Treadmill Tricks

(eFitness.com) - It's by far the most popular piece of equipment in the gym and at home. And studies have shown that running on the treadmill is one of the highest calorie-burning workouts out there.

But are you really getting the most for your effort?

Consider this: When you go for a walk, you walk faster on some days than you do on others. Does it make a difference in the calories you burn? It sure does! When you walk on a treadmill, the speed is constant, so you feel like you get a better, more consistent workout than you would walking around your neighborhood. That’s a perk of the treadmill.

On the other hand, when you walk outside, you might walk uphill and downhill, which acts as interval training.

In a nutshell, the speed of your walk doesn't matter as much when you walk outdoors or on a track, since you're propelling your weight with every step. On the treadmill, however, the belt is moving and helps to bring your foot back. You may have noticed that you feel a bit more tired after a walk off the treadmill.

We’re not putting down the hottest piece of fitness equipment out there, but we would like to make it a more effective workout for you. To approximate walking outside, a treadmill requires two-degrees of incline to compensate for the movement of the belt -- so crank it up. Better yet, choose a program that adjusts the incline and speed. You'll begin to notice a difference in your program very quickly!

If you've ever reached a plateau in your fitness program, where no matter what you do, you seem stuck at a particular weight or cardio fitness level, this will come in handy here, too. Variety is the spice of your treadmill workout!

In addition, if you're using a treadmill during every one of your workouts, it's a good idea to take a step off the belt from time to time. Get on a bike, an elliptical trainer, a rowing machine or a stepper.

Muscles adapt to the same routine fairly quickly, so find two-pieces of equipment that you like and mix up your program. How can this help? When you're on a treadmill, your body interprets the walking motion as a linear movement. When you get on a bike, upright or recumbent, however, the movement becomes rotary.

Muscles don’t have eyes -- they can’t see. Muscles can only interpret movement. When you go back to the treadmill after switching things up, the body says, "We’re not doing a rotary thing, this is linear." The changes are subtle but the results can be great.

Add variety and mix up your workout. Don’t become attached to a single piece of equipment. Keep your body guessing as to what’s coming next!

Learn more at eFitness.com...

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Greeks have no appetite for the Atkins diet

(Denver Post) - Walk through the maze of streets in the Plaka, the oldest neighborhood in Athens, and the aromas hit you in the face. Cinnamon, nutmeg and filo dough. Pasta, fresh bread and feta cheese. Falafel, lamb and red wine.

For the nearly 60 million Americans who have fallen head-over-steak knife for the Atkins diet, Greek cuisine represents the third circle of Hades. The majority of the Greek diet stands for everything the low-carbohydrate, high-protein Atkins diet professes to avoid.

With the Summer Olympics here, Atkins-subscribing Americans might think they'll starve.

Talk to Greeks, however, and they say they've lived quite healthily without the Atkins diet for, oh, about 5,000 years. Yes, they know the Atkins diet. It came to Greece in the mid-1990s. Yes, they've tried it. No, they have not punted their pasta maker or dedicated their culinary life to meat and dairy products.

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Lose that belly fat!

(Shape Magazine) - You exercise, you eat right, but you still have a pooch. Here's the surprising reason why -- and how to fix it.

We crunch. We Ab Blast. We eschew carbs. Heck, we'll even go under the knife to get rid of ab flab.

Unfortunately, recent research shows that you can crunch until you crumble and diet till you're drained of energy, but if your days are full of stress, the perfect six-pack -- or even a flatter midsection -- will continue to elude you.

That's because fat in the abdominal area functions differently than fat elsewhere in the body. It has a greater blood supply as well as more receptors for cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol levels rise and fall throughout the day, but when you're under constant stress, the amount of the hormone you produce remains elevated. With high stress and, consequently, high cortisol levels, more fat is deposited in the abdominal area since there are more cortisol receptors there.

But ab flab is not the only price you'll pay for chronic stress (the kind created by a marriage that's unraveling, a job you hate, problems with your health -- rather than, say, tension caused by a traffic snarl). Chronically high cortisol levels also kill neurons in the brain and interfere with feel-good neuro-transmitters -- such as dopamine and serotonin -- which can lead to depression and feeling more stressed.

More stress = more fat

In short, the whole issue of abdominal fat goes far beyond how you look in a bikini: The fat at your waist -- what researchers call central obesity -- is associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer. And while it's true that heredity plays a role in overall body type (that is, whether you are more of an "apple" than a "pear"), says Brenda Davy, Ph.D., R.D., an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, "genetics accounts for only 25-55 percent of the tendency to develop the most serious diseases associated with abdominal fat -- the remainder is lifestyle."

Ongoing research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is showing that it doesn't even matter if a body is otherwise thin; if stress levels are high, ab fat will increase. "People called 'high-stress responders' [those who secrete more cortisol in response to stress than others] have more central fat, regardless of body weight," says Elissa Epel, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the psychiatry department at UCSF and the author of several studies on stress and eating behavior in premenopausal women.

Read more...

U.S. launches anti-obesity campaign

(Reuters) - Plan focuses on exercise, better drugs to fight epidemic

The U.S. National Institutes of Health said on Tuesday it was launching a systematic campaign to fight obesity, which now affects close to two-thirds of the U.S. population and threatens to overtake smoking as the leading cause of death.

The plan calls for targeting obesity at several levels, including behavioral and environmental changes such as better city planning to encourage exercise; developing better drugs and surgical approaches; finding out and fighting the ways obesity causes diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers; and translating the research into something people can use.

"On the surface, it may seem that the solution to the obesity epidemic is obvious: 'Get people to eat less and exercise more,"' the plan reads.

"The reality is that this change is very difficult to accomplish, and research is critical to address the issue successfully."

An estimated 65 percent of Americans are overweight and 31 percent are obese, meaning they are at serious risk of disease from their fat.

"Levels of childhood overweight have nearly tripled since 1970: approximately 16 percent of children and teens ages 6 through 19 are now overweight," adds the obesity report.

"The levels of pediatric overweight have ominous implications for the development of serious diseases, both during youth and later in adulthood," it adds.

"Left unabated, the escalating rates of obesity in the U.S. population will place a severe burden on the nation's health and its healthcare system." Obesity cost an estimated $117 billion a year in direct medical costs and indirect costs such as lost wages due to illness, the NIH said.

The NIH invested $378.6 million for obesity research in fiscal year 2003 and will spend about $400.1 million in 2004. The plan is to spend $440.3 million in fiscal year 2005.

1 in 3 Adults Has High Blood Pressure

(WebMD.com) - Obesity Weighs on 33% Increase in Americans

The number of adults in the U.S. with high blood pressure increased by nearly a third during the last 10 years, according to the latest government figures. Sixty-five million Americans now have hypertension or about 8% of the population, compared with 50 million a decade ago.

While much of the rise can be explained by the fact that the U.S. population is larger and older than it was 10 years ago, the increase in the number of overweight and obese Americans is also a major contributing factor, says American Heart Association spokesman David Goff, MD, PhD.

Read more...

Fitness Advice for At-Home Fitness Olympians

Bally Total Fitness Expert Khalid McLeod Offers Fitness Tips to Help Fitness Olympian "Wannabes" Prevent Sports-Related Injuries

Olympian athletes aren't the only people pushing their bodies to extremes this August. Many at-home fitness champions, motivated by the 2004 summer games, are attempting the sports at which their heroes excel. However, out-of-practice athletes who want to sprint as fast as Maurice Green, swing a backhand like Venus Williams, swim with as much poise as Michael Phelps and kick the soccer ball like Mia Hamm are at a greater risk than the actual competitors of suffering injury and permanent damage to their bodies.

Khalid McLeod, national spokesperson and personal trainer for Bally Total Fitness, offers safety tips and exercises that champion Olympian "wannabes" should follow to avoid sports-related injuries.

Fitness safety tips:

-- Begin each workout with a low-intensity cardiovascular exercise performed for 5 to 10 minutes or until perspiration begins. Exercising muscles that are not warmed-up will increase risk of injury.

-- Always begin each workout with upper and lower body stretches. Stretching should be slow and controlled without bouncing. Hold each stretch at a point of mild tension for 10 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 to 5 times. Do not excessively flex, twist or lock any joints.

-- Perform at a graduated response. Begin activity at 50 percent of exertion and gradually increase before you go full blast to reduce your chance of injury.

-- Hydrate! By the time your body tells you that you're thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Drink plenty of water before, during and after the activity.

-- Prevent further trauma to the body by cooling down. This will gradually lower your heart rate, circulate blood and oxygen to your muscles and reduce the risk of muscle soreness.

Sport-specific exercises:

-- Track - Running is hard on your legs, so be sure to stretch your hamstrings, quadriceps and calves. Build your cardiovascular endurance by combining running and walking.

-- Tennis - Both your upper and lower body muscles will be used in tennis. Therefore, do not forget to stretch your shoulders, flexor and extensor muscles in your forearms and your hamstrings, quadriceps and calves. Volleying a tennis ball against a wall can loosen your rotator cuff muscles for increased flexibility as well.

-- Swimming - Strong and limber arms and legs will propel you in the water. Prepare your muscles, including your calves and shoulders by stretching in the water. It is also helpful if you strengthen your lungs by intermittently holding your breath for several seconds.

-- Soccer - Since every muscle from your lower back to your Achilles tendon will be used in soccer, stretch your hamstrings, quadriceps and calves.

"Sports are a great way to get fit and have a good time. But remember that even summer games athletes were once beginners in their respective sports," says McLeod. "If you keep your body healthy and practice often, you, too, will one day excel."

For additional fitness tips or to set up an interview with Khalid McLeod of Bally Total Fitness, please contact Jamie Morgan at (201) 964-2380.

How to Train Like a Rugby Player

Rugby players are definitely pretty fit. Even though I don't really understand the game I have a lot of respect for guys who will repeatedly throw their bodies into piles of other players, many of whom outweigh them by a lot... WITHOUT any real padding! Here's an interesting article that explains how the top rugby players train to increase their fitness. Enjoy!

Age Can't Stop Fitness Legend Jack La Lanne

Fitness 'guru' Jack La Lanne is an inspiration to millions of Americans. Even at 89 he doesn't seem to be slowing down much at all...

(Reuters) - Eighty-nine-year-old Jack La Lanne enters a San Francisco hotel gym and immediately starts bantering with staff and guests and offering exercise advice.

One man lies on the floor upon La Lanne's order and begins a series of arduous sit-ups as La Lanne barks out directions. Everyone is stunned, not only to see the fitness guru unexpectedly at the hotel, but to witness an evangelical zeal for health seemingly undiminished by advanced age.

"Jesus Christ was for the hereafter, right? I'm for the here now," La Lanne said during a visit to his birthplace San Francisco last weekend. His wife Elaine, who sometimes finishes La Lanne's sentences or reminds him of his best lines, then shouted out, "Hallelujah."

La Lanne has been preaching his gospel of exercise and good diet since 1936 when he opened his first gym in Oakland, California, across the Bay from San Francisco.

He gained a national following after "The Jack La Lanne Show" premiered on television in 1951 and started a 34-year run. La Lanne encouraged viewers to exercise with him using simple props such as a chair to the tune of organ music.

Over time he entered the popular culture and made many guest appearances on television shows including "The Addams Family," "Here's Lucy," "Laugh-In" and the "The Simpsons."

All these years later, La Lanne's exercise shows still air on cable television and he is marketing a power juicer, exercise mat, videos and skin cream on the Internet and in commercials.

In person, he delivers the machine-gun fast patter of a salesman par excellence.

"Was Jesus a good salesman, if you believed in the Bible? He believed in something. I believe in something," he said. "When I lecture, I have one thing in my mind, to help those people."

In an oft-told tale, La Lanne said he converted his life as a wayward, sugar-addicted youth to the path of fitness fanatic at age 15 and never looked back. All of this has also made La Lanne, who lives in Morro Bay on California's coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a rich man and a celebrity.

SCORN FOR STEROIDS

Even as La Lanne and subsequent generations of fitness promoters spread their message, performance-enhancing drugs have spread in sports, and obesity among the American population has also grown to be an ever-larger problem.

Even back in the 1930s, La Lanne said, a few body builders were already taking performance-enhancing drugs, a problem that has cast a shadow over the 2004 Olympics in wake of the San Francisco-area BALCO lab scandal.

"You'll never stop any of that stuff; it's impossible. As long as the emphasis is on winning, they'll do anything," he said. "I think it's terrible. It's like going to bed with a rattle snake. It's going to get you."

La Lanne said steroids were vital to the bodybuilding career of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he calls a good friend. The two met when the Austrian immigrant was a 19-year-old in southern California, La Lanne said. Schwarzenegger has acknowledged he used steroids.

"He could have never had made it without the steroids," La Lanne said. "He would have never have been of that caliber."

Yet La Lanne is a big admirer of the former Hollywood star turned politician, perhaps because they both share an optimistic anything-is-possible outlook on life.

"Arnold's always been Arnold. If you don't like Arnold, you don't like sex or money," he said. "Arnold never made an excuse for anything, he just set out and did it."

Such a can-do spirit has propelled La Lanne to perform a series of unusual feats. In 1956, he did 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes. He swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco on his 60th birthday handcuffed and shackled on his legs while pulling a 1,000-pound boat. On his 70th birthday, he towed 70 boats carrying 70 people for a mile and a half.

The point? "To show that anything in life is possible. What the mind can conceive the body can do," he said.

Despite his own indefatigable sales pitch, La Lanne scorns advertising as the root of the problem for America's growing obesity epidemic. And as for eating fads such as the low carb Atkins diet and others, La Lanne does not mince words.

"It's a bunch of bull," he said.

He is no less sparing of health clubs which promise easy weight loss. "All of them are bogus unless you include nutrition," he said.

Like many old men, La Lanne has strong opinions. But with a trim physique and a reserve of energy, he is a living example of what happens after a life devoted to physical fitness.

He is also a font of one liners. "I can't afford to die, it would hurt my image," he joked.

Lunchtime Workout Tricks

For many people, lunchtime is the only time of day they have to workout. But it can be tough to squeeze in a good workout when you only have an hour or so - and you need to eat, change clothes (twice), shower, etc! WeightWatchers.com has provided a very useful guide to effective lunchtime workouts below:

(WeightWatchers.com) - Sherri, a busy 40-year-old paralegal from Newark, New Jersey, is not a morning person. And by the time she's done with work, the last place she wants to go is the gym; usually by that time she's tired and just wants to go home.

If she wants to fit in regular workouts, then, the only time that will work is lunchtime. But how do you do that without skimping on your fitness routine or taking too much time away from your desk?

The 60-Minute Lunch Crunch

The first step is to decide what kind of workout will work. Sherri has always been a walker, but recently decided she wanted to add more oomph to her workout. She dedicated herself to finding a gym that was accessible from her office.

The second step? Making it a priority. Personal time is always last on the list, so committing yourself to fit in a block of time to work out is often the hardest part, says Debbie Mandel, a personal trainer based in Lawrence, New York.

If you're determined, though, it can be done. Just use these tricks for a complete lunch-hour workout that will have you back at your desk on time:

• Work out a time budget: If you have 60 minutes for lunch, for example, subtract the amount of time it will take you to get to and from the gym, changed into your gym clothes and onto the machines. Even if you have just 20 minutes left, there's a lot you can do. If your trips to the gym normally include time on the cardio machines, at the free weights and on the mat, and the whole thing runs you several hours, it may be hard to imagine spending only a few minutes working out. But remember: A short workout is better than none at all!




• Make the right moves. If you're trying to burn fat, focus on cardio, says Sharon Mann, a Vancouver-based personal trainer and host of several fitness videos. That means the treadmill, the elliptical trainer, the stationary bike — anything that will get your heart rate up (read Target Heart Rate to learn more). If you're at a point where you'd like to work weight training into your routine, go for it, but make sure you're dedicating at least three workouts a week to cardio, or getting your heart rate up at some other point in the day.




• Warm up, cool down. These two important parts of your workout are not to be skipped, no matter what. Luckily, if you're doing a cardio workout, your warm-up can be incorporated into that (just start slow and work your way up). But be sure to stretch when you're done, even if it's just for five minutes, to maintain your flexibility.




• Consider working out outside. Sherry, a 36-year-old legal assistant from Clarksburg, West Virginia, found a way to work in some fast exercise by teaming up with a friend and using her lunches for power walks. Are there paths or bike trails near your office?




• Or working out at work. If a gym is too far and the weather isn't welcoming, take a look around your office. Is there a stairwell you can use as your personal step machine? Does your cube or desk offer you enough space for the use of small fitness tools, like a balance ball or a jump rope? Can you use an empty conference room to roll out a mat and do stretches?




• Pick your work clothes with your workout in mind. "On days you plan on working out at lunch, try to wear clothes that are easier to change in and out of," suggests Carrie, a 28-year-old graphic designer from Boston who hits the gym on her lunch hour. "For example, pantyhose get ripped easily when changing in and out of them." Depending on your office attire, you might consider layering some of your workout clothes under your work outfit.




• Pack your bag the night before. Include your shoes, a change of underwear, deodorant … and extra socks. People tend to forget socks, warns Mandel.




• Be smart about showering. You don't have to repeat your entire morning get-ready routine, even if you tend to sweat a lot. Do what you need to do: Shower without washing your hair, for example. (Think about putting it in a bun or braid for the rest of the day.) Or just use a small wet towel and some deodorant to freshen up.




• Eat in stages. If you're working out during lunch, when do you eat lunch? It's simple: In stages, at your desk. Divide a healthy, balanced midday meal into several courses. If you can, pick the carb-heavy parts of your meal (grains, fruits, etc.) for pre-workout — carbohydrates provide the quick fuel you'll need at the gym. Just try to eat at least an hour before you go, though a last-minute piece of fruit should be okay, too, if you're finding yourself feeling famished as you strap on your sneakers. And post-workout? Reward yourself with the rest of your meal.




• Increase your productivity. A common hurdle when it comes to working out during work hours is guilt; many people worry that they'll be less productive if they take that break. On the contrary — it may help. For many people, exercising can create more energy, says Mandel. "It can help you avoid the afternoon slump," she says. "Your brain will be more productive and you will have more endurance for your projects. Also, exercise will de-stress you and raise [mood-enhancing] endorphins."

Get more great fitness & weight loss info at WeightWatchers.com...

Low Carb = Low Cancer?

There's a lot of evidence that limiting your intake of simple (aka 'bad') carbs may be the best thing you can do to avoid getting cancer. Many experts believe that diets like Atkins and the South Beach Diet are much closer to the 'natural' way humans are designed to eat. That means basically that they work with our bodies instead of against them. (In my opinion the South Beach eating plan is the healthiest mainstream diet on the market.)

A new study has linked high processed carb intake with increased rate of breast cancer in women. According to health expert Larrian Gillespie...

"Your best bet is to select low glycemic carbs, such as berries, stone ground whole wheat and lots of vegetables but not let them exceed 40% of your total calorie consumption if you want to lower your risk of developing breast cancer..."

Learn more about carbs and cancer...

Jump-start fitness with rope routine

(CNN.com) -- These days fitness clubs have no shortage of newfangled cardiovascular machines and classes ranging from the elliptical trainer to cardio hip-hop.

But if you're longing to get back to the basics, consider picking up that jump rope you haven't touched since you last stepped foot on the school playground.

According to the American Council on Exercise, jumping rope not only provides a top-notch "heart healthy" workout, but it also can improve hand and foot coordination as well as endurance.

Before getting started, the council recommends investing in a good pair of aerobic shoes or cross trainers with lots of cushioning at the ball of the foot. You'll also need the jump rope.

There are numerous varieties on the market, but the exercise council says to start with a lightweight rope, rather than one with weighted handles or rope length.

Read more...

PDAs -- Personal Diet Assistants?

(businessweek.com) - The latest Palms have enough memory to help manage your well-being...

How to Control Hunger & Lose Weight

(eDiets.com) - Learning to manage your hunger is a very important key to staying on a weight loss plan long enough to lose the desired weight. Hunger is a natural by-product of limiting your food intake, and it’s very important to learn the difference between true hunger and a psychological desire to eat. Once you are able to identify these feelings, you’ll need to learn to control your responses to them.

The basic process of hunger can be likened to a traffic light: green means start eating, yellow cautions that you're nearing the fullness point and red means stop. Our physiology is actually designed to give us the green, yellow or red lights, which could theoretically end the whole calorie-counting business in favor of simply eating according to physical hunger and fullness.

Unfortunately, the practice isn't that simple. For one thing, distractions get in the way of physical sensations. Though our body says "green light," we might not be able eat at that moment. Often, people eat when they are too hungry and continue to eat well beyond a comfortable feeling of fullness. Doing this consistently can lead to weight gain.

Satiety refers to how long you'll feel full. In other words, how long the light will stay red before turning green again. Many factors influence satiety. A long list of hormones and physical mechanisms trigger hunger and satiety. For example, low blood glucose and a hormone called neuropeptide Y (NPY) are thought to stimulate hunger. Conversely, hormones such as serotonin and cholecystokinin (CCK), as well as many nutrients in the blood, contribute to satiety.

Despite the laundry list of reactions that physiological hunger and satiety trigger, appetite is what most often determines how much we eat. Nearly everyone eats for reasons other than just being hungry. Some people have learned to eat “by the clock,” so they eat on a schedule whether they are hungry or not. Others eat in response to mood: sadness, anger, anxiety, boredom or happiness. These triggers are types of psychological hunger, and they can be very powerful cues to eat -- and to overeat. This is why it is helpful to keep a food journal and write down how you’re feeling before, during and after you eat for reasons other than hunger.

Mechanisms that control learning behavior vary. Hunger and appetite are the big go signals; satiation and satiety are the main stop signals. A useful scale to gage your hunger by is:

1. You're so hungry you feel dizzy and irritable.
2. You need to eat and you’re having trouble concentrating.
3. You feel physical signs of hunger (stomach rumbling).
4. You're starting to feel like food.
5. You feel just right -- perfectly comfortable.
6. You are comfortably full.
7. You feel a little too full.
8. You feel stuffed.
9. You’re very full and might need to unbutton your pants or loosen your belt.
10. You feel intensely uncomfortable.

If you recognize that you often wait too long to eat or you often eat beyond the point of comfort, you might gain some benefit by keeping a written record of your own feelings of hunger, using this scale. Take a look at what and how much you eat -- when you are too hungry versus the times you eat when hunger is just beginning. See if you can move your eating schedule to accommodate your true need for food.

What else can you do?

• Eat protein foods at each meal. Protein acts as an appetite suppressant to help control hunger pains.
• Avoid simple sugar foods. And, if you do succumb to them, ensure they are mixed with a meal.
• Eat smaller meals. Eating smaller meals more frequently will help reduce the intensity of hunger pains and keep your metabolism revved up.
• Consume high fiber foods. At each meal, consume high fiber foods first to fill your stomach and speed satiety.
• EXERCISE! It regulates appetite to control hunger and food intake (not to mention burning calories and building muscle).

Learn more at eDiets.com...

Teens turn to trainers

Hiring a good personal trainer for your son or daughter is a great way to get them into the 'exercise habit' and help boost their self-confidence...

(news-observer.com) - Forget Trapper Keepers and trendy togs. Triangle teens are spending their money -- well, their parents' money -- on a new must-have accessory for school this fall: A personal trainer. "At least two more," Chad Lefler told Katie Robbins, 17, who scrunched up her face with the effort of bench-pressing a 16-pound bar for, like, the millionth time. "You can do it! Come on, last one. Push, push, push, push! Good job, Katie!"

Katie sat up and took a swig from a bottle of Dasani. She starts the first day of her senior year at St. Mary's School on Monday. She has been working out with the trainers at N-Shape Personal Fitness since she was 14, to get stronger and to gain confidence. She does feel a little guilty about the cost -- about $40 an hour, three times a week -- but it was her father's idea, and he doesn't seem to mind.

"He's offering, so ..." Katie shrugged. "I plan on taking everything Chad's taught me, and going with it," she said of the day she leaves for college. "I'll probably join a gym and keep up."

No statistic exists to show more teenagers are working out with personal trainers, but there's anecdotal evidence of the trend, said Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. More and more trainers are calling ACE to find information about how to work with youth, he said.

Read more...

Putting some kick into your workout

Looking for a new high-intensity workout that will increase your strength and flexibility while burning fat? Then cardio-kickboxing may be just what you are looking for to enhance your fitness workout.

As the name implies, cardio-kickboxing involves a ton of kicking moves that will help flatten your stomach and tighten your glutes (buttocks), in addition to getting a great cardio workout.

The punching moves originate from your core, especially your abdominal area (not from your arms, as some people often assume.)

While cardio-kickboxing, you generally train your eyes on the target you are punching or kicking, be it real or imagined. This means, for example, turning your head and watching your foot when you are making a side kick.

According to a study by the American Council on Exercise, cardio-kickboxing burns an average of 350 to 450 calories per hour. The caloric expenditure during a typical cardio-kickboxing class is roughly equivalent to an hour of brisk walking or light jogging for the average person.

Read more: Modesto Bee

10 Effective Fat-Burning Foods

(eDiets.com) - Stoke your metabolic fire and burn calories faster with diet-friendly foods and beverages. Post this list of fat-burning on your fridge next to the photo of you in your "skinny jeans" and make a copy to bring with you the next time you shop for groceries.

Just remember: calories count, portion control rules and there’s no substitute for a well-balanced diet and regular exercise. So get moving!

Here are the top picks culled from some of the latest research:

1. Water! A new study seems to indicate that drinking water actually speeds up weight loss. Researchers in Germany found that subjects of the study increased their metabolic rates (the rate at which calories are burned) by 30 percent after drinking approximately 17 ounces of water. Water is also a natural appetite suppressant that banishes bloat as it flushes out sodium and toxins. Drinking enough water will also help keep you from mistaking thirst for hunger. So drink up!

2. Green Tea! Studies show that green tea extract boosts metabolism and may aid in weight loss. This mood-enhancing tea has also been reported to contain anti-cancer properties and help prevent heart disease. It's also a trendy drink among weight-conscious celebrities.

3. Soup! Eat less and burn fat faster by having a bowl of soup as an appetizer or a snack. According to a Penn State University study, soup is a super appetite suppressant because it’s made up of a hunger-satisfying combination of liquids and solids. In the study, women chose one of three 270-calorie snacks before lunch. Women who had chicken and rice soup as a snack consumed an average of 100 fewer calories than those in the study who opted for a chicken and rice casserole or the casserole and a glass of water.

4. Grapefruit! The grapefruit diet is not a myth. Researchers at Scripps Clinic found that participants who ate half a grapefruit with each meal in a 12-week period lost an average of 3.6 pounds. The Scripps study indicates that the unique chemical properties in this vitamin C-packed citrus fruit reduce insulin levels, which promotes weight loss. NOTE: If you are taking medication, check with your doctor about any potentially adverse interactions with grapefruit.

5. Apples & Pears! Overweight women who ate the equivalent of three small apples or pears a day lost more weight on a low-calorie diet than women who didn’t add fruit to their diet, according to researchers from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Fruit eaters also ate fewer calories overall. So, next time you need to satisfy a sugar craving, reach for this low-calorie, high-fiber snack. You’ll feel full longer and eat less.

6. Broccoli! Study after study links calcium and weight loss. Broccoli is not only high in calcium but it's also loaded with vitamin C which boosts calcium absorption. This member of the nutritious cabbage family also has plenty of vitamin A, folate and fiber. And, at just 20-calories per cup, this weight loss superfood not only fights fat but also contains powerful phytochemicals that boost your immunity and protect against disease.

7. Low-Fat Yogurt! Dairy products can boost weight loss efforts, according to a study in the April issue of Obesity Research. People on a reduced-calorie diet who included 3-4 servings of dairy foods lost significantly more weight than those who ate a low-dairy diet containing the same number of calories. Low-fat yogurt is a rich source of weight-loss-friendly calcium, providing about 450 mg (about half the recommended daily allowance for women ages 19-50) per 8-ounce serving, as well as 12 grams of protein.

8. Lean Turkey! Rev up your fat-burning engine with this bodybuilder favorite. Countless studies have shown that protein can help boost metabolism, lose fat and build lean muscle tissue so you burn more calories. A 3-ounce serving of boneless, skinless lean turkey breast weighs in at 120 calories and provides 26 grams of appetite-curbing protein, 1 gram of fat and 0 grams of saturated fat.

9. Oatmeal! This heart-healthy favorite ranks high on the good carb list, because it’s a good source of cholesterol-fighting, fat-soluble fiber (7 grams per 3/4-cup serving) that keeps you full and provides you with the energy you need to make the most of your workouts. Just be sure to choose steel cut or rolled oats, not instant oatmeal, to get your full dose of vitamins, minerals and fiber.

10. Hot Peppers! Eating hot peppers can speed up your metabolism and cool your cravings, researchers at Laval University in Canada found. Here's why: capsaicin (a chemical found in jalapeño and cayenne peppers) temporarily stimulates your body to release more stress hormones, which speeds up your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories.

Here's how these 10 fat-blasting superstars help you lose weight:

• Each of these healthy weight-loss boosters fills you up and keeps you full longer on fewer calories.
• Water-rich fresh fruits, veggies and soup dilute the calories in your food and allow you to eat more without breaking the calorie bank.
• High-fiber fruit, vegetables and nutritious whole grains keep your digestive system on track and steady insulin levels, which prevents fat storage.
• Lean meat boosts metabolism and burns calories because it take more energy to digest than other foods.

Learn more about healthy weight loss at eDiets.com...

What You Don't Know About Fat

(Newsweek) - Fat cells: The average person has 40 billion of them. They multiply, they're almost impossible to kill and they're sending messages to your body that can ruin your health.

Read more...

10 Ways to Boost Your Motivation

We all lose our motivation once in awhile. Working out, going to the gym, preparing healthy fitness-friendly meals, taking the right supplements... it can all get a little tiring, especially if you're not seeing the results you want. Here are 10 of the most proven fitness motivation boosters you can start using this week to 're-energize' yourself and get back on track...

1. Set realistic goals. You need a target to know what you're gunning for. If you have a big overall goal, set up a series of smaller goals first.

2. Think positive. Let enthusiasm and confidence dictate your mind. What you actually believe you can do, you will.

3. Buy yourself an outfit you want to look great in when you reach your goal.

4. Get Tuned up. Listening to your favorite motivational music can really help intensify workouts.

5. Try exciting new exercises to add a healthy variation. Use free weights instead of machines, use the stepper instead of the treadmill. Try to a new fitness program that you can be excited about.

6. Keep track of your progress. Keep a journal so you can jot down your thoughts and accomplishments each day.

7. Join a new gym for a while for a change of scenery. The great outdoors also makes for a refreshing gym.

8. Find a great workout partner, one who will inspire you, not tire you.

9. Focus on your workout. Block out those nagging distractions.

10. Find a picture of someone with a physique you would like to emulate (be realistic), and hang the picture up as a reminder of what you're working towards.

Pro Golfer a Fitness Freak

Golf pro Darren Clarke recently revived his career with a healthy diet and fitness training. Now he's one of the leaders at the PGA Championship...

He used to be one of the generational holdouts, a cigar-smoking, beer-swilling party man who loved his late nights almost as much as he hated his early mornings. But for Darren Clarke, it became a simple proposition. If he couldn't beat his fitness-minded fellow professionals, he pretty much had to join them.

"Two years ago, I don't know whether I could have done this," said Clarke yesterday after shooting a sizzling 65 to grab the first-round lead at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits layout.

"Probably not, in fact. It's a hard walking course."

Clarke has lost 40 lb. since he gave in to the fitness craze 17 months ago. Now, when his opponents pass him on the way to the gym at the crack of dawn, he's not coming in from a night of carousing. He's been fighting the flab with his trainers.

"I'll tell you if (the self-denial) has paid off at the end of this week," he said.

Read more: CalgarySun.com

High Intensity Ab Exercises

If you're already training your ab muscles on a regular basis - and have decent core strength - you may want to try some of these 'advanced' ab exercises for even better results...

Super Crunch

To add some intensity to your regular crunches and really blast your abs, try this advanced ab exercise.

Lie on the floor in your regular Crunch position, knees bent, hands over ears (not locked behind head) or in tight to chest.

Now, crunch up approximately 10 inches, holding the peak contraction for a count of 4. In this fully contracted position, the key is to really squeeze your abs together hard. Imagine pushing your upper abs into your lower abs and vice-versa (like an accordion coming together).

From this point, you want to return to the floor very slowly. The trick here is to try to keep your abs tense and contracted during the eccentric or negative phase of the movement. And you want to return slowly; it should take a count of 3-4.

Repeat the motion trying to maintain as much continuous tension on the abs as possible. This movement is not about "how many" reps you can do . . . it's all about how hard you can squeeze your abs and maintain tension.

I like to shoot for a grueling set of 12-20 reps and then finish off by immediately going into a set of 8-10 regular paced Crunches.

Hanging Leg Raises

Hanging Leg Raises are becoming one of the most popular abdominal exercises, and with good reason. This intense movement is a great way to target the entire abdominal region including the difficult to hit lower abs.

If you're not already incorporating Hanging Leg Raises into your ab routine on a regular basis, you should give them a go. Here's the basic technique.

You begin the movement hanging from a Lat Pull-up bar. Your grip should be about shoulder width apart, and your arms should remain fully extended throughout the movement. You want to bend your knees slightly and keep them bent throughout.

Now, using your ab muscles only, raise your legs up to a point where your feet are about level with your belly button (note: you do not want to swing your legs up with your hips?focus on your abs).

As typical with abs, hold the peak contraction for a count of one or two and squeeze hard. Perform the negative portion of the movement slowly by lowering your legs resisting somewhat on the way down. Repeat for a tight set of 12-20 reps.

Isolated Pulley Crunch

Here's a bit of a tricky one-arm variation on the basic Pulley Rope Crunch that's a great way to finish off your ab work every now and then and keep things fresh. You do the exercise pretty much the same way as basic Pulley Rope Crunches but here, of course, you use just one arm at a time.

With the rope attached to the high pulley on the cable machine, grab one end of it with one hand. From here, you want to kneel down on a pad leaving enough room in front of you to perform your Crunches, about two feet or so.

Now keep your arm and hand locked in position a few inches above and to the side of your head. Pull down, bending forward at the waist. You want to pull all the way down to the floor.

Concentrate on only pulling down and forward with your abs. Don't swing, and try to keep the movement fluid rather than jerky. Hold the peak contraction for a second or two and return to the starting position slowly.

Perform 12-16 reps, take a brief rest (30 seconds), and then repeat with the alternate arm. When performed properly, you'll find this variation strongly stresses the intercostals and the serratus.


More resources: Learn what it takes to get six pack abs...

Study:Your brain tires out your muscles

A new study explains how your brain tells your body to slow down and recover during hard workouts...

(newscientist.com) - Fatigue is in the mind, not the muscles, suggests a new study. But it can still have a serious impact on athletic performance. The finding could lead to treatments for conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, or the development of illicit performance-enhancing drugs.

Traditionally, fatigue was viewed as the result of over-worked muscles ceasing to function properly. But evidence is mounting that our brains make us feel weary after exercise (New Scientist print edition, 20 March). The idea is that the brain steps in to prevent muscle damage.

Now Paula Robson-Ansley and her colleagues at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have demonstrated that a ubiquitous body signalling molecule called interleukin-6 plays a key role in telling the brain when to slow us down. Blood levels of IL-6 are 60 to 100 times higher than normal following prolonged exercise, and injecting healthy people with IL-6 makes them feel tired.

To work out if IL-6 affects performance, Robson-Ansley injected seven club-standard runners with either IL-6 or a placebo and recorded their times over 10 kilometres. A week later, the experiment was reversed.

On average they ran nearly a minute faster after receiving the placebo, a significant difference since their finishing times were around 41 minutes. The findings will appear in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology.

Read more...

Ancient Olympians Followed "Atkins" Diet, Scholar Says

(National Geographic News) - The 2004 Athens Olympic Games begin on Friday. Over the course of the 18-day event, 24,000 athletes, coaches, and officials will wolf down almost every food imaginable, from Brazilian fish stew to Asian stir-fried vegetables. Most competitors will follow highly specialized diets and consume sports drinks, gels, and energy bars to boost their performance.

The modern Olympics have radically changed from their debut in 776 B.C., when the cook Koroibos won the only sporting event: a footrace. But even then, ancient athletes were concerned with what they ate — and some even followed a meat-heavy, Atkins-style diet.

Now food historians are studying ancient Greek and Roman texts to learn about the diet of the first Olympians — and about the roots of Mediterranean cuisine.

Archaeologists have been able to uncover food remains from ancient Egyptian sites, thanks to the region's arid climate, said Louis Grivetti, a food historian from the University of California at Davis.

And while few food remains have been found in Greek excavations, "there is a wealth of information available through ancient Greek and Latin texts," the historian said.

Grivetti is focusing his own research on the ancient text The Deipnosophists (also known as The Philosophers' Banquet), a 15-volume tale of a lengthy feast written around A.D. 200.

The writer, Athenaeus, was a Greek from Naucratis, an ancient city southeast of present-day Alexandria, Egypt.

In his work, Athenaeus describes an unusual banquet, one where diners talk about where food comes from, discuss its quality, and note its geographic source. The meal is a feast for gourmands, and each person provides the literary citations for his comment, Grivetti said.

While 1,500 texts are cited by Athenaeus, only 15 percent of those exist today. Taken together, however, these remaining works present a picture of the finest in Mediterranean cuisine, along with insights into how food was prepared, eaten, and incorporated into daily life and thought.

Ancient "Atkins" Diet

In the time of ancient Greece, the diet of regular folk consisted mainly of breads, vegetables, and fruits. Fish was the most common meat eaten in this seafaring region.

Ancient Olympians came from the upper social strata in Greece, since wealthy families could feed their children more protein-rich legumes and meats to build muscle.

The earliest records point to a cheese-and-fruit-based diet for the first Olympic athletes, but somewhere along the line, dietary emphasis shifted to meat, Grivetti said.

Read more...

Active Recovery for Better Workouts

Here's why you should keep moving between sets -- and in the days following a hard workout or competition:

(sportsmedicine.about.com) - Low intensity exercise may be better than complete rest after competition...

After athletic competition or a hard workout it would seem that complete rest would be the best way to encourage recovery. However, research is beginning to find some advantages in active recovery. Two forms of active recovery include the cool down phase that occurs immediately after a hard effort. The second form of active recovery includes the days following the event. Research is accumulating on the benefits of both types of active recovery.

One study published in Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise found that active recovery immediately after the event encourages recovery and reduces muscle lactate levels faster than complete rest. After hard intervals, one group rested completely while a second group exercised at 30% intensity between intervals. The active group reduced blood lactate levels faster & could achieve a higher power output throughout the workout.

Many athletes are very interested in the best way to speed recovery and more and more is being written about fast recover after high intensity exercise. Active recovery is becoming a common and basic part of athlete's training schedules.

Another study found that the addition of low intensity exercise to the rest period after competition did not adversely affect physiological recovery and had a significantly beneficial effect on psychological recovery by enhancing relaxation.

Read more...

Getting Through Workout Slumps

(About.com Bodybuilding) - The process of transforming and improving your physique can be long. Don't let impatience or plateaus prevent you from pushing yourself harder in your workouts and performing at a level that will yield results. Look for the "green light" and don't let anything stop you from moving past frustration and closer to your goal.

Do you ever wonder what kind of mind power and passion enables one to continually succeed in their training and achieve results? Are you one to have days or perhaps weeks of accomplishments in the gym only to meander off the road by losing gas, becoming unfocused by the roadkill of self-doubt or the knowledge that you are fast approaching the big hill you have never gone beyond? If this is you, you must come to realize the well-worn paths in your training roadmap and seek to move past them.

If you've been training for any length of time, you may know this path all too well. You will have 3 great weeks where the body, mind, and spirit are one. The diet is good, the training is inspired, nothing can stop you. Nothing. You believe!

But ahh, there it is, a certain shape or comfy weight starts to emerge and panic arises over the approaching arbitrary stop light at the intersection of "At-Least-I'm-At-The-Gym" and "It's-Okay-To-Just-Maintain Road". Life, money, job, relationships, the routine, the beautifully shaped "already there" bodies become rooftop cargo that reduce your speed. Suddenly, a car blazes past and you feel like perhaps you've wandered down the wrong street.

Read more...

High Intensity Ab Exercises

If your ab routine is getting stale you may want to try these 'advanced' ab exercises. They'll help you mix things up for better results in less time...

Super Crunch

To add some intensity to your regular crunches and really blast your abs, try this advanced ab exercise.

Lie on the floor in your regular Crunch position, knees bent, hands over ears (not locked behind head) or in tight to chest.

Now, crunch up approximately 10 inches, holding the peak contraction for a count of 4. In this fully contracted position, the key is to really squeeze your abs together hard. Imagine pushing your upper abs into your lower abs and vice-versa (like an accordion coming together).

From this point, you want to return to the floor very slowly. The trick here is to try to keep your abs tense and contracted during the eccentric or negative phase of the movement. And you want to return slowly; it should take a count of 3-4.

Repeat the motion trying to maintain as much continuous tension on the abs as possible. This movement is not about "how many" reps you can do . . . it's all about how hard you can squeeze your abs and maintain tension.

I like to shoot for a grueling set of 12-20 reps and then finish off by immediately going into a set of 8-10 regular paced Crunches.

Hanging Leg Raises

Hanging Leg Raises are becoming one of the most popular abdominal exercises, and with good reason. This intense movement is a great way to target the entire abdominal region including the difficult to hit lower abs.

If you're not already incorporating Hanging Leg Raises into your ab routine on a regular basis, you should give them a go. Here's the basic technique.

You begin the movement hanging from a Lat Pull-up bar. Your grip should be about shoulder width apart, and your arms should remain fully extended throughout the movement. You want to bend your knees slightly and keep them bent throughout.

Now, using your ab muscles only, raise your legs up to a point where your feet are about level with your belly button (note: you do not want to swing your legs up with your hips?focus on your abs).

As typical with abs, hold the peak contraction for a count of one or two and squeeze hard. Perform the negative portion of the movement slowly by lowering your legs resisting somewhat on the way down. Repeat for a tight set of 12-20 reps.

Isolated Pulley Crunch

Here's a bit of a tricky one-arm variation on the basic Pulley Rope Crunch that's a great way to finish off your ab work every now and then and keep things fresh. You do the exercise pretty much the same way as basic Pulley Rope Crunches but here, of course, you use just one arm at a time.

With the rope attached to the high pulley on the cable machine, grab one end of it with one hand. From here, you want to kneel down on a pad leaving enough room in front of you to perform your Crunches, about two feet or so.

Now keep your arm and hand locked in position a few inches above and to the side of your head. Pull down, bending forward at the waist. You want to pull all the way down to the floor.

Concentrate on only pulling down and forward with your abs. Don't swing, and try to keep the movement fluid rather than jerky. Hold the peak contraction for a second or two and return to the starting position slowly.

Perform 12-16 reps, take a brief rest (30 seconds), and then repeat with the alternate arm. When performed properly, you'll find this variation strongly stresses the intercostals and the serratus.

New Diet Guidelines: More fruit, veggies, exercise!

(AP) - That food pyramid could get a little wider in the fruits and vegetables section. A federal advisory panel recommended Wednesday that Americans eat five to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, compared with the five to nine servings now recommended.

The panel is developing an update of 4-year-old dietary guidelines that will form the basis for revisions to the Agriculture Department’s familiar food pyramid.

The goal is to help change their habits, said Eric Hentges, executive director of the Agriculture Department’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. While about 80 percent of Americans recognize the pyramid, only about 2 percent to 4 percent apply its principles, he said.

“We’ve got good science,” Hentges said. “Our challenge is to implement this into good policy.”

Hentges said the final report would include lists and charts to help people apply the principles.

Food processors have already taken some steps that will bring them in line with the new dietary plans, with some products already dropping trans fats, Hentges said. The committee wanted as little as possible in foods, because they have been linked to higher cholesterol levels, which raise the chance of heart attack.

The recommendations urge greater consumption of fiber, which is found in whole-grain foods, and say most people should drink three cups a day of milk — albeit nonfat or lowfat.

Focus on overweight

Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and that was a chief concern of advisers during their daylong meeting. They sought ways to help people avoid diabetes, heart disease and other diseases that result from people carrying too much weight.

The panel said adults ought to do at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week; even better would be 60 minutes. The guidance has been that people ought to be physically active each day.

Read more...

The danger of indulging on special occasions

(Charles Stuart Platkin) - We all have those special occasions — birthdays, family dinners, parties, weddings, retirement dinners and even just weekends — that we use as excuses to overeat.

According to Amy Gorin, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School, one of the primary predictors of weight gain or maintenance is dietary consistency. "Those who maintain the same diet regimen across the week and year are more likely to maintain their weight loss over the following year than those who diet more strictly on weekdays and/or during nonholiday periods."

If you're wondering whether overeating "just this once" really has any effect on your weight, numbers don't lie. I made up my own roster of "special days," and the total came to about 50 per year.

If I ate 500 extra calories on those days (one piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream), that would be about 25,000 calories, or more than 7 pounds a year!

Here are tips to avoid gaining weight from all of those "Extra Ordinary Eating" events.

All or nothing

I don't know how many times I've heard someone say: "I've already ruined my diet, so it doesn't matter what I eat now!" The bottom line is that an extra calorie is an extra calorie — so having a slice of birthday cake doesn't (or shouldn't) give you the excuse to eat two more.

Haven't you ever heard of cutting your losses? Well, here it's the opposite: You're cutting your gains.

Strategize

You may think planning what you're going to eat beforehand takes the fun and spontaneity out of the occasion, but that's just not so. Think about what and how much you're going to eat at the event before you even get there — set limits and you'll feel better.

For instance, if you know there is going to be cake and ice cream, and you typically have two or sometimes three servings, mentally rehearse having only one serving of each.

Is it worth it?

We tend to eat unconsciously at these events — shoving food in our mouths without even thinking. So be aware of what you're eating and make sure it tastes great. If the birthday cake or apple pie is not up to par — don't eat it.

Instead of "waste not, want not," try to adopt a "want not, waist not" mentality. In other words, if you don't really want it, don't let it go to your waist.

Read more...

Suzanne Somers' Fitness Secrets

(eDiets.com) - Suzanne Somers has an impressive acting resume, but it pales next to her greatest role... the role of respected diet and fitness expert.

Somers has come a long way from the days of playing ditzy blonde bombshell Chrissy Snow on Three's Company. The real Somers is the anti-Chrissy -- she's an intelligent, super-successful woman who’s well-versed in both nutrition and exercise.

She’s amassed an empire over the years, while serving as the spokesperson for several popular workout devices such as the Body Row. She’s also the author of 11 books, including Fast & Easy, The Sexy Years and Eat Great, Lose Weight. There are THREE more books in the works.

A frequent guest on the Home Shopping Network, Somers markets her own line of clothing, jewelry, appliances, beauty products and foods. More than 10 million men and women have turned to her for weight-loss direction.

Somers' legacy as a fitness guru has far surpassed her popularity as an actress. Her Somersizing philosophy is known coast to coast: helping people shed their extra pounds by balancing great foods with good nutrition. And she's not just the president... she’s a member, too!

Somers admits she's approaching 58. And why shouldn't she? The beauty retains a glow you'd associate more closely with a fit and firm 40-year-old. She insists she's never felt better.

Like many celebrities frequently on the lens side of a camera, she’s found her a virtual fountain of youth through healthy eating and regular exercise. But unlike the superstars who jump on the trendy diet bandwagon, Somers marches to the beat of her own drum. She's carved out an expanding niche in the weight loss market with her super-popular Somersizing program.

"Good health has been important to me most of my adult life," Somers tells eDiets. “I've always watched what I eat and always exercised... not fanatically on either counts. I just had some inner intelligence that if you don't use it, you'll lose it. I had a mother who felt very strongly about eating real food and exercising in a non-fanatical way. I think we are what we grow up with -- the good and the bad.

“That is key to all of us. If we grow up in an environment where lifestyle habits are bad, when we become adults it’s our job to fix and correct what we’ve been doing wrong, to fix our health both physically and emotionally.”

Somers has never been obese, but when she hit her early 40's, she realized she had to make changes. Her metabolism was changing but her habits weren’t, resulting in an extra 20 pounds around her hips. She admits there were times she tried to starve herself to get rid of that unflattering fat. But then she’d go back to her normal eating pattern and the weight would return.

She no longer needs to go to such extremes... not since developing her Somersizing eating regimen which promotes eating foods that are perfectly combined for the sake of better digestion. This translates to more effective weight loss.

Some mornings Somers enjoys whole grain cereal with non-fat milk and fresh fruit, and a cup of decaf. Other mornings, she’ll have bacon, eggs and whole grain toast. For lunch, she might have whole-grain pasta with marinara sauce and salad or chicken Caesar salad and vegetable soup. For dinner, she’ll dine on chicken piccata with some kind of wonderful sauce or steak and veggies tossed in butter with a small potato.

Somers says she eats well and she eats a lot. However, she does so while recognizing sugar as Public Enemy No. 1.

Somers practices what she preaches. She uses her SomerSweet product to sweeten her food. She says a thick midsection is usually indicative of elevated insulin levels, which can be caused by white flour, white rice, pasta, carrots, corn, potatoes and other foods that the body converts to insulin. Getting your sugar under control is a major factor in controlling your weight, she says.

Somers satisfies her sweet tooth with desserts made from SomerSweet, which she says can be used in place of sugar for almost any dessert. She’s quick to point out that the product tastes just like sugar, yet isn't loaded with chemicals.

“I eat real food," she notes. "You’d be surprised how many Americans rarely eat real food. I shop the periphery of the supermarket. Down the left-hand aisle there’s beef, chicken and fish. Across the top, there is dairy. Down the right-side there are vegetables and fruits. I shop from those three areas. All are real foods. I do my best to avoid preservatives.

"I eat a lot of food, three meals a day plus a few snacks in between. I don't eat any sugar and I don't eat anything that my body converts to sugar. But I do have a diet balanced in fat, protein and carbohydrates.

“I have all these people on Somersize who love it. It’s so balanced. The weight stays off and they’re eating great foods. They can eat butter, cream, sour cream and full-fat cream cheese.”

A well-rounded lifestyle also requires regular exercise. Somers doesn't go to the gym or rely on a personal trainer to help her stay in shape. She rides her bike. She walks up and down the stairs to and from the beach 20 times a day. She uses her body row machine and ultra track for 20 minutes each. She also exercises outside so she’s exposed to plenty of fresh air.

“I do 45 minutes three or four times a week," she says. "When I don't do it, I'm mad at myself all day. I don't feel as good and my system doesn't work as well. When you exercise, your brain works better, your system works better, your elimination works better.”

Good health is important, but Somers has no desire to ever be stick-thin. In fact, she likes to keep "a little meat" on her bones. She strives to maintain a weight that is not normal for her body. At 57, she’s still making all the right moves and her choices continue to pay off in good health.

“I always thought 57 was so old,” Somers muses. “But when I got there it doesn't seem old at all. I realize a lifetime of eating well and exercising pays off. You get to look good at 57 and if I keep this up I’ll look good at 67.

"Looking good means you're healthy internally and radiating on the outside. People respond to skin texture and shiny hair and clear eyes and good nails. All of that reflects inner health. That is really my focus -- keeping myself healthy internally so that it manifests on the external.”

Learn more at eDiets.com...

Break These Exercise Habits!

It's easy to make exercise mistakes, especially with all of the confusing fitness information flying around out there. Here's a good article that explains some of the most common mistakes many exercisers make...

(Prevention.com) - If you take the time and make the effort to exercise, you want results. Yet, like many active people, you may have some well-intentioned habits that actually sabotage your workouts. Eliminate these common mistakes, and you'll get slimmer, firmer, and fitter--faster.

Too much fueling.

Many everyday exercisers chow down on energy bars, sports drinks, and recovery bars that should be reserved for elite athletes, says Cedric X. Bryant, PhD, vice president of educational services at the American Council on Exercise.

"People think they'll supply magical strength, when all they primarily provide is calories. You can easily eat and drink 700 calories for a 200-calorie workout," he says. "Stick to a simple piece of fruit or some nuts and water if you need a snack."

Once-and-done attitude.

Many folks mistakenly believe that 30 minutes on the treadmill is license to take the elevator, park in the closest space, or sit on the couch the rest of the day.

"Exercise is cumulative. The more active you are, even when you're not 'exercising,' the better results you'll have," says Dr. Bryant. "Your body is meant to move a lot. So, avoid thinking of exercise as something you do for only half an hour."

There are lots of ways to stay active:

• Take the stairs at work instead of the elevator.
• Park a little farther away from the mall or grocery store entrance.
• When you go out for lunch, choose a restaurant or carry-out several more blocks away, or just simply go out at lunch and walk 10 minutes in one direction and then turn around and walk back.
• If you live in a city and take public transportation, get on one or two stops farther than usual, or get off a couple stops before your destination so you have a little walk either before or after work.

Read more...

The Truth About Infomercial Fitness Products

It's a fact that most of the health and fitness products sold through infomercials aren't worth a dime. In fact some can probably hurt you. Yet millions of people continue to buy them every day! Here's an article that takes a look at some of the most popular yet worthless 'TV fitness products' on the market:

New York Daily News: Infomercial Fitness Scams

"First" Fitness Guru Dies at 89

Gypsy Boots, who may very well be the first well-known American health and fitness guru, died this past Sunday in Los Angeles...

Gypsy Boots, a California fitness icon, author and health guru who paved the way for generations of beatniks, hippies and health-food junkies, has died at age 89.

Boots, born Robert Bootzin, died early Sunday at a convalescent home in Camarillo after a brief illness, said his son, Daniel Bootzin.

Born Aug. 19, 1915, in San Francisco to Jewish immigrant parents, Boots defined what it meant to live close to nature decades before the nation's current obsession with organic foods, yoga and exercise.

During his life, he tried a number of careers, from author to entertainer to hay baler to trendy restaurateur – but never shed his long hair and thick beard or his passion for natural foods and a near-Spartan existence.

"What people have a hard time understanding is that in the early 1960s, there were no hippies and nobody had long hair, nobody had a beard," said Daniel Bootzin. "He really was that way way before anybody had that look. As a child, I was painfully aware that he was extremely different than anybody else."

Boots' philosophy of clean living, exercise and healthy eating – laid out in his books "Barefeet and Good Things to Eat" and "The Gypsy in Me" – attracted thousands of fans worldwide and netted him 25 appearances on the Steve Allen Show in the early 1960s.

Inspired by the German "Naturmensch" movement, Boots and a "tribe" of fellow bohemians spent the 1940s living off the land in Tahquitz Canyon near Palm Springs, sleeping in caves and trees and bathing in waterfalls. Photos from that time show a robust and tan man, often shirtless and shoeless, with a shaggy beard and long hair.

His lifestyle was immortalized in the 1948 Nat King Cole hit "Nature Boy," which was composed by fellow "tribesman" Eden Ahbez, said Gordon Kennedy, a longtime friend who has written a book about Boots and other Nature Boys called "Children of the Sun."

In 1953, Boots married Lois Bloemker and settled near Griffith Park in Los Angeles to raise his three sons, Daniel, Alexander and Freddy.

In 1958, he opened the "Health Hut" on Beverly Boulevard and served organic foods to a host of A-list celebrities. Yet Boots never judged others by his own strict health standards, said his son.

"He said a lot that you could eat the best food in the world, but if you're not happy you have nothing. If you're not happy, you're not healthy," he said. "He was strict for himself, but he didn't really care what other people ate."

Boots eventually settled down, but continued to promote health food and exercise, going door-to-door in the 1960s and 1970s peddling organic produce and offering fitness classes. He was often spotted running barefoot in Griffith Park; on his 50th birthday, he ran 10 miles in 120-degree heat.

Beginning in 1961, Boots appeared 25 times on the Steve Allen Show. The shows, which reached a total of 30 million viewers, made Boots into a national star. Boots would swing onto the stage on a rope, long hair flying, and persuade Allen to help him make organic juices and do exercises with him.

"It was just really zany. A lot of letters came in and they just kept having him back over and over again," said Kennedy, who in 1998 published "The Children of the Sun," a pictorial history of the "Naturmensch" movement and its impact on the United States.

Boots also appeared in 1968's "Mondo Hollywood," a cult movie starring Ram Dass and Frank Zappa, and had roles in other films such as "Swingin' Summer," "Confessions of Tom Harris" and "The Game" with Michael Douglas.

Photos on his Web site show him hobnobbing with celebrities including Marlon Brando, Jay Leno, Paul Newman and Muhammad Ali. Almost every year, Boots would host a birthday party at Paramount Studios that attracted Hollywood celebrities, said Kennedy.

In his later years, Boots was a devoted USC fan and loved attending football games carrying bells that he would ring as he dashed up and down the Coliseum steps. At his last game several years ago, his son said he still climbed the stairs although he was in his mid-eighties.

"He was the embodiment of a positive attitude. Sometimes I couldn't understand why he was so positive. He really let nothing bring him down," Daniel Bootzin said. "He really touched people around the world. ... He had two parts to him: a health guru and a clown who loved to make people laugh."

Branding Junk Food: A Great Idea!

(ABCNews.com) - In the war against obesity, is it bad foods that are the enemy, or just bad eating habits?

For one prominent medical expert, it's the food itself that's to blame for an epidemic of weight gain in the United States. And despite critics' claims to the contrary, he says we should arm consumers by literally labeling the enemy — junk food.

Snack foods like desserts, soft drinks, and salty snacks, all of which have been linked to poor eating habits and nutrient deficiencies, make up nearly one third of the average American diet.

"It's time for junk food to wear a name tag," argues Dr. David Katz, founder and director of the Yale Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn., and author of The Way to Eat.

A "scarlet J" to mark junk food packages, he suggests, would put the blame where he says it belongs — on "bad foods" rather than on the people who eat them.

Katz maintains labels currently provided by the food manufacturers that advertise "no cholesterol" or "low in transfats" fail to inform consumers about the food's overall nutritional quality. A kid's cereal, for example, is often full of refined sugars and empty calories, but a parent may purchase it because of a label saying it is fortified with vitamins and minerals.

His proposal aims to encompass many nutrition indicators into one government-sanctioned label on the front of the package — the "prime real estate" of the product. A panel of nutrition experts would assign ratings to foods based on a "Nutrient Quality Index" that includes calories, bad and overconsumed nutrients, and good and under-consumed nutrients.

Such a system is already in place in Sweden, where low-fat and fiber rich foods are marked with a green keyhole symbol using food-specific criteria.

Critics of the labeling plan raise concerns, however, about the feasibility and effectiveness of assigning food labels, as well as the social and legal implications of the proposal.

Read more...

20 High-Fiber Foods for Weight Loss

As you may already know, eating plenty of healthy, high-fiber foods is important... especially if you're trying to lose weight. Here's a list of 20 of the most delicious fiber-rich foods you can incorporate into your diet. Enjoy!

Raspberries
Blackberries
Strawberries
Rye
Broccoli
Green beans
Apples with skin
Spinach
Beet greens
Kale
Collard
Swiss Chard
Turnip greens
Almonds
Brazil nuts
Peanuts
Walnuts
Cherries
Brussel Sprouts
Stone ground whole wheat


More high-fiber foods for weight loss

How to Choose the RIGHT Personal Trainer

Ever wonder what to look for when choosing a personal trainer? Choosing a good one who's right for you can make all the difference in the world. Choosing a bad one can actually slow down your fitness progress tremendously -- or even make you learn to hate exercise! Here's a good article that explains how to find the right personal trainer for your situation...

(IDEAfit.com) - How to Choose The Personal Trainer Who's Right For You

So you are thinking about hiring a personal trainer. That is terrific, because more people are working out with their very own exercise consultant than ever before. Personal trainers are not just for Hollywood stars and the "rich and famous" anymore! For good reason, since personal trainers can make the difference between a great workout and a ho-hum one — or even no workout at all. Your trainer will motivate you, keep you on track and make sure your workouts are safe, enjoyable and effective.

Of course, you want your personal trainer to exhibit the same qualities you demand of any provider of professional services, say, your tax preparer or dentist — a high degree of knowledge in their field, demonstrated expertise, plus a personality that's compatible with yours.

As The Health & Fitness Source, IDEA has provided information, education and training to personal trainers for more than 10 years.

A recent IDEA survey showed that trainers provide a wide variety of clients with an extensive list of services, including nutritional guidance, fitness assessment, lifestyle management advice, weight control programs and many more.

To help you find the personal trainer who's just right for you, we've developed this handy guide. It takes you through the steps of identifying potential candidates and provides specific questions to ask. We recommend that you interview at least three trainers carefully before making your decision.

How to Locate Personal Trainers in Your Area

Personal trainers can be found through a variety of sources. If you are a member of a health club, fitness center, YMCA/YWCA or JCC in your community, ask if they have a personal trainer on staff. Ask friends, health professionals, or your family doctor for referrals. Also, check your local yellow pages, newspapers and magazines for listings. To locate a personal trainer near you, click on IDEA's Personal Trainer Locator.

Determine Your Goals, Needs and Budget

Frequency — Are you merely looking for a one-time consultation about your exercise program, or do you want to establish a long-term working relationship? For a modest fee, many trainers will perform a fitness assessment and design a workout regimen tailored to your needs.

Location — Where do you want to work out? Many trainers will come to your home. Or, if you prefer, you can meet your trainer at a studio or health club nearby.

Budget — Personal training rates range from $20 to $100 per hour-long session, with the majority charging between $25 and $50. If that sounds high, remember, you are making an investment in your most important possession — your health. In addition, discounts are often available for multi-session purchases, for higher frequency (three times a week instead of two), and for training multiple clients at the same time.

Read more...

Sports-Specific Fitness: Go for the Gold!

(MSNBC.com: Smart Fitness) - Inspired by Olympians to kick your game up a notch? Coaches and specialized trainers can help weekend warriors too...

While watching the Olympics this month, weekend warriors might be newly inspired to take their game to a higher level. Of course, coaches and trainers can go a long way toward helping with this goal. But you don't have to be a Mia Hamm or Michael Phelps to afford them or reap the benefits.

There's a growing number of exercise specialists available to help recreational athletes hone their skills as well, industry sources say. A nationwide survey of nearly 300 fitness facilities released earlier this year by the IDEA Health and Fitness Association, for instance, found that 57 percent offered some type of sports-specific training in 2003, up from 47 percent in 1999.

From improving a tennis swing to boosting speed on the baseball field, trainers are available for one-on-one sessions aimed at refining sports-specific skills and tailoring a fitness program to optimize performance. Some clubs also have group sports clinics, and gyms like Crunch offer classes such as Gridiron Workout and Hoops that are geared toward recreational athletes hoping to kick their game up a notch.

Read more...

Fitness News @ fitFAQ.com

Be sure to check out our new, constantly-updated fitness news page!

Women's Fitness Myths...Shattered!

Many women really want to get into shape but, unfortunately, they believe the several myths surrounding women's fitness -- especially when it comes weight lifting and strength training. This holds them back from getting the results they want. Here's a great article that dispels the most common women's fitness myths and shows you exactly how to train for the lean, fit look that you want...

(eFitness.com / PhysicallyElite.com) - Attention women: Do you avoid lifting weights because you think it will make you muscle-bound? Or do you only do a couple sets of 15 reps on exercise machines because you only want to "tone"? If so, this article will show you that those myths aren't true and explains why lifting weights using barbells and dumbbells is the best workout possible. As an added bonus, we also provide a complete workout to help begin building the body you desire.

Dispelling the Myths

Lifting Weights Makes You Muscle-Bound

While strength training helps everyone build muscle, women simply don't have enough testosterone, a key hormone for building muscle, to become muscle-bound and appear masculine.

The muscle you are able to build will only improve your appearance and femininity. All you need to confirm this is to take a look at a few of the celebrities known for regular strength training such as Alias' Jennifer Garner to see what results are possible and that strength training will not make you transform from a woman to a man.

If You Lift Weights, Do High Reps to "Tone" Your Muscles

Most strength training workouts for women prescribe 2-3 sets of 12 or more repetitions. While higher repetitions have their place, there is no reason for women not to train with moderate repetitions (5-8) for multiple sets too.

Performing many sets using high reps is effective for increasing muscular endurance and increasing blood flow to your muscles, not increasing strength levels and building muscle. Performing sets of 5-8 reps is especially beneficial when dieting, as it is the best rep range to use to ensure you hold onto the muscle you have. The more muscle you can hold onto when dieting increases the amount of fat you lose and keep off after you have achieved your weight loss goals. Doing sets of 12-15 reps has the opposite effect where you lose as much muscle as body fat.

Use Machines Instead of Dumbbells and Barbells

Women believe this myth because they feel using machines will prevent you from bulking up, a myth we have already dispelled. A workout consisting primarily of exercises using free weights (barbells and dumbbell) is the way to go.

Free weight training produces the most benefits in the shortest period of time. This type of training enables you to perform exercises that train many large muscle groups at once. This means you burn more calories for every set you perform.

Lose Weight First Before You Lift Weights

Last but not least is the myth that you should lose weight before you start lifting weights. This myth exists because women often become discouraged when they diet and lift weights since the weight loss that occurs isn't reflected on the scale. This is because the weight lost is body fat, not the muscle you need to stay healthy.

Lifting weights while dieting will help you keep the muscle you have ensuring the weight you lose is body fat. Studies confirm this showing that combining aerobic exercise, dieting, and strength training leads to greater losses of body fat and weight than when you only diet or diet and do aerobic exercise.

Below is a workout to get you started. Each workout includes exercises for the entire body, and uses sets of 8 reps to help you burn as many calories as possible at each workout while building or at a minimum holding onto your hard earned muscle when dieting. Combine this workout with 2-3 days of aerobic exercise and a proper diet and we guarantee the best results of your life.

Always use correct technique. If you need any of the exercises explained to you, consult with a qualified personal trainer.

Use a weight that you can perform for 2-3 more reps than what is prescribed. There is no need to use a weight that causes you to 'fail' at the end of each set. You should leave the gym feeling energized, not like you have to go home and go to bed after each workout.

Increase the weight used when you can go beyond the extra 2-3 repetitions. Only increase the weight if you can do so without sacrificing proper technique.

Start a new routine after doing this one for 4-6 weeks. This will help keep your progress on track and keep your workouts fun. Consult my workouts archive.

Lift weights before aerobics. If you want to do an aerobic workout on the same day you lift weights, that's fine. Just make sure to do it after you lift. This ensures you have ample energy to perform all of your exercises with correct form.

The exercises in the workout below are divided into groups (A1/A2, B1/B2, etc.). Each group is to be performed one after the other with about a minutes rest between sets for the total number of sets given. Once you have done all of the prescribed sets for each exercise in a group, move onto the next group of exercises after 1-2 minutes rest. Doing the workout this way burns more calories and gets more work done in less time. Also, is you are just getting into shape you may need more than a minutes rest between sets and groups of exercise. If this is the case, rest for as long as you need to be able to perform the exercises with proper form, decreasing the amount of rest as your conditioning improves until you reach 1 minute. Below is an example of how this workout is to be performed.

Monday

A1 Lunges
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

A2 Dumbbell Bench Press
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B1 Leg Curl
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B2 Dumbbell Row
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

C1 Swiss Ball Crunch
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

Wednesday

A1 Seated Row
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

A2 Stiff Leg Deadlift
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B1 Incline DB Flys
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B2 Dumbbell Squat
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

C1 Back Extension
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

Friday

A1 Dumbbell Shoulder Press
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

A2 Step-Ups
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B1 Reverse Lateral
2 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

B2 Calf Raise
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

C1 Reverse Crunches
3 sets, 8 reps, 60 sec

Additional Tips

Make sure you get enough protein every day. Studies show that lifting weights increases your daily protein requirements to about .8 grams per pound of bodyweight. Increasing your protein intake will help you build muscle, get stronger, and lose more fat. Studies find dieters that ate more protein and fewer carbohydrates lose twice the amount of body fat and body weight as dieters who ate a high carbohydrate diet of equal calories.

A quick and easy way get the protein you need everyday is to supplement your diet with a high quality protein powder. For best results, use a whey-casein supplement. This blend is proven to be superior to whey protein alone for building muscle.

Once you have done this workout for approximately 4-6 weeks, switch to a new program.

Curt Pedersen has a degree in exercise science and has published exercise and nutrition articles in many leading publications. To read more articles by Curt, go to www.physicallyelite.com.

Learn more:

iVillage: Women's Fitness
Fitness Magazine

All About Interval Training

I get a lot of questions about interval training and high-intensity cardio exercise. Although we have a few good articles on the site I found another nice article that explains why and how to use interval training in your fitness routine for maximum benefit...

Spice Up Your Workouts With Interval Training

There’s been a lot of buzz recently about Interval Training. So, you may be wondering what it really is and, more importantly, why you should incorporate it in your fitness workouts. Well, if you want a workout that can help propel you to the next fitness level, burn more calories, increase your speed, improve your power and more, then it’s time to learn more about this effective technique.

A simple definition of Interval Training is: short, high-intensity exercise periods alternated with periods of rest. These higher and lower intensity periods are repeated several times to form a complete workout . Here’s a basic example: walk for 5 minutes at 3.5 MPH, walk for 1 minute at 4.2 MPH and then repeat this sequence several times.

Most people spend their workout time only performing continuous training exercises. These are exercises where the intensity level is basically constant throughout. An example of this is walking at 3.5 MPH, at 0% incline for 30 minutes.

Continuous training is very effective and should not be eliminated from your weekly workouts. However, it’s recommended that you include both Interval Training and continuous training sessions as part of your fitness regimen.

Why should you include Interval Training? As previously mentioned, there are many benefits to this type of training and execution is relatively simple. Interval Training can help you improve cardiovascular fitness, increase speed, improve overall aerobic power, burn more calories, break-through a plateau, increase workout duration, reach new exercise levels, expand your workout options and increase your workout threshold – just to name a few.

Plus, this training method has useful applications for beginners, intermediate exercisers and even conditioned athletes. There are two basic types of Interval Training. For the majority of exercisers (novices and intermediate) Fitness Interval Training methods are recommended. Athletes can choose a more advanced technique known as Performance Interval Training.

The Fitness training method utilizes periodic increases in intensity. Typically the higher-intensity levels range from 2-5 minutes in duration and are followed by lower-intensity periods that also range from 2-5 minutes. And, a critical element in Fitness Interval Training is determining the appropriate level for the higher-intensity periods. This level should not exceed the anaerobic threshold (which is usually reached below 85% heart rate reserve).

On the flip side, the Performance training technique involves periods of near maximal or even maximal intensity (e.g. >85% heart rate reserve – even reaching 100%). The higher-intensity levels can range from 2-15 minutes in duration and are followed by lower-intensity periods that also can range from 2-15 minutes in duration.

Don't let the two types of training and their ranges confuse you. Incorporating Interval Training methods into your exercise routine is actually quite easy. Since the majority of exercisers fall into either the beginner or intermediate category, we’ll focus on getting started with those techniques.

To begin, choose the type of exercise: walking, jogging, swimming, biking, etc. Next determine your lower-intensity level. This is usually somewhere between 50-65% target heart rate. This will be your baseline, lower-level intensity. Then simply increase the intensity-level up to where you feel like you are working hard to very hard, but avoid reaching a level over 85% target heart rate. If monitoring your heart is not feasible, instead use the RPE scale where 1 is basically at rest and 10 is working extremely hard. For example, if you find that when you are exercising at a comfortable level you rank a 5, then bump up to a 7 for the higher-intensity intervals.

You may choose to systematically raise and lower your intensity (e.g. 2 minutes lower intensity followed by 1 minute higher intensity and repeat) or you can alternate more randomly by raising and lowering the level at your discretion. To increase your intensity, you may choose to change the speed, incline, or some other variable.

Interval Training can be especially helpful in situations where you are trying a new form of exercise. For example, this can be very beneficial when first learning to jog. If you attempt to jog continuously without building up to it, you will probably fatigue quickly and even give up. However, if you begin with intervals of walking interspersed with jogging periods, the workout will be much more enjoyable and effective. Also, you will be more likely to stick with the program and achieve the end result – continuous jogging.

Now that you know the benefits of Interval Training and the basic techniques for it, why not give it a try for yourself. Not only will it provide health benefits and improved fitness levels but it is also a great way to avoid workout boredom. Plus, with Interval Training workouts often are more enjoyable, go by quicker, and improvement results come faster. So why not try spicing up a stale, run-of-the-mill workout with Interval options? You may even find yourself excelling in an activity you were skeptical of even trying.

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Lynn Bode offers her personal training services online through her company, WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You provides even the busiest of people affordable, personalized exercise programs (via the Internet) for losing weight, toning-up, building muscles & increasing stamina. The programs can be done on their schedule and in the comfort of their own home (or gym or on-the-road). Visit www.workoutsforyou.com for a FREE sample workout.

Learn more:

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MuscleMedia.com

How to Succeed at Anything

If you're like most people you probably have a long list of things you'd like to succeed at. Losing weight, building a great body, getting rich, finding the perfect mate... the possibilities are endless. But the basic steps required to achieve success in any endeavor are pretty much the same. Brian Tracy, one of the world's best-known 'success coaches,' has written a very nice article that outlines the steps you need to take to succeed at anything. Enjoy!

(BrianTracy.com) - Seven Steps to Success

There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life. Every single successful person uses this formula or some variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the average person. And so can you. Here it is:

Decide What You Want

Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a "meaningful specific" rather than a "wandering generality."

Write It Down

Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline

Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a "forcing system" in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well. Don't leave this to chance.

Make A List

Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List

Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action

The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day

Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

Action Exercises

1. Decide exactly what you want, write it down with a deadline, make a plan and take action - on at least one goal - today!

2. Determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal and then get busy paying that price - whatever it is.

Learn more at BrianTracy.com...

How to Beat Fitness Boredom

It's easy to get bored with an exercise routine. Here's a great article that explains how to mix things up so you're always looking forward to your next workout...

(WeightWatchers.com) - Fitness Ideas: Bust out of a Workout Rut

If you're bored with your fitness routine, try these tips from Scott Cole, celebrity trainer and the author of Athletic Abs.

Get Out - Whenever possible, go outside and participate in your favorite activity al fresco, says Cole. That feeling of boredom may be from being inside all day breathing stale air, says Cole. Try doing yoga in the park or lifting weights in your backyard. "It's hard to be bored when you're breathing fresh air."

Change the CD - If you suddenly start dreading your favorite class, take note: it's probably not the activity that's boring, it's the same old soundtrack. "Ask your instructor if she can change what she's been playing. Or take a class with a different style of music," Cole says. Try a Latin cardio, hip hop, jazz, or salsa class.

Mix it Up - You can make your workout more exciting by challenging your body and your mind simultaneously. The key is to think about every movement you take. For example, lift lighter weights but try moving through each extension as slowly as you can. Walkers can do interval training on the road, says Cole. Try some standing half-squats as you go along, or stop and do some push-ups on a park bench.

Stay in the Moment - It's no wonder you get bored if you spend your workout thinking about bills sitting at home or your project at work. Cole says you'll be more focused if you push worries out of your mind. "If you find your mind is wandering, take several deep breaths inhaling and exhaling through your nose" and focus on what you're doing, he says. "Breathing is a powerful way to soothe anxieties."

Get Dressed - You wouldn't go to a party looking frumpy but many of us don grungy sweats and old t-shirts when we hit the gym. Bright, attractive clothing that fits well and wicks away sweat will make you feel good and may help you work out longer, says Cole. "When you look in the mirror and you're inspired by what you look like, time will fly by. You'll feel strong and positive if that's how you look."

Stretch and Stretch Again - Stretching, says Cole, is a forgotten exercise component. Be smart. Stretch for at least five minutes after every workout. Says Cole: "Anxiety is stored in a locked-up body. When you stretch you release tension, and all of a sudden working out is fun again."

Ready to start losing weight? Visit WeightWatchers.com for one of the most popular weight loss programs on the Web!

Recipe: Grilled Summer Fruit

This is one of my favorite summer treats...

Grilled Summer Fruit with Yogurt Dip

This dessert recipe can be made using an outdoor grill or an indoor grilling pan. To grill other, smaller types of fruit outside, use wooden skewers that have been soaked in water for an hour.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 large banana(s), cut diagonally
• into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 items plum(s), cut in half and pitted
• 1 cup pineapple, about four rings
• 2 items apricot(s), cut in half and pitted
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup Horizon Organic Fat-Free Cherry Yogurt, or cherry-vanilla yogurt (or other brand)

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill. Mix together sugar and water in a small bowl; heat in microwave until sugar dissolves. Brush syrup on fruit.
2. Place fruit on a clean, medium-hot grill. Grill, basting with syrup occasionally, until slightly soft with markings from the grill, about 3 to 5 minutes. Turn fruit and grill other side until quite soft, about 1 minute more. (Note: Grill time depends on ripeness of fruit. Keep your eye on it and remove each piece as it is done.)
3. Remove fruit from grill and sprinkle with cinnamon; serve with a small bowl of yogurt for dip. Yields 1/4 of fruit and 1/4 cup of yogurt per serving.

Get more great recipes like this from WeightWatchers.com...

Increase your metabolism with H.I.T.

High-intensity weight training is one of the best ways to increase your metabolism and force your body to burn a ton of fat. It also gives you more of the benefits of strength training in less time. In fact, many fitness experts agree that - combined with a healthy diet and regular cardio exercise - 'H.I.T.'-style weight training may be the fastest way to dramatically increase your metabolism and reshape your body naturally!

Here's a great article about boosting your metabolism with high-intensity weight training: H.I.T. the Weights


More resources:

Get more info about increasing your metabolism or get 14 quick metabolism tips

Great Fitness Resource

Here's a great online resource I just found designed to help you 'transform your physique': Dr. Hussman's Fitness Page. It includes this succinct overview of what you need to include in your fitness program:

The bottom line: Here are all the components of an effective fitness program that works with your body.

Aerobics

• Interval training ("wind sprints"). You should be winded, but never gasping.
• Cross-training. Use a variety of exercises so you keep your body "surprised."

Weight training

• Focus on contracting the muscle, not on lifting the weight. Slow on the eccentric. On your last rep, hold the weight in mid-air until you thoroughly exhaust the muscle.
• Every day, and before every workout, ask yourself "What is my goal here?"
• For every exercise, in every workout, make one set a new "personal best."

Diet

• Eat regularly (about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours), to maintain the nutrient stream, stabilize your blood sugar, and keep your metabolism up.
• Focus on the total weekly caloric deficit.
• Unleash the secret weapon. Write down your exact meal plan in advance on a 3 x 5 card, then track everything you actually eat.
• Watch your portions carefully, but don't go dramatically below your BMR.
• Emphasize protein and low-glycemic carbs. You can include high-glycemic carbs in the post-workout meal.
• Include fruits and vegetables as much as possible in your food choices.
• Drink lots of water and take Vitamin C.
• A gram of L-Leucine after workouts can also assist muscle growth.

Write down specific goals that excite you. Put a date on it. Visualize your success. Create a different mental image of yourself - "I am an athlete", "I am lean, strong, and energetic", and then live into that self-image. As Schwarzenegger said, "I made a picture in my mind of who I wanted to be, and then I lived into that picture." AND DON'T GIVE UP! Everybody's body starts out a little different.

Learn much more...

Mesotherapy: Another 'iffy' fat loss treatment

I've been seeing a lot of ads for various 'Mesotherapy Clinics' in one of my local newspapers. From what I've read about it, all I can say is be careful if you choose to try this new weight loss procedure...

(USAToday.com) - Critics say mesotherapy offers slim chance

Call it "hope in a needle." Mesotherapy, the latest fat-melting fad, is a half-century-old technique from France that involves hundreds of injections and is touted as an alternative to liposuction.

"It's more than hope in a bottle," says Marion Shapiro, a retired emergency room doctor in New York who has started a new career as a "mesotherapist," injecting people with a cocktail of plant extracts, vitamins and medications (such as a drug for treating asthma). The concoction is supposed to stimulate fat cells to shed fat.

"Our results are not surgical, there are fewer complications and less downtime, and that's why mesotherapy is going to become more popular than liposuction," Shapiro says.

It's called mesotherapy because the injections go under the skin and are absorbed by the mesodermal, or middle, layer. Then, you're supposed to shed weight the same way you do when you diet and exercise, excreting fat in waste. But you can still regain the weight.

Singer Roberta Flack is the most famous celebrity to endorse the procedure. She told ABC's 20/20 last year that she lost 40 pounds after a year of treatment, although she also dieted and exercised.

Mesotherapy was developed in France in 1952 and has long been popular with the European rich and famous. But it never caught on in the USA, where medical skepticism about its efficacy and safety is widespread. Among other concerns, some of the drugs involved are intended to treat something entirely different.

Flack's doctor, Lionel Bissoon, learned the specialty in France five years ago and is now the leading advocate here. He says the procedure can be used as a delivery system for more than fighting fat. "We can treat migraine headaches, back pain, constipation, sports-medicine injuries, arthritis."

But many dermatologists and plastic surgeons are alarmed about the growing profile of mesotherapy. "No one says exactly what they put into the (syringe)," says Naomi Lawrence, a derma-surgeon at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "One drug they often use, phosphatidylcholin, is unpredictable and causes extreme inflammation and swelling where injected. It is not a benign drug."

Even Brazil, which is less strict than the USA in drug approvals, has banned the drug for these purposes.

Read more...

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(ABCNews.com) - Shot in the Dark?

Mesotherapy May Melt Away Fat, But Some Question Whether It’s Safe

If you're on a quest for the body beautiful, you've got a staggering variety of pills, potions and surgeries to help you shed inches or erase cellulite if exercise, diet or your genes fail you. And now there's a new and increasingly popular weapon in the anti-fat arsenal.

A growing number of people are deciding to have doctors inject them with a cocktail of drugs, vitamins and supplements in hopes of reshaping their bodies.

It's a procedure called mesotherapy, and it involves undergoing hundreds of injections, once a week, for several weeks. The drugs are injected into the mesodermal — or middle — layer of the skin.

The technique was pioneered in France by Dr. Michel Pistor, and has been performed there since 1952. But it's just begun to attract practitioners and clients in the United States in the past few years.

Dr. Lionel Bissoon, who learned the technique in France five years ago, has become America's leading expert and advocate of mesotherapy.

Bissoon says mesotherapy — over the course of 10 sessions — blocks our ability to store fat and stimulates our ability to burn it up. He says a physician can target specific areas of fat by injecting a blend of medications commonly used for asthma and high blood pressure along with vitamins and supplements directly into a specific area of the body.

A single session can cost as much as $500, so a full course of treatment is a substantial investment. But it seems to be catching on. Bissoon, who has practices in New York, Florida and California, says his clients range from celebrities and CEOs to secretaries.

Bissoon claims the fat winds up in the muscle, where it's used for energy. It does sound too good to be true, especially since Bissoon says he refuses to take patients who won't exercise or follow a healthy diet.

But his patients seem to be happy with the results. Bissoon's most famous client is Roberta Flack. The superstar crooner had a long battle with weight and thought that her extra pounds were indeed killing her softly.

"When you're young and you're overweight, it's just there. After you pass a certain point in your life, well, gravity takes over. And you have a fat stomach that has rolls on top of rolls on top of rolls. And you can't breathe with that," Flack said.

Since starting mesotherapy last year — along with exercise and changing her diet — Flack has lost more than 40 pounds.

Read more...

All About Aquatic Exercise

Exercising in a pool is a great option for many people, especially when they have an injury or some other condition that keeps them from doing 'normal' exercise on a regular basis. Swimming is just one of several different types of aquatic exercise. Just be sure to perform your water workouts in an outdoor pool or an indoor pool with very good ventilation, because the chlorine gas that hovers above a typical pool can cause health problems, especially for children...


Here's a great article about aquatic exercise:

(MayoClinic.com) - Aquatic exercise: Gentle on your bones, joints and muscles

Your doctor recommends that you get active and exercise more. But you're concerned about the impact of exercise on your bones, joints and muscles. Perhaps you have arthritis, or you're sedentary and overweight. You have a hard time believing you can exercise at all, no less in the water. But that's what your doctor suggests: water workouts.

Why water workouts?

Done correctly, water workouts can give you gains similar to those on land, including aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and better balance. Doctors recommend aquatic exercise because:

• Water's buoyancy supports your weight. When you're submersed up to your neck, the water cancels out about 90 percent of your body weight, significantly reducing stress on your weight-bearing joints, bones and muscles. Instead of landing on a hard surface with your full weight jarring you, you land with only 10 percent of your body's weight. This reduces your risk of injury.
• When you're submerged in water, your circulation may increase, improving your cardiovascular health.
• The pressure of the water on your body can reduce swelling if you have painful injuries.
• Water offers resistance, which strengthens your muscles as you push against it.
• Since the effects of gravity diminish in water, you can do stretching exercises that you may not be able to do on land.

Who benefits?

Everyone can benefit from aquatic exercise. But it's a prime option for someone who:

• Has arthritis or other joint problems
• Is overweight or obese
• Is sedentary and wants to ease into an exercise program
• Is recovering from an injury or surgery and has his or her doctor's permission
• Has a back problem
• Has weak leg muscles
• Is pregnant
• Is older

Read more about aquatic exercise...

Cookie Diet: Misleading Or Hidden Weight Loss Tool?

(NBC10.com) - Company Claims Protein Cookies Replace Meal, Snack Bars

Would you believe that you could eat cookies to lose weight?

The newest diet product to hit store shelves, The eight cookie diet, promises more protein than a steak dinner, while curbing your cravings. But does it work?

Touting less than one net carb, 190 calories and only six grams of fat, this half-page ad for the HALO Power Protein Cookie claims, "you can lose weight fast." They say all it takes is eight cookies a day.

Dawn Clark is an experienced dieter who agreed to try them out.

"I've done Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage diet," Clark said.

Registered dietician Nadiya Timperman took a close look at the cookie diet to see if it lives up to the label's claim.

She said the claim on the HALO Power Protein Cookies label that the product replaces meal and snack bars, is misleading.

"Do I think it's the same as eating a meal? No. Absolutely not," Timperman said. "You simply can't mush it all down and stick it in to a bar, cookie, or a shake."

PatentHEALTH's ad is clear -- eight cookies a day, and you'll lose weight fast. But it's not clear on how to take those cookies.

Read more...

Navy SEALs Workout

Ever wonder what it takes to become a Navy SEAL? These elite soldiers are some of the fittest people in the world. They have to be because their lives depend on it! Here's an overview of the fitness requirements a SEAL must meet during BUD/S Training as well as a sample fitness preparation routine straight from the Navy SEALS web site...

Getting in shape for the world class Navy SEALs is no walk in the park. However, if you can push yourself to the limit, then the rewards will be great!

PHYSICAL FITNESS STANDARDS

PHYSICAL EVOLUTION & REQUIRED TIME

FIRST PHASE:

50 meter underwater swim PASS/FAIL
Underwater knot tying PASS/FAIL
Drown proofing test PASS/FAIL
Basic Lifesaving test PASS/FAIL
1200 meter pool swim with fins 45 min
1 mile bay swim with fins 50 min
1 mile ocean swim with fins 50 min
1 l/2 mile ocean swim with fins 70 min
2 mile ocean swim with fins 95 min
Obstacle course 15 min
4 mile timed run 32 min

POST HELL WEEK:

2000 meter conditioning pool swim without fins Completion
1 1/2 mile night bay swim with fins Completion
2 mile ocean swim with fins 85 min
4 mile timed run 32 min
Obstacle course 13 min

SECOND PHASE:

2 mile ocean swim with fins 80 min
4 mile timed run (in boots) 31 min
Obstacle course 10:30
3 I/2 mile ocean swim with fins Completion
5 1/2 mile ocean swim with fins Completion

THIRD PHASE:

Obstacle course 10 min
4 mile timed run (in boots) 30 min
14 mile run Completion
2 mile ocean swim with fins 75 min


SUGGESTED STUDENT PREPARATION

The following workouts are designed for two categories of people: Category I are those future BUD/S students that have never or have not recently been on a routine PT program. Category II is designed for high school and college athletes that have had a routine PT program. Usually athletes that require a high level of cardiovascular activity are in Category II.

Swimming, running and wrestling are good examples of such sports.

WORKOUT FOR CATEGORY I

RUNNING: The majority of the physical activities you will be required to perform during your six months of training at BUD/S will involve running. The intense amount of running can lead to over-stress injuries of the lower extremities in trainees who arrive not physically prepared to handle the activities. Swimming, bicycling, and lifting weights will prepare you for some of the activities at BUD/S, but ONLY running can prepare your lower extremities for the majority of the activities. You should also run in boots to prepare your legs for the everyday running in boots at BUD/S (Boots should be of a light-weight variety i.e. Bates Lights, Hi-Tec, Etc.).

The goal of the category I student is to work up to 16 miles per week of running. After you have achieved that goal, then and only then should you continue on to the category II goal of 30 miles per week. Let me remind you that category I is a nine week buildup program. Follow the workout as best you can and you will be amazed at the progress you will make.

RUNNING SCHEDULE I

WEEKS #1, 2: 2 miles/day, 8:30 pace, M/W/F (6 miles/ week)
WEEK #3: No running. High risk of stress fractures
WEEK #4: 3 miles/day, M/W/F (9 miles/wk)
WEEKS #5, 6: 2/3/4/2 miles, M/Tu/Th/F (11 miles/wk)
WEEKS #7,8: 4/4/5/3 miles, M/Tu/Th/F (16 miles/ wk)
WEEK #9: same as #7,8 (16 miles/ wk)


PHYSICAL TRAINING SCHEDULE I (Mon/Wed/Fri)

SETS OF REPETITIONS

WEEK #1:
4X15 PUSHUPS
4X20 SITUPS
3X3 PULL UPS

WEEK #2:
5X20 PUSHUPS
5X20 SITUPS
3X3 PULL UPS

WEEK #3,4:
5X25 PUSHUPS
5X25 SITUPS
3X4 PULL UPS

WEEK #5,6:
6X25 PUSHUPS
6X25 SITUPS
2X8 PULL UPS

WEEK #7,8:
6X30 PUSHUPS
6X30 SITUPS
2X10 PULL UPS

WEEK #9:
6X30 PUSHUPS
6X30 SITUPS
3X10 PULL UPS

* Note: For best results, alternate exercises. Do a set of pushups, then a set of situps, followed by a set of pull ups, immediately with no rest.

SWIMMING SCHEDULE I
(sidestroke with no fins 4-5 days a week)

WEEKS #1, 2: Swim continuously for 15 min.
WEEKS #3, 4: Swim continuously for 20 min.
WEEKS #5, 6: Swim continuously for 25 min.
WEEKS #7, 8: Swim continuously for 30 min.
WEEK #9: Swim continuously for 35 min.

* Note: If you have no access to a pool, ride a bicycle for twice as long as you would swim. If you do have access to a pool, swim every day available. Four to five days a week and 200 meters in one session is your initial workup goal. Also, you want to develop your sidestroke on both the left and the right side. Try to swim 50 meters in one minute or less.

WORKOUT FOR CATEGORY II

Category II is a more intense workout designed for those who have been involved with a routine PT schedule or those who have completed the requirements of category I. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WORKOUT SCHEDULE UNLESS YOU CAN COMPLETE THE WEEK #9 LEVEL OF CATEGORY I WORKOUTS.

RUNNING SCHEDULE II
(M/TulTh/F/Sa)

WEEKS #1,2: (3/5/4/5/2)miles 19 miles/week
WEEKS #3, 4: (4/5/6/4/3) miles 22 miles/week
WEEK #5: (5/5/6/4/4) miles 24 miles/week
WEEK #6: (5/6/6/6/4) miles 27 miles/week
WEEK #7: (6/6/6/6/6) miles 30 miles/week

* Note: For weeks #8-9 and beyond, it is not necessary to increase the distance of the runs; work on the speed of your 6 mile runs and try to get them down to 7:30 per mile or lower. If you wish to increase the distance of your runs, do it gradually: no more than one mile per day increase for every week beyond week #9.

PT SCHEDULE II
(Mon/Wed/Fri)

SETS OF REPETITIONS

WEEK #1, 2:
6X30 PUSHUPS
6X35 SITUPS
3X10 PULL UPS
3X20 DIPS

WEEK #3, 4:
lOX20 PUSHUPS
10X25 SITUPS
4X10 PULL UPS
10X15 DIPS

WEEK #5:
15X20 PUSHUPS
15X25 SITUPS
4X12 PULLUPS
15X15 DIPS

WEEK #6:
20X20 PUSHUPS
20X25 SITUPS
5X12 PULL UPS
20X15 DIPS

These workouts are designed for long-distance muscle endurance. Muscle fatigue will gradually take a longer and longer time to develop doing high repetition workouts. For best results, alternate exercises each set, in order to rest that muscle group for a short time. The below listed workouts are provided for varying your workouts once you have met the Category I and II standards.

PYRAMID WORKOUTS

You can do this with any exercise. The object is to slowly build up to a goal, then build back down to the beginning of the workout. For instance, pull ups, situps, pushups, and dips can be alternated as in the above workouts, but this time choose a number to be your goal and build up to that number. Each number counts as a set. Work your way up and down the pyramid. For example, say your goal is "5."

# OF REPETITIONS

PULL UPS: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1
PUSHUPS: 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2 (2X # pull ups)
SITUPS: 3,6,9,12,15,12,9,6,3 (3X #pull ups)
DIPS: same as pushups

SWIMMING WORKOUTS II
(4-5 days/week)

WEEKS #1, 2: Swim continuously for 35 min.
WEEKS #3, 4: Swim continuously for 45 min. with fins.
WEEK #5: Swim continuously for 60 min. with fins.
WEEK #6: Swim continuously for 75 min. with fins.

* Note: At first, to reduce initial stress on your foot muscles when starting with fins, alternate swimming 1000 meters with fins and 1000 meters without them. Your goal should be to swim 50 meters in 45 seconds or less.

STRETCH PT

Since Mon/Wed/Fri are devoted to PT, it is wise to devote at least 20 minutes on Tue/Thu/Sat to stretching. You should always stretch for at least 15 minutes before any workout; however, just stretching the previously worked muscles will make you more flexible and less likely to get injured. A good way to start stretching is to start at the top and go to the bottom. Stretch to tightness, not to pain; hold for 10-15 seconds. DO NOT BOUNCE. Stretch every muscle in your body from the neck to the calves, concentrating on your thighs, hamstrings, chest, back, and shoulders.

NUTRITION

Proper nutrition is extremely important now and especially when you arrive at BUD/S. You must make sure you receive the necessary nutrients to obtain maximum performance output during exercise and to promote muscle/tissue growth and repair. The proper diet provides all the nutrients for the body's needs and supplies energy for exercise. It also promotes growth and repair of tissue and regulates the body processes. The best source of complex carbohydrates are potatoes, pasta, rice, fruits, vegetables. These types of foods are your best sources of energy.

Carbohydrates, protein, and fat are the three energy nutrients. All three can provide energy, but carbohydrate is the preferred source of energy for physical activity. It takes at least 20 hours after exhaustive exercise to completely restore muscle energy, provided 600 grams of carbohydrates are consumed per day. During successive days of heavy training, like you will experience at BUD/S, energy stores prior to each training session become progressively lower. This is a situation in which a high carbohydrate diet can help maintain your energy.

The majority of carbohydrates should come from complex carbohydrate foods that include bread, crackers, cereal, beans, peas, starchy vegetables, and other whole grain or enriched grain products. Fruits are also loaded with carbohydrates. During training, more than four servings of these food groups should be consumed daily.

Water intake is vital; stay hydrated. You should be consuming up to four quarts of water daily. Drink water before you get thirsty!!! Substances such as alcohol, caffeine and tobacco increase your body's need for water. Too much of these substances will definitely harm your body and hinder your performance.

TRAINING TABLE CONCEPT

NUTRIENT INTAKE:

Carbohydrates 50-70% of calories
Protein 10-15% of calories
Fats 20-30% of calories


IN SERVICE CANDIDATES

Requirements and procedures for BUD/S training application:

Physical/Mental

1. Pass a diving physical exam

2. Eye sight cannot be worse than 20/40 in one eye and 20/70 in the other eye and must be correctable to 20/20 with no color blindness

3. Minimum ASVAB score: VE + AR= 104, MC = 50

4. Must be 28 years old or less

5. Only men are eligible

Physical Screen Test 1. 500 yard swim using breast and/or side stroke in 12:30 Ten minute rest

2. Perform minimum of 42 pushups in 2 minutes Two minute rest

3. Perform minimum of 50 situps in 2 minutes Two minute rest

4. Perform at least 6 pull ups, no time limit Ten minute rest

5. Run 1.5 miles wearing boots and pants in 11:30

*As a reminder, there are no maximums on these physical tests. Prospective trainee should provide the best scores possible, i.e., give his best effort

Great Fitness-Related Quote of the Day

A nice, motivational quote from one of history's best athletes...

"Inside the ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong."

- Muhammad Ali

Triathlon Training for Beginners

Have you ever wanted to learn how to train for a triathlon? Entering one of these tough endurance events is a great way to motivate yourself to get into peak physical condition. It's also a fun way to meet lots of people with similar interests in health, fitness, and sports.

Visit BeginnerTriathlete.com for a ton of great training programs, tools, articles, and more!

- Jamie

High-Carb Diet Linked to Breast Cancer

(WebMD.com) - Eating a diet high in carbohydrates -- particularly the sugary kinds -- may be linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in women.

But don't jump to conclusions, says Walter Willet, MD, MPH, DrPH, of the Harvard School of Public Health, who studied the topic with researchers at the Instituto de Salud Publica in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and Harvard Medical School.

"One study is not enough to make major changes in diet, and more work on this topic is urgently needed," says Willet in a news release.

The urgency stems from a study of 1,866 women aged 20 to 75 in Mexico City. Researchers interviewed the women about their diets and found that breast cancer risk rose with carbohydrate consumption. Those who ate the most carbohydrates had more than twice the risk of breast cancer than those who at the least. The increased risk of breast cancer was seen both in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

The results held after other risk factors like body mass index (a measure of body fat), family history of breast cancer, and the age at which the women first gave birth were screened out.

Insulin's Role

Researchers say the reason high carbohydrate consumption may be linked to breast cancer may stem from elevated levels of insulin and insulin-like proteins in the women's blood. Recent studies have shown that these can increase the level of the female hormone estrogen, which is associated with breast cancer.

All carbohydrates are not alike. In this study, one kind particularly stood out -- sucrose, or table sugar. "Sucrose intake was significantly related to the risk of breast cancer," write the researchers.

Sugary foods spike blood sugar levels, triggering high insulin levels and a process that could ultimately make cells grow. Insulin and a similar protein called insulin-like growth factor (IGF) may also boost levels of estrogen.

The study linked insoluble fiber -- the kind that can't be digested -- with lower risk of breast cancer.

The study failed to show an association between dietary fat and overall breast cancer risk.

Read more...

Conditioning Myths and Half-Truths

(about.com) - Conditioning Myth 1: No Pain, No Gain

Exercise does not need to hurt to be good for you. In fact, if it does hurt you’re probably doing something wrong. Some soreness is common for a first time exerciser, but if that continues, you are pushing way too hard. Delayed onset muscle soreness, in which pain occurs up to 48 hours after exercise, results from inflammation and microscopic tears in the elastic tissues that surround muscle fibers. To give muscles time to adapt, don’t do much too soon, or you will risk injury.

Conditioning Myth 2: Excessive Sweating While Exercising Means You’re Not Fit

In fact, it's just the opposite. Sweating during exercise is a sign of an efficient cooler. An athlete who has adapted to keep the body core cool during exercise will shunt blood to the skin’s surface more quickly and release heat from the body. At the same time, the sweat glands increase their output and thus cool the body during sweat evaporation. While fit people produce more sweat than sedentary folks, they lose less sodium, because more of it is reabsorbed by the body. The result is a more efficient cooler.

Conditioning Myth 3: To Build Muscles, Eat High-Protein Foods

There is no scientific evidence supporting the popular belief that athletes require massive amounts of protein. According to Dr. Suzanne Nelson Steen, head of the University of Washington Huskies Sports Nutrition Program, strength athletes require high carbohydrate and adequate glycogen stored in the muscle. She points out that all high intensity, powerful muscle contractions (such as weight lifting) are fueled with carbohydrate. "Neither fat nor protein can be oxidized rapidly enough to meet the demands of high-intensity exercise. Adequate dietary carbohydrate must be consumed on a daily basis to restore glycogen levels." To build more muscles, you simply have to follow a good weight training program and eat a well balanced diet consistently.

Conditioning Myth 4: If You Stop Exercising, Your Muscles Will Turn to Fat

Fat and muscles are two different tissue types. One can not convert to the other. The truth is that muscles atrophy when not used. Therefore, if you continue to eat as you always have, but stop exercising, you will see an increase in body fat and a loss of muscle mass. Of course, the real question is "why are you stopping exercise in the first place?"

Conditioning Myth 5: You Can Increase Fat Burning By Exercising Longer at a Lower Intensity

It really isn't important what percentage of energy during exercise comes from fat or carbohydrate. What matters at the end of the day is how many total calories were expended. The higher the exercise intensity, the more calories are burned per minute. Many new exercisers, however, are encouraged to exercise at a lower intensity because high-intensity exercise is difficult to sustain, and safer.

Read more...

Making Exercise A Habit

(SmoothFitness.com) - "Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use."...Charles M. Schultz

Life's Little Habits

Everyone has habits...daily rituals or actions that become fixed practices in our lives. We often think of habits as being unconscious and compulsive. And, even more often, we think of habits as being something bad that we would like to "break" or stop engaging in! However, not all habits are bad! In fact, some habits are actually healthy and necessary!

Bad Habits VS Good Habits

I used to constantly bite my fingernails. My mother tried everything within her power to get me to stop! Nothing worked! This was a habit that had become compulsive. Most of the time, I didn't even realize that I was biting my nails, until I chewed a nail down so far that I drew blood and caused a bit of pain! As an adult, I finally managed to conquer that "bad" (and very annoying) habit. It took a conscious effort on my part and a great deal of determination to stop biting my nails. I presume that most of us develop at least one bad habit over the course of our lives that we'd like to break!

But, what about the good habits that we develop? There are some routines that we should actually strive to turn into habits. Exercise is such a routine. In fact, exercise is not only a good habit to get into, it's an essential habit!

The Exercise Habit!

As stated in the above quote by Charles M. Schultz, "most of us have gears we never use." Americans have increasingly adopted sedentary lifestyles. Unfortunately, such a lifestyle is usually detrimental to one's health. After all, the human body was created to move! Lack of movement may be cutting years off the lives of many Americans!

To be truly effective, exercise must become a habit. It must be done routinely, several times per week. Habitual exercise will trim and tone your body, as well as strengthen muscles, including your heart. Stronger muscles and a leaner body mass can contribute to a healthier, longer life.

Building the Exercise Habit

To successfully build the exercise habit, choose an activity that you enjoy, such as walking or swimming. You won't make a habit out of exercise if you don't find it to be fun! Make sure that you have the ability and skills to participate in the activity that you have chosen. Then, set aside a few minutes each day to do that activity. (Pick a time of day that suits you and set realistic goals. You certainly do not want to set yourself up for failure!) Even if all you do in the beginning is get up out of your chair and take a short walk around your office building, it's better than doing nothing! Every little movement, every little step you take, is a step towards building your new exercise habit! So, begin with baby steps and gradually increase the length and intensity of your workouts.

Keep in mind that exercise encompasses a wide variety of activities, including dancing, team sports (i.e. basketball and tennis), hiking, canoeing...even walking around the mall! There's an activity that's perfect for everyone! If you hate running or bicycling, you certainly don't want to choose either of those activities. If you prefer exercising alone, choose an activity that you can do by yourself. Pick one or more activities that you wouldn't mind doing regularly and make them your habit...for a lifetime! It's time to get up off that sofa and MOVE your body!

by Cyndi Schoenhals of SmoothFitness.com - The Web's #1 source for high-quality treadmills and elliptical trainers at wholesale prices

Energize Your Workouts Like a World-Class Athlete!

(eDiets.com) - The 2004 Summer Olympics start next week in Athens, Greece. The Olympics have their roots in ancient Greece, but the games as we know them today began in Athens in 1896. This is the first time the Olympics have returned to Greece since then.

Greece can also lay claim to having one of the healthiest diets in the world - the 'Mediterranean Diet'. Cultures that surround the Mediterranean Sea are known for their love of olives and olive oil, fish and shellfish, and all types of vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts. The Greeks are known as long-lived people, and epidemiological studies consistently show that this type of diet contributes to lower rates of heart disease and stroke. Greeks have their feast days, when they eat lamb beef and sweets (their baklava is famous). However, most days they eat healthy. Traditionally, the Italians and other Mediterranean cultures eat fresh food and have less obesity per capita than most Western countries.

World-class athletes may eat from 4,000 up to 10,000 calories to fuel an endurance event. However, all people need fuel to maintain their fitness, and they have to eat strategically in order to compete effectively. What is interesting is that diet and training work together. Your diet fuels your workout. And, as you train and become more fit, your body’s use of the fuel is optimized.

What you eat and drink affects your performance. Successful athletes take care not to ignore nutrition, because what you eat at the dining table will carry you to victory. Nutrition is of utmost importance to successfully training for and competing in athletic events. It is also an essential part of your daily performance on even the most basic activities. Respect your body like you would a fine automobile. You wouldn't put cheap fuel in the gas tank of a high-performance engine, so eat to win!

Here are the Top Tips for Optimum Performance:

(All Athletes)

Hydration:

The number one concern for all athletes is hydration. Athletes lose a tremendous amount of fluid when exercising. Dehydration cannot only decrease performance, but also it can lead to profound medical complications. It is not uncommon for even a seasoned and fit athlete to experience dehydration, heatstroke and even death.

Heat combined with humidity is especially dangerous. Even though you perspire more heavily during high humidity, the sweat can't evaporate. This means there is no cooling effect to the body. High humidity means profuse sweating and a profound rate of electrolyte and fluid loss. There are deaths on record when the air temperature was only 75 degrees (but the humidity was over 95 percent).

1. *Keep drinking. Before, during and after the race, hydration is the number one goal for the athlete. Just before a race, drink at least 16 ounces (two glasses) of cool water.

2. Drinking water is adequate for competitions lasting less than one hour. If you're working out or competing for longer, try one of the commercial sports drinks.

3. *Pick a carb-containing drink that contains about 4-8 percent carbohydrate (about 14-18 grams per 8-ounce serving but not more). Consuming higher levels of carbohydrate can cause stomach upset and diarrhea. Sodium content should range about 1.0-1.3 grams of salt/liter.

4. *Drink at least 7-10 ounces of water or sports drink every 10-15 minutes to maintain hydration, especially in hot weather.

5. *Drink beyond your thirst: by the time you're “thirsty” you're experiencing dehydration.

6. *Replenish fluids lost after competition/exercise. Drink at least 20 ounces of fluids per pound of weight loss. Diluted fruit juice and sports drinks, helps replenish potassium and sodium losses.

7. *Eat at least 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Besides getting a healthy dose of fiber and complex carbohydrates, you'll get more than enough potassium and magnesium, which you'll need to replace the losses from sweat.

8. *More about sports drinks; protein may help endurance. An article in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (July 2004) cites new research that compared sports drinks containing protein, carbs and electrolytes produced better endurance than just carbs and electrolytes alone.

(Endurance Athletes)

For endurance athletes, it’s especially important to load up your glycogen stores. Marathoners can easily burn from 4,000 up to 10,000 calories a day when training. If they run out of fuel, they may hit the proverbial wall. Energy from carbohydrate is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen, to be called on when necessary to fuel exercise. To avoid coming up empty during long runs or competitions, endurance athletes will “carbo-load.”

1. *The average athlete can store enough muscle glycogen to last about 1-1.5 hours in competitive exercise. Carbo-loading is the attempt to store more glycogen by eating large amounts of complex carbs. First they deplete the carb stores in the liver by eating few carbs for three days. Then they follow that with seven days of high intake of pasta, breads, potatoes, fruits, vegetables and cereals to try and ultra-store glycogen prior to the competition.

2. Mayoclinic.com says that the endurance athletes should normally be eating a carbohydrate-rich diet, because the body can learn to use carbohydrates more effectively. A rule of thumb is to eat about three grams of carbohydrates for every pound.

3. *Keep fueled during competition. don't eat a big, huge meal prior to a race, or you'll be risking gastric distress, sluggish performance and even diarrhea. When your muscles have to compete with your digestive system, you lose.

4. Your pre-race strategy should be to fuel up on carbohydrates and fluids so that you can maintain energy as you use up stored glycogen. Some suggestions are:

a. Drink at least 20-30 ounces three hours prior to the race, then another 16 ounces just prior to racing.

b. Don't eat unfamiliar foods on race day…make sure to pick foods that you're accustomed to and that you enjoy.

c. Eat your breakfast (or other larger meal) at least three or four hours prior to the race, and have a light snack about one or two hours before warming up.

d. Think primarily carbohydrates, low fat and low to moderate protein. Ideal foods include: yogurt and fruit, fruit smoothies (fruit with yogurt or low fat milk and crushed ice), cereal bars or sports bars, waffles with syrup and fruit, low fat cheese sandwich on wheat bread and toast with peanut butter and jelly.

Strength Training:

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, strength training has both training and health benefits. Two benefits that are most obvious are decreased body fat and increased lean muscle mass, which results in a higher metabolic rate due to a decrease in fat stores. Both women and men should perform regular strength training, without worry of building large muscles (when performed correctly). Additional benefits include:

• Increases bone strength and reduces risk of osteoporosis.


• Strengthens connective tissue to increase joint stability and help prevent injury.


• Improves functional strength, which helps with both sports performance and daily activities.


• Decreases body fat while increasing lean muscle mass.

Although protein is an important nutrient in the diet of athletes, eating more protein does not build more muscle. The average American eats about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is almost double the protein necessary for good health (about .5-.75 grams per pound of body weight), depending upon their activity. An endurance athlete or competitive weight trainer will need more, but they also need more overall calories to fuel their workout (primarily from healthy carbs including grains, fruit and dairy or soy foods).

If you're a moderately active person, who is preparing for a race, aim for about .55-.65 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Remember, not only animal products contain protein. Dairy, soy, grains, seeds and nuts are all good sources and add up over the day to supply your total needs.

Dietary Sources of Protein (from the USDA Nutritive Values of Food)

(Food, Serving, Protein):
Hamburger, extra lean 6 ounces 48.6
Chicken, roasted 6 oz. 42.5
Fish 6 oz. 41.2
Cottage cheese 1 cup 28.1
Yogurt, low fat 1 cup 11.9
Nonfat milk 1 cup 8.4
Split peas, cooked ½ cup 8.1
Soy milk 1 cup 6.7
Broccoli 5 inch piece 4.2
Whole wheat bread 2 slices 5.4
White bread 2 slices 4.9
Egg 1 large 6.3

Learn more about optimal nutrition here...

Do You Know?

According to the Physician and Sports Medicine, in spite of increasingly sophisticated drug testing at the Olympics, suspicions of the use of illegal ergogenic aids are stronger than ever. Proof of cheating is often lacking, but by all appearances, the suspicions are well-founded.

The joint-position paper from the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine states that physical activity, athletic performance and recovery from exercise are enhanced by optimal nutrition. Dietary aids that claim to improve performance are controversial, and some health care professionals discourage the use of all ergogenic aids. The position paper states that athletes should not use nutritional ergogenic aids until they have carefully evaluated the product and discussed the use of the product with a qualified nutrition or health professional.

Are Energy Bars Really That Great?

(eDiets.com/washingtonpost.com) - Belly Up To the Bars

They provide the promise of a quick portable meal, an afternoon energy boost or a way to eat healthfully while traveling.

Born in the world of competitive athletics, nutrition/energy bars have moved into the mainstream: These days they're often gobbled by sedentary desk jockeys rather than solely by the mountain climbers and elite athletes who first made them popular. Sales of the bars are projected to reach more than $3 billion in the United States this year, according to the Nutrition Business Journal, a California publication that tracks the food industry. Companies from Atkins to the Zone have gotten into the act.

So what exactly do these bars provide nutritionally?

"There's nothing magic in them," said registered dietitian Nancy Clark, author of the "Sports Nutrition Guidebook" (Human Kinetics). "Even though they're marketed to be easily digestible or an energizer, another snack would do that. Many people think that anything wrapped in a package is magic in terms of enhancing performance, but they're just 200 expensive calories."

One appeal of energy bars, of course, is convenience. They don't require refrigeration and are unlikely to spoil or crumble for months, making them ideal for tucking in a purse, briefcase, backpack or gym bag.

Just don't expect them to offer a nutritional advantage. Energy bars often boast of their high protein, but they often also pack added sugars and saturated or trans fat. The Clif Bars that Clark keeps in her desk have 12 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbohydrates and 250 calories "They're absolutely delicious," she said, munching on one during a recent interview. "They have chocolate and frosting and fudge and Rice Krispies. But who am I fooling? This is sugar-coated protein with vitamins added to it."

Compare that to a glass of skim milk and a medium banana (10 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbs, 185 calories) which has about the same nutritional value as that Clif bar.

Most bars, at $1 to $3 each, will cost as least twice as much as the banana and milk. And while energy bars are increasingly billed as meal substitutes, "they're not really big enough for a meal replacement," Clark said. "You'd need to eat two to three of them" to feel full.

Except that you might not want to, based on a recent and decidedly unscientific Lean Plate Club taste test of a dozen leading energy bars. Even the best-rated bars, including one from a major candy maker, averaged only modest scores for taste. Many fared much worse. [See results in the chart below.]

Asked whether they would purchase any of the bars as a snack or meal replacement, most participants said not a chance -- unless, of course, they were starving.

To conduct this blind taste test, we purchased 11 leading energy bars (based on national sales) from local stores. Added to the mix was a ringer, the Snickers Marathon Chewy Chocolate Peanut bar made by Mars Inc.

The taste test was conducted late on a Friday afternoon, a time when deadline pressure and hunger rises. Participants -- all Washington Post newsroom personnel -- were invited to sample as many of the bite-size samples as they desired. After each bite, they were asked to rate the taste on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 10 (great). Scores were then tallied and divided by the number of people who tasted each bar to arrive at an average score.

Not one bar earned a 10 from even a single taster, although a few bars -- including the ZonePerfect Fudge Graham bar, Luna Nutz Over Chocolate bar, Snickers Marathon, EAS Advantage Edge Chocolate Peanut Crisp and SlimFast Caramel Crispy Peanut Meal Bar -- snagged an occasional 9. The Myoplex Lite Blueberry Cobbler Crunch Nutrition Bar got a minus-1 from one tester.

The top average score was a 6 for the Zone Perfect Fudge Graham bar. Least favorite: Atkins Advantage Chocolate Mocha Crunch Bar, which averaged 2.4.

Here are some for tips in choosing energy bars:

Let taste be your guide. Nearly every bar appealed to at least one taster, yet even the highest-scoring bars had detractors who couldn't stomach them. If you want to use these bars, you may have to taste a bunch to find one you like -- or can tolerate.

Read the labels carefully. The Atkins Advantage bar had 10 grams of fat -- the highest in the test, including six grams of saturated fat. That's two grams more than a small McDonald's burger and bun. Lowest in fat: PowerBar (the leading U.S. seller) and Myoplex Lite. Each had 3.5 grams of fat and was low in saturated fat -- less than a gram for the PowerBar, 2.5 grams for Myoplex. The SlimFast Chocolate Brownie Bar and the Clif Bar Crunchy Peanut Butter were the only two brands to note on their labels that they had zero trans fat.

Look for bargains. Sales and frequent-buyer cards, such as those offered at CVS, dropped the cost of some bars to less than $1. Costco, Sam's Club and Trader Joe's also often offer lower prices for bulk sales of energy bars.

Make it your whey. Energy bars often have more protein than traditional candy or snack bars, which is why they have been favored by athletes. Their protein generally comes from whey (a milk protein), soybeans, nuts or a combination of all three. Highest protein of any bar tested: Atkins Advantage, with 20 grams. Both Zone Perfect and SlimFast's Chocolate Brownie had 16 grams. Oneway, which also bills itself as a protein supplement, had 15 grams. By comparison, the top-selling energy bar, PowerBar, had 10 grams of protein.

Dig deep. Be aware that there are different types of products in the category, each aimed at a different niche and (perhaps) delivering a different balance of nutrients. Clif Bars contain certified organic ingredients. Luna bars derive their protein from soy and are aimed at women (though plenty of men eat them, too). Myoplex, EAS Advantage, Balance, PowerBar and Snickers Marathon mostly target energy and athletic performance. Balance, for example, provides 100 percent of the daily vitamin C intake, which could help make up for not eating enough fruits and vegetables. PowerBar contains 30 percent of the day's calcium and 100 percent of the essential B vitamins, and it provides 300 micrograms of sodium, potassium and chloride, electrolytes that are lost in perspiration during a workout. SlimFast, the Zone and Atkins are geared toward meal replacement. All bars come in single servings, making portion control easy. Products are constantly changing. Since our testing two weeks ago, SlimFast has introduced a new bar with less sugar.

Consider other healthy snacks instead. Low-fat chocolate milk "is as effective as a recovery food" as energy bars after a workout, Clark said.

A recent study -- conducted by Indiana University researchers and presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting -- tested raisins against energy gels, which are nutritionally similar to energy bars. Bicyclists who ate raisins before their workouts performed just as well as those who ate energy gels. The raisins "were just as effective, no one complained about intestinal problems and they cost just a fraction of the price of the energy gels," Clark said.

Obesity Treatments Get Stranger, Scarier

This could give you nightmares:

(WashingtonPost.com) - A New Buzz in Weight Loss: Gastric Pacemaker Gets a Test As an Obesity Treatment

When Jamie Finley begins an experimental weight management treatment later this month, she could receive a shock. Actually, the 41-year-old Woodbridge mother and business manager could get a whole series of them, and that's fine with her.

The shocks will come from a machine the size of a half dollar she's volunteered to have surgically implanted in her stomach as part of a clinical trial at the George Washington University Hospital Weight Management Program. Finley, a former Arkansan who grew up on Southern fried chicken and eggs cooked in bacon grease, hopes the novel device -- called an implantable gastric stimulation system -- will help her control her appetite and shed some of her roughly 200 pounds. And keep them off.

She's tried other means to reach that goal, improving her diet and trying reputable weight loss programs, but the extra pounds have always come back.

"This is a battle I've fought many times over," she said.

That makes her just the kind of patient researchers are seeking to try an approach less radical -- and therefore, with potentially broader application -- than gastric bypass.

Made by Transneuronix Inc. of Mount Arlington, N.J., the device consists of a battery-powered pulse generator and a 15-inch lead wire with two electrodes. At first glance, it resembles a stopwatch with a tail.

Like a heart pacemaker, the device sends out impulses that are generally undetectable to the patient, according to bariatric surgeon Scott Shikora of the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, who has been testing the devices on obese patients for five years.

In this latest round of clinical trials, researchers will study whether the device fosters weight loss by causing an uncomfortable feeling of fullness -- satiety -- soon after a person begins eating.

Read more...

Top Mistakes People Make in the Gym

(acefitness.org) - Finding or making time to exercise is the first step toward improving your health, but it’s not the only step. Workouts can be challenging and mistakes in the gym are common. At times, these mistakes can cause mild strains or more significant injuries. By changing small parts of your routine, you’ll begin to see incredible results. ACE, America’s Authority on Fitness, shares the following mistakes commonly made in the gym and offers tips to help individuals stay safe during their workouts.

1. The all-or-nothing approach. Not having a full hour to exercise is no reason to skip your workout. Research shows that even 10 minutes of exercise can provide important health benefits.
2. Unbalanced strength-training programs. Most people tend to focus on certain muscles, such as the abdominals or biceps, because they have a greater impact on appearance or it is where they feel strongest. But to achieve a strong, balanced body, you have to train all the major muscle groups.
3. Bad form. The surest way to get injured in a gym is to use bad form. For example, allowing the knee to extend beyond the toes during a lunge or squat can put undue stress on the knee, and using momentum to lift heavy weights or not exercising through a full range of motion will produce less-than-optimal results.
4. Not progressing wisely. Exercising too much, too hard or too often is a common mistake made by many fitness enthusiasts. Rest and gradual progression are important components of a safe and effective exercise program.
5. Not enough variety. Too many people find a routine or physical activity they like—and then never change it. Unchanging workouts can lead to boredom, plateaus and, worse case, can lead to injury or burnout.
6. Not adjusting machines to one’s body size. Most exercise equipment is designed to accommodate a wide range of body types and sizes. But it’s up to you to adjust each machine to your body’s unique needs. Using improperly adjusted machines will lead to less-than-optimal results and increase your risk of injury.
7. Focusing on anything but your workout. The importance of being “mindful” of the task at hand cannot be overstated. Reading or watching TV can adversely affect the quality of your workout because the distraction can literally slow you down.
8. Not properly cooling down after your workout. Too many people wrap up their workouts and head straight to the showers. Instead, take a few minutes to lower your heart rate and stretch your muscles. This not only improves flexibility, but also helps prepare the body for your next workout.
9. Poor gym etiquette. This can range from simply being rude—lingering on machines long after you are done or chatting loudly on your cell phone—to poor hygiene and not wiping your sweat from machines once you’re finished. Always be considerate of other exercisers.
10. Not setting realistic goals. Unrealistic and vaguely stated goals are among the leading causes of exercise dropout. The key is to establish a training goal that is specific and appropriate for your fitness and skill levels—something a bit challenging but not overly difficult.
    
    
    --------------
    About ACE
    
    The American Council on Exercise (ACE), America’s Authority on Fitness, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of physical activity and protecting consumers against unsafe and ineffective fitness products and instruction. As the nation’s “workout watchdog,” ACE sponsors university-based exercise science research and testing that targets fitness products and trends. ACE sets standards for fitness professionals and is the world’s largest nonprofit fitness certifying organization. For more information on ACE and its programs, call (800) 825-3636 or log onto the ACE Web site at www.acefitness.org.

Diet, Exercise Help Menopausal Women

(WebMd.com) - Good news for women at or nearing menopause -- there's a simple way to help protect your arteries that doesn't cost a dime in prescriptions.

Simply getting more exercise and tweaking your diet to reduce fat and cholesterol can offer protection against the increased risk associated with the aging female heart. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a hundred times -- eat right and get in shape -- but now there's evidence that doing so does more whittle your waistline. It also slows progression of atherosclerosis, the thickening of artery walls caused by cholesterol buildup and linked with heart disease and stroke risks.

It's the first time research has shown those effects in women approaching menopause, according one of the study's authors, Kim Sutton-Tyrell, DrPH, of the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. "Diet and exercise really work. Not only do they result in lower weight and cholesterol levels, the result is also a slowing of disease progression," says Sutton-Tyrell in a news release.

Although women have a lower risk of heart disease than men do, as women approach menopause their risks of heart disease increase and start to equal or even surpass the risks of heart disease seen in men.

Read more...

The 10-Minute Workout

(eFitness.com) - Is this another too-good-to-be-true, promises-everything program? Sorry to disappoint, but the simple approach presented with this article is absolutely credible, and might actually be the best way to change the shape you're in.

As with most things that are beneficial, if a little is good, then of course, more must be better. Fortunately, when it comes to exercise that's just not true! Cutting back on the total time devoted to your program, while improving the quality of each exercise can be the best way to get fit fast.

Scheduling Flexibility

How you go about scheduling a reduction in exercise is largely a personal choice. If performed correctly and at an adequate intensity level, each resistance or toning exercise needs to be repeated twice each week. And you can easily train your whole body with four or five quality, challenging movements. With a total of two sets per exercise, per session, you arrive at no more than 20 total sets in a seven-day period.

5 exercises that train the entire body
x 2 sets per exercise
= 10 sets

x 2 sessions with each exercise per week
= 20 total sets

You need to complete about 20 quality sets -- but that's per week! Opt for four sets (about 10 minutes) a day for five days, six sets per day for three days, or ten sets for two. It's your choice. Either way, total time allotted to your program should be no more than 50 or 60 minutes each week.

Quality Over Quantity

If it's so simple, then why is there so much confusion and misinformation? The problem lies in the typically poor choice of specific exercises and the quality of exercise execution. This usually leads the trainee to work out even more and wind up burned out and generally disgusted with exercise.

To break the cycle, it's vital that you take some time to consult with a reliable source, preferably at the very beginning (but at any point in the program if need be). Even with the sea of misinformation that exists on diet and exercise, there's still plenty of solid, reliable knowledge to keep you afloat.

Cardiovascular Exercise

The main focus of this article has been on resistance or strength training, the absolute best type of exercise to help you tone, tighten and reshape your body. The extra muscle gained while strength training also acts as a metabolism booster, raising your basil metabolic rate, or the amount of calories needed to just exist (as you sit at your desk reading this article).

Cardio is a separate issue, and can also be used to improve overall health and help eliminate fat. As an option, a sensible cardio program can be combined with your 10 minutes of toning exercises.

Diet and Nutrition

Changing the shape of your body should never be discussed without mentioning the role of proper nutrition. No amount of exercise can overcome extreme overeating, but working out can enable you to eat more food without getting fat.

If you're looking to build strength and tone up -- check out eFitness for fantastic customizable fitness plans. You'll be sleek and toned before you know it!


--------------
by Mike Stefano

To learn more about Mike’s fat burning, muscle building routines, with a variety of programming and scheduling options, go to www.firefightersworkout.com.

Fiber & Weight Control: Don't kick complex carbs to the curb!

(Miami Herald Fitness) - If you're sick of trying to lose weight by eating a low-carbohydrate diet, dietitian Tanya Zuckerbrot may have the answer for you.

Her secret to weight loss: eating carbohydrates.

Although it goes against the latest diet trends, she stresses that a diet high in complex carbohydrates, and therefore high in fiber, is the key to weight loss.

"No one has given fiber the attention it deserves," she said. "And the problem is that when people go on these low-carb diets, they aren't getting fiber."

Fiber only can be found in carbohydrates.

In addition, people often are cutting out fruits and veggies, which are full of antioxidants and vitamins that keep skin and hair healthy.

Zuckerbrot does applaud diets such as South Beach and Atkins for trying to get people to decrease the amount of simple carbohydrates they eat. These include processed foods such as cakes, cookies, white bread, white rice and pasta, which the body digests quickly.

Zuckerbrot suggests eating whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta or brown rice.

One slice of whole-wheat bread adds about three grams of fiber to your diet, she said. But not all breads have the same fiber content, so check nutrition labels for exact fiber content, serving size and calories before making your purchase. Also, make sure the bread's primary ingredient is 100 percent whole-wheat flour.

Fiber, which cannot be broken down by the body, keeps people feeling full longer.

"It adds bulk to the diet without adding calories." Zuckerbrot said. "So, you can eat more frequently throughout the day."

Fiber also lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk for cancer, specifically colon cancer. Fiber promotes regularity, decreasing bacteria build-up.

The American Dietetic Association recommends 20-30 grams of fiber daily, but on average, people consume only 10-12 grams daily, Zuckerbrot said.

And don't worry about getting too much fiber. Zuckerbrot said. "You are never going to eat too much of it." Just drink about eight glasses of water a day, as fluids stop fiber from clogging your intestinal tract, which can lead to constipation.

Healthy Travelling Snacks

Looking for healthy, fitness-friendly snacks to eat during road trips or plane rides? Here are a few good travel-food suggestions from WeightWatchers...

(WeightWatchers.com) - Whether you're traveling alone, with your significant other, or the kids, these snack ideas are designed for easy access, and most importantly, to steer you away from the fast food stops along the road. We suggest you bring along a small cooler to keep your healthy snacks fresher for longer.

- Grape tomatoes – Actually a fruit, these miniature tomatoes, when ripe, make a delicious snack. This is a no-mess, grab-and-go snack, and one you can reach your hand in the bag for over and over.

- Quaker® Crispy Minis: These delicious snacks come in a variety of flavours and can satisfy even the most stubborn sweet or salty craving.

- Summer berries are in abundance! Throw together blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or any mix of berries in a plastic container. This snack can get messy, so unless you've got a bunch of napkins tucked away in your glove compartment, leave this one for the rest stop.

- Popcorn sprinkled with low-fat Parmesan cheese or hot chili peppers.

- Open the lid of your yogurt and toss in some crushed cereal or granola for a little extra crunch. This will give you a solid dose of calcium, and although a little more challenging to eat in the car, you can make it work by placing the yogurt in your cup holder.

- Cheese and crackers: Decorate some whole wheat crackers with your favorite low-fat cheese, and portion them out in plastic bags for easy access. You can use string cheese and snack on it by itself too!

- Core an apple and cut it into pieces. Throw it in a plastic container. Bring along a jar of reduced fat peanut butter, and a plastic knife. If you're not driving, smoothe peanut butter onto the apple pieces and enjoy! This is one for the whole family.

- Mini Pita Snackwiches. Hummus is full of protein and can help keep your hunger at bay until you reach your destination. Put some between mini-pitas. These mini hummus sandwiches make the perfect portable snack that the kids will love too!

Learn more about healthy weight loss from WeightWatchers.com...

Bee Pollen for Weight Loss

Is bee pollen a good supplement for weight loss? Many people think it is! Here's a nice article on the subject...

(BellaOnline.com: Health & Fitness) - Apitherapy, or healing with bee pollen is an ages old treatment. In fact, bee pollen therapy was mentioned in the Bible, as well as in other ancient Chinese and Egyptian texts. Bee pollen actually contains all the essential components of life. It counteracts the effects of our modern day custom of consuming diets which are deficient or unbalanced nutritionally.

One of the many uses of bee pollen is in a weight control or weight stabilization program. Because of it’s ability to correct chemical imbalances in body metabolism, it can normalize or stabilize weight gain or loss. It is a low-calorie food, containing only ninety calories per ounce. Bee pollen contains lecithin, which helps to dissolve and flush fat from the body. This is also useful for cholesterol balancing by lowering the level of low-density or bad lipoproteins, while increasing the helpful high- density lipoproteins, which in turn protect the body from high cholesterol levels and heart disease.

Bee pollen also eliminates craving by increasing the value of each nutrient in the food you consume. Phenylalanine is a natural amino acid that the body requires for appetite suppression, by acting on your appestat, which is the control center of the body that signals fullness and hunger. Phenylalanine works naturally with the body, exerting an appetite suppressant if you are overweight, maintaining your weight if you are just right, and actually increasing the appetite if you need to gain weight, unlike the manmade version of this amino acid, phenylpropanolamine, which decreases the appetite no matter if you are thin, overweight or just right.

Read more...

Great Stretching and Flexibility Resource

Fitness author Thomas Kurz is an expert in the fields of sports methodology and physical education. He's considered to be one of the world's top authorities on stretching and flexibility training, an incredibly important -- yet often over-looked -- component of complete physical fitness.

In order to stay injury-free as well as get the most from your workouts be sure to take a look at Tom's great articles on training, stretching and flexibility...

Navy SEAL Fitness Author Launches Fitness Site

Former Navy SEAL Fitness Author Launches Fitness Site to Help Win the War on Terror - Heroes of Tomorrow at www.heroesoftomorrow.org

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and published fitness writer who has been developing physical training programs for military and law enforcement personnel for over ten years. Now, he devotes his time to being the "Personal Trainer to the Heroes of Tomorrow" by helping young men and women get fit for duty.

(PRWEB) August 6, 2004 -- Stew Smith has helped thousands conquer the challenging exercises and physical standards of several military and government agencies. As a former U.S. Navy SEAL and fitness instuctor at the Naval Academy, Stew has seen the need for focused physical training by men and women prior to entering their "dream jobs" with with the U.S. Government.

"America has been built on the sweat and perseverance of its heroes" says Stew, "with America's new position in the War on Terror, we must turn to our men and women in uniform for help. HeroesofTomorrow.org will help aspiring heroes pass the challenging physical standards of their dream job." Stew Smith is also donating proceeds to many of the Fallen Hero Funds from the eBook sales every month.

To date, Stew and his training programs have assisted young men and women seeking to ace the physical part of their future training in areas such as:

*Navy SEAL training

*Army Special Forces – Green Berets

*Army Rangers

*Army Airborne

*Air Force Para-jumpers (PJs)

*US Naval Academy and West Point Cadets

*FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigations Academy

*DEA – Drug Enforcement Agency

*RECON Marine

*Marine OCS / TBS

*Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps Bootcamps

*FLETC – Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

*SWAT Teams – local and federal standards

*Beginner and Intermediate Programs available too!

The above military and government groups all have challenging physical standards and mental discipline that are specifically taught to be aced by Stew Smith in each of his downloadable eBooks. "If a student can use the physical fitness of these intense schools as a stress reliever, not a stress increaser, they have a far better chance of graduating and learning their job better than showing up unfit and out of shape."

For more information on the America's Heroes of Tomorrow eBooks, check out www.heroesoftomorrow.org or call Stew Smith at 410-271-0837. He is also available for corporate or personal training.

CHILDREN NEED GREATER AMOUNTS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Five years after releasing the first physical activity guidelines for children five to 12 years of age, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) is increasing the recommended amount. The first of four new guidelines recommends at least 60 minutes, and up to several hours of physical activity per day. This is not surprising given the fact that inactivity has contributed to the recent obesity epidemic and sedentary living is a known threat to health.

“With escalating obesity and physical inactivity rates for children, the public’s attention should now be focused to help schools and families across the country bring into action these important guidelines,” said NASPE President George Graham, Ph.D., of Pennsylvania State University. “Schools are critically important to increasing physical activity of children because school programs can affect the behavior of ALL children on a daily basis.”

Lead authors of the revised Physical Activity for Children: A Statement of Guidelines for Children Ages 5-12, are Drs. Charles B. Corbin and Robert P. Pangrazi of Arizona State University. The purpose of this document is to provide parents, physicians, physical education teachers, classroom teachers, youth physical activity leaders, school administrators, and all others dedicated to promoting physically active lifestyles for children with guidelines about appropriate physical activity for pre-adolescent children.

Summary Guidelines

Among the recommendations are the following:

- Children should accumulate at least 60 minutes, and up to several hours, of age appropriate physical activity on all, or most days of the week.

- Children should participate in several bouts of physical activity lasting 15 minutes or more each day.

- Children should participate each day in a variety of age-appropriate physical activities designed to achieve optimal health, wellness, fitness and performance benefits.

- Extended periods (periods of two hours or more) of inactivity are discouraged for children, especially during the daytime hours.

“To help bring these guidelines to fruition parents and schools need to set specific times each day for physical activity such as a before school activity, recess, physical education class, and an activity break after lunch,” said Charles Corbin. “Within a quality school physical education program, physical education teachers should:

- Expose youngsters to a wide variety of physical activities

- Teach physical skills to help maintain lifetime health and fitness

- Encourage self-monitoring so youngsters can see how active they are and set their own goals

- Individualize intensity of activities

- Focus feedback on process of doing your best rather than on product

- Be active role models

“Perhaps the single most important time to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary activities such as television watching and computer time is after school between 3 and 6 p.m. This is a time when children can be active, but often are not. Many children are inactive during this time period through no fault of their own. Parents must help their children find safe and enjoyable opportunities to be active during this time period. Unless a special time is set aside each day, the opportunity to be active will slip away because barriers to physical activity are often great.”

When asked about barriers to promoting physical activity, the researcher said, “Without any question, the number one barrier to physical activity in schools is the perception that time spent in activity such as physical education and recess will undermine academic learning. The evidence does not support this assumption. We now know is that making time for physical education and physical activity does not reduce academic learning and it may actually increase it.

“Our research shows that children who are physically active during the day in school are much more likely to be physically active after school as well. Energy begets energy! The more fit and alert adults feel the better they perform. This is also true for children.”

Corbin said, “The bottom line is that sedentary living contributes to obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Starting the activity habit early in life is crucial. Children need at least 60 minutes and up to several hours of activity daily. It can be accumulated in many short (15 minutes minimum) intermittent bouts of activity and need not be done in continuous exercise periods that are appropriate for adults. Long periods of inactivity (more than two hours in length) are discouraged.”

To order a copy of the new physical activity guidelines, visit the online bookstore at www.aahperd.org or call 1-800-321-0789. The cost is $12 for NASPE/AAHPERD members, and $16 for non-members. Stock number is 304-10276.

Information about the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) can be found on the Internet at www.naspeinfo.org. NASPE, the largest of the six national associations of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), is a nonprofit membership organization of over 18,000 professionals in the fitness and physical activity fields. NASPE is the only national association dedicated to strengthening basic knowledge about sport and physical education among professionals and the general public. Putting that knowledge into action in schools and communities across the nation is critical to improved academic performance, social reform and the health of individuals.


Related article: New products encourage children to exercise more

5 Easy Ways To Burn More Fat

(MuscleMaster.net) - 5 simple but effective ways to get lean now:

1. Do not eat poor quality carbohydrates before bed. Poor quality carbohydrates are those that contain sugar or are highly processed. These would include most breakfast cereals, breads, snack foods, candies, and even fruits and juices. Eating these foods immediately prior to bedtime will likely result in increased fat deposit and will prevent your body from maintaining a successful fat-burning mode.

2. Increase your muscle mass! The more lean muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn even at rest. Muscle is extremely active metabolically. Do some resistance training, add some muscle, and crank up that metabolism.

3. Never let yourself get too hungry, or too stuffed. It really is all about moderation. Time your meals so that you eat before you are starving . . . doing this one simple thing will cause you to almost always eat less. When you do eat, stop when your satisfied not when you are so stuffed you cannot even get down another bite.

4. Double up on your cardio training. From time to time it may be beneficial to the fat-burning process for you to split your cardio training into two short sessions rather than one longer one. Studies suggest that people who do 30 minutes of morning cardio and then 30 minutes of evening cardio lose more fat than those doing just one 60 minute session.

5. Eat more high fiber foods. Most of us do not get enough fiber in our daily diets, and that's just a shame. Fiber not only promotes overall general health, but also can significantly aid in your fat-burning efforts. Leafy greens and salads are ideal sources of fiber.