Balanced Health Blueprint

Ringing Ears? Check Your Medication.

Hiram — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:05:11 +0000

Here’s a perfect example of how trying to solve one problem creates another. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been fighting a raging case of Plantar Fasciitis – an inflammation of the tissue at the bottom of my left foot. When I wake up in the morning and take my first couple of steps, it feels like someone’s taken a baseball bat to my heel. What I’ve been trying, as well as what’s worked and what hasn’t will be the subject of another post.

One of the treatments that was suggested to me was to get on a routine of taking regular aspirin. Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation and there’s nothing better for treating inflammation than aspirin. “Just be careful,” said Teri (a registered nurse), “because the aspirin thins your blood and you’ll bruise easily.” Made sense so I gave it a go. I started taking 2 caplets of coated aspirin every 4 hours or so (morning, noon, afternoon, and bedtime).

Know what? I started getting some relief the very next day! It literally felt like the “fire” in my heel was slowly but surely being put out. I was jazzed.

However, by the second day of my aspirin routine, I noticed a fairly loud hissing sound in my ears. Although it didn’t really interfere with my hearing (that I could tell – wait, did you say something?), it was downright annoying and as time went on, it got louder and louder. It was like being next to a raging river. There was a constant hissing sound that just would not stop. It started getting too loud to ignore.

A quick Internet search told me that this condition (“ringing” in the ears) is called Tinnitus and that it’s pretty common. I also learned that medical science doesn’t really have any direct treatment for it - which means that there are all sorts of non-FDA-approved treatments and devices out there. However, I did learn that ringing ears is a common side effect of taking too much aspirin or aspirin-containing medications, a fact confirmed by Teri when I mentioned it to her. In fact, she said that other pain relievers including ibuprofen and some antibiotics can also cause tinnitus.

“Back off a bit and don’t take as much,” she advised. The trick is to balance the problem you’re trying to cure (the plantar fasciitis) with the side effects of the medication (the tinnitus) and take only enough aspirin to relieve one without aggravating the other.

After taking her advice, I’m happy to report that the ringing in my hear has been reduced significantly. It no longer sounds like I’m standing right next to a jet plane about to take off. Although my heel still feels a little tender at times, I think I’m finally beginning to get the inflammation under control.

I guess the takeaway from all of this is that all medications, even common aspirin, have some sort of side effect. It can be minute and benign or it can be significant and quite harmful so pay attention when taking any type of medication. Make note of and discuss with a healthcare professional anything that seems out of the ordinary including headaches, stomach discomfort, and yes, even ringing in the ears.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S. Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.” This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – for a limited time. Just click on the title to be taken to the download page. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: tinnitus, plantar faciitis, aspirin, medication, pain relief, reliever, nsaids, ringing ear, hearing, side effect

Dangers of Acetaminophen Overdose

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 6

Hiram — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:03:31 +0000

This is the next in a series of 10 articles based on the American Council on Exercise’s (ACE) article titled “Top 10 Mistakes People Make in the Gym.” Check the “Related Posts” links at the end of this article or use the “Search This Site” box at the top to find the other articles in this series.

Mistake Number 6: Not Enough Variety

Face it: most exercise is boring, repetitive stuff. Lift, hold, release, and then repeat over and over and over again. Mind numbing. Little wonder most people find it so hard to stick to a fitness routine.

If you’ve been doing the exact same exercise routine for so long that you don’t even have to think about it anymore, then you’re guilty of making this exercise mistake.

But getting bored with your exercise routine is only part of the problem. If your routine never changes, your body quickly gets used to performing the same routine over and over again. End result? You stop improving. Before long, you start noticing that even though you’re “exercising” as much as usual, you’re not losing any weight or getting any more fit. You’ve hit a plateau. Your body has “memorized” the routine and has optimized itself so that it expends the least amount of energy completing it.

Another problem is that constantly doing a routine that never changes can lead to injury as the exact same muscles get worked in exactly the same way every single time you exercise.

Change Up Your Routine

The obvious answer to these issues is to change up your routine. Some ways to accomplish this include:

Vary the exercises. If you’ve never done Yoga or boxing or any of the Martial Arts, try incorporating some of those moves into your routine. Try adding body-weight exercises or kettle-bells instead of using weight-machines all the time. Add in some “old school” exercises like push-ups and pull-ups. Exercise on a balance board or Bosu ball. In general, finding several different ways to work the same muscle groups will significantly improve the effectiveness of your workout in addition to making it much more fun and interesting.
Vary the sequence. Instead of starting at the same machine in the gym every single time, try doing your exercises in a different sequence. If you always start your routine doing bicep-curls, try starting with back exercises first. Do your routine in reverse and then change it up again the next time. Keep your body guessing as to what exercise is coming up next so that it never gets the chance to “optimize” the routine and reduce the amount of work your muscles do. You’ll find yourself burning a lot more calories.
Vary the intensity. Change the speed and intensity of your routine at frequent intervals. Without sacrificing form or safety, speed up – or slow down – your routine periodically. Alternate between heavier and lighter weights than you normally lift. Again, keep your body guessing as to what’s coming up next.

They say that variety is the spice of life. It’s also the key to effective workouts. Variety keeps you from getting bored with your routine in addition to significantly increasing the efficiency of your workouts. The only way to keep improving is to keep changing your routine in some way.

Give it a try. You’ll see results right away!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: exercise, routine, workout, weight loss, fitness, variety, weight lifting, gym

Rolling With the Punches

Hiram — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:26:29 +0000

Ever seem like your life has just hit a dead-end? You know what I mean. When no matter how hard you try, things just don’t seem to go your way and every time you “roll with the punches” and begin to get back up on your feet there seems to be another punch coming right at you.

How do you break that cycle? How do you get your life back on the right road?

I got an interesting email the other day that seems to answer that exact question. It’s from Perry Marshall, an industry expert in marketing. I’ve purchased some of Perry’s products and his advice is always solid. I thought I’d share his email so I’ve posted it, along with his links, in it’s entirety:

From: email@perrymarshall.com [mailto:email@perrymarshall.com] On Behalf Of Perry Marshall
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 8:44 AM
To: Hiram
Subject: Phone call from my old boss who fired me -

Hiram,

It was a Friday. I was about 10 minutes late for work. Before I could put my lunch in the refrigerator, Wally & Fred called me into Wally’s office.

Something did not feel right.

“Perry, we’re going to have to let you go. Things just aren’t working out and it’s time to cut you loose.”

We’d had the pleading conversation about giving me one more chance 2-3 times already. That discussion just wasn’t gonna happen again.

2 years before when they’d hired me, Wally said, “Perry is a sales guy just waiting to happen.” Now Perry was *still* a sales guy ‘just waiting to happen’ and they had waited long enough.

I drove the long commute back home. When I walked in the back door at 9:30 in the morning, it only took Laura about one second to figure out what happened. (It was about the 5th or 6th job I’d been fired from, and she was starting to get accustomed to this.)

Firing me was the l-a-s-t thing Wally and Fred wanted to do. Other than the long string of failed sales contracts, we all liked each other just fine. They all had families; terminating a young guy with an 18 month old baby girl who’d been born just after he started wasn’t exactly their idea of a fun team-building exercise.

But it didn’t really matter how much “I love you / you love me / we’re a happy family” we all had together, business is business and sales is sales. If you can’t bring home the bacon, you don’t get breakfast.

In moments like that, you make decisions, vows, inner resolutions.

I made a decision to prove to those guys that Wally had been right at the very beginning and I really *was* a sales guy waiting to happen. “Someday. . . . I’ll show those guys. . . .” I swore under my breath.

Part of me was tempted to want ‘revenge’ but I held that emotion in check. They were just doing what they had to do after all.

But even more than that, I made a decision that somehow or another I was going to find *something* that worked. Everything I’d tried to sell for the previous 7 years had failed.

It’s a horrible feeling when you’re X years old [however old that happens to be] and hardly anything you’ve ever done has been successful.

That was 12 years ago.

Well guess what happened the other day? Fred called me out of the blue.

He asked me if I could help him with his company’s marketing. I hadn’t seen him since the day I got fired. Shortly after we parted, he started a new firm.

Last week we had lunch on the patio of an Italian restaurant.

This time, he drove the long commute from the Northwest Suburbs to come see me.

He brought his operations manager. I was telling the guy how my time with Fred was just one of those seasons of life where nothing was working. Fred chimes in: “Well it wasn’t from lack of effort. Perry tried EVERYTHING.”

I nod. Yep that’s right, I tried just about everything.

Fred asks me, “Any regrets?”

I shake my head vigorously. “No regrets. Not one. Things happen for a reason and there are just certain things you have to learn. Sometimes the lessons are hard. That job didn’t work out but it prepared me superbly for the next job, which worked splendidly.”

As we’re talking I think back and am truly thankful for all the tools I put on my tool belt during that horribly painful time. Not a week goes by that I don’t draw from something I learned during those 2 years.

And I’m reminded how powerful it is to have an attitude of gratitude even when, in the moment, it doesn’t really feel like you have anything to be thankful for at all.

I can promise you, it didn’t *feel* like I had much to be thankful for then. But that just wasn’t true. There wasn’t much fat to go around, but I was building LOTS of muscle.

And you know what. . . it’s been the same story in *every* department of my life. All the various times of relationship conflicts, problems with kids, therapy sessions, financial struggles, evil bosses, botched deals, deadbeat co-workers . . . all were seasons of building muscles, building muscles, building muscles.

During that time years ago I was desperate and I did LOTS of soul searching. Fred asked me what finally made my career start to click.

I said, “I was an ‘OK’ salesman back then and I was getting killed by the ‘good’ salesmen. But when I went from selling something where techie skills were *helpful* to selling something where techie skills were *mandatory*, everything started to take off.”

That made complete sense to him. The geek department is my #1 strength and everything I’ve done since then has taken full advantage of my geek background.

In hindsight, all the tweaking and wrangling in the world wouldn’t have made that job work well. Yes there are a lot of things we could have done better, failed projects we could have saved. Most of the key ingredients were there, but at the end of the day I was trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The job was at war with my inner geek.

So. . . was it the *wrong* job? Was it a mistake to work there in the first place?

No.

Sometimes you pick up a LOT of skills during those seasons of pounding square pegs into round holes. (To be completely honest, the pegs almost NEVER fit perfectly anyway, do they??? They sure haven’t for me!)

Whatever life is throwing at you at the moment, you focus on the positive, express gratitude, and believe that there is a bigger picture that you truly are cracking the code on.

And I’d like you to consider that if you happen to be in a situation like my old job where lots of things are almost working but nothing is actually working, it might be because all the little things are right and there’s just one “BIG” thing that’s wrong.

Sometimes when you fix that one BIG thing, your fortunes reverse.

Meanwhile, thanks Fred. . . and Wally. . . and Nick and Ron and Gary and Jim and Mike and all the other odd assorted characters I’ve moshed with along the way.

My friend, I hope you can feel gratitude for whatever crazy things you’ve gone through and whatever punches you’ve rolled with. There’s an old proverb “faithful are the wounds of a friend” and it’s really true. The laboratory of reality was saying “Time to move on” and Wally and Fred did the right thing by listening to it.

And just remember . . . you never know when things may come full circle, when you find that you’ve earned the respect you so desperately craved in a prior season of life.

You never know when someone you were useless to way back when, will suddenly find you useful. And maybe even necessary.

You’re welcome to share your own stories at http://www.perrymarshall.com/9244/old-boss/

Perry Marshall

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, IL 60301
United States
(312) 458-9102

Great advice Perry. Learn to take the “long view” and treat your temporary setbacks as learning experiences. Keep your eyes open for that one “big thing” in your personal make-up that might be pulling you in the wrong direction and get it fixed. And most of all, be grateful for everything that’s happened in your life — good or bad — because these are the things that have made you into who you are today and provide the building blocks for who you’ll be tomorrow.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: punches, motivation, gratitude, life lessons, perry marshall

Review of P90X Fitness Program

Hiram — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:24:19 +0000

Just got my copy of Tony Horton’s P90X fitness program delivered to my front door, courtesy of UPS after ordering from Amazon. It’s 12 DVD’s with a different workout on each one.

I started this program last week and man, what a workout! I thought I was in half-way decent shape but this program is a “killer!” It’s Marine Bootcamp combined with Jr. High Gym Class. This is the first training workout that I actually had to train for! It’s that intense.

The 12 DVD’s cover workouts for:

Chest & Back – geez, this one’s all push-ups and pull-ups with some weight training thrown in.
Plyometrics – man, were my legs store after doing this one. Not quite the same as martial art plyo’s but intense nonetheless.
Shoulders & Arms – lots of training for your bi’s and tri’s.
Yoga X – think yoga is for sissies? Think again. This routine will have you dripping with sweat and burning some serious calories.
Legs and Back – as if the plyometric workout didn’t leave your legs sore enough.
Kenpo X – a modified martial arts routine that incorporates moves from the Kenpo fighting style. Sounds easy but this is a serious cardio workout.
X Stretch – think this workout provides a breather? Guess again. You’ll be amazed at how much effort (and calories) you’ll expend holding some of these stretches.
Core Synergistics – sounds like an ab routine but it’s much more. This workout targets your entire core muscles.
Chest, Shoulders & Back – great, more push-ups (kidding). Get that V-shape by working the muscle groups of the upper body with this workout.
Back & Biceps – straightforward weight routine with lots of curls.
Cardio X – heart pounding, lung burning, non-stop cardio routine that will keep you reaching for the “Pause” button on your remote!
Ab Ripper X – short 16 minute routine but man, it works nothing but the abs. Although you can do this workout separately, it’s also included at the end of some of the other workouts.

Also included in the program is:

P90X Fitness Guide – the “manual” explaining how the program works, how to perform your fit test, and a complete listing of all the exercises performed in the DVD’s.
P90X Nutrition Plan – a pretty straightforward “eat less, eat healthier” guidebook with meal plans and recipes.
P90X Calendar – something you can tack to the wall to track your progress. I actually bought a package of “smiley face” stickers that I place in each box representing each day that I complete a workout.
P90X “How to Bring It” DVD – basically introduces the program.

What’s my honest opinion? Well, first of all keep in mind that I am not affiliated in any with with P90X. Also, the link I provide at the end of this post is a “straight” link to the manufacturer, not an affiliate link. You can also get this program at Amazon.com, like I did.

I actually enjoy this program. It’s combines a lot of “old fashioned, hard-core” body-weight exercises (like push-ups, sit-ups, etc) with traditional weight training along with some “new-agey” stuff like Yoga, Kenpo, and Stretching. But make no mistake, you’ll leave a pool of sweat on the floor after every workout. My heart monitor frequently records around 700 calories burned in each session.

What’s neat about the videos is that you feel like you’re in a fitness class. The other people in the video demonstrate variations you can do on each exercise while Tony Horton keeps the pace moving at a pretty good clip. At the bottom of the screen is a “timing bar” that tells you exactly how long you’ve been exercising as well as how much further you have to go. There’s a separate “exercise timer” that counts down the seconds for timed exercises or poses. In short, you always know how far you’ve come as well as what’s coming up.

Is it effective? Man oh man, is it effective. This is raw strength building. You might think that something like Yoga is only for people in leotards but you have no idea how much strength it takes to hold some of those poses for the required length of time. And every pose, I mean EVERY pose, begins from the push-up or “plank” position. Your muscles will feel drained after every workout.

This program is for both men and women. You’ll see at least one woman in each video giving the guys a run for their money. Tony also explains how to modify the exercises depending on whether your goal is bulk or lean muscle.

As far as drawbacks go, the only one I saw was in the Fitness Guide. Yes, it contains a complete list, and description, of each exercise on each DVD. However, there are no pictures anywhere. So the description for a sit-up is something like, “lay on your back, reach forward using your abdominal muscles to touch your toes.” Come on! Don’t these guys know a picture is worth 1,000… well, you know the rest. This is the only place I would have LOVED a picture, a diagram, a stick-figure drawing, anything, to demonstrate how to perform the exercise. The end result is that you really have to WATCH each workout first to see how the exercises are performed and then REWIND the DVD and actually perform it.

The good part is that you’ve only got to do this a couple of times until you learn how to properly perform the exercise. For the traditional exercises, it’s no big deal. I mean, everyone knows how to do a push-up, right? However, for Warrior Half Moon Yoga Pose, you’ll first want to see where you’re feet need to be, what direction you’re supposed to be facing, and so on.

All in all, I think this is a great program. There’s enough variety in the program so that you don’t get bored. Tony does a great job of keeping you motivated while pointing out how to make the exercises more effective. I’d highly recommend this program to anyone who’s looking for a DVD-based, strength building and conditioning training program.

The price for the P90X program is around $140 (prices will vary so shop around). You can order it from a variety of places including the TV Infomercials, Amazon.com, or the P90X website at BeachBody.com. Again, these are not affiliate links so feel free to visit these sites and take a look at the clips they have from the actual DVD’s. It should help you decide whether or not this program is for you.

So, back to those push-ups!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: p90x, workout, fitness, exercise, tony horton, beachbody, pushup, body weight, weight loss, balanced health

Mini-Vacation Benefits

Hiram — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:31:35 +0000

Spent the past 3 days on a “mini” vacation. You know, the kind of vacation where you don’t go very far, are not too expensive, and don’t last but a couple of days but are just as relaxing, sometimes more so, than a “regular” vacation.

We spend our time at the Flying L Ranch in Bandera, Texas. Located about 50 miles NE of San Antonio, the Flying L is right in the Texas Hill Country. It’s a really nice place that blends a rustic, cowboy feel with comfortable and modern amenities. There are plenty of things to do there, either alone or with the family, including golf, a full water-park, horseback riding, hiking, tennis, wildlife watching, or just sitting under a tree and reading a good book.

All of us live hectic lives of non-stop stress. Do yourself – and your loved ones – a favor and plan a “mini” vacation as soon as possible. It doesn’t have to be more than a day or two. Just make sure you leave your stress at home and relax. It will make a world of difference!

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 5

Hiram — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:38:29 +0000

Mistake Number 5: Not Properly Adjusting Exercise Machines

Most exercise machines are designed to accommodate a variety of body types and provide a wide range of resistance or weight settings. Unfortunately, most people never return the machines to their “neutral” setting when they finish with the machine. Unless you properly adjust the machine before you begin your workout, you won’t get the most benefit from the machine and in some cases, you might actually injure yourself.

Properly adjusting an exercise machine includes paying attention to the following:

1. Making sure the machine is clean and in good working order. Yes, I know that maintenance is “not your job” but you’re the one that’s going to get hurt if the machine is not working properly so you need to give each machine a critical “looking over” before you get on it. In addition to making sure the machine isn’t covered in sweat from the guy that just finished using it, you need to also look for obvious mechanical stuff like jammed, frayed, twisted or broken cables, weight plates that look like they might fall, missing or broken parts, and so on. If you notice something obviously wrong, get the attention of the gym staff so they can put an “Out of Order” sign on the machine.

2. Making sure you know how the machine moves. If you’ve never used a particular machine before, get one of the gym staff to show you how to use it. Make note of how the machine moves – especially note the pinch points, where the weights or bar hit, and so on. You want to make sure that you keep your hands, fingers, and feet away from those areas when you’re on the machine.

3. Adjusting the machine to your body type. Most machines can be adjusted to fit a wide variety of body types, from tall to short. Make sure you adjust the seat and the arm or leg rests to your body size and type. You should be comfortable moving the muscle group that the machine targets through its full range of motion. If you don’t adjust this properly, your workout won’t be very effective or you’ll run the risk of injury. A little time spent adjusting the machine can really make a difference in the quality of your workout.

4. Alignment, alignment, alignment. Make absolutely sure your body is aligned properly on the machine. If you adjusted it properly in the previous step, it should be. There should be no sideways motion or pressure on any joints. Keep in mind that even though the machine might be adjusted properly, your body type might still have problems maintaining proper alignment. For example, when I was significantly overweight, I used to try to exercise on a stationary bike. As soon as I got on the bike and bent over to grab the handle bars, the flab around my gut would drop down between my knees preventing me from keeping my legs aligned properly. The only way for me to pedal the bike was to push my knees out to the side. Instead of pedaling straight up and down, I was literally pedaling out to the side. After a couple of minutes, my knees were killing me. If you can’t physically keep your joints in alignment – for whatever reason – don’t use that particular machine.

5. Exercise or Weight Level. The last thing to check is to make sure the machine is on the proper exercise level or that you have the right amount of weight on the machine. You can injure yourself if you assume that there’s a lot of weight on the machine and there’s actually very little. The same applies if you assume there’s very little weight and there turns out to be a lot. In both cases, you’re not prepared and can easily sprain or strain something. If you’re on a treadmill, you can easily get knocked off your feet if the machine unexpectedly starts off at a fast pace. Make sure you check what exercise or weight level the machine is at and adjust it to where you need it to be.

By keeping these points in mind, you’ll be able to maximize your workouts in addition to reducing your risk of injury.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: exercise, fitness, machines, health, balance, alignment, joints, muscle, workout, exercise mistakes

Getting Back on Track after an Injury

Hiram — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:35:50 +0000

I had just gotten my copy of Tony Horton’s P90X workout program delivered to my door a couple of days ago. Of course, the first thing I did before actually starting the program was pop in the first video in order to check out the routines. The first routine was on Chest and Back exercises and Tony and his crew did a great job of getting me motivated and itching to get started.

Then wouldn’t you know it – I got hurt and had to take a week off from working out. Here’s what happened.

I was doing my usual Kickboxing routine and was on the speed-bag really making it “sing.” I was having a great workout and my muscles were really feeling good. Right next to the speed-bag station was a 4′x4′ square plywood box standing on end. The box is there so that some of our younger students can have something to stand on in order to reach the bag.

Anyway, somehow I must have nudged the box rocking it forward while I was concentrating on hitting the bag. The box slammed down hard and caught my foot right on the big toe. You might as well have hit me with a hammer – the effect was exactly the same.

At first, I couldn’t feel anything but a tingling numbness. It’s like when a bell rings – you hear the initial “gong” but then you continue to hear a “ringing” sound for quite a while afterward. My toe felt like it was “ringing” – and not in a good way!

First priority – find out if anything is broken. I gritted my teeth and tried to flex my toes. OK, I can move my big toe with no problem so no broken bones. That’s a relief. However, the “ringing-numbness” sensation is beginning to wear off to be replaced by a throbbing sensation.

Second priority – get some ice on it and elevate it to reduce swelling. Anytime you have an impact injury, the capillary blood vessels in the affected area usually rupture quickly filling the area with blood. That’s why the area begins to look dark red or purple. In my case, my toe started looking like a cherry tomato. As the blood and fluid leaks into the damaged area, it swells creating pressure on the surrounding tissue and nerves – that’s what caused the “throbbing” sensation. Getting an ice pack on my toe and elevating my foot within 5 minutes of getting hurt really helped to keep the swelling, and the pain, down to a tolerable level.

Common practice is to put an ice pack on the area for 10-15 minutes, and then take it off for 10-15 minutes before putting the ice pack on again. That should keep the area cool enough to reduce swelling without risking frostbite. Follow this schedule as often as you can for the first 24 hours.

Third priority – give it time to heal. Walking was really painful the following day, and the day after that. However, I took things slow and kept my foot elevated as often as I could. Keeping the area protected from further bumps and damage was also important – especially since wearing shoes was painful so I went barefoot as often as I could.

Unfortunately, this part you can’t rush. You’ve got to give your body time to heal. In my case, I was off my feet as much as possible for an entire week.

Fourth priority – keep exercising to the extent you can. Now, that doesn’t mean I sat on the couch and munched potato chips all day. I still worked my upper body by lifting weights 3 days a week. I just couldn’t do any running or jumping since my foot was out of commission. To the extent possible, rest the part that’s injured, keep exercising the part that’s not.

Yes, I know that there are some injuries (like back or stomach injuries) that hurt no matter how you move and in those cases, lay off the exercise completely. However, if you’ve got an arm or shoulder sprain, continue exercising your lower body. Knee or foot injury? Keep doing chest, arms, and back exercises. Use some common sense but keep exercising to the extent you can.

Why try to keep exercising? Two reasons. First, exercising will take your mind off the part that hurts. That’s a huge benefit all by itself. Second, exercise will elevate your heart rate increasing the blood flow to the hurt area. This will (in my opinion) significantly speed recovery time.

My bottom line is that I went from hardly being able to walk to resuming my Kickboxing routine (without the kicks of course) within 7 days of getting injured. The key to getting back on track with your routine after an injury is to keep your priorities straight!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: fitness, injury, recovery, rehabilitation, exercise, health, soreness

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 4

Hiram — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:01:55 +0000

Mistake Number 4: Not Progressing Wisely

Let’s face it – we all want instant or overnight results. We’re like little kids that pick up a dumbbell, do 2 or 3 bicep curls, and then immediately run to the mirror and flex our muscles to see if they’ve gotten any bigger. And of course we’re disappointed when we see that they’re not.

Now as adults, we still fall victim to the same kind of thinking. Of course it doesn’t help to be constantly bombarded by non-stop commercials for fitness products that promise to work “even while you’re sleeping.”

Whatever the reason, it’s natural to want quick results. However, when it comes to physical exercise, trying to hurry the process is a sure recipe for injury.

You risk serious, and perhaps even permanent, injury when you:

Exercise too much. If your fitness routine calls for doing 1 hour of exercise 3 times a week, trying to get a week’s worth of exercise in one 3-hour setting just doesn’t work.
Exercise too hard. Who hasn’t gotten that competitive spirit when you’re with a with a group of friends playing basketball or tennis and then paid the price for playing too hard by not being to get out of bed the next day?
Exercise too often. Trying to get quick results by exercising every day actually slows your progress. Your muscles need sufficient time to rebuild before you work them out again.

In each of these cases, you’re piling on more than your body can handle – and believe me, it’s going to let you know!

Building fitness requires working through a gradual progression of exercise levels, each a little more challenging than the one before, with enough rest in between to let your body rebuild.

The most difficult thing to do when beginning any fitness program is to start slow, but that’s exactly the way to get the quickest results. I know it’s counter-intuitive but you see it in professional sports all the time. You’ll see a star player really pushing himself hard and seemingly making great progress in a short period of time. Then bam! He blows a knee or tears a muscle. Next time you see him he’s on the bench and out for the rest of the season. Some progress!

Fight the urge to push beyond your body’s current limits. You’ll only set yourself back. The quickest way to get into shape is to take things slow and steady.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: fitness, exercise, health, competition, balance

The REAL Secret to Losing Weight

Hiram — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:28:05 +0000

So have you clicked on this article hoping to find some new, never-before-heard-of, recently discovered, “secret-mojo-way” to losing weight that the food industry doesn’t want you to know about?

Sorry. There’s no such thing. Let me say that again so you can stop your frantic searching — there is no secret way to losing weight. All you have to do is eat less, way less as it turns out.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “But I already cut out eating bread with my meals” or “I already skip dessert and I STILL can’t lose weight.” The problem is that you haven’t cut enough.

That lesson was brought home to me in an interesting way. I’m reading a fascinating book titled, “Physics for Future Presidents: the Science Behind the Headlines,” by Richard A. Mueller. In it, this Physics Professor takes much of the hype out of many of the issues that crowd today’s headlines. In a very straightforward way, he tackles issues such as “dirty bombs,” terrorism, energy, climate change, and so on.

It was on his chapter on energy where he’s talking about how much energy a gallon of gasoline contains that I found, of all things, a comparison to the energy content of food. Mueller states that “food is almost as good as gasoline” in terms of energy content. He goes on to say that,

“If you find this high energy content implausible, watch a hummingbird. It uses enormous energy to flap its wings just to sip a tiny amount of nectar. Clearly the energy in the nectar must be more than enough to cover the work being done by those rapidly beatings wings that hold the bird in front of the flower. It is. Food is almost as good as gasoline.”

Because food has such a high energy content, it actually takes very little of it to completely nourish our bodies and fuel our daily activities. The problem is that we’re typically greatly overloading our bodies with way more food than what we actually need. Professor Mueller goes on to say that,

“On the downside, the enormous energy content of food is what makes it so difficult to lose weight without serious dieting. One 12-ounce can of soda contains, typically, 150 food calories. A person can work that off with a half hour of vigorous exercise (running, not jogging; basketball, not baseball; swimming, not golf), provide, of course, that he doesn’t reward himself with a can of soda. The best way to lose weight is to eat less, not to exercise more.“

Make sure you pay particular attention to that last line: “the best way to lose weight is to eat less, not to exercise more.” It’s simple physics. To eliminate 150 calories from your diet, you can do half an hour of hard exercise, or you can simply pass on the soda and drink water instead.

Now, to be clear, note that he didn’t say that you didn’t have to exercise at all or that exercise isn’t important or that it doesn’t help you lose weight. He didn’t say any of these things. All he said is that from a physics standpoint, it’s easier to lose weight by eating less than by exercising more simply because food has such a high energy content.

So let me summarize:

If you want to lose weight, eat less – way less. Although when you first start a diet it feels like you’re dying, your body will actually adjust after a couple of days. Your stomach will get smaller so that small portions will be more filling and your digestive system will get more efficient since you’re not constantly overloading it anymore. If you can make it past the first week, it really does get easier.
Yes, I did say “eat way less.” Just making token cuts like skipping the bread or desert isn’t enough. Not eating bread reduces your total calorie count by what, maybe 250 calories? Big deal. That’s not nearly enough. You need to cut your total caloric intake by 1/2 to 2/3. No, this is not a typo. Cut your meals by one half to two thirds of what you’re eating now. Unless you make really radical changes to your diet, your body simply adjusts to not having bread or not having dessert and you end up weighing the same. IMPORTANT NOTE: radical changes to your diet does put a strain on your body at first so make sure you’re in good health to begin with and that you’ve discussed your plans with a healthcare provider.
Exercise is still important. Physical exercise still plays an important part in your weight-loss plans. You still have to keep your metabolism rate at a high level, you still need to keep your muscles toned, and you still have to encourage your body to burn fat instead of muscle. Exercise does all these things so it’s critical that you work in as much as you can.

How have I used this information? Well, here’s the diet that I try to follow (notice I said “try” because honestly, I do occasionally cheat). I try to follow the “reduced calorie” routine for as many days as I can during the week. It doesn’t always work out that way but I try to follow it as many days as I can. On weekends, I eat whatever I want but obviously try to keep from undoing all my progress.

My “Reduced Calorie” Diet

Breakfast: One 8-oz Protein Shake (I use Syntha-6) with one small banana or 2-3 strawberries mixed in. Calories: about 150

Lunch: One cup (about 8-oz) of soup. I love Campbell’s Chunky Healthy Request (not the “condensed”) soups, especially the Beef Barley. Keep in mind that most cans of soup contain 2 portions so make sure to read the label! Calories: about 150

Dinner: Another protein shake. Calories: about 150

So during the week, I try to get by on around 500 calories per day (more or less). Am I always successful? Of course not. I occasionally throw in a snack in between lunch and dinner that probably adds another 100-150 calories. The key is to make sure that your “snack” is a wise choice like a piece of fruit, some nuts, or a granola bar. It’s critical that you stay away from sugary “empty” calories.

Again, this diet is not for everyone – and not everyone will be able to stay on it for long. Make sure you are in good health before starting ANY diet (or exercise) plan and discuss your plans with your doctor or healthcare provider. That being said, use your head and take things slow and easy at first. Like I said earlier, it does get easier once you get past the first week.

Now 500-600 calories per day isn’t much, but then, I’m a little guy (5′ 10″) so don’t take the actual number of calories as gospel. Simply take what your normal diet is and try to get buy on half. Do that as many times as you can during the week. If that means you do it every other day, that’s fine. If you can only do it on Wednesdays, that’s a good start. The point is to start. Once you do, you’ll find that adding an additional day gets easier and before you know it, you’ll be getting by on much less food.

Make sure you keep up your exercise routine. In fact, when you start getting hungry, go out for a brisk walk instead of reaching for the chips. Drinking lots of water will also help to keep your stomach from grumbling.

So to sum up, “token” dieting doesn’t work since your body simply adapts to the slight changes in food intake. The end result is that you end up weighing exactly the same. To lose weight, you’ve got to make a radical reduction in the amount of food you eat – on the order of 1/2 to 2/3 of what you’re eating now. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise, and above all, use common sense and check with your doctor along the way. I think you’ll be pleased with the results you start getting.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: diet, weight-loss, nutrition, balanced health, fitness, muscle, protein, weight, calories

Optimal Weight Lifting Formula

Hiram — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:12:08 +0000

Go to any gym and you’ll see a wide variety of weight-lifting techniques. There’s the guy that overloads the bar with way too much weight and then only does 1 rep. Then there’s the guy that pumps out the reps so fast his hands are a blur. Some people lift weights quickly, some slowly, some do only a few reps, others a lot more. Which combination is the most effective?

Well, according to several studies, here is the recommended technique to use in order to optimize your weight lifting sessions:

Optimal Number of Reps per Set: 8-15. In order to really work your muscles and promote the release of fat-burning hormones, you should only put enough weight on the bar so that you can perform between 8 and 15 repetitions. Doing less than 8 reps doesn’t release as many fat-burning hormones and if you can do more than 15 reps, you probably don’t have enough weight on the bar.
Optimal Number of Sets per Exercise: 2-4. Performing 2-4 sets (composed of 8-15 reps per set) will keep your hormone at a consistent, fat-burning rate.
Optimal Rest Period Between Sets: 60 seconds. You should rest no more than 60 seconds in between sets. Otherwise, your muscles begin to cool down and heart rate, as well as your level of fat-burning hormones, begins to drop.
Number of Seconds to Lower Your Weights: 3 seconds. Many people simply let gravity take over and let the weight drop down to the starting position. This is dead wrong and can actually lead to serious injury. You may not believe it but in many exercises, your muscles actually work harder on the eccentric, or lowering, phase since they’re working against the force of gravity and trying to decelerate the weight load at the same time. Take a full 3 seconds to slowly lower the weights back down to the starting position in a controlled manner.

Are there exceptions to this “formula?” Of course there are. If you’re working on building strength, you should focus on lifting heavier weights for a smaller number of reps (usually 1-2 sets of 2-3 reps) and increasing the rest period in between. However, for people that are trying to build and tone muscle and lose a few pounds in the process, this combination should get you there in the least amount of time.

So what are you waiting for? Head to the gym and give it a try!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: weight lifting, weights, exercise, fitness, gym, health, weight loss, fat-burning

What Does “Organic” Mean? A Primer.

Hiram — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:57:02 +0000

The term “organic” seems to be one of those “in” things that keeps cropping up on TV food commercials and product labels. But what exactly does “organic” mean?

Contented cows? Butterflies gliding slowly over green fields of clover? Close, but not exactly.

In order to be classified as “organic” by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and be able to display the organic logo, a farm or food processing facility must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agency. The name and address of the certifying agent must be displayed on the information panel.

Under the requirements of the USDA’s National Organic Program, the certifying agencies verify that:

For plant-based foods, they must have been grown:

Without the aid of genetic engineering,
Without the use of ionizing radiation,
Without the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer,
Without pesticides not allowed for organic agriculture (note that this implies that some pesticides ARE allowed for organic agriculture).

For meats, it must have been raised:

Without the use of antibiotics,
Without the use of growth hormones,
By being fed an organic diet (note that “organic diet” is still a pretty broad term).

For food products that contain multiple ingredients, the USDA has 4 distinct categories:

“100% Organic.” In order to be labeled “100% Organic,” all of the ingredients in the food (excluding water and salt) and all of the processing aids used to process the food must be organic. If these conditions are met, the USDA “Organic” logo can be displayed on the package.
“Organic.” A food labeled “Organic” means that the product contains between 95 to 99% organic ingredients. The ingredients that are not organic must have been approved by the USDA’s National Organic Program. If these conditions are met, the product can display the USDA “Organic” logo on the package.
“Made with Organic Ingredients.“ Foods “Made with Organic Ingredients” must contain between 70 to 94% organic ingredients. Up to 3 of these organic ingredients can be listed on the front of the package. However, the package cannot display the USDA’s “Organic” logo.
All others. Food products with less than 70% organic ingredients can only list the organic ingredients on the information panel of the package. They cannot use the USDA’s Organic logo and no other “organic” claims can be made.

Note that the USDA does not regulate or restrict the use of other food labeling claims such as:

“Free Range”
“No Drugs or Growth Hormones Used”
“Hormone-Free”
“Sustainably Harvested”
“Pesticide-Free”

These are marketing or advertising claims and would fall under the “Truth in Advertising Act” administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Although a civil penalty of up to $11,000 can be levied on any person who knowingly sells or labels as “organic” any product that does not comply with National Organic Program requirements, the chances of getting caught, especially for small operators, are pretty slim. The USDA’s National Organic Program is a good step-in-the-right-direction and the majority of the large, brand-name food manufacturers and processors who have national reputations to uphold comply with the program pretty closely. However, for the rest of the food industry, you still need a healthy dose of “Buyer Beware.”

The best way to know you’re purchasing real organic products is to get to know your supplier. If you purchase from local farmers or co-ops, don’t hesitate to ask the hard questions or to even request a visit to the farm(s). Don’t take their claims at face value. Ask to see proof. Reputable dealers will be very up-front and open about their operations. It’s the people that won’t look you in the eye, won’t fully answer your questions and act shady that probably have something to hide.

Although there’s still plenty of controversy about whether or not organically produced food is any better for you nutritionally than commercially prepared food, for many people, the choice is to go with organic whenever they can. Hopefully this article will help make sure that you’re getting what you’re paying for.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: nutrition, organic, diet, food, growth hormone, pesticide, USDA, National Organic Program, NOP

Weekly Roundup for 3/19/10

Hiram — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:48:12 +0000

Here are some recent posts and news on health and fitness published this week:

Knowing the Best Diet to Lose Weight (slideshare.net)
Should Women Drink More to Lose Weight? (jiggaroo.com)
How to Optimize Your Eating and Lose Weight Forever (thebestrawfooddiet.com)
Connie Bennett: Fell Off The Diet Wagon? 10 Tips To Pick Yourself Up (huffingtonpost.com)
Can you suggest affordable, healthy, easy-to-fix meals? (cnn.com)
The Simple Guide to Optimal Health & Fitness (zenhabits.net)

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 3

Hiram — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:11:25 +0000

Mistake Number 3: Bad Form

One of the biggest and most frequent mistakes I see in the gym is to use bad form when performing an exercise. Bad form at its worst can lead to strains, sprains, or even more serious and sometimes permanent, injuries. At its least, it renders your exercise ineffective.

Some of the more common examples of bad form usually fall into two categories: (1) doing the wrong exercise and (2), doing the exercise wrong.

Doing the Wrong Exercise

Some people simply should not be doing certain types of exercises. An exercise routine should be matched to a person’s existing condition, their physical body type, and their size and weight. Some people just don’t have the physical range of motion or the muscle structure to benefit from certain types of exercises.

Others may be too big, too short, or too heavy to make proper use of the exercise machines, despite the fact that most machines can be adjusted within a wide range of settings.

I’ll give you a personal example. Years ago, I carried quite a bit more weight in my midsection resulting in a bit of a “beer belly” (even though I don’t drink beer). What did I do? Why run to the gym and jump on the LifeCycle (a stationary bike). I cycled for about an hour before going home feeling pretty good about all the calories I had burned. The next day I could hardly walk.

What happened? Well, I was pretty overweight and most of that weight was in my midsection. As soon as I got on the bike and leaned forward to grab the handlebars, all that weight kind of sagged down between my thighs. In fact, the only way to make room for my sagging belly was to push my knees out to the side — out of alignment, in other words. After an hour of cycling, my knee joints had taken a beating. It’s a wonder they weren’t damaged seriously.

In another case, I saw an instructor put a brand new student, who also smoked, through a pretty intense cardio routine. The new student almost passed out before puking their guts out. The instructor should have modified the routine to better fit the current condition of the new student (who was never seen again, by the way) instead of trying to “force-fit” the student into a cookie-cutter routine.

The point is that there are some exercises, and some exercise machines, that certain types of people shouldn’t be doing. Make sure that your exercise routine is matched to your current physical condition and your body type as well as your height and current weight.

Doing the Exercise Wrong

Most cases of bad form are, by far, people doing an exercise incorrectly. It should be obvious that doing the exercise wrong can lead to physical injury. Not so obvious is that most of your efforts are ineffectual, and that’s a real shame. You only have so much time to get to the gym so why would waste time and energy going through motions that don’t actually work your muscles correctly?

Performing an exercise incorrectly usually include the following:

Poor or Improper Alignment. In most exercises, especially those involving weights, the large muscles of the body are designed to move in more-or-less straight lines. This is what aligns the entire muscle against the load it’s trying to move. Using bad form or alignment subjects a section of the muscle to an uneven amount of force increasing the chances that the muscle will strain or tear at that point. Before you lift any kind of weight, do a quick mental check to make sure every part of your body is lined up properly.
Using Too Much Weight. This is more of a “guy thing.” Trying to lift too much weight before your body is conditioned for it can put more force on muscles and joints than they’re capable of handling. Using too much weight also leads to the last item.
Lack of Controlled Movement. If you’re trying to lift too much weight, you’re not going to be able to control the movement of your muscles through the full range of the exercise. As a result, one of two things will happen: you’ll either “sling the weight” using momentum instead of your muscles to press or push the weights ups, or you’ll shorten your movement by not extending all the way and thereby fail to execute a full rep. In both cases, you’re not working your muscles completely or effectively.

In all cases, if any exercise or exercise movement doesn’t feel comfortable, by all means stop doing it and get some help. Most gyms have trainers on staff that will be happy to show you how to use an exercise machine properly or that can help design an effective exercise routine. Telling them where it hurts or what feels uncomfortable will usually help them come up with modifications to the exercise or adjustments to the machine that you can make in order to better accommodate your specific condition or body type.

Get the most out of your time at the gym by making sure that you’re using good form – doing the right exercise and doing the exercise right.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: form, weight lifting, weight machines, alignment, biomechanics, posture, muscle strain, injury, exercise, fitness

How to Break Any Habit in 30 Days

Hiram — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:16:03 +0000

As many of you know, I’ve battled trying to quit drinking soft drinks for years. No matter how often I’ve quit (and it’s been often), I always found myself sneaking a soda here and there and before I knew it, I was back to 2-3 per day.

I finally hit upon a method that enabled me to finally break the habit for good. You can use this method for any “bad” habit you want to get rid of (like reducing your caffeine or sugar intake) or for any “good” habit you want to make permanent (like exercising).

Here’s how it works:

First, raid your piggy-bank and get a handful of coins (or get a roll of coins from your bank). It really doesn’t matter if they’re nickels, dimes, or quarters. You’ll need at least 30 of them. As you can see from the picture, I went with dimes so I got $3.00 worth.

Second, get yourself some kind of empty container to put them in. Since I was trying to quit drinking soft drinks, it was natural for me to use an empty soda bottle. This was pretty symbolic of the habit I was trying to break. It also helps if the container is clear so you can gauge your progress by seeing the coins inside.

Third, number the first couple of coins. I used a Magic-Marker to number the coins in sequence. There’s no need to number all 30 at once since you’ll have a hard time finding the coin with the next number once you put them all together. I’d usually number 2 or 3 at a time and had them sitting on my dresser ready for use.

Fourth, get started working on your habit. For each complete day that you successfully work on what you want to do (either stopping a bad behavior or increasing a good behavior), drop a coin in your container. In my case, each day that I went without drinking any kind of soda, I’d drop a numbered coin in my “symbolic” container. Each coin in your container represents a successful day where you achieved your goal.

Fifth, celebrate each day of victory. In the beginning, I really struggled to make it through the entire day without a soft drink. Drinking a Dr. Pepper or a Mr. Pibb was my daily afternoon ritual (I don’t drink coffee – I always drank soft drinks). However, I really wanted to shed the 200-300 empty calories per day these drinks represented, not to mention the “high fructose corn syrup” they were pumping into my body. So each day that I completed, I dropped in my numbered coin, shook the coins up and down to make them rattle, stared at the container and said, “That’s another day without a soft drink. You don’t have control over me any more!” Make sure you celebrate each time you drop in a numbered coin.

Sixth, no backsliding. If you backslide, and most of us do at some point or another, start over. Take your container and hold it up so you can see it clearly. Take a close look at all the coins inside representing your progress. Now dump out all the coins and start over. If you backslide, go back and find coin #1 and start over. There’s no need to beat yourself up over “falling off the wagon.” Believe me, hearing all your progress and hard work come rattling out of the container and spill out on the table top is painful enough — but it will also make you more determined. So if you backslide, simply resolve to go a little bit further next time and start again.

Seventh, continue until you have at least 30 coins in your container. It takes at least 30 days of consistently doing something before it becomes a habit that you no longer have to think about. To break an existing habit, it takes at least 30 days of not doing it in order to break its hold on you. Make sure you continue this ritual every single day until at least 30 coins are in your container.

Finally, “cash in.” Once you’ve either established a good habit or broken a bad one, take your “winnings” out of your container and buy yourself something to celebrate your victory. Whether you buy something large or small doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you experience that wonderful feeling that comes from having “gone the distance.” You’ve earned it and believe me, listening to those coins jingle out of the container after 30 days is going to sound like a jackpot in Las Vegas! Does this method work using marbles or pebbles instead of coins? Sure it does – but you can’t spend marbles or pebbles!

Here are a couple of other tips that will help you break a bad habit:

Once you quit, quit for good. My failing was that I was always able to convince myself that I could “have just one” or that “just one won’t hurt.” That’s total BS. There’s no such thing as “just one” and yes, just having one really does hurt. I had to keep saying “I do NOT drink soda” and then keep working and dropping coins into my container until that statement really became true. Afterward, you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been tempted. However, every time I am, the phrase “I do NOT drink soda” automatically pops into my head and I’m able to move on past the soda dispensers and grab a bottle of water instead.
Don’t substitute. I used to substitute drinking Sprite or 7Up for Dr. Pepper. Although Spite and 7Up don’t have the caffeine, they have just as many empty calories. Go back to tip # 1. If you’re going to quit, quit for good. I know this goes against most advice but I didn’t want a “step-down” approach and using substitutes had never worked for me before. Besides, I always saw it as substituting one bad habit for another. Even though the substitute might be “less bad” than the original habit, it was still bad. If you’re going to quit something, get yourself determined to quit it completely and for good.
Use rituals. It sounds corny but I turned breaking my soda habit into an epic battle between good and evil, a fight between me and that empty soda bottle in the picture. I carried that bottle in my car for over a month stuck down between the seat and the door so that it poked me in the butt every time I got in or out. I turned it into a constant reminder that I was in a real fight for my health. Each time I dropped in a coin and heard it clink, I felt like I was striking another blow for my freedom. Before I’d get out of my car at the end of the day, I’d stare at the Mr. Pibb label and literally say “You don’t have control over me anymore” out loud. I’d shake the bottle of coins up and down in order to hear how full it was. More and more it represented my increasing success and momentum. I literally got my entire body into the ritual by using visual cues, sounds, and body movements to reinforce my determination.

Got a habit you’re trying to break? Whether it’s sugar, caffeine, or anything else, give this method a try. Make it fun. Get all your senses involved each time you drop in a coin. Before you know it, you’ll be at coin # 30 and your bad habit will be history!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: soda, coke, soft drinks, sugar, caffeine, habit, ritual, Mr. Pibb

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 2

Hiram — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:46:11 +0000

Mistake Number 2: Unbalanced Strength Training Programs

An “unbalanced strength training program” is a weight or resistance training program that concentrates on only 1 or 2 areas of the body and ignores the rest. It’s only natural, I guess, that most people tend to focus their training on the muscles that they think will make them look younger, leaner, stronger, or sexier. These muscles most often include the biceps, abs, and legs.

Do a quick Internet search and you’ll find all kinds of “miracle-get-fit-quick” programs that supposedly “target” these specific areas. Take a close look around the gym and you’ll find people spending the majority of their time primarily working these muscles - guys trying to do 200-pound-bicep-curls and women working nothing but the leg-press and the “butt-buster.”

The results, like the guy in the picture, can sometimes look unnatural and downright freaky. However, how things look is pretty subjective (some people think looking like Popeye is cool – whatever) so let’s put looks aside for a moment and only talk about whole body health effects.

The muscles of your body are designed to work in unison, with each muscle playing an important part of whatever motion you’re engaged in. Whether it’s shooting hoops or lifting weights, for any type of movement, your muscles create the movement together by playing one or more of the following roles:

Agonist or “Prime Mover”: This is the muscle that acts directly to bring about a desired movement through contraction. If you’re performing a dumbbell bench press, for example, the agonist is the Pectoralis Major (or “pecs”) which contract (shorten) to raise the arms as you press the weights upward.
Synergist or “Assistant Mover”: As the name implies, this is the muscle (or muscles) that indirectly assists in creating the desired movement. In the dumbbell bench press, the synergist is the Anterior Deltoid (or “front delt”).
Antagonist: The antagonist is the opposite partner of the agonist. It’s job is to return the limb to the starting position by creating a force that’s directly opposite to the Prime Mover. In our bench press example, the antagonist is the Posterior Deltoid (“rear delt”).
Stabilizer: This muscle (or muscles) are responsible for stabilizing and supporting the muscle next to it. In a dumbbell bench press, the stabilizers are the Rotator Cuff muscles.
Neutralizer: Similar to the stabilizer, the neutralizer is a muscle (or muscles) responsible for eliminating or canceling out an undesired movement. In our example, the Rotator Cuff muscles also act as neutralizers acting to cancel out any sideways or unstable movement as the arms press up.

Developing one muscle to the exclusion of the other creates an imbalance between that muscle and it’s paired antagonist frequently leading to injury. For example, overdeveloping the pecs by doing dumbbell bench presses all day long can lead to muscle stain or tearing of the Posterior Deltoid, the antagonist muscle.

Why does that happen? Interesting story that most people don’t consider. When you’re doing a bench press, for example, most people are surprised to learn that the Posterior Deltoid is the muscle most susceptible to injury, not the Pecs. Why is that? Because when you press up (using the Pecs), you’re lifting a weight against gravity and your movement tends to be slow, measured, and controlled. However, when you go back to the start position, most people tend to simply let the weights drop back down to chest level without taking into account that gravity is now pulling in the same direction as the weights. Unless you’re careful, the movement back down tends to be faster, less controlled, and end with an abrupt stop. That puts a lot of strain on the Rear Delts. If you’re going to get injured doing this exercise, that’s where it’s going to happen.

Same scenario applies to your legs. If you spend enough time in a gym, you might have heard the advice, “strengthen the glutes and stretch the quads.” The reason is that most people are “quad dominant.” In other words, their quads are already much stronger than their glutes making it much easier to strain or tear the glutes when they try to develop their quads even further. If you’ve ever injured your legs doing a leg press, it’s almost always on the return when your glutes are straining to slow the weights quickly.

The key to building a stronger body is to make sure that your weight or resistance training program is balanced and incorporates ALL major muscles groups, not just the “sexy” ones. That means following a workout that includes the chest, the back (upper and lower) and shoulders, the arms (biceps, forearms, and hands), the core (upper and lower abs, obliques), as well as your legs and hips. It’s important to strengthen not only the big muscles, but the supporting ones as well in order to prevent injuries.

The end result is that you’ll not only look and feel better, you’ll move better with increased coordination and balance. Isn’t that why you work out in the first place?

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: fitness, weight lifting, exercise, balanced health, bench press, dumbbell, ACE, muscle, strength training, resistance training

Top 10 Exercise Mistakes: Number 1

Hiram — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:44:46 +0000

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) posted an article on their site called “Top 10 Mistakes People Make in the Gym.” I wanted to turn that list into a series of articles providing more information on each mistake. Here is the first of a series of 10 posts on “Exercise Mistakes.”

Mistake Number 1: The All or Nothing Approach

Most of us think of exercise as an event, something to be planned and scheduled like a lunch meeting. And like a lunch meeting, if something comes up or if we run late, we cancel and reschedule. In other words, we tend to take an “all or nothing” approach to exercise – we either do it (we “made” the appointment), or we don’t (we “cancel” the appointment).

I know, I know. It’s really hard NOT to think of exercise as an event. You DO have to prepare for it. You’ve got to pack your gym bag making sure you’ve got clean socks, shorts, a towel, and so on. You’ve got to change into your exercise “uniform” and make sure your MP3 player is loaded with your latest “power song.” You’ve got to put on the weight lifting gloves or the wrist and head bands. Geez, there’s a lot of stuff you’ve got to do before you exercise! You can’t just run out and, what, start running? (Remember the scene in Forest Gump when he’s sitting on his porch and decides to just get up and run? Yeah, I know. We can’t do that.)

It’s easy to see why so many of us skip exercise altogether just because we can’t find a clean pair of gym socks (you know the ones, the special moisture-wicking, all natural organic fiber, $30 a pair, “makes my feet feel happy” pair). If you put so much effort into planning to exercise, you’re much more likely to forget the whole thing if any part of the planning process goes wrong.

Another problem with seeing exercise as an event is that we want to impose a start time and an end time. We want to look at our calendar and see “Exercise 5:30 to 6:30 pm.” We don’t want to think about exercise until 5:30 and we don’t want to think about exercise after 6:30. We want to treat it like a dentist appointment – something we just have to do and get over as quickly as possible. After all, you’ve got to pack all your stuff (hassle), change into your workout clothes (hassle), exercise, then shower (hassle), change into your street clothes (hassle), and then pack up all your wet workout clothes and rush home (hassle, hassle, hassle).

Little wonder we look for reasons to skip exercising. And take it from me (a Master Excuse Maker), perfectly legitimate excuses, I mean reasons, are not hard to find.

But exercise is not an all-or-nothing event. Exercise can be incorporated into just about any activity and research has shown that as little as 10 minutes of exercise can provide important health benefits. It can be as simple as taking the stairs at the office or at the mall.

Other suggestions can include:

Look for ways to incorporate exercise into your daily activities. Walking or biking to nearby places instead of driving, for example, or actually walking the dog instead of simply letting them run out the back door.
Break up your “all-out-hard-core-sweat-a-gallon” workout session into smaller, more frequent sessions throughout the day. Lunges or squats can be done anytime, and anywhere, and don’t require any equipment. Dropping down behind your desk and doing 10 slow-and-easy push-ups will still strengthen your arms but won’t require your usual jacuzzi-sauna-shower after-workout ritual.
Become more active in general. Stay on your feet when taking phone calls or when reading paperwork. Walk down the hall to talk to a coworker instead of using the phone or email. Use resistance bands while you’re watching TV. In short, stay off your butt as much as possible throughout the day.
Change your attitude. Exercise is not an event, it’s a lifestyle. It’s something that’s just part of you, not something you plan or schedule.

Nike has the right idea – Just Do It! Forget the all-or-nothing attitude. If something comes up and you can’t exercise for an hour like you had planned, go ahead and exercise in whatever time you have available. Then find 10 or 15 minutes later on and exercise some more.

If you adopt the attitude that exercise is something you do rather than something you plan, you’ll soon find yourself in great shape.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: exercise, fitness, balanced health, attitude, gym, weight

The Purpose of Dogs

Hiram — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:27:51 +0000

A friend of mine sent me one of those office emails that have been forwarded so many times, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find the original message. At first I thought it was another of those joke emails that he thinks are so funny. But this one was different.

This one was about the relationship that we form with our pets and how through the unconditional love and loyalty they give us, we become better people.

I thought I’d share it with you.

A Dog’s Purpose (from a 6-year-old)

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ”I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.

He said, ”People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The Six-year-old continued, ”Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

What a great story. Would that we all had the same basic nature as dogs – that we could “love everybody and be nice.” That we could assume the best in people instead of the worst. That we could face each new day with unbridled joy and openly express our happiness to be around those we care most about. That we could totally live for today instead of hoping for some “tomorrow” that might never come. What kind of world would that be?

Hiram

Technorati Tags: dogs, purpose, life, meaning, joy, optimism, love, happiness, death

Review of the USDA “Food Atlas”

Hiram — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:31:54 +0000

The US Department of Agriculture has launched a new website called “Your Food Environment Atlas” that provides users with the ability to map a number of USDA statistics. It’s an excellent way to visualize some of the data.

According to the site,

The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors:

Food Choices—Indicators of the community’s access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to a grocery store; number of foodstores and restaurants; expenditures on fast foods; food and nutrition assistance program participation; quantities of foods eaten; food prices; food taxes; and availability of local foods

Health and Well-Being—Indicators of the community’s success in maintaining healthy diets, such as: food insecurity; diabetes and obesity rates; and physical activity levels

Community Characteristics—Indicators of community characteristics that might influence the food environment, such as: demographic composition; income and poverty; population loss; metro-nonmetro status; natural amenities; and recreation and fitness centers

The Atlas currently includes 90 indicators of the food environment. The year and geographic level of the indicators vary to better accommodate data from a variety of sources. Some data are from the last Census of Population in 2000 while others are as recent as 2009. Some are at the county level while others are at the State or regional level. The most recent county-level data are used whenever possible.

So what can you do with this? Well, it’s kind of neat to pay around with the maps to see where your community rates compared to the rest of your state, or even compared to other states.

For example, when I map out the Adult Obesity Rate, I can quickly see that my friends in Mississippi and Alabama don’t fare too well with significant portions of both states having obesity rates as high as 35-43% of the population.

Click on the Adult Diabetes rate, and you get pretty much the same distribution: MS and AL lead the country. If I look at “Gal per capita of soft drinks,” the same states show up along with TN and KY.

The maps also tell me that only 60% of adults in MS, AL, TN, and KY are meeting the activity guidelines for adults, the lowest statistical category listed.

Are you getting the picture? The data creates a pretty clear link between a lack of physical activity and too much junk food with adult obesity and diabetes. You can also throw in poverty rates, median household incomes, as well as a number of other interesting statistics.

But is it Useful?

Although I had fun clicking on the various statistics and seeing how the map changed, I really don’t see myself ever going back to the site. The site seems to be designed more for people involved with developing or monitoring state-wide or national government policies instead of the average individual trying to figure out how to make better food choices.

Still, I’m a sucker for technology so I just had to give it a whirl! Try it for yourself at the USDA Food Atlas.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: usda, food, atlas, map, statistical, statistics, data

Obesity vs Smoking: Obesity Pulls Ahead

Hiram — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:21:52 +0000

Well, it appears to be official: Obesity has edged out smoking in terms of health hazards. According to a study performed by Columbia University and the City College of New York and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, being obese, defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as having a Body Mass Index or BMI of 30 or more (not hard to achieve in today’s fast-food oriented society), significantly increases your chances of having a declining quality of life the longer you remain so.

The study found that “obesity had a larger effect on disease, while smoking had a greater impact on deaths.” Translation? Being obese leaves you wide open to a large number of diseases such as heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, kidney disease, degenerative joint diseases, and on and on. Smoking, on the other hand, tends to lead to a narrower group of diseases, mainly forms of cancer.

The bottom line is that your future quality of life, your ability to move around and do what you want, will be (not “can be” but “will be”) significantly reduced if you’re obese or if you’re a smoker. God help if you’re both because you’ve got a “double whammy” working against you.

From 1993 to 2008, the study noted, the number of adult smokers in America DEcreased 18.5%, thanks to the many anti-smoking campaigns and quit-smoking programs and treatments that have been implemented over that same time period. However, the proportion of Americans in the obese category over the same number of years INcreased by 85%! That’s a huge (no pun intended) increase.

You want to know why healthcare in this country is so expensive? There’s a big part of it right there – the treatment of obesity-related diseases. Remember the study conclusion that “obesity had a larger effect on disease?” This tells you that obesity-related diseases tend to put you in the hospital for much longer periods of time and the treatments are much longer in duration.

But even if you forget the cost to our healthcare system (such as it is) to being treated for weight-related Type 2 diabetes, for example, for the rest of your life, imagine what that does to your lifestyle. Imagine what having to go for treatments or having to take injections every couple of days does to your ability to enjoy life.

I watched my late uncle’s weight-related diabetes destroy his kidneys, and eventually take his life, but not before doctors had to amputate his feet and he had to undergo dialysis every 3 days. His life had very little “quality” at the end.

By the way, according to the US Center for Disease Control (CDC):

The estimated economic cost of diabetes in 2007 was $174 billion. Of this amount, $116 billion was due to direct medical costs and $58 billion due to indirect costs such as lost workdays, restricted activity, and disability due to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes incur average expenditures of $11,744 per year, of which $6,649 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures that are approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes. Approximately $1 of $5 health care dollars in the United States is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, while approximately $1 of $10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes.

It’s been estimated that obesity can easily shorten your expected life span by 9 months or more. That’s almost an entire year. But that’s just your “expected life span.” Being obese can reduce your quality of life to a point that living longer doesn’t seem like a good idea anyway.

Did you get that last sentence? Did it sink in? Being overweight can make you so disease-ridden that you don’t care whether you live any longer or not. How sad is that? Can you imagine what that does to your loved ones?

Well, here’s the good part. The good news is that you can change all of that. If you smoke, you can quit. If you’re obese, you can lose the weight. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick but you can do it. All you have to do in order to start is to decide you need to change, and then take each day an hour at a time.

The improved quality of life you receive will be well worth the effort. You’ll not only benefit yourself, think of how it will affect your entire family. They’ll see you improving and they’ll want to improve as well. You’ll all end up supporting each other, step by step.

Take the first step right now. Decide to change your life. It will be the best decision you make.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: obesity, smoking, quit, overweight, diabetes, nih, cdc, healthcare, disease, quality of life, bmi

Productivity News

Hiram — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:20:16 +0000

I’m always on the lookout for ways to may myself more productive. Unfortunately, I usually spend more time on new software and techniques than I do actually working on what I’m supposed to be working on!

I came across an excellent article that both inspired me to excel as well as gave me some solid tips on how to be more productive.

Be sure to check out “Getting More Done in Less Time” by Troy White at The Total Package website.

Hiram

No related posts found.

Muscle Supplement News

Hiram — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:03:31 +0000

Seems like all of a sudden, I’ve been getting a lot of emails about supplements – all kinds:

Muscle-building supplements
Pre-workout supplements
Post-workout supplements
Weight-loss supplements
Fat-burning supplements
Endurance supplements
Strength supplements
etc, etc, etc

You name it, and there’s probably a supplement out there designed to improve your performance. Although I’m not a big fan myself, you can’t deny that they do work in a wide variety of situations.

Are they right for you? Here are some links to articles that can help you decide:

Which supplements really work? An interactive guide to evidence (boingboing.net)
Discount Nutritional Supplements Is it Worth Buying? (after50health.com)
Supplements for Everything (pilatesandreikiinparadise.com)
‘Whole Food’ Vitamins Are a Cool Idea, But Proof of Benefit Is Lacking (usnews.com)
Selenium Supplements May Pose Heart Risk (nlm.nih.gov)
What you need to know about multivitamins (cnn.com)

If you do decide to use supplements, READ AND FOLLOW THE LABEL, especially the parts about how much to take and how often to take it. Also be careful about using different types of supplements since some of the ingredients in one supplement can cause unwanted side-effects when combined with an ingredient from another supplement.

In other words, purchase supplements from a reputable supplier, know what you’re getting, and use them responsibly.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Too Soon Gone

Hiram — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:55:18 +0000

I got word of two deaths this weekend. One was a Great-Grandmother that had lived a long and full life and the other was a young father just starting to live his. One lost a long battle with cancer, the other died in a hunting accident.

In both cases, the message that was brought home to me is that no matter how long or how short our time on earth is, whenever that time is up, it’s always too soon.

One of my friends is a firefighter and he was telling me of an accident scene that he had responded to that morning very near my house. Firefighters are frequently called out to car accidents in my city to either help extract the occupants from the tangled metal car frames or to prevent any leaking gasoline from igniting.

He described a scene in which a car with two young women had pulled out of an intersection only to be “T-Boned” by another car that had run a red light and was traveling at a high rate of speed. The two women were killed instantly.

Knowing the exact intersection he was talking about, I made it a point to stop there on my way home from work that same afternoon. I paused and purposely tried to make myself open and receptive to whatever might come up. Know what the first thing I felt was?

Now, before I go on, let me emphasize that I am not “paranormal” or “psychic” or anything like that, and no, I don’t own a Ouija Board. Heck, I can’t even watch “Ghost Whisperer” on TV without rolling my eyes. However, I do believe that some type of energy animates our bodies and that when we die, that energy is not destroyed. Some people call that “energy” a soul. Regardless, there is some part of us that lives on and sometimes that “essence” or “energy” lingers for a while.

The first thing I felt when I paused at the corner where those two women had been killed was a deep felling of regret. It was a regret of all the things they had planned to do but that now would never happen. Regret of all the things that they really wanted to tell people but that now would be left unsaid. Regret that their time on earth was too soon gone.

No, it wasn’t anything “spooky” nor did I get a cold, clammy feeling down the back of my neck. It was just an overwhelming feeling of regret. I’m sure that if anyone had paused at that corner for just a second, they would have felt it too.

The lessons from all of this should be pretty plain:

First, none of us live forever. Our time on this earth is limited. This fact is not something to be denied or ignored. Actually, it should be embraced – and used to spur us on to accomplish those things we always dreamed of.
Second, live your life so there are no regrets at the end of it. That means doing the things you want to do TODAY instead of constantly putting them off. That means telling people how you really feel about them TODAY instead of waiting for “just the right moment.” It means having your “affairs in order,” all of them – physical ones, emotional ones, relationships, and religious ones. That means saying “I’m sorry” as well as “I love you.”
Appreciate the moment. There is nothing else. You can’t relive yesterday. You can’t live tomorrow. You can only experience life today, right now, in this exact moment. Make the most of it.

None of us know when our time here will be over. All we know for sure is that it will be over. Use that knowledge to motivate you to live each day to the fullest. In the words of Tim McGraw, learn to “live like you were dyin’.”

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: funeral, death, regret, grief, life, motivation, accident

Healthy Recipies from the Dallas News

Hiram — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:06:27 +0000

The Dallas Morning News has a section of their online paper with an entire list of healthy – not to mention delicious – recipes. Among the recipes, you’ll find:

Amaretto Apple Crisp
Apple Harvest Oatmeal
Apricot Port Chops
Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops with Blueberry Wine Sauce

The last two alone should stir your interest!

These recipes are free although you will be requested to set up an account, which is also free.

So what are you waiting for? Here’s the link again: www.dallasnews.com/healthyrecipes.

Hiram

Expressing Gratitude

Hiram — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:48:37 +0000

I was browsing some photos looking for something different to put on my iPhone wallpaper when I came across one with an interesting quote by William Arthur Ward. It was a picture of someone wrapping a gift and it said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it.”

How true. How many of us are really grateful for the people in our lives, for all the things they do, for all the ways they care for us and about us – and yet, we never let them know? How many of us have a mental “closet” filled with carefully wrapped gifts that we have never given to those we care most about?

“Well, my loved ones KNOW I appreciate them,” is what many people say. But is that really the case? How can your loved ones possibly know for sure how you really feel unless you specifically tell them – unless you actually give them the gift of gratitude?

Make it a pledge that anytime you feel gratitude, you’ll express it right then and there. You don’t have to make a big production about it. Just a simple “thank you” will suffice. This can include times like:

Your spouse brings you a cup of coffee, or is just there for you when you’re feeling low.
A co-worker holds the door or the elevator for you.
A complete stranger lets you merge in front of them when they could have easily cut you off.
You wake up feeling like it’s great to be alive.
You see a rainbow or a beautiful sunset.

Or any one of a million things that can fill your entire being with a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness. Go ahead and actually say the words, “thank you.” Say it to the people around you, say it to the world, say it to God – just say it. You’ll be amazed at how good it makes you feel as well as how it will change your outlook on life. You’ll also be amazed at how differently people perceive you.

It’s a simple fact that the more you express gratitude, the more things to be grateful about will naturally come into your life. Give it try and see if I’m not right.

Meister Eckhart, a medieval German philosopher said that, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

Amen.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: spiritual, gratitude, thankfulness, philosophy, life, attitude, mental health, balance

How Fast You Gonna Get Up?

Hiram — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:41:35 +0000

Is it just me or has anyone else who’s been watching the Olympics been hit with this sudden urge to hit the gym and workout all day? Doesn’t watching all these athletes who are the best in the world at what they do just make you even more conscious of that extra flab around your midsection?

Add to the mix the Nike commercials of people falling, tripping, hurting, and getting beat down with the song in the background asking, “How fast you gonna get up?” It makes me want to jump up and shout, “As fast as I can. As many times as it takes to be the best!” And then of course, the Nike logo flashes on the screen telling me to “Just Do It.”

Boy, how much motivation can one guy take? Especially a middle-aged one like me? Still, it makes me want to head to the gym and work out like an Olympian!

Well, hold on there Bucky. The problem with watching experts make some sport look easy is that we tend to convince ourselves that it IS easy – that is until we try it. That’s when we find out how much skill it really takes – and how out of shape we really are.

So before you seriously hurt yourself, take a deep breath and honestly evaluate where you currently are on a fitness scale with 1 being a couch potato and 10 being an Olympian. You’re not going to go from a 1 to a 10 in one workout.

OK, so you’ve been beat down right off the bat. But as the Nike commercial asks, how many times are you going to get up? Answer? As many times as it takes to go from a 1 to a 2 …. and then from a 2 to a 3.

It’s OK to see yourself up there at the top of the ski slope with all the other guys and gals that have less than 5% body fat. It’s OK to use that motivation to drive your fitness plan forward through one more day. If you keep at it, you might actually get there some day.

But whether you get there or not is not really important. The important thing is how you answer the question, “How many times are you going to get up?”

…and then as the Nike commercial says, “Just do it.”

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: Olympics, nike, commercial, sports, fitness, health, workout, exercise, motivation

Dangers of Acetaminophen Overdose

Hiram — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:06:26 +0000

Acetaminophen, the aspirin-free pain reliever found in many medications such as Tylenol, has been around for so long, you might assume that it’s one of the safest pain relievers on the market – and when used properly, it is. However, acetaminophen is also the leading cause of acute liver failure in the US, a statistic that emphasizes the dangers of acetaminophen overdose.

Now, no one purposely overdoses on this drug. So how does it happen? It seems that in most cases, over-dosage happens in one of two ways:

First, Acetaminophen appears to have become a victim of its own success. It’s so effective, it’s being put into all kinds of medications – and there’s the problem. If you take several different kinds of medications when treating flu symptoms, for example, chances are that several of them contain acetaminophen making easy to exceed the daily recommended dosage.

Another reason might be acetaminophen’s reputation for safety. This drug has been around for so long that most of us take it for granted. In fact, most of us don’t even consider it a “drug.” It’s just something you reach for when you’ve got a headache, or a muscle sprain. As a result, many Americans disregard the dosage recommendations thinking that “if 2 are good, then 4 are even better.”

The potential for liver damage has become so serious that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended lowering the maximum dosage amounts last June. Until those recommendations get implemented, here’s what you can do to prevent inadvertently taking too much acetaminophen:

Try natural alternatives first. Before you reach for that bottle of Tylenol or Excedrin, ask yourself whether or not there might be natural, non-drug alternatives you can try first. For example, a cup of hot tea and some soft music might soothe away that tension headache you brought home from work. Heating a damp towel in the microwave and placing it on your knee or shoulder might relieve the soreness to a point you realize you don’t need the drugs. Unless your doctor has specifically recommended taking acetaminophen, try some non-drug alternatives before automatically heading for the medicine cabinet.
Do not increase dosage amounts. If the label says to take 2 tablets, take only 2. Taking more than the recommended amount can overload and possibly damage your organs, especially your liver, so make sure you do not take more than the recommended dose.
Do not exceed maximum daily amounts on the label. It takes a while for your liver to process this drug so even taking just a little more than the maximum dose for a few days can be toxic. So read the label, then read the label again and make sure you don’t take more than the recommended daily amount.
Identify acetaminophen in other medications. Acetaminophen is put into many over-the-counter pain medications, including those sold for cold and flu symptoms, back and muscle aches, sinus headaches, menstrual aches, and fever relief. Make sure you check the labels of ALL the medications and pain-relievers you’re taking.
Do not mix pain relievers. If you’ve reached the maximum daily allowance of Tylenol and are still hurting, do not switch over to Ibuprofen (ie: Advil) or some other type of pain-reliever. All of these pain-relievers place a strain on your kidneys and liver. Mixing them can not only increase that strain, it can create other dangerous side-effects.

Acetaminophen is still an effective pain-relieve that belongs in most homes. However, it’s reputation for safety and it’s addition to many other medications makes it particularly easy to exceed the recommended daily maximum amount. So make sure you read the labels of everything you’re taking, or giving to family members, and don’t hesitate to ask a healthcare professional if you’ve got questions or concerns.

Hiram
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: acetaminophen, tylenol, excedrin, aspirin, liver damage, pain reliever, soreness, headache, overdose

Stop Eating Plastic

Hiram — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:28:04 +0000

Plastic containers have become so much a part of our lives that it’s hard to imagine a world without them. We store food in them, we cook in them, we eat from them. And therein lies the problem.

According to recent studies, 93% of Americans – let me say that again so you don’t miss the percentage – 93%, that’s almost every one of us, has detectable levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in our bodies. 93%! Isn’t that insane? Doesn’t that statistic simply blow you away? It does me.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, over 75% of Americans have detectable levels of phthalates in their urine.

Bisphenol A? Phthalates? Where does that stuff come from? Plastics.

Now before you get too upset, understand that “detectable levels” does not necessarily mean that you’ve got a toxic dose, or that you’re going to get cancer, or anything like that. “Detectable Levels” are the lowest amounts of a chemical that an analytical instrument can reliably detect. These levels are probably way below what the FDA says is permissible. Probably. However, one thing I do know is that “detectable levels” are not zero, and zero amount is what I’d prefer to have.

So how does this stuff get into our bodies? Primarily from the food and beverage containers that have become so much a part of our lives. Everything from the plastic soda containers you buy at the grocery store to the PVC water pipes in your home. Plastics are everywhere – and in constant contact with our foods and beverages. Little wonder some of the chemicals in the plastics end up in our bodies.

Think you’re safe because you buy all of your foods, even sodas, in cans? Think again. Most cans, especially those containing acidic foods like baby formula, chicken soup, and ravioli (all found by the Environmental Working Group to be of highest concern), have a plastic lining inside of the can. It’s what prevents the can from rusting. Quick check of your soda can – yep, plastic lining.

To matters worse, much worse, most of us have been conditioned by all the TV commercials to buy foods in those easy-to-use plastic containers that you simply pop into the microwave and eat. So let’s think through that last statement. If these plastic chemicals leach into our foods just sitting on the shelf, how much more of those chemicals are we “baking off” when we heat them in the microwave?

You’re probably already aware of all the adverse health effects that plastic-related chemicals have been linked to. Here’s one more that modern research is just not beginning to study. Turns out that BPA and phthalates in our bodies mimic the behavior of estrogen disrupting normal hormonal functions and leading to weight gain. Some researchers think that this might explain why it is that the old formula of “eat less and exercise more” just doesn’t seem to be as effective in helping people lose weight as it used to be.

Regardless of the claims (which are still being researched), I think we can all agree that having less plastic chemicals and byproducts in your body is a good thing. Here are a couple of suggestions to help limit these chemicals from being absorbed into your foods:

1. Never, never, ever, heat food in plastic containers in the microwave. You already know that after you’ve done this a couple of times, the plastic gets all “crudy-looking” and maybe even a little brittle. Well, that’s because some of the chemicals in the plastic have been “cooked off” by the microwaves. And yes, you guessed it, these chemicals then get absorbed by your food. So no matter how inconvenient it might be, always take food out of the plastic container and put it into a glass bowl before microwaving.

2. Toss out any water bottles or baby bottles with a 7 on the bottom. You should have already done this when the first BPA stories surfaced at the end of 2009. Still, this might be a good time to take another look in order to make sure you didn’t miss any.

3. Rotate your food stocks regularly. Clean out your pantry and don’t leave any foods on your shelves, especially those in cans and plastic bottles, for more than a couple of months. The longer you leave a food in its container, the more chemicals leach into the food.

4. Buy frozen or fresh foods instead of canned.

5. Chunk the plastic coffee mug and soup bowl. And for God’s sake, stay away from putting hot liquids like soups or coffee in styrofoam, a product that can leach styrene.

So in general, use plastic to store cold foods (like milk) or at room temperature for relatively short periods (cans, etc, in your pantry) and avoid using plastic containers for hot foods (like coffee, tea or soups). In all cases, don’t use plastic containers in the microwave.

I know there’s no realistic way to completely avoid the use of plastic containers, nor should you try. The benefits of plastic do outweigh many of the risks after all. However, you can take steps to reduce your family’s exposure by using the tips listed above.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and
Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: plastic, bpa, phthalates, food container, microwave, cooking, food chemicals, food processing, food storage, health

Fitness Roundup for 2/12/10

Hiram — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:51:42 +0000

Based on the keyword searches that have been done on this site over the past couple of months, lots of people are searching for effective ways to stop snoring. About 25% of men and about 15% of women snore to some extent. That’s a lot of snoring!

Unfortunately, snoring is not something to kid about. It can lead to serious health issues if not addressed, and I’m not just talking about your spouse wanting to smother you with a pillow.

I’m happy to report that I had a pretty significant snoring problem that was affecting my blood pressure. You can find how I solved it by reading some of my other posts.

On this week’s Fitness Roundup, I wanted to provide some links to other blogs so you can get some ideas of how others have tackled this problem as well.

How To Stop Snoring (howcast.com)
Can you be short of breath while sleeping (respiratorytherapycave.blogspot.com)
A Beginner’s Guide to Snoring (drsharma.ca)
Stop Snoring Using natural Methods (stepbysteptips.com)
Heavy Snoring Linked To Potentially Life-Threatening Conditions (prweb.com)

Lastly, here’s a CNBC segment on an anti-snore spray that I wasn’t aware of:

CNBC program reports of the most effective way of stopping snoring with Ysnore (ysnore@singapore.com). A natural way of effective stopping the cause of snoring with natural homoepathic ingredient of ginger and yam. Applied through a nasal spray and nose drops. This stop snore remedy gives you a good night sleep. Really works for snorer.

More “Stop Snoring” Videos

Hiram — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:54:07 +0000

Search for “snoring” on YouTube and you’ll find all kinds of videos of people, and animals, snoring. Although most are meant to be funny – and many of them are – snoring can be a serious issue.

Thankfully, I also found a couple of videos on snoring that are really helpful and informative. Here are some of the best ones:

How to stop snoring – Interview with Dr. Jordan Josephson

How to stop Snoring – 10 Things you should know about Sleep – Number 4

Review of Stop Snoring Devices on CBS Early Show

How to Stop Snoring

Hiram — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:58:21 +0000

I came across this great video on YouTube that offers some tips on how to stop snoring. Plus, how can you possibly ignore the cute puppy? Take a look and consider implementing some (or all) of the tips if you have a snoring problem.

Hiram

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