Why muscle building is vital in any fitness program

Building muscle on a regular basis during our lifetime is
absolutely vital to our long term fitness goals. As you
get older, you will lose muscle and strength if you are
inactive. Loss of muscle and strength is called
sarcopenia. This term also refers to the decreased quality
of muscle tissue often seen in older adults. Strength
exercises can partly restore muscles and strength, often
very quickly.

In one study, nursing home residents 80 years and older
progressed from using walkers to using canes after doing
simple muscle-building exercises for 10 weeks. Strength
exercises, like weight lifting or push-ups, build your
muscles and may make you more independent by giving you
more strength to do things on your own.

Strength exercises also increase your metabolism, which
helps keep your weight and blood sugar in check. Even very
small changes in muscle size can make a big difference in
strength, especially in people who already have lost a lot
of muscle. An increase in muscle that's not even visible to
the eye can be all it takes to improve your ability to do
things like get up from a chair or climb stairs.

Your muscles are active even when you are sleeping. Their
cells are still doing the routine activities they need to
do to stay alive. This work is called metabolism, and it
uses up calories. That can help keep your weight in check,
even when you are asleep!

How Muscles Work

What makes your muscles look bigger when you flex them -
when you "make a muscle" with your biceps, for example?

Muscle cells contain long strands of protein lying next to
each other. Your brain signals your nerves to stimulate
muscles when you direct them to move. A chemical reaction
in your muscles follows, causing the long strands of
protein to slide toward and over each other, shortening the
length of your muscle cells. When you "make a muscle" and
you see your muscle bunch up and bulge, you are actually
watching it shorten as the protein strands slide over each
other.

When you do challenging muscle-building exercises on a
regular basis, the bundles of protein strands inside your
muscle cells grow bigger.

Increasing strength and endurance make it easier to climb
stairs and carry groceries. Improving balance helps prevent
falls. Being more flexible may speed recovery from
injuries. If you make exercise a regular part of your daily
routine, it will have a positive impact on your quality of
life as you get older.

A really important thing to remember when doing strength
exercises is that you want to take the weight the full
range of motion. Meaning, if you're working the biceps, you
want the arm to be straight without stressing the joint,
and then bring the arm through a full range. So we want to
go through a full range of motion and not stress the joints
in order to work the muscles.

You should exercise a particular muscle by the third day.
So some people like to exercise, say, the upper body for
half an hour one day and the lower body another day. So as
an example, if you were to exercise your biceps on Monday
then you should exercise them again by Thursday.

Powerful tips for muscle building safely:

Do strength exercises for all your major muscle groups at
least twice a week, but not for the same muscle group on
any 2 days in a row.

Gradually increasing the amount of weight you use is the
most important part of strength exercise.

Start with a low amount of weight (or no weight) and
increase it gradually.

When you are ready to progress, first increase the number
of times you do the exercise, then increase the weight at a
later session.

Do exercises 8 to 15 times; rest a minute and repeat it 8
to 15 more times.

Take 3 seconds to lift and 3 seconds to lower weights.
Never jerk weights into position. If you can't lift a
weight more than 8 times, it's too heavy; if you can lift
it more than 15 times, it's too light.

Don't hold your breath while straining.

These exercises may make you sore at first, but they should
never cause pain. Stretch after strength exercises.

In summary, you are never too old or out of shape to begin
a simple muscle building fitness program. You owe this to
yourself, your family and to serve as a positive role model
for others. In our sedentary lifestyles that have crept
into our culture, it is vital we take action now.

Get up from this article. Walk around the block. Talk to
your friends about starting a fitness plan. Small steps at
first will result in big payoffs as you get older. Now,
what are you waiting for? You can do it!

----------------------------------------------------
Finally exposed! We blow the lid off of the bodybuilding
and supplement industry to reveal the honest and unbiased
truth about gaining strength, building muscle and melting
away unwanted body fat. For a limited time, get the free
mini-course ($30 value) "Bonehead Bodybuilding Blunders"
Click here => http://www.ProvenFitness.com/muscles

Fish oil and weight loss

Many people still struggle to lose weight despite the huge
number of weight loss products and diet supplements on the
market which would suggest that they might not be the ideal
solution. However, one recent study has found that simply
taking fish oil supplements on a daily basis could help
promote weight loss and combat obesity.

The study was conducted by the University of South
Australia in 2006 and without making any modifications to
diet, those taking fish oil supplements and walking or
running for 45 minutes three times a week lost an average
of two and half kilograms of weight over the period of the
trial whereas there was little difference in the other
groups. Not only that, instruments used to measure body
fat composition found that those taking the fish oil also
had a significant reduction in body fat. The results
suggest that weight loss can be accelerated when fish oil
is combined with moderate amounts of exercise.

So why would fish oil make such a difference?

Fish oil contains the essential Omega 3 fatty acids
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
and as these fats cannot be synthesised in the body, they
have to be obtained from the diet. Most of us do not get
adequate amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids in our diet and
some health professionals believe that this is responsible
for a number of diseases that are on the increase in the
21st Century such as heart disease, inflammatory diseases,
allergies and even depression. So what impact does Omega 3
fatty acids have on our weight?

Many people who try to lose weight believe that they have
to cut out as much fat as possible. This is simply not the
case and indeed, extremely low fat diets can be harmful as
the body needs a certain amount of fat to survive. The
secret lies in getting the right kind of fat. The types of
fats to be avoided are the "trans" fats or hydrogenated
fats that are found in abundance in processed foods. This
type of fat will not facilitate weight loss and indeed is
harmful to the body in general. Omega 3 fatty acids on the
other hand can improve fat metabolism.

Another important consideration is the amount of
pro-inflammatory Omega 6 fatty acids that are consumed in
relation to the amount of Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 6
fatty acids are also essential but are generally abundant
in Western diets in meat and dairy products, in vegetable
oils and in processed foods. The important Omega 3 fatty
acids EPA and DHA are only found in any significant
quantities in oily fish like Salmon, Sardines, Tuna and
Mackerel, and of course in fish oil supplements. The other
plant based Omega 3 fatty acid is alpha linolenic acid
(ALA) and this can be found in dark green leafy vegetables
and flax seed oil but the body is not efficient at
converting this into the really important EPA and DHA.

The truth is anyone who restricts calorie consumption and
increases the amount of calories they burn off will
eventually lose weight. However, it is healthy weight loss
that is the ideal as this is the only way that the weight
will come off and stay off. The South Australian study
suggests that weight loss can be achieved by taking fish
oil and some exercise without making any changes to the
diet. It would be reasonable then to surmise that even
greater results might be achieved by making some
alterations to the diet along with taking fish oil and some
moderate exercise.

Fish oil supplements

There are other health benefits to taking fish oil
supplements than promoting a healthy weight loss. Fish oil
is known to reduce inflammation and offer protection
against heart disease and depression and a whole host of
other health problems. You could also try adding more fish
to your diet but the current recommendation is to limit
consumption of fish due to the amount of toxins they can
contain, like Mercury and PCBs for example. So, fish oil
would seem the ideal way to get enough Omega 3 fatty acids
into the diet to make a difference, however, a word of
warning. As fish oils are produced from fish, they too can
contain unhealthy levels of toxins unless it is high
quality fish oil that has been through processes such as
molecular distillation to remove these toxins so shop
around for a good one first.

Conclusion

More research is required to establish just how effective
fish oil is at promoting weight loss but in the meantime,
there is every reason to believe that fish oil is certainly
worth a try, not only might you shed some extra pounds, you
could improve your general health too.

----------------------------------------------------
Dave McEvoy is an expert in omega 3 fish oil EPA with over
20 years experience; for more information about fish oil
and how it can help come and visit.
http://www.mind1st.co.uk/omega-3-fish-oil-weight-loss.asp

Mangosteen Fruit and Liquid Vitamins

If you haven't heard of mangosteen fruit and liquid
vitamins, you're not the only one. With all of the new
health innovations that flood television and internet news
stations, it's hard to keep up with it all. But if you want
to use things that really have an impact on your health,
you should learn more about mangosteen fruit and liquid
vitamins.

What is mangosteen fruit?

Any discussion of mangosteen fruit and liquid vitamins
needs to begin by introducing this fruit. The mangosteen
fruit is a hardy fruit that resembles a coconut in some
ways. It has a rich fruit on the inside of its shell, as
well as a nutritious rind called the pericarp.

A blend of these two ingredients is found in some liquid
vitamins and it makes for a powerful antioxidant blend for
the drinker. Traditionally used by healers in Southeast
Asia, this combination of mangosteen fruit and liquid
vitamins is a newer innovation on older thought.

What can it do for you?

But when you hear about mangosteen fruit and liquid
vitamins, you don't really care what it looks like or what
it tastes like, you just want to know what it can do for
you. Here are some of the benefits of the fruit and rind
combination:

* Reduces inflammation in the body<br> * Helps protect
the body from free radicals<br> * Increases digestion
health<br> * Contains xanthones that protect the body
at a cellular level<br>

Together, mangosteen fruit and liquid vitamins allows your
body to protect itself and repair itself from the damage
caused by pollution and environmental toxins.

But why is this important?

It all sounds good, but what does this mean when we use
mangosteen fruit and liquid vitamins? When you begin to
protect your body from the inside out with a supplement
like some liquid vitamins provide, you will begin to create
a healthier state inside your skin.

What you may not realize is that the body is actually very
good at healing itself, if it's in a high state of health.
By adding this kind of vitamin and mineral drink to your
life, you can create the picture of health for yourself.

Mangosteen fruit and liquid vitamins are two things that
need to be on your shopping list from now on. Not only are
you going to repair your cellular damage now, but you'll
also begin to protect your body too.

----------------------------------------------------
The Liquid Vitamin Wellness Company is positioned to make a
huge, positive difference for countless people all over the
world. And we're doing it the best way we know how. Through
people helping people. Through a product that delivers on
the promise of better health and a product you can believe
in.
http://liquid-vitamin-wellness.com

Fluoride-Enzyme Poisoner for Dental Health.

When the teeth of fluorine-treated individuals are examined
chemically they are found to be composed of calcium
fluoride instead of calcium carbonate. It is commonly said
fluorine makes the tooth harder. This is utterly false. It
actually makes the tooth softer. It doesn't decay as
readily because calcium fluoride is less soluble to acids
than is calcium carbonate and decay starts in an acid
environment.

The investigators who first reported lesser decay rates in
who first reported lesser decay rates in towns having
naturally higher fluorine content in their waters failed to
check the water and soil for other mineral values. Lo and
behold, when they finally did so they found calcium,
magnesium and a host of elements were also present in
greater amounts. On top of that they found foods and
animals grown in these areas had higher mineral values and
were far healthier than in comparable communities. Somehow,
not one of those proposing the use of fluoride could see
that these higher mineral food values were dual companion
reasons for the immunity to dental caries that resulted.

It is stated that many areas of the country have one part
per million and even more of fluoride occurring naturally
in their water supplies. This is true, but the nature it
usually occurs in the form of calcium fluoride while sodium
fluoride is what is put into water supplies. Chemists say
there is no difference, between natural and chemically
added sodium fluoride. I think natural calcium fluoride or
other fluoride compounds do have synergistic effects which
makes it inherently different when ingested than the
chemical, sodium fluoride.

Any dentist who has taken care of cavities in people from
high fluoride areas(yes, they still get cavities) as I did
in Texas during the war know that they are much easier to
cut with the dental drill. The mottling disfigurement of
the teeth that occurs in one out of ten is something the
victims abhor and would give anything to correct
particularly if it occurs in a front tooth.

Fluoride-Enzyme Poisoner. This chemical, fluoride, is also
known to be an enzyme poison that affects a number of
important metabolism activities. One example is its effect
on the enzymes that help us to understand the role of
phosphorous in the utilization of carbohydrates. This
somewhat similar to what occurs in diabetics because of a
shortage of insulin. Other enzymes that can be inhibited by
the presence of fluorine are pancreatic lipase, cytochrome
oxidase, catalase, alkaline phosphatase, and others.

Enzymes are important to digestion and utilization of food
and many other body chemistry activities. Calcium and
magnesium utilization is inhibited by fluoride. It is not
easy to discuss how these enzymes affect food and many
other body chemistry activities. It is not easy to discuss
how these enzymes affect food and its digestion but these
factors are now being studied.

Fluorine taken during pregnancy is considered by some to be
responsible for 30% increase in mongolism. Healthy,
decay-free teeth are possible without fluorine. The sugar
and cereal industries are all for anything that will
encourage you to buy more of their pretty boxed trash.
Decay of teeth is primarily a result of dietary
indiscretions. Even if it were possible to reduce tooth
decay by artificial means one must still consider all the
other health problems that bad dietary habits produce.

I have found that those who use fluoridated waters or
fluorine dental office treatments usually think it is now
okay to eat all that junk food because their teeth won't
decay. That isn't how it works. The best reduction figures
are 40% less decay. That means instead of six cavities one
would have two or three. However, if sugar use is increased
the number of cavities could go up in proportion.

I did not use it in any way for my daughters when they were
growing up. In the beginning the junk foods. When we
learned to stop the sweets and substitute wholesome,
natural foods, the tooth decay stopped and it remained
absent without any fluorine treatment. Not only did tooth
decay stop,but enlarged ugly tonsils shrunk to normal size
and became healthy in color. In addition, colds and other
ailments were reduced considerably.

Dr. John Lee and the Martin County Medical Association
researched the amounts of fluoride in average dietaries and
found most people were getting more in their food than the
recommended one part per million. Therefore adding it to
water is resulting in more than what is considered optimal
to be ingested. Then, too, some people drink lots of water
while others do very little thus varying the amount
ingested. How physicians and dentists can recommend the
control of a disease by a method that doesn't control the
dosage baffles me no end.

----------------------------------------------------
Dr. George Meinig, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. is a Founder of the
Association of Root Canal Specialists Discovers Evidence
That Root Canals Damage Your Health Learn What to Do. Learn
how Dr. George Meinig discovered that a meticulous 25 year
research program. To subscribe to the newsletter:
Visit:http://www.1stultimategumsolution.com
Edited and prepared by Sung Lee, alternate author

Black American health issues

It is past time that people take their health into their
own hands. You can not depend on doctors to keep you
healthy. Doctors do not deal with health. They deal with
health problems and diseases! For most health problems and
diseases doctors know exactly what to do. They know exactly
what drug to give you to knock it out or to superficially
keep it under control. They do not know how to keep you
healthy.

How many times has a doctor told you what to eat to stay
healthy? Probably none! How many times has a doctor told
you what supplement to take to stay healthy? Probably none!
How many times has a doctor told you what drug to take to
keep a condition under control? Probably Many, Many times!
Drugs can not keep you healthy. Drugs can help bring you
back to health or help keep a problem or condition under
control but can not keep you healthy. With proper nutrition
your own body is what keeps you healthy.

It is alleged that most of us overcook our food.

There is no way to half cook collards or turnip greens and
have them to taste as good as they are when fully cooked.
Can you imagine eating a raw sweet potato pie, macaroni and
cheese with raw or half-cooked macaroni or half-cooked
barbecue? Not hardly!

Would you believe potato salad made with half cooked or raw
potatoes? Not on your life! Half cooked chicken and
dressing sounds disgusting. What do you think about medium
rare chitterlings? Yuck! There is nothing wrong with the
way we cook our foods. Besides, even if we wanted to (which
I don't) it would be next to impossible to change the
eating habits of an entire culture.

Besides, we are the way that we are as humans because of
the fact that we do cook our food. If we didn't cook our
food we would need a gut like a gorilla to digest all that
raw food. We owe our nice sexy human shape to the fact
that our ancestors started cooking their food eons ago.

While we like our foods fully cooked, we do need to add a
few raw fruits and nuts to our diet to round out the health
benefits.

Among the many fruits and nuts that very good and good for
us there are some that a considered to be super foods, such
as, blueberries, pomegranate, almonds and brazil nut. They
not only nourish the body but they also help undo much of
the damage that was incurred as a result of normal
metabolism.

More than half of our population is deficient in vitamin D
especially darker skinned individuals. Vitamin D is
important for strong bones and especially for the health of
our immune system. Supplementing with Vitamin D is
necessary for optimum health.

----------------------------------------------------
Willie Clayton is a retired software engineer and he is a
writer of health related articles. He has over 20 years
experience in natural health care research. You can find
out more about Black American Health Issues at:
http://www.black-planet-woman.com/

Treat Acne with a Low Glycemic Diet

Do you or your kids have acne problems? The majority of
adolescents and a small number of adults deal with
significant facial blemishes. I remember going through a
bought in my early 20's. It can be difficult for teens and
young adults entering the dating years if they are always
worrying about how they look. If your kids are struggling
with acne, you may be able to help them out now, while
setting them up for a healthier future at the same time.

An interesting article published recently in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition described improvements in
teenage acne using a low glycemic diet. I have written many
articles before on the glycemic index. Typically, I have
focused on the benefit of a low glycemic diet for weight
loss, chronic disease prevention and energy level
increases. However, this new study suggests that it is also
beneficial for acne therapy.

In the study, the investigators recruited 15 – 25 year old
boys/men with acne problems. They instructed half of them
to eat low glycemic foods and the other half continued
eating mostly as they had been. They made sure that the
change in diet did not differ from the amount of calories
they were already eating; they didn't want weight loss to
be a factor. The investigators also made sure that the
participants didn't now that they were being checked for
acne treatments – to avoid a placebo effect. Instead, they
thought it was a test for monitoring protein to
carbohydrate ratios.

After 12 weeks of dietary intervention the low glycemic
diet group had significant improvements in their acne
compared to before they started on the diet and compared to
the control group. This is another ingenious example of how
to use lifestyle choices to address problems that we often
resort to drug treatments for.

The cause of acne is still mostly unknown. Way back in the
1930's doctors believed that it had something to do with
blood sugar, but this fell out of favor with some research
in the late 1960's. More recently, that later work has been
called into question and the concept that acne has
something to do with carbohydrate metabolism and blood
sugar has gained ground again. This new study suggests that
the blood sugar metabolism theory may have some validity.

To revisit, low glycemic foods are those that don't spike
your blood sugar. They consist of proteins and complex
carbohydrates, typically higher in fiber, that burn slowly
and give you sustained energy release. We don't completely
understand the reason why these foods would be good for
acne treatment, but it seems to have something to do with
insulin levels.

High glycemic diets spike insulin levels by spiking blood
sugar. Insulin, in turn, affects a whole bunch of other
hormones that are especially raging in teenagers and young
adults and this appears to stimulate acne.

You don't need to understand all the nuts and bolts of the
biology to get the benefit. The great thing is that this
new data will arm you with some reasons to convince your
teens to adopt a healthy low glycemic diet. They will
probably care much more about eating foods that will help
clean up their face now, than they will about preventing
heart disease and diabetes in their forties and fifties.
But paying attention to what they eat will help them now
and later.

----------------------------------------------------
Master Brain Fitness techniques for you and your family.
The Brain Code is the key to unlock your maximum potential.
Dr. Simon Evans puts together the right ingredients in
right amount to create the recipe for success. Visit
http://www.thebraincode.com for FREE Brain Fitness
resources.

Firmer Breast Exercises : 3 Simple Moves to Enhance the Look and Feel of Your Bosom

Breasts should be curvy. Along with fatty tissue, muscles
serve as your natural source of sexy, busty curves. And,
without morphing into a female version of the Incredible
Hulk, you can add a tad of voluptuous, breast lifting
muscle to your décolletage using three at-home exercises.

The proceeding modified versions of the classic push-up
will help plumpen your supporting chest muscles that rest
just above your breasts.

1. Leaning wall breast lifting push-up

Stand two-feet away from a wall. Now place your hands
together and form a triangle by touching the thumbs and
pointer fingers of your hands. Next lower your hands so
that they are directly in front of your breasts.

Extend your hands in front of you until they touch the
wall. Now lean forward on your toes until your forehead
touches the wall. Then, with your hands remaining on the
wall, immediately push away from the wall using your arms
and upper chest strength, until you are upright again. For
optimal results, aim to keep your entire body firm
throughout this movement.

Repeat this movement 5-10 times, leaning against the wall
and coming upright. You should feel this exercise in your
arms and upper chest.

As your chest and arms grow in power, do three sets of this
exercise while performing 5-25 repetitions.

2. Bent knee push-up

You can perform another version of the leaning wall push-up
on the floor. Position yourself on your hands and knees on
a cushioned mat, ensuring that your knees are comfortably
supported.

Now move your hands outward and upward into a position that
allows you to lift your upper body weight, while resting on
your knees. Lower your upper body until your forearms are
parallel with the floor. Then lift your upper body until
your arms are straightened.

Try to keep the body area between your knees and back
straight as you lift yourself upward and move downward.
Repeat this movement 5-10 times. As you increase your upper
body strength, do three sets of the bent-knee push-up doing
10-25 repetitions.

3. Door breaker push-up

This exercise truly makes strength building much easier.
Simply stand about two-feet away from an open doorway.
Extend and place your hands at shoulder height on either
side of the doorway.

Lean forward on your toes until your chest is flush with
the opening of the doorway. Now push yourself upright
again. Repeat this movement 5-10 times. As your upper body
strength grows, do three sets of the door breaker push-up
doing 10-25 repetitions.

Breast firming exercise safety tips

To get the most from these breast accentuating moves,
ensure that you:

a. Hold your upper body firm and straight during the upward
and downward motions; and

b. Practice positioning your hands so that you avoid
straining your wrists.

After four weeks of performing these modified military
exercises just three to four times per week, you should
enjoy breasts that almost stand at attention rather than
droop to the call of gravity.

----------------------------------------------------
Naweko Nicole Dial San-Joyz pioneered the acne trigger
approach to naturally controlling acne in her
internationally published book, "Acne Messages". San-Joyz
continues to serve the acne community by developing
customized acne scar removal treatments for the face and
body. If you want free tips for naturally removing acne
scarring, visit http://www.Noixia.com .