(upbeat music)
(crowd cheering)
- Hey guys, Dr. Mike here.
I've been reading a lot of your comments recently,
and I've seen that a lot of you are excited for summer,
but not so excited about the way you look for summer.
I've laid out a list of 10 easy steps that you can do.
That's right, 10 easy steps!
For you to get that ideal last-minute summer body.
Wait, what is a summer body?
- Um, okay.
I don't know. (both laugh)
- Good physique, definition.
Someone with abs.
- Nice abs.
- Abs.
- Abs and butt.
- Have abs.
Get girls.
- Toned legs.
- The bis and tris.
Maybe the pecs.
The washboard.
- Tight.
Compact.
- Watermelon? (record scratch)
- Clearly everyone has a different definition
of summer body
but what does a perfect summer body mean to me?
Frankly, it means being comfortable in your own skin.
Being able to socialize
and being proud of what you look like.
It's about setting goals for yourself
and knowing you can achieve those goals.
Number one: sleep.
Sleep is one of the most crucial aspects
for not only staying healthy, but to have a great physique.
Sleep is where your muscles recover,
your metabolism re-energizes, and your mind refreshes.
It's needed for all aspects, mentally and physically.
When you don't get that optimal seven to nine hours of sleep
your body essentially enters the seventh.
(losing horn blows) You're looking at zero hours.
I didn't sleep because I was working a 24-hour call shift.
Your body essentially enters the sympathetic state
which means that it's a fight-or-flight response,
the survival mode.
You get decreased concentration, increased risk of injury,
and most importantly, your hunger goes up,
so you wanna eat all day long
which is gonna ultimately kill your physique.
This concept was proven by a study done on fighter pilots
which compared pilots that got less than six hours of sleep
to fighter pilots that got over seven hours of sleep
and they found that the fighter pilots
that got less than six hours of sleep
had an increased reaction time,
which means that it took them longer
to make a good decision.
That's probably not a problem
you want your fighter pilot to have.
Fuel up.
Your body is smart.
Starving yourself is not the right thing to do here.
Your brain will automatically slow your metabolism down,
thinking you're actually starving.
You have to be smart about the types of foods
you put inside your body. (bell dings)
It's not solely about calories.
If you eat a lot of salt, you're gonna have water retention,
you're gonna look puffy, you're gonna get bloated.
If you don't hydrate well enough,
your skin is gonna look dry.
These are not ways to get a good summer body.
Some of you may wanna lose weight.
Some of you may wanna put on weight.
Different goals have different calorie demands,
so it's important you figure out
what's right for your own goal.
This is a perfect opportunity
to download that new fitness app, see a nutritionist,
or maybe even pay a visit to your doctor.
Overall tips that work for any of your goals
would be to decrease the amount of simple carbs
that you're eating,
increase the amount of lean, healthy protein,
and most importantly,
focus on a plant-based diet rich in vegetables.
Fiber makes you feel full
and also decreases how much carbohydrates your body digests
once you've already eaten them.
Remember, you don't have to be 100% rigid
with this nutrition plan.
Give yourself a cheat meal.
Give yourself a cheat day.
If you give yourself some flexibility,
your chances of success are that much higher.
Hydrate for the win, but do so with water.
You don't wanna drink your calories.
Most importantly, you don't wanna drink your sugars.
So go ahead, skip the soda.
Skip the alcohol.
Just go with water.
When you're dehydrated it hurts your performance,
increases your risk of injury, and hurts your circulation.
Dress to fool.
What does that mean?
You wanna make your clothing your ally here.
You wanna accentuate your strong points
but hide your weaker ones.
This is all about optical illusions.
Big logos and graphics will accentuate a certain area,
so for the guys out there that wanna show off their chest,
they've been doing bench presses in the gym,
throw a big logo on there and that will accentuate that area
and make you look even wider.
What's the deal with stripes?
Well if you're gonna wear horizontal stripes,
it's actually making you look wider.
If you're wearing vertical stripes
it's making you look longer.
So for you tall guys out there
that don't necessarily want to accentuate your height,
you can go with the horizontal stripes,
make you look wider and stronger.
And for you ladies out there that wanna get some height,
throw on some vertical stripes
and you'll look that much taller.
To the naked eye, dark colors are actually slimming.
So when you're picking out your outfits,
combine different shades of dark colors
to get that slim, clean look.
On the other hand, bright colors bring attention to an area.
So while it may show off your fun personality,
it might not be the best way to get a slim look.
Burn calories on the go.
You're going somewhere and it's less than two miles,
go for a walk.
Or if it's more than two miles, hop on a bike.
Don't be lazy and just get in the car.
Also, I see a lot of people waiting for elevators
when they could easily take the stairs,
and it's great for your glute. (slaps self)
Exercise, duh.
You gotta exercise if you wanna reach
your perfect summer body,
but this breaks down into two basic categories:
weight loss and weight gain.
If you fit into the weight loss category,
you want to focus on two main things
and that's cardio and weight training.
Weight training is great because it allows you
to build up your muscle mass,
which not only lets you look good,
but also allows you to burn more calories throughout the day
when you're not even exercising.
For cardio, lose your grandfather's exercise plan.
Focus on high-intensity interval training.
Yes, HIIT.
What does that mean?
It means a period of intense exercise for about 60 seconds
followed by a period of less intense exercise
for about four minutes.
Those intervals can change based on your athletic ability,
but generally the principles stay the same.
It also applies to any kind of cardio,
whether that's swimming, cycling,
running, jogging, whatever you want.
It's not a huge time commitment.
You want to get in cardio
three to four times a week for about 30 minutes.
If you have the option, go and exercise outside.
It's a great way to get vitamin D naturally.
In fact, if you're interested about vitamins,
I did a whole video on just vitamins.
Go and check it out on my channel.
For those who wanna gain muscle,
boy do I sympathize with you.
When I was in high school I was 140 pounds
six foot three weakling
and I was dying to put on some muscle.
You wanna minimize your cardio
and increase your weightlifting.
You really wanna focus on doing a low amount of reps
with a high amount of weight.
When you do this you put a maximal stress on your muscles
that encourages and forces them to grow
to give you that nice big bicep pump.
Focus on compound exercises.
A compound exercise is one that involves
multiple muscle groups at the same time,
like a squat, bench press, shoulder press.
You really wanna avoid isolating muscles
because you're getting less bang for the buck when you do.
Know thyself.
What's key is knowing what your abilities are,
what you're capable of, and how well you stay motivated.
A lot of people that go to the gym for the first time
think they have to go all out
in order to get optimal results.
However, when you're just starting out,
setting realistic goals is a smart way to do this
because you won't overtrain yourself
and you decrease the risk of injury.
Create your regimen around your personality.
If you enjoy being social, get a workout partner.
It's a great way to motivate yourself to go to the gym
on the days that you're feeling lazy.
Have a good time.
Enjoy yourself during this process.
This is supposed to be fun, not torture.
If you're not enjoying yourself,
you'll probably just give up.
Keep it loose.
You wanna be able to stretch your muscles
and keep your body in prime working condition.
Stretching before an exercise as a warm-up
isn't a great idea because studies have shown
it actually decreases your performance during your exercise.
You certainly can do it as a cool down after exercise,
but on days where you're skipping the gym
that's a perfect time to get that stretch in
and prevent injury.
Lather up.
Use that sunscreen.
You don't wanna have crazy tan lines
after exercising outside and working so hard
to build your perfect summer body.
Also, by using sunscreen
you're gonna be decreasing your risk of melanoma,
which is gonna kill 10,000 people
in the United States this year alone.
That number has risen sharply over the last three decades.
Motivate yourself.
An easy way to get motivated is to go to the store
and pick up some new swag.
If you're gonna exercise, get some new fitness gear.
Get a new t-shirt.
Get some new shorts.
Most importantly, get some new shoes.
You don't wanna be exercising in old shoes
because the cushion does wear out,
and if you're buying shoes make sure you buy the shoes
with the right stability for your foot.
If you overpronate, yes, that's like this,
you wanna get a shoe with extra stability.
Also, a fitness tracker is a great way to stay on track
and know if you're achieving your fitness goals
every single day.
So there you have it.
10 steps on how to perfect your summer body.
All these steps are based on scientific evidence
so you know you're getting the real deal.
Once you start the routine,
let me know how the progress is going.
If you have any questions or concern
about any of these tips, leave a comment down below.
And if you haven't yet, definitely hit subscribe.