Welcome to the very first Ultimate Fitness Equipment Championship battle. This will be a lowdown showdown between 2 pieces of fitness equipment that I have used. I’ll break down the good and the bad, then I’ll make my recommendation for best piece of equipment. Ready?
This weekend my friend bought an Ab Lounge Sport from Target. He set it up in my living room, which essentially forced me to try it out. For a comparison, I used the results from my handy ab wheel to gauge the effectiveness of this Smurf-blue chair-like contraption.
I recently had the opportunity to try 7 of Zola’s products: 3 acai juice blends and 4 acai smoothies. To skip the background on Zola, click here to go straight to the product reviews. By the way, I get nothing out of reviewing these products, not even if you follow my links to buy some. This is just for Project Swole readers’ information.
The philosophy of Zola is to bring highly delicious and nutritious Brazilian superfruits to consumers, and that is what they do best.
Zola has an agreement with certain Brazilian communities which allow them full access to the best, freshest acai that Brazil has to offer. Because of this agreement they never have to buy acai on the open market, and they are able to give directly back to their partner communities in an effort to reduce poverty and preserve the habitat.
A recent article in Forbes magazine noted Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as one of the world’s happiest cities. It just so happens that Rio de Janeiro is one of the top producers of acai berries, and the people that live there have daily, cheap access to acai foods.
This is an excellent sport specific exercise that can be used alongside plyometrics to help you increase your vertical jump.
Jump squats will also help you power through a plateau in your regular squat development by conditioning your quads and hips to power through the lockout at the top of the movement.
Jump squats are an excellent sport specific exercise that can be used to increase power for:
Olympic weight lifters
Olympic athletes that either throw (javelin, shot put) or jump (long jump, pole vault)
Basketball players who need to jump high
Football players who block or tackle
Add jump squats to your regular workout, your HIIT routine, your HIRT routine, or your sport specific training.
Bodybuilding.com has initiated an international recall of 65 dietary supplements that the FDA insists probably contain steroids.
Since they would probably get in some kind of legal trouble down the road, the popular bodybuilding website pretty much has to cooperate, so they have recalled all lots and expiration dates related to the 65 supplements flagged on the FDA’s list. Click here to see the list.
The FDA claims that the products on its list could contain some of the following substances:
A study release by New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows evidence that posting calorie information on fast food restaurant menus actually does change consumer behavior.
In July 2008, New York became the first US city to require fast food restaurants to post calorie counts in on menus, a practice that has become a stepping stone for similar rules in California, Seattle, Portland, and other cities in New York.
The decision to require nutrition information on menus is a result of an effort to combat obesity and promote good nutrition, especially for children.
Menu labeling continues to be viewed as a tool for fighting obesity. Currently, about 33% of adults in the US are obese, and another 33% are overweight. Obesity is a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other medical problems. Being overweight often leads to obesity later in life.
Here we have what is essentially bodyweight circuit training, but using a pumpkin for resistance. You might laugh, but pumpkins can weigh 10-20 pounds if they’re big enough. I don’t know that this is a ‘good’ idea, but at least it demonstrates how to think outside the box.
Repeat the 4-minute workout below, 4-5 times for a Halloween-themed 20 minute fat burning workout.
Now check out these other Halloween themed workouts by The Workout Muse.
Below are some decent PNF stretching videos to go along with a recent post about PNF stretching. Use these videos to get some good ideas for stretching your muscles before exercise or anytime you feel like working to increase your flexibility. Similar to dynamic stretching, only better!
Below are some decent dynamic stretching videos to go along with a recent post about dynamic stretching. Use these videos to get some good ideas for stretching your muscles before exercise or anytime you feel like working to increase your flexibility.
As an update to my post that pedophiles should run for the hills, I wanted to share the recent developments in this story. Why do I continue to post about this in my health and fitness blog? Because I can, and because the world needs to know.
Sexual abuse, child abuse, child molestation, and pedophilia has absolutely NOTHING to do with being Swole, but fighting for the safety of our children certainly does!
I promise I will get back to posting about health and fitness very soon… I am working on a post about static stretching as you read this. But I digress…
Today I would like to take a break from exercise and nutrition news to tell you about a real problem in our world: child molestation. It is a taboo topic but it is also reality. Child molestation destroys lives on a daily basis and the perpetrators are often slapped on the wrist and released back into society. It has to stop and I am willing to fight for our kids.
There is a revolution happening in Hooksett, NH this month.
Thanks to a group of angry neighbors, myself included, there is a movement to put restrictions into place for convicted and registered sex offenders in the town of Hooksett, NH. Read on to find out how it all began and what is happening today.
This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of pharmacy technician certification. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: [email protected]
I enjoyed going for a jog early each morning, for about a month or so that is.
When it started to become boring and monotonous, I discovered interval training. So I varied my routine to sprint and then jog for 300 meters and 100 meters respectively.
It kept me going for a while, but then, I began to lag and find excuses not to go.
There’s no doubt that it’s one of the best ways to lose weight and improve fitness, but if you want to stay the course with interval training, you must find ways to make it more interesting.
And to that end, here’s what I did (and what you can do too) to make interval training more interesting and more effective:
Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.
His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.
I don’t own an iPhone, but maybe you do. If you do, you should totally check out some of these healthy iPhone apps. The more reminders we have, the more likely we will be to stick to the plan.
You’ve got your nutrition apps – menus and meal planners, indoor and outdoor workout apps, health info apps – think Web MD, a couple social networking apps – who uses SparkPeople(?), apps for brain health, and a bunch of other random apps.
I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.
Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.
The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.
EKansas wrote:
“I am at 168lbs, down from 232. I’m female and 5’6. I work out with a trainer twice a week and do weights and cardio kickboxing and other cardio on off days. I work out 5-6 days per week.
I’ve been trying to get below 160 for months. My trainer says to bump my protein from 80grams to 160. I’m afraid of the extra calories. I try to stick to 1500. Is this correct?”
In the spirit of Project Swole’s recent focus on HIIT training, Jim Stoppani, PhD, Senior Science Editor for Muscle & Fitness Magazine and author of Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength teaches you how to maximize the benefits of high intensity interval training (HIIT).
Some of his ideas differ from what my research and experience has turned up in my post describing how to use HIIT, but the video is still a great tutorial with some exercise examples.
One difference you might notice, is that Stoppani advocates a 2:1 interval to rest ratio, while my research shows a 1:9, 1:6, and 1:3 interval to rest ratios are optimal.
His ratio would mean 2 minutes of sprints to 1 minute of rest, while my ratio would mean 20 seconds of sprints to 60 seconds of rest for an intermediate HIIT routine.
While I am sure Stoppani is an intelligent guy, I still definitely favor more rest as it helps your energy systems to recover when you are truly training at maximal intensity.
I was reading some food blogs today and I was reminded of a meal I used to eat all the time in my early 20s. I call it Spicy Tuna Cottage Cheese and it can be eaten plain, on whole wheat crackers, on avocado slices, on tomato slices, or on whole grain sandwich thins.
This is a high protein snack that offers quickly digesting protein in the form of tuna, and slowly digesting protein in the form of cottage cheese. The salsa offers us some additional flavor and all of the great benefits of tomatoes.
Yury Tikhonovich, a circus performer can. This is an example of the sweet stunts you can pull off with a background in gymnastics. Man oh man, do I wish my parents got me into gymnastics when I was but a kid.
Heck, I just wish I could do a backflip. I suppose it is possible for a 31 year old man to learn how to do a backflip… isn’t it?
