Jason Moriarty

What Does it take to SWIM THE NORTH POLE?

2012-02-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

Below is a link to one of the most extreme examples of Mental Strength I have ever seen.

Those of you who have attended Rebel Boot Camp with me, or undergone my sports programmes will have heard me constantly batter on about the importance of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). Mental strength first physical strength second.

You only achieve things you believe are possible, you only believe things are possible when you constantly tell yourself "I CAN DO THIS" "ITS A CHALLENGE BUT I CAN DO THIS"

So many people what to change their lives or change the world, but never achieve their dreams because the voices in their head defeat them. These are your voices learn to control them and you will change your life; you will change the world.

Here is a fantastic short video on one mans belief in what he could do, to change himself and change the world. Some of the great take aways are the fact he didn't do it alone he had a team who believed in him when, he realized the very real possibility he might die on his challenge. But to him it was important to succeed and he pushed on.

Listen as he tells you he had achieved his goal hundreds of times in his mind before he ever attempted it. (MENTAL STRENGTH FIRST)

It took him 2 years to achieve it. This reminds me of one of my favorite sounds bites, "behind every over night success is 20 years of hard work"

Watch it enjoy it live it. http://www.ted.com/talks/lewis_pugh_swims_the_north_pole.html

What are your Habits

2012-01-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence then is not an Act but a HABIT.

- Aristotle

What are your habits creating?

No Excuses

2012-01-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Watch it for some inspiration to get your lazy butt off the couch.

Exercise and Fasting Can Kill!!

2011-08-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Is it safe to attend Boot Camp while fasting ?

I still get hit with this question every year, in one form or another, whether the question is “ can I continue to train for the marathon and fast,” “is it safe to exercise in the morning during fasting month” or “can I continue with high intensity training during fasting month”.

They all boil down to the same thing DEHYDRATION, IS DANGEROUS AND CAN KILL.

Are you likely to die on a one off session without the proper amount of fluids in your body – unlikely (but not impossible).

The main risk with fasting lies in the fact that dehydration can build up slowly over days or even weeks. You only need to fall short by a small amount of fluid replenishment each day to begin creating a dangerous situation for yourself.

In my opinion it is reckless to exercise at high intensity in particular leading to high amounts of sweating and not replace the lost fluids immediately. During fasting if you work out early morning, it could be 12 hours before you replenish lost fluids. This is way too dangerous.

If you are still driven by ego to try, keep in mind that a reduction in fluid levels also leads to a reduction in performance. So no matter how hard you push you will be unable to match your previous times or gain any improvements.

Here are some of the other problems that can arise from dehydration

Kidney failure

Kidney failure is a common occurrence, although if it is due to dehydration and is treated early, it is often reversible. As dehydration progresses, the volume of fluid in the blood decreases, and blood pressure may fall. This can decrease blood flow to vital organs like the kidneys, and like any organ with a decreased blood flow; it has the potential to fail to do its job.

Coma

Decreased blood supply to the brain may cause confusion and even coma. If enough organs begin to malfunction, the body itself may fail, and death can occur.

Shock

When the fluid loss overwhelms the body's ability to compensate, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the body's vital organs become inadequate and cell and organ function can begin to fail.

Heat-related illnesses and associated complications

In heat-related illness, the body's attempt to cool itself by sweating may cause dehydration to the point that muscles may go into spasm (heat cramps). It is often the muscles that are being stressed that will spasm (for example, in people who work outside in a hot environment, arm and leg muscles may spasm from lifting and moving heavy objects or equipment; in athletes, leg muscles may cramp from running). As fluid loss increases, the patient may be so dehydrated that there is not enough water to sweat and heat exhaustion or heat stroke may occur. Heat stroke is a true medical emergency and 911 or the emergency response system should be activated immediately in this situation.

Electrolyte abnormalities

In dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities may occur since important chemicals (like sodium, potassium, and chloride) are lost from the body through sweat. For example, patients with profuse diarrhea or vomiting may lose significant amounts of potassium, causing muscle weakness and heart rhythm disturbances. The doctor is often aware of the fluid and electrolyte balance in the dehydrated patient and may decide to monitor electrolyte levels by checking blood tests. Some examples of symptoms caused by abnormal electrolyte levels include muscle weakness due to low potassium, heart rhythm disturbances due to either low or high potassium, and seizures due to low (hyponatremia) or high sodium (hypernatremia). In many patients with dehydration, the kidneys are able to compensate and regulate electrolyte levels.

It is reasonable to remember that dehydration does not occur quickly, and sometimes it may take hours to slowly correct the fluid deficit and allow the electrolytes to redistribute themselves appropriately in the different spaces in the body. If rehydration is done too slowly, the patient may remain hypotensive and in shock for too long. If done too quickly, water and electrolyte concentrations within organ cells can be negatively affected, causing cells to swell and eventually die.

I hope this has made it clear. Yes you can exercise at high intensity during fasting month, but you are not going to see improvements and your are risking your health.

Exercise and the Fasting Month

2011-08-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

EXERCISE DURING THE FASTING MONTH

The holy month of Ramadhan is upon us. This is a time of reflection and fasting allowing us to empathize with those who suffer starvation on a continual basis.
Yet inexplicable many of us gain weight during this month. I myself have to be careful, as the amazing foods that are not often available during the rest of the year are often to tempting.

In addition many use this month as an excuse to stop their exercising programme. Easy to realize why we gain weight when you do the math, increase food eating, decrease activity that burns the calories, don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

Here I will give you some guidelines if followed will allow you to enjoy the holy month, without suffering during the day while fasting and keep up your exercise routine and stop your figure from expanding.

Your diet should not differ very much from your regular diet during Ramadhan. (I am assuming here that you already have a healthy diet which avoids fat, oil and sugar).
To help you through the day you should eat slow digesting foods with high unprocessed fiber contents. Slow digesting foods last up to 8 hours, and will see you though the day, While processed foods such as white rice, pasta etc. will fill you up quickly but will very quickly burn off leaving you hungry and tired.

Slow digesting foods with a low GI include whole grains, and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, unprocessed flour, unpolished rice etc.

- Keep your exercise sessions light. This is not the time to be setting any new
records.
- Warm up thoroughly, most important to start slowly.
- Keep your diet moderate in high protein.
- Keep your diet high in complex carbohydrate which has a low glycolic index (GI)
as a rough rule of thumb, these are unprocessed carbohydrates i.e. unpolished rice.
For more information on the GI visit www.glycemicindex.com I feel this is the
single most important part to successful fasting.
- When breaking fast, avoid simple sugars, (this means no Kuih and all its sugary
friends), as they will cause your insulin levels to spike, resulting in making you
feel extremely lethargic and unable to exercise. The fancy name for this is
reactive hypoglycemia.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR AND SOME REMEDIES

AVOID

The temptation to over eat. This will not keep you from being hungry and will most likely result in an expanding waistline and a weight gain.
Too much tea or coffee at sunrise, as these are diuretic’s and result in you spending more time in the toilet wasting that precious water that your body needs to preserve.

DRINK

Lots of water and fresh juice after breaking fast and before you sleep. This will allow your body to adjust your fluid levels while you sleep.

LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

If you have excessive sweating, weakness, tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness, or feeling faint you may be suffering low blood pressure. You tend to feel this towards the afternoon.

This can be a result of too little water or fluid intake and too little salt intake. To resolve this keep cool and increase your fluid and salt intake.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

If you suffer from high blood pressure and are taking medication, you may need to adjust your levels during Ramadhan. You should discuss this with your doctor.

HEADACHES

A common problem if you normally like to hang out at Starbucks or generally drink lots of coffee you can suffer from server headaches due to caffeine withdrawal. This also applies to smokers. These are bad headaches and can cause nausea. The best way to avoid these headaches is to slowly reduce your intake a couple of weeks before the start of fasting.

I wish you all the best for the fasting month and should you have any more questions regarding the best way to fast or exercise please log on to jasonmoriarty.blogspot.com and leave me a question.

SELAMAT MENUNAIKAN IBADAH PUASA

Spirit of a Rebel

2011-05-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

This was is a little un-usual, a little bit different from what I normally post. I felt this one captured the real essence of a REBEL and someone who was willing to stand out from the crowd and the get results they want in their life.

This is a great excerpt from a great writer, take your time to read it.

Don't let the year's thunder by!
To be truly challenging, a voyage. Like a life must rest on a firm
foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine
traverse. The kind known to yachtsman, who play with their boats at
sea - "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seaman, and to the
wanders of the world who cannot, or will not fit in. If you are
contemplating a voyage and you have means. Abandon the venture until
your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all
about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it"
What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the
cancerous discipline of "security". And in the worship of security we
fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and some form of
working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all
- in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our
economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time
payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our
attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by.
The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the
shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where,
then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of
purse or bankruptcy of life? From Mariner's Log - by Sterling Hayden,
sailor extraordinare

You Are How You Eat

2011-04-26T00:18:00.000-07:00

On a recent visit to Singapore a good friend set up a meeting with Dr. Edgar Tham. He thought we would get on and find some mutual interests. He was right.

First off let me introduce Edgar MS,CSC, Rpsych, he is Singapore’s pioneer sport and exercise psychologist who specializes in behavior change strategies and success coaching. A pet interest of mine, I am constantly amazed at the number of excuses people come up with not to change, despite wanting different results from their life.

Edgar was former head of sport psychology at the Singapore Sports Council and founding head and Deputy Director of the School of Sports, Health and Leisure of Republic Polytechnic. He is listed in the international Who’s Who of Professionals and a popular seminar speaker and lecturer of sport and exercise psychology and coaching courses in Asia.

In other words when he talks about getting healthy, changing your mind set or improving your sport YOU LISTEN. Besides he is a funny guy.

He has recently co-authored a new book “Scientifically Slim” with 30 proven ways to lose weight and keep it off.

What I loved about the strategies was the fact that they are easy to read and for me the best part all based on real world scientific studies.

A short example of one; Cornell University carried out a study of the way we eat at a Chinese Buffet. The short of it was it found that those who were obese compared to other diners.

Used larger plates
Served themselves immediately (instead of browsing the buffet before eating).
Sat 4.9 meters closer to the buffet.
Faced the buffet while eating.
Used forks more often than chopsticks.
Chewed less per bite.

Recognise any of these eating habits. “So not only are you what you eat, but also how you eat”.

In short a great book and well worth a read.

Looking forward to catching up with Edgar again on my next trip.

NO Excuse 14 Year Old

2011-04-22T02:11:00.000-07:00

A breath of fresh air. So often I hear what can only be described as lame excuses as to why people are not achieving the results they want. Usually it is because they only talk about getting results. "I really want to loose this fat" " I really want to get healthy" but when it comes to doing anything about it, their line changes to " I don't have time" " it's too early" "it's too late" "insert whatever excuse you want here".

The picture attached is of a 14 year old girl. One of the 600 students on our fitness programs. The gauze and tape are a result of falling on a treadmill and suffering friction burns which required medical treatment. She still rocked up to class to workout. Not only that she was jumping around and laughing with her friends before class. She never mentioned the injuries and when I asked her she said it was nothing she could still do class. Now hats off to her school ACE Ed ventures. Turning out young adults that accept no excuses.

How does your excuse for not exercising stand up to our 14 year old girl.

42 KM run far too EASY

2011-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya, ripped through the Boston Marathon setting a new record time knocking almost a minute off the official time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 59 seconds. A throughly amazing pace.

Now get this the new time correctly recorded is not recognized. Why? Because the Boston marathon is deemed too EASY.

I am not sure what these guys are smoking but when did running 42km become easy. Never mind the fact he maintained an average speed of about 21km per hour for 2 hours.

Now I get it the Boston marathon had down hill sections and Sundays race was wind assisted. But I challenge anyone who thinks it is easy to jump on a treadmill and run for one hour at 21kmph. That is assuming you can find a treadmill that is capable of 21kmph.

Protein Supplements and Isotonic Drinks

2011-01-09T03:16:00.000-08:00

I run a programme for teenagers and we currently have 600 enrolled.

I have been getting this question a number of times over the last few weeks. It goes something like this “which protein brand should I use” how much protein powder should I take”.

No prizes for guessing it’s are coming from the teenage boys wanting to build bigger muscles.

Though when I started to think about this a little more I often see a number of guys in the gym also sipping on their protein shakes “feeding the muscle” after a workout.

Most have barely worked out, (not in their minds of course) or the guy on the treadmill jogging a long watching T.V or listening to his ipod sipping on some branded isotonic drink.

Most have no idea of what they are taking, how much they should take or why they should or should not be taking it, beyond the marketing materials they have read of course.

The latest I saw was “advanced protein”. Now can somebody tell me exactly what does advance protein mean?

I digress the aim was to give some useful information and not make fun of the marketing department.

The optimum daily intake of protein is 1.00-1.5 grams per kilo of body weight. Of course it should be noted here that a normal balanced diet will give you more than this amount. YES that means no need to spend crazy amounts of money on a pretty box with some flavored powder.

Isotonic drinks consist of vitamins, minerals (e.g. salt), carbohydrates (sugar), flavorings colourings and water. In other words coloured salted water with added sugar. We already consume enough salt in our normal diet and most people probably too much sugar. Good old water is all you need for short-term exertion.

Asia’s Biggest Looser – My two cents

2010-12-19T23:18:00.000-08:00

The show has ended and the search for season 3 contestants has just begun. The banter on Facebook, numerous blog’s and the questions I am constantly getting to my in box goes on.

Mostly cheering on their favorites, congratulations to Raj and outrage at the fact their hero or heroine did not win.

I am constantly asked about my thoughts on the show and the winner.

Let’s take the easy one first (well easy for me at least, you may not agree). For me hands down Nai looked in the best overall shape, from where I was sat in the audience you could see the definition on his arms and legs, something the others lacked.

After wards talking with them I confirmed he as the one with the solid body shape. (Yes I did touch them).

Most trainers have told me they don’t agree with weight loss being the criteria for winning.

This is a tough one - I agree that fat loss is a far better gauge of the overall health of an individual and I am constantly telling people not to worry about their weight and focus on the inch loss or body fat reduction.

However in this case most of the contestants were in the extreme areas of obesity, in fact if most of them presented to a qualified trainer they would refer them to a doctor for clearance first. For a client in this condition I would certainly expect some major weight loss, so here I think the show does a very good job of balancing a fair (healthy) competition with viewer enjoyment.

But for me I think we can spend all day discussing the pros and con’s and whether or not it was fair. If we do I feel we miss a far bigger point. Every one of the shows participants took massive action to change their lives.

Talking with them after the show you could feel the energy and they will tell you of the mind shift they had. No more excuses, they hold themselves responsible for their own health, no blaming “poor genes”, no “I don’t have the time” no more excuses. Just a commitment to get the results they talk about.

As a trainer I here these excuses constantly and they are nothing more than that excuses. You must be responsible for your own life and health. If you want to see changes in your lives then you have to take action. If you want to see massive changes in your life then you have to take massive action. Each and every one of these guys’s did.

Not only did they take action they are continuing to do so and more importantly they are inspiring and encouraging others to do the same, reaching out to people most trainers, doctors, and family cannot get to change.

By being a role model and showing - it’s not always an easy journey but it is a possible one. They have helped thousands of people change their lives.

For me this makes it all worthwhile and hats off to the participants and the producers who made it all happen.

To workout with Jason click rebel-bootcamp.com

Bloating and Food Cravings

2010-12-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

I had a question from one of our new participants on REBEL BOOT CAMP

Question : I seem to be bloating after the training and have food cravings.

Answer : Don;t stress bloating is a completely natural response to sudden changes in your body. With a Exercise Routine, especially if you haven't had a regular routine in place, and are suddenly working out with high intensity, it can actually throw your body into a bit of a state of shock - your body interprets the extra stress as a physical emergency, and beings to try to stockpile necessary nutrients (which would also explain protein cravings directly after a workout as well!) and water.

Don;t worry this is only a temporary situation and your body will adapt. To help make sure you drink plenty of water before and after the session, it also helps to have some food before the start of the session. I find a small banana or a spoonful or two of oats helps.

Keep up the awesome effort and you will see the results.

Chess Boxing

2010-12-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

And you thought Chess was for nerdy types. Now let me introduce the fantastic sport of Chess Boxing, clearly invented by some guy bored off his tits, or maybe he just didn’t like getting check mated.

Actually the hybrid sport was invented by a Dutch guy inspired by a French Comic. (You can’t make this stuff up). Clearly after he had spent to many hours in a Dutch Coffee house sampling the home grown.

To win this game you need to be highly skilled in both chess and boxing as the game can be won either though a knock out or a check-mate. If after the allotted 11 rounds, the chess game is a tie then the competitor with the most boxing points wins.

You are going to love this part, if the boxing points are a tie the competitor with the black pieces win, (that seems fair).

Just in case you are wondering the head phones are to stop the competitors from getting distracted by the shouts of encouragement and help.

Fischer and Spassky, was never like this, but you got to love it.

Fractured Penis

2010-12-01T21:07:00.001-08:00

No seriously it is possible. According to the Mayo clinic if the penis is bent forcefully during an erection it can cause a rupture the two cylinders in the penis responsible for erections.

As these cylinders are engorged with blood (hence the erection), a fracture will result in dark bruising of the penis, and is often accompanied by a loud cracking sound. They say it is a painful injury (WOW who would have thought it hurts).

The cause’s are “aggressive” or “acrobatic sexual intercourse” ---- What the …. Acrobatic sexual intercourse, time to add a few moves to the game book. Seriously if anyone can tell me what acrobatic sex is please send me details. Aggressive masturbation can also lead to the injury ??? Again if anyone has some suggestions.

Back to be been serious this condition needs immediate medical attention and surgery is often the recommendation. Left un-attended it can result in deformity and the lack of ability to achieve or maintain an erection.

Have a fun and safe weekend.

Fit and Fat?

2010-08-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

I recently got a question from one of my clients asking is it possible to be fit and still be fat.

What an awesome question I thought. I know of a number of people who work out regularly and eat well but do not fit our stereo typical view of healthy. You know the lean body, tight with all the lines in the right places.

Further, more I often see it in our BootCamp programmes where the gym buff’s rock up for a session and are stunned when they are out ran and or out push up’ed by members who they might think were less than their fitness level.

So I decided to look into this question a little more.

It seems that there is in fact a growing number of Doctors and Nutritionist’s who believe that it is possible to be Fit and Fat. In fact there are even some studies to back them up.

(Side note here, those who read what I write on a regular basis, you will know I am a hefty skeptic for studies. You can prove pretty much anything you like with a study, if the numbers of participants are small enough or carefully chosen).

Fit and Fat believers point to a 1999 study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which followed almost 22,000 men for an average of eight years to assess risk factors that predispose individuals to an early death.

"Lean unfit people actually had a higher risk of death than the "overfat" physically fit people," according to Dr. Andrew Jackson one of the study’s authors.

Now that’s a pretty big number of people followed of a fairly long time.

Steven Blair, who heads a Dallas research foundation on Physical activity, had this to say “The impression is that everyone who is overweight faces an elevated risk for mortality. That’s simply not true”

For my part I have to agree that the majority of people look at the bathroom scales as a definition to indicate if they are healthy or not. A number on a scales is not all there is to your health. I work with many people who consider themselves healthy because their weight is “low” they are usually very un-healthy. Likewise I also work with people who are very healthy but worry because they are “heavy” according to the scales.

I should point out here that there are also a large number of people in the medical industry who disagree with the notion of being fat and fit.

Indeed there is no denying the fact that obesity is linked to a multitude of health problems. I myself work in a specialist medical centre where I see these issues on a daily basis.

As I understand it the Fit and Fat camp are suggesting perhaps we need to review our definitions of what it is to be healthy, and I am certainly in the camp when they promote it is better to eat healthy and exercise than to sit on a couch all day. Even if after considerable efforts you don’t fit the magazine image.

It seems this debate is likely to continue for quite some time and more definitive clinical studies will need to be carried out. These will take many years to complete and will require an acceptance from the medical community. Something that is not easy to obtain.

In the mean time the take home is still exercise, eat healthy and have your medical checks on a regular basis.
If anyone has any input on this I would love to hear it.

Stick with my Programme or Not

2010-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Q. I read your post Exercise During Fasting Month and was wondering should I stay with my current programme.

A. Thanks for the question. You did not say what your current programme is, but here are is what I do with my clients.

This is no time to set records.... Typically I will advise our clients to stick with their current training programme if they have been exercising for a while.

If they are a new client or have been making recent increases in either their weight training or cardio (from walking to jogging etc.) then we will advise them to reduce their levels by about 30%.

If you are exercising at home or outdoors, keep to light walking and stretching. I would advise you exercise early in the morning before it gets to hot to help avoid dehydration or better yet after breaking fast in the evening.

Make sure a keep your fluids intake high before and after fasting.

EXERCISE DURING THE FASTING MONTH

2010-08-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

The holy month of Ramadhan is upon us. This is a time of reflection and fasting allowing us to empathize with those who suffer starvation on a continual basis.

Yet inexplicable many of us gain weight during this month. I myself have to be careful, as the amazing foods that are not often available during the rest of the year are often to tempting.

In addition many use this month as an excuse to stop their exercising programme. Easy to realize why we gain weight when you do the math, increase food eating, decrease activity that burns the calories, don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

Here I will give you some guidelines if followed will allow you to enjoy the holy month, without suffering during the day while fasting and keep up your exercise routine and stop your figure from expanding.

Keep your exercise sessions light. This is not the time to be setting any new records.

Warm up thoroughly, most important to start slowly.

Keep your diet moderate in high protein.

Keep your diet high in complex carbohydrate which has a low glycolic index (GI) as a rough rule of thumb, these are unprocessed carbohydrates i.e. unpolished rice. For more information on the GI visit www.glycemicindex.com I feel this is the single most important part to successful fasting.

When breaking fast, avoid simple sugars, (this means no Kuih and all its sugary friends), as they will cause your insulin levels to spike, resulting in making you feel extremely lethargic and unable to exercise. The fancy name for this is reactive hypoglycemia.

Your diet should not differ very much from your regular diet during Ramadhan. (I am assuming here that you already have a healthy diet which avoids fat, oil and sugar).

To help you through the day you should eat slow digesting foods with high unprocessed fiber contents. Slow digesting foods last up to 8 hours, and will see you though the day, While processed foods such as white rice, pasta etc. will fill you up quickly but will very quickly burn off leaving you hungry and tired.

Slow digesting foods with a low GI include whole grains, and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, unprocessed flour, unpolished rice etc.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR AND SOME REMEDIES

AVOID

The temptation to over eat. This will not keep you from being hungry and will most likely result in an expanding waistline and a weight gain.

Too much tea or coffee at sunrise, as these are diuretic’s and result in you spending more time in the toilet wasting that precious water that your body needs to preserve.

DRINK

Lots of water and fresh juice after breaking fast and before you sleep. This will allow your body to adjust your fluid levels while you sleep.

LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

If you have excessive sweating, weakness, tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness, or feeling faint you may be suffering low blood pressure. You tend to feel this towards the afternoon.

This can be a result of too little water or fluid intake and too little salt intake. To resolve this keep cool and increase your fluid and salt intake.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

If you suffer from high blood pressure and are taking medication, you may need to adjust your levels during Ramadhan. You should discuss this with your doctor.

HEADACHES

A common problem if you normally like to hang out at Starbucks or generally drink lots of coffee you can suffer from server headaches due to caffeine withdrawal. This also applies to smokers. These are bad headaches and can cause nausea. The best way to avoid these headaches is to slowly reduce your intake a couple of weeks before the start of fasting.

I wish you all the best for the fasting month.

SELAMAT MENUNAIKAN IBADAH PUASA

Booze Causes Memory Loss, or Worse Memory Loss

2010-08-06T23:17:00.001-07:00

Its the weekend and time to party like a rock star.

I am sure your mother or some other well meaning do gooder who had a blast when they were young and decided that you should not enjoy yourself quite as much has told you that drinking can damage your health (well that bit can be true) and kill all your brain cells. Turns out that bit is wrong (Party Time).

It seems that you can feel the "fun" (read beer buzz) with a relatively low alcohol level (clearly these researchers never dated an Irish chick) but the levels of alcohol in the brain of even a very drunk person are not enough to kill living cells.

Now the down side, is boozing it up disrupts short term memory formation. This is why you can't remember dropping your pants and singing God Save the Queen even though you are French. Yet manage to find your way home; thankfully this key piece of information is stored else where.

Now what was my point.

Gold at 92 Years

2010-08-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Gay Games are under way in Cologne Germany.

What most of you may not be aware of is that these games are opened to all athletes regardless of sex or sexual orientation and even AGE.

This means there are events catering to athletes in the 70 years and older catergory.

Paul Mart of the USA recently took Gold for Body Building in the 70 years and over catergory he is 92 years of age and still going.

Seems the Gay Games organisers are a lot more enlightned than the International Olympic Committee and are encourageing all people to par-take in sports regardless of age.

Still using that line I am too old to get invloved, it just does not cut it anymore.

In our BootCamp programme we have a ladies in their 50's, always fun to see her giving guy's half her age a run for their money.

Exercise and Porn – Seems women benefit

2010-07-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

Doppler Ultrasonography is a cool medical procedure that allows doctors to monitor blood flow and organ function non-invasively and in real time. In other words they get to check everything out without cutting you open.

Now it looks like the Sexual Lab at the University of Texas (curious did anyone else have a Sex Lab at their University, I am sure we just called it the Student Bar), have found some way cooler applications. They are showing women porn movies and measuring vaginal blood flow. They are not alone in this either, a similar study was carried out on elite athletes and non-athletes in Turkey.

The studies were pretty straight forward in Texas the women came in on two separate days on day one they watched a travel programme followed by a porn movie and the scientists measured blood flow in their vagina, on the second day the women exercised for 20 minutes and then had the travel and porn session. It turns out on the exercise day the women had a 150 percent increase in sexual arousal.

In Turkey they simply asked both groups a set of questions and measured clitoral blood flow. The athletes had higher blood flow and scored higher on the questionnaire. Indicating they were more likely to have better sex and greater satisfaction.

So forget about dinner and a movie and strap on your running shoes.

Still Sat on Your Butt

2010-07-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Just in case you are still using lame ass excuses as to why you are not moving and getting that lame ass in shape.

Let me give you some hints so you know if you are a lame ass 1. I don't have time, 2. It's too early/late. 3. I'm waiting for my friend to start with me, 4. I don't need to exercise I'm skinny. 4. I can't exercise because ...... (insert lame ass illness, usually self diagnosed)

For the rest of you its a great story of a young lad accepting no limitations.

click here

Aging Gracefully

2010-07-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Guy's today I would like to introduce you to Stacy Millett She an Exercise Physiologist with over fifteen years experience helping patients with disease and injury prevention through exercise and nutrition and she is an injury rehabilitation specialist.

Stacy is a California native, with a degree in Exercise Physiology and a Master’s in Sports Medicine. Stacy is an American College of Sports Medicine (CSM) registered clinical exercise physiologist and she is currently working on her PhD in natural health and holistic nutrition. She lives and works in Monterey, California.

Ok that all sounded rather formal Stacy is also one hot serious surfing chick and marital artist so look but don't touch.

The following is one of her recent articles posted to her blog http://stacymillett.blogspot.com/

Aging Gracefully

One of the most influential men in my life, my Pappabob, asked me to add something about aging and some good advice for the aging population. In the meantime, I've had a birthday and have reflected about my own time here on Earth and what I might summarize about aging.
From my day to day encounters with the wonderful people that I work with to improve their health, one of the most dreaded comments I hear is "it sucks to get old". Yeah, ok, it would be nice to be 20, but it doesn't mean we have to age without grace. Our bodies don't have to hurt and brake, flake, stiffen, become diseased, fat, flat, or even flaccid. The process of dying starts very early in our life, around 28 years old. Inevitably, we will end up with wrinkles replacing our soft, silky skin, saggy body body parts that used to be so cute and perky, gray hair, and age spots...Our cells can only replace themselves so many times before they throw in the towel.
Aging is not only in our bodies but it our heads and our spirit. If we want to be old, we will. It's amazing what you can talk yourself into. But, if we decide to be "young at heart" forever, there will be good times until the end. Of course, unless you really just want to sit in that old chair in a dark room, in front of the TV.
Aging gracefully starts from youth. The more we takes care of ourselves when we are young, the healthier we will be when we are "more mature". This involves the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of ourselves.
Eating healthy from a young age also helps. Most of us grew up eating TV dinners, canned brown bread, and mac and cheese. But, life changes and hopefully, early on, so did the eating habits to more fresh food. Whatever happened to that brown bread, anyway? That was good.
Everyone's cells will eventually give up and call it a day. But, in the mean time, think young, eat healthy, take chances out of your comfort zone, travel to new places and get to know a new culture and language, eat some real healthy foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, and foods you have never tried before. Take a walk on the beach or in the forest, go backpacking...and never mention that "getting old sucks"!
The samurai say treat every day like it's your last, be in each moment fully...and enjoy life to the end...

Could the Real Guy Please Stand Up!!

2010-06-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

During the 1936 Olympic Games, Stella Walsh, otherwise known as Stanislawa Walasiewicz, a Polish sprinter, was then known internationally as the fastest woman in the world, so when she was beaten by Helen Stephens of the U.S. who simultaneously set a world record, running 100 metres in 11.4 seconds, a Polish journalist protested that Helen Stephens must be a man.

Supporters of Stella Walsh joined in the protest, arguing that no woman could possibly run that fast.

Olympic officials examined Helen Stephens, and found her to indeed be female, proving that a woman could run that fast after all.

44 years later, Stella Walsh, who had been living in the U.S. as an American citizen, was fatally shot in the parking lot of a store in Cleveland.

An autopsy was performed which revealed a much bigger surprise. According to the autopsy results it was actually Stella Walsh, and not Helen Stephens who had been playing the part of a female sprint champion at the Olympics all this time.

Ahh its a strange world we live in.

Pump it up Baby!!

2010-06-28T19:07:00.001-07:00

Ok one for the girls today.

It seems researchers have found that not only do those Jimmy Choo's give your profile a lift but it also increases your libido.

The research carried out by the University of Verona Italy discovered that wearing high heels, increases a woman's pelvic floor strength also known as the "pleasure muscle" leading to an increase in the sexual sensation.

It appears the ideal height is 2 to 4 inches. Any higher and the screams will be from blisters and twisted ankles.

For the guy's who are interested I have checked and it seems they don't need any more help on the research.

An interesting side note, most postural problems we see in the physio clinic from women are linked to high heels. Your call girls good back or good orgasms.

(Tricia I now get your shoe choice).

Only the Sugar - No Loving Baby

2010-06-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

Right I have a ton of excuses for not updating the blog for a while, but it just amounts to me being a lazy ass. To make up for it I have a number of short tip-bits for your digestion.

Please take them as that tip-bits without a lot of research into them from me at least.

According to researchers from the University of British Columbia. A diet high in sugar can lower your testosterone levels, which has the nasty side effect of reducing your erections to flops, not to worry though as it puts your sex drive into park mode you wont want any sex anyway.

It seems the sugar sends your triglycerides up and your sex hormone building globulin down and your testosterone goes to sleep. Now that does not sound like fun.

High sugar can also damage your swimmers, sperm counts from men with high blood sugar had 20% more mutations than men with normal healthy levels.

So to get things back up and working drop the sugar.

Shin Splints

2010-05-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

Question: I am constantly getting a pain in the front of my leg when I jog, I have tried various things to stop this pain but nothing seems to work.

Almost all of us who exercise or play sports will have experienced this condition at some point of time.

Shin splints are a common problem, for the recreational exerciser as well as athletes.

Though very common not many people fully understand how they are caused or how to treat them. One reason for this is shin splints tend to go away when we exercise and only return after the activity.

I hope with this article you will gain a better understanding of the condition, it can get a little technical but hopefully not to the point of inducing sleep.

What are Shin Splints?

Shin Splints is a term generally used to refer to any pain in the lower frontal part of the leg. Though there are other conditions, which present with the same symptoms.

Although Shin Splints is commonly used to describe lower leg pain, it specifically refers to a condition formally called Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (try saying that fast).

OK what does that mean in English. First we need a little anatomy knowledge. There are two bones in the lower leg the Tibia; located on the inside of the leg (medial) while the second bone called the Fibula is located on the outside of leg (lateral).

There are also a number of muscles that attach to these bones. Muscles are attached to bone by Tendons and Bones are attached to each other by ligaments.

The pain associated with skin splints is a result of fatigue or trauma of the muscles and tendons attached to the tibia.

Again in a more simple view shin splints can be viewed as an overuse injury, this is an over simplification of the condition but will make it more understandable to the vast majority.

Science Bit

This next part is for the science heads the rest of us try and keep awake

The function of the muscles of the anterior shin (front of the shin) (tibialis anterior) is to dorsiflex the foot (bend the foot upwards at the ankle).

Some people when running over stride, and land heavily on the heel with each foot strike. When this happens, the forefoot rapidly slaps down to the ground. Effectively, the foot, which is dorsiflexed prior to making contact with the ground, is forcefully plantarflexed (opposite of dorsiflex the foot is stretched forward at the ankle).

This forceful plantar flexion of the foot causes a corresponding rapid stretch in the attached muscles. A reflex in the muscles responds, causing a powerful contraction. It is this eccentric contraction (lengthening of the muscle) that leads to muscle soreness and possible injury to the muscle, tendon or connective tissue.

Please note the above description seems to be commonly accepted, though I could not find any independent studies to prove this theory.

What Causes Shin Splints

Shin Splints are associated with activities that involve running or jumping. These actions result in the forceful impact, which lead to the muscles fatiguing and becoming unable to absorb the forces resulting in injury.

Below are some of the factors that we can control and reduce the chances of developing Shin Splints.

Factors that may contribute to Shin Splints

Exercising on hard surfaces, like concrete.
Exercising on uneven ground.
Beginning an exercise program after a long lay-off period.
Increasing exercise intensity or duration too quickly;
Exercising in worn out or ill fitting shoes.
Excessive uphill or downhill running.

Other Possible Conditions

Overused muscle

The muscle pain is caused by any activity that involves running, jumping, also sometimes even walking (especially on concrete). This will lead to either an acute injury or delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) DOMS are the pain you feel in your muscles 24 to 48 hours after the activity, you may notice DOMS in any muscle.

Untreated shin splints can lead to a stress reaction mid-shaft in the tibia, which can eventually lead to a stress fracture. A stress fracture can be diagnosed by a bone scan or an MRI and takes much longer to heal than shin splints.

Pes Planus

Pes Planus or 'flat foot' is a leading cause of Shin Splints. Physiotherapists and athletic therapists can design treatment plans.

Cavus foot

Feet with high arches can also cause shin splints. It can create just as much damage as pes planus. Orthotics inserted in shoes can help this; they drop the foot's metatarsal to accommodate the high arch.

Chronic compartment syndrome

A problem that can mimic anterior shin splints is chronic compartment syndrome (CCS). This is a serious problem that can lead to significant loss of function in the lower leg and requires emergency surgery to prevent ischemic muscle necrosis due to lack of blood.

Treatment

In the first instance R.I.C.E.R is without a doubt, the most effective, initial treatment for soft tissue injuries.

For you First Aiders you will notice the added R

R.I.C.E.R stands for (R) rest, (I) ice, (C) compression, (E) elevation and obtaining a (R) referral for appropriate medical treatment.

You will also need to take a short break from the activity that was causing the pain and slowly build the activity levels back up.

You may also use NASID’s (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) prescribed by a doctor.

Your Physiotherapist can also tape the affected leg to stabilize and take some of the load off.

Of course proper fitting shoes and avoiding hard ground will also help.

Get Fit Fast With ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP™ :: IAMCHIQ.COM LIVING - LIFESTYLE

2010-05-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

Get Fit Fast With ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP™ :: IAMCHIQ.COM LIVING - LIFESTYLE

Bare foot Running Safer – Idiot Journalist

2010-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

‘I read that running bare foot is better for you and causes less injuries, so why should I buy expensive running shoes?”

This question is a classic example of idiot journalists, not understanding what they are writing about or worse still trying to drum up interest in their articles by misrepresenting the information to make it more sensational.

This question results from the mis-representation of a study on how and why humans ran comfortably without modern running shoes. It is interesting to note that 30% or runners incur an injury each year, mostly due to problems in the foot or lower leg.

The study was carried out by a group from Harvard University.

Daniel E. Lieberman
Madhusudhan Venkadesan
Adam I. Daoud
William A. Werbel

In simple terms their research tested and confirmed what most people already thought that bare foot runners land with the forefoot or mid-foot and avoid heel strikes.

Most fore foot or mid foot runners do not generate the sudden, large impacts, which occur when you heel strike. This style of running (forefoot or mid foot landing) did not generate the forces whether the runner was wearing shoes or not.

It is worth noting that the research does not present data or opinions on how people should run or whether shoes cause some injuries or bare foot-running causes other injuries.

In fact the authors felt so strongly about the misrepresentation in the press that they have tried to clear up the misunderstanding caused by the press in the opening of their website.

You can read it here http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html

You will also find the rest of their findings presented in a very easy to understand format, complete with videos.

I guess that newspaper editors should put their journalists through a basic intelligence test before allowing them to present facts to the public.

As for you the public, you should be aware of what you read and don’t be shy about looking up the original information that these journalists used to put their articles together.

When Do I Need – Physiotherapy

2010-03-11T02:07:00.000-08:00

This is one of the questions I get asked a lot and I normally have the usual answers sports injuries, operations, strokes, general ageing etc. I now have another one to add to the list sailing.

Yes you read it right sailing. This past weekend I headed to Port Klang for a day on the water organized by Royal Selangor Yachting Club.

Now I am not new to sailing, however my type of sailing includes tropical weather (in Malaysia that’s not a problem) hot girl, my girlfriend came with me so yes, a clod drink and some easy sailing.

However RSYC had some other ideas in mind. First off it was not the leisurely cruise I was expecting, it was a race. This instantly had me worried as I thought how can I drink and race, this was confirmed when they gave me some gloves. This instantly scared me, as whenever I have been offered gloves in the past it involved hard work, this day was no different.

Secondly it was on a Platu, these are 7.5 meters (about 26 feet) and sensitive as hell. This leads to a lot of jumping around and leaning over to ensure you stay right side up and preferable on deck. Though, from time to time you are required to get as far off deck as possible to ensure the boat remains the right way up.

Add to this various aerobatic moves in order to get from one side to the next (port to starboard) without getting pole axed by the swinging boom, apparently named after the sound it makes upon fast contact with your head.

Twist, duck, hold, duck again jump push and hold, ok that’s one turn made now lets do it again and repeat for 4 hours. You get the idea here that this is a major workout.

Here you get the idea of some of the interesting positions. (this is not our boat we were far too busy for photos)

On more than one occasion I was sliding across the deck and into the water were it not for a well-placed line or something sharp to remove part of my toe. (Mental note purchase deck shoes)

As if this was not enough of a workout on the final leg of the final race I had to become a human spinnaker pole. It seems this was a compliment. However it involved squatting down on one leg whilst using the other leg to push the sail as far from the boat as possible and hold that position until we cross the finish line.

So as I was saying on the following day it the Physio just over an hour to put all my muscles and joints back where they should be a leave me pain free, and thinking only of the next day on the water.

By the way we finished 3rd overall.

Safely back to port.

Pure Genius

2010-03-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday the 6th turned out to be a long day for the Physio’s

It was the Guinness Annual KL Challenge-Hosted by Orang Eire.

This annual event of Irish Football attracted teams from Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore as well as Malaysia.

Our Physio’s were at it from 6am (a new time of the day for them). A heavy rain ensured the medical area was awash in water and mud. New conditions for the phyiso’s as well.

The sun did come out to play and it was a fantastic day with some great sport, from the Kids, women’s and men’s teams.

The added heat and I believe the pre-event warm up in various bars around KL, helped keep the physio’s on their toes.

It was also a great pleasure to have Dr. Ernest Yeoh on hand to lend a guiding hand and ensure the very best of medical care was available as well as Richard Cobey of the Sports Council, another vast wealth of knowledge and experience. Pictured here with myself and my good friend Mike O'Brien. (Dr. Yeoh is in red and Richard in Blue)

By the end of the day everyone went home mostly intact which is always a great result. Well not quite home but on to the after event party hosted by Crowne Plaza Hotel and sponsored by Guinness and Etihad. All in all a very long day. Well done guys.

Oh and KL finished 2nd place after a hard fought final in extreme heat, ground temperature 49c and air temperature 38c with humidity in the high 80s.

Some other Pic's of the day.
The captains before the Final.

A bad clash on the pitch, the physio's, Dr. and Richard are in there somewhere.

Power Plate - Wonder Machine or Junk

2010-03-05T01:49:00.001-08:00

I promised I would start answering the backlog of questions I received, here is the first one. “What is my opinion on Power Plate”?

For those who may not be aware Power Plate has been around for some time now.

The user stands on the platform or performs various exercises like push up’s or squats. The platform vibrates giving (it is claimed) a more intense workout.

The marketing hype claims the user will benefit from the machine with as little as 15 min’s 3 times per week. Already sounds like another promise of a miracle workout. Remember the Abs-Roller in the 80’s promising fabulous washboard abs with just 10mins use per day.

The company even provide some impressive paper work on scientific research. One look at these and you will be impressed with the numbers and formulas and complex sounding tests. For me there is only one number I am interested in HOW MANY participants in the so-called trials.

In this case incredibly low, 33 in one and 62 in another (these were the only 2 I read), these numbers do not come close to clinical trials usually closer to the 1800 mark. If you test for anything in small enough a population you will probably prove yourself right.

The other factor I noticed was it has some great endorsements from Madonna and Danni Minouge. Now do you really think they got those great bodies from a few sessions on a vibrating plate or is it more likely from 20 years of dance training.

Marketing people never stretch the truth ……. Right?

The company claims that the fantastic results are caused by the vibrating platform. So how come London Tube passengers are not all skinny. I lived in London and traveled on the Tube daily there were some pretty out of shape people there. And how about everybody’s favorite construction worker on the jack hammer. With his builder’s cleavage swinging in the wind, hardly an advocate for vibration exercise.

Big question have I used it. Yes I have. Did I think it was any good? Yes, but not as good as they claim.

The basics foundation for increasing the intensity of most exercise is to begin with a stable platform and if you want to make it more difficult move to an unstable platform. Push up’s preformed on the ground are far easier than push up’s performed on a balance boar or Swiss ball. There is no rocker science here (not sure why they needed all those reports).

My big problem with Power Plate is the cost of use per session at least in Malaysia. It’s ridiculous at least in the places that would tell me the price for a session, without coming for a membership presentation.
Now I don’t really blame the clubs for this, as the price of the machine is simply stupid. I have seen these machines taken apart and the sum of the parts inside although good engineering did not add up anywhere to the cost of the product.

I know taking the machine apart is a bit extreme but I just didn’t believe the sales guy about how complex the machine was. I was right it; wasn’t complex and did not justify the price.

So to summarize it’s an interesting part of an overall workout, it is definitely not worth the price. No, I don’t really buy any of the marketing or testimonials, and I think a good trainer can generate the same effect with a bit of creativity. And I am a firm believer that the body will always adapt to the loads and stresses you place upon it meaning you need to mix up your workout from time to time.

Guinness Annual KL Challenge - Hosted by Orang Eire

2010-03-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

At last an event I can really get into Guinness though I think some sport will be happening as well.

This Saturday March 6th we will get to see some real football Irish style. For those of you who support EPL it would be good to come and see what happens when a player really gets tackled, no rolling around in Irish Football. Get up and get stuck in.

Of course the ACE physio's will be on stand by to take care of pre-match warm up's and deal with any injuries.

Drop by and give the teams some support. The event will begin at 9am with the women's teams. Yes that's right the women's teams and yes they are harder than Wayne Rooney, and far better looking to.

There will be teams from around the region with representation from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.

The event will be at:

The Alice Smith School Secondary Campus
3 Jalan Equine,
Taman Equine,
43300 Seri Kembangan,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Here is a quick look at some of the action.

Tom Dick and Harry's

2010-03-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Some Shots of the ACE physiotherapists in action.

Tom Dick and Harry's - a fantastic pub based in TTDI, has decided to get it's patrons fit and healthy. Instead of just sitting on a bar stool discussing how the players should have taken the ball around the defender. Tom Dick and Harry's decided to get the casual drinkers up early and running around the town.

When I say early I mean early; the starter gun went off at 8am, bear in mind this was Sunday morning when any respectable drinker would be rolling over and fluffing their pillow.

Well not the patrons of Tom, Dick and Harry's not only were they there on time (real time not Malaysian time), they were in pretty good shape.

ACE physiotherapists were on hand to stretch them off before the run and their skills were much appreciated at the end of a challenging run with a fair amount of up hill slogging. The hills certainly got the calves of a number of the runners, but after a few minutes on the table they were sat at another one tucking into a great breakfast.

Great to hear Tom Dick and Harry's are planning to make this a regular event. Check them out on Face Book at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=tom+dick+and+harry%27s&init=quick#!/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/Tom-Dick-Harrys-pubgrub/184370164933?v=wall&ref=search

Walkabella -For Charity

2010-02-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

On top of running around like crazy dealing with contractors, local authority to get our license and immigration to ensure Jono our senior physio from New Zeland was all legal. We managed to find some time to help out with a local event at One Utama called Walkabella.

This was a great event organized by a local school in aid of Cerebral Palsy. The event attracted 1300 participants and all walked the course with there umbrellas (you got it right Walkabella as in walk with an umbrella) Yeah don't worry I didn't get it either.

Still it was a great day with money going to a great charity and ACE Physiotherapy helping ensure the participants were in top form before and after the event.

Below are some shots of the guys in action.

BootCamp and Group PT the Way To Go

2010-02-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guy's here is a great article on how the fitness industry is shaping up and the new trends coming up in training.

The American Council on Exercise announced the top ten fitness trends
for 2010 based on an annual survey of its extensive worldwide network
of personal trainers, group fitness experts, advanced health and
fitness specialists and lifestyle and weight management consultants.
These findings conclude that, in the New Year, consumers will be
looking to arrange their fitness regimens with time and money in mind.
Tighter budgets and hectic schedules will also bring unique and
efficient workouts to the forefront of the fitness world.

“Consumers will really look to maximize their workout results while
maintaining a close eye on their budgets this year,” said ACE’s Chief
Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D. “Along with financial
constraints, we understand that people are busier than ever and will
look for workouts that offer the results they seek while fitting
within their already jam-packed schedules. Aside from these
limitations, we will continue to see a trend toward alternative
fitness programming and classes as well as a continued growth among
aging adults who are choosing to maintain active, healthy lifestyles.”

The following represents ACE’s listing of the top fitness trends for 2010:

Cost-Conscious Workouts at Fitness Clubs and at Home: The impact of
the economy continues to affect the choices of fitness enthusiasts and
health clubs alike. Gyms will alter programming and training to better
serve the needs of the cost-conscious member, while in-home workouts
utilizing small, portable fitness equipment will be popular among
individuals watching their budgets.

Group Training: Individuals will scale back on personal training
sessions to take advantage of small-group training and group class
participation as another way to save on expenses. Health clubs may
alter some programs to better suit the needs of larger groups.
Likewise, individuals may find that the group setting offers
additional motivation and support of their fitness efforts.

Time-Efficient Workouts for the Time-Pressured American: Shorter yet
higher-intensity workouts will be more appealing to those with busy
schedules because they can reap significant fitness rewards with
relatively minimal time investment. Boot-camp style workouts will
continue to be one of the most popular of these trends in 2010,
offering the ability to burn sufficiently large number of calories
while simultaneously improving muscular fitness. Circuit training will
also be a time-efficient workout of choice due to its combined
strength and endurance activities.

Exergaming: Exergames will continue to climb in popularity and be
taken to the next level: fitness clubs. By integrating fitness-based
video games into their programming, clubs will offer unique exercise
sessions for game-lovers and those looking for variety within their
workouts. Studies conducted by ACE on exergaming-type systems,
including Nintendo’s Wii Sports and Wii Fit and the PC-based
Dancetown, offer insight into the true fitness benefits associated
with these alternative fitness options.

Boomer-Specific Programs: Special fitness programming for aging adults
will remain a strong trend next year. Growing numbers of boomers
recognize the multitude of benefits that come along with regular
exercise participation, from lowering blood pressure and cholesterol
to maintaining one’s functional independence and overall wellbeing.

Functional Training Workouts: Functional training workouts will
increase in variety, including popular suspension training tools such
as TRX. The portability and time-efficiency of these workouts will
appeal to people looking to stay fit at home, the office, the gym or
while traveling.

Health and Fitness Awareness: The importance of health and fitness is
gaining greater awareness among commercial and governmental
organizations. There will be a strong movement towards collaboration
between these groups and health and fitness organizations throughout
the New Year. These diverse groups will work together in the fight
against physical inactivity and obesity.

Importance of Proper Professional Credentials: Health and fitness
clubs are recognizing the need for, and the importance of, hiring
trainers who hold high-quality, reputable professional credentials.
NCCA-accredited fitness certification is fast becoming the recognized
stamp of approval for credentialing quality in the fitness industry.
ACE is among the few organizations to which the National Commission
for Certifying Agencies grants this accreditation for certification
programs.

Specialty Exercise Classes: Specialty classes such as ethnic dance,
hooping, pole dancing and Zumba will remain popular due in part to the
continued success of shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You
Think You Can Dance. Fusion-type classes will be popular among fitness
enthusiasts that want to switch up their typical workout programs.
Additionally, more gyms will offer unique group exercise programs and
mind-body activities.

Fitness Training Tools: Technology is continuing to infiltrate the
fitness world. The use of tracking and online training and scheduling
tools will increase in the coming year with more people looking to
better gauge their progress by accessing and monitoring details of
their fitness programs. Some popular examples of tracking gadgets
include GoWear fit and Fitbit, while online tools such as
TrainingPeaks software offer fitness programs and meal plans that
people can access 24-7. Mobile applications are even bringing fitness
on-the-go through iPhone applications and other downloadable
programming.

Back Again

2010-02-25T23:36:00.000-08:00

Ok it’s been a while I know, since I last posted. But it has been a little bit of a crazy few months. Following from our work with rehabbing clients with everything from twisted ankles to back surgery, we have taken the next step and opened a Physiotherapy Centre.

This allows is better control over the healing process, as I am sure you know there are “passing grades” and then there are A grades.

We have assembled a top team of A graders. I occasionally have to ask them to dumb it down a bit so I am not constantly referring to a medical dictionary.

Our Senior Physiotherapist’s in charge of diagnostics are:

Jonathan Snell

Jonathan (AKA Jono) hails from New Zealand and specializes in Muscular Skeletal and joint injuries.

His love of sport led him to be the lead Physiotherapist for a local rugby team giving him a wide exposure to sporting injuries and Olympic Gold Medalist’s.

Bachelor of Health Science (Physiotherapy) – Auckland University of Technology – New Zealand

College Accredited Membership courses (CAMC) – Spinal Manipulations

Bhavani Pathmanathan, Bsc.Hons.

Specializing in Neurology and Pediatrics.

Bhavani brings with her a wealth of experience her last posting was in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Here she headed the physiotherapy department for a 400 bed capacity Rehabilitation Hospital & Medical Centre operating since 2002 with In and Out patient, Home Health Care and Child Developmental Centre.

Her knowledge and experience dealing with, children made her an obvious choice as a senior Physiotherapist.

Bachelor of Science in Applied Rehabilitation (Physiotherapy)
University of Teeside (UK) (Her list of qualifications got a bit long so I only put in this one).

Under these guys we have a fantastic team of physiotherapists and exercise therapists. All in all you will be in good hands.

For those of you who have got some injuries or nagging aches and pains the centre is called ACE Physiotherapy and is located in TTDI Plaza the number is 03-7726-1218. We are open 7 days a week from 10am-8pm.

For those of you who have posted questions I will answer them and I promise within this week.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 90

2009-12-20T02:27:00.000-08:00

Go outside for exercise

Go outside and get some exercise in your daily routine. You don't necessarily need to go into the gym for cardio work.

It can be a lot more fun to get outside and enjoy the day by walking around the neighborhood, playing a game of tennis, hiking some trails, mountain biking, running at the local track or walking a round of golf. Get the family involved, try keeping up with your kids, you will be amazed how much energy they have once you drag them away from the computer.

By involving outside exercise routines like enjoyable sports activities, you will be able to burn calories and have fun while doing it.

The real key is finding an activity you really enjoy and consistently doing it on a regular basis.

Seated Row

2009-12-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 89

2009-11-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

Do not judge yourself by others

One of the biggest issues with people trying to lose fat is that they compare themselves to others. In fact now that I think of it most of our problems come from comparing ourselves to others instead of just trying to be the best we can be.

Most of my clients want to look like their favorite stars. Women may want to have the body of Jennifer Aniston or guys may want the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Genetics play a large part in your overall physique, so don't get depressed if you can't get your stomach to just like Jennifer. Each person is unique, so try to focus on making positive changes to your own physique and be glad when you reach a goal.

Remember aim to be the best “YOU” and not strive to be someone else.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 88

2009-10-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Keep an exercise journal

Always make sure to keep a detailed training journal. By keeping a journal of your training sessions, you will have a detailed log of every exercise you perform along with reps, sets and how much weight you lifted.

It's also great to document how you felt before, during and after your training session along with any food/supplements you took before and after you trained. By keeping an exercise journal, you will have access to a wealth of information and be able to detect specific areas in your current training routine which can be changed or improved upon.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make is to continue on with a training routine that simply does not work well for them. As the old saying goes, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results".

Don't let exercise insanity set in. Make sure to always switch up your training routines and document each one of them into your exercise journal. When you look back on your training journal, you will see specific patterns where you are succeeding and also where you're falling short. One of the most important pieces of exercise advice is to figure not only "what to do", but more importantly "what not to do". When you know the areas to avoid, your progress will skyrocket!

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 87

2009-09-28T02:10:00.000-07:00

Monitor your body fat

You will work very hard exercising and sticking to a healthy diet, so make sure you monitor your body fat levels to be positive that you are truly losing unwanted adipose tissue (body fat) and not hard earned muscle tissue. (Remember muscle burns between 35 and 50 calories per pound per day. The more you have the leaner you get.)
Have a professional test your body fat with either hydrostatic weighting (underwater) or with bioelectrical impedance (sensors). These will give you a very accurate measure of your current body fat percentage and will provide instant feedback to your overall weight loss plan.

If you don’t have access to either of these then some circumference measurements will give you a good idea if you are loosing the right stuff.

Get a tailor’s measuring tape and measure a to a fixed point. I always advise measuring to your belly-button as this is a fixed point, or first measure from your hip bone to the centre of your knee and then take the mid point to measure your thighs. This will ensure you are measuring in the same place and not always measuring the part that looks the worse.

For women it is a good idea to measure at the same time each month in your menstrual cycle.

Parasitic worm slimming aids considered harmful

2009-09-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

I just loved this report, it was from last year, but since I have not posted it before thought I would give you all something to smile about on a Monday. Unless your actually using worm eggs.

In health advice that you'd really hope nobody would actually need, Hong Kong health officials have warned slimmers that consuming parasitic worms is not a recommended way to lose weight. (Imagine my surprise)

The warning came after adverts reportedly appeared on a website offering products containing worm eggs as slimming aids.

A spokesman for the health department noted that there was no evidence that the worms – an intestine-dwelling tropical parasite known as ascaris – were an effective weight loss technique. There was, however, plenty of evidence that they were an effective diarrhoea, vomiting and pain-inducing technique.

The spokesman also mentioned that: 'Ascaris infestation may also be fatal due to serious complications in human bodies such as intestinal, biliary tract or pancreatic duct obstruction. The worms may invade such organs as the lungs.'

So, yes, don't use parasitic worms as a slimming aid. (In the words of Hommer Simpson Duh!!)

Free Weight V's Machines

2009-09-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Question : I was actually wondering is there a difference in strength training using free weights and machine weights? Or is one better than the other during workout. I find I tire easily during free weights but not on machine weights (unless it is super circuit). Or is it just the same?

Answer : I would always recommend beginners to start working using machines. Machine design toady means it is fairly difficult to cause an injury. As you progress you can incorporate free weight exercises. Ensure you get a qualified instructor to show you the appropriate exercise for your goals.

I once found a client doing a shoulder rehab exercise and asked how they had injured their shoulder turned out their shoulder was fine. They were simply copying an exercise they saw someone else doing.

As for the reason you feel tired with free weights as opposed to the machines. When using the machines the weights are stabilised for you. The guide rods the weight travels up and down stop the weight from moving around. This allows you to focus on the larger muscle which you are training.

With free weights their are no guide rods. This means you must prevent the weight from moving around. You do this my using what are called secondary muscles, this simple means they are not the main muscle you are trying to train. The secondary muscles tend to be smaller than the one you are training and will usually tire faster. This is why you normally cannot lift the same amount of weight as you can on a machine and why you tire quicker.

From a practically point of view if you are "lifestyle" training i.e. to reduce fat and look good either option will work for you. As mentioned the machines will reduce the risk of an injury.

If you are training for sport then the free weights are usually a better option as multiply muscle groups must work together as in a sport. Though the risk of injury is higher so you need to be more focused and aware of your technique.

As a coach I normally get my clients to mix both (when they are ready)to give variety to programmes and to load the muscle's in a different format. I will also switch clients from free weights to machines if I feel they are tired or un-focused. To avoid injuries.

Hope this helps with the question. Please keep them coming.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 68

2009-09-08T01:45:00.000-07:00

Have a late night protein snack

Your insulin levels are very sensitive at night and it will be much easier to store extra fat if you consume sugars later in the day.

Stick with a lean protein and a low G.I carb source. A great meal would be a grilled chicken breast salad and lettuce, sliced cucumbers and a little balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

You could also opt for a nice chicken breast/veggie stir fry. Throw some broccoli, mushrooms and chicken into a stir fry pan with a touch of soy sauce. This makes a great meal for later in the day!

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 67

2009-08-25T02:11:00.000-07:00

Mix up your meals

Always try to mix up your foods and have a variety of meals. The last thing you want is to get bored with the same exact meals every single day. Boredom is one of the main reasons people cannot stick long term with a diet plan or meal planner.

Mix in a protein smoothie for one meal followed by a healthy chicken breast salad. Lunch may include a whole-wheat turkey wrap with romaine lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers with a side of non-fat cottage cheese.

For dinner, try a nice stir-fry with a lean protein source and mixture of vegetables. Another great snack idea is frozen protein bars. These make a great snack during the day, which provide quality muscle building protein and also cure a nagging sweet tooth. Choose a protein bar that is low in sugar and tastes great. Or better still make your own, they are easy to make and are a fraction of the cost of store bought ones.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 66

2009-08-10T01:13:00.000-07:00

Be honest with yourself

In order to have long term success with any weight loss plan, you need to be honest with yourself. You need to set short term goals which are attainable, follow them with determination and put forth the effort to succeed. Everyone slips up from time to time and it takes courage to learn from your mistakes. Ask yourself what made you foul up and how you can avoid this in the future.

If you have a cheat day, don't think your entire weight loss plan is ruined. Get right back on your plan the next day and stay focused.

The Leg Curl

2009-08-03T02:01:00.000-07:00

Fat Loss Tip of the Week 65

2009-07-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

Watch those coffee drinks

Your daily refreshing Starbucks coffee treat may be killing your fat loss plans. Some coffee drinks have more calories than a double cheeseburger. A Venti Mint Chocolate Chip Frappuccino contains a whopping 820 calories, 28 grams of fat and 107 grams of sugar!

If you're looking for something sweet, your best calorie controlling choices are a basic coffee with a shot of sugar free syrup, a non-fat latte with sugar free syrup or a cappuccino prepared with skimmed milk.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 64 - Spot Reducing

2009-07-13T02:19:00.000-07:00

Spot reducing involves training an area of your body exclusively to reduce body fat levels from that specific area. Popular spot reducing areas include the stomach (abs) and the hips, thigh and buttocks. Many people think by doing hundreds of sit-ups, they can lose their belly fat and get a six pack of defined abdominals.

Spot reducing is a MYTH and does not work. Fat gets stored on our bodies in a certain order, which is determined by gender and genetics. Men typically store excess fat in the abdominal region and women store fat in the hips and thighs.

When someone loses weight and decreases their overall body fat levels, the decrease of fat comes from all over the body and does not specifically decrease in one central area.
The best way to burn body fat and tone up an area like the abs or thighs is to use strength training to build up lean muscle and increase the metabolic rate.

Don’t forget to add a cardio section to you workout as well. This will not only burn more calories but also increase the overall efficiency of you heart and lungs.

Are supermarket salads healthy?

2009-07-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Not much amazes me any more. I realise that any salad with a mayonnaise dressing (be it straight mayo or a Marie Rose sauce) will never be the healthy option, but even so I was surprised to read the Which? report that found 855 calories in one supermarket Atlantic prawn Marie Rose salad, and 66.3g of fat per 300g serving. This represents almost half a woman’s daily calorie needs and virtually all her maximum fat intake of 70g.

When it comes to healthy eating habits, it is you versus the food industry. In one respect salads are no different from those breakfast cereals that claim to be “high in fibre” — just because they sound as if they should be good for you, it doesn’t mean they are. Similarly, a “low-fat” cake is not necessarily low in calories. I could go on.

But back to salads. The first rule is to take a glance at what’s in the pack. If it appears to be coated in mayonnaise or cheese, it is safe to assume that it won’t be great for your arteries and waistline. That said, it is still worth flipping the packet over to check the ingredients list and calories and fat per serving. The average woman needs about 1,900 calories a day and 70g of fat; men need 2,500 calories and 90g of fat.

The supermarket may have used “light” mayonnaise and reduced-fat cheese — although, if it has, the salad will probably be in its “healthy eating” range.

The best advice is to seek out salads that have their mayonnaise, Caesar or French-style dressings and croutons in separate pots so that, if you want to add them, you can do so sparingly.

A chicken salad may have just 280 calories and 5g of fat per serving, but adding a pouch of Caesar dressing and croutons can push this up to 670 calories and 36g of fat. A salad Niçoise will give you about 357 calories minus dressing, 497 calories with it.

The label “Italian-style pasta salad” may conjure images of fresh, Mediterranean-style eating but, again, check the small print. A typical supermarket pasta salad may seem fine at first glance, with just 114 calories per quarter serving, but as most of us will cheerfully wolf down the whole lot for lunch, we will in fact be consuming 456 calories — more than you would find in a bigger, 340g ready-meal lasagne with just 283 calories.

Any salad with the word “Waldorf” on its label should set your health-watching antennae twitching. Yes, it will be full of crunchy-looking cabbage, apple and celery, but there will be a fatty dressing binding these together — along with walnuts, which together adds up to something like 750 calories and a whopping 68g of fat per serving. For that you could enjoy an 8oz fillet steak and a good serving of chips.

By: Amanda Ursell British Times Nutritionist

Muscles Turn to Fat

2009-06-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

Question: There is always this remark saying that once we start working out, we cannot stop all everything will go flabby again. Meaning the fats turn into muscles when we workout and when we stop, we go back to square one. How far is this true?

Answer: Thank you for the question. I've heard this one a few times, and I try not to laugh at the person when they offer it as a lame excuse for being fat and out of shape.

Just stop and think about what they are saying. Lets apply it to your teeth we should not brush our teeth every day because if we ever stop then they will get bad and fall out. Dumber than Homer Simpson.

Of course if you exercise you are going to get in terrific shape, you'll feel fantastic and have tons of energy. On the flip side if you sit around on your ass all day; it and the rest of you will become huge and flabby; totally true.

However if you look great and feel great why would you stop? Duh!

If you don't start exercising and taking care of your body the chances are you will get fat and flabby anyway.

You get it. Get exercising look hot and feel great or sit around and get fat.

This is someone who is lazy and out of shape trying to sound clever and offer a dumb ass excuse for not getting in shape.

Ok for the technical ones reading. If you stop exercising your body simply begins to reduce the muscle tissue it carries. This is because the body is programmed to spare calories. Muscle burns a lot of calories 35-50 per llb per day. Hence if you are not using them the body gets rid of them. A great example is when astronauts come back from space they have lost muscle mass due to the fact they simply don't need them in space and they don't even have gravity offering a little resistance. (One of the problems facing long stays in space as would be required for a Mars mission).

When your muscle mass lowers, so does your daily calorie burn. This means you are using fewer calories on a daily basis and normally our eating habits (calorie consumption) stays the same or increases resulting in fat being stored.

Muscles do not become fat you simply stop using them the body gets rid of them your daily calorie burn drops and you start storing fat.

Now stop listening to Homer and get moving.

The Leg Extensions-Get those thighs in Shape

2009-06-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

How Fat is Low Fat

2009-06-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

You have seen the big boxes and jars and bags in the supermarket loudly advertising, Low Fat, Reduced Fat, Now with 30% less fat. What does this actually mean?

The first question you need to ask is Low compared to what? as yet very few countries have guidelines on what constitutes low or lowered. The ones that advertise as New recipe with 30% or whatever % less are usually correct BUT again what does this mean.

Most countries will insist that if the claim is made that the new recipe has 30% less fat than the old one; then it has to have 30% less fat. Sounds good so far.

Now for the hard truth when a company takes out or reduces the fat in its products it normally replaces it with sugar or flour or a combination of both. This is to ensure that it still tastes good to a public that have become addicted to high fat or high sugar products. Not exactly what I would call a healthy improvement.

Next time you are tempted by those low fat adverts take a little extra time and read the contents list. Look for sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)contents.

Blood Type Diet

2009-06-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

Question : Someone once told me that we should eat according to our blood type. It seems that different blood type people require different food. Is it true and does it really make a difference? E.g.: O blood type cannot drink too much water or that person will get water retention.

Answer : Let's get this out of the way right now fad diets DO NOT WORK. The last time I checked there were over 30,000 registered diets in the USA alone. All claiming to have the answer to weight loss. This fact alone should let you know it is pure stupidity to believe you can lose weight and remain HEALTHY on one of this crack pot ideas.

Now for our crack pot of choice Peter D'Adamo (the author of this particular diet). It would seem the most obvious problem is the lack of clinical evidence, in his first book he talks about a 10 year study, but it has never been published. He now has on his web site a self reported study of about 6000 people. The problem here is it is self reported with no independent review.

He has also made claims of supporting trails. The authors of most of the trails he claims support his theory have come forward to say this is simply not true.

Where does this leave you its simple always has always will be, eat a healthy balanced diet keep the fat oil and sugar under control and exercise. No rocket science no magic formula.

Anyone for tasty Rat Hair and Maggots

2009-06-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is not for the squeamish but it may make you think twice about reaching for the so called convenience food. A.K.A to lazy to get real food.

Looking at some literature from the US the FDA there has rules on the amount of maggot's, rat hair and insect parts that is safe to have in your food. Granted the levels are low and are unlikely to cause you any harm. But the reality is they are there. Tuck in and enjoy. Here are some of the delicacies you probably don't know you were enjoying.

Canned pineapple - can have 20% positive mold test.
Peanut butter - 30 insect fragments and 1 rodent hair. (probably where its gets the crunch)
Popcorn - 20 gnawed grains and 2 rodent hairs per pound. (who do they have counting)
Potato Chips - 6% rotten chips. An odd aside on this one Pringles are claiming in the UK that they don't have to pay tax on their famous chips as they don't contain enough potato. So what are they made of.

Canned tomatoes - 5 fly eggs and 1 maggot per 500 grams. (Yummy)
Frozen broccoli - 60 mites per 100 grams.
Ground cinnamon - 400 insect fragments and 11 rodent hairs per 50 grams.

Well have fun choosing your food this week.

2009-06-08T07:46:00.001-07:00

QUESTION Everyone keeps saying that exercising too hard creates tougher muscles and it makes it harder to lose weight. I actually feel good and my stamina is improving. I go to the gym minimum 3 times a week.

ANSWER: Let me guess your friend does not go to the gym and really needs to get in shape, or starve's herself (of course she tells you she eats everything) and as a result weights the same as an 8 year old and thinks she is healthy. This one we call "skinny fat" this is because she fits a size zero but if measured correctly her body is basically made up of fat.

Anyway onto the question. First the aim needs to be for size reduction i.e. fat loss as opposed to weight loss. I know the world is gone crazy on weight loss but this is only fueled by magazines. You can be "heavy" and still look great and be healthy. Using weight as the measurement for health is pretty dumb. After all when you step on a scale you measure good stuff as well as bad, i.e. muscle tissue, water, blood, hair etc. When "weight" loss is your goal you tend to loose the good stuff first i.e. muscle.

In order to reduce fat and size it is necessary to raise the metabolic rate. As we age our metabolic rates naturally gets lower due to muscle loss. The aim of a good exercise plan is to increase the metabolic rate by restoring your muscle tissue.

Now don;t freak women can not gain muscle easily (I know your friend most likely said you will build big muscles), two main reasons will prevent this, one is a lack of the male hormone testosterone which is responsible for building muscle. Secondly the body builders you see spend up to 4 hours per day 6 days per week for years to get those muscles. Never mind the strict control on their food intake. So working out 3 times per week will not bring you anywhere close.

So keep up what your doing and enjoy the gym, maybe have a look around the gym for a role model or ask your trainer to introduce you to one. Learn to exercise and live healthy. Leave you friend to the weighing scales, water diet and heaven forbid the slimming centre.

Hope this helps anything else drop me another line.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 63

2009-06-08T07:43:00.002-07:00

Make small changes every week

Making small changes is very important for engraining healthy habits and behaviors into your life. If you start out with very drastic changes with a goal of losing tons of weight very quickly, you will be destined to fail.

Big changes will most likely shock your system and you may become mentally burned out very quickly because of the difficulty to adhere to the rigid program.

By making small changes every week, you will be much more likely to stick with the minor modifications to your diet or exercise program and continue to build on this solid foundation over the course of time.

Small dietary changes may include removing the mayonnaise and cheese from your sandwiches or choosing a healthier dressing on your salads.

These small changes can reduce hundreds of calories from your daily caloric intake. Which can quickly translate into pounds of fat lost.

A small exercise change may be start going to the gym. Don’t go crazy just begin going. Get a good trainer and follow a fun programme that increases slowly over time.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 63

2009-06-08T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Leg Press

2009-05-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

The leg press is a great exercise to strengthen and firm the legs.

Cliff Young, a farmer who inspired a nation

2009-05-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

" This is for anyone who say's I can't, its too difficult, but I'm not like them. Or you just want to be inspired.

I truly love this story from a man who simply knew what he wanted to achieve. He didn't let the fact that people laughed at him or told him he couldn't deter him in the slightest. In his wake he inspired a nation them lot more besides. He beat the professionals and changed the way people run. Not bad for a 61 year old farmer."

The whole nation thought he was a crazy old man to undertake an almost impossible feat. Most feared that he would die trying. But this humble old man proved all the critics wrong.

Cliff Young, at 61 years of age, participated in 1983’s Sydney to Melbourne race. Considered to be the world’s toughest race, with the distance of 875 kilometers and took at least 6 to 7 days to finish, Cliff Young entered the race against world-class athletes. Read how he achieved the unthinkable and inspires the whole nation.

The Beginning

Every year, Australia hosts an 875-kilometer endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne - considered to be the world’s longest and toughest ultra-marathon. It’s a long, tough race that takes a week and normally participated by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. Backed by big names in sports like Nike, these athletes are mostly less than 30 years old men and women equipped with the most expensive sponsored training outfits and shoes.

In 1983, these top class runners were in for a surprise. On the day of the race, a guy named Cliff Young showed up. At first, no one cared about him since everybody thought he was there to watch the event. After all, he was 61 years old, showed up in overalls and galoshes over his work boots.

As Cliff walked up to the table to take his number, it became obvious to everybody he was going to run. He was going to join a group of 150 world-class athletes and run!

During that time, these runners don’t even know another surprising fact - his only trainer was his 81-year-old mother, Neville Wran.

Everybody thought that it was a crazy publicity stunt. But the press was curious, so as he took his number 64 and moved into the pack of runners in their special, expensive racing outfit, the camera focused on him and reporters started to ask:

“Who are you and what are you doing?”

“I’m Cliff Young. I’m from a large ranch where we run sheep outside of Melbourne.”

They said, “You’re really going to run in this race?”

“Yeah,” Cliff nodded.

“Got any backers?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t run.”

“Yeah I can.” Cliff said. “See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up– until about four years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler– whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.”

When the marathon started, the pros left Cliff behind in his galoshes. The crowds smiled because he didn’t even run correctly. Instead of running, he appeared to run leisurely, shuffling like an amateur.

Now, the 61-year-old potato farmer from Beech Forest with no teeth had started the ultra-tough race with world-class athletes. All over Australia, people who watched the live telecast kept on praying that someone would stop this crazy old man from running because everyone believed he’ll die even before even getting halfway across Sydney.

Turtle vs rabbits

Every professional athletes knew for certain that it took about 7 days to finish this race, and that in order to compete, you would need to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that!

When the morning news of the race was aired, people were in for another big surprise. Cliff was still in the race and had jogged all night down to a city called Mittagong.

Apparently, Cliff did not stop after the first day. Although he was still far behind the world-class athletes, he kept on running. He even had the time to wave to spectators who watched the event by the highways.

When he got to a town called Albury he was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. He said he would run through to the finish, and he did.

He kept running. Every night he got just a little bit closer to the leading pack. By the last night, he passed all of the world-class athletes. By the last day, he was way in front of them. Not only did he run the Melbourne to Sydney race at age 61, without dying; he won first place, breaking the race record by 9 hours and became a national hero! The nation fell in love with the 61-year-old potato farmer who came out of nowhere to defeat the world’s best long distance runners.

He finished the 875-kilometre race in 5 days, 15 hours and 4 minutes. Not knowing that he was supposed to sleep during the race, he said when running throughout the race, he imagined that he was chasing sheep and trying to outrun a storm.

When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he did not know there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said, “There’re five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me,” and he gave them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act endeared him to all of Australia. Cliff was a humble, average man, who undertook an extraordinary feat and became a national sensation.

The Inspirational Run Continues

In the following year, Cliff Young entered the same race and won the 7 th place. During the race, his hip popped out of the joint socket, his knee played up and he endured shin splints. But those didn’t deter him from finishing the race. When he was announced as the winner for most courageous runner and presented with a Mitsubishi Colt, he said, “I didn’t do it near as tough as old Bob McIlwaine. Here, Bob, you have the car,” and gave the keys to him.

It was said that Cliff Young never kept a single prize. People gave him watches, because he never had one. He would thank them because he did not want to hurt their feelings, but will then give it away to the first child he saw. He did not understand why he would need a watch because, he said, he knew when it was daylight, when it was dark, and when he was hungry.

Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to become the oldest man to run around Australia and raise money for homeless children. He managed to completed 6,520km of the 16,000km run before he had to pull out after his only permanent crew member became ill.

His love for running never diminished but in year 2000, after collapsing in his Gellibrand home a week after completing 921 kilometers of a 1600-kilometre race, his lose his strength for running. The mild stroke ended his heroic running days.

After the long illness, Cliff Young, the running legend passed away on 2 nd November 2003. He was 81.

Current Race

The “Young-shuffle” has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more aerodynamic and expends less energy. At least 3 winners of the Sydney to Melbourne race have been known to use the ‘Young-shuffle’ to win the race.

Now, for Sydney to Melbourne race, almost nobody sleeps. To win that race, you have to run like Cliff Young did, you have to run all night as well as all day.

Fat Loss Tip of the Week 62

2009-05-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Don’t mix food with TV

A terrible habit and serious calorie killer is eating while watching television. It’s extremely easy to unconsciously snack on junk food while watching your favorite shows. You will be inundated with commercials that urge to eat junk foods like soft drinks, fast foods, sugar-coated cereals and candy.

By the time you know it, that entire bag of potato chips or cookies is all gone and you've consumed way too many empty calories. If you have to snack on something while watching television, try healthy snacks like:

*Air popped popcorn
*Celery stick with Walden Farms no-calorie dip
*Non-fat cottage cheese
*Frozen grapes
*Protein and fruit smoothie
*Fresh fruit
*Carrots

Fat Loss Tip of the Week 61

2009-05-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

Use music to motivate

Exercise is one of the major factors to keep the fat off permanently. Everyone gets burned out with their exercise plan from time to time. Music serves to motivate you while you are exercising. It'll distract you from your from potential boredom especially if you are doing a long run day and inspire you to achieve a higher level.

Working out will become more pleasurable. There is no one specific musical genre best combined with exercise; that clearly depends on your personal taste. Some great ideas, though, for something upbeat include salsa, country, big band, disco, or even funk. Strap on your iPod and pick songs you can sing along to, or that have a great rhythm.

Will Supplements Keep You Healthy

2009-05-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Q. Do you think vitamin? Herbal supplements are important for keeping young and old healthy ?

This is only my personal opinion, but I try and get all vitamins etc.
from real foods. My other concern is at the moment there are so many
choices on the market all telling you that you should be taking them,
I just had a count at the local market yesterday and there were over
300 different supplements.

It is also difficult to know what you are lacking and how much you
need. There are some testing methods becoming more popular letting you
know what your blood is lacking. So far most of the results i have
seen are recommending people drink more water.

So to try and give you a more direct answer, I feel you need to get
all the minerals and vitamins you can, but try and get them from fruit
and veg etc. Most people will be healthier if they simply prepare more
food rather than opening a tin or packet.

Of course keep an eye on new developments and how they might affect
you. One one of the most interesting and controversial areas at the
moment is stem cell research.

Hope this helps and please drop me a line if you need any more info.

Exhausted From Workout

2009-05-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

Q. I get extremely exhausted when i do weights and the result extreme body aches and tired attitudes the next day. How shall I overcome this.

Thanks for the question.

To really help you here I would need more detail on your weekly
routine eating habits, workout, experience etc.

But here are some areas you can look into.

Normally when people are tired it is because they have not eaten
properly before their workout. Make sure you have something before you
work out, there are lots of thoughts on how much food what kind and
how long from eating to workout. I always advise clients to experiment
as what works for one does not always work for another. I also like
bananas before a workout especially if I am mixing in cardio, this is
a real food and it is what most sports people consumed prior to the
massive business of supplements. (you can also take supplements if you
wish but get good advice on them).

If you are feeling exhausted after your workout again look at your
eating habits, it is best to eat as soon as possible following a
workout. Some people make the mistake of skipping food after a workout
as they think this will better help them loose weight, etc. This is
not the case make sure to eat.

As for the feeling of aches and pains, you did not mention if you are
a beginner or more experienced in the gym. If you are just starting it
is most likely that you or your trainer has began at a weight that is
too high or increased the workload too fast. Simply reducing the
workload should get rid of the aches. Be sure to begin increasing
again at a slower pace.

You also need to ensure you are exercising the muscles with the
correct frequencey and rest periods. Work outs to close together or
too far apart can also result in aches and pains.

If you are not new to the gym the most likely cause of pain is a
change in routine. I travel a lot with my work and something as simple
as changing the brand of equipment can make a difference, more than
once I have felt my muscles after working out on different equipment.

I hope this helps, if you need more information please drop me a line.

The mind-control diet

2009-04-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

Think yourself thin with the latest techniques to keep you away from the cakes.

Laurel Ives

Dieting is often doomed to failure, despite most women being able to pass an exam on the differences between Atkins, South Beach and WeightWatchers. The problem is, we don’t follow the rules we learn. No carbs after 6pm? No problem — until we’re out for dinner, on our second glass of wine and scoffing the bread basket. Everyone has a flash point that makes it hard to say no, but ultimately, resisting temptation is the key to successful weight loss.

Now research from leading psychologists has identified the parts of the brain involved in resisting temptation, and how we can use them to stop reaching for gooey chocolate cake. Leading the charge is Professor Walter Mischel, the psychologist who, in the 1960s, developed the “marshmallow test”, which demonstrated that if children were able to delay gratification, they would be more successful in later life. Mischel’s research has shown that to resist temptation, we have to shift activity away from the “hot” parts of our brain to the “cool” parts. “The mind brain has two systems: one is cool, slow and deliberate, and allows for self-control, goal-setting and willpower — the ‘no’ system, if you like. The other is hot, emotional and instinctual, and present from birth — the ‘go’ system,” says Janet Metcalfe, professor of psychology at Columbia University and co-author of a paper on willpower with Mischel.

So when you see a chocolate cake, the “hot” part of your brain reacts to thoughts of the delicious taste, and the sugar rush that you have learnt a slice will give you. Instead of giving in, what you need to do is activate the “cool” part of your brain by thinking about your goals and practising far-sightedness. Imagine the sense of satisfaction you’d get, from fitting into your favourite dress in a couple of weeks’ time, say, or from losing your unsightly tummy bulge before you go sunbathing this summer. It’s a simple strategy, but experiments have shown it is highly effective.

Perception is also important. Feasting your eyes on desirable food activates the hot system in the brain, which explains what we know instinctively: putting biscuits out of sight in a cupboard will mean you eat fewer of them. “The problem with diets is they are also full of pictures of delicious diet food, and all of this is just priming the hot system,” Metcalfe says.

Stress is another key issue. It has been shown to switch on the hot part of the brain and cause us to overeat. Daryl O’Connor, a psychologist at Leeds University, has conducted experiments showing that people under stress tend to go for high-fat, energy-dense food. “The first thing to do is to be aware of how stress changes your behaviour. Then develop an action plan to deal with it. This might involve taking healthy snacks to work or finding ways to cope better with your time and emotions.”

Brain scans have also shown that memory plays a significant role in overeating. If you habitually eat chocolate, for instance, then every time you see it, you remember the high. However, Dr Leigh Gibson at Roehampton University has found that if you give something up, far from your cravings increasing, they will actually decrease, proving that cravings result from habitually giving in to temptation. So the research is clear: if you want to be slim, fit and healthy, it’s time to take control of your mind.

(From the Times online)

Calories Counters – Truth or Lies

2009-03-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

Calories Counters – Truth or Lies

This one I have spoken about before and it still comes up from time to time. Many people take the calorie counters on the machines and some of the calorie counting charts you find as gospel.

Why not they flashing lights and sophisticated displays are very impressive looking, some of the charts are even produced by the recognized health bodies. So they must be right.

I have even heard members delightfully announcing what they are about to eat based on the number of calories they machine told them they have consumed.

Despite all the official looking counters and charts it is all but impossible to estimate your calorie burn with activity.

One reason for this is that two people of the same age, height and gender can get two different results for the same activity levels. Dr. Claude Bouchard (obesity, exercise researcher) found that if the average burn for an activity was 100 calories then the individual burn rate could be anything from 80 to 130 calories.

Dr. Claude also points out that people forget to subtract the resting metabolic rate calorie burn, i.e. the number of calories burned if you did nothing at all, this can be as much as 30% of the total you think you burned.

Dr. Haskell an exercise physiologist at Standford, found that people who hold on to the bars whilst on the treadmill can reduce their calorie burn rate by as much as 50%. He also noted that machines can get out of calibration, speeds will differ as the machine gets out of line and this affects the counters.

Then you have the complication that calorie counters are based on what an average person of a given size will burn, to add further questions to the issue each company tend to use they’re own formulas to calculate the final figure. This means a treadmill from company A may give you a totally different reading at the same level as a treadmill from company B.

Ok lets put this one to bed and hear from the companies that manufacture these machines. Jim Zahniser spokesman for Precor, says that the machines are not supposed to give the exact number of calories, rather they are estimates. The company also explains there is no easy way to know whether you are that average person.

Mike Armstrong from Nautilus, “if any company told you the calorie counts on their machines would be dead on, they’re lying to you”.

Well that’s pretty strong coming from the companies that produce the machines some put so much faith in.

Christa Dickey from the American College of Sports Medicine, who produce such charts as the calorie burn for activities, says that it “is always a bit of a challenge since you can really only assign estimates”.

So where does that leave you. Well safe to say you should not be using calorie counters as a way to calculate how much food to have. I would prefer you use a body fat calculation, and monitor this instead. Again a word of caution readings can vary from measurement to measurement, try not to compare one to the other but rather look at the overall trend over a few months. Try to eliminate as many variables as possible when getting a reading, i.e. time of the day, month etc. I would also recommend getting measure no more than once a month.

Overall just try to find a fun way to introduce exercise into your lifestyle the gym is not for everyone. If you are having fun you are more likely to stick with it and more likely to have fun doing it. Most importantly it becomes about having fun and not counting calories.

Food For Your Sperm

2009-02-27T04:48:00.001-08:00

Does fasting cause azoospermia ?

This was a question I received recently and I usually respond to them via direct mail but on this occasion I was unable to get the server to co-operate. So I hope the person who emailed me the question gets the answer.

According to Mr. Cyril Natarajan
FRCS (Edin), FRCS(Glasg), MSc Urology (University of London)
Department of Urology
Selayang Hospital

Extreme fasting resulting in nutrient deficiency can result in azoospermia. If the question was in relation to religious commitments this should not cause the problem. The presumption is also that you have had a proper diagnosis for azoospermia from your urologist.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 58

2009-02-22T21:08:00.000-08:00

Read food labels

Reading food labels is one of the most important tools to help you make healthy choices when grocery shopping. Once you have the knowledge to choose nutrient dense and healthy foods, you will be able to make the right choices to fuel your body.

When reading a food label, the most important areas to look at are the calories, servings per container, sugar, fiber, carbs, fat and sodium. Choose foods which are high in protein and fiber and low in sugar, fat and sodium. The servings per container can be extremely important because many products will try to mislead you by providing the nutrient information for a very small serving size. This is very typical for snack foods. A bag of potato chips may only show 120 calories on the nutrient label but the actual serving size is only 7 chips! The overall calories for the entire bag may contain over 1,000 calories.

Make sure to read the serving per container to know the truth about the overall nutrient levels.

Also, make sure to review the list of ingredients. The ones listed first are generally used in larger amounts so if you see things like high fructose corn syrup, sugar or lard, then its probably best to choose a healthier alternative.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 57

2009-02-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

Lose the yolks

Try removing the yolks (yellow) from the white when you're eating eggs. The yolk is extremely high in cholesterol, containing more than two-thirds of the recommended daily limit of 300 mg! Egg whites are very low in calories, have no fat, no cholesterol, and are loaded with muscle building protein. One egg white contains only 17 calories compared to a whopping 59 calories for one egg yolk! There are a few easy ways to cut out the egg yolks. The first is to boil your eggs and simply remove the yellow ball inside the egg. If you're making an omelet, crack the egg over a bowl and slowly pour the egg yolk back and forth between the egg shells. The egg white will pour down into the bowl while leaving the egg yolk (yellow) in the shells.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 56

2009-02-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

Choose fruit for dessert

Fruit is such a great choice for dessert since it’s very sweet and contains far less calories and fat compared with a traditional dessert like cake or ice cream.

You can save hundreds of calories when dining out by simply ordering a bowl of fruit or even a fruit sorbet. Fruit contains the natural sugar called fructose, which should take care of your sweet tooth.

When eating at home, you can make several delicious fruit desserts like mixing sugar-free Jell-O with diced apples and bananas.

If you can it is always recommended to eat local fruit. This should mean the time from picking to you eating it is shorter and the fruit will retain more of its healthy properties.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 55

2009-02-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Watch the Carbs late at night

Try to cut down on the starches after about 6pm. Starches consist of foods like rice, pasta, bread and potatoes.

Better still look for carbs and starches which have a high glycemic index value as this has a direct impact on your insulin levels. When you're insulin levels rise, you will have a tendency to be hungry soon after eating and have a more difficult time losing body fat.

A great choice for a late night snack is a broiled chicken breast salad with lettuce, mushrooms and diced celery. Use a healthy dressing like balsamic vinaigrette.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 54

2009-01-26T02:10:00.000-08:00

Get Steamy

A food steamer is a very healthy and easy way to cook healthy, low calorie meals in minutes. You simply add some food, a little water and set the steamer. It's that easy! Most steamers have the ability to cook rice, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry and several other types of foods. The most common foods to steam are rice and vegetables. The healthiest type of rice to use is whole grain brown rice and you can use a wide variety of vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, celery, peppers, lettuce and green beans.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 53

2009-01-19T02:38:00.000-08:00

The crunch factor

Try to eat foods that involve crunching, chewing and really enjoying your foods. Go for texture and choose foods that provide a stimulating chewing experience. The more you chew a food, the less likely you will be to overeat. Great "crunch" factor foods include celery, carrots, and broccoli. If you want to dip these into a tasty sauce, choose hummus.

Male Infertility

2009-01-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Infertility is defined as failure to conceive within 1 year of a partnership and is present in about 5% of men and about 10% of couples. It is a fairly distressing condition especially with couples who are trying to achieve a pregnancy. It should be managed at a specialized unit with the availability of cryo-preservation of sperms. This means the freezing of sperms to preserve them for future use in assisted reproductive techniques or artificial means of achieving a pregnancy.

The causes of infertility can be attributed to the male partner, female partner, both partners or is due to unexplainable factors in roughly 25% of cases each. The chances of conceiving or achieving a pregnancy are directly related to sperm counts. If a man has a sperm count of one million he only has a 25% chance of achieving a pregnancy in 1 year. The normal sperm count is about 20 million/ml.

A successful pregnancy depends in the male on several factors including spermatogenesis which means formation of the sperms in their early forms, maturation in epididymis which is a very long coiled-tube next to the testis, coitus or sexual intercourse, transport through female genital tract, fertilisation which means the entry of the sperm into the egg, and implantation which refers to the sticking of the fertilized egg to the inner surface of the womb.

A normal semen specimen should comprise about between 1 – 5mls and have a sperm density of at least 20 million sperms, and a least 60% should be motile with good forward progression which means that there should be good forward movement.

Some terms explained

When a diagnosis of infertility is made both the male and female partner need to be seen by a specialist. The process of investigation of the cause in the male follows certain steps. Azoospermia refers to a complete lack of sperm cells in the semen, whereas oligospermia refers to a fewer than normal number usually with a density of less than 20 million per ml.

Many biologic and environmental factors that can lead to low sperm count This can be a congenital problem that a man is born with or caused by infection, injury, medication, radiation, or genetics. In addition, other conditions may cause infertility in men such as life style and occupation.

With Azoospermia one of two conditions can exist. The first is where there is a blockage in the ducts or tunes that deliver the sperms to the urethra. This is called obstructive azoospermia. The other condition is a complete absence of sperm production at the testicular level and is called testicular failure. A condition called Sertoli cell-only syndrome is one in which the cells that produce sperm (the Sertoli cells) are absent In oligospermia, there is a deficiency of sperm in the semen and this can be due to a wide variety of conditions. As much as 14% of patients could have a varicocele as a cause. These patients have a group of dilated veins in the spermatic cord which increase the temperature in the testes and thus impair sperm production. A large proportion of patients have underlying hormonal abnormalities as cause.

Defects in sperm movement (asthenospermia) refer to low levels of motility or forward progression or both. Spermatozoal structural defects, prolonged abstinence periods, genital tract infection, antisperm antibodies, partial ductal obstruction, varicoceles, and idiopathic causes may be responsible for these cases.

Causes

Aging is suspected to be a cause of decreased male fertility by affecting sperm counts and sperm motility as well as being associated with genetic abnormalities.

Temporary and lifestyle causes of low sperm count include emotional stress, testicular overheating due to high fevers, saunas, hot tubs, and work conditions which raise the testicular temperature. Several studies have found no negative effects on fertility from wearing tight trousers, briefs, or athletic supports, even every day.

Substance abuse can also lead to low sperm counts such as cocaine and marijuana abuse. Smoking has been shown to reduce sperm motility and lifespan as well as causing genetic defects in the offspring.

Nutrition plays an important role in health and well-being and fertility is no exception. Deficiencies in certain nutrients, such as vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium, zinc, and folate, may be particular risk factors for infertility.

Bicycling has been linked to an increased incidence of scrotal abnormalities such as calcium deposits, cysts, and twisted veins. Whether this is translated into reduced fertility is debatable but bikers can reduce their risks by taking frequent rests while biking, wearing padded bike shorts, or using a bike seat that is high enough and sits angled in a position which does not cause testicular injury.

Genetic factors also play a role in infertility as with most other things. Even in men with no known fertility problems we know that 19% of their sperms show genetic defects. Infertile men have been shown to have a high percentage of sperms with defective genetic material. Some genetic abnormalities affect sperm production or quality, and one of these concerns regulations in the acrosome which is the enzyme-filled membrane cap on the sperm that can likened to its warhead which is critical for piercing the egg. Some genetically inherited diseases like cystic fibrosis, Klinefelter syndrome and Kartagener syndrome can cause infertility.

Other miscellaneous factors that affect fertility and sperm production include environmental factors such as free radicals, exposure to estrogen-like and hormone-disrupting chemicals, Bisphenol and Phthalates used in the plastic industry, Organochlorines, Hydrocarbons used in the rubber industry and heavy metal exposure like lead, cadmium and arsenic.

Conclusion:

Infertility due to semen abnormalities or low sperm counts can have quite a variety of causes. Investigation and management should be done by a specialist. A good, healthy and balanced diet is recommended together with a healthy lifestyle is probably the best way to avoid correctable causes of infertility.

Mr. Cyril Natarajan
FRCS (Edin), FRCS(Glasg), MSc Urology (University of London)
Department of Urology
Selayang Hospital

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 52

2009-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

Remove the extras for huge calorie savings

A great weight loss tip to try and stick to when you’re dining out is to hold all the extras on your sandwiches, bagels, salads and anywhere else they are offered.

You can literally almost cut out half the calories of your meal by holding calorie killing extras like cheese, sour cream, bacon, cream cheese, and mayonnaise. Substitute your meal with low calorie alternatives like tomatoes, black beans, green peppers, onions, lettuce, pickles , mustard or my favorite hummus These are tasty and extremely nutritious choices to make any meal very satisfying.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 51

2009-01-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

Choose white over dark

You can save on calories by simply switching from dark meat to white meat. The dark meat has about 15 percent more calories. A 3.5-ounce serving of turkey breast with skin has about 153 calories; dark meat with skin has about 182 calories. If you remove the skin (recommended), you can remove even more calories. Removing the skin saves an additional 10 percent in calories. White meat without skin has only 135 calories and dark meat without skin has 162 calories.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 50

2008-12-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

Self talk to success

Words can have tremendous power over our minds and bodies. By telling yourself positive words everyday you can define your desired goals and aspirations.
Use internal dialogue throughout the day to reinforce positive thoughts which will help you reach your goals. By using powerful self talk, you will be able to.

*Increase your effectiveness
*Heighten your productivity
*Enhance your self-esteem
*Experience greater success

And YES even achieve your health and fitness goals. Inner dialogue is used by all of the world’s top athletes. You can often see them sat quietly before they compete. This is their time to use positive words and visualization. Nobody wins a gold medal telling themselves they are no good or they will never achieve that new height or that speed so why try.

Use positive words to enhance your workouts and improve the quality of your life.

Fat Dissolving Tip 49

2008-12-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Take photos of yourself

Keep a detailed photo gallery of your progress. Pictures don't lie. Take pictures of yourself every week in your bikini or swimsuit. Snap 3 pictures ever week including a profile, frontal and rear photo. Include these with your diet diary and exercise journal so you can see how your body looks each week while you make changes to your diet and exercise program.

Remember, sometimes the scale does lie. Even though your scale may read that you have gained 2 pounds over the last 3 weeks, this could very easily be 2 pounds of lean muscle. Lean muscle is an extremely metabolic tissue and the more you have on your body, the more calories you burn even when you're just sitting around!

By adding photos of yourself, you will be able to reference your physical appearance from week to week. This very important tool can help you immensely with your weight loss plan.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 48

2008-12-13T20:31:00.000-08:00

Make sure to eat breakfast

Always try to eat a very nutritious breakfast. This should be one of your largest meals of the day and the most important. Eating a healthy breakfast is crucial for providing the correct fuel to get you going. Your body has been fasting for 6-10 hours from sleeping and is primed for re-fueling.

Researchers have found that people who ate breakfast every day were a third less likely to be obese compared to those who skipped the meal. In addition, they were half as likely to have blood-sugar problems, which increase the risk of developing diabetes or having high cholesterol, which is a known risk factor for heart disease.

The researchers believe that eating first thing in the morning may help to stabilize blood sugar levels, which regulate appetite and energy. They suggest people who eat breakfast are less likely to be hungry during the rest of the day and are, therefore, less likely to overeat.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 47

2008-12-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

Don’t think diet

The last thing you want to do is think "diet". The word diet conjures up thoughts of restrictions, limitations, short-term plans and terrible food. It’s very important to plan for a true lifestyle change and create permanent healthy habits. If done correctly, making changes in your nutritional plan can provide absolutely delicious foods and completely satisfying meal plans which can last a lifetime.

The best part is learning to create healthy behaviors to lose the excess body fat and keep the fat off permanently. You will end up having more energy, feel great and have a new outlook on life!

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 46

2008-11-29T15:29:00.000-08:00

Don’t eat out of the container

A great binge controller is to not to eat out of the container. Try to always place your food onto a plate or into a bowl to control the portion size of your food. This is very helpful when it comes to chips, crackers and cookies. If you start eating directly out of the container, you can easily just keep on going and by the time you know it, you will have eaten the entire bag!

Remember, you ideally want to avoid these bad foods (chips, crackers) and choose healthier alternatives like air popped popcorn and GeniSoy soy crisps. Even with these healthy food choices, it's still great practice for portion control to place these items into a single serving on a plate or into a bowl.

Breast Exam

2008-11-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

Do Breast Implants Cause Cancer

2008-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

This was a tricky one to research as a large number of the studies out there were sponsored by plastic surgeons. This was not always obvious as strange and obscure companies provided the funding.

You actually have to find out the names of the directors and then find out if they are on any other boards. Usually they were and it was somehow linked to a group with an interest in promoting breast implants.

After my disastrous attempt to extract some information from plastic surgeons and getting rejected by a breast implant (read Rejected by a Breast Implant post)

I did manage to find some fantastic studies though a little dry to read they had great information and were sponsored by the US government.

As this is a subject of concern for a number of women I have included the link to the full study below and for those who just want the main questions answered here you go.

Can implant’s Cause Breast Cancer

1. Studies show that there is NO difference in the incidence of cancer among women with implants versus those without implants.

Short answer there is no evidence to show implants cause cancer.

Can implants make detection of cancer difficult?

2. Most studies are using nice friendly fluffy words to avoid lawsuit.

This aside the underlying word is YES breast implants reduce the effective detection of cancer. This can be seen in the women with breast implants as cancer detection in these women is at a much later stage. Meaning the cancer has developed to an advanced stage. Compared to the detection of cancer in women without implants.

I am sure there are hundreds of other questions on this subject but these were the main two I got. If you have further questions you can go to the link below on mail me you questions at the bottom of this blog.

I have also included a video on how to do a self breast exam. You should check this out and learn how to do this properly. It is recommended that you do a self exam regularly from the age of 20 years onwards.

http://www.nci.nih.gov/newscenter/siliconefactsheet

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 45

2008-11-23T04:11:00.000-08:00

Stock up on the veggies

Vegetables are your weight loss friend. They are the ultimate source to fill up your stomach with extremely nutrient dense, low calorie and satisfying food.

Make sure to add a variety of spices and low calorie sauces to your veggies to keep them tasty and exciting. A great marinade/sauce to use on your vegetables is simply add olive oil and lime juice, this marinade tastes really good and very low in calories.

Try many different way of cooking your vegetables also. Try steaming, stir-fry, sautéing and grilling your vegetables and see which one you like best!

Rejected by a Breast Implant

2008-11-17T00:27:00.000-08:00

Today I find myself in the soul-destroying position of having been rejected by a breast implant. Now like most men I have been rejected by a woman, though in all fairness most of men will never admit that. A whole complete woman rejecting me is one thing, but now I have been rejected by a breast and not even a whole real breast; it is a fake, artificial breast.

Now I am a fairly thick skinned male but even my ego feels battered and kicked around after that. I am sure I will need many a counseling hour later in life.

I am sure you are wondering what am I banging on about, or am I writing from my local bar. I can assure you I am of sound mind and batted ego.

It all began from a very noble position of trying answer a readers question on breast implants and whether or not they increase the risk of cancer.

For a balanced approach I wrote to a number of companies and surgeons, in the midst of the expected replies I also got one saying “ I am sorry we don’t entertain email queries”

Signed off yours truly breast implants. It had me cracking up laughing at first then one of my friends pointed out that I had been rejected by a breast, followed by her cracking up laughing.

Needless to say I am still in shock, and as a result the article on breast implants and cancer will be next week complete with a video of how to carry out a self-examination. A number of people have requested I put it back up.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 44

2008-11-17T00:23:00.000-08:00

Watch out for fat-free foods

Fat-free foods can be very deceiving. Many of the fat free foods on the market make up for the fat levels by loading their foods with tons of sugar. Make sure you read the food labels and check the calories, sugar content and list of ingredients. You will likely find a very large amount of sugar which will wreak havoc on your insulin levels making it harder for you to lose body fat. The overall calories in these foods are usually also very high.

BloodScan Technology

2008-11-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

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2008-11-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 43

2008-11-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Frozen grapes for a sweet tooth

A healthy choice to cure a sweet tooth is frozen grapes. Throw a few bags of red and green grapes into the freezer and whenever you feel the need for something sweet, eat some frozen grapes and see how quickly your sweet tooth is cured.

The natural sugar (fructose) found in grapes will provide the sweetness you need to be fully satisfied. By making this simple change you can literally save hundreds of calories when compared to the alternatives like cake, pies and ice cream. You can also try a variety of different frozen fruit. Your local fruit store should have bags of frozen fruit containing , watermelon, berries and many other types of satisfying fruit.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 42

2008-11-01T22:27:00.001-07:00

Don’t fall for peer pressure

Peer pressure is extremely hard to deal with when trying to stick to your weekly goals for a solid fat loss plan. Many of your friends may question what your doing when you go out to lunch or dinner with them. They will wonder why you are not eating your regular double cheeseburger with fries or large pizza.

Some will discourage you from your exercise plan or gym visits.

The best thing to do is explain you have made a decision to live a healthier life and you hope they will support you with your fat loss plan. If they don't understand this or continue to pressure you into tempting situations where high fat, high sugar and high calorie foods exist, then it's probably best to choose different locations to eat and plan your time with your friends away from dining experiences.

True friends should completely understand your position and help you succeed with your new healthy lifestyle.

Fat Disloving Tip of the Week 41

2008-10-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

Increase Your Cardio Intensity

You can burn major calories by increasing the level of your cardio intensity. An amazing method of cardio training is called HIIT (high intensity interval training). The overview of this training method is to limit the time to a maximum of 20 minutes per session and vary your training intensity during the workout. Start out with an exercise like the cross trainer and begin at about a 65% intensity level for the first 5 minutes.

Once you're warmed up, increase the intensity to 90% for the next 30 seconds and then drop back down to 65% intensity for the next 60 seconds. Repeat the cycle for the next 10 minutes. Once you hit the 15 minute mark, drop your intensity back down to a steady 65% intensity and cool down for the last 5 minutes. You can apply the HIIT cardio training to any exercise like running, jumping rope, cycling and even aerobics.

If you are not sure about your intensity levels talk with your trainer.
If you are about to start an exercise programme be sure to get a physical from your doctor before using this method. Have fun.

Fat Loss Tip of the Week 40

2008-10-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Include protein at each meal

You should include a lean protein source at every meal. Your muscles need protein. You need the amino acids that comprise the protein we consume to repair, maintain and facilitate growth in muscles.

Protein is also used in a host of other ways by the body, specifically by enzymes, blood and other cells. Adding protein at each meal will generally reduce the glycemic index of the meal.

Focus on getting at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So, if your weight is 175 lbs, try to eat at least 175 grams of protein per day. Another easy measurement of your protein requirement is to ensure that the portion is no bigger than the palm of your hand.

Your protein should come from lean sources, which are low in fat and calories. The best lean proteins to include in your nutritional plan are:

*Chicken breast (skin removed)
*Turkey breast (skin removed)
*Egg Whites
*Fish Fillet
*Shellfish (clams, lobster, scallop, shrimp)
*Lean Beef (top round)
*Tuna (canned in water)
*Non-fat cottage cheese
*Beans (black beans, kidney, chick peas or lentils)
*Whey protein powder

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 39

2008-10-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Keep a diet journal

One of the most important aspects of losing weight is keeping a diet journal. Diet journals allow you to keep a detailed record and track everything you put into your mouth. You will gain an immediate consciousness of your eating habits. Your diet journal will keep track of how many meals you eat everyday, the size of your meals and when each meal is consumed. Are you a late night eater? How about an afternoon binge eater? Your diet journal will provide a wealth of information to learn from.
Along with recording all of the foods you eat, your diet journal should also contain your feelings, thoughts and reactions with each meal. Were you actually hungry when you ate or just bored? Did you eat because you were happy, sad or frustrated? Did you feel anxious or rushed during a meal? Also, make sure to record how you felt after you ate your meal. Did you feel tired and lethargic? These are extremely important points to document when keeping your diet journal. It's amazing how much you will learn by recording these dietary events and using this tool is crucial for permanent weight loss!

Breast Cancer

2008-10-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

As you may be aware October is breast cancer awareness month. After speaking to some of our members and even female staff I was stunned to discover very few of them knew how to carry out a self exam. Generally they had a vague awareness of the need to do one, but none of them did it regularly and none of them were entirely sure how to do one.

So I set out to rectify this as I was unable to get my girlfriend or any other female to help with the videoing I had to turn to our old friend You Tube. Here you will get a great explanation of how to examine your breasts as well as a practical demonstration.

Remember if caught in time breast cancer is very treatable.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 38

2008-10-04T22:25:00.001-07:00

Sit down while eating

Try to always sit down when eating. By taking the time to sit down, you will be more likely to eat slower and really enjoy every bite of your meal. Try to avoid eating while in the car, walking or running errands. This leads to "unconscious" eating and you will forget how fast and how much you’re consuming. It's very easy to overeat while doing other things and this is something you really want to try and avoid at all costs. Sit down and take some time by yourself to enjoy a healthy meal which pleases your appetite.

Fat Dissolving Tip of the Week 37

2008-09-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

Diagnose your food issues

Try to figure out the underlying issues with any food addictions you may have. Some people binge on certain foods and others have serious issues with certain foods acting as "triggers" for massive cravings. When you find yourself falling into an issue and overeating on junk foods, sit back for a moment and think why you are doing what you're doing. Ask yourself if you're depressed, happy, sad or angry while you're consuming these unhealthy items. By trying to self-diagnose your food issues, you should start building important habits and behaviors into helping you conquer unhealthy eating patterns.

Muttaqoon - Good Chartacter Good Deeds

2008-09-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Fasting is a means to becoming Muttaqi. No doubt, fasting has health and spiritual benefits, but we must never lose sight of the main goal of fasting. Ramadan provides an environment for our collective training and development of character. Muslims are required to emulate and display, year long, the qualities of good character. Since character building is a hard, long, continuous process, Ramadan is repeated every year as a reminder and re-enforcer. We must judge our accomplishments by the standards laid down by the Quran.

The above is a Translation by Yusuf Ali.

This weekend I got to see this in real action, and I and a number of others were truly inspired. Below you will see some of the pictures from The Plant a Tree Day.

One of the people I met on the day and showed me what it was really about to fast with grace was Aimann Faiz. He arrived early in the morning and dug holes carried trees and laughed and joked through the whole day.

This guy was doing some serious manual work whilst fasting, no food and more importantly no water under the hot sun. He began laughing and finished the day still laughing and telling jokes.

For those of us who feel 20 minutes of exercise a couple of times a week is too difficult because ........ you now have a new bench mark and inspiration.

On a personal note for me the tree planting summed up all that is good in Malaysia, people from different cultures, countries and religions coming together having fun and trying to make this world a little better to live in.

Aiman is sat in the front, this is at the end of the day and the guy is still smiling.

Canon Send in the Little Green Men

2008-09-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

The adopt and plant a tree day was a great success with lots of people turning up and getting stuck into the fun. It was great to see so many of the kids there as well lending a helping hand or at least getting muddy. I would like to thank Lilian for organizing the event and all those who came and gave a little bit back.

It was also great to see Canon contributing to the planet with their new Canon Goes Green campaign. They even sent in their Green Environmentalists. Hats off to these guys not only did they entertain everyone and did a fair bit of education they also got stuck in and digging and planting, and to top it all off they were fasting. Well Done Guys.

Check out some of the pictures below.

Lilian Gets to hang out with her caped hero's.

The Canon Men get stuck in.

Everyone got to play, though I think the smaller shovel would have been the way to go.

What can you say the Canon Men are a hit.

Mike O'Brien knows how to work... really.

After only a couple of weeks in the gym and the women are pushing the barrow, well done.

Reward Yourself Weekly

2008-09-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

Fat Dissolving Tip of the week No.36

Make sure to reward yourself every week. Set a small goal and stick to it. If you reach your short-term goal at the end of the week, reward yourself! You might go to the shopping mall and buy yourself something nice. Maybe it’s a great pair of pants you have been waiting for or a nice new shirt. You can also head down to the local spa and have a relaxing massage or facial. These are great incentives to keep you focused on your weight loss plan and motivate you to succeed every week.

Adopt a Tree

2008-09-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Plant a Tree Today

As most of you know the Ladies Club supports women entrepreneur's through our donations to KIVA (kiva.org).

This month we are doing something a little different and really getting our hands dirty , and what's more we would love you and your family to join in.

A number of companies and individuals have adopted a tree to be planted in a peaceful and green sanctuary in the middle of the city.

Persatuan Sri Ramakrishna Sarada has a beautiful BIG garden where they would like to to have more trees.

With the help of PATT (Plant a tree today) foundation so far 39 trees have been adopted. On Sunday 21st of September we will be planting them.

This will be a great day out for the family getting to dig holes and plant a tree. (Ok that sounds like work) But this will be my second tree planting and it really is a lot of fun the kids will love it and you get to give a little bit of fresh air back to our fine city.

Date: 21st September Sunday
Time: 8.00am to 12 noon.
Venue: Persatuan Sri Ramakrishna Sarada Malaysia
Lot 36, Jalan 10/7, Petaling Jaya
(Behind Thai Buddhist Temple & Taman Jaya
LRT station at Amcorp Mall)

If you would like to adopt a tree you can reply to this post and I will forward you the details.

Though we would just like to see you there to help plant The Ladies Club Tree.