Trevor Thieme explains why you shouldn’t do the following exercises:
I’ve used all of these exercises, but his explanation of why they should be avoided makes sense. He also suggests alternatives to each.
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets contain a chemical called TBHQ, which is essentially butane. TBHQ can cause “nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse.” Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.
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The Examiner has an article about “brain gyms:” High-tech ‘brain gyms’ tone minds, reduce stress.
The article profiles Sharp Brains and Posit Science, two companies that can help you exercise your brain. They say their treatments can lower stress, and prevent memory loss.
SharpBrains and Posit are just two of a growing number of start-up companies leading the way in the area of packaging and developing suites of software they call “brain gyms.”
SharpBrains offers a suite of products that evaluate buyers’ needs and target their weakness, gently pushing for improvement, Fernandez said. One program helps improve memory using a number game; another provides instant biofeedback to users so they can practice breathing and positive thinking to reduce stress, Fernandez said.
I have found that you have to stick to a work out regimen for about three months before you start to see significant results. I have also found that I have an annoying habit of making it to gym almost daily for about a month before I start to burn out. Consistency is one of the most important parts of any exercise regimen. No amount of nutritional supplements or personal training will make up for a lack of consistency. If you don’t at least show your face in the gym a couple times a week you will see no significant results. The few times that I have made it past my one month burn out barrier were the times when I had a very specific goal to work towards or an event to prepare for. Having something to work towards is great motivation to get yourself into the gym.
Most recently that motivation was playing the part of Rocky, in The Rocky Horror Show. Rocky is the muscle bound title character, not to be confused with the main character Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Here is a picture from the motion picture with male model Peter Hinwood playing the part of Rocky, lets just say that he wasn’t hired for his acting ability:
I had three months to prepare, so I wasn’t going to look as good as Peter but I also had a lack of acting ability to compensate for. The fear of being on stage in only a speedo in front of a couple thousand people was an excellent motivator. Three months, ~20 pounds of protein powder, ~5% less body fat, and a few more pounds of muscle later the show began. Without the show as a very distinct motivator I wouldn’t have made it the gym nearly as often or been as strict with my diet. Here are a couple pictures of my version of Rocky:
Fear certainly isn’t the only effective motivator. There are many, probably less stressful, other ways to motivate yourself to work towards your desired physique. Here are some links to other bodybuilding sites’ lists of motivations, with a few of my favorite tips below:
Program Your Mind For Bodybuilding Success - Visualize The End Result
I also advice you to just lay down at night and really think of the way that you want your body to look. Then make sure that you just wake up every morning with the mindset that everything you will do that day will contribute in one way or the other to achieving that look. This will give you the motivation to adhere to your bodybuilding routines and diet each and every day. 1
Work out with a friend. Not only can this help you actually get to your workout appointment, but friends can help encourage each other to work out with more intensity. 2
If you’re tired, or your muscles ache, try something a bit gentler - but don’t avoid fitness entirely ‘until you feel better’. Swimming is good because it helps support the whole body, and it is still a good workout. 2
Take before and after pictures and then compare the two. Seeing results will further motivate you to do better and better. Do not only look at pictures of yourself but also of other bodybuilders. Professional bodybuilders are a key to my motivation. I know when I look at a picture of one of them it makes me just want to go out there and tear up my weights so I can one day get that freakishly huge. 3
Set Small Goals:
Sometimes it much easier to think of getting around the next corner then it is to look at the big picture. When I hiked Yosemite’s Half-Dome, I used many small goals to keep me going. Rather then look at my final objective all the time, I used land markers to keep me going from one point to another. A technique you can use at the gym. Set weekly goals (1 lb a week) rather then looking at what you want to accomplish a year from now. 4
A Reward System
This may seem like a funny point considering what you just read on extrinsic motivation, however having a reward system can be very beneficial. What is important is that the rewards are set by you and have a particular meaning to you. This will keep everything under your control so you won’t begin to feel like you are being regulated by someone else (as is usually the case for extrinsic motivation).
By setting small rewards after each step in your plan, you will give yourself something to look forward to and keep yourself motivated to keep pushing onward. 5
Take it slow and steady.
Many people, in a combination of enthusiasm and impatience, wind up doing too much, too soon, too frequently. That results in soreness, exhaustion, and feeling burnout - in other words, lack of motivation. Take your workouts one day at a time and enjoy the journey. “Inch by inch life is a synch, yard by yard life is hard” 6
Josh Hillis has the details of the extreme conditioning the actors in the movie 300 went through in preparation for the movie. The program is run by Mark Twight from Gym Jones and includes “tire flipping, jumping, sprints with a jumpstretch band, runs with kettlebells, turkish get ups with kettlebells, medicine ball throwing, kipping pullups, bear crawls, tuck sits on gymnastics rings, barbell thrusters.”
Office Workers More Prone to Blood Clots
Nicknamed “economy class syndrome,” deep-vein thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot forms in the deep veins of the legs. The condition can be fatal if part of the clot breaks off and blocks a blood vessel in the lungs. Being seated for long periods of times can trigger these deadly blog clots. Office workers spending hours at a time in front of a computer screen are particularly at risk. A study found that 34 per cent of patients admitted to hospital with blood clots had been seated at work for long periods, much higher than the 1.4 percent of blood-clot patients who recently traveled on long-haul flights.
Study shows why exercise boosts brainpower
After successfully testing on mice researchers have Used MRIs to find that exercise builds new brain cells in a region linked with memory and memory loss. The MRIs showed that exercise increased blood flow to the hippocampus, which is known to be affected in the age-related memory decline that begins around age 30 for most humans. This increased blood flow causes the growth of new brain cells in this part of the brain.
They recruited 11 healthy adults and made them undergo a three-month aerobic exercise regimen.
They did MRIs of their brains before and after. They also measured the fitness of each volunteer by measuring oxygen volume before and after the training program.
Exercise generated blood flow to the dentate gyrus of the people, and the more fit a person got, the more blood flow the MRI detected, the researchers found.