One thing that is important to everyone is the food they are eating and the convenience. Lots of companies have found a way to take advantage of people’s desires to be healthy and make money off of that desire. It’s also a known fact that people will pay for convenience, we live in a lazy world. We all know it so we might as well just own the fact. I know I am because I have paid at one point for a food prep service and found I was dramatically overpaying for what I was getting in return.

Most of your food prep companies like 1% Fitness, Fed Up or Elite Meal Prep offer many different packages but will just make a generic menu for the week and you get whatever they have decided to mass produce. The pricing will usually range from around $120 to $200 a week. That is a lot of money considering most companies will only provide a max of 10 meals in a week and with the massive amounts of food they are having to produce can really lower the quality of the food.

I subscribed to 1% Fitness at a time because I was wanting to improve my body composition and knew I needed to get on a strict diet to do so. I signed up for a 10 meal a week program and was paying about $120 for them. I quickly found that the meals were not providing me with the macros I needed and required me to supplement my afternoon and nights with a couple extra meals which meant I was spending even more money just to get some extra calories in. After a couple weeks of the meals I started to get very sick of the bland meals and couldn’t even bring myself to eat all of the meals by the end of the week. Now that is just no way to live, so I have started creating my own meal prep and have found I like the food a lot more, and can save so much more money for only spending a few hours a week cooking.

All you need to know is the types of food to include in your meals, and roughly the quantity you need every day. Once you know that it just takes getting a little creative and looking around for new recipes to keep yourself from getting bored of your food.

If your goal is to lose fat you are going to need a to achieve a caloric deficit of around 200-300 calories each day while still reaching about 1 G of protein and carbs for each pound of your body weight. Keeping to these macro goals the sky’s the limit for what you can make while still achieve your fitness goals. Now that I cook my own meals I am able to make 12 meals a week that I actually look forward to eating, for around $45 dollars and the is even a little on the expensive side.

Some of my personal favorite meals to make are chicken cauliflower stir fry rice, teriyaki turkey patties and rice, or bolognese pasta with vegetables. These are all the simplest recipes that literally anyone could make and they fill me up while still making me feel healthy and strong!

A new age struggle has arose, and that is the eternal argument of which training style is the best, crossfit/functional fitness or traditional bodybuilding workouts. The one side always hates on the other and like all good arguments both sides have some legitimate points. I have experience doing both types of training and have an opinion or two on the subject.

Bodybuilding is the roots of the gym rat lifestyle and is probably the most common form or working out. Any type of training where you are using muscle isolation and focus on building and shaping your muscle into a specific look is considered bodybuilding. This is where the world gets people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Phil Heath. The super dedicated are able to form massive amounts of muscle while cutting their body fat next to nothing. It is an incredible feat and is something that has to be respected because of the shear dedication it takes to achieve.

The main benefit of this style of training is the physical appearance that can come from proper training and diet. But it does have some cons, not a lot of life applicable movements are regularly done in this style of training. This can leave athletes being huge mounds of muscle with very little coordination or functional movement. For some they don’t care, but for lots of people this is not an ideal way to live life.

Crossfit takes an approach of high movement and olympic lifts that train the entire body and leave you gasping for air at the end of every workout. So many different movements and challenges are incorporated in workouts that requires you to have an incredible balance of strength, stamina and coordination. This is a great program for those looking to improve their overall fitness and health because workouts burn massive amounts of calories while toning and building muscle. There is also a great group mentality that comes with working out at a crossfit gym while surrounded by others by your side suffering along with you.

Now this sounds like it would clearly be the best option for overall health, which it is, but like anything else there are always drawbacks. Crossfit has a much higher injury rate than traditional lifting because it has people doing unique lifts that involve lots of movement and requires great form to do safely. A downside to the group training is it can push people to push past their safe limits because they are wanting to keep up or impress others in the class. Another downside to some is the type of muscle you can develop doing only this type of workouts. You get very strong and build thick muscle mass, however very few of the showman muscles are developed like in traditional bodybuilding.

Personally, I think a combination is needed for anybody looking to have their healthiest and best looking self. The crossfit is great for burning fat and building up your core muscles, where bodybuilding is ideal for toning muscles that are visually appealing like biceps, claves or deltoids. It is easy to get comfortable with one style and have difficulties transitioning between the tow but like anything else in life, the harder it is, the better it is for you.

With the worldwide growth of fitness industry it’s no surprise that more and more companies popping up, and so many of them are delivering the same type of product. If you want to find a new style or look it takes so much time or researching and scanning over countless websites and social media profiles to find something truly unique and interesting. And not everyone has time for that, or even really knows where to be looking for information like that. So to make things a little easier I have put together a list of 4 of my favorite brands in the market right now.

1. Gymshark

https://www.gymshark.com/

Gymshark is a UK based company that is absolutely dominating the market of gym goers worldwide. The company itself is less than a decade old and was founded by a guy in this 20’s. The company image is designed to give you unique and stand out apparel that is made for your lifting movements. With an iconic logo, they are becoming recognizable in most every gym you could find yourself in. Another huge selling point for the brand is their ability to keep prices low on almost all items. They know that most young people don’t have lots of money, especially not to spend on athletic apparel, so to be the dominating company they keep prices in the range that anyone with a gym pass could afford.

2. Zyia Active

zyiaactive.com

Zyia active is a local company based out of Draper UT that was founded in 2017. Zyia is a athleisure company that is primarily focused on creating womens clothes, but has a quickly growing men’s line. Their goal is to create products comparable to Lululemon, but at a cheaper price. The company is spreading quickly across the country and has gained a very loyal following from thousands of people. The companies main attraction is the fact that they launch a list of new products every week. They are an exciting company that is fun to keep in touch with because there is always something new to attract you in.

3. ECHT

https://echt.com.au/

ECHT is a newer company coming from Australia. Only in the last couple years have they started making their products available in the US and it has been gaining traction. they are creating a unique image for themselves that really helps them to stand out from the clutter of the industry. They keep their designs very simple and focus on choosing colors and fits that are sure to impress. I love their clothing because they always go for a very athletic fit which is what I love to workout in. Another thing about ECHT I love is no one has their gear yet, so almost anything you get from them will be completely unique and never have to worry about finding your stranger twin at the gym.

4. ASRV

https://asrv.co/

Now ASRV is in a league of their own. The name is short for Aesthetic Revolution and are the most designer styled fitness apparel company I know of. Every item they release is a completely unique design that is usually around for just a season. They take a very military/grunge look on all of their pieces and present everything in a very rough image. They currently only make mens clothing, but they have many accessories that anyone could use. Because they are such high quality products, you do end up paying more for these ones. They do last extremely well and for sure are the highest quality you can get but some items are in the triple digits for price and alternatives can be less than 50 bucks. So you got to make a judgement call on what kind of image you are wanting to put out!

In this video you will have a quick overview of how to perform a perfect bench, squat and deadlift. These movements are key to any workout plan and should be incorporated by anyone looking to strengthen they overall body. There are many variations on these base movements so mastering these will unlock a huge amount of potential movements for you to do in the future. Use these tips and put in the time to practice and build the muscle memory needed to make this second nature.

If you are anything like me, one super important element of a good gym session is the ability to rock out to the music that gets your heart going. You need the right equipment to make sure they music is going to hit you just right! And with the availability of everything out there today it can be hard to find to best fit for you! I will admit I am pretty basic in this department and stick to some of the mainstream brands but in my mind, there are three options to choose from.

1. The 2^nd generation Apple Airpods

These beauties are straight next level performance. My favorite feature on these has to be the noise canceling ability which makes you feel like you’re in your own special dimension of the gym. They have great sound quality and deliver a good amount of bass to really help you to feel your music and give you that extra boost you could need to get that last rep. Now I don’t know if they are the best for someone who does a lot of high movement workouts because they do stay in place well but do have a high potential to fall out of the ear and get lost. And that is one expensive piece of plastic to loose.

2.Beats by Dre Powerbeats Pro

These are great headphones for those that do a lot of movement with workouts because they have a over ear security clip which will keep them in place no matter what you are doing! They deliver great sound quality and have an amazing battery life which is super nice because you never have to worry about forgetting to charge them. Because nothing is worse than showing up the gym and finding out your headphones are dead.

3. Beats by Dre Beats Solo3 Wireless

These headphones are for when you want to add a little style to your life while getting that isolated, in your own world kind of feel. These are great for people who do lots of traditional bodybuilding where they are stationary and don’t have to worry about headphones moving or getting in the way. I love the days when I have my over ear headphones because I feel the music the best which in turn helps me to get more into the mood of working out.

So all of these are great options, adamantly I own all three options haha but I love having the ability to choose based on what I am doing for my work out that day. So do a little research and of course choose what look is best going to go fit along with you!

How I Started The UK's Fastest Growing Company: My Gymshark Story | Ben Francis (Links to an external site.)

If you want to talk about major players in the fitness apparel community you cant go long without mentioning Gymshark. They are an international company that is currently one of the fastest growing companies in all of the UK.  They make clothing that is very easily recognizable and has become sought after in the gym world. But the craziest thing is the story of the man who created the company. Ben Francis, a UK native, started the company when he was only 19 years old.

For such a revolutionary brand that has grown to such lengths it is crazy impressive that someone so young was able to create such a successful business. But his story really can serve to show that anyone has the possibility to create something great if they keep it inline with their passions. 

Ben and a friend started the company as a website that just sold other companies supplements. After they were able to raise enough money they wanted to start getting into the clothing world but found that no one else created anything that they wanted to wear, so what did they do? Decide they are going to make their own clothes by HAND! These guys are crazy, they made all of the first clothes by hand with a screen printer and a sewing machine. Just the amount of time that ordeal would take is unreal! He said for the first year they sales were steadily growing and their marketing grew by being one of the first companies to ever use affiliate marketing through Youtube. The genius of what that turns out to be was completely unknown to them at the time, but was such a key part of their success. 

I dont mean to just tell you all what the video says but I mean come on, how can you not have major respect for a company that has roots like that!? And the even more impressive part is they are still one of the leading companies in innovating the market. They have created so many new style of clothing that have been copied by companies like Nike and Lululemon. That kind of creativity is not easy to keep up with and they market is developing so many competing companies its crazy to think they are still able to stand out so well. 

I have personally been a huge fan of gymshark for a long time now. I remember seeing the clothing on their influencers before they even started selling in the united states. So it is awesome to have been personally able to see their growth and development of their products from near the beginning. I will recommend Gymshark to anyone who is looking to spice up their gym wardrobe and learning about its upbringing has made me an even more avid follower of the brand and supporter of the community.