1.In a standing position, hold a pair of dumbbells at your side.
2. Keeping your elbows slightly bent, raise the weights directly in front of you to shoulder height, avoiding any swinging or cheating.
3. Return the weights to your side.
4. On the next repetition, raise the weights laterally, raising them out to your side to about shoulder height.
5. Return the weights to the starting position and continue alternating to the front and side
1.Start by kneeling on a mat with your palms flat and your fingers pointing back toward your knees.
2. Slowly lean back keeping your palms flat on the floor until you feel a stretch in your wrists and forearms. Hold for 20-30 seconds
Starting everyday with a glass of lemon water is an easy way to add vitamin C into your diet and help your metabolism. This means more energy, less stress and sickness, and a healthier you!
Artificial sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are synthetic sugar substitutes but may be derived from naturally occurring substances, including herbs or sugar itself. Artificial sweeteners are also known as intense sweeteners because they are many times sweeter than regular sugar. Artificial sweeteners are attractive alternatives to sugar because they add virtually no calories to your diet. In addition, you need only a fraction compared with the amount of sugar you would normally use for sweetness.
Possible health benefits of artificial sweeteners
One benefit of artificial sweeteners is that they don’t contribute to tooth decay and cavities. They may also help with the following:
Possible health concerns with artificial sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners have been the subject of intense scrutiny for decades. Critics of artificial sweeteners say that they cause a variety of health problems, including cancer. That’s largely because of studies dating to the 1970s that linked saccharin to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Because of those studies, saccharin once carried a warning label that it may be hazardous to your health. But according to the National Cancer Institute and other health agencies, there’s no sound scientific evidence that any of the artificial sweeteners approved for use in the U.S. cause cancer or other serious health problems. And numerous research studies confirm that artificial sweeteners are generally safe in limited quantities, even for pregnant women.
Artificial sweeteners are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as food additives and are reviewed and approved by the FDA before being made available for sale. The FDA has established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for each artificial sweetener, or the maximum amount considered safe to consume each day over the course of your lifetime. ADIs are intended to be about 100 times less than the smallest amount that might cause health concerns.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073
(CNN) — Seven minutes. That’s the amount of time it takes to complete the high-intensity circuit training program Chris Jordan designed to help his clients lose weight and get fit. Repeat the circuit two to three times and your workout is over.
You’ll sweat. Your muscles will probably be sore the next day. And all you need is a small space on the floor, a chair and your own body weight.
“(High-intensity circuit training) is growing in popularity because of its efficiency and practicality for a time-constrained society,” Jordan writes in the May/June issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal. “The combination of aerobic and resistance training in a high-intensity, limited-rest design can deliver numerous health benefits in much less time than traditional programs.”
Jordan is the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute, where he developed the fitness programming portion of their Corporate Athlete program for business executives looking to improve their performance — in and out of the office.
The Human Performance Institute was formed more than 30 years ago by doctors Jim Loehr and Jack Groppel. The founders had backgrounds in sports psychology and physiology and wanted to help enhance professional athletes’ performances in high stress environments. Since then the institute has moved on to helping law enforcement officers, military personnel and Fortune 500 employees.
“Business executives, much like athletes, have to perform under pressure. Numbers count for everything. They’re always on,” Jordan says. “Being energized can help us be the best we can possibly be at those times that really matter.”
Before joining the Human Performance Institute 10 years ago, Jordan was a researcher with the British Army; his work focused on finding out what the human body was capable of tolerating, whether it was extreme heat or strenuous exercise.
He later switched gears to do more hands-on work with the U.S. Air Force, designing fitness programs for personnel in Europe. His favorite program? Interval training, of course.
The seven-minute circuit is actually based on a workout he designed for the Air Force in 1997. When he launched the program, 85% of personnel were passing the required fitness test; 12 months later, 97% were passing.
So what makes high-intensity, interval training so effective?
The simple answer is that we know exercise is “dose responsive,” Jordan says, so the more you put into it, the better the results you’ll get. That can be with a moderate 90-minute workout or an intense 20-minute workout.
With the seven-minute circuit, you do 12 exercises back-to-back for 30 seconds each, taking a maximum of 10 seconds of rest in between. It’s not a workout for beginners, Jordan says. For 30 seconds at a time, you should be working at 85% to 90% of your maximum heart rate — or an eight out of 10 on your personal exertion scale. Each exercise focuses on a different part of the body, so the other areas can recuperate without lowering your heart rate.
“This is a relatively short, but intense, nonstop workout. As a consequence, it’s quite demanding on the body.”
No pain, no gain, right? The reward for completing the circuit is a higher calorie burn that lasts longer.
During the workout, your body releases hormones that have a stimulating effect on fat loss; research has shown the effect can last up to 72 hours after the workout is finished.
Targeted Muscles: Rhomboids and Latissimus Dorsi
By strengthening both of these muscle groups, you can limit the effects of kyphosis (rounded, hunched shoulders/back) and back pain by helping to keep your back straight when sitting.
Starting Position:
- Sit with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor or on the pulley platform. Keep your back straight and your arms extended gripping a bar with your palms facing in.
1) Begin the exercise by bending your elbows and pulling the bar towards your stomach.
2) Squeeze your shoulder blades and keep your arms close to your sides.
3) Hold and then slowly extend your arms back to the starting position.
4) Complete three sets of ten repetitions.
Remember to keep elbows close to body throughout entire movement and keep back straight! Also, breathe normally and controlled while tightening your core.
This exercise can be done on a cable pulley or weight machine.
