Losing weight and maintaining a lifestyle of fitness is not an easy task. I will post advice from experts and people who have succeeded in their fitness goals, along with tips and articles that may be helpful in providing information that will get you on your way, to reaching your goal for a fit, healthy and wiser you.
-FC
If you've ever had muscle spasms or muscle cramps, you know they can be extremely painful. In some cases, a muscle may spasm so forcefully that it results in a bruise on the skin. Most muscle spasms and cramps are involuntary contractions of a muscle. A serious muscle spasm doesn't release on its own and requires manual stretching to help relax and lengthen the shortened muscle. Spasms and cramps can be mild or extremely painful. While they can happen to any skeletal muscle, they are most common in the legs and feet and muscles that cross two joints (the calf muscle, for example). Cramps can involve part of a muscle or all the muscles in a group. The most commonly affected muscle groups are:
Back of lower leg / calf (gastrocnemius).
Back of thigh (hamstrings).
Front of thigh (quadriceps).
Feet, hands, arms, abdomen
Muscle cramps range in intensity from a slight twitch or tic to severe pain. A cramped muscle can feel rock-hard and last a few seconds to several minutes or longer. It is not uncommon for cramps to ease up and then return several times before they go away entirely.
What Causes Muscle Cramps
The exact cause of muscle cramps is still unknown, but the theories most commonly cited include:
Altered neuromuscular control
Dehydration
Electrolyte depletion
Poor conditioning
Muscle fatigue
Doing a new activity Other factors that have been associated with muscle cramps include exercising in extreme heat. The belief is that muscle cramps are more common during exercise in the heat because sweat contains fluids as well as electrolyte (salt, potassium, magnesium and calcium). When these nutrients fall to certain levels, the incidence of muscle spasms increases. Because athletes are more likely to get cramps in the preseason, near the end of (or the night after) intense or prolonged exercise, some feel that a lack of conditioning results in cramps.
Research Supports Altered Neuromuscular Control as the Cause of Cramps
While all these theories are being studied, researchers are finding more evidence that the "altered neuromuscular control" hypothesis is the principal pathophysiological mechanism the leads to exercise-associated muscle cramping (EAMC). Altered neuromuscular control is often related to muscle fatigue and results in a disruption of muscle coordination and control.
According to a review of the literature conducted by Martin Schwellnus from the University of Cape Town, the evidence supporting both the "electrolyte depletion" and "dehydration" hypotheses as the cause of muscle cramps is not convincing. He reviewed the available literature supporting these theories and found mostly anecdotal clinical observations and one small case-control study with only 10 subjects. He also found another four clinical prospective cohort studies that clearly did not support the "electrolyte depletion" and "dehydration" hypotheses as the cause of muscle cramps. In his review, Schwellnus concludes that the "electrolyte depletion" and "dehydration" hypotheses do not offer plausible pathophysiological mechanisms with supporting scientific evidence that could adequately explain the clinical presentation and management of exercise-associated muscle cramping.
He goes on to write:
"Scientific evidence for the "altered neuromuscular control" hypothesis is based on evidence from research studies in human models of muscle cramping, epidemiological studies in cramping athletes, and animal experimental data. Whilst it is clear that further evidence to support the "altered neuromuscular control" hypothesis is also required, research data are accumulating that support this as the principal pathophysiological mechanism for the aetiology of exercise-associated muscle cramping (EAMC)."
Treating Muscle Cramps
Cramps usually go away on their own without treatment, but these tips appears to help speed the healing process:
Stop the activity that caused the cramp.
Gently stretch and massage the cramping muscle.
Hold the joint in a stretched position until the cramp stops.
Preventing Muscle Cramps
Until we learn the exact cause of muscle cramps, it will be difficult to say with any confidence how to prevent them. However, these tips are most recommended by experts and athletes alike:
Improve fitness and avoid muscle fatigue
Stretch regularly after exercise
Warm up before exercise
Stretch the calf muscle: In a standing lunge with both feet pointed forward, straighten the rear leg.
Stretch the hamstring muscle: Sit with one leg folded in and the other straight out, foot upright and toes and ankle relaxed. Lean forward slightly, touch foot of straightened leg. (Repeat with opposite leg.)
Stretch the quadriceps muscle: While standing, hold top of foot with opposite hand and gently pull heel toward buttocks. (Repeat with opposite leg.)
Most muscle cramps are not serious. If your muscle cramps are severe, frequent, constant or of concern, see your doctor. Sources: Cause of Exercise Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC) - altered neuromuscular control, dehydration or electrolyte depletion? M. P. Schwellnus. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009; 43:401-408. Muscle Cramp. The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00200.
Eating more whole grains is an easy way to add a layer of "health insurance" to your life. Whole grains are packed with nutrients including protein, fiber, B vitamins, antioxidants, and trace minerals (iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium). A diet rich in whole grains has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some forms of cancer. Whole-grain diets also improve bowel health by helping to maintain regular bowel movements and promote growth of healthy bacteria in the colon.
Yet only 10% of Americans consume the recommended three servings a day.
Why? For one thing, it's not always easy to tell just which foods are whole grain. Scan the bread, cereal or snack aisle, and virtually every package touts its whole-grain goodness. But not all of them actually are whole grain. Terms like "multigrain," "100% wheat," "organic," "pumpernickel," "bran," and "stone ground" may sound healthy, but none actually indicates the product is whole grain.
Further, many Americans have the perception that whole grains just don't taste good, or that it's difficult to work them into their daily diets.
To help you start reaping the benefits of a diet rich in whole grains, WebMD got the skinny on how to tell which foods are made of whole grains, along with suggestions on how to fit the recommended servings into your healthy eating plan.
Know Your Whole Grains
A whole grain contains all edible parts of the grain, including the bran, germ, and endosperm. The whole grain may be used intact or recombined, as long as all components are present in natural proportions. To recognize whole grains, keep this list handy when you go to the grocery store and choose any of the following grains:
Whole-grain corn
Whole oats/oatmeal
Popcorn
Brown rice
Whole rye
Whole-grain barley
Wild rice
Buckwheat
Triticale
Bulgur (cracked wheat)
Millet
Quinoa
Sorghum
100% whole wheat flour
But what about when you're buying processed products, such as a loaf of bread? You probably know to avoid products made of "refined" wheat. But did you know that some manufacturers strip the outer layer of bran off the whole kernel of wheat, use the refined wheat flour, add in molasses to color it brown, and call it "100% wheat" bread? That's true -- but it is not a whole grain.
That's why it's important to check the ingredient list for the word "whole" preceding the grain (such as "whole wheat flour"). Ideally, the whole grain will be the first ingredient in the list, indicating that the product contains more whole grain than any other ingredient.
One way to find whole grains is to look for the FDA-approved health claim that reads, "Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers." This is found on whole-grain products that contain at least 51% whole grain ingredients (by weight) and are also low in fat.
Another aid to find whole-grain products is to look for the Whole Grain Council's whole-grain stamp, which shows how many grams of whole grains are in each serving. If all of the grain is whole grain, the stamp also displays a "100%" banner.
The amount of grains you need daily varies based on your age, sex, and physical activity level. In general, adults need between 5 to 8 ounce equivalents of grains each day, and at least half are recommended to come from whole grains. Examples of an ounce equivalent include 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of cereal, 1/2 cup of cooked pasta or rice. You can determine how much you need by checking the U.S. government's MyPlate website.
More Whole Grain Products
The good news is that whole grains are not necessarily brown or only found in adult cereals. You can find them throughout the food supply, including many processed foods.
Since the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommended that Americans eat more whole grains, there has been an explosion of whole-grain options. Even many restaurants now offer brown rice and other whole grains options.
For whole-grain nutrition without the "grainy" taste, there are newly reformulated products that use lighter whole wheats and new processing techniques to make them look and taste more like white flour.
These "white whole-grain" products are a great way to transition into eating more whole grains, particularly if your kids are turning their noses up at them.
Whole Grains and Fiber
Whole grains can be an excellent source of fiber. But not all whole grains are good sources of fiber. Whole wheat contains among the highest amount of fiber of the whole grains. Brown rice contains the least.
For most people, whole grains are their diet's best source of fiber.
Most whole-grain sources yield from 1-4 grams of fiber per serving, comparable to fruits and vegetables, and just the right amount when spread throughout the day.
Can't fiber supplements give you the same benefit? While you get plenty of fiber from these supplements, you'll miss out on all the other nutritional benefits of whole grains. However, if you know you're not getting at least 25 grams of fiber per day, fiber supplements are a great way to help you get there.
8 Easy Ways to Get More Whole Grains into Your Diet
Learning to enjoy whole grains is simply a matter of retraining your taste buds to become familiar with the fuller, nuttier flavor of the grain, experts say.
Whole grains taste and feel different to the mouth, and therefore it takes time to adjust to these new grains.
Here are eight easy ways to work more whole grains into your daily diet:
Choose whole-grain breads, cereals, English muffins, waffles, bagels, and crackers. Enjoy a sandwich at lunch with two slices of whole-grain bread, or a whole-grain pita or wrap, and you're two-thirds of the way toward meeting your goal.
Eat popcorn. What could be easier than eating air-popped popcorn as a snack? A study in the 2008 May issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that people who regularly ate popcorn averaged 2.5 servings of whole grains per day, while non-popcorn eaters got less than one serving.
Make your snacks whole grain. Snacks account for one-third of whole grain consumption - just make sure you choose the right ones. Check the label, because even though it is made with a whole grain, it could still be high in fat, calories, and sodium.
Start your day with a bowl of whole-grain cereal. Members of the National Weight Control Registry who have lost substantial amounts of weight -- and kept it off -- swear by the importance of eating a nutritious breakfast, such as cereal, each day. But keep in mind that even when a product is made from whole grain, it's not necessarily healthy. Read the label and select cereals based on the whole-grain content and amount of sugar it contains. The less sugar, the better.
Add whole grains to your baked goods. Magee likes to blend half whole-wheat flour with all-purpose flour to boost the whole-grain content of her baked goods. You can also use white wheat flour, available in your local grocery store. Another option is to replace one-third of the flour with whole-grain oats.
Choose brown rice and whole-wheat or blended pasta. Cook up a batch of brown rice and freeze or keep in the fridge 4-5 days and if time is an issue, there are great ready brown rice products. Try whole-grain pasta, or some of the blended pastas made with a mix of whole and refined grains. Don't be put off by the dark color of whole-grain pasta that becomes much lighter when it is cooked.
Experiment with different grains. Visit your local health food market and try your hand at some of the less-familiar whole grains available. Try risottos, pilafs, whole-grain salads, and other grain dishes made with brown rice, millet, quinoa, or sorghum, Magee suggests. Add uncooked oats to meatloaf or stir oats into yogurt for crunch and added nutrition.
Start your kids off right. Starting off young kids with a diet of all whole grains. For older kids, try the white whole-wheat flour, and incorporate whole grains into foods that have other flavors: French toast; burgers on whole-grain buns; brown rice medley with veggies; in soups or dishes like shrimp Creole; whole-wheat pitas as crusts for make-your-own individual pizzas.
Working out doesn’t have to be expensive. There are plenty of routines you can do with simple equipment you might already have, or can easily and cheaply obtain. One such piece of equipment is the Heavy Rope. You don’t have to get some fancy-pants ‘special’ heavy rope–just head down to Home Depot or Lowes and get yourself some rope. If you’re new, you might want to start with 1 to 1-1/2 inch thickness. As you progress, you can get thicker (and hence heavier) ropes.
Get about fifty feet and try to get manila rope. Manila rope is tough; it’s the same rope most often used in boating. It’s also a densely woven rope, which means it’s heavy, and that means the best bang for your buck when it comes to workout return.
Now all you need is something to loop the rope around; a pole, tree, or even a person. Loop it around so that you end up with two 25-foot lengths. The idea then is to create waves in the rope by swinging your arms up and down in an alternating motion (left ram up, right arm down, etc.). Sounds easy, huh? Wait until you’ve been doing it for about 20 seconds. The constant motion of rope doesn’t allow for any rest, and it won’t be long before you’re weeping like a newborn. Your hands and forearms will be burning all through they’ve been dipped in sulfuric acid. You will love it. It becomes a test of will–you versus the rope, and the rope will win every time.
Once you’ve masterd the up and down, you can vary the motion. Try swinging up and down with both arms at the same time, or use a big looping motion (around the world), or going from left to right to make a sideways wave (particularly hard). Heavy ropes are very good because the incident of injury is non-existant because the rope really isn’t that heavy and the movements you use are totally natural.
To get the most out of your workout, focus on maintaining the wave no matter what. Aim for peak intensity. When start out, got for 3 sets of 30 seconds each. As you get stronger and your conditioning improves, start bumping up the time.
Aim to workout for 3 days a week.
Here’s a sample heavy rope training routine on incrementing time guaranteed to whip you into shape:
Mon
30 seconds alternating
30 Seconds both arms up and down
30 seconds big loop
Wed
45 seconds alternating
30 Seconds both arms up and down
30 seconds big loop
Fri
45 seconds alternating
45 Seconds both arms up and down
30 seconds big loop
Mon
45 seconds alternating
45 Seconds both arms up and down
45 seconds big loop
Take 1 minute of rest in between sets. See how I bumped up the duration of each set by 15 seconds for each new workout? Keep doing that until you reach 3 minutes for each set. Match this routine up with a good diet and a bit of resistance training, and you’ll be a hard body in no time!
Your heart is pounding in your chest as your fingers grip the ledge. Sweat pours down your face and your muscles start to tremble. You don’t dare move, but you can’t hold on much longer. All you hear are footsteps and your heart beating like a drum from deep inside your heaving chest. You close your eyes and think: Cardio, I need more cardio. That was rule #1 in the movie Zombie Land, how could you forget to train your cardio? Well, it’s too late now cream-puff. You are running for your life and that step class you dropped out of can’t help you now. Your weak cardio and under trained legs aren’t going to get you out of this mess. If only you could go back in time and train like an athlete instead of an
underwear model.
Before you find yourself perched on the edge of oblivion, you had better get fit, REALLY fit. The expression is survival of the fittest, not survival of the cutest. If you want to be ready for anything, you have to train to be ready for everything. Are you as fit as you look? Mike Diamond, one of my top students in the USA, is fond of asking new clients this question. You may look like a ļ¬tness model, but is that shell of a body built for show or built for go? Are you ready to survive everything from a natural disaster to a zombie apocalypse; or are you going to be the first course in a zombie buffet? Don’t panic. I am going to help you develop five essential survival attributes that will get your butt into gear and off the post-apocalyptic menu. Add these practices to your training and you will go from all show to ready to go.
Attribute 1: Breath Holding (Pranayama)
Most of us only think about our breathing when we are losing it. Keeping your wind in grappling, running, or endurance lifting such as Kettlebell Sport is about more than just capacity, it’s about control. Being able to relax and control your breath is an essential survival attribute for running, lifting, and hiding underwater to shake your mother-in-law off your tail. One of the best ways to develop breath control was developed by yogis and is known as Pranayama. Yoga breathing techniques are practiced as a means of moving prana (energy) throughout the body. These same techniques will help you develop control and increased capacity in breath retention. There are many forms of Panayamic practice. The following is a simple beginner routine you can follow.
Sitting or kneeling in a comfortable position with a straight back, begin to control your breathing by inhaling for a specific count and immediately exhaling for the same count. You may count in your head or make use of a metronome to keep a constant beat. For example, inhale for a slow count of eight and exhale for the same count. Breathing is done through the nose with the mouth closed. After a dozen breaths in and out, begin to experiment with breath retention. Inhale for a count of eight then lower your head and hold for an eight count. Slowly release the breath for a count of eight bringing your head and neck back to a neutral position, and then hold for an eight count after your exhale. Again, you can slightly lower your head during the hold of the exhale. Begin this practice with a dozen repetitions. You should be relaxed during all of your breathing, including the holds. If you feel like you are straining, reduce the count. As it becomes easier increase your count and repetitions.
Attribute 2: Deadlifting Strength
The deadlift is one of the most primal barbell exercises you can do. It is the king of barbell maximal strength training. There is nothing like reaching down and grabbing a heavy bar and feeling gravity lose its grip as you drive the weight up. This kind of fullbody strength should be a part of everyone’s survival training regime.
Deadlift strength will help you lift boulders off of your buddies, pull cars off of screaming, slow-moving yuppies, and flip gigantic tires in front of hot women at the gym. All of these useful skills can be yours if you add deadlifts to your training.
Attribute 3: Hill Sprints
I once heard a man say, you can’t flex cardio in response to why he doesn’t train endurance. Well meat heads, it’s true you can’t ex cardio. It is also true that in nature, the slow winded get eaten first. If endurance isn’t on your training menu, then one day you will be on someone or something’s. Build up an iron will and lungs to match with hill sprints.
Step 1: Find a hill. Step 2: Run up the hill. Step 3: Repeat step two until you can out run every animal or zombie in your area.
Attribute 4: Bent Arm Hangs
Preacher curls and undersized t-shirts may make your arms look big, but you need more than bulk to save your skin when you are hanging for your life. If you want to develop a grip that can be used for more than just holding beer cans and Twinkies, you need to work your bent arm hangs. Hit a local park and work on static bent arm holds. Find something to hang on and shuffle from one side to the other. If you are feeling lucky with this, try removing one hand; this will help you develop great bent arm strength.
Attribute 5: Balance Drills
Balance is good. It keeps us on our feet and separates us from the really drunk people at a party. Staying on your feet while running and landing takes practice and kinesthetic awareness. There are many fun ways to improve your balance, and while many will argue that tools such as Indo Boards only improve specific balance for that specific product, the pure joy of training on such tools is a great way to begin adding balance work to your routines. Try warming up for your next routine with a short balance session with an Indo board. It’s a fun way to loosen up and to experiment with balance work.
Get back to movement basics with some primal climbing and obstacle work with a park bench walk. Walking on the back support of a park bench is a great way to work balance and kinesthetic awareness. Use play as the way, and develop greater balance in your training.
One day while finishing a workout with hill sprints, someone called over to me and asked what I was training for. I looked over and responded life. I train to live better and longer. That means doing activities that improve the quality of my health and make me more resistant to failure. You don’t have to think the world is coming to an end, or that a zombie apocalypse is eminent to start incorporating survival fitness training into your workouts. Plan every training program for more than simply improving your strength, flexibility and endurance, plan for a foundation of improving your movement. Learn to move better and you will live better.
I created my training system based on the simple idea: we should learn to control our bodies first, and then we can learn to overcome external resistance. That control comes in a wide variety of forms, from breathing to squatting to running to balancing, it’s all part of the same process. Learn to master yourself and you learn to master life.
Contributor Information:
Shawn Mozen is the owner of Agatsu Inc, the company that first introduced Kettlebell training in Canada. Agatsu has over 700 trainers in countries around the world who practice Shawn’s unique system that emphasizes mastery of movement. Recognized world wide as an authority on kettlebells, martial arts, and functional fitness, Shawn has appeared on US and Canadian TV shows such as VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, Miami Ink, The Gill Deacon Show, and Off the Record. Find out more.
"Greens are the No. 1 food you can eat regularly to help improve your health," says Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, a culinary educator in Northern California and the author of The Veggie Queen. That's because leafy vegetables are brimming with fiber along with vitamins, minerals, and plant-based substances that may help protect you from heart disease, diabetes, and perhaps even cancer. Even so, Americans are not eating as many vegetables each day as dietary experts recommend.
To encourage you to put more leafy vegetables on your plate, WebMD asked Nussinow to rank the country's most widely-eaten greens from most nutritious to least. Here's our top 10 list:
Kale: This nutrition powerhouse "offers everything you want in a leafy green," says Nussinow, who gave it her first-place ranking. It's an excellent source of vitamins A C, and K, has a good amount of calcium for a vegetable, and also supplies folate and potassium. Kale's ruffle-edged leaves may range in color from cream to purple to black depending on the variety.
Before cooking with kale, collards, turnips, and chard, Nussinow recommends swishing the greens in a water-filled sink, draining the sink, then repeating this rinse until the leaves are dirt-free. Her favorite cooking method for these four greens is to rub the leaves in olive oil or tahini (sesame paste) and cook them for five minutes with garlic, olive oil, and broth.
Collards: Used in Southern-style cooking, collard greens are similar in nutrition to kale. But they have a heartier and chewier texture and a stronger cabbage-like taste. "Collards are an under-appreciated vegetable and most people don't know about them," suggests Nussinow. She says they're also popular with the raw food movement because the wide leaves are used as a wrapper instead of tortillas or bread. Down South, collards are typically slow cooked with either a ham hock or smoked turkey leg. A half cup has 25 calories.
Turnip greens: "If you buy turnips with the tops on, you get two vegetables in one," Nussinow tells WebMD. Turnip leaves are another Southern favorite traditionally made with pork. More tender than other greens and needing less cooking, this sharp-flavored leaf is low in calories yet loaded with vitamins A,C, and K as well as calcium.
Swiss chard: With red stems, stalks, and veins on its leaves, Swiss chard has a beet-like taste and soft texture that's perfect for sauteeing. Both Swiss chard and spinach contain oxalates, which are slightly reduced by cooking and can bind to calcium, a concern for people prone to kidney stones. Chard contains 15 calories in one-half cup and is a good source of vitamins A and C. Nussinow likes to make a sweet-and-sour chard by adding raisins and vinegar to the cooked greens.
Spinach: Popeye's favorite vegetable has 20 calories per serving, plus it's packed with vitamins A and C, as well as folate. And because heat reduces the green's oxalate content, freeing up its dietary calcium, "cooked spinach gives you more nutrition than raw," says Nussinow. Spinach leaves can be cooked quickly in the water that remains on them after rinsing, or they can be eaten raw in salads. Bags of frozen chopped spinach are more convenient to use than block kinds, and this mild-flavored vegetable can be added to soups, pasta dishes, and casseroles.
Mustard greens: Another Southern green with a similar nutrition profile to turnip leaves and collards, mustard greens have scalloped edges and come in red and green varieties. They have a peppery taste and give off a mustardy smell during cooking. Their spiciness can be toned down by adding an acid, such as vinegar or lemon juice, toward the end of cooking, suggests Nussinow. Cooked mustard greens have 10 calories in one-half cup.
Broccoli: With 25 calories a serving, broccoli is rich in vitamin C and is also a good source of vitamin A, potassium, and folate. Americans eat about 6 pounds of it a year. Its stalks and florets add both crunch and color to stir-fries. While some kids may call this veggie "trees," they often like it best raw or steamed with a yogurt-based dip. Nussinow mixes fresh broccoli into her pasta during the last three minutes of cooking so both are ready at the same time.
Red and Green Leaf and Romaine Lettuce: A familiar sight in salad bowls, these lettuces are high in vitamin A and offer some folate. Leaf lettuces have a softer texture than romaine, a crunchy variety used in Caesar salads. Fans of Iceberg lettuce may go for romaine, a crispy green that's better for you. Nussinow points out "the darker the lettuce leaf, the more nutrition it has," making red leaf slightly healthier than green. If you don't drown lettuce in a creamy dressing, one cup contains 10 calories.
Cabbage: Although paler in color than other leafy greens, this cruciferous vegetable is a great source of cancer-fighting compounds and vitamin C. Nussinow considers thisversatile green "the workhorse of the kitchen." Available in red and green varieties, cabbage can be cooked, added raw to salads or stir fries, shredded into a slaw, or made into sauerkraut. It's also a staple of St. Patrick's Day boiled suppers and can give off a strong smell when cooking. One-half cup cooked has 15 calories.
Iceberg Lettuce: This bland-tasting head lettuce is mostly water. But it's the country's most popular leafy green and each of us eats about 17 pounds of iceberg a year. While tops in consumption, it's last on our list for its health benefits. "It's not devoid of all nutrition, but it's pretty close," Nussinow tells WebMD. Although we're eating less iceberg than we did two decades ago, it's still a common ingredient on hamburgers and in taco salads. "It can be a starter green," says Nussinow, to draw people into a broader array of salad greens.
Almost everyone loves tea. This delicious as well as healthy drink has been around for ages. Tea comes in a rich array of types and flavors. Whether you drink your tea hot or cold, you are sure to have an enjoyable healthy drink.
Tea Benefits
Tea has many beneficial properties one of which is flavoniod antioxidants and we all need those to keep our bodies in healthy working order. The antioxidants in tea can help protect the body from the affects of free radicals which can damage cells.
Some of these antioxidants have proven useful as anti-allergic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agents, as well as helping to boost the immune system.
Tea is helpful in weight loss and the protection against Alzheimers, heart disease and may help lower the risk of some types of cancers. Tea also has fluoride, which is great news for your teeth and bones. Therefore, the next time you just want a nice drink of tea remember it is good for your body as well as being appetizing.
Actually, after water, tea is one of the most common consumed drinks. No matter whether it is black, green, white, Oolong or herbal teas. All of these different types of teas offer their own special tastes and health benefits.
All tea grows on a white flowering evergreen tea tree. Every bit of real tea comes from the same types of Camellia Sinensis trees better known as tea trees. Tea trees are harvested year round.
Most of the tea tree plants resemble a bush from being pruned, however if left to grow wild it reaches a height of nearly thirty feet.
Here is a list of the types of tea and some of their benefits:
1. Black Tea - Black tea is helpful by affecting the levels of stress hormones thereby aiding in a quicker recovery time from the stresses of daily life. It also lowers the risk of heart attacks. Black tea is helpful as a diet aid.
2. Green Tea - Green tea can protect against several different kinds of cancer, such as lung, breast and prostate cancers. It is also useful as a diet aid since it speeds up the metabolic rates while speeding up the fat oxidation. This offers a feeling of increased energy.
3. White Tea - White tea has more anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents than Green tea, while being generally comparable to Green tea. White tea is actually immature tea and has a fuzzy silver coloring. White tea also contains a stronger content of anti-oxidants that defends against cancer causing cells better than any other tea.
4. Oolong Tea - Oolong tea tastes more like green tea than black tea. It has a strong flowery taste that is a little on the bitter side, but surprisingly it leaves a pleasantly sweet aftertaste. It is helpful as a diet aid, while it also helps prevent skin damage and enhances the function of enzymes because of its anti-oxidant properties.
5. Herbal Tea - Herbal teas are the blending of flowers, seeds, leaves and roots from plants. They are not true tea, as they don't come from the evergreen tea tree. To be fair I need to say that all teas are herbal as they all come from plant source.
Actually, herbal teas offer a much wider assortment of flavors and health benefits than most other real teas. There are a lot of claims made about herb tea and its benefits. We hope to be able to sort out these claims and report to you what works and what doesn't.
A strenuous few weeks of hardcore training awaits you, so why not make your life a little easier by dropping that extra weight on your belly (they’re going to make you carry a bunch already). If you need to trim up and shed some fat, then this diet plan will definitely help.
One of the many problems with diets is that people make them complicated when they don’t really have to be. One person is telling you to watch your serving portions and the other is asking you to count your calories; that’s all a bit of a headache if you ask me. This diet is for non-vegetarians, however, vegetarians can use it too by tweaking and substituting things here and there (i.e. legumes for meat, etc).
Assuming that we have 8 weeks before “ship off,” let’s get started by cleaning out your fridge and cupboards! Make sure all boxed and packaged items are trashed. All those wheat thins, low fat oatmeal raisin cookies, and carb-filled pancake mixes must vanish.
Toss out anything colored beige that is boxed or wrapped in plastic: bagels, wheat bread, tortillas, oats and such. Yes, I know that whole wheat, millet, barley, and oats have fiber and protect your heart, colon, arteries, etc. but they also carry three nasty anti-nutrients that can cause havoc if consumed in abundance.
You want to replace beige food for more dark greens and colorful fruit, being careful to eat more greens and vegetables than fruit. Fruit can be problematic when it comes to losing fat because it is extremely easy to overeat.
A quick little explanation: beige foods (grains) tend to be very high in sugar (referring to the breakdown of carbs and glucose), spiking insulin higher then you want it to be. Chronic grain consumption can cause fat gain effortlessly. In order to stop this, we need to avoid high insulin spiking foods, which mostly come from grains, but also from sweets and refined carbs.
I know what you are thinking (it’s the same question I get asked everyday), “so what am I going to eat then?” Those who usually ask aren’t very good cooks or haven’t made anything other than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (much like myself before I learned the benefits of cooking fresh meals). In order to help you out, I put together this brief list of meat, nuts/seeds, vegetables, and fruits to broaden your horizon in the world of real food:
Notice that these are whole foods and are not processed or refined. Now its time to put it all together and make some tasty meals. To the right you’ll find a few samples to get you started that have good sources of proteins, carbs, and fat.
BREAKFAST
Option 1:Almond-Meal
½ cup of raw almonds
½ cup of water
1 medium-sized apple
Mix in a blender. Pour into pot to simmer.
Option 1:Tuna Salad
1 ½ can of tuna
Black olives
Jalapenos
Avocado
Tomato
Onion
Lettuce
Toss it all together. Add oil and vinegar to taste.
Option 2:Chicken & Veggie Stir Fry
Chicken
Red cabbage
Mushrooms
Beets
Green squash
Grill the chicken with coconut oil and seasoning of your choice. Stir fry the rest with coconut oil, salt and pepper.
Snack (if needed)
Option 1:1-2 Hardboiled eggs
Option 2:Apple with almond butter
Dinner
Option 1:Beef Ribs (oven)
Beef ribs
Green collards
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Cook the beef ribs in the oven with pepper, sea salt, and basil. Stir fry the green collards, mushrooms, and asparagus with coconut oil, salt, and pepper.
Grill the Carne Asada. Mix the rest of the vegetables into a salad with oil and vinegar dressing.
Get the idea? Get creative with your meals! Learn how to throw a nice mix of protein, carbs, and fats together and watch your waistline shrink. Lose the fat now and boot camp will be a breeze, well, maybe not a breeze but you will be lighter and more agile than before. To perform your best you need optimal nutrition. Drink plenty of water, avoid empty calories such as sweets and baked goods, and refrain from reaching for that whole wheat bagel with cream cheese!
Why on earth would you want to train with cannonballs with handles, duffel bags filled with sand, or a bat that weighs 30 pounds? The answer: To make you the strongest, leanest, and toughest SOB possible.
Kettlebell, Sandbag, Heavy Club, Rope, Sledgehammer, and Macebell training all have one thing in common: they're Unconventional Fitness Training (UFT) techniques used by the toughest of the tough to build massive strength, bone-crushing power, un-ending endurance, and rock-solid muscle. They're used by military and law enforcement personnel, professional combat athletes, and those looking to get extraordinary results from their training. Needless to say, MMA fighters looking to take their performance to the next level MUST look into these methods if they're serious about winning.
Unconventional Fitness Training methods have proven results. Some were developed recently for specific combat sports (such as Battle Rope training for professional football players), while others were developed hundreds of years ago and are now utilized as core training methods for large military forces (such as kettlebell training and Russian soldiers). Some have even been used for THOUSANDS of years and were developed by warriors to enhance their strength and stamina for combat (such as ancient Indian warriors with Indian Clubs, Heavy Clubs, and Macebells).
Each training method offers MMA fighters the opportunity to build real strength and power while also increasing
their endurance and stamina to super-human levels. But beyond those objectives, these methods offer enhancements to your agility and resiliency, after all, increased strength and conditioning means nothing to a fighter who is immobile, inflexible, and lacks the grip strength to open a jar of baby food. Each component of physical fitness is necessary to ensure victory in the ring.
The following Unconventional Fitness Training Methods will aid in all of the above while also getting you shredded (imagine your opponent being mentally beaten before the match even starts when he sees the crazy pile of muscle on the other side of the ring). Here's a list of Unconventional Fitness Training methods and what they can do for your training:
Kettlebells: Kettlebells are a staple in every Unconventional training regimen. The American Council of Exercise (A.C.E.) put together a study on the efficiency of a simple kettlebell workout to increase one's conditioning level. It found that during a simple 20-minute kettlebell workout involving kettlebell snatches and presses, participants burned 20 calories a minute (400 during the twenty minute workout). Not bad considering it's not a thousand dollar piece of equipment or joint-pounding roadwork. Click Here for Kettlebell Workouts.
But beyond conditioning and cardio (attributed to the full body, ballistic movements involved in kettlebell exercise), kettlebells can help you build massive strength and power. Why else would the 48kg (106lb) kettlebell exist? With kettlebell training you can enjoy all the benefits of Olympic-style quick lifts, the snatch, clean, jerk with other ballistic exercises like the swing and juggling. All of which will build a tremendously strong and lean body with the added benefit of grip strength and back, and hip mobility, perfect for fighters.
Sandbags: Sandbag training can help you do anything: increase your conditioning level, boost your overall strength, and give you an iron grip (not to mention a new-found ability to stop flood waters like a champ). If you're looking to gain unreal grip strength that will help in every martial art and combat sport, then sandbag training is for you. Sandbags can offer a nice variety in your training regime and (depending on the brand of sandbag), have adjustable weights which will allow you to work on strength, power, and conditioning all in the same workout.
Sandbags are perfect for combat training because they give you that dead-weight feel of an opponent, especially when you get into the heavier sandbags (125lb+). For your conditioning purposes 50-80lbs is all you'll need. Click Here for Sandbag Workouts.
Battle Ropes: The rope is a brutally effective fat burning and conditioning tool that will set your lungs on fire within seconds of starting each set. If you thought you needed to run or do steady state cardio (which is an antiquated notion these days), then you've got another thing coming with rope training. You can use rope training (also known as battling ropes or battle ropes) for pulls, slams, climbs, waves, dragging, and a million other exercises, all of which will get you sweating while helping you build killer grip strength at the same time.
Complete a few timed sets in between other unconventional training methods or finish your workout with some battle ropes, either way, you're in for a workout that's gonna finish you before you finish it. Click Here for Battle Rope Workouts.
Heavy Club: One of the best ways to build grip strength while increasing full body power is training with heavy clubs. Heavy clubs are a variation of Indian Clubs, but offer more full body strength building benefits. You will build some serious shoulder, core and forearm strength on a healthy diet of heavy clubs. Like most of the unconventional fitness training methods, it will increase your flexibility and mobility greatly as well. Click Here for Heavy Club Workouts.
Macebell: How do you make a heavy weight feel even heavier? Put it at the end of a four foot pole and swing it around! The Macebell is a tool that has been used for thousands of years by the greatest wrestlers in the world. It is an odd-looking tool that always grabs the attention of anyone who sees it (especially when it's in use). Very weapon-like in style, the Macebell is an unbelievable strength and conditioning tool which will help you build a ridiculously strong core, mobile and flexible shoulders, and the grip strength of an ape.
There aren't a ton of exercises you can do with a Macebell (unlike the sandbag or kettlebell), so it's a good thing that each one can destroy your whole upper body. Let's take the 10-to-2 exercise for example. This exericise requires you take the Macebell over one shoulder and then swing it behind your back to the other shoulder, ending each rep by pausing with the Macebell pointed at 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock. The strength and technique you'll build from this exercise will have immediate benefits on your throwing power (such as Juijitsu Shoulder Throws). Click Here for Macebell Workouts.
Bodyweight: The ability to control your body (and therefore your movement) is important for anyone who will be put through a variety of positions and movements (such as fighters). They will need to have the strength and ability to get in and out of them at a moment's notice. Bodyweight training (also known as calisthenics) can do just that.
Not only will you be able to build explosive power and strength (through exercises like clap push ups, burpees, and kip ups), you'll also be practicing balance and control (though exercises like handstands, pistol squats, and one-handed sprawls). Another great benefit is the ability to perform bodyweight training anywhere at any time with no equipment needed. Click Here for Bodyweight Workouts.
Rings: There's a reason why people admire the capabilities of gymnasts, they have it all: strength, agility, power, and leanness. And what do they use for their training (and in some Olympic events)? Gym rings. Work your way up to an iron cross using gym rings and rest assured that you will be one strong and lean piece of iron. Of course, simple exercises like push ups, rows, pull ups and muscle ups will do just fine. Build strength incrementally by changing the position of the rings or by adding a weighted vest to your training regimen, or use more difficult versions of each exercise (for push ups or body rows, you can use a plyo box or bench to elevate your legs).
Unlike some fancier (and much more expensive) pieces of strap hanging equipment, gym rings are very affordable and offer dozens of different exercise variations. On exercise that's great for fighters is called the Lawnmower Extension. Use this explosive exercise to drastically improve your groundwork. Click Here for Ring Workouts.
Sledgehammer: If you're ready for a conditioning workout, but also want to take some agression out (but don't have time to jump in the ring for a sparing session), sledgehammers offer the next best thing. There's nothing like the feeling of slamming something (tires, bricks, etc) with a heavy hammer. While performing this version of therapy you will be achieving a powerful core while quickly improving your grip strength. Sledgehammer training is great with timed or interval sets.
Alternate between sets of sledgehammers and ropes for an intense burn that will have you tapping out. Any sledgehammer will work, but when you're ready to get serious, look for Torque War Hammers. These American-made monsters weigh from 12lbs to 150lbs and feature welded components (which are very important for avoiding broken-off, projectile sledgehammer heads). Click Here for Sledgehammer Workouts.
Indian Clubs: While most of the unconventional training methods deal with strength, power, and conditioning, Indian Clubs focus on joint mobility, specifically in your shoulders, elbows, and wrists. If tight, sore shoulders are an issue for you, than look no further. Indian Clubs have been used for thousands of years to increase flexibility and strength.
This is one of the best warm ups, cool downs and active recovery methods available. Just a few short sessions and you will feel the difference in your range of motion. Pat Miletich, 5 time Ultimate Fighting World Champion, attributed his shoulder recovery (after over 40 professional fights) to training with Indian Clubs, and now incorporates the methods to the Miletich Fighting Systems. Click Here for Indian Clubs Workouts.
The best way to start with unconventional fitness training is to pick one or two methods and build a workout plan based on them. You can also view complete four and six week programs in the Workout Plan section at http://mymadmethods.com/workout-plans, which also includes step by step workouts and exercise instructions. If you're looking for any of this gear, the http://www.mbodystrength.com/products.html online store contains every piece of equipment discussed in this article.
Below is a sample strength and conditioning workout for a beginner. Don't be fooled by the term "beginner." This workout is brutal and will get your heart pumping and sweat flowing at any level. It simply means that the exercises are easy to learn. Try this routine a few times and you will be amazed at the benefits that just a handful of these amazing tools have in store.
Workout Routine Mistake #1 - Exercise When You Have Pain
Many people get into the groove during exercise and forget about some key principles for safe and effective workouts. Exercising when you have pain is one of them, and it's the fastest way to develop a serious or persistent injury. Minor aches and pains can easily become chronic overuse injuries that plague us for years. If you feel pain during exercise, stop, rest and look for the cause of the pain. Sometimes all you need to do is make some minor adjustments to your equipment or body position to eliminate pain.
For example, if you are hiking and feel the telltale burning sensation of a blister developing on your heel, immediate treatment may prevent the problem altogether. Letting it progress may lead to a painful and long-lasting blister than might take you off the trail for a week or more. Pain is your body's way of warning you of a problem. Pay attention and you will often find you can quickly recover and return to training faster than if you push through.
Workout Routine Mistake #2 - Ignore Your Medical Conditions
It's important to respect any medical conditions or physical limitations you have and select a workout routine that accommodates them. Ignoring a heart condition or joint disease during exercise, for example, can backfire and make your condition worse. Most physicians encourage exercise as a way to manage many chronic conditions and will work with you to set up a program that is right for you. If you have any health issues, talk with your doctor or work with a qualified personal trainer to make sure your workout is helping and not hurting you. Ignoring a health condition when you exercise doesn't make it go away, but it could make it worse.
Workout Routine Mistake #3 - Do The Same Workout Routine Day After Day
To excel at a skill, you need to practice it. However, doing the same workout routine all the time can increase you risk of injury as well as lead to muscle imbalance, weakness and just plain boredom. It's important to vary your workout routines from day to day and season to season. Cross training, combining endurance and speed training, and adding weight training or yoga are all great ways to maintain a high level of fitness without overstressing certain muscle groups.
Workout Routine Mistake #4 - Never Take A Rest Day
Rest is an often overlooked part of a workout routine for effective training. If you don't plan rest or schedule recovery days into your training, you actually limit your ability to train. Your body gets stronger after exercise stress, so you need to allow down time for the rebuilding of muscle tissue. An effective training program will have regular periods of rest and recovery. This allows you to adapt to the exercise -- you return bigger, stronger and faster. Rest also allows you to recover mentally and emotionally and avoid exercise burnout.
Workout Routine Mistake #5 - Ignore Proper Form During Exercise
No matter what sort of workout routine or exercise you enjoy, using incorrect technique not only reduces the effectiveness of the workout but puts you at greater risk for getting injured. Take time to learn proper technique whether you are lifting weights, doing yoga, running or swimming. Even if you have been playing a sport for years, you'd be surprised at what you can learn by taking a lesson or meeting with a personal trainer for a refresher session.
Getting the most from weight lifting requires proper form, controlled movements and the right amount of weight. Lifting weights that are too heavy for you is a set-up for injury. If you can't maintain proper form while lifting, the weights are too heavy for you.
Exercising when you are fatigued is another easy way to get sloppy with your form. When you are tired, it's much harder to maintain proper technique and stay focused. Mental fatigue can put you at risk, particularly if you are cycling or running, as you may be more likely to ignore surrounding traffic and road conditions.
The health benefits of mushroom include relief from high cholesterol levels, breastcancer, prostrate cancer, and diabetes. It also helps in weight loss, increasing immunity.
Almost all of us are familiar with mushrooms and their miraculous and magical powers. Particularly those who have read or heard a lot of fairy-tales such as Alice in Wonderland, Three Bears and a Baby etc. or those who have been playing the Super Mario Brothers.
You have seen mushrooms making somebody big or playing shields against the dreaded monsters. Actually, these are just symbolic representations of the actual health benefits of mushrooms. Believe me! They can really make you big and protect you against diseases and infections, as they are full of proteins, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, anti biotic and anti oxidants. Mushrooms are edible fungi bearing a common scientific name
“Agaricus”, having different names for different species. They are essentially Saprophytes, the organisms (plants without chlorophyll) which thrive by extracting nutrients from the dead and decaying plant and animal matters.
They vary greatly in their color, texture, shape and properties.
The health benefits of mushroom include the following:
Cholesterol Levels: Mushrooms themselves provide you with lean proteins as they have zero cholesterol, fats and very low carbohydrates. The fiber and certain enzymes in them also help lower cholesterol level. Moreover, the high lean protein content in mushrooms helps burn cholesterol when they are digested.
Breast Cancer & Prostrate Cancer: Mushrooms are very effective in preventing cancer of breast and prostrate due to presence of Beta-Glucans and conjugated Linoleic Acid having anti carcinogenic effects. Out of these two, linoleic acid is particularly helpful in suppressing effects of estrogen. This estrogen is the prime reason for breast cancer in women after menopause. The Beta-Glucans, on the other hand, inhibit growth of cancerous cells in cases of prostrate cancer. Selenium in mushrooms is very effective in inhibiting cancerous cells.
Diabetes: Mushrooms can be an ideal low energy diet for diabetics. They have no fats, no cholesterol, very low carbohydrates, high proteins, vitamins and minerals, a lot of water and fiber. Moreover, they contain natural insulin and enzymes which help breaking down of sugar or starch of the food. Again, they are known to contain certain compounds which help proper functioning of liver, pancreas and the other endocrinal glands, thereby promoting formation of insulin and its proper flow. Diabetics often suffer from infections, particularly in their limbs, which tend to continue for long. The natural antibiotics in mushrooms can help protect them from this dreaded situation too.
Immunity: Ergothioneine, a powerful anti oxidant present in mushrooms is very effective in giving protection from free radicals as well as boosting up immunity. Mushrooms contain natural antibiotics (similar to penicillin, which itself is extracted from mushrooms) which inhibit microbial and other fungal infections. They also help heal ulcers and ulcerous wounds and protect them from infections. A good combination of vitamins A, B-Complex and C, found in mushrooms also strengthens immune system.
Weight Loss: Would you believe me if I say that a totally lean protein diet is ideal for losing fat and building muscle mass? Perhaps no! But it is true. A lot of fats are burnt to digest (break-down) proteins in the food, more so when the protein is accompanied by a very low carbohydrate, zero fats and cholesterol and a good amount of fiber. This is exactly what mushrooms offer.
Other Benefits: Mushrooms are the only vegetable and the second known source (after cod liver oil) to contain vitamin-D in edible form. They are rich in calcium (good for bones), iron (benefits in anemia), potassium (very good for lowering blood pressure), copper (anti bacterial) and selenium (very good for health of bones, teeth, nails, hair and as an anti oxidant). The best source of selenium is animal proteins. So, mushrooms can be the best choice for vegetarians to obtain selenium.
Few Words of Caution:
Let me put it very straight without any word of condolence. Mushrooms can even kill! Most of the mushrooms are not edible, are highly poisonous and look strikingly similar to their edible counterparts. Even certain edible mushrooms can go poisonous depending upon the substance they grow on. Don’t ever try picking them up from woods unless you identify them very well. Do not trust on the unknown vendors too. Always trust sealed products from reputed companies or those which you grow yourself under controlled conditions after buying their seeds (called spawns) from trusted source. Because a single poisonous mushroom among others can send a whole lot of people to coma, induce severe poisoning symptoms, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, cramps, insanity or worst, can kill them. Avoid eating discolored mushrooms or those which are different in color than the characteristic color of their species.
Trainer Corey Beasley trains a host of professional MMA fighters out of his unconventional gym in Orange County. He knows how hard they push themselves to perform; he also knows the most common mistakes they make when trying to be the best. Fortunately, he has the solution.
These days it seems like MMA is everywhere! TV, magazines, clothing, gyms and more. Mixed martial arts has evolved into the fastest growing sport in the world, but I believe it is still in its infancy and athletes (coaches) are still trying to figure out the best way to juggle all the aspects of training needed to compete.
MMA is a complex sport that involves many different art forms. Fighters are forced to balance all aspects of their fight training, including boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, drilling, technique, sparring and more. On top of this, they also need to fit some type of strength and conditioning plan, pay their bills, eat, sleep, and manage to squeeze in a personal life (family, friends, kids, etc).
Bottom line: there is a lot to deal with and overtraining is a huge problem.
In other professional sports, like the NFL or the NBA, athletes are guided through very specific workouts, practices, recovery techniques, nutrition plans, and more. There are millions of dollars riding on their performances and they do everything possible to perform at the highest level.
I spoke with a Pro Bowl Linebacker from the New England Patriots, he said “There are 50 guys competing for my position every year. They are younger, faster and hungry. I have to stay on top of my training all year, or I will be out of a job.”
As the fight world develops, the talent pool naturally grows with it. The amount of fighters that exist today versus 20 years ago is staggering. As the talent pool grows, it forces the athletes to improve or they risk being weeded out. The days of just being a tough bar brawler are gone. Today’s MMA champions are evolving into 24/7 athletes, like the NBA and NFL, where off season training, nutrition, and recovery are becoming vital to their success.
Unfortunately, there are still a ton of guys (and girls) out there that are inconsistent, misguided, uninformed, and are not performing up to their full potential. In my opinion, overtraining is one of the biggest problems right now in MMA. Guys train 2-3 times per day between skill sets, runs, and resistance training. There is little to no coaching or guidance for nutrition, program design, or recovery techniques.
I had a new guy come in this morning. He is relatively new to the sport and said that he sparred in the morning, had jiu jitsu after, went for a four mile run, then lifted weights at night. I like his ambition but he is asking for disaster.
So, without going into the all the details of training, I am going to explain the three main mistakes that I see MMA athletes make during their training.
MMA fighters do a high volume of work every week. Drilling, sparring, mitts, bag work, and other aspects are intense and they are all taxing on the body. If you are going to add a strength and conditioning plan on top of that volume of work, it has to be well thought out and compliment an existing plan. Way too many trainers, athletes, and coaches create programs from scratch, hearsay, YouTube videos, or past experience. Their main goal is simply to work hard, without taking other aspects of the fighters’ training or life into consideration. John Hinds said, “Any trainer can crush you, but only the good ones can heal you as well.”
If a fighter has been doing two workouts per day for a month straight, has poor nutrition, doesn’t sleep much, and is stressed out, the last thing he needs is a ball-busting, crusher workout that is just going to break him down even more. Remember, these guys are punching each other in the face, taking each other down, and tying each other into knots. They are always banged up somewhere.
So, my philosophy is this: vary workout intensities based on the fighter’s ability level, training load, lifestyle, and fight training schedule. I split my workouts into three groups: red, yellow, and green. I learned this simple system from Geoff Myers, who has become an invaluable part of our team.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
Red Workout: This is an anaerobic, high intensity type workout that everybody loves. They are usually shorter workouts with intense bursts of effort. The fighters’ heart rates are high, lactic acid builds up quickly, and the intervals are typically 30 seconds or less.
Yellow Workout: These workouts are still tough, but do not red line the athlete’s heart rate. They typically involve exercises lasting between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. They are medium intensity workouts or circuits; the athlete is working hard but can maintain their intensity for a period of time.
Green Workout: These are a low intensity, longer duration workouts that last longer than 3 minutes. Common examples involve jogs, swimming, biking, light bodyweight drills, etc. The idea is basically to get the blood flowing and help the body recover. These types of workouts are great for homework.
By assessing the fighter’s training schedule, you can vary their workout intensity to help them make progress without overtraining. Remember, your goal with strength and conditioning should be to stimulate, not always annihilate.
Mistake #2: Train Hard, Train Often
The lack of sleep, improper nutrition, and short rest periods leave athletes tired, vulnerable to injury, and eventually burned out.
Along with varying training intensity, there are many other factors that affect a fighter’s performance and health. Stress reduction, proper nutrition, sufficient sleep, and other recovery techniques are vital to a fighter’s health and performance over time. Like I said before, most of these guys already train too much, are banged up, and are nursing some type of injury. The “more is better” mentality usually leaves them tired, injured, or burned out if it is not addressed.
The more they can do to speed recovery and avoid injury, the better.
Mistake #3: Lack of Consistency
Developing the skill, strength, speed, and conditioning for an elite athlete builds progressively over time. Too many fighters train for a few weeks leading up to a fight, then take a vacation for a month.
It’s the old rabbit and the hare analogy that everyone has heard, but very few actually apply. As MMA evolves, the “rabbits” will be exposed. Being talented or tough will only last so long and developing a consistent work ethic will separate the winners from the losers. Skill and strength are not built in a few weeks; it takes years to develop a foundation of strength and skill and constant tuning to develop that power into a refined champion.
NFL guys talk about it all too often. There are hundreds of guys fighting for a position every year. A missed step, dropped pass, or a split second in try outs can mean the difference between millions of dollars and watching the game on TV. As fighting evolves, the most consistent guys that have built solid foundations and good work ethics will rise to the top. It’s how a sport evolves, and the MMA talent pool is growing rapidly!
9 Tips to Get Your MMA Training on Track
Tip #1: Get a Plan of Attack.
You’ve got to plan your training. Write down your goals, your priorities, your responsibilities (work, spouse, kids, etc), talk to all parties (spouse, coaches, etc.) involved and then organize your week. This takes some trial and error, but proactively attacking your week versus simply reacting to it always leads to learning and improvement.
Tip #2: Commit to It.
Taking the time to set goals and make a plan is one thing. Applying it, walking it out, and making it happen is another beast. Life will always throw challenges your way. Make sure to take the time to assess “why” you are training so hard, otherwise, little distractions will knock you off course. It may be easy to stay focused if you have a fight schedule, but how consistent are you with nothing set?
Tip #3: Get in the Gym.
Strength and conditioning is essential, but beware! Not all workouts are created equal. Make sure to find a good coach that can help you develop a plan that fits your needs, schedule, and helps you reach your goals. It doesn’t matter if you can bench press a house or throw 300 lbs over your head 100 times. MMA requires mobility, stability, strength, speed, and power that can be maintained over time and in a variety of positions. It is a unique set of demands that most programs never address completely.
Tip #4: Take Time OFF.
Stress (training, workouts, etc) breaks the body down. You become stronger and build back up during times of rest. Taking time off is vital for your body and mind! Being fresh and prepared for one workout a day is more beneficial than forcing three and not retaining anything and performing like crap. Take a day or two off every week and at least one week off after a fight.
Tip #5: Get 8-9 Hours of Sleep.
Your body does amazing things when you sleep well. If you are not sleeping, then make this the highest priority. Sleeping allows your body to repair itself. I know you’ve heard it a million times, but make it happen.
Tip #6: Start Tracking What You Eat.
Food is fuel, period. Feed your body good fuel and it will perform better. Stronger bones, quicker muscle recovery, strength, reduced inflammation, higher energy levels, and many other benefits come from eating healthier. One of the easiest ways to change your eating is to become conscious of everything that goes in your mouth. I’m not a psychologist, but somehow writing it down makes you see the difference between what you thought you were doing and what you were actually doing. Write it down!
Tip #7: Do Some Type of Myofascial Release.
Foam rollers, massage, ART, sticks, balls, etc. are all amazing tools that will help you reduce soreness, avoid injury, recover quicker, perform at a higher level, and just feel better. These are life savers, so if you don’t use them, start! And if you don’t know how to use them, figure it out quickly, because these will save you from years of unneeded misery.
Tip #8: Ice it Down.
If you strain a joint, muscle, or just have a very intense workout, take the time to ice down afterwards. Could be a simple ice pack for 20 minutes or as intense as an ice bath. Ice is one of the most underrated fixes on the planet.
Tip #9: Try Contrast Showers.
Contrast showers are basically 1 minute of hot water, followed by 30 seconds of cold water, repeating 5-10 times. Initially it is a shock, but you go numb after a couple cycles. This is great for increasing blood flow and speeding recovery.
MMA is a raw sport that is evolving into an incredible chess match of mind, body, and will. It is sport and competition in its purest form. It is exciting to watch the sport evolve and is rewarding to help young athletes chase and achieve their dreams. I truly hope that this information helps you get more out of your training and enables you to perform at a higher level.
Can Interval Training help you strip off body fat faster? Learn how adding High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your cardio routine can reap big rewards in strength, power and fat loss.
When most people think of cardio, they think of endless hours on a treadmill, elliptical machine, stair stepper or jogging. But unless you enjoy distance or long-duration cardio (for example, if you are training for a marathon or are a running enthusiast) , many gym-goers dread climbing on that hamster wheel each day in the hopes of burning off that 400 calories and maybe losing a little body fat along the way.
But what if there was a way to burn nearly the same amount of calories in 30 minutes that you do in 60 minutes, stimulate fat burning after your cardio is complete, boost your stamina and endurance, and actually increase lean muscle in the process?
There may be.
It’s called Interval Training — also known as “High Intensity Interval Training” or “HIIT“, for short — and it uses periods of high-intensity cardio coupled with lower-intensity recovery periods in succession to shave time off your cardio workout and possibly more fat off your midsection than long duration cardio. And even more promising, Interval Training seems to do a better job than long-duration cardio of preserving lean tissue (muscle) while still burning fat.
Interval Training: What Is It?
Simply put, Interval Training is a method of cardiovascular training that has you perform the same amount of total work that you would perform in a longer session of cardio, but in a much shorter period of time by increasing the intensity of your workout.
Interval Training is considered an advanced form of training and is popular with everyone from elite Olympic and professional athletes to body builders, fitness enthusiasts and recreational runners. While the technique is advanced, it can be successfully modified to work for beginners as well, provided you are in good health and are free of any cardiovascular disorders that could make the routine unsafe.
Interval Training relies on the principle of rest and recovery to allow your body to do more work in less time. By alternating higher-intensity activity with short rest and recovery periods, you are able to cumulatively do more work in less time. And more work translates into more calories burned in a 30 minute session of cardio than if you did the same duration of cardio at a lower intensity.
Examples of Interval Training
High Intensity Interval Training can be applied to nearly any cardiovascular activity, whether that’s walking, running, rollerblading or biking.
For example, if you are fit and regularly walk as part of your exercise routine, you might incorporate short periods (between 1-2 minutes) of jogging into your walk between lower-intensity periods of walking. If you are less fit, you might simply walk faster for a few minutes, allow yourself to recover and than repeat the higher intensity walking. If you are more highly conditioned, you might add in sprints to your daily run or treadmill work.
The Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training
High Intensity Interval Training has a number of benefits that make it an effective addition to your existing cardiovascular training. These benefits include:
Burning more calories in less time
Improved cardiovascular endurance
Possible increases in whole body fat burning (fat oxidation) versus solid-state cardio
Reduced risk of Metabolic Syndrome
Decreased muscle catabolism/increases in lean muscle mass
Improvements in arterial elasticity
Reduced boredom with your current cardio routine
Let’s take a closer look at each of these potential benefits, including some of the research behind them.
You Burn More Calories in Less Time with Interval Training
Using Interval Training, you can literally burn the same amount of calories in 30 minutes that you normally might burn in 60 minutes of lower impact, lower-intensity cardio. If you are pressed for time, High Intensity Interval Training can allow you to be more efficient during the time you set aside for cardio and achieve the same effects as longer duration activity.
The key here, however, is to perform the exercise at an intensity level that is sufficient to cumulatively burn an equivalent amount of calories in a shorter period of time. Depending on your level of conditioning, this may or may not be possible.
Higher intensity work is … well … more “intense.” So beginners may not have the stamina to be able to alternate their high and low-intensity periods for a duration that is sufficient to match the calories burned with longer duration — but more moderate — cardio training. If this is the case for you, consider alternating your cardio workout between solid-state exercise and HIIT for the best of both worlds.
Improvements in Cardiovascular Endurance
Interval Training allows you to rapidly increase your cardiovascular endurance and improve something called your VO2 Max – a fancy term that describes how much oxygen your body can transport during exercise or activity. The higher your VO2 Max, the less winded you become during exercise.
VO2 Max is considered the ultimate indicator of a person’s cardiovascular fitness and aerobic capability, and Interval Training can be an extremely effective method for improving VO2 Max, both among beginners and advanced athletes. And because you allow your body to recover after each burst of intense activity, you are able to more comfortably increase your performance without becoming exhausted.
And the research seems to back this up.
A 2005 study conducted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and published in the Journal of Applied Physiology took a look at eight college-age men and women to see what impact Interval Training would have on their endurance during moderate intensity bicycling. After two weeks of Interval Training, the researchers found that six of the eight research subjects had doubled the amount of time they could bicycle at the same pace before becoming exhausted. The eight exercisers in the control group who did not perform any Interval Training showed no improvement in endurance.
High Intensity Interval Training and Weight Loss and Fat Loss
There is also some evidence that Interval Training may be more effective at burning fat than lower-intensity cardio exercise.
A study by University of Guelph in Ontario and published in the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology took a look at how incorporating bursts of higher intensity activity into low-or-moderate intensity exercise impacts fat burning in the body.
The study had eight women in their early 20s cycle for 10 sets of four minutes of hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest. Over a two week period, they completed seven interval workouts.The researchers found that whole body fat oxidation among the interval trained group increased 36 percent after performing HIIT versus low-intensity or moderate intensity training. Even more noteworthy, these improvements were consistent regardless of the fitness level of the subjects before undertaking the High Intensity Interval Training.
It’s important to note that while these initial findings are certainly encouraging, the study’s lead author and exercise scientist Jason L. Talanian cautions that the group studied was small and that additional research is necessary to validate whether Interval Training can give you a fat burning boost.
Interval Training for Lean Muscle
Distance or long-duration cardio training (generally in excess of 60 minutes) can put you at risk for losing lean tissue or muscle, as the body depletes carbohydrate stores and turns to burning muscle for fuel.
Interval Training, however, seems to discourage muscle catabolism, and may actually encourage muscle anabolism (growth), especially when performing low-volume sprint training or when employing resistance to increase intensity — for example by increasing the incline on a treadmill or the resistance on a stationary bike or elliptical trainer.
For a real world (but clearly anectotal) example of this, lets compare Olympic marathon runners to sprinters. Many distance/marathon runners have very little muscle mass. Sprinters, on the other hand, tend to carry much more muscle mass (especially in their legs), while still maintaining extremely low body fat levels — in many cases their body fat to muscle ratios are much lower than distance runners. Sprinters typically train for short bursts of power and regularly utilize HIIT.
Interval Training also results in more thorough training. Because you are alternating between periods of solid-state and high-intensity exercise, Interval Training trains both slow and fast twitch fibers. This can improve your overall fitness, as well as overall performance and conditioning, explosive strength and power.
Interval Training and Heart Protection
A number of studies have suggested that High Intensity Interval Training may have protective or even recuperative benefits to the heart and cardiovascular system.
A 2007 joint study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, St. Olav’s Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; the University of Glascow and the Medical University of Ohio and published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation found that increasing cardio exercise intensity among patients recovering from postinfarction heart failure improved aerobic capacity, endothelial function and overall quality of life.
A January 2008 study by McMaster University and published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology found that low-volume sprint Interval Training (which is discussed below) had similar positive effects on the flexibility of arterial tissue as lower-intensity, long-duration cardio or running.
Decreased Boredom and Improved Exercise Motivation
Duration low- or-moderate intensity cardio can be boring and dull. Adding in Interval Training to your regular cardio routine can break up the monotony and keep things exciting. And the more you enjoy exercise, the more likely you are to continue with it.
When You Shouldn’t Do High Intensity Interval Training
While Interval Training is generally safe, there are a few circumstances when you should avoid it:
If you are under a doctor’s order to only perform light or moderate exercise
If you aren’t willing to do the critical warm-up period before engaging in the high intensity training
If you have just started a cardio exercise routine and your conditioning base is still developing.
Beginners Guide to Interval Training
The best way to get started with Interval Training is to choose a cardiovascular exercise that you already regularly perform and incorporate bursts of higher-intensity exercise into them.
NOTE: Before you perform any Interval Training it’s important to give your body and muscles a proper warm-up, including stretching and at least 10 minutes of light cardio to raise your body temperature and prep your muscles for the higher intensity training that lies ahead. Do not skip this step.
There are a several ways to increase intensity — especially if you are performing Interval Training on cardio machines at the gym such as treadmills, stairsteppers, elliptical machines or recumbant/stationary bikes:
One tactic is to increase the resistance of the machine for 1-2 minutes. On a treadmill, you can accomplish this by increasing the incline on the treadmill, which requires you to do more work. The trick here is to try to maintain your previous pace, even with the increase in incline.
On elliptical machines, stair steppers or stationary bikes, you can also increase the resistance on the machine, which will cause you to work harder (and increase your heart rate) in order to maintain the same pace as before you made the increase in resistance.
Another method of boosting intensity is to simply increase the speed on the machine, while using the same level of resistance as you employed during your low or moderate-intensity cardio. On a stationary bikes or elliptical machines, you simply do this by pedaling faster. On a treadmill or stair stepper, you increase the machine’s speed to cause you to run faster in order to keep up. So if you are normally jogging on a treadmill at 3 MPH, you increase that to 4 or 5 MPH (or whatever speed is required to take your percentage of MHR up to around 80 percent) for 60 seconds, and then return to your normal pace for 2-3 minutes to allow you to recover. You then increase the speed again, and then cycle into a recovery period and continue this approach for the duration of your training session.
If you are trying to incorporate Interval Training into activities that aren’t performed on gym machines — for instance walking, jogging, running or blading — you’ll generally have to increase intensity by increasing your speed. The same basic principles apply to these activities as with machine cardio.
Interval Training with Sprints
One of the most effective methods of interval training is to substitute sprints in for some of your duration or solid-state cardio.
Again, it’s important with Interval Training — especially with sprints — to give yourself sufficient warm-up time and to stretch. Before sprinting, do a fast walk or jog.
Sprints can be performed as part of a street running/jogging routine, on a treadmill at the gym, or preferably at a local track.
The approach here is simple, but highly effective: Run or walk at a moderate pace, and then sprint as hard as you can for 1 minute. Return to your moderate pace for 2-3 minutes and continue repeating the cycle.
If you are sprinting at a track, run as hard as you can for 100 yards (think of that “hundred yard dash” from grade school “field day”) and use the short end of the circle track to recover, and then run another 100 yard dash on the opposite straight track.
The goal here isn’t volume, but pure intensity. Initially, you shouldn’t expect to be able to do this more than a couple of times before your legs turn into rubber. Over time, you can work your way up to a dozen or more dashes.
The benefit to this approach is that you are not only burning a lot of calories during the dash, but you are also building muscle in your legs — something you typically do not get with distance running or cardio. This translates not only into additional functional power and speed, but also increased cardiovascular endurance and possibly more fat burned. Plus, it’s a fun change-up to pounding the pavement for 5K.
What About Using a Heart Monitor with Interval Training?
A heart monitor — while not required — can be a great addition to your Interval Training. One of the key principles of High Intensity Interval Training is to momentarily raise your heart rate above what you would normally experience with light or moderate cardio exercise. Generally, this will be around 80% of your maximum heart rate (MHR).
Using a heart rate monitor with your Interval Training can help you gauge whether you’re sufficiently increasing your intensity enough to get the full benefits of HIIT. Many exercise machines at the gym will have built in heart rate monitors that will allow you gauge your percentage of MHR — however, a heart rate monitor is one of the best ways to measure this in the absence of a built in heart rate monitor or during activities outside of the gym such as running, sprinting or roller blading.
Controversies Around High Intensity Interval Training
High Intensity Interval Training isn’t without its critics.
There are a number of exercise physiologists and fitness trainers who will point out that the body of published, peer-reviewed research on HIIT and body fat oxidation is actually limited to less than a handful of studies which were conducted with small groups of research subjects. Larger studies are necessary to validate some of the initial findings in Canadian studies around Interval Training.
Most of the controversy around High Intensity Interval Training has to do with the fat burning claims of HIIT devotees, and not with the research around increases in VO2 Max, improvements in cardiovascular health and conditioning or strength and muscle gains as a result of higher intensity cardio training.
Interval Training and EPOC: What About That Post-Training Metabolism Boost?
In particular, critics of Interval Training have taken aim at the post-workout calorie expenditure and whole body fat oxidation claims associated with High Intensity Interval Training. Current research indicates that Interval Training does increase something called “excess post exercise oxygen consumption” or EPOC — which is the measure of how much oxygen your body uses after exercise is completed.
Oxygen consumption is required for fat oxidation, so if EPOC increases as a result of HIIT, then this could account for some of the additional post-workout whole body fat oxidation observed in the University of Guelph study.
However, HIIT critics will point out that the effect of EPOC on post-workout calorie expenditure and fat burning is overstated. Recent research into EPOC shows that post-exercise oxygen consumption is elevated for a much shorter time than previously thought — perhaps as little as one hour. This is much shorter than the previous claims of EPOC persisting for up to 24 hours.
Practically speaking, this means that Interval Training may burn only a few dozen more calories after exercise than solid-state low-intensity or moderate-intensity training.
So if you normally burn 500 calories after an hour of moderate cardio, if you perform Interval Training you’ll have to ensure that your intensity and duration is still long enough to consume an equivalent amount of energy, since the post-workout energy consumption from HIIT isn’t going to make up a 100-200 calorie difference between the two forms of training.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t lose fat on an Interval Training routine, but it does mean that if you are counting on EPOC to give you that extra boost, the impact is so small as to be negligible.
That said, the actual physiological and bio-chemical mechanisms for the increase in post-workout whole body fat burning observed by the University of Guelp researchers, isn’t entirely understood even by researchers themselves. The study’s authors hypothesize that there may be more going on physiologically than just EPOC, including possible changes in the how the body preferences its source of fuel (fat versus stored carbohydrates in the form of glycogen) during Interval Training.
The Best Approach to Cardio: A Mixture of Interval Training and Solid-State Cardio
Science aside, at the end of the day, variety in your exercise routine is always critical. If you are planning on doing HIIT solely for the additional fat burning claims, you’re results may not be as dramatic as some of the headlines around Interval Training would have you think.
On the other hand, anecdotally there are plenty of people who have either switched entirely to High Intensity Interval Training, or incorporated it into their existing solid-state cardio routines and report making more overall progress in their fat-loss and fitness goals than when they were exclusively doing duration cardio at low or moderate intensity.
For most people the debates over the science of HIIT are primarily academic. Each person responds differently to exercise, and what works for one person won’t necessarily have the same effect on another. At the end of the day, the overall benefits of HIIT are substantial enough to try it out. If it works for you, keep it up. If it doesn’t, try something new.
Attribute 4: Bent Arm Hangs
I spoke with a Pro Bowl Linebacker from the New England Patriots, he said “There are 50 guys competing for my position every year. They are younger, faster and hungry. I have to stay on top of my training all year, or I will be out of a job.”
