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Self Enhancement Alternatives 5 Actions To Open up Your Innovation

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improvement is an ability that everybody has. Some find out it simpler to communicate their modern part than others but that will not mean you do not have expertise. Just like mowing the lawn, studying how to generate and cutting it requires a bit of your energy and energy and attempt and work out to accomplish your prospective. It just needs a chance to work, work out and perseverance. In this article find out a few guidelines on how you can open up your prospective with these 5 self Enhancement alternatives and carry out your modern part.

1. Don’t pay attention to what others say.

If you have a concept, do not let other individuals feedback damage your concept. If they do not like your concept then they can cope with it. You need to comprehend to do elements for yourself. Do you think that Einstein and other great prodigies went on to pay attention to their buddies about their ideas? I do not think so.

2. Exercise

Exercising calms your system by submitting hormones through your system. During work out many individuals get a hurry of creativeness since they are so comfortable. Try it, run for a kilometer or two and see what happens.

3. Find your own style

Everyone is exclusive and design is also exclusive in individuals too. A poet can be informed from another one just because of the terms he uses or a designer because of the sweep he used. If you can find yourself an exclusive design that performs for you individuals will know what a useful resource you are because no one would have the same ability as you.

4. Don’t cover up yourself behind elegant equipment

Just because you have the most costly advanced devices will not create you the best. Yes it does give you an benefits but it is only a small one. Take this for example, do you think a photographer with the latest photographic camera on the market that really will not comprehend digital cameras at all is really going to create it larger than a photographer who knows how to take images using a non reusable photographic camera. No! The same goes with composing, if you have a costly computer what use is it to you if you can’t create. Ensure that you are excellent with your expertise, just because you have elegant devices will not mean you may be the best!

5. Add some passion

Passion is that extra bit of attempt that will take you to the next level. Those who ability can do an excellent job but someone with interest will give your very best. Do you think that job place will drop into your lap just because you are the most talented? Maybe, but others will be established to get that place and that could create them almost difficult.

These are just 5 of the many elements that can open up your advancement and hopefully you will take these into account to carry out your advancement and let everything grow from there.

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Top Ten Self-improvement Objects in the way You Need to Cope With

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Self-improvement may include anything, from providing up cigarette using tobacco to using the addiction of spending budget. However, the self-improvement objectives are not that easy to obtain. Your own thoughts may put a variety of obstructions in your direction. It is a well-known proven reality that an personal making initiatives for self-improvement is often frustrated by his or her own ideas and routines. The first thing should be to observe down these constraints and understand how to cope with them. Here is a conversation on the 10 typical self-improvement obstructions you need to cope with.

Habit of Postponing

The most usual obstacle is the habit to postpone the self-improvement efforts. The efforts for whatever change you wish to bring in your life should begin today itself. Delaying the things may put your interest off and you may never be able to start. For instance, if you wish to leave cigarette smoking, you must start practicing the right techniques like hypnosis from today onwards.

Habit of Acceptance

The efforts towards improvement often take the backseat if you accept that the things are not going to change. Don’t believe that the present circumstances can’t be improved at any cost. Remember that it is you who will evaluate your situation and take the decision to improve or not. Get out of the boundary of accepting the things easily and challenge yourself that you want to bring the change in order to improve your life.

To Do Lists Don’t Work

Many people fail to maintain schedule which is another common hindrance in the direction of self-improvement. This happens because of the general notion that to do lists don’t work at all. The fact is that scheduling and following the schedule religiously is one great step to achieve the improvement goals. In fact, planning a schedule will help you spare quality time for many more things that will make you happy and motivated.

Self-improvement Is Not for Me

People have the tendency to forget one of the most important facts of life that nobody in this world is perfect. You can keep on moving on the path of self-improvement to make your life better and better. Thinking that self-improvement is only for losers is actually depriving you from leading a life better than your present day living. For instance, if you don’t know swimming, just think how learning this exercise can improve your lifestyle.

Keeping It a Secret

It is a typical perception of individuals that it is better to keep the self-improvement initiatives a key from others. Some individuals never like others to know that they are going through weight-loss workouts. This form of considering can deny you from useful reviews that you must obtain from individuals around you. Keep in mind that getting your self-improvement activities evaluated by others will increase your assurance and encourage your further.

Self-improvement if Expensive

Many people never start with self-improvement initiatives, considering that it will include a lot of money. The truth is that you can always search for beneficial options that can help you in enhancing your life without strenuous big money. Even your buddies can help you by indicating some useful ways of self-improvement. You never have to shell out on many guides and programs for the objective of enhancing. Invest some time to discover one or two good guides or video clips that you discover value investing on.

Habit of Binding

People by characteristics are limited to develop within the relaxation areas of their specific societies. However, you can carry enhancement in lifestyle by studying new elements owed to various other societies. The best example would be to understand a new terminology that will add considerably to your understanding. Furthermore, you can increase further by studying a bit of different way of lifestyle.

Boring and Time Consuming

Upgrades in lifestyle may take several days or several weeks to display. This is a reality against what the so-called self-improvement professionals declare to carry up the changes in a couple several days. And, it is a frustrating believed for many individuals. You have to think this way that your lifestyle is going towards enhancement and you have to savor this modification. It is value knowing that this voyage for enhancement will be thoroughly pleasant.

Only Big Changes Lead to Improvement

Big changes do account for larger upgrades, but small changes are similarly significant. Many people immediate their initiatives to obtain big changes only, without acknowledging the value of the small steps. For example, if you start going for a day move daily, it will add to your time and effort of reaching health.

More Thoughts Fewer Efforts

Lastly, it is another element of people instinct that initiatives actually created towards self-improvement does not have behind the ideas of enhancement. In other terms, good considering alone cannot help you obtain the self-improvement advantages. You will have to create initiatives to recognize these ideas.

You will definitely link with many of these self-improvement obstructions. Give your best taken to get rid of these constraints and provides your 100% to increase for better.

Originally Posted by: Self Improvement Bible

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7 Steps to Instantly Calm

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Serenity 

Between his busy work schedule, child care, shopping, and, oh, a hundred other things you have to do in a day, is easy to forget how much stress you are really low.

But the body is well aware. All this tension could start a chain reaction of health problems. “When you get stressed several times, the nervous system remains tense, so that even small amounts of stress can make you feel overwhelmed,” says Henry Emmons, MD, author of  Chemistry of calm.

That is why it is so important to build a relaxing routine for those times when life falls apart. Learning to cultivate peace with these simple suggestions.

Look for Signs

The best way to manage stress is to prevent the build first. But it can be difficult to know when you’re going to risk because the signals of your body can be subtle. “People are often not aware that stress affects sleep quality, you can get eight hours, but has still not very deep sleep, if you feel tired,” said Dr. Emmons.

To keep your stress levels in check, take a few minutes each day thinking about any unusual changes in your habits or physical health, which can be stimulated by fear.

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Change Your Home 

When you feel tense, you can get the (unproductive) you want to replay mentally what has happened several times in his mind.

Dr. Emmons recommends moving your attention to your body instead. Find a quiet place to sit and concentrate on feeling the seat under you. Then take a long, deep breaths from the diaphragm, try to breathe through your nose for four, with two, and exhaling through your mouth for seven years. Exhale more than breathe a deeper breath, which helps calm the nervous system. “You can even practice your breath when you are stressed, so you know exactly what that calm deep breathing,” said Dr. Emmons.

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Get A Pass 

Easy to use stress as an excuse to ignore the exercise has many other things in your mind, right? But working really helps balance stress hormones, said Dr. Emmons.

Then a break, and walk up and down some steps, or subscribe to the kickboxing class you’ve been dying to try. Then cool your routine with some sweet music: Make a special “calming” playlist on your iPod, recommended Beth Hamilton, MD, co-author ofSo Stressed: The Ultimate Stress-Relief Plan for Women. Studies show that brain waves are synchronized with the slow pace, puts you in a meditative state.

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Right Snack

During periods of stress, it’s human nature to want to pamper yourself with a piece of cake. But it is more important than ever to stick to your eating habits, says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of Eat your way to happiness.

Cravings for sweets highest level of glucose in the blood, making you feel more nervous. For a healthy drink, including anti-stress, fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate sauce, black, Somer. Vitamin C reduces the stress induced by free radicals fruit, while the black chocolate reduces stress hormones (like cortisol) in the body. Another option: carrot or celery sticks Snack. Crunchy Snacks chewing (but healthy!) Helps release pent-up frustration, says Somer.

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Call a Friend

Being with friends helps our body to pump feel good hormone oxytocin. Then meet a friend at the end of a crazy-busy day, or call during your lunch break.

Even better: Take time to stroll on a regular basis, you will be paid a boost to your well-being continues. Just do not make calls to bitch fests, ranting will get you working again, Dr. Emmons said.

fresh-air-break

Get Out

Taking refuge in the office can make you get stuck in “I’m overwhelmed” Mode. Merely breathing the fresh air can improve their prospects, helping them deal with difficult situations more calmly. Get out and enjoy the moment in which the head of equilibrium rather than think about all the things you have to do. If there is a garden close by, stop and smell the flowers. Research shows that inhalation of certain aromas (like lavender) can help restore the immune system is stressed to normal levels.

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Preparing For Bed 

You know how it works: Just when you lie down for a good night, all the concerns of his career change. And lack of sleep makes you feel more anxious. To combat this vicious circle, the scope of a pad and pencil and write all the negative thoughts or lists of tasks pops into your head, says Sue Patton Thoele, author of Women Aware. Paradoxically, getting their thoughts down on paper really helps you set aside.

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Daily Life Minimalist

I do not have a regular program. I not need one.

I do, however, have routines on which I focus every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I used to have a regular program — before I stop my six-figure job to practice my interests and stay a more significant lifestyle. And I despised that program. Every day thought like Groundhog Day: awaken to a blaring security, shower, eliminate, put on a suit and tie, shell out an time or more in mind-numbing visitors, yield to the regular trappings of communications and calling and communications and events, clarify through even more mind-numbing visitors, eat something from a box in the refrigerator, search for avoid within the great box in the family place, clean my teeth, set the security, sleep for five or six time, start all over again in the day.

That was lifestyle most periods. The same thing over and over and over. Clean. Clean. Do.

And then last year I decided it was for me nowadays. I recognized working 60 to 80 time per 7 days to create the money to buy more unwanted stuff do not complete the avoid I thought inside. It only introduced more debts and anxiety and worry and solitude and shame and stress and worry and depressive disorders.

So I ended my program. Or, rather, I dealt with in my program for better routines.

It do not happen immediately, but over a few years I pared down my items, got into the best shape of my lifestyle, paid off my debts, jettisoned my TV, removed On the internet at property, left business United states, began seeking my interests, ceased buying useless, and began lifestyle a more significant lifestyle — a lifestyle centered on expansion and factor.

During that use of personal expansion I developed new routines I love, routines I look forward to each day, routines that create me happy: training, composing, reading, starting new contacts with persons, and building upon established interactions.

I am also creating the behavior of factor. I believe giving is lifestyle — we never experience truly in existence unless we promote other persons in significant ways. Giving a chance to Home for Human beings, regional soups living rooms, and various other community businesses has been a beginning on my process towards creating this behavior. I also love leading to the visitors at our website and impressive them to modify their lives, much like Leo and Zen Habits encouraged me to modify acquire.

Many visitors ask me what my regular day looks like now that I’m not required into an unwanted program. My answer is always the same: every day is a clear page, although there are routines I act upon regular.

Presenting last Friday as an example, this is how I experienced the day:

I automobile at 4:50am without an security, energized and rejuvenated. Currently my behavior is to get when my system shows me it’s relaxed. But there is no program.

I ate a bananas, consumed java, then authored from 5am to 11am. As I generally produce fictional stories, I prefer composing in the day when it’s peaceful and I’m nearest the wish community. My composing place contains only a workplace, a chair, a laptop, and my information — the only things I need. Nothing else. There is no mobile, no On the internet, no time — no disturbances. Just me and my behavior, which I love greatly. Each day I produce until I never experience like composing nowadays. But there is no program.

After a writing-fueled day (interrupted only by push-ups when or so), I went to the location store and alternated between pull-ups and push-ups under the midday sun. Being active is important for me, and I love it regular. But there is no program.

I bathed, fitted (jeans and a T-shirt), and went to a regional burrito joint to eat a small, veggie meal. I eat when my system shows me I’m greedy, no matter what time (I never own a watch). Some periods I eat meal at noon; other periods I might eat at 10am or 3pm. But there is no program.

After my meal, I went to my favorite cafe, purchased an natural tea, used their On the internet access to examine my mail and submit some composing online, then went to with some of the regulars (as well as some strangers). There were 37 communications in my mail, which was okay as I only examine mail two or three periods per 7 days. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But there is no program.

After two or three time on the On the internet, I went to a store, sat on a common, and study a novel while the sun set fire to the sky. Some periods this behavior challenges me to use part after part, time after hour; other periods I study for only 30 minutes. But there is no program.

After a few sections, I hit the gym with my best good friend (and online composing pal), He Nicodemus, and experienced some cardiovascular and weightlifting. We habitually examine out the gym four or five periods per 7 days. We drop by at different periods each day. But there is no program.

Throughout the day I made sure I was moisturized. Besides java and natural tea, I consumed only water. No alcohol. No sweet products. No soda pop (or ‘pop,’ for those of us in the Midwest). I attempt to consume my fat in oz. of water each day, which is not always easy — so sometimes I consume only 50 percent that. But which is okay: there is no program.

I own a car, but I do not generate it on Friday. I do not need to. It was a nice day, so I went instead (even though Dayton, Oh, is not exactly the most walkable city in the world). Some periods I need to generate to where I want to go; other periods I can walk. But there is no program.

Later that evening I experienced meal and a discussion with a good friend, and afterwards we went to a regional show. Other periods I might view a movie at the independent movie or examine out a buddy’s house or shell out quantity of an art collection or offer a few use of time, all routines I love. But there is no program.

After the show, I went a few distance by myself, getting my thoughts. It had been a wonderful day, followed by a wonderful night — a denim jeans sky lit by a declining cres celestial satellite, a thousand diamond jewelry afire, and the possibility of a new day at nighttime.

The great news is my lifestyle is no different than yours, without the program. Sure, the details are different, the situations are different, but we all have the same 24 quantity of a day. We all have one lifestyle to stay, and that lifestyle is driving by one day at once. The only real difference is within the selections we create and the behavior we take.

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Boost Your Mental Clarity In Less Than 15 Minutes

Today I will share a simple exercise I use to get quick mental clarity. You will find this very useful for different purposes, such as:

  • Clear your head (especially if your mind feels kinky)
  • Calm down against agitation, anxiety or stress state
  • Release the mental energies (if you feel tired)

I did this too late, and found it to be incredibly useful. It ‘also the same exercise I recommend to my clients to determine mental blocks.

How it works – by increasing the RAM mental

Imagine your brain as a computer. Each computer has RAM that determines its processing capacity. Applications over the computer is on, the more RAM used, and the slower your computer gets. If you used the intensive programs like 3D Studio Max or play graphics intensive games like World of Warcraft and Halo before, stop unwanted programs to free RAM programs.

Similarly, our brain also has its own RAM. This RAM is used for a variety of brain work, think, remember, analyze, subconscious actions. Want more free RAM as possible to operate at full capacity of your brain.

However, not all RAM is available whenever you want. At least half the space is occupied by mental – thoughts running in the background.

What are these reflections? Everything, in fact – it is a task we still have some doubts, we face a certain amount of advertising we’ve seen on television now, just listening to music in the mall, etc.

The majority of the root is triggered by external stimuli. From the second you wake up in the morning when you sleep at night, you are exposed to many stimuli in your environment. The more active contact you have with the world, the more you are exposed to stimuli. If you are a very busy, you’re probably bombarded with many stimuli every day, from your workplace, society and mass media. Even if you live like a hermit, you will always be confronted with your own set of external stimuli.

It is unclear how much of these stimuli affect us until we stop to observe mental activity, for example by introspection or meditation. Think about what the space program and major applications running on your computer. You do not need to operate the equipment. By virtue of its run in the background, using the above resources. When there is disorder, we will reach a point where we have less and less of RAM, until no more.

Fortunately we have a biological process in which we clearly this mess – Sleep. Specifically REM sleep. But it is not cluttering the most effective process of compensation, since we do not undergoing paradoxical that 25% of our sleep time. The remaining 75% are non-REM.

Meditation also helps clear the mind. Many people who meditate, feel calmer and clearer States experience the mind, for the same reason. However, sometimes it may not be able to do – like when you’re at work, when you feel too restless to meditate, or when you are too tired and may fall asleep during meditation.

At this point, the exercise comes into play today RAM Free your mind through the brain of dumping

This is known as a cerebral exercise dumping, as they empty the contents of your mind by writing:

Choose a means of writing – or pen / paper or word processor. My word processor is that the type faster than I write.

Write what comes to mind. When I say what I think, no matter what! For example, if you look on paper and think “wow, that looks so white”, then write it. If you do not know what to write, just write “I do not know what to write.” Basically everything on your mind down. There is no reason to think it over. This is just to get what you think.

Keep doing this for the next 15 minutes or the time it takes for your mind to feel better. Sometimes 10 minutes is enough for me, so it may take more than an hour at the time I’m really stuck.

Here we use the writing clear the clutter in our minds. This is a most effective way to deal with the chaos of sleep or meditation. Sleep, REM will have to wait until the mess before it was processed. After the meditation, the idea is discussed, because it “floats” around the head. This year, however, write speed determines the speed with which it is processed. If you type quickly, you can handle a lot of mess very quickly.

I’m using right now I’m mentally stuck when I have to concentrate on the task, or when I have to encourage the task ahead. ¿I can get a lot of empty space in just 15 minutes, resulting in a much clearer mind. If I were asleep before the exercise leaves me mentally more alert and “light” later. Certainly they can concentrate better.

And ‘interesting to read what you wrote, after 15 minutes. Usually, you will notice your thoughts jumping all places. One moment you might think, what you had for breakfast, the next one might think that your boss is a meeting last week, so the next one might think of a vacation the next holiday. Extraordinary as it may be, as Queer as they can see, these ideas have always been in your mind – just took them off, so they are now removed from your mind. The more you spend on this exercise, the more you can clear the clutter, and greater mental clarity.

Of course, that does not mean you stop to think of XYZ after the removal of this idea. Maybe you have 50 strands of thought about XYZ, and only two blocks to remove these thoughts. Maybe you meet later in the XYZ, or something that reminds you of XYZ, which reset idea.

Because you will always be exposed to stimuli, you will need to do more often the brain dumping physical activity to maintain this state of heightened mental clarity. Just like bathing, eating or sleeping, there is no need to do so often as part of the clearing house / block the process. Do it often, and feel a greater sense of mental clarity. You will also feel more comfortable as well.

You can also take a year to the next level – beyond that the dumping is on your mind a chance to delve into the root causes of these thoughts take. Keep asking why and digging into it. This is related to the exercise at the 25 th day of 30DLBL – Identify your beliefs. You can just go to some deep insights into the process.

As for the content of what you wrote, delete or trash. It is necessary to avoid that, unless things gave him new ideas and want to keep it as a process of evaluation.

Have fun doing this exercise! It works great for me and I’m sure it will be very useful for you too.

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15 Ways To Hack Your Brain For A Better Life

Not everyone is born with a large brain. Not everyone can say things like “Elementary my dear Watson,” with a straight face. But that does not mean you can not get a competitive advantage. I remember that scene in the matrix, where the machines are using humans as disposable batteries AA? Not far from the truth. With more than 100 billion neurons, the brain produces about 100 watts of raw energy. The mind is literally a life. And as your other muscles, the more you use, the more it ages the better it works.

If you are looking for a better understanding of mind, more memory and increase alertness, here are 15 simple ways to give your brain box of six bottles.

1. Exercise: You knew it was good for the muscles, but the brain? Absolutely! Over 20% of the body’s blood and oxygen to the brain directly (without passing GO or pay $ 200). Exercise, especially cardio training, more efficient flow to the brain, keeping it well oiled machine. But if you want something a little ‘zen, try yoga. Yoga as many poses Downward facing Dog, is specifically designed to get the blood to the brain more quickly, putting his head below the heart. But if you’re really in a hurry, something as simple as opening a window and take a breath of fresh air can give your brain the more juice it needs.

2. Moisturize: If you need a little pick-me-up, can not double-espresso habit. Instead of trying to drink two glasses of water. The caffeine in coffee and soft drinks can temporarily make you feel more alert, but eventually it will become even more tired by dehydration of the muscles and constriction of blood vessels. And in large quantities, caffeine can send a rush to the bathroom with a bad case of the trots, as it stimulates the spasmodic contractions of the intestine. Water, by contrast, is a simple way to keep the mind alert and refreshed. And you can not beat the price.

3. Find the third stimulation: A friend of mine used to say “. I do not need caffeine, I Motorhead “And he always had his papers in time. Now, heavy metals can not be your thing, but listening to music can increase your productivity. Like the smell of dinner can bring on feelings of hunger, engaging all five senses to stimulate brain activity. For example, the color pinks a visual aphrodisiac. The excitement will dilate your pupils, increases blood flow, and left the pleasure centers in the brain – which will make you more alert and focused. When decorating your workspace light or to change your font color to something more alive, you can work in boredom and fatigue. Aromatherapy can be extremely effective, because the smell is the strongest sense. Lemon, peppermint and cypress are the flavors of several known to stimulate the brain. Or eat a peppermint candy activate both fragrances and flavors.

Take handwritten notes instead of typing will help you retain information more effectively, the pressure points activated by holding a pen linked to the creative centers of the brain and memory.

4. Happy thoughts: We’ve all seen the thrillers of Hitchcock; a person does something so terrible or completely blocks testimony to their minds. Well, in a much smaller scale, such forgetfulness happens all the time. The brain, especially memory, does not respond well to stress. If you are tense, overworked or unhappy, it is much less likely to withhold information or to remain on alert. Try to remove the stressors in your life and work. Practice relaxation techniques; take a hot bath or massage. Or cook some bacon. Many times I have found that happiness = bacon. Anyway, your body is in tune with their emotions, and it shows much more than you think.

5. Play: No Hide No “search. Studies in patients with dementia have shown that word and puzzle games can improve and even restore cognitive mental. Crosswords, a contest or Sudoku: all these activities, the fun can keep pink brain. And the best part is you do not really need to know. This is an example where victory does not matter because the brain reacts to an attempt to resolve the problem, not the knowledge stored in his head. Probably the best games of the brain are those with the strategic objectives such as chess, Risk and Strategy, the goals are constantly changing, and require more brain activity.

6. Watch TV quality: Would not it be wonderful if it was true. Unfortunately, studies indicate that the person sitting in front of the tube is counterproductive. But if in the form of break-butt in the chair called, choose a game or contest shows like Jeopardy, and try to answer questions. Even if you’ve never heard of The Federalist, the brain is stimulated in the same way as if you were playing Trivial Pursuit with friends.

7. Surfing the Internet: Net-addicts are combining! We have known it all the time, and now we were right. A recent study conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles found by searching the Web has contributed to the centers of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. A simple task like searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry. Brain scans showed that more of the brains were activated to use the Internet than simply reading a book. Not to mention, there are all kinds of great online puzzle games online and waiting to make you smarter. And here’s Clincher: to surf, the more your brain works.

8. Eating food for thought: do not go together. Deprived of food and literally starve the brain makes you stupid stupid. But if you want to get high mental performance are what you eat, here are some things to remember. Proteins are the most important fuel for the brain. But Atkins is not automatically, causing the brain also needs vitamins and minerals crucial dishes. It is always best to get them from food to pills. Vitamin A, to protect the membranes of brain cells, the B vitamins, essential for neuronal growth and vitality, vitamin C, so important in brain function that the brain is fifteen times higher than in other parts of the brain, vitamin E, prevent and actually reverse the deterioration of the brain, magnesium, to maintain vitality, metabolic activity of neurons, zinc, rids the brain of impurities such as lead, to improve cognitive function, and amino acids necessary for growth and health of neurotransmitters.

9. Fill the fish oil, “Jeeves is a size 14 hat, eats tons of fish, and works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.” During the creation of his immortal, omniscient valet Jeeves, author of PG Wodehouse gave the character a huge domed skull and a regular diet to stimulate the brains of fish. It was no surprise when scientists showed what we knew all along: that eating fish can make you brainy. In Indeed, it is not fish, but Omega -3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), to go around. These fatty acids maintain the levels of dopamine in the brain increases the high growth of neurons in the frontal cortex of the brain and increases the cerebral circulation. Who is a complicated way of saying that the fatty acids that your brain is operating at full capacity, like a tune-up. But before you stock your pantry with tuna, be sure to eat large quantities of fish that can put you in danger of toxins and mercury poisoning.

So it is best to get EPA and DHA from alternative sources and supplements.

10. Eating weeds: not the kind to hide from their parents, but the medicinal plants. Oriental medicine is kick ass and taking names when the brain is concerned. There are about a dozen “brain boosting” herbal, but the two most important are the Ginkgo Biloba and Ginseng. As a medicinal tonic to go, can not be more powerful than ginkgo, to improve cerebral circulation, which stimulates cognitive abilities monstrously. Ginseng is considered the “Cadillac” of Asian herbs, incredible neurological effects. Once thought to realign the body of “yang energy,” we now know that ginseng helps the brain to adapt to stress by agents of the improved productivity of the adrenal glands. The result is an exhilarating balance, which attains enlightenment and monitoring of the brain, no nervous system, shaken, Guy brightness response of most stimulants.

11. Learning new things: That sounds pretty obvious, right? But it’s not that simple. Very few people find time to master new skills or read a new book that is not for work or class. Learning a foreign language, a new trade or a recipe, or challenge  a familiar object with each increase of brain growth by stimulating parts of the brain that may have been stagnant and unused until now. But all this takes time, right? Wrong! Try to spend 15 minutes a day in his new discovery, while all ads on a TV show than an hour, and you will be surprised how much they learn.

12. Do not waste time: if your brain were a computer, how many times a day he would sign flashing hourglass? Albert Einstein, one of the greatest thinkers of the world, gave us the theory of relativity, and very good advice: “Make everything as simple as possible.” You can hardly expect your brain to do its best if it is cluttered with non-essential. The best way to organize your mind is to de-clutter your life. Maximize your time with some personal modifications. Save time in the morning to decide the night before, what clothes you wear. Make and keep a list of daily priorities and long-term, and do not let your attention wander. Try multitasking. If you want to be in the bathroom for a while, bring a book or a piece of work you need to get out (you do not have much else!) If you have a long trip or stuck in traffic, make the most of the time listening to an audio book.

If you have to queue at the bank or in stores, make a few notes you need to revise or flash cards for the new language, you decided to learn. Of course, you can look funny, but you become wiser.

13. Actively to improve your memory: There is a new character, Grey Anatomy, which was great for us his photographic memory, which refers to articles in obscure medical journals of the century, railing outside the periodic table without batting an eyelid. For the actor who plays this character to do so convincingly, I bet you had to find a better way to remember information. There are a lot of tricks and methods to get a nice response, but basically they all boil down to some basic principles.

First of all, you know how you learn. There are three basic learning styles: visual, auditory, movement. You can find out which of you, listen, read and write three sentences what I remember best. Once you know how to learn, optimizes data. If you are a visual, a post-it will be very helpful. If you are hearing, to invest from the recorder.

Secondly, the most effective way to remember the facts were made up of different associations. For example, you might remember the date, your dentist appointment, because that number was a favorite singer of age when he died. Or something more cheerful, but you get the idea. If you’re a visual person, try to form a powerful image or snapshot. For example, if you park your car at the 4b, you may remember, that by taking snap shot four hornets hovering above the roof of the car. Trying to establish the emotional associations. If your wife asks you to choose something in storage, think for a minute as you will be disappointed if you forget it, and probably you.

Third, rinse and repeat. Repetition is a proven method of memorization. Just for fun, pull the old book Sat preparation of high school and see how the vocabulary you still remember. Give your memory a workout by re-learning these forgotten gems.

14. Rest Almost nothing is more crucial for proper brain function and effective sleep. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, but it hurts to try to think about when you are tired of the letter. Here are some ways your brain to get the most out of sleep. If it takes much time sleeping, not to fight or give in and take a pill. Instead, ease into sleep while reading a book. But make sure it’s fiction. While you might think that the non-fiction would be more boring, studies show that non-fiction of active reflection on the brain, preventing sleep. If you wake up tired, not because you do not have enough sleep. This could be because your brain is deprived of fasting during sleep. Try to eat a little sugar, 100 calories snack before bedtime. It will not be enough to keep awake, and can keep the head in the morning tired. If, despite your efforts, you do not have enough Z, seriously consider a nap.

National action plans are not childish or European, is a completely natural to cheer up your brain. A series of short naps (20-30 minutes) during the day will not set hours of sleep, but it will extend the fatigue that leaves your mind completely useless and you are unemployed.

15. Sex: women go weak at the knees to the idea of ​​the magnitude of his … brain. That’s right. A lot happens to the body during sex, and much more is going on in your head. His brain, that is. There is no activity that is increasing blood flow to the brain, improving cognitive abilities. Having sex may also produce hormones that significantly improve brain function. An example includes the oxytocin “trust”, a hormone that occurs during sex. This increases your ability to think of creative solutions to a problem of serotonin and dopamine, which increases after sex, creative thinking to help a person calm and logical decision making. And if you have trouble sleeping, give your brain the rest it needs, look no further.

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10 Easy Ways to Cure Your Anxiety

Deep breathing - Simple breathing is one of the quickest and most effective ways to instantly treat anxiety. When you start to feel anxious take three slow, deep breaths; in through your mouth, and out through your nose and you should start to instantly feel relief from your anxiety. You can do this as many times as necessary, and can also close your eyes for increased relief.

Eliminate caffeine from your diet - Caffeine is a stimulant that increases your heart rate and makes you more anxious. By eliminating caffeine from your diet you will feel decreased levels of anxiety. If stopping entirely is too hard you can slowly decrease your caffeine consumption day to day until your feel decreased anxiety. Another alternative is to switch to green tea. Green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, and also brings additional health benefits.

Daily exercise - Exercise is an extremely effective way to treat anxiety. Exercising at least 30 minutes a day will cause an increased flow of blood and oxygen to your brain which lower stress and anxiety. In addition, daily exercise will improve your self esteem which also decrease feelings of anxiety.

Keeping a journal - By keeping a daily journal of your life where you can write about all your frustrations and problems you are releasing much of the anxiety that can haunt you throughout the day. If you write it all down it can help give you perspective and help you understand the scope of these problems. If you let the problems just fester in your mind they can multiply and the problems become much bigger in your head than they really are. These exaggerated problems can cause unnecessary anxiety in your life. It is much better to get everything on paper so you don’t exaggerate any of the problems.

Enough Sleep - Sleep deprivation is one of the most common causes of anxiety. Recent evidence suggests that the most healthy amount of sleep per night is 6-8 hours. Always make sure to get a minimum of six hours of sleep per night to alleviate anxiety. Also too much sleep can lead to depression and increased anxiety. In addition to the right amount of sleep per night your body also functions the best with consistency. Make every effort to wake up at the same time every morning, and go to sleep at the same time every night. By getting the correct amount of consistent sleep every night your anxiety will start to decrease.

Talk - Talking to a close friend or family member that you trust completely about your problems and what’s troubling you can help put your mind at ease about the problems. Anxiety is caused by worrying, and if your mind is at ease about your problems then you will worry less and feel less anxiety in your life.

Positive Thinking - Changing your thought patterns from negative thinking to positive thinking is a very long and difficult process but the effects can be tremendous. You will start to feel better about yourself, and everything you’re doing. This will decrease anxiety and social anxiety because of how you feel about yourself. To change your thought patterns you must consciously correct yourself every time you catch yourself having a negative thought. Identify positive things you like about yourself and think three positive thoughts for every negative thought you catch yourself thinking. Over time you will begin to naturally think positively. This is a great habit to get into, and in addition to helping your anxiety problems it will benefit many other areas of your life as well.

Pets - Pets are proven to increase happiness and calmness, and decrease anxiety and blood pressure. Pets also make great outlets to talk to about your problems and help you deal with challenges in your life.

Get out in nature - The fast paced life style that the modern world requires causes undue anxiety for many people. By getting out in nature and learning to appreciate the world for what it is will help keep you grounded and live a peaceful life. You can also exercise at the same time by going hiking, backpacking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, or trail running.

Spend time with loved ones - Spending time with people you love and who love you will help you feel better about yourself and help alleviate anxiety in your life. Often times people feel that they are being constantly judged and this makes them anxious trying to live up to others expectations. By being around people who accept you unconditionally this anxiety will go away.

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How to Boost Your Willpower

When you do what you love to do, you feel as if you could do it all day long. It’s as if doing it takes almost no will power on your part. But unfortunately, the reality is that you’re not going to love doing everything you have to do in life.

For example, I don’t love doing my taxes, eating healthy, or exercising daily. But I know these are things that I have to do. And to do them requires will power on my part. So here are a few things I do to increase my will power for the tasks that seemingly take every last ounce of it:

Use Your Will Power: Think of will power as a muscle. When you first start lifting weights, lifting 15 pound dumbbells may be exhausting for you. But over time as your muscles grow stronger (and you start lifting heavier weights), you’ll be able to lift those 15 pound dumbbells without even breaking a sweat.

Don’t Overindulge: Have you ever noticed that when you eat too much, drink too much, sleep too much, and have sex too much you end up feeling lazy? This happens because when the brain gets too much dopamine, it releases prolactin to balance things out. And as a result, it makes us dopamine deficient. Symptoms of dopamine deficiency include depression, procrastination and a lack of ambition.

Proper Diet & Exercise: Studies have shown that proper diet and exercise can help reduce stress and depression and it even lifts your mood. Like they say, a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. And you need that to increase your will power.

Break Things Down: Have you ever looked a hill from far away? They always look bigger from a distance. But as you go up step by step, the hill most often isn’t as big as you had originally thought.

The same thing goes for the goals or tasks you wish to accomplish. Looking at what you want to accomplish without breaking it down into small steps can be intimidating. So much so that it can lower your confidence to the point where you decide (before you even try to do it) that you will fail and it would be a waste of your efforts (or your will power).

Realize You Want It: Like I said earlier, there are things we feel like we haveto do that we may not love doing. But if you look at what you have to do at a deeper level, you’ll realize that you actually want to do it. For example, haveto do my taxes because I want to stay out of trouble. Or I have to exercise and eat healthy because I want to to feel great about myself.

Figure out why you want to do whatever you feel like you have to do, and focus on that instead of complaining about it. When you tell yourself why want to do a thing, you start feeling more motivated to actually do it.

Like I said in the begging of this post, when you do what you love to do you feel as if you could do it all day long using little to no will power. So while you may not love to physically do certain things in life (like taxes and eating salads), realize that you love the result it ultimately will bring you and focus on that.

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Rules for Better Physique

1. Use compound lifts: Utilizing multi-joint movements such as bench presses, pull-ups, rows, shoulder presses, squats and leg presses in your routines will ensure you are hitting more than one muscle with maximum weight. This will help you become efficient in the gym. 

2. Rest between one to two minutes between sets: This will allow you to maximize not only your time but also the pump by keeping your muscles filled with blood and properly warm during the workout.

3. Use a weight you can handle: Be sure you are using a weight you have control of. Do not load the bar with so much weight that your training partner is helping on the first rep. 

4. Use proper form: Make sure to use good form for each lift not only for safety but for function of your training. If you just throw the weights around you will not target the specific muscle.

 

5. For the majority of the time use a rep range of 6 to 12: This is the range typically used if muscle mass is what you are after, but strength will come also. 

6. Try low reps occasionally: Every now and then try a rep range of 4 to 6 or maybe even throw some singles, doubles and triples in there to mix things up. But remember to use good form.

7. Try high reps occasionally: High reps can sometimes kick-start a lagging body part. Maybe try a high rep set or two at the end of a series of sets. Go as high as 20, 30, or even 50!

8. Train more frequently: For about four weeks or so train each body part twice per week instead of the usual once. You may need to reduce the volume a little but the change will be welcomed.

9. Train less frequently: The same holds true for those training each body part twice per week. Cut back to once per week every now and then and double up on your volume.

10. Try doing drop sets for stubborn body parts: Sometimes all you need is a kick in a certain area’s butt to get things going again. Use this technique on the last one or two sets of a movement. Perform a set as you would normally do it, then strip some weight off and continue with your reps and you can strip the weight several times before the muscle is toast! 

11. Use antagonistic supersets: This is the old technique Arnold used quite often. Superset chest with back, triceps with biceps, and quadriceps with hamstrings. For example; perform a set of bench presses and then without rest move over to pull-ups for a set. Alternate like this until you have completed all of your sets. You will not only save time but you will have a skin-tearing pump!

12. Once per month do an all negative workout: Reap the benefit of this intense technique by utilizing safe, but effective negative training. Have your partner help you up with a weight you cannot normally do for many reps then lower the weight slowly to resist the negative motion. Make sure to use a spotter, but if none is available use unilateral movements such as one-arm preacher curls, one-legged leg press and machine shoulder presses.

13. Rest/pause for the big lifts: This technique is great for the “big lifts” such as bench presses (all angles), leg presses, shoulder presses, and arm curls. Load a bar with a little more weight than you can handle for your normal rep range. Perform a set of 2 to 4 reps then rack the weight for 5 to 15 seconds. Perform 2 to 4 more reps and rack it again. Once more and you are done. One or two series like this is all you need for a particular movement. A smith machine can be your best friend at times like this.

 

14. Use forced reps sparingly: It is fine to use forced reps on the last couple of reps of your last set, but try not to attempt them on every single set for countless reps. Lift a weight you can handle with good form then after you have met failure have your partner help a little with one or two more reps.

15. Blast through weak points with compound supersets: A compound superset is when two sets are done back to back with different movements but for the same body part. This is a brutal way to “wake up” more muscle fibers to get it to react. 

16. Use these intensity techniques sparingly: The last thing you want to do is run into the overtraining state. Use them once per week and one at a time.

 17. Hydrate: Drink plenty of water while you train. We lose an enormous amount of fluid during training and it must be replaced if building a better physique is our goal.

18. Set a time limit: Some days you may feel like you drag in the gym. Try to get your whole workout in say an hour. This will prevent you from too much lag time and more productivity while training.

19. Simplify: If you find yourself using every technique in the book, scale back and do straight sets of compound lifts keeping it simple for a few weeks.

20. Take off: Sometimes what everyone needs is a little well-deserved rest away from the gym to help recharge our “batteries.” After a few days away you will be ready to get back at it with a brand new attitude and muscle pump!


Things You Need to Give Up Today

When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.

So starting today…

      • Give up trying to be perfect.

– The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.

Read Getting Things Done.

  • Give up comparing yourself to others. – The only person you are competing against is yourself.
  • Give up dwelling on the past or worrying too much about the future. – Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.  Right now is life.  Don’t miss it.
  • Give up complaining. – Do something about it.
  • Give up holding grudges. – Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.
  • Give up waiting. – What we don’t start today won’t be finished by tomorrow.  Knowledge and intelligence are both useless without action.
  • Give up lying. – In the long-run the truth always reveals itself.  Either you own up to your actions or your actions will ultimately own you.
  • Give up trying to avoid mistakes. – The only mistake that can truly hurt you is choosing to do nothing simply because you’re too scared to make a mistake.
  • Give up saying, “I can’t.” – As Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”
  • Give up trying to be everything to everyone. – Making one person smile can change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.  Start small.  Start now.
  • Give up thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises.  Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
  • Give up setting small goals for yourself. – Many people set small goals because they’re afraid to fail.  Ironically, setting these small goals is what makes them fail.
  • Give up trying to do everything by yourself. – You are the sum of the people you spend the most time with.  If you work together, you will be far more capable and powerful than you ever could have been alone.
  • Give up buying things you don’t need. – Manage your money wisely so your money does not manage you.  Do not spend to impress others.  Do not live life trying to fool yourself into thinking wealth is measured in material objects.  Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
  • Give up blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can live your dream life depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life.  When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.
  • Give up making mountains out of molehills. – One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time?  Three years?  Five years?  If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
  • Give up trying to live up to the expectations of others. – Work on it for real and exceed your own expectations.  Everything else will fall into place.
  • Give up the ‘easy street’ mentality. – There is too much emphasis on finding a ‘quick fix’ in today’s society.  For example taking diet pills to lose weight instead of exercising and eating well.  No amount of magic fairy dust replaces diligent, focused, hard work.
  • Give up making promises you can’t keep. – Don’t over-promise.  Over-deliver on everything you do.
  • Give up letting your thoughts and feelings bottle up inside. – People are not mind readers.  They will never know how you feel unless you tell them.
  • Give up beating around the bush. – Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Communicate effectively.
  • Give up avoiding change. – However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.  That’s the one thing you can count on.  So embrace change and realize that change happens for a reason.  It won’t always be easy or obvious at first, but in the end it will be worth it.
  • Give up your sense of entitlement. – Nobody is entitled to anything in this world.  We are all equal.  We breathe the same air.  We get what we give.  We get what we earn.
  • Give up waiting until the last minute. – Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
  • Give up being dramatic. – Stay out of other people’s drama and don’t needlessly create your own.
  • Give up being anti-athletic. – Get your body moving!  Simply take a long, relaxing walk or commit 30 minutes to an at-home exercise program like the P90X workout.
  • Give up junk food. – You are what you eat.  Read The 4-Hour Body.
  • Give up eating as a means of entertainment. – Don’t eat when you’re bored.  Eat when you’re hungry.
  • Give up foolish habits that you know are foolish. – Don’t text and drive.  Don’t drink and drive.  Don’t smoke.  Etc.
  • Give up relationships with people who bring you down. – Saying “no” to right people gives you the time and resources required to say “yes” to right opportunities.  Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded.
  • Give up being shy. – Network with people.  Meet new people.  Ask questions.  Introduce yourself.
  • Give up worrying about what others think of you. – Unless you’re trying to make a great first impression (job interview, first date, etc.), don’t let the opinions of others stand in your way.  What they think and say about you isn’t important.  What is important is how you feel about yourself.
  • Give up trying to control everything. – Life is an unpredictable phenomenon.  No matter how good or bad things seem right now, we can never be 100% certain what will happen next.  So do you best with what’s in front of you and leave the rest to the powers above you.
  • Give up doing the same thing over and over again. – In order to grow, you must expand your horizons and break free of your comfort zone.  If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.
  • Give up following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile.  Don’t find the easy way out.  Do something extraordinary.
  • Give up persistent multi-tasking. – Do one thing at a time and do it right.
  • Give up thinking others are luckier than you. – The harder you work, the luckier you will become.
  • Give up filling every waking moment with commitments and activities. – It’s okay to be alone.  It’s okay to do nothing sometimes.  Think.  Relax. Breathe.  Be.
  • Give up making emotional decisions. – Don’t let your emotions trump your intelligence.  Slow down and think things through before you make any life-changing decisions.
  • Give up doing the wrong things just because you can get away with it. – Just because you can get away with something doesn’t mean you should do it.  Think bigger.  Keep the end in mind.  Do what you know in your heart is right.
  • Give up focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen.  Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story.  If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
  • Give up taking yourself so seriously. – Few others do anyway.  So enjoy yourself and have a little fun while you can.
  • Give up spending your life working in a career field you’re notpassionate about. – Life is too short for such nonsense.  The right career choice is based on one key point: Finding hard work you love doing.  So if you catch yourself working hard and loving every minute of it, don’t stop.  You’re on to something big.  Because hard work ain’t hard when you concentrate on your passions.  Read The 4-Hour Workweek.
  • Give up thinking about the things you don’t have. – Appreciate everything you do have.  Many people aren’t so lucky.
  • Give up doubting others. – People who are determined do remarkable things.  Remember, the one who says it can’t be done should never interrupt the one doing it.
  • Give up fussing with every beauty product on the market. – Good looks attracts the eyes.  Personality attracts the heart.  Be proud to be you.  That’s when you’re beautiful.
  • Give up trying to fit in. – Don’t mold yourself into someone you’re not.  Be yourself.  Oftentimes, the only reason they want you to fit in is that once you do they can ignore you and go about their business.
  • Give up trying to be different for the sake of being different. – Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity is conformity.  When people try too hard to be different, they usually end up being just like everyone else who is trying to be different.  Once again, be yourself.
  • Give up trying to avoid risk. – There’s no such thing as ‘risk free.’  Everything you do or don’t do has an inherent risk.
  • Give up putting your own needs on the back burner. – Yes, help others, but help yourself too.  If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

And remember, mistakes make us human, failures help us grow, hope keeps us going and love is the reason we’re alive.  So keep learning, loving and living.  Never give up on yourself.

This Excellent Article comes from marcandangel 

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7 Tricks to Increase Your Motivation to Exercise

I want to share with you 7 effective strategies that can help increase your motivation to exercise and eat well. It may only take one method, or a combination of a few to help you stay extremely motivated, so read on!

1) Write Down Specific Goals

You’ve probably heard that setting goals is important, but that’s not enough. Goals must be specific, quantifiable, and associated with a length of time. In addition, write down your goals on a sheet of paper and consider reading them aloud twice per day (morning and evening). Reading aloud your goals, known as autosuggestion, will help condition your subconscious mind to believe in your goals. Your outward actions (exercising and eating well) will reflect this desire and belief.

2) Write a Contract

Sounds kind of crazy, but writing a contract (even with yourself) has been proven to help people stay motivated. In the contract, you can include the following:

  1. Specific fitness goal
  2. What you plan on doing to reach your fitness goals (how many times per     week you will exercise etc.)
  3. Address your barriers to exercise and eating well and how you plan on overcoming them (i.e. avoid the sugar cravings, or not use lack of time as an excuse to miss a workout)
  4. Date at which you must reach your fitness goal
  5. Your signature and the date you signed the contract.

You can create a strong sense of accountability with the right contract, especially if you put some skin in the game (maybe even put some money on the line). There are tons of ways to help inspire you to make a commitment that you won’t break, so be creative!

3) Visualization

Do you have a picture in your mind of how you want your body to look and feel? Let’s dig deeper. Try to answer the following questions about your visualization:

  • What are you wearing?
  • What are you doing?
  • Who are you with?
  • How exactly do you feel? What is your emotional state?
  • What is it about the way you look/feel that is so appealing? Anything in particular?

Now since you have a very clear and more detailed image of your visualization, whenever you are faced with a barrier to exercise or healthy eating, think of this visualization. Think about it often.

4) Find an Emotional Trigger

Many times, there is one final trigger before we take action to workout and eat better. The emotional trigger can be a doctor telling us we have high cholesterol, or may become diabetic. Maybe when you went to slip on your favorite pair of pants, you felt like a sausage about to burst. Find your emotional trigger and use it to your advantage. For example, if you have that pair of pants that reminds you of your weight gain and how you don’t want to feel, keep it hanging from your closet in clear view. Every time you come home from work and are considering skipping a workout, those darn pants will be staring at you.

5) Track your Progress

If you don’t track your progress, you will have no idea if you are on the path towards reaching your goals. Do not become distraught if you show no progress initially. Like a scientist in a lab, dispassionately assess the feedback (whether good or bad) and adjust your fitness program accordingly. Over time, seeing your weight go down, your energy levels increase, or any other positive change can be a huge motivator.

6) Build a Support Group

Building a support group can be as easy as telling your close friends and family about your fitness goals and plans of action. Making changes to your lifestyle can be challenging, so developing a support group will help create positive energy around your efforts, which can come in handy when you need it most. Building support also provides a constant external reminder of the commitment you made to yourself.

7) Subscribe to a Fitness Newsletter/Blog

Consistently receiving fitness related emails has been shown by some studies to help improve exercise adherence. There are thousands of fitness newsletters and blogs to choose from on the Internet. BuiltLean.com may be a great choice for you, but I’m slightly biased. I also think having me in your inbox a couple times per week can do wonders for your motivation!

Is there something that I missed that helped you stay motivated to reach your goals? Did any of these 7 methods work for you? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!


How to Flatten and Firm Your Belly

How to Flatten and Firm Your BellythumbnailShape Your Stomach!!!

Lost the belly fat? Ready to flatten and firm your belly?! Getting your stomach in shape will take work but will pay off fast. Take anywhere between 15-30 minutes each day to complete several of these exercises. Working out your abs can be so much fun because there are so many different exercises. Mix it up and make an abs workout enjoyable! Use these tips to flatten and firm your belly!!

Things You’ll Need
Positive Attitude, Motivation, Determination, Time

Instructions

  • 1

EXERCISE ONE. Basic Crunch. On your back, bend your knees with feet on the floor and place hands behind your head. Lifting with your chin and squeezing your abs, bring your shoulder blades off the ground as high as you can. Squeeze those abs for 20 reps. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and/or workout ball. Crunch your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!

  • 2

EXERCISE TWO. Pelvic Lift. On your back, bend your knees with feet on the floor and place hands beside your body. Lift your legs by squeezing your abs and work the lower part of the stomach. Lift your butt off the ground as high as you can. Squeeze those abs for 20 reps. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and/or workout ball. Lift your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!

  • 3
EXERCISE THREE. Leg Raise. On your back, straighten your legs out on the floor and place hands beside your body. Raise legs to the ceiling. Slowly, release the legs back down 2 inches off the ground for 20 reps. Keep you lower back pressed against the ground. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and/or workout ball. Raise your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!
  • 4

EXERCISE FOUR. Leg Hold. On your back, straighten your legs out on the floor and place hands beside your body. Lift legs 2 inches off the ground and hold your legs and abs in this position for 20 seconds. Keep your lower back pressed against the ground. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and/or workout ball. Hold your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!

  • 5

EXERCISE FIVE. Leg Extend. On your back, straighten your legs out on the floor and place hands behind your head. Lifting with your chin and squeezing your abs, bring your shoulder blades off the ground as high as you can. Tighten those abs for 20 reps. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and /or workout ball. Extend your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!

  • 6

EXERCISE SIX. Tummy Tuck. On your elbows and hands, extend your legs back with toes on the floor. Straighten your body and tuck in your tummy. Do not stick your butt out. Keep your butt in line with your body. Hold your body and abs in this position for 20 seconds. Repeat this set 3 times. Add intensity with weights, medicine ball, and/or workout ball. Tuck your abs and flatten and firm your belly!!

Read more: How to Flatten and Firm Your Belly | 


7 Ways to Boost Your Metabolic Rate & Lose Weight

working out in the gym

Being fit and healthy isn’t just about six-pack abs or buns of steel. It means losing fat and staying lean, not losing weight and staying thin. The safest path towards physical fitness is through your metabolism.Boost your metabolicsix-pack abs rate or the amount of energy spent in a given time so the next time you sit in front of the television, you are burning 100 calories, instead of just one. With a simple tweak in your lifestyle, you can improve your health significantly and obtain the body you’ve always wanted.

1. Meal Time Management

eating breakfast

When you sleep, your metabolism slows down too. It will only resume its normal rate after your next meal. If you skip breakfast, your body burns only a few calories so you still have enough energy to survive until your next meal. On the other hand, eating a solid 350-calorie breakfast revs up your metabolic rate instantly and maintains that pace throughout the day.

Load up your breakfast with high-fiber carbohydrates, such as whole grain cereals, egg whites and fruits. Compared to fats, it takes some time before your body absorbs these carbs. This is good because you won’t get hungry easily and avoid overeating during meals.

Likewise, avoid any midnight snacks, especially right before bedtime. Since you don’t do any physical activity in your sleep, food becomes fat instead of energy. Go light on your dinner and reserve the bulk of your appetite for the next day.

2. Eat All Day

Consume five to six small meals rather than three large plates each day to keep your metabolism active. Despite how odd this strategy seems, it helps you avoid an empty stomach and considerably improves your digestion. Contrary to popular belief, not eating after six pm does not make you lose more weight. You can savor a healthy meal until three hours before you hit the sack.

Eat a small meal every three to four hours. For your lunch and dinner, add more protein sources like chicken, tuna, fish and legumes. Protein is even harder to break down than fats and carbohydrates. Your body will certainly burn a few calories getting rid of them. Grab a combination of yogurt, fruit and low fat food as snack.

3. Spice Up Your Life

Add a pinch of pepper to your noontime tofu or dinner soup. Spices temporarily heighten your resting metabolic rate by releasing more stress hormones like adrenaline. More jalapeno and cayenne peppers mean more burned calories.

Making your meal extra spicy also tends to make you feel stuffed faster even if you’ve only consumed half your plate. Don’t forget to maintain a low-fat meal before ordering a box of Indian curry or Bicol Express.

4. Calorie Counting

Nobody likes crunch numbers, especially during meals. However, calorie counting is a great way to monitor your fitness level. Remember that your body will always try to normalize your system, including your weight. If you start reducing 1,000 calories from your diet, your body responds by slowing down your metabolism because it assumes that you are starving.

There is no golden rule in determining the ideal amount of calories you need to take. This isn’t exact science so reduce your calorie intake in moderation and never do anything drastic to your diet.

5. Drink Water

Despite how simple this sounds, many people take drinking water for granted. Metabolism needs water to digest food. If you want to speed up your metabolic rate, you need to drink more water. Drink at least eight glasses or two liters of water a day and add an extra cup or two if you do heavy exercises.

Skip the cocktail or beer during meals. Water, not alcohol, makes up roughly 60% of your body. Liquor also causes people to eat more. When you drink, your body burns the alcohol first while the rest of your meal becomes nothing more than fat. Now you know how a beer belly is formed.

drinking water

6. Do Sweat It

No physical fitness program is complete without the right amount of exercise. Nobody wants to do it but everybody needs it. Lifting weights greatly increases your metabolic rate, even when you aren’t doing anything. If you have enough muscle density, you can burn at least 100 calories by watching television alone.

Diet and exercise go together like Crockett and Tubbs. They are absolutely essential to your health and fitness. Muscle burns more calories than fat, while running endlessly in place won’t get you far either. Combine cardiovascular activities with intense strength workouts to lose fat quickly. The weight you lose must be from fat, not muscles.

exercise

7. Relax, Rest and Retire

Finally, something easy! Getting ample sleep of at least seven hours is also an integral part of obtaining physical fitness. If your sleeping pattern is messed up, your body doesn’t function properly. If your body is tired, it doesn’t have enough energy to burn calories.

When you don’t sleep, you get stressed easily. When this happens, your body releases a wave of stress hormones that increases your appetite and produces more fat. If you exercise regularly and have a normal diet, getting a good night’s sleep shouldn’t be a problem.

getting a much needed rest

Win the battle of the bulge by incorporating these simple adjustments to your daily routine. Attaining physical fitness should never be a chore. Instead, use it as motivation so you could add a little more pizzazz to your daily experiences and get the most out of life.

Getting a sexy, well-sculpted body is something many people aim for, so once you lose enough weight, it’s now time to switch to a new goal: get a six pack. A lot of people will certainly envy you once you take off your shirt! Learn how to get a six pack and gain muscles with these tips.


Think Fit

A diet rich in soy and whey protein, found in ...

Image via Wikipedia

After a routine doctor visit reveals borderline high blood pressure, you decide to take your wellness seriously. You plan to eat more veggies, cut back on fast food and hit the gym more often. But why not start with that bottle of metabolism-boosting multivitamins in your kitchen cabinet?

Rather than guzzle coffee or orange juice the next morning, you swallow your vitamin with a tall glass of water. As though by some miracle, your spirits lift and your running shoes appear less daunting. Maybe there’s something to those vitamins after all. Or was it simply your mind?

The placebo effect of supplements are important as they boost self-esteem, courage and the thought that the person can achieve a task they would otherwise not attempt.

Placebo Power

While taking multivitamins or supplements may not provide any tangible benefits, making the conscious decision to incorporate them into your routine can help set you on the right fitness path.

“The placebo effect of supplements are important as they boost self-esteem, courage and the thought that the person can achieve a task they would otherwise not attempt,” says Margery Segal, a licensed clinical psychologist.

If you believe you’ve been cursed with a slow metabolism, for example, and are told that a placebo pill will rev your metabolism, you’ll be more inclined to make healthier food choices. The same may hold true with exercise. If you believe you lack stamina, you’re more likely to fizzle out midway through your workout.

Although research regarding the effectiveness of placebos on dietary changes and fitness is limited, numerous studies point to positive effects.

In a multitrial study published in “Perspectives in Biological Medicine” in October 2010, researchers compared traditional Chinese acupuncture and “sham” acupuncture, in which superficial needles were inserted at nonacupuncture points. Little difference was detected between the effectiveness of authentic and sham acupuncture. In one of the trials, for example, 100 patients with chronic back pain received acupuncture treatments regularly for five weeks. Of the patients who received sham acupuncture treatment, 44 percent responded positively. The success rate for patients who received authentic acupuncture was only slightly higher, at 48 percent.

If the same holds true in regard to fitness, simply believing that a multivitamin, dietary supplement or alternative treatment can boost your energy, metabolism or athletic performance may lead to those results.

“Making a conscious choice to take a daily vitamin is more a reflection of someone’s intent than anything else,” said Tina Ruggiero, a registered dietitian and author of “The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet.” “Will this lead to improved food choices? Perhaps. It’s not the same as shopping smart … or cooking a healthy meal. However, if taking a vitamin is the first step to adopting other, healthy habits, then I’d say the individual is off to a good start.”

Take dietary supplements with caution, however, as they all have the potential for causing adverse side effects, particularly if you take megadoses or use supplements containing stimulants or questionable ingredients.

Reversing the Negative Thought Train

The $40 billion-plus American diet and weight loss industry can make it difficult to believe that lifestyle improvements are feasible without a magic pill or diet plan. Retraining your mind to focus on positive thoughts and beliefs is often vital for significant, lasting success.

Hypnosis is one way you might attain this, according to John McGrail, a licensed hypnotherapist. Hypnosis creates a highly suggestible and focused state of mind that is believed to afford direct access to the subconscious — where most of your feelings, habits and behaviors originate. But first you have to want it., said McGrail.

“Most clients who truly desire to change and are willing to commit to themselves and do the work do really well,” McGrail said. “I have had clients easily make the emotional and attitudinal changes they needed in as few as two sessions and then begin and follow a program resulting in losing over 80 pounds. Conversely, I have had a few who simply had no success after many more sessions.”

During a session, a hypnotherapist guides you toward changing behaviors, habits and emotions based on your wants and needs. If your goal is eating more healthfully, the therapist may suggest that you’ll feel full faster, begin craving nutritious foods or eat mindfully, savoring every bite. If you wish to exercise more often, your therapist may suggest that you look forward to opportunities to exercise and relish the sensations physical activity provides.

Although the number and length of sessions varies, hypnosis is generally considered a short-term therapy, whereas psychotherapy is often long-term. Hypnosis may also complement other treatment forms.

What Lies Beneath?

The link between emotions and wellness beckons the proverbial question, “Which came first — the chicken or the egg?” says Segal.

“Meeting and maintaining one’s fitness goals can lead to emotional wellness,” Segal said. “In addition, emotional wellness can lead to meeting and maintaining one’s fitness goals. In both cases behavior and motivation are of utmost importance in the success of fitness goals.”

Work and relationship stress, anger, boredom, fear, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, and fatigue can disrupt your health and wellness goals, particularly if you abide by the belief that changing your weight, pant size or appearance is the key to happiness or a solution to all of your problems. An online survey showed that 90 percent of 17,000 unsuccessful dieters relapsed into less healthy eating patterns due to emotional issues, according to a May 2011 “Good Housekeeping” article.

Emotional eating is a means of “stuffing” your true emotions, and thus not resolving them, says Segal.

If you’ve learned to use food as a coping mechanism, seek other ways of managing stress and negative emotions, such as psychotherapy, meditation or working through, rather than “eating” your way through, conflicts.

Lethargy, depression and weight gain can also stem from illnesses, such as thyroid disease and clinical depression, so discuss severe symptoms with your doctor and get an annual checkup.

Think in Moderation

Over-thinking your wellness goals can be equally or more damaging than addressing them.

“Some people obsess [over reaching] their goals perfectly, and since there is not such thing as perfect, they can never be content,” Segal said.

Obsessing over nutrition or dieting can lead to or indicate serious conditions, such as eating and anxiety disorders.

If you choose to count every calorie in and every calorie out, for example, you’re more likely to experience frustration, anxiety and give up. A highly restrictive diet is a “trap,” according to Ruggiero. “You’ll stumble, fall, binge and restart the vicious cycle again.”

Instead, address your goals gradually. Do your best to make healthy dietary choices and incorporate some form of physical activity into most days. Hiking with friends, walking your dog, dancing and taking the stairs instead of the elevator can be as valuable as pounding the rubber pavement of the treadmill. Allowing for occasional indulgences, such as french fries or ice cream, may guard against a sense of deprivation, frustration and surrender.

“Achieving small milestones along the road to good health will turn into habits you can maintain over time, and that’s key,” Ruggiero said. “Forget the all-or-nothing approach. Slow and steady wins the race.”


Myths and Facts About Back Pain!!!

 The Truth About Back Pain
It might be a sharp stab. It might be a dull ache. Sooner or later, eight out of 10 of us will have back pain. Back pain is common — and so are back pain myths. See if you can tell the myths from the facts
Myth: Always sit up straight to prevent back pain.
Okay, slouching is bad for your back. But sitting up too straight too still for too long can be a strain on the back. If you sit a lot, try this a few times a day: Lean back in your chair with your feet on the floor and a slight curve in your back. Even better: Try standing for part of the day, while on the phone or while reading work materials.
Myth: Lifting heavy objects hurts your back.
It’s not necessarily how much you lift, it’s how you lift. Of course you shouldn’t lift anything that might be too heavy for you. When you lift, squat close to the object with your back straight and head up. Stand, using your legs to lift the load. Do not twist or bend your body while lifting. It can really hurt your back to twist while bending and lifting with your feet on the floor — as you might do when reaching down from a chair to lift a dropped pencil.
Myth: Stay in bed until back pain goes away.
Yes, resting can help an acute injury or strain that causes back pain. But it’s a myth that you should stay in bed. A day or two in bed can make your back pain worse.
Myth: Back pain is always caused by an injury.
Disc degeneration, injuries, diseases, infections, and even inherited conditions can cause back pain.
Fact: Overweight people suffer more back pain.
Staying fit helps prevent back pain. Back pain is most common among people who are out of shape, especially weekend warriors who engage in vigorous activity after sitting around all week. And as you might guess, obesity stresses the back.
Myth: Skinny people don’t get back pain.
Anyone can get back pain. In fact, people who are too thin, such as those suffering from anorexia, an eating disorder, may suffer bone loss resulting in fractured or crushed vertebrae.
Myth: Exercise is bad for your back pain.
A big myth. Regular exercise prevents back pain. And for people suffering an acute injury resulting in lower back pain, doctors may recommend an exercise program that begins with gentle exercises and gradually increases in intensity. Once the acute pain subsides, an exercise regimen may help prevent future recurrence of back pain.
Fact: Chiropractic adjustments can help back pain.
The American College of Physicians and American Pain Society guidelines for treatment of lower back pain recommend that patients and doctors consider spinal manipulation — either by a chiropractor or a massage therapist — for patients with back pain.
Fact: Acupuncture can help back pain.
According to guidelines from the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society, patients and their doctors should consider acupuncture among treatments for back pain patients who do not get relief from standard self care. Yoga, progressive relaxation, and cognitive-behavioral therapy are also suggested for consideration.
Myth: A super-firm mattress is best for your back.
A Spanish study of people with longstanding, non-specific back pain showed that those who slept on a medium-firm mattress — rated 5.6 on a 10-point hard-to-soft scale — had less back pain and disability than those who slept on a firm mattress (2.3 on the scale) mattress. However, depending on their sleep habits and the cause of their back pain, different people may need different mattresses.

20 Useful Things You Can Accomplish In 15 Minutes

Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.
Life is made up of nothing more than a series of moments. If you can find some way to pull 15 extra minutes out of a hat, you’d better at least use them wisely. Where will you find these moments, and when you find them, how will you use them?

Just 15 extra minutes a day will convert into a powerful 91 hours a year. That’s a massive chunk of time that you can use to acquire new skills and get things done. The benefit is seen when we create a daily habit and commit those 15 minutes to something worthwhile. You can wake up 15 minutes earlier, steal 15 minutes from lunch, after work, or right before bed — the choice is yours.

Once you’ve figured out which sleeve those 15 minutes are hiding under, you’re ready to pick your target. You can mix-and-match from the list below, or choose a specific item to focus on over weeks, months, or even a year. The key is your commitment to cultivate a habit, from which your life will improve.

20 Useful Things You Can Accomplish In 15 Minutes

1. Stretch. If you stretch for 15 minutes every day you will become very flexible. It will be easier for you to move around, exercise, and it will facilitate the flow of blood throughout your body. This extra flow will improve your overall health and improve your mental focus.

2. Read. Pick a time when you can read, without interruptions, for a solid 15 minutes each day. You’ll find that you’re able to get through certain books in a week or two, and you’re increasing your knowledge and mental capacity with minimal effort. You may discover a new passion, or master a subject over the course of a year through this small time commitment.

3. Run. Do a series of short sprints with intervals between running and resting. This is the best way to build up speed and increase your body’s capacity to utilize oxygen. At the same time you will be powering up your body with higher energy levels throughout the rest of your day.

4. Calisthenics. This form of exercising involves sit-ups, push-ups, trunk twists, squats, chin-ups, etc., which basically means using your own body weight as resistance. It’s very effective to build muscle tone and get your exercise on, and it hardly requires any equipment (other than perhaps a chin-up bar).

5. Sleep. I just told you to find 15 minutes, and now I’m recommending that you sleep them away? This one is more useful during the middle of the day. If you have a set schedule, and you can conveniently fit a 15 minute nap, you can catch a second wind that will leave you feeling energized for the second half of your day.

6. Cook. This might not be enough time to make an extensive meal, but it is sufficient enough to put something together. Make yourself a sandwich, or get some leftovers together, so that you don’t have to eat out for lunch. You’ll save a lot of money using this method.

7. Write. Depending on your writing skill, you may be able to take a nice chunk out of writing a 50,000 word novel (it’s less than you think), over the span of a couple of years, if you use your 15 minutes a day wisely. If it takes you longer, so be it, but eventually you will have the finished product in your hand. This won’t happen unless you sit down and write.

8. Talk (aka Listen). You can use your newly found time to build solid relationships with several people, or an even closer one with one special person. You can both look forward to these 15 minutes, whether in person or over the phone, and share your goals, dreams, and accomplishments with each other. If 15 minutes is too little time for you to talk then just listen to them for 15 minutes and they’ll love you for it.

9. Draw. While 15 minutes a day, over the course of a year, may not be enough time to build a professional collection, it’s still mighty useful. You can use these 15 minutes to create several nice drawings, but more importantly it will sharpen your skill and give you a creative outlet.

10. Blog. I’ll admit that it takes me longer than 15 minutes to write a blog post, but you can take the short and sweet approach yourself. In 15 minutes you can craft and publish some witty commentary or useful information about a breaking topic that your readers would truly appreciate.

11. Journal. One of the best gifts you can give yourself is the ability to reflect upon your life. You can do this by keeping a journal of the biggest highlights within your life. Taking just 15 minutes a day to write down how you feel, what you learned, and what you want out of life will help you track where you’ve been and where you want to go.

12. Visit nature. Bask in the beauty and serenity that nature has selflessly provided us with. Go to a forest, park, or simply sit under a tree, and do nothing, read a book, or chat with a friend. While out walking I saw a kid sitting under a tree with his laptop; while not the most effective use of nature, it still beats doing the required homework inside the house on a beautiful day.

13. Meditate. The research is in, and there’s no doubt that stress is a killer. I’ve learned extensively in my Masters program about the physiological damage that stress causes within us. Meditation is one of the very best ways to relieve stress, and it has many other benefits as well. Do yourself a favor and try this on.

14. Organize. In 15 minute bursts there is a lot you can do to organize your life. You can clean a table top, the desktop on your computer, your bookshelf, organize your clothes, vacuum your house, bathroom, kitchen, etc. Just know that your 15 minutes are dedicated to some form of cleaning, and you’ll notice that your environment and eventually your mind will be that much more clutter free.

15. Plan. Spend 15 minutes planning out your day, or week. By spending time planning every single day you’ll end up saving hours by remembering the right supplies, making special arrangements, and cutting out unnecessary steps. Planning makes a difference.

16. Network. Whether it’s for your job, or some kind of recreational endeavor, you can use your 15 minutes to network and make friends. You can do this by using twitter, or creating a template e-mail and searching out new people to contact with it. Even if you contact 5 people a day, that’s 1825 potential contacts over the year. That’s just the point, it adds up.

17. Research. With Google at your fingertips you can find out some very useful information about your health, hobby, career, or some way to improve your life. You can even buy access into scientific journals and do some significant medical research in your spare time.

18. Play catch. You won’t find too many activities easier than tossing the ball around between two people. It’s great exercise, it’s relaxing yet invigorating, and a great opportunity to talk and bond.

19. Eat slowly. Do not treat eating as one of life’s little inconveniences. Instead, eat slowly and enjoy each bite as if it were your last, and if it were, know that you got the most out of it by using an extra 15 minutes to extract pleasure from each morsel of food.

20. Self-improvement. Take 15 minutes a day to read some articles by your favorite writers who compress massive amounts of information into practical, easy to read, and very informative articles.


8 Ways To Stop Being Afraid of Making Wrong Decisions

Every morning we wake up and face a new day with new challenges. It’s  human nature and this is the course of life. Even if I was not always prepared for whatever fate has given me to carry on my shoulders I struggled and I managed to get all things to an end.

One of the greatest challenges I faced was fear: fear of change, fear of making wrong decisions and fear of holding my point of view. This instinct of fear can mess up our lives distorting the way we look at ourselves and at the people around us. From definitions, fear is a pre-programmed emotion that acts as an instinctual response to potential danger. And this instinctual response causes different physical reactions, because when we are afraid, the adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol are released into the blood stream.

We can say there are two types of fear: healthy and unhealthy fear. For example if we are afraid of spiders or if we are afraid of not succeeding something, then we have an unhealthy fear. This fear is unproductive, it’s stressing us and it’s repressing our actions, blocking the normal course of things. On the other side, if we are smoking a lot and we are afraid of putting our health in danger, then this is a healthy fear. This healthy fear could motivate us to take better decisions and to better organize our life.

Unfortunately, what we face most are unhealthy fears. “The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness” says Dorothy Thompson.

 As I mentioned at the beginning, fear is the instinctual response to potential danger, therefore we must analyze and manage the “potential danger” in order to stop being afraid.

  1. See beyond the danger. When we face a potential danger we panic and this makes us take wrong decisions or run away from responsibilities. What we should do instead is take a deep breath and think of all possible consequences and implications. Many times,things are not as bad as we think they are.
  2. Take a positive attitude. We are strong enough to manage all the problems and nothing can stop us.
  3. Expand our comfort zone. There are three important zones where we can be situated: the comfort zone, the learning zone and the panic zone. Let’s think of it as three circles one inside another. The unexpected gets us out of the comfort zone and into the learning zone which leads to the panic zone. It was proved by scientists that operating on the edge of our comfort zone is the best place to learn and grow.  As long as we are “inside” it’s ok, but if we face a new and different situation we get out of these zones and move into the panic zone. We have to learn how to behave and how to manage the new situations without being afraid of taking wrong decisions. After all, is practice and learning that make these transitions less scary, resulting in an expansion of the comfort zone.
  4. When you want to give up, do one more step. This step is about pushing our limits and becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. We never know we will succeed unless we actually try.
  5. Do not avoid or postpone tasks and activities. I often find myself postponing and delaying certain activities just because I am afraid of the result. In the end, we still have to do that thing and with time passing it might become even harder and we won’t get rid of it. More that that the pressure and the stress will become more intense. So let’s do things at the right time and feel a great release indifferent the result.
  6. Don’t be afraid of competition. We are just competitors – like all the others. We don’t have to give up fighting just because we are scared. Just because we can’t read fear on our competitors’ face this doesn’t mean they are not scared. The first rule in winning is to participate! 
  7. Strengthen your will with religious beliefs. If you are a religious person, then you should know that fear is not a God’s will. God wants us to be strong and to carry our problems with strength. Take some time to say a prayer and “have a talk with God”.
  8. Get enough sleep. Usually when we get into these situations, we neglect one of the most important things: sleep. If our body does not rest enough, there will appear another variable, fatigue, which will aggravate our situation even more. Sleep enough because it’s vital to be fresh when you take important decisions.

We might all have some fear about the future and about the unknown but we must always keep in mind that “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.


Losing Love Handles

1) Love handles will disappear fastest with two powerful techniques.

a) Interval training

A recent study from Australia showed that interval training causes more belly fat loss than slow cardio. The study was in women, but the authors said it would work just as well in men.

b) Tight nutrition

You have to tell the readers, “Listen, if you want advanced results, you have to do advanced things. Such as cutting all the processed carbohydrates from your diet. 1 cheat reward meal per week.

Note: That’s cheat MEAL, not cheat DAY.

Give up breakfast cereals, and replace as many grain carbs with fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Losing your love handles isn’t going to happen if you insist on treating yourself to a Frappacino, Pepsi, and slice of pizza everyday. It means eating meals of lean protein, fiber-rich vegetables, and snacking on apples and nuts between meals.”

2) Common mistake is too much cardio. Its not going to work as well as interval training.

Another common mistake is that guys don’t have enough muscle in the first place to diet down to the point where they can lose their love handles.

Losing love handles, like bodybuilding, is a game of illusion. If you have muscle on chest and back, you’ll “get away” with having more fat on your love handle area – even though it will look like you don’t have love handles.

So most guys are skinny fat, and then try to lose love handles with cardio only, and basically become even smaller versions of themselves…but still skinny-fat.

Its better to use intervals and weight training to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – which IS possible – and change your bodys appearance overall.

3) If a guy could only make one change to his program to lose his love handles, it would be removing classic ab exercises like crunches, twists, etc, and replacing them with interval training.

Ab exercises like crunches are generally a waste of time.

4) But exercise is really not the main barrier…its diet. Its just too easy for most guys to cheat.

They have to realize that they have to have more discpline if they want advanced results.

5) So what type of interval program to use?

Here’s one…after a thorough warmup, do…
- 20 seconds hard, 40 seconds recovery.
- repeat 6 to 8 times
- Finish with 5-10 minutes cooldown. If you have extra time, do 10 minutes of regular cardio pace.

6) Build up these muscles to create the illusion of smaller love handles

- pecs and lats and deltoids and traps

Most guys don’t have enough muscle to focus on just losing weight, so every guy must build some muscle in these areas.

7) How to build the muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Do two to three total body workouts per week

- Use 5 exercises per workout (Do my “Big 5″ fat loss movements)
(1 lower body, 1 upper push, 1 lower body single leg, 1 upper pulling, 1 total body ab exercise)

- do as a circuit. go through circuit 3 times. 8-12 reps per ex

Finish with interval training.

Burn fat and build muscle for summer,


10 Surprising Health Benefits of Making Love

Getting sex on is about more than just about pleasure. Good sexual health can perk up your bodily health. It certainly puts you in a optimistic frame of wits. Conserve power, turn off lights and light a candle. Save water, share a shower and soap each other. Go green between the sheets. This is more than a lifehack for mating, more than a justification to have sex.

10. A Lower Blood Pressure Level

A big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. Then the researchers subjected them to stressful situations — such as speaking in public and doing verbal arithmetic — and noted their blood pressure response to stress. Those who had intercourse had better responses to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained. Another study published in the same journal found that frequent intercourse was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure in cohabiting participants. Yet other research found a link between partner hugs and lower blood pressure in women.

9. An Analgesic

Sex releases the fun-time hormone, oxytocin. And as WebMD reports, “as the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.” Beats taking a double dose of pain relieving analgesic any time.

8. A good Work Out

Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions. “Sex is a great mode of exercise,” says Patti Britton, PhD, a Los Angeles sexologist and president of the American Association of Sexuality Educators and Therapists. It takes work, from both a physical and psychological perspective, to do it well, she says.

7. A Cleansed System

It goes without saying that when we get aroused our blood starts to pump at a quicker rate and, thus, blood flow to our brain increases. Both an increased heart rate and more blood pumping through the brain result in better performance (in and out of the bedroom). What this ultimately means is that the fresh supply of blood pumping through your body provides the organs with a healthy dose of oxygen and rids the body of old and wasteful products. So, another health benefitof sex is a cleansed system. Treat your temple right with the help of a little excitement.

6. Fountain of Youth

Although the orgasm is sometimes referred to as the “little death,” having at least two orgasms a week can increase your life span. Every time you reach orgasm, the hormone DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) increases in response to sexual excitement and ejaculation. DHEA can boost your immune system, repair tissue, improve cognition, keep skin healthy, and even work as an antidepressant. Therefore, a health benefit of sex if you keep the orgasms coming, is potentially a longer life.

5. Healing Wounds & Hearts

Healing can be thought of in many ways. Sometimes a relationship needs to heal. Other times, a person needs to heal. It can be a wound or one suffering from something like diabetes. There have been studies in which evidence suggests that sex heals. Lovemaking can help rejuvenate to the point of cells regenerating and wounds healing faster. Set the stage right for the romp and anything is possible. Oxytocin from the big O, it does a body good.

4. An Anti-depressant

Sex produces phenylethylamine, a love chemical that ups your mood. Also, a study from the StateUniversity of New York shows that women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. Though as study lead Gordon Gallup points out, “I want to make it clear that we are not advocating that people abstain from using condoms.” After all, getting an STD or experiencing an unwanted pregnancy is not going to lift up anyone’s mood.

3. Prevents Cancer

Sex can help reduce the risk of breast cancer for women who have never given birth. A study showed that if a female increases the frequency of sex, she decreases the risks of breast cancer. Sex strengthens the pelvic floor muscles that control the flow of urine. Kegel exercises occur naturally during sex, giving women better bladder control. Frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life, Australian researchers reported in the British Journal of Urology International. When they followed men diagnosed with prostate cancer and those without, they found no association of prostate cancer with the number of sexual partners as the men reached their 30s, 40s, and 50s. But they found men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third.

2. A Hypnotic

After an orgasm, an intense wave of calm and relaxation overcomes humans (that’s why men usually fall asleep) and it’s a time when people can truly liberate themselves and let go. Plenty of people who enjoy a regular dose of sex convey that they sleep much better during the night and feel alive and refreshed throughout the day. So, one of the health benefits of sex is a better nights sleep, which allows you to handle day-to-day stress much more efficiently and helps fight insomnia.

1. Beneficial to Her

Getting down and dirty with her could help her reproductive health. The more sex she has, the more hormones she will produce that are responsible for increased sexual desire. That’s right, the more sex she has, the more sex she will want to have. More lovemaking can increase her levels of estrogen, which protects against osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s. Sex can also help prevent endometriosis in women. Ladies who have sex at least once a week have more regular menstrual cycles than those who frolic under the sheets less frequently. All this sex helps promote fertility in women by regulating menstrual patterns. Post romp, a female gets a jolt of natural oxytocin which in turn releases endorphins. This natural painkiller can help alleviate arthritis pain or lessen cramps. Plus all the practice is perfect if you want to hear the pitter-patter of little carbon footprints. After you’ve made a baby, horizontal dancing can trigger the onset of labor when she’s at term. Semen in her system may help with a speedy delivery. Yes, sex can maybe even help her to tolerate a natural, drug-free birth.


Lose weight the French way

HAVE you ever wondered why most French women appear to be effortlessly slim? The answer could lie in their diet. Not the Mediterranean diet, but a weight-loss program that has been taking the country by storm.

When French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan introduced his Dukan Diet there 10 years ago, the book rushed to the top of the French bestseller list and spawned a dieting revolution.

Today, more than 1.5 million French women swear by its dramatic and long-lasting results.

Politicians, film stars and high-profile models, including Gisele Bündchen and Jennifer Lopez, live the Dukan life, all of them seduced by its promise of permanent slenderness while eating what you like.

The basic rules

The Dukan Diet starts with a short Attack phase, where you eat nothing but protein – just meat, fish, eggs and non-fat dairy products.

This is the kick-start that gives you the initial impetus and sets the tone for the other phases.

This stage produces immediate results – you can lose as much as three kilograms in five days.

You can stick to the Attack phase for as little as one day or as long as 10 days, but if your goal weight is 12 to 20 kilograms away, then five days produces the best results.

If you have about six kilograms to lose, two or three days on the Attack phase works well; if you are looking to slim down by only three kilograms, a single day in the Attack phase (where you’d be expected to lose one kilogram instantly) is often enough to get you started.

A short-term, protein-rich regime purges the tissues of excess water, dulls the appetite (if you eat only protein, your body produces ketonic cells, which are powerful natural appetite suppressants), while maintaining muscle tone.

Proteins are relatively low in kilojoules (compared with fats and many carbohydrates) and their complex structure means the body has to work hard to digest them – you will burn more kilojoules processing protein than any other food.

After one to 10 days in the Attack phase, dieters move on to the Cruise phase. This is the workhorse stage of the diet, where you alternate pure protein days with days when you add vegetables to your protein.

Weight will fall off at a rate of about one kilogram a week, but with a range of meat and vegetables to choose from, you won’t be hungry.

No more constraints

When you reach your ideal weight the Consolidation phase kicks in, releasing dietary constraints and putting fruit, bread, cheese and starchy foods such as pasta back on the menu.

You are even encouraged to have two totally unrestrained celebration meals a week.

This is a doctor’s recommendation and an important part of the diet’s acceptance that you can relish food and stay slim forever.

You won’t lose weight in this phase, but nor will you gain weight.

Consolidation has been designed to stop you going back to your former eating habits and to set your body’s equilibrium.

If you stick to the plan for five days, for every 0.5 kilograms you lost in previous phases, your body will consolidate the weight loss.

When your time in Consolidation is up and your weight has stabilised, you are free to eat and drink whatever you like for the rest of your life, but you must adhere to that one Dukan rule: protein only on Thursdays. Forever.

Phase one: attack

Have you ever wondered why most French women appear to be effortlessly slim? The answer could lie in their diet.

Not the Mediterranean diet, but a weight-loss program that has been taking the country by storm.

When French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan introduced his Dukan Diet there 10 years ago, the book rushed to the top of the French bestseller list and spawned a dieting revolution.

Today, more than 1.5 million French women swear by its dramatic and long-lasting results.

Politicians, film stars and high-profile models, including Gisele Bündchen and Jennifer Lopez, live the Dukan life, all of them seduced by its promise of permanent slenderness while eating what you like.

The basic rules

The Dukan Diet starts with a short Attack phase, where you eat nothing but protein – just meat, fish, eggs and non-fat dairy products.

This is the kick-start that gives you the initial impetus and sets the tone for the other phases.

This stage produces immediate results – you can lose as much as three kilograms in five days.

You can stick to the Attack phase for as little as one day or as long as 10 days, but if your goal weight is 12 to 20 kilograms away, then five days produces the best results.

If you have about six kilograms to lose, two or three days on the Attack phase works well; if you are looking to slim down by only three kilograms, a single day in the Attack phase (where you’d be expected to lose one kilogram instantly) is often enough to get you started.

A short-term, protein-rich regime purges the tissues of excess water, dulls the appetite (if you eat only protein, your body produces ketonic cells, which are powerful natural appetite suppressants), while maintaining muscle tone.

Proteins are relatively low in kilojoules (compared with fats and many carbohydrates) and their complex structure means the body has to work hard to digest them – you will burn more kilojoules processing protein than any other food.

After one to 10 days in the Attack phase, dieters move on to the Cruise phase. This is the workhorse stage of the diet, where you alternate pure protein days with days when you add vegetables to your protein.

Weight will fall off at a rate of about one kilogram a week, but with a range of meat and vegetables to choose from, you won’t be hungry.

No more constraints

When you reach your ideal weight the Consolidation phase kicks in, releasing dietary constraints and putting fruit, bread, cheese and starchy foods such as pasta back on the menu.

You are even encouraged to have two totally unrestrained celebration meals a week.

This is a doctor’s recommendation and an important part of the diet’s acceptance that you can relish food and stay slim forever.

You won’t lose weight in this phase, but nor will you gain weight.

Consolidation has been designed to stop you going back to your former eating habits and to set your body’s equilibrium.

If you stick to the plan for five days, for every 0.5 kilograms you lost in previous phases, your body will consolidate the weight loss.

When your time in Consolidation is up and your weight has stabilised, you are free to eat and drink whatever you like for the rest of your life, but you must adhere to that one Dukan rule: protein only on Thursdays. Forever.

Phase two: cruising

This next phase consists of two alternating diets. This is the workhorse stage, where you alternate pure protein days with days when you add an array of unlimited vegetables to your wide selection of meat, fish and no-fat dairy products. Expect to lose about one kilogram a week.

The most efficient way to work this stage is to spend one day on the pure protein Attack diet, and the next on a protein and vegetable diet, switching between the two, one day at a time, until you reach your chosen weight.

However, some people prefer to work to a rhythm of five days of protein followed by five days of protein plus vegetables, or, if you have only a little weight to lose, try two days of pure protein a week (say Mondays and Thursdays), with every other day protein combined with vegetables.

Now you can introduce the following vegetables – raw, steamed, boiled or baked (in foil) – with your meat or fish: artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage (white, red, Savoy, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprout), capsicum, celery, celeriac, chicory, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, French beans, leeks, mushrooms, onion, pumpkin, radish, salad leaves (lettuce, rocket, watercress), sorrel, soy beans, spinach, swede, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnip, zucchini.

In principle, you can eat as many of these vegetables as you like, whenever you like, but if you want speedy weight loss, it’s best not to eat vegetables with complete abandon – it’s better to eat until you no longer feel hungry.

Carrots and beetroot are on the list of vegetables too, but they are quite starchy, so avoid having them with every meal and, while you’re in this phase, steer completely away from starchy vegetables such as potatoes, rice, corn, peas, beans, lentils and avocado (it is technically a fruit anyway).

Don’t worry if your weight loss plateaus occasionally on the days when you eat vegetables. This is merely the water levels resetting themselves. Stick with it. The weight will fall off.

Phase three: consolidation

The third stage of the Dukan Diet – the Consolidation phase – provides an important period of transition between hardline dieting and a return to normal eating.

Clinical evidence shows that the high-risk period for regaining weight after a diet is about five days for every 0.5 kilograms lost.

But don’t despair – if you have missed meat pies or curry, or if you have been longing to finish your meal with a real dessert, your time has come to indulge again.

In the Consolidation phase you follow a more open diet, but one which is not yet free from all constraints. Nourishing yourself is not just about taking in enough kilojoules to survive; it is also about enjoying eating.

It is now time to reintroduce this biological pleasure which was taken away from you.

Eat as much protein and vegetables (together) each day as you want without any restriction on quantity, time of day or combination.

•Add one serving of fruit per day (avoid high-sugar fruits such as bananas, grapes, cherries, dried fruits and high-fat nuts).
•Enjoy two slices of wholemeal bread per day, spread with fat-reduced butter.
•Have one serving (40 grams) of hard cheese per day (but avoid blue cheese, soft cheese or goat’s cheese).
•Factor in one serving of starchy foods per week in the first half of your Consolidation phase, increasing to two servings per week in the second half. This includes pasta (a 225-gram serving with tomato, not creamy, sauce and with no oil), couscous or polenta (225 grams cooked in stock, not butter or oil), lentils, beans, chickpeas, rice (ideally brown) and potatoes (but only occasionally and without butter).
•Broaden your meat repertoire to include any quantity of lamb, roast pork and ham (remove all fat first) once or twice a week.
•Let your hair down and plan and enjoy one celebration meal a week in the first half of the Consolidation phase, increasing to two meals in the second half. In this meal you really can eat whatever you want – and you should choose foods that you’ve missed during the weight-loss period.
•But there are two important conditions to this celebration meal: never have second helpings of the same dish and never eat two celebration meals in a row (if you splurge on Tuesday night, at Wednesday’s breakfast the success of your diet is on the line). Have one of each: one starter, one main, one dessert and one glass of wine. Have reasonable quantities of each dish and alcohol, but have only one of each.
•You should still stick to having one pure protein day per week, say, Thursdays. This is your insurance policy against gaining weight again.
•Have two tablespoons of oat bran per day (as a pancake or sprinkled on food).
•Walk for 25 minutes per day (longer if you enjoy it and have time).

Phase four: stabilisation

When you have successfully completed the Consolidation stage of the diet (five days for every 0.5 kilograms you lost in the Attack and Cruise phases), you are ready for the fourth and final stage of the Dukan Diet.

Your new slim body will have given up its extreme reactivity, wanting to extract every last kilojoule from everything you eat, and your metabolism will be calmer.

But experience shows the likelihood of regaining weight will remain if you do not incorporate into your lifestyle a number of habits specifically designed to deal with this risk.

The Stabilisation stage of the Dukan Diet offers permanent slenderness in return for four simple, extremely effective but non-negotiable measures that you should follow for the rest of your life.

Stabilisation rules

•Go back to eating whatever you like, but continue to use the basic rules of the Consolidation phase as a safety platform (eat unlimited protein and vegetables, one piece of fruit a day, two slices of wholemeal bread, a portion of cheese, two starchy foods and two celebration meals a week). Use this as your back-up if you are under threat of regaining weight.
•Pick one day a week for the rest of your life when you eat nothing but protein. This is the key that allows you to eat normally for the other days of the week. (Drink at least two litres of water to flush the digestive system).
•Vow to walk briskly for 20 minutes every day.
•Increase your daily oat bran intake to three tablespoons and stick to it for life.

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10-Minute Fat Blaster

Burn calories before you jump in the shower with this bodyweight circuit from Craig Ballantyne, C.S.C.S.

Perform this circuit without rest between exercises. Then rest 1 minute and repeat the circuit. Do as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes.

Jumping Jack
Start with your feet hip-width apart and hands at your sides. Simultaneously raise your arms above your head and jump so you can spread your feet shoulder-width apart. Then jump again to lower your arms and bring your feet together. Do 20 reps.

Prisoner Squat
Stand with your hands behind your head, your chest out and your elbows back. Sit back at your hips and bend your knees to lower your body as far as possible without losing the natural arch of your spine. Squeeze your glutes and push yourself back up to the starting position. Do 12 reps.

Pushup
Assume the classic pushup position: legs straight, hands beneath your shoulders. Now brace your abs. Keeping your body rigid, lower yourself until your chest touches the floor. Then push back up until your arms are extended. Do 15 reps.

Forward Lunge
From a standing position, take a large step forward with one leg. When your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your back knee is off the floor, hold for 1 second. Then return to the starting position and repeat with your other leg. Do 12 reps with each leg. (Make it harder by holding the lowered position for 5 seconds.)

Stickups
Stand with your back to the wall and feet about 4 inches from the wall. Place the back of your arms against the wall, with upper arms parallel to floor and forearms at 90 degrees. Raise your arms overhead while keeping them against the wall at all times. Slowly return to below the starting position, tucking your elbows into your sides and bringing shoulder blades together. Do 10 reps.



Benefits of Walking…!!

Walking is widely recommended for its health benefits. According to a recent U.S. Surgeon General report on physical activity and health in America, more than half of the U.S. population does not participate regularly in any type of exercise. That physical inactivity can lead to poor health.

The Surgeon General urged Americans to “get in shape,” encouraging everyone to get at least one-half hour of moderately vigorous activity (such as brisk walking) each day. The latest recommendations suggest that you should try to walk two miles at a brisk pace of three to four miles per hour nearly every day.

It is increasingly obvious that one of the best ways to maintain good health is through physical activity. Regular participation in exercise has been shown to be helpful in the prevention of such killers as heart disease, cancer, anddiabetes. Exercise also helps to control weight. (According to the latest research, one out of three Americans is obese.)

And because exercise helps to strengthen muscles and bones, it can even decrease your risk of developing diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis.

Some of the most interesting and overwhelming evidence supporting the need to be physically active is from the research being conducted at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, known as the “father of aerobics,” founded the Cooper Clinic in the early 1970s to investigate the effects of physical activity and fitness on health and longevity and to help people develop healthy lifestyles.

In July 1996, research from the Cooper Institute showed that participating in moderate to high levels of physical activity reduced the risk of dying from any given cause. This held true regardless of other risk factors. In other words, even if an individual suffers from high blood pressure or obesity, the chances of dying are lessened by maintaining at least a moderate level of fitness. This is remarkably good news, especially for individuals who have hereditary risk factors such as a family history of heart disease. 

In 2007, Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, published an updated report on physical activity and public health. In order to make a recommendation on the amount of exercise necessary to benefit America’s health, an expert panel of scientists, including physicians, epidemiologists, exercise scientists, and public-health specialists reviewed research on physical activity and the impact of exercise on health.

Their conclusion was the same as the plea issued by the Surgeon General: “Every U.S. adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, or preferably all, days of the week.” The researchers determined that intermittent as well as sustained activity can be beneficial. In other words, on days when you can’t fit in a 30-minute walk, you can still garner fitness benefits by taking two or more shorter walks squeezed in throughout the day.

This may seem somewhat confusing to those of you who are well acquainted with previous recommendations to exercise for a sustained period of 20 to 60 minutes. The Surgeon General’s report is not meant to overshadow or replace these previously recommended exercise guidelines.

Exercising for a sustained period of time is still the best way we know to make improvements in your cardiorespiratory fitness. But for many, exercising for long periods of time can be intimidating. And most of us experience days when unforeseen events throw off our schedules and prevent us from having a solid block of time for exercise.

Significant health benefits can be realized by simply ceasing to sit and starting to move. The risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and colon and breast cancers can be reduced just by becoming more physically active.

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7 Ways To Keep Your brain Sharper

While most exercise is focused on strengthening and improving your physical body and muscles, there is very little focus on keeping your brain sharp and healthy. This is interesting because the brain is obviously the most important organ in your body, not only controlling the muscles people spend hours working to build up, but also your memory, thought process, attitude, etc. Don’t get me wrong, abs are great, but the brain needs to be supplemented too. It is far more important to your overall well-being. Here are the best exercises/activities that you can do to keep your brain in tip-top condition:

1. Challenge Your Brain

The majority of people are stuck in ruts. They go to the same job everyday, hang out with the same friends and eat at the same places. While that may feel safe, it’s not the most stimulating lifestyle for your brain. Those synapses have been built up enough, so try something that you do NOT know how to do! Buy a model car kit, master the art of sudoku or crosswords, or go pick up another major at your nearest college. The point is you need to be learning new things to keep your brain honest. Form new synapses by forcing your mind to work in ways it has not worked before. Just like physical workouts, doing too much of the same exercise will eventually give no results. Switch it up!

2. Brain-Food

Eat:

- Sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly fatty fish and grass-fed animals. Omega-3′s are instrumental in making your brain membranes fluid, allowing signals to be passed back and forth. Obviously communication is pretty important in the brain, so keep those signals flowing!

- Enough food everyday! Your brain needs energy too, not just your muscles.

Do Not Eat:

- Too much cholesterol, high amounts are linked to brain diseases like Alzheimers.

- Too much fat, sugar, etc. All of that bad stuff is linked to brain health in addition to overall bodily health! System-wide diseases like hypertension, Type-II Diabetes and obesity have been linked to loss in cognitive ability and memory loss. If it’s not good for your physique, it’s probably not good for your brain either.

3. Sleep Well

R.E.M. sleep is critical for the for being able to retain information and maintaining learning ability. Sleep is the time when your brain resets, builds new synapses and brain cells and rids itself of the by-products of normal use. Sleep deprivation leaves you feeling not only tired, but less able to perform simple to advanced cognitive functions. So make sure you are getting that healthy minimum of 6, if not 8 hours of sleep per night. If that’s impossible, take a short nap during the day. Naps can do a lot more than you think, so use the info below to decide how long of a nap you need:

2-5 Minute – Reduces sleepiness

5-20 Minute – Increases alertness, stamina and cognitive performace.

20-30 Minute – Perks of the 2-20 minute nap, plus helps with muscle memory and clears the brain of information build-up, hence improving memory ability.

50-90 Minute – This get’s into the REM sleep cycle, so it helps with memory consolidation and virtually everything else. REM sleep is the one cycle that we as humans need to live without going. Alternate sleep cycles adjust the body to going directly into REM sleep, skipping out on the other non-important cycles. This nap will leave you a little groggy but will reset everything and restore complete cognitive power unless you have a massive REM sleep debt built up already.

4. Remember Stuff!

When it comes to memory, the use it or lose it rule applies. And considering your cognitive ability is relatively useless if you cannnot remember what you learned yesterday, you should probably start using it. Try pulling out an old photo album and recollecting entire days or events related to the photos you see. Really try to recall even the most insignificant of details; this should be a workout for your brain. Even try to remember a full conversation that you had yesterday, anything that get’s your memory going. If you’re having a lot of trouble with even those exercises, start a journal to get yourself to remember at the end of each day. That will build you up immediately so that you can start remembering less recent events.

5. Relax Regularly

With constant activity, overthinking and stress, your brain can get very over-loaded with a bunch of thought that just does not need to be there. More importantly, stress increases the chances of dimentia and Alzhiemers. Stress relseases the fight-or-flight hormones into your brain, reducintg your ability to think clearly. So throw out the insticts and relax instead: Take 15-30 minutes during the day and just sit in silence. Eyes open or closed, breath deeply for a little bit and try to empty your mind. Think about nothing. Then meditate, pray, do yoga, or just sit there. Whatever suits you. Just get that relaxation break in during the day so you can clear your mind.

6. Concentration

The ability to concentrate is obviously huge in terms of cognitive ability. You will dramatically increase your ability to think clearly and efficiently if you are able to concentrate better. So:

1. Practice! While you are relaxing, concentrate on something. One thing that you want or a problem that needs to be solved. Keep your mind on that topic for the length of your relaxation period. This is much more difficult than it sounds so just keep doing it. If you space out, shake your head and go back to concentrating!

2. Realize when you are distracted and what is causing it. If it is something that is weighing on you, address it right there and then! If you keep getting distracted, you will just be inefficient at whatever you are consciously trying to accomplish.

7. Alcohol is a poison, you know…

Don’t go overboard. Alcohol is just bad for the brain in large amounts. Check out this page which lists a seemingly infinite amount of brain functions that alcohol abuse impairs. Memory gets hit pretty hard in addition to overall cognitive ability. If you feel the need to intoxicated, try other safer drugs (like marijuana) instead of the “devil’s juice”.


The World’s Most Efficient Workout

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Muscles are funny things. They respond to just about any type of training, as long as it’s hard and as long as it’s not the same damn thing you’ve always done. That’s the beauty of density training: It’s a whole lot of stuff you haven’t tried yet. And best of all, it’ll hit your major muscles in a fraction of the time. Instead of counting reps and sets, you’ll focus on the total amount of work you can accomplish in a fixed amount of time. As you progress, you’ll naturally increase your sets and reps, be able to use more weight, and perform exercises that are more challenging. Try this plan, created by David Jack, director of Teamworks Fitness in Acton, Massachusetts, to increase the intensity of your workouts. In only 4 weeks, you’ll create a lean physique that looks like the product of hours at the gym.

Unsure what exercises you should focus on? Men’s HealthPersonal Trainer not only has experts to guide you through your program, but a variety of instructional videos you can download and take with you to the gym.

THE PLAN: Do three density workouts a week, with at least 1 day off in between. Start with the first workout, and each day move on to the next option. At the end of 4 weeks, you’ll have completed all 12 workouts.

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Pushup

Assume a pushup position, with your hands slightly beyond shoulder-width apart, feet together, and body in a straight line from head to ankles. Lower your chest until it’s an inch above the floor, and then push back up. That’s 1 rep.

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Reverse Lunge and 1-Arm Press

Stand holding a pair of dumbbells next to your shoulders. Step back with your right leg (as shown). Then press the dumbbell in your right hand straight above your shoulder. Lower it, and stand back up. Now repeat with your left side. That’s 1 rep.

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Inverted Row

Lie underneath a secured bar. Grab the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip, your arms and body completely straight, and heels on the floor. Pull your body up (as shown), and return to the starting position.

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Prisoner Squat

Place your fingers on the back of your head, pull your elbows and shoulders back, and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body as far as you can (as shown). Pause, and return to the starting position.

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Explosive Pushup

Perform a basic pushup. After lowering your body, push back up with enough force that your hands leave the floor.

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Reverse Lunge with 1-Arm Press

Perform a reverse lunge with your right leg as you simultaneously press the dumbbell in your right hand straight above your shoulder. Stand, and then lower the weight. Repeat the move with your left side. That’s 1 rep.

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Elevated-Feet Inverted Row

Perform an inverted row, but first place your feet on a box or bench.

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Goblet Squat

Hold a dumbbell vertically in front of your chest, cupping one end of the dumbbell with both hands. Keep your elbows pointed down toward the floor, and perform a squat. Then push back up.

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Isometric Explosive Pushup

Perform a pushup, but hold your body in the down position for 3 seconds and then push your body back up explosively.

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Isometric Reverse Lunge and Press

Do a reverse lunge, but after you lower your body, pause for 3 seconds. Then press both dumbbells above your shoulders. Lower them and return to a standing position, and repeat with your other leg. That’s 1 rep.

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Isometric Elevated-Feet Inverted Row

Perform an elevated-feet inverted row. But after you pull your chest to the bar, pause for 3 seconds at the highest point. Lower your body and repeat.

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Isometric Goblet Squat

Perform a goblet squat, but pause for 3 seconds at the lowest point of your squat. Then push back up to the starting position and repeat.

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Basic Workout

Perform each workout as a circuit, completing one exercise after another and resting as indicated.

Do three workouts a week, with at least 1 day off in between.

Weeks 1 and 2
Do 5 reps of each exercise, going from move to move without any rest. For weighted exercises, select a weight that you can lift 10 times. Keep repeating all four exercises until the workout time is up.

Workout 1
Perform for 10 minutes.

Workout 2
Perform for 15 minutes.

Week 3
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set.

Workout 7
Perform 2 sets. Rest for 1 minute. That’s one cycle. Complete two more cycles.

Week 4
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set. Complete 4 sets, rest 1 to 2 minutes, then move on to the next exercise. Advance to the more difficult versions after you can complete at least 8 reps of each exercise in 20 seconds.

Workout 10

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Advanced Workout

Perform each workout as a circuit, completing one exercise after another and resting as indicated.

Do three workouts a week, with at least 1 day off in between.

Weeks 1 and 2
Do 5 reps of each exercise, going from move to move without any rest. For weighted exercises, select a weight that you can lift 10 times. Keep repeating all four exercises until the workout time is up.

Workout 3
Perform for 10 minutes.

Workout 4
Perform for 15 minutes.

Week 3
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set.

Workout 8
Perform 2 sets. Rest for 1 minute. That’s one cycle. Complete two more cycles.

Week 4
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set. Complete 4 sets, rest 1 to 2 minutes, then move on to the next exercise. Advance to the more difficult versions after you can complete at least 8 reps of each exercise in 20 seconds.

Workout 11

advanced-workout.jpg

Expert Workout

Perform each workout as a circuit, completing one exercise after another and resting as indicated.

Do three workouts a week, with at least 1 day off in between.

Weeks 1 and 2
Do 5 reps of each exercise, going from move to move without any rest. For weighted exercises, select a weight that you can lift 10 times. Keep repeating all four exercises until the workout time is up.

Workout 5
Perform for 10 minutes.

Workout 6
Perform for 15 minutes.

Week 3
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set.

Workout 9
Perform 2 sets. Rest for 1 minute. That’s one cycle. Complete two more cycles.

Week 4
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. That’s 1 set. Complete 4 sets, rest 1 to 2 minutes, then move on to the next exercise. Advance to the more difficult versions after you can complete at least 8 reps of each exercise in 20 seconds.


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