How to Get More Vascular

One aspect of looking fit is having those impressive veins that stand out from your arms and other body parts... So how do you get them? In this YouTube video I talk about the main contributing factors that will help you to get more vascular looking, in many cases you already have the veins but they are just buried under perhaps a bit too much body fat.

Genetics do play a roll as body fat for some people can be stored in other places than the arms, so even if you are a bit overweight, you may still have vascularity in areas like your arms and legs. Skin thickness and vein thickness can also be a genetic attribute which will play a roll  in how noticeable your vascularity is.

If you have a lot of body hair, try simply trimming it! You will be amazed at how the muscle and veins will pop out just by a simple body trim.

I also believe that blood pressure plays a roll, people with low blood pressure will have less inflated veins while people with higher blood pressure will have more swollen veins, and similarly when you workout, your blood pressure increases causing your veins to be much more vascular in appearance.

Food  can effect your vascularity, when I was carb depleted for my recent fitness contest I really noticed my veins flatten out, as soon as I loaded back up on carbs, my vascularity returned. So eat up for bigger fuller veins, and if that doesn't work then try a few shots of something strong to get the blood to your extremities ;) 

So keep the body fat low,body hair trimmed up, carbs in your diet and your gym pump on for that Vascular look.

Garmin VivoSmart Activity Tracker Comparison Review

Here is my Review and comparison of the Garmin VivoSmart. If you're looking for a detailed review with all kinds of specifications and explanations about how every little thing works on the Garmin VivoSmart, then this is not going to be the review for you. Do not fret, there are all kind of Videos and Reviews on the Internets and even on Garmin's website that should satisfy your quest for knowledge!

Before you click away, you may want to watch my YouTube Video on the Garmin VivoSmart as it may go into some areas that many others have not made mention of in their more Geek-like reviews. I kind of have a real hands on knowledge you could say of these devices since I have used many of the most popular Fitness Tracking Bands in my day to day fitness life. Much of this review comparison focuses on other fitness bands like the Jawbone Up, Fitbit Flex and Force, Polar Loop, Garmin VivoFit and even some more watch like devices like the Mio Alpha and the Cookoo Smart Watch.

So what do I actually cover? I talk about how each device tracks total calories as they are all very different in this area. I go over the importance (at least for me) of being able to incorporate a heart rate monitor for the main reason that most of my workouts are not step or running based so most fitness bands do not give me a true caloric output for my weight training and CrossFit workouts. The addition of an HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) is vital to me for tracking my actual calories burned during my workouts. I of course go over most of the features of the Garmin VivoSmart and take you through its basic operation and show you the Garmin Connect iPhone App in use.

Like I said, this should give you a really good idea of what exactly the Garmin VivoSmart does a bit different than many other fitness bands, like incorporating Smartphone and Smartwatch features and how the VivoSmart compares to other similar products you may be interested in.

Get Fit Over 40 Update Video - What's Next - VivoSmart - iPhone 6 Plus

It's time for another update video... As you know I recently won my Men's Masters Physique class at the Sandra Wickham Fall Classic Fitness show. So what's next? Is it time to retire? To be honest I don't know right now, this win does qualify me to enter the next show in June which is a provincial show, it is a bit soon right now to decide but my plan is to hit the gym and get strong again but not gain too much fat so that if I decide to go for it and take part in the June competition then I will be ready to go. We will just have to see how I feel about it in a few months time.

Next on the what's new list is my acquisition of yet another Fitness Tracker, this new one called the VivoSmart is from Garmin and like the Garmin VivoFit that I already revived, it can link to Heart Rate Monitor for super accurate data on how many calories I am burning during a workout. Of course the Garmin VivoSmart like other fitness bands tracks my daily activates, specifically my basic moving around and walking to keep a really good account of exactly how many calories I burn each day.

The Garmin VivoSmart also adds Smartwatch abilities which for me is awesome since I get a lot of emails and texts so being notified on my wrist and even being able to read them from the band is very useful. I am loving the Smart Watch capabilities on my Garmin VivoSmart, stay tuned for a full review on the Garmin VivoSmart.

Last but not least, I got myself one of those massive iPhone 6 plus tablet phones! Why on earth would I need such a huge phone? Well after a few days of using one it actually becomes kind of normal in size and my old iPhone 5s looks like some sort of kids toy phone in comparison :) The reasons I got the large iPhone 6 plus is because I plan on continuing with my Video Blogs and so editing on the larger screen will be much easier, plus the addition of 128GB of internal drive space will allow me to take a lot of video if need be. My cellular provider just began to offer a much cheaper roaming plan for when I travel to the US and so being able to use my iPhone in the US means having an all the time connected device is another reason to have a larger more usable screen.

Sandra Wickham 2014 Men's Masters Physique Competition 1st Place

I had my wife man or should I saw "woman" the camera while I was on stage for the night awards portion of the Sandra Wickham Men's Masters Physique Competition.

My wife is not really that familiar with my camera setup so we did a bit of a trial run at the morning show and had her setup to shoot video and also take a few photos while the video kept rolling for the evening show. Well somehow the camera got changed over from video mode and ended up in photo mode which is not ideal for taking simultaneous video and photo. You can only take either video or photos when in photo mode but at least I got a bit of both even though not exactly in the video resolution I was hoping for.

None the less I got some usable video and I can't really get made at my wife because I think she was more excited about the whole thing than I as.

So enjoy this rather spliced together video of the Men's Masters Sandra Wickham Physique Competition evening show and me getting the 1st place trophy :)

Total Gym Direct Blog - How To Get a Strong Back

Another feature video over on the Total Gym Direct Blog, this one is your's truly showing some of my favorite back exercises using my new Total Gym Fit.

If you haven't already watched my first Total Gym Direct Blog video where I demonstrate a great Arm workout using the Total Gym then make sure to watch that one also. The great thing is these videos are nice and short and to the point!