Here are some great, and unique, sports around the world that test your strength courtesy of HART Sport. Are there any you would try? Let’s see just how strong you are . . . .

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This has been the year of the quarterback and the passing game in the NFL. Speed and precision were the sexy characteristics this season as the NFL altered the rules to take away some of the more physical aspects of the game that were causing serious sports injuries like concussions. Drew Brees was setting records, while Aaron Rodgers was drawing comparisons to Joe Montana.

Yet this weekend seemed to be a reminder that power and defense still matter as the Giants upset the Packers in Green Bay and the 49ers stopped the pass-happy Saints. Everyone seemed to be questioning the old NFL axiom that defense wins championships, but now we have a reminder that even with the new rules power and defense are very important.

That should please all our readers out there who love getting to the gym and pumping iron. Football has always beena bout strength. The Giants put on a display like they did in 2007 as they put a pounding on Rodgers and the Packer offense. Then they also hit them with their power running game.

The only pass-happy team still in the hunt is New England, so perhaps the speed and precision people will get the last laugh. Yet you have to look at how the Patriots play, with two huge tight ends in their passing game. Strength and power are still important ingredients to their success.

It will be a great weekend of football as we hash out who will face off in the Super Bowl. You can check this website for online betting sites as you get ready for all the fun this weekend. Hopefully you can host a great party or make it out to Las Vegas. After a bitter offseason, the NFL has provided some great entertainment for us all this season.

USA Today has a great profile of Ray Lewis leading up to this weekend’s playoff game. Lewis has had an incredible NFL career, and in this article we see why. He’s always been known as a workout warrior, but here we see how obsessive he is about his diet as well.

Stamped “P.M.,” the bag is filled with multicolored vitamin supplements. Before noon, the iconic Baltimore Ravens linebacker already had consumed a protein shake, egg whites, an apple, 2 gallons of water and a similar bag of “A.M.” supplements.

Lewis, 36, is explaining why he believes he has survived 16 NFL seasons — and still is playing at a Pro Bowl level as the Ravens prepare for Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans— in such a physically demanding sport.

In addition to a relentless year-round conditioning regimen and aggressive therapy for the toe injury that sidelined him for four games this season, Lewis estimates he swallows 50 pills a day.

Then the veteran, hardly ready to declare this playoff run a prelude to retirement, reaches into the briefcase to show off his afternoon snack — another apple.

“I’m watching these guys, with their cheeseburgers and stuff,” he says. “And you’re going to compete against me? Even if you’re younger and faster, your fuel won’t let you beat me.”

His obsession for healthy eating is, well, notorious in the Ravens locker room.

“His diet is so ridiculous, even the people around him have to adjust,” linebacker Terrell Suggs says. “It’s crazy. Last week, I’m eating a bag of chips, and he throws ’em away.”

Lewis is a fish-and-vegetable man who hasn’t touched pork in 12 years and has eaten beef twice during that span. He also doesn’t drink soda or eat bread or sugar — except for scant exceptions. Like his cheat snacks, Twizzlers and Gummy Bears. “To keep living life,” he says.

I remember watching Chad Ochocinco several years ago describing how he ate mostly at McDonald’s. He was young and he could easily burn the fat and calories. Now he’d be wise to read this article and start emulating Lewis, as Chad isn’t the same player he was several years ago. Diet is a critical part of health and performance!

As we get older, we have to be more careful about what we eat. We don’t need to be obsessive like Ray Lewis since most of us aren’t pro athletes. But if you really was to get ripped, then you have to have the same devotion. Match your diet to your goals!

1. Running will give you a heart attack or other heart problems. It is true that exercise temporarily raises the odds of a heart attack while you’re mid-workout, but doing it consistently reduces that risk over the long haul, leading to a net benefit. Some researchers have questioned whether marathon running, especially in people who haven’t trained a lot, might cause heart damage, at least temporarily. But there’s no evidence that it causes long-term harm or actually leads to heart attacks. Even athletes with enlarged hearts—if they’re healthy hearts—aren’t, as once feared, at risk of early death. The bottom line: Simply going for a run most days of the week is doing far more good than bad for your heart.

2. Running will ruin your bones and joints. A study in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found no evidence of accelerated rates of osteoarthritis among long-distance runners when compared with healthy nonrunners. “We used to say that osteoarthritis came from wear and tear. That’s now revised to say that is can result from tear but not wear,” says James Fries, emeritus professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and senior author of the study. Moreover, weight-bearing exercise like running helps stave off osteoporosis by maintaining bone mineral density.

3. Running will kill you before your time. According to a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, running and other vigorous exercise in middle age is associated with a longer life. Not only that, it will make your later years more pleasant by reducing disability. After tracking runners and healthy nonrunners for 21 years, starting when they were at least 50 years old, a research team led by Stanford’s Fries found that the ability to perform activities of daily life like getting out of a chair and walking was better among runners than nonrunners. And 19 years into the study, 15 percent of the runners had died, compared with 34 percent of the nonrunners.
USNews.com

Be careful to avoid these top 10 running
mistakes and strive to enhance your performance and your fitness.

A few adjustments will help prevent injury and improve performance.

1 Wrong Shoes

2 Too Much, Too Soon

3 Over-striding

4 Losing Control on Hills

5 Bad Upper Body Form

6 Not Drinking Enough

7 Wrong Clothes

8 Overtraining

9 Going Out Too Fast

10 Not Fueling Properly