What's the best time to work out?

What's the best time to work out?

"What's the best time to work out?" A lot of people are asking that question and are thinking about it and are trying to plan the everyday because of it... But let me give you the answer... It's up to YOU when the best time is to exercise! Don't do what the experts tell you to do, but listen to them and take their advice as a guide line and make your own best time... Your own happy hour! 

Of course there's a difference if you do your work out in the morning, afternoon or evening. But really, the best time is what fits the most for you, for your everyday. And that is the only thing that matters. If you can't do your work out in the morning, then don't! Do it when you have the time and want to.

Here's my advice on the different time to work out:

Morning:

You wake up early, get up and hit the gym! At this time you can still be pretty tied because of the sleep and maybe you've had a nice breakfast or not. But, if you are going to do you work out in the morning then make sure that you get a good night sleep and something good to eat before you do it. At this hour you need to be really focused both mentally and physically and that can be a little difficult because you've just been asleep for hours! So, get up and get something to eat with a good amount of protein and carbs! You need to get your stomach going!

This is a good time to do your work out I think. You just woke up so you don't have a lot of stuff going on in your mind, so you can easily focus on your work out and you're done at the start of the day. And it gives you a good boost through the day.

But it can be a little tough because of the lack of energi.

Personally I prefer to do my work out in the morning. 

Afternoon:

You've just got off your work and it's time to hit the gym! At this time you should have much more energi than in the morning because you've had a couple of meals more than breakfast. So your body should be full of energi to burn off! But at this point you can also have a lot of frustrations from work or something important to do later and that can have a big impact on your work out. Though is it nice to go from work to the gym and to your home and when you get home, then you're done and you can do what ever you want. 

Most of the time I do my work out in the afternoon after work and before I go home. 

Evening:

You've just had a nice dinner and have picked up your children or maybe already done all the small things you had to do before you got home. So, now it's time to hit the gym! At this point you just had your dinner which gives you a good energi boost. You've probably done all you need so you can hit the gym with a good conscience and some good focus! Maybe you're a little tied because of the challenges of the day or maybe something big had happened, but you've also had the time to relax a little at home before hitting the gym.

This is probably the time that fits the most!

These are mine advices. You can use them or ignore them... But the most important thing is, that you find the best time yourself! Think about it! When can you do your work out? Only you know the answer. You just have to plan it. Good luck! :)

Don't skip leg day!

Don't skip leg day!!

I guess you have seen this picture before or a similar one but the message is clear... Don't skip your leg day!! This phenomenon is also known as 'chicken legs' and I think it actually looks really stupid. 

I often see guys with a very muscular upper body but very small legs... It looks really asymmetric and it is funny to think about how they can walk with the gravity making them fall. 

Seriously don't skip your leg day. Don't even get that idea! There's nothing like a good and dirty leg work out. Your legs are the strongest parts of your body and they really needs to be used! So get under that bar and SQUAT! After that, go and do some leg press and calf raises and so on! Use your legs. Get them pumped up!

Girls, don't be afraid. It is actually really beautiful with fit and trimmed legs, so don't hold back.

Boys... Seriously... Never skip the leg day! That's not an option! Work out your legs like any other body part. It's really nice to have big and muscular legs.
It is also scientifically proven that your leg work out makes your body produce up to 30% more testosterone for your upper body. And that is needy!

At the moment I'm really working hard on my legs and I think it's going good! I have really strong and muscular legs but they are not that trimmed yet. But that's coming!

Here's some pictures that I took yesterday:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Today is a historical day that has been celebrated for many years. It is a very special and romantic day for lovers, husbands'n'wifes, boyfriends and girlfriends! Today has a lot of opportunities and it's a very good day to treat the ones you love very good! 

Of course it can be discussed if it's a special day or not, because if everybody show their love today, then it's not that special at all. I think that if you want to show your love for somebody then show it everyday! Show it NOW, don't wait. Don't choose THE DAY, but just do it everyday, or now and then, or choose a special day for you! It is very important that you show and tell the ones you love that you really love them in your own special way! Don't wait for THE DAY to do it, because then it's maybe too late. Use your charm and personality to make it special. The day(s) YOU choose are the one(s) that is or are special!

It is very simple:

Missing somebody?... ... ... Call!

Wonna meet up?... ... ... ... Invite!

Love someone?... ... ... .... TELL IT! :)

Don't complicate it, don't be afraid!

Even though you believe in Valentine's Day or not it is still a very lovely day. Personally I really like this day. People are happy and there's a lot of love in the air!

- And of course it is a good day to show and tell people what you feel!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! :)

Milk! Mmm, delicious!

Milk! Mmm, delicious!

Seriously... Milk... It is damn delicious and really healthy! Think about it... It has a lot of important and healthy nutrients and it taste good! It has a lot of proteins, vitamines and minerals and usually low on fat.
In Denmark milk is called "mælk"... Actually a pretty ugly word and weird to pronunce. But it is still delicious and it is quite beautiful I think. It's thick, white liquid! It has its own charm. We have five common kinds of cow milk. We have 'skimmed milk' with 0,1% fat and we have 'mini milk' with 0,5% fat. These two are the ones that I prefer! We also have 'semi-skimmed milk' which tastes good and has 1,5% fat and then there is 'whole milk', also called 'full-cream milk' which tastes really good and it's creamy, but it has 3,5% fat, which is quite a bit for a milk. The last one is 'buttermilk' which is really thick and tastes weird. It has 0,5% fat, but is more like yogurt but without the sweet taste.. In general the milk has about 3,5% protein which is a lot! Therefore 1 liter of milk contains 35g of protein! Of course you don't just drink 1 liter of milk, or well.. Some do I guess, but not all. Usually you use milk for a lot of things, a lot of food recipes.
Personally I use about 2 liters of milk every day. I use it for my breakfast, my pre-work out shake, my post-work out shake and for a glass of milk now and then. I really love milk, I really like it!
You can use it for cooking and baking and just drinking and a lot of other things. Only your imagination makes the limit.
It is a great way to get some easy extra proteins through your diet and vitamins and minerals of course!
And then there is the proverb: It's no use crying over spilled milk! You must be insane! Of course you have to cry over spilled milk! Milk is good, it's damn important! Don't spill it!
- Haha, just kidding! The proverb has nothing to do with milk in that way. It has another meaning. But seriously... Don't spill it!
Even better, milk is known for making your bones big and strong. Always keep that in mind!

So now... Go and have a delicious glass of milk! :)

A Little About Me (Present day)

A Little About Me

(Present day)

This picture was taken by my younger brother while we were playing American football

Well... As I said before, after I graduated from High School I got a full time job in 2011, a really nice job actually and I still have it. And that is important! It is very important that you like your job because normally you're going to have your job for a couple of years, so I think it's very important that you like it and feel that you are doing something good, maybe for yourself or maybe for others. Of course it's always lovely to earn some money, but seriously.. It's going to be a long day if you don't appreciate your job and like it... But yea, I know, sometimes you just have to earn some money with a temporary job, but in the long run I really hope people like their jobs.
As for me, my job? What kind? Well, I work as a substitute for middle school teachers and educators at a local Middle School where I went myself. And I loooove my job. I really like it. I teach students from the age of 5 to 17 years old. I really like to work with people and communicate with people. I usually work from 8 am to 4 pm and every day is a good day. It's nice and challenging to have a lot of different classes and it's lovely to know every student and every teacher at the school.
After work I hit the gym and work out there for two hours every day. I have done this for the past one and a half year now and I'm really focused on my training. Yea I know, sometimes it's really tough both physically and mentally - but I love it and I'll keep doing it. After my work out I spend time with my friends and family.
The past year I've tried a lot of different kinds of work out programs and I've tried some diets just to built the mass that I lost and I got some pretty nice results. You know... Hard work will give you good results!
The picture above is, as I wrote, taken by my brother when we were playing American football in the sun one day in the summer vacation 2012. I was in a really good shape at that moment, my weight was 84 kgs/185 pounds, I had 3% fat and my plan was to compete at the Danish Championship in Fitness and Bodybuilding 2012, but I got badly injured in my left shoulder. I got some inflammation inside the shoulder, so I couldn't get 120% prepared for the competition, so I decided to wait for the next year - which is coming soon! Even though the picture is 6 months old I can see a lot of changes in my body now and I'll keep going forward every day!

This is pretty much my fitness life so far. But the last one and a half year have been so good! So instructive and I have learned so much and experienced a lot and I really want to tell you about it and use it for future accomplishments and experiences!
- And I really hope that you've enjoyed the story so far, and from now on the real fun and real fitness is going to happen! :)

A Little About Me (Past - Part two)

A Little About Me

(Past - Part two)

Okey, where were we...? Oh yea, that's right, High School! So, I went to High School after the year at the Boarding School in 2008. I remember it was a huge moment for me! In Denmark we don't have these big schools with lockers down the hallway and a big canteen where you can buy your lunch and a large field for football and other sports... But at Taarnby Gymnasium they had it all! It was like a enormous castle! It was a very special moment for the other newcomers and I. Walking through those doors was a great feeling and the moment i walked in I could feel the atmosphere, it was way too good.
The High School was, at that time, known for their social life. They had a lot of social events and they threw some of the best parties and celebrations that I've ever been to.
I didn't have a job or a sport to focus on at that time, so before I knew it I was in the circle of social events and parties! If the school didn't threw a party then the students did. So practically most of the students were drunk every Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday Night at least.. Aaaaaannnd most of the times I was too...
I got a job half way through the first year. I knew I had to have a job because the costs of all the partying was way too expensive. So I worked three times a week and partied in the weekends and it went on like that for the rest of the year..
But in the summer vacation, after the first year, my father asked me if I wanted to join the lokal fitness center with him and work out in the weekends. I said yes. At that time I had never been to a real fitness center so I was quite excited.
I have to admit.. I was sold from the very first time that I went to the gym. I was so sore after the first time! I really liked it. The pain made me feel alive. It was just great! And after a few times I knew that I had to do it more often, so I started hitting the gym a two to three times a week. And then school started again, second year, and I was excited! I had transformed a little and felt much happier and more healthy. But after a few weeks the partying started again. BUT, I kept doing my work out at the gym.
I have to say that my basic form was pretty good because of all the sport that I have been practiced through the years, so I got some nice results from the weight training pretty fast and I loved it! I worked out five times a week and partied every second weekend, because I knew and experienced how bad alcohol was for your body, so I limited the the intake of alcohol.
At the end of second year I was in a pretty nice shape! I was 19 years old and weighed about 90 kg which is almost 200 pounds and I had about 9% fat. I was happy, I was healthy and I was the huge guy in school!
But... In the summer vacation after second year I got sick... I got very sick... I got the disease Salmonella and I couldn't eat anything - If I was lucky I could eat about 500 grams of yogurt a day... I lost 12 kgs in two weeks and I was devastated... I felt that I had lost everything... I felt small and weak, and I was. And I wanted to quit and just stop working out because I had lost all that I've built... So, I got knocked down, but I got up again! And I decided to start running, because I could. I ran a couple of times a week and I was a good runner. I ran 3,6 kilometer in 12 minutes.
And when I started the third and last year of High School and had a solid everyday I started weight lifting again. I only partied and drank alcohol once every month, that was the limit. I worked out six times a week at the gym and I ate as healthy as I could. It was hard and tough for me to gain weight but I didn't give up and I kept the god flow for the rest of the year until I graduated in 2011 which was one of the best days in my life - buuuuut that's a whole other story.

After High School I had a real full time job and my training was solid and progressing and that is actually where I still am today - and yes, I'm going to tell you a lot about that! Just stay tuned. ;)

A Little About Me (Past - Part one)

A Little About Me
(Past - part one)

My name is Kasper Frederik Christiansen and I live in Denmark (it's not the capital of Sweden, hehe). 

I love fitness and bodybuilding and I've done that for the past two and an halv year and I still love it, even more. I've always loved sports and being active and being able to push myself further, expericene failures and see results!
It all started in 1999 when my mother took me to a swimming lesson - I loved to swim from the very first time. The fact that you used all of your muscles at once to move through the water, I loved it. But even more the feeling I got when I swam, it was like flying... You became it with the water and just flew away... I liked it and still do!
At first I swam three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and in 2001 I started playing badminton two times a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. At this time I practiced swimming and badminton five times a week and I loved it! In 2002 I became champion at badminton in my club. In 2004 I decided to change badminton into tennis and I did so. I was quite good at tennis and I really liked it. But in 2006 I decided to go all in on swimming. I did my very best every time and I became one of the best swimmers in the club. It required that I swam nine times a week, which was a lot for a boy at the age of 16, but I kept swimming until I graduated from public school in 2007.
After I graduated from public school I went to a Boarding School with focus on sport. The year I spent at the Boarding School was one of the best years of my life! I experienced a lot that year and I got a lot of new lovely friends. If you ever get the chance of spending a year at a Boarding School, you should definitely do it! I played basketball, handball and volleyball. And it was that year that I got introduced to the fitness world. We went to school in the morning and played our sport in the afternoon and sometimes we did weight lifting in the evening.
In the weekends we did a lot of different activities such as swimming, biking or running. The Boarding School was located in a forrest which had a lot of outdoor opportunities. We also had our own lake and boat and some kayaks, which gave us some pretty nice experiences.
When I graduated from the Boarding School I started the first of three years at a High School called Taarnby Gymnasium in 2008. And it was here the real weight lifting, partying and education started and that story will be coming soon... :)