushing the ground away from your body.[8]
- Focus on using your core muscles and thighs to help stabilize your body. You have extra weight on your shoulders, so you'll need to activate those muscles even more to keep your body straight.
- Don't let your hips sink down or come up too high. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your toes.[9]
- If you experience lower back pain, elbow or wrist pain, or heavily shaking arms, you may be using too much weight. You should be able to do 8-10 reps without experiencing pain, though you should definitely feel a burn in your muscles.
- Lower your body back to the ground while maintaining a straight line. Either keep your elbows tucked next to your side to work your triceps, or bend them out away from your body to work your pectoral muscles. If you want, bring your body back to the ground before doing another push up. Or, you could lower yourself so that your face is about level with your elbows before resuming your set.[10]
- Try touching something to the floor, like your nose, chest, or forehead.[11]
- If you feel like your form is about to break, go ahead and gently lower yourself to the ground and rest for a few beats. It's better to go slow and be careful than to risk injuring yourself.
- If you can, try to pause for 2-3 seconds before pushing yourself back up. This extended hold works your core and can add a lot to your muscle gain.
- If you're having trouble raising back up, find something higher to put your hands on, like a coffee table or a bench.[12]
- If pushups hurt your wrists, try pushup bars or even a pair of dumbbells to release the pressure on your joints.[13]
- Always focus on your form rather than speed when doing weighted push ups. [14]
[Edit]Warnings - If you're new to pushups, don't jump straight into weighted ones! You could injure yourself and have to take a lot of time off before jumping back into your training.
- Avoid doing weighted push ups every single day. Your muscles need some time to rest and recover between workouts, about 48 hours, if possible.[15]
[Edit]References |
| How to Do Dirty Keto Posted: 10 Sep 2020 09:00 AM PDT The keto diet restricts how many carbs you eat so that your body enters a state called "ketosis" and burns fat. Clean keto can be tough to follow because there are strict rules about food quality and where it comes from. Dirty keto is a little easier because it allows you to eat any foods you want as long as you stick the fat to protein to carb ratio. If you want to try keto but the clean approach seems intimidating, give dirty keto a try! You may not want to do dirty keto in the long-term because it isn't super healthy, but it can be a great way to lose weight before switching to a healthier diet in the long run. [Edit]Reaching Ketosis - Limit your daily carbs to less than 50 g per day. Slashing the number of carbs you eat every day is the foundation of keto whether you're doing it clean or dirty. To stay under 50 g of carbs daily, cut starches, bread, grains, and sugars from your diet. Carbs should make up no more than 5-10% of your daily calories.[1]
- Keto is a low-carb high-fat diet. The goal of keto is to put your body into a state called "ketosis" which forces your body to use fat as its primary energy source, rather than burning carbs and sugar for energy.[2]
- Other common carbs include baked goods, sweets, pasta, breakfast cereals, starchy vegetables like potatoes, beans, most fruit, and beer.[3]
- Make sure 70-80% of your daily caloric intake comes from fats. Eating fat is important because ketosis forces your body to use fat as its main energy source. Fat basically replaces carbs as your body's fuel. Clean keto has a lot of rules about the type and quality of the fat you eat, but dirty keto is more relaxed. Pretty much any kind of fat is fair game. Meat, butter, and bacon? Yes, please![4]
- The exact number of grams you consume depends on your weight, height, gender, and activity level. Use an online keto calculator to help you figure out exactly how much you need. For example, try https://calculo.io/keto-calculator.
- Dirty keto is a little controversial because it doesn't focus on healthy food options. You'll lose weight in the short-term, but over time you might run into issues like high cholesterol.[5]
- Even if you're not strict about it, it's still best to include healthy fats in your diet, such as avocados, olive oil, and almonds.[6]
- Adjust your diet so that 10-20% of your calories come from protein. Keto isn't a high protein diet, so don't go overboard with how much protein you eat every day. Protein should only make up about 10-20% of your caloric intake. If you eat too much, your body turns the excess into sugar, which is basically a carbohydrate.[7]
- Use an online keto calculator to determine exactly how many grams of protein you need to eat every day: https://calculo.io/keto-calculator.
- For dirty keto, get most of your protein from animal sources like beef, pork, chicken, and turkey.
- Be ready for a few temporary symptoms known as the "keto flu." Keto flu isn't actually a contagious virus, don't worry. It's just the name for the group of symptoms most people experience in the first 1-2 weeks of doing keto. Nausea, fatigue, headache, foggy brain, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and constipation are the most common symptoms.[8]
- Keto flu usually passes after a week or so, so hang in there and ride it out!
- In the long-run, you may find that following a keto diet actually gives you energy and helps improve your focus.[9]
- Use blood or urine test strips to measure the ketone levels in your body. To figure out if you've reached ketosis, use a test to measure your ketones. Urine and blood testing strips are available online and in many drug stores. Urine tests are cheaper, but blood tests are more accurate.[10]
- The recommended range for ketosis is 1.5 to 3.0 mmol/l.
- You might test your ketone levels weekly when you're first starting out. Once you get the hang of keto, you only need to test yourself occasionally to make sure you're on track.
- Allow occasional cheat meals if you do dirty keto. Going over your carb allowance kicks you out of ketosis, but dirty keto does make room for occasional cheat days and slip-ups. If you can't resist the cravings, allow yourself to indulge without guilt. It's important to get right back on your diet, though! The goal of keto is to maintain ketosis.[11]
- Remember: if you cheat and eat carbs, you have to start your diet again to regain ketosis.[12]
- Cheat days and cheat meals aren't allowed in clean keto.
[Edit]Choosing Keto-Friendly Foods - Prioritize the carb/fat/protein ratio every time you make a food choice. Dirty keto provides wiggle room when it comes to your actual food options, but properly balancing the number of carbs, fat, and protein you eat every day is non-negotiable for both clean and dirty keto. Remember, 5-10% of your daily calories can come from carbs, 70-80% should come from fats, and proteins should make up that final 10-20%.[13]
- Use an online keto calculator to figure out exactly how many grams you need for each food group.
- A keto app can make it easier for you to track your carbs, fat, and protein every day.[14]
- Eat keto-approved packaged or processed foods in moderation. In clean keto, these types of foods are a big no-no. Thankfully, dirty keto is a little more relaxed and much more convenient! Keep in mind that prepackaged and processed foods aren't good for your long-term health, though.[15] Enjoy foods like:
- Plain cheeseburgers without the bun
- Artificial sweeteners
- Processed oils and proteins
- Low-carb snack foods, like potato or tortilla chips and cookies
- Pork rinds and beef jerky
- Watch out for bloating and inflammation since prepackaged/processed foods tend to be high in sodium.[16]
- Consume your daily fat grams by eating any high-fat foods you want. Eating enough fat every day is important because your body is using that fat as fuel. Dirty keto doesn't have any restrictions on where you get your fat grams. Butter, margarine, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening, full-fat dairy, and nuts are all on the menu. As long as 70-80% of your daily calories are coming from fat, you're in the zone![17]
- It's important to work some healthy options in there, too. Healthy sources recommended for clean keto include olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, nuts, nuts, seeds, and avocados.
- Get protein from high-quality sources but don't stress over it. Dirty keto allows any kind of protein you want. Protein is only 10-20% of your diet, though, so don't stress too much over making perfect choices as long as you meet your daily requirement. Pretty much any kind of poultry, dairy, red meat, lunch meat, jerky, fish, and eggs is fair game on dirty keto.[18]
- Consider including healthier protein options in your diet occasionally. "Clean" protein includes organic poultry, dairy, meat, salmon, and eggs produced without hormones or antibiotics. Ideally, meat is minimally processed and ethically sourced.[19]
- Try to incorporate some high-fiber veggies every day on dirty keto. If a diet without any vegetables at all sounds too good to be true, that's because it is! Even if you're doing dirty keto, you still need to eat some vegetables so that you get plenty of nutrients and fiber. High-fiber veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, romaine lettuce, and asparagus are the most nutrient-dense options, so aim for those.[20]
- Cooking veggies in butter or adding a little cheese on top can make them more palatable and help you meet your daily fat and protein requirements.
- Small portions of strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are also approved for dirty keto if you want a fruit fix.
- Eat foods to replenish your electrolyte levels every day. Low-carb diets, including both clean and dirty keto, deplete your body of 4 important electrolytes: sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. It's important to eat low-carb foods that are high in electrolytes to rebalance your levels and avoid feeling fatigued and ill.[21]
- Sprinkle pink Himalayan salt on your food to replenish your sodium.
- Salmon, nuts, avocados, leafy green veggies, and mushrooms are high in potassium.
- Eat calcium-dense foods like dark leafy greens, broccoli, salmon, and sardines.
- Replenish magnesium by eating leafy greens, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, Swiss chard, and nuts.
- Drink plenty of liquids to stay hydrated on dirty keto. Keto can make you dehydrated, so fluid intake is important. Juices and sodas are off the table, even if you're doing dirty keto, because they have carbs and sugar. The best choices are water, herbal tea, and green vegetable juice.[22]
- Occasionally drinking chai or coffee drinks made with coconut milk and sugar-free syrup is fine for dirty keto.[23]
- Check out keto-friendly food lists online or keto recipe books to add some variety to your diet and prevent boredom and cravings.
[Edit]Warnings - Most experts don't recommend dirty keto as a permanent diet solution because it isn't healthy enough and the long-term effects aren't well understood. Use it to lose weight in the short-term or work with a dietician to ensure you're meeting your nutrition requirements.[24]
[Edit]References |
| How to Create a Gradient in Google Slides Posted: 10 Sep 2020 01:00 AM PDT When making a slideshow presentation on Google Slides, many people make their backgrounds and textboxes a single solid color. However, creating and using gradients on Google Slides can make your presentation stand out. [Edit]Applying a Gradient - Go to docs.google.com/presentation/ to create or access a slideshow. If asked, log in by entering your email and password and pressing .
- Open an existing presentation you want to edit, or click to start a new one.
- Choose your theme. To change the theme of your presentation, click from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
- Though this isn't mandatory, choosing a theme other than "Simple Light" and "Simple Dark" will give you more color options for making your gradient. Themes come with assigned colors used throughout them, and when making a gradient, you can use the theme colors to match the rest of your slideshow.
- Click . This opens up the option to either add an image to or change the color of your background.
- Select the colored circle across from . A drop-down menu will appear, automatically selected in the "Solid" option (unless the theme you chose already had a gradient demo background). The "Solid" page will give you an idea as to what colors you can use for your gradient.
- Go to the "Gradient" page. Click next to the pre-selected button at the top of the drop-down menu. This takes you to a page with several multicolored and ombre boxes. You can select these to be the background of your presentation.
- Open the custom gradient menu. It shouldn't matter whether you click or the plus sign underneath it - you should be taken to the same page. A menu will open at the middle of the screen with several options: , (if on the linear option) or (if on the radial option), , and , along with a color bar at the bottom.
- Decide whether you'd like your presentation to have a linear or radial gradient. A linear gradient will appear ombre and have colors fade into each other in a straight line. The radial option will have a circle or fractions of a circle, with colors fading into and away from the arc.
- Experiment with different angles and points of center.
- If you choose to make a linear gradient, there are several angle options to choose from, ranging from 0° to 315°. 90° is the default option, with colors starting from the top and fading down. Different angles will have different fading sequences (some will be up and down, some side to side, and some diagonal).
- If you choose the radial option, you will be given options for where the point of center of your gradient will be. You can choose the circle/arc to appear in the middle, top left corner, top right corner, bottom left corner, or bottom right corner. Try different points to see how the colors blend.
- Choose your first two colors. Go to the color bar at the bottom of the menu. Select the end box on either the left or right, and then click the colored circle next to under to choose a color.
- You can make a custom color to use, choose a color from the menu, or use a theme color. Repeat with the box on the other end of the color bar.
[Edit]Adding More Customizations - Consider using transparency. You can make part of your gradient transparent or translucent.
- To make one of your colors the transparent option, click the colored circle to open the color menu. Select at the top of the color menu, located next to a drop with a slash over it to signify the transparent option.
- To make a color translucent, first, choose the color you are using in its opaque form. Then, reopen the color menu if needed, and select the option. Click and drag your mouse along the checkered sidebar. This adjusts how "see-through" the color is.
- Add gradient stops. Gradient stops allow you to add more colors to your gradient. Once you have your two base colors, click . The color menu will reopen, and selecting a color will add it to your gradient. To move where the color is located in the gradient, go to the color bar at the bottom. Adding a gradient stop will add a small colored circle near the middle of the color bar. Use your mouse to drag the circle along the color bar to move where the color is located in the gradient.
- To add more colors, add more gradient stops with different colors.
- You can also remove gradient stops by selecting the circle of the color you would like to remove and selecting under the option.
- Make gradients using the "theme colors". Selecting a theme for your slideshow will add different colors to the color menu. To stay consistent throughout the presentation, you can make gradients using the theme colors and match the text.
- Use gradients in different ways. Gradients don't only apply to the background of a Google Slides presentation - you can make words, textboxes, and shapes gradient, too! Create "Word Art" and change the background from a solid color to a gradient color sequence. Shapes and textboxes can be changed from their transparent and solid grey demo backgrounds to other colors and gradients. Experiment with different styles and ways to incorporate gradients into your presentation.
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