Best Calf Exercise On The Best Calf Machine

Category: Exercise, Reviews | No Comments

The calf muscle is one of the most stubborn muscle to develop do to the fact that they’re always active. Think about it, you’re always using your calf muscle. You use the calf muscle when you stand, walk, twist, bend, run, etc. With all that use the calf muscle gets very good at adapting to the activities of daily life.

 

To get diamond-shape calf muscle  you can’t approach calf training as an afterthought like most people do..You Must regularly challenge the calf muscle beyond their comfort zone mixing different intensity like heavy weights, pyramids, super-sets, drop sets, fast sets, etc… You gotta put the “husle in the muscle.”

The Best Calf Machine

Tired of small, weak or disproportion calves, you should consider getting The Extreme Calf Machine!! With patented pivoting pedal, gives calves greater stretch and contraction than just a regular calf block or machine, which is the key to diamond-shape calf development in a short time. Use with pivoting pedal backwards for maximum stretch and use with pivoting pedal forward for maximum contraction!!

Vote The Best Calf Machine In The World

Easy to use- patented pivoting pedal for maximum stretch, lightweight-strong and durable portable and Non-skid surface. Helps increase the flow of blood and oxygen throughout the calves. Helps develop, shape, stretch, tone and rehabilitate the calf and Achilles Tendon. It also helps to prevent shin splints and works the tibialis. Helps improve inversion, eversion and balance. Exercise Instructions Included: Standing Calf Raises, Seated Calf Raises, Donkey Calf Raises and Single Calf Raises all in one low cost machine with a LIFETIME WARRANTY!! Available in white or black.

Your Soda Is Killing You

Category: Health | No Comments

I stop drinking soda once I mastered the Health/Fitness Truth and started making better food choices. Soft drinks are  popular beverages with some negative side effects. Why informed folks continue to drink soda is beyond me. It’s gross, full of empty calories and, quite frankly, offers our bodies nothing.

In addition to being very high in sugar soft drinks are also loaded with high fructose corn syrup which has been associated with an increased risk in metabolic syndrome. The infographic below zero in on some of the common health conditions associated with soft drink consumption such as obesity, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer,  just to name a few.


 

Do You Believe Rockered Shoes Really Burn Fat?

Category: Reviews | No Comments

 

It’s summer time again! A time when everyone is thinking about what they are going to do to achieve their new body for the beach.  There are a ton of options available but today let’s focus on just one.

The Rockered Shoes

You know the ones with the rounded soles for toning your legs and bottom.  Companies like Skechers, New Balance, Reebok and others have celebrites like Kim Kardashian and Joe Montana singing their praises.  Of course, they are paid to do it and they were already in shape before using them. 

The question is do these eye sores actually work?

 

Kim Kardashian says yes

 

But what does the research say? Four separate studies conducted at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, University of Nevada, the University of Puget Sound in Washington and the University of Calgary have reached the same conclusion…No.  

The increased muscle recruitment  and calorie burning from walking on rounded sole shoes does NOT significantly differ from that produced by ordinary walking or athletic footwear.  

From my experience most people gauge whether something works or not by whether they “feel it the next day”.  

If your goal is fat loss and muscle definition then measuring body composition (changes body fat and muscle), girth measurements and photos are the best methods for determining effectiveness.  

If the goal is to get sore and “feel it the next day” then go by that. I’m betting thats not the goal though.

 

For More Fitness Truth Article From Billy Beck  Go Here

 

 

 

Best Butt Exercise

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Want legs and glutes that are compliment-magnet? Add the lunge to your arsenal of exercises. Since the lunge is a unilateral movement, it stretches the anterior and posterior muscles at the same time, thus encouraging their activation as well as preserving functional range of motion (joint health). Try several variations of it to ensure progressive and constant results.

The barbell walking lunge is the best choice if you are looking for fat burning, since it recruits the glutes to a further extent and, moving the body through space, stimulates the metabolism; however, it’s probably better to learn the exercise with no weight first. Unfortunately, very few people perform lunges correctly and go way too fast when performing the exercise. Here’s how it should be done:

Starting position: If using a barbell, the bar is held below the seventh cervical vertebrae (the pointy one at the base of the neck), the chest is open, and the head is held straight. If using no weight, simply place the hands above the hips.

Execution: Take a very large step forward while putting the emphasis on maintaining the weight on the heel of the front foot. Bend at the knee with the other leg as much as possible and slowly descend in a straight line to the low position without letting that knee touch the ground. Pause for a second at the low position before pushing straight back up over the front foot in one movement while still pushing with the heel. Take note that the back leg isn’t helping to push, only balance!

Pointers: Make sure you don’t push the knee and/or bend too far forward when doing the exercise. If you want to work your glutes efficiently, you need to emphasize the eccentric part of the exercise and keep the tension on the muscles (allowing your body to incline will put more tension on your lower back). A big mistake I see all the time is letting the abdominals stick out and having too much curve in the lower back. The abdominal girdle should remain tight and the back should be held straight at all times while performing the exercise.

 

South Beach Diet Review

Category: Nutrition | No Comments

The South Beach Diet is a new trend, and probably a logical step in the evolution of diets. The pendulum swung from “avoid fats,” to “avoid carbs,” and the opposing diet gurus took opposing sides. Many attempting to follow the diet trends find carb deprivation difficult, and many find weight regain rapid after a bout of “cutting carbs.” The South Beach Diet is more liberal in its direction. It doesn’t say “carbs are bad,” nor does it say “fat is bad.” It tends to land somewhere in the middle, and in that I believe it’s a step toward helping people better understand “supportive eating.” With that said, I am not an advocate of the diet for a few primary reasons.

Firstly, the South Beach Diet suggests that people will lose between 8 and 13 pounds in the first Phase which lasts two weeks. The first phase, plain and simple, is carb deprivation. Breads, sugars, and fruits are off limits, but so are complex carbs such as potatoes, brown rice, and corn. When you avoid carbs for more than a few days, you are certain to deplete glycogen stores. Glycogen is “stored fuel” held in both muscles and the liver. The liver acts as a sort of a pump for blood sugar and stored glycogen is the reserve. The muscles act as reservoirs for muscle fuel as glycogen is released to fuel muscle contraction. Typically, we release glycogen and replace it, as glycogen is actually glucose being stored for future use, and a glucose molecule is the molecular component of any carbohydrate food.

When you back way off on carb intake, you expend stored glycogen and fail to replace it. Glycogen attracts water. Muscle tissue is primarily water. When you reduce glycogen storage, you reduce muscular water retention, thus, deplete the muscles of glycogen and you weigh less. The initial weight loss on any carb depletion program is going to be primarily water loss. I’m not suggesting this water loss in and of itself is dangerous, but if people are using the scale as a gauge to measure weight loss, the initial loss on the South Beach Diet is deceptive.

The most common question I receive related to the South Beach Diet has to do with the “plateau.”

“In the first two weeks I lost 11 pounds, but now, two weeks later, I’m stuck.”

Water loss led to the mistaken conclusion that the reduction in carbs somehow led to a sustainable rate of fat loss, and in that people find self-defeat when the weight loss ceases.

Even with my criticisms, I do see some important virtues in Dr. Agatston’s book (The South Beach Diet) and believe as people find a better understanding of metabolic nutrition, and as they better understand the relationship between food and exercise, they can take some of what they learn from the South Beach Diet and use it to create a more long term fat loss program. I applaud Dr. Agatston’s explanations of the insulin response and agree that refined and processed carbs are primary contributors to our nation’s obesity issue. I applaud his distinction between “the good fats” and the less valuable fats (saturated fats and hydrogenated fats) and believe if people begin to find their meals made up of lean proteins, complex carbs, and fibrous vegetables, their going to ultimately land in the midst of a healthier lifestyle.

The final thing I should mention is, when I meet people who describe themselves as being “on the South Beach Diet,” many are consciously avoiding both carbs and fat, eating three low calorie meals per day, and that becomes yet another twist on calorie deprivation. The end result is typically muscle loss, metabolic slowdown, the return of cravings, and a greater fat loss challenge in the future. If The South Beach Diet is a stepping stone toward clarity, it has its place. Add in aerobic exercise and resistance training and you’re headed in the right direction. Just don’t judge your progress by your pounds on the scale. You’ll wind up disillusioned and disappointed.

For more Fitness truth articles from Phil Kaplan click here

Best Fitness Tips

Category: Uncategorized, Videos | No Comments

“Dear God, give me the willpower to refrain from those foods that are killing me” -Jack Lalanne

 

Hope you like the quote. Perfect insertion to my love for lists.

 

Here’s a list of 20 fitness tips I put together for you.

 

You might even want to print this out and pin it somewhere visible to the eye:

 

1. Your body is your vehicle for life so treat it well

 

2. When you fail to eat supportively, the best time to get back on track is not tomorrow morning or monday, but your very next meal

 

3. A well-built body doesn’t come by chance. Even the most genetically blessed have to work at it.

 

4. Fuel yourself by eating a complete breakfast filled with proteins and quality carbohydrates

 

5. Remember to workout today; You are just as important as everything on your to-do list6. What you weigh is not as important as what the pounds are made up of

 

7. The more muscle you have on your bones, the slimmer your waist becomes

8. Try replacing the mayo in your tuna salad with smashed avocado.you’ll add some healthy fat and it tastes great

 

9. Avoid eating late at night. Your metabolism slows down when you sleep, so late-night calories are harder to burn off.

 

10. Just because it says organic doesn’t make it healthy

 

11. Diets make people fatter! Yet people are willing to go on the next diet at the drop of a fat-free cookie

 

12. For lunch add a veggie burger on your salad with sliced avocados and Annie’s goddess dressing..you’ll add fiber, protein and healthy fat

 

13. Carbs are NOT bad! Bad carbs are bad! Stick to nature carbs like corn, potatos, oatmeal, brown rice, peas, yam, etc..

 

14. When the endgame is fat-loss, the sugar in fruit can sabotage the plan:

 

15. Don’t fool yourself! Schedule your workout or you wont get it done!

 

16. Sugar is the enemy to fat loss, eat foods closest to nature

 

17. The power to transform your body is within you..You just need to harness the Fitness Truth

 

18. Billions are spent each year treating obesity, yet being fit and healthy is priceless :)

 

19. Not all carbs are created equal! Stick to the ones derive from nature for sustain energy

 

20. Prepare meals in advance to insure you have a supportive meal every 3-3.5 hours.

The truth about quick weight loss

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When it comes to weight loss, wow are things out of whack! Infomercials blatantly promise it’s quick. In fact, the newest solutions promise you’ll lose 10 pounds in 2 days! Whatever your passion, pills, devices, wraps, juices, or any combination thereof, you can find them being sold with the promise of “quick” weight loss.

Here’s the elusive reality. Quick weight loss is absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to result in residual weight gain! Quick weight loss amounts to water loss. Don’t eat for a couple of days, chug water, walk 12 miles, swallow some caffeine pills, and sit in the sauna for 30 minutes at a time. I guarantee you’ll lose weight. Is that effective or healthful if the goal is long term fat reduction? Of course not. Even if it were effective (which it isn’t), is that a regimen you can stick to? Not in a million years.

My greatest challenge in helping people to grasp the truth is that new offerings with absurd promises continue to vie for their attention . . . and with powerful marketing, the bogus offers often win. In the short term that is. The most absurd part of the whole “I can’t lose weight” process is the belief that after embarking upon a restrictive diet, a bout with stimulants disguised as “supplements,” or an excessive aerobic exercise routine is the tendency of weight loss wanters to blame themselves! “It’s my fault, I didn’t stick to it.” With that thought as the foundation of their belief systems, you can be certain they’re going to go out in search of yet another promise that falls flat.

The longer an individual attempts to remain on a restrictive program, the more likely it is that muscle will be sacrificed and thyroid hormone production will be altered. Translated that means metabolism slows. The weight loss sellers love that! It means you’ll be back for more!!! In fact, the entire weight loss industry thrives simply because it fails! People fail to get what they pay for . . . and they come back for more of the same.

When finally, in the midst of all of the promises, someone actually stumbles upon a truly valuable program, a systematic approach to fat loss, their prior programming . . . the pattern of quick weight loss and self-blame for residual gain . . . creates a tendency to want to bail out!

In order to get the body to release fat, you have to understand some realities.

  1. The human body is not really capable of shedding more than 2 pounds of fat in a week, especially on an ongoing basis, and even that . . . 2 pounds per week . . . would be an extreme!
  2. The human body is capable of losing far more than 2 pounds in a week, but that would indicate loss of either muscle or water.
  3. Muscle loss is guaranteed to decrease caloric burn and slow metabolism.
  4. Water loss is temporary.

Since so many have actually lost 8, 10, or even 12 pounds in a week or two, when they get on a program that doesn’t immediately team up with the scale to create the illusion that “it’s working,” they feel frustrated, defeated, and ready to bail out. Nobody helped them to understand that the journey has to take time.

It gets even more frustrating. If you take someone who is used to starving, to cutting back on food, and they begin to consume meals complete in proteins and supportive carbohydrates, they begin to hold more “glycogen” in muscle tissue. That’s a good thing! Glycogen is stored fuel. If they’ve also started an exercise program, their glycogen storing propensity is even greater. Glycogen attracts water! After two weeks on an efficacious and valuable fat loss program, it is possible that “scale weight” might have crept up a few pounds! Since so many have been programmed to gauge their progress by the scale’s momentary report, the all too familiar “failure” sensations kick in all over again.

Listen. You know me by now. I’m not going to tell you it’s quick or it’s easy. What I am going to tell you is the truth! When you get the balance between the right nutrition and the right exercise correct . . . you begin a process of ongoing improvement that can take you literally as far as you’d like to go. The demons are those little voices in your head that want you to fail. The voices that tell you if you’re not seeing weight loss you are a complete and total failure.

The best investment you can make to quell the demons . . . a sledgehammer. Bring it home, and smash your scale into a million pieces. The scale can not tell you anything other than how many pounds you weigh under gravity at any given moment. It can not distinguish between water, bone, muscle, internal organs, teeth or hair. It simply gives you a meaningless total.

The best weapon to send those “failure demons” packing is common sense. Many let go of their common sense to welcome the belief that there’s some sort of magic just waiting to “melt fat” away. It’s a dangerous belief. It’s the one that sends you bailing out when you’ve only started the journey.

My programs work because they teach you to coach the body through a process, a process that allows you to speed metabolism, develop functional strength and energy, and ultimately shed fat in a manner that keeps you in control. Do this correctly, and although there is a definite time investment on your part, the payoff cannot be matched.

I honestly wish I had a shortcut. I wish I had magic. What I do have is a commitment to honesty, a passion for helping people, and a mastery of the true technology of positive physical change. If you look at your history, and it reveals that you might have bailed out too soon, only because you weren’t seeing “pounds melt away,” maybe you’ll come to grips with the reality. If you want to arrive at your destination, and that destination has anything to do with a lean, toned body, you’re going to have to play by the rules of nature. If someone does circumvent nature, and invent a legitimate pill, product, or device that melts fat or drops pounds permanently and healthfully, believe me I’ll shout at the top of my lungs to spread the word. Until then I have only the truth. It may not be as glamorous as hyped up promises . . . but it’s served me and 35,000+ people who have found results with my programs. It can serve you as well.

For more fitness truths article from Phil Kaplan  Go here

Fitness and weight loss guide

Category: Exercise | No Comments

Not happy with the way your body looks and feels? I found an extensive guide to fitness to help you live in the body you’ve always wanted.This is by far the most extensive and detailed infographic I have come across when it comes to working out, eating right and exercising effectively.

The guide, in the form of an infographic, is brought to my attention by Reddit and, as said, is massively informative. The tips and tricks just go on forever,and I am sure that if you really want to get back in shape, this guide is totally the way to go. It covers everything from eating habits to beginner work out procedures. There is an in depth amount of information in each section. If you ever wanted a complete guide to get in shape, this thing is totally what you need. I will try and print this out and place it on the wall to get some motivation and guidance. It’s time people. It’s time to take that promise of a healthier year to the moon and back.

British schoolboy bikes on top of water for charity’s sake

Category: Exercise | No Comments

This is so amazing it defeats logic!!! A British teenager raised awareness for flood victims in London’s Lake District by riding his bicycle on a lake 75-feet deep.

Matt Whitehurst, 17, boast the pictures are real but won’t reveal how he managed to perch his bicycle atop the waters of England’s Lake Buttermere. He performed the stunt to promote an upcoming cycling event that will raise money to build bridges destroyed in 2009 flooding.

“I can’t and won’t say how I did it, but plenty of people saw me and they’ll confirm it wasn’t a camera trick,” he said. ”The photos are real.”

I’m sure the photos are very much real. So is the platform in the water on which Whitehurst’s bike is likely standing.

The wheels aren’t moving. If they were you wouldn’t be able to see all the spokes individually. Also there would be much more water splashing around the wheels. If this was so amazing why did no one take a video of it?

Personal Trainers Suck (hilarious video)

Category: Uncategorized, Videos | No Comments

Most Personal trainers lack the knowledge to help an individual achieve and surpass physical excellence. If you can find a great one like the ones I’m affiliated with at FIU then you can expect measurable results.

A great trainer is not easy to find.  Anyone can be a trainer.  All you have to do is say “I’m a trainer.”  and you are a trainer. Unlike the medical field the training industry is not regulated..

So you need a CERTIFIED Personal Trainer.   Right?  Well, Last time I checked there were over 400 different personal training certifications and most are not worth the paper they are printed on.  In fact, I know someone who had their cat certified online.   True story :)

With our planet as a whole becoming increasingly more fat and unhealthy it’s time to take a stand.   While it is imperative for each of us to take full responsibility for our bodies and our lives, we need leaders…that is, we need great personal trainers and coaches to help lead the way.   

We need to teach this generation of parents how to take control of their health and fitness so that the children of this generation do not suffer as a result of their parents example but are rather uplifted and inspired by them.   

It’s certainly a challenge but as with anything, it is achievable.  

In the meantime, watch this funny personal trainer video.   Unfortunately, it not far from the truth. If you are a personal trainer or if you have worked with a trainer let me know what you think in the comments section.