Source Bodybuilding.com
LarryLar
Feeling Good Don't Cost A Thing
Filed under Health …
My Journey to get Back in Shape
2011 ended bad, and so far 2012 has gotten off to a pretty tough start, both mentally and physically. It’s now April and things have finally started to settle down. No more excuses, and yes they are excuses.
I started a new workout 3 weeks ago, inspired by Serge Nubret. The first week was extremely hard, didn’t think I could do it. It’s now the 3rd week in and it’s much easier. It’s amazing how the body adapts.
Hockey is almost done, but better weather is around the corner. So lots of cardio options – can’t wait to start roller blading.
Now it’s time to control what I’m eating, and get this boy back in shape.
15 Fired-Up Foods that Burn Away Pounds
The shortcut to losing weight? Fast food. Not the kind the clown and the King try to shove down our throats, but rather, edible amphetamines-foods that act like speed for the fat-melting motor known as our metabolism. Eat these foods and you’re guaranteed to burn more calories…just by sitting there and listening to yourself digest.
Only one catch: Like any good buzz, this boost is temporary. “The only way to alter your resting metabolism permanently is to gain or lose weight, or to build extra muscle,” says Janet Walberg-Rankin, Ph.D., a professor of exercise physiology at Virginia Tech. But look at it this way: If you have a few of these supercharged snacks and drinks throughout the day, for enough days, you will lose weight.
And that’s if you’re doing nothing. Imagine if you were to stop listening to your stomach serenading you and actually begin exercising, too? The blubber-busting possibilities are endless. So grab a fork; it’s time to add fuel to the fire.
Eggs are Egg-cellent
Having fallen in and out of favor with nutrition experts, you’d think the fragile egg would be broken and beaten by now. Luckily, its ego isn’t nearly as vulnerable as its shell. Oblivious to the attempts to separate the egg from its well-deserved title of “best source of complete protein on the planet,” the egg has managed to remain a nutritious, inexpensive, and popular food.
For awhile, nutrition experts hypothesized that the high cholesterol content of eggs raised blood cholesterol levels, which can increase a person’s risk of heart disease. But this hypothesis was never proven. In fact, several studies have shown that the consumption of eggs is not associated with higher cholesterol levels but is associated with higher nutrient intake.
In 2000, researchers set out to assess the nutritional significance of eggs in the American diet and to estimate the degree of association between egg consumption and cholesterol levels. Their straightforward results were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition: Eggs make important nutritional contributions to the American diet and their consumption is not associated with high cholesterol levels. Specifically, the study showed that egg consumers had a higher intake of important nutrients like vitamins B12, A, E, and C than non-egg eaters, and that people who reported eating four or more eggs per week actually had significantly lower average cholesterol levels than those who reported eating zero to one eggs per week.
Here are four more ways eggs can enhance your health:
Continue reading
5 Muscle Myths Holding You Back
In a hospital, using outdated information is considered malpractice; in a gym, it’s standard operating procedure. Don’t believe it? Take a look at today’s most sacred lifting guidelines, and you’ll find that some originated in the ’40s and ’50s, a time when castration was a cutting-edge treatment for prostate cancer, and endurance exercise was thought to be harmful to women. What’s worse, other, more-recent recommendations regarding exercise form have been negated by new research yet are still commonly prescribed by fitness professionals.
Chances are, these are the same rules you lift by right now. And that means your workout is long past due for a 21st-century overhaul. Keep in mind, I’m not suggesting that your current plan doesn’t work. After all, at its most basic level, building muscle is simple: Pick up a heavy weight, put it down, repeat. But improve the details and avoid mistakes, and you’ll build more muscle in less time, with less risk of injury. Put a check next to today’s date—it marks the official expiration of your old workout.
Continue reading
Hot Dogs, Bacon Put Your Heart At Risk
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Eating hot dogs, bacon, sausage or deli meats increases the chance of heart disease by 42 percent, US researchers said in a report out Monday.
Eating processed meat is also linked to a 19 percent higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, said the study, which appeared in the journal Circulation.
However researchers found no higher risk of heart disease or diabetes among people that ate unprocessed red meat such as from beef, pork, or lamb.
Most healthy eating guidelines already recommended limited meat consumption, but until now “studies have shown mixed results for relationships between meat consumption and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes,” said Renata Micha, the lead author of the study.
“Most prior studies also did not separately consider the health effects of eating unprocessed red versus processed meats,” said Micha, a research fellow in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
The team reached their conclusions by studying information from 1,600 reports from around the world involving some 1.2 million people.
On average, each 50 gram (1.8 ounce) daily serving of processed meat (about one to two slices of deli meats, or one hot dog) was associated with the higher heart disease and diabetes risk, the researchers said.
Lifestyle factors associated with eating unprocessed red meats and processed meats “were similar, but only processed meats were linked to higher risk,” said report co-author Dariush Mozaffarian, assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at HSPH.
While unprocessed red and processed meats eaten in the United States contained similar average amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol, researches found that processed meats “contained, on average, four times more sodium and 50 percent more nitrate preservatives,” said Micha.
“This suggests that differences in salt and preservatives, rather than fats, might explain the higher risk of heart disease and diabetes seen with processed meats, but not with unprocessed red meats,” she said.
In order to decrease heart attack and diabetes risk, it would be best to avoid processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats.
“Based on our findings, eating one serving per week or less would be associated with relatively small risk,” said Micha.
The Truth About Protein
If you are what you eat, what does that make a vegan? A string-bean, milquetoast kind of a guy? Of course not—and renowned strength coach Robert dos Remedios, a vegan, is strong evidence to the contrary. Really strong.
But most men eat animal products. And we really do become what we eat. Our skin, bones, hair, and nails are composed mostly of protein. Plus, animal products fuel the muscle-growing process called protein synthesis. That’s why Rocky chugged eggs before his a.m. runs. Since those days, nutrition scientists have done plenty of research. Read up before you chow down.
Continue reading
Slimmer Doesn’t Always Mean Fitter
By Gina Kolata
In his new book, “Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance,” Matt Fitzgerald, a sports nutritionist, writes about an amazing running experience. He worked out on a special sort of anti-gravity treadmill, the AlterG, which uses a cushion of air to lift the body, allowing you to effectively decrease your body weight as you run.
Mr. Fitzgerald started out on the treadmill by running without the machine’s assistance. Then he ran with it adjusted to lift him just enough so that he was 10 percent lighter.
“I felt as if I had become 10 percent fitter,” he writes. Running at his usual pace was suddenly “utterly effortless,” he notes, adding that “it felt like normal running, only so much better.”
Exercise physiologists agree that if your sport is particularly affected by the tug of gravity — running, cross-country skiing, cycling up hills — you are penalized for excess weight. But that leaves some questions: What is the ideal weight for your sport? And how much difference will it make if you actually achieve it?
5 Ways to Break Through a Fitness Plateau
By: Michael Mejia
I was stuck. Thousands of biceps curls for months on end, and nothing. Not even half an inch. My arms had simply stopped growing.
I took the Taoist approach: I quit trying. Instead of doing direct arm work, like curls, I concentrated on my chest, shoulders, and back, hitting them with heavy-lifting sets of chin-ups, rows, presses, and dips.
That’s when it happened. My arms inflated.
