Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | Add Comment
Kinda like a doctor becoming a drug addict so he can understand his patients better.
From FoxNews-
“Fitness trainer Paul James wanted to understand his overweight clients better, so he decided to pack on a few pounds himself.
Well, not just a few pounds. The once svelte 32-year-old has ballooned from 212 pounds to 263 pounds and says he won’t stop until he weighs 340 pounds.
The Australian has cut down on his daily exercise regimens and has even started drinking beer at night.”
I really discourage people from doing the old bodybuilding “bulking up” thing as well. The problem is that I have seen a lot of guys who never “bulked down” after the bulking up phase. I takes no self discipline to eat like a pig. It takes huge self discipline to stay on an effective diet. It is very hard to change eating habits- especially bad ones. All you have to do is look around you at home, work or school- or even the gym. Probably half the people at the gym I go to are obese. That is bizarre when you think about it. Good for them for getting in the gym and trying, but most of them disappear after a few weeks or months because they simply can’t change the bad habits that are so ingrained into the American lifestyle.
Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | Add Comment
MSNBC has a quick and easy guide to 9 things that you might want to change to optimize your workout. Some are better than others, and one of the best is to quit doing crunches for you abs and do some exercises that are more effective. One of those is described here-
Turns out Pilates abdominal moves are superior to crunches for sculpting your midsection and uncovering those abs, according to a study at Auburn University Montgomery in Alabama. An exercise called “the teaser” is especially effective. It activates 39 percent more of your rectus abdominus muscle (that’s your six-pack) and 266 percent more of your external obliques (your love handles). To do it: Lie face-up on a mat. Lift your legs so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor and your knees are bent 90 degrees. Raise your hands toward the ceiling. Lift your torso and straighten your legs, so your body forms a V. Hold for one second, then roll back down, keeping your legs raised. Do 8 to 10 reps.
I would recommend more like 10-12 reps and you should do these as part of a superset that includes a couple of other exercises for the most benefit. Give it a try and see… you’ll know the next morning!
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Strengthening your abs is not just about looking good at the pool. Strong abs are necessary to prevent back strain by taking pressure off of your lower back.
Here is my program for killer abs- it is a 3 exercise superset that starts with Roman chair sit-ups, moves to hanging leg raises and ends with an ab crunch machine (not traditional crunches which I do not recommend). 20 minutes and you are done! You can substitute any exercise for the ab crunch machine if your gym doesn’t have one. But the roman chair sit-ups and the hanging leg raises are the core movements, so make sure you keep those. Do 1 warm up set of all three exercises and then do 3 supersets with about 3 minutes rest in between the supersets. I’ll take some pictures tonight at the gym so you can see how to do each exercise properly.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Meal 6- Evening
One of the worst feelings is going to bed hungry, so there is one more meal to keep that from happening. If you have been following the plan so far, you should have had a light dinner and be ready to eat a little more about 9pm assuming you ate dinner at about 6. Here is what you do- skip the usual late night junk like ice cream, cookies, or other high sugar snacks and eat a handful of nuts (almonds are really good) and some fruit (cherries or strawberries are excellent). The nuts will satisfy your hunger and the fruit is a good substitute for sugary snacks. Try not to eat a lot since you don’t want to go to bed with a full stomach, you just don’t want to be hungry. Other foods you can eat are some leftover meat from dinner with fruit, a half bagel with low sugar jam or fruit spread or a protein bar. Try to keep the calories under 200. If you eat to much before bed, you might not sleep well, and you certainly won’t be burning those calories off while you sleep. So keep it light and you will feel better in the morning.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Meal 5- Dinner
Well, if you have been following the diet so far, you are ready for dinner! For most people, dinner is a really big meal but if you are on this diet, it shouldn’t be huge because you just ate a couple of hours ago, and you will eat again in a few more. Try this- Start with a salad with a light dressing. If the dressing is “creamy†that means it has a lot of fat. Just read the labels, and you will get a pretty good idea of which is which.
For your meat use 4 ounces (1/4 lb) of a lean meat like chicken, fish, or even beef grilled or pan seared. Add some vegetables (Stir fry is also a great way to cook meat and vegetables together) like brocolli, carrots, green beans or whatever you like. Steam them and use low calorie butter flavored spray with seasoning like Mrs. Dash (tons of recipes at their website). You can also use some grated cheese like Parmesan or Romano to add flavor. Skip the potatoes or bread or at least skip them every other night. Brown rice is a better choice and you can flavor it with things like salsa or seasonings to make it really good. Drink water with lemon, iced tea, or some other low calorie drink. Instead of something like cake or pie for dessert, try some fresh fruit in a bowl with a little low calorie cool whip. Your body will love you for it, and you will feel a lot better through the evening.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Hopefully, you are getting the hang of eating less, more often. This meal is important because if you skip it, you will be really hungry by dinner and that is likely to cause you to overeat. So try this- If you had a sandwich for lunch, and only ate 1/2 of it, eat the other half now with some fruit or even chips. As always, you need to check the nutrition label on the chips, but generally, Sun Chips and other reduced fat chips are OK. Get the prepackaged 100 calorie bags so you don’t eat more than you should. You can definitely (and probably should) substitute fruit or some sort of vegetable for the chips if you want. I really like the peeled mini-carrots that come in a bag. They are easy to pack and carry, and are really low in calories- about 100 calories for 1/2 lb. So you can eat a lot of carrots! Plus, they are good for you. But, the idea of this diet is not to torture yourself, it is to change your eating habits so that you are healthier, can lose weight and feel better. So if you want to eat some chips or even chocolate (get the 100 calories packs of dark chocolate) enjoy! Make sure you only eat one, though… Tough to do when they are staring you in the face!
Other possibilities are a half bagel with peanut butter (I love bagels so this is a common snack for me) or a salad with lite dressing.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Meal 3- Lunch
Eating a good lunch will have a big impact on how you feel the rest of the day. If you eat a huge lunch because you skipped breakfast and a mid-morning meal, you will have that sluggish tired feeling during the afternoon. So skip the crappy fast food or large lunch at a restaurant and try this- get a grilled chicken salad (skip the croutons) and get a light dressing or something made with olive oil (vinaigrette) instead of the high fat creamy dressings which can add as many as 400 calories to the salad- add some fruit on the side like an apple or pear. If you are thinking “where am I going to get fruit?â€, remember that almost all grocery stores have a deli where you can get almost anything you want. So get a salad and some fruit or get a turkey sandwich on a croissant. Skip the cheese and mayo if you can and get spicy mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Add some pickles- they are almost calorie free. Iced tea, water, coffee or low calorie drink is best. Skip the sodas.
Nice lunch and I promise you will feel better during the afternoon. The key here is to be moderate. Remember, you are going to get to eat again in a couple of hours!
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
If you ate breakfast (like you were supposed to!!!), you are usually ready for something to eat about 2-3 hours later. Remember to take stuff with you to work. You will eat crap if you have to get it out of a vending machine!
Meal 2- Mid-morning
Usually if you go all morning without eating anything significant you are starved by lunch. That is not a good thing since you will always overeat when you are that hungry. So what we are doing by putting a mid morning snack/meal in your diet is alleviating the starvation reflex and also helping to keep your energy level up by keeping you blood sugar fairly level. This makes you feel better and boosts your metabolism.
Depending on how hungry you are at this point in the day, you can eat a variety of things. For instance, if you are not very hungry, eat a small apple and drink a glass of water or cup of coffee with it. If you are more hungry or you have a job where you are expending a lot of energy, eat an apple and 1/2 a bagel with some natural peanut butter on it. Same deal with the water- a glass of water really helps keep you from over eating since you need it and it helps you feel full. You want to try to keep the calories to around 200, so if you want to eat a protein bar- like a Balance Bar, that’s OK but make a habit of looking at the nutrition label so you know what and how much you are eating.
Diet Plan- The Benefits of Breakfast
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
You’ve probably heard it all your life and ignored it most of the time, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, most people skip breakfast and either get something unhealthy from a drive-through or just wait until lunch to eat. The solution is really easy and simple- instant oatmeal and fruit. You can get the instant oatmeal in a whole variety of flavors and it even comes in low sugar form. To add some extra protein, get some egg whites that come in the pourable containers and add a few ounces to the oatmeal before you microwave it. Experiment and see how you like it prepared. Quaker has a whole line of oatmeal and most supermarket chains have their own house brands which are just as good and a lot cheaper. Make it with lowfat milk and then have some fruit with it and you have an excellent 90 second breakfast. Really, no excuses! this is a 90 second solution and it even has the added benefit of lowering cholesterol in most people.
Stay away from the giant muffins and other “fast†breakfast alternatives since they have virtually no nutritional value and are loaded with fat and sugar. Also, stay away from the high sugar and fat coffee drinks at places like Starbucks since they can easily have 400-500 calories and no real nutritional value (In other word, they make you fat). Drinking stuff like that wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels and gives you a bad start to the day.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, General Fitness, Health, Sports, Youth/fit | Add Comment
“Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged “regrettable†behavior and “bad judgment†after a photo in a British newspaper Sunday showed him with a marijuana pipe.”
WOW, ya think so?
This is from the newspaper that published the photo:
Phelps is represented by marketing giant Octagon, which works with huge brands such as Mastercard and HSBC. They admitted proven cannabis use would be “a major taint†on Phelps’ character.
Spokesman Clifford Bloxham offered us an extraordinary deal not to publish our story, saying Phelps would become our columnist for three years, host events and get his sponsors to advertise with us.
In return, he asked that we kill Phelps’ bong picture. Bloxham said: “It’s seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World.â€
I suppose that deal making like this goes on every day. But you really expect a little more integrity out of major companies than this. Well, after watching the financial meltdown and billions in bonuses for execs at companies that had to be bailed out with taxpayer money I suppose I expect nothing anymore…
Honestly, I think Phelps is a just being a stupid kid. But even stupid kids have to learn somehow that there are consequences for everything we do. In the end, it will probably cost him a bunch of money and a lot of embarrassment since he is billed as a role model for youth, but I hope he learns and grows from it.
