Do you remember those good ole days when fresh air was free!

Aw those where the days, you could go outside you’re door and breathe in to your hearts content and it wouldn’t cost a penny! O.K I know I’m being a bit over the top here, but can I ask you would you pay for fresh air?

A couple of years ago you’d never have thought of going into a shop to buy a bottle of water, if you said it to people back then that you were thinking of selling water in your shop you’d have been told that you were crazy and who was going to buy water when all you had to do was stick your head under the tap for free!

But times have change and attitudes have changed. With the great advances we’ve made with new technology unfortunately we also have produced a lot of waste products and gases. The way we live nowadays it seems harder to find somewhere you can go to get a breath of fresh air, you watch the footage on TV of people commuting through smog or in some of the oriental countries where all you can see is cyclists traveling around with what looks like doctors masks on their faces.

So what are you to do?… O.k. you could travel to mountain top get some there but this option isn’t available to everyone and it would also be a bit time consuming if you could do it a couple of times a week but, what about the average Joe.

Well your problems is solved if you live in Columbus in the U.S (although they are popping up all over the place), you can now try out an oxygen bar where you can sit and have a cup of tea and put on a mask and breath in pure oxygen. The bar (no alcohol is served) is supposed to be doing really well. Its clients use it to help relieve headaches and the local hockey team uses it before their matches for an added energy.

It may seem a bit crazy to some of you, the thought of people paying for air but then they said that about bottled water and look what happened there.

Do You Need a Testosterone Supplement To Gain A Lean Physique?

As you explore the various supplements designed to help you achieve greater results with your bodybuilding efforts, you are sure to be confronted with the great testosterone supplement debate. Do you need testosterone supplements? Are testosterone supplements safe?

This debate has been going on for some time now. There are testosterone supplements that are safe, but they are typically made of all natural ingredients, and do not contain anabolic steroids. All bodybuilding organizations ban the use of anabolic steroids, and the FDA bans over the counter supplements that contain anabolic steroids as well.

When using natural testosterone supplements, there are no side effects – under the right conditions. You see, you can have a testosterone level that is normal, low, or high. If it is low or high, there is a negative impact on your health and your bodybuilding efforts.

Bodybuilders should strive for a normal testosterone level, and the level of your testosterone can only be determined by a visit to your doctor, with a simple blood test.

It is important to realize that a high testosterone level does not result in bigger muscles or better performance. Only a normal level of testosterone can accomplish this. When excess testosterone is detected by your body, it stops production of its own testosterone. It also turns the excess testosterone into DHT, which is responsible for baldness and leads to prostate problems.

The body can also turn excess testosterone into estrogen, which is a female hormone, which can result in an appearance that a male bodybuilder definitely does not want. It does all of this, and you get absolutely zero bodybuilding rewards from it.

Typically, when a bodybuilder is using testosterone supplements, without even knowing if he has a low testosterone level, it is because he has been misinformed concerning the benefits – or lack of benefits – of an increased testosterone level.

If you aren’t sure whether you need a testosterone supplement or not, you should first visit your doctor for that blood test. Talk to him about your bodybuilding efforts, and how testosterone affects the building of muscles – and how too much and too little testosterone have a negative effect on your efforts.

If you are in your teens or twenties, you can probably save yourself some money on that doctor’s visit. This is when your testosterone production is at its highest, and you most likely have a normal level of testosterone. However, if you are over thirty, and you are serious about bodybuilding, a visit to your doctor for that blood test to determine whether you need a testosterone supplement is definitely in order.

Bird Flu Drive Thru?

I’ll have a burger and fries to go and while I’m here check me for the bird flu.

Well, no not as such, but drive thru’s may be set up in VA hospitals in America as a suggestion by the government as a quick way of testing people who suspect they may have the bird flu.(This drive thru technique was used last year for a vaccine program in the U.S .)

With the virus already having been found in European birds now, precautions are already being put in place to combat its spread to the U.S but it seems only a matter of weeks or months away before it arrives there too. If the disease mutates enough, at the moment it seems that the avian flu virus hasn’t mutated to the point of being easily spread as it centers itself too deep in the lungs and can’t escape through the usual avenues that the other flu virus is passed on. e.g. from coughing and sneezing.

How is this going to affect you in your day to day living? It could bring up a lot of problems for everyone both socially and financially, due to the fact the all lot of people wont be able to go to work and we’ll all probably have to avoid being in crowded areas,. so work and schools will probably have to close down or take some kind of precautions to avoid the spread of the virus. You may also find more and more people using the internet to carry on their work.

From listening to some of the recent news releases stockpiles of vaccines are already in place to vaccinate some but not enough for all of the population, so another headache to overcome as to who gets the vaccine and who doesn’t. But enough!.. of the bad news this may all blow over and we will look back at this “Avian flu” and laugh and compare it to all the ranting and raving with that took place a couple of years ago when we were all told that the “Millennium bug” would be the undoing of us all and planes would fall out of the sky.

Andeither way whether it does or doesn’t happen, the big pharmaceutical company’s are guaranteed to be laughing all the way to the bank!!

Bodybuilding, Is It Unhealthy?

This is a very common question in today’s society that has been sensitized to the illegal use of performance enhancing drugs in sports and from many of the health warnings that go along with the supplements that bodybuilders use. So is bodybuilding healthy? Or better yet, can it be healthy? Well lets take a few moments to try to answer that question.

First of all you have to evaluate your goals. Are you considering bodybuilding for the purpose of competition or looking good? Or do you just want to be stronger, more fit, better at a sport? These are very different options and can be attained at very different levels of dedication. The first is much harder to achieve and because of this there is a greater temptation to push the limit and try things that are unnatural and potentially unhealthy. The second is just like anything that you do in moderation, a good and very healthy thing. It doesn’t require as much dedication or specialty training and isn’t nearly as hard to achieve. So let’s hope and assume you are choosing the second of the two options what are the benefits?

The first and major benefit is that you gain strength through bodybuilding. Strength is very important because it protects your joints and bones from damage due to trauma or repetitive type injuries. Lifting weights has also been shown to increase and maintain bone density, an especially important thing for older women who have to pay a lot of attention to preventing osteoporosis and all of the pain and risk involved with that disease. Increased strength also means increased muscle mass which is good for several reasons.

First muscle is the great regular of glucose metabolism. It is very sensitive to the effects of insulin and helps the body to maintain normal glucose levels and decreases the risks of diabetes mellitus. Muscle also has a very high rate of metabolism and is a very efficient consumer of calories that are stored up in fat cells. This makes it easier to maintain your weight and to avoid all of the harmful effects of obesity and high body fat.

So if you were considering bodybuilding please save yourselves a lot of trouble while at the same time squeezing the maximum potential for enjoyment of this life by doing it in a healthy fashion. Don’t use steroids but do get to the gym and pump some
iron.

Bodybuilding 101

Bodybuilding is a great pastime for people of any age. When you are young you may not even realize what you are doing in your everyday common or specific exercise activity is considered bodybuilding. As you get older bodybuilding might be something you do less for fun and more for the preservation of your health and appearance.

You may ask what types of bodybuilding activities you can do at home, at the gym, or in the great outdoors. The key to successfully maintain an exercise program is to find activities that you are interested in with out the knowledge you are exercising, character building, and bodybuilding.

As adults kayaking, swimming, and diving are activities in or near water that can build bodies. Tennis, softball, and skating can be fun bodybuilding activities. Teens participate in activities during school. Typically teens will walk more than an adults will just by the sheer fact the malls are bigger than ever. The activity that you choose or that chooses you must be fun to you. Both adults and teens are drawn to partake in gym-type-sports like racquetball or basketball.

If you ever watch a relatively active child they are naturals at exercise. They don’t wake up in the morning and decide to put on running shoes to exercise; however they wake up on the go. Jumping, running, and skipping are just natural bodybuilding activities for children. Though today’s society promotes the opposite behavior, with so many conveniences that are unnecessary, there are still kids that are outside from daybreak until dinnertime. Climbing trees, swinging on the neighbors rope swing or riding a bicycle are typical child-like activities and are bodybuilding activities too.

Exercise, weight training, and bodybuilding activities are not the only aspect of healthful lifestyles. Diet and proper rest are key ingredients also. The word diet tends to conjure the image of the latest gimmick in order to be thin. With a healthy person, diet is merely a balanced and structured feeding of the body. Allowing you body the proper amount of down time is essential in that with the correct fueling your body will perform more efficiently in ever aspect of your life.

Bodybuilding can be a fun and creative pastime for any one. Beginning or continuing a regimen of heavy-duty weight training and serious bodybuilding might not be for everyone. But an activity that promotes healthful habits and lend to the lean fitness of your body is always a plus.

Beware of Eating Too much Protein

Protein is an essential nutrient, and is vital to your health. It is used to build muscles, skin, hair and nails. However, many people put their health at risk by eating too much protein.
The typical American diet already provides plenty of protein and there is no point in adding any more, unlike fat cells, there is no place in the body to store protein so the excess is eliminated or is seen as fat rather than muscle.
So what you need to do is to consume just enough protein to allow your muscles to be healthy, perform work and grow. But how much is just enough?
You only use protein for about 15% of your energy use, the majority of energy comes from fats and carbohydrates. Exercising doesn’t necessarily mean that you require more protein but more carbohydrates to stop your body breaking down protein and using that for energy.
Try to make sure that 70% of your protein comes from sources such as meat, fish, eggs or poultry. The complete protein provided by these foods combines with incomplete protein consumed from other food sources. So your body makes the best of all the protein that you consume.
If you are consuming too much protein, you are probably consuming too many calories over your maintenance levels and this will show as an increase in your body fat levels. And with the advent of the latest fad high protein diets, not enough carbohydrates are being consumed so the protein is converted to glucose and not converted into muscle growth.
What is needed for muscle growth is not more protein but high intensity strength training with the required amount of time for rest and recovery between sessions. Because that major bodybuilding star you saw in the latest magazine requires 300 grams of protein a day doesn’t mean that you have to. What he won’t tell you is that taking Steroids is behind his muscle gains and not his diet.
High intensity strength training and not food stimulates muscle growth.
Consuming excessive amounts of protein is not only bad for your liver and kidneys but also promotes vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It is also linked to osteoporosis and some forms of cancer.
One way to overcome the need to eat large quantities of protein is to increase the consumption of protein in stages until a maximum efficiency point is reached and then to drastically reduce it again. This obliges the body to over-compensate by increasing the efficiency for the absorption of protein into the body.

An example of a Protein Loading diet is found below.

 

Week One
Breakfast: Poached egg on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.

Snack: Fruit and protein shake.

Lunch: Chicken, potato, and vegetables. Fresh fruit salad.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, and biscuits with cheese.

Dinner: Fish any style, rice, vegetables, whole meal bread and fruit salad.

Week Two
Breakfast: Two poached eggs on toast, cereal with fruit salad and milk.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.

Lunch: Chicken with potatoes and vegetables (any style)

Snack: Nuts, fruit, biscuits with cheese.

Dinner: Roast Beef with vegetables, brown rice, whole meal bread.
Week Three
Breakfast: Three eggs any style on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, and protein shake.

Lunch: Turkey with potatoes and vegetables, brown rice, whole meal bread.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.

Dinner: Ѕ Chicken, potatoes, veggies, brown rice, whole meal bread.

Before Bed: Protein shake.
Week Four

 

Breakfast: Four eggs any style on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.

Lunch: Spaghetti with meat sauce, potatoes, brown rice, whole meal bread.

Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.

Dinner: Roast Pork, potatoes, brown rice, whole meal bread.

Before Bed: Protein shake.

 

After week four of this protein loading diet, move from the max intake of protein to the lowest. So in the fifth week go back to week one menu, in the sixth week, week two menu and so on.

This protein loading diet provides a balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates and combined with high intensity strength training will be very effective in increasing muscular bodyweight without the need to ingest large quantities of protein.

Basic Trampoline Tricks

If you own a trampoline, you already know that it is a great way to get out of the house, and into the fresh air. Did you also know that it’s benefiting your health? Jumping up and down on a trampoline is great for strengthening the cardio-vascular system and it is also an excellent workout for almost every muscle and organ of the body. Exercising on a trampoline can also be very helpful for adults and children because it helps to improve reflexes, flexibility, balance and coordination.

One way to enhance not only the fun aspect of the trampoline, but also increase the health benefits, is by putting a little extra effort into your jumping by doing some tricks! There’s lot of tricks that can done on the trampoline, from the beginner level to the advanced. Here’s a few of them beginning with some basics including additional tips to ensure safety and avoid injury.

‘Landing on the Back’ is one of the first, basic trampoline tricks any bouncer should learn and its very simple. Stand motionless on the trampoline with your arms at your sides or even with your hands in your front pockets. Fall backwards onto the trampoline, keeping your body straight and your head up. As your back meets the trampoline, let your head meet it naturally too, don’t jerk or twist it. You will bounce back up and then you can do it again, over and over until you achieve a good rebounding height. The more you practice this trick, the higher you will bounce back and forth!

Here’s an intermediate trampoline trick you can do once you’ve master the basic Back Landing trick. Begin the same way, standing straight and motionless, with arms at your sides or hands in your pockets. Fall straight back again, but when you bounce back up, land on your knees instead! The motion will keep sending you back and forth so you can repeat the trick as many times as you want.

Some advanced trampoline tricks include somersaults and flips. Either of these can be done backwards or forwards, but you should be very comfortable and confident with your bouncing abilities before attempting either of them. Once you’ve got the flip down, you spice it up by adding a spin to it.

Before attempting any trick, ensure everyone’s safety, including your own. Remember to look around and see how much room you have. You will definitely want to avoid a collision with any other jumpers that are on the trampoline with you. To further prevent any mishaps, warm up first by doing some simple bounces and once you get going, remember to keep your head and neck in a natural position. This way you don’t hurt yourself.

Have fun, be safe and keep on bouncing!

Basic Crunches For Abs!

Doing yoga on the ball can benefit anyone, including strong, limber athletes. Raise the bar on your yoga workout by adding ball work. Poses done on the round surface challenge balance and build core muscles while helping you develop inner focus.

Basic Crunches for Abs
With your feet flat on the floor, place your lower back on the ball, and your upper body and thighs parallel to the floor. Do crunches as usual, lifting only your shoulders and upper back off the ball, using your abs.

In normal everyday activity and traditional exercise, larger muscles tend to do most of the work, so the small ones weaken from lack of use, she explains. However, when you do yoga movements on the unstable surface of a ball, you strengthen those tiny, overlooked muscles through the micro-movements you make to stabilize yourself. Just sitting on the ball at your desk engages those smaller muscles effectively!

Caring For your Balance Ball
Before use, check the area for sharp objects that may puncture the ball. If possible, use a carpeted surface or exercise mat when using the ball. The ball is not intended for outdoor use as the risk of puncture is high. The ball should be inspected for gouges and deep scratches prior to use.

Getting the Right Fitness Ball
Fitness balls come in different sizes. The basic rule for choosing the correct size is that when you’re sitting on the ball, you should be able to easily balance with your feet on the ground. Your hips and knees should both be at right angles. The following list matches you up with the right size ball, based on your height:

This is a simple, cheap way to get a little more use out of your exercise ball. The ability to add resistance bands (without safety being an issue) adds a whole new dynamic to how you use your exercise ball.

Are the health supplements safe?

Health supplements are now a common addition to our diet and in many situations they are the only solution to our health problems. However the Internet is simply flooded by SPAM and pop-up advertisements promising a quick relief from various illnesses if only we take (put a name here) health diet supplement and they are treated more and more like some kind of wonder pills. On the other hand, the benefits and dangers of using them are more and more discussed among physicians. The use of various supplements in bodybuilding process and the dangers of abusing them do not help.

The point is that health supplement really do work, but not for everybody and certainly they’re not for every occasion.

Nutritional deficiencies
Basically dietary health supplements were originally developed to help people overcome their nutritional deficiencies. If, for any reason, an individual is unable to follow a balanced diet, health supplements help them to keep your organism intact. However in most cases when an individual eats healthy food (a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. For example), health supplements are no longer needed and taking them will have only little effect (and not always a positive one).

Bodybuilding/fitness
Another common reason of taking health supplements is bodybuilding. When we want more than to be fit, the normal diet is not enough and we need to take something more serious if we hope to keep up the unhealthily quick pace of the muscles grow. That’s where the health supplements come. However as they are often taken without any medical knowledge (and they need to be taken in large quantities if they are to have a visible effect), their final effects may no longer be positive.

Conclusion
In short, health supplements are OK, but only as long as people use them for the reasons they were made for – to fight nutritional deficiencies. Bodybuilding or the general need of feeling healthy are not good reasons for taking those pills (even herbal ones). Our body is a delicate mechanism and we shouldn’t tinker in it too much without a serious reason.

Baby Hemorrhoids

Baby hemorrhoids are a common thing and one of the many uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy. These are not hemorrhoids on the baby, but hemorrhoids that the mother to be gets during the 10 months of pregnancy. Even the woman who has never gotten hemorrhoids in the past can experience them during pregnancy, so it’s best to be forewarned.

Why do hemorrhoids occur so frequently in pregnant women? Hemorrhoids are caused by undue pressure on the veins in your rectum and intestines below the level of your uterus. When you are pregnant, the growing baby increases the pressure on those veins and arteries. This can cause hemorrhoids and clotting as well as varicose vein and other pressure related problems.

Constipation is another problem common to pregnancy and also a leading cause of hemorrhoids. Should hemorrhoids be caused by the pressure of the baby in the uterus, then constipation can aggravate the situation, inflaming hemorrhoids and possibly causing them to rupture and bleed. It is the straining during constipation that causes the anal canal to push out hemorrhoids instead of the bowel movement – or both.

Another reason why pregnant women often end up with hemorrhoids is the same reason why they exhibit wild mood swings and nausea – hormones. The increased progesterone during pregnancy causes a breakdown in the protection mechanism in veins that usually slow or stop swelling. The walls relax and there’s nothing to stop the swelling. Progesterone also contributes to constipation, which as shown above, causes hemorrhoids and makes existing hemorrhoids even worse.

Hemorrhoids during pregnancy are par for the course. There is no need to call your doctor unless you are bleeding. Do check in before using steroid treatments and over the counter medications. Try a sitz bath instead or a poultice.