Body of Evidence

Over the past 30 years, more than 40 studies have compared the strength-building efects of one set with those of two and three sets. Some research favored two or three sets, and some showed that one set was superior, but the vast majority of the studies reveales no significant differences between doin one set and doing multiple sets. They were all equally effective. If that were truly the case, then one setwins simply because it requires less time. But of course, for all the across-the-board comparisons to make sense, all the studies would have had to apply a similar repetition protocol ( which thye didn't ) and define failure identically ( which they didn't ). So let's look at the theoretical reason that one set should work just as well as multiple sets. Muscle-fiber recruitment. A muscle group is composed of thousands and thousands of individual fivers. These fivers work together, of course, but are also programmed to fatigue at different rates. That's why thery're classified as slow, intermediate ,or fast. During a set of an exercise, the slow-twitch (type 1I) fivers are activated first. They are joined by the fast twitch (type IIa ) fibers, which have much less endurance that that of type I. As the type IIa fast-twitch fivers fatigue, they are replaced by the type IIb fast-twitch fibers, which will have even less endurance. When the type IIb fibers tire, the muscle is no longer able to finish the repetition, and the set must be stopped. There's definitely an ordering to the recruitment of muscle bibers during a set. And the ordering is genetic and not subject to change. What happens if, after several minutes of rest, you perform a second set? Are different fivers involved? No. Teh same muscle fivers applied in the first set are again recruited in the same order duriing the second set. In other words, the stimulus is identical for one set, two sets, or even 10 sets. If you can stimulate maximu growth from one set-which you can- a second set merely uses up some of your valuable reovery ability. As a resul, muscular growth is limited. Animal examples. Need more proof you ask, thought you would say that. So the proof of value of being intense, brief exercise? The next time your at a large zoo, take a close look at the biggest male lion and the largest male gorilla. According to Arthur Jones, ( Expert on Gorillas ) an adult male lion can get overa 10 foot high fence with a 500 pound cow in his mouth. A mature 400-500 pound gorilla can perform a one-armed chinup so easily that he appears to weigh nothing. A wrist that measures more than 8 inches on a man is huge, yet a 400- pound gorilla wrists measures more thatn 13 inches. The gorilla's neck, which in my opinion was his most impressive body part, stretched the tape to 33 inches. Yet, according to animal experts, lions and gorillas, even in the wild, perform almost no hard physical activity. But when they do work, they go at it with 100 percent intensity. The activity is hard, brief, and infrequent. Here's how Jones the animal expert once put it : " I suspect that if you exercised a lion or a gorilla as much as many bodybuilders train you would probably kill them, and it is certainly obvious that they do not need that much exercise. Neither do you: and even if you can stand it, it does not follow that you need it. P.S This is something for you to think and decide whats best for you, this is just my unde

3 Great Workouts for your Mid-Section

Side Planks This exercise challenges my stability and improves core strength by working the muscles along the side of my body. The great thing about side planks is that they are spine friendly. How To Do It: Lie on your left side, raising yourself onto your left forearm. Place your left shoulder directly above your left elbow, keeping your shoulders, hips and knees in alignment. Rest your right arm along the side of your body. Pull your belly button in towards your spine and tighten your abdominal muscles. Hold for three deep breaths and repeat on your right side. Ball Roll Out I love working with the exercise ball, plus, there is little risk of back injury with this excercise. For all of you new moms out there, the ball roll out will help realign and strengthen your spine after giving birth! How To Do It: Kneel and place the ball directly in front of you. Rest your forearms on top of the ball. Inhale to prepare. As you exhale, contract your abdominal muscles and roll the ball forward. Your arms will extend as you do this, and your feet will come off the floor. Roll as far forward as possible without rounding your back or hunching your shoulders. Make sure that your butt comes with you. In other words, your hips should not still be over your heels. Bicylcle Crunches This is definitely old school, but did you know that bicycle crunches caused the abs to tense the most and is twice as effective as the normal ³crunch² abs. During this exercise, it¹s imperative that you slow down the bike crunch and focus more on your breathing and abs. This makes the exercise more of a challenge and you will get better results! How To Do It: Fully extend out one leg, while the other is bent and you touch your opposite elbow to the bent leg as if you are twisting. Repeat with the other side without taking a rest or dropping your torso back down. The entire time, your upper body should be in a crunch position. This will be tough, but you can do it! Let¹ go!

Vitamin C

You may have heard from your grandma that eating carrots can improve you vision. That may not be exactly true, but carrots do contain something called provitamin A carotenoids. These are pigments in some plants that can be converted by the body into vitamin A, and vitamin A is important to your vision. Vitamin A is also helpful to bone growth and your immune system. As with other vitamins, there are different forms of vitamin A. One of the forms that is most usable to the body is called retinol, which is found in liver, eggs, and milk. One of the most common provitamin A carotenoids that the body converts easily to retinol is beta carotene. Beta carotene is found in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables including carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, and cantaloupe. Vitamin A is also one of the vitamins often used to fortify breakfast cereals. Vitamin A is fat soluble, which means that the body stores it, mostly in the liver. That also means that it is possible to build up toxic levels of Vitamin A. This rarely happens from food sources because as the body builds up supplies of vitamin A it will slow down the conversion of beta carotene. When people do get vitamin A toxicity, it is usually from taking too much in supplemental or pill form. Toxic levels of vitamin A can cause liver problems, central nervous system problems, deterioration of bone density, and birth defects. True deficiency of vitamin A is rare in the US, but common in countries where malnourishment is widespread. As mentioned earlier, vitamin A is important to the immune system and vision. This is because the body uses vitamin A to make various internal tissues, such as those lining the eye, lungs, and intestinal tract. When these linings are weakened by vitamin A deficiency, it is easier for harmful bacteria to penetrate them and thus, people with vitamin A deficiency are more prone to infections, illness, blindness, and respiratory problems. Aside from the malnourished, other people who may be prone to vitamin A deficiency include those who consume large amounts of alcohol and those with certain metabolic disorders that affect how fat and other nutrients are absorbed by the body. Some recent and ongoing studies involving vitamin A and beta carotene include investigations as to whether high amounts of vitamin A contribute to osteoporosis, and whether beta carotene can lower the risk of some forms of cancer. As of this writing the Recommended Daily Intake for Vitamin A was 2,310 IU for females and 3,000 IU for males.

Gratitude

Friends, one of the biggest problems in the modern world today is the lack of gratitude. We simply don't say “thank you” anymore. We focus on what's wrong. We focus on what's missing. We focus on what's painful. We feel the world “owes” us -- and we suffer because of it. Let me tell you this: We're lucky. You and me? We'reINCREDIBLY lucky. By all rights, we shouldn't even be here. Do you know EXACTLY how lucky you are? Let me ask you two questions. Here's the first one: How many of you woke up this morning? If you did, I'm happy for you! You know why? It's no small matter. Because today, 232,000 people died all over the world. It's true. All over the world, 232,000 people were alive yesterday... but are NOT alive today. Everybody, breathe in. Breathe out. Isn't it great to be alive? Now here's my second question: How many of you are absolutely, completely, 100% CERTAIN... that you'll wake up tomorrow? Are you sure? Are you sure you'll wake up tomorrow morning? Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, when you breathe in, and you put on that goofy smile, and you realize you're alive...THAT is a miracle. And you realize that most of the things around you are evenBIGGER miracles. And you become more thankful just for being alive. But that's not all! It's not just the fact that you woke up this morning! It's also the fact that the people you LOVE woke up this morning. That they weren't part of the 232,000. We're lucky. We're surrounded by miracles. And we should be thankful for that. Thank you very much, my friends, and remember -- positive thinking isn't a technique. It's a lifestyle. So go out there. Look to the future. Take responsibility. Lighten up. Be thankful. And share. Tomorrow, if you see someone without a smile, give him one of yours. That way we'll change the world one smile at a time!

PICK THE RIGHT FOODS!!

Healthy foods make you feel fuller, as they still have their fiber and water content preserved. This is in contrast to highly processed items, which tend to have more concentrated calories in each serving. Foods like non-vegetables can be eaten in unlimited quantities, because their caloric content is negligible. Also, as you know from the information above, lean protein is one of the best weight loss foods you can select. Eating only these types of healthy food choices allows you to eat bigger portions and more often. This is important, because keeping your body feeling full will prevent your metabolism from slowing down, so you burn more calories throughout the day! Achieving Your Goals. When you use the three secrets above, you should have better weight loss results overall. Yet, obtaining expert guidance is the key to success, and it isn't wise to do without this! Therefore, you will be well-served to purchase acomprehensive diet guide, which will take you through each step of the process. When you do so, you should be able to reach your fitness goals, and finally achieve the weight loss you've worked so hard to obtain!

FOODS THE CONTROL YOUR MOOD

Sometimes self control can make me cranky. I found out I’m not alone. According to Northwestern psychologists David Gal and Wendy Liu, exerting self control makes people chose anger related movies and have a preference for looking at angry faces. They conducted studies in which people were given a self indulgent option, a candy bar or a gift certificate for a spa treatment, and a responsible one, an apple or a gift certificate to a grocery store. Those who made the responsible choices were markedly more likely to chose the anger visuals. What’s our take away from that? Eat, drink and be merry or tomorrow we go postal? My guess is if we were controlling our food cravings we might actually chose the apple and be happy. Chronic dieting, as you now know, can create terrible cravings for high calorie, high carbohydrate, high fat foods but here are some healthy foods and herbs that can actually diminish food cravings. Foods: Molasses Eggs Apricots Dates Prunes Onions High fiber foods, particularly non starchy vegetables Carbs that also have high protein content: legumes, tofu, sesame seeds, brown rice Foods containing essential fatty acids: olive oil, salmon, etc… Herbs: Bayberry Black Cohosh Goldenseal Parsley Licorice Thyme Cardamom Cayenne Cinnamon Ginger Green Tea Mustard Fennel So put some onions, parsley and thyme in your whole grain stuffing, have a cup of green tea with your apple-apricot, pie and be happy this holiday season.