Monday, July 1, 2013
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips to Help Overweight Vegetarians Lose Weight with Eating
As a vegetarian, you'll definitely lose weight much more easily than those non-vegetarians since your body carry less toxins (from dead animals). However, if you want to lose weight with just vegetarian weight loss diet without exercising and yet wanted to get positive results, then you got to "work harder" in the way you eat your vegetarian weight loss diet. In fact, these are easy techniques to follow, all you need is just a little discipline. Follow them and you'll probably see yourself getting into better shape and look slimmer in the next 7 - 10 days.
Tip 1 - 5 Vegetarian Weight Loss Meals Daily
Break your 3 main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) into 5 smaller-sized meals, with snacks in between the main meals to keep you going, like this: breakfast - snack (morning) - lunch - snack (afternoon) - dinner. This vegetarian weight loss diet plan will help sustain you through your daily tasks without you feeling hungry easily. You should be able to quit your supper naturally when you eat a fiber-packed dinner.
Tip 2 - Leave Your Stomach 70% Full
All your weight loss meals should not make you too full. Your breakfast, lunch and dinner should fill you up to about 70% only. You should receive 30 - 40% satiation from your snacks. But don't waste food. Always ask for smaller portion when eating out.
Tip 3 - Eat Longer to Avoid Gaining Weight
Eating slower by chewing your food more times not only helps you digest better but also allow your stomach to tell your brain how full it is. It takes about 10 - 20 minutes (at times, 2 minutes) for the communication between your stomach and brain to complete. So, don't rush your meal. Savor it and it'll help you block unwanted excess calories.
Tip 4 - Ingest Foods Rich in Fiber and Complex-Carb
Effective vegetarian weight loss diet should achieve these 5 things - it makes you feel full easily; it makes you feel full longer; it helps you burn more calories than you eat, it provides quality nutrients for your body to work optimally and it helps you secrete your waste daily. Vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, seaweed etc - these foods are packed with fiber and complex-carbohydrate and will help you achieve these 5 things in one go. Include them in your vegetarian diet for weight loss, always.
Tip 5 - Eat Coconut Oil for Weight Loss
Coconut oil is one of the best healthful foods on earth to help vegetarian lose weight and stay healthy. It generates a thermogenic effect in your body that in turns boost your metabolism up to 24 hours - you keep burning fat throughout. But choose only virgin coconut oil.
Tip 6 - Create Your Own Vegetarian Weight Loss Diet
Whip up delicious vegetarian meals for weight loss in your own kitchen. You can control the amount of the meal to fit your needs and ensure the quality of the ingredients use at the same time. How cool is that?
Tip 7 - Eat Raw for More Effective Vegetarian Weight Loss
Do you know that a raw vegetarian diet can help you achieve weight loss more effectively than any other weight loss diets in the world? Craig Ballantyne, a non-veggie pro trainer even admits that a raw diet is the best weight loss diet in the world. But not all can turn to raw easily. It takes time to transition your diet. However, partial raw works well too. Start upping your raw intake today and you'll get a fast ticket to effective vegetarian weight loss.
Though you can achieve fat loss with eating alone, it's even more rewarding to build some muscles and improve your body shape with exercises.
The Joy Of Raw Food Diet Weight Loss
The raw food diet is rapidly gaining popularity and awareness among knowledgeable health conscious consumers. As we enter the 21st century people are becoming more diet conscious due to an increase in understanding about how the body works. When people pursue raw food diet weight loss and abandon modern processed foods they quickly see a change in the way they feel and an increase in their energy levels. The benefits of turning from soda pop and processed food to more healthy things like uncooked vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains, beans, dried fruit, and even seaweed are bringing millions of people benefits like increased energy, better skin tone and even reduced illnesses.
Raw food diet weight loss revolves around cutting out foods that are not readily processed by the body. By replacing these processed foods with natural foods that are not cooked at excessive temperature many enzymes and nutrients are left intact. Studies have shown that heating food above 115 degrees F can destroy enzymes in food that can assist in the digestion and absorption of food. At least 75% of the diet must be uncooked or raw food in order for the diet to be a true raw food diet.
If you are thinking about pursuing raw food diet weight loss you need to make sure that your body's PH is not moving towards being more acidic than alkaline. An acidic body is a fat body as the metabolism will be slowed down and more inefficient. When an unhealthy diet of processed foods is consumed this will create an acidic condition in the body. To test the body's acidity you can use PH test strips, these are inexpensive and they can be used to help determine not only your PH but the right diet schedule needed to meet your weight loss goals. By eating an alkaline diet you will find weight loss is more effective. This is the major tip in achieving long term weight loss. Fruits, vegetables and herbs will help assist you in your efforts to maintain a more alkaline body.
Eat Fresh and Organic
Eating organic foods can help as they contain higher nutrient levels. Organic foods have more alkalizing minerals than conventionally grown foods and eating organic will speed up your weight loss efforts. Make sure to buy the highest quality and most delicious food. It may cost more but the great taste and higher quality will ensure that your raw food diet weight loss plans are successful.
The lowest calorie count per ounce will be found with raw greens and vegetables. Fruits are next in line. In general, fruits have a slightly higher calorie count because of their naturally occurring sugars which will help with weight loss due to the fact that this will raise the body's blood sugar and reduce hunger levels. People will often eat a piece of fruit before their meal to reduce over eating. If you eat a piece of sweet fruit like some pineapple or an apple 30 minutes before your main meal this can significantly reduce your hunger cravings so that when you do finally eat you will want to eat less. Raw food diet weight loss is usually successful when a complete lifestyle change is made. This change is typically rewarded with a higher energy level and possibly a reduction in illness.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
You Are What You Eat: Triglycerides and Diet
I must confess that I am a Steve Martin fan. Like me he studied philosophy in his earlier days. He plays a banjo like I wish I could. And he is funny. In 1987 he was in a movie entitled “Roxanne”. He played a small town fire chief with an enormous nose who fell in love with a beautiful astronomer played by Daryl Hannah. The only problem was she had an eye for a younger fireman with a relatively normal nose. C.D. Bales (Steve Martin), having a poetic command of the English language, agreed to coach the younger and much more awkward man in his pursuit of the educated astronomer. It is a hilarious twist on an old story. In one of the more sober scenes C.D.’s friend Trixie encourages him to pursue the young maiden for himself since he was obviously in love with her. She makes her point by saying the truth “is as plain as the nose on your face.” Well said.
Many people today are concerned about their triglyceride levels. And rightly so. High triglycerides have been marked as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). But in all the scramble to reduce our triglycerides many doctors have been trying to tell us that the truth is as plain as the nose on our collective face.
Triglycerides are a form of fat. In fact they are the most prevalent form of fat in our bodies. Our bodies make triglycerides and we consume them in our diets. Even though we live in culture where ‘thin is in’, fat is a good thing. Triglycerides in particular are good because they are the form of fat our bodies use for energy. But like many things more is not necessarily better. Triglycerides truly represent an example of the maxim, ‘too much of a good thing’. In this case too much can contribute to serious health side effects especially in relation to heart health. So if your triglycerides are too high get them down.
But how? How do we get them down? To answer this question it is first helpful to understand what causes our triglycerides to rise. There are several causes which we will only mention in passing because they do not compose the main subject of this essay. There are certain medical conditions that elevate triglyceride levels such as hypothyroidism, kidney disease, liver disease, familial hypertriglyceridemia and pregnancy. And of course medical conditions are often accompanied by medications that negatively impact triglycerides. Among these are oral contraceptives, estrogen replacement therapy, certain steroids, diuretics, beta-blockers, newer classes of antipsychotic medications, cyclosporine, glucocorticoids, progesterone, retinoids and tamoxifen to mention a handful.
The above mentioned factors can contribute to a rise in serum triglycerides. But they are by no means the most common. For most of us our problems lie elsewhere. Diabetes is a common cause of high triglycerides. Unfortunately diabetes is a two-pronged fork. Not only does it affect triglyceride levels but diabetics are more susceptible to the damage that results from factors such as high triglycerides.
Obesity, whatever the reason, causes higher levels of triglycerides to hang around in the blood. As our nation gets progressively heavier higher cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as the heart damage that accompanies them, will become more common.
Now for the rest of us. For most of us our triglycerides are high for one reason. The truth is as plain as the nose on C.D.’s face. We are what we eat. Doctors, though themselves seldom the epitome of health, have been telling us for years to watch what we eat. With all the medical advances over the past several decades diet and exercise are still the primary and most effective methods for promoting heart health, especially in relation to cholesterol and triglycerides and the damage they can cause.
I have only this to say about exercise. Get some! But concerning diet we need a bit more detail. Let’s begin where it hurts the most. Alcohol, though good for your heart in many ways, is easily converted to triglycerides. If yours are too high stay away from alcohol.
Next in line, and this hurts me even more, is sugar. Simple, and especially highly processed carbohydrates, cause triglycerides to rise perhaps even more than alcohol. The American diet is no stranger to sugar and highly processed foods. Such foods are doing more than making us fat. They are causing the incidence of heart disease to escalate with amazing speed. When it comes to high triglycerides, sugar is your worst enemy.
Fruits are questionable. Eliminating fruits is not the place to start. Whole fruits, and the sugars they contain, do not convert to triglycerides as readily as their processed cousins. However, if you have done all you can in other areas of your diet you might consider reducing fruit intake. But before you do this make sure you have eliminated the juices that are more sugar and juice than they are fruit. And avoid canned fruits that are packed in syrup.
Since triglycerides are fat it makes sense to avoid fatty foods. I have in mind especially saturated animal fats. Foods such as bacon, sausage, fatty fowl like duck or goose and fatty beef should be restricted in your diet. Hotdogs and hamburgers? I realize they are the core of the American diet. But do I really need to comment on these?
Now for the surprise. Some fatty foods actually cause triglycerides to fall. Can you believe it? There is a silver lining behind every dark cloud. Cold water fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna, not the canned varieties, are high in omega-3 fatty acids which are well documented to reduce triglycerides. When is the last time you heard about an Eskimo having bypass surgery? Perhaps that is because Eskimos know that the American Heart Association has recommended two to four grams of omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources for people with high triglycerides. That is a lot of omega-3 but such quantities are well proven to lower triglycerides as well as offer a whole list of heart health benefits. Though it is difficult to eat that much fish and there is the risk of mercury poisoning, there is a safe way to get enough omega-3 to effectively lower triglycerides. You can take fish oils supplements. Please purchase them from a trusted source.
So, as you can see, the epidemic of rising triglycerides is an unnecessary danger. For most of us the solution rests in the things we eat and the exercise we need to get. It sounds all too simple. But I am a simple guy. I think it is nice to know that the solution to rising triglycerides is as plain as the nose on C.D.’s face.
For more information on causes of high triglycerides and triglyceride lower diets please use the links below:
http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/causesofhightriglycerides.html
http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/foodtolowertriglyceride.html
Saturday, June 29, 2013
The Benefits of Coral Calcium
The benefits of coral calcium stem from this sea-substance's great abundance of minerals. Coral calcium contains 74 minerals. Coral consists of pre-digested ionized oceanic minerals that have been secreted by tiny sea creatures. Since these minerals have all been predigested and ionized, they are easy for the human body to absorb into the blood and tissues once they are digested. Minerals are extremely important for optimal human health.
Minerals increase the metabolism by acting synergistically with vitamins, glucose, enzymes, fats, and proteins to catalyze them and break them down into the usable chemical complexes that the body truly needs. In this way, minerals and coral calcium contribute to a healthy weight--and therefore weight loss if it is necessary--and they make the human body far healthier and able to stave off aging for much longer. Minerals also interact synergistically with each other, so the more you get at one time the better. Seventy-four minerals at once is a great abundance of minerals.
Minerals greatly contribute to the creation of an internal bodily environment that is more alkaline than acidic. A more alkaline body, which is what we are by our nature (natural human body ph is 7.4), readily resists a vast array of pathogens and potential diseases that need heavy amounts of acid to thrive--this includes cancer.
The calcium component of coral calcium in particular strengthens the electricity of the heart and all of the body's muscles. We already know well how calcium also enhances the strength of teeth and bones, preventing tooth decay and osteoporosis. In fact, orthopedic surgeons use coral for bone grafts because the body readily takes it and accepts it. And, calcium seems to play a strong role in DNA replication.
If you want to get the benefits of coral calcium and seek to take a supplement, make sure you take one that includes at least 400 mg of vitamin D along with each calcium capsule. Vitamin D interacts with calcium and allows the body to absorb it into cells and tissues. Without vitamin D, calcium intake is largely useless. In the case of coral calcium, this would mean that a great deal of the minerals never get absorbed by the body. The body naturally takes in vitamin D from the sunlight as well as fish, meat, eggs, and fortified milk.
About the Author:
Fabiola Castillo is an online marketer for the website NinjaCOP SuperStore. This virtual store sells not only personal defense items but also nutrition products such as marine coral calcium, energy supplements, coral calcium suplements, heart health supplements, and multivitamin supplements.
A 30-minute, Or Less, Full Body Workout
Most people do not have the time to do biceps and back one day, then legs and shoulders the next, then triceps and abdominals the next day. So here is a short, and every effective full body weight session you can easily get done in 30 minutes or less. Your muscles will feel the workout but you will not have the muscle soreness that will prevent you from your other training
Do this program two times a week. You are going to do drop sets. This means you are going to do three sets back to back without resting. Obviously if you ar not experienced with liting weight you will start with one set then more up to the three sets. You are going to work your larger muscles first. The order goes something like this:
Leg extension
Leg Press
Hamstring Curl
Close Grip Lat. Pull Down
Pull Over or Seated Row
Bench Press
Chest Fly
Triceps
Bicep Curls
Lateral Shoulder Raise
For every exercise write down the weight and the number of repetitions you do for your first set only. Do fifteen repetitions, once you get to the fifteenth repetition drop the weight down about 25% then do as many repetitions as you can, then again without rest drop the weight down and do as many repetitions as you can. If on the first set you cannot make fifteen repetitions, no problem, do as many as you can then drop the weight and keep going as I mentioned.
Write down the weight and number of repetitions you did for the first set only. For your next workout, if you made it to fifteen repetitions increase the weight. If you did not make it to fifteen repetitions, keep the weight the same and try to do more repetitions than you did last time. This will constantly push you to trainer harder. Try and do the exercises in the exact same order every time.
Not resting will really fatigue the muscle, but only while lifting at that time. You will still be able to do your other training. Training this way will stimulate muscle growth because you are causing the muscles to fail. In fact, on your third set you may only be lifting the bar with no weights on it at since your muscle is failing. That is one reason you will want to do this workout on some type of machine unless you have a spotter. Get past how much weight you are lifting, just let your muscles fail.
After a few sessions switch the type of exercise you are doing. Instead of a chest fly do a decline bench, then latter do an incline bench. Instead of a close grip lat. pull down do a seated row, but keep the same basic order, working the larger muscles to the smaller muscle.
You should be able to get this fully body weight session done in thirty minutes or less. Now go run!
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips - Lose Weight & Gain Health as a Vegetarian
Want to lose weight and gain health as a vegetarian? These are the sure-fire vegetarian weight loss tips guaranteed to make you feel lighter and full of energy. Your pants will probably become less tight in the next 10 days.
Vegetarian weight loss Tips on Dieting
Include in your vegetarian weight loss diet this type of foods:
- Carry low calories.
- Hold good amount of water.
- Bear complex-carbohydrate structure and thus require more energy (from your fat stores) to break them down into digestible units.
- Contain high fiber. Fiber helps you detox. And it makes you feel full easily so you won't overeat. Recommended daily fiber intake: 25 - 35 grams. Max 45 grams.
Most vegetables embrace these attributes. Certain fruits like figs, peach, raspberries, apple, cantaloupe, cranberries, kiwifruits, lemon, watermelon, mango, orange etc also bear these properties.
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips on Hydration
Don't blindly follow what others say about drinking 8 glasses or 2 liters of water. You know your body best. Observe your urine at all times. If it goes yellow, you need more water. If it turns clear or pale yellow, then you should stop drinking excessive water to avoid water poisoning (hyponatremia).
Take one glass of water every 2 - 3 hour until you feel you're properly hydrated. And when you drink, drink slowly to allow for proper absorption by your body. A well hydrated body will have its metabolism running at full speed to keep burning fat.
Stop drinking 2 hours before your bedtime to prevent from having to wake up in the mid of your dream for peeing. This can disrupt your sleep quality. You can take small sips to lubricate your throat.
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips on Interval Training
Steady-state exercises like cardio will only burn fat during its exercise bout. Once you stop it, its fat-burning effect stops. Interval workouts will suddenly raise your metabolic rate which in turn forces your body to pull out extra energy from your glycogen (stored glucose) and fat storage to fuel the sudden burst of high-intensity activity, achieving more fat loss during and even after the training bout.
But do check with your physician about your physical condition before you engage in this training since it does bear certain risk due to its high-intensity characteristic. Remember to seek advice from certified trainer when you start with interval training.
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips on Sleeping
You can easily run into metabolic disorder when you don't get enough quality sleep. Quality comprises both the number of hours you sleep plus the time you hit the sack. How long we should sleep varies differently. Listen to your body for the best number of hours of sleep you need.
As for the best time to sleep, I strongly recommend that you turn in before 11 P.M. since our bodies will enter the intensive recovery state from 11 P.M to 2 A.M. - fixing and repairing your damaged cells and tissues.
When your body recovers more cells and tissues, it'll perform its calorie management at its best since it is after all, your cells and tissues that command and control the metabolizing of the calorie you consume.
Vegetarian Weight Loss Tips on Detox
During respiration, we breathe out carbon dioxide. When we defecate, we remove wastes from our body. We sweat in exercising. All these are detoxification. Hence, you should learn some deep breathing technique (from yoga, perhaps), make time for toilet every day, and engage in regular workouts at least 3 times a week. Simply put, you can never achieve successful vegetarian weight loss without a proper detox plan.
Exercise and Fat Loss
A lot of people are confused when it comes to fat loss and exercise.
'I’ve lost so much weight my clothes are hanging off me, yet I’ve still got a spare tyre around my waist!'
Sound familiar? Or maybe you’ve just noticed how many women can be really thin but still have love handles on the waist. Do you know that anorexics can actually INCREASE their body fat percentage as they drop weight? Why does this happen?
Womens' bodies are wonderfully designed for a specific purpose: to produce healthy babies. In famine stricken countries women still manage to give birth every day to healthy children, though they may be malnourished themselves. This is because of the lovely fat stores that our bodies will fight viciously to protect. So if you thought that losing fat was hard, you were totally right.
It is a lot easier for men. In one study it was found that women could carry at least twenty percent of their body weight without raising the level of calories burned. So that means if you weigh 120 pounds and you get on the treadmill holding a 12 pound dumbbell in each hand your calorie expenditure won’t be any higher than if you had nothing in your hands. This is because our bodies are designed to be able to carry a baby with maximum efficiency. Women also have a lower resting metabolic rate than men, which means that we burn fewer calories to maintain our basic life functions than men do. We also have larger fat cells than men.
So if you’re carrying an extra 20 pounds or so of fat, it can be extremely hard to lose.
The way to lose fat and gain muscle is to eat enough calories at the same time as following an exercise program that includes weight training and cardiovascular exercise. The two go hand in hand. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you should only do cardio until the excess fat comes off. I tried that before. I spent a significant amount of time running on the treadmill and swimming my butt off every day in the hope of losing some weight and nothing whatsoever happened.
When I began a weight training exercise program as well as cardio and a good diet then I started to see some results.
If you eat too few calories, you will certainly get smaller, but your body fat percentage may not go down very significantly. You may lose quite a lot of lean muscle mass in the process. So you will be smaller, but you may not look a whole lot better. Your body will defend its fat stores, just so that it can nurture a healthy baby should you get pregnant! So your muscle mass will waste away and your fat will remain!
You should either eat enough calories with a fantastic exercise program, or go on a complete fast. There should not be any in-between. It is only on a complete fast that your body goes into a muscle sparing phase and preserves your lean muscle mass while burning fat. As long as you are consuming ANY calories, your body cannot go into this muscle sparing phase, so your muscle mass will waste away. So while you’re not on a complete fast, you need to work out how many calories your body needs and then make sure you are getting that. A site such as nutridiary.com or fitday.com can help you work this out very effectively.
Another thing is to cut your fat consumption. “The fat you eat is the fat you wear“ according to Dr John McDougall. A low fat diet is crucial to your success. While you may be able to lose weight on a high fat diet if you’re counting calories, you will find that you will have to eat less and, since your body’s favorite choice of fuel is carbohydrate, you will find yourself hungry, undernourished and fed up. I found that when I did a 30 day no fat trial, I lost weight without cutting my calorie consumption at all.
Weight Training
Adding weight training into your exercise schedule is crucial. And you don’t have to worry that you’ll suddenly look like Arnold, that does not happen by accident. Women who bulk up do so very deliberately and with an ENORMOUS amount of effort, it will never happen accidentally. Lifting heavy weights will just make you more toned and help with fat loss. You can have beautifully toned sleek muscles while lifting heavy weights. If you look too big, you are probably still too fat, not too muscular.
You should choose weights that are challenging enough so that by the end of your set you are seriously struggling. If you plan on 12 reps and could easily do 15 then you are lifting far too light.
You should also change your routine every 4-6 weeks so that you avoid plateaus. The changes you make do not have to be huge. Just mix it up. Choose some different exercises that work the same muscle groups. Or switch from doing sets with rest breaks in between to doing supersets and no rest breaks.
The more muscle groups that are engaged in the exercise the better. So it is better to do large compound exercises such as pull ups, pushups and dips, than it is to do preacher curls. Although preacher curls definitely have their place. When you do pull ups you are working multiple muscles all at the same time. Whereas with a preacher curl you are just working your biceps. So make sure you are doing major compound exercises as well as isolated muscle exercises.
Major compound exercises for legs include squats, lunges, leg press and deadlifts. These work your whole leg as well as your back and your abs as stabilisers.
The more muscle you build the more fat you will burn and the smaller your body will get. Not bigger! The people who bulk up, such as bodybuilders, do so very deliberately with specific dietary programs that enable them to do so. Simply having a lot of lean muscle mass will not mean a large physique, quite the opposite. Muscle is smaller than fat and you will get tinier and able to fit into the tiniest items in your wardrobe. So don’t be scared of weights, they are crucial, and keep pushing yourself to lift heavier weights so that you are always challenged.
Remember too not to take long rest breaks between sets. 15-30 seconds between sets is more than enough. Time your rest breaks. You are not doing yourself any favours if you sit for minutes at a time between sets, you might as well start at the beginning again if your rest break has been too long.
Cardio
Cardio is essential and if you have weight to lose, the more the better. It takes at least 20 minutes for your body to get into a fat burning zone, so try for a minimum of 30 minutes daily, but anything more that you can fit in is a bonus. I am currently aiming for a minimum of an hour of cardio a day. If I do more it is even better.
When you are doing cardio it is essential that you are working hard enough. You should be working out at between 70 and 85% of your maximum heart rate. To work out your maximum heart rate subtract your age from 220. For me the formula is 220 - 32 = 188.
If I want to work out at between 70 and 85% of my maximum I should keep my heart rate between 131 and 160.
I wear a heart rate monitor when I work out so that I can make sure I am always working hard enough. I don’t worry if my heart rate goes over 160 and when I am really working out hard it often goes to 180 and sometimes all the way to my maximum and beyond. But that is always for brief spurts and is generally when I am doing something like walking lunges very vigorously. When you are doing cardio it is better to be more moderate as you can then keep it up for a longer period of time. You should not be gasping for breath, but you should be breathing more heavily than normal and you should be sweating.
What kind of cardio is best?
Any kind of cardio is fine. I like to mix it up as much as possible as I get bored really easily. I do a combination of walking on the treadmill at an incline, the stairmaster, the Arc Trainer and the Elliptical interspersed with bicycle riding and occasionally some running. As long as you can get your heart rate into the right zone then any kind of cardio is best.
What time of day is best for cardio?
First thing in the morning is the best time for cardio as it is the best time for fat loss. In the mornings you are in a fasting state since you haven’t eaten since the night before and you therefore burn more fat than at any other time of the day.
However, if you can’t manage a morning workout than any time of the day is still going to be beneficial. Just doing it is more important than the time of day you do it.
Doing cardio AFTER your weight training is also better. This way you have more energy to put into really strong sets in your weight training.
Home Workouts
I am a fan of home workouts as it is great for when you don’t manage to get to gym or when your time schedule is more limited. It is a lot easier to fit in an hour long workout at home then it is to get yourself to the gym for an hour long workout. So I definitely think having some home workout DVD’s around is a good thing. I highly recommend Cindy Crawford - Next Challenge Workout and Cindy Crawford - Shape Your Body Workout.
They were made in the early 90’s but are in no way outdated. The workouts are a fantastic mix of compound exercises that get your heart rate very high, so they incorporate cardiovascular training with muscle building.
How often should you work out?
The more the better. Aim for every day, that way if you only manage five days a week you will still be successful.
It is a myth that you can exercise for only 30 minutes three times a week and still see results. Utter nonsense. If you want to see results you have to put in the time. I would say a minimum of an hour a day 5 times a week to see good results.
Anything you can add to that is a bonus. I am aiming for 2 hours a day at least 5 days a week, preferably more, plus time on the weekends. I am lucky enough to have the time available but if you don’t, I would say that an hour to an hour and a half five times a week is sufficient, so long as you are incorporating both weight training and cardio into your workouts.
If you don’t have any fat to lose, then you could get by with doing a lot less. You could focus on weight training with just a couple of short cardio workouts per week to maintain your health. In this way you could significantly cut your exercise time. However, we are not meant to be sedentary beings, we are meant to be highly active. So even if you don’t have any fat to lose, exercising hard is still a really good idea. Just eat more calories so that you don’t lose weight if that isn’t what you want.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
7 Reasons Why Your Muscles Stop Growing. How To Get Muscle To Grow Again
Have ever wondered why your muscles stopped growing after a few months of training even though you are training very hard? Here are 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing and how to get your muscle to grow again.
• You are training too hard – Every time when you train your muscles intensely, you are actually breaking down your muscles. So your muscles need to recover from the damages you inflicted on them. So train each muscle group only once or at most twice a week.
• You are training too long – Keep your workout intense but do not workout more than an hour each time. After 45 minutes of intensive training, your cortisol level will increase. This hormone is known to destroy muscle cells.
• You are sleeping too little – You need to sleep more for good muscle growth. Your muscles grow when you sleep. So sleep more than 8 hours a day and watch those muscles growing fast.
• You are abusing alcohol – Alcohol is known to break down muscle mass plus many other body destruction ability.
• You do not change your workout routine – You must change your workout routine every 6-8 weeks. Your muscles adapt to your routine and stops growing.
• You do not progressively overload your muscles – You must try to increase your reps or weight every time you next train a particular muscle group. Otherwise, there is no reason for your muscles to grow.
• You do not eat sufficient protein – If you want to build bigger muscles, you must eat more protein. Protein is the building block for your muscles. It is recommended that you need 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight equivalent. If not enough protein is consumed with your normal diet, do supplement with protein shakes.
There you are, the 7 reasons why your muscles stopped growing even though you are training hard. There are many more methods on how to grow your muscles bigger but these 7 reasons and how to overcome them will be sufficient for an average bodybuilding beginner.
You can find additional info at the following links:
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Aerobics Workout
Aerobics are great, even thought the aerobics craze seem to have passed and that today is very different to what has swept the world of its feel and got it into working out the aerobics way, the current times offer the exerciser an abundance of tool and information about aerobics that has never before existed.
This kind of exercise was very fashionable some years ago, at one time you could find many of your friends and family in you local gym doing aerobics, but after this health workout fashion changed into many different streams of physical exercise, like the oriental disciplines and many diverse international workouts. But aerobics didn’t go away, with time this has become on of the most researched and developed forms of losing weight and getting fit again, many different machines have been invented and researched, and many experts have been working in the field of aerobics.
When you start doing aerobics you should probably think about what kind of aerobic clothing you want to buy, since they have a lot influence on the quality of you exercise, and will probably also be a factor of how you feel, you will need to talk to your trainer or research online before you make decisions because a lot of these clothes do not come cheap and you may want to buy yourself more then one suit for your workout, so you wouldn’t have to do the laundry every day or so, this clothes will need to be washed once you had a good workout.
There are great advantages of aerobics exercise, first it is a special and very wide way to work out and keep your body in good shape, lose weight and maintain a regular workout schedule, but there are many other advantages to aerobics exercise some of them very surprising. A lot of people meet and make friends in the gym, some decide to start working out together and push each other to do better, stronger and faster, a partner is always a good way to improve and get further than what one would do by himself. A second benefit from working out together is that you can actually make friends, sometimes just work out friends and some time even more than that.
Working out and doing aerobics will also effect you mood, improve many aspects of you body and spirit and make you stronger not only physically. The effect of working out is that you body will release a lot of positive things into your blood, making you happier and stronger, this alone can make a huge change in anyone’s personality, and the good news is that if you never worked out you will feel this significant change.
Even you are not convinced I encourage you to try this form of exercise before you move on, almost surely you have a gym close to you home and you can always ask to work out a couple of time to see if its something that you could try. Keeping it relatively safe start from the basics and move on as you progress, in a short time you will understand and feel the difference.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Qualities Of A Fitness Professional: What Makes A Great Personal Trainer and How To Spot An Unqualified One!
Personal Trainers Are Everywhere
In today’s day and age there are more health clubs and more personal trainers than ever. In fact, according to Personal fitness Professional magazine, “An estimated 5 million Americans are using personal trainers.” A growing army of fitness professionals has emerged to act as mentors trained to assist you in your quest for improved health and fitness. It is essential to differentiate between a qualified fitness professional and your average personal trainer as the former can deliver impressive results and the latter can potentially cause personal injury or even death!
Personal Trainers Should Be Mentors
Men such as Louis Durlacher and Eugen Sandow were the pioneers of personal training. As stated by the late Dr. Mel Siff, “At the time, the training of royalty, the wealthy and the famous with weights and specialized exercises was a well-established and desirable profession, predating the current generation of so-called personal trainers by about 150 years.” Personal training is now a growing profession as more people are realizing the benefits of regular physical activity and are seeking ‘expert’ advice from fit mentors.
A mentor is someone who can help you achieve a given task in a more efficient and streamlined manner. Personal trainers should be mentors that specialize in helping people achieve new levels of positive physical change but buyer-beware! Not all personal trainers are qualified to deliver the results that they promise. A qualified personal trainer can develop a safe and effective exercise program but an unqualified trainer can get you killed!
Buyer Beware!
Stephan Grisanti, author of Industry of Illusions, cites a report by CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews that tells a frightening story of one woman’s experience with a so-called personal trainer. Andrews reported on one of these unqualified personal trainers and the fatal harm that this trainer caused to Anne Capati. “The trainer, who knew Capati had high blood pressure, also suggested, in writing, diet supplements including Thermodrene, which contains the stimulant Ephedra. The family charges the stimulants and the trainer’s poor judgment led to Capati’s death. The Capati lawsuit has helped expose two health club secrets. The first is sometimes a certified personal trainer isn’t certified. The second is there is no standard—national, state or otherwise—for what the word certified means.” This scenario has happened repeatedly in years past and it saddens me as I read about people suffering injuries or death by the hands of unqualified personal trainers that have no business providing advice to other people. It is essential that you become an educated consumer and protect yourself with knowledge.
The Process Of Selecting a Qualified Personal Trainer/Fitness Professional
You have decided to get into shape and you are seeking a mentor to help you achieve your fitness goals, now what? You have realized that some expert guidance will help you achieve results in a more efficient manner and you have decided to hire a personal trainer. This is where you should take care in selecting the individual that will be giving you advice that will affect your health and well-being. Follow this step-by-step list and you should be able to select a qualified personal trainer that will help you achieve your fitness goals.
1. Are You Ready To Start?
The first step is to determine if you are ready and able to start an exercise program. It is wise to consult your doctor and determine if you are ready to start and individualized exercise program. Depending upon your health and past medical history, your doctor may give some specific instructions on exercises or activities to avoid. This step is important especially if you are recovering from an illness or orthopedic injury. A good personal trainer will require that you complete a health and exercise history questionnaire at the very least prior to beginning an exercise program.
2. You’re Certified, So What!
Most people realize that they should ask if their potential personal trainer is certified or not. If the trainer says they are not certified, simply walk away. If a personal trainer tells you that they are certified you should then ask them what organization certified them. Being certified is certainly a good start but the problem is that there are currently over 300 different personal training certifying agencies in existence according to Phil Kaplan, author of Personal Training Profits. Some of these certifications have lofty standards while others only require that you watch a video and mail in the answers to a written test in order to become certified. The quality of the certification really depends upon which agency is doing the certifying, what the certification requirements are, and what the trainer gains from that particular certification. There are a handful of certifications that have value and a lot of them that are not worth the paper they are printed on so do your homework.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College Of Sports Medicine (ACSM) are two of the most respected certifications in the fitness industry. The NSCA is the only nationally recognized accredited certification and it offers both a Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA-CPT) and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS) credential. The ACSM is considered the “Gold Standard” in the fitness industry and is also highly respected by the medical community. Both of these organizations involve a practical and written examination along with continuing education requirements.
To determine the value of their certification, ask them what kind of requirements they needed to fulfill in order to achieve that credential. Ask about continuing education requirements and if they have to stay abreast of new research in order to maintain their certification. Do some research about the personal trainer’s certification and try to determine its value, if any.
3. Do You Have Education In Exercise Science?
Ask them if they have a college degree in a health or fitness related field. In the NSCA’s publication entitled: How to Select a Personal Trainer, the authors state: “Personal trainers with an educational background in Exercise Physiology, Sports Medicine, Health and Wellness, Physical Education, or Anatomy and Physiology have a more thorough understanding of the way the different systems within the body work together, and how exercise affects each of these systems.” I have met many great personal trainers who did not get an education in exercise science but other qualities made them true professionals. It is important to realize that no one criteria can qualify a personal trainer and that it is important to evaluate a personal trainer by looking at everything that they bring to the table. As a general rule though, a true fitness professional will seek out a college education in a health related field and will have a more in-depth understanding about how to help you achieve positive physical change.
4. Do You Have The Qualities Of A Fitness Professional?
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
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Maximize your workouts! Resistance bands have been proven to help you burn fat and tone lean muscle faster. Just as effective as free weights, resistance bands are much more portable and convenient, so you can work out anytime, anywhere. And with increasing levels of resistance, you can keep ramping up your workout as you get into better and better shape. These color-coded bands come in a range of resistance levels and attach to soft foam-covered handles for maximum comfort. These pro-grade bands will get you lean and ripped even faster! Used with most Beachbody workouts like P90X, Slim in 6, Ten Minute Trainer, Power 90, etc.
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Candida and Yeast Infections- The Best Diet Tips to Eliminate Candida and Yeast
It is a good idea to start the diet very aggressive and slowly taper off. The aggressive step helps to detoxify your system quickly. This step should last for a couple of weeks. Your symptoms should start to subside and you should feel an improvement in your well-being. You should then start introducing some of the avoided foods back into your diet. Introduce foods slowly so that you can detect if certain foods are causing you a problem. Once you've successfully introduced these foods into your diet, you should then focus on stabilizing your diet. A recommended approach to keep yeast infections at bay is to follow a diet that includes mostly vegetables, modest amounts of protein, and very little carbohydrates.
The foods that you should avoid and enjoy in order to eliminate a yeast infection are listed for each of the following groups:
Sugar Avoid: All refined forms (i.e. honey, maple syrup, raw sugar) Enjoy: Stevia
Fruit Avoid: All dried fruits, melons, apples Enjoy: Berries, lemons, grapefruit, limes, green apples
Vegetables Avoid: Corn, carrots Enjoy: All fresh varieties, including raw garlic
Meats Avoid: Pork Enjoy: Seafood, fish, all lean meats
Dairy Avoid: Aged cheese, soy milk, cow's milk Enjoy: Yogurt, cream cheese,
Yeast Avoid: Green olives, pastries, pickles, mayonnaise, bread, brewer's yeast Enjoy: Apple cider vinegar
Nuts Avoid: Peanuts, pistachios Enjoy: Almonds, walnuts, cashews,
Starches Avoid: Potatoes, pasta Enjoy: None
Beverages Avoid: Black tea, fruit drinks, alcohol, all types of soda, coffee Enjoy: Bottled and distilled water, herbal tea, vegetable juice, grapefruit juice
Other Foods Avoid: Mushrooms, packaged foods, processed foods, chips, crackers, spices, foods containing gluten
The degree to which you should restrict foods depends on the depth of the condition. If your condition is mild, a short-term diet may be beneficial. However, a long-term exposure to yeast infections requires a longer treatment plan. In both cases, it is recommended that you establish a highly nutritious diet after the yeast has been contained. In many cases, the foods that people enjoy eating the most can provoke a yeast overgrowth.
In addition to the foods listed above, it is a good idea to take oral supplements. Probiotics and a multi-vitamin are recommended on a daily basis. The probiotics will help to rebuild the natural flora of your digestive tract. This is essential since a yeast infection indicates that there is an imbalance. The multi-vitamin will provide you the essential nutrients that you may not consume through the strict diet.
Although this is just a glimmer of a candida and yeast infection diet, this guide will get you started along the way. A full program and diet for eliminating yeast and candida is best.
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Hailey Harris is an expert in dealing with Yeast and Candida after suffering for more than 10 years with health problems. She is now symptom free and living a yeast free life. She developed Ridyeast.com found at http://www.ridyeast.com to help others learn to do the same. To receive tons of info, tips, and healing strategies for free visit http://ridyeast.com/squeezer.html .
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Best Kettlebell Exercises for Rapid Fat Loss and Lean Muscle Gain
As a former College football player and a current real world fat loss expert who has helped lots of people lose a lot of pounds of fat, I know a thing or two about exercise selection. Everyone always asks me what the best kettlebell exercises are to lose fat AND gain muscle fast.
I'll keep this as simple as possible for you. The best exercises for fat loss are also the best exercises for muscle gain and visa versa. These exercises all have one thing in common: they provide a UNIQUE challenge to your body AND involve as many muscles in your body as possible.
Both the scientific research and the real world case studies have shown that total body workouts are superior for maximal fat loss and muscle gain. But let's take this one step further...
Let's dramatically accelerate results by preferentially selecting TOTAL BODY EXERCISES within each TOTAL BODY WORKOUT! For example, goblet squats are well known for being one of the best muscle-builders with a serious a fat-shredding effect. However, the squat goes from great to UNSTOPPABLE for changing your body for the better when you make it a combination movement by adding a row or press to each squat rep. It's obvious that you can reap more benefits this way since you have now involved your upper body into the king of lower body exercises.
It's as simple as the Dream Body Equation below:
Performing Total Body Exercises Within Each Total Body Workout
More Muscles Involved =
More Calories Burnt + Greater Muscle-Building Stimulus =
Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle Gain
I must be honest in that I have a true love-hate relationship with the following movements I am about to share with you. Love because of the unparalleled fat-melting, muscle-building results they provide to help you look your best. Hate because they break me every single workout by leaving me in tears while in a pool of my own sweat. In other words, these are not for the weak of mind, body, or soul!
Without further ado, here is the official top 8 list of my favorite exercises in the world for fat loss and lean muscle gain:
Exercise#1- Racked Kettlebell Squat to Overhead Press Combo...The Kettlebell Thruster
Exercise#2- The Swing- Kettlebells or Sandbags
Exercise#3- Alternating Reverse Lunge plus Row
Exercise#4-Squat Thrust to Push Up
Exercise#5- Hard Style Kettlebell Press
Exercise#6- Kettlebell Snatches or High Pulls
Exercise#7- Turkish Getup
Exercise#8- Kettlebell Single-Leg RDL plus Row
Well I hope you take my expert advice and jack up your training with these 8 deadly total body combination exercises. I guarantee you better results in less time by regularly employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it's now up to you to take your workouts, and your body, to the next level.
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Sandy Sommer runs Charm City Kettlebells and is intent on helping as many people use kettlebells and their brains to lose weight as possible. Everyone who works out deserves results and not just wasted time and effort. That's why we have lung searing sessions in Towson and Fells Point. I want you to succeed and I will help you. Feel free to contact Sandy with any questions. Please go to http://www.charmcitykettlebells.com in order to contact me.
If You Eat Meat, Will You Lose Weight More Easily?
Many fad diets such as the Atkins diet play on the lack of knowledge of the general public. The real truth is sometimes a little different than what these fad diets will lead you to believe. Quite simply, the only way to lose weight is by burning off more calories than you take in. Upping your protein consumption won't help you with this.
Additionally, some types of meat are bad for you and some will make you put on weight, for sure. Examples of meat types that are bad for you and also very high in calories include pepperoni, bacon, ham, deep fried chicken, salami and things like that. Prepared meat products such as bacon and pepperoni are problematic because they contain lots of nitrates and other preservatives which are very unhealthy.
If you eat too much of the bad meat mentioned above, you can eventually damage your kidneys, digestive system and colon. Additionally, these meats which are full of preservatives can speed up the onset of diseases like renal colic, cancer and gall stones, just to name a few. So you see, when you eat meat, you should balance it out with vegetables and other healthy foods. Also, try as much as possible to avoid the meats which have preservatives and are high in calories.
As we all know, meat is high in protein and many meat types are also high in iron. Choose leaner meat cuts in order to lessen your intake of saturated fat. Also, cut away any visible fat that you can see. Animals do store toxins in their fat so you want to minimize as much as possible, the amount of saturated fat within the meat.
Many studies have shown that if you eat spicy food, you will be satisfied with eating a lesser amount. Therefore, if you like spicy food, then add things like chilli peppers or hot sauce to your meat and you will likely want to eat less overall.So if you enjoy food that is spicy, then add some hot spices to your meat and you probably won't want to eat as much.
Remember too that meat doesn't have to be your only protein source. You can derive protein from sources such as seeds, nuts, beans and tofu, just to name a few. So the bottom line is, if you want to eat meat during your diet, then eat the non-processed kind, balance it out with other healthy foods and don't eat too much as it is fairly high in calories.
Learn more about healthy weight loss at Healthy Diet Plans John Baril is an authority on healthy weight loss and is the author of this article.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Mediterranean Diet For A Longer, Healthier Life
Each one of us has to take suitable care for enjoying a long and healthy life. Taking special care of what you eat is extremely important for maintaining a robust health. Many people have adapted Mediterranean diet to ensure they eat properly and enjoy healthy living.
A Mediterranean diet is a balanced diet which includes balanced and proportional intake of grains, fish, greens, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, and red wine. These food substances are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber and antioxidants while containing low fats as well.
Large Quantities of Fresh Food – Keeping in mind the specialty of Mediterranean climate, you find abundance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seafood, nuts and seeds easily available and in freshest of conditions. When such good and fresh quality of food in consumed daily, it but naturally enhances your health.
Small Portions of food Advised – The Mediterranean diet emphasis on intake of small portions of food Accompanied by freshness and quality, you can follow Mediterranean diet more religiously and restrict their intake of fat altogether.
Limited fat intake – A Mediterranean diet does not rule out fat intake totally, rather it reduces the fat intake considerably by providing more varieties of food which satisfy your food urge to a great intake. Moreover the fats so consumed are of fresh and good quality and hence they are much healthier when consumed. Olive oil, nuts, avocados, fish, flaxseed etc are consumed in healthy portions which enable to maintain your health most of the time.
Olive oil – Olive oil is known to be the healthiest cooking media and hence when increasingly used it is known to prevent heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's, and autoimmune disease and certain types of cancers. In fact Mediterranean people use olive oil in cooking, for preparing salads, fish and even in desserts such as cakes and pastries. With extensive use of olive oil in Mediterranean cooking, they do not eat butter or restrict their butter intake considerably which of course is extremely healthy.
For those with a sweet tooth, could satisfy their urge by consuming fresh fruits and nuts in large quantities, that too in fresh conditions. By adopting a Mediterranean diet, you can reduce your fat intake considerably and maintain a healthier lifestyle.
The Mediterranean diet puts greater emphasis on eating food in fresh conditions rather than processed foods which contain chemicals for storing and preserving them and hence prove unhealthy over a period of time.
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Weight Loss Tips For Toning Flabby Thighs For Women
No one likes to see it, and no one thinks that it is pleasant to look at. Furthermore, it is an indication that you are overweight. Being overweight can lead to low self-esteem, which can lead to depression. From there, more serious health problems abound. It all comes down to one thing, and that is total body weight loss. Toning flabby thighs and a total weight loss program go hand in hand. How can you go about getting rid of your flabby thighs for good?
Begin looking at what is making you fat. Your thighs is just where your body stores it's fat, so no amount of toning exercises are going to make too much of a difference. Toning exercises will definitely serve purpose as far as toning loose muscle, but your flabby thighs won't allow that to happen until the fat is gone. Do you drink too many soda pops? Do you eat chocolate almost everyday? Are you even the least bit physically active? We all know deep down inside what is causing us to be overweight; it is just a matter of accepting the truth.
Eating fast food everyday for lunch certainly will not do your flabby thighs any justice. Focus on elimination of your bad habits. It is simple just stop practicing them. Learn how to say, "no". Next, think of some ways that will help you to lose weight. But, they must be healthy ways. Magic diet potions and pills can be very dangerous, and even deadly, so stay away from those. It is all about keeping it as simple as possible. Exercise is the only way to real weight loss, and even more importantly, high metabolism.
When your metabolism kicks in, it is literally like your automatic fat burning switch has been turned on. Right now as you are sitting and reading this, your fat burning switch is most likely turned off. All the while, your body is storing fat in those very noticeable places, like your thighs. If you aren't used to exercising, then start off small. You will need to do at least 30 minutes per day ongoing physical activity. However, you do not have to do it all at one time. You might want to try breaking it up into three 10-minute sessions, or two 15-minute sessions. Whichever you can stick with the best is what will be right for you.
For toning your flabby thighs, squats are the way to go. When you perform a squat, make sure that you choose a reasonable weight that will make a difference. Let it be an amount that you can lift comfortably at least 10-12 times. For fat loss, perform your cardiovascular activity before your weight lifting sessions for better elimination of your flabby thighs.
Try not to exceed six sets per exercise to ensure that you do not overwork the muscle and cause damage. Always rest in between weight lifting workouts, and if the muscle is sore, definitely give it a few more days before working it out once more. You are going to end up with the most attractive, tight and toned thighs you could have ever imagined being a possibility if you stay consistent with your weight loss goals. You need good weight loss system that will help you to get the body you want and deserve.
You need to eat, but just do not overdo it. That's where a good weight loss system can help you. At http://www.flabisgone.com There's a great product review on a system that can help you on your way to fabulous looking thighs and the body you always wanted in less time than you think.
Friday, June 21, 2013
How to Lose weight with an Alkaline Acid Diet
An unblanced pH leads the body to borrow the missing minerals from the body's reserves. Such minerals are magnesium, calcium, sodium and potassium which are stored and noramlly found in vital organs and bones. Alkaline body balance can be restored by proper diet and the aid of supplements that will encourage or replace lost minerals. Acidosis or acidity can affect a person in different ways, brittle bones, hormonal problems, osteoporosis, diabetese, obesity, yeast or fungal infections, low energy levels or sluggishness, slow digestions, joint pain and muscle pain are just some results of an imbalance.
Over acidity in the body has been known to cause a weakening of the body systems. the average healthy body has a typical alkaline level in the blood of about 7.35-7.45. This enables it to maintain enough alkaline reserves, when an imbalance occurs such is the case when there are excess acids in the system the human body will immediately try to restore the balance and in the process will end up losing stored alkaline leaving the body in a weakened state. Acid accumulation in the body is referred to by Doctor William Howard Hay as: autotoxication or 'self poisoning". Further studies and books released soon after Doctor Hay's concedes with this concept of poisoning via over acidity in the body. A usual misconception however occurs in the pH to be measured; the acid level to be tested and checked is not that of the stomach but of body fluids and tissues which a different matter than that of stomach acids is entirely. The use of pH strips aids in testing the body's alkalinity level. These strips are easy to use and easily available and tests can be done in the comfort of your home. when testing your pH, tests must be conducted one hour before a meal or two hours after. it is said that checking twice a week is the best method to take. The importance of testing one's pH balance cannot be stressed enough as it will enable a person to determine if the body's pH level needs immediate help or attention. Remember that the body is only able to properly distribute needed minerals and nutrients if the pH level is balanced. One cannot stress how important alkaline body balance is, it is possible to be taking in so many nutrients only for it to go to waste because the unbalance body is not able to properly absorb it. alkaline body balance is easily achieved with proper food consumption.
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Office Cardio Exercise Improves Job Performance
Office cardio exercise can be the solution for many employers who are looking to cut costs and improve workplace productivity. Employers need more done in less time, with fewer employees on the payroll. Workplace exercise routines can energize employees, optimizing their work time and delivering great results. Employee exercise can boost endorphin levels, relieving stress and providing a boost to their self-confidence, which can benefit job performance.
Starting an office exercise program can be beneficial to all of the employees along the corporate ladder. A company who cares about their employees' health and fitness inspires better work habits among its employees. Job performance also increases as energy levels rise with consistent workouts throughout the workday. Employees will have a better self-image, and believe in themselves as they tackle work tasks with renewed vigor.
An office cardio exercise program can provide additional benefits. Employees will be more focused and alert, accomplishing more goals in the same amount of time. Cardio exercise also boosts the amount of endorphins, which are chemicals in the body that increase happiness and reduce workplace stress. Healthier employees take less sick days, and some company health insurance plans may reduce rates when notified about a new office cardio program.
Starting an Office Cardio Exercise Routine
If there is not a lot of room in the company budget for an elaborate office gym, start with the basics. Some simple office cardio routines do not require any equipment at all, such as ergonomic stretching to reduce repetitive stress injuries. As the benefits of an office cardio program become clear, add additional exercise equipment for employees, such as a stationary bike, elliptical machine, or treadmill. These investments in the employees' health will more than pay for themselves in the long run.
Not all employees are ready to embrace an office cardio program. Remain optimistic, and offer reward programs to inspire employees to fitness excellence. Explain all of the benefits of daily exercise, including better health, less stress, and higher self-confidence. Once employees have tried out the office cardio program for themselves, they will enjoy the daily exercise routines, and challenge themselves to meet even more ambitious fitness goals.
Self-evaluation of the employees' exercise progress is another way to encourage participation and enthusiasm. Employees can determine their current fitness levels, as well as their future health goals. As time passes, employees will be able to see a difference in their energy levels, fitness, and even possible weight loss. Employee productivity will also increase with a workplace exercise program, so compare their progress with the company's overall growth.
Office cardio is a hidden productivity gem that companies are slowly beginning to embrace. As more companies discover the health benefits to their employees and to their budgets, more office gyms and exercise routines will be put in place for business success. With the proper exercise equipment made available to employees, both fitness and business goals will be within reach.
Christine O'Kelly is a writer for Smooth Fitness, providing smooth treadmills and other office exercise equipment for exercisers at all fitness levels.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sex Appeal and Physical Fitness
Because we LOVE to eat and won’t diet we spend at least an hour and a half walking every day. Nearly two miles of it is a steep grade. The locals call it heart attack hill. As former runners with arthritic joints, we view the challenge as a way to get a runner’s high without additional joint damage.
But the other big payoff is we look decades younger than we really are. Our bodies don’t have layers of flabby, unattractive fat deposits. A bikini is still possible for me and I don’t have to wear “Mom jeans”. Additionally, my legs with their long, smooth muscles are sexy enough to turn heads everywhere we go. Even our abdominal muscles are tighter.
Walking for exercise has a number of benefits.
1. It helps regulate weight without unpleasant dieting.
2. Walking is good exercise regardless of age.
3. Walking can improve heart health and diabetes. If you did ever have a heart attack, you are much more likely to survive.
4. Endorphins cause the runner high and help alleviate depression. It’s also a great time to step away from problems, think more clearly and come up with solutions.
5. Walking is a pleasant way to spend time with your lover and your dog.
6. Losing weight and gaining a leaner, more muscular body can make a big difference in how attractive any body looks.
7. A stronger, healthier body will insure you feel like getting naked and making love.
Your walking goal should be about 4 miles a day (it doesn’t have to be all at once), but even a much shorter distance will make you look and feel better. An additional step for sex appeal and body strengthening and shaping is weight training. Lifting weights and weight training will help keep your body strong and attractive into old age. It also raises your metabolism so you loose weight while eating the same amount of food.
Such a big part of physical attraction is essential strength. At least some people who become sexually dysfunctional and/or in need of nursing care at a young age are literally too weak to care for themselves. Like my grandpa used to say, “If you sit down, you’ll freeze up.”
Don’t freeze up. Get moving and find your sex appeal.
L-Arginine and L-Citrulline tests and medical studies
A growing body of research confirms that if you have high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol or atherosclerosis L-Arginine (generated by L-Citrulline) can help by increasing the body's production of nitric oxide. This is accomplished through restoring the endothelium in the blood vessels and increase production of nitric oxide improves overall cardiovascular health. A number of scientific experiments done with subject who had varying levels of cholesterol have shown that supplementing one's diet with certain nitric oxide-boosting substances (i.e. L-Arginine, L-Citrulline, and antioxidants), can eliminate the state of oxidative stress on the arteries and reverse the progression of atherosclerosis (clogging or congestion of the arteries). L-Arginine, L-Citrulline and antioxidants clearly have benefits that specifically contribute to the heart and overall health.
Intravenous testing in medical studies has been done in an attempt to bypass the issues of L-Arginine absorption by the digestive system that arise. In these studies the theory that intravenous distribution would allow for better bodily distribution was tested and the results were dramatic. Less of the supplement was needed to achieve the same beneficial results as oral doses. The patients in these studies benefited from a lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure reading. Now, intravenous testing may yield incredible results, but most of us are unwilling to poke ourselves with a needle every night because that is the best way to get out L-Arginine. Therefore, the studies done on real people are the ones that most people are interested in hearing about.
Dozens of different studies looking into the effectiveness of L-Arginine and L-Citrulline have been done first on animals and then, when safe, tested with humans. In dozens of studies involving varying levels of L-Arginine and L-Citrulline and placebo medication, time and time again patients have benefited from improved blood pressure readings in as little as two weeks. In addition to the positive benefits to cardiovascular health, very few and in some cases absolutely no side effects were felt and no blood pressure medication or other medication was needed to achieve dramatic results. This is not to say that medication is no longer necessary or that those currently on blood pressure medication should abandon their medical regimen in exchange for taking an L-Arginine supplement, these results do however show that there are significant advantages to those who are not currently on blood pressure medication but can see their heart health deteriorating and who wish to take steps now to prevent the progression of heart disease in al its forms.
L-Arginine and L-Citrulline effectiveness has also been studied in combination with antioxidant supplements and the results from these studies is even more dramatic. The introduction of antioxidants to the already powerful effect of L-Arginine and L-Citrulline allows for these two supplements to better do their jobs because the antioxidants deactivate or neutralize the effects of the free radicals in the body, allowing for the easier production of nitric oxide. And nitric oxide production is the catalyst for improved blood flow and lower blood pressure. Furthermore, studies have shown that when the body has done a good job getting rid of a significant amount of free radicals, antioxidants can then restore the health of the cells that produce nitric oxide (the endothelial cells) and can create a better defense against future attacks on the system.
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Eric Glenn is the successful owner of several global health businesses and regularly advises clients and customers on health, nutrition and creating their own global business. Eric strongly recommends the use of supplements with Synergy Worldwide to improve your health. To learn more about supplements that can help to improve your health visit http://www.ericglenn.com or his health supplements website http://www.synergyteamglobal.com.
Video Source: Youtube
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Free Weights vs. Exercise Machines
Anyone who has ever been in a gym before is familiar with the gleaming banks of shiny exercise machines. Coming in all shapes and sizes, they are usually cause for the newcomer to the gym to pause and ask, “What IS all of that stuff?”
Well, according to the price that the gym paid for any one piece of that equipment, I certainly hope that it not only stimulates your muscles, but also cooks your breakfast, washes your car, and brings the kids home from soccer practice! Now the question becomes whether or not those machines were worth the price, or if you’d be better off doing a home aerobics video with a can of soup in each handÂ….
Personally, I would advise you to get the low-sodium version of the soup, serve it up alongside a tomato sandwich, and then go buy yourself some free weights. Yes, that is just my opinion, but it does come with some scientific reasoning behind it.
Natural movement vs. Controlled movement
One of the things that you need to remember is that when you are exercising, you are training for LIFE. You may spend an hour a day at the gym, but that still leaves 23 other hours for your muscles to function without the aid of that fancy equipment.
Whenever you do any given exercise, the movement of your body during that exercise is called the Range of Motion. The greater and more difficult the Range of Motion, the more effective the exercise is, because your body has to work harder to perform that movement.
Let’s take a classic dumbbell bicep curl for our case study. If you aren’t familiar with the movement, it is basically performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down at your sides. You concentrically contract your biceps (also known as flexing your elbow) to bring the dumbbells up to approximately shoulder level, and then repeat the movement for a prescribed number of repetitions.
Let’s take that same muscle movement and do it using a bicep curl machine. You sit down, brace your upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, and do that same fancy elbow flexing movement to move the handles in an upward motion. Pretty easy stuff so far, right?
Now let’s examine the muscles that are used in this motion. Wait – I thought we were concentrically contracting the biceps? That is correct, and if you are using the bicep curl machine, that is pretty much ALL you are doing. For one, you are sitting down. You know, like you did all day at work, and then in your car on the way to the gym. Then, your upper arms are braced on a nice soft pad to keep your upper body stable while you pull the handles upwards. The machine has effectively limited the muscles used in this exercise to the biceps, as well as the muscles in your forearms and fingers as you grip the handles.
Let us now sidestep over to the weight room where the dumbbells are kept, and once again get in the start position for a standing bicep curl with the dumbbells. Notice the term “standing”. You know, like you DIDN’T do all day at work, and hopefully also did not do in your car on the way to the gym. So before we even start the exercise, we are using more muscles than we did on the machine – namely the leg muscles.
Now let’s pick up a 10 lb dumbbell in each hand. We’ve just added 20 lbs to our body weight. What is keeping us from losing our center of balance and falling clean over? The abdominal muscles and the muscles of the lower back and spine. Now we are using our legs, our abs, and our back. Flex those elbows and start to raise the dumbbells. Now our center of gravity has become a fluid state, and our legs, back, and abs all have to constantly compensate to maintain posture. Oh, and the biceps are also in on the action by this point, as are the forearms, the fingers, and the shoulder girdle.
We now have the dumbbells all the way up and it’s time to start lowering them again, via an eccentric contraction of the biceps (also know as extending the elbow). What muscle group controls the extension of the elbow? The triceps on the back of the arm.
Did you lose track yet? It’s okay if you did because you have illustrated the point:
Machine Bicep Curl: Uses the biceps, forearms, and fingers
Cost: Thousands of dollars
Standing Dumbbell Bicep Curl: Uses the biceps, forearms, fingers, legs, abs, back, triceps, and shoulders.
Cost: $40 for a good set of dumbbells that can be used for dozens of other exercises
In a nutshell, free weight exercises simply USE MORE MUSCLES than machines do, which make them more effective. Does that mean that the machines are a complete waste? Absolutely not! In some circumstances it is BETTER to stabilize the muscles being used in any given movement. However, those circumstances are the exception, rather than the rule.
So what do you do? Change up your routine, and incorporate free weights as well as machine exercises. However, keep the machine work to a minimum – say 20% of your total time spent working with weights. Spend the other 80% developing your stabilizer muscles, your sense of balance and coordination, and if nothing else – just standing up!
After all, you can go home and sit down on the couch to enjoy your post-workout snack. The bicep machine already brought the kids home from soccer practice, remember?
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Exercises to Build Chest Muscle Fast
You see them on TV, at the beach or just walking about -- men with well-defined pectoral muscles; you're envious. They have the definition, they have the look, and they have the broad shoulders that carry their build and put your less-than-well-defined chest muscles to shame. If you're getting ready to hit the beach, planning a stay at a resort with a pool, or just want to add some definition under your shirt, here are a few exercises to build your chest muscles fast.
Dips
Often overlooked by individuals, dips are an effective way of building chest muscle, as well as adding definition to your chest, and working your triceps in one simple action. Traditionally, dips take place on parallel bars, but you can also perform these exercises from the comfort of your home if you have two sturdy surfaces that are at an even height and can hold your weight.
For the biggest impact on your chest muscles, you should lean forward during your reps and be sure to lower, and raise, yourself as much as possible.
Pushups
While pushups may seem plain-Jane and boring, there are ways to spice up your pushup routine that will help you add definition while working different areas of your chest to build up muscle. Most people know about standard, military-style pushups where your hands are placed shoulder-width apart, and those work, but there are several variations of pushups:
1. Incline pushups
2. Decline pushups
3. Wide push ups
4. Diamond pushups
Try mixing and matching different push up routines -- this will help you to work different parts of your upper body and different chest muscles as well.
Weightless resistance training
It may seem silly, but you can tighten, tone, and even build chest muscle fast without heading to the gym. There are many types of 'weightless' resistance training that you can incorporate -- from dips to butterfly-like presses.
Here are two types of resistance training that will help you to build chest muscle up quickly:
* Interlock your hands directly in front of your chest and try to pull them apart.
* Replicate a butterfly press without a weight-training machine. While you can certainly use free weights and work to build muscle mass, you can also create your own resistance while performing these butterfly-like presses and add definition to your chest muscles.
The exercises that we have outlined here not only will help you to build chest muscle quickly, they are all easy enough to be performed from your own home. Weight training and muscle building does not have to be difficult, and with a little bit of effort, you can have the well-defined chest muscles that you have been looking for in no time flat.
Build Muscle Up answers common muscle-building questions and shows individuals how to build muscles quickly. Learn about muscle weight gain and read reviews on the top muscle-building systems on our website.
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Friday, June 7, 2013
Fitness Center Marketing: Branding
Some people think fitness center marketing is as simple as placing a classifieds or yellow page ad, and for some, it can be. But if you have competition (and you probably do), you can earn a majority local market share by successfully branding your fitness center or gym. Pump up your marketing efforts and go the distance to establish your gym as the go-to place to get strong, healthy and fit.
Importance of a branded image
Branding is important because people purchase on emotion. When it comes to gym marketing, they're seeking accessibility and results. It's important to identify and promote your branded identity so you can connect with your target audience at a glance. If your fitness center is not branded, then you're just another fitness center. There's nothing that separates you from the competition
This reduces your potential customer pool to make choices based on factors such as price, convenience and preconceived notions. Without a branded identity, you have no control over preconceptions and therefore you're forced to either compete on pricing and location alone. This is not a way to grow your fitness center. Cheap does not outsell quality.
How to identify your branded image
Instead, you should compete based on public perception, which you can control with a branded image. To identify your branded image, you have to consider how you're different from your competitors. What do you offer that they don't (or that they don't promote)? Perhaps you have an Olympic-sized pool, more aerobic machines or free weights, or guaranteed accessibility ("Never wait for a treadmill!"). Maybe you offer tournaments, leagues, classes, personal training, a spa, or another major advantage over the competition. Are you the "Gym for Weightlifters," "Fitness Center for All Family Members," or the "Instructional Gym"? Don't hide it - promote it!
To help you define what type of fitness center you are, consider the features and benefits you offer your members. Understand the distinction between the two. For example, having more elliptical machines is a feature - guaranteeing that members will never have to wait to get on one is a benefit. List all of your features and benefits, and pick the most important that also differentiate you from the competition to base your brand on. Try to come up with a single word or short phrase that captures this concept. In the elliptical machine scenario, this word might be "freedom" or "accessibility."
You also have to consider your members' motivations. Why would they want to choose your gym instead of a competitors'? Once you've identified your differences, strengths, clientèle, benefits and motivators, wrap them all together into a singular branded image that expresses who you are, what you do and how you do it.
Branding through design
Skilled graphic design can transform your fitness center's branded identity from a concept to a visual motivator. This image is what the world will see, and your members will perceive the ideal and emotions that your image expresses. The power of design is limitless, especially when you incorporate sound brand identity design principles for your fitness center.
Your fitness center colors, logo, corporate identity package, website and other marketing materials are all a reflection of your brand; so familiar, cohesive design must be applied to all mediums. The goal is for your prospects to be able to glance at your material and instantly recognize who it's from and what you stand for. When you achieve this, you've developed a powerful fitness center brand identity.
Learn about how your business can take your exposure to the next level of branding through PsPrint's custom poster printing and custom sticker printing. Capitalize upon the variety of printing services that PsPrint offers to maximize your company's branding efforts and marketing presence.