If you are looking for an opportunity to cash in early on your life insurance, look no further.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/11-scary-fast-food-breakfasts.html?page=7
Train hard; diet harder.
Jim
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Lose 57 pounds a year at your desk?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Every hour of TV = 22 minutes less life
That's right -- watching TV for an hour a day subtracts 22 minutes from your life -- about the same as smoking cigarettes. Take a look at the summary of the study here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44156412/ns/health/#.Tkv7XKN5mSM
Worth it? Probably not.
Good news? 15 minutes of exercise everyday will add 3 years to your life.
So, if you want to live a long, healthy life, take 15 minutes of TV time out of your schedule and use them in some kind of fitness activity.
Train hard; diet harder.
Jim
Monday, August 15, 2011
Get Off Your Ass - Really!
Literally.
Sorry it has been longer than I like since I last posted, but my work and travel and workouts have to come first.
I am fortunate in that I don't sit all day, although I could and probably some who try and reach me unsuccessfully by phone say I should.
But, sitting is bad, very bad.
I picked this up from Nerd Fitness recently and thought I would share it in a couple of installments . . .
"Sitting is one of those conveniences that can cause all sorts of damage to our body when done to excess – a.k.a. the typical sedentary American lifestyle. I read a great article over on Mark’s Daily Apple that compared sitting to today’s modern shoes and sneakers. Sure, your new Nikes might seem comfortable, but they actually weaken all of the muscles and joints in your feet and ankles by doing all of the stabilization work for you – your muscles grow weak, complacent, and bored because they have nothing to do. This is a recipe for injury and disaster.
"Your core/hips/groin/legs are no different when it comes to sitting!
"When you sit down, your hip flexors (the muscles that work the movements between your pelvis and thigh bones – that crease between your thigh and groin) get tightened and shortened. Meanwhile, your hamstrings and glutes (butt) get all stretched out. Now obviously your muscles getting stretched and contracted is a part of life – it’s these actions that allow us to do fantastic things like…move. However, the problems arise when we keep these muscles in this non-standard state for hours upon hours at a time.
"Think of your muscles as glorified rubber bands – they can stretch and contract as you pull them. Now, take a rubber band and wrap it around a basketball, stretching it to its limit for a few weeks. When you come back and take that rubber band off the ball, it will have almost no elasticity and won’t be able to return to its original shape. Or, it’ll just snap. Crapola.
"If you’ve ever tried to do a heavy leg workout after a day filled with hours of sitting then you know what I’m talking about – you feel like an old man or woman with the flexibility of a steel girder.
And that’s just for our hips!
When you factor in slouched-over shoulders, a weakened lower back, a jacked up spine, and that hunchback look that we all adore (not), sitting in an office chair all day pretty much renders our body useless."
Bottom line: Get off your ass. Really. I mean it. Even if you work at a desk 8 or 10 or 12 hours a day, make it a habit to get up and walk around at least once every couple of hours. Do some body weight squats or seated chair squats against a wall -- anything to get the blood to your legs -- the biggest muscles in your body and the ones, if unattended, are most likely to give up earliest in your life.
More on this in the next post.
Train hard; diet harder!
Jim
Sorry it has been longer than I like since I last posted, but my work and travel and workouts have to come first.
I am fortunate in that I don't sit all day, although I could and probably some who try and reach me unsuccessfully by phone say I should.
But, sitting is bad, very bad.
I picked this up from Nerd Fitness recently and thought I would share it in a couple of installments . . .
"Sitting is one of those conveniences that can cause all sorts of damage to our body when done to excess – a.k.a. the typical sedentary American lifestyle. I read a great article over on Mark’s Daily Apple that compared sitting to today’s modern shoes and sneakers. Sure, your new Nikes might seem comfortable, but they actually weaken all of the muscles and joints in your feet and ankles by doing all of the stabilization work for you – your muscles grow weak, complacent, and bored because they have nothing to do. This is a recipe for injury and disaster.
"Your core/hips/groin/legs are no different when it comes to sitting!
"When you sit down, your hip flexors (the muscles that work the movements between your pelvis and thigh bones – that crease between your thigh and groin) get tightened and shortened. Meanwhile, your hamstrings and glutes (butt) get all stretched out. Now obviously your muscles getting stretched and contracted is a part of life – it’s these actions that allow us to do fantastic things like…move. However, the problems arise when we keep these muscles in this non-standard state for hours upon hours at a time.
"Think of your muscles as glorified rubber bands – they can stretch and contract as you pull them. Now, take a rubber band and wrap it around a basketball, stretching it to its limit for a few weeks. When you come back and take that rubber band off the ball, it will have almost no elasticity and won’t be able to return to its original shape. Or, it’ll just snap. Crapola.
"If you’ve ever tried to do a heavy leg workout after a day filled with hours of sitting then you know what I’m talking about – you feel like an old man or woman with the flexibility of a steel girder.
And that’s just for our hips!
When you factor in slouched-over shoulders, a weakened lower back, a jacked up spine, and that hunchback look that we all adore (not), sitting in an office chair all day pretty much renders our body useless."
Bottom line: Get off your ass. Really. I mean it. Even if you work at a desk 8 or 10 or 12 hours a day, make it a habit to get up and walk around at least once every couple of hours. Do some body weight squats or seated chair squats against a wall -- anything to get the blood to your legs -- the biggest muscles in your body and the ones, if unattended, are most likely to give up earliest in your life.
More on this in the next post.
Train hard; diet harder!
Jim
Friday, June 17, 2011
Beware of breakfasts on the road . . .
You'd figure that it would be hard to pack too many calories and fat into a simple breakfast, but you'd be wrong.
"Go to any breakfast chain out there and you'll probably find a meal with more fat in it than you're supposed to eat all day. You can't just order eggs anymore; your meal also comes with pancakes, hash browns, ham, sausage, bacon, and is topped off with cheese and gravy.
"Before each chain can invent their next bacon-covered monstrosity, San Francisco Weekly magazine counted down the top 10 artery-clogging breakfast options that America has to offer. It's based purely on fat (not calories) and they included a meal from each one of the nation's most popular breakfast chains."
The numbers are, well, staggering, disturbing (including the calories) . . .
Like the Caramel Pecanabon at Cinnabon -- over 1,000 calories for ONE, with more than 50 grams of fat.
But, you say, "I'd expect Cinnabon to blow out the calories."
OK, but how about Marie Callender's? Order their "Oh My Omelette" and you may reach for your chest before breakfast is over and utter these last words, "Oh, My!" -- 1,700 calories with almost 90 grams of fat.
Or Denny's and "The Grand Slamwich?" It will knock you out of the park. 1,310 calories and 89 grams of fat.
But the Mother of All Death Meals at Breakfast has to be IHOP's Big Country Breakfast with Chicken Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy. In round numbers, 2500 calories and 150 grams of fat and if you eat it you will be rounder than the numbers. Described as "Quick: you are a North American grizzly bear, it's late autumn, and you realized that you need to get as much fat as possible into your body as quickly as possible before a long winter of hibernation. Solution: go to IHOP*, which is both the runner-up and winner on this list of heart attack-inducing options. Your best (or worst?) option is the Big Country Breakfast. It's a 12 oz. chicken fried steak covered in sausage gravy, with three eggs, and three pancakes. If you can get down the whole meal, then you should win some kind of award and also probably just eat celery sticks and nothing else for the rest of your life."
Unfortunately, if you eat that many times the rest of your life may end before lunch.
You can see the whole article here:
Bottom line? Be as careful at breakfast as you are any other time you are caught away from home and are eating off menus where you cannot and do not review the nutritional information.
Train hard; diet harder.
Jim
"Go to any breakfast chain out there and you'll probably find a meal with more fat in it than you're supposed to eat all day. You can't just order eggs anymore; your meal also comes with pancakes, hash browns, ham, sausage, bacon, and is topped off with cheese and gravy.
"Before each chain can invent their next bacon-covered monstrosity, San Francisco Weekly magazine counted down the top 10 artery-clogging breakfast options that America has to offer. It's based purely on fat (not calories) and they included a meal from each one of the nation's most popular breakfast chains."
The numbers are, well, staggering, disturbing (including the calories) . . .
Like the Caramel Pecanabon at Cinnabon -- over 1,000 calories for ONE, with more than 50 grams of fat.
But, you say, "I'd expect Cinnabon to blow out the calories."
OK, but how about Marie Callender's? Order their "Oh My Omelette" and you may reach for your chest before breakfast is over and utter these last words, "Oh, My!" -- 1,700 calories with almost 90 grams of fat.
Or Denny's and "The Grand Slamwich?" It will knock you out of the park. 1,310 calories and 89 grams of fat.
But the Mother of All Death Meals at Breakfast has to be IHOP's Big Country Breakfast with Chicken Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy. In round numbers, 2500 calories and 150 grams of fat and if you eat it you will be rounder than the numbers. Described as "Quick: you are a North American grizzly bear, it's late autumn, and you realized that you need to get as much fat as possible into your body as quickly as possible before a long winter of hibernation. Solution: go to IHOP*, which is both the runner-up and winner on this list of heart attack-inducing options. Your best (or worst?) option is the Big Country Breakfast. It's a 12 oz. chicken fried steak covered in sausage gravy, with three eggs, and three pancakes. If you can get down the whole meal, then you should win some kind of award and also probably just eat celery sticks and nothing else for the rest of your life."
Unfortunately, if you eat that many times the rest of your life may end before lunch.
You can see the whole article here:
Bottom line? Be as careful at breakfast as you are any other time you are caught away from home and are eating off menus where you cannot and do not review the nutritional information.
Train hard; diet harder.
Jim
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
17 days, double cardio and 5 pounds . . .
I have long preached the notion that you can't exercise enough to make up for the sins of a bad diet. I have known it but never experienced it, until now.
Kelly and I took off on a 17 day vacation in mid-April. We were treated to great hotels and restaurants and then to a week's cruise. No limits. No measuring. Wine and a cocktail every now and then. Deserts. Reminded me of the old days.
Stayed on the workout schedule, never missed and even did double cardio each day on the ship.
Deep down I was hoping it would work.
But hope is not a plan and I knew intellectually that no amount of exercise would compensate.
And, when I got home and got on the scales I learned that reason trumps hope, at least when it comes to your weight.
I put on 5 pounds in those 17 days.
Now, I am going to lose them and another 5 to get me sharp for the summer. Indeed, I am already on it.
FYI, I got an IPad 2, a habit worse than heroin, maybe even worse than cheesecake.
But I found some new diet and exercise software that runs on the Ipad that I like so much that I have switched. It is called "My Net Diary." More on some of its great features in a future blog.
Train hard. Diet harder! I will be.
Jim
Kelly and I took off on a 17 day vacation in mid-April. We were treated to great hotels and restaurants and then to a week's cruise. No limits. No measuring. Wine and a cocktail every now and then. Deserts. Reminded me of the old days.
Stayed on the workout schedule, never missed and even did double cardio each day on the ship.
Deep down I was hoping it would work.
But hope is not a plan and I knew intellectually that no amount of exercise would compensate.
And, when I got home and got on the scales I learned that reason trumps hope, at least when it comes to your weight.
I put on 5 pounds in those 17 days.
Now, I am going to lose them and another 5 to get me sharp for the summer. Indeed, I am already on it.
FYI, I got an IPad 2, a habit worse than heroin, maybe even worse than cheesecake.
But I found some new diet and exercise software that runs on the Ipad that I like so much that I have switched. It is called "My Net Diary." More on some of its great features in a future blog.
Train hard. Diet harder! I will be.
Jim
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Rest: Fourth Leg of Success
I talk a lot here about weight training, cardio and nutrition.
What I have not focused on is the fourth leg of the stool: REST.
Sure, hard training is critical to maximizing strength and muscle mass. Most people who train don't train hard enough. They go through the motions. Too bad.
Sure, cardio training is essential to keep the body fat down.
And, of course, proper nutrition is the fuel that allows us to do what needs to be done. Garbage in, garbage out.
But, even with hard training, cardio, and proper diet, that combination is not enough to maximize performance results.
You also need rest. It is rest that allows the muscles that you have broken down to heal and recover. It is the rest that allows you to recover so you can be strong, and thereby handle the increased weight, and increased number of sets and repetitions.
The scientific explanation goes something like this: "It is during sleep where growth hormone levels are at their highest. Physiologic improvement in bodybuilding can only occur during the rest period following hard training. This is also why consuming the proper foods and supplements immediately following such training is key." (Behar, Bodybuilding.com)
When you are over 50, or even over 40 for that matter, you do not heal as quickly as the 23 year old who seems never to need rest. Why? Because he/she needs less rest than you do.
Getting more rest is a key to muscle gains, plain and simple, and as you age the more it is true.
Unfortunately, that is easy to say but hard to execute.
What about those days you go to the gym and look at the weight and say to yourself, "I can't do it today."
In some cases, you shouldn't do it that day. You should turn around, go home and rest.
But, in some cases, like all of us, you're just being lazy. Pushing and pulling heavy weight hurts and sometimes we just don't want to do it, even though doing it is exactly what we need.
Telling the difference between the need for rest and just being lazy is tough and for me I don't like to trust my judgment on it. I will default to staying in the gym, overtraining and ending up injured.
So, here's what I do: I take every 7th week off from the weights. I continue cardio, proper diet, but I rest, really rest.
It works.
If you find yourself tired too much of the time and you're not just putting your time in the gym but putting your heart into it, you may need rest, and the failure to get it will affect your gains, your mood, and will increase the likelihood of injury.
So, just like you work in protein into every meal, your cardio into every day, you also need to work in rest.
Train hard; diet harder, and don't forget to take time off.
Jim
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