Product Reviews

I get up pretty early in the morning and I'm always interested in what new infomercials are out there, so I'll sit and watch a few. One that comes to mind right off, because I watched it this morning, is The Perfect Pull and The Perfect Push Up.

I happen to know the Navy SEAL who invented it and appears on the spots, and let me tell you that he is one passionate guy and he has spent years developing and perfecting these products. He went through many failed attempts before his shows finally "hit" and became successful.

Read Vitamin Supplements - Part 1 right here.

Vitamin A

Dietary deficiency of vitamin A is uncommon in healthy people, except in older age groups. A is needed to absorb calcium, effects intestinal flora, and synthesizes body proteins. Although vitamin A is important for the function of the immune system, concerns about birth defects and bone loss, people should not take over 10,000 IU of supplemental vitamin A in the form of retinol without consulting a doctor.

Beta-carotene

Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A, and may have a separate role in human health. Controlled research has shown that beta-carotene supplements can increase the numbers of some white blood cells and enhance cancer-fighting immune functions in healthy people who take 25,000–100,000 IU per day.

We’ve all heard positive and negative things about coffee. Well I am here to tell you that coffee is a great catalyst to improve your performance while exercising. Just a few cups of coffee after a tough workout can help improve your muscles recover more quickly. A recent Australian study showed that for both recreational and advanced runners, those that took an eight ounce cup of coffee improved their 5K by an average of 10 to 12 seconds. The caffeine in the coffee causes an increase spike in blood glucose which results in an incredible spike in insulin that the drives the post-workout nutrients such as carbs, protein, and fats into those muscle cells.

The challenge of childhood obesity is all about improving the kid's body composition. Body composition is generally expressed as a "percentage of body fat", and like golf, a high percentage is always bad, and a low percentage is always good.

There are three generally accepted ways to measure body composition. They include underwater weighing which is the most sophisticated, the most time consuming, the most expensive, and almost always performed in an exercise physiologist's lab. A second method, the skin fold technique, involves measuring the thickness of a participant's skin with a caliper. The resulting data is plugged into a formula which produces a percentage of body fat. The third, electronic impedance, is a computerized method that yields similar information.

None of the Accepted Methods are Being Used

All three have their issues, but interestingly enough, none of them are used in our nation's schools to measure kid's body composition. They're all too time consuming and too expensive. School systems lack the funds to do this kind if testing, so they settle for a method known as Body Mass Index, which is just the modern term used to describe the age old height weight charts that have been around since the dinosaur age.

The term "nutrition" always, makes people think of vitamins, minerals, and one’s diet. If you’re health conscious, this is usually automatic but if you’re not so health conscious, you may say, "nah, I don't need them".

"Nah, I don't need them. I am too inconsistent anyway. I feel fine and my energy is good. I sleep well and my Doctor says if I eat good, there is no need."

Everyone and their brother’s, sister’s cousin pushes or sells vitamins. The plethora of vitamin houses and sales are enough to intimidate anyone from supplementing their diet with vitamins and minerals, even if they might have entertained the thought.

So do we need a vitamin or not? How much does one take and what kind? What are the better vitamins to take and how about manufacturers?

The human back is a marvel of creation. When it’s properly developed, it can add years of quality to your life, improve your performance in sports, and even impress bodybuilding judges and fans if you’re planning to compete.

Training the back isn’t easy, and back workouts require an intense mental focus if you want to reach your potential. The back is a complicated system of muscles that cover a large percentage of your body. Your training protocol, however, is going to rely on a few simple movements done with strict attention to proper form.

That’s why we’re going back to basics to make sure your back doesn’t lag behind your other body parts.

Duty calls to explain acid metabolism and alkalinity from the chemical prospectus. Yeast, fungus, mold, and viruses can only survive in an acid base; they cannot survive in an alkaline base. There must be a compatible ratio between alkaline and acid foods consumed in one’s diet. Attainment of proper PH results in stifling the aforementioned single cell antagonistic properties. The ideal ratio is four parts alkaline to one acid, which creates the alkaline environment in the body to maintain a healthy PH balance (homeostasis) and equals 7.365. "PH refers to the relative concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution and low PH values indicate higher concentrations of hydrogen ions or acids, and high PH values indicate low concentrations of hydrogen ions or alkaline" (Synderhealth, 2008). An example is 2.5 is acidic versus 9.5 which is alkaline.

So, what if the you learned that practically all water and hydration formulas measure a five on the PH scale? When you work out, did you know that you automatically become acidic due to the oxygen exchanges and protein catabolism? Drinking acidic hydration replacements and water both further your mild acidosis, resulting in problems with fatigue, weight loss, and create issues with vitamin and mineral absorption and exchange. What do you do?

Do you own an exercise mat? What do you use it for, and when do you use it? Whether you use it frequently or not, exercise mats are surprisingly versatile. Here are five new ways to make the most out of your mat:

1. Stretching – If your exercise mat is a part of your home gym, pull it out and get to work stretching before you do any type of workout. If you’re planning on running outside, be sure to stop at the mat before you start your jog/ride/swim.

2. Pilates – If you haven’t tried this celeb favorite, give it a shot. You may be surprised at how intense the exercises are.
   

This is the second part of a two part article. To read the first part, click here!

Nutrition/Supplementation

Losing fat is a matter of creating a slight (notice the word SLIGHT) caloric deficit in order to start losing weight in the form of fat. This caloric deficit can be created through an increase in activity, a decrease in caloric intake, or both.

My strategy to save muscle as I go down in body fat is to do the minimum amount of cardiovascular activity that I can get away with at the time while keeping the calories as high as possible. Every so often, I either reduce calories slightly again or increase the Cardio a bit in order to keep results coming.

Keep in mind that I do not know exactly what your schedule looks like, so please feel free to adjust the times to match your schedule. As long as there are at least two, but no more than three, hours in between meals, you can move the times accordingly. Also, I assumed that training will happen at 6pm so if you train at any other time, simply move the pre-workout supplements and post workout meals accordingly.

Sample Day Breakdown For Men

Meal 1 (7 AM)
1 cup of dry oats mixed with water
1 cup of egg beaters
5 caps of EFAs (I like Labrada’s EFA Lean Gold)

Meal 2 (9 AM)
Lean Body Meal Replacement packet mixed with 20 grams of carbs from cream of rice, grits, or oatmeal
-or-
45 grams of Pro V60 protein powder mixed with 50 grams of carbs from cream of rice, grits, or oatmeal.
-or-
Lean Body RTD with 50 grams of carbs from rice cakes

Meal 3 (12 Noon)
1 cup of brown rice, or medium sized baked potato, or 1 cup of oatmeal
2 cups of green beans, broccoli or any other desired vegetable
6-8 ounces of chicken, turkey, or lean fish
5 caps of EFAs (I like Labrada’s EFA Lean Gold)

Meal 4 (3 PM)
Same as Meal 2

Meal 5 (6 PM)
1 cup of brown rice, or medium sized baked potato, or 1 cup of oatmeal
2 cups of green beans, broccoli or any other desired vegetable
6-8 ounces of chicken, turkey, or lean fish
5 caps of EFAs (I like Labrada’s EFA Lean Gold)

Meal 6 (9 PM)
Same as Meal 2

High Calorie Days: Choose two days of the week, preferably leg days, to slightly increase your calories in order to prevent the body from adapting to the diet. Do this by slightly increasing your carbohydrates by adding a half a cup of oatmeal in the morning, and half a cup of rice to meals 3 and 5. Also, do 1/3 cup of cream of rice after the workout. On non-workout days, trade the post workout meal for a solid meal consisting of salmon and green beans or any other green vegetable.

Have you seen an advertisement for a soft drink lately? It probably made you feel that it’s a great source of energy, fun, and happiness!

Don’t be tempted — soft drinks are among THE WORST things you can put into your body. Here are some reasons why:

• Soft drinks steal water from the body - You need to drink 8–12 glasses of water just to replace the water needed to process a can of soda!
• Soft drinks leach vital minerals from your body
• Sugary soft drinks cause sudden insulin production, which can lead to a "sugar crash" - This is particularly disruptive to growing children and can lead to life-long health problems.