Friday, December 31, 2010

15 Ways to Fight Stress

Mark sisson offers 15 ways to fight stress naturally.
Do I need to really even say the holidays are a stressful time of year? Every lifestyle blog, magazine, evening news program, and newspaper will have a stress-related feature right about now. I bet Dr. Oz has a “holiday stress relief” show airing. It’s part of the culture – we expect holiday stress and seem to love wallowing in it. So I’m not going to go on and on about how stress is a problem, or even why it’s a problem (I’ve already done that), because we know it. So, how do we avoid it and, once it’s here, how do we deal with it? That’s the important part. How do we hack it?

Well, we don’t want to hack it all to pieces. We need stress, too – just not too much. It bears mentioning that many things can be considered stressors depending on the context. Lifting heavy things is a stressor, and the right amount causes muscles, connective tissue, and bones to respond by getting stronger, which are desirable; too much, or too little recovery, and muscles, connective tissue, and bones suffer and atrophy, which is undesirable. It’s about context, quantity, and quality. With that in mind, I’m going to break down anti-stress strategies into categories. Read more

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Too Much Internet Porn May Cause Erectile Dysfunction

Since starting this blog almost four years ago, I have been shocked at the number of comments and emails from men in their late teens and twenties who have some degree of erectile dystfunction. Premature ejaculation you might expect, but erectile dysfunction... ? I had no clue as to how healthy, young men could develop this condition, but sex therapist Ian Kerner thinks he has discovered the cause - too much internet porn.
As a sex therapist and founder of Good in Bed, I’ve seen a sharp increase in men who suffer from a new syndrome I’ve dubbed “Sexual Attention Deficit Disorder,” or SADD. And the source of this problem is just a click away -- too much internet porn.

Just as people with ADD are easily distracted, guys with SADD have become so accustomed to the high levels of visual novelty and stimulation that comes from internet porn that they’re unable to focus on real sex with a real woman. As a result, guys with SADD often find it difficult to maintain an erection during intercourse, or they experience delayed ejaculation and can only climax with manual or oral stimulation. Read more

Monday, December 27, 2010

The 5 Myths of Aging

Growing older is inevitable, but poor health is not, says Lauri Aesoph.
If you were an alien visiting our planet, you might think Earthlings never age. Even as awareness about aging rises, most major magazines and television stations still fail to display vital, older people. Medical journals, on the other hand, harp on the infirmities of old age. It's no wonder we fear and even deny our own inevitable aging.

Grower older can't be avoided, but it doesn't have to mean the loss of health, mind and independence. In fact, research seems to indicate the opposite. By paying a little attention to lifestyle, most older individuals can live active, healthy lives and we can all shatter those old age myths. Read more

Friday, December 24, 2010

Advanced Bodyweight Exercise Workout

This advanced workout by personal trainer Stephen Cabral is a total body workout using only your body weight.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

What's Missing from The New Vitamin D and Calcium Recommendations

Dr. Mark Hyman makes recommendations about vitamin D and calcium intake based on the latest research.
One day, vitamin D seems like the cure for everything, and the next, we are inundated with warnings about dangers and lack of science. Confusion is rampant about the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI's) for Calcium and Vitamin D recently released from the Institute of Medicine.

I have reviewed the report carefully and gathered input from international experts on vitamin D and the clinical team at my medical center -- which includes four master's degrees in nutrition, authors of textbooks on nutrition, and international leaders in nutrition education for physicians and dietitians. Collectively we have 100 years of reviewing nutrition research and applying it with thousands of patients. Here is what I think about the new vitamin D recommendations based on a synthesis of all this information. Read more

Monday, December 20, 2010

Study: Abstaining from Alcohol Significantly Shortens Life

New research shows that abstaining from alcohol significantly shortens life.
A newly released study shows that regular drinkers are less likely to die prematurely than people who have never indulged in alcohol. You read that right: Time reports that abstaining from alcohol altogether can lead to a shorter life than consistent, moderate drinking.

Surprised? The tightly controlled study, which looked at individuals between ages 55 and 65, spanned a 20-year period and accounted for variables ranging from socioeconomic status to level of physical activity. Led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin, it found that mortality rates were highest for those who had never had a sip, lower for heavy drinkers, and lowest for moderate drinkers who enjoyed one to three drinks per day. Read more

Friday, December 17, 2010

Warrior Bodyweight Viking Workout

This Viking workout is great for developing strength and conditioning while getting ripped.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

4 Fun Ways to Help Prevent Prostate Cancer

Preventing diseases like prostate cancer doesn't necessarily require a daily dose of medication. Check out these fun alternative prevention techniques from AskMen.com.
Prostate cancer is the single most common cancer in men. It’s also the second deadliest cancer, behind only lung cancer. So, if you’re a man -- and presumably most AskMen readers are -- you should be aware of how to prevent this malignant menace.

Unfortunately, however, proper prevention might mean denying yourself of things that you as a man enjoy (take, for example, your red meats, your beers and your fried foods). Thankfully, AskMen has decided to keep prevention pleasant as we present four fun ways to help prevent prostate cancer. Read more

Monday, December 13, 2010

Can Exercise Help Curb Your Appetite?

Research suggests staying active can help you feel full.
Pharmaceutical companies and scientists have been working for decades to find a magic pill to make us feel more satisfied and eat less. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Campinas in Brazil may have found a link to making us feel full—without the use of drugs.

Some of our eating habits—particularly if they involve a lot of fatty foods like fries and pizza—may cause us to lose the ability to know when we're full. Some research suggests that eating excessive amount of fat creates failures in the brain's signals that control satiety in the hypothalamus (the area of the brain that manages hunger). These failures can lead to uncontrollable food intake and, thus, obesity. Brazilian researchers, led by Jose Barreto C. Carvalheira, set out to determine if exercising obese rodents could restore satiety and decreased food intake. Read more

Friday, December 10, 2010

Hobart Personal Trainer's Playground 250 / 500 Rep Challenge

Hobart Personal Trainer demonstrates the playground 250/500 rep challenge - a simple, effective, fat loss workout using your body weight, some playground equipment, and a bit of desire!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

3 Powerful Cancer Prevention Strategies

Cancer is a man-made disease, says Dr. Joseph Mercola, who offers three powerful cancer prevention strategies.
... I am firmly convinced that you don't have to die from cancer if you follow a healthy lifestyle. I'm fairly convinced that cancer or heart disease will not be the cause of my death. If you follow these strategies and start at an early enough age your body will be able to limit the progression of any malignant cells.

We see dramatic reversals in so many people with advanced cancers that apply these strategies, but what we fail to see are the millions of miracles that occur every day that eliminate cancers that have yet to surface because the body's healthy immune response suppresses them.

Remember it is exponentially easier to prevent cancers than it is to treat them. So just what are some of these strategies that can insulate you from ever developing cancer? Read more

Monday, December 6, 2010

How Much Vitamin D Do You Really Need?

How much vitamin D do you really need? A lot more than you need just to prevent rickets, says cardiologist Donald Miller.
... Early in the 20th century an investigator found that cod liver oil could prevent rickets in puppies. The nutritional factor in the oil that promotes skeletal calcium deposition was named "vitamin D," alphabetically after already-named vitamins A, B, and C. Rickets was thought to be another vitamin-deficiency disease, and the curative agent, a steroid hormone, was mislabeled a "vitamin."

Now, a century later, a wealth of evidence suggests that rickets, its most florid manifestation, is the tip of a vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency iceberg. A lack of Vitamin D can also trigger infections (influenza and tuberculosis), autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease), cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Practitioners of conventional medicine (i.e., most MDs) are just beginning to appreciate the true impact of vitamin D deficiency. In 1990, medical journals published less than 20 reviews and editorials on vitamin D. Last year they published more than 300 reviews and editorials on this vitamin/hormone. This year, on July 19, 2007, even the New England Journal of Medicine, the bellwether of pharmaceutically-oriented conventional medicine in the U.S., published a review on vitamin D that addresses its role in autoimmune diseases, infections, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (N Engl J Med 2007;357:266–281). Read more

Friday, December 3, 2010

5 Budget-Friendly Ways to Stay Fit during Winter

Charlotte Hilton Andersen has five budget-friendly tips to stay fit during the winter.
I do not like being cold, but I am cold all the time. These two facts will tell you, pretty much, everything you need to know about me. It's why I hate swimming (also known as controlled drowning). It's why big fuzzy socks are my go-to gift (both for others and for myself). It's why I avoid Black Friday like the plague. (Cyber Monday, however, did some wallet damage.)

If I won't venture outside of my toasty house for even Black Friday, it goes without saying that outdoor running, biking, hiking, swimming and frisbee are out of the question too. At least until I can breathe without snot-cicles forming. But a girl's still got to get her sweat on, even if she lives in the frozen wasteland of the North.

Of course working out in cold weather is easy if you have a gym membership and a car to get you there, but there are lots of other options that cost less. Read more

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Propecia Can Lead to Erectile Dysfunction

If you're losing your hair, the good news is that the baldness drug Propecia works to regrow hair. The bad news is that it also causes erectile dysfunction.
The old adage “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away” (which is really just a fancy way of saying that the Lord is kind of a dick) must really be true. A new study published in the Archives of Dermatology has revealed that while the widely used baldness drug Propecia is in fact quite effective at growing more hair, it also causes erectile dysfunction in 1 out of 80 men. Now, if that isn’t (literally) a total dick move, then we don’t know what is. Read more

Monday, November 29, 2010

Walking Six Miles Weekly May Reduce Chance of Getting Alzheimer's

Can't remember where you left your keys? Walking just six miles a week can ward off cognitive decline, says Jenny Hope.
Walking is the best medicine to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s – and cut your risk of getting it, claim researchers.

They prescribe five miles of walking a week to reduce the chances of the disease getting worse.

Healthy people should walk six miles to reduce their chances of developing it, says a new US study.

It found regular daily walking strengthens the brain’s memory circuits and also helps people who are starting to become forgetful. Read more

Friday, November 26, 2010

No Exercise Equipment Routine

Personal trainer Stephen Cabral takes Sarah through a total body work out that uses just body weight.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Does Sleep Deprivation Pose a Risk of Colon Cancer?

We know that loss of sleep can lead to health problems, but does sleep deprivation pose a risk of cancer?  A new study has found a link between sleep duration and risk of polyps, which are tied directly with the risk for colon cancer.
Perhaps nothing is scarier than receiving a diagnosis of cancer, even if it's caught early and therefore treatable. Theories abound on ways to prevent cancer and even help heal the body during treatment, from changing one's diet to managing stress and engaging in mind-body activities like meditation and deep breathing.

But what about paying attention to sleep? Have there been any connections made between sleep and cancer?

There's no question that getting restful sleep is beneficial for both healthy people and those battling cancer, but now we have evidence that people who sleep less than six hours a night could be more likely to have dangerous polyps in their colon or rectum compared to better-rested patients. The study, which was published by the journal Cancer in October, reflects the first time anyone has ever found a link between sleep duration and risk of polyps, which are tied directly with the risk for colon cancer. Read more

Monday, November 22, 2010

10 Organic Foods That Are Worth the Money

Stay away from these highly contaminated common foods and buy organic instead, says Joseph Mercola.
1. Apples

The FDA states that more pesticides are found on apples than are found on any other fruit or vegetable – a grand total of 36. One test found seven chemicals on a single apple. Sounds like a good reason to switch to pesticide-free organic produce to me.

Of course, if you do eat apples or any other fruit, use them sparingly and never consume them in the form of fruit juice, which is basically just a glass full of fructose.

2. Baby Foods

An infant's immune system is less developed than an adult's, and more vulnerable. Nonorganic baby foods tend to use fruits and vegetables that have been treated with chemicals. Read more

Friday, November 19, 2010

550 Rep Fat Massacre Workout

How many of you can even complete this workout routine - much less beat Zuzana's score? Full workout details here.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Health & Fitness Solutions Makes Top 25 Best Exercise & Health Websites

Health & Fitness Solutions made a list of top 25 best exercise and health websites.
The web is a vast resource of fitness tools and information — it can sometimes be difficult to discern the quality sites from the fluff. So we’ve put together a list of sites that we admire to help get you started. Many of these are very well known, others are hidden gems that we chose to give some well-deserved exposure.

The sites with blogs are regularly updated and focused on sharing useful information, with a focus on reader interest rather than just advertising and product promotion. The sites with community aspects aim to get people together in a supportive atmosphere to help each other with fitness goals and challenges.

The list is organized in no particular order. A true fitness portal may be followed by a simple blog managed by one individual. Read more

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Is Stubborn Body Fat Caused by Excess Estrogen?

If you're creating a large calorie deficit through diet and exercise and still have a bit of fat that you can't shake, Rusty Moore says the estrogen mimicking effects of "Xenoestrogens" might be to blame.(Is this how the term "girly men" originated?)
So all of us have at least a little stubborn body fat. For the most part it is the last little bit of fat that stops you from having the muscle definition you are after. So what if you are creating a large calorie deficit through diet and exercise and still have a bit of fat that you can't shake? Well you might want to blame the estrogen mimicking effects of "Xenoestrogens". Don't know what xenoestrogens are? Keep reading…

[I'm going to talk about ways to limiting your exposure to xenoestrogens...as well as foods to eat that counteract the xenoestrogens you do get exposed to. None of this will involve wearing a freaky suit, like pictured above!]

Excess Estrogen May be "Softening" Up Your Body
The body is meant to balance estrogen with other hormones in the body…progesterone in women and testosterone in men. Before the widespread use of chemicals, the body did a great job of regulating hormones. Today, the body is out of whack! The onslaught of estrogen mimicking compounds is so large, that it takes an active approach to maintain hormonal balance. If you don't take precautions, there is a good chance that you will accumulate stubborn body fat that is hard to get rid of. Read more

Monday, November 15, 2010

How Almonds Can Improve Your Sex Life

 Almonds contain an amino acid called arginine that helps to relax blood vessels and improve blood circulation.
A word of advice for men who want a healthy sex life — take more almonds, reported Sin Chew Daily.

The daily said a study showed that almonds have a high quantity of a type of amino acid called arginine, which helps to relax blood vessels and improve blood circulation.

It, however, added that if almond was not a person's cup of tea, other food items that are high in arginine were beans, salmon and wheat. Read more

Friday, November 12, 2010

Tired? Moody? Put on Some Shades and Reset Your Body Clock

Tired? Moody? Got the winter blues? Put on some shades and reset your body clock, says Lucy Elkins.
Suffer from daytime tiredness? Poor concentration? Feel you’ve lost your ‘get up and go’? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then lack of daylight could be to blame.

We all know that, at this time of year, exposure to daylight is important for avoiding the winter blues.

However, scientists have now found that exposure to bright daylight is actually vital throughout the year.

Without enough light – and, at the right time of the day – our body clock isn’t set properly. It then races ahead – or occasionally lags behind – the actual time. Read more

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Evils of Trackable, Traceable Microchipped Drugs

With the introduction of trackable, traceable microchipped drugs, even the police could know what you're taking, says Mike Adams.
The age of pharmaceutical microchipping is now upon us. Novartis AG, one of the largest drug companies in the world, has announced a plan to begin embedding microchips in medications to create "smart pill" technology.

The microchip technology is being licensed from Proteus Biomedical of Redwood City, California. Once activated by stomach acid, the embedded microchip begins sensing its environment and broadcasting data to a receiver warn by the patient. This receiver is also a transmitter that can send the data over the internet to a doctor. Read more

Monday, November 8, 2010

6 Ways to Make Push-ups Harder

Push-ups are a great exercise, but beyond a certain point (20-30), you shouldn't try to make progress by doing more of them. Instead, make them harder. Parth of At Home Intense Workouts suggests six ways to make push-ups harder.
... Here are a couple of other ideas to make your pushups harder:

Stability Ball Pushups

Get into pushup position with your feet on a stability ball. Perform the pushup. This is a tough variation, especially if you have poor abdominal strength. To make the movement easier, place your shins on the ball. Read more

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Top 10 Natural Ways to Reduce Inflammation

Puffy, bloated, swollen. Sound attractive? Sounds like inflammation, says Mark Sisson.
On the most basic level, inflammation is the way in which the body reacts to a disturbance, be it infection, irritation or other injury. More specifically, however, the inflammatory response – which in addition to swelling can also include redness, warmth and pain – occurs when blood, antibodies and other immune system components rush to the scene of the crime to attempt to repair the damage.

In most areas of the body, the pain associated with inflammation informs you of the damage, the swelling limits injury site mobility and prevents further irritation and the increased heat, redness and occasional itching are all signs that the immune system is doing its job! However, if this inflammation goes undetected – or is ignored – it can build up in the body, causing damage to other surrounding tissues and organs. In cases where inflammation is not adequately controlled, symptoms of chronic inflammation can occur, manifesting as arthritis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, hair loss and dozens of other ailments and conditions.

Lucky for us, small tweaks to our diet and lifestyle can help dramatically reduce inflammation. Here are 10 all-natural tips that can help us sidestep the inflammation landmine: Read more

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Why Does Lack of Sleep Affect People Differently?

Why does lack of sleep affect people differently? A new study suggest that in may be in our genes.
Ever wonder why some people breeze along on four hours of sleep when others can barely function? It may be in our genes, according to new research and an accompanying editorial published in the October 26, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Read more

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Alcohol More Harmful to Health than Crack Cocaine or Heroin

A new study claims that alcohol is more harmful to health than crack cocaine or heroin. The takeaway from this is not how harmful alcohol is when it's abused. That isn't news. It's how misguided the "War on Drugs" is.
Scientists from Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) recently released a study that assessed which drugs cause the most overall harm to both users and society. According to their analysis, alcohol is the most harmful drug, scoring higher on the list than both crack cocaine and heroin.

Published in the journal Lancet, the study used a system called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to assess damage caused by various drugs. Nine of the criteria evaluated specific harm inflicted on users of the drug, while seven criteria looked at the harm caused to others. Upon investigation, alcohol scored nearly three times more harmful than cocaine and eight times more harmful than ecstasy. Read more

Friday, October 29, 2010

Can Cutting Carbs Make You Live Longer?

Professor Cynthia Kenyon says you can extend your life AND stay fit throughout old age just by a change of diet that switches on your youth and longevity genes. Kenyon isn't waiting for more research to be done. She's already changed her own diet.
... a U.S. geneticist is thought to have discovered the secret to a long life, full of health and energy. And the answer might be as simple as cutting down on carbohydrates.

Professor Cynthia Kenyon, whom many experts believe should win the Nobel Prize for her research into ageing, has discovered that the carbohydrates we eat – from bananas and potatoes to bread, pasta, biscuits and cakes – directly affect two key genes that govern youthfulness and longevity.

She made her remarkable breakthrough after studying roundworms, specifically the C.elegans, a worm just a millimetre in size that lives in soil in temperate climates all over the world. Read more

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Top 10 Best bodyweight Exercises

The Renegade Health Show has compiled a list of the top ten bodyweight exercises. This list is actually a double top ten since a beginner variation of each exercise is demonstrated for those who are working on building their strength.

Monday, October 25, 2010

What Flax Seed Oil Can Do for You

Flax seed oil is a natural wonder for every part of your body, says Margaret Durst.
Flax seed and flax seed oil are popular health food items that have been around for thousands of years. Flax seed is high in beneficial omega 3 oils which are the “good” fats that are missing from the standard American diet. In addition to the oil, the fiber and the lignans from the ground seed are also good for you.

Here are just some of the benefits of flax seed oil. For the cardiovascular system, flax seed oil helps to prevent atherosclerosis and abnormal blood clotting. It also helps to lower blood pressure and helps to prevent heart attacks. Flax seed oil helps lower total cholesterol by up to 9 percent and helps to lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 18 percent. Read more

Friday, October 22, 2010

What if Bad Fat Is Actually Good for You?

For decades, Americans have been told that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease. But there's just one problem: No one's ever proved it.
... The first scientific indictment of saturated fat came in 1953. That's the year a physiologist named Ancel Keys, Ph.D., published a highly influential paper titled "Atherosclerosis, a Problem in Newer Public Health." Keys wrote that while the total death rate in the United States was declining, the number of deaths due to heart disease was steadily climbing. And to explain why, he presented a comparison of fat intake and heart disease mortality in six countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, England, Italy, and Japan.

The Americans ate the most fat and had the greatest number of deaths from heart disease; the Japanese ate the least fat and had the fewest deaths from heart disease. The other countries fell neatly in between. The higher the fat intake, according to national diet surveys, the higher the rate of heart disease. And vice versa. Keys called this correlation a "remarkable relationship" and began to publicly hypothesize that consumption of fat- causes heart disease. This became known as the diet-heart hypothesis.

At the time, plenty of scientists were skeptical of Keys's assertions. One such critic was Jacob Yerushalmy, Ph.D., founder of the biostatistics graduate program at the University of California at Berkeley. In a 1957 paper, Yerushalmy pointed out that while data from the six countries Keys examined seemed to support the diet-heart hypothesis, statistics were actually available for 22 countries. And when all 22 were analyzed, the apparent link between fat consumption and heart disease disappeared. For example, the death rate from heart disease in Finland was 24 times that of Mexico, even though fat-consumption rates in the two nations were similar. Read more

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Is Your Doctor Getting Cash Payouts from Big Pharma?

Are doctors prescribing pharmaceuticals for their patients' benefit or for their own financial benefit? It may be the latter, says Mark Sisson.
... A public interest group, ProPublica, in partnership with Consumer Reports and National Public Radio have compiled and released a series of reports assessing the pharmaceutical companies’ payouts to doctors and the public’s discomfort with their physicians’ industry ties.

Although the industry’s financial dealings are still private material, lawsuits aimed at Pharma’s marketing have required many of the larger companies to disclose much of their payout information. Although the details are scattered in public websites and documents, ProPublica compiled the information from these various resources. The result? A list of 17,000 doctors and $257 million dollars in payout. Additionally, the organization found that hundreds of physicians on the Pharma payroll lacked board certifications in their claimed fields or had been sanctioned by state medical boards for unprofessional (and in some cases heinous) behavior. Read more

Monday, October 18, 2010

12 Pull-up Variations

The pull-up is the king of upper body exercises. (See my post Double Your Pull-ups in Six Weeks or Less.) Different types of pull-ups develop your upper body in different ways. This video gives you twelve variations to try.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Cancer Is Purely Man-Made Say Scientists

Cancer is purely man-made say scientists after finding almost no trace of disease in Egyptian mummies.
Cancer is a man-made disease fuelled by the excesses of modern life, a study of ancient remains has found.

Tumours were rare until recent times when pollution and poor diet became issues, the review of mummies, fossils and classical literature found.

[...]

Despite slivers of tissue from hundreds of Egyptian mummies being rehydrated and placed under the microscope, only one case of cancer has been confirmed. Read more

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Half a Teaspoon of Cinnamon Each Day Can Optimize Cholesterol Levels

Joseph Mercola explains what just half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day can do for you.
... As I discussed in yesterday's article on the insanity of Avandia, drugs are not the answer for type 2 diabetes. In that article, I described the natural and most effective way to address type 2 diabetes. If you haven't already read this article I would strongly encourage you to do so.

The two reports above are related in the sense that they demonstrate the power of natural therapies – as opposed to drugs – to combat this epidemic problem.

However, like drugs, supplements such as cinnamon or magnesium should not be misconstrued as cures. They are safer alternatives than drugs, but you cannot properly address your diabetes if you still maintain a sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet – with or without helpful supplements.

How Cinnamon Can Benefit Diabetics Read more

Monday, October 11, 2010

Nasty Girls Crossfit Workout

This video highlights the Nasty Girls Crossfit workout. The workout is, 50 squats, 7 muscle ups, 10 hang power cleans at 135#’s. This of course is done 3 times for time. If you don’t have a place to do the muscle ups or can’t do them, do 7 pull-ups and 7 dips (or do 25 push-ups and 10 dips). If the weight on the power cleans is too much, drop it to where you can get the 10 done.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Body Builder Protein Powder May Extend Life

Body builder protein powder could increase life expectancy by ten years, says Fiona McCrae.
A protein powder favoured by body builders could hold the secret of a long and healthy life, scientists believe.

Dissolved in water, the mixture built muscle, boosted fitness and improved balance and co-ordination.

Tantalisingly, the powder, which can be bought from health food shops and online, increased life expectancy by 12 per cent. Read more

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Best Position to Prevent Premature Ejaculation

Many men experience premature ejaculation at some point in their lives, but when it persists, it can be an embarrassing and frustrating problem. One way to achieve ejaculatory control is to change the sex position you use, says Svetlana Ivanova.
Premature ejaculation is a condition in which a man ejaculates earlier than he or his partner would like him to. There are numerous reasons why a man ejaculates too quickly. Some are stress-related, some are mental, and some can be physical. When there is to much friction, or continual thrusting, or a great deal of mutual movement, a man’s ejaculation can be too quick, for both partners. To delay premature ejaculation, a man needs to avoid some sexual positions completely. Furthermore, there are two sex position that can be used that are guaranteed to avoid premature ejaculation. Read more

Monday, October 4, 2010

33 Tips for Better Sleep

Joseph Mercola gives 33 tips and tricks for getting a good night's sleep.
Sleep is one of the great mysteries of life. Like gravity or the quantum field, we still don’t understand exactly why we sleep – although we are learning more about it every day.

We do know, however, that good sleep is one of the cornerstones of health.

Six to eight hours per night seems to be the optimal amount of sleep for most adults, and too much or too little can have adverse effects on your health.

Sleep deprivation is such a chronic condition these days that you might not even realize you suffer from it. Science has now established that a sleep deficit can have serious, far reaching effects on your health.

For example, interrupted or impaired sleep can: Read more

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Why We Need and Love Saturated Fat

Mark Sisson explains why we need and love saturated fat.
It’s probably the one thing that prevents people from fully buying into the Primal Blueprint. Almost anyone can agree with the basic tenets – eating more vegetables, choosing only clean, organic meats, and getting plenty of sleep and exercise is fairly acceptable to the mainstream notion of good nutrition. The concept of Grok and a lifestyle based on evolutionary biology can be a harder sell, but anyone who’s familiar with (and accepts) the basics of human evolution tends to agree (whether they follow through and adopt the lifestyle is another question), at least intellectually. But saturated fat? People have this weird conditioned response to the very phrase.
“But what about all that saturated fat? Aren’t you worried about clogging up your arteries?”
In fact, “saturated fat” isn’t just that; it’s often “artery-clogging saturated fat.” Hell, a Google search for that exact phrase in quotations produces 4,490 entries (soon to be 4,491, I suppose). Most doctors toe the company line and roundly condemn it, while the media generally follows suit. The public, unsurprisingly, laps it up from birth. The result is a deeply ingrained systemic assumption that saturated fat is evil, bad, dangerous, and sinful, a preconceived notion that precludes any meaningful dialogue from taking place. Read more

Thursday, September 30, 2010

How to Cure a Sinus Infection

You can cure a sinus infection by adding apple cider vinegar or lavender to steam, clearing the sinuses with ginger tea and cayenne pepper, or by taking eyebright or golden seal.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Don't Get the Flu This Winter

You can resist the flu with natural immune boosters, says Margaret Durst.
Flu – we all want to avoid it. Here are some natural options that will help build your immunity so you do not get it.

Olive leaf enhances immune function and helps keep viruses from replicating. I see many people who tell me that they have not been sick since they began taking olive leaf daily. With olive leaf, quality is very important. The active component, oleuropein, should be 18% at a minimum. The best brands contain over 20% oleuropein.

Elderberry is another herb that builds immunity and keeps viruses from replicating. Read more

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Intense Parkour Strength and Conditioning at the Park

Fitness enthusiast/free runner Ramon "Razor" Dickenson performs an intense strength and condition workout to increase speed, strength, and agility. Not every park has a parkour course, but most parks have playground equipment that can be used for dips, pull-ups, etc.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Reduce Cholesterol Naturally

There are many ways to reduce your cholesterol naturally, says Margaret Durst.
It seems like everyone wants to reduce their cholesterol. There are some great natural ways to do this, but everyone is unique – so what works for one, may not work for another. Cholesterol is necessary for many body functions, meaning that you don’t want to reduce it completely, but you don’t want unhealthy levels either. Read more

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

12 Medical Myths Most Doctors Believe

Joseph Mercola says there are twelve medical myths even most doctors believe, from cardio being one of the best types of exercise to low-fat diets being healthy.
... With all the medical misinformation we’re currently exposed to on a daily basis, it’s disappointing to see CNN waste time and space on yet another entertainment-style fluff piece, discussing “health myths” that have no real bearing on your health whatsoever.

Because, believe me, there is no shortage of real health myths that can, and do, have a massive impact on tens of thousands if not millions of people.

Here is my list of the top 12 health myths, none of which CNN bothered to mention:
1: Cardio is One of the Best Types of Exercise

In recent years, researchers have begun to realize that conventional cardio, such as jogging, is not all it’s been cracked up to be, and that you can actually improve your health and increase fat burning by making slight modifications to your cardio routine.

The problem is that traditional cardio only works on the slow twitch muscle fibers in your red muscle, completely ignoring your white muscle super-fast twitch fibers. Read more

Friday, September 17, 2010

Time/Volume Training for Mass

A lot of people say that you can't build muscle mass with bodyweight exercises, but that's because they're ignorant. There are several ways to build muscle mass with bodyweight exercise, and time/volume training is a good one. Nick Nilsson lays out a complete, easy-to-follow bodyweight workout program for trainers whose primary goal is building muscle.
... Time/Volume Training is relatively simple. I'll use back training for my example (chin-ups, specifically).

For working back, I use a 15 minute block of time (this will vary according to bodypart - less time for smaller parts - e.g. 10 minutes for biceps).

First, start by doing a set of 3 reps. Then stop and rest 10 seconds. Now do another set of 3 reps. Stop and rest 10 seconds.

Keep going using 3 rep sets and 10 seconds rest until you can't get 3 reps anymore. When you hit this point, now starting taking 20 SECONDS rest in between 3 rep sets.

Keep going using 3 rep sets and 20 seconds rest until you again can't get 3 reps anymore. then take 30 SECONDS rest in between your 3 rep sets. If you have to increase again, go to 40 seconds, and so on.

Keep going in this fashion until your 15 minutes are up. Read more

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Basic Plyometric Exercises

My post Improve Your Speed with Plyometrics described some basic plyometric exercises and workouts. This video demonstrates a few of those exercises.



There is a common misconception that people are born with speed, but speed is like intelligence; it is invisible until developed. An amazing new book called Developing Killer Speed reveals how you can decrease your forty yard dash By .4 seconds in 2 weeks! To discover the simple formula that can increase your speed and decrease your times, click here.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Natural Remedies for Prostate Health

Dr. Aaron Katz offers alternative natural remedies to keep the prostate healthy and treat prostate symptoms and conditions.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Cherries May Help You Sleep Better

This sounds better than sleeping pills: cherry juice reduces insomnia with older adults, according to a recent study.
Hopefully the cherry growers and distributor industry won't publicize this to bring more threats from the FDA upon them, but a pilot study by research scientists showed that tart cherry juice reduced insomnia with older adults. The study was conducted by researchers from two universities at the VA Center of Canandaigua, and the findings were published in the June 3, 2010 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Food. Read more

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Could This Simple Habit Actually Reduce Cancer and Diabetes by 50%?

Dr. Joseph Mercola discusses why you need more vitamin D than you're probably getting and the best ways to get more.
In recent years vitamin D has emerged as a star of the “vitamin” world. For example, there are currently over 800 studies showing vitamin D’s effectiveness against cancer. Optimizing your vitamin D levels can literally cut your risk of several cancers by 50 percent!

Further, middle aged and elderly people with high levels of vitamin D could reduce their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43 percent. Read more

Friday, September 3, 2010

Benefit from Calorie Restriction and Intermittent Fasting

Calorie restriction is the one method proven to extend life, but you don't have to do it every day to benefit. Occasional or intermittent fasting is an alternative way of reducing your calories without feeling deprived all the time.
Part I reviewed the latest findings in longevity research. In a word, dietary restriction (DR) creates physiological changes that slow down aging and protects against age-related diseases. It is now known that these effects are related to insulin and that reducing insulin secretion plays a major role in extending life.

Therefore, one must learn to efficiently burn foods that do not provoke insulin secretion - fats. Fats are stable, slow burning sources of energy that do not create advanced glycation end-products and that naturally satiate. They have many roles in the body and are the only macromolecules that can carry the fat-soluble vitamins that build healthy bone, teeth, and nervous system. Some fats are essential and therefore must be supplied by the diet regularly. Read more

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers, Study Finds

In another blow to the convention wisdom, a new study has found that heavy drinkers outlive lnondrinkers.
One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers. Read more

Monday, August 30, 2010

Why Eating Grains Is Bad for You

Mark Sisson explains why eating grains (bread, cereal, pasta, etc.)  is bad for you.
... Grains. Every day we’re bombarded with them and their myriad of associations in American (and much of Western) culture: Wilford Brimley, Uncle Ben, the Sunbeam girl, the latest Wheaties athlete, a pastrami on rye, spaghetti dinners, buns for barbeque, corn on the cob, donuts, birthday cake, apple pie, amber waves of grain…. Gee, am I missing anything? Of course. So much, in fact, that it could – and usually does – take up the majority of supermarket square footage. (Not to mention those government farm subsidies, but that’s another post.) Yes, grains are solidly etched into our modern Western psyche – just not so much into our physiology. Read more

Friday, August 27, 2010

"Thug Workout" at the Local Park

This is a simple version of the popular "Thug Workout" that can be done at the local park. All it takes is ten minutes!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Simple Home Remedies to Stop Snoring

If you notice your spouse is sleeping more frequently on a different room, you’re probably making disastrous music while you’re asleep. This music may be keeping you asleep but this kind of music will drive your spouse nuts.

This music you’re making while you’re asleep is called snoring. The musical instrument you play with this kind of music with is your throat muscles. Snoring can ruin your relationship with your spouse. It is a fact that some people in the United States have filed divorce cases on the grounds that their sleeping partner is always snoring.


Not only will snoring ruin your relationship with your sleeping partner, but it can be a sign that your body is malfunctioning. Studies have found that snoring is a sign that you have diabetes, you are obese, and you may also have undiagnosed serious heart condition.

Another complication of snoring is that aside from not letting your sleeping partner sleep soundly, you will also wake up and shift your bed position in order to stop snoring. You may not know it but snoring may wake you up from deep sleep. The human brain needs enough oxygen to function and also to prevent brain damage. Since snoring will obstruct your airway, your brain will go on full alert and wake your body up from deep sleep and make it shift to another sleeping position in order to open the blocked or partially blocked airway. You may not know that you wake up but your sleep-deprived sleeping partner will be a witness to the events that you will always wake up from your sleep and shift sleeping positions.

Snoring will result to lack of sleep, morning headaches, lightheadedness, and also irritability throughout the rest of your day.

These are the reasons why you should take all the necessary steps to stop snoring or at least minimize it. Today, there are various ways on how you can prevent snoring.

However, you have to know what causes snoring first. As mentioned before, snoring is caused by your throat muscles. If the throat muscles are too relax when you are sleeping, or if it is full of fatty tissues, then the throat muscles will obstruct your airways. The air coming in and out of your airway will cause the relaxed muscles to vibrate and will cause the sound that you will call snoring.

Now that you know why people snore, you now have to know how to stop yourself from snoring.

The primary cause of snoring is being overweight or being obese. Fat tissues will build up around your throat and will cause your throat muscle tissues to sag. So, in order to prevent yourself from snoring is to go on a diet. Exercise and tone those throat muscles down.

By losing weight, you will eventually stop snoring or at least minimize it to a level that will be tolerable to your sleeping partner.

Here are other home remedies that you can consider in order for you to free yourself from snoring:

•    Stop smoking. Smoking before going to bed causes your throat muscles to relax.
•    Stop drinking alcoholic beverages. As with smoking it will also cause your throat muscles to relax.
•    Stop eating heavy meals before bedtime. It will also cause your throat muscles to relax.
•    Stop taking sedatives. Also relaxes your throat muscles.
•    Sleep on your side. Light to moderate snorers will be more silent when sleeping on their side.
•    Get rid of large pillows. It’s comfortable but it’s a snore contributor.
•    Raise your bed. Elevating your bed from the upper torso will stop snoring. Get an old book and elevate the legs of the head of the bed with it.

These are the simple yet effective home remedies that can free yourself from snoring. By following these simple steps, you can be sure that you and your sleeping partner will have a good night sleep and you as well.

Get the best sleep you've had in years with proven snoring remedies in a step-by-step guide that quickly and easily cure snoring permanently. To find out how to reinvigorate your love life, restore your energy, and regain the healing benefits of sleep for a more relaxed and stress-free you, click here!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Get Ready for More Government Flu Hysteria

This year's propaganda and vaccine will be more dangerous than ever, says Joseph Mercola.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the swine flu pandemic officially over on August 9th. The swine flu, which we were warned would kill millions, if not tens of millions of people, turned out to be a complete "dud" as far as pandemics go, but health agencies and governments around the world still managed to create massive fear of this hybrid flu virus.

And, of course, vaccine makers made millions off their novel H1N1 vaccines.

For those in the southern hemisphere, like Australia, the flu season has already begun, and the health hazards of this year's seasonal trivalent vaccine have already become evident.

For the rest of you, the flu season is nearing, and another round of advertisements for flu vaccines are about to hit the media. Read more

Saturday, August 21, 2010

10 Tips on Surviving a Trip to the Hospital

Hospitals are dangerous. Michael Miles gives ten tips for surviving a trip to the hospital.
... Given the scope of this subject, I will focus primarily on food. If food is important to you (and if you are reading this blog it most likely is very important), you must have an advanced strategy in place should the day come you have to make the trek. Below are ten ways to protect yourself before a hospital visit.

10 Tips On Surviving A Hospital Stay


1. Have a like-minded friend present at all times.

This is extremely important if you make an emergency trip to the hospital and don't have control of all your cognitive faculties. You will need an ideological nutritional soul mate running interference to make sure your best interest – not the doctor or the hospital – is always first and foremost.

Ideally this would be your wife, husband, significant other, or your family, but I know many of my readers are lone warriors in their quest for health, and may need to seek out a friend to help them. Problem is, while family can often get their way with hospital staff if they know what to do and are obstinate enough, a non-relative will find the going extremely difficult. So this is something you will need to work out beforehand in detail.

My suggestion: your non-relative immediately becomes your relative in the event of a hospital stay. A cousin, an uncle, even a fiancé can work. Whatever you do never let on otherwise, or your friend will have no impact in the nutritional ideological sterility that characterizes most hospital environments. Read more

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Diet and Lifestyle Determine Longevity More Than Genetics

Though genetics is one factor that determines longevity, diet and lifestyle play a bigger role, says Dr. Joseph Mercola.
... Death is surely inevitable, but I do believe you can live far longer than the average life expectancy, which, in the US, is around 78. Genetics may play a role, but is NOT the final determining factor for whether you'll live a long healthy life.

Barring an accident, your lifestyle has everything to do with your longevity. It's already been established that diet can override genetic predispositions for disease, for example, so don't fall into the trap of believing your health and longevity is somehow the inevitable result of what's in your gene pool.

Please understand that the list in the summary above is from US News and World Report and it is THEIR concept of what contributes to aging. Of course you don't get the newsletter for their views so I am going to use their list as a springboard to provide you with my thoughts on the topic. Read more

Monday, August 16, 2010

6 Common Mistakes of Atkins Dieters

The Atkins diet is one of the simplest weight loss plans to follow. Although the principles are clearly set out in the books, there are some common misconceptions that occur for dieters. These mistakes can make a big difference in the amount of weight you lose and effectiveness of the diet overall. If Atkins isn’t working for you, or you find yourself suddenly gaining weight after weeks of effective dieting, make sure you aren’t making any of these common mistakes.


First, make sure to be patient with your weight loss. If you lose eight poundss per week on the Induction phase and then slow down once you enter ongoing weight loss phase, this is perfectly normal. The level of carbohydrate grams that are acceptable on the Induction portion of the diet are not meant to carry you through the rest of your dieting experience. Induction is meant to break you of carbohydrate cravings and detoxify your body from sugar. Starting with the ongoing weight loss phase, you will begin introducing small levels of carbohydrate grams each week. This may slow down weight loss a bit from the level it was at during Induction, but this is completely normal.

Also, people are different and react differently to the diet. Some people lose weight in spurts, and other lose weight more steadily. A plateau can last for a few weeks and then voila, you’ve lost five pounds in a matter of a few days.

Make sure you are avoiding caffeine in all of its forms as well as aspartame, a common artificial sweetener. Both of these chemicals can impact blood sugar levels negatively. Look out for caffeine in coffee and diet sodas. Watch out for aspartame in diet sodas and sugar-free gelatin. These can cause cravings for sugar and take your body out of ketosis after just one serving.

Watch your daily intake of cheese. Although cheese is on the acceptable foods list, it does have small amount of carbohydrates. Your best bet is to limit your cheese intake to 4 oz per day. You can have more on special occasions, but it should not be used as your mainstay for protein. Meats, eggs and tofu are much better choices and don’t contain carbohydrate grams.

Remember to emphasize vegetables during Induction and beyond. Your carbohydrate grams should be primarily derived from leafy, green vegetables and other acceptable vegetable choices. Vegetables fill you up without spiking your blood sugar. They provide essential fiber and nutrients that help your weight loss efforts and overall health. After induction, you should have 3-4 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetables each day. Make sure the vegetables you are using are on the acceptable foods list. Eliminating vegetables from your diet can shut down your metabolism and cause your weight loss to stall.

It is also very important that you eat regularly while you are on the Atkins plan. Never go more than five waking hours without eating a combined snack of protein and fats. Two things happen when you skip meals. First, you cause a blood sugar drop that will have you craving carbohydrates like bread and sugar. Secondly, continued periods of not eating will slow down your metabolism and make it even harder to lose weight.

Finally, make sure you are drinking enough water each day. Water has a myriad of benefits for every human being, not just those on the Atkins diet. Thirst can sometimes be masked as hunger, so staying well hydrated will keep you from craving foods you shouldn’t be eating. Water also helps you avoid constipation, which is an occasional side effect of the Atkins diet. Drinking 8 eight ounce glasses of water per day will also help you flush out the toxins from your system that are produced when you burn fat.

These six common mistakes can make people frustrated with the Atkins diet when there is no need to be. If you are just starting out on the diet, make sure to prepare yourself for these mistakes. If you’ve been on the diet for some time, evaluate your eating habits and make sure you are following the program correctly.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Is Your Workout Helping You or Huring You?

Your workout may be hurting you more than helping you if you believe any of the following three misconceptions about fitness.
Working out should be something that is both fun and beneficial. The body responds almost immediately to proper training, but it also responds to improper training. Improper training can lead to aches and pain down the road, or even muscles tears. Are you working out the right way?

Misconception #1: The Longer, The Better

Contrary to what you have heard from old school bodybuilders, a longer workout does not lead to better muscular gains. In fact, a longer workout can be detrimental to your muscular gains. Read more

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Cholesterol Con

Was the myth that high cholesterol causes heart disease invented just to benefit Big Pharma?
Cholesterol could easily be described as the smoking gun of the last two decades.

It's been responsible for demonizing entire categories of foods (like eggs and saturated fats) and blamed for just about every case of heart disease in the last 20 years.

Yet when I first opened my medical practice in the mid 80s, cholesterol, and the fear that yours was too high was rarely talked about.

Somewhere along the way however, cholesterol became a household word – something that you must keep as low as possible, or suffer the consequences.

You are probably aware that there are many myths that portray fat and cholesterol as one of the worst foods you can consume. Please understand that these myths are actually harming your health.

Not only is cholesterol most likely not going to destroy your health (as you have been led to believe), but it is also not the cause of heart disease.

And for those of you taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, the information that follows could not have been given to you fast enough. But before I delve into this life-changing information, let's get some basics down first. Read more

Monday, August 9, 2010

The Pros and Cons of the Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet is one of the most popular low carbohydrate diets on the market today. Its popularity has sparked dozens of imitators who center on the same principles of high-protein, low-carbohydrate eating. However, the Atkins diet is one of the few with a long, proven record of success.

Studies have shown that low-carbohydrate eating has many benefits. There have been scientific results that low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins do create significant weight loss without having to restrict calories. People who use the Atkins diet have also reported this. There are studies that show that low-carb eating improves triclycerides, reduces blood glucose for diabetics and pre-diabetics and increases good cholesterol (HDL). Low-carbohydrate dieting has been scientifically proven to improve insulin sensitivity, decrease blood pressure and lower blood insulin levels. When compared with low-fat diets, low-carb dieters lose less muscle mass.


Although not scientifically proven, there are many common benefits reported by Atkins dieters and other low-carb dieters. These include an increase in energy, a reduced craving for sweets, better concentration, improved mood and an lessening of depression-type symptoms.

However, there are also some benefits that are specific to the Atkins diet. If you have been a low fat dieter in previous years, you’ll enjoy eating all of those “forbidden foods” that you once had to go without. Steak, butter, and cream are a regular part of Atkins dieters’ meals. There is a certain pleasure that goes along with eating foods that were once off limits. Atkins dieters are encouraged to eat their full of rich meats, cheeses, and fats and oils.

Atkins is also simple to use, compared with some other low-carb diets on the market. There are some basic food carbohydrate counts that you’ll need to learn, but after that, you are free to eat from the acceptable food lists.

Dr. Atkins also emphasized finding your own personal carbohydrate level. Different people have different levels of carbohydrate tolerance. While some gain weight on just 90 carbohydrate grams a day, others can live comfortably at 120 carbohydrate grams. During the ongoing weight loss phase and pre-maintenance phase of the diet, you will learn your personal carbohydrate count that will help determine your carbohydrate goal for life.

The popularity of Atkins is a double-edged sword for dieters. There is a lot of information available on the diet, which makes it easy to find resources and support. There have been many, many Atkins books written, and there are endless amounts of websites that offer tips and group support. However, everyone has heard of Atkins and probably has an opinion on it. There are some big misconceptions out there about the nature of the diet, and you’ll no doubt have to defend your new way of eating from time to time.

There are some other minimal downsides to using the Atkins program. You do need to count carbohydrates in everything you eat to make sure that you are staying within your personal carbohydrate range. There is also the issue of Induction, the most hotly debated aspect of the plan. Induction can be difficult to get through if you’ve had a diet that centers on carbs and sugar. Also, many people try Induction and mistakenly believe that this is the way that the whole diet is going to be. They end up quitting before they get into the actual Atkins plan.

Sometimes, although it is not common, people will experience a carb crash on the 3rd to 5th day of the diet. This reaction is a result of their body finally experiencing ketosis, or running on fat instead of carbohydrates. The effects are transient, but many people have sworn off low-carb diets entirely because of this happenstance.

Overall, with the minor drawbacks considered, Atkins is one of the most popular low-carb diets for a reason. It works. Thousands of people have had success with the Atkins approach to the low-carb way of living.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Are Push-Ups Necessary If You Have Access to Free Weights?

Rusty Moore explains why bench presses should supplement push-ups in your workout, not replace them.
People who have trained in the gym for years often look at something like the simple push up as a beginner's exercise. I mean, why would they want to perform push ups when they can get a "real" chest workout with heavy sets of bench presses. This is a big mistake, and one that I have been guilty of. It is easy to look at the simple push up as working the exact same muscles as the bench press, but with less resistance. I would like to talk about why you should include the push up in your routine, even if you are someone who trains with free weights. Read more

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Use Natural Solutions and Styling Tips for Hair Loss

If you're suffering from hair loss, it may be due to the toxic hair products that you're using.  Natural alternatives may prevent hair loss and balding.
Scalp inflammation, poor diet, dehydration, stress, genetics and hormone imbalances are factors that can cause hair to fall out. Toxic hair products and over-styling can also damage the hair, causing it to thin. Incorporating vitamins and whole foods and choosing all natural hair products can prevent hair loss, thinning and balding. Read more

Monday, August 2, 2010

Atkins Diet Basics

I get quite a few questions from readers about how to lose weight. My answer is the Atkins diet. The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution, and Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

What are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the overconsumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called “insulin resistance.” He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.


When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin-resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Over time, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin-resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain “fog” (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression, and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice, and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins’ research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and you’ll lose weight.

Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If you’ve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.

Friday, July 30, 2010

How to Work Out Your Transverse Abdominals

A group of muscles that often gets neglected in stomach exercise routines are the transverse abdominals, the core muscles that lie below the rectus abdominus. Most abdominal exercises target the rectus abdominus and the vertical abdominals, ignoring the transverse abdominals. Even crunches, the staple of most abdominal workouts, do nothing for the transverse abdominals. These muscles are actually the most important to target, however, as they connect to both the lower back muscles and the rectus abdominus and for a girdle for the entire abdomen.

Any routine aimed at flattening the stomach should include the transverse abdominals as a focus. Using the following exercises, you can work out your transverse abdominals and really make progress on that flat stomach. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

Pelvic Tilts
This stomach exercise requires lying on your back on a flat surface, such as the floor or a bench. Use a mat or towel to cushion your spine. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor. Raise your pelvis (and only your pelvis) off the floor, hold momentarily, and then lower it back down. Repeat for an entire set. Maintaining a controlled movement is crucial to this exercise. This will allow you to use your abdominal muscles, rather than your body's momentum, to do the work on the exercise. Also, be sure to keep your upper body on the floor throughout.

Crunchless Crunch
This first exercise is fairly simple but can also be fairly difficult. Essentially, it involves trying to pull the belly button in towards the spine. This can be tricky, as it involves using muscles which you may not be used to activating. To start, either lie or on your stomach or kneel. You might want to try both ways and see which helps you feel the exercise better. Relax your body as much as possible, then try to use only the lower abdominals to move your belly button toward your spine. Hold for ten seconds. If holding for ten seconds feels easy, hold for a longer period. The goal is to hold the contraction until you either cannot feel it, or you feel other muscles working harder than the transverse abdominals. When you feel this, let the contraction out.

Scissor Kicks
This stomach exercise also requires lying on the floor. Position your hands under your butt, keeping your back pressed against the floor. Slowly raise one leg to a height of about ten inches, then slowly lower it back to the floor. As your lower one leg, raise the other. Repeat this motion for an entire set. Maintaining control throughout is important, not allowing momentum to get the better of you. Your upper body should remain on the floor through the entire move.

There are plenty of other exercises targeting the transverse abdominals, but these three ought to be enough to get you started.

If you can follow simple instructions, then you can build a HEALTHY, HIGH-PERFORMANCE, ATTRACTIVE body in the comfort of your own home using ONLY bodyweight exercises. To discover the REAL reason you've failed to reach your fitness, fat loss, and physique-building goals (and what you can do about it), click here!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Chromium to Increase Muscle and Decrease Fat

Chromium is a nutritional supplement that works to increase the efficiency of insulin to optimal levels. The most common use for chromium is as a weight loss aid.
Chromium is an essential mineral because it helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels through proper insulin utilization. It can be helpful both for people with diabetes and also those with hypoglycemia.

Chromium is also known as glucose tolerance factor, meaning that it improves the activity of insulin and facilitates the uptake of glucose into the cells. It is vital in the synthesis of cholesterol, fats, and proteins.

Chromium facilitates weight loss. Although it is not a miracle cure for obesity, chromium does increase lean muscle mass and decrease body fat. Read more

Monday, July 26, 2010

8 Reasons to Stay out of the Hospital

Dr. Joseph Mercola cites 8 reasons why hospitals are more dangerous than ever.
Mainstreet.com offers a few essential facts about hospitals that you should know before you check in:

Stay Healthy in July

July is the most dangerous month to visit a hospital. That's the month when students graduate from medical school and start doing residencies at teaching hospitals. Deaths due to hospital medication errors spike by 10 percent in July.

Hospital Wait Times

Hospitals have terrible wait times, which may actually be endangering patients. Patients who need to be seen within 14 minutes of arriving ended up having to wait more than twice as long. Read more

Friday, July 23, 2010

10 Antidepressant Alternatives Proven to Work

As of 2009, more than 10% of the US population was taking one or more antidepressant drugs. Unfortunately, the millions of people taking these drugs often know little to nothing about their side effects. More importantly, they don’t know that effective, safe, and natural alternatives to antidepressant drugs exist. In fact, there are at least ten antidepressant alternatives that are proven to work.
If you are suffering from depression, but would prefer to try something natural before going the traditional pharmaceutical route, here are some remedies that have stood up to rigorous testing.

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy seeks to help people change how they think about things. Unlike more traditional forms of therapy, it focuses on “here and now” problems and difficulties. Numerous clinical studies throughout the world have consistently demonstrated that cognitive behavioral therapy is as effective as antidepressant medication. Within 20 sessions of individual therapy, approximately 75 percent of patients experience a significant decrease in their symptoms. Read more

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Improve Your Speed with Plyometrics

Plyometrics are dynamic movements that increase agility, strength, coordination, and power while decreasing your risk of injury. They are a valuable tool in a sprinter's toolbox to increase speed. If you don't incorporate plyometrics into your training program, then you should definitely think about it. Plyometrics are a perfect complement to the sprint workout I outlined in my post Don't Just Run: Sprint!

There are dozens of different types of plyometric exercises. I’ve narrowed the list down to the ones a beginner could easily try. Before we get to the exercises, though, let’s discuss some general guidelines to keep in mind as you get started.

When you first add plyometrics to your routine, take it slowly and focus on performing the exercises in a controlled manner. You should always warm up before you begin. Allow adequate rest time between plyometric workouts. I recommend doing plyometrics workouts only twice a week - one on Monday and another on Friday (or Tuesday and Saturday).

Perform 3-6 of the exercises listed below. Perform 1-2 sets of 10 reps of each exercise with one minute rest between sets.. Allow two minutes of rest between exercises. Plyometrics workouts are measured in foot contacts - the number of times your feet impact the ground or other surface. You want to keep your workouts in the range of 80-160 foot contacts. That means that if you do all six exercises in one workout, do only one set of each exercise to begin with and work up to doing two sets if you want.

Bounding. Run forward while taking long, exaggerated strides. Leap from one foot to the next, going for distance.

Box Jumps. Stand in front of a box or other suitable platform, such as a plyometric box, a picnic table, or park bench. Jump onto the box and immediately back down to the same position. Immediately repeat. Perform the jumps as quickly as possible. (Count each jump as two foot contacts.)

Depth Jumps. Start off by standing on top of a box or other platform. Hop off the box and land on both your feet. As soon as your feet hit the ground, jump as high as you can. Get back on the box and repeat. (Count each jump as two foot contacts.)

Power skips: Begin skipping forward, driving your leg up towards your chin and propelling yourself as high as possible.

Squat Jumps. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Squat down and jump as high as possible. Upon landing, squat and immediately jump up again.

Tuck Jumps. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Explode and jump as high as you can. As you rise, pull your knees into your chest. On the way down, straighten your legs and land softly on the balls of your feet. As soon as your feet touch the ground, perform another tuck jump.

For the box jumps and depth jumps, I recommend starting at a height of about 12 inches (30 cm) to learn the jumps and get used to the impact. If you're not a competitive athlete, 24 inches (60 cm) is a good height to aim for.

Here are sample beginner and intermediate plyometrics routines:

Beginner
Do 1-2 sets of 5-10 reps each (20-80 foot contacts).
1) Squat Jumps
2) Bounding
3) Box Jumps

Do 1-2 sets of 5-10 reps each (20-80 foot contacts).
1) Tuck Jumps
2) Power Skips
3) Depth Jumps

Intermediate
Do 1-2 sets of 10 reps each (80-160 foot contacts).
1) Squat Jumps
2) Tuck Jumps
3) Bounding
4) Power Skips
5) Box Jumps
6) Depth Jumps

Plyometrics are by their nature intense. You’ll be putting a lot of load on your joints and tendons. Keep in mind that you can develop a great deal of strength and power without resorting to plyometrics, but if you participate in sports that require sprinting and jumping, plyometric training may help to improve skill and performance.

There is a common misconception that people are born with speed, but speed is like intelligence; it is invisible until developed. An amazing new book called Developing Killer Speed reveals how you can decrease your forty yard dash By .4 seconds in 2 weeks! To discover the simple formula that can increase your speed and decrease your times, click here.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Cancer-Preventing Vitamin Your Doctor Knows Nothing About

Can you help prevent cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis with vitamin K, which nearly everyone is deficient in?
... Vitamin K may be "the next vitamin D" if research continues to illuminate the growing number of benefits to your health.

Dr. Cees Vermeer, one of the world's top researchers in the field of vitamin K, founded a vitamin K research group in 1975, which is now the largest group investigating this area of nutrition science.

How many people have adequate vitamin K… care to guess?

Just about zero, according to Dr. Vermeer and other experts in the field.

Most people get just enough K from their diets to maintain adequate blood clotting, but NOT enough to offer protection against he following health problems – and the list is growing: Read more

Friday, July 16, 2010

Dust Mites, Off-Gassing, and What to Do with Your Mattress

Are creepy, crawly, allergy-producing dust mites thriving in your bed? Mark Sisson reveals what may be inside your mattress and what to do about it.
Dust mites are everywhere. They are true survivors, able to make it in virtually all climates and at any altitude. They thrive, however, in our homes, especially bedrooms, enjoying the humidity generated by all the breathing, perspiring, and drooling we do at night and feeding on all the skin flakes we produce. For these tiny creatures, we’re living, breathing humidifier-refrigerator-landlords who charge extremely competitive rates. Why wouldn’t they infest us?

In the last couple weeks we’ve taken a look at sleep posture, how to improve it, and modern bedding. Today we’ll take a closer look at your mattress, investigating what may be lurking inside and what you can do about it. Read more

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Total Body Warm-up and Interval Training Workout with No Equipment

Sprints are still one of the best ways to perform your interval workouts. Here’s a great sprint and bodyweight workout by Craig Ballantyne:

Monday, July 12, 2010

Spicy Peppers May Cause Your Body to Burn More Calories

Indulging your taste for spicy food may help you lose weight. Scientists believe that the capsaicin compounds found in peppers that give them their spicy taste actually help to burn calories as well.
Losing weight is just a few spicy peppers away, according to a recent report out of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Researchers there say that the capsaicin compounds found in peppers that give them their spicy taste, actually help to burn calories as well.

Scientists believe that the reason why capsaicin burns calories is because the compound uses energy to raise a person's body temperature, which provides a similar effect as the one obtained by engaging in traditional exercise routines. Read more

Saturday, July 10, 2010

4 Tips to Help Stop Snoring

Snoring is a laughing matter for some people, but what they don't realize is that many conflicts have developed from snoring. Almost half of normal adults suffer from occasional snoring while an estimated 25% of them are known to snore habitually. It is good to point out that these figures did not choose to have fallen as victim to this nighttime dilemma. Instead, they just happened to be less lucky than most of us.

Driven by the need to resolve the disturbances caused by snoring, patients often seek relief from various stop snoring products such as devices, pills, and sprays. You should realize, though, that there is still no sufficient data to back the claims of these products. To help find relief for those people who only want to have restful sleeps, here are four tips that can help you to stop snoring.

Change of sleeping position. During sleep, our air passages must have room enough to avoid o avoid the collision of certain parts forunobstructed breathing. If you sleep flat on the back, it is likely that the throat will be constricted in a way that the air passage is obstructed. However, when we sleep on our sides, these same passages will be released from possible intrusion of the dangling tissues. Additionally, the likelihood that the jaw will drop to cause obstruction will be lessened.

Lose weight. Not only would you benefit from the various consequences of losing off some pounds, you would also get around from the risk of snoring. Overweight individuals tend to have bulky necks, which create more possibilities of snoring.

Change your lifestyle in general. Vices such as alcohol and smoking are recognized as detrimental to healthful living, which for most parts is certainly true. These are good ways to encourage smoking since both have effects that can immediately affect the tissues used in breathing.

Alcohol has relaxant effects that contribute greatly to uncontrollability of throat muscles. Cigarettes, on the other hand, have the effects of changing the cells lining the esophagus. This change can create reactions suitable for encouraging snores.

Establish a good sleeping pattern. Sleeping at the same time every night can help induce a more-or-less fixed sleeping pattern. This does not cure snoring, but it can help in making the rest you want, even when you snore so loudly at night. Once your body get used to the same habit each night, simple grunts and frequent noises coming from your own mouth would no longer cause you disturbances, enough to keep you awake all night.

Get the best sleep you've had in years with proven snoring remedies in a step-by-step guide that quickly and easily cure snoring permanently. To find out how to reinvigorate your love life, restore your energy, and regain the healing benefits of sleep for a more relaxed and stress-free you, click here!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

To Build Muscle, Lose Fat, and Get Healthy, Go Caveman

To build muscle, lose fat, and get healthy, go caveman.
Our Stone Age ancestors lived in an uncomfortable world, spending their 30-year life spans hunting and gathering without air conditioning or heat.

But some say the cave men ate better than we do.

That's the premise behind the Paleo diet, a health and weight-loss trend that encourages people to eat modern-day versions of Paleolithic food. Read more

Friday, July 2, 2010

How to Improve Your Sleep Posture

If you're not getting restful sleep, it may not be your bed that's the problem. It may be your sleep posture.
Yesterday, I posited that it’s not so much the bedding that matters in making for rejuvenating, nourishing sleep, but rather our sleeping position/posture. Man is the supreme adaptor, having proven himself capable of surviving in just about any natural environment, no matter the climate, topography, and available selection of edibles – and our bedding is no different. Of course, there is a limit to our adaptability. We couldn’t survive in the Antarctic or get a good night’s sleep in a mud pit. Thriving in the current food environment is definitely doable, but, as you well know, it takes a lot of effort to make it work. Luckily, we aren’t dealing with hydrogenated mattresses or high-fructose pillows, so the bedding situation isn’t so dire.

You can keep it pretty simple, in fact: if you’re getting good, pain-free sleep already, hacking isn’t necessary. Just keep doing what you’re doing and keep the bed you’ve got. (Keep reading, though.)

If you’re waking up with pain, though, we should reevaluate. Pain usually indicates an improper sleeping position, and that’s the easiest thing to fix (rather than buying an entirely new bed), so let’s look at some other options. Read more

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Give Your Body a Clean Sweep

Fiber is an inexpensive essential for good health, says Margaret Durst. She explains how much you need and the best places to get it.
Fiber is essential to good health. It is the bulk that helps move food and waste through our digestive tract. It acts like a broom in sweeping our digestive system clean, and it also acts like a sponge in absorbing toxins, hormones, cholesterol and bile salts so that they will not be reabsorbed by our body.

In addition to keeping things moving through our digestive systems, fiber nurtures healthy bacteria in our gut that balances pH, keeps harmful bacteria in check, and detoxifies chemicals in the gut that can cause cancer or other problems. Lack of fiber, seems to be the precursor to some common complaints such as diverticular disease, bowel cancer, appendicitis, and hemorrhoids. All of these diseases are virtually unheard of in cultures that consume plenty of fiber. Read more

Monday, June 28, 2010

Anti-Snoring Exercises for Better Sleep

Relationships are not only ruined by irreconcilable differences, third parties, or simply falling out of love. Some relationships are ruined by snoring. Studies show that 23% of couples suffer from snoring problems. In fact, 80% of couples usually end up sleeping in different rooms because they can’t stand their partner’s snoring.

But more than the danger of ruined relationships, snoring can also lead to a serious case of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a condition common among the depressed and those who are always exhausted. Sleep apnea can increase blood pressure, reducing the flow of oxygen to the brain and eventually, leading to stroke, heart attack or even worse, death.

Other studies further show that it can lead to diabetes. Since snoring reduces the intake of oxygen, the body produces more catecholamines, which leads to insulin resistance and ultimately, diabetes.

So, what’s the answer? There are a hundred and one natural remedies, plus other technology-aided remedies even involving surgeries. But another way out of this problem are through anti-snoring exercises.

Of course, it’s important to identify first the cause of snoring. Normally, as most snoring cases go, it’s a problem with breathing. There are throat exercises that open up your throat, preventing it from closing when you sleep. Such exercises strengthen and lift up the soft palate, so it won’t flap and rub against the tongue. With tongue exercises, you can strengthen it and prevent it from dropping into your throat when you sleep, which usually happens when you sleep on your back. It’s also important to loosen up the jaw as tense jaw muscles puts pressure on the breathing passages.

Try this exercise to loosen the jaw.

Start by putting the upper and lower molars together very lightly. Once done, open your mouth and press the molars as wide as you can. Do not stretch. Do ten to twenty repetitions. Focus on the molars – out them together and then lower your jaw. After several repetitions, you should feel your jaw muscles strengthening and the back of your mouth opening up. Feel the muscles contracting at the back of your throat? If you feel them opening up, then you’re doing a good job relaxing and strengthening them.

You can do twenty repetitions of this simple exercise in a minute or two a day.

For more anti-snoring exercises, check out sites on the Web offering cure-snoring programs. These exercises are simple, easy do-it-yourself, no-need-for-complicated-machinery-or-device activities you can try any time.

So, start those exercises and no-snore your way to a good night’s sleep. You might feel crazy opening your mouth and exercising your jaw, but it sure will be worth it. There’s nothing wrong with trying, after all, especially when it’s an answer to your sleepless nights.

Get the best sleep you've had in years with proven snoring remedies in a step-by-step guide that quickly and easily cure snoring permanently. To find out how to reinvigorate your love life, restore your energy, and regain the healing benefits of sleep for a more relaxed and stress-free you, click here!

 
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