Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 16 of 21)

Three supplements to take daily

June 12, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

Are you taking these three supplements daily?

1. A multi-vitamin
2. An aspirin
3. Fish oil

If not, you should be.

While it shouldn’t be used in place of the nutrients we get from every day food, a multi-vitamin is a valuable supplement for those with dietary imbalances. According to a study by Robert H. Fletcher, MD, MSc and Kathleen M. Fairfield, MD, DrPH, most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone.

Besides being helpful for the every day headache, aspirin has also been known as a heart saver. Same thing can be said for fish oil, which is a great source for omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3’s can cut your risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, stroke, asthma and arthritis.

Fatty acids, Heart disease, Men's Health and Wellness, Supplements, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

5 Best warm up moves

June 7, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

Due to time limitations or a busy schedule, people tend to jump right into a workout without properly warming up. It’s well advised to not only ride a bike or jog for five minutes, but also stretch so your muscles warm enough to begin a full workout. Injuries in the weight room are usually due to not properly warming up or stretching.

MSN.com posted an article from “Best Life” on the five best warm up moves for any workout:

90/90 Stretch: This exercise will stretch your torso and back muscles, which is especially important for rotational sports such as golf and tennis.
Hip Crossover: This exercise is designed to build mobility and strength in your torso by dis-associating the hips and shoulders.
Hand Walk: It’s a great exercise prior to just about any sport.
Forward Lunge, Forearm to Instep: You’ll feel a stretch in your groin, your back-leg hip flexor, and your front-leg glute and hamstring.
Pillar Marching: It’s perfect for preparing for the demands of running.

For a complete description (the above is a very brief review of each warm up) as well as diagrams of each stretch, click here to read the entire article.

Exercise, General training, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

Don’t skip breakfast

June 5, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

As generations pass, it seems like more and more people are skipping breakfast before work for a few extra minutes of Z’s. To most people, it’s a fair trade off considering they’re probably not hungry in the morning anyways, especially after weeks, months, even years of foregoing the most important meal of the day.

Well, stop it, because you’re costing your body health-wise by skipping breakfast than another 10 minutes of hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock.

Here are just some of reasons breakfast not only jumpstarts are day, but can lend to a healthier lifestyle:

? Consume more vitamins and minerals and less fat and cholesterol
? Have better concentration and productivity throughout the morning
? Control their weight
? Have lower cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease

Think of the process as starting your car in the winter. Would you drive you car in the dead of winter after not warming it up? If you do, you’re causing damage to your engine, which of course could lead to future problems. Same thing with your body – would you start an entire day without breakfast (your “warm up”)? Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, which helps you – as one of the above bullet points mentioned – control weight.

Instead of trying to cram five extra minutes of sleep into mornings, get to bed five minutes early so you can wake up with plenty of time to get ready and have yourself a decent breakfast.

Nutrition, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

Don’t underestimate water

May 29, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

When I was a freshman in college I had a roommate named Jim who used to carry around a one-gallon jug of water everyday. He used to carry it to class, the gym, hell; he even carried it on dates.

At first, I questioned why he toted around a jug of water everyday instead of just refilling a smaller Aquafina bottle like normal people do. Jim said, “Because I would have to refill one of those damn bottles a thousand times a day with the amount of water I drink.” He still drinks at least one and a half to two gallons of water a day. Never one to allow my pride to get in the way, I too started to carry a jug of water around every day and the benefits were amazing.

Lets look at the facts about water:

– It regulates body temperature
– It carries nutrients to cells and tissues throughout the body
– It improves digestion
– It removes wastes and toxins from the body

Another benefit of water that I can speak from experience on is something most teenagers can relate too. After suffering from normal teen acne problems in high school, I began drinking hoards of water my freshmen year in college and it completely cleared my face up and prevented future breakouts. The reason for this is because drinking enough water keeps the skin hydrated and therefore less prone to skin breakouts.

So while you don’t need to carry around a jug all the time like my ex-roommate and great friend Jim did, just make sure you’re drinking enough water daily. Obviously the benefits are worth it.

Drinks, Hygiene, Medical Issues for Men, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci

Work a desk job? Your shoulders and chest could be suffering

May 24, 2007 / Anthony Stalter

Being a writer, the majority of my day is spent sitting at a desk and starring at a computer all day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – I love my job. The only problem is sitting at a desk all day is apparently limiting my gains in the gym, and now I am complaining.

I stumbled onto this article at MSN.com about posture in reference to your shoulders and chest. Human instincts tell us to slouch forward while typing or reading at a computer and with that, our heads also come forward, putting more weight on our neck, upper back and shoulders. Our chest is also affected:

If your shoulders are slumped forward for long periods of time, your chest muscles become shortened. That is, since these muscles attach to your upper arms, the distance they need to extend when you slouch is less than when your shoulders are drawn back. Over time, the chest muscles adapt to this position as their natural length, pulling your shoulders forward. As a result, many of the shoulder’s stabilizers are overstretched, which makes them weaker.

Now why the hell are we going to log so much time on the bench press if we’re just going to waste that effort the next six or so hours sitting behind a desk? The article recommends doing “10 standing shoulder retractions every hour when working at a computer.” Stand and pull your shoulder blades together – while also keeping your head and shoulders above your pelvis – for 3 seconds. This movement forces your chest muscles to extend, which prevents them from becoming permanently shortened.

The article also gets into ways to strengthen the muscles around our shoulders (i.e. rear delts, rotator-cuff, scapular), which we tend to ignore because we don’t see them when we look for gains in the mirror. Doing some of these recommended exercises will in turn grow the muscles will can check out in the mirror, as well as keep our posture straight so that doesn’t effect our workout gains. Plus, as a general rule of thumb, you should always be working out the surrounding muscles in every group, not just your shoulders.

Chest, General fitness, Medical Issues for Men, Men's Health and Wellness, Workout programs, Xternal Fitness, Xternal Furci