Healthy And Active Lifestyle Tips

Neglect Your Leg Training And Every Muscle Group Will Suffer

2008-11-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.SchoolOfMuscle.com

Let’s face it; the honest truth is that a good portion of lifters in the gym just don’t seem to care
too much about training their lower body.

I mean, a thick pair of quadriceps aren’t exactly what most people would consider a “showy” muscle... and I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can remember the last time a woman asked him to “flex his hamstring” for her.

Everyone is so hell-bent on having a wide, thick upper body that they either neglect or flat-out ignore the other half of their muscles down below.

They’ll come up with just about any excuse to avoid hard and heavy leg training, citing such responses as “I just run to develop my legs”, “squats are hard on my knees”, or some other bogus reason along those lines.

I cannot even begin to stress how costly a mistake this really is...

Not only does it look ridiculous having a ripped and muscular upper body sitting atop a pair of toothpicks-for-legs... but what if I told you that your refusal to place equal muscle building focus on your lower body was actually limiting the amount of muscle you could gain in your chest, back, arms and shoulders?

You might think it was nothing more than a cheap tactic to get you into the squat rack, but it really is true.

See, most people think of weight training as a simple black and white issue of “train muscle X using exercise Y, and muscle X will become bigger and stronger”.

This limited view of muscle growth is one of the primary reasons why most trainees fail to maximize their results in the gym. They end up settling for mediocrity and never achieving the kind of explosive, monster muscle gains that they are truly capable of.

Here’s the truth…

The muscle building mechanism within the body goes far beyond a simple localized event that happens at the level of the muscle tissue itself!

A great deal of muscle growth also results as the entire body as a whole is placed under stress and adapts on a holistic level. This is achieved through the increased secretion of important hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.

These hormones are considered the “holy grail” of muscle growth, as they are one of the primary limiting factors that determines how much muscle any given individual can ultimately gain. When bodybuilders inject anabolic steroids into their bodies, all they are really doing is increasing the circulation of these important substances.

Now, because you’re a natural trainee and jamming a roid-filled needle into your butt just isn’t your style, you’ve got to find other methods of speeding up the production of these muscle-increasing compounds.

And what is one of the most effective ways to do this?

You guessed it…

Hard and heavy leg training!

Squats, leg presses, lunges, stiff-legged deadlifts…

Did you ever notice how incredibly challenging and downright gut wrenching these exercises can be when performed to a high level of intensity?

After finishing an all out set of these lifts you may find yourself wishing that you hadn’t come to the gym in the first place. This is because they involve the largest muscle groups on your body and allow you to move massive amounts of weight.

The reality, however, is that while these leg exercises require a lot of mental toughness and willpower to stick to, their intense difficulty is one of the key ways to really force your body to rev up its anabolic hormone production.

Greater anabolic hormone levels means greater muscle size and strength, not only for your lower body, but for your entire upper body as well.

What this means is that if leg training is not a regular part of your workout schedule (or if it is part of your schedule but is simply treated as an after-thought), you are missing out on significant total body gains that you could otherwise be achieving.

Really, take me up on this offer…

Incorporate a hard and intense day of leg training into your weekly workout schedule. Include the most basic compound lifts such as squats, leg presses and stiff-legged deadlifts, and focus on pushing yourself to the limit and adding more weight to the bar each week.

Try this out for 4-8 weeks, and then come back and tell me what you notice.

If you’re like 99% of the population, you’ll report that your strength on every single upper body exercise shot through the roof... and that your chest, back, arms and shoulders became noticeably thicker and more muscular as a result.

If you truly don’t care about the size of your legs, then fine, I can’t force you to do so. However, if not for the sake of your lower body, then at least include hard and intense leg training for the sake of those upper body muscles that you care so much about.

It may not seem logical at first glance... but the plain reality is that intense and consistent leg training really is one of the true “secrets” to a massive, ripped and strong upper body!

To learn exactly how to structure an effective leg workout, and to get all the insider tips for training all of your other major muscle groups, make sure to check out www.SchoolOfMuscle.com. I lay everything out for you in step-by-step detail, including full training routines, video lessons and more.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and operator of the web's premier muscle building and fitness membership community, "The School Of Muscle Inner Circle". Learn how to build muscle and burn fat quickly, safely and naturally with insider tips and tricks from the world's top trainers by visiting: www.SchoolOfMuscle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Knee Raise Dips: Advanced Ab Training Exercise To Get Shredded

2008-08-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson

Combine these 2 powerful exercises to see your abs FAST!

Sure there's a time for "micro-targeting" your abs to really dig in deep and shred some muscle fibers.

But you know that this is only HALF of the battle, right?

If you really want to see your 6-pack, you're gonna have to shred some FAT as well and the exercise I'm going to show you will help you accomplish BOTH...

...at the same time!

You see, by working a "chain" of muscles together, you can not only target muscle fibers for growth, but you also recruit more TOTAL muscle fibers.

This helps by increasing overall calorie expenditure DURING your workout...

...and jacks up your metabolism even higher AFTER your workout!

Here's a GREAT exercise that demonstrates this powerful principle:

"The Knee Raise Dip"

The concept is quite simple really, though it may take some working up to if you're not as strong in your upper body.

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Get yourself set up at a Dip Station (sorry...you won't be able to use the "Assisted Dip Station" at your gym if they have one).

To start, lower yourself all the way as you would if you were targeting your chest and arms (because you ARE).

Keep your elbows out so you use more "chest" than arms if you can.

This way you won't tire as quickly.

On the way UP during the repetition, you're going to continue the movement by bringing your knees up toward your chest, just as you would in a "knee raise" targeting your abs (um...because you ARE).

Then lower your knees back down as you begin your descent for your second dip repetition.

Continue in this movement until one of your muscle groups gives out.

To take it even further, once one muscle group DOES reach exhaustion, switch to doing ONLY the other exercise until you hit failure.

That may mean you hopping off the dip station and grabbing hold of a pull up bar to continue your knee raises, as an example.

Give this exercise a try and start slow to get the movement down.

You'll love this one so much, you'll make it a staple in your ab training!

The Belly Fat - Stress Connect

2008-08-16T00:02:00.000-07:00

By David Grisaffi,
Author, Firm And Flatten Your Abs

Most people look at body fat as an enemy and they should to a certain extent. However, in understanding how to beat belly fat, it helps to understand the genetically engineered reasons that we store body fat the way we do and the differences between modern life and the way our ancestors lived. It all started with simple survival. Without the ability to easily store fat some of us would not even be here on this earth today, so thank your ancestors for improving the hardiness of your family's gene pool and keeping you in the mix.

Despite fat's value in the evolutionary scheme of things, excess belly fat can cause many problems and I'm not talking about whether you can tie your shoelaces. Belly fat - which refers largely to visceral fat, not just the subcutaneous fat below your skin - has been associated in recent years with all kinds of health problems ranging from heart disease, to strokes to diabetes. Fat can be cosmetically frustrating, but belly fat can also be deadly.

Gender is one factor that affects where you store your fat. Men store most of it in their belly, while women store more fat in their hips and thighs. Women store body fat in the lower body because of childbirth and hormonal reasons. After menopause when hormones change women also tend to begin storing more fat in the abdominal region.

But why does the fat go there so quickly and easily?

Why doesn't it just even itself out all across the body rather than concentrating in one unsightly area? And why do we get belly fat in the first place? Obviously, the first reason is caloric excess. That is always true in males and in females, so before you start pointing your finger at genetics, gender, hormones, adrenergic receptors or anything else, look at how much you're eating every day first.

At the risk of continuing to state the obvious, the second reason is not enough exercise. In today's modern technologically advanced society, we do not work like our grandparents did, and our waistlines show it. I also believe that in our society today, we are much more stressed out than our ancestors were. Sure, there were fight or flight situations in the natural environment which we no longer have today, but those occasional natural phenomena have now been replaced by continuous daily stress from our regular daily workload. Combine that with the reduced exercise and increased portion sizes and availability of food, and could this be a third reason for belly fat?

Experts argue about whether stress "causes" fat, but there is no question that stress correlates highly with fat and it creates a situation - both environmentally and hormonally - that is highly conducive to increasing fat. Because of the nature of stress hormones such as cortisol, combined with metabolic syndrome, excess insulin and insulin resistance that is the common result of sedentary lifestyle combined with refined foods, the caloric surplus is stored as visceral body fat and our bellies begin to bulge.

More and More Research Is Proving the Connection

More and more research is starting to explain, scientifically, how high levels of stress ultimately lead to increased body fat. In a paper published in the journal Hormonal Metabolic Research (Kyrou July 2007) Greek researchers said that stress may affect the thyroid by inhibiting the enzymatic conversion of T4 into the biologically active form, T3. They also noted that while stress causes a generalized catabolic state, the extended action of the glucocorticoids on the metabolic pathways eventually leads to increased visceral body fat accumulation and insulin resistance. In fact, numerous researchers now point at central obesity as the distinguishing factor in metabolic syndrome.

So although we may not be able to say that "stress causes belly fat" literally, there is very clearly a strong association between the two. How are your stress levels? What does your diet look like? How does your exercise regimen stack up? How does you belly look? Add high stress levels onto a sedentary lifestyle with an excess of calories and you have a textbook formula for gaining belly fat.

The belly fat, in turn can lead to more health problems than you ever thought. "Hundreds of studies have led to the conclusion that any fat can be problematic," said obesity expert Jeffrey S Flier, MD, "But it's much, much more dangerous when it's accumulated in the abdomen.," He added that pound for pound, fat that builds up in the abdomen is much more likely to cause diabetes and heart disease. His research is published in the Dec. 7 issue of Science.

Flier and his colleagues looked at a stress hormone called cortisol - the "fight or flight" hormone that kicks in during stressful situations. When the body produces excess cortisol, it tends to cause a build-up of belly fat.

So what do we do about all this?

In addition to the usual prescription of eat less and exercise more, it looks like we have to add something else: reduce stress… Relax and enjoy life. Stop worrying and start taking care of yourself. Consider taking up meditation. In light of the recent evidence about the stress-belly fat connection, this no longer seems like a "new agey" type of thing to do. Even of 5-10 minutes of breathing exercises daily could work wonders.

Many people are failing to reach their fat reduction goals because they have not considered the possible effect of stress on their weight as well as their health. This is one of the reasons I included a stress relief course along with my Flatten Your Abs Program.

When you combine the calorie deficit from nutrition with muscle building exercises, fat burning exercises AND stress relief exercises (which in my course include yoga and mind body relaxation techniques of Tai Chi And Qigong), you may very well have the most complete approach to a flat stomach that has ever been created.

You can learn more about the Firm And Flatten Your Abs program as well as the bonus courses, including the stress relievers program on the home page at:

www.FlattenYourAbs.net

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington

About the Author:

david_grisaffi.gifDavid Grisaffi majored in physical education and holds multiple certifications including 3 from the prestigious CHEK Institute: Level II high Performance Exercise Kinesiologist, Golf Biomechanic, and health and lifestyle counselor. He's also certified by the ISSA as a personal trainer and specialist in performance nutrition. David has been a high school wrestling and baseball coach and is currently an independent trainer and strength coach. He has been sought after by some of the top athletes in professional sports including world champion boxer Greg Haugen and professional golfer Michael Putnam. David’s ebook, Firm And Flatten Your Abs is an online best seller which teaches you how develop “six pack abs" while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. Find out more on the home page at: www.FlattenYourAbs.net

Why You Shouldn't Train Abs To Failure And The 3 Keys to Smarter Ab Training

2008-08-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

By David Grisaffi,
Author, Firm And Flatten Your Abs

Smart trainees know that progression is the name of the game in fitness and strength training. However, as you continually test your limits of accomplishment, whether that’s reaching a new level of leanness, increasing your muscle mass or obtaining a new strength maximum, you often fall prey to the belief that you must push yourself to the point of complete “failure.” This is the point where you reach a level of fatigue and exhaustion that causes your muscles to literally give out (“fail”) and you can’t complete another rep.

Training with progression and intensity is important, but unless you’d like to trade a nice set of abs for a bad lower back, I’d strongly urge you to re-evaluate the concept of training to failure, especially when it comes to core and abdominal workouts and especially if you’re not a bodybuilder.

Why do so many people believe in failure training?

Training to “failure” became popular in part, because of bodybuilding culture and bodybuilding gurus such as Mike Mentzer and Arthur Jones, and then the information filtered into the mainstream fitness world. Athletes, who tend to be as competitive with themselves as they are with their opponents, also sometimes push themselves as far as they possibly can in their quest for sporting excellence.

This approach may be misguided and possibly even dangerous.

There may be a small place for taking some sets to the point of failure in low volume bodybuilding programs. But even bodybuilders who train to failure too often may be gaining less benefit than they think, while increasing their chances of overtraining or even injury.

I believe strongly that the added stress of training to failure or total fatigue can cause more problems than it’s worth and the potential benefit is not worth the risk. I have rehabilitated many back pain patients because of their stubborn beliefs in “pushing it to the limit.”

Stimulate, Don’t Annihilate

Exercise places a stress on muscles, joint structures and the entire body. Exercising to failure places extreme stress on the muscles, body and the nervous system. There is positive training stress and negative training stress. Properly applied, training stress is “stimulation” which prompts an adaptation in the muscle – strength, stamina, size, or power. Improperly applied, training stress is damage beyond the point of necessarily stimulation. Even some of the top bodybuilders understood this, as former Mr. Olympia Lee Haney used to say, “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Out of all the muscles and movements in particular, it is very important to stimulate your core and abdominals and not “annihilate” them. Be very careful not to over-train or over-stress your abs and core and this means, do not train your abs to failure.

One of the biggest problems with training the core and abs to failure is that the more fatigued you become, the more your form begins to break down. When your form breaks down, that is when injuries are most likely to occur. This is true for any exercise, but it may be truer for abs and core than any other type of exercise due to the susceptibility of the lower back.

Research by Dr. Laurence Morehouse of University of California at Los Angles found that when doing abdominal exercises, especially sit-ups, you over-work your hip flexor muscles - the psoas and the iliacus. When the exercises are performed quickly (form breaks) or all the way to failure (form breaks), the hip flexor’s pull on the lower back is increased.

When performing your core exercises, always be conscious about form, especially as you begin to get tired toward the end of a set. You should terminate your set at or before the point where you notice that your form breaks in the slightest, and that is usually a couple of repetitions before reaching muscular failure.

Progression Can Occur Without Failure

If you believe that stopping short of failure will hold back your progress, think again. Progress is a function of progression and progression can take place without failure. You can continue to improve your workouts and thereby your physique and performance by increasing repetitions and or resistance or even density… without ever training to failure.

Don’t Teach Your Nervous System “Bad Habits”

One point about proper form that few people realize is that if you train to the point of failure, which leads to a breakdown in form, this can lead to the development of poor motor engrams. Your nervous system can develop “bad habits” so to speak, as your body tends to automatically revert to what you practice the most. If the last repetitions of every set are usually done with poor form, then repeating that motor pattern is much more likely to occur in the future, leading to additional muscle and joint damage.

I design core conditioning programs in a specific way so you train smarter and avoid temptations that lead to poor form and potential injury. And that leads us to…

The 3 Keys To Smarter Ab Training

First, I recommend that exercises are performed in a certain order

By placing the more neurologically demanding and form intensive exercises first in a carefully planned sequence, I help my clients avoid a situation where fatigue and form breakdown would be as damaging. If you attempt the opposite, you increase the chance of over fatiguing the segmental stabilizers of the spine and you produce poor motor engrams.

More details on exercise sequencing are beyond the scope of this article, but you can learn more in my Firm and Flatten Your Abs program and in my Six Weeks to Six Pack abs report.

Second, I constantly emphasize form and control

Nowhere is strict form more important for your safety and results than in core and abdominal training. The simple advice of slowing down the tempo and focusing on form will increase results and help keep you out of the doctor’s office.

There are times when you may want to perform core exercises at a higher rate of speed with more velocity or explosiveness. This is often the case with athletic, sports-specific training. But speed and form are not mutually exclusive and the same rules about fatigue and failure still apply to explosive training.

I train elite boxers and when they first show up at my studio, they are often set in their old ways of failure, fatigue and overtraining. I’ve seen it over and over again: A new client’s routine consists of “workout till you drop” and then 1000 flat board sit-ups. I simply ask: “How is your lower back”? The answer usually is, “It’s sore” at best, or “It’s injured” at worst. Even if they’re simply experiencing unnecessary soreness, that gets in the way of sport-specific training and their progress is slowed all around or grinds to a halt.

Third, you must get clear about the desired outcome of your training

Many strength trainers and bodybuilders are convinced that the outcome of a workout should be “burn,” fatigue and failure. If you think that aching muscles is the desired outcome, then why even go to the gym? Come over to my garage and I’ll whack you a few times with my sledgehammer then sit you up on my barbecue grill. You’ll “ache” and “burn” alright!

Joking aside, you must get clarity about your real training objectives – they’re NOT pain, fatigue and failure. If you begin with the right end in mind, you’ll set about reaching that end more intelligently.

Your training objective is to strengthen your core region for support, stabilization and protection of your spine and body organs, and your ultimate outcomes are to be healthier, perform better and look better (perhaps in that order of priority!)

These objectives are best accomplished by performing your exercises with strict, controlled form, and by using movement patterns such as flexion, extension and rotation. However, any one of those movement patterns taken to extremes can eventually cause damage to joint structures, which can put you on the sidelines and only take you further away from your true objectives.

Train hard, but also train smart

Progression and intensity are often confused with the need to train to failure. From this day forward, I suggest you re-evaluate the scientific facts as well as your mindset towards your training. Get clear about your true objective and train to succeed, not to “fail.”

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington
www.FlattenYourAbs.net

About the Author:

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and holds multiple certifications including 3 from the prestigious CHEK Institute: Level II high Performance Exercise Kinesiologist, Golf Biomechanic, and health and lifestyle counselor. He's also certified by the ISSA as a personal trainer and specialist in performance nutrition. David has been a high school wrestling and baseball coach and is currently an independent trainer and strength coach. He has been sought after by some of the top athletes in professional sports including world champion boxer Greg Haugen and professional golfer Michael Putnam. David’s ebook, Firm And Flatten Your Abs is an online best seller which teaches you how develop “six pack abs" while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. Find out more on the home page at:www.FlattenYourAbs.net

The Lower Abdominals

2008-08-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

By David Grisaffi,
Author, Firm And Flatten Your Abs

The lower abdominals may be the single most popular subject among fitness enthusiasts today. This is due to the fact that having flat, tight, lower abdominals is a highly desired look, but a very difficult look for most people to achieve. Many fitness professionals insist that there is no such thing as "lower abdominals", While others propose that exercises like crunches work the upper abs more and exercises such as leg raises or reverse crunches work the lower abs more.

Before continuing, first keep in mind that no abdominal exercise can "spot reduce" lower abdominal fat. Many people feel a need to perform special "lower ab" exercises, not realizing that the real reason they can't see their lower abs has nothing to do with their choice of abdominal exercise, and everything to do with an excess of fat and possibly digestive problems

Because of genetics and hormones like estrogen - the lower abdominal region is simply one of the first places most people store body fat. Therefore the same is true in reverse - lower ab fat is the last place to come off. Removal of lower abdominal body fat is a separate issue than lower versus upper abdominal muscle recruitment and body fat problems can only be addressed by creating a caloric deficit and addressing lifestyle factors. This requires proper nutrition, not special "lower ab" exercises.

Second, it's true that you cannot isolate the upper and lower abdominals from one another. Both upper and lower abdominals are activated during the performance of any abdominal exercise. The rectus abdominis is one long muscle, not two separate muscles. However, the nerve innervation of the upper and lower portions is different.

Although you cannot completely isolate upper and lower abs, research has used electromyography (EMG) testing to try and determine whether certain exercises can emphasize one section of the abs more than another. Results have shown very clearly that the obliques can be recruited more with specific exercises. However, data on lower versus upper abs is mixed.

For example, a 2001 study by Lehman and McGill published in the journal Physical Therapy said, "Differences between the portions of the rectus abdominis muscle are small and may lack clinical or therapeutic relevance." On the other hand, a study by Willett and colleagues at the University of Nebraska said, "our findings support the concept that abdominal strengthening exercises can differentially activate various abdominal muscle groups." A 2007 study by Eric Sternlicht found major increases in EMG activity (93%) of the lower abdominals simply by changing body placement on a swiss ball during the crunch exercise.

I believe it is very possible that the upper and lower abdominal areas can be emphasized to a greater degree by the choice of exercise. The abdominal region is somewhat unique because unlike muscles such as the bicep, the abdominals are divided by tendinous intersections which correlate to various segments of the spinal column. It has been proposed that these segments may be under separate neurological control.

As I learned in my internship from the Paul Chek Institute, as early as 1934, Joel E. Goldthwaite in his book "Body Mechanics in Health and Disease," determined that there was a difference between the control mechanisms of the upper abs versus the lower abs. In other words the "electrical system" that controls each section is innervated by different wiring.

Some years ago a TV special filmed a belly dancer rolling a few quarters up, down, sideways and diagonally across her belly. I have seen a similar feat with my own eyes as my brother can do a "belly roll" - an impressive feat of abdominal muscle control somewhat akin to a caterpillar inching its way across the floor, by rolling one segment of its body a time. Although this may simply be an individual trait and or a well-practiced skill, it's suggestive that different segments of the abdominals can function independent of each other, indicating that they may be on different neurological circuits.

Evidence of separate innervation may also be seen when a person with great upper abdominals experiences distention in the lower abdominal region, commonly known as a "pooch belly," despite low body fat. Explanations include gastrointestinal issues, bloating or food intolerances that allow the lower abdominal wall to protrude as a result of inflammation inside the gut. However, there may be a neuromuscular explanation as well. If the muscles that hold in the gut contents are weak or suffer from poor neural connections, the lower abdominal wall may bulge outward, independent of body fat levels.

There are many opinions on this controversy, as well as conflicting research data. Some experts believe strongly that "lower ab exercises" are just another fitness myth and that the case is simply closed. However, the abdominal and core region may be much more complex than just one long sheet of muscle running from the sternum to the pubic bone that contracts completely along its length or not at all. I believe we should keep an open mind to the possibility of being able to emphasize the upper or lower area to a greater degree, as some of the EMG studies suggest.

Assuming that the lower abdominals can be stressed to a greater degree with choice of exercise, this has significant implications for creating highly effective and individualized training programs. Lower abdominals should be trained with (1) proper exercise sequence (lower abs first), (2) proper selection and (3) proper progression. A common mistake is when a beginner with weak lower abs attempts to do advanced exercises such as hanging leg raises. This demonstrates improper exercise selection and progression and will do nothing but build muscle imbalances. These imbalances will manifest in poor posture and lead to injury and low back pain.

Upper and lower abdominals can be tested and I outline two easy assessments to find out your level of lower abdominal conditioning in my Firm and Flatten Your Abs e book. When you take the upper and lower abdominal tests before starting the program, you will easily see the difference between the two and then you will know which areas to prioritize the most, which exercises you can safely begin with and how to get the best results possible from your training program. You can get more information on the Firm And Flatten Your Abs home page at http://www.flattenyourabs.net

Coach David Grisaffi,
Tacoma Washington
www.FlattenYourAbs.net

About the Author:

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and holds multiple certifications including 3 from the prestigious CHEK Institute: Level II high Performance Exercise Kinesiologist, Golf Biomechanic, and health and lifestyle counselor. He's also certified by the ISSA as a personal trainer and specialist in performance nutrition. David has been a high school wrestling and baseball coach and is currently an independent trainer and strength coach. He has been sought after by some of the top athletes in professional sports including world champion boxer Greg Haugen and professional golfer Michael Putnam. David’s ebook, Firm And Flatten Your Abs is an online best seller which teaches you how develop “six pack abs" while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. Find out more on the home page at: www.FlattenYourAbs.net

6 Pack Abs - The Secret To 6 Pack Abs

2008-07-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you turn, someone's promising the next secret to getting 6 pack abs. Some of these so called 'secrets' have some degree of accuracy, while others, not so much. Deciphering which are the best methods to getting 6 pack abs is going to be critical to your having success with this goal.

The biggest area you need to focus on when trying to obtain 6 pack abs is going to be on your diet. Like it or not, the old saying that 'abs are made in the kitchen', is probably one of the most truthful statements in the fitness industry. If your diet isn't in line, your stomach is going to show it.

So, what should you be doing with your diet?

First, ensure you are getting enough protein. Not only is protein going to form the key building blocks you need to build muscle tissue, but it's also going to provide you with a better feeling of fullness than eating just carbohydrates alone would for example. Protein is more "expensive" than any other macronutrient meaning that your body will burn more calories breaking down protein compared to carbs and fats.

Next, don't be afraid of dietary fat that comes from primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oils, fish oils, a mix of nuts, natural peanut butter and avocado. While it's true that eating fat will increase your calories fast, as long as you keep it between 20-30% it can be one of the best things to get 6 pack abs fast. The important point here is that dietary fat helps keep your insulin level stable, which, when high enough can actually cause fat gain itself.

Furthermore, dietary fat will keep you feeling the fullest for the longest duration in time; longer than both protein or carbohydrates would. Interestingly, some diets high in fat can get you 6 pack abs fast because your body learn to metabolize fat for energy.

So, while you do need to watch it, be sure you are getting some in your diet.

Finally, when it comes to carbohydrate intake and getting 6 pack abs, you want to focus most of your carbohydrate intake around the post workout period.

Why?

The biggest reason for this is because this is when your body is going to need those carbohydrates the most and will really suck them up into the muscle tissue. When you eat them at this time, it is least likely that they will turn into body fat.

Additionally, consuming carbohydrates during this period will also help to aid with muscle recovery and repair, so that means less down time from the gym for you.

If getting 6 pack abs fast is your goal than each meal you should consist of 1-2 cups of raw vegetables to control insulin levels, improve absorption of your protein and flood your body with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants.

So, if you are aiming to get 6 pack abs in the coming months, have a good hard look at your diet. That is the big secret that must not be overlooked if you are to succeed.
About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com

He specializes in helping chubby guys and gals get six pack abs without gimmicks, supplements or dieting.

2 Simple Steps To Ripped, Shredded Muscles

2008-07-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Picture this scenario...

You've been training your tail off for the past 4 months, trying to pack on as much muscle size as you possibly can. You've bulked up considerably and are quite happy with the size you've been able to achieve.

There's just one problem...

Along with all of that solid, lean muscle you've gained, you notice that you've also packed on some excess body fat in the process.

Let's face it, no matter how "huge" you might be, no one wants to be walking around with a soft, smooth and flabby body. After most trainees have finished their "bulking" phase, they decide that it's time to "cut down" and strip off the excess body fat that they gained due to their high calorie, muscle-building diet.

How do they usually go about this?

They lighten up the weights and perform higher reps.

This has always been a widely accepted method of “cutting down” and if you ask most trainers in the gym they’ll tell you that “heavy weights bulk up the muscle and lighter weights define the muscle”.

Do you want to know the reality behind the “light weight and high reps” method of obtaining a ripped and defined physique?

It is completely, totally and utterly DEAD WRONG.

It couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there is no logical basis for this way of training whatsoever, and whoever dreamt up this downright ridiculous way of thinking has caused the vast majority of lifters to waste their time and impede their progress in the gym.

Let me clear this up once and for all: you CANNOT spot reduce. In other words, it is physically impossible to target fat loss from a specific area on your body. Performing bench presses with light resistance and high repetitions will not magically burn fat off of your chest or cause it to appear harder and more defined.

Every single time you wrap your hands around a barbell, dumbbell or cable, your goal is to stimulate as much muscle growth as you possibly can. There are no special, secret weightlifting exercises that will “define” your muscles or cause them to become more “ripped”.

Training with weights builds muscle mass, end of story.

So how exactly do you “define” a muscle?

Th only way to “define” a muscle is by lowering your body fat percentage in order to make your muscles more visible. Body fat reduction can be achieved in two ways:

1) Modify your diet.

You'll need to create a slight caloric deficit within your body to stimulate the fat burning process. This can usually be achieved by lowering your overall caloric intake to around 11-13x your bodyweight and focusing on consuming smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism naturally raised at all times and will keep your body in a constant fat burning state.

2) Perform proper cardio workouts.

Let go of the traditional method of moderate intensity cardio in 30-45 minute durations. If you want to maximize your body’s fat burning capacity and also minimize the muscle loss that inevitably accompanies a fat burning cycle, focus on shorter, 15-minute cardio workouts performed 3-5 times per week at a high level of intensity.

That’s all there is to it, folks. Take the notion of “light weight and higher reps” and throw it right out the window, down the street and around the corner. Following this misguided method will only cause you to lose muscle mass and strength, and will not assist you in burning fat or defining your physique.

If you're looking for the complete inside scoop on maximizing your muscle gains and lowering your body fat levels, check out my website by clicking the link below. You'll have a chance to download my 250-page e-book "The Truth About Building Muscle" as well as a special fat burning course entitled "Metabolic Blast"...

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned bodybuilding expert, fitness author, and creator of the most celebrated natural bodybuilding program online today: "The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System".

If you can spare just 24 minutes a day, then you too can build a powerful new head-turning body that will skyrocket your confidence, drive gorgeous women crazy, and leave your friends, family and co-workers staring in disbelief... ALL in just a matter of months: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com/

How To Build A Ripped, Rock-Solid Chest

2008-07-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple. It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest. The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

To stimulate the chest using weights you will be using one of two motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the true gains lie in your pressing movements.

Flyes may have their place from time to time, but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic effect of high intensity pressing movements. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips.

There are no secrets, magic formulas or killer techniques that will "shock" your chest into massive growth. Stick to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression, and I promise that you will see impressive gains.

Here are the most effective lifts for packing muscle onto the chest:

Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press:

A standard barbell press is the meat and potatoes of any effective chest routine. This basic compound movement will allow you to handle the most weight through the given range of motion. The incline press will shift more of the stress to the upper region of the chest while the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer region. The flat bench press works the upper and lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard barbell press as a basic component of your chest routine.

Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press:

Dumbbell presses are another basic and highly effective movement for stimulating chest development. The main advantage that they have over the barbell is that they allow you to move through a more natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder injuries. They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring since one arm can't cheat for the other. The only drawback is that you are not able to handle as much weight. In any case, a standard dumbbell press is an awesome movement that allows for great chest stimulation.

Wide-Grip Dips:

An amazing movement for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals. If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient then you can always add resistance using a weight belt. Dips are an excellent compound movement for overall chest development.

Here are a couple sample chest routines:

1) Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

2) Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Flat Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep range and should be taken to complete muscular failure. Write down the details of each workout you perform and focus on progressing in either weight or reps from week to week.

To learn about the proper methods for training all of your other muscle groups, visit my website by clicking the link below. You can gain instant access to a complete online video lesson series outlining the most effective techniques for training your shoulders, arms, back, legs and abs, all in step-by-step detail.

About The Author

Click Here To Watch The Video "Proven Principles For Thick, Powerful Pecs" By Sean Nalewanyj

What The New "Low-Carb" Study REALLY Says

2008-07-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

A news media feeding frenzy erupted recently when a new diet study broke in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Almost all the reporters got it wrong, wrong WRONG! So did most of the gloating low carb forumites and bloggers. Come to think of it, almost everyone interpreted this study wrong. Some valuable insights came out of this study, but almost everyone missed them because they were too busy believing what the news said or defending their own cherished belief systems …

The new study, titled, “Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet” was published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in issue 359, number 3.

I quickly read the full text of the research paper the day it was published. Then, I shook my head in dismay as I scanned the news headlines. I found it amusing that the media turned this into a three ring circus, putting a misleading “low carb versus high carb,” “Atkins vindicated” or “Diet wars” spin on the story. But that’s mainstream journalism for you, right? Gotta sell those papers!

Just look at some of these headlines:

“Study Tips Scales in Atkins Diets Favor: Low Carb Regimen Better Than Low Fat Diet For Weight And Cholesterol, Major Study Shows. “

“Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets Face Off “ “The Never-Ending Diet Wars” “Low Carb Beats Low Fat in Diet Duel.” “Atkins Diet is Safe and Far More Effective Than a Low-Fat One, Study Says” “Unrestricted Low-Carb Diet Wins Hands Down”

Some of these headlines are hilarious! I wonder if any of these reporters actually read the whole study. Geez. Is it too much trouble to read 13 pages before you write a story that will be read by millions of already confused people suffering the pain and frustration of obesity?

Here’s a quick look at the study design.

The low fat restricted calorie diet was based on American Heart Association guidelines. Calorie intake was set at 1500 for women, 1800 a day for men with 30% of calories from fat, and only 10% from saturated fat. Participants were instructed to eat low fat grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes and to limit their consumption of additional fats, sweets and high fat snacks.

The Mediterranean diet group was placed on a moderate fat, restricted calorie program rich in vegetables and low in red meat, with poultry and fish replacing beef and lamb. Energy intake was restricted to 1500 calories per day for women and 1800 calories per day for men with a goal of no more than 35% of calorie from fat. Added fat came mostly from nuts and olive oil.

The low carb diet was a non-restricted calorie plan aimed at providing 20 grams of carbs per day for the 2 month induction phase with a gradual increase to 120 grams per day to maintain the weight loss. Intakes of total calories, protein and fat were not limited. However, the participants were counseled to choose vegetarian sources of protein (more on that bizarre-twist shortly).

The study subjects were mostly male (86%), overweight (BMI 31) and middle age (mean age 52)

Here were the study results:

There were some health improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure and other parameters in the Mediterranean and low carb group that bested the high carb group. That was the focus of many articles and discussions that appeared on the net this week. However, I’d like to focus on the weight loss aspect as I’m not a medical doctor and fat loss is the primary subject matter of this website. All three groups lost weight. The low carb group lost 5.5 kilos, the Mediterranean group lost 4.6 kilos and the low fat group lost 3.3 kilograms…. IN TWO YEARS! Whoopee!

My conclusion would be that the results were similar and that none of the diets worked very well over the long term!

Amanda Gardner of the US News and World Report Health Day was one of the few reporters who got it right:

“Diet plans produce similar results: Study finds Mediterranean and low-carb diets work just as well as low fat ones.”

Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times also came close with her headline:

“Long term diet study suggests success is hard to come by: In a tightly controlled experiment, obese people lost an average of just 6 to 10 pounds over two years.”

Even this headline wasn’t 100% accurate. The study was HARDLY tightly controlled. Tightly controlled means metabolic ward studies where the researchers actually count and control the calorie intake.

The problem is, you can’t lock people in a hospital or research center ward for two years. So in this study, they used a food frequency questionnaire. Sure, like we believe what people report about their eating habits at restaurants and at home behind closed doors! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

“No! I swear Dr. Schwarzfuchs! I swear I didn’t eat those donuts over the weekend! I stayed on my Mediterranean diet. Honest!”

One of the most firmly established facts in dietetics research is that almost everyone underreports their food intake BADLY, sometimes by as much as 50%. I’m not saying everyone “lies,” they just forget or don’t know. In fact, this underreporting of calorie intake is such a huge problem that it makes obesity research very difficult to do and conclusions difficult to draw from free-living studies. Another blunder in the news reports is that this study didn’t really follow Atkins diet parameters OR even the traditional low fat diet for that matter, so it’s not an “Atkin’s versus Ornish” showdown at all. If you actually take the time to read the full text of the research paper it doesn’t say ANYTHING like, “Atkins is the best after all.” That’s the spin that some of the news media cooked up (and what the Atkins foundation was hoping for). It says, “The diet was based on the Atkins diet.” However, the sentence right before that says, “The participants were counseled to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.” Vegetarian Atkins? The chart on page 236 says the low carb diet provided 40% of calories from carbs at 6, 12 and 24 months. If I’m reading that data properly, then the only low carb period was a brief induction phase in the very beginning. Does that sound like Atkins? 40% carb sounds more like the Zone diet or my own Burn The Fat program to me.

The Atkins Foundation, which partially supported this study, told reporters, “We feel vindicated.” HA! They should have paid the reporters and told the researchers they felt ripped off and they wanted a refund for misuse of their research grant!

After carefully reading the full text of this study, there are many interesting findings we could talk about, from the differences in results between men and women to the improvements in health markers. Here’s what the study really says that stood out to me. It’s what I would have talked about if the newspapers or TV stations had called me:

1. “Mediterranean and low carb diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets.”

I can agree completely with that statement. All three diets created a calorie deficit. All three groups lost weight. Low carb lost a little more, which is the usual finding because low carb diets often control appetite and calorie intake automatically (you eat less even if you don’t count calories). Also, if body composition is not indicated, there’s an initial water weight loss that makes low carb diets look more effective in the very early stages.

2. “Personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform individualized tailoring of dietary interventions.”

Absolutely! Nutrition should be individualized based on goals, health status, body type, activity level and numerous other factors. Different people have different phenotypes. Some people are more predisposed to thrive on a low carb approach. Others feel like crap on low carbs and do better with more carbs or a middle of the road approach. Those who dogmatically follow and defend one type of diet or the other are only handcuffing themselves by limiting their options. Iris Shai, a researcher in the study said, “We can’t rely on one diet fits all.” Hmm, far cry from “Atkins wins hands down,” wouldn’t you say?

3. “The rate of adherence to a study diet was 95.4% at 1 year and 84.6% at 2 years.”

THIS was the part of most interest to me. When I read this, immediately I could have cared less about the silly low carb versus high carb wars that the news reporters were jumping on. I wanted to know WHY the subjects were able to stick with it so well. Of course, that’s boring stuff to journalists… adherence? What does that word mean anyway? Yawn - not interesting enough for prime time, I guess. But it was interesting to me, and I hope YOU pay attention to what I found. The authors of the study wrote:

“This trial suggests a model that might be applied more broadly in the workplace. Using the employer as a health coach could be an effective way to improve health. The model of group intervention with the use of dietary group sessions, spousal support, food labels, and monthly weighing in the workplace within the framework of a health promotion campaign might yield weight reduction and long term health benefits.”

Hmmmmm, lets see: * Dietician coaching
* Group meetings
* Motivational phone calls
* Spousal support
* Workplace monitoring (corporate health program)
* Food labels - calorie monitoring
* Weigh-ins (required and monitored)

Wow, everything helpful to long term fat loss that sticks. Can you say, ACCOUNTABILITY? These factors help explain the better adherence.

By the way, the adherence rate for the low carb group was the lowest.

90.4% in low fat group
85.3% in the Mediterranean group
78% in the low carb group

Here’s the bottom line, the way I see it:

First, please, please, please learn how to find and read primary research and take the news media stories with a grain of salt. If you want to know who died, what burned down or what hurricane is coming, tune in to the news – they do a GREAT job at that. If you want to know how to lose weight or improve your health, look up the original research papers instead of taking second hand information at face value.

Second, those who prefer a low carb approach; more power to them. Most studies, this one included, show at the very least that low carb is an option and it’s not necessarily an unhealthy one if done intelligently. I also have no qualms with someone claiming that low carb diets are slightly more effective for weight loss, especially in the short term, free living situations. Is low carb superior for fat loss in the long haul? That’s STILL highly debatable. It’s probably superior for some people, but not for others.

Third, low carb people, listen up! Even if low carb is superior, that doesn’t mean calories don’t count. Deny this at your own peril. In fact, this study shows the reverse. The low carb group was in a larger negative energy balance than the high carb and Mediterranean group (according to the data published in this paper), which easily explains the greater weight loss. Posting the calories contained in foods in the cafeteria may have improved the results and helped with compliance in all groups.

When energy intake is matched calorie for calorie, the advantage of a low carb diet shrinks or disappears. For most people, low carb is a hunger management or calorie control weight loss advantage, not metabolic magic (sorry, no magic folks!)

Fourth, choose the nutrition program that’s most appropriate for your personal preferences, your current health condition, your genetics (or phenotype) and most important of all… the one you can stick with. Then tend your own garden instead of wasting time criticizing how the other guy is eating. Your results will speak for themselves in the end. Take your shirt off and show us.

If I were forced to choose only one approach (and thank god I’m not), I would recommend avoiding the extremes of very low carb or very low fat or very high fat or very high carbs. Balance makes the most sense to me, and the research suggests that this helps produce the highest compliance rate. That’s not rocket science either, it’s common sense. If you have a serious fat loss goal, as when I compete in bodybuilding, then a further reduction in carbs and increase in protein makes perfect sense to me as a peaking diet. If an extremely low or extremely high carb diet worked for you, great. But generalizing your experience to the entire rest of the world makes no sense. Arguing from extremes is the weakest form of argument. The reason I have THREE nutrition plans (three phases) in my own fat loss program is because programs with flexibility and room for individualization beat the others hands down in the long term. In fact, I wrote an entire chapter in my e-book about unique body types, how to determine yours and how to individualize your nutrition – it’s THAT important. If you have more choices, you have more power. The people who are shackled by dogma and narrow thinking are stuck. They also risk missing what’s really important. Things like: Personalization
Adherence
Long-term Maintenance
Accountability
Social Support

and…

CALORIES!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
PS. If you want to learn more about a balanced, flexible and proven approach, which teaches nutritional individuality and which can produce similar weight loss in one month, month after month, that the subjects of this study produced in TWO YEARS, (if you ADHERE to it!), then visit my fat loss website.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

The One Supplement That Pumps Your Muscles AND Your Hormones

2008-07-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

By The Muscle Nerd, Jeff Anderson

"Nitric Oxide" supplements have become all the rage in the industry because they help you carry that "pumped up" feeling you get from your workouts further into your day.

And hey...who DOESN'T want to walk around the office feeling like your biceps are going to rip right through your shirt?

The main ingredient in this "NO2" supplements is the amino acid, L-Arginine.

L-Arginine is a GREAT supplement to add to your program because not only does it increase blood flow to your body's muscles (even your uh, "main man muscle", giving it the reputation as a "natural Viagra")...

...but it's ALSO a great way to naturally increase growth hormone if taken correctly.

Note: The effectiveness of L-Arginine is exactly why I include it's one of the ingredients in my own personal "before bed" hormone supplement stack I include in my list of personal "do-it-yourself" recipes at...

www.HomemadeSupplements.com

Start with taking just 10 grams of L-Arginine (or about 4-5 grams of L-Arginine Alpha Ketogluterate) about 30 minutes before bed to naturally boost GH and prime your muscles for your next workout "pump"!

Also...do NOT take L-Arginine anywhere near your other protein intake as it will drastically decrease absorption due to "competing amino acids"!

This is another reason why I've combined the proper amino acid profile in my personal recipe at www.HomemadeSupplements.com.

The Perfect Time to Begin your Fat Loss Program

2008-07-24T19:59:00.001-07:00

By Holly Rigsby, CPT
www.FitYummyMummy.com

"I'll Begin When...."
Sound familiar? Waiting for the right time to begin your fat loss program?
I'm wondering something....

What is the magic in waiting?
What do you expect will suddenly be different one week, two weeks, a month from now?

As Busy Moms - there will always be too much to do. And guess what....there is no “perfect time” - except the time that you can take RIGHT NOW - to make a firm decision to begin something that is Overflowing with benefits into your life and the lives of your family.

If I told you that you could...

~ Have more energy
~ Eliminate cravings
~ Dramatically reduce stress
~ Drop a Jean Size
~ Feel good about yourself again

Would you smile, look me in the eye and say...."No thanks, not right now, the time just isn't right" Huh...?

If not now -to Look and Feel great.... then when? And when that time arrives....what is to prevent you from making the exact same statement? Then you look up to find another year has passed!

So what are you hoping to accomplish by putting off what you deserve to have right now?

It is quite unfortunate that during the holiday season, on the cusp of the New Year where "resolutioners" come out of their sedentary lifestyles for a brief moment as they promise..."This time I will lose weight" - only to find themselves defeated yet again as they quickly revert back to old habits.

It's pretty obvious that this approach just does not work. Taking the easy route, the route that allows us to stay with unsupportive, familiar habits is giving us nothing in return - in fact it is draining and taking away your 3 sources power ... your valuable time, money and energy.

Super Busy Mom, Sarah Z. came to an amazing realization...

"One of the things that has been holding me back was needing to feel like everything was 'in place' (more or less) before I took the time to exercise.

I felt like I had to 'have time' to exercise.

Nope, I've got to make time, I know...but now I know what that really means.

It means making time to do it REGARDLESS OF THE CHAOS around me. I am now starting to visualize a messy house (not too hard :) a stack of piles waiting for me -- and me exercising anyway -- and then tacking all that stuff AFTER I've exercised."

This is a brilliant realization and one you need to take to heart, moms.

"Your actions express your priorities"

What statement are you making about what matters most to you if you put it on the back burner?

Moms - It's Time! Time to make your health and fitness, your ability to reclaim your pre-baby body, your ability to look in the mirror and feel good about what you see a Priority starting today. Fit Yummy Mummy is your solution to putting your priorities into action.

Holly Rigsby, CPT, MAT America’s #1 Fat Loss Expert for Busy Moms and the author of www.FitYummyMummy.com. Holly has worked with over 300 Mom's to help them lose the stubborn baby fat, get their pre-baby body back and reclaim their yummy-ness. Don't miss her Free Report: Top 5 Busy Mom Metabolism Boosters.

Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny

2008-07-24T19:58:00.001-07:00

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self improvement.

Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or another. These dart pins will destroy your self esteem and pull you down in ways you won’t even remember. Don’t let them destroy you, or get the best of you. So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin #1 : Negative Work Environment
Beware of “dog eat dog” theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned. Stay out of this, it will ruin your self esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is.

Dart Pin #2: Other People’s Behavior
Bulldozers, brown nosers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronizers, sluffers… all these kinds of people will pose bad vibes for your self esteem, as well as to your self improvement scheme.

Dart Pin #3: Changing Environment
You can’t be a green bug on a brown field. Changes challenge our paradigms. It tests our flexibility, adaptability and alters the way we think. Changes will make life difficult for awhile, it may cause stress but it will help us find ways to improve our selves. Change will be there forever, we must be susceptible to it.

Dart Pin #4: Past Experience
It’s okay to cry and say “ouch!” when we experience pain. But don’t let pain transform itself into fear. It might grab you by the tail and swing you around. Treat each failure and mistake as a lesson.

Dart Pin #5: Negative World View
Look at what you’re looking at. Don’t wrap yourself up with all the negativities of the world. In building self esteem, we must learn how to make the best out of worst situations.

Dart Pin #6: Determination Theory
The way you are and your behavioral traits is said to be a mixed end product of your inherited traits (genetics), your upbringing (psychic), and your environmental surroundings such as your spouse, the company, the economy or your circle of friends. You have your own identity. If your father is a failure, it doesn’t mean you have to be a failure too. Learn from other people’s experience, so you’ll never have to encounter the same mistakes.

Sometimes, you may want to wonder if some people are born leaders or positive thinkers. NO. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self esteem and drawing lines for self improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. God wouldn’t come down from heaven and tell you – “George, you may now have the permission to build self esteem and improve your self.”

In life, its hard to stay tough specially when things and people around you keep pulling you down. When we get to the battle field, we should choose the right luggage to bring and armors to use, and pick those that are bullet proof. Life’s options give us arrays of more options. Along the battle, we will get hit and bruised. And wearing a bullet proof armor ideally means ‘self change’. The kind of change which comes from within. Voluntarily. Armor or Self Change changes 3 things: our attitude, our behavior and our way of thinking.

Building self esteem will eventually lead to self improvement if we start to become responsible for who we are, what we have and what we do. Its like a flame that should gradually spread like a brush fire from inside and out. When we develop self esteem, we take control of our mission, values and discipline. Self esteem brings about self improvement, true assessment, and determination. So how do you start putting up the building blocks of self esteem? Be positive. Be contented and happy. Be appreciative. Never miss an opportunity to compliment. A positive way of living will help you build self esteem, your starter guide to self improvement.

Discover How A Lazy Unmotivated Underachiever Transformed Into A Millionaire At Just Age 26!

The Greatest Quad Builder... That Almost No One Wants To Do

2008-07-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

It’s axiomatic that the exercises which give you the best results are always the hardest ones to do. If you want a huge back… you row and deadlift. If you want huge legs, you squat… OR… you do THIS leg exercise – that almost no one wants to do because its one of the hardest of them all.

Which one am I talking about? FRONT SQUATS!

In my opinion, front squats are one of the absolute best quad builders. Back squats are a tremendous mass builder as well, but front squats introduce an additional level of challenge because they require flexibility, technique, and core strength because the bar must be held and balanced on the front of the shoulders. As such, the front squat does everything the back squat does and more.

One great advantage of the front squat, especially for someone like me, having previously suffered a low back injury (herniated L4), is that the torso can be held in a more upright (vertical position). Since there is less forward trunk inclination, this removes some of the stress and shear forces from the lower back. At the same time, this upright position is closer to a bodybuilding squat and throws much more emphasis on the quads and less on the hips. It is truly a superb bodybuilding exercise.

There are two styles of front squatting, the Olympic lifting style and the crossed arm style. I find that most athletes, and of course Olympic lifters, use the former, while most bodybuilders seem to prefer the latter. The barbell should generally be your weapon of choice, but for bodybuilders, front squats on the smith machine are an outstanding alternative. The Smith machine front squat takes some of the balance issues out of the picture, which allows the physique athlete to really focus on working the muscle rather than worrying about balance and stabilization. Be sure to rotate between both versions, however– barbell and smith machine – because long term overuse or dependency on machines may lead to stabilizer weakness or muscle imbalances and variety is never a bad idea in the physique game. Incidentally, the barbell front squat is an outstanding “core” exercise.

A third version of the front squat worth considering is the dumbbell front squat (especially the sumo or wide stance version). These can be performed holding a single dumbbell with both hands on the front of the shoulders, cupped between both hands (goblet squat) or with two dumbbells, one in each hand, resting on top of each shoulder. The limiting factor on these front squat variations is often the poundage, as holding heavy dumbbells can become unwieldy. This can be partially overcome by performing the dumbbell front squat last in a leg workout or second in a superset, or by manipulating tempo and range of motion so the exercise is made more difficult. The dumbbell variations are also a great choice for women who usually don’t require as much weight as men for stimulation.

I find that the front squat is particularly effective at developing the tear drop shaped vastus medialis portion of the (“lower”) quads, and you can emphasize this effect even more by elevating your heels on a board or a wedge. Elevating your heels is considered controversial and some say that this is damaging to the knees. I’m not convinced that this is the case with a slight elevation and very strict form and controlled tempo, although I would not recommend this method to anyone with existing knee problems. There is certainly a risk to benefit ratio of every technique variation, and you have to decide if the added potential benefit is worth the potential risk, depending on your particular situation (consult the appropriate medical or training professional if you’re not sure)

You can also emphasize the medialis and increase overall effectiveness by working FULL squats (breaking parallel) and only coming up three quarters (no locking out). Have you ever seen Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman’s workout videos? I realize that Mr Olympia’s bodybuilding video tapes are not “workout instruction” nor do they really have anything to do with us mere mortals, but I pay attention to everything in the world of bodybuilding, and I did find it very interesting to watch Ronnie front squatting 500+ pounds. I also found it interesting that he went rock bottom and he did ¾ reps without releasing tension for even a single rep. Although he certainly has some advantages over other bodybuilders, everything is relative and he has some ridiculous quads, even compared to other IFBB pros. Indeed, continuous tension ¾ reps are a tremendous technique to employ with the front squat exercise, regardless of whether you’re a novice or a pro. Be prepared to leave your ego at home, however.

In addition to the ¾ reps, try manipulating your tempo. It will limit your poundage even further, but what you sacrifice in strength you will make up in hypertrophy. Whereas a regular rep might be 2011 or 3011 tempo, or even a full-out explosive concentric with a controlled eccentric, bodybuilders may want to try utilizing a tempo of 3020, or (even harder) 4030. With sets of 10 -12 reps, this will give you a minimum of 50-70 seconds of continuous time under tension. The lactic acid burn around the 10-12th^th rep has to be felt to be “appreciated.” The only thing more difficult than continuous tension/non-lockout ¾ reps are continuous tension, non-lockout reps with a slow tempo. Truly a quad killer!

Note: 4-point tempo prescriptions are as follows:

3020 tempo =
3 = negative/eccentric action
0 = pause in stretch/bottom position
2 = positive/concentric action
0 = pause in contracted/top position

So if front squats are so good, why don’t more people do them? Simple – because they’re damn hard. Here is what I usually see happen: Someone will start front squatting (or try to), and they inevitably put on way too much weight. Their form is horrible, it feels totally uncomfortable and unbalanced, so our novice front squatter quits and writes off front squats for good after only one try, and heads back over to the leg press machine.

I usually advise them to unload the bar and master the form first with very light weights, but invariably, ego gets in the way, and 315-405 squatters and 1000+ pound leg pressers don’t want to be seen with a single “wheel” (45 pound plate) on each side of an Olympic bar while they patiently master the technique for a new exercise. Alas, they never learn to front squat, they go back to what is easy and familiar and they never gain all the benefits of this awesome exercise.

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Lifetime Natural Bodybuilder
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle By Tom Venuto

2008-07-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, The #1 best-selling diet ebook on the Internet (as rated by clickbank.com), is completely unique and different from other programs on the diet market because it's not a weight loss program - it's a fat loss program. Once you've read just the first three chapters, there will be no doubt in your mind that pursuing weight loss is not only the wrong goal, it may be the reason why you've failed to reach and maintain your ideal body weight

Burn The fat shows you exactly why it's fat you must lose, not weight, why you cannot succeed with starvation diets, and then shows you exactly how to burn off fat, step by step, in one of the most detailed fat loss nutrition books ever written.

If you're interested in learning exactly what to eat to lose fat the natural way - without supplements, without drugs and without slowing down your metabolism - while also learning the why behind it all, then this program could truly change your life. Get more information at:

www.burnthefat.com

How To Lose The Last Few Pounds Of Ab Flab

2008-07-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

By Tom Venuto
www.burnthefat.com

"Stubborn Fat." You know what I'm talking about - the kind of flab that sticks to you in those hard-to-lose places: The lower abs, the lower back, the "love handles," the back of the arms, the upper-thigh/butt area - yeah, THAT fat!

How do the bodybuilders and fitness models do it? I mean, how do they get that hyper-ripped, thin-skinned look that reveals every ripple and sinew and mound of chiseled muscle definition?

I can tell you this- the answer is NOT drugs. I've never taken a steroid or physique-enhancing drug in my life, and I routinely hit 3-4% body fat for bodybuilding contests without difficulty. Some drugs work, but they are NEVER more than a temporary solution, and the nasty side effects just aren't worth it.

The answer is NOT fad diets. It's a FACT - 95% of all diets fail. If you diet the way most people are doing it, you might even be slowing down your metabolism and making yourself FATTER!

The answer is definitely NOT supplements, either. Some of my protégés were spending $300.00 or even $400.00 a month on worthless supplements and they now get BETTER results, FASTER with my new system - with absolutely no supplements whatsoever (or just the bare basics like multi vitamins, protein powder, etc).

After 14 years of trial, error and experimentation, I finally discovered the answer and developed a fool-proof system to reach outrageously low body fat levels the natural way - no drugs, no crash diets and no supplements necessary. And now I'm finally revealing my secrets in this new "Bible of fat loss" called, BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE (BFFM)

These advanced, mega-powerful fat burning secrets do not appear to you magically just because you started working out. These insider nutrition and training techniques are not casually discovered on your own. You need a guide who has been there... done that...

I will be your own personal coach, take you by the hand, and lead you through the lousy advice, marketing B.S., hype, fads and gimmicks...and directly to the sort of physical condition that will make your body a specimen of magnificent proportions and flawless symmetry - The type of body that is envied, admired and noticed by everyone.

Don't even THINK about buying any supplements or going on any diet until you read my revealing, no-holds barred fat loss report... Click here to read it now!

How to Lose Man Boobs

2008-07-22T18:55:00.001-07:00

By Jason Ferruggia

Seinfeld fans will undoubtedly never forget the episode in which Frank Costanza and Kramer invented the mansierre, which was a bra for men with excessive breast development. While we all laughed hysterically some people were just the slightest bit uncomfortable because the reality is that an inordinate number of men have “moobs,” or man boobs. If you want to lose man boobs then read on.

Having man boobs is often due to excessively high body fat levels. But it can also be due to high levels of estrogen. Having high estrogen can not only cause you to gain body fat in the chest and lower abdominal area but it can lead to numerous health issues and diseases. Unfortunately more and more males are suffering from increasingly high estrogen levels and this is leading to the continued feminization of the male species as we know it.

It has to stop now before it’s too late.

How do you do that, you ask?

Simple. Follow my advice below and you will start to get your estrogen levels in check immediately and hopefully eliminate your need for ever having to call up Kramer and Frank for one of their prized inventions.

1) Don’t eat fake foods. If a cavemen couldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t eat. All the chemicals and artificial junk that they put in most foods these days can lead to increased estrogen levels and numerous other health problems.

2) Avoid eating and drinking out of plastic as much as possible.

3) Eat only organic, pesticide and chemical free, organic produce, preferably purchased from a local farmers market.

4) Avoid all meat and dairy unless you are 100% sure that it is drug free and organic. All of the drugs and hormones that go into most animal and dairy products will wreak havoc on your body, dramatically boost estrogen levels and lead to heart disease and cancer.

5) Limit your consumption of fish to no more than once or twice per week. Fish is loaded with PCB’s and dioxins that you should really avoid as much as possible. You should also support clean water laws and organizations like Waterkeeper.

6) Only drink purified water. Our water quality continues to worsen all the time and is filled with numerous toxins and estrogenic compounds.

7) Consume citrus fruits regularly.

8) Eat lots of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower.

9) If you must drink alcohol try to avoid beer as much as you can because it is highly estrogenic; thus the acclimation of a beer belly. Red wine is a far better choice and may actually be anti estrogenic.

10) Eat a good amount of organic nuts and seeds. A high intake of organic nuts has been linked to increased virility in men.

11) And finally, be sure to only train with short, high intensity workouts that actually boost testosterone levels and decrease estrogen. This includes resistance training and energy system work. Unfortunately, the wrong training program can actually make things worse instead of better.

To skyrocket your testosterone levels, rid yourself of excessive estrogen and lose man boobs for good, go to http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

Be relentless,
Jason Ferruggia

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including more than 500 athletes from over 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of articles for numerous top rated training magazines and websites and has authored four fitness books. He is also the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com

Smoothie Recipes For Athletes

2008-07-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

What could you do if you had more Energy? How many times have you thought 'if I only had more energy, I could get more done'? Almost everyday I bet!

What do you do when you find your energy lagging? Go for something with Caffeine? Sugar? Junk food? This is what most of do, and it does help us briefly but then we come crashing down, feeling drained and needing more.

For many of this it also leads to weight gain because we're constantly filling up on junk food for a quick fix.

Do you find yourself wishing you had more energy? Always feeling like there is never enough hours in the day to get everything done?

"Smoothies for Athletes" contains over 120 mouth-watering Smoothie Recipes that will not only taste good, give you more energy, but are good for you as well!

Just whip up one of these yummy smoothies whenever you need an energy boost!

"Smoothies for Athletes" will make you feel like an athlete! You'll have more energy to tackle all those things you have to get done everyday! Getting more done will help you feel better mentally because you feel like you've accomplished so much more each day!

"Smoothies for Athletes" is great for anyone who wants more energy!

Lady Doctor Gets Death Threats for Revealing TOP SECRET Fat Loss Secret to General Public!

2008-07-22T18:53:00.002-07:00

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to forever shed countless pounds, stay healthy, and add many years to your life!

A lady doctor from Arizona has blown the lid off the best-kept secret in weight loss ever discovered -- and this has the whole diet food and drug industries turned upside down and in nothing less than a torrential uproar.

Her name is Dr Suzanne Gudakunst, and she's marching to the beat of a different drum.

And no, nothing about her "secret" is difficult -- nor does it require that you do something completely out of the ordinary or anything unnatural.

Instead, the Arizonian boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2002 when there was so much research and exploration going around concerning the human colon and digestive system working in harmony with nutritional absorption, and I started doing independent studies just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after seeing some fantastic results."

This same woman medical practitioner went on to accurately determine a definitive correlation between harmful plague and parasitic infestations of the human bowel tract, and people suffering chronic obesity -- and who despite intense diet and exercise appeared to be unable to lose any weight whatsoever.

Over the course of six years the Arizona doctor developed a number of natural treatments for the removal of these same harmful, even life-threatening plaques and rapidly reproducing digestive parasites -- and when applied to even worse-case patients suffering extreme obesity (98% of which were in immediate danger of dying) she saw a 100% effectiveness and success rate.

She then borrowed from her research on the severely obese, and applied the same strategies on milder cases of overweight persons -- only to find the same effectiveness and quality results as described above (although the individual weight loss per subject wasn't nearly as much as those obese patients 100 lbs to 200 lbs or more overweight).

So powerful is her secret that she's able to reverse diabetes, rid illness altogether in people suffering from cancer (linked directly to poor diet and overweight factors), as well as an elimination of an entire spectrum of serious and otherwise life-threatening diseases.

Nearly 100% of all her case subjects were told in the alternative by "conventional doctors" that they either had just months or years to live, or they would never live a life anything resembling remotely a "normal" existence -- yet after applying Dr Suzanne's treatments saw a complete contradiction to others doctors' prognoses.

Again, nothing about her secret is unnatural or requires someone to do any major action or modification in their lives.

In fact, her entire treatment is based completely on built-into-nature 'protection agents' scattered throughout the world in the form of select herbs, extracts, and organic constituents, and which can be found in a variety of plants -- but when combined in specific combinations and carefully chosen amounts make for a solution to what is perhaps the world's worst ever plague: OBESITY (and the illnesses and diseases resulting from it -- or at least severely aggravated or exacerbated by it).

Now to everyone else's great gain, whether suffering from just a few extra pounds and inches, to those extremely fat and overweight, this brave, bold lady doctor is releasing to the general public her secret for forever destroying the tight unrelenting closed-fist of obesity's stronghold over the now more than 40% of Americans labeled obese, and others worldwide.

But she's not promising any of us for how long.

Some experts and sociologists suggest that in the bigger scheme of things, the world will never tolerate a discovery of such magnitude, any more than it would be realistic to expect a car that runs on water (even if very real) to ever become commercially available to the general public for day-to-day use.

One well-respected and famous diet & wellness author wrote years ago that if anyone ever "truly unlocked the keys to permanent fat loss, they may actually suffer the same fate as JFK."

It is currently available at:

TopSecretFatLossSecret.com

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it and before someone or "something" gets it forever yanked out of ever getting in YOUR hand at least.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in rapid, massive weight loss and extremely improved and enhanced health, now made freely available to the rest of us?

Why Bother With The Master Cleanse?

2008-07-22T18:53:00.001-07:00

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Master Cleanse. Lately it seems like every Hollywood actress or actor who needs to get in shape is turning to this decades old health system that involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

With all the diets out there to choose from why would anyone bother with the Master Cleanse?

There's two main reasons people like the Master Cleanse. The first (and most obvious) is that it works. The results people are getting with the Master Cleanse border on miraculous, and they are backed by thousands of devoted users who are living testimonials to the effectiveness of the Master Cleanse.

The second reason people choose the Master Cleanse over other diets and wellness programs is that it's fast. The typical person only spends 10 days on the Master Cleanse, compared to other diets that can last months or even years you can see why they choose the Master Cleanse.

Another interesting thing about the Master Cleanse lasting just 10 days is that you only need a short term burst of will power to get through it. Having to sacrifice for months is what makes other diets so hard to stay on, but most people can will their way through 10 days.

What can you expect from 10 days on the Master Cleanse?

Even though most people are going on the Master Cleanse to lose weight quickly, there's many other health benefits to be gained by doing the Master Cleanse. Flushing out your system is what the Master Cleanse is really designed to do. Even back 60 years ago when the Master Cleanse was first invented people had health problems as a result of waste building up inside of them. Today with processed foods, pollution, and all around poor diets our bodies desperately need to be flushed out every once in a while.

When you flush out your body with the Master Cleanse the waste you eliminate will be abnormal. The smell, color, and texture of the waste that comes out of your body shocks some people, so you should be prepared.

If you want to try the Master Cleanse there's more you need to know then just drinking the lemonade mixture for 10 days. In fact most people who try the Master Cleanse without knowing all the steps fail. If you think the Master Cleanse is something you would like to try then you should read the Master Cleanse Secrets book before starting the Master Cleanse because it covers the common problems people face, and how to avoid them.

Would you like to join me on the Master Cleanse?
Click here to find out how...

3 Rules For Finishing The Master Cleanse

2008-07-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

If you are not prepared for what you'll experience when you do the Master Cleanse there's a good chance you'll fail. Typically lasting just 10 days, it's easy to see why people just "jump right in" to the Master Cleanse thinking it will be easy. It's not.

During your time on the Master Cleanse you are likely to experience hunger, aches, and irritability. Most people give up because of hunger. Putting solid food aside for a couple days and only drinking liquids is harder then most people think. Even though the cravings for whole foods can be difficult they do subside after a few days on the Master Cleanse.

So rule number 1 for finishing the Master Cleanse is getting past the third day. Instead of focusing on completing the entire 10 days from the onset of the cleanse just focus on getting past day 3. Breaking the Master Cleanse down into smaller milestones will be a big help.

Rule number 2 for finishing the Master Cleanse is dealing with aches and soreness. Headaches are one of the most common Master Cleanse side effects, but some people also get body aches.

To reduce aches you should drink a lot of water. It's also good to relax and not push your self too hard when you do the Master Cleanse. Exercising should be kept to light walking and stretching. Your body will be going through a rigorous cleansing process during the Master Cleanse, and won't be able to adequately recover from intense exercise during this time.

Rule number 3 for finishing the Master Cleanse is overcoming irritability. This affects the people around you more then it does yourself, but it's something you need to be aware of before starting the Master Cleanse.

It's best to let the people around you know that you're going to be doing the Master Cleanse ahead of time so they can do their best to accommodate you. Also try to plan your Master Cleanse when you're not too busy. Most of us can't just take 10 days off to do the Master Cleanse, but you should try to avoid doing it when you're swamped at work, or have other stressful events going on in your life.

There's more to succeeding at the Master Cleanse then I can cover in this small article. If you are serious about trying the Master Cleanse and want to be one of the people who do make it through the whole 10 days, then the Master Cleanse Secrets book is the most complete guide available for helping you get through the Master Cleanse.

Would you like to join me on the Master Cleanse?
Click here to find out how...

Fast Weight Loss: 4 Tips to Lose Weight Quickly

2008-07-20T00:10:00.001-07:00

If you're on a busy schedule you might not have time to prepare elaborate meals, or restrict yourself from foods you love and serve your family. Here are 4 tips for fast weight loss that won't take a lot of time.

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The Culmulative Effect on Our Children

2008-07-19T21:09:00.019-07:00

The Cumulative Effect on Our ChildrenHormones are injected into cattle and sheep to promote weight gains in the animals. The faster weight gains reduce the waiting time for the animals' slaughter, ...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Control your pregnancy weight during and post pregnancy

2008-07-19T21:09:00.017-07:00

pregnancy without poundsOne of the chief ways of controlling pregnancy weight gain is by exercising. Your b...

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Biomarkers Study goes on...

2008-07-19T21:09:00.015-07:00

SAGE, a World Health Organization project, began the study in April. It involves longitudinal study spanning around 10 to 15 years and also a multi-country study involving India, China, Ghana, South A...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Tips for Fast Weight Loss

2008-07-19T21:09:00.013-07:00

If you are one of the many people trying to lose weight, you are probably wondering if there is a fast weight loss or a rapid weight loss diet plan that you can use in order to get results that you wa...

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[Source: GoArticles Fitness Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Health Magnets: How Do They Really Work?

2008-07-19T21:09:00.011-07:00

TOP TEN WAYS MAGNETIC ENERGY CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFEHow do people use magnetic energy to help them with daily life issues? Some examples follow: 1. Energy BoosterThrough some little-known ...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Antiaging Skin Care - Collagen Who?

2008-07-19T21:09:00.009-07:00

Antiaging skin care articles have a Ms. Collagen that appears every time. After researching on how Ms. Collagen has such a vital affect on our skin I decided to look her up in the dictionary. Their d...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

The Secrets of Meditation

2008-07-19T21:09:00.007-07:00

Meditation is a discipline of consciousness that has been practiced for over 5,000 years by many different cultures by people from around the world.

Goals of Meditation

Diff...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

The Fountain of Youth is Right Before Your Eyes

2008-07-19T21:09:00.005-07:00

These simple tips about water and hydration can drastically improve your health and appearance:Drink more water every day. Water plays the single most important role in our lives in achie...

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[Source: GoArticles Health Category - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

The Ins and Outs of Alzheimer's Disease

2008-07-19T21:09:00.003-07:00

Slow losing one's memory and ability to function is just about as bad a fate as one could imagine. Unfortunately, Alzheimer's disease promises such a fate. Here are the ins and outs of this medical pr...

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Man Boobs: Causes and Treatments

2008-07-19T21:09:00.001-07:00

Man boobs is an embarrassing condition. There are many men who suffer from this condition and have tried to correct the situation without success. This is because man boobs can be a serious condition,...

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Make Goal Setting A Cinch Posted By : Ronnie Nijmeh

2008-07-19T18:08:00.019-07:00

Do you know where you want to go in life but you just don't know how to get there? Goal setting is a great way to achieve any long-term plans.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Self Improvement | Goal Setting - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Antioxidants and Cardiovascular Disorders Posted By : New Vitality Editorial Team

2008-07-19T18:08:00.017-07:00

The article talks about the major cardiovascular diseases prevalent in America and the causes leading to a rise in such disorders. It showcases the role and impact of antioxidants in controlling cardiovascular diseases. The article also discusses the various factors to be considered while selecting an antioxidant supplement for the cardiovascular disorders.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Health & Fitness | Cardio - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

When it Comes To Nutrition, Just Exactly What Are The Best Foods Posted By : john jones

2008-07-19T18:08:00.015-07:00

There is so much advice out there on Nutrition it's become an absolute minefield, especially with the advent of the internet, just what is it all about.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Health & Fitness | Nutrition - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Love quotes - Adding Romance to Your Life Posted By : lopazski

2008-07-19T18:08:00.013-07:00

The subject of love may be one that is written about more than any other around the globe or throughout history. The great romantic poets such as William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are prime examples of stating love quotes in timeless language.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Self Improvement | Goal Setting - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

The 5 Pillars of Personal Development Posted By : Ryan Whiteside

2008-07-19T18:08:00.011-07:00

Personal development is a subject that has the power to change your life. Learn the 5 pillars of personal development and watch as everything in your life begins to become a reality.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Self Improvement | Goal Setting - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Goal Setting: Finally, Achieve The Goals You Set Posted By : Joanne Roibu

2008-07-19T18:08:00.009-07:00

My ability to clearly accomplish objectives was beyond reproach. I was exceptionally good at planning and successfully achieving goals in the corporate world. I was using leading edge, planning and goal setting tools, tried and tested! I knew they worked.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Self Improvement | Goal Setting - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Women Build Muscle Tips Posted By : Elle Nash

2008-07-19T18:08:00.007-07:00

I'm going to show you my favorite muscle building tips for women. There is a lot of disadvantages women have when it comes to this type of goal. The lack of testosterone is the most apparent, but you can really have great success if you take advantage of all the little things that your body has to offer you. When I started out there wasn't much in the way of information for women, but I learned a lot from trial and error. It's almost been a decade since I started,

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Health & Fitness | Muscle Building - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Raw Milk Health Benefits and Facts Posted By : Raven Miller

2008-07-19T18:08:00.005-07:00

Hearing lots of controversial information on raw milk? Don't believe everything you read. Educate yourself on the benefits of this natural and delicious alternative to store-bought pasteurized and homogenized milk. Once you are enlightened, you will never look at milk the same way again.

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[Source: Article Directory - Free Articles - ArticleCube.com: Health & Fitness | Nutrition - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Practical Tips on How to Get Six Pack Abs Fast

2008-07-19T18:08:00.003-07:00

I struggled for quite awhile trying to figure out a way to obtain six pack abs and I finally found a system that has been working very well for me. There were two key changes that I made to achieve the results that I was looking for. One of them was a change in eating habits and the other was a change in the way I was working out.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Learn How to Gain Muscle Mass

2008-07-19T18:08:00.001-07:00

Three things you need to know if you want to gain muscle. Follow these rules and you'll bulk up like you never thought you could!

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

How to Get a Big Body - Here Are the Guaranteed Secrets to Massive Growth Almost Instantly

2008-07-13T10:01:00.019-07:00

When it comes to the matter of body building one assumes that it's all about spending hours in the gym trying too hard. You see the fact of the matter is that it's not about working hard anymore it's actually about working smart. There are some stunningly easy ways to get a huge body extremely fast using some underground secrets. Read on to discover what these secrets are and achieve earth shattering results.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Why Yoga and Fitness Go Hand and Hand

2008-07-13T10:01:00.017-07:00

There are so many good reasons to start doing yoga, it makes sense that being fit would be on the top of the list. Fitness and yoga go hand and hand because yoga has several different components that are probably missing from your other exercise routines. This is because yoga is about infusing the body, mind and soul, while helping strengthen the spinal cord.

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Why Your Calves Won't Grow

2008-07-13T10:01:00.015-07:00

The calves can be on of the most annoying body parts to train as a bodybuilder. If your genetics are bad, then it will be almost impossible to bring your calves up to the level of the rest of your body. By bad genetics, what I am referring to is...

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Our main concern is your contentment.

2008-07-13T10:01:00.013-07:00

Welcome to the online pharmacy that has its customer's needs as its top priority. It is no wonder that more and more people are becoming frustrated with their local pharmacies. We offer what is now quite difficult to find at your neighborhood pharmacy chain: superior customer service and a vast selection of medications to meet the needs of our customers.

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Love Eating Chinese Food? Think Again

2008-07-13T10:01:00.011-07:00

Everyone loves Chinese food, but the menu is loaded with items you should avoid.

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Lower Your Cholesterol While Still Eating What You Love

2008-07-13T10:01:00.009-07:00

How does high cholesterol come about? Sometimes, it's a predisposition you are born with. It does run in some families, in which case, even more care is necessary to bring it down. It can also be a result of smoking or eating a high fat diet. Lack of exercise and being obese could also see your cholesterol levels spiraling! The reason high cholesterol is a source of worry is the fact that it is, very often, the cause for serious complications like cardiac ailments.

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The Internet, Alcohol, And Sleep: That May Contribute To Weight Gain In Adolescent Girls, Journal Of Pediatrics

2008-07-13T10:01:00.007-07:00

Girls moving through adolescence may experience unhealthy levels of weight gain, but the reasons for this are not always clear. In fact, many potential causes of weight gain are easily overlooked. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics analyzes the effect of Internet usage, sleep, and alcohol and coffee consumption on weight gain in adolescent girls. Dr.

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Acne - Best Prevention for Acne

2008-07-13T10:01:00.005-07:00

Looking for a prevention method for acne will solve most of your health problems. Your skin will be blemish free and you would feel special and blessed. A blemish starts forming at least two to three weeks prior to appearing on the surface of the skin. Hence, you may not be able to notice any improvements for one month.

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Infidelity Expert Stephany Alexander Lists Top 10 Tips to Infidelity-Proof Your Relationship

2008-07-13T10:01:00.003-07:00

Infidelity can sneak up on even the most solid partnerships. According to an infidelity poll conducted by WomanSavers.com of 6,330 women, 92% believe that emotional affairs lead to physical affairs, whereas only a mere 7% believe they do not.

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Exercises for Weight loss - Weight Loss Tips

2008-07-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

There are a number of exercises for weight loss. Most of these exercises are beneficial for weight loss. There are a number of exercises that helps to weight loss. The different levels of these exercises help an individual to control the weig

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The 5 Important Elements to Having Ripped Abs

2008-07-07T17:17:00.009-07:00

Having ripped abs can increase your fitness levels and personal confidence. Here are the 5 must steps you should consider, if you want to obtain a lustrous midsection.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Get Ripped Abs and Control by Controlling Your Body's PH Levels

2008-07-07T17:17:00.007-07:00

Keeping and maintaining a healthy diet is key, can be tough but like anything, it takes time and a little sacrifice. Whether you want or you just want to look and feel great, taking preventative measures will increase your overall wellness and longevity.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Skinny to Muscle - FAQ For Skinny Bodies Trying to Build Muscle

2008-07-07T17:17:00.005-07:00

To get from skinny to muscle bound is not easy as anyone with a skinny frame will tell you. The skinny body type has a different way of working that others and some think that it is impossible to get a ripped looking body and just stop trying. Here are some answer to questions about body building for skinny people that can help you understand your body type and how to go about gaining muscle mass!

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Does Eating Faster Help You Build More Muscle Or Fat?

2008-07-07T17:17:00.003-07:00

There are two studies that claim that the speed at which you eat a meal can determine how much fat or muscle you can gain. But, they aren't considering all of the factors.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

How to Get Ripped Abs Fast

2008-07-07T17:17:00.001-07:00

Acquiring ripped six pack abs isn't really hard. It is in reality not as complicated as anyone thought it would be. What you have to do to acquire ripped six pack abdominals is to take the right food and to exercise the right way. It's just that easy but sometimes people do it the wrong way thus preventing them from achieving their goal. In this article I will reveal to you the correct and effective way for you to eat, exercise so you can develop your very own ripped six pack abs.

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5 Quick Tips on Weight Lifting Programs For Beginners

2008-07-07T14:16:00.017-07:00

Are you confused as to which beginning weight lifting program you should choose? Run the program through these five recommendations to narrow down your selection.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Where to Find the Best Muscle Building Tips Online

2008-07-07T14:16:00.015-07:00

It's not truly about finding the best muscle building tips online. It's about locating the right tips that works for "you". You can blindly follow one of the millions of ways out there, but would it be much better find out the "exact" ones that are working for so many other men? It sure would and I will tell you how to uncover tons of insider knowledge on this subject.

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Simple Guide on How to Build Muscle Quickly

2008-07-07T14:16:00.013-07:00

In this article I would like to give you a process of how to build muscle quickly. And pack on some pure pounds of muscle. Whether your a skinny guy or you already have some muscles to show, this process will help you to gain muscle.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Truth About Abs Helps Convert That Keg Into a Six Pack

2008-07-07T14:16:00.011-07:00

Are you scared of what other people think when you take your shirt off at the beach? Get rid of this fear and turn you body into the perfect beach body you have always wanted. Learn how to do this and more here.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

How to Get a Rock Hard Body Fast - Here Are the Tips You Simply Can Not Afford to Miss at Any Cost

2008-07-07T14:16:00.009-07:00

If body building was so easy every second person out there would be running around with a stunning body but this is simply not the case. Body building is not easy at the same time it's not hard if you know the right ways and tricks to really see some real results. You see in order to get a good body you must train like a body builder. There are some secret methods body builders use which triple their muscle gaining capacity. Read on to discover what these tricks are and achieve earth shattering results.

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How to Build Muscle Size and Strength 3 Easy Tips

2008-07-07T14:16:00.007-07:00

In this article I am going to give you 3 easy tips on how to build muscle size and strength. Muscle building and strength gaining doesn't have to be hard. The best way to do it is to take it slowly, work hard but don't burn yourself out in the process.

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How to Gain Muscle Mass - Finding the Truly Great Info

2008-07-07T14:16:00.005-07:00

There are so many men trying to find information on how to gain muscle mass. There is just so much "fluff" on the internet that it can be close to impossible to find the actual tips and techniques that work. If only there was a simple and effective way to find out exact what is working for so many other people out there. Well, there is, and I will share it with you.

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[Source: Health and Fitness: Build Muscle Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Bodybuilding - Build Muscle Faster With the Right Tips

2008-07-07T14:16:00.003-07:00

I have no doubt that you have spent your fair share of time looking for bodybuilding tips and ways to build muscle faster. It's a fascinating subject that can actually be fun to do. The truth is that 90% of men actually give up way before they see results. I want to share with you a little secret that can help you find out exactly what other people have done to start seeing amazing results when it comes to body building and gaining muscles.

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Cholesterol Screening And Treatment Recommended For Overweight Children

2008-07-07T14:16:00.001-07:00

Because of the urgent need to address the childhood obesity epidemic, the American Academy of Pediatrics is revising its 10 year old policy statement on cholesterol in childhood and recommending that overweight children receive cholesterol screening and treatment regardless of family history or other risk factors. The AAP policy review is published as an article in the 1st July issue of Pediatrics.

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[Source: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness News From Medical News Today - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Elite coaching special - Marathon world record holder Paul Tergat

2008-07-07T10:31:00.019-07:00

Author Pat Heath explains: Paul Tergat has been one of the worldanersquo;s greatest distance runners with five World Titles at cross country, a 10K world record, and a hatful of honours at half marathon.In 2002 Paul made his debut at marathon. Both he and arch-rival Haile Gebrselassie were beaten by Khalid Khannouchi who clocked a new world record but it was clear that Paul had great potential at the distance.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

2008-07-07T10:31:00.017-07:00

Six pack abs are not difficult to get if you are willing to exercise the right way towards this goal. Having well defined abdominal muscles is a goal that many of us have but few attain. This is because we do not work hard enough at how to get six pack abs.

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How to Get a Six Pack Fast - The Best Tips to Get Started Now

2008-07-07T10:31:00.015-07:00

Finally, the best way to get a six pack fast! Start showing off you six pack in no time if you follow these steps.

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How Many Packs of Cigarettes Did Yul Brynner Smoke When He Died?

2008-07-07T10:31:00.013-07:00

Yul Brynner was a famous actor the world over when lung cancer struck him down at the age of 65. But just how many cigarettes did he smoke? Discover this fact and more in this article.Yul Brynne...

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The Beauty of Beach Cruiser Bikes

2008-07-07T10:31:00.011-07:00

Author Howard Giske explains: There's something beautiful about beach cruiser bikes. Where else will guys get such a chance to show off their muscles? Nowhere, except maybe at the gym. Girls too can show off their assets, in a short skirt and a pair of sunglasses. Donanersquo;t forget to talk on the cell phone too, to show how many things you can do at once. Beach cruisers, especially at certain California and East Coast campuses have been associated with an easy-going neo-hippie type of lifestyle, but, the funny thing is that in many cases, the kidsanersquo; parents have as strong an attraction to beach cruisers as the college kids do. You can see families headed by the 40-something mom, dad or both leading the kids all riding beach cruisers or low rider bikes.

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Six-Pack Abs Muscle Building Program

2008-07-07T10:31:00.009-07:00

Advanced exercises for your abs. Can you do these exercises?

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Intro to Rock Climbing

2008-07-07T10:31:00.007-07:00

Author JB Mills explains: Few sports can test your physical and mental endurance like the way rock climbing does. Climbing even a relatively small rock can take literally hours. If you are interested in rock climbing then you will have to prepare yourself mentally as well as physically. You will also need to gather as much information as possible on Rock Climbing through the internet; libraries or you can talk to a rock climbing professional.

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Can Weightlifting Improve Your Overall Health?

2008-07-07T10:31:00.005-07:00

Would you like to add a few healthy years to your life? Or maybe regain some of that miss-spent youthful vigor? Try weightlifting for a lift in your overall health. Weightlifting has many proven health benefits and is something you can do at any age. But you need to start!

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Device Blocking Stomach Nerve Signals Shows Promise In Obesity

2008-07-07T10:31:00.003-07:00

A new implantable medical device, developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic researchers, shows promise as a reversible and less extreme alternative to existing bariatric surgeries, according to findings published in the current issue of the journal Surgery.

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[Source: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness News From Medical News Today - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Toning Abs Can Be Easy - Three Fundamental Techniques Which Will Get You the Perfect Abs

2008-07-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

Find out what are the three simple, yet effective techniques, which will help you to get a leaner, more toned up physique. Discover how those three fundamental techniques will help you tone up your abs quickly!

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Body Building Supplements - The Good, Bad and the Ugly

2008-07-06T19:09:00.003-07:00

Author Steven Sharpe explains: Anybody who is serious about body building will want to consider adding a body building supplement to their nutritional program. Supplements contain additional nutrition similar to vitamins, which add the correct elements for a balanced nutritional diet, enabling you to maximise what your body needs to grow muscle fast.

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Anabolic Steroid History

2008-07-06T19:09:00.001-07:00

Author mark henry explains: Surprising it may seem, but tracing the history of anabolic steroid will reveal that there was prevalence of its use among professional athletes in ancient Greece....

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Methods of Physical Therapy for Frozen Shoulder

2008-07-06T19:08:00.007-07:00

Author Milos Pesic explains: While there is no definite cause of frozen shoulder, over 90 percent of patients experience full recovery. Doctors recommend physical therapy for frozen shoulder as the best treatment.

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Body Building Anatomy

2008-07-06T19:08:00.005-07:00

Author Steven Sharpe explains: This article provides a brief overview of the major muscle groups in the body. Knowing what these muscles are and what they are called can be extremely advantageous to the serious body builder, as it will allow him/her to focus in on the various muscle groups and design specific exercises for those muscles.

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The Best Body Building Supplement

2008-07-06T19:08:00.003-07:00

Author Steven Sharpe explains: How can you define which body building supplement is the best? After all, there are so many different brands and types that you can use to enhance your body building workouts that finding the best one can be quite confusing. When we say the word aneldquo;bestanerdquo;, we should be talking about which body building supplement will give you the best results.

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Making Strength Training Accessible

2008-07-06T19:08:00.001-07:00

Author Marc Lebert explains: Fitness professionals know the benefits of strength training and want the best for their clients.

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Eating Fruit Can Help Weight Loss

2008-06-30T14:35:00.003-07:00

Do you like Fruit? Somebody like to eat fruit but somebody not. If you want to lose weight fast, you have to eat fruit. Because fruit is the super food for weight loss. Eating Fruit not only can h...

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[Source: GoArticles Weight Loss Recent Articles - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Bridal Boot Camp

2008-06-30T14:35:00.001-07:00

Topic: Bridal Boot Camp: How to Shape Up and Slim Down for Your Big Day

Sensible and lasting weight loss isn^TMt hard to achieve, but it does take dedication and motivation....

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